UMass Magazine Online

Winter 2002

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OBITUARIES: FACULTY AND STUDENTS

FACULTY

WARREN D. ANDERSON, 81, , of Edina, Minn., professor emeritus of Comparative Literature, died Oct. 12 in Minneapolis.
He served the University for 15 years before retiring in 1985. As chair of the Comparative Literature Program, he oversaw its growth into a department in the early 1970s. He also chaired the graduate studies, personnel, and curriculum committees and served as the department’s graduate program director. He founded and directed the Translation Center and served in the Faculty Senate and on the personnel policy committee for the Faculty of Humanities and Fine Arts.
He received a Chancellor’s Medal in 1986.
He also taught at the College of Wooster (Ohio) and at the universities of Michigan and Iowa. He chaired the comparative literature department at Iowa for two years.
Also a composer, his scholarly interests often embraced music, and he was a leading authority on ancient Greek music. He wrote 72 entries for the 1981 edition of the "New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians," mainly on Greek and Roman music and musical aspects of classical literature and mythology. He wrote or translated five books, including "Ethos and Education in Greek Music" and "Matthew Arnold and the Classical Tradition."
He reviewed manuscripts for a number of journals, published approximately 20 articles of his own and many translations.
He was a member of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Philological Association, among other organizations.
He held a BA from Haverford College, and an Oxford BA, which he received as a Rhodes Scholar. His MA and Ph.D., both from Harvard, were in classical philology.
During World War II, he worked in Australia, translating Japanese codes in the U.S. Signal Intelligence Service, reaching the rank of technician 3rd grade. After the war, he became a 2nd lieutenant in the Army reserve.
He served on the board of trustees of the Amherst Academy for a number of years, and was its president for a term.
He enjoyed hiking, archery, bicycling, and competitive walking. At 70, he was invited to the Star of the North Games, Minnesota’s state athletic competition, after coming in third in a 5K race.
His wife Anne died in 1996.
He leaves a daughter Claudia; two sons, Eric and Peter, and five grandchildren. . .

(Campus Chronicle11/2/01)

WILLIAM LAUROESCH, 80, of Shutesbury, a retired associate professor in the School of Education, died Sept. 18 at home.
He served the University for 23 years before retiring in 1992. He also taught high school English for 20 years in Suffern, N.Y.
He chaired the Graduate Program Review and was a member of the Grievance Committee, the Transfer Review Council, and the Office of Programmatic Research and Evaluation on campus.
He also was a member of the Adult Education Association of the United States and the Association for Institutional Research.
In 1991, he received the State Higher and Continuing Education Award from the Massachusetts Association of Adult and Continuing Education.
He graduated from Colgate University in 1942, and received a master’s degree in English education from Syracuse University and a doctorate in supervision of curriculum and instruction from New York University.
A World War II veteran, he served with the 55th Fighter Group of the Eighth Air Force.
He was a member of the First Congregational Church of Amherst.
His first wife, Ruth Emily Lauroesch, to whom he was married for 36 years, died in 1987.
He leaves his wife, Jean (Hopper) Lauroesch; a daughter, Michele L. Dufresne of Shutesbury; a son, Mark W. of Corning, N.Y.; four grandchildren; and 10 step-grandchildren. . .

(Campus Chronicle 10/5/01)

ARTHUR S. LEVINE, 88, of Travers City, Mich., a retired professor of Food Science and Technology, died Aug. 2.
He served the University for 31 years before retiring in 1966.
During his tenure, he served as a freshman advisor and as Food Technology advisor, and he published his far-ranging research in 50 technical papers.
A lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Quartermaster Reserve from 1946-1966, he had earned a Bronze Star during World War II.
After attending Boston University, he received three degrees, BS, MS, and Ph.D., from the University, the final one in 1939.
He was a charter member of the Institute of Food Technologists and a member of the American Public Health Association, among other organizations. He also was a member of a number of honorary organizations, including Phi Tau Sigma and Phi Kappa Phi.
He moved to Michigan from Amherst in 1994.
His wife, Sarah Levine, died in 1986, and his son, Peter David Levine, died in 1992.
He leaves a daughter, Janet Mary Canavan, of Rapid City, Mich.; four sisters, Edith Frank, Marion Levine, and Clarice Mizel, all of Brookline, and Anita Andelman of Belmont; three grandchildren and three great-granddaughters.

(Campus Chronicle 8/31/01)

KANDULA SASTRY, a physics professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, died November 16 in Cooley Dickinson Hospital of an apparent heart attack. He was 66.
He was remembered for his generosity to students, his efforts to bring Indian culture to the Pioneer Valley, his work in experimental nuclear physics, radiation, and biophysics, and his 38 years of service to the University.
Originally from the Andhra region of India, he received a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from Andhra University and a Ph.D. from Indiana University.
Sastry was Red Sox fan who loved New England foliage and playing Santa Claus. He was a pioneer of the local Indian community, encouraging world-renowned Indian musicians to perform in the area - sometimes holding concerts in his home and paying for them himself - and acting as a gateway for other Indians, according to Polymer Science professor Murugappan Muthukumar. He and his wife, Satya, held a number of Hindu celebrations in their home.
In addition to being popular with students, he was a fixture in the Faculty Senate, serving on its Academic Matters Council for more than 15 years and as the council’s chair for more than five years. Through the senate, he was active in the creation of Commonwealth College, and he was an early participant in outreach through community service learning. He also chaired the University’s Radiation Use Committee.
He conducted research on the basic structure of matter at the Atomic Energy Commission’s Oak Ridge (Tenn.) Laboratory in the 1970s. He was the author of dozens of scholarly articles, and he reviewed articles for a number of publications, including the Journal of Nuclear Medicine. He funded an award, originally for high-achieving undergraduates in Physics, which is being expanded to include graduate students and will be supported by an endowment.

(Campus Chronicle11/29/01)

ROBERT YOUNG, of Weston, a retired the University of Massachusetts professor, died Saturday at home. He was 93.
Born in Stillwater, Oklahoma, Mr. Young was a longtime resident of Weston. He graduated from Oklahoma State University and Ohio State University.
Mr. Young worked as a professor for the University of Massachusetts Suburban Experiment Station in Waltham and was head of vegetable crop production.
He researched vegetable plant breeding and developed strains for 47 years, introducing more than 25 improved varieties and strains used commercially today. He served as secretary-treasurer of the New England Vegetable Growers Association for more than 20 years. In 1978, Mr. Young was honored by the governor of Massachusetts for his work at the Suburban Experiment Station in Waltham.
He was awarded the Scroll of Recognition from the Massachusetts Agricultural Club, the Gold Medal of the Massachusetts Society for Promotion of Agriculture for Outstanding Service to the Vegetable Industry of Massachusetts, the Thomas Roland Gold Medal from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society for Skill in Horticulture, and an honorary Bay State Farmer Degree from the Future Farmers of America.
Mr. Young served as a consultant to the world’s largest radish grower and to a lettuce-growing project in the Dominican Republic and was a consultant to the Time-Life Encyclopedia of Gardening.
Husband of the late Evanna V. (Fitzgerald) Young, he is survived by two sons, Ronald E. of North Reading and Steven J. of Hatfield, PA; a daughter, Deawn D. Dolan of Doylestown, PA; a brother, Raymond Young of Oklahoma City, OK; eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. . .

(Boston Herald9/8/01)

STUDENTS

ELIZABETH HEBERT ‘03 , 19, of Farmington, CT, a junior at the University of Massachusetts, has died. Her death was announced by Joseph Marshall, dean of enrollment services.
Hebert’s body was discovered in her room at Crampton residence hall at about 1 pm, Thursday, June 28, by residence staff.
University police were immediately notified. Hebert was pronounced dead at the scene by the medical examiner. There is no evidence of foul play, according to University Police Chief John Luippold Jr.
Luippold says the case remains under investigation by University police and state police attached to the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office, in accordance with state laws governing unattended deaths.
A political science major, Hebert was attending summer classes at the University.

(UMass Press Release 6/29/01)

CHRISTIAN G. MALSCH ’01, 26, of Amherst, died Tuesday at home. Born in Northampton, he attended the Amherst schools, and was a graduate of Landmark School in Prides Crossing. He was most recently in his senior year at the University of Massachusetts, working on a bachelor’s degree with independent concentration. He was a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church. He leaves his parents, Wilfried and Sara A. (Wilkinson) Malsch; and a sister, Elisabeth A. Malsch of New York City. . .

(Union News 6/29/01)

ASHLEY BETH SOFTIC ’04, 20, of Athol, a UMass student, died in Royalston Oct. 28 from injuries sustained in an automobile accident.
She grew up in Athol and was a 1999 graduate of Athol High School, where she was a member of the basketball, field hockey and track teams and served on the student council.
A junior at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, majoring in journalism, she had spent her freshman year at Keene State College in New Hampshire.
She worked part-time at Rafter’s in Amherst.
She leaves her parents, Enver Softic of Orange and Ellen (Jandris) Softic of Athol; three brothers, Adrian Softic of Fort Bragg, N.C., Chad Softic and Gavin Softic, both of Athol; a sister, Rachael Zani of Templeton; her grandparents, Adam and Linda Softic of Athol, and several aunts, uncles and cousins. . .

(GazetteNet10/29/01)

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