Obituaries

GEORGE W. DAVISON-ACKLEY, 61, who had been a vice president of Lehman Management Company, died Sept. 30, 2007. A member of Psi Upsilon, he received his law degree as well as a master’s degree in business administration from Columbia University. He was the grandnephew of George W. Davison of the class of 1892 and the grandson of Emory H. Westlake of the class of 1900. He is survived by his partner, John Robert Massie; his father; two brothers, including Emory W. Ackley ’65; and his niece, Annie W. Ackley ’98.

GEORGE R. DREHER, a banker who later became a landscape and irrigation specialist, died Aug. 11, 2011, at age 67. A member of Chi Psi, he had been associated with Chandler Leasing and Westinghouse Credit before going into the landscape business. He is survived by his mother, Caroline D. Halloran, three children, two stepdaughters, and his brother and sister.

ROBERT E. DiMAURO, a human resources consultant, died Oct. 18, 2012, at age 75. He was a member of Delta Sigma and received his degree with honors. He later received a master’s degree in Mathematics from New York University, a master’s in Human Resources from American University, and Liberal Arts certificate from Williams College. He spent most of his career doing Human Resources development work with New York Telephone, after which he retired to do independent consulting work. Later, he worked as a carpenter and home renovator, and was very active in his local community in Brattleboro, Vt. Survivors include his wife, Nancy Eastman DiMauro, three sons, nine grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter.

JOHN CHARLES DUFFY died of a heart attack on March 15 in Gettysburg, Pa., at age 64. Throughout his life, he was passionately engaged with the arts, as a musician, conductor, educator, critic, writer, and avid theatergoer.

As a young man, John studied the trumpet with a leading trumpet player in the Cleveland Orchestra and performed summers at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. While he was an undergraduate at Wesleyan, his musical interests shifted to choral and vocal works. He sang with the Wesleyan Glee Club under Richard Winslow, as well as with the Smith-Wesleyan Concert Choir and the Cardinalaires. He also played trumpet on worldwide tours with the Smith-Amherst Chamber Singers, under the direction of Iva Dee Hiatt. During this period, he developed his lifelong passion for the music of Schubert, performing the “Winterreise” song-cycle for his senior recital.

As a graduate student at Brown University, he studied musicology and conducting, and met his wife, Jeannie de Brun. In 1971, he helped co-found the Providence Singers, a choral group that performed a diverse repertoire. He completed his doctorate in musicology at Boston University, and his resulting book, The Songs and Motets of Alfonso Ferrabosco, the Younger, was published by the University of Michigan Research Press in 1980. He taught and conducted the choruses at Tufts University in the mid to late 1970s.

In 1980, he left academia to teach for Digital Equipment Corporation. Even as he worked in the field of computer technology, he continued to participate in the arts. He sang in the Tanglewood Festival Chorus (along with his wife) and the John Oliver Chorale, among other vocal groups in the Boston area. While living in the Twin Cities in the 1990s, he conducted a performance of Orlando de Lassus’ “The Tears of St. Peter” at the Basilica of St. Mary, a concert broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio. He also took great joy in working with young people in music, leading the students of the Apple Valley High School Music Listening Team to two consecutive state titles, and directing the choir of Normandale Community College on several occasions.

As a music critic, he wrote reviews for the Boston Herald, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, and other newspapers. He was a lifelong member of the Music Critics Association and the American Musicological Society, and he delivered talks on Schubert and other subjects at professional meetings.

Theater was another passion of John’s. He became an ardent supporter of the Guthrie and other theaters in Minneapolis and, later, the Contemporary American Theater Festival in Shepherdstown, WV.

John and Jeanne moved to Gettysburg, PA, in 1999, when Jeanne pursued a career opportunity at Gettysburg College, her alma mater. John also worked at Gettysburg College—on the development and early implementation of CNAV, the college’s award-winning portal. In addition to his enthusiasm for music and theater, John was a connoisseur of fine coffee, dark chocolate, Herrell’s ice cream, and esoteric books. He is survived by his wife, his daughter Vanessa of Burtonsville, MD, his son Alec of New York City, and his two-year-old granddaughter Tabitha Duffy-Goodman.

WILLIAM D.S. DICKSON, a teacher at the Haverford (Penna.) School, died of cancer Apr. 2, 2003. He was 61. A member of Delta Kappa Epsilon, he also received specialized educational administration degrees from West Chester University and from Immaculata College. He taught at the Episcopal Academy for 22 years before joining the faculty and administration at the Haverford School, where he received the school’s Outstanding Teacher Award. Survivors include a daughter, a grandson, a brother, and a sister.

CHARLES G. DANZOLL, a retired insurance executive and a novelist, died June 25, 2008. He was 71. A member of Psi Upsilon, he received his degree with honors and with distinction in English. He was the son of F. Slade Danzoll of the class of 1923 and the son-in-law of Herbert A. Frank of the class of 1931. During his career with Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, he also wrote several novels as well as a history of his Wesleyan fraternity chapter. Among those who survive are his wife, Judith Frank Danzoll, two sons, four grandchildren, and a sister.

H. RICHARD DIETRICH JR., a philanthropist and well-known collector of early American decorative and fine arts, died Aug. 30, 2007, at age 69. A member of Psi Upsilon, he attended Columbia University’s business school until he was called home to run the family business when his father died. From 1974 to 1980 he was a member of Wesleyan’s Board of Trustees. President of the Dietrich Corporation, a conglomerate that was sold to the Hershey Company in 1986, he then retired and devoted himself to philanthropy, conservation, and collecting high-quality objects both for the Dietrich American Foundation and for private use. Works from the foundation’s collection have been lent to more than 50 institutions, making them available to the public. He was particularly active with the Philadelphia Museum of Art and served as board chairman there for 35 years; the museum’s curatorship of American decorative arts is named in his honor. Survivors include two sons, a daughter, a granddaughter, two brothers, and his former wife, Cordelia Frances Biddle. (See further information in the New York Times of 9/10/07.)

RUSSELL G. “Toby” D’OENCH III, 58, an attorney and partner in Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP, and founder of the North Star Fund, a nonprofit organization that supports grassroots groups fighting for equality, economic justice and peace, died Jan. 23, 2012. Known as Toby, he received his law degree from Columbia University Law School in 1992, where he was both a James Kent Scholar and a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. He clerked for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York before entering private practice. A member of Skadden’s Financial Institutions Group, he handled mergers, acquisitions, equity offerings and other transactions, both public and private. In 1977 he founded the North Star Fund, a nonprofit organization that supports grassroots groups fighting for equality, economic justice and peace, and he served as the organization’s executive director until 1983. The son of the late Ellen G. D’Oench ’73, he is survived by his wife, Tani Takagi, two children, his sister, and his brother, Peter G. D’Oench ’73.

The Rev. ALBERT R. DREISBACH JR., 72, an Episcopal priest and civil rights activist, died Apr. 29, 2006. A member of Psi Upsilon, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps and then received his divinity degree from the Union Theological Seminary. He was founding president of the Atlanta International Center for Continuing Study of the Shroud of Turin. Predeceased by his wife, Jane Corey Dreisbach, he is survived by a son, a daughter, two grandchildren, and his companion, Nancy Whitworth.

GLENN T. DULMAGE, 77, an educator and former Peace Corps member, died Apr. 22, 2012. After seven years as the Sports Illustrated magazine librarian, he and his wife joined the Peace Corps, serving in the Ivory Coast and Iran. Upon his return, he taught at the Northfield Mount Hermon School, where he was director of the ESL program for 17 years. After he retired, he volunteered with the AARP Tax Aide Program and was a member of its state management team, in addition to his hobbies of photography, SCUBA diving, and birding. He is survived by his wife, Juliana Kasius Dulmage, and a daughter.