In Memoriam

James H. Cone ’63 MA, ’65 PhD, New York City, April 28, 2018, at age 79. Rev. Cone was a founder of black liberation theology. He spoke out against racial inequality in the forms of economic injustice, mass incarceration and police shootings. In 1969 Rev. Cone wrote the first of his 12 books, Black Theology & Black Power. An African Methodist Episcopal minister, Rev. Cone joined the faculty at the Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary in New York City in 1969. He was promoted to professor four years later. In April Rev. Cone was elected to the 2018 class of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Earlier this year he won the Grawemeyer Award in Religion for his latest book, The Cross and the Lynching Tree. His memoir, Said I Wasn’t Gonna Tell Nobody: The Making of a Black Theologian, is expected to be published in late 2018. In 2010 Rev. Cone won the Eliza Garrett Distinguished Service Award from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. He is survived by his sons, Michael and Charles; his daughters, Robynn and Krystal; a brother, Charles, and two grandchildren. Photo by Filip Wolak. Ⓒ Union Theological Seminary

Kevin M. Moore ’68, ’71 MS, Wilmette, Ill., April 11, 2018, at age 71.

A celebrated journalist, Mr. Moore worked at Chicago’s two largest newspapers for more than 30 years. He spent 12 at the Chicago Sun-Times, starting as editor of “Weekend Plus” in 1974. He was also the Sunday features editor and opinion section editor. In 1986 he moved to the Chicago Tribune, where he edited the Friday section and helped move the newspaper’s entertainment coverage into the digital realm. He created the online “Beat Siskel” Oscar selection contest that pitted readers against famed movie critic Gene Siskel. Mr. Moore retired from the Tribune in 2008 as the paper’s deputy entertainment editor.

Born in Cleveland, Mr. Moore grew up in Texas and Missouri and spent his summers working as an apprentice lion tamer and cotton candy vendor at a circus owned by his family.

He earned his bachelor’s degree from the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications and enlisted in the U.S. Army. Mr. Moore served for two years in Vietnam, where he saw ground combat action and suffered a serious ankle injury. He was awarded a Purple Heart and the Combat Infantryman’s Badge. Mr. Moore returned to Northwestern, where he earned a master’s degree in journalism.

After his retirement Mr. Moore studied at Northwestern’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. He is survived by his wife, Constance.

Justin Allen Zivin ’67, ’70 MS, ’71 PhD, ’72 MD, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., Feb. 17, 2018, at age 71. Dr. Zivin dedicated his career to identifying treatments for stroke, specifically the use of tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, for treatment of ­ischemic stroke when appropriate. He encouraged the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke to change the paradigm for clinical stroke research, organizing a study that required a complete rethinking of how stroke care is managed. His work on tPA paved the way for Food and Drug Administration approval, and tPA is ­currently the only internationally approved treatment for this condition. He published his first paper on the use of tPA in Science in 1985. The drug was first approved for stroke in 1996. He co-wrote tPA for Stroke: The Story of a Controversial Drug (2010) with John Galbraith Simmons ’71. Dr. Zivin is survived by his wife, Reni-Zoe; two daughters, Kara and Leslie; four grandchildren; and a sister, Linda.

Michael Witwer ’67 MD, ’73 GME, Santa Rosa, Calif., Sept. 25, 2017, at age 76.

A battalion surgeon in the Vietnam War, Dr. Witwer received a U.S. Navy Commendation Medal with Combat “V” for providing medical support to his unit under fire. He also earned a reputation as a “battlefield stork” for delivering babies and providing medical care to local villagers.

After returning stateside, he began a medical career in infectious diseases. He ran a private practice and taught at the University of California, San Francisco.

Despite serious leg injuries from Vietnam, Dr. Witwer became a long-distance runner, completing more than 100 marathons and 50 ultramarathons. He also co-founded a charity run for cancer research that raised $300,000 over a decade.

He is survived by his wife, Carol; children, Julia, Michael, Vincent and Elizabeth; brothers Samuel and David; and a sister, Carole.