Calendar

Irving "Ted" Gelburd, Class of 1938

Irving "Ted" Gelburd, 89, of Aberdeen, passed away on Monday, Dec. 12, 2011, at home. Ted was born Aug. 9, 1922 in Manhattan, N.Y. He graduated from Townsend Harris High School and from City College of New York. Ted served in the United States Army in the 99th Infantry Division from 1942-1946 where he served in the Battle of the Bulge. He was an accountant in New York City for many years. Upon retirement, Ted served as a substitute teacher in the Matawan Aberdeen Regional School District. Ted had a love of knowledge and valued education; he impressed upon his children and grandchildren the importance of education. Ted met and married his wife, Peggy in London, England, while serving in the army, during World War II. They recently celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary.

Irving is survived by his wife, Peggy; his children, Diane Gelburd of Falls Church, Va., and Brian Gelburd of Keyport; his grandchildren, Sean, Pattyann, Dawn, and Heather; and great-grandchildren, Ashleigh, Sean Kobe, Brendan, Lexy, Ryan, Shaylyn, Taylor, and Aidan.

Visitation will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011 at Day Funeral Home, 361 Maple Place, Keyport. Cremation will be private. To offer the family online condolences or for directions to the funeral home, please visit www.dayfuneralhome.com.

Published in Asbury Park Press on December 13, 2011.

Jospeh B. Adelson, Class of 1942

Joseph B. Adelson, devoted husband, beloved father and grandfather, passed away Friday, December 9, 2011 in Saline, MI. He was 86. He leaves a loving wife, Margery; six children; five grandchildren, and a long legacy of teaching. He was born in the summer of 1925 in the Bronx, N.Y. and spent his childhood enduring the deepest days of the Great Depression. English was his third language as a child, and there was constant fear of poverty in his parents' new country. But he studied diligently in high school at Townsend Harris and at the City College of New York (B.S '47) making reading and writing into passions that would serve and support him his entire life. He decided to travel cross-country for graduate school at the University of California at Berkeley (M.A. '50), and he turned his education into a thriving profession in psychology.

He began a 47-year teaching career at Michigan State University in 1950 and moved the following year to Bennington College in Vermont, where he taught for five years before joining the University of Michigan faculty in 1956 as a visiting assistant professor of psychology. Ann Arbor is where he would cultivate the fullest potential of his talents as a writer and lecturer. He was promoted to assistant professor in 1957, associate professor in 1959, and professor in 1963. He taught as he wrote: clearly and without wasted words. Although he was deeply proud of what he had learned, his mission was always to share it with those in his listening and reading audiences. He was prolific, writing dozens of research papers and articles for national and international journals and publications, and still he always wished he could write more.

He supplemented his teaching with more teaching, holding an appointment as senior psychologist at the Psychological Clinic for more than 30 years. It was there that he met Margery, with whom he would spend the happiest years of his life. They married, raised a family, and moved to Saline, Mich. He was always a teacher at home as well, advising his children on their own writing. He was fascinated by politics and current events, often merging those fields with psychology both in his lively discussions with friends and also in his published works.

He carved out a nationally respected niche as a thinker who could reach into several different areas of thought and find common themes. He built strong relationships with friends in psychology, academia, and politics. But he was no chameleon: He was unafraid to voice his opinions and unafraid to disagree. By the 1980s, he was at his full potential: He taught, he saw patients, he spent quality time with his young family, and he wrote his best book, "Inventing Adolescence: The Political Psychology of Everyday Schooling." It tackled the deep challenges affecting the American educational system, but did so in a well-researched and accessible way. The book received national acclaim both inside and outside the psychology community. At around that time, he had a chance to be a speechwriter in the Department of Education, but turned it down because he didn't want to displace his family.

Mr. Adelson retired in 1997, but his humor and opinions did not. He continued to be a voracious reader and he loved sharing his views and listening to those of others. For more than a decade at the end of his life, he fought illness quietly and bravely, enjoying his family and his reading even after he stopped writing. No matter what his health or discomfort, he found refuge in the company of his wife and children and in the ever-changing world of ideas and words. Services were held Sunday, December 11, 2011 at Congregation Beth Israel in Ann Arbor, Mich. Donations can be made to Beth Israel or to Jewish Family Services of Ann Arbor.

Morton Greene, Class of 1942

Morton Greene, 83, of Tamarac, FL passed away on December 7, 2011. Mort was the longtime President and Treasurer of the Townsend Harris Alumni Association - Florida Chapter. Mort was the beloved husband of Anne S. Greene for 64 years and loving father of Doug (Renee) Greene, Debra (Sid) Davila, George (Alice) Greene, Janet King and the late Steven Greene; dear brother of Naomi Lennox; cherished grandfather of Jennifer, Samuel, and Ethan; adored great-grandfather of Christian. Arrangements entrusted to Star of David Funeral Chapel North Lauderdale.

Norman Merino, Class of 1938

Norman Merino '38 passed away November 29, 2011. Norman was a longtime Townsend Harris Alumni Association Board member and was the Founder and longtime President of the Florida Chapter. He was inducted into the Townsend Harris Hall of Fame in 2006. Norman was predeceased by Betty, beloved wife of 63 years; devoted father of Jane Morais, her husband Bob, and Emily Merino and adoring grandfather of Daniel and Betsy Morais. ,

Norman graduated from City College, earned a Master's in economics from Columbia, and had a 35 year career in international planning at Mobil. He was an unceasing market watcher who charmed people and savored simple pleasures. His wisdom guided us and his love embraced us.

Lawrence Cranberg, Class of 1933

Lawrence Cranberg, 94, passed away on November 21, 2011 surrounded by his loving family. Cancer was the cause of death. Lawrence, a true patriot, was born on the 4th of July in 1917 in Bronx, New York, the eldest child of Fanny Rubenstein and Hyman Cranberg - Polish and Russian immigrants. Lawrence married Charlotte Mount on October 31, 1953 in New Mexico at the Old Santa Fe Courthouse. A nuclear physicist, inventor and entrepreneur, Dr. Cranberg's career spanned seven decades, but the wonder and beauty of science was always on his mind. After graduating from Townsend Harris High School at age 16, he matriculated from the City College of New York, Harvard University, and The University of Pennsylvania.

His career in science began in 1940 at the Signal Corps. Engineering Labs where he was a Senior Physicist. Dr. Cranberg developed systems of target detection and location-based use of infra-red radiation, a precursor technology to today's autofocus cameras. He later joined the Los Alamos National Laboratory where he became a fellow of the Atomic Energy Commission. At Los Alamos, he was a protege of Hans Bethe, and conducted groundbreaking research on high energy neutrons. Dr. Cranberg was appointed to the US delegation to the First International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy at Geneva in 1955 where he reported on his work. Among his many widely-cited publications were papers in The Scientific American and Physics Today. Dr. Cranberg also generously shared his intuitive insights with colleagues; one such insight directly led to the discovery of the neutrino. Dr. Cranberg was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1958 - his nomination made by 1995 Nobelist and neutrino pioneer Frederick Reines and J.M.B. Kellogg. Once introduced as "Mr. Nanosecond" by Sir Denys Wilkinson to a London physics conference, Dr. Cranberg developed the means to measure a billionth of second before "nanotechnology" was a word; his "time-of-flight" method of measuring neutron spectra became the foundation for neutron spectrometry.

Following a Guggenheim fellowship in 1962, Dr. Cranberg was instrumental in securing a large federal grant to the University of Virginia to build and to become founding director of its Physics Accelerator Laboratory. He was a devoted scientist and teacher. Thirty years later, one of his grateful graduate students would endow a scholarship and faculty research in his name at George Mason University, remarking that Dr. Cranberg inspired him by exemplifying the work ethic of American scientists.

Dr. Cranberg didn't hesitate to fight for justice whether it be the case of his own academic freedom, or his involvement in the lawsuit that eventually forced UVA to accept women into its formerly all-male undergraduate school. In 1971, after winning an AAUP hearing that declared his academic freedom had been invaded, Dr. Cranberg moved to Austin where he joined a small high-tech company, eventually starting his own firm to develop fast-neutron techniques for the treatment of cancer. He was always grateful for the welcome arms of the private sector and of Texas, calling it "The Land of Milk and Honey". In 1975, Dr. Cranberg applied the laws of physics to fire-building and invented the Texas Fireframe grate. Later dubbed "The Physicist's Fire" by Time magazine, his invention was featured in news stories on CBS and BBC. His company is now run by his daughter. An advocate for social causes throughout his life, Dr. Cranberg fought for racial equality in Virginia (he also recruited the first black graduate physics student at UVA), for the freedom of Russian physicist Andrei Sakharov and for scientists and inventors not properly credited for their work. He wrote incisively about topics from the ethical problems of scientists to the pseudoscientific basis of Marxism. Dr. Cranberg's candidacy for the U.S. Senate from Texas was inspired by his desire for science to better inform decisions in and of the law.

Dr. Cranberg's capacity for indignation at injustice was matched only by his optimistic belief in his ability to fight for change and to make a difference. Dr. Cranberg was a loving, devoted husband, father and grandfather: his last words were "I'm the richest man in the world." His enthusiasm, generosity, sense of humor and his quest for knowledge, truth, and justice are just a few of the qualities that his family, friends and colleagues will always remember him for. Dr. Cranberg is survived by Charlotte, wife of 58 years; son Alex of Austin, Texas; daughter Nicole and husband Giff Crosby of Cos Cob, Connecticut; and grandchildren Jacob, Hannah and Clare. Other surviving family members include brother, Gilbert Cranberg of Sarasota, Florida and sister, Sylvia Troy of Beverly Shores, Indiana.

Saul Grossman, Class of 1939

It is with great sadness that we share the news that Saul Grossman, class of 1939 passed away on October 11, 2011. Saul Grossman was a past President of the Townsend Harris Alumni Association and continued to support the Association and the school after he moved to California.

Dr. Grossman passed away at home in Laguna Woods, California. Survivors include his beloved wife of 68 years, Rosalind; three children Rena (Paul) Cadro of Brooklyn, CT; David (Fran) of Brooklyn, NY; and Allan (Gail) Grossman of Knoxville, TN; four grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

Dr. Grossman was born 90 years ago in Uman, Ukraine to Nathan and Dr. Sarah Cogan Grossman and raised in NYC. Saul was a graduate of CCNY and received his doctorate in clinical psychology from Yeshiva University of the Albert Einstein School of Medicine, but was most proud to have graduated from Townsend Harris High School in NYC. In 2006, he was given their Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dr. Grossman served in World War II. Returning from the European Theater of Operations in 1946 he returned to school to complete his education. His professional career included a private practice in New York state as well as a career with the Department of Mental Health, working at Bronx State Hospital where he ran the first state hospital internship program. He then transferred to Manhattan Psychiatric Center as chief psychologist where he worked until his retirement. His doctoral thesis was "A Study of the Relationship Between Humor and Individual Problem Areas." He would elicit a patient's favorite joke as a diagnostic tool. Dr. Grossman was recruited by Cambridge University in the UK as a visiting professor in 1971-72 where his experience with psychosomatic illness, a novel idea at the time, was introduced to England's general practitioners. Saul's other professional affiliations were with NYU, Columbia University, Fordham University and others.

Herbert Hauptman, Class of 1933

Herbert A. Hauptman, Ph.D., Buffalo's only Nobel Prize winner, died October 23, 2011 at the age of 94. He earned the world's most prestigious science award -- the Nobel Prize for Chemistry -- in 1985 for pioneering work on crystal structures.

A brilliant mathematician and scientist, the president of the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute spent most of his life searching for answers to the mysteries of the structure of crystals and molecules. Although he never invented a drug or medicine, his research made it easier for other scientists to develop thousands of drugs and medical procedures to treat a wide array of illnesses. "Dr. Hauptman's legacy is the scientific knowledge he created and the three generations of scientists he inspired and mentored," said Dr. Richard A. Aubrecht, chairman of the institute's board. "We will miss his intellectual leadership."

His work was world-renowned and bettered the lives of millions, but to those who knew Dr. Hauptman, he was a friendly, down-to-earth man who never let his accomplishments go to his head. "If you worked at the institute, you got to know Herb. He was friendly to everyone from the janitors to the top researchers," said George T. DeTitta, a longtime friend and former executive director of the institute.

Dr. Hauptman never rested on his laurels and never stopped searching for ways to save lives, according to DeTitta and other associates. "A lot of people who reach that level, winning the Nobel Prize, spend a lot of time wallowing in adulation," DeTitta said. "Herb never stopped working. He never stopped asking questions."

A native of the Bronx, Herbert Aaron Hauptman was born Feb. 14, 1917, and grew up in what he called a "lower middle class" neighborhood. His father was a printer; his mother worked as a sales clerk in a store. Dr. Hauptman's love of science developed early -- he began reading newspaper articles about it at age 5 and loved going to the library every Saturday.

Unable to afford a more prestigious school, Dr. Hauptman earned an undergraduate degree from City College of New York, graduating in a class that eventually produced three Nobel winners.

Drafted into the Navy in 1943, he served as an officer in the Pacific during World War II. After the war, he worked as a researcher at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., for many years. He earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Maryland in 1954.

Dr. Hauptman made Buffalo his adopted hometown in 1970, moving here to take a position with the Medical Foundation in downtown Buffalo. It was later renamed the Hauptman-Woodward Institute after Dr. Hauptman was awarded the Nobel Prize.

For work that was done before he came to Buffalo, Dr. Hauptman and his longtime research partner, Jerome Karle, Ph.D., won the Nobel Prize for their pioneering work on crystal structures. The two men developed a mathematical process for analyzing the structure of crystals. That process -- known as "direct methods" -- was used to study tens of thousands of small-molecule crystal structures. Their procedure generated a three-dimensional picture of the positions of atoms within a crystal. That work helped other researchers to understand how drugs function in the human body and made it easier to develop new drugs. When the two men received the Nobel Prize, they were honored for "outstanding achievements in the development of direct methods for the determination of crystal structures."

Professor Ingvar Lindqvist of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences presented the award to Dr. Hauptman and Karle, a physicist. "[You] have increased the possibility for the chemists to use their imagination and their ingenuity," Lindqvist told the two men in his presentation speech in Stockholm. "Your basic development of the direct methods for X-ray crystallographic structure determination has given the chemists an efficient tool for faster and more detailed studies of the structures of molecules and therefore also for the study of chemical reactions."

And speaking of the wide influence that the work of the two men had, Lindqvist also said: "It is not possible to name fields in chemistry where the method [developed by Hauptman and Karle] is not used."

When the announcement of his award was made, Dr. Hauptman was getting his daily exercise, swimming laps at a local pool.

He is one of 157 individuals who have received the Nobel Prize for chemistry since the award was established in 1901.

In addition to his most famous prize, Dr. Hauptman received many other awards and accolades. He received honorary degrees from colleges and universities around the world, including an honorary doctorate from the University at Buffalo in 2009. In 2008, he published an autobiography, "On the Beauty of Science -- A Nobel Laureate Reflects on the Universe, God and the Nature of Discovery." The book included some provocative views on science and religion. Dr. Hauptman wrote that science had done far more for humanity than religions. He pointed to the inventions of computers, air travel and medicine, while noting that many wars and terrorist acts had been the result of deep-rooted religious beliefs.

In part because of his own war experiences, Dr. Hauptman was dedicated to the pursuit of world peace. He also loved talking with young people who shared his fascination with math and science, and he spoke to countless school groups after winning the Nobel Prize.

"There were a few things he was truly passionate about, especially his family, mathematics and his love of classical music," DeTitta recalled.

Surviving are his wife of 71 years, Edith Citrynell Hauptman; two daughters, Carol Fullerton and Barbara; and a brother, Robert.

George L. Sherry, Class of 1941

George L. Sherry, a former United Nations official who helped calm crises around the world — a role that evolved from his time as the leading rapid-fire translator of speeches by Russian diplomats in the organization’s early days — died in Manhattan on October 21, 2011. He was 87.

The cause was complications of Parkinson’s disease, his daughter, Vivien Sherry Greenberg, said.

In the years just after the founding of the United Nations in 1945, when speeches from the lectern of the General Assembly and the Security Council were widely broadcast beyond the earphones of the diplomats on the floor, Mr. Sherry became known as the English-speaking voice of Andrei Y. Vishinsky, the Soviet delegate.

“Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Y. Vishinsky spoke yesterday in tones that were in quick succession impassioned, angry, sarcastic, sardonic, pleading and furious,” The New York Times reported on Sept. 19, 1947. “And the English translation came through the walkie-talkie sets in the General Assembly in tones that were just as impassioned, angry, sarcastic, sardonic, pleading and furious.”

It was Mr. Sherry who matched that 92-minute speech, a good deal of it delivered extemporaneously. (He would later translate speeches by Soviet officials like Anastas I. Mikoyan and Andrei A. Gromyko.)

At the time a 24-year-old graduate of City College in New York, Mr. Sherry would go on to a four-decade career at the United Nations, rising to assistant secretary general for special political affairs. For most of his career he worked beside two highly respected under secretary generals, Ralph J. Bunche and Sir Brian Urquhart, helping to organize mediation and peacekeeping missions.

In 1963, Mr. Sherry helped negotiate the entry of United Nations troops into what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, effectively ending a long war of secession in Katanga Province. A year later, he served as senior political adviser for peacekeeping forces in the Turkish-Greek struggle over Cyprus. When the second Indian-Pakistan war over Kashmir broke out in the fall of 1965, he was a member of the observation mission there. And in 1982, he was one of two Americans assigned to the task force created by Secretary General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar to help bring an end to the Falklands war.

Mr. Sherry was director of the special political affairs department from 1978 until he was promoted to assistant secretary general in 1984. On Wednesday, Sir Brian called him an “indispensable member” of the team.

After retiring in 1985, Mr. Sherry became a professor of international studies at Occidental College in Los Angeles and the founding director of the college’s United Nations program, which brings students to New York to work as interns.

George Leon Sherry was born in Poland on Jan. 5, 1924, the only child of Leon and Henrietta Shershevsky. (The family, of Russian descent, changed its name after immigrating to the United States in 1939.) By the time he was 15, George spoke Russian, English, French and Romanian.

Besides his daughter, Mr. Sherry is survived by his wife of 64 years, the former Doris Harf, and one grandchild.

After graduating from City College in 1944, Mr. Sherry worked as a reporter for The Times while also earning master’s degrees in comparative literature and political science from Columbia. He became an editor for United Nations publications in 1946, and turned his language skills into a surprisingly high-profile stint as an interpreter.

A 1962 article about Mr. Sherry in The New Yorker touched on his time translating Mr. Vishinsky in the late 1940s: “Although Sherry spoke with an almost aggressively American accent, the audience so easily identified the voice with the Russian fulminations that the secretary general himself” — Trygve Lie at the time — “started receiving letters that urged him to fire the Communist twin.”

In fact, Mr. Sherry had been the editor of an anti-Communist newspaper at City College.

Elton R. Yasuna, Class of 1931

Dr. Elton R. Yasuna, retired ophthalmologist, passed away on October 18, 2011 in Sarasota, Florida, after a brief illness. Dr. Yasuna was born in New York City in 1915, attended Townsend Harris High School, New York University, and New York University School of Medicine. He completed his residency at Boston City Hospital, served as an Army medical officer in WWII, and was a Fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

He practiced medicine in Worcester, Massachusetts, from 1946 until his retirement in the late 1980's. He taught at Tufts Medical School (Boston) and later at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (Worcester), and was on the staff of Worcester City Hospital and Memorial Hospital in Worcester. He served as President of the Worcester District Medical Society and as a Worcester School Committee member for six years in the 1950's.

He and his wife collected art, and had museum shows of their collections of American Abstract Art of the 1930's, American Surrealism, and Studio Art Glass. He was an active supporter of the Worcester Art Museum, was an avid Bridge player and tennis enthusiast, and summered on Cape Cod, in Harwich Port, for over 60 years.

He is survived by his loving and adored wife of 72 years, Penny (Mildred Long) Yasuna. He is the father of three children: Martin, of Salinas, CA; Edward, 40 Chestnut St., Andover, MA; and Amy Denny (sadly, deceased), formerly of Mt. Vernon, WA. He has four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

A memorial service was held on October 24 in Sarasota. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Smith Care Center, Plymouth Harbor, Sarasota, FL 34236.

Murray Nathan, Class of 1931

Murray Nathan passed away on October 10, 2011 at the age of 97. In the 1930's Murray worked for the ILGWU, where he met his beloved wife Belle. Eager college students impassioned by education, the arts, and social/economic justice issues, they put their dreams on hold while Murray served in WWII. During his non-combat service, Murray took up leather crafts, with Belle sending him swatches from New York. After the war, they reinvented their wartime "hobby" skills, working side by side for the next four decades to build Calderon Belts & Bags, a thriving manufacturing business. In their long retirement, they continued traveling and devoted themselves to Philanthropy. Well into advanced age, Murray enjoyed reading, finishing The Times crossword puzzles, and family visits. Up to the end, he maintained his compassion for others and his kind, gentle manner, spiked with quick wit.

Gilbert Tufel, Class of 1938

Gilbert (“Gil”) Tufel passed away on August 22, 2011. He was 89 years old. Gil grew up in the Bronx, the second youngest of seven children, and graduated from Townsend Harris at the age of 16. He earned his bachelor’s degree in education from the City College of New York in 1942. During World War II, from 1943 to 1945, he served in Europe in the U.S. Army’s 33rd Machine Records Unit. A gifted writer, he worked as an editor and reporter for the Industrial Bulletin after the war, from 1946 to 1949, before moving into teaching and working in elementary schools in the Bronx and Queens.

He then earned a master’s degree in School Administration from New York University, and from 1966 to 1984 he was an Assistant Principal at P.S. 213 in East New York, Brooklyn—a school district that was as rough as he was gentle. He was, as one teacher put it, amiable and easy to work with, and his “many kindnesses and cheerful smile in the midst of turbulence” earned him the love and respect of children and teachers alike, as did his conscientiousness, hard work, and sense of fairness. He retired in 1984, and lived on Long Island and in Boynton Beach, Florida.

He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Saundra; his daughter, Alice; his son, Robert; and his brother, Sherman. Throughout his life, his love for his family was unflagging. He is missed every single day.

Photo circa 1960.

Obituaries Prior to September 30, 2011: