The New York Times - USA (2020-08-09)

THE NEW YORK TIMES OBITUARIESSUNDAY, AUGUST 9, 2020 N 27

Diana E. H. Russell, a leading
feminist activist and scholar who
popularized the term “femicide” to
refer to the misogynist killing of
women, and to distinguish these
killings from other forms of homi-
cide, died on July 28 at a medical fa-
cility in Oakland, Calif. She was 81.
The cause was respiratory fail-
ure, said Esther D. Rothblum, a
feminist scholar and friend.
Dr. Russell studied and explored
all manner of violence against
women, including rape, incest,
child abuse, battering, pornogra-
phy and sexual harassment, and
she was among the first to illumi-
nate the connections between and
among these acts.
As a daughter of white privilege
growing up in South Africa, her re-
bellious instincts found an outlet in
the anti-apartheid movement. Lat-
er, as a graduate student in the
United States in the 1960s, she
gravitated to the feminist move-
ment, becoming one of the earliest
researchers to focus on sexual vio-
lence against women.
Gloria Steinem said in an email
that Dr. Russell had “a giant influ-
ence” on the women’s movement
worldwide, and that her writings
had particular resonance now,
“when we see the intertwining of
racism and sexism that she wrote
about so well and organized
against.”
In a 1995 essay, “Politicizing Sex-
ual Violence: A Voice in the Wilder-
ness,” Dr. Russell described the
seeds of her work.
“My own experiences of sexual
abuse as a child and an adolescent
have undoubtedly been vital moti-
vators for my enduring commit-
ment to the study of sexual vio-
lence against women,” she wrote.
“My research and activism,” she
added, “exemplify how personal
trauma can inform and inspire cre-
ative work.”
She explored these topics in
more than a dozen books over four
decades. If there was a through-
line in them, it was her rejection of
the common practice of victim
blaming.
In “The Politics of Rape” (1975),

she argued that rape is an act of conformity to ideals of masculinity. Rolling Stone magazine called the book “probably the best introduc- tion to rape now in print.” In 1977, Dr. Russell surveyed 930 women in San Francisco and found that more than 40 percent had been the victims of rape or incest — a much higher rate than other studies suggested. Those interviews led to a series of books: “Rape in Marriage” (1982); “Sexual Ex- ploitation: Rape, Child Sexual Abuse and Workplace Har- assment” (1984); and “The Secret Trauma: Incest in the Lives of Girls and Women” (1986). Dr. Russell first heard the word “femicide” in 1974, when a friend told her that someone was writing a book with that title. “I immediately became very ex- cited by this new word, seeing it as a substitute for the gender-neutral word ‘homicide,’ ” she said in a 2011 speech. She later found out that Carol Or- lock was the author who had in- tended to write the “Femicide” book but had not done so. Dr. Rus- sell said that Ms. Orlock was later delighted to hear that Dr. Russell was popularizing the term. Dr. Russell changed her definition of “femicide” over the years, but in the end she described it as “the killing of females by males be- causethey are female.” This cov-

ered a range of acts, including killing a wife or girlfriend for having an affair or being rebellious, setting a wife on fire for having too small a dowry, death as a result of genital mutilation, and the murder of sex slaves and prostitutes. Her definition also covered indi- rect forms of killing, such as when women are barred from using con- traception or obtaining an abor- tion, often leading them to seek un- safe abortions that can be botched and result in death. Dr. Russell first used the term publicly when addressing the In- ternational Tribunal on Crimes Against Women, a global event held in Brussels in 1976 and attended by 2,000 women from 40 countries. Dr. Russell had conceived of the tribunal and helped organize it. Among the speakers was Simone de Beauvoir, who hailed the gather- ing as “the beginning of the radical decolonization of women.” Diana Elizabeth Hamilton Rus- sell was born on Nov. 6, 1938, in Cape Town. Her father, James Hamilton Russell, was a member of the South African Parliament. He bought the South African branch of the advertising agency J. Walter Thompson, and was its managing director before and during his polit- ical career. Dr. Russell’s mother, Kathleen Mary (Gibson) Russell, who was British, had traveled to South Afri- ca to teach education and drama; when she married Mr. Russell, she became a homemaker and had six children but still found time to join the anti-apartheid Black Sash movement. (She was a niece of Vio- let Gibson, who had attempted to assassinate Mussolini in 1926.) Diana was the fourth child, born a half-hour before her twin brother, David. She attended an elite Angli- can boarding school for girls, where the motto was “Manners maketh man.” “I was raised to be a useless ap- pendage to some rich white man and to carry on the exploitive tradi- tion of my family,” Dr. Russell wrote in the 1995 essay. Her mother wanted her to take classes in cooking and sewing, but

Diana signed up instead for aca- demic classes at the University of Cape Town. She graduated in 1958 at 19 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She then left for Eng- land and studied social science and administration at the London School of Economics, where she was named the best student in the class of 1961. Back in South Africa, she joined the Liberal Party, which had been founded by Alan Paton, the author of “Cry the Beloved Country” (1948). Her arrest during a peaceful protest soon led to “the most momen- tous decision I’d ever before made,” as she wrote on her website: She joined an underground revolutionary organization called the African Resistance Movement, which sabo- taged government property as a form of protest. She said she had concluded that “aboveground, non- violent strategies would be futile against the brutal, white Afrikaner police state.” But before long she left for Har- vard, where she earned a master’s degree in 1967 and a doctorate in 1970, both in social psychology. She then became a research associate at Princeton, where she wrote her dissertation on revolutionary ac- tivity. She said that the “extreme misogyny at Princeton started me on my feminist path.” Dr. Russell married Paul Ekman, an American psychologist known for his work on facial expressions, in 1968. He was teaching in San Francisco, and she took a teaching position at Mills College, a private women’s school in Oakland, to be near him. They divorced after three years. “Divorce heralded the beginning of my creative life as an active feminist and researcher,” she wrote. Dr. Russell stayed at Mills for 22 years. As a professor of sociology, she taught courses on women and sexism and helped develop a major in women’s studies. As she delved into violence against women, she became a fierce opponent of pornography, a divisive issue among feminists in the 1980s. Some felt it encouraged rape and abuse; other, “sex-pos-

itive” feminists saw it as a free- speech issue and argued that pornography gave women sexual agency. In her book “Against Pornogra- phy: The Evidence of Harm” (1994), Dr. Russell argued that pornography led to “pro-rape atti- tudes and behavior.” She became a founding member of Women Against Violence in Pornography and Media. She often took to the streets for her causes, staging sit-ins in government offices, spray-painting feminist slogans on businesses she considered misogynist and de- stroying magazines in porn shops.

Dr. Russell lived in a collective in Berkeley with several other women and a succession of rescue dogs. She is survived by her sister, Jill Hall, and a brother, Robin Hamilton Russell. Her twin brother, David, who became an Anglican bishop and a champion of the poor in South Africa, died in 2014. In her later writings, Dr. Russell said that her “radical feminism” had cost her job offers, grants and fellowships. Still, she said, she did not regret her failure to “serve the patriarchy” because her work had helped many women lift the veil of secrecy surrounding traumatic experiences.

Diana Russell, 81, Activist Who Studied Violence Against Women, Dies

Dr. Russell was fierce opponent of pornography and helped found Women Against Violence in Pornography and Media.

Diana E. H. Russell in 2009.

SUSAN KENNEDY

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

Brent Carver, a sensitive, soft-
spoken yet nakedly emotional Ca-
nadian actor and singer who won a
Tony Award for his starring role in
the 1993 musical “Kiss of the Spider
Woman,” died on Tuesday at his
home in Cranbrook, British Colum-
bia. He was 68.
The death was announced by his
family. No cause was given.
In his review of “Kiss of the Spi-
der Woman” for The New York
Times Frank Rich praised Mr.
Carver's portrayal of Molina, a gay
window dresser who escapes the
psychological horrors of a Latin
American prison through movie-
musical fantasies (performed by
Chita Rivera), and “arrives at his
own heroic definition of masculin-
ity.” Mr. Carver, Mr. Rich wrote, was
“riveting.”
J. Kelly Nestruck, chief theater
critic for The Globe and Mail, the
Canadian newspaper, called Mr.
Carver “an utterly compelling,
otherworldly performer.” The
Washington Post called his Molina
— a role he also played in London
and Toronto — a “star-making per-
formance.”
“Kiss of the Spider Woman,” a
Kander and Ebb musical with a
book by Terrence McNally, based

on the Oscar-winning 1985 movie and directed by Harold Prince, may have been Mr. Carver’s Broad- way debut, but he already had an impressive theater career in Cana- da. He spent nine seasons at the Stratford Theater Festival in On- tario; there and elsewhere in Cana- da, his roles were legion. From the 1980s onward, he played tragic heroes like Hamlet and Cyrano; tough guys like Pon- tius Pilate (“Jesus Christ Super- star”) and the Pirate King (“The Pirates of Penzance”); sorcerers and spirits like Merlin (“Cam- elot”), Gandalf (“Lord of the Rings”) and Ariel (“The Tem- pest”); a 16th-century actor who plays women’s roles, in “Elizabeth Rex”; and even a hard-working milkman, as Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof.” Mr. Carver never identified with the concept of actors losing them- selves in a role; for him, it was just the opposite. “If all things are equal, you are allowed to be more of yourself onstage than off it,” he told The Times in 1993. “You allow that — those emotions you wouldn’t or couldn’t get in touch with in ordi- nary life.” Brent Christopher Carver was born on Nov. 17, 1951, in Cranbrook, a small city near the Rocky Moun-

tains southwest of Calgary. He was one of eight children of Kenneth Carver, who drove a lumber truck, and Lois (Wills) Carver, who some- times worked as a waitress or a clerk. As a little boy, Brent often sang with his father, who played guitar. Brent’s stage debut was as the lead in a fifth-grade production of “Dick Whittington and His Cat.” He studied drama at the University of British Columbia for three years. When he left school in 1972, he made his stage debut as a swing cast member at the Vancouver Arts Club Theater in “Jacques Brel Is

Alive and Well and Living in Paris.” When he made his Stratford debut, in 1980, it was as Edmund Tyrone, the tubercular son in “Long Day’s Journey Into Night.” Mr. Carver’s relatively few mov- ies included “Shadow Dancing” (1988), a thriller starring Christo- pher Plummer; “Millennium” (1989), a science fiction drama with Kris Kristofferson; and “The Event” (2003), about assisted sui- cide among New Yorkers with AIDS, with Olympia Dukakis and Parker Posey. His television roles included Ich- abod Crane in a 1999 production of

“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” Leonardo da Vinci in “Leonardo: A Dream of Flight” (2002) and the title role in the short-lived Canadian series “Leo and Me” (1977-78). His co-star was an unknown teenage actor, Michael J. Fox. He also received glowing notices for his solo cabaret show. Mr. Carver returned to Broad- way three times: in “King Lear” (2004) as Edgar, in “Romeo and Ju- liet” (2013) as Friar Lawrence, but most notably in “Parade” (1998), as Leo Frank, the doomed factory manager wrongly convicted in 1913 of an adolescent girl’s murder. That

performance brought him his second Tony nomination and a Drama Desk Award for best actor in a musical. But his most treasured prize may have been his Governor Gen- eral’s Performing Arts Award for lifetime achievement in theater in

After the ceremony, he was
asked what advice he would give to
young performers. He talked a bit
about the fear of taking on a new
project and advised them to say, “I
need to do this, and grace will take
over.”
After a six-year break from
Stratford — for decades, he lived
much of the year in Niagara-on-
the-Lake, Ontario — he returned in

His final festival roles were
Feste the clown in “Twelfth Night”
— when Kevin Tierney of The
Montreal Gazette reviewed the
play, he referred to Mr. Carver as a
“national treasure”— and Rowley
the servant in “The School for
Scandal.”
Mr. Carver never married. He is
survived by two brothers, Randy
and Shawn, and two sisters, Vicki
Stanley and Frankie Reekie.
He was a devoted theatergoer as
well as an untiring performer. “I
like being in a theater, like in a the-
ater or even what someone calls a
theater,” he told a Toronto Star
writer interviewing him in a cafe in

Then he gestured around the
room. “If someone calls this a per-
formance space, I’d be like, ‘Here
we go!’ ”

Brent Carver, 68, Tony Winner

For ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’

Brent Carver in rehearsal for “Lord of the Rings,” in which he played the wizard Gandalf, in Toronto in 2005 and, right, in the musical “Kiss of the Spider Woman” on Broadway in 1993.

AARON HARRIS, CP/ASSOCIATED PRESS

KEN FAUGHT/TORONTO STAR, VIA GETTY IMAGES

By ANITA GATES

ALLEN—Arthur Yorke. October 31, 1936 - August 3, 2020 Arthur Yorke Allen of New York City died unexpec- tedly in Edgartown, MA. Born in New York City to J. Findlay and Ethel Lenssen Allen, Ar- thur grew up in Englewood, NJ. Agraduateof Kent School '54, he went on to row in pair with coxswain in the Olympic Trials of '56 and was a member of Varsity crew at Princeton University '58. His early career began in invest- mentmanagement,before becoming CEO of Intermodal Publishing Company, and valedictorian of Harvard Business School Smaller Company Management Pro- gram. After the successful sale of IPC, he returned to in- vestment management at Ci- tibank, eventually retiring from Douglas Winthrop Advi- sors as Managing Director. A supporterandmemberof many non-profits, he was on the boards of Lapham's Quarterly, The American CouncilonGermany,The Walbridge Fund, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, a founder of the Vineyard Open Land Foundation. His favorite club was the Edgar- town Reading Room where he served as President. He was one of the greats: unique, original,honorable,ethical, truthful, wise,compassion- ate, ornery, always consider- ate of others, an old-school gentleman with a mind open to new ways of thinking and seeing, cranky, able to turn difficult situations into laugh- terwithhiseruditionand quirky, quick wit. A gifted ora- tor he reveled in opportuni- ties to conduct auctions to raise money for charities, or toast friends and loved ones (occasionally in Latinor Greek). He loved languages, history, art, music, ballet, sail- ing,architecturalpreserva- tion, and the preservation of this earth. Wise and charm- ing, he made people feel spe- cial and he never forgot a name. The goodness and en- thusiasm he emanated drew

people to him. Greatly loved by all who fell into his orbit; lives became richer for having Arthur in theirs. While he was 6'5” his presence and im- pact were immeasurable. Let the memory of him live on through his family, friends, and all those whose lives he touched. May the work, laughter,andcollaboration you had together continue without him and, through the Golden Rule, come to peace with one another. Arthur is survived by his wife, the poet, Mary Stewart Hammond, daughter Loring Allen Ran- dall (Stuart S.), grandsons No- lan Mayhew Panno and An- drew Gettys Panno, brother William (”Hap”), Sister Elea- nor (”Dee”), Sister Ethel, and many cousins. In lieu of flowers, please consider contribu- tions in his name to the Island Housing Trust Corp., Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, and W&P at the Guggenheim. A service of remembrance will be held later on Martha's Vineyard and in New York City.

ALLEN—Arthur Yorke. Caroline, Mary and Paul Cronson and everybody at Works&Processatthe Guggenheim mourn the death of Arthur Yorke Allen. Arthur was a steadfast friend and an enthusiastic supporter of the arts. We offer Mary Stewart, Loring and family our love and very deepest sympathy. Caroline Cronson, Producer; Bart Friedman, Chairman, Board of Trustees; Duke Dang, General Manager; Kathryn Marshall, Associate

BERENSON—David A.

Age 86, passed away peacefully at his home in Tequesta, FL on August 2, 2020. His professional and personal achievements were substan- tial and impressive (Captain, United States Air Force; Ernst&Young'sNational Director of Tax Policy and Legislative Services; lead witnessbeforetheHouse, Senate, Treasury and Joint Congressional Committees with regard to various tax legislation; former Chairman of the Board of Wolf Trap, the U.S. National Park for the Performing Arts in Washing- ton, DC and United States National Reporter for the In- ternational Fiscal Association (Cahiers du Droit Fiscal Inter- nationale), author, professor and so on and so forth. A tax and financialgeniuswho didn't sufferfoolslightly, what's most important to re- member about David is that he had a horrendous habit of tellingawfuljokestohis grandchildren, making break- fast shakes using foods leftover from the Cretaceous Periodandcreativelyde- scribing fish he imagined he caught from time-to-time. He was also, if we're going to be truthful here, dangerous at a barbequeunlessyouliked your food well-charred. For- tunately, it seemed that he lost his taste buds in the Air Force, so he never saw this as a problem. He was also the kindest friend, father, grand- father and husband anyone could ask for - protective and supportive to a fault, in a way

no longer seen or appreciat- ed in this country, unfortun- ately. An American,and proud of it. He taught his son everything a son should know and its hard to compliment a man more than that. An avid farmer, lover of all things Western and a world traveler with friends throughout the world. But more than any- thing else he loved his wife, his children and his grandchildren. His life was so full it almost defies belief and could fill many books, but for those whosurvivehim,wewill forever miss his being here in person. David is survived by his wife Joan, his children Daniel and Aimee, and his grandchildren Josephine, Asher and Levi. Donations may be made to the Capt. David A. Berenson Endow- ment Fund at the Travis Mills Foundation Veterans Retreat or the JNF Tree Center.

BLAUNER—Joanna Laura (Hamerslag), 82 of Trumbull, CT, passed away peacefully on July 21,

Joanna grew up in New
York, a daughter of the late
Albert and Betty Hamerslag.
She is survived by her devot-
ed daughter Patsy Fox
(George), dear stepson Peter
Blauner (Mary), adored
grandchildren Tasman, Ella,
and Ben Fox, and her trea-
sured sisters Dana Endresen
and Betsy Fay. She was pre-
deceased by her dedicated
husband Charlie Miller and
beloved stepson Stephen
Blauner. Joanna will be
missed by her devoted family
and friends, who will endea-
vor to keep her spirit of lov-
ing kindness alive.

BRODSKY—Sivia, 94, died peacefully on August 5, in her home in New York, NY. Not a day went by since the death of her beloved husband, Andrew, in 1998 that she didn't remark about their wonderful life and marriage. She is survived by her daughter, Ann, son, Greg and his wife, Leigh Anne, grandchildren Allie, Daniel, and Jake, and the New York Times dai- ly crossword puzzle. She was also predeceased by Ann's husband, Bob Ream. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations for the lifelong opera lover may be made to lincolncenter.org/lincoln - cen ter-at-home/support-us. COOPER—Stephen H., 81,diedpeacefullyathis homeinBennington,Ver- mont on August 2, 2020. Born in New York City, Stephen received his Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University in 1960 and served as a lieuten- ant in the U.S. Navy from 1960 to1962. After graduating from Columbia Law School in 1965,StephenjoinedWeil, Gotshal & Manges in New York City, where he became a partner and practiced law for nearly four decades until his retirement in 2005. The consummatecorporatese- curities lawyer, Stephen un- derstood the interstices of the law and was known for his stellar practical judgment and exacting eye for detail. Stephen was an immensely proud husband and father, constantly singing the praises of his wife and son to all who would listen. Even when he was working long hours, family dinner was sacrosanct. He enjoyed the arts, including dance at Jacobs Pillow and chamber music at Lincoln Center. An avid reader, furni- ture maker, and fan of The New York Times crossword puzzles (completed in ink), Stephen lived a full life. He was predeceased by his parents,brother,andfirst wife, Linda Cooper. He is survived by his wife of 39 years, Karen Gross, and their son, Zack Cooper. Services will be

private.Donationscanbe made to Prep-for-Prep or the Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center. CORCORAN—Mary Faith.

December 21, 1930 - July 10,

Mary Faith Corcoran,
89, died peacefully from na-
tural causes at her home in
Jupiter, FL on July 10, 2020
surrounded by loving family.
Born and raised in Bayridge,
Brooklyn and Garden City,
NY, she was the second child
of Alexander B. Doyle and
VeronicaHamill.Shegra-
duatedfromGardenCity
High School and studied nurs-
ing at Georgetown Universi-
ty. In 1955, she married E.
Peter Corcoran, an invest-
ment banker at Lazard
Freres & Co., with whom she
hadsixchildrenandnine
grandchildren. She and Peter
raised their family in Plan-
dome, NY, and their beloved
beach home in Point
O'Woods, Fire Island. Faith
was a loving, generous and
devoted mother and grand-
motherwhose main focus
was family. She was smart,
creative, a natural athlete,
worldly,philanthropic and
fun. She is survived by her
children Carole, Kathleen,
Elisabeth, Alexander, and
Christopher, son-in-law Mat-
thew Simmons, daughters-
in-law, Shannon and Stella
Corcoran and nine cherished
grandchildren, Dawn and Ben
Paljor Chatag, Clara Corcor-
an Simmons and Annabelle,
Alexandra,Michelle,Caro-
line, Daniel and Emery
Corcoran. Her husband Peter
and son David predeceased

her. Shewill begreatly missed for the love, support, advice and generosity she gave her family and friends, and these gifts will live on in the many lives she contribut- ed to and touched. Donations in her memory can be made toRotaCareinUniondale, Long Island or JL Cares in Jupiter, Florida. CRACCO, Roger Q. June 1, 1934 - July 30, 2020. SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University and its College of Medicine mourn the loss of Roger Q. Cracco, MD, who served on our facul- ty for over 40 years as Distin- guished Service Professor of Neurology, Chair of the Neu- rology Department (1980- 2006), and College of Medi- cine Vice Dean (2006 - 2015). An insightful scientist, acade- mician,andadministrator, Dr. Cracco helped establish Downstate's strong national and international reputation as a leader in neurology and the neurosciences. He leaves behind his loving wife, Dr. Joan Cracco. Wayne J. Riley, MD, MPH, MBA, MACP President F. Charles Brunicardi, MD, FACS Dean, College of Medicine Daniel M. Rosenbaum, MD Chair, Department of Neurolgy Robert K.S. Wong, PhD Chair, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology EHRLICH—Stephen R., 85, passed away from COVID-19 on August 6th in PalmBeach,FL.Bornin Brooklyn,Stevegraduated from Poly Prep, Brown University,andNYU Busi- ness School. After a short stint as an accountant, Steve entered Wall Street where he succeeded as a pioneering corporate bond trader and became managing partner at Mabon, Nugent & Co. for 20 years.During histenure, Mabon grew from 150 to ap- proximately 800 employees with offices in New York, Boston and London, and became the 50th largest securi-

ties firm in equity capital. Steve strongly believed in the value of higher education and was an active supporter of his alma mater Brown, where heservedtwotermsas a Brown University Trustee and as a member of numerous Corporation Com- mittees. He and his wife Mary Annfunded a significant numberofscholarshipsat Brown's undergraduate and medical schools. He received numerous awards from the Universityforhisservice, most notably the Brown Bear Award. Steve and Mary Ann receivedthe 2014 Artemis Joukowsky Award for their dedication and commitment to Brown's Medical School. In addition to Brown, his other philanthropic endeavors included serving on the boards of the Newark Museum, New Jersey Historical Society, New Jersey Building Authori- ty, and the Rutgers Business Board of Advisors. He leaves behind his beloved wife Mary Ann of 62 years, son Peter Ehrlich and daughter-in-law Diane Zimnock, daughter Lisa Ehrlich Pearlman and grandchildren Emily and ZacharyPearlman,allof New York City. Steve raised his family in Short Hills, NJ, where they lived for 39 years. Upon retirement, he split his time between Palm Beach, FL and New Jersey so he could remain close with his children and grandchildren. He loved spending time with hisfamilyandhismany friends. He was a passionate golfer, avid sports fan of the YankeesandKnicks,and loved watching classic mo- vies. Donations may be made totheStephenR. Ehrlich MemorialResearch Fund, devotedto COVID-19re- search, at Brown University. Bycreditcardonlineat: http://brown.edu/go/ SteveEhrlichMemorial

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The New York Times - USA (2020-08-09)

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