Search Archived Marriage Records
Joseph T.A. Lee
Joseph T.A. Lee, professor emeritus of the Taubman School of Architecture and Urban Planning, and co-founder, chief architect and planner of the Ann Arbor Kerrytown market, born in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada, in 1918 of immigrant Chinese parents. His interest in architecture began as a boy when he built pens for pigeons and rabbits, progressing to remodeling his family's house when he was in high school. Instead of remaining in Nanaimo with his family's grocery business, he chose to continue his education by attending the University of British Columbia, studying civil engineering. From there he transferred to U-M, earning a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering and a Master of Science in structural engineering. After completing studies at Columbia University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering, and working in the private sector he studied architecture at the School of Architecture at Columbia University.
In 1952 he was invited to U-M, where he taught for the next three decades. He also practiced architecture in Ann Arbor, with George Brigham, Don McMullen and in private practice. He designed residential, commercial, industrial and institutional projects.
In 1969 he formed a private initiative with attorney Arthur Carpenter and 10 other Ann Arborites to renew the area around the Farmers' Market in downtown Ann Arbor. He was the vice president of Arbor-A and the chief architect and planner for these projects. This area was transformed into what is now a well-known Ann Arbor landmark, the Kerrytown Markets and Shops.
Throughout his life, he was active in student and civic affairs. During his college years he was the president of the Chinese Students Clubs at U-M and Columbia University, as well as the Chinese engineering fraternity Alpha Lambda. He was a director of the Midwest Chinese Students' Alumni Services based in Chicago, a founder of the Association of Chinese-Americans and director of Chinese-Americans for Freedom and Human Rights, San Francisco. He was a trustee of the Ann Arbor School Board (1967-70).
During his 30 years at the university, he was inventive in his methods of teaching design, encouraging students to discover design principles through their own exploration. His students were a constant source of stimulation and he enjoyed the interaction of studio teaching. Many of his students remember evenings at the Lees' residence when discussions ran late into the night. His belief in the value of education continues with two scholarships that he and his late wife Elsie set up at U-M and with a grant for continuing teacher-development in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith School District, British Columbia.
The Lee family requests that gifts in his memory be made to either of the two scholarships at the university: 1. The Joseph T.A. Lee and Elsie Choy Lee Scholarship at the Taubman School (2000 Bonisteel Boulevard, Ann Arbor, MI 48109), which annually provides support for a graduate architecture student who "shows the most promise for a career that has a balanced, integrated, and broad approach to the design of human space." 2. The Elsie Choy Lee Scholarship at the Center for Continuing Education for Women (330 East Liberty St., Ann Arbor, MI 48104), which annually supports "undergraduate and graduate women in facilitating their own work in art, writing or music. It also is given to students researching women of creativity who have struggled to find their own voices within those fields."
Lee is survived by his sister, Anne Lowe of Vancouver, British Columbia; his children Rowe Lee-Mills of Ann Arbor, Justin Lee of Seattle and Puwen Lee of Arlington, Va.; and grandchildren Justine Lee-Mills, Lars Lee, Catherine Lee-Mills and Jessie Lee-Bauder.
A memorial service will be 2 p.m. Oct. 6 in the Kerrytown Concert House, 415 N. Fourth Ave., Ann Arbor.
Thomas Jay Garbaty
Professor Emeritus Thomas Jay Garbaty born in Berlin and came to the United States in the early 1930s.
He got his Bachelor of Arts at Haverford College and his doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania. He taught for three years at Clemson University before coming to U-M, where he was an editor at The Middle English Dictionary and an instructor in the Department of English. He rose through the ranks, becoming a professor of English in 1971.
Many of his colleagues remember him as intellectually engaging and socially endearing, and say they enjoyed talking with him about everything from Chaucer manuscripts to the arts and literature of the 1890s. Garbaty was a distinguished medieval scholar, receiving numerous grants and awards. Specialists in medieval literature still rely on his research, and he remains an influential scholar. He also was a very popular teacher, colleagues say.
Personally a quiet man, Garbaty responded actively to the theatrical demands of the profession. It was obvious, both to his colleagues and to his students, that his classroom performances manifested a solid grasp of what he was teaching and made his courses great favorites. In short, he was a model teacher, scholar and colleague, friends say.
He is survived by a daughter, Bettina, a son, Michael, and his special friend Marian Cook.
Richard McElroy
A former UM-Flint vice chancellor for university relations, Richard McElroy, died Nov. 5, 2010 in Ann Arbor at the age of 79.
“She was one of America’s greatest opera singers,” George Shirley, professor emeritus of voice and longtime friend and colleague, told the Detroit Free Press. “She had a tremendous impact artistically and as a person, and in recent years she was a wonderful teacher and mentor for students.”
Described by the New York Times as a “vocally lustrous and dramatically compelling American opera singer with a plush, rich and powerful voice, thorough musicianship, insightful dramatic skills, charisma and beauty,” Verrett performed more than 40 roles, both in the United States and abroad, over the course of her career.
She made opera history in 1973, singing both Dido and Cassandra in Berlioz’s “Les Troyens” at the opening night of the Metropolitan Opera’s production, stepping in at the last minute for an ailing colleague. Known for a unique and varied repertoire, her mastery of a wide range of vocal literature earned her a unique place in opera lore. She was embraced by audiences in Italy after a triumphant performance at La Scala as Lady Macbeth in Verdi’s opera. She was equally beloved at the Paris Opera, where she starred in a series of operas staged especially for her and later appeared at the opening of the Bastille Opera in a widely hailed production of “Les Troyens.”
Verrett joined the faculty of the School of Music, Theatre & Dance in 1996, recruited by George Shirley. “I had always planned to go into acting, drama,” she told Music @ Michigan in 2003. “I love words. … I didn’t think I’d like to teach, at all, but I found quite the opposite - that I truly enjoy it.”
“Young people need to be patient,” she said. “Most singers are in too much of a hurry. They want it all now. First they need to do the work, diligently; study well. If it’s going to be, it will be.”
Always an elegant presence around the school, Verrett mentored students both in vocal skills and professionalism. A term was even coined to describe the transformative experience of time well spent in her studio: you became “Verretticized.”
“The allure of a singing career can be intoxicating,” she said. “All those bravas - brava brava brava - it’s marvelous. But it disappears. And your family does not. Your family wants you to do well, but if you don’t, they will still love you.”
Verrett is survived by her husband of 47 years, Lou LoMonaco, and their daughter Francesca. She wrote with candor about the highs and lows of an opera career in her 2003 autobiography “I Never Walked Alone.”
Lydia Qiu, collaborative pianist who worked with Verrett and tells us that she always brought flowers to her students and their accompanists for each recital, says, “She will be sadly missed as a wonderful artist, a caring mentor and a gentle soul.”
Plans are underway for a musical celebration of her life at a later date.
Fred Hendel
Alfred (Fred) Hendel, professor emeritus of physics, born Oct. 19, 1916, in Vienna, Austria. He was a student at the University of Vienna at the time of the Anschluss when Austria was taken over by Nazi Germany. Hendel was, for a short time, involved with the underground, but he was forced to escape from Austria in 1938, also helping others to leave. He went to Bolivia where he spent the next 17 years.
At first, he earned his living in many ways - as an electrician, a newspaper photographer, a croupier in a casino and a teacher of Spanish. In 1945 he joined the physics faculty of the University of La Paz. He was given a half-time appointment in 1952 as an associate professor in the Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fisicas in Brasil, which he fulfilled at the Mount Chacaltaya cosmic ray research station, at an elevation of about 5,200 meters above sea level, near La Paz, Bolivia.
Hendel loved skiing and helped to build a ski lodge and the first ski lift in South America on Mount Chacaltaya. In 1954 he went to France, where he attended the Sorbonne and from which he received his doctorate in physics in 1956. His research with French colleagues involved the study of recently discovered cosmic ray-produced mesons in cloud chambers at the Pic du Midi in the French Pyrenees.
He accepted a cosmic ray physics research position at Princeton University in 1957, and subsequently was recruited by Professor Wayne Hazen to join the faculty of the Department of Physics at U-M in 1959. He thoroughly enjoyed teaching and his interactions with students, colleagues say. He was involved with the Keller self-paced format in teaching the introductory physics course, writing much of the material for this alternative to the traditional lecture/discussion-section format, which was an early step in the evolution of introductory physics teaching at Michigan. With Hazen, he continued his cosmic ray research in Bolivia, where he spent about four months each year; together they made significant advances in the studies of radio signals in the 10-100 MHz frequency range produced by extensive air showers of cosmic rays at the Mount Chacaltaya research station.
Hendel continued mountain climbing ventures on the Bolivian Andes; in 1963, he and Paul Barker (a former student of Hazen) were the first climbers to ascend the south ridge of Mount Huayna Potosi (6,008 meters) and, in 1967, they were the first to ascend the north ridge of Mount Illimani (6,438 meters).
He retired from U-M faculty in 1986. In his retirement, he wrote two books: “Mountains in Bolivia” and “Revolutions in Bolivia,” in which he described some of his experiences. He was a man of many interests, from mountain climbing and skiing to playing bridge and chess. Hendel loved life; he had a great sense of humor and enjoyed a good time, colleagues say. He was skilled at solving difficult problems with simple solutions and was always ready to help others, they say.
Hendel is survived by his wife of 43 years, Florence; nephew George; niece Noemi; and grandchildren.
