In Memoriam

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.

William B. Mead ’55, Bethesda, Md., Dec. 14, 2017, at age 83.

A journalist and baseball writer, Mr. Mead wrote seven books on baseball, including Even the Browns: The Zany, True Story of Baseball in the Early Forties. A native of St. Louis, Mr. Mead grew up watching the Browns, one of the worst Major League Baseball teams in history. His book details the franchise’s single wartime championship season.

He also wrote The Official New York Yankees Hater’s Handbook, and in 1993 he co-authored The Presidents’ Game, which explored links between baseball and U.S. presidents. In addition to baseball books, Mr. Mead co-wrote American Averages: Amazing Facts of Everyday Life, a 1980 collection of statistical trivia.

After graduating from Northwestern, Mr. Mead spent two years in the U.S. Army. He later held reporting jobs with the United Press International and Money magazine.

He is survived by his wife, Jennifer Hilton Mead ’55; a son, Christopher; a brother; and three grandchildren.

Joseph Newton III ’51, ’52 MS, Goodyear, Ariz., Dec. 9, 2017, at age 88.

A former sprinter for Northwestern’s track team, Mr. Newton joined York High School in Elmhurst, Ill., in 1956 and became cross-country coach four years later. During Mr. Newton’s nearly six-decade coaching career, York won 20 national cross-country championships and 28 state titles.

Mr. Newton became the first high school track coach to serve on the U.S. Olympic coaching staff when he was assistant manager of the U.S. men’s track team in Seoul, South Korea, in 1988.

A four-time national cross-country coach of the year, he was inducted into the U.S. Track and Field Federation’s Hall of Fame and the Chicago Sports Hall of Fame. He retired in 2016.

Mr. Newton is survived by his wife, Joan; daughter, Cindy; sons, Thomas and John; and four grandchildren, Caitlin, Kyle, Julia and Lauren.

Donna Jean Gimbel Lane ’52, Portola Valley, Calif., Nov. 18, 2017, at age 87.

A Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences graduate and lifelong patron of the arts, Mrs. Lane was a longtime and generous supporter of her alma mater.

The Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance was established in 2005 with a contribution from Mrs. Lane and her late husband, L. W. Lane Jr. In 2015 Mrs. Lane made a $5 million commitment to the Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music to ensure the perpetuity of the $50,000 piano award, which honors pianists who have achieved the highest levels of national and international recognition. In recognition of her longtime support, Northwestern named a room in the Ryan Center for the Musical Arts the Jean Gimbel Lane Reception Room.

In 1996 Mrs. Lane and her husband established the Jean Gimbel Lane Humanities Professorship at Northwestern. The two philanthropists also established the Lane Fund for Environmental Studies at Northwestern. 

After graduation, Mrs. Lane, an art history major, worked as an interior designer in Chicago before meeting her husband, who was publisher of Sunset magazine and served as U.S. ambassador to Australia during Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Mr. Lane, former owner of Lane Publishing Co., passed away in 2010.

Mrs. Lane thrived in the communities that centered around her interests of nature, music and art. She was a member of the board of the National Tropical Botanical Garden and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. She was also a longtime docent and supporter of Stanford’s Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve.

Mrs. Lane is survived by her children, Sharon, Robert, and Brenda; her brother Arthur D. Gimbel ’55; and five grandchildren.

David S. Pemberton ’58, Skokie, Ill., Oct. 17, 2017, at age 80.

A member of the Northwestern Athletic Hall of Fame, Mr. Pemberton was a two-time All-American swimmer and won the 1958 NCAA title in the 200-yard backstroke. He also placed second at the NCAA Championships in the 100 backstroke in 1958 and won the Big Ten title in the 200 backstroke in 1957. (See "Fifty Wildcat Greats," summer 2013.)

Mr. Pemberton went on to a career as a marketing executive at IBM, Telex and Tandem Computers.

He is survived by his wife, Sharee; daughters, Melissa, Linda and Deborah; sons, Greg, David and Matthew; and 10 grandchildren.