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CLASS NOTES
Jim Shaw
139 North 22nd Street
Philadelphia, Pa. 19103
Come
to the kickoff reunion planning meeting in September. For more
information, contact Giorgio Zeolla of the alumni office at (212)
870-2744 or e-mail at gmz3@columbia.edu. Mark your
calendars for June 1-3 for Reunion. CCT Editor Alex
Sachare, a member of our class, tells me that that there is
some consideration of also including Thursday, May 31 for our
class. I would like to see as many of you as possible, not just for
reunion’s success, but for my enjoyment in renewing old
friendships and making new friends.
Elliot Wolfe, former
Lions basketball team captain, is a trial lawyer in Arizona,
specializing in personal injury and wrongful death litigation. He
was recently named one of the “Best Lawyers in America”
for the 12th straight year.
Arthur Helton, a
senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, is co-author of
Forced Displacement and Human Security in the Former Soviet
Union: Law and Policy (Transnational Publishers, July 2000). It
provides a detailed discussion of relevant national and
international instruments, including laws and policies of all 15 of
the countries that have emerged from the USSR, that may be invoked
in cases of forced displacement, and offers procedures to promote
the humane management of such migrations.
Vince Bonagura has
been appointed director of the division of allergy and immunology
of the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health Network, and chief,
division of allergy and immunology, at the Schneider
Children’s Hospital of Children’s Health
System.
The
obituaries column in the last issue included Michael
Bartolf, who died in October 1999 (I did not have that
information, else I would have included it). A former head coach of
the Lions lightweight football team, at the time of his death Mike
was an insurance executive. We will miss him. Condolences to his
twin brother Phil Bartolf, also a member of our class, who
also lost his father, Joseph Bartolf ’40, on December 30,
1999. At last reunion Vince Rigdon offered a prayer (which I
found moving) to those classmates we have lost, and I am sure we
will recognize them again this time.
Paul S.
Appelbaum
100 Berkshire Road
Newton, Mass. 02160
pappel1@aol.com
“I just got back from
Israel, where I spent a month teaching at Hebrew U. in
Jerusalem,” writes Gerard Lynch. “While I was
there, I got word that my nomination to be a U.S. District Court
Judge for the Southern District of N.Y. had been confirmed by the
Senate. I expect to be sworn in around Labor Day. I hope to be able
to continue teaching at Columbia.” Best I can tell, Jerry is
our first Federal Judge. Congratulations!
Best
wishes are due also to Calvin Hudson, who has been appointed
group senior vice president and director of property/ casualty
claim for The Hartford. Since joining the insurer’s Cleveland
regional office in 1973, Calvin has risen through the ranks,
completing Duke’s executive MBA program along the way. In his
new job, he will oversee 5500 employees who service $5.6 billion in
premium business.
“Flames youth program
still going strong,” was the headline on a note I received
from Gerard Papa, about the acclaimed program that he
founded and runs. “Thank you to all alumni who helped rescue
Flames since we lost our old church home two years ago. In the end,
we got born again at N.Y.’s John Dewey High School, which has
become ‘home sweet home’ to all 47 Flames basketball
teams.”
John Dawson was
recently an invited speaker at the 11th International Conference on
Cytochrome P450 (one of the body’s key enzyme systems) in
Sendai, Japan. While there, he also lectured at the universities in
Himeji, Kyoto and Nagoya.
Two
proud pops let us know where their sons will be this fall. Gary
Szakmary’s son, Kai, will enter the College’s class
of 2004, the third generation of Szakmarys to attend Columbia.
Gary’s father, Bruno, was a member of the class of 1946. And
Jed Perl’s son, Nathan Perl-Rosenthal, will be a
freshman at Harvard. But Dad has the whole thing in perspective:
“Could anything have been better than Columbia? I doubt
it.”
Barry Etra
326 McKinley Avenue
New Haven, Conn. 06515
BarryEtc@aol.com
Ahh,
C.U. in September. What a Happening that was…
William Bratton is
Samuel Tyler Professor of Law at the G.W. Law School. In other
legalese, Mark Lubin has been practicing in San Francisco
since graduating from Berkeley Law in ’77. His firm, Stein
& Lubin, has 21 attorneys; he comments that his two teenagers
and his 8-year old are “equally difficult to manage.”
His closest friends in the Bay Area include two other members of
’73, David Shapiro and Joe (Hy)
Horowitz.
Erik Bergman has had
a busy year; after many moons as TV critic and managing editor at
TV Host magazine, and one shining stint as TV editor at
USA Today, he has “settled in” as senior editor
at Waggener Edstrom, the P.R. firm for Microsoft, Victoria’s
Secret and HomeGrocer.com, among others. He has reincarnated his
soccer persona as a soccer dad and coach for his daughter’s
third grade team, and as a forward on a coed indoor team. He says
hi to all from A.D.Phi; e-mail him at erikhbergman@aol.com.
Let
us not forget that there is an upstate N.Y., as well; Steve
Messner, his wife, Jill, and daughter, Alison, have been
“enjoying” Albany winters for nigh onto 20 years. Steve
has been elected chair of the sociology department at SUNY Albany.
Steve Smith is up in Loudonville, N.Y., has increased his
alumni involvement, and is “enjoying it tremendously.”
He ended his note with a plug to “pitch in” by calling
the alumni office at (212) 870-2288, and help with the continuing
efforts.
Seconded.
Fred Bremer
532 West 111th Street
New York, N.Y. 10025
fbremer@pclient.ml.com
Morningside Heights has
always seemed a comfortable place to live, but we must admit it is
a bit shabby around the edges. In recent years, however, it has
been taking on many Left Bank attributes — more sidewalk
cafes, a restaurant with live opera, and a few small jazz clubs.
Soon, a big change is about to occur.
High
rises are coming to the Heights! The new senior dorm is open on
113th Street and Broadway (where the old CeeGee Garage and Chemical
Bank used to be), and a faculty high-rise is about to go up on
110th and Broadway. And we hear reports of a private high-rise
erupting over the Olympia Theatre at 107th and Broadway. Now the
real estate folks are calling the area SOCO (SOuth of COlumbia).
Can quiche stands be far behind?
It
feels like the Class of ’74 similarly has been propelled into
the limelight as one of our own, George Van Amson (married,
three kids) was recently honored at a black tie dinner in Low
Rotunda where he received the John Jay Award for Distinguished
Professional Achievement. George is a University trustee, member of
the College’s Board of Visitors, and a principal and senior
equities trader at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. Just as it seems
bizarre for Morningside Heights to become chic, it feels too early
for one of our own to have achieved so much.
More
in keeping with our “perpetual youth” is Kevin
Ward. While married with four boys, living in the New Jersey
suburbs, and a long-time financial consultant for Merrill Lynch, we
hear reports that Kevin has been frequenting local bars. No, not
like the rest of us — Kevin is playing keyboard for a rock
and roll band playing ’60s and ’70s hits. “Hey
there, Little Red Riding Hood!”
Ted Gregory
(married, one kid) is probably more typical of the careers of many
of the class. The frequent mergers among the nation’s
financial institutions have caused Ted to move from the New York
area to Chicago and now to Charlotte, N.C., where he now does
commercial lending with Nationsbanc.
But
what nefarious deeds does someone do whose title is “Business
Intelligence Analyst?” Bob Adler, who recently
accepted such a title at Chubb in Warren, N.J., claims the job
involves market research and strategic planning, but we suspect
there are business trips to the Watergate and hope that he
sometimes gets to drive an Austin Martin. Black tie to alleged
blackmail — there’s no telling what our class is up to.
I’ll be forced to go to Deep Throat if you don’t keep
those letters and e-mails coming in!
Randy Nichols
503 Princeton Circle
Newtown Square, Pa. 19073
rnichols@sctcorp.com
Reunion 2000 is over, and
those of us who attended are home with the memories we collected.
Mine are good! More on the reunion later. Keep
reading...
Guide to Effective Law
Firm and In-House Partnerships by Harold B. Aspis
appeared in the corporate counsel column of the March 30 edition of
the New York Law Journal.
Albert Mrozik
confirms that Lou Dalaveris is practicing as an
opthalmologist on the East Side, and is doing very well. He also
responds to the following questions posed to him by Bob
Sclafani:
1) I
moved when my father kicked me out of Toms River in 1979,
2) I have gotten a little too big to not be offended when I am
referred to as “Big Al,”
3) What soup are you talking about ???, and
4) Do you mean Henry Winters, my roommate, or Dana Krotcher,
my former fiancée?
Philip E. Mihlmester
lives in Fairfax, Va., and is senior vice president at ICF
Consulting, which works with utilities companies to expand their
options in a deregulated industry. (At reunion, Phil and I found
our ways into the Butler Library stacks, and we got a memory-rush
from that distinct dusty odor. We both spent many hours of our
Columbia careers at work-study jobs in the bowels of Butler. We
were really amazed that the card catalog still exists. There must
be thousands of our fingerprints stored on cards in those little
drawers, as we also spent countless hours filing those *%)$#(&
little cards!).
I
had a very pleasant surprise at reunion when Sean O’Neill
’77 tapped me on the shoulder. Sean is not
‘officially’ a member of ‘75, but he began with
our class (I know, I was his first roommate in Carman) and I think
I recall that he marched with us at Commencement. We won’t go
into why he is listed with the Class of ‘77, but are happy
that he still counts us as his ‘social
class’!
After Columbia, Joseph
Polizzotto went to NYU Law School. He is now managing director
and general counsel at Lehman Brothers. He and wife, Janet Aspen,
live in Brooklyn with their two daughters, Emily and
Julie.
Samuel Shafner and
his wife, Rosalyn Weiss Shafner, overcame obstacles presented by
the Sabbath and journeyed to Columbia from Boston for the Columbia
and Barnard Reunions. He is a partner at Burnes & Levinson, a
large Boston firm, where he specializes in corporate and securities
law and also works with many high tech and emerging growth
companies. He and Rosalyn have four children, and he says
“life is good!”
Neil Selinger is the
managing partner of a White Plains, N.Y. law firm (recently
re-located from N.Y.C.) with a national practice representing
investors and consumers in class actions. He lives in Larchmont,
N.Y., with his wife, artist Rima Grad, and two younger daughters
(Emily, 10, and Julia, 7). Oldest daughter Hannah (about to turn
20) is entering her junior year at the College, where she is an
editor of The Spectator. This summer, Hannah was an intern
at The New Yorker. Neil also has a nephew who is a sophomore
and a godson who will be entering the College this fall. Blood does
run blue in that family — Columbia blue!
Kenneth A. Scherzer
came to Reunion 2000 from Murfreesboro, Tenn., where he is a
professor in the department of history at Middle Tennessee State
University. Ken and his wife made the reunion a part of an extended
vacation trip.
Randolph
Scott-McLaughlin, director of the Social Justice Center at Pace
University in White Plains, N.Y., was quoted on the front page of
the May 25th Westchester Journal News in an article titled
“IKEA in New Rochelle? It just won’t happen.”
Earlier in the month, he was featured in an article headlined,
“Randolph Scott-McLaughlin; Aiding the Underdog in the Steps
of an Idol” in The New York Times. The idol, by the
way, was the late William Kunstler. (I can’t help being
impressed with this guy and thinking what a great representative of
our times he is. Of course, this has nothing to do with the fact
that our first names are the same!)
Brad Tupi wrote that
he regretted that he would not be at reunion, but included a lot of
other news. He remembers debates in John Jay over the McGovern
campaign in 1972. Then he was to the left of McGovern; now he is to
the right of McCain. In 1997, he was elected a township
commissioner in Upper St. Clair, his suburban home in
Pittsburgh’s South Hills. Brad is a lawyer with a mid-sized
Pittsburgh firm, where he tries cases for and gives environmental
advice to corporate clients. His wife, Ann Marie Cline (former St.
Luke’s nurse and Morningside Heights resident), runs a
medical-legal consulting business from their home. They have two
children, Nick (a 15-year punk rock drummer) and Steph (a
13-year-old Backstreet Boys worshipper and soccer jock). Rock
‘n roll remains his hobby. In the old days he used to bring
dance tapes to Fred Bremer’s parties on 113th Street. Now he
gets paid to deejay weddings, birthdays and other
events.
At
the Saturday evening reunion dinner, President Rupp announced that
Richard Witten had been elected to the Board of Trustees
that morning. Congratulations!
Now,
back to reunion. Those who attended (Paul Barenholtz, Barry
Berger, Terence Cloney, Barry Concool, Kevin Creeden, Louis
Dalaveris, James Dolan, Russell Geoffrey, Joaquin Gonzalez, Michael
Gordon, Stephen Jacobs, Jeffrey Kessler, Steven Krasner, Steven
Lawitts, Stewart Lazow, Steven Lidofsky, Jay Lisnow, Moses Luski,
Ira Malin, Dan Mauzy, Kevin McSweeney, Phil Mihlmester, Albert
Mrozik, Randy Nichols, Sean O’Neill, Kenneth Scherzer, Rob
Schneider, Neil Selinger, Samuel Shafner, Harold Shapiro, Andrew
Sustiel, Floyd Warren, Irwin Wikler, Richard Witten) had a
great time renewing acquaintances and sharing recollections. The
reception at the Museum of the City of New York was warm; we were
seated in one of the best rooms in the house. The panel with Hank
and Dick Morris ’67 was certainly stimulating, and Anna
Quindlen, Barnard ’74, is even better in person than she is
in print! (Several members commented that they had not been in Low
Rotunda for anything but a bonfire before.) There were only about a
dozen of us who showed up for the class picture, and we sure hope
to have more faces in that picture when we gather again in another
five years. Until then, as usual, keep the cards and letters
coming!
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