in memoriam
Spring 2024

Alvin A. Lindenauer ’48 of Woodland Hills, Calif., died Jan. 22, 2020.

John (Johnny) B. Eastland ’49 of Frankston, Texas, died Oct. 14, 2019.

Richard A. Poindexter ’50 of Prescott, Ariz., died Aug. 15, 2023. At the time, he was the oldest CMC graduate, having achieved the age of 101.

Robert (Bob) B. Dunlap ’51 of Andover, Mass., died July 17, 2020.

Robert K. Leishman ’51 of Newport Beach, Calif., died Oct. 11, 2020. He was a Political Science and Economics major.

Philip J. Yeager ’51 of Anacortes, Wash., died Jan. 12, 2022. After earning his degree in Business Administration, he was a pilot first lieutenant in the Air Force in the Korean War. He attended Ohio State University for postgraduate work. Yeager and his brother joined Century 21 in 1972 and he became a regional owner and CEO, opening up the Mexico region. He and his wife, Peggy, who predeceased him, had five children, 12 grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren.

Ronald (Ron) A. Kolar ’52 of Oxnard, Calif., died Jan. 6, 2023. Born in Berwyn, Ill., Kolar moved to California in 1941. He owned Ron’s Bars & Stools from 1966 to 1989. He was married to his wife, Victoria, for 62 years and had four sons.

John T. Welsh ’52 P’84 of Santa Barbara, Calif., died Dec. 23, 2022. He was a Business Administration major. His daughter Wendy Welsh-Westley graduated from CMC in 1984; his brother Stanton “Pete” Welsh graduated in 1950.

Vinton C. Wolfe ’52 of Glendale, Calif., died Oct. 13, 2020. He was a Business Administration major.

James (Jim) W. Temple ’53 of Long Beach, Calif., died May 29, 2019. He was a Business Administration and Economics major.

James L. Udick ’53 of Kalispell, Mont., died April 2, 2021. He was a Business Administration and Economics major.

Albert C. Hansen ’54 of Mojave, Calif., died Sept. 3, 2022.

John C. Hicks ’54 of Houston, Texas, died Dec. 28, 2023. He was a Business Administration and Political Science major.

Austin (Buz) H. Hathaway ’55 of San Marino, Calif., died April 1, 2023. A Pasadena native, Hathaway played football at CMC. He enlisted in the U.S. Army and was stationed in Germany as a first lieutenant until 1956. He had a long career in the moving, packing, and storage business, first with Lyon Moving & Storage as VP of sales, then with Westport Packers as VP of operations, before starting Western Pacific Crating Co. in Los Angeles. He was predeceased by his wife, Sonia, and is survived by two children and three grandchildren.

Thomas (Tom) J. Nathan ’55 of Hartsdale, N.Y., died Jan. 20, 2023. Born in Los Angeles, he joined the U.S. Army and was stationed in Germany for two years. During his advertising career in New York City, he worked for top agencies and major brands, reaching the pinnacle of the profession as creative director, copy chief, and SVP, and was recognized with more than 130 awards, including Clios and Effies. He is survived by his wife, Norma, three children, two stepdaughters, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Willard W. McEwen ’56 of Ventura, Calif., died June 11, 2023. Born in Oak Park, Ill., his family moved to Santa Barbara in 1946. He served a year on active duty as a second lieutenant in the Army Reserve before entering and graduating from UC Hastings College of Law (now UC Law San Francisco) in 1960. He began his career as a family law attorney and was appointed U.S. Magistrate Judge in the Santa Barbara-Goleta Municipal Court in 1973. He was predeceased by his wife, Susanne, and two children, and is survived by one daughter and four grandchildren.

Gerald G. Merigold ’56 of San Diego, Calif., died Aug. 6, 2022. He was a Business Administration major.

Stuart (Stu) H. Swett ’56 of Coronado, Calif., died Feb. 8, 2023. He was a Government major.

William (Bill) V. Glascock ’57 of Novato, Calif., died Nov. 27, 2022. He was a Humanities major.

Philip (Phil) G. Gough ’57 of Anaheim, Calif., died May 8, 2022. He was a Humanities major.

K. Michael (Mike) Green ’57 of San Luis Obispo, Calif., died Jan. 8, 2020. He was a Management-Engineering major.

Alfred (Al) G. Scheid ’57 P’82 of Pacific Palisades, Calif., died March 31, 2023. A Business Administration major, he earned a degree in Finance at Harvard in 1959. In 1972, he started Scheid Family Wines and two years later founded the California Association of Winegrape Growers. Scheid generously donated his wines for many CMC Alumni Weekend wine tastings and Class of ’57 events. He is survived by his wife, Shirley, children including Scott Schied ’82, stepchildren, and grandchildren.

Tom W. Sims ’57 of Pasadena, Calif., died Dec. 18, 2023. He was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Long Beach. At CMC, he met his wife, Marjorie, who was at Pomona College; they eloped to Las Vegas and were married 68 years. Sims worked as a page at NBC and later joined Xerox, where he spent most of his career as a corporate sales executive. He is survived by his wife, three children, six grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

George (Bud) R. Ehrnman ’58 of Alta Loma, Calif., died March 16, 2023. He was born in Kansas City, Mo., but grew up locally, a graduate of Chaffey High in Ontario, Calif. A Business Administration major, Ehrnman worked as a bank examiner. In 1966, he became a banker with First Trust Bank. He is survived by his wife, Sammy, and two sons.

Harold (Don) D. Harper ’58 of Rancho Mirage, Calif., died Feb. 10, 2023. He was a Government major.

Fred E. Hayward ’58 P’82 of Santa Barbara, Calif., died Jan. 1, 2024. He was a Business Administration major.

Donald (Don) E. Rowson ’58 P’86 of Beaumont, Calif., died Jan. 7, 2024. A Business Administration major, he served in the U.S. Army in Europe from 1953 to 1954. In 1956, he started with Suburban Gas and worked his way from LP gas serviceman to SoCal regional manager. After 11 years, he founded Industrial Hydrocarbons Inc., a subsidiary of Suburban, which he purchased in 1970. In 1984, Industrial Hydrocarbons became a consulting firm, and Rowson worked as an expert witness in industry defense for over 35 years. He is survived by his wife, Sharon, four children including Holly (Rowson) Kollert ’86, five grandchildren, and numerous great-grandchildren.

Donald (Don) C. Davidson ’60 of Bella Vista, Australia, died April 2, 2023. He was a Business Administration major.

Kae A. Ewing ’60 of Newport Beach, Calif., died April 10, 2023. He was born in Huntington Beach and joined the U.S. Coast Guard, 11th Coast District, in 1953. Ewing served on active duty until 1955, when he transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve, serving more than eight years. Ewing was a Business Administration major and later worked as a financial advisor. He married a Scripps alumna, Louise, in 1960. Ewing is survived by his second wife, Anne, three children, and seven grandchildren.

Ronald (Ron) Frame ’60 of Lake Stevens, Wash., died Jan. 2, 2021. He was a Business Administration major.

Geoffrey (Geof) T. Gordon ’60 of Albuquerque, N.M., died Feb. 13, 2023. He grew up in Massachusetts and Arizona. Gordon was a Business Administration major and played baseball for the Stags for four years. While a student, he was part of a group committed to the restoration and conservation of Story House, where he lived during his senior year. He earned a Master’s degree at UC Berkeley in 1962 and was a captain in the Air Force for six years and served as an intelligence officer in Vietnam. He retired as a director of Atlas Pacific Engineering Company in Pueblo, Colo. He is survived by his wife, Nancy, two children, and four grandchildren.

George W. Archer ’61 of Reston, Va., died Sept. 3, 2023. He was born in San Diego, Calif. Archer was a Public Affairs and Political Science major and graduated cum laude. He entered the U.S. Army and was honorably discharged in 1963, having obtained the rank of first lieutenant and then captain. In 1962, he married his wife, Pamela, in Miami, Fla., and they had two children. In 1964, he joined the Central Intelligence Agency as a case officer, retiring in 1994 after 30 years of service.

Donald C. Schlotter ’61 of Irvine, Calif., died July 12, 2023. He was born in 1939 in Bethlehem, Pa., and lived most of his life in Riverside and Palm Springs, Calif. A Business Administration major, he worked in corporate insurance underwriting. He is survived by his son and three grandchildren.

Walter (Walt) K. Thompson ’61 of Costa Mesa, Calif., died Nov. 11, 2023. He was a Business Administration major.

Perry W. Reel IV ’62 of Portland, Ore., died March 20, 2023. He played football at CMC.

Kelsie T. Harder ’64 of Reno, Nev., died June 29, 2023. He studied at CMC, the Escuela de Bellas Artes in Morelia, Mexico, and Ventura College before completing his B.A. in Art and Philosophy at the University of Nevada Reno, where he later pursued graduate studies.

Tod F. Huey ’64 of Seattle, Wash., died July 29, 2023. A Business Administration and Economics major, he met his wife, Nina, while she attended Scripps. He is survived by his wife, two children, and three grandchildren.

Stephen (Steve) D. Kratz ’64 of Bainbridge Island, Wash., died on Dec. 15, 2022. He grew up in Azusa, Calif. A Political Science major, he played water polo his freshman year, was a member of the Knickerbockers fraternity, and was a devoted student of Dr. Harold William Rood. He earned an MBA at UC Berkeley in 1966. Kratz served in the California National Guard and had a career in technology at companies such as IBM and Fujitsu, before starting Westport Associates. He is survived by his wife, Barbara, two sons, and one grandchild.

Richard L. Julian ’66 P’01 of Goleta, Calif., died Aug. 25, 2023. He was born in New Jersey and grew up in Pacific Palisades. Julian was a Management-Engineering major at CMC and earned a degree in Engineering at Stanford in 1967 and a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering at Stanford in 1968. He worked for Hughes Aircraft, and then for its subsidiary, Santa Barbara Research Center (SBRC and SBRS). There, he specialized in geostationary satellite imagery, contributing to many earth imaging projects. Julian retired as a Senior Engineering fellow. He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Jana, two children including Anne Julian ‘01, and two grandsons.

Michael (Mike) W. Donovan ’67 of Bellevue, Wash. died Sept. 5, 2023. He was a Mathematics major.

Steven J. Freeburg ’67 of Pasadena, Calif., died July 13, 2023. He was a Political Science major earning a JD at Loyola Law School in 1970.

Wayne E. Ruhter ’69 of Dallas, Texas, died July 24, 2023. He grew up in the Los Angeles area, graduating from Downey High School. Ruhter was an Economics and Mathematics major at CMC and earned a Ph.D. at UCLA before launching a career teaching Economics at the University of Texas in Dallas. He then served as a presidential fellow at the U.S. Department of the Interior and worked for the Public Utilities Commission in Arizona. Later, he formed his own economic consulting firm, Ruhter and Reynolds. He is survived by his wife, Terri, and two children.

Robert (Bob) G. Struble ’69 of Rochester, Ill., died Dec. 8, 2023. He was born in Los Angeles and grew up in La Cañada. Struble was a Science major, played water polo, and met his wife, Leslie, while she attended Pitzer. He earned his Master’s and Ph.D. in experimental psychology at UC Riverside. He did a postdoctoral fellowship at Purdue, joined the faculty of Johns Hopkins, and then joined the faculty of Southern Illinois University. After retiring in 2012, he taught for a year as an adjunct at Eastern Illinois University. He is survived by his wife, son, and two grandchildren.

Carl (Zoli) G. Zocholl ’69 of Riverside, Calif., died April 10, 2023. From Elgin, Ill., he attended Illinois University, joined the Navy, got married, and served on the U.S.S. Los Angeles and U.S.S. England during the Vietnam War. After attending Long Beach City College, he graduated from CMC as an Economics major. He worked for Pacific Bell and then went into real estate, sold boats, and started a charter boat company. He is survived by his wife, Helen, two daughters, 10 grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.

Alan F. Boyd ’70 of Moraga, Calif., died March 22, 2023. He was an Accounting and Economics major.

Gregory V. Gibson ’72 of Newport Beach, Calif., died Dec. 5, 2023. He was born in Palo Alto, Calif., and grew up in Pasadena. He was a History major and then transferred to and graduated from Brigham Young University.

Sheldon R. Emmer ’74 of Northridge, Calif., died Aug. 7, 2023. Emmer was a History major, a member of the soccer team, and a resident of Boswell Hall. Emmer obtained a Master’s degree from California State University, Northridge in 1989, and a JD from La Verne College of Law in 1981. He was a member at Emmer & Graeber, A Law Corporation in Los Angeles until his retirement in 2019. He served as a member of the CMCAA Board of Directors from 1990 to 1993. He was predeceased by his wife, Joyce, and is survived by two sons.

Richard C. Rogers ’74 of Eugene, Ore., died July 8, 2021. He was an Economics major.

Frederick (Fred) P. Snow ’74 of San Jose, Calif., died Feb. 14, 2022. He was a Management-Engineering major.

John L. Kunkle ’76 of Sacramento, Calif., died April 24, 2023. He was an Economics major.

Thomas (Tom) E. Petty ’76 of Newburyport, Mass., died Oct. 15, 2023. He was born in Hartford, Conn., and grew up in Boxford, Mass., before moving to Newburyport. He was a Religion major and graduated magna cum laude. He enjoyed a 42-year career in insurance, with over 20 years as co-owner and president of TA Holland & Co. Ltd. in Boston.

Richard (Rich) J. Salonick ’77 of Scottsdale, Ariz., died Dec. 31, 2022. He was born in Altoona, Pa. A Political Science major at CMC, he later graduated from ASU Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law in 1980. Salonick was an attorney and solo practitioner in Phoenix and was with the Maricopa County Public Defender’s Office.

F. J. (Jeff) Callender ’78 of Blaine, Wash., died March 12, 2021. He was a Political Science major.

Ditman L. Johnson ’79 P’14 P’16 of Seattle, Wash., died April 29, 2023. He was a History major at CMC, where he met the love of his life, Carrie George ’80. Ditman and Carrie married in 1981 and attended Harvard Business School together, graduating with MBAs in 1984. Following business school, Ditman and Carrie moved to San Francisco, where they acquired a small manufacturing company. They expanded and managed the company until selling it in 2003. From 2006 until 2022 when he retired, Ditman either consulted at Microsoft or represented Inviso Corporation in providing contract employees to Microsoft. He is survived by his wife, Carrie George, and their daughters Leah Johnson ’14 and Adrienne Johnson ’16.

Robert (Bob) S. Shaw ’79 of Modesto, Calif., died June 29, 2023. He was an International Relations major.

Derek (Riko) S. Werner ’80 of San Diego, Calif., died June 26, 2023. He was an Economics and Accounting major at CMC where he played tennis for the Stags and was named an ITA All-American. His tennis achievements garnered him a spot on the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Tennis Wall of Fame. He is survived by his wife, Jennie Jackson Werner, Scripps ’81.

Peter A. Schwartz ’81 of Danville, Ky., died Dec. 26, 2022. He was born in Oradea, Romania. An Economics and Philosophy major, Schwartz became a high school math teacher. A veteran in the Israeli Army, he fought in the Yom Kippur War. He was married to his wife, Romelle, for 23 years. He is survived by his son and three granddaughters.

James (Jim) Kearney ’91 of West Linn, Ore., died Nov. 27, 2023. He grew up in Moscow, Idaho. Kearney was an International Relations major and worked as a Senate Budget Committee analyst in Washington, D.C. He later earned his JD from the University of Washington Law School and worked for Stoel Rives LLP in Portland. Kearney and his wife, Devani, had three children.

John M. Finke ’93 of Tacoma, Wash., died in 2023. He was a Biochemistry major at CMC, earned two degrees in Chemistry at UC San Diego, and became a professor at the University of Washington Tacoma.

Constantin Popov ’98 of Auburn, Calif., died October 2023. He was an Economics major.

Jennifer A. Wickre ’03 of Washington, D.C., died April 22, 2023. She was born in Medford, Ore. As a Government major, she participated in the Washington, D.C. Program, where she first interned for Congressman Jerry Lewis. After graduating, she worked for Lewis full-time until he retired. Wickre later served as a staffer for the U.S House Committee on Science Space & Technology, working her way up to deputy staff director.

Ikenna M. Njemanze ’04 of Elizabethtown, Pa., died July 13, 2020. Njemanze was an International Relations and History major who was active in the 5C InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and worked at the Rose Institute of State and Local Government. After CMC, he traveled to China to teach English. He earned a Master’s in East Asian studies at Stanford in 2013 and then a second Master’s in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell in 2016. He worked in human resources for Royal Dutch Shell Co., Cisco, and Google. He is survived by his wife, Amelie, and two daughters.

Professor Richard (Dick) J. Sweeney, the Stone Professor of Finance at CMC and Claremont Graduate University, 1977-1989, and an editor of Economic Inquiry, died July 30, 2023. Until his retirement in 2015, Sweeney was the Bolton Sullivan/Thomas Dean Professor of International Finance at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, and previously taught at UCLA and Texas A&M University before spending four years at the U.S. Department of the Treasury in an office of policy research. He enjoyed traveling and spent summers and sabbaticals teaching at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark. An alumnus of UCLA, Sweeney earned his Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton University.

Professor Richard (Dick) Wheeler, an expert on Pakistan politics, died April 28, 2023. He joined CMC’s Government department in 1968, becoming emeritus in 1993. Wheeler authored The Politics of Pakistan: A Constitutional Quest, published by Cornell University Press in 1970. Wheeler earned his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in Political Science from UC Berkeley.

Wayne (Wally) Cox, “grandfather” of the Claremont Colleges Men’s Rugby team, died April 6, 2023. In recognition of his impact on the young men who were members of the team, the CMC Alumni Association made him an honorary life member in 2006. He is only the second non-CMC family member to be so honored. When The Claremont Colleges rugby club created a Hall of Fame in the fall of 2022, Cox was the initial inductee. Cox’s introduction to rugby occurred while he attended Dental School at USC. Shortly after opening his dental office in Claremont, a patient mentioned that The Claremont Colleges had a men’s rugby team. Cox showed up at a practice, offered to help, and became the head coach for two decades. During this period, he organized team trips to Europe, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia. The team’s success saw them promoted from Division II to Division I, the highest level of play in college and university club rugby in the United States.