The Dish Stanford people on the move and in the spotlight

Michael Weston (DEA Photo)

When President Barack Obama made his overnight trip to Dover Air Force Base late last month, one of the fallen Americans to whom he offered a somber salute was 1994 Stanford graduate MICHAEL WESTON, an agent of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) who was killed along with two other colleagues in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan on Oct. 26. Weston attended Harvard Law School after graduating from Stanford with an AB in economics and an BS in computer science. According to a story on NPR, he joined the Marines after his first year of law school and trained during breaks. He served as a military lawyer in Iraq, and later became a DEA agent. Weston was 37 and leaves his widow, Cynthia Tidler.

President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder attend a ceremony at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Del., Oct. 29, 2009, for the dignified transfer of 18 U.S. personnel who died in Afghanistan. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Andrea Lewis

ANDREA LEWIS, a long-time broadcast and print journalist best known for her co-anchor roles on KPFA radio, died Nov. 15 of an apparent heart attack. She was 52. Lewis spent the 2007-08 academic year on Stanford’s campus as a Knight Journalism Fellow. “In my mind she was just a real sweetheart, a good person whom I liked enormously and one whom I’m going to miss enormously,” JIM BETTINGER, director of the Knight program, said in a KPFA obituary. While at Stanford, Lewis studied the role of alternative journalism in contemporary American culture and democracy, Bettinger added. “She took intensive Spanish classes, fiction and non-fiction writing workshops, as well as classes in virtual reality and sound art. She also made strong connections at the Stanford Women’s Community Center, which was in keeping with her deep commitment to gender issues.”

A memorial service is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 24, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the First Unitarian Church of Oakland, 685 14th St., Oakland, CA 94612.

Photo: John S. Knight Fellowships