William H. Spencer, City educator
Services for William H. Spencer, a retired educator who worked in Baltimore's public school system for 35 years, will be held at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Pennsylvania Avenue A.M.E. Zion Church, 1124 Pennsylvania Ave.
Mr. Spencer died Christmas night at his Northwest Baltimore home after a long illness. He was 69.
In 1946, a teaching position at Cherry Hill Junior High School began his career in Baltimore's school system. He worked at several educational levels and in several schools, including Harlem Park Junior High and Madison Square Elementary, where he was vice principal.
He was a former principal of the Baltimore City Jail School and a teacher in the Adult Basic Education program at Harford Institute, formerly on North Avenue and 25th Street. He worked with the Community College of Baltimore's homeless from 1989 to 1990.
Mr. Spencer had served as president of a chapter of the American Association Retired Persons and was a member of the Seniors Get Help program at Liberty Medical Center. He was also a member of the John H. Bias Chapter of the Elizabeth City State Alumni Association.
He had been a member of the Pennsylvania Avenue A.M.E. Zion Church since 1947. His activities in the church included being a trustee, a director of Christian education, and a member of the North Carolina Club (a church-affiliated group). He participated in various fund-raising activities for the church.
Mr. Spencer was born in Camden, N.C., and was educated in the public school system of Elizabeth City, where he graduated from P.W. Moore High School in 1940. Later that year, he married the former Elizabeth Taylor, a classmate from elementary school through college.
He received a bachelor's degree from what was then Elizabeth City State Teachers College in 1944 and later pursued graduate studies at Ohio State University, the University of Maryland and Morgan State University.
In 1945, he entered the U.S. Navy and, when released a little less than a year later, moved to Maryland.
He is survived by four daughters, Evelyn King, Wilhelmina Burford, the Rev. Linda Pierce and Joanne Wright, all of Baltimore; nine grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren. Dr. Herbert Dickerman, a former associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, died of cancer Monday at the Moffit Cancer Center in Florida. He was 63.
Born in the Bronx in New York City, Dr. Dickerman earned a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Wisconsin in 1947. Five years later, he earned his medical degree from the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, and became the first Downstate graduate to receive the prestigious Osler internship at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where he stayed until 1953.
After a one-year medical residency at Stanford University Hospital, Dr. Dickerman served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps.
After receiving his doctorate in biochemistry from Johns Hopkins University in 1960, Dr. Dickerman remained at the university to teach in the Department of Medicine. Later, he was an investigator at the National Heart Institute of the National Institutes of Health, and a visiting scientist at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology in New Jersey.
After moving to Albany, N.Y., in 1975, Dr. Dickerman became assistant director of Clinical Research at the New York State Department of Health. He became director of Clinical Sciences for the New York State Department of Health's Wadsworth Center for Laboratories and Research in 1982. In 1986, he became director of Wadsworth Center, a post he held until his death.
He was elected to the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars in 1990 and was a member of the American Society of Biological Chemists and the Endocrine Society.
A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Monday at the Louis Swyer Theater of the Empire State Performing Arts Center.
Dr. Dickerman is survived by his father, Leopold Dickerman of Deerfield Beach, Fla.; his wife of 28 years, Mary Cole Dickerman of Loudonville, N.Y.; three daughters, Leah Anne Dickerman of New York City, Sara Ruth Dickerman of Loudonville and Lisa Akchin of Baltimore; a son, Samuel Cole Dickerman of Portland, Ore.; and two grandchildren.
Donations may be sent to the Herbert W. Dickerman Memorial Fund, Empire State Plaza, Corning Tower, Room 1683, Albany, N.Y. 12237.
Dr. Alvin L. Berman, Anatomy professor
Dr. Alvin L. Berman, a Baltimore native who was an authority on the anatomy of the brain, died of cancer Dec. 2 at University Hospital in Madison, Wis. He was 67.
A graduate of Forest Park High School, Dr. Berman received his undergraduate degree from the Johns Hopkins University before going to work as a real estate manager and developer of homes in Sudbrook Park. Later, he returned to Hopkins for graduate study in physiology, receiving his doctorate in 1957.
He lectured at the University of Maryland School of Medicine before joining the faculty of the University of Wisconsin medical school in 1960.
Dr. Berman wrote two atlases of the cat's brain, including "The Brain Stem of the Cat," which appeared in 1968. Both books were published by the University of Wisconsin Press.
After his retirement in 1990, Dr. Berman became professor emeritus in the departments of neurophysiology and neuroanatomy.
He is survived by his wife, the former Gloria Berlin of Madison; two daughters, Jean Martens of Lombard, Ill., and Marjorie Berman of Philadelphia; a son, Tom Berman of Madison; a granddaughter, Nicole Elizabeth Martens of Lombard; and a brother, Howard M. Berman of Baltimore.
Memorial services for Dr. Berman were held Dec. 5 in Madison. The family suggested memorial contributions to the University of Wisconsin Foundation Hospital Fund or the Associated Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore.
Bertha Tiemeyer, Singer, music lover
Services for Bertha Kappler Tiemeyer, a professional singer who was past president of the Baltimore Music Club and the Maryland Federation of Music Clubs, will be held at 11 a.m. tomorrow at Christ Lutheran Church, 5700 Edmondson Ave. in Catonsville. She was 80.
Mrs. Tiemeyer, a longtime Catonsville resident, died Thursday at St. Agnes Hospital of heart failure.
She was president from 1957 until 1961 of the Baltimore Music Club, which is dedicated to supporting the performing arts through sponsoring recitals, concerts and offering scholarships to young musicians. She served from 1961 until 1963 as the president of the Maryland Federation of Music Clubs.
A member of the Federation of Music Clubs' national board from 1973 to 1985, Mrs. Tiemeyer chaired the committee that organized the federation's national convention in Baltimore in 1982.
The former Bertha Kappler was born in Baltimore and attended city public schools, graduating from Western High School in 1928. She graduated from Towson Normal School, now Towson State University, in 1930.
She began studying voice at the Peabody Conservatory in 1928 with Elsa Baklor and Virginia Castell, and in 1931 studied with Ms. Castell in Monsee, Austria.
Mrs. Tiemeyer taught general music and vocal music at Pimlico Elementary School from 1931 until 1939, when she left teaching to have her first child.
Over the years, she continued to sing professionally as a soloist, in recitals and in several Baltimore churches, particularly the First Baptist Church of Baltimore. She sang with the Catonsville Womens' Club Chorus during the 1950s. Mrs. Tiemeyer was a member of the Christ Lutheran Church for 48 years.
She is survived by her husband of 55 years, Henry C. Tiemeyer Jr.; a son, Christian Tiemeyer, a cellist who is a graduate of the Peabody Institute and is the conductor of the Cedar Rapids Symphony in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; a daughter, Julianna Hudson of Long Beach, Miss.; and three granddaughters; and three grandsons.
The family suggests memorial contributions to Christ Lutheran Church or the memorial fund of the Baltimore Music Club, 949 Dulaney Valley Road, in Towson.