In Memoriam: 1970s

Notices sorted by graduation date

Dana C. Argeris (Col ’71 L/M) of Ocean, New Jersey, died Jan. 24, 2015. At the University, he was a member of the golf team. An attorney for nearly 40 years, Mr. Argeris most recently served as senior counsel at Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Before that, he was a managing partner of Carton Arvanitis McGreevy Argeris Zager & Aikins of Neptune, New Jersey, where he practiced for 29 years. An avid golfer, he enjoyed playing for many years at the Deal Golf and Country Club. He loved spending time with his family and cheering on both the Virginia Cavaliers and Boston Red Sox. A kind and gracious man, Mr. Argeris was remarkably able to find humor in any situation. Survivors include his wife; three daughters, Christina Argeris Thigpen (Col ’00 L/M), Elizabeth J. Argeris (Col ’04 L/M) and Meredith A. Argeris (Col ’04 L/M); a son, Stephen D. Argeris (Col ’01 L/M); three grandchildren; his mother and stepfather; two sisters; and many nieces and nephews.

David P. Banks III (Col ’71 L/M) of Lafayette, Louisiana, died Dec. 6, 2014. At the University, he served as captain of the men’s polo team and was a member of the cheerleading team, the Navy ROTC and Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. His passion was training thoroughbred racehorses. Over the last few years, he, his wife and his sister purchased and trained a number of yearlings, readying them for races. Survivors include his wife, two sons, two stepdaughters, three sisters, one brother and many nieces and nephews.

Jerry K. Fisher (Grad ’74) of Inner Grove Heights, Minnesota, died May 8, 2014. A professor at Macalester College, he taught first in the history department and later in the media and cultural studies program. Mr. Fisher, whose research specialized in the history of modern Japan and global media studies, was especially good at engaging his students in dialogue. Survivors include his wife, a son, a daughter, three granddaughters and a sister.

John F. McGinley Jr. (Col ’74, Law ’77 L/M) of Mount Vernon, Virginia, died Feb. 17, 2014. At the University, he played football and lacrosse and was a member of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity. He began his law career in a Washington, D.C., law firm traveling for dockets to all parts of Virginia. In 1994, Mr. McGinley established the firm of McGinley Elsberg & Hutcheson in Alexandria, Virginia, with other U.Va. graduates and practiced in the areas of business formation and litigation, bankruptcy and family law. Survivors include his wife, a daughter, his father and three brothers.

Claudia Emerson (Col ’79) of Richmond, Virginia, died Dec. 4, 2014. A former mail carrier and bookstore manager who later turned to writing, Ms. Emerson published her first volume of poetry, Pharaoh, in 1997 and in 2006 received the Pulitzer Prize for poetry for her book Late Wife. She was a member of the creative writing faculty at Virginia Commonwealth University and had previously taught for 15 years at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Ms. Emerson published a number of volumes of poetry, and her work appeared in the New Yorker magazine and in journals such as Poetry, the Southern Review, Ploughshares and Shenandoah, among others. She served as Virginia’s poet laureate from 2008 to 2010 and was inducted into the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Her honors included fellowships from the Library of Congress, the National Endowment for the Arts and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Survivors include her husband and her mother.