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Obituaries for the Brown Class of '77


Lewis Barnett Ph.D., Barcelona, Spain; July 1, 1995. A specialist in cooperative and autonomous learning, he developed a self-learning access center at ESADE, a language institute in Barcelona. He was also coordinator of teacher training at the institute, gave workshops around the country, and ran conferences devoted to cooperative learning and drama techniques for the foreign language classroom. A book fund has been established in his name at the Brown libraries to support research in education reform and Latin American studies. He is survived by his wife, Rosa, and two daughters. (From BAM 7/96)

Peter D. Bensley, of Newburyport, Mass.; Jan. 18, in an automobile accident. He was founder and president of Bensley Construction, which renovates homes in historic New England neighborhoods. He previously cofounded PBK Development Co. in Boston and restored homes in the Baltimore area. He enjoyed hiking, skiing, and playing squash and tennis. He was also a local coach. A standout lacrosse player at Brown, he is survived by his wife, Lianne; a son; a daughter; his parents, Audrey and Gordon; his grandmothers; two brothers; and two sisters. (From BAM Mar/Apr 04)

David S. Cody, of Bronxville, N.Y.; May 31, of cancer. He had a career in finance with Bankers Trust and Citicorp before returning to school for his masters in education. After attaining his masters, he briefly taught middle school mathematics. He is survived by his wife, Susan, and two daughters.(From BAM Sept/Oct 07)

Melissa Jacobs Gridley, of Naples, Fla.; Oct. 23, of pulmonary emboli while attending a medical conference in Orlando. She was an ophthalmologist. Since 1988 she had been on the staff of Naples Community Hospital, where she focused her practice on retinal surgery and the treatment of macular degeneration. She previously served two years as a captain in the U.S. Public Health Service Corps, where she was given two medals for outstanding service. She was trained at Rhode Island Hospital. Active in the Conservancy of Southwest Florida and the Friends of Art for the Naples Philharmonic, she raised money for several charitable and cultural organizations and also befriended orphaned dogs at the Collier County Humane Society. She had served for three years as bailie of the Chaine des Rotisseurs, an international gourmet society. She is survived by her husband, John, 4540 Gordon Dr., Naples 33940; and her parents, Craig and Audrey Jacobs. (From BAM 03/00)

Gary R. Helman, of St. Paul, Minn.; Dec. 28, after a long illness. He is survived by his wife, Nancy; his parents, Joy and Gilbert; a brother; and a sister. (From BAM 09/03)

Vicky R. Jones, of Philadelphia; Dec. 16, 1998. She was a staffing administrator for the Philadelphia school district. She is survived by her husband, Keith Cunningham, 5234 Morris St., Philadelphia 19144. (From BAM 09/99)

Margaret M. Kelly Sc.M., of Wash- ington, D.C.; March 14, of breast cancer. She was the first director of regulatory activities at the Environmental Protection Agency's office of children?s health protection. A longtime employee of the EPA, she prepared acid-rain briefing papers for U.S.-Canadian negotiations on the subject and was the primary analyst on a team that drew up restrictions that led to the banning of the pesticide EDB. She also supervised the assessment of alternative treatment technologies for hazardous waste and developed better technology training for Superfund personnel. During the early 1990s she represented the agency's Technology Innovation Office at many domestic and international conferences. She was also a part of the EPA's Common Sense Initiative, which sought to increase regulatory cooperation between the agency and oil refiners. She joined the agency as a chemist in its enforcement division. A frequent volunteer at the Lisner Louise Dickson Hurt Home, she is survived by her mother, Monsita Gomez Kelly, who lives at the home; and her partner, Dana Ott. (From BAM 07/01)

Shelley Eudene Lanman ’77, of White Plains, N.Y.; May 25, of cancer. She was chief creative officer at Draft Worldwide for five years. During her twenty-five year career in advertising, she also worked at Ogilvy & Mather and Ammurati & Puris. She won multiple advertising-industry awards. She is survived by her husband, Jonathan ’75, 7 Midland Ave., White Plains 10606; her parents, Sidney and Alice Eudene; three sons; and a brother. (From BAM Mar/Apr 07)

Betsy A. Lehman Newton Centre, Mass.; Dec. 3, while undergoing treatment for breast cancer. For the past eight years she wrote "Health Sense," an award-winning column in the Boston Globe which was syndicated to about 350 newspapers. Before joining the Globe in 1982 as a general assignment reporter, she was a reporter, food editor, and editorial writer for the Worcester Telegram in Massachusetts, and a feature writer at the Stamford Advocate in Connecticut. Phi Beta Kappa. She is survived by her husband, Robert J. Distel, 170 Jackson St., Newton Centre 02159; and two daughters. Contributions to establish an award for excellence in writing may be sent to the Betsy A. Lehman Memorial Fund, Box 1893, Brown University, Providence 02912. (From BAM 3/95)

Charles J. Latos Ph.D., of Wakefield, R.I.; Feb. 20, after an illness. He was an economics instructor at the University of Rhode Island for twenty-eight years before he retired in 1998. He served in the U.S. Navy and is survived by his companion, Noreen M. Rickson; two daughters; a brother; and three grandchildren. (From BAM 09/01)

Jayne F. Lynch, of North Hampton, N.H.; Nov. 27. She was a lawyer in New Hampshire and Maine. A volunteer docent at the Wells Estuarine Reserve in Maine, she received the "volunteer extraordinaire" award. She also volunteered as a Red Cross trainer and a traveling disaster worker. She is survived by her husband, Andrew Janiak, 24 New Rd., North Hampton 03862; her parents, John and Joan; her grandmother; a daughter; a brother; a brother-in-law, Stan Janiak '73; and nephews Kevin Janiak '98 and Derek Janiak '00. (From BAM 1/01)

Benjamin Rush "Rusty" Magee, age 47, died in New York City on February 16th, 2003. There is a website in his memory here.

Joel P. Maksymowicz, of Medfield, Mass.; Feb. 19, of a heart attack while skiing with his family. He was manager of marketing information and business intelligence at Agilent Technologies in Palo Alto, Calif. He previously worked at Bayer Diagnostics Corp., Bain and Co., Mercer Consulting, Interactive Market Systems, and George Fine Research. He enjoyed skiing, hiking, and cooking. He is survived by his wife, Tanya Chermak Maksymowicz ’79; his stepmother; two sons; two brothers; two stepbrothers; and two stepsisters. (From BAM 07/03)

Marion R. Metcalf, of Arlington, Va.; Dec. 11, after a heart attack. She had worked for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service since 1987, most recently as a project manager in the deputy commissioner’s office. She was the principal author of a handbook – distributed to more than eight million employers during the late 1980s – that explains the I-9 form, which restricts the hiring of illegal immigrants. A former senior policy analyst at the U.S. Sentencing Commission, she was previously a policy analyst in the Justice Department’s criminal division. She was president of the Capitol Hill Choral Society. She is survived by her husband, Alfred S. Gilman; her mother, Margaret; and two stepdaughters. (From BAM 05/00)

Franco Moscardi of Hunt Valley, Md.; April 13, when he drowned while vacationing with his family. He was founder and president of IISP Inc., a Hunt Valley consulting firm that designs and installs payroll and benefits systems for companies. He previously worked in human resources from 1981 to 1996 in New York City and Wilmington, Del., and briefly for United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. He coached soccer, baseball, and basketball for the Lutherville-Timonium Recreation Council, and volunteered for the American Cancer Society and at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. He was a member of the International Association for Human Resource Management and Chesapeake Human Resources. He enjoyed saltwater fishing and traveling. A communicant of St. Joseph Catholic Church, he is survived by his wife, Carol; a son; a daughter; and a brother. (From BAM 09/01)

Joshua P. Pearlman, of Pawtucket, R.I.; March 25. He was a practicing lawyer and past vice president of Providence Hebrew Day School. Besides Brown, he attended Kol Torah Rabbinical College in Jerusalem, Nar Israel Rabbinical College in Maryland, and Johns Hopkins Evening College in Maryland. He was a member of Ohawe Shalom Congregation and the Rhode Island Bar Association. Survivors include his wife, Elisheva, 87 Cambria Ct., Pawtucket 02860; his parents, Miriam and Thomas Pearlman '48; a son; two daughters; and a sister, Rebecca '87. (From BAM 07/99)

Melissa Prince Quisenberry '77, '79 ScM of Winchester, Ky.; Apr. 14, of cancer. She was president and CEO of AllTranz Inc. and former cofounder/CEO of Alere Medical Inc. She is survived by her husband, John; a daughter; her mother, Phyllis E. Prince; and two brothers. (From BAM March/April 08)

James B. Spamer, of Dallas; July 4. He began his career in academia as an associate professor of English at UC Davis from 1977 to 1982, but in 1983 he received his doctor of jurisprudence degree from Texas Technical University, where he was an editor of the Law Review and a member of Phi Delta Phi. After practicing corporate law in Houston for two years, he was a staff attorney at the Court of Appeals, Fifth District of Texas. Phi Beta Kappa. He is survived by two sisters, including Elizabeth A. Enas, 2630 Whispering Terr., Colorado Springs 80917; and a brother. (From BAM 11/00)

Timothy J. Stryker Danbury, Conn.; Aug. 6. He was a writer, artist, and avid paraglider. He is survived by his wife, Christine, 94 Hammersmith Apts., Danbury 06810; and four children. (From BAM 12/96)

Robert A. Sullivan, of Londonderry, N.H.; March 12, after a fifteen-month struggle with acute leukemia. A computer programming analyst, he worked for Carleton Corp. in Billerica, Mass. He was a member of the Brown crew. He is survived by his wife, Carol, 13 Pleasant Dr., Londonderry 03053; two sons; his mother; and two brothers. (From BAM 11/99)

James F. Wing Jr., of Houston; Feb. 8. He is survived by his wife, Deborah. (From BAM Mar/Apr 07)

John C. Wong of San Francisco; Nov. 6, of colon cancer. He was an orthopedic and hand surgeon in private practice for thirteen years. Active in the San Francisco Chinatown community, he gave orthopedic care to its indigent patients. At his behest his practice was donated to the Chinese Hospital at the time of his death. He was secretary of the Chinese Community Health Care Association board. He is survived by his wife, Ramona Fung '77, 21 Yerba Buena Ave., San Francisco 94127, two daughters; and a son. (From BAM 11/01)





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