Errol Gaston Hill, an actor, playwright and director who became the first African American to earn tenure at Dartmouth College, died on Sept. 15 of cancer. He was 82.
A native of Trinidad, Hill received his early theater training in England and obtained degrees from the University of London, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and Yale University. In the early 1960s, he worked as an announcer for the BBC, and as an actor and creative arts teacher in the West Indies before moving to the U.S.
In 1968, he joined the Dartmouth faculty. During his 35 years with the school, Hill taught a portfolio of 13 different theatre courses, and ran the Summer Repertory Program for six seasons. Through his scholarly writings, Hill developed an international reputation as an expert in African American Caribbean theatre. He also wrote 11 plays and produced/directed 120 performances in the U.S., England and Nigeria.
Hill was honored in 1991 with the Presidential Medal from Dartmouth for outstanding leadership and achievement. Five years later, he received the Robert Lewis Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Theater Research from Kent State University.
Dr. Chris Gillin
Categories: Education, Medicine, Scientists
Dr. J. Christian Gillin, a psychiatrist with a specialty in sleep and mood disorders, died on Sept. 13 from esophageal cancer. He was 65.
Gillin was only 18 years old when he accompanied his anthropologist father to a mental hospital. There he observed a catatonic patient who inspired him to study psychiatric medicine.
He graduated cum laude from Harvard University and earned his medical degree at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine. From 1971 to 1982, Gillin conducted sleep research at the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute of Mental Health. He then became a professor of psychiatry at the University of California San Diego, where he continued his study of how sleep abnormalities were associated with depression, recovery and abstinence in patients with alcoholism.
He was the former president of the Sleep Research Society, the Society for Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms and the West Coast College of Biological Psychiatry. The founding editor of Neuropsychopharmacology, the journal of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Gillin wrote more than 500 scientific articles and co-authored the book, “Human Sleep and Its Disorders.”
In 2001, Gillin was awarded the Distinguished Scientist Award from the Sleep Research Society, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
Louis Goodman
Categories: Military
Louis Goodman, a World War I veteran, died on Sept. 16 of cancer. He was 106.
Born in Ukraine, Goodman’s family immigrated to the United States to escape poverty and religious persecution. He became a citizen after he was drafted into the Army to serve as a medic in France during World War I.
When he returned to America, Goodman became a linotype operator for the Philadelphia Ledger. He remained there until the paper folded during World War II, then moved to Atlanta to run a variety store until his retirement in 1967.
According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, less than 200 World War I veterans are still living.
Sister Daniel Stefani
Categories: Education
Sister Daniel Stefani, a Roman Catholic nun who aided thousands of homeless children, died on Sept. 8 from complications of the West Nile virus, bacterial influenza and meningitis. She was 80.
Helen Stefani joined the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, Kan., in 1942, and took the name Sister Daniel. She worked as a teacher and a principal then joined the Mount St. Vincent Children’s Home, one of Denver’s three Catholic orphanages. Determined to stay at the forefront of child care issues, Stefani earned a degree in social work from the University of Denver.
She spent 32 years at Mount St. Vincent, educating the homeless and troubled youths left in her care. In 1996, she received the Civis Princeps, or “first citizen” award, from Regis University.
Hal Hayes
Categories: Media, Sports, Writers/Editors
Robert H. “Hal” Hayes, an award-winning sportswriter, died on Sept. 8 from cancer. He was 64.
After graduating from Jacksonville State University in 1962, Hayes worked as a sports writer for several newspapers in Georgia and Alabama. During his eight years with The Atlanta Constitution, he won six Associated Press awards. In 1969, Hayes was named Georgia Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame.
Hayes spent five years doing public relations for the Atlanta Falcons and three years promoting the Birmingham Stallions, then focused his talents on writing nonfiction books. He penned “From the Goal to the Final Glory,” a history of the Jackson State University football team, and was just finishing up a book on the history of the Marching Southerners, the school’s marching band, when he died.
CC Brown
Categories: Extraordinary People
Cecilia “CC” Brown spent her life on a one-woman crusade against child abuse.
Brown studied psychology at Beaver College, Hahnemann Medical College and Temple University, then launched into a career of fighting child abuse and neglect. She spoke to parent groups, organized hundreds of workshops, appeared on local TV and radio programs and spent 28 years volunteering as a counselor and lecturer with the Child Abuse Prevention Effort in Philadelphia.
Brown died on Sept. 1 from breast cancer. She was 60.
Simon V. Muzenda
Categories: Politicians
Simon Vengayi Muzenda, a vice president of Zimbabwe, died on Sept. 20 from a kidney ailment. He was 80.
The former teacher and carpenter rose to power in 1980 when he and other rebel leaders won Zimbabwe’s independence from Britain. Although he was often mocked for his lack of political savvy, Muzenda became a loyal aide and adviser to President Robert G. Mugabe.
A co-founder of the ZANU-PF party, Muzenda served as foreign minister and deputy vice president before becoming one of the nation’s two vice presidents in the mid-1980s. The remaining vice president, Joseph Msika, remains in power.
Muzenda’s plan to seize the last of the white-owned farms in Zimbabwe and redistribute the farmland to black citizens was placed on hold when he took ill last year. He was further stymied by the European Union’s decision to place him on a list of Zimbabwean officials banned from foreign travel. His overseas assets were also frozen.
Don Cox
Categories: Media
Don Cox, a disc jockey who reached two generations of South Florida listeners, died on Sept. 15. Cause of death was not released. He was 55.
Off the air, Cox had problems with drugs and alcohol. He served four months in jail in 1980 for cocaine trafficking, and had his driver’s license suspended in 1991 when he was arrested for drunken driving.
But over the airwaves, he was known as “Cox on the Radio.” His gravelly voice and bawdy on-air persona made him a star DJ on Y-100 FM, a pop station in Miami. In 1986, he aired his first live show for contemporary hit radio station, Power 96 FM, from atop the Coppertone billboard in North Miami Beach. Cox ended his broadcasting career last year at country music station, 99.9 KISS FM, in West Palm Beach.