Alumni in the News: February 6, 2023

Lions represent at the Grammys! Six Columbians are part of the New York Youth Symphony — including Yael Cohen ’21, Matthew Sidler ’22 and Joshua Wang ’26 — that won the 2023 Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance on February 5.

Directors Susanna Fogel ’02 and Nancy Schwartzman ’97 were recognized in a January 27 New York Times article about the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Fogel is the director of Cat Person, adapted from a popular 2017 New Yorker short story; Schwartzman’s documentary Victim/Suspect investigates cases where women were arrested and prosecuted after reporting sexual assault.

In more film news, Tony Kushner ’78 and Dede Gardner ’90 received nominations for the 95th Academy Awards on January 24. Kushner is nominated for Best Picture as a producer of The Fabelmans (Kushner and The Fabelmans won a 2023 Golden Globe for Best Picture - Drama on January 10); Gardner is also a Best Picture nominee as a producer of Women Talking. The Oscars ceremony will be telecast on March 12.

Eric Foner ’63, GSAS’69 wrote the January 23 New York Times guest essay, “The Constitution Has a 155-Year-Old Answer to the Debt Ceiling.” Foner is the author of The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution.

A January 19 art review by The Cut, “Women At Rest,” included Alison Gass ’98. Gass is the Krieger Family Director of the Institute of Contemporary Art, San Francisco; the exhibition “Resting Our Eyes” is on view at ICA SF through June 25.

Sportscaster Gary Cohen ’81 will be inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame, it was announced on January 18. Cohen has been the SNY network’s play-by-play announcer for Mets telecasts since 2006. His induction ceremony will take place on June 3 before the Mets’ game against the Toronto Blue Jays.

A December 24 listing of New York Times readers favorite books of 2022 included The Family Roe: An American Story by Joshua Prager ’94. The 2021 book details the life of Norma McCorvey (aka Jane Roe), who was at the center of the recently overturned Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision.

Robert Gottlieb ’52 was the subject of the December 22 Vulture feature “Bob Gottlieb Is the Last of the Publishing Giants.” Gottlieb’s long editorial relationship with author Robert Caro is also the subject of a documentary, Turn Every Page, directed by Gottlieb’s daughter, Lizzie.

Four alumni were included in Forbes’ 2023 “30 Under 30 List,” announced on December 16: Nicole DeTomasso ’17, a senior associate at Harlem Capital; Phantila Phataraprasit ’16, cofounder of the sustainable furniture company Sabai; Jessica Chi ’15, BUS’21, global marketing director of Fenty Skin; and Sonali Mehta ’15, director of digital marketing at Arista Records.