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Doug Cook

Former Theatre Department head Doug Cook dies at 84

6/5/14

Douglas N. Cook, head of theatre at Penn State from 1970 to 1988, died on May 31 in San Diego, following a battle with stomach cancer. He was 84. During his tenure at Penn State, he oversaw the evolution of University Theatre into the University Resident Theatre Company, which sponsored all department productions. He also served as producer of the Penn State Festival Theatre, a summer theatre festival that was ultimately reorganized as Pennsylvania Centre Stage. He headed Penn State’s film program when it was part of the Theatre Department from 1974 to 1987.

Smeal College of Business mourns alumnus, philanthropist John Garber

4/11/14

John D. Garber, Class of 1940, passed away last month in Palm Desert, Calif. He and his wife, Bette, were significant contributors to the Penn State Smeal College of Business, establishing the John and Bette Garber Venture Capital Center for Penn State Smeal MBA students in 1999.

Memorial service set for professor emeritus William Pencak

1/9/14

A memorial service for William Pencak, Penn State professor emeritus of American history and Jewish studies, will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 18, in Eisenhower Chapel of the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center, on the University Park campus.

Dr. Richard Naeye, founding chair of Pathology, Penn State College of Medicine

Remembering College of Medicine’s founding chair of pathology, Dr. Richard Naeye

12/18/13

Dr. Richard Naeye, founding chair and professor emeritus of pathology at Penn State College of Medicine, died last week at Penn State Hershey Medical Center. Over the 40 years Naeye gave to Penn State Hershey, he played a pivotal role in the growth and development of the campus and its programs. He was instrumental in the development of the medical student curriculum, mentored numerous faculty, residents and staff, and contributed to science through his work in the area of placental pathology. A strong desire to help others served as a defining characteristic of his professional life.

Former chemistry department head Dixon dies at 93

2/8/13

Joseph Dixon, professor emeritus of chemistry and former head of the Penn State Department of Chemistry, died Feb. 7 at the age of 93.

Born in Philadelphia on Nov. 4, 1919, Dixon began his career in chemistry in 1937 as an undergraduate student at Penn State, receiving his bachelor's and master's degrees before earning his doctorate in chemistry in 1946. He then became a chemistry instructor at Penn State. From 1951 to 1955, he was a chemist with the California Research Corp. and an associate professor of chemistry at Lafayette College. He then returned to Penn State as a member of the chemistry faculty in 1955, attaining the rank of professor in 1961. His research interests included the study of compounds of organolithium and organomagnesium, the structure of molecules and the physical properties of organic systems.

Law School remembers professor and alumnus D. Fenton Adams

12/18/12

D. Fenton Adams, a 1949 graduate of the Dickinson School of Law and a professor of law from from 1949 to 1965, died on Dec. 13.

Fenton was born in West Reading, Pa., and served in the U.S. Army during World War Two. He is a graduate of Dickinson College. After leaving the Dickinson School of Law in 1965, he served as assistant, acting and interim dean and dean of the law school at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock from 1965-1970 and 1977-1993, and then as professor of law at the University of Mississippi at Oxford (Ole Miss) from 1970-77, visiting professor at Stetson University 1976-77 and 1993-2001 and the University of Tennessee college of Law in 1993.

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Penn State mourns alumni leader and philanthropist J. Lloyd Huck

12/7/12

Penn State has lost an alumnus whose leadership and philanthropy have helped the University to become a pioneer in the life sciences. J. Lloyd Huck, the retired chairman of the board of pharmaceutical firm Merck & Company and a former chairman of Penn State's Board of Trustees, died in State College, Pa., this week at the age of 90. With his wife and fellow Class of 1943 member Dorothy Foehr Huck, he established endowments in fields ranging from molecular biology to nutrition, leading to the creation of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.

"Few institutions are fortunate enough to have such visionary advocates as Lloyd and Dottie Huck," said Penn State President Rodney Erickson. "Through Lloyd's decades of service to the University, he guided Penn State on an ambitious path, and through the Hucks' philanthropy, they have enabled our students and faculty to fulfill that ambition.

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John Lucas, emeritus professor, dies

11/16/12

John Lucas, professor emeritus of exercise and sport science in the College of Health and Human Development's Department of Kinesiology, passed away on Friday, November 9, 2012, after a year-long battle with Lewy body dementia. He was 84.

Warren W. Hassler, professor emeritus of American history, dies

7/23/12

Warren W. Hassler, Jr., Penn State professor emeritus of American history, died on July 12 in La Jolla, Calif., after a brief illness. Hassler was born and raised in Baltimore, Md. He served in the 7th Army Air Corps at the end of World War II.

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Penn State mourns alumni leader and philanthropist Verne Willaman

6/29/12

Penn State and the Eberly College of Science have lost a leading advocate and supporter with the passing of Verne M. Willaman, a class of 1951 graduate and retired chairman and president of Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation. Willaman, whose philanthropy and volunteer leadership helped the University's life sciences and molecular biology programs to gain international prominence, died recently at his home in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

Founding leader of Penn State Hershey remembered

5/16/12

One of the founding leaders of Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, John Waldhausen, has died at the age of 82. Waldhausen was the founding chair of the Department of Surgery at the Medical Center and the College of Medicine and led the department for more than 25 years.

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