Edwin A. Gere, Jr.

Edwin A. Gere, Jr., professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, passed away May 15, 2016, after a brief hospitalization. He was 93.

Born in Elmira, New York, in 1922, he attended Elmira schools and was enrolled at Alfred University when World War II began. He enlisted in the Army Air Force and served in the South Pacific where he flew numerous missions against the Japanese, including over their home islands. He was awarded three Air Force Medals and the Purple Heart.

Ed returned to Alfred to complete his education after the war only to be recalled to service in the Berlin Airlift. He flew 184 missions bringing life-saving supplies to the citizens of West Berlin. Following this, he completed his education, earning a master’s degree in political science from Pennsylvania State University and a PhD from SUNY-Albany, specializing in state and local government, intergovernmental relations, and urban law.

In 1957, following two years at the University of Connecticut, Ed joined the Bureau of Government Research at University of Massachusetts, Amherst and subsequently moved into the department of political science where he taught courses in his areas of specialization. He was a founding member of the Massachusetts chapter of the American Society for Public Administration and served as director of the department’s master’s degree program in public administration for six years prior to his retirement in 1990. His numerous publications were designed for scholars and practitioners alike, and he consulted widely on local and state government issues, specializing in home rule charters for Massachusetts towns. He also served for 22 years as moderator of town meeting in Leverett, Massachusetts.

Ed retired from the Air Force with the rank of major but remained active in the organization of Berlin Airlift veterans, returning to Germany often for anniversary celebrations. In 2004, he authored a book on his experience, The Unheralded: Men and Women of the Berlin Blockade and Airlift. In 2008, he was among a small group of airlift veterans invited to join German chancellor Angela Merkel and US Ambassador to Germany William Timken for the annual European International Air Show. In 2009, on the 60th anniversary of the airlift, he was a guest of vice president Joe Biden and Air Force secretary Michael Donnelly at a White House ceremony honoring airlift veterans and, in the same year, was invited to represent airlift veterans at ceremonies in Stuttgart and Berlin honoring the anniversary of their service.

Ed was preceded in death by his wife, Doris. He is survived by four sons, a daughter, and four grandsons. In 2011, a scholarship in his honor was established at UMass Amherst.

Gerald L. Houseman

Gerald L. Houseman died at the age of 78 on December 20, 2013 in Manchester, New Hampshire, after a year of declining health. He earned a PhD in political science from the University of Illinois.

Throughout his career, he resisted categorization as a specialist in this or that field. His work covered a broad range of topics and teaching responsibilities, including American politics, constitutional law, the dynamics of social change, labor studies, state and local government, comparative politics, political economy, and political theory. In recent years he devoted himself to Asian studies, with an emphasis upon Southeast and South Asia. This was an interest that had even taken hold of him when he was writing his dissertation on the Australian Labor Party.

Over the years he contributed a great number of articles, book reviews, essays, and eight books. These included textbooks in American government (with H. Mark Roelofs), state and local government, and a rather acclaimed and often-quoted graduate level book of readings in constitutional law (with Michael McCann). His favorites, The Right of Mobility (1979) and Questioning the Law in Corporate America (1993), did not receive as much recognition as he would have liked; but America and the Pacific Rim: Coming to Terms with New Realities (1995) was quite successful. He dedicated this book to his late wife, Penelope Lyon. He also wrote an essay on civil liberties and the American people which was published in the Encyclopedia of Policy Studies, edited by Stuart Nagel, which received the Wildavsky Award as the best public policy effort of 1994. He taught courses in all of the fields in which he chose to write, and he enjoyed mentoring graduate students who went on to study for their PhD degrees.

He regarded the greatest tragedy of his life to the loss of his wife Penelope in 1994, in a hospital in Indonesia. He said he was never the same after this. They had three children, two of whom pursued academic careers.

He did, however, enjoy a measure of activism. In his early years he was a union organizer, and in 1996 he was a Democratic nominee for Congress. He was also involved in the anti-war movement and in the Caucus for a New Political Science.

Herbert D. Rosenbaum

Hofstra University is deeply saddened by the passing of Herbert D. Rosenbaum, professor emeritus of political science, who died at home on May 18, 2016. He was 95.

Rosenbaum was a professor for 39 years, serving twice as chairman of the political science department, as well as director for two of Hofstra’s nationally renowned presidential conferences. He was deeply interested and involved in local and state politics, most notably participating in the rewriting of the New York State Constitution.

He was a rigorous professor and trusted mentor who forged lifelong relationships with his students, including many alumni who went on to public service careers locally and nationally, such as Phil Schiliro, a former senior advisor to President Obama, and New York State comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

In his book, A Train: Memoirs of a Tuskegee Airman, the late Lt. Col. Charles W. Dryden, Hofstra Class of 1955, wrote of Rosenbaum: “Herb was a superb teacher, a brilliant scholar who knew how to get his students to focus on the . . . essence of a course of study.”

He also helped to train two generations of political scientists. “I have modeled myself after Herb,” Iva E. Deutchman, professor of political science at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, wrote in a tribute in 2014. “In other words, I have tried to be a mentor and friend to many of my students; when some of them are in touch with me 20 years later, I know I have succeeded.”

“Though I teach law, my ‘political science roots’ are never far behind me,” wrote Cheryl Block, professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “Dr. Rosenbaum remains my role model for rigorous thinking and for engaging with students.” He also engaged frequently and energetically with alumni and colleagues via email about scholarship and current affairs through his 90s, reviewing manuscripts, analyzing current events, and following their career developments.

“Dr. Rosenbaum was a superb member of our faculty—a caring and challenging teacher who was committed to excellence in all his endeavors,” said Hofstra University president Stuart Rabinowitz. “His contributions to the political science department, to the Hofstra community and to generations of students and alumni are an extraordinary legacy.”

It was at Rosenbaum’s initiative that the political science department launched an annual student trip to Washington, DC. During the trip, students meet with Hofstra alumni who live and work in the area to learn more about the inner workings of government, and how to pursue careers in public service. He continued to make that annual trip well into his 80s, regaling students and faculty colleagues with stories during the long bus ride to Washington, said Rosanna Perotti, chair of the political science department. During the course of those trips, Rosenbaum forged deep friendships with new generations of political science faculty, and he continued to meet with Hofstra political science alumni working in Washington in the private sector and in government. “He absolutely loved those trips,” Perotti said. “We walked everywhere on Capitol Hill, we spent six hours on a bus, and he did it all.”

Although Rosenbaum retired from teaching at the end of the 1990–1991 academic year, he remained an energetic member of the Hofstra community. He participated in department events and programs, including attending the annual induction of new members of the department’s chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha. A prize named for Rosenbaum is awarded to the best paper written in a political science class each year.

When he was in his 80s, Rosenbaum instituted a Sunday afternoon public affairs discussion group that attracted former students and local political analysts. Participants packed the room, and Rosenbaum sometimes stayed for hours beyond closing time discussing current affairs with his guests. He was also a committed member of the Hofstra Association of Retired Professors, and frequently organized political lectures and events for his colleagues in a variety of disciplines.

As a young man, Rosenbaum fled Nazi Germany with his family, arriving in the United States in 1937. He sometimes recounted to students that his interest in elections began when as a child he observed the rigging of a local election by the Nazis. His interest in electoral politics was indeed enduring; he advocated for electoral reform on Long Island and taught the department’s elections and public opinion courses until his retirement. In 1997 Rosenbaum, accompanied by members of his family, made an emotional pilgrimage to his hometown of Grossen-Linden in the State of Hesse, where he unveiled a memorial stone, honoring those who were unable to escape the town and perished in the Holocaust.

Rosenbaum graduated from New York University and completed graduate studies at Columbia University, earning his master’s and doctoral degrees there. He joined the Hofstra faculty in 1952. As a longtime chair and senior member of the political science department, Rosenbaum was instrumental in recruiting new faculty and in setting and maintaining professional standards for their conduct. He served as director for the Hofstra Cultural Center’s presidential conference series “FDR: The Man, The Myth, The Era (1982)” and “Jimmy Carter: Keeping the Faith (1990).”

Bernard J. Firestone, dean of Hofstra College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a former professor of political science, said, “Herb Rosenbaum was among the pre-eminent faculty of his generation. Over a career that spanned five decades, he taught thousands of students, engineered the creation of the University Senate, inaugurated Hofstra’s series of presidential conferences, and served as a mentor and role model for those faculty who followed him.”

His publication record includes a primer on government, “First Book in Government and Politics,” and the edited volumes of proceedings from the Roosevelt and Carter presidential conferences.

Rosenbaum was named Teacher of the Year for the 1960–1961 academic year. In 2010 he was named to Hofstra University’s 75th Anniversary William and Kate Honor Roll, which recognized efforts and contributions of employees, alumni, and friends who had a significant impact on the history of Hofstra University.

A memorial scholarship fund has been established in Rosenbaum’s memory, and the department is scheduling a memorial gathering for late October, 2016. For more information, please contact the department of political science, Hofstra University, 516-463-5616 or Rosanna.Perotti@hofstra.edu.

Susan J. Tolchin

Mr. Speaker. I rise today to remember the life of Susan J. Tolchin, someone whom I had the privilege to work with and who I had long admired for her curiosity, her judgment, and her concern for others.

An ardent feminist, who along with her husband Marty, brought attention to the plight of middle-class working women, a class of Americans often overlooked and rarely chronicled, Susan and Marty authored several books together, all of which highlighted the mechanisms that the Tolchins considered “occupational hazards of democracy.”

As an author and a professor, Susan focused on and scrutinized political patronage and its many pitfalls, and was one of the first political scientists to identify growing voter disenchantment and disillusion with their government. She wisely concluded that these concerns were deeply rooted in the women’s and worker’s rights issues, largely discounted and ignored by policymakers, but which she sought to highlight through her teaching and writings.

In her seminal and sage work on political patronage, Susan redefined political patronage as that which “includes the vast range of favors awarded by constantly expanding governments.” Likewise, her work on evolving voter anger was cutting-edge analysis, far ahead of her peers.

For those who had the fortune to know her, Susan was an engaging and charming conversationalist, with a natural curiosity and ability to learn from others. She was always learning and seeking new ideas, and applying this knowledge to her scholarship in the classroom and in her writings in political journals, magazines, and books.

Susan’s legacy of scholarship has provided those of us who also champion women’s and laborers’ rights with a critical knowledge base. Her work was inspirational and insightful, and helped me and many others to understand trends and the undercurrents that caused them which others might have missed.

Susan was not only dedicated to struggles of the working, middle-class women, but also to her family, whom she loved dearly. She and her husband Martin worked closely together for many decades, authoring many books. She adored her daughter Karen, also a professor, and their charming grandson, Charlie. The tragic loss of their son Charles from a series of health setbacks in 2003 was a show of strength, love, and compassion, how a supportive family rallies behind a son in need, with courage and resilience.

They were quite a team, Susan and Marty, always joyful and supportive of each other, in the best of times and in challenging times.

Those who were fortunate to have known and loved Susan, or who had followed her work, will miss her terribly. Her passion was an inspiration for many, and one can only hope that her passing will not be the last chapter of her story, but that she will continue to inspire countless others. She certainly inspired me.

Jerry L. Weaver

Jerry L. Weaver, a member of the political science department of California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) from 1966 to 1977, passed away on May 10, 2016 in Newark, Ohio, at the age of 77. Weaver initially concentrated his research upon Latin American elites, with special reference to Guatemala. Among his articles was “The Military Elite and Political Control in Guatemala” in Social Science Quarterly (June 1969, vol. 50: 127–135). Subsequently, he explored continental problems in a volume he edited, Latin American Development Administration: Accomplishments of the 1960’s, Research Priorities for the 1970’s (Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Texas, 1973) and in an article, “Arms Transfers in Latin America: A Note on the Contagion Effect” in the Journal of Peace Research (1974, vol. 11: 213–219).

Weaver later became interested in issues of health care delivery. He wrote Conflict and Control in Health Care Administration (Sage Publications, 1975); and Health Care and the Underserved: Ethnic Minorities, Women, and the Elderly (Mosby, 1976). In the mid-1970s, he introduced health policy undergraduate and graduate courses, including “Politics of Health” and “Administration of Health Care.” He was also known for teaching many sections of the freshman American political institutions course at CSULB reserved for Economic Opportunity Program students, mostly African-Americans from lower-income backgrounds.

From 1975 to 1977, while on leave from CSULB, Weaver directed the public administration program in the political science department at University of California, Los Angeles. In a career shift in 1978, he joined the US Foreign Service where, as a Refugee Affairs Counselor assigned to the US Mission in Sudan, he designed and led “Operation Moses,” a clandestine and privately-financed movement of more than 10,000 Ethiopian Jews from Sudan to Israel from November 1985 to March 1986. For this latter accomplishment he was honored by vice president George Bush in 1985 with the State Department “Superior Honors” award.