Obituaries

Dr. Stahlman, professor of Pediatrics and Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, is credited with establishing at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) the nation’s first newborn intensive care unit to use monitored respiratory therapy in babies born with damaged lungs. Read More

Mitchell A. Seligson, Centennial Professor of Political Science, professor of sociology, emeritus, and founder of the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) Lab died June 1, 2024, in New York City. He was 78. Read More

The Rev. James Morris Lawson Jr., a leader of the Civil Rights Movement who trained scores of activists during his time in Nashville—many of whom went on to prominence—and whose expulsion from Vanderbilt in 1960 led to national headlines and prompted some faculty members to resign in protest, died Sunday, June 9, in Los Angeles. He was 95. Read More

Auer, senior lecturer of Asian studies, emeritus, died May 16, 2024 at age 82, as a result of complications from Parkinson’s disease. Read More

Joseph J. Cunningham Joseph Cunningham, 82, passed away peacefully on March 8, 2024, at his home in Lake City, Pennsylvania. Cunningham was an accomplished administrator and professor at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development. Upon moving to Nashville in 1969, Cunningham joined the Peabody College faculty as an assistant… Read More

Thomas Weiler, professor of physics and astronomy, emeritus, died December 17, 2023, after enduring a progressive neurodegenerative variant of Parkinson’s disease. He was 74. Read More

David Hercules, Centennial Professor of Chemistry emeritus, who served as the chair of the Department of Chemistry for eight years, died January 20, 2024, after a battle with cancer. He was 91. Read More

John C. Kornblum, distinguished ambassador in residence and writer in residence for the Max Kade Center for European & German Studies, died Dec. 21, 2023, in Nashville. He was 80. Read More

Jackson Roberts II, MD, an internationally known clinical pharmacologist in the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine who helped define the role of lipid peroxidation and oxidative stress in human disease, died May 31 in Nashville. He was 79. Read More

Albert “Al” Reynolds, a celebrated and respected professor of pharmacology, emeritus, passed away earlier in November. He had retired in August after 26 years at Vanderbilt University. Read More

A memorial service to honor the life of H. Carl Haywood, professor of psychology, emeritus, and an early director of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 19, at Christ Church Cathedral, 900 Broadway, in Nashville. Read More

Oscar Touster (photo courtesy of Vanderbilt University Special Collections and Photo Archives) Oscar Touster, professor of molecular biology and biochemistry, emeritus, and first chair of the Department of Molecular Biology in Vanderbilt’s College of Arts and Science, died Feb. 27, 2015. He was 93. Reared in a multicultural New… Read More

William L. Garrison William L. Garrison was known early in his career for revitalizing the field of geography through greater scientific thinking and methods, which led to increased use of computerized statistical techniques in geographical research. He died Feb. 1, 2015, in Lafayette, California, at the age of 90. Read More

Dr. Levi Watkins Jr. (photo by Joe Howell) Dr. Levi Watkins Jr., a renowned Baltimore cardiac surgeon, champion of racial equality and diversity, and the first African American to be admitted to and graduate from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM), died April 11, 2015, from complications after suffering… Read More

Miriam Halachmi Miriam Halachmi, a lecturer in modern Hebrew at Vanderbilt for 31 years, died Feb. 28, 2015, at her home in Nashville. She was 70. Halachmi attended school in Binyamina, Israel, where she grew up, and went to David Yellin Teachers’ College. She earned degrees in education, counseling… Read More