The University Record, February 25, 1997
OBITUARIES: Joseph R. Akerman & Morris Greenhut
Joseph R. Akerman
Joseph R. Akerman, associate professor emeritus of mechanical engineering, died Feb. 12 at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital. He was 86.
An expert in the heating and air conditioning field, Akerman had a diverse career bridging industry and academia and combining research and teaching.
Akerman joined the U-M faculty in 1956 following 11 years of work as an industrial engineer and nine years on the mechanical engineering faculty of the University of Wisconsin. From 1956 until his retirement from the U-M in 1980, he was an associate professor of mechanical engineering. After 1967, he held an additional appointment as associate professor of mechanical engineering in architecture. Following his retirement from the University, Akerman formed a private consulting business in the field of heating, air conditioning and ventilation.
During his professional career, Akerman was active in research and teaching in the heat transfer and thermal fluids areas. Through combined courses with the College of Architecture and Urban Planning, he taught heating and air conditioning to many engineering and architecture students.
Akerman received a B.S. degree from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1932, an M.S. from the U-M in 1933 and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin in 1952.
He was a member of the American Society of Heating and Air Conditioning Engineers, the American Society for Engineering Education and Sigma Xi. He also was a charter member and elder of Ann Arbor’s Westminster Presbyterian Church.
Akerman is survived by his wife, Martha of Ann Arbor; his son, Thomas Kelly of Ypsilanti, his daughter, Jane Schepler of Fenton; a sister, Elizabeth Withrow of Morganton, N.C.; five grandchildren; five great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.
Cremation has already taken place and a memorial service was held Feb. 22. Memorial contributions may be made to the Westminster Presbyterian Memorial Fund or the Michigan Heart and Vascular Institute at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital
Morris Greenhut
Morris Greenhut, professor emeritus of English, died Feb. 12 at his Ann Arbor home. He was 88.
Greenhut joined the U-M faculty in 1942 as an instructor of English.
He earned a master’s degree from the U-M in 1932 and a Ph.D. in 1942. He became assistant professor in 1947, associate professor in 1953 and professor in 1964, before retiring in 1979.
His major fields of interest included literary criticism and modern literature, and he published important essays on the critic George Henry Lewes. He also was well-known for his outstanding teaching, especially in the undergraduate Honors Program, and was a former Ford Foundation Fellow and member of the Modern Language Association and the National Council of Teachers of English.
Greenhut earned his bachelor’s degree at City College of Detroit (now Wayne State University), and held a great love for drama and the theater.
He was born Aug. 22, 1908, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Poland) and came to the United States in 1920 when his family moved to Detroit.
He is survived by wife Jacquelyne of Ann Arbor; son Christopher, daughter-in-law Darlene and grandson Nikolas of Colorado Springs, Colo.; and sister Gloria Middledorf of Florence, Italy.
A memorial service was held Feb. 21.
Memorial contributions may be made to the U-M Alzheimer Disease Research Study, c/o Norman Foster, Department of Neurology, U-M Medical Center, 1920/0316 Taubman Center, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0316; or to Hospice of Washtenaw, 806 Airport Blvd., Ann Arbor, MI 48108.
