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Alfred B. Connable Jr.
Alumnus and Regent Emeritus Alfred B. Connable Jr. born Feb. 20, 1904, in Kalmazoo, attending the U-M (1925) and Harvard University (1929). He was associated with the Kalamazoo Vegetable Parchment Co. and, from 1929 to 1943, was affiliated with the Detroit Trust Co. At the start of World War II he took a leave of absence and organized the Price Division of the Office of Administration, serving as state price administrator until 1943. He then returned to Kalamazoo to a private investment counsel office.
Throughout his life he was active in Kalamazoo civic affairs.
“Hardly a thread of the fabric of Kalamazoo was untouched by Connable, from education to the arts, from housing for the disadvantaged to the health of downtown, from the business community to the Douglass Community Center,” said a Kalamazoo Gazette editorial Nov. 17.
“It will be hard to recall 20th-century Kalamazoo without also thinking of Al Connable. But as much as his leadership helped shape this community and its institutions-much of it via quiet, behind-the-scenes work-what he will be remembered best for are his unfailingly positive and progressive outlook, his boundless enthusiasm and his personal thoughtfulness and kindness to people of all ages and stations of life.”
Connable was one of 16 U-M graduates in an extended family. His second wife Tenho was a graduate in chemical engineering at the U-M.
Connable and his first wife, the late Dorothy Jean Malcomson, from whom he was divorced, had three children: Alfred B. III and his wife, Roma, of New York; Nancy M. of Kalamazoo; and John, who died May 1, 2000 in Ann Arbor after a determined struggle against, and complications from, myelofibrosis, a bone marrow disease.
Sankey was died April 11, 2000. He was 92.
Arthos was a Russel Lecturer and the Hereward T. Price Distinguished University Professor of English.
In adopting his retirement memoir in 1979, the Regents noted that Arthos’ “many books and articles range over several periods of English, American and continental literature. His major interest, however, was in the Renaissance, and then in the major figures of the Renaissance.
“Using his wide range of knowledge of languages and literature, he has made enduring contributions to our knowledge and understanding of what was a European, not just an English movement. No scholar has better understood, more clearly interpreted, or more deeply applied in his own thinking and teaching, the humanistic spirit which informed this important period in the history of literature.
“Prof. Arthos,” the Regents added, “brought his distinguished teaching career to culmination, after his appointment to a University Professorship, by designing and teaching a year-long course on ‘The Character of the Humanities.’ His whole teaching career exemplified what he taught at its conclusion: the unique importance of humanistic perspectives.”
Arthos, who held degrees from Dartmouth College and Harvard University, joined the U-M in 1938 as an instructor and was promoted to assistant professor in 1942. He was named associate professor in 1948 and professor in 1954.
He served with the 85th Infantry Division in 1942–45, receiving the Bronze Star.
Arthos is survived by his wife, Martha; five children: Lydie, John, James, Maria and Martha; and five grandchildren: Sophia, Lydie Bennett, Peter, Joseph and Christianna.
A graveside funeral service was held at St. Thomas Cemetery, followed by a memorial mass at St. Thomas Church April 15. A priest from St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church presided at the graveside service.
