Class Notes

Kelly Washburn is “living in New York, working in fundraising in a private school. This summer I spent three weeks volunteering at Ritsona refugee camp in Greece with Echo100Plus. I’d be happy to share more about my experience with anyone who might be considering doing something similar: washburn.kelly@gmail.com.”

On Nov. 6, Paul Zoltan’s daughter, Natalia Charlotte Zoltan, was born. “With her birth through surrogacy, I’ve embarked on the adventure of single parenthood here in Dallas.”

Johanna Maaghul has “three kids in college now, two at Berkeley and one in Santa Barbara. I am continuing to enjoy my work as a literary agent with Waterside Productions and am excited to see more and more of my projects coming out in the world. I have also been doing some technical advising in the cryptocurrency and Blockchain space with a group of advisors in Germany called sicos.io, as well as helping to launch my husband, Rich’s company, odem.io in Switzerland, a beautiful country indeed. I will be spending a good part of the year there and would love to hear from any classmates also living there.”

Lisa Pavlovsky is “life-coaching and president of the board of my synagogue which is a full-time job, as is parenting two teen boys. Menopause and adolescence is not the best combo! Had a wonderful visit with Vivian Trakinski when she was in San Francisco for business lately. Feeling very much of the sandwich generation taking care of children and aging parents (my dad passed away a year ago), but feeling fortunate I live close to them.”

Mark Ungar published a book, The 21^stCentury Fight for the Amazon(Palgrave Macmillan), based on his work for the United Nations to develop environmental enforcement agencies in the nine countries of the Amazon Basin.

Holly Campbell Ambler and her husband live in Cambridge, Mass. One daughter lives at home and is in the midst of the crazy college search process. Their eldest daughter is an aspiring ballet dancer who is training with a company in New Jersey. Holly works as a clinical social worker with a focus on children and families, “a career I came to in mid-life which I am enjoying,” she writes. “I frequently see Trish and John Dorsey, Karen and Dennis Mahoney, and Michele Houdek and Doug Koplow, and enjoyed catching up with others at our Reunion last spring.

Claudia Center is still at the ACLU doing disability rights. “Our damages trial in the Kenton County, Kentucky child-handcuffing case starts this March. I also collaborate with MIUSA—in the past year I’ve traveled to Guatemala, Pakistan, and Mexico working on disability rights trainings partnering with local organizations. I’ve spent time IRL with Jennifer Bush, Jack Levinson, and Becca Gallagher, connected via FB to many more.

Hemanshu Nigam launched the Center for Online Justice (centerforonlinejustice.com) to help people who are being attacked, harassed, stalked, or victimized online. They help identify and bring justice in an area where anonymity and misconduct can rule.

Debby Hamilton moved from Colorado to Santa Barbara, CA a year ago to join a supplement company called Researched Nutritionals to help with product development, research and physician education. “I do that three weeks a month and then see patients in my integrative practice in Colorado one week a month. I am in Colorado long enough to bother my kids in college and make them spend time with me! Love missing winter and being able to go to the beach year-round after being land locked in Colorado for 18 years. Wendy Blum‘s mom is nearby so had a great visit with her family last summer. I welcome any visitors or alumni who are in the area to contact me.”

Ian Friday, associate director of The Colored Girls Museum, said the museum was created in September 2015 alongside Vashti Dubois ’83, executive director, and Michael Clemmons, curator. This memoir house museum is located in historic Germantown, Philadelphia, and celebrates the ordinary/extraordinary colored girl. This museum has been granted a 20k sponsorship by the Campaign for Black Male Achievement, which is led by Shawn Dove ’84, and reopens for weekly Sunday tours during Women’s History Month. The exhibition is Urgent Care, A Social Care Experience Part 2.

Sheila Rhatigan Arcelona writes, “Not much new, still busy and happy, living and working in the rapidly changing city of San Francisco. I still love my job as an administrator in the San Francisco District Attorney’s office, which is always challenging and always interesting. Very proud of my old boss, Senator Kamala Harris, who was the district attorney who hired me 12 years ago. Which seems like last week—I can’t believe how time has flown by. My little daughter Angel is now 17 and all about finding the right college. I expect an East Coast college tour is on our horizon. Finally, just want to give a shout out to the Wesleyanmagazine for the excellent articles and especially the book reviews. I love reading about what our alumni are writing and I especially can’t wait to read Carolyn Tesh O’Doherty‘s upcoming book Rewind.”

Becca Wharton is “happy to report that my stepdaughter, Julia Jurist, was accepted early decision to Wesleyan and will begin in the fall as a freshman.”

Eileen Deignan writes, “It had been way too long since I had caught up with Elizabeth Saveri and Renee Fogleberg. I saw them in Pasadena and San Francisco respectively last summer. Johanna Van Hise and Simon Heartmake it to the East Coast most summers and we had a great mini-reunion with Suzy Walrath and her family in July. Sumana (Chandrasekhar) Rangashar checks in whenever she is in Massachusetts and we meet up in the Berkshires. Ira Skolnik keeps me up the date on Wesleyan as he has a son who is a freshman there now. We serve together on the state dermatology board. Ira is doing Wes proud as the current president.”

Alisa Kwitney has a young adult novel, Cadaver & Queen, coming out from HarlequinTeen at the end of February, and a prestige format comic book miniseries, Mystik U, coming out from DC Comics. is teaching graphic novel writing in the fall for Manhattanville College’s MFA program.

Ian Rosen has “joined forces with Arnab Bhattasali ’03, Souleymane Ba ’03, and Sisi Miteva ’15 as regional representatives for the Wes London/UK community. This is part of a push by Wesleyan to relaunch the international regional community groups. We’re planning some events and hope to entice the London, and broader UK, and maybe even European, Wes communities to attend.”

David Josephs has relocated to London.

Kevin Pratt writes that “it was a good year! Highlights included a family trip to Guatemala to visit an orphanage we’ve supported over the years. The trip included one-on-one Spanish lessons (yes—even for our 3-year-old). The kids also spent six weeks in Brazil with my wife, while I built out my music studio at home. I now have a great space to play, write, and compose. I’m in frequent contact with Roger Russell ’85, Vashti Dubois ’93, Ian Friday and had a lovely visit with Bennett Schneider ’86 in LA this past October. I’m already looking forward to the next Reunion.”

David Abramso nwrites, “I’m in my 17th year living in Washington, D.C., and working at the state department as a senior analyst on Russian foreign relations (no requests for written comment on life in the U.S. government please!). My family and I will be visiting Wesleyan on a college tour in New England during spring break in March for my elder daughter, Hazel, a high school junior. More than 30 years after graduating from the Russian department, it’s touching to know that four out of five of the same faculty members are still there. Between campuses, I plan to spend time in the Boston area with Becky Riccio, Skip Lockhart, and Jessica Miller, and hopefully will see Janet Ginzberg in Philadelphia on the way home.

Karen Sallick writes, “As of the new year I have switched from working mostly in my marketing consulting company of 20 years to working on my newly launched app. The change of focus is invigorating. I also realized that as I sent my kids back to college, I have likely spent the last big chunk of time with everyone home together. Over the past few years I have become more and more involved in donating my time to my local NPR station (WSHU) as I feel more strongly now than ever that more balanced and comprehensive news coverage is critical.”

Melissa Marks writes, “My exhibition Volitia Returnsat Planthouse Gallery in New York continues through the spring. In conjunction with the exhibition, the gallery will present Double Self Split, a film about my 2016 installation and exhibition inside the Castle of Vélez Blanco, Andalucia, Spain.While the installation in New York City draws energy from the dissonant confluence of bricks, fences, walls, and looping wires in a make-shift canyon on the back-side of a Tin Pan Alley row house in New York City, Double Self Split draws itself through a different set of material parameters, found conditions and cultural histories in the open courtyard of a Renaissance castle in Spain!

“I still live in Chelsea with my husband, Vicente Caride ’85 and our 16-year-old son Archie.”

John Fitzpatrick writes, “Last November, Chris Olinger organized a get-together on the Oregon Coast. Attendees in addition to Chris and I, were Andrew Grimaldi, Dave Cole, Jeff McCarthy ’89, and Michael Pruzan. Football on the beach, hiking, kayaking, eating, drinking, and reminiscing with the backdrop of the Pacific and sunshine made for a great long weekend.”

And finally, Amy Baltzell, has anew book coming out, The Power of Mindfulness: Mindful Meditation Training for Sport. “I also am now the president of the Association of Applied Sport Psychology. I have been spending some time with Susan Anthony, now an artist living on Cape Cod. Her work is beautiful.”

Take care!

Amanda Jacobs Wolf | wolfabj@gmail.com

Many thanks to the classmates who respond to my requests for updates for inclusion in the magazine (and online). Last year, 81 classmates were mentioned in our column, and this issue includes six reports from classmates who didn’t write last year. If you haven’t seen recent news from your friends, please ask them to submit something for the next issue or to post it on our Facebook group.

Marsha Cohen recently celebrated her 20th year in her dream job as executive director of The Homeless Advocacy Project (HAP) in Philadelphia. HAP is a legal services agency annually assisting over 3,000 homeless individuals and families, youth aging out of foster care, and homeless veterans with their civil legal needs. On the personal front, she’s celebrating 21 years with husband Peter; and raising two boys, Max (17) and Will (15). “I continue to enjoy regular visits with my dearest friends from Wesleyan: Vicki Strauss Kennedy ’87, Margaret Hagar, and Rebecca McLeod-Barnett.”

For Mike Sealander, his work life has been the same for the last 17 years. “My wife Robyn and I have a small architecture firm in Ellsworth, Maine. Our work is largely in the education sector for area colleges and public schools. We do a fair share of science-related work, including a marine research and flowing seawater facility in Beals that is now under construction.”

Hunter Silides has moved toGreensboro, N.C., where she has been called to be chaplain for the Canterbury School. Canterbury is an Episcopal PreK-8 school on 37 wooded acres. “It’s my dream job. I took a risk this year and switched coasts to return to my first love, being an Episcopal school chaplain (I should say my first love as a priest!). Moving cross country with a husband and four kids is *hard* but worth it. Our daughters, Gracie and Hope, are both freshmen at historic Grimsley High School. Our eldest son, Stephen, is a freshman in the Flagship Chinese Program at San Francisco State and heads off to Taiwan in a few months. Our second son, David, will graduate from Claremont High in Claremont, Calif., in June and plans to go home to the University of Alaska, Fairbanks next fall. My husband of 20 years, George, can finally move here to Greensboro! Thanks be to God! This long-distance thing is not for me. I’m so grateful to be doing work I love, and to be supported by my wonderful family after all those years on the mommy track! I’ve enjoyed seeing Arthur Haubenstock ’84 and Judith Hill-Weld. I will miss visiting Bennett Schneider in LA. My kids absolutely adore him and I haven’t found anyone quite as colorful here in the ‘shallow south.’ Y’all come visit us, now!”

Alex de Gramont: “As an international arbitration lawyer, I travel constantly. In every region of the world I visit, even the most conservative people I meet are stunned by what is happening in the United States. I don’t know which is more difficult: trying to explain it while abroad, or having to face it when I return. The best (and only) escape, I suppose, is family. Our 17-year-old, Nicolas, is going to Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla., to study marine biology. Our 10-year old, Gabriel, is in fourth grade and wants to be an ‘animal scientist.’”

Margret Hagar:“I love my job as general counsel for Nobel Learning Communities, not least because I never know which challenge each day will bring. Erik and I are now empty nesters which is partly liberating but mostly strange. (We have two daughters; younger is a frosh now. Could not persuade either of them to apply to Wes, sadly.) Also experiencing déja vubecause our 21-year-old daughter is now spending junior year spring semester in Paris as I did. Revives vivid memories not just of the amazing time I spent there but the bonds formed in the Wes Paris program with two of the dearest friends anyone could ever have.”

Ethan Knowlden had the opportunity in July of last year to take his wife to see Wesleyan for the first time. “As we stood at the top of Foss Hill she commented on how small Wes looked. Of course, she’s a University of California, Davis grad where there are 35,000 students! I had a change of jobs in 2017, twice in fact. I started and ended the year at Medicines360, a San Francisco-based nonprofit pharmaceutical company whose mission is to expand access to medicines for women regardless of their socioeconomic status, insurance coverage, or geographic location. I head the legal and compliance functions there. But for five months I served as general counsel for Accela, Inc., a cloud-based software solutions provider, leading them through their acquisition by a private equity fund. I have to admit I prefer working for a mission-driven organization! Finally, we had the pleasure of having Kevin Freund visit us here California. And we enjoyed seeing Kevin’s parents while vacationing in Scottsdale, Az.”

Sam Connor: “During a spate of creative activity in the fall I finally launched some personal music projects that I have been writing and recording with friends and professional musicians over the years. Albums:Togo Songbook, Made in Burma, and several singles are finally up and available for free on Spotify and elsewhere. I credit Wes with promoting enduring creativity and meeting superb musicians who crushed it in the studio: Banning Eyre ’79, Ralph Gasparello ’84, Eric Rosenthal ’87, Simon Connor ’87, Dirck Westervelt ’82, and master drummer Kwaku Obeng Akoi ’14, and others all represented on the Togos Songbook, as well as singles “Allez Au Marche” and “Lost Man.“

Emily Cowan reports on her singing: “I’ve been enjoying writing songs for friends. Highlights: my sister’s wedding toast (did you know that the Yiddish word nachissrhymes with office?) followed by fifth and 10th anniversary songs to the tune of “Hello Muddah Hello Faddah,” a Haman song for a Billy Joel Purim spiel (“Only the Jews Get Hung”), a Bernie Sanders song to “Charlie Darwin” by The Low Anthem, and, while not a song, “Hillary R. Clinton Will You Please Win Now,” inspired by Dr. Seuss’s book “Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now.” So nice to have a place to brag about my oeuvre!”

Best wishes for the summer,

Eric Howard | ehoward86@wesleyan.edu

Michael Steven reporting this month. Jonathan Sadowsky, the Catele Professor of Medical History at Case Western Reserve, received a contract from Polity Books for his new book Depression: A History.

Michael “Misi” Polgar writes from a snowy valley in northeastern Pennslyvania, where he teaches sociology at Penn State while helping to raise three daughters. He writes about topics related to the Holocaust and human rights education.

Susie Kang Sharpe is enjoying life as a physician-artist in southwest Missouri. While practicing internal medicine she managed to be in 24 exhibits last year. Learn more at susiesharpe.net. She is grateful that both medicine and art continue to be fulfilling careers. She has become quite a world traveler and an avid tennis player.

Gail Farris has reached a milestone—her daughter, Kim’ 14, married her high school sweetheart in June. No grandchildren in the works yet! Kim is teaching biology at a local high school. Her other daughter, Jen ’16, works in Atlanta, but is hoping to change jobs to one that aligns more with her interest in urban planning and public health. Anyone have ideas? Her son, Dean, strayed from his Wesleyan lineage and is a sophomore at Harvard, where he is making a splash on the swim team. She loves keeping up with the pulse of Wesleyan by hosting the Wesleyan Spirits (men’s a cappella group) each spring as they make their way south for spring break.

Kari (Friedman) Collier has started writing and giving sermons at her place of worship, an Episcopalian church in the diocese of Ohio. She says that once the juices get flowing (writing juices, that is), it has been fairly easy, and very rewarding. Kari says “hello” to everyone who lived in Foss 4 with her, freshman year.

Our near-classmate Steve Bacher ’83 is running for Congress in the 8th District of Pennsylvania, in the Democratic Primary in May. Learn more about his campaign at stevebacher.com. He is being assisted by Mary Melchior ’83.

Anthony Mohl, who is running a permaculture adventure in the middle of the jungle on an island in Thailand, writes: “Soooo tired of the same positive only news…I’ve gone from investment banker and director of portfolio management at a Wall Street firm at 32, divorced with two kids at 35. At 36 was running the bank in Europe for six years. Never believed in marriage again and was in a relationship with a marathon runner and triathlete for nine years in Paris. For three years ran the bank and studied psychology with my girlfriend at René Descartes, Paris 5 (previously known as La Sorbonne). Gave up banking and graduated with high honors as a state group psychologist before being trained as a psychoanalyst for families and couples. This did not prevent my girlfriend and me from breaking up.”

That’s pretty much all the news.

Roger Pincus | rpincus84@wesleyan.edu

Michael Steven Schultz | mschultz84@wesleyan.edu

Hi, everyone. I hope these notes find you well. Our 35th Reunion is almost here! I hope you plan on coming back to Middletown May 25 to 27. Cori Adler, Carlton Barnswell, Ben Binswanger, Jeffrey Burack, Michelle Deatrick, Richard Eaddy, Yates Exley, Peter Gilhuly, Eve Hall, Paul Halliday, Darrick Harris, Lewis Ingall, Ruth Jaffe, Lisa Mould Kennedy, Tom McKibbin-Vaughan, Megan Norris, Orin Snyder, Kim Beede Soule, Paul Spivey, Adam Usdan, Mike Whalen, Michael White and Ellen Zucker have all been working hard to plan a wonderful weekend of activities. Get more information and register at wesleyan.edu/rc2018.

Eileen Kelly-Aguirre left her position at The Gunnery after almost two decades to take a job as executive director of School Year Abroad (SYA), with schools in France, Spain, Italy, and China. She has been running SYA’s school in Zaragoza, Spain, as interim resident director, and will return to the U.S. in the summer to a new position, her home, and her partner, Jack, in Washington, Conn. She is almost five years out from a colon cancer diagnosis, surgery, and chemo, and is feeling great. She urges all her Wesleyan friends to stay on top of those preventative screenings!

Andrea Smith is busy tending farm animals (goats, chickens, mini horses) plus dogs and cat with son Nathaniel and husband Patrick in New Jersey, while heading the department of anthropology and sociology at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., where she has worked since 1999. She is deep into settler colonial studies, and busily working on a book about the commemoration locally of the Revolutionary War.

David Steinhardt has edited the bestseller The Elegant and his fully credited name and editorial brand, Massive Publishing Enterprise, are now in two new books, Deviant Desires: A Tour of the Erotic Edge, and a history of Eurasia from Rowman & Littlefield by Dartmouth professor P. K. Crossley.

Karen Adair’s baby just turned 21 and is a junior at St. Lawrence University. Another offspring just turned 25 and the other three are slogging through their daily routines in the work world. Karen and husband and enjoyed the month of August in their place in Lake Placid and weirdly didn’t feel guilty with down time!

Heather Rae is pursuing a new career in genetic nutrition and wellness coaching. She launched The Wellness Spot in Maine in April and is very excited about the venture. She writes, “I finally found my calling in life. It certainly took a while!”

Nancy Rommelmann’s newest book is To the Bridge, a seven-year investigation into why a mother would drop her two young children from a Portland, Oregon, bridge. As the promo copy goes, “The case was closed, but for journalist Nancy Rommelmann, the mystery remained: What made a mother want to murder her own children?” It’s up for pre-sale now on Amazon.

Charlie Brenner writes from Iowa City that his metabolism research has taken off. He spent time with George Russell in New York last summer and will be in Hong Kong for a product launch. See aboutnr.com and truniagen.com for more information on Charlie’s work.

Ruth Jaffe is sending her youngest child off to college this year and is happy to be retiring from logistics management. Her middle son is a senior at Wesleyan.

Michelle Regalado Deatrick writes: “Daughter Elizabeth Deatrick ’14, after completing a master’s in science writing at Boston U, is a science writer/editor for the National Institutes of Health. Son Alexander is in his second year at Amherst. My husband, Steven Przybylski and I live near Ann Arbor, Mich., on an 80-acre farm. He’s a technical consultant. I write poetry, farm, and continue environmental and small farm rights activism. In a major life shift, I’ve become involved in party and electoral politics over the last three years as Michigan special projects director for the Bernie 2016 campaign, an elected DNC member, and vice chair of the County Board of Commissioners. I’m now running for State Senate.” Go Michelle!

Timothy Brockett writes, “The town I live in, Emigrant, Mont., is undergoing a gold rush. Places where I once panned for ’color’ are now taken over by commercial operators. So, I have traveled to the southern Rockies in search of better pickings. Last year, I found several promising silver and gold deposits in Nevada and Arizona. This spring I will explore those deposits further on my way to Mexico to study the lava fields in the Sonora desert that borders Arizona.”

I look forward to seeing many of you at the Reunion in May. Thanks to the committee for all their hard work. I started to read the Great Books series that Mortimer Adler created in the 1950s. They are a chronicle of Western civilization and absolutely fascinating. They remind me of my humanities and English studies at Wesleyan. A full set of 60 books costs less than a one-semester course back in the 1980s at Wesleyan so they are quite a bargain, too.

Laurie Hills | lauriec@rci.rutgers.edu

Class of 1982 Endowed Wesleyan Scholarship

Matthew Aidan Frishkoff ’21, Philadelphia, PA

Greetings, classmates! I sent out my plea for notes right after the Women’s March and it was cool to hear that so many of you participated. Taking things a step further is Diane Kolyer, a founding director of NY4US, fundraising for progressive candidates running for state legislatures in battleground states …if you’d like to pitch in, visit ny4us.org.

Beck Lee is having a resurgent playwriting career; his Subprime will premiere at the Mixed Blood Theater in Minneapolis in May. Like his son, the play was born in Minneapolis and co-created with his ex-wife Andrea Iten Lee. Another classmate in theatre is Steve Budd, whose award-winning solo show, What They Said About Love, played at The Marsh in Berkeley last February and will be part of the Ottawa Fringe Festival in June. To put this in perspective, Steve turned down a role in a play at Wes at Theatre ’92 —Private Wars—because he was too nervous to perform. And, Sabina Brukner is the literary manager at the National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene.

Naomi Fuchs is CEO of Santa Rosa Community Health in Sonoma County, serving low-income people with primary care, mental health, and dental services. Last October, when fire storms devastated the city, her organization lost its largest health center, which meant 24,000 people lost their medical home and 180 lost their place of work. “It has been a challenging time, to say the least,” she says. But they’ve made tremendous progress since rebuilding.

After spending his career working in refugee camps for the U.N., Steven Ablondi is now busy transforming Zamani, a town in post-apartheid South Africa. Memel.Global is helping neighbors build comfortable housing for the elders, and offering everyone access to organic, locally-grown foods, among other projects. Both Susan Sutherland and Michael Toohey ’81 will be visiting the project this year.

Karen Wise retired after 25 years from her position as vice president, education and exhibits, at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, and now enjoys being a consultant. She went with Elizabeth Sands Petty to the new Museum of African American Culture and History in D.C., and caught up with Sheila Gaffney in NYC. She volunteers at Santa Monica High School and spends time supporting the congressional Climate Solutions Caucus, universal health insurance, and civil rights. “Relief comes from reading,” she says, “especially works by our classmates Suzy Berne, Peter Blauner, and now Patty Smith!”

Speaking of books, I sold my company, Shebooks, to SheWrites Press (no relation), which will keep the 75 e-books we published in print, including those by Ginny Pye, Jennifer Finney Boylan ’80, Bonnie Friedman ’79, and moi.

Jim Friedlander and wife Liz are busy with her U.N. work advocating for women’s rights and teaching yoga when she is not serving as general counsel for their firm, Arrangements Abroad. They travel extensively, frequently to Cuba for the Havana Heritage Foundation, trying to preserve the architecture of the city. Their oldest son is in his last year of med school.

Lavinia Ross is living and working on a small farm in western Oregon with her husband, Rick Ross, and nine cats. She’s still playing music, performing at the Spokane Fall Folk Festival in November. Those of you who are not allergic to cats can visit their farm at salmonbrookfarms.wordpress.com.

Michele Navazio is playing music, along with his wife, Rachel Ulanet, a Broadway diva he met when they were both in Les Miserables. Miki is a lawyer (running the buy-side derivatives practice for Sidley’s investment funds group), but most important, he says, they’re raising their daughters, Chiara and Alessia (12 and 9, respectively) to be “awesome, powerful (and kind and generous and brilliant) women.”

Also raising that kind of girl (he sent pix from the march) is Michael Ostacher, who had dinner in the Village with wife Laurie Ketter Ostacher, and Ellen Friedman Bender and Sam Bender, Michael Lucey and husband Gerry Gomez, “Everyone is older and nicer, which is lovely, don’t you think?”

Susan Peabody’s book Madeleine’s Children: Family, Freedom, Secrets, and Lies in France’s Indian Ocean Colonies has won the Society for French Historical Studies’ David Pinkney Prize for the best book on French history by a U.S. or Canadian author published in 2017.

More from the rest of you who wrote (thank you!) next time.

Finally, I’m so sad to report that our classmate, journalist Lisa Chedekel, passed away Jan. 12. The Hartford Courant, where she worked for several years, quoted colleague John Ferraro saying, “She searched for truth wherever it led. She was an advocate for the powerless and a thorn in the side of the powerful.” Lisa was a member of the team of Courant reporters who won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news covering a deadly shooting rampage. Several classmates attended her funeral. Among them, Catharine Arnold said, “She was an incredibly talented writer who wrote powerful articles that precipitated meaningful changes.” Mary Beth Bruno, who spend her first years out of college with Lisa at the New Haven Advocate, said, “She took to reporting like a reincarnated Nellie Bly. Fearless…”

I hope we can all strive to be fearless, in our own ways, in her honor.

Cheers,

Laura Fraser | laura@laurafraser.com

Greetings from the great Midwest! I have much news to report in these early months of 2018. Jeremy Kenner writes from down under: “No guns? No Trump? Sound good? Come to Australia!” Jeremy is currently living in Melbourne, has been in Australia for 17 years—and has no regrets. He still works for the government as an adviser in the field of health and research ethics. On a more personal note, he adds, he has reentered the world of childrearing and has five sons ages 31, 29, 27, 10 (step), and a 5-year old “as beautiful as they come!” Jeremy also invites anyone who is ever in the neighborhood to look him up.

Congrats to Gail Marowitz, who was nominated this year for her fourth Grammy (she actually won back in 2006)! This year it was for Best Recording Package for her art direction for Jonathan Coulter’s vinyl LP Solid State. Check out thevisualstrategist.com for more insights. Gail splits her time between a studio in the West Village and a 130-year old church along the river in the Hudson Valley.

Robin Frank enjoyed a fun evening catching up with Katy Ward Koch and Amy Curtis in the D.C. area. Robin is married to Geoff Megargee, a historian at the Holocaust Museum; they have a guitar-playing, skateboarding 15-year-old son named Ruslan. Robin writes, “I recently left a 30-plus year career in the federal service to became the associate general counsel for International Law at NASA, where some days, I do get to dance with the stars!”—not something that too many of us can say! Congrats, Robin!

Barbara Johnston wrote in from Rochester, N.Y., where she works as a city planner with an architectural and engineering firm. Her nights and weekends, however, are kept busy with her passion: percussion. “My main musical outlet is Brazilian Batucada, and the occasional Bossa Nova jazz or square dance gig.” Last November, Barbara attended the International Folk Music Film Festival in Kathmandu where, she writes, “I screened a short film in which I played drums. Hanging out with ethnomusicologists and listening to traditional music from around the world brought me back to Wesleyan roots!”

From the Bay Area, Ariel Rubissow Okomoto, a Wes Science-in-Society grad, writes of her family, “We are still helplessly West Coast, as my husband, Paul, and I continue to try and save the planet. Our daughters have picked up the vibe: Tira (24) is working on the San Francisco Pre-Disaster Challenge of Resilient Design and Mikki (20) is studying architecture with a focus on public urban projects.”

Brenda Zlamany, a painter who lives and works in Brooklyn, had an exhibition called Brenda Zlamany: 100/100, on view at the Derfner Judaica Museum from September to January. The exhibition featured 100 watercolor portraits of residents of the Hebrew Home at Riverdale.

Congratulations go out to David Lynch, who joined the Washington Post as their national and global economics correspondent, after a storied career at The Financial Times, Bloomberg, and USA Today. Dave, who has three sons, lives in northern Virginia with his wife, Kathleen. He is also author of the book, When the Luck of the Irish Ran Out: The World’s Most Resilient Country and Its Struggle to Rise Again.

Paul DiSanto wrote in with lots of news: Dan Haar has left his long-time job at the Hartford Courant to take on new challenges with the Connecticut Hearst Newspapers. In Denver, Paul caught up with Lisa Greim, Julie Richman, and Michele Vion who are all doing well. From KC, Lou Scimecca and Tony DiFolco send greetings, though the absence of our dear classmate Brad Toomey leaves a hole in the hearts of the KC crowd. Paul reports that several of our classmates left long-term careers for other pursuits, time with family, and retirement (!): Jim Baker retired from Unilever; Jon Duane, from McKinsey; Rick Ciullo, from Chubb. Tim O’Brien retired from Blue Cross of Massachusetts. Many Wes alumni attended an informal party for him in Narragansett, R.I., including classmates Bill Stack and Pete Pezzelli. On campus, Paul often runs into Sandy Herzlich and Barb Martin, Ellen Jewett, Ed Suslovic, Delcy Ziac Fox, Mark Molina, Nancy Parker Wilson, Diane Goldstein, and David Resnick.

David I. Block | david.I.block@gmail.com

Joanne Godin Audretsch | Berlinjo@aol.com

This is the year many of us turn 60. Happy birthday to all! A few of you wrote in January to share what you are doing to mark this milestone and to note other family and personal milestones. Thank you for writing. We all look forward to learning how others will celebrate the entrance to the decade of our 60s, as well as hearing about other milestones in the 38 years since our graduation. After reading this column, please write to me. There are only two more years until our 40th Reunion. Sharing the journey of our 60s together as we transform our roles and goals in the decade ahead will be enlightening and rewarding. We all look forward to hearing from you and seeing you on campus in 2020 when we can look back with perfect vision and ahead with vibrant hopes and dreams. My email is listed below.

Ellen Haller: “After 30 years as a full-time faculty member in the UCSF department of psychiatry, I will celebrate my 60th birthday by retiring at the end of June! To celebrate, I will ride my bike from San Francisco to LA for the sixth straight year as part of the AIDS LifeCycle to raise money to provide free healthcare for people living with AIDS (tofighthiv.org). I will then look forward to more bike trips, continued ice hockey playing (yep, I still play regularly!), and quality time with family.”

Tom Loder writes: “Fun news—my eldest son, Aaron, will be going to Wes this fall like many of your kids did (Amy Zinsser, Bob Ferreira, Walter Siegel, Ed Biester…). Don’t know that there is a better endorsement of a school than to ’let’ our kids go there, even if they would have taken our spots had we had to compete against them for a seat in the freshman class. Guess that insures I’ll be on campus for our 40th.”

Don Rosenstein writes: “Writing for the first time since…well, I guess 38 years! After living in the D.C. area and working at the National Institutes of Health for 18 years, my family and I moved to Chapel Hill, N.C., about a decade ago. I’m at UNC and provide psychiatric care for patients with cancer at UNC. I’ve stayed in touch with Amy Longsworth, Sam Liss ’78, Steve Greenberg ’78, and Ken Kramer ’78. Also, a UNC colleague and I published a book on widowed fathers (Oxford University Press).”

Alex Kolodkin writes: “Well, turning 60 is a milestone that seemed best celebrated from afar, and so my wife, Maria Rodriguez ’81, youngest daughter Talia (who is almost 16), and I traveled to Sicily, where we enjoyed the charms of southern Italy and somehow getting older seemed not so bad at all. I am in the department of neuroscience at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where I have been conducting research in neural development and regeneration since 1995, and Maria is a partner at Venable LLP here in Baltimore. With our elder daughter, Sasha, only one year out of college, and Talia not yet there, there is little time to ruminate on turning 60, and that seems all for the best.”

KIMBERLY OFRIA SELBY | kim_selby@yahoo.com

Class of 1979 Endowed Wesleyan Scholarship Fund

Julian Carraway ’18, Sociology

Happy Spring! My first PCA race of the season will be at Road Atlanta in April (ABD).

Ann Kaplan never ceases to amaze! “Last fall, I organized a conference, Duty to Warn. The speakers were psychologists who outlined their concerns about the president’s dangerousness. There’s nothing like successfully herding a group of NYC shrinks to give a person a sense of bewildered accomplishment. In August I dived the Lembeh Strait in Indonesia. The strange life there includes hairy frog fish, blue ringed octopi, stargazers, seahorses, ghost pipefish, devil fish, and scores of nudibranchs. I attended a Vinyasa yoga retreat in a villa in Nice. In addition to hours of yoga instruction, the retreat included meditation, indulgent food, and great wine. LuxYoga sells a T-shirt that reads: “F*ck Kale. Eat Butter.” Last year, I was promoted to vice president at Council for Aid to Education, where I have worked for 17 years as a researcher and writer. I spent much of 2017 working with a brilliant coder, Jacob Drew ’98, on a benchmarking platform for advancement professionals. Our new application just launched and has been very well-received.”

Martha Bush remarks, “After a wonderful run of 25-and-a-half years at SIGMA, I will be leaving as of the first of the year. I will be doing a couple of personal projects that I hope to tell you about later in 2018.”

Matt Jarvinen reports that Ralph Maltese and his bride, Sheila Peck ’81, visited him in Colorado last September. Ralph was named “Most Valuable Wedding Guest” by the family when his godson, John Jarvinen, was married in the hills west of Denver. Ralph stuck around for a few short hikes in Rocky Mountain National Park, topping out at an elevation just over 13,000 feet.

Melissa Stern ’80, Jim Friedlich ’79, and Max Friedlich ’17 spent a wonderful Christmas Eve with Tom Valtin, at Tom’s home in San Francisco. Jim hung out with Ralph Maltese in San Jose, last month. Tom is working at The Sierra Club as he has since Wesleyan. Ralph now runs operations for The Santa Clara Food Bank, serving hundreds of thousands of meals daily to the region’s most at-risk populations.

Robert Kuhn notified us that “after 11-plus years in Florida, my husband Steven and I moved back to the Northeast in April (with our two Irish Terriers). In fact, we moved to Salisbury, Conn., one town over from where I went to boarding school (Hotchkiss). We were ready for a change and needed to exit overcrowded South Florida—we just didn’t know we’d end up in a community I was a part of in the early 1970s! We’re very happy so far and look forward to reconnecting with northeastern friends and making new ones. Anyone in the area, feel free to reach out!”

Joy D’Amore moved to Philadelphia from Dallas in December to start as director of executive search at CBIZ CMF. She leads searches for CFOs for middle-market private equity-backed portfolio companies nationwide. On a personal note, Joy had a wonderful surprise. Thanks to Ancestry.com DNA testing, she discovered that she has four younger half-brothers who live in the Richmond area. Joy had been adopted at birth and grew up an only child. She met her brothers over New Years and is very happy to be developing a close relationship with them and their families, including seven nephews and two nieces. Joy had met a half-sister six years ago from her maternal side and stays in close touch with her and with her 14-year-old niece.”

Katharine McKenna visited her daughter, Eliza ’20, at Wes. Katharine continues to paint Wyoming and the West. Her paintings will be on exhibit at the President’s Office Gallery at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn until May. Still travelling, she visited Scotland and Costa Rica with upcoming trips to Las Vegas and Paris.

Andrew Tanzer reveals: “I just published my first book, Robert Kuok: A Memoir, the story of a low-profile, enormously wealthy Malaysian-Chinese tycoon. Published in English in Singapore and Chinese in Hong Kong, the book sold more than 100,000 copies in Southeast Asia in its first two months and will go on sale in the U.S. this spring. After 25 years in journalism, mostly in East Asia, I switched to private wealth management in 2011 and became a chartered financial analyst in 2012.”

Jono Cobb writes: “No big news on the home front but I want to encourage folks to get to the polls this November! If you think your vote doesn’t matter take a look around at the current situation in our country.”

Sean Barlow and Banning Eyre invite everyone to join them at Afropop’s 30th anniversary gala on May 3 at City Winery in NYC. Harry Belafonte is honorary co-chair. Aurelio Martinez and Mokoomba will be inducted into the Afropop Hall of Fame. Afropop’s galas are always exceptional (afropop.org/page/gala2018).

Gary Breitbord | gbreitbo@aol.com

Ann Biester Deane | abdeane@aol.com

Class of 1978 Endowed Scholarship Fund

Matthew Richard Grimaldi ’21, Florence, MA

Alison Gilchrist is enjoying life on the coast of Maine. She volunteers at the Penobscot Marine Museum’s photo archive, as well as for the Midcoast Restorative Justice Project as a mentor. She’s catching up on her travels, and is appreciative of it all: “My kids are all doing well, I’m healthy, I have great people and family around, including brother Geoff ’92 and his family. I’m so lucky!” Nice.

Richard Order is serving on the board of the Mandell Greater Hartford Jewish Community Center and is co-chair of its Jewish Film Festival. He continues his work as a partner in the legal firm of Updike, Kelly and Spellacy, in Hartford, Conn.

Marisa Smith continues dual careers as both a playwright and a theater book publisher. Smith and Kraus Publishers have surpassed its first quarter century, with 700 titles in print. About 10 years ago she got the bug to write plays herself and has become an award-winning playwright. Upcoming productions include Sex and Other Disturbances in May (Portland Stage, Maine) and Venus Rising in January 2019 (Northern Stage, Vermont). Her oldest son, Luke, is married and works as an attorney in San Antonio, Texas, while second son Peter is a sommelier in Los Angeles.

Our 40th Reunion is coming up on May 25-27. Hope to see many of you there.

Susie Muirhead Bates | sbatesdux@hotmail.com 

Ken Kramer | kmkramer78@hotmail.com

As much as I enjoy an email update from fellow class members, nothing beats running into folks, accidentally or planned, for an actual face-to-face meeting. Such was the case visiting with Liz and Will Sillin at the opening on an art show in Lexington, Mass., where Will had several fine pieces of work on display. Joining in to support the artist was fellow architect Rob MacNeille and wife Kim. We made a New Year’s resolution to get together and compare notes early in 2018. Rob has an amazing design and construction practice based in Essex and Wellesley, Mass. At Thanksgiving, my family had a Reunion gathering in Bermuda where, after a fine dinner out, we ran into Kathy (Asquith) Franklin. Kathy was on a wedding venue scouting trip with her future daughter-in-law and family. We both laughed at the incredible coincidence. It was great to see Kathy as we missed catching up during last May’s Reunion.

Several other folks wrote in wishing well to all in the New Year, including Kate Seeger and Lisa Brummel. Wendy Giardina has started studying Japanese in preparation for a March trip. This will be Wendy’s 11th language. In addition, Wendy is doing some translation for a French publisher and has begun attending an ornithology course in nearby (for her) Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

Janet Malkemes sent along her annual update, which included a report on her recovery from the removal of a cancerous tumor from her intestine. She has returned to work this New Year cancer-free with great appreciation of the medical staff that provided great care, as well as a support network of wonderful family and friends.

Dave Schreff enjoys his investing and board work in pro and college sports, media, and product licensing. His two sons are married and he sees their sister in New York frequently.

Buzz Cohen has staged-managed Oedipus El Rey for the Public Theater. Last summer Buzz was the stage manager for Shakespeare in the Park’s Julius Caesar and received the Del Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in the Art of Stage Management.

Brad Arrick is a clinical professor of medicine at Dartmouth College, where he has been chief of hematology/oncology. He completed a master’s in healthcare management at Harvard. Brad and his wife are looking forward to their son graduating high school next year.

Sadly, Dave Loder informed me of the passing of Tom Tucker in late 2017. Tom was a survivor of the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York. He was a chief underwriting officer at Hartford Insurance Company’s Commercial Markets Division. Remembrance gifts may be made in his honor at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving (HFPG.org).

Finally, Bob Rees was delighted to meet up with Don Lowery at Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis. Don, a former New England Patriot PR director and confidante to Coach Bill Belichick ’75, expressed disappointment that the Minnesota Vikings had failed to reach the “Big Show,” where Don suggested that the Vikings would have been torn to shreds. If there is one thing I have learned as a Patriots fan and believer in karma, it is best to leave some things unspoken.

Best wishes for a healthy and joyous 2018.

Gerry Frank | Gfrank@bfearc.com