Class Notes

Greetings, classmates. I’m glad to be in contact with so many of you. Aside from sending me notes—thank you!—who knew that one of the enduring advantages of a Wes education would be to have so many killer competitors at Words with Friends? You know who you are, David Hessekiel, Alison Fagan, John Brautigam, Randy Frisch ’84, and Judith Newman ’81—can anyone beat Judith at WWF? WTF?

I received so many kind replies to my solicitation for notes that if you don’t see your contribution today, it’s because I’ve saved it for next time. It’s what we, in the increasingly archaic world of magazines, used to call “inventory.”

As I write this, a number of our classmates are training to row together in the Head of the Charles, October 21, including Kevin Foley, Alex Thomson, Rob Miller, Greg Lewis, Mike Greenstein, and David Myers. They’ll be pulling alongside youngsters Kelem Butts ’89, Paul Slye ’84, Tom Policelli ’89, John McIntyre ’86, and Terry McClenahan ’85, all undoubtedly celebrating by the time you read this.

Sasha Alpert won her third (but who’s counting?) Emmy, for Casting for a Reality Program, for Born This Way, about young adults born with Down syndrome who are pursuing their dreams. Congratulations (and great dress!).

Anji Fink Citron and Todd Herron ’83 had a full summer in Bellingham, Wash., hosting a gang of Wesleyan friends, including William Erb ’83 and his partner, Suzanne. William lived in London and Tokyo for 20 years and moved to LA in 2010 to take a job with biotech company Amgen. In August, Anji and Todd celebrated the wedding of their son Noah Citron ’12 and Rachel Santiago ’12 (a Wes romance, like that of their parents; they met the first day of freshman year in Foss 7) with attendees Danny Kummer ’81, an NBC attorney living in Brooklyn with his wife, Lisa; Ellie Hitzrot ’81, who lives in Arlington, Mass., with husband Stu Forman ’80; and Rachel’s great-uncle, Fred Grand MALS ’73. They hosted Cheryl Cutler MA ’71, founder of the Wes Dance Department, with her partner, John, from Ashland, Ore. Anji asked Chery if she wanted to pass any words of wisdom along to our class, and she said, in her inimitable way, “I think the most astonishing and perhaps unheralded thing that I’m finding is that life doesn’t diminish or retract in any way, but just expands-—it deepens and opens out physically, intellectually, and spiritually into broader and broader views and manifestations of vitality!” I share Anji’s feeling that Chery had a profound effect on her sense of self and body image at Wesleyan, and her sentiment: “I’m so grateful to Wesleyan for connecting me with some of the most important people in my life.”

Julie Abrams Faude had a busy summer traveling to Iceland, Norway, Bornholm Island for bicycling, the coast of Denmark, Copenhagen, the Czech Republic, and Austria, ending up at a theatrical, rabbit-hole themed wedding on Lake Como. She promises to share her travel tips, which took her the first half of the summer to research, if you get in touch. She’s working as a clinical psychologist at The Episcopal Academy in Radnor, Pa., and with private clients.

Neil Richman traveled from Monterey to crash a gathering of other Wes people, instigated by John at his family’s camp in Maine. He met up with Mike Levine, Bob Russo and their respective partners and dogs, and dragged Garrett Randolph along with him. They traveled two-and-a-half hours on the backroads of Maine in rain and mud to climb into a dinghy and ferry across to the camp. Skies cleared for a summer afternoon on the lake. Neil also attended California Brazil Camp as the doc for the 11th consecutive year.

Julie Kraushaar Zürcher moved to Muttenz, Switzerland in July, their third time ping-ponging back and forth, which she says keeps her on her toes, culturally and linguistically. She’s enjoying the “more subdued, pragmatic approach to politics and political discourse favored by the Swiss.” Her son, Bryce ’18, is set to graduate in May.

Rolando Arroyo celebrated his third annual Paella on the Beach this summer, and is shopping for a bigger paella pan. His family is hosting a student getting ready to start her first year of college in Caracas, Venezuela, but who can’t return because of the social economic turmoil, and so is staying on with them.

Suzanne Kay is producing Sullivision: Ed Sullivan and the Struggle for Civil Rights, a 70-minute documentary on Ed Sullivan and his little-known support of racial justice. She’s partnering with Sullivan’s granddaughter on the project. Suzanne’s mother, Diahann Carroll, was on the show nine times—as were other performers white audiences had never heard of but are household names today, such as Chuck Berry, Nat King Cole, Sammy Davis, Jr, Pearl Bailey, Sam Cooke, James Brown, the Supremes, the Jackson 5, Leontyne Price, Johnny Mathis, and Harry Belafonte.

Dan Singer’s son Jake ’17 graduated this year, and Dan’s Foss 5 freshman hallmates, Dan Softness and Ken Kimmel, also had daughters getting their diplomas.

That’s my word limit! Please write me more for next time.

Laura Fraser | laura@laurafraser.com

NEWSMAKERS | 1980s NEWSMAKER ANTONIE KLINE ’81 Antonie Kline ’81, MD, is the recipient of Global Gene’s RARE Champion of Hope award, which recognizes individuals and organizations for their notable efforts in rare disease advocacy, science, collaborative sciences, and medical care and treatment. Kline has been the medical director of the Cornelia de Lange Syndrome Foundation since 2001, and has worked with families with this condition since 1993. Kline is the director of pediatric genetics at the Harvey Institute for Human Genetics at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center. At Wesleyan University she majored in math, and earned her Doctor of Medicine at Jefferson Medical College.

Greetings from Brooklyn! My daughter, Emma, had her bat mitzvah on September 9. She made it relevant and profound, and her parents are very proud! Now, your news…

Mid-September, Alvin Peters wrote that he is “dodging hurricanes in Florida’s panhandle. Water and gas sold out. Climate change deniers wandering around like zombies.”

Lisa Jo Rudy is living on Cape Cod with her husband and two children, where she freelances while writing and directing plays in Falmouth and Woods Hole. She discovered her inner iPhone photographer, and became a juried artist at the Cape Cod Art Association. She was thrilled to connect with Cori Adler ’82, whose daughter Mitzi ’21 is a freshman.

Judith Newman is having fun with her new book “about raising an ‘average’ kid on the spectrum—To Siri With Love. The New York Times called it ‘uncommonly riotous and moving’ and the Washington Post compared me to Nora Ephron so you gotta love that, right? It’s on a few best-seller lists, though the way they construct these lists—well, they have many categories, and for all I know there are a total of three books in the categories I’m number one in. But, let’s just go with ‘best-seller’ shall we?”

Greg Murphy is now a private banker with U.S. Trust. Son James will graduate from Annapolis in 2018, and daughter Kathleen will likely enter the U.S. Naval Academy in June. Daughter Bridget is a varsity rower at UConn.

Stephen P. White was in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1981-1987, and then the Army Reserve from 1992-2011, with deployment to Korea, Bosnia, two years in Iraq and Afghanistan, and three years at the Pentagon. Retired now from both the military and Verizon, Stephen is working with his wife, Gayle, in real estate investments. He volunteers in the Holyoke, Mass., Veterans Treatment Court, mentoring veterans involved in the legal system. He returns to campus with Pete Congleton and Andy Parsons ’84 to Homecoming/Parents Weekends.

Miriam Stern Sturgis and Gary Sturgis ’77 announce with great joy the nuptials of daughter Ari to Dan Paulsen in July on the grounds of their beautiful 10-acre home in Essex Junction, Vt. In attendance were their newest grandchild Aiden (son of daughter Talia), and Dan Vogt and Delcy Ziac Fox. Gary Shapiro is now a calculus teacher at the Leon M. Goldstein High School for the Sciences.

Charlie Spiegel received an award in April from ourfamily.org, recognizing his work cofounding that organization for LGBT parents in the Bay Area over 15 years. “I’m still active supporting the organization, and that community, acting as a consensual dispute resolution attorney and mediator for gay and straight relationships from start to finish: prenuptial planning, adoption and surrogacy, and mediated divorce.  I imagine, in common with many classmates, this phase of my professional endeavors has involved moving my working space to the bedroom in my house that my daughter used before college (seeing clients elsewhere). And since others announce their relationships, I’ve been dating a wonderful new man since summer 2016, and we celebrate monthly anniversaries because otherwise we’ll never get to the number of annual anniversaries others celebrate!”

Brenda Zlamany had an art exhibit at the Derfner Judaica Museum, which featured 100 watercolor portraits of the residents of the Hebrew Home at Riverdale, as part of her Itinerant Portraitist project. Previous efforts include 888: Creating a Portrait of Taiwanese Aboriginals, which was funded by a Fulbright Grant. “In each project, I choose a specific demographic and discover something new. With the Tibetan nomads and monks, I was interested in the interior gaze. With 100/100, I am interested in aging: What is important at the end of life? In the face of loss: loss of loved ones, mobility, senses, taste, hearing, sight….  Is there still the possibility of joy? The role of memory. What experiences from the past fuel happiness?”

Paul Harris worked with The Carbon Underground, “a nonprofit focused on reversing climate change through regenerative agriculture. I’m learning about soil carbon sequestration, cover crops and holistic grazing; what it will take to certify food and fiber as regenerative; and what kinds of help farmers will need to transition from conventional to regenerative.  After decades of working on industrial energy plants I’m now visiting grass-fed dairies. My wife and I live in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., and our daughters are well launched, one in San Francisco, finishing med school, the other in Tanzania, working on preventing violent extremism.”

Mark Saba had two books published this summer: Calling the Names (poetry, David Robert Books) and Ghost Tracks: Stories of Pittsburgh Past (short stories, Big Table Publishing). Both available on Amazon.

Peter Gryska reports from Houston: “Flooded as a result of Hurricane Harvey with 14 inches in the house. We will tear down and build a new house five feet higher. The interesting part was finding boxes full of 35-year-old notes from Andy Szegedy-Maszak’s Greek history lectures.”

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

Joanne Godin Audretsch | Berlinjo@aol.com

Jonathan Mink writes from Rochester, N.Y.: “My first class note in many years. I have just returned from giving a couple of lectures in Yangon, Myanmar, at the 16th ASEAN Pediatric Federation Congress. This was the first international pediatrics conference ever held in Myanmar and would have not been possible prior to Myanmar opening up in 2010. I had some concerns about going to Myanmar, and supporting their economy at this time, but the opportunity to advance pediatrics education in a resource-poor country outweighed those concerns. Visiting Yangon was an amazing experience. Interesting history, impressive pagodas, wonderful food, and incredibly friendly people. Professionally, I work at the University of Rochester and love it here. I am president of Child Neurology Society, the primary North American professional organization for child neurology, for the next two years. This gives me an opportunity to be an ambassador for my field, but also to have some influence on public policy regarding care for children with disabilities due to neurologic disease. Janet Cranshaw ’82 and I have been married 32 years. Our daughter, Laura, graduated from college in May, and our son, David, is in his second-ish year of college.”

Scott Hecker writes from San Diego: ”The latest exciting news for me is the FDA approval of Vabomere, a combination antibiotic product for treating those nasty superbugs in hospitals that are constantly in the news. It contains the new beta-lactamase inhibitor “vaborbactam,” a product of an eight-year project to discover and develop a member of a new class of molecules to address a particular type of bacterial resistance. Getting a drug on the market is a dream that is only enjoyed by a small fraction of researchers in pharmaceutical discovery, so this is a big one!”

Melissa Stern writes from India: “I’m visiting an NGO that works with Dalit (untouchable women) to give them access to education and job training. They run boarding schools for orphan girls, training programs in needlework skills ,and university training. Today I met a young woman, a former orphan, found by this group, The Sambhali Trust, and punchline is that on Thursday she starts law school. Pretty mind- blowing. My exhibition, The Talking Cure, opens in St. Louis at The Kranzberg Center for Contemporary Art in January. I will go out there to work with art, theater, and writing students in conjunction with the show. It’ll run for six months. Head’s up St. Louis Wes folks! I am now represented by Garvey Simon, a wonderful gallery in Chelsea, and will be opening a solo show there in 2018. A big year ahead!”

Kim Selby, class secretary, writes from Cape Cod: “Congratulations to Jon, Scott, and Melissa, for their contributions to their fields. It is amazing to hear about the opportunities that 37 years of work can bring. Right now, we are approaching the mid-point between our 35th and 40th class reunions. It is an exciting time of life to connect with classmates. A rewarding and interesting way to connect is to become a class secretary. If anyone of you is interested in engaging classmates as class secretary, let me know.  I am happy to share the joy that comes from this enriching activity.”

KIMBERLY OFRIA SELBY | kim_selby@yahoo.com

Douglas Pavlak: “My EMG laboratory at OA Centers for Orthopaedics in Portland, Maine, has received its accreditation with exemplary status by the American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine. It’s the only lab north of Boston and one of only a few dozen in the country that holds this status. Otherwise, just trying to survive getting three more teenagers through high school and maybe one of them to Wes!?”

Julie Hacker: “My partner and husband, Stuart Cohen, and I were inducted into the Merchandise Mart Hall of Fame. I’m busy taking musical theater classes, still racing triathlons, and a preservation commissioner for the City of Evanston. Our son graduated from RISD and is living in Chicago, working in a gallery, making art, and off to the Vermont Studio Center in December for a residency. If you live in NYC, you can hear him weekly Tuesday mornings on WFMU’s program Wake with Clay Pigeon, titled Gabe Cohen’s Introspective Infrastructure.

Martha Bush: “Speeding up, not slowing down! In addition to SIGMA, starting a stint as board chair of Causewave Community Partners, a nonprofit agency matching local marketing talent with human services agencies or to support critical local issues. Enjoying the blooming of energy, music, food and arts here in Rochester, N.Y., in the beautiful Finger Lakes region.”

John Tjia: “I left Ernst & Young at the end of August, finishing my nearly 12 years there as an executive director in the Business Modeling Group, and amazingly as a retiree. Not quite ready to just sit on the porch, though: I am now with Wall Street Prep, a major player in the financial training space, leading the development of their financial modeling business. In September, I submitted the manuscript for the third edition of my book, Building Financial Models, to McGraw-Hill, to be published in the first quarter of 2018. Not bad for an East Asian Studies major! For the past four years, I’ve been chairman of the board for Subud New York, a nonprofit organization for personal spiritual growth. I had memorable travel this summer: a cruise from Copenhagen that went to the Norway coast, Scotland, England, and back (the fjords were awe-inspiring) and a jaunt to Missouri in August for the total solar eclipse (spectacular).”

Heidi Mastrogiovanni: “My comedic novel, Lala Pettibone’s Act Two, was released by Amberjack Publishing in February.  The sequel, Lala Pettibone: Standing Room Only, will be released by Amberjack in August. The title character is, of course, a Wesleyan graduate. I’m taking part in the Writing While Female 2017 Tour. We’re doing readings and book signings in Los Angeles, Denver, and NYC, and we’re adding dates and locations all the time. My website is frequently updated with new event listings: heidimastrogiovanni.com.”

Michelle Morancie: “For the past 38 years (OMG! It’s been 38 years since we graduated) this somewhat shy alumna hasn’t shared much about my life and times in class notes. However, today I am so excited about the release of my first book, that I had to share with my classmates. Crazymaker: A Psychologist’s Disturbing Encounter with Workplace Abuse is my story about how I coped with being bullied and harassed by a NYC public schools’ principal for five years. It’s scheduled to be released in mid-December.”

I write a lot about my Wesleyan/DKE brothers. That’s because the unconditional friendships and relationships forged while at Wesleyan have stood the test of time. In that vein, we celebrated a momentous milestone—150 years of DKE’s continuous presence on the Wesleyan campus. Over 100 alumni and 35 undergraduates celebrated the sesquicentennial on Saturday, October 7. Once again, the Old Stone House came alive.

From all over the country, some of the strongest alumni this university can boast were there to celebrate and reconnect with friends they hadn’t seen, in some cases, for over 40 years. Many were accompanied by their wives, partners, and significant others. A 65-year span of classes was represented from Jim McLean ’56 and Ted Bachman ’60 to Dylan Niehoff ’15 and Ben Kurtz ’17 to the undergraduate brothers graduating in 2020. Of course, our class was more than well represented by Kevin Bristow, Joe Britton, Peter Campbell, George DuPaul, Tim Fitzgerald, Kenny King ’80, Bob and Carol (Horowitz) Murphy, yours truly Gary Breitbord, and all the way from Nebraska—Michael J. Scacca.

Unlike Reunion years, there were attendees from surrounding classes including 1978—Bill Ahern, Jeff Nesson, Ralph Rotman, Paul Nelson; 1977—Ted Stevens, Jeff Gray, Bob Nastri, Tom Roberts, the ever-eloquent master of ceremonies Dave Thomas, Mike Coffey, Don Citak, and Steve Beauchamp; 1981—Lou Scimecca, Tim O’Brien, Pete Pezzelli, Sandy Herzlich, and Jim Baker.

As the evening entered the wee hours of the morning, a familiar sound was heard. Pat McQuillan ’75 playing his guitar, Dave Terrie ’76 accompanying him on the harmonica with a cast of characters including Jim “Fats” Farrell ’74, Jim “Jumbo” Daley ’75, Dave Harrison ’75, and Pete McArdle ’76, all singing Grateful Dead songs. Quintessential 1970s Wesleyan relived.  Scott Karsten ’73 put it best: “Here’s to lifelong brotherhood!” A raucous good time was had by all. A truly soul-enriching event.

Gary Breitbord | gbreitbo@aol.com

Ann Biester Deane | abdeane@aol.com

Hello, classmates. In case you haven’t heard, we have a big reunion coming up next year! Please mark May 25-26, 2018 on your calendars and plan to be in Middletown to celebrate our 40th Reunion. I know what you’re thinking…How could it be our 40th?! Seems like graduation, or at least our 10th or 25th was only yesterday. No matter the year, we’re still going strong and looking forward so let’s make it the best reunion weekend ever! Also, let’s beat the 40th Reunion attendance record set by Class of ’77. We need at least 107 attendees. Hope you’ll be one of them!

In the meantime, please send us your news. The next issue would be the perfect time to tell fellow classmates your news and plans to attend reunion.

Onto the News: Lisa Alter made Variety’s inaugural “NY Dealmakers Elite” list which honors “power players” having a significant impact on Broadway, advertising, and the music business. Lisa is a partner at Alter Kendrick & Baron LLP in NYC and practices primarily in the area of copyright law, with a focus on domestic and international music copyright issues. She counsels composers, authors, musical estates, music publishers, and equity investors on a wide range of copyright and transactional matters, including music publishing, acquisitions, selling and administering copyright catalogues, and recapture of copyrights, among others. Lisa is the author of Protecting Your Musical Copyrights, which is now available in its third edition, and the recent Forbes article “Concord Bicycle Music Buys Imagem Music Group Heralding a Golden Age of Music Publishing.”

Jon Spector and wife, Wendy, enjoy life in Vermont. He commutes to The Conference Board in New York. “Wendy chairs our local arts organization and will be ski ambassador at Killington. My major accomplishment was participating in a one-hour art class and painting an image of a boat dock on a lake bordered by mountains—which according to several observers almost resembles a boat dock on a lake bordered by mountains. I feel a second career beckons.”

Rachael Pine has an empty nest in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with one daughter at Oberlin, and the second having graduated and now working as the food program coordinator at Oberlin Community Services. Her husband is general counsel of the Legal Aid Society and she works at a private foundation managing grantmaking related to health/healthcare and immigrant communities.

Bill Adler, our expat living and writing in Japan, says, “My cat, however, is indifferent to the view and thinks that the dim LED power lights that proliferate the apartment are a signal from the moon to make as much noise as possible at 3 a.m.”

Nancy Grossman sent her only child, Daniel, off to UMass Amherst with a “tentative” major of mechanical engineering. She says, “I am finding the empty nest so much easier to take when the boy is only four miles away!” Nancy practices acupuncture and publishes the occasional op-ed.

After 30 years of pastorate in the Atlanta area, Ken Samuel has been awarded a Lilly grant for a sabbatical. Among other things, he’ll be spending a month in the Philippines teaching at Silliman University.

 Gary Friedmann chairs the citizen grass-roots organization, A Climate to Thrive, which has the goal of making Mount Desert Island, Maine, energy independent by 2030. Their Solarize MDI initiative doubled the Island’s solar-generated power in 2017, and they aim to continue that trend, along with weatherization, local foods, recycling, electric vehicle, and student internship initiatives in the coming year.

Stefan Watson is the owner of Watson Custom Builders. He and wife Eileen Devereux ’76 have been rebuilding homes in downtown Albuquerque for 40-plus years. He writes, “All of our projects seem to take 10 to 12 years to complete—most recently a complete renovation of 8th and Mountain Road in downtown Albuquerque. We had acquired four corners 14 years ago thinking how nice it would be to own an intersection with six houses and an old gas station, now coffee shop.” Stefan completed a new floor design with artist Richard Tuttle for a Zahad Hadid Design home in Miami for real estate developer Craig Robbins. They’re working on a series of tile tables to be in Richard Tuttle’s gallery show later in the year.

David Rosenthal serves as co-head of the Global Capital Markets practice at Dechert LLP. He writes, “I’m very proud of my son, James ’08, who is following in my footsteps as a mid-level transactional associate at Willkie Farr & Gallagher in NYC, and my daughter, Elise ’11, who is following in her grandfather’s footsteps (inorganic chemistry freshman year ended any aspirations to become a doctor that I might have had) and is a first-year resident in ob-gyn at Montefiore in the Bronx.”

After many years at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Bob Kalb moved to Chicago to be the director of the Les Turner ALS Research and Patient Center at Northwestern Medicine and chief of Neuromuscular Medicine in the Ken & Ruth Davee Department of Neurology. He writes, “This promises to be a marvelous opportunity to both enhance the basic research in my lab and to foster translational medicine.”

Susie Muirhead Bates | sbatesdux@hotmail.com 

Ken Kramer | kmkramer78@hotmail.com

Who would have imagined that at the tender age of 62, attendance at so many weddings would become such a big part of my free time? The combination of folks’ second or third marriages and children of friends or relatives marrying means that there is a steady flow of celebration and travel. Not that I’m knocking it in the least! At a time when there is a lot to be concerned or saddened by, having occasions to be in the presence of others to have fun and to share in the love is something I cherish.

September took me to two great destination weddings: Squaw Valley, Calif., and Jackson Hole, Wyo. In California, I was honored to officiate at the wedding of my nephew, Michael Frank ’08. As necessitated by the Golden State, I became an ordained minister in order to perform my duties. There was a wonderful turnout of Wesleyan graduates, with a photo taken at mountain top. At the end of the month I made my way to Wyoming for the wedding of my godson, Desmond Jennings, the son of Iddy Olson. Both events were in spectacular surroundings and had lots of emotion packed in to full weekends of activities: dancing, eating, hiking, not necessarily in that order. One leaves these weekends with a great sense of fulfillment at participating in such crucial turning points in people’s lives. On a personal note, a shocking turning point for me is that my architecture firm is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, which seems totally impossible to me. As I have described so often, it is the people (staff, clients, and consultants) who have made the ride so worthwhile.

On to the news from those who responded to my request for news:

Will Sillin wrote in that Chester “Chet” Arnold (director, UConn Center for Land Use Education and Research) introduced his artwork to the Benton Museum at UConn. The result is that two of his paintings are included in their current show about water, Unfiltered. Will is justifiably thrilled that his work is hanging with numerous outstanding contemporary artists as well as masters from the 20th century who are represented in their permanent collection.

First time contributor Robin Cleveland writes: “Having spent a long career in Washington, 16 years on the Hill with McConnell in many roles, then the White House and World Bank, I began a degree in school counseling, which led to my being a doc student in counseling at 62.” Robin loves teaching at GW: “When all was said and done the truly great story is not the headlines you get to write but the lifelines you weave.” Finding her way back to very good people like Seta Nazarian ’79, Virginia Torczon ’78, Chris Harned ’89, and Rich Middlebrooks, Robin welcomes all to reconnect.

Hank Rosenfeld ran into Joan Goldfeder at the downtown LA public library on a Lenny Bruce panel. Joan was much missed at our May Reunion.

Continuing on the wedding theme, Jay Kilbourn writes that his Wesleyan daughter was married this summer, and she lives happily in Portland, Ore., practicing permaculture. Jay is a volunteer lobbyist at the nonpartisan Citizens Climate Lobby, doing his best to mitigate climate change and pass a bill in Congress to implement a carbon fee and dividend.

Jim Lyons wrote to express how happy he was to have attended our May Reunion. Back in Germany, he hit the road running with two productions planned for the fall at a theater near Stuttgart: a musical revue premiered in September and a second show on the story of Elvis’ 1968 comeback special to premier soon.

Jane Goldenring came back East for—what else?—a family wedding in the Hudson Valley region. Jane caught up with new grandmother Sharon Adler, as well as Jane Eisner and Mark Berger while in New York.

Michael Foxall is an elementary school principal in Fairlee, Vt. His wife and family enjoyed 20 years of overseas international school service, both as teachers and administrators, before returning to home in Canaan, N.H.

Bob Rees caught up with Marcy Neuburg in the Twin Cities while she was visiting her son and granddaughter. Marcy is off sailing somewhere between the North and South Poles. Bob is collecting poems from Earl Phillips and Lee Arnold in hopes of getting them published in Minneapolis.

Tom Roberts and Vanessa Burgess each wrote in to say what a great time they each had at our Reunion, echoing a sentiment expressed by many.

I wish all a happy and safe season leading up to the end-of-the-year holidays!

Gerry Frank | Gfrank@bfearc.com

For this issue, I asked about retirement plans and got varied and often non-committal answers. To vary the line-up, the last shall be first.

Tom Kovar went to Professor Dick Winslow ’40’s funeral in Antrim, N.H. Dick, 99, was a mentor of Tom’s in the music department. Afterwards, Tom had dinner with Pam Swing ’75, Win Lockwood ’78, and others.

Cheryl Alpert is a real estate agent in the Boston area. Her son, Eben, is enjoying his work at PWC and her son, Chason, just started at Booz Allen.

Carol Bellhouse published two books and produced two films this summer. Burnt Orange is about three women at the end of the world. The second film is a pilot for an adventure race series; the first episode is about racing burros.

Carol Berger has retired from her career as a school psychologist. She and husband Ron live in Longmeadow, Mass., and have two married sons and three granddaughters. Carol stays in touch with Linda Borreson and Sue Feinstein Barry and hopes to get together with Nancy Cornwell Goeden.

Ethan Bronner, who writes on politics for Bloomberg, is investigating President Trump and Kushner business practices and keeping an eye on the federal probe into possible collusion with the Russians. Son Eli ’10 is the president of a startup called Careerlist, which links young marketing professionals with big companies.

Joe Carcillo is a pediatric intensive care physician in a children’s hospital at the University of Pittsburgh. His daughter is in her first year at Michigan and Joe is coaching the local girls’ Catholic high school rowing team.

Jon Cleworth enjoys being an uncle to one nephew and five nieces. He reports that Jimmy Joy MALS ’72, former crew coach at Wes, received an award this November at the New York Athletic Club for his outstanding career as an oarsman and his contributions to American rowing.

Ron Epstein’s book, Attending: Medicine, Mindfulness, and Humanity, is doing well and he has been traveling to talk about how doctors can practice more mindfully and achieve shared understanding with their patients.

Jeff Frank recalled his Wesleyan experience as encouraging free expression, tolerance of different opinions, and learning to persuade those with different outlooks to your point of view. Remarking on the news about universities shutting down what is labeled by the opposition as “hate speech,” Jeff hopes that the free discussion of ideas remains a part of the Wesleyan experience.

Karen Gervasoni’s daughter Lia is a high school junior and is dabbling in media studies. Son Cole is playing on his high school basketball team.

After transferring to and graduating from Wesleyan, Jamie Beck Gordon worked for Ed Koch and obtained a degree in international relations from Columbia. She volunteers for various charities and is on the board of The Neuberger Museum at SUNY Purchase. Married in 1985, Jamie has a son, 30, and a daughter, 27.

Joellyn Gray is on the board of the CTA Foundation, an offshoot of the Consumer Technology Association, the group that hosts CES, the world’s largest trade show for technology.

Oliver Griffith is working for an infrastructure fund in Africa and living in Paris.

Steve Gross and wife Meiyan are retired, she from the Sunnyvale School District and he from SanDisk. They renovated their home in Cupertino, Calif. Daughter Alexa attends Wellesley College. While visiting her, Steve stayed with Tim Hill ’75 and Jan Schwaner-Hill ’75, and caught up with Norbert Kremer in Boston.

Byron Haskins, recently retired from federal service, volunteers as a MoveOn Summer Resistance Mobilizer, focusing on preventing the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Grandson Zayer was born in August. Byron traveled enough to visit all six grandchildren within 30 days, including trips to Montreal and NYC.

Alan Haus and family vacationed in New Orleans, the Caribbean, and Mexico. While traveling, there were four actual or potential hurricanes in the region and a major earthquake in Mexico. Alan’s family lucked out and had perfect weather.

Maggie Heffernan reports that David Low moved to Manhattan and now lives in the same co-op as she does. They run into each other often and are both big Yankee fans.

Libby Horn is working as a FNP at a family practice, sings in two choruses and church choir, and volunteers at a hospice and a school-age reading program.

Jim Johnson brought the concept of “Ciclovia” to his hometown with the Chattanooga City Celebration closing down more than six miles of city streets to motorized traffic and connecting festivals in six neighborhoods for cyclists and pedestrians.

Michael Kennedy-Scanlon and his wife live in Barcelona and experience first-hand the Catalan independence movement, which he describes as highly emotional and intolerant.

Andrew McCulloch retired as president/CEO of Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Health Plan of the Northwest. After 10-plus years in this role, his organization was ranked as the highest quality, best service, and most affordable entity in the Pacific Northwest.

Jack O’Donnell had his first grandchild and traveled to London to meet him. Son Sam ’01 lives in London and Jack figures he will be making many trips there to make sure the little guy can play baseball. Jack’s daughter, Margaret ’19, is studying abroad in Buenos Aires, Hanoi, and Cape Town.

My oldest daughter, Samantha, is engaged and making plans to get married next year. Daughter Michelle is gainfully employed. And daughter Lindsey is studying Russian in Kazakhstan. I had a busy year, traveled around India in February, flew in a two-seat WWII fighter in June, and spent Labor Day weekend with Nancy in Asheville, N.C., with friends.

Mitchell Marinello | mlmarinello@comcast.net

Ellen Remmer’s son got married in Maine, and her husband retired. She has trouble contemplating retirement, but foresees winter travels to escape New England. Ellen recently saw Nena Bloomquist.

J.D. Moore had one amazing WesWeek. Thursday: reminisced and caught up with Tim Donahue ’74 during a mediation break. By next June, Tim will have celebrated his three children’s weddings within one calendar year! Saturday: met Dave Rosenthal and his wife Suzie (visiting from Buffalo) and sister Diane Thomas ’78, for coffee. Saturday: dinner with local friends Roberto Rosario ’77 and family.

Debbie Kosich was home in Houston during Hurricane Harvey. Fortunately her part of town (and her condo) didn’t flood. She thanks Wes friends who contacted her during and after the storm, and hopes that Florida classmates are okay.

Cathy Gorlin’s son, Ross, is engaged. Cathy reconnected with Tory (Rhoden) Cohen, a Smith exchange student who shared their Lawn Ave. house and is now a Boston dentist with two children.

Jeff Morgan divides his time between Berkeley and Tel Aviv. He and wife Jodie run Covenant Winery (founded in 2003) and started Covenant Israel Winemaking last year. Their daughters also work in wine—Skye in New York, and Zoe in Tel Aviv. Jeff and Jodie published their 10th cookbook last year—The Covenant Kitchen, Food and Wine for the New Jewish Table.

Diane Cornell ran out of excuses for not sending news after retiring from the FCC Chairman’s office at the end of 2016. On her “way out the door,” the Federal Communications Bar Association honored her with the Excellence in Government Service award.

In 1996, after four years in New Zealand, Nancy Luberoff settled in Chapel Hill. “My husband, Bruce Boehm, and I are lucky that our two kids live here. Our married daughter, Elana, lives in Cambridge.” Nancy has swum daily since Wesleyan, and also hikes and kayaks. “I haven’t written books or movie scripts, won huge awards or big races, but I live a good, healthy, happy life, giving and getting much love from family and friends.”

This September, after a week teaching in the Trial Advocacy Workshop at Harvard Law, June Jeffries visited Exeter, N.H., where she dined with Robert “Bobby” Thompson ’76, and his wife, Nadine. June highly recommends exploring the Black Heritage Trail in Portsmouth, N.H., which Bobby assisted in developing.

Dennis Chin contributed for the first time: “After graduating early, I went to D.C. to work on the Council on Wage and Price Stability with Harold Levy. I subsequently became an orthopedic surgeon at Kaiser Permanente in Northern California. Nine children and 31 years later, I retired from Kaiser and began part-time work at a V.A. hospital. I have since been commissioned a lieutenant commander in the Navy Reserves. My job, the kids, and two granddaughters keep me busy.”

Ed Van Voorhees says too many people are moving to Nashville. He and his wife, Linda, work part-time, and he staffs the nonprofit Bootstraps Foundation (bootstraps.org), scholarship program. Ed and Linda have granddaughters in Denver and L.A., plus three more due this year in L.A., D.C., and Nashville.

Double delightful news: Ellen Kabcenell Wayne and Charley Wayne ’73 are first-time grandparents of identical twins, Vivian and Hazel, born September 26, 2017.  The parents are Joseph ’08 and Hannah Wayne. Ellen says, “Charley is completely starry-eyed, and, after raising three sons, we deserve the girls!”

Paul Bennett enjoys more time, less stress, and a varied set of volunteer activities since retiring. His and Laura’s two sons, ages 28 and 26, are single in Brooklyn and Detroit, a distance that he hopes won’t be permanent.

Steve Hoffman is chairman of the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission, responsible for implementing the state’s legalization of recreational marijuana use. “We will foster a new industry that will create jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities. By late 2018, we will be responsible for regulating medical marijuana, currently under the Department of Public Health.” Steve’s looking for folks to join his team and would welcome Wes alumni.

Roger Weisberg and Karen Freedman are thrilled to have their entire clan back in NYC. Son Daniel, a doctor, is returning in time to take care of his parents if they need it. Daughter Liza, a lawyer, will work for the ACLU. Eldest daughter, Allie ’05 has two kids and leads Recess, her decade-old nonprofit arts organization. Roger is producing his 33rd PBS documentary, about early childhood adversity and resilience. Karen runs Lawyers for Children, which she founded almost four decades ago.

All is well in San Francisco. Our daughter, Julia, 23, graduated from Stanford and is continuing for her master’s there. Our son, Ethan, 21, is a third-year mechanical engineering student at Northeastern. No retirement for me yet!

For a collection of class updates that didn’t make it in this issue or the last one, click here.

Cynthia M. Ulman | cmu.home@cmugroup.com
860 Marin Drive, Mill Valley, CA 94941-3955

NEWSMAKERS | 1970s NEWSMAKER CHARISSE R. LILLIE ’74 Charisse R. Lillie ’74, businesswoman, attorney, and lecturer, received the A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. [Hon. ’96] Lifetime Achievement Award during the 29th Annual Pennsylvania Bar Association Minority Attorney Conference in October. The award recognizes the accomplishments of a lawyer or judge who has demonstrated dedication to the legal profession and the minority community through civil, community, or legal service. Lillie is the CEO of CRL Consulting. Previously, she was affiliated with Comcast Corporation, where she served as a senior vice president of human resources, among other executive positions. Earlier in her career, she was a trial attorney with U.S. Department of Justice in the Civil Rights Division. A history major at Wesleyan, Lillie earned a master’s from Yale University and a doctorate from Temple University. Wesleyan named her a Distinguished Alumna in 1993.

Jai Imbrey writes, “My Oberlin daughter Genevieve is marrying a Wesleyan lad, Jack Scott ’06, so all is well in the universe. I have completed a book on mosques published by Rizzoli, the first in 30 years to cover mosques worldwide with new photography and a chapter on Russian sanctuaries. The name of the book is Mosques: Splendors of.”

Jai’s husband, Bob, having weathered two hurricanes back-to-back at their home on St. Thomas, is now working to restore power and drinking water to the island at large.

Bruce Duncan reports, “By the skin of my teeth I was promoted to professor of physics at Fitchburg State University, effective this current term. Now I need to determine how to survive in retirement, which may come in a summer or two.”

Todd W. Grant and his wife traveled down the Oregon coast in May. They had perfect weather and beautiful scenery. In August, Todd and one of their sons backpacked for a week in the Wind River Range in Wyoming. The scenery was spectacular. Todd comments, “I feel fortunate to still be able to do these things.”

Lloyd Komesar enthusiastically reports, “The 3rd Annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival was a rousing success, made all the more so by the fabulous Wes folks who attended: Rose Komesar ’07 (and Maureen Carn P’07), Bill Pearson ‘74 (and Jane Pearson), Jay Craven P’04, Wendy Starr ‘74 (and Jeff Kessler), Debra Salowitz ’74 and Neil Salowitz ’73, Carolyn White-Lesieur ’74 (and Jean Lesieur), Claudia Catania ‘74 and John Cady ’71, Lyn Lauffer ’74, Elizabeth Lauffer ’07 (and Ferdinand Lauffer), Seth Davis ’72 and Elisa Davis ’76, Todd Jick ’71 (and Wendy Jick), Bob Kesner ’67 (and Andrea Torello), Steve Goldschmidt ’72 (and Stacy Sussman), Michael Arkin ’72 (and Morag Hahn), Mike McKenna ’73 (and Lynn McKenna), Joan Gamble ’80 (and Chip Paison), Sivan Cotel ’05 (great party at Stonecutter Spirits!), Dookie Bennett ’03, Maggie Masselli ’16 and Pierre Plantevin ’16, Adam Mirkine ’17 (and Ilene and Andre Mirkine), Sofi Taylor ’17, Maya Stevens ’17, Connie Des Marais ’17 (and Jim and Lyn Des Marais) and Paul DiSanto ’81.

“We are reaching true critical mass for Wes in Middlebury! Thanks to all of you for making the trip and here’s to seeing more of Wes at MNFF4, August 23-26, 2018. Mark your calendars!”

Not much news this issue. Please consider contributing to the next request.

Sharon Purdie | spurdie@wesleyan.edu

NEWSMAKERS | 1970s NEWSMAKER JOHN HUTTLINGER JR. ’73 John Huttlinger Jr. ’73, CPA, was the 2017 recipient of the 14th annual Michael H. Urbach, CPA Community Builders Award by the New York Council of Nonprofits, Inc. The award recognizes exemplary achievements of a certified public accountant who serves in leadership positions on charitable organizations’ boards of directors. Martha Spear of the Rotary Club of Lake Placid, who nominated Huttlinger, stated he “is the finest CPA-volunteer I have ever worked beside in my nearly 30 years of nonprofit employment and leadership.” Huttlinger serves as a board member for several community organizations including the Adirondack Film Society and the Rotary Club of Lake Placid. An economics major at Wesleyan, Huttlinger earned an MBA from Rutgers University.

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