Obituaries

Regina Abel, an instructor in occupational therapy and in medicine at the School of Medicine, died June 15 in St. Louis following a heart attack. She was 70. An expert in animal-assisted therapy, she focused on animals’ role in rehabilitation and education.

Leslie J. Laskey, professor emeritus of architecture at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, died June 17 at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. He was 99.

Mark A. Franklin, former professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the McKelvey School of Engineering, who taught for four decades, died May 25 from complications of Alzheimer’s disease in Berkeley, Calif. He was 81.

Wallace “Wally” Diboll, a former professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at the McKelvey School of Engineering who taught for 37 years, died Friday, May 7, 2021, of congestive heart failure in St. Louis. He was 97.

John Turk, MD, PhD, a pioneer in mass spectrometry research and a deeply respected faculty member for more than 40 years at Washington University School of Medicine, died May 26 in Eureka, Mo., after a brief illness. He was 73.

David Patterson Silver Wolf, associate professor at the Brown School, died Friday, May 14, 2021, in hospice in St. Louis after being diagnosed with cancer last fall. He was 57.

Michael Evan Hughes, a neuroscientist and chronobiologist highly respected for his research at the School of Medicine, died May 4 at his home in St. Louis after a six-year battle with brain cancer. He was 41. A public celebration of life will be held Saturday, May 8, in Olivette, Mo.

Michael W. Friedlander, professor emeritus of physics in Arts & Sciences, died April 29, 2021, in St. Louis. He was 92.

William M. Boothby, professor emeritus of mathematics in Arts & Sciences, died Feb. 14 in Nashville, Tenn. He was 102.

Larry J. Johnson, a radiation safety specialist for decades in the Office of Environmental Health & Safety at Washington University in St. Louis, died of a heart attack at his home in St. Louis on April 2, 2021. He was 68.