Alexandra Adler

One of the first female neurologists at Harvard Medical School (HMS), Alexandra Adler died Jan. 4. She was 99.

Adler was a leading expert in the field of psychosomatic syndromes and psychopharmacology. Her particular are of expertise was schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder. Adler's studies focused on the survivors of a deadly 1942 nightclub fire in Boston and on combat survivors from World War II.

Adler was first appointed as a member of the research staff at HMS in 1935. However, she could not receive a post on the regular staff of HMS because of her gender.

After leaving Harvard in 1944, Adler went to New York University, where she spent the rest of her professional life.

David E. Bell

A economist who advised two presidents and was later a population studies expert at Harvard, David E. Bell died Sept. 6 after a brief illness. He was 81.

Bell was a special assistant to President Harry S. Truman and a director of the Bureau of the Budget and the Agency for International Development under President John F. Kennedy `40.

Bell's employment at Harvard came in two stints. In the late 1950s, Bell worked on a predecessor project of the Harvard Institute for International Development. He then returned in 1981 as the Gamble professor of population sciences and international health at the Harvard School of Public Health. He took emeritus status in 1988, but continued to regularly come into work.

Former Harvard President Derek Bok called Bell "one of the finest human beings I have been privileged to know during my 40 years at Harvard."

Kwang-chih Chang

A renowned expert on China's Bronze Age, Kwang-chih Chang died Jan. 3 from Parkinson's disease. He was 69.

Chang was an active professor in Harvard's anthropology department from 1977 until his retirement in 1996. He served as the department's chair from 1981 to 1984 and was appointed as the Hudson Research Professor in 1984.

Chang made almost annual trips to China for archeological digs. He was also an author of many books on China's history--considered by others in the field as one of the best English language works on ancient China.

The accomplishments of Chang were honored through his membership in the National Academy of Science and fellowship in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Chang earned a doctorate degree from Harvard in 1960.

Luz Angelica Chavez

A first-year student at Harvard Medical School (HMS), Luz Angelica Chavez died Nov. 30 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the bathroom of the school's Countway Library.

Chavez had recently moved with her husband from California to Boston.

The death was particularly surprising to acquaintances of Chavez, who described her as a friendly woman who was always quick with a smile.

"She was a fantastic human being and a wonderful student," said Dr. Daniel A. Goodenough, a HMS professor. "It's just unbelievably tragic."

Blair Clark '40

A media industry executive and supporter of liberal political causes, Blair Clark '40 died June 6, 2000 of complications after surgery. He was 82.

After working for various newspapers and serving in the army during World War II, Clark moved to television journalism and became CBS' Paris correspondent in 1953. He became general manager and vice president of CBS News in the early 1960s. He then moved on to top positions at the New York Post and the Nation.

However, Clark's greatest fame came not through his work as a journalist, but in electoral politics.

In 1968, Clark managed the presidential campaign of Eugene J. McCarthy, whose strong showing in the 1968 Democratic Primary in New Hampshire helped lead to President Lyndon B. Johnson's decision not to seek reelection.

Randolph A. Hearst , class of 1938

The heir of the famous Hearst newspaper empire, who served as the chair of the company for 23 years, Randolph A. Hearst, class of 1938, died Dec. 18 of a stroke. He was 85.

Randolph A. Hearst was the youngest son of William Randolph Hearst. Despite his father's reluctance to entrust his sons with control of the family business, he became the member of the family in charge of financial matters.

Randolph A. Hearst served as chair of the board of the Hearst Corporation from 1973 to 1996, a period which marked an increased level of diversification across the media industry of the company and much greater profitability. He also ran the San Francisco Examiner, the most significant newspaper owned by the Hearst Company. Forbes magazine estimate Hearst's wealth at $1.6 billion in late 1999.

Randolph A. Hearst attended Harvard for only the 1934-35 academic year.

Christopher W. McEvoy `99

A second year medical student in Ireland and a former associate sports editor of The Crimson, Christopher W. McEvoy `99 died Dec. 16 of an accidental drug overdose. He was 24.

McEvoy graduated cum laude from Harvard.

Friends and family remembered him as a quiet and thoughtful person.

"He was not the type of person that had millions of friends at Harvard, but if you were his friend you were his friend for life," said his mother Vicky McEvoy.

Willard van Orman Quine

A Harvard professor who was one of the foremost philosophers of the 20th century, Willard van Orman Quine died Dec. 25. He was 92.

Quine led the second golden age of the Harvard philosophy department along with John Rawls, the political theorist, and philosophers Stanley Cavell and Hillary Putnam, according to Warren Goldfarb, Pearson professor of modern mathematics and mathematical logic.

Quine came to Harvard to earn his Ph.D. in philosophy and stayed for the rest of his career, aside from a stint as a Navy cryptographer during World War II and his travels around the globe. He was a member of Harvard's prestigious Society of Fellows. He retired from teaching in 1978.

During the turmoil of 1969, Quine was a conservative voice on the Faculty. Of the aftermath of the turmoil, he wrote in his autobiography: "Standards sank in various departments...The loss in rapport and fellow feeling, as well as in academic standards, was not soon to be made up."

Herbert E. Robbins `35

The co-author of a mathematics book designed for the general population, which won wide praise including from Albert Einstein, Herbert E. Robbins '35 died Feb. 12 of cancer. He was 86.

The book, entitled "What is Mathematics?" covered a broad range of advanced mathematical topics in language comprehensible to non-mathematicians. The book was written with Richard Courant.

Robbins was also well known among mathematicians for his work in the field of statistics. His studies focused on improving the accuracy of predications.

Robbins earned his bachelors, masters and doctoral degree from Harvard. He served as a professor at New York University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Columbia University, and Rutgers University. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Kermit Roosevelt `37

The grandson of a president and an operative in the CIA, Kermit Roosevelt `37 died June 8, 2000. He was 84.

Kermit Roosevelt was the grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt, class of 1880 and a distant cousin of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, class of 1903.

However, Kermit Roosevelt's fame did not come through electoral politics, but through clandestine activities. As CIA chief in the Middle East in the 1950s, Kermit Roosevelt organized a successful coup to bring Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi to power in Iran and remove Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh.

Kermit Roosevelt wrote a book about his experience during the coup in 1979.

Aage Sorensen

A Professor of Sociology and former chair of the sociology department, Aage B. Sorensen died on April 18 from complications from a fall on the ice near his home in Feb. 2000. He was 59.

A faculty member since 1984, Sorensen taught the popular core course Social Analysis 38, "Social Stratification," as well as Sociology 109, "Schooling and Society," and a first year graduate student seminar on sociological theory. He was a leading expert on labor markets, social stratification and education.

Students remember Sorensen as a warm and engaging mentor who was always willing to give generously of his time and energy. Just before his death, Sorensen received an "Excellence in Mentoring Award" from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Professor of Sociology Christopher Winship, the current chair of the sociology department, credits Sorensen with "turning the department around and helping it become the top department it is today."

James St. Clair

A 1947 graduate of Harvard Law School (HLS) who was former President Richard M. Nixon's lawyer during the Watergate controversy, James St. Clair died March 10. He was 80.

St. Clair argued in 1974 in front of the Supreme Court for Nixon's right to withhold tapes of his Oval Office conversations under the doctrine of executive privilege. The Court unanimously disagreed in St. Clair's argument in the decision in United States v. Nixon.

St. Clair also took on many other controversial cases in his decades of practice as a trial lawyer. He represented the Boston School Commission in a suit by black parents over racial segregation and defended the chaplain of Yale when he was accused on helping students evade the draft during the Vietnam War.

After graduating HLS, St. Clair continued to have an association with the school, teaching students on the techniques of trial practice.

Emily Vermeule

A well known Harvard scholar of the classics, archeology and art history, Emily D. T. Vermeule, died Feb. 6. She was 72.

Vermeule taught in both the Classics and History of Art and Architecture departments at Harvard from 1970 to 1994 as the Zemurray and Zemurray-Stone Radcliffe Professor at Harvard. She also taught courses in the Core Curriculum.

While teaching, Vermeule was also a frequent writer, as she authored six major books on ancient Greek culture. She also conducted archeological excavations in the eastern Mediterranean.

Vermeule won many prestigious awards during her lifetime, including a Fulbright scholarship and a Guggenheim fellowship. She earned a masters degree from Radcliffe in classical archaeo1ogy in 1954 and was later awarded an honorary degree from Harvard.

Robert B. Watson `37

A major administrator in Harvard College for 31 years, Robert B. Watson '37 died Aug. 12. He was 86.

After receiving his bachelors degree from Harvard and serving in the Navy during World War II, he returned to Harvard as an Associate Dean of the College. He in 1958 he became the College's first Dean of Students. In this position he attempted to slow the pace of liberalization of Harvard policies, by making efforts to strengthen enforcement of the policies limiting the hours during which men could entertain women in their rooms.

Watson was forcibly removed from University Hall during the 1969 takeover of the building. He was highly critical of the student protests over the Vietnam War.

In 1970, Watson became the College's Athletic Director. In this capacity, he began working towards the expansion of athletic facilities. He retired from Harvard in 1977.

George W. Wheelwright III `25

The co-founder of the photography giant the Polaroid Company, George W. Wheelwright III `25 died March 1. He was 97.

Though Wheelwright concentrated in Fine Arts as an undergraduate, he returned to Harvard as a physics professor. In this position Wheelwright met Edwin H. Land, class of 1930, with whom Wheelwright joined to form Land Wheelwright Laboratories, which later became Polaroid Company.

Wheelwright left Polaroid during World War II and served in various tasks during the war, including as a naval pilot.

After the war, Wheelwright moved to Texas and became a rancher, often experimenting with various innovative ranching techniques. Late in his life he sold his ranch to a Zen Buddhist group.