In Memoriam

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.  

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.

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

Kenneth Cornwall ’58, Alameda, Calif., Nov. 4, 2023, at age 93. A scenic painter, designer and technical director at Cahn Auditorium for 40 years, Cornwall was known by the Northwestern community as an all-around tech wizard with an encyclopedic knowledge of theater. After earning his bachelor’s degree in communications, he returned to Northwestern as technical director and became a mentor to generations of theater and music students. By the time he retired in 2000, Cornwall had contributed to nearly 50 Waa-Mu Shows — as an undergraduate student and staff member. With a sharp eye for set-building, prop selection and theater upkeep, he meticulously maintained Cahn Auditorium, as well as Guild Lounge, an event space in Scott Hall where he built original display cases using leftover wood from Cahn stage sets. Cornwall was honored with a Waa-Mu Wall of Fame plaque in the Cahn Auditorium lobby. The Ken Cornwall Award — a Waa-Mu Show award presented annually by Northwestern’s theater department — honors students who show excellence in technical theater. Cornwall is survived by his husband of 25 years, Kenneth Walsh.

Melvin Sembler ’52, St. Petersburg, Fla., Oct. 31, 2023, at age 93. Known for his business acumen, Sembler founded The Sembler Company, a shopping center development firm in St. Petersburg. In 1976 Sembler and his wife, Betty Schlesinger Sembler ’53, whom he met at Northwestern, founded a drug treatment program that operates today as the Drug Free America Foundation. Sembler also became involved in Republican politics. He served on President George H.W. Bush’s first presidential campaign and was appointed U.S. ambassador to Australia and Nauru following Bush’s election in 1989. Upon his return to the U.S. in 1993, Sembler served as finance chairman for both the Republican Party of Florida and the Republican National Committee. He was then appointed U.S. ambassador to Italy by President George W. Bush in 2001, a position he held until 2005. Sembler is survived by his sister, Delores; his sons, Martin, Brent and Greg; 12 grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. His wife died in 2022. 

Photo Credit: Fairfax Media 

Grace Bumbry ’58, Vienna, May 7, 2023, at age 86. An illustrious and trailblazing opera singer, Bumbry studied with German soprano Lotte Lehmann at Northwestern and later continued her studies with Lehmann at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, Calif. Bumbry joined the Metropolitan Opera in 1958 and made her oper­atic debut at the Paris Opera in 1960 as Amneris in Verdi’s Aida. In 1961 she became the first Black performer to sing at the Bayreuth Festival in Germany with her performance as Venus in Wagner’s Tannhäuser. She performed at the White House in 1962 during the Kennedy administration and at President Ronald Reagan’s inauguration in 1981. During her career she received the Kennedy Center Award for the Arts, a UNESCO Award, France’s Commandeur des Arts et Lettres, Italy’s Premio Giuseppe Verdi and four honorary doctorates. She also received the Northwestern Alumni Association’s Alumni Merit Award in 1969 and the Alumnae of Northwestern University’s Alumnae Award in 1997. She taught master classes at the Bienen School of Music in 1997 and 1999.

Photo Credit: Getty/Hulton Archive/Erich Auerbach

Arthur Pancoe ’51 MS, Vero Beach, Fla., Jan. 16, 2023, at age 97. A dedicated philanthropist, invest­ment executive and scholar, Pancoe made significant gifts to support Northwestern. He supported the creation of the Arthur and Gladys Pancoe–NorthShore University Health System Life Sciences Pavilion at Northwestern, dedi­cated to his late granddaughter, Beth Elise Pancoe. He also established the Arthur and Gladys Pancoe Professorship in Mathematics at the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. He received a Merit Award in 1998 and the Northwestern Alumni Medal, the Northwestern Alumni Association’s highest honor, in 2003. Pancoe served as vice president of his family’s business, Standard Stationery Supply, and later became a stockbroker. He began investing in pharmaceu­tical firms because of his family’s history of heart disease. He attributed his ability to identify which drugs would be successful to his aptitude for reading clinical test reports, thanks to his Northwestern graduate mathematics educa­tion. In the 1960s and ’70s Pancoe took public stands against the construction of nuclear power plants in the Chicago area and against the Sentinel antiballistic missile system. He was also a strong advocate for the use of now-standard catalytic converters in cars. Pancoe and his late wife, Gladys, had two children, Mariann and Michael; and four grandchildren, Beth, Julia, Hannah Pancoe '13 and Alexander. For more on Arthur Pancoe, click here.

Photo Credit: Jim Prisching