CLASS OF 1968 | 2018 | ISSUE 2
We lost Geoff Gallas in June of 2016 and Doug Wachholz in January of 2017. Geoff held a master’s from Harvard and a doctorate from USC. He worked for many years in the Philadelphia area in court administration—much of that time as dean of the National Center for State Courts, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the quality of judicial administration at all levels nationwide. Wink Wilder and I were recently talking about bouncing about the country the summer of 1967 and enjoying Geoff’s hospitality in Palos Verdes, Calif. Captain of our swim team, he was then a classic southern California lifeguard. [A graduate of Syracuse’s Maxwell School, Wink actually found the California lifestyle so to his liking that, after a couple of years in Washington, he spent his banking career—and still lives—in Pasadena. Retired and a widower, he summers in Maine near one of his kids.]
Doug was a transfer student from West Point who went on to UVA’s law school and then clerked for a federal judge in the eastern district of Virginia. During the Carter administration, he served in USAID’s Africa bureau and later on with an early renewable energy initiative in Latin America and the Caribbean. (He spoke Spanish and Portuguese.) He then embarked on a career as an international consultant with projects throughout South America. In 1999, he moved to Reno, where he practiced law and expanded his consulting.
Dave Gruol, Dick Emerson, and John Andrus ’67 saw Wes’s basketball team take down then-number four Middlebury. John was a trust officer with several large banks and is now retired in Mendham, N.J., where he served on the town council for over 20 years. Patricia ’79 and Dick Cavanagh are watching their daughter flourish at Bowdoin—a really sweet school these days—where she is stroking the varsity. They live in Chestnut Hill and, after a stellar career, he is “concluding a decade of failing retirement”—chairman of the boards of BlackRock Mutual Funds and of Volunteers of America, a part-time lecturer at Harvard, and a lousy golfer. Just before Reunion, I helped organize and attended a translucent talk on ospreys and menhaden by Paul Spitzer sponsored by the local Audubon Society. Paul said that Ken Kawasaki ’69 and his wife have, for many years. lived near the Kandy Hill Station (a center of life for British tea planters in Sri Lanka since 1846) and is involved with teaching, fundraising, and other humanistic pursuits for a Buddhist monastery.
REUNION (more to follow): Bob Crispin received the Lifetime Achievement Award. We laughed about Bob’s career as Johnny U (for utility) on the baseball team. (The coaches played him wherever there was a need). After some teaching and coaching, he began what became a most impressive career in finance and asset management at Phoenix Life in Hartford. He ended his career as CEO of major chunks—Peru, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Latin America—of the multinational ING Group. A regular commuter to Atlanta and New York as well as a frequent traveler to his areas of responsibility from his home outside Portland, Maine (he’s a place in Charleston for “mud season”). One wife, three “kids,” eight grandchildren, and two labs.
Two highlights of one dinner: (1) Serious talk about the utterly amazing faculty we had and the unbelievable interactions we had with them, and (2) not so serious reminiscences with my two bosom buddies from freshmen year: Bill Smith and Bob Svensk. Smitty, a retired ad executive, is still in Southport mostly chasing five grandchildren under the age of 8 who are also in town.
Lovely lunch with Bob Smith: University of Chicago Law followed by a long and happy run on BC’s faculty and eight years as the dean at Suffolk. Three kids—two in Boston area and one in Montana. Dinner with Terry Fralich and Geoff Tegnell: Terry’s first time back on campus so his head was swimming. NYU Law followed by a change in direction—meditation, time in India and the Himalayas—to become a writer/teacher/speaker. Lives in Maine on—and I’ve been there to check it out—a small piece of paradise. Geoff remains Geoff. I don’t believe in auras but I am sure his is glorious. Social studies coordinator for eight schools in Brookline. Told me Peter Cosel, an attorney and grandfather, is alive and very well.
Bob Reisfeld, fellow PsiUer turned Kaiser psychiatrist, reflected on how widely acquainted I am with the class. To that, I replied it is completely self-serving: When we met, you were the most interesting, able and creative group I’d ever encountered. In the ensuing years, you have only gotten smarter, funnier, and kinder. What is there not to love?
Lloyd Buzzell | LBuzz463@aol.com
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