Obituaries

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007:
Hugh Holbrook Tebault II, 89, died on May 10, 2007 in
Alameda, California. Tebault was introduced to humane work by his
mother, a close associate of Edith Latham, who founded the Latham
Foundation for the Promotion of Humane Education in 1918. Tebault
headed the Latham Foundation from 1953 to 1998, and also served on the
American Humane Association board of directors for many years,
beginning in 1968. The Latham Foundation is now headed by his eldest
son, Hugh H. Tebault III. Early Latham projects included sponsoring
Kind Deeds Clubs, publishing a school newsletter called The Kindness
Messenger, and hosting essay contests and poster competitions. Tebault
II began exploring the use of electronic media to promote humane
education by hosting a radio program, then in the 1950s produced the
Brother Buzz television program on KPIX Channel 5, San Francisco,
which became The Wonderful World of Brother Buzz, syndicated nationally
in the 1960s. In the 1970s Tebault II produced another nationally
syndicated TV show called Withit, which in 1975 produced an influential
episode about animal-assisted therapy. After helping to organize two
national conferences on animal-assisted therapy, Tebault II in 1981
formed the Delta Committee as a project of the Latham Foundation. A
year later the committee evolved into the Delta Society, an independent
organization that promotes animal-assisted therapy, now based in
Renton, Washington.

James Richards, 58, employed by the Feline Health Center at
the Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine since 1991 and director of
the center since 1997, on April 22, 2007 swerved his motorcycle in a
futile effort to avoid a cat who ran into the road near Marathon, New
York, killed the cat anyway, and suffered injuries from which he died
on April 24. Richards edited the monthly newsletter Cat Watch, was
author of the ASPCA Complete Guide to Cats, co-authored the Cornell
Book of Cats, and in the 1990s headed the Vaccine-Associated Feline
Sarcoma Task Force, which identified the hazards of giving cats
unnecessary injections and the advantages of using long-lasting
combination vaccines that prevent multiple diseases with a single shot.

Cornelius Van Der Vies, 67, a homeless man known for his
fondness for his mixed breed dog Boo Boo, died on April 30, 2007 in
downtown San Jose, California, after scuffling with another homeless
man who threw objects at the dog. The other man, who reportedly beat
and kicked Der Vies until he collapsed, was held for investigation of
possible criminal charges. The San Jose Animal Care Center pledged that
Boo Boo would be placed in a suitable home.

Gretchen Wyler, 74, died of breast cancer on May 28, 2007,
at her California home. Wyler broke into theatre in 1950 as a dancer at
the St. Louis Muny Opera. She retired from the stage there in 1997,
after starring in a revival of Hello Dolly. In between, Wyler starred
in eight Broadway shows, including Guys & Dolls, Silk Stockings, Damn
Yankees, Bye Bye Birdie and Sly Fox, and appeared in many other
theatrical shows, television programs, and films. In 1966 Wyler
visited the town animal shelter in Warwick, New York. Shocked by the
conditions, Wyler raised the funds to build a new shelter, opened in
1968, and combined the roles of actress and shelter manager for the
next 10 years. Influenced by that experience, Wyler in 1971 joined the
ASPCA Shelter Reform Committee, founded to shift the emphasis of the
American SPCA management of the New York City pound contract toward
promoting dog and cat sterilization. Holding the pound contract from
1895 to 1994, the ASPCA had begun a sterilization program in 1968, but
was still killing more than 250,000 animals per year: more than 10
times as many as are now killed by all New York City shelters combined.
In 1972 Wyler became the first woman ever elected to the ASPCA board,
but in 1975 she became the first board member to be dismissed, after
suing the rest of the board for alleged mismanagement. A 1977
settlement returned Wyler to the board and brought the late John
Kullberg to the ASPCA presidency. The 14-year Kullberg tenure was noted
for changing almost every aspect of the organization. Also in 1971,
Wyler joined the Fund for Animals board at invitation of founder
Cleveland Amory, serving as vice chair until 1991. Relocating to
California in 1978, Wyler in 1979 helped state senator Daniel Roberti
to draft a Resolution on Animal Rights that won passage by the state
legislature. In 1981 Wyler helped to abolish the sale of Los Angeles
pound animals to laboratories. Wyler founded the Genesis Awards program
to honor screen productions that favorably depict animals and animal
issues in 1986, as a project of the Fund for Animals. Backed by a
bequest from her friend Dolly Green, Wyler founded the Ark Trust in
1991, to host the Genesis Awards as an independent project. In 2002
Wyler merged the Ark Trust into the Humane Society of the U.S., where
it is now the Hollywood Office of HSUS. Broadcast by the Discovery
Channel 1990-1996, the Genesis Awards have been aired since 1997 on
Animal Planet.

Michael Sutcliffe, 84, acting chair of the Japan Animal
Welfare Society, died on April 6, 2007 in England. Sutcliffe had
been involved with JAWS and vegan organizations for more than 25 years.

Joy A. Palmer, 85, died on May 15, 2007, after more than a
year of illness. As the Dublin representative of CIVIS, the
international antivivisection organization founded by author Hans
Reusch, Palmer in 1981 started the Irish group Stop Animal
Experiments, which in 1984 won resolutions favoring ban on animal
research from every borough council in Ireland. Moving to England,
where she taught education at the University of Durham, Palmer in 1990
cofounded Doctors in Britain Against Animal Experiments. This in 1991
became Doctors & Lawyers for Responsible Medicine.

Tamar Asedo Sherman, 36, died of breast cancer on May 9,
2007, in Lafay-ette, California. A longtime representative of the
anti-dog chaining organization Dogs Deserve Better, Sherman was in 2005
sentenced to 75 hours of community service plus a year on probation for
entering former San Jose judge Ron Berki s yard to check on the
condition of his son Steve s dog Bailey, a black Labrador. Sherman
argued that Bailey was neglected; Berki said he was not, and slept
with Steve every night. Tamar never wanted me to know how sick she
was, recalled Dogs Deserve Better founder Tammy Grimes. Grimes is
facing charges in a similar case in Pennsylvania, in which a
veterinarian found that the dog was neglected. Tamar lobbied for the
2006 California anti-tethering legislation, and was exuberant when it
passed. Our reps voted unanimously to give her our 2007 Remarkable Rep
of the Year Award. We will rename the award the Tamar Sherman
Remarkable Rep Award, Grimes said.

Nicolas Vgambwera, a Democratic Republic of the Congo park
ranger based at Mount Tshiaberimuin Virunga National Park, was killed
by rebel soldiers in a May 20, 2007 dawn attack on two patrol posts.
Kat-ungu Kayisumbirwa, wife of a Gorilla Org-anization ranger, soon
afterward died in premature labor brought on by the stress of the
attack, Gorilla Organization representative Abigail Girling told ANIMAL
PEOPLE.