Christopher Cakebread (COM’82, Wheelock’00)
College of Communication Master Lecturer of Advertising

Christopher Cakebread (COM’82, Wheelock’00) died on November 6, 2020. The following tribute was written by Mariette DiChristina (COM’86), dean of the College of Communication and a professor of the practice in journalism.

We lost a beloved colleague and friend in the passing of Christopher Cakebread.

Here at COM, Chris was a master lecturer who was most recently teaching Introduction to Advertising and Advertising Management, as well as coordinating ad internships. But those words simply do not do justice to the outsize positive impact he had on his students and colleagues.

Over the past three decades, Chris calculated that he taught more than 8,000 COM students and created or revised seven of the college’s courses. He also inspired us with his tireless dedication as an instructor, his supportive cheerfulness and kindness, and his generosity and supportiveness in coaching children in youth sports.

Chris described his career at BU as having occurred in three stages. First, he originally joined COM in 1988. He taught Introduction to Advertising and Advertising Management, served as a faculty advisor to AdLab, and created the Advertising Media Planning class. At the time, he also worked as a media consultant for account management and media planning.

In his second chapter, while continuing full-time as a teacher (even handling four-course loads as needed to support the growing advertising enrollments), he earned his doctorate at the then BU School of Education, now Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. His dissertation title was “An Analysis of Volunteer Coaching in Youth Sports,” which won’t surprise anyone who knew him as a great supporter of both youth sports and young people, overall.

The third step of his BU career began around a decade ago when Chris became the director of the advertising internship program. He continued in his focus on how to help advertising students to be ideally positioned for the professional world. He also spent a few years teaching an Introduction to Advertising course in Metropolitan College.

I know this is such a difficult time for everyone, and this loss is hard to take. As is always true of people we admire and enjoy the company of, I nonetheless feel a sense of keen gratitude that my own brief time here brought me into contact with Chris. His kindness will stay with us always.

Wilbur D. Fullbright (GRS’60)
College of Fine Arts Professor Emeritus of Music

Wilbur D. Fullbright (GRS’60), long-serving director of the College of Fine Arts School of Music and a founder of Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI), died on November 22, 2020. He was 95.

Fullbright graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1950 with a BA in music and earned a Master of Fine Arts from Bob Jones University in 1953. He was a faculty member until 1956, when he moved to Boston. He completed his doctoral degree in music at BU, where he remained until his retirement in 1993, serving in various capacities, and, beginning in 1966, as professor of music and director of the School of Music.

His leadership and vision shaped music at Boston University.

Fullbright, a CFA professor emeritus of music, served as artistic director and was instrumental in the founding and development of BUTI, a preeminent summer program for young musicians in Lenox, Mass., in partnership with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. CFA honored him at the BUTI 50th Celebration in 2016.

“The passing of Wilbur Fullbright prompts a renewal of gratitude and appreciation for an extraordinary man—a visionary and optimist who was richly learned and profoundly humane,” says Phyllis Hoffman (CFA’61,’67), a CFA professor emerita of music and former director of the School of Music. Hoffman, who also was the chair of the voice department and director of applied and performance studies, was executive and artistic director of BUTI from 2002 to 2014.

“Among his numerous and noteworthy accomplishments,” Hoffman says, “BUTI may be considered his crowning achievement given its uniqueness, inspirational power, and sphere of influence pedagogically and professionally on the world of classical music.

“Wilbur was a great nurturer both of his wonderful family and his colleagues. As a grateful beneficiary of his mentorship and friendship, I attribute the high points of my career to his counsel and encouragement.”

Norman Moyes
College of Communication Professor Emeritus of Journalism

Norman Moyes, a COM professor emeritus of journalism and a former editor at the Boston Herald, died on November 17, 2020. He was 89.

Well regarded in the classroom, Moyes taught for more than 35 years and was a finalist for Boston University’s highest teaching award, the Metcalf Cup and Prize for Excellence in Teaching. One of his students was Andy Cohen (COM’90), who later gained success at Bravo TV and as the executive producer for The Real Housewives franchise. Cohen recalled how Moyes taught him to think big.

“I didn’t know I would end up at CBS News for 10 years, meeting all my idols along the way, and become the ringleader of a reality soap opera,” Cohen said in an interview with BU Today in 2012. “Dr. Moyes taught me to just go for it—what’s the worst that can happen? That really opened up a whole thing for me—and I was never short on confidence—where I thought, there’s a door, I want to walk through it.”

Moyes wrote for Life, Time, and Sports Illustrated magazines and is the author of the student textbook Journalism. He served as a US Army combat photographer, and his photos were collected in the books Battle Eye and American Combat Photography.

Moyes earned a bachelor’s degree from West Liberty University in West Virginia in 1953 and a doctoral degree in mass communication from Syracuse University in 1969.

Juan R. Torruella (LAW’57)
A Pathbreaking Judge

Juan R. Torruella, a native of Puerto Rico and the first Hispanic judge to serve on the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston, died on October 26, 2020. Torruella (LAW’57), who was deeply concerned with issues of equality, fairness, and social justice, argued for decades that American citizens who live in Puerto Rico should have the same rights as those who live on the mainland. He also had been a skilled sailor, competing for Puerto Rico in four Olympic sailing events in the 1960s and 1970s. Torruella was 87.

Read Bostonia’s 2019 interview with him in our “Opening Doors” series.

Linda Irene Isaacs (CAS’61, GRS’62,’72)
Clinical Neuropsychologist

Linda Irene Isaacs (CAS’61, GRS’62,’72) of Newton, Mass., died June 28, 2020, at age 80. A clinical neuropsychologist, she had a private practice for more than 35 years, and held a faculty appointment at Harvard. Her professional interests included cognitive behavioral therapy, biofeedback, and patient counseling. She enjoyed ballets and musicals, vacations with her husband, Norman Meyerhoff, and son, Greg, in the Berkshires, Vermont, Canada, and California, and concerts at Tanglewood in Lenox, Mass. Greg can be reached at family4greg@gmail.com.