Tag: 1939

DONALD C. DAVIS, a former Wesleyan trustee and president of the L.O. and E.S. Davis Lumber Company in Middletown for many years, died Apr. 13, 2003. He was 86. A member of Delta Kappa Epsilon, he was the son of Frank T. Davis of the class of 1911 and the father-in-law of J. Geoffrey Pierson ’61. He was active in community service, serving as a director of numerous civic and professional organizations and received a distinguished alumnus award from Wesleyan, on whose board of trustees he served for three years. Predeceased by two wives, survivors include two daughters, a stepson, nine grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and his stepmother.

EMILIO Q. “Mim” DADDARIO, 91, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1958 to 1970, and who was a former Wesleyan trustee as well as mayor of Middletown, Conn., from 1946 to 1948, died July 7, 2010. A member of Eclectic, he received his law degree from the University of Connecticut and served in the U.S. Army during World War II, later returning to serve in military intelligence during the Korean War. He was a star athlete at Wesleyan and played professional football to help pay his way through law school. He was also a highly decorated Army officer and was credited with capturing Mussolini’s chief of staff; he also negotiated the surrender of Milan from the Germans. While in Congress he was known for his support of science research and development. Subsequently, he served as the director of the former congressional Office of Technology Assessment and as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In addition to receiving several honorary degrees, including an honorary doctorate in science from Wesleyan, he served on the Wesleyan Board of Trustees and retired as an Emeritus Trustee. He received a Distinguished Alumnus Award. His wife, Berenice Carbo Daddario, died in 2007. Survivors include three sons, seven grandchildren, and his sister.

JEROME A. CAPLAN, a Springfield, Mo., real estate developer and investor, died Aug. 12, 2009, at age 91. A graduate of Columbia University, he was a hero of the Battle of the Bulge, for which he received a Bronze Star, and the all-Black unit he led received a Presidential Citation. A supporter of community institutions and of the arts, he is survived by his wife, Theda (Tac) Karchmer Caplan; two children; four grandchildren, including Lindsay A. Caplan ’02; and three great-grandchildren.

HERBERT A. CAHOON JR., 91, a social worker and community activist who was director of the Yale University Volunteer Services for 22 years, died Aug. 18, 2008. He was a member of Psi Upsilon and received an MSW from the Columbia University School of Social Work. Prior to his appointment at Yale, he worked in other social service agencies. At Yale, he nearly tripled the number of Yale students involved in community service activities, and he remained associated with Dwight Hall, The Center for Public Service and Social Justice at Yale, for another 25 years following his retirement. In addition to developing programs that reached out to the New Haven community, he organized Freedom Rides during the Civil Rights Movement and acted as counselor and mediator in other student areas. He is survived by his wife, Jean Williamson Cahoon, two daughters, and a grandson.

MILTON I. BARNETT, a retired sales executive in the industrial safety industry, died Sept. 3, 2006 at age 91. He was a U.S. Army veteran of World War II, serving for five years in the Sixth Army. Survivors include his wife, Grace Sechtman Barnett; two sons, including Peter R. Barnett ’72, M.D.; and three grandchildren.

GEORGE A. DORR JR., the retired president of the Dorr Woolen Company, died June 4, 2006. He was 89. A member of Beta Theta Pi, he served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was a well-known textile industry executive and was an innovator who constantly adapted new technologies to the manufacture of integrated woolen fabric. He also served on industry and community boards. Predeceased by his first wife, Marjorie Parker Dorr, and by a son, he is survived by his wife, Olive Hadley Dorr; two sons, including Christopher Dorr ’74; a daughter; three stepchildren; four grandchildren; 10 step-grandchildren; and three sisters.

DAVID C. BAKER, D.D.S., died Oct. 20, 2003, at age 87. A member of Sigma Nu, he received a dental degree from the University of Pennsylvania and served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He practiced dentistry in East Hampton, N.Y., until his retirement. Survivors include his wife, Eleanor; two sons, including David C. Baker Jr. ’65; four grandchildren; and a sister.

LEWIS M. ANDREWS JR., 89, who retired as president of LMA Enterprises, Inc., died Feb. 1, 2008. He was a member of Chi Psi and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He is survived by his wife, Helga Andrews, and several children and grandchildren.

ROBERT MASON AGARD was born April 1, 1916, in Williamstown, Mass. He was the son of Harry L. Agard, Wesleyan Class of 1904. Bob was educated at Deerfield Academy, majored in history at Wesleyan University, and earned master’s degrees in library science at Columbia and history at Brown. Bob and Phyllis Fairweather were married in 1942 and spent the World War II years in Washington, were Bob was a reference assistant at the Library of Congress.

When the war ended, Bob became college librarian, working at Ripon College and then at Earlham, where he and Phyllis, as Bob’s father said, “got involved with these Quakers,” recognizing their alignment of faith and worship with political conviction and commitment to peace and social justice. They both joined West Richmond Friends Meeting and transferred to the Middle Connecticut Valley Meeting (now Mt. Toby Meeting) in 1961 when the family moved to Amherst, where Bob was chief of reader services at the University of Massachusetts. By then they had four daughters: Anne (Annie), Ellen, Jennette (Jennie) and Susan (Sukey). A fifth daughter was added when they became foster parents of Chamnan Koy, one of a group of Cambodian refugee teenagers resettled in Amherst in 1982.

The family moved to Vermont and Bennington Meeting when Bob became Librarian of Bennington College during the 1970s, and back to Amherst and Mt. Toby after he retired. Eventually Bob and Phyllis had 10 grandchildren: Amber Miller (who died in 1997); Katy and Emily Silgard; Tristan, Molly, and Meg Krause: and Tiffany, Melanie, Emily and Andrew Tan.

Bob loved his home and his family, his music, gardening, hiking, skiing, and helping to resettle wartime refugees–Latvians in Ripon, Germans and Hungarians at Earlham, and Cambodians in Amherst. Phyllis once counted at least 13 Cambodian children who called him Grandpa, and a few young Camdobian women who called him dad. He loved his work and eight or more young people became librarians because of his influence. He was active in many Quaker Monthly Meeting and Yearly Meeting committees, was a member of the board of directors of the New England branch of the American Friends Service Committee, and was, with Phyllis, co-clerk of Mt. Toby Meeting in the early 1980s.

Bob died at 87, a quiet and peaceful death from complications related to pneumonia. We remember him as a warm and gentle man, kind and wise in his advice, and blessed with a wry sense of humor that never deserted him. He had an open, inquiring mind, and his knowledge of the world was wide and deep. He dealt with the parcel of strong women in his life with grace and dignity. Toward the end of his life he developed disabilities in vision, hearing, and memory, which he coped with creatively and gallantly. We miss him very much and will love him always.

–Phyllis Agard and their five daughters