Dr. Pete A.Y. Gunter, 87, Professor Emeritus and founding chair of UNT’s philosophy department, died March 6 in Dallas. After graduating from the University of Texas in 1958, he earned a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from Cambridge University in 1960 and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Yale University in 1963. During the 1960s, he taught at Auburn University and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and joined Civil Rights marchers in Alabama and Tennessee.

He joined the UNT faculty in 1969 as the first chair of the philosophy department. His work to bridge the gap between philosophy and ecology/environmentalism helped lead to UNT’s graduate programs in environmental philosophy. He also was instrumental in establishing the Big Thicket National Preserve, the nation’s first biological preserve, in Southeast Texas and continued to add to and advocate for it.

Pete was internationally recognized for his scholarship on Henri Bergson and published articles and books about the French philosopher’s work. His last book on Bergson, Getting Bergson Straight, was published in 2023. He also wrote books about the Big Thicket, novels and historical writings, as well as music, including folk songs and classical piano compositions. For the better part of 50 years, he served as chair of the board for the Foundation for the Philosophy of Creativity and its societies. Survivors include his wife, Liz ('85 Ph.D.), and daughter, Sheila ('12 M.A.).

A celebration of his life will be held at 3 p.m. May 25 at UNT’s Environmental Education, Science and Technology Building, Room 110, and will be streamed on Zoom.

Dr. John Baen, 75, Argyle, a professor of real estate in the G. Brint Ryan College of Business who was the mainstay of the UNT real estate program for close to 40 years, died April 9 in Costa Rica.

Baen earned his Ph.D. in real estate from Texas A&M University in 1982 and joined UNT in 1985. He wrote more than 70 articles and five books, and had served the American Real Estate Society as a representative and director of the International Real Estate Society, as well as the Texas Land and Minerals Association as a vice president from 2012 to 2013. He lectured and delivered speeches in New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, Austria, Sweden, South Africa, South America and throughout the U.S. He was a much-sought-after speaker for numerous industry events. His work and views received coverage in media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, USA Today, ABC News, and various other national and regional newspapers.

In addition to his academic work, he served as a commercial real estate broker, certified real estate appraiser, certified right–of–way agent, expert witness and consultant. He was a co-founder and principal of Real Capital Investments, a retail investment brokerage firm focused on the sale and advisory of single tenant, net leased properties, shopping centers and sale-leaseback transactions nationwide. He was also the founder and principal of Baen and Company, an internationally recognized oil and gas valuation, lease negotiation, mineral management and expert witness firm.

He leaves behind a legacy of profound impact on his current and former students, colleagues and the real estate industry. He was deeply passionate about teaching, making a difference for his students and maintaining strong connections with industry. He mentored and stayed in touch with former students, many of whom became successful in the real estate industry.

Baen also was known for his deep love of family and boundless energy. He is survived by his four children: Hunter Wood Baen, Jennifer Joyce Baen, Jaxon Spencer Baen and Jaeger Roe Baen. Baen’s love for and knowledge of the great outdoors allowed him to travel widely and undertake many great adventures with his children. Baen most recently was very active in the lives of his youngest children, Jaxon and Jaeger, attending their numerous school activities and football games, while encouraging and developing their hobbies in hunting, chess and archery.

A celebration of his life is scheduled at 10 a.m. April 22 in the Murchison Performing Arts Center on the UNT campus.

Helen Leath (’56, ’58 M.A., ’79 Ph.D.), 92, Denton, who taught English at UNT for more than 40 years, died March 2. She earned three degrees in English from North Texas and joined the faculty after earning her master’s degree in 1958. In 1986, she was awarded a Fulbright and spent two years teaching English in Romania.

As a faculty member, she served as a sponsor of the Sigma Tau Delta English honor society and the Junior Mary Arden honorary literary society for freshman women, both organizations she had been a member of as a student. She also was the editor of Southwest American Literature and known for writing fiction.

Following her retirement in 2000, she created wearable quilted art and was a Bernina designer whose work was shown at various conferences and galleries. She enjoyed knitting, drawing, singing and learning languages including Greek, Hebrew, Spanish and Korean. She was finishing her last novel, which her children hope to publish.

A celebration of life is scheduled at 2 p.m. March 22 at the Denton Good Samaritan Village chapel, 2500 Hinkle Drive.

Dan Haerle (’66 M.M.), 86, Denton, a Professor Emeritus who taught for 35 years in the College of Music’s jazz studies division and brought great innovations to the jazz program, died March 2.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in music education from Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1961. He had been teaching instrumental music at the elementary and secondary levels when he came to North Texas as a graduate student in 1963 — attracted by the jazz program he had heard about by word of mouth. While earning his master’s in music composition, he became a teaching assistant for jazz studies director Leon Breeden, directing a lab band and teaching arranging and improvisation.

After graduating, he taught, wrote music and performed in Kansas, California, Florida, New York and Arizona before returning to join the North Texas jazz faculty in 1977. He taught jazz piano, fundamentals and advanced improvisation and went on to supervise the jazz chamber music program and direct the Jazz Strings. Pioneering the concept of electronic keyboard ensembles at universities, he also formed and directed The Zebras. Among other innovations, he developed weekly meetings called jazz forums for the small jazz groups, created several jazz fundamentals courses, wrote textbooks that became widely used in other universities, established a Jazz MIDI Performance Lab and created the first online course in the college.

He received the ’Fessor Graham award, the highest award given by the student body, in 1990, and was named a Regents Professor in 1992. He retired from full-time teaching in 2002 and served as an adjunct for another 10 years. He was inducted into the International Association of Jazz Education Hall of Fame and received the Jazz Education Network’s LeJENd of Jazz Education award and the Dallas Jazz Appreciation Month Jazz Educator of the Year award.

Also a performer, he toured with the Stan Kenton Band and the Clark Terry Quintet and played with Mel Torme, Al Jarreau and Pat Metheny, among others. He was active as a jazz clinician and guest artist nationally and internationally. In 2015, he received the Sammons Jazz Artist of the Year award.

Dr. Kenneth L. Dickson ('66, '68 M.S.), 80, Professor Emeritus of biological sciences, former director of the Institute of Applied Sciences and founder of UNT's Elm Fork Education Center, died Jan. 9 in Aubrey.

After graduating with a bachelor’s in science education and a master’s in biological sciences from UNT, where his mentor was Dr. J.K.G. Silvey, he earned a Ph.D. in aquatic ecology at Virginia Tech. He served on the faculty there for seven years and was the assistant director of its Center for Environmental Studies, evaluating chemicals and their effects on aquatic organisms.

In 1978, he began a 32-year career at UNT that focused on environmental connections between water, energy, agriculture, natural resources and sustainability, as well as collaborations between the community and the university. He joined UNT as a research scientist and the next year was named the director of the Institute of Applied Sciences, an interdisciplinary research consortium founded by Silvey. Under Dickson’s guidance, the institute became widely recognized as a leader in environmental research.

Dickson pushed for the founding of the M.S. and Ph.D. programs in environmental science in the early 1990s. He also was instrumental in the creation of the Environmental Education, Science and Technology Building at UNT, which opened in 1998. Bringing together experimental and educational spaces for faculty across environmental disciplines, the EESAT was the first green building on campus. And thousands of schoolchildren have experienced the excitement of scientific discovery at the building’s outdoor learning area through the Elm Fork Education Center, the environmental education outreach program that he founded and directed.

At UNT, Dickson earned distinguished research professorships, was named a Regents Professor, and received the President’s Award and Ulys Knight Spirit Award. He also later served as dean of the Emeritus College, which became the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UNT.

He was involved in the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry from its beginnings, serving on its board of directors and as president. He also served on the EPA’s Science Advisory Board, worked locally with the city of Denton on wastewater treatment and other environmental issues, and was involved with the Greenbelt Alliance, the Upper Trinity Water Conservation Trust and many other organizations.

A remembrance and celebration service is scheduled at 2 p.m. Jan. 28 at UNT’s EESAT Building. Donations may be made in Dickson’s name through UNT’s Division of University Advancement.

Dr. Cora Ann Martin, 97, Professor Emerita of gerontology, died Jan. 2. She joined North Texas in 1967 as assistant director of the Center for Studies in Aging and served as the director from 1973 until her retirement in 1992.

She earned a diploma in nursing from Baylor University School of Nursing, a B.S. in nursing from Texas Woman’s University and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Texas at Austin. She did postdoctoral work through a summer Fulbright grant in Singapore, and summer seminars through the University of Southern California.

She worked as a cadet nurse at Baylor Hospital in Dallas and as a school nurse for several years in Texas and Alaska before beginning her career in higher education. At UNT, she organized study tours to 85 locations worldwide, created gerontology programs for medical students and served on initiatives that included the White House Conference on Aging. Her publications covered the social, psychological, and policy aspects of aging, and she was instrumental in the planning stages for the Good Samaritan Retirement Home in Denton, where she lived for many years.

At her retirement, the Cora A. Martin Endowed Scholarship Fund, for graduate students pursuing studies in applied gerontology, was established in her honor. She continued to enjoy traveling and her new hobbies of birding and weaving.

A celebration of life service is scheduled at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Stewart Family Funeral Home, 7525 Old Jacksonville Highway in Tyler. Graveside services will follow at 1:30 p.m. in Athens Cemetery on Mack Street in Athens.

Dr. D. Harland Hagler, Professor Emeritus of history who taught at UNT for 51 years prior to his 2017 retirement, died Dec. 1, 2023, in Denton.

He earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Mississippi before graduating with a master’s and a Ph.D. from the University of Missouri.

He taught U.S. history, specializing in the history of the Old South, and created the first course at North Texas dedicated to the study of African American history. In his free time, he enjoyed dancing as well as watching and attending Texas Rangers games.

A service is scheduled at 11 a.m. Jan. 20 at St. David’s Episcopal Church, 623 Ector St. in Denton.

Dr. Denis George Paz (’67, ’69 M.A.), 78, Professor Emeritus of history who taught at UNT from 1995 to 2013, died Dec. 9, 2023, in Hartwell, Georgia.

He graduated from North Texas with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history and later attended the London School of Economics and the University of Michigan, where he earned a Ph.D. and lectured in history from 1974 through 1977. He also taught at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and Clemson University in South Carolina.

He taught modern British history and served as the faculty advisor for UNT’s award-winning chapter of the Phi Alpha Theta history honor society. He published four monographs — including Popular Anti-Catholicism in Mid-Victorian England and Dickens and Barnaby Rudge: Anti-Catholicism and Chartism — as well as teaching aids, articles in scholarly journals and an edited essay collection, Nineteenth-Century English Religious Traditions: Retrospect and Prospect.

Briton Hagan, 41, a lecturer in Kinesiology, Health Promotion and Recreation from 2017 to 2023, died Nov. 22. Dr. Hagan received his bachelor’s degree and master’s degrees from California University of Pennsylvania, now PennWest California, and his doctoral degree from the University of New Mexico.

Gene Jinsiong Cho, 90, Regents Professor of music theory who taught at UNT from 1972 to 2016, died Oct. 27. He earned his Ph.D. in music theory from Northwestern University and was a guest professor in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

At UNT, he taught pedagogy of theory, music theory analysis and aural skills. He also taught a sequence of courses in music and culture of China and Japan and directed field study programs to Asia.

His compositions and arrangements for voice, piano, ensemble and orchestra have been performed in the U.S., Europe and Asia. He was commissioned to write incidental music for a stage play, Confucius, and a musical setting of a literary tone poem, Abraham Lincoln: The Whole Heart, for orchestra, chorus, soli and narrators.

Dr. Cho was a charter editorial board member of the Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy and an editorial board member of the Journal of Music in China. His publications include theory pedagogy manuals and monographs in music theory and historical ethnomusicology, such as Theories and Practice of Harmonic Analysis and The Discovery of Musical Equal Temperament in China and Europe in the Sixteenth Century. One of his monographs, The Replica of the Ark of the Covenant in Japan: The Mystery of MiFune-Shiro, fused religion studies with Japanese cultural history for a glimpse into the interplay of new and old traditions.

He presented lectures, clinics and workshops in theory, conducting and composition in six countries outside the U.S. and was honored by the UNT International Education Committee for his distinguished service to international education. 

Outside UNT, he served as the choir director at Southmont Baptist Church in Denton and later at the Mayflower Congregational Church in Lewisville (renamed Flower Mound Community Church). He also led church programs and initiatives in the U.S. and Asia throughout his lifetime. He's remembered for his humor and wit as well as his devoted teaching and leadership.

A memorial service will be held Nov. 18 at Southmont Baptist Church, 2801 Pennsylvania Dr. in Denton. Viewing will take place at 10 a.m. and the service will begin at 11 a.m.