Obituaries

Jennie Tiffany Towle Farley, a champion of women's rights and professor of industrial and labor relations, co-founder of Cornell's Women's Studies Program and a former member of the university's board of trustees, died June 19 in Hudson, N.Y., after a long illness. She was 69.

Farley is widely known for her work on advancing the status of women workers -- especially managers, academic women and clerical women -- as well as for her work on affirmative action, sexual discrimination and sexual harassment. She was a consultant on women's issues to many organizations, including several in Spain, Saudi Arabia and Brazil.

"Jennie was truly an amazing woman -- a tireless educator and scholar, a contributor to women's rights issues and a staunch community causes volunteer. This campus will miss her many contributions, as well as her cheery presence," said Susanne Bruyère, director of the Cornell Program on Employment and Disability in the Extension Division of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

Farley, who was born in Fanwood, N.J., earned a B.A. in English at Cornell (1954) and then worked as a freelance and staff writer for the magazines Seventeen, Mademoiselle, Punch in London, the Scandinavian Times in Sweden, La Prensa and The Peruvian Times in Peru and in Cornell's Office of Public Information. After earning an M.S. (1969) in sociology and a Ph.D. (1970) in sociology and communications, both at Cornell, Farley served as a research associate, lecturer and then academic coordinator and faculty board member of the Female Studies Program at Cornell, which subsequently became the Women's Studies Program. She directed this program from 1972 to 1976 and has been a member of its executive board ever since. In 1972 she was a co-founder of the Provost's Ad Hoc Committee on the Status of Women at Cornell, which became the Advisory Committee on the Status of Women (ACSW).

She was appointed assistant professor of industrial and labor relations in 1976, was promoted to associate professor in 1982 and then to full professor in 1990. Said Edward J. Lawler, dean of the ILR School: "Jennie was a highly valued colleague, a dedicated member of the ILR community and a faculty member who made substantial contributions to the university over her 30 years at the school. The school will sorely miss her."

Farley is the recipient of many awards, including the Andrew Dickson White Professor of the Year at Cornell; the Alice H. Cook and Constance E. Cook Award from the Advisory Committee on the Status of Women, for her efforts on behalf of women at Cornell and beyond; the Woman of Achievement Award from the Broome County Status of Women Council; the Unsung Heroine Award for Leadership in Feminist Education from the Central New York Chapter of the National Organization for Women; and the Corinne Galvin Award from the Tompkins County Human Rights Commission.

In addition to having served as a Cornell faculty trustee, Farley was a member-at-large of the Cornell Faculty Council of Representatives and the Faculty Senate, a member of the Cornell Advocates for Rape Education and an ILR sexual harassment adviser. She also served on the Cornell Work and Family Advisory Council of the Office of Human Resources. She more recently served as co-president of the American Association of University Women, was an avid supporter of the Women's Community Building in Ithaca and the many causes that it supports on behalf of women, was a co-founder of the Women's Information Network program and was president of the Alumni Board of Trustees of Delta Chi fraternity at Cornell, the only woman to serve in such a capacity within this national fraternity.

Farley is survived by her husband, Donald Farley, the J.P. Levis Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cornell; a son, Peter, an administrative manager in Cornell's College of Human Ecology; two daughters, Anne and Claire; a son-in-law, a daughter-in-law and three grandchildren; a brother, Howard Van Towle; and a sister, Nancy Towle Adshead. Plans for a memorial service will be announced at a later time.

The Rev. Willis Jack Lewis, director emeritus of Cornell United Religious Work and co-founder of several Cornell social justice and public service programs, died June 15 at his home in Ithaca. He was 86.

Lewis served as CURW director from 1965 to 1981 and was a positive and stabilizing campus presence during some of the university's most tumultuous years, said Cornell President Emeritus Dale Corson.

"We were very grateful to have him during the troubled period from the late '60s to the early '70s," said Corson, who chaired the search committee that brought Lewis to Cornell from the University of Texas-Austin. "Jack made the CURW a welcome home for students having difficulty with the traumas of that time."

Cornell President Emeritus Frank H.T. Rhodes reaffirmed a statement he made on behalf of Lewis in 1981, saying: "Jack Lewis is a Cornell immortal, with grace personified, a friend and counselor. He speaks at moments for the whole campus when the campus can find no voice to speak for itself. His grace permeates everything he does and everything he is."

Corson said Lewis was a leader in organizing programs that addressed campus troubles, helping to create the Anabel Taylor Hall coffeehouse and the (Durland) Alternatives Library. Lewis went on to co-found the Festival of Black Gospel in 1970 with the Rev. Samuel Perry, former pastor of Ithaca's St. James A.M.E. Zion Church. In addition, Lewis helped to found the Suicide Prevention and Crisis Service (which began as a Cornell-sponsored crisis hotline) and the Center for Religion, Ethics and Social Policy (CRESP), which spawned numerous programs, including the Committee on U.S. and Latin American Relations, the Learning Web and the Community Dispute Resolution Center. Lewis also helped to found Civitas, the precursor to Cornell's Public Service Center.

Lewis was born in San Angelo, Texas, in 1915 and was raised in the Southern Baptist tradition. He received a B.A. in zoology and chemistry from University of Texas in 1937 and a B.D. from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 1940 and was ordained as a Presbyterian minister. In 1936, during his senior year at the University of Texas-Austin, Lewis married Mary Mueller of Austin. From 1942-46 he served as a U.S. Navy chaplain with the U.S. Marine Corps in the Solomon Island campaign.

In 1983, Lewis established the Cornell Visitors Program at Cayuga Medical Center and served as its coordinator until 2001. He worked closely with the late Mary Durham to create the Durham Trust for Hospital Chaplaincy at Cayuga Medical Center. His special interests were reflected in his ongoing work with the Martin Luther King Jr. Association for Education and Social Change; Hospicare of Tompkins County; Mental Health Association and the Alcoholism Council of Tompkins County; Tompkins County Religious Workers Association; Association for the Coordination of University Religious Affairs; Presbytery del Salvador in the Synod of Texas; Family and Children's Service of Ithaca; and the Interfaith Council at Kendal at Ithaca.

Lewis received many awards and honors during his lifetime, including the Martin Luther King Jr. Association Award; the Agda S. Osborn Award, from Family and Children's Service; the Ruth Pettingill Award, from the Human Services Coalition of Tompkins County; the Outstanding Community Service Award, from Ithaca Cayuga Rotary; and the Masonic DeWitt Clinton Award for community service. During his life as a clergyman in Texas and in New York state, he also performed hundreds of weddings, funerals and memorial services. He served frequently as a guest preacher and often as an interim pastor.

Lewis is survived by Mary Mueller Lewis, his wife of 66 years; daughters Patricia Lee Lewis, Andrea Lyn Whitcomb and Mary Susan Lewis; five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at Sage Chapel Sunday, July 7, at 3 p.m. Lewis' ashes will be returned to the family ranch in San Angelo, Texas. Memorial gifts may be made to the Suicide Prevention and Crisis Service of Tompkins County, 124 E. Court St., Ithaca, N.Y. 14850; Hospicare of Tompkins County, 172 E. King Road, Ithaca, N.Y. 14850; or to another service organization.