In Memoriam

Henry Geller ’49 JD, Washington, D.C., April 7, 2020, age 96. In a career that helped shape the course of broadcast television, Geller was general counsel at the Federal Communications Commission from 1964 to 1970. He was instrumental in removing cigarette advertisements from television by proposing that an antismoking message be aired for every tobacco ad that did not include a health warning; Congress eventually banned tobacco ads from TV. In 1975, after leaving the agency, he successfully petitioned it to allow the broadcasting of presidential debates, arguing that the equal-time rule, which would have allowed the inclusion of minor-party candidates, did not apply to such an event. He later led the new National Telecommunications and Information Administration and also argued for a cap on advertisements during children’s programming. Geller is survived by his wife, Judy; his children, Peter and Kathryn; and a grandson.

Photo: Barco Library, The Cable Center

Judd Weinberg ’47, Chicago, Feb. 20, 2020, at age 93. A generous benefactor, Weinberg joined the University’s Board of Trustees in 1982 and was elected a life trustee in 1995. He received the Northwestern Alumni Medal, the highest honor given by the Northwestern Alumni Association, in 2000. Weinberg and his family gave a major gift to the College of Arts and Sciences in 1998. Their generosity was recognized with the naming of the College in their honor. A gift to the Feinberg School of Medicine established the Weinberg Medical Informatics Training Center. The family has also supported the School of Communication, the Donald P. Jacobs Chair at the Kellogg School of Management and the Arnold R. and Edna F. Weber Scholarship Fund. In 2007 Weinberg’s three sons dedicated the Marjorie Weinberg Garden, on the south side of Deering Meadow, in honor of their mother, Marjorie Gottlieb Weinberg ’50, who died in 1993. Weinberg is survived by three sons, David, Richard and Jack; eight grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

James W. Montgomery ’43, Chicago, Oct. 23, at age 98. Ordained in 1949, Montgomery served as the ninth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago from 1971 to 1987. He helped the diocese — and the city — navigate change. During the Chicago Freedom movement in the 1960s he chaired the Chicago Conference on Religion and Race and mediated discussions between Mayor Richard J. Daley and Martin Luther King Jr. These meetings, focused on housing issues and civil rights, took place in St. James Cathedral, the diocesan headquarters. Montgomery opened up the same cathedral for a national gathering organized by gay members of the church. When the Episcopal Church allowed women to become priests in 1976, Montgomery objected but allowed his assistants to ordain women. He also voiced his opposition to the nuclear arms race and abortion. Montgomery served in the U.S. Navy as a lieutenant during World War II. He is survived by four nieces and a nephew.

John Paul Stevens ’47 JD, ’77 H, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., July 16, at age 99. Stevens, one of the U.S. Supreme Court’s longest-serving justices, was a moderate Republican when President Gerald Ford nominated him to the Supreme Court, but he came to be seen as a leader of the court’s liberal wing. Stevens spent three years as a U.S. Navy intelligence officer stationed at Pearl Harbor. After the war he graduated magna cum laude from Northwestern Law in 1947 and spent one year as a clerk for Supreme Court Associate Justice Wiley Rutledge. Stevens returned to Chicago and went to work in antitrust law. President Richard Nixon appointed Stevens to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in 1970, and he joined the Supreme Court in 1975. He retired in 2010. He was honored by former classmates with the establishment of the John Paul Stevens Professorship at the Pritzker School of Law in 1992. The school’s Justice John Paul Stevens Public Interest Fellowship Program provides financial assistance to students who volunteer in public interest summer jobs. Stevens returned to deliver the Northwestern Law convocation address in 2011 and donated his Supreme Court chair to the school. (Read our 2009 profile on Stevens, “A Justice for All.”) He is survived by two daughters, Elizabeth and Susan; nine grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren. Photo by Joanna Wilkiewicz

Anne Firor Scott ’44 MA, ’89 H, Feb. 5, 2019, Chapel Hill, N.C., at age 97. An influential historian, Scott opened up the field of women’s history with her groundbreaking book The Southern Lady: From Pedestal to Politics, 1830–1930 (1970). By examining letters, diaries and other primary sources, Scott demonstrated that, while society limited their power, Southern women found roles to fill in their communities and purpose in their everyday lives. Her other books explored women’s suffrage and the role of women’s associations. From 1961 until her retirement in 1991, Scott taught at Duke University, where she was the first woman to chair the history department. She received the National Humanities Medal in 2013. She is survived by daughter Rebecca; sons David and Donald; six grandchildren; and a great-grandson. Photo courtesy of Duke Photography/ Les Todd

Constance Lorraine Hairston Morton ’42 MA/MS, ’08 H, Sept. 8, 2018, Evanston, age 99. A civil rights champion and a longtime educator, Morton became the first African American mayor of Evanston in 1993. She served four terms, retiring in 2009 as the city’s longest-­serving mayor. After a brief stint in Tuskegee, Ala., Morton and her husband, James T. Morton Jr. ’35 MA/MS, ’42 PhD returned to Evanston in 1953. A public school teacher, Morton broke the color ­barrier at Nichols Middle School in 1957, when she became the first African American to teach at a ­majority-white Evanston school. After 36 years in District 65 schools, Morton was elected alderman for Evanston’s 5th Ward in 1982. Evanston’s city hall was renamed the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center in her honor. In 2014 Morton donated her public papers to Northwestern University Archives. Morton, who died just three months before her 100th birthday, is survived by her daughter, Elizabeth Morton Brasher; and two granddaughters, Elizabeth and Constance. Photo courtesy of University Archives

Charlotte Rae ’48 Los Angeles, Aug. 5, 2018, at age 92. A beloved figure on Broadway and television for more than 60 years, Ms. Rae’s performances were whimsical, heartfelt and poignant. “To think of Charlotte Rae,” wrote one critic, “is to smile.” At Northwestern she performed for three years in the Waa-Mu Show. After moving to New York City in 1948, she landed the lead role in the 1954 Broadway revival of The Threepenny Opera. That role helped launch her career, and she went on to earn Tony Award nominations for best actress in Pickwick (1966) and Morning, Noon and Night (1969). She would become best known as the matronly Edna Garrett on the sitcom Diff’rent Strokes and its spinoff The Facts of Life. Ms. Rae, whose earlier sitcom credits included Car 54, Where Are You?, earned two Emmy Award nominations. In addition to her work on the stage and screen, Ms. Rae published an autobiography, recorded a satirical album and made appearances in movies and on children’s television. She is survived by a son, Larry; three grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. Photo courtesy of University Archives