Janet W. Rich, 83, UB alumna, civic leader

Janet W. Rich, 83, wife of Rich Products Corp. founder Robert E. Rich, Sr., and a UB alumna, died Jan. 28 in her Palm Beach, Fla., home after a long illness. She had been a vice president and member of the corporate board of directors of Rich Products, the world's largest privately held frozen food processing company, since its inception in 1945.

President William R. Greiner paid tribute to Mrs. Rich for her interest in and support of UB for many years. "Janet Rich was one of the dearest and kindest people Carol and I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. She was intensely proud of being a UB alumna, and she and Mr. Rich have been great UB supporters throughout all of their married life," Greiner said. "Theirs is a great UB story, one of Western New York's great love stories, and a great success story. All of her friends here at UB will miss her. Our thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Rich and with her children and grandchildren."

A native of Buffalo, Mrs. Rich was a graduate of the School of Practice at the State Norman School, predecessor of Buffalo State College. She was a sociology major at UB when she was married to Robert Rich, Sr. He is a former member of the UB Council, a former president of the UB Alumni Association and a member of the association's Athletic Hall of Fame.

Robert Rich, Sr., was captain of the football and wrestling teams at UB when the couple eloped in 1934. According to the Buffalo News, they had traveled to Cornell for the UB-Cornell wrestling match and stopped en route to be married by the Rev. Bruce Cartwright at the Presbyterian manse in Alden, then went on to Cornell. The marriage was a secret for three months.

Although Mrs. Rich left UB following her marriage, she was awarded a bachelor of arts degree by the university in 1995. The degree recognizing her academic and professional accomplishments was presented in a special graduation ceremony held in the Atrium of Rich Renaissance Niagara.

Mrs. Rich served on the boards of numerous local organizations, including Children's Hospital, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Bristol Home. She was a former member of the Garret Club and the College Club of Buffalo.

From the beginning, Mrs. Rich was active in her husband's business affairs, managing the office of his Wilber Farms dairy from the mid-1930s. During World War II, her husband was a dairy consultant to the War Food Administration in Washington, D.C. She stayed in Buffalo to operate the dairy. Rich Products was formed at the end of the war. She was instrumental in the company becoming the first in Western New York to have an on-site child-care center. Her son, Robert E. Rich, Jr., today is president of Rich Products.

A member of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, Mrs. Rich was a leader of Bible study and prayer groups throughout her adult life, teaching in Palm Beach and Point Abino, Ont., the Riches' summer home.

A service was conducted in the family's Palm Beach home by her son, the Rev. David A. Rich, an Elim pastor and the overseer of Christ Our Healer Ministries here. Beside her husband and sons, survivors include a daughter, Joanne Healy of Tucson, Ariz.; a sister, Dorothy W. Espersen of Amherst; 16 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Vincent Capraro, 75, retired medical school professor

A Mass of Christian Burial was held Feb. 2 in St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church for Vincent J. Capraro, 75, a retired professor and associate chairman of the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics in the UB medical school. Capraro died Jan. 29 in Lorain Community Hospital, Lorain, Ohio, after a lengthy illness.

An internationally known specialist in adolescent gynecology and corrective surgery, Capraro graduated from the UB medical school in 1945. He served in the Army Medical Corps, attaining the rank of captain.

He opened a private practice in 1950 and became a member of the Millard Fillmore Hospital medical staff in 1951, later serving as chair of the hospital's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and director of the training program for residents and medical students at UB. He also was chief of the Division of Adolescent and Pediatric Gynecology and Corrective Surgery at Millard Fillmore Hospital and chief of the Division of Adolescent and Pediatric Gynecology at Children's Hospital.

In 1971, Capraro received the UB Senior Medical Students' Award as outstanding teacher. In 1990, the Vincent Capraro Lectureship was established in his honor by the UB Medical School Alumni Associa-tion's class of 1945.

He served as District I chairman of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and vice president of the Federation Inter-nationale Gynecologie Infantile et Juvenile in Bordeaux, France.

The author of three textbooks, he published more than 90 articles in professional publications.

He retired in 1976 and moved to Avon Lake, Ohio, in 1988.