Obituaries | Faculty

Victor Gourevitch, Hon. ’73 passed away onApril 14, 2020. A full obituary can be found here.

Fay Boulware passed away on March 18, 2020 at the age of 96. A full obituary can be found here.

Catherine Rachel Ostrow-D’Haeseleer, adjunct instructor of French, passed away on Nov. 23, 2019. A remberance can be found here.

Sherman Hawkins, professor of English, emeritus, passed away on Dec. 3, 2019. A remembrance can be found here.

John Robert Kirn Hon. ’09, professor of biology, passed away on Nov. 10, 2019. A remberance can be found here.

William “Bill” Francisco, professor of theater, emeritus, passed away on Nov. 22, 2019. A remembrance can be found here.

Carol Lynch, former professor of biology, passed away on June 22, 2019. Carol joined the Wesleyan faculty in 1973 then served as dean of the natural sciences and mathematics. While at Wesleyan, Carol established a model system for studying the evolution of complex traits using house mice, and played a pioneering role in supporting and mentoring women in the sciences. She left Wesleyan in 1992 to join the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she served as dean of the graduate school and vice chancellor for research from 1992 to 2004, and was a professor of ecological and evolutionary biology and fellow of the Institute for Behavioral Genetics. She was a resident of Colorado at the time of her passing. Carol and her husband, Bob, generously established the Carol and Robert Lynch Student Research Fund at Wesleyan, which continues to support the research of undergraduate biology students.

Joseph P. “Joe” Rumberger passed away on Oct. 22, 2018, at the age of 92. He earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and naval science and a master’s degree in anthropology and linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania. He served in the U.S. Navy office training program and later received a fellowship to study linguistics at the University of Indiana. He was also a Fulbright Scholar and earned a second master’s degree from the London School of Economics. He worked at several places before coming to Wesleyan in 1977 to work as the director of personnel. He was active in the Middletown community, taught Swahili, and wrote a memoir. He is survived by Gertrude, his wife of 57 years; three sons, Tim, James, and John; seven grandchildren, and a nephew. He was predeceased by son Tommy and brother Andy.