In Memoriam & Community Passages

Janet Tudhope Austin ’54 passed away in October 2025. A proud alumna of UVM’s College of Nursing and Health Sciences, she went on to become an energetic volunteer and generous donor in support of future nurses and the families they served. She was the 2006 recipient of the UVM Alumni Association’s Distinguished Service Award, but even that wasn’t adequate to express UVM’s admiration and gratitude for her indefatigable commitment. In 2015, the College of Nursing and Health Sciences instituted the Janet T. Austin Nursing Alumnus Award for distinguished alumni. Janet is survived by many friends and a large and loving family that includes sons Tod Austin ’79, Craig Austin ’85, granddaughter Lauren Jeanne Austin ’11 and grandson Edward Austin IV ’17. 

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Ralph DesLauriers ’57 passed away in October 2025. He was especially known and revered in Vermont as the person who envisioned and developed what would become Bolton Valley Ski Area, a project he sold and then came back to decades later in partnership with family. As an undergraduate at UVM, he was part of ROTC, and a brother in Sigma Alpha Epsilon. He would become a leader as an alumni volunteer, a supporter of scholarships and of today’s ROTC program, and a person who wanted to be remembered most for his kindness. He is survived by a large and loving family that includes siblings Susan DesLauriers Eaton ’66 and Charles DesLauriers ’74 and son Adam DesLauriers ’96.  

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Longtime Class Secretary Louise Hovey Jordan Harper ’47, M.Ed. ’78 passed away in October 2025. Born in Burlington to Hovey Jordan ’1913 and Ursula Kimball Jordan ’1920, she and siblings Frederick, Ruth and Ursula all came to attend UVM. Thirty-one years after earning her bachelor’s degree, she returned for a master’s in education and would translate her passion for teaching and learning into a long career as an art teacher. This career enabled her to put her five children through their own college educations. She will be loved and missed by her children, her eleven grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren and many grateful friends. 

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Jada Samitt ’25 passed away in January 2026 when the fishing vessel on which she was serving as a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fishery observer and crew member sank off the coast of Gloucester, Massachusetts. A beloved young alumna of the Rubenstein School for Environment and Natural Resources, Jada majored in Natural Resources: Resource Ecology and minored in Biology.  She will long be remembered and missed for her compassion, her infectious smile, her care for people and her deep commitment to the stewardship of the oceans. 

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Gerald H. Jacobs ’56, a widely published and respected leader in neuroscience, passed away in October 2025. He was the first in his family to attend college, and at UVM earned his B.A. in Psychology and Zoology. Following army service, he went on to graduate school at Indiana University, from where he would earn a Ph.D. in 1963, and from there it was on to a life of vigorous research and teaching. Appreciative colleagues described the scope and nature of his longtime research into mammalian color vision as “characterized by a focus on important specific problems, elegant and meticulous experimentation, precise measurement, and lucid writing.” His work changed the way people understand how the world looks to the species with whom humans share the planet. He loved Vermont, and his commitment to scientific discovery was thorough. He combined both passions by establishing the Gerald Jacobs Scholarship to support UVM neuroscience students who reside in Vermont. 

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Don Lacross, a beloved, well-known, longtime staffer in UVM’s Athletic facilities, passed away in September 2025. A native of Burlington, he was dad to daughter Amy Blinson ’94, who told us that he truly loved his time at UVM.  

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Professor Emeritus Edwin Merton Owre passed away in January 2026. He taught, inspired and delighted multitudes of UVM students for over 30 years, until his retirement as chair of the UVM Art Department in 2003. Remembered as “a veritable Renaissance he-man with a tender heart,” he came to teaching through the G.I. Bill and a career path that led through roles as a Tillamook lumberjack, firefighter, cement mason, shipbuilder, a shoe salesman, a bookkeeper and even a door-to-door baby photographer. Ed never ceased to surprise and delight his family with the occasional vignette from these long-ago pursuits. He is survived by a large and loving circle of family that includes wife Brenda Matteson Owre G’68, daughter Ursula Owre Masterson ’89 and nephews James Owre ’89 and Max Owre ’01. 

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Dean A. Pallozzi ’86, passed away in December 2025. He earned his BA in Math and an MS in Biostatistics while attending UVM and  went on to a distinguished career in data governance and analytics, including, most recently, overseeing the security of electronic medical records for UVM Health. A passionate outdoorsman, Dean was known as a competitive tennis player and fast skier who loved Vermont’s back roads, its sugar season, and the unparalleled fall foliage embracing his home. Dean is survived by his wife of 32 years, Beverly, and will be greatly missed for his loyalty, generosity, kindness, and rapier wit.   

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Harriet Pratt Peterson ’52 passed away in September 2025. A proud native of Bradford, Vermont who learned to ski while young, she set up a substantial scholarship program for Bradford women at UVM to honor her mother, Margaret Jenkins Pratt ’1925. Still, she had further generosity to express and talents to nurture in UVM students, and so also was deeply committed to UVM’s ski team and horticultural programs. Family and friends remember her as a wonderful cook and entertainer who welcomed everyone to her table.  

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Malcolm Floyd Severance ’49 passed away at 101 in November 2025, the author of a legacy that shaped the very foundation of business education at UVM. He was instrumental in creating the Department of Business Administration that went on to become the Grossman School of Business.  His service to UVM and to Vermont extended beyond the classroom: he twice served as a UVM trustee, chaired departments, contributed to the banking industry, and served four terms in the Vermont legislature. His outsized presence also lives on through the Malcolm Severance Graduate Excellence Award, presented annually to a standout student in the Sustainable Innovation M.B.A. program. In recognition of his extraordinary service, Malcolm received UVM’s Distinguished Service Award in 1994. He is survived and missed by a large circle of friends and relatives that includes children Dawn Severance ’85, Mark Severance ’77 and Lyn Severance.  

 

Robert Wolfe ’57 passed away in September 2025. In his time on campus, he was part of The Cynic newspaper and a brother in Phi Sigma Delta fraternity. After graduation, in a rich life busy with a thriving legal career and vibrant family, he still found time to volunteer with and support his alma mater. Accordingly, he was a devoted UVM volunteer over the span of 25 years that included service on the UVM Alumni Association Board of Directors, the Alumni Association Admissions Committee, the class of 1957 reunion and class gift committees, and as president of the Class of 1957. He is also the father of UVM graduates Deborah Wolfe ’89 and Carolyn Wolfe ’91.    

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Jeffrey Zinn ’67, Ph.D. passed away in November 2025. The former Phi Delta Theta fraternity brother spent his career in conservation, writing environmental impact statements and then helping congresspeople and their staff people to understand and address complex conservation issues across many landscapes and dimensions. He will be missed for his kind and generous spirit, a spirit on abundant display as a longtime volunteer and donor through UVM’s Alumni Association and support for many UVM programs, with special dedication to UVM Libraries.