Larry Byrom, 70, of Pilot Point, who had worked in the UNT Facilities Department, died Aug. 21 in Taos, New Mexico. Larry enlisted and served as a Medical Corpsman in the U.S. Army from 1968 to 1970 and also served as a medic during the Vietnam War. He retired from UNT in 2017 after 14 years of service during which time he also worked as a farmer/rancher, He was an avid hunter, fisherman and gardener.

Lorraine Berger, 88, Professor Emeritus of art, of Chanhassen, Minnesota, died Aug 6 in Minneapolis. She worked at North Texas from 1964 to 1995, teaching classes in advertising design, medical illustration and drawing. She was director of the Summer Art Education Institute. Her experimental artwork was often featured in exhibitions. She was a lifetime member of the 1890 Society, established the Lorraine E. Berger Visual Arts Studies Scholarship and the Lorraine E. Berger Endowed Scholarship Fund, and donated her art collection to UNT. Before she came to North Texas, she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Minnesota. She worked in the school systems in Indianapolis; Fargo, North Dakota.; Minneapolis; and the University of North Dakota at Valley City. She returned to Minneapolis after her retirement, but said when she heard "Texan" spoken there, she'd make any excuse for a conversation.

Laura Bruton, 59, who served as an adjunct professor of viola at UNT for several semesters between 2007 to 2014, died March 17. She was the principal violaist for the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra from 1988 to 2019, and also performed with many of North Texas’ chamber music groups, as well as with orchestras around the country. She received her Bachelor of Music from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and attended graduate school at the St. Louis Conservatory of Music. She is survived by her husband, Donald Little, Regents Professor of Tuba at UNT; daughter, Grace Little (’18); and sons Nathan Little and Oren Bruton. A Celebration of Life will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. April 6 at The Village Church in Denton.

David B. Kesterson, 81, of Denton, who served as provost and vice president for academic affairs among his many positions in nearly four decades of service to UNT, died March 12.

He taught at North Carolina State University before joining the English faculty at North Texas in 1968 and later was chair of the English department and associate, acting and interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. He was named vice provost and associate vice president for academic affairs in 1993 and served as provost and vice president from 1998 to 2003. He then was named special assistant to the president for humanities and retired as Professor Emeritus in 2007.

An expert on 19th century literature, he wrote books and journal articles on American authors and co-founded and served as president of the Nathaniel Hawthorne Society. He specialized in American humor and served as president of the American Humor Studies Association. In 1985, he received a Senior Fulbright Fellowship to teach courses in English and American literature at the University of Wurzburg in Germany.

He earned his bachelor’s degree from Missouri State University and master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Arkansas. Growing up in Missouri inspired his love for Mark Twain and humor. In his youth, he was a percussionist and, as a retiree, he frequently attended College of Music performances. He also was a member of the President’s Council.

Survivors include his wife, Cheryl, and sons Aubry (’89, ’89 M.S.) and Chad (’98). His memorial service will take place at 11 a.m. March 30 at DeBerry Funeral Directors. Memorials in his name may be made to the Department of English or College of Music.

Martin Schwartz, 72, Regents Professor of chemistry, died Dec. 26 in Lewisville. He had taught at UNT since 1974. Known for his expertise in molecular dynamics and thermochemical properties of molecules, he published more than 125 refereed scientific papers, and his research was supported by the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Robert A. Welch Foundation. He was a mentor for many undergraduate and TAMS students and previously taught at the University of Utah and the University of Wisconsin. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Case-Western Reserve University, a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Utah. Memorial gifts can be made to the Martin Schwartz Chemistry Scholarship fund in the UNT College of Science. Memorial services will take place at 1 p.m. Jan. 13 at DeBerry Funeral Directors in Denton.

Larry Austin (’51, ’52 M.M.), 88, of Lewisville, Emeritus professor of music who was a world-renowned composer and served as director of the Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia, died Dec. 30. He was known for his compositions via computer, and his works garnered the praises of The New York Times, an appearance on television with the New York Philharmonic under conductor Leonard Bernstein and a performance that he conducted at Carnegie Hall at age 82. He was the first American to win the magistere at the International Electroacoustic Music Competition. He earned degrees from North Texas and the University of California, Berkeley, where he also taught. He then taught at the University of California, Davis, and the University of South Florida before working at North Texas from 1978 to 1996. He founded the magazine Source: Music of the Avant-Garde.

Rosary will at 6 p.m. Jan. 3, followed by family visitation until 8 p.m., both at Bill DeBerry Funeral Directors in Denton. Mass will be at 10 a.m. Jan. 4 at St. Mark Catholic Church in Argyle, with interment to follow at Roselawn Memorial Park in Denton.

James Mahoney, 100, of Denton, Professor Emeritus of industrial arts, died April 29 in Denton. He taught public school in Missouri and earned his bachelor’s degree from Truman State University and his master’s and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Missouri. James served in the Navy during World War II. In 1956 James he began working at UNT, where he taught courses on industrial arts, and, in 1981, he retired as director of the industrial technology division. Post retirement, he enjoyed studying his Irish heritage.

Janice Hester Collvins, 72, of Krugerville, a lab technician in the UNT Medical Clinic, died April 28 in Corinth. She worked part-time at the Health & Wellness Center from 1990 to 2005. She attended North Texas and graduated from Texas Christian University in 1967 with a degree in medical technology. Janice worked as a medical technologist at Irving Community Hospital and Flow and Westgate Hospitals in Denton. She and her husband enjoyed RVing and traveling with their pets.

Shailesh Kulkarni, 48, of Denton, professor of business analytics in the Department of Information Technology and Decision Sciences, died July 6. He had worked in the College of Business since 1999 and was named a full professor in 2016. He was the curriculum coordinator and curriculum committee chair for the department’s master’s degree programs and was known as an engaging and patient mentor with a passion for decision sciences.

He was nationally and internationally respected and well-known in the operations research community as a researcher and as an organizer for large annual conferences, including those of the Decision Sciences Institute and the Production and Operations Management Society. He was vice president of finance and a board member of POMS. He also served as faculty advisor for UNT’s student chapter of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS).

He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Bombay, and a second master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati. His wife, Rohini Patankar ('03), works in decision support services at UNT.

Funeral services will take place from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, July 12, at Flower Mound Family Funeral Home, 3550 Firewheel Drive in Flower Mound. Visitation is from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., and a eulogy and life tribute by family and friends will follow.

The College of Business is initiating two funds for donations in his memory: The Shailesh Kulkarni Memorial Scholarship and The Shailesh Kulkarni Faculty Research Fund.

Euline W. Brock (’74 Ph.D.), 86, of Denton, the former mayor of Denton who was one of UNT’s most active supporters, died July 1 in Denton.

The Euline and Horace Brock Grand Lobby in the Murchison Performing Arts Center bears the name of Brock and her husband, Horace for their contributions. He taught accounting, was interim dean of the UNT College of Business and founded the university's Institute for Petroleum Accounting. The Brocks have been a UNT and Denton institution for decades. They met at UNT in 1954 when Euline taught English and Horace taught accounting. For their dates, they often went to concerts at North Texas -- a tradition they continued for more than 50 years. They married in 1955 and have three children.

They also have been active in the community, serving on numerous boards, commissions and charities. Euline served on the Denton City Council from 1992 to 1998, and was mayor from 2000 to 2006. She also was involved in the Denton Rotary Club and Greater Denton Arts Council. She founded the Denton Interracial Women’s Fellowship after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to make integration run smoothly, and the Denton African American Scholarship in 1984. The downtown Denton transit center is named in her honor.

At UNT, she was a board member and Emeritus Director of the UNT Foundation, a life member of the Alumni Association, a life member of the President’s Council and a member of the McConnell and 1890 Societies. She received the Distinguished Alumna Award in 2002 and the Green Glory Award in 1998. In recognition of decades of outstanding support for UNT and its students, she and Horace received the Wings of Eagles Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008. The Brocks also contributed to the College of Music, the College of Business, Athletics, UNT Libraries and the Emerald Eagle Scholars program. Their scholarships include the Euline and Horace Brock Merit Scholarship, which supports music students; the Brock Endowment for Strings, a full-ride scholarship given to an outstanding string player each year; and the Euline W. Brock Centennial Presidential Scholarship, which recruits top academically performing students coming to the university. 

Euline earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. She was a lecturer at UNT from 1966 to 1967 and from 1972 to 1975. She previously taught at Tarrant County College; the University of Maryland in Istanbul, Turkey; and Ohio State University. After earning her Ph.D. in history from UNT, she taught history at Texas Woman’s University from 1986 to 1996.

A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 15 in the Margot and Bill Winspear Performance Hall in UNT’s Murchison Performing Arts Center.  In lieu of flowers, the family encourages donations to the Denton African American Scholarship Foundation or the Endowment for Strings at UNT.