Author: Leslie Egbo

The William P. Schweitzer Professor of Chemistry at Columbia University, died Nov. 24, 2012, at age 74. He was a member of Delta Sigma, and he received his degree with high honors and with distinction in chemistry. Elected to Phi Beta Kappa and to Sigma Xi, he received his PhD from the California Institute of Technology. He had been on the faculty at Columbia University since 1964. He also held professorships at the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering.

Widely recognized nationally and internationally as a leader and pioneer in the area of supramolecular chemistry, organic photochemistry, molecular spectroscopy, host-guest chemistry, and magnetic effects on photochemical reactions, he was the author of two textbooks, one of which is considered the “bible” of the field, and numerous articles.

Posthumously, he received the Inaugural George S. Hammond Award of the Inter-American Photochemical Society, given in recognition of the breadth and depth of his many crucial contributions to the photochemical sciences and his singular impact on worldwide dissemination of photochemical knowledge through his many collaborations and his pioneering textbooks. Among those who survive are his wife, Sandra Misenti Turro, two daughters, five grandchildren, and two sisters.

HENRY S. “HANK” TAUSEND, 73, a musician known for his jazz performances, died Oct. 14, 2009. He was a member of Gamma Psi and served in the U.S. Army. A drummer and percussionist, he was also a booking agent for well-known groups. He played with several symphonies in the Chicago area, as well as playing from Big Bands to parades to Klezmer. A volunteer for the Chicago Lyric Opera, he shared his love of opera with many audiences. Among those who survive are his wife, Iris Lieberman Tausend, a brother, and several nieces and nephews.

DAVID W. TOWLE, a senior investigator at the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, died Jan. 3, 2011, at age 69. A member of EQV, he was with the first Peace Corps group to serve in Nepal. He then received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of New Hampshire, and a doctorate from Dartmouth College. Elected to Sigma Xi, he spent 18 years on the faculty at the University of Richmond, where he received the Outstanding Educator Award. He later became chair of the biology department at Lake Forest College before moving full-time to Maine, where in addition to his work at the laboratory, he pursued his interests in music and boat-building. Survivors include his wife, Betty Massie, three children, two grandsons, his mother, two brothers, and a sister.

WILLIAM V. TRIPP III, a tax and estate attorney, died Nov. 7, 2009, at age 71. He was a member of Eclectic and was the son of William V. Tripp Jr. of the class of 1924. He served in the U.S. Navy for four years, after which he enrolled at Cornell University, where he received his MBA and law degrees. Most recently associated with Nixon Peabody, he served on numerous charitable boards. Among those who survive are his wife, Roberta Allen Tripp, two children, four grandchildren, and three siblings.

Dena (Seibert) Thomas of Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., and Chatham, MA died on April 21, 2005 after a valiant battle with leukemia. She was 49. Dena was born in New York City, the daughter of Wilson and Susan Seibert. She was raised in Croton on-Hudson and graduated from Hackley School in Tarrytown in 1973. Dena received a BA in American History from Wesleyan in 1977. She then attended The Fashion Institute of Technology before embarking on a successful career in the fashion and accessories field, which began at Bloomingdales and included a decade with Bally of Switzerland. Mrs. Thomas served as a Trustee of Teatown Lake Reservation in Ossining. Dena spent her summers on Cape Cod in Chatham. She will be remembered for her generosity of spirit towards all with whom she came in contact, as well as for her fierce loyalty to her family, especially her two sons. She is survived by her husband of 20 years David B.Thomas ’77, her sons William S. and Spencer W., her mother Susan H. Seibert of Chatham, MA and Naples, FL, sister Sara A. Seibert of Redondo Beach, CA, brother Andrew W. Seibert of New York, NY, sister and brother-in-law Susan S. and John T. Cooney, Jr. of Ossining, one niece and one nephew Sara W. and Jack T. Cooney. Predeceased by her father Wilson A. Seibert, Jr. who died on April 20, 2005.

SWIATOSLAW TROFIMENKO, 75, a chemist, died Feb. 26, 2007. Born in the Western Ukraine, he came to Wesleyan on a scholarship and received his degree with honors and high distinction in chemistry. He was a member of the John Wesley Club and was elected to Sigma Xi. After receiving his PhD from Northwestern University, he completed postdoctoral studies at Columbia University and then joined the DuPont Company in 1959. While there, he discovered the polypyrazolylborate ligands, which he named Scorpionates. He published a book on this subject in 1999, and a sequel is scheduled for publication this year. The author of numerous scientific articles, and the holder of 36 patents, he retired in 1996 from DuPont and then joined the faculty of the University of Delaware as Honorary Scholar in the chemistry and biochemistry department. Survivors include his wife, Martha Babych Trofimenko; one daughter, Zoya Trofimenko ’85; and two grandchildren.

THOMAS M. TAYLOR JR., a railroad consultant and rail enthusiast, died Aug. 29, 2010, at age 78. He was a member of Sigma Chi and received a civil engineering degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Predeceased by one son, he is survived by his wife, Glendora Boyce Taylor, two children, three grandchildren, two sisters, and his brother-in-law, Dr. Norman A. Clemens ’55.

DOUGLAS B. THOMPSON, 60, a philanthropist and the founder of Jupiter Management Company, a private equity firm that invests in the energy sector, died June 9, 2010. He was a member of Psi Upsilon and received an MBA from Harvard University. While at Wesleyan he attended the Economic Institute in Santiago, Chile, where he developed a lifelong interest in South America and the start of his career in the energy business. He was predeceased by a brother. Among those who survive are his wife, Leslie Bacon Thompson, four children, his parents, three sisters, and a brother.

JAMES D. TRUMBOWER, 79, a retired high school English teacher and language arts supervisor, died June 21, 2008. A member of Delta Tau Delta, he served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War and received a MALS from Wesleyan in 1969. Survivors include his wife, Dorothy Dale Trumbower, three children, eight grandchildren, one great–granddaughter, and a sister.

ANDREW F. TOTH, 1948-2005, passed away in November at his home in Denpasar, Bali after a long battle with lung and brain cancer. A self-actualized individual, he devoted his life to what he loved best: the classical music traditions of Bali and Java, their performance and analysis. He was highly respected in the field of ethnomusicology as a first class musician, researcher, teacher, scholar, recorder and colleague. As American Consular Agent in Bali he was instrumental in helping numerous others – musicians, scholars, students, tourists, politicians, sailors – find the “real” Bali beyond the typical tourist experience. He was a passionate friend and husband who loved fishing, SCUBA, white water rafting, squash and, most of all, punning. He leaves behind a gaping hole, and will be sorely missed by his colleagues and friends. Andy was a local Connecticut boy who attended the public schools in the nearby town of Meriden.

His interest in music began early with the accordion which he played at family and school events. In high school, he played guitar with the most popular rock and roll band in the region, the North Atlantic Invasion Force. A product of the post-Sputnik era, he was fascinated by science and won a Special Summer Study Grant from the National Science Foundation to study astronomy. He was valedictorian of his class at Orville Platt High School and came to Wesleyan as a freshman in the fall of 1966 as one of Hoy’s Boys in the class of 1970. His extraordinary family also sent his younger siblings Patrick (1978) and Mary Ann (1975) to Wesleyan. Andy came to Wesleyan with the intention of being a Chemistry major and quickly became associated with the brilliant Dr. Peter Leermakers. As Leermaker’s research assistant, Andy worked in the photochemistry lab and co-authored papers on photochromism as an undergraduate. Rock and roll remained a force in his life, and he was a member of the dynamic campus band, Uranus and the Five Moons. But this was Wesleyan, and Professor Bob Brown (who passed away within days of Andy) had established a ground-breaking program in ethnomusicology focusing on both performance and scholarship including the cultural traditions of West Africa, North and South India, Japan and Indonesia. Visiting artists from these countries and their students put on compelling concerts of music and dance which riveted the attention of most undergraduates many of whom would try their hand at mastering one or more of these disciplines. Some took up the infectious talking drums of Ghana; others were fascinated by the sinuous rhythms of the tabla and mrdungam; and many fell in love with the ethereal and stately classical tradition of Javanese gamelan. This was one of the things that made (and still makes) the Wesleyan experience so distinctive, unique and exciting.

Andy experimented with several music traditions, but, with Bob Brown as his mentor, committed himself to the musical culture of Java and Bali. He performed regularly with the gamelan orchestra under the supervision of Pak Prawotosaputro and finally made the difficult decision to become a music major. He received a Wesleyan Honors College Fellowship and spent a semester traveling and studying with Bob Brown in India, Java and Bali, his first taste of international travel. He was hooked.

Andy wrote his Honors Thesis on The Gamelan Sekati of Central Java and graduated Cum Laude with High Honors in Music. He was well on his way to becoming a master musician specializing in gender, an elaborating instrument which plays phrasings around the core melody line. After graduation, Andy accompanied Bob Brown to the brand new California Institute of the Arts where Bob was establishing a program in Ethnomusicology. Andy was a graduate student in the MFA program and served as a Teaching Assistant. In 1971, supported by a Foreign Study Grant from Cal Arts, Andy went on the first American Society for Eastern Arts trip to Java and Bali. Coordinated by Bob Brown, this seminal trip included many of the people who would become key figures in the field of Ethnomusicology particularly in the area of Indonesian music. The group included several other Wesleyan students: Alan Feinstein (1970), Michael Flynn (1970) and John Pemberton (1970). Bob arranged for this group to study with many of the top musicians and teachers in Java and Bali.

On this trip Andy met Danielle Diffloth, a professional photographer who was resident in Java doing a photo documentary accompanied by her young daughter, Natalie Diffloth ’87). Andy married Danielle in 1974. After receiving his MFA from Cal Arts in 1972, Andy joined the PhD program in Ethnomusicology at UCLA where he was able to work with the legendary Mantle Hood, one of the giants of the field (and who also passed away recently).

As a visiting instructor he taught courses in ethnomusicology and performance at several schools in the LA area. He was also Curator of the Colin McPhee Collection at UCLA. In 1975 he received a Fullbright-Hays Dissertation Abroad Fellowship, and he and Danielle spent a year in Bali doing research and making recordings on tuning systems for Balinese gamelans. Andy became fluent in both Indonesian and Balinese and continued studying with the best musicians in Bali. Andy was very active publishing articles and reviews, assisting on record albums and films, attending and giving papers at the Society for Ethnomusicology and other professional organizations, and giving invited lectures. Of course, he also maintained a satisfying schedule of performances of both Javanese and Balinese music.

After completing the requirements for the PhD at UCLA in 1978, Andy took a position back East as an Assistant Professor at Brown University teaching Ethnomusicology. Using instruments he had brought back from Indonesia, he set up performing groups for both Javanese and Balinese music in Providence. He also performed with the Boston Village Gamelan established in 1979 by Wesleyan graduates Sam Quigley and Alan Robinson. He continued working on his dissertation research and his active program of teaching, publishing, speaking and performing.

In 1983 Andy left Brown and got divorced. After a brief stint working as a computer programmer, he made the decision to follow his heart and return to Bali where he could continue his studies and immerse himself in the culture that he loved. For a number of years he worked with the Ford Foundation and as a Visiting Lecturer at the Indonesian College of Arts (STSI) in Denpasar teaching field research methods and ethnomusicology. He became a mainstay of the expat community in Bali performing gender wayang regularly in local festivals and available to help students and researchers, scholars and film-makers.

In 1989 he became the third American musician proficient in Balinese music to become US Consular Agent. In this position he was in charge of caring for US interests and citizens in Bali. He took care of visa problems, legal problems, illness and accidents, seeing that American citizens received necessary services and aid in returning to the US. He organized visits by dignitaries including Secretaries of State, Presidents and ships full of sailors. And he continued to play a critical role facilitating the visits of students, scholars and tourists and gaining them entry to vast and intriguing cultural life of Bali. Many people dramatically benefited from his knowledge of music and culture and his expertise at negotiating the system to gain access to the most interesting people and events. He was active in the Rotary Club and settled into a productive and satisfying life in Bali.

Andy met Janti Nasution, a Batak from Java, and married her in 1993. She became his soul-mate and played a major role in the rest of his life.

After so many years in the tropics, Andy’s fair skin became a problem. He suffered from a variety of skin cancers that required numerous medical procedures in Australia and Singapore.

In October, 2002, the second of two terrorist bombs exploded outside his office, thankfully with no casualties. Shortly thereafter, Andy resigned as Consular Agent. He took a position in a silver exporting company and continued his life as a well-connected expat. Over time, his illness increasingly compromised his ability to function, and after a long struggle, he finally passed away in November, 2005.

His widow, Janti, intends to donate his extensive collection of books, papers, research notes, recordings and photos to the Wesleyan University Music Library. It is her wish that these materials be available to scholars and interested researchers.