Obituaries

Mordecai graduated from the University of Alberta and was awarded a Rhodes scholarship. He spent the next two years at Oxford University, England where he met his wife and started the political activism which he sustained throughout his life for many causes but always in the cause of Social Justice. He also did doctoral studies at the University of Berkeley, California before returning to Canada and teaching at Simon Fraser University and Douglas College. 

Kenneth Love studied History at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar in 1955. He went on to work at IBM, in Portland. 

Born in Malta, De Bono received his initial education at St Edward’s College and the Royal University of Malta, where he achieved a degree in medicine. He then attended Christchurch, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar where he gained a degree in psychology and physiology and a DPhil in medicine.

Edward obtained a PhD from Cambridge, a DDes from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and a LLD from Dundee. He had faculty appointments at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, London and Harvard.

De Bono fathered the phrase lateral thinking, which has an entry in the Oxford English Dictionary, and developed multiple thinking strategies, including the Six Thinking Hats method.

His ideas have been sought by governments, not for profit organisations and many of the leading corporations in the world. The global consultancy, Accenture, chose him as one of the fifty most influential business thinkers.

Read more about Edward de Bono's life and work. 

It is with great sadness that we acknowledge the passing of Michael McCall.

Michael E. Smith, age 78, of Minneapolis, Minn., passed away on Monday, May 31, 2021, from lung cancer, at his home surrounded by love. He was born on June 30, 1942, the son of Francis E. Smith and Alexandra McNally Smith. He was a loving father to his children, Graham and Charlotte, enjoying their company and valuing the uniqueness of each of their personalities. He cherished the happiness and loving companionship that he found with his wife, Kate.

Michael graduated from Princeton University in 1965, attended Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar from 1965-1967, and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1970. He played college football for the Princeton Tigers and was the starting center in their undefeated 1964 season. He was the recipient of the 1965 Pyne Prize, the highest distinction conferred on a graduating senior. In 1990, Princeton awarded him a Maclean Fellowship for distinguished alumni, citing his contributions in the field of criminal justice.

From 1978 to 1994, Michael directed the non-profit Vera Institute for Justice in New York City, serving as its president from 1988 to 1995. Under his leadership, Vera developed a multidisciplinary team of criminologists, sociologists, economists, anthropologists, social workers, and lawyers to devise innovative reforms in crime control and justice administration. This action research launched numerous successful collaborations with criminal justice agencies and demonstration projects that spun off into independent organizations in the areas of holistic public defense, community policing, and alternatives to incarceration. From 1995 until 2009, Michael served on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School, where he taught courses in criminal law, criminal procedure, and a seminar on sentencing and corrections. Under his direction, Wisconsin hosted NIJ executive sessions on sentencing and corrections; he served on two governors' task forces on sentencing and corrections matters; and he was invited to advise other states as they reviewed their criminal justice practices. Michael also served as a visiting professor at Yale Law School and Hofstra Law School and from 2011-2014 as the executive director for the Robina Institute for Criminal Law and Criminal Justice at the University of Minnesota.

Michael's deepest commitments throughout his career were to those who were less fortunate than himself. As an undergraduate student, he coordinated a delegation to the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Schools in the Jim Crow South. His projects at the Vera Institute focused on creating employment for ex-offenders, opportunities for persons experiencing housing insecurity, and systems for self-sufficiency among the elderly and persons with a variety of disabilities. Michael possessed a rare combination of an agile mind and a deep heart. He was regularly described by those who knew him as one of the smartest people they had ever met. He coupled his intelligence with profound empathy and insight into the inner lives of others, making him a strong and effective advocate. He maintained deep, long-lasting friendships and charmed more casual acquaintances with his kindness and humor. As a teacher, he left an indelible mark on the lives of his students, shaping them not only as thinkers, but as explorers of what he liked to call "life, its meaning and purpose." He had a great love for sailing and was an avid golfer and skier. He also enjoyed adventures of the mind as a voracious reader.

Michael Blanchard Cook, 79, died peacefully at home in Falls Church Virginia on May 27, with his wife, children, and grandchildren by his side.  He leaves an extraordinary legacy of public service, athletic accomplishments, and family.   

Mike was born in 1942 to Gerhard Cook (an industrial chemist) and Lura Cook (teacher and community leader).  They moved to a farm in Clarence, NY when he was in primary school.  He worked long hours for a local farmer and actually started driving a tractor by the time he was 9.  After graduating from high school in 1959 he matriculated at Swarthmore College, where he played football and was captain of the wrestling team, as well as serving in student government.   After a graduate year at Princeton he won a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University’s New College.  (The selection committee was particularly impressed that he knew how to milk a cow.)  At Oxford he played rugby, learned how to conduct himself at a sherry party, and graduated with a B. Phil. Degree in 1966.

From early on, Mike felt a strong pull toward public service, inspired by his mother’s family and by President Kennedy.  He joined the Foreign Service and arranged a detail to the counter-insurgency effort in Vietnam (1966-68).  He subsequently served as a foreign service officer in Udorn, Thailand.  Looking for a chance to have greater impact, he took a position with the Environmental Protection Agency in 1973, then a new organization with enormous responsibilities created by Congressional legislation.  He was promoted to the Senior Executive Service in 1979 and went on to serve as the first director of the Superfund Program and then to implement and direct our nation’s vital federal programs in drinking water, wastewater treatment, and hazardous waste. 

He received numerous awards during his 40+ years in the federal service, including Distinguished Federal Executive Award from President Reagan in 1987, and the Distinguished Career Service Award at the time of his retirement in 2006.  But the most meaningful acknowledgment has come from scores of co-workers who have written to him in the last few months, telling of their admiration for his dedication and ability, and how much they had learned from him.  He once said that much of his job as a manager was teaching.  There was a range of lessons -- his political bosses needed to know the substance of environmental regulation, his subordinates needed to know how to write an effective memo.

While in Vietnam, Mike met and eventually married Le Thi Kim Oanh, an advisor hired by the U.S. government to improve the Vietnamese government’s social and refugee services. Kim Oanh was from a prominent Vietnamese family with a BA from the University of Tennessee.  Mike likes to tell the story of the night he proposed to her. He was carrying a 357 magnum while driving on a deserted road made hazardous by landmines and Vietcong, but he is confident that she would have said yes if he had been unarmed.  Her father was not pleased that she married a foreigner, but ultimately Mike was instrumental in helping him, his wife, and many of their nine children resettle and become successful professionals in Northern Virginia, California, North Carolina, Montreal and Ottawa.  The marriage that began under such dicey circumstances became a great love story, lasting over 55 years.

Athletics were always an important part of Mike’s life.  After joining EPA and settling in Falls Church in 1973, he got caught up in the new endurance-sports craze.  He ran 38 marathons in all, some under 3 hours, and qualified for and ran in the Boston Marathon in 1986.  Cross-training became necessary after a knee injury, and soon he was riding the 15 miles to the office and back every day.  (He carried his dress shirt with him and had several suits at the office.)   He taught himself long-distance swimming and ultimately became a serious contender in over 200 triathlons, qualifying and participating in the 2000 Ironman Triathlon World Champions in Kona, Hawaii.  That year’s Ironman was hot with winds high enough to knock some racers off or their bikes, making the 140.6 miles of swimming, biking, and running especially challenging.  He said his greatest accomplishment was that he did not need the services of the medical tent after finishing.

Following retirement, Mike continued to train and compete, and continued to serve.  He and other community leaders were instrumental in helping Kim’s organization, the Vietnamese Resettlement Association, with grantwriting, fundraising, and teaching citizenship classes to help her clients prepare for naturalization exams.  Another important volunteer opportunity was helping found and then chair a non-profit, the Green Infrastructure Center, that advises cities on mitigating the damages of climate change through appropriate plantings.  And in recent years he worked with the EPA Alumni Association to mitigate the rollback of environmental regulation by the previous Presidential administration.  But much of his free time was devoted to helping with his four grandchildren.  He took great delight in their successes in the classroom and soccer field, and they in turn adored him.

Mike is survived by his wife of 53 years, Kim Cook; his son Arthur Van Cook and wife Rocio Cook, and their children Lura and Mikey; his son Benjamin Lê Cook and wife Madeline Fraser Cook, and their children Alex and Lily; brother Alan and his wife Bonny, their son Andrew and his wife Melissa, and their grandsons Matthew and Mason; brother Stephen and wife Linda, and their son Gordon and wife Golnaz,  and son James and his partner Colin; brother Philip and wife Judith, their daughter Elizabeth Camden, and their son Brian and his wife Kim DeFeo, grandchildren Clara and Warren.  Mike is also survived by six sisters-in-law and their families.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in Mike’s name to the Vietnamese Resettlement Association using the following link: https://gofund.me/50729ed7.

Paul attended Elkhart High School where he captained varsity basketball for the Blue Blazers. He went on to play center and captain for the North Carolina Tar Heels. His basketball prowess and academic achievements led him to Oxford, England, as a Rhodes Scholar in 1955. During his time at Oxford, he met and married Shelagh Crosbie and together they moved to California where Paul took a job as an engineer. Paul had a varied career, working primarily in the computer and communications sectors, during which he patented several telecommunication applications.

Paul devoted his considerable talents to philanthropy and was officially recognized by several organizations for his generosity. His various charitable activities included writing and reading stories to underprivileged children in Connecticut and giving scholarships to the Elkhart school system. 

Read more about Paul Likins life and work. 

Suzanne Corley had been part of the WWOZ (the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Radio Station) family since 2002, and over the last decade was the host of the World Journey and Tudo Bem shows on Saturdays, and for many years was the host, for half the year, of the Thursday afternoon Jazz from the French Market show. She was also a regular host of WWOZ's annual live broadcast from the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

She was an athlete, a Rhodes Scholar, a writer and novelist, and a teacher who spoke and taught many languages.