Author: Leslie Egbo

JOHN H. STEEB, 36, died Apr. 20, 2004. A diverse musician, he played the bass, trumpet, double bass, and guitar. Among those who survive are his parents, his grandmother, and two sisters.

JUDITH CAREY SCHLESINGER, a psychotherapist, died of breast cancer Aug. 15, 2008. She was 40. A government major at Wesleyan, she graduated with honors and earned her master’s degree in social work from Smith College. She is survived by her husband, Eric Rosenthal ’87, two children, her parents, three sisters, and a large extended group of family and friends.

ELIZABETH R. TURNER ’86, a former resident of Bethesda, Md,, died on Oct. 12, 2003, at the Baylor University Medical Center, in Dallas, Texas. She had been suffering from leukemia.

Elizabeth was born in Bethesda and graduated from Winston Churchill High School, a valedictorian and member of the National Honor Society. She attended Wesleyan University, graduating in 1986. She worked as a paralegal for Williams & Connolly, in D.C., before attending Harvard Law School; and worked at Miller and Chevalier, in D.C., between her first and second years of law school. She received the Juris Doctor degree in 1990, and then moved to Dallas to join the law firm of Hughes & Luce, specializing in estate planning and trusts. She became a partner in 1999.

At Winston Churchill, Elizabeth developed a strong and continuing interest in stagecraft, along with her interest in choral singing, and, at Wesleyan, extended that interest to performing and writing for the musical stage, and adding singing lessons to her curriculum. At Harvard, she was president of the Harvard Law School Drama Society and helped stage and appeared in the 30th annual law school show, a musical, The Crimson Slippers. In her early years in Dallas, she continued voice lessons and began writing for and performing in the annual Bar None satirical musical revues put on by the Dallas Bar Association, to raise money for law scholarships. When her illness prevented her performing, herself, she still contributed her ideas and songwriting. And, last spring, she performed in the XVIII Bar None revue, My Big Fat Geek Lawyer.

Elizabeth worked on construction projects with the Dallas chapter of Habitat for Humanity, co-chaired the Dallas Bar Association’s Community Involvement Committee, and became an active member of Altrusa International, Inc., serving on the board. She gave lectures at legal conferences and published several articles in law journals. In 2001, the magazine Texas Lawyer named her one of the “Top Forty Under Forty” lawyers in the state of Texas. She was admitted as a Fellow of the Dallas Bar Foundation and elected a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. Elizabeth was also cited as an “unsung hero” in Head Notes, the monthly newsletter of the Dallas Bar Association. In all her associations, people knew Elizabeth for her intellect, humor, sensitivity, and her profound concern for the well being of others.

She is survived by her fiance, Joshua Kamman of Dallas; her mother and father, Nancy and Bob Turner of Gaithersburg, Maryland; her borhter, Michael Turner of Takoma Park, Maryland; and her sisters, Christie Degener of Pittsboro, North Carolina, and Wendy Sullivan of Gaithersburg.

G. Vance Smith Jr., an advertising, public relations, and marketing executive, died Feb. 22, 2009. He was 78. At Wesleyan, he was a member of Chi Psi. After beginning his career with Central Advertising Agency, he also served as a vice president of Standard Life Insurance Company of Indiana and retired from the Indianapolis Star in 1998. He was an Eagle Scout and served on numerous local and civic boards. His wife of 49 years, Virginia Reavis Smith, survives him. Also surviving are a daughter, a son, a sister, and three grandchildren.

GEORGE E. SLYE, 81, the co-founder of Spaulding & Slye Corporation, a national real estate company, died July 13, 2012. He was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon and received his degree from Babson Institute. A U.S. Navy veteran, he began his career in 1958 at Texaco, Incorporated, where he worked in sales promotion and real estate—specifically, developing and executing plans to leverage the federal highway program started by the Eisenhower administration. A career in real estate planning, development, construction, and management began at Dwight Building Company of New Haven and continued at American Urban Corporation of Meriden, Conn., where he served as Executive Vice President and Secretary and oversaw numerous mixed-use and industrial park developments. Having met his future business partner, Charles Hank Spaulding, at an Urban Land Conference in 1965, George co-founded Spaulding & Slye Company in 1966 and grew the business from a local urban and suburban development concern into a nationally recognized full-service real estate platform with an active presence throughout the Boston-Washington corridor, Charlotte, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Birmingham among other locations. Following a planned transition of leadership at Spaulding & Slye between 1981 and 1987, he founded GESCOM, a diversified investment platform, through which he joined numerous Boards and started several new business ventures. He pursued business interests in communications, banking, and real estate. He purchased Hayden Tolzmann & Associates, which was subsequently sold to Boston Mortgage. He served as a director on two real estate investment trusts for Travelers Insurance Company, as advisor to RealEnergy and Brentwood Capital Partners, and was a trustee at Babson College, where he started the Babson Center for Real Estate and was also awarded the Babson Medal for Distinguished Accomplishment and Service. He served on the Wesleyan University Hill Committee, as well as on many other boards of educational and community institutions. Among his hobbies was modeling (railroads and buildings), and his work was seen in National Geographic as well as on public television. He is survived by his wife, Suzanne Goodwin Slye; four children, including Paul E. Slye ’84; a stepson; his brother; 12 grandchildren; and four step-grandchildren. His first wife and the mother of his children, Susan M. Mayer, predeceased him.

ANTHONY SAVAGE JR., 81, a criminal defense attorney, died Jan. 3, 2012.  A member of Delta Kappa Epsilon, he received his law degree from the University of Washington. A mentor to defense lawyers in the Seattle area, he practiced law for more than 56 years. His wife, Barbara Scribner Savage, predeceased him. Among those who survive is his sister.

LAWRENCE E. SCANLON, a retired professor, died Nov. 22, 2008, at age 81. He was a member of Sigma Chi and received his degree with honors and with distinction in English. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II he received a master’s degree from Rutgers University and a Ph.D. from Syracuse University. The recipient of several Fulbright grants, he taught at Mt. Holyoke College and then for more than 30 years at the Hartford College for Women. Survivors include his wife, Anne Sherrend Scanlon, three children, four grandchildren, a great–granddaughter, two brothers, and a sister.

JOHN PERRY STRANG ’50, an award-winning photographer and director, died Mar. 25, 2012, at age 85. He was a member of Delta Tau Delta and served in the U.S. Army during World War II. After further study at the University of Tulsa, the University of Houston, and New York University, he became a freelance photographer for national magazines. He later worked as a photographer and director in film and television. His short film, A Poem of Life, is in the Permanent Collection of the Library of Congress. He also established a nonprofit organization, Huguenot Heritage, to research and inform the public about the contributions of the descendants of the Huguenots, and he was active in professional societies. Survivors include a daughter, Suzanne Lightbourn, and two granddaughters.

CHARLES L. STEVENS JR., who retired as an attorney for United States Steel Corporation, died Dec. 15, 2011. He was 84 and was a U.S. Navy veteran. A member of Eclectic, he received his degree with honors. After receiving his law degree from Harvard Law School, he spent most of his working life with U.S. Steel. He was married for 39 years to Nancy Jones Stevens. Among those who survive are five children, eight grandchildren, his sister, and his companion of 20 years, Connie Lambert.

ROBERT L. STEARNS, professor emeritus of physics at Vassar College and a pioneer in the field of hyper–nuclear physics, died July 13, 2009. He was 82. The son of Carl L. Stearns of the class of 1917, who taught astronomy at Wesleyan for many years, he was a member of Phi Nu Theta (Eclectic). He received his degree with honors and with distinction in physics, and was elected to Sigma Xi. He received both a master’s degree and a PhD from the Case Institute of Technology. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army. In 1958 he joined the physics faculty at Vassar College and served as chairman of the physics and astronomy department, as well as dean of freshmen, before retiring as professor emeritus in 1993. He was the author of four books and numerous scientific articles. During the years 1957 to 1994, much of his research was done at Brookhaven National Laboratory; he was also a visiting scientist at CERN, the European nuclear physics laboratory, and at the Los Alamos (N.M.) National Laboratory. After 1980 his research shifted to pioneering work in the field of hyper–nuclear physics at Brookhaven, in collaboration with the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation. Among those who survive are his wife, Frances Fowler Stearns; two sons, including Marshall Edward Stearns ’82; four grandchildren; and two sisters, Doris Stearns Swain, who is married to J.B. Swain V ’54, and Elva S. Creeger MA ’53, PhD ’74, wife of Professor Emeritus of English George R. Creeger.