2012 deaths

Knut_Sydsæter

Knut Sydsæter (5 October 1937 – 29 September 2012) was a Norwegian mathematician.Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oslo.He is known for having written several books in mathematics for economic analysis, mainly in Norwegian and English.
However, his books have been released in several other languages such as Swedish, German, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian and Hungarian among others.

Ben_H._Procter

Ben Hamill Procter (February 21, 1927 – April 17, 2012) was a historian who served from 1957 to 2000 on the faculty of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas.
A native of Temple, Texas, Procter moved with his family to Austin, where he graduated from Stephen F. Austin High School. He obtained Bachelor of Arts and master's degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. He then received a second master's degree and his Ph.D. from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He served in the United States Navy during the last months of World War II. From 1979 to 1980, Procter was the president of the Texas State Historical Association. Before he became a history professor, he played football briefly with the Los Angeles Rams until his athletic focus was halted by an injury.Procter held the Cecil and Ida Green Emeritus chair in the TCU History Department. He received the Summerfield R. Roberts Award for best book contribution to Texas history. He was a Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation fellow, honored for teaching and research. He was a biographer of newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst and U.S. Senator John Henninger Reagan.Donald R. Walker (1941-2016), professor emeritus of history at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, called Procter "among the most respected and admired members of the history profession in Texas. He will be missed by students, colleagues. and other historians. ... May he rest in peace."

Knut_Erik_Tranøy

Knut Erik Tranøy (10 December 1918 – 19 March 2012) was a Norwegian philosopher.
During World War II Tranøy, along with 700 other Norwegian students, was deported to the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany. He was appointed professor at the University of Bergen from 1959, and at the University of Oslo from 1978. His main contributions have been in fields of ethics, particularly in medicine and science. He is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters from 1979. He was decorated as Knight, First Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 2002.He resided at Fossum terrasse.

Mildred_Vorpahl_Baass

Mildred Vorpahl Baass (April 15, 1917 – November 4, 2012) was an American poet. She served as the Poet Laureate of Texas from 1993 to 1995.Baass was born in San Antonio, Texas, on April 15, 1917, to Alfred H. Vorpahl Sr. and Ida M. Keller Vorpahl. She was widowed during her first marriage when her husband, Lt. A. M. Hutchison Jr. of the United States Army Air Forces, was shot down and declared killed in action during World War II. She married her second husband, Judge Alfred C. Baass, on May 9, 1946. Baass had two daughters, Carol Sowa and Nancy Baass.A resident of Victoria, Texas, Mildred Vorpahl Baass died on November 4, 2012, at the age of 95.

John_Silber

John Robert Silber (August 15, 1926 – September 27, 2012) was an American academician and candidate for public office. From 1971 to 1996, he was President of Boston University (BU) and, from 1996 to 2002, Chancellor. From 2002 to 2003, he again served as President (Ad Interim); and, from 2003 until his death, he held the title of President Emeritus.In 1990, he won the Democratic gubernatorial primary to become one of two major-party candidates for governor of Massachusetts in the general election of 1990. He lost that election to the Republican William Weld, who won by 38,000 votes.After receiving his PhD from Yale, Silber became professor of philosophy and served as dean of the University of Texas's College of Arts and Sciences (1967–70). He had a liberal reputation in his days at Texas, though at Boston University he was best known as a conservative spokesman in academia.

Felix_Stehling

Felix Louis Stehling, Jr. (April 2, 1927 – December 10, 2012) was an American businessman and restaurateur. Stehling and his brother Mike Stehling co-founded Taco Cabana, a fast food restaurant chain specializing in Tex-Mex cuisine, in 1978. Stehling is credited as the inventor of the beanburger, a now common dish in the San Antonio area, consisting of refried beans, Fritos and Cheez Whiz.

Jack_Hanlon

Jack Clem Hanlon (February 15, 1916 – December 13, 2012) was an American child actor known for his role in Our Gang and silent films. According to Variety, at the time of his death he was the oldest living person to appear in the Our Gang comedies and likely the last surviving cast member of the Buster Keaton silent classic The General.Hanlon was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and was raised by his grandmother in Culver City, California. He started acting at age 10. His first role was in Buster Keaton's 1926 film, The General, before appearing in two 1927 Our Gang/Little Rascals silent shorts: The Glorious Fourth and Olympic Games. He had what was characterized as a breakout performance in the 1929 William Wyler-directed part-talkie The Shakedown, co-starring James Murray and Barbara Kent. He also had minor roles in Romance, where as an uncredited extra he got his first on-screen kiss from Greta Garbo.Between 1930 and 1933, Hanlon appeared in eight more films before giving up his acting career in 1932. After graduating from high school, he played minor league baseball and served as an Army Air Corps paratrooper during World War II. After the war, Hanlon, worked as a furniture mover for Allied Van Lines. He was married to Jean Hanlon from 1940 until her death in 1977. He moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1994. He stayed friends with fellow Our Gang alumnus and Las Vegan, Jay R. Smith. He died on December 13, 2012.