Dana E. Pearson ’53
Dana E. Pearson ’53 passed away on February 15, 2022. A complete obituary can be found here.
Author: etaylor
Edward W. Lifset ’53
Edward Wrubel Lifset ’53 of Oceanside, California, passed away on October 22, 2021 at the age of 90. He was born on August 25, 1931 in Schenectady, New York. He was the son of the late Theodore and Dorothy (Wrubel) Lifset. Edward spent the majority of his childhood in Middletown, Connecticut. He graduated with a BA degree from Wesleyan University in 1953 where he was a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. Edward received an additional BS degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Florida and a MS degree from American University in Washington, D.C. He served 27 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, primarily in the aviation, engineering, and intelligence fields, and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1979. Before joining the Marines, he was CEO of three construction and land development corporations in Volusia County, Florida. After retiring from the Marine Corps, he spent another ten years as a senior staff engineer and general program manager in the aerospace industry with the Lockheed Corporation.
In his retirement, Ed was an avid world traveler, proudly visiting over 120 different countries. Some of the more exotic countries he visited were Albania, Afghanistan, Libya, Romania and Iran. He especially enjoyed visiting China, Hong Kong and Japan, revisiting them multiple times. Ed enjoyed fixing and tinkering with things. There was nothing he couldn’t repair with duct tape.
He is survived by his wife Patricia (Mathews) Lifset; four daughters, Deborah (McKee), Nancy (Linskey), Regina (Resnick) and Lauren; and one son, David. Ed is also survived by his beloved grandchildren; Rachel, Ella and Jude. Ed was predeceased by one daughter, Judith.
Following cremation, a private family service will be held. Internment will take place at Miramar National Cemetery, San Diego, California.
Memorial contributions may be made to the National Museum of the Marine Corps. (www.usmcmuseum.com).
Donald F. Dembert ’53
Donald F. Dembert ’53 passed away on March 12, 2021. A full obituary can be found here.
Andrew Strouthes ’51, P’81
Andrew Strouthes ’51, P’81 passed away peacefully at age 98 on February 15, 2022.
Andrew was born in Lefkara, Cyprus, and he immigrated from Cyprus to the United States in 1947. He graduated from Wesleyan University with honors in 1951. He went on to earn a master’s degree from the University of Connecticut in 1952 and a PhD from Temple University in 1960.
Andrew was an associate professor of psychology at the State University of New York at Binghamton, where he specialized in animal behavior. He was devoted to his research in animal conditioning and to his students; he was renowned for learning all his students’ names within the first week of each semester, even in large lecture courses of more than 150 students. He was considered by many to be the best teacher they had at SUNY. His work in fear and reward conditioning in rats has been cited many times, and during the course of his research, he also found a correlation between saccharin consumption and mortality in rats.
Andrew was predeceased by his wife of 63 years, Mary Joyce, and son Daniel Strouthes. He is survived by sons Peter of Austin, Texas, and Mark of Arnold, Maryland, and daughter Daphne of Dallas, Texas. Known as a raconteur and bon vivant, he was beloved in the Gardens of Annapolis, where he lived for the last years of his life.
Leonard “Len” Hippler ’50
Leonard “Len” Hippler ’50 passed away on December 31, 2021. A full obituary can be found here.
Robert J. Perdrizet ’47, P’77
Robert J. Perdrizet ’47, P’77 passed away on December 31, 2021. A full obituary can be found here.
Edward J. Huth ’45
Edward J. Huth ’45 passed away on November 2, 2021. A full obituary can be found here.
CLASS OF 2020 | 2021–2022 | WINTER ISSUE
Nick Ticali is still working as an EMT with Northwell Health and volunteering with his local fire department. He received his first interview for physician’s assistant school with the Tufts University School of Medicine. Hopefully, this is the first of many!
This August, Rowan Hair moved to Boston to begin his master’s program in history at Boston College and hopes to focus on Irish history, specifically religion in the early modern period.
Melisa Olgun moved back to Connecticut to pursue her JD at Yale Law School, where she plans to pursue health law. She still thinks New York pizza is better than New Haven pizza, though she can be swayed.
Colleen Castro graduated from Wesleyan in May with a master’s degree in chemistry. She started working at Sanofi—down the street from campus, in Meriden, Connecticut, working in the lab on generation of the seasonal flu vaccine Flublok and Sanofi’s COVID-19 vaccine.
Alexander Olvera spent last summer working as a consultant for a small school in San José, Honduras, helping raise over $20,000. The school was operating without internet before the COVID-19 pandemic, but thanks to numerous donations they were able to continue learning with new laptops and a connection to the World Wide Web. But by far, the best thing that happened “was flying out and seeing all of those lovely kids in person!”
Maya Layne still wants you to read her writing on mayalayne.blog!
Thanks to everyone who submitted updates to this rendition of Class Notes! As for me, I’m living in Chicago and missing the mild Connecticut winter! Be on the lookout for an email from me with the next call for Class Notes updates!
CLASS OF 2019 | 2021–2022 | WINTER ISSUE
Hey everyone! Hope you all are continuing to stay safe and healthy. Here are some updates from our classmates:
Samantha Schreiber will be starting a school-clinical PsyD program at Pace University in the fall.
Josh Signore will begin a PhD program in chemistry in fall 2021 at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
Nikolas Ortega will be relocating to San Francisco in August 2021. He’s looking forward to experiencing the Bay Area and the rest of the American West Coast. Niko cannot wait to connect with other Wes folks out in SF! If you’re out there, don’t hesitate to reach out.
He also recently completed the Colorwave Fellowship, a program designed to help close the racial wealth gap in venture capital and the startup ecosystem—making the innovation economy more accessible to BIPOC.
Katie Tyner moved to D.C. in July for her new job as a fellow at the Cohen Group, a government relations advisory firm. She looks forward to reconnecting with fellow Cardinals who are in the area!
Zachary Obstfeld finished his first year of his master’s at the University of Chicago. He’s enjoyed working with faculty here, including Michael Kremer and Brian Williams. This past summer he worked for the World Bank and is planning a trip to Joshua Tree.
Amy Breitfeller and her pal Cara Bendich ‘19 stayed in Middletown after graduating. She stayed to work in the Wes Office of Admission as an assistant dean, and Cara worked with both Upward Bound Math-Science and GEARUP, two programs that provide extra academic and mentorship resources to high-poverty school districts and primarily serve low-income students throughout their time in middle and high school. Cara worked in both Middletown and Meriden.
Throughout their two years living in their home on Home Avenue, they have had an incredible array of truly authentic, warm, and caring roommates (including Meghan Jain, Breanna Cavanaugh, Mackenzie Mitchell ’20, Michelle Nivar ’20, Emily Moon ’21, and Clare Glickman ’21). The two years following graduation spent in this beautiful home had been filled with such incredible love, heartfelt laughter, and life-long friendships. Their time there has been unforgettable.
Cara and Amy are both heading off to NYC to become full-time educators, a dream they’ve had since working with Kindergarten Kickstart, a project that is part of the Cognitive Development Lab at Wes (Cara worked with Kickstart for three years, and Amy for a year during undergrad). This upcoming year, Cara will be a teacher of mathematics for 4th and 5th graders at the East Harlem School, and Amy will be a teacher of PE and Fitness for 4th-8th graders and the head coach of the girl’s lacrosse program at Trinity School.
And as for me, I am starting graduate school in the fall at the New York University Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service. There I will be studying public policy with a focus on inequality, race, and poverty.
Special thanks to everyone who reached out with their life updates. Keep an eye out for my next email about the next edition of the alumni magazine soon.
CLASS OF 2018 | 2021–2022 | WINTER ISSUE
Congratulations to Hannah Skopicki and Matthew Renetzky who graduated with their Juris Doctors from American University Washington College of Law. From sitting next to each other coincidentally in the fall 2014 Wesleyan orientation picture, you have come a long way! After graduation and studying for the bar, Hannah and Matt will have judicial clerkships in the District of Columbia and California, respectively.