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.
RICHARD B. SMITH, 48, a screenwriter, director, and creative director of digital media and live events, died June 29, 2011. He received a master’s degree from The School of Cinema-Television at the University of Southern California, from which he launched his screenwriting career. In addition to writing for the screen he also wrote a novel and was a member of the Writers Guild of America. He created immersive media for trade shows and experiential installations for museums, and he worked with numerous corporate clients. In addition to his professional accomplishments, he was also lead guitarist for the band Nooner, and an avid tennis player and sailor. Among those who survive are his wife, Mariana Schwartz; three daughters, including Adriana Clare Smith ’15; his mother; three sisters; three brothers; and a large extended family.
JAMES S. ROBINSON, an award-winning journalist, died Jan. 13, 2004, of complications from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He was 44. After graduating from Wesleyan he received a master’s degree from the Columbia University School of Journalism. At the time of his death he was the associate director of the Stanford University News Service and edited the university’s faculty/staff newspaper. Under his editorship the paper won the Gold Medal for Excellence from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) in 2002. He came to Stanford in 1998 following a distinguished career at newspapers including the Springfield (Mass.) Republican and Agence France-Presse. A certified interpreter, he spoke French, Italian and Spanish fluently. Survivors include his partner, Ken Wingard, his parents, a brother, and a nephew and niece.
THOMAS A. OSBORNE, V.M.D., 40, a veterinarian in the Philadelphia area, died of a brain tumor Aug. 27, 2005. He received a degree from the School of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania and had practiced in Washington State until 2002. He is survived by his wife, Natasha Kassell, a son, a daughter, his parents, two sisters, and a brother.
ROBINSON K. NOTTINGHAM JR., 46, an attorney who founded a residential real estate firm in Washington, D.C., and in Palm Beach County, Fla., died July 18, 2007. He received his law degree from the University of Virginia and practiced law in New York and in the District of Columbia for 12 years, including seven years as a prosecutor in the US Justice Department’s Criminal Division. He is survived by his parents; one brother, Charles D. Nottingham ’89; and two nephews.
A social-services activist in New York City and the director of Safe Space, a non-profit child welfare agency, died Jan. 11, 2013. She was 47. A board member of the Human Services Council and of the Council of Family and Child Caring Agencies in New York City, she graduated from the Harvard School of Public Health. Prior to joining Safe Space, she served as vice president for strategy, policy, and advocacy at the Community Service Society. Among those who survive are her husband, George Locker, two children from her first marriage to Bill Shapiro ’87, a stepdaughter, her father and stepmother, her mother and stepfather, and her sister.
ELLEN S. Miller, a writer and a teacher of creative writing, died Dec. 23, 2008. She was 41. An honors graduate of Wesleyan, she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and earned an MFA from the New York University’s creative writing program, where she also received a fellowship for fiction. She was also awarded a residency at the MacDowell Colony, among others. Her first novel, Like Being Killed, was published in 1998; her second, Stop Drop, Roll, is unfinished, although an excerpt appeared in the anthology, Lost Tribe: Jewish Fiction From the Edge (2003). She is survived by her partner, Christopher Rowell, her stepfather, Scott Hyde, her two brothers, and her god–daughter.
DAVID N. MARCHETTI, a social services worker, died Sept. 28, 2007, at age 45. Elected to Phi Beta Kappa, he worked at the Oak Hill School and at MARC: Community Resources. Survivors include his father; his sister, Sandra DiPietro ’95; and a niece and nephew.
CHARLES A. MORSS III, M.D., a physician, died Jan. 21, 2008. He was 50. Survivors include his parents, two brothers, and a sister.
