Observer Editor, Former LC Dean Pass Away

Casey A. Feldman, a senior at Fordham College at Lincoln Center, died tragically this summer after being hit by a car in Ocean City, N.J. She was 21.

Feldman was an aspiring journalist and news editor for The Observer, the student newspaper at Lincoln Center. Staff member Anndrew Vacca issued a statement on behalf of the staff on The Observer’s Web site.

"When news hit about Casey Feldman’s untimely and tragic death, it was a shocking, surreal and deeply saddening moment for all," Vacca said. "The reality that a young, energetic, beautiful and talented colleague and friend was gone in the blink of an eye was an overwhelming shock."

Feldman was working at a summer job in Ocean City when she was hit by a car on Friday, July 17. She was taken to Atlantic City Medical Center but died of her injuries later that evening. She was interred at West Laurel Hill Cemetery, in Bala Cynwyd, Pa., on July 23.

Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the University, expressed his condolences after the accident.

"Casey’s death is unspeakably sad," McShane said. "She was a bright, engaging and determined young woman. I cannot imagine the grief her family, friends and classmates feel today – it is a painful, shocking loss. The entire University community holds Casey in its heart and prayers, and likewise prays for her family and friends in this terrible hour."

A communications major, Feldman also worked for AM New York and produced several articles there. She was also a finalist for the 2009 Chandler Award for Student Writer of the Year in Religion.

Feldman’s friends and family shared memories and sympathies on a news blog set up by the University.

"She was the kind of student that made me want to rise to the challenge of meeting her intellectual needs by providing her with the best preparation of materials and ideas for classes–she was very thoughtful about everything," her former high school photography teacher Daphne Longo-Okcuoglu wrote.

Communications and media studies professor Paul Levinson posted that he was "impressed by her intelligence and zest for reporting," when she interviewed him for a story, and Director of Health Services Kathleen Malara agreed that Feldman was always "professional, persistent and talented" as a reporter.

A memorial site has been created at caseyfeldman.com, where people can share photographs and memories of their time with Feldman.

Father Arthur A. Clarke, S.J., the first dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center, died on Sunday Aug. 2 at Murray-Weigel Hall. He was 92.

Clarke was born on June 4, 1917 and attended St. Peter’s Prep from 1931 to 1935. He entered the Jesuit order in Wernersville, Pa. immediately after graduating, and would remain a member for the next three quarters of a century until his death. Clarke studied philosophy and in 1941 began teaching German and math at Canisius High School in Buffalo, N.Y. In 1945 he went to Woodstock College in Maryland, where he studied theology and was ordained to the priesthood.

After teaching math and religion at St. Peter’s College in New Jersey, Clarke served as the first dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center (then known as the "Liberal Arts College") from 1967 to 1970. He received a doctorate in mathematics from Yeshiva University and founded the math department at Hostos College in the Bronx, where he taught from 1972 to 1987.

Clarke then traveled to Puerto Rico and served in several parishes, also acting as a prison chaplain and math teacher in Rio Pedras. After returning to New York City in 2002, he tutored students at the Cristo Rey NY High School. In 2008 he moved into Murray-Weigel Hall, where he lived until his death.

Clarke was known for publishing a standard translation of the Disquisitiones Arithmeticae, a book of number theory in which the German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss sythesized his own findings with the work of his predecessors.

He was buried at The Jesuit Martyrs’ Shrine Cemetery in Auriesville, N.Y.