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00 - 30 A reception was held in honor of Trustee Emeritus Dr. M. Moran Weston II ’30 on October 13, 1998, in the Rotunda of Low Memorial Library. Weston’s efforts as a community activist and champion of low-income housing development have established him as one of upper Manhattan’s most well-respected civic leaders. Weston, who also holds a doctorate from Columbia, carved a reputation in the community through his efforts to provide financial resources and affordable housing to low-income families. He founded the Harlem-based Carver Federal Savings Bank in 1948, an institution that helps finance affordable housing in the neighborhood. During his tenure as rector of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, one of America’s oldest and largest predominately black Episcopal churches, Weston built the Upper Manhattan Child Development/Day Care Center. The culmination of Weston’s community efforts is the National Association for Affordable Housing, which he founded in 1983 and chaired for many years. The association’s motto, “For Every Person a Home—A Decent Place to Live,” summarizes Weston’s life goal. In 1969 Weston was elected to the Board of Trustees, where he served actively until 1981. 31 Dr. Vincent J. Strack is enjoying life and activities at a Boca Raton retirement home. “We are still overwhelmed by moving chores. However, Doris’s Columbia Lion Award (28th College Fund) is in its proper place atop the spiral staircase. Did you know that Doris was the first woman to receive this prestigious award? And that she is (I think) the only one to marry two classmates (but not at the same time).” My family feels that there is now insufficient
room for a computer, and I was expecting a box of pencils for Christmas
(with a sharpener, I hope). For the time being, fax, e-mail, etc.
is out so please patronize the good old U.S. mail. Many thanks. 32 33 As he has regularly since 1983, V.C. Bremer of Lyndhurst, N.J., visited Alaska, where his son has a house. He enjoys fishing for northern pike and salmon. “I throw all the pike back into the creek,” he says. Paul E. Kaunitz can mark over 40 consecutive years in psychiatric service at the Yale University School of Medicine, where he holds the rank of clinical professor of psychiatry. Jack Keville, who was inducted into the Plastics Hall of Fame in 1994 in recognition of his work as a founding vice president of the National Plastics Center and Museum in Leominster, Mass., is now vice president emeritus of that institution. Although he was unable to attend reunion, he hasn’t lost interest in the College. “We should do everything possible to improve the success of Columbia intercollegiate athletics, especially football,” he writes. Bernard Mecke, who made his name as vice president of New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, remembered some of his other jobs: “butcher, florist, elevator operator, medical technician, autopsy specialist, snake and alligator dealer, animal breeder, jewelry and diamond dealer, and bull terrier breeder.” He has two books in the outline stage. Leo Rangell writes from Los Angeles, “I have had a full life in a vibrant field of intellectual and emotional meaning. It has had its peaks and valleys, too, but will be a permanent contribution to man’s self-knowledge. I have had two tragedies: the loss of a son and now of my wife, indispensable for 60 years.” Robert Shriver, who retired at 59 after a 25-year banking career, later taught college at Lebanon Valley College, Elizabethtown College and Penn State. Since then, he has spent three years updating, revising and publishing the Shriver Family history. In 1977, he and his wife, Dallas, moved to a retirement community in Mechanicsburg, Pa., though they still found time to work on a family homestead in Maryland. “My wife and I agree that it has been a good life,” he writes. Clifford Spingarn, M.D.,
who graduated from P&S in 1937, has maintained an active internal
medicine practice in New York for over 51 years, and has served as
president of New York County Medical Society for a year. His son,
John, an architect, has three children; his daughter, Alexandra, has
two sons. 34 Planning for our 65th Reunion began on October 30 with a luncheon at Faculty House on campus. Representing our class were Herb Jacoby, who will be our reunion committee chairman, Lew Goldenheim and Murray Nathan. The Class of 1929, observing its 70th anniversary, will join us for some events. Looking forward to the reunion (June 4-6, 1999; write it down now), I got out our yearbook, The Columbian. The paper has held up well, but the binding is coming apart, not surprising after 64 years. Howard Klein, who died some time back, was editor, and Stan Fishel, who died more recently, was business manager. In our senior poll Stan was voted politician cum laude and most dignified. We expected an average salary of $3,600 after five years, Katherine Hepburn was our favorite movie actress, and the best novel of the year was Anthony Adverse. Alan Gewirth’s
latest book, Self-Fulfillment, was published in 1998 by Princeton
University Press. A book by eight authors discussing his work in moral
and political philosophy was also published in 1998 by Rowan and Littlefield.
As of last November Alan was teaching a graduate course on the philosophical
foundations of human rights at the University of Chicago, where he
has taught since 1947. He also was recovering from knee replacement
surgery. 35 36 37 On Homecoming Day ’98,
I arrived too late for any reunion activities, but I did have the
pleasure of watching underdog Columbia wallop Harvard 24–0. Since
I’ve received no news of classmates, this month’s column
will not be the usual kind. 38 39 Our 60th Reunion will not be scheduled with all the other reunion classes, as the large blue postcard you received in November suggested. Instead, we will have a shorter, more intimate get-together on campus on these dates: Thursday, October 21, Friday, October 22, and (optionally) Saturday, October 23. Please reserve these dates. Details about registration, activities planned, cost, etc. will be sent in due time. See you on campus then. Victor Futter and his wife Joan toured South Africa recently. They were much impressed by Nelson Mandela’s success in holding the country together in difficult times. According to Vic, he is a great man of this generation. People are better off than ever before, he reports, and parents want education for their children. Vic and Ellen also enjoyed a safari in the north. Victor Streit has been missing to his friends since May, and he assures us that his permanent address is 18081 SE Country Club Drive, Apt. #252, Sequesta, Fla. 33469-1251. Telephone (561) 746-8461. From mid-May to mid-September he and his family stay at his wife’s family homestead at P.O. Box 45, Brookfield, N.Y. 13314-0045. Telephone (315) 899- 6628. Mary’s great-grandfather was a stationmaster on the Underground Railroad, which probably accounts for a visit by Frederick A. Douglass in 1856. Douglass was on his way to an anti-slavery speech at Rochester. He stayed at the homestead long enough to speak to a gathering of 10,000 in the backyard! Your correspondent, Ralph
Staiger, has just had a book, Thomas Harriot, Pioneer Scientist,
published by Clarion Press, a subsidiary of Houghton Mifflin. Harriot
was well-known in Elizabethan Europe, and was a protégé
of Walter Raleigh and the Ninth Earl of Northumberland. But he published
little and so was soon forgotten, even though he had mapped the moon,
observed a wide range of sunspots, developed modern algebra, and even
experimented with binary numbers. I wrote the book because people
young and old need to know Thomas Harriot better. 40 Bill Evers will be fondly remembered, particularly by his friends on the varsity crew, basketball team, in Varsity Show and Alpha Delta Phi, but not by his daughter Louise, to whom I spoke just as I was completing these notes. Louise deeply regrets that she has no memories of him at all because she was 10 months old when Bill, a captain in the U.S. Marines, was killed on Iwo Jima on February 25, 1945. Many years later her dying mother urged her to search out what remembrances she could about him. Having made prior unsuccessful inquiries at Columbia, Louise is now appealing directly to Bill’s classmates to help her by sharing their memories of her Dad with her. (I’ll be glad to forward whatever you send, or put you directly in touch with her.) Lawson Bernstein has moved to Pittsburgh to live with his physician son, Lawson, Jr., and to receive outpatient therapy, with “encouraging results.” He sounded great to me, is buying a season ticket to the Pittsburgh Symphony, and reported “being overwhelmed” by the citation he just received from the Board of the College Alumni Association. The citation reviews Lawson’s 60-year commitment to the College, and his career as scholar, lawyer and philanthropist. It states, in part, “you have placed the College, its students and alumni in your debt through your service and your example.” I might add, “not least our own Class, for whom you’ve done so much...our deepest thanks, Lawson!” Jim Knight sees Ed Rice regularly at his home at Sagaponac, Long Island, where he’s “fighting the good fight” against Parkinson’s, and working with Jim on remembrances of their friend Tom Merton ’38. Their long article, which they may expand into a book, is aimed at giving Merton back his human face, in place of his common portrayal as a “plastic saint.” Ed has had a distinguished career as an editor and a prolific and best-selling author. Jim lived in post-WWII Paris, working for The Herald Tribune and authoring a fantasy on Marshal de Sax, Master of Chembord chateau. Later he joined the public information department of the International Labor Organization, from which he’s now retired. Matt Elbow, professor emeritus of history at SUNY Albany, recently received the Campbell Peace and Justice Award of the Albany Council of Churches for his many years of commitment to and work in these areas. Matt described the two highlights of his extended stay at Columbia (where he received his Ph.D.): meeting his wife, Margaret, and history Professor (later Dean) Harry Carman’s wonderful mentoring. I called Charlie Webster
to expand on the note he had mailed CCT, reiterating his comment in
the Spring CCT that every grad should read David Denby’s Great
Books. Charlie explained: “It’s an opportunity to vicariously
re-experience CC and rediscover its powerful relevance to today’s
world, from a fresh and very different vantage point from the one
you had as undergraduate.” 41 The 57th Reunion of the class was held at Arden House on November 13–15, 1998. In attendance were Helen and Hugh Abdoo and Mary Louise Barber, Suzanne and Bob Dettmer, Joe Coffee, Franny and Ted de Bary, Ann and Jim Dick, Cynthia and Arthur Friedman, Steve Fromer and Harriet Boehm, Ruth and Stan Gotliffe, Lavita and Saul Haskel, Judy and Harry Mellins, Ruth and John Montgomery, Alice and Jack Mullins, Lucille and Charles Plotz, Jack Rainer, Ross Sayers, Herb Spiselman and Judy Sagan, Dorothy and Phil Van Kirk, Mabel and N.T. Wang, Betty and Arthur Weinstock, Allyn and Bob Zucker; also Janice and Henry Ozimek ’38. Weekend activities included women’s and men’s tennis tournaments, won by Lucille and Charles Plotz, respectively. Since Charlie claims to be the youngest member of the class, he may have had a decided advantage over previous years’ winners who are feeling their seniority! To advance this theme further, one of the topics of the usual Saturday afternoon “seminar session” was “Retirement Communities,” researched in some depth by Bob Dettmer. The weekend excitement was enhanced by a real-life fire drill. We were firmly ushered from the premises for a good three hours while various local fire departments trundled sundry pieces of fire equipment up the mountain to extinguish a very smoky chimney fire. Included was an enormous ladder truck, which backed through the tunnel to the service courtyard and then extended itself to the very top of the roof. From that vantage point a fireman began to laboriously scrape the accumulated creosote out of the library fireplace flue that had been the source of the conflagration. Also, the occupants of a room adjacent to that flue had to be relocated after the fireman chopped into a hot wall to make sure nothing was burning within. During the entire time none but fire personnel were permitted past the bottom of the hill, so that a few late arrivals were forced to “cool their heels” in the valley. Bruce Wallace, an eminent geneticist still located at VPI & SU in Blacksburg, Va., has published a fascinating and thought-provoking series of essays titled The Environment: As I See It, Science Is Not Enough (available through Elkhorn Press, P.O. Box 5, Elkhorn, West Virginia 24831). In an accompanying note Bruce states “...these essays may be freely reproduced, singly or in number.” The underlying theme is that no single discipline is capable of solving the extraordinarily complex issues that threaten our environment; rather, an educational process, not yet in existence, must be instituted to that end, but only after careful and thorough multi-disciplinary planning. The class wishes to extend
condolences to Ed Fischel upon the death of his wife, Pauline,
who had been a psychiatric social worker. Also, to Arthur Weinstock
upon the death of his mother, Frances, a benefactor of both the College
and the University. 42 avherbmark@cyburban.com Once again, I have had to work overtime to get reportable news for these notes. I did my calling around, and with some reportorial help from the usual quarters, can bring you up to date on a few old friends. Don Mankiewicz kept his word and made it to the West Coast Homecoming. It is now his boast (so far unchallenged) that he is the only living College alumnus who has seen every Columbia football game on the West Coast, having been in the stands at the Rose Bowl on January 1, 1934. A prize-winning novelist, Don is still an active screen and TV writer. He recently enjoyed a reunion with old friend Sam Pisicchio, who lives in Napa. By now you know that Bill Edge had to step down as editor of our class newsletter. In this role, Bill did much to keep the class together. Our appreciation was shown at our Reunion dinner last year, when Bill received a standing ovation and a Columbia lion statue. Don Dickinson, surely our only classmate to have made a career in Las Vegas, retired a few years ago as an executive in the gambling industry. Don went to Las Vegas immediately after World War II and has seen it grow from an empty desert to its present amazing size. Although unable to attend our recent reunions, he has kept in touch with many classmates around the country. Len Garth shared some of the wonders of his recent trip to the Galapagos. Len continues to serve as a senior judge of the 3rd Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals. I have also spoken recently with Art Graham, Leon Davidson and Bob Cherneff. Art is very active in alumni affairs at both the College and School of Engineering. Leon and I rarely see each other, though we live less than a mile apart. He and his wife, Doris, recently celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary. Bob Cherneff has adapted well to life among the historic sites and antique dealers in the hills of western Massachusetts. Like so many of us, he is busy and happy with many activities, none of them related to his high pressure years in public relations. One of the most stimulating courses I took in the College was anthropology. This past summer, my wife and I made a field trip that should be part of that course. We visited Indian sites and villages along the Canadian northwest coast, cultures that were first fully studied by Franz Boas, who had been chairman of the Columbia Department of Anthropology. (Boas was also the grandfather of our two late classmates, Bob and Phil Yampolsky.) It was exciting, informative and evocative for us to visit the cultural centers of today’s Kwakiutl, Haida and other tribes, where the name of Franz Boas is still revered. CCT is appearing more
frequently. To meet this challenge, I need more letters and calls
from you of ’42. Respond to my appeal! Besides, you all like
to see your names in print. 43 First, let me explain that after college, at my maternal grandfather’s behest, I have carried my former middle name, McLean, as my surname. Joe Kelly reported in June: “My biggest current problem is how to acknowledge and thank all of my classmates who at a silent signal formed a tightly knit life-saving team when my personal lights went out during the Doctors Lecture in Schermerhorn at our recent 55th Reunion. Most of my information about the event is hearsay, but from an unusually reliable group made up of doctors, a number of dedicated ad hoc assistants and a whole gallery of well-wishers. “I can speak of it lightly now because my good friends were so serious then and so knowledgeable in evaluating the symptoms despite my medically ignorant pleas. They decreed that the next class for me would be St. Luke’s Hospital for 24-hour observation. “My remembrance of the scene in Schermerhorn is that everyone in the classroom, 30 people, gathered around to help the stricken classmate. Now there isn’t any virus, poison or physical anomaly that can stand a chance of bringing down the patient when there’s that much concern and support for a friend. “I am most grateful to
you all, especially our great doctors. He isn’t around anymore
but I wish I could thank Columbia’s 1939 admissions director,
Bernie Ireland, for admitting me into such a remarkable group.” 44 Dr. Joshua Lederberg—our Nobel laureate geneticist delivered the Osuntokun Lecture on October 21 at the World Health Organization’s 36th session (Advisory Committee on Health Research) in Geneva. Maurice Spanbock—serving as able member and treasurer of the Carnegie Council of Ethics and International Affairs. Captain Thomas L. Dwyer—back from a triumphant tour of England and Scotland, he’s playing the best golf he can in Maryland as he plans to attend with elegant spouse, T. C., a May reunion in Seattle of his shipmates on the U.S.S. Hadley, a near unsinkable “can” that knocked down 27 kamikaze planes, took some hard hits and survived to receive a presidential unit citation. Leonard Koppett—visited New York from Palo Alto recently on lively “author” tour to launch his already lauded Koppett’s Concise History of Major League Baseball, just issued by Temple University Press. A delight from the home-run first chapter history on the birth of baseball to page 521, it’s what you should have given for Xmas, Hannukah and your child’s birthday. Mort Lindsey—eminent conductor, composer, arranger and frequent flier swept through the Large Apple to conduct the overture at the swell Judy Garland Tribute in Carnegie Hall. The masterful founder of the unforgettable Blue Lions—you forgot?—and ex-musical lord of Garland’s television series got a standing ovation as he repeated his fine conducting of the piece he first did 37 years ago. It do zip by, don’t it? Francis Rigney—the sage, insightful and retired San Francisco psychiatrist is making steady and significant progress in his important scholarly project that will bring us a multi-volume report bridging the language and theory gaps between several key disciplines. Class Reunion—Le 55 arrives
on the first weekend in June, on campus. You got the card, so save
the date and put on your thinking helmet. How can you assist our planning
committee? Ideas for program, speakers, munchies, events and choral
works? Photos of grandkids and/or exaggerated tales about undergraduate
pranks welcome. So are you. Please write, and do register and come.
More to follow. Watch your mailbox. 45 No news submitted this time, but I’ll do my best for the column. The above is busy doing Sunday supply work in local Episcopal churches celebrating the Eucharist and preaching, which he loves to do. He realizes that writing courses at the College have been very helpful in sermon preparation. Might add the old saying that you cannot criticize one for being a bad preacher but you can for being a long one. Your correspondent also lectures on graphology or analyzing handwriting, which he studied on a college level for three years. The key concerns are slant of letters, words and lines; spacing of the same; light, medium and heavy pressure; zone emphasis of upper (abstract), middle (mundane or everyday experiences), and the lower (instinctual/biological). These zones are Freud’s id, ego and super ego. Clarity and speed of writing are also concerns. Graphology evaluates character, disposition and aptitudes and also reflects thoughts, feelings and habits at the time of writing. Did you know that, according to an old print, Columbia College is New York’s oldest college, founded in 1754 and first located near Park Place and Church Street? The central building was completed in 1760 with wings added 1817–1820. The College moved to Madison Avenue and 49th Street in 1857 and to Morningside Heights in 1897. Wouldn’t it have been exciting to be a student at the College during those early years? But our years at the College were exciting, too. And, if not exciting, at least memorable. Why not write to tell about some of your memories? This thought just occurred to me. Wasn’t Columbia originally named King’s College? When did the change take place? The print didn’t mention anything about this. What history buff can enlighten us? Our nominees chosen at random are for this time: Keith A. Gourlay, Esq. of Oneonta, N.Y., and Ronald A. Graham of New Providence, N.J. Would like to hear from Keith or Ronald or from anyone who can tell us about them. Dear classmates, this column
carries a moral: send me information or expect a column like this
every time. 46 The mailbox has been empty so there is very little to report. I did hear from Aileen Ferguson giving me the sad news that Jim Ferguson had passed away last February. I used to see a lot of Jim when he was stationed in Washington and I would visit the schools in that area. I did, of course, hear from Howard Clifford who is living now in Mottled Desert, Wyoming. Howard planned to open up a dude ranch but the sign painter mixed it up and put an “N” instead of a “D” in the sign, and he is having great trouble with the local authorities. Howard called to tell me how much he liked the last issue of CCT and how he hoped that this was only the beginning of a more regular publication schedule. I agreed but told him he would have to come up with more class news if I were to submit a column four times a year. Therefore, classmates, it is
up to you. 47 The notice about the deadline
for this issue had, as usual, two boxes at the bottom: “news
enclosed” and “sorry, nothing this time.” Your correspondent
regrets to report that it was the second box that bore the Class Notes
Editor’s checkmark. In the months since the last issue of CCT,
has nothing at all happened of possible interest to our fellow classmates?
Quite possible, but that is hard to believe. 48 New Year greetings! As in the previous column, the items below are in alphabetical order by surname. Norman E. Eliasson reports that his elder daughter, a teacher in Emeryville, Calif., spent the summer in an NYU master’s program at a California campus to earn a graduate degree in 2000, when he will be 75. Norm thought that our Class’s 50th Reunion was “glorious,” and that all it lacked was an up-to-date address list. Norm would like to get the current addresses of Harry Ekblom, Ray Rice, and Jack Thomas. Norm lives at 6508 Machodoc Court, Falls Church, Va. 22043. E. Peter Geiduschek is professor in the department of biology at UC-San Diego. He had a letter published on page 415 of the October 16 issue of Science. In it, he disagreed with its editor’s belief that the authors of a scientific journal article should assign its copyright to the journal. Peter thinks that even when the editors of a journal materially improve the article, which is not always the case, the article has not been “created together,” as claimed by the editor, so that copyright ownership should remain with the authors, who actually performed the reported research. Peter lives at 8460 Cliffridge Lane, La Jolla, Calif. 92037. Paul H. Gerst, M.D., is still chief of surgery at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center in the Bronx, where he has been on the job for 34 years. Paul, who is a widower, has three sons, one of whom is also an M.D., and one granddaughter. (I’ll have to tell my one grandson.) Paul lives at 141 Tekening Drive, Tenafly, N.J. 07670. Hollis W. Hodges, where are you? When I telephoned the Baldwin, N.Y., number given in the latest list of living class of ’48 alumni sent me by this quarterly, a Mrs. Hodges answered, but said she had never heard of Hollis (except from Columbia University fund-raisers, who she wishes would stop calling) and is married to a man with a different given name who graduated not from Columbia but from Brown. Hollis once worked for the United States Information Agency; was it really for the CIA, and was the Baldwin address his now-blown cover? Paul P. Woolard, in
post- retirement from his high executive position at Revlon, is active
on behalf of the scholarship fund of the inner city primary and high
schools run by the Archdiocese of New York. He says that this program
helps 52,000 students, most of whom are members of ethnic minorities,
in 119 schools, at a cost of one-third that of public schools, and
that 99 percent of the high school students graduate. Paul has four
children and 10 grandchildren, with two more on the way. He lives
at 116 East 68th Street, New York, N.Y. 10021. 49 I hope you all enjoyed a pleasant Thanksgiving dinner with your families and/or close friends, and that when this reaches you in 1999 you will have enjoyed a happy and healthy holiday and will have a new year of peace and joy. It has been fairly quiet here, but I did have the pleasure of a phone call from Paul Meyer, who wanted to know the dates of our upcoming 50th Reunion—they are June 6, 7 and 8, on Morningside Heights—as he plans to attend, as do many of you, I’m sure. Gene Straube reports that, together with their respective families, he, Jerry Blum and John Nork had a mini-reunion in conjunction with the Columbia football team’s first West Coast trip since the magic year of 1934. It included a Great Books symposium with Professor Carl Hovde ’50, a party on the Skydeck of Embarcadero One attended by about 500 Columbians, and a pre-game picnic on Saturday, October 3, followed by “a very exciting game with a loud, cheering Columbia crowd of several thousand in the stands” ending in a last minute rally for a 20–17 victory over St. Mary’s. I quote The San Francisco Examiner, which Gene enclosed: “The whole day went well for the Lions, who are 2–0 in California, following that 7–0 victory in the Rose Bowl over Stanford...in 1934, and [for] their 400–500 Columbia alumni who showed up (some of them looking as if they might have been in Pasadena in ’34).” Just prior to the deadline for submission of this material a note arrived from Bennett Lustgarten, via his wife, Alice, in Ardsley, N.Y., with the distressing news that his disabling case of Parkinson’s disease will cause them to miss our 50th reunion. However, she writes that he is trying to cope and enjoy whatever he can—especially satisfying are his four children and three grandchildren. Two of his sons are involved in medicine, which Ben loves so much: Jonathan through his association with the Columbia Neurology Group and Daniel through his activity in cardiology and electrophysiology at Mass. General Hospital. Ben sends his best wishes to all on the momentous occasion! The reunion committee meeting was scheduled for the evening of December 3, a date when Joe Levie and I, with our wives, were to meet for dinner and chamber music. Wait for further information. “Im Osten, nichts neues.”
That can’t possibly be true, but unless you let me know your
interesting news it won’t find its way into print. Don’t
be shy, please. 50 It will be here before you know it—the year of our Big Five-Oh. Several of you have already inquired about plans for our 50th Reunion, and I can tell you now that the ball is rolling. Ashbel Green has taken the initiative and organized a meeting of several classmates to act as a steering committee to get ideas on the table. Also present at the meeting in October were Ralph Italie, Bud Kassel, Jerry Kaye, Mario Palmieri, Al Schmitt and Bob Siegel, and two representatives of the Office of Alumni Affairs. No definitive decisions were made, and there is no hard information to give you at this time, but the Alumni Office is working on some ideas that came out of this meeting and in due course you will be hearing from them. In the meantime, you know it’s coming, so start thinking about being there. Desmond Nunan visited
the campus last summer and was impressed not only with the number
of students but also the energy they displayed in moving busily about
in the summer heat. Hmmm—could it be that current students are
more energetic than we were? Good to hear from you, Des. 51 At our last class reunion in May 1996 we made a decision to establish a Columbia College Class of 1951 scholarship fund. The scholarship for 1997–98 was awarded to Joshua Wenk ’99, who is majoring in psychology with an additional concentration in music. Last summer, Joshua worked as a research assistant in the anthropology department and was a group leader in Columbia’s outdoor biking orientation program. He plans to attend graduate school after college. Our class scholarship award is important. Not only do we support a young person in achieving a Columbia College education, but we are also leaving a legacy for the future. Those of us who contribute will be a part of Columbia forever, insuring opportunities for deserving students for years to come. Think about this heritage when you are writing your check to the Columbia College Fund. Remember our class scholarship, and designate a portion of your gift to continue what we created at the 45th reunion. Recently I was in touch with the Class of 1950 correspondent to see what kind of planning that class is doing for their 50th reunion in the year 2000. Their steering committee is currently conducting a survey. Should the reunion be held on campus or off campus? What speakers should be invited? How about the social events? More importantly, who is going to do the work? Needless to say, a 50th reunion does not just happen miraculously. The College provides a lot of help and plenty of suggestions, but our class will have to supply some muscle, and soon! I am asking you to contact me now with ideas and suggestions. Please volunteer to be on our reunion steering committee currently in organization. We need representation from every part of the country, especially from class members who would like to play a major role in the planning of this prestigious event. Albert J. Bart, living in Manchester, Tenn., retired from the University of Tennessee Space Institute of Aeronautical Engineering after a long career in the electronics industry. Al was in the College ROTC program and had a tour of duty with the Navy during the Korean War. Along the way he found time to earn his MBA at Boston University. Frank Tupper Smith is still practicing probate law in Dallas. Sam Haines gave him a ’51 tie clasp years ago and he is still wearing it! Maybe that’s why he has been so active with the Columbia alumni group in Texas. Frank and his wife have three daughters: one is an attorney, one a professor and one a corporate convention planner. Frank’s new address is 3860 West Northwest Highway, Dallas, Texas 75220. In the past year Joseph A. Sirola has made over 600 commercials for Wendy’s. Joe is among the country’s foremost voice-over specialists, recording for Boar’s Head Meats, Hertz and Nyquil. That’s an essential medication when one always wears a rose in his lapel! Recently Joe took a trip around the world and visited the world’s major cities. Joseph A. Ambrose is enjoying the good life, summers in Irvington, N.Y., and winters in Naples, Fla. A couple of years ago he went to Australia and New Zealand and also took a 17-day safari to Kenya and Tanzania. Joe spends a good amount of time as a literacy volunteer and teacher of English as a second language. Like many of our classmates, he found the new look of the Columbia College Today magazine exciting and a major communications improvement for alumni Write to me if you have news.
Send e-mail. Or for a quick response, give me a call at (914) 592-9023. 52 Alfred Rubin reports from Belmont, Mass., that his book, Ethics and Authority in International Law, was published in 1997 by Cambridge University Press. The second (revised) edition of his The Law of Piracy was published in 1998 by Transitional Publishers. The first edition, published by the Naval War College Press, sold out. Joe Di Palma continues his family’s association with the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution. In November, a reception was held with a presentation, “Selections from The Di Palma Center for the Study of Jewelry and Precious Metals.” I am pleased to report that Gene Manfrini has found considerable relief from his pain with a new medication. It is still in an experimental stage, but we all wish him the best. He has great hope that he will be able to be more active. Jim Hoebel’s wife, Arlene, is home in Virginia, recovering from her second knee replacement. We hope it will go even better than the first. Eileen and Dick Pittenger are keeping themselves fully occupied in retirement on Cape Cod. Dick wonders where he ever found the time for his job before retirement. If you want to find something
to read in this column, you people out there had better send in some
notes. 53 Ken Skoug reports that after 40 years of marriage, he and Martha finally became grandparents on August 10 when their daughter, Reed, produced a son, Curtis Skoug Roller, in Harleysville, Pa. Ken retired in 1990 after spending a third of a century in the U.S. Foreign Service. He is now busy writing his next book, Czechoslovakia’s Lost Fight for Freedom, 1967-1969: An American Embassy Perspective. Publication is set for early 1999. Philip Alper writes that he is being kept very busy at his medical practice and writing. He has been appointed as a visiting scholar at the Hoover Institution and in the Bioethics Center at Stanford and as associate director of the medical knowledge base for First DataBank Corporation. Son Marc was married in August. Wallace Broecker caused quite a stir last May at the Eighth Annual International Global Warming Conference. Speaking as Newberry Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia, he predicted that dumping six billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atomosphere annually could precipitate dramatic changes in climate. “The Earth’s climate system is an angry beast subject to unpredictable responses, and by adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, we may be provoking the beast,” he told the distinguished panel. Rhoda and Howard Rosenfeld have been married eight years; between them they have five children and 10 grandchildren. Having recently bought a small house in the Rancho Bernardo Section of San Diego, they are enjoying retirement, especially having moved from hot, humid, buggy central Florida. Dan Epstein has been married to Ellen for 42 years and is now living the life of a semi-retired dentist. All four of their children are married, and they have eight wonderful grandchildren. Henry Donaghy became a grandfather last January. He and his bride of 34 years love living in North Carolina after spending 52 years in the northeast. Arthur Elkind is still in active practice at the Elkind Headache Center in Mount Vernon, N.Y. He’s been conducting investigative research into migraine therapies. His son, Mitchell, is entering the practice of neurology at Presbyterian Hospital. He’s completed a fellowship in Epidemiology at the Columbia School of Public Health. Bob Waizer has been practicing psychiatry in New York City and Connecticut. He graduated from law school in 1988 and is joining the tri-state law firm of Robinson & Cole. Bob will lead its health law section. Son, Steve, graduated from Haverford, and Eric is in his sophomore year at Emory. Larry Harte has been elected chairman of the New Jersey State Health Council. Lee J. Guittar is currently
the editor and publisher of The San Francisco Examiner. 54 I’m happy to report hearing from two classmates, representing each coast. Since 1966 Judy and Bill Dobbs have been living in Foster City, Calif., which is about 20 miles south of San Francisco. Bill is active as a financial planner, and Judy is a retired deputy district attorney. They have two daughters, one in San Francisco and the other in Phoenix. Alan Trei has found “the perfect retirement job.” After 15 years of bachelorhood, Alan married Inna Feldbach and is now a dad again, for three children. The family has settled in Northampton, Mass. Alan has completed most of his marketing consulting work, but he and his bride are translating works from Estonian and Russian to English, as well as from English and Spanish into Estonian. Alan plans on joining our 45th reunion, which will be at Arden House in Harriman, N.Y., from Friday, June 18, to Sunday, June 20. Please plan on joining us. In the meantime, please let
us hear from you. 55 The Quad at Columbia, as it is referred to in the new edition of Allan Ishac’s book: New York’s 50 Best Places to Find Peace and Quiet, received an A from the author, who called it “a high-spirited, unhurried place for intellectual and physical renewal.” Do you think Yale can make a claim like this in New Haven? Or Penn in Philadelphia? I think not! In addition to this interesting accolade, the College continues to maintain its high desirability rating—early decision applications are up around six percent compared with last year and have risen dramatically over the past six years. Regular applications are also increasing. The new advising system instituted this past fall by Dean Austin Quigley has taken hold and has been received very positively by the student body. Other good news: when we last looked the final touches were being put on the exterior of Lerner Hall. The glass enclosure was painstakingly being mounted in view of interested onlookers. Even student attendance was up at various sporting events, especially the contests held at Baker Field. One reason could be the special card, which for $5 affords undergraduates a free ticket to every game plus a free seat on the special buses shuttling from campus to the stadium. (Remember the good old days on the Broadway IRT, guys? Is this generation of underclass people getting soft?) The feeling one senses on campus is that everyone is working together to make Columbia the prize jewel of advanced education not only in New York City, but in the United States and around the world. The pre-winter festivities kicked off with the Hamilton Dinner in honor of Roone Arledge ’52 in November. This event, the largest ever, included such notable attendees from our class as Allen Hyman, taking time out from his duties at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital; Jim Phelan, former president of the Columbia College Alumni Association; Don Laufer, partner of Faust, Rabback & Oppenheim; and your devoted reporter. It was an event that seemed dominated by the classes of the early to mid-’50s. Touching the hearts and souls of our classmates from far and near, Norm Goldstein reports from Honolulu that he was on the Hawaii Governor’s Blue-Ribbon Panel on living and dying with dignity. He is also a member of the Board of the Hemlock Society. With all his medical activities and the famous Ramsay Gallery, we just can’t get Norm back to the Mainland. Sam Astrachan has retired from teaching at Wayne State and is now living in Gordes, France. Sam taught at the Michigan school for many years, and was a prolific writer. (He still is, as a matter of fact.) If any classmates are passing through this part of France, Sam will keep a light on for you. With the 45th Reunion coming up in the year 2000, the Class Steering Committee is holding meetings to plan this momentous occasion. Members of the committee in formation and growing are Steve Bernstein, Roland Plottel, Jim Phelan, Ezra Levin, Alfred Gollomp, Jay Joseph, Bob Brown, Larry Balfus, Alan Sloate, Ed Siegel, Bill Epstein, Donn Coffee, et al. Now is the time for everyone to join the planning process. We are hoping to see some of the guys who didn’t make the 40th, such as Cincinnati’s Tom Evans, John Nelson from Long Island, Bob Mercier living in Phoenix, and Jim Amlicke of St. Joseph, Mich., among others. We also fully expect the West Coast contingent to make their appearance: Bill Mink from Napa, Bernie Kirtman from sunny Santa Barbara, Marty Salan from San Francisco, Alan Pasternak living in Lafayette, Calif., Bill Langston of Piedmont, Sheldon Wolf further south in Los Angeles, and maybe even the old Texan, now residing in Beverly Hills, Sid Sheinberg. Which college has more NFL owners than any other school? With the purchase of the Cleveland Browns, our classmate Al Lerner becomes the second Columbia person to be part of this elite group. (Class of 1963 claims Robert Kraft, who recently made headlines by announcing the move of his New England Patriots to Hartford, Conn.) Our football aficionado who is extremely pleased with these affiliations is Jack Armstrong, who can he seen every Saturday (at home games only) watching his favorite college team run up and down the field in upper Manhattan. Not only did Jack, who now lives in Sea Girt, N.J., play for the Lions, but he also spent time coaching at Columbia in the early ’60s. We also saw Bob Pearlman cheering at Baker Field. Bob has now turned his attention to basketball further downtown. Chuck Garrison, residing in Valley Cottage, N.Y., recently visited with Dan Culhane and Bill Browning where they talked about the good old days and the good new days. All three are hale and hearty, work out a lot, take long walks in the woods, and do other things you are supposed to do when you live in the country. Joe Vales, the pride of Sewickley, Pa., who was supposed to be in town for a couple of Columbia functions, had to postpone his visits. It might have had to do with some late-year golf tournaments. Priorities, Joe, priorities. Denis Haggerty has left Jaco Electronics and has moved to Titusville, Fla., where he plays golf, fishes, and best of all, watches the shuttle launches at the Cape. Neil Opdyke and Dick Carr can expect calls and visits from Denis. Espied walking the streets of Manhattan on a Sunday afternoon was our soccer guru, Anthony Viscusi. Anthony took a brief time out from watching the European Leagues on television to enjoy the mild early winter weather in New York. He is currently reverse commuting to Long Island, where he is CEO of a drug company. Gentlemen, there is so much to write about, but so little space. Watch your diet. Exercise. Cover your heads in cold weather. Give a favorite classmate a call. Remember May 2000. You guys are the best. Love
to all! Everywhere! 56 Our class has three grandparent champions who we will enter in the ring against other classes. The family production of Ernst Weglein, a lawyer/engineer in Lawrence, Mass., is 11, with number 12 on the way. (They are working on only three of five cylinders, with two children non-productive to date.) I now know why Ernst has no plans for retirement—too many presents and eventual college tuitions. Go for it, Ernst, and may this be a challenge for the rest of us. At Ernst’s request, I called Larry Gitten and told Vera and Larry of his superior achievement. On a sadder note, Steve Easton and yours truly were at the Brown game which, hard to believe, we lost after out-playing them. Rather different than the Homecoming experience against Harvard. A few Harvard alumni behind us had their heads in their hands by the fourth quarter—an unusually pleasurable observation. After Homecoming we repeated our Dean’s Day experience, taking over the balcony at Louie’s on the Upper West Side for dinner. Lou Hemmerdinger couldn’t make it, and his Columbia tie is still on my chair—either rent or expropriation is coming up. Heard from Don Morris recently, who was making sure I was still alive and kicking. We only live five blocks apart and I pass his house frequently on my cigar smoking route. Anne Marie is still spending much time trying to get their new country house fixed up while Lou’s job is fixing up the New York apartment. I told Don that life is supposed to get more simple as we get older—almost Medicare time which is difficult to believe—and I hope they correct this errant behavior soon. Lisa and Mike Spett must be in Florida doing filial duty again, an activity I will duplicate in December for my parents (ages 90 and 85). Finally, with the consent of Dean Quigley, I had a lengthy meeting with Roger Lehecka in his new capacity of director of alumni programs. In trying to lead my own class into the 21st century, I have been impressed with my classmates’ wide-ranging and high-level talents, experience and achievements. Contact with Columbia College students and recent graduates tells me of a need for more guidance and mentoring. Wouldn’t it make sense to have loyal alumni from many classes fill the gap with their experience and knowledge, and interact with the undergraduates? I have been talking this up with Dean Quigley, whom I really like and respect. Let me know your opinions. Basketball is coming up and some of us, including Steve Easton, Larry Gitten and Lenny Wolfe, have been talking about getting together for a game and dinner. Contact me. Love, respect and friendship
to all, and prayers for your success and happiness for our multiple
generations. Call me at (212) 712-2369 or (914) 878-4814. 57 58 Dave Londoner has been a member of a task force of the American Institute of CPAs that has been working on changes in film industry accounting rules for the last decade. Some movie companies have apparently accelerated their income while deferring expenses, with misleading, and sometimes disastrous, results. Tentative approval has now been granted to the committee’s revisions restricting these practices. Dave believes the new rules will level the playing field for all companies, while easing his job as an analyst by making the industry’s figures more comparable. The versatile Dr. Steve Jonas, who spoke at our reunion last spring, has been appointed adjunct professor of legal education at Touro Law School. Steve, who is professor of preventive medicine at the SUNY-Stony Brook School of Medicine, has also been named chairman of a new Campus Wellness Program Planning Committee. In addition, Steve is now a member of the editorial board of a new news-letter, Health Promotion in Clinical Practice. In his spare time, Steve is an author. Recent publications include the sixth edition of Jonas and Kovner’s Health Care Delivery in the United States (of which he is co-editor) and the trade paperback version of Just the Weigh You Are (co-written with Linda Konner). In the works are an expanded version of Triathloning for Ordinary Mortals, How to Help Your Man Get Healthy (with Maria Kassberg), and Global Eating co-authored with Sandra Gordon). Another multi-talented classmate, poet John Giorno, has won landmark status for 222 Bowery, where he lives, and has helped establish a teaching and meditation center for a community of Tibetan Buddhists. Built in 1884, it was the first branch of the YMCA in New York City, and later became the home of writer William Burroughs and painters Fernand Leger and Mark Rothko. Joachim Neugroschel wrote to supplement our report in the Class Notes and to correct an error in the press release about his Guggenheim fellowship. His grant was for translating additional writings by the Yiddish author, S. Ansky, including his World War I memoirs, The Destruction of Galicia, and a new Dybbuk reader, “quite different from the book I did with Tony Kushner ’78.” Joachim has translated about
175 books since graduation, ranging from Kafka to Albert Schweitzer,
and has taught in Columbia’s Linguistics Department, among other
teaching posts. His new translations of Hesse’s Siddhartha
and Sacher-Masoch’s Venus in Furs will be published by
Penguin this year, as will a paperback edition of Thomas Mann’s
Death in Venice and Other Stories. He is also working on an
anthology of Yiddish literature from inception to the present. 59 Congratulations to Bob Nozick on his appointment as Pellegrino University Professor at Harvard University. After nearly 40 years of silence,
Jim Levy surfaces from Down Under with the following report:
“In the state of New South Wales, at the age of 60 men are fully
superannuated—that is, we are eligible for the full pension.
So, I have retired (is not “superannuation” a wonderful
word?) after a thoroughly enjoyable career devoted mostly to teaching
and researching Latin American and Spanish history at the University
of New South Wales. Now I contemplate infinity. In fact, work continues:
As an honorary research fellow of the University, among other activities,
I am collaborating on a study of the development of living standards
in Australia and Argentina from the 1890s to the 1960s. I very much
look forward to the 40th Reunion and would also be delighted to welcome
any classmates who turn up in Sydney.” 60 May Day! Not a single e-mail
or note, and your correspondent did not have time to do the kind of
investigative reporting he learned on Spectator. E-mail address
is above (when all is working properly). Your correspondent looks
forward to fast-breaking news. 61 David Klorfine ’65 recently moved from Malibu to Silverlake, a residential neighborhood between downtown Los Angeles and Hollywood. David provides non-linear computer editing and sophisticated graphics. He has done several projects on the millennium and voter empowerment through preference voting and proportional representation. He expects to begin shooting for Wisdom Television, a new satellite network. Sharon and George Gehrman continued their travels this year with a trip to Hong Kong and recently visited Mike Clark and his wife in Reno. Mike retired several years ago. George is employed at the Department of Energy in D.C. JB and I were planning to visit with George and Sharon in December ’98. My son, Richard, recently announced
his engagement, with the wedding planned for the Botanical Gardens
in New York in April. Richard is general manager and a principal owner
of Access Direct, a Computer reseller and service company located
in Lodi, N.J. I finally entered the world of high tech and can now
be reached by e-mail at michael.hausig@ gte.net. Please send your
news so I can make this column a little bit longer. 62 63 Having rendered Disney World historically correct, Eric Foner is moving on to Broadway and the St. James Theater. The show, The Civil War: Our Story in Song, is a musical about our nation’s painful nineteenth-century conflict, drawn from letters, diaries, contemporary accounts and the speeches and poetry of Walt Whitman. Eric is the historical consultant but will probably not be seen on stage. The show will play in New Haven, Conn., between February 16 and March 7 and is scheduled to open on Broadway on April 22. Robert Kraft has been much in the news with his announced plan to move the National Football League’s New England Patriots from Foxboro, Mass. to a new $375 million stadium to be built in Hartford, Conn. While many sports franchise owners have drawn extreme criticism when they move their teams, Kraft fared relatively well in the press, with most criticism going to the Massachusetts legislature that would not approve a new facility or improvements to Foxboro Stadium. James Johnson reports that he just started a second three-year term as chair of the political science department at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. That’s all the class news
I have this time. Please be sure to send on your personal notes as
well as your professional accomplishments or should it be, at this
point, the professional accomplishments of your children and grandchildren. 64 Homecoming, a victory over Harvard, brought out a few of you. Howard Jacobson, deputy general counsel of the University, was in attendance, as were University Provost Jonathan Cole and Steve Singer who, as usual, spent his time watching the soccer match. Dan MacLean came down from Darien, Conn., with his family. He retired two years ago as general counsel for the Dreyfus Corp. Bill Davis, New York, made his regular Homecoming appearance. He, too, is retired. Peter Lowitt, New York, reported that he is not retired but has changed careers. He has given up the practice of medicine for the practice of law. Class authors are in the news. The New York Times ran a feature about Mike Wallace following the publication by Oxford University Press of his book (co-authored with Edwin G. Burrows), Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898. Mike, a professor of history at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, is working on volume two, which will bring his history to the present. The New York Times gave a favorable review to Totally, Tenderly, Tragically, a collection of essays on the cinema by Philip Lopate. The review concluded that the book is “unwaveringly intelligent” and filled with a “wealth of thoughtful analysis conveyed in lively, often eloquent prose.” The book includes Philip’s review of the first New York Film Festival, which appeared in the Spectator on November 1, 1963. Finally, Ed Leavy and Malcolm Scott have children who are in the Class of 2002. Ivan Weissman attended Homecoming with son, Jesse, whom he plans to enroll as a member of the class of 2015. Please drop me a note if you have a child who has attended or is attending the College. I want to publish a complete list. A Happy 1999 to all. 65 Not much news from classmates
this month. William I. Brenner, M.D., commenting on my last column, states that while I got his dogs’ names correct, his wife of 33 years (since our graduation in 1965) is “June” not “Jill.” Sorry, Bill and June. Larry Guido announced to our monthly Class of ’65 lunch group in October that his daughter, Pia, is engaged to marry Torn Murphy in May 1999. Pia is the administrator of the English furniture department at Sotheby’s, New York, and her fiancé is a banker with a French bank, Credit Agricole. Our October lunch was also graced by the presence of Mike Bush, who was in from Studio City, Calif. to visit Columbia with his son, a high school senior who is applying to the College. Mike is happily practicing endocrinology in Los Angeles. Speaking of our New York class
lunch group (which convenes on the second Tuesday of every month),
we normally muster a loyal crowd of between four and six stalwarts.
Our last lunch drew 16! It seems our New York classmates can’t
resist the allure of star-power. Our guest star was the Honorable
Howard Matz, formerly known as “Howie,” now a federal
district judge in the U. S. District Court for the Central District
of California. Howard’s appointment was recently approved by
the U. S. Senate, and he donned his judicial robes in October, 1998.
Howard was in town visiting his two New York-resident sons, one of
whom is an undergraduate at Columbia residing in Carman Hall. The
turnout included Allen Brill, Mike Cook, Dean Gamanos, Ira Gomberg,
Larry Guido, Jon Harris, Steve Hoffman, Barry Levine, Gidian Oberweger,
Leonard Pack, David Sarlin, Art Sederbaum, Jim Siegel, Richard Wertis
and Derek Wittner. Working for the Columbia College Fund as
they do, Messrs. Guido and Wittner are experienced house-counters
and they averred that this turnout broke all records for our lunch
group. Any other luminaries out there? 66 Members of the Class of 1966 may not be very eager to submit their news to this column, but they certainly appear willing to surrender their daughters and sons to the College. From the Fall 1998 issue of CCT, we count six members of the Class of 2002 as the offspring of members of our class. Congratulations! In January 1998, Thomas Harrold joined the law firm Miller & Martin, one of the oldest law firms in the South. Tom, a senior partner in the firm, is in charge of the international practice group. An active member of the international business community in Atlanta and the Southeast, he also serves on the board of the Japan-American Society of International Business Fellows. He also served in 1995-97 as president of the World Law Group, a network of 41 law firms in 31 countries linking together 6,500 attorneys. Daughter Beth is in her third year at Yale Medical School. After 25 years with Electrolux Corporation, Steven Cooper has left to become a partner with the Atlanta law firm of Varner Stephens Humphries & White. Steve notes, “While the prospect of completing time sheets after a hiatus of a quarter of a century is a bit unsettling, I look forward to the prospect of the entrepreneurial aspects of private practice and the ability to utilize my business experience to serve a wide variety of clients.” Steve had spent the last 10 of his years at Electrolux as senior vice president and general counsel. Steve’s two sons are both recent grads of the College. From Garden City, N.Y. we heard
from Lana and Byron Noone. Their daughter, Jennifer, will receive
her master’s from Columbia’s School of Social Work in May
1999. Byron writes that Jennifer has been profiled in People
and Newsday regarding her accomplishments as an International
Adoptees Spokesperson. She arrived in the USA in 1975 as part of the
Operation Babylift rescue effort for Vietnamese war orphans. Jennifer
is a graduate of Drew University, with a B.A. cum laude in
psychology. Their son, Jason, will graduate from Hofstra University
with a B.A. in history in May 1999. Jason has been profiled in the
Long Island section of The New York Times for his efforts and
participation in a Korean Adoptees Organized Homecoming tour of Korea,
which took place in July 1998. While in Korea, Jason visited the Presidential
Mansion and was received by the First Lady of South Korea. 67 68 Wanted: news items (anything fit to print), doodles or drawings (for my amusement)...anything to keep this column afloat. N.B.: Thanks to the few (you know who you are) who do, and curses to most of you who don’t. David Shapiro (“one of the greatest dissidents of the ’60s”) called me (really) to provide an update of his last 30 years, which I distilled to the following, pending a follow-up written report: Dr. David is an art historian, now tenured at William Patterson (N.J.) University, who also teaches poetry to architects at Cooper Union. Ever the poet, he’s the co-editor of a new book, Uncontrollable Beauty. Still a rebel at heart, he promised to provide news and commentary periodically. He and his wife, Lindsey, an architect, live in Riverdale, N.Y. Ira McCown, a Clevelander for the last four years (unbeknownst to me), is the local head honcho for Lincoln Financial Services, Inc. We recently met at a local Columbia reception for President and Mrs. Rupp, who visited Cleveland for the second time in four years. From the home office...John Smith is a telecommunications attorney in Washington, D.C. That’s it. Oh, well. 69 moberman@kramerlevin.com Countdown to 30th Class Reunion=Today’s Date to June 4. Details should be arriving in the mail. And please fill out the reunion questionnaire: it feeds this column for years to come. Our class’s delegation has been returned to Congress. Judd Gregg was re-elected to a second term in the Senate and Jerrold Nadler was re-elected to his fourth full term in the House of Representatives. Lew Wise is a partner in Rogin, Nassau, Caplan, Lassman & Hirtle in Hartford, Conn., where he practices employment law for employers and land use law. Lew’s daughter, Aliza, is a member of the Class of 2002 (joining eight other sons and daughters of our classmates in that class). Lew told me that it was at once “emotional and satisfying to see the College from the point of view of a parent,” and reported that the campus “looked great.” Hoffer Kaback writes that he has been speaking at conferences on corporate governance (the IRRC in Washington and the Conference Board of Canada in Toronto). “I guess it’s going okay since nobody has thrown any tomatoes.” Competition on the speaking front at the IRRC conference included Mario Cuomo and Jesse Jackson. Hoffer notes that he “provided them with several pointers on how better to gain rapport with the audience and, in general, on their speaking techniques.” His presentations mirror what he has been writing as a regular columnist for Directors & Boards magazine. “My heart’s desire is to be the male equivalent of Maureen Dowd,” he adds. “In the meantime, I’m keeping my day job as a risk arbitrageur.” Upon the 25th anniversary of his ordination as a rabbi, Steve Steindel received an honorary doctor of divinity degree granted by the Jewish Theological Seminary. His daughter Sara will graduate from the College this May. There are so many ways to send
in news: with the questionnaire or with a contribution, by mail, e-mail,
fax or phone. Hope to hear from you. 70 71 Dave Muntz is chief information officer (senior vice president of information services) of Texas Health Resources, the largest integrated health care delivery system in Texas. He is the proud parent of two lovely daughters, Isabella and Audrey. Isabella spent a year in Israel and Jordan on an archeological dig. Ray Stricker is medical director of Union Square Medical Associates (www.usmamed.com) and is on staff at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. His practice specializes in “AIDS, infertility and the wonders of Viagra.” His kids, Zoe, 6, and Avi, 4, are wonderful. Andy Arbenz recently participated in the committee for the 25th reunion of his Columbia Business School class. He’s a money manager for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Advisors. He and wife, Alison, live in Manhattan. I very much enjoyed Columbia College but was also pleased when it later became co-ed. Now The New York Times asks in a front-page headline (December 6, 1998) over an article by Tamar Lewin (we were Columbia Law School news colleagues), “U.S. Colleges Begin to Ask, Where Have All the Men Gone?” Referring to NYU, “where there are nearly six women for every four men,” the article quotes our own Matt Santirocco, the dean of NYU’s College of Arts and Sciences: “It’s a very diverse, very inclusive environment. I’d only be troubled if it got to the point where it was a majoritarian environment, where the minority was afraid to raise their hands.” Questions for the next column:
What’s your expectation for the Y2K (year 2000 computer bug)
problem? And, of course, what’s your personal or professional
news? 72 Michael J. Shereff was elected vice president of the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society. Michael is director of the Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Center at Orthopaedic Specialists of Charleston, and associate clinical professor at the Medical University of South Carolina. After getting his M.D. from Chicago Medical School, he trained at New York’s Hospital for Joint Diseases (where he later headed the foot and ankle service) and the Mayo Clinic. Michael was previously associate professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Joel Feigin, associate professor of music at UC- Santa Barbara, is a Senior Fulbright Scholar at the Moscow Conservatory in Russia for the current academic year. His new work, Veranderungen, won the 1998 composer competitions of both the Speculum Musicae and the Auros Group for New Music. The piece will be performed in Boston and New York as part of the prize ceremonies. During Joel’s Fulbright year, the Moscow Conservatory is planning a concert of his chamber music and a presentation of his opera, Mysteries of Eleusis. Joel is a former recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and of a Mellon Fellowship at Cornell. Sorry to say that’s all
the news we received for this issue. Hope more of you will write or
call with news next time. 73 More notes from those not seen at the reunion: Wayne Swerdlik is a B-movie producer out in El Lay; Harvey Narguilla is a dance teacher at the Solomon Schechter School of Greater Hartford; Donald Gall is a textile manufacturer in Dublin; and Barry Stern is right nearby, practicing law in London. In more news from the Left Coast, William Powers runs a self-help clinic in San Diego; Warren Pace is a professor of East Asian literature at Southern Cal; and Edward Itoh runs a small newspaper in Ukiah. Telesforo Evangelista has made his fortune the hard way, preaching through the media. Telly and wife, Tammy, live in Shechem, Kan., with their seven (!) kids. And, as always, Bill Schmidt
passes mustard. Hasta. 74 I saw in a recent issue of Spectator that Columbia—along with Cornell and Dartmouth—is one of the few schools that still requires its graduates to pass the swim test. That brought back memories of that bizarre moment in late September of 1970 when we were standing—nude—in the Greco-Roman splendor of the (former) pool and told to jump in and swim two lengths. (It might have been more fun if coed.) This is an example of one of the fond (?) memories that you won’t be able to relive when you return for our 25th reunion June 4–6! However, you and your family will be able to use the new physical fitness center throughout the weekend. The mailbag was empty for this issue, but the “virtual mailbag” came through with news from various alternative sources: I was surprised to receive an e-mail from a long-lost classmate, Jonathan Ben-Asher. Last spotted by me on the IRT over a decade ago, Jon sent in news of his 1990 marriage to Barbara Quackenbos, a health-care lawyer, and their two daughters, Julia and Laure. With the second child, Jon made the bold move he promised never to do: from Brooklyn to the New Jersey suburbs. He also has recently formed a law partnership in lower Manhattan, Beranbaum Menken Ben-Asher & Fishel, that concentrates on employment, civil rights, and criminal law. Another e-mail brought an update on the changing world of Bill Sitterley. Last March he married Dr. Itchaya Supasri, a professor in Thailand. He says he is “now the proud new father of a 9-year-old son, Nathan.” Bill remains involved with Habitat for Humanity International— but now out of Thailand. A chance “t-mail” (i.e., telephone call) to Steve Dworkin out in Los Angeles brought news of Steve’s promotion to senior managing director (their equivalent to partner) of Bear Stearns. Steve is in charge of the brokerage’s public finance unit for the western region of the U.S. (He also told me he definitely plans to come to Reunion.) More news came from a “d-mail” (i.e., conversation over dinner) with Steve Blumenthal, a pediatrician up in Portland, Maine. Steve was in town last December with his four kids to soak up a little holiday culture. He also mentioned that he had almost completed construction on a new house—and that he would be in town in June for Reunion! Closer to home, I’ve heard (h-mail?) that Patty and Isaac Palmer had their second child, Charlotte, last fall. Isaac has now joined the legions of classmates who have left the law, moving from being assistant general counsel at Ogden to being a consultant to companies doing big-screen films (like IMAX). Whether you choose writing,
calling, e-mailing or other means, share new developments in your
life with your classmates. And please join the rest of us back on
campus this June! 75 76 77 78 79 80 Paul G. Neilan has joined
of counsel to the corporate and finance practice group of Dykema Gossett’s
Chicago office. Neilan concentrates on corporate and commercial transactions,
corporate finance, and mergers and acquisitions. He is a member of
the Chicago Bar Association and former chairman of the commercial
finance and transactions committee. Aside from his work with Dykema
Gossett, Neilan provides pro bono business legal counsel through the
Community Economic Development Law Project. 81 The class of 1981 took a sabbatical,
went AWOL, skipped town, etc., over the past few months. In the absence
of any hard news, I would like to congratulate the new editor of CCT
(Alex Sachare) for an outstanding first edition, the Fall 1998 issue.
The article on Butler Library upgrades almost made me desire to return
to the College and begin all over again. My memory of Butler is that
of dimly lit stacks, noisy and dirty reading rooms and a collection
of students, locals, drifters, etc. which created its own unique environment.
One had to develop an extraordinary ability to concentrate in order
to study in the old Butler (equivalent to reading on the subway).
I wish the class of 1981 the best during the holiday season, and hope
to hear from you next year. 82 83 84 Larry Kane, a partner
at Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, a big San Francisco-based law
firm, received a glowing write up in The San Francisco Chronicle
recently. An ex N.Y. State wrestling champ and a varsity wrestler
while at Columbia, Larry received outstanding mention as the head
wrestling coach for Galileo High School. During the past year Larry
helped coach the team (with its requisite time commitment of 30+ hours
per week carefully balanced with his partner duties) to an impressive
city-wide, AAA championship. In addition to coaching, Larry and his
firm raise money to help fund the necessary new shoes, headgear, singlets,
etc. 85 Congratulations to Mitchell Regenstreif and his wife Ellen Pignatello Regenstreif ’88, who had their second daughter, Claire, on July 24, 1998. Claire joins her older sister, Nina, now 21/2, in the Regenstreif expansion. Thomas Vinciguerra, formerly of CCT, had an article published in The New York Times on October 21. The article, “I’ll Take Manhattan (Brooklyn, Too),” explored the history, evolution and resurgence of that oh-so-smart cocktail, the Manhattan. A smooth read. Tom also contributed short interviews of 18 contemporary designers for the cover story of the December 13 issue of The New York Times Magazine. I, your scribe, spent a month
in Spain. Highlights included the hybrid mosque/cathedral in Cordoba,
the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the Alhambra in Granada. Anyone
going to Spain should see these places. After visits to Costa Rica
(I was in the Peace Corps there in 1985-87) and New York, it was back
to Spain for a couple of months. 86 Rick Wolf comes through
again with news. First, he graduated from MIT’s Sloan School
of Management and joined Chase Securities. Second, his wife, Debbie,
gave birth to their second child, Adam Ross. And third, he attended
the November wedding of Corey Klestadt ’85 (honorary 86er), who
married Michelle. Attendees included David Leibowitz, Julie
and Mark Goldstein from L.A., and Bryan Steinberg. Please
send me any news relating to family, career, or other personal milestones. 87 Hooray for Laurie Gershon! She’s made my job almost too easy this time around by supplying me with news of numerous classmates. In fact, I dedicate this column to her for having supplied virtually everything that follows. So what’s Laurie up to? After eight years as a fund-raiser in charge of special events at New York City Opera, she now does product placement in independent films. “Yes, I’m the person that puts the can of Coke in the film (though product placement is much more extensive)” she writes. On the film Myth she bumped into another member of our class, John Tanzer, who was working in the camera department, and also Joe Arcidiacono ’86. Laurie spent the fall of ’97 in Saigon working on Three Seasons, the first American movie to shoot in Vietnam with government permission since the war. Laurie, who obviously keeps very busy, has founded her own film company, Golden Ticket, based in New York. She asks that anyone with a good script send it her way. Rebecca Turner, last seen working on websites for BMG Entertainment, is now weaving on the web for Republic National Bank. A former member of the three-girl a capella group, The Baskets, as well as the Glee Club, she still writes songs, and performs on stage at cool East Village night spots such as CB’s Gallery and Hotel Galvez. Laurie writes, “Rebecca puts on a fantastic show.” Frances McLaughlin, vice president of the exchanges division at the Council on International Educational Exchange, married Will Nurtz in June 1997, in York, Maine. Classmates in attendance were Ed Ho ’84, his wife, the former Jenny Berry, Mia MacDonald, and my informant, Laurie Gershon. Laurie reports that Mia MacDonald and her significant other of 13 years (they met at Oxford junior year), Martin Rose of Salisbury, England, were married in August outside Salisbury. They now live in Brooklyn. Mia, who received her master’s in public policy from Harvard, is an independent consultant, working on women’s issues in developing countries. Barbara DiDomenico married Chris Geary in September 1997. Barbara, a lawyer, is the president and general counsel of Neptune Marketing, a telecommunications company. They plan to move from New York to Scottsdale, Ariz., where Barbara will take over the western branch of the company. In their spare time, Barbara and Chris (who is also a lawyer) like to tool around on Chris’s motorcycle. Frank V. Brown, former
station manger of WKCR, is calling Moscow home these days. He moved
there in the early 1990s to work for The New York Times, and
has since remained. He can be reached at fbrown@glasnet.ru. 88 Antonio Chimienti is an attorney in L.A. and Steve Briones and his wife, Darlene, are still in Thailand working in banking. Ellen Pignatello Regenstrief and her husband, Mitchell, have just had their second daughter, Claire. Doesn’t anybody else have
anything to say? Please write. 89 Warning! Classmates living in northern California, particularly the South Bay, ought to step forward now, for eventually I will recognize you on the street, in a restaurant, or a retail store, stop you in your tracks, and harass you and your loved ones for personal information. Such was the case for two unsuspecting souls, both spotted in the same Palo Alto diner. Patrick Barry, that most interesting McBain denizen (freshman year) and student of Swahili, was four stools down from me at the diner’s counter. Seated in the two seats closest to me were two of Patrick’s children, Shawn and Ashley, ages 6 and 4, respectively. Between baby Tessa, one year old, and Patrick was mom, Christine. The kids are all absolutely gorgeous. In Patrick’s free time, the native Californian is an attorney at the preeminent Venture Law Group, where he has been lawyering for that firm since 1995. A few months back, Peter St. Andre told me that he is “busy learning everything there is to know about web development” at Logical Design Systems in Morristown, New Jersey, where he does “just about anything that needs to be done,” including writing, HTML, business analysis, system analysis, programming, and more. Peter also spends time developing his thoughtful Web project (www.monadnock.net), a “virtual salon” dedicated to “joy and reason and meaning in the arts, philosophy, and life.” Peter includes a number of his wonderfully crafted poems—if you have a free moment, I would certainly recommend a visit. Every chance they get, Peter and his wife head for the hills, the Rocky Mountains, where they enjoy hiking. Peter also notes that “one of these days” he plans to record his songs and guitar music. Keep us posted on developments, Peter, please. John Sherwood is looking for lost roommate Steve Stonberg. John lost contact with Steve just before the latter’s graduation from Harvard Business School. Let’s reminisce with John: “I remember hanging out with him at St. A’s parties, and various watering holes around Columbia. I miss the arguments we used to have on just about anything. Hopefully, I’ll track him down.” All continues to go well with John, who remains gainfully employed by the U.S. Federal Government. Steve, if you’re out there (the truth is out there) please drop us a line. Michael Madrid, a denizen of the Upper West Side and Java Developer, continues his consulting practice, engaging in multiple projects for financial companies. While he is enjoying and progressing with his Salsa-Mambo classes, he is giving karate a rest for a while. Perhaps his trip to Tokyo a few months back to rejoin his Tokyo Karate Club (as a reminder, Michael spent a few years in Tokyo immediately following graduation) did him in for the time being. The big news for the very pleasant and talented Eli Neusner is that he recently became engaged to Poly Druker of Montevideo, Uruguay. The wedding will take place in Uruguay this summer, though it will not conflict with our reunion, asserts Eli. The two met at the home of Michael David, the man with two first names, who lives in Riverdale with his wife, Karen, and baby Tamar. Eli switched jobs within the last year, joining The Spectrum Group, a San Francisco-based management consulting firm, though he works out of his Boston home office. Eli has also been dabbling in film and stage, having recently appeared in a professional production of Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. Having completed her business degree, the always glamorous and international Ilona Nemeth is engaged in strategy and acquisitions in advanced materials for Allied Signal. She notes that “after 18 months of commuting to California and rarely ever seeing N.Y.C., I am happily back in the Big Apple!” Rob Kresberg is in his fifth year as coach of the Columbia Women’s Tennis Team. The team is headed to Phoenix, Arizona—the first visit for the team to that part of the country—for their spring break training trip. In the summers, Rob is the director of tennis at the Willowbrook Swim Club in Chappaqua, New York. Additionally, he is still playing tournaments from time to time. New mom Nanette (Nalzaro) Nopwaskey and her husband, Fred, are the proud parents of Nicholas, born this fall. Following her maternity leave, Nanette will rejoin Hewlett-Packard, where she is a product engineer for HP’s pavilion PCs, part-time, working three days a week. You can find her PCs in Circuit City and other retail outlets, and if you flip over the PC, you can actually see Nanette’s name on one of the legs. (I’ve been told that among hardware engineers, that’s way cool.) Aside from one year in Guam, Nanette has been in California since graduation, having previously worked for GE for four years, and earning an M.S. in mechanical Engineering from U.C.-Berkeley. Congratulations are also in order for Kentuckian Renny Smith, whose wife, Hana, gave birth to their first child, Samuel Aubrey Smith, on Friday, December 4th. Friends noted their disappointment when Renny did not pass on the family name, Rennius. The very substantive Samuel, born 10 pounds, 4 ounces and 21 inches long, has his mom’s nose and cheeks. Word has it that the bruiser will be crashing reunion this June! Lisa Landau, who provided
us with Renny and Hana’s great news, has noted that more than
60 classmates are on the reunion committee, and that absolutely everyone
is invited to the class reunion to be held June 4–6, 1999. Lisa
was gracious enough to host the reunion kick-off at her lovely Central
Park, art deco apartment. Please pass the reunion fever info on to
any friends who may not have their most current address registered
with Columbia, and contact Tusnia Fisher in the Alumni Office at (212)
870-2746 (e-mail at tnf@columbia.edu) with any questions. Keep the
news flowing. Send more e-mails with any and all news! 90 91 92 Nothing but good news this time around, folks. I hope you won’t mind. Let me lead off with a long-lost friend of the Class of 1992—Jim Woody. Jim, who started with our class in August 1988, e-mailed, both to say that he religiously reads CCT to keep up with his old classmates and to pass along that he recently became a father. His daughter, Ashton, born November 23, weighed a healthy 6 pounds, 15 ounces. Jim of all people should know—he’s in his last year of residency at the University of Kentucky, having graduated from Columbia P&S in 1996. Jim plans on starting an MBA program next fall and hopes to work on healthcare policy issues. On the subject of surprise e-mails, I got a pair from Douglas Fischer. Douglas was writing from Alaska, of all places, where he moved in 1995. He says that he is now working as a political reporter for The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, the state’s second-largest paper. As a result, he’s traveled all over the state covering issues such as land rights and Native American rights. It’s also meant chats with the governor, the attorney general, and key lawmakers. Douglas also was good enough to pass on news of some of our classmates, many of whom are new to this column. Nathan Rein was married this fall in Maine and is spending a year with his bride in Germany. He’s a doctoral student in religion at Harvard. Kaili Mang was married in the Spring of 1997 to Praveen Jeyarajah. Kaili is studying for a BFA degree in interior design at The School of Visual Arts and lives at Times Square. Rachel Odo is now a clinical case manager living in New York, having obtained an advanced degree at Hunter College. Douglas also said that Gretchen Skogersen is at RPI in Troy, N.Y., getting a master’s in electronic arts. She told Douglas she’s learning “all sorts of groovy stuff about video and sound.” Finally Laura Cunningham and Gary Roth have been blissfully married for some time now and, at last report, were living in Washington, D.C. All of that said, thanks Douglas, for all the info. I’ve also been corresponding by e-mail with Lauren Hertel who has recently produced a set of audio walking tours of New York City, called AudioGuide NYC. The tapes, which come with their own pocket-sized maps, include such locations as Fifth Avenue, Greenwich Village, Historic Downtown, and Central Park. What makes these tapes particularly special and worthy of mention is that Lauren was assisted by Columbia alums Andrew Vladeck and Tom Nishioka ’91 with sound engineering for the tapes. Lauren also credited Rebecca Johnson with helping her get in touch with Andrew. Based on her success, Lauren said she’s planning on starting a regular gathering of CC alumni who are entrepreneurs and/or freelancers. She asked me to pass along that anyone interested in joining, or in finding out more about the tapes, should e-mail her at lhertel@lonedaughter.com. Finally, I had the pleasure of serving as a groomsman in the wedding of Michael Fisher and Lynn Rabinowitz on November 8. Other Columbia College attendees included 92ers Aaron Lebovitz, Donna Myers and Lori Tiatorio-Thompson, and David Hantman ’91. Sorry for the light mailbag
this time, gang. You know how to fix it, though. Keep those letters/e-mails/website
visits coming. 93 Just when you thought it was safe to go back to your lives in this, the second chapter of young alumnihood after months of reunion spin, here is yet another batch of news to remind you how old you really are. Tania Gregory moved to San Francisco after earning a master’s in management and public policy from the Heinz School at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. Tania hosted a jazz/blues radio show while she was out there. Today she runs a home-sharing program for senior citizens in San Francisco. She was in New York in August where she saw Lisa Cicale and Sam Saha. Tania reports that Christine Bonzon married David Cowper in Irvine, Calif., in August 1997. Most recently Tania was backpacking in England and is hoping to hit Peru or Sweden this year. Amy Longo graduated from Columbia Law in 1996 and was working as an associate at the Wall Street law firm of Fried Frank for a year and a half. In June 1998 she went to the Newport Beach office of O’Melveny & Myers in California. Over the summer she passed the California bar exam and is now licensed to litigate on both coasts. Amy specializes in business law, with an emphasis in securities litigation and corporate governance. I hit the mother lode when I contacted Thomas Hilbink, who was full of news and fond memories of the history department, including Shenton’s famous Draft Riots lecture and Jackson’s all-night bicycle tour. Hilbink is getting a Ph.D. and a law degree at NYU. The Ph.D. is coming from the Institute for Law and Society. He is also working on something called the Democracy & Equality Project which takes a hands-on approach to teaching high school students how to become meaningfully involved in government, politics and civil society. Hilbink is still in touch with Dave Shayne, now an associate editor at Mad magazine. He also reports that Seth Rockman is finishing his dissertation on poverty in nineteenth century Baltimore and applying for history professorships. Here is what Hilbink dished out on other classmates: Elizabeth Weeks is in her third year at the University of Georgia law school. She is chief editor of the Law Review there and will be clerking for a federal judge in Louisiana next year. Lorrin Thomas is earning a Ph.D. in history at Penn. Daniel Hartzog, a teacher and graduate student in education, got married over the summer. Sandra Contreras is writing film reviews for a web magazine. Martine Bury is a freelance journalist whose articles have appeared in Jane, Vibe, The Voice and other magazines. Milind Shah is in his second year at Columbia Law. Don Shillingburg is at Princeton’s Architecture School. Amy Wilkins ’94 is a chef at Verbena in Manhattan. Finally I had a great conversation (yes, it’s all about me) with Amanda Aaron, another history major and Kenneth Jackson fan. Amanda has had an admirable, if circuitous, career since she first contributed several articles to The Encyclopedia of New York City as an undergrad. She went from a stint at the city’s Landmarks Commission to earning a master’s degree in film at NYU to being a web page editor and now a real estate appraiser. Amanda travels around the boroughs, camera and notepad in tow, getting to know the neighborhoods as she figures out the worth of commercial buildings. She is married and loves Brooklyn. So that’s what’s
up after five years and change. Let me not be handed over to the alumni
police: please keep the news coming. 94 You probably all know this by now, but we have a reunion coming up June 4–6, 1999. I’ve only recently become aware of an e-mail discussion group dedicated to planning reunion events. It’s likely a lot of the planning already will be done by the time this issue hits the mailboxes, but if you’d like to find out what’s going on or voice your opinion electronically, consider subscribing to the group. To do that, go to www.onelist. com, search for Columbia College Class of 1994 and click on the reunion list to subscribe. Then chat away. On to the news. After finishing her master’s in Latin American studies at Tulane, Kay Bailey is working in Washington, D.C., at ARD, an international consulting firm. The company puts together teams of consultants to undertake development projects around the world. Kay specializes in legal and institutional reform, which includes projects to improve the justice systems in a few Latin American countries. She also says Paul Bollyky is still at Harvard Medical School and loving it, and Stephanie Geosits graduated from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Public Affairs last spring. Kay also directed me to Jay Berman, whom I got in touch with via e-mail. After finishing his architecture studies at Harvard last spring, Jay taught for part of the summer, then received some grant money to go to Europe, where he photographed modern buildings in London, Paris, Berlin and Scandinavia. He plans to put those images into a website that eventually will become a database/travel guide for buildings worldwide. After his travels, Jay started working with Pei Cobb Freed & Partners in New York. He first worked on a hotel/office /retail complex in Venezuela. After that project was put on hold, he worked on an office tower proposal for Taipei, then landed on a team designing a two-building complex to house Harvard’s government department and area research institutes. He also says he sees a lot of Mark Robilotti and Chris Conway ’95, in New York. Ben Strong has left graduate school (at least temporarily) and is living in Chicago, where he works for a publishing company. He ghostwrote a quickie book on the 1998 home run race. Josh Shannon visited recently, and the two of them ran into ex-Six Milk Carolyn Cohagen, Barnard ’94. Danny Franklin is still
writing speeches for Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the lieutenant governor
of Maryland, who was reelected with Governor Parris Glendening in
the fall. 95 I’m sorry that you didn’t hear from me in the last issue, but I was covering the Cleveland Indians in their quest for the 1998 World Series. While I didn’t run into any ’95ers in Boston, I saw Seth Abbey in the stands at Yankee Stadium. Many thanks to Craig Bernstein and Andy Wein, now an assistant DA in the Bronx, for their expertise regarding the Yankees and the Bronx, respectively. In other news, Stephen Eckert is studying architecture at the University of Colorado, Kendra Crook is working as the admissions manager of the executive MBA program at Columbia Business School, and Anil Shivaram is in med school at Yale. Owen Hill writes that he’s in his last year of law school at Duke and he’s looking forward to “heading back home to Dallas next fall to start work for Akin Gump.” He also passed on information about another Dallas-ite, Johnny Greenfield, who is in his third year at Southwestern Medical School. Catherine Kursch is working for Levi’s in San Francisco. I ran into her at a tapas restaurant in San Francisco in October while I was having dinner with Hilton Romanski and some other Columbians. Grant Dawson, a fencer at Columbia, wins the award in the personal letter category; he even included a picture! In a neatly typed letter, Grant writes that he’s a third-year at Georgetown University Law Center and has taken up running. He competed in the 22nd Marine Corps Marathon in D.C., “coming in a full 50 minutes ahead of Vice President Gore.’’ At the time he wrote in July, he was training for the New York City Marathon. After he graduates in 1999, he’ll stay in Washington, clerking for Judge Edward R. Sullivan of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. More updates from Jimmy Hung, a third-year med student at the University of Maryland, who already has delivered his share of babies. Ravi Bhasin is working as an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York; Will Hsieh is in business school at NYU; Jean Huang is at Harvard Business School; and Lara Wong is in medical school in Hawaii. Alex Cortez, who just doesn’t seem to want to leave Harvard, is now working on degrees from the Kennedy School of Government and Harvard Business School. He provided updates on several classmates in Cambridge and New York: Robyn Pangi is doing a master’s of public policy at the Kennedy school; Ryan Poscablo graduated from the Kennedy School and is now at Fordham Law; Dan Barash and Axel Martinez are also at Harvard Business School; Erin Bertocci is working for Andersen Consulting; Melissa Shea graduated from St. John’s Law School and will be working in New York. Matt Weinstein writes that he celebrated his first anniversary with the former Shira Roffman, Barnard ’94. They are living outside of Philadelphia, where Matt is in law school at Villanova. He recently made law review. More lawyers: After spending time in South America, Katie Fleet is now in law school at Berkeley. Her email is kafleet@uclink4.berkeley.edu. Also on the West Coast is Lea Rappaport, who transferred to Stanford, where she joined her new husband, a Stanford business school student. They were married this summer. (Some ’95ers at the wedding were Colleen Shaw, who wrote in earlier this year, Hilary Lerner, Denise Conanan and Adina Shoulson). Alex Troise graduated from Cornell Law School last spring, where he was joined by Allyson Baker and Wendy Harris. Wendy won the first-year moot court competition, which Alex writes is a tremendous honor. An update on some architects from David Wolf. Snippy comments aside, he is getting a master’s in architecture from Columbia, along with Ruth Kreiger and Mike Foronda. He wrote last summer that, ’’I’m currently enjoying a summer internship with NBBJ, a very important architecture firm.’’ He also said that Boaz Vega is working for Citibank and Jenny Brenner left New York for Israel, where she “continues to consult on the international level, but spends most of her time with her new baby, Moriah (who is not named for Mariah Carey).” Tova Mirvis, a former Spekkie, is now teaching and finishing a novel and recently earned a master’s from Columbia’s School of the Arts. Other Spekkies are doing well, including Ariana Cha, who is covering biotechnology for the San Jose Mercury News. She reports that Rolando Pujol is working as a night editor at the Morning Call in Allentown, Pa., and Mike Stanton is the managing editor of the Bond Buyer. Viviana Cristian has
started a Ph.D. program in anthropology at Catholic University after
finishing her master’s at Louisiana State. 96 Season’s Greetings, classmates! On to the little bits of news
I do have about three—yes, three—of our classmates. A story
about Rafael Collazo recently appeared in the Philadelphia
Inquirer, in the techlife section. He and some other Columbia
alums have started a business called LATNN.com (www.latnn.com), a
news website devoted to disseminating information about Latinos in
the United States and abroad. Congratulations, Rafael! Andy Lizst
is teaching special education at a school in Burlingame, Calif., and
is simultaneously getting a master’s in education. Britta
Jacobson is in her first year at Harvard Law School. And that,
my friends, is all the news I have to report. How very sad. Before
I sign off, I would like to apologize to my personal friend Matt
Lasner, whose name was misspelled in the last issue. Sorry, “Mau.” 97 Hello, darling classmates. It’s a bit too late, but I’d still like to wish everyone a happy 1999! Hopefully you’re surviving the winter by frolicking in the snow (or sun). I can hardly stand the Northwest rain sometimes, but when I think back to the blizzard we had in N.Y.C. back in 1996, this winter doesn’t seem so bad. By the time you read this column, spring will be right around the corner... So, what exactly has the Class of ’97 been up to? Quite a few people are at Harvard Law School: Chril Dybwad, Rachel Viscomi, Ruth Mason, Elizabeth Gill, Jenn Geetter, Gail Katz and Alyssa Caples. Also at Harvard is Lamees Al-Ashtal, working on her master’s in Middle Eastern studies. Former Spectator writer Avani Patel works at a local newspaper in Tennessee. Joe Delafield is at NYU studying for a MFA in acting, while his one-time roomate Shoumitro Goswami is an investment banker at J.P. Morgan. On the other side of the world is Berdie Soti, who’s attending Johns Hopkins in Nanjing, China. Lainie Perlman is teaching English through the JET Program in Kagoshima City, Japan. In her enthusiastic e-mail, she said, “This has been the most amazing experience of my life. I have met some wonderful people, both foreign and Japanese, and have had the chance to explore Japan and visit Indonesia, China, Malaysia and Vietnam. Being here probably has changed me in ways I don’t even yet realize.” After finishing her second contract year in July, Lainie hopes to return to the States to attend law school this fall. 98 Happy New Year, CC ’98. Thanks to a few ol’ Columbia list-serves, here’s what I know: Gal pal Julie Yufe wrote me about every single ’98er she knows, and she knows a lot. Shira Schnitzer co-edits a students magazine entitled New Voices for a Jewish non-profit organization. Jeannette Jakus works for Moody’s Investors’ Services. Melissa Epstein works in the municipal finance group at Goldman Sachs. Justin Garrett lives with travel-mate Daniel Pianko in Chelsea and also works at Price Waterhouse Consulting in management consulting. Jason Pai SEAS ’98 lives on Long Island and works at Andersen Consulting. Jerome Jontry SEAS ’99 works for a construction management firm in the city and lives in Queens. Eric Pinciss also works for Price Waterhouse in the government consulting group in D.C., where he frequently sees fraternity brother Joshua Hess (who lives down the hall from Ben Gardner at Georgetown Law School). Jeff Warren is a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army in Fort Knox, Kentucky. Dorot Fellowship recipient Jeff Samuels is enjoying life, Israeli style, while studying in Jerusalem. (Thanks, Julie, for making this issue’s notes easy for me!) Proving that not all Columbians living in New York are in finance: Cori Newhouse works for an advocacy oriented NPO in Manhattan called the Community Service Society. Danika Smith works at Basketball City (“New York’s premiere basketball facility”). Anne Pordes is making Dean Yatrakis and the rest of her Urban Studies professors proud by working as an Urban Fellow. On the Spec front, Samantha Nicosia B’96, Graham Goodkin ’97, Russell Miller ’97,’00 P&S, Hans Chen ’97, Julie Yufe and I started a Spectator Alumni Association for young alumni, which is giving us all an excuse to hang out and have cocktails. |
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