Obituary

H. Floyd Dennis, professor of special education, emeritus, died April 17 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He was 89. As a Vanderbilt Kennedy Center researcher, Dennis was founding director of the Kennedy Center Institute on Youth and Social Development. Read More

A memorial service will be held at noon April 29 in Benton Chapel for David Buttrick, a Vanderbilt Divinity School emeritus professor who was passionate about the art of preaching. Read More

Philip Dikeman, associate professor of flute at the Blair School of Music and acting principal flute of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, died at home from cancer April 20. Read More

Jerita Payne, MSN, ACNP, MMHC, director of Clinical Transplant Services at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), died March 22 after a brief illness. She was 54. Read More

Dr. Arthur S. Booth Jr., a prominent member of the Atlanta medical community for more than 30 years, died June 18, 2016, at Hospice Atlanta, which he co-founded. He was 76. Read More

Frances Isley Hardie, former head of collections and acquisitions at Vanderbilt’s Jean and Alexander Heard Library, of Nashville, died Jan. 8, 2017. She was 90. Read More

An international monetary expert and one of the most esteemed economic minds of the last century, J. Dewey Daane died Jan. 3 in Nashville at the age of 98. Read More

Vanderbilt University Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos remarks on the death of Vanderbilt alumnus and Tennessee state Sen. Douglas Henry Jr. Read More

Professor Emeritus of Chemistry David James Wilson died peacefully Jan. 12 in Belleville, Michigan, following a three-year bout with melanoma. He was 86. Read More

Courtney Salters Henderson, who spent much of her career helping Vanderbilt students develop their leadership skills through student organizations, died Jan. 26 in Nashville. She had been a member of the Vanderbilt community since her days as an undergraduate student, and since 2005 had served as director of student organizations. Read More

Vivien Casagrande, Ph.D., a neuroscientist and professor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) noted for her many contributions to the visual sciences, died peacefully at her home on Saturday, Jan. 21. She was 74. Read More

Ronald Clements, M.D., professor of Surgery and the past director of Bariatric Surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, died Jan. 19 at home surrounded by his family. He was 50. Read More

Robert Wallace Brockman, a research biochemist who devoted nearly four decades of his life to the understanding of cancer-cell resistance to chemotherapy, died April in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was 91. Read More

Peggy Ann Brainerd Way (VANDERBILT SPECIAL COLLECTIONS) Peggy Ann Brainerd Way, a scholar in pastoral care and the first woman appointed to a full-time position on the Vanderbilt Divinity School faculty, died July 9 in Nashville after a brief battle with cancer. She was 84. Way accepted a position… Read More

Art G. Demmas, legendary NFL referee and former Vanderbilt football standout from 1952 to 1956, died Aug. 6 in Nashville. He was 82. Read More

Civil rights leader E. Melvin Porter, one of the first African American graduates of Vanderbilt Law School and the first African American to be elected state senator of Oklahoma, died July 26 in Oklahoma City. He was 86. Read More

L. Ensign Johnson Jr., an emeritus professor who early in his career was one of three faculty members to lay the foundation for the biomedical engineering department at Vanderbilt, died Nov. 3. He was 85. Read More

Thomas B. Walker Jr., a Vanderbilt alumnus, trustee emeritus, and generous supporter of the university's strategic growth, died Oct. 11 at his Dallas home from congestive heart failure. Read More

Longtime Vanderbilt University School of Medicine faculty member Joseph Allen Jr., M.D., professor of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, emeritus, died Sept. 16 at 91. Read More

Bjarni Jónsson, Vanderbilt’s first Distinguished Professor of Mathematics, died Sept. 30 at the age of 96. Read More