Obituaries

Lucy Wood Wilson, 98, a librarian who worked with several California libraries until her 1983 retirement, died August 14. During her career, Wilson worked at the University of San Francisco, Oakland Public Library, University of California Berkeley, Contra Costa County Library System, Richmond Public Library, and Laney College. She also served as the inaugural chair of the El Cerrito Human Relations Commission and was instrumental in founding the city’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day March and Celebration.

F. William Summers, 83, who held many library leadership positions, including Florida state librarian, died August 12. During his career he also served as library director at Cocoa (Fla.) Public Schools, assistant director at Providence (R.I.) Public Library, dean of the Florida State University (FSU) College of Library and Information Studies in Tallahassee, and twice as interim director of FSU’s Strozier Library. Summers was 1988–1989 ALA president, and he served as president of the Association for Library and Information Science Education and Beta Phi Mu International Honor Society for Library and Information Science. He received the Joseph W. Lippincott Award for distinguished service to the profession in 1996.

Barbara E. Smith, 89, professor emerita at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, died July 11. Smith was a longtime and active member of ALA’s Government Documents Round Table and chair of the Depository Library Council to the Public Printer. She also wrote several articles comparing the American and British government document systems and was twice invited to lecture at British universities.

Eric Moon, 93, chief editor and president of Scarecrow Press until his 1978 retirement, died July 31. He also was editor in chief of Library Journal from 1959 to 1968. Moon was president of ALA (1977–1978), and he served on ALA Council and several committees at various times through the mid-1990s. He was influential in ALA’s social responsibility efforts, particularly racial integration in libraries and professional library associations. He received honorary membership in ALA in 1987 and honorary fellowship in the Library Association (UK) in 2000.

Deborah Miller, 78, trustee of the Schaumburg (Ill.) Township District Library for more than 40 years until stepping down in 2015, died July 23. Miller won many awards during her career, including the ALA White House Conference on Libraries Citizen of the Year Award, the Illinois Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Award, and the Illinois Humanities Council’s Studs Terkel Humanities Service Award.

Geraldine B. King, 80, president of ALA’s Reference and Adult Services Division (later RUSA) from 1981 to 1982, died July 18. King worked in many libraries throughout her career and taught library science at St. Catherine’s University in St. Paul, Minnesota. She was editor of Reference Quarterly (later Reference and User Services Quarterly) from 1976 to 1979.

Ruth I. Gordon, 83, a teacher and librarian at several schools in California, died July 18. Gordon served as director of school libraries for Lassen County Office of Education, director of libraries for the Cloverdale Unified School District, and librarian at Kenilworth Junior High School in Petaluma. She wrote and edited several books. She also served on ALA Council (1991–1995), on the board of the Association for Library Service to Children (1986–1989), as chair of the Notable Children’s Books committee and the John Newbery Award committee, and as president of the Association of Children’s Librarians of Northern California.

Myron Flugstad, 65, assistant director for technical services and a librarian at Arkansas State University’s Dean B. Ellis Library in Jonesboro for 27 years, died August 22. Flugstad was a founding member and past president of ARKLink, the Arkansas academic library consortium, and led several library automation initiatives. He previously worked at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, and Kenosha (Wis.) Public Library.