Passages

Ruth Grace Zibart, professor of French, emerita, and the first woman to serve as associate dean of the College of Arts and Science, died in Nashville on Dec. 26. She was 101. Read More

Geoffrey Fleming, professor of pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine and vice president of Vanderbilt University Medical Center Continuous Professional Development, died Dec. 8. He was 50. Fleming was diagnosed with metastatic cholangiocarcinoma in August 2019. Read More

Iris W. Buhl, a longtime community educator, volunteer and philanthropist in Nashville, died Aug. 11, 2020. She was 77. Read More

After decades influencing political and social change, both locally and nationally, Memphis attorney James S. Gilliland died Feb. 24. He was 86. Read More

H. Carl Haywood, professor of psychology, emeritus, and former Kennedy Center director, died Oct. 12 in Nashville. He was 89. Read More

David L. Tuleen, an emeritus chemistry professor who excelled first as a teacher and later as a university administrator, has died. Read More

Vaughan Jones, one of the world’s foremost mathematicians and a celebrated professor in the College of Arts and Science, has died. Read More

Sara Lissa Hutchison Hampshire died May 2, 2020, in Nashville after a brief battle with cancer. She was 71. Read More

William F. “Bill” Malone, a public administrator who took part in one of Florida’s biggest Everglades restoration efforts, oversaw the construction and remodeling of dozens of schools, and came out of retirement to lead Palm Beach County’s schools as superintendent, died May 3, 2020, at age 77. Read More

Martha Nann Priddy Patterson, a Washington, D.C., lawyer who specialized in benefit and tax issues for large firms and wrote an influential book on financial planning for working women, died April 23, 2020, in Rockville, Maryland. She was 71. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, her father, Thomas “Cotton” Priddy, was a… Read More

Jean Gray Litterer, a longtime Nashville-area education leader who started her academic career in a one-room East Tennessee schoolhouse, died Jan. 21. She was 91. Read More

John R. Loomis, a former alumni trustee on the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust, philanthropist and investment adviser, died March 31 from long-term health issues. The Larchmont, New York, resident was 90. Read More

Brownlee O. Currey Jr., an alumnus, emeritus trustee, financial services executive and entrepreneur noted for his philanthropic leadership at Vanderbilt University and in the community, has died. He was 91. Read More

Hans Stoll, a pioneer in the world of academic finance and the Anne Marie and Thomas B. Walker Jr. Professor of Finance, Emeritus, at Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management, died March 20. He was 80. Read More

Photo by John Russell M. Fräncille Bergquist, a beloved professor of Spanish, emerita, and retired College of Arts and Science administrator who devoted much of her life to advising and mentoring thousands of undergraduate students, died Nov. 17 in Nashville. She was 74. “Fräncille had a wonderful talent for believing… Read More

Photo by John Rosenthal Elizabeth Spencer, a celebrated author whose irony-laced novels and short stories explored family strife and buried histories, died Dec. 22 at her home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She was 98. Spencer’s seven-decade career, beginning with the 1948 novel Fire in the Morning, was one of… Read More

Photo by Tom Williams/Getty Images Fred P. Graham, whose career as a legal affairs reporter, television anchor and author spanned more than four decades, died Dec. 28 at his home in Washington, D.C. He was 88. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Graham earned his undergraduate degree from Yale University and… Read More

Photo by Joe Howell Luke Gregory, CEO of Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt and senior vice president for business development, died Oct. 18, 2019, after a courageous battle with lymphoma. He was 63. The embodiment of a servant leader, Gregory joined Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 2007… Read More

Stanley Cohen, a legendary Vanderbilt University biochemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for the discovery of epidermal growth factor and its receptor, died on Feb. 5 at the age of 97. Read More

Photo by John Russell Dr. John Oates, an internationally known physician at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and a founder of the discipline of clinical pharmacology, died July 30 in Nashville after a short illness. He was 87. The Thomas F. Frist Sr. Professor of Medicine, he founded the Division… Read More