Any successful enterprise is built on the shoulders of skillful and dedicated individuals who generously give of their life to cooperatively contribute to a common goal. This is also the case in the history of the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences at the Rochester Institute of Technology. We should recognize all the retired professors and all our past colleagues and thank them for a "job well done" on behalf of future generations of students and faculty who will benefit from their initiative and ultimately from their life's work! Here are a few of them.

Due to the large number of images this page may take a little time to load and also note that after the portraits there is a section devoted to "news".

I have decided that this "gallery" would be dedicated to the memory of all those who at one time or another helped advance the cause of the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences and so I plan to also include the photographs of colleagues who worked at our school and whose photographs I could find as well as those of good friends who now only live in our memories.

I was very fortunate to rencently have to opportunity to use my little Agfa ePhoto 1280 digital camera to copy a number of photographs from the "Zakia Archives" going back to the 1950's, '60's and 70's. Then I started adding some pictures I found in my own "archives" and recent "candids" taken as I meet colleagues here and there. If you click HERE you can see them!

At various conferences, lectures or special events, I also "ran across" several individuals who at some time in the past were instructors here, whether in a visiting or full time capacity, and I started a collection of their portraits also. You can check it out by selecting Other Friends.

By the way, those individual's names, below, that are highlighted in a different color are "hotlinked" to an e-mail program and you can send them e-mail by just clicking on their name. Do it!

Leslie Stroebel	Hollis Todd (d)	John Trauger	Ira Current	Burt Carroll (d)	Richard Zakia	David Engdahl

Jim Rice	Don Smith	Martin Rennalls	Jim McMillon	Ed Cohen	Tom Hill (d)	Bob Kayser

Mac McCune	Charles Arnold	Lothar Engelmann	John Compton	Nile Root	Wes Kemp	Tim Holden

Doug Lyttle	Bob Kushner	Bill Shoemaker (d)	Tom Wilson	Richard Norman	Neil Croom	Ron Francis (d)

From Rochester

I came across some old (a relative term of course) negatives that apparently were taken as part of a project to put together a promotional brochure and among the negatives found some of John Compton and Al Rickmers "in action". Apparently John is giving a presentation about the arrangement of the color sensitive emulsion layers and dye absorption deficiencies while Al is doing what he does best and that is talk about statistics and sampling theory. While in a nostalgic mood let me share with you a couple other photographs I found. One is of our late colleague, Erik Timmerman, walking with Nile Root towards the Union from our School probably going to lunch sometime in the early 801s. And this one is of Olive LeFevre and her husband at a picnic somewhere.

Searching through sand-covered vaults in his attic, Dick Zakia sent us this heretofore unpublished photograph of one of the stalwart, handsome and long-sung heros of the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences, aka Lawrence of RIT. Details are scarce but this much has come to the light of day: "Captain Leslie D. Stroebel, U.S Air Force geodetic control unit in Taif, Saudi Arabia, 1945--out of uniform but in a royal uniform thanks to a gift from King Ibn Saud."

Recently the Annual SPAS Faculty exhibtion was inaugurated in the School's Photo Gallery. During the course of the opening severaL snapshots of the activity were made and later compiled into a small "album". To take a peek at the goings on of January 11, 2002 simply click on the follwoing words: 2002 SPAS Faculty Show.

From the East

Dick Zakia's birthday was Dec. 9th, and was celebrated at their daughter and son-in-law's home in nearby Carey. One of Dick's grandsons took the picture. (It was later deftly retouched by none other than Les Stroebel on his computer)

He sent a note to Les Stroebel on the occasion and here are some exerpts from that letter: ... You are absolutely correct regarding the picture on the wall behind me. It is by Barbara Morgan and of a Martha Graham dancer jumping in the air. The photo is appraised at 5000 bucks. Sorry that the Daguerreotype photo did not come through ok. I will check it and see what I can do to correct it for it is quite impressive, considering it was scanned.

Thanks for the information regarding your recent lunch. Nice to know that I am one of the younger members of the group. I will not think that 76 is young.

And thanks for taking the time to forward the mail that came to me at RIT. Am azing that I still get mail there. I suppose you do also along with Lothar and the rest of us. I got a call from Dick Norman yesterday and he is doing well. He had just made up on of his Normal lyrics and was anxious to share them with L ois and me. I think the reason he does not attend the luncheons is that Lothar is no longer there. He and Lothar were good buddies. But I would not be surpri sed if he showed up for a couple of them next year.

I got a email Christmas from a former student in Korea and one from a former student in Israel. email is wonderful in that respect. Also got a card from a former MFA student who now heads up the grad program at Savannah College of Ar t and Design. The program has 500 students in it and the college is the largest private art college in the US of A.

Regards,
Dickz

From the Northeast:

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Once again that time of year rolled around and the Retired Faculty installed another exhibition of their photographs in the 2nd floor hallway display cases. I managed to make photographs of some of them while the photographs were being installed but missed Doug Lyttle. The faculty appear in alphabetical order, Charile Arnold, Ed Cohen and Ira Current, David Engdahl, Bob Kayser, Les Stroebel and Jouhn Trauger. Since Dick Zakia and Nile Root are enjoying their retiement years away from the snow and cold of the northeast they sent their contributions in so I don1t have portraits of them either. Examples of their work, however, are included and on the bottom row they are shown (from L to R) as Lyttle, Root and Zakia. Another set of crackerjack photographs! Thanks, y'all for taking the time and effort to install this exhibition for the benefit and enjoyment of students and faculty alike.

NOTE: You might speed up viewing of the larger images that you can obtain by clicking on the small ones by opening them in a second window. With PCs this is opened by holding down the right button and with Macs by keeping the single button help down for a couple of seconds. Closing the second window returns you to this page without having to reload it from scratch.

On the Fourth of July, 2001 Dr. Lothar Engelmann, retired Dean of the College of Graphic Arts and Photography got on a plane with his wife Waltraud and headed back to Germany after more than a 40 year stay in the States. He promises to be back to visit from time to time and we all look forward to this. Lothar and Waltraud will be moving into an apartment in Cologne. He welcomes email at the address given in the card and linked to his name in the portrait section.

Terry Bollmann

We were all saddened by the following note, sent by Bob Rose, a SPAS graduate and long time friend of the School, when it was received at the SPAS office:

Terry Bollmann passed away on December 9th, 2000 at his home in Florida after a lengthy illness. He was born June 6, 1938.

Terry came to RIT originally as a student in the fall of 1969 and started teaching shortly after graduation with a BS degree in Professional Photography from the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences. He retired in 1991 and moved to Florida to take care of his mother and continue his work as a photographer and gadget guru.

I can offer the following which was his introduction one day when he presented a lecture at the Webb Auditorium:

Terry Bollmann: A Teacher, a Counselor, a Confidant, a Friend, a Professional Photographer, all wrapped up in one package.

Bob Rose

As usual for the last umpteen years or so, several distinguished members of the retired and other past faculty put on a small exhibition of their photographs in the 2nd floor display cases in the hallways of the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences. A special feature of this year's exhibition was the fact that the exhibit included work from faculty who now are only with us in our memories but whose photographs still allow us to make a connection with them.

NOTE: These reproductions were made rather simply and expeditiously through the plexigalss windows of the display cases and so the quality may not be the highest obtainable but the purpose was to simply give the visitor a glimpse of what this exhibition was all about. You might speed up viewing of the larger images that you can obtain by clicking on the small ones by opening them in a second window. With PCs this is opened by holding down the right button and with Macs by keeping the single button help down for a couple of seconds. Closing the second window returns you to this page without having to reload it from scratch.

The alphabetical listing of authors this year, reading from left to right, is: Charlie Arnold, Robert Bagby, Fred Brehm, Ed Cohen, Neil Croom, Ira Current, David Engdahl, Lotahr Engelmann, Mike Geissinger, Betty Hahn, Ralph Hattersley, Brad Hindson, Tom Iten, Bob Kayser, Jim McMillon, Nile Root, Charlie Savage, Les Stroebel and John Trauger.

The photographs were "up" during the last couple of weeks in October and this very special exhibition owes a great deal of gratitude to Bob Kayser for bringing it all together. Good show, y'all!

By the way, to see the photographs from last year choose Exhibit from 1999.

Ira Current celebrates 90th birthday!

On October 8, 2000, family members and friends from his neighborhood, colleagues and fellow photographers gathered to help Ira celebrate his 90th birthday. The occasion was also marked by the awarding ot the fourth Gold Star to Ira for his contributions to the PSA journal. The award was presented to Ira by Tim Holden. Also present at the festivities were John Trauger, Bob Kayser, Jim McMillon, Andy Davidhazy and Les Stroebel (who is shortly starting out on a cross country road trip). Ira and Ellen and their children made everyone feel just like one with the family and everyone had a super time and will long remember this very special occasion. Feel free to drop a note to Ira, who is a savvy email user. Just click on tnerruc@aol.com. To see a few more snaps taken during the event just click on HAPPY BIRTHDAY IRA!.

The latest from the Rochester group

On June 30, 2000 the Rochester Retirees from SPAS met for their regular monthly meeting which consists of lunch at the Radisson. Several visitors from campus also attended the luchen and everyone had a grand old time. There were no new news to report although Dave Engdahl brough everyone up to date with his relatively recent illness and subsequent triple bypass surgery. We were glad to have him present and in such good spirits. The occasion was turned into photographic memories and it is available for your visual enjoyment by simply clicking on Lunch on the 30th!. (Use your browser's "back" button to return to this page).

From the Southeast:

Brief note from Rickmers

We enjoy Howard LeVant's "News Releases" but we have moved and now have a new address. Howard, keep up the good work and tell, who needs to know, what our new home address is: Al and Rena Rickmers, 40 Surry Cicrle North, Pinehurst, NC 28374

From the Northeast:

This note was received by Howard Levant and is posted here since it is in reference to C.B. Neblette and what he was doing in 1929!:

Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2000 11:41:09 -0500
From: "William E. Carnahan"

Howard,

Don't know if the following is of any interest to you or to the SPAS, but thought I would send it "for what it's worth."

I am the archivist of my professional association, Agricultural Communicators in Education (ACE). The organization was founded in 1913 at the University of Illinois. I am writing a history article for our quarterly "The Journal of Applied Communications." In going through newsletters from the 1920s, I found the following from which I am excerpting. It appeared in the October - November 1929 issue of our newsletter, "The ACE."

"A photographic contest for Texas county and home demonstration agents drew fifteen entries from men and five from women with a total of 115 prints submitted in a recent competition for three prizes offered for the best story-telling pictures. The entries were projected via lantern slides and briefly criticized from a composition standpoint by R. R. Lancaster, Rural Organizer in the Extension staff, and C.B. Neblette, Texas Agricultural Experiment Station photographer. At the conclusion, the three winning pictures were shown.

"Individual aid in improving photographic techniques was offered by Mr. Neblette in his studio each day during the week, but only two agents availed themselves of the opportunity."

I did not know Mr. Neblette had worked in Texas, let alone for the Texas Ag Exp Station. He was head of the Photo Department when I went to RIT.

Bill Carnahan - Photo 1951 (Nearly 50 years ago. I hope to come to campus next year to celebrate).

Another retiree establishes email connection!

Bob Kayser tells me that you can send him email at the following address: gunnkayser@aol.com I am not sure how propmpt he is about responding so if you find out please let me know!

From the Southeast:

A recent message from Wes Kemp says:

Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2000 20:50:07 -0500 (EST)
From: wespics@aol.com

It was a treat and a delight to see the faces of our 'senior friends". I must say you came up with a most pleasing portrait of me. You can be my Editor any time ! ;)..... when, you have a moment, please update my e-mail address (the RIT e-mail address in no longer 'active') wespics@aol.com will do the trick.

In the past hour, I learned of the death of Ralph Hattersley. He had been in failing health over recent years and had been confined to a nursing home. I talked to Charles Arnold a few minutes ago.... about Ralph's death.

Very best regards,
Wes Kemp

Note: the following message was posted on Andy Davidhazy's guestbook. You might drop the Hattersley children a note ...

We would like his former friends and colleagues to know of the passing of Ralph M. Hattersley Jr., former teacher of photography at RIT, on Feb. 5, 2000. His kids, Cleve, Craig, and Lissa, live now in Austin, Texas, and will greatly miss him.
Craig R. Hattersley cowcasa@texas.net
Austin, TX, TX USA - Saturday, February 05, 2000 at 17:00:06 (EST)

Note that the David Engdahls will be spending the winter in Lehigh Acres, Florida starting on January 11, 2000. They will have internet connections since they are bring an IBM computer with them. Our e-mail address is stampbum24@aol.com. Our snail mail address is 52 Heath Aster Lane, Lehigh Acres, FL 33936-7351. Phone: (941) 368-1109. Do not use the old e-mail address: daepph@rit.edu.

.... and

For those of you who have been looking for John Compton's address, here it is: 1064 West Sutton Street, Palatine, IL 60067

From the Southwest:

Nile Root had this to say recently among many other things:

... Have you looked at my web site yet? I'm having a great time with it. Let me know what you think. I'm adding new stuff each day.

www.niler.com

Good to hear from you. All is well here. Nick (Graver) and his wife are visiting for a week or more soon, and then Elliott Rubenstein and his wife on th 24th of this month. Your turn to come see us. Back to the web site - Nile

From the Northeast:

Towards early February 1999, Dr. Richard Zakia announced that he was going to be moving out of the Rochester area and moving closer to his daughter's family in North Carolina. He is looking forward to spending significantly more time with his grandchildren!

The School of Photographic Arts and Sciences organized a farewell party on this momentous occasion and friends from near and far came to wish him a well. Here are some "snaps" from the celebration:

From left to right, you can see Bill DuBois awarding a Willie Osterman print to Dr.Z while the congregation gives witness, Les Stroebel engaged in animated conversation with Milton Pearson and Irv Pobboravsky as Dr.Z looks on in surprise, Dr.Z chatting with Owen Butler while Nathan Lyons is amazed by a digital camera manipulated by Gordon Brown, Howard Lester making a point with Loret Steinberg and Lynne Bentley-Kemp, Bill DuBois and Judi Murray hamming it up for the camera.

We have heard from Martin Rennalls and he is doing well in sunny Florida. He has this bit of news to share with us: he was recently nominated for and awarded Lifetime Achievement Award in Jamaica for contributing to Film and TV production in Jamaica and the Governor of Jamaica has agreed to publish his autobiography. In addition, he was honored by the Jamaican government with the second highest civilian honor awarded to a citizen of the country - the Commander of the Order of Distinction for outstanding contributions to Jamaica's development in the area of communications. The photograph showing him, along with his wife Ivy, receiving the Award and wearing the Commander of the Order of Distinction (C.D.) Medal. To get in touch with him his address is Martin A. Rennalls, C.D., 4050 N 51 Avenue, Hollywood, FL 33021-1629.

Skip Battaglia became the last faculty member to be admitted into the exalted ranks of the "Full Professors" of the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences. The event was celebrated last Spring by a group of colleagues taking him to lunch at a local eatery. A good time was had by all.

On a more pressing issue, the full professors group currently has no elected chair or organizational structure. It seems to me that the group could very well have become an anachronism. Hopefully something "develops".

Hollis Todd: We were deeply saddened by the sudden passing on July 12, 1998, of a good friend and colleague as a result of an accident. Prof. Hollis Todd was a pillar and a cornerstone upon whom the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences was constructed. He was a faculty member at RIT and the School of Photography (which was to become the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences) from 1946 until 1976 and taught photographic physics, sensitometry and mathematics. In 1966 he was honored with the RIT Outstanding Teacher Award. His contributions were particularly influential in a philosophy that permeated the school over the years and gave it a very distinct "flavor" and a wide ranging "menu" when compared to others. Hollis, thanks.

Radisson Lunches: As you might know, the local retireees from the School and their friends, regularly meet for lunch at the Radisson every last Thursday of the month. Here are some snapshots taken at the last meeting where Ira Current brought his son to the meeting.

SPAS Reorganized: In case you missed it, the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences does not have a Director anymore but three Administrative Chairs (?) have split that office's functions. There is a "latent" desire to collaborate and conduct joint projects and so on and essentially to keep the "look" to the outside as undistrubed and transparent and seamless as in the past. Let's see how things "develop".

Scott and Carol Williams depart for greener pastures! On the evening of May 22nd, 1998 (or thereabouts) faculty from the department and their spuses met at Portobello's restaurant for what was to be the last supper at RIT for one of the Imaging and Photographic Technology Department's "luminaries" over the last four years. Dr. Scott Williams departed for industry but promised to keep in close touch with his many friends in SPAS. You can contact him by e-mail right HERE!. He will be working at Foto-wear, Inc. 101 Pocono Drive, Milford, PA 18337. You can also send him cards and letters to 1532 Hemlock Farms, 109 Saddlebrook Ln., Hawley, PA 18428. We will all miss him.

Luncheon Photo from a few years back!

Les Stroebel brought in the photograph that you see here. It was taken at a lunch gathering at a restaurant by the Genesee river just over the tracks right here in Henrietta (although it might be Brighton!). Anyway, I have no information on the year the photo was taken (even though I myself was present at the event) so if you could help me out that would be much appreciated.

BTW, that woman in a red outfit was not a part of the group in case you are wondering. She was not even a she. IT was a mannequin.

Photos from the Attic: Digging through ancient and dusty crevices in his basement, Dr. Richard Zakia recently unearthed a relic from the past ... a relic to remind us of our heritage, indeed, the heritage of the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences. His find relates to a photograph taken by Ralph Hattersley of a faculty meeting presided over by C.B. Neblette sometime in the late 1950's when RIT was still located in downtown Rochester and the School occupied the upper floors of the Clark Building locatedon the corner of Washington and Broad streets in the 3rd ward.

Let's see how many of our colleagues you can identify! Well, from left to right: Richard Zakia, Ed Wilson, Charlie Arnold, (who is that above Charlie's head?), Al Rickmers, Robert Bagby, Don Smith, David Engdahl, Charlie Savage, Hollis Todd, Bill Shoemaker and with his back to the camera: C.B. Neblette.

There was someone else present, it seems, with his back to the camera and between Zakia and Neblette but was "retouched" out. Who was that? And where is Les Stroebel? Was this _everyone_ or only those that came to the meeting? Was Minor White there? What year _was_ this anyway?

The Ira Current family is online and plugged-in!!! It is about the most extensive family listing of websites that has come to our attention and listed below are all manner of contacts with Ira's family.

From the Southwest:

We have learned that Nile Root has an selection of his photographs on exhibit at the Artist of the Month Gallery, 4831 East 22nd Street, Tucson, AZ from February 11 to March 6, 1998.

The exhibition, CyberVisions - Digital Images by Nile Root, consists of ancient motifs - current technology. The sample image shown here is entitled: Rock Art Gallery - Chaco Canyon (it is Copyright 1998 by Nile Root). There will be an opening reception on Sunday, February 15, from noon to 2pm. If you are in the area you are invited to attend.

From the Northeast:

Professor Emeritus Charles Arnold recently designed a comprehensive set of brochures to promote each of the departments within the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences. A "thumbnail" image of the folio cover is seen at left and below are the illustrations gracing the pages of some of the departmental brochures. If you click on any of these small images you can see an enlarged version. Prof. Arnold made these images based on rolled and folded paper forms.

On a separate item, Charlie sends this photograph to visually share with you all what his mornings are dedicated to most days this winter. Click on it to see it in somewhat larger size.

RIT School of Photographic Arts and Sciences Professor Emeritus Dr. Richard D. Zakia just published a new book on visual perception under the title of: Perception and Imaging. From the preface:

"Pictures, regardless of how they are created and recreated, are intended to be looked at. This brings to the forefront not the technology of