Mumm (’ 48 MPH), 90, of Sun City, Ariz.;
July 21, 2007. A public health services specialist, Mumm often worked with underserved
communities. She was instrumental in establishing a health care facility for Navajo people
in Chinle, Ariz. She worked for the U.S.
Children’s Bureau with Inuit, Eskimo and
Athabascan natives in Alaskan villages; the
World Health Organization in Taiwan and
South Korea; and the Florida Cooperative
Extension Service with migrant workers.
William Horace Neal Sr. (’ 42), 87, of
Aiken, S.C.; Aug. 6, 2007. Neal retired as a
comptroller with United Merchants and
Manufacturers. He volunteered as a docent at
the Aiken Museum. In WWII, he was in the
Navy. Robert Harris Patton (’ 48), 80, of
Spartanburg, S.C.; Sept. 3, 2006. Patton, a
retired computer programmer, served in the
Navy in W WII. Nina Rustin Ponder (’ 41
AB), 87, of Penrose; July 8, 2007. Ponder retired
as services program consultant with the N.C.
Division of Social Services following a 30-year
career. Early in her career, she worked with the
Oak Ridge Manhattan Project. Dr. Richard
Eugene Rankin (’ 48 CMED), 86, of
Cramerton; July 5, 2007. Rankin established
the Rankin Clinic for family practice in Mount
Holly. He was chairman of the Mount Holly
and Gaston Day School boards, president of
the Gaston County Medical Society and
Mount Holly Man of the Year in 1992. He was
in the Army Air Forces Medical Corps in WWII
and the Korean War. At UNC, he belonged to
Phi Chi. Charles David Richmond (’ 44
BSCOM), 85, of London, Ohio; June 17, 2007.
Richmond, a retired lawyer, was a former city
councilman and chairman of the board of
trustees for the London Police Relief and
Pension Fund, among other community activities. He served in the Navy in WWII and, at
UNC, belonged to Beta Theta Pi and NROTC.
Robert Williams Sills Jr. (’ 41, ’ 44
BSCOM), 87, of Winston-Salem; Aug. 7, 2007.
Sills retired as credit manager with R.J.
Reynolds and Archer Aluminum. In WII, he
was in the Navy and, at UNC, belonged to
Kappa Sigma. James Howard Sims (’ 43,
’ 47 BSCOM), 85, of Eau Claire, Wis.; Aug. 2,
2007. Sims was president of a can-making and
packaging business. He served in the Navy in
WWII and the Korean War. Among his military
honors were the WWII Victory Medal and
Korean Conflict Medal. James Edwin
Spangler (’ 40, ’ 53 BSST; ’ 55 MEd), 87, of
Shelby; Aug. 6, 2007. Spangler retired from a
long career as a teacher and principal. He volunteered with the Red Cross and Cleveland
Regional Medical Center and was honored for
60 years of service by Cleveland Masonic
Lodge 202. He was in the Army Air Forces.
Jack Bryan Stubbs (’ 43 BSCH), 85, of
Natchez, Miss.; June 11, 2007. Stubbs retired
GEORGE GRIZZARD ’ 49 1928–2007
Actor Played Key Roles on Broadway, in Hollywood, at UNC
He had an Actors’ Equity card and a GAA ing rightness.” The artistic director of Lincoln Mahlon K. Jordan Distinguished
life membership card. He had Emmy and Center Theater told The Los Angeles Times Visiting Professor in Dramatic Art in 1996
Tony awards, a PlayMakers Award for what was remarkable about Grizzard’s acting and again in 2004 as the Jeffrey Hayden
Lifetime Achievement and a Distinguished was he didn’t seem to be acting. “The curtain Lecturer. He received the PlayMakers
Alumnus Award from the University. Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995 and
Broadway, movie and television actor George had been honored as a Distinguished
Grizzard ’ 49, who died Oct. 2 at age 79 in Alumnus by the University in 1982. He also
Manhattan, was an active supporter of his had returned to campus in 1982 for the
alma mater. He returned to UNC to perform 100th anniversary celebration of his fraternity,
and teach classes and established a scholarship Kappa Alpha Order, and helped provide the
in dramatic arts. entertainment. That year, he also was keynote
A. McKay Coble ’ 79, chairman of the speaker at a conference of the Institute of
department of dramatic art, described Grizzard Outdoor Drama.
as “part of the American theater legend.” Although known primarily for his work
Best known as a Broadway star, he first on Broadway, Grizzard was active in televi-
appeared in The Desperate Hours opposite Paul sion and movies. He won television’s Emmy
Newman in the 1950s. In 1996, he received a for The Oldest Living Graduate with Henry
Tony Award for best actor in A Delicate Fonda and was an Emmy nominee for por-
Balance. In between, there were two Tony traying John Adams in the PBS series The
nominations and many performances. He cre- Adams Chronicles: 1750-1900. His movie roles
ated the role of Nick in the original 1962 included portraying a U.S. senator in Advise
Broadway production of Who’s Afraid of and Consent and a Western oilman in Comes a
Virginia Woolf?, then moved on to take the title Horseman.
role in Hamlet when the Gutherie Theater For UNC, he created the George Grizzard
opened in Minneapolis. Grizzard told the Scholarship Fund in Dramatic Arts for a
Minneapolis Star Tribune, “After Hamlet, you’re graduate student in the professional actor
not afraid of anything.” He proved that by George Grizzard ’ 49 played a young John Adams, in this training program. Coble said it was an espe-
scene with John Houseman, in the 1976 miniseries The
appearing in a Broadway revival of the musi- Adams Chronicles: 1750-1900 on PBS. cially meaningful gift. “This said he believed
cal review Sweet Potato in the late ’60s in in our training program so much he wanted
which he and the other five actors appeared to establish the scholarship,” Coble said.
nude — although Grizzard told an interviewer Born in Roanoke Rapids, Grizzard spent
they were in bikinis that matched their skin. most of his early years in Washington, D.C.,
His obituary in The Ne w York Times said but returned to his native North Carolina in
critics praised his ability to move easily from 1945 to attend UNC.
one emotional state to another with “shatter-
BILL SMITH/GAA FILES
in
memoriam
went up and there was George, just being this
character,” said Andre Bishop.
Grizzard performed at UNC in Love
Letters, opposite Eva Marie Saint, as a
fundraiser for PlayMakers in 1994. He was on
campus for a two-week residency as the
— Sally Walters
