It is with profound sadness that we note the passing of Diane Borst Manning ’59 M’62 on February 2, 2013, and of Carl A. Westerdahl ’59 on April 3, 2013. Both were leaders in their class and great supporters of Wagner College, especially of the Horrmann Library.
Carl Westerdahl, who retired after a 34-year career in higher education administration, mobilized the class of 1959 as its 50th reunion approached. It became a vibrant group known as Wagner ’59 and Friends. Diane Borst Manning became active in that group, and she also graciously volunteered to chair the newly created Friends of the Library Committee in 2003. One of Diane’s first tasks as committee chair was to organize a memorial in the library for Harry Steeve ’59 and Rosemarie Bade Lasinski ’60.
Ironically, the Horrmann Library did not exist yet when Diane and Carl were students at Wagner; but in their senior year, the Horrmann family made the gift that enabled the College to build this much-needed facility. Therefore, Carl said, the class determined to help make the Horrmann Library into “a tool for education for today’s students,” fulfilling their needs the way the Horrmann family did back in 1959. The result was the highlight of Diane’s tenure as library committee chair: The 2011 dedication of the Class of 1959 Learning Commons. These technologically unique group study spaces were developed largely with funds raised by the class of 1959 under the leadership of Diane and her husband, Norman Berg; Carl and his wife, Susan Clarke; and others in class of 1959. The study rooms are wildly popular and a marvelous daily reminder of their commitment to Wagner and the Horrmann Library.
— Dorothy Davison, Dean of the Horrmann Library
