CLASS OF 1973 | 2017 | ISSUE 3
NEWSMAKERS | 1970sNEWSMAKERJOHN HUTTLINGER JR. ’73
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Joshua Boger has been busy. After stepping down as chairman of the Wesleyan Board of Trustees and after 17 years on the Board, he says he deliberately stayed away to give new chairwoman Donna Morea ’76 some “breathing room.” In the fall of 2016, he was approached by his good friend Setti Warren, mayor of Newton, Mass., about helping him run for governor in 2018 against Charlie Baker. Joshua has been chairman of the campaign. In June, he simplified his calendar, stepping off the Vertex Pharmaceuticals board after almost 28 years, after founding the company in 1989. He says, “The campaign has been asking people, ‘What kind of Commonwealth do we want to be?’” He’s been dealing with issues including growing income disparities, the possibility of extending free college to everyone in the state, public transportation, renewable energy, energy conservation, and improving health care. In his spare time, he has been finishing up chairing the $750M campaign for Harvard Medicine (“The World is Waiting”) for the Harvard Medical School and chairing the Celebrity Series, Boston’s largest nonprofit presenter of live performing arts.
He also said, after 26 years “living in bucolic Concord, Mass., with my wife Amy” they “junked all of our suburban hand-me-down colonial furniture and swapped it for steel-and-leather-and-stone Italian modern, and moved to Boston’s hottest and hippest area, the Seaport, into a rooftop condo looking out directly onto Boston Harbor. It is, without apologies, our doomed attempt to act and become younger, and so far it is working wonderfully.” He says he exchanged 1,000 miles a month of commuter driving for 10,000-plus steps a day, “walking to most of my city commitments. He says Amy walks three block every day to her own ceramics studio, where she works seven days a week. In September they opened up their own art gallery (Dirt & Light Arts) with a joint ceramics (Amy) and underwater photography (Joshua) show, which got nice crowds for its nine-day run. For Joshua, it was his 10th major photography show, all but this one were solo shows—in the last few years.
He says their three boys continue their independent and creative ways: Zack ’06 lives in Brooklyn (with his wife Arielle DiGiacomo) and is the senior editor for documentary and reality TV shows, most recently The Vanilla Ice Project; Isaac ’09, after a stint as an EMT, has pivoted and built his own business in Seattle (Mixed-Up Events, LLC) as a producer of electronic dance music (EDM) concerts; and Sam (“the one we lost to Brown ’12” ) works for Google as a software engineer, recently moving from a three-year stint in London for Google to working remotely from Pullman, Wash., “following his heart.”
Our class president, Bill Quigley, writes that he and his wife have been distracted. His family has had a place in Puerto Rico (Palmas del Mar) since 1985. Their oldest son has been living there and Hurricane Maria’s eye passed directly over them. Bill and Dee managed to speak with him by phone after the storm hit and also received texts from friends saying he’s ok while living with “no power, no cell service and not much food. Bill was concerned about what he felt was a poor response by the government to “fellow citizens in need.”
From New York City, Jonathan Raskin tells me that he has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Louis Armstrong Educational Fund. He says it was started by Louis Armstrong himself and funds many organizations that are committed to jazz education. “As one who loves jazz, it is a real treat to be involved with them,” says Jonathan. He says by chance he assisted Armstrong when he was ill in his last year of life as he worked as an orderly at Beth Israel Medical Center. “I will always remember how he smiled at me as if I mattered,” he says, “small world.”
Michael Fossel says his global biotech company (Telocyte) is moving ahead, now with full funding, to their FDA trials targeting Alzheimer’s disease. “We’re confident that we can do something quite remarkable,” he says. “We’ll see what happens.” In addition, his latest book, The Telomerase Revolution, is now out in paperback, in seven languages and 10 global editions. “It will never pay my mortgage, but it’s doing well and getting rave reviews,” he says. “Much more importantly, my gardens and my granddaughters are all doing well.”
Congratulations to John Huttlinger who was the 2017 recipient of the 14th annual Michael Urbach CPA Community Builders Award that recognizes exemplary achievements of a certified public accountant who serves in leadership positions on the Board of Directors of charitable organizations. He was honored for his knowledge, experience and service to non profits. John was a founder of the Adirondack Film Festival and the Rotary Club of Lake Placid, N.Y. called him “one of the finest CPA volunteers ever.”
David “Harp” Feldman writes that he is once again, after nearly 50 years, living with his parents. However, as he puts it, “At least it is they who have moved in with me (and with Rita, in our remote mountainside home in Vermont). I had to fly down and retrieve them from a rather poorly appointed hurricane shelter for Irma refugees from the Florida Keys. Fortunately, my dad (91) is a retired NYC fireman and my mom (87) a retired RN, so they were able to tough it out. Once the hurricane season is over and their mobile home has been made habitable again, I’ll bring them back and get them settled in.” Dave continues to write books on mindfulness, and on harmonica, and to create corporate and other group presentations featuring Harmonica-Based Mindfulness™.
As we saw this past hurricane season has impacted classmates. For some of us, it has been overwhelming. Rudolph Foy put out an alert. He tells me he experienced two Category 5 hurricanes around his home in St. Thomas and may need some help in the aftermath of Irma and Maria. You can reach him at rrfoy@midwest.net.
Kie Westby writes that on Sept. 9 on Martha’s Vineyard, “I had the coolest job in the world—walking my daughter down the aisle” and watching her join the man she loves. He called it “unbelievable” and said it “does not get any better.”
Peter Bernstein writes that in early September their daughter Rebecca ’08, who lives about two miles from he and his wife, married Justan Dakes, her high school sweetheart. “Wedding was at the fabulous Brotherhood Winery in Washingtonville, N.Y. It brought back memories of wine tasting road trips our freshman year,” he said. Several of Rebecca’s Wes friends joined in the celebration, and spotted in the crowd was Jay Rose and his wife Marilynne. In addition, their son Ben (U of Florida ’10) of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., announced his engagement to Natalie Kovacs of Lighthouse Point, Fla. Peter said he and Jay recently went golfing with Mark Helfat. “A great time was had by all and nobody got hurt,” he said. He and Karen also celebrated their 33rd anniversary.
Finally, a reminder that we have another exciting Reunion coming up: our 45th on May 24-27. Hope to see you there.
Peter D’Oench | Pgdo10@aol.com