In Memoriam

Nancy Poore ’91 MA, Elgin, Ill., July 27, 2025, at age 85. A feminist activist, writer and publisher, Poore was a pioneer of the women-in-print movement. In 1973 she co-founded Helaine Victoria Press in Santa Monica, Calif., using a vintage letterpress to publish stories and images of little-known heroines. The press, a founding member of the U.S. Alliance of Lesbian and Feminist Printers, printed postcards showcasing women from diverse racial and socioeconomic backgrounds, as well as images of the labor, suffrage and temperance movements. Poore became interested in social justice and feminism while living in California during the ’60s and ’70s. She left Helaine Victoria Press in 1981 and moved to Chicago, where she ran a design, research and writing business. She earned a master’s degree in English from Northwestern and worked at what is now the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications. In 2005 Poore and her partner, Christine Johnson, moved to Michigan, where they owned vacation rental cottages and ran a kayak rental operation. Johnson died in 2015. Poore is survived by cousins Lois, Celia and Marilyn and nephews Ben and Edwin. 

Tamara Iversen Foster ’91, Oakland, Calif., March 20, 2025, at age 61. After graduating with a degree in industrial engineering, Foster joined Northwestern’s Office of the Registrar and in 1992 led a team of student developers and one staff member in the creation of Northwestern’s first website. She also designed the  registrar’s first suite of online forms and processes for course and teacher evaluations (known colloquially as CTECs), making Northwestern one of the first  universities to digitize its evaluation processes. During her 29-year career at Northwestern, Foster worked as a systems analyst and eventually lead developer for Northwestern University Information Technology, training and mentoring generations of IT professionals. She is survived by her spouse, Bernie Foster, who also worked at Northwestern;  her children, Karl and Michelle Yvette Iversen Everly ’19, ’22 MS; a son-in-law, Grant Everly ’19; and a grandchild, Eli Foster, as well as her sisters and many nieces and nephews. 

Mark D. Price ’94, Wellesley, Mass., Aug. 16, 2024, at age 52. An orthopedic surgeon, Price was head team physician and medical director for the New England Patriots and led player care for the team during three Super Bowl championship seasons. He was also part of the medical team for the Boston Red Sox during their 2018 World Series championship season. After graduating from Northwestern, Price worked at a startup that built MRI machines. He completed a doctorate in medical physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where his paper on quantum computing was called “one of the five most significant discoveries in 1998” by the American Physical Society. He then earned a medical degree from Harvard Medical School and worked as a surgeon at UMass Memorial Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital. Price was a captain in the U.S. Navy Reserves and was awarded a Bronze Star in 2012 for his service in Afghanistan, where he led a nine-person team of doctors and medical professionals. Price spoke at a Northwestern Alumni Association NU Live! event at Homecoming and Reunion Weekend in 2019. He is survived by his wife, Stephanie Larson Price ’94; children Henry, Julia Price ’27 and Sarah; his parents, Charles Price and Michael and Geri Garvey; siblings David, Lisa, Stephen and Scott; 12 nieces and nephews; and many friends, patients and colleagues. 

Joanne Smith ’92 GME, Hinsdale, Ill., Sept. 6, 2021, at age 60. A faculty member at the Feinberg School of Medicine for 25 years, Smith transformed the field of physical medicine. In 1988 Smith completed her residency at what was then the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and never left, becoming president and CEO in 2006. She envisioned one of the first “translational” research hospitals, where scientists and physicians work in the same space as patients and apply (or “translate”) research in real time. The Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, a 1.2 million-square-foot research hospital and the manifestation of Smith’s vision, opened in March 2017. Smith was named to Modern Healthcare’s 2021 Top 25 Women Leaders list. She is survived by her husband, Rory Repicky; children Claire and Michael; four sisters; and three brothers. Photo: Katrina Wittkamp

Carol Gaetjens ’91 PhD, Fayetteville, Ark., Feb. 27, at age 76. Passionate about education and giving back to her community, Gaetjens worked for 10 years as a clinical social worker at AMITA Health Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston before eventually pursuing a doctorate in Northwestern’s Human Development and Social Policy program. She went on to direct the master’s program in gerontology at Northeastern Illinois University. Beginning in 1999, she taught courses such as Moral Values in Human Development, Adulthood and Aging, and Observing Human Behavior as an adjunct instructor in Northwestern’s School of Education and Social Policy. Gaetjens also served as a member of Northwestern’s accessibility committee. After moving to Fayetteville, she volunteered at Genesis Church, where she worked with local unhoused people and the working poor. Gaetjens provided her home as a space for those in need, acting as a surrogate mother to adolescents and young adults who were going through difficult times. Gaetjens is survived by her brother, Tony, and her sister, Katie.

Photo: Courtesy of the School of Education and Social Policy

Arti Hurria ’91, ’95 MD, Los Angeles, Nov. 7, 2018, age 48. A pioneer in the field of geriatric oncology, Hurria was the George Tsai Chair in Geriatric Oncology and director of the Center for Cancer and Aging at City of Hope in Duarte, Calif., where she worked closely with her mentor and former Northwestern professor Steven T. Rosen ’72, ’76 MD, ’79 GME, ’81 GME. Hurria, who co-led the Cancer Control and Population Sciences Program, sought to develop assessment tools to identify older individuals at risk for side effects of cancer treatment. She also developed personal relationships with patients. In a 2016 interview she told HemOnc Today, “Love your patients as much as you can. … They are in a vulnerable place, and kindness and compassion go such a long way.” Hurria, who focused her research on breast c­ancer, received multiple awards from the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The society endowed a young investigator award in her memory. A graduate of the Northwestern Honors Program in Medical Education, she is survived by her husband, Thomas Lee; and a daughter, Serena. Photo courtesy of City of Hope

Denise M. Stillman ’99 KSM, Nov. 7, 2018, at age 46. Mrs. Stillman enjoyed a two-decade career in marketing, during which she received the Public Relations Society of America’s MacEachern Award and numerous Silver and Gold Trumpets from the Publicity Club of Chicago. In 2012 she decided to leave that behind to start her own business, Go the Distance Baseball. With help from investors including Hall of Famer Wade Boggs and actor Matthew Perry, she purchased the 193-acre farm and baseball diamond used in Field of Dreams. Preserving the iconic field, surrounded by cornfields in Dyersville, Iowa, was just a small part of Mrs. Stillman’s dream to create a baseball mecca akin to Cooperstown in New York. Plans for All-Star Ballpark Heaven include team lodging and 24 baseball and softball diamonds. (See Denise Miarecki Stillman: Baseball Heaven.) Mrs. Stillman is survived by her husband, Tom Mietzel; a daughter, Claire; a son, John; and sisters Debra Vera and Abby Shelton. Photo by Dave Kettering/The Telegraph Herald in Dubuque, Iowa