CLASS OF 1972 | 2017 | ISSUE 3

Let’s start with in-person encounters with classmates. In July, I traveled to Santa Fe for a conference, and had lunch with Bruce Throne and Larry Weinberg. Both of them find living there to be close to idyllic. Larry retired from an active GI practice, but is consulting with the University of New Mexico family practice residency program in Santa Fe. His daughter, Leah ’08, and her husband, Scott Horowitz ’07, have teaching jobs at the University of Denver—in musicology and chemistry and biochemistry respectively, so Larry expects to spend more time in that other Mile High City in the future.

I attended Lloyd Komesar ’74’s Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival, which was, if anything, more fun than last year. Steve Goldschmidt had attended all three festivals, and this year he managed to get co-worker Mike Arkin to come, too. Many, many attendees from other classes, particular ’74. Any Wes grads in the Northeast in late August should consider going. There really is not any way to have more fun. (And wait until you see the alumni reception they throw—THANK YOU, Paul DiSanto ’81, et al!)

Jane Kent Gionfriddo and her husband, Michael ’73, had their 40th wedding anniversary last summer! They moved to Middletown from Cambridge, Mass., to the house in which Michael grew up. Jane taught for 34 years at Boston College Law School and, with a co-author, published a first-year law student textbook, Legal Reasoning and Objective Writing: A Comprehensive Approach (Wolters Kluwer, 2016). In December, she retired from BCLS as a professor emerita. Their daughter, Catherine Gionfriddo ’03, was a film major and now is a freelance editor in NYC (catherinegionfriddo.com).

This, verbatim, from Steve Alpert: “Greetings from my Adlerhorst in Amsterdam. Aside from good earthy living in British Columbia, Reimar Schefold and I have just completed another book. The last one, Eyes of the Ancestors, was an award-winning book that Sir David Attenborough called the best book ever written on Indonesian art. The latest, Toys for the Souls, chronicles my friend’s remarkable journey and 50 years of study among the Sakuddei tribe of Siberut in the Mentawai Islands off the coast of West Sumatra. It is also a catalogue raisonné of their remarkable arts. Never a dull moment, I am working on another book dealing with artistic masterpieces from different Dayak tribes in Borneo. Anyone out there who is interested in the gamelan orchestra or Indonesian culture, please contact me. We are trying to bring the Sultan of Yogyakarta to Wes Tech.”

Dave Hagerty started his own business, Berkshire Leadership Partners in 2016, specializing in executive coaching and leadership development. He coaches in the Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program. Dave and his wife moved to their second home of some 23 years in Great Barrington, Mass., in the Berkshires. They have four grandchildren ranging in ages from 6 to 9.

Ron Ashkenas’ tribe continue to increase.  He added three new grandchildren (one set of twins) and a new son-in-law to the family in the past year. The wedding (the last, he says) took place on the beach in Crete on July 4. “Our daughter and her now-husband live in Australia, and this was a relatively central location.” On the work front, Ron is retired from his firm, but still very busy with both paid and pro bono consulting.  He is writing a handbook on leadership for the Harvard Business Review—for which he interviewed Michael Roth ’78, who provided some wonderful insights.

Steve Berman spent five days with Randy Mastrangelo ’73 and his family, including Alexandra ’98. Tropical Storm Jose hung out the whole time Steve was there, depriving him of the sunshine to which he has become accustomed, and keeping Jim Shepherd was marooned on Martha’s Vineyard. But Mike Kaloyanides and wife Sheila did make it up. Mike provided the music for the processional and recessional at Randy’s wedding in 1972, and they hadn’t seen each other since then! Both agreed it was like they had seen each other yesterday.

Finally, I am saddened to report the passing of Andy Thomas. Andy graduated from the University of Idaho, College of Law, and spent his entire career with Idaho Legal Aid Services, providing free legal services to low-income people in housing, family, public benefits, and senior law cases. Andy appeared before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and the Idaho Supreme Court.   He served in many community organizations, including the Idaho Region III Mental Health Advisory Board, the Idaho Housing Coalition, the Intermountain Fair Housing Council, and the Idaho Homeless Coalition. He served as president of the Third District Bar Association and was held in high esteem by his fellow attorneys in the Third District.  Andy was a mentor and great friend to his colleagues at Idaho Legal Aid, both in Caldwell and throughout ILAS, which has seven offices across the state. In some respects, Idaho Legal Aid was Andy’s family, and his colleagues loved him dearly and will miss him immensely.

Seth A. Davis | sethdavis@post.harvard.edu
213 Copper Square Drive, Bethel, CT 06801

CLASS OF 1972 | 2017 | ISSUE 2

Our 45th Reunion is now history, and those who attended will concur that it was great fun. The campus was beautiful, and it was great to see old friends, even if we all seem to be getting older and kvetchier. Considering the alternative, that’s not such a bad thing. So here are my random recollections, with apologies in advance to any attendees I may have omitted.

I arrived at Wesleyan on Friday, and camped out by registration to see who was checking in. Thus, I got some time with Jim Shepherd, Steve Goldschmidt, Steve Lewis, Dennis Kesden, Mike Busman, Bruce Throne, and others. At our class welcoming reception at the Stew Reid House we had our only weekend visits with some true notables—Wesleyan President Emeritus Colin Hon.’89 and Nancy Campbell MALS’80 (who have nothing but wonderful memories of us—or so they say), and Chip Goodrich.

Friday dinner was an extraordinary event, thanks to the labors of Andy Feinstein.  We took over O’Rourke’s Diner for the occasion, and Brian O’Rourke prepared an elaborate tasting menu for us. Only one dish vaguely resembled a steamed cheeseburger, and the “BYOB” policy led to some fine pairings. My table sipped a marvelous Walt Wines pinot noir, and there were various other wines and single malt scotches passed around. Leon Vinci presented Brian with a copy of Brian’s cookbook, autographed by us.

So it’s fitting to mention two who were unfortunately NOT in attendance. Mike Carlson, 45 minutes before his cab was due to arrive to take him to the airport in London, realized that he had forgotten to renew his passport. (Further comment from me would be superfluous—not that it has stopped me in the past.) Hank Shelton’s plane (after his original flight was cancelled) hit a bird one hour out of Memphis, whereupon that flight, too, was cancelled, thereby making it impossible for Hank to get to Wes in time. We truly missed them.

Most of us managed to be there for the alumni parade, noting that we are getting that much closer to the front. There followed an afternoon of hanging around on Foss Hill and attending seminars and film presentations. Our class seminar, entitled “Sustainability, Climate Change, and Energy in an Era of Alternative Facts” (title credit to Bruce Throne) featured Bruce Throne, Bonnie Blair, Stew Reid, and yours truly. We all laid out a mixed message of innovation vying with aggressive administration retrogression. What can we do about this, many asked, and the best response was that individual and grassroots actions still count for a great deal. Thanks, I guess, to Peter Hicks for posing a question about the ban of fracking in New York State, my honest answer to which earned me the opprobrium of most of the crowd. And the record will show that Stew was the only one of us explicitly to call for removal of the president.

From there to our class dinner, which was a raging success, thanks to the efforts of Mike Kaloyanides, Blake Allison, Steve Blum, and Mike Kishbauch, a.k.a. Blackwall Hitch, who performed the 19 top songs of our college years, from “Time Has Come Today” to “Honky Tonk Women.” Word got around campus that the ’72 party was the place to be, and by evening’s end we had quite a crowd. We cannot thank the four of them enough for their efforts—they were fabulous, and we’ll all have wonderful memories of their performance for a long time.

Bonnie Blair was an admirable MC. And thanks to those who joined with me in expressing brief tributes to recently departed classmates. Some found it mawkish, but it’s important. Thanks to Steve Goldschmidt, Blake Allison, Rich Easton, Bob White, Steve Berman, and Marjorie Melnick.

Richard Kolotkin filled me in on the past 45 years, although he was not able to come for Reunion. He got his PhD in psychology from the University of Minnesota, and spent the bulk of his career at Moorhead, both teaching at Minnesota State University and in the private practice of psychology.

He wrote, “Over the years, I have published a marriage self-help book and a number of research-based articles. One of these was a study that compared relationship satisfaction as it emerged in committed relationships in real life to the satisfaction experienced in online amorous relationships between two “committed” avatars on a massive online game called Second Life. This generated a bit of a buzz when the data showed that significantly more women were more satisfied with their virtual lover than they were with the man with whom they had a committed, real life relationship.”

Now fully retired, Rich and Deidre, his wife of almost 40 years, plan to reinvent themselves “in a warmer part of the world in new ways that nurture both spirit and soul.”

Next Reunion is our 50th. Be there. Renew your passports now. No excuses will be accepted. For those of you who keep saying you’ll be there “next time,” this is it.

Seth A. Davis | sethdavis@post.harvard.edu
213 Copper Square Drive, Bethel, CT 06801

CLASS OF 1972 | 2016 | ISSUE 3

NEWSMAKER

SETH DAVIS ’72

Seth Davis ’72 is chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources Law (SEER), the premier forum for strategies and information for environmental, energy, and resource lawyers. “To be entrusted with the leadership of SEER is truly a high honor,” said Davis. He has practiced law for more than 40 years, specializing in environmental law since 1980. He continues to practice at The Elias Group, the Rye-based environmental law firm, where he has been since 2004. An adjunct professor in Pace Law School’s environmental program, he also lectures frequently on environmental subjects. A College of Letters major at Wesleyan, he earned his JD from Harvard Law School.

Elisa ’76 and I had an absolutely marvelous time at Lloyd Komesar ’74’s Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival. Lloyd has done a spectacular job putting this festival together, and it’s hard to imagine anything more enjoyable than spending three-and-a-half days in Vermont in August, watching an array of new films, not to mention a few classics. Next year’s dates are Aug. 24 through 27, and we are definitely going back.

There was a huge Wesleyan contingent there, and Paul DiSanto ’81 even came up to run an alumni event at Middlebury’s Stonecutter Spirits, run by Sivan Cotel ’05, whose product line is most highly recommended. At the risk of offending those I fail to mention, attendees included Steve Goldschmidt, Todd Jick ’71, Neil Salowitz ’73, Mike McKenna ’73, Bill Pearson ’74, Debra Storey ’74, Lyn Thurber Lauffer ’74, and David Weinstock ’75. We were thrilled to meet Juliet Werner ’03, whose documentary, The Laughter Life, was one of the featured showings. (It’s about an SNL-like comedy troupe on the Mormon cable network!)

By my count, we saw films at 10 of the 11 screening times, seeing as many features and even more shorts, and even then we saw maybe 30 percent of what was shown. Nice going, Lloyd! We will definitely be back!

Larry Weinberg got a break from tending to “various GI complaints” (his patients’—not his) to visit his daughter, Leah ’08, in Ann Arbor, where she just received her PhD in musicology, writing her dissertation on Einstein on the Beach. He then hit Boston for his 40th med school reunion, and to New York to see Hamilton.

Mike Carlson and Bob White both had some humorous recollections in connection with Coach Bill MacDermott’s passing. Mike’s was on Facebook, but here is some of what the Whizzer had to say: “There is no doubt that Mac was important in my Wesleyan-experience. It was Mac who dubbed me ’The Whizzer.’ The Whizzer became who I was at Wesleyan around the time of the Dartmouth match in February of our freshman year. As a wrestler, the whizzer series was a favorite of mine and I remember teammate Lou DiFazio from the sidelines, loudly shouting when I was on the mat, “The whip, Whizzer. The whip.” At that Dartmouth match, during the warm-ups, I had a towel on my head, draping it, in part, over my face in the style of Sonny Liston. When Mac noticed me on the mat, he did a double take and held out his hands as if feeling for rain. He asked me, ’Hey Whizzer, where’s the rain?’

“Mac made a major contribution to my wrestling education. I still use the Wesleyan Wrestling Manual that Mac gave the team our sophomore year. When I was in medical school, I was a journeyman wrestler, practicing at high schools in the Newark metropolitan area. I used this manual to help the novice athletes develop their skills. The same February that I became the Whizzer, Mac supported my interest in freestyle wrestling by giving me a chart that was illustrated with a collection of freestyle and Greco-Roman techniques on it. I used it for 10 years after Wesleyan to teach myself to survive in my adventures on the freestyle wrestling circuit in New Jersey.

“I know I astounded some of our classmates at our last Reunion when I told them that the Williams wrestling meet was on the same day as the Fisk Hall Takeover. Why would I remember that? Obviously, that was weighing heavy on my mind that day I went to have a conversation with Mac about the impending event on Feb. 21, but I was detoured from that discussion and became the Whizzer.”

Bruce Hearey might by now have returned to Earth following the Cleveland Cavaliers’ championship season, but he was still floating above us when he sent me some news over the summer. “I drove to Maine with my son, Owen. Owen graduated from UCLA this past June with his hard-earned PhD in economics and starts a new job in LA this September with the Analysis Group. He also visited Iceland in June with his brother, Leif Dormsjo ’97. Leif and his wife, Kristin Barcak, live in D.C., where Leif is a director of transportation.

“Anyway, back to Maine. On the way we stopped and had lunch with Steve Ingraham ’70 in Rochester. Steve is retired from law now, but is still perhaps the most wonderful person in the world, staying busy doing volunteer work with Nepali refugees. Owen and I went on to New Hampshire where we did an overnight climb to the summit of Mount Pierce in the Presidentials. It seemed a whole lot easier for Owen than it did for me. In Maine, Owen and I visited Acadia and Bar Harbor, but mostly went to Rob Brewster’s daughter’s wedding in lovely Franklin. Emily was marrying a nice Irish fellow, David Varley, and it was a special gathering. Presided over by Elliot Daum ’70, a judge in Santa Rosa, Calif., the wedding also featured Al Wallace ’70 and wife, Barb, Rob’s sister, Tish ’77, and some teary fatherly sentiments from the bride’s proud dad. A lot of Eclectic spirit to be sure, in a lush setting looking out over a salt marsh. Rob is planning to retire from his longtime post as executive director of Riverdale Mental Health, and still do some private practice work. Though he and I don’t see each other for long periods of time, it never seems to matter.

“Here in Cleveland, we bask in the glow of a championship, and a successful convention, and await the Indians’ triumphant return to the World Series.”

Last, some personal news. In August I became chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Environmental, Energy, and Resources Law. This section has been the intellectual center of my legal practice for more than 35 years, and it is a great honor to be entrusted with its care for the next year. I am already amazingly busy with chairmanly activities, and we’ve got a very full year planned with events in many parts of the country. I hope to see Wesleyan folks at many of them. I was pleased to be able to include some sterling alums in my several dozen chair appointments: Earl Phillips ’77, Jason Gellman ’93, and Colin Van Dyke ’99. And—subsequent to the original writing of this column—I presided over SEER’s Fall Conference in Denver, where Governor John Hickenlooper ’74 was the keynote speaker.

SETH A. DAVIS | sethdavis@post.harvard.edu
213 Copper Square Drive, Bethel, CT 06801

 

CLASS OF 1972 | 2016 | ISSUE 2

As I cleaned out my basement while moving out of the Davis homestead, I preserved a few items of particular personal interest. One of these items was our freshman facebook. I have it in my office now, and as I look at it periodically I am struck, not just by the array of earnest young (and clean-shaven!) faces, but by the extraordinary collection of young men with whom I was privileged to begin college in the fall of 1968. Not to slight the wonderful women who joined us later, but it truly was an honor to be one of those 331 men, and all I can say is thanks to Bob Kirkpatrick ’60 for bringing us all together! From the horror of what went before that year—the assassinations, the convention, etc.—I joined that class with the highest of hopes. The road down which we ended up traveling may not have been the road we envisioned, but it has been a journey worth the effort. To have been your chronicler for the past almost-40 years has been an honor.

The only true descriptor for most of us comes from the language of my forbears, and that word is “mensch.” Webster’s defines mensch as “a person of integrity and honor,” but it’s much more than that. The class of 1972 is loaded with menschen—true feeling, caring, creative, men and women. Or, as one of my fellow menschen once described me, “regular guys with some brains.” As we have recently said farewell to some classmates, and as we look forward to seeing many of you at our reunion next year, let’s take a second to remember what a wonderful group of people we were—and still are.

You might also translate “mensch” as “An Honorable Man,” which is the title of Paul Vidich’s recently published spy novel. You absolutely have to read it. It’s a thriller, but much, much more. Paul is quite a craftsman of words, and the resolution of this story has stayed in my mind for weeks after having finished it. No word on the movie rights yet, but I could see Ben Affleck doing it…

Also on the espionage front, my local cinematheque, the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, had a special showing of this season’s episode 8 of The Americans, six days before it aired, with a personal appearance by co-producer and writer Steve Schiff. This particular episode has since been hailed by some as the finest single episode in television history, or at least for this year, and there is no disagreement here. We enjoyed drinks with Steve and his wife Laura afterwards, but no future plot spoilers were divulged.

We received news of Fred Moore’s passing too late to include more than a brief mention here. So here are some notes from Bob White, who attended Fred’s funeral: “When I re-connected with Fred after our 25th Reunion, Fred denied that he ever thought about Wesleyan. When I pointed out to him that this may not be the case because his son’s name was Wesley. He swore that it was ‘subliminal.’ That was Fred for you. Fred was proud when I related to Wesley (then about 10 years old) about Fred’s stellar performance at a Wesleyan-Springfield track meet during the spring of either our junior or senior years. Fred was the anchor for Wesleyan’s relay team. Butch Carson, also a sprinter, recalled that the team was behind by at least 100 yards when Fred was handed the baton. Butch further told me, ‘I have never seen a human being move that fast.’ It may have been Percy Harvey who quipped at the meet, ‘Fred was running like the Klan was chasing him in Alabama.’ As a witness to this feat, I thought he could close the gap somewhat but never catch the other runner. Also, I thought it was impossible for Fred to pass him. Fred caught the other runner, stayed even for a few paces, and then down the straightaway, Fred let the burners loose, hitting the tape first. It was a fantastic win for Fred and Wesleyan. And Fred shrugged it off as if it was business as usual.

“Attendees included Al ‘Smitty from the City’ Smith ’73, Kevin Smyley, Granderson ‘Granny’ Hale ’73, and Richard Jasper ’73. During our junior year, I remember Fred, Butch, and Kevin in Harriman Hall regularly on Thursday nights for ‘intensive study sessions.’ I learned from Kevin that he was much involved with Fred’s care in the last months.

“Of course, after the funeral, the ‘Wesleyan people’ sat at the ‘Wesleyan table’ (I noted this same behavior at the late Percy Harvey’s wedding reception, i.e., all the Wesleyan people sat at the ‘Wesleyan table’ in another tent from the rest of the guests). This gives alternative meaning to Beverly Daniel Tatum ’75’s book title, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? or the January 1970 New York Times article, The Two Nations at Wesleyan University (which by the way had a photo of Fred Moore, sitting at the ‘black table’). When I was on campus, I caught interesting comments from both directions about where I sat because I sat at the wrestling training-meal table during season. Granny was entertaining with his usual banter at the table. Because I was sitting next to him in a church, I was worried that I was going to be struck by lightning or slapped at any moment.

“In the 1999 issue of Wesleyan featuring, celebrating, and reviewing “The Route to Diversity at Wesleyan,” there is a photo from the Fisk Hall Takeover, in which one of the shadows looks like Fred. I received nods from some of the folks at the wake, who watched the PowerPoint presentation of Fred’s life that contained that photo, and who confirmed that it was Fred. We spent a lot of time back then wondering what would happen to us. Well, we know what happened to Fred. He graduated from Wesleyan with a degree in economics; he received a master’s of business administration in finance and accounting from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business; he had a successful career, moving up the ranks of his profession; he kept in touch with his Wesleyan classmates, friends, and buddies; he came to the 1970s Wesleyan Black and Latino Alumni Reunion in Memphis in October 2005; his name appeared on the most recent Wesleyan Donor Honor Roll. Fred supported what supported him at his best; and importantly, he urged his son, Wesley, to apply to Wesleyan.”

Thanks, folks! More in four months!

SETH A. DAVIS | sethdavis@post.harvard.edu

213 Copper Square Drive, Bethel, CT 06801

CLASS OF 1972 | 2016 | ISSUE 1

I must begin with some sad news, as we have lost one of the true icons of our class. Dave Revenaugh died in February after a lengthy illness. Everyone will remember Dave as the star running back on Wesleyan’s undefeated team in 1969. The image of him scoring the winning touchdown in the epic win over Williams is forever etched in my mind. The following year Wesleyan repeated as Little Three champs—and we went through a very long stretch of time before that happened again. But let’s also remember Dave as a truly delightful, if Rabelaisian, individual. He was a constant, active presence on campus, someone who enjoyed life immensely and made everyone around him enjoy it too. He made a career as a builder, specializing in “green,” sustainable projects. No one who knew him will soon forget Dave. The world has now become that much duller.

Geoffrey Smith passed away last June in Virginia. Jeff worked for the IRS for 40 years. He was remembered in his Centreville community for his many years of coaching softball and basketball with men and women with special needs.

Fred Moore passed away Feb. 16. Fred earned an MBA from Columbia and qualified as a CPA, enjoying a long and varied career in the corporate world and in banking, most recently as vice president of Structured Securitized Products for ING Financial Services, Inc. We who remember him as a track star at Wesleyan are not surprised to know that he kept up with competitive running until he became ill.

Dennis Kesden is moving into a new phase. He and his wife, Sherry, sold their ophthalmology practice and office building, and became employees of OCLI, the largest eye group in the New York metropolitan area. They work Monday to Thursday for three weeks, then take a week off and go to Phoenix to see their daughter, Cindy; son-in-law, Jay; and grandchildren, Spencer and Hannah. Their son, Dr. Mike Kesden, is a tenure-track physics professor at U.T. Dallas, and the winner of a Sloan Fellowship. Dennis has targeted this December as his retirement date. Dennis plays a lot of golf, but Sherry’s idea of relaxation is performing 18 cataract operations a day.

Sherry Hilding is still working as a special education teacher at Windham Tech HS in Willimantic, Conn. She also was recently certified as a TRE-tension/trauma release provider, takes a lot of yoga, and continues to teach an eclectic exercise class. And last summer she attended a ‘super fantastic” workshop at Omega Institute led by Bobby McFerrin.

Pat Bailey is still living the dream in his home, Chateau Calypso, in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. “This past July I was the International Sailing Federation’s technical delegate in charge of the Sailing Competition at the Pan American Games. Our event was acclaimed the best ever in the history of the Games! Not too bad for a simple island boy and as always I am thankful for my well rounded education at Wesleyan ’68-’72.”

Paul Vidich’s novel should be published by the time this column is in print. I can’t wait to read it. Paul’s home town buddy Vin Suprynowicz has also transitioned to the fictive mode. To quote from the book jacket of his latest novel,

“Deep in the Nevada desert, in a hidden mansion full of old books and vintage clothes, guarded by five-and-a-half anthropomorphic cats and a family of Attack Roadrunners, Vin Suprynowicz went cold turkey from a 40-year newspaper career. They said he’d never write anything over a thousand words again. But with the help and encouragement of the Brunette and a few close friends, he came back. With The Testament of James he proved them wrong. Now comes the second drug-enhanced adventure of Matthew Hunter and Chantal Stevens, The Miskatonic Manuscript. In an earlier life, Vin wrote Send in the Waco KillersThe Ballad of Carl Drega, and the freedom novel The Black Arrow.”

Leon Vinci is back “east”—Roanoke, Va., to be precise, after 12 years as a county public health officer in Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado. Two sons and a grandchild live nearby. (His daughter works on Madison Avenue in “the Big Apple.”) Leon is CEO/President of Health Promotion Consultants, a health and environmental consulting firm. In Colorado, Leon met up with Rick Berg for some mountain/trail hiking on the western slope. (Okay, Rick! Two consecutive issues!) Leon is proud to announce that this is the 175th Anniversary of the founding of Chi Psi, and he will be attending the conclave in Williamsburg, Va. The Lodge at Wesleyan is the third-oldest chapter.

Peter Schwartz works in a large geriatric medical practice in southeast Pennsylvania. He and wife Leigh celebrated 20 years of marriage and the birth of their 10th grandchild (six for him, four for her). Son Jonathan ’00 is head of the middle school at The Greenhills School in Ann Arbor. Son Jeffrey lives in Japan while the other children are closer by.

John Paul Maynard is completing his fifth year running the website, Islamic Civilization, hosted by the alumni office of Harvard University. In September, he completed Twelve Capitalisms: An Economic History of Civilization. In spring 2016 his second book of poems, Turning the Barbarians, will be published by the Levelers Press.

This from Rob Gelblum: “Trying to exit my 30-year environmental law career (including 25 with the State of North Carolina, ending three years ago), though music will take up a certain amount of time. Meanwhile, Mary Lou continues to render therapy part-time to the severely autistic. Reuben (29) is new to Seattle after relocating there with his partner (she’s starting medical residency there), and Morris (just turned 28) continues to grow Sweeps (sweeps.jobs) while living outside Chapel Hill. Both sons did that UNC-CH (where their parents met as 32-year-old grad students) undergrad thing. A downsizing scenario involving leaving Raleigh after 28 years for a few acres west of Chapel Hill, with ML’s handicapped older sister/ward and sister’s caregiver living in one little-if-not-tiny home and us in another, may be in the cards. It’s ironic to think that, when my parents announced in Philly in June ’68 they were moving the family to some place called Chapel Hill, N.C., I said something like, ‘Thank goodness I’ll never have to live down there with you, since I’ll be starting Wesleyan in the fall.’ Best to all ’72ers.”

And of course, a final word from Bob White: “An article is coming out soon, targeting me and my work on the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis. Ouch! It is a good thing that I went to Wesleyan and this is just business as usual to deal with such contention. Stay tuned.”

Thanks, folks! More in four months!

SETH A. DAVIS | sethdavis@post.harvard.edu

213 Copper Square Drive, Bethel, CT 06801

CLASS OF 1972 | 2015 | ISSUE 3

Rick Berg and his wife are back from Bhutan, where he was writing software for the Royal Thimphu College. “That,” he says, “was a wonderful and enlightening experience, but after two years at Himalayan wages there is no question of retirement. Besides, I need something to do, since I’ve given up climbing after several bad falls. So it’s back to New Mexico, where I’m writing software for DataWizards, a small company I share with three partners, and hiking on the weekends. Occasionally I do get back East, where I get to see Bernie Crawford, who is a surgeon in NYC.”

The following major news bulletin is submitted verbatim and without further comment: “Much to the surprise of all concerned, Steve Roper finally married his long-time amiable consort, Nancy J. Stack ’74, in April of 2015. This shocking turn of events was aided and abetted by Steve’s ’72 classmates, J. Bryan Flynn and John R. Rivers, along with honorary classmate, Carol (Beardsley) Rivers. The happy couple will continue to reside in Melrose, Mass., where Steve has retired after 31 years of attempting to keep the Mass. Dept. of Transportation from violating all known federal and state historic preservation laws. Nancy J., although entertained by Steve’s adventures in the trackless morass of Medicare/Social Security, continues to labor as a hired gun planner/project manager in Boston.”

John Manchester and his wife, Judy, have moved to Oakland, close to sons Shawn and Chris, who are both enjoying high-tech success, and grandson Jackson, who is a nuclear-powered age 3. John is in his 11th year of pursuing a second career as a writer after the Internet destroyed his old one as a composer. He is still holding out for traditional, over self-, publishing. His latest is a thriller with a backstory based on the Wesleyan ’60s.

Jerry Ryan, after buying or financing nursing homes for various companies over nearly 35 years, is retiring to Greenville, S.C., next spring. Presumably, Jerry left nothing but satisfied customers in Greenville. Jerry has four grandchildren between his wife’s two and his own two.

After over 30 years of designing and producing computer games, and before that, paper-and-pencil games, Arnold Hendrick and his wife, Georgeann, have retired to “sagebrush steppe” country of Meridian, Idaho, just outside of Boise. Except he hasn’t really retired at all: he’s still employed making computer games for a virtual company.

After almost 40 years in New Jersey, Doug Stivison and wife Heather moved to the beautiful southeast coast of Massachusetts, where Doug took up the position of pastor of the Congregational Church of South Dartmouth. The iconic 200-year-old church is just two blocks up from the waterfront of Padanaram Harbor….well known to sailors as the site of the Buzzards Bay Regatta. Doug had the pleasure this summer of walking his daughter, Megan, down the aisle, then turning around and officiating at the wedding. Singing at her sister’s wedding was Beth Stivison ’09.

After completing a long-dreamed-of circumnavigation aboard his 43-foot South-African-built cutter, Nat Warren-White has returned to his home state of Maine, where he is writing about his adventures. To date, Ocean Navigator, has published 14 pieces written about all legs of the journey and Nat is busy looking for a publisher to help edit and create a book stitching these “chapters” together. Nat and Betsy, together since ’75, have just been blessed with their first grandchild, Diego Antonio, born June 15 to son Josh and his partner, Maria, in Berkeley, Calif. “What a thrill —and great to join the club and be able to share grandparent stories with Peter Stern and others, plus have an excuse to spend more time on the Left Coast.” Nat continues to act and coach executives through the Ariel Group in Boston (arielgroup.com) while practicing as a drama therapist. The theater company he helped start in 2004, AndStillWeRise (andstillwerise.org), comprised of ex-prisoners and their loved ones, continues to thrive in Boston and will be appearing at the North American Drama Therapy conference in White Plains, N.Y., on Oct. 15. Any and all WEStech friends are welcome to visit in South Freeport, Maine. Nat enjoys being in regular touch with Joel Bernstein, Jim Pickering, Stephen Policoff, Peter Stern, Peter Love, Inara de Leon, Paula Harrington and others from our sweet bygone WESU days, but still misses Oscar Look dearly. A book of Oscar’s letters and poetry, published by his daughter, Erin, is available on Amazon…just search Oscar Look and it’ll pop up!

Andy Feinstein continues to work, expanding his law firm, which specializes in representing students with special needs and their parents. “I see Rich Easton on alternate Friday mornings at the Stonington Men’s Group and just missed Paul Vidich’s 65th birthday party last Sunday evening.”

Mark Frost’s weekly newspaper, The Chronicle, celebrated its 35th anniversary on Sept. 2, still “locally owned, locally committed” and having its best year ever. Mark is following with interest the Wesleyan Argus controversy—and hoping the Argus and Wesleyan will stand their ground in defense of a free press and free speech.

Bruce Hearey’s son, Leif Dormsjo ’97, got married this past April to Kristin Barcak, in a lovely weekend celebration in Charleston, S.C. Having worked in Maryland state and city government for well over a decade, Leif is now the director of transportation for the District of Columbia. Son Owen will be graduating with a PhD in economics from UCLA next June, and hopefully will be more than gainfully employed when this gets printed. Bruce finished a year as president of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, and is now back to practicing law. He and wife Stephanie are downsizing, as they are a short year away from empty nest status. They are leaving leafy Shaker Heights and migrating a few miles west to a condo townhouse in Cleveland’s increasingly cool Uptown area. The three flights of steep stairs do not intimidate them, whether Bruce gets that long delayed hip replacement surgery or not.

“Despite the pessimism of all these Republican loudmouths, life to me at 65 seems pretty good,” writes Bruce. “I am bemused by the stuff on campus: Deke suing the University, the University shutting down Psi U, students wanting to shut down the Argus…I guess [expletive deleted] keeps happening on campus no matter the generation.”

Finally, this has been an eventful year for me. My son Mark was married on April 18 to Jenny Bonacore Adolfson. I may be a latecomer to the marriages-of-children scene among this crowd, but I must confess it was one of the happiest days of my life. And, as you can see from my new address, Elisa and I have happily relocated to a wonderful new townhouse near Danbury. (Thanks in part to Fran Pennarola ’73, who handled the closing). No, this is not retirement, but it is the end of 60 years of Davis family presence in the Village of Croton-on-Hudson, and that was not devoid of emotional pangs. It’s great to be back in Connecticut after 43 years, and it makes for a shorter drive to our 45th Reunion, which will be here soon.

Thanks, folks! More in four months!

SETH A. DAVIS | sethdavis@post.harvard.edu

213 Copper Square Drive, Bethel, CT 06801

CLASS OF 1972 | 2015 | ISSUE 2

First, my humble apologies to Ron Ashkenas, whose name was omitted from the list of attendees at the George Sobelman Celebration last fall. I would blame the Wesleyan editors, but he knows better. Ron attended a fundraiser for Chabad of Wesleyan in New York this spring, honoring the retirement of Professor Vera Schwarz, who happens to be Ron’s machateinista. “Seems like the current Chabad rabbi, Levi Schechtman,” Ron writes, “is stirring up some of the old Sobelmania spirit … Friday night dinners at his house, little kids running around, etc. It was nice to hear about it.”

I am thrilled to report that Steve Schiff has been heavily involved in the production and writing of The Americans on TV, for which he and his colleagues were recognized with a prestigious Peabody Award. The Americans, which tells the story of a KGB “sleeper” couple in the Washington suburbs during the Reagan Administration, is just about my favorite show, and if you aren’t watching it you should. Steve wants everyone to know that all of the particularly sexy episodes were written by him.

Mike Kaloyanides announced the retirement of his briefcase, given to him by his mother, after 39 years of being carried by Mike to classes at the University of New Haven. I believe that Mike, as well, has taken on emeritus status. Mike has been teaching music at UNH for those 39 years, and was much beloved by the student body. Not a surprise.
Bradley Paddock, a distinguished otolaryngologist in the Albany area, is part owner (don’t ask me which part) of a thoroughbred named Mexican Groove. The horse had some bad racing luck in Florida and is, at the time of this writing, being shipped to the Big Apple. By the time these notes are printed, Brad will probably have made a fortune on him at Saratoga. (Aren’t you all amazed that I wrote this entire paragraph without a joking reference to Brad’s surname?)

Jim Cacciola has surfaced on Facebook. He is now retired from his medical practice and spending a lot of time in Florida. Jim points out that the Scott Cacciola who covers the NBA so ably for The New York Times is his nephew! Jim also points out that Scott’s success must be due to his studies at Columbia School of Journalism when Dave Klatell ’70 was the Dean.

Well, there it is. Could it possibly be that we have heard nothing from Whizzer White this quarter? No, wait, there’s an e-mail coming in…

“This is what was recently written about our Butch Carson (now known as Bill Carson): The general manager/CEO of Samtrans, Caltrain, SMCTA ‘has appointed Bill Carson, director, human resources. Bill is no stranger to the district, having spent the last 22 years in human resources as employee relations officer, then manager, employee relations and civil rights, and most recently as acting director, HR. Before joining the district, Bill was employed by the HR departments at Bechtel Inc., and United Airlines, and held various supervisory positions in staffing, compensation and benefits, training and development, EEO, and affirmative action, service awards programs and advanced program development. Bill has a BA in psychology from Wesleyan University and a juris doctor degree from Rutgers University School of Law.’

“Of course, I like to take credit for Butch Carson’s early management experience because he was my resident adviser on Harriman Hall our junior year at Wesleyan. This was the Wesleyan experience at its best.”

Thanks, folks! More in four months!

HENRY C. WOOD JR. ’72

HENRY C. WOOD JR., a software entrepreneur, died Sept. 3, 2014, at age 64. He was affiliated with the U.S. Army Security Agency and attended law school at Vanderbilt University. A founder of the software company, Villa Crespo, he developed one of the earliest software security programs. He was on the board of the Touchstone Theater in Chicago for ten years. Among those who survive are his wife, Ikuko “Coco” Wood, two brothers, and a large extended family.

MICHAEL Z. HEILPERN ’72

MICHAEL Z. HEILPERN, the founder of a Web consulting company, died Feb. 15, 2014, at age 63. An innovative and accomplished musician, he studied at the Berklee School of Music and played several instruments before becoming a dedicated amateur jazz vibraphonist in recent years. The company that he and his wife founded serves membership organizations, public agencies, and local businesses. In 2004 he received an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management in Claremont, Calif., where he was an active conservationist in addition to serving on local boards. He also created several online communities, including LAjazz.com, a resource for jazz musicians and aficionados across southern California. His wife, Linda Weber Heilpern, survives, as do his daughter and a brother.

CLASS OF 1972 | 2015 | ISSUE 1

Thank you, one and all—nothing but good news this time! This very morning on Facebook I read that Paul Vidich is writing a novel, due to be published in spring of 2016. “It will be positioned as a Cold War spy novel wrapped inside literary fiction, à la Alan Furst, John Le Carre.” I can’t wait!

Chick Hancock wrote, inspired by John Perry Barlow’s ’69 obit of Oscar Look: “I was the fifth generation of my family to go to Wesleyan. My dad was in Alpha Delta Phi. God only knows in what form it exists today. Anyway, when we visited it in 1968, it had changed somewhat from 1936. He said, ‘We, juleps in hand, used to sing across the street to the Psi U’s.’ … When I was at Wesleyan, it was my great luck that David McAllester was teaching the Intro Anthropology course. That led to me becoming an Anthro major, writing a grant proposal that to this day I don’t understand, and teaching on the Navajo Reservation. This led to me becoming a Harley-Davidson dealer, flatteringly profiled in the alumni mag. About 10 years ago I visited Wesleyan with my younger daughter and sat in on a class. In filed the entire hockey team. I didn’t think that this bode well for class discussion—sorry, guys. What followed was extraordinary give-and-take. We subsequently visited another member of the Little Three where the professor had to beg the students to speak.”

Andy Feinstein happily lets me know every time Harvard Law professor Steve Shay is quoted in the New York Times. And Andy himself was quoted extensively on the subject of the Connecticut Office of the Child Advocate’s report on the Sandy Hook tragedy.

Brian Hersey—bless him—took issue with my characterization of the usual tone of this column, finding it more “convivial” than “snarky.” “We’re more into mellowness than snarkiness with our age now and, in fact, the insertion of a nap break into our reading of your reports may be required by many of us, given the adrenalin rush it induces,” Hmm. I might have to insert such a break into the writing of the column now…

Charlie Smith, my junior year suitemate, wrote, following the announcement of my election to the ABA environmental section chairmanship, to remind me that I got my start in environmental law working on a National Science Foundation project along with him and future hydrologist Glenn Harris. Charlie lives in Bowling Green, Ky., which, to his surprise, was named by Forbes magazine as the third best place in the USA to which one might retire. Charlie now plans to check out the first- and second-place cities. He was present at Western Kentucky’s epic 67–66 victory over previously unbeaten Marshall. This is football we’re talking about now. The Western quarterback threw eight touchdowns, and deprived Marshall of a New Year’s bowl bid. Charlie has been at Western for 20 years, the last 12 as professor of library public services. He has authored research publications in both geology and musicology. In 2013 he received the President’s Call to Service award, a national-level recognition of volunteerism. And he was elected to the Linnean Society of London.

Could six months go by without a word from Bob “Whizzer” White? Of course not.

“Bob White reports the birth of his grand-niece, India Carson, who was born Oct. 10th, weighing in at 7.2 lbs. The mother, Theresa, Bob’s nephew, Tre, and Granddad Bill “Butch” Carson, are all doing well. For your amusement: St. Croix Diving December 2014: 16 dives; cumulative number of dives: 515. A typical day of diving: I am the one in the red fins; also, 1:04–1:20 is me—note the air bubbles coming from both ends, 3:24; the predator with the big fin on its back is not me; and why did I feel safe with the sharks circling us?—answer: there were two absolute beginners in our group (the sharks know who is who by the arms and legs flailing around). youtu.be/aQApCMnD0LM Insight into the origin of the Whizzer… My interest in diving started with TV character Mike Nelson in Sea Hunt. Mike Nelson, a former Navy diver, did judo—another interest of mine as a kid—in many of the episodes on land and in the water. At the time, I could not do judo. Wrestling became my passion. Recall that my freshman year roommate, Robert Weinberg, was a black belt in judo and brought judo to Wesleyan. Now you understand that my ‘methods of madness’ (a title borrowed from Professor Benjamin Braginsky’s book) were not random events.”

One might point out that some guy named Shakespeare had something to do with that title.

This past October I was privileged to be at Wesleyan for a celebration honoring Rabbi George Sobelman, who died a few years ago. George’s wife, Nina, and all four of their children—many of whom we remember as youngsters running madly around the Wesleyan campus and are now all quite prominent in diverse fields. Also there representing our class were Mike Busman, Karyn Scher, and Rivka Raffel, wives of Eddie Ohlbaum and Chuck Raffel. David Rabban ’71 was one of the organizers, and also among the attendees were Andy Baker ’71 and Todd Jick ’71, Jeff Richards ’69, Bob Wolkoff ’73, Pam van der Meulen ’74, and doubtless others to whom I apologize for my failing memory. A wonderful occasion to remember special times with a very special man.

SETH A. DAVIS | sethdavis@post.harvard.edu
17 Wolf Road, Croton-on-Hudson, NY 10520