Dr. Bill Becvar died Sept. 4. Dr. Becvar was director of theater at Pacific Lutheran University before he retired to his childhood home in Decorah, Iowa, and he was instrumental in starting the Tacoma Actors Guild in 1978, the city’s only resident professional theater company at the time. Becvar was a loyal donor to PLU. There’s a script library he gifted the school, a scholarship for theater students that he established, and a new Dr. William J. Becvar Studio Theater Stage.

Dr. Robert Mulder, PLU’s former dean of the School of Education, died June 3. Dr. Mulder joined PLU as professor and dean of Education in 1987. He resigned as dean in 1993, and was a professor of education until he entered phased retirement in 2010. During his tenure as dean, PLU’s School of Education implemented major curriculum revisions, achieved continuing accreditation from the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, and graduated more than 1,300 qualified teachers.

Eric “Nordie” Nordholm died July 12. Nordie was a beloved PLU professor of Children’s Theatre from 1955 to 1997.