REMEMBERED: Dennis was a role model at St. Mary's. Kat Wade

With two graduate degrees from Stanford, John Dennis had options. But he chose to spend his career helping underprivileged college students succeed. He exposed them to the arts, corrected their grammar and always maintained high expectations.

Dennis, 59, was killed February 9 at his home in Oakland. A 43-year-old man, whom Dennis met decades earlier while volunteering in a mentorship program for disadvantaged youth, is charged with his murder.

A graduate of Central California's Paso Robles High School, Dennis, MA '74, PhD '87, earned a bachelor's degree from UC-Santa Barbara. He studied history at Stanford. He spent 29 years as a member of the history faculty at St. Mary's College in Moraga, Calif. From 1992 until 2005, Dennis was head of St. Mary's High Potential Program, which helped first-generation college students, most of them African-American and Latino, succeed at St. Mary's. Tom Brown, a former St. Mary's dean, estimated that Dennis worked closely with as many as 1,000 students through this program alone.

When the High Potential students first arrived for a summer “bridge” program before school began, they usually sat divided by race. By the end of the summer, the teacher nicknamed “Dr. D” had them interacting as a unified community, Brown says.

Dennis never accepted excuses for low performance, Brown recalls. “John's attitude was a lot of these other kids, their parents ran companies. If [those kids] can't read and write, someone will support them. If these kids can't read and write, they are going to be fired. He really set high standards and challenged and supported them to meet those standards,” Brown says.

Dennis was vibrant, energetic and over-the-top. His personality was reflected in his clothes. “It wasn't just a blue suit—it was indigo,” remembers Angelica Garcia, director of the High Potential Program. (Dennis stepped down in 2005.) Brown imagines Dennis standing at the gates of heaven wearing “his purplest of purple suits.”

In addition to his work at St. Mary's, Dennis was part of the African-American studies department at City College of San Francisco, Merritt College and Edward Shands Adult School in Oakland.

Dennis is survived by his brother, Archie Morton Dennis; his stepmother, Florence Dennis; a nephew; and a grandniece.

NOBLE SCIENTIST: Lederberg led Stanford genetics. Jose Mercado/Stanford News Service

Joshua Lederberg was born into a family of religion, but always felt the pull of science. The son of an Orthodox rabbi father and a mother whose family included rabbinical scholars, Lederberg announced at age 7 that he would be “like Einstein.”

He became an influential molecular biologist, winning the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1958 with colleagues Edward L. Tatum and George W. Beadle. Lederberg was honored for his discovery that bacteria transfer their genes from pair to pair through a mating process. His findings shook the accepted notion that bacteria reproduce by dividing themselves into identical halves.

Lederberg, founder and former chair of the department of genetics at Stanford, died February 2. He was 82.

Lederberg was born in Montclair, N.J., and graduated from Columbia University at 19. At 22, he received his doctorate from Yale. His diverse interests led him to develop spacecraft equipment for NASA, study the consequences of nuclear warfare, write weekly columns about science and public issues for the Washington Post and the San Francisco Chronicle, and hold positions at Stanford, the U. of Wisconsin and Rockefeller U. He served as a consultant for Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation.

Lederberg spent nearly 20 years on Stanford's faculty, starting as chair of the genetics department. He accepted Stanford's offer in 1958, days before he learned about the Nobel Prize. He was just 33 years old, and would later describe the accomplishment as “a shock, a total surprise.”

He was a Time man of the year in 1960 and received the National Medal of Science and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Lederberg is survived by his second wife, Marguerite S. Lederberg, a psychiatrist in New York; their daughter, Anne; and his stepson, David Kirsch, PhD '97.

CARDINAL CLAN: Lorton, pictured with sons Bill, Jack, Bob and Paul Jr., was a devout member of the alumni community. Polly Ellis

Paul Vernon Lorton Sr., '31, always appreciated his college education, even though graduating during the Depression meant a long line of low-paying jobs—from digging ditches to counting cars on El Camino—before he secured something solid. Through his life, he showed that appreciation: he was president of the Fresno Stanford Club, a member of the Alumni Association's Executive Board and, at 88, became the Class of 1931 correspondent for Stanford magazine.

Lorton, editor of the Chapparal, member of the men's soccer team, and lifelong Stanford volunteer, died January 28. He was 98. The Bay Area native eventually was hired by the Lawrence Warehouse Company, where he spent 32 years, as manager of the San Joaquin division in Fresno, Calif., and as executive vice president. Later, he became vice president and trust officer of Bank of America. After retiring at 65, he gained a reputation as an expert in the field of charitable deferred giving as a fund-raiser for the Children's Hospital in Oakland, the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco and the Mills-Peninsula Hospital Foundation in San Mateo, where he was on the board of directors. For Stanford, he chaired his 50th and 60th reunion committees, was a volunteer fund-raiser and served on the athletic board. He was president and board member of the Buck Club (now the Buck/Cardinal club). A member of the Stanford Associates, Lorton received their Outstanding Achievement Award in 1999.

Lorton is survived by his wife, Ruth; four sons, Bob Baratta-Lorton, '61, Paul Jr., PhD '73, Jack, '62, and Bill, '64; two stepsons, Scott, MBA '72, and Stephen Edwards; three grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. Four brothers, including Eugene, '38, and Norris, '38, predeceased him.

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