Obituaries - Sept. 15, 1997

Milton Rubincam; Called Dean of Genealogists

Milton Rubincam, 88, known as “the dean of American genealogists.” Born in Philadelphia and reared in Ocean City, N.J., Rubincam attended Temple and American universities. He spent most of his life working for federal agencies including the Social Security Administration, the Board of Economic Welfare and the Commerce Department. He became interested in genealogy after his retirement in 1972, soon earning his unofficial title as “dean” from the Smithsonian Institution. Rubincam served four terms as president of the National Genealogical Society and later edited the National Genealogical Society Quarterly. He wrote more than 2,000 book reviews for the publication over a 25-year period. A resident of Hyattsville, Md., Rubincam became known for his painstaking research, precise accuracy and dogged insistence on documentation and primary sources. On Tuesday9 in Washington, D.C., of complications of diabetes.

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Alan Simpkins; Telecommunications Inventor

Alan Simpkins, 74, telecommunications inventor who designed test instruments for the telephone industry. Simpkins held five patents on test devices. He also aided the handicapped by suggesting the use of a graphic equalizer device to enhance high-frequency sounds over the telephone for the hearing impaired. Simpkins founded Delcon in Palo Alto in 1960 to manufacture telephone test equipment, and sold the company five years later to Hewlett-Packard. Also known as a philanthropist, Simpkins gave about $6 million to his alma mater, San Jose State University. He was a longtime trustee of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. On Wednesday in Santa Cruz, Calif., of cancer.

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Michel Stuart; Original “A Chorus Line” Dancer

Michel Stuart, 54, original dancer in the long-running Broadway musical “A Chorus Line.” A native New Yorker, Stuart danced in the London production of “West Side Story” when he was 16 and later was in “Little Me” and several other musicals on Broadway in the 1960s and 1970s. He created the role of Greg in “A Chorus Line” at New York’s Public Theater and performed the role on Broadway for the show’s first two years. He later designed costumes for such productions as “A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine” and “Cloud 9,” which were directed by his longtime companion Tommy Tune. Stuart also produced “Cloud 9,” “Nine” and “The Tap Dance Kid.” For the past several years, he had lived in Los Angeles where he worked with victims of AIDS. On Sept. 7 in Malibu in a car accident.