Edwin J. Delattre
Dean Emeritus of Wheelock

Edwin J. Delattre, 77, OIin Resident Scholar in Applied Ethics, an adjunct professor emeritus of philosophy, and dean emeritus of the School of Education (now Wheelock College of Education & Human Development), died on August 13, 2019. 

Delattre had a far-reaching career in ethics and education. His work on ethics in policing was of deep personal importance to him. He spent thousands of hours with law enforcement personnel on duty and in harm’s way, learning, studying, and teaching about the situations they encounter and the kinds of difficult decisions they have to make. His book Character and Cops: Ethics in Policing (AEI Press, 1989) was for a long time the American Enterprise Institute’s best-selling book, and its six editions have been used at law enforcement academies and departments around the world.

He was a professor of philosophy at the University of Toledo, where he won an Outstanding Teacher Award. 

He was director of the National Humanities Faculty and served as president of St. John’s College in Annapolis, Md., and Santa Fe, N.M., departing as president emeritus. As the Lynde and Harry Bradley Distinguished Fellow in Applied Ethics at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, he wrote Education and the Public Trust: The Imperative for Common Purposes. He also was a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. 

Delattre was a member and chair of the National Advisory Board of the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, vice chair of the National Council for the National Endowment for the Humanities and chair of its education committee, a member of the US Naval Postgraduate School Advisory Board, a member of the Massachusetts Board of Education, and a frequent lecturer at the FBI Academy. 

Betsy Dickinson (Welch) Bates
Former COM Assistant Dean for Student Affairs

Betsy Dickinson (Welch) Bates (DGE’61, COM’63, Wheelock’73), 78, former assistant dean for student affairs at the College of Communication, died on October 29, 2019. 

Bates, who was affectionately called Betsy by both students and professors, arrived at BU as a student, earning a bachelor’s degree in public relations from COM. Upon graduation, she worked at Boston University’s news bureau and then the alumni affairs office. Realizing how much she enjoyed working with students, she decided to pursue a master’s degree in counseling from the School of Education, now Wheelock College of Education & Human Development.

She returned to COM to work as a counselor at the freshman/sophomore advising center, and was later appointed assistant dean for student affairs. During her time at COM, from the mid-1970s through the early 1990s, she was a caring advisor and an emotional ally for countless students who sought her counsel on everything from academic choices to the challenges of leaving home for the first time.

A woman of great faith, who lived her faith in her daily life and works, she will be remembered for her selfless devotion to her BU family.—Charlene Arzigan (COM’83) and Barbara Zadina (COM’83)

Murray L. Cohen
College of Arts & Sciences Professor Emeritus of Psychology

Murray L. Cohen (GRS’55), 93, an esteemed and inspirational professor for 45 years, died on April 9, 2019. 

Cohen was a World War II veteran, serving in the South Pacific for three years. He earned a Bachelor of Arts at New York University, a master’s at the University of Missouri, and a PhD in clinical psychology at BU. 

He was one of the first psychologists invited to be a member of the Boston Psychoanalytic Society & Institute, where he was regarded as an authority on Sigmund Freud. He also worked with the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health and pioneered the research on the classification and treatment of sexual offenders. 

“Murray Cohen was a warm and supportive colleague whose insight and wisdom helped make our department a welcoming place, and our clinical psychology program one of the most highly respected in the country, if not in the world,” says Jean Berko Gleason, a CAS professor emerita of psychological and brain sciences.

Charles R. Willis
CAS Professor Emeritus of Physics

Charles R. Willis, 91, who taught at BU for 42 years, died on August 17, 2019. 

Willis served in the Army Medical Corps and then attended Syracuse University, where in 1952 he earned a BA in physics, magna cum laude, and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He received a PhD from Syracuse University in 1957. That same year, he was offered an assistant professorship at Boston University, becoming a full professor in 1968 and a professor emeritus in 1999. He continued to work and publish through 2004. 

Willis made numerous valuable and pioneering contributions in many areas of theoretical physics. His highly cited work spans laser physics, quantum optics, statistical mechanics, surface physics, and nonlinear physics. He supervised the PhD research of many students and mentored postdoctoral fellows, several of whom are now leading physicists at prominent universities and laboratories. One of Willis’ joys was talking physics with students and other physicists.

He spent sabbaticals at the Institute for Theoretical Physics in Utrecht, Holland, and in Italy, at the University of Perugia. He was a Professor Invité at the University de Bourgogne, in France.  

Robert Zelnick
COM Professor of Journalism

Robert Zelnick, 79, a longtime ABC News correspondent before joining the College of Communication faculty, died on September 23, 2019.

Zelnick earned a BS at Cornell University and an LLB at the University of Virginia Law School. He spent 21 years with ABC News, covering national political and congressional affairs from 1994 to 1998, according to COM. He was Pentagon correspondent from 1986 to 1994, covering the end of the Cold War and the first Persian Gulf War. He also reported from Israel and Moscow.

He was executive editor of David Frost’s historic 1977 interviews with Richard Nixon. (Oliver Platt played Zelnick in Frost/Nixon, the 2008 film about the interviews.)

Before joining ABC News in 1977, he covered the Supreme Court for National Public Radio and the Christian Science Monitor. He began his career in 1967 as a freelance writer from Vietnam and worked in Alaska for the Anchorage Daily News in 1968 and 1969. He won two Emmys for his journalism and wrote four books.

Zelnick was a professor of journalism and chair of the journalism department at COM. He stepped down as chair in 2006.