Volume 29 · Number 2 · Winter 2012
In Memoriam: Faculty
Ruby Cohn
L. Peter Christensen, M.S. '59, a retired Cooperative Extension viticulture specialist, died in September after a battle with cancer. He was 76. His research on grapevine nutrition at the UC Kearney Agricultural Center near Parlier during 1984–99 helped establish best practices for fertilizing grapes. He also helped develop dried-on-the-vine raisin production. Two of his many articles were selected as the American Journal of Enology and Viticulture best research papers of 1986 and 1990. A new raisin variety, Selma Pete, was named after him in 2002. He was a past president of the American Society for Enology and Viticulture and recipient of UC Davis Academic Federation's James H. Meyer Distinguished Achievement Award. Survivors include his wife, Eleanor (Honzik) '58; sons John (the Rev. Damascene), Robert and Scott; a sister, Jane Hildebrand; and three grandchildren.
Ruby Cohn, a professor of comparative drama and a leading authority on author Samuel Beckett, died in October in Oakland following a prolonged struggle with Parkinson's disease. She was 89. As a student at the University of Paris in 1953, she attended the first public performance of Waiting for Godot by Beckett, who was then an unknown playwright. Her first book, Samuel Beckett: The Comic Gamut (1962), was one of the first full-length studies of his work. She went on to write or edit seven other books on Beckett, as well as others on modern American and British theater. She taught at UC Davis during 1972–92. A recipient of Fulbright and Guggenheim fellowships, Professor Cohn was also selected as the 1978 UC Davis Faculty Research Lecturer, the Academic Senate's highest honor. A World War II Navy Waves veteran, she leaves no immediate survivors.
Byron Demorest, an ophthalmologist who helped found the School of Medicine and served as the ophthalmology department's first chair, died in October of multiple myeloma. He was 86. He was a leader in the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the California Association of Ophthalmology, and an associate examiner for the American Board of Ophthalmology. During the 1970s, he was also moderator of "Doctor's Notebook," a daily news segment on Sacramento's KCRA-TV. Survivors include his wife of 64 years, Phyllis; daughters, Katheryn Brown of Weimar and Susan Gilsdorf of Tucson, Ariz.; son, John of Oceanside; brother, Allan of Des Moines, Iowa; four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Walter Dunkley and Edward Jestes
Walter Dunkley, an expert on dairy nutrition and flavor chemistry, died in November in Pleasanton at age 93. He joined what was then the Division of Dairy Industry in 1948. The author of more than 140 scholarly articles, he received a 1968 Borden Award from the American Dairy Science Association for his research contributions and served as its president in 1978. He retired in 1986 as a professor emeritus of food science and technology. His wife of 64 years, Virginia "Ginnie," died in 2008. Survivors include sons Dave '67 of Weatherford, Texas, Art '70 of Pleasanton and Ken '77 of Montecito; and six grandchildren.
Edward Jestes, a librarian during 1966–91, died at his Sacramento home in August at age 81. Born in Nairobi in what was then British East Africa, he grew up in Santa Monica and attended UCLA, where he lettered in rugby. He served in Korea with the California National Guard, earned a doctorate in geology from UCLA and taught at University of Hawaii and University of Washington before earning his master's degree in library science at UC Berkeley. At UC Davis, he worked in the Physical Sciences and Engineering Library for many years. He was active in local taiko drumming groups. Survivors include his sons, Edward of Redding and Jorge of Sacramento; and a sister, Marilyn Hatfield. His wife of 47 years, Toshiko, died in 2001.
Ralph Kunkee, a professor emeritus of enology and wine microbiologist whose research helped shape American wine tastes, died in November from cancer complications. He was 84. A faculty member during 1963–91, he was an expert on wine yeast, malolactic fermentation and bacteria that cause wine spoilage. One such bacteria strain, Lactobacillus kunkeei, was named for him in 1998. He also promoted sterile filtration and bottling as a means for wine stabilization, which led vintners to move away from high alcohol dessert and appetizer wines to producing the lower-alcohol table wines popular today. He wrote nearly 150 scientific articles and co-authored two enological textbooks. He taught a popular laboratory course, "Microbiology of Winemaking," as well as a UC Davis Extension distance-learning class, "Introduction to Winemaking."
Erich Loewy, a physician and founding chair of the School of Medicine bioethics program, died in his sleep in October at his Sacramento home. He was 83. He joined UC Davis in 1996 as the first holder of an endowed chair of bioethics established by the medical school alumni association. Born in Vienna, he fled with his family before the start of World War II, first to England and then to the U.S. A cardiologist, he practiced medicine for nearly 20 years before becoming a bioethics professor at the University of Illinois. He advised universities, hospitals, government agencies and international organizations, and wrote a number of textbooks on bioethics. In 2008, he received the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, First Class. He is survived by his wife of 37 years, Roberta, a UC Davis professor of bioethics; sons Thomas of Galesburg, Ill., and David of Mackinaw, Ill.; and two grandchildren.
James Woodress, a professor emeritus of English noted for his biographies of novelist Willa Cather, died in his sleep last May at his Pomona home. He was 94. He joined the faculty in 1966 and served stints as director of English graduate studies and chair of the English department. He retired in 1987, but continued to mentor students. In addition to his books, Willa Cather: Her Life and Art (1970) and Willa Cather: a Literary Life (1987), he also wrote biographies — still considered standards — of poet and politician Joel Barlow and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Booth Tarkington, among others. In 1985, he received a Hubbell Medal from the American Literature Section for the Modern Language Association, given to a person "whose total body of work has been a major influence on the study and teaching of American literature." Among his other honors were Guggeheim and Fulbright awards. He was a World War II Army veteran. His wife of 67 years, Roberta, died in 2007.
In Memoriam: Friends
Brian Thompson
Brian Thompson, a 1949 UC Berkeley graduate who became a devoted Aggie band and athletics supporter as the parent of two UC Davis alumni, died in September. A resident of Castro Valley, he was 88. A coppersmith and Navy veteran who repaired submarines during World War II, he co-founded Eastshore Lines charter bus service and Sequoia Building Products. He played baritone horn with the Aggie alumni band. Among his contributions to athletics was a women's softball scholarship, endowed in memory of his late wife, Audrey. His efforts on behalf of UC Davis athletics and the band earned him the 1999–2000 National Association of Athletic Development Directors Volunteer of the Year award. Survivors include his daughter, Pam '85, '88, of Davis and son, Terrence "Tip" '87, M.B.A. '97, of Sacramento.