In memoriam

September 30, 2024

A world-class teacher of organic chemistry and rigorous researcher who mentored numerous students who went on to successful careers in the field, Spencer exemplified Dartmouth's teacher-scholar model.

"A world-class teacher of organic chemistry and rigorous researcher, Tom exemplified Dartmouth's teacher-scholar model," Dean Elizabeth F. Smith said in a message to the Arts and Sciences community. "Students and colleagues alike treasured his passion for chemistry, caring nature, and unmatched ability to demystify complex science. He will be deeply missed and long remembered." 

Spencer was born in Orange, N.J., in 1934 and raised in nearby Chatham. He earned a BA with distinction from Amherst College in 1956, studying chemistry and literature, and serving as a pitcher on the baseball team—three passions he would pursue over the course of his life. Spencer received his PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, where he did postdoctoral work before joining Dartmouth's faculty as an instructor of organic chemistry in 1960. 

David Lemal, Albert W. Smith Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, attended graduate school at Harvard when Spencer was studying at the University of Wisconsin and recalls "a little story that foreshadowed the kind of chemist Tom would later become." Spencer accomplished a feat that stumped a Harvard team, Lemal says: He executed a synthesis of the alkaloid colchicine, "a tempting target for synthetic chemists because of its unusual and challenging structure, not to mention its interesting physiological properties."

At Dartmouth, too, "Tom chose important problems to attack and was never intimidated just because they were difficult," Lemal says.

Spencer was promoted to assistant professor in 1962, associate professor in 1965, and full professor in 1969. He served as the New Hampshire Professor of Chemistry from 1972 to 2004, when he continued his work as a research professor after taking emeritus status. 

The author of more than 100 research articles in journals such as Organic Chemistry and Synthetic Communications, Spencer focused on organic synthesis as well as its biochemical applications related to cholesterol biosynthesis and regulation. 

Profiling him in 1975, the year he was named the New Hampshire Professor of Chemistry, Dartmouth Alumni Magazine noted, "A sense of awe at the wonders of nature pervades the thinking of Thomas Spencer as he talks about his research as an organic chemist at Dartmouth."

Spencer told the magazine, "It is both fascinating and staggering to contemplate all the chemistry going on in us all the time. We are walking, talking bundles of chemical activity."

Spencer's enthusiasm for all things chemical made a lasting impression on his students. Fusing innovative research with dedicated teaching, he mentored many students who went on to become notable chemists. Barry Sharpless '63, a two-time winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, acknowledged, on the Nobel website, the influence of his unforgettable mentor.   

"Thomas A. Spencer, a brand-new assistant professor of chemistry, arrived at Dartmouth when I did, and I was part of his research group for three years. Because Tom was so smart and such a good chemist, he could recognize not just talent, but the potential to do something significant. Because Tom was also born a great teacher, he was obliged to give a swift kick to my comfortable obliviousness," Sharpless said. "If some variables in my adult life were changed, I might still have made it onto these pages, but it never would have happened without Tom Spencer."

Chemistry professor emeritus Robert Ditchfield also recalls Spencer's gift for teaching. His "ability to convey the precise three-dimensional nature of complex organic structures on a two-dimensional medium, a blackboard, was unmatched," Ditchfield says. "When he and Professor Lemal taught Chemistry 57/58 (Dave in Chemistry 57 and Tom in Chemistry 58), the course was recognized by students as a very demanding, but wonderfully rewarding course. Enrollment in the course was capped at 50 students, and every year there was an extensive waiting list."

Spencer also trained many graduate students who went on to successful careers in academia and industry, such as Michael Garst, head of chemical sciences at Akrivista, and Janeta Popovici-Muller, senior vice president of drug discovery and development at Quotient Therapeutics. Spencer was also widely admired as a dedicated mentor to premed students, whose faces, names, and hometowns he memorized. 

Among his many administrative roles, Spencer served as chair of the Department of Chemistry from 1969 to 1973. He also served on committees of the National Institutes of Health and the American Chemical Society. Additionally, he was a consultant to Mylan Pharmaceuticals and Merck, Sharp, and Dohme Research Laboratories. 

Many colleagues fondly recall Spencer's signature combination of reticence and warmth. 

"Tom had a surface veneer of brusqueness, but if one scratched just below the surface one found a wonderfully caring individual," Ditchfield says. "He would never use 10 words when five would suffice, but the five were chosen very carefully to convey succinctly the desired message."

Spencer met his wife, Patty, during their first year of high school. They married in 1956 and had four children and seven grandchildren. After raising their children in Hanover, they moved to Lake Fairlee, Vermont, and also enjoyed time at their cottage in Truro, Cape Cod. For the last six years, they lived at Kendal in Hanover.

When, after receiving his first Nobel Prize, Sharpless spoke to a chemistry class at Dartmouth, Spencer sat in the front row. Although by then retired from full-time teaching, he continued to pursue research into how unstable, positively charged intermediaries can survive to be converted into cholesterol. In 2023, at the age of 89, he submitted his final paper for publication.

The Dartmouth flag will be lowered on Monday, Oct. 14, and Tuesday, Oct. 15, in Spencer's honor.

September 24, 2024 

Christopher G. Levey, associate professor emeritus of engineering and former director of Thayer's instructional laboratories, died Sept. 24 after a long battle with cancer. He was 69.

"Chris truly made engineering come alive for our students, and he is an important reason why Thayer is a place where students can roll up their sleeves and dive into engineering from the get-go," said Alexis Abramson, dean of Thayer School of Engineering.

Levey, who grew up in Berea, Kentucky, earned his bachelor's degree from Carleton College and his PhD in physics from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He completed his post-doctoral research at Bell Labs, before joining Dartmouth in 1986, first as an assistant professor of physics, then in 1993, joined Thayer School of Engineering as an associate professor of engineering. He taught students, managed the school's instructional labs and project spaces, and produced active research until his retirement in 2022.

"Chris was a true believer in Thayer's unique blend of excellence in hands-on education, meaningful research, and societal impact," said Professor Douglas Van Citters, Thayer's associate dean for undergraduate education who has worked closely with Levey. "More than a participant, he was a leader in each."

In his role as director of instructional labs, Levey helped shape technical instruction and provided guidance and support for nearly every engineering course with a lab or project component. He contributed to the vision and design of Thayer's two major buildings — MacLean Engineering Sciences Center, which opened in 2006, and the Class of 1982 Engineering and Computer Science Center, which opened in 2022. 

A materials scientist and researcher, Levey and his microengineering laboratory team were the first, in 2005, to develop the world's smallest untethered mobile robots. For years, Levey was also a pivotal figure in planning and executing Thayer's Open House, a popular annual event that drew the broader Upper Valley community to campus for live science demonstrations and hands-in, interactive engineering activities.

Along with his wife Barbara DeFelice, director emerita of scholarly communications at Dartmouth Library, and son Nacio, Levey performed in the The Christmas Revels with Revels North, in which he sang, danced, and directed the ritual dances which trace their roots to pre-Christian England.

Information for a Celebration of Life for Levey will be announced as it becomes available.

September 19, 2024

Barry Scherr, professor emeritus of Russian language and literature, died on Sept. 12 at the Jack Byrne Center for Palliative and Hospice Care in Lebanon, N.H., with his loving family by his side. He was 79.

"One of the foremost authorities on Russian poetics and versification, Barry was a legendary professor, colleague, and administrator known as much for his incisive and wide-ranging scholarly interests as for his generosity of spirit," Dean Elizabeth F. Smith said in a message to the Arts and Sciences community. "Generations of students and colleagues at Dartmouth and around the world found inspiration in his generous leadership and mentorship, and he will be dearly missed."

Scherr grew up in Enfield, Conn., where he helped out on his family's poultry farm. He went to public schools through ninth grade, then received a scholarship to Suffield Academy, from which he graduated in 1963. He entered Harvard as a sophomore, intending to major in a science discipline, and started learning Russian because the language was considered useful for scientists. At that time, Harvard was home to several distinguished Russian scholars, including linguist Roman Jakobson—and unexpectedly, Scherr discovered his passion for Russian literature.

After graduating from Harvard in 1966 as a Slavic languages and literatures major, Scherr headed to the University of Chicago to pursue his PhD. During the 1969-70 academic year, he conducted research for his dissertation on the writer Alexander Grin in what was then the Soviet Union, the first of many trips to the region that included leading foreign study programs for college students. From 1970-74 he taught at the University of Washington before joining the Dartmouth faculty in the summer of 1974.

At Dartmouth, Scherr primarily taught 19th and 20th century Russian fiction, comparative literature, and Russian film. He also co-led the creation of a three-way exchange program between Moscow State University and the Russian and environmental studies departments, and he led the first Dartmouth student group to Moscow. He was promoted to associate professor in 1977 and full professor in 1983.

Scherr's 1986 book, Russian Poetry: Meter, Rhythm, and Rhyme, covered the entire Russian verse tradition and catapulted him to the forefront of scholarship on Russian poetics. 

"In Russian versification, Barry was considered by his peer colleagues in Russia to be 'one of their own,'" Professor Emeritus of Russian and Comparative Literature John Kopper recalls. "I can think of only a handful of American Russianists who commanded this level of professional respect in Russia."

As a scholar, Scherr was deeply engaged by questions of verse within the Russian tradition and from a comparative perspective. He was also known for his thoughtful investigations of early 20th century Russian literature, translation, Russian-Jewish writers, and film, with articles in academic publications including Slavic Review, the Slavic and East European Journal, and the International Journal of Slavic Linguistics and Poetics. Among his many publications, he co-edited the essay collection Eisenstein at 100: A Reconsideration with the late professor emeritus of film and media studies Al LaValley.

Scherr served as chair of his professional association, the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages, for several years and he also served on the editorial board of the Slavic and East European Journal. 

All the while, Scherr was a widely admired leader at Dartmouth. He served as provost for eight years, from 2001 to 2009, and was especially effective in championing the arts and humanities. Brian Kennedy, director of the Hood Museum of Art during that time, recalls Scherr's constant support and enthusiasm.

"He loved the arts, and on many occasions I appreciated his dancing eyes, his face in a smile, ready to laugh heartily," Kennedy says. "He reveled in an exciting idea, ever curious, and was prepared to take risks—notably supporting the Hood's display of Chinese artist Wenda Gu's eighty-by-thirteen-foot screen, 'The Green House', in the Dartmouth Library corridors, made from hair gathered from thousands of haircuts of people in the Dartmouth and regional communities. Of course Barry, and his great friend, Dartmouth President Jim Wright, contributed some of theirs too!"

Together with Kennedy and Jon Cohen, former chairman of the Hood, Scherr helped raise $50 million for the museum.

Susan DeBevoise Wright, who served as executive director of the Montgomery Fellows program during her tenure as Dartmouth's first lady, remembers collaborating with Scherr when he led a faculty ad hoc committee in the selection of fellows. 

"He enriched students' learning outside of the classroom by enabling them to meet informally at Montgomery House with celebrated writers, artists, scientists, and government and military officials, such as Edward Albee, Joan Didion, Merce Cunningham, and—to Barry's utmost delight—Roz Chast," she says. "Barry's vastly capacious intellect was rivaled only by his sense of humor."

Scherr served as associate dean for the humanities from 1997 to 2001, when his planning and fundraising efforts enabled Dartmouth to found the Leslie Center for the Humanities. He also served as chair of the Russian department for several years, beginning in 1981, and on numerous committees. In these myriad roles he earned genuine respect from colleagues across Dartmouth for his diligence, equanimity, and kindness.

"As a department administrator and dean, he was completely devoid of personal animus, blind to prejudice, and capable of refereeing any dispute impartially—a rock of judiciousness," Kopper says.

"I always felt he treated everyone with respect and kindness no matter your position at Dartmouth," says Carol Bean-Carmody, administrative assistant in the Comparative Literature Program. Awed by his vast knowledge, she recalls his studious organization of the hundreds of books in the Russian seminar room.

Following his retirement from Dartmouth in 2012, Scherr continued to research and write until his illness prevented him from doing so. He also taught courses through Dartmouth's Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Scherr remained so active professionally as he entered retirement that when Kopper and a colleague set out to create a festschrift, they weren't sure when to time the publication.

"For the bibliography we eventually set an artificial cutoff date of 2015, three years after his retirement, with many works left off that were still in progress on Barry's desk," Kopper says.

The resulting volume, "A Convenient Territory:" Russian Literature at the Edge of Modernity Essays in Honor of Scherr Scherr, includes contributions from many colleagues at other universities whom Scherr had mentored, as well as alums of the Russian department who had become academics across the country. "For a humanities department like ours—and a small department at that—Dartmouth Russian produced an impressive number of future PhDs during Barry's tenure," Kopper says. 

In addition to mentoring junior colleagues and emerging scholars across the country, Scherr stayed in touch with several of his students over many decades. He corresponded with former students regularly and was cherished for his positive, soft-spoken mentorship.

In a 2020 Q&A in the Slavic and East European Blog with Ainsley Morse, associate professor of East European, Eurasian, and Russian studies, Scherr reflected on his education, career, and advice for young scholars.

"I guess my final bit of advice would be not to be too intimidated by all that's out there now," he said. "It might be that there's so much out there it's hard not to be intimidated, but in terms of the scholarship and everything else, just pick and choose, work your way through it and you can get there."

Scherr and his wife, Sylvia, lived in Norwich for nearly 50 years, where he tended flower, vegetable, and herb gardens, and enjoyed observing the hummingbirds that came to his feeder. He also took great pleasure in spending time with his children, David and Sonia, who inherited his love of literature and learning.

Alfia Rakova, director of the Russian Language Program, remembers meeting Scherr at her job interview in the cold January of 2007. "I immediately felt the warmth of the Russian department, professors, and students," she says. "In his soft-spoken voice he expressed so much knowledge and love about the Russian language and literature that I thought how wonderful it would be to teach at Dartmouth."

The family will hold a private funeral service at the Roth Center, which Scherr helped create as president of the Upper Valley Jewish Community from 1991-94. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Jack Byrne Center for Palliative and Hospice Care, the Dartmouth College Fund in support of financial aid for undergraduates, or a charity of one's choice.

The Dartmouth flag will be lowered on Thursday, Sept. 26, and Friday, Sept. 27, in Scherr's honor.