Duncan M. Nelson ’52
Duncan M. Nelson ’52 passed away on Dec. 20, 2018. A full obituary can be found here.
Obituaries
Charles O. Culver ’51
Charles O. Culver ’51 passed away on Sept. 12, 2018. A full obituary can be found here.
Harold M. “Hal” Treen Jr. ’50
Harold M. “Hal” Treen Jr. ’50 passed away on Oct. 1, 2018. A full obituary can be found here.
Francis E. Baril ’48
Francis E. Baril ’48 passed away on Aug. 4, 2018. A full obituary can be found here.
John Ritchie Jr. ’43
John Ritchie Jr. ’43 passed away on Nov. 8, 2018. A full obituary can be found here.
Dr. Lester J. Schnell Jr. ’44
It is with great sadness we announce the passing of Dr. Lester J. Schnell Jr. ’44. on November 1, 2018. He was born on Aug. 15, 1922 in New York City. Dr. Schnell was a Garden City resident since 1956. He died peacefully at home surrounded by his family.
Dr. Schnell grew up in Mt. Vernon, N.Y., and Candlewood Isle, Conn. He was an accomplished sailor and athlete. He was president of his senior class at A.B. Davis High School, Mt. Vernon, N.Y. He received his BA degree from Wesleyan University and was a member of the Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity. His subject concentration was chemistry and Latin. He graduated from Cornell Medical University in 1947. He completed his residency at The Brooklyn Hospital in 1947-1951.
During the Korean War he served honorably as a Captain in the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Air Force. During this time, he and his wife, Catherine, were recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency to serve overseas as physicians on the island of Saipan.
In 1956, he moved to Garden City and practiced obstetrics/gynecology at Nassau Hospital, now Winthrop Hospital, in Mineola, N.Y. He was a member of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. As a Garden City resident Dr. Schnell was actively involved in Garden City baseball, the Garden City High School Men’s Association, the Garden City Retired Men’s Club, and the Cherry Valley Club. He was an avid supporter of Garden City High School sports and could be seen at almost every home and away baseball, basketball and football game. He enjoyed bridge, gardening, golf, tennis, reading, swimming at the beach, classic cars and boats, and attending the theatre. He was a long time Yankees and Jets fan.
He was the beloved husband of the late Catherine Lund Schnell and the late Marge Rix Schnell.
He was the father of Lisa (Schnell) Murphy, Richard Schnell and Nan (Schnell) Kiyonaga, as well as a grandfather of 14, and the great-grandfather of three.
Military burial will be at Calverton National Cemetery at a future date.
In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to Winthrop Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Winthrop Hospital Development Office, 200 Old Country Rd, Suite 570, Mineola, NY 11501.
We thank Dr. Schnell’s daughter for this heartfelt obituary.
Peter Standaart
Peter Standaart, private lessons teacher and visiting instrumental teacher, passed away on Sept. 16, at the age of 70. Standaart was educated at Duke University, the North Carolina School for the Arts, and Yale University. He arrived at Wesleyan in 1975 and continued to teach flute until shortly before his death. He performed many times with the Wesleyan Orchestra, the Goodspeed Opera, and the Connecticut Flute Orchestra, among others. In recent years, Standaart was a member of two trios and co-founded Flutes in the Woods, a Middletown performance series for regional flutists. Throughout his career, he premiered many new works, including compositions by his Wesleyan colleagues. He is remembered as a talented and passionate musician by his family and friends. His friend and colleague, Libby Van Cleve said,“It’s a huge personal loss for me, and a collective loss for the Wesleyan community and music world.”
Lewis “Lew” N. Lukens
Lewis “Lew” N. Lukens, professor of molecular biology and biochemistry, emeritus, passed away on Sept. 8, at the age of 91. Lukens taught at Wesleyan from 1966 to 1999, where he was one of the founding members of the molecular biology and biochemistry department. He received his BA from Harvard University and his PhD. from the University of Pennsylvania. Luken’s research involved the regulation of gene expression by eukaryotic cells. He was the recipient of many research grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. At Wesleyan, Lukens served as chair of the biology department, on the committee on graduate instruction, and as program director of the Biomedical Research Support Grant. In retirement, he served on the advisory board of the Wasch Center for Retired Faculty. Dr. Scott Holmes, his colleague, said, “Lew exhibited many qualities I will continue to seek to emulate, as a scientist and a person.” Lukens is survived by his wife, Ellen, and their four children, Katherine Lukens, Marie Lukens Hansen, Ellen Lukens Sisson, and Lewis N. Lukens Jr., and nine grandchildren.
Peter Kilby
Peter Kilby, professor of economics, emeritus, passed away on Aug. 2, at the age of 83. Kilby arrived at Wesleyan in 1965 after working with USAID in Nigeria for two years. He received his BA from Harvard University, his MA from Johns Hopkins University, and his D.Phil from the University of Oxford. Kilby’s work spanned continents. Throughout his career, Kilby was appointed a Fulbright Fellow, a Ford Foundation Foreign Area Fellow, a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, and a Guggenheim Fellow. He served as an advisor to the ILO World Employment Programme in Geneva, the Ciskei Commission in South Africa, the governments of Malaysia and Tanzania, the World Bank in Kenya and Nigeria, USAID, the U.S. State Department, and the Food and Agricultural Organization, among others. “Peter Kilby was a respected scholar and beloved teacher with a wide range of friends at Wesleyan not only among those of us in the social sciences, but throughout Wesleyan’s three divisions,” said colleague Professor Emeritus Mike Lovell. Kilby is survived by his wife, Marianne Kilby, his three children, Damian, Christopher, and Karen, and his six grandchildren.
James C. Kamm ’92
James C. Kamm ’92 passed away on June 20, 2018. At Wesleyan, Kamm majored in theater and was a member for Alpha Delta Phi. He earned an MFA in acting from DePaul University. Most recently, he worked as a desktop support specialist at Wesleyan for 10 years. “Jim was well liked and respected by the faculty and staff that he served, and was highly regarded by his ITS colleagues for his deep knowledge of all things Apple and his attention to detail when it came to writing and editing documentation for ITS services,” said Dave Baird, vice president and chief information officer at Wesleyan said. “He will be missed by one and all.”