code: def remove_member(row, key):
      ''' properly modifies a dict or class attribute '''
      (target, tkey, tvalue) = dict_crawl(row, key)
      if target:
          del target[tkey]
      return rof remove_member(row, key):
      ''' properly modifies a dict or class attribute '''
      (target, tkey, tvalue) = dict_crawl(row, key)
      if target:
          del target[tkey]
      return row
docs: properly modifies a dict or class attribute