In Memoriam

Steven Albini ’85, Chicago, May 7, 2024, at age 61. A legendary indie rock and post-punk performer and studio engineer, Albini was a Chicago music scene fixture. He fronted the bands Big Black and Shellac before becoming a sought-after sound engineer. He recorded many well-known albums, including Nirvana’s In Utero, Pixies’ Surfer Rosa and PJ Harvey’s Rid of Me, and founded the Chicago recording studio Electrical Audio in 1997. He was a longtime critic of exploitation in the music industry, refusing to accept royalties from record companies for his work. Albini first ventured into Chicago’s music scene while at Northwestern, where he wrote music criticism, worked at local record stores and recorded the first Big Black EP, Lungs (1982), using borrowed equipment. While on campus, he studied painting with art theory and practice professor Ed Paschke and contributed to both The Daily Northwestern and Rubber Teeth, a now-defunct student-run humor magazine. Later in life, Albini became a champion poker player, winning nearly $200,000 at the World Series of Poker in 2022. He is survived by his wife, filmmaker Heather Whinna; and his mother, Gina.

Click here to read a tribute to Albini by Zeki Hirsch ’24.

Photo Credit: Getty/Matt Winkelmeyer

Martin Aliker ’54, ’58 DDS, Kampala, Uganda, April 15, 2024, at age 95. A skilled dental surgeon, businessman and higher education administrator, Aliker founded the first private, African-owned dental practice in Kampala. He attended Northwestern on scholarship, then received a Fulbright Award to complete his doctorate in dental surgery. After establishing his practice, he served as a senior presidential adviser and foreign affairs minister in President Yoweri Museveni’s administration in Uganda. Aliker was on the board of directors of nearly 40 companies, including Coca-Cola. He became the founding chancellor of Gulu University from 2004 through 2014 and later served as chancellor of Victoria University in Kampala. A generous Northwestern benefactor, Aliker donated an operatory to the Northwestern University Dental School and spoke at the Dental School’s Convocation in 1993, the same year his son, Okello Aliker ’93 DDS, graduated. Martin Aliker is survived by his son and his wife, Camille.  

Helen “Meg” Bennett ’70, Los Angeles, April 11, 2024, at age 75. A former Northwestern Homecoming queen and Miss America contestant, Bennett moved to New York City after graduation and earned roles in productions of Grease on Broadway and Godspell off-Broadway. In 1975 she began a long and successful soap opera career as the ingenue Liza on Search for Tomorrow. Bennett went on to play Julia Newman in The Young and the Restless beginning in 1980. She began scriptwriting for The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful, General Hospital, Santa Barbara and Sunset Beach and received five Daytime Emmy nominations for writing, with a win for General Hospital in 1995. She also received five Writers Guild of America nominations, with wins for General Hospital and Sunset Beach. Bennett is survived by her husband, Robert Guza Jr.; two stepdaughters; four grandchildren; two siblings; and many nieces and nephews.

Photo Credit: Getty/CBS Photo Archive

Henry Wadsworth McGee Jr. ’54, Seattle, March 17, 2024, at age 91. A distinguished law professor, civil rights activist and housing advocate, McGee worked as a government prosecutor, private firm litigator and regional director of the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity’s Legal Services Program. McGee earned his law degree from DePaul University in 1957. As a National Lawyers Guild volunteer, he traveled to Mississippi in 1964 to defend Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee members who were arrested for assisting with Black voter registration. Part of a pioneering cohort of Black law professors, McGee held tenured and emeritus positions at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law and the Seattle University School of Law. He received two Fulbright Fellowships, was a visiting fellow at Oxford University and served as a fellow of the Mexican Academy of Private International and Comparative Law. An accomplished violinist, McGee played with the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra and other community music groups. He was a board member of the Seattle Low Income Housing Institute, the Museum Development Board for the Seattle Art Museum and other organizations. He is survived by his wife, Victoria; sons Henry, P. Byron, Kevin, Gregory and Erik; daughters by marriage Kristin and Melanie; nephews Paul and Alan; and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

David William Scott ’67 MA, ’69 PhD, Springfield, Ill., March 16, 2024, at age 87. Born in Evanston, Scott was a community-oriented educator who was deeply passionate about preserving Illinois heritage and histories. He taught American government courses at Northern Illinois University and six other Illinois colleges. In 1974 he joined the Illinois State Board of Education as a senior policy analyst and managed the school district reorganization program. Scott served as vice president and president of the Illinois State Historical Society (ISHS) from 2001 to 2005 and earned its Lifetime Achievement award in 2018. He edited a 2018 book for the ISHS on the bicentennial of Illinois statehood and also wrote a book tracing his own family history back to the 1700s. Scott was a board member of the World Affairs Council of Central Illinois and a volunteer docent at the Old State Capitol. He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Virginia Riser; daughters Margaret and Elizabeth; grandchildren Katherine, Jonathan, Molly and Will; nine nieces and nephews; sister-in-law Joan; and brother-in-law William.

Henry “Hank” Stephen Bangser ’71 MS, ’77 PhD, North Potomac, Md., March 12, 2024, at age 74. Bangser touched the lives of many during his nearly 50-year career in education. He earned his master’s in teaching in 1971 and a doctorate in educational leadership and administration in 1977, both from Northwestern. Bangser then spent the next several decades teaching and taking on educational leadership positions, including superintendencies, in six public school districts across Illinois, New York and California. He spent more than 20 years with New Trier Township High School District 203 in the Chicago suburbs, first as a social studies teacher and football coach in the 1970s, then as an assistant principal. He then served as superintendent of the district for 16 years. Upon his retirement in 2006, the administration building at the Northfield, Ill., campus was renamed in his honor. Bangser served as vice president of the Northwestern Alumni Association Board of Directors from 1994 to 1997 and as president of the School of Education and Social Policy Alumni Board from 1994 to 1996. He was awarded the Alumni Merit Award in 1998. Bangser is survived by his wife, Sara; children Jill, Marc and Matt; and seven grandchildren.

Pierson “Sandy” Grieve ’50, Naples, Fla., Feb. 24, 2024, at age 96. A Minnesota businessman and civic leader, Grieve began his career at Caterpillar Tractor and worked as a management consultant for A.T. Kearney, Rap-In-Wax and AP Parts. Grieve later became CEO of Economics Laboratory, now known as Ecolab, a sanitization and cleaning products company. During his tenure, sales grew from under $500 million to over $2 billion. Grieve chaired the Minnesota Metropolitan Airport Commission and headed the Minnesota Business Partnership. He received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2004, the Kappa Sigma Man of the Year award in 1997 and the University of Minnesota’s Regents Award. Grieve enlisted in the U.S. Navy after high school and served at the Naval Station Great Lakes in northern Illinois before majoring in business at Northwestern. He served on a Kellogg School of Management advisory council, among other roles. Grieve is survived by his children Peggy, Scott and Bruce; five grandchildren; and a great-grandson. He was preceded in death by his wife of more than 60 years, Florence Brogan Grieve ’51.

Image Credit: Courtesy of Ecolab