In Memoriam

Kuldip Nayar ’52 MS, Aug. 23, 2018, New Delhi, age 95. An esteemed journalist and activist, Nayar was a staunch supporter of press freedom, democracy and human rights. He studied journal­ism at Northwestern, then went on to lead various Indian newspapers, including the Indian Express and the Statesman. In the 1970s Nayar was jailed for protesting “the Emergency,” a 21-month period during which Prime Minister Indira Gandhi curbed civil liberties, imprisoned political opponents and enacted widespread censorship. Nayar also worked to improve relations between India and Pakistan throughout his life. In the 1990s Nayar served as the High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom and was nominated to Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament, in 1997. He is survived by his wife, Bharti; two sons, Sudhir and Rajiv; three grandchildren, Kanika, Mandira and Kartik; and three great-grandchildren. Photo by Jaskirat Singh

For more information on Nayar, see the Guardian's obituary. 

P. Sterling Stuckey ’55, ’68 MA ’73 PhD, Riverside, Calif., Aug. 15, 2018, age 86. An acclaimed scholar, Stuckey transformed the field of African American history, reimagining the consequences of American slavery. His best-known work, Slave Culture: Nationalist Theory and the Foundations of Black America (1987), helped to inspire a generation of scholars. Born in Memphis, Stuckey worked as a civil rights organizer for the Congress of Racial Equality in Chicago during the 1960s and began his doctoral work at Northwestern shortly after the Freedom Summer in 1964. He started teaching history at Northwestern in 1970 and moved to the University of California, Riverside, in 1989. He held the UC Presidential Chair and taught courses in modern U.S. history before retiring in 2004. Stuckey is survived by his wife, Harriette; a daughter, Lisa Dembling; a son, Cabral Wiley-Stuckey; a granddaughter; and a great-granddaughter. Photo by Benoit Malphettes

Richard Elden ’56, Chicago, July 13, 2018, at age 84. Born and raised in Chicago by parents connected to the Esquire Inc. media empire, Elden began his career in journalism. He was a staff writer for the Daily Northwestern and in 1953 joined six other college reporters on a rare reporting tour of the Soviet Union. The experience led him to positions at International News Service and later the Chicago Sun-Times, where he worked as a business reporter. In his early 30s, Elden reinvented himself, earning an MBA at the University of Chicago and later founding Grosvenor Partners (now CGM Grosvenor), an asset management company, in 1971 with $500,000 in capital. During his three decades at the helm of Grosvenor — a period that spanned almost the entire history of the hedge fund industry — he created the first fund of funds in the U.S. and pioneered the diversification strategies that form the basis of modern portfolio theory. He also worked with some of the world’s most prominent investors and managers, including Carl Icahn and Julian Robertson. Elden retired in 2005. In addition to his work at Grosvenor, he served on the investment committee of the Field Museum and was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Elden is survived by his wife of 57 years, Gail; his daughter, Cindy; his son, Thomas; and his sister, Joan Feitler.

Kwan Rim ’58 MS, ’60 PhD, of Iowa City, March 4, 2018, in Seoul, South Korea, at age 83.

An accomplished mechanical engineer, Mr. Rim held numerous positions within the College of Engineering during his 35 years at the University of Iowa. He joined the faculty in 1960 and, with several of his colleagues, participated in and contributed to the U.S. space program.

In 1974 Mr. Rim founded one of the first biomedical engineering programs at a public institution in the United States and served as a professor and its department chairman in the years that followed.

With support from the National Science Foundation, he traveled to his native South Korea in 1976 and taught as a visiting professor at what is now the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. He returned to serve as KAIST’s president and later the chair of the board of directors. In recognition of his efforts, Mr. Rim received several Order of Civil Merit awards from the South Korean government.

In 1995 Mr. Rim took an extended leave of absence from the University of Iowa and returned to South Korea to become president of the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, the Samsung group’s core research and development hub. He also chaired the Science and Technology Planning Committee and was a member of the National Science and Technology Council of the Republic of Korea.

In 2004 he was named an Honorary Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for his dedication to the improvement of relations between South Korea and the United Kingdom.

Mr. Rim retired in 2012 after serving as chairman of Sungkyunkwan University.

He is survived by his sons, Albert and Christopher; a daughter, Joanne; grandsons Paul and Michael; granddaughters Samantha, Kayla, Stella and Cecilia; his brothers, Kirk and Kurt; and his sisters, Jean and Kay.

Walter Dill Scott ’53, Evanston, Feb. 8, 2018, at age 86. The grandson and namesake of former Northwestern president Walter Dill Scott, Mr. Scott capped off his career in business and government with a quarter-century stint as the Kellogg School of Management’s first clinical professor. After earning his MBA from Columbia University in 1958, Mr. Scott went to work at Lehman Brothers, first in New York and later as a senior partner running the Chicago office. In 1973 he moved to Washington, D.C., to serve as an associate director of the federal Office of Management and Budget during the Nixon and Ford administrations. Two years later he moved to Minneapolis to become chief financial officer at Pillsbury (now General Mills) for five years. He went on to become president and CEO of IDS Financial Services (now Ameriprise Financial) and chairman and CEO of Grand Metropolitan USA (now Diageo). Mr. Scott returned to Kellogg in 1988 to teach classes focused on corporate strategy and leadership. He co-founded Kellogg’s Center for Executive Women. Survivors include his wife, Barbara; three sons, Tim, David and Gordon C. Scott ’89; a daughter-in-law, Anne Nelson Scott ’89; and eight grandchildren.

James R. McManus ’56 MBA, Fairfield, Conn., Jan. 10, 2018, at age 84. A Northwestern life trustee, Mr. McManus revolutionized the marketing world, creating Marketing Corporation of America, the first-ever integrated marketing services firm positioned to serve Fortune 50 consumer product companies. 

After graduating from the Kellogg School of Management in 1956, Mr. McManus worked for Procter & Gamble and Glendinning Companies. In 1971 he set out on his own, founding MCA with just $25,000 in savings and a $50,000 loan. 

Over the next 26 years, it grew to be a $500 million enterprise whose clients included PepsiCo, Frito-Lay, IBM, Quaker Oats, Lipton and Dunkin’ Donuts. Its services included strategic consulting, market research, advertising, sales promotion programs and venture capital. Mr. McManus’ enterprise also included auto dealerships, Business Express Airlines and the Hotel Jerome in Aspen, Colo.

In 1989 the Northwestern Apartments, a seven-story complex in downtown Evanston for Kellogg students and their families, was renamed the McManus Center in honor of his leadership gift to the Campaign for Kellogg. He also supported the John C. Nicolet Football Center, the Ryan Field headquarters for football staff and players. He was a loyal Northwestern football fan. 

Survivors include his wife, Betty; four children, Robert, Melissa McManus ’87, Mitchell McManus ’97 MBA and Stuart McManus ’89, ’95 MBA; three stepchildren, Karl, Kurt Soderland ’90 MBA and Eric Soderlund ’96 MBA; and 12 grandchildren, including Northwestern students Nicolette McManus, a junior, and Graysen McManus, a first-year student.

Illustration courtesy of Karl Soderlund 

Thomas Charles Zay Sr. ’54, Thomasville, Ga., Jan. 8, 2018, at age 85.

Mr. Zay attended Northwestern on a Naval Reserve Officers’ Training Corps scholarship. Upon graduation, he received his officer commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps. He attended flight school in Pensacola, Fla., and a naval aviator. He flew F-5 and F-9 fighter jets before being honorably discharged with the rank of captain in 1957.

Mr. Zay went on to a 50-year career in executive search consulting, advancing corporate executive leadership teams with several companies, including Booz, Allen & Hamilton and Paul R. Ray and Co., where he served as executive vice president for 14 years. He was named one of the top 250 executive recruiters nationally and one of the top 10 executive recruiters working with aerospace, paper, publishing and printing, textiles and higher education industries.

A devoted supporter of his alma mater, Mr. Zay founded the Atlanta-area Northwestern alumni club and was involved in fundraising and other alumni activities. He was an avid Wildcats football fan.

“Tom Zay will always be remembered as the most tremendous ’Cats fan,” says Rachel Rosner ’88, a Northwestern Alumni Association regional director and NU Club of Atlanta board member. “Along with his wife Betty, Tom was a mainstay at our weekly football watch parties. I will always remember him with a beer in hand and quietly glued to the game. The entire Atlanta club will miss our most devoted and dependable fan.”

In addition to his wife, Mr. Zay is survived by two sons, Thomas and Michael; a daughter, Julia H. Zay ’95 MA; and four grandchildren.