1950s

Franklyn Henry Ashby, Jr. ’50

Franklyn Henry Ashby, Jr. ’50, a physician who retired as medical director of Philip Morris USA, was born in Cohoes, N.Y., near Albany, on May 11, 1928. The only child of Franklyn H., a department store treasurer, and Lydia Dingman Ashby, he prepared for College at Albany Academy. At Hamilton, Frank Ashby joined Chi Psi and pursued premedical studies. “Franklyn of the dimpled chin and green DeSoto,” as The Hamiltonian described him, also ran track, lettering in the sport, and played varsity hockey.

Frank Ashby prepared for his future career at Albany Medical College where he acquired his M.D. degree in 1954. On July 10 of the previous year, he and Molly Ann Corkhill were married in Orlando, Fla. Following his internship at Albany Hospital, Dr. Ashby went on active duty with the U.S. Army Medical Corps. He served for two years as a medical officer and was released in 1957 with the rank of captain.

Frank Ashby engaged in a general family practice in the Albany suburb of Delmar until 1964, when he joined the medical staff of the Employee Health Service of New York State. Four years later, he was named its medical director by the State Civil Service Commission, becoming the “company doctor” for the state’s employees.

In 1975, after two years in a group practice in Atlanta, Dr. Ashby relocated to Richmond, Va., and began his long association with Philip Morris, the cigarette manufacturing company. He served as its medical director, engaged in occupational medicine while managing a huge corporate medical department until his retirement in 1991. Thereafter he remained active as a part-time contract medical officer for government agencies such as the U.S. Postal Service, “trying to make a difference in an outrageous federal workers’ compensation system.” A fellow of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, he was a past president of the Virginia Occupational Medical Association.

Frank Ashby, an elder of Ginter Park Presbyterian Church in Richmond, had also served as president of the board of its preschool center. An ardent ice hockey devotee, he had coached youth hockey in Richmond as well.

Franklyn H. Ashby, a generously supportive alumnus, died unexpectedly at his Virginia home on March 3, 2015. In addition to his wife of 61 years, he is survived by three sons, Peter, David ’77, husband of Marylee Stull Ashby K’76, and Franklyn Ashby III ’81. Also surviving are eight grandchildren, including Rebecca Ashby ’09.
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Charles Whittemore Knapp, Jr. ’50

Charles Whittemore Knapp, Jr. ’50, who carved out a long and successful career in construction management, was born on May 27, 1924, in Greenwich, Conn. The son of Charles W. Knapp, a physician, and the former Phoebe Baker, he prepared for College at Phillips Academy, Andover, and, at the age of 18, joined the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. He became a top-turret gunner and chief mechanic on a B-17 bomber. As a member of the 8th Air Force, he flew 31 missions over Europe, including the D-Day invasion of Normandy, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with three oak leaf clusters and four battle stars.

Discharged as a technical sergeant at the war’s end in 1945, Charles Knapp, known as “Carl,” came to College Hill from Greenwich the following spring, joining a host of veterans pursuing further education on the campus after their return to civilian life. He affiliated with Sigma Phi and went out for hockey. A highly talented player, he became a co-captain of the 1949-50 varsity team. By that time, he was a family man, having married Shirley Eyre on April 5, 1947, in Rye, N.Y. They were residing in Hamilton’s North Village when their oldest son was born. While on the Hill, Carl Knapp gained recognition for his skills as a carpenter. Having begun it as a childhood hobby, he pursued carpentry to the point of deciding to parlay it into a career in the construction business.

Even before his graduation in 1950, Carl Knapp formed his own small contracting company back in Greenwich. After a few forays into housing construction, he turned to sales and management for construction firms. He became successively a district sales manager for U.S. Steel Homes, William A. Crow Construction Co. and H.F. Campbell Co., headquartered in New York City. He later served as vice president of Safeguard Construction Management Corp. and executive vice president of Springland Associates, a division of J. Rich Steers, Inc., both also in New York City. Those management positions, as well as involvements in construction consulting, took him on assignments throughout the country and overseas.

His first marriage having ended in divorce, Carl Knapp was wed on Oct. 21, 1989, to Mildred “Bubbles” Beattie. The couple took up residence in Weston, Vt., where one of the first projects Carl undertook was creating a large pond on which he could get in some ice skating on winter days. Through the years he had continued to skate and was a regular participant in an old-timers’ hockey league. He played hockey until his mid-60s and tennis until his late 70s. He also continued to engage in carpentry around his Weston home, including furniture making. In addition, he was an ardent angler and built his own boats for both salt-water and fresh-water fishing wherever he happened to be, whether Long Island Sound, Florida or Vermont.

Charles W. Knapp, a supportive alumnus well known for his soft-spokenness and quick wit, was residing in Manchester, Vt., when he died on Jan. 20, 2015. In addition to his wife, he is survived by four children from his previous marriage: Charles, Geoffrey, Amy and Mark Knapp ’81. Also surviving are eight grandchildren and two step-grandchildren.
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William Noble Page, Jr. ’50

William Noble Page, Jr. ’50, a business executive and community and state education leader, was born on Feb. 13, 1928, in New Rochelle, N.Y. The son of William N., Class of 1918, also a business executive, and Elizabeth Johnson Page, he was a grandson of William R. Page, Class of 1884, and great-grandson of William N. Page, Class of 1863. Bill Page grew up in Lincoln, Mass., outside of Boston, and prepared for college at Deerfield Academy. He followed his forebears to Hamilton and joined their fraternity, Sigma Phi. He contributed to the newly established Spectator, was active in the Musical Arts Society and managed the golf team. Steward and later president of the Sig house, and a member of the Student Council, he served as president of the Interfraternity Council in his senior year.

His preparation for a business career delayed by military service during the Korean conflict, Bill Page went on active duty with the U.S. Navy in 1951. Commissioned as an ensign, he served as a supply officer aboard the destroyer U.S.S. Beatty. On Dec. 5, 1953, he was married to Irene Crawford, also a naval ensign. Although released from active duty in 1954, he remained in the Naval Reserve until 1974, when he was discharged with the rank of commander.

Having carried through with his delayed plans to attend Harvard Business School, Bill Page acquired his M.B.A. degree in 1955. He soon joined Cryovac, manufacturers of plastic packaging materials, a division of W.R. Grace & Co., the chemical firm. Assigned to Cryovac’s Lockport, N.Y., plant as controller, he subsequently served as controller of Cryovac’s Canadian division in Toronto. In 1958, he was transferred by the company to Greenville, S.C., marking the beginning of his long and distinguished service to that community and state.

Bill Page quickly felt at home in Greenville — so much so that he declined to follow the upward path with W.R. Grace, which would have led eventually to its corporate headquarters in New York City. Instead, he settled down permanently in that Southern community. He was vice president, administration, and treasurer of Grace’s Cryovac Division when he resigned in 1968 to become president and treasurer of First Piedmont Corp., a new bank holding company of which he was one of the organizers. Chief financial officer of First Piedmont until 1979, he thereafter entered the real estate field, first as vice president and later executive vice president of U.S. Shelter Corp., a real estate management firm that oversaw more than 30,000 apartment units throughout the Southeast. In 1992, he became president of its successor company, Insignia Financial Group, then one of the nation’s largest property managers. He retired from that post in 1995.

Soon after settling in Greenville, Bill Page found himself involved in a variety of community activities, especially those concerning education. Elected in 1965 as a member of the Greenville County School Board, he shared responsibility for a district of 90 schools and 60,000 students. During his seven years on the board, he helped bring about major social change through an orderly and highly successful school desegregation program.

That success and the satisfaction he derived from it fueled Bill Page’s keen interest in education reform. He became active in numerous local and state education improvement projects, and in 1983, his activities were brought to the attention of then Governor Richard Riley (later secretary of education under President Clinton), who appointed Bill to chair the Governor’s Committee on Financial Excellence in Public Education. After the passage in 1984 by the South Carolina legislature of the wide-ranging Educational Improvement Act, which he crafted, he also oversaw its implementation. It would become a nationally acclaimed model, and he continued to oversee it, “in the face of considerable frustration but buoyed by his inherent optimism,” until 1993. In the meantime, in 1987, Governor Riley had awarded him the Order of the Palmetto, the state’s highest honor, in recognition of his contributions to public education.

Bill Page continued to strive for educational improvement by helping to launch a full-day kindergarten program across the state and by promoting Success by Six, a national program emphasizing early childhood development. His keen business sense as well as his enthusiastic personal commitment combined to inspire others in the quest. A past president of the Greater Greenville Chamber of Commerce, he also contributed to the cause of education by service on the board of the Alliance for Quality Education, which he helped found, and membership on the advisory council of Furman University.

An ardent sports fan and golfer, Bill Page also found pleasure in beach trips and hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains. But even in retirement, the cause of school improvement was never entirely absent from his mind, for, as he reflected, “Once you get involved, it’s very difficult to let go.”
William N. Page, a generous supporter of the College, died on May 31, 2015. His 45-year marriage having ended with his wife’s death in 1998, he is survived by a daughter, Nancy, a son, Douglas, and four granddaughters and two great-grandchildren.
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Arnold Klein ’50

Arnold Klein ’50, who owned and operated an art gallery for 40 years, grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he was born on March 27, 1929. His parents were Michael Klein, a printer, and the former Jeanette Sachs. A graduate of Brooklyn’s Erasmus Hall High School, Arnold Klein enrolled at Hamilton and joined Tau Kappa Epsilon as well as the staff of the newly named student newspaper, The Spectator, and became its circulation manager. He also contributed to The Continental literary magazine, was elected to the journalism honor society Pi Delta Epsilon and trouped for a time with the Charlatans. He concentrated in English literature and art.

After attending New York University for a year, Arnold Klein donned a U.S. Army uniform during the Korean War era. He served in the enlisted ranks for two years and was stationed in Germany. Thereafter, while pursuing graduate studies in French at Columbia University, he spent two years (1954-56) at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. Awarded his M.A. in French from Columbia in 1957, he embarked on a teaching career at the Berkshire School in Massachusetts (1958-60). That was followed by two years, also as an instructor in French, at St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire.

In 1962, Arnold Klein was offered an instructorship in French at the University of Detroit and moved to Michigan, which was to prove permanent. Continuing to pursue his interest in art on the side, he was taking a printmaking class at Wayne State University when he met fellow graduate student Karen Anne Eufinger. They were married in Columbus, Ohio, on Nov. 24, 1966.

Having acquired an M.A. degree in art history from Wayne State in 1968, Arnold Klein was hired as assistant curator in the department of graphic arts at the Detroit Institute of Arts. After realizing that his salary would hardly support his growing family, including a daughter and soon-to-be-born twin sons, he and Karen decided to take an entrepreneurial risk and establish an art gallery. Its doors were opened in Detroit on Valentine’s Day, 1971. Three years later, the Arnold Klein Gallery was relocated to suburban Royal Oak.

Featuring American and European works from the 19th century to the present, especially original prints, and often works by local artists whom they came to know and admire, the gallery would continue in operation until its doors were closed on Valentine’s Day, 2011, having become one of the leading galleries in the Midwest. Always a labor of love and never much of a source of profit, it was a family affair, with Karen and Arnold’s children helping out when they were young. Arnold was the expert in fine prints and books. Called “a bibliophile, man of letters, polyglots, word maven,” he was an ardent collector and amassed one of the world’s largest collections of books and ephemera relating to James McNeill Whistler. Karen, a talented printmaker, greatly contributed to the gallery’s success as business manager and with her back-room work, doing custom framing.

Arnold Klein, a past president of the Art Dealers Association and a faithful Hamiltonian, long a resident of Pleasant Ridge, Mich., died on Aug. 7, 2015. In addition to his wife, he is survived by his daughter, Korinthia, his sons, Arno and Barrett, and five grandchildren.
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John Slayter Hill ’51

John Slayter Hill ’51, a business owner engaged in real estate development, was born on March 15, 1929, in Plymouth, N.H. His parents were Raymond E. Hill, a retail merchant, and the former Sibyl Wardwell, a social worker. He prepared for College at Holderness School in Plymouth and enrolled at Hamilton from South Dartmouth, Mass. A psychology major, he joined Sigma Phi and served as its president in his senior year. A member of the Interfraternity Council, he also contributed time to The Spectator and played squash.

A few months following graduation, at the time of the Korean conflict, John Hill had entered the U.S. Navy. Commissioned as an officer, he saw extensive duty aboard the destroyer U.S.S. Smalley, plying the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific as well as the Mediterranean, and earned a Battle Star. Released from the Navy as a lieutenant (j.g.) after four years in 1955, he was married on Nov. 26 of that year to Elizabeth See in New Bedford, Mass.

John Hill, who had found employment with American Can Co. in New York City, subsequently served from 1959 to 1961 as a field representative for the New England Council for Economic Development based in Boston. He and his family settled in Simsbury, Conn., and John Hill began his career in real estate as sales manager for a firm in nearby Hartford. He later engaged in land development and residential construction as president of Beldenwood Corp. and with his own business in Simsbury, the Hill Co. Along the way he maintained an association with Merrill Lynch Realty as a sales representative. A past president of the Heritage Glen Condominium Association and member of the executive board of Powder Forest Homes, he was also founder and owner of the Valley Car Wash in Simsbury.

A resident of Simsbury for 56 years, John Hill was long active in that community. He coached Simsbury Little League for many years and was a former president of the town’s Volunteer Ambulance Association and member of its Safety Commission. An ardent golfer, he was a founder and director of the Hop Meadow Country Club. Away from Simsbury, John and Elizabeth enjoyed winters in Florida as well as vacations abroad.

John S. Hill, a loyally supportive Hamiltonian, died on April 6, 2015, while hospitalized in Farmington, Conn. He is survived by his wife of almost 60 years. Also surviving are a daughter, Elizabeth, a son, John, and six grandchildren and a great-granddaughter.
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Frederick Wilhelm Schmidt, Jr. ’51

Frederick Wilhelm Schmidt, Jr. ’51, a stockbroker, was born on Sept. 30, 1929, to Frederick W., a business executive, and Anne Hart Schmidt. He prepared for College at the Pingry School in New Jersey and entered Hamilton from Summit. Fred Schmidt joined Alpha Delta Phi and, as a member of the track team, set College records at that time in the shot-put and discus-throw. He completed two years of study before withdrawing from Hamilton.

Discharged as a staff sergeant in 1953, after three years in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War era, Fred Schmidt enrolled at the University of Buffalo where he pursued studies in business administration for a year. He was subsequently employed as assistant to the operations manager of the Buffalo Crushed Stone Co. In 1957, he began his long career as a stockbroker with the firm of Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith in Newark, N.J. Promoted to senior account executive, he remained there for 28 years until his retirement in 1986.

Soon thereafter, Fred Schmidt moved from Madison, N.J., where he had resided for more than 30 years, to Fearrington Village in Pittsboro, N.C. In retirement, he continued to pursue his interests in tennis and golf as well as reading. He keenly followed current events, especially those involving business and politics.

Frederick W. Schmidt, Jr., a faithfully supportive alumnus, was residing in Burlington, N.C., when he died on April 16, 2015. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, the former Barbara Jean Coffey, whom he had wed on April 23, 1955. Also surviving are two daughters, Patricia and Margaret; a son, Thomas Schmidt ’87; and six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren along with two sisters, including Claire Leonard, widow of Frank Leonard ’42.
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Thomas Sylvester Mullen ’53

Thomas Sylvester Mullen ’53, a project leader with Lockheed Martin Corp., was born on March 23, 1931, in Utica, N.Y. A son of Patrick J. and Anne Marie Clermont Mullen, and the third of eight children, he grew up in the Utica area and graduated from Whitesboro Central School. Tom Mullen left Hamilton, largely for financial reasons, after a semester. He soon joined the U.S. Navy and served as a hospital corpsman throughout the Korean War. Discharged after almost four years in early 1954, he returned to the Hill and resumed his studies. While rooming at the home of President Robert W. McEwen, he focused on chemistry and biology, and earned his degree in 1957.

In 1970, after managing a medical research laboratory in Buffalo, N.Y., Tom Mullen moved with his family to the Philadelphia area where he worked as a computer programmer for Wyeth Laboratories (1970-80) and Blue Cross (1980-85). He was with GE Aerospace in King of Prussia from 1985 to 1992, when he became a project leader for Lockheed Martin in Virginia. He retired in 2004.

Thomas S. Mullen settled in Pennsylvania’s Delaware Valley to be nearer to his six children and 15 grandchildren. Accompanying was his wife, the former Kathleen Gurdo, whom he had first met while on furlough from the Navy and married in 1960. Known as a great reader and raconteur, and a devout Roman Catholic, he died in Exton, Pa., on Dec. 24, 2014. Besides his wife of 54 years, he is survived by a daughter and five sons, as well as his many grandchildren.
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Howland Clark Quinby ’53

Howland Clark Quinby ’53, a former Pan American Airlines pilot and a restless spirit with a lifelong fascination with flying, was born on April 23, 1931, in Orange, N.J. A son of Ripley Quinby, a sales representative, and the former Elsie Clark, he entered Hamilton from East Orange and joined Chi Psi. After two years, Clark Quinby withdrew from the College and embarked on his lifelong adventures in aviation. Having enlisted in the U.S. Navy, he began flight training in Pensacola, Fla., earned his wings and was commissioned as an ensign. While based in San Diego, he also took up skydiving.

Promoted to lieutenant (j.g.), Clark Quinby remained in the Navy for several years before becoming a pilot for Pan American. He flew 747s on international routes and lived abroad for stretches of time. In later years he returned to Pensacola to be near his only daughter. Throughout his life his devotion to flying never abated. He had earlier flown his own plane, and his fascination for the sky extended to glider piloting and hang gliding.

Known as “a true connoisseur of life, a bon vivant,” Clark Quinby had a passion for music as well as fine food and wine, and was a talented pianist. He never stopped plotting new adventures. Howland Clark Quinby, “a big man with a big heart” and “a true lover of life,” was still residing in Pensacola when his earthly adventures ended on July 10, 2015. Married several times, he is survived by a daughter and a son.
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Jerome Vogel ’54

Jerome Vogel ’54, an international student exchange director who became a connoisseur and promoter of African art, grew up in New York City where he was born on July 5, 1933. His parents were Harvey Vogel, a lawyer, and the former Esther Gordon. A “Bronx boy,” he graduated from the Bronx High School of Science where he distinguished himself academically. Along with classmate Carmi Schooler, Jerry Vogel went on to Hamilton and there too excelled. Concentrating in English, French and philosophy, he was the recipient of numerous awards, including the Winslow Prize in Romance Languages and the Babcock Prize in Philosophy and Pedagogy. Elected to Phi Beta Kappa, he earned high honor, including department honors in English literature and French, upon his graduation. Immediately thereafter, he and Marcia Heiberger were married in New York City.

Awarded a Fulbright Scholarship for study abroad, Jerry Vogel sailed to France with his bride that September. Upon his return to the States a year later, he enrolled in the graduate program in English literature at Yale University. He acquired an M.A. degree in 1957 but never got beyond the status of ABD (all but dissertation). In 1959, he obtained a teaching post at Georgetown University and took up residence in Washington, D.C., with Marcia. Although a talented teacher (one former student called his Shakespeare course the best course that he had ever taken), he was not granted tenure for lack of a Ph.D., and he left Georgetown after five years. His marriage to Marcia having already ended, Jerry Vogel met Susan Mullin at Georgetown, and they were wed in Paris in 1964. In the meantime, he had applied for a teaching position as a Fulbright professor at the University of Abidjan in the Ivory Coast. It was his first encounter with Africa, about which he had previously known nothing, and it marked the beginning of his and Susan’s lifelong commitment to African art. It also marked Jerry Vogel’s deeper immersion into French language and culture, for he was the only non-French professor at Abidjan at the time.

After a year in the Ivory Coast, Jerry and Susan returned to the States, where he tried to find employment related to Africa. In 1966, he succeeded in joining Operation Crossroads Africa, an organization based in New York City that received contracts from the U.S. government to bring Africans to this country for short-term training programs. As director of its overseas youth program, Jerry Vogel would travel frequently to Africa to interview and select applicants. He also directed an exchange program that sent American students to Africa for summer work camps. In 1972, when James Robertson, the organization’s founder, passed away, he succeeded him as executive director. He retained that post until 1984, and the organization, with no endowment, soon ceased to exist.

A year earlier, Jerry Vogel had begun a program with the Parsons School of Design to send groups of students to Africa. In the 1990s, the program was transferred to Drew University in New Jersey, where it continues today. In the meantime, he had launched a business importing household and clothing items made in the Ivory Coast and selling them through a trade show in New York City. And by that time, Susan Vogel had founded the Museum for African Art in Manhattan. Jerry purchased merchandise for the museum’s store and managed it on occasion. He also curated at the museum, acted as deputy director and coordinated relations with collectors and art dealers as well as arranging trips to Africa.

Jerome Vogel, a loyally supportive alumnus, died at his home in New York City on Sept. 10, 2014, of an apparent heart attack. It brought the end to an extraordinary life that not only helped promote cross-cultural ties with Africa but also contributed to American awareness and understanding of African art. His former wife, Susan Mullin Vogel, survives him. Last November, a memorial gathering for Jerry Vogel was held at the African Art Gallery of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, at which his longtime friend and former Hamilton roommate, Carmi Schooler ’54, spoke, fondly recalling Jerry.
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Robert Maxwell Fesq, Jr. ’55

Robert Maxwell Fesq, Jr. ’55, professor emeritus of mathematics at Kenyon College, was born on Nov. 3, 1933, in New York City. A son of Robert M., a store manager, and Emily Yost Fesq, a telephone operator, he grew up in New Jersey where he graduated from Teaneck High School. Bob Fesq arrived on College Hill and joined Delta Phi, later becoming its house president, and participated in productions of the Charlatans. He was also frequently available to fill out a foursome at the bridge table. Having entered Hamilton with the intention of preparing for a career in teaching, he majored in mathematics, for which he had a particular interest and flair.

Following his graduation, Bob Fesq served for two years in the U.S. Army. Thereafter he returned to New Jersey for graduate study in math at Rutgers University. Awarded his M.S. degree in 1960, he then moved to the West Coast and enrolled in the doctoral program at the University of Oregon. Aided by a National Science Foundation fellowship, he acquired his Ph.D. in 1962. On June 16, 1961, while still pursuing his graduate studies, he was married to Janet Haley in Tacoma, Wash.

In 1964, after serving for two years as an instructor at the University of California, Berkeley, Bob Fesq began his long tenure at Kenyon College as an assistant professor of mathematics. Promoted to associate professor in 1966 and professor in 1991, he specialized in analysis research but broadened his interests to encompass a wide range of math subjects. He taught virtually all courses that the math department had to offer to generations of Kenyon students and was credited with initiating or enhancing the college’s offerings in probability, math statistics, numerical analysis and math modeling.

However, Bob Fesq’s most notable contribution was made in the developing field of computer science. Beginning with Kenyon’s first acquisition of a computer (an IBM 1130) in 1969, he created and led its computer science program. He also chaired the math department and served on key faculty governance committees. Upon his retirement after 33 years of service in 1997, Kenyon awarded him an honorary doctor of science degree. In the accompanying citation, he was saluted not only for his contributions to Kenyon’s computer science program since its inception, but also for his “mathematical learning and teaching that has ranged broadly, with high standards and outstanding results.”

In 1969, having settled with his family in a new neighborhood in Gambier, Ohio, where Kenyon is located, Bob Fesq enthusiastically took to gardening and “turned his wooded property into a veritable arboretum of rhododendrons.” He developed a passion for those flowers and became a longtime member of the Rhododendron Society. He also fiercely protected them against marauding white-tailed deer, taking “extreme measures to keep them from snacking on his rhododendrons.”
Bob Fesq’s favorite mode of transportation was bicycle, and students and colleagues would often encounter him as he was pedaling by. In retirement, he divided the seasons between Gambier and Fort Myers, Fla., until he moved permanently to Fort Myers a few years ago. There, in that semi-tropical climate, he embraced a new horticultural enthusiasm, orchid growing. He was tending to some 150 of those exotic flowers at the time of his death.

Robert M. Fesq died on Jan. 11, 2015, while hospitalized in Tampa. He is survived by his companion of 25 years, Gail Daneman. Also surviving are two daughters, Mary and Deborah, as well as his former wife and two grandchildren.
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John Forsyth Kelly ’55

John Forsyth Kelly ’55, a lawyer who retired as vice president of North American Philips Corp., the electronics manufacturer, was born on June 5, 1935, in Fulton, N.Y., northwest of Syracuse. The eldest son of John Kelly, a paper mill owner, and the former Janet Forsyth, Jack Kelly grew up in Ithaca, N.Y., where he prepared for college at Cascadilla School. He entered Hamilton at the age of 16 and joined Theta Delta Chi. “Easy-going” Jack played varsity football for a time and impressed classmates with his “always-game” attitude. Having concentrated in history and political science, he was graduated on his 20th birthday.

Inducted into the U.S. Army three days later, Jack Kelly served in the enlisted ranks, primarily on the West Coast, for two years. While in uniform he met Margaret Cooper, and they were married on Nov. 30, 1957, a few months after Jack had left military service. His total assets at the time were “$400 and a very old car.” He began his working career in sales, first in Schenectady, N.Y., for General Electric and later as a motor products representative for Sun Oil Co. He was in Baltimore when, after 10 years, five moves and two children, he decided to take up his original goal of becoming a lawyer.

With Peggy’s encouragement and support, Jack Kelly enrolled in the evening division of the University of Maryland School of Law where he obtained his J.D. degree on his 35th birthday in 1970. He then embarked on his new career in corporate law, which took him to Jacksonville, Fla., Fort Wayne, Ind., and Ridgefield, Conn. He would spend 25 years in the legal department of North American Philips, beginning with general counsel for its Magnavox subsidiary in Fort Wayne. Given increasing responsibilities, he rose through the company’s ranks until his retirement as vice president and deputy general counsel of Philips Electronics North America in 1998.

In 1986, the Kellys moved to Ridgefield when Jack was transferred to Philips’ home office in Manhattan. After his retirement, Jack and Peggy divided the year between Connecticut and a winter home in Bonita Springs, Fla. There Jack became active in the Naples Council on World Affairs. He also cultivated his multiple interests, including reading, music, golf, biking and fishing. In addition, he was fond of travel, and one of his last adventures was cruising through the Panama Canal. Known for his devotion to his family and friends as well as his ready wit and determination to enjoy retirement to the fullest, he had taken up full-time residence in Bonita Springs in recent years.

John F. Kelly had been looking forward to attending the 60th reunion of his class when his life ended in Bonita Springs, in the aftermath of a stroke, on Feb. 4, 2015. In addition to his wife of 57 years, he is survived by a son, John, a daughter, Karen, and three grandchildren.
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Robert DeCourcy Ward ’55

Robert DeCourcy Ward ’55, an international banking executive, was born on May 15, 1932, in Cambridge, Mass. The son of Henry D., an investment manager, and Janet Clarke Ward, he grew up in the Boston area and prepared for college at Milton Academy and Belmont Hill School. At Hamilton, Bob Ward quickly involved himself in all kinds of campus activities. A member of Alpha Delta Phi, he joined the Choir and the Charlatans, becoming manager and director, respectively, by his senior year. He also served for four years on the Student Admissions Committee, contributed time and effort to the Campus Fund and chaired the Executive Board as a senior. Along the way he lettered in soccer, managed the basketball team and served as senior editor of the Hamiltonian. Elected to D.T. and the honor society Alpha Psi Omega, “the busiest man on campus” departed the Hill with his diploma in 1955, having majored in history.

His interest in a career in the international field stimulated by courses taken with Professor of Government Channing Richardson, Bob Ward went on to the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies where he obtained his M.A. degree in 1957. He had concentrated on international economics and African studies. In 1958, while employed by Citibank in Boston, he met English-born and London-bred Margaret Kingdon on a blind date in Mexico City. They were married on June 6, 1959. Soon thereafter, Bob moved out of banking and went to work for Arthur D. Little & Co., the international consulting firm.

During his 13 years as a consultant, Bob Ward, with Margaret, spent stretches of time in Africa, beginning with Liberia shortly after their marriage. They later lived for three years in Lagos, Nigeria, where Bob was an industrial development advisor to the government. Subsequently, he became director of Arthur D. Little’s Management Education Institute, a fully accredited graduate school that continues to function. He retained that post for eight years.

In 1973, Bob Ward left the consulting business and returned to banking as a vice president of the Bank of Boston. During 20 years with the bank, he managed its operations in Nigeria and Cameroon as well as Turkey and France. He and Margaret sojourned abroad during much of that time, including three years in Lagos and more than four in Istanbul. They experienced a wealth of far-flung adventures while maintaining their permanent residence in Belmont, Mass.

Bob Ward took early retirement from the Bank of Boston in 1993, a life of leisure that was to last less than 48 hours. He promptly accepted a new position with BayBank, a smaller bank, as director of its international division. In that position he was able to utilize his vast experience in international banking and consulting to great effect, and he found it extremely satisfying professionally. He retired for the second and last time in 1996. However, he continued to engage in consulting work for financial institutions in developing countries. This “last hurrah” was as executive director of the Office of International Trade and Investment in Boston, from which he retired after a couple of years in 2006. In recent years, he and Margaret continued to enjoy travel abroad while also spending time at their summer place on Nantucket Island.

Robert D. Ward, a devoted alumnus, died on Feb. 18, 2014, at Baltimore Washington Medical Center in Maryland. In addition to his wife, he is survived by two sons, Michael and Jonathon, and three grandchildren.
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Michael Ralph Mardiney, Jr. ’56

Michael Ralph Mardiney, Jr. ’56, an allergist and asthma specialist who established immunology centers throughout Baltimore, was born on Dec. 16, 1934, in Brooklyn, N.Y. The son of Syrian-born Michael Mardiney, a court reporter for the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, and the former Marianna Carotenuto, he grew up in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn and graduated from Brooklyn Preparatory School. Inspired as a boy to enter the field of medicine by a psychiatrist uncle, he came to College Hill with premedical preparation in mind. He joined Tau Kappa Epsilon and concentrated in biology and chemistry.

Michael Mardiney, following his graduation, entered the then-new Seton Hall College of Medicine and Dentistry and became a member of its first graduating class in 1960. On Sept. 17 of that year, he was wed to Mary Ann Flaherty. He interned at Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn and thereafter served his residency at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. In 1952, Dr. Mardiney obtained a three-year fellowship at Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in La Jolla, Calif., where he did research in immunopathology. From 1965 to 1967, he was a clinical associate with the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., engaged in research on cancer immunology. He subsequently served for 10 years as head of the immunology and cell biology section of NCI’s Cancer Research Center in Baltimore. There he worked to develop a cancer vaccine.

In 1977, Dr. Mardiney established his private practice in clinical immunology in Baltimore. By that time he had become the author or co-author of numerous research publications. The following year, he established Immunodiagnostic and Immunotherapeutics, Inc., later Allergy Control, Inc., and served as its president. He oversaw the growth of what became Mardiney Asthma, Allergy and Immunology Centers into a group of eight medical offices.

Although “a scientist and biologist at heart,” Dr. Mardiney was passionately dedicated to the welfare of his patients. He made himself available to them 24 hours a day and treated them very much as individuals. Always professionally innovative, he became adept with computers and technology later in his career and worked to link medical records digitally in an effort to achieve better information retrieval. He never retired and, at the age of 80, continued to see patients until the week before his death. In his spare time he enjoyed gardening and maintained a large rose garden at his Baltimore home.

Michael R. Mardiney, Jr. died at his home on March 28, 2015, of heart disease. He is survived by his wife of 14 years, Karen Mardiney. Also surviving are two sons and a daughter from his first marriage: Matthew, Megan and Michael R. Mardiney III ’85, also a physician who had been practicing in partnership with his father. Predeceased by his second wife, Eleanor Mardiney, in 1997, he leaves, in addition, a son and a daughter, Brian and Amanda, as well as six grandchildren.
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Mario Anthony Di Marco ’57

Mario Anthony Di Marco ’57, a veteran high school teacher and union official, was born on May 5, 1931, in New York City. A son of Giuseppe Di Marco and the former Anna Gottuso, he moved with his family to Utica, N.Y., as a boy and graduated from Thomas R. Proctor High School in that city. Thereafter he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served for three years with a special weapons unit. Discharged as a corporal in 1952, he enrolled at the College the following year and joined the Squires Club, without which “I would never have felt I belonged at Hamilton,” as he remarked years later. Keenly interested in politics, he majored in political science and participated in Hamilton’s Washington Seminar in his senior year.

Drawn to teaching as a youth, Mario Di Marco went on to the New York State University College at Albany where he acquired his M.S. degree in education in 1958. That year he returned to the Utica area and began his long career at Whitesboro Central School, teaching social studies and chairing its high school social studies department for many years. He took to teaching with great enthusiasm and particularly enjoyed discussing his wealth of ideas and concepts with his students. In 1967, he was honored by the Whitesboro Junior Chamber of Commerce as the Outstanding Young Educator of the Year.

Mario Di Marco also became active in the Whitesboro and Oneida County teachers’ associations and served as executive vice president of the AFL-CIO Central New York Labor Council. A delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1976, he helped organize the first New York State Teachers Political Action Committee and was a past president of the Central New York Labor Agency and the Oneida-Herkimer Research Foundation. In 1979, he received the United Way Labor Award and was named Co-Citizen of the Year by the League of Women Voters. Long a resident of Utica, he served on various community advisory boards and committees and as a trustee of St. Luke’s Memorial Hospital Center and member of the Board of Visitors of Marcy Psychiatric Center.
Mario Di Marco retired in 1987 after almost 30 years of teaching. The initiator of several after-school programs in Oneida County, he continued to tutor youngsters for 17 years after his retirement. Known for his dedication to his family as well as to teaching, he was “happiest planning a feast, party or gathering” with family and friends.

Following a valiant battle with cancer, Mario A. Di Marco, a faithfully supportive alumnus, died on March 5, 2015. He is survived by his wife, the former Kathleen Brady, whom he had wed on July 3, 1965. Also surviving are two sons, Mario and John; a daughter, Felicia Di Marco Shultzaberger ’92; and a grandson.
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Richard LaMott Purple ’58

Richard LaMott Purple ’58, a distinguished medical educator who also pioneered in research on visual nerve cells, was born on Oct. 1, 1936, in Cooperstown, N.Y. His parents were George Purple, a school principal and superintendent, and the former Ella Congdon, a school teacher. Rick Purple grew up in Richfield Springs, N.Y., where he already demonstrated a flair for science as well as athletic prowess, lettering in three sports at Richfield Springs High School. Also an Eagle Scout, he arrived on College Hill following his high school graduation as president and valedictorian of the senior class. Intending to prepare for a career in the medical field, he became Hamilton’s premier biology student, and his exceptional athleticism was demonstrated on the baseball diamond and the basketball court. A member of Delta Kappa Epsilon, he also served on the staff of The Spectator and on the Chapel Board. Upon graduating Phi Beta Kappa, he was chosen by the faculty to give the principal Commencement address. He left the Hill with the Hamiltonian’s prediction of future eminence in his chosen field.

Awarded a Rockefeller Foundation grant as well as a Danforth Fellowship, Rick Purple went on to the Rockefeller Institute (later University), where he was awarded his Ph.D. in life sciences, with emphasis on neuroscience, in 1964. By that time he had become a family man, having married Jeré Anne Reppert, whom he had met in a Woods Hole classroom, on Sept. 17, 1960. His first child was born on the weekend of his graduation, just when he had received a job offer from the University of Minnesota Medical School.

Dr. Purple immediately began his long and notable career at Minnesota, teaching and doing research in neuroscience. Promoted through the ranks to full professor of physiology and ophthalmology, he directed graduate studies in physiology and helped found and bring to the peak of excellence the university’s model neuroscience graduate program. Along the way, he captured the maximum number of distinguished teaching awards allotted by the university to one person.

Dr. Purple also established and headed a diagnostic clinic for rare retinal diseases, a field in which he did pioneering research. He made many seminal contributions to the study of the physiology of the eye, as well as opening paths in what became known as computational neuroscience. For his achievements in medical research and education, as well as his exemplary university and community service, he was awarded Hamilton’s Alumni Achievement Medal in 1995.

Rick Purple, who retired in 2001 after 37 years at the University of Minnesota Medical School, was devoted to his family and had a great appreciation for the wonders of the natural world. He found pleasure in golfing as well as fishing and boating, and eagerly cheered the Gophers from the sidelines. In addition, he was an ever-loyal Hamiltonian.

Richard L. Purple, a longtime resident of Minneapolis, died in that city on April 15, 2015, leaving his wife of 54 years. Also surviving are three sons, Robert, Joshua and James; a daughter, Margo; and four grandchildren.
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Theodore Schuyler Smith, Jr. ’59

Theodore Schuyler Smith, Jr. ’59, whose life pursuits ranged from teaching to property development to philanthropy, was born on May 5, 1937, in Geneva, N.Y. The son of Theodore Smith, a nurseryman, and the former Helen Sholes, he prepared for college at the Millbrook School. In addition to his concentrations in English and French, Ted Smith was active in student life on the Hill as a member of the Press Board, Publications Board, Student Admissions Committee, Parents Weekend Committee, Chapel Board and Sigma Phi. He reflected fondly upon his years as a student, acknowledging that his “best memory overall is of a close-knit, friendly community whose members cared about each other.”

One year after his Hamilton graduation, Ted Smith earned a master’s degree from Middlebury College’s program in France. He held his memories from France so close to his heart that he later wrote a novel, published in 1989 by Vantage Press, titled Café Du Metro based on his experiences there. In addition, he compiled several short stories to share the adventures from his time abroad. After completing the France program, Ted Smith taught English and French at DeVeaux School in Niagara Falls, N.Y., for four years. He returned to France a second time before settling in Chatham, Mass., from 1966 to 1968.

For 25 years thereafter, Ted Smith divided his time between Geneva and Cape Cod, where he turned a hobby into a lucrative career buying, remodeling and renting or selling historic homes, doing much of the work himself. In addition to this endeavor, he immersed himself in the community. His passion for furthering youth education encouraged him to found Owl’s Head Trust, an organization that provided resources for college students, and he helped establish and run a coffeehouse for teens. For many years, he volunteered with the student exchange organization AFS Intercultural Programs, as well as with arts organizations.

Ted Smith, who traditionally spent part of the winter in Florida and fall in the Adirondacks, died at Geneva General Hospital on June 4, 2015, after a brief illness. A supportive alumnus of the College, he is survived by numerous cousins, including Hugh Carson ’65 and Robert Carson, Jr. ’66.
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