October 10, 1997: Volume 41, Number 3

Hartwig Memorial Service is Oct. 18

A memorial service for the late Frederick Hartwig, former chairman of the political science department, will be Saturday, Oct. 18, at 11 a.m. in Old Chapel.

Hartwig died May 30 in Arlington, Va., after a battle with cancer. He was 56.

He worked with pro-democracy groups in Chile to help overthrow the Pinochet military dictatorship, and also was instrumental in the early 1990s in the first-ever, all-race election in South Africa by training voters in the electoral process.

He was a political science professor at the College for 20 years, specializing in quantitative analysis, or polling data. Hartwig became a public opinion researcher in 1983 when he joined Peter D. Hart Research Associates in Washington. At the time of his death, he was senior vice president of the Democratic political polling and consulting firm.

His companion, Debbie Klingender, who also had worked with him in Washington, said Hartwig considered his work in Chile among his greatest accomplishments. "He helped understand public opinion there before the 1988 vote that overthrew Pinochet," she said. "He listened to the Chileans' needs, and he developed a plan for them to work collectively."

He was born and raised in Elmhurst, Ill., and obtained his Ph.D. in political science at Northwestern University.

Survivors include his former wife, Johanna Petersen of Schenectady; a daughter, Karen Hartwig of Albany; and a son, John Hartwig of New Haven, Conn.

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