Cornell Alumni Magazine - January/February 2012

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January | February 2012 $6.00

HeavyMetalThe work of artistChris Shea ’87

CU to build NYCtech campus—see page 10.

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January | February 2012 1

2 From David SkortonNew board chair

4 The Big PictureCold comfort quad

6 CorrespondenceWatering hole memories

10 From the HillTech campus coup

14 SportsPigskin potential

16 AuthorsBeyond the sea

26 Summer Programs and Sports Camps

38 Wines of the Finger Lakes2007 Tierce Red

50 Classifieds & Cornellians in Business

51 Alma Matters

54 Class Notes

92 Alumni Deaths

96 CornellianaIn the words of White

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CorneIn This Issue

40 In Hot WaterDAVID DEKOK

In early 1903, a typhoid epidemic in Ithaca claimed the lives of eighty-two people—including twenty-nine Cornell students—and sickened hundreds of others. In an excerptfrom his book The Epidemic: A Collision of Power, Privilege, and Public Health, jour-nalist David DeKok chronicles the University’s response to the outbreak. “PresidentJacob Gould Schurman found himself in a dilemma that was Homeric in its scope andcomplexity,” DeKok writes, describing how Schurman coped with a public healthissue—and some extremely bad publicity—that threatened Cornell’s future.

46 Man of SteelBETH SAULNIER

Like plenty of Cornellians before and since, Chris Shea ’87 majored in English anddreamed of writing the great American novel, but ultimately shifted to a different career.Few, however, have taken Shea’s particular path: blacksmith school. Now a metal artistliving and working in Maryland, Shea uses an ancient craft to create modern objectslike furniture and architectural elements, many of them inspired by the insect world.“I love the sense of history,” Shea says. “A forged item has that feeling of timelessness.”

January / February 2012 Volume 114 Number 4

Cornell Alumni Magazine (ISSN 1548-8810; USPS 006-902) is published six times a year, in January, March, May, July, September, and November, by the Cornell Alumni Association, 401East State Street, Suite 301, Ithaca, NY 14850. Subscriptions cost $30 a year. Periodical postage paid at Ithaca, NY, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changesto Cornell Alumni Magazine, c/o Public Affairs Records, 130 East Seneca St., Suite 400, Ithaca, NY 14850-4353.

Websitecornellalumnimagazine.com

Currents

Cover photograph: AnythingPhoto.net

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Rise of the MachinesComputer as scientist

And So It WentNew Vonnegut bio

A Good ReadAudiobook actor Karen White ’85

Taking a TollThe politics of traffic

Thanks for the MemoriesProf’s story is “Unforgettable”

Plus |Man of Few WordsHello, haiku

Inside JobThe Sage reno

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2 Cornell Alumni Magazine | cornellalumnimagazine.com

From David Skorton

A Time for Optimism and Involvement

The year 2012 begins with great optimism atCornell, as we plan for our sesquicentennial, wel-come Robert Harrison ’76 as chair of the Board of

Trustees, and gear up to choose a new cohort of alumni-elected trustees.

We are moving forward on our priorities, especially facultyrenewal, student access, and public engagement, and we haveannounced an expanded university-wide philanthropic campaign,which—building on more than $3.4 billion alreadycontributed by alumni, parents, and friends of Cor-nell—aims to raise a total of $4.75 billion by theclose of 2015.

In these, as in so many other areas critical tothe future of Cornell, the Board of Trustees playsa central role, and we are fortunate to have somany talented and committed individuals willingand able to serve as trustees. Cornell is unusual inthat its sixty-four-member board includes individ-uals elected by the faculty, employees, students, andalumni, as well as those elected by the board itselfor appointed by the Governor of New York State.(There is also one life trustee—a descendent ofEzra Cornell—and four ex-officio members withvoting privileges, who serve because of the posi-tions they hold.)

Bob Harrison brings to the post of board chairwide experience as a Cornell trustee. A studenttrustee in 1975–76, he is the first board chair tohave previously held that post. In 2002, he rejoinedthe board, first as an alumni-elected trustee andthen as a board-elected trustee, and he has servedcontinuously ever since.

Bob chaired the task force that assessed whetherCornell should construct a new, state-of-the-artmedical research building at Weill Cornell MedicalCollege, supported the decision to proceed with that critical proj-ect, and has been a leader of efforts to bring our Ithaca and NewYork City campuses closer together. He also chaired the Com-mittee on Student Life and other trustee committees, includingmost recently the Executive Committee, and he served as vicechair from 2006 to 2009, helping guide us through the economiccrisis and putting us on a path toward becoming a stronger andmore fiscally sustainable university.

Bob also brings to the position of board chair the perspec-tive and expertise of a Rhodes Scholar, lawyer, former investmentbanking partner at Goldman Sachs, and current CEO of theClinton Global Initiative. Smart, sophisticated, and sensible, witha wonderful sense of humor, he is an enormously capable leaderwhose expertise and mentorship have been invaluable to me per-sonally and to Cornell. I look forward to working with andlearning from him as board chair.

I also hope that you will consider seriously the alumni nom-inees selected to run for election to four-year terms beginning inJuly 2012:

• William McAleer ’73, MBA ’75, managing director and co-

founder of Voyager Capital, a private equity firm focused onearly and growth-stage technology companies in the Internet soft-ware, software services, and IT services markets.

• Robert Ramin ’82, MBA ’85, executive director of theNational Aquarium in Washington, D.C., since March 2005, andpreviously the aquarium’s senior director of development.

• Meredith Rosenberg ’92, a senior executive at Fullbridge,Inc., a new venture that delivers accelerated business training to

corporate and consumer clients, and a co-founder of Global Stu-dent Loan Corporation, a venture-backed student loan concernthat funds higher education needs of non-U.S. citizens.

• Simon Turner ’83, president, global development, for Star-wood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., with responsibility forthe company’s global hotel and resort development, propertyacquisitions and dispositions, franchise and management pipelineexpansion, and real estate investment management.

I urge you to consider the strengths that each of these indi-viduals would bring to the Board of Trustees and then cast yourballot. Look for more information coming to you by e-mail andU.S. mail later this month.

I know Bob Harrison joins me in asking you to stay in touchby sharing your ideas and comments. We invite you to keepabreast of the University’s progress on its priorities of facultyrenewal, student access, and public engagement as we approachthe sesquicentennial and to cast your vote for the alumni-electedmembers of our Board of Trustees.

— President David [email protected]

LINDSAY FRANCE / UP

Robert Harrison ’76

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The Big Picture

Slush Puppies

On the Engineering Quad, as on the rest of campus,winter brings picturesque views—and a slogthrough the snow.

JASON KOSKI / UP

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Ed. Note: “Last Call” spurred awave of nostalgic comments aboutfavorite establishments at the CAMwebsite. Take a look (and add yourown) at cornellalumnimagazine.com.

It’s All GreekThe news article “Skorton BansPledging in Greek Organizations”(From the Hill, November/December2011) spelled out a significantchange coming for the Greek system.In the mid-Fifties it was a differentworld at Cornell. The drinking agewas eighteen, and the graduatingclasses were a fraction of the enter-ing numbers. It was survival of thefittest. Since then, Cornell hasbecome more selective of enteringfreshmen. Having chosen to admit“golden eggs,” there is no desire tolet those eggs abort hatching—whichhas led the University to press in the direc-tion of assuring high graduation rates:read, “eliminate those things that impedea student’s graduation.” The Greek systemwill change and survive—and I sincerelyhope the fraternity and sorority experiencecontinues to develop character.

Paul Snare ’56, BCE ’57, MBA ’58University Place, Washington

Medical QuestionYou noted that Laurie Glimcher, MD, hasbeen named the next dean of Weill Cor-nell Medical College (From the Hill,November/December 2011). According tothe New York Times (September 7, 2011),Dr. Glimcher “has ties to the pharmaceu-tical giants Merck and Bristol-MyersSquibb as well as to scientific and biotech-nology companies.” In 2010, according tothe story, Bristol-Myers Squibb paid her$244,500; the company also gave her


Correspondence

Bo Burgers and BeerWhere did you hang out as an undergraduate?

“Last Call,” your article on legendarydrinking and eating establishments (Cor-nelliana, November/December 2011),missed one of the great ones. During thelate Fifties, if you had a really late studynight, it was best to take a break at twoor three a.m. at Obie’s Diner, out on thewest side of town. This was truly a Cor-nell institution, even if it did not servedrinks. Obie himself ran the grill andwould break eggs one-handed, throwingthe shells behind him without looking,presumably in or near the trash. Favoriteson the menu were the Bo Burger—acheeseburger with grilled onions and afried egg—and the apple turnover, whichwas put on the grill until it was piping hotand the sugar glaze was running down thesides. I have occasionally tried to duplicatethe Bo Burger, but never up to Obie’s highstandards.

Bill Dring ’59, BArch ’61Steamboat Springs, Colorado

An article that pays tribute to Cornell’slegendary bars cannot be complete with-out a mention of Dunbar’s, opened in theearly Eighties and still thriving. With itsclassic jukebox, the constant smell of thepopcorn machine, and the customized andpersonalized ceiling tiles, a trip to this baris always a necessity for me when I visitIthaca, and at reunions I always run intoold friends there. The owner, Dave (Idon’t even know his last name), is alwaysthere, at the door or behind the bar, andhe told me when I visited at my 25thReunion that some of his patrons now arechildren of former patrons. He added,“I’ll know it’s time to retire when a cus-tomer is a grandchild of a former cus-tomer.” Keep going, Dave, and keepgoing, Dunbar’s!

Mitch Rosich ’85, ME ’86Acton, Massachusetts

$1.4 million in deferred share units, bothpayments apparently for service on itsboard. Also in 2010, she was paid$238,545 in cash, stock, and options bythe Waters Corporation, a maker of labequipment. The Times reported that she“defended her outside interests, sayingthey presented no conflict as long as theywere transparent.” This argument, itseems to me, is so transparently silly thata rebuttal would be superfluous.

What is now needed is trustworthyassurance that the medical school willadhere to the traditional values of open-ness in university research, and that thefaculty will be free to pursue without pres-sure from any quarter questions thatappeal to them as scientific scholars. Wereit forthcoming, I should be greatly sur-prised and profoundly grateful.

Donald Mintz ’49, PhD ’60Trumansburg, New York

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Send to: Jim Roberts, Editor, Cornell Alumni Magazine, 401 E. State St., Suite 301, Ithaca, NY 14850 fax: (607) 272-8532 e-mail: [email protected] f

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Cornell Alumni Magazine Committee: Richard Levine’62, Chairman; Beth Anderson ’80, Vice-Chairman;William Sternberg ’78; Linda Fears ’85; Bill Howard’74; Julia Levy ’05; Liz Robbins ’92; Charles Wu ’91;Sheryl Hilliard Tucker ’78. For the Alumni Association:Stephanie Keene Fox ’89, President; Chris Marshall,Secretary/Treasurer. For the Association of Class Offi-cers: Robert Rosenberg ’88, President. Alternates:Scott Pesner ’87 (CAA); Nathan Connell ’01 (CACO).

Editor & PublisherJim Roberts ’71

Senior EditorBeth Saulnier

Assistant EditorChris Furst, ’84–88 Grad

Assistant Editor/MediaShelley Stuart ’91

Editorial AssistantTanis Furst

Contributing EditorsBrad Herzog ’90Sharon Tregaskis ’95

Art DirectorStefanie Green

Assistant Art DirectorLisa Banlaki Frank

Class Notes Editor & Associate PublisherAdele Durham Robinette

Accounting ManagerBarbara Bennett

Circulation AssistantShannon Myers

InternsAmanda First ’12Kimberly Kerr ’13Justin Min ’11

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Editorial & Business Offices401 East State Street, Suite 301, Ithaca, NY 14850(607) 272-8530; FAX (607) 272-8532

AdvertisingDisplay, Classified, Cornellians in BusinessAlanna Downey800-724-8458 or 607-272-8530, ext. [email protected]


Ivy League Magazine NetworkLawrence J. Brittan(631) 754-4264

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Cornell Alumni Magazine is owned and published by the Cornell Alumni Association under the dir ection of its Cornell Alumni Magazine Committee. It is editorially independent of Cornell University.

Issued bimonthly. Single copy price: $6. Yearly subscriptions $30, UnitedStates and possessions; $45, international. Printed by The Lane Press,South Burling ton, VT. Copyright © 2012, Cornell Alumni Magazine. Rightsfor republication of all matter are reserved. Printed in U.S.A.

Send address changes to Cornell Alumni Magazine, c/o Public AffairsRecords, 130 East Seneca St., Suite 400, Ithaca, NY 14850-4353.

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Show Us the Red CardYour “Big Game” on the soccer team’s winagainst Penn (Sports, November/ Decem-ber 2011) says that the game-winning goalcame on “a shot fired from the right sideof the penalty box.” There is no penalty“box” on a soccer field. There is a penaltyarea. Please use the proper terminology.

Gary Fisher ’68Trumansburg, New York

Author’s RequestI would like to contact any alumnus oralumna who knew Harry Chapin ’64 duringhis undergraduate years at Cornell and inparticular anyone from his freshman dor-mitory floor—Chapin’s room was UniversityHalls 5102. I am writing a historical studyabout Chapin’s relationship to Delta KappaEpsilon during the years 1961–63. I can bereached by e-mail at [email protected] orby phone at 480-641-1137.

H. William Fogle ’70Mesa, Arizona

CorrectionIsabel Fratt ’14 was mistakenly listed as afourth-generation Cornellian in the onlinelegacy list (July/August 2011). She is actu-ally the fifth generation in her family to goto Cornell: her great-great-grandfatherwas George Meade Emory, LLB 1890.

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From theHill

Campus News

Just days after Stanford University—widely seen as its primaryrival—dropped out of the competition to build a science andengineering campus in New York City, Cornell was declared thewinner. In a press conference held at the Medical college in mid-December, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that the city hadselected a joint project of Cornell and the Technion, Israel’s pre-mier technical institute. “It promises to create a beehive of inno-vation and discovery,” Bloomberg said, “attracting and nurturingthe kind of technical talent that will spawn new companies, createnew jobs, and propel our city’s economy to new frontiers.”

The Cornell-Technion plan had emerged as the front runner inthe days before the announcement—thanks not only to Stanford’sdeparture, but to the news that the University had secured a $350million gift from an anonymous donor to support the project. Afew hours after the press conference, the New York Times revealedthe donor’s identity: Charles Feeney ’56, who made a fortune withhis Duty Free Shoppers stores and went on to give away most ofit. Over the years, his Atlantic Philanthropies foundation hasdonated more than $600 million to Cornell; the $350 million giftbrings that total close to an even billion. For decades, Feeneyopted to remain anonymous—no Cornell building bears hisname—but went public several years ago in the hope that itwould inspire other wealthy people to gift their fortunes.

The planned tech campus will be built on the southern end ofRoosevelt Island, across the East River from Manhattan and connectedto its neighbors via bridge, tram, and subway. The city competition

Cornell-Technion Plan Wins Bid for NYC Tech Campus

offered free land and up to $100 million in infrastructure improve-ments; the Cornell-Technion design calls for an eleven-acre campus,partly on the current site of an aging hospital that the city has longplanned to demolish. As Bloomberg noted, the project is expected togenerate $23 billion in economic benefits and $1.4 billion in tax rev-enue over the next three decades; its construction will create 20,000jobs, and 8,000 people will be employed there permanently.

When the project is fully realized—by 2043—it will comprisetwo million square feet of classroom and research space, plushousing for more than 2,000 students and some 300 faculty. Itsprograms will begin at an offsite location in fall 2012, withground broken on Roosevelt Island in 2015 and the first buildingsopening no later than 2017. Although there will be no degree pro-grams for undergraduates, the campus could offer them opportuni-ties for research and internships.

In response to a question about the project’s possible effect onthe Ithaca campus, President David Skorton acknowledged that heunderstood why people might be concerned. He noted that Cornellhas extensive experience with far-flung campuses in locales suchas Manhattan and Qatar, that the tech campus would be fundedthrough separate channels as a “pay as you go” operation—andthat both the undergrad and grad student assemblies hadexpressed support for the effort. Skorton also stressed that theproject will have educational benefits for K–12 students as well asthose from CUNY and SUNY colleges. “This is an exercise in inclu-sion,” Skorton said, “and having all the ships rise in this fine city.”

River view: The new campus will be on Roosevelt Island, across the water from the Medical school (upper right corner).

SKIDMORE, OWINGS & MERRILL

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In October, the University announced itwill break ground in summer 2013 for a$61 million addition to Goldwin SmithHall. The 33,000-square-foot structure—which Cornell is hailing as the first newbuilding dedicated to the humanities inmore than a century—will fill the spacebetween Goldwin Smith’s wings on thebuilding’s eastern side. It will feature a7,700-square-foot glass atrium, an audito-rium, offices, and other program space.Cornell plans to fund the building entirelyby philanthropy, including a $25 millionlead gift from an anonymous donor. “Thisspectacular building will symbolically andphysically welcome the rest of the campusto participate in the humanities and artsat Cornell,” says Arts and Sciences deanPeter Lepage. The new space is projectedto open in 2015.

University Launches ‘CornellNow! 2015’ CampaignThe University has expanded the goal of its latest capital cam-paign, raising it to $4.75 billion under an effort dubbed “CornellNow! 2015.” The current “Far Above” campaign, launched in 2006,has garnered $3.3 billion; during the Trustee-Council Annual Meet-ing in October, President David Skorton announced a new goal ofraising an additional $1.45 billion by December 2015. The hoped-for funds include $70 million for faculty renewal and diversity,$157 million for undergraduate scholarships, $100 million forgraduate fellowships and professonal school scholarships, and$100 million to advance the University’s standing in the humani-ties and fine arts.

Father Files $180 Million Lawsuit in Gorge SuicideAn alumnus is suing the University for $180 million, alleging thatCornell is responsible for the suicide death of his son. In Novem-ber, Howard Ginsburg ’70 filed suit against Cornell, the City ofIthaca, and several University personnel including President DavidSkorton. Ginsburg’s son, economics major Bradley Ginsburg ’13,jumped from the Thurston Avenue Bridge in spring 2010—one ofthree suicides in the span of several weeks. In the suit, the plain-tiff alleges that the defendants “had actual knowledge of thestrong likelihood of self-infliction of harm posted by the ThurstonAvenue Bridge, due to the long history of gorge-related suicides,”but “failed to take obvious steps” to prevent subsequent deaths.Previous lawsuits against Cornell in 1977 and 1981, filed by theparents of students who committed suicide, were unsuccessful.

Following the three suicides, the University erected temporaryfences on its bridges, as well as on those adjacent to campusowned by the City of Ithaca. After convening a panel of suicide-prevention experts and exploring various designs for bridge barriers, Cornell opted to replace the fences—which have beencriticized as unsightly—with a system of nets. In December,Ithaca’s Common Council approved the netting plan; the Univer-sity aims to begin construction this summer.

New Humanities Space Planned for Arts Quad

2009 Alum is Youngest to BeElected Mayor of IthacaWinning a four-way race with 54percent of the vote, twenty-four-year-old Svante Myrick ’09 hasbeen elected mayor of Ithaca—the youngest person, and thefirst African American, to holdthe position. A former communi-cation major in CALS, Myrick hasserved on Ithaca’s Common Coun-cil for four years; he helped cre-ate the city’s Youth Council andchaired the Collegetown VisionImplementation Committee. TheSyracuse-area native was anassistant director of student andyoung alumni programs in the Office of Alumni Affairs beforeresigning to run for mayor. Myrick defeated Tompkins County legis-lator Pam Mackesey ’89 in the Democratic primary.

Medical College Names $650 Million Science FacilityIn November, the Medical college celebrated the dedication of its$650 million medical sciences facility, announcing that it will benamed the Belfer Research Building in honor of donors Robert andRenée Belfer, who gave $100 million. Under construction sincespring 2010, the 480,000-square-foot facility on Manhattan’s UpperEast Side is scheduled to open in 2014. “It will be one of the hall-marks of the twenty-first century for this medical college,” outgo-ing dean Antonio Gotto said at the ceremony. “This will be home tothirty new researchers who will carry out discoveries that we hopewill lead to new and improved ways of diagnosing, treating, andcuring disease. These new researchers will work with the cliniciansin the hospital across the street; they will be mentors and tutors toour medical students, fellows, and residents. So they’ll have a bigimpact on this campus over the succeeding generations.”

Svante Myrick ’09

KOETTER, KIM AND ASSOCIATES

PROVIDED

Glass house: The structure will have an entrance on East Avenue—and itsroofline will not be visible from the historic Arts Quad.



Give My Regards To...These Cornellians in the News

Astronomy professor Steven Squyres ’78, PhD ’81, named chair-man of the NASA Advisory Council (a group of experts that offersguidance to the space agency’s administrator), and mechanicaland aerospace engineering professor Mason Peck, named NASA’schief technologist, the agency’s principal adviser on matters oftechnology policy.

Téa Obreht, MFA ’08, whose debut novel, The Tiger’s Wife, wasnamed one of the ten best books of 2011 by the New York Times.

Paul Feeny, professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biol-ogy, winner of the Silver Medal from the International Society ofChemical Ecology for his contributions to the study of insect-plant interactions.

Computer science professor Johannes Gehrke, whose workfocuses on managing large datasets and exploring privacy issues,winner of a $25,000 Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists fromthe New York Academy of Sciences.

Professors Salman Avestimehr (electrical and computer engineer-ing), David Erickson (mechanical and aerospace engineering),

John March (biological and environmental engineering), andKyle Shen (physics), winners of Presidential Early Career Awardsfor Scientists and Engineers.

John Alexander ’74, who co-founded the technology firm CBORDas an undergraduate, named Cornell Entrepreneur of the Year.

Government professor emeritus Sidney Tarrow, winner of a$32,400 fellowship from the Mellon Foundation. He’ll use theaward to study how rights are protected or abused during mod-ern warfare.

Former Cornell president Jeffrey Lehman ’77, one of fifty recipi-ents of the People’s Republic of China Friendship Award for con-tributions to the nation’s social and economic advancement.Lehman served as chancellor and founding dean of the School ofTransnational Law at Peking University’s Shenzhen campus.

MIT professor Eugene Fitzgerald, PhD ’89, co-recipient of theGrove Award, given by the Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers for outstanding contributions to solid-state devicesand technology.

Stage manager Andrew Feigin ’75, honored by the Academy ofTelevision Arts & Sciences for his work on “The Kennedy CenterHonors,” which won two consecutive Emmy Awards as Outstand-ing Variety, Musical, or Comedy Special.

Gorge gateway: A custom-made decorative iron gate has been installed at the lower entrance of theCascadilla Gorge trail off Linn Street. Created by local artisan Durand Van Doren, who has made simi-lar gates and fences on campus, the 1,200-pound structure will allow the trail to be closed off duringhazardous winter conditions.

JASON KOSKI / UP



Photo finish: “Child Holding an Apple” (circa1860) is on display in Kroch Library as partof an exhibition of early photographs.“Dawn’s Early Light: The First 50 Years ofAmerican Photography” runs through May 4.

From th

e Hill


R&DMore information on campus research is available at www.news.cornell.edu

Winemaking is a pricey business, confirms applied economicsand management professor Gerald White. He reports thatestablishing a vineyard in the Finger Lakes would have cost$18,800 per acre in 2010.

Researchers at the Medical college and on the Ithaca campussay that U.S. doctors spend four times more time on paper-work than Canadian MDs. Interacting with insurance compa-nies and the government costs U.S. doctors about $83,000 ayear compared with $22,000 for those in Ontario.

Under the guidance of law professor Muna Ndulo, four stu-dents created a draft constitution for the new Republic ofSouth Sudan last spring. The semester-long project involvedsurveying state constitutions to establish best practices.

In a survey, hospitality management professor Sheryl Kimesfound that about a quarter of U.S. takeout restaurants acceptonline orders. She concluded that by offering online ordering,restaurants improve accuracy and increase business.

Most marine vertebrates have a “sixth sense” that helpsthem detect weak electrical fields, according to a study inNature Communications by evolutionary biology professorWilly Bemis ’76. The ability helps them detect prey, commu-nicate, and orient themselves.

While tulip bulbs have traditionally been planted six toeight inches deep, horticulture professor William Miller, PhD’86, says they can thrive with less effort. He reports thatbulbs can be planted in soil tilled just two inches deep andcovered with two to four inches of mulch.

An antimicrobial compound in honey could offer a naturalpreservative, finds food microbiologist Randy Worobo. Insunflower honey from South Dakota, he discovered a strainof Bacillus thuringiensis, which is effective against food-borne pathogens such as Listeria.

Crop and soil sciences professor Johannes Lehmann is lead-ing a project to develop a kiln, fueled by biomass, that canbe used in rural Kenyan villages. The system, known aspyrolysis, could provide fuel for transportation and biocharto improve soil productivity.

An international team including fiber scientist Juan Hinestrozahas developed transistors made of cotton fibers. The technol-ogy could lead to clothing that can sense body temperature,monitor vital signs, or automatically heat up or cool down.

Adults aren’t good at detecting when young children arelying, finds human development professor Stephen Ceci. Hisstudy—which found that adults generally can’t tell if chil-dren are telling the truth, lying, or repeating misinforma-tion—could have implications for child abuse investigations.

PROVIDED

Campus Mourns Grad Students Two graduate students passed away this fall. Robert Mozia, atwenty-four-year-old from Hackensack, New Jersey, studying bio-medical engineering, died of natural causes in late October. Twoweeks later, policy analysis and management PhD candidate Ken-neth Whelan died suddenly at age twenty-nine; he is survived by awife and two young sons. The specific causes of the deaths havenot been disclosed.

Smits Is Artist of the YearActor Jimmy Smits, MFA ’82, came tocampus in December to accept theCornell Alumni Artist of the YearAward. Smits is known to TV audi-ences for his roles on “L.A. Law,”“NYPD Blue,” “The West Wing,” and“Dexter”; his film work includesappearances in two Star Wars movies.During his visit to campus, he held aquestion-and-answer session withtheater students and was honored ata dinner and award ceremony at theSchwartz Center. “When I was here itwas an incredible time,” Smits said.“I was very confused about what I was going to do—I was ayoung parent—but this school set me on a course for life. It gaveme a confidence that really helped me.” Smits’s Cornell rolesincluded the lead in George Bernard Shaw’s Man and Superman.

Jimmy Smits, MFA ’82


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Sports

unpaid assistant coach at his old highschool in Kirkland, Washington, andsigned to play with the Arizona Rattlersof the Arena Football League in thespring. “I made a goal just to get healthyand stay around the game,” he says. Butthen the Chargers offered him a secondchance, inviting him to join their practicesquad. For the rest of last season, he wasone of eight players who helped preparethe team for games but didn’t suit up onSundays. Heading into the 2011 season,he aimed to make the active roster. Prog-nosis: unlikely.

“I wanted to show the coaches that Icould do it in a game,” says Walters. “Younever know when you’re going to getthrown in there, and you’ve got to be readyif it’s your one shot.” That shot came dur-ing San Diego’s first preseason game,

Bolt from the BlueBryan Walters ’10 beats the odds and lands in the NFL

against the Seattle Seahawks, onnational television: he caught theball in his end zone, raced upthe middle, was nearly trippedup at the 35-yard line, regainedhis balance, veered toward thesideline, and outraced a flock ofSeahawks for a 103-yard touch-down run.

That kick return alonemight not have been enough toearn him a roster spot. But twoweeks later Walters caught agame-winning touch down passagainst the Arizona Cardinals.The play had been set up mo -ments earlier by an acrobaticcatch in which Walters cor-ralled a wayward pass by tip-ping it to himself.

Walters finished the presea-son with ten receptions for 122yards. In the pro cess, he be -came a fan favorite, known forworking hard, running preciseroutes, and catching anythingin the same zip code. “The bestability a receiver can have isdependability,” Chargers quar-terback Philip Rivers told areporter for Southern Califor-nia’s North County Times.“Bryan is one of those guys

you can count on.” When judgment dayarrived in September and the roster wasreduced from 80 to 53 players, Waltersjoined Kevin Boothe ’05, a backup offen-sive lineman with the New York Giants,as one of two Cornellians in the NFL thisyear. “To get through that day,” Walterssays, “was pretty exciting.”

Like his team, Walters has had an up-and-down season. He saw some gametime right away, but then was relegated tothe bench and cut to make room for adefensive player. The Chargers returnedhim to the active roster in November, buthe’s mostly watched from the sidelinessince then. Still, he’s shown that he has theability to make big plays when calledupon—so maybe, in his case, NFL won’tmean Not For Long.

— Brad Herzog ’90

All the way: Bryan Walters ’10 returned a kickoff 103 yards in a preseasongame against the Seattle Seahawks.

MIKE NOWAK

I t isn’t easy to jump from theAncient Eight to the NationalFootball League. This season, outof 1,696 NFL roster spots, just a

half-dozen belong to Ivy Leaguers. So theodds were astronomical for former BigRed star Bryan Walters ’10, an undraftedwide receiver, who looks like he couldbe, according to one ESPN.com writer,“a stunt double for Matt Damon.”

Not that the 6-foot, 190-pound Wal-ters isn’t talented. He is Cornell’s careerleader in all-purpose yards (excelling as akick and punt returner) and led the leaguein receiving yardage as a senior, when hewas a second-team All-Ivy selection. Hesigned with the San Diego Chargers as arookie free agent in 2010, but injured hisknee in the first week of training campand was released. Walters took a job as an

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Sports Shorts

Jeff Mathews ’14 Named Top IvyOffensive PlayerOn December 5, Cornell quarterback JeffMathews ’14 was awarded the Asa BushnellCup as the Ivy League Offensive Player of theYear. In the season finale against Penn, a 48-38 Cornell victory, Mathews threw for an IvyLeague single-game record 548 yards and setthe league’s single-season passing mark with3,412 yards. With two 500-plus yard games,Mathews had two of the top three passinggames in Ivy history. He also set Cornellrecords for touchdown passes (25), totaloffense (3,274 yards), completion percentage(.679), and passing efficiency (162.60). A two-time national player of the week, Math-ews was one of four Big Red players to earn first-team All-Ivy honors; the others werewide receiver Shane Savage ’12, placekicker Brad Greenway ’11, and returner RashadCampbell ’12.

STRONG START Goalie Ben Scrivens ’10 made his NHL debut a memorable one, stopping38 shots to earn the victory as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Columbus Blue Jackets4-1 on November 3. Scrivens started the season with the Leafs’ AHL farm team, theToronto Marlies, and posted a 4-1 record with a 2.41 goals-against average and a .908save percentage before being called up to the parent club. Scrivens is the 29th former BigRed player, and the 10th goalie, to play in the NHL.

BEST IN BLIZZARD A historic snowstorm was the setting for ahistoric outing by the women’s cross country team as thesquad won its first Heptagonal title since 1998. On a six-kilometer course at Princeton that was covered in three inchesof snow from a rare October Nor’easter, the Big Red edgedColumbia by two points, led by Katie Kellner ’13 in fourth(22:13.5) and Genna Hartung ’13 in fifth (22:14.5).

CLEAN SLATE He’s only a sophomore, but goalie Andy Iles isalready etching his name into the hockey record book. DuringNovember, he strung together three straight shutouts as part ofa goal-less streak that lasted 213 minutes and 35 seconds, sec-ond in school history to Ben Scrivens’s mark of 267:11 twoseasons ago. Iles was named the ECAC Goalie of the Monthafter posting a 6-2 record with a 1.69 goals-against averageand a .936 save percentage. After a 2-1 overtime loss to Boston University at MadisonSquare Garden on November 26, Iles posted two more shutouts at Lynah Rink on December2 and 3, making it five consecutive home games without a goal allowed—a Big Red record.

MOVING UP The 2011 season was a special one for the men’s soccer team, which had itsfirst winning season since 2001 andfinished within two points of an IvyLeague title. The Big Red posted an 8-2-6 record, its fewest losses since1995. The offense generated 25 goals in16 games, and the defense allowed only13 goals—at one point going 505 min-utes without allowing a goal, breakingthe school record of 494 minutes set in1977. Goalkeeper Rick Pflasterer ’13and defender Patrick Slogic ’14 wereboth named first-team All-Ivy.

Fall TeamsFinal Records

Field Hockey 7-10; 1-6 Ivy (7th)Football 5-5; 3-4 Ivy (6th)Sprint Football 3-4; 2-4 CSFL (T-4th)Men’s Soccer 8-2-6; 3-1-3 Ivy (T-4th)Women’s Soccer 2-13-1; 0-6-1 Ivy (8th)Volleyball 5-21; 3-11 Ivy (7th)

TIM O’DOWD/CORNELL ATHLETICS

Katie Kellner

IVY LEAGUE SPORTS

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Lions of the West by Robert Morgan(Algonquin). Novelist, poet, and biogra-pher Robert Morgan, the Kappa AlphaProfessor of English, focuses on the livesof ten representative men who, for goodor ill—and often both—were key figuresin America’s westward expansion. Theseshort biographies of Thomas Jefferson,Andrew Jackson, Davey Crockett, SamHouston, Kit Carson, John QuincyAdams, and others illuminate the con-nections between the visionaries and pragmatists who broughtabout Jefferson’s dream of a continental nation. “The celebratedor reviled leaders,” writes Morgan, “are partly figureheads thathelp us give shape to the messy narrative of this history.”

Wolf Mark by Joseph Bruchac ’64 (TuBooks). Lucas King is a high schoolloner who wants to lead a normal life,or as close to normal as possible afterhis mother dies and his father loseshimself in alcohol. He has unusual abil-ities, too—not just the martial arts helearned from his father, a special opsinfiltrator. When his father is kid-napped, Lucas’s newfound ability as ashape-shifter may be the only way torescue him. Bruchac brings together Abenaki Indian legends, atop-secret laboratory, and a mysterious group of Russians calledthe Sunglass Mafia in this paranormal thriller.

Authors

Brave New World

In a future where the human race has split intobiologically separate subspecies in the aftermathof a worldwide ecological disaster, young Aluna

lives in a hidden undersea city with her people, theCoral Kampii. When the Kampii’s underwaterbreathing technology begins to fail, Aluna abandonsher coming-of-age ceremony and, along with herfriend Hoku, makes a dangerous journey to dry landto seek answers. They make allies among the birdpeople and horse people and confront grotesquemachine-human hybrids before they discover themeans to save their city.

The Odds by Stewart O’Nan, MFA ’92(Viking). The author of Snow Angels andLast Night at the Lobster tells the storyof Art and Marion Fowler, a couple fac-ing unemployment, looming foreclosure,infidelity, and divorce, who decide tospend their last weekend together asthey’d spent the first days of their mar-riage, in Niagara Falls. Hoping to rekin-dle their love, Art books the bridal suiteat an expensive casino for a secondhoneymoon; Marion just hopes toendure the weekend. Not only does Art gamble on their marriage,he plans to place one desperate bet in the casino with the last oftheir money.

The Mirage by Matt Ruff ’87 (Harper). Inthe alternate universe of Ruff’s fifthnovel, the United Arab States are thedominant power and the Baghdad towershave been brought down by American ter-rorists on 11/9. In this world, Israel is aEuropean nation, America is a dividedcountry, Osama bin Laden is a powerfulsenator, and Saddam Hussein is a gang-ster. A team of intelligence agents mustdiscover why captured terrorists insistthat in the real world a powerful America was attacked on 9/11,while trying to thwart bin Laden’s intrigues and Hussein’s megalo-maniac ambitions.

Above World by Jenn Reese ’92 (Candlewick)

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Children’sWhere We Once Gathered by Andrea Strong-water, BFA ’70 (Eifrig). In a collection ofpaintings of synagogues that weredestroyed before and during World War II,the artist depicts the history of pre-Holocaust Jewish communities in Europe.

Billions of Years, Amazing Changes by Lau-rence Pringle ’58, illustrated by Steve Jenk-ins (Boyds Mills). An award-winning naturewriter summarizes the evidence and explainsthe science of evolution for young readers.

Non-FictionThe Forest Unseen by David GeorgeHaskell, PhD ’96 (Viking). “Can the wholeforest be seen through a small contempla-tive window of leaves, rocks, and water?”asks a professor of biology at the Univer-sity of the South. He conducts the searchfor the universal within the infinitesimallysmall by recording his observations of asmall patch of old-growth forest in Ten-nessee over the course of a year.

The Unquiet American edited by Derek

Chollet ’93 and Samantha Power (PublicAf-fairs). Richard Holbrooke was one of Amer-ica’s most influential diplomats. He helpedbroker the Dayton Peace Accords thatended the conflict in Bosnia, served asambassador to Germany and the UnitedNations, and was a special adviser onAfghanistan and Pakistan to PresidentObama. In this collection of essays, twelvewriters look back at Holbrooke’s career andthe history he shaped.

English After the Fall by Robert Scholes,PhD ’59 (Iowa). A professor of English atBrown University traces the differentmeanings attached to the word “literature”since the Renaissance. He argues that Eng-lish departments define literature too nar-rowly and need to expand the range ofwhat we read beyond the approved canonto include both popular and sacred works.

Witches, Wife Beaters, and Whores by ElaineForman Crane ’61 (Cornell). A professor of history at Fordham University examinesearly American cases of murder, witch - craft, and domestic violence to illuminate the ways in which ordinary people shaped legal culture in the colonies.

The Happiness of Pursuit by Shimon Edel-man (Basic). “Understanding the brainoffers for the first time a real chance forunderstanding how and why happinesshappens,” writes Edelman, a Cornell profes-sor of psychology and expert on cognition,“and perhaps for developing somerecipes—algorithms—for pursuing it moreeffectively.”

Translating Empire by Sophus A. Reinert ’03(Harvard). An assistant professor of busi-ness administration at Harvard BusinessSchool examines how the conflicted rootsof eighteenth-century political economygrew out of the imperial rivalries amongEuropean powers.

For Better or For Work by Meg CadouxHirsh berg, MPS ’84 (Inc. Original). The wifeof the founder of Stonyfield Yogurt offers apractical guide to surviving the emotionaland logistical ups and downs of building abusiness while trying to live a fulfillingfamily life.

Luxembourg as an Immigration SuccessStory by Joel S. Fetzer ’88 (Lexington).Drawing on interviews with governmentofficials, human rights activists, scholars,and immigrants, a professor of political sci-ence at Pepperdine University analyzes whyLuxembourg’s immigration policies work,while the policies of other European Unioncountries falter.



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Four years ago, Hod Lipson, an associate professor in theEngineering college, and Michael Schmidt ’04, PhD ’10, thena graduate student in his lab, asked a computer program theyhad created to explain a phenomenon that had taken scien-

tists years to quantify: the motion of a swinging double pendulum. Twenty-four hours after the researchers fed the software the angles and angular veloc-ity of the pendulum’s segments, the computer spat out the Hamiltonian equation describing the total energy of the system’s motion. Because the com-puter had been given no background data in mathematics or physics and haduncovered the formula from scratch, Lipson suspected it could solve other scientific problems. He was right.

Lipson named the software Eureqa and offered it free on the Internet; requestsstarted pouring in from researchers and citizen scientists around the world. Withnearly 20,000 users, this automated scientist has solved such simple problems aspredicting traffic patterns—while also generating complex mathematical modelsthat have proven incomprehensible. One researcher, Gurol Suel, a molecular bio-physicist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, sent Lipsonsome data on the dynamics of a bacterium for an earlier version of the softwareto analyze. After Lipson input the data, a series of equations suddenly startedpopping out of the computer, describing how the cell worked. Yet the researchershad no clue how to interpret them. “We’ve been struggling for three years tounderstand what it means,” acknowledges Lipson, who says he may have just

recently discovered the answer. “Right now we’reat this point where Eureqa is creating these for-mulas, but we really don’t know what they mean.It’s a strange place to be at, but I think it’s a signof things to come.”

Inventing computers that can outwit scientistshas long been a mainstay of science fiction—butin Lipson’s Creative Machines Lab in Upson Hall,the phenomenon has become reality. Lipson, whoearned his doctoral degree at the Technion–IsraelInstitute of Technology in his hometown of Haifa,began his journey toward building an automatedscientist by fabricating a robot that could teachitself to walk. Called the Starfish, the robot couldadapt to changes (such as having its leg sawed off)by reprogramming itself and running experimentsthat would allow it to continue moving. This ledLipson to create a robot that could breed newmachines through a process of co-evolution. Afterdesigning a robot that could replicate itself andthen make improvements by correcting defects,Lipson decided to make one that could createmodels of its observations—the same process thatscientists use to explain the world.

Creating computers that outsmart(and unsettle) scientists

In the swing: Professor Hod Lipson(left) and grad student MichaelSchmidt ’04, PhD ’10, with thedouble pendulum that got themthinking about a computer’s potential for problem solving

Rise of the Machines

LINDSAY FRANCE / UP

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One of Lipson’s collaborators is John Wikswo, a physicistand biomedical engineer at Vanderbilt University. With fundingfrom several federal agencies, including the National ScienceFoundation and National Institutes of Health, Lipson andWikswo are using automated software to infer models of com-plex biological phenomena—including the nature of drug addic-tion, the response of cells to pathogens, and the growth of yeastcells. What makes the research unique is that a newer version ofEureqa is analyzing the data being generated at Vanderbiltremotely at Cornell, a method Lipson calls “telescience.” Whilethe experiments are conducted at Vanderbilt, Eureqa controls theresearch via the Internet. “It’s literally a scientist,” Lipson says.“At the end of the day, it pops out three models that it has deter-mined on everything it has seen. At that point, the [human] sci-entist has to show up and say, ‘This doesn’t make sense’ or ‘Thismodel makes sense and we’re going to publish it.’ ”

Incorporating machines like Eureqa into the research,Wikswo says, has the potential to revolutionize the way biolo-gists work. “It may make biology experiments look more likeparticle physics experiments with their complexity,” he says. “Butbiology is intrinsically complex, and it will take complicatedmachines to understand it.” Lipson, who was recently namedone of the world’s seven most powerful data scientists by Forbesmagazine, believes that automated scientists like Eureqa have thepower to speed up the process of discovery—allowing scientiststo solve problems that may be too complex for human under-standing or that are impervious to traditional techniques. “It’s

definitely going to change how science is done in the future,”says Lipson, who joined the Department of Mechanical andAerospace Engineering and the Faculty of Computing and Infor-mation Science in 2001. “I don’t think it will quite replace sci-entists, but it will accelerate the rate of discoveries and extendwhat scientists can do. It’s really taking us to new frontiers.”

Yet developing robots that can devise equations incompre-hensible to humans is troubling to other scientists, who worrythat human intelligence may be reaching its limit. In his essay“The End of Insight,” applied mathematics professor Steven Stro-gatz writes that “insight is becoming impossible, at least at thefrontiers of mathematics,” and that he expects this problem willalso afflict physics, biology, and the social sciences. Strogatztraces history from ancient times—when superstition and igno-rance dominated—to the Enlightenment, when humans began touse math to explain the world. He concludes that we are nowentering a third period when “the window is closing and the endof insight is approaching.” Research such as Lipson’s robotics,he writes, is proof that computers have overtaken human intel-ligence and are becoming all-powerful—and that, ultimately,“we’ll be left in the dust.” As he goes on to write, with pes-simistic tongue in cheek: “I think the computers will be doinggreat science, but we hope that what they discover will be benev-olent. If they find a cure for cancer, I hope that they will share itwith us rather than obliterate the human race and take all the oilfor themselves.”

— Sherrie Negrea

BRIAN STAUFFER / THEISPOT.COM


http://THEISPOT.COM


And So It Went

sure, he credits Vonnegutwith broadening the genreof science fiction andobserves, astutely, that instyle and outlook, espe-cially in Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut borrowedmore from AmbroseBierce than from MarkTwain, the satirist withwhom he is usually com-pared. Most of the time,however, his discussion ofVonnegut’s novels does notextend beyond plot sum-maries and the identifica-tion of the “real life” mod-els for his characters.

Kurt Vonnegut’s work,Shields implies, does notrequire extensive analysis.Best understood as a“comic-didactic” ratherthan a “black humorist,” Vonnegut tellsmorality tales (the critic Benjamin DeMottcalled them “bull session simplisms”)about people struggling against corrup-tion, oppression, and spiritual emptiness,often drawing on the imagination as theironly weapon and sometimes accepting,wisely and without cynicism, their ownpowerlessness in a deterministic world.

Only mildly interested in politics formost of his life, Vonnegut was branded aleft-wing firebrand, Shields points out, whenthe 1969 publication of Slaughterhouse-Five, which uses the Dresden bombingand Newton’s Second Law of Thermo -dynamics to insist that “immoral acts can-not be undone,” coincided, serendipi-tously, with some of the fiercest fightingof the Vietnam War. With good reasonVonnegut attributed his iconic status withyoung Americans to his insistence onaddressing “sophomoric questions thatfull adults regard as settled” and forencouraging his readers “to make a better

world.” Vonnegut died in 2007, at eighty-four, from a respiratory infection and theeffects of a bad fall outside his New YorkCity apartment. “I’m old,” he had told areporter. “You ought to see what Mozartlooks like by now.”

Most of his books remain popularand in print. Given the war in Afghan i -stan, global warming, corporate corrup-tion, and religious fundamentalism,Shields predicts, Vonnegut’s fantasticmorality tales—mixing humanism andexistentialism, treating puzzlement andpain with an and-so-it-goes sigh—will“guide and inspire the next forward-look-ing generation.” For better or worse, hemay well be right.

— Glenn Altschuler

Glenn Altschuler, PhD ’76, is the LitwinProfessor of American Studies, dean ofthe School of Continuing Education andSummer Sessions, and vice president foruniversity relations.

New biography of Kurt Vonnegut Jr. ’44is revealing but uneven

I n January 1943, in the middle ofhis junior year, Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’44 dropped out of Cornell. He wasflunking biochemistry and organic

chemistry and—more important—he real-ized he would not be chosen editor-in-chief of the Daily Sun. Once an outspo-ken isolationist, Vonnegut enlisted in theArmy. The war against the Nazis, he haddecided, “was worth fighting.”

Taken prisoner during the Battle ofthe Bulge, Vonnegut was a survivor of thefire-bombing of Dresden, Germany. Hereturned home with a subject to writeabout, but without a clear career path.After enrolling in and dropping out of theUniversity of Chicago and working as apublicist for General Electric, Vonnegutdecided to write full-time. He published afew science-fiction stories, but, accordingto Charles Shields, it would take KnoxBurger ’43, former editor of the CornellWidow and, in 1949, an influential editorat Collier’s magazine, to get him launched.

Shields is a journalist and the authorof Mockingbird, a biography of HarperLee. In his new biography of Vonnegut,And So It Goes (Henry Holt and Com-pany), he draws on hundreds of inter-views and a large cache of correspondenceto provide a detailed, and not all that flat-tering, portrait of one of America’s mostpopular “fabulators.”

Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, in1922, Vonnegut was an unhappy child,Shields suggests, scarred permanently byhis family’s loss of wealth and status inthe Thirties and by the suicide of hismother. As an adult he could be funny,but was often sad and self-absorbed. Theonly thing he “hated more than listeningto people,” Vonnegut once said, was“talking to them.” Apparently, he meantit—and he did not exempt his children,who received scalding rebukes when theywandered into his study.

Shields is not a literary critic. To be




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on Truman Capote’s memoirs—sheplayed a twelve-year-old girl, a ninety-year-old woman, and a barking dog. Itwas good training for inhabiting a book’sentire cast of characters.

She moved to Los Angeles in 1997 anddid some on-camera work. But when afriend suggested she lend her voice toaudiobooks, she found her calling.“When ever I read a book, I hear it in myhead,” says White, who was named one ofAudioFile’s Best Voices of 2010. “It’salways been like that. My theory is thateveryone’s imagination works through dif-ferent senses, and that’s how mine works.”

White does extensive pre-narrationpreparation, including making a spread-sheet of pronunciations and a log ofphrases that describe each character—physically, emotionally, and biographically.Her task is made more difficult when, ashappened in a recent mystery novel, thetext includes lines like, “He sounds likehe’s from a foreign country, but it’s hardto say where.” White notes that nonfictionis often particularly challenging—she hastackled such titles as Too Good to BeTrue: The Rise and Fall of Bernie Madoffby Erin Arvedlund and Give Me Liberty:A Handbook for American Revolutionar-ies by Naomi Wolf—and that fact-ladenacademic tomes, in particular, aren’t nec-essarily intended to be read aloud.“They’re meant to be pored over, studied,or highlighted,” says White, who creditsher Shakespearean training with helpingher conquer lengthy sentences. “They’renot usually written with the music of thelanguage in mind.”

White doesn’t al ways agree with thewords she’s saying—as evidence, sheoffers her narration of three books byright-wing political pundit Ann Coulter’84—or even know exactly what she’stalking about; she says that to understanda study of the human genome that sherecently narrated, “you’d have to have aPhD in genetics.” But she always strivesto make a connection. Her mantras: Be inthe moment. Be emotionally honest. Don’t

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‘You know,” KarenWhite ’85 says with agrin, “I was alwaysthat ob nox ious kid

who liked reading aloud in front of theclass.” Only now, she gets paid for it.

An audiobook narrator, The L.A.-based White has given voice to an eclecticarray of volumes, more than a hundred inall—sci-fi and self-help, business tomesand political polemics, biographies of sub-jects from Elvis Presley to Joan of Arc. Aclassically trained actress with a voice thatAudioFile magazine calls “more contraltothan soprano,” she has risen to the top ofher profession over the past fourteenyears. For her work on Annette GordonReed’s The Hemingses of Monticello—ahistory that won both the National BookAward and the Pulitzer Prize—White gar-nered a 2009 Audiobook of the Yearaward. Reviewing her recording of Bar-bara Demick’s Nothing to Envy: OrdinaryLives in North Korea (itself a NationalBook Award finalist), Publisher’s Weeklyopined that she “delivers a stunning read,her character interpretations are confidentand well-rounded, and she forges a strongbond with the audience.”

White’s choice of material often reflectsher upbringing. She is drawn to southernfiction, especially stories that take place inKentucky, Virginia, or North Carolina—allstates where she was raised. Along withreading and acting, she spent much of herchildhood riding horses. She was initiallyattracted to Cornell because of its vetschool and played polo as a freshman—soit’s no surprise that her list of audiobooksincludes titles like Saddled: How a SpiritedHorse Reigned Me In and Set Me Free andYou Had Me at Woof: How Dogs TaughtMe the Secrets of Happiness.

After majoring in theater at Cornell,White was an artist in residence withShakespeare & Company in western Mas-sachusetts before earning an MFA in act-ing from Brandeis. In her theater days, sheprided herself on having a broad range; ina single show—Holiday Memories, based



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force a shift in pitch or pace, but let itcome naturally via a change in attitude.“I’m not really a creative artist the way awriter is, but I’m still kind of in charge,”says White, who occasionally directs otheraudiobook narrators. “I have so muchmore control over the final product than

COLETTE BLONIGAN

an actor ever does.”White gets paid per hour of completed

narration, and each recorded hour gener-ally requires about two hours of work.She records for no more than six hoursper day, using a virtually soundproofbooth that she and her husband, a Holly-

wood sound mixer, constructed in theirgarage. She starts with a full vocal warm-up including articulation exercises(“unique New York; unique New York”)and reads from an iPad to avoid shufflingpaper. She edits as she goes along, so therecording she submits is relatively clean.Then an editor tweaks it—adjusting tim-ing and removing extraneous breaths, forinstance—and a proofer checks for errorsand accidental background noise. Whitethen re-records any corrections beforefinal mixing and mastering. “Audiobooksdon’t make as much money as otherentertainment forms, so there’s time pres-sure,” she notes. “You can’t get every lit-tle thing perfect.”

Occasionally, White gets to play to awider audience. In October, “CSI: Miami”aired an episode in which a millionaireauthor’s housemaid is found hanging froma chandelier, drained of blood and withbite marks on her neck. The clue thatsolves the case comes from one of thenovelist’s best-selling vampire books—inan epilogue included only in the audio-book version. “The killer,” White’s voicereveals as two forensic investigators listenintently, “knew exactly what to do . . .”

— Brad Herzog ’90

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Taking a Toll

Cornell Alumni Magazine: How much doestraffic congestion cost the U.S. economy?Michael Manville: This year the TexasTransportation Institute estimated that itcost about $100 billion—or $750 perpeak-period traveler. That sounds big.But if you break it down, it’s about$1.50 per trip, which is probably less thanwhat a lot of commuters spend on coffee.That said, many people question the method-ology; there are things that aren’t counted inthat measurement—like accidents and pollu-tion—that make the cost much bigger. The bottomline is there’s no one number; anyone who tells youotherwise is mistaken or lying.

CAM: Can congestion get much worse than italready is?MM: The peak can spread, which is what yousee in Los Angeles and New York; forty yearsago maybe congestion was from eight to ninea.m. and now it’s from seven to ten. Some of thatspreading effect will be bounded by the fact thatonly so much of the population can go into work late or early,but congestion can get worse. The impetus to impose congestiontolls in central London came after a study showed that averagespeeds in 2003 were about the same as in 1903.

CAM: What made you want to study traffic?MM: Congestion is a classic collective action problem; everyonedoes what is individually rational, but we generate a collectiveoutcome that’s completely irrational. We accept traffic congestionin a way that we would not accept other broad-scale failures.Roads are an important part of American infrastructure, but twicea day they collapse from overuse. We would not tolerate it if ourlights went off or our sewers backed up twice a day, five days aweek. But congestion is a routine part of American life, becauseof a combination of incentives and attitudes that we’ve lockedourselves into. And although they cause tremendous harm, wedon’t have the political will to address the problem head on.

CAM: When we’re stuck in traffic, we often wonder why; anaccident, construction, bad weather? Does there have to be a rea-son—or is it just because there are too many people on the road?MM: All those things matter. But ultimately congestion is abouttoo much demand for limited space on the road. Think aboutwhen Best Buy sells plasma TVs on Black Friday for a hundredbucks. What do you see on the news? A line around the block.Nothing’s gone wrong; they’re giving away a valuable good forwell below the market price, and they get a queue as a result. Thesame thing happens when we give away space on a road that takespeople to amenities, housing, jobs, and other things they value.

CAM: So you’re saying that the fundamen-tal problem is that it costs nothing to usemost roads?MM: Yes. We drive on most roads forfree, which makes using roads very differ-ent from other forms of infrastructure.Every time you turn on your lights, yourelectric meter is running. Space on the road isa scarce resource—and when we don’t chargefor it, we overuse it. That’s congestion. So theidea is to charge for road space in the samemanner that we charge for other scarcegoods. In the places where congestion

pricing has been tried, congestiongoes away.

CAM: Like in London?MM: Central London, Singapore,Stockholm, and there are a few dynamictoll roads in Southern California. Theymove a lot more vehicles and reduce pol-lution. But it’s not a popular idea.

CAM: Why do people object so strenuously? MM: People have become accustomed to the idea that roadsshould be free; in the West, highways are called freeways. Sochanging that attitude is extremely difficult—particularly whenany sort of user fee can be interpreted as a tax, and we’re in apolitical environment where new taxes face an uphill battle.

CAM: When fees are proposed, many people call them elitist.MM: That is a reoccurring objection, and there are a couple ofways to look at it. Lower-income people are much less likely todrive in the first place—and if you’re on a bus on a congestion-priced road, you go a lot faster. Low income people are alsomore likely to drive at off-peak hours or to reverse-commute, sothey are less likely to pay high tolls if they do drive. And we needto remember that congestion doesn’t just affect drivers. When wesit in traffic on busy arterials, we emit a lot of pollution intonearby neighborhoods, which are often populated by lower-income people. The consequences are enormous. You end upwith babies who have low birth weights and life-long respiratoryproblems, and higher incidences of asthma and cancer—allbecause affluent people don’t want to pay for the congestion theycause. So the equity argument is more complicated than simplysaying that priced roads are “Lexus lanes.”

CAM: Is this model at work on toll roads like the New YorkState Thruway and the Massachusetts Turnpike?MM: Those tolls aren’t designed to manage traffic, just to raisemoney. The key is that a toll has to be dynamic; it has to rise andfall with the demand for the road, so when you pay you get some-

Planning professor Michael Manville studies traffic congestion, a ubiquitous urban ill

ANDY FRIEDMAN



thing in return. “Yeah, I’ve paid a toll, butI’m going sixty-five miles an hour.”

CAM: What can you recommend otherthan toll-based solutions?MM: You can recommend different things,but by themselves they probably won’twork. We’ve spent a lot of money on pub-lic transportation, but transit doesn’t domuch to the overall level of congestion; itjust lets some people glide by underneathit. Manhattan has the densest rail networkin the U.S., and its congestion is terrible.Places with well-developed transit sys-tems—Boston, San Francisco, Tokyo, Lon-don—tend to have horrible congestion.

CAM: That seems anti-intuitive. Couldyou explain why?MM: When people who would havedriven get on a train, they free up spaceon the road. That reduces the time-cost ofdriving. So other people switch from otherroutes, modes, and times to drive at thepeak hour. In the medium term, you getthe same level of congestion. The Onionheadline says it all: “98 Percent of Amer-icans Favor Public Transportation forOther People.” If everyone thinks thatway, what you get is an empty train anda crowded road. And even if you get a fulltrain, like in Manhattan, you also get acrowded road.

CAM: If public transportation doesn’thelp and tolls are a political dead-end,then what?MM: We have to keep banging away atadding tolls, and looking for ways tomake them more politically feasible.

CAM: To what extent are you up againstan intractable problem, which is Ameri-cans’ passionate attachment to their cars? MM: There may be a car culture, but itsinfluence can be overstated. When peoplemove from L.A. to New York, theirbehavior changes. They adopt a new cul-ture shaped by the monetary realities oftravel in New York. The car culture existsin part because we have laws and regula-tions that make driving cheap.

CAM: You lived in L.A. for ten years, andeven Ithaca has traffic jams. How doesbeing in this field affect your own experi-ence behind the wheel?MM: I sometimes look around and seehow many cars have more than one occu-pant—measure the wasted space. But it’shard to be analytical when you’re stuck intraffic. As a driver, your reptilian instinctskick in; you just want to get home. It’smuch easier to think rationally about con-gestion when you’re not in it.

— Beth Saulnier

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“A museum director writing poetry is like a dog dancing,” says Frank Robinson. “The amaz-ing thing is not that he does it well, but that he does it at all.” Robinson, who retired inJune after two decades at the helm of the Johnson Museum, has loved poetry since child-hood. His affinity for haiku inspired him to publish Soft Applause for the Day, a collectionof more than a hundred of his short poems, with images by Ithaca-based photographerDede Hatch. “I don’t know why, but I was attracted to these wonderful insights from theJapanese haiku masters,” Robinson says of his lifelong fascination with the form. As anadult working seventy-hour weeks, Robinson wrote haiku for a more practical reason. “Ionly had time for these little perceptions,” he recalls, “these little insights in poetry.”

Robinson’s work often departs from the traditional haiku form, which consists of five-seven-five syllable breaks, a seasonal reference, and a grammatical and rhythmic pauseknown as a kireji. Although he generally adheres to the seventeen-syllable format, he says,“the five-seven-five is just too difficult in the English language. But I hope that I’m notviolating the spirit of haiku; even the great Japanese masters don’t always keep to thetraditional rules.”

The small fifty-page hardcover is the result of nearly two years of work sorting andselecting poems and photographs. From the beginning, Robinson says, he and Hatch sawthe words and images as separate but parallel. “We wanted to work together, not becauseshe could illustrate my poems or my poems could illustrate her photographs, but ratherbecause they were similar in spirit,” he recalls. “It’s the spirit of haiku—paying attentionto the unimportant, to the everyday things, to all those moments that constitute andshape our lives.”

In the book, Robinson’s poems are arranged in chronological order, beginning with ahaiku that he wrote as a teenager in the Fifties:

Little maple tree, two inches high, even your three leaves are turning. As the book progresses, Robinson’s poetry reveals a greater depth of emotion and vul-

nerability. On page 38, next to Hatch’s photo of a twig encrusted in ice, he writes:Autumn, and I feelI’m turning another color,darker, perhaps.Soft Applause for the Day was self-published by EmilyPepper Press (named after Robin-

son’s and Hatch’s dogs); it retails for $17 and is available at several Ithaca bookstores oronline at www.buffalostreetbooks.com. “People think that my poetry is a move away fromwhat I’ve been doing, but it’s not,” observes Robinson, who has segued to a part-timeposition in Alumni Affairs and Development. “I just care about art. And art can come outvisually—but it can also come out in poetry.”

— Justin Min ’11

Man of Few Words

Book highlights Frank Robinson’s passion for haiku

DEDE HATCH


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When English professorJ. Robert Len nonwas asked to con-tribute a story to an

anthology of superhero fiction, he dis-patched the assignment in a brisk fourhours. The result was “The Rememberer,”which appeared in the 2008 volume WhoCan Save Us Now? Brand-New Super-heroes and Their Amazing (Short) Stories.After that, Lennon pretty much forgotabout the tale—which, ironically enough,involves a female FBI agent who remem-bers everything that has ever happened toher. “It was not an action-type story at all,”Lennon observes. “It was a contemplative,

depressing story, and she dies at the end.”The author of such novels as Mailman

and The Funnies, Lennon has a WestCoast agent charged with getting his workoptioned for film and TV—but he neverthought to send her “The Rememberer.”Then he was struck by the sort of light-ning that writers dream of: someone atSony Pictures read the book and soughtthe rights to his story. “It was out of theblue,” he recalls. “Of all the things myagent had been trying to sell, someonethought it would make a good TV show.”

That show, retitled “Unforgettable,”has emerged as a Tuesday night hit forCBS, home of such crime blockbusters as

“NCIS” and “CSI.” It stars Poppy Mont-gomery (of the missing-persons drama“Without a Trace”) as Carrie Wells, a for-mer Syracuse detective who reluctantlyjoins the NYPD after a long hiatus fromlaw enforcement. Like Lennon’s protago-

Thanks for the MemoriesA short story by professor J. Robert Lennonspawns a hit TV cop show

On the case: Actors Poppy Montgomery and Dylan Walsh shooting“Unforgettable,” based on a story by J. Robert Lennon (right).

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nist, she struggles with the blessings andburdens of her perfect memory; in mate-rial original to the show, she also copeswith a lingering attraction to her formerboyfriend (a fellow cop played by DylanWalsh of “Nip/Tuck”)—and is haunted byher sister’s unsolved murder, the onlymemory she can’t recall. “We were prima-rily taken by two key elements of[Lennon’s] story, which appealed to ourimaginations as writers,” show creators EdRedlich and John Bellucci said via e-mail.“One was the idea of a person who couldremember an entire life, and the secondwas the personal and emotional cost of liv-ing with that ability. Neither one of us waseager to simply write a whodunit proce-dural, nor did we want to treat the gift ofher memory as some kind of parlor trickthat would allow her to solve crimes.”

As of its first half-dozen episodes, thecreators report, the show had the highestratings of any new drama—prompting thenetwork to order a full season. “Its actionsequences are energetic, its crime scenes shotwith noirish gloom,” said the Miami Her-ald. “And the video effects that allowMontgomery to stand outside her ownmemories, examining them for telltale clues,are eye-popping. But it’s the pained longingof Montgomery and Walsh that turn‘Unforgettable’ into something much moreprofound: a meditation on the fleetingnature of memory, how it can burden usand betray us, comfort us and console us.”

For Lennon, the show has offered apublicity boost—his name appears promi-nently in the opening credits—and a mod-est income bump, though not Hollywood-style riches. He’s keeping his day job asdirector of creative writing at Cornell, andhe recently completed his latest novel;Familiar, a domestic drama with sci-fi ele-ments, comes out in October from Grey-wolf Press. But there have been a fewperks: he’s garnered some new fans, andlast fall he and his parents mingled withthe cast and crew at the show’s productionfacility in Queens. “It was really cool,” hereports. “Their police station mockup waswildly convincing, right down to the cheapand weathered metal-frame desks andAmerican flag stickers.” As for his feelingsabout the show itself, he says he’s gener-ally delighted—but admits that due to hisbusy schedule (and the fact that he doesn’thave cable), he’s seen only the pilot. “Idon’t watch much TV,” says Lennon,pledging to catch up on all the episodeswhen his workload lightens. “That’s notout of cultural snobbery. If I had an extralife to live, I’d probably spend the wholething watching television.”

— Beth Saulnier


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The 1996–98 renovation of Sage Hall was one of the most complicated and con-troversial projects in Cornell’s history. The old building, which had opened as aresidential college for women in 1875, was in terrible shape, so the renovationessentially consisted of putting a new structure inside the original walls. Easiersaid than done.Sage Hall: Experiments in Coeducation and Preservation at Cornell University by

Jennifer Cleland ’72, PhD ’99, and Robert Stundtner begins with an overview ofSage’s early history and the battles that accompanied its pioneering role in co -education. The account of the renovation starts about halfway through and isinterwoven with a memoir of the courtship and marriage of Cleland and Stundtner.The most entertaining reading, though, is the series of construction update e-mails written by Stundtner, the project manager, which are reproduced more orless verbatim. He traces the progress in detail, often with wry humor, providing asort of cinema verité overview of the day-to-day troubles and triumphs. There’salso a good account of the opening of the original cornerstone, which containedEzra Cornell’s 1873 letter to “the coming man and woman”—a missive whose con-tents had remained mysterious for more than a century.

Like many self-published works, this book suffers from curious typography anderrors large and small. Even so, the inside view of the massive project that pro-duced a spectacular new home for the Johnson School is a valuable nugget ofCornell history. For more information, go to: www.sagehallbook.com.

— Jim Roberts ’71

Inside Job

Self-published book recounts the Sage Hall renovation


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36 Cornell Alumni Magazine | cornellalumnimagazine.com36 Cornell Alumni Magazine | cornellalumnimagazine.com

The snack station looks likeit might collapse. Coffee,bagels, and pastries share aflimsy card table with Sara

Lee crumb cakes, boxes of chocolatechip cookies, king-sized bags of chips,and gallons of sugary soda. And that’sonly breakfast, meant to fuel the sleep-less, hyper-creative brains of forty bud-ding tech entrepreneurs.

Welcome to 3 Day Startup, an entre-preneurial event where Cornell students aimto develop business plans for viable techcompanies. With the help of the twelveentrepreneurs and computer experts servingas volunteer mentors, participants have justfifty-four hours over one weekend in earlyNovember to create demos and pitch pre-sentations. On Sunday night, each team willpresent its nascent business to a panel ofventure capitalists, angel investors, and techentre preneurs that may eventually investreal money in their projects.

Within hours of convening in UpsonHall on Friday afternoon, the participantshad come together in brainstorminggroups based on their strengths and inter-ests. In one corner of the room, three stu-dents—Tim Novikoff, a PhD candidate inapplied math; information science majorLori Ho ’12; and computer science majorEugene Doan ’12—discuss Pocket Studio,a website that would allow users to editconcert videos from the footage of multi-ple iPhones. A large roll of paper,anchored by two cups of coffee, quicklyfills up with sketches and ideas.

Ho begins creating a slideshow fortheir presentation that night, using AdobeIllustrator to sketch a crowd wavingsmartphones. An aspiring specialist inuser-friendly site navigation, she is one ofonly a handful of designers at 3 DayStartup. “Think of a website as a build-ing,” she explains. “I’m the person figur-ing out how to make that building prettyand easy to walk through, but I’m notactually building it. I tell our coders whatour site should look like, and they tell mewhat’s actually possible.” Computer sci-ence major Harrison Wong ’12 comes by,

munching a powdered-sugar donut. Over-hearing Novikoff and Doan discussing arevenue model, he suggests adding awatermark to the free version of the com-piled videos. “That’s a great idea,”Novikoff says. “Then, either they’re pay-ing us for their video or they’re sendingtheir entire social network a five-minutecommercial for our company.”

Founded in Austin in 2008, 3 DayStartup is a nonprofit that sponsors entre-preneurial “boot camps” at some twodozen U.S. and international universitiesand companies each year. This event, Cor-nell’s first, was spearheaded by Sohan Jain’12, a computer science major and formerFacebook intern. He and nine other stu-dent volunteers screened more than 150applicants before selecting forty studentsfrom such fields as computer science, busi-ness, law, and design. Participants formedgroups with representatives from each dis-cipline, and by Friday night they hadbrainstormed fourteen ideas to be pitched

to an audience of students, entrepreneurs,and computer scientists.

After their five-minute presentations,the pitchers face questions and com-ments—some rather heated—from theaudience. When MBA student Bill Cullenproposes an app that would open all of auser’s favorite websites at once on a pub-lic computer, he is hit by a chorus ofvoices shouting versions of, “Don’t youknow that already exists?” His idea didn’t make it through the night, but sixothers did; the students then formedgroups around the projects that mostinterested them. Pocket Studio remainedin the running—along with Active Learn-

Student entrepreneurs develop tech businesses—in just fifty-four hours

Flash Drive

‘It’s all about the “P words”—passion,perseverance, persistence, and prescience.’




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tsing, a training app for athletes; Redfo, aservice that allows users to automatephone orders to restaurants; AdPear, amobile advertising platform in which twoads are shown side by side; 4th Wall, acustomizable interface for video-gamedevelopers; and Crowdbox.in, a crowd-sourced digital jukebox.

The next day, after a long night ofresearch and coding, the teams are readyto face 3 Day Startup’s twelve mentors.Students, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists,and computer engineers alike munched onsubs and sucked down Monster energydrinks as each team pitched its businessplans and received suggestions. Unlikemost other teams, the students behindAdPear had created a near-complete busi-ness plan. Philip Zigoris ’03, a Facebookengineer and one of the program’s men-tors, chimes in when AdPear team leaderPaul Yang ’12 suggests collecting data onusers’ choices between a Coke ad and aPepsi ad. “Do you really think two com-peting brands will want to advertise nextto each other?” he asks. “I know on TV,Ford and Chevy often won’t allow theircommercials to be shown in the same timeslot.” Yang nods appreciatively and makesa note on the whiteboard behind him,where his team’s charts, lists, and sketchesstretch across the room.

Next door, Mike Digman ’11, a PhDcandidate in computer science, and com-puter engineering major Ranjay Krishna’13 work on plans for 4th Wall. They’vebeen developing a business model, butmentor Rhett Weiss, executive director ofCornell’s Entrepreneurship and InnovationInstitute, encourages them to create aworking demo before Sunday night. “It’sall about the ‘P words,’” he says later.“Passion, perseverance, persistence. Andprescience; being able to see where thisopportunity can go.”

The 4th Wall team takes his advice,creating a video game that integrates Jain’sFacebook network during play. The otherteams offer similarly interactive experi-ences for the final presentations; audiencemembers are invited to choose a mobilead experience on AdPear, place an orderon Renfo, and make song suggestions viaCrowdbox.in. MBA student Arthur Soro-ken had abandoned the jukebox appwhen it didn’t garner enough interest afterhis Friday night pitch. But he revisited theidea on Saturday night, and—with onlyone teammate—created a working Webapplication and business plan by Sunday.“We picked it up at 11 p.m. and coded ituntil the crack of dawn,” Soroken says. “Ilearned this weekend that sometimes, toget things done, you just don’t sleep.”

— Amanda First ’12


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Featured Selection

In 2004, Johannes Reinhardt ofthe Anthony Road Wine Com-pany got an idea. Throughout his

five years in the Finger Lakes, the Ger-man-born winemaker had beenimpressed by the collaborative spiritof the region. As he later told JamesMolesworth of Wine Spectator,he’d never before experienced awine region “where people havebeen more humble, down toearth, and willing to worktogether.” Wanting to capitalizeon that, he decided to initiate acollaboration.

Reinhardt approached twoSeneca Lake winemakers, DaveWhiting of Red Newt Cellarsand Peter Bell of Fox Run Vine-yards, with the idea of creatinga unique wine from grapesgrown at their three wineries.Whiting and Bell agreed enthu-siastically. They decided to namethe project Tierce, referring to theinvolvement of three winemakers andthree vineyards.

The first vintage of Tierce was the 2004Riesling. The trio chose to focus on Riesling

for their initial effort, as they felt it bestreflected the quality that could beachieved in the Finger Lakes. Three yearslater, the “Tierce brothers” chose to takeadvantage of an unusually warm year andproduce a red wine. They spent long and

sometimes frustrating hours blendingand tasting to produce the first—andto this day only—Tierce Red.

The product of their efforts is ablend of 33 percent Merlot, 33 per-cent Lemberger, 12 percent Syrah, 11percent Cabernet Franc, and 11 per-cent Cabernet Sauvignon. This love-ly wine could be, perhaps, a bit of ashock to those who have not tasteda successful Finger Lakes red. It ex-hibits hints of black cherry, plum,cedar, and vanilla, and its fresh, live-ly flavors culminate in a long, elegantfinish. Johannes Reinhardt believes itshould be enjoyable for at least an-other five years. The retail price is$30 per bottle at the Anthony Road

website: www.anthonyroadwine.com.— Dave Pohl

Dave Pohl, MA ’79, is a wine buyer atNorthside Wine & Spirits in Ithaca.

Winesof theFingerLakes

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When the deadly 1903 typhoid epidemic sparked panic on campus and beyond, President Jacob GouldSchurman scrambled to keep Cornell from closing—maybe for good

RARE AND MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS / CARL A. KROCH LIBRARY / CORNELL UNIVERSITY

Far above, long ago: Students on campus around the turn of the century. Top: Typhoid bacilli.

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In HotWater

By David DeKok

President Jacob Gould Schurman found himself in a dilemma that was Homericin its scope and complexity. A typhoid epidemic was killing his students. Those stillon campus (nearly a third—about a thousand—had fled) were increasingly restiveand angry, demanding remedies, such as free artesian water delivered to their board-inghouses, that his Board of Trustees and especially the governing Executive Com-mittee were not willing to provide. The Executive Committee was dominated byfriends of William Torrey Morris 1873; in 1901 they had arranged for Cornell Uni-versity to invest $100,000 in Ithaca Water Works bonds so he could buy the watercompany. They showed no signs of backing away from him. And what about the fateof the University itself? Each student death was publicized around the country, andIthaca was portrayed as a pestilential hellhole. Would any parent ever again agree tosend his son or daughter to Cornell?

Schurman needed someone to make an intelligent investigation of how the epi-demic came to be if he was to craft a way out of this mess. He wanted to know thepresent condition of the campus water supply, which came from Fall Creek, and howthe campus and city supplies might be kept pure in the future. The Cornell presidentquietly asked Professors Veranus Moore 1887 and Emile Chamot 1891, PhD 1897,

Excerpted and condensed from the book The Epidemic by David DeKok. Copyright © 2011 by David DeKok. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Lyons Press.

In early 1903, a typhoid epidemic struck Ithaca, claimingthe lives of eighty-two people—including twenty-nineCornell students—and sickening hundreds of others. InThe Epidemic: A Collision of Power, Privilege, and Pub-lic Health (Lyons Press), journalist David DeKok

explores the roots of the public health disaster. The main culprits, he writes, were not so much the disease carriers them-selves—most likely immigrant laborers building the Six MileCreek dam, who carried the typhoid bacilli from Italy—as the businessmen who put profits above human lives.



to carry out the work, which they did forthwith, returning aweek later with a cogent report that examined all realistic sourcesof the epidemic.

The two professors believed Six Mile Creek was the sourceof the epidemic and had been contaminated by the Italian work-ers on the dam. But they admitted that with the workers gonesince mid-November there was no way to prove the hypothesisconclusively. “The rocks and woods at and near the edge of thestream are reported to have been thickly sprinkled with humanexcrement and . . . the stream itself received directly much of theirexcreta. This condition was witnessed by one of us (Chamot) inthe fall. At the time of our visit, February 12th, there was stillevidence of such a condition.” They received a letter from anIthaca businessman describing what he saw the previous fall, andcollected statements from three Cornell botanists who saw thefoul condition of the construction site during plant collectinghikes along Six Mile Creek around the same time.

They warned Schurman that Fall Creek, which provided thecampus water supply, also passed through farming territory andwas nearly as dirty as Six Mile Creek. Drinking it unfiltered wasa disaster waiting to happen. The thing to do, the professors rec-ommended, was to build a filtration plant for the water from onecreek or the other, or to draw all water from artesian wells.Schurman released their findings to the public a few days later.

On February 10, Schurman addressed astudent meeting that filled SageChapel. He tried to minimize the ty -phoid epidemic, pointing out—as theUniversity would for the next centu-ry—that no student who only drank

the campus water from Fall Creek had become ill, as if thatwould make students (who mostly lived off campus) feel better.He praised coeds who resisted the pleas of their parents tocome home, and suggested that many students who had leftCornell since the epidemic began did so because they hadflunked out or simply wanted some time off. The president crit-icized “grossly exaggerated” claims in the press about the num-ber of ill students. He insisted that students were as safe in Ithacaas they would be at home, provided that the water in their board-inghouse was first boiled to kill the typhoid bacillus. Schurman

called it “a simple remedy.”Despite the supposed safety of

the Fall Creek water, the ExecutiveCommittee of the Board ofTrustees decided on February 16to supply artesian well water fordrinking to all university buildings.This was done without muchexplanation, but the reasonappears to be a letter Schurmanhad received three days earlierwarning him that new tests of FallCreek water showed it had nearlytwice the bacteria count as SixMile Creek. This did not meantyphoid was in the campus water,but it was hardly a clean bill ofhealth. None of this was disclosed

at the time. Students living off-campus—all of the men and someof the women—could either come on campus and carry artesianwater back to their lodgings in jugs, or make sure that their land-ladies boiled the water at the houses. To that end, the ExecutiveCommittee sent two of its members to exact signed pledges fromthe boardinghouse operators not to serve or use unboiled wateron pain of being reported to the Board of Health and their stu-dent tenants moving elsewhere, assuming they could. Morrisattended the meeting, which the Ithaca Daily Journal saidinvolved a long discussion of whether Cornell University oughtto be closed. The committee ultimately decided that if even onestudent stayed, the University would remain open, according tothe newspaper.

On the following day, unnerved and angered by the contin-uing illnesses and deaths, the senior class held an emergencymeeting in Library Hall to make certain demands of the admin-istration and Board of Trustees. High on their list was getting thesame artesian water deal for their boardinghouses that the Uni-versity had just given itself.

Leading the meeting was class president Floyd Carlisle 1903,a debate champion who would go on to head one of New York’slargest electric and gas utilities, Niagara Hudson, and be a lead-ing, though principled, opponent of President Roosevelt’s utilityreform legislation in 1935. Scores of Cornell students hadbecome ill with typhoid and eight had died since the start of theepidemic, including two—Henry Schoenborn 1906 of Hacken-sack, New Jersey, and Otto Kohls 1906 of Rochester, NewYork—that very morning. A ninth student, Charles Schlenker1905 of Batavia, New York, died in the infirmary even as themeeting got under way. Schlenker was a twenty-one-year-oldengineering student who had been class president and captain ofthe football and track teams at his high school. All of Bataviamourned that night.

In their petition, the students painted a grim picture of theapocalypse around them. Alarmed parents had summoned manyof their fellow students home, and those remaining in Ithaca were“in a demoralized state.” The petition dismissed the Universityplan to have students enforce the boiling of water in the board-inghouses as an impossible task and demanded that the Univer-sity supply, at its own expense, artesian water to each of the stu-dent boardinghouses. They wanted enough for drinking, washingfood and dishes, and brushing teeth. In addition, the studentsdemanded the right to leave the University without penalty untilthe water delivery was under way.

They typed the petition hastily—the version in the CornellArchives has overstrikes—in order to get it to Schurman beforehe left for the day, as they hoped he would bring it to the Exec-utive Committee meeting that night. They might as well havemailed it. The Executive Committee thanked the students fortheir concern, proclaimed that the University was doing itsutmost to help them, and then voted it down. In a writtenresponse, the trustees said delivering water to student boarding-houses scattered across the city “seems to us well nigh impracti-cable.” They also feared it would cause other, unspecified difficulties, “that would greatly embarrass us in the relief meas-ures we are now pursuing,” the meaning of which would becomeclear a day later. Much faith was placed in the boil-water pledgessigned by the boardinghouse keepers.

In an angry report to their fellow students, Carlisle and theother members of the senior class committee said the boarding-




house keepers “could not be trusted with the disinfection ofwater polluted with virulent disease germs.” They said the uni-versity policy put student lives at the mercy of their landlordsand landladies. “Every student who has lived in a boardinghouseor seen a student eating house kitchen knows the utter folly ofexpecting careful disinfection of the water, even if the Universityofficials from time to time inspect the conditions.”

There had been much more to the February 16 meeting ofthe Executive Committee than a general discussion of whetherthe University ought to stay open. What had been hashed outwas a plan for Ithaca Water Works, which was nearly broke, tobuild the filtration plant using a $150,000 loan from the Uni-versity. The City of Ithaca would need to approve higher waterrates—they were already among the highest in the state—to payfor the plant, but would be free to hold another referendum onthe city taking over the water system or moving to artesian wells,as many had advocated. Loaning more money to Morris seemedto some on the Executive Committee like throwing good moneyafter bad, but Schurman believed there was no other choice if hewas to be able to tell students and their parents that clean waterwould be available by the start of the fall semester.

Morris, whose people were still telling citizens that the citywater was fine to drink, had agreed to the deal, in large partbecause Schurman used the $100,000 in Ithaca Water Worksbonds held by the University as leverage to force him to go along.But the quid pro quo seems to have been that the Universitywould not deliver artesian water to the student boardinghouses.If we go back to one of the reasons given by the Executive Com-mittee in rejecting the student petition, “that [it] would greatlyembarrass us in the relief measures we are now pursuing,” the

logical conclusion is that the committee members denied cleanartesian water to the students out of fear of antagonizing Mor-ris, the monster they themselves created.

The Cornell president made a dramatic appear-ance before Ithaca Common Council onFebruary 18 to announce the deal, more or lessas a fait accompli. Council would have to acceptthe deal, Schurman believed. What other choice

did it have? Because otherwise, Cornell University and all theeconomic benefit it brought to the city would be doomed.

In his comments to council and the public that night, Schur-man ruled out artesian wells or Cayuga Lake as alternativesources of supply for Ithaca. He was not opposed to artesianwells, per se, but questioned whether they could provide the twomillion gallons per day the city needed. In any case, he doubtedthey could be ready by September 1, the deadline he imposed. Asfor Cayuga Lake, well, the lake was fed by streams runningthrough the city, including Six Mile Creek, and was the recepta-cle of most of Ithaca’s untreated sewage. The eyes of the nationwere upon Ithaca, Schurman said, waiting for an answer to thequestion, “Is it safe?”

And now that he had Morris boxed into a corner, Schurmanunleashed his rhetoric, holding Ithaca Water Works and its man-agement responsible for bringing the typhoid calamity to Ithaca.Not for nothing did he have national renown as a speaker. “Ishall not discuss the cause of the present epidemic nor the par-ties who may be morally and legally responsible for this disas-

Disease vector: Laborers building the Six Mile Creek dam were believedto be the source of the epidemic. Top right: An ad for distilled water.

Alarmed parentssummonedmany studentshome, and thoseremaining in Ithaca were ‘in a demoralizedstate.’

CITY OF ITHACA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS

THE ITHACA DAILY NEWS



ter,” Schurman said, and then proceeded to do just that. “Thereis a general belief that it is caused by the water. I believe it is. Itmay not be possible to prove the water responsible, yet webelieve it to be so. If it is, the officials of the water company areresponsible.” It was a remarkable speech, but there was more.“So far as the company is concerned,” Schurman said, “we haveno faith in their management. We insist, first, upon a represen-tation on their board, to have the right to control the plant andpatrol the watersheds.”

Whatever he said was enough, or perhaps the council mem-bers truly believed they had no choice. There was much grum-bling, both on council and among members of the public, aboutan option that forced them to drink “filtered sewage.” Theyeventually focused on the part of the deal that gave them theright to take over Ithaca Water Works by eminent domain. Theywould fix this later. Council approved the deal that night andset a referendum on municipal water for March 2. Schurmanpraised the council action as “the salvation of the city” thatwould ensure that Cornell University would have a full com-plement of students in the fall.

Schurman’s troubles were far from over.As jubilant as he had a right to feel infixing the deal for the filtration plant, hestill had to win the battle of public per-ception. Yes, he could tell parents their

children would have clean water by September 1, but the suf-fering and deaths among the students had left a public stainnot easily washed away. The sins of Ithaca were known tojournalists up and down the East Coast, in every city andtown that sent students to Cornell. Newspapers around thecountry were running wire stories about the epidemic. Callingthe University to account for its sins was almost a reflexive actfor the newspapers. Schurman complained that “among otherthings from which we have to suffer at the present time are theawfully sensational reports of the newspapers.” Most of themwere not, but they hurt, and the worst was yet to come. Weekslater, he would be railing against “the misrepresentations andlies circulated by a sensational press.” While the press madesome mistakes, which is true of any big story, much of the cov-erage and editorials seemed to be accurate and fair.

The anonymous “ALUMNUS” letter published in the studentnewspaper on February 18 was the first shot in a barrage ofharsh criticism of the University. The letter writer, who isunknown, professed to be shocked to learn that Cornell Uni-versity owned $100,000 worth of Ithaca Water Works bondsand suggested that investment explained the University’s lack-adaisical response to the epidemic.

Schurman was livid. In a speech to students the next day inthe Armory, he raged, “No statement has stung me morebecause none was more infinitely criminal.” He insisted that abondholder had no control over a corporation’s policy, whichwas technically true but largely irrelevant given the size of Cor-nell’s debt holdings in Ithaca Water Works and the critical rolethe University played in making sure Morris had enough moneyto buy the company from the Treman family in 1901. TheIthaca Daily Journal attacked “ALUMNUS” in nearly as strongterms, accusing the letter writer of “foolish” and “silly” utter-

‘There is a general beliefthat it is caused by thewater,’ Schurman saidof the epidemic. ‘It maynot be possible to provethe water responsible,yet we believe it to beso. If it is, the officials ofthe water company areresponsible.’

Crisis management: Jacob Gould Schurman,president of Cornell from 1892 to 1920

RARE AND MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS / CARL A. KROCH LIBRARY / CORNELL UNIVERSITY



ances, and claiming that every educated person should know thata bondholder does not have any control over a corporation. Theeditorial offered a series of examples that were far removed fromthe close relationship among the Executive Committee, the Tre-man family, and Morris.

In the same speech, Schurman partly conceded to the key stu-dent demand, saying that, if the students arranged to have arte-sian water delivered to their boardinghouses, the Universitywould pay for it. He said that the Sage College gymnasiumwould be converted into a men’s dormitory for the duration ofthe epidemic, and that as many as 300 men could be accommo-dated there, far fewer than the potential need. And conceding toanother student demand, Schurman waived all penalties for stu-dents who left campus until the epidemic was over, saying theycould make up their classes in the summer.

Now the ball was in the student court. Should they acceptthe filtration deal, or rather give it their approval? They heldtheir own meeting with their leaders a day later. The more rad-ical of them—especially Manton Wyvell 1901, JD 1904, a lawstudent who had traveled with William Jennings Bryan as hecampaigned for president against William McKinley in 1900—did not trust Ithaca Water Works. Wyvell called the water com-pany “an interested party” and doubted that it would carry outits pledge to build a proper filtrationplant. But moderation prevailed, andthe students in the end voted unani-mously to endorse Schurman’s planfor filtration. They did urge that theshanty and latrine used by the Italianworkers at the dam site be burned,but rejected the idea of doing itthemselves.

Almost in spite of himself, President Jacob Gould Schurmanhad extracted Cornell University from a seemingly impossiblesituation. He had persuaded Ithaca Common Council to accepta plan for filtration of the town’s water that many of the citizensdespised, preferring to drill for artesian water, and he hadstopped much of the negative commentary in the press thatmight have killed the University. Yet the disease had not run itscourse and his students continued to die, often in the homes andhometowns they thought would be a refuge from the calamityin Ithaca.

If Morris is the villain of DeKok’s book, one of its heroes isGeorge Soper. A sanitary engineer, Soper launched a compre-hensive disinfection campaign that was elemental in ending theepidemic. He had outhouses cleaned and closed, arranged formore frequent trash collection, and sanitized the Ithaca WaterWorks infrastructure, among other measures. The finaltyphoid patient was discharged from the Cornell infirmary inmid-May. “The surprise was how quickly Cornell Universityreturned to normal life that fall and put the epidemic behindit,” DeKok writes. “Enrollment actually showed a healthyincrease.” As he goes on to note, the disaster that had devas-tated Cornell the previous spring got just one mention in the

Daily Sun the following fall.

Former investigative reporterDavid DeKok is the author ofnonfiction books on crises insmall-town America, including FireUnderground: The OngoingTragedy of the Centralia Mine Fire(Globe Pequot).

c

Bad news: Pressreports made theIthaca outbreak a national story,leading Schurmanto lament the “awfully sensational”coverage.



Man ofSteelBy Beth Saulnier


What do you do with a BA in English? If you’re Shea, yougo to blacksmith’s school and become a metal artist. Heavilyinfluenced by the art nouveau movement, Shea creates objects—from sculptures to furniture to candelabras to architectural ele-ments like railings—that meld ancient techniques with modernaesthetics. “I love the sense of history,” Shea says, heating alength of steel at his forge. “A forged item has that feeling oftimelessness. I don’t fight it, and a lot of my designs are take-offs on traditional forms. But what really motivates me is hav-ing a vision for something I want to make, and then making it.”

Much of Shea’s work melds metal and glass, the latter fabri-cated to his specifications at the Washington Glass School in sub-urban Maryland. His designs include a “pod-form” dining tablewith an ovoid base and round glass top; a fish-shaped weather-vane; a rectangular rust-finished coffee table whose glass top isdotted with circular indentations; and a sconce table whose formis reminiscent of the human spine. “Part of the appeal of com-bining metal and glass is that you get the sense of somethingrugged and strong, and then this thing that is full of light and pos-sibly ephemeral,” Shea says. “There’s something poetic about that.And there’s something beautiful about the way that the metal isdarker and tends to absorb light, and the glass just glows.”

Shea often takes inspiration from the insect world; one of hisbest-known pieces is a set, comprising an “arthropod side table”and two café chairs, that was recently added to the permanentcollection of the Renwick Gallery, the Smithsonian’s craft anddecorative arts museum. Its legs echo an insect’s segmentedlimbs; the chair backs are reminiscent of a beetle’s carapace; theseats and tabletop are made of bluish green glass that seems bothethereal and rock-solid. “I’ve always loved insects,” Shea muses.

Chris Shea ’87 buyshis office suppliesby the ton. He com-mutes by walking afew yards from his

house in rural Maryland—built in the Thirtieswith bricks scavenged from a demolishedprison—to a workshop in the backyard. Forgeta copier and fax machine; Shea uses an anvil, ahammer, and a coal-fired forge whose glowingorange embers hover above 2,000 degrees.

PHOTOGRAPHS PROVIDED BY CHRIS SHEA

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Metal artist Chris Shea ’87 uses an ancient craftto create modern objects—many inspired by the insect world

“I know there is a creepy element to them, but I find themabsolutely beautiful and fascinating. Often they have a feelingof something that’s built up out of parts, like a lot of my work.The shell structure is a perfect analogy to metal, and the formsI can create in metal seem to lend themselves to insect inspira-tion.” The table and chairs were showcased in the Septem-ber/October 2011 issue of DC magazine, which ran a full-pagephoto of Shea and wrote that he “has taken his traditional con-cepts of craftsmanship and designs rooted in art nouveau andgone a little buggy.”Shea’s workshop is located in Brandywine—forty minutes

southeast of Washington, D.C.—where he lives with his wife,Dana Trevas, two dogs, and a cat. The space is dominated by alarge steel table that does both heavy and light duty; he can weldon it, and he can sketch designs on it with soapstone. In addi-tion to myriad chisels and other tools organized in old coffeecans, the workshop features such equipment as a century-oldelectric power hammer and the coal-fired forge, whose ventingsystem he built himself. “When you get steel hot, it moves justlike clay,” Shea observes. “In the finished object there can be asense of quick motion—it’s like a frozen moment. You have theevidence of something that has flowed and curved. You can beatmetal when it’s cold, but to get a sense of motion, that’s wherethe heat comes in.” (Shea uses the terms “iron” and “steel”more or less interchangeably; technically, he notes, steel is analloy of iron and other elements, most commonly carbon.)Shea also creates many of his own tools, like tongs and

punches; from a recycled car axle, he made a horn-shaped gizmothat he uses as a form for circular shapes. He has several anvils;his main one—which he bought on eBay—weighs about 200pounds, plus a sand-filled base. “Part of the appeal to peoplewho buy, collect, and admire handmade work is that they havethis sense that someone spent a lot of focused time and attentionon it, and put a lot of passion into it,” Shea says. “My work willbe around, I hope, for centuries. A lot of responsibility comeswith that—taking minerals from the earth and turning them intoitems of art and craft. If it’s going to be around for hundreds ofyears, you should take the time to think about it.” But Shea acknowledges that there’s a downside to creating

something that labor-intensive: few people can afford his work.The insect-themed chairs cost about $5,800 each—“They’rekind of masterpieces,” he says, “there’s so much intricate workinvolved”—with the set approaching $18,000. Objects such ascandelabras start at $500, architectural elements at $15,000.“It’s very expensive,” Shea admits. “When I first set out Iwanted to make work that was more affordable, but I just don’t

If he had a hammer: Blacksmith Chris Shea ’87(opposite) creates usable works of art, such asa “hippocampus sconce table” (above) made offorged steel and cast glass.



have a talent for it. My talent is for labor-intensive work that Iget very absorbed in and passionate about. I want to make it thebest it can possibly be.”

Although the recession slowed his business for a while, thingshave picked up; Shea is currently booked at least a year inadvance. “If you’re an independent artist, you’re everything,” henotes. “I’m the marketing department, the floor sweeper, thechief blacksmith.” In one ongoing project, he’s transforming thefront stoop of a brick colonial townhouse in Arlington, Virginia;he has installed curved (and mismatched) railings and replacedthe neoclassical “pineapple” pediment above the door with abronze piece dotted with dripping glass forms. Now he’s replac-ing the molding on either side of the door with bronze panels.“She loves odd things, so she really lets me go,” Shea says of theowner. “She says it makes her happy every time she walks in.”

B ecoming a blacksmith was not on Shea’s radarwhen he was growing up on suburbanBoston’s North Shore, the son of an operationsengineer and a homemaker. He loved writingas a high school student and majored in Eng-

lish with an eye toward penning the great American novel; onthe Hill, he edited the film calendar for Cornell Cinema. “I think

my writing career peaked when I wrote a completely bogus blurbabout The Road Warrior,” Shea confesses. “I said it was a musi-cal.” After graduation, he waited tables on Capitol Hill andwrote short stories in his off hours. “It took me a while to real-ize that although I could write pretty well if I worked at it, I didn’t actually like doing it,” he recalls, then adds: “I became ablacksmith because writing was too hard.”

In between writing and blacksmithing were years spent work-ing for the D.C.-based Shakespeare Theatre Company; he startedin the box office and later managed its school touring company.“I could see Shakespeare plays every night of my life, and oftendid,” says Shea, a lifelong fan of the Bard. “I walked to workevery day for five years and said to myself, ‘There’s somethingelse I’m supposed to be doing, but I have no idea what it is.’ Ifound myself working with my hands, which I hadn’t done sinceI was a kid.”

He took classes in woodworking, ceramics, and jewelry-making; he made puppets, including an Oedipus Rex that tearsout its own eyes. (He still has it, and it still wows visitors.) “I’dmake a piece of wood furniture and paint it with metallic paint,”he recalls. “I’d build a ceramic vessel and glaze it with metallicglaze. I was trying to tell myself something—that I would makethese things in metal if I knew how.” Eventually, he and his wifemoved to rural Tennessee, where he spent two and a half yearsat the Appalachian Center for Craft learning blacksmithing, sil-versmithing, woodworking, and glassmaking. Early commissionsfor practical ironwork like railings and gates eventually blos-somed into his current career; in addition to the Renwick, hiswork has been shown at the Wexler Gallery in Philadelphia andat the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, among othervenues. “I learned early on that at least in this area, I have a lotof patience,” Shea says. “I love nothing better than a challeng-ing job that will take me months from start to finish—to designit, draw it, engineer it, and get things just right.”

Shea notes that although he uses many classic techniques, he’snot a historical blacksmith akin to those who work at ColonialWilliamsburg—those for whom using only period tools is cen-tral to their calling. “There are historical smiths who are brilliantand talented, and we learn a lot from them,” he says. “It inter-ests me, but I’m more interested in making what I want to make;I don’t use a technique because it’s old, I use it because it works.In my shop, the end justifies the means. Often you’ll find the tra-

Iron Age: (Clockwise from above) Shea at his forge; red-hot steel in the process of being formed; his “arthropod side table” and café chairs; a forged-steel candelabra entitled “Symbiotic Variation #1”; and a pediment and mismatched railings he created for a townhouse in Arlington, Virginia




ditional ways are the best—but a modern TIG [arc] welder is areally nice thing. If I could go back in time and offer one of thosesmiths the TIG welder, I think he would take it.”

Of course, blacksmithing has its occupational hazards; likea chef, Shea has been burned more times than he can count, andhas bashed the occasional finger. “I’ve never had any seriousburns, it’s more just an ‘ouch,’ ” he says. “I’ve never had to goto the emergency room, and I’ve still got all my fingers.” Nextto his forge is the “slack tub,” a drum full of cold water used tocontrol the fire or cool metal; it’s also handy for dunking aburned hand to limit tissue damage. “I’ve heard that in earliertimes people would drink water from the blacksmith’s slack tub,”he adds, “because they thought it had medicinal properties.”

More worrisome are issues like tendonitis of the wrists andelbows from all that repetitive hammering—he combats it withstretches, anti-inflammatories, and lots of ice packs—as well asback problems, which bedeviled him early in his career. “I hadpretty bad back trouble at first, and I was concerned that I wasn’t going to be able to do this, because I could count on beinglaid up a week at a time,” Shea recalls. “I started doing yogaseven or eight years ago, and that’s helped a lot; I’ll stop and do‘downward dog’ right here on the floor.” Upon reflection,though, he blames his back pain not so much on his currentcareer as on his previous one. “I had some back trouble beforeI started,” he says, “but I think that was from sitting at a deskand working at a computer.” c



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Six Receive Frank H. T. Rhodes AwardsAlumni Recognized with Highest Honor for Service

(continued on page 53)

almamatters

N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E C O R N E L L A L U M N I A S S O C I A T I O N

www.alumni.cornell.edu

E ach Homecoming, Cornell honorsits most dedicated graduates. TheFrank H. T. Rhodes Awards for Ex-

emplary Alumni Service—bestowed bythe CAA and named for Cornell’s ninthpresident—recognize a lifetime of self-less service to Cornell. This year’s hon-orees gave their time in a wide varietyof ways—serving their local clubs, theirclasses, Cornell Plantations, Big Red ath-letics, the Board of Trustees, and more.

At a ceremony hosted by CAA Pres-ident Stephanie Keene Fox ’89 and at-tended by President David Skorton,these six alumni shared their motiva-tions for devoting their time to Cornell.Frank Rhodes himself was on hand topay tribute to Jim Hazzard ’50, who hadpassed away a few weeks earlier—andwho, as director of alumni affairs,helped establish the awards.

Robert Abrams ’53When Bob Abrams’s daughter was infirst grade, she was asked to explain herfather’s job. “My dad works for Cornell,”she replied. That wasn’t his full-time jobat the time (he was running his ownreal estate firm). But given the amountof time he contributed to Cornell, it’sno surprise a seven-year-old would comeup with that response.

Take a look atAbrams’s impres-sive volunteer re-sume and you’llunderstand why.He’s a past presi-dent of CAANYC.He has served onadvisory councilsfor Architecture,Art, and Planning;Arts and Sciences;and athletics. He’sa founder of theCornell Real Es-tate Council andthe Cornell RealEstate InvestmentSubcommittee,on which he stillserves. The cap-stone of his serviceto the Universityhas been his thirteen-year membershipon the Board of Trustees; he is current-ly a Presidential Councilor. In 1992,Abrams joined the faculty of the De-partment of City and Regional Planningand helped found the Program in RealEstate, serving as its director for fiveyears. “Cornell has been central to mylife, exceeded only by devotion to myfamily,” he says. “Actually, it is part ofmy family.”

Walter Bruska ’50Walt Bruska enrolled at Cornell as amarried student following his service inWorld War II. He then began working atthe University—first as an end coach forthe football team, then as an associate di-rector in development, then as a specialassistant to President Deane Malott, andfinally as director of development. In theSixties he left to take a series of posts inhigher education, but everywhere he

went, he stayed involved with Cornell.“Whenever I’m asked where I went toschool,” Bruska said at the RhodesAwards ceremony, “I reply with thedeepest pride, ‘Cornell University.’ ”

Bruska has held various leadershiproles for the Class of 1950, including tenyears as its president. He was instru-mental in starting two regional clubs,those of Vermont and Alaska. A lifemember of the University Council, heserves on the Athletics Advisory Com-mittee and on the board of directors ofthe Cornell Football Association. SaidBruska: “The debt of gratitude I have toCornell will never be fully repaid.”

Anne Evans Estabrook ’65, MBA ’66“Fifty years ago yesterday, I stepped onto this campus for the first time,” AnneEvans Estabrook said as she accepted herRhodes Award. “I was seventeen. I was

Recognition: At the Rhodes ceremony were (standing, from left) President DavidSkorton, Bob Abrams ’53, CAA President Stephanie Keene Fox ’89, Walter Bruska ’50,and President Emeritus Frank Rhodes; and (seated from left) Ginny Panzer ’55, StevenSiegel ’68, Anne Evans Estabrook ’65, MBA ’66, Micki Kuhs ’61, and Rosa Rhodes.

Stephanie Keene Fox and Steven Siegel

January / February 201251

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http://www.alumni.cornell.edu

Alma Matters52

Kim Jones Gilliam ’98, MBA ‘02Position: Director from the Re-gion, Mid-AtlanticLocation: Alexandria, VirginiaProfession: Association and com-munications managementCornell major: Applied econom-ics and managementFirst volunteer experience: John-son School alumni class officerand reunion co-chair

Current activities: University Council member, JohnsonSchool ’02 reunion chairFavorite place on campus: Behind Uris Library lookingdown Libe Slope. I love seeing where my days at Cornellbegan on West Campus with the backdrop of Ithaca andCayuga Lake beyond.Favorite professor: Ralph Christy (AEM), for taking me un-der his wing when I changed majors sophomore year, trans-ferring from Engineering to CALS. He took a personal interestin helping me navigate the curriculum and requirements toensure my success in studying business and marketing.More profiles of CAA board members will appear in

future issues.

The worst thing about Prohibitionwas that it codified in the Amer-ican psyche that if you did some-

thing illegal, you would become rich.”Those were the first words spoken to

me by (then) 102-year-old Helen “Hap-py” Reichert. Happy stood up as I en-tered the room, looked me in the eye,and asked if I understood how impor-tant those words were. “Alice,” she said,“it became fashionable to break the law.”In retrospect, right there, I learned somuch about Happy.Brilliantly smart, in command of the

room; realist, teacher,mentor; all wrappedin fashion, however it was defined era toera; morphing with it, critiquing it, in-fluencing it, ever living in the moment.Happy’s second sentence to me: “I

bet I will shock you, Alice, when I tellyou that I had a flask at Cornell!” I laughed, “Happy, I had a flask at

Cornell too—a rather fancy one fromGucci, silver and leather, a gift from myfather, Class of 1931, seemingly to ensurethat I would not (in 1962) drink bad bath-tub gin.” Happy and I bonded instantly.As co-founder of Cornell’s oral his-

tory project, I had flown to Ithaca torecord Happy’s story. I remember every-thing about that first meeting, andevery one after.Happy was not supposed to go to

college—until a mentor urged her moth-er to send her. In a flurry, she took math,science, and other “non-female” cours-es during her last high school summer.

Remembering Helen “Happy” Keane Reichert ’25At Cornell she rowed crew, was active intheater, was asked out by dapper futuremovie star Franchot Tone ’27, playedbridge, smoked cigarettes, worked to payfor those cigarettes, ate pie à la mode,studied under renowned history profes-sor Carl Becker, and chose not to join asorority. “Oh, Alice,” she told me, “thegirls were nice, and it was fine. But Ididn’t want a slice of the pie; I wantedthe whole pie. I was being allowed intoclasses taught by men, and that meantthe world was opening up to me. And Iwanted it all.” She and her female class-mates bobbed their hair and emergedinto a new era. After graduating PhiBeta Kappa from Arts and Sciences,Happy became a writer, hosted an award-winning television show, taught historyof theater costume design at NYU, andmarried a prominent cardiologist, PhilipReichert, MD ’23.When I asked how often she had

been back to Cornell, Happy replied,“Haven’t thought of the place in eightyyears!” Startled, I asked, “Why now?”Happy laughed. “Cornell found me,” shesaid. And it did, and Happy rediscoveredCornell. “I don’t know why I haven’tcome back before,” she said. “Cornellmade my whole life, professional andpersonal, possible. It gave me the world.”At 102, Happy came to campus

to visit Alice Cook House. She shared’smores, Twenties-era stories, and hervarsity crew photos with students. Theyembraced her history and passion for

the future, and she avidly returned thatembrace.On her 105th birthday, Happy—

with glee and relish—led the Big RedBand’s Sy Katz ’31 Parade down FifthAvenue with President David Skorton.Students, alumni, family, friends, NewYorkers, and tourists seemed to sensethat something unique was happeningin the city, and someone unique wasleading the way. As an early 110thbirthday gift, Cornell named the guestsuite at Carl Becker House in her hon-or—so that, in spirit, she might returnto the living/learning “classroom” of herbeloved professor Happy passed away in September

at the age of 109. I shall miss her pro-foundly and cherish our found friend-ship. And I shall carry the impact ofHappy’s intelligence and vitality—andher glorious panache—with me always.

— Alice Katz Berglas ’66

Heather Knauss Wells ’02Position: Director at LargeLocation: Los Angeles, CaliforniaProfession: Assistant director ofalumni relations, Loyola Mary-mount UniversityCornell major: Human develop-ment and family studiesFirst volunteer experience: Cor-nell Club of Los Angeles, youngalumni eventsCurrent activities: Cornell Club

of Los Angeles board, Cornell Alumni Student MentoringProgram, Cornell Alumni Admissions Ambassador NetworkFavorite place on campus: Sage Chapel, for its beauty,serenity, and the memories I have of making beautiful mu-sic there as part of the Cornell ChorusFavorite professor: Tracy Mitrano (Family Law), JD ’95, be-cause she taught us to simply love learning

Meet the Cornell Alumni Association Board

I love a parade: President David Skorton and HappyReichert ’25 at the Sy Katz ’31 Parade

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January / February 201253

(continued from page 51)

Alumni Leaders to Convene in D.C.

The annual Cornell AlumniLeadership Conference, now inits third year, will host hun-

dreds of alumni volunteers from aroundthe world in Washington, D.C., January27–29. A dynamic weekend schedule in-cludes training sessions to develop vol-unteer skills, as well as sessions thatexplore best practices for expanding en-gagement. A full day of session tracks isplanned for class leaders, regional clubleaders, chairs from the Cornell Alum-ni Admissions Ambassador Network(CAAAN), and affinity, diversity, andyoung alumni leaders. Reunion classeswill also spend a day planning detailsfor June.

President David Skorton and vicepresident for student and academic

services Susan Murphy ’73, PhD ’94,are expected to speak about the Univer-sity’s most pressing issues. The week-end would not be complete without thepresentation of the Bill Vanneman ’31Award, given annually to a veteran classleader for commitment to class activi-ties. This year’s CALC will also includea special Saturday event featuring a callto action from President Skorton as theUniversity launches its “Cornell Now”fundraising campaign. This Saturdaylunch event, as well as a Friday after-noon panel, will be open to D.C.-areaalumni in addition to CALC attendees.

The conference will again be held atthe Marriott Wardman Park Hotel. Reg-istration and additional details are avail-able at www.alumni.cornell.edu/calc/.

Steven Siegel ’68Steve Siegel is a volunteer for all seasons;there’s hardly an area of Cornell volun-teer activities that he has not been in-volved in. He started with the CornellAlumni Admissions Ambassador Net-work—first in New Jersey, then in Man-hattan, and eventually as general chairfor New York City. He has served on theboards of the former CAA of New YorkCity and helped create its successor,NYC Cornellians. A vice president of theCAA, he is also president of the Class of1968. He is a longtime member of the

the first in my family to attend college.It was my first time away from home.My life had changed and I had to ad-just, and adjust I did. Fast forwardtwenty-five years. It was time for me togive back and show Cornell how muchI appreciated all it had done to mold meinto the adult I had become.”

And give back she has. Estabrookhas served on the Board of Trustees aswell as on the Medical College Board ofOverseers. She has worked in a variety ofcapacities for the advisory councils of theILR school and the Johnson School, andis a member of the President’s Councilof Cornell Women (PCCW). In acceptingher award, Estabrook said she wanted tocreate a culture of volunteerism, one gen-eration at a time. She has indeed set afine example for others to follow.

Muriel “Micki” Bertenthal Kuhs ’61During her four-year tenure as presidentof the Cornell Alumni Federation (nowthe CAA), Micki Kuhs would often leadthe meetings with a tiara on her head.The crown was there not because Mic-ki thought of herself as royalty, but toremind the board not to take them-selves too seriously. But one thing Mic-ki has always taken seriously is hercommitment to Cornell.

A longtime leader among Chicagoalumni, she is known for hosting schol-arship dinners at her home and bookclub meetings at her office. She is amember of PCCW, currently serves onthe administrative board of the Univer-sity Council, and chaired the 2011Trustee Council annual meeting plan-ning committee. “What keeps me in-volved?” Kuhs muses. “In my mind,there are two things: education and re-lationships. We all have one thing incommon: we came here to get educated.We carry that on throughout our livesand we learn to follow a path of intelli-gent inquiry and civil discussion. Thenthere are the relationships—among stu-dents, faculty, alumni, and staff. Weeach find something as an alumnus thatturns us on and keeps us at work in thevolunteer community.”

Ginny Wallace Panzer ’55Ginny Panzer has served on the board ofthe Cornell Club of Northern New Jer-sey, as ’55 class correspondent, and nowas vice president of her class. She hasalso been a tireless fundraiser for herclass campaign, the Johnson Museum,the College of Human Ecology, and thePlantations. A life member of the Uni-versity Council, she is also a past boardmember of the CAA. Panzer said she wasthrilled to receive the recognition. “I amdoubly honored,” she said at the cere-mony. “First, to receive an award namedfor Frank H. T. Rhodes; second, forsomething I love and enjoy doing.Thank you, Cornell, for fifty-six years ofwonderful and exciting experiences.”

Cornell Hillel board and serves on theUniversity Council. Siegel has overseenthe Cornell University Gay and LesbianAlumni Association for more than thir-ty years, steering it through its initial cre-ation to its current status as one ofCornell’s main diversity alumni organi-zations. “My alumni volunteer activitieshave enabled me to meet, collaboratewith, learn from, and become dearfriends with an amazing community ofCornellians,” he says. “These alumni,students, staff, and faculty have enrichedmy life as a Cornell alumnus.”

At the dais: (Clockwise from left) Anne Evans Estabrook, Micki Kuhs, Frank Rhodes, Walter Bruska with StephanieKeene Fox, and Bob Abrams

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http://www.alumni.cornell.edu/calc/


Class Notes

37 Thanks to Barbara Keeney Man -digo for sending her news to thealumni magazine. Barbara and

her family have a long association with Cornell.Her parents, Noble E. and Ella Bacon Keeney, meton campus during the 1908-09 academic year,when Noble followed his Marine Corps service witha short course in Poultry at Rice Hall, and Ellacompleted a short course in Home Economics onthe top floor of Roberts Hall. Four Keeneydaughters later graduated in Home Economics,includ ing Polly ’34, Barbara ’37, Elizabeth ’42,and Anna jean ’56. During her career as an Os we -go County Cooperative Extension 4-H agent,Barbara was active in the American Field Service,Farm Bureau, Grange, and PTA, and was an adulteducation leader.

Barbara writes, “I also met my husband,Richard Mandigo ’38, at Cornell, and we had fivesons, all of whom graduated from Cornell: Paul’65 (Engineering Physics), Theodore ’66 (Hotel),Frank ’67, PhD ’72 (Materials Science), Charles’69 (Materials Science), and Daniel ’71 (Agri-cultural Science). Daniel’s wife and daughter arealso Cornellians: Marilyn (Rocco) ’72 (HumEc)and Danielle ’05 (Education). When our PulaskiHigh School guidance counselor asked son Frankwhere he was applying to college, Frank re-sponded, ‘Cornell, of course. Is there any othercollege?’ On a personal note, after my sabbaticalleave from Cornell Extension in 1971 (visiting 4-Hclubs in Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia,and New Zealand), Richard and I visited morethan 50 countries prior to 2001, when we movedto our retirement home in Altoona, FL. I haveenjoyed the opportunities here. I have served aspresident of the Residents Association, wasnamed volunteer of the year, and have a contin-uing interest in supporting the local historicalsociety in Pulaski and Lansing, NY.” Send newsto:Class of 1937, c/o Cornell Alumni Magazine,401 East State St., Suite 301, Ithaca, NY 14850.Class Notes Editor e-mail, [email protected].

38 When Eileen Mandl Goodwinwrote in October, the LagunaWoods, CA, resident was getting

ready to fly to New Mexico to see the Balloon Festand visit her glass-blower daughter. “Still playingthe piano,” she reports. “Have been play ing witha cellist, enjoying the new experience of cham -ber music.” Having dispensed with driving, sheno longer does the volunteer work she once en -joyed. Fellow Californian Helen O’Brien Cyran isretired and resides in Los Angeles.

Olof Dahlstrand, BArch ’39 (Carmel, CA)writes that he’s retired but has been painting anddrawing for fun and profit. “Had a one-man showof abstract acrylic paintings last March at theCarmel Art Association, the second oldest artists’cooperative in the US,” he reports. As to everydayactivities, he continues, “At age 95, it is usuallyearly to bed, but in the day, Lucia (Middle bury ’51)and I serve on the boards of two community or-ganizations. In October we took a long-distancetrain trip from Carmel to Philadelphia and back tovisit Lucia’s sister and husband. Also, I continue

Florida when he wrote, but he was still findingtime for golf. “Our days at Cornell still burnbrightly in our memory, as do those of our twochildren, both Cornellians.” In a letter written onNovember 4, Bernard adds, “It did my heart goodto see the note about David Crawford in the lastissue. He was my ’38 classmate and also my class-mate at Yale Law School, Class of ’41.” Classof 1938, c/o Cornell Alumni Magazine, 401 EastState St., Suite 301, Ithaca, NY 14850. ClassNotes Editor email, [email protected].

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40 Edward Wardwell (Queens bury,NY; edwell2@gmail. com) re -ports that he is “still eluding

those places that offer living assistance. Had amajor altercation with the local hospital lastApril, but now I’m as good as new. Almost.” InManhattan, Edna Isaacs Lowe reports that she’s“surviving.” Her three physician sons, six grand -children, and four great-grandchildren visit, asdoes a home health service.

John Thatcher (Manchester, NJ) celebratedhis 94th birthday on July 31. As a tenor soloistworking with a 91-year-old pianist, he does nurs-ing and retirement home shows. “Have 26 bookedfor this year. Also do solo work in my churchchoir. I’m lucky to still have a decent tenor voiceas I head for 95!” W. Jordan Severinghaus(Shreveport, LA) has been retired since June 1984and maintains a regular correspondence with as-piring and current senators and members of theHouse, urging impeachment of President Obamabefore the 2012 election cycle. “Keeping 92-year-old body and brain free from early atrophy andkeeping investments at par or better.” He stillplays nine holes of golf—using a cart—everyTuesday and Thursday. He no longer sails, as thefriend and boat owner is now the full-time care-taker of his ailing wife. Jordan sold his own, self-designed and built 32-foot auxiliary sloop someyears ago. His other pursuits include gardening—”50 percent flowers, 50 percent weeds”—andcooking. He recalls friends from the Hill andwould be delighted to hear from anyone whoworked at Star Lake Inn during the summers.

Shirley Richmond Gartlir (Palm Beach Gar-dens, FL) writes that she’s been busy with otherretirees in Florida, where she and Bernard ’38 havemoved permanently, since giving up their NYCapartment. “Can’t golf anymore, but busy playingbridge and trying to stay healthy physically.” EllenSaxe Stewart (Ithaca, NY) has been enjoying herfamily and caring for husband John ’38, JD ’40.She would most like to hear from Doris Van Al-styne Peller, who recently sent news and duesfrom Valparaiso, IN. Also in the Midwest, EdwardGriffin (Peoria, IL) has been playing tennis andbridge and stays involved with the Kiwanis.

Ruth Buffum Schoenacker volunteered attwo local museums until the sudden death of herhusband, Carl, in June 2011. Since then, she hasmoved from their home in Waterloo to CliftonSprings, NY. Ruth, we send our sincere condo-lences to you on the loss of Carl, whom we oftenread about in these pages. Claire Herrick Yetter(Englewood, CO) stays involved in church and PEO

to bug local and national politicians to do betteras ‘public servants.’ I recently heard from BillRathbun in Toledo, captain of the ’38 Cornell ten-nis team. He is well and we shared many fine oldmemories. (I still miss the old Zinck’s.)”

In Manhattan, Lucy Howard Jarvis reports thatshe’s been developing a TV series, “Forever Young,”“about people between the ages of 85 and 105who live active, creative lives that are productive—not sedentary. Know anyone?” In 2009, Lucy waselected a “Giant in American Broadcasting.” She isalso a member of the President’s Council of CornellWomen and a member of the Association for aBetter New York’s Int’l Women’s Forum. In 2011,she traveled to Rome, London, and Hawaii. Shewelcomes correspondence at [email protected] Erva Miller Prince sent in her News Form inOctober, she was living the “good life” with herfamily in a beach house on the shores of Lake Erie.“Enjoying my family and 11-year-old granddaugh-ter that I live with.” Carol Thro Richardson (StonyBrook, NY) has been active in church activitiesand belongs to the library bridge club. She visit-ed a friend in Austin, TX, in December 2010 andvisited her sister Eloise Thro Stimson ’43 in La-guna Woods, CA, in January 2011. She notes thatBetty Jokl Brodt died in August 2010. [A shortobituary for Mrs. Brodt appeared in the March/April 2011 issue.—Ed.]

Joseph Noback died in April 2011, at theage of 93, just a few days before his 70th wed-ding anniversary with beloved bride Dorothea. Onthe Hill, he majored in Math, was admitted toPhi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi, and rowedcrew. He joined the Society of Actuaries in 1947;his 45-year career in the industry spanned stintsat MetLife, Northwestern, and Milliman & Robert-son Consulting. After retiring in 1983, he andDorothea moved from Milwaukee, WI, where theyhad raised their family, to Miami, FL, where hecontinued his service to the life insurance in-dustry by helping the Florida State InsuranceDept. on various projects.

Marshall Hoke (New London, NH) continuesas a trustee of the 100-acre Knights Hill NaturePark. “I am one of five trustees. With trowel andchainsaw I managed it from its 1975 inception formany years, but recently just get its bills paid.”This summer, he planted a 700-sq.-ft. meadow ofwildflowers at the border between his back lawnand the adjoining forest. John Clement (Toledo,OH) has taken two courses through e-Cornell, oneon plant-based nutrition and the other, throughthe Lab of Ornithology, on courtship and rivalryin birds. “Both very interesting. I enjoyed themvery much. Looking forward to attending our 75thReunion.” From Redmond, WA, Irving Lanznerreports that he’s still able to walk his dog, Sadie,with the use of a cane. “My balance is not sogood, but otherwise doing fine except for theusual pains of old age.”

Bernard Gartlir (Palm Beach Gardens, FL) af-fixes a business card to his News Form—he keepsan office on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan withHofheimer Gartlir & Gross LLP—and reports hispresent “day job” as: “Attorney—Yes! Still!” Heand his dear wife, Shirley (Richmond) ’40, werein the process of making a permanent move to

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(Philanthropic Educational Opportunities). In Oc-tober she wrote, “I’m sorry outdoor gardening iscoming to a close, but I’ve moved a lot of plantsto the basement under lights so I can garden allwinter. Still practice my flute every day.” JeanRaynor Mase (Charlestown, RI) attends concerts,plays, and football games at the U. of Rhode Is-land. She also plays bridge three times a weekand does a couple of crossword puzzles each day.“I’m blessed with good health, live in my home,and am the designated driver. Lots of church ac-tivities.” Send your news to: Class of 1940,c/o Cornell Alumni Magazine, 401 East State St.,Suite 301, Ithaca, NY 14850. Class Notes Editore-mail, [email protected].

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in November for his 53rd meeting of the Radio-logical Society of North America. “I’m still verymuch involved with the Stanford Center for Int’lSecurity and Cooperation. In January, I present-ed a lecture at the weekly university seminar onethics (undergraduates, graduates, and faculty)entitled ‘Professionals and Activism: Ethical Con-siderations.’” Herb still plays tennis three times aweek and attends medical grand rounds everyWednesday. In March, he celebrated his 68th wed-ding anniversary. The Japanese earthquake, tsuna-mi, and nuclear disaster brought a host ofquestions for Herb from the citizens of the US, ashe was the only American physician on the Na-tional Academy committee on the biological ef-fects of low-level ionizing radiation.

Lou Conti (Inverness, IL) writes, “Locally, Itry and stay in contact with Frank ‘Bud’ Finneran,my teammate from the ‘young and active’ years.I stay in phone contact with my former roommatesat Sigma Pi, William ‘Pete’ Mathers and FredHaverly ’42. I also chat with Bob Brunet, who losthis faithful companion, a dog, who had been withhim for some years. I’m a full-time caregiver formy wife, Dorothy (Kellogg) ’43. She has severalailments, debilitating but not life-threatening, sowe stay pretty close to home. No more travel!”Former Washington, DC, correspondent StanleyCohen (Chevy Chase, MD) includes a typewrittennote: “At 91, with limited eyesight, the good newsfor me is that I am a member of the Great Classof ’41 and the Greatest Generation. It certainly isnot my fault that our economy has gone from bustto boom and back to bust in my lifespan!”

Lawrence Kalik (New York, NY) writes, “I amstill struggling to overcome the events of 2010.My wife, Betty (Jacobs) ’44, died in December,and my son Allen ’72 had died three months be-fore, a month short of his 60th birthday. Whathelps is that I am active, working five days aweek at a major law firm.” Fellow New Yorker Her-bert Cogan writes, “Patra and I still occupy thesame apartment across the street from wondrousCentral Park. Chronic back pain is not disablingenough to disqualify swimming or bicycling; re-turning to tennis is still a dream. Psychoanalyticsupervising thankfully continues.” On May 6, Flori-da Atlantic U. awarded Morris Povar, DVM ’44, itsdistinguished service medallion. The university pres-ident presented the honor at FAU’s commencement.Morris and wife Lotte reside in Boca Raton.

John Borst (Leesburg, FL) reports that heand wife Lucile “Mickey” (Heise) ’42 live quitewell in their retirement community, consideringtheir health problems. “She has dementia and Iam struggling with macular degeneration,” hewrites. “One blessing is that we have a very goodfriend, Herman Jones ’42. We never knew himat Cornell, but greatly enjoy his friendship here.Sorry to learn of the passing of Bill Bright ’42,BA ’46. He and I were very good friends and fra-ternity brothers (Theta Delta Chi).” Also in Flori-da, Werner Schroeder writes from Lake Alfred.“Although not very active anymore, I’ve enjoyedmy retirement since June 1976.” In Sarasota,Jack Weintraub is holding steady. “Last year, myslogan was, ‘I’m deteriorating, but on schedule.’This year, my slogan is, ‘I’m crumbling, but onschedule.’ Actually, despite anatomical problems,I’m doing fairly well. No cane. No walker. I drive(no accidents). No golf . . . but then again, Inever played golf. Peace!” Class of 1941, c/oCornell Alumni Magazine, 401 East State St., Suite301, Ithaca, NY 14850. Class Notes Editor e-mail,[email protected].

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42 How exciting to see the Cornellvs. Yale football game on TV!Cornell didn’t win (17-37), but

it was a good game. Hope they are on again.Class president Liz Schlamm Eddy (New York City)is always looking out for us, so has sent all youduespayers the New Student Reading Project book,the New York Times bestseller Homer & Langley byE. L. Doctorow. How lucky we are. Your commentsare expected.

Louise Norenholt Schatz writes of the sadpassing of Jean Pardee Cole. Jean worked atGood Housekeeping before becoming a full-timehomemaker. She resided in Wimbledon, England,Bordeaux, France, Port Washington, NY, and NewCanaan, CT, before moving to Chesterfield, MO,in 2003. She is survived by four children and fivegrandchildren. Louise is looking forward to mov-ing to a retirement center in Kirkwood, MO. Shewill remain in her church quilting group and con-tinue her duplicate bridge night, but will livecloser to her daughter. She likes our newsy col-umn, which keeps her posted on past friends andacquaintances. I also sadly report the passing ofmy high school friend Jean Fenton Potter ofWashington, CT, in January 2011.

Dick Thomas’s hometown paper, TheMeadville Tribune, honored our classmate with al-most two full pages on his illustrious life, fol-lowing his passing on August 31. The articlefeatured highlights of his distinguished law ca-reer, comments from friends and colleagues, andhis complete obituary. It is difficult to condenseso many lifetime feats. Dick won a bronze star inthe US Army Field Artillery during WWII, thengraduated from Dickinson School of Law. Heserved as assistant district attorney, district at-torney, and “president judge” (the presiding,most senior, or principal judge of a court). Hewas a member of the only grandson-grandfatherteam of judges in county history. He served anactive role in dozens of state and local organi-zations and was also an excellent golfer, winningthe Meadville City Golf Championship 11 timesfrom 1939 to 1969. By age 80 he had “shot hisage” 73 times! Dick’s first wife, of 47 years,passed away in 1993. He is survived by his sec-ond wife, Rosemary, who loved our Cornell re-unions. Dick also leaves two daughters and ason, three stepsons, one stepdaughter, sixgrands, and three stepgrands. All of us will misshim greatly.

News from our class VPs is so welcome. FromLynn Timmerman: He and Helen (Boynton Beach,FL) were in North Carolina visiting Helen’s sister.Lynn was carrying a basket of newly purchasedpeaches in each hand when he tripped. “I savedthe peaches, but lit on and broke my rightkneecap (patella). I’ve now been through surgery,a cast, a splint, crutches, a walker, and a cane,and am now off the cane and going to PT to re-build those leg muscles. AND, I’m doing OK.”Lynn is a real optimist, isn’t he? And Ed Markham(Bainbridge Island, WA) endured a similar catas-trophe when he fell on a shaky Amtrak train ona trip to Portland, OR. Always the gardener, hesays this year’s crop of veggies was one of thebest. He also sent news from VP Gus Vollmer,BCE ’44 (Butler, NJ) that he and Gus plan to beat the 70th Reunion.

If you haven’t done so yet, please send in theNews Form that came in the annual class News andDues mailing—can’t have a column without yourhelp. E-mail and continue writing me your past andpresent news. Thanks. Carolyn Evans Finneran,c

41 Honorary classmate Elsie Arm -strong Harley (Decatur, AL), wifeof our late classmate Robert “Big

Bob”Harley, moved in with her daughter for near -ly a week this past spring when a tornado with100 mile per hour winds took out the power andwater. “Cooked by gas, with gas-fired air condi -tion ing and hot water for showers. Really anexperience not to forget. Gasoline was rationed toten gallons—if they could pump it. Everything inrefrigerator and freezer was placed in double blackplastic bags, then everything was scrubbed withhot, soapy water.” On the seventh day, the res tau -rants in Decatur finally reopened. Over the summer,while she was recuperating from arm surgery, Elsiewrote again, having just finished reading the Julyissue of this magazine: “I was saddened to notethat the first class news was of ’41. As I recall, thefirst class news when I started reading the maga -zine was 1928. What happened to all those years?Where are they?” Earlier that month, Elsie’s cardi -ologist asked how she had come to be in suchgood shape for her age (she turned 92 in Sep tem -ber). She replied, “Couldn’t be married to a Navypilot for 62 years without liking scotch.” Withoutmissing a beat, he replied, “What brand?”

Suzanne Jameson Van Arsdale ’46, BS HE’45 (Castile, NY) reports that she and husband Jimspent January through April 2011 at TreasureBeach in Jamaica, as they have done for the past15 years. They now have three great-grandchildren.Physician Stanley Reich has been retired since2009. He and wife Adele live in Piedmont, CA. Ed-ward White, BME ’48 (Eugene, OR) also retiredonly recently: “I had a serious auto accident inNovember 2010 and am still recovering,” he wrotein August. “As a result, I am now retired.” DorothyNewman Seligman (Somers, NY) writes, “I live ahappy, busy life with my wonderful husband, Don-ald (a Columbia grad), and I’m so fortunate thatmy family all live in my area. We are both well,active, and happy.” Dorothy came from a Cornellfamily—her father, her children, her sisters, anda couple of grandchildren all spent time on theHill. “We exchange news from classmates, so weare in touch with the happenings of our belovedalma mater. It will always be an important partof our lives.”

Stanford U. professor of radiology HerbertAbrams (Palo Alto, CA) celebrated his 90th birth-day in August 2010 with a family affair onMartha’s Vineyard. “Children, grandchildren, andthree greats, the oldest now in college, togetherwith nephews, put on the show, music and all.”In October 2010, he journeyed to Boston for the25th annual Herbert L. Abrams lecture at HarvardMedical School, where he is the Philip H. Cookprofessor of radiology emeritus, and to Chicago





43 The Harris clan,28-strong in clud -ing your correspondent (nameat bottom of page) gathered in

S’town mid-October to celebrate the 90th birth -day of (aforementioned name below) at Jamison’sPublick House, the nearby answer to the IthacaHotel. The orders: nine guinea hen, nine scallops,nine rib eyes, one salmon (lawyer son-in-law).Dessert: tarte tatin and chocolate espresso potsde crème. A good time was had by all, especially(name below).

Shortly after that, we hit the road for someshirt business in Vermont and Wisconsin, but hur-ried back in time to file this report.

The Fayetteville (NC) Observer devoted 700words to the life of the late Jack Slater, who diedin early September. It described his early days inYonkers, NY, his successes in academics and onthe tennis court in both high school and college(captain of the varsity tennis team), and his ex-perience in WWII as a field artillery officer andforward observer in the European Theatre withthe 34th Field Artillery Battalion under the com-mand of Col. William C. Westmoreland. Jack’s unithelped in the capture of the Remagen Bridge andwas instrumental in moving one of the first ar-tillery units across the Rhine.

After the war, Jack began his 48-year careerat McGraw-Hill as an ad salesman for Power mag-azine. Over the course of his career he publishedmore than two dozen magazines, trade papers, andnewsletters serving the energy, electrical, manu-facturing, and automotive industries. During the1970s, he took advantage of his Cornell connec-tions to pioneer business talks with China, thusestablishing an early foothold in that expandingmarket. His division held the distinction of rou-tinely maintaining the highest profit margin ofany unit at McGraw-Hill. Jack maintained his pas-sion for racquet games throughout his life andmoved to Cove Neck, NY, where his rich neighbors(a) had facilities for indoor court tennis and (b)elected him mayor. Think of that!

Jack and I met when he aspired to becomeBerry Patch Editor at the Sun, which did happen.And then in the 1980s we lunched together of-ten since we both had offices in the McGraw-Hillbuilding in Rockefeller Center and seemed to gethungry around the same time. He was great funand a superior businessman. It’s possible that hewas the first to turn publishing into a cottage in-dustry. With the advent of the computer, writerscould work from home and e-mail their output.This allowed him to move operations from a vastspread in high-rent Rock Center to wee officesdowntown. Saved a ton of money.

Private life. Love story: He met best girl KateHolmes in Fayetteville, NC, the upmarket neigh-bor of Fort Bragg, where he was stationed afterthe outbreak of war, and they dated briefly be-fore he left for the ETO. Feet back on Americansoil, his first call was to Kate. Alas. She was mar-ried. Thirty-some years later, when Jack was sin-gle again, he called and said he’d like to visit herand her husband. “He died nine years ago,” shesaid. They wed, moved to Cove Neck, Long Island,and the court tennis courts, but not before Jackbought her a house in Fayetteville in the eventshe wasn’t happy up north. Quite a guy. S.Miller Harris, PO Box 164, Spinnerstown, PA18968; e-mail, [email protected].

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44 Gale NightingaleWiggin (Way - land, MA) still works forAd vanced Instruments, the

com pany she and Bud, BS ORIE ’43, started backin 1953. The company is doing well and shecontinues to split her time between North andSouth. Ed Fitchett (Poughkeepsie, NY) writesthat he’s making a “mini-documentary” DVD ofthe 16mm movie films he took in the Philippinesand Japan in 1945 and 1946, shortly after theJapanese surrender. “These old films have nowbecome historical. They show bombed Manila,Corregidor, and Baguio, as well as my prisoner ofwar camp. I was also in charge of a liberty shipthat returned 1,500 POWs to their homelands ofFormosa, Korea, and Japan. It’s been an excitingproject, looking up facts and narrating the scenes.It should be completed soon.” Dunbar Kingwrites, “Displayed my 1926 Ford Green Tudor—needs new bands—at Westbury Gardens on LongIsland, the best antique car show around. Therhododendrons were in full bloom.”

Several years ago, Anthony Prasil gave up hisposition as curator of the Hoffman Clock Museumto care for his wife, who has a form of Parkinson’sdisease. “I still enjoy participating in the ScienceExploration Days program, held annually at St.John Fisher College, for high school students inthe six counties surrounding Rochester, NY.” LouisFarchione, MD ’46, writes, “Most of my time isspent with family at my home in Syracuse andcottage on Skaneateles Lake, 30 miles from Syra-cuse. I have 22 grandchildren, five children, andin-laws. I do a good amount of volunteering fororganizations and one day a week at a local hos-pital.” From Dick and Phyllis Evans of Gaithers burg,MD: “Glad we’re here for another year. No newsexcept the kind that is of no interest. Phyllis felland broke her collarbone, but she’s mending nice-ly. We keep busy with garden, advisory com mit -tees at Asbury CCRC, and trying to read all themail. We’re looking forward to the 70th. Keep itgoing—we’ve got to be positive.”

Bill Brown, BME ’47 (Charlottesville, VA) fellwhile playing tennis in January—”scraped all theskin off my left hand.” The Browns were expect-ing their sixth great-grandchild last summer. Edand Cecily Bishop Carman ’46 (Pittsford, NY) arealso welcoming a new generation of Cornellians:“We have four great-granddaughters and onegrandson. Another great-granddaughter is due thissummer.” In Solomons, MD, Carl and Jean BoydSearch ’47 have celebrated their 63rd weddinganniversary. “We now have four great-grandchil-dren, with another on the way.” In other news,Carl reports that their dog, Diesel, needed twoteeth pulled. “The vet said that a partial platewill not be necessary!” Renee Wolf Steinbergwrites, “Trying to stay involved with younger gen-erations who are educating, economizing, evolv-ing next generations.” Carl Yunker, BS Ag ’47(Elba, NY) reports, “We are now three generationson CY Farms LLC—and all Cornellians.”

Joyce Tamres Brenner’s two granddaughtersgraduated with honors: “Ava from Bucknell as asumma cum laude and Marley not quite, but upthere also. Frank and I hope to spend some ofthat ugly New York City weather on St. Martin,basking in the glorious Caribbean sun, eating themarvelous French cookery, and escaping the cru-elest part of New York’s winter.” Maryann TrackWhitcomb spent a week in May with her son Lukeand his wife, Gail, down in the Turks and CaicosIslands. “Beautiful place, with great weather. Wel-comed great-grandchild number 14 and got to

visit with him this past March during a visit tomy son Peter in Hideaway, TX. Traveled to Port-land, OR, with my son Hank during the Christmasholidays to visit with his family.”

Joye and Chuck McCoy (Orinda, CA) hadplans to take all of their kids, grandchildren, andgreat-grandchildren on a cruise to Alaska thispast summer. “The organizational problem . . .biggest since D-Day—20 people in all!” DorisHolmes Jenkins reports falling backwards lastspring and breaking her left shoulder. “This hasmade life more complicated. I had to foregoSteven Jenkins ’11’s graduation, among otherthings.” Dory anticipated being healed by June26, in time to take her family (15 in all) on acruise to Bermuda. “Three of the grandchildren’sjobs keep them grounded,” she added, “but ourfirst great-grandchild, Zachary, son of JoannaKrablin ’00, will be with us. What a joy.”

Cal and Bunny DeGolyer write, “We’re grate-ful to be in reasonably good health, although wespend a lot of time in doctors’ offices. Hard to be-lieve there are so many medical specialties. But,thankfully, they keep us going. We stay in touchwith Harold Parker, JD ’50, and we miss our tripswith Club 44.” Pete and Gloria Bellis send allgood news. “We are both in good health, andthree children and grandchildren are gainfully em-ployed. Son Peter is chairman of the English de-partment and professor at the U. of Alabama,Birmingham. His wife, Miriam, is also on the fac-ulty there. Son Bill is in the Foreign Service in theState Dept. and is presently stationed in Khartoum,Sudan. Daughter Beth and husband Mark are inthe music business in Boston with grandson Nick.Granddaughters Katie and Alex have both com-pleted college and have gotten a start on theircareers, so all is well.”

Peter Miller, MBA ’48 (Newtown Square, PA)still lives independently in a continuing care com-munity. “Enjoying some old friends while makingnew friends. As a resident member of the board ofdirectors, I’m learning a lot about the inside work-ings of healthcare!” His wife of 66 years, Nancy,has had to rely on a four-wheel walker, but oth-erwise is maintaining good spirits. “Seeing our 15-month-old great-granddaughter periodicallyprovides great enjoyment. Our travel is restricted,but then flying isn’t fun anymore.” Mitzi ZahlerSands sends thanks to Art, BA ’49, and Dotty KayKesten, BS HE ’43, echoing the sentiments ofmany other classmates who added personal notesto the Kestens with their updates. She writes, “Asa lifelong member of the Class of ’44 and dearfriend of Dotty and Art, I want to thank them onbehalf of Merril, BME ’43, and me, and on behalfof the whole class, for the service and devotionthey’ve given our class. We will never be able tothank you enough. We are what we are because ofyou both!” More news to come. Send yours to:Class of 1944, c/o Cornell Alumni Magazine, 401East State St., Suite 301, Ithaca, NY 14850.Dorothy Kay Kesten, 1 Crestwood Rd., Westport,CT 06880; e-mail, [email protected].

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45 As she writes us, Jean AdolphiSynder, MS ’55 (Spencer, NY) ob - serves six deer in her front yard,

and when she moves to a rear window there ap -pears a pair of mallards and a pair of woodies in thepond. When not watching these back-to-naturesights she “enjoys family, friends, and life.” Shewould like to hear from anyone who remembersher. Robert Horton, DVM ’45 (Woods town, NJ) is

8815 46th St. NW, Gig Harbor, WA 98335; tel.,(253) 326-4806; e-mail, [email protected].






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retired and keeps busy doing wood working andseeing his doctors.

Alvin Silverman (Roslyn, NY) is legal coun-sel to Malkin Holdings in NYC. He is active in re-newing and maintaining Cornell friendships. FayeSeelbach Schmitt, BS HE ’44 (Getzville, NY) vol-unteers at the Amherst Service Center six hours aweek and for three hours making quilts at Ken-more Methodist Church. Rosalind Gene Blumen-thal Schmorak (Oak Ridge, TN) sends a businesscard that introduces her as poet. She enjoys trav-eling with husband Marcel and would like to hearfrom Joseph Gluck, MD ’47, and Doris Klein Lel-chook. Rosalind, we can help you get in touchwith Doris, but regret to inform you that Joe, aclose friend and classmate of mine in medicalschool, passed away a couple of years ago.

Charles Holmes, BS ChemE ’44 (Lexington,KY) is retired, but enjoys life to the fullest withwife Carolyn, aerobics, walking, reading history,and leading discussions on American foreign pol-icy. He has fine memories of weekend parties atthe Kappa Alpha Society. Joseph Klockner (Den -ville, NJ) lives with his wife, Doris (Fenton) ’43in a retirement complex, where he sings in thebarbershop quartet and attends films, exerciseclasses, and current events discussion groups. Hisfondest memory of Cornell was meeting his fu-ture wife on a date arranged by their respectiveroommates (good call).

Dorothy Zimmerman Jones (Macon, GA) ismarried to Rudolph, MD ’45, and has warm mem-ories of the tea dances at Willard Straight. Shewould like to contact Barbara Benjamin Westlakeand Midge Hunter Anderson Drummond ’43.William Berley, BS Ag ’48, our class representa-tive to the Cornell Annual Fund, is a member ofthe Johnson Museum Advisory Council and Muse-um Associates, which has raised about $20 mil-lion for the museum addition that was dedicatedin October 2011. Bill writes that this was onlysuccessful through the leadership of the now-re-tired museum director, Frank Robinson. At ourclass reunion in 2005 we had a special tour of themuseum, which featured the modern art collect-ed by our Bill and donated to the museum.

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learnas if you were to live forever.” (Gandhi) All yourclassmates would like to learn all about you. Sendnews to: Robert Frankenfeld, 6291 Bixby HillRd., Long Beach, CA 90815; e-mail, [email protected]; Julie Kamerer Snell, 3154 GracefieldRd., Silver Spring, MD 20904-0806; e-mail, [email protected].

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chairs: Robert Nist and Lloyd Slaughter, who suc-ceed William Farrell and Mavis Gillette Sand,who both died in office last term after giving ourclass many years of exemplary service; and classhistorian: Pat Kinne Paolella.

Bob Nist (Trinity, FL; [email protected]) iscoming to terms with Ruth’s confinement to a re-hab center. She is making some progress. He andwe hope she will soon recover. Bob also hopes he’llbe able to give significant support to Lloyd Slaugh-ter as co-chair of our 2016 reunion. He gets a kickout of volunteering for AARP’s and United Way’s

income tax programs. He gets certified each yearto be current on all IRS changes. Bob finds it enor-mously gratifying to see the smiles on the facesof the lower paid employees and the elderly whenhe discovers a refund for them. He can hardly waitfor next tax season to continue offering the freeservice. Bob’s still playing lots of bridge, puts inlots of computer hours, and gives the Tampa BayRays many decibels of vocal support. The Cornellfriends he’d most like to hear from are Mac Adams,PhD ’53, Jim Grega ’48, and E. W. Hines.

William Dilger, PhD ’55 (Freeville, NY) par-ticularly enjoys “botanizing, gardening, taking careof horse and chickens, carving wood, painting, andleather work.” He also enjoys teaching, especial-ly volunteer teaching of pre-schoolers and thirdgraders. He’d love to hear from Shirley Wind -nagle Weinberg ’49, MS ’50. Russell and AnneScott (Richmond, VA; russellcscott@aol. com) hada great visit with Rod and Dottie Stieff at theirBaltimore retirement community in April 2009.Russell is active in environmental organizationsworking to save the Chesapeake Bay. He also par-ticipates in the commemorative activities of manyhereditary historical societies.

To list your e-mail address in your submis-sions, e-mail me at the below e-address. Includeyour name, city, and state. Send news to: PaulLevine, 31 Chicory Lane, San Carlos, CA 94070;tel., (650) 592-5273; e-mail, pblevine@juno. com.Class website, http://classof46.alumni.cornell.edu.

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46 Reunion News continues! PENN -SYLVANIA: Sorority sisters Maj-Britt Karlsson Gabel and Ruth

Critchlow Blackman arrived together. Mickey livesin Willow Street (near Lancaster) and Critch inLans downe. For years, Mickey served as our nom -inating chair and Critch as treasurer. Rememberthe year that Critch’s husband Bill brought theirhouseboat and took us for a sail? Dottie VanVleet Hicks came from State College. Before hisdeath, her husband taught at Penn State. She hashad a summer place on Seneca Lake for 34 years.My husband, Phil Kennedy ’47, ME ’48, diedsince our 60th, but my youngest son brought mefrom the Reading area. I haven’t missed any ofour reunions (I was a newlywed and living inIthaca for our Baby Reunion in 1948). Thanksagain for my beautiful picture. It has a place ofhonor on my living room wall.

NEW JERSEY: My son also brought Pat KinnePaolella from Lakewood. We keep in touch oftenand had adjoining rooms at the Statler. Since Re-union, her husband had a successful melanomaoperation. Their family held a reunion at the Jer-sey Shore in July with their three daughters (fromNew Jersey, Florida, and Mexico), plus three grand-children, a 17-year-old and 12-year-old twins.

VIRGINIA: I had a brief chat with Margaret“Scotty” Monteith Edelman (Alexandria) and herhusband at our Saturday dinner. I phoned her re-cently to get more news. Scotty still works as a

psychotherapist. The Edelmans have been married66 years and have four children and five grand-children. They still live in their own home and be-long to a group called Mount Vernon at Home,which enables seniors to stay in their own homes.

FLORIDA: Kay Smith Mancini drove alonefrom Palm Coast just to join us. She retired fromreal estate after breaking her hip several yearsago. She’s e-mailed since Reunion saying sheplans to be with us for our 70th. Coming the fur-thest from TEXAS were: Carol Skaer Ryan and hergranddaughter. They had a delayed airline tripfrom Austin that made them miss the Thursdaydinner. After all these years, I learned that shewas originally from Buffalo. She traveled exten-sively with her military husband and they retiredin Texas. Her granddaughter volunteered to helpwith our website. They were extending their tripEast by visiting old “haunts” in the area.

IT’S A SMALL WORLD: I met the sister of class-mate Leah Smith Drexler (deceased in May 2010).Charlotte Smith Moore ’48 told me that three ofthe sisters attended Cornell and one Michigan,where they all joined Delta Gamma. I also learnedthat Irma Lesser Friedman was the sister-in-lawof Roy ’43 and classmate Grace Friedman Unger.

MORE STATISTICS: 174 donors, or 50 percentof our class, donated $178,695 this year. Our offi-cial reunion clerk was Drew Zukosky ’13, withhelp from recent grads Sharon Foretia ’11 andKrystal Crespo ’11. When I went to this reunion,I thought it would be my last, but seeing the ’31women (at age 102) inspired me . . . so I’ll seeyou at our 70th! If you think I was a little skimpyreporting your news, write and send more. (Whata sneaky way to get you to write.) ElinorBaier Kennedy, 9 Reading Dr., Apt. 302, Werners -ville, PA 19565; tel., (610) 927-8777; e-mail,[email protected].

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Class officers were selected and elected at Re-union for the next five years—most were reelect-ed. If new, or in new positions, we mention theirpredecessors. President and membership chair:Lloyd Slaughter; VP: Allen Boorstein, succeedingLouise Green Richards, PhD ’65; treasurer: RuthCritchlow Blackman; secretary: Louise Greene Rich -ards, succeeding Robert Nist; class correspondents:Elinor Baier Kennedy and Paul Levine; Cor nell An-nual Fund representative: Richard Turner; reunion

‘I was in charge of a liberty ship that returned 1,500 POWs to theirhomelands.’ Ed Fitchett ’44

47 As I write this column the leavesare falling and it is fall where Ilive, in northern New Jersey.

When you read this it will be mid-winter and evercloser to our 65th Reunion. Most of us are in ourmid-80s and find it more difficult to travel, butonce we arrive we really do enjoy ourselves. So Ihope you will say “yes” to our reunion and, in theimmortal words of entertainer Elaine Stritch, singout strong, “I’m still here.” The reunion commit -tee has been working diligently to make your visita rewarding one, and all your friends from collegewill welcome you with open arms and a big“hello.” Hope to see you in June. Till then, here issome class news.

Jessie Leitstein Weitz is keeping busy withgarden, theatre, book and Scrabble clubs, and







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traveling. She has two married children and fivegrandkids. Jessie writes that she spends fourweeks in Puerto Rico each year, makes frequentvisits to Virginia, and loves to cruise. Soundsgood to me! Betty Rosenthal Newman has a newarrival—a new knee! This has allowed her to re-sume playing golf and tennis. She does a lot ofvolunteer work in Florida, where she “winters over,”and in Short Hills, NJ, the rest of the year. Whilein Florida she is a volunteer lecturer at the JCC inBoynton Beach. Kudos to Betty for her dedicationand desire to make a “better world.”

Another two-location traveler is Roger Broek-er, who lives with wife Martha in Naples, FL, andBlowing Rock, NC. Roger commented on our up-coming reunion by saying, “I made our 60th andit was so enjoyable that I vowed to attend our65th. I will be there.” Also, he just celebrated 63years of marriage, with more to come. ReneeGaines Wallace, BS ’46, writes that she is a wid-ow and retired from her business. She publisheda book, Creative Caring: The Vita-Living Story.

Helen Tetter Kennedy spends May to No-vember in the mountains of North Carolina, whilethe rest of the year she is at home in Vero Beach,FL. William Davies Jr. celebrated his 88th birth-day with a knee replacement. The operation wentso well that he was able to dance at his grand-daughter’s wedding a couple of months later. Hestill volunteers at local schools and lives in Uki-ah, CA. Lee Taylor writes from Kailua Kona, HI.“I thank the Lord for the fact that I’ve seen mostof the world. Many of the countries are now in awar zone and closed to tourism.” Stu La Dow andwife Donna now reside in Allison Park, PA, andare still active in church activities. Heinz Meng,PhD ’51, now retired, taught for over 50 years at

SUNY, New Paltz. He also wrote articles and abook and has painted, photographed, fished,hunted, and practiced the sport of falconry.

Ursula Holahan is now living in Charleston,SC, and Gloria Lawrence Baxter lives in Buffalo,NY. Lawrence Moser writes that he retired to abeach in Florida (Delray Beach). Mary Lou Gedelis living in Montgomery, AL. Mary SteadmanRothrock is in Kenosha, WI, and has 11 grand-children and one great-grandchild.

And now, a letter from our reunion chairs,Margaret Newell Mitchell and Herb Brinberg.“Dear Classmates: June will be busting out allover with ’47 celebrating our 65th Reunion, June7-10, 2012. We hope you will be with us in per-son. We know you will be with us in spirit! Wepromise a reunion accessible to all, with trans-portation to events not at our Statler headquar-ters. As reunion co-chairs, we find we will also be’47 Cornell Annual Fund co-chairs. Our goal willbe participation. Every dollar counts, and any dol-lar you give to Cornell will be well spent.

“Please start your own circle of friends whowill meet together at Cornell in June. In the mean-time, follow our reunion plans on our new classwebsite, www.cornellclass47.org, and let us knowif you would like to help in any way. If you arein touch with other ’47 class members, please besure they are in the loop and receiving mailingsand e-mails. Let us know if they are not. See youin Ithaca! Herb ([email protected]; (212) 348-2179) and Margaret ([email protected]; (216) 491-9561).”

Class president Pete Schwarz adds a plug forthe new digital edition of Cornell Alumni Maga-zine (http://www.cornellalumnimagazine-digital.com), where every website and e-mail address inthe class column is an active hyperlink. Visit thedigital edition and check out how easy it is toaccess the class website and to e-mail classmatesas we head toward our 65th in June!

It certainly is great hearing from many ofyou, and it makes my task much easier. I knowthat some of you may feel reluctant to talk aboutyourself, but think of the joy it may give to oth-ers. As you finish reading this column, if youhaven’t already done so, send me a letter, writeme an e-mail, etc., and let all of us know you arestill around and doing some interesting thingswith family, friends, or associates. Your words willlook good in a future column. Sylvia KianoffShain, 653 Primrose Lane, River Vale, NJ 07675;tel., (201) 391-1263; e-mail, [email protected]; Arlie Williamson Anderson, [email protected]; tel., (585) 288-3752.

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and birth of our three children, was the highlightof my life. Future health is no concern at present.Recently discovered how to say ‘No’ to requestsfor money and/or helping with groups. If you arenice to people they will be nice to you.”

Charlie Elbert, Woodland Park, NJ: “Reading,exercising, recovering from recent surgery, doingwell. I believe present administration is driving usto increasingly socialistic objectives. Vote for newcandidates who agree to stop this trend. Our newgovernor is trying to restore financial sense to ourstate employee pension and benefits system. Manystate employees believe they are entitled to all ex-isting benefits and more. Looking forward to a tripin 2011. Purchased a Honda Accord. Toyota leaseended and I was apprehensive of the sticky gaspedal syndrome in Toyotas. Honda is hard-riding(not pleasant), so I will exchange for Toyota assoon as practical. Right now, as always, I wish Iwere judging a well-talented belly-dancing contest.Life’s highlight was enlisting in the US Navy in1942 and subsequent service overseas and in V-12program, followed by Cornell graduation, marriageto Maryiris, and employment by ITT for 40 years.Least of my worries? I’m thinking; will advise. Dis-covery? Need to develop better study of other re-ligions. Enjoy ourselves, respect others.”

William “Hoot” Gibson, Danville, CA: “Cele-brated 60th wedding anniversary on May 20,2010. Took family to Mission Bay, San Diego.Rented three condos on the water and had dinnerat Hotel Del Coronado. Crazy odds: another cou-ple was there also celebrating their May 20th 60thanniversary—he was the first doctor we had foryears when we first moved to Danville. Greatestpart of my life is spending time with our childrenand grandchildren, and of course my wife, Bar-bara.” Hans Wynberg, Midlaren, Netherlands: “Iam 88. I play golf, ride my bike, and keep in touch.The US is suffering from anger and irrational fears.Let Obama try. My Camry has over 200,000 milesand is good as new. Should last another ten years.I note that the US is in two wars! My problem isbuying good smoked eel. My wife of 65 years, Elis-abeth Wynberg-Dekker, is ill. Not worried aboutmy future. History is fascinating. Be good to all.”

William “Zeke” Seymour, Hillsdale, NY: “Trav-eling, gardening, beekeeping, and meetings atchurch, historical society, senior organizations,and VFW programs. I can remember when the UScould and did make anything. Now it all comesfrom China and a lot of it is junk! We should startto help industry make things in this country, fromclothespins to good low-mileage cars, and moreshould be done to keep farmers in business. NewYork has lots of good restaurants and beautifulscenery, and if we have the money, we can travelanywhere in it. Most people are friendly and help-ful if you need help. But: too many taxes, wintersare bad, and roads need better care. Helen and Ispend three winter months in Myrtle Beach, SC.Good roads, good shopping, good restaurants, andrents are reasonable. Tomorrow picking up leaves,cleaning up vegetable garden, and extracting hon-ey from our 13 hives. We bottled close to 500lbs. in 2010 and sold most! We are looking tobuy a good used Dodge or Chrysler van. They arehand y for us, with stow-away seats, and can car-ry anything—beehives to groceries and clotheswhen going south. We traveled to Ocean City, MD,in fall 2010 with 40 members of our seniors group,and have also gone to two Octoberfests. If there’ssomething you really want to do, don’t wait un-til tomorrow or next year. My first wife said, ‘Lifeis so uncertain, eat your dessert first.’ Life has

48 Jackie Smith Flournoy, West -port, CT: “Volunteering, sailing(27th year as Cedar Point Yacht

Club secretary). Government doesn’t seem ableto cope with deficit. Cut back—especially onCon gressional salaries. Connecticut has beautifulcountryside, nice people, and many state parksavailable to all, but the economy is bad. I’m work -ing at the church crafters group. Will accompanydaughter and son-in-law to Athens, Greece, wherethey will be officials for the sailing events in theWorld Special Olympics Games. I own a ’95 FordGrand Victoria and a 2000 Dodge Caravan. Willkeep forever! Recently played bridge with AnneRyan Swartzman. Her husband, Joe ’49, died in2009, and she is now remarried to Ted Ross. Shespends summers in Connecticut, but lives andvotes in Jupiter, FL. My marriage to Jim in 1950,


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been busy and interesting, all 85 years of it: mar-ried twice, two years at Cornell, two years activeArmy duty in Korean War, one and a half years inJapan, being a dairy farmer for eight years, and20 years in the Post Office.”

John “Jack” Lillich, W. Lafayette, IN: “My wifedied in March 2010. US situation is improving. Cargets 30 mpg and has 65,000 miles on it. I’ll keepit another two years. Went to 14th Armored Divi-sion reunion in Indianapolis and American ex-POWs meeting in Danville, IL. Most importantevent in my life was WWII.” Harold Vroman, MS’52, Cobleskill, NY: “I’m 87 years old and have dia -betes, plus other problems of old age. My winteraddress is with son Ted in Plattsmouth, NE, andmy summer address is with son Richard ’75 in Edi-son, NJ. Son Ted has my car so one of my grand-daughters can use it.” Louis Strick, Westport, CT:“Reading, walking, listening to music. Things inthe US are static. I like Connecticut for its gen-erosity and optimism. Bought a new Toyota Prius.Only problem is age (me, not the Prius).”

Richard Mittenthal, Longboat Key, FL: “Arbi-trator of labor/management disputes. Writing po-etry (largely doggerels about a wide assortment ofpeople, ideas, and my passing thoughts). Our pol-itics and economic system are unable to respondto critical national problems. The probable resultwill be some kind of revolution or catastrophe, al-though fortunately not in my lifetime. There’s notmuch time available, but we must fight againstgreed, stupidity, and smallness of spirit. It’s niceand quiet here on Longboat Key, with plenty ofsunshine and water, but I don’t like all the plas-tic and humidity. Tomorrow I will think, write, andbond, as always, with my serene and loving wife,Joyce. My old Lincoln broke down, don’t knowwhy, so I bought a new car. I’m satisfied with mysituation and all its small woes: loss of hair, bal-ance, testosterone, hearing, strength . . . need Igo on? Most important event was marriage to aremarkable lady. Most recent discovery is a largesense of the great many things I am ignorant of.Life is a search for fulfillment—in work, love, pur-pose, etc.—in the face of your own limitations.Read my memoir.” Bob Persons, 102 Reid Ave.,Port Washington, NY 11050; phone and fax, (516)767-1776; e-mail, [email protected].

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over.” Let’s hope she doesn’t have too much shov-eling this winter! It is friendships that she re-members most fondly from her days at Cornell,and she still corresponds with friends and class-mates. Marilyn Morehouse Jenny, widowed since2006, says that she has moved in with her daugh-ter’s family in Johnstown, NY. Because she getsabout in a wheelchair, she says, her activities areminimal. She does a lot of reading. Her favoritememories of Cornell are of her Newman Club ac-tivities and her engagement with the Drama Club,building sets and working in the theatre. Shehears from a few friends at Christmas.

Jacques Zakin (Worthington, OH; [email protected]) is professor emeritus of chemical engi-neering at the Ohio State U. doing research ondrag-reducing surfactant solutions and teaching.He is a former chairman of the Dept. of ChemicalEngineering. Jacques plays tennis and softball andenjoys book discussion groups and traveling. Hepresented a paper at the EM-6 conference in An-talya, Turkey, published a review chapter in GiantMicelles, and taught courses in 2009 and 2010.What would he rather be doing now? “More of thesame.” Jacques fondly remembers “big weekends”on the Hill and tells us that he is in touch withLawson Singer in Scottsdale, AZ. David Elow(Hilton Head, SC; delow 1111@aol. com), marriedto Bobbie, is retired and engaged in golf and boardresponsibilities of his retirement community. Hesays he is “completely satisfied.” David’s favoritememory of his college days: “pulling skiers throughthe streets of Cayuga Heights behind my Model Aroadster.” He would especially like to hear fromLester Davidson ’48.

John R. Jones (Grand Blanc, MI; phyllis.jones1@ comcast.net) writes that his wife, Phyl-lis, has advanced Alzheimer’s and that “it’s a full-time job looking after her.” George Hull (Sparks,MD) is an independent sales agent. He’s marriedto wife Nancy and spends his after hours “relax-ing.” He has been traveling to Florida, cruising theBahamas, and visiting Atlantic City. He’d rather befishing and hunting. House party weekends at Cor-nell are his fondest memories of his days on theHill. James Davenport (McLean, VA; [email protected]) is president of Patent & Trademark SearchesInc. in McLean. A docent at the Udvar-Hazy Cen-ter of the Smithsonian Aerospace Museum, he’smarried to Janet and travels extensively. A fineeducation and wonderful campus are his favoritememories of Cornell.

Jerome Hanover (Memphis, TN; jerome.hanover@ belz.com) is senior VP of Belz Enter-prises Real Estate and Investments in Memphis.He works out at the YMCA three times a week andenjoys fly-fishing in many parts of the US and inother countries. Jerome also toured Israel for twoweeks. When asked what he’d rather be doing now,his response was: “fly-fishing.” His happiest mem-ories of Cornell: “the diversity of the student body,the sincere interest of my teachers, and greatroommates and housemates who helped me overthe first-year hurdle.” He would really enjoy hear-ing from Morris Gordon, George Roshkind ’48,and David Bloom ’50, MD ’53. Fann Weiss Markel(Buffalo, NY; thefloristry@ prodigy.net) is CEO ofthe Floristry, florists and decorators, a divisionof Fanther Creations Ltd. Her after-hours activi-ty is painting, though recently she says she’sbeen “working long hours!” Fann remembersfriends most fondly from her Cornell years andwould really enjoy hearing from Norma Fell.

Sadly, we hear of the passing of three class-mates. Joseph Hirsch of Scottsdale, AZ, died on

July 3, 2009. His widow, Pearl, writes, “He wasalmost 85 years old and did not suffer a long ill-ness.” Lloyd Hahn of Getzville, NY, passed awayon March 17, 2010. Lloyd graduated in February1949 in Mechanical Engineering. We have alsobeen informed of the death of George Fryer ofWellsburg, WV, in 2006. He received his degree inElectrical Engineering and later did work in met-allurgy. Please keep all your news coming. I ap-preciate hearing from each of you. DorothyMulhoffer Solow, [email protected]; tel.,(315) 717-6003.

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49 Two of our classmates are pub -lishing literary works this year.Carl Irwin (Exeter, NH; carland

[email protected]), living in a “very nice CCRC(continuing care retirement community) namedRiverWoods,” tells us that he “became a pub -lished author this spring by helping a group offellow residents edit/publish a book of memoirsabout our WWII experiences. I contributed a storyand picture, as did 74 other folks here. The 328-page book has received regional TV and printcoverage and is selling briskly through RiverWoods’800 number. All profits go to charity. Being in -volved in this collaborative project has been a funand worthwhile experience.”

From Dorset, VT, comes news of another class-mate author, Phyllis Binkley, whose second book,Up From the Marsh, a collection of stories andpoems, is now in bookstores and online. Her firstbook, The Journals of A.P. O’Clipps, came out in2007. Phyllis is a board member of the local vis-iting nurse agency, helping nursing home and as-sisted-living residents with bookkeeping and otherneeds. Writing to us last April, she told us that shewas “content, now that snow-shoveling season is

50 Our officers are trying to do agood job of monitoring andman aging our several class

funds. These are in addition to 48 personally en -dowed funds worth over $17million established byour classmates and do not include significant di -rected bequests such as those of Sam Johnson andothers. Currently we have: 1) $20,000 in an oper -ating fund; 2) $476,000 in three Willard Straightfunds; and 3) $140,000 in a Class of the Centuryfund. At its annual class dinner in New York Cityin May, the class approved $100,000 from theStraight funds to replace the floor in the StraightMemorial Room. Also approved was the release of$100,000 from the Century Fund for scholarshipsor similar uses, to be decided on the basis of sug -gestions submitted by you to a committee chairedby Nels Schaenen, MBA ’51. Send your sugges -tions to him at 56 Midwood Terrace, Madison, NJ07940 or via e-mail at: [email protected].

Wilson Greatbatch died on Sept. 27, 2011at age 92. He was one of the oldest among us be-cause of naval air service in WWII and working asa telephone lineman before entering Cornell. Wil-son achieved international fame with his inven-tion of the heart pacemaker. This lifesavinginvention was selected by the National Society ofProfessional Engineering as one of the ten great-est engineering contributions to society in theprevious 50 years. A self-styled “humble tinker-er” in his barn in Clarence, NY, he held more than150 other patents and also did research on nu-clear fusion and possible cures for AIDS. He oncetook a 160-mile cruise on the Finger Lakes in hissolar-powered canoe. Later in life he said of hiswork, “I’m beginning to think I may not changethe world, but I’m still trying.” As his vision failedhe continued to review graduate student papersby having his secretary read them aloud. He alsovisited thousands of schoolchildren to talk aboutinvention. Wilson served Cornell on the Universi-ty Council and also as an adjunct professor of En-gineering. His death earned obit space in TIMEmagazine, the New York Times, and the Philadel-phia Inquirer, on national news broadcasts, andin other national media outlets.

Fall dues notices went out a little late thisyear and left us with no news forms for this col-umn’s October 15 deadline. Solution? Because I,Paul, your happy co-correspondent, am not wellknown to you, our loyal readers, I report my suc-cinct bio:

Born in Buffalo, NY. Depression-era farmboy inOakfield, NY. US Navy. Cornell. Agriculture teacherfor four years. Science teacher for ten years.Rochester EdM, Sewanee MAT, and Rochester EdDin biology and science education. Research in pa-lynology and continental glaciation. Professor ofscience education and chair of teacher education,Drake U. in Des Moines, IA. Fellow, AAAS. Ful-bright laureate. Visiting scholar, Curtin U. in


















Perth, Australia. Lecturer in Mexico, Taiwan, Aus-tralia, Israel, Russia. Author of science text andlab books and curricular materials, and a book onthe UFO enigma. Traveled in 34 countries, all USstates, all Canadian provinces, and a third of Mex-ican states. Family: now 34. Wife, Erma. Five kids,two foster kids. 14 grandkids, five great-grandkids.Family members have attended 20 universities andworked at ten. Retired in Iowa because it’s one ofthe most civilized places on earth. Retirement:this column. Program chair for 130-member Gold-en K Kiwanis. Write essays for my Torch Club andfor talks at community organizations. Colorado ski-ing is out; biking still in. And RV travel aroundupper Great Lakes. We relax on our farm in quiet,rugged southern Iowa. Iowa is not flat! Cornell ledto a fortunate, productive, and satisfying life. Paul Joslin, 6080 Terrace Dr., Johnston, IA 50131-1560; tel., (515) 278-0960; e-mail, [email protected]; Marion Steinmann, 237 W. Highland Ave.,Philadelphia, 19118-3819; tel., (215) 242-8443;e-mail, [email protected].

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One of Alvin’s fondest memories of Cornell is“climbing the Cascadilla Gorge stairs on the wayto morning class.” Charles Smith, MEd ’64 (S.Plymouth, NY) checks in with no news. Marvin“Toby” Silverman (North Palm Beach, FL) offeredhis [unprintable] take on the “golden years.”

Frank Petrulis (Binghamton, NY) is now re-tired. Since graduating, he has had three careers.First as a THOR rocket system design engineer withDouglas Aerospace, including testing time at CapeCanaveral, “where we successfully competed againstthe W. von Braun team.” Second, with IBM Glen-dale Development Lab, “where I also acquired anMBA. After ten years with IBM, I met a Dutch ar-chitect and we founded a successful architectural/engineering design firm (EURAMCO Associates). Inow occasionally volunteer at Binghamton U.’sSchool of Management.” Tim Edlund (Baltimore,MD) is “now sporting a brand new right knee—and working to recover full function. Amazingwhat can be done these days.” He continues toteach full-time and do case research at MorganState. “Congratulations to class officers (Bill Kayet al.) for getting monthly planners in our handsbefore 2011 started! Could the 2012 version havea few more blank pages for notes, etc.?”

George, MBA ’52, and Diane Hano (Lebanon,NH) sold their house in Lyme after 15 years ofhappy, healthy, country living. “We bought ahome nearby, about one mile from the Dartmouthcampus, and another in Aiken, SC, where we havebeen spending mud seasons the last four years.Aiken is a wonderful place for horses, golf, andparties. We plan to spend about six months ineach location, and would love to see Cornelliansin both.” Jesse and Betsy Zobel Hannan enjoya very active Cornell Club of 200 members inSarasota, FL; they meet twice a month in fall andwinter. Rev. Dr. George Campbell ’49, MNS ’51,wrote from Sutton, Quebec, to say that his wife,Jean (Raymond), died April 7, 2010. He is “stillfunctioning reasonably well.” Charles Bales (Erie,PA) reports two trips to Haiti to work at HôpitalAlbert Schweitzer, a general hospital in centralHaiti (Artibonite Valley).

Margaret “Pepper” Dutcher Fluke still livesin the house she and Don designed and had built50 years ago near Duke U. in Durham, NC. Shewrites, “I recently contracted with East CarolinaU. (Greenville, NC) to donate my more than1,200-piece pottery collection, 800-plus art andpottery books, and supporting documentationfrom 47 years of pottery making and collecting.”It will be a teaching collection, kept open for stu-dents to use, handle, and learn from. She adds,“Likewise my collection of 12 photo albums and

36 three-inch notebooks recording all meetingsand photos of the 35 years I was volunteering asa board member to help save and restore our His-toric Carolina Theatre in downtown Durham. Theywill be housed in the North Carolina Room atDurham’s downtown main library as a resourcefor future students to learn about, write about,and record for future citizen use. Both of thesehuge donations relieve my family of the respon-sibility of getting rid of such large amounts ofmaterial. However, I am still making pots in mystudio and, YES, I still go to shows and add potsto the collection.” Pepper has endowed a lockerin the renovated women’s boathouse as part ofher reunion contribution to Cornell. Please sendyour news to: Brad Bond, 101 Hillside Way,Marietta OH 45750; tel., (740) 374-6715; e-mail,[email protected].

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Hear that whistle blow!

’52 has a 60th

JUNE 7-10, 2012

51 Bob Giebitz (Crossville, TN) writesthat he missed reunion for the firsttime “because of a serious auto ac -

cident in April. I’m just [in June] recovered now,but almost bled to death. Four units of bloodsaved me. I am active in the farmer’s market move -ment. There are three operating in CumberlandCounty, and I have played an important part intheir organization. I have also started a com mu -ni ty garden at our community college.” JanetArmstrong Hamber (Santa Barbara, CA) writes,“Sorry I missed reunion—had to stay in Connect -icut and work on a cottage for rental. Still workwith Fish & Wildlife on the Condor RecoveryProgram.”Her grandson Zach finished his first yearat San Diego State U. and went to Costa Rica withan educational group,“Green,” and “discovered hislife’s work in alternative energy.” She fondly recallsheading to early morning class across the Quad tothe “Jennie McGraw Rag” on the chimes. Al Ginty(Orange, CA) “appreciated the personal notes ofinvitation from our hard-working class leaders!”

Two of Tony Ferrarri’s daughters joined himfor Saturday’s Barton Hall All-Alumni Luncheon,where the Big Red Band squelched conversationfor a period of time. John “JC” Huttar (Strasburg,VA) writes, “Ted, LLB ’54, and Bobbie MertensReifsteck and Herm Hanemann ’52, ME ’57, willbe returning to reunion with me.” His favoritememory of Cornell is 150-lb. football. Alvin andDiana Macomber (Alexandria, VA) attended the60th Reunion, “her first time at a class reunion.”

52 First, website news. As of Octo -ber, our class has joined theCornellConnect system, and we

have a new address: http://www.cornellclassof52.org. The page is quite different, with a kind ofpan-Cornell approach. Paul Blanchard has beenputting it together and needs all the news andphotos he can get. Paul and Polly Prine Herman,who have been our webmasters for almost tenyears, deserve a large cheer and thank you. Here,from me: Thank you, Paul and Polly. You havebeen a joy to work with.

Now to the mailbag news, which dates to fall2010. At the time, many of us were moving or hadmoved. Libby Hunsberger Craver (Lancaster, PA;[email protected]) had a particularly horriblestory having to do with an oil leak that resultedin removing a 1,000-gallon tank, tearing up thefront yard and half the garage floor, and puttingit all back together with lots of angst and at greatexpense. All complicated by environmental per-mits. I trust that Libby is now fully unpacked andrelaxing in her new home, with the old one hap-pily sold. Tom Weber, PhD ’63 (Williamsville, NY;[email protected]) and wife Marianne “live ina patio home among sociable people” at Canter-bury Woods, where Tom is secretary of the residentcouncil. He has taken some “Canterbury U.” cours-es and led some in science and math. A nearly-every-day swimmer, Tom wouldn’t have changed abit of his time at Cornell.

Redding Kane Rufe ([email protected]) andwife Donna have, after 17 years, moved from LasVegas to a lifecare community in Scottsdale, AZ.Doc is acclimating to names such as Diamondbacks,Cardinals, and Sun Devils. He writes, “We both arerelatively healthy and look forward to my 60th Re-union in 2012.” Denise Cutler Kimball (San Diego,CA; [email protected]) has been at her retire-ment community for ten years. She still works onher family genealogy when she has time. PatriciaDexter Clark (Concord, MA; sipclowes@ gmail.com)lives in a retirement community with activities bothon site and in the Boston area. Pat knits for out-reach, works on projects, and cares for her hus-band, who has Parkinson’s. She does water aerobicsthree times a week for exercise and rehab. WritesPat, “I’d rather be able to get out more, but c’estla vie!” Bill Hodges (Lynchburg, VA; wlhodges [email protected]) stays very busy, organizing people forgardens at the Summit Retirement Community,chairing a train restoration project for the Lynch-burg Kiwanis Club, singing in a Presbyterian churchchoir and with the Lynchburg College Choral Union,and writing with the Right Stuff writers group.




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Barbara Oles Monty (Knoxville, TN; [email protected]) is “still working full-time(and a little more) as director of the Knox Coun-ty CAC Office on Aging.” She manages about 20programs to serve seniors and still finds it satis-fying after almost 40 years. Martin Cohen (Bel-mont, MA) is reading, working at the CharlesRiver Museum of Industry, working in his shop,and enjoying the company of his grandsons. Hehas been organizing the horological exhibit atthe museum. “It must be done and I want it tobe done right.” Robert Pinkley (Cherry Hill, NJ)listed his activities: “movies, electronic bowling,television, men’s club, Sunday vesper committee,visiting my wife in healthcare, visits with family,shopping, and reading the Cornell Alumni Newsand paperback books.” He added that he’d ratherbe “having my wife healthy and living with mein our retirement apartment.”

Ina Perlstein Loewenberg ([email protected]), who lives in Iowa City, IA, with hus-band Jerry ’49, PhD ’55, leads a read-aloud groupin poetry, studies Biblical Hebrew, tries to learnto play bridge, works out, and escapes Iowa win-ters for brief periods. She writes, “I love every-thing I do. I love this college town and theopen-hearted, open-minded Iowa people.” Willisand Ruth Christoff Landon ’53 ([email protected]) live in Roanoke, VA. Bill writes that he spendshis time “getting older, going back and forth todoctors, traveling to visit kids and grandkids, andgoing to weddings, wakes, and funerals.” Hespecifically listed travel to Maine, Vermont, andGrenada. The greatest impact at Cornell camefrom “the girl I married.” He’d rather be “walkingwithout a cane.” Sound familiar?

John Talmage (Riverhead, NY; [email protected]) is rebuilding and flying open cockpitbiplanes, vintage 1929 and 1931, from his grassairfield. Lillian Schneider Innerfield Gerstman(Buffalo, NY; [email protected]) is read-ing, hiking, and visiting children and stepchildren,grandchildren, and great-grandsons who live allover the US. She still contributes time and ener-gy to the Blue Rose Foundation and the HolocaustResource Center and belongs to two political dis-cussion groups. She notes that she is trying tomaintain her aging home with her willing-but-ag-ing energy, and is weighing her options for achange in residence and lifestyle. She closes, “Ilove this stage of my life, but wish I could havemore time to do more—perhaps be a student atCornell.” Richard ’51 and Nancy HarringtonBooth ([email protected]) remain in Brook-lyn, CT. Nancy spends a lot of time taking care ofall her rescued cats, and tries to keep up with hertwo daughters, who live in Maine and Scotland.A big Red Sox fan, she urges them on via TV. Re-cently she has been “trying to clean and organizeall the items in this old (1750) house that havebeen collecting for the past 51 years.”

Marilyn Goldstein Jeffs (Ann Arbor, MI; mgjeffs@ comcast.net) is very active at her templeas a volunteer and a student. She continues tohave a small practice doing parent/child supportgroups. She attends concerts at the UniversityMusical Society and is learning to play cello againafter a lapse of five years. She is also exercisingthree to four times a week to maintain optimumcardiac health. Juanita Miller Johnson ([email protected]), who lives in Bronx, NY, withhusband Robert, lists “piano, church, and great-grandchild” as her activities. Francis DeCarlo(West Hills, CA; [email protected]) isworking on his Mac, eating out, doing aerobics,

attending current events classes, being active po-litically, reading, and visiting friends and relatives.“Keeping mind and body fit at 84 years.”

A great deal comes in with the news reportsthat involves illness and recovery (slow and oth-erwise), walkers, canes, loss, and the fact thatmost of us are now somewhere in our 80s. Not allof it makes it into the column. There is also muchthat comes in that indicates we have not lost ourfight, our sense of humor, or our flexibility. Thereis not room for all of that either. So come to Itha-ca, June 7-10, 2012 . . . and visit. And now aword from reunion chairs Terry, JD ’56, and DoriCrozier Warren ([email protected]): “TheCleveland Zoo has two new cubs. This seems to bea ‘bear’ year. We’re captivated by the ‘Spirit Bear’story in August’s National Geographic. Get readyfor postcards about your 60th Reunion—a few ofthem.” Joan Boffa Gaul, [email protected] website, http://www.cornellclassof52.org.

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home town of Westhampton Beach, NY, movingfurniture and stacking ice in her freezer. Two bigbranches came down from her trees, but missedthe house. Urged by her adult kids to move out,Nikki (“not wanting to be a martyr”) caught one ofthe last ferries to storm-mauled Madison, CT. It waswithout power for a week, but the WesthamptonBeach house, about a mile from the ocean, wentwithout electricity on Sunday night only. Her homein Royalton, VT, was also undamaged, but thetown was heavily flooded. “The mud, everywhere,was unbelievable. Homes and businesses werewiped out and many cattle perished,” she observes.

From Julian Aroesty: “My wife and I rodethis out in our 250-year-old Cape Cod cottage inFalmouth, MA. No special problems with eitherwater or wind damage, but our prayers were an-swered. A tree in the yard of a house between usand the ocean was split in half, restoring the wa-ter view we had when we bought the house 30years ago.” And furthermore, “At long last, all thekids have completed their education.” Youngestgraduated cum laude as a U. of Michigan engineerand was accepted into the G.E. Edison Fellow pro-gram. That includes five years’ G.E. employmentand training and a master’s degree in engineer-ing” (G.E. pays for it). “This gives me a $100,000raise.” His favorite recollections? 1) VladimirNabokov’s lectures in a course familiarly knownas Dirty Lit because it included Madame Bovaryand Anna Karenina; and 2) mashing Michigan, 20-7, 60 years ago in sunny Schoellkopf.

A bunch of classmates showed up at theStatler to celebrate former trustee Bob Abrams’sreceiving the Frank H.T. Rhodes Exemplary AlumniService Award on Homecoming Friday evening. Thehugely admired former president took note of Bob’sassistance in real estate and other matters. Afteryears of service to our Cornell in a wide range ofareas—Architecture, Art, and Planning, Athletics,the presidency of the Cornell Alumni Associationof New York, the faculty of the Dept. of City andRegional Planning, the founding of the Cornell RealEstate Council, and lending his expertise to the Cor-nell Real Estate Investment Subcommittee—he isnow a Presidential Councillor. Bob is the ninth ’53classmate to be honored with the Rhodes award.That’s numerically first among classes. Bob followsLilyan Affinito, Elliott Cattarulla, Dorothy ClarkFree, Rich Jahn, Mort Lowenthal, Lea PaxtonNixon, John Nixon, and Pat Gunderson Stocker.

Here’s hoping 2012 smiles upon us all. Andhere’s looking forward to seeing many of us at ourSensational Sixtieth in Ithaca in just another yearand a half, June 6-9, 2013, if not before. JimHanchett, 300 1st Ave., #8B, NYC 10009; e-mail,[email protected].

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53 Look out the window and see ifwhat’s there reminds you ofAugust 2011. That’s when the

elec tronic media and other sources were sharingtheir incredulity that a hurricane could be head ingtoward New York City so soon after an earthquake.They were warning of devastation. We were in theMid west, wondering whether we should be drivinghome to Manhattan at about the time Irene wasexpected. And when we arrived, would we findfloods, or shattered windows in our high-ish-risedigs? Our thoughts turned quickly to others. Howwere classmates along the predicted path makingout? So we sent out a few e-mails and here’s whatwe learned.

Hurricanes often make their first statesidelandfalls in Florida. Bob Dailey (Osprey) punchedin with, “Not much down here.” (That’s left coastanyway.) There were some non-responses fromGeorgia, but North Carolina seemed promising.The weather channel forecasts were forbiddingand turned out to be absolutely right about ex-pectations for the Outer Banks. But we didn’treach anyone there.

Bob, JD ’56, and Julie Neff reported thattheir Pinehurst pad was initially said to be on tar-get for that ill wind. But, says Bob, the Neffs “gotnary a drop of water and only about two bales ofpine straw on the lawn. Not bad. So, trooper thatI am, I went north to Princeton, where by theneveryone had a basement Olympic pool. It wasugly in central New Jersey, and if Irene didn’tsplash them enough, they got Lee in her wake.The Princeton Tennis Program’s lovely indoorcourts (my magnum opus before moving South)were flooded to a depth of four feet and had tobe totally stripped out. It was sad to see.” TheUS Open in Flushing Meadow was so swamped bytwo weeks’ rain, he maintains, that players werecalling for a covered court. “The good news,” headds, “was our friend Lisa Raymond’s triumph inWomen’s Doubles. It was her 23rd Open and herfirst US Open championship.”

When Hat, the cat, and moi arrived home af-ter putting the trip off a day, we found no floods,no nearby Manhattan trees down, the windowsundisturbed, and plenty in the local markets.

You might expect Nantucket to have taken ahit, but here’s the word from eyewitness DaveKopko: “The wind was a bit stronger and lasted acouple of hours longer than usual, but the only hur-ricanes we saw were on television.” Anne “Nikki”Schwartz Kirsch ’cane-proofed her house in her old

54 Convergence, convergent, con ver -ging, and converged—all formscan be applied to what has

occurred in my sphere of engagement. The Smith - sonian Conservation Biology Inst. and Cornell’sGraduate Field of Zoology and Wildlife Conser -vation have entered into partnership to study thegrowing needs in the preservation of threatenedand endangered species. It is rather like, only on amuch grander scale, two of your very best friendsfinding they have a great deal in common. Manywho read this column have followed the gesta -tion period of the National Zoo’s pandas and thene ces sity to study the reproduction of this ex -tremely charismatic but highly endangered bear.Now you might be able to learn more of this






















puzzling prob lem and many other global concernsfrom the collaborative efforts of Cornell and theSmith sonian scientists’ research. It is a new andex citing pro gram gathering together many pro -grams across campus.

Craig Bogley moved to Lawrence, KS, homeof the illustrious Jayhawks, several years ago andappreciates being a part of a university environ-ment where he can take courses with their Con-tinuing Education Inst., along with doing pro bonowork for their Transportation Inst. on an electricbus research project. To escape the very warmKansan summers, he has purchased a bolt-hole inVail, CO. Had he gone to Breckenridge, he wouldhave gained a couple of thousand feet and beeneven cooler. When last heard from, Sandra andNoah Fuhrman were looking to put down rootsin an active senior community in the Lake Wortharea. Meanwhile, Noah is “writing and editing abook with a slew of experts, entitled ‘For a Bet-ter America.’ ” David ’52, JD ’58, and Phyllis PerlStearns have as their bucket list item drivingacross the US and back again to Sarasota, FL. Doit, Phyl. Your sketchbook will be filled when youget home. Jim Symons is perhaps our most “trav-elingist” classmate. In retirement, Jim has pursuedhis three hobbies: golf, travel, and photography.He has not sent along his golf score cards, but hehas sent a list of the trips they have taken in thepast ten years, which total 27, and a catalog ofthe photos taken, which number in the thousands.A complete listing would take more space thanmy yearly allotment. Lee Seidman’s answer to theNews Form question, “What have you been doingrecently?” was, “Giving away money,” followed upby an explanation. Lee said that in 1992, at age60, he went to the Harvard Graduate School andlearned about “the Number.” After you achievethat financial goal, you can give away the rest ofyour net worth, which he is now doing. For hisbucket list he keeps a three-dimensional sign onhis desk that reads: “Do It Now.”

We received a note from Charles “Win” Skeelefor the first time. Win was a public school teacherfor 13 years and spent 20 years as a college ad-junct instructor, all while raising seven childrenand starting an insurance business with three ofthem. And with his left hand, for 43 years heraised acres of vegetables to sell at their lake road-side stand. Volunteer work was not neglected. At42, he took up long-distance running and startedTromptown Run. When not in motion, for the pastseveral years he has lent a patient ear at the Cri-sis Center of Syracuse. Jane Barber Smith is ad-justing to singlehood and very much involved withher county, having just completed a term as Demo -cratic chair and as executive director of a summerday camp that serves inner-city elementary- agedchildren. She has two grands nearby and enjoysnew opportunities as they present themselves.

Playing the clarinet in the Big Red Band hasbeen a part of Fred Heinzelman’s retirement, buthe did not say in what way. Ellen and Jack Wrighthave moved house from North Carolina to Mead -ville, PA, to be nearer their family. Jack will prob-ably start a new garden. Joan Schwartz Danziger,BFA ’54, spends her time in her art studio andtraveling away from D.C. Richard Schoeck is notretired, but still has time for his volunteer organi -zations, namely Masons for its charity and brother -hood; Wildlife Rehabilitation, which feeds his loveof nature and animals; and the German Club, forfamily heritage. He enjoys teaching his grands asense of values and productivity, and de-empha-sizing sports and other forms of entertainment.

For their 50th, Helen and Jason Pearl, JD’56, went round the world in a private jet. Theyfound Easter Island outstanding, but Jason didnot give any details. Jason is a reading mentorfor first and second graders for whom reading isdifficult. One of his greatest experiences with hisgrandchildren was a two-week trip to Israel withhis grandson, 13. In the last couple of yearsJames Martin has flown from Alamo, CA, to ex-perience China, Australia, and the Czech Repub-lic. Norman Lynn is working through ReServe(reserveinc.org) with the NYC Dept. of Health try-ing to save the city energy. Les PapenfusReed, [email protected]. Class website, http://classof54.alumni.cornell.edu.

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55 Andy Dadagian is “still oper -ating and loving doing it.” Whenhe’s not in the OR, he’s tend ing

to his antique car collection. The Dadagians wentto China (“a fabulous expe ri ence”) and Italy andare booked for the Nether lands and Belgium nextyear. The best news: “I feel no different at age 80than I did at 60,” Andy says. Gerald Gordon wasnamed a 2010 Community Hero by the AmericanRed Cross. This honor was based on Gerald’sYou Tube entry, “Between the Lines,” a seminarinterviewing young people, and Gerald has been“over whelmed” by the letters and e-mails. “Itmakes me extremely happy to hear how muchgood this has generated.”

Margot Oppenheim Robinson and husbandJack ’54 are still working: in real estate and law,respectively. “We spend eight months each yearin Sarasota and Longboat Key, FL, loving theweather, the gorgeous scenery, and the out-standing cultural events of Sarasota’s own sym-phony, ballet, opera, and theatre companies.”Danny Krouner also holds a season ticket to theSarasota Performing Arts Center, and has been aBoston Celtics fan for 40 years. Danny says he hasaccess to original handwritten documents (1865)signed by Ezra Cornell, in which he asks the NewYork Legislature for land in Ithaca to build a uni-versity. “By the way, doesn’t Cornell have themoney to buy these papers from those in pos-session who are not Cornellians?” Good question.Bernie Rodee wrote that they had a great timeon their seventh AHI Cornell Alumni trip to Israellast January, a joint trip between Cornell andWilliam & Mary alumni. “The Egyptian rallies be-gan while we were there, leaving the people ofIsrael extremely nervous (their words).”

Mark Siegel has moved to Dataw Island, SC,“with two German shepherds, two cats, and onewife!” He keeps in touch with Tad Cameron,Alden “Nick” Hathaway, and John Harreys. Markis VP of the local military officers association anda member of a barbershop choral group. DanPhelan, who lives in British Columbia, says he’d“rather be 35 again”—but other than that, “lifeis OK!” Dave and Joann Schmidt took a secondhoneymoon trip to Jamaica, and found that a lothad changed in 50 years. “Driving on the leftwas a bit nerve-racking, as most of the localsdon’t follow the rules of the road. They have twospeeds: fast or faster.” Dave was gratified to notethat his Rotary Club has collected more than$100,000 worth of used hospital equipment toship to the Caribbean. The week after hurricaneIrene came through, the Schmidts traveled toWilliston, VT, to see Charlie and Mary Ann PeckWolf. After a family trip to Disney World, they’llbe off to Florida to escape the ice and snow.

Peter Hoss has published Born in Yosemite,detailing 75 years of personalized history ofYosemite. The book also includes photos from theAnsel Adams Family Collection, the Tom FrostClimbing Collection, and the Yosemite ResearchLibrary. Rex Boda and wife Jean celebrated theirson’s graduation from Johns Hopkins U. with aPhD in international studies. Rex describes him-self as “very content with my present activities,”including travel and teaching in several settingsand serving various alma maters. We are sorry tolearn that Barbara O’Connor Kenny’s husband,Walt, is suffering from Alzheimer’s. Barbara is hismain caregiver, with some relief from a healthcare aide. She cherishes memories of our last re-union, when she won Low Net in the Alumni GolfTournament. But, Barb adds, “I wish I had takenthe little notice posted at our class headquarters,as there are some Doubting Thomases!”

Don Maclay has been on the move. “We tooktwo trips last year: in March we went to Tarangireand Serengeti in Tanzania for a couple of weeks,and added a week to climb up to the hills of Rwan-da and walk around with the silver-backed goril-las.” Last November the Maclays went to Indonesiaand boarded a cruise vessel unlike the most pop-ular types—it was less than 100 feet long and hadjust seven two-person cabins. “We cruised due eastamong the Spice Islands, winding up in the KaiIsland group, about 100 miles west of Papua NewGuinea. The snorkeling was great, and the mostlyuninhabited islands were beautiful and pristine. Ikept a camera with me at all times—I figured withluck I could get a picture of the bottom of theworld, looking back over my shoulder as we ca-reened off the end of the earth!”

Lynn Cohen has a great suggestion: “I’mwriting to recommend taking advantage of theCAU program on campus during the summer. Wetried the intergenerational option—it was greatfun and very rewarding, both to us and to ourgranddaughter, 6.” I remember taking my threedaughters to Cornell Alumni University (as it wasthen known) many years ago, when they were 9,13, and 15—and how proud they were that bythe end of the week, they could find their wayall over campus! Ron and Joyce Kemins Gane-les ’56 have their own Cornell connections: “Twosons, one daughter-in-law, a sister, a niece, andtwo grandchildren, totaling nine Cornellians. GoBig Red!” Nancy Savage Petrie, [email protected]. Class website, http://classof55.alumni.cornell.edu.

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56 Mini-reunions abound: This time,Bob Seidenberg, Don Reiner,Keith Quinton, MD ’60, and Fred

Stafford got together for dinner in NYC. FosterKinney, now retired in Redwood City, CA, remindedus that he lost his wedding ring temporarily at thePlantations dinner at our 50th, recently witnesseda wedding proposal on the Suspension Bridge(which was accepted and the bridge did not col -lapse), and at our 55th, he climbed all 139 stepsup Libe Tower to watch the musicians play thechimes. Ronnie Hartman, a working ophthal mol -ogist, is also a clinical professor at UC Irvine andtravels extensively with his wife, Sylvia. BarbaraRapoport (New York City) sent a glowing reportfrom her annual visit to Paris, this one about afabulous dinner at the US Embassy with our Am -bassador and his wife. Betsy Jennings Rutledge(Wilmette, IL) is busy as usual with fam ily andvolunteering. Harvey Hammer (Morris town, NJ) is


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primary at traction. They included stops in Cali-fornia and Hawaii.

David Perlman, ME ’61, e-mailed his comingsand goings over the last several years, both di-rections happening numerous times at EastmanKodak, founding two companies with good andnot so good results. He spent 19 years on the fac-ulty of Rochester Inst. of Technology, where he iscurrently an emeritus professor. He is a founderof two arts associations in Rochester and servedon the board of that city’s Philharmonic Orches-tra. To upset some of their Florida friends, David

and Marjorie bought some land and built a housein Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

Judy reported on the Sagamore pre-55th Re-union get-together, but an additional note is thatEllen Schlossberg slipped on some stairs, woundup with a broken hip, and, accompanied by hus-band Irwin Schlossberg, got a pleasant ambu-lance ride to NYC.

First-year hallmate Gil Riley writes that heand Betsy celebrated their 50th anniversary inPalm Springs, along with AXP brothers Stu Mack-ay and John Bailey ’58, who performed as ushers50 years ago. Gil has taken up photography in abig way, going all over the country with camera inhand. Dominick and Debra Pasquale and Dick andConnie Tevebaugh hosted a Connecticut mini-DUreunion last fall. In attendance were Cy and Miri-am Benson, David Loysen, Tony, MBA ’58, andGail Lautzenheiser Cashen, Rod and Liz Beck-with, Pete and Ann Blauvelt, Tom Keating andBetty Ziegler, and Harriett and your correspondent.Stories (some with a trace of truth) and other com-modities flowed, and we went to the Yale-Cornellfootball game in the aging (nicest word I can thinkof) Yale Bowl. John Seiler, [email protected]. c

still working full-time as a psychiatrist, and JohnHarney is still making his fabulous teas in Con -necticut. DonWoolfenden (Monmouth Beach, NJ)has retired from the Northern Territory of Aus traliagovernment as Mining Titles Manager, Dept. ofMines and Energy, Darwin. Don and his wife, Doris,are serious bird-watchers, and have done this inmore than 60 countries. Don lived in Aus traliafrom 1964 to 1988.

Stan Whitten (Madison, WI) has been de-signing crossword puzzles in his spare time thathave appeared in the Washington Post and theChicago Tribune. Stan was the business managerat the Widow. Robert Alessi (Rome, NJ) is a re-tired allergist/otolaryngologist. James Yates(Lemoyne, PA) practices plastic and cosmetic sur-gery, and for the past six years was voted bestplastic surgeon in Harrisburg by Harrisburg Maga-zine. John Cornell (Brambleton, VA) and his wifecelebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on theQueen Mary II. “A happy milestone,” adds John.Janice Tiger Van Etten (Altamont, NY) writes thatshe’s a housewife and mom, and wisely says, “Forthis job, there is no retirement.”

Pete Thaler (Los Angeles, CA) is loving re-tirement. Paul Shane (Philadelphia, PA) is a pro-fessor at Rutgers U. in Newark, NJ, and serves onmany philanthropic boards. Chuck Woolf (Williams-burg, VA) retired as marketing director of the L.A.Convention Center. Larry Brown (Highwood, IL)retired from Northern Trust Co. in Chicago, and hisgoal is to enjoy many more years of retirement. Weheard from Carl Fabian of Miami, FL, who was sor-ry to have missed our 55th. Carl sadly reported thesudden passing of our classmate Steven Shearing,the “father of cataract surgery.” I want to sharethis loving tribute to Steve from Carl: “Steve andI first met in our sophomore year in Brooklyn TechHigh School in 1948 and soon became closefriends. We eventually enrolled in Cornell togeth-er and were roommates in our freshman year. Stevestarted from the humblest of backgrounds, grow-ing up in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Hechose the field of ophthalmology and subsequent-ly invented the lens that would revolutionizecataract surgery.” Many millions in the world, in-cluding many of us, have had their clear vision re-stored by the simple operation he devised.

Another passing: Lorna Trencher Zimmer-man-Dane, originally from Great Neck, NY, thenSpringfield, MA, and since 1958, Washington, DC.Lorna was the owner of Portfolio Travel. She issurvived by her 13 grandchildren, her childrenDavid, Lisa, and Kenneth, and her husband,Richard Dane. From her good friend Barbara Bar-ron Starr, “My husband, Bob, and I felt fortunateto count Lorna and Dick among our friends andcherish the memories of time spent with them.Lorna was kind, caring, and energetic, with myr-iad interests and an amazing competence that en-abled her to do ‘everything.’ ” I will add my ownsympathy to Lorna’s family. She will be missed.

Phyllis Bosworth, [email protected]

57 Whether you use a BlackBerry, aniPad, or just a plain old paper cal -endar, here are some important

dates to note for 2012. Naturally, our 55th Reunionis the biggie, June 7–10, but prior to that a gath -ering takes place on February 3 in Boca Raton, FL,for any snowbirds and/or full-time residents downsouth. If you don’t receive an e-mail from the com -mittee you can get details from me at the addressbelow. On January 28 our annual class dinner, held

during CALC, will be at the home of Betty StarrKing, 4511 Garrison St. NW, Wash ington, DC, start -ing at 6 p.m. For reservations or more info contactBetty at bettyking3@verizon. net; phone (202)362-6035. All ’57ers in the D.C. area are invited.

The fall event at the Sagamore Hotel on LakeGeorge had a good turnout with Dori GoudsmitAlbert, Connie Santagato Hosterman, Vanne Shel-ley Cowie, Sue DeRosay Henninger, Gail Lautzen-heiser Cashen, Patty Farrell Marinelli, Jan NelsonCole, Marj Nelson Smart, Chris Zeller Lippman,Betty Starr King, and Judy Richter Levy, LLB ’59,

among the participants. Martie Ballard Lacy andhusband Dick were sorry to miss the get-together,but have plenty of Cornell activities in the centralNew York area to keep them in touch with fellowCornellians. Martie writes, “Reunions, Alumni Newscolumns, visits, and e-mail have kept us close toso many friends that our neighbors are in awe ofthose relationships.” The Lacys took an extendedtrip in the fall to the Outer Banks, NC, for an El-derhostel experience and to Charleston for Dick’sUSS Rankin reunion.

Carol Johnson Saylor has filled her retire-ment years with travel, volunteer work at a localhistory museum, and summer days in the Adiron-dacks. With a large part of the family still in theRochester area, Bud, MBA ’61, and Carol plan tostay in their Webster, NY, home. After 30 yearsat Mount Sinai Hospital in NYC as a professor ofpediatrics, Fredda Ginsberg Fellner is now re-tired; she and Michael ’56 enjoy their childrenMelinda Fellner Bramwit ’89 and Jonathan andfive grandchildren.

Perhaps many of us at this age can relate tothe answer Sue Sutton Moyer gave to the firstquestion on the news form. As to what she’s beendoing lately she has her church and volunteer ac-tivities along with attending yoga and arthritisaquatics classes at the Y with Bill ’55. But as forchallenges: “Keeping knees, back, and shouldersmoving without pain; remembering where I putthings; keeping connected with family andfriends; and recovering from falls—fracturedpelvis last winter. What a bummer!” Let’s hopewe all stay healthy in 2012. Happy New Year! Judith Reusswig, 19 Seburn Dr., Bluffton, SC29909; e-mail, [email protected].

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‘Gerald Gordon was named a 2010Community Hero by the AmericanRed Cross.’ Nancy Savage Petrie ’55

Fred Abeles seems to be en joying the goodlife—traveling, biking, spending some snow timein Florida, and enjoying a wide range of music.Michael Makar writes from Poughkeepsie that helikes the leaf-raking season, volunteers in theVas sar Brothers Hospital gift shop, and is mighti -ly impressed by the walkway over the Hudson,call ing it “visionary.” Marv Silverman, when notgolfing, enjoys travel on land or sea. He is adirec tor of the Carmel public library fund andprovides legal services for seniors (that’s us). Edand Ade laide Russell Vant completed a trip toAustralia, where the Sydney Opera House was a

58 I’m writing this column in Octo-ber, so some of this info may beold news to you, but thanks to

Irene Lazarus Soskin we now have a class blog.As of this date, there are still a few kinks to workout, but all should be fine by the time you readthis. Our class council met last January in Wash-ington, DC, and reported on some interesting sta-tistics: 403 classmates have paid dues for theyear; about $50,000 is in the class treasury; ourclass income is up, but our investments are downsomewhat. Our mailing expenses are down byabout $1,000. Our website is up and our classpresident, Bill Standen, is the person in charge.

Sadly, Anita Podell Miller submitted her res-ignation as reunion co-chair with Meyer Gross andRenni Bertenthal Shuter. Anita lost her husbandin an accident shortly after our 50th. Withoutgoing into a lot of detail, she is now practicinglaw full-time in the Albuquerque city attorney’soffice and did not feel it would be possible toput in enough planning time for our 55th Re-union. The planning is beginning for our 55th,







though I do religiously answer the oc casionaldistress e-mail, since most of my clients were orbecame good friends and family to me.”

Oskar Rogg ’82 writes that his mother, AnneWynne Barringer Rogg, remembers one of herprofessors asking in a rather condescending tone,“So, Miss Barringer, what is it precisely that youplan to do with your life?” Well, in addition toraising five children, running a manufacturing busi-ness and a cattle farm, and completing a 25-yearstint on her local board of education, the formerEnglish major has written a book, Boreas the Bear:The Unusual Adventures of a Rather Unusual Bear.Boreas, who lives in Manhattan and accompanieshis adopted family around town disguised as a

very large dog, is a charming character, whose es-capades in the city and on road trips to Connecti-cut provide just enough adventure for children andthe adults who read to them. The book is avail-able on Amazon.com and (sometimes) through lo-cal bookstores. After ten years in Wytheville, VA,Wynne has moved back to her native New Milford,CT. Her grandson Bailey Rogg ’13 is the sixth gen-eration of her family to attend Cornell.

Must-see video: Phil ’62, MArch ’65, and Mad-dy Gell Handler ’65 have produced a lovely doc-umentary in honor of Ratan Tata, BArch ’62,chairman of Tata Sons Ltd., India’s premier con-glomerate. “Ratan Tata ’59: The Cornell Story” tellsthe story of his years on the Hill using vintage pho-tos along with interviews of 22 other Cornell ians,mostly fraternity brothers and Architecture class-mates. There is also a section with interviews offellow Cornell trustees and President David Skortonthat explores the tremendous influence that hehas on present-day Cornell. The film has run onCornellCast, Cornell’s video channel, and is post-ed on YouTube. The Handlers are the owners ofFly on the Wall Productions in West Hartford, CT;the firm offers video documentation services andhas done a number of projects for the university.At present they are working on a 50th Reuniondocumentary for the Class of ’62; it is “part of ourgiving back to Cornell,” says Maddy.

Extracurricular activities: Golf, bridge, andreading for Robert Dann of Amherst, MA. Doublestennis four or five times a week for Jim Cham-berlain of Venice, FL. Birding and bar-hopping forJohn Brubaker of Watkins Glen, NY. The DirtDaubers Garden Club and Milk River chapter ofDAR for Sally Watrous Schumacher of Malta, MT.“Walking three to four miles daily with my New-foundlands” for Carol Vieth Mead of Palos VerdesEstates, CA. Watching U. of Connecticut basket-ball for Kim Mitchell of Southbury, CT. Opera,concerts, and classes in philosophy for RochelleLeffert Spergel of NYC. Ed Grossmann, withhomes in Westport, CT, and NYC, has been “tak-ing advantage of all the city’s culture.”

Tamar Schneider Levin (Voorhees, NJ) is adocent at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Artsin Philadelphia. Dale Rogers Marshall (Piedmont,CA) is in her second year of public service as theforeperson of the Alameda County civil grand jury.

60 Congratulations to Dixie Pal -mer Peaslee, who had severalof her paintings included in a

large exhibition in New York City entitled “TheValue of Water,” which opened in late September.Her handsome seascapes were joined by worksfrom several other luminaries in a variety of mediaand hung in an unusual venue—the large Cathe -dral of St. John the Divine on the Upper WestSide. Dixie and husband Dick flew in from Seattlefor the opening reception. Among the Cornellianswho came from around the Northeast to seeDixie’s work and spend the evening with her wereGretchen Zahm Babarovic, BArch ’60, Dan ’58 andBarbara Cyrus Martin, Dick ’58 and Nancy HoeftEales, and your correspondent. Word has it thatDixie will have a one-person show in Seattle in thespring; for those who would like to see her workonline, her website is www.dixiepeaslee.com.

It was good to hear about the traveling Eale-ses: Dick and Nancy spent the summer on a seriesof trips, visiting Iceland, Norway, and NorwegianSvalbard to see polar bears (“while there are stillsome to see,” says Nancy), Seattle, and, in Au-gust, Colorado for a family reunion and dude ranchsojourn. Nancy and Dick are enthusiastic birders,so they had trips scheduled for Cuba and Ghanain subsequent months. “Our avian adventures havecertainly been the platform for us to see lots ofthe world,” she says, having taken them to almost50 countries. “We’ve seen some pretty gritty placesin all our travels, making us doubly appreciatethis country.” When at home in Philadelphia, Nan-cy is a busy, longtime board member on PlannedParenthood of Southern Pennsylvania, while Dickis involved with the Nature Conservancy and onthe board of the American Bird Conservancy. Theykeep in touch with Douglas, MBA ’62, and LizDunning Rowan ’63, who live in Seattle andspend some of their summers in Maine; Nancy re-ports, “Doug is still working in computers and Lizis an involved grandmother.”

I also had the great pleasure of catching upwith Anne Rothenthaler Vendramin in Veniceduring an October trip to northern Italy. Since thelate 1960s, Anne has been living with her hus-band Giancarlo in Venice, where they had a retailoperation for many years and raised sons Andrea,who now lives in Cambridge, MA, with his wife andworks as an architect in Boston, and Gianmarco,an executive with an electronics firm outsideVenice. Anne works as a translator and teacher atthe architecture school of the U. of Venice. Dur-ing the past year, the Vendramins’ travels tookthem to the Galápagos, Easter Island, Polynesia,the Cook Islands, Pitcairn Island (of Mutiny on

so if you have any new ideas or concerns, pleaselet them be heard. The reunion, of course, is in2013, June 6–9.

Chuck Jarvie, MBA ’59, and I had a wonder-ful time in July at the 50th anniversary gala forJack, MBA ’61, and Diane Baillet Meakem ’61.Wow! How time flies! There were several othercouples attending who had shared 50 years to-gether: Glenn and Maddi McAdams Dallas, Paul’57 and Lee Anderson Tregurtha ’59, Bruce andAnne Marshall, and, of course, Chuck and I. TheMcCarthy twins were also there; they hail origi-nally from my hometown of Manhasset, NY. We allhad a wonderful time, thinking we were back inthe good ol’ days! On this same trip, we also had

lunch in NYC at Balthazars with Bonnie CaseyBuckley and her husband and Dave, MBA ’59, andArdith Anderson Williams ’59. Another fun time!

Herb Meltzer is still on the full-time facultyat Vanderbilt, engaged in basic and clinical re-search in schizophrenia. He received the 2011Lifetime Achievement Award for Research fromthe Winter Workshop on Psychotic Disorders. Eu-gene Ceglowski, DVM ’67, continues to practicelarge animal veterinary medicine and raises regis-tered Guernsey cattle. Last September he went tothe CAU program in and around Mount St. Helens,the Columbia River Gorges, and the OlympicPeninsula. He resides in Rupert, VT, where he ison the school board and is a 40-year member ofthe Salem, NY, Rotary Club.

Maddy Gell Handler ’65 and Phil ’62, MArch’65, created a documentary in honor of pastelartist Elsie Dinsmore Popkin’s 45th Reunion andher concurrent show at the Johnson. This docu-mentary was shown in an earlier form at the2003 Reunion and updated in 2008 for whatwould have been Elsie’s 50th. It is running nowon CornellCast, Cornell’s video channel, and onYouTube, where it was posted along with otherCornell-related productions by the university. OnCornellCast it is called: “Portrait of a CornellArtist: Elsie Dinsmore Popkin, BFA ’58,” and it isan entertaining narrative by the artist of her lifewhile an art student at Cornell in the mid-1950s.

Jan Arps Jarvie, janjarvie@ gmail. com; DickHaggard, [email protected]

59 Carol Lipis retired last May fromher position as executive direc torof investments at Op pen heimer

“to the world of low finances (retirement).” Shenotes, “In my part of the industry there are nogold watches, golden handcuffs, or anything ma -terial beyond a cake, hors d’oeuvres, and my ownIRA and 401(k). I am happy to be out of anindustry [one she was in for 40 years] I no longereither understand or trust. The boys with heavythumbs seem to have changed investing into onebig computerized, non-diversifiedwheel of for tune(or more often, misfortune). I left my clients andmy own accounts in the hands of an able andhonest man and I no longer consult or take clients,

‘The Italians have an expression, “Il dolce di far niente.”’ Dick DeTeresa ’61

“We are a watchdog group of 19 volunteers whoinvestigate governmental agencies in the countyand make recommendations to improve govern-ment’s performance. It’s a very interesting busman’sholiday for a retired political science professor.” Af-ter 18 months of writing, Hans Krauss (Spokane,WA) has completed his memoir, “Immigrants’Son”—a 376-page volume covering the years 1930to 2010. Now he is digitizing his slides in order toprint boxed sets for family and friends. Ed Tavlinand wife Beth (Streisfeld) ’62 celebrated their50th wedding anniversary on the maiden voyageof the Seabourne Quest. The three-week cruise,from Barcelona to Istanbul, was fabulous, writesEd, “with endless caviar.” Jenny Tesar, 97AChestnut Hill Village, Bethel, CT 06801; tel., (203)792-8237; e-mail, [email protected].

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the Bounty fame), and New Zealand. They alsomake an annual Boston trip each year to see theirson and visit with classmates living in the area,including Johanna “Toddy” Dwyer and LeonardJohnson. Anne reports that they have also seenTina Van Lent Radler, Carol Treman des Cognets,and Fran Pennisi Giruzzi. “We are always delight-ed to have visitors from Cornell,” says Anne, whocan be reached at [email protected].

Sue Phelps Day, MEd ’62, has apparently madean excellent recovery from her bout with cancer—during this past summer, she managed to make atrip to Alaska by land and by cruise ship, as wellas a visit to Vancouver, BC, and a three-week va-cation in Cape May, NJ. I was very sorry to hearfrom Sue that in August Gale Jackson was hospi-talized with a serious infection that required sur-gical intervention, but she had recovered and beendischarged to her home by the end of that month.Back in May, Gale reported that she had been di-agnosed with hydrocephalus during the winter; itwas treated by corrective surgery and six weeks ofphysical therapy. Says Gale, “It took four years andmany doctors to put everything together to arriveat a diagnosis, but it’s turning out just fine any-way. It takes a lot to defeat me!”Warm, good wish-es from all of us for your continued recovery, Gale.

Dick Thatcher, MBA ’62, writes, “I’m manag-ing director of Fairmount Partners, an investmentbanking firm I co-founded eight years ago. It’sbased in suburban Philadelphia and we specializein the technology and life sciences/healthcare sec-tors, providing merger/acquisition, capital raising,and strategic advisory services to middle marketcompanies in North America, Europe, and Asia. Thisis my third entrepreneurial ‘gig’ (and likely mylast). Regards to you and the rest of the class.”Still active as a faculty member at the U. of Cen-tral Florida is our former reunion hospitality chair-man Bill Fisher, PhD ’68. He occupies the DardenEminent Scholar Chair and teaches three coursesrelated to his expertise in hotel and restaurantmanagement. “I plan on doing that for another tenyears,” says Bill, who reports that he and Yvonnego to their condominium in Champaign, IL, everysummer to spend time with two of their three chil-dren and their families, who live in the area.

Janice Petro Billings sent an update on herfamily doings. Her 13 grandchildren have now beenjoined by three great-grandchildren, so, she says,“‘Intimate’ family gatherings are full of fun andenergy with little ones again.” Jan and husbandRoss have lived in Corona Del Mar since 1993,where she is executive director of the Associationof California School Administrators for OrangeCounty, working with principals and superintend-ents. “These young administrators are so full ofenthusiasm,” she says, “I love working with them.I’m also volunteering in my grandson’s fourthgrade and that is a kick!” Keep the news coming!

Judy Bryant Wittenberg, [email protected]

Now we immediately move forward to our 55thReunion in 2016. Class president Peter Greenbergand wife Elke and Gerrit and Elizabeth White vis-ited David Kessler in the northern Catskills duringfall foliage season to enjoy the scenery and beginplanning our next event. Peter is working on plansfor Cornell ’61 mini-reunions beginning next year.David relates, “We had a wonderful barbecue at myplace, toured the area (including towns that weredevastated by Hurricane Irene), hiked up to sce-nic viewpoints overlooking the Hudson Valley, vis-ited the Thomas Cole Museum (the originator ofthe Hudson River School of Painting), and enjoyedcountry dining in Hudson, NY, and in Greene Coun-ty, NY. I’m certain we all remember how spectac-ular the fall can be in Upstate New York.”

Recently I heard from Bobbie Horowitz,along with other author classmates. “What a fabtime!” writes Bobbie. “I’m thrilled to guest staron the Colin Lively Radio Show, ‘Here Women Talk’and will mention my book: Find Your Mini-Qs (?):Reveal the Slim, Strong, Sexy Star You Truly Are!at Age 50, 60, 70, and Beyond. I know this willbe FUN, and fun helps keep us vital.” I listenedto the interview and Bobbie did a great job, in-cluding her reflections on growing up in Benson-hurst, Long Island, “where everyone was eitherJewish or Italian.” Ron Barnes also hit the pub-lishers list with his new book. “Looking back atthe challenging era that was our youth, with adash of Cornell nostalgia to commemorate 50years, Living on the Edge, by Rondo Barnes, isnow available at Amazon.com and, soon, KindleeBooks.” Another recent publication, Out of Time:One Couple’s Journey Through Cancer, written byNancy Greyson Beckerman ’64 is available atwww.OutofTimebyBeckerman.com. Nancy, widowof our classmate Barry, writes, “I wanted to letyou know about a new book just out, a memoirof my husband’s and my battle with his cancer.Actually, Cornell does figure quite prominently inthe book. We visited Ithaca frequently, and ourlast trip together was to Cornell.”

I received a lengthy note from Dick DeTeresa,a teammate on our fifth-year Mechanical Engi-neering project. “Hope everything is going wellfor you. I am retired after a 40-year stint in mylaminating business, where we catered to thehome furnishing trade. I am happily married witheight grandchildren, and enjoying retirement.Italians have an expression, ‘Il dolce di far niente,’which means ‘The sweetness of doing nothing.’Not exactly a goal for young engineering stu-dents, but after years of pressure business, it isa great advantage to really enjoy the moment andnot be continually thinking ahead of what mustbe done next. On a sad front, I want to let youknow that my best friend at Cornell, our fellowME student and scholar Bob Carlson has died af-ter a losing bout with leukemia. Bob was the sec-ond highest achiever in our class, and had a longcareer as a professor at Stanford, where he wasimparting his knowledge from his Cornell days. Hewas a truly great man who died way before histime. Nice to see you are still active at Cornell.Thanks for the memories. Regards, Dick.”

And a note from Hal Binyon: “After our 50thReunion in June I managed to check another itemoff my ‘bucket list.’ Since we were reasonablyclose, we visited Cooperstown and the BaseballHall of Fame, followed by dinner at the CulinaryInst. in Hyde Park. Later in the summer we hada most enjoyable Danube River cruise, precededby a few nights in Budapest and followed by sev-eral nights in Prague.”

61 A few final kudos before setting our50th Reunion to rest. First, a men -tion to Jay Treadwell for managing

the catering for the weekend and being respon -sible for the food at our events. In addition, hearranged for the Sherwoods to entertain us andbring back memories of earlier days. And also,the “Anniversary Party” congratulating all of ourclass mates and their Cornell spouses was con -ceived and hosted by Marshall and RosannaRomanelli Frank, who also arranged for the com -memorative cake.

62 Happy New Year! By now youknow that our 50th Reunion isscheduled for June 7–10. We

hope that this year most everyone will come in onThursday, June 7, in time to experience the 4:30p.m. kickoff video prepared by Phil, MArch ’65,and Maddy Gell Handler ’65, featuring inter -views with classmates about our time on the Hill.This will be followed by a panel discussion withinterviewees and the kickoff class dinner. The nextday our class symposium will be led by JaneBrody, joined by professors Brian Wansink andKarl Pillemer. There’s a special tour in the works.The Back Talk Band will return Friday, andCayuga’s Waiters will join us at the class picnic.What a way to make the Class of ’62 50th Reunionone for the record books! For breaking news,check the class website at http://www.CornellClass of 62. org. And to get into the spirit, watchthe CornellCast video of AAP classmates done atthe time of our 40th Reunion (http://www. cornell.edu/ video/ index.cfm?VideoID=1715).

From Cathy VanBuren Bomberger: “Pete ’61and I just spent a wonderful day at the ChicagoBotanical Gardens with Peter ’63 and LynneSchroeder Murray, MEd ’63. September ‘summer’weather is the best time to enjoy being outdoorswith friends. We look forward to reunion. Ithacathis past June was just about perfect for the Classof ’61 Reunion. This will be our second winter tospend in Marco Island, FL. Are there other Cornell -ians there?” Nine Kappas held a preview reunionat the Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, NY,while visiting the home of Margie McKee Blan-chard, MA ’65 (margieblanchard@ mac. com) nearSkaneateles. Char Jones Collister ([email protected]) sent the photo—you’ll justhave to be in Ithaca in June to see those smilingfaces in person! Eileen Marshall Tanis (erm707@ameritech. net) reports that she is fully recoveredfrom open-heart surgery a year and a half ago. Af-ter reconnecting with Naval Academy grad RobertTanis at their 50th high school reunion, they wedlast March and live in West Chester, OH.

Evelyn Eskin ([email protected]) isfeeling bittersweet about the end of the MagicYears, as the youngest Eskin-Major grandchildrenhave just entered kindergarten. Twins Marly andSebina hit the jackpot, securing two places inthe Spanish immersion charter school within the

My neighbor at The Landings in Savannah,John Sobke, hosted the 2011 Phi Gamma DeltaGolf Junket. A total of eight classmates gatheredfor this outing, which has been held for more thana few years at varied locations, including Scotlandlast year. I joined them for dinner at one of ourclubs and had a fine evening with this group ofclose friends. In addition to John, Robin Bissell,Ken Blanchard, PhD ’67, Phil Hodges, Jack Neaf-sey, MBA ’63, Dick Tatlow, Warren Spicka, andPete Meinig were on hand. Pete, as we all know,recently stepped down as chairman of Cornell’sBoard of Trustees. He has served as a trustee for20 years. He and his wife, Nancy (Schlegel) ’62,have supported Cornell through the generous giv-ing of both their time and contributions that setsa standard for all alumni. We, as a class, want tothank Pete and Nancy for their outstandingachievements in support of the university.

As always, we need your continued supportand input to make the column a success. Send usan e-mail. Doug Fuss, dougout@attglobal. net;Susan Williams Stevens, [email protected].

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has started her senior year in high school. Thispast year, Ed and Carol traveled through the Mid-west touring various spots in Kentucky, Indiana,Illinois, and Iowa. A note from Ron Demer ’59,BME ’60, said that Jay Light, dean of the HarvardBusiness School from 2005 to 2010, was honoredat the Baker Library/ Bloomberg Center at the Har-vard Business School on Oct. 11, 2011. A portraitof Jay was unveiled. The occasion provided a mo-ment to celebrate Jay’s tenure and to thank himfor his wide-ranging contributions to the school—as dean, in his multiple administrative roles, andas a faculty member, colleague, mentor, andfriend to so many.

Maddy Gell Handler ’65 and husband Phil’62, MArch ’65, have been producing documen-taries for Fly on the Wall Productions since 2000.A YouTube video link—search for: Reunion 2003Cornell AAP ’63 Profiles—includes several of ourclassmates in the College of Architecture, Art andPlanning. Those featured are Tom Beeby, BArch’64, Donna Forsman, BFA ’64, Alan Chimacoff,BArch ’64, Madeleine Leston Meehan, BFA ’63,Bob Fox, BArch ’65, Marjorie Walker Sayer, BFA’63, and Peter Parsons, BArch ’64. It was a lot offun to watch. For those who have any further in-terest, the Handlers are in the process of finish-ing up a production for Phil’s 50th Reunionfeaturing nine members of the Class of ’62. It willbe part of the reunion program starting Thursday,June 7, 2012 at 4:30 p.m. in Call Auditorium.

As I have said before, Madeleine Leston Mee-han is one of my loyal correspondents. She had a2011 exhibition at the Ice Gallery, St. Thomas,USVI, and participated in “MostlyMusicArt” at Spo-leto USA in Charleston, SC. Her aunt Thea Verzilloin Florence, Italy, has turned 103. Madeleine tooka Caribbean cruise to get away from the de-manding, hectic pace of her charmed life living intwo of her favorite places—East Hampton, NY, andSt. Thomas. Half the year she still starts the dayswimming in Magens Bay, one of the most beau-tiful beaches in the world; she gets classical cul-ture in the Barn in East Hampton the other half.Joan Travers Barist (j.bar.primart@ mindspring.com) is a regular contributor as well. She and Jef-frey live in Washington Depot, CT. Joan still runsa gallery, Joan Barist Primitive Art, which is de-voted to African, Pre-Columbian, and Oceanicsculpture and textiles. Joan and Jeffrey had awonderful trip to Patagonia and Atacama, Chile,and then went to London, where Jeffrey headedup an international arbitration. Their children areJessica Barist Cohen ’92 and Alexis BaristBerman, MBA ’02/MILR ’03.

Gene Beckwith ([email protected]) and hiswife, Marilyn Anne, live in Clinton, OH. Son Gregand daughter-in-law Amy have four daughters andone grandson. Daughter Gretchen is a profession-al in interior design. Gene is retired from the lawdepartment at Bridgestone/Firestone Forensics. Hishobbies include amateur radio, electric bass, gar-den railroading, fine art (pictorial) photography,and raised bed gardening. He has also finished hisfirst novel, “The Jackie Tone Chronicles.” Sad newscame from Jacqueline Smith, wife of David Smith,that he suffered a massive heart attack and passedaway on April 6, 2011 in Tourves, France, wherethey lived. Yunus Aslan ([email protected]) is retired in Cesme/Izmir, Turkey. He some-times lectures at the hotel schools and the uni-versity in Izmir. He talks about Cornell and hisexperience in business. Yunus visits his daughter,Giler, son-in-law Kareem, two grandsons, and agranddaughter in London every summer.

Philadelphia school district. “Best of all, it’s with-in walking distance of Gramma and Grampa’shouse! Hola, amigas!” Mike Eisgrau (mikepr40@gmail. com), our class newsletter editor, keeps busyboth north and south. He splits his time betweenhomes and offices in Manhattan and the Sarasota,FL, area. Mike is retired after 49 years in thebroadcast news and public relations field, but han-dles PR clients out of Manhattan and in Florida.He also is director of business development in theNew York region for a Sarasota ad agency. Mike isVP of special events for the very active CornellClub of Sarasota, handling everything from polomatches to champagne brunches to nights at thetheatre to charity projects and even an annualbeach party. This month, Mike will produce the lat-est issue of the Class of ’62 newsletter: “’62—50thin View.” He’s been writing the newsletter for morethan 20 years.

From their home in Marietta GA, George, MS’64, and Janet Stern Cohen ’64 ([email protected]) travel to visit four children andthree grandchildren. George retired after 35 yearswith Scott Paper/Kimberly Clark and leads an ac-tive life hiking, biking, canoeing, swimming, andvolunteering with the National Park Service in theChattahoochee River NRA. Roberta Huberman([email protected]) is a child, ado-lescent, and adult psychiatrist in Corte Madera, CA.She and spouse Stuart Schwartz ’56 live in near-by Mill Valley. In Ithaca, John Neuman ([email protected]) is president and CEO of 1492 Con-sulting Group and a senior lecturer at Cornell’sJohnson School. John and Carolyn (Chauncey)’64 have five grandchildren and have been veryactive in Cornell and local volunteer service.

Travel to Vermont and Maine is on BobSchmitt, DVM ’69’s ([email protected]) list of favor -ites. When not skiing, paddling, fishing, sailing,and riding, he enjoys his veterinary practice in S.Deerfield, MA. Bob and Bette have three childrenand seven grandchildren. Also with seven grand-children are Frederick and Carol Perlmuter Luper’64 of Columbus, OH. He is chairman of his lawfirm, Luper Neidenthal & Logan. They attendedRenaissance Weekend in Charleston last NewYear’s: “Stimulating if somewhat depressing dis-cussion about political polarization.” And that waslast year! Fond memories include “serenading Car-ol outside of Dickson V with a song from The BoyFriend—it’s worked for 46 years so far!”

While in Ithaca in June, you’ll want to see thenew wing of the Johnson Museum of Art, designedby the museum’s original architect in charge, JohnL. Sullivan III, of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. Thefirst exhibition in the new wing was “Bursts ofLight and Rifts of Darkness: American Expression-ism from the Meinig Collection,” with paintingsand drawings by Willem de Kooning, Arshile Gorky,Adolph Gottlieb, Mark Rothko, and Clyfford Still.The works are from the private collection of Peter’61 and Nancy Schlegel Meinig. Jan McClay-ton Crites, [email protected].

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63 Our 50th Reunion is now only ayear and a half away. Put thedates on your calendar now:

June 6–9, 2013! Another request from your classcorrespondent is to PLEASE SEND NEWS. E-mail issuch an easy way to do it!

Ed Hoerning (Gastonia, NC; [email protected]) and wife Carol visited their grandchildrenLivy, Maria, Mathew, and Caroline in Bo gart, GA.Granddaughter Laura lives in Charlotte, NC, and





















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Russ Stevenson and Margie (Axtell) ’66(Severna Park, MD; [email protected]) wel-comed their first grandchild in 2010 by daughterAmanda ’99. Last June they chartered a sailboatin Croatia with Dick D’Amato ’64 and his wife,Dorothy. Russ chairs the Chesapeake Legal Al-liance, a nonprofit organization he founded twoyears ago to provide pro bono legal services toprotect and restore Chesapeake Bay. He alsoteaches as a visiting professor at Georgetown LawSchool. Please take time to send me an e-mailupdating all that is happening in your lives. Nancy Bierds Icke, 12350 E. Roger Rd., Tucson,AZ 85749; e-mail, [email protected].

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hiking. Back at sea level, Ken was recently hon-ored as “best lawyer” (by what organization, hedoesn’t say) in five categories: construction, busi-ness, eminent domain, land use, and commerciallitigation. Ken was back at Cornell last June forhis law school class’s 40th Reunion. He and Pat-ty have two sons and four grandchildren. GeraldLazar hasn’t retired yet either, but writes that hehas cut his psychiatric practice back to four daysa week. Jerry also writes that he’s active in a men’sgroup, a book club, and a wine tasting group. Heand wife Elise still live in Salt Lake City. In 2010,he had a great time when he returned to StatenIsland for his 50th high school reunion.

Charles Zambito (Thorofare, NJ) still worksas a produce broker, buying and selling truck andcar lots of fresh fruits and vegetables in DelawareValley and the Northeast. Chuck was reappointedas a trustee of the board of the New Jersey Agri-culture Society, and was appointed to the boardof the New Jersey Farmers Against Hunger. Chuckand wife Barbara enjoy following the Phillies andspending time with their four grandchildren; theyrecently toured south Florida. Chuck adds, “Look-ing forward to 50th Reunion!” Lynn FriedhoffFeigenbaum, who you may remember matriculat-ed with us but didn’t graduate until just two yearsago, writes, “Though I’m now officially a memberof Cornell’s Class of 2009, my heart still belongsto ’64.” Lynn adds that she’s still getting a for-mal education, now halfway toward a master’sdegree in humanities at Old Dominion U. in Nor-folk, VA, adjacent to her home in Virginia Beach.Other than studying, Lynn says she’s watchingher grandchildren get close to college age. Last-ly, attorney Ed Bittle writes that while he retiredin 2009, he still enjoys singing in barbershopquartet (now more commonly known as barber-shop harmony) organizations; he’s performed inPhiladelphia, Denver, and Des Moines, IA, wherehe and wife Barbara live. He’s also on the boardof a theatre company in Grand Lake, CO.

That’s all for now. Please take a few minutesto share your news via this column. Also be sureto visit our class website (http://www.cornell1964.org). Send news to me at home or onlineat: Bev Johns Lamont, 720 Chestnut St., Deer-field, IL 60015; e-mail, [email protected]

consulting and takes wonderful science and artsclasses—such as a senior-level molecular biologyand bioengineering course—at Princeton U.

Bruce Bennett and wife Ellen Case live inOakland, CA ([email protected]). “At the endof my teaching career, I’m finally teaching thecourses that the Cornell honors English classesprepared me for—a survey of English lit: Chaucer,Shakespeare, Jane Austen, James Joyce.” Brucehas traveled to Costa Rica and Mexico and cycledfrom the Pacific Ocean to Yosemite. He has somecontact with Jill Munroe Fankhauser and RichardKalvar and would like to find Paul Epstein. Fel-low Californian Stuart Ross ([email protected]) recalls “good times with roommates, the De-bate Association, and exciting classes.” Stuart andwife Priscilla live in California, where Stuart isassistant director for research development at Cal-ifornia Inst. for Telecommunications and Informa-tion Technology at UC Irvine. Michael Schwarting,MArch ’68 (Port Jefferson, NY) writes, “I havestepped down as director of the graduate programin urban and regional design at New York Inst. ofTechnology in NYC, but will continue to teach.”From his office at Campani and Schwarting Archi-tects, he is working on a grant from New YorkState for an urban design to connect the villageof Port Jefferson to its harbor.

Dianne Zimet Newman ([email protected]) and husband Martin Newman live in Provi-dence, RI, where Dianne is executive director ofthe YWCA Greater Rhode Island. She recalls cover-ing celebrity visits to campus for the Cornell Dai-ly Sun and playing a lot of bridge in her sororityhouse. Further reflections include the level of po-litical activism regarding the civil rights movementand the way the campus reacted to JFK’s assas-sination and then RFK vs. Keating campaigningon campus. Also remembering her experiences atthe Cornell Daily Sun is Susan Frank Weitz. Susanand husband Alexander live in Midland, MI. Theywere in Italy for three weeks in May on an art andarchitecture tour of Venice, Verona, and otherItalian cities. Young grandson Ethan Weitz livesin NYC with his parents.

Christy Reppert Sacks and husband Stephen(Brooklyn, NY; [email protected]) an-nounce a new grandson, Shreyas Sacks. The namemeans “excellent” in Sanskrit and his dad is Ja-cob Sacks, ’97, MS ’98. Michael and Mary Gim-brone live in Boston, MA ([email protected]. edu). Mike is preparing to step away aschairman of the Dept. of Pathology at Brighamand Women’s Hospital, but will remain a profes-sor at Harvard Medical School. “We are enjoyinga second grandson, who is a validation of life andan explanation of why we had children in the firstplace!” Michael was inducted into Layfayette HighSchool’s Wall of Fame in Buffalo, NY. His fondmemory of Cornell is the wonderful breadth of thestudent body. At the moment he’d love to be sip-ping wine in his grandfather’s home village inSicily with Mary McCarthy, his lovely Irish wife of40 years. Wishing he was retired, William Popewrites he is principal program manager at EMS De-fense and Space. He and wife Callahan are in At-lanta, GA ([email protected]).

Henra Solomon Briskin (Pittsford, NY; [email protected]) is volunteering, traveling, visitinggrandchildren, and singing with the RochesterJewish Chorale. Her son Seth Briskin ’91 anddaughter-in-law Shelly (Hood) ’91 have twodaughters, ages 10 and 7. Her younger son, Craig(Harvard ’94), and his wife, Liz, have a son, 4, anda baby daughter, 10 months. Henra enjoyed travel

64 To paraphrase: the more thingschange, the more they . . .change. Case in point: our class

website. It’s no longer in the cornell.edu domain.Instead, thanks to our webmaster, Bruce Wag -ner, ME ’66, we have our own, exclusive website:http://www.cornell1964.org/. So that’s now whereyou go to keep up with class activities. If youaccess our website using our old address, youwill be immediately (and invisibly) forwarded tothe new one.

On to news. Nancy Hockensmith Beach wrotewishing to clarify and expand on my note abouther in July’s column that she had retired. Trueenough, but that landmark event occurred adecade ago. Since then Nancy has been a tourguide at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Sheand husband Rick have sold their South Minne -apolis house and moved to a downtown condo.She also notes that their son and daughter-in-lawmoved in-state to Berkeley, CA, so that’s where theBeaches will go to escape the Minnesota winter.Last fall, Nancy Greyson Beckerman published Outof Time: One Couple’s Journey Through Cancer (www.OutofTimebyBeckerman. com). It is a memoir ofthe four-year battle her late husband, Barry ’61,waged with cancer, how they fought the diseasetogether, and how she managed after he passed.The book is the result of a journal Nancy keptthroughout the ordeal. Cornell figures prominent-ly in the book; the Beckermans visited Ithaca fre-quently, and their last trip together was to Cornell.

Brian Wruble, ME ’66, has retired as chairmanof the Jackson Laboratory’s board of trustees af-ter a 14-year tenure during which he was credit-ed with bringing the nonprofit biomedical/geneticsresearch laboratory into national prominence. Un-der his guidance, the Bar Harbor, ME-based labo-ratory opened a new facility in Sacramento, CA,added new research buildings, and even held itsfirst national gala, an event in NYC that raisedmore than $1 million. Brian still sits on otherboards, including as chairman of the board of Op-penheimer Funds, a trustee of the Inst. for Ad-vanced Study, and past chairman of the Inst. ofChartered Financial Analysts. Brian (aka “Boomer”)and wife Kathleen have three grown children anda grandchild, 1. They live in Key West, FL, withother homes in Princeton, NJ, and Fredericktown,MD. Brian’s interests include amateur radio andskiing, and he’s “still hoping to get the ‘Odd Jobs’(softball) infield to Key West for a reunion.”

Honolulu attorney Ken Kupchak, JD ’71, wholives with wife Patty (Geer) ’67 in Kailua, HI,helped plant 1,500 native trees at 6,200 foot el-evation on Hawaii’s iconic Mauna Kea volcano,part of an effort to restore the habitat of thePalila, a honeybee species unique to Hawaii. Co-incident with that, Ken’s sole activity listing is

65 Thanks again to everyone send -ing in news! Please rememberto send your class dues and to

encourage others. If we have more than 400 dues -paying subscribers, we get more space in thecolumn, helping us to include more of your newseach time—and in a more timely fashion.

Lawrence and Judith Hughes (Bluffton, SC;[email protected]) do volunteer work manag-ing the regional farmers’ market and participatingin the state advisory council for Clemson Cooper-ative Extension. They have enjoyed several Carib -bean cruises and summer on Tybee Island, GA.Lawrence recalls great times with his brother PhiDelts at Cornell. Donald and Janet Dana (Moira, NY;[email protected]) are still dairy farming andmeet summer and winter with Algonquin Lodgemembers Thomas Dumas, Jim Schiebel ’67, MPS’74, Jeff Shaw ’67, Norm Parks ’67, William Ba-son ’67, MS ’71, David Lauzon ’68, and Bill John-son. A fond memory for Donald is the view fromthe suspension bridge. Walking over the suspen-sion bridge is what Jane E. Harris recalls. Jane andhusband Joseph Longino live in Pennington, NJ(jane [email protected]). Jane does part-time




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to Italy and Vancouver and summer vacation inChautauqua, NY. She’s kept in touch with room-mates Barbara Selzer Lewis, MAT ’67, and DorothyBrown Janis. Thanks again to everyone whosends in news! Joan Hens Johnson, [email protected]; and Ron Harris, [email protected].

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private school and could have served as the ar-chetype for Alvin Rosenfeld’s book on the over-scheduled child. While I shall refrain fromdelineating his myriad lessons, I rest my case. Ona happier note, we look forward to hosting ascholarship dinner on October 22 at our home onbehalf of the Cornell Club of Los Angeles, at whichmy musician wife and musical theatre son (thereis a little payback!), as well as another amateurand a professional singer, will perform French-themed Broadway favorites before our guests im-bibe French wines and consume French food.”

“My lasting memories of Cornell winter,” Neilcontinues, “include leaving the Straight and walk-ing into the cold evening air carrying my wintercoat over my arm, which concealed a cafeteriatray for use on the snow that covered Libe Slope.I’m sure I have friends from that era who harborthe belief that I made headlong contact with atree trunk and am exhibit one on why the admin -istration decided to place hay on the upside ofthe base of the larger trees. Winter is optional inthis region; apart from driving to the Californiamountains to ski and attending northeastern fam-ily functions—which are inconsiderately plannedduring the biting cold—winter remains a beau-tiful but distant memory.”

Last summer Chuck ([email protected]) andBarbara Davidson Weiss took a Black Sea cruisewhere they stepped onto Romanian soil, wherehis maternal grandparents originated. They alsovisited Odessa, Ukraine, home of his paternalgrandmother, and saw a synagogue from thattime. Bob Kehr ([email protected]) writes, “Icontinue to practice law in L.A., as I have for thepast 40-plus years. My wife, Ellen, retired after acareer as an appellate lawyer for the California at-torney general. My daughter Katherine (Bryn Mawr’99) is practicing law in L.A., and my daughterEmily ’03 (Arts) is a newly minted MBA who hasbegun working for the mouse (Disney). The sky isblue, the sun is bright, and all is well.”

Alice Katz Berglas ([email protected]) wrote,“My mother always said I never sounded happierin my four years at Cornell than the night I calledto tell her that our January finals were cancelledsenior year because of SNOW (mega-inches) forthe first time in Cornell’s history. My sorority builta snow fort with the fraternity house next toours. I don’t think we had ever spent time to-gether before. As a Manhattan girl, I had neverseen so much snow fort-able snow. We had a ball.Interesting about my mom’s reaction—that I hadnever sounded happier. Moms know stuff.” To thiswinter greeting, Alice adds: “I hope the warmthof Reunion has lingered—whether celebrated oncampus or from afar! I want to welcome and ‘in-troduce’ Rolf Frantz, ME ’67, and Jeanne BrownSander, officer names familiar to most of you, butwho have joined together for the next five yearsas VPs for membership. As we head happily (if in-credulously) toward our 50th Reunion, it is Rolfand Jeanne who will be encouraging you to stayclose to the class and to Cornell through yournews and dues in support of ’66. If you have al-ready responded to the fall mailing, THANK YOU.If not, please do so today! And visit our classwebsite, newly recrafted by Roy Troxel (http://cornell classof66. org/), and our Facebook page,overseen by Herb Fontecilla, ME ’67. Stay close!Exciting ’66 and Cornell happenings just aroundthe corner! My best to each/all.”

Your co-correspondent Pete Salinger, MBA ’68([email protected]) and wife Ruth (Dritch) ’67celebrated their 45th anniversary last summer by

going west (from Bethesda, MD) to visit Yellow-stone and Grand Teton national parks. They wenthiking, saw many wild animals, ate well, and hada great time during perfect weather. Pete contin-ues volunteering on his homeowners’ board, andalso on the board of his UU congregation. “We arehappy campers.” Pete Salinger, pas44@ cornell.edu; Susan Rockford Bittker, ladyscienc@aol. com;and Deanne Gebell Gitner, [email protected].

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66 Hello, everybody. Every time Iwrite a column, I remember backto whatever season it would be

when you receive the issue, and add somethingabout that season from our time in Ithaca. You’llreceive this issue in the winter. For this particularcolumn, there were no, as in zero, items that you’dsent in that had not been included in previouscolumns. What to do, what to do? Answer: writeclassmates for whom I have e-mail addresses andask them what they remember about winters atCornell, plus their latest news. Here we go!

Neil Chafetz ([email protected])wrote, “I continue to practice spine and joint im-aging in Southern California. Since it took so longto find someone foolish enough to put up withme (understandably), I have relatively young chil-dren for the Class of ’66. My daughter, a varsitygolfer and 2011 graduate of Amherst, now residesoutside Shanghai, working part-time and studyingMandarin full-time. We communicate sometimesby Skype, but mostly by check. She spent a yearin Madrid perfecting her Spanish and is consider-ing ‘B-school’ in France. This should go a long wayto explaining my current work status. Lest this beinsufficient evidence, I should mention that mynext child is a current Amherst College studentand varsity tennis player. My third child, not tobe outdone by his older siblings, is a junior at a

67 Remember: our 45th Reunion isJune 7-12, 2012! Contact re -union chair Dave Darwin, MS ’68

(dd69@ cornell.edu) to get in on the planningand to help out in general. You said you’d make itnext time? This is next time!

Robert Hastings, BArch ’68, MS ’72 (Wallis -ellen, Switzerland; [email protected]), whois now a speaker and writer, reports that he’s been“assessing plus-energy houses, carbon-neutralhouses, and solar-active houses and their abilityto help achieve a sustainable energy future. Theinsights I have developed into presentations fordiverse conferences. Also, I’ve been developing ahistory of solar use in architecture since the be-ginning of the 20th century in Europe and NorthAmerica.” As for what he’d rather be doing now:“Reading Homer and Langley to answer the as-signed questions from the Cornell reading discus-sion.” And for a Cornell memory: “Tray slidingdown the Slope, then returning to Willard Straightto have lunch on the tray.”

Ralph Blanchard (Rutledge, GA; ldirrb@ gmail.com) announces, “The second edition of my bookhas been released under the new title, CreatingWealth With a Small Business: Strategies and Mod-els for Entrepreneurs in the 2010s. It has beencompletely revised and updated to reflect thetransformation of the US and global economysince the financial meltdown of 2008 and the sub-sequent recession. Despite the fact that we arenow in a ‘new normal’ that is expected to last forseveral more years, small business remains a vi-able pathway to personal wealth accumulation ei-ther as an owner/operator or angel investor.”

Some retirements: Kathia Sloughter Miller(Naples, FL; [email protected]) in Au-gust 2010 as an English professor at Edison StateCollege, and Robert Miles (Hampden, CT; [email protected]) from his position as direc-tor of career services at Gateway Community Col-lege. “I have started a career counseling practicewith my wife, Diane Swift, a psychotherapist whosees adopted and foster children; we married inDecember 2009.”

Others have definitely not retired: RichardWeisman, PhD ’73 ([email protected]) writes, “I’mstill a faculty member at Lehigh U. with no plansto retire. In addition to the day job, I’m playing mytrumpet in the university orchestra, a brass group,and a mariachi band.” Richard also helped foundLehigh’s chapter of Engineers Without Borders.“We do our projects in Honduras.” David Ayres,MBA ’70 (Riverside, CT; david.ayres@ sothebyshomes.com) writes, “I ended my corporate careerin 2002 when I passed up the opportunity tomove to Newcastle, England, and have been sell-ing real estate in Greenwich, CT, with Sotheby’sand serving on the board of the Nathaniel With-erell, a Greenwich-owned and operated nursinghome, for the last eight years.”

Phyllis Bell Jonas (Atlantic Beach, NY; [email protected]) continues “teaching secular kinder-garten classes at the Brandeis School—my 29th








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year. I love the kids and planning old and new ac-tivities.” She adds, “I’m staying put. My daughter,her husband, and their three children live behindmy house; older son, wife, and their three kids livein Manhattan, as does my Cornell ’97 son.” She’dlove to hear from Carolyn Garmise (Bethesda,MD). Jonathan Cohen (Prior Lake, MN; [email protected]) is still doing research at U. of Min-nesota, “where we have a promising anti-cyanidecompound in the works.” He’s heard from BarryBatzing, “who retired from Cortland State but stilltaught a bio course at Cornell Summer School. Mydaughter Ilana ’06 passed her orals and is a PhDcandidate in bio at U. of Washington.” Jonathanwould like to hear from Phil White.

Cornell’s Adult University advises that DavidCampbell was present last summer for the shortcourse Focus on Aesthetics: A Photography Work-shop; Susan Crotty DeLong was aboard for studytours to Belize (The Tropics Next Door: Ecology ofReef and Rainforest) and Alaska (America’s LastFrontier) in 2011. Richard B. Hoffman, 292528th St. NW, Washington, DC 20008; e-mail,[email protected].

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his family was born on April Fool’s Day. Ellie Grace(Class of 2032) is the daughter of Michael ’02and Sara Meisel Tranter ’02. Elliott continues topractice law and to fly on weekends. He also verymuch enjoys serving on the Cornell Library Advi-sory Council and on a zoning board of appeals,where he fields issues on the zoning code hedrafted. ILR provided a good basis for the latter.

Cliff Orloff, PhD ’78 ([email protected])has been living in Berkeley for the past 16 years,first as a professor and then as an entrepreneur.Ten years ago he semi-retired and joined his wife,Olga Shalygin, a former photojournalist for theAssociated Press, in a documentary filmmaking(ad)venture under the name reddoorvideo. com.Digital filmmaking was just getting started then(now routine for any high school kid) and in theprocess of this work they have had the opportu-nity to have many interesting journeys to theAmazon, Afghanistan, Chernobyl, Vietnam, andthe Congo. The couple has been fortunate to havefive of their videos broadcast on PBS. On turning65 this year, Cliff decided to return to his roots—software engineering—and has since launchedthe nonprofit venture SOSbeacon.org (“Turn yourmobile phone into an SOS beacon; when yourcommunity is networked, help is nearby”). Helaunched a website and mobile phone apps inMarch 2011 and is still working out the kinks.Cliff encourages any of our classmates looking fora retirement challenge to join him in this effort.Please send me your news. Mary HartmanSchmidt, [email protected].

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with one day working for Northeast Neighbors andone with Habitat, as well as at several feedingcenters. Helping to orchestrate a family weddingthis fall has added an unexpected dimension tomy summer! I continue as a CAAAN chair, whichkeeps me in contact with the hopes for the fu-ture of America—great kids, some of whom are‘mine,’ at least for four more years! I lost my fa-ther, DuBois Jenkins ’43, DVM ’43, in March2010, but Mom is doing well in her house withher very outstanding black cat! I plan to collectMom and share our reunions in 2014!”

We’ve been asked to spread the word aboutCornell’s Adult University Off-Campus Study Toursand Programs, as well as the On-Campus SummerClasses. Our classmates who attended a varietyof programs were Carolyn Ugiss Altieri, BradfordButman, Alan Cody, Gary Gartenberg, WilliamHopping, Nancy Karch, Fredric Kardon, C.William Lake, Jeffry Olesen, and Patricia BeckReines. The programs range from bird-watchingto politics to trips to exotic places. Check outnext year’s schedule! All best wishes for a hap-py and healthy 2012. Tina Economaki Riedl,[email protected].

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68 Several of our classmates at -tend ed Cornell’s Adult University(CAU) off-campus study tours

and programs, as well as on-campus summerclasses in 2011. Among those attending wereGeorgina Evans Aumick, Robert DeLong, MD ’72,Claudia Deutsch, Margo Kilbon, Scott Reines,and David Stout. It would be fun to hear from youall about your experiences in these programs!

Tom Krop, MD ’72, writes that he retired fromhis Virginia Beach, VA, dermatology practice lastsummer and has moved from Afton, VA, to thefoothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains just 23 milesfrom Charlottesville. Tom and wife Candy met upwith Bruce Greyson and his wife, Jenny. Bruce isa professor of psychiatry at the U. of Virginia. PaulChiu ([email protected]) participated in an-other “somewhat annual” San Francisco Bay AreaAlpha Delt mini-reunion last August. Michael Kin-ney, ’66, hosted David Teeters, MAT ’69, GordieEvans, and Paul in his San Francisco abode.Michael prepared an awesome Thai meal for all themen. This was such a success that the next eventis tentatively scheduled for Jan/Feb 2012. Pauland his wife also enjoyed getting together withKatharine Ku ’71 last July. Kathy is the directorof technology licensing at Stanford and has beena longtime friend of Paul.

After 30 years of practicing law and raisingher sons in Rochester, NY, Susan Mascette Brandt([email protected]) has moved to Ply-mouth, MA, because her kids and grandkids livein the Boston area. Her older son and his wifehave blessed Susan and husband Bill with theirfirst grandchild, which reinforced the wisdom ofthe move to Massachusetts. Susan is quilting, en-joying choral singing, and babysitting, all ofwhich are much more fun for her than practicinglaw. Gregory Fried (gregfried@gmail. com) retiredfrom his position as NYPD Chief Surgeon and asManhattan General Surgeon because of injuriessuffered on 9/11. He is now actively interestedin art, thanks to his study of the History of Artat Cornell, especially “modern” (1960s) art, whichhas been a major influence on his life. Greg is anadvocate for premed students broadening the lib-eral arts component of their education.

Elliott Meisel ([email protected]) says thatthe first of the fifth generation of Cornellians in

69 Ann Agranoff sends best wishesto all and writes that her daugh -ter April is trekking through

Nepal with a group from her college, Sierra Ne -vada College. Ann is still teaching English atQueens borough Community College in Bayside,NY, but hus band Fred Anderes retired a year agofrom teaching at Sewanhaka High School on LongIsland. Nancy Garlock Edmunds has been the pre -siding judge in the case of United States v.Abdulmutallab, the terrorism prosecution againsta Nigerian man who tried to blow up an airplanetraveling from Amsterdam to Detroit. She rec -ommends reading the Detroit Free Press index ofarticles about the case, as well as the many othernews stories online in the New York Times, etc.

Nancy Jenkins Krablin took a break from herdaily 15-mile bike ride to send her news. “Larry andI did our last work camp in Garrett County, MD,with Habitat for Humanity in July 2009 and tookan awesome Bicycle Adventures tour from GlacierNational Park in Montana to Banff in August 2009.It was our second crossing of the Continental Di-vide on muscle power! Grandson Zachary Hugo wasborn to daughter Joanna Krablin ’00 and husbandJeff on July 14, 2010. I retired from 19 contin-uous years—five years subbing preceded—ofteaching middle school science in June 2011 andam looking forward to not rising at 6 a.m. andhaving ‘no life’ from 6 a.m. Monday until 6 p.m.Friday! I will miss the kids, the field trips, andthe special events, but not the ever-increasingdemands of mandated testing!”

Nancy continues: “Mom took 15 of the fam-ily on the MS Veendam from NYC to Bermuda justafter school closed. This was our first large boatcruise—ages 11 months to almost 89 years. Itwas awesome! Larry and I participated in a Mis-sion Experience in D.C. immediately after thecruise. The focus was on housing and feeding,

70 I certainly hope your holidayswere happy and good. And nowhere we are into a new year—

2012 already! Be sure to keep up with Class of1970 news and events on our website at our newaddress: http://cornell70.org. The class leader shipteam will meet in Washington, DC, on Jan. 27-29,2012 for CALC (Cornell Alumni Leadership Con -ference). We’ll have a class meeting on Saturdayafternoon, Jan. 28, which you can attend via con -ference call. If you have topics you would like to addto our agenda, please let me know (cfm7@ cornell.edu or cell: (610) 256-3088). If you are interestedin being part of our Class Council and would like tobe part of the meeting or call, let me know thattoo, and we can discuss arrangements. Enjoy yourwinter, whether it is in a warm or cold location!

Dennis Vane (St. Louis, MO; [email protected]) is surgeon-in-chief at Saint Louis U. He is thechair of pediatric surgery at the Cardinal GlennonChildren’s Medical Center. Author Merry “Dee Dee”Bloch Jones and her husband, Robert, live in Glad-wyne, PA, outside of Philadelphia. Her latest work,a suspense thriller, was published August 1, 2011.Summer Session is set in Ithaca on Cornell’s cam-pus and is the first in a new series. A previous se-ries, the Zoe Hayes mysteries, is now available onboth e-books and print-on-demand (from Create-Space). Both of her daughters are graduates now(BA and MS.) Visit Merry at MerryJones.com or con-tact her at merryddjones@ gmail. com. Grace Den-ton Holmes (graceholmes@ roadrunner.com) stillworks for Bassett Healthcare. She says that chang-ing to electronic records has been a challenge. Sheand her husband, Tom, live in Norwich, NY. Theyenjoy traveling, and their children play a big part inthat. In 2011, their son was married in Chicago andis presently doing post-doctoral work in SouthernCalifornia. Their daughter is doing graduate work inWashington, DC. Both are great places to visit.Grace wonders if anyone has heard from BelenSamper, who was from Colombia.

Arthur Litowitz (New Smyrna Beach, FL; ANLD MD@ aol.com) is studying yoga and becoming ayoga teacher and therapist! He sold his group or-thodontic practice and is now part-time as need-ed. He travels extensively: China in March 2011,London in July, and Israel in the fall. Although he





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seems to enjoy all that he is doing, he also enjoysmusic (aka playing the piano), golf, reading, writ-ing, walking, hiking, and photography. Arthur re-ports that he thoroughly enjoyed our 40th Reunion,staying in the new dorm at the foot of Libe Slope(William Keeton House, named after his (our!)freshman Biology 101/102 professor), and recon-necting with older and newer alums and students.He would really like to hear from Ernest “Chip”Reveal. Arthur always loved the Music Room atthe Straight. Kathy Landau Cornell (Glen Ellyn, IL;cornell [email protected]) has a new business ven-ture, Cornell Consulting Inc., in Chicago. She is con-sulting for nonprofits doing major gift fundraisingand coaching volunteer boards in becoming betterambassadors and fundraisers. She works with herolder daughter, Amy. Kathy focuses on clients in theMidwest, but she is available nationally. In addi-tion, she serves on several local boards, includingin a recently elected position on the Glen Ellyn ParkDistrict Board of Commissioners. She also serves ontwo theatre boards and a local preservation boardand she is part of our Class Council LeadershipTeam. Kathy’s younger daughter, Amanda, was mar-ried (“to a really great guy!”) in May 2011.

Stephen Ritchie passed away on June 14,2011 after a long battle with cancer. He lived inLafayette, CA. His wife, Eleanor Karn, wrote to tellus of his passing, but more to tell us about his life.Stephen is also survived by his sons, John andScott, as well as his brother and sister and his dog,Teddy, and cat, Bud. He grew up in South Jerseyand loved to take things apart to see how theyworked. His good math skills may well have led himfrom Pennsauken High to a degree in Engineeringfrom Cornell, where he made many friends andloved college life. “Since it was, after all, the ’60s,he attended many concerts and parties, but stillfound time to study and graduate,” wrote Eleanor.Stephen moved to California after Cornell andworked at Bechtel Corp., where he met Eleanor onhis first day; for the last 12 years, he worked at Cis-co Systems, after jobs at Structural Software De-velopment, One Point, Lorimar Studios, Wells FargoNikko, and Digital Equipment Corp. At One Point, astartup company, Steve developed a program thatenabled people to purchase almost anything onlinein various shopping malls. Although the companywent under, he was a man ahead of his time—on-line shopping is now an everyday thing! At Cisco,he was a technical leader in engineering and a pi-oneer of data center virtualization and cloud com-puting. Steve loved being a husband and foundfatherhood very gratifying, whether it was sportsor Scouts, sharing a love of special effects and sci-fi, or just hanging out with his sons. He had manyand varied interests, and those who knew him willremember him as a gentle soul with a wonderfuland wry sense of humor. Connie Ferris Meyer,[email protected]; tel., (610) 256-3088.

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Washington U. and worked as a magazine editorfor both the Wilderness Society and the NatureConservancy. Since 2002 she’s edited America’soldest poetry journal, Poet Lore (www.poetlore.com). She and husband Brad Northrup were de -lighted to visit Ithaca often during the yearstheir children were at Cornell. You may contactJody at [email protected].

More D.C. news. As a follow-up to a casualclass dinner this summer in the D.C. area, Elisa-beth Kaplan Boas, Nina Gordon Schwartz, andSally Clark Shumaker organized a get-together onSeptember 9 at Gaffney’s Restaurant. Classmatesenjoyed several sets of the Bob Schwartz Quartet(find them on Facebook under “BSQ - The BobSchwartz Quartet”). In his rising side career, Nina’shusband Bob sings, plays flute and saxophone,and introduces the music and musicians—who in-clude Nina! By day, Bob is a law partner at Con-stantine Cannon. Bob and Nina celebrated their40th anniversary this summer with a long trip toScotland. Their two grown kids (and grandchil-dren) live in Ann Arbor.

Elisabeth filled us in on the evening’s festiv-ities: “Michael Cornfeld’s Heritage Investment Ad-visors office is next door, and he and Janet (Lynn)’72 helped welcome Cornellians. The Cornfelds havethree grown daughters, one living nearby in D.C.and two in New York. Art Spitzer arrived, straightfrom the ACLU office in D.C., where he is still thelegal director. We were also happy to welcomeSusie and Bruce Turnbull ’73, who live nearby inBethesda. Bruce is also a technology lawyer andhas worked with Bob since the early ’80s. Theyhave two grown sons. Jonathan, JD ’74, and RuthZafren Ruskin ’75 celebrated their 35th anniver-sary. Since 1978 Jonathan has been a lawyer withthe Board for Correction of Naval Records, whichresolves civilian grievances against the Navy andMarine Corps in non-adversarial proceedings. Hehas also become a professional bowler. Ruth andJon’s son David was married in September.”

Elisabeth continues: “We were happy to seeGary Gilbert and his wife, Trinka Coster, togetherat this event because the last time we saw Gary,Trinka, an internist and epidemiologist, had beendeployed overseas by the Army to take care of themedical needs of war detainees. Son Matt Coster’15 lives in Donlon this year. Carolyn Green Eich-berg ’80 rounded out the group, and we all en-joyed the companionship, conversation, food—andespecially the jazz!” Sally Shumaker, networkingVP for the Class of 1971, encourages classmatesall over the country to get together and networkat gatherings like the ones she helped organize inthe D.C. Metro area. If you wish to have a classnetworking gathering in YOUR area, Sally will behappy to make it happen for you by e-mailing andcalling the classmates where you live and takingcare of details on marketing your event. ContactSally at [email protected].

We received news from Arthur Mintz (am [email protected]), our new class treasurer. He reports,“I retired from Cornell in the fall of 2006 after 20-plus years in administrative information systems.In fall 2009 I took on a special six-month projectfor the VP for Finance, which, while interesting,convinced me that I really enjoyed being retired.This fall will be my 26th season as the public ad-dress announcer at Schoellkopf Field for Cornellfootball, and my 25th season as PA at Lynah Rinkfor men’s hockey. I am also on the board of di-rectors of the Cornell Alumni Association of theIthaca Area, and I’ve volunteered for many yearshelping out at new student registration in the fall

and commencement weekend in the spring.” Lastsummer Arthur took a trip to Nova Scotia andPrince Edward Island, and this August traveled toScotland with the Cornell Alumni Association.

Gayle and I are enjoying writing the class col-umn to help keep you up to date on the news ofyour classmates. Please send us a quick e-mail andtell us something about yourself—and we will in-clude it here. Linda Germaine-Miller, LG [email protected]; and Gayle Yeomans, [email protected].

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71 Congratulations are in order for ouroutgoing class president, LaurieBerke-Weiss (laurie71@bwp-law.

com), who was included on the list of New YorkSuper Lawyers-Metro 2011, a rating service ofoutstanding lawyers from various practice areas.Laurie had the added recognition of being on thelist of the Top 50 Women Lawyers in the group.She is delighted to have her daughter Alex ’06back in New York, attending law school at Ford -ham. Jody Bolz, MFA ’73, moved to the D.C. areanearly 35 years ago and never left. She taughtcreative writing for more than 20 years at George

72 Were you overly upset by the BigSix-0? Do you envy younger peo -ple who are celebrating the Big

Five-0? Do you secretly long for the days of theBig Four-0? Well, believe it or not, the Big Four-0is STILL AHEAD OF US. Our 40th Reunion: June 7-10, 2012. BE THERE.

Jennifer Cleland, PhD ’99, reports: “I havewritten a book (with my husband, Bob Stundtner),just out last fall, on the history of Sage Hall atCornell and its renovation in the 1990s, for whichBob was the project manager. The title is SageHall: Experiments in Coeducation and Preservationat Cornell University. Sage Hall was built as awomen’s residence in 1874, so it made coeduca-tion at Cornell possible, which was of course acontroversial issue at the time. The renovation wasalso controversial—because it replaced the inte-rior, but kept the historic brick exterior walls. Iearned my PhD at Cornell in Romance studies andBob is now director of capital projects at Cornell.We were interviewed for WSKG’s ‘Off the Page’program in October (link: http://wskg.org/radio/off-the-page/2011-10-11.aspx) and the book isavailable at the Cornell Store.”

Patricia Weiss ([email protected]) is associatedean for institutional advancement and alumniaffairs at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law,Yeshiva U. in Manhattan. Elizabeth Post Falconi([email protected]) is very happily in-volved in the Bowmans Hill Wildflower Preservein New Hope, PA, as president of the board oftrustees and secretary/treasurer of a small land-scape construction company specializing in nativeplantings and natural stone hardscapes. She alsoenjoys helping with her two grandchildren. Rose-mary Perley-Kwauk (Rye, NY; rosepk@aol. com)practices anesthesia at NewYork-PresbyterianHospital and Greenwich Hospital and has beenlooking at colleges with her teenage son. Chris-tine Perryman Schaller, MS ’73 (chris3884@ aol.com), a nursing home administrator and qualityconsultant in Rochester, NY, has been renovat-ing an old house. From her Cornell days she re-members the friends she made freshman year atRisley and good days at Alpha Phi with room-mate Cindy Kagarise Sherman.

Michael Maas ([email protected]) is amember of several regional arts councils near hishome in East Patchogue, NY, and coordinatesscholarships and exhibitions for high school sen-iors and children with learning disabilities. On Oc-tober 2, 2011 he retired as an art teacher in thespecial education division of East Suffolk BOCES.Michael exhibits his own paintings, drawings, andprints at various galleries on Long Island, is study-ing printmaking “to take it to the next level,” andis trying to improve his ability to speak German.Oliver Williams (Rushville, NY; osw3@ frontiernet.net) has eight grandchildren and retired from teach-ing in 2006. He now works with Lions Club Int’l atthe district and state levels and has completed a





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term as council chair for New York State. He re-members walking through the Cornell campus tosee wildflowers during the spring and says he re-cently came across the nest of a red-eyed vireo,which was a favorite of the late field natural his-tory professor Richard Fischer, PhD ’53.

James Blume ([email protected]) is anattorney/mediator with Blume, Faulkner, Skeen &Northam PLLC, a law firm in Richardson, TX. Heenjoys sailing and has a 33-foot boat on Lake RayHubbard (east of Dallas) and a 44-foot boat on LakeTexoma. Jim traveled to Stuttgart, Germany, wherehe visited the Porsche factory and the new PorscheMuseum. Mark Weadon (Mark.Weadon@ yahoo.com) is chief scientist at AvMet Applications, a sup-port contractor to the Federal Aviation Administra-tion in Reston, VA. He traveled to Mali in WesternAfrica to visit his son. Barbara Posner Jungman([email protected]) lives in Houston and isa math instructor at Lone Star College. She andhusband David traveled to Spain and Portugal.

Jeri Whitfield (jeri.whitfield@smithmoorelaw. com) is an attorney with Smith Moore Leather-wood LLP in Greensboro, NC, and has been ap-pointed chair of the North Carolina State Bar’sBoard of Legal Specialization. The Board was cre-ated to certify attorneys who excel in a specificfield of law as legal specialists, and is one of only18 state legal certification programs in the coun-try. Jeri was an early leader in organizing theNorth Carolina workers’ compensation specializa-tion committee and litigates complex occupa-tional disease claims before the North CarolinaIndustrial Commission and appellate courts. Hercivil practice includes handling toxic tort and as-bestos-related litigation and premises liabilityclaims before the trial and appellate courts.

Garrison Cottrell, MAT ’75 ([email protected]) isa professor at UC San Diego. He writes: “I’m a cog-nitive scientist collecting a computer science salary,which is the right way to do that—you don’t wantit the other way around! This summer Joan and Iwent to Australia for the first time, for 12 days. Wesnorkeled the Great Barrier Reef—it’s like swimmingin an aquarium! I dove down and stuck my handin a giant clam and lived to tell the tale. When wecame back I flew to Minnesota for a week-long ca-noe trip in the Boundary Waters with my daughterTess, 13. She stopped counting after 50 mosquitobites—she never wants to go outside again. Myson Kyle, 16, is a song-and-dance man; he is at-tending the Coronado School of the Arts, where heis in the musical theatre department.” Gary L.Rubin, glr34@ cornell.edu; Alex Barna, [email protected]; Carol Fein Ross, [email protected].

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contributions to their communities through pub-lic service. We are also mentoring the officers ofthe senior class and recently graduated classes toaid in the transition from student to active alum,as well as our scholarship recipient by inviting himto meet with officers when we are on campus, aswell as funding his travel to, and participation in,the Cornell Alumni Leadership Conference laterthis month in Washington, DC. As for scholarship,we have set the goal of raising the book value of

our scholarship fund to $1 million, which wouldprovide full tuition for a financially strapped stu-dent every year. Please consider making a dona-tion to the Class of 1973 Scholarship Fund. Thisis a way you truly can see your donation work, aswe highlight our scholarship recipient on theclass website (www.cornell73.com) and track ourprogress toward our goal.

Are you one of the 40 percent of classmateswho has not provided Cornell with a valid e-mailaddress? In these tight economic times, one of themost cost efficient ways for your class to commu-nicate with you is through e-mail. We cannot af-ford the printing and postage to communicateregularly, but through e-mail we can keep you inthe loop regarding class activities, initiatives, andreunion updates. Please consider logging into theCornell website and updating your personal infor-mation, including e-mail address. Better yet, signup for a Cornell e-mail address. Then if your e-mailaddress changes, you only have to post the newaddress in one location.

Our 40th Reunion will be June 6–9, 2013.Reach out to your Cornell buddies and encouragethem to join you for a weekend of reminiscing, re-connecting, and re-energizing. Reunion is a greatopportunity to catch up with old friends and makenew ones who share your Cornell experience. I hada blast at my first reunion in 2008! If you are in-terested in serving on the reunion committee,please contact Ron (rls73@comcast. net) or Lor-raine Palmatier Skalko ([email protected]).And for anyone in the Washington, DC, area:watch your mail for an invitation to join theClasses of the ’70s at a cocktail party when theofficers are in the area on January 27 for theLeadership Conference.

On to news from your classmates. AndrewCook ([email protected]) and wife Christine(Rehfuss) ’74 live in Rome, ME, on a beautifullittle glacial lake. Chris works for the Maine PUCand Andy commutes to work all over North Amer-ica as senior vice president for customer relationsand marketing with AREVA Inc. They have officesin Bethesda, MD, and Lynchburg, VA. Son Mac’05 is a surgeon in Portland, OR, and daughterBetsy ’11 is going to Duke for graduate schoolin forestry management. They loved last spring’sCornell graduation and were impressed especiallyby former Mayor Giuliani’s speech.

Flexible Cornellians know that it never is toolate to switch gears: Joel Greenman (statman7@

earthlink.net) has both an MS and an MBA. He isalso a member of a rock band that plays in LosAngeles, CA. He writes, “It’s the best thing I everdid in my life.” He also is a professional magicianand magician/member of the Magic Castle in L.A.Joel has long used his magic skills to comple-ment his teaching skills while in the more tradi-tional career of college professor, experiencingvery positive response from students when heminimized their math anxiety with applications

of magic to discussion topics. As a lecturer at na-tional academic conferences over the years, heeven did some magic at those conferences andenjoyed watching the audience’s reaction. Joelalso has achieved a third degree black belt inmartial arts. So check out the stages of L.A. formagic and music and mathematics with a class-mate who has chosen to pursue many diverse in-terests professionally.

Nanci Levy Palmintere ([email protected]) retired in January 2011 from her po-sition as VP finance, director of global, tax, andsite selection for Intel after almost 32 years. Sheavers that she will not miss the 250,000 miles peryear she was traveling for her job. She and herhusband, also retired, sold their house in SiliconValley; their new living arrangement is spendingthe winters skiing at their condo in Park City, UT,and the balance of the time in Henderson, NV, asuburb of Las Vegas, where they are in the processof building a new home. Their daughter is a jun-ior at Barnard College at Columbia U. Althoughthey enjoy being empty-nesters, note that theylove visitors. Glenn Peterson ([email protected]) is looking more and more like he isretired, as he continues selling off his rental prop-erties to free his time for more world travel andother fun. His wife Sandy retired from her train-ing development career last June. Glenn becamea City of Kirkland planning commission memberlast year, which keeps him occupied around homeso that Sandy can pursue her quilting passion.

Bill Welker, MBA ’75 ([email protected]) enjoyed a lovely summer trip to Ithaca,where son Stephen ’08 married Suzanne Clark’08, BS Ag ’07, on June 25. The wedding was heldin Sage Chapel, with a reception at the Memori-al Room of the Straight, a picnic at Cass Park, andthe rehearsal dinner at the Andrew Dickson WhiteHouse. All of the family members and friends hada marvelous time, and there was LOTS of singing,including an “Arch Sing” the night before thewedding, as the Glee Club, Hangovers, and Noth-ing But Treble of that era were well represented.They wound down the weekend with a winery touron Sunday. The weather cooperated, and the cam-pus was beautiful and quiet. Eric Rothenberg(erothenberg@ oarlawyers. com) writes that he isthe executive producer for the movie Tiny LittleLies, which is now available on Netflix and manyother Internet sites. His distributor, Vanguard Cin-ema, just signed a contract with a Disney affiliate

73 Greetings! I hope that many ofyou took the opportunity tocheer yourselves hoarse in our

Class of ’73 block of seats as the Cornell hockeyteam battled Boston U. on Thanksgiving weekendat Madison Square Garden.

Did you know that our class established ascholarship fund at our 15th Reunion? Since then,primarily through small donations added to classdues, we have created a fund with a book valueapproaching $125,000; it has provided one or twoscholarships annually as financial aid to under-graduates. As we have reached or approach our60th birthdays, our class officers have focused onthe legacy that we should leave to Cornell andhave found three recurring themes: scholarship,mentoring, and public service. We have asked forrecommendations of classmates who have made

‘Joel Greenman has long used hismagic skills to complement his teaching skills.’ Pamela S. Meyers ’73










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to have it converted to 3-D. It’s an indie moviemade in L.A., but it all takes place in a NYCapartment—a murder mystery drama along thelines of Rear Window and Rope. It has won awardsat three film festivals. Check it out at http://tinylittlelies.com/home/.

By the time you read this column, I willhave returned from my October trip with fellowCincinnati Art Museum docents and our curatorof Asian art to China (Beijing, Xi’an, and Shang-hai) and Taipei (where many of China’s great arttreasures reside in its National Palace Museum).My son David Greenberg ’05 has returned to NYClaw practice after his one-year clerkship inColumbus with a judge on the Sixth Circuit Courtof Appeals. It was a joy having both children inthis area for a year, but now I have a nice placeto stay when I visit NYC! Pamela S. Meyers,psmeyers@ fuse.net; Phyllis Haight Grummon,[email protected].

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As is not unusual, we have gotten word thata number of our classmates in this Notable Classof ’74 have received honors or been appointed toCornell-affiliated councils or committees. A recentannouncement of new inductees to the CornellAthletics Hall of Fame included eight-time Ivychamp—including ’72, ’73, and ’74 all-aroundchampion—gymnast Dave VanDyke. Dave’s in-duction will bring the total of classmates in theHall to ten. The founder of CBORD Group Inc.,John Alexander, MBA ’76, was named Cornell En-trepreneur of the Year for 2012. And earlier in theyear, Moira “Dolly” Hearne Hintsa was appoint-ed to the Johnson Museum of Art advisory coun-cil, joining Don Opatrny, Peter Robbins, andEvan Stewart, JD ’77, in that endeavor.

What would a class column be without somenews from our former and longtime correspondentBill Howard? A while ago, Bill was term-limitedoff the Cornell Alumni Magazine committee. Haveno fear, as he continued to be active, beingnamed chair of the CAM ad hoc committee seek-ing university support for wider distribution. Duein no small part to Bill’s efforts, the universitysigned off on supporting an electronic edition ofthe magazine that includes an iPad and Androidversion. Check out the latest issue at: http://www.cornellalumnimagazine-digital.com. As a result,and now that the appropriate interval has passed,he will be rejoining the CAM advisory committee.In personal news, Bill advised that his householdwill now have some divided loyalties at the nextCornell-BU hockey game. Son Greg is a newlyminted freshman at Boston U., studying hospital-ity management in their hotel school.

To end on a more somber note, in the lastcolumn I authored I reported current activities ofNora Bredes. I now must report on her untimelypassing in August 2011. Nora had been active inNew York State politics as a member of the Suf-folk County Legislature and in 1996 she ran forUS Congress. More recently she was director of theSusan B. Anthony Center for Women’s Leadershipat the U. of Rochester. She is survived by her hus-band, Jack Huttner, and three sons. Jack JayWind, jjw@mwhlawfirm. com; Helen Bendix,[email protected]; Betsy Moore, [email protected].

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marine microbiology next year at the U. of NewHampshire. Keith’s travels include a trip to Japanwith Regine to celebrate the 20th anniversary ofthe introduction of Honda’s NSX sports car. Keithlooks forward to hearing from fellow Cornellians.

Moving to California are Peter Porpiglia andhis wife, Trudy. Peter is heading up the global de-velopment function for American Vanguard Corp.,hence the relocation from Putnam Valley, NY, tothe West Coast. Abby Nash writes that he hasstarted a photography book project while teach-ing Cornell Adult University classes. He has ledCAU groups to the wine regions (his next trip isto France’s Loire Valley in September 2012) andreturned from a terrific CAU Foodies Guide to Paristhis past May—how terrific was that! Abby is busywith his antiques business and assorted otherfood and beverage speaking engagements. GeorgeHagedorn writes from Giles County, VA, not toofar from Pembroke, VA, which is, in his words, “themiddle of nowhere.” Even so, he has enjoyed hiswork of the last 31 years on the faculty of VirginiaTech, in its mathematics department (www.math.vt. edu/ people/hagedorn). His research interestsincluded molecular quantum mechanics. Followingin Dad’s footsteps, his son Charlie ’04 is a grad-uate student at the U. of Washington, studyingphysics. George’s favorite hobby is high-altitudemountaineering. He’s climbed to nearly 23,000feet in Argentina and he’s climbed 51 of Colorado’s54 14,000-foot mountains. Charlie has accompa-nied Dad on these treks—Libe Slope in the win-ter is a piece of cake!

Living on one of the Finger Lakes is LindaSkirvin Smith. She notes, “If it weren’t for havinggone to Cornell, I don’t think I would have evenheard of the Finger Lakes.” She and her husbandbought a summer getaway home on Keuka Lakeeight years ago. Now that she has taken an earlyretirement from Anheuser-Busch, she and her hus-band have launched Smithink, a consulting busi-ness. This venture lets them continue to adviseclients from both the spectacular lake home andtheir primary residence and office in St. Louis, MO.She chuckles when she recalls many a fun party atSigma Chi, when some of the brothers talkedabout dashing off to Keuka College (then an all-girls school) to find a date for a party. Her homenow looks at that same college, across the lake.She holds up her glass of Finger Lakes wine totoast her old friends at Sigma Chi!

Ed Gogol ([email protected]) brings us upto date on his happenings since graduation witha terrific note. He earned his PhD in molecularbiophysics and biochemistry at Yale, after whichhe took off for a couple of protracted but very en-joyable postdoctoral stints on the West Coast—first at Stanford, then at Oregon. In the process,he split from his first wife and found the womanwhom he subsequently married, Janet Monday. Edtook his first academic appointment at U. ofTexas, Dallas, then escaped to Kansas City, wherehe has been on the faculty of the School of Bio-logical Sciences at U. of Missouri, Kansas City forthe past 17 years. During that time, son Petergraduated from the U. of Kansas, the Midwesternschool whose campus most closely resembles Cor-nell’s (and at a much lower cost!). Peter met hisfuture wife at KU and they eventually settled in anearby suburb of Kansas City—shortly before Pe-ter’s wife gave birth to Ed and Janet’s first grand-child, Clementine. Meanwhile, Ed’s daughterJuliana is navigating the waters of middle school,occasionally babysitting her niece, and perform-ing in piano recitals. Ed relived a particular fond

74 I start with thanks to co- cor -respondent Helen Bendix forsend ing out an e-mail request for

news, which brought many return messages fromour classmates. An early response came from oldfriend Wally Howard, ME ’76, who wrote of hisattendance at a couple of Cornell lacrosse gamesin the spring. Wally was at the Yale game in NewHaven along with Peter Kaplan. He also attendedthe Harvard game in Boston with his son Brian’04; there he met up with Vern Grabel, not tomention yours truly and my daughter Jessica ’10,ME ’10. The rides to the games were easy for Wally,who maintains homes in both Connecticut andBoston, where he is CEO of VC-backed Ze-gen, arenewable energy company. Peter Kaplan wroteindependently to say he is doing fine after asecond hip replacement surgery and to trumpetthe success of his Westhampton Beach Junior andAdult Tennis Academy. The Academy has beenselected top academy in the East for the sixth yearrunning and is among the top 20 worldwide.

Keeping with the theme of my prior columns,I like to report news of our classmates from farand wide. While still within the continental US,Mike MacNeil reports from Miles City, MT, thathe was awarded the Pioneer Award by the BeefImprovement Federation and the Rockefeller-Prentice Award in Animal Breeding and Geneticsby the American Society of Animal Science. Newsfrom across the Pacific comes from Dave Yahn,ME ’75, in Singapore. Dave is operations manag-er for ExxonMobil’s polyolefin plants. He and wifeVicky enjoy the great scuba diving in Asia andtraveling around the region.

From Greenville, SC, Karen Spencer informs usof her June nuptials to Gene Turner. She continuesto work for Marsh & McLennan, where she has beenfor more than eight years. She is pleased to reportthat “life is good!” Closer to our collegiate home,Robin Berke Adler began training as a docent atthe Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City,finding use for the many Art History classes shetook while at Cornell. Also from New York City, An-drew Peck informs us of his appointment for a thirdeight-year term as a US Magistrate Judge for theSouthern District of New York. Besides lecturing onissues relating to electronic discovery at confer-ences in Zurich and London, he spends time awayfrom the legal world as an active member of theBaker Street Irregulars, the Sherlock Holmes liter-ary group, and as a member of the board of direc-tors of the Mystery Writers of America (NY Chapter).

75 As I write, it is a beautiful fallday here in New Jersey. Fourteenmiles away, the Occupy Wall Street

protests continue. The media has likened these tothe protests in the late 1960s and early 1970s.Agree or disagree?

Lots of items from e-mail messages. Sue Fordwrites that she was interviewed by Armen Keteyianfor a chemical terrorism investigative piece onwhich he was working for “CBS News” with KatieCouric. Sue notes that while she was interviewedfor 20 minutes, the editors ran only 20 secondsof her interview. Catching up since graduation isKeith Jarett ([email protected]). He earned hisPhD in electrical engineering from Stanford in1979. From there, he remained in California, work-ing for Boeing Satellite Systems, the unit createdfrom the former Hughes Space and Communica-tions Group. Keith and his wife, Regine, have twochildren. Son Mylan is now in his junior year atCalifornia Maritime Academy, where he has had thegood fortune to sail the world’s three largestoceans. Daughter Natasha is in her sophomore yearat UC Davis. Keith’s daughter from his previousmarriage, Jessica, expects to complete her PhD in


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memory of his freshman year at Cornell last monthwhen he saw Byrds co-founder Roger McGuinn atthe Folly Theater in Kansas City. The Byrds con-cert in Barton Hall was Ed’s most memorable mu-sical event of 1971-72. Forty years later, in a soloperformance, Roger brought back some of thatmagic by playing, for example, “Mr. TambourineMan”—first in the folksy style of Bob Dylan, andthen with his 12-string electric Rickenbacker, justlike he did with the Byrds. Ed says it was terrific.He hopes to get back to Ithaca soon.

C. Shawn Southern ([email protected]) gives us the latest news from hishousehold. Older son Daniel ’10, BS ORIE ’11,graduated in May (the well-known five-year pro-gram). Happily, he’s already landed a job in mid-town Manhattan at a fairly large engineering firm,where he’ll be able to work in his major and prac-tice his skills in 3-D modeling, simulation, and op-timization. Younger son Chris also graduated inMay from the U. of Central Florida with a businessmajor. In an ironic twist of fate, he is now total-ly submerged in the restaurant business as theGM of a 150-plus seat Turkish/Mediterraneanrestaurant on Park Avenue in Winter Park, FL, out-side Orlando. Both boys plan on getting theirmaster’s degrees—Dan (hopefully at Cornell Engi-neering) after a year in the industry, and Chris atRosen Hospitality at UCF while he continues towork. Needless to say, it was a very busy May withgraduations in both Florida and New York State.Things are status quo with Shawn and wife Becky.She continues to pursue her consulting in LeanSix Sigma up and down the East Coast, and Shawnis still with Southern Wine & Spirits in Florida (hefinds it hard to believe it’s been almost 24 yearswith them). Becky and Shawn have thoroughly en-joyed their trips up to Cornell to see Dan over thepast few years. It was especially good to get reac-quainted with Rick Adie at the Statler, as well assome other classmates, and they hope to contin-ue their periodic visits up to campus—especiallyin the fall months. He writes, “It’s true that partof you never leaves Cornell.”

Our daughter Austen earned her Airbornewings at Jump School at Fort Benning this sum-mer, and in October she won her first bout as amember of the US Military Academy’s women’s box-ing team. Keep in touch! Karen Boroff, [email protected]; Joan Pease, [email protected]; Deb Gellman, [email protected];Mitch Frank, [email protected].

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into classroom settings. Susan’s husband, Lowell,was made president of Verizon Communications.He is very busy with his expanded role and newlead ership opportunities. For a vacation they wentscuba diving and had a fun and challenging time.They are building a lake home in Western Virginiaand plan to reside there upon retirement.

Cameron Munter expects to be in Pakistan forthe next couple of years. He has been the ambas-sador to Pakistan since October 2010. A press re-lease from May 2011 reported that Ilene SherwynCooper was presented with the adjunct professorof the year award at Touro Law’s commencementceremony. The graduation committee is composedof administration, faculty, and students and reviewsthe nominations and selects the award winners.Ilene has been a professor at Touro for 17 yearsand also serves on the school’s board of gover-nors. She has also joined the steering committeeof Friends of Karen. Their mission is to provide fi-nancial, emotional, and advocacy support to fam-ilies of children with life-threatening illnesses.Another press release brings news that CharlesSchlumberger is recognized in Chambers USAGuide to America’s Leading Lawyers in the area ofgeneral commercial litigation for 2011. Charles isa managing member of Quattlebaum, Groom, Tull& Burrow PLLC in Little Rock, AR.

Ellie Friedland was chair of the Dept. of Ear-ly Childhood Education at Wheelock College andhas resumed teaching again; she is enjoying this.She co-edited Come Closer: Critical Perspectives onTheatre of the Oppressed. She moved to Bostonfrom an hour outside the city when she gottenure at Wheelock. Ellie does activist work as anLGBT ally and does theatre of the oppressed work.William Belter finished and published A WalkThrough Eternity, and he invites you to call withquestions or comments on the book. He has beenin Houston, TX, for 30 years and has been a bi -vocational pastor for five years. Wendy SchlesselHarpham, married to Edward, PhD ’80, is writingbooks and articles. Both of their daughters weremarried last spring.

On April 27, 2011, Carla Holder survived thetornados in Alabama with minor damage. It hitnear her home, but spared the house. She saysthat she will never forget that roar. Also in April,John Banner ran his first marathon—the 2011Boston Marathon. Congratulations! Debra Hertzis working in the field of international labor rightsat Verité in Amherst, MA. She remembers the fre-quent and very enjoyable trips to Ithaca to visitdaughters Laura Southerland ’06 and EricaSoutherland ’10. Marise Lada Textor, MS ’78, andhusband Roy have been enjoying vacations attheir mountain home in southern New Mexico.

Michael Elpert is building and opening a newveterinary emergency center in the Boca Raton/Deerfield Beach, FL, area. Leah Ward Sears ismarried with children, 24 and 28. She has retiredas chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court.Pam Coulter Mason rejoined CBS News Radio af-ter 13 years at ABC and eight months at NPR. Shewas so happy to attend reunion, especially aftersurviving a car wreck. Last year she volunteeredat Walter Reed Army Medical Center helping to or-ganize and staff events for patients and theirfamilies. She chose to do this because she isthankful that her sister came back from tours inIraq and Afghanistan unhurt, as well as to hon-or her father, William Coulter ’45, BME ’49, aWWII vet. Lisa Diamant, Ljdiamant@ verizon.net; Karen Krinsky Sussman, Krinsk54@ gmail.com; Pat Relf Hanavan, [email protected].

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77 Craig Gold has been a deputydistrict attorney for the L.A.County DA’s Office for more than

21 years. His field of prosecution is money laun -dering and civil asset forfeiture associated withnarcotics trafficking investigations. He also trainslaw enforcement officers and prosecutors locallyand statewide. Recently, he organized and servedas a moderator for a Cornell Club of L.A. brunchand panel discussion on developing state and fed -eral public policies on alternative energy programsduring challenging state and federal budgetarytimes. Craig also notes that his precious twin sons,Jared and Lucas, 4, are doing well in pre-school.His wife, Marietta, works part-time as a speechtherapist at Cedars Sinai Medical Center.

After graduation, Tom Devine earned an MATfrom Colgate U. He initially taught at GreenwichHigh School in Connecticut, but since 1980, he hastaught social studies at two high schools in WestHartford. He married his wife, Liz Ferro (Niagara’77), in August 1980 and has children Matt, Chris,and Katherine. Tom is still in love with upstateNew York and has hiked, camped, and canoed ex-tensively around Saranac Lake. He has also takenfamily vacations to Yellowstone, Mt. Rainier, Gla-cier, Southern California, Provence, and Tuscanyand school field trips to Germany, Central Europe,Greece, Italy, and England. Tom writes that he stillimagines himself sitting on the Quad waiting togo to a LaFeber or Silbey lecture in Goldwin Smith.

Stuart Anderson reports that son Greg (Col-gate ’07) received his MS in political science atBinghamton last spring. Son Ross ’09 was stillworking on his engineering PhD at MIT and start-ing on a conference circuit with presentations inMichigan and Sweden. Stuart’s first boat is up forsale and he has uploaded three novels, includingAt The Threshold of a Dream, to Amazon Kindle.The first two novels take place, in part, at Cornell.Stuart’s wife, Marcy (Fallick), MS ’79, is still try-ing to provide the very best possible public edu-cation to the children of Central New York,teaching sixth grade and writing numerous grantsfor enrichment programs.

Co-correspondent Howie Eisen writes, “It iswith great sadness that I report the untimely pass-ing of Jonathan Widom in July. Jonathan wasborn in Ithaca, the son of two chemists, the ven-erable professor emeritus Benjamin Widom, PhD’53, and his wife, Joanne McCurdy Widom ’53.His own BA in Chemistry was followed by a PhD inbiochemistry from Stanford in 1982 and a two-yearpostdoctoral fellowship at Cambridge. Since 1991,he had been on the faculty of the Weinberg Col-lege of Arts and Sciences of Northwestern U. and


76 Thank you to those who filled outthe News Forms last spring andsummer. It makes writing this

column so much easier and more interesting! Su -san Pancost McAdam participates in CAAAN andenjoys talking with prospective students. One ofher interviewees has been accepted! As for othervolunteer work, Susan serves on a foundationboard for Hearts for Honduras, a primary school inLa Entrada, Honduras. They are trying to providean education to poor children and she will be as -sisting the first two former graduates to attendcollege in 2011. She also participates in an advi -sory committee for Ramapo for Children, RamapoTraining. This is a behavioral management programfor classroom teachers to enable them to managetheir classroom better and therefore enhance theteaching environment. During high school and col -lege Susan worked at the Ramapo Camp for specialneeds kids. They have a very effective program andshe is delighted to help them get their program
















at the time of his death was the William Deeringprofessor of molecular biosciences. He was alsohead of the Physical Sciences-Oncology Center, oneof only twelve established nationally by the Na-tional Cancer Inst. to develop novel strategies fordefeating cancer. Jonathan’s research focused onthe way in which genes are packaged in cells, howthis packaging affects how genes are read, andhow mutations in areas of the DNA that do not en-code proteins can lead to disease. His research hadbeen continuously supported by the NIH since1985 and he garnered many scientific awards. Itwas not just Jonathan’s scientific prowess that dis-tinguished him, but his ability to mentor youngerscientists and to foster their careers. He was alsoa valued collaborator and colleague whose workand approach to life was infused with great en-thusiasm. In addition to science, Jonathan was adevoted fan of the opera and an avid chef. To hiswife, Daphne Schneider ’75, and his parents,brother, and sister, I send our deepest condolences.

John Molinda traveled to Ithaca last summerfor the graduation of daughter Jennifer ’11, a new-ly capped engineer. “Things looked dicey weather-wise all month—and we dodged hurricanes on ourway up—but the weather miraculously cleared upin time for both the convocation and the com-mencement itself.” These past four years, he’slooked for every possible excuse to travel to Itha-ca to catch up on what he’s missed since gradua-tion: “biking through the Plantations; hanging outat the Chapter House, the Nines, etc.; windsurfing

on Cayuga Lake; dropping in on old profs atPhillips Hall (believe it or not there are still somethere); catching football, hockey, lacrosse, soccer,and basketball games; gazing at the old buildings;and having flashbacks to all the things that hap-pened in those buildings back in the ’70s.” On hisvisits, he crossed paths with Mike and Joan Salz-man Grant (parents of Steven ’12 and Allison ’15)and Marty and Vanessa Duenas Wolfson (William’11 and Ysaura Elise ’14). John also keeps up withStu Soffer, Ken Koenig, ME ’78, and Dave Hunter.“Stu’s house on Long Island Sound in Brantford,CT, is a frequent site for mini-Cornell reunions cor-responding to hockey and football games. I alsomanaged to catch up with Mark Halper on one ofhis rare trips home from England.” John anticipateslogging a few more treks from Pittsburgh to cam-pus, as his daughter has decided to stay for anMEng. If you live in Ithaca, John would like toconnect with you at [email protected].

Stephen Yale-Loehr, JD ’81 (Ithaca, NY)teaches immigration law at Cornell Law School andpractices in the field as well, as an attorney ofcounsel at Miller Mayer in Ithaca. When he wrotein mid-October, he’d just finished Green Card Sto-ries, a book of 50 stories and photos of recent im-migrants and why they came to America—look forit on Amazon and in bookstores. Stephen wouldlike to hear from Amy Birnbaum. Sarah MastersBuckey (Hanover, NH) has co-authored a new se-ries of American Girl books that introduce the his-torical characters Cécile Rey and Marie-Grace

Gardner. To launch the books in August, which arebased in New Orleans, American Girl partneredwith Kate Connick, 13, and her father, Harry Con-nick Jr., to create the original song “A Lot LikeMe,” which draws on themes in the books. Sarah,whose previous work includes stints as a news-paper reporter and editor, advertising copywriter,and community relations writer for a public hos-pital, authored the books about Marie-Grace.

In September, Annette Mulee (Lake Oswego,OR) was battling the heat in the Northeast whiletraveling to birthday celebrations and for a visitwith her Cornell roommate in Bucks County, PA.In mid-August, Sandra Gong ([email protected]), husband Victor Sloan (a U. of Chicagograd), and daughters Mei-lin and An-lin traveledto Cape Canaveral, FL, to watch the Juno space-craft launch: “It was spectacular.” Sandra alsoheard Bill Nye, the Science Guy (and new exec-utive director of the Planetary Society) at theKennedy Space Cen ter. “If I had had professorsas entertaining and in formative as Bill, I mighthave done better in my chemistry courses. Hegraciously posed for a picture with my daughters(thanks again, Bill).” Since retiring from her postas VP, human resources after 18 years at Merck,Sandra worked for a while from home for an out-placement firm. “I call myself a recoveringworkaholic and thoroughly enjoy being availablefor chauffeuring the girls to their after-school ac-tivities. I can’t quite call myself retired, so I’vestarted a resumé development/ writing business.

I hear from Doreen Yen, MaryChay, and Karen Zelkind Buglassfrom time to time. Please feel freeto contact me even if your resumédoesn’t need any updates.” Keepsending your news to: AnnetteMulee, annette@ mulee.com; HowieEisen, heisen@ drexelmed.edu.

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78 Happy 2012 fromthe Upper LeftCoast! My 2011 was

filled with travel to scientific meet -ings (Honolulu, Washington, DC,and Berlin) to disseminate our mi -graine research results. After Berlin,we had five days in Switzerland anda week in Paris. Now all I have to dois co-write the manuscripts andfinish another study. While I was inHonolulu, I caught up with CynthiaKubas. A good time (not to mentiondrinks) was had by all. I even servedas a consultant for Cynthia’s even -tual bike purchase.

In my last column, I weightedthe news heavily toward the West.This time, in deference to the heatwave, earthquake, and hurricane(what, no plague of frogs?!), we’reheading East for news. My co-corre-spondent, Ilene Shub Lefland(Stratford, CT), got a bit nostalgicas Hurricane Irene headed her way:“I was a radio news reporter duringHurricane Gloria in 1985—the lastbig one in Connecticut—and remem-ber broadcasting around the clockand sleeping in the radio stationlounge. This time, I’ll be home inmy bed at least—power or no pow-er!” Class president Roger Anderson

Healthy HabitsKaren Rose Tank ’79

K aren Rose Tank’s career had always been focused on food, from promoting alterna-tive farming practices at Cornell Cooperative Extension to working as a food, land,and agricultural policy economist

at Rutgers University. But at age thirty-nine,she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes—and her relationship with food changed for-ever. Tank had long struggled with weightand body image issues; now she had to re-evaluate her eating and exercise habits tomanage her diabetes. “I learned a lot in theprocess,” says Tank, “and eventually I want-ed to share it with people who are strug-gling with the same things.”

Tank went back to school for a certifica-tion from SUNY Purchase’s Institute for In-tegrative Nutrition. Fifteen years after herdiagnosis, she owns Rose Health Coaching,a Princeton, New Jersey, business that pri-marily helps clients stabilize their blood sug-ar and control their diabetes. Tank notesthat doctors often tell newly diagnosed patients that they must lose weight to manage theirdisease—a challenge that tends to inspire panic. Her coaching program incorporates guid-ance about food and nutrition along with behavior modification strategies to help clientsfocus on healthy living rather than just weight loss. At each session, Tank helps the clientmap out an action plan that includes diet and exercise goals for the week. “When people elim-inate their dependence on carbohydrates and sugar,” says Tank, “they begin craving inter-esting things like cabbage and kale.”

— Katie Dreier ’12









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reported that his daughter wanted to go to theshore to watch the hurricane come in; fortunate-ly, the Garden State Parkway was closed.

Enough talk of natural disasters. In the lega-cy department, Laura Day Ayers, MBA ’86’s daugh-ter Kathleen ’11 graduated in May from the Hotelschool. Laura ([email protected]) reported, “TheIthaca weather cooperated, amazingly enough, andit was a beautiful ceremony and a wonderful week-end! She even invited me to accompany her toRuloff’s and the Palms on Friday night to meet herfriends (and I was asked to dance at the Palms bya law student!). Definitely felt like I was relivingmy days on the Hill!” Laura bumped into JuneDrake Hayford across from Barton Hall after grad-uation; June’s son Tom ’11 also graduated. “Wehosted a reception on Saturday evening in thebeautiful new Physical Sciences building adjacentto Baker. Mark McAllister joined us with his fam-ily.” Sarah Thole Fischell, ME ’79 (Fair Haven, NJ;[email protected]) and husband David ’75, PhD’80, vacationed with daughter Erin ’10. Sarah andDavid’s other daughter, Jennifer, will graduatefrom Cornell in 2013. Sarah saw Tom, ME ’79, andMarilyn Groll Gaska, MS ’79, at Homecoming 2010.

Elaine Zajac Jackson (Wilmington, DE; Jacksix1@ comcast.net) is an affiliate services train-ing coordinator for the Kendal Corp., working onimplementation and training of electronic healthrecord software for continuing-care retirementcommunities—including the one in Ithaca. Herson Aaron ’06 is completing a PhD in materialsscience at the U. of Illinois. Patty Stone Orten-berg (San Francisco, CA; [email protected]) and husband Charles ’77 co-own a com-pany that helps people navigate medical claims,paperwork, and elder care.

Elizabeth Grant (Burke, VA) was appointed toserve as a judge on the Armed Services Board ofContract Appeals, which adjudicates contract dis-putes for the Dept. of Defense. In her spare timeshe volunteers at the local animal shelter and hasadopted a cat that lost a leg to a gunshot wound.She reports that “we all are adjusting.” Elizabethwould like to hear from Marilyn Meder Mont-gomery. Farther south and west, Fay NakashimaPye (Katy, TX; fay.pye@ gmail. com) does projectmanagement for oil, gas, and chemical facilities.In her spare time she teaches math and scienceand plays in her church’s handbell choir. She’d liketo hear from Patrick Baughn, Vic Janas, MS ’79,Burton Au ’75, ME ’76, and John Humpton ’76.

Other random notes: Rich Cavanagh, ME ’79(Amherst, MA; [email protected]) starteda temporary assignment in St. Petersburg, FL, forhis employer. On the other coast of Florida is LynneKolton Schneider (Boca Raton, FL; drlynne@ hotmail.com). She’d love to hear from classmatesliving in South Florida or passing through on va-cation. Alexandra Swiecicki Fairfield, PhD ’85, va-cationed with her daughter in Spain and Englandat the end of the summer. Alexandra works as abiology professor. Ilana Schmitt (née Ellen Leven -son) is a pediatrician at UMass, Amherst. She’dlike to hear from ’78ers who were Russian majors.

As you’ll recall from my last column, our for-mer webmaster Paul Bonner passed away in July.Marie Hagen, JD ’81, has taken over temporari-ly. Paul was also webmaster for the Cornell AsianAlumni Association. Kent Sheng organized a funddrive to name one of the group study rooms in UrisLibrary in memory of Paul. Room #404B is one ofa series of three in the lower level of the libraryadjoining the study lounge area with the curvedwindows that overlook Libe Slope. The room is 133

square feet with a table, blackboard, and chairs.It is heavily used by undergraduate studentsstudying or doing group work. The funds for nam-ing the room are in hand; however, if you wouldlike to make a contribution in memory of Paul oranother classmate, please consider a donation toundergraduate financial aid—particularly the Classof 1978 Memorial Scholarship. Thanks to Kent forspearheading the drive to honor Paul. That’s allthe news for now. Cindy Fuller, [email protected]; Ilene Shub Lefland, [email protected].

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acting, tennis, boating, and weightlifting in hisspare time. Joanne Reisch lives in White Plains,NY. When she wrote, Joanne was taking a class inNYC on neuropsychology at New York U. Movies,hiking, and traveling are her favorite activitieswhen she has some free time. Michael Feinbergis executive director of the Greater New York La-bor-Religion Coalition. He has been supportingthe Occupy Wall Street demonstrations and trav-eling to Chicago, Washington, DC, and London.Michael’s interests include theater, travel, read-ing, music, and politics. He would like to hearfrom Jim McCue ’78. Donna Wiesner Keene isthe Washington, DC, liaison to TheTeaParty.netand has been busy writing op-eds. She served inthe Reagan Administration and in both Bush ad-ministrations. Donna enjoys swimming, boating,and traveling with her husband, David, who ispresident of the National Rifle Association.

Connect to our class online through Facebook(Cornell University Class of 1979) and LinkedIn(Cornell University Class of ’79), and send newsto your class correspondents to keep this columnfilled. Send updates to classof79@ cornell.edu ordirectly to your class correspondents: CindyAhlgren Shea, cynthiashea@hotmail. com; KathyZappia Gould, rdgould@comcast. net; and LindaMoses, [email protected].

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79 Greetings—andwelcome to2012.Hard to believe that, 36 yearsago, we were spending our first

winter climbing up and down Libe Slope and walk -ing back and forth to North Campus! Mark yourcalendars: June 5-8, 2014 is our 35th Re union.Let’s have the largest turnout for a 35th yet!

We heard from Paul O’Shaughnessy, BS ’82,who is living in Lexington, MA, with his wife, Di-ane, and working as the director of quality assur-ance at Covaris Inc. in nearby Woburn. Paul wouldlike to hear from classmate Chris Bartos. He en-joys fencing classes and participating as a Revo-lutionary War reenactor with the 10th Regiment ofFoot in Lexington. He also serves as a board mem-ber at the Lexington Historical Society and as atechnical director and lighting designer at the Foot-light Club in Jamaica Plain, MA. Jonathan Hanftis the community health program supervisor/ RyanWhite program coordinator for the Hennepin Coun-ty, MN, Human Services and Public Health Dept. Heleads the Ryan White Part A grantee office for theMinneapolis-St. Paul grant area. Recently Jonathanhas served as a NASTAD Ethiopia HIV programtechnical advisor. Jonathan enjoys hiking, garden-ing, birding, and attending the St. Paul ChamberOrchestra classical music series. He would like tohear from Jane Mt. Pleasant ’80, MS ’82.

George Rogers is a lawyer at the Inter-Amer-ican Development Bank and has started teachingat Georgetown Law School in Washington, DC. Hehas also been urging his youngest daughter to ap-ply to Cornell, but to no avail thus far. H. J. Franklives in Florida and works at Personalized PowerSystems, which supplies emergency standby gen-erators. Joanne Simon (Elmhurst, NY) serves as thedirector of pensions for Sony Music Entertainment.She has been traveling frequently to the Midweston business. At home, she teaches religious edu-cation for the confirmation program at St. Adal-bert’s. Aubrey Charasz is chairman of the Dept. ofAnesthesiology at Saint Joseph’s Medical Center inYonkers. He got back to Cornell recently for theHomecoming football game. Aubrey is raising threesons: Daniel, 14, Adin, 11, and Nathaniel, 8.

Gregg and Joan Discepolo Popkin live inChappaqua, NY. Gregg is COO at a real estate pri-vate equity firm, recently working on real estatedevelopment in NYC and in Hamburg and Frankfurt,Germany. Joan is the principal of JDP Interior De-sign. Greg and Joan enjoy visiting their two daugh-ters, who are both at Cornell in the College ofHuman Ecology: Jaclyn ’11 (MS expected in 2012)and Chelsea ’14. At home, Gregg and Joan keepbusy with fundraising for several charities—in-cluding Cornell, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, andthe Special Olympics—and with yoga, biking, andgoing to shows and the beach. Gregg would liketo hear from Ed McGowan and Howard Bleichfeld.

Jeffrey Oppenheimer and wife Missy live inBoca Raton, FL, with their four children, ages 6,9, 17, and 22. Jeffrey, a neurosurgeon, enjoys

80 Hurricane Irene—how did it af -fect you? I hope you escapedwith minor damage. My base -

ment decided to flood after 20 years of Sahara-likeconditions. The benefit, however, was that I wasforced to do an archeological dig of sodden memo -rabilia, which uncovered my 1976-80 time capsule.My advice to you is to check out your Cornellmementos and put them high and dry. I was able tosave a few things such as the first Cornell T-shirtthat dyed my laundry pink, and a few mugs from theNines, but had to part with my treasured (?) Thermobook and a multitude of texts that I really shouldhave sold back to the Campus Store. At least it gaveme a minute to reflect on my first days on the Hill.Now, do you remember these classmates?

Jeffrey Pargament continues to practice laborand employment law at Pargament & HallowellPLLC, in Washington, DC, and serves on a numberof nonprofit boards. He chairs the Maryland Hospi-tal Association board, is a board member of Ad-ventist Healthcare, and is on the board of governorsof the Hebrew Home of Greater Washington. In ad-dition, he is involved in the college search withdaughter Michelle, 17, and is trying to steer her tothe alma mater! Jeffrey Lindy practices law inPhiladelphia and Montgomery County, specializingin criminal defense (mostly white-collar) and com-mercial litigation. He runs his own small firm. Theproud dad notes that his oldest, Isaac, is finishingup his freshman year at Vassar and his daughter,Olivia, is in tenth grade. Wife Nancy works in ad-vertising and marketing. He reminisces that hisModern European History class taught by Prof. JohnWeiss is still pertinent today with regard to trendsand social movements that he studied. He recon-nected with Derrick Mancini ’78, Marina Budhos’83, and Saly Glassman, courtesy of Facebook!

Daniel Troy enjoys being general counsel ofGlaxoSmithKline, based in Philadelphia, London, andNorth Carolina’s Research Triangle Park. SalvatoreMoscatello left his established medical practice tostart his own solo GI practice in Charleston, SC.Thinking back to college days, he loved squash, butcannot play now due to a bad knee. He volunteers










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on several local boards including Trident TechnicalCollege and Goodwill Industries. Craig Tendler writesfrom New Jersey, where he heads up the oncologyclinical development and global medical affairs or-ganizations for Johnson & Johnson. His group hasbeen instrumental in developing a new drug, knownas Zytiya, for the treatment of advanced prostatecancer; it was approved by the FDA in April 2011.In his spare time he hopes to resume piano les-sons after a hiatus of 30 years. He and his wifeare empty-nesters as his older daughter, Helena,graduated from the U. of Rochester and his youngerdaughter, Amanda, is a freshman at Emory U.

Stacey Freeman’s present “day job” is directorof major gifts at the American Red Cross in the LosAngeles region. She enjoys yoga, walking, reading,and travel. Hugh, BArch ’81, and Peggy HoffmannConnolly check in from Hopewell, NJ, where Peg-gy is active in the community as the treasurer ofthe local town harvest fair and sewing dresses forpatients of a medical clinic in Haiti through herchurch, in which she is a deacon. Hugh’s business,Connolly Architecture LLC, celebrated its secondanniversary of serving residential and commercialclients and emphasizing sustainability. Their twochildren Erin (U. of Pittsburgh, BS ’06; WVU, MS’09) and Hope (Princeton, BS ’09; Columbia, PhD’15) are nearby. Erin works as a community coun-selor and Hope is studying environmental engi-neering. Hugh is on the Hopewell Valley Green Teamand on the board of the Hopewell Harvest Fair.

Maria Di Gregorio, MAT ’82, is a veterinarian inOklahoma. She and her husband own two clinics,one a small-animal practice and the other a mixed-animal practice. They like the variety, as the mixtureof people in their rural vs. urban practice is enjoy-able. Maria is learning how to drive horses and lovesit. She has also started running again, now that hertwo children are in college. She would like to hearfrom Kathy Richter Weitze. After focusing on thecollege application process last spring, Kathy Dixon-Leone has a Florida boy who could not see himselfgoing north of Carolina and is now a freshman atUNC, Chapel Hill, where he is playing lacrosse.

As a technical crop advisor for 4,000 acres offresh Florida citrus, Thomas Stopyra makes recom-mendations for fertilizer and crop protection chem-icals to ensure that the fruit is clean, fresh, andwholesome. He plays tennis twice a week and hasbeen involved in writing a food safety-good agri-culture practices plan for Florida citrus growers. Thenational GAPs standard from Cornell has been anexcellent guide and source for information regard-ing food safety. He would like to hear from his oldfriend Jim Aesch. Roberta Burstein-Markel wouldlike to hear from Beth Jones Lee and Martin Liu.

Luc Chabot is an engineering consultant forthe oil industry enjoying solving technical chal-lenges related to deepwater floating productionsystems worldwide. His after-hours activities in-clude ice hockey, photography, and internationaltravel; he would like to maintain contact with hisSigma Pi frat brothers. Leslie Feldman, PhD ’90,is a professor of political science at Hofstra U. andhas published Spaceships and Politics: The PoliticalTheory of Rod Sterling (2010). She is doing a roundof lectures and interviews for the book and enjoysreading and writing in her spare time. James Fer-werda, PhD ’98, has been appointed Xerox en-dowed chair at Rochester Inst. of Technology. Heis an associate professor in the Center for ImagingScience and will use the three-year appointmentto create displays that are characteristic of realmaterials and to explore the optical properties of“programmable matter,” an emerging technology

Easthampton last September for breakfast while Iwas visiting there by boat with some Jersey Girls.She and her husband, Jay, both attorneys, have ac-tive practices and two sons, one in college and onea senior in high school. Cindy keeps in touch withSuzanne Carter Kramer ’79, whose son Blake is asophomore at Lehigh; Cindy’s older son, Garrett,is a junior there. Karen Prescott Dalby (kdalby@comcast. net) coordinated a mini-reunion with DebOsgood and me in Atlantic City in October. Karenand her husband, Bert, live in Wayne, PA, wherethey are officially empty-nesters. Their youngest,daughter Brooke, left in August to join older sisterJulia at UVA. Their son, Brian ’10, BS Hotel ’11,lives and works in Denver. Deb has two seniors, adaughter at Boston U. and son Oberon in highschool. She and I obsessed over the college appli-cation process both of our sons are strugglingthrough, especially as the early decision deadlinelooms. It will be a distant memory by the time youare reading this column! Jane Sanders Markson andCathy Cosentini Bonczek were not able to join us,so we are planning another gathering next summerwhen we all are free. While in Atlantic City, we no-ticed that the ECAC Men’s Hockey Championshipswill be at Boardwalk Hall on March 16, 2012 andthought that could be a great opportunity to gettogether again and cheer on the Big Red. Considerjoining us if you can make it!

Wendy Rosenthal Gellman (New York, NY)practices law in the Big Apple. She is senior coun-sel and senior policy advisor to US Senator KirstenE. Gillibrand (NY), who, coincidentally, was a Kap-pa at Dartmouth. Wendy’s older daughter, Lindsay,is a Kappa at Yale, and her younger daughter is afreshman at Harvard. Wendy also serves on theCornell KKG Foundation Board. Susan Peterson(wesolimon@ excite.com) wrote from Averill Park,NY, where she is director of communications for theNYS Senate in Albany. When she isn’t working, Su-san is busy raising sons Wesley, 15, and Oliver, 11,and pursuing her interests in skiing, hiking, gar-dening, and photography. New Yorker Franny Os-man ([email protected]) is married to BillFreeman, MS ’81. She is a transportation volunteerworking on “getting public transportation going inher town and region.” She is also pursuing her in-terest in creative writing. Franny fondly remembersclimbing around the gorge while she was at Cornell.

Heading northeast, James Carmody ([email protected]) is vice president andgeneral manager at the Seaport Hotel and SeaportWorld Trade Center in Boston, MA. Also in Massa-chusetts, Melissa Storne Maina (West Newbury;[email protected]) is a pharmaceuticalconsultant married to Claude, PhD ’84. Melissaspends time horseback riding, hiking, gardening,dancing, and raising her family. Even further north,Mary Machamer (gmannard3002@ rogers. com)wrote from Toronto, ON, where she is a family physi-cian with Taddle Creek Connection. She is also the“activities coordinator” for her daughter, 10. Maryand husband George Mannard plan an addition totheir house and would rather be “on vacation atthe beach.” She would like to hear from “everyone,”especially Anthony Barone ’82. Sharee Umpierre(sumpierre@ gmail.com) wrote from San Juan,Puerto Rico. Sharee is the division director of gyne -cologic oncology at the U. of Puerto Rico and mar-ried to Dr. Rolando Colon. She lists her presentafter-hours activities as “boating, fishing, and kidchauffer and ATM.” Sharee would like to hear fromGrace Jenkins.

Lorraine Brennan (London, England; [email protected]) is an adjunct professor at

that will shift display technology from flat screensto three-dimensional objects.

A few of our classmates discovered the joy ofattending Cornell’s Adult University (CAU) off-cam-pus study tours and programs, as well as on-campussummer classes in 2011. Debra Giorgi Andersonparticipated in Kayaking; Maura Kates-Rutkin ex-plored Rio, El Salvador, and the Amazon; andRobert Lanza, ME ’82, stayed in Ithaca for a pre-reunion seminar entitled Meeting the Neighbors:Fifty Years of Planetary Exploration. Cynthia Ad -donizio-Bianco, caa28 @cornell.edu; Leona Barsky,Leonabarsky @ aol.com; Dik Saalfeld, rfs25 @cornell. edu; Dana Jerrard, dej24 @ cornell. edu.

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81 Greetings from Spring Lake, NJ! Thisis my first column as a class cor -respondent, so I hope you enjoy the

news. It’s difficult to write this knowing that whenit’s published, most of us will be in the midst ofwinter gloom. For now, summer has lingered andthe chill of autumn is just beginning to arrive. Thechildren are back in school after several long weeksoff, full of sports and travel. My oldest, son Chris,is a high school senior living at Blair Academy (inBlairstown, NJ, near the Delaware Water Gap); sonCharlie is a high school sophomore at Ranney (alocal, private day school); and our youngest, daugh - ter Calli, is in sixth grade at Mountz (our local publicschool). Both Chris and Charlie had a great time atReunion while my husband, Jim, stayed home anddid dance recital duties with Calli. View Charlie onYouTube jumping 40 feet off a Beebe Lake bridgeone afternoon (thanks to direction from ’XanderCooper ’10!) and longboarding during the BroadwayBomb, a renegade skate event, in New York City onOctober 8. Serenity now . . . breathe!

Reunion is a distant memory, though more funthan we “50-somethings” should have in a week-end! Isn’t 52 the age when we should be playingwith a full deck? Despite so many physical changeson campus, it is good to know that life on the Hillcontinues much as it has since we all were there,and John Walsh is still “JW.” (Our freshman dorm,U-Hall 2, had a good turnout for reunion.) It wasterrific to catch up with Karen Levine Whitman anddaughter Jordyn, whom we never get to see oftenenough. Karen is still with Hilton Hotels and livesin Swampscott, MA. Also in Massachusetts is AimeeLamb Southworth.

Vonnah Weems Hollands and daughter Kather-ine came up from St. Pete, FL, and Renee MalcomWeir traveled from Virginia. Anne Snyder Maroneand Susan Rehm Gatto ’80, MBA ’81, were at theKKG reception during the sudden rainstorm Satur-day afternoon. I relaxed on the upper outdoor ter-race of Olin Library overlooking the Arts Quad withEdna Eidelberg Rosloff and her husband, Curt; hadlunch at the Plantations tent with Lori SalzmanKleppe; ate vegetarian during the barbecue dinnerunder a West Campus tent with Paul Gleichauf; rodethe bus with Daryl Georger to learn about his du-ties as the NCAA compliance officer for Pennsylva-nia and how to promote our children’s pre-collegeswimming “careers”; and watched Mike Staun, ME’82, MBA ’83, rally some classmates to raid the mid-night pizza snacks of a neighboring reunion class.Where was Matt Grady? How about the venerableone-time mayor of Ithaca, Alan Jay Cohen? I alsomissed seeing fellow Spring Lake resident SheilaGorman Steffel, and finding out how her life inMichigan compares with mine.

I recently had some free time to visit withfriends. Cindy Ahlgren Shea ’79 joined me in



















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as president of acquisitions and development forHEI Hotels & Resorts. Steve notes that in spite ofthe difficult economic environment, HEI has beendoing very well and has grown to a medium-sizedcompany with 40 hotels. Currently, he’s in themiddle of investing their third hotel fund, this onewith approximately $500m in equity from univer-sity endowments. On the personal side, all threekids (Jordan, Jamie, and Jenna) live and work inNYC, which gives Steve and his wife, Ellen, ample

opportunity to see them. In this day of kids leav-ing the nest for places far and wide, this is a nicebonus that many of our classmates will appreciate.

Warren James, BArch ’82, is principal at War-ren A. James Architects + Planners in New YorkCity. Warren was selected for the jury of Reimag-ining the Waterfront, an international ideas com-petition for the redesign of Manhattan’s East Rivershore from East 59th to 125th streets. This proj-ect, which was launched by CIVITAS in Septem-ber, aims to transform the entire East Riverpedestrian experience. Scott Irgang and wife Car -ole live in Pleasantville, NY. Scott is director oflabor relations for Pitney Bowes in Stamford, CT.On the leisure side, Scott mentions that he andCarole enjoyed trips this past summer to the wineregions of Napa, CA, and Rioja, Spain. And on thevolunteer side, Scott lists time spent coachingout-of-work executives and managers on how toeffectively interview and re-enter the job market.

Sharon Sitrin-Moore lives in Elmira with hus-band Scott and is able to make frequent trips toIthaca to enjoy the Farmer’s Market, TaughannockFalls, Purity Ice Cream, and the MoosewoodRestaurant, to name just a few of the things thatwill strike a chord with our readers. Sharon listsher time spent with Cornell-in-Washington as apivotal part of her Cornell experience. Indeed, shecontinues to work in the public sector, currentlyas the district director for her local state senator.Stephanie Steinberg Sobel and husband Mark,MS ’90, live in Merrick, NY. Continuing a commonthread, Stephanie lists her Cornell-in-Washingtonexperience as something that continues to playa role in her life, as she frequently spends timewith other alums of the program.

With the last few words I have remaining,I’ll mention that my wife, Lisa Mummery Crump,and I were able to celebrate the Cornell gradua-tion of our second daughter, Erica ’11, last May.Amidst threats of thunderstorms, the sun shoneand the weekend was great. To all of our class-mates out there, please keep the news coming.

Steven Crump, [email protected]; Mark Fer-nau, mef 29@ cornell.edu; and Douglas Skalka;dskalka@ npmlaw.com.

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attend. In the meantime, here is the latest newsfrom our classmates.

Chris Pothier (Brooktondale, NY; [email protected]) retired in May 2010 as exec-utive director of the Loaves and Fishes kitchen inIthaca, then spent a year at the Cornell CeramicStudio making pottery. She spent the summer of2011 working on the exterior of her house (scrap-ing paint, replacing wooden siding, sanding, patch -ing, painting) and volunteering at the Immaculate

Conception food pantry and the Town of Carolinepantry. “I enjoy working with members of my com-munity and parish to help our neighbors.” In Sep-tember she started working on a project, Booksfor Bolivia, that requests local donations to pur-chase books for abandoned/homeless children inCochabamba, Bolivia, and traveled there in No-vember to volunteer through January 2012. JulietTammenoms Bakker (jbakker@longitude capital.com) and her spouse, Holt Thrasher, live in Green-wich, CT. Juliet co-founded an asset managementfirm, Longitude Capital (www.longitudecapital.com), that invests in life sciences companies. Oc-casionally, a Cornell student calls for advice, andshe says those calls are fun. “It’s rewarding tobe helpful. I am now on PCCW (President’s Coun-cil of Cornell Women) and serve on the advisoryboard for the Dyson School in CALS.”

Suzanne Townsend Cuccurullo ([email protected]) has lived in the Boston area for over20 years. Two years ago she left her career infinan cial services and started a new career in col-lege admissions as executive director of under-graduate admission and marketing. “It has beenone of the most rewarding experiences. I work fora business school outside of Boston called Bent-ley U. Perfect timing since my daughter just start-ed her freshman year at New York U. Luckily, I stillhave a son at home, a sophomore in high school.I have been married to Mike ’82 for 25 years nextyear. Life is good!” Look for Suzanne at the 30thReunion. Chad Crandell ([email protected]) has been in the Boston area for over 25years. It was meant to be a two- to three-yearplan—at least that’s what he told his wife whenthey moved from New Orleans! It just turned outto be a great place to work and raise a family. Chadand his wife have three children. The oldest, Jacob,graduated with a hospitality degree from EndicottCollege last May and is working in the area. Daugh-ter Ashlynn is in her final year at U. of Colorado,Boulder. Their youngest, Elias, is a freshman atBeverly High School. Chad is the co-founder andpresident of Capital Hotel Management (CHM),and they just celebrated their 11th year as a ho-tel investment and asset management company.Working with him are a number of Hotelies, in-cluding Michael Doyle ’79, Peter Keim ’69,Roger Clark, MPS ’82, Derek Olsen ’92, and LisaMazzanti ’07.

In November, Mark and Kim Osborn Rhodesattended a reception/dinner at the Cornell Club(with nearly 100 other HumEc alumni) to cele-brate the 100th anniversary of Cornell Cooperative

‘Check out your Cornell mementosand put them high and dry.’Cynthia Addonizio-Bianco ’80

Georgetown Law School and managing director atJams Int’l. She is “very happy” and fondly remem-bers hanging out at Cornell with Maryann Faccen-da, Debby Lennon, Jo Buyske, Laura Fratt, andBernadette Mullins Burns. Lorraine would like tohear from Brian Buck. Mark Jordy, MBA ’93, hasfinished his work in Beijing with Wellington andmoved to London with wife Lauren and children Jimand Jill. They think London is great, but were sadto leave their lives in China behind: “Our four yearsthere were filled with interesting experiences thatbelied a very different China than is portrayed inthe news media here in the West.”

Time to go for a run on the boardwalk, or whatis left of it after Irene unleashed her fury and de-stroyed about a mile of it. Months on the treadmillloom once the nice weather is gone until nextspring. It is great to hear from everyone! If youwere at Reunion and didn’t see your name or newsreported, please send an update. All others, keep intouch! Barb Amoscato Sabaitis, beachba@ hotmail.com; Joann Minsker Adams, joann@ budadams.net; Betsy Silverfine, [email protected].

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82 Charles Krell and his wife,Daisy, sent in a great picture(which I unfortunately can’t

paste into the column) of them and their daughterIsabella ’15, taken at the Arts Quad during Orien -tation Week this past August. Isabella is a third-generation Cornellian following in the steps of Dadand her grandparents William ’57 and OlgaDuntuch Krell ’57.

Ed Ku sent in some timely news: after work-ing in marketing and advertising for more yearsthan he can remember, he made the switch to in-terior design. Together with his architect partner,he opened a design firm in New York City calledCoffinier Ku Design. They specialize in residentialwork involving architectural renovation and cus-tom furniture design, as well as traditional inte-rior decoration. In addition to recent projects suchas the restaurant Picholine, in Lincoln Center,Coffinier Ku Design can claim the recent designa-tion as one of New York Spaces’ Top 50 Design-ers. Ed looks forward to our 30th Reunion thisyear and is working hard to recruit classmates. Hementions recent mini-reunions in New York withfriends David Weiss, Anthony Barone, DebbyGeis, Kathy Moore, and Lloyd Roberts ’82, BS’81, but emphasizes that he wants to see every-one in Ithaca this June.

Jennifer Gardiner Liguori shares with us thatshe was divorced this past July and two monthslater moved to Charlotte, NC, where she is buildinga house near Lake Wylie. In spite of the move andhouse building, she continues as the director of theNorthwest Arkansas Tax Center and as the qualifiedtax expert for Legal Aid of Arkansas’s Low IncomeTax Clinic. In Charlotte, she is working to estab-lish a volunteer income tax assistance center andwould love to hear from classmates with a bit offinancial background and a desire to give back. Shelooks forward to connecting with Cornellians at thelocal Spirit of Zinck’s events as well as reunion.

Writing from Connecticut, Kristan Peters-Ham-lin tells us that she sent daughter Brittany Ham-lin ’15 off to Cornell as a member of this year’sArts and Sciences freshman class, where she’ll bepre-med. Celebrating the renewed Cornell connec-tion, Kristan hosted a party on October 9 throughCornell of Fairfield County for all Cornell freshmenfrom Fairfield County and their parents. Also liv-ing in Connecticut, Steve Mendell is working hard

83 Happy New Year! As you readthis, 2012 has just begun andour 30th Reunion is only 1-1/2

years away. It will be here before you know it, sostart preparing now! Reach out to people you werefriends with on campus and encourage them to














http://www.longitudecapital.com

http://www.longitudecapital.com





my children more.” Paul Jensen confesses thathe’d rather be “singing with the Cayuga’s Waitersalumni.” Instead, he pens beautifully scriptedlines for his lucky PR clients at Weber Shandwick.Internal medicine physician Robert “Charlie”Monteiro, the newly elected president of theNorth Carolina Medical Society, has evidently beeninfected by some of the local NASCAR fervor:Charlie says he’d rather be “driving my Ferrariaround the track.” (Dr. Monteiro would like tohear from George Diaz, Bill Wong, Chris Stoia,Mark Irgang, and Eileen Bartol. Catch him if youcan at [email protected].)

Frederic Johnson has such a great gig vol-unteering at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago,where he works on high-altitude weather experi-ments and “runs Star Parties,” that you’d thinkthere would be nothing he’d “rather be doing,”right? Wrong. Frederic says he’d rather be “work-ing on a theoretical physics project of a slightlyrelativistic quantum mechanical system.” PagingDr. Who (and/or William Shillue, who residessomewhere in our galaxy, and from whom Freder-ic would like to hear) . . . Anita Jaffe reports thatnot much has changed from her undergraduatedays: “Riding horses” is now, as it was then, whatshe’d still rather be doing. Her co-workers at MVPHealth Care probably suspect this poorly kept se-cret, given that in her spare time, Anita owns andmanages Stockade Polo & Saddle Club, a 57-acreproperty where she and her husband run a seriesof horse shows from May to September.

Unlike Anita, whose wishes and hobbies haveremained constant, for Thomas Yazdgerdi, changehas been the constant. Thomas has spent the last20 years in the US Foreign Service, through whichhe has been posted to assignments all over theglobe, from Panama to Albania, from Greece toKosovo. He is now deputy political counselor atthe US Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. Understandably,what Thomas says he’d “rather be doing” is “notgetting shot at.” Here’s hoping, most sincerely,that Thomas gets his wish, and that he hearssoon from Mike Beller ’84, the Cornell buddywith whom he’d like to reconnect.

From wishing to recalling: When asked, “Whatis the one thing you remember most fondly fromyour time at Cornell?” Chun Pak, an insurancestatistician with American General, replied, “Be-ing on the gymnastics team.” Fellow Big Red ath-lete Steve Garrison can relate; he misses “timespent on the varsity football field and at theDelta Upsilon house with my fraternity brothers.”Steve now spends his days as regional memberexecutive for the Ritz Carlton Destination Club.Jim Good, who was promoted to EVP at VeoliaWater North America, said that what he remem-bers most fondly from Cornell is “the seasons. Wedon’t have them in California. Also, the certain-ty among the vast majority of students that theworld is their oyster.” Ah, yes, the confidence ofyouth! Jeff Cantele and Rachel Kessler Park canrelate all over again: Jeff’s daughter is in theClass of ’14, and Rachel’s son Solomon is CornellEngineering ’15. Tracy Williams Anarella, whoworks in television production, gets nostalgic overthe memory of “going for late-night sandwichesat the Hot Truck.” She’d like to hear from hertruckin’ buddy Andy Rothschild.

One classmate who spares us the full force ofhis Big Red memories is Rob Tchack. He con-fesses that his favorite Cornell experiences are“not suitable for a family magazine.” A nation ofgrateful alumni readers thanks you, Rob, for yourrestraint. For a bit of what we are missing out on


on developing enterprise-wide supply chain ca-pabilities for the consumer, medical device anddiagnostic, and pharmaceutical sectors. Mikewrites, “Shortly after resuming rowing last falland after a 25-year lapse, I introduced my 16-year-old daughter Amelia to the sport. She hasdone exceptionally well and even competed atthe US Rowing Youth Nationals in a four withcoxswain and placed 10th in the nation.” Mikeand wife Wendy (Zeh) ’85 have remained in thenorthern New Jersey area with their two daugh-ters. Myong-Hun Chang ([email protected])is a professor of economics at Cleveland State U.He lives in Bay Village, OH, with wife Si-Yun.

Ed Martinez has been working for MedcoHealth Solutions for more than seven years as thesenior director of secondary benefits. He and hispartner, Barry Bullis, have adopted their fourthchild. The children are Marco, 11, Alejandro, 10,Jessica, 7, and Maria Celeste, 22 months. Con-gratulations, Ed and Barry! David Goodman is thevice president and treasurer of Petro-Chem De-velopment Co. Inc. He still plays tennis, a littlegolf, and has now added fencing, thanks to hiskids. David would like to hear from Jeff Silver,Steve T., Gary H., and Rich Lipschutz.

Han Chiu (La Jolla, CA) is the founder andCEO of VAVICHI Health Solutions. He started thiscompany in order to solve the simple problem ofwhy good curative and wellness therapies are notmaking it to market. Keith Kefgen is opening newoffices of HVS, executive search, in South Ameri-ca and Africa this year. He still stays in touch withthe football program, Hotel school functions, andthe Cornell Club in NYC. Keith also volunteers andcontributes to “Small Voices,” a program in NYCthat helps underprivileged children. Gene Pellettis the owner of Environmental Resources LLC, awetlands consulting firm. He is a volunteer coachof youth sports in Spencerport, NY.

Sharon Toll Rubinson is an associate at amulti-doctor small animal veterinary hospital incentral New Jersey. She’s been practicing for near-ly 25 years and still loves what she does! Last sum-mer, she packed up her oldest son, Ethan, and senthim to Cornell Engineering, Class of 2015. Sharonwas a member of the Cornell Women’s Tennis Teamand still plays as often as possible on a sociallycompetitive level. She has been living in English-town, NJ, since 1988 and hopes to relocate to thebeach once her youngest son, John, finishes highschool. James MacKenzie is an agriculture con-sultant in Virginia. He has built two machines forthe wine grape industry. One incorporates chem-icals into the root zone. The second is for graperoot borer soil drench. James enjoys building ma-chines for specialized crops. Andrew Foster isstudying advanced bibliography at UCLA whilemaintaining an antiquarian book trade. He hasmoved to the Caltech neighborhood of Pasadena,CA. Karla Sievers McManus, [email protected]; Janet Insardi, [email protected]. Classwebsite, http://classof84.alumni.cornell.edu.

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Extension, a program that brings the College of Hu-man Ecology to the communities. The NYC Food andFinance High School (sponsored by CCE) prepareddelicious appetizers and engaging conversation.After a decade on Wall Street, Kim has returned toher roots and is now teaching high school familyand consumer science. New York City resident MarkSpiegel (markspiegel@ gmail.com) left investmentbanking a couple of years ago to focus solely oninvesting, and in June 2011 opened Stanphyl Cap-ital Partners, a microcap stock long-short hedgefund. “It feels great to wake up every day doingexactly what I want to do—and, even better, nothaving to squeeze into the downtown #6 train!”

In more New York City news Duncan Huyler([email protected]) recently started asthe CFO at Boodell & Co., an Asia-focused hedgefund. He and his wife, Erica (Nichols) ’82, are onthe board of directors for Friends of Karen, a chil-dren’s charity serving families in the Metro NY areathat have children with life-threatening illnesses.Carlo Frappolli ([email protected]) is nowhead of talent and development at JPMorganChase, commuting to NYC from Chicago while theirson completes his senior year in high school (andhoping Domenic gets accepted at Cornell!). Twindaughters are sophomores in college, Danielle atthe U. of Richmond and Tori at Texas Christian U.Carlo is proud of his wife, Kim, who manages allthe logistics of living in two cities and coordi-nates the activities of the entire family.

On a personal note, I continue to work as anexecutive recruiter for a local firm, Domari & As-sociates. We are growing rapidly and I am leadingthe healthcare recruiting team. My daughter isnow 13 and hopes to be admitted to Sarasota Mil-itary Academy for high school next year. No, real-ly, she wants to go! In my spare time, I am veryinvolved in the local music scene and in Novem-ber helped with a benefit for Dan Toler (of AllmanBrothers fame) since he was stricken with ALS.Local and national acts performed, including Ar-timus Pyle from Lynyrd Skynyrd, Warren Haynes(Allman Brothers and Government Mule), andDickey Betts and Great Southern, to name just afew. It was a great privilege to be there. Come ondown to Sarasota, FL—the live music here is fab-ulous and the weather isn’t bad either. See youall at our 30th Reunion. And if you didn’t seeyour news in this column, stay tuned to the nextissue—the response to our e-mail solicitation wastremendous. Keep the news coming! AlyssaBickler, [email protected].

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84 Rainerio “Rai” Reyes has beenspending a lot of time on musi -cal theatre production lately.

One of his projects is a current Broadway musicalcalled Catch Me If You Can (www.catchme themusical.com), based on the autobiography ofFrank Abagnale Jr. and the hit movie that starredLeonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks. “We werefortunate to receive four Tony Award nomina -tions, including Best Musical, and to win BestActor in a Musical,” writes Rai. “Next time you’relooking to see a Broadway show, I hope you willconsider ours!”Dorean GordonWilliams is workinghard because she just sent her oldest child off tocollege. She hopes to find time between work,married life, and raising children to re-engage inher favorite activities that she enjoyed at Cornell.She also volunteers at the Carrolton Schools.

Michael Whiting is the director of global stra -tegic operations at Johnson & Johnson, working

85 I am so grateful to whoever inAlumni Affairs decided to asktwo questions on our News Form

that generate terrific responses: “What wouldyou rather be doing now?” and “What is the onething you remember most fondly from your timeat Cornell?” First, the wish list:

Linda Messinger Manos, DVM ’90, a veteri-nary dermatologist at the Veterinary Referral Cen-ter of Colorado, says she’d rather be “playing with






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She included a brochure for Beach Boutique, herretail store in Provincetown, MA; her designs arereally beautiful. Her business has both wholesaleand retail branches, and Carol travels the worldfor pieces for the collection, which she designs.To date she has restored seven historic buildingsand is about to start her eighth project. She ismarried to William Browne; they enjoy travel, ski-ing, antiquing, and going to art galleries and thebeach. Carol also remembers the beauty of Cor-nell and would like to hear from Arlyn Diaz Vogel -mann. Hadley Harper Witcher, BFA ’87, lives inVillanova, PA, with husband Robert. She works fora lobbyist during the New Mexico Legislative ses-sion. She is also busy with yoga, friends, gardens,and museums when she can find time to enjoythem. Hadley and Robert have two children: CoraElizabeth, 2, and son Avery, 4. Hadley wanted toreconnect with Molly Schmitt Garner ’85 and re-membered most the lake and the gorges at Cor-nell, as well as times with great friends and thefabulous faculty of the Fine Arts department.

Grace Tien Hwang’s fondest memory of Cornellwas meeting her husband, Tony ’87, on the cam-pus bus. Grace is an executive director with Mor-gan Stanley in New York, where she is the chiefoperations officer for their America operations. Sheand Tony live in Fairfield, CT, and have childrenChristina, 17, and Peter, 12. Ron Schiller was re-cently appointed senior VP for business develop-ment at Lois L. Lindauer Searches. He also launchedhis own company, Aspen Executive FundraisingAdvisors. Ron lives in Aspen, CO, with his part-ner, Alan Fletcher, a Princeton alum, who is in hissixth year as president of the Aspen Music Festivaland School. They are looking forward to the vis-its of several Cornell friends for ski season.

Speaking of memories of Cornell, there aresome amazing pictures of the Slope and other cam-pus locations posted from Reunion last summer onthe Cornell alumni pages (www.alumni. cornell. edu).The university also was asking alumni to post pho-tos from their days at Cornell. So check out theReunion pictures and perhaps pictures from ourdays on campus as well. If you want to reconnectwith a classmate directly, log into CornellConnect(https://www.cornellconnect. cornell. edu/), whereyou can update your information with Cornell andfind contact information on other alumni fromany year. It’s easy to sign up—and the help lineis very efficient and used to dealing with alumswho can’t remember their ID numbers!

Please send your news and information forfuture columns! You can drop me a note at theaddress below or post it directly on our Facebookpage (Cornell University Class of 1986) or on Twit-ter (@CornellClass86). If you have not paid yourdues, please consider supporting the class. You cando this online at https://www.giving. cornell. edu/dues. Holly Isdale, [email protected]; Michaeland Lori Spydell Wagner, [email protected].

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on West Campus, but that we’ll also have roomsin the other dorms throughout West (in cludingthe newer dorms), so there’s plenty of space forour classmates and their families. Scott andMelissa have asked all classmates to spread theword about reunion—June 7-10—and to pleasesubscribe to our class Facebook page at www.facebook.com/cornell1987, because that’s thequickest way for us to get out the word withupdates. And please make sure we have an up-to-date e-mail address for you! Our reunion chairscontinue to look for classmates to help withreunion; Scott’s e-mail is [email protected].

On to the class news. Cheryl Berger Israeloffis an optometrist and has become a partner atOptical Image Plainview in Plainview, NY. Cherylmentioned that she saw Whitney WeinsteinGoodman, Liz Brown, JD ’90, and their respectivespouses at the Pleasantville Music Festival. GregBortoff, a radiologist, lives in Raleigh, NC, withwife Amy. Jennifer Block Sheffield is managingdirector, head of the transaction advisory groupfor Citigroup Global Markets Inc. in NYC. Jenniferhas a son, 3. Peter Poggi, MBA ’88, is a seniorVP of global procurement at Contec LLC. Peter andhis family plan to move from Chattanooga, TN, tothe Albany, NY, area.

Hadley Harper Witcher (Villanova, PA) is themother of two and a part-time student. She alsohas a part-time job working for a lobbyist in NewMexico, where she used to live. Her son, 4, anddaughter, 2, keep her busy when she’s not study-ing in the MFA program at Rosemont College forCreative Writing. Hadley says she misses “chillax-ing at the Palms” and wonders where Natalie Al-banese Tessier is. Anthony Kochis, BArch ’88, isproject manager for Glass Construction Inc., a res-idential remodeler in Washington, DC. Anthonycontinues to run A. J. Kochis Co. LLC and spendsa good amount of his free time working on theextensive hardscaping and landscaping of thebackyard of the home in Mt. Rainier, MD, that heshares with spouse Jason Donaldson.

Last, some very happy news comes from TomTseng, ME ’94. Tom served as best man at thewedding of Brent Vallat, ME ’89, and the beauti-ful Sylvia Wee on September 24, 2011. Brent andSylvia live in the Sea Cliff neighborhood of SanFrancisco following a fantastic honeymoon inMaui, Hawaii. Congratulations!

One last plug for our upcoming reunion. It’sgoing to be fantastic and it will be more fantas-tic the more classmates attend. So I challengeyou to reach out to classmates with whom you’velost touch and make plans to be in Ithaca nextJune. I’d also like to invite those of you who havenever made it back to a reunion: we want youthere! In the unlikely event you won’t be joiningus, make sure to drop us a line to tell us aboutyour job, family, volunteer work, trips, interests,or hobbies! Continue sending your news throughthe link on our Class of ’87 website, through ourFacebook Group (“Cornell University Class of1987”), or through e-mail. Heidi Heasley Ford,hhf6@cornell. edu; and Brenna Frazer McGowan,[email protected].

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here in this column, Rob invites us to view his“warped, comical blog, http://sternblog.garnerdavis. net.” Perhaps I can entice at least oneclassmate, Rob’s freshman roommate Alan Weber,to check it out, and then reconnect with Rob, ashe requested.

OK, I’ve now done my bit for the blogosphereand class camaraderie. If you’d like to share yourartistic . . . talents . . . with the class, shout outto friends from whom you’ve not heard in awhile,or just get us caught up on your daily doings,please drop your friendly class correspondents aline: Risa Mish, rmm22@cornell. edu; RobertaFarhi, [email protected]; Joyce Zelkowitz Cor-nett, [email protected].

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86 Some great updates from class -mates this month courtesy ofthe class’s annual “News and

Dues” mailing. We are always hungry for moreinformation, so please send in your own news ornews of friends.

Ann Schiavetta, DVM ’00, is the deputy di-rector of the veterinary medicine division of theUS Army Medical Research Inst. of Infectious Dis-eases. She is an active duty Army officer, now alieutenant colonel. She lives in Maryland and, asof the time of this column, was eagerly awaitingthe return of her husband, Kelby Mowery, from aone-year overseas deployment. Ann is enjoyingleague tennis and softball and anything outside.She remembers Cornell fondly, especially walks inthe gorges and long conversations with friends.She would most like to hear from her formerroommate Bonnie Light.

Also in Maryland is Sandy Caro DeCain, wholives in Chevy Chase, MD, with her husband, Scott.Sandy has two “day jobs”—as the commissionerof the Bethesda girl’s lacrosse program and as asales representative for Turfer Athletics. Turfer sup-plies customized sports apparel, uniforms, jackets,and accessories for school teams and colleges. Inher spare time, she keeps busy raising a family andstill finds time for yoga, tennis, paddle tennis,golf, running, and boating. Wow! She wrote aboutmemories on the Slope. Another Maryland-basedalumna is Millie Rivera-Rau, who works as an at-torney advisor with the EEOC, where she hasworked for the last 20 years in different capaci-ties. She keeps busy outside of work with the RockCity Church Clown Ministry and the National Fed-eration for the Blind. Millie has two adult step -children with her husband, Michael Rau.

Esther Goldbas, JD ’90 (Sands Point, NY)works as an attorney in Port Washington focus-ing on employment litigation. Esther is marriedto Daniel Tanenbaum and has four children, ages12 to 16, and a dog. Esther has been busy split-ting her time between depositions for work andattending soccer tournaments, dance recitals,and such for her children. Esther remembered Prof.LaFeber and Johnny’s Big Red. At the time shewrote, she was facing significant pressure at hometo add a new puppy or puppies to an already busyschedule. We are facing the same discussions inthe Isdale/Ryan household—with one child aboutto go off to college and another two years behind,and a 10-year-old border collie, it’s a challengeto think about starting over with a new puppy!If classmates have weathered the empty-nest syn-drome, please share your thoughts! A new babyis definitely out of the question!

CarolWells (Saratoga Springs, NY) runs her ownjewelry business and rehabs historic businesses.

87 First up: details about our up -coming 25th Reunion. MelissaHodes and Scott Pesner traveled

to Cornell in September to attend the annualReunion Kick-off Weekend, where all reunionchairs for June 2012 went to officially start thereunion planning process. Melissa and Scott metwith caterers (those who provided the best sam -ples were hired) and began to put together ourplans for reunion. They’ve told us that once againour class headquarters will be in Hans Bethe House

88 Greetings, Class of 1988. I hopeyou are doing well and that youenjoy reading this and catching

up on some class news. Before you know it, wewill be talking about our next reunion. Believe itor not, we are only a year and a half away from our25th Reunion. I truly cannot believe we have been


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raising money for Dartmouth College. With a re -cent move to assistant vice president, I will besteeped in planning for the next campaign. Beyondthat, I dabble in art—just enough to decorate thehouse. Son Tristan is a sophomore at Taft andjoined their a cappella group. Woohoo! (So whichis it, nature or nurture?) Daughter Avery is in sev -enth grade and loves horses, Irish step-dancing,sing ing, and being her innovative fashionista self.My wife, Amy (Tietjen) ’88, still works part-timewith a nonprofit that connects local businesseswith public school students and teachers. Afterman y years as a troop leader, she is slowing downher Girl Scout volunteering and ramping up herwork with our church’s annual ‘Christmas Marketwith a Dif ference’ selling domestic and inter na tion -al crafts from nonprofit and service organizations,with 100 percent of the proceeds returning to theartists and organi zations. Great fun, lots of work. Iget exhausted just thinking about her to-do list.”

Mary “Em” Parente completed a PhD in socialwork in May 2011. She lives in Charlottesville, VA,and is now adjunct faculty at Virginia Common -wealth U.’s School of Social Work. Karen LouisSochaczevski has gone back to school in a three-year program that certifies her as a couples andfamily therapist. “It is strange, but nice to go backafter so many years. The people are really nice andthe subject is very interesting.” Karen is in Mon-treal with husband Michael ’88 and their threelovely daughters. Lynn Weidberg Morgan took herfamily out to Wegmeyer Farm in Hamilton, VA, topick their own pumpkins. Harriet Pimm Wegmey-er ’99, a CALS graduate, has a beautiful farm sheowns with husband Tyler (Michigan State) andtheir three boys. They also grow strawberries, rasp-berries, and blackberries. After pumpkin picking,they met Lynn’s sister Suzanne Weidberg Klein’96, with her husband and kids, Matt ’96 andBonnie Meyer Altman ’96 and kids, and Mike ’96and Janine Abrams Rethy ’96 and their kids atthe Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Museum.

Stanley Trepetin ’90, BA ’89, is now VP ofinformation security at HSBC Bank in Jersey City,NJ. We haven’t seen Stan since he visited a whileago. Sherry Peck Kirsche retired from the Navy inMarch 2011 and relocated to Jacksonville, FL. Heroldest son started his freshman year at UC Fres-no and their other three children are doing wellin 11th, seventh, and second grades. HusbandSteve started a new job as a middle school sci-ence teacher, and Sherry is a stay-at-home moth-er, volunteering as a Cub Scout den leader, GirlScout cookie mom, second grade class photogra-pher, and Arts-in-Action facilitator. She also vol-unteers in the middle school guidance office andband and is active in the PTO and school adviso-ry committees for all three schools. This past sum-mer Sherry traveled up the East Coast and had awonderful reunion with Carol Borack Copenhaverand her family. LTC Dr. Luis Ramos, MS ’94, re-ports he is on his second deployment to Afghan -istan. He is the public health and nutritionadvisor, USFOR-A J9 Kabul Civil-Military Team.

Michael Thomas joined iSonea Limited astheir new chief executive officer. iSonea (www.iSoneaMed.com) is an Australian publicly tradedmedical device manufacturer (ASX:ISN) that has de-veloped and is marketing an innovative diagnos-tic and monitoring technology for asthma, sleepapnea, and COPD. They are relocating the compa-ny’s corporate offices from Melbourne to Annapo-lis, MD. During fundraising efforts for his company,Michael ran into Jeff Sacher ’87 and Rich Owens’91, MBA ’92. He says, “I keep in contact with Phi

out of college that long and I’m constantly a mazedto hear about all the friendships that have lastedfor so long. I know I’m grateful for my collegefriends and although we don’t see each otheroften, it’s nice to know that we always share aspecial con nection from our time at Cornell.

Amy Rosenstein (arosenstein@hotmail. com)is a third-grade teacher in Riverdale, NY. She en-joys spending her free time at the gym doingspinning, total body conditioning, and yoga. Shewas recently profiled in an article about cuttingedge uses of technology in the classroom. Sheand her students have been Skyping with peoplearound the world. She loves what she is doingand would love to share information with othersin the education world. She fondly remembers thesunsets at Cornell and would love to get in touchwith old friends Jeff Herrema ’89 and GeorgeRenkert ’90. In Upstate New York, Michael Fish-man has changed jobs and now works for Bartonand Loguidice PC as a senior managing environ-mental scientist, overseeing the ecological serv-ice section of the company. He wrote that themost important and valuable course he ever tookat Cornell was Field Biology.

In New York City, Stacey Max is busy sellingresidential real estate and managing the Green-wich real estate office for Bellmarc Realty. Shewas diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998and so far has been very lucky. She has been ac-tive with the National MS Society and Walk MSever since. In 2011 she was ranked 37th in fund -raising in all of New York City and southern NewYork State for the organization. Congratulations,Stacey. That is amazing! She is proud of her ac-complishment and will keep walking as long asshe can on behalf of all those with MS who havenot been as lucky as she has. Stacey has enjoyedstaying in touch with classmates and sorority sis-ters on Facebook. Rebecca Schmidt Haydock isnow in Charlottesville, VA, after moving twice inseven months. Rebecca has been busy renovatingher home, and she started rowing crew—her newhome is two doors away from the UVA boathouse.When she’s not rowing she is still busy as an artist.She has had her work sold on two fly-fishing web-sites and is painting rain barrels to raise moneyfor American Rivers. She enjoys donating variousworks of art to different charities.

Writing from Madrid, Spain, Dale Fuchs enjoystaking care of her daughter, 4, and is busy jugglingwork (freelance writing for newspapers and teach-ing) with parenting abroad. She misses friends andfamily in the States. Dale is putting the Spanishclasses and writing workshops she took at Cornellto good use. She would love to hear from anyonewho is traveling through Madrid for business orpleasure, so feel free to contact her at [email protected]. Thanks for all the news! Feel free tocontact any of your correspondents if you havesomething you’d like to share with your fellowclassmates! We love to hear from you and so doyour friends! Sharon Nunan Stemme, [email protected]; Steven Tomaselli, [email protected];and Brad Mehl, [email protected].

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89 Our classmates are all over theworld,making a difference every -where. I feel so privileged to be

part of this prestigious class. Joel Seligman, MPS’00, moved to Wash ington, DC, where he’s nowvice president at Maguire Associates Inc., a highereducation research and consulting firm. BruceSmith, MS ’98, reports, “I’ve hit the 12-year mark

Psi brothers Larry Smith ’87, Vic Fernandez ’87,ME ’88, MBA ’89, Dan Picciano, Jeff Doughty ’86,and Scott Kenney, MBA ’90. I also ran into BrunoNardone in the Philly airport on my way to Dublin,Ireland . . . small world.” Michelle Fried Berti hasbeen living in Hong Kong with her husband andtwo kids (ages 9 and 8) for the last three years.She works for J.P. Morgan as the market managerfor cash management treasury services in Asia Pa-cific and says, “I’m enjoying my hobby of dragonboat racing, a very Hong Kong kind of sport. I’malways thrilled when Cornell alumni pass throughHong Kong and visit or just say hi.”

Please make sure to tag your Cornell corre-spondence so it doesn’t get marked as junk mailor SPAM when it hits your computer. I’ll admit Ihad the university send out a request for news—and my copy went right into MY junk mailbox!Ouch. Some of us need some help in the techni-cal department. Trevor Steer has done a great jobupdating our class website—I’ll have to ask myformer co-RA for lessons!

Mark your calendars for our big 25th Reunionin 2014, June 5-8. Right now it looks like a longway off, but we know time has this way of flyingwhen we least expect it. Even if we haven’t allbeen able to make it to previous reunions, I hopemore of us will try to make this one. Don’t forgetto keep your class correspondents in the loop onyour latest exploits. When you change jobs, movelocations, or volunteer at something awesome, itinspires all of us and gives us ideas. You can getin touch with classmates via the Cornell websiteor you can contact your class correspondents andwe’ll put you in touch. Keep the news coming viae-mail or snail mail or, yes, you can even pick upa phone and call us. Think of it like the good olddays of grabbing an ice cream at the Straight witha friend—before there was texting! KimberlyLevine Graham, [email protected]; StephanieBloom Avidon, [email protected]; AnneCzaplinski Treadwell Bliss, [email protected];Lauren Flato Labovitz, [email protected].

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90 Mitchell Bakerwins this issue’sprize for most exotic answer tothe “What I’ve been doing

recently” category on the Class of 1990News Form:“Homeschooling in Rwanda while on sabbatical.”He didn’t say why he was in Rwanda, but perhapsthere is a clue in his job title: associate professorof biology, Queens College of CUNY, studyinganimal behavior and insecticide resistance evo lu -tion. When not in Rwanda, Mitchell can be foundon his farm in Dryden, NY. Fellow academicAn drewDon son is an assistant professor of history atUMass, Amherst and has published the book Youthin the Fatherless Land: War Peda gogy, Nation -alism, and Authority in Germany, 1914–1918(Har vard U. Press).

Andrea Hale gave her job title as director, an-nual fund and donor relations at Benjamin N. Car-dozo School of Law at Yeshiva U. in New York. Sheadded, “Little did I know that my calling for theCornell Fund all those years ago would have an im-pact on my professional life.” Michael Hong alsoreaped an unexpected benefit from his Cornelldays. He raced in the Washington, DC, Triathlon inJune, was preparing for the Nation’s Triathlon inSeptember, and planned to do a true Half Ironmanalong with the Marine Corps Marathon in 2012.“Who would have thought that climbing Libe Slopeevery day would help me later on with triathlons?Great hill training,” he wrote.










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Congratulations to Eugene Lee, who was pro-moted to associate professor of surgery, special-izing in endovascular and vascular surgery, at UCDavis Medical School in Sacramento, CA. He wrote,“I enjoy going up to Lake Tahoe with my wife, Jen-nifer, and daughters Madeline, 7, and Olivia, 4. Weenjoy skiing, hiking, and swimming. I have beenworking on my golf game and hope to try theCornell golf course.” Congratulations also go outto Tim Lynch, who proudly reported that wife LisaHazard ’91 was promoted to associate professor ofbiology at Montclair State in New Jersey. They at-tended Lisa’s 20th Reunion with daughter Kather-ine Erin Hazard Lynch, Class of 2027. Said Tim, “Alot has changed—but a lot hasn’t. Got caught inan epic downpour and drenched to the bone—thatmade me feel like I’d really come back! And hav-ing Katherine say, a mere two hours into our trip,‘I *LOVE* Cornell!’ made the whole weekend!”

More congratulations are in order for severalnew parents. Stacey Pelinka, a professional flutistand Feldenkrais Method practitioner in Berkeley,CA, welcomed daughter Annabelle on Oct. 28,2010. Paul Hunt and wife Sarah Danforth of Ami-ty, OR, can’t stop beaming over their first child,Henry, who was born in June. Technically speak-ing, Julian Ha and wife Annett aren’t new to theparenthood club, but did have their first daugh-ter, Vivienne Helena Kuester-Ha, in June; shejoined brothers Cyrus and Ellis.

Barry Jon Beck wrote from Bethesda, MD,that he’s chief operating officer and founder ofBluemercury, which our friend Google says is a re-tailer of luxury beauty goods. Bluemercury’s web-site says Barry is married to Harvard and Berkeleygrad Marla Beck and they have three young chil-dren. Also scratching the entrepreneurial itch isAmy Schrier, who’s been busy launching a hu-manitarian and travel website, Mission.TV.

Virginia is for Big Red lovers: From Haymar-ket, VA, John Shannon III wrote that he is mar-ried to Sonia and is a program manager for BAESystems and a captain in the Virginia Army Na-tional Guard. In Reston, VA, Anne Loehr createsleadership development programs for clients in-cluding Facebook, Morgan Stanley, and the RedCross. She is the proud author of Managing theUnmanageable: How to Motivate Even the MostUnruly Employee, published in July. Anne is mar-ried to Neel Inamdar and they have a daughter,6. And in Midlothian, VA, Karen Prymak-Oldickis a relief small animal veterinarian, school vol-unteer, mother, and wife to Bradley Oldick ’91.When Karen wrote to us last July, she was keep-ing busy taking son Brock to swim and gymnas-tics lessons, the library, the beach, and friends’parties. Speaking of friends, she’d like to hearfrom Erica Schorr-Evans. Also seeking old friendsis Ana Petrovich, former director of human re-sources at Gansevoort South Beach hotel in Mi-ami, who’d like to hear from Marc Koutoufaris’91 and Gregg Gaines.

Jennifer Agnello Long, owner and manag-ing partner of the Red Lion Restaurant in Vail, CO,and mother of two, would like to reconnect withKim Klimczak Lisboa. In Lafayette, LA, otolaryn -gologist Lisa Baylor David is married to Bob ’89.They have two kids, Bean and Kate.

We end with sad news of Christopher Tay-lor. His wife, Laurie Alfonso, wrote, “Chris passedaway on June 9, 2011 after a long illness. Hewas incredibly brave.” Our condolences to Laurie.You can contact her through class correspondentAmy Wang Manning at the following address: Amy Wang Manning, aw233@cornell. edu; Rose

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Tanasugarn, nt28@ cornell.edu; Kelly Roberson,kelly-roberson@ sbcglobal.net.

get in contact with her. Janet fondly remembersbeing active in the Social Work Practice Group atCornell and has continued in that vein by volun-teering for the local community services board andchairing the “Our Town Rocks” committee. This isin addition to double duties for the Crestwood Chil-dren’s Center and Schuyler Head Start programs.Cornellians stay busy even after leaving Ithaca.

There must something about Massachusettsand being a veterinarian for the Class of ’91. Su-san Rosenblatt practices in Waltham, MA, andappropriately writes that she is “working like adog,” but adds that she loves her job and can’timagine anything else she would rather do. Vic-ki June, DVM ’95, of Otis, MA, spends her freetime with equestrian competition.

Don’t forget to visit our new class website(http: //cornellclassof1991.com/), our Facebookpage (https://www.facebook.com/Cornell91), orTwitter (http://twitter.com/cornell91) to stay up-to-date on news of our class. Best wishes in theNew Year! Charles Wu, [email protected]; TomGreenberg, [email protected]; Wendy MilksCoburn, [email protected].

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91 Greetings from Silicon Valley! Sincethis is my first Class Notes column,let me start with my own update.

My name is Charles Wu, and my claim to writingfame is that I wrote for the Cornell Daily Sun, soit’s good to be writing about Cornell again. Aftergraduation I moved back home to Colorado and11 years ago I moved to Mountain View, CA, to jointhe Internet boom. Many jobs later, I now workfor a company that specializes in recon nectingalumni and others over the Internet and served asan inspiration for a Hollywood movie. In August,I was in Shanghai for work when Monica Huang,MS ’03, invited me to join an alumni brunch,where I was amazed by howmany Cornell ians therewere in China. The lesson being: if you travel, besure to look up Cornell clubs where you are going.You never know who you might meet. While Ithink Facebook is a great way to keep alumni intouch, old-fashioned mail works, too, so keepthose class updates coming in.

Liz Mirabile-Levens (Cheshire, CT) is a pul-monary and critical care physician. In the catego-ry of things classmates do that make you feel youshould get off the couch department, Liz, alongwith husband Doug Levens ’92 and sons Peter,10, and Eric, 7, consider participating in triathlonsa family activity. Eric Bluman, of Boston, waselected to the American Orthopaedic Foot and An-kle Society’s board of directors. He’s an assistantprofessor of orthopaedic surgery at Harvard, aswell a staff surgeon at Dana Farber Cancer Inst.,among many other roles. Congratulations to Ericfor being recognized by his peers.

Kelly Lawas Fairbairn (Simpsonville, SC) iscontinuing a Cornell tradition of giving back tothe community—she is a member of the board ofProject Hope Foundation, which serves childrenwith autism and their parents. This is in additionto her running her own company, PPS Interna-tional, that specializes in international trainingand development. Alan Lehto is keeping Portland,OR, moving as the director of project planning forTrimet, the regional transit authority. He must bedoing a good job, since I used it without prob-lem on a recent trip there. Alan and wife Tracyhave daughters ages 5 and 7. He also is a proudsupporter of the local Major League Soccer teamas a member of the “Timbers Army.” Speaking ofreasons to be proud, Zina Spezakis shares hap-py news from New York that daughter HypatiaAthena was born on October 5, 2011. Both moth-er and daughter are doing well.

Jason and Margaret “Meg” Chen Spielmanare busy working on home improvement projectsin Austin, TX, when they are not looking afterdaughters Catelyn, 10, and Amelia, 5. Meg is adietitian at the Dept. of Veterans Affairs and Ja-son is director of Web technologies at PayPal.Also in Texas, Susan Starowitz Williams and hus-band Neil live in the delightfully named city ofHumble. Susan is a Pilates and yoga coordinatorat Lifetime Fitness and would love to hear fromVirginia Hoskins, DVM ’95.

A note from overseas: Johnny Tseng is basedin Hong Kong, where he has been busy launchinga new fashion brand at the clothing export com-pany where he serves as managing director. Likemany of us, he fondly remembers the friends backon the Hill. On that note, Janet Sullivan Meaney(Dundee, NY) has a shout out to John House to

92 The countdown to our 20thReunion is on! Make your reser -vations, block off the time at

work, and check in with your classmates to letthem know you’ll be there. Search for our classFacebook group (“Cornell Class of 1992”) and joinin the conversation online. Ithaca resident LisaEverts had a great time at Reunion in 2011.Allison Bergstrom stayed at her house in Ithacafor the weekend and they attended as members ofCRC (the Continuous Reunion Club). Lisa hasn’tmissed a reunion since graduation and is happy totell you more about CRC. Lisa also visited VickyLattone in NewOrleans and had a great time, withdelightful parades, food, drinks, and all sorts ofamusements that the city has to offer.

If you don’t think reunion will be enough timeback on the Hill, how about Cornell’s Adult Uni-versity? Two classmates took advantage of the on-campus programs in summer 2011. Erik DiGiacomobrought the family along and participated in theweeklong Golf Clinic. Pamela Davis Wells cameback for the Harried Gourmet: Tasty Meals in anHour or Less. The schedule of July 2012 on-cam-pus programs and off-campus study tours is avail-able on their website. Inside secret: my husband,John Torrance ’90, did a weeklong Landscape Ar-chitecture course with CAU a few years ago, andour daughter took in the concurrent kids’ camp. Iwasn’t able to take the time off from work, so I





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holed up in the newly remodeled Mann Library foran amazingly productive—and relaxing!—week.

Can’t make it to campus? Maybe campus willcome to you! In October, Cornell Outdoor Educa-tion traveled to New York City’s Central Park tobring alumni, family, and friends a multisport ad-venture, Big Red-style. Betty Eng and Jon Simonjoined more than 50 people for the event; the agesrepresented ranged from a 6-month-old to thosein their 60s. It was a glorious day as Cornelliansof all ages enjoyed biking, bouldering, orienteer-ing, and teambuilding.

Jackie Schulman Dobranski, DVM ’97, lives inWashington, DC, with husband Tony. She’s a vet-erinarian and a mom, squeezing in some much-needed yoga in between. Jackie and Tony arebuilding a house—truly an all-consuming endeav-or! Her greatest joy? Playing with her son, Rowan,2. Kathleen Facey Caudill is now the workplacerelations director for a 10,000-person group at heremployer, SAIC. Her focus is in employee relationsand compliance. She and husband George live inDes Moines, IA, with their children Catherine, 4,

and Charlie, 2. Work, play, kids: with all that go-ing on, she’s working on getting some balance!

In June 2011, Thomas Williams took com-mand as the first captain of the US Navy’s newestdestroyer, the USS William P. Lawrence, DDG110.He now lives in beautiful Coronado, CA, with wifeJessica and their children Dylan and Megan. Dy-lan Willoughby, MFA ’95, continues to publish,most recently with a new poem in the Fall 2011issue of Agenda magazine. Wendy Schkolnick Sol-ganik lives in northwest Ohio with her husband,Randy. Wendy owns Luscious Verde Cards Inc. andblogs at http://healthygirlskitchen. blogspot. com,where the first post I came across was titled“Short on Time, High on Deliciousness”—soundsgreat to me! Wendy blogs about health and well-ness on a plant-based diet. She’s eager to hearfrom Rebecca Daniels Magistad ’91.

Lisa Nelson-Rangel reports that entrepre-neurship has been a good run thus far. It hasbeen two and a half years since she launchedChameleon Resumes, and she loves running a busi-ness from home, which allows her to be moreavailable for her family than her crazy corporatejob ever did! Lisa now has a 35-page e-book forjob seekers available on at her website (www.chameleonresumes.com) called “The Do-It-YourselfBranded Resume Kit.” Last summer Lisa vacationedin Maine and got together with Kim Sundik May-on. Their husbands met and their kids played welltogether. Kim’s second book, Everyday Gluten-FreeSlow Cooking, is due to be released any day now.Her previous book, The Everyday Low-Carb SlowCooking Cookbook sold more than 100,000 copies!

John and I and daughter Emily, 9, headedback for our second Insectapalooza at Cornell inOctober: six hours at Comstock Hall with everybug in sight—living or dead—pulled out and ondisplay. Last time, we came home with a taran-tula and a cockroach. Who knows how many crea-tures we’ll bring home this time!

compression fractures in the elderly. I am happilymarried and have two sons ages 4 and 1-1/2.”Matt Kelman, JD ’97, sent this update: “I’m chiefglobal multimedia counsel for Bloomberg LP in NewYork. I live on Long Island (in Merrick) with mywife, Karen, and my kids Caroline, 8, and Ryan, 5.”In June, Mark Hemmerdinger purchased Crest-wood Country Day School and Camp in Melville,NY, a day camp he has been running since 1998.

Elizabeth Wilson e-mailed, “After ten yearsin death-penalty defense, I have now twice beenhappily put out of business by my state’s aboli-tion of the death penalty. I have changed gearsand am the legal director of Cabrini Green LegalAid in Chicago and love it. With both of my chil-dren now in school (Nathan, 8, has already de-cided that he’s going to attend Cornell), I amgetting used to my new role as a single mom andam relishing the new possibilities in my life.” Asthe commanding officer of the NOAA ship ThomasJefferson, Cmdr. Shep Smith has been honoredwith the Admiral of the Ocean Sea award for lead-ing his ship in the rescue of a downed pilot offof Key West, FL. Congratulations!

Other classmates have been celebrating per-sonal events is their lives. Peter Joson writes, “Imarried Eileen Balanza on Oct. 1, 2011 in Ana-heim, CA. Cornell alums in attendance were Cora-zon de la Paz, MBA ’65, Sandy Oak Lee, Greg andMaia Albano Coladonato ’92, Rachelle Bernacki’94, Patrick ’92 and Johanna DeGroot Thomas,Joseph Desloge ’92, and Assaji Aluwihare ’92.In September, I became a partner at the ophthal-mology practice Tayani Eye Inst. in Orange Co.,CA.” Caroline Madden and wife Maria Thorpe werepleased to announce the birth of their son ConnorTate Maddenthorpe. “Connor was born Aug. 25,2011 in Pasadena, CA. He joins a very excited bigbrother, Sean Allan, age 3.” Chris Miller enjoyeda 40th birthday celebration. He writes, “I ran intofellow alumni recently at Doug Brown’s 40thbirthday in Miami, including Doug, Mazen Hanna,Bill Belleville ’94, and Eric Brinkley, MCE ’95.Good times.” Please keep the news coming, andbest wishes for the New Year! Yael BerkowitzRosenberg, ygb1@cornell. edu; Melissa Hart Moss,[email protected]; Melissa Carver Sottile,[email protected].

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94 Pick a city, any city, and I’llfind you a Cornellian with newsto share. Like the sun (not the

Cornell Daily Sun, the actual sun), we’ll rise in theEast and set in the West as we travel in search ofnews. First, the Far East: Sean Alexander, MBA’01, is the division director, Asian equity sales forMacquarie Capital Securities Management in HongKong. In his off-hours, he plays rugby and trainsfor triathlons—he’s training for the Taiwan HalfIronman and recently toured New Zealand duringthe Rugby World Cup.

Now let’s hit the stateside cities. Buffalo:MarkBeardi is diving in feet-first to establish himselfin his hometown of Buffalo, NY, after living in NYCfor nine years. Not only is he active in the CornellClub of Buffalo, enjoying golf, tennis, and skiingas the seasons allow, and following football (Bills),hockey (Sabres), and baseball (Yankees) as the sea-sons allow, he’s also building a full-service finan-cial services practice with the Alliance AdvisoryGroup. Boston: Check in with Samina ChoudhuryKarim—that’s Prof. Karim. You’ll find her on thecampus of Boston U. as an assistant professor inthe strategy innovation department in the School

93 Happy New Year! Hard to believethat it’s 2012 and even harderto believe that our 20th Re un -

ion will be next year! I hope many of you arealready starting to think about returning to Ithacafor what is sure to be a fantastic weekend! Nowon to the news.

Many of our classmates are experiencing suc-cess in business. Steven Salm was promoted toco-president of the Bicycle Music Company and itsaffiliated investment funds, the Anthem Intellec-

tual Property Fund and AFCC. Also a founder of thefunds, he oversees the investment and manage-ment of a $100m portfolio solely geared towardinvestments in music copyrights, master record-ings, image and likeness rights, and grand stagerights (www.bicyclemusic.com). In October 2010,Jeffrey Hammer started at the MITRE Corp., anonprofit firm serving the public interest via workwith the federal government. He leads projectsaffecting some of the largest healthcare issuesAmerica faces today. In June 2011, he purchaseda new home in Arlington, VA.

Ryan Smethurst writes, “This year I wasnamed one of Law360’s Rising Stars in Insurance.This award was given to five lawyers nationwidewho are under 40 years old and who practice inthe insurance coverage field. I received the awarddue to my lead role in settling 10,116 personalinjury cases brought by members of the FDNY,NYPD, and construction unions against the Cityof New York and the 140 contractors it hired toassist in the rescue, recovery, and debris removalefforts at Ground Zero and nearby locations onand after 9/11. In 2007, I served as liaison coun-sel to 12 insurers of the Roman Catholic Arch-diocese of Los Angeles with respect to the largestsettlement of Roman Catholic clergy sexual abusecases in history. I am a partner in the Washing-ton, DC, office of McDermott Will & Emery LLP. Ilive in Alexandria, VA, and am married to Christi;we have children Vaughn, 9, and Lexy, 6.”

Robert Bennett was hired as the chief mar-keting officer of Nature’s Variety, a leader in holis-tic pet food. In this newly created position, he willoversee new product innovation, brand strategyand development, and marketing communications.Robert worked at Burt’s Bees for 12 years manag-ing marketing initiatives before joining Nature’sVariety. Philip Yuan writes, “I am a practicing or-thopedic spine surgeon in Long Beach, CA. I havereceived patents on a device to treat vertebral

Special note: If you filled out a hard copyNews Form last summer but haven’t seen yournews in the column yet, please resend it via e-mail! There’s a chance that your update was in asmall stack of news that was mislaid somewherein my office. My apologies! Please write again,and send your news to: Megan Fee Torrance,[email protected]; Jean Kintisch,[email protected]; Lois Duffy Castellano,[email protected].

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‘As beginning farmers, we’re alwayslearning something new.’Sharon Tregaskis ’95





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of Management, where she studies how business-es can best organize themselves to create morevalue. She and husband Shah took a break fromwork last summer to visit the Yucatan Peninsulafor an entire month and explore Mayan ruins.

Philly: Jeanne Ramage Rentezelas recentlyreturned to the Philadelphia area to join the Fed-eral Reserve Bank of Philadelphia as VP and gen-eral counsel. She and husband Ed make their homein Cherry Hill, NJ, where they enjoy attending soc-cer games and Cub Scout meetings in support ofsons Evan, 8, and Matthew, 5. She’s also taken uprunning again, and is training for a 10K. Wash-ington, DC: Catch up with Jeff Green. He’s pres-ident of his own lobbying firm on Capitol Hill, J.A.Green and Co. The firm focuses its lobbying effortson strategic and critical materials issues and theUS defense industrial base. He and wife Natalielive in Bethesda, MD.

Don’t worry, we’re not going to leave out theheartland. Reuben Perin III, BArch ’94, is livingin Mission Hills, KS, and working in the commer-cial waterproofing field as a chief estimator andsenior project manager. He also volunteers with theBoy Scouts, coaches lacrosse, and enjoys cyclingand fly-fishing. He’d love to hear from DerekBloom, BArch ’94, and Matt Moscati, BArch ’94.

Now, the West Coast. Seattle: Lila NicholsO’Mahony stays busy with the power combo of par-enting her own children and caring for others’ sickkiddos as a pediatric emergency medicine physi-cian in Seattle, WA. She reports that she’s “work-ing too much, but loving watching my kids grow,enjoy school, and discover all the amazing thingsabout growing up in the Northwest.” Los Angeles:We have classmates and their progeny galore. OnJuly 26, 2011, Tara Roth McConaghy welcomedbaby boy Dane to her family. Dane joined bigbrother Finn in the McConaghy family. Tara is theexecutive director of the Goldhirsh Foundation,which funds brain cancer research. She’s seenplenty of Cornellians while enjoying sunny Los An-geles, including Andrea Savage, Leah Puidokas,Leigh Gallagher, Lexi Conrad, Kiran Gaind,Dorothy Kim, and Sarah Huston Kessler.

Jordan Wallens lives in the Los Feliz area ofLos Angeles. He’s a VP of asset management atGoldman Sachs, but he and wife Idoya are busywith an active toddler and a dog—2-year-old At-ticus (the toddler) and 6-year-old Humphrey (thebasset hound). He also fits in time for writing,restaurants, hiking, and enjoying college football.Head closer to the water and you might run intoLisa DeLeo in Marina Del Rey. She’s working asa producer for Mr. Big Film Inc., and regularlytravels the world making television commercials,documentary shorts, and print ads. When notmoviemaking, she serves as both a yoga teacherand a volunteer at Y.O.G.A. for youth, a nonprof-it, non-denominational organization dedicated toproviding urban youth with tools of self-discov-ery that foster hope, discipline, and respect foroneself and the community.

San Diego: Lillian Ho Skidmore is stayingpretty busy with her newborn baby boy, while alsoenjoying beach volleyball (she’s in San Diego, af-ter all) and hiking. She also works as a scientistat a biotech company. Irvine: Give a shout-out tonewly tenured Don Patterson, ME ’95, who is nowan associate professor at UC Irvine. According tohis faculty profile, Don’s areas of research interestlie at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence andubiquitous computing, and he has applied thiswork to transportation and activity assistance. Iam sure he puts that transportation experience

to work juggling his kids’ activities, which includeballet, piano, Scouts, and youth group.

And last but not least, I want to welcome youall to 2012—also known as the Year We Turn 40.Bring on the birthday celebrations, folks. And letus know what YOU are doing to celebrate the Big4-0! Dineen Pashoukos Wasylik, dmp5@ cornell.edu; Dika Lam, [email protected]; Jennifer Ra-bin Marchant, [email protected].

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retreats in the heart of cities in order to buildhealthier communities. The first retreat is BeHealthy Boston, at the end of January (www. behealthy boston.com). Amazon re-published Brett’sfirst book, Get Real and Stop Dieting!, last year.Her second book, 52 Small Changes: One Year toa Happier, Healthier You, will be released at thebeginning of 2012. Brett is a regular contributoras a healthy living expert on Better Connecticut-WFSB, and she will soon perform the same roleon Fox 25-Boston. Sharon Tregaskis worked forCornell Alumni Magazine for several years aftergraduation. Since the fall of 2004, she has been afull-time, self-employed freelance reporter and ed-itor. Sharon writes about medicine and the envi-ronment and authors a regular column for OrganicGardening magazine called “Animal Tracks,” aboutbackyard animal occupants and visitors. She writes,“In 2008, my partner and I bought 40 acres inIthaca and launched Tree Gate Farm, where wegrow small fruits and vegetables, as well as pas-tured pigs and a flock of Australorp chickens—gor-geous, with their iridescent black plumage. Asbeginning farmers, we’re always learning some-thing new and delighted to be doing it on our ownschedule, out of doors, in a town where small,family farms are valued. It seems most of the farm-ers in our social set have Cornell ties, as does oneof our favorite customers: Felicia’s Atomic Lounge,a bar in town co-owned by Amelia Sauter ’92, afellow Human Ecology grad. They use our veggieson flat bread pizzas, put our plums and berries insignature cocktails, and feature our horseradish intheir ‘Zen Mary,’ a bloody Mary with a kick.”

Nathan Merrill owns and operates StuartFarm LLC, a 250-cow dairy in Stratham, NH, withJudy, his wife of 19 years, and his parents. Nateand Judy were national Young Farmer of the Yearfinalists in 2006. Nate continues to work in landconservation efforts and serves on the UNH Co-operative Extension Advisory Council. Nate andfamily, including daughters Hannah and Sammy,traveled to Empire Farm Days in August and hadan opportunity to visit Cornell. Abra and I lookforward to hearing more about the triumphs ofour classmates. Happy New Year! Veronica K.Brooks-Sigler, vkbrooksigler@gmail. com; AbraBenson Perrie, [email protected].

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95 Abra and I were thrilled by theresponse to our last plea fornews. If your news did not make

it in this column, have no fear, it will appear soon.Our fellow alums seem attuned to the late,

great Steve Jobs’s sentiment, “Your time is limit-ed, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”Tiffany Willoughby-Herard, an assistant professorin African American studies at UC Irvine, and herspouse adopted Salim Antoine and Solomon in No-vember 2010. Tiffany writes, “Our lives are changedforever for the better.” Takashi Yoshimatsu wasmarried last year, and he and wife Samantha be-came parents in December to Sayaka Linda. A fewyears back, Takashi returned to the San FranciscoBay Area and bought a commercial B2B print shop,www.allegrasfo.com, where Cornellians get 10 per-cent off! As Takashi ponders his options for the fu-ture, he would love to network and reconnect withclassmates. David Anderson, bursting at theseams, declared, “I’m a daddy!” His daughter, Char-lotte Sophia, was born on May 4. Charlotte maybe the star of David’s world, but his company’s Car-mageddon T-shirts (in response to the closing ofthe L.A. Freeway) were featured on CBS’s “EarlyShow” and a few international TV stations. Davidwas even able to put his Cornell German to use.

An impressive array of our classmates sharedtheir feats of strength and endurance. Erica Chap-man completed her first Ironman (Ironperson?),a race of 140.6 miles (2.4 swim, 112 bike, and amarathon), in Louisville, KY, on August 28. Ericadid the Pittsburgh Marathon in May (Thelma Ro-mano Kranyak did the half-marathon as well) andcompleted the NYC Olympic Triathlon. She willcompete in the NYC Marathon in November aspart of the Team for Kids Charity. Brent Alspach,MS ’97, and Matt Amster are participating inIthaca’s Triennial Relay (http:// home. roadrunner.com/~nrw/O/tri2011.html). Brett says, “Matt andI, along with other Cornell friends, have been par-ticipating in this race every three years since grad-uation. Though our team (the appropriately named‘Bottomfeeders’) is not as competitive as we oncewere, it’s really turned into more of a mini-reunion.We’ve made traditions of a pre-race dinner at ThaiCuisine and hanging out at the Farmer’s Marketthe morning after the event.” Matt and his wife,Rebecca (Cantor) ’97, completed last November’sNYC Marathon and the Goofy Race and Half Chal-lenge in Disney World in January of this year.Charles Ufford will take part in a biking marathon,the New York Century (http:// ny c century. org/), a100-mile ride (participants can complete routesof different increments) in NYC this October. Hehopes to bump into some Cornellians before, dur-ing, or after (I hope everyone remembers the se-cret handshake). Charles has been working asgreenhouse grower at Kurt Weiss Greenhouses inUtica for 12 years now; the greenhouse head-quarters are on Long Island.

Continuing in the vein of healthy living,Brett Blumenthal, MBA ’04, started a companycalled Be Healthy Inc., which holds urban wellness

96 Happy New Year! Hope you wel -comed in 2012 with a bang . . .and a resolution to send in a

class note or two!Beginning with our new family additions, Al

Pizzica and wife Meghan welcomed Gwyneth Zay -da to the world on June 1. Gwyneth joins bigbrother Albert (aka “Ace”), 4. The Pizzicas liveoutside Philadelphia—Al is working while study-ing for his executive MBA at Villanova. Dan Rechand wife Tiffany Foster, MBA ’08, welcomedEliana Frankie to the world on September 23 (co-incidentally the proud dad’s 37th birthday!). Shejoins big sister Talia and Walter, their beloveddog! The Rechs live in Arlington, MA, where Danworks for Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center asthe PeopleSoft applications manager.

Ashley Weaver (Lakewood, OH) is an attor-ney at Ulmer Berne LLP in Cleveland. She ran “the”marathon in Greece with Jose Siri. Catherine Dil-lon Frank ([email protected]), married toMatthew, lives in the Windy City and works in mar-keting at Abbott Laboratories. Lauren GasparoAnton (blanton2006@sbcglobal. net) now livesin Culver City, CA, with husband Ben and works as


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a registered dietitian at A New Journey EatingDisorder Center in Santa Monica. Elizabeth Boll([email protected]) has four kids andhas been traveling in Europe for both work andpleasure. She is in international relations, build-ing partnerships for US Air Forces in Europe. Eliz-abeth remembers exploring the beautiful Cornellcampus back in the day, as well as the great gymclasses and instructor Mark Wysocki, MS ’89. Shewould love to hear from Jen Savage Torretti.

Alexandra Clinton, our beloved co-class pres-ident, married David Kornreich, PhD ’01, at theJohn Joseph Inn in Lansing, NY, on October 15. Anumber of Cornellians were in attendance, includ-ing Alexi’s brother, Gregory Clinton ’01, and herfather, Prof. Emer. Kevin Clinton, as well as brides-maid Staci Nugent and groomsman Mark Anbinder’89. Other Cornellians present for the festivitieswere Andres Arroyo, Jason Woodward ’03, ViolaHolownia, ME ’09, Travis Marshall ’11, Louise Sil-berling,MS ’92, and professors Martha Haynes, Ric-cardo Giovanelli, Richard Lovelace, PhD ’70, andMarina Romanova. Alexi just accepted a positionas a dietitian at Cayuga Medical Center in Ithaca.

My husband Josh and I took a quick trip toLos Angeles last fall, where we had the pleasureof seeing Keith Adler and wife Sabrina Rubin (MIT’98). Keith is working on a variety of film projectswhile also doing Web design for a home tutoring

company located in Brentwood. We also joined apacked house at Brooklyn Bowl a few months agoto see Alex Brose ’98 perform in his 14-pieceMichael Jackson cover band, Foreverland (foreverlandsf. com), based in San Francisco. The band wasincredible, and it’s amazing that the group hastime to tour while holding “real” jobs. Alex is cur-rently associate vice president for advancement atthe San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

We ran into Michael Banino ’94, who retiredfrom the Internet business two years ago, earneda master’s in education from Columbia, and hasembarked on a career as a middle school scienceteacher at an all-honors public middle school inManhattan. He told us, “It’s incredibly rewarding,and possibly the most difficult job I’ve ever had.”He has moved from New Jersey to Riverdale, inthe Bronx. Recent trips include several weeks inPanama this past summer. Jeanine Schoen hasalso been continuing her adventurous travels,with trips to Seville, Portugal, and Africa on a sa-fari. She works at Unilever in New Jersey and livesin Manhattan.

On the personal front, we moved from Mas-sachusetts to Roslyn, NY. In February, we joinedmy father and mother, Susan Perlstein Lustig ’61,in celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. Ad-ditional Cornellians in attendance at the partyincluded Teri and Irwin Bardash ’57 and Alisa

Shirvan Studley ’82. Please be sure to send alongyour updates—moves, kids, marriages, travels,Cornellians you’ve recently seen . . . all your newsis welcome! Carin Lustig-Silverman, CDL2@cornell. edu; Ron Johnstone, [email protected];Liam O’Mahony, [email protected].

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97 This column finds you in themidst of winter’s chill, and ifyou’re already looking forward to

a warm-weather, spring-break getaway, or wish ingyou had one on the calendar, I invite you to thinka few months farther down the road to June, atime of year when Ithaca is a lovely spot to visit.Less than 200 days away, now is the time to putour 15th REUNION on your calendar and makeplans to come back and celebrate your Cornell ex -perience with those friends who helped you forgeit. In the coming months, check in with old room -mates, hallmates, teammates, sorority sisters andfraternity brothers, friends, and classmates andencourage each other to come and make this re -union our most successful yet! We have a lot ofthings to reminiscence about and share with newand old friends. So bring your +1, pack up the Packn’ Play, and plan to see each other for a reuniongetaway! What better way to catch up on “news”than in person in Ithaca!

To help facilitate your reunionplanning, be sure to check out ournewly updated class website: http://www.cornell97.com. From reunion de - tails to online Class Notes submis-sions, it has been revamped to serveas a helpful resource for the Class of’97. The website also offers class-mates an easy way to give back toCornell with a charitable donation.

Kudos to Jason Brantman, whopartnered with Bruce Levitt (pro-fessor and former chair of Cornell’sDept. of Theatre, Film, and Dance)and Anaiza Morales ’00, ME ’01,MBA ’02, to produce and direct Cor-nell Theatre Night in midtown Man-hattan in early June. The Sept/Oct2011 issue of Cornell Alumni Maga-zine featured an article about theevening of short plays written, di-rected, performed, designed, and pro-duced by Cornell alumni and currentCornellians. Jason was the evening’sdirector. The event was part of NYCCornell Alumni in Entertainment andprovided a great showcase of Cornelltheatrical talent. On another note,Jason directed a show in Cancún,Mexico, in June called “Summerwith the Stars.” It was a week-longseries of events and concerts in-volving Joey Fatone and 18 starsfrom “American Idol,” “High SchoolMusical,” “Hannah Montana,” and“Step Up 3D,” including Ruben Stud-dard, Corbin Bleu, Cody Linley, andBlake Lewis, among others. Jasonshared these links with classmates:http://vimeo. com/ 25324483 andhttp://vimeo.com/25325158.

In September, classmate Kris-ten Taylor was promoted to seniordesigner at Buffalo, NY-based ad-vertising agency Flynn & Friends Inc.She will lead the agency’s website

Close ShaveAnthony Tsai ’96 & Hubert Tsai ’96

W orking as Wall Street equity traders for more than a decade, Anthony andHubert Tsai were no strangers to luxury. They drove expensive cars, dressed indesigner suits, and dined

at posh restaurants. But in the midstof enjoying the finer things in life,the identical twins found that onepart of their daily routine—shaving—didn’t quite meet their standards.

So in 2010, after four years of re-search and development, the pairlaunched TwinLuxe, a California-basedline of men’s luxury shaving and skincare products. Their two-piece shavesets, created in collaboration with thedesigner of the Rolls Royce Phantom,include either a chrome, black stainlesssteel, or white ceramic razor and abrush made from silvertip badger hair.Intended for the “affluent modern man,” the sets sell for $800 to $1,600. “It’s all about theexperience and how you feel when you use our products,” says Anthony, a former chemistrymajor and the company’s president. “TwinLuxe brings the modern spa and barbershop expe-rience into your own bathroom.”

The company’s skin care products are similarly high-end; one set, which includes shavingcream, facial balm, and “booster serum,” is priced at $174 and has been featured in gift bagsat NBA All-Star games, the Michael Jordan Celebrity Golf Invitational, and the 2011 GrammyAwards. “We’ve been working as a pair ever since we graduated from Cornell and entered WallStreet,” says Hubert, a former biology major and the company’s CEO. “We think alike and we’reall about perfection. When you have two minds working together, that’s a lot better thanworking by yourself.”

— Nicholas St. Fleur ’13

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and graphic design work, and coordinate printersand website developers on behalf of clients. Kris-ten joined the agency in 1997. Congratulationson your new position! Subha Dhanaraj Lembachchecked in from Columbus, OH, where she liveswith husband Michael and 8-year-old daughterElizabeth Sunita, and has been very active in hercommunity since graduating from Fordham LawSchool. As the juvenile justice community plan-ning initiative director at the Franklin County Ju-venile Court, Subha works to reduce racialdisparities in the juvenile justice system throughpolicy change, program development, communityengagement, and advocacy. She serves on severalboards, including the Association of Junior LeaguesInt’l, the Cornell Alumni Association board, GirlScouts of Ohio’s Heartland, the Buckeye Ranch serv-ice board, the Columbus Museum of Art women’sboard, Columbus Children’s Theatre, TWIG of Na-tionwide Children’s Hospital, and the Columbus Zooand Aquarium Association board. Subha was alsoappointed to the national NOW Global Strategiesand Issues Advisory Committee and served as anOhio delegate to Vision 2020, a national movementfocused on gender equality. She has also receivedseveral honors, including Business First’s 40 Under40, Young Catholic Woman of the Year, Wendy’sChampionship for Children’s Service for ChildrenAward, Northwest Columbus Woman of the Year,and Nationwide Children’s Hospital Volunteer of theMonth. Congratulations on your achievements andaccolades, Subha. Keep up the great work!

Heather Brill Skolnick sent in an update inSeptember on her growing family. Heather andhusband Neal added identical twins Andrew andRyan on August 10, 2011 to their Westchester, NY,household, which also includes big sister Lila anddog Freddie. Heather writes of the boys, “We hopethey will be part of the Class of ’33!” Heatherworks for Bloomingdale’s central buying office andkeeps in touch with Stephanie Shaps and herchildren Loden and Max; Angie Datta Kamath andher children Soraya and Kiran; Jill Akst Sheflinand her boys Ryan and Brandon; and Sandy LoebSalsberg, MD ’01, and her children Evie and Asa.

If you enjoyed this column, do your part tomake a future issue interesting! Find a minute andsend in some news. Classmates want to know what’sgoing on! Send photos you would like to share onour class website to cubigred97@gmail. com with“website pictures” in the header (.jpg files). In-terested in serving as class correspondent? Step upand become an integral part of your alumni classleadership by helping us stay connected! Recon-nect via Facebook: join the Cornell Class of 1997group! Erica Broennle Nelson, ejb4@ cornell.edu; Sarah Deardorff Carter, [email protected].

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remains true: Cornellians make things happen! Forinstance, April 2011 found Jennifer Betit Yenplaying a feisty “good time girl” on stage in AlishaSilver’s Paper Dragon at the Manhattan TheatreSource. In May, Jen also co-produced and actedin The Problem of Gravity, a film about the magicof childhood, in conjunction with actor/ screen-writer Trevor Zhou. She also accepted a board po-sition for the Asian American Film Lab (NYC) andserved as a judge for the 72 Hour Shootout andAsian American Int’l Film Festival in August 2011.Also in the world of the arts, David L. Williamstraveled to St. Louis in September 2011 to seethe world premiere of his original full-length play,The Winners. In 2010, HotCity Theatre chose TheWinners as one of three scripts, out of 250-plussubmitted plays, for their GreenHouse New PlayFestival. David and two other playwrights jour-neyed to St. Louis for a week to workshop theirplays, and a staged reading of the plays was heldfor a public audience. Following the festival, TheWinners was the play selected by HotCity to bepart of their 2011 mainstage season.

Alexis Ewing Douglas writes, “I was workingfor Constellation Wines US as their fine wine spe-cialist representing the luxury tier of the portfo-lio for the Southern California region and met myfuture-husband-to-be, Michael Douglas, whileworking at a charity event as the sommelier at theRitz-Carlton Laguna Beach on Sept 11, 2010. Hewas also working the event—he is ‘American Idol’winner Taylor Hicks’s attorney and manager, andTaylor was performing at the event. We datedlong-distance until we decided I should move toBirmingham. We got married April 30, 2011.” Sev-eral Cornellians joined the celebration: MichelleStevens Oates, Lauren Bockino Ungar, NataliePosteau Stein, and Margaux Pierog ’02.

David Munson took on the role of directorof education programs at a great new science andeducation tech startup called Project Noah.Sponsored by National Geographic, Project Noahis a mobile platform for wildlife data that is con-necting citizen scientists around the world withresearchers. Learn more about it at www. projectnoah. org. Susan Sepenoski is the sole veteri-narian at the Rumney Animal Hospital, which shebought in 2010. While the bulk of her patientsare dogs and cats, she also treats birds, reptiles,rabbits, rodents, ferrets, goats, chickens, alpacas,llamas, sheep, and pigs in New Hampshire! Susanis also raising goats and chickens at her house,which is next door. She is an active CAAAN mem-ber, interviewing prospective Cornell applicants.Katherine Wrobel is a patent attorney living inPortsmouth, NH. Kathrynne Teeter completed 35years working at Cornell and is in phased retire-ment working on Cornell’s new financial systemimplementation. She is about to start the sec-ond year of a two-year registered nursing pro-gram. Here’s to happy beginnings!

On the baby front: Rachel Valente Shermanand husband Matthew ’99 welcomed their thirdchild, Isabelle Joy. The family moved several yearsago from Boston to Corning, NY, where Rachel isnow director of client service at Market StreetTrust Co. Jakob O’Donnell was born March 4,2011, to Sean and Gayle D’Alessandro O’Donnell.Big sister Sofie is a great helper! Yishen Kuik hasmoved from New York to Hong Kong with his wife,Julia Zheng ’99. They had a baby girl in 2010.Julia is with Goldman Sachs, and Yishen runs Ka-tong Capital, a quantitative investment manage-ment company. Yishen is also learning to surf atBig Wave Bay and has taken up swimming in the

open water for recreation. Simon Arpiarian andwife Felicia welcomed son William Heinz on June8, 2011. Michael Raffaele, wife Kathleen, andbig sister Maeve, 2, welcomed baby girl FinleyMargaret on July 28, 2011. In related news, Maevehas named all of her previously unnamed dollsand stuffed animals “Finley.”

Please continue to send news of your manyadventures and celebrations to: Uthica JinvitUtano, [email protected]; Molly Darnieder Brack-en, [email protected]; or Karen Dorman Kipnes,[email protected].

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98 Writing this column in the fallof 2011 and knowing that itwill be published in the New

Year, I can only imagine what great things willtranspire within that time frame! For example, byJanuary 2012, my son, 2, will have finished hisfirst semester of “pre-college.” (He is currentlyenrolled at the Early Childhood Center at SarahLawrence College.) My daily schedule will in -evitably be filled with more toddler activities(maybe even play-dates with other Cornellmommies and their toddlers) while my PC andsmart phone will be completely taken over by mytech-savvy son, if it hasn’t been already.

No matter how many years have passed sinceour time “far above Cayuga’s waters,” one thing

99 A lot of great news from ourclassmates in the D.C. area!Peter Lallas became assistant

US attorney for the District of Columbia. He andfiancée Susie Samet ’01met at a fundraiser in D.C.,where they both live. Also in the D.C. area are LieseMeier and John “J.T.” Haran, who were marriedthis past March in Sage Chapel. Congrat ulations!They met at Cornell as members of the horn sec -tion of the Big Red marching band. J.T. poppedthe question following a walk around Beebe Lake.Jennifer Lamontagne Pelletier ’01 and DianaRawstrom ’00 were in the bridal party. J.T. is apatent lawyer and Liese is attendingGeorge townU.for a nursing degree. Lowell Frank, MD ’03, and hiswife, Samantha (Klein) ’96, also live in D.C. withtheir son, Max. Lowell is an assis tant professor ofpediatrics and attending in pediatric cardiologyat Children’s National Med ical Center, where hecompleted fellowships in pedi atric cardiology andadvanced cardiac im aging. He plays the trumpetregularly with the Alexandra Citizen’s Band, eventhough it is not quite the Big Red Band!

Another congratulatory note to Bill Chudd,JD ’02, who was elected partner at Davis Polk &Wardwell LLP, a global law firm. Bill is a memberof the corporate department in New York, con-centrating on mergers and acquisitions, joint ven-tures, and related matters. His experience includesa wide variety of US and international mergers andacquisitions transactions. Ari Sobel, BS ’05, waspromoted to a director of food and beverage withCannery Casino Resort’s Meadows Racetrack andCasino, which is near Pittsburgh, PA. Ari’s wife,Christina Drum ’91 (Ag Biology) is a data archi-tect and manager of metadata for the U. of Ne-vada, Las Vegas. Ari visited the Cornell DKE housethis past spring and thought the actives havedone an amazing job of improving the physicalplant and strengthening the overall brotherhood.

Sara Best Monaco is a pathologist at the U.of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She and her husband,Eddie, along with their children Eddie IV and Ju-lia, welcomed their third baby, Nicholas Anthony,into the world on June 26, 2011. Another sum-mer baby was welcomed by Colleen Vogt Trevisaniand husband Joseph on July 16, 2011. Colleenteaches theology at Our Lady of Mercy High Schoolin Rochester, NY. Sophia Francis is also in NewYork in St. Albans. She has a daughter, Christina,4, and works in the field of early childhood edu-cation, operating childcare centers in Brooklyn,NY. For fun, Sophia has taken up snowboardingand motorcycle riding. Most winters you can findher on the slopes out West. Speaking of the West,Kevin Gamble, MILR ’01, and his family haveresided in beautiful Fort Collins, CO, since 2001.Kevin works for a property management companyas their director of HR. Once a month Kevin at-tends a get-together for Cornellians and friendsat a local place called Cafe Vino.




http://www.projectnoah.org

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Class of 2000 were also appointed to the Univer-sity Council, and in this edition’s column, I wouldlike to acknowledge those six classmates whohave made such enormous strides in the short tenyears since our graduation.

Since graduating from Columbia BusinessSchool in May 2008, Andrea Wasserman hasbeen living in Seattle and is having the time ofher life in her new role as national bridal directorfor Nordstrom. Andrea spends her days visiting the18 wedding suites in Nordstrom stores, buyingbeautiful wedding gowns and accessories acrossthe country. When not working, Andrea and herhusband, Ezra Marbach ’97, enjoy spending timeon the Seattle waterfront, day-tripping to ski re-sorts, and taking annual vacations to Hawaii andAsia. Perhaps Andrea will get a chance to visit fel-low Council member Stanley Tao-Hung Sun, MBA’05, on one of her trips out East. After complet-ing his degree at the Johnson School, Stanley re-turned to Hong Kong to join his family businessin development and marketing of photographicproducts. He has also served as the president ofthe Cornell Club of Hong Kong and organized thefirst Asia leadership conference. Stanley and hiswife, Jacqueline, are busy remodeling their homeand celebrating the one-year anniversary of theircompany’s new skincare business. In addition toall that excitement, the couple’s daughter,Annabelle, just started school this past Augustand has been happily enjoying her first steps intothe academic world.

After returning to her home in Washington,DC, from TCAM, class president Rebekah Gordonrushed off to Tampa, FL, where she spent theweek working at the annual Coast Guard Innova-tion Expo, and topped it off with a birthday cel-ebration at Disney World! Rebecca reports a closetie for the highlight of TCAM—between holdingRebecca Johnston’s women’s ice hockey goldmedal from the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympicsand getting to wine and dine in the beautiful newMilstein Hall with architect Rem Koolhaas. Formerclass president Emanuel Tsourounis II, JD ’03, waselected to Council in 2010. Eman is presently di-recting his Cornell efforts on revitalizing CUGALA,Cornell’s LGBT alumni organization, and serves asCUGALA’s representative to the Cornell Alumni As-sociation and MOSAIC. After years of working atStroock and Akin Gump, Eman left to start his ownfirm, the Law Office of Emanuel Tsourounis PC. Asa solo practitioner, he focuses primarily on com-mercial and residential real estate matters andgeneral corporate/small business matters.

Natacha Carbajal is currently living in Dum-bo, Brooklyn, and has been incredibly busy work-ing as an attorney for Baker Hostetler. Sincejoining the firm in 2010, she has been part of theteam representing Irving H. Picard, trustee for theSIPA liquidation of Bernard Madoff Investment Se-curities. Natacha serves as the national mentoringchair for the Hispanic National Bar Associationand deputy regional president for their New Yorkregion. She is also a member of the board of di-rectors for the Fordham Law Minority MentorshipProgram. A “triple red” alumna, Anaiza Morales,ME ’01, MBA ’02, left her hometown of San Juan,Puerto Rico, for NYC in 2008. Since then, Anaizahas been developing the Cornell Alumni in Enter-tainment Group of NYC and continuing her con-sulting practice in business development andstrategy for Angel Investors. On top of all that,Anaiza also recently got married in Istanbul,Turkey, to Can Yazicioglu, whom she met at CornellSummer College 17 years ago!

As for me, I am still living in Manhattan andloving my job as a tax and bankruptcy litigatorfor the New York City Law Dept. 2011 brought melots of good news: in addition to my appoint-ment to the University Council, I was also ap-pointed to senior counsel by corporation counselMichael Cardozo this past September. I hope allof you had just as wonderful a year, and here’shoping for another great one in 2012! We lovehearing from you, and we love writing for you, sobe sure to send us all your incredible news in theNew Year! Andrea May Chan, amc32@ cornell.edu; Christine Jensen Weld, [email protected].

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Quite a few of our classmates live abroad. An-thony Rosen has moved to Australia. He finds thatit is a big change from London, but he loves hisnew laid-back Aussie lifestyle. He is also enjoyingliving on the beach and catching a ferry throughSydney harbor on his commute to work as a di-rector at Deloitte in their corporate restructuringteam. Tony is searching for fellow Cornellians DownUnder, so please get in touch with him if you arein the area. Dhruv Luthra now lives in London af-ter spending time in D.C., Mumbai, and places inbetween. Dhruv refuses to join Facebook in thehope that serendipity will lead him to former class-mates. Ali J. Siddiqui lives in Dubai, UAE, andwould welcome contact from other Cornell alumni.Since 2003, he has been running his own invest-ment firm, JS Private Equity, which invests in busi-nesses in South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.Ali is in touch with a number of Cornell alumni in-cluding Ali Raza Siddiqui ’02 (his brother!), SaadFaruqui ’98, Naveed Chowdhry ’98, Patrik Kempe’00, and Zach Iscol ’01. Ali completed his mostimportant personal test—he skied to the NorthPole in 2008! On the philanthropy front, he is aboard member and supporter of the Acumen Fund,a social enterprise fund that invests in businessesthat serve the underprivileged in Africa and Asia.

For the last three and a half years, Nina Kul-lander has been based in the French part ofSwitzerland, an area she loves due to its magnif-icent nature, large expat community, and highquality of life. She now runs her own coachingcompany, Authentic Life Choices (www.authenticlifechoices.com), in the Vevey-Lausanne-Genevaregion, focusing on both work and private life. Shefinds it truly rewarding and fun! Jessica Rodriguezis another entrepreneurial classmate. This past year,she co-founded and launched her own media ven-ture, ‘LLERO (www. llero. net)—pronounced Ye-Rho—an online Latino men’s magazine. She says themagazine has the fun of Maxim with the utility ofMen’s Health, all with a Latino twist. If anyone isinterested in learning more about the website orwants to share comments, please feel free to con-tact Jessica at jrodriguez@ jawscommunications.com. Beth Heslowitz, beth. heslowitz@ gmail.com; Melanie Grayce West, mga6@cornell. edu;Liz Borod Wright, lizborod@ gmail.com; TaberSweet, [email protected].

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00 “High on a hill with our feet onthe ground.” Such an eloquent,not to mention oh-so-accurate,

depiction of our dear alma mater. And it was highon a hill that I first heard these words spoken—standing atop the newly built Physical Sciencesbuilding in the center of East Ave. It was October20, 2011 and the beginning of this past year’sTrustee-Council Annual Meeting (TCAM). They weremy first steps back on campus since our 5th Re -union, and as I heard those words, I stood insilence, taking in the breathtaking views of acampus I once called home.

It was a memorable and informative weekend,packed with events ranging from academic pre-sentations and tours to an energy-filled gala din-ner at Barton Hall. But perhaps the most poignantmoment for me was the Trustee-Council Joint Meet-ing coupled with the inspirational State of the Uni-versity address from our esteemed president, DavidSkorton. At that moment, I began to realize thatI was part of a most dedicated group of Cornellleaders. And what made me most proud was thatI was not alone. Six other members of our great

01 Happy New Year, Class of 2001! Ihope this finds you well and thatyou were able to ring in a new

year of health and happiness! Congratulation toMichael, MPA ’02, and Susan Mueller Hanson,ME ’02, who had their second child, ElisabethLucille, on August 11, 2011. She joins big brotherChristopher. Congratulations also to Joshua andMelissa Hantman Pheterson, who welcomeddaughter Abigail Paige on June 29. She joins bigbrother Samuel Isaac. The Phetersons live inRochester, NY, where Melissa is a freelance writerand Joshua practices law. They regretfully had tomiss our 10th Reunion, on doctor’s orders, butlook forward to taking both children to our 15th!

We are so proud to have a classmate who hasmade an incredible gift back to Cornell. Libe Caféhas been renamed after Amit Bhatia, whose$500,000 donation to the cafe and library systemwas announced this past summer. Amit’s donationis his first to Cornell and is meant to “provide forscholarship and socialization in John M. Olin Li-brary.” While an undisclosed portion of the do-nation will support the actual café, the majorityof the money will be used to support Cornell’s li-braries, specifically in acquiring collections. Moneywill be allocated to the libraries with the greatestneed, said Jennifer Sawyer, director of library alum-ni affairs and development. Amit decided to do-nate to the libraries because of the role they playedwhile he was a student, where it gave him an op-portunity to socialize with his friends. Amit saidhe wanted to give back to a facet of the universi-ty that had aided his friends and himself in thriv-ing at Cornell. “The naming of a café was appealingto him,” university librarian Anne Kenney said. “Hehad done well and wanted to give back.” His cur-rent job is running Swordfish Investments andSwordfish Capital Management. He is also a mem-ber of the Queen’s Park Rangers’ board of directors.

Jason Adaska is a research scientist for Nu-merica Corp. He is leading his company’s effortsto create a sense-and-avoid capability to safelyintegrate unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) intothe national airspace. Jason’s research team hasdeveloped novel methods for producing robust andreliable trajectory predictions over the long term.The Numerica scientists are working with ColoradoEngineering Inc. to model its USTAR collisionavoidance radar for feasibility testing. Congratu-lations to Laurel Braitman, who is completing herdoctorate at MIT about animal behavior and alsowriting a book. Catch up with her on her blog atwww.animalmadness.com. At our 10th ReunionTrina Lee caught up with Kelli Terry Bronski andlearned that she and husband Peter are co-authorsof two cookbooks, Artisanal Gluten-Free Cookingand Artisanal Gluten-Free Cupcakes. They also writean acclaimed blog, “No Gluten, No Problem.” Theirweb site: http://www. artisanglutenfree.com.


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Erin Colling married Floyd Cleofe on July 16in Seattle and was excited to have many Cornell -ian attendees. These included Kristina MozeskyGibbs, Alison Solomon Mainhart, Jessica Pearl,Erin Tobin, Jake Chun, Nicole Neroulias Gupte,Salil Gupte, Nate Brown, Bernard Rissmiller,Dan Borrus, Ilene West Borrus, Alison Burke,and Hae Won Lee Ritchie. Also in attendancewere her parents, Ken ’67, MBA ’69, and JeanSmiley Colling ’68, Ralph ’64, MBA ’65, and Bet-ty Vedder Colling ’64, Margaret Colling Wicks’70, Ed Miller, MPA ’69, and Mary Wicks Kwas-niewski ’97. An amazing Cornell representation!Congratulations to Erin and Floyd.

Andrea Hoberman Martinez checks in fromCincinnati, OH, where she has been raising her 18-month-old daughter, Talia (which includes watch-ing lots of Elmo), and getting settled in her newhometown. She and husband Alan relocated fromNew Jersey to Cincinnati for Alan’s fellowship inreproductive endocrinology and infertility. Andreawas fortunate to find a job as an outcomes man-ager for the Pulmonary Medicine Division atCincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Shehas found that Cincinnati is a very family-friendlyplace and they’ve been keeping busy, getting set-tled, and visiting the aquarium with Talia. Andreawould love to connect with any other Cornellalumni in the area. Julie Contino, MAT ’02, checksin from New York City, where she works as a sen-ior science curriculum and teacher preparationspecialist. She earned her EdD in science educa-tion from Teachers College, Columbia U., in May2011 and has been working on a new master’s de-gree that prepares Earth Science teachers at theAmerican Museum of Natural History. They arecurrently in a planning year and will accept theirfirst cohort for June 2012.

The class officers hope that everyone canparticipate and contribute to class dues. Pleaseencourage your friends to be a part of it, too.Donate online at https://www.giving.cornell. edu/dues/. We love to hear from all of our classmates.Please share your good news! E-mail me at [email protected] or at the address below.Best wishes for a happy, healthy, prosperous, andexciting start to 2012! Lauren Wallach Ham-mer, [email protected].

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works for the National Weather Service (Hydro -meteorological Prediction Center) with Paul Kocin’77 and Faye Barthold ’06. Corinne McGown Meliand hubby Graham had their first child, BenjaminHenry, on July 2, 2011. Stephen, ME ’02, MBA’07, and Alissa Bovee Terry were thrilled to sharethe news that daughter Avilene Elizabeth was bornin July also. “Big brother Fletcher, almost 2, isdoing well with all the chaos. We are still enjoy-ing life in Connecticut.”

Fellow UNSW-Sydney study abroad classmateNeera Chanani recently moved from Las Vegas toMumbai, India, and received a warm welcome fromthe Cornell Hotel Society Mumbai Chapter. “I’mreally enjoying my work as the South Asia head forCaesars Entertainment—expanding the Caesarsbrand to the region via hotel, entertainment, re-tail, dining, and other interesting developments.Traveling throughout India has been exciting andI’m looking forward to the adventures ahead.”Neera would love to connect with anyone travel-ing to India. After about five years with MolinaroKoger doing hotel brokerage in Phoenix/Scottsdale,Jeremy Allen left in June 2011 to start his ownhotel valuation and consulting firm, Allen GlobalHospitality. Right now the focus is on hotel ap-praisals and feasibility studies; however, they arealso developing a green hotel consulting arm ina partnership with Greenlodge.org, an online guideto green hotels. “Check us out online at www. allenglobalhotels.com. On a more personal note, myson, Tyler, recently celebrated his first birthday.It’s been an exciting year for us and we’re look-ing forward to wherever this takes us next!”

Novelist Carrie Salo, in Princeton, NJ, isthrilled that her debut novel became available forpurchase as of November 2010. “The Sounding isa supernatural thriller. I began it under two Cor-nell professors in my senior year: Robert Morganand Stephanie Vaughn. One of the most sus-penseful scenes in the book takes place in thedeep, underground heart of an old library—mod-eled after Cornell’s Olin Library!” Look for TheSounding on Amazon, in stores, or at carriesalo.com. You can also follow Carrie on Facebook. Fel-low Spanish 101 classmate and best nicknamerJohn Zeltmann shared some great news about hiswife, Rebecca (Ehrlich), who passed the regis-tration exam and became an official registered di-etitian. After completing her MS in nutrition, shetook a job as a clinical dietitian at a hospital andis thrilled to finally be working in the field andgaining experience after four years of school. Johnadds, “I am still with RegentAtlantic Capital, anindependent, fee-only wealth management firmbased in Morristown, NJ. I fulfilled my work re-quirement and am now able to use the letters CFP(Certified Financial Planner) after my name. I’mcurrently working toward the Chartered FinancialAnalyst exam. On a personal note, we bought ahouse last year and enjoy making it a home!”

For all you Computer Science majors outthere, check out Dan Storms, who has been work-ing as the head of engineering at Red Rover, aNYC-based startup, for a year. Dan and the RedRover team went through the inaugural TechStarsNY program and built a lot of excitement for theirpeer-to-peer learning platform. “Having been atCornell and worked for Big Red Ventures duringthe last tech boom, it’s exciting to be in the mid-dle of the latest one. Things are moving fast, andwe are building out a great system to connectpeople in big companies to each other and tobest practices and knowledge around the compa-ny.” Danielle Guarracino completed her PhD in

chemistry at Yale in 2008, followed by two yearsas a postdoctoral teaching and research associ-ate at New York U. “I have finally begun my of-ficial, independent career in chemistry. This pastyear, I became an assistant professor in the chem-istry department at the College of New Jersey.”Danielle teaches general and organic chemistryand biochemistry, in addition to beginning men-torship of undergraduate research students on achemical biology project. “It has been both chal-lenging and fulfilling. In my spare time I’ve tak-en to some non-science hobbies: I play flute ina local volunteer community symphonic band; theages of the members span seven decades!”

Check out the Class of 2002’s reunion websiteat http://alumni.cornell.edu/reunion/ for moreinfo, and I’ll see you all at CTB, Ithaca Bakery, andRulloff’s! Reunion here we come! Send news to:

Carolyn Deckinger, cmd35@cornell. edu; andJeffrey Barker, [email protected]

02 Welcome to 2012, the year ofour much-anticipated 10th RE -UNION! I hope everyone has

blocked off June 7-10, 2012 for a trip back toschool. I know there are several of you out therewho just have to admit how much freaking funour last reunion was in 2007. It truly was anamazing time, and this year’s will top it! Whetheryou’re bringing the crew back together to danceon ta bles at the Palms (so you can read what’s onthe ceiling tiles, of course), looking to reignitean old flame, or show your new spouses or littleones where it all began, good times are basicallyguar anteed. Look for more information in yourinboxes and mailboxes, and don’t miss the mostfun of the year!

I am super-pleased to share more news ofmarriage and babies! “I got married on Septem-ber 10, 2011 to Tim White (not a Cornell alum,but it’s OK),” wrote the one and only Tony Fra-casso. In attendance at their Connecticut affairwere Elizabeth Gingold Greenman, Rose Kwok,and Katina Varzos. “It was great to see everyoneand we can’t wait for our 10th (yikes!) Reunion!”The newlyweds live in Silver Spring, MD, where Tony

03 The Class of 2003 has been busyand we have a lot of news toreport! Tom Pipala has moved

to Brooklyn and is nearing his sixth anniversarywith Integro Insurance Brokers, a startup in -surance brokerage firm founded in 2005. Tomencouraged friends to contact him at his Man -hattan office. Tim Altier returned last summerfrom an enlightening first trip to Israel to standin support of the Jewish people and their home -land. Tim reported, “We all know that this is avery contentious situation, but when you travelthere, you realize the truth. All those who comein peace are welcome. It’s a beautiful country,and if you like learning about history or just want


https://www.giving.cornell.edu/dues/



http://Greenlodge.org

http://www.allenglobalhotels.com

http://www.allenglobalhotels.com

http://alumni.cornell.edu/reunion/



http://tinyurl.com/cornellclassof2002

https://www.giving.cornell.edu/dues/


http://www.carriesalo.com

http://www.carriesalo.com


to put a visual with the stories in the Bible, Israelis a place you need to visit soon. E-mail me if youwant to learn more: [email protected].”

Tim Leung wrote, “After graduating fromORIE in 2003, I went on to get a PhD in opera-tions research and financial engineering at Prince-ton, followed by an assistant professorship atJohns Hopkins U. This July, I joined Columbia U.’sIEOR department as a tenure-track assistant pro-fessor.” Over in San Francisco, Maurice Hernan-dez works at Accel-KKR and recently attended abirthday party for Damian Wolos in Ibiza. Mari-an Vidaurri ([email protected]) shared somewonderful family news: “My husband, Julio Rank,MA ’03, and I welcomed our second child. Bornon April 6, Felipe is a beautiful and happy babyboy.” Congratulations, Marian!

Rachel Money continues to work for Procter& Gamble and has relocated to Fayetteville, AR,to become the Walmart International Asia exportleader. Rachel writes, “I will be focused on ex-porting our iconic brands to Japan, China, India,and South Africa with Walmart. It is a very ex-citing opportunity and challenge that I am look-ing forward to.” Nina Kryuk Grigoriev (nina.grigoriev@ gmail.com) shared that she and hus-band Dmitry have returned to New York after ayear abroad working on their graduate degrees,and are now working in new positions. Ninaearned her master’s in public policy from the U.of Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain, and nowworks in international communications at the re-productive health research and policy think tankGuttmacher Inst. She previously ran marketinggroups at various online startups in New York City.Dmitry earned his MBA from ESADE in Barcelonaand now works in the strategic incentive plan-ning group at American Express, in the commer-cial card division.

Derek Berner has joined EDO Interactive(http://www.edointeractive.com/), a tech startupspecializing in online discounts, in Nashville, TN,where he works alongside Thomas Bernstein.Jean Lee shared this: “I haven’t been keeping intouch with Cornell as much as I should . . . Igraduated from ILR and have had a pretty unusualcareer path, starting out with the UN/ILO, foun-dations, international NGOs, etc. I’m actuallystarting a new job at the Actors Fund as theircorporate relations manager, which may be in-teresting since it’s supporting everyone in the en-tertainment business nationwide—film, theatre,television, music, opera, circus, dance, etc.”

Congratulations to Jen Weston, who was mar-ried to Marbree Sullivan last July in Topsfield, MA.The couple now lives in Cambridge, MA. Jen writes,“As of December 6, 2010, I’m working for GriffinHospital doing the NuVal Scoring System (this sys-tem ranks foods from 1-100 based on a nutrition-al quality index).” Caroline Hegarty Mahoney andher husband had their first child in May, “a happylittle boy named Finn—and hopefully a future Cor-nellian. I still live in the Boston area and work asa planner for construction projects at Harvard U.”Michael Berger, JD ’06, married Anna Aronova ’06,MD ’10, on April 9, 2011, at the North Ritz Club inSyosset, NY. Groomsmen included Josh Strugatz,MPS ’04, Justin Karlitz-Grodin, and Michael’sbrother Matt Berger ’00. Also present were JeffTrovato, David Fisher, JD ’06, and Robert Cirino,JD ’06, and many Cornell alumni from other years,including Michael’s dad, Larry Berger ’66. Anna isa surgery resident at NewYork-Presbyterian/Cornell.

Stephanie Moore Stone gave birth to her sec-ond daughter, Lorelei Lydia, on June 2. Stephanie

where she does math modeling, simulation, analy-sis, and report writing and presentations. Whenshe wrote, she was training for a half-marathon inher off-hours, as well as hiking, reading, skiing,camping, and traveling. Dar Caldwell sent newsfrom Shaker Heights, OH. Following graduation,he served as CEO of a landscape architectural de-sign-build firm, the Smiling Dutchman, in Cleve-land, but later co-founded a business acceleratorto support local entrepreneurs, which grew intoLaunchHouse in 2010 (www. launchhouse.com).Dar describes LaunchHouse as “a unique public-private partnership that invests in new venturesand recruits talent to the Northeast Ohio region,”providing pre-seed money and assisting entrepre-neurs with educational programs on topics suchas raising capital, bookkeeping, marketing, net-working, and optimizing Internet tools. “We’veproved that a small investment in a business canget them from an idea to up-and-running in 90days.” Dar adds, “I credit a majority of my suc-cess to my experience at Cornell.”

Back in New York State, Jacqueline Anto-nious ([email protected]) has her ownlaw firm in Glendale. Daniel Hormaza ([email protected]) writes from Rochester, NY. “I work atXerox as a remanufacturing fuser engineer. I de-velop a process to remanufacture (similar to re-furbish) fusers down in Mexico from Rochester.My projects have saved Xerox millions of dollars!”Extracurricular activities include indoor soccer, andDaniel has started on his master’s degree in prod-uct development at RIT. “I travel when possiblearound the East Coast of the US and Canada. Ialso have a lovely girlfriend and I just visited myfirst nephew—unfortunately, he’s all the way inBoise, ID.” Daniel would like to hear from DanielZarzar.” Send your news to: Anne C. Jones-Leeson, iamannejones.gmail.com.

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writes, “Her big sister is Penelope, 2. My husbandis Peter ’01. We are all doing great, living in ShortHills, NJ.” Kate Russell Irving reports, “My fam-ily (husband and kids ages 3 and 5) and I movedto Fort Rucker, AL, last month because Steve hasbeen assigned to teach at the Army’s AviationCaptains’ Career Course. I have a job teachingyoga at a local gym and am working on my 1,000-hour yoga therapy certification. Steve and I ranthe Country Music Marathon in April and we’rerunning the St. Louis Half-Marathon in October,but we’re super-excited because we’re training fora Tough Mudder competition, which is being heldin Tampa in December. It’s a ten- to 12-milecourse with 25 obstacles designed by ex-BritishSpecial Forces soldiers. Should be a good time.”Last but not least, Chris Hsu happily announcedthat he and his wife, Yuri, welcomed daughterAdelyn on Jan. 2, 2011. Congratulations! Pleasegive us a shout with your news. SamanthaBuckingham Noonan, swnoonan@ gmail.com;Sudha Nandagopal, [email protected].

04 Thanks to everyone who sent ina News Form fromour class mail -ings last fall. And if the hard

copy form isn’t your thing, write me any time ofyear at the e-mail address below. Here’s the latest.

Jennifer Itskovich Shtainer ([email protected]) and husband William live in New YorkCity, where Jennifer is VP in human resources atDeutsche Bank. “I support the capital marketsgroup, which includes equity and leveraged debtcapital markets and commodities. I was recruitedout of ILR into the Deutsche Bank HR grad pro-gram in 2004 and have been here ever since. I wasrecently in London presenting at the HR inductionfor the 2011 grad class!” Jennifer keeps in touchwith her Cornell friends and enjoys the gym, yoga,and family time, with some reality TV thrown in. “Iam recently married, so am practicing how to cookas well!” Also in NYC, Todd Fellerman ([email protected]) is a senior marketing strategist in the fi-nancial services/advertising sales division atGoogle. Gregory Studer, ME ’05, checked in fromNYC as well. And nearby, Raymond Ortiz II, MPA’06 (Edison, NJ; [email protected]) is a financialadvisor/portfolio advisor at Merrill Lynch.

Melanie Young Schad (Rockville Centre, NY;[email protected]) is a mathematicsteacher at West Babylon Senior High School. Sheand husband Mike got married in Rockville Cen-tre on July 10, 2011. Maid of honor was MonicaMehra. Out on the West Coast, Emilee ThonerMorehead ([email protected]) and hus-band Justin ’03, ME ’04, live in Alamo, CA. Emileeis a stay-at-home mom and childcare providerwho enjoys cooking, traveling, and spendingtime with family. After hours, she is active in herchurch and tutors disadvantaged students. Alsoin California, Meridith Barker Bryan (mbryan@thompsonhotels. com) and husband Christopherare in Los Angeles, where Meridith is director offinance at the Thompson Beverly Hills hotel. “Igot married June 25, 2011 in Malibu, with nu-merous Cornellians in attendance. Since returningfrom our honeymoon, my husband and I havestarted cooking classes and attending USC games.Learning to play the saxophone has kept mebusy—that and being a newlywed!”

Carolyn Fredericks, ME ’05 (carolyn.e. fred [email protected]) and husband Scott Weigle live inCentennial, CO. Carolyn is an operations researchanalyst at SAIC, Science Applications Int’l Corp.,

05 Happy winter, everyone! I’m ex -periencing my first winter inBerkeley, CA, which has been

my home since August. After graduating from theNYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Servicelast May, I became an analyst with the USGovernment Accountability Office, the independ -ent, nonpartisan agency that advises Congressand executive agencies about ways to makegovernment more efficient, effective, and respon -sive. I considered it icing on the cake that theposition is in the agency’s San Francisco office. Mydream of living in California has finally come true!I took a two-week road trip to move out here,during which I enjoyed amazing food and sightsacross 12 states. (If you have never been to theArches National Park, I highly recommend it.) Igot out here just in time to attend a Cornell NorCalWelcome Picnic, hosted by the Cornell Alum ni As -so ciation of Northern California. It was great torun into Bryan Chen and Dave Klein, ME ’06, andmeet other Cornellians. I’ve also enjoyed re -connecting with Briana Rogers, who is now amanager of Chrome operations at Google.

Beyond the Bay Area, our classmates areworking on some exciting projects. Raul Bermeolives in Mexico City, Mexico, where he foundedand directs Terrafertil, a dried fruits and nutscompany that oversees their products from plant-ing until final packaging. Learn more at www.ter-ra-fertil. com. Raul would love to welcome visitorsto Mexico City—you can e-mail him at raul.bermeo@ gmail. com. In July, Melanie Manoach(ILR) became the manager of labor relations for





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the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport).Mike LePage writes, “I’m still in D.C. and work-ing at the US Chamber of Commerce’s Inst. forLegal Reform, where I started last summer. I’mcurrently in the process of applying to part-timelaw school (which means no life for the next fouryears) and enjoying every minute of living in D.C.during a truly eventful time.”

Ankit Patel writes, “I’m completing my sev-enth year in the Tri-Institutional MD-PhD programbetween Weill Cornell, Rockefeller U., and Sloan-Kettering Inst.—and I hope my final year of PhDwork. [I have a] continued interest in nephrol -ogy, medical education, and science! Also tryingto keep up with my golf game in between. Letme know if you live in NYC and are interested inplaying ([email protected])!” As the seniormanager of digital business development andmarketing solutions for Live Nation Entertainment,Samantha Sichel was featured in Billboard Mag-azine’s “Top 30 Under 30 Power Players” issue. Ac-cording to Billboard ’s July 2011 issue, Samantha“built Live Nation Entertainment’s largest hotelpartnership to date . . . It’s estimated that [she]has secured more than 14 percent of Live NationEntertainment’s currently booked 2011 sales andmarketing revenue, plus more than $7 million andcounting toward 2012 revenue.” Join me in con-gratulating Samantha for being recognized as oneof the top 30 most powerful players in the musicbusiness under the age of 30!

I hope you’re all doing well in your respectivelocations, jobs, and endeavors. Stay tuned for class-specific events near you and visit our Class of2005 Facebook page (Cornell University Class of2005). As always, remember to submit your updatesat http: //www.alumni.cornell. edu/ participate/class-notes. cfm or to any of us at: MichelleWong, [email protected]; Hilary Johnson,haj4@cornell. edu; Johnny Chen, jc362@ cornell.edu. Class website, http://classof2005.cornell.edu/.

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Bill is back in Ithaca attending the JohnsonSchool; prior to that he built a successful solar en-ergy startup. Bill enjoys glass blowing and playson the Cornell club squash team. Other Cornelliansare also excelling in the world of athletics: AnaMaria Techeira ran the Nike Women’s Marathon inSan Francisco and is working in human resourcesfor the Sygma Network; Yanni Hufnagel is an as-sistant coach for Harvard men’s basketball. (We’llwish you luck, Yanni, if you’ll be a good sportwhen our Big Red beats your Crimson.) JenniferMunhofen played with the US National Women’sInline Hockey Team in the world championshipsin Rocarasso, Italy, this summer, and the US teamwon the gold! When she isn’t winning gold medalsfor the US, Jennifer is at U. of Georgia earning herMS in biomedical and veterinary sciences.

The Class of 2006 is thriving worldwide. PeterChoi works for Morgan Stanley in Tokyo. AnthonyMerlocco is a pediatrics resident in Toronto. An-thony writes, “I love being back in the land of milkin bags and ketchup chips but am considering re-turning to the States for fellowship training.”Kelvin Chun Hong Yap is an officer with the Sin-gapore Armed Forces and studies defense technol-ogy and systems at the Naval Postgraduate Schoolin Monterey, CA. Natasha Qamar works in Karachi,Pakistan, with Shell as a communications and Webadvisor, started her own baking business calledDouble Roti Dreams, and has been active with Acu-men Fund, a social venture capitalist fund. SamPort performed in the Ogunquit Playhouse’s pro-duction of Miss Saigon, and now sings the songsof Frankie Valli onboard Norwegian Cruise Lines. JSDeMeo is stationed in Germany with the Air Force.Tanneasha Gordon, MPA ’07, is a manager at De-loitte; she started a nonprofit, Zimbabwe Educa-tion Fund, that helps schools in rural Zimbabwe.

Back stateside, Brian Warshay returned to NYCafter completing a master’s degree at the MasdarInst. in Abu Dhabi and now does clean-tech re-search at Lux Research. Monique Markoff earnedher master’s in school leadership from Harvard andis the dean of academics at a school in San Jose,CA. Chris Repole is a staff attorney at AFTRA, theTV actors’ guild. Angela Zimmerman works in Lan-caster County, PA, as a crop and soil consultant forHomestead Nutrition. Shoshanna Lenski and SamFirke welcomed daughter Ilana on Jan. 24, 2011.Sam works in education policy for the New TeacherProject and is an avid home-brewer, winning sev-eral national home-brewing competitions. Shoshan-na earned her MS in sustainable systems at U. ofMichigan and works for DTE Energy in Ann Arbor.Josh Katcher quit his NYC corporate law job tomove home to Northern Virginia, where he plans to

become a state prosecutor. In addition to lawyer-ing, Josh works in local politics and is a memberof the Class of 2006 Council. Michael Lerario is aneurology resident at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospi-tal. Jackie Baik returned to Philadelphia afterearning her master’s degree in interior design inItaly and is the director of development for COOK,a collaborative kitchen classroom. Olga Kupriyano-va lives in Omaha and is the regional manager ofdecision support for Caesars Entertainment.

Back in the classroom, Jenna Goldstein is atU. of Michigan law school and spent the summerin Denver with the US Attorney’s Office. MichaelWeiss is getting his MBA at Stanford. Amanda Mir-to is getting her MS in animal science from U. ofWyoming. Taras Czebiniak is at Berkeley Law andplans to play in the Berkeley campanile, continu-ing his bell education since leaving Cornell Chimes.Keep sending your news to: Tory Lauterbach,[email protected]; Kate DiCicco, kad46@cornell;or Nicole DeGrace, [email protected].

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06 Happy New Year! In 2012, whynot make a resolution to re -connect with Cornell? I’ll get

you started by giving you the latest on some ofour classmates. First, there’s me, Tory Lauterbach.I attended the U. of Texas School of Law and am athird-year associate at the D.C. office of Cad -walader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, in the energyand commodities practice group. I split my timebetween Houston and D.C., so if you are aCornellian in either city, please look me up! Iattended the gorgeous wedding of my roommatefrom Clara Dickson Hall, Hope Forbes, andSteven Hecht. Hope and Steve were joined byfriends from TKE, AOPi, and Clara Dickson Hall.Ann Panteleev was a bridesmaid. Congratu -lations, Hope and Steve!

Speaking of weddings, we’ve had a lot ofthem lately! Congratulations to our senior classpresident, Michael Zuckerman, JD ’09, and Megan(Belkin); they now reside in Chicago. Rachel Ker-win and Victor Nemchenok ’05 wed and relocat-ed to D.C., where Rachel paints and Victor isfinishing his PhD at U. of Virginia. Shannon De-laney and Andrew Holmberg married in June andlive in Boston. Congratulations are also in orderfor Elie Track and Eve Schaming ’08, Kevin Brod-sky and his wife Laurie, and David Gura and hisnew bride, who were accompanied at their wed-ding by groomsman Wyatt Nelson.

Bill Culley, ME ’07, married Colleen Wahl,whom he met at a NYC rock climbing gym in 2010.

07 This NewYear finds me,Mari annaGomez, back home in Austin, TX,spendingmuch-needed timewith

friends and family before heading to Puerto Ricofor perhaps the final journey in my adventures ingraduate school. I received a global health servicefellowship through the Dept. of Global Health atGeorge Washington U. that covers half the costs ofmy travel while working as a research assistant forthe Ponce School of Medicine and Health Sciences.You can read more about my recent travels, wan -derings, and wonderings on my blog: http:// theolivesparrow.blogspot.com/. Our classmates, like -wise, have had a flurry of their own adventures.

I received a copy of an article from the Itha-ca Journal on Morgan Uceny, former 800-meterrunner for Cornell track and field. Morgan wonfirst place in the 1,500-meter US Championshipsin June 2011, scoring a position on the team of1,500-meter racers competing for the World Cham-pionship in Daegu, South Korea, in August andSeptember 2011. A professional runner for Adidas,Uceny hails from Plymouth, IN, and currently re-sides in San Diego, CA. This past year she also wonfirst place at the Diamond League championshipin Switzerland and finished with a personal bestat 4:00:06. Since then she has gone on to winseveral other races and has ranked second in theworld in the 1,500-meter category. There is a buzzthat she could take home a medal in the 2012Summer Olympics in London.

Matthew Levey, ME ’08, moved to Durham,NC, to pursue a better job opportunity as an




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08 Happy New Year! January 2012means we are just a year and ahalf away from our 5th Reunion;

be sure to mark your calendars for June 6-9,2013! We look forward to catching up in personabout all of the tremendous things the Class of2008 has been up to in the “real world.”

Wedding bells are ringing. Carolyn MarinLundholm writes, “I got married Oct. 15, 2011 atSage Chapel to John Lundholm ’01. Three of mybridesmaids were Lizzie Bryant, Lori Maida, andBrenda Cannizzaro, and three groomsmen wereElie Gamburg ’01, BArch ’02, Mike Zito ’01, andAmit Bhatia ’01. The reception was held in theJohnson School atrium.” Harley Glazer, JD ’11,shares that following her Cornell Law School grad-uation, she and Jason Raff ’06 said their vows onAug. 20, 2011 in New Jersey, with Charlie Niesen -baum and Allie Reimer in attendance. Harley be-gan her legal career at Cadwalader, Wickersham &Taft in New York City this past fall.

Marielle Macher, BA ’07, and Dave Rothstein,PhD ’07, were married in May 2010. Marielle says,“Classmates at our wedding included IlanaGoldowitz, Alexander Sperber ’07, Steven Dila-mani, Nathaniel Rabkin, Gillian Paul, AaronBloomfield, Michelle Schamberg, and AmandaDropkin, ME ’08. I graduated from Harvard LawSchool in May 2011, and Dave and I have movedto Scranton, PA—home of ‘The Office.’ I’m clerk-ing for Judge Thomas Vanaskie on the US Courtof Appeals for the Third Circuit, and Dave is a soft-ware developer for Acquia.” Marielle, if you seeAndy Bernard around Scranton, be sure to givehim a Big Red hello on behalf of the Class of ’08!Rounding out our couples news are AmandaColon and Evan Smith. Amanda writes, “Evan andI got married on Sept. 11, 2011 in Brooklyn, NY.My new name is Amanda Colon-Smith. We areboth still teaching in the Bronx.”

Even if the groom wasn’t a Cornellian, Mor-gan Beschle, BA ’07’s wedding was another mini-Class of ’08 reunion. Lindsey Gael writes thatshe had a wonderful time celebrating with Ben-jamin Winger ’07, Nikki Gusz, AlexandraBuerkle, Brian Connolly, BArch ’07, MRP ’08,and others at Morgan’s July 2011 nuptials. Lind-sey is enrolled in the U. of Pennsylvania’s mas-ter’s program in city and regional planning,where she studies affordable housing develop-ment. Morgan and husband Griffin have movedto Boston, where she is an analyst at TuftsHealth Plan. In her spare time, she has launcheda new photography site with her father, www.FranklinCirclePhotography.com. Morgan says, “If


engineer at Dragados USA and also to be closerto his fiancée, Amy Braunz. Amy is pursuing anMBA at Duke U. They also value giving back tothe community through their involvement withHabitat for Humanity. Alicia Zahn marriedStephen Deitz in October 2010 and the two arehappy to be living in their new home in Arnold,MD, very near to where they both grew up. Aliciais a facilities planner for the workplace solutionsgroup at T. Rowe Price and Associates. As one ofher job perks, she travels to London every fewmonths to assist with a headquarters expansionproject. Last year, Alicia served proudly as presi-dent of the local Jaycees (Junior Chamber) or-ganization. She says it provides an importantopportunity “for young adults to network, whilealso giving back to the community.”

Since graduation Shane Dunn has hung hishat in Boston, MA. He earned a master’s degreein higher education administration from BostonCollege in 2010. While pursuing the degree, healso put in his time at the Radcliffe Inst. for Ad-vanced Study at Harvard U., where he worked asa program assistant for the office of annual giv-ing and outreach, and as an alumni relations of-ficer at Tufts U. He began a new job last fall inalumni relations and annual giving at the Massa-chusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT) Sloan School

of Management. But he hasn’t forgotten his roots.Shane is still actively involved in the Cornellalumni network as the programming chair of theCornell Club of Boston and is a class gift commit-tee co-chair and class reunion co-chair.

Having traveled the past four years, OliviaDwyer has finally settled in Boulder, CO. Sincegraduation she has lived in New Zealand, Australia,London, and California and has visited Thailand,Laos, Cambodia, and India, contributing to vari-ous outdoor sports and skiing magazines along herjourney. In Boulder she is the assistant editor atMountain Magazine, a subdivision of MountainMedia (http://www.mountainonline. com/); it’s athoughtful magazine dedicated to sports and theoutdoors, with an environmental bent. At her newjob she has been given the opportunity to com-plete the Grand Traverse of the Tetons—a toughfour-day hiking and rock climbing trip over tensummits and 230-ft. rappels in the Rocky Moun-tains. Her experience will be written into Moun-tain Magazine’s summer issue. During this winterseason she is also covering freeskiing for ESPNonline, which can be found here: espnaction.com/freeskiing.

Don’t forget to mark your calendars for theClass of 2007 5th Reunion, set for June 7-10,2012. Your reunion co-chairs—Shane Dunn, AlvinLiu, and Rob Pavlenco—will be sending out eventupdates and details via e-mail, Twitter (@Cornell2007), and Facebook (Cornell Class of 2007 Alum-ni), so keep a look out for more information.

Thank you for sending in your updates forour class column and please keep ’em coming! For

anyone is living in the Boston area and wants tograb a drink, I’d love to get in touch!”

Congratulations, Carolyn and John, Harleyand Jason, Marielle and Dave, Amanda and Evan,and Morgan and Griffin! By the way, while someclassmates are planning weddings, Brittany Haashas entered the nuptials business. She co-foundedSomething Borrowed NY, “the premiere onlinewedding shop that rents designer bridal acces-sories at a fraction of the retail price.” Check outher website at: www.somethingborrowedny.com.

Professional opportunities have taken class-mates all over the map. Jennifer Soffen has beendeveloping the next generation of high-speed In-ternet networks and working on the Google Fiberproject. She’s been spending lots of time in KansasCity, MO, site of the first city build and encour-ages classmates to check out the project at http://googlefiberblog.blogspot.com/. After returning toCornell to complete his master’s in Industrial andLabor Relations, Hotelie Justin Sun, MILR ’11,moved to Winston-Salem, NC, where he is a hu-man resources representative supporting the fi-nance team for PepsiCo. Getting a taste of theSouth and working in the consumer products in-dustry has been a unique experience for Justin af-ter working in the more “fast-paced” East Coast inthe hotel industry. Jane Forman, another ILRie,also works for PepsiCo as a human resources man-ager; she lives in Atlanta, GA, and has been “soak-ing up what the South has to offer!”

Other ’08ers are juggling full-time jobs withpart-time graduate school. Danielle Haigh writes,“I live with my Pi Phi sister Tara Young, BS HE’07, in Washington, DC. I’m working at George-town U. as a program coordinator for the humanscience department while pursuing my master’s incommunication, culture, and technology. I spentthree weeks in Geneva, Switzerland, this pastsummer for an intensive program on trade, tech-nology, and development.” Danielle also shares afantastic D.C. routine: “We’ve started a ‘WineWednesday’ tradition, along with several of ourfellow Cornellians and new D.C. friends, and gettogether weekly to enjoy different wines from re-gions around the world. It’s a great excuse tocatch up with friends and put into practice all ofthat knowledge we learned in Wines class.” Prof.Mutkoski (Stephen Mutkoski ’67, PhD ’76) wouldbe so proud!

ILRie Jade Doyle-Winfree also pursued grad-uate studies at Georgetown. She says, “Time flies!Since graduating I got married, earned my mas-ter’s in public policy from Georgetown U., and be-gan work at the Government Accountability Office,a research arm of Congress, in Washington, DC. Ifind myself pining for the beautiful study and re-flective spaces at Cornell, but my Cornell bannerdisplayed proudly in my ‘cube’ offers some of thesame spirit.” Keep sending in your news—we’dlove to hear from you! Elana Beale, [email protected]; Libby Boymel, [email protected].

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09 Cooper Hawley is a 2L at WakeForest U. School of Law. He hasjust accepted an offer to work

for Harter Secrest & Emery in Buffalo, NY, thiscoming summer. When he’s not studying, Cooperis exploring the woods and waterways of NorthCarolina. Julie Cantor is a 1L at American Uni -versity’s Washington College of Law, along withCatherine Bourque and Ernie Jolly. Despite ex -pectations to the contrary, Julie loves law schooland wishes it would last forever.

‘Halfway around the world, even inrural Africa, you can find a fellowBig Red grad making a difference.’Julie Cantor ’09

the upcoming issues approaching our 5th Re-union, we would love to hear about your favoriteCornell memories. Just shoot an e-mail anytimeto your class correspondent: Marianna Gomez,[email protected].

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Sindri Kinnier arrived in South Africa in Jan-uary to serve with the Peace Corps and was de-lighted to discover two other Cornell alumni inher cohort: Matthew Henning ’03 and RobinRemick ’95! During the long hours of training,they enjoyed reminiscing about their time on theHill. They are all serving with the CommunityHIV/AIDS Outreach Program for two years, assist-ing local NGOs in stemming the HIV epidemic inSouth Africa. They thought the alumni magazinemight be interested in this fun story: halfwayaround the world, even in rural Africa, you canfind a fellow Big Red grad making a difference.

Meli Mathis is in nursing school at SimmonsCollege. She loves living in Boston, where she isthe head rowing coach for Somerville High Schooland a coxswain for the Gentle Giant Rowing Club.Off the water, you can find her watching Cornellhockey games with other former Lynah Faithfulwhen the Big Red travel to New England. JustinReed is working on his MFA in fiction at FloridaState U. When he’s not working on his novel, he’steaching composition to first-year students. MikeyTomechko is working toward completion of hismaster’s degree in construction administration atColumbia U. and is slated to graduate in spring2012. He also holds a part-time job as a FedExExpress Courier delivering in Mt. Kisco, NY. Whennot at work or school, Mikey spends time at East -chester EMS as a volunteer EMT, or working onneighborhood beautification projects.

Sam Schueler is a third-year medical studentat SUNY Upstate. He writes, “I’m the student gov-ernment president here and for the previous twoyears I was the president of a student organiza-tion called Community Outreach and PreventiveEducation (COPE), which educates disadvantagedyouth in the city of Syracuse about healthy deci-sions and life practices.” He is also a co-founder ofUpstate of Mind—a student-run, student-focusedmagazine at Upstate. The first issue was slated tobe released within a few weeks of when he wrote.Congratulations, Sam! He’s interested in doingan internal medicine residency and a hematology/oncology fellowship. Lisa Stout lives in Phila -delphia, where she is a manager at Vynamic, ahealthcare industry management consulting firm.(They’re hiring experienced management consult-ants—e-mail LStout@ vynamic.com for more in-formation). In her free time, Lisa takes martial artsclasses, buys way too many Groupon deals, andenjoys walking her dog around Penn’s campuswhile wearing Cornell apparel.

Linda Willett works for Ernst & Young andlives in New York City. She made a trip to Egypt,where she discovered a love for riding camels andwas fascinated observing the country in transition.Send news to: Julie Cantor, jlc252@ cornell.edu; Caroline Newton, [email protected].

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see, dear classmates, with so little response to thelatest e-mail solicitation for news, your class cor -respondent felt that we are slipping away fromeach other. As we near our destinations in life, newjobs, new places, new faces, one may say that it isinevitable that it will happen. However, your classcorrespondents will make sure that the class, evenas we move further away from where we started, isas close as ever. So please, send your notes andkeep us all from slip slidin’ away!

Many of our classmates are trying to reachtheir destination through new endeavors. BrianCrandall writes, “I am doing graduate work in me-teorology at SUNY Albany. It’s a bit of a Cornellbubble, since Chris Castellano, Leon Nguyen’09, and Kristen Corbosiero ’97 are also in mydepartment.” He would love to hear from CornellMeterology alumni or any of his fraternity broth-ers from Alpha Zeta. Jamie Hacker is a 2013 JDcandidate at Boston College Law School.

For others of the Class of 2010, they haven’tjust neared their destination, they’ve changed it.Deborah Feld has moved to Harrisburg, PA. BenEisen moved to New York City from Washington,DC. He is now a reporter covering the municipaldebt market for Debtwire, a business news publi-cation that is part of the Financial Times Group.Sukman Lee has moved to New York City, but stillworks in financial instruments, structured prod-ucts, and real estate for PricewaterhouseCoopers.

For Brian Mick, his intention to slide awaywas intentional. He writes: “Three weeks aftergraduation I handed my brother the keys to mycar and waved goodbye to my parents as theydrove away, leaving me with 45 pounds of gearin a place where Google Maps says, “We could notcalculate directions to that location.” I hikedsouth nearly 2,200 miles on the Appalachian Trailduring the summer and fall of 2010. I had a greattime, met a lot of cool people, ate a ton of food,and saw some great views.” Brian now works forBlodgett Ovens in Burlington, VT, as an engineer,and misses his classmates, especially the “NinjaDeath Squad.” Speaking of the Appalachian Trail,Brandon Imp has just completed a documentarydetailing his travels along the same trail. He saysthat Beauty Beneath the Dirt is getting a lot ofhype on the independent film festival circuit.

For another of our classmates, slip slidin’away was the method of survival and victory.Upon graduating, Rebecca Hazel competed in thereality television series “Mantracker.” The showairs on the Science channel, and her episode pre-miered in December. Keep an eye out for her. Ofcourse, for a few of our classmates, it may be abit harder to slip out of view. Like Colin Green-ing, who writes that he’s still playing hockey forthe Ottawa Senators.

Finally, from your co-class correspondent MikeBeyman, he hopes that you all tune into CNBC’sPepsi’s Challenge, which he has been working onfor close to a year. He urges you to check your lo-cal listings . . . and to send in your notes. Thanksto all of you who have sent in the hard copy NewsForm from the recent class mailings. They willmake their way to us in time for the next column.

Michael Beyman, mjb262@ cornell.edu; andRammy Salem, rms84@cornell. edu.c

research grant, studying what motivates indi -viduals to get reconstructive surgery and howthat surgery affects social stigma. Her specificfocus is on women and leprosy rehabilitation at avariety of leprosy homes, colonies, and hospitals.B. Taylor Sands lives in Medford, MA, with herboyfriend Matthew (UNH ’11). She works as aclinical laboratory technician with PartnersHealthcare. Taylor writes, “As a clinical laboratorytechnician, I spend each week going throughanywhere from eight to 12 patient cases. UsingAffymetrix resequencing microarray tech nology, Ihybridize patient DNA to microarray chips. I’malways reminded of how well prepared I was tostep out into the real world, thanks to Cornell.”She gives shout-outs to Hera Li, Andrew Staron,Kim Phan, Jimmy Zhou, Frances Huang, andAmy Yerdon and wishes them all the best in theirpost-grad adventures!

Parish Felder and Stephen Heller live inRockville Centre, NY. Parish works for Mikasa Din-nerware doing design and product developmentfor the formal dinnerware division, and Stephen isenrolled at Hofstra Law. The two have welcomeda new member to their Big Red family—Tuckerthe puppy. Dana Seidel has begun her master’s inbiological sciences at the U. of Alberta in Edmon-ton, studying elk home range development. Danawrites: “The East Coast beat us to snow this year,but I’m sure the winter I’m in for can rival any-thing Ithaca had to offer during my four yearsthere!” Evan Carney is working toward a master’sat the Harvard Graduate School of Education, allthe while “representing the Cornell spirit in theheartland of our biggest hockey rival” and stillfinding the time to see Jay-Z and Kanye in con-cert at the TD Garden.

Molly Warren and other Cornell alums in theD.C. area are gearing up for kickball on teamPalms O’Clock. After graduation, Gabe Sulkesspent a month in NYC writing for ILR professorSam Bacharach and another month on a cross-country road trip, during which he visited SanFrancisco, Portland, Glacier National Park, and Yel-lowstone National Park. A week into the trip, hereceived a phone call from the office of the gov-ernor of Illinois offering a year-long fellowshipdoing environmental policy. He now lives in Wick-er Park. Cheers to Justin Hauser, who ran theNew York Marathon in November and who is oth-erwise working at Credit Suisse.

Cornell’s annual fall “Twilight” concert wasgraced with the presence of eight chorus alumnaefrom the Class of 2011: Zoe Proom, MargeauxWallace, Sonja Gabrielsen, Tiffani Burgess, Ele-na Moreno, Gillian Bader, Sarah Dalton, andSamara Levy, all of whom traveled back to gorgesIthaca from as far as New Orleans. Zoe Proomnotes that with Reunion and the chorus’s beauti-ful music, it was “one of the best weekends sincewe graduated in May!” Tina Chou continues herdedication to 161 Faces of Cornell, a project shebegan during her time at Cornell. 161 Faces ofCornell released a Fall 2011 edition on November11, as well as a Homecoming edition. If youhaven’t checked out the project yet, you’re miss-ing out: http://161faces.cornellsun.com/. Finally,Daniel Sanchez lives in the East Village and hasbeen “living vicariously through Phillip Felicianoas he caught all 150 Pokemon and became thepoke-master.” Anytime, anywhere, send along yournews to your class correspondents: KathrynLing , [email protected]; Lauren Rosenblumlcr46@ cornell.edu; and Michael Stratford [email protected].

c

10 Every time your class correspond -ent sits down to write a classcolumn, he hits shuffle on his iPod,

curious as to what will inspire him. In previouscolumns, he’s been inspired by everything fromclassical opera left over from his late night UrisLibrary study sessions, ’60s period rock copied fromWVBR’s vinyl collection, a Top 40 hit he heard at afraternity party, and everything in between. Thistime, the song that came up was Paul Simon’s “SlipSlidin’ Away,” which has the memorable lyric, “Youknow the nearer your destination, the more you’reslip slidin’ away.” The song was perfect because itembodied the quantity of responses he got. You

11 Who knew it was possible for life toget busier after Cornell? Only fivemonths out and Cornellians are cele -

brating successes around the globe. SanaMaheshwari is in India on a Fulbright student








http://161faces.cornellsun.com/






1920s’29 BA—Bella Maisel Goldin, Charlotte, NC, July 1, 2011

1930s’30 BS Ag, MS Ag ’32—Nisar A. Khan, Ghaziabad, India, June 25, 2011

’31 BA—William M. Vanneman, South Yarmouth, MA, April 26, 2011

’33 BA—A. Halsey Cowan, San Diego, CA, February 20, 2011’33 BS HE—Marion Ford Fraser, Wilmington, DE, June 7, 2011’33—Irene Hawley Hagerman, Pitman, NJ, October 26, 2010’33 BME—Joseph H. Hodgson, Stratford, CT, May 2, 2011

’34 DVM—Joseph J. Merenda, Las Vegas, NV, July 13, 2011

’35 BS Ag—Wilfred R. Kelly, Ferrisburgh, VT, July 1, 2011’35, BA ’36—Ruth Sleeper Parker, Vero Beach, FL, July 5, 2011

’36 BS Ag—Ruth Griffiths Bennett, Omaha, NE, May 27, 2011’36 BCE—Harry E. Bovay Jr., Houston, TX, May 24, 2011’36 MS Ag, PhD ’38—Wendell E. Keepper, Makanda, IL, June 22, 2011’36 BS Ag, MEd ’46—Albert E. Palm, South Kortright, NY, May 4, 2011’36 BA—Eleanor M. Switzer, Springfield, OH, December 10, 2007

’37 BA—Leonard R. Casner, Ocean, NJ, May 14, 2011’37 PhD—Norman F. Childers, Gainesville, FL, April 24, 2011’37 BA—Shirley DeVoe Corney, Hilton, NY, April 9, 2011’37 BA—Alfred M. Freedman, New York City, April 17, 2011’37 MA—Theodore W. Hatlen, Santa Barbara, CA, April 25, 2011’37 BA—Arthur Laurents, Quogue, NY, May 5, 2011’37 BS HE—Florence Bradt Schubert, Troy, NY, May 20, 2011

’38 BS Ag, MS Ag ’41—Alfred W. Boicourt, Easton, MD, July 4, 2011’38 BS HE—Helen Reichert Chadwick, Middletown, RI, April 3, 2011’38 BS Ag—Samuel N. Friedman, New York City, February 7, 2011’38 BA—Monroe R. Lazere, Scarsdale, NY, May 18, 2011’38 BA—Morris I. Michael, Rockville, MD, May 23, 2011’38 BA—Constance Davis Pierson, Yonkers, NY, November 14, 2010’38 BA—Julia Sze, Santa Monica, CA, June 19, 2011’38—Ruth Barclay Wright, Cape Porpoise, ME, June 7, 2011’38 BME—Philip H. Yawger, Scottsdale, AZ, August 7, 2011

’39—Helen Cooney Bourque, Chicago Heights, IL, May 7, 2011’39 BA—Richard S. Brockway, Dublin, OH, July 23, 2011’39 BA—William J. Brown Jr., Needham, MA, May 23, 2011’39 BS HE—Sarah Steinman Harms, Amherst, MA, April 10, 2011’39, BA ’40—John T. Miller, Easton, MD, June 27, 2011’39 BME—Frank D. Reese, Erie, PA, July 19, 2011’39 BA—Rev. Virginia Campbell Thomas, Bakersfield, VT, April 30, 2011

1940s’40 MA—Dorothy Buckpitt Anderson, Ithaca, NY, June 3, 2011’40—William B. Bond, St. Petersburg, FL, July 9, 2011’40 MS Ag—Webster A. Chandler, Griffin, GA, June 4, 2011’40—George D. Curtis Jr., Tampa, FL, June 26, 2011’40, BS HE ’50, MS ’52—Wilma Mehlenbacher Dondero, Ithaca, NY,

June 13, 2011’40, BArch ’47—Paul F. Fox, Rochester, NY, May 15, 2011’40 BME—William H. Habicht, Glastonbury, CT, April 25, 2011’40 BA, MD ’43—Irving B. Harrison, Los Angeles, CA, February 14, 2011’40 BS Ag—Carol Riordan Kennedy, South Bend, IN, May 23, 2011

Alumni DeathsTo access the full-text Alumni Deaths section, go to:cornellalumnimagazine.com (Table of Contents / Alumni Deaths)

To obtain a hard copy of the full-text Alumni Deaths, write to:Cornell Alumni Magazine, 401 East State St., Suite 301, Ithaca, NY 14850-4400

’40 BS Ag—Carl E. Schoenacker, Waterloo, NY, June 16, 2011’40 BS HE—Kathryn Ball Smiley, Wilmington, NC, May 23, 2011’40 BA, LLB ’42—Marvin S. Tanenhaus, Binghamton, NY, May 12, 2011’40 BA—Peter T. Wood, Summit, NJ, June 1, 2011

’41 BS Ag—Richard A. Chauncey, Blossvale, NY, December 20, 2008’41 BCE—Richard G. Davis, Franklin, VT, June 16, 2011’41 BA—Rudolph D. Deanin, Westford, MA, August 7, 2011’41 BS Ag—Irving Drantch, Beverly Hills, CA, April 13, 2011’41 BME—Colin C. Eldridge, Menlo Park, CA, April 19, 2011’41 BEE—Edmund E. Friedrich, Deerfield, MA, May 30, 2011’41 BA, BChemE ’42—Robert Herrmann, Cockeysville, MD, May 23, 2011’41 BS Ag—George V. Kershaw Jr., Walpole, NH, July 10, 2011’41 MEd—Richard D. Morrison, Huntsville, AL, July 30, 2011’41 BA—Martha Lawson Morse, Houston, TX, June 21, 2011’41 BA—Wellington L. Ramsey, New Sharon, ME, July 16, 2011’41 BS Ag—Elaine Yaxis Reinke, Massapequa, NY, April 22, 2011’41, BA ’42—Emanuel Segal, New York City, February 12, 2010

’42—Peter Corson, North Bay Village, FL, September 21, 2008’42 BME—Carl Green, Belleair Bluffs, FL, May 12, 2011’42 BS HE—Barbara Holt Haller, Dexter, NY, May 17, 2011’42 BS HE—Marion Pergande Jax, Springville, NY, June 6, 2010’42, BS Ag ’43—Murray A. Kaplan, Syracuse, NY, July 19, 2011’42 DVM—Grace Kinney Loomis, Warsaw, NY, May 22, 2011’42 BCE—Richard L. MacDowell, Odessa, NY, June 10, 2011’42-43 SP Ag—Norman L. McIntyre, Perry, NY, June 5, 2011’42 MA—Julia Flohr Metzger, North Manchester, IN, June 19, 2011’42, BS Ag ’43, MEd ’47, PhD ’49—John C. Murphy, Trumansburg, NY,

June 20, 2011’42 MSVM—Ralph R. Romo, Belvedere, CA, August 2, 2011’42 BS Ag—Lee Selbst, North Hollywood, CA, May 8, 2010’42 BA—Henry A. Supplee, Fredericksburg, VA, June 11, 2011’42, BS Hotel ’46—Wells M. Tanner, Urbana, IL, April 18, 2011’42-43 SP Ag—Paul M. Tretter, Portland, MI, July 3, 2011

’43 PhD—Barnard H. Bissinger, Middletown, PA, May 15, 2011’43 BA—Barbara Andrews Cage, Scottsdale, AZ, August 3, 2011’43 BS Ag—Donald E. Cameron, Ithaca, NY, August 2, 2011’43 BA—Anne Patterson Cochrane, Buffalo, NY, June 4, 2011’43 BME—Arthur B. Eddy, Albion, NY, April 24, 2011’43 MA, PhD ’50—Anna Weber Heyboer, Chapel Hill, NC, July 31, 2011’43 BA—Carol Bowman Ladd, Poolesville, MD, June 27, 2011’43 BA—Stanley H. Levy, Scarsdale, NY, June 20, 2011’43 MD—John W. Shepard, Naples, FL, September 10, 2010’43—Charles F. Smith, Allendale, NJ, January 21, 2011’43 BME—Jarl R. Swanson Jr., Wilmington, DE, May 27, 2011’43 BME—Thomas G. Turk, Pasadena, CA, February 16, 2010’43—John W. Walchli, Phoenix, AZ, May 29, 2010’43—Lt. Col. Philip O. Works Jr., Nashua, NH, June 25, 2011’43 BA, JD ’44—Donald P. Yust, Newport Beach, CA, May 14, 2011

’44 BA—Roger B. Cartwright, Amherst, MA, August 9, 2011’44—Bernard S. Cayne, Durham, NC, May 12, 2011’44, BS Ag ’43—Mary Fish Ferry, White Plains, MD, July 9, 2011’44, BS Hotel ’49—Alvin W. Gershon, Clifton, NJ, December 29, 2001’44—William J. Girardi, Katonah, NY, June 21, 2011’44 BME—William A. Hugenbruch, Conyngham, PA, May 25, 2011’44 BS Ag, MNS ’48—I. William Lane, Port Orange, FL, April 29, 2011’44 BA—Marjory Underwood Marker, Penney Farms, FL, May 5, 2011’44 BS ORIE—William F. Minnock Jr., Slingerlands, NY, April 7, 2011





’44, BA ’48—Stacy C. Mosser Jr., East Aurora, NY, May 17, 2011’44—Jarvis W. Nichols, Clinton, CT, May 13, 2011’44, BS Ag ’49—Roger W. Preston, Henderson Harbor, NY, March 20, 2011’44 BS HE—Kathleen Pierce Putnam, McGraw, NY, May 16, 2011’44 BS HE—Elizabeth Hannum Reinke, Penfield, NY, May 8, 2011’44 BS HE—Alice Gallup Stout, West Springfield, VA, July 25, 2011’44 BME—John M. Woitovich, Grain Valley, MO, March 15, 2009

’45 PhD—Morton E. Bitterman, Honolulu, HI, May 10, 2011’45 BS Nurs—Elisabeth Smith Borchers, Haddon Heights, NJ, July 17, 2011’45—Mary Frost Cooley, Winchester, VA, May 19, 2011’45 BEE—Conrad F. DeSieno, Westerville, OH, May 11, 2011’45, BA ’44—Lenore Kennedy Duncan, Carlisle, PA, July 14, 2011’45—Charles R. Fetter, Penfield, NY, November 12, 2010’45, BA ’48—John Fink, South Bend, IN, April 1, 2011’45, BS Nurs ’46—Betty Burlingame Goddard, Chattanooga, TN,

May 16, 2011’45, BA ’48—James M. Jenks, Shelter Island Heights, NY, July 18, 2011’45, BA ’44—Theodora Uelzmann Longnecker, Wyomissing, PA,

August 2, 2011’45 MS—Clarence B. Mansky, Grand Blanc, MI, June 18, 2011’45—Donald J. Metzger, New Hartford, NY, August 2, 2011’45 BS Nurs—Marita Mayers Silverglide, Simsbury, CT, May 13, 2011’45 BS HE—Ernestine Rowland Whiting, Malvern, PA, July 30, 2011’45 BA—Richard L. Zimmern, Delray Beach, FL, April 9, 2011

’46—Mary Gridley Allaben, Dryden, NY, December 6, 2010’46—Walter F. Ballinger II, St. Louis, MO, April 29, 2011’46-47 SP Ag—Marie Allen Curtis, Sterling, PA, April 23, 2011’46, BS Ag ’48—Herbert P. Dechert, East Aurora, NY, July 12, 2011’46 MD—Thomas C. Hill Jr., Salisbury, MD, June 4, 2011’46—Richard T. Hough, Lake Forest, IL, March 2, 2011’46, BA ’45—Myron E. Mendelson, Kent, CT, August 13, 2010’46 BS HE—Jean Kennedy Philo, Queensbury, NY, May 27, 2011’46 DVM—Carl L. Schenholm, Sedona, AZ, August 5, 2011’46—Richard C. South, Pittsburgh, PA, July 2, 2011

’47, BA ’46, MS ’48—Donald J. Asher, San Francisco, CA, Aug. 25, 2010’47 BS Nurs—Eugenie Springer Beaulieu, Belton, MO, July 27, 2011’47 BA, LLB ’49—James D. Benson, Poughkeepsie, NY, May 10, 2011’47, BME ’46—James H. Breckenridge, Melbourne, FL, July 30, 2011’47 BS Hotel—Robert D. Flickinger, Williamsville, NY, May 5, 2011’47 MS Ag, PhD ’54—Robert N. Hampton, McLean, VA, July 26, 2011’47 LLB—Charles H. Price, Jamestown, NY, June 17, 2011’47, BA ’46—Maurice R. Raviol Jr., Bronxville, NY, February 28, 2011’47, B Chem E ’50—Charles A. Strack, Lakewood, NJ, May 1, 2010’47-48 SP Ag—Frances M. Walbridge, St-Ignace-de-Stanbridge, Quebec,

Canada, August 17, 2010

’48—Beverly Shepard Agard, Ithaca, NY, July 27, 2011’48, BS Ag ’50—Richard S. Archibald, Locust Grove, VA, June 21, 2011’48 BA—Edward K. Bispham III, Rockland, DE, June 5, 2011’48 BA—Ruth Grant Bryant, Rockville, MD, June 17, 2009’48 BS HE—Mary C. Coble, New Cumberland, PA, May 24, 2011’48 BS Ag—William J. Copeland, Hamilton, OH, July 8, 2011’48 BA—Gail Grant de la Motte, Brunswick, ME, July 10, 2011’48 MS HE—Martha Parce Fraser, Houston, TX, June 21, 2011’48 BA—Louis J. Gartner Jr., Palm Beach, FL, June 5, 2011’48 BA—Maredith Nims Gubb, Irvington, NY, June 2, 2011’48 BS HE—Dorothy Hirschhorn Hertz, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, June 13, 2011’48 BA—James R. Hyatt, Chambersburg, PA, July 17, 2011’48 BME—Glenn R. Jordan, Pisgah Forest, NC, November 16, 2010’48 MS HE—Dorothy Chuan Lee, Highlands Ranch, CO, May 18, 2011’48 MS, PhD ’51—Jack Long, West Lafayette, IN, July 6, 2011’48 BS HE—Anjani J. Mehta, Mumbai, India, April 29, 2011’48, BA ’49—Paul Micou, Montclair, NJ, July 17, 2011’48, BS Ag ’50—Livingston T. Mulligan, Avon, NY, June 27, 2011’48 JD—Will J. Schaaf Jr., Erie, PA, July 5, 2011’48 BS ORIE—Harry B. Scott, Orange City, FL, July 15, 2011’48 MS—Dorothy Fawcett Smith, Bluffton, SC, May 12, 2011’48—Agnes Klein Tanneberger, Westport, NY, June 15, 2011

’48 BS Ag—Dorothy Hope Tanner, Pittsfield, MA, May 14, 2011’48 BA—Prentice M. Troup, Wolfeboro, NH, July 9, 2011’48 MS ILR—John C. Truesdale Jr., Annapolis, MD, July 3, 2011’48 BCE—Frederick A. Westphal, Rumson, NJ, July 28, 2011

’49 BA—Barbara Sverdlik Barron, Tucson, AZ, July 4, 2011’49 BS Hotel—George T. Bird, Clarkston, MI, April 30, 2011’49 BA—Alvin Bodenstein, Boynton Beach, FL, March 10, 2010’49 BS Ag, MS Ag ’50—Franklyn Cism Jr. of Harpursville, NY,

January 10, 2011’49—Madeleine Agee Dinmore, Honolulu, HI, October 2, 2008’49—Jean Gehring-MacFarland, Media, PA, June 25, 2011’49 BA—Jane Tily Gimbrone, South Windsor, CT, April 12, 2011’49 BArch—Bruce C. Graham, South Hamilton, MA, January 19, 2011’49 BS Ag—Harold P. Hecken Jr., Garden City, NY, July 11, 2011’49 MEd—Dwight C. Moody, Torrington, CT, July 23, 2011’49 BA, MD ’53—Catherine Friedrich Root, Brainard, NY, June 27, 2011’49 BEE—Donald B. Strang, Harvard, MA, June 21, 2011’49 MS—Edward E. Terrell, Frederick, MD, August 1, 2011’49 BEE—Lewis C. Thomas, North Plainfield, NJ, May 24, 2011’49 BCE—Robert R. Young, Palm Coast, FL, April 11, 2011

1950s’50 BA, MNS ’52—Norwin H. Becker, New City, NY, May 30, 2011’50 BEE—Allan A. Bettcher, Virginia Beach, VA, May 13, 2011’50-51 GR—Frederick M. Braden, Willits, CA, March 13, 2011’50 BA, MBA ’52—Bernard F. Burgunder Jr., Sarasota, FL, August 7, 2011’50 BA, JD ’53—Frank M. Chupp, Binghamton, NY, June 3, 2011’50 MD—John A. Crago, Gainesville, FL, April 28, 2011’50 BS Ag—Edwin L. Hamlet, Sheridan, NY, April 17, 2011’50 BA—Frank C. Harding, Williamsville, NY, July 16, 2011’50 BA—John M. Hollis, Merrick, NY, July 26, 2008’50, BEP ’51—William E. Jahsman, Santa Rosa, CA, June 2, 2010’50 PhD—George A. Johannessen, Danville, CA, July 9, 2011’50 BS ILR—John F. Lamb Jr., Linden, MI, August 9, 2011’50—Grace Rawson Leskinen, Uniontown, PA, July 15, 2009’50, BA ’51—Edward J. McNamara, Buffalo, NY, July 13, 2011’50 BS Ag—Maurice E. Mix, Brattleboro, VT, June 16, 2011’50—William D. Nelson, Cape May, NJ, April 2, 2011’50 BME—Robert W. Potter, Oneida Castle, NY, June 15, 2011’50 JD—Robert F. Quimby, Charlton, MA, July 30, 2011’50 BS HE—Rita Cummins Sappenfield, Newtown, PA, June 1, 2011’50 BA, MD ’53—Gerald M. Silverman, New York City, May 30, 2011’50 BS Hotel—John F. Wieser Jr., Venice, FL, May 21, 2011’50 BS Ag—Elder S. Wolfe, Avon, OH, June 17, 2011

’51 BS Ag, MEd ’68—Raymond D. Briggs, Cobleskill, NY, Aug. 3, 2011’51—Jean Raymond Campbell, Sutton, Quebec, Canada, April 7, 2010’51 MS, PhD ’56—Robert W. Carney, Atlanta, GA, May 9, 2011’51 BA—Michael F. Chayes, Amsterdam, Netherlands, May 4, 2011’51 B Chem E—Dean R. Dickinson, Kennewick, WA, May 20, 2011’51 MS HE—Constance Cuthbert Ellison, Benham, KY, June 3, 2011’51 BS Ag—W. John Leveridge, Glen Allen, VA, April 24, 2011’51—Loring K. Manley, Valley Cottage, NY, July 2, 2011’51 BA, MBA ’53—Thomas R. Turner, St. Augustine, FL, May 28, 2011’51 MRP—James T. White Jr., Melbourne, FL, August 9, 2011

’52 MS HE—Tsun Kwan Bhagat, La Verne, CA, July 23, 2007’52 PhD—George V. Downing Jr., Warren, NJ, May 30, 2011’52 BA—Alma E. Guinness, New York City, May 5, 2011’52 MD—Leston L. Havens, Cambridge, MA, July 29, 2011’52 BA—Daniel J. Horowitz, Naples, FL, June 21, 2011’52, BS Ag ’55—James E. Howe, Lake Placid, FL, December 7, 2010’52 MD—Russell S. Hoxsie, Wilbraham, MA, July 30, 2011’52 PhD—James C. Ingram, Chapel Hill, NC, May 8, 2011’52 BS Ag—Mark H. Klafehn, Brockport, NY, July 6, 2011’52 BA—Edward Leo, South Yarmouth, MA, May 25, 2011’52 BS HE—Bettie Buell Lyon, Waikoloa, HI, March 26, 2006’52 MA—Ralph W. Nary, Arlington, VA, July 21, 2011’52 BA—James N. Orton, Annapolis, MD, June 23, 2011’52 MS Ag—Abbot Conrad R. Rausch, Lacey, WA, August 9, 2011



’52 PhD—Frances Jensen Simons, Urbana, IL, February 11, 2010’52 BA—Rema Reyes Symons, St. Petersburg, FL, September 16, 2010’52, BME ’53, MME ’59—Eugene A. Zeiner, Los Angeles, CA, June 6, 2011

’53, BA ’56—Arthur S. Brown, Sandwich, MA, May 20, 2011’53 PhD—William A. Chantry, Kinston, NC, July 2, 2011’53-54 SP ILR—Helmut P. Echtermann, Barneveld, NY, May 28, 2011’53 BA—Helen Cole Field, North Augusta, SC, March 16, 2011’53 MBA—Robert W. Heyer, Brighton, NY, July 27, 2011’53 BS HE—Ethelyn Mallan Pinchbeck, Litchfield, CT, August 5, 2011’53 PhD—Milton Potash, Burlington, VT, April 17, 2011’53 BA—Roberta Torrance Tovar, La Mesa, CA, September 26, 2009’53, BCE ’52—Frederick W. Trask, San Francisco, CA, May 11, 2011’53-55 SP Ag—Gerald L. Turk, Homer, NY, May 3, 2011’53—Read Wilcox, Perrysburg, OH, May 2, 2011’53—Donald G. Williams, New London, NH, June 12, 2011’53—Frank H. Wint, Denver, CO, July 21, 2011

’54 BFA—Thomas N. Armstrong III, New York City, June 20, 2011’54 BA, JD ’58—John R. Buchanan Jr., Williamsburg, VA, May 10, 2011’54 BS ILR—Harry S. Butler, Carmichael, CA, May 9, 2011’54, BEE ’55—Wayne Close, Boise, ID, April 23, 2011’54 MD—Louis J. Dougherty Jr., Woodcliff Lake, NJ, September 19, 2010’54 LLB—Frederick R. Edmunds, Vero Beach, FL, June 5, 2011’54 BA, LLB ’58—Andrew H. Greenstein, Hilton Head, SC, May 9, 2011’54, BS Hotel ’55—George R. Hollis, Roslyn Heights, NY, Sept. 3, 2010’54 PhD—Gottfried O. Lang, Abiquiu, NM, June 9, 2011’54 BS Hotel—George A. Mills, Eugene, OR, May 26, 2011’54 BS Ag, DVM ’58—Harry S. Russell, Springville, NY, May 28, 2011’54—John N. Stone, Centerville, MA, May 11, 2009’54, BS Ag ’53—Stanley J. Titus, Farmville, VA, April 15, 2011’54—Robert L. Virobik, Centralia, IL, July 9, 2009’54 BA—Jane Shanklin Warter, Wallingford, PA, August 5, 2011

’55 BA, MBA ’56—Guy H. Bedrossian, Wethersfield, CT, July 5, 2011’55 MS—Nathaniel R. Dickinson, Altamont, NY, June 15, 2011’55 BS Hotel—David C. Dorf, Paralimni, Cyprus, June 7, 2011’55 BS HE—Hannah Ullman Dushay, Fayetteville, NY, June 1, 2011’55 MD—Robert R. Engisch, Williston, VT, July 3, 2011’55-57 GR—Harold G. Heiney, Monroe, CT, August 7, 2011’55 BA—Harry J. Kaplan, San Jose, CA, June 2, 2011’55 BS Ag, PhD ’69—Anne LaBastille, Elizabethtown, NY, July 1, 2011’55 BA, MD ’59—G. Billie Campbell Lerner, Washington, PA, Aug. 4, 2011’55—Robert B. Moses, Lexington, VA, July 7, 2011’55, BS Ag ’56—John J. Parker, Belfast, NY, May 29, 2011’55 BS ILR—George N. Riordan, Pasadena, CA, May 27, 2011’55, BEE ’56—Donald E. Scheer, Oakley, CA, February 19, 2011’55 BS Ag—Rev. William B. Wilcox, Henderson Harbor, NY, July 6, 2011’55 BA, MD ’59—William G. Winters Jr., Port Chester, NY, Feb. 24, 2011’55 BS Ag—Stanley O. Youngman, Elmira, NY, July 27, 2010

’56 PhD—Clyde W. Bresee, Athens, PA, July 16, 2011’56—Michael R. Caruso, Utica, NY, July 20, 2011’56 BS Ag—Joan P. Cassavant, Frederick, MD, April 1, 2011’56—Richard W. Constantin, Teaneck, NJ, August 4, 2011’56—William H. Drum, Billings, MT, May 12, 2011’56, B Chem E ’57—Robert O. Dunn, Grove, OK, June 23, 2011’56 MS—Mark H. Dyott, Gainesville, VA, June 28, 2011’56—Nellie E. Guernsey, Stamford, CT, April 16, 2011’56 MS HE—Delores Norwood Handy, Harbeson, DE, June 30, 2011’56 BA—Marlene Hazle, Lexington, MA, June 7, 2011’56, BA ’57—John J. Lavelle, Long Branch, NJ, June 14, 2011’56 BS Ag, DVM ’59—Eric W. Mendel, San Jose, CA, May 3, 2011

’56—Constantine A. Perialas, Ithaca, NY, May 9, 2011’56 JD—Jack M. Quartararo, Millbrook, NY, May 27, 2011’56 PhD—Trevor Robinson, Amherst, MA, May 12, 2011’56 DVM—Thomas T. Sanford, Poughuag, NY, March 27, 2011’56 BA—Steven P. Shearing, Las Vegas, NV, July 10, 2011’56 BA—Michael V. Sobel, Tiverton, RI, July 4, 2011’56 DVM/PhD—Robert A. Squire, Vero Beach, FL, May 27, 2011’56 BS ILR—Eric H. Truhol, St. Petersburg, FL, August 2, 2011’56 BFA—Sandra Albert Wittow, Englewood, CO, August 6, 2011

’57 MEd—Charles F. Abbott, Noblesville, IN, August 8, 2011’57 MBA—Terence W. Crowe, Calgary, AB, Canada, October 23, 2010’57 BS Ag—Patricia Bly Davis, Hannawa Falls, NY, June 19, 2011’57, BME ’58—Albert A. Patterson, Dallas, TX, June 29, 2011’57 MFA—Cornelius C. Richard Jr., New York City, NY, June 10, 2011’57 BA—Joanna Russ, Tucson, AZ, April 29, 2011’57 BA—Milton C. Smith Jr., Bradenton, FL, October 28, 2008’57, BEE ’58—James J. Whelan, Clarence, NY, May 26, 2011

’58, BEE ’59—David W. Curkendall, Altadena, CA, May 11, 2011’58 DVM—Mark J. Gerard, Wellington, FL, June 21, 2011’58—Minor I. Hughes Jr., Blue Bell, PA, July 5, 2011’58 MD—J. Thomas McKnight, Syracuse, NY, May 31, 2011’58 MS—Edmond E. Seay Jr., Camp Hill, PA, August 6, 2011’58 BS Ag—Patricia Lychalk Thompson, Baraboo, WI, May 9, 2011’58 MA, PhD ’64—Eugene A. Vance, Seattle, WA, May 14, 2011’58 MS Ag—S. B. White Jr., Cary, NC, April 19, 2011’58 BA—Richard S. Wimmer, Agoura Hills, CA, May 18, 2011

’59 BA—Donna Mason Drummond, Portland, OR, January 3, 2011’59 PhD—Leonard W. Feddema, Bonita Springs, FL, May 28, 2011’59—Laura L. Flanders, Hyannis, MA, November 4, 2009’59 BA—Peter K. Kellogg, Round Rock, TX, April 28, 2011’59, BArch ’60—C. Bradley Lynch, Hyde Park, NY, July 19, 2011’59 MS—William A. Prouty, Hilton Head, SC, May 31, 2011’59 LLB—Donald G. Purple, Georgetown, SC, May 10, 2011’59, BEE ’60—Peter M. Sacerdote, New York City, July 31, 2011’59 BA—Samuel F. Schoninger, Coral Springs, FL, August 8, 2011

1960s’60, BA ’61—Sarah Shean Bollinger, Winchester, MA, April 13, 2011’60, B Chem E ’61—Charles A. Gray, Princeton, NJ, July 22, 2011’60 PhD—John I. Green, Canton, NY, July 23, 2011’60 BS HE—Judith C. Rooney, Geneva, NY, June 30, 2011’60 BA, PhD ’63—Lawrence W. Rosenfield, Lincoln, NE, June 24, 2011’60 BS ILR, JD ’63—Kevin Seits, High Springs, FL, May 21, 2011’60 BS ILR, MILR ’61—Frank C. Sola, Lake Monticello, VA, Aug. 10, 2011

’61 BS HE—Carol Eaton Bartlett, Gansevoort, NY, October 28, 2009’61 BA—William J. Drake Jr., Newtown, CT, May 7, 2011’61 LLB—John J. Petruccelli, Conway, AR, March 14, 2011’61 DVM—Calvin E. Rofe, Middleburg, VA, May 11, 2011’61—Jeannette Smith Smith, Panama City, FL, May 19, 2011’61, BME ’62—Alan T. Snyder, Estes Park, CO, June 2, 2011’61—L. Robert Stukenberg, Scottsdale, AZ, May 20, 2011

’62 MS Ag—Rev. Robert C. Alter, Wooster, OH, June 19, 2011’62 LLB—Nelson I. Crowther Jr., Alexandria, VA, May 21, 2011’62 BA—Denis A. Dunne, Winnetka, IL, February 21, 2011’62 MS Ag, PhD ’64—Robert W. Gardner, Orem, UT, July 22, 2011’62 PhD—Roger Hahn, Berkeley, CA, May 30, 2011’62, MD ’66—O. Scott Hume, Houston, TX, April 27, 2011’62 MS, PhD ’64—Gosta I. Nilsson, Gaborone, Botswana, Feb. 12, 2011

To access the full-text Alumni Deaths section, go to:cornellalumnimagazine.com (Table of Contents / Alumni Deaths)





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To access the full-text Alumni Deaths section, go to:cornellalumnimagazine.com (Table of Contents / Alumni Deaths)


’77 BA, JD ’81—Austin J. Hoffman II, Fayetteville, NY, April 24, 2011’77 PhD—Barton Sensenig III, Potomac, MD, June 22, 2011’77 BA—Jonathan Widom, Evanston, IL, July 18, 2011

’78 BA—Paul D. Bonner, New York City, June 30, 2011’78 PhD—Robert E. Moeller, Oxford, OH, May 22, 2011’78 BS Hotel—Ronald N. Winarick, Linwood, NJ, June 25, 2011

’79, BS ILR ’86—Kris G. Marshall, Wilton Manors, FL, April 10, 2011’79 BS Ag—Stephen J. Petzen, Cuba, NY, April 27, 2011

1980s’80 BA, MBA ’84—Mario F. Alfano, Boston, MA, April 18, 2011’80 MA, PhD ’82—David G. Goodman, Champaign, IL, July 25, 2011

’82 MA—Cecilia A. Cavalier, San Anselmo, CA, February 22, 2009

’83 BS Ag—Frederick W. Frank, McNeal, AZ, August 12, 2009’83 MS Ag—Ronald L. Keith, Mankato, MN, August 25, 2007’83 BS Ag—Monica Kalilec Palacio, Rochester, NY, March 13, 2010

’84 MS—Lorna M. Allen, Honolulu, HI, March 29, 2010

’85 JD—M. Cristina Celada, New York City, May 18, 2011

’86 BS Hotel—Dwight A. Scholl, Delray Beach, FL, February 24, 2011’86, BA ’88—Cydra A. Swinton, Cross, SC, June 24, 2011

’87 PhD—Wayne R. Grossman, Bemus Point, NY, July 31, 2011’87 BS Ag—Vicki J. Miller-Savard, Manchester, NY, May 17, 2008

’88 MPS—Maureen Ahern Peterson, Cincinnati, OH, June 25, 2011’88 BS Ag—Cynthia Walker Fenner Phoenix, Brooktondale, NY,

May 16, 2011

’89 BS Ag—Thomas D. Perreault, Niskayuna, NY, July 29, 2011’89 MA—Scott E. Tillson, San Diego, CA, May 19, 2011

1990s’90 BS Hotel—Christopher Taylor, Cornwall on Hudson, NY, June 9, 2011

’95 BS HE—Ronald E. McLane, Auburn, NY, July 3, 2011

’96 BA—Andrew S. McNeill, San Francisco, CA, May 7, 2011

2000s’01 BS HE—Roderick B. Pitts, Elmhurst, NY, November 7, 2009

’02 BS Chem E—Brock A. Tuczynski, Thiells, NY, May 8, 2011

’03 BS Ag, MAT ’04—Alfa Choice, Ithaca, NY, July 12, 2011’03, BA ’04—Meghan Ann Murphy, Ithaca, NY, February 5, 2011’03 BS ORIE—Adam D. Webb, Hampton Bays, NY, June 14, 2011

’07—Danielle L. Martinez, Brooklyn, NY, May 9, 2011

2010s’10 ME—Harsh Atul Gosalia, Jersey City, NJ, June 5, 2011

’11 BA—Kendrick A. Castro, Reston, VA, May 30, 2011’11—Brian Lo, East Rockaway, NY, May 6, 2011

’13—George B. Desdunes, Brooklyn, NY, February 25, 2011

’62 MD—George A. Omura, Birmingham, AL, April 19, 2011

’63 MPA—Jerry B. Coffman, Phoenix, AZ, June 18, 2009’63—David J. Colburn, Little Falls, NY, May 30, 2008’63—Robert F. Smyth, San Antonio, TX, April 1, 2011

’64 LLB—Frederick Bittner, Poughkeepsie, NY, April 13, 2011’64 MD—Robert J. Capone of Clifton Park, NY, June 29, 2011’64 BA—Natalie Kessler Greene, Houston, TX, May 6, 2011’64 BS Ag—Bruce J. Sartwell, Albion, NY, May 5, 2011

’65 BA—Walter M. Feldman, Amherst, MA, August 2, 2011’65 BS Ag—Oers E. Kelemen, Dryden, NY, July 30, 2011’65 MA—Anton M. Moeliono, Jakarta, Indonesia, July 22, 2011’65 BA—Sandra Kenyon Smith, Wilmette, IL, May 3, 2011

’66 JD—Dennis A. Cipriano, Basking Ridge, NJ, June 26, 2011’66 PhD—Norma J. Diamond, Gainesville, FL, March 30, 2011’66 MS, PhD ’69—Edward J. Dudewicz, Syracuse, NY, Sept. 22, 2010’66 BA—Martha B. Grinnell, Quesnel, BC, Canada, April 29, 2011’66 BA, MBA ’68—John G. Miers, Bethesda, MD, June 2, 2011’66 BA—John J. Sullivan, Natick, MA, March 25, 2011’66 MS HE—Carolyn Y. Worthington, Vero Beach, FL, July 3, 2011

’67 BS HE—Laura Roberts Crawford, Mississauga, ON, June 1, 2011’67—Paul J. Eisenbarth, Hanover, ON, Canada, March 2, 2011’67, BFA ’69—Martha S. Wright, New York City, July 13, 2011

’68 MS Ag—Wallace S. Reed, Bar Harbor, ME, July 3, 2011

1970s’70 PhD—Carl A. Lichtenstein, New York City, July 7, 2011’70 BS ORIE—Steve D. Ritchie, Lafayette, CA, June 14, 2011’70 MD—Henry E. Streitfeld, Berkeley, CA, April 26, 2011

’71—Lawrence P. Allen, Cheektowaga, NY, April 22, 2011’71—David M. Fallon, Shaker Heights, OH, April 9, 2011’71 BA—Demmon E. VanTyle, Wilmington, NC, August 3, 2011

’72 BA—Jeffrey S. Erickson, Davidson, NC, May 31, 2011’72 BFA—Simone M. Siemon, Williamsburg, VA, May 5, 2011

’73 BS HE—Susan Harrington Gervase, Hamburg, NY, July 2, 2011

’74-75 GR—John S. Conover, Anchorage, AK, May 4, 2011’74, BS HE ’75—Susan Martinson Davidson, Lansing, NY, July 24, 2011’74 BS Ag—Richard G. Fesko, Skaneateles, NY, May 23, 2011’74 BS Ag, MBA ’77—William T. Greene, Roslyn, NY, May 24, 2011’74 BA—James E. Hooper, Roanoke, VA, June 27, 2011’74 BS Ag—Garland E. Morey Jr., Fort Lauderdale, FL, August 1, 2011’74-75 GR—Roselle Gluck Oyer, Ithaca, NY, July 1, 2011’74, BArch ’75—Gilbert A. Rosenthal, Philadelphia, PA, June 27, 2011’74 BS Ag—Mary Williams Sundman, Basel, Switzerland, July 19, 2011

’75 BS Hotel—John R. Bramble, Cato, NY, May 22, 2011’75 BA—Anu Stephanie Chow, San Francisco, CA, May 15, 2007

’76, BA ’77—Mary Musgrove Blasiak, Greenfield, MA, August 11, 2011’76 BS Ag—Marco T. Fonseca, Griffin, GA, July 13, 2011’76 BA—Dana A. Haverkamp, Miami, FL, July 22, 2011’76 BS Ag—Marc M. Merman, Glide, OR, July 1, 2011

’77 BA—Jorman D. Granger, Ashburn, VA, August 6, 2011



In Charlotte’s Web, a spider saves a pig’s life byweaving a few well-chosen words. Like hisbeloved character, author and essayist E. B.White ’21 touched millions with his deft,

straightforward prose. Now readers can peruse someof his sayings—both famous and obscure—in In theWords of E. B. White, published by Cornell Uni -versity Press and edited by the writer’s granddaughter,Martha White.

Many modern readers know White for his classicchildren’s novels—Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little, andThe Trumpet of the Swan. But his literary legacy owesas much to his prolific career as a New Yorker essay-ist during his years in the city and, later, in rural Maine,where his family still resides. That state provided inspi-ration for much of his work, and many of the quota-tions in In the Words of E. B. White are taken frompoems, essays, and novels written during these lateryears. “I would really rather feel bad in Maine,” hewrote in a 1937 letter, “than feel good anywhere else.”

The book includes White’s thoughts on such sub-jects as old age, New York City, language, and rurallife. His words are often funny: “I was lucky to be bornabnormal,” he wrote. “It ran in the family.” Eachquote is characterized by the same no-frills phrasingthat he and Cornell professor William Strunk Jr., PhD1896, drummed into generations of English studentswith their grammar guide, The Elements of Style. “Hehad the ability to speak great truths with a minimaliststyle,” says CU Press’s Jonathan Hall, who likens reading thenew collection to “talking to an old friend.” The book is the firstin a series featuring quotes from notable figures; future subjectsinclude Theodore Roosevelt and Frederick Douglass.

In the Words of E. B. White was completed in about a year,thanks to Martha White’s familiarity with her grandfather’s workas the executrix of his literary estate. She initially hesitated topublish his quotations, she says, but agreed in the hope of famil-iarizing readers with some of her grandfather’s lesser-knownwork. “It’s ironic that this book will probably be used in greatpart by public speakers,” she adds, “because my grandfather

Cornelliana


never liked to give speeches.” She notes that, especially later inlife, White objected to having his work excerpted, for fear itwould be taken out of context. “All I hope to say in books . . .is that I love the world,” he wrote to a Charlotte’s Web fan. “Iguess you can find that in there, if you dig around.”

White once remarked that as a child he was taught to be seenand not heard—but as an adult, he would rather be “heard andnot seen.” But as he wrote in the foreword to an essay: “Who-ever sets pen to paper writes of himself, whether knowingly ornot, and this is a book of revelations.”

— Amanda First ’12

Parts of Speech

CU Press publishes a collection of E. B. White’s quotations

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Cornell Alumni Magazine - January/February 2012

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