Deaths Deaths (May 05, 2004)

Ralph E. Apperson

Ralph E. Apperson, a longtime resident of Palo Alto, died May 1.

He was born in Vallejo and moved to Palo Alto in 1943. He worked for 17 years at Pan American World Airways in San Francisco as an airplane mechanic and scheduler. After 26 years as Production Control and Scheduling Manager at Coen Company in Burlingame, he retired in 1986.

The cornerstones of his life were his church and his family. As a young man he was president of the youth group at the first Baptist Church of Palo Alto. He met his wife, Betty Borland, through youth meetings with the Presbyterian Westminster group. Until his death, he remained an active member of the Covenant Presbyterian in Palo Alto. From bottle washer to computer wiz, he was involved in many aspects of church life.

In 1955 he and his wife were involved in the initial formation of Palo Alto's West Bay Opera Association with the founders, Henry and Maria Holt. For the first five years he used his wonderful creative skills as technical director and built the stage scenery in his own backyard with the help of his family and crew.

Early family years were spent on campouts with his children. His retirement years were spent on cruises with his wife and tending his backyard garden while watching the flowers grow.

He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Betty Apperson of Palo Alto; daughter, Jan Chumley of Tucson, Ariz.; daughter, Debbie Benson of Bend, Ore.; son, Clyde Apperson of Sunnyvale; and three grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held in his honor Saturday, May 8, at 11 a.m. at Covenant Presbyterian Church, 670 E. Meadow Drive, Palo Alto. Memorial contributions may be made to Covenant Presbyterian Church, 670 E. Meadow Drive, Palo Alto, CA 94306; or the Henry and Maria Holt Memorial Scholarship Fund, c/o Anthony Cuevas, 3530 Arbutus Drive, Palo Alto, CA 94303.
Mary Anne Beswick

Mary Anne Beswick died April 20 at her home in Menlo Park. She was 68.

Born in Tacoma, Wash., she attended Seattle University before moving to San Francisco in 1958. She married Daniel K. Beswick of Mill Valley in 1962, and the couple has lived in the Menlo Park area for the past 25 years.

After having three children, she started a career as a volunteer that combined her passion for art with her desire to improve the world around her. She was a member of the Creative Initiative Foundation and Parents Who Care, and was active in a number of political and community organizations.

In 1990 she returned to college, and graduated from the University of San Francisco in 1991. Thereafter, she honed her painting and drawing skills, and continued to attend classes at the Palo Alto Cultural Center. Her art highlights the beauty she saw in people, objects and the natural world around her, and adorns the homes of many family, friends and other admirers of her work.

She is survived by her husband, Daniel K. Beswick; sister, Virginia Rivers of Reno, Nev.; brothers, Allen, Richard and Eugene Rivers, all of Tacoma, Wash.; daughters, Karen Beswick Salas and Kimberly Beswick; son, Brian Beswick; and five grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be sent to the Lance Armstrong Foundation, PO Box 161150, Austin, TX 78716, and Habitat For Humanity, 690 Broadway St., Redwood City, CA 94063.
Thomas R. Byrd

Thomas (Tom) R. Byrd, 62, died on April 11 upon returning from a trip to Death Valley with his wife and youngest daughter.

Born March 9, 1942, in Palo Alto, he was a health science instructor at DeAnza College in Cupertino for 34 years, from 1968 until his retirement in 2002. He earned his master's degree in health education from Stanford University and a bachelor's degree in health science from San Jose State University.

His career followed that of his father, Dr. Oliver E. Byrd, a long-time Palo Alto resident who taught health education at Stanford from 1937 until 1971. Dr. Oliver Byrd died in 1998.

An Alcohol and Drug Abuse counselor and member of the Association of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Educators, he was the author of "Lives Written in Sand" (1997) and "Addictive Awareness" (1991), and was working on a new book about recovery, tentatively titled, "The Flame Tree." He created 10 new classes at DeAnza including the Internet-only class, Contemporary Health Concerns.

An avid long-distance swimmer, he was awarded All-American honors by U.S. Master's Swimming. In 1998, he was the Open Water Long Distance National Champion. He swam from Alcatraz to San Francisco as well as long distances in Hawaii, Santa Cruz and Donner Lake.

He is survived by his wife, Kathi; sister Beverly Loomis of Concord, Calif.; his four children, Patrick Byrd, a doctor, of Jonkoping, Sweden, Kristina Hogland, a teacher, of Sollentuna, Sweden, Jaime Byrd, a financial services salesperson, of San Francisco, and Jenna Byrd, a student, of Palo Alto; and five grandchildren.

Private family services will be held at Alta Mesa Memorial Park. Donations can be made to Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic, 488 West Charleston Road, Palo Alto 94306.
Robert W.P. Cutler

Dr. Robert W.P. Cutler, emeritus professor of neurology and neurological sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine and author of "The Mysterious Death of Jane Stanford," died April 12 at the age of 70.

Born in New York in 1933, he graduated from Harvard in 1953 and received a medical degree from Tufts University in 1957. In 1974, after serving on the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine's faculty, he joined Stanford University. He spent 13 years in the dean's office, first as associate dean of medical education and, from 1988 to 1995, as senior associate dean of faculty affairs. According to emeritus professor David Korn, he blended "his customary intellectual rigor and unwavering integrity with compassion and a deep respect for personal privacy" in his work as a dean.

Korn describes him as a scholar "not only in neurology but in the execution of his decanal responsibilities and thereafter in his marvelous authorial accomplishments in retirement."

His book, "The Mysterious Death of Jane Stanford," was published in 2003 by the Stanford University Press. It examines the unusual circumstances surrounding university co-founder Jane Stanford's death. His conclusion -- that Stanford died of strychnine poisoning -- challenges a historical assumption that attributes her death to heart failure.

An expert in Parkinson's disease, he is known for pioneering research about the formation and absorption of cerebrospinal fluid and for work on blood-brain-barrier transport systems. He was a member of the American Academy of Neurology, the American Neurological Association and the American Society for Neurochemistry.

At Stanford, he won the Kaiser Family Foundation Award for Outstanding and Innovative Contributions to Medical Education.

Upon retiring, he lived on his ranch on a hill overlooking Livermore, Calif. He is survived by his wife, Maggie; their son, Aaron; and three grandsons.

Donations may be made payable to the Regional Parks Foundation and sent to Regional Parks Botanical Garden c/o Tilden Regional Park, Berkeley, CA 94708-2396.

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