In Memoriam

William E. Brown, who taught at the School of Dentistry from 1945-1969, died Jan. 16, 2020, at age 97. in Ann Arbor. He earned his DDS from U-M in 1945 and added his master’s degree in pediatric dentistry in 1947. He started teaching at the school part-time in 1945. He eventually becoming a full professor and took on leadership roles, while maintaining a private pediatric dentistry practice. He was named Associate Director of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Institute in 1962, was associate dean for graduate and post-graduate dentistry and served as acting chair of the Department of Pedodontics during his tenure. He was active in organized dentistry, serving as president of the Michigan Dental Association, American Society of Dentistry for Children and American Academy of Pedodontics. In 1969, he was named the founding dean of the School of Dentistry at the University of Oklahoma, spending three years planning the curriculum and other details before it opened in 1972. He led the school until he retired in 1987. He also served as acting provost for OU Health Sciences Center from 1973-75. He returned to Ann Arbor where he lived out his life as a lifelong maize-and-blue supporter, according to his daughter Wendy Kerschbaum, the retired former director of the Dental Hygiene program at the dental school.

William E. Brown

Raúl Guillermo Caffesse, former chair of the Department of Periodontics at the dental school in the 1970s and ’80s, died Dec. 29, 2019, in Houston, Texas. He was 80 years old. Caffesse completed a DDS in his native Argentina and practiced with his father before earning a scholarship to the U-M dental school to complete his master’s degree in periodontology, in 1967. He returned to Argentina, earned a doctorate and was invited back to U-M in 1972 for what was supposed to be a one-year visiting professorship. It became a permanent appointment and he eventually was named chair of the perio department. He remained at the school until 1988, when he accepted the position of Chairman of the Department and Director of Advanced Education Program in Periodontics at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Dental Branch. He became Dean Pro Tem of the UTHSC Dental Branch. He received numerous awards and honors during his career, including the 1989 Clinical Research Award of the American Academy of Periodontology and the 1989 William J. Gies Periodontology Award for his scientific contributions. He was honored in 1991 by the establishment of the Raúl G. Caffesse, D.D.S., M.S., Endowed Scholarship Fund at the University of Texas-Houston. He published more than 500 articles related to periodontics and was honored by numerous international organizations and universities. Over the last 20 years, he directed long-term continuing education courses in periodontics throughout Spain and Mexico.

Raúl Guillermo Caffesse

Mark Marunick, a longtime adjunct professor in graduate prosthodontics at the dental school and a professor of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery for the Wayne State University School of Medicine, died April 24, 2020. He was 69. He had been an adjunct at the School of Dentistry since 2001. After receiving his DDS degree from U-M in 1975, he entered the U.S. Public Health Service, serving as chief dental officer of a USPHS dental clinic at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. He earned his master of science degree in prosthodontics from U-M in 1980 and then completed a residency in Maxillofacial Prosthetics at UCLA in 1981. He went into private practice in Toledo, Ohio, for a few years, and then joined the Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery at the Wayne State medical school in 1986. In addition to his teaching at the U-M dental school, he held multiple other positions, including Chief of Dentistry at the Detroit Medical Center, director of Maxillofacial Prosthetics at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Comprehensive Cancer Center, and consultant to the John D. Dingell VA Medical Center in Detroit and the Henry Ford Health System. He made frequent presentations at national and international conferences, wrote numerous articles and book chapters, and co-authored a textbook on maxillofacial prosthetics. Dr. Marunick conducted National Institutes of Health-funded research studying rehabilitation of head and neck cancer patients and was a past recipient of the American Cancer Society Clinical Oncology Career Development Award. He was a fellow and member of numerous organizations related to prosthodontics. In 2015, he received the Andrew J. Ackerman Award, the highest honor given to any maxillofacial prosthodontist by the American Academy of Maxillofacial Prosthetics.