Obituaries | 1970-1979

John D. Ketcham ’70 passed away May 11, 2006, Kinnelon, N.J., from the effects of cancer of the pancreas. He was raised in Westfield, N.J. His father, Frank, was a Wesleyan graduate, Class of 1936 and captain of the football team. John had four siblings, iincluding another Wesleyan graduate, his brother Mike ’67, who was captain of the swim. Team.

John graduated from Westfield High School in 1966, an All-American High School Swimmer in a number of events; Eastern Interscholastic Swimming Champion in multiple events; and at the millennium was voted onto the 1960’s decade team of best swimmers in New Jersey.

While at Wesleyan, he majored in economics and was a member and treasurer of Delta Tau Delta. He earned his varsity swimming letter in his sophomore, junior and senior years, and was team captain senior year. He held numerous team and pool records, many of which stood for years after his graduation. He won New England titles in multiple events and excelled in the backstroke, winning the small college nationals (now Division III) three years running and placing second in the Division I nationals in his junior year. He was named New England Swimmer of the Year in March 1970.

After graduation John went to Hong Kong to work in a YMCA camp, returning to the States to get his MBA from The Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth. After a stint with Price Waterhouse, he joined his father’s accounting practice in Westfield, N.J.

John raised his four children in Kinnelon, N.J. Three of these were with his first wife, whom he had met in Hong Kong, and his youngest child was from his second marriage, to Jody Davis, who is also from Westfield, N.J.

Throughout his life, John stayed very active with the YMCA, having grown up swimming at the Westfield YMCA (particularly Frost Valley YMCA). Additionally he served on a number of boards and volunteered in programs throughout his community.

He built his father’s business into a thriving tax/accounting practice in northern New Jersey, which his one son, Steve, has joined in the past several years. John also became very accomplished in home construction, through his renovation and addition projects over the years.

John stayed a self-effacing, honest, straight forward and loyal friend to the end?always more concerned about others than himself. Over the final months, his many Wesleyan friends came back together, culminating in an overflow crowd at his memorial service on May 20, 2006, at which John would have been quite uncomfortable being the center of attention.

He is survived by his wife, Jody, four children, five grandchildren and four siblings.

DANA B. JOHNSON, who was the chief economist and senior vice president of Comerica Inc., died Apr. 29, 2012, at age 64. He was a member of Beta Theta Pi and received a Ph.D. in economics from Northwestern University. After beginning his career in economics at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C., he joined the First National Bank of Chicago (eventually Bank One), where he was managing director and head of research for Bank One Capital Markets. He joined Comerica in 2005. Survivors include his wife, Susan Hering, his son and daughter, his father, two granddaughters, and his sister.

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.

WILLIAM B. HOW, a social worker with Concord (Mass.) Family and Youth Services and with the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, died June 9, 2009, at age 59. He received his MSW from the Simmons School of Social Work. An active Quaker, he founded the Fresh Pond Monthly Meeting, and served as Clerk of the Committee of Ministry and Counsel of New England Yearly Meeting. He was also an avid outdoorsman. Survivors include his wife, Nancy Shippen How, two children, his father and stepmother, his brother, and his sister.

HENRY G. HOLBROOK, the owner of Seaside Painting in Blue Hill, Maine, died Jan. 27, 2007. He was 57. An avid sailor and outdoorsman, survivors include his mother, two daughters, three sisters, and a niece, Cassandra H. Reid ’88.

PERCY H. HARVEY, an attorney and education advocate, died of lung cancer Oct. 3, 2005, at age 55. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he was an attorney with Stokes Bartholomew Evans and Petree in Memphis, Tenn., where he specialized in health care law, real estate financing, corporate law, and government relations. Predeceased by his first wife, Peggy Prater, he is survived by his wife, Toni Blount Harvey, a daughter from his first marriage, his mother, a brother, and eight sisters.

WAYNE W. HOWARD, a comic book artist who later became a graphic artist, died Dec. 9, 2007, at age 58. He received his degree with honors and was known for Midnight Tales, a mystery comic book. Among those who survive are his wife, Carol Zavednak Howard, his mother-in-law, several brothers-in-law, and a large extended family,

JAMES K. HORTON, MD, a physician in Louisville, Ky., died Oct. 7, 2009. He was 60. He earned his medical degree from Howard University and had a practice in family medicine. Among those who survive are his wife, Jacqui Horton, two sons, a granddaughter, his mother, and four siblings.