obit – Page 6

Jason Wolfe, professor of biology emeritus, died Dec. 23 at the age of 73. Wolfe joined the Wesleyan faculty in 1969 after receiving his BA from Rutgers University and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and completing two post-doctoral fellowships at Kings College, University of London, and Johns Hopkins University. He taught cell biology, human biology, biology of aging and the elderly, and structural biology at Wesleyan for 39 years. In his research, Wolfe asked big questions about how reproduction and aging are regulated. With funding from NIH and NSF, he produced a consistent and enviable body of work published…

George Creeger, professor of English, emeritus, died Nov. 1 at the age of 89. Creeger joined the Wesleyan faculty in 1951 after receiving his BA at DePauw University, and his MA and Ph.D. at Yale. He taught American literature in the English Department for nearly 50 years. He was an expert on romantic poetry — particularly Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Keats, Percy Shelley and Lord Byron, and on the works of Herman Melville. Creeger also brought some of his other passions into the classroom through courses on Early Connecticut Houses and Opera as Myth and Literature. He served as dean of…

Jean Redpath, a Scottish-born singer who delighted audiences worldwide and was described by The Boston Globe as “something very close to Scotland’s folk singer laureate,” died Aug. 21 at age 77. She brought her musical talent and extensive knowledge of Scottish history to Wesleyan and the Middletown community as an artist-in-residence in the 1970s. According to her official website, Redpath arrived in the United States in 1961 with $11 in her pocket. (more…)

John Frazer, professor of art, emeritus, died July 7 at the age of 82. "Generations of Wesleyan students knew John as a gifted teacher of students at all levels of artistic ability," said Ruth Striegel Weissman, provost and vice president for academic affairs. Throughout his career on the Wesleyan faculty, from 1959 to 2001, Frazer introduced hundreds of Wesleyan students to the art of drawing, painting and film. He taught the first filmmaking courses at Wesleyan and continued this teaching until the Film Program, which he helped found, became independent of the Art Department. His influence lives on through his endowment…

Thomson Whitin, the Chester D. Hubbard Professor of Economics and Social Science, Emeritus, died Dec. 9 at the age of 90. Whitin had already achieved distinction when he joined the Wesleyan faculty as a professor of economics in 1963. He graduated from Princeton University in 1943 and served as an officer in the U.S. Navy during World War II on the aircraft carrier the Bonhomme Richard. Having obtained a doctorate in economics from Princeton University, and teaching there until 1952, he joined the faculty of M.I.T. as an assistant professor. While on leave from M.I.T. from 1956–58, he served as…

James Reid, professor of mathematics, emeritus, died Oct. 27. An authority on algebra, Reid joined the Wesleyan faculty in 1969 as associate professor, becoming professor of mathematics in 1971. Previously, he had held faculty positions at Syracuse University and Amherst College, and he also had served as a research associate at Yale University. He obtained his PhD from the University of Washington, where he was an instructor. Reid published in scholarly journals throughout his career, presented numerous invited lectures, and was an adviser for 14 PhD students, 11 master’s degree students, and six undergraduate honors theses. Among his colleagues, he…

Franklin Reeve, professor of letters, emeritus, passed away on June 28 at the age of 84. He spent four decades at Wesleyan. Lauded for his luminous intelligence, Reeve was not only an estimable academic, but also a noted poet, writer, translator, editor and critic. He was a juror for the National Book Awards, a consultant for Kirkus Reviews, and served on the governing board, as well as the first vice president, of the Poetry Society of America. The author of 31 books, Reeve possessed a passion for teaching the written word, too. A recipient of the Binswanger Prize and a…

Doreen Brown Freeman, who together with her husband, the late Houghton “Buck” Freeman ’43, generously supported Wesleyan and especially the Freeman Asian Scholars Program, died July 12 in Honolulu. The Freeman family, including Buck, Doreen and their son Graeme Freeman ’77, established the Freeman Foundation in 1993 after the death of Buck’s father, Mansfield Freeman, Wesleyan class of 1916, who had contributed greatly to Wesleyan’s East Asian Studies Program. Buck Freeman was chairman of the Freeman Foundation, and Doreen was a co-trustee. They demonstrated a hands-on style of giving that ensured a personal connection with all those receiving foundation support.…

John "Jack" C. Hoy '55, the dean of admissions at Wesleyan in the 1960s who oversaw a radically new commitment to expanding racial, religious and economic diversity on campus, died July 9 at his home in Duxbury, Mass. He was 79 years old. Hoy, who also held an MALS degree from Wesleyan in 1961 and was the parent of two alumni from the classes of 2003 and 2005, was deeply involved with Wesleyan for nearly his entire adult life. As an undergraduate, he majored in history, competed on the swim team, and was a member of the Eclectic Society fraternity.…

Laurel Appel, adjunct associate professor of biology and senior research associate, died on March 4. She is survived by her husband, Michael Weir, and her children, Rebecca and Nathaniel. The following announcement was made by Provost Rob Rosenthal, the John E. Andrus Professor of Sociology, in an all-campus e-mail. "Laurel Appel's passion was equality of opportunity, and she developed and ran the Ronald E. McNair Program at Wesleyan for many years. This program provides support and nurturing of first generation college students and students in underrepresented groups for entry into graduate programs. In Laurel's words, working with the program 'was…

Melvin "Mel" Strauss, adjunct professor of music, emeritus, died Sept. 5 following a prolonged illness. During his time at Wesleyan, Strauss directed and conducted the University Orchestra and Concert Choir and also served as director of the Private Music Lessons Program, which he helped to rejuvenate. Born in Newark, N.J., in 1929, Strauss earned his bachelor of arts degree in humanities from Rutgers University, and his master of arts degree in musicology from New York University. Subsequently, Strauss worked with Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood (then the Berkshire Music Center), and it was through Strauss's involvement at Tanglewood, with the Boston…

Jean François-Poncet ’47, Hon. ’81, French diplomat, businessman, senator and Secretary General, died July 18, 2012. Wesleyan celebrated his achievements at the 1980 Wesleyan Commencement ceremonies, where François-Poncet delivered the commencement address and received an honorary degree. In 1981, he returned to campus to deliver the keynote address for Wesleyan’s 150th anniversary. An obituary in Le Monde noted that he was the son of an ambassador, André François-Poncet, who served as French ambassador to Germany from 1930–38, and observed that the younger François-Poncet had quickly made a name for himself in the 1950s as a brilliant young diplomat. In that era,…

Professor Emeritus Jason Wolfe Remembered for Mentoring, Cell Biology Research

Professor Emeritus Creeger Remembered for Teaching Romantic Poetry

Former Artist-in-Residence Redpath Remembered for Teaching Folklore

Professor of Art John Frazer Remembered for Teaching, Painting, Films

Professor Emeritus Whitin Dies at Age 90

Professor Emeritus Reid Remembered for Being a Pedagogical Innovator

Professor Emeritus Reeve Remembered for Long, Varied Career at Wesleyan

Freeman Remembered for Supporting Asian Scholars Program at Wesleyan

Former Dean of Admission Hoy ’55 Remembered for Wesleyan Involvement

Biology Department’s Laurel Appel Dies March 4

Strauss Remembered for Rejuvenating Private Music Lessons Program

Diplomat Jean François-Poncet ’47, Hon. ’81 Dies July 18