Brandeis Magazine

Richard Quinn ’60, of St. Paul, Minn., a professor, died on Oct. 23, 2014. After graduating from Brandeis, he earned a master’s degree in American studies from the University of Minnesota. He began his teaching career at the Tuskegee Institute, and returned to Minnesota in 1967 to become an instructor at Lakewood Community College. He taught English, Afro-American studies and film until his retirement in 1996. Active in the American civil rights movement, he was arrested in 1965 in Selma, Ala. His first and last jobs were at baseball parks: in the 1950s and ’60s as a vendor for the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, and later as an usher for the Minnesota Twins. Charles Teller ’63, P’93, of Rockville, Md., who enjoyed a long and distinguished career in the field of public health and development, died on Aug. 28, 2014. He served as senior technical adviser in the USAID Office of Population and Reproductive Health; worked for the Population Reference Bureau; led the Peace Corps in Ethiopia; and taught at Addis Ababa University, in Ethiopia, and the George Washington University. He was also a champion tennis player. He leaves his wife, Patricia; his children, Benjamin and Tanya ’93; his sister, Maxine; and two grandchildren. Myer Coval, PhD’65, of North Bend, Wash., an immunologist, died on Dec. 27, 2014. He leaves his wife, Barbara; six children, Lawrence, Joshua, Jeremiah, Joel, Michelle and Judith; siblings Sam and Molly; and nine grandchildren. John Carrico Sr., PhD’66, of Baltimore, died on July 31, 2014. He leaves his wife, Anita; his children, John, Timothy, Kevin and Laura; stepchildren Susan, Marcia and Lisa; brothers Michael, Thomas and Richard; and 14 grandchildren. Gifts in his memory may be made to the Brandeis Department of Physics by sending a check to Brandeis University, 415 South St., Office of Donor Relations (Attn.: Katie LeClair), MS 102, Waltham, MA 02454-9110. Gifts may also be made online at giving.brandeis.edu with the gift designation “Physics Dept.” Janet Kaplan ’66, of Philadelphia, an art history professor, curator and critic, died on Dec. 12, 2014, of cardiac arrest. She taught at Moore College of Art & Design, where she was also the director of curatorial studies. In 2006, she helped launch the curatorial studies major, which the college calls the first U.S. program of its kind for undergraduates. She was a program consultant to the Rosenbach Museum and Library, and was on the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority’s arts advisory board. She leaves her daughter, Dana, and a brother. Her former husband, Warren Angle, died in 2011. Jane Gentry Vance, MA’66, of Lexington, Ky., a celebrated poet and professor emerita of English at the University of Kentucky, died of cancer on Oct. 2, 2014. A native of Lexington who grew up on a farm in nearby Athens, she began writing poems in high school and earned degrees in English literature from Hollins College (BA), Brandeis (MA) and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (PhD). During her 40 years as a professor at the University of Kentucky, she conducted poetry-writing workshops and taught courses on the history of ideas in the university’s Honors Program. In 1986, she won the Alumni Association’s Great Teacher Award. Her poems appeared widely in literary journals and numerous anthologies. She leaves her daughters, Lucy and Susannah; her brother, Charles; her former husband, Philip; and two grandchildren. Roberta Rasmussen, PhD’67, of Pasadena, Calif., a biologist who switched careers and later became a psychologist, died on Sept. 4, 2014. After earning a doctorate in biology from Brandeis, she worked for the Ames Research Center, in Mountain View, Calif. She began taking courses at the California School of Professional Psychology, eventually earning another PhD. She opened a private therapy practice in San Jose, specializing in helping adults abused as children and those with alcohol and drug addiction. She leaves her daughter, Rebecca; her first husband, Ron; and a grandson. Carmen Pizzuto, Heller PhD’68, of Westwood, Mass., died on Nov. 2, 2014. He leaves his children, Marc, Richard and Anne, and three grandchildren. Berril Shief ’69, of Boston, the longtime owner of the Beacon Supermarket in Brookline, an attorney, and president and owner of Shief Realty, died of brain cancer on Dec. 5, 2014. He leaves his wife of 41 years, Susan; his children, Jordana and Rena; his sister, Freyda; and two grandchildren.