Alumni

In Memoriam

1930s
John M. Wadsworth ’32    
Lake Worth, Florida
June 30, 2005

Sterling Cramer ’34   
Jacksonville, Florida
March 15, 2005

Clayton L. Christensen ’37   
Zion, Illinois
May 16, 2005

1940s
Nello O. Ori ’41   
Highland Park, Illinois
May 3, 2005

Richard H. Aishton II ’43   
Evanston, Illinois
May 9, 2005

Margaret Flood Bibbs ’48    
St. Charles, Illinois
March 30, 2005

Nancy Rambeau Hough ’49   
Lake Forest, Illinois
March 7, 2005

Robert R. Weston ’49   
Lake Forest, Illinois
June 9, 2005

1950s
Theodore “Ted” Beiger Sr. ’50   
Robbinsville, North Carolina
October 1, 2005

George A. Litchfield Jr. ’50   
Lake Placid, Florida
March 30, 2005

Nancy Wright Riley ’50   
Scituate, Massachusetts
July 23, 2005

Patricia Wells Tietz ’50   
Bozeman, Montana
May 8, 2005

John W. Szcygielski ’51   
Zion, Illinois
April 5, 2005

Milton G. Beardsley ’52
Alsip, Illinois
May 24, 2005

H. Keith Johnson ’52   
Cricket Club, Florida
July 18, 2005

Patricia Boelke Brill ’53   
Fort Worth, Texas
June 9, 2005

Patricia Hart Hoague ’53   
Pembroke Pines, Florida
March 17, 2005

George E. Weimer ’55   
Dunwoody, Georgia
June 11, 2005

Elvis L. Wohlschlegel ’56   
Gurnee, Illinois
May 22, 2005

1960s
David B. Corwine ’60   
Naples, Florida
April 28, 2005

Richard A. Dimberg ’64   
Palatine, Illinois
May 2, 2005

1980s
Christopher Frew ’80   
Nevada City, California
June 11, 2005

1990s
Thomas S. Moore ’91   
Chicago, Illinois
August 14, 2005

Craig M. Smith ’91   
Santa Fe, New Mexico
March 20, 2005

Arthur Zilversmit
1932-2005

Lake Forest College Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of History Arthur Zilversmit died on August 22 in Voorhees, New Jersey, following a protracted illness. He was 73. Zilversmit and his wife Charlotte had moved to New Jersey in August to be near their daughter’s family. Previously they had resided in Lake Forest for 39 years.

Zilversmit left his native Holland at age six, in the company of his parents and brother, for the United States. They first lived in San Mateo, California and subsequently in New York City.

He came to Lake Forest College in 1966 from Williams College, where he taught for five years. He earned a BA degree at Cornell University, an MA degree at Harvard University, and a PhD at the University of California at Berkeley. In addition to teaching history and chairing the history department, he established and for many years directed the College’s Graduate Program in Liberal Studies. He also was a mainstay of the College’s program in American Studies. A prolific scholar, he authored numerous academic articles, papers, reviews, and two heralded books.

During his career, Zilversmit was awarded many honors including, among others, the College’s Outstanding Teacher Award. Responding to the turmoil of the late 1960s, at Lake Forest College he accepted a charge from President Eugene Hotchkiss to create a system of shared governance that was instituted in 1972 and continues in place to this day.

Long involved in fostering links between higher education and history teachers in the public schools, he directed two seminars for secondary school history educators underwritten by the National Endowment for the Humanities, served as the academic director of the Ohio Academy of History for the National Council of History Education, and participated as senior academic advisor in a Teaching American History project underwritten by the United States Department of Education for teachers in Lake County, Illinois. The North Central Association frequently called upon Zilversmit as an expert consultant to evaluate other colleges and universities.

In 1994 President David Spadafora named Zilversmit a Distinguished Service Professor of History. Even upon assuming emeritus status in 1998, he continued to occasionally teach. Former students and colleagues alike often cited Zilversmit as an inspiration for their own achievements.

He is survived by Charlotte, his wife, and by his son Marc Zilversmit of San Francisco, his daughter Karen Golden of Voorhees, New Jersey, his brother Rolf Zilversmit of New York City, and five grandchildren.

Friend of the College
Ruth B. Sharvy
Columbus, Ohio
June 25, 2005

Ruth B. Sharvy, a former librarian who worked at Lake Forest College until her mid-80s, died on June 25 in Columbus, Ohio. She was 95. Her husband, Robert Sharvy, had been chair of the philosophy department until his death in 1966. She is survived by her daughter, Rayna Newman, a son-in-law, and three grandchildren.