1960s
Bert Alvin Lies, Jr. ’60
Bert Alvin Lies, Jr. ’60, an orthopaedic surgeon, was born on April 22, 1939, in Buffalo, N.Y. A son of the former Mary Heffley and Bert Lies, Sr., he graduated from Cleveland Hill High School in Cheektowaga, N.Y. Known as “Skip” at Hamilton, Lies majored in biology and chemistry. A member of Delta Kappa Epsilon, he participated in the Biology Club, Block “H” Club and played lacrosse and football, where he considered it a privilege to be a member of the legendary undefeated 1958 gridiron team. In his class’ 50th reunion yearbook, he looked back on the impact of his Hamilton experience: “Through the guidance and friendship of Professors Gerold, Hess, Rogers, Yourtee, Liedke and Johnston, I started down a path — a journey that has taken me out of a comfort zone.”
That path led Lies to the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Medicine where he earned membership into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and received the Buffalo Surgical Society Prize and the Bacelli Research Award. From 1964 to 1969, he trained in general and orthopaedic surgery while also serving as a captain in the U.S. Medical Corps of the Army Reserve from 1964 to 1974.
In 1969, Dr. Lies joined the Godfrey Orthopaedic Group. Specializing in sports medicine, he worked with the Buffalo Bills and the Boston Bruins. He later formed his own orthopaedic practice until 1983 specializing in pediatric orthopaedics with a focus on caring for children with severe disabilities. He relocated his practice to Santa Fe that year; beginning in 1977, he had begun volunteering with the Indian Health Service as a visiting orthopaedist on the Navajo reservation in Gallup, N.M. In addition to private practice he was attending physician at St. Vincent Hospital until his retirement in 1997. He also served as an orthopaedic and occupational consultant to the Aspen Ski Co. beginning in 1989.
Lies was an active member of the Santa Fe art community and beyond, developing a passion for Native American and contemporary art. He served as a board member and supporter of art organizations, including the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, SITE Santa Fe, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Aspen Art Museum.
He was also an avid sportsman. In addition to his collegiate sports, Lies was a tennis player and skier throughout his life. A published obituary noted that among his biggest joys were skiing with his grandchildren in the Colorado Rockies and walking with his beloved Leonbergers, Dagne and Emil.
Bert A. Lies died on March 20, 2016, at age 76, in Santa Fe. In addition to his wife, Rosina Lee Yue, to whom he had been married for the past 20 years, he is survived by two daughters, four grandchildren and a brother, Brian Lies ’70. An earlier marriage to Jacqueline Bouet had ended in divorce.
William Patrick O’Donnell ’60
William Patrick O’Donnell ’60, a noted Greenwich Village burger restaurateur, was born on Sept. 19, 1935, in Hackensack, N.J., a son of the former Madeline Dwyer and George O’Donnell. He was raised in Westwood, N.J., and graduated from Mount St. Michael Academy, an all-boys college preparatory Roman Catholic high school in the Wakefield section of the Bronx, before attending Hamilton.
From September 1954 through August 1956, he served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, stationed abroad. While on the Hill, “Redsy” O’Donnell was a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon and studied history. He left the College in March 1960.
After Hamilton, he purchased the Corner Bistro, a beer-and-burger “joint” on the corner of West Fourth and Jane streets in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. The bistro turned into an iconic eatery for locals and tourists alike. The self-called “last of the bohemian bars,” the Corner Bistro became known for its much-celebrated broiled hamburger. It was said by many, arguably, to be the best burger in the city. George Motz, author and filmmaker of both the burger bible and the documentary titled Hamburger America, noted that the bistro’s famed cuisine was “the burger that became the standard by which all others would be measured.”
O’Donnell also became part owner of an off-shoot second Corner Bistro across the East River in trendy Long Island City, N.Y., bringing the original joint’s classic menu and venerated hamburger to the locals and hipsters of the borough of Queens. A published obituary noted that O’Donnell, “like many of his patrons, was a familiar local personality in the West Village.”
William P. O’Donnell died on March 21, 2016, at age 80. He is survived by his wife, Lorraine, a son, a daughter and two grandchildren.
Joseph Charles Kent ’61
Joseph Charles Kent ’61, a Renaissance man, was born on Oct. 24, 1938, in Hackensack, N.J. He was the son of Florence and George C. Krupka. Known as Joseph Krupka until 1960, he attended Pearl River High School in Pearl River, N.Y., where he became a star of the football team, and the Peddie School in Hightstown, N.J.
Kent went on to attend Hamilton where continued lending his talents on the gridiron. He also lettered in lacrosse on the Hill and was a member of Doers & Thinkers and Delta Kappa Epsilon. A Spanish major, he spent his junior year studying in Mexico, traveling throughout the country on a motorcycle. He achieved departmental honors, a recognition he later said greatly surprised him at the graduation ceremony.
In his 50th class reunion yearbook, Kent remarked on the College’s impact on his life: “Hamilton taught me that success was due mostly to hard work.” His own lifetime of hard work brought him careers as a stockbroker for Merrill Lynch, three years as a schoolteacher, a longtime landlord of numerous investment properties and a delivery business owner for 30 years.
Throughout the years, he remained an avid football fan and prided himself on maintaining his strength with regular workouts in the gym. For that 50th reunion yearbook, he also stated, “I believe I could still play a quarter for Hamilton,” and concluded that his interests centered on family first: “my new dog Sadie, my daughters and their children.” He also enjoyed coaching basketball and boxing.
Joseph C. Kent died on April 17, 2016, at age 77. He is survived by two daughters and four grandchildren. A marriage in 1957 to Nancy Karp had ended in divorce.
David Michael Lascell ’63
David Michael Lascell ’63, an attorney who successfully argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, was born on April 11, 1941, to Walter Lascell, a businessman, and the former June Sargent, a teacher. He grew up in Albion, N.Y., where he played football and spent summers at the family farm. While at Hamilton, he participated in the International Relations Club, managed the football team and was a member of the Spectator staff and Emerson Literary Society.
Reflecting on his years on College Hill in various reunion yearbooks, Lascell noted that many long-lasting friendships started at Hamilton. He recalled his favorite course: “The freshman writing course is still the best course I have ever taken, although at the time I thought it was the worst.” And referring to the impact of Hamilton on his life, he noted: “I am very grateful to Hamilton for providing me (and sons Dan and Chris) with a solid foundation that has led to rewarding careers and interesting life experiences.”
After graduating as a government major, Lascell married Donna Hopf on Sept. 5, 1964, earned an LL.B. from Cornell Law School in 1966 and served in the U.S. Army. The couple moved to Rochester, N.Y., where they raised their family and where Dave practiced law for more than 45 years.
Lascell was a notable trial lawyer, beginning his career with Nixon, Hargrave, Devans & Doyle. He earned a reputation in many legal disciplines, including higher education law, insurance law and employment and antitrust litigation. In 1984, he appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court, successfully representing Grove City College in the first court case in which an educational institution fought for the right not to accept federal or state funds. In another decision, he achieved the termination of antitrust consent decrees that had been entered against Eastman Kodak Co. in 1921 and 1954.
Having operated his own firm for several years, Lascell became a partner at Harter, Secrest & Emery in 2000. The founding director of United Educators Insurance, an insurance company and director of Commonfund, an investment management company serving colleges and universities, Lascell later became executive and co-owner of AWH and Cinnabar corps., firms that manufacture interiors for ocean-going vessels and interior fixtures for convenience stores and the petroleum industry, respectively. His professional and civic activities included trusteeships at numerous colleges: Grove City College, Wells College, Mt. Vernon College, Roberts Wesleyan College and the Rochester Area Colleges, a consortium of public and private colleges in upstate New York. He also served as chairman of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges and as director of the American Council on Education.
A former board director of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Lascell in later years served as a charismatic therapy dog volunteer with his devoted canine, Fezzik, at the VA hospital in Canandaigua, N.Y. He and Donna remained connected to Hamilton through the years, often opening their home to host receptions for alumni and prospective students. Lascell also served as a free agent on behalf of the Annual Fund and on his class’ reunion gift committee.
David M. Lascell, who was a dedicated proponent of student financial aid on the Hill with his continued support of the Lascell-Sargent Family Scholarship, died on April 1, 2016, at age 74. In addition to his wife, he is survived by a daughter, two sons, Daniel Lascell ’92 and Christopher Lascell ’96, and three grandchildren.
William Alva Cleveland ’64
William Alva Cleveland ’64, a longtime editor with the Encyclopedia Britannica, was born on Jan. 2, 1942, in Elmira, N.Y., the son of the former Irene Vought, a teacher, and George Cleveland, an assembler. He graduated from Elmira’s Southside High School in 1960 and from Hamilton in 1965, but continued to be associated with the Class of ’64.
While at Hamilton, Cleveland majored in geology and spent much of his non-academic time working on his track and field skills. For the 40th year reunion yearbook of the Class of ’64, Bill recalled that a teammate kindly described him as the “best runner who never lettered at Hamilton.” On the lighter side, among his other witty yearbook remarks, he remembered that he “washed about 2.7 million dishes in the dining hall.” He also noted the reason for his graduation a year after his official Hamilton class: “After crashing and burning senior year on calculus, did Peace Corps training in soils and concrete at the University of Utah at Salt Lake City and graduated Hamilton a year late in geology.”
Banking on his science skills after graduation, Cleveland went to work at a civil engineering job in Ohio but left soon after to join the Encyclopedia Britannica in Chicago as a geographer. He was drafted into in the U.S. Army shortly after, performing contracting compliance testing of Army materiel.
After his service, Cleveland completed one semester of graduate work in geography at St. Louis University before returning to the Encyclopedia Britannica’s editorial staff. He stayed with the Britannica for more than 30 years, performing executive tasks, editing the -Britannica atlas and managing the encyclopedia’s statistical abstract of the world. The abstract featured data on population (both human and livestock), technology, GNP, finances and climate from around the globe.
According to a published obituary, he continued to be involved in writing and judged non-fiction book prizes after taking early retirement. He also completed an extensive genealogy of the descendants of Achatias Vought, one of his ancestors. He was a lifelong reader, a gourmet and music lover, and his ironic wit (as witnessed in his reunion yearbook responses) enlivened every discussion.
William A. Cleveland died on Jan. 30, 2016, at age 74 in Ithaca, N.Y., after a brief illness. Never married, he is survived by a sister and seven cousins.
Henry Cozad Harpending ’65
Henry Cozad Harpending ’65, a noted anthropologist and member of the National Academy of Sciences, was born on Jan. 13, 1944, in Penn Yan, N.Y., the son of Harry Harpending, an attorney, and the former Freda Miller, a nurse. After preparing for college at Dundee Central School, he came to Hamilton and pledged Psi Upsilon. He received his degree in anthropology in 1964, a year earlier than his matriculated class, and went on to receive his M.A. degree in 1965 and a Ph.D. in 1972, both from Harvard University.
In 1966, he married Patricia Draper, also a one-time teaching fellow and doctoral candidate at Harvard. At the time, the couple were participating in a two-year anthropological study of the Kung Bushmen in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana in southern Africa. After their return to the United States, the Harpendings taught at the University of New Mexico, where he worked for 13 years.
In 1985, Harpending joined the faculty at the Pennsylvania State University. In collaboration with his colleagues in anthropology, he helped develop a way of analyzing mitochondrial DNA differences among human populations that shed light on population growth before the last Ice Age. Harpending also studied genetic and morphometric variation within and between human populations with mathematical models, examining hypotheses such as population growth, divergence and gene flow. He did extended fieldwork in Southern Africa (Botswana and Namibia) and spoke the !Kung language, also known as Ju, fluently.
Professor Harpending received the university’s Faculty Scholar Medal for Outstanding Achievement in 1995 and was known as “a creative thinker who has integrated theories and methods from various disciplines into a coherent and well received perspective.” His work earned him election into the prestigious National Academy of Sciences in 1996.
Author of numerous journal articles, he served as editor of both Human Biology and the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. He also wrote several books, including The 10,000 Year Explosion: How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution (2009), in which he argues against a common belief that human genetic adaptation stopped 40,000 years ago. Instead, Harpending maintains that humans evolved increasingly rapidly in response to new challenges presented by agriculture and civilization.
Most recently, Harpending worked as a population geneticist and distinguished professor at the University of Utah. In a Nov. 27, 2006, Newsweek article titled Who Gave Us Our Smarts, he noted: “I don’t buy the stereotype that Neanderthals were dumb.” He continued his hypothesis with the following analysis: “Modern humans came into Europe and encountered Neanderthals and within a few thousand years were making glorious cave paintings, figurines and art. About the same time they show up in Australia [where there were no Neanderthals], and there’s not a trace of that.”
For the 50th reunion yearbook of his Hamilton class, Harpending noted that the faculty was of “great value” in his life. He also reminisced on the impact of his time on the Hill, perhaps stating tongue in cheek that he developed a “lifelong antipathy to religion, team sports and institutional food.” He also listed his interests as fly fishing, duck hunting and quantitative genetic models in economics. A participant in community outreach, he ran the science fair at Bonneville Elementary School in Salt Lake City for many years.
Henry C. Harpending died at age 72 on April 3, 2016. He was the father of three children. Information on survivors was not readily available.
