Spring/Summer 2017: In Memoriam

Alumni

Margaret Jean Baughn, ’54 Education, age 84, on July 9, 2016, in Modesto. A native of Phoenix, Ariz., Baughn taught at Somerset Junior High School in Modesto, retiring in 1991. She was a member of Centenary Methodist Church and the SJSU Alumni Association. 

Dennis Bowman, ’60 Business Administration, on Aug. 17, 2016, in Fremont.

Robert Bulmore, ’50 Business, age 91, on Aug. 6, 2016. A San Francisco native and World War II veteran, Bulmore was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at SJSU. After graduation, he worked alongside his father at Bulmore Lighting in San Francisco and later pursued a career in banking. He retired as an executive vice president at Great Western Savings.

Shannon Zinn Coelho, ’95 Hospital Management, on Feb. 5, in Livermore. A member of Alpha Phi sorority, Coelho worked in human resources at Hayward’s Data Broadcasting Corporation and, for the past 16 years, at Robert Half International, a recruitment and placement firm.

Charlton Cox, ’49 Chemistry, on July 30, 2016, in Eugene, Ore.

Barbara Bennema Dawdy, ’78 Nursing, on July 7, 2016, in Holland, Mich. A native of DeMotte, Ind., Dawdy worked as a registered nurse at El Camino Hospital and Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and as an enterostomal therapist for Alexian Brothers Home Health Care. She retired in 2011.

Robert DeBarr, ’78 Accounting, age 59, on July 4, 2016, in Saratoga. A San Francisco native, DeBarr worked in various finance positions at National Semiconductor for 30 years. He retired as CFO of Micrel in 2015.

Judith Diller, ’77 Nursing, on June 12, 2016, in Gleneden Beach, Ore.

Darrell Dukes Sr., ’53 Accounting, age 87, on Oct. 22, 2016, in Saratoga. A native of Napa, Dukes won third place in the 1953 NCAA light-heavyweight boxing competition. He was a U.S. Air Force and Korean War veteran.

Ellen Eckert, ’56 Child Development, age 83, on Oct. 16, 2016, in San Jose.

Edward Gardner, ’57 Criminal Justice, age 89, on April 14, 2016, in Accomac, Va. A native of Meriden, Conn., Gardner served in the U.S. Army, the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Air Force, where he achieved his dream of becoming a pilot. As a civilian, he worked at the National Security Agency and retired as the agency’s deputy director.

Leonard Jay “Bud” Goad, ’63 Business, age 74, on Jan. 29, in Wakita, Okla. A native of Ponca City, Okla., Goad was a member of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity at SJSU.

Marshall Greeninger, ’70 Accounting, age 72, on July 28, 2016, in Capitola. A native of San Jose, Greeninger retired as controller for the Northern California Golf Association at Pebble Beach.

Robert Harpainter, ’58 Criminal Justice, age 88, on Aug. 11, 2016, in San Jose. A U.S. Army Reserve veteran, Brig. Gen. Harpainter was a San Jose police officer for 15 years and served as senior deputy district attorney in the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office for more than 22 years.

Martin Harrington, ’85 MA Education, age 71, on Aug. 20, 2016. A Chicago native and U.S. Army veteran, Harrington taught in the Pacifica School District before his retirement. He was a parishioner at St. Kevin’s Catholic Church in San Francisco.

Judith Hayes, Accounting, age 76, on July 3, 2016, in Sunnyvale.

George Hinkle, ’49 Business Education, age 95, on July 1, 2016. A U.S. Navy and World War II veteran, Hinkle had a 30-year career in education as a high school teacher and administrator.

Thomas Horan Jr., ’84 Aeronautics, age 55, on July 2, 2016. A U.S. Navy veteran and native of Evergreen Park, Ill., Horan retired from the military at the rank of commander after 21 years of service. He served as a Southwest Airlines captain for 19 years.

Donald Hubbard, ’56 Business Administration, age 81, on Aug. 11, 2016, in Carmel. A native of Watsonville and U.S. Army veteran, Hubbard was a four-year letterman in cross country and track at SJSU and competed in the 1956 U.S. Olympic trials. A member of Kappa Alpha fraternity, he served as student government president his senior year. After receiving a law degree from UC Berkeley, he practiced law at Thompson and Hubbard in Carmel, specializing in real estate and development.

Roy Kobayashi, ’63 Electrical Engineering, age 78, on July 4, 2016, in Penn Valley. A native of Mountain View, Kobayashi retired from GTE/Sylvania’s Defense Division.

Daniel Kruetzfeldt, ’96 Aviation, age 43, on July 27, 2016. A native of San Diego, Kruetzfeldt was a command pilot for Net Jets and made his home in Sonora.

Armando Lagunas Jr., ’80 Behavioral Science, age 59, on Dec. 18, 2016, in Sunnyvale.

Marilyn Lieber, ’59 Mathematics, age 78, on Nov. 22, 2016, in Del Mar.

Frank Mannerino, ’63 Business Administration, age 76, on Aug. 5, 2016, in Chico.

Ann Michalski, ’74 MA Business Education, age 80, on Aug. 23, 2016, in Sunnyvale. A native of New York, Michalski retired from Foothill College as interim dean of computer technology and information systems.

Marilyn Myers, ’59 Mathematics, age 78, on Nov. 22, 2016.

Bhavesh Dinubhai Patel, ’10 MS Mechanical Engineering, age 30, on Oct. 16, 2016, in Strawberry, Ariz.

Jainishkumar Bharatlal Patel, ’10 MS Mechanical Engineering, age 30, on Oct. 16, 2016, in Strawberry, Ariz.

Jan Pisano, ’47 Physical Science, in September 2016, in Boulder, Colo.

Robert Ross, Engineering, age 82, on Jan. 4, in Punta Gorda, Fla. An Oak Park, Ill., native, Ross was a U.S. Navy and Korean War veteran. Early in his career, he worked at Lockheed Martin Space Systems and later at Technical Medical Information Systems, which would become Technicon Corporation. He also served as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Redlands School of Business, Florida’s Edison Community College and the University of Phoenix.

Darlene Rotta, ’58 Physical Education, age 81, on Aug. 15, 2016, in Huasna Valley. A Santa Barbara native, Rotta was a member of the San Luis Obispo County Cattlewomen Association and was honored as Cattlewoman of the Year in 2010.

Claudia Salewske, ’98 MA English, on Dec. 26, 2016, in Gilroy.

Judy Schmitt, ’76 Nursing, age 69, on June 12, 2016, in Oregon. A native of Marysville, Schmitt also held an MBA from Baylor University. Early in her career, she served as assistant chief nurse at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Texas and director of clinical services at the Charter Hospital of Sacramento. Starting in 1992, for 12 years she worked at Horizon Mental Health Corporation, rising to the level of regional vice president. She continued to contribute to the field of mental health in concert with her husband, Conrad, a U.S. State Department psychiatrist, while the couple lived overseas.

Karen Shorsher, ’67 MA Education, age 72, on July 23, 2016, in San Jose. A native of Salinas, Shorsher began her teaching career in 1965 and retired in 2012 as Dartmouth Middle School’s special education teacher.

Jeanette Silva, ’52 Education, on Aug. 3, 2016.

Pearl Sorensen, ’57 Education, age 80, on Aug. 2, 2016, in Penngrove. A Penngrove native, Sorensen taught for a decade in the Berkeley public schools and later, with her husband, ran Feather Knoll Farm. An active member of Penngrove Community Church, she volunteered at the Sonoma State American Language Institute for many years.

Janis Stayton, ’69 Home Economics, age 81, on July 30, 2016, in San Jose. A native of North Dakota, Stayton worked as a legal secretary and retired from the District Attorney’s Office, Santa Clara County, in 2004.

Gerald Urner, ’64 Mechanical Engineering, age 78, on Aug. 11, 2016. A Bakersfield native and U.S. Marine Corps Reserve veteran, Urner began his career in the aerospace industry and later worked in software development and consulting.

Kenneth Viaggi, ’63 Electrical Engineering, in July 2016. A native of San Francisco, Viaggi worked early in his career at Lockheed and Ford Aerospace. He retired from Teledyne Microwave in 2002.

Gail Wilcox, ’55 Art, on Nov. 22, 2016, in Esparto.


Jay Ruland, ’10 BFA Photography, is pursuing an MFA in photography at SJSU. He uses his flatbed scanner as a microscope to give life to flowers, one petal at a time. Learn more about his work, which highlights the impermanence of youth, at jayruland.com


Faculty

Irma Brilliant, on Jan. 26, in Redwood City. Along with her husband, Ira, Irma Brilliant met with College of Humanities and Arts Dean Arlene Okerlund in May 1983 to discuss the donation of 75 first editions of Beethoven’s music to the university, the basis of the current Beethoven Center’s collection. The Center opened to the public in 1985, the only center devoted to Beethoven in the Western Hemisphere.

Dennis E. Brown, age 83, on March 15, 2016, in Salem, Ore. A native of Marshaltown, Iowa, and a U.S. Army veteran, Brown received his undergraduate degree from Harvard in 1955 and his doctorate from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1970. He began teaching at SJSU in 1968, was appointed as an assistant professor in SJSU’s Department of Journalism and Advertising in 1978, served as department chair and retired as full professor in 1992.

Kathleen Cohen, age 83, in September 2016. A professor emerita of SJSU’s Department of Art and Art History, Cohen served as chair of the department from 1972 to 1980 and was instrumental in creating the foundry and galleries in which students could show their work. Trained as a medievalist, she embraced the digital age and created WorldImages, a database of 100,000 images now included in the Library of Congress’s historic collection of Internet materials. She was named an SJSU Outstanding Professor in 1995.

Leonard Espinosa, age 82, on Jan. 27, 2016, in Green Valley, Ariz. A native of San Francisco, Espinosa received his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in education from SJSU in 1964 and 1967, respectively. He received his doctorate from Michigan State University in 1972. In 1969, he joined SJSU’s College of Education as an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Technology and was promoted to full professor in 1979. He retired in 1994.

William Evans, age 82, on Oct. 31, 2016. Evans received his undergraduate degree from SJSU in 1962 and his master’s in social work from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1964. He joined the faculty of SJSU’s School of Social Work in 1976 and retired as professor and faculty field liaison in 2012.

Robert Leo Hassur, age 82, on Oct. 29, 2016, in Chico. Hassur received his doctorate from Stanford in 1970 and two degrees from SJSU: a bachelor’s in life science in 1957 and a master’s in biology in 1958, the year he joined SJSU’s science education faculty. In 1975, he was promoted to full professor and retired from teaching in 1991. He served on advisory committees for the California Department of Fish and Game, the Educational and Research Advisory Board of the Marine Ecological Institute and Santa Clara County’s Youth in Science Institute.

Lee Allan Walton, age 81, on Dec. 20, 2016, in Morgan Hill. A native of Centerville (Fremont) and a U.S. Army veteran, Walton played water polo for SJSU from 1953-1956 and coached SJSU’s championship water polo teams from 1961-1972. He received his master’s in physical education from SJSU in 1962. A professor in the Department of Kinesiology for 35 years, he also served as dive master for SJSU’s scuba program and was part of the committee that raised funds to bring water polo back to campus as a sport after a 34-year hiatus.

Jody Ulate

Jody Ulate, '05 MA English, is editor of the Washington Square blog and printed alumni magazine.

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