Obituaries

DANIEL H. POLLITT, 88, the Graham Kenan Professor of Law, emeritus, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law, who was known for his progressive social and political views, died Mar. 5, 2010. He was a member of Delta Upsilon and served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II. After receiving his law degree from Cornell University, he clerked for a judge and later worked at a law firm, where he began a lifetime of defending civil rights and civil liberties, and fighting injustices in local, state, and national arenas. In 1957 he moved to Chapel Hill, where he joined the law school faculty as a constitutional and labor law professor. Active in numerous organizations, he had been president of the faculty for four years and won many honors and awards, including the Order of the Long–Leaf Pine, awarded by the Governor of North Carolina for extraordinary service to the state. His first wife, Jean Ann Rutledge Pollitt, died in 2006. Among those who survive are his wife, Eleanor Kinnaird; three children, including Daniel R. Pollitt ’74; five grandsons; three stepchildren; and a large extended family, including Laura Kenney ’82 and Sophie Pollitt–Cohen ’09.

EDWARD OLSON JR., an attorney, died Oct. 23, 2007. He was 86. A member of Delta Tau Delta, he received his degree with honors and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. After serving in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, he received his law degree from Harvard University. Predeceased by his first wife, Jean Werdelin Olson, survivors include his wife, Muriel Carl Olson, two sons, three stepdaughters, and several grandchildren.

HAROLD A. MOORE JR., a retired real estate appraiser, died Mar. 16, 2004. He was 82. A member of Delta Tau Delta, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II. Predeceased by two sons, he is survived by his wife, Ina R. Moore, two sons, five grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and a sister.

DONALD C. McCANDLESS, a longtime real estate consultant and appraiser in the Washington, D.C., area, died Jun. 6, 2009, at age 87. A member of Delta Upsilon, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps during WWII. He was a well–known real estate appraiser and had been an adjunct professor at American University, as well as a consultant to the U.S. government and to many corporations. His wife, Margaret Baker McCandless, and one son predeceased him. Survivors include two children, four stepchildren, seven grandchildren, and one great–grandchild.

DONALD G. MACDONALD, a top administrator of the Agency for International Development who directed the AID mission in Vietnam during the peak years of the Vietnam War, died of esophageal cancer Jan. 12, 2004, at age 82. He was a member of Chi Psi and received a master’s degree from Princeton University. During World War II he served in the U.S. Navy, after which he began his civilian federal career with a position at the Atomic Energy Commission. He then joined the Mutual Security Agency, a predecessor agency to AID and, before going to Vietnam, directed AID missions in Pakistan and Nigeria. Earlier, he had served in Turkey. He spent 1966 to 1970 in Vietnam and was injured during the Tet Offensive of early 1968, but returned to Vietnam after treatment in the U.S. In Vietnam he presided over a massive assistance program, as well as the building of schools, the establishment of health clinics, and the start-up of industries. He also served as assistant AID administrator for Asia. Less than a year after retiring, he was called back into service after the fall of Saigon in 1975 to direct the resettlement of almost 50,000 Vietnamese refugees at Fort Chaffee, Ark., whom he helped locate to various places across the U.S. in less than eight months. His first wife, Barbara McCloskey MacDonald, died. Survivors include his wife, Marcia A. Wiss; three children from his first marriage; two children from his second marriage; and seven grandchildren.

RICHARD L. LYONS, a Washington Post reporter for almost 35 years, who covered the House Judiciary Committee’s impeachment hearings of President Richard M. Nixon, died Jan. 23, 2011. He was 88. A member of Beta Theta Pi, he received his degree with distinction in history. During World War II he served in the U.S. Marine Corps in the Pacific as an artillery officer. In 1947 he received a master’s degree from Harvard University and then joined the Washington Post staff, where he covered the 1957 racial integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., as well as the Supreme Court, the House of Representatives, and the 1960 Democratic National Convention. His first marriage, to the former Mildred Damron, ended in divorce. Among those who survive are his wife, Shirley Elder, two children, six grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, two brothers, a sister, and a stepsister.

EDGAR H. KNAPP, who retired as a faculty member at Pennsylvania State University after teaching in public and private secondary schools, died Oct. 29, 2012, at age 90. A member of Chi Psi, he received a master’s degree from Boston University and an EdD from Teachers College, Columbia University. During World War II he served in the U.S. Navy. After teaching English and coaching athletics in public and private schools, he joined the faculty at Pennsylvania State University, where he taught literature, writing, educational methods, humanities, American Studies, and literary criticism, in addition to counseling future English teachers. By his own admission an independent thinker, at times unconventional, he wrote his autobiography, several essays, a memoir, and his obituary. His first wife, Susan Kenney Knapp, died, as did one grandson. Among those who survive are his wife, Sally Tuthill Knapp, eight children, three step-children, 12 grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.

JOHN W. KIERMAIER, 87, a past president of Channel 13, the New York area’s major public television station, and a former Wesleyan trustee, died July 27, 2009. He was a member of Chi Psi and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, receiving his degree with honors and with high distinction in government. A U.S. Navy veteran of World War II, he received his law degree from Yale University, after which he joined NBC and CBS, later becoming president of the Educational Broadcasting Corporation. He introduced many popular programs at each station. After his retirement, he was appointed a vice chancellor of Long Island University and later returned to CBS as president of the CBS Foundation. Survivors include his wife, Constance Whitehead Kiermaier, four children, and three grandsons.

AMOS MANSFIELD KIDDER III, an advertising and marketing executive, died Mar. 18, 2010. He was 87. A member of Psi Upsilon, he served in the U.S. Army during World War II, eventually becoming Provost Marshal of the island of Mindoro in the Philippines after the surrender of Japan. He is survived by his wife, Page Poore Kidder, two sons, and two grandchildren.

CHARLES F. HYDE JR., the retired chairman of Oshkosh B’Gosh, Inc., died Nov. 13, 2009. He was 89. A member of Chi Psi, he was the brother of the late John J. Hyde ’41 and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Among those who survive are his wife, Joyce Wyman Hyde, and three children.