Tag: 1943

Categories Obituaries, Obituaries | 1940-1949Posted on

Eugene “Gene” F. Loveland ’43, P’68

Eugene “Gene” F. Gene Loveland ’43, P’68, passed away peacefully in his sleep on November 6, 2025.

Gene was born in Anderson, Indiana, in 1920. An only child, his life was emblematic of the Greatest Generation. He grew up during the Depression and came of age during World War II.  He was tested and emerged with optimism and purpose; he was committed to his family, his country, and to causes larger than himself. 

Gene was a member of the Class of 1943.  He joined Chi Psi fraternity and made a name for himself as a sprinter in 220 and 440-yard dashes.  In March of his senior year, he was called to active duty with the U.S. Naval Air Corps.  He served as a fighter pilot on board the USS Ticonderoga in the Pacific Theater and earned the Distinguish Flying Cross and two air medals.

In the spring of 1946, Gene returned to Wesleyan with his bride Joan (King) to complete his final semester.  After graduating, he joined the Shell Oil Company as a sales trainee in aviation sales.  His career with Shell encompassed sixteen assignments and ten moves (including two years in London) and culminated in 1968 with a promotion to vice president.  His last assignment brought him to Houston in 1971, and it was to be his home for the last half century of his life.

Following retirement from Shell, Mr. Loveland spent eight years as president of Transworld Oil USA, Inc. The company, formerly known as T.W. Oil Inc., is a holding company for businesses providing services to the oil, gas and energy industries. Mr. Loveland joined the company as president in 1981 and served as chairman and chief executive officer from 1983 to 1989.

Gene’s volunteer and civic activities—from which it seemed he never retired—read like yet another career.  An energetic and sought-after organizer and fundraiser, he was president of the Houston Ballet Foundation for four years (chairman for one); president of the International Contemporary Music Exchange; a member of the executive committees of the United Way and the Houston International Festival; a trustee of the Houston Support Center, the British American Educational Foundation, and the Cultural Arts Council of Houston; chairman of the development committee of the Fay School; chairman of the Greater Houston Ice Skating Council; commander of the Texas Commandery of the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem; Honorary Counsel General of the Republic of Malta; and vice dean of the Houston Consular Corps.  A founding member of the Wortham Theater Foundation, Gene personally raised $21 million of the $74 million secured in private funds to build and give the City of Houston a new opera house and adjoining theater for the performing arts.  The Texas chapter of the National Society for Fund Raising Executives awarded Gene its 1980 Fund Raiser of the Year Award.

Gene and Joan were married for 69 years.  They had four sons—Jeffrey ’68 (Sara), Peter (Kathy), David (Susan), and Mark (Jamie)—and a daughter, Laurie Daniel (Dan). Affectionately called Papa Gene and Gogo, they were blessed with 11 grandchildren and 21 great grandchildren.

Always a great storyteller, he wrote a 130-page book of “Papa Gene Stories,” with recollections of his boyhood, his service during the War, his career, and his many adventures with notable characters around the world. In the book’s forward he wrote, “Through some of the stories and experiences, I hope the reader will have a view of the 20th century and what my generation refers to as, ‘the good old days’.”  His legacy will live on in the City of Houston and across the United States through the generations of family and friends who loved him.

Categories Obituaries, Obituaries | 1940-1949Posted on

John A. Benson Jr. ’43

John A. Benson Jr. ’43 passed away on September 16, 2025. Obituaries can be found here, here, and following:

JOHN ALEXANDER BENSON Jr., MD  1921 – 2025

John Alexander Benson Jr., MD, a 1943 graduate of Wesleyan, died September 16, 2025, in Portland, Oregon. He was born July 23, 1921, in Manchester, Connecticut, and raised in a tight-knit family in Windsor, Connecticut. His parents instilled in him a lifelong love of education, which he imbued in his children and students. He often credited The Loomis School, a boys’ prep school where he was a day student, with instilling in him the joy of learning.

John had a long and distinguished career in medicine. A graduate of Harvard Medical School, he completed residency and fellowship at the Brigham and Massachusetts General Hospitals and the Mayo Clinic. In 1959 he joined the faculty of the School of Medicine at the University of Oregon Medical School (later renamed Oregon Health & Science University) as Professor of Medicine and became the first head of the Division of Gastroenterology.

John was appointed the first President of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) in 1975 and President-Emeritus in 1991. His emphasis on setting standards in graduate medical education strengthened the medical profession, enhanced the humanistic qualities of physicians, improved the competency certification process through continued research, and led the establishment of gerontology as a recognized subspecialty.

Prior to the ABIM presidency, Dr. Benson served as ABIM Secretary-Treasurer and as Chair of the ABIM Subspecialty Board of Gastroenterology. Among his appointments and awards, he was President of the American Gastroenterological Association, a Master of the American College of Physicians (receiving ACP’s John Phillips Award in 2000), and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. For the latter, he co-led the 1999 report on medical marijuana, Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base. In 2010 he shared the Abraham Flexner Award from the Association of American Medical Colleges. He authored or co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, invited articles and editorials.

 After ABIM, John served as Interim Dean of the OHSU School of Medicine (1991-93) and then as Dean Emeritus and Senior Scholar in the OHSU Center for Ethics in Healthcare. He was recognized with the annual Mentor Award in 2000 by the Medical Research Foundation of Oregon. In 2003, when his wife, Virginia Tilden, PhD, RN, was recruited as Dean of the College of Nursing at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha NE, John accepted appointments in medicine as Assistant Dean and Professor in the College of Medicine, where he focused on teaching, curriculum development, health care reform, and leading the University’s 10-year reaccreditation. On return to Portland in 2011, he continued professional activities through service to academic journals, The Foundation for Medical Excellence, and OHSU’s interprofessional education initiative.

Dr. Benson will be remembered for his practice and teaching of humanism and excellence, his love of family, and the values he modeled of service and integrity. He is survived by his wife, four children, two stepchildren, and seven grandchildren.

Categories Obituaries | 1940-1949Posted on

Maurice S. Newberg ’43

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.

Categories Class Notes | 1940sPosted on

CLASS OF 1943 | 2015 | ISSUE 3

Again, I regret having to announce three more losses to our Class of ’43 since my last report. Cyrus Quinn, a fellow soccer player and longtime class agent, who was a member of Alpha Delta Phi, died June 29, 2014. Robert Ackart, a Psi U brother, died Dec. 14, 2014; and Rollin Polk, an Episcopal priest, who was a member of Delta Upsilon, died March 16, 2015. These classmates will be greatly missed and our hearts go out to their families.

Here in Virginia we enjoyed some balmy weather this fall. I hope the same was true where you are. I continue to be involved in my bout with cancer. I have already had two operations, and they have just discovered another cancerous tumor. So here I go again!

Fred Mellor writes: “Appreciated your notes. At 95 years, we’re both in our later 50 years of living, making us prone to injury. I fell and hurt my left leg, so I walk with the help of a cane now. We still belong to Portage Country Club, but only for eating out and playing bridge. I gave up playing golf at 92, the year I shot 59 at a challenge round. Our second son moved here (Akron), so we see him a lot at his own apartment or at our house. Our daughter is close by in Cleveland and our oldest son lives in Sweden with our 19-year-old granddaughter. I do not know of any classmates, or how ole’ Wes has grown over the years, but I do enjoy Wesleyan magazine. All that I can remember of sports and Beta Theta Pi fraternity is most favorable. Well, Fred, you do a great job of reporting on our class.”

From Dick Ferguson: “Always so good to hear from you. Don’t have much news for you, but I always think of you when I go past your Wildweed House. Those were the good old days!”

Frederick P. Appleton
100 O’Brien Court, Suffolk, VA 23434

Categories Class Notes | 1940sPosted on

CLASS OF 1943 | 2015 | ISSUE 2

I’m sorry to have to report two more losses. George McFarland died Jan. 5, 2015, and Art Snyder died Nov. 11, 2014. Art was a member of Psi U and a fellow soccer player. They will be sorely missed, and our hearts go out to their families.

Hope you are surviving the weather all right. A little too hot for me, coming from New Jersey! On my follow-up visit to the surgeon, they found some more cancer, so I’ll have to go back for another operation—maybe this time they will get it right!

From Jack Ritchie: “You do good work. I recently got to the campus (in May). I went to hear the president do an update on the state of the college, at lunch in the ’92 Theater for old folks. I was the only ’43 graduate, and the oldest there. The lunch was free.”

I received a nice letter from Fred Mellor, in which he writes, “It’s been years since I reported in to you or your predecessor. You deserve a deal of credit for your effort on behalf of the class of ’43. My wife and I are still in our same home since 1954—in good health, except I fell down a set of stairs and injured my left leg—so that I now walk slowly with a cane. It forced me to give up golf at our country club—now we play bridge there instead—men with men, women with women. I still can drive the car easily, but no sports. Ben Buffham ’41 is the only Wesleyan and Beta Theta Pi fraternity brother I have left to communicate with anymore. It has been years since the last visit to Wesleyan. Well, Fred—keep up the good reporting—I enjoy your effort.”

Dick Ferguson writes, “Always so good to hear from you, and the Wesleyan news. There are not any ’43 guys here at Cranes Mill. There is Bob Foster ’45, who was two classes behind us. He, also, likes news! Both of us send our best to Bobbie.”

Gene Loveland reports: “All is well. Tried to win back the cup in the spring putting championship, but bowed to my nemesis who had five aces to my four. A great match, and another crack at it in October. Also, news for the fall! Labor Day weekend I will marry an old friend of ours from Hartford and resident of the Hallmark. A beautiful 93-year-old who went to Wes house parties in our era, with a Deke whose name she can’t recall. [Congratulations, Gene!] Five days later, on Patriot’s Day, I will be 95. Should be a good year. Onward and upward into the 21st century!”

Categories Obituaries | 1940-1949Posted on

ARTHUR L. SNYDER ’43

ARTHUR L. SNYDER, a retired businessman, died Nov. 11, 2014, at age 93. A member of Psi Upsilon, he served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. He was in the industrial equipment business. Among those who survive are his wife of 71 years, Ellen Tuttle Snyder, four children, eight grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.