In Memoriam
In memoriam is a page to read featured obituaries of Northwestern alumni, faculty and staff. Visit Remembrances to read memorials of Northwestern community members submitted by their family or peers. Please send obituaries to alums@northwestern.edu.
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Helen Frank Widen ’54, Evanston, March 1, 2025, at age 91. An educator and a lifelong learner, Widen pursued a career as a psychotherapist. She returned to Northwestern to work at the University’s Student Health Service, where for many years she provided mental health services and taught students skills to improve their well-being. Widen was also deeply involved in the Civil Rights Movement, joining early efforts to integrate Evanston schools and participating in the Selma to Montgomery marches in Alabama. She also marched against the Vietnam War and served on the board of the Peace and World Affairs Center of Evanston. Widen retired in 2000 and later took courses at Northwestern’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI). She also co-taught 16 OLLI courses on topics that ranged from composer and songwriter Irving Berlin to the Silk Road, and Widen led a yearlong study of Islam and the Quran. She is survived by her children, Claire, Mark, Brent and Jeanne; and several grandchildren, great-grandchildren, step children, step-grandchildren and step-great-grandchildren.
John L. Perry ’50, ’51 MS, Knoxville, Tenn., Feb. 27, 2025, at age 96. An award-winning editor and political writer, Perry was among the first American journalists permit- ted to enter the Soviet Union after Joseph Stalin’s death. Perry inter- viewed Nikita Khrushchev, former first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, for four hours in the Kremlin. Perry worked for several daily newspapers in Florida and New York, and the Associated Press Managing Editors Association named him one of the 12 best newsroom managers among AP publications. He ran counterintelligence missions for several U.S. presidential administrations and wrote two novels based on those experiences: The Unforeseen President and The Abbey Enigma. Perry held various roles in the Johnson and Carter administrations, including as a White House speechwriter. Perry also was director of public relations for the 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville. His proudest achievement was an investigative report that saved an innocent Black man from the electric chair in Florida. Perry is survived by his children, Leslie, David and Emily; and several stepchildren.
Charles Richard “Dick” Kramlich ’57, Oakville, Calif., Feb. 1, 2025, at age 89. A venture capital pioneer, Kramlich became a general partner at Arthur Rock & Co. in 1969. He then co-founded New Enterprise Associates (NEA) in 1977 and helped grow the firm into a Silicon Valley powerhouse, serving as NEA’s managing partner for its first seven funds. Among the earliest investors in Apple, Kramlich and NEA invested in networking and communications equipment manufacturers and software development companies in the 1990s. Kramlich retired from NEA in 2012 but continued to invest in technology and communications, manufacturing, logistics and real estate as CEO of Kramlich Investment Group and co-founder of Green Bay Ventures. A prolific art patron and collector, he and his wife, Pamela, built a media art collection that includes more than 150 video, film and media installation works. In addition to his wife, Kramlich is survived by children Christina, Richard and Mary Donna and many grandchildren.
Howard Geltzer ’58, ’59 MS, Los Angeles, Jan. 7, 2025, at age 88. Geltzer was the mastermind behind the successful marketing campaign for the Sony Walkman, which launched in 1979 and sold far better than Sony had expected. After that campaign, Sony moved all its publicity business to Geltzer & Co., the New York City–based public relations firm launched by Geltzer and his wife, Sheila. Their other clients included Black+Decker, Dow Chemical, Samsung and Toshiba. After Geltzer & Co. was acquired by Publicis Groupe in 2000, Geltzer pursued a second career as an adjunct instructor of management communication at New York University Stern School of Business and the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business. A longtime member of the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications Board of Advisers, Geltzer was inducted into the Medill Hall of Achievement in 2014. He is survived by his sons, Jeremy and Gabriel; and a grandson, Jackson.
Roxelyn “Roxy” Miller Pepper ’53, Barrington, Ill., Dec. 12, 2024, at age 92. Pepper, the daughter of J. Roscoe Miller ’30 MD, ’31 GME, Northwestern’s 12th president, was a generous benefactor and loyal supporter of the University. After graduating, Pepper helped her husband, Richard Pepper ’53, expand Pepper Construction into one of the nation’s largest and most respected construction firms. In 1987 the Peppers founded the Pepper Family Foundation, where Roxy served as vice president. The foundation supported many Chicagoland institutions. In 2020 the Peppers endowed the Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Family Chair in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northwestern. They also created the Pepper Family Foundation Civil Engineering Wing of the Technological Institute. In 2005 they endowed the Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the School of Communication. In July 2024 Pepper established the Pepper Family Community Impact Fund, which benefits faculty, clinicians and students in the Center for Audiology, Speech, Language and Learning. She served on Northwestern’s Board of Trustees from 1985 to 1989. In 2001 she and her husband jointly received the Northwestern Alumni Medal. Pepper is survived by children Stan, Dick, Lisa and Scot; 18 grandchildren; and 22 great-grandchildren. Richard died in 2021. Read more about Pepper’s legacy.
John McKnight ’53, Evanston, Nov. 2, 2024, at age 92. A racial justice advocate, McKnight was professor emeritus of speech and urban affairs at Northwestern. His activism began when, as a student, he opposed segregation and quotas that limited the number of Black and Jewish students at the University. An ROTC scholar, McKnight joined the U.S. Navy after graduating and spent three years in Asia during the Korean War. He then returned to Chicago and worked for the Chicago Commission on Human Relations and the Illinois affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union. After serving as Midwest director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, he returned to Northwestern in 1969 to help create the Center for Urban Affairs (now the Institute for Policy Research). He wrote several books and co-founded DePaul University’s Asset-Based Community Development Institute with John “Jody” Kretzmann ’85 PhD. McKnight is survived by his wife, Marsha; his son, Jonathon; stepchildren Marc, Stuart, Eric and Scot; seven grandchildren; and three nieces and nephews.
Photo Credit: University Archives/Janet Mesic Mackie
John “Mac” McQuown ’57, Sonoma, Calif., Oct. 22, 2024, at age 90. A Wall Street innovator, McQuown helped create the first equity index funds in 1971 while working at Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco. Index funds, which were developed by applying data analysis to the stock market, revolutionized investing, such that Bloomberg Markets magazine called McQuown “one of the architects of the modern investing system.” Though he started out studying mechanical engineering at Northwestern, a corporate finance class changed McQuown’s trajectory. After graduating and serving two years in the U.S. Navy, McQuown earned his MBA from Harvard Business School and began working on Wall Street with Smith Barney & Co. He developed more than a dozen companies and co-founded Wells Fargo Investment Advisors, now part of the asset management firm BlackRock. After moving to Sonoma County, Calif., in 1995, he and his wife, Leslie, established Stone Edge Farm Estate Vineyards & Winery. The farm earned the 2017 California Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award for its energy-efficient operation. Committed to sustainability, the McQuowns established the John A. and Leslie W. McQuown Fund for Climate Technology Assessment at Northwestern and the John and Leslie McQuown Fund for Finite Earth. They also supported the Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems and helped establish the Julio M. Ottino Professorship in the McCormick School of Engineering, in honor of the longtime dean of the school. McQuown delivered the 2015 McCormick convocation speech and received the Northwestern Alumni Medal in 2017. In addition to his wife, he is survived by his son, Morgan.
Read more about McQuown and his Northwestern legacy.
Photo by Jim Prisching