AB), 88, of Chapel Hill; Dec. 8, 2008. Mach retired as
owner of Erwin’s Racquet Club in Weston, Conn., and
moved to Chapel Hill. In WWII, he served in the Army
Air Corps. At UNC, he belonged to Pi Lambda Phi. He
entered UNC as Erwin Mack. Walter Magnus
Malmberg (’ 46 AB, ’ 48 BSCOM), 84, of Winnetka,
Calif.; Feb. 21, 2008. Malmberg retired from a career
with Rockwell International. He also was involved in
real estate. At UNC, he belonged to Sigma Nu and
NROTC. He served in the Navy in WWII. Irving J.
Miller Jr. (’ 41 BSCOM), 89, of Winston-Salem; Nov.
21, 2008. Miller retired from AT&T Technologies,
where he worked in accounting and auditing. He was
a charter member of his church and its first pianist.
In WWII, he served with the Army. William Clyde
Morris Jr. (’ 49 AB, ’ 52 JD), 83, of Arden; Oct. 24,
2008. Morris practiced law in Asheville for 50 years,
focusing on civil litigation. He was president of the
Junior Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club
and was a member of the N.C. Bar Association board
of governors. He served on the Morehead
Scholarship Selection Committee for Buncombe
County and was president of the UNC alumni club for
Buncombe, Madison, Henderson and Transylvania
counties. In WWII, he was a Navy navigator. At UNC,
he belonged to Sigma Chi and served on the Law
Review. Betsey John West Odell (’ 46), 83, of
Concord; Nov. 28, 2008. Odell was active in the
Colonial Dames of America. Marshall Joyner
Parker (’ 44 BSCOM), 86, of Seneca, S.C.; Nov. 15,
2008. Parker was owner and operator of a milk processing plant. He had served on the Seneca City
Council and was Oconee County’s state senator for
10 years. Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald
Reagan appointed him to posts in the Small Business
Administration; and in South Carolina, he helped
establish modern-day technical education. Tri-County
Technical College, where he was a former trustee,
named of its auditorium for him. In WWII, he was
with the Marine Corps. At UNC, he belonged to
Sigma Nu, the boxing team and student government.
Benjamin Nathan Patterson (’ 43, ’ 47 BSCOM),
86, of Brevard; Oct. 27, 2008. Patterson was owner
and operator of Patterson’s of Brevard, a clothing
store, for more than 40 years. In WWII, he served in
the Army Air Corps as a bomber pilot. Selma O.
Pritchard (’ 48 MAEd), 97, of Williston; Nov. 25,
2008. Pritchard taught in the Weldon and Rocky
Mount schools and was director of instruction in the
Craven County school system for many years.
Marshall Spears Pully (’ 48 BSCOM), 81, of Rocky
Mount; Oct. 15, 2008. Pully owned the Monogram
Perfections Gift Shop in Rocky Mount. At UNC, she
belonged to Chi Omega and Valkyries and was president of the women’s athletic association. Dr.
Jimmie Lee Rhyne (’ 44; ’ 59 MPH), 83, of Raleigh;
Oct. 31, 2008. Rhyne was a physician specializing in
pediatrics and public health. He was honored by
UNC’s School of Public Health with the Sidney S.
Chipman Award, recognizing him as an outstanding
alumnus of the school’s department of maternal and
child health. Robert Hill Shaw Jr. (’ 45 AB), 84, of
High Point; Nov. 6, 2008. After retiring as a partner
in a fabrics company, Shaw was executive director of
the United Way of High Point. He joined the Navy in
WWII and served after the war in Hawaii. At UNC, he
belonged to Phi Delta Theta, Order of the Grail and
Gorgon’s Head Lodge. Ery Milton Spencer Jr.
(’ 48), 83, of Oak Ridge, Tenn.; Nov. 8, 2008. Spencer
retired from Union Carbide as a material planner. A
saxophone player, he performed with a band and at
his church. In retirement, he worked at Goody’s and
for a florist. A veteran of WWII, he served in the
Marine Corps. At age 80, he rode the roller coasters
at Universal Studios in Florida. For a while, he lived
in Myrtle Beach to be with his daughter. Sanford
Lewis Steelman (’ 49 PhD), 86, of Hickory; Nov. 1,
2008. Steelman worked for Merck, retiring as senior
scientific investigator. His positions included director
of endocrinology and of clinical pharmacology international, and he published more than 100 scientific
papers and received five patents. He established lecture series and scholarships at various colleges,
including UNC. In 1990, he established a lectureship
in basic endocrinology at UNC’s School of Medicine.
In WWII, he served in the Navy. He received the Trustee
Award from Lenoir-Rhyne College. Lucy Durham
Strickland (’ 46), 84, of Murfreesboro, Tenn.; Dec.
18, 2008. Strickland earned her law degree in 1976
at age 50 and received the Law Week Award. She
opened a law practice in Hillsborough and was co-author of The Law and the Elderly in North Carolina.
When she returned to Murfreesboro in the late ’80s,
where she had lived previously, she practiced law,
retiring in 2004. Marvin Martin Ward (’ 40 MAEd),
94, of Greensboro; Nov. 10, 2008. Ward began his
career in education as a physics teacher, then moved
to administration and was superintendent of the
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school system. He
RICHARD SEAVER ’ 47 1926–2009
Publisher Fought Censorship for Provocative Authors
Known for finding new authors and for after graduating from UNC, Seaver studied at Jeannette Seaver described a
winning battle after battle over censor- the Sorbonne in Paris on a Fulbright “literary game” her husband played for many
ship, editor and translator Richard Seaver ’ 47 Scholarship. With friends, he began a literary years: Grove published a translation of an erotic
lived in and loved the world of literature. After magazine, Merlin, in which he sang the praises book, The Story of O, a 1954 French novel. The
he died Jan. 6, at age 82 of Samuel Beckett, a author used a pseudonym; the translator also
in his New York home, then-largely unknown went by a pseudonym, “Sabine d’Estree.” Many
his wife said his legacy Irish writer. Seaver’s in the world of literature tried to identify the
was his literary integrity. piece caught the eye author and translator. The French author
For the past 20 years, of Barney Rosset, revealed her identity in the 1990s; on the day
Jeannette Seaver ran publisher of Grove of Seaver’s death, Jeannette Seaver confirmed
Arcade Publishing, an Press. Not only did to The Times that her husband was the transla-independent publishing Rosset publish tor.
house, with her husband. Beckett’s work, but he Fluent in French, Seaver translated more
Arcade was described as also hired Seaver, who than 500 books into English but also wrote.
“one of the most promi- as Grove’s editor in He had just finished the manuscript of his
nent independent pub- chief brought to memoirs, his wife said. As executor of his
lishers left” in the U.S. in Americans’ attention estate, she will decide whether to publish it
a recent article in The authors whose works and has received inquiries about doing so. “For
COURTESY JEANNETTE SEAVER
New York Times, which challenged censorship. now, the manuscript is still in a drawer,” she
After his death, Richard Seaver ’ 47 was revealed to be
described Arcade as spe- the translator of the provocative The Story of O. The press published said.
cializing in works by far- D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Her husband, a native of Connecticut,
flung and underexposed authors from all over Chatterley’s Lover, which was quickly banned. It “loved his days at the University,” she said.
the world. Publishing new voices that seemed took a court decision to declare the book not While at UNC, he was on The Daily Tar Heel
to flout the wisdom of the marketplace, The obscene and fit to be sold openly. Seaver also staff and belonged to NROTC and Sigma
Times said, was a goal Richard Seaver had pur- fought to publish Henry Miller’s Tropic of Chi. He served in the Navy for two years
sued for decades. Cancer, William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch and before moving to New York.
Literature was Seaver’s passion. A few years Hubert Selby’s Last Exit to Brooklyn.
in
memoriam
