By Alan C. Davidson, MD
We are setting up a new section on our website, Yale1958.org. It will be 250-word essays more or less, of where one’s journey from Phelps Gate in 1954 to the present has taken you. These will be extracted and also placed in the column. We start with:
Jim Beckman: “My new book, Building the Bean, the story behind Chicago’s iconic stainless-steel sculpture by Anish Kapoor, is coming out in the next few weeks. My book was the catalyst for the documentary Better Than Perfect, covering the same subject and produced and financed by the Chicago Ironworkers Union. After I graduated with a mechanical engineering degree from Yale, my father and I started a construction company which produced many design/construction projects over the next 40 years. In 1975, we completely restored the historic McKinley Climatic Laboratory at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. In 1984, we installed state-of-the-art, electronically controlled tank target ranges at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Also in 1984, we modified the base heating plant at Fairchild AFB to burn coal to replace the natural gas installation. I married a German ballet dancer, Helga Stall, in 1964, who gave me a son, Michael. Following a family tradition, Michael got an engineering degree from the University of Texas at Arlington. He is now running a fire protection company, designing and installing fire sprinkler systems. My present wife, Marlene (Lowe), is a CPA (UNC plus TCU). She is engaged in managing our commercial properties. We both are avid bicycle riders.”
Thomas Swidler writes: “For ten years I served as the only Yank and only volunteer in the UK’s National Police Air Service (NPAS). It had been formed a few years before my Brit wife Peta and I moved to York, England, from San Francisco. Prior to NPAS, many of the 90-some counties in England and Wales had their own air units or they teamed with neighboring counties. I was too old (over 63) when I moved here, so my flying was done with younger pilots. Most of my service involved using my eight years of experience in law enforcement aviation with the Marin County sheriff’s office, north of San Francisco, leading to my appointment as commander of that 20-pilot unit. I helped NPAS with everything from revision of base physical security policies and procedures to testing and choosing new equipment. Lots of fun and new friends. I retired last year—and miss it!”
Gordon Marsh is “a permanent resident of a small fishing village on the north coast of the Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy. I have not been in the USA in more than five years. Wife, children, and grandchildren are bi-or tri-national and reside here in Paris and London. After 50 years in the same Manhattan apartment, life in a French fishing village, where I am the only American, is a great pleasure. All the best to my Yale and Yale Law School friends.”
Christopher Bingham is “still going fairly strong at 89: doing a two-to-four-mile walk five days a week, taking violin lessons, playing in a string quartet, bike riding (not E-bike), and maintaining a nonprofit website.”
And now to our departed mates. For the full obituaries, please go to our website.
Arthur Norman Bielfeld (DC) May 4, 1936–May 11, 2026. After Yale, Arthur attended Harvard Law School for one year before he found his calling. He gained admission to rabbinical studies at the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was ordained in 1964. His first major human rights event was in the mid-summer of 1966 when he drove the lead car in Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.’s march into the fiercely segregated residential Marquette Park District of Chicago. In 1968, he became rabbi of Temple Emanuel in Toronto and retired from that position 33 years later. He was deeply committed to Jewish education and in 1974 helped found the Leo Baeck Day School. About ten years ago, the school established the Arthur N. Bielfeld Center for Social Justice Education and developed a unique kindergarten-to-grade-eight curriculum to introduce students to concepts of social justice using Jewish textual sources as its teaching tools. He was awarded and invested as a member of the Order of Canada in 2013 for his efforts in social justice. He is survived by his sister, Elaine Smith, and predeceased by his sister, Lois Kahn.
Roger Pitt Whitcomb (SM) April 24, 1936–May 8, 2026. After Yale, Roger obtained a bachelor’s and master’s in architecture from Yale in 1961. He then completed his army service obligation in Honolulu. His architectural career included remodeling of the Tenth Church of Christ Scientist in Greenwich Village. He established his own firm, Whitcomb Associates, PC, in Danbury, Connecticut. Some of his many projects included renovation of the defunct Danbury railroad depot into the Danbury Railway Museum, and Tarrywile Mansion into an event center which received the 1990 Place Award from the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation. He was an invaluable band member of the Jackson Pike Skifflers, playing drums, washboard, and other rustic instruments for over 30 years. He retired to Palm Beach County in 2012 and served on many committees at their retirement community. He is survived by his wife Janet, two sons, a stepdaughter, and four grandchildren. He was predeceased by one son.
Jonathan Lipe Foote (CC) May 20, 1935–May 22, 2026. Jon went on to graduate from the Yale School of Architecture in 1964 and then founded the Environmental Design Group architecture practice in New Haven. In 1978, Jon bought the T Square Ranch outside of Livingston, Montana. In 1979, he founded Jonathan Foote & Associates in Livingston. He taught architecture at Montana State University and was bestowed an honorary doctorate by MSU in 2004. Jon rode the cutting horse circuit in Wyoming and Montana and in 2004 was inducted into the National Cutting Horse Association Members Hall of Fame. Jon is survived by his wife Kathy, four children, and four grandchildren.