In Memoriam
Charles R. Walgreen, Jr.
C
harles R. Walgreen, Jr.,
1906-2007, whose name now
graces the Drama Center
just erected on north campus, died
on February 10, just one month shy
of his 101st birthday. Walgreen, PHC
’28, HMS ’51, HLHD ’92, has been
a steady supporter, both financially
and otherwise, of his alma mater
since graduating from the College of
Pharmacy in 1928.
It was Walgreen who, in 1997, gave
then-President Lee Bollinger a $10
million discretionary gift, which
Bollinger in turn directed toward
the construction of what is now the
Charles R. Walgreen, Jr. Drama
Center and Arthur Miller Theatre.
His gifts to the University are legion,
as was his volunteer service on
committees, in leading fundraising
campaigns, and as advocate for the
College of Pharmacy.
Walgreen grew up in the pharmacy
business, the son of the founder of the
drugstore chain, making deliveries
at age 9 from his father’s store on
Chicago’s south side. By age 11, he was
delivering his mother’s homemade soup
from the house to the store’s new lunch
counter.
Chuck, as he was known to family
and friends, entered the College of
Pharmacy at Michigan in 1924. After
graduation, no special favors were
bestowed on this company heir, as
he worked his way up from his job
in the store opening crew, in the ice
cream plant, and in the personnel,
sales, manufacturing, and purchasing
divisions, before becoming vice
president in 1933. He was promoted to
executive assistant to his father in 1935,
and the School of Education, while
his endowed scholarship support for
each of these schools continues to
provide critical resources for promising
students.
and president shortly before the senior
Walgreen’s death in 1939. He was
president of the company from 1939 to
1963, shifting to chairman of the board
in 1963 until his retirement in 1976.
During his tenure as president, annual
sales grew from $72 million to $817
million.
His skills in leading the company were
evident—his father described him as
“a good negotiator with a milliondollar smile.” He worked to raise
the professional stature and working
conditions of pharmacists and almost
singlehandedly reduced pharmacists’
hours from the industry norm at the
time, 66 hours a week, to the now
standard 40.
Walgreen’s generosity to the University
of Michigan included gifts to establish
four endowed professorships in the
College of Pharmacy, the College of
Literature, Science & the Arts, the
School of Music, Theatre & Dance,
Walgreen’s support for the University
dates from the 1950s, when he
participated in the Michigan
Memorial Phoenix project, organized
to raise money for research on the
peacetime uses of atomic energy.
His volunteer service continued as a
member of the national committee of
U-M’s successful campaign in 1964-67,
which raised $72 million, and the first
Campaign for Michigan in the early
1980s, which generated $187 million.
A longtime advocate for the College of
Pharmacy, Walgreen was also national
chairman of its steering committee
and remained a member of its dean’s
advisory committee until his death.
Retirement did not signal a time to ride
out the remainder of his life in an easy
chair. In 1971, he passed the exams
to earn an unlimited ocean captain’s
license from the U.S. Coast Guard. He
spent the upcoming years sailing the
world on his yacht. He also maintained
an office at the company’s Deerfield, IL
headquarters, where he worked two to
three days a week into his 90s. At the
age of 95, he commissioned a new 127foot yacht on which he and his wife and
a crew that included a staff of nurses
cruised the Great Lakes, the Eastern
Seaboard, and the Caribbean.
His wife Jean, two sons and a daughter,
23 grandchildren, and 33 greatgrandchildren, survive him.
Milton J. “Jack” Miller
Jack Miller died on March 6, 2007
at the age of 94. He graduated from
Michigan Law School in 1935 and
married Jeanette Rabinowitz who
graduated from the School of Music,
Theatre & Dance the same year. Miller
started a law practice in Detroit in
1935 with Jason Honigman, and with
Honigman and Alan E. Schwartz
founded Honigman Miller Schwartz
and Cohn in 1951, now one of the state’s
largest and most prominent law firms.
He practiced law for over 70 years
until his untimely death several weeks
ago—Miller was playing competitive
tennis until this past January. He had a
great run, and was a mentor and friend
to generations of lawyers and musicians.
Jack and Jeanette were very involved
in the music scene in Detroit and Ann
Arbor and were close to generations
of Detroit musicians such as Mischa
Mischakoff and Ruth Laredo. Jack was
the long-time trustee of the Charles
H. Gershenson Trust, succeeded in
2000 by Maurice Binkow. One of the
trust’s beneficiaries was (and is) the
University of Michigan where Jack,
through his love of music and after
an introduction to Paul Boylan, chose
the School of Music on behalf of the
trust. The first endowment was to
the Gershenson Piano Fund which
supports the maintenance of pianos
and, in recent years, has provided funds
to purchase new pianos for the School.
Other endowments include the Arthur
Schnabel Professorship, now held by
Martin Katz, and the Jessye Norman
Graduate Scholarship and Master Class
in Voice. Most recently, the trust has
supported the new voice and directing
tudio at the Walgreen Drama Center.
Upon learning of Jack’s death, former
dean Paul Boylan said, “Jack was one
of the very special people I’ve met in
my entire life. Beneath that wonderful
humor and extraordinary intelligence
was a man of great compassion and
generosity. He lived a long, productive,
and meaningful life.” Jack had a great
sense of humor and at one of the
scholarship events at the School gave a
talk on The Art of Page Turning. Jack had
three loves in his life: his family and
friends; the law and his law partners;
and music and musicians. As former
music dean Karen Wolff once wrote,
“What a remarkable legacy Mr. Miller
created at the School of Music.”
—submitted by Maurice Binkow
This One’s for You, Mr. C!
Max Crosman
Max William Crosman, BM
’40 (music), MM ’46 (music
literature), passed away in
January at the age of 93.
After serving in the 54th tank
destroyer battalion during
World War II, Max joined
the staff at the University of
Michigan, serving as assistant
to the three deans of the
Horace H. Rackham School
of Graduate Studies: Ralph
Time for Three
Sawyer, Stephen Spurr, and
Alfred Sussman. He was also
Holland, saw chamber ensemble
well known in Ann Arbor as a pianist,
Time for Three in a performance in
playing for dances, private parties, and
Indianapolis on New Year’s Eve 2006.
at the Ann Arbor Town Club.
She thought immediately of Max and
bought the group’s newest CD for her
Toward the end of Max’s life,
stepdad, by then in hospice. According
Crosman’s stepdaughter, Cyndi
to Cyndi, “Max listened intently to [the]
CD and it played frequently until
his passing. His eyes lit up when I
described how much the ensemble
seemed to enjoy making music,
much as he did when he played
the piano.”
Shortly after Max’s death, Ms.
Holland heard that the trio would
be in Ann Arbor during their
residency at the School of Music,
Theatre & Dance. She was able
to reach group member Raanan
Meyer through the ensemble’s
management service to request a special
favor.
Time for Three graciously complied. At
their February 18th performance, the
trio dedicated Blackbird to Max.
Leonard Riccinto
Leonard Riccinto, BM ’63, MM ’64
(music education), who taught music at
Eastern Michigan University for over
20 years, died in December at the age of
65, of complications from leukemia. He
is survived by his wife Jan, son Adam,
daughter Janalen, and three grandsons.
director of Measure for Measure, an
all-men’s choral group which has more
than quadrupled since its beginnings.
He also directed the Plymouth Oratorio
Society for eleven years prior to his
death.
Members of these choirs joined with
his university choirs for three trips to
perform at Carnegie Hall. Riccinto
also traveled the world with the Youth
for Understanding and Musical Youth
International High School Exchange
programs.
His was a life dedicated to music and
teaching. “When I look back at my life
and childhood,” his daughter Janalen
told The Ann Arbor News, “it’s filled with
music.” His son Adam, now conductor
of the Ypsilanti Symphony Orchestra,
followed in his father’s footsteps.
He was a board member of the
Michigan School Vocal Music
Association and past president of the
American Choral Directors Association
of Michigan.
R
iccinto taught in public
schools—Grosse Pointe and
Battle Creek—for twenty years
before joining the faculty at Eastern
until his retirement in August 2006. At
Michigan, he studied with Maynard
Klein and Philip A. Duey before going
on to Michigan State to earn his DMA.
At Eastern, he conducted the University
Choir and Chamber Choir and taught
secondary methods, conducting, choral
literature, and choral pedagogy. In
1988, he became founding music
1930s
Frances (Parker) Loukes,
NODEG ’32, died December 3, 2006
Ruth J. (Nichols) Sollars,
BM ’34, in public school music, died
December 5, 2006
Dorothy M. (Woodruff)
Brogan, MM ’38, in public school
music, died October 2, 2006
1940s
Arnold H. Altvater, BM ’49,
in violin, died December 1, 2005
“Leonard Riccinto was a man
passionate about his art who gave
selflessly of his time and energies in the
name of music education at Eastern
Michigan University and beyond,” said
Kristy Meretta, coordinator of EMU
music and dance events.
Dorothy M. (Larson)
Anderson, BM ’43, in music
education, died February 2, 2007
Alice (Blodgett) Hoon, MM
’42, in music education, died January
13, 2007
Elizabeth V. Crater, MM ’41,
in music education, died March 7, 2007
Wilbur F. MacDonald, Jr.,
MM ’47, in music education, died
January 1, 2007
J. Justin Gray, BM ’42, in music
education, died December 1, 2005
Marylee (Sneed) Hill, MM
’48, in voice, died January 12, 2007
Dorothy (Haydel)
Overbeck, MM ’43, in theatre,
died January 20, 2007
Ethel (Smith) Stevens,
NODEG ’41, died February 23, 2007
Barbara (Litchfield)
Stubbs, BM ’46, in music education,
died July 25, 2006
Dorothy C. (Ager) Theiler,
BM ’42, MM ’47, in music education,
died February 20, 2007
Anna Ruth (Poppen)
Wiersema, BM ’48, in organ, died
December 9, 2006
1950s
Martha (Wing) Erwin, BM ’57,
in music education, died January 16,
2007
Samuel A. McDonald, MM
’58, in music education, died February
21, 2007
Donald W. Morris, MM ’50, in
violin, died January 20, 2007
Roy Milton Parker, BM ’68,
in organ, died January 13, 2007
Jo Ann (Green) Rehkopf, BM
’51, in music education, died November
27, 2006
Richard H. Perkins, BM ’66,
MM ’67, in music education, died
November 21, 2006
1960s
Martha Nell Rearick, BM
’60, MM ’61, in piano, died May 29,
2006
Richard J. Burner, MM ’66, in
organ, died January 9, 2007
Edna (Kellersberger)
Kilgore, BM ’63, in music theory,
died March 21, 2007
Gemma L. (Coloma) Lum, MM
’69, in music education, died November
27, 2006
1970s
Eileen M. (Garden) Folson,
BM ’78, MM ’81, cello performance,
died February 4, 2007
Jerrold D. VanderSchaaf,
NODEG ’76, died August 11, 2005
Sr. Mary Siena Lemm, MM ’69,
in music education, died January 17,
2007
The Regents of the University of Michigan:
Julia Donovan Darlow, Ann Arbor; Laurence B. Deitch, Bingham Farms; Olivia P. Maynard, Goodrich; Rebecca McGowan, Ann Arbor; Andrea Fischer Newman, Ann Arbor; Andrew C. Richner,
Grosse Pointe Park; S. Martin Taylor, Grosse Pointe Farms; Katherine E. White, Ann Arbor; Mary
Sue Coleman ex officio
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