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| SEP./OCT. 2005 VOLUME 108 NUMBER 2 | Class Notes |
70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79
71 | Yes, classmates, it's time once again to think about reunion. So mark your calendars accordingly—June 8-11, 2006.More information about reunion planning is included later in this column. First, we should catch up on some classmate news that is still fresh enough to print. And more refreshingly,much of the news this month comes from folks we haven't heard from in a long time.
In the leadoff spot is a news item about a '71 classmate, James Shannon, who made a difference to a recent Cornell graduate. Each spring the deans of the seven undergraduate divisions honor 36 graduating seniors as Merrill Presidential Scholars because they have demonstrated outstanding scholastic achievement, strong leadership ability, and potential for contributing to society. The scholars in turn honor the teachers who have inspired their scholastic development.Merrill Scholar Paul G. Bakken '05 said this in his nomination essay: "From the first week of AP Chemistry class, Jim Shannon knew how to keep his students' attention . . . Far from being gimmicky,Mr. Shannon's innovative teaching techniques prepare his students excellently . . . Mr. Shannon's most lasting impact on my life is not the course material he taught me, but rather the unbridled enthusiasm he has for scientific discovery and the art of teaching . . . Though my major, Development Sociology, is a far cry from chemistry, Mr. Shannon's exuberance and passion for learning have been an influence on my decision to pursue an academic career." Thanks go to David Beale for forwarding the story, Joe Wilensky of the Cornell News Office for forwarding the essay, and Paul Bakken for allowing me to use it here.
Karen Erskine Biddle writes, "After 30 years in the wonderful world of advertising and marketing in New York and London, I am actually using my mathematics degree by teaching math in the Center City Philadelphia public school system."Karen and husband Anthony '70 are enjoying life in Philadelphia with three children.With her eldest a Cornell undergrad, the Biddles are among the legion of classmates enjoying the delights of offspring who are attending or have graduated from Cornell. Vermonter Deborah Gale says that she is still an admissions officer at the U. of Vermont. Deborah's mission is diversity recruitment. She coordinates relationships with partner high schools in New York City and provides college awareness opportunities for students, starting in the 9th grade. After hours, Deborah is involved with a group in central Vermont called Reading to End Racism.
Michael McFarren wrote in from Dalton, OH. He and his wife Robin have three grown children and four grandchildren.Michael presides over a thriving congregation as pastor of the Living Water Community Church. An avid long-distance cyclist, he is planning to bike across America when he retires. In the meantime,Michael reports that his travels have taken him to Kenya several times. Africa also beckons Darlene Rugis Heller. Citing her personal goal, "to work in Africa," Darlene reported that she has been to Malawi several times to do mission work. She is still In-service Educator at the Clinton County Health Dept. She and husband Paul have three grown children in Plattsburgh, NY. Surprisingly, the Hellers also found time to travel to Norway in the past year to visit friends and hike in the mountains.
Infectious disease expert Robert Capparell is an epidemiologist at St. Joseph's Hospital in Atlanta, GA. Bob wrote that he was named one of the "Best Doctors in America." When he isn't dealing with epidemiology, Bob loves to golf and play poker.He and wife Sandy have two children. Independent filmmaker Linda Harrar is hard at work on a new PBS "Nova" global health project titled "Rx for Survival." Linda writes that it will air November 1-3, 2006. Linda won a Cine Golden Eagle Award for her "World in the Balance" (also for "Nova") that was released in 2004. She and her fiction writer husband George live in the Boston area.
Flora Kuykendall Parker checked in from Mesa, AZ, having moved from Washington State. She is currently indulging her passion for reading, dancing, and music. Another Arizonan, Joanne Trifilo is still practicing immigration law. She met up with Kristin Vandenberg Whitfield in Boston last spring at a collaborative law convention.
Finally, here is the planning information I promised about Reunion 2006. Kathy Flaxman (kmf11@cornell.edu) is our reunion chair. She is ably assisted by Naomi Katz Mintz, as well as Gilda Klein Linden, Laurie Berke-Weiss, and Elisabeth Kaplan Boas. Dale Cohen (dalec@lagcc.cuny.edu) will coordinate publicity and design work. Those who want to help with publicity are welcome. Class historian Marsha Ackermann is compiling results from a class survey. It was distributed this year. Co-presidents Jerry Day, MBA '78 (jday@daylar.com) and David Beale (dab38@cornell.edu) are planning a pre-reunion event at the Yale-Cornell game in September. Cornell Fund chair Mike Kubin is ramping up for our class gift. And Rick Furbush (rfurbush@aol.com) is planning to get the entire football team back for a game in June 2006. As always, we look forward to hearing from you. --Matt Silverman, mes62@cornell.edu; and Linda Germaine-Miller, lg95@cornell.edu.
72 | Congratulations to the Cornell Athletics department for the excellent performance of our sports teams this past spring. The Big Red hockey team won Ivy League and ECAC titles and came within one goal (in overtime) of advancing to the NCAA Frozen Four. The baseball team won the Lou Gehrig Division of the Ivy League with some outstanding pitching during the final two weeks of the season, before dropping two close decisions to Harvard in the Ivy League division playoffs. The men's lacrosse team won the Ivy League championship and advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals for the third year in a row. The most impressive performance may have been by the wrestling team, which finished fourth in the NCAA championships (missing third place by only one point). It was the best finish by any Ivy League wrestling team in 50 years. The athletes and coaches of these championship squads deserve a hearty "Well done!"
After an eight-year tenure as a real estate manager for Home Depot, Stephanie Harris Morgan resigned to take a position with a new company, Life Time Fitness (LTM), based in Minneapolis. After going public last summer, they decided to expand to the East Coast. Stephanie will open an office in New Jersey as the senior director of R&D, covering the New England and Mid-Atlantic markets. Her husband Joel has a thriving neuropsychology practice in Madison, NJ. Daughter Freddie, 14, just entered Millburn- Short Hills High School. Her favorite sport is basketball. Joel's favorite sport is to upgrade the family's home electronics. Stephanie is trying to locate Mimi Schneider Trudeau '74, MPS '93.Mimi, if you read this, contact Stephanie at sharris@lifetimefitness.com. Donna Muffoletto Campbell writes from Winchester, MA, that daughter Katie is a freshman at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, NY, where she plays on the tennis team. Son Brian made the varsity tennis team as a freshman at Winchester High School. Barbara Wood Wages of Amelia Island, FL, reports that son Braden Wages '05 graduated from the Hotel school, and daughter Page graduated from the North Carolina State vet school. Barbara proudly announces the birth of her first grandbaby, Caden Albert Wages, on April 5, 2005.
Keith Friedman and wife Elizabeth reside in beautiful Santa Barbara, CA, with children Sarah, Phillip, Chelsea, Ari, and Ian. CorrineMeredith Cummiskey worked one year for Key Bank in a management training program after graduation. She then moved to Denver to take graduate courses at Denver U. After moving back to Syracuse to attend nursing school at SUNY Upstate Medical Center, Corrine worked as a registered nurse at University Hospital, Crouse Hospital, and now at Tecumseh Elementary School as a school nurse. She and husband Joe are extremely proud of son Ryan Joseph Cummiskey '09, who entered the College of Engineering this fall. Ryan loves sailing, boating, skiing, and driving cars.
Lee McDaniel of Darlington,MD, is chairman of the board of trustees of Harford Community College, as well as serving as VP of the Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts. Richard Neubauer reports that despite suffering from peripheral neuropathy from amyloidosis, he continues working and enjoying his work for the American College of Physicians (ACP). He started a three-year term on the ACP Board of Regents in April. Son Julian graduated from U. of Montana, and daughter Erin finished high school at St.Michael's U. School in Victoria, BC. She is attending Colorado State U. in Fort Collins, CO.
The Philadelphia intellectual property law firm Caesar, Rivise, Bernstein, Cohen & Pokotilow Ltd. announced that ten of its partners were named to this year's "Pennsylvania Super Lawyer" list, including James J.Kozuch, who was named in the intellectual property law section. The list was compiled by Law and Politics magazine and was published in the June 2005 issue of Philadelphia magazine. James joined the firm in 1998 and focuses his practice on litigation, client counseling, and patent prosecution in the fields of mechanical engineering and business methods. A licensed professional engineer, he is on the National Roster of Neutrals of the American Arbitration Association (AAA), and is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). In addition his BSME from Cornell, James received his JD from Temple U. and an MBA from Lehigh University. Mark Dickerson is working as a project manager with NASA at the Dryden Flight Research Center near Lancaster, CA.His son Jonathan completed his MBA at Syracuse and now lives and works in Denver. Daughter Keisha just turned 8 and loves to read.Mark says he keeps in regular touch via e-mail with Clyde Hanks, MS '76, who generates excellent Web humor.
Several classmates participate every year in Cornell's Adult University (CAU). During the recent spring session Nitza and Avery Ellis experienced Cultural Crossroads: A Walking Tour of Western Sicily, while Pauline and David Harding, PhD '83, viewed Landscapes of the Last Frontier: Alaska from Fairbanks to Glacier Bay.
Ann Freedman and husband Robert Spoont practice dentistry together in Boca Raton, FL. Ann's specialty is pediatric dentistry, while Bob does general dentistry. They also have an orthodontist and three other dentists working for them. Son Josh is at U. of Florida College of Law, Adam is at NYU, and Ben is at Duke. Ben plans to follow in the family footsteps and become a dentist. Daughter Malka is in third grade at Hillel Day School. Donald Kovalevich reports that wife Barbara Garrity won election to the school board. Son Nick, who graduated from Columbia in 2004, is in China teaching at a university while mastering Mandarin. Son Alex is deciding whether to attend the Cornell ILR school, and daughter Karen is a junior in high school.
Dr. Nancy Kollisch reports the sad news that Karen Bier passed away on Jan. 5, 2005. She is survived by her parents, Ruth and Bud Bier, 14 Holly Lane, Plainview, NY 11803. Gail Povar is in private internal medical practice in Bethesda,MD, and serves as a preceptor for students and residents from the George Washington School of Medicine. Husband Lawrence Bachorik '71 is still at the FDA, but has moved into the area of international affairs. Son Justin is a junior at Brown, and daughter Alexandra, 16, attends high school while trying to decide where she wants to go to college.Walter Molofsky is chief of pediatric neurology at Beth Israel Medical Center in NYC.Wife Brenda is a pediatric endocrinologist at NYU. Daughter Danielle graduated from Columbia in 2004 and worked under Dr. Judith Folkman at Harvard Med School, performing cancer research, before starting Tufts med school. Daughter Nicole is a junior at Barnard and worked this summer for Bear Stearns in a fixed-income internship. Send news to -- Alex Barna, alexander.barna-1@nasa.gov; or Gary Rubin, glrubin@aol.com.
73 | As I prepared to write this column, word reached me that President Jeffrey Lehman '77 had resigned. Choosing to leave an institution, especially one that is close to your heart, is wrenching. Of course, we'll never know the private reasons Jeff left, and the public ones have been thin,murky, and couched in politeness, as perhaps they should be.How well does each of us think we'd do as president of Cornell? What banners would we carry, what ones let drop, what ones fold into our knapsack in hopes of a better day? As the trustees, all 64 of them, ponder and interview, I hope they listen to all of us and not just the big donors. We probably all have ideas of what it takes to deliver on the multiple demands of the job.What we'd want in a president . . .
First, have a sense of humor. Honestly, the more years I have under my belt, the more I appreciate folks who keep life in perspective through laughter. A president with a sense of humor would look great as the Green Dragon, would have paint for the Quad footsteps, and would find a way to go sledding on Libe Slope, even with a ban. Second, remember what it is like to be a kid and especially an undergraduate. Put yourself back in your old sneakers. The world is right out front waiting and nothing is behind you. Terror and joy mix on a regular basis as dating, studying, and intellectual challenge arrive daily. Your sneakers are filled with emotion and experience; treasure them. Third, have plenty of friends who let you keep your hair down. Privacy is required no matter how public the life. Friends who remind you which leg to put in your pants first are invaluable. Your friends are there for what you want and need and what you give them—those are the exchanges that last.
Of course, presidents also have to do all those tasks listed on the job description, just like the rest of us.What are the chores of a presidency? They must include raising money, making peace among warring factions, keeping Cornell on an even keel through managerial magic, balancing the books, lobbying the legislature, shaking countless hands, and keeping a very public face in perfect order, no matter what. Oh, and perhaps being an intellectual leader who keeps faculty and students pointed toward the future. Impossible even to think of all those jobs without the humor, perspective, and the friendships that come first. I just want to tell the trustees to find someone who is real and authentic, and who maybe isn't at the top of every headhunter's list. Just look for a dragon sliding down Libe Slope with a can of paint.
Well, our lives have all continued to blossom and here's the proof in my news pile. Michael Stein lives in Miami, FL, where he's joyfully engaging in simply growing older and watching his children graduate from universities and begin their professional lives.Michael moved from Hilton Int'l to Korn Ferry Int'l as managing director of their Miami office. The Wisconsin Society of Certified Public Managers voted Mark Evans the 2004 Wisconsin Manager of the Year. He enjoys time with his wife, Robin Bloom.Mark's stepson is a graduate of Case Western Reserve and now a customer consultant and software developer for Epic Systems. His stepdaughter is in a doctoral program in sociology at the U. of Texas, Austin. Janine Jamieson Huff suffered the death of her husband five years ago. Her children Douglas, Reedy, and Ira remain a light in her life, as does preserving the Seneca language. Janine teaches Native studies to K-5 students while working on her doctorate. She's also godmother to Jonnise Marsh Conanan's daughter Courtney, who is now a public school teacher.
Rich Isaacman sent plenty of "fodder" for this column. He writes, "Our older son Sibren '05 graduated this spring with a degree in Physics, which I guess makes me officially over the hill.We attended graduation in Ithaca." Sibren's staying Ivy, though; he'll begin graduate studies in electrical engineering at Princeton this fall. Rich's younger son Gabriel continues to flourish at Wesleyan U. as he finishes up his sophomore year with a double major in chemistry and environmental science. Rich and his wife fell in love with Costa Rica on a visit a few years ago, and just returned from their second trip. They scuba-dived and visited Arenal volcano and the Palo Verde National Park. The highlight was a literal rush on a zip line rainforest canopy tour, gliding over treetops on quarter-mile-long cables, 200 feet (yes, that's two hundred feet) above the forest floor. Quite an unforgettable experience!
Please keep writing us with your experiences—they're all unforgettable when you read them here! Send your news to -- Phyllis Haight Grummon, 1531 Woodside Dr., E. Lansing,MI 48823, or phg3@cornell.edu.
74 | A US District Court jury agreed with Eric Roth's client that the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center were two separate incidents, at least in the wording of the insurance coverage documents, awarding WTC leaseholder and developer Larry Silverstein as much as $4.6 billion in insurance (pending appeal), $1.1 billion more than if the attacks were a single incident, and giving Silverstein more leverage in redeveloping the site. Joseph Boardman was nominated by the White House in March to head the Federal Rail Administration. He is now commissioner of the NYS Dept. of Transportation; Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) called Boardman "an excellent pick to re-energize the slumping [FRA]."
KendallMinter, JD '76, of Stone Mountain, GA, was appointed general counsel of Fo Yo Soul Entertainment, the record and entertainment company of Grammy Awardwinner Kirk Franklin ("The Nu Nation Project"). Kendall is also president of P-19 Media LLC, a new faith-based media and ad agency that's a joint venture with the Loomis Agency in Dallas. In Anchorage, AK, pilot Jacqueline Dolat reported "spending my spare time this winter rebuilding my 1977 [Piper] Super Cub."
John Arnold of Southwick, MA, says, "I spent most of 2004 building and establishing a new shade leaf [tobacco] processing company in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The operations got started on time, and all is going well." Reporting in from Reading, MA, is Christine Schleck Exner and husband Paul. They are proud of their younger daughter Natalie for winning a full scholarship to Boston U., which she will attend this fall. They are going ahead with a long-planned backyard patio landscaping project to avoid getting "empty nest" syndrome. (Plus they may have a little more time on their hands.)
Nancy Newcomer Vick of Bedford, NY, has kids Jane and Charlie, now in ninth and tenth grades. She reports,"Next spring break will be college visits; in fact, we have had dueling Big Red and Carolina Blue sweatshirts in this house since birth." From Columbus, OH, Jodi Sielschott Stechschulte writes, "Lynn is off to Cornell next year and will be going into Arts. John '06 is there in Engineering. Lisa '04 graduated from Arts last year. Paul will be a high school senior and is determined to follow a different path. Lauren will be in fifth grade. I am on the long-term program of parenting!"
At the other end of parenting, Mark and Wendy Zurn Allen announce that their oldest son Chris '98 (who's 29!) is getting married this fall. Chris was a free safety at Cornell (a football position to those in the know).Wendy manages a chiropractor's office, and Mark is VP Sales for Magid Glove and Safety Mg.Wendy adds, "I know this is one year late, but it was GREAT seeing everyone at Reunion last year. I just didn't have enough time to talk to everyone! Jack Corrigan, former football player and fraternity brother of Mark's, and his wife Lisa are still enjoying life in the mountains of Aurora, CO. He's now in his third year of broadcasting Colorado Rockies baseball games, after 17 years in Cleveland with the Indians. Jack notes that he has written a newly released baseball-related novel, Warning Track.
Daniel Fried ofWashington, DC, announces that he has taken a new position as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs. Saide Altinsan of Reno, NV, is a psychiatrist at the Mojave Clinic; her husband Joseph Bovill is an anesthesiologist for a V.A.Medical Center. They have two daughters in high school, 15 and 18. Saide hopes to travel to Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia, to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of Kazan.
From Las Vegas, NV, Michael Milano writes that he works as an investment advisor for the Girl Scouts of the Frontier Council. He's also active in other councils and boards, such as the North American Federation of Temple Brotherhoods.Michael has children Sarah, 19, at UNLV, and Gabriel, 15, in high school. Mark Goldstein, DVM '78, and wife Kristina enjoy living in San Diego, CA, and have been married 26 years. They have daughters Lauren, 23, and Nicole, 19.Mark is president of the San Diego Humane Society and SPCA.
DavidWickersham of Mendham, NJ, reports that he "retired from DuPont in 2003 after 23 years to accept a position with Honeywell International as Global Director of Remediation and Evaluation Services." In another slant on "retirement," Lee Schear notes that he has become semi-retired after his employer, a private company, was bought out by a public company. He says, "Before, I was barely working but felt guilty; now the guilt is gone." Lee and his wife have four children, three still at home and one son in college. He reports that Scott Bigelow is "still hiding out in North Carolina."
John and Laurie Eastman Veal enjoy living in beautiful Newburyport, MA. As Laurie wrote it, they "have plenty of time to contemplate its unique appeal as they each sit in traffic for well over two hours each day, but that's a small price to pay in exchange for a short ride to the beach or walk to destination restaurants and shops from their front door. Laurie and John weathered the dot-com downturn by applying their software project experience to in-house programs. Laurie has been working as the assistant chief project manager for an enterprise software implementation program at MIT since 2001, and John is a senior Oracle DBA for Welch's in Concord, MA."
Mary Ready Stanley reports that she and husband Bruce reconnected with the Veals at reunion last year, and have since gotten together for trips to Cape Cod and a visit to the Stanley residence in Middleville, NJ. She notes that her career as a hospital clinical social worker has been enormously enriching, providing her an opportunity "to help people help themselves." Bruce is a social worker for the State of New Jersey, working primarily with veterans and their families.Mary's son Luke, 25, resides with his wife in Pasadena, CA, and attends Fuller Theological Seminary. Her daughter Mary, 23, will begin medical school at Kansas City U. of Medicine and Biosciences, her father Walter Grote's med school alma mater.
Michael Delikat was recently appointed managing director of the litigation division at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.Michael oversees litigation practice for this firm of 300-plus lawyers and lives in Greenwich, CT. He notes that his daughter Stacey '04, who served as one of the on-air anchors for the Cornell Campus Insights TV show, has been promoted to a news staff position at CNN in NYC. Paul '75 and Marcia Langwell Morris of Oradell, NJ, recently met up with Frank '73 and Peggy Cangilos- Ruiz to see Peggy's nephew perform a set of songs at Manhattan nightclub CBGB.
According to her business card, Diane Kopelman VerSchure (Natick, MA) is chair of the Collegiate Program Committee for the US Figure Skating Association. As I recall, she served our class early on as reunion chair. For the past year or so, Diane has been nobly and repeatedly trying to organize a cruise for interested '74 sorority sisters of Delta Gamma and Kappa Psi (now KKG). Although it has proved very difficult to find a cruise time compatible with everyone's busy schedules and their kids' upcoming high school graduations, this combined e-mail list has proved to be a substantial source of updated news items, more of which I hope to harvest for upcoming class columns. If anyone else has an ongoing "chain letter" based on affinity, we class correspondents would love to mine it for news. -- Betsy Moore, emoore@cazenovia. edu; Steve Raye, spr23@cornell.edu; and Bill Howard, wkh2@cornell.edu.
76 | Greetings! I hope this finds you all well. Getting right to the news from our classmates . . . Amy Lubow Downs is living in Brooklyn, NY, with her husband and two sons, ages 11 and 14. She is a customer service representative for a computer software publisher in Manhattan. Her husband is a middle school art teacher and a wedding photographer. She wishes to say hello to anyone from Cornell who may remember her.
Peter C. Di Giulio, ME '77, writes, "I'm delighted to share with you all that I was married this past Dec. 26 to Jacqueline Leurquin. During our Cornell years, I met Jacqueline in Boston while she was visiting from Belgium; she is profoundly the first love of my life. The distance and changes in our lives kept us apart and we lost track of each other some 25 years ago.However, four years ago,my curiosity got the better of me and, with a gentle, persistent nudge of this guiding force that we have come to know as our cosmic angels, I found her in Brussels 18 months ago. It is a long, wonderful story that in so many ways is still just beginning." Peter adds that Jacqueline has a wonderful teenage son.
Carla Holder is working as Manager, Financial Planning & Analysis for Mosaica Education Inc., a small private firm that starts and manages charter schools. She adds that she has joined the Catholic Church, is in the local choir, and sings in a chant group. She has now added ballroom dancing to the Scottish country dancing that she has been doing for years. Carol Ann Nelson, BArch '77, writes that she is still working with the Diocese of Providence overseeing a number of large construction projects on churches and schools. She has been with the Diocese since 1997. Her daughter Katherine Read graduated from Lincoln School in Providence and is attending Brown U. in the fall, where her late husband Larry Read graduated.
Mike Marine is a CPA and CFO of Pre-Cast Specialties Inc. in Pompano Beach, FL. He is working diligently on a plan to quit his day job. Beginning in May 2005, he is putting on a live Saturday morning show for children ages 6 to 11 with an emphasis on exercise and nutrition. Check out his website, www.thepigclub.com. Steve and Michele Brand Medwin write from Binghamton, NY. Steve is manager of advanced research at the Raymond Corp., a manufacturer of forklift trucks. He just graduated from the Executive MBA program at Binghamton U.Michele has been the rabbi at Temple Concord in Binghamton for the past four years. Their daughter Rachel just graduated from George Washington U., and their son Dan recently completed his first year of rabbinic studies in Jerusalem at the Hebrew Union College.
Ann Barnes has been labor relations director for the Baltimore Sun newspaper for three years. The paper is 70 percent organized, with a very dynamic labor environment— it keeps her on her toes! Ann is also very proud to report that her daughter has been accepted as a Science of Natural and Environmental Systems major in the Ag college. Bill Belter lives in Houston, TX, and has been employed in the forest products and paper industry for the last 29 years. He was a bi-vocation pastor of a Southern Baptist Church for five years and active in Wycliffe Bible Translators Associates. He is currently working on his book, "A Walk Through Eternity. "
Alain Bertrand writes that he is in charge of finance, administration quality, and organization at Terre des Hommes Foundation, a medium-size NGO based in Lausanne, Switzerland, which develops and promotes social programs for children's rights, nutrition, and healthcare, and is active in 30 countries. He finds this to be very rewarding work. He lives in Lausanne on the Leman Lake (Lake Geneva). His daughter Candeice, 14, just started a 10-month educational stage, which includes contributing to a humanitarian project in Senegal, Africa. His stepson Alban, 16, enjoys high school and theater, and looks forward to his technical studies. Alain states that Switzerland is really a very quiet island in this somewhat agitated world. Barbara Grindrod Warner's daughter Elizabeth Barker '08 is in the School of Human Ecology. Her family had a grand trip down memory lane when they moved Elizabeth into Balch Hall (Aug 2004) and visited the campus for Parents Weekend. They survived their first Spring Break and had the pleasure of several "Balchettes" visiting their farm in North Carolina.
Marcia Pechenik McCraw Horwitz writes that she was recently appointed by President Bush to serve a five-year term on the US Holocaust Memorial Museum Council. She also recently joined the Nathanson Group, a law firm specializing in the real estate side of assisted-living care. Bill Gullickson's son Eric graduated from the U. of Maine in May. His daughter Emily is at St. Lawrence U. up in Canton, NY, where she had a good first year on the swim team. He and his wife Susan are empty nesters, and he says it is too quiet around their house.
Thanks for writing, folks. Best wishes to all. -- Karen Krinsky Sussman, krinsk54@aol.com; Pat Relf Hanavan, relf@tds.net; Lisa Diamant, ljdiamant@rcn.com.
77 | Relatively sparse news this month, classmates, but what we lack in quantity we make up in quality. Stephen Kessinger lives in Oviedo, FL, where he was promoted to group manager of AT&T Government Solutions Inc. in October 2004. Congratulations, Steve. He is a member of the Assoc. of US Army (AUSA), the Int'l Test and Evaluation Assoc., and the Armed Forces Communications-Electronics Assoc., as well as on the Board of Directors of the National Defense Industrial Assoc. He has children Michael, 26, Jonathan, 25, and Sarah, 23.When not working, he enjoys sailing, reading, woodworking, and traveling.
Nicholas D'Ambrosio Jr. has been included in The Best Lawyers in America. Nick is managing partner of the Albany office of Bond, Schoeneck, and King PLLC, and is a labor and employment attorney who represents employers in antidiscrimination proceedings, affirmative action matters, employment litigation, and other issues. After receiving his BS degree from the ILR school, Nick graduated summa cum laude from the Syracuse U. College of Law, where he was editor-in-chief of the Law Review, president of the Justinian Honorary Law Society, and awarded the Order of the Coif. Kudos to you, Nick.
JayWalker, founder of Priceline.com and the man most responsible for William Shatner's career comeback, spoke to a standing-room-only New York audience in April 2005, telling them that the "age of muscle is ending and is being replaced by the age of the mind." Jay was addressing 225 Cornell alumni and guests at the Cornell Theory Center's Manhattan offices. He was introduced by Robert Constable, Cornell Dean of Computing and Information Science, who noted that Jay's innovations include not only Priceline. com, but also one of the world's leading inventions management companies,Walker Digital. Jay made three predictions: that people will widely use the Web for voice communication; that chips able to communicate with the Web will become part of clothing; and that people themselves will become part of the network.
Finally, Cornell President Jeffrey Lehman's State of the University address on June 11, 2005 culminated with his announcement that he was resigning at the end of the month.He said: "There is today an important obstacle to Cornell's ability to realize its full potential. Over the past few months, it has become apparent to me that the Board of Trustees and I have different approaches to how the University can best realize its long-term vision. These differences are profound and it has now become absolutely clear that they cannot be resolved." Since, as he said, Cornell is "meant to fly," and because he and the board could not agree on the strategic direction to be taken on behalf of the university, he had decided to step down as president. Peter Meinig '61, Chairman of the Cornell Board of Trustees, announced that former president Hunter Rawlings III would serve as interim president until a permanent replacement was hired. Jeff is the former dean of the U. of Michigan Law School and the first Cornell alumnus to serve as Cornell president, a source of pride to all Cornellians in general and to our class in particular. He will continue to teach at the Cornell Law school.We wish Jeff the best in his future endeavors.
That's it for this month. Please forward news and views to either Lorrie or me. -- Howie Eisen, heisen@drexelmed.edu; and Lorrie Panzer Rudin, lorrie_b_rudin@fanniemae. com or rudin@starpower.net.
78 | Robert Sues (rsues2000@yahoo.com) would love to hear from classmates. His oldest son Jared is a freshman in Engineering at Cornell. Robert is CEO of Applied Research Associates and has moved to Fairfax, VA, after having lived in Raleigh, NC, for 18 years. Sharon Cerasoli (sharon.cerasoli@viahealth.org) is a social worker in the emergency and critical care department of Rochester (NY) General Hospital. She has also been involved with a project to increase the number of organ donors. She urges everyone to sign an organ donor card and "donate life." Joseph Vidich (njvidichs@optonline.net) lives in Wall, NJ. He and his wife Leslie have three children. Joseph is a general partner in the Manalapan Oracle Advisers LLC and is a registered investment advisor. He reports that Mark Halper '77 (markhalper@aol.com) lives in Bristol, England, with his wife and two children.
Mike Schwartz (mschwartz@kpmg.com) and his wife Cass live in Houston, TX, with their children Mitchell, 10, and Lauren, 4.Mike is a principal with KPMG in Houston. Mary Gallo Tucker (mgtucker@adelphia.net) and her husband Clark, MIL '78, met while they were ILR students in 1978. They married a year later and have two children. Son Robert '07 is an ILRie and was an RA on West Campus; daughter Lizzie '09 is also in ILR. Now that is a Cornell family for sure!
Diana "Sunshine" Lorenz Weggler visited her son Ryan '06 while he was studying in Rome during his semester abroad program. She writes, "I wish I had had that opportunity as an undergraduate, but in some ways it's more fun now sharing the experience with my own child."Her husband Robert received a master's degree in educational leadership from Vermont College.He continues to enjoy coaching the Norwich U. rugby teams and would love to hear from former CU ruggers at his e-mail address, rweggler@norwich.edu. The Wegglers contacted classmate Stephen Cushman out of the blue via e-mail. He has been an English professor at the U. of Virginia for 23 years. Stephen and his wife Sandra (Bain) '79 have two sons, ages 14 and 18.
Gary Graziano, BArch '79 (ggraziano@high.net), was promoted to VP of marketing for the High Concrete Group companies (www.highconcrete.com), re-elected secretary to the Altusgroup Inc. board, and elected secretary to the board of United Disabilities Services. As if all that doesn't take up enough time, he is president-elect of the Philadelphia chapter of the Product Development and Management Association. Gary and his wife Nancy Ann live in Lititz, PA, with their son Dan, who studies at RIT, and Liza, 13, who is in high school. Jeanne Arnold Schwetje lives in Mattituck, NY, with her husband John. They have a rock band and perform locally. John teaches global studies in high school. Their daughter Katie married an Englishman from Dublin last year. They live in NYC where Katie attends NYU. They did some home renovating in time for all the relatives from across the Atlantic to stay with them for the wedding. Jeanne and John went to Anguilla last winter over the holiday break. They are looking forward to enjoying time together in their "empty nest" and plan to go sailing and play gigs.
Laura Howe Czekaj (lgczekaj@cs.com) reports that her daughter Claire graduated from the U. of Delaware with a BS in mathematics. Her daughter Katie is at Rutgers, majoring in English. Laura visited the Cornell campus with her sister Francey and husband Bill Welker '73, MBA '75, to hear their son Stephen sing with the Glee Club Hangovers. Gary Holcomb (gholcomb07401@yahoo.com) and his wife Julie live in New Jersey and have children David, 14, and Mary, 12. Gary has accepted a position as CEO of Coining of America LLC, a manufacturer of specialty materials for the semiconductor industry in Saddle Brook, NJ. Pamela Savage-Roglich (roglich@sbcglobal.net) is a vice president at J.P.Morgan Securities Inc. in Chicago. She and husband Marion Roglich, MILR '76, have two children,Madeline, 9, who plays soccer and softball, and Evan, 11, who plays basketball, baseball, and lacrosse.
It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Helen Marts Murphy, who died of complications of cancer. She is survived by her husband Paul and children Keith and Julia. Helen was an IT manager for various high-tech firms in New Jersey. She was an enthusiastic supporter of the arts and was president and board member of Luna Stage Company in Montclair throughout the 1990s. Helen was a painter, sculptor, and amateur musician and a member of the Hoboken Renaissance Singers; she enjoyed ballet, theater, reading, and travel. Our class mourns the loss of one of our members.
Marguerite Blythe (Blythemd@fuse.net) lives in Cincinnati with her husband Douglas Katchen.Marguerite, who practices psychiatry, was named the Doctor of the Year at Mercy Hospital Western Hills. She graduated from Cornell's New York Hospital School of Nursing and went to medical school at the U. of Cincinnati. She says that the best training for being a physician is being a nurse first. Mary Rose Gallagher (maryrose.gallagher@mchsi.com) lives in Fairfield, IA, and is working in social services. Larry Skoczylas (skocz@chartermi.net), along with his partners, built a new oral and maxillofacial surgery center. It doubled their capacity and will allow the dentists to do more types of surgery in the office than they could before. Larry and his wife Kathleen had a son,Mitchell David, last year. He joins siblings Tom, 12, and Erin, 10. They reside in Midland, MI.
Our class is looking for volunteers for class officers. It is a great way to reconnect with old and new Cornell friends and keep in touch with what is happening on campus. Ken Mogil's death left us without a permanent class president. This sounds like a daunting task, but it is in fact very manageable.We are also looking for a new webmaster. That position gets good support from the Alumni Affairs office and assistance is always available.
We'd like to thank Eileen Brill Wagner for her years of dedicated service as a class correspondent. She has resigned from that position, which leaves just one of us to write the column. Please let me know if you are interested in the job of co-class correspondent. Diane Elliott has volunteered to help gather information from e-mails and forward it. You can contact me at the e-mail address below, or Tina Gourley in Class and Reunion Programs at Alumni House (e-mail, tlg5@cornell.edu). Thanks for considering the opportunity to serve your class, have some fun, and reconnect with Cornell. -- Pepi F. Leids, PLeids@aol.com; Diane Elliott, dje35@cornell.edu.
79 | Welcome back to fall, and all that it entails. For some of you, it means getting to drop off your kids at Cornell. Please send us e-mails letting us know where your kids are going to school and how they are finding college life.
WayneMeichner (wtm37@aol.com) of New Canaan, CT, is married to Lisa, and they have children Jared, 9, and Justin, 6.Wayne is the president of retail for Polo Ralph Lauren, which is based in Manhattan. Deb Doncov doesn't have children of her own, but loves her involvement over the past 15 years with the Big Brother/Big Sister organization. "It is the most unselfish thing I have ever done," writes Deb, and she urges classmates to consider becoming a Big Sister or Big Brother. Matthew Shapiro, an orthopaedic surgeon based in Eugene, OR, was elected to the board of directors of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons in February 2005.Matthew will serve as secretary to the Board of Councilors of the 28,000-member organization. He has published articles and authored a book chapter in his field, and has given many scientific presentations both nationally and internationally. President Bush has declared the years 2002-2011 National Bone and Joint Decade. The academy is working hard on global initiatives to raise awareness of musculoskeletal health, to stimulate research, and to improve people's quality of life.
Marcie Gitlin (vbabe214@hotmail.com) is embarking on a new life adventure this fall. She is matriculating as a full-time graduate student at Yeshiva U.'s Wurzweiler School of Social Work.Marcie was accepted with a $10,000, no-strings-attached,merit scholarship, which was based partly on her Cornell academic record. One of her three references was Cornell professor W. Peter Wetherbee, with whom Marcie studied Chaucer as a freshman.When Marcie completes the two-year master's program, she hopes to work in one or both of two fields: immigrant/international social welfare and/or elder/end-of-life care.Marcie continues to travel to Asia. She has been to Burma twice and hopes to celebrate her 50th birthday—and the awarding of her master's degree—with a third trip to Burma and first-time visits to Laos and Cambodia.While in New York City, Marcie practices yoga daily and is in regular touch with Judith Sherman, Paula Fuchsberg, Jane Sabin Sklar '78, Peter Coy, and Alan Posklensky '77, MBA '79, as well as her brother Saul Gitlin '84, his wife Aviva, and their children Guy and Cali.
Donna Wiesner (donnawiesn@aol.com) writes that she has married for the first time (to David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union) and joined a presidential administration for the third time (second time was at the Dept. of Education). Donna and David's big news is that they decided to rent their Point Mountain house near Snow Shoe in West Virginia, and bought a Dearborn River house to match their Missouri river house in Cascade Canyon,MT. They rent the houses for fly-fishing and hunting when they cannot be there themselves with, preferably, a slew of pals. Donna notes, "It's like Texas without my mother!" Donna concludes by noting that politics may not be what the Hotel school educated her for, but that it has been invaluable as a fund-raising resource, and exceptionally helpful in putting together a retirement portfolio.
When you get your dues notices this fall for class membership and for receiving this magazine, please take a few moments to write us a note with your news. Back when we were all in the throes of getting graduate degrees, finding spouses and partners, having children, and starting new careers, we class correspondents received a lot more mail than we get these days. Please send an e-mail or a postcard and let us know what is going on in your lives. You can write us at classof79@cornell.edu, or directly at: -- Cynthia Ahlgren Shea, cynthiashea@hotmail.com; Kathy Zappia Gould, rdgould@suscom.net; and CindyWilliams, cew32@cornell.edu.