Tag: 1942

JOHN W. POWERS, 93, an attorney and active civic volunteer in the Youngstown, Ohio, area, died Nov. 22, 2013. A member of Chi Psi, he received his degree with honors and served in the U.S. Army during World War II. After receiving his law degree from the University of Michigan he served as associate, partner, president, and managing partner in the law firm of Manchester, Bennett, Powers and Ullman. Retiring in 1985, he then opened a private practice. He was the founder of the Youngstown Area Arts Council and the Citizens League of Greater Youngstown, and he was active in numerous other organizations. He also served two terms as mayor of Poland, Ohio. Survivors include his wife, Emily Park Powers; four children, including David F. Powers ’67; eight grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and a close extended family.

EDGAR A. JONES JR., a retired professor of law at the University of California at Los Angeles, who played the part of a judge on television courtroom shows, died May 10, 2013, at age 92. The son of Edgar A. Jones of the class of 1912, he was a member of Phi Sigma Kappa and received his law degree from the University of Virginia. During World War II he served in the U.S. Marine Corps. He joined the UCLA law school faculty in 1951 and taught torts, labor law, and labor arbitration there until his retirement in 1991. His television career began with a call from a producer who needed to cast someone knowledgeable about the law for the program Traffic Court. He was such a hit that he also was the judge on Day in Court and Accused. He worked without a script on the shows because he preferred the air of realism that came from letting the events unfold, and he became a star of the new genre in an era when fictional and quasi-real courtroom shows were becoming popular. Among those who survive are his wife, Helen Callaghan Jones, 11 children, 23 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

CHARLES SCHWANDA, who had been executive vice president and treasurer of the Stafford (Conn.) Savings Bank, died Mar. 20 2013, at age 92. A member of Delta Upsilon, he served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was a Boy Scout executive and partner of the former B. Schwanda & Sons button company, which closed in 1967. He then started to work for the Stafford Savings Bank where he had been a Trustee and retired as Trustee Emeritus in 1992. He was also a Trustee Emeritus of Johnson Memorial Hospital, having served the hospital in many capacities, including as President, and he was one of the founders of the Citizens’ Scholarship Foundation of Stafford. His wife, Jean Cooley Schwanda, predeceased him. He is survived by five children, 15 grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews.

ALFRED B. ROLLINS JR., 91, the former president of Old Dominion University, as well as the former vice president for academic affairs at the University of Vermont, died Feb. 20, 2013. A member of Chi Psi, he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received his degree with honors and with distinction in English. After service in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, for which he received the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with four clusters, he returned to Wesleyan and received an MA in History in 1946. He received a PhD from Harvard University in 1948. He began his lifetime of teaching as an instructor at the New Paltz (N.Y.) State Teachers College in 1948, and in 1963 left to become chair of the History Department at SUNY Binghamton. In 1967 he moved to the University of Vermont as a professor, later becoming dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and then Vice President for Academic Affairs. He moved to Old Dominion University in 1976 to become president, a position he held until 1985 when he returned to teaching history at Old Dominion until his retirement in 1991. He was predeceased by his first wife, Ernestine McMullin, and by his second wife, Faith Kenyon Prior. Survivors include his wife, Helen Jones, three children, five grandchildren, one great-grandchild, his sister, and two half-brothers.

RALPH MUCKLEY, M.D., a retired specialist in internal medicine, died Jan. 7, 2013. He was 92. The brother of William H. Muckley of the class of 1934, he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon. He received his medical degree from Columbia University. In 1954 he moved to Covina, Calif., where he started his 30-year practice at the Magan Clinic. He was an avid sportsman and outdoorsman. His wife, Gladys Ryan Muckley, survives, as do three children, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

RICHARD W. LEIGHTON, a retired business executive and an active community volunteer, died June 29, 2012, at age 91. He was the son of William E. Leighton of the class of 1909, and the nephew of Ralph W. Leighton of the class of 1905 and of Harold C. Martin of the class of 1925. A member of Beta Theta Pi, he joined the U.S. Navy during World War II and continued to serve for 27 years. During his service in the Navy, he earned an MBA at Stanford University. After retiring from the Navy, he worked at the Bath Iron Works and the Maine Hospital Association while volunteering in the Brunswick, Maine, area. He was a past president of the Mid-Coast Red Cross and a recipient of the Clara Barton Award, as well as a Paul Harris Rotary Fellow. His first wife, Christine Davis Leighton, predeceased him. Among those who survive are his wife, Eileen Fletcher, three sons, one grandson, his brother, and a large extended family.