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CLASS NOTES
Clyde A. Moneyhun The most horrific disaster in the history of New York occurred just as this issue of CCT was going to press. For those of us who learned to love the city during our time there, no matter where we are now, this is a personal matter. Our hearts are broken. As soon as I know I won't be in the way, I'll be climbing on an Amtrak train for a pilgrimage to the greatest city in the world in its hour of grieving. Meanwhile, life goes on: Mark Abbott joined the investment department of Guardian Life in August 2001 as managing director, fixed income analytics and risk management. He lives in Cos Cob, Conn., with wife Christiane, Barnard '80, and daughter Brooke. He enjoyed seeing so many of us at the 25th reunion and was looking forward to attending the WKCR 60th anniversary reception last month. Mark Stabinski celebrated his first anniversary on July 3 as the warden of all jails in Essex County, N.J. He's also working as a member of a transition team to erect a new $250 million criminal justice complex that's scheduled to open in summer 2002. I've been promoted from director of the writing center at the University of Delaware to director of writing, with responsibility for not only the writing center but also the entire composition program. My wife, Nancy, and I finally bought a house in this bucolic little college town, just a block from the elementary school where our son Jesse has started first grade. Last week I received my copy of the new College alumni directory, and as soon as I get the searchable CD version, you'll be hearing from me.
David Gorman
Matthew Nemerson The destruction of the World Trade Center resulted in the loss of one of our classmates on September 11. Robert Murach, a senior vice president for Cantor Fitzgerald, worked at One World Trade Center. As the Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger reported, Bob devoted much of his energy to his daughters, Madison, 9, and Hayley, 6. Bob, who grew up in Brooklyn and lived in Montclair, N.J., led an active life. He excelled in track in high school and at the College, where he graduated with a degree in economics. He was passionate about golf and scuba diving. He was close to his tight-knit family and relished his relationship with a group of high school friends who were on the same track team that won the city championship. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of that victory in 1999, Bob and his teammates took a rafting trip to the Green River in Utah. Our thoughts and prayers are with Bob's family and friends. In his role as one of the overseers of the Port Authority of NY/NJ, I certainly hope classmate James McGreevey will be one of the Columbia people overseeing the rebuilding of downtown. Barring a major upset, he should be the new Governor-elect of New Jersey by the time you read this. A classmate who has equaled Jim's renown, not in politics but in literary circles, is author Don Guttenplan, who sent an e-mail from England. "Hope this finds you all well. If you find yourself short of copy you are welcome to plug my book, The Holocaust on Trial. The two days I spent in New York promoting it in May were the best part of being a published author, surpassing even the considerable pleasure of a rave review in The New Yorker. Classmates Jeff Klein and Rick MacArthur came to the launch party, along with Robert Friedman '69, my old boss and now editor of Fortune International, James Sanders '76, Sarah Gold, Barnard '78, and Nanci Fink Levine, Barnard '79, plus former dean (and now professor) Michael Rosenthal. We are still in London, where Maria and I take turns being U.K. bureau chief for The Nation and shuttling three kids to three different schools." Congratulations to Don for his chronicle of the libel case in England challenging the veracity of the Holocaust several years ago. The book has been excerpted in major magazines and seems destined to be a major award winner for its breadth and style. John C. Ohman is partner at the law firm of Brown, Raysman, Millstein, Felder and Steiner, in the high technology and intellectual property practice. Not just a lawyer but an accountant as well, Philip J. Vecchio is now of counsel for the upstate law firm Hiscock & Barclay, focusing on tax litigation and general business work. Phil received training in the law and accounting at Albany Law School of Union University and the University of Albany. There is little I can add to the thoughts already expressed concerning September 11. There is a touch of tragic irony in that many of us spent time in college working to enable WKCR to move its transmitter from Madison Avenue to the top of the North Tower of the WTC. As that mast began to descend into the cloud of dust, the personal connection with a few precious square feet of metal on the roof added another reason why my heart kept telling my eyes that they could not possibly be seeing what was on the television screen. I visited Ground Zero with my family a few weeks after the attack on lower Manhattan. The city north of Canal was already bustling and getting back to normal. The gleaming No. 6 train taking us to City Hall station was in sharp contrast to the gritty streets and makeshift barricades everywhere that awaited us. This event is the defining event to date between our years as students and as adults. Send me your observations and words of wisdom for those who look to us for guidance. The alumni notes will be coming out six times a year, so I need a lot more material. Please, everyone, e-mail me at least one piece of information a year so I can have more timely info.
Lyle Steele Received the following from Larry Lubitz: "Many people say that after a tragedy such as 9.11.01 we reach out to others we haven't seen in a while. Many who I haven't heard from in a while tracked me down through the grapevine, and I in turn have the urge to come out from under my rock. I have been living in Manhattan since graduation (22 years ago!). I married my high school girlfriend, Rita, and we have two girls, Zoe (12) and Rachael (7). One of Rachael's best friends is Emma from PS6, and Emma's dad teaches at Columbia. This past weekend we dropped Rachael for a playdate on Morningside Drive, then took Zoe around campus to see where her dad went to school for four years. Campus looks great! The new additions since graduation are numerous, yet for the most part the campus still has the same feel as when we were there." Lubitz, who has worked for Lehman Brothers and Dean Witter, is now an institutional salesman with Merrill Lynch in fixed income. "On 9.11.01 I was working in the World Financial Center, directly across from the World Trade Center. We couldn't believe the sight from our office windows as we tried to figure out what was going on after the first hit. The things we saw were quite horrific. Then the second plane hit. We didn't want to wait for a third event, so that is when we evacuated our building. Now I am in midtown, one of the many displaced workers who were created that day." Classmates can contact Larry at bitz26@aol.com
Craig Lesser
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