By Kenny Lo
Student Lifestyle Editor
From lifelong faculty members to former students, we remember some of those in our FDU family who have passed away during the global pandemic, whether directly or indirectly by COVID-19. These appreciations are summarized from published obituaries.
They helped establish our foundation, and are the very pillars and cornerstones that help ensure success for our future generation and guide them forward. Let us honor them.
- Dr. Ibrahim Abdul-Malik, 96, was an adjunct professor in the School of Humanities at Fairleigh Dickinson University and the first member of our community to die from coronavirus. With an academic career spanning over eight decades and a 25-year career in the New York school system as a teacher and administrator, many benefitted from his compassion, understanding, brilliance and his sense for justice. The interfaith One God, Three Paths course taught with Rabbi Ezra Weinberg and Rev. Jack Baron is the cornerstone of the Religious Studies program on the Metropolitan Campus since 2005. He passed away on April 2, 2020.
- Eva Konrad Hawkins, 90, was a marine scientist who truly loved working with underwater-life as much as she loved teaching it. She conducted several research in marine life and taught biology at several colleges that included Fairleigh Dickinson University. According to The New York Times “Those We Lost” obituary series, she grew up in Hungary, lived through the Holocaust and the Hungarian uprising of 1956, and then fled Communist oppression for the United States. She died of COVID-19 on April 18, 2020, at a nursing home in the Bronx.
- Joseph Devine, 65, was quite the esteemed and beloved professor in the field of law enforcement at FDU. As part of his distinguished career, he became chief of police for Rockaway Township in 1998, then served as chief of investigations for the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office in 2002, and after finally retiring from law enforcement, served as a member of the FDU faculty for 24 years, becoming full time in 2007. He was inspiring as much as he was charismatic, constantly pushing students to never give up. He passed away peacefully at home on April 26, 2020.
- Murray B. Hundert, 100, of Solomons, Md. (formerly of Livingston, N.J.), worked in the chemical industry for many years. He taught chemistry part time at FDU while still working in the industry until he decided his love of teaching took precedence, and he became a full-time professor in the old Rutherford campus. He retired from FDU in 1986. Murray was a kind and generous man that everyone he’d come into contact with was touched by his kind nature, his generosity, his curious spirit and his brilliance, according to the Southern Maryland News Net . He passed away June 13, 2020.
We remember and honor alumni who passed away during this difficult time.
- Eugene Michael Kangley, DDS, 78, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
- Robert A. Legendre, 82, Forked River, N.J.
- Vicki A. Dicker, 78, Fair Lawn, N.J.
- Peter G. Clark, 66, Guilford, Conn.
- Raymond Peter Mack, 79, West Milford, N.J.
- Dr. Elizabeth Anne Yager, 68, Radford, Va.
We would also like to remember someone who is not an alum, but a very dear friend and former journalism colleague of our academic advisor Mo Krochmal — his name is Mike Voss, a Pulitzer Prize winner. As Prof. Krochmal would put it, Mr. Voss is “a Navy vet, and a fine journalist who loved people, stories and the joys of a simple meal.” Voss was 65.
Please email The Equinox (fduequinox@gmail.com) with news of lost, dear friends during this time.
Art by Kenny Lo
Graphic memorializing all parties mentioned in story.