CLASS OF 1986 | 2015 | ISSUE 3

Newsmaker: Michael Silber ’86

Michael Silber ’86 was recently named chief financial officer at McKinsey & Company, a leading management consulting firm worldwide. Additionally, he continues to serve as head of the firm’s pharmaceutical and medical health care division, with which he has been affiliated since he joined McKinsey in 1991. “My ‘day job’ and passion has always been serving companies in health care. It’s a great chance to work in an industry that makes a difference, to work with companies that are focused on innovation, and to be a part of trying to bring better products and services to society worldwide,” he says. A graduate of Stanford Business School, he was a studio art major at Wesleyan and recently funded a scholarship in honor of John Paoletti, Wesleyan’s Kenan Professor of the Humanities, Emeritus, and Professor of Art History, Emeritus.

The most important news this winter is that our 30th Reunion is on the weekend of May 19–22. In recent years, Reunion Weekend has coincided with Commencement Weekend, so there are three days of activities, as well as many opportunities for quiet conversation with friends old and new. Please put that weekend on your calendar—we look forward to seeing you there.

If you have some old Wes clothes, please put them aside to bring to Reunion. Kathryn Villano recently wrote on our Facebook page that she still has a couple of WestCo T-Shirts. “Their threadbare, holey state is perfect for jogging in Miami!” In most issues of the alumni magazine, there is a story from Wesleyan’s past. As members of the Class of ’86, we are now at the stage where some of our belongings are considered “antiques.” If you have some unique Wes memorabilia, please consider donating it to the University Archives.

And now for some updates from classmates. Jeffrey Liss and his wife, Susan, have entered the empty nest phase of life. They bought an apartment on the Upper West Side of NYC, but will also be keeping the home in Yardley, Pa. He continues to work for a major retail company.

Robert McCrae has also moved. After 11 years as the head of the Cincinnati Country Day School, he recently became head of the New Canaan Country Day School in Connecticut. Education is his passion. “I believe having a wonderful and happy childhood is the basis for very enriching adulthood.”

Sam Atkinson spent an annual reunion weekend September in New Hampshire with Peter Hammond and Mark Woodbury ’87. Pete’s into raw milk, which apparently contains formaldehyde, as Pete hasn’t changed since college. Sam had dinner in SF last spring with Steve Cadigan and Paul Levitan ’85, where they relived the glory days of Wes tennis. Don Long for president in ’16? It must have been a great dinner, because Steve wrote from California. “Recently had dinner in SF with Sam Atkinson and Paul Levitan ’85 and a few months ago I connected with Scott Donohue, who is also out here. Happy to report everyone is in great shape and our tennis games are better than ever. See you in May.”

From the center of the USA, there were notes from Frank Randall and Michael Tomasson.

Frank: “I’ve called Minnesota home since 1988, currently living in Minneapolis with my wife, Karly Christensen Randall, and children Francis, Nina, and Jens. We enjoy life on the Mississippi, taking advantage of our city’s great bike trails, and still-kicking music scene. In the ’90s I released three albums as a singer-songwriter fronting the Sycamores, as well as an album recorded with fellow Wes ’86 alums from Van Gogh’s Ear, Elliot Sumi, Bob Ryu, and Chris Erikson. … I’m currently senior editor for HighBridge, the spoken word audio publisher for many public radio programs, where I occasionally catch up with Car Talk’s Doug Berman ’84. One of my titles, Mandela: An Audio History (produced by Radio Diaries) was recognized as Best Audiobook of the Year at the 2015 Audie Awards. … I thoroughly enjoyed attending the 25th Reunion, reminiscing with Brian Pass, Chris Erikson, Becky Mode, Brian Mulhern and many others. I hope to see more friends at the 30th!”

Michael has been working at Washington University in St. Louis since 2000 in the departments of Medicine and Genetics, Division of Oncology, and was recently promoted to full professor. “I treat patients with hematopoietic malignancies on the bone marrow transplant service and do research on multiple myeloma, which is going well. Wash U was recently named a center for multiple myeloma nanotechnology by the National Cancer Institute. Three amazing kids: Julia, 19, science and philosophy at the University of Chicago; Ellie, a junior in high school violin-playing, school-paper-writing, lab-going 16-year-old; and Erik, 13-year-old in eighth grade, the lead of the school play this fall, Science Olympiad champ, and obsessed with the Destiny video game. Personal life a little messier, but happy and peaceful at last.”

Sarah Holbrooke is living in Telluride, Colo., these days, running a nonprofit providing STEM education to school kids in rural southwestern Colorado. “If you’re a working scientist, and love to ski, please be in touch as we can host you in exchange for your time spent presenting to various grades at our partner schools in the region! My husband’s film, The Diplomat, about his late father Richard Holbrooke, will be on HBO in November, and meanwhile is touring at international film festivals. Our family traveled to the Balkans this summer for the Sarajevo Film Festival. Our oldest daughter, Bebe, is a sophomore at Brown, so that means lovely visits with Joanna Feinberg, who lives in Providence. I still keep up with Debbie Halperin in NYC, Nancy Cagan in N.C., and Eleanor Roche in Montana. Our middle daughter, Kitty, is at a semester school in Freeport, Maine, Coastal Studies for Girls, focusing on marine science. Our youngest, Wiley, is at home with us in Telluride, rock climbing and looking forward to the ski season. Let me know if you’re coming to Telluride!”

And from northern New Hampshire, we have an update from Emily Cowan: “Writing to tell you how much fun Reunion is. I am one of those who dreaded Reunions because I didn’t think I measured up to the Wes standard, whether in status, excellence, or creativity. I see myself as an average person with an average job, leading an average life. I anticipated feeling quite inferior as I rubbed elbows with the Wespeople who had achieved. This didn’t happen, though. Nobody lorded anything over anyone, I made new friends while enjoying old ones, and I didn’t sink into self-recrimination. I soaked up the wonderfulness of Wes and rediscovered everything I love about it. That was at our 15th Reunion and I haven’t missed one since. I’m still highly average, so if you have any performance anxiety about your life, come to Reunion and find me. I’ll be the one not standing out.”

Some of you may have met Emily’s daughter at our 25th. “At age 7, her biggest reason to look forward to our 30th was the ice cream social that she was too young to go to that year. I’ve been waiting all these years to see if she will still care about it at age 12. What’s lovely is, she decided after that Reunion that she wants to go to Wes.”

Closing thought: Even if your life is messy; if you are recently divorced, if you are having mid-life confusion—please come next spring. We are a community, and we are here to help each other. See you soon.

Eric Howard | ehoward86@wesleyan.edu