Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Edward C. BelefskiPetroleum Institute Official
Edward Carl Belefski, 89, who worked for the American Petroleum Institute from the late 1940s to 1970s and retired as assistant treasurer, died Nov. 12 at Inova Alexandria Hospital of complications from a stroke.
Mr. Belefski, an Alexandria resident, was a longtime treasurer of the Coordinating Research Council, an organization leading engineering and environmental studies among carmakers and the petroleum industry.
He was a native of Glen Lyon, Pa., and a 1939 accounting graduate of Penn State University. He received a master's degree in business administration from New York University.
He was an Army Air Forces veteran of World War II and retired from the Air Force Reserve in the 1970s as a lieutenant colonel.
Survivors include his wife of 64 years, Josephine Kane Belefski of Alexandria; three children, Mary Belefski of Falls Church, Michael Belefski of Fairfax County and Mark Belefski of Charles Town, W.Va.; and three grandchildren.
James Donald FreezeJesuit, Georgetown ProvostThe Rev. James Donald Freeze, 74, a Jesuit priest who was Georgetown University's provost from 1979 until 1991, died Dec. 10 at Manresa Hall in Merion Station, Pa. He had Alzheimer's disease.
Father Freeze worked at Georgetown for two decades, rising from assistant academic dean to assistant executive vice president for academic affairs and then provost. While there, he addressed undergraduate curriculum revision and physical plant improvements.
Former Georgetown president Leo J. O'Donovan said in a statement that Father Freeze was "a model of efficiency, dedication and generosity. He worked long, hard, happy hours and was contagiously enthusiastic about everything he did."
He was born in Baltimore and became a Jesuit novice in 1950. After junior college at Wernersville, Pa., he received a master's degree in philosophy from Weston College in Massachusetts in 1957.
He taught Latin and French at St. Joseph's Preparatory School in Philadelphia for three years, then studied theology at the University of Innsbruck in Austria from 1960 to 1964. He spent another year in France and took his final vows, becoming a priest, at Wheeling College in West Virginia in 1968.
Father Freeze taught metaphysics and psychology at the college until 1969, then became chairman of its philosophy department while doing graduate work in philosophy at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. He lived at Georgetown University from 1970 until 1991.
Father Freeze spent the next year as director of the Georgetown University program in Florence, Italy. He returned to the United States in 1992 to be superior and director of the Loyola Retreat House in Faulkner. Five years later, he became treasurer of the Maryland province of the Society of Jesus and superior of the Colombiere Jesuit Community in Baltimore. He spent a sabbatical year in 2002 at Old St. Joseph's Church in Philadelphia, then moved to Manresa Hall in Merion Station, Pa.
He had no immediate family survivors.
James V. Martin Jr.Foreign Service OfficerJames Victor Martin Jr., 89, a Japanese specialist in the State Department who retired in 1973 as country director for Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands, died Nov. 12 at the Methodist Home of Washington. He had congestive heart failure.
Dr. Martin was born in Japan to American parents. His father was a Methodist missionary.
He was a 1938 graduate of DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind., and received a master's degree (1939) and a doctorate (1948) in international affairs from Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He served in Navy intelligence during World War II.
He joined the State Department in 1946 and held many assignments as a political officer at U.S. consulates around Asia.
After retiring from State, he spent eight years as a data processor at the Drug Enforcement Administration.
He settled in the Washington area about 1970, and his memberships included Chevy Chase United Methodist Church. His avocations included watercolor painting and making wood-block prints.
His wife, Elizabeth Smith Martin, whom he married in 1941, died in 2002.
Survivors include three children, Susan Martin of Mill Valley, Calif., Sarah Brown of Bethesda and David Martin of Silver Spring; a brother; a sister; and a grandson.
Jeanne Estelle TrapaniHomemakerJeanne Estelle Trapani, 79, a homemaker, died of complications of cancer Dec. 9 at her sister's home in Rockville. She lived in Potomac Woods.
Mrs. Trapani was born in Criglersville, Va., and moved to the Washington area as a young woman. She married in 1954 and lived in Wheaton and then Rockville.
She enjoyed traveling, gardening and the arts, and she was a member of the Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia.
Her husband, Dr. Robert-John Trapani, died in 2000.
Survivors include two sons, Robert-John Trapani Jr. of St. Petersburg, Fla., and Gregory Trapani of Westminster, Md.; three sisters, Betty Warsavage of Odenton, Florence Hopkins of Rockville and Jackie Kaiss of Adelphi; and five grandchildren.