1960s
Stuart Arlan Babcock ’60
Stuart Arlan Babcock ’60, a highly respected pediatrician and neonatologist, was born on Dec. 19, 1938, in Cortland, N.Y., the son of Hubert S. and Arlene Young Babcock. He graduated from Cortland High School and majored in biology and chemistry at Hamilton, where he also joined Gryphon and contributed to The Spectator. Deciding to remain in Upstate New York, he earned his medical degree from the University of Rochester in 1964, moved on to an internship at Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown and then completed a pediatrics residency at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester. The Vietnam War was under way, and Dr. Babcock served as a medical officer in the U.S. Navy from 1965 to 1967. For that he received the Vietnam Service Medal.
After returning to civilian life, Stuart Babcock continued his education through a fellowship in neonatology from 1969 to 1971 at the University of Miami. The move south proved permanent. He became one of the first neonatologists in Palm Beach County, practicing at St. Mary’s and Good Samaritan hospitals. He is credited with having saved the lives of hundreds if not thousands of newborns and children throughout his 45-year career, earning the respect of the local medical community and the love of families whose children he cared for. In his personal life, Stuart Babcock, who was single, loved the outdoors and spent time canoeing, camping, bicycling and gardening. He enjoyed reading and collecting art as well as attending classical music concerts, the ballet and the opera.
Stuart Babcock valued the friends he made on College Hill and said that Hamilton broadened his interests in the fine arts and the world around him. In return he faithfully supported his alma mater, volunteering on his reunion gift committee and on a regional committee for the 175th Anniversary Campaign. His professional and community activities included serving as medical director of the March of Dimes in Palm Beach County and working on behalf of the Children’s Services Council.
Stuart A. Babcock died on Dec. 14, 2015, at Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center, a few days shy of his 77th birthday. Survivors include his brother, nieces, a nephew and great-nieces and great-nephews.
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Hugh McBirney Johnston III ’60
Hugh McBirney Johnston III ’60, who pursued a career in finance and a life of adventure, was born on Feb. 19, 1938, in Evanston, Ill., to Hugh McBirney and Deborah Butler Johnston. His parents divorced, his mother remarried, and the family moved to Greenville, Del., and then Gladwyne, Pa., a rural community that was perfect for the active child. “Barney” Johnston graduated from St. Mark’s School in Southborough, Mass., before entering Hamilton, where he played hockey and joined Alpha Delta Phi. Looking back on his time on the Hill, he acknowledged that perhaps he should have waited a few years before pursuing his College education. “Still, I was unable to completely dodge the wonderful academic opportunities and received a better education than I appreciated at the time,” he said. He was a staunch supporter of Hamilton throughout his life.
Barney Johnston began his career at First Pennsylvania Bank, where he was an analyst in the commercial credit department in Philadelphia from 1962 to 1966. From there he went to Western Savings Bank as an officer before moving to the fixed income department at Goldman Sachs. His next move was to Provident Bank, where he served as vice president in the investment management and trust division until his retirement in 1994. Those who knew him say he loved the challenges of the stock market.
In 1974, in the midst of his career, he married Louise R. Detweiler, who had two young daughters who became his own. His wife, whom he called “Weezie,” served as his ground crew when he raced sailplanes (also called gliders), a sport he’d taken up a few years before they wed. “I think Weezie still believes we got married because she was the first girlfriend who could, or even wanted, to handle the wings assembling/disassembling my glider,” Johnston once wrote. Ever active, he listed among his accomplishments running with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain; climbing Kilimanjaro, Mount Rainier and the Matterhorn; serving as a roughneck on a Louisiana oil rig; and parachuting in the U.S. Army Reserve.
Barney Johnston eventually gave up the high-flying sport for golf. Not surprisingly, the Johnston family loved active vacations — from skiing in Jackson Hole, Wyo., to sailing and hiking in Maine. He fished, once bungee jumped in New Zealand, gardened and loved playing games with his grandchildren. His family says he was obsessed with dogs — his and anyone else’s — and watching birds. His life was filled with examples of his generous nature. When one of his sisters developed kidney failure in the early 1980s, he gave one of his kidneys to her.
A half century out of Hamilton, Barney Johnston offered this rumination: “Over the past 50 years I’ve been healthy, blessed with good fortune … and the same best friends I met in 1956. I’ve had way more than my share of fun and adventure, possibly to the determent of more conventionally serious endeavors.” Clearly he was also modest. Hugh M. Johnston died at his home in Spring House, Pa., on Aug. 23, 2015. Survivors include his wife, two daughters and six grandchildren.
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Perry Lee Wheaton ’63
Perry Lee Wheaton ’63, a management consultant to the public utilities industry, was born on Jan. 31, 1942, in Corning, N.Y. The son of Raymond E. Wheaton, a foreman, and the former Beatrice E. Rose, a secretary, both of whom were employed by Corning Glass Works, he prepared for college at Corning Free Academy. At Hamilton, Perry Wheaton wrote for The Spectator and served on the Press Board in addition to covering Continentals sports for the Utica Free Press. He enthusiastically embraced fraternity life at Delta Upsilon, contributing to both its management and social endeavors, including the hotly contested fraternity sports programs. In football, he was particularly known for his vicious blocking, which spilled over into softball where, as a catcher, he blocked the plate with similar resolve.
Following his graduation as a history major, Perry Wheaton was awarded a full scholarship to the Rutgers University M.B.A. Public Accounting Program despite the fact that he received a “D” in the only accounting course he took at Hamilton. He frequently cited the irony of that achievement and credited his success to Professor Sidney Wertimer, who not only gave him that grade, but who also crafted a magical letter of recommendation.
In addition to his M.B.A., Perry Wheaton became a certified public accountant in the minimum period of four years and a certified management consultant. From 1964 to 1976, he worked as a management consultant and auditor for Coopers & Lybrand, one of the “Big 8” accounting firms. He initially lived in New Jersey, where he served six years in the National Guard, but the lure of Manhattan became irresistible and he moved there. In 1970, he met his future wife, Diane Mathewson, while playing softball in Central Park. They were married on Sept. 9, 1971.
In 1976, Perry Wheaton joined Theodore Barry & Associates, one of the largest independent management consulting firms in the country. There he worked as a partner until 1981, overseeing the company’s public utility industry practice in the Northeast region. He took a three-year hiatus from TB&A to work as senior vice president of Putnam Administrative Services in Boston, but returned as vice president and a member of the board of directors. In 1990, Perry Wheaton cofounded his own firm, Barrington-Wellesley Group, which specialized in management audits required by public utility commissions. He sold the firm in 2007 and one year later joined NorthStar -Consulting, where he assisted in leading the company toward a renowned, national reputation.
Perry Wheaton, who was highly respected by both the public commissions and the utilities that they regulated, frequently testified in public hearings and was a major force in shaping the scope and purview of utility management audits throughout the country. Prior to his retirement in 2013, he was a member of the American Institute of CPAs and the Massachusetts Society of CPAs. He also served as chairman and was on the general committee on management services at the New York State Society of CPAs, and held the title of treasurer and director of the northeast region at the Institute of Management Consultants. Additionally, he was a member of the American Arbitration Association, an organization to resolve disputes outside of the court. In his community, he was a Boy Scout Leader.
In 1993, the Wheaton family moved to New London, N.H., where they lived along the shores of Lake Sunapee. Perry Wheaton served on the board of Daniel Webster College, and he and Diane were ardent supporters of The Fells, the historic estates and gardens of John Milton Hay. After losing Diane to cancer in 2002, Perry Wheaton met and married Barbara Johnson, who continues to serve on The Fells board. The Wheatons loved to travel, and in his last two decades, Perry and Diane, and subsequently Barbara, took many trips to various parts of the world, including several with Hamilton groups that he especially enjoyed. In his later years, he became fascinated with genealogy and ultimately created a family tree with over 30,000 ancestors going back more than 1,000 years.
In 2013, Perry Wheaton was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable and debilitating disease. At his 50th reunion that year he was obviously weakened, but true to form, he had no complaints and graciously accepted the well-deserved Chairman’s Award for his exceptional leadership efforts on behalf of the Annual Fund. Twice a member of the Alumni Council and a first-generation college student himself, Perry Wheaton was instrumental in the creation of the Class of ’63 First-Year Students Mentoring Fund.
Perry L. Wheaton, who was incredibly loyal to his family, his friends and to Hamilton, died in his home in New London, N.H., on Aug. 21, 2015. In addition to his wife, he is survived by three sons, two grandchildren, and a brother and a sister.
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James Graham Colvin II ’64
James Graham Colvin II ’64, an attorney for the city of Colorado Springs, Colo., was born in New York City on Dec. 18, 1941. The son of James G. Colvin, an accountant, and the former Hope M. Hoelzer, he prepared for college at Trinity Pawling School in Pawling, N.Y. On the Hill, Jim Colvin was president of Delta Kappa Epsilon and captain of the football team that tallied an impressive 7-1 record his senior year. He concentrated in economics and history.
After graduation, Jim Colvin entered the Navy, spending time on destroyers and commanding swift boats for three tours during the Vietnam War. He remained in the Navy Reserve until 1993, when he retired at the rank of captain. Following active duty, he headed to law school, obtaining his J.D. degree from the University of Denver in 1971, the same year he went to work for the City of Colorado Springs. He married Jane E. Freeman, also an attorney, on June 29, 1974. In 1981, Jim Colvin was named chief city attorney and served in that position until his retirement in 1998. According to colleagues, he was concise in his speech and “didn’t talk much” but “delivered laser-like legal analysis that cut through complex issues.”
Post-retirement, Jim Colvin became a consultant and part-time senior instructor in political science at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. Outside of work, he served on numerous nonprofit boards, mainly those that support people with developmental disabilities. He was passionate about the outdoors, often found wandering at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, and hiked many of the “Colorado fourteeners” with his dogs, Sally and Maggie, by his side. He also enjoyed attending his grandchildren’s activities and sporting events.
James G. Colvin, who credited Hamilton with teaching him “to pay attention to detail, to read for comprehension and to critically think and write,” died on July 24, 2015, after a long battle with cancer. In addition to his second wife, the former Carolyn Kemp, whom he had married on June 23, 1995, he is survived by two sons, two stepsons, 10 grandchildren, two brothers, a sister and several nieces and nephews.
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Daniel Wellington Dietrich II ’64
Daniel Wellington Dietrich II ’64, a philanthropist and champion of the arts, was born on Oct. 21, 1941, in Philadelphia. The son of H. Richard Dietrich, president of Luden’s, Inc. and the Dietrich Foundation, and the former Mildred Braun, Dan Dietrich prepared for college at The Episcopal Academy in Newton Square, Pa. Passionate about the arts from an early age, he was actively involved in Hamilton’s theatre department and trooped with the Charlatans, serving as its director during his senior year. A member of the Emerson Literary Society, he majored in art history.
Following his graduation, he joined the family business as vice president of Luden’s, which had been purchased by his father and uncle in 1927. Despite the success of the Reading, Pa., company, known for its hundreds of varieties of candies in addition to its cough drops, young Dan Dietrich’s true passion could not been found working as a businessman. Instead, he found his calling through a parallel endeavor — serving as president of the Daniel W. Dietrich Foundation, which funded programs for higher education, especially those in the visual and performing arts. The Dietrich Foundations were operated by Dan and his two brothers. His older brother, H. Richard Dietrich, managed a foundation primarily dedicated to supporting the University of Pennsylvania, while Dan and his younger brother, William Dietrich, ran a foundation to fund smaller organizations.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Dan Dietrich spent a time exploring his interest in the performing arts. “He also was an actor at the Theatre of the Living Arts in the early 1960s, when Andre Gregory made it a mecca for avant-garde performance. Mr. Dietrich took the stage with Morgan Freeman, Wallace Shawn and many others. He starred as Malatesta in the film Malatesta’s Carnival of Blood in 1973, and later appeared in George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead in 1978.”
However his time in the limelight was soon eclipsed by a deeper interest in the arts. Through the foundation, Dan Dietrich invested his time, energy and resources to supporting numerous cultural institutions and amassing his own art collection that would grow to include works by Thomas Cole, Thomas Eakins, Marsden Hartley, Agnes Martins and others. While he was a Hamilton student, he became intrigued with Edward Hopper’s Road and Trees during a temporary exhibit at the College’s Root Art Center. He eventually acquired the large oil painting, almost three feet high and five feet wide, for his own collection, and delighted in its return to College Hill in 2002 when he lent it for display in the Emerson Gallery’s 20th anniversary exhibit, Hamilton Collects American Art.
A number of Dan Dietrich’s pieces have taken up residence at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, one of several organizations for which he has served as a trustee, and he was intimately involved in the planning and construction of visual and performing arts facilities throughout the country. A former trustee at the University of Pennsylvania Institute of Contemporary Art, to which he contributed $10 million, at the time the largest donation received in the museum’s history, he also lent his support and expertise to The Whitney Museum, Colorado MahlerFest and the American Poetry Review.
Dan Dietrich’s passion for the arts was not lost on his alma mater. A longtime supporter of the former Emerson Gallery, he remained an involved community member and benefactor of Hamilton. As passionate as he was about art, he was also a tireless advocate for artists, meeting with them and fostering opportunities for curators and artists to “percolate ideas.” At Hamilton, he was particularly interested in fostering opportunities for alumni artists to meet with students to share their professional experiences. Always one of the first to welcome new members of the arts faculty, he joined the architectural committee for the construction of Hamilton’s Wellin Museum, which houses a gallery named in his honor. Additionally, he served on Hamilton’s Committee on the Visual Arts and the Performing Arts Advisory Committee as well as the Trustee Subcommittee for Arts Facilities Planning.
For his years of devotion to enhancing arts programming and facilities at Hamilton, Dan Dietrich was awarded the Volunteer of the Year award in 2012 at the Wellin Museum’s opening dedication. According to the citation, he envisioned from the onset a museum and other spaces designed to draw the community together and make the arts accessible. “Possibly what led me to art history in the first place was that one could look deeply into a painting and trust it as deep as one wanted to look.” His alma mater had the good fortune over the years to place its trust in his insights and wisdom.
Daniel W. Dietrich died on Sept. 1, 2015. He was predeceased in 2000 by his wife of 35 years, the former Jennie Quelch. Like her husband, she shared his passion for the arts and served on numerous boards. Survivors include his three sons, as well as his partner, Deborah Ullman.
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Edwin Michael Baranowski ’68
Edwin Michael Baranowski ’68, an intellectual property lawyer, artist and inventor, was born on Jan. 26, 1947, in Utica, N.Y. The son of Edwin J. Baranowski, a brewer, and the former Mary Jane Ostrouch, he prepared for college at Utica’s Notre Dame High School before making the short trip up College Hill where he was a member of Chi Psi, the Root-Jessup Public Affairs Council and the track and cross country teams. A physics major, “Baron” Baranowski was honored with the Charles A. Dana Scholarship Prize for his academic achievement, character and leadership.
One year after graduation, while attending the University of Virginia School of Law, Ed Baranowski married Shelley Osmun. He received his J.D. degree in 1971 and began his career in intellectual property law as an attorney at Kenyon & Kenyon in New York City. Pursuing what would become a stellar legal career did not deter Ed Baranowski from his passion for art. While in Manhattan, a sculpture he crafted earned a top prize; however, as he once noted, “My avocation in art, literally, led to my downfall.”
In 1976, while cutting down a dying chestnut tree at his parents’ home in Utica to use as sculpture material, Ed Baranowski fell 20 feet and suffered a spinal cord injury that would leave him wheelchair bound. Following six months of hospitalization, he returned to Kenyon & Kenyon and argued the first preliminary injunction patent case affirmed by the Court of Appeals in 60 years. Later he wrote a publication and led a program at the American Bar Association annual meeting both about preliminary injunctions and patent law.
Ed Baranowski left Kenyon & Kenyon in 1981 to become a partner with Porter, Wright, Morris & Arthur in Columbus, Ohio, where his practice emphasized intellectual property litigation in the federal courts and patent and trademark acquisition. There, his practice thrived on “commercial confrontations,” as he represented several Fortune 500 companies as well as prominent Ohio firms. He served as president of the Columbus Intellectual Property Law Association and was a continuing legal education lecturer and member of the board of the Ohio Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and the Program in Law and Technology at the University of Dayton Law School. His reputation led to his inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America.
Outside of his legal career, Ed Baranowski was a lover of gadgets and technology, especially computers. An inventor, he held nine patents for accessibility devices designed for use by people in his condition, ranging from a “wheelchair access pathway for sand, beaches, lawns, grass and fields” to a “lift for enabling a person in a wheelchair into and out of a pool or body of water.” In addition, he continued his lifelong love of the arts as a painter, sculptor and craftsman. He designed and oversaw the construction of art pieces that adorned his home in West Palm Beach, Fla., and appeared in art shows, including those at Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute in Utica.
Long connected to his alma mater, Ed Baranowski, along with Shelley, a professor of history at the University of Akron, contributed a set of Metropolitan Opera fine arts prints to the College, which hangs in Hamilton’s Music Department. The couple also donated items for the Physics Department’s astronomy program, including a set of Brandon Vernonscope telescope eyepieces. To honor their undergraduate institutions, the Baranowskis established a fellowship at the University of Virginia School of Law that assists graduates from Hamilton and Wells colleges.
Edwin M. Baranowski, who had served his alma mater as a member of the Alumni Council, president of the Columbus regional alumni association and an Annual Fund volunteer, died on July 23, 2015, in West Palm Beach. A man recognized not only for his successes in his legal career, but also for his bravery in overcoming physical obstacles, he is survived by his wife, mother, three sisters and several nieces.
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