In Memoriam

Helen “Meg” Bennett ’70, Los Angeles, April 11, 2024, at age 75. A former Northwestern Homecoming queen and Miss America contestant, Bennett moved to New York City after graduation and earned roles in productions of Grease on Broadway and Godspell off-Broadway. In 1975 she began a long and successful soap opera career as the ingenue Liza on Search for Tomorrow. Bennett went on to play Julia Newman in The Young and the Restless beginning in 1980. She began scriptwriting for The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful, General Hospital, Santa Barbara and Sunset Beach and received five Daytime Emmy nominations for writing, with a win for General Hospital in 1995. She also received five Writers Guild of America nominations, with wins for General Hospital and Sunset Beach. Bennett is survived by her husband, Robert Guza Jr.; two stepdaughters; four grandchildren; two siblings; and many nieces and nephews.

Photo Credit: Getty/CBS Photo Archive

Henry “Hank” Stephen Bangser ’71 MS, ’77 PhD, North Potomac, Md., March 12, 2024, at age 74. Bangser touched the lives of many during his nearly 50-year career in education. He earned his master’s in teaching in 1971 and a doctorate in educational leadership and administration in 1977, both from Northwestern. Bangser then spent the next several decades teaching and taking on educational leadership positions, including superintendencies, in six public school districts across Illinois, New York and California. He spent more than 20 years with New Trier Township High School District 203 in the Chicago suburbs, first as a social studies teacher and football coach in the 1970s, then as an assistant principal. He then served as superintendent of the district for 16 years. Upon his retirement in 2006, the administration building at the Northfield, Ill., campus was renamed in his honor. Bangser served as vice president of the Northwestern Alumni Association Board of Directors from 1994 to 1997 and as president of the School of Education and Social Policy Alumni Board from 1994 to 1996. He was awarded the Alumni Merit Award in 1998. Bangser is survived by his wife, Sara; children Jill, Marc and Matt; and seven grandchildren.

Clinton Krislov ’71, Wilmette, Ill., Feb. 1, 2024, at age 74. An attorney known for taking on Chicago’s City Hall, Krislov crusaded against the city’s controversial parking meter deal, championed consumer rights and fought on behalf of retired city workers. He ran for office six times — notably against former Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin — but was never elected. Krislov sued the city of Chicago in 1983, accusing it of delaying state-mandated payments to city employee pension funds. He recovered $35 million for retirees. Krislov also attempted to void deals to lease Chicago’s parking meters and sell four underground garages to private companies. His work on behalf of consumers won refunds for Black customers who were charged higher prices at hair salons and incarcerated people who were overcharged at a state prison commissary. His class-action lawsuits benefited family members who donated their loved ones’ bodies only to have those remains mishandled. He later won a settlement from General Electric on behalf of dishwasher owners after several fires were caused by an alleged defective switch. He also fought for ballot access and absentee voters’ rights. Krislov is survived by his wife, Dale; children Carson, Taylor and Nick; and several grandchildren. 

Njoki Hampton McElroy ’70 MA/MS, ’73 PhD, Dallas, Oct. 16, 2023. A masterful storyteller, playwright and performer, McElroy graduated from Xavier University in 1945, then taught in public schools in Illinois and Indiana. She earned her graduate degrees from Northwestern’s School of Communication. As an assistant professor of performance studies at the University, she established and taught several iterations of Performance of African American Literature from 1970 to 2002. She taught at Southern Methodist University as well. McElroy gathered traditional African and Caribbean folktales as a Ford Foundation Fellow. She also taught storytelling workshops and wrote several plays exploring Black history and experiences. She founded and directed the Cultural Workshop of North Chicago, which provided performing arts training for Black youth, as well as the annual Back Home With the Folks Festival. Her memoir, 1012 Natchez: A Memoir of Grace, Hardship and Love, was published in 2010. The Queen Professor Holds Court, a documentary about McElroy, premiered in 2022. She co-founded Black Fox Enterprises, a cosmetics and hair care company, with her husband, Clenan McElroy, who died in 1978. She is survived by her children, Ronald, David, Harry, Larry and Marian McElroy ’79 JD. 

Lurell Stanley Davis ’74, ’97 MA, Chicago, Aug. 2, 2023, at age 71. First as a student and later as a professor, Davis helped make a home for gospel music at Northwestern. Growing up in Baltimore, he developed an extensive knowledge of gospel history while performing and music directing for his church. As a first-year student at Northwestern in 1971, he became the first musical director of the Northwestern Community Ensemble (NCE), the University’s premier gospel choir. After a brief stint in the corporate world, he refocused his career on Black sacred music and became a renowned gospel performer, director, historian and expert. Davis later earned a master’s in performance studies from the University and taught gospel music at Northwestern, DePaul University and Loyola University Chicago. He also worked to preserve gospel music history throughout Chicago. Davis served on the committee that inducted the first two dozen members of the Chicago Gospel Hall of Fame. He was also on the leadership team for the inaugural “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing” festival, now known as the Chicago Gospel Music Fest. In 2017 the Northwestern University Black Alumni Association honored Davis at its Salute to Excellence celebration. 

Northwestern’s Religious and Spiritual Life will honor L. Stanley Davis on Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024, at 3 pm at Alice Millar Chapel. “O, for a Thousand Tongues to Sing: A Musical Tribute to L. Stanley Davis” will be a musical experience that honors the Black Gospel music tradition. Kent Brooks, assistant professor of instruction in the School of Communication and director of Religious and Spiritual Life, is the project and musical director for the tribute. Brooks is working on an original composition to be featured. The service will include performances by the Northwestern Community Ensemble, Alice Millar Chapel Choir and a community mass choir. A reception will follow.

W. Rockwell "Rocky" Wirtz ’75, Evanston, July 25, 2023, at age 70. Chairman of the Chicago Blackhawks, Wirtz transformed the team into perennial Stanley Cup favorites. Rocky’s grandfather, Wirtz Corporation founder Arthur Wirtz ’22, bought the team in 1966. Rocky took over the beleaguered franchise after the death of his father, William, in September 2007. ESPN had named the Blackhawks one of the worst teams in professional sports, but Rocky hired experienced marketers, pursued top free agents and upgraded the fan experience at the United Center. His moves revitalized hockey in Chicago, and the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 2010, 2013 and 2015. The Wirtz Corporation, a private holding company with diversified business interests in real estate, banking, sports, entertainment and wholesale distribution, co-owns the United Center, where both the Blackhawks and Chicago Bulls play. Wirtz joined the Northwestern University Board of Trustees as a national trustee in 2011 after serving as an alumni trustee from 1982 to 1984, and was elected as a life trustee in 2023. The Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts is named for Rocky Wirtz’s late grandmother, who graduated from Northwestern in 1924. His family also endowed the W. Rockwell Wirtz Professorship in the School of Communication and their gifts have supported many programs in theater, dance, music theater and performance studies, including the American Music Theatre Project. Wirtz is survived by his wife, Marilyn; children Danny, Hillary, Kendall and Elizabeth; and six grandchildren. 

A. Stephen Pieters ’74, Los Angeles, July 8, 2023, at age 70. A pastor and widely recognized HIV/AIDS activist, Pieters made national headlines — and upended both the gay rights and religious conservative communities — when he became the first gay man with HIV/AIDS to appear on a televangelist program. When he sat for a live satellite interview with Tammy Faye Bakker on her show, Tammy’s House Party, his interview raised national awareness of HIV/AIDS and changed public perception of the condition. Pieters went on to serve as field director for the AIDS ministry at the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches in Los Angeles. President Bill Clinton spoke about Pieters in his World AIDS Day speech on Dec. 1, 1993. That same year, Pieters was one of 12 guests to attend a prayer breakfast at the White House, hosted by Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. In 2021 his interview with Bakker was reenacted in the film The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Pieters graduated from Northwestern in 1974 before enrolling in McCormick Theological Seminary. After earning his master of divinity degree in 1979, he moved to the East Coast and served as pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church in Hartford, Conn., until 1982. Pieters then moved to Los Angeles, where, in 1984, he was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, Kaposi’s sarcoma and stage 4 lymphoma. He was told he had less than a year to live. But Pieters’ cancer went into remission in 1985 while he was participating in an antiviral drug trial. Pieters became one of the longest-surviving people living with HIV/AIDS in the U.S. In July 2022, Pieters left his collected papers, including photos and personal correspondence, to Northwestern University Archives. “Steve endured a tremendous amount of personal suffering. But he channeled his own suffering into a life of compassion for others beset by illness and loss,” says University archivist Kevin Leonard ’77, ’82 MA. “Steve remained true to his ministerial vocation. He was a kind soul, a good and faithful servant.” Pieters is survived by his older brother, Rick Pieters.

Photo Credit: University Archives