C8 JOHNB.FENN,93 VCUprofessorwonNobel chemistry prize for newtechniques BY MARTINWEIL John B. Fenn, 93, a Virginia
Commonweath University scien- tist who shared the 2002 Nobel Prize in chemistry, worked into his last decade and believed that college courses “ought to be fun,” died Dec. 10. The place and cause of deathwere not reported. Dr. Fenn, who was a longtime
professoratYaleUniversitybefore moving toVCU16 yeas ago, devel- oped new techniques of chemical analysis throughmass spectrome- try. His methods provided highly detailed information about pro- teins and other large and complex molecules. Mass spectrometersuse electri-
cal and magnetic fields to bend a beam of charged particles. The amount of bending, which can be readilymeasured, depends on the particles’mass
andcharge.Know- ing the charge reveals the mass, fromwhich other important data can be inferred. But getting large and complex
molecules to remain intact while affixing a charge had been diffi- cult. Dr. Fenn was able to over- come such obstacles through a process known as electrospray ionization. “It’s probably safe to say that
every new drug that comes to the market today has a fair amount of electrospray mass spectrometry in its background and develop- ment,” Dr. Fenn told Investor’s BusinessDaily in 2002. He shared his Nobel prize with Japanese scientist Koichi Tanaka
Mildred S.Williams HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER
Mildred S. “Millie” Williams,
92, a former high school teacher who later became a school cross- ing guard in McLean, died Nov. 25 at Dawes House, an assisted living facility in Alexandria. She had dementia. Early in her career, Mrs. Wil-
liams was an English and art teacher at a high school in El Dorado Springs, Mo. She was a crossing guard at Chesterbrook Elementary School inMcLean in themid-1950s. She was born Mildred Lee
Schrimsher in Odessa, Mo., and received a bachelor’s degree in English and art in 1939 from what is now the University of Central Missouri in Warrens- burg. Shemoved to theWashington
region in the early 1940s and had lived inMcLean since the 1950s. Mrs. Williams was a member
of Divine Science Church of the Healing Christ in Washington and theAmerican Legion auxilia- ry inMcLean. Her husband of 47 years, Dale
D.Williams, died in 1988. Survivors include two chil-
dren, Carol Lewis of Vienna and Michael Williams of Drayden, Md.; six grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren. —LaurenWiseman
Kenneth J. Holmberg
GRAPHIC ARTIST, DESIGNER Kenneth J. Holmberg, 61, a
freelance graphic artist and inte- rior designer in the Washington region since the 1970s, died Dec. 4 at Capital Hospice in Arlington County.He had lung cancer. Kenneth Joseph Holmberg
was born in Arlington County and was a 1966 graduate of Bishop O’Connell High School. He received an associate’s degree in graphic arts from Northern Virginia Community College in 1970 and an associate’s degree in residential planning fromtheArt Institute of Pittsburgh in 2007. Mr. Holmberg had worked in
design since the 1970s, and his clients included the Internation- al Life Sciences Institute. He was an Arlington resident. Survivors include his partner
of 35 years, Noel Carman of Arlington; and a sister, Barbara Young of Rockville. —LaurenWiseman
Professor John Fenn worked into his last decade and believed that college courses “ought to be fun.”
and Kurt Wuthrich of Switzer- land. “There’s an awful lot of luck in
this,” Dr. Fenn said afterwinning. “Tosucceedas a theorist, youhave
tobegood.Tosucceedasanexper- imentalist, you only have to be lucky. As an experimentalist, you can go through life kicking over a lot of stones, and, if you’re lucky, you’ll find something.” John Bennett Fenn was born
June 15, 1917, in New York and graduated from Berea College in Kentucky in 1937. He received a Ph.D. in chemistry from Yale in 1940. In an autobiographical essay, he described the experiments he
Decker A. Patterson LOAN OFFICER
Decker A. Patterson, 70, a loan
officer at Perpetual Savings Bank in the District from1964 until he retired in 1985, died Nov. 25 at at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington.He had bladder can- cer.
Decker Augustus Patterson
was born in Beverly, Mass., and moved to Washington in 1964 after serving in the Air Force for four years as a jetmechanic. He was a volunteer with the
U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and during the summers would pa- trol the waters near Boothbay Harbor,Maine. He had no immediate survi-
vors. —LaurenWiseman Linda Kaplan
ACCOUNTANT Linda Kaplan, 72, who was an
accountant and auditor at George Washington University and several accounting firms, diedNov. 25 of kidney failure at a nursing home in Virginia Beach. She lived in Dumfries. Ms. Kaplan, a certified public
accountant, settled in the Wash- ington area in 1973. She was a teacher and administrator at the D.C.-area campus of Antioch Col- lege before becoming an internal auditor at GWU in the early 1980s. She later worked for several
accounting firms, including Thompson, Cobb, Bazilio and As- sociates, before retiring in the early 2000s. Linda Ann Estrin was born in
Brooklyn, N.Y., and was a gradu- ate of California State University at Northridge. She received a master’s degree in human devel- opment research fromGWU. She was a board member of
Leesylvania State Park in Wood- bridge. Her marriage to Saul Kaplan
ended in divorce. Survivors in- clude a son, Michael Kaplan of Portland, Ore.; a sister; and a brother.
—Matt Schudel
Betty Robinson PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY
TEACHER Betty Robinson, 90, who
taught elementary school in the Prince George’s County school system for more than 40 years, died Dec. 3 at Fort Washington Medical Center after a fall.
Mrs.Robinsonbeganteaching
performed as a graduate student atYale as “a boring chorewithfew redeeming features.” But he found other rewards in
graduate school, including friend- ships, “many interactionswith in- terestingpeople,”andlearning“to play bridge, to drink beer and to smoke a pipe.” After obtaining his doctorate,
Dr.Fennworkedfor theMonsanto Chemical Co. in Anniston, Ala., and later for a company in Rich- mond before becoming a profes- sor at Princeton University in 1952.Hewent toYale15yearslater. Dr.Fenninventedhisprocessat
Yale andleft theuniversity in1994 after chafing at its mandatory
at Fort Washington Forest Ele- mentary and retired from Fort Washington’s Potomac Landing Elementary at 74. Betty Jean Guenther was a
native of Buffalo and a graduate ofwhat is nowthe StateUniversi- ty ofNewYork atBuffalo. Shewas a Marine Corps recruiter during WorldWar II. Mrs. Robinson volunteered at
OxonHillManor, a historic prop- erty. Her husband, Eric Robinson,
died in 2009. Survivors include two children, Ann Johnson of Edgewater and David Robinson of Berkeley Springs,
W.Va.; and five grandchildren. —Megan Buerger
Paul K. Stahnke
FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICER PaulK. Stahnke, 87,who spent
37 years in the Foreign Service, with a specialization in econom- ics, and retired with the rank of minister-counselor, died Nov. 19 at Inova FairfaxHospital.He had respiratory failure. Mr. Stahnke’s service began in
1951 and included assignments in Tokyo; Mogadishu, Somalia; Co- penhagen; and Paris. In 1975, he served three years
as the State Department liaison officer to Congress on economic and tradematters. For his final assignment, Mr.
Stahnke worked in Bangkok as the counselor for economic af- fairs and the U.S. permanent representative to ESCAP, the United Nation’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.He retired in 1988. Mr. Stahnke continued to
work part time as an associate with two business consulting firms in the District until 2002. Paul Karl Stahnke was a na-
tive of Forest Park, Ill., and a graduate of the University of Colorado. He received a master’s degree in international relations fromtheUniversity of Chicago in 1950. He served in the Army Air Forces during World War II and was amember of Dacor, an orga- nization for retired Foreign Ser- vice officers. His wife of 40 years, Bruna
Maria Lucrezia Franceschi, died in 1988. Survivors include three children, Christopher Stahnke of McLean, Elizabeth Cunningham of Watch Hill, R.I., and Barbara Franceschi of New York; a broth- er; six grandchildren; and two great-granddaughters. —Megan Buerger
2002 PHOTOS BY STEVE HELBER/ASSOCIATED PRESS Fenn, under the watchful eyes of the press atVCU, after learning he won theNobel Prize for chemistry.
retirement age of 70. “That made me angry, because
we were right in the middle of things,” he said, “and so I fought tooth and nail.” HeandYalebattledforadecade
over the rights to his prize-win- ning invention, and in 2005 Dr. Fenn was ordered to pay Yale $545,000 in royalties and penal- ties, as well as the university’s
Brit Peterson SENIOR INDEXER
Brit Peterson, 91, a retired
senior indexer with the National Geographic Society in the Dis- trict, died Dec. 1 at her home in Sterling of cardiac arrest. Before working at National
Geographic, Mrs. Peterson was a copy editor at the Loudoun Times-Mirror in Leesburg and a part-time Loudoun County sales representative for World Book Encyclopedia, headquartered in Chicago. She retired in 1983. Brit Aabakken was born in
Oslo and attended Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. During WorldWar II, she worked for the Norwegian Seamen’s Church in Philadelphia. She was a member of the
Washington lodge of the Sons of Norway, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Leesburg and Ski for Light, a nonprofit organization that teaches cross-country skiing to the blind. Her husband, Roy Peterson,
died in 1995. Survivors include two sons, Alf Peterson of Lees- burg and Glenn Peterson of Lovettsville; a sister, Marit Gra- chow of Arlington County; a brother, JoAabakkenofOslo; five grandchildren; and two great- granddaughters.
—Megan Buerger Donald F. Dahms
FEDERAL EMPLOYEE Donald F. Dahms, 78, a de-
partment head at the Food and Drug Administration when he retired in 1997, died Nov. 4 at a nursing home inMarlton,N.J.He had Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a degenerative neurological disor- der.
When Mr. Dahms retired, he
was head of approvals for medi- cal devices for the Center for Devices and RadiologicalHealth. He joined the FDA in 1980 after working at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt dur- ing the late 1970s. Earlier in his career, hewas an
electrical engineer for an RCA plant in Camden, N.J., and for Western Electric in Reading, Pa. Donald Francis Dahms was a
Philadelphia native and a 1954 graduate of what is now St. Joseph’s University in Philadel- phia. In 1956, he received a mas- ter’s degree in electrical engi- neering from Drexel University in Philadelphia. Hemoved toMaryland during
the 1970s and had been a Gaith- ersburg resident since the 1980s.
legal bills. His wife of 53 years, Margaret
WilsonFenn,diedina car crashin NewZealand in 1992. Survivors include a son. In an interview published last
year intheAnnualReviewofAna- lytical Chemistry, Dr. Fenn ex- pounded on his views about chemistry education. “Courses ought to be fun,” he
His memberships included the Montgomery Singles Social and Sports Club, Parents Without Partners and Rockville Seniors. His marriage toMary Patricia
Casey endedindivorce. Survivors include his partner of four years, Bobbi Mensh of Gaithersburg; two children from his marriage, Donna Healey of Marlton and Gregory Dahms of Lakewood, Colo.; and six grandchildren. —LaurenWiseman
William E. Gaines
ENGINEER William E. Gaines, 87, a Navy
engineer for 44, years died Dec. 4 of congestive heart failure at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring. Mr. Gaines, a Silver Spring
resident since 1956, was a pro- grammanager for the Naval Spe- cialWarfare Command,where he worked on underwater ordnance systems for the Navy SEALs. He retired in 1986. William Emory Gaines was
born inWashington and graduat- ed from Central High School. He began working for the Navy in 1942. Mr. Gaines received a bache-
lor’s degree in mechanical engi- neering fromGeorgeWashington University in 1948 and amaster’s degree in engineering adminis- tration fromGWU in 1950. Mr. Gaines was once commis-
sioner of the Hillandale Baseball Association in Silver Spring. A son, Wayne Gaines, died in
1995. Survivors include his wife of
62 years, Frieda Nobey Gaines of Silver Spring; a daughter, Linda Schloer of Silver Spring; five grandchildren; and two great- granddaughters. —Timothy R. Smith
Gennarino F. Palombi
IBM EXECUTIVE Gennarino F. Palombi, 80,
who spent 39 years with IBM, died Dec. 5 at his home in Mont- gomery Village.He had cancer. Mr. Palombi, who lived in
Montgomery Village, worked in IBM’s NASA division, specializ- ing in computer systems for rock- ets, including the SaturnV,which launched astronauts toward the moon. He later did work on federal computer systems. He retired in 1988. Gennarino Francesco Pal-
ombi, who was known as Jerry, was born in Binghamton,N.Y.He was a graduate of Broome Com- munity College in Binghamton and the Illinois Institute of Tech- nology. Survivors include his wife of
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59 years, Dora DeLanzo Palombi ofMontgomeryVillage; four chil- dren, Doreen Shoemaker of Knoxville, Tenn., Susan Palombi of Gaithersburg, LoriAnn Pal- ombi ofMontgomery Village and Gerald Palombi of McLean; and five grandchildren. —Timothy R. Smith
CORRECTION The Dec. 10 obituary of Jube B. SF
Shiver Sr. incorrectly reported that he diedNov. 21.He diedNov. 20. It also included an incorrect middle initial for William H. Ran- dall.
said. “I don’t care whether we cover everything in the periodic table ornot. . . .There’sno funany more! “I wish we cold somehow get it
across that the purpose of educa- tion is to develop young peoples’ minds, not fill themup with a lot of facts,”he said. “Teachthemhow to think.”
weilm@washpost.com W.LEERAWLS,66
Chief of staff to FBI director championed filibuster tool
W. Lee Rawls, who worked on
Capitol Hill for more than 30 years as a government official, lobbyist and lawyer, diedDec. 5 of acute leukemia at George Wash- ington University Hospital. He was 66. Until 2009, Mr. Rawls was the
chief of staff andsenior counsel to FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III.Healsohadservedasassistant attorney general for legislative af- fairsunderPresidentGeorgeH.W. Bush and, from 2003 to 2005, as chief of staff to then-Senate Ma- jority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.). In the private sector,Mr.Rawls
had been a partner in the Hous- ton-based law firm of Vinson & Elkins and amanaging partner in the Washington office of Baker Donelson, the firmof former Sen- ate majority leader Howard H. Baker Jr. Mr. Rawls also had been a vice
president of the lobbying firm Van Scoyoc Kelly and led govern- ment relations efforts for Penn- zoil and theBiotechnology Indus- tryOrganization. He had taught at the National
Defense University in Washing- ton and the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg and hadbeenapublicpolicyscholarat theWoodrowWilsonInternation- al Center for Scholars. In his 2009 book, “In Praise of
Deadlock: How Partisans Make Better Law,” Mr. Rawls argued in favor of Washington’s much-ma- ligned political process and staunchly defended the Senate filibuster as a tool necessary to force the party in power to com- promisewith theminority. “My view is that whatever bi-
partisanship, moderation, conti- nuity and consensus that are any- where to be found in the Ameri- can legislative process come from the filibuster,” he said in testimo- ny before the Senate rules com- mittee earlier this year. WilliamLee Rawlswas born in
Newport, R.I., and graduated fromPrinceton University.He re- ceived a law degree from George Washington University and be- gan his career as a legislative specialist with the Environmen- tal ProtectionAgency. By 1975, he had become chief of
staff for Senator Pete
V.Domenici (R-N.M.). He held that position until 1980 and again from1982 to 1985, when Domenici was chair- man of the Senate Budget Com- mitteeandaseniormemberof the Appropriations Committee. Mr.Rawlswas amember of the
Edgemoor Club in Bethesda. He had played tennis for Princeton and retained a lifelong fondness for the game. Survivors include hiswife, Lin-
da Baumgartner Rawls of Kens- ington; three children, William Rawls andRichardRawls, both of Washington, and Julie Seils of Laytonsville; four brothers; two sisters; and four grandsons.
browne@washpost.com
EZ SU
KLMNO OBITUARIES
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2010
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