In Memoriam

Joseph A. Arminio, M.D. ’46, of Montchanin, Del., the first surgeon in his state to specialize in hand surgery, died September 3 at the age of 79. He served as the director of the Christiana Care Health System Hand Clinic and was founder and director of the Industrial Care Center, co-founder and president of the Medical-Dental Bureau Answering Service, and for 20 years was director of medical services for the city of Wilmington.

Ronald S. Beckett, M.D. ’40, former director of the pathology department of Hartford Hospital, died November 1 in Rochester, N.Y. He was 87. Born in Port Chester, N.Y., Beckett was a founding member of the College of American Pathology Committee, which produced the Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine, a dictionary of medical terminology applicable to computers. Beckett served on the clinical faculty at Yale for 20 years.

William A. Carey Jr., M.D. ’41, died of pneumonia on August 27 at the age of 86 in Framingham, Mass. Born in Quincy, Mass., Carey was awarded the Bronze Star with six oak leaf clusters while serving as an Army major during World War II. He was chief of radiology at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Boston and had a private practice in Worcester.

Martin E. Devlin, PA ’81, died at age 49 of a brain tumor on September 5 at his home in Poultney, Vt. Born in New Haven, Devlin was employed by Hudson Headwaters Primary Care in Glens Falls, N.Y. He was an avid runner and competed three times in the New York City Marathon. He also enjoyed activities with his three sons, including maple sugaring at his home in Vermont.

Wolfgang A. Herbordt, M.D., of Wayland, Mass., died July 23. He was 81. Formerly of Woodbridge, Conn., Herbordt was a pathologist at the Hospital of St. Raphael and a clinical instructor in pathology at the School of Medicine for 18 years.

Orvan W. Hess, M.D., of North Haven, Conn., an obstetrician and gynecologist who pioneered the development of the fetal heart monitor during a 58-year career at Yale, died September 6 at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He was 96. Born in Margaretville, N.Y., Hess was also instrumental in the first successful clinical use of penicillin. Hess received an American Medical Association Scientific Achievement Award for his contributions to clinical research and was director of health services for the Connecticut Welfare Department in the early days of Medicaid and Medicare.

Sabra L. Jones, M.D. ’84, an interventional and cardiovascular radiologist, general surgeon and primary care physician, was killed in a fall at the Grand Canyon on August 12. She was 47. Born in Berkeley, Calif., Jones was director of S.E.E.D.S. (Social Educational Environmental Development Services), which provides relief at the grassroots level to some of Nepal’s poorest villages. She received a commendation from the American Medical Association for her work in getting the Nepalese government to cease their punishment of physicians who provided medical care to rebel troops. Jones also worked with the Native American communities in New Mexico.

Frederick E. Mott, M.D., died October 17 in New Haven. He suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and died of cardiac and respiratory arrest. Born in New Haven, Mott was an ophthalmologist in the area for many years and was an assistant clinical professor in surgery and ophthalmology at Yale for 11 years. He served in the Army Air Corps during World War II and received the Soldier’s Medal for heroics.

Sanford L. Palay, M.D., died on August 5 of kidney failure in Concord, Mass. He was 83. Palay, a neuroscientist born in Cleveland, taught briefly at the School of Medicine in the early 1950s. In 1953 he joined the faculty at Rockefeller University, where he used electron microscopy to study the synaptic vesicles that transmit nerve impulses. He is credited with obtaining the first images of the synapse and the structures that release messenger chemicals in the brain. Palay was chief of the neurocytology section at the National Institutes of Health in the early 1960s.

Olaf J. Severud, M.D., HS ’35, died March 28, 2001, at the age of 95 in Cooperstown, N.Y. Born in Risor, Norway, Severud was a lieutenant commander in the Navy during World War II, serving in the Pacific theater. He was head of obstetrics and gynecology at Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown and medical director at the Mohawk Valley Nursing Home in Ilion, N.Y.

John Q. Tilson Jr., LL.B. ’36, died on November 1 at his home in North Branford, Conn., after a long siege with Parkinson’s disease. He was 91. Tilson, a prominent New Haven attorney, was a pioneer in the field of hospital law and lectured on the topic for many years at the School of Public Health. He was a key figure in the establishment of The Connecticut Hospice, for which he received the Ella T. Grasso Award.

James M.A. Weiss, M.D., M.P.H. ’51, died on June 24 at his home in Columbia, Mo. He was 80. Born in St. Paul, Minn., Weiss was the founding chair of the department of psychiatry at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine, a position he held for 31 years. He was known for his research on suicide and anti-social behavior, and secured the initial funding to build the Mid-Missouri Mental Health Center.

Send obituary notices to Claire M. Bessinger, Yale Medicine Publications, 1 Church Street, Suite 300, New Haven, CT 06510, or via e-mail to claire.bessinger@yale.edu