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Everett
Weinberger Craig Fenster has moved to Ireland, where he has entered the MBA program at Trinity College of Dublin. It's an 11-month course that will end in August 2000. We'll hoist a Guinness in your honor, Craig! Bernie Yee wrote us an enigmatic note, saying he and Bill Fink are still sitting around watching movies. Bernie still plays rock 'n' roll. One of them has a post-grad degree, isn't using it, and they're not saying exactly which one has to really pay for that piece of paper. A number of personal milestones. Scot Galsberg got engaged to Alisa Goldman, a pediatric occupational therapist. Scot is in private practice on the Upper East Side specializing in cosmetic and reconstructive plastic surgery. He's also director of plastic surgical education and program director for the plastic surgery residency program at SUNY's Health Science Center. Congrats to Alon Mogilner and wife, Myra, on the birth of Joseph, their third child. Alon is currently chief resident in neurological surgery at NYU Hospital and has a year to go. And mazal tov to Sam Katz and wife, Vicki, on the birth of their third child, Sophia. Sam continues as head of business development at Cendant Corportation and recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of the charity which he co-founded, Youth Renewal Fund. Also to Guy Reiss and wife, Barbara, on the birth of their second son, Harlan.
Robert V.
Wolf Martha DuRuz married James Lynch II '85 in Austin, Texas, in August 1998. They've been living for a year in Memphis, Tenn., where Martha works as a senior research associate for Scirex Corp., a contract pharmaceutical research organization. Also, Ilene Weinstein married Marcos Lederman in New York in September, 1999. Ilene is a vice president of electronic brokerage at Charles Schwab & Co. in San Francisco. Patrick Codd received his Ph.D. from Yale and since the fall of 1998 has been teaching Japanese literature at Amherst College in Massachusetts. "It's fun teaching here. The students are great, but it's a lot of work keeping up with them," he writes. Five years ago, Patrick married Meg Dippo, and the two of them merged their last names to Caddeau "rather than hyphenating or giving up one name for the other." Meg teaches high school English, creative writing and history. On the home front, Patrick and Meg are trying to wean their son, Jacob, who is 112, off bottles. Good luck! Just in time for deadline, Courtney J. Bickel dropped me this note. "Here's a little news about my life since graduating from the College: I spent (too) many years in graduate school, finally earning a Ph.D. in philosophy of religion and theology from Harvard in 1998. My dissertation was on Immanuel Kant's idea of freedom. I taught as a visiting professor of religion at Mt. Holyoke College in western Massachusetts for three semesters and have recently accepted a position at Fordham University as an assistant professor of theology. But I won't begin teaching at Fordham until January. Last month I married David Lamberth, who teaches at Harvard, and we wanted a semester of marital bliss before beginning the commute." Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this and past columns. If you haven't yet, please call or e-mail. Your contributions are what make this space worthwhile.
George
Gianfrancisco Try as I might, I now must officially confront the fact that I am of that age where I can only fondly look back on graffiti-covered subways, cheap beer at Furnald Grocery, and being able to eat a freak slice from Koronet at 4 a.m. with impunity. But there is no surer sign that your mid-30s are upon you than percussive waves of people your own age having babies. Jill Levey-Powlen, a formidable contributor to this column, called me to announce the birth of her daughter, Maya Tilly. The new mother sounded absolutely thrilled and also let me know that Debbie Schenfeld had a baby boy, David Louis, in April. Debbie, in a letter that pre-dated Jill's call, told me she was taking time off from her law career to be with her son. Also on Jill's hot list were Spencer Harrington and his wife, Susanna B'88, who welcomed their daughter Margret in May. Of course, bringing all these babies into the world, and taking care of them over the years, is a lot easier with the help of all those doctors out there. So it is reassuring to know that amongst our ranks we have a fair share of M.D.s. Abe Glazer completed his urology residency at the Cleveland Clinic and is doing a fellowship in Toronto before he moves onto staff in Rochester. Mark Levy completed his neurosurgery residency and a fellowship in spine surgery in Tampa and will be entering private practice in Fresno. His last trip to N.Y.C. in the spring let him get together with some of his old KDR brothers, like John Katz, and non-KDRer Jere Petersen '89. I hope they broke out the old KDR bricks for the night, too. With all the babies and doctors, it is proper that someone is graduating from rabbinical school. David Osachy received the title of rabbi and a master of Hebrew letters from the Reconstructionist Rabbi College outside Philly. He will assume duties in Jacksonville. Finally, in my nostalgic haze, I received a moving correspondence from Carl Eierle. Carl and I serendipitously shared David Putelo as a roommate, although Carl, showing superior intelligence, moved on after a few months while I remained party to the lunacy for two years. Carl has been in the Navy for the past 11 years. He went to medical school after the Gulf War, and he and his wife Charlie have four beautiful children, the most recent this year. He will be going to San Diego to complete a residency in orthopedic surgery that was begun two years ago. He let me know that he has kept in touch with Darren Zinn '88G.S., who just graduated from Harvard B-school and sends his best to Hugh Crane and James Murphy, still working in banking. Now, Carl is a doctor who just had a baby, which strangely seems to marry our two main themes this month. Feeling a bit, let's say, more mature these days, I figured that the coincidence meant I should re-read his letter. I was impressed by the duration and depth of his service to the nation as a naval surgeon. His career has taken him all over the world and, in his own words, left him with his fill of the dust and dirt from half a dozen Middle Eastern countries. More importantly, I was moved by his words about his 6-year-old son Christopher: how proud he is of the young man's character and sense of honor. In regards to his banker buddies and the wealth that comes with that career, he merely stated that he is rich in other ways. His parting words to me were, "God bless and God speed." His sentiment was simple and pure, and aren't those the things we all want as we grow up? We've been gone from Columbia for a decade plus. The good times are fewer and further between. Our mid-30s are right up the road. Real responsibility. Babies. Babies, for pete's sake! And just when I was starting to think that a pitcher of kamikazes at Cannon's with Cheez Whiz was about as good as it gets, I get a letter like that from Carl and I realize that the mid-30s won't be bad at all. Of course, I still gotta think twice before wolfing down that freak slice from Koronet at 4:00 a.m.
Amy
Perkel This go 'round, we're covering fewer people, but providing meatier minutiae. Let's start with the international crowd. We received a wonderful update on Jennifer Buttenheim from her father, who writes that Jennifer, her husband Dmitri Yeremeyev, and their 2-year-old daughter Francesca are living in Moscow. Jennifer's love for Russia traces back to her junior year abroad at Bristol University in England. She went on a spring break trip and fell in love with the vast country that was still the USSR at the time. Upon graduation with a degree in Russian studies, she worked for Travel Dynamics as a tour guide/cruise director where she was able to visit each and every continent, and re-visit Russia numerous times. With each trip to Russia, her passion for the country grew, and after leaving the cruise business, she took a job with a Cambridge, Mass. company that runs tours to Russia regularly. In an effort to transplant to Russian soil on a perennial basis, Jennifer wrote a plan for the company, which would have her based in Moscow, grooming young Russians to be tour guides for General Tours. Sold on the idea, her boss sent her to Moscow in 1993. Soon thereafter, Jennifer met her husband-to-be, a former member of the Russian Army and now an importer/exporter, at a social assembly where single people gather to enjoy tasty morsels, adult beverages and sparkling conversation, which I shall call a "party." The two were married in a Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow in November, 1994 where nearly 30 friends and relatives were in attendance. At least each year during the winter holiday and some time during the summer, Jennifer and her daughter make it home to visit her parents in Williamstown, Mass. Jennifer continues to work for General Tours, though a nanny and Francesca's grandparents assist her. From London, Chris Reohr regrets not being able to attend reunion as a result of a dear friend deciding to get married on the same weekend in Madrid. The last time we reported on Chris (we're stretching back a number of years), he had just finished with Cambridge University, where he was formally studying political theory, but actually reading books that had been or should be part of the Core. In the year following his academic endeavors, Chris had quite a great time fencing in Budapest. In 1993, Chris joined McKinsey in New York City, where he could be spotted frequenting a number of brunch establishments on the Upper West Side, and as Chris writes, he was "very much single." After a few years of actual work, Chris's munificent employer granted him the option to fence for another year in Paris and then London (a note to super-smart graduating seniors with unique athletic talents: get a job with McKinsey, one of the few firms that lets employees take time off for worldwide fencing, rock climbing, and surfing opportunities, as examples). The move also allowed Chris to be closer to his English girlfriend (and now wife). Following the fencing stint, Chris went back to work for another three years in London with five months in South Africa, where he dove with great white sharks, and two months in Finland. During this time period, he and Louise Matthews married. If all of that weren't excitement enough, Chris just informed us that after a "rich and robust" experience with McKinsey, this summer he decided to leave the firm, having been hit by the Internet fever that has struck the UK as well. Chris is hush-hush owing to the fact they are in the middle of raising money, but we hope to learn the true nature of the venture at some point and we hope to gain access to the friends and family options at the time of IPO. In addition to indicating that he still doesn't know what he wants to do when he grows up (we imagine he's committed to the start-up thing for at least the near-term), Chris notes that he is increasingly sad to discover that, in most people's eyes, he is indeed grown up. But he has some insight into his next career move - he and his wife are hoping to move to the States in the "not-too-distant future." He hopes to receive an appointment to teach Literature Humanities or Contemporary Civilization. What do you think his chances are, he asks? Back in the U.S., Susan Shin, like many of you, has "been meaning to write for ages." She was prompted to write, having been "inspired by what felt like another Columbia reunion." She went to visit none other than Duane Bartsch (Yes! She indicates he has mellowed. Duane: Please drop us a line for the full Duane update) and to attend John Dwyer's wedding to "gorgeous" Yvete in Los Angeles in late July. Susan reports that there were a number of Columbia folks present including Duane, Matt Fox, the ever-engaging Brian O'Connell, Matt Sodl '88, Sammy DiMaggio E'89, Danielle Maged, Wid Hall, and a "slew of others." Apologies in advance from Susan for not remembering everyone in attendance. She was kind of hazy, she notes, having flown in from N.Y.C. after pulling three all-nighters. Having graduated from Cornell Law with fellow Columbians John Kim, Mary Murphy, and Duane Bartsch, Susan went into intellectual property law. Currently, she is a senior associate at Pennie & Edmonds, where she does international trademark and copyright law for fashion houses, music recording studios, consumer products and advertising companies. Susan loves the legal work but is considering starting her own public relations firm in the fashion industry, since the bulk of her social activities and friends seem to be slanted toward it. At reunion, we learned that Terry Brown is an assistant United States attorney with the Department of Justice within the Southern District of Florida, where he works in the major prosecutions section. His responsibilities include the prosecution of reactive criminal cases-alien smuggling, drug smuggling, counterfeit currency, outbound currency, fake passports, etc. Terry notes that he is also involved in prosecuting a major narcotics organization, which is responsible for trafficking in approximately 4,500 kilograms of cocaine, valued at nearly $90 million. This organization utilized a complete arsenal of AK-47s, Mac-11s and numerous other assault weapons and is responsible for 10 homicides involving 15 victims. The leader of the organization was on the run for over a year and was featured on America's Most Wanted several times. Prior to his current role, Terry served as an Assistant State Attorney for over five years. He chose this career path because it "affords me the opportunity to serve my community while providing me the rush of being a trial attorney." To date, he has tried nearly 75 jury trials. Terry and his wife Patty, who earned an M.A. in counseling psychology from Teacher's College, have two beautiful children, Terry, Jr., 4, and Ebony Joy, 2. One would think he would be busy enough prosecuting crime in Miami and spending time with his family, but Terry is also involved with PrePaid Legal Services, which is the equivalent of a legal HMO, providing its members with a host of legal services at a 25 percent discount. The monthly premium varies by state, but is never more than $25 per month. Anyone interested in learning more about this group or who just wants to get in touch with Terry can contact him at (888) 494-1459. We did note in the previous column that we would be catching up with a few classmates. We'll spare you the excuses, but do hope to track them down shortly. Best regards for a festive holiday season.
Dan Max
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