Volume 27 · Number 2 · Winter 2010
In Memoriam
John Dobie, Jim Hance, Clyde Jacobs and Joe Mauk Smith
Martin Birch, former chair of the entomology department and an international authority on insect communication, died in October in Oxford, England. He was 65. A faculty member in 1973–81, he wrote the 1974 textbook, Pheromones, which is still used in college classrooms. He joined the University of Oxford in 1981 as a lecturer, curator of the Hope Entomological Collection and a tutorial fellow of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, but injuries suffered in a 1982 automobile accident led to his early retirement in 1984. He then turned his focus to helping others with head injuries. Arthur Black, ’48, Ph.D. ’51, a professor emeritus of biochemistry and a founding faculty member of the School of Veterinary Medicine, died in August in Davis at age 86. He joined the faculty in 1951. An authority on the biosynthesis of milk, he received a Distinguished Teaching Award from the UC Davis Academic Senate in 1977. He served as chair of the veterinary school’s physiological sciences department (now molecular biosciences) during 1968-74 and retired in 1991.
Marc Blanchard, a comparative literature scholar who established UC Davis’ study abroad program in Cuba, died in November after a long struggle with cancer. He was 67. A faculty member for 39 years, he was a world-renowned scholar in critical theory and a specialist in Latin American literature and culture and Caribbean studies. In addition to being a founding member of UC Davis’ comparative literature and critical theory programs, he also taught French, Spanish and courses in cultural studies and community development. He was awarded UC Davis’ distinguished professor title in 2006 and won the campus’s Distinguished Teaching Award for Graduate and Professional Teaching in 2009. He authored many books and almost 100 scholarly articles.
Don Carlson, a professor emeritus of biochemistry and expert on glycoproteins, died in July in Washington, D.C., at age 78. He was a faculty member from 1985 until his retirement in 2002. He had lived in Dumfries, Va., since 2006.
Robert Jackman, a professor of political science since 1989, died in October in San Francisco after a 2 ½-year struggle with pancreatic cancer. He was an expert on comparative politics, comparative institutions and political behavior, and authored four books and dozens of scholarly articles.
David Kilmer, M.D. ’85, professor and chair of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at UC Davis Health System, died of lymphoma at his home in Sacramento in September. He was 52. An internationally recognized clinician, teacher and researcher, he was known for the compassionate rehabilitation care he provided to patients with traumatic neurologic conditions, amputations and neuromuscular diseases. He ran the prosthetic clinic at Sacramento VA Medical Center. He twice won the faculty teaching award and in 2005 received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the School of Medicine.
Carol Tomlinson-Keasey, a former UC Davis administrator and psychology professor who became founding chancellor of UC Merced, died in October in Georgia after a battle with breast cancer. She was 66. After 15 years serving on the UC Riverside faculty, she came to UC Davis in 1992 as vice provost. She also served in 1994-95 as dean of the College of Letters and Science. Appointed UC-wide vice provost for academic initiatives in 1997, she spearheaded the multiyear effort to establish the 10th UC campus and served as its chancellor from 1999 to 2006. She retired in 2007.