Passings

Richard A. Wells, a long-time faculty member in the School of Social Work, died Sept. 21, 2018, at 87.

A native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Wells was born Feb. 7, 1931 and completed his entire schooling there, earning a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and psychology at United College in 1952 and completing all his graduate work at the University of Manitoba, including a bachelor’s of social work (1956) and masters of social work (1959) in casework. He began his academic career there as well, as a field instructor in 1961.

He became a Pitt School of Social Work faculty member in 1966 and retired in 1996. His colleague, Edward W. Sites, now a professor emeritus, joined the school two years later.

“He was a very warm, soft-spoken, gentle person with a very quick, dry wit,” Sites recalled. “He was friends with a wide spectrum of people in the University. He was considered a good colleague by a wide variety of people.

“He had a healthy skepticism of over-reaching authority,” Sites continued. “He challenged sometimes what he considered the over-reaching authority of University deans. He was not wont to carry a banner or to march. He handled it in his own soft-spoken way.”

He was also a popular teacher, Sites added. “The students resonated to the courses he taught and he was often over-subscribed.”

When Wells and Sites first started, the School of Social Work taught only graduate students and they remained Wells’ focus, even after a bachelor’s degree program was implemented. These older, experienced students were often already employed in the field, Sites said, “and so they knew the content he was providing was on target.”

Wells’ most important contribution to his field, said Sites, was “his prescient advocacy for short-term treatment, long before this became popular.” At the time, psychotherapy was felt to be a long-term undertaking, and the community mental health movement was just beginning. “He was very much a national leader in advocating for a much more targeted, focused, short-term approach to people with family and mental health issues.”

Wells published his first book on the subject in 1974, “Short-Term Treatment,” which was popular enough to warrant a second book on the subject in 1992.

“He was just as popular as a therapist,” Sites said, since Wells maintained a private practice outside the University as well.

He is survived by his children, Sarah and Paul, his companion, Allegra and sisters Nancy, Diana and Joan.

Werner Troesken, Department of Economics faculty member in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, died Sept. 14, 2018.

“I believe Werner will be remembered not just for his distinguished scholarship but also for how incredible he was as a mentor for both junior faculty and his graduate students,” said Allison Shertzer, a colleague in the department.

Troesken earned three degrees in economics: a bachelors from Marquette University (1986) and a masters (1988) and doctorate (1992) from Washington University, St. Louis.

He began his academic career as a John M. Olin Faculty Fellow at the University of Arizona (1995-96) before joining Pitt as an assistant professor of history (1992-98), moving to associate professor (1998-2003) and finally professor (2004-2007). He spent a year at George Mason University before returning to Pitt as a professor of economics in 2008.

During his career, he also was a faculty research associate at the nonprofit National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Mass.; the Julian Simon Fellow at the Property and Environment Research Center in Bozeman, Mont.; and a National Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. In 2003-2004, he was co-director of the Center for Population Economics at the University of Chicago, where he was a visiting professor.

His research focused on the economic history of the U.S., especially relating to race, environmental history, disease and political economy. His 2004 book “Water, Race, and Disease” demonstrated how improvements in the public water supply equalized black and white life expectancy in the Jim Crow era. It won the Alice Jones Prize from the Economic History Association.

Troesken’s other books include “The Pox of Liberty: How the Constitution Left Americans Rich, Free, and Prone to Infection” (2015) and “The Great Lead Water Pipe Disaster” (2006).

Among his frequent co-authors for research in many journals was Randy Walsh, another departmental colleague. They collaborated on studies concerning the historical effect of lynching on voter turnout by African-Americans, and how violence can undercut democracy development more generally. Walsh said he and Troesken had just finished revising a paper about the impact of adoption and segregation ordinances circa 1917.

“He was a fantastic teacher at both an undergraduate and graduate level,” Walsh says, noting that many of Troesken’s students were now influential in academic programs across the country. “He was hugely supportive of other people’s work.”

Encountering Troesken’s work when she was in graduate school, adds Shertzer, “made a lasting impression on me and got me interested in working on segregation and public goods. Much of my success can be traced back to Werner's guidance, and I'm so grateful for all of his support since I came to Pitt.”

Troesken is survived by his son, Colin; father, Werner; siblings Dieter, Richert and Becky; partner Bridget Ridge; former spouse Patricia Beeson, former Pitt provost; and several nephews and nieces.

Marty Levine is a writer for the University Times.

Joseph Stevan Werlinich, a School of Education faculty member for 47 years, died Aug. 14, 2018, two weeks before his 88th birthday.

Hired in 1965 as a lecturer in counseling education, Werlinich rose to associate professor with tenure in 1975, when he became chairman of the division of specialized professional development for the next three years. He also served as the counselor education program’s doctoral and day master’s program director as well as assistant to the dean in his school. He taught many students now serving as teachers and principals and retired as professor emeritus in 2012.

Born in McKees Rocks on Aug. 31, 1930, Werlinich earned his bachelor’s in 1952 from Thiel College in Greenville, Pa., and master’s in education in 1956 from Pitt. He served as a captain in the Marine Corps and company commander in the First Reconnaissance Company of the Second Marine Division, leading reconnaissance missions during the Korean war.

He also participated in the civil rights movement locally and nationally, marching in Birmingham, Ala., with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and later worked in conflict resolution and diversity training across the country, including for the Department of Justice.

In Pittsburgh, he was a teacher and facilitator for principals, superintendents and other school leaders at the Principals Leadership Academy of Western Pennsylvania, which he founded and co-directed, and via the Danforth Foundation's National Principals Initiative.

In retirement, Werlinich continued to advise school districts, serve on dissertation committees and facilitate the Assistant Superintendents Forum of the Educational Leadership Academy. He received the Grable Foundation’s Decade Award in 2002, was named to the Post-Gazette’s “Top 48 Making a Difference in Education” in 2004, and got an honorary doctorate from Thiel in 2008.

He is survived by his wife of 29 years, Pat Buchanan Dunkis; children Amy Devenzio, Sheri Benson, Joseph Werlinich and Kathy Latorre, and their mother, Sally Whaley Werlinich; 10 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He was brother of the late Melva Werlinich Vujan, Stevan and Samuel.

Memorial gifts are suggested to the development office at Manchester Bidwell Corporation, 1815 Metropolitan St., Pittsburgh, PA 15233. 

Jerry Cochran — remembered for helping to create the most recent “golden age” at Pitt in his 19-year stint as executive vice chancellor — died Aug. 1 at 69.

Cochran’s numerous contributions, said Chancellor Emeritus Mark Nordenberg at the Aug. 17 memorial celebration for his one-time School of Law student and administrative colleague, “included helping to build a culture that was fueled both by high institutional ambition and a genuine concern for the people of Pitt; deploying his very considerable negotiating skills to maintain employee health-care coverage that was affordable even during challenging times; not only building and renovating buildings but beautifying campuses and keeping them clean and attractive; assembling a legal team that helped ensure we did things in the right way but that we also were no longer a push-over but, instead, were positioned to ensure that our institutional interests were advanced; (and) stepping in whenever his special skills could make a difference — something that we often saw, for example, in athletics.”

Born May 31, 1949, in Fox Chapel, Jerome “Jerry” Cochran earned bachelor’s degrees in 1971 from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in administration of justice and political science, then joined UPMC Presbyterian Hospital as unit manager, where he pioneered the formation of clinical practices for hospital physicians. He then joined Pitt under Chancellor Wesley W. Posvar as assistant senior vice chancellor, aiding in the formation of similar practice plans among faculty in the University’s health sciences schools.

In the late 1980s, Cochran shifted careers, entering Pitt’s law school, then joining the law firm of Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney downtown. By 1995, he was looking to return to the University, Nordenberg recalled.

Cochran was executive vice chancellor 1995-2014, where his oversight included public safety and Pitt’s business offices, adding the post of general counsel, 2004-2013. He retired in 2014, after also having served, across both his stints at Pitt, as assistant senior vice president for health sciences, interim dean of the School of Pharmacy, director of planned giving, interim vice chancellor for business and finance and interim athletic director.

Rich Colwell, who began two decades as a top officer for Staff Council just as Cochran rejoined the University, termed Cochran “quite easily one of the toughest administrators I have ever had the pleasure of working with, but he was always fair, and he always had the best interest of staff at the forefront. When there were policy changes, decisions or matters that would affect staff, Jerry would make sure that the Staff Council had the opportunity to voice their opinion before any final action was taken or announced.”

“Jerry was fearless,” recalled Nordenberg, noting that one Pitt board chairman dubbed Cochran “Pitt’s pitbull or Rottweiler” early on.

“Among other things, he possessed an amazing combination of book smarts and street smarts,” Nordenberg remarked at the celebration. “Jerry was a master diagnostician of situations. He could almost intuitively size up any set of circumstances — promising or threatening — and quickly map out a mental plan for dealing effectively with them.

"Jerry was a great team player,” he added, “strongly voicing his individual views when alternatives were being debated but working hard to advance the option ultimately chosen. Jerry also was a great steward of institutional resources, getting as much as he could out of every Pitt dollar.”

Cochran’s work overseeing the facilities division left its mark across campus, Nordenberg said, “from the Peterson Events Center, to the Biomedical Science Tower, to the Schenley Plaza Park, to the new residence halls on the upper and lower campuses, to the completely renovated Alumni Hall, to the cleaned and repaired exterior of the Cathedral of Learning. And that list does not even include the transformational projects undertaken on all four of our regional campuses.”

The public safety building on Forbes Avenue was renamed in Cochran’s honor, upon his retirement. It was a fitting tribute to a man, concluded Nordenberg, who “spent most of his career here, where his work positively touched the lives of everyone who worked at Pitt, or studied at Pitt or in some other way was connected to Pitt.”

He is survived by his wife, Cathy; children Jill, Jason and Joshua; brother James; and grandchildren Emma, Jamie and Max. 

Memorial contributions are suggested to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

Susan Cohen, associate professor in the Department of Health Promotion and Development at the School of Nursing, died June 12.

Cohen joined the School of Nursing as a faculty member in 2002 and was awarded the Dean’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 2015. In addition to being a strong research advocate among students and faculty, Cohen also was the School of Nursing’s research liaison and consultant for the nursing staff at UPMC Passavant Hospital and mentored several nurses.

According to a remembrance sent to colleagues by department chair Denise Charron-Prochownik, Cohen “exemplified the characteristics of an outstanding teacher and a great thinker; and had taught at all three levels from the undergraduates to the doctoral students. She always encouraged students to be critical thinkers and used discussion to engage the class.

“Susan was a role model for her leadership” at the school, added Charron-Prochownik, noting that Cohen “was nationally and internationally known for her impact and legacy in women’s health and improving the lives and outcomes of cancer survivors (most notably in meditation for menopausal breast cancer survivors).”

Born in West Palm Beach, Fla., Cohen received her B.S.N. in 1972 from the University of Pennsylvania, going on to earn an M.S.N. from the Catholic University of America in 1975 in maternal-infant nursing and her Ph.D. from the University of Alabama in 1983 in maternal-child nursing.

She began her teaching at Radford College, continuing through the years as a faculty member at the University of Alabama, Southern Illinois University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Texas-Houston, Duquesne University and Yale before joining Pitt. Her research findings were widely published, and she presented them at many national, regional and local conferences.

She is survived by siblings Joel Cohen and Dianne Reeves, Judith (Cohen) and David Kolko and Sharon Cohen and Elliot Rosen, as well as many nieces and nephews.

Marguerite Stella Jackson Schaefer, past dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing, passed away June 19, 2018 in Slingerlands, N.Y., at the age of 95.

Schaefer was dean of the School of Nursing from 1966 until 1972 and was the first non-nurse to become dean of any school of nursing in the United States.

As dean, she was instrumental in the construction, plan and development of the Victoria Building, which now houses the School of Nursing. Nationally, Schaefer was the first non-nurse to receive the Alpha Tau Delta National Nursing Award, and was recognized for her contributions to the National Committee for the Study of Nursing and Nursing Education.

After stepping down as dean of the School of Nursing, she returned to the school in 1974 as a professor of nursing education and taught nursing administration for several years.

Schaefer was a founding member of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and was a member of numerous health care organizations. She also was cited as one of Pittsburgh's Ten Distinguished Women.

Later as a resident of Pine Cay, Turks and Caicos Islands, she served for several years as board president of the Meridian Club. In 2008, she established the Marguerite J. Schaefer Institute to implement new concepts in health care for the elderly. 

Schaefer earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of New Hampshire, her master’s at Michigan State University, and her doctorate in biochemistry and human nutrition in 1963 at the University of Pittsburgh.

As a musician from an early age, Schaefer was an admirer particularly of Brahms, Chopin and Schumann and maintained a lifelong love of classical music, playing piano for enthusiastic audiences well into her 90s. She was a longtime supporter of the Pittsburgh Symphony, and in 2008 she established the Marguerite J. Schaefer Endowment for Music to support concert performances and music education at the Beverwyck Retirement Community in Slingerlands, where she lived for 20 years. 

She is survived by her children, Martha Johanna Schaefer and August George Schaefer, and five grandchildren.

Donations may be made to the Marguerite J. Schaefer Endowment for Music, c/o Northeast Health Foundation, 310 S. Manning Blvd., Albany, NY 12208. 

Bodie Douglas, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, died on March 24, 2018.

Douglas joined the Pitt faculty in 1952, teaching and conducting research until his retirement in 1989. He stayed active in the department well into the 2000s, advising graduate students in inorganic chemistry.

During his academic career, he published numerous articles and several books, including a senior-level chemistry book in wide use across 49 years, “Concepts and Models of Inorganic Chemistry,” on which he was lead author. He taught as a Fulbright lecturer at the University of Leeds (England), and as a visiting professor at Osaka University (Japan) and in the former Yugoslavia.

Carol Fortney, chemistry lecturer, was a Ph.D. student in the chemistry department in 2003 when her thesis advisor of the past three years, faculty member Rex Shepherd, died suddenly. To prevent Fortney from having to start over on the research toward her degree, she recalled, Douglas came out of retirement to become her adviser. As she learned only later, he was returning a favor from 20 years earlier, when Shepherd had temporarily advised Douglas’ students after Douglas suffered a heart attack.

Fortney met with Douglas through the last months of his life, she said, to aid him in finishing a paper on crystal structures. Then in hospice care, Douglas was working with the software CrystalMaker and, just recently, donated the software to the University for the use of future students.

“He instilled his passion for chemistry in other people,” Fortney said. “I promised him that I would get his paper finished.”

Born Dec. 31, 1924, in New Orleans, Douglas entered Tulane University at age 15, graduating in absentia at age 18 because he was already attending the Navy’s officer training school. He served 1943-46 aboard battleships in the Pacific Theater in World War II. During his military stint, he married Gladys Backstrom, enjoying a 72-year marriage that ended with her death just two months before his own.

Douglas earned his master's degree at Tulane University and a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry at the University of Illinois.  

He is survived by his children, Judy, Bruce, Sharon and Jan.

Linda Penkower, associate professor and chair of the Department of Religious Studies in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, died Feb. 27, 2018, after a long battle with cancer.

Joseph S. Alter, director of the Asian Studies Center, memorialized her as “a valued and beloved colleague whose energetic, enthusiastic and broad contribution to Asian studies will be sorely missed.”

Penkower earned her bachelor’s degree in philosophy at the State University of New York-Buffalo in 1972, and received her other degrees from Columbia University — an M.A. in 1977, M.Phil. in 1992 and Ph.D. in 1993. Scholarships, including two Fulbright-Hays fellowships, and visiting faculty appointments allowed her to undertake extensive scholarship in Japan and China through 2004.

She taught at New York University and the University of Colorado-Boulder before joining Pitt in 1991. During her tenure at Pitt, she received numerous awards and grants, including several National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships, and served on the University Senate’s tenure and academic freedom committee.

Penkower’s work focused on medieval Chinese and Japanese Buddhist history as well as modern East Asian popular religion. Among her most recent publications was the book “Hindu Rituals at the Margins: Innovations, Transformations, Reconsiderations,” 2014, which she co-edited.

“She was a fighter — clearly,” said Adam Shear, her departmental colleague since 2001 and currently acting chair. He noted that, following a cancer diagnosis nine years ago, Penkower was teaching the demanding senior capstone seminar as recently as last fall.

“She was so dedicated to mentoring the work of young scholars,” Shear recalled. “She kept on being a relentless advocate for the department, and a wonderful mentor for the faculty in the department, especially the junior faculty.”

Shear said that during her 11 years as religious studies chair, among the 11 department faculty, Penkower brought three junior faculty members to tenure, hired two assistant professors and a new lecturer and worked to get lecturers promoted — “all the while being a mentor to graduate students,” he added.

Shear was particularly struck by Penkower’s ability to teach a seminar for undergraduates and graduate students on death and the afterlife in the Buddhist tradition. “She’s teaching this seminar while she is facing this real health crisis — and kept it to herself,” he said. “I really admired her teaching this class on this topic that must have weighed personally on her mind. She was also very optimistic about being able to beat the disease.”

He recalled his last conversation with her: “‘Let’s talk about what I’m going to be teaching next fall,’ she said. She wasn’t going to say, ‘I’m going to give up’ until the end.”

She is survived by her sister and brother-in-law, Sheila and Bruce Post, as well as nieces and nephews.

Memorial donations should be directed to the GCS Project, which aims to find a cure for gynecological carcinosarcoma, at thegcsproject.org.

A memorial service for the Pitt community is set for March 18, 1 p.m. in the second-floor Alcoa Room of the School of Law, with the gathering beginning at 12:30 p.m.