John Ason
MATH ’68, Westfield, N.J., was a professional angel investor for nearly 20 years. One of his first investments in the early days of the internet was diapers.com. In 2010 Amazon.com acquired its parent company Quidsi for $545 million. Prior to becoming an angel investor, Ason worked at AT&T Bell Labs for 25 years, retiring in 1996. At AT&T he began in software and technology development, then moved into the marketing and business management of large software projects sold by AT&T to overseas-based phone companies. A popular conference speaker, Ason traveled extensively to meet with entrepreneurs and help develop angel investing ecosystems.
William C. “Bill” Bartholomay
Chicago, was a successful and decades-long insurance executive who, in 1962, purchased the Milwaukee Braves Major League Baseball team with a group of partners. Four years later the group moved the Braves to Atlanta; the team became the first major league sport of any kind to be located in the southeastern United States. Bartholomay, an Illinois Institute of Technology Board of Trustees member, and legacy vice chairman and senior consultant of Willis Group Holdings at the time of his death, received numerous baseball honors, including the Atlanta 400 Baseball Fan Club Ivan Allen, Jr. "Mr. Baseball" Award in 1994 and induction into the Braves Hall of Fame in 2002.
Lawrence Jay Broutman
Chicago, served on the Illinois Institute of Technology faculty from 1962–1982, serving as professor of mechanics and materials engineering and research professor of materials engineering. Additionally, he supervised dozens of doctoral students during his tenure. He went on to found L. J. Broutman and Associates laboratory and consultancy. Anchored by Broutman’s expertise in plastics, his research helped in the development of products such as body armor, household appliances, wind turbines, and piping. A pioneer in scanning electron microscopy, impact testing, and cold-forming, Broutman was named to the Society of Plastics Engineers Plastics Hall of Fame in 2012.
Jack M. Daly
CE ’78, Winnetka, Ill., upon graduating from Armour College of Engineering, joined the power-generation and power-transmission service firm Sargent & Lundy as a structural engineer, spending the next 40 years there. He retired from the company as executive vice president and director of the fossil power business group, where he was responsible for the overall management of the firm’s new-build and retrofit projects for coal, oil, and gas power plants as well as renewable energy projects in the United States and abroad.
Elaine (née Saphier) Fox
LAW ’75, Skokie, Ill., most recently of counsel at Seyfarth Shaw, practiced labor law for more than 35 years. She represented management in labor and management negotiations as well as in disputes involving employment and industrial relations before a variety of administrative agencies and courts nationwide. Fox served on the boards of the American Jewish Congress and the Jewish Vocational Service, among others. She also was the editor of Out of Chaos: Hidden Children Remember the Holocaust, a collection of survivors’ memories and reactions to their experiences in settings around the world.
John Kincaid
LL.B. ’63, Wheaton, Ill., and Joseph F. Mirabella LAW ’64, Wheaton, Ill., were longtime partners in the law firm Mirabella, Kincaid, Frederick & Mirabella. Kincaid was named a 2011 Illinois State Bar Association’s Academy of Illinois Lawyers Laureate, one of seven individuals selected for the honor that year. In 2019 the firm was recognized by U.S. News & World Report in its Best Law Firms ranking for 2020.
Robert Negele
ME ’45, Greenwich, Conn., began his career as an instructor in the ROTC program at the University of Oklahoma. In 1947 Negele and his wife, Martha, moved to Chicago, where the couple started a family and he took a position as an engineer. Eight years later, Negele became general manager of Star Metal Products, before advancing to vice president for Chicago Magnet Wire. Negele and his family moved to Maine, where he became president of Philips Elmet, a manufacturer of molybdenum and tungsten products. He retired as president of Kulka Electric in 1982 and ended his career as a consultant.
Charles Owen
M.S. DSGN ’65, Chicago, Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Design, began teaching at the university in 1965 and retired in 2010. A pioneer in systems design, his holistic approach to influencing systemic transformations have impacted designers the world over. He was the driving force of ID’s Ph.D. program, the first of its kind in the country. Owen also directed the product design program for more than 20 years and founded the Design Process Laboratory. Outside of the university, he collaborated with prominent industry companies, including Steelcase, Doblin, and Kohler, and organizations such as the United States Air Force.
Thomas Gayle Pennel
FPE 68, Wheeling, Ill., graduated from Armour Institute’s Fire Protection Engineering program, which served as a model for other programs across the country. He was an industry leader for some 50 years, designing fire protection plans for what is now Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia, Chicago’s Willis Tower, and Miami International Airport. In addition to designing systems, Pennel assessed failures as well as surveyed and inspected installations. He also wrote a substantial amount of the handbook used by the National Fire Protection Association, and in 2014 received the NFPA Special Achievement Award.
Charles Porter
ARCH ’79, Chicago, worked for more than 40 years in the design and construction industries. He began his career with Turner Construction Company and then Urban Retail Properties, before co-founding Development Management Associates, a commercial real estate management company. Porter worked on notable national and international projects as well as such local projects as the highrise building at 333 Wacker Drive and the skyscraper at 900 North Michigan Avenue.
Franz Schulze
Lincolnshire, Ill., was considered a leading authority on Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Schulze was a longtime member of Illinois Tech’s Mies Society, joining the board in 2003. He also authored The Campus Guide: Illinois Institute of Technology, published in 2005. Over the course of his life, Schulze was chief art critic for the Chicago Daily News and the Chicago Sun-Times; an editor for the magazines ARTNews and Art in America; and an art historian and author, co-author, or editor of books, including Mies van der Rohe: A Critical Biography and Philip Johnson: Life and Works. The Betty Jane Hollander Professor of Art Emeritus at Lake Forest College, Schulze served on the faculty from 1952 until his retirement in 1991.