Class of 1976 | 2014 | Issue 1
First of all, thank you for sending so much news!
Tom Kovar is living in western Massachusetts, working for the VA as a social worker and gigging with his band, the Retroverts. His son, Sam, is in fifth grade.
Carol Bellhouse has six books out on Amazon: three in poetry, two novels and one biography. She splits her time between her legal practice and writing, sometimes for the TV and film industry.
Meredith Bergmann celebrated the 10th anniversary of the unveiling of her sculpture at the Boston Women’s Memorial on the Commonwealth Ave. Mall. See the video at: youtube/12t429KHAL8.
Ethan Bronner and his wife, Naomi, spent four years in Jerusalem, where Ethan served as The Times bureau chief. Ethan is now deputy national editor for The Times and Naomi has reopened her psychotherapy practice in Manhattan. Their son Eli ’10 is with a nearly all-Wesleyan tech company called Lua; younger son Gabe is a student in Manhattan.
Robert Buccino has just had a book published, The Pitch Book: New Thinking for New Business. It is a quick and interesting read with advice that can be adapted to many situations and businesses.
BJ Buckley has published a new poetry chapbook: Spaces Both Infinite and Eternal, which you can find at limberlostpress.com/buckley.html. BJ is working through state arts councils in Arts-in-Schools/Communities Programs located in western states. In December, she will be returning to the Sanford Cancer Center in Sioux Falls, S.D., to make art with patients and their families.
Rob Cox, Steve Goldman, and I were in CSS together. Recently, it was parents’ day at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., where we each have a daughter enrolled: Kelsey Cox, Sarah Goldman, and Michelle Marinello. Steve and his wife, Kathy Rosenthal ’78, and Rob and his wife, Maggie, had a great time, and Nancy ’78 and I are pleased to have another connection with them. I also heard from Jon Cleworth, another CSS classmate, that he is recently retired and living in Connecticut.
In October, Ely Leichtling, who rowed crew with Jon Cleworth at Wesleyan, had lunch with me in Chicago, and we discussed career challenges and our personal five- and 10-year plans. Ely (employment litigation) and his wife, Sally Merrell (heads up estate planning at her firm), are attorneys in Milwaukee. They are married 34 years and proud parents of two Carleton grads. They plan to visit Mike Donnella in Philadelphia over Thanksgiving. Mike also has a daughter at Carleton.
Jeff Frank owns a successful moving company in Columbus, Ohio (American Moving and Storage), where he is married with three children, the youngest a sophomore at the Air Force Academy. Jeff’s son, Nathan, works for the FBI; his daughter, Stephanie, teaches English as a second language in Hawaii.
Jeffrey Gottlieb, a psychiatrist, is presently doing forensic work in Middletown and sees the Wesleyan campus on a regular basis. He has three children, the youngest a junior in college, and has been married to Gina for 28 years.
Byron Haskins, our class secretary emeritus, is also an author and has two recent publications on Amazon, Lake Affects: Musing Around Michigan, Vols. I and II.
After 35 years in the magazine business, Matt Roberts has retired from Condé Nast. Matt has a considerable Wes alumni network of his own. He and his wife, Cathy Mudd ’79, a psychotherapist, have a son, Alex ’02, married to Louisa Hay ’02. Their grandson, Dane, may be shooting for ’41.
Barbara Strauss, who has a matrimonial and criminal law practice in Goshen, N.Y., is receiving an award from Legal Services of the Hudson Valley for her pro bono work in grandparental custody. Barbara is married to Jeff Storey, who is the executive editor of the New York Law Journal. Barbara and Jeff have two daughters: Rebecca who teaches at Columbia Law School and just had an article in the Yale International Law Review about law of war issues and Hanna ’03, who is now with the New York Times and previously was a foreign correspondent in lots of places including Mumbai. Barbara and Jeff also have one granddaughter and two additional grandchildren on the way.
Amy Zuckerman reports she is still working on her honorary Wesleyan degree. She is the founder of Hidden Tech, a network that supports 2000 virtual business owners and recently formed the 2030 Studio, a multi-media coop business.
Michael Greenberg, Matt Paul, David Cohen and Stewart Shuman reported a recent enjoyable weekend together at Mike and Ros’ house in Wood’s Hole, Mass. In words that I hope are true for all of us, Matt said: “We look back fondly and realize that our best times together still lie in the future, thanks to the strong relationships fostered at Wesleyan.”
Mitchell Marinello
mLMarinello@comcast.net