Gertrude (Trudy) Veneklasen Huebner
Regent Emerita Gertrude (Trudy) Veneklasen Huebner, 94, died Nov. 13 at home in Ann Arbor.
Huebner excelled in every activity she put her mind to and lived life with gusto, family members say. She was passionate, kind and compassionate, a master of the English language and wonderfully irreverent, they add.
Huebner was born Jan. 11, 1915 in Cheyenne, Wyo. Her family soon moved to Grand Rapids, where she grew up. She graduated from Grand Rapids Community College in 1934, then Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude from the U-M School of Journalism in 1936.
After brief employment at the Detroit News, Huebner worked 35 years at the Maxon Advertising Agency in Detroit. She wrote and produced award-winning copy and jingles that became advertising icons for decades, including Gillette’s “Look sharp every time you shave,” “The Heinz Aristocratic Tomato,” “Chung King makes Chinese food swing American” and “Indescribably Delicious” for Peter Paul Mounds. As part of her work for these and other large accounts, she also helped pioneer the first live national television commercials.
Huebner was elected to the U-M Board of Regents in 1966 and served from January 1967-December 1975. Upon election, Huebner was the only woman on the board and the fourth in its 150-year history. Although her years on the board came during a time of unrest, she found the challenges exciting and developed a unique rapport with students, her family says. She often was lauded for her class and grace under pressure during this period.
Her enthusiastic commitment and tireless support of the university continued after leaving the Board of Regents. She later served on, among others, the advisory boards of WUOM-FM, Rackham Graduate School, the President’s Club and the Institute of Gerontology. In addition, she initiated the Academic Administrative Internship for Women, strongly supported the Michigan Alumnae Council and helped establish at least two scholarship funds.
Huebner loved to travel and visited more than 100 countries and all continents. She had an inordinate fondness for Antarctica and penguins. One of her last trips, in her late 80s, was to Borneo because “I’ve never been there and I might just meet the wild man from Borneo.”
She is survived by twin sons, Louis Jay DeLamarter III of Toronto and Lawrence and wife Merideth DeLamarter of Concord, Mass. Also surviving are her sister Kathryn Veneklasen Wakefield Bovard, three grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Huebner was preceded in death by her husband George Huebner Jr., director of Research for Chrysler and “Father of the Turbine Engine,” and her parents Egbert and Anna Veneklasen.
Memorial services are planned both in Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids. Huebner took great joy in watching the performing arts from the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, so in lieu of flowers her family asks that donations be sent to the school’s Trudy Huebner Dance Scholarship.
Eric Dey
Eric Dey, who worked as a professor in the school of Education until October, died unexpectedly while traveling Nov. 5. He was 47.
Dey was born Jan. 13, 1962, in Pullman, Wash., and grew up in Wichita, Kansas. He graduated from the University of Wichita with a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree, then earned his doctorate at UCLA.
Dey was a faculty member in the School of Education; he became a full professor in September. He recently had relocated to Charlottesville, Va., after he was offered what he thought of as “the job of a lifetime” in the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia, colleagues say.
Beyond his many academic accomplishments, colleagues remember him as kind, generous, brilliant, funny and compassionate.
Dey loved cycling and was an avid fan of Lance Armstrong; he proudly wore his “Livestrong” bracelet and gave bracelets away to everyone he knew, friends say. He enjoyed technology and shared any new gadget he acquired with everyone. He also loved bags and always found a reason to add a new one to his collection.
“As we mourn his loss, we also remember his goodness. He reached out to so many people — he gave of himself every day,” says Casey White, Dey’s partner, and assistant dean for medical education and professor of medical education at the Medical School. “He had so many friends; we are all heartbroken with this loss.”
Dey is survived by White, his sister Ann, parents Glenn Dey and Marlene Jones, and his aunts, uncles and cousins.
A service to celebrate Dey’s life will be held in January in Ann Arbor. Donations in his honor may be made to the Livestrong Foundation.
—Submitted by Casey White, Medical School
