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Kendrick Kelley
Kendrick Matthew Kelley, a lecturer in the Sweetland Center for Writing and Lloyd Hall Scholars Program who was beloved by his students and faculty colleagues, born in Key West, Fla., and raised in South Carolina, Scotland and Georgia, according to the Sweetland Center’s website. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Emory University, and master’s degree and a doctorate from Purdue University.
Robert Bensinger
Robert Bensinger, a retired U-M Health System medical photographer in the Department of Biomedical Communications, married in 1962; children, Gloria Sdao, Robert Bensinger Jr. and Elizabeth Sweet; 10 grandchildren; and his sister, Mary Joan Barnard.
Ralph Baldwin
Ralph Belknap Baldwin, who taught astronomy at U-M, Born on June 6, 1912, he graduated from U-M with a Bachelor of Science in 1934, a Master of Science in 1935 and a doctorate in astronomy (physics) in 1937. He taught astronomy at U-M, Pennsylvania and Northwestern. Baldwin received three honorary degrees, a Doctor of Laws degree from U-M in 1975, a Doctor of Science degree from Grand Valley State University in 1989, and a Doctor of Science degree from Aquinas College in 1999.
During World War II he was a senior physicist at the Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University, helping develop the radio proximity fuze. After the war he returned to Grand Rapids and joined Oliver Machinery Company where he became its president in 1970.
Baldwin’s most important work was in astronomy. His studies proved that the craters on the moon were produced by the impacts of large and small asteroid-like bodies rather than volcanic in origin. Baldwin’s early work culminated in his book, “The Face of the Moon” (1949), which may properly be considered the generating force behind modern research in both terrestrial impact craters and lunar surface features. He followed up his original work with a second book, “The Measure of the Moon” in 1965.
Baldwin was a Fellow in the Meteoritical Society, the American Geophysical Union, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada made him an honorary member.
Dr. Frank Ritter
Dr. Frank Ritter, retired clinical professor of otorhinolaryngology, of Ann Arbor Born in New Albany, Ind., Ritter earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Notre Dame (1949), a medical degree from St. Louis University School of Medicine (1953) and a Master of Science degree from U-M (1958). After completing an Ear, Nose and Throat Program residency in 1960, he joined the faculty of U-M in 1964. In the early 1970s, Ritter entered private practice at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Ann Arbor, where he actively participated in the U-M ENT residency training program.
Later in his career Ritter rejoined U-M as a clinical professor. He retired from U-M in 2005. Ritter was a very popular teacher, awarded the Silver Shovel Award and the Senior Award by medical students. Also, the Frank Ritter teaching award is given every year to a faculty member in the Department of Otolaryngology by graduating residents.
Ritter authored 70 scientific papers and several books. He was an internationally known speaker who lectured in the U.S. and abroad, and a member - often chairman or president - of several regional and national ENT-related associations. Colleagues say Ritter was a beloved teacher and mentor who will be remembered for his integrity, wit and dedication to his patients and the ENT specialty.
A.W. Brian Simpson
A.W. Brian Simpson, a Michigan Law professor who was recognized around the world as one of the leading academic lawyers of his generation, Born in 1931, his early education came in what he jokingly referred to as the “Prussian model” British boarding school. He also served in the British Army, where he was an officer in the Nigeria Regiment of the Royal West African Frontier Force. After his service he studied law at Oxford, where he stayed as a fellow and tutor of Lincoln College until 1973. During that time, he returned briefly to Africa, serving as dean of the law faculty at the University of Ghana.
After leaving Oxford, he became a law professor and later a dean at the University of Kent. In 1984 he came to the University of Chicago Law School, then to U-M in 1987. He retired in 2009.
He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1983, and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 10 years later.
A prolific and influential writer, his signature wit and meticulous research were perhaps most evident in the mordantly titled “Cannibalism and the Common Law,” a study of a 19th Century British court case involving shipwrecked sailors who were prosecuted for killing and eating a cabin boy. The book was in keeping with Simpson’s hallmark dedication to researching the minutiae of common law cases, then presenting his findings in clear and compelling prose.
“Few professors have commanded the affection of students more completely or more naturally than Professor Simpson,” said Law School Dean Evan Caminker. “He will be sorely missed by his colleagues on the faculty and by generations of alumni of the institution he served so well for more than 20 years.”
He is survived by his second wife Caroline, whom he married in 1969, children Charles, Carol, Tim, Zoë and Jane, 12 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. A funeral was held at St. Clement’s Church in Sandwich, Kent, on Jan. 20, with a memorial service to be held at Lincoln College, Oxford, sometime later this year.
A story about Professor Simpson’s Blue Jeans Lecture is available at www.law.umich.edu/newsandinfo/Pages/BrianSimpson.aspx.
