Julia C. PrattExecutive Secretary to Five BU Presidents

Julia C. Pratt (CAS’48, Hon.’78), who worked for Boston University presidents for more than 30 years, died on June 23, 2019. She was 102.

Pratt was born in Phillips, Maine, on January 23, 1917; her ancestors arrived in America in 1623 on the English ship Anne.

After graduating from Westbrook Junior College in Portland, Maine, Pratt enlisted in the US military WAVES. Stationed in Washington, D.C., during World War II, she worked with the women code breakers. She earned a BA at the College of Arts & Sciences.

In 1948, she began her career at BU, working as an executive secretary to five BU presidents, including John Silber (Hon.’95), the late president emeritus and former chancellor.

“Working with Dr. Silber was never dull,” she once said, according to her obituary. “I’ve heard all the words criticizing him, and they’re just not true. Abrasive? Controversial? Who isn’t controversial if he’s intelligent and isn’t afraid to say what he believes?”

In 1978, Pratt received an honorary Doctor of Laws. She retired from BU in 1981.

Psychologist Andrew DibnerFounder of Medical Alert System

Andrew Dibner, 93, a psychologist who taught at BU for 20 years and who cofounded the first company to sell personal emergency response systems in the United States, died July 6, 2019.

In 1972, Dibner wondered how an elderly person would call someone for help if they were alone and in need of urgent medical care. (When he was 12, he found his grandmother clutching her chest during a heart attack one night, he said in a 1988 interview with the Boston Globe.) Two years later, he launched Lifeline Systems, Inc., in Waltham, Mass., with his sociologist wife, Susan, to provide wireless emergency alarms that could be activated with the click of a button.

In an interview with Lifeline in 2016, Dibner reflected on his life’s work. “Aside from the pride I have in my family, children, and grandchildren, with no doubt I am most proud of having devoted my life to promoting Lifeline Systems,” he said. “It makes me happy that I have contributed in such a meaningful way, and also to be reducing the anxiety of the family and friends of people who use Lifeline.”

Lifeline went public in 1983 and was purchased by Philips Electronics NV of the Netherlands in 2006 for $690 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.

A specialist in aging, Dibner joined the BU faculty in 1964. In April 1979, he and four other professors refused to cross the picket lines of striking librarians and staff. The professors, including College of Communication professor of journalism Caryl Rivers and the late College of Arts & Sciences professors Murray Levin, Fritz Ringer, and Howard Zinn, came to be known as the BU Five.

“I didn’t want to cross the picket lines and I didn’t want my students to have to cross the picket lines,” Dibner told the Harvard Crimson, adding that his action was a matter of conscience.

Dibner retired from Boston University in 1984.

—Abigail Freeman (COM’19)

George O. ZimmermanFormer Physics Department Chair

George O. Zimmerman, 85, a College of Arts & Sciences professor emeritus of physics and former physics department chair, died on May 6, 2019.

Zimmerman was born in Katowice, Poland. After earning a BS, an MS, and a PhD, all from Yale University, he joined the faculty at BU, in 1963. He served as physics department chair from 1971 to 1983.

His major contributions in physics include discoveries in condensed matter and solid state physics, according to his obituary, and he was known for his popular lectures on physics, his hands-on advanced laboratory lectures, and a summer research internship program for high school students, which he developed and still exists.

He enjoyed classical music and photography and was a source of wisdom and support for his colleagues and friends.