Obituaries

ALEX OKRENT, 29, a political organizer who had worked in presidential campaigns since 2004, died July 13, 2012. Survivors include his parents, Michael Okrent and Lynn Pollack, his sister, his grandmother, and a large extended family.

IAN H. E. HANKS, the co-founder of Hanks Brothers Chinese Trading Company, which sources Chinese products, died Dec. 23, 2011. He was 30. A lymphoma survivor in his teens, he was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2005. He was an East Asian Studies major who had been inspired first by a Wesleyan course in Buddhism that piqued his interest in Asia and then by his courses in Mandarin Chinese, in which he became fluent. A Princeton in Asia scholar, he worked as a consultant in Shanghai with Tractus Asia, a management consulting firm, and later moved to Hangzhou, where he and his brother founded their company. He and his wife also provided heart surgery for seven Chinese school children through Project Hope. Among those who survive are his wife, Sandra Hanks; his mother and father; his brother and sister; his grandmother; and his other mother, Tita Dueñas.

PETER B. MORGENSTERN-CLARREN, 22, died on April 23, 2004 by suicide. Peter was active in social justice causes at Wesleyan, including working with Justice for Janitors, Amnesty International, and improving economic conditions for the world’s poor. He also formed the rock band 8 Fingered Jakob with his friends Derek Garcia ’04, Ben Abrams ’03, and Roger Cohen ’03. The band performed on campus at the Naked party, among other gigs. Peter is survived by a family who loved him dearly, including his parents Hadley and Patti, sister Rachel, four grandparents, eight aunts and uncles, and seven first cousins.

SAMUEL V. AARONIAN, an editor and writer, died Apr. 29, 2007. He was 28 and had worked as a project manager for Unison Site Management in New York City. He had also worked in the editorial department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and had been involved in the publication of several books. His parents, one brother, and a large extended family survive.

HOPE REICHBACH, 22, communications director for New York City Councilman Steve Levin and an up-and-coming politician in Brooklyn, N.Y., died Apr. 28, 2011. Among those who survive are her parents.

PAUL SCHAFFEL, 22, a prize-winning double major in History and Psychology, and who graduated with High Honors, died Sept. 16, 2012. He had been diagnosed with a long-term illness in December 2011 and continued his course work and honors thesis despite undergoing extensive treatment. Originally from New York City, he served as editor-in-chief of Historical Narratives, Wesleyan’s undergraduate history journal. He was awarded the Butler Prize for his thesis on London student radicals in the early 1900s, centered on the killing of Curzon-Wyllie, the aide to the Secretary of State for India. Admitted to Columbia, Harvard and Stanford law schools, he had planned to attend Harvard after deferring for a year because of his illness. His mother, Ellen Walker, and his father, Steven Schaffel, survive.

SAMUEL M. TUTHILL, Ph.D., nationally distinguished chemist who served Mallinckrodt, Inc. as director of quality assurance until 1981, died Dec. 6, 2005, after a brief illness.

He was 86 and a longtime resident of Ferguson until he moved to Hidden Lakes Retirement Community in Spanish Lake in 2003.

Dr. Tuthill grew up on a farm in Rocky Point, Long Island, New York, and attended Wesleyan University, where he received his B.A. and M.A. in chemistry. In June, 1941, he married Frances Hallock, also of Rocky Point, and they moved to St. Louis, where he began his career with Mallinckrodt Chemical Works.

During World War II, he worked on the Manhattan Project carried out by Mallinckrodt to purify uranium for use in atomic weapons. Following the war, he earned his Ph.D degree in Analytical Chemistry at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. In 1948, he returned to Mallinckrodt, where he became Director of Quality Standards, serving until his retirement as Corporate Director of Quality Assurance in 1981.

He continued as a Mallinckrodt consultant for 15 years, serving on many national standards committees. Dr. David Fey, a colleague at Mallinckrodt, remembers: ?Dr. Tuthill was a long time member of the Committee of Revision of the United States Pharmacopeia (1975-2004). His almost 30 year career with the Pharmacopeia included a diverse range of service, from Chairman to member on committees such as ?Organic and Inorganic Compounds, Radiopharmaceuticals, Reagents, General Chapters,? and ?Reference Standards?. Dr. Tuthill was also the American Chemical Society delegate to the United States Pharmacopeia which made him a natural conduit for cooperation and communication between these two organizations that strive for scientific integrity, as did Sam.?

His interests included the First Presbyterian Church of Ferguson, where he and his wife have been members for over 50 years. He served the church as President of the Board of Trustees, Elder and Chairman of the Stewardship Committee.

Survivors include his wife, Frances; his children, Arthur Tuthill of Ferguson, Thomas Tuthill 72 (The Rev. Cricket Cooper) of New London, N.H., and Anne Tuthill (John) Polta of Golden Valley, MN; and grandchildren, Andrew and Peggy Polta.

ROBERT D. THORNTON, emeritus professor of English at the State University of New York at New Paltz and a State University of New York Exchange Scholar, died Oct. 24, 2006, at age 89. He was a member of Chi Psi and received his degree with honors and with high distinction in English. He received master’s degrees from Western Reserve and Harvard universities, and after service in the US Navy during World War II, returned to Harvard, where he received a PhD. An authority on Robert Burns and the cultural history of 18th-century Scotland, he taught for 45 years. He won awards for teaching and scholarship, and he collaborated with musicians on recordings of the songs of Robert Burns and Francis Hopkinson. Among those who survive are his wife, Grace Baker Thornton, two sons, and a brother, Norman M. Thornton ’41.

WILLIAM LEROY SMITH III, 83, of Skyview Manor died Saturday, Feb. 28, 2004, at 6:00 a.m. in the Fox Nursing Home, Chester, West Virginia.

He was born Feb. 1, 1921, in Chester, the son of Richard B. Smith and Belva Newell Smith. He grew up in Chester and the family later moved to West 6th Street in East Liverpool.

While attending Riverside Military Academy in Gainesville, Georgia, Bill was witness to the famous and devastating tornado of 1936.

He was graduated in 1939 from The Peddie School in Hightstown, N.J., where he played football. His collegiate education at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., was interrupted by his service during World War II when he served in the Army Air Corps as a flight navigator in the South Pacific. Bill’s interest in flying continued long after the war, and he enjoyed piloting his own plane for many years. When he returned to Wesleyan, he was a member and president of Chi Psi Fraternity, played on the Red Cardinals football team and was graduated in 1946.

After returning to East Liverpool, Bill joined the family-owned Taylor, Smith and Taylor pottery. He worked in every facet of the pottery and served as president of the company until his retirement in 1975, when the pottery was sold to Anchor-Hocking Corporation. Highlights of his tenure at TS&T were the introduction of LuRay Ware and securing accounts with American Greetings and Sears Roebuck.

After retiring from Anchor-Hocking, Bill founded CMSUSA, a company that imports products for the pottery industry. He remained chairman of the company until his death.

He represented the pottery industry in many national organizations, and served as president and board member of the Association of Pottery and Glass Manufacturers up until his death.

An avid golfer, Bill was a member of the East Liverpool Country Club, learning to play there as a young boy. He was also a member of Vasari Country Club in Bonita Beach, Fla., where he maintained a residence.

Other organizations that benefited from Bill’s service were the East Liverpool YMCA Board; the Board of Potters Savings and Loan; Riverview Cemetery Board; St. Clair Land Company; and the East Liverpool Country Club Board.

He was a member of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church.

Survivors include his wife, the former Virginia Purinton at home; a brother, Richard B. Smith, Jr. of East Liverpool; a sister, Shirley Smith Koenig of Huntsville, Ala.; a son, William L. Smith IV (Wink) and his wife, Dorothea, of East Liverpool, and a daughter, Barrie Archer and husband Thomas also of East Liverpool; and five granddaughters, Tristam D. Griffith, Alexis W. Dowding Wesleyan Class of 1996, Newell G. Smith, Leah S. Smith and Patricia B. Smith. A step-grandson, Patrick Archer, also survives and great-granddaughter Maya W. Griffith. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, memorial tributes be made to Dollars for Scholars, P.O. Box 458, East Liverpool OH 43920 or the East Liverpool Area YMCA, 500 E. Fourth St., East Liverpool OH 43920.

DONALD S. SMITH JR., 91, a certified life underwriter who was associated with Connecticut General Life Insurance (CIGNA) for many years, died Jan. 6, 2009. A member of Psi Upsilon, he served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He was a certified life underwriter and was a life member of both the President’s Club and the Million Dollar Roundtable. In 2005 he was honored by Psi Upsilon with the Bishop Herman Welch Award for Lifelong Leadership to Wesleyan and Society. His wife, Lois Alley Smith, predeceased him, as did a granddaughter and his brother, Wheeler Smith ’47. Survivors include three sons, six grandchildren, and a sister.