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CLASS NOTES
George Koplinka As the College began its annual Class Day on May 15, who could have imagined the greater meaning of "Sans Souci?" Even as I write these class notes, the prophetic words, "What if tomorrow brings/sorrow or anything/other than joy" echo in my mind. The recent devastation in New York transcends the importance of a report such as this. Nevertheless, life goes on, and I am left to dedicate this column to the memory of readers who may never see it. The Class of '51 was well represented at Class Day by our president, Robert Snyder, as well as Carroll Brown, Frank Durkan, Robert Flynn, William Grote, Tom Heyman, Nathan Kase and Alan Wagner. At Commencement exercises the following day, Snyder, in his capacity as an honorary hood marshal, participated in the conferring of honorary Columbia degrees to distinguished Americans Timothy Berners-Lee, Arthur Levitt, Jr., Maxwell Roach and Zhen-Yi-Wang.
Our 50th reunion, September 7-9, was certainly one of the most exciting and entertaining events in reunion history. Classmates from the College and SEAS united in a celebration that began with a Friday visit to the Morningside campus and concluded with a weekend at Columbia's Arden House Conference Center at Harriman, N.Y. Attending were: Robert Allgaier, Leonard Alsop, Joseph V. Ambrose Jr., Evan Barrington, Don Beattie, Walter G. Berghahn, Philip M. Bergovoy, David Berman, Gerald J. Berrafati, Theodore D. Bihuniak, William A. Billingham, Willard Block, William S. Bonds, Richard N. Bowe, Joseph Brouillard, Richard Brown, Phillip A. Bruno, Joseph A. Buda, Alfred E. Byra, John A. Cervieri Jr., Edwin G. Croswell, Sherwin C. Day, Frank Durkan, John T. Easter, Charles Emich, Gerald Evans, John J. Evans, Robert H. Flynn, Glenn Friedman, John Gibbons Jr., Alfred Gomez, Richard Griffin, William C. Grimsley, William Grote, Samuel B. Haines, John Handley, Thomas Heyman, Richard Houghton, Mark Kaplan, Nathan Kase, Martin L. Katz, W. Fred Kinsey III, Norton Kolomeyer, George Koplinka, Harvey Krueger, Jay Lefer, Frank Lewis, B. James Lowe, Ralph Lowenstein, Archie MacGregor, James B. McNallen, Warren Nadel, Richard Newman, Robert Nielsen, Nis A. Petersen, Tom Powers, George Prozan, Frank Raimondo, Donald J. Rapson, Robert M. Reiss, Merritt Rhoad, Allan Robbins, Mervin Ross, Stanley Schachter, Peter Schiff, Arnold Schwartz, Richard Seropian, Robert Charles Silver, Roy Simmons, Joseph Sirola, Robert T. Snyder, Leonard Stoehr, Peter Suzuki, Edwin M. Trayner, H. Elliot Wales, Paul A. Wallace, Warren Wanamaker, Harold B. White Jr., Warren R. Wilson, Myron Winick, Tom Withycombe, Ronald E. Young and David Zinman. Nis Petersen, exhibiting a wealth of Columbia architectural knowledge, conducted a tour of campus sites and sculpture most of us overlooked during our college days. Later, President George Rupp graciously hosted an informative luncheon during which he highlighted the academic growth and financial strength of Columbia. The reunion schedule included lectures and remarks from our class poetry professor, Richard Howard, and television and film producer Alan Wagner. David Zinman was spellbinding with a report on his recently published book, The Day Huey Long Was Shot. Ralph Lowenstein reviewed his activity as a young soldier in Israel during the 1948 war of independence. In addition, Columbia's talented faculty was represented by Clark Hung, who lectured on cellular engineering; James Mirollo, who stirred imaginations with a return to Dante's Inferno; and Henry Graff, a long-time favorite teacher, who provided insights and comments about the American presidency, past and present. The Deans' Dinner-Dance, with featured speakers Austin Quigley from the College and Zvi Galil from Engineering, concluded the major festivities. Enthusiastic classmates, at an impromptu business meeting, agreed to start planning for a 55th reunion in 2006! Class officers were re-elected unanimously and directed to encourage greater participation at the annual Dean's Day on campus and to strengthen class ties with more frequent directory updates and the addition of e-mail addresses. Mark Kaplan, our ubiquitous class fund-raising chairman, reported that more than 40 percent of '51C made contributions to our 50th anniversary gift to the College, and we exceeded our goal of $225,000. In
addition to the class officers and a large reunion steering
committee, many others contributed to the success of the 50th
reunion. We are especially grateful to Dean Quigley for his
encouragement and participation. Our reunion yearbook and class
directory could not have been published without the help of the
Office of Alumni Affairs and Development, which not only provided
essential information about classmates but made most of the reunion
arrangements at Arden House. Our hats are off to Ken Catandella,
director, and his staff members, Heather Applewhite and Sharen
Ovalles. Jim Lowe and his NROTC team inspired a large
attendance and planned many of the activities for our Navy
contingent. Tom Powers reached into his archives of Columbia
sports memorabilia and provided a captivating video of our
championship basketball era. In retrospect, what made our 50th
reunion so significant was the large number of class participants
who attended and brought their spouses. The key word was caring
— for family, classmates and Columbia. As a group we have
matured, gone beyond the competition and one-upsmanship that
existed at our 25th reunion, and evolved into a very loving group
of alumni.
Robert Kandel These notes are being written a few days after the calamitous events in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. I intended to report on the latest news regarding our 50th reunion. We were going to have a crucial reunion committee meeting to make some important decisions, but the meeting was canceled. Please watch the next issue for further news. On another sad note: Arch Ingerman has heard that our classmate and his fraternity brother, Elliot Gottfried, passed away on August 31, apparently after a massive stroke at his Florida home. I spoke with Gene Manfrini, who has been feeling the cumulative effects of his ailments and age. He still manages to get around to some of his old clients, but it is getting more difficult for him. I know we all wish him our very best. We send our best to Bob Landes, who also has been having some medical problems. I can only say that, as of this writing, I have not learned of any loss within my family of close friends because of these treacherous attacks. I wish the same for all of you.
Lew Robins Angel I. Ferrer: Angel was a member of the class of 1953 who left in 1952 to graduate from the University of Chicago. He writes the following, "I was hoping that I could exchange information with former classmates. I now live in Alexandria, Va., and am president of a software consulting company. I have six grown-up children and six grandchildren." Angel especially would like to get in touch with Bernard Epstein, Richard Cohoes, Herb Mark and James Coyne. Ken Heyman: Ken recalls that because he was not much of a student, he was put on academic probation and drafted into the Army before graduating. In 1954, he returned to Columbia, where he took a course with Margaret Mead. Professor Mead was intrigued with Ken's photographs of a settlement house in Harlem, and asked him to accompany her on a field study in Bali. Thus began a fast friendship between our classmate and the exalted professor. Subsequently, Ken took pictures for Mead in Mexico, Vermont and Sicily. Ken has more than 54 books of photographs to his credit; his most famous book is Family (Ridge Press, 1965), which sold more than 150,000 copies and was the first book of photographs ever selected as a Book of the Month club selection. On November 3, 2001, to celebrate Mead's centennial, the American Museum of Natural History in New York staged an exhibit of Ken's photographs for the Margaret Mead books. Martin Saiman: After practicing real estate law in New York for 40 years, Marty retired in 1996 to take up golf. He now lives half the year in Manhattan and the other half in Florida. Before retiring, he was instrumental in opening a fascinating tenement museum on the Lower East Side. Marty and his colleagues found a 20-foot wide, four-story building that had been built in 1860. Knowing that more people had lived in tenement apartments than log cabins in the West, their objective was to show how immigrants lived in the Lower East Side. Families donated old sewing machines, grandma's shawl and grandpa's rocking chair, and other pieces of the period. Marty estimates that over the years more than 10,000 people lived in the building they have turned into a museum. Marty married Rita, a Queens girl who lived virtually next door. They have three children, and their oldest daughter is a member of the faculty at P&S. Marty also established a scholarship in honor of our classmate George Shaw, who was twice a member of the U.S. Olympic team. Ben Cappadora: After graduation, Ben started with the New York real estate firm of Webb and Knapp. In 1957, he emigrated to Cleveland where he's remained ever since, buying, selling and managing various real estate properties. He's still active and does not intend to retire. He's married to his college sweetheart, Phyllis. They have two children and two grandchildren. Al Ward: In 1965, after 35 years of straightening teeth in New Jersey, Al and Sheila retired to Columbia, S.C. Al reports that he cannot ever get away from the College. Not only is he living in a city called 'Columbia,' but he finds that the skies above the town are always light blue. He loves retirement and plays golf every other day, and wishes all classmates to be aware that he has a single digit handicap. They have three children and three grandchildren, including one set of identical twins. As you may recall, during our senior year, Al appeared as the handsome, debonair college man in an ad for Chesterfield cigarettes — even though Al never smoked! He told me that he was paid $200 for the ad and this provided the funds he needed to attend senior week. "It was the best $200 I ever earned," Al said with a chortle. With regard to his 'pass catching prowess,' it was the accuracy of Mitch Price's arm that enabled him to catch so many passes. Anthony Robinson: As you may recall, Tony's father was the author of a best-selling novel, The Cardinal. Tony seems to have followed in his father's footsteps. Over the years, he has written and published five novels. His first novel is called A Departure From the Rules and is based on his experience in the navy aboard a destroyer. It was published by Putnam. His second novel, The Easy Way, is a courtroom drama that was published by Simon and Schuster. Home Again, Home Again was published by William Morrow, and Donald I. Fine published The Whole Truth. Tony's latest work is called Professor's Wife. He's still working on finding a publisher. In 2000, Tony retired after 36 years as a professor of English and creative writing at SUNY-New Paltz. Tony's first wife Mary died in 1976, and Tony raised his two children. Four years ago, Tony married Tatiana Padua Robinson. They knew each other while growing up in Woodstock, N.Y. Forty years later, Tony and Tatiana met once again and found themselves in love. Tony reports that he couldn't be happier. Keep on writing!
Howard Falberg This is a difficult column to write for several reasons. To begin with, I guess many of our class members had been enjoying their summers in a variety of ways that don't always include sending information to be shared concerning what is happening in their lives. I did, however, hear that Dick Werksman has retired from full-time employment as senior adviser at the State Department on anti-corruption programs but plans to continue similar work, primarily in Latin America. I also heard that Rabbi Jack Bloom recently received an honorary Doctor of Divinity, Honoris Causa, from the Jewish theological Seminary. congratulations, Jack! We also will look for a new book Jack has written, which will be published in the next few months. He and his wife Ingrid live in Fairfield, Conn., and are blessed with five children and five grandchildren. I was at a meeting at the Sheraton Hotel at Newark Airport on September 11. I was shaken and enraged by the cowardly attack. A number of thoughts crossed my mind as I looked at the smoke and flames rising from the World Trade Center. They included heartache and concern for those whose lives were lost either in the air or on the ground, anger at the fanatics who perpetrated this act of terrorism, and, quite honestly, concern as to how I was going to get home. I ended up flying home five days after my intended flight. The silver lining was that I was able to spend that extra time with my son and his family in Connecticut. I hope that none of our classmates were at Ground Zero. The outpouring of help and support from all over our country and the world has been heartening. The Columbia Alumni Club of San Diego was among those who sent contributions. Our class is gifted with journalists and authors of note. Ed Cowan is certainly one of them He wrote, "With the attack of September 11, as with the attack of December 7, 1941 (of which I have an 8-year-old's memory), America has turned the page on a new chapter. America closed successfully the chapter that opened with the attack on Pearl Harbor. We won, and for most Americans the 56 years since that victory have been an epoch of good living. I believe we can win again, but as in the 1940s, it will be difficult. And it may be costly." I fervently hope that our class, our College and our country will come out of this period stronger and more united. Please share your experiences and thoughts with us. Be well and let's plan on a gigantic 50th reunion in less than three short years.
Gerald Sherwin The tragic events of September 11 were felt by all in the Columbia community. The school did a fantastic job in reacting to the severe situation with crisis counseling (in groups as well as individuals; in dorms as well as offices), conducting special services and forums, and keeping everyone informed as to what was happening. Administrators and deans were available to students and played a significant role in the healing process, led by President George Rupp and Dean Austin Quigley. Addressing student and parental concerns was paramount. As the days and weeks began to pass, everyone tried in their own way to escape the pain and angst brought on by what had transpired and still lingered in our memories. Some sought to spend a fall Saturday afternoon in the upper reaches of Manhattan. The scene was familiar at Baker Field, where the young Columbia Lions were "playing their hearts out" against rivals they have gone against for many years. Hope springs eternal for alumni, students, parents and administrators. This diversion was an escape from events past or the regular weekday business or studying (although some students have been known to inscribe notes during timeouts and at halftime). Even the tragedy could not nullify the resurgent vibrancy among the undergraduate body, with so much going on. The enthusiasm level, although somewhat muted initially, is a reminder of the time when we were in school — participating, joining, learning, and most of all, having a good time. A walk around campus brings back many good memories. We were there when traffic was eliminated between Broadway and Amsterdam on 116th Street. Grass still hadn't been placed on South Field. (The Soph-Frosh Rush would have been a little easier on the body if played on grass.) Burnell Stripling, who lives in Menominee, Mich., has retired from practicing medicine. Burnell was recently in New York to attend his 50th high school reunion (Fordham Prep). While here, he spent some meaningful time with Dick Grogan, who lives in New Jersey, and Harry Wagner, who resides right around the corner from Columbia. Another of our physicians, though not retired, is Jerry Plasse, still toiling away in Owings Mills, Md., after all these years. Passing through New York recently from Wilmington, Del., was Abbe Leban, who was visiting on behalf of a couple of law cases he was handling. Abbe sends regards to all and extends best wishes from our classmate in South Jersey, Ferdie Setaro. Staying nearby on the East Coast, Bill Epstein let us know that he will be leaving the legal staff of Hoffmann La Roche. Bill, who recently took time off to explore and travel around China, will be moving to another corporation shortly. (More information in a future column.) Al Sacknoff continues his family practice on the north shore of Long Island in Huntington. We trust Al will be making an appearance at our 50th, along with orthodontist and ex-Forest Hillser, Milt Merritt, who lives with his family in Roslyn. Moving north, Alan Sloate is quite busy with his legal practice in Larchmont. (Lawyers are always busy.) Joe Possavino is also "swamped" in his consulting role in Yonkers. Teachers in our class include John O'Gorman, who is broadening young people's minds in Larchmont, and Greenwich's own Mike Vaughn, imparting his physics expertise to his students at Northeastern. A year-round tennis player, either in New York or out on Long Island, Alfred Gollomp recently visited with Jim Berick in Cleveland. Unfortunately, Alfred's stay was too short for him to make the rounds to see Al Lerner and Harlan Hertz, two other class members who do a lot for the Cleveland community. Several compatriots live and work overseas. Francis Catterson makes Singapore his home while working for Citibank in Southeast Asia. It's a long way from Brooklyn. Eugene Weiner, who occasionally gets back to the States, is a professor of sociology in Haifa, Israel. Bill Weinstein also is a professor, at Henly — The Management College in England, where he teaches international business. Open invitations have been extended to classmates to get in touch with Messrs. Catterson, Weiner and Weinstein if they are in these parts of the globe. Hawaii is not really considered overseas (or is it?) according to Norm Goldstein, who hasn't gotten back to the mainland in quite a while. Other '55ers in Honolulu are Richard Korsak, retired chairman of Kaiser Hospital, and the venerable right-hander, Walt Deptula, whose production company is located on the Big Island. You guys will be happy to know that the men's basketball team will be playing in the BYU-Hawaii Pearl Harbor Tournament in Laie just before Christmas this year. We hope to see you at one of the games. The team needs your support so far from home. Of course we can't forget some of the hard-working souls who live on the West Coast — Harold Seider, busy practicing law in Los Angeles; David Gordon, living in Solana Beach, Calif., working in the film/video production industry as a producer/director; and Jared Myers, doing what he does best in Alamo. For those who have forgotten, Jared was one of the Kingsmen back in the old days. Around the rest of the country, Nicholas Nichols has retired from his position as a college professor. Nick is living very nicely in Little Rock, Ark., home of another well-known personage who now has a home in Chappaqua, N.Y., and an office in Harlem. Dave Sulman is in Madison, Wis., working as a professor of medicine at the university there. Ed Francell, ex-lightweight football great, is in the real estate business in Georgia. Another resident of the Peach State is St. Louis expatriate Dick Heffner. The
Class of 2005 completed its orientation and started classes in
early September. When these stalwart Columbia students graduate,
we, the venerable Class of '55, will be celebrating our 50th
reunion. Guys, stay well. Do a little (not too much) exercise. Get that blood circulating. Watch your diets or have someone do that for you, and — most of all — stay strong. Love to all!!! Everywhere!!!
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