Dr. Csanalosi, Psychiatry

Dr. Irma Buko Csanalosi, associate professor emeritus of psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine, passed away on May 6; she was 90.

Dr. Csanalosi joined Penn in 1968 as an instructor. She was appointed an associate in 1970, a clinical assistant professor in 1972 and then an assistant professor of psychiatry in 1974. She was promoted to associate professor in 1977 and became emeritus in 1992. Over the years, she practiced at the Philadelphia General Hospital, the Philadelphia Psychiatric Center and the Veterans Administration Medical Center.

Fluent in seven languages, Dr. Csanalosi earned her medical degree in Budapest, Hungary at the Pázmány Péter Catholic University, currently the Semmelweis University School of Medicine in 1944.

She immigrated to Venezuela from Europe in 1949 before coming to the US in 1965.  She was a resident in psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine from 1965-1968.  

Amongst her many honors are the Earl D. Bond Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1975 and the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1976. In addition, she was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honorary Medical Society in 1982 at the faculty level and was a Life Member of the American Psychiatric Association.

Dr. Csanalosi is survived by her three children and five grandchildren.  

Contributions may be made to www.vetshelpingheroes.org, a not-for-profit organization created to raise funds to train service dogs for disabled American veterans wounded in post-9/11 conflicts.

A memorial service will be held Saturday, June 2 at 11 a.m. at the Chapel of the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, 625 Montgomery Ave., Bryn Mawr, PA 19010.

Ms. McConaghy, University Archives

Mary D. McConaghy, a retired webmaster and historian at the University Archives, died of Lou Gehrig’s disease on May 16; she was 67.

Dr. McConaghy earned a BA cum laude from Bryn Mawr College, in 1967; an MA in teaching from Reed College, in 1968; and a PhD  in American civilization from Penn in 1996.

Dr. McConaghy worked at the Archives from 1998 until her retirement in 2011. Previously, she had been a teacher in the School District of Philadelphia, 1968-1975; an intern in the Penn Museum Archives, 1979; a TA at Penn, 1980-81; a lecturer at Penn, 1983-1984 and in 1997, she taught a seminar on History and Computing, one of the first web design courses offered in the liberal arts at Penn; and simultaneously, a website designer for the School of Arts & Sciences in 1996-1997.  

Dr. McConaghy is survived by her husband, Richard; sons, Edward and Alexander; and her sister, Susan Delaney.

A memorial service will be held Saturday, May 26, at noon at the Episcopal Church of St. Martins-in-the-Fields, 8000 Saint Martins Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19118. Donations may be made to: The ALS Association Greater Philadelphia Chapter, 321 Norristown Road, Suite 260, Ambler, PA 19002.

Mr. Petrick, Bookstore

William “Bill” Petrick, a retired assistant director for operations in the Penn Bookstore, passed away May 12 at age 84.

Coming to Penn in 1946, Mr. Petrick worked in the Bookstore for over five decades, where part of his duties included ordering and distributing thousands of academic regalia for Penn’s Commencement ceremonies. He retired in the late 1990s when Barnes & Noble took over, but was asked to stay to help with Commencement.

A Penn Current article in the May 28, 1998 issue stated, “Bill Petrick gets to meet dignitaries and celebrities. But he takes the greatest pride in helping people through a hectic experience.”

Judge Pollak, Law School

The Hon. Louis Pollak, who served as dean of the Penn Law School from 1975 to 1978, died May 8 from heart disease; he was 89.

Judge Pollak, who served on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, was widely regarded as one of the leading members of the judiciary in the country.

Judge Pollak was born in New York City in 1922. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1943 and served in the US Army during World War II before entering Yale Law School, where he was editor of the Law Review and graduated in 1948.

He began his legal career by clerking for US Supreme Court Justice Wiley B. Rutledge and joined a group of volunteer lawyers assisting Thurgood Marshall, then-director counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Judge Pollak played a key role in planning and drafting briefs for Brown v. Board of Education. He remained active with the Legal Defense Fund as a board member and vice president until becoming a judge in 1978.

After completing his clerkship, Judge Pollak worked from 1949 to 1951 as an associate at the New York law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. He then served in the US State Department as a special assistant to Ambassador-at-Large Philip C. Jessup and later took the position of assistant counsel for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America.

In 1955 Judge Pollak joined the Yale Law School faculty, where he remained until 1974, serving as dean from 1965 to 1970. In 1974, he moved to Penn Law as the first Albert M. Greenfield Professor of Human Relations and Law. He became dean the following year (Almanac December 16, 1975).

Upon being appointed to the federal bench by President Jimmy Carter in 1978, Judge Pollak retired from the full-time Penn Law faculty. But he continued to teach a seminar at the Law School as an adjunct professor until his death.

“The last time he taught at the Law School he received one of our teaching prizes,” said Penn Law Dean Michael Fitts. “Several weeks ago Penn Law named our new alumni public service award at the Law School after him. It is a perfect tribute to his career—and the man.”

Judge Pollak was the 2003 recipient of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s William J. Brennan Distinguished Jurist Award, which recognizes a jurist who adheres to the highest ideals of judicial service and has had a positive impact on the quality or administration of justice in Philadelphia. In 2010, he was awarded Penn Law’s Adjunct Teaching Award and was described as an “‘incredibly engaging, insightful, and knowledgeable’ teacher with a fresh perspective on the law” (Almanac July 13, 2010). He was the Penn Law graduation speaker in 2004.

Judge Pollak is survived by his wife, Katherine Weiss; daughters, Nancy, Elizabeth, Susan, Sally and Deborah; six granddaughters and two grandsons.

Dr. Silverstein, Social Policy & Practice

Dr. Max Silverstein, professor emeritus in the School of Social Policy & Practice, passed away from cerebrovascular disease on May 3 at age 100.

Born in Philadelphia, Dr. Silverstein earned a bachelor’s degree in 1932 and a master’s degree in social work in 1936, both at Temple University. He earned his PhD in 1966 from  what was Penn’s School of Social Work and was one of the oldest surviving SP2 graduates. He celebrated his 100th birthday on January 8, 2012.

He joined Penn’s faculty in 1966, was appointed professor in 1969 and became emeritus in 1977.

Dr. Silverstein started out as a group worker in Philadelphia during the depression. In 1938, he moved to California where he first worked at a TB sanitarium in Los Angeles, now known as the City of Hope, and later at the LA Health and Welfare Council. In 1944, he became a Welfare Liaison Officer for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. He also consulted on several movies including Oscar-winning Best Years of Our Lives, providing insight into the issues faced by veterans returning from the war.

Dr. Silverstein began his teaching career at UCLA where he was asked to set up the University’s first graduate school of social work.

He returned to Philadelphia in 1950 and served as executive director of PA Mental Health Inc., where he fought to keep open well- functioning mental health facilities and close those that were essentially warehouses.

As a professor at Penn’s School of Social Work, he chaired the school’s Community Organizing program.

After retiring from Penn, he was chairman of the Mayor’s Public-Private Task Force on Homelessness for Mayor W. Wilson Goode in the late 1980s.

Dr. Silverstein is the author of several books and articles including Psychiatric Aftercare, Vital Connections: Integrated Care for the Seriously Mentally Ill and Mental Health Education: A Critique.

Dr. Silverstein is survived by his daughter, Mady Edelstein; four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. His is predeceased by his wife, Belle and daughter, Trudy Frieman.

A memorial will be held Saturday, July 7, 5 p.m. in the solarium at Hopkinson House, 604 S. Washington Square, Philadelphia, PA 19106.