Norman Pyle, 92, who retired as senior vice president and head of the quality assurance department at First Interstate Bank in Portland, Ore., died Dec. 5, 2017. A member of Alpha Delta Phi, he received his degree with honors and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. After his retirement he spent several years as a part-time executive and volunteer for United Way. He is survived by his wife, Marjorie Wohlfahrt Pyle, five children, and six grandchildren.
Robert P. Foster Jr., a retired senior consultant for Prudential Financial, Inc., died Oct. 12, 2017, at age 93. He was the grandson of Addison B. Poland of the class of 1872, the son of Robert P. Foster of the class of 1921, and the nephew of John S. Foster of the class of 1922. A member of Eclectic, he served in the U.S. Army during World War II. In 1947 he joined the Prudential Insurance Company as an analyst and rose through the ranks, retiring in 1985 as an adviser to the president on special projects. He was involved in civic affairs and enjoyed travel. Among those who survive are his wife, Sally Ann Bianchi Foster; three children; seven grandchildren; a cousin, John S. Foster ’58; and a large extended family.
Leonard S. Halpert, a retired attorney and executive who endowed the Hugo L. Black Lecture on Freedom of Expression at Wesleyan, died Oct. 5, 2017. He was 94. A member of the John Wesley Club, he left the university after his junior year to join the U.S. Army Air Forces and then received his degree in physics with honors in 1946. In 1948 he received a law degree from Columbia University. From 1957 to 1988 he worked for the Cocoline Chocolate Company, becoming the company’s president in 1961. After the company conveyed its right to use the name to the Dan Bell Chocolate Company, he continued as president and CEO. In 1982, he was named the company’s vice chairman, a position he held until his retirement in 1988. During the 1960s he became actively involved with the French winery Domaine Gerin and started a wine importing business, which he sold in 2006. An active alumnus, he endowed the Hugo L. Black Lecture on Freedom of Expression. Offered annually, it brings to the Wesleyan campus distinguished public figures and scholars with experience and expertise in matters related to the First Amendment and freedom of expression. He was also an active member of several neighborhood organizations in the downtown Boston area. Survivors include his wife, Selma Rutenberg, M.D., and his daughter, Margaret Dara Halpert.
Maurice S. Newberg, 97, a sales manager in the pharmaceutical industry, died Sept. 12, 2017. Born in Middletown, he had a long history of participation in the community and in Wesleyan alumni activities. He founded the library of Judaica at Congregation Adath Israel in Middletown, and was a founding member of several groups there. Predecased by his wife, Beverly Ellsworth Cotteral Newberg, he is survived by many nieces and nephews, as well as a large extended family.
William D. Longaker, M.D., a psychiatrist, died Dec. 1, 2017, at age 97. He was a member of Alpha Delta Phi and received his bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College. After receiving his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania, he served in the U.S. Navy. He practiced psychiatry in Ithaca and Binghamton, N.Y. Survivors include five children, six grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, his brother, and his friend and former wife, Patricia Lane Longaker.
Curtis W. Smith, 100, a retired United Methodist minister, died Nov. 10, 2017. He was a member of Sigma Chi, received his degree with honors, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in divinity from the Chicago Theological Seminary, he began his career serving parishes in New England. In 1964 he moved with his family to the eastern shore of Maryland because he wanted to become more involved in the Civil Rights Movement. After retirement in 1985 they moved back to New Hampshire, where he remained active by filling in for other pastors in various roles. He retired completely at age 89. A lifelong pacifist, he always enjoyed working with youth. His wife, Rosemary Hirst Smith, predeceased him. Among those who survive are two daughters, one son, two grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
C. Knight Aldrich, M.D., a psychiatrist and author, died Nov. 3, 2017. He was 103. A member of Eclectic, he received his degree with honors and with high distinction in psychology. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and to Sigma Xi. After receiving his medical degree from Northwestern University, he served in the U.S. Public Health Service during World War II. Following the war, he was a faculty member of the medical schools at the universities of Wisconsin and Minnesota, and in 1955 became chairman of the newly formed Department of Psychiatry at the University of Chicago School of Medicine. He had an unwavering commitment to understanding mental health illness and to improving mental health care, particular in the community. An author of many articles and several books, he wrote about aspects of psychiatry as well as a book based on his great-grandfather’s Civil War letters. His wife, Julie Honore Aldrich, and two sons predeceased him. Survivors include a son; a daughter; eight grandchildren, including Adam B. Aldrich ’17; and three great-grandchildren.
CHARLES A. HOYT, a professor of English literature, died June 19, 2017, at age 85. He was a member of Delta Tau Delta and received his degree with honors and with distinction in musicology. He received an MAT from Wesleyan in 1955, and an MA and PhD from Columbia University. A specialist in the Romantic movement and Shakespeare, he was also interested in the study of the occult and was the author of a textbook on witchcraft. He was an accomplished jazz pianist. Among those who survive are five sons, including Samuel W. Hoyt ’99 and John T. Hoyt ’03; and eight grandchildren.
RICHARD P. WILBUR, the eminent poet and former Olin Professor of English, died Oct. 14, 2017, at age 96. He joined the Wesleyan faculty in 1957 and taught until 1977. During his two decades at Wesleyan he received the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award for Things of This World, was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and founded the renowned Wesleyan University Press poetry series. Wesleyan awarded him an honorary degree in 1977. During his long and distinguished career as a poet and translator, he was appointed as national poet laureate, received two Pulitzer Prizes, a National Medal of the Arts, two Guggenheim fellowships, the T.S. Eliot Award, and the Frost Medal, among others. He was known for his classical rhyme and meter, as well as for his translations of Molière, Racine, Baudelaire, and Joseph Brodsky. He also wrote most of the lyrics for Leonard Bernstein’s opera Candide. Born in New York City, he graduated from high school in Montclair, N.J., and received a bachelor’s degree from Amherst College in 1942, before enlisting in the U.S. Army. He served in Africa, southern France, and Italy during World War II, an experience that he said led him to “versify in earnest.” After graduating from Harvard University with a master’s degree in 1947, he worked for many years as an English professor while continuing to write, translate, and publish. In 1961, he was named chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, a position he held for more than 30 years. His wife, Charlotte Ward Wilbur, died in 2007. Four children, three grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren survive.
KIT REED, 85, author and resident writer at Wesleyan, died Sept. 24, 2017. A graduate of the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, she worked as a reporter for the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times and for the New Haven (Conn.) Register, where she twice was named New England Newspaperwoman of the Year. She moved to Middletown in 1960 when her husband, Joe Reed, professor of English and of American studies, emeritus, took a position at Wesleyan. In 1964 she became a visiting professor of English, then an adjunct professor of English in 1987, and resident writer in 2008. A former Guggenheim fellow, she was the first American recipient of an international literary grant from the Abraham Woursell Foundation. Her work has been nominated for the Locus Award, the Campbell Award, the World Fantasy Award, and the Tiptree Award; she was twice nominated for the Shirley Jackson Award. Instrumental in the construction of the Creative Writing Program, she helped to attract notable writers from across the country, both within the program and yearly at the Wesleyan Writers Conference. Many notable writers came through her care, and many remained lifelong friends. A prolific novelist and short-story writer, she wrote 39 books of fiction. She is known not only for her science fiction, but also for her fantasy writing and paranormal and mystery genres. Her last short story, “Disturbance in the Produce Aisle” was published in Asimov’s Magazine the month she died. In addition to her husband, Joe Reed, three children and their families survive.
