Obituaries

Merl M. Huntsinger (BU 47), who retired from Washington University in 1981 as treasurer and secretary, died Friday, Nov. 2, 2012, in a New Orleans hospital. He was 97. 

Sandra Brennan, longtime assistant to the dean of the Sam Fox School Design & Visual Arts, died at her home in Webster Groves Monday, Oct. 29, following a long illness. She was 73. 

David L. Straight, 57, who worked for Washington University Libraries for more than 30 years, died Saturday, Oct. 13, after suffering a stroke. Straight began working for University Libraries in 1978 as an audiovisual assistant and retired in 2010 as West Campus librarian, managing that facility.

Helen E. Nash, MD, professor emerita (clinical) in pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, died Oct. 4, 2012, at Clermont Manor in Creve Coeur. She was 91.

Barry Commoner, a biologist at WUSTL from 1947-1981, died Sept. 30, 2012, in Manhattan. He was 95. Commoner was a professor of plant physiology and of environmental studies, both in Arts & Sciences. According to The New York Times, Commoner was “a founder of modern ecology and one of its most provocative thinkers and mobilizers in making environmentalism a people’s political cause.”

Edward R. Fickenscher, director of business development in the Office of Technology Management (OTM), died suddenly Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2012. He was 68.

Marilyn Gibbons, a lab technician at The Genome Institute, died of cancer Aug. 3, 2012. She was 51.

Pianist and conductor William Schatzkamer, professor of music in Arts & Sciences, died Wednesday, Sept. 12, of congestive heart failure at his home in Olivette. He was 96.

Painter and poet Edward Boccia, professor emeritus of art in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, died Monday, Sept. 3, in his home in Webster Groves, from pneumonia. He was 91.

Lee M. Liberman, life trustee and former chair of the Washington University Board of Trustees, died Friday, Aug. 31, 2012, in St. Louis. He was 91.