Volume 58, Number 2    August 23, 2010         

Kim Foreman
Kim Foreman, acting chair and professor of Instructional Technology, passed away Aug. 3, at the age of 59, from injuries suffered in an automobile accident in Rwanda. It was her 10th Christian mission to Rwanda where her work included a Christian education center for students of the University of Rwanda in Butare, which broke ground in June 2008. Foreman was born in South Korea, the daughter of refugees from the north, and met Peace Corps volunteer Chris Foreman whom she would marry after a short engagement and move to the United States. She joined SF State in 1988 after earning her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She taught graduate courses in advanced multimedia design and technology integration, and was promoted to full professor in 1996, later serving as department chair. Author of many journal articles, newspaper columns and consultant to several journals, she was also active in several charities and in the Assemblies of God and Southern Baptist churches.

Foreman is survived by her husband, Dr. Chris A. Foreman, sons Zachary Foreman and Simon Peter Foreman, daughter-in-law Dilia Marquez Foreman, a grandson, three sisters, two brothers and numerous nieces and nephews. A memorial service was held in Kigali, Rwanda, on Aug. 7 and funeral services were held in Hayward on Aug. 14. Anyone seeking to make a donation or for other information should contact Gretchen Armstrong at gaa@sfsu.edu or call ext. 8-1031.

Paul Longmore
Historian, public intellectual and disability rights activist Paul K. Longmore died Aug. 9 at the age of 64. Longmore's death interrupted an extraordinary spurt of creativity and influence -- he was just paragraphs way from completing a draft of his groundbreaking study of telethons in American culture and had recently been awarded the prestigious Mary E. Switzer Research Fellowship to write a disability rights history textbook.

Longmore contracted childhood polio in the last epidemic to sweep through the United States and was left with only limited use of his arms and a severely curved spine, but his memory, mind and drive enabled him to surmount obstacles in the pursuit of his dream of becoming a college history professor. Despite graduate program and fellowship rejections based on his disability and scant funding, Longmore succeeded, obtaining his Ph.D. in history from Claremont Graduate College. But he ran into another obstacle on publishing his first book in 1988, "The Invention of George Washington," when the royalties put at risk his Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Medi-Cal support. His efforts -- recounted in the title essay of his 2003 book, "Why I Burned My Book, and Other Essays on Disability" -- brought passage of the "Longmore Amendment," which allows persons with disabilities to collect royalties from creative works without jeopardizing SSI income.

Joining the SF State history faculty in 1992, Longmore's compelling style quickly made popular his classes in Colonial America, Early American Society and Culture, and the American Revolution. He founded San Francisco's Institute on Disabilities in 1996 and later started teaching a course on the history of disabilities. He became a full professor in 1998 and continued to pour his energies into the history department and University, filling a curriculum vitae of more than 70 pages with articles, essays, interviews, successful grant proposals, honors and accolades.

Plans are underway for a campus commemoration of Longmore's life and work. Details will appear in the Aug. 30 issue of CampusMemo.

R. Newby Schweitzer
Robert Newby Schweitzer, emeritus professor of economics at SF State since 2002, died in San Francisco on July 22. He was 80 years old and had lived with Parkinson’s disease for the last 15 years.

Schweitzer graduated from Wabash College in 1952 with a degree in economics. He pursued his studies at Duke University and completed his Ph.D. at UC Berkeley in 1963. Schweitzer was appointed to his position at SF State in 1962, ultimately dedicating three decades to the University. He was an ardent admirer of John Maynard Keynes which led to Schweitzer specializing in macroeconomics. Schweitzer was an activist for peace during the Vietnam War, chair of the economics department and head of the faculty union. Towards the end of his career at SF State, he taught an innovative course on literature and economics. He is remembered by his colleagues as a kind and gracious gentleman dedicated to teaching and the University. He attributed these qualities to his Quaker upbringing in the Midwest.

A reception in celebration of his life was held at the Rhoda Goldman Plaza, on Aug. 2. For information on making donations in Schweitzer's name, contact Maria Garrido-De La Cruz at econ@sfsu.edu or ext. 8-1839.

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Last modified Aug. 23, 2010 by University Communications.