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ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS

MONTH: June 2007

Obituaries

 

Hugh Holbrook Tebault II, 89, died on May 10, 2007 in Alameda, California. Tebault was introduced to humane work by his mother, a close associate of Edith Latham, who founded the Latham Foundation for the Promotion of Humane Education in 1918. Tebault headed the Latham Foundation from 1953 to 1998, and also served on the American Humane Association board of directors for many years, beginning in 1968. The Latham Foundation is now headed by his eldest son, Hugh H. Tebault III. Early Latham projects included sponsoring Kind Deeds Clubs, publishing a school newsletter called The Kindness Messenger, and hosting essay contests and poster competitions. Tebault II began exploring the use of electronic media to promote humane education by hosting a radio program, then in the 1950s produced the Brother Buzz television program on KPIX Channel 5, San Francisco, which became The Wonderful World of Brother Buzz, syndicated nationally in the 1960s. In the 1970s Tebault II produced another nationally syndicated TV show called Withit, which in 1975 produced an influential episode about animal-assisted therapy. After helping to organize two national conferences on animal-assisted therapy, Tebault II in 1981 formed the Delta Committee as a project of the Latham Foundation. A year later the committee evolved into the Delta Society, an independent organization that promotes animal-assisted therapy, now based in Renton, Washington.

James Richards, 58, employed by the Feline Health Center at the Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine since 1991 and director of the center since 1997, on April 22, 2007 swerved his motorcycle in a futile effort to avoid a cat who ran into the road near Marathon, New York, killed the cat anyway, and suffered injuries from which he died on April 24. Richards edited the monthly newsletter Cat Watch, was author of the ASPCA Complete Guide to Cats, co-authored the Cornell Book of Cats, and in the 1990s headed the Vaccine-Associated Feline Sarcoma Task Force, which identified the hazards of giving cats unnecessary injections and the advantages of using long-lasting combination vaccines that prevent multiple diseases with a single shot.

Cornelius Van Der Vies, 67, a homeless man known for his fondness for his mixed breed dog Boo Boo, died on April 30, 2007 in downtown San Jose, California, after scuffling with another homeless man who threw objects at the dog. The other man, who reportedly beat and kicked Der Vies until he collapsed, was held for investigation of possible criminal charges. The San Jose Animal Care Center pledged that Boo Boo would be placed in a suitable home.

 


Gretchen Wyler, 74, died of breast cancer on May 28, 2007, at her California home. Wyler broke into theatre in 1950 as a dancer at the St. Louis Muny Opera. She retired from the stage there in 1997, after starring in a revival of Hello Dolly. In between, Wyler starred in eight Broadway shows, including Guys & Dolls, Silk Stockings, Damn Yankees, Bye Bye Birdie and Sly Fox, and appeared in many other theatrical shows, television programs, and films. In 1966 Wyler visited the town animal shelter in Warwick, New York. Shocked by the conditions, Wyler raised the funds to build a new shelter, opened in 1968, and combined the roles of actress and shelter manager for the next 10 years. Influenced by that experience, Wyler in 1971 joined the ASPCA Shelter Reform Committee, founded to shift the emphasis of the American SPCA management of the New York City pound contract toward promoting dog and cat sterilization. Holding the pound contract from 1895 to 1994, the ASPCA had begun a sterilization program in 1968, but was still killing more than 250,000 animals per year: more than 10 times as many as are now killed by all New York City shelters combined. In 1972 Wyler became the first woman ever elected to the ASPCA board, but in 1975 she became the first board member to be dismissed, after suing the rest of the board for alleged mismanagement. A 1977 settlement returned Wyler to the board and brought the late John Kullberg to the ASPCA presidency. The 14-year Kullberg tenure was noted for changing almost every aspect of the organization. Also in 1971, Wyler joined the Fund for Animals' board at invitation of founder Cleveland Amory, serving as vice chair until 1991. Relocating to California in 1978, Wyler in 1979 helped state senator Daniel Roberti to draft a "Resolution on Animal Rights" that won passage by the state legislature. In 1981 Wyler helped to abolish the sale of Los Angeles pound animals to laboratories. Wyler founded the Genesis Awards program to honor screen productions that favorably depict animals and animal issues in 1986, as a project of the Fund for Animals. Backed by a bequest from her friend Dolly Green, Wyler founded the Ark Trust in 1991, to host the Genesis Awards as an independent project. In 2002 Wyler merged the Ark Trust into the Humane Society of the U.S., where it is now the Hollywood Office of HSUS. Broadcast by the Discovery Channel 1990-1996, the Genesis Awards have been aired since 1997 on Animal Planet.

Michael Sutcliffe, 84, acting chair of the Japan Animal Welfare Society, died on April 6, 2007 in England. Sutcliffe had been involved with JAWS and vegan organizations for more than 25 years.

Joy A. Palmer, 85, died on May 15, 2007, after more than a year of illness. As the Dublin representative of CIVIS, the international antivivisection organization founded by author Hans Reusch, Palmer in 1981 started the Irish group Stop Animal Experiments, which in 1984 won resolutions favoring ban on animal research from every borough council in Ireland. Moving to England, where she taught education at the University of Durham, Palmer in 1990 cofounded Doctors in Britain Against Animal Experiments. This in 1991 became Doctors & Lawyers for Responsible Medicine.

Tamar Asedo Sherman, 36, died of breast cancer on May 9, 2007, in Lafayette, California. A longtime representative of the anti-dog chaining organization Dogs Deserve Better, Sherman was in 2005 sentenced to 75 hours of community service plus a year on probation for entering former San Jose judge Ron Berki's yard to check on the condition of his son Steve's dog Bailey, a black Labrador. Sherman argued that Bailey was neglected; Berki said he was not, and slept with Steve every night. "Tamar never wanted me to know how sick she was," recalled Dogs Deserve Better founder Tammy Grimes. Grimes is facing charges in a similar case in Pennsylvania, in which a veterinarian found that the dog was neglected. "Tamar lobbied for the 2006 California anti-tethering legislation, and was exuberant when it passed. Our reps voted unanimously to give her our 2007 Remarkable Rep of the Year Award. We will rename the award the Tamar Sherman Remarkable Rep Award," Grimes said.

Nicolas Vgambwera, a Democratic Republic of the Congo park ranger based at Mount Tshiaberimuin Virunga National Park, was killed by rebel soldiers in a May 20, 2007 dawn attack on two patrol posts. Kat-ungu Kayisumbirwa, wife of a Gorilla Org-anization ranger, soon afterward died in premature labor brought on by the stress of the attack, Gorilla Organization representative Abigail Girling told ANIMAL PEOPLE.