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UC Davis Magazine

Class Notes Archive 1931-2014: Summer 2014

1949Tondre Alarid, Soledad, age 88, died March 27. He was a Navy veteran and retired farmer.   Robert Fowler, Roseville, age 85, died on April 1. He was a fruit tree expert and nursery owner.
1950Irving Eaks, M.S., Ph.D. ’53, age 90, died Feb. 1. World War II Army veteran who witnessed the liberation of the last Dachau concentration camp prisoners, he was a UC Riverside plant physiologist and biochemistry lecturer emeritus and an expert on postharvest storage, transportation and ripening of citrus and avocados.
1951Thomas Hitchcock, Corral De Tierra, age 86, died Jan. 12. He was a World War II Army veteran and retired produce industry executive.
1953George West, D.V.M. ’57, M.P.V.M. ’83, Davis, age 87, died April 2. A decorated World War II Marine Corps veteran and retired Army Reserve lieutenant colonel, he was a retired California Department of Food and Agriculture veterinarian. 
1960Blood Moon, a book of poems by Jane (Conant) Blue, M.A. ’78, was published by FutureCycle Press in January. 
1964Robert Matchett, M.S. ’66, Seattle, age 72, died March 26. He was a retired cereal breeder.
1965Tom Stanton co-edited a book, Managing Risk and Performance: A Guide for Government Decision Makers (John Wiley & Sons, 2014). A Washington, D.C.-based attorney, he teaches graduate courses at Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Advanced Governmental Studies. He is president-elect of the Association of Federal Enterprise Risk Management and a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.
1966Michelle “Micki” Mahoney Aronson, a Eureka labor and delivery nurse, died Feb. 24. She was 69.
1971Robert Ansell, D.V.M. ’73, Clayton, died March 1 at age 74. He was a Navy veteran and Concord veterinarian.
1972A new book by David Meuel, Women in the Films of John Ford (McFarland Publishing, 2014), combines his love of film and writing. A lifelong student of films, he previously has written poems, short stories, and articles on subjects including theater, U.S. national parks, writing and speaking for business. He lives in Menlo Park.   A new book by David Meuel, Women in the Films of John Ford (McFarland Publishing, 2014), combines his love of film and writing. A lifelong student of films, he previously has written poems, short stories, and articles on subjects including theater, U.S. national parks, writing and speaking for business. He lives in Menlo Park.   Evolutionary biologist David Seaborg’s book of poetry, Honor Thy Sow Bug, has gone into its fifth printing. To order a copy, email him at davidseaborg@juno.com. Seaborg is founder and president of the World Rainforest Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving rainforests by empowering indigenous people. 
    Ken White, Cred. ’73, wrote Getaway Day (Tate Publishing, 2014), a coming-of-age novel set against the backdrop of the 1962 World Series. His website is kenwhite.tateauthor.com.
1974Jack de Golia was recently designated an “Audible Approved Producer” by Audible.com. A retired U.S. Forest Service spokesman, he has narrated and produced nearly two dozen audiobooks since January 2013. His website is jackwestcoast.com.
1976Tom Garrison, M.A., has written a second book, Challenge Authority: Memoir of a Baby Boomer, which is available in paperback and digital format.    Craig McNamara was named the 2014 Agriculturalist of the Year award by the California State Fair. A Winters farmer, he is president of the California State Board of Food and Agriculture and the founding president of the Center for Land-Based Learning, which seeks to help high school students become lifelong learners.   Bill Pickens, Ph.D., is a consultant for colleges and universities in leadership development, governance and finance. During a career in California higher education, he previously served as chancellor of a set of small colleges, president of a large nonprofit foundation, business affairs administrator at Sacramento State University, and in senior positions in the state’s higher education agency. He is currently writing nonfiction books, Two Very Different Men and Their Extraordinary Lives, and A Privileged White Kid from New Mexico  Scott Hewett, J.D. ’96, a Santa Rosa patent attorney and former manufacturing engineer, died in April at age 59. 
1977A historical novel by Jerry Coker, First Among Men: A Story of the Invasion of Attu Island, was published by Pocol Press in May 2013. The book is a fictionalized account of the World War II battle by the U.S. Army’s 7th Infantry Division to reclaim the Aleutian island from Japanese forces. Coker dedicated the book to his father, Roy, who earned a Bronze Star for valor as an Army infantryman in the 1943 invasion.