Obituary
Laura CaponeAge 47 — July 4
Laura Capone, senior associate dean for the Division of Student Life, served MIT for 19 years in a variety of roles including assistant department head for business affairs, administrative officer for the DAPER, and project manager for the Office of the Dean for Undergraduate Education and Student Life. Capone’s colleagues knew her as an accomplished leader, professional, teacher, mentor, coach, and friend.
Charles Chittick ’22Age 107 — July 18
Charles Yardley Chittick, who was honored this past June as the oldest MIT alumnus, graduated from MIT with an SB in engineering administration with a mechanical engineering option. He was commonly seen at the annual Tech Day Luncheon at Commencement, and celebrated his 86th reunion this past June.
Alexander V. d’Arbeloff ’49 Age 80 — July 8
Alexander Vladimir d’Arbeloff, a visionary entrepreneur who co-founded Boston-based high-tech company Teradyne before becoming the eighth chairman of the MIT Corporation, provided crucial leadership for the Calculated Risks, Creative Revolutions fundraising campaign, which had a transformative effect on the Institute — from the physical campus to its research agenda.
Margaret Z. FreemanAge 100 — Oct. 23
Margaret Freeman, who came to the United States in 1931, studied and taught at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Remembering her own difficult times as a new immigrant in this country, she had opened her heart to new émigré over the many years she has been here.
Michael Hammer ’68Age 60 — Sept. 3
Michael Hammer ’68, a research affiliate with MIT’s Engineering Systems Division, was by Time magazine as one of America’s 25 most influential individuals. Hammer received an SB (1968), SM (1970) and PhD (1973) from MIT and was the president of Hammer and Company, a business education and research firm focused on cutting-edge issues in operations, organization and management.
Kenneth HoffmanAge 77 — Sept. 29
Former Department of Mathematics Head Kenneth Hoffman spent more than 40 years on MIT’s faculty and made significant contributions to U.S. education and science policy.
Jack B. HowardAge 70 — July 7
Jack B. Howard, a professor emeritus in the Department of Chemical Engineering, was a world-renowned expert in the manufacture of nanostructured carbon materials. His research focused on high temperature chemistry, especially mechanisms and kinetics of reactions in combustion.
Joseph F. KuchtaAge 88 — June 23
Joseph F. Kuchta, who spent almost 40 years with MIT as a safety officer and later golf coach was renowned for his work with Alpha Phi Omega and other charitable organizations.
Edward N. Lorenz ScD ’48 Age 90 — Apr. 16
Edward N. Lorenz ScD ’48, an MIT meteorologist, meticulously attempt to predict the weather through an early computer algorithm that eventually became known as chaos theory.
Jane McNabbAge 84 — May 24
Jane McNabb, an employee at MIT’s Department of Meteorology and Physical Oceanography, spent almost five decades at MIT — from 1951 until 1998 — and in 1993 was recognized with the James N. Murphy Award for her inspired and dedicated work at the Institute. Colleagues remembered her as the voice of meteorology at MIT, calling her not only the “chief of staff, but truly the den mother.”
Louis Menand IIIAge 85 — Jan. 30
Dr. Menand, a senior lecturer in MIT’s political science department, developed a subject he called the Supreme Court and Constitutional Process. Eloquent and brilliant, Dr. Menand encouraged MIT students to be as emphatic about their opinions as he was with his, teaching his classes to forcefully argue a position.
Lucian W. PyeAge 86 — Sept. 5
Retired MIT political science professor Lucian W. Pye, one of America’s leading China scholars, served as a mentor to several generations of influential political scientists and as an active public intellectual and policy adviser to presidential candidates, including John F. Kennedy.
Robert C. Seamans Jr. ScD ’51 Age 89 — June 28
Robert C. Seamans Jr. ScD ’51 was an MIT alumnus who was NASA administrator during the Apollo program, the ninth secretary of the U.S. Air Force and the dean of MIT’s School of Engineering from 1978–81.
Oliver G. Selfridge ’45Age 82 — Dec. 3rd
Oliver G. Selfridge ’45, an innovator in early computer science and artificial intelligence is credited with coining the term “intelligent agents.” Selfridge theorized about devices that would not only automate certain tasks but also learn through practice how to perform them better, faster and more cheaply.
J. Mark Schuster PhD ’79 Age 57 — Feb. 25
J. Mark Schuster, a professor of urban studies and planning who helped develop the field of urban cultural policy and who earned the respect of his peers, won the Graduate Student Council Award for Outstanding Teaching his department’s award for Excellence in Teaching. Schuster was actively involved in the Institute’s curriculum policy.
Kjell A. Tovander ’09Age 21 — Nov. 21
While he was always happy to spend time with friends and join in their outings, Tovander also maintained his own unique set of passions and interests. When he decided he wanted to learn how to program, he ordered a book about it. He read it in one night. His dedication extended to areas outside of academics including running, tennis, and motorcycles.
Lauren Tsai ’04Age 26 — Dec. 13
Lauren Tsai ’04, who graduated from MIT with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, was a passionate athlete all her life, co-captaining the MIT varsity field hockey basketball teams. Lauren was a recipient of the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and had been inducted into the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society and the Pi Tau Sigma Mechanical Engineering Honor Society.
Joseph WeizenbaumAge 85 — March 5
Joseph Weizenbaum, professor emeritus of computer science at MIT, became a member of the General Electric team in 1955 that designed and built the first computer system dedicated to banking operations. Among his early technical contributions were the list processing system SLIP and the natural language understanding program ELIZA.
Robert M. Wells ’08Age 22 — March 1
Robert M. Wells ’08 was sociable and perseverant, always interested in making friends and focusing his — and their — full efforts into new things. He liked working out and staying fit, and he played intramural sports with his fraternity.
—Compiled by Robert McQueen