Michael Combs

Friends, family, and colleagues are sad to report the passing of Michael W. Combs, long-time professor of political science at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, who died August 29, 2019. He was 69.

Michael was born and raised in Louisiana and did his undergraduate work at Southern University in Baton Rouge. He joined the UNL faculty in 1978, shortly after receiving his PhD in political science from Washington University in St. Louis. As a scholar, Michael’s research interests primarily centered on African American political behavior, race, and the US Supreme Court. He published numerous pieces in these and other areas. Perhaps his best remembered scholarly work is Race and Place: Race Relations in an American City (coauthored with Susan Welch, Lee Sigelman, and Timothy Bledsoe), which won the APSA’s award for Best Book on Urban Politics in 2001. Michael is also remembered as an outstanding teacher. During his four decades in the classroom he won numerous teaching awards—and was especially known for his role as a mentor for generations of African American students at UNL. He served as president of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists and served on editorial boards for a number of journals in the discipline.

In addition to his work as an academic, Michael was also known for his pastoral work. For 33 years he served as the senior pastor at Mount Zion Baptist Church, the oldest African American church in Nebraska. He was an active leader in the National Baptist Convention USA Inc., and took on numerous leadership roles in the New Era Baptist State Convention of Nebraska, including terms as president and vice president. He also served as a board member for the National Baptist Convention and the Congress of Christian Education.

Michael was a community leader and activist, and was particularly known for his advocacy on behalf of diversity and inclusion. He organized symposia on affirmative action, coordinated public discussion and debate on the implications of the election of Barack Obama, the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, and a range of other issues important to the African American community. He was also a long-time contributor to the annual Martin Luther King Week activities on campus, and in 2001 received the chancellor’s Fulfilling the Dream Award for his leadership in promoting the goals and vision of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Michael is survived by his wife Gwendolyn Marizett Combs, associate professor of management and coordinator in UNL’s Office of the Vice Chancellor, his sons Rev. Tremaine M. Combs and Ashton J.M. Combs, and grandchildren Michael-Eugene, Makenzie, Mary, Leah, and David Combs. Michael was a treasured colleague, friend, teacher, scholar, pastor, father and grandfather, who will be sorely missed by all lucky enough to have known him.

—Kevin B. Smith, University of Nebraska, Lincoln

Joseph Fligelman (Jeff) Levy

Joseph Fligelman (Jeff) Levy, age 82, of New Richmond, Wisconsin, died April 20, 2019 at Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Jeff was born April 20, 1937 to Miriam F. Levy and Irving S. Levy in Minneapolis, and raised in St. Paul, MN. He was preceded in death by his parents and his grandson, Daniel Levy.

Jeff attended St. Paul Academy, graduating from American High School in Mexico City, Mexico. He studied at Kenyon College, Northwestern University, and San Francisco State University (BA 1959) under the tutelage of Urban G. Whitaker, Jr., who became Jeff’s lifelong friend, and finally at Indiana University, Bloomington. He began his college teaching career in political science at Moorhead State College in the early 1970s, and retired from Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, MN, in 1998 after teaching there for many years.

Jeff worked with many community groups throughout his life including the ARC of St. Paul (that promotes and protects the human rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, actively supporting them and their families in a lifetime of full inclusion and participation in their communities). Jeff was a member of the St. Paul Planning Commission, the Star Prairie Plan Commission (St. Croix County, Wisconsin), and was an active participant in local and state political organizations. Jeff also served as a member of the Board of Commissioners of the City of St. Paul Public Housing Agency and the Board of Directors of the St. Anthony Developmental Learning Center. He also chaired the Ramsey County Commissioners Citizens Advisory Sub-Committee for Developmental Disabilities, which provided advice in causes of the poor, minority populations, and the disabled. Jeff was a strong supporter of US Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, and his parents were active supporters of Senator Hubert H. Humphrey, as well as friends of the senator and his wife Muriel Humphrey.

Always a believer in life-long learning, Jeff’s love of languages and travel led to one of his best adventures—the opportunity to travel to China, immerse himself in the culture, teach at the ICBC Banker’s College in Hangzhou, make many wonderful life-long friends, learn traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy, and grapple with the challenges of learning the Chinese language.

Jeff is survived by his loving wife, Mary Ellen “Acey” Stewart and children Adam, Joshua, Noah (Judy) Levy, Nate (Summer) and Anna Stewart. Jeff is also survived by adored grandchildren Esther Rose, Ava Bella, Isaac, and Clara Levy; Austin (Maria), James, Ethan, April Stewart, Christina Sallis, and Vaughn Hodge (Aaron); great-grandchildren Emily Stewart, Alex and Sophie Ostrander, and Logan Hodge. He is also survived by sister Judith Levy Sender (Ramon) and brother John Levy; brother by another mother, Wang Jiayong, of Hangzhou, China; as well as many cousins, friends, and in-laws who loved him dearly.

—Acey Stewart, Director of Special Education, City Academy High School (Saint Paul, Minnesota)

—Frederic J. Fleron, Jr., University at Buffalo, State University of New York

Ellis Goldberg

It is with great sadness that we inform you that professor emeritus Ellis Goldberg passed away on September 21, 2019. Ellis was a scholar of comparative politics and Middle East politics in the Department of Political Science and past director of the Middle East Center in the Jackson School of International Studies. He received his BA from Harvard University and his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, before joining the University of Washington in 1985. He published four books, including Tinker, Tailor and Textile Worker: Class and Politics in Egypt, 1930–1952 (University of California Press, 1986) and Trade, Reputation and Child Labor in 20th Century Egypt (Palgrave/MacMillan, 2004), and was the author of numerous articles and reviews. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship and was named a Carnegie Scholar.

Over the years, he held visiting appointments at Princeton, Harvard, and the American University in Cairo. Ellis witnessed the Arab Spring protests leading to the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and recorded his reflections in the acclaimed blog “Nisralnasr: Occasional Thoughts on Middle Eastern and US politics.” He was at work on a book on the 2011 Egyptian revolution when he died. Ellis’s colleagues and students remember him as an immensely learned and brilliantly original scholar and a shining example of intellectual and moral integrity. He was an inspiring teacher of undergraduates and generous mentor of graduate students, whom he helped launch on successful academic careers. He is survived by his partner Tamara Pinkas and his children Shaul Gever, Sophia Goldberg, and Abraham Goldberg. We will miss him.This in memoriam has been reprinted from the University of Washington news release with permission from the author.

—Jerome Kohl, University of Washington

Howard Handelman

Howard Handelman, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, died September 8, 2018 of natural causes in Milwaukee. Howard is survived by his wife Kris, his son Michael, his daughter-in-law Phoebe, and granddaughters Alice and Maggie. He was 75.

Howard attended the London School of Economics during his junior year at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating from the latter institution in 1965. He completed his graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, receiving his doctorate in 1971. Howard became a member of the Political Science Department at UW Milwaukee in 1970, and he remained there until his retirement in 2006.

The politics of Latin America was the primary focus of Howard’s research and writing throughout his career. In addition to several articles and books, he contributed monographs for the American Universities Field Staff on political and economic issues in Venezuela, Uruguay, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Cuba, and Chile, following extensive research in those and other countries. He wrote two textbooks that were published through seven editions: The Challenge of Third World Development, and Politics in a Changing World. Both texts were adopted in courses in the US and around the world.

Howard was a respected and beloved teacher. He taught introductory courses, upper-division courses in comparative government, and several graduate seminars in the politics of Latin America and political development.

Howard was an important presence in university governance, serving (at different times) as the chair of the Political Science Department and the chair of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. He also had leadership roles in UW Milwaukee’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and he helped to expand the university’s global studies programs.

Howard will be sorely missed by his many friends and colleagues. Although he had passionate views on the political issues of the day, he was famous for having close friends across the ideological divide, for his wonderful sense of humor, and his infectious good will that brought out the best in everyone fortunate enough to know him.

—Marcus Ethridge, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

Theodore W. Meckstroth

Theodore Winston Meckstroth, associate professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, died of natural causes at his home in June 2019. He was 79. Ted is survived by his daughter Carolyn and two grandchildren.

A 1962 graduate of Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, Ted completed his graduate work at the University of Minnesota, earning his doctorate in 1971. He was a member of the Political Science Department at Ohio State University from 1967 until 1974, when he became an assistant professor at UW Milwaukee. He remained there until his retirement in 2014.

At the beginning of his career, Ted’s research focused on comparative political analysis. His 1974 article in the American Journal of Political Science, “Some Problems in Cross-Level Inference,” is still used and cited by scholars contributing to theoretical work in comparative politics. Ted’s interests later turned to Marxist theory, culminating in a 2000 essay published in State and Society, “Marx and the Logic of Social Theory: The Capitalist State.” This work explored the possible incompatibility of Marxist theory with the collective action problem.

Ted taught at all levels in political science at UW Milwaukee, including undergraduate courses in political theory and research methods, and a core graduate course, “Scope and Methods of Political Science." He will be missed by many friends, colleagues, and former students.

—Marcus Ethridge, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

Oliver H. Woshinsky

Oliver H. Woshinsky, a revered member of the University of Southern Maine faculty for 30 years, died May 26, 2019, at 79, in his Silver Spring, MD home, ending a valiant four and-a-half year battle with multiple myeloma. With him were the three most important people in his life: his wife, Pat, his son, David, and his daughter-in-law, Marjan.

Oliver arrived at the University of Southern Maine (then the University of Maine at Portland-Gorham) in 1971 with a PhD in political science from Yale, an MA in international relations from Columbia University, and an undergraduate degree from Oberlin College. He wore these impressive academic credentials lightly, once joking that he had learned as much about politics during his two years in the US Army as he had in graduate school. Oliver’s scholarship was unusually wide in scope. Early in his career he studied the psychological makeup of individual politicians, devising a scheme for classifying the various “incentives” that attracted people to political life. Among those who found this work useful was his former student Kay Rand, longtime chief of staff to Maine governor and US senator Angus King, who said she “always remembered his classification system for the motivations of people who serve in public office.” Later, Oliver broadened his focus considerably to examine the cultural underpinnings that produce and sustain different types of governments. Whatever lens he used, Oliver’s work was always marked by deep learning, scientific rigor, and objectivity.

Despite publishing four solid books in political science, Oliver always considered himself first and foremost a teacher. The title of his 2008 book, Explaining Politics, perfectly summed up what he saw as his life’s mission: helping students make sense of the seemingly chaotic world of politics. Maine District Court Judge Charles Dow, who served as Oliver’s teaching assistant while in law school, described it this way: “Oliver’s work was fundamentally a quest to help people understand each other in the real world of politics.”

Coming from an impoverished background himself, and having benefited from the attention of dedicated teachers, Oliver was deeply committed to helping talented and ambitious students improve their lives. He took pride in how many of his students went on from USM to successful careers in government, law, journalism, and business, but he also cared about those who simply left his classroom as more enlightened citizens. He felt enriched by his students, and the feeling was mutual. In an article about his retirement in 2001, the Portland Press Herald reported that after Oliver’s final lecture “his students presented him with a cake, champagne, and a standing ovation.” Earlier that day he had “kept his class of about 25 students chuckling” as he discussed “the impact—negative and positive—of the media on American society and politics.” One of those students, Kim Gruber, told the reporter, “I haven’t missed one of his classes. Every class is so informative. You can hear the wisdom in his lectures that only experience in 30 years of teaching could bring. . . He’s definitely going to be missed.” A former student, Ed Lechner of South Portland, said that Oliver had “taught him and other students they could get involved in civic life,” adding, “I call my congressmen often. I drive Olympia Snowe crazy and I think it’s because of him.”

As a teacher in a state university, Oliver also considered it part of his job to share his knowledge and insights with the larger public. Reporters could always count on him for a quotable comment on current events, as scores of articles in the Press Herald archive can attest. His last op-ed piece appeared just last November. It explained why, “in any gubernatorial election not featuring an incumbent, Maine voters will never choose the candidate of the party currently holding the governorship.”

Oliver described himself quite accurately as a “bookish, academic type,” and his quiet adult life gave no hint of its turbulent beginnings. He was born in northern China, where his father, Harry, a Jewish refugee from Soviet Ukraine, and his mother, Ada Ruth Hanson, the daughter of Methodist missionaries from Kansas, were working as journalists. In his vivid memoir, Conflicted Legacy, Oliver described how his parents, unsure about which rules were actually operating in war-torn China, had gone through the trouble of being married three times: once by a Soviet official, once by an American consul general, and once by Ada Ruth’s own minister father. Two weeks after Oliver’s birth, a nearby dam was blown up, either by the occupying Japanese army or by Chinese resistance forces, causing one of the worst floods in Chinese history. Later his mother wrote an article about the experience for a Minneapolis newspaper (“Marooned Mother and Baby Lived on Goat Meat, Flour.”) Oliver’s parents moved back to the United States when he was two and he spent his formative years in Vermont, including Rutland, Burlington, and Brattleboro.

As a college student, Oliver began a lifelong love affair with France, becoming fluent in its language and an expert in its politics. Living in Paris in 1968 while researching and writing his doctoral dissertation, he had a close-up view of the near-revolution that toppled President Charles de Gaulle. Oliver later seized the chance to explore his Russian roots by spending a semester teaching in Archangel as part of the Portland-Archangel sister city arrangement. While there, he made contact with the children of his father’s sister, the only other member of the family who had survived the Nazi invasion of Odessa. In 2013, Oliver journeyed with some members of his extended family to Tai’an, China, to visit the site of the Christian school his grandfather had built a century before. His grandfather’s church was also still standing, and the visitors were told that it was still (or again) being used for religious services. Never content with official explanations, especially in authoritarian countries, Oliver initially was skeptical of that story. However, after doing some research he concluded that it might be true since the Chinese Communist Party “has allowed a well-supervised revival of traditional religions (and not just Christianity.)”

Oliver was a proud and loving parent to his son, David, who was born on Oliver’s 35th birthday. He and David’s mother Barbara Reisman amicably divorced after 14 years of marriage, and Oliver was fortunate a few years later to find his soulmate in Patricia Garrett, a clinical chemist who helped manage a biotech firm. During their happy 29-year marriage, Oliver and Pat cultivated and maintained countless friendships across the country and around the world. In the years of Oliver’s illness, Pat was a dedicated caretaker, proactively tracking down clinical trials in the fast-moving science of multiple myeloma. Oliver credited Pat’s scientific knowledge and advocacy skills with helping him maintain his health for as long as he did. They both also credited the strength and stamina he had developed during his 25-year jogging and exercise “career” for helping him beat back an aggressive illness for four years. He met and mentored some wonderful friends that way as well.

Son David, an architect, carried on his father’s peripatetic ways by living and working for five years in Malaysia. There he met Marjan Sedgh, a fellow architect from Iran. In 2013 David and Marjan were married in Thailand with Oliver and Pat in attendance. Despite his advancing illness, Oliver was determined to attend Marjan’s recent US naturalization ceremony in New York City. Sadly, he died just a few days before it took place.

Any friends, colleagues, or former students of Oliver are encouraged to contact wife Pat (pgarrett7133@gmail.com), son David, or daughter-in-law Marjan. In addition to his immediate family, Oliver leaves behind three siblings: Margaret Grantham, Stephen Woshinsky, and Ruth Wright, and a large extended family. Oliver’s family has created the Oliver H. Woshinsky Scholarship Fund for junior and senior political science majors at the University of Southern Maine. Proceeds from Oliver’s most recent book, Conflicted Legacy, will also go to the scholarship fund, which will be administered by the USM Foundation. To make a contribution, visit https://securelb.imodules.com/s/300/1001-form/interior.aspx?sid=300&gid=1001&pgid=1273&dids=1855 and indicate that your gift is in memory of Oliver Woshinsky.

—Richard Maiman, University of Southern Maine

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