Obituaries

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.

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.

TIMOTHY W. RUEFLI, professor of management at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin and a specialist in management information systems, died June 19, 2010. He was 67. A member of Delta Tau Delta, he received his degree cum laude. After receiving his master’s and doctoral degrees from Carnegie Mellon University, he worked with the Rand Corporation for the U.S. Air Force and then joined the Texas faculty in 1968. His research and teaching included high technology strategic management, information systems, management science, and microeconomics. An award-winning professor, in the 1980s he advanced the use of an integrated computer and telecommunication system at the university, and was a leader in establishing the MBA concentration in management information systems. Among those who survive are his wife, Mary Jane Connelly Ruefli, five children, and five grandchildren.

JEFFREY D. ROTHBERG, 52, a screenwriter and film and television producer, died Oct. 9, 2009. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television. Survivors include his wife, Meg Rothberg, two children, his mother, and his sister.

PAUL S. RUDERMAN, an attorney, died Aug. 2, 2012. He was 54. A graduate of the Indiana University School of Law, he was an attorney and partner with the Mariscal, Weeks, McIntyre & Friedlander law firm in Phoenix, Ariz. He practiced in the areas of commercial litigation, corporation and business law, and health care law. He was the son of Sidney Ruderman ’42, who died in 1998. Among those who survive are his wife, Dianne Ruderman, two children, including Michael Ruderman ’11, and his mother.

CHARLES E. RUSSELL, associate professor of chemistry at Muhlenberg College and a specialist in organometallic chemistry, died Jan. 26, 2012, at age 55. A member of Delta Tau Delta, he received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Colorado State University. After post-doctoral work in Paris, France, he joined the faculty of Muhlenberg in 1988. He was also an active community volunteer. Survivors include his wife, Winifred Neifert Russell, and several cousins.

JEFFREY D. ROTHBERG, 52, a screenwriter and film and television producer, died Oct. 9, 2009. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television. Survivors include his wife, Meg Rothberg, two children, his mother, and his sister.

CAROL JEWETT ROSTAD, 52, a vice president of GenRe Securities, died June 30, 2007. She received her degree magna cum laude, earned a master’s degree at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies, and a PhM at Columbia University. During her career she taught economics at Drew University and had worked at several banks in New York City. She is survived by her daughter, Laura K. Rostad, her parents, a sister, a brother, and an extended family. (For more information, see the Times Tribune, July 8, 2007.)

EDWARD G. (Ned) ROGERSON, 52, a senior vice president at BankAtlantic, died Dec. 15, 2006. He was a member of Psi Upsilon and received an MBA from Northeastern University. He is survived by his wife, Shelby Coleman Rogerson ’78; a daughter; a son; his life partner, Juan Carlos Guerrero; his parents; and a sister.

CATHERINE P. ROYCE, 60, a former deputy arts commissioner for the City of Boston, died Mar. 30, 2009, of complications from ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. After receiving her degree in humanities and theater, she was associated with several arts organizations and in 1994 received an MBA from Simmons College. In addition to consulting for various groups, she continued to perform with dance companies until her diagnosis. The author of Wherever I Am, I’m Fine, which was published in the final months of her life, and which is a collection of extraordinary letters about how to live deeply while dying gradually, she also shared her insights on National Public Radio. Her husband, A. Scott Nagel, two children, two sisters, and a brother survive.

Becket Royce McGough, sister of Catherine Royce, wrote to inform Wesleyan of Catherine’s passing. Ms. McGough added: “She had an obit published in the Boston Globe:

www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2009/04/02/catherine_royce_60_documented_travails_triumphs_in_als_battle/
. I do know that in lieu of flowers, she would like contributions made to The Boston Home, 2049 Dorchester Avenue, Boston, MA 02124.”