Tag: 1970

WALTER G. TRICE, a retired actuary who was one of the top ten backgammon players in the U.S., as well as the author of several books, including Backgammon Boot Camp, died Aug. 23, 2009. He was 60. A contributing columnist to backgammon magazines, he also wrote computer programs. He received his degree cum laude. He is survived by his wife, Donna McDermott Trice, two stepchildren, three step-granddaughters, six siblings, and numerous nieces and nephews.

GEORGE B. von der LIPPE, 61, professor of German at St. Anselm College for 26 years, and chairman of the foreign language department, died Nov. 2, 2009. He received his PhD from Brown University, where he did groundbreaking literary detective work comparing Edgar Allan Poe and E.T.A. Hoffmann. The author of many scholarly articles, as well as a critical study of Martin Luther, he translated Max Schmeling’s autobiography and also an important World War II novel critical of the Nazi regime. Survivors include his son, his mother, and his former wife, Angela von der Lippe.

ANDREW F. TOTH, 1948-2005, passed away in November at his home in Denpasar, Bali after a long battle with lung and brain cancer. A self-actualized individual, he devoted his life to what he loved best: the classical music traditions of Bali and Java, their performance and analysis. He was highly respected in the field of ethnomusicology as a first class musician, researcher, teacher, scholar, recorder and colleague. As American Consular Agent in Bali he was instrumental in helping numerous others – musicians, scholars, students, tourists, politicians, sailors – find the “real” Bali beyond the typical tourist experience. He was a passionate friend and husband who loved fishing, SCUBA, white water rafting, squash and, most of all, punning. He leaves behind a gaping hole, and will be sorely missed by his colleagues and friends. Andy was a local Connecticut boy who attended the public schools in the nearby town of Meriden.

His interest in music began early with the accordion which he played at family and school events. In high school, he played guitar with the most popular rock and roll band in the region, the North Atlantic Invasion Force. A product of the post-Sputnik era, he was fascinated by science and won a Special Summer Study Grant from the National Science Foundation to study astronomy. He was valedictorian of his class at Orville Platt High School and came to Wesleyan as a freshman in the fall of 1966 as one of Hoy’s Boys in the class of 1970. His extraordinary family also sent his younger siblings Patrick (1978) and Mary Ann (1975) to Wesleyan. Andy came to Wesleyan with the intention of being a Chemistry major and quickly became associated with the brilliant Dr. Peter Leermakers. As Leermaker’s research assistant, Andy worked in the photochemistry lab and co-authored papers on photochromism as an undergraduate. Rock and roll remained a force in his life, and he was a member of the dynamic campus band, Uranus and the Five Moons. But this was Wesleyan, and Professor Bob Brown (who passed away within days of Andy) had established a ground-breaking program in ethnomusicology focusing on both performance and scholarship including the cultural traditions of West Africa, North and South India, Japan and Indonesia. Visiting artists from these countries and their students put on compelling concerts of music and dance which riveted the attention of most undergraduates many of whom would try their hand at mastering one or more of these disciplines. Some took up the infectious talking drums of Ghana; others were fascinated by the sinuous rhythms of the tabla and mrdungam; and many fell in love with the ethereal and stately classical tradition of Javanese gamelan. This was one of the things that made (and still makes) the Wesleyan experience so distinctive, unique and exciting.

Andy experimented with several music traditions, but, with Bob Brown as his mentor, committed himself to the musical culture of Java and Bali. He performed regularly with the gamelan orchestra under the supervision of Pak Prawotosaputro and finally made the difficult decision to become a music major. He received a Wesleyan Honors College Fellowship and spent a semester traveling and studying with Bob Brown in India, Java and Bali, his first taste of international travel. He was hooked.

Andy wrote his Honors Thesis on The Gamelan Sekati of Central Java and graduated Cum Laude with High Honors in Music. He was well on his way to becoming a master musician specializing in gender, an elaborating instrument which plays phrasings around the core melody line. After graduation, Andy accompanied Bob Brown to the brand new California Institute of the Arts where Bob was establishing a program in Ethnomusicology. Andy was a graduate student in the MFA program and served as a Teaching Assistant. In 1971, supported by a Foreign Study Grant from Cal Arts, Andy went on the first American Society for Eastern Arts trip to Java and Bali. Coordinated by Bob Brown, this seminal trip included many of the people who would become key figures in the field of Ethnomusicology particularly in the area of Indonesian music. The group included several other Wesleyan students: Alan Feinstein (1970), Michael Flynn (1970) and John Pemberton (1970). Bob arranged for this group to study with many of the top musicians and teachers in Java and Bali.

On this trip Andy met Danielle Diffloth, a professional photographer who was resident in Java doing a photo documentary accompanied by her young daughter, Natalie Diffloth ’87). Andy married Danielle in 1974. After receiving his MFA from Cal Arts in 1972, Andy joined the PhD program in Ethnomusicology at UCLA where he was able to work with the legendary Mantle Hood, one of the giants of the field (and who also passed away recently).

As a visiting instructor he taught courses in ethnomusicology and performance at several schools in the LA area. He was also Curator of the Colin McPhee Collection at UCLA. In 1975 he received a Fullbright-Hays Dissertation Abroad Fellowship, and he and Danielle spent a year in Bali doing research and making recordings on tuning systems for Balinese gamelans. Andy became fluent in both Indonesian and Balinese and continued studying with the best musicians in Bali. Andy was very active publishing articles and reviews, assisting on record albums and films, attending and giving papers at the Society for Ethnomusicology and other professional organizations, and giving invited lectures. Of course, he also maintained a satisfying schedule of performances of both Javanese and Balinese music.

After completing the requirements for the PhD at UCLA in 1978, Andy took a position back East as an Assistant Professor at Brown University teaching Ethnomusicology. Using instruments he had brought back from Indonesia, he set up performing groups for both Javanese and Balinese music in Providence. He also performed with the Boston Village Gamelan established in 1979 by Wesleyan graduates Sam Quigley and Alan Robinson. He continued working on his dissertation research and his active program of teaching, publishing, speaking and performing.

In 1983 Andy left Brown and got divorced. After a brief stint working as a computer programmer, he made the decision to follow his heart and return to Bali where he could continue his studies and immerse himself in the culture that he loved. For a number of years he worked with the Ford Foundation and as a Visiting Lecturer at the Indonesian College of Arts (STSI) in Denpasar teaching field research methods and ethnomusicology. He became a mainstay of the expat community in Bali performing gender wayang regularly in local festivals and available to help students and researchers, scholars and film-makers.

In 1989 he became the third American musician proficient in Balinese music to become US Consular Agent. In this position he was in charge of caring for US interests and citizens in Bali. He took care of visa problems, legal problems, illness and accidents, seeing that American citizens received necessary services and aid in returning to the US. He organized visits by dignitaries including Secretaries of State, Presidents and ships full of sailors. And he continued to play a critical role facilitating the visits of students, scholars and tourists and gaining them entry to vast and intriguing cultural life of Bali. Many people dramatically benefited from his knowledge of music and culture and his expertise at negotiating the system to gain access to the most interesting people and events. He was active in the Rotary Club and settled into a productive and satisfying life in Bali.

Andy met Janti Nasution, a Batak from Java, and married her in 1993. She became his soul-mate and played a major role in the rest of his life.

After so many years in the tropics, Andy’s fair skin became a problem. He suffered from a variety of skin cancers that required numerous medical procedures in Australia and Singapore.

In October, 2002, the second of two terrorist bombs exploded outside his office, thankfully with no casualties. Shortly thereafter, Andy resigned as Consular Agent. He took a position in a silver exporting company and continued his life as a well-connected expat. Over time, his illness increasingly compromised his ability to function, and after a long struggle, he finally passed away in November, 2005.

His widow, Janti, intends to donate his extensive collection of books, papers, research notes, recordings and photos to the Wesleyan University Music Library. It is her wish that these materials be available to scholars and interested researchers.

ALEJANDRO D. SUJO, a journalist and musician in New York, Caracas, and Buenos Aires, died Oct. 5, 2008. He was 59. At Wesleyan, he had majored in theater. He and his wife, Laney Salisbury, who survives him, are the authors of a forthcoming book, Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art (Penguin Press, 2009). He is also survived by their daughter, Sophie Salisbury–Sujo. Other survivors include his mother, his brother, a niece, and a nephew, Nicholas During ’06.

THE HON. JOHN W. SCOTT JR, civil rights leader and circuit court judge, died of complications from eye surgery on April 16, 2008. He was 59 and had been blind since birth. As a teenager in 1963, he and several others won a federal lawsuit allowing them to attend James Monroe High School, considered a milestone in the integration of Fredericksburg, Va. At Wesleyan he was a member of Delta Tau Delta and earned his bachelor’s with honors in government. He received his JD from the University of Virginia, worked for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and became a managing partner at Hill, Tucker & Marsh. In 1989, he was appointed General District Court Judge in Stafford County, becoming the first black to serve on the bench in the Fredericksburg area, rising to the circuit level seven years later. He is survived by his wife, Alma, and three sons.

MARK M. ROSENTHAL, an attorney and partner at Jeffer Mangels Butler & Marmaro in Los Angeles, where he chaired the National Sports Law Group, died Feb. 3, 2010, at age 61. He was a member of Gamma Psi and received his law degree cum laude from the University of Michigan. A litigation specialist, he represented sports teams in arbitration and negotiations for more than 20 years. He also chaired his firm’s recruiting department for many years. He is survived by his wife, Julie Veneklase Rosenthal; two sons, including William Rosenthal ’06; his mother; and his sister.

Sybil B. Paton, Library Trustee and Arts Activist
Sybil B. Paton died June 5th at Wadsworth Glen in Middletown, Conn, at the age of 84. A Middletown resident for more than 50 years, Mrs. Paton was notable for her leadership in many community organizations, including the Russell Library, the Connecticut State Library, the Wesleyan Potters, the Middletown Commission on the Arts, and Middletown’s Bicentennial celebration. Her efforts created a large number of innovations that took on a life of their own, and continue to enrich the life of the community.

She served as a member of the Russell Library Board of Trustees for more than three decades, from 1966 until 2007, serving twice as the President of the Board. She also served on the Board of Trustees for the Connecticut State Library in Hartford from 1976 to 1981. She was named Friend of the Year by the Friends of Connecticut Libraries in 2002, and Outstanding Library Trustee of 2004 by the Association of Connecticut Library Boards.

Mrs. Paton delighted in the inclusiveness of the library. She championed the expansion of children’s programs at Russell Library and chaired the building committees during two major library renovations that gracefully merged a former bank building with the library’s existing building, a former church. She chaired the search committee that brought the current Director of the Library, Arthur Meyers, to Middletown in 1997. She helped establish the Friends of the Russell Library and founded the John W. Paton Storytelling Contest in memory of her husband. Since 1997, the contest has showcased the writing of unpublished adult writers in the community.

Mrs. Paton was also notable for longstanding contributions to arts in the community. She was appointed in 1972 as one of the founding members of the Middletown Commission on the Arts and served on the commission until 1975. In that role, she worked to expand awareness of local art resources by helping to create a series of music and theater performances, an annual Showcase of the Arts, and a monthly arts calendar for the city. She also helped launch the city art collection and establish the grants programs which supported the start of The Oddfellows Playhouse and many other arts programs. Mayor Sebastian Guiliano declared March 12, 2007, Arts Advocacy Day in Middletown, in honor of “the standard for advocacy and volunteerism” she set for the city.

Her passion for the arts included active involvement in pottery, photography and Bonsai cultivation. She was a charter member of the Wesleyan Potters. She taught pottery classes, was active in the development of the Wesleyan Potters teaching facility, organized the first of many annual sales and won numerous awards in statewide exhibitions. She was a longtime member of the Castle Craig Photography Club in Middletown and the Bonsai Society of Greater Hartford.

Mrs. Paton took on many special challenges for the city of Middletown and community organizations. During the racial tensions of the late 1960s, she served as a Board Member in the TOPS (Teens Organized to Protect Society) organization, working with African-American teenagers to solve community problems. From 1975 to 1977, Mrs. Paton was the Bicentennial Coordinator for the City of Middletown and then from 1977 to 1979 she was Coordinator of Special Events. In both of these roles, she helped showcase Middletown’s rich multi-cultural heritage. She served from 1979 to 1988 as Coordinator of the Building Program for the Idella W. Howell Child Development Center on William Street, and as Coordinator of the Renovation Program for the Green Street School.

Before coming to Middletown, Mrs. Paton was employed as a secretary for the National Council of the YMCA in New York City and from 1950 to 1952, served as coordinator for one of the nation’s first pollution control campaigns to protect the Raritan River in New Jersey.

She first came to Middletown when her husband enrolled as a student at Wesleyan University in January 1946. She moved to Middletown permanently with her family in 1952. While raising three children, Mrs. Paton volunteered for a wide range of community activities. She served as a Brownie and Girl Scout Leader from 1958 to 1963. She was also a founding member of the Wesleyan University Monday Club, a group of faculty wives who originated many ideas for local improvements to the City of Middletown.

Mrs. Paton graduated from The Katherine Gibbs School in New York in 1943, and earned a Bachelor of Arts at Wesleyan University in 1970, in the first graduating class that included women. She later earned a Masters of Arts degree in Anthropology from Wesleyan.

She was married to the late John W. (Jack) Paton for 50 years. She is survived by three children: Laura P. Arnold of Middletown, Bruce Paton of Sunnyvale, CA, and Douglas Paton of Piedmont, CA, as well as five grandchildren. She was born Sybil Lorraine Busch in Yonkers, New York. A private memorial service will be held later this year. Contributions in her memory may be made to the Russell Library, 123 Broad Street Middletown, CT 06457.

LEROY O. MOORE, who spent more than three decades smoothing the pathway for more minority students to succeed in college, died Jan. 18, 2010. He was 62. A member of Delta Tau Delta, he also received a degree from the College of William and Mary, where he was associate dean of students. In 1980 he joined the University of Tennessee in his native Memphis, and held several positions until his most recent one as assistant vice chancellor in the Center of Health Sciences, where he oversaw the Office of Health Career Programs. Survivors include his wife, his mother, three children, one grandson, his uncle, and a large extended family.

PETER B. MARTIN, 57, a psychologist who specialized in educational assessment, died Apr. 8, 2005. The son of the late Lewis B. Martin ’41, he was a member of Kappa Nu Kappa and received both master’s and doctoral degrees in counseling psychology from Boston College. He had a private practice as a licensed psychologist and was the founder of Psychological Services of Northfield (Mass.), where he focused on the assessment and support of children and adolescents with learning disabilities. More recently, he trained other professionals in educational assessment. Survivors include his wife, Molly Scherm, a daughter, two sons, and two brothers.