In Memory
In memory is a page to read featured obituaries of Northwestern University School of Communication alumni, faculty, and staff.
Fall 2024
Margaret Aylesworth
Speech pathologist and professor Margaret (Peg) Aylesworth (C60, GC65) died on June 13, 2023, in Glenview, Illinois, at age 85. Born on May 25, 1938, in Lanark, Ontario, Canada, Aylesworth earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in communication sciences and disorders from the School of Communication. She then served as an assistant professor and clinic director at the school from 1968 to 2006.
During her tenure, Aylesworth taught speech and language pathology and developed one of the first state-funded interdisciplinary early-intervention clinics, where she facilitated Illinois’s early-intervention credentialing. An Illinois Speech-Language-Hearing Association fellow with a clinical certificate of competence in speech-language pathology, she was instrumental in developing academic and clinical programming for feeding disorders and augmentative communication.
Aylesworth was devoted to her students, colleagues, and clients, winning admiration for her careful and empathetic listening, the fairness of her decisions, and her wry sense of humor. In 2004 she was named assistant professor emerita. She is survived by her husband of 52 years, William Aylesworth.
Judith Stofer Block
Judy Block (C63), teacher, philanthropist, and friend, died on June 26 at her home in Chicago. She was 83 years old. Born June 17, 1941, in Lakewood, Ohio, Block graduated from Northwestern with a BS in speech education and began teaching in the Glencoe public school system.
Deeply committed to making her community a better place, she dedicated her time to many Chicago organizations and served on many boards. A former board president and 55-year board member of the Chicago Child Care Society (now Family Focus), she served on Northwestern’s Board of Trustees was a member and past chair of the Women’s Board of Northwestern University. In 1997 Block became the first woman to chair the Field Museum’s board of trustees, and later she became a director and life trustee of the Field Foundation. She served as a director for the United Way of Chicago for over 25 years.
Block’s numerous awards for service included the Northwestern Alumni Association’s Alumni Service Award, the United Way of Chicago’s Chairman’s Award, and the 2007 Order of Lincoln Laureate, the state’s highest civilian honor for professional achievement and public service. She was predeceased by her husband, Chicago civic leader Philp D. Block III.
Cathy Smith Martin
Cathy Smith Martin (SESP70), a longtime School of Communication administrator, passed away on May 24, 2024, in West Des Moines, Iowa.
Born January 24, 1944, in Live Oak, California, Martin received her bachelor’s degree from Bemidji State University in Minnesota. She began working in Northwestern’s Office of the Registrar in 1967. She then moved to the then-School of Speech (now Communication), where she served as assistant dean of speech. She was with the school for 25 years, retiring in 2002 as the associate dean of speech.
David H. Zarefsky, who served as dean of the school from 1988 to 2000, worked closely with Martin. He called her “a truly major presence in the history of the school.”
After retiring, Martin remained a Northwestern fan for life, always watching the Wildcats on television or reminiscing about the many students she grew to know during her time at the University. She also enjoyed reading and spending time with her children and grandchildren.
Martin is survived by Wayne, her husband of 59 years who also retired from Northwestern after 10 years in the engineering department; her daughter Carolyn; and four grandchildren.
Njoki McElroy
Playwright, performer, storyteller, and professor Njoki McElroy (GC70, GC73) died at age 98 on October 16, 2023, in Dallas. McElroy was the first Black PhD graduate of the School of Communication’s Department of Interpretation (now Performance Studies), where she taught for 35 years and created the nation’s first course on performance of African American literature.
Born Hilda Nadine Hampton on February 12, 1925, in Sherman, Texas, McElroy graduated from New Orleans’s Xavier University in 1945. She began her teaching career in the Chicago public schools and founded the Cultural Workshop of North Chicago in the mid-1960s, introducing neighborhood children to the arts. While pursuing her doctoral studies, McElroy was awarded a Ford Foundation fellowship to collect Caribbean and African folktales and interview influential artists.
Profiled in the 2023 documentary The Queen Professor Holds Court, McElroy wrote 15 plays, many short stories, and two books, including the memoir 1012 Natchez, which details her personal Great Migration journey. A captivating storyteller, she performed throughout the United States, Canada, Africa, and the Caribbean and conducted storytelling workshops for teachers and students of all ages. McElroy was preceded in death by her husband, Clenan McElroy.
Oseloka Osadebe
Artist, playwright, theatre director, and beloved professor Oseloka Osadebe (GC81) died on December 27, 2023, in Jackson, Mississippi. He was 89 years old.
Born in Nigeria on January 6, 1934, Osadebe grew up in Onitsha, Anambra State, and graduated from the Nigerian College of Arts, Science, and Technology (now Ahmadu Bello University) in 1962. While there, he was pioneer member of the famous Zaria Art Society and specialized in painting and sculpture.
He taught art at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, until 1965, when he left the country on an Aggrey Fellowship for African Students to pursue graduate work in the United States. Osadebe received a master’s degree from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1967 and another from the Goodman School of Drama (now the Theatre School at DePaul University) in 1973.
After earning his PhD at Northwestern in 1981 with a specialization in Western and African theatre and drama, he went on to teach theatre and set design at Spelman College, Jackson State University, Northeastern Illinois University, Tougaloo College, and Central State University. Osadebe retired in 2007 and spent his remaining years creating visual art at his studio in Jackson. In 2018 he returned to Nigeria for the first time in years to present the retrospective exhibition Inner Light at the National Museum in Onikan, Lagos.
Melvin Sembler
Businessman and diplomat Mel Sembler (C52) died at age 93 on October 31, 2023, at his home in St. Petersburg, Florida. Born in St. Joseph, Missouri, on May 10, 1930, Sembler was elected senior class president at Northwestern; his future wife, Betty (Schlesinger) Sembler (WCAS53), came up with his campaign slogan—“Be wise, Semblerize.” She preceded him in death.
After graduating with a BS in communication in 1952, Sembler joined the US Army and served at Camp Chaffee in Arkansas. In 1962 he founded the Sembler Company, one of the largest shopping center developers in the southeastern United States. He went on to serve a two-year term (1986–87) as president of the 40,000-member International Council of Shopping Centers.
In 1979 Sembler became involved in the presidential campaign of George H. W. Bush, who as president a decade later appointed him US ambassador to Australia and Nauru. After serving there from 1989 to 1993, he returned to the diplomatic corps as ambassador to Italy from 2001 to 2005, appointed by President George W. Bush.
Sembler believed that a focus on unity is essential. “I think that all of us in the diplomatic service found that our jobs suddenly became much more important after September 11, 2001,” he told Northwestern magazine. “Global terrorism demands a global response.”
Inga Swenson
Tony- and Emmy-nominated actor-singer Inga Swenson (C54) died in Los Angeles on July 23, 2023, at age 90. Born in Omaha, she studied at Northwestern with the legendary Alvina Krause. After making her Broadway debut in New Faces of ’56 and serving as stand-in for Julie Andrews in Camelot, Swenson went on to star in the musicals 110 in the Shade and Baker Street, garnering best-actress Tony nominations for both shows. On film, she played a senator’s wife in Advice and Consent and Helen Keller’s mother in The Miracle Worker. From 1979 to 1986 she appeared as Gretchen Kraus on the television series Benson, receiving three supporting-actress Emmy nominations. Her many other TV credits included Soap, Bonanza, Newhart, The Golden Girls, and the miniseries North & South. Swenson is survived by her husband, sound engineer Lowell Harris.
- Selma Baron (C47)
November 28, 2023 - Rose M.A. Gregorio (C47)
August 17, 2023 - Natalie A. Heil (C47)
July 22, 2023 - Patricia Rose (C47)
February 15, 2024 - Joan G. Klem (C48)
April 27, 2024 - Peggy Kizzia (C49)
March 30, 2024 - George J. McLaughlin (C49, Law52)
April 4, 2024 - Francesca B. Oakley (C49)
June 30, 2023 - Mary Lou C. Wall (C49)
January 22, 2024 - Eileen R. Leclercq (C50)
January 4, 2024 - Dorothy Stinnette (C50)
October 23, 2023 - Ronald E. Vedder (C50)
March 25, 2024 - James Byron Felter Jr. (C51)
January 12, 2024 - Nancy Lou Lannon (C51)
September 17, 2023 - Jeannie Rivkin (C51)
January 2, 2024 - Jacquelyn Tobin (C51)
July 31, 2023 - Kathe Allan Yoss (C51)
March 23, 2024 - Marilyn Dailey (C52)
October 28, 2023 - Hon. James P. Johnson (C52)
November 16, 2023 - Joan V. Lindsay-Strom (C52, SESP74)
February 24, 2024 - Hillard J. Trubitt (C52)
December 21, 2023 - William H. Wegner (C52, C53)
March 12, 2024 - Virginia Yates Cole (C53)
October 1, 2023 - Lynnette Kepplinger (C53)
August 12, 2023 - Helen E. Brooks (C54)
November 15, 2023 - William A. Hartmann (C54)
March 14, 2024 - Mary Mason (C54)
January 1, 2024 - Marianne Kelley Simmons (C54)
August 21, 2023 - Robert G. Boesel (C55)
June 30, 2023 - Frank A. Ehmann (C55, KSM71)
August 27, 2023 - Edwin A. Hollatz (C55, C65)
December 2, 2023 - Barbara Marshall (C55)
January 9, 2024 - Susan Peachey (C55)
February 17, 2024 - Richard N. Wold (C55)
January 2, 2024 - John W. Spalding (C56)
August 20, 2023 - Jack W. Anderson (C57)
October 20, 2023 - Cornelia Carlton (C57)
January 2, 2024 - Evelyn Hardin (C57)
September 1, 2023 - Carolyn H. Walton (C57)
September 8, 2023 - Susan P. Meyer (C58)
June 13, 2023 - Adrienne Lange Baach (C59, C60)
February 21, 2024 - Norman G. Benedict (C59)
March 29, 2024 - Margaret N. Wilhelm (C59)
September 9, 2023 - Patricia Joan Wright (C59)
July 24, 2023 - Julia H. Brown (C60)
April 1, 2024 - Richard G. Cerasani (C60)
February 22, 2024 - Betty N. Mack (C60)
May 24, 2024 - Carolyn E. Smith (C60)
January 16, 2024 - Joseph E. Woodson Jr. (C60)
March 29, 2024 - John R. Baumhardt (C61, C65)
February 22, 2024 - Barbara W. Love (C61)
April 3, 2024 - Sheila Collopy (C62)
January 13, 2023 - Vance Jefferis (C63, C64)
November 19, 2023 - Dr. A. Kent Marler (C63)
January 29, 2024 - Suzanne Sessions (C63)
April 12, 2024 - Marcia L. Prasse (C64)
June 24, 2023 - Patty Rullman (C65)
February 1, 2024 - Clara W. Wachtel (C65)
March 12, 2024 - Delbert L. Unruh (C66)
May 8, 2024 - Nina Weinstein Katz (C66)
November 29, 2023 - Dr. Ann Powers (C67)
October 2, 2023 - Larry G. Ehrlich (C68)
October 24, 2023 - Rev. Nicholas J. Masi Jr. (C68)
October 29, 2023 - Stephen J. Schwartz (C68)
July 22, 2023 - James L. White (C68)
September 30, 2023 - Herbert F. Fentin (C69)
August 9, 2023 - Lois B. Lurie (C69)
November 19, 2023 - Meg Helen Bennett (C70)
April 11, 2024 - Madie D. Gustafson (C71)
March 16, 2024 - Dr. Dale Erwin Miller (C71)
March 27, 2024 - Marjorie A. Bicknell (C72)
October 9, 2023 - Donald G. Kirkorian (C72)
February 10, 2024 - Joan Sourapas (C72, KSM82)
April 29, 2024 - Ellen B. Albert (C74)
October 21, 2023 - Gregory Alan Kandel (C74)
April 18, 2024 - Richard A. Phelps (C74)
September 18, 2023 - Mary Veronica Graber (C75)
July 26, 2023 - Susan Deborah Steele (C75)
July 20, 2023 - Robert Allen Wade (C75)
February 17, 2023 - W. Rockwell Wirtz (C75)
July 25, 2023 - Peggy Gilbert Kubert (C76)
October 4, 2023 - David Mark Leon (C77)
May 17, 2024 - Janice Rice (C77, C83)
February 17, 2024 - Ronna S. Spitz (C77, C78)
March 5, 2024 - Peter Gard Steven (C77, C82)
December 23, 2023 - Andrew J. Chudzinski (C81)
June 19, 2023 - Michael J. Livaudais (C81)
September 7, 2023 - Garland Cunningham (C82)
July 12, 2023 - Roger D. Colcord, PhD (C84)
May 7, 2024 - Malinda Whalen Newman (C90)
October 3, 2023 - Lurell Stanley Davis (WCAS74, C97)
August 1, 2023 - Ceannaich Ryan (C97)
May 6, 2024 - Jordan R. Keller (C04)
May 2, 2024 - Norman Lear (H20)
December 5, 2023