Obituaries | 1950-1959

ROGER E. SCHUBERT, a pioneer in the computer business, died Feb. 22, 2009. He was 78. After receiving his degree with honors and with distinction in mathematics, he joined General Electric and continued from there to other technical firms, where he was on the leading edge of computerization of banking and printing, including the development of the Universal Product Code, the elimination of bank passbooks, and the conversion of printing systems from hot type to photography. After his retirement from Atex-Kodak, he was a RSVP volunteer for 20 years. Survivors include his wife, Barbara Hall Schubert, four children, nine grandchildren, and one great-grandson.

Roger Edward Schubert, 78, of Palm Coast, passed away, Sunday, Feb.22, 2009, at the Stuart F. Meyer Hospice House, Palm Coast, Fla., after a three-year battle with cancer. Roger was born on March 21, 1930, in Manchester, Conn., to Lena Roth & Max Schubert. A graduate of Manchester High School, 1948, and Wesleyan University, with Distinction, Middletown, Conn., 1952. He was a member of the DeMolay Masonic Lodge in Manchester and played on the football team at Wesleyan for four years. A veteran of the Korean War from 1952 to 1954. He and his loving and devoted wife Barbara were married for 56 years. He spent his entire business career as a pioneer in the computer business, starting at General Electric in Pittsfield, Mass., in 1954. In 1959 he joined Bunker Ramo in Stamford, Conn., to program and install the first savings bank on-line system, eliminating the use of the banking pass books. In 1965 at RCA in Princeton, N.J., he was systems manager devoted to converting the printing of newspapers, books and government documents from hot type to a photographic printing system for the first time. In 1971, his family moved to Westboro, Mass., where he worked with RCA, in Marlboro, to develop the Universal Product Code, in competition with IBM who won the UPC contract, and today is found on every product purchased. His career continued as Vice-President of Systems at Photon, Inc., Wilmington, Mass., then to the printing business at Atex-Kodak Bedford, Mass., in the ’80s where he retired in 1989. On retirement he and his wife, moved to Sea Colony in the Hammock, Palm Coast, Fla. Roger enjoyed golfing, cards, and crossword puzzles. He and his wife were active at the Palm Coast United Methodist Church. A great thinker, mathematician, debater, and humorist, he loved to watch the birds, the moon and stars, the sunrise and sunset, and appreciated great art and music. A RSVP volunteer for 20 years he worked with Whitney Labs and Marineland. Roger leaves his wife, Barbara, four children, nine grand children, and one great grandson.

WILLIAM D. ROWE, formerly president of Rowe Research & Engineering Associates, died May 16, 2012. He was 82. A member of Sigma Chi, he received an M.S. from the University of Pittsburgh, an MBA from the University of Buffalo, and a Ph.D. in business administration from American University. He also received a diploma in theological studies from Virginia Theological Seminary. A self-employed consultant, he taught risk analysis at American University, worked at MITRE Corporation and Westinghouse, and served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Radiation Programs at the EPA. He was an accomplished musician and the author of books and articles on energy risk management. He is survived by four children, including Dr. William D. Rowe Jr. ’80; six grandchildren; his brother; his daughter-in-law, Teresa A. Kosciuk-Rowe ’81, M.D; and his stepdaughter, Alexandra S. Terninko ’92.

OLIVER L. ROBINSON, retired vice president of the Community National Bank in Michigan, died Jan. 13, 2006. He was 77. A member of Delta Kappa Epsilon, he received his degree with honors and with distinction in economics, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received a master’s from Yale and served in the U.S. Marine Corps. Survivors include his wife, Joan White Robinson, eight children, 14 grandchildren; and his mother-in-law.

J. KNOX ROBINS, 74, a retired executive in the travel and tourism industry, died Sept. 30, 2004. He was a member of Alpha Delta Phi and served in the U.S. Air Force. The great-grandson of Joseph E. Robins of the class of 1868, the grand-nephew of George D. Robins of the class of 1898, the nephew of Frank D. Robins of the class of 1934, and the cousin of the late Douglas M. Robins ’37, survivors include his wife, Mary Sheldon Robins, two children, and a cousin, Douglas H. Robins ’66.

ROBERT RANDLES, M.D., 76, an internist and cardiologist, died Dec. 4, 2006. He was a member of Sigma Chi and received a medical degree from Albany Medical College. A U.S. Navy veteran, he practiced medicine and was a medical administrator in the Albany, N.Y., area for 38 years. Among those who survive are his wife, Jeanne Fausel Randles; five children, including Mark S. Randles ’84; and 10 grandchildren.

ARNOLD S. RITVO, M.D., a cardiologist at Hartford and St. Francis hospitals, died Feb. 17, 2007, at age 77. He was a member of the John Wesley Club and received his degree with honors. After earning his medical degree from the University of Lausanne, he practiced in the Hartford area for many years. He was a fellow of the American Heart Association and of the American College of Cardiology. Survivors include his wife, Cynthia Sears Ritvo; a son; a daughter, Brooke Ritvo Pechinski ’90, M.D.; four grandchildren; and a sister.

THOMAS B. RICHARDSON JR., a manufacturer’s representative and sales engineer, died Nov. 10, 2011, at age 83. He was a member of Chi Psi and served in the U.S. Army during World War II. President of Parsons Diamond Products of West Hartford, Conn., he had more recently been a sales manager for Salem Specialty Ball Company. His wife, Dianne Heinel Richardson, and a son predeceased him. Survivors include his daughter; his sister; three nephews; a dear friend, Carole Bassett; four stepchildren; and two step-grandchildren.

Ralph E. Richardson, 77, publisher, died at home in New York, July 20, 2005, after a brief illness. He left Wesleyan for two years to serve in the US Army in Korea; returned to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree; was a member of Psi Upsilon. Starting at Time Inc., he went on to co-found Mactier, publishers of engineering magazines. In 1970 he founded Electronic Product News magazine, which he published from Brussels and which is the first and still-successful English language pan-European industrial publication. In 1975 he joined Thomas Publishing Co., New York, as publisher of Industrial Equipment News. In 1986 he founded and published Managing Automation and became Froup Publisher of the Thomas Magazine Division; retired in 2001. He was a member of the Council of Competitiveness in Washington DC and worked tirelessly as a visionary and champion of American industry. He was born Nov. 1, 1927 in Bristol, CT. In 1971 he was inducted into the Conferite des Chevailers du Tastevin at the Clos de Vougeot in Burgundy, and in 2002 became elevated to Commander. He enjoyed years of friendships with Chuck Exley ’51, George Young ’51, Matt Clark ’51, and Bob Malone ’50. He is survived by his wife, Collette (daughter of Edwin W. Laffey ’40), his four children Martha, Sarah, Amy ’86 and Sam, and two grandchildren.

DANIEL L. ROBERTSON, 83, the former president of the Loomis and LaPann insurance agency in Glens Falls, N.Y., and a member of the Wesleyan Athletics Hall of Fame, died Dec. 20, 2011. He was a member of Psi Upsilon and had many Wesleyan relatives, including his grandfather, Daniel L. Robertson of the class of 1878; his father, Alexander P. Robertson of the class of 1922; and his brother, the late John L. Robertson ’53. He worked at the Loomis and LaPann agency for his entire career and was also active in community affairs. His wife, Sara Smith Robertson, predeceased him. He is survived by two children; two grandsons, including Russell S. Follansbee ’09; a great-grandson; two sisters; two brothers, including Russell W. Robertson ’61, M.D.; and a large extended family.

David Hohl ’60 writes: RICHARD K. ROOT ’59, M.D. died on Sunday, March 19, 2006, when a crocodile suddenly rose out of the water and dragged him from his dugout canoe on the Limpopp River in the Tuli Game Preserve in eastern Botswana. He was not seen again; his remains were recovered two days later.

A Nationally known expert in infectious disease, internationally recognized in the field of leukocyte biology, and widely respect for his teaching and clinical skills, Dr. Root, along with his second wife, Rita O’Goyle, had been in Botswana at the invitation of the Botswana Department of Health and the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. Dr. Root had been instrumental in starting the infectious disease program at the University of Pennsylvania when he was a professor there in 1971. The Penn-Botswana program was funded in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Merck & Company, Inc., to help provide treatment and services for the country’s HIV victims and to address the acute lack of trained doctors and nurses in Botswana, which has the world’s highest rate of HIV infection at an estimated 40 percent of the population. Dr. Root had been working with the staff at Botswana’s Princes s Marina Hospital in Garborone, the capital city, and the couple had just visited a clinic in the remote, northeastern district of Tuli when they decided to take the ill-fated river tour. Root’s wife was in the canoe behind him and his guide and witnessed her husband’s death.

The death in 2001 of his first wife from a progressive neuromuscular disease (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and his withdrawal from the practice of medicine in order to look after her had left Dr. Root in a prolonged personal crisis. According to his son, David, after meeting his second wife and marrying her in 2004, his father “had a second lease on life. He re-entered the practice of medicine with this incredible amount of renewed energy.” Dr. Harvey Friedman, chief of the infectious diseases division at the University of Pennsylvania and director of the Botswana program, had visited Dr. Root just days before his death and said that he was the happiest he had been in years. Dr. Ruth Greenblatt, professor of clinical medicine and epidemiology at the University of California, San Francisco, for whom Dr. Root was a mentor, describe Dr. Root as “one of the most personable, caring and bright people I have worked with. … That he chose to teach in Botswana, country with a particularly intense AIDS epidemic, is no surprise to me. To place himself in a setting where he could make great contributions as a teacher is very much in keeping with the direction of his life.”

Dr. RooT graduated from WEsleyan with Honors in General Scholarship and Distinction in Biochemistry. He was #3 and Pledge Trainer at Alpha Alpha, a varsity letterman in football and track, and a member of three honor societies, including Sigma Xi. He received his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1963 and, following his internship at Massachusetts General Hospital, he worked as a clinical associate and investigator at various divisions of the National Institutes of Health and as chief resident and instructor at the University of Washington. From 1969 to 2002, when he became an emeritus professor from the University of Washington Medical School, where he was vice chairman of the department of medicine and retired from Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he had been chief of medicine, he held senior appointments at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was chief of infectious diseases at Yale University, where he was vice chairman of medicine and was voted medical school teacher of the year in 1982, at the Veterans Administration Hospital, Seattle, where he was chief of medicine, and at the University of California, San Francisco, where he was chair of the department of medicine. Dr. Root was co-author of numerous articles, editor-in-chief of a textbook, Clinical Infectious Diseases, a former president of the American Federation of Clinical Research and, from 1986–1991, director of the AIDS advisory Committee of the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Root is survived by three sons: David, a Seattle architect; Richard, a college and high school teacher in Los Angeles; and Daniel, a Seattle physician; by his wife, Rita O’Boyle; by her two daughters, Becky Fotheringhamn and Anna Potvin of Seattle; and by eight grandchildren.