Obituaries | 1970-1979

JONATHAN GRAY, a mortgage and finance analyst for the investment firm of AllianceBernstein, died Oct. 29, 2007. He was 59. After receiving an MBA from New York University, he joined Sanford C. Bernstein and Co. (later AllianceBernstein) as a securities analyst following the savings and loan industry. He stayed with the firm his entire career, expanding his coverage to include other enterprises as well as the mortgage industry, and was frequently called to testify before Congress on pending finance regulation. Among those who survive are his wife, Bonnie Ellin Gray, two sons, his mother, and a sister.

ANN G. FARRAR, home in Wilton, CT, on the evening of July 17 of ovarian cancer. She was 49. Ann (or Nan, as she was known to many) was born Thanksgiving Day in 1956 in New Haven to William Gregg Farrar and Lucy Brady Farrar. She grew up in Guilford, CT, where she attended Guilford schools, and to which she has maintained close ties throughout her life. Ann also loved Cushings Island, Portland, Maine, and Kington, England, where she had spent significant time throughout her life. She graduated from Wesleyan University, cum laude, in 1978, and went to live in Madrid, Spain where she worked for several years for the Fulbright Commission. With this experience she began her lifelong interest in international education, an interest encouraged by her aunt, Barbara Burn, a pioneer in the field. Ann attended Harvard University School of Education, earning an M.Ed in Education Administration in 1982, and then the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University, earning an M.A. in International Development in 1984. Ann worked in international programs in Costa Rica, Mexico, Washington DC and El Salvador before joining Save the Children Federation in Westport Connecticut, as Program Manager/Operations Director for the Latin American and Caribbean Region. Ann belonged to the Congregational Church in Wilton. An optimist by nature, Ann looked for the best in every person and every situation. She had a tremendous appetite for new and different experiences, paid attention to the big picture while working to perfect the little details, and was a people person, making sure that she connected with everybody who entered her life in whatever capacity. With the onset of her cancer, this active empathy for others increased and became a sustaining force. Ann had a special talent for creating fun, and savored both the ridiculous and the sublime in daily life. Above all, Ann was a family person; her daughters, Marian and Alexandra, were the center of her world, and other family members were kept very close. Ann leaves her mother, Lucy Farrar of Guilford, CT, sisters Barbara Preneta of Farmington, CT, and Virginia Balser of Danbury, CT, brother William Farrar of South Pasadena, California, three nieces and three nephews, many aunts, uncles and cousins, her devoted former husband Jorge Obando of Washington DC, stepson Jordi Obando of Norwalk, CT, two step-granddaughters, and her most treasured daughters Marian and Alexandra Obando of Wilton CT. In lieu of flowers, Ann wished for donations to be sent to one of two organizations that were important to her. Donations in her honor to Save the Children’s programs in Latin America may be made to the Ann Farrar Memorial Fund online at www.savethechildren.org or by mail to 54 Wilton Rd, Westport CT 06880, attention Bibiana de Dios. Donations in her honor may also be made to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, 14 Pennsylvania Plaza, Suite 1400, NY, NY 10122. A celebration of Ann’s life was held at the Congregational Church in Wilton, CT, on Wednesday July 26 at 2 pm.

JAMES A. FAIRBROTHER, a media and advertising executive, died Dec. 27, 2010, at age 55. He received his degree magna cum laude and with honors, and he had received numerous national awards for his creative work with his firm, Fairbrother & Company. Survivors include his wife, Eileen (Ivy) Fairbrother, and four children.

MILES D. EHRLICH, an editor, writer, and environmentalist, died July 15, 2008, at age 50. Survivors include his mother, eight brothers and sisters, seven nieces and nephews, and a close friend, Susan Johnson.

LOIS E. EGASTI, a human resources executive who founded and was president of the Hurricane Voices Breast Cancer Foundation, died of breast cancer Apr. 15, 2003. She was 47. After receiving a master’s degree in public and private management from Yale University, she worked in human resources at Cummins Diesel Engine Company, Wellesley College, and Lotus Development Corporation. She started the Foundation to make a difference in the search for a cause and a cure for breast cancer. Survivors include her husband, Jeffrey L. Shames ’77, a daughter, two sisters, and a brother.

RUSSELL G. “Toby” D’OENCH III, 58, an attorney and partner in Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP, and founder of the North Star Fund, a nonprofit organization that supports grassroots groups fighting for equality, economic justice and peace, died Jan. 23, 2012. Known as Toby, he received his law degree from Columbia University Law School in 1992, where he was both a James Kent Scholar and a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. He clerked for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York before entering private practice. A member of Skadden’s Financial Institutions Group, he handled mergers, acquisitions, equity offerings and other transactions, both public and private. In 1977 he founded the North Star Fund, a nonprofit organization that supports grassroots groups fighting for equality, economic justice and peace, and he served as the organization’s executive director until 1983. The son of the late Ellen G. D’Oench ’73, he is survived by his wife, Tani Takagi, two children, his sister, and his brother, Peter G. D’Oench ’73.

An environmental activist and politician, died Feb. 13, 2013, at age 63. A 33-year resident of Fountain Valley, Calif., he was a member of the City Council and later served as the city’s mayor. Survivors include his wife, Verna Ayer, his parents, two sons, and three siblings.

Dennis M. Dubin, a child advocate in the Philadelphia court system, died Nov. 12, 2008. He was 58. A College of Letters major at Wesleyan, he initially worked as an actor in New York and Hawaii after graduation. In the 1980s, he began his second career, earning a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1988 and serving as a child advocate until his death. He had been undergoing treatment for bladder cancer. Survivors include a sister.

WARD T. DEWITT, who retired as second-in-command of the New York State prison system and who went on to be the executive director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Institute for Nonviolence, died June 12, 2010, at age 62. A member of Eclectic, he began his career as counselor and then became a criminal justice adviser to the New York State Governor. He served on the Albany, N.Y., school board for five years, including as chair, and he helped to lead the board of the New Covenant Charter School, Albany’s first charter school. Survivors include his wife, Mary Ferguson DeWitt, four children, two grandchildren, three sisters, and a large extended family.

NORMA B. BOURDEAU, 69, who retired as a visiting lecturer at Frostburg State University, died Feb. 7, 2010. She matriculated at Wesleyan 14 years after graduating from high school in New Jersey, and after receiving her degree worked for the Travelers Insurance Company, where she was the assistant director of training. She also taught writing courses part–time. In 1994, she received a master’s degree in theology from Holy Apostles Seminary in Cromwell, Conn., and then joined the faculty at Frostburg. She also lectured on various aspects of the Underground Railroad and in 2003 led the reorganization of the Allegany Branch of the NAACP, serving as its president. Among those who survive are her husband, Ray Bourdeau, five stepchildren, her daughter–in–law, two grandchildren, and numerous cousins.