Author: Leslie Egbo

KENNETH D. HUSZAR, a journalist and later senior vice president of the public relations firm Burson-Marsteller, died June 19, 2012. He was 75. A member of Chi Psi, he received his degree with honors and served in the U.S. Army.  He studied at Berlin University on a Fulbright Scholarship and in 1962 received a diploma from the Bologna campus of the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies. During his long career in journalism and public relations he was a reporter for The Plain Dealer and for the West German magazine Stern, a foreign correspondent for Newsweek, and an account manager at Burson-Marsteller, where he counseled, among other clients, the Reagan Administration and the Argentine government. In the course of his career, he traveled widely, was a speechwriter for David Rockefeller, interviewed Yassir Arafat, and accompanied New York City Mayor David Dinkins on a trip to Japan. His sister, Janet Thompkins, and several cousins, including Ted W. Hussar, survive.

ROBERT HIRSCHFELD, an actor and writer, died Dec. 4, 2009. He was 67. A member of Alpha Delta Phi, he received his degree cum laude and received a master’s degree from the University of California. Survivors include his wife, Nancy White.

THEODORE G. HANSEN, owner of several transportation and storage companies, died Jan. 14, 2003 at age 60. He was a member of Chi Psi and received a master’s degree in business administration from Michigan State University. Among those who survive are his mother, June Burke Hansen, a brother, two sisters, and several nieces and nephews.

ROBERT W. HUNT, a credit manager with Harvey Industries, died Aug. 2, 2009, at age 75. A member of Alpha Delta Phi, he served in the U.S. Navy. He was predeceased by his wife, Roberta Young Hunt. Survivors include three children, three grandchildren, and his sister.

JOHN H. HOBBS, a pioneer in the investment management industry, a philanthropist avid in his support of education and civil rights, and a former Wesleyan trustee, died Jan. 3, 2010, at age 73. A member of Eclectic and a U.S. Air Force veteran, he received his bachelor’s degree and an MBA from Harvard University. In 1969 he co-founded Jennison Associates, one of Wall Street’s first independent institutional investment management firms, and in 1976 was named president and CEO. In 1994 he became chairman of Jennison, which is now a subsidiary of Prudential Financial. He retired in 2003. After the death of his wife in 2008, he returned to work and was most recently the vice chairman of Madison Asset Management Group, LLC. A tireless supporter of education, he served on numerous boards and was also the chairman of the board of Common Cents, a non-profit organization that creates and manages service-learning programs for young people, one of whose divisions is Penny Harvest, the largest child philanthropy program in the U.S. He served on the Wesleyan Board of Trustees from 1992 to 2004 and was elected trustee emeritus. Predeceased by his wife, Elisabeth Atwater Hobbs, he is survived by three children, including Margaret M. Hobbs ’89, two sisters, and a large extended family.

MARTIN S. HUEY, 70, who retired as an actuary with the Phoenix Company and with Connecticut General, died Mar. 18, 2010. He was the son of Martin S. Huey of the class of 1926. A member of Gamma Psi, he served in the U.S. Coast Guard. He is survived by his wife, Brenda Tastula Huey, three children, a granddaughter, and a brother.

HENRY S. HILLES JR., a former partner in the Philadelphia law firm of Drinker Biddle, died Jan. 12, 2011. He was 71. A member of Beta Theta Pi, he received his degree with distinction in history and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania and spent his entire law career at Drinker Biddle, where he also represented SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority). Among those who survive are his wife, Jane Feaver; four children; two stepchildren; 11 grandchildren; a brother and sister; and his first wife, Mary Wolcott

RICHARD S. GOLDMAN, M.D., a physician who practiced internal medicine in Sudbury, Mass., died Apr. 4, 2009. He was 54. A member of Psi Upsilon, he received an MPH from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a medical degree from the Boston University School of Medicine. The former husband of Barbara Kaplan Goldman, survivors include two daughters, his parents, a brother, and a friend, Ashley Devine.

JAMES A. GIARDINA, James Alfred Giardina (Wesleyan Class of 1977) died on Saturday 25th of August 2007 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer, at his home in Rheinfelden, AG. James was born in Santa Monica, California on May 17th 1955, son of James Alfred Giardina (?) and Barbara Helen Nordgren Giardina (?).James graduated from Cromwell High School in 1973, then attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, graduating with a degree in European History in 1977. He began his career in Connecticut as a banker, then in 1979 moved to S?o Paulo, Brazil as a financial consultant. In 1983 he left Brazil to get an MBA from INSEAD, in Fontainebleau, France and subsequently began a 23-year career in finance with the Swiss pharmaceutical industry. From 1983 – to 1993 he worked with Sandoz AG, with postings in Basel, Jakarta, Indonesia, Guadalajara, Mexico and Dallas, Texas. In 1993 he joined the Roche Diagnostics Division, returning to Switzerland. James was married in 1980 in Smiths Parish, Bermuda to Wendy Suzanne Brown (also Wesleyan alumni of 1977), and they have two daughters, Stefanie Grace, born in 1984 in Basel, and Francesca Blythe, born in 1987 in Singapore. In March 2000, James and his family took on Swiss citizenship. He is also survived by a sister, Nancy Giardina Bennett, who lives with her husband and two sons in Farmington, Connecticut. A service was held in his memory on Friday 31st of August at the Christkatholische Stadtkirche zu St. Martin in Rheinfelden. Instead of flowers, the family would be grateful for a donation to a charity of your choice, or the Aargauische Krebsliga Ambulante Onkologiepflege (AOP) Postcheckkonto: 50-72019-9 or the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, (www.pancan.org) 2141 Rosecrans Avenue, Suite 7000, El Segundo, CA 90245.

JENNIFER GATES, a student in the College of Letters who received her degree with high honors, died July 7, 2003 at age 47. Survivors include her three children, her mother, her father, two sisters, a stepsister, a stepbrother, and several nieces and nephews.