Thursday, April 17, 2008
Michael GurevitchJournalism Professor
Michael Gurevitch, 77, a professor emeritus at the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism who specialized in the study of mass communication, died March 29 at Royal Brompton Hospital in London. He had complications from pneumonia.
Dr. Gurevitch, a Washington resident, taught at the Maryland journalism school from 1983 to 2007. His best-known books were "Mass Media and Society" (1991), an anthology by academics worldwide that he edited with James Curran, and "The Crisis of Public Communication" (1995), a collection of essays about television news he co-wrote with Jay G. Blumler.
He was well-regarded among peers for his research into newsroom operations and media companies' influence on elections.
In 2005, he and Blumler received the American Political Science Association's Murray Edelman Distinguished Career Award.
Dr. Gurevitch was born in 1930 in Poland and raised in what was then the British mandate of Palestine. He served in the Israeli army during its 1948 war for independence and served in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
He was a sociology graduate of Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He received a master's degree in communications from the University of Chicago and a doctorate in political science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Early in his career, he was night editor for a now-defunct newspaper in Tel Aviv. After his graduate work, he taught at Hebrew University and the Open University in England and remained active as a visiting lecturer at educational centers worldwide while on the Maryland faculty.
His marriage to Ahuva Heller Gurevitch ended in divorce.
Survivors include his wife, Patricia Coughlin Gurevitch, whom he married in 1963, of Washington; a daughter from the first marriage, Yael Nathanson of Haifa, Israel; two daughters from the second marriage, Abigail Clancy and Ruth Gurevitch, both of London; a brother; a sister; and nine grandchildren.
-- Adam Bernstein
Elsa Anna-Berta PageSwedish Teacher
Elsa Anna-Berta Jakobson Page, 89, who was a teacher and principal at a Swedish-language school in Northern Virginia, died of a bowel obstruction April 5 at Virginia Hospital Center. She lived at the Jefferson retirement facility in Arlington.
Mrs. Page, who went by Anna-Berta, was born in Karlstad, Sweden, and worked as an au pair in England in the late 1930s. In 1943, she married a U.S. naval officer assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Stockholm. They moved to Alexandria in 1946 and settled in McLean in 1957.
She also lived at various times in London, Athens, Budapest, The Hague and Okinawa. In Okinawa, she taught swimming to Americans and English to the Japanese.
Mrs. Page was a member of Redeemer Lutheran Church in McLean and helped design the church's memorial garden based on her memories of churches in Sweden.
She began teaching Swedish at Svenska Skolan, a language school currently in Falls Church, and served as its principal in the 1970s.
Mrs. Page served on the board of the Swedish-American Cultural Union. She occasionally did translations for National Geographic magazine and in 1976 received a medal from the king of Sweden for her leadership in Washington's Swedish community.
She regularly made visits to Sweden until the mid-1990s. She enjoyed square dancing and was a Cub Scout den mother.
Her husband of 54 years, Elden L. Page, died in 1997.
Survivors include a son, Peter L. Page of Washington.
-- Matt Schudel
Dennis J. Reilly Jr.Navy Chief Petty Officer
Dennis J. Reilly Jr., 87, a retired Navy chief petty officer who spent more than 20 years as a safety inspector and engineer for Savoy Construction Co., died of cardiogenic shock March 15 at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda.
Mr. Reilly served 26 years in the Navy until retiring in 1962. During the Korean War, he received the Navy Commendation Medal with Combat "V" for his service on the aircraft carrier USS Bon Homme Richard as a chief aviation machinist mate.
He later studied military justice and law, and his final active-duty assignment was at Patuxent River Naval Air Station as a special investigator on security matters.
He worked for Savoy Construction from the mid-1960s to late 1980s.
Dennis Joseph Reilly Jr. was a native Washingtonian and a 1937 graduate of Gonzaga College High School. He attended Montgomery College on the G.I. Bill after World War II.
He had been a volunteer with Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad since the late 1950s. He was secretary-treasurer of the rescue squad alumni group for the last 25 years.
He was a former president of an American Legion post in Bethesda, his city of residence, and his memberships included Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Bethesda, the Knights of Columbus and the Izaak Walton League conservation group.
He earned a pilot's license at 16 and later flew gliders. He enjoyed studying engineering and mathematics.
Survivors include his wife of 54 years, Martha O'Neil Reilly of Bethesda; seven children, retired Army Maj. Denise R. Mitcham of Annandale, retired Navy Cmdr. Dennis J. Reilly III of Merritt Island, Fla., James E. Reilly of Gaithersburg, Barbara A. Scruggs of Belmont, N.C., Mary K. Krivda of Kensington, John F. Reilly of Olney and Rosemary M. Seminario of Rockville; 24 grandchildren; and a great-grandson.
-- Adam Bernstein
Myra L. WithersChurch Member
Myra Little Withers, 72, the wife of an Army officer and a member of the Altar Guild of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Alexandria as well as the Episcopal churches at Fort Meade, died of respiratory failure March 21 at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital. She lived in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County.
Mrs. Withers, whose father was an Army officer, was born at Fort Sill, Okla. She was with her parents at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
She finished high school in Norfolk and attended George Washington University. After her marriage in 1956, she accompanied her husband on his military assignments until settling in the Washington area in 1983.
She was involved in her children's scouting activities and was a member of the Army Engineer Officers Wives Club.
Survivors include her husband, retired Army Maj. Gen. George K. Withers Jr. of Alexandria; three children, retired Army Lt. Col. George K. Withers III of Chantilly, Kelley L. Withers of Pearisburg, Va., and Elizabeth D. Withers of Springfield; two brothers, retired Army Lt. Col. Donald C. Little Jr. of Trinity, Fla., and William W. Little of Fairfax Station; and two granddaughters.
-- Adam Bernstein