TAPS he was executive vice president and senior credit officer for Bank of Virginia’s Eastern Region. Earlier, he was associated with Central National Bank as senior vice president in charge of the Personal Banking Division. After those careers he owned and operated several businesses. Chapman was chairman emeritus of the Greater Richmond YMCA. He held leadership roles in the United Way and served on the board of St. Christopher’s School. He is survived by his wife of 44 years, Mary Whittle Chapman of Richmond; two sons, Lee Chapman and his wife, Martha, and their children, Michael, Anna and Molly, and Michael Chapman and his wife, Catherine, and their daughter, Hartley; a daughter, Sara Waechter, and her husband, John, and their daughter, Mary Page, all of Richmond; a sister, Sally Crumpler, and her husband, John, of Norfolk, Virginia; and many nieces, nephews and cousins. His father-in-law, B. Randolph Whittle ’37, died in 1988.
John C. Rasmussen Jr. ’65 John Curtis Rasmussen Jr. ’65, Ph.D., of Corolla, North Carolina, died on June 30, 2009. He was 66. Rasmussen matriculated from Richmond, Virginia, and held a bachelor of science degree in biology from VMI. A Vietnam veteran, he served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army from 1966-67. He was assigned to the 25th Infantry Division and was awarded the Combat Medical Badge. He earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in modern European history from the University of Georgia. From 1973-80 he was a staffer for the late Rep. David E. Satterfield III of Richmond, Virginia, serving in various positions in both Satterfield’s Washington, D.C., and Richmond offices. Under Satterfield’s chair-
manship patronage, Rasmussen served with the Democratic Research Organization in Washington. From 1981-85 he was legislative director for the late Rep. Joe Skeen of New Mexico, and later in 1985 he worked briefly for Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas before moving over to the Energy Office of the International Trade Administration of the Department of Commerce. He traveled to the Far East and the Middle East to further the department’s mission to open foreign markets to U.S. exports. The Tariff Liberalization Team that he headed in 2000 earned the department’s Bronze Medal Award for Superior Federal Service. He served with Commerce until his retirement from federal service in 2001. He was a member of the Westmoreland Club in Richmond and a non-resident member of the Fredericksburg Country Club. He is survived by his younger brother and only sibling, Dr. William Meade Stith Rasmussen, and his wife, Maria Payne, and her two children, Elizabeth Maria Joynes and Alexandra Mercedes Joynes; and two nephews, Drury Alexander Stith Rasmussen and his wife, Lea Schon, and Marc Emerson Townes Rasmussen. His uncle, William Meade Stith Jr. ’33, died in 2007, and his cousin, John E. Townes Jr., class of 1907, died in 1970. His cousin is William Meade Stith III ’71 of Portsmouth.
Scott P. McCumber ’88 Scott Paris McCumber ’88 of Midlothian, Virginia, died on April 11, 2009, in an automobile accident. He was 42. McCumber matriculated from Midlothian and held a bachelor of arts degree in history from VMI. A member of the Bomb staff for four years, he served as its head photographer during his third class year, its photo editor during his second class
year and its managing editor during his first class year. He was a member of the football team during his second class year. A veteran of Operations Desert Storm/Desert Shield, he served as a lieutenant junior grade in the U.S. Navy from 1988-91. At the time of his death he was a business unit leader with Philip Morris U.S.A., for which he had worked for 17 years. He is survived by his wife, Erin D. McCumber of Midlothian; two children, Kelsey Scott McCumber and Miles Paris McCumber; his mother, Patricia McCumber Gross and her husband, Kenneth; his father, Irwin H. McCumber ’65 and his wife, Linda, of Midlothian; a sister, Shannon McCumber Cobb and her husband, Matthew; four nieces, Madison, McKinley, Maylie and McClaine; his mother- and father-in-law, Diana and Gary Donahue; three sisters and brothers-in-law, Kelly and John DePew, Candace and Phil Andrie, Meredith and John Gavin, and Karl Uftring; nine nieces and nephews, Taylor, Peyton, Bryce, Kylee, Seth, Meredith, Griffin, Lane and Emerson; and aunts and many cousins.
Jordan P. Amos ’05 Cpl. Jordan Paul Amos ’05, USMC, of Dry Fork, Virginia, died on June 18, 2009. He was 25 and was stationed at Camp Pendleton, California, where he died in an accident. After leaving VMI, Amos attended Danville Community College before enlisting in the U.S. Marine Corps in February 2006. He served two tours of duty in Iraq. He is survived by his parents, Paul and Susan Amos; a sister, Caitlin, of Dry Fork; his paternal grandparents, Norman and Mavis Amos of Callands, Virginia; his material grandfather, Giles Gregory of Danville, Virginia; and many aunts, uncles and cousins.
DEATHS IN THE VMI FAMILY Dean B. Foster, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Psychology Dean Benjamin Foster, Ph.D., professor emeritus of psychology at VMI, died on June 6, 2009. He was 89. Foster joined the VMI faculty in 1961 and served until his retirement in 1985. He served for many years as chairman of the department of psychology, philosophy and religion, and in 1983 he received the Institute’s Distinguished Teaching Award. His citation noted that he was an “unorthodox but highly effective teacher,” one who stimulates his students to learn and think for themselves.
132
He graduated in 1942 from Indiana University, where he was president of Kappa Delta Rho fraternity, and received his Ph.D. in psychology from Cornell University. Prior to coming to VM1, he spent 20 years in industrial research. He served as director of laboratories and director of research, United States Testing Company, in Hoboken, New Jersey, from 1952-61. He did extensive work in sleep patterns which he began in 1957 when he was named research director of the nonprofit Sleep Research Foundation, whose headquarters moved
to Rockbridge County when he came to work at VMI. Foster invented special beds for infants and bedridden people, and worked as an experimental psychologist on the compatibility of students and in other areas, including the study of odor. He brought a number of distinguished people from many professions into his classes at VMI in industrial psychology. Cadets in his classes benefited by going one on one with lawyers, doctors, soldiers, government leaders and athletes, among others. He was active with the VMI Alumni Agencies, which he helped in many areas, including fundraising, recruiting, publications and research. He contributed several articles to the Alumni Review, most notably “Action and Learning: Synonymous
VMI ALUMNI REVIEW