Obituaries | 1960-1969

GEORGE W. DAVISON-ACKLEY, 61, who had been a vice president of Lehman Management Company, died Sept. 30, 2007. A member of Psi Upsilon, he received his law degree as well as a master’s degree in business administration from Columbia University. He was the grandnephew of George W. Davison of the class of 1892 and the grandson of Emory H. Westlake of the class of 1900. He is survived by his partner, John Robert Massie; his father; two brothers, including Emory W. Ackley ’65; and his niece, Annie W. Ackley ’98.

GEORGE R. DREHER, a banker who later became a landscape and irrigation specialist, died Aug. 11, 2011, at age 67. A member of Chi Psi, he had been associated with Chandler Leasing and Westinghouse Credit before going into the landscape business. He is survived by his mother, Caroline D. Halloran, three children, two stepdaughters, and his brother and sister.

JOHN CHARLES DUFFY died of a heart attack on March 15 in Gettysburg, Pa., at age 64. Throughout his life, he was passionately engaged with the arts, as a musician, conductor, educator, critic, writer, and avid theatergoer.

As a young man, John studied the trumpet with a leading trumpet player in the Cleveland Orchestra and performed summers at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. While he was an undergraduate at Wesleyan, his musical interests shifted to choral and vocal works. He sang with the Wesleyan Glee Club under Richard Winslow, as well as with the Smith-Wesleyan Concert Choir and the Cardinalaires. He also played trumpet on worldwide tours with the Smith-Amherst Chamber Singers, under the direction of Iva Dee Hiatt. During this period, he developed his lifelong passion for the music of Schubert, performing the “Winterreise” song-cycle for his senior recital.

As a graduate student at Brown University, he studied musicology and conducting, and met his wife, Jeannie de Brun. In 1971, he helped co-found the Providence Singers, a choral group that performed a diverse repertoire. He completed his doctorate in musicology at Boston University, and his resulting book, The Songs and Motets of Alfonso Ferrabosco, the Younger, was published by the University of Michigan Research Press in 1980. He taught and conducted the choruses at Tufts University in the mid to late 1970s.

In 1980, he left academia to teach for Digital Equipment Corporation. Even as he worked in the field of computer technology, he continued to participate in the arts. He sang in the Tanglewood Festival Chorus (along with his wife) and the John Oliver Chorale, among other vocal groups in the Boston area. While living in the Twin Cities in the 1990s, he conducted a performance of Orlando de Lassus’ “The Tears of St. Peter” at the Basilica of St. Mary, a concert broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio. He also took great joy in working with young people in music, leading the students of the Apple Valley High School Music Listening Team to two consecutive state titles, and directing the choir of Normandale Community College on several occasions.

As a music critic, he wrote reviews for the Boston Herald, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, and other newspapers. He was a lifelong member of the Music Critics Association and the American Musicological Society, and he delivered talks on Schubert and other subjects at professional meetings.

Theater was another passion of John’s. He became an ardent supporter of the Guthrie and other theaters in Minneapolis and, later, the Contemporary American Theater Festival in Shepherdstown, WV.

John and Jeanne moved to Gettysburg, PA, in 1999, when Jeanne pursued a career opportunity at Gettysburg College, her alma mater. John also worked at Gettysburg College—on the development and early implementation of CNAV, the college’s award-winning portal. In addition to his enthusiasm for music and theater, John was a connoisseur of fine coffee, dark chocolate, Herrell’s ice cream, and esoteric books. He is survived by his wife, his daughter Vanessa of Burtonsville, MD, his son Alec of New York City, and his two-year-old granddaughter Tabitha Duffy-Goodman.

WILLIAM D.S. DICKSON, a teacher at the Haverford (Penna.) School, died of cancer Apr. 2, 2003. He was 61. A member of Delta Kappa Epsilon, he also received specialized educational administration degrees from West Chester University and from Immaculata College. He taught at the Episcopal Academy for 22 years before joining the faculty and administration at the Haverford School, where he received the school’s Outstanding Teacher Award. Survivors include a daughter, a grandson, a brother, and a sister.

H. RICHARD DIETRICH JR., a philanthropist and well-known collector of early American decorative and fine arts, died Aug. 30, 2007, at age 69. A member of Psi Upsilon, he attended Columbia University’s business school until he was called home to run the family business when his father died. From 1974 to 1980 he was a member of Wesleyan’s Board of Trustees. President of the Dietrich Corporation, a conglomerate that was sold to the Hershey Company in 1986, he then retired and devoted himself to philanthropy, conservation, and collecting high-quality objects both for the Dietrich American Foundation and for private use. Works from the foundation’s collection have been lent to more than 50 institutions, making them available to the public. He was particularly active with the Philadelphia Museum of Art and served as board chairman there for 35 years; the museum’s curatorship of American decorative arts is named in his honor. Survivors include two sons, a daughter, a granddaughter, two brothers, and his former wife, Cordelia Frances Biddle. (See further information in the New York Times of 9/10/07.)

WILLIAM P. CONNER, 67, the owner of C&C Machining in New Hampshire, died Nov. 29, 2011. A member of Chi Psi, he served in the U.S. Air Force. He received his master’s degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Among those who survive are his wife, Eleanor Yoder Conner, two sons, his mother, six grandchildren, and several siblings.

JOHN S. CRAIG III, noted photojournalist, photo-historian, and Daguerreian author, died Feb. 25, 2011. He was 67. A member of Delta Sigma, he received his degree with honors. His interest in antique photography began when he was a photographer and reporter at the Hartford Courant as well as with his own retail camera shop. Eventually, in addition to photographing historical events and personages, he became one of the first full-time dealers in photographica in the U.S., renowned for his enormous collection of instruction manuals, catalogs, and other interesting photography items. In 1994 he published the first of three editions of Craig’s Daguerreian Registry, the acknowledged reference work among dealers and collectors. He is survived by his wife, the Hon. Joyce Krutick Craig (retired), a son, a stepson, and a granddaughter. His daughter predeceased him.

Bill Chodoff, beloved husband of Louise Barteau Chodoff, died November 26 peacefully at home after a long battle with Merkel Cell Carcinoma. Third generation in a family of Philadelphia doctors, he was a much loved left-wing Philadelphia pediatrician for 25 years before becoming Pediatric Medical Director at Keystone Mercy Health Plan in 1997. He was a tender spouse to his first wife Joan Horan who pre-deceased him after her own long struggle with cancer. A truly kind and generous man, he was loved by all who knew him and leaves many grieving friends and relatives. Two weeks before he died his wife Louise dedicated her current art and environmental project GROVE to him in a public ceremony.

More photos of Bill are available at the GROVE website www.treemaker9.com.

REGINALD P. BRIGGS, a geologist and author, died Apr. 29, 2009. He was 80. A member of the John Wesley Club, he served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. A founder of the Geological Society of Puerto Rico, where he had worked for a number of years, he was active in professional organizations. Among those who survive are his wife, Rita Ferris Briggs, three children, and several grandchildren.

DAVID BURSTEIN, a retired Arizona State University astronomy and astrophysics professor, died Dec. 26, 2009, at age 62. He received his degree cum laude and with honors in physics. A member of Delta Sigma and Kappa Alpha, he was elected to Sigma Xi. He received his PhD from the University of California, Santa Cruz. A faculty member at ASU since 1982, he specialized in the structure of galaxies and the populations of their stars. His work contributed to a team of seven astronomers who spent nearly a decade researching how the universe was expanding. He is survived by his wife, Gail Kelly Burstein, two children, and a grandson, in addition to a cousin, Julie A. Burstein ’80.