Obituaries

MICHAEL A. EPSTEIN, 77, who had a long career on Wall Street and who was more recently a visiting scholar at MIT’s Laboratory for Financial Engineering, died Apr. 22, 2009. He was a member of Sigma Chi and served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. Affiliated with Cowen and Company, he had also been on the Board of Governors of the American Stock Exchange and had served as a director, past president, and 30–year member of the Market Technicians Association and its foundation. Survivors include his wife, Erika Epstein, and five children.

William W. Ellis, 78, a longtime salesman for the Reynolds Metals Co., died Sept. 16, 2008. He was a member of Psi Upsilon and was recently named to the Wesleyan University Athletics Hall of Fame, as a member of the 1952 track team and captain of the 1953 track team. He placed first in the 100– and 220–yard dashes at the 1953 All Collegiate New England meet. A veteran of the Army, he served in France during the 1950s. Among those who survive are four brothers.

WILLIAM H. DARR, an artist, educator, and art historian, died July 30, 2006 at age 86. He received his degree with honors and with high distinction in creative art. Elected to Phi Beta Kappa, he received an M.F.A. from Yale University. During World War II he served in the U.S. Civilian Public Service. After studying and working with Diego Rivera in Mexico, he taught at Amherst and Earlham colleges, and at Drake University, until he left in 1974 to found his own school in Florence, Italy, the Studio Arts Center International. His paintings are in private and public collections around the world. He is survived by his second wife, Lillian K. Darr; four daughters from his first marriage to Suzanne Clark Darr, who died; three stepchildren; two grandchildren; two step-grandchildren; and two brothers.

RICHARD E. DONLEY, the founder of Mountain High Alfalfa, which markets hay for farmers to dairymen and horse breeders throughout the U.S., died Aug. 4, 2006. He was 59. A member of Esse Quam Videre, he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. After receiving his degree magna cum laude and with high honors from the College of Social Studies, he received an M.B.A. from Harvard. While an undergraduate, his research into the psychological motivation of presidential speeches received national attention and was published in Time magazine. Active in human rights organizations in Colorado, he also published two books. Among those who survive are his partner, Ron Mahka; his second mother, Jean Donley; a brother; and a nephew.

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.