July 20, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

Obituaries

Don Gentner, 65, died June 12 at home in Palo Alto after a battle with brain cancer.

He was born in Western New York on Jan. 20, 1940 to Richard Francis Genter and Florence (Winter) Genter, the second of seven children. He left his hometown of Springville, N.Y. in 1957 but maintained deep roots there.

He received his bachelor's degree in chemistry from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1965 and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley in 1967. He met his first wife, Dedre Cook, at UC Berkeley in 1967; they were married in 1968 and divorced in 1975.

Following a year as a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in Science and Theology in Chicago, he traveled to Africa to take a position as lecturer in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Ghana, Legon from 1968-70.

He spent the years from 1970 to 1985 at the University of California at San Diego. The first year he worked as a medical researcher but shifted to the Department of Psychology, where he did cognitive psychology research in motor skills and learning. In 1981 he met his second wife, Judith Stewart, in the Psychology Department, and they were together from 1982 until his death.

From 1986 to 1988 he was a senior researcher at Philips Labs, Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. where he worked on text retrieval problems and helped to develop a novel user model and interface for a combination TV-VCR.

Following this short stint in New York, he chose to return to California. From 1989 to 1992 he worked as a human interface designer at Apple Computer before moving to Sun Microsystems where he continued to do human interface design until his retirement in June, 2000. Among his favorite projects at Sun were HotJava Views and the Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines. He contributed numerous articles to professional journals and held a number of patents. His "The Anti-Mac Interface" written with Jakob Nielsen in 1996 continues to be a classic in the field.

He made sure that his "so-called career" left him plenty of time for things he deeply loved, such as spending lots of time with his wife, Judith, and friends, traveling, doing carpentry projects, going to movies, and pursuing his more than 30 year genealogical project.

He was diagnosed with a primary brain tumor in June 2002. He developed a health Web page to make sure his many friends scattered around the world could stay involved in his life as it entered this new phase. As with the advanced melanoma he survived 13 years ago, he met this latest cancer challenge with a combination of strength, optimism and acceptance.

He is survived by his wife Judith Stewart and his siblings Marjorie Mooney, James Gentner, Thomas Gentner, Diane Leggero, Leslie Gentner and Audrey Parsons.

Celebrations of his life will be held on July 16 at the home of friends in Menlo Park and on July 30 at the home of Diane and Michael Leggero in Springville, N.Y. He will be buried at dusk on July 30 near his parents and grandparents in St. Aloysius Cemetery, Springville, New York.

Teresa Gex

Teresa C. Gex, 45, died June 30 after a sudden, short illness at Stanford Hospital -- the place of her birth in 1959.

Gex went to Van Auken Elementary School, Jordan Junior High School, and graduated from Palo Alto High school in 1978.

She attended Humboldt State University and later worked for Nichols Daimond Tool in Redwood City for 10 years. Before she died, she took a job as a teaching assistant at Bubb Elementary school in Mountain View. She then returned to college to earn her teaching credentials at California State University, Stanislaus.

In her spare time, Gex was considered a multimedia artist who loved making quilts and doing patchwork art for her family and friends. She was also a Star Trek enthusiast, and embraced all things related to space. Gex was described as an avid reader with a thirst for knowledge, and a great lover of the outdoors. She took frequent camping and hiking trips, and explored the wonders of gardening. But most of all, she was known for her love of children; in particular, her love for all of her nephews and nieces.

She is survived by her parents, Robert and Marian Gex; her brother and sister-in-law Timothy and Jennifer Gex; and sisters and brother -in-laws Nicolette and Philip Nasr, and Nancy and Brandon Goldman.

A private memorial service will be held at a later date.

Jan Alan Hunter

Jan Alan Hunter, 56, a longtime resident of Palo Alto, died July 12 in Palo Alto.

He was born on Sept. 1, 1948. He attended Addison ElementarySchool, Jordan Middle School, Palo Alto High School, Foothill College and graduated from Cal State Hayward.

He worked at the University Art Center in Palo Alto for 18 years and was the store manager. He was an artist and photographer and was active in Palo Alto Softball for 35 years. He also was an avid and lifelong SF Giants and SF 49ers fan and loved spending his summer vacations at Pajaro Dunes with family and friends.

He is survived by his two children Raymond Alan Hunter and Stacey Ann Hunter and his brother Randy Hunter, all of Palo Alto.

Services have been held.

Harold W. Stevenson

Harold W. Stevenson, 80, a developmental psychologist, died July 8 after a long illness.

Stevenson was born in the coal-mining town of Dines, Wyo., where he received his education in a one-room schoolhouse. He later went on to receive his bachelor's degree from the University of Colorado in 1947, and Ph.D. and master's degrees in psychology at Stanford University. Stevenson served in the Navy during World War II, where he studied Japanese.

In his early career, Stevenson published many articles on children's cognitive development and academic achievement. He made it his duty to open nursery schools in Texas, Minnesota and Michigan, and in the early 1950s, with help from his wife Nancy, he opened the first racially integrated preschools in Austin, Texas. He was a participant in President Kennedy's Panel on Mental Retardation in 1961, as well as a chair and participant in many other committees and national boards.

By the 1970s, Stevenson traveled to China as part of a foreign research delegation, and eventually conducted a series of cross-cultural studies on children's academic achievement in the U.S., Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. He returned to China to continue his investigations, and along with his colleague, Prof. Qicheng Jing, established an exchange program and a collaborative research center.

Before joining the faculty at the University of Michigan, Stevenson served as the director of the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota, which achieved international recognition in the area of educational research for children. Stevenson also received dozens of awards and honors for his work, as well as fellowships- including a locally-renowned fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences in Palo Alto.

Stevenson wrote and edited many books and manuscripts, including "The Learning Gap: Why our Schools are Failing and What we can Learn from Japanese and Chinese Education" with Prof. James Stigler in 1992. The book was recognized for its groundbreaking academic comparisons between the U.S. and Asia, and for identifying concrete strategies for policymakers, educators, and parents in improving educational opportunities.

While Stevenson was known as a true academian, to his family and friends, he was a kind, humorous, enthusiast who had a great commitment to his students, colleagues and to those he loved.

He is survived by his wife, Nancy Guy Stevenson of Palo Alto; children Margaret Stevenson of Palo Alto, Janet B. Zimmerman of Plymouth, Mich., Andrew Stevenson of Charlottesville, Va., and Patricia A. Stevenson of Chicago, Ill.; seven grandchildren; brother Robert Stevenson of Post Falls, Idaho; and seven nieces and nephews.

Stevenson's family is planning to establish a fund in his memory through the Society for Research in Child Development. A memorial service will be held in late August in Ann Arbor, Mich.

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