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Emmanuel-George Vakalo
Emmanuel-George Vakalo, associate professor of architecture at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, born in Athens, Greece, and served in the Royal Greek Air Force.
He received bachelor’s (1970) and master’s (1973) degrees in architecture, and a master’s degree in regional planning (1977) from Cornell University. He earned his doctoral degree from the U-M in 1985.
Vakalo joined the U-M in 1979 as assistant professor of architecture and became associate professor in 1991. His research and teaching interests were in computer modeling and shape grammer. Students in his design studio valued his guidance and ability to listen, and his insistence on rigor and commitment.
He served the College and the University as chair of the Educational Program Committee in 1980–82; and as a member of the Willeke Design Competition Committee in 1985–86, Senate Assembly Rules Committee in 1986–87, Architecture Faculty Search Committee in 1991–92, Committee on the Economic Status of the Faculty in 1993–96 and the Rackham Divisional Board in 1997–99. He chaired the doctoral program in architecture in 1994–99. In 1982, he was awarded the Sol King Award for Excellence in Teaching.
“He made a very significant contribution in the master’s and doctoral programs in architecture,” notes Brian Carter, chair of the architecture program. “He was very thoughtful and quite an inspiring mentor for faculty and students. He will be sadly missed by students, faculty and staff.”
“Manos was a man with a big heart,” says Dana L. Buntrock, now a faculty member at the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley. Buntrock earned master’s degrees in architecture and in urban planning in 1988 and was a graduate student teaching assistant under Vakalo. “He taught me to teach. He knew each of us as individuals.
“Manos never really went home-he carried school with him always, and we appreciated it.”
Buntrock has committed $10,000 to establish the Emmanuel-George Vakalo Endowed Fellowship Fund to support doctoral students. Donations should be sent to the fund in care of Mary Anne Drew, A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, 2000 Bonisteel Blvd., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2069.
Vakalo is survived by his wife, Kathleen, of Ann Arbor, and his mother, who lives in Greece. He will be buried in his native land. A memorial service will be scheduled at a later date.
Makepeace Uho Tsao
Makepeace Uho Tsao, a resident of Ann Arbor in 1938–67, born in Shanghai, China, Aug. 28, 1918, and came to the United States to do his graduate work at the University of Michigan where his two older brothers were already studying. After completing his doctorate in pharmaceutical chemistry in 1944, he continued doing research in biochemistry in the Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases. In 1952 he became an assistant professor and was eventually promoted to associate professor. Tsao helped develop the PKU test that saved many children from mental retardation, and also devised a series of neonatal blood tests requiring mere drops of blood that spared babies from having to give relatively large quantities for testing.
In 1967, Tsao accepted a position in the new medical school at the University of California, Davis, where he did research and taught in the Department of Surgical Research before retiring in 1982.
In addition to his interest in science he was an avid participant in the arts. In Ann Arbor he was associated with the ONCE group, and photo-documented many of their concerts. He painted in oil and acrylic, enjoyed art photography, shooting in both black-and-white and color, attended many music concerts and gardened with a passion. In Davis, he was actively involved in the Davis Arts Center and the Friends of the Arboretum. After retiring he began a second career, and ran two art galleries in Sacramento, the Artworks and the Slant Gallery, which he later moved to Davis.
Tsao is survived by his wife of 53 years, Annette Lambie Tsao, of Davis; four children and two grandsons: Leon Tsao of Berkeley, Calif., Aimee Tsao and her son Lorin Tsao of San Francisco, Calif., Karen Tsao and her son Alec Tsao Johnson of Seattle, Wash., and Kelvin Tsao of Davis, Calif., as well as two brothers, two sisters and numerous nieces and nephews.
Memorial contributions may be made to the scholarship fund of the Davis Arts Center, 1919 F St., Davis, CA 95616 or the Davis Arboretum, University of California, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616.
John Hermann Enns
John H. Enns, professor emeritus of engineering mechanics, born in Russia in 1907 and emigrated to the United States in 1923. He received a B.S. in electrical engineering from Kansas State University in 1932, and studied physics at the U-M, earning a master’s degree in 1935 and a doctorate in 1942.
He was an instructor at the Detroit Institute of Technology in 1936–39 and held a similar post at Michigan State University (then Michigan State College) in 1939–1943, and was named assistant professor there in 1943 before beginning his career at the U-M. In 1944, he was named research physicist at the Engineering Research Institute and was appointed associate professor of engineering mechanics in 1958. He was named professor of engineering mechanics in 1961 and held that post until his retirement in 1972.
“Throughout his career, Prof. Enns has been an avid researcher,” noted the Regents at his retirement. “His initial efforts were devoted to studies in spectroscopy, which resulted in two United States patents. Subsequently he explored the mysteries of solid state physics, and later devoted himself to studies in the areas of lattice dynamics and the micromechanics of solids. He has made distinguished contributions to his field, which has drawn the praise and recognition of his colleagues everywhere.”
At retirement, Enns moved to California, where he enjoyed golf and swimming and visits with his family. He was a member of the American Physical Society and was active in the San Diego chapter of the U-M Alumni Association.
He is survived by his wife, Ramona; sons John (Gail) of Washington, D.C., Nelson (Pat) of Albuquerque, N.M., and Philip (Jan) of Adrian; and four grandchildren.
Memorial contributions may be made to the University Office of Gift Administration, P.O. Box 966, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-0966.
Colin W. Clipson
Professor Emeritus of Architecture Colin W. Clipson died Sept. 12, 2000 in Courbevoie, France. He was 49.
Bird came to the U-M in 1994 from East Carolina University where he headed a degree program in musical theater in 1991–94. He also taught at Utah State and Brigham Young universities, and conducted workshops in voice, movement and musical theater acting styles throughout the United States.
“It is with profound shock and sorrow that we have learned of the death of Professor Bird,” said Karen Wolff, dean of the School of Music. “He has been a valuable member of the Department of Musical Theatre since 1994. He is well known as a director and teacher of musical theater throughout the United States. We extend our sincere condolences to his family and many friends.”
Bird directed more than 60 plays and musicals in academic, community and professional settings. Most recently he directed an off-Broadway production of The Robber Bridegroom for the Manhattan Theater Ensemble. He also directed for Little Theater on the Square, the Utah Musical Theater, the Old Lyric Company and the Louisiana Music Theater.
U-M theatergoers will remember his creative productions of The Mystery of Edwin Drood and last season’s A Little Night Music, among others. Bird belonged to a number of professional organizations and counted among his publications Performing in the Musical Theatre-A Holistic Approach.
“We were saddened by the untimely death of Professor Bird, a talented and respected member of our faculty,” said Provost Nancy Cantor. “His loss will be greatly felt by the musical theatre department and the arts community. The University extends its sincerest condolences to his family and his colleagues.”
Nathan B. Gross
Nathan B. Gross, professor emeritus of physiological psychology, otolaryngology, and also of the Kresge Hearing Research Institute, Born March 16, 1916, in Buffalo, N.Y., he took his B.A. in biology at the University of Chicago and his Ph.D. at the University of Rochester, with Prof. Elmer Culler in the Department of Psychology, at that time one of the few major centers in North America devoted to auditory studies.
After a year of post-World War II research at Harvard University’s Psycho-Acoustic Laboratory, directed by Prof. S.S. Stevens, Gross taught for some 15 years in the Department of Psychology at Lehigh University. Before joining the U-M, he spent two years of renewed postdoctoral training at the University of Wisconsin’s Laboratory of Neurophysiology under Profs. Clinton Woolsey and Jerzy Rose.
In fall 1963, Gross was one of the first faculty appointees to join Dr. Merle Lawrence’s staff at the brand-new Kresge Hearing Research Institute. He set up a laboratory for neurophysiological study of central processes in hearing, working especially with pigeons and gerbils. He was an enthusiastic and effective teacher, much appreciated by residents in otolaryngology and graduate students in physiological acoustics, who came to him for hands-on experience in the arts of auditory research.
Having become an emeritus professor in 1986, Gross was free to stay at home and pursue his life-long hobby as a master floriculturist. Even so, he frequently knotted one of his trademark bow ties and visited the Institute, bringing handsome bouquets in season, to tap away at his computer for the further analysis of data recorded in long-ago experiments.
Gross is survived by his wife, Marcelle Smith Gross, an Oberlin graduate in music, as well as an accomplished piano accompanist and gourmet chef. He had two daughters, Marcia G. Powers of Evanston, Ill., trained in the law and with two daughters, and Dana G. Kuttenkuler, a professional instrumentalist in Nashville, Tenn., with two sons. His sister, Rebecca Gross of Pompano Beach, Fla., also survives.
