FEATURES
Reunion Insert
text: rose kernochan ’82 Barnard, lisa palladino, alex sachare ’71
Photos: Eileen Barroso, Diane Bondareff, Michael Dames, David Wentworth
The Class of 1957 got a jump on reunion on Wednesday, May 30, with a reception hosted by Provost Alan Brinkley at President’s House. The 50th anniversary class heard from Professor Henry Graff at breakfast on Thursday, attended a Manhattanville briefing and then enjoyed a cocktail party hosted by Saul Cohen ’57 and Ed Weinstein ’57 at
Lincoln Center’s Rose Building. The next two days featured more panels, including “What’s God Got to Do with It?” and “Four Years of Columbia College: Then and Now,” and gala dinners at The Water Club on Friday and Low Rotunda on
Saturday — the latter a black-tie event. The big weekend closed on Sunday with brunch and farewell in the Faculty Room of Low Library, with talk of plans
for the 55th.
The Classes of 2002, 1997, 1987 and 1982 set attendance records for fifth, 10th, 20th and 25th anniversary classes, respectively, and the Classes of 1962, 1982 and 1987 set records for gifts and pledges to the College’s annual fund for those anniversaries. Dean Austin Quigley, who gave an update on the state of the College on Saturday, June 2, presented the President’s Cup for service to a
reunion class to Brian C. Krisberg ’81 as well as a replica of the cup to last year’s recipient, Jerry Sherwin ’55. Krisberg, the Alumni Association president, hosted a panel discussion about the College’s evolution that featured Carlos Muñoz ’57, Michael Gerrard ’72, David Filosa ’82, Kyra Tirana Barry ’87, Laura Lopez ’92 and Courtney Wilkins ’07.
Alumni Reunion Weekend was family-friendly, especially the Camp Columbia children’s activities offered on Saturday, June 2. Saturday’s lunch theme was “Coney Island at Columbia,” with hot dogs, hamburgers and other summer favorites offered in spacious tents on South Field and Furnald Lawn. A balloon-maker and face-painter kept the kids busy when they weren’t bouncing around in air castles and other props. These activities helped the five most recent reunion classes achieve a great turnout, with an average of more than 200 alumni plus guests per class.
About 1,000 young alumni (Classes of 1997–
2007) gathered at the Nokia Theatre on Friday night, June 1, to party, dance and gamble with Columbia Bucks at the James Bond-themed “Casino Royale” party. The Nokia, with its
85-foot Broadway marquee showing off the CCYA logo, was a new locale for this year’s party, one of the
highlights of recent Alumni Reunion Weekends. In a room filled with gaming tables and staffed by real dealers, young alumni played blackjack and roulette, with winners taking home Columbia-themed prizes. A DJ spiced up the proceedings with hip-hop and pop music as Columbians ate, drank and danced the night away.
Eleven members of the Class of 1942, the oldest class at Alumni Reunion Weekend, and their guests celebrated their 65th reunion with an elegant lunch on Saturday (top left) that included a visit from Dean Austin Quigley. Class receptions, many hosted by prominent alumni, including Jerry Speyer ’62 (second from top, with President Lee C. Bollinger) and Conrad Lung ’72 (third from top), shared the bill with sample classes, panel discussions, lunches and more formal dinners, providing a rich mix of stimulating discussions and enjoyable entertainment. “The Future of the College” was one panel topic, and one aspect of that future, the proposed new Manhattanville campus, was the subject of several presentations (bottom left) and a Sunday walking tour for the Class of 1962 hosted by one of its members, Board of Trustees Chairman Bill Campbell.
Alumni came from near and far to attend reunion, but nobody traveled farther than Sara Velàsquez ’02, who journeyed nearly 9,000 miles from Wellington, New Zealand, on her first trip home in three years to catch up with classmates at her fifth-year reunion. Velàsquez joined nearly 250 classmates and guests for their class dinner on the evening of Saturday, June 2, which was preceded by an all-class wine-tasting on Low Plaza. The night concluded with the annual Starlight Reception, where alumni from all reunion classes sampled fancy desserts, danced under a tent on Low Plaza and hung out on the steps beneath a starry June sky.
2007 Dean’s Pin Recipients
Dean’s Pins are given to the members of each class’ reunion committee who have
demonstrated particular dedication to and involvement in their reunion.
Class of 1942
Melvin Hershkowitz
Class of 1952
Robert Adelman
Stanley Garrett
Lawrence Grossman
Charles Jacobs
John “Jack” Ripperger
Richard Wald
Class of 1957
Nyles Ayers
Jim Barker
Saul Cohen
Daniel Davidson
Edward Dwyer
Martin Fisher
Alan Frommer
Alvin Kass
David Kinne
George Lutz
Neil McLellan
Carlos Muñoz
Eugene Wagner
Edward Weinstein
Elroy Wolff
Paul Zola
Class of 1962
George Abodeely
Paul Alter
William Campbell
Salim Dallal
Richard Kobrin
Burton Lehman
Stanley Lupkin
Ed Pressman
Loren Ross
Kalman Rubinson
Jerry Speyer
Leo Swergold
Anthony Valerio
Thomas Vasell
Class of 1967
Jeremy Epstein
Douglas Good
Kenneth Haydock
Jonathan Kranz
David Langsam
Roger Lehecka
Stephen Rice
Robert Rosenberg
Class of 1972
Peter Darrow
Lew Fischbein
David Flannery
Michael Gerrard
Richard Kurnit
Charles Laughinghouse
Conrad Lung
Class of 1977
Craig Brod
William F. Gray Jr.
Charles Knapp
Jon Lukomnik
Jeffrey McFarland
Dominic Petito
David Stanton
Kimball Woodward
Class of 1982
Joe Cabrera
Andrew Danzig
Louis De Chiara
Charlie Delgado
David Filosa
Carlo Kostka
Frank Lopez-Balboa
Victor Lopez-Balboa
Chris Meininger
Bruce Miller
Gregg Nabhan
Tom Nevitt
Joe Piscina
Charles Santoro
Mike Schmidtberger
Jim Shehan
Achilles Venetoulias
Andy Weisman
Wallace Wentink
Class of 1987
Lawrence B. Alletto
Kyra Tirana Barry
Yale Fergang
Lee Ilan
Sarah Kass
Dave I. Perlman
Class of 1992
Richard Bernard
Joan Campion
Frank Cicero
Beth Dwyer
Jeremy Feinberg
Hilary Hatch
Peter Hatch
Aaron Hoffman
Scott Kitzman
Laura Lopez
Lucinda Martinez-Desir
Manu Rana
Farnaz Vossoughian
Class of 1997
Michael Beck
Marco Capasso
Muhammad-Omar Qayyum
Chaudhry
Darrell Cohn
M. Luisa Cruz
Alison Donohoe
Jenny Fernandez
Marisa Goldstein
Karensa Harrell
Aprajita Kalra
Sarah Katz
Mike Latham
Kellie Durham Lewis
Zaharah Markoe
Hannah Trooboff
McCollum
Kate Noble
Paloma Ramirez
Rachel Rodin
Cristina Rumbaitis del Rio
Carter Turrell
Matthew Wang
Class of 2002
Pooja Agarwal
Franklin Amoo
Paul Choi
David Chubak
Katie Conway
Sonia Dandona
Charles Donohoe
Jennifer Dwork
Jonathan Fischer
Farng-Yuan Foo
Ellen Gustafson
Colleen Hsia
William Hunter
Amanda Konstam
Scott Koonin
Ken Lantigua
Kristin Liu
Allison Lloyds
Nadia Majid
Everett Miles
Eric Phillipps
Sheethal Rao
Judy Sher
Graig Springer
Genevieve Thornton
Stefanie Tsen
Henry Wong
LinYee Yuan
|