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Sidney Fine
Sidney Fine, a retired Department of History chairman who once joked that every year he had to talk "a little faster" to keep his late 20th-century history class current, died Feb. 11, 2009 at Glacier Hills Nursing Home. He was 88.
McClure was a well-known sculptor and artist. He taught at U-M for more than 30 years. His work can be seen in many museums including the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), the Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts, the Seattle Art Museum, Beloit College and the Cranbrook Academy of Art, in addition to public and corporate collections such as the Ford Motor Co. and Michigan Blue Cross Shield, for whom he executed major commissions.
During McClure's long career, he was awarded 16 prizes in sculpture and painting from the following institutions: The Seattle Art Museum, The Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts, the DIA, The Tulsa Art Museum, The Kalamazoo Institute of Art, The Grand Rapids Art Museum and State College, Pa. He has been cited in many books and magazines and is listed in "Who's Who of American Art" and the Smithsonian Institution's "Archives of American Art."
His sculpture frequently combined plastic and machine parts (often with humor) with human figures, suggesting that technical developments have made these devices an integral extension of the human body and an important part of modern living. A major sculpture, Elektra, is a robot-like figure that goes through a series of mechanical movements culminating in a fascinating display of lights. His paintings, like his sculpture, frequently deal with machines or the detritus of machines recast as human figures. Some are robot-like figures, similar to some of his sculptures, who engage in perfectly normal activities, marrying, dancing, sitting at a table. Many works reveal some small absurdity. For example, a figure within a painting interacts with the artist who is making the painting. In another painting, a robot is depicted painting a forest while observing a totally barren desert.
After retirement, McClure moved to Prescott, Ariz., and continued his lifelong work as a prolific artist creating scores of paintings, sculpture, and designing and building a house. In later years he began working on computer art and films. He also wrote several short stories and a novel. He developed a passion for hiking and took rigorous hiking trips weekly in the Arizona mountains and canyons. He also hiked throughout the world going to such exotic places as Nepal, China, Irian Jaya, New Zealand and Africa.
McClure was died Feb. 15, 2009. He was 88.
Streiff was died in June 2004.
Survivors include son Dan Streiff of Winnetka, Ill., and daughters Mim Poag of Austin, Texas, and Kristin Streiff of Beverly, Mass. Streiff also is survived by 10 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Merla Wolk
Merla Wolk, a senior lecturer in the Department of English Language and Literature, died Feb. 21, 2009 at the age of 60.
Born May 17, 1948, Bay was a fixture around the University campus, touching the lives of hundreds of faculty, students and staff with his expertise, humor and good nature. Bay assisted with and enhanced the work of many professors, graduate students and staff with his photographic skills, keen eye for graphic design and consulting for the advancement of science. He expertly photographed subjects from microscopic DNA segments to his life-size colleagues. He had a gift of capturing the essence of his photography subjects. Bay brightened up the workplace with his smile and sense of humor, friends and colleagues say. In the words of his younger brother, Allen Bay, "We love the photographs, but we really love the photographer."
One graduate student shared the story of asking Bay for a copy of the flyer he made for her seminar. A couple of days later, she was delighted to find the flyer enlarged and laminated on her desk. Another former graduate student recalled going out to lunch for Indian food regularly with Bay and other colleagues and how Bay would never give his actual name while waiting in line. He often had to think a bit when having to give his real name. A co-worker once mentioned how pretty the poppies were, blooming in back of the Natural Science Building, only to find a beautiful print of the same poppies on her desk a few days later. This was Bay's way. Thoughtful and compassionate and always ready to lend an ear; some called him the staff psychologist.
Bay was the son of the late Joseph and Ann (Sherman) Bay. He is survived by his wife Susan Field Campbell; sons Spence John Bay and Joseph David Bay; grandchildren Abigail, Jackson, Emma and Natalie Bay; siblings JoAnn Glover, Janet Chiesa, Allen Bay, Karen Jewell, Timothy Bay and Susan Webb, as well as aunts and many cousins, nieces, nephews and a multitude of friends.
He loved riding his BMW motorcycles, and sailing with family and friends on Lakes Erie, St. Clair and Superior. He enjoyed a wide range of music, and attended numerous concerts with family and friends. He enjoyed playing squash at the Central Campus Recreation Building for many years. He coached and played softball, led a Cub Scout troop, and coached baseball and soccer teams for his sons. Bay graduated from Wayne State University with a degree in psychology. He was the photographer for the Wayne State student newspaper, The South End, in the late 1960s.
Contributions in Bay's memory can be made to the following organizations: Food Gatherers (www.foodgatherers.org), Huron River Watershed Council (www.hrwc.org), Detroit Symphony Orchestra (www.detroitsymphony.com), the University Musical Society (www.ums.org), WEMU Michigan Public Radio (www.wemu.org), Friends of Chamber Music at Pease Auditorium (www.chambermusicatpease.org), or the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology David Bay Photography Fund (www.eeb.lsa.umich.edu) to support the needs of graduate students in photography and graphics.
