1950s

Robert Ferguson Brown '50

Robert Ferguson Brown '50, a former teacher and editor, was born on August 25, 1928, in James­town, NY. A son of Frank C. '07 and Genevieve Miles Brown, he grew up in Westfield, NY, near Lake Erie, south of Buffalo, where his father was superintendent of schools. Bob Brown came to Hamilton as class valedictorian from Westfield Academy in 1946 and joined his father's fraternity, Theta Delta Chi. Fond of music and adept with a pen, he sang in the Choir and served on the staff of The Spectator. He also participated in the revival of the Royal Gaboon as the campus humor magazine and was elected to the journalism honorary Pi Delta Epsilon.

Following his graduation in 1950, Bob Brown fulfilled his two-year military obligation in the enlisted ranks of the U.S. Army. He was stationed in Germany and used the opportunity to travel extensively in Europe. After his discharge in 1952, he returned to Westfield and taught high school English for a time. He later moved to Manhattan, where he was employed during the early 1960s in an editorial capacity by the Atomic Industrial Forum, an industrial policy organization. The College has no information about his subsequent activities except that he resided in Greenwich ­Village for many years and was engaged in editing and teaching.

Robert F. Brown died in ­Manhattan on June 25, 2007. Unmarried, he is survived by a nephew, Eric M. Brown.
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Raymond Allan Murray '50

Raymond Allan Murray '50, a former travel agency owner, was born on July 18, 1928, to James W., a record company executive, and Viola Smith Murray, in Bridgeport, CT. Ray Murray prepared for college at the Kent School in ­Connecticut and came to the Hill from Bronxville, NY, in 1946. He joined Delta Kappa Epsilon and played varsity hockey as well as lacrosse. Married to Elizabeth (Betty) Seares at the end of his junior year on June 11, 1949, he majored in economics and was graduated in 1950.

Not long thereafter, Ray ­Murray returned to the Utica area, where he joined Mohawk Airlines, which first got off the ground as Robinson Airlines in 1945 and whose president was Robert E. Peach '41. During those postwar years he helped in successfully building up and expanding the airline, an entrepreneurial effort that was both challenging and exciting for those involved. While residing in Whitesboro with his growing family (daughters Denise and Barbara, and sons James and Steven), Ray Murray served as Mohawk's district manager in Utica. Promoted to traffic manager and later director of properties, he remained with the small regional carrier (absorbed in 1972 by Allegheny Airlines, now US Airways) for some 20 years.

By the mid-1970s, Ray Murray had settled in Colorado, where he became president of RAM Motors, Inc., in Evergreen. During the 1980s, while residing in Rye, CO, he was the owner of a travel agency, Professional Travel Corp., in Denver. He later returned to New York State and was a resident of Alexandria Bay at the time of his death.

As verified by Social Security records, Raymond A. Murray died on September 29, 2007. The ­College has no information regarding survivors.
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Charles Sheffield Tuesday '51

Charles Sheffield Tuesday '51, a retired General Motors Research Laboratories director and leading authority on atmospheric chemistry that results in smog, grew up in Trenton, NJ, where he was born on September 7, 1927. The son of Frank S. and Madeline Schwind Tuesday, he came to College Hill in the summer of 1945, following his graduation from Trenton Central High School as valedictorian of his class. "Chuck" Tuesday, "a happy combination of bon vivant, wit, and scholar," according to The Hamiltonian, became a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon. His college course interrupted by two years of U.S. Army service, he returned to the Hill in 1948 to resume his studies with great academic success. Awarded the Fayerweather Prize Scholarship, he also captured the Underwood Prize in chemistry and the Oren Root Prize Scholarship in mathematics. A patriarchal presence at the TKE house and no stranger to the poker table, he was graduated Phi Beta Kappa and with honors in chemistry and physics in 1951.

Chuck Tuesday went on to Princeton University, where he earned an M.A. as well as a Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 1955. That year, he began his career-long employment with General Motors Research Laboratories in Warren, MI, as a senior research chemist in its fuels and lubricants department. He soon developed a specialty in automotive emissions research and gradually devised a technique for identifying and measuring the photochemical reaction products that result in smog. He supervised the construction and operation of the Laboratories' smog chamber, the world's most advanced, which simulated Los Angeles' notorious atmospheric conditions and clearly defined the reactions between hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxides that produce ozone and eye irritation. In 1965, after promotion to supervisory research chemist, he was given responsibility for all research on smog chemistry.

Named head of the Laboratories' fuels and lubricants depart­ment in 1970, Dr. Tuesday chaired the Atmospheric Chemistry Panel of the Automobile Manufacturers Association. In 1972, he was appointed head of the environmental science department and two years later, became technical director of the Research Laboratories, responsible for five departments. Named executive director in 1988, he retired in 1992. It marked the end of a long and notable career with General Motors, during which he had made important contributions to the automobile giant's effort to develop and implement the ­catalytic converter and unleaded gasoline, both resulting in the reduction of vehicle emissions worldwide.

Dr. Tuesday, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and long a resident of Romeo, MI, and later Bloomfield Hills, had moved to Eugene, OR, a few years ago. Throughout his retirement he continued to take an interest in all aspects of scientific and technological development. He also devoted his leisure time to the pleasures of classical music, reading, and local theater.

Charles S. Tuesday, a faithfully supportive alumnus, died in Eugene on June 18, 2008, leaving his wife, the former Jean F. Quallis, whom he had wed in his hometown of Trenton on August 23, 1952. Also surviving are a son, David S. Tuesday; two daughters, Lora F. and Verna J. Tuesday; and five grandchildren.
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Robert Henry Whitman '51

Robert Henry Whitman '51, emeritus professor of Russian at Wesleyan University, was born on July 27, 1929, to Grant Whitman, an American oil company executive, and the former Lilian Joly, in Sapporo, Japan. Bob Whitman grew up in the United States and prepared for college at Phillips Exeter Academy. He entered Hamilton in 1947. While on the Hill he went out for lacrosse and served on the staff of the Continental. With a particular interest in philosophy, he was graduated in 1951 with honors in that subject.

After a year studying philosophy at the University of Maryland, Bob Whitman went to work for the National Security Agency in Washington, DC. While there, he and Frances J. "Fran" Valente, a ­fellow federal government employee, were married on ­September 12, 1953. His interest in Slavic languages and literatures aroused while in government service during that Cold War era, he went on to the University of California at Berkeley, where he earned an M.A. degree in Slavic linguistics in 1956. Awarded a Ford Foundation fellowship that year to pursue Russian-area and Slavic studies, he became a teaching ­fellow at Harvard University in 1958. A year later, while enrolled in the Ph.D. program at Harvard, he joined the Wesleyan University faculty as an assistant professor of Russian.

Bob Whitman obtained his Ph.D. in Slavic studies from Harvard in 1964, following a year as a fellow at Moscow State University. He left Wesleyan thereafter and was an assistant professor for a year each at Cornell and Indiana Universities from 1964 to 1966. In 1967, after a year as a visiting assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley, he stayed on there as acting associate professor of Slavic languages and literatures until 1970. That year, he returned to Wesleyan as an associate professor of Russian. He also became a founder and chairman of Wesleyan's program in linguistics, and for many years taught popular courses in general linguistics while directing numerous honors theses written by students who went on to become professional linguists.

Professor Whitman, who also taught courses in Old Russian ­literature and Russian-language history as well as chairing Wesleyan's educational policy committee, is remembered by a former colleague for his "extraordinary ability to inspire students to do sophisticated work," instilling in them "confidence and insights by exploring the most fruitful dimensions of what they had to say." She went on to recall that he "enlivened department meetings with his love of linguistic play, and was enormously generous with his time to colleagues as well as students."

Robert H. Whitman, who took up residence in Berkeley, CA, after his retirement from Wesleyan in 1997, died in Berkeley on May 1, 2008. In addition to his wife of 54 years, he is survived by a daughter, Julie Zai, and two grandchildren.
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William Nelson Legg '53

William Nelson Legg '53, a science educator and ardent and innovative environmental conservationist, grew up in Syracuse, NY, where he was born on February 15, 1931. His parents were William N., a chemical engineer who died when he was just a year old, and the former Georgiana Barnes (later Thompson), a secretary. Reared by his single mother, Bill Legg came to Hamilton in 1949 from Syracuse Central High School with thoughts of a future career in medicine very much in mind. He joined Psi Upsilon and engaged in a variety of sports but focused on football as a member of the varsity team. Despite his small size, his dedication and grit made him one of the team's assets. Known for his affable ­disposition and recognized as "a conscientious and hard-working student" by The Hamiltonian, he was graduated in 1953.

Despite warm recommendations to medical school from Dean Winton Tolles, Bill Legg went on to a career in education rather than medicine. He returned to his hometown and obtained an M.S. degree in science education from Syracuse University in 1955, and that year began his tenure as a high school biology teacher in suburban Liverpool. There he became prominent in the field of curriculum development as well as environmental education. Given grants by the National Science Foundation in 1961 and 1965, he carried on biological research with his students. After 13 years at Liverpool High School, he was named science supervisor for the entire school district. It entailed curriculum oversight and development, and supervision of 32 science teachers in three middle schools as well as the high school. Selected by the State Education Department to prepare an environmental education curriculum, he worked on that innovative project from 1972 to 1977.

When Bill Legg retired in 1991 after 23 years as science supervisor, he began a new career in environmental education. Hired in 1992 as a curriculum writer by the Environmental Protection Agency to develop a national education program for pollution prevention, he also co-founded Project Watershed, a consortium of educational, industrial, and governmental organizations. In cooperation with central New York schools, it sponsored water resource programs. As its director from 1994 to 2006, Bill Legg super­vised high school student groups and their teachers in testing and monitoring water quality at stream sites. Eventually, 23 high school groups became involved in monitoring 19 streams in four counties. By learning the importance of water quality, the students acquired a sense of stewardship for the environment.

Bill Legg, who took rightful pride and great satisfaction in directing that unique form of environmental education, also served for a decade on the board of directors of the Onondaga County Soil and Water Conservation District. Through the district he helped organize the Regional Envirothon and Environmental Field Days for area schools. As a tribute to his commitment and services, the Envirothon's committees is naming its regional award in his honor and memory.

In his spare time, Bill Legg remained fond of participating in a variety of sports. In addition to skiing, both Nordic and Alpine, he enjoyed ice as well as inline skating. With his wife, the former May Melvin, whom he had wed in Syracuse on February 22, 1957, he also enjoyed flower gardening, boating in the Finger Lakes and on the St. Lawrence River, and attending concerts of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra.

Bill Legg, who traced his appreciation for classical music to Professor Berrian Shute's introductory music course and his approach to classroom instruction to Professor Edgar B. Graves' ­stimulating example, remained an ever loyal Hamiltonian. With his wife May, he gave generous support to the College, and especially to its new Science Center.

William N. Legg, plagued with health problems in recent years, died in Syracuse on June 29, 2008. In addition to his wife of 51 years, he is survived by a son, Paul W. Legg; two daughters, ­Marjorie and Linda J. Legg; and two grandchildren.
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Lyman Brumbaugh Stookey '53

Lyman Brumbaugh Stookey '53, a former Presbyterian minister who became a lawyer and teacher, was born on June 9, 1931, in New York City. A son of Byron Stookey, a physician and neurological surgeon, and the former Helen Phelps Hoyt, he prepared for college at Phillips Academy, Andover, and came to Hamilton in 1948. He joined Delta Kappa Epsilon and served on the staff of The Spectator. By 1951, rather than following his father into the field of medicine, as had been his (and his father's) intention, he decided on the ministry as his future career. Vice president of the Student Christian Association in his senior year, he majored in philosophy and was graduated in 1953. Two weeks later, on June 27, he was married to Shirley A. Thomas in Utica.

Soon thereafter, Lyman Stookey enrolled at Union ­Theo­logical Seminary, where he earned his B.D. degree in 1956. He subsequently served as assistant pastor at Grosse Pointe Memorial Church in Michigan and was for 10 years pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, NY.

According to newspaper obituaries, "He left the ministry to serve as assistant to the administrator of New York City's Human Resources Administration, and later to the director of the urban studies program at the New School for Social Research. With a degree from ­Vermont Law School, [he] served as planning director for the Vermont Agency for Human Services. Then, for 20 years, he taught at Brandeis University and directed its law, medicine, and health ­policy program. In retirement, he taught as a volunteer at Hamilton-Wenham High School and the Brooks School. He was about to start his second year as a tutor at Codman Academy, a charter school in Dor­chester, MA," at the time of his death.

In that role, he spent two days on the Hill in February 2008 to review and update his knowledge of oral communication and public speaking, attending several classes, offering a guest lecture, and meeting with students as well as with Susan Mason and James Helmer, director and coordinator, respectively, of the Oral Communication Center.

Lyman Stookey died at his home in Boston on August 29, 2008. He is survived by three daughters, (Cynthia) Hoyt Bingham, Caroline Dennis, and Meg Stookey; a son, John Stookey; and grandchildren and two brothers. Also surviving are his former wife, Dorothy, as well as his first wife, Shirley.
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Richard Benson Wigton II, '53

Richard Benson Wigton II, '53, a retired securities company executive, was born on July 24, 1930, in Albany, NY. The only child of (Theodore) Nutting Wigton, a telephone company manager who died when "Dick" Wigton was 6 years old, and the former Jennette Stone Torrey, an interior decorator, he was a nephew of Lee H. Bristol, Sr. '14. He prepared for college at Lawrenceville School in New ­Jersey and came to Hamilton from Babylon on Long Island in 1949. He joined Sigma Phi and played squash as well as junior varsity hockey and soccer, and served on the Intramural Council. A member of that extracurricular fun group Nous Onze, he was graduated in 1953.

Married to Cynthia Foster Kain, a Skidmore College alumna, in Short Hills, NJ, on June 12, 1954, Dick Wigton wrote reports for a credit bureau until 1956, when he began his long and ­distinguished career with Kidder Peabody & Co., the Wall Street investment firm, as a trading assistant. Soon, as an investment banker, he became a specialist in the then exotic field of arbitrage. Promoted to vice president, he was appointed manager of corporate securities trading and a company director. He was subsequently named a managing director and member of Kidder Peabody's executive committee.

Described as soft-spoken, a bit rumpled, and unflappable, Dick Wigton was of the "old school" in the brokerage business. Somewhat uncomfortable among the new breed of traders during the "go-go '80s" on Wall Street, he nonetheless did extremely well for Kidder Peabody as head of its risk arbitrage department. Unbeknownst to him, however, some of his associates were engaged in insider trading, and in 1987, he was caught up in the federal investigation to root out corruption on Wall Street that was led by then U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani. Indicted but never tried, and although charges were later dropped and new ones never filed, Dick Wigton endured a 2 ½ - year long ordeal before the investigation finally ended and he was in effect vindicated. Although innocently caught up in the scandal, it effectively resulted in the end of his career, and he retired from now defunct Kidder Peabody in 1989.

After all the unwanted publicity had died down, Dick Wigton continued to enjoy golf, tennis, and boating, as well as travel abroad and winters in Florida. Long residents of Summit, NJ, where they reared their three children, he and Cynthia eventually moved to Vero Beach while maintaining a home in Morristown, NJ.

Richard B. Wigton, a faithful alumnus, died on May 29, 2008, of complications from a fall that he incurred last December. In addition to his wife of 54 years, he is survived by two daughters, Nancy F. Wigton and Suzanne Wigton Booth '85; a son, Richard B. Wigton III; and three grandchildren.
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Philip Farrington Wolff '54

Philip Farrington Wolff '54, an attorney-at-law, grew up in Rome, NY, where he was born on February 27, 1932. A son of Edward A., also an attorney, and Edna Shepard Wolff, he was graduated in 1950 from Rome Free Academy. Phil Wolff entered Hamilton that year, joined Psi Upsilon, and played varsity basketball. Majoring in psychology, he earned his A.B. degree in 1954. He went on to Syracuse University College of Law, where he obtained his LL.B. in 1957.

Phil Wolff established his law practice in his hometown of Rome and maintained it until the early 1990s. Married in 1957 to Donna Wentzel, he was subsequently wed to Barbara Cheyne. With a second home in Florida, where he enjoyed deep-sea fishing, he was also a horse-racing enthusiast and avid sports fan.

Philip F. Wolff died in River­view, FL, on June 14, 2008. He is ­survived by a daughter, Blair Ann Wolff, and two sons, James P. and William F. Wolff, children from his first marriage. Also surviving are three grandchildren and two sisters.
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Joseph Walker Coates, Jr. '55

Joseph Walker Coates, Jr. '55, a retired journalist and book critic, was born on April 23, 1933. A son of Joseph W., an accountant, and Grace Nietsch Coates, he grew up in his native Amsterdam, NY, where he was graduated from Wilbur H. Lynch High School. He had been editor of the school's yearbook and already aspired to a career in journalism when he entered Hamilton in 1951. However, after two years, Joe Coates left the College for academic ­reasons. Denied readmission to Hamilton following two years of U.S. Army service, he enrolled at Union College instead.

After obtaining his B.A. degree from Union in 1959, Joe Coates returned to his hometown and began his career in journalism as a reporter and photographer for the Amsterdam Evening Record. In 1962, he moved to Chicago, IL, and took a job with the Chicago American. He served on the editorial staff of the newspaper before joining the Chicago Tribune in the mid-1970s as a copy editor.

While devising clever headlines and enforcing the rules of grammar at the copy desk, Joe Coates found time, when his routine work had ended, to indulge his passion for reading and love of literature. He began writing book reviews, and the results so much impressed the Tribune's ­editors that when the book critic's position opened up in the late 1980s, he was given the job. For him it was "a dream come true," and he retained the post until his retirement in the mid-1990s. His reviews were not only well written but exceptionally insightful, and they gained him the James Friend Award for literary excellence as well as commendation from the Chicago Literary Club.

Joseph W. Coates, Jr., long an avid runner who customarily covered 10 miles a day before reporting for work, developed heath problems in the 1990s that prompted him to spend winters in Florida and Mexico, and to eventually retire. He died in Chicago, of lung cancer, on July 3, 2008. Surviving are his wife, the former Margaret Atanasoff, and a brother, Charles N. Coates.
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Gary Wilbur Leonhardt '58

Gary Wilbur Leonhardt '58, a retired trust officer whose career encompassed the law, banking, and university administration, was born on June 29, 1936, in Heuvelton, a village near Ogdensburg in New York's North Country. The son of Karl H. and Mary Van Duzee Leonhardt, he grew up in Alexandria Bay, where his father ran a grocery and farm supply store. Gary Leonhardt was graduated from Alexandria Central School in 1954 and entered Hamilton that fall. He joined Lambda Chi Alpha, later serving as secretary of the chapter, and contributed his time to The Spectator and the Debate Club, as well as playing cornet in the College Band. Known as "quiet, earnest, and conscientious," he majored in government and was awarded his diploma in 1958.

Gary Leonhardt went on to Cornell Law School, where he acquired his LL.B. degree in 1961. Called to active duty with the U.S. Navy that fall, he received officer training at the Naval Justice School in Newport, RI. While assigned to the office of the Navy's Judge Advocate General in Washington, DC, he met Nancy Lee Hirsch, and they were married in that city on August 10, 1963. Lt. Leonhardt subsequently returned to the Naval Justice School as an instructor in military law.

In 1968, Gary Leonhardt left the Navy after seven years and took up residence in the Rochester, NY, area, where he became a trust officer for the Lincoln Rochester Trust Co. In 1972, he moved to Ithaca as a trust officer for Cornell University. He remained at Cornell for 22 years, overseeing the ­University's estates and trusts and helping to develop life income plans. While in Ithaca, he served on the board of the local American Red Cross chapter as well as the Boy Scouts of ­America's Baden Powell Council. He also became a mainstay of the Cayuga Heights Volunteer Fire Department, and after ­serving in various line-officer positions and as secretary of the fire company, he was appointed its chief.

In 1994, Gary Leonhardt retired from Cornell and moved to Arizona, where he took employment as a trust officer with the Arizona State University Foundation in Phoenix. As associate director of planned giving, he was in charge of the Foundation's estate and trusts administration. Severely afflicted with rheumatoid arthritis, he retired once again in 2002.

Gary Leonhardt, who enjoyed gardening, woodworking, and tackling home repairs and improvements in general, found time in retirement to catch up on his reading while residing in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler. An ever-faithful and generously supportive alumnus, he remained devotedly close to Hamilton and assisted the College with its fund-raising activities and his class with its reunion planning.

Gary W. Leonhardt, ill for the last few years with cancer, died on June 25, 2008. Predeceased by his wife in 1997, he is survived by three sons and a daughter, Patrick L., Douglas D., Robert M. Leonhardt, and Debra M. Martin, as well as grandchildren.
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Waldron Stanley Hayes, Jr. '59

Waldron Stanley Hayes, Jr. '59, a highly regarded Buffalo, NY, attorney, was born in that city on April 11, 1938. The son of Waldron S., an insurance broker, and Katherine Kurtz Hayes, he grew up in Buffalo, where he was graduated in 1955 from Nichols School. Waldron Hayes, known as "Terry," entered Hamilton that year and joined Theta Delta Chi. He became social chairman of TDX and developed a lifelong interest in and affection for the theater while acting with the Charlatans. Elected to membership in the dramatic honorary Alpha Psi Omega, he also served as president of the Young Republicans and program director for the Spanish Club. The winner of the Cobb Essay Prize and Winslow Prize in Romance Languages, he majored in history and Spanish and left the Hill with his diploma in 1959.

With a future career as a lawyer in mind since his high school days, Terry Hayes returned to his hometown and enrolled in law school at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He became associate editor of the Buffalo Law Review and earned his LL.B. cum laude in 1962. On July 28 of that year, he was married to Anne E. Hayes, a Vassar College alumna, in Buffalo. Immediately thereafter, Terry Hayes began his law career with the firm of Phillips, Lytle, Hitchcock, Blaine & and Huber, putting in long, billable hours. Specializing at first in banking law and later municipal law, he became a partner in the firm in 1970. He focused his practice on commercial real estate development and loan transactions as well as general municipal and public finance, and was the lead attorney in arranging financially for the construction of the Miami Dolphin Stadium in Florida in 1987.

Terry Hayes, who had earned a listing in the annual Best Lawyers in America, was also active in community affairs, serving on the Green Downtown Buffalo Committee and as a director of both the Alcohol and Drug Dependency Services and Kids Escaping Drugs. He was also a trustee of the ­Buffalo Zoological Society and an elder of the Westminster ­Presbyterian Church. In addition, he was happily involved in regional theater, acting in various productions and serving as a Studio Arena Theatre trustee. Summers he enjoyed spending on the Canadian shore of Lake Erie.

In 1996, Terry Hayes suffered two strokes that left him physically disabled and prompted his retirement after 33 years with the Phillips, Lytle law firm. He subsequently devoted his time to an active exercise program as well as tutoring and serving on various boards. In 2003, he moved to Bradenton, FL.

Waldron S. Hayes, Jr., a loyal alumnus, died in Sarasota, FL, on July 19, 2008. In addition to his wife of 46 years, he is survived by three sons, Christopher A., Mark T., and Jeffery W. Hayes; a daughter, Amy K. Hayes; and grandchildren and a sister.
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