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Donald M. D. Thurber
Donald M. D. Thurber, Regent emeritus, died of cancer Nov. 8, 1998 at his home in Ann Arbor. He was 64.
He received a bachelor’s degree (1956), master’s degree (1957) and doctoral degree (1962), all in philosophy, from the University of Chicago before joining the faculty in 1962 as instructor of philosophy. He became assistant professor in 1964, associate professor in 1968 and professor in 1974. He also served as director of the LS&A Honors Program in 1979–83, as associate dean for long-range planning and curriculum in 1983–90 and as associate dean for undergraduate education in 1990–92. He retired from the University in 1997.
Meiland was appointed Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in 1988, twice received the LS&A Excellence in Education Award, and taught in the Residential College and in the Inteflex Program.
“A superb teacher, he is known for his caring approach to students,” noted the Regents upon his retirement in 1997. “He teaches without pretense, conveying to students that he is a partner in learning.”
Meiland is the author of numerous articles and several books, including College Thinking, published in 1981, which the Regents hailed as “one of the few college guides that discusses how to benefit intellectually from college.”
He is survived by his wife, Rosalie; sons David (Sandy Strehlou) of Oakland, Calif., and Peter (Ellen Simpao) of New York City; daughter Rachel (Russell Webster) of Ann Arbor; and brother, Paul, of Cleveland. A memorial service will be held 1–2:30 p.m. Nov. 20 at the First Congregational Church, 608 E. William St. Contributions in his memory may be sent to Amnesty International, 232 Eighth Ave., New York, NY 10001, or to the Peter Sparling Dance Company of Ann Arbor, 111 Third St., Ann Arbor, MI 48103.
Martin Mayman
Martin Mayman, age 74, professor emeritus of psychology and clinical psychologist, Psychological Clinic, Institute of Human Adjustment, born April 2, 1924, in New York, and received his B.S. (1943) from the City College of New York, his M.S. (1947) from New York University, and his Ph.D. (1953) from the University of Kansas. In 1951-66, he was the director of psychological training at the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kan., where he founded and directed the post-doctoral training program in clinical psychology and pioneered several well-known psychodiagnostic procedures, such as the Early Memories Test. He also was a visiting professor at the University of Colorado and the University of California, Berkeley.
Mayman completed psychoanalytic training at the Topeka Institute for Psychoanalysis, one of very few psychologists at that time to be accepted into the program. He came to the U-M as a visiting professor in 1966 and became professor of psychology in 1967. He served as the associate director of the Psychological Clinic in 1967-73 and as its co-director in 1974-81.
Mayman's early research focused on personality assessment, psychological testing and projective techniques. He continued to research psychological testing, authoring or co-authoring 28 papers on the topic, many of which have become classics in the field. He later became interested in shame and its role in development and in psychopathology. Mayman was a caring clinical supervisor who influenced generations of clinical psychology students with his clinical acumen and his extraordinary sensitivity.
He was an advisory editor for a number of journals, and also served on the executive committees of a number of professional organizations. He was a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Society for Projective Techniques. He received the Distinguished Contributions Award from the Society for Personality Assessment, the Distinguished Service to the Profession of Psychoanalysis Award from the City College of New York. He was invited to present the third Marguerite Hertz Memorial Lecture in Atlanta, Ga., in 1995.
He is survived by three children, Sara of Ann Arbor, Stephen of San Diego, and Daniel of New Haven; his sister, Ruth Garbin, of Ft. Lee, N.J.; and his brother, David, of Tenafly, N.J.
Louis A. Ferman
Louis A. Ferman, professor emeritus of social work and a well-known labor expert, Born June 11, 1926, in Fall River, Mass., Ferman served in World War II with the Occupational Forces in Japan, under the command of Gen. Douglas MacArthur. He received a bachelor's degree from Brown University in 1952, a master's from Boston University in 1953 and a doctorate from Cornell University in 1961.
He is survived by two sons, Daniel E. Ferman of Cincinnati, Ohio, and John Ferman of Ann Arbor; a sister and brother-in-law, Ruth and Ben Davidson of Fall River, Mass.; and two grandchildren.
Memorial contributions may be made to the American Heart Association or charity of your choice. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. April 16 in the Kuenzel Room, Michigan Union. For more information, call Carol Kent, 763-1187.
Ralph E. Hiatt
Professor Emeritus Ralph E. Hiatt (M '47, SM '51, F '67, LF '80) Born in Portland, Ind., in 1910, Hiatt received a B.A. in physics from Indiana Central College, Indianapolis, in 1932, and an M.A. in physics from Indiana University, Bloomington, in 1937. He taught mathematics and science in Indiana public schools until 1942, when he joined the MIT Radiation Laboratory conducting national defense research. During the last two years of World War II, he was the chief of the Ipswich Antenna Test Station of the Radiation Laboratory.
He joined the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories in 1945 where he became the Chief of the Antenna Laboratory. In 1958, he joined the Radiation Laboratory of the University as an associate director and became the director in 1961. He was appointed professor of electrical engineering in 1966.
Hiatt was responsible for organizing key experimental courses dealing with electromagnetic radiation and optical wave propagation at Michigan. These courses were unique in a major university in that period. He retired in 1980, and was given the emeritus title by the Regents of the University.
Prof. Hiatt was active in many professional societies, particularly the IEEE Antenna and Propagation Society, of which he was president in 1970. He was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Arts and Science, a life fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, and a member of the American Physical Society and scholastic societies Eta Kappa Nu and Sigma Xi. He was awarded the 1990 Distinguished Alumnus Award posthumously by his Alma Mater, the University of Indianapolis, formerly Indiana Central College, four days after his death.
He is survived by his wife, Eloise; three children, Robert, David and Jean; three brothers, Virgil, Herbert and Lloyd; three sisters, Mary, Irene and Lisabeth; and five grandchildren.
Josef Blatt
Josef Blatt, professor emeritus of conducting and director emeritus of orchestras and of opera production, born in Vienna in 1906. His prodigious musical talents and abilities were recognized early, and he began piano lessons at age 3. The next year he was accepted as a student of Theodore Leschetizky, the teacher of such "golden age" piano luminaries as Artur Schnabel, Ossip Gabrilowitsch and Ignaz Paderewski. He attended the Vienna State Academy of Music in 1918-25, where he was a conducting student of Clemens Krauss, and in 1926-33 was opera conductor and chief of opera at the municipal theaters in Reichenberg, Teplitz and Bruenn in Czechoslovakia. In 1933-34 he was director of the opera school at the Vienna Conservatory of Music.
Driven away by the Nazis in 1937, he fled with his wife to the United States. Knowing no English and showing, in the words of his son, Steven, "the dedication and quiet resolve that distinguished his life," Blatt taught himself English, as he described it, "by reading detective stories and by going to movies."
Within six months of his arrival in the United States, he was a lecturer in the Department of Music at Vassar College, and coaching and accompanying singers, including George London, Mario Lanza and Frances Yeend. During this time he also was guest conductor of the New York Philharmonic. In 1943-46 he was music consultant and music director of WABF-FM in New York City and, following that, assistant conductor of the Metropolitan Opera Company. He conducted the Arkansas State Symphony in 1948-50.
In 1952, on the recommendation of Eugene Ormandy, Blatt came to the U-M to create a department of opera. Soon after, he became director of orchestras and helped build the School of Music into one of the nation's finest.
Using only student musicians, he presented performances that rivaled professional productions. Under his direction, the U-M Symphony Orchestra was the first college orchestra to perform Mahler's Symphony No. 2. He also was the first to include Alban Berg's opera Wozzeck, Debussy's opera Pelleas et Melisande and Wagner's opera Das Rheingold in a university's opera repertoire.
Throughout his career, colleagues, students and audiences were astounded by his practice of always performing and conducting without a score. His son noted that his father "conducted 200 symphonies, concertos and other orchestral works and more than 70 operas not only by memory, but by heart."
"He was an outstanding musician, particularly in his encyclopedic knowledge of the operatic repertoire," said Paul Boylan, dean of the School of Music. "He also was a very gifted pianist whose interpretations, especially of Mozart and Beethoven, were uplifting and inspiring. During his almost 25-year U-M teaching career, generations of students benefited from working with him both as conductor and as teacher."
An ardent proponent of opera in the language of the audience, Blatt translated more than 32 operas and hundreds of songs into English.. "Opera is theater set to music," he once explained. "You wouldn't expect an audience to attend a play it couldn't understand, so why should it sit through an opera without understanding what is being sung? I have nothing against translations," he added, "only bad translations."
Blatt also was a composer and his works include a Concerto for Violin and Winds, a Concertino for Oboe and Strings, a Piano Sonata, many songs, a Sonata for Oboe and Piano and the opera Moses.
"For my father," his son said, "making music was as natural as breathing, and just as essential to his life. Some would say he had a gift. I believe he was a gift, and tens of thousands of people have been enriched by the music he brought into their lives."
Blatt is survived by his wife of 61 years, Renee; his daughter, Katherine; his son, Steven; two brothers; and three grandchildren.
