My dad died on Friday morning.
He was a fabulous guy and it is difficult to imagine that we'll never see him again. I am ever so grateful I got to spend the last few months with him.
Stebbins, William Cooper
William Cooper Stebbins, University of Michigan professor
emeritus of otorhinolaryngology in the Medical School; professor emeritus of
psychology in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts; and retired
associate dean of the Rackham Graduate School, died on Friday, April 24, 2015
in Ann Arbor. He was 85.
Dr. Stebbins was born in Watertown, New York on June 6, 1929
to Jean Reginald Stebbins and Kathleen Heile. He graduated from The Hotchkiss School in 1947 and from Yale
University in 1951. He served in
the Medical Service Corps in the United States Army at Walter Reed Army Medical
Center in Washington D. C. from 1951 until 1953. He was married to the former Kathryn Jones in 1953. He took his Ph.D. degree from Columbia
in Experimental Psychology in 1957. He taught at Hamilton College from 1957
until 1961 when he was awarded a National Institutes of Health post-doctoral
fellowship in Physiology and Biophysics in the Physiology Department at the
University of Washington in Seattle.
In 1963 at the completion of his fellowship he accepted a
faculty position at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor jointly in the
Department of Psychology and in the Kresge Hearing Research Institute where he
remained until his retirement in 1996. His research centered on Bioacoustics,
specifically on laboratory studies of animal hearing and communication and he
wrote or edited 7 books, 30 chapters, and more than 100 research papers in this
area.
As a member of the faculty at Michigan he taught
undergraduate and graduate courses in Psychology in addition to working closely
with his colleague Professor David Moody and his undergraduate students,
graduate students and postdoctoral students in his laboratory. In addition he taught an
interdisciplinary course in Primate Behavior for students in Biology,
Anthropology, and Psychology. He served on many faculty committees, was elected
a member of the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs in 1984 and
served as chair from 1986-1987. He also chaired the Tenure Committee, the
University Budget Priorities Committee, and received the Distinguished Faculty
Governance Award for his participation in faculty governance. In addition, he served
as Associate Dean for Faculty Programs in the Rackham Graduate School for three
years and was chair of the Graduate Program in the Department of Psychology.
At the national level, Professor Stebbins served as
president of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, was a study section
member of NINCDS, and was active in the American Academy of Ophthalmology and
Otorhinolaryngology. He also served on the external advisory committees for a
number of institutions across the U.S., served on the editorial boards of
numerous journals, and has been a reviewer for several funding agencies. He
was elected a fellow in four national organizations: The American Association
for the Advancement of Science, The Acoustical Society of America, The American
Psychological Society, and The American Psychological Association. He was also
a member of Sigma Xi, the International Primatological Society, the American
Society of Primatologists and served for four years as a member of Study
Section, a grant peer review committee, for the National Institute of Neurological
Diseases and Blindness.
Professor Stebbins participated in many local organizations
and became a board member of three and president of two: The Barton Boat Club
devoted to sailboat racing, The Ann Arbor Figure Skating Club where he also
served as a figure and dance judge. He was an avid bicycle rider and long-time
member of the Ann Arbor Bicycle and Touring Society. In retirement, he joined the United States Power
Squadron and took many courses on marine navigation and piloting. At their second home on Drummond
Island, Michigan, he and his wife Katie spent many summers cruising Lake Huron,
Lake Michigan, and the North Channel. He and his dog, Rose, were members of
Therapy Dogs International and spent many years visiting nursing homes in
Michigan, Florida, and Canada.
He is survived by his wife, Katie; his three daughters,
Elisabeth, Leslie, and Rebecca; his son-in-law Tom Blumenthal; his three
grandchildren, Anna and Will Blumenthal, and Ryder Mosby, his sister, Kathy;
and his beloved dog, Rose.
Memorial gifts can be made to the Michigan Alzheimer’s
Disease Center (MADC), 1000 Oakbrook, Suite 100, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104 or
Planned Parenthood. A memorial service will be held at a later date.
