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CLASS NOTES
Henry S. Coleman
P.O. Box 1283
New Canaan, CT 06840
cct@columbia.edu
Publishing six issues of CCT a year means I need help
from you to fill this column. Please write in with your
news.
George W. Cooper
170 Eden Rd.
Stamford, CT 06904-1311
cct@columbia.edu
The
first piece of news, cleverly concealed in the heading of this
column, is your class correspondent’s new mailing address.
Actually, an old one — we settled down in Stamford 28 years
ago. The novelty lies in my retirement from full, active law
practice at year-end. I’ll remain “of counsel”
but be working from home, when there is work to do and no better
way to pass the time. Q.E.D., all classmates are invited to send
items of interest to the home address above or directly to Laura
Butchy at the CCT office.
Larry Friedland reports that, as of November 15, he is
making a similar or analogous (but not identical) move. He has
become “of counsel” at Olshan Grundman Frome Rosenzweig
& Wolosky in New York. Now, there’s a mouthful — is
it a safe bet that only the first two are identified by the firm
telephone operator or does Frome also get in the act? Clarification
is expected from Larry, no later than next year’s Homecoming
game.
One
other item that may well belong in the Class Notes for the Class of
’45, but is surely welcome here. Martin Klein writes
from Anaheim, Calif., that he was originally in the class of
’45 but, like so many others, found his studies rudely
interrupted by World War II. He returned to the campus in ’46
and received his degree in ’47 after completing his first
year of medical school at Louisville. Martin is still in practice,
living in Dana Point, Calif., (“close to my sailboat”)
and skiing with his grandchildren at Park City, Utah. He ends his
message by saying that he “is listed with the class of
’47 but [doesn’t] know anyone in that class. Solution:
Come coast-to-coast for our class’ 55th Reunion next spring
and introduce yourself to the throngs gathered for this
celebration.
Theodore Melnechuk
251 Pelham Rd.
Amherst, MA 01002-1684
neuropoe@sbs.umass.edu
The
last edition of these notes was sent in the day before the
September 11 attack two miles southwest of where I was born, and
these notes are being written on the day an airliner crashed in
Rockaway Beach, Queens, two miles west of where my wife, Anna, and
I used to swim during the summers of my Columbia student years. She
and I were together on that beach the sunny day the Japanese
surrendered, staying after sundown to listen by portable radio to
Toscanini lead the hastily convened NBC Symphony in its first
performance of the Eroica since the start of the Second World War.
From 1955 to 1963, we lived in Washington Heights, where most of
today’s crash victims lived. And in the early ’90s, we
occasionally would dine at Windows on the World, where our
composer-pianist friend Judd Woldin led the musical trio. Because
of these coincidences, nostalgia has amplified our dismay at the
disasters. We hope that none of you had nearer connections to the
tragedies, but if you did, please send me your stories.
Robert Clayton and his wife, Helen, recently received a
congratulatory letter from the New York State Barn Coalition on
being recipients of a 2001 Barn Preservation Award. Bob used to
manage a huge apartment complex on the East River, so it was not
surprising to learn that his interest in shelters extends to those
that once housed animals. Bob and Helen live at Apt. 2105, 475 FDR
Dr., New York, NY 10002. William Hart has retired after 45
years in the entertainment business. He twice served as a senior
vice president for television, first at Columbia Pictures
Television and then at Warner Brothers Television. He ended his
career at Rysher Entertainment, where he produced seven films,
including Above Suspicion with Christopher Reeve. His
education at Columbia was interrupted by service in the armed
forces. Nowadays, he plays a lot of tennis. He lives with his wife,
Erica, at 1036 Carolyn Way, Beverly Hills, CA 90210.
Some
months ago in this column, I asked for information about two of our
classmates who had been roommates at Columbia, William
Vessie and Marshall D. Mascott. As you know from the
November issue, that plea evoked information about and from Bill.
It also was read by Kathy Mascott, who, in response, telephoned me
from Montreux, Switzerland. Like Bill, Marshall has a major health
problem: A recent stroke has made it impossible for him to speak,
write and walk. In order to be nearer to his parents at this time
of stress, their neurosurgeon son, Christopher, left his job at
Tulane School of Medicine to work in France. His family plans to
join him after the sale of their home. Kathy and Marshall continue
to live in a beautiful apartment that looks south across Lake
Geneva at the snow-capped French Alps beyond Evian. They chose it
years ago, when Marshall became head of Berlitz travel books, with
an office in nearby Lausanne in which our late classmate Ken
Bernstein worked with Marshall after leaving NBC News in New
York. As a friend of Marshall (who was called “Scotty”
in those days) since we worked on Jester in the ’40s,
and since then a sometime guest of his and Kathy’s in their
London and Montreux homes, I wish him my heartfelt best. You can
write the Mascotts at Rue du Theatre 8, 1820 Montreux,
Switzerland.
On
December 2, Craig S. DeYoung informed me that Dr. William A.
Vessie had died of cancer the night before.
After serving as your class correspondent for more than three
years, I may not be able to continue much longer. I urge anyone who
is willing to succeed me to get in touch with me or with Laura
Butchy, staff writer at Columbia College Today, who may be
reached at (212) 870-2785 or lbb32@columbia.edu. One of the
perks of the job is that you are given an annotated list of those
class members of whom Columbia thinks it knows the whereabouts.
Using that list, I have had a lot of fun getting in touch with
classmates I used to know on campus and with some I never met, whom
I telephoned because of their interesting occupations or locations
or to amplify notes they sent the alumni office. If no one soon
volunteers to succeed me, I will send the names of a few potential
successors to our class president, counting on him to organize the
kind of social pressure that got me to undertake the role.
Meanwhile, my thanks for your interest, cooperation and positive
comments, and my hopes that we all have a happier 2002.
Joseph B. Russell
180 Cabrini Blvd., #21
New York, NY 10033
objrussell@earthlink.net
While I do not believe that any of our classmates was a victim
of the mass murder at the World Trade Center on September 11, we,
together with our compatriots and fellow humans, cannot have
escaped its accompanying fallout. To all who lost friends or family
members, we offer our deepest sympathy. To all who suffered direct
or indirect economic loss, we offer our hopes for speedy recovery.
To the hate-filled authors of the tragedy, we express our resolve
to bring you to justice, to prevent repetition and to seek peace
and mutual understanding among the many diverse cultures that make
up our only world.
John Weaver has offered to compile an e-mail directory
for all ’49ers. He asks that those of you who have an e-mail
address send it to WUDCHPR@aol.com. John attended
attended Homecoming at Baker Field and sat with Fred Berman,
with whom he commiserated regarding the lopsided score. They spent
halftime with Naomi and Marv Lipman. As sad as they all were
about the score, John reports that there is still an inescapable
good feeling when classmates meet. As infrequent as these occasions
may be, the bond of shared undergraduate days makes them a time of
warm feelings. John’s special enhancement was to be there
with his son, John Dryland-Weaver, a member of the class of
2005.
Marvin Harris, a classmate who stayed at Columbia as a
graduate student and tenured faculty member (anthropology) of
worldwide distinction (and, in his case, controversy), reached the end of a most
productive and colorful life on October 25 and was eulogized in
a fascinating obituary in The New York Times. To his
survivors, we extend our condolences in the hopes that their
memories of many good times will soon give them comfort in their
grief.
Stan Edelman reports as chairman of his P&S class of
1953, which is preparing to celebrate its 50th reunion in May 2003,
that they have set up the Dr. Harold Brown Fellowship in Medicine,
which will assist third- and fourth-year medical students in their
travels for foreign medical education. Stan notes that 29 College
graduates were accepted by P&S in 1949 — possibly the
largest number of College students to enter P&S in one year.
Our times were unique because those accepted were mainly combat
veterans of World War II, older (and wiser) than most present
entrants to medical schools.
To
all who read this, warm wishes for a happy holiday season among the
people you love!
Mario Palmieri
33 Lakeview Ave. W.
Cortlandt Manor, NY 10567
mapal@bestweb.net
Fred Dietz writes: “Dorothy and I are once again
New Yorkers. We have abandoned the balmy beaches of Sandy Key for
the rock-strewn shores of Lake Ontario.” (Colorfully stated,
Fred.) The Dietzes live in Fair Haven, Cayuga County, so they
hopped down to Ithaca for the Columbia-Cornell football game and
sang (for the first time in more than 50 years) “Roar, Lion,
Roar” as the Lions won by one touchdown.
Another golden wedding anniversary to report — Ethel and
Walter Laske (formerly Laskoski), last summer.
I
now have 35 classmates in my e-mail address book. If anyone has
joined the cyber ranks since we reported the addresses in the 50th
anniversary yearbook, please send me your address. I promise I will
use it for Columbia business only. I’ll not spam you with the
jokes, political material, philosophical discussions, patriotic
messages or ads for Viagra, which, like all e-mail users, you
receive every day. And of course I will keep it
confidential.
I
extend to all of you and your families my best wishes for the
coming year.
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