Remembering

RICHARD JACOBSEN (B.A., political science, ’65) of San Diego, CA (11/14/2020) at age 77; served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War; worked in San Diego County government as director of Social Services and deputy chief administrative officer; an avid reader and proud veteran.

ALFRED JOHNSON (B.A., international relations, ’57) of Vero Beach, FL (12/14/2020) at age 86; served as an officer in the U.S. Navy; adjunct professor at Seton Hall University; loved golf and history.

EMIL MATYAS (B.A., psychology, ’84) of Arcadia, CA (12/17/2020) at age 94; served in the U.S. Navy in WWII: loved reading on his front porch with his English bulldogs.

ROBERT MELBOURNE (Ph.D., history, ’96) of San Luis Rey, CA (12/24/2020) at age 91; served as a private with the U.S. Marine Corps and later as an officer in the U.S. Navy; worked on major dam and water reclamation construction projects in Boise, ID.

TOM NOLAN (B.A., biology, ’77) of La Verne, CA (12/30/20); rode as “Tommy Trojan” at USC football games for many years; worked at Jet Propulsion Laboratory; volunteered with youth on Catalina Island at the USC Wrigley Marine Science Center.

CHARLES POMEROY (M.A., English, ’68; Ph.D., English, ’71) of Stanton, CA (11/4/2020) at age 85; professor at California State University, Long Beach; served in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific arena; loved to travel in his retirement.

SUSAN ROBERTSON (B.A., political science, ’62) of Los Angeles (9/12/2020) at age 79; active volunteer and board member on numerous charities; loved to travel with her husband. OM RUSTGI (Ph.D., physics, ’60) of Williamsville, NY (4/24/2019) at age 82; professor of physics at SUNY Buffalo State for 32 years; constructed a “thin film” lab at SUNY and endowed an annual $2,000 physics scholarship.

NICOLETTE SCHWARTZ (B.A., international relations, ’83) of Scottsdale, AZ (11/22/2020) at age 60; member of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority; loved to travel; involved with numerous charitable organizations.

ZRELDA SEALEY (B.A., sociology, ’56) of Los Angeles, CA (12/6/2020) at age 98; taught in the Los Angeles Unified School District for 35 years; longtime member of the Wilfandel Club House; supported multiple charities.

ARTHUR TUVERSON III (B.A., history, ’67) of Las Vegas, NV (9/3/2020) at age 74; loved traveling, spending time with his family and playing football.

WILLIAM ZIDBECK (M.A., international relations, ’69) of Imperial Beach, CA (3/14/2021) at age 88; served in the U.S, Navy, earned his aviator “Wings of Gold” and rank of captain; taught high school biology; founded the Imperial Beach branch of the Optimists Club and Friends of the Imperial Beach Library.

SUBMIT ALUMNI NEWS FOR CONSIDERATION ONLINE AT dornsife.usc.edu/alumni-news. Information may be edited for space.

Listings for the “Alumni News” and “In Memoriam” sections are compiled based on submissions from alumni and USC Dornsife departments as well as published notices from media outlets.

dornsife.usc.edu/alumni-news REMEMBERING

University Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering-Electrophysics and Physics and Astronomy ROBERT HELLWARTH, died on Jan. 20 in Santa Monica, California, of complications from COVID-19.

Hellwarth — a Renaissance man who pioneered laser technology, sat in on accordion with Irish punk band The Pogues at a Los Angeles party and once asked Andy Warhol to sign a can of Campbell’s tomato soup — died at age 90.

Hellwarth was a beloved mentor, universally appreciated for his kindness and good humor.

Despite his modest nature, he advanced world-altering scientific frontiers, including optics and quantum electronics, making an early mark during Southern California’s aerospace boom by inventing and demonstrating “Q-switching.” This breakthrough supercharged the usefulness of the laser by boosting its power a millionfold, opening the gates to the field of high-power lasers.

Hellwarth joined USC in 1971, helping to build its physics and electrical engineering departments for the next half century.

His research focused on understanding and developing materials for nonlinear optical devices. At USC, he developed a new, now widely employed method for generating the time-reversed version of a light wave, a process often called “optical beam phase conjugation.” He also invented widely used laserspectroscopic techniques.

“Bob was an inventor in the fullest sense of what that means,” said Emeritus Professor of Physics and Astronomy Hans Bozler. —S.B.

Passionate Urbanist

Geographer Curtis Roseman pioneered his department’s renowned “Downtown L.A. Walking Tour.”

Emeritus Professor of Geography Curtis Roseman died Dec. 13, 2020, from a brain injury in Rock Island, Illinois. He was 79.

A specialist in population geography, Roseman researched the migration and settlement of ethnic populations. He held a special interest in the way ties between people and places affected decisions about migration. He had secondary research interests in the historical geography of the Upper Mississippi River, downtown Los Angeles and the neighborhood around USC’s University Park campus.

Roseman was born and raised on the Mississippi River in Moline, Illinois, sparking a lifelong passion for the river and particularly its bridges. He joined USC Dornsife in 1985, serving as chair of the Department of Geography from 1985 to 1992. The department has since closed. Roseman was a lover of big cities and L.A. became his “lab” for teaching and research. He also pioneered the department’s highly entertaining “Downtown L.A. Walking Tour.”

One of his many passions was crisscrossing America on U.S. Historic Route 6, photographing and documenting the highway’s constantly changing story. Comparing his beloved, but less well-known, Route 6 to the iconic Route 66, Roseman coined the phrase, “Half the digits and twice the kicks.”

“Curt was a passionate urbanist, and the most supportive and encouraging of colleagues,” said University Archivist Claude Zachary, who collaborated with Roseman on several of the geographer’s books on USC and L.A. —S.B.