CHARLES M. RAFFEL, 63, longtime professor of Jewish philosophy at Yeshiva University Stern College for Women, died Apr. 19, 2014. He was known as the mainstay of the school’s Jewish philosophy program, as well as a beloved colleague and teacher. Among those who survive are his wife, Rivka Raffel, two children, two brothers, and two cousins, Dr. Richard B. Parad ’77, and Rebecca E. Parad ’09.
EDWARD D. OHLBAUM, professor of law at Temple University, known in the legal community as a pioneer in trial advocacy, and the author of a treatise on evidence, died Mar. 13, 2014. He was 64. After receiving his degree cum laude and with several prizes, he received a master’s degree in Religion from Wesleyan and then his law degree from Temple University. He spent seven years with the public defender’s office in Philadelphia and then worked for Temple University’s office of university counsel, from which he joined the law school faculty. He created a trial advocacy program there and taught students how to represent their clients skillfully, zealously, and with complete integrity. In 1994 he was named the inaugural Jack E. Feinberg Professor of Litigation. His advocacy programs won awards from the American College of Trial Lawyers and the Committee on Professionalism of the American Bar Association. The author of three books and numerous articles, he traveled widely to speak on evidence and advocacy at key international and domestic conferences. He was also deeply committed to the Support Center for Child Advocates and to his synagogue. His wife, Karyn L. Scher, his son, and his sister survive.
This rough winter was particularly rough on the Class of 1972. On Feb. 15, Michael Heilpern died peacefully at his home in Claremont, Calif. Michael and his wife, Linda, started a typesetting business in California in 1979, and saw it grow and change into a Web consulting company that serves membership organizations, public agencies, and local businesses. He was actively involved in establishing online communities—spaces where people with common interests, devotion to a shared cause or geographic proximity, could connect. Among these were ClaremontCalendar.com, featuring community events in his home community, and LAjazz.com, a resource for Southern California jazz musicians and aficionados. He was involved in a variety of community and conservation causes, most recently a public policy document outlining a responsible strategy for the maintenance of Claremont’s trees.
On March 13, Eddie Ohlbaum lost his fight against cancer. Eddie was a professor at Temple Law School for years. He ran the school’s highly regarded trial advocacy program, founded Temple’s innovative LL.M. in Trial Advocacy program, and was a founding board member of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project at Temple. More importantly, Eddie was profoundly loved and respected as a teacher and mentor by decades of Temple students. Check out the outpouring of tributes at law.temple.edu/SitePages/Ohlbaum-Tribute/. But here’s mine:
“Eddie was my classmate at Wesleyan and we lived on the same hall freshman year. He was an always active, exciting, funny, energetic guy, who was ever true to his principles. Even then he was a true champion of justice and equality, and lived his Jewish faith every step of the way. I have many fond memories—wild times in the hall, sleeping on the same floor for the November 1969 peace march in Washington, his unannounced and unsanctioned visit to our archeological dig in Beersheba (and his unceremonious ejection from the camp by the head archeologist’s wife), and his constant, positive presence on the Wesleyan campus. He was truly one of a kind and he will be sorely missed.”
And this note from David Layne ’10, the secretary of his Wes class and Eddie’s student at Temple. David compiled portions of remarks he made at the tribute at Temple: “Professor Ohlbaum was a brilliant educator, but his brilliance was about more than how incredibly knowledgeable he was with the rules of evidence and its caselaw. He was brilliant as a professor and advocate because he had an uncanny knack for understanding what it takes to connect with people. Couple that with the fact that class with him was never dull. I’ve spoken with friends at other law schools who’ve told me how they hate evidence class, and that I am crazy for having loved it so much, and that’s 100 percent Eddie’s fault. His enthusiasm was infectious, and he brought the mundane to life whenever he was behind the podium for lecture (although I always found it ‘curious’ how he managed to consistently weave himself into his criminal fact patterns, such that our first exposure to the excited utterance was Eddie jumping in front of the podium, with a fictional knife in his back screaming ‘Ohlbaum did it!’)…I can say with confidence that Eddie Ohlbaum epitomized what it means to be a Temple lawyer and a Wesleyan Cardinal. No one believed in the students more here at our law school, or cared more about their success ,than Professor Ohlbaum. He was absolutely cherished here at Temple Law—and he will be missed—but his legacy carries on in scores of students who are unquestionably better trial advocates for having known him.”
Mike Busman’s first book, American Moment, has been released on Amazon and Kindle, and is going into wider distribution. The book lays out the case for a new party that will follow a reasoned, middle path towards a sustainable future. Favorable reviews and comments have been piling up, and you can also check out Mike’s blog at AmericanMoment.net where you can read more and get personally involved.
Bonnie Krueger is directing Hamilton College’s Paris program for the ninth time, located in the same Reid Hall where she studied in 1971. “Back then, we wrote aerograms and never called home; now students Skype and post selfies to Facebook. But Paris still works its magic.”
Roger Jackson has begun a three-year phased retirement from Carleton College, looking forward to more time for writing, travel, and teaching in other contexts. In that spirit, he spent the fall of 2013 as Numata Visiting Professor in Buddhist Studies at McGill University in Montreal, where he and his wife, Pam, lived downtown, enjoyed the city’s many delights, and tried their best to translate Québecois into Parisian French. Roger continues his work on Tibetan meditation traditions, Buddhist poetry, and the place of Buddhism in modernity. In recent years, he has reconnected with Frank Levering ’74, whose 60th birthday he helped celebrate by scaling Long’s Peak with him, a slog of epic length that proved neither of them are in their 30s anymore, in body if not in spirit.
Pete Clark’s book, Masterminding the Deal, came out in August. It was covered in the Economist, Institutional Investor, and Financial Times, and Pete was interviewed on BNN TV Canada.
From Win Watson: “Win Watson update. Three grownup kids. Two grandkids. Farm in Madbury, N.H. Full professor at UNH. Just had my first successful radio-controlled airplane flight. More importantly, just received the Brierley Award as the Best Teacher at UNH this year.”
Last June, Yale University published Steve Alpert’s collection of Indonesian art and textiles, Eyes of the Ancestors: The Arts of Island Southeast Asia from the Dallas Museum of Art. The book has a number of authors, including Steve, and has been critically well-received. Sir David Attenborough has called it “the best book ever written on Indonesian art.” To celebrate Indonesia, and the book’s launch, a Who’s Who of Wesleyan alums and master gamelan players, led by Professor I.M. Harjito, his wife, Denni, Wayne Forrest ’74 and Sam Quigley ’74—and Alec McLane (director of the World Music Archives), Joseph Getter MA ’99 , Chris Miller MA ’02, Anne Stebinger, Barry Drummond, Leslie Rudden ’77, Mark Perlman PhD ’94 and others—all brilliantly accompanied famed Indonesian puppet master, Ki Purbo Asmoro, while he performed under the stars at the Nasher Sculpture Garden. Eyes of the Ancestors was awarded the 2013 Prix International du Livre d’Art Tribal. Wayne wrote to say “that the ghost of David (McAllester) is shining on us.” “Amen,” says Steve. “Wesleyan, largely through its dedication to world music, including its gamelan orchestra, gave many of us our first glimpse of one of the world’s most fascinating countries and its many diverse cultures.”
Finally, I was honored to be part of a most unusual event last December. Andy Feinstein celebrated the 50th anniversary of his bar mitzvah by having a second bar mitzvah! Along with Rich Easton and Paul Vidich, I was present as Andy led the sabbath service, read from the Torah, and (surprisingly) held forth on many topics of great meaning. Andy’s journey through life has not been an easy one, and this occasion marked the celebration of his coming to terms with that journey and himself. In his own words:
“This transition is to a higher level of personal honesty, to accepting and being compassionate with myself, to being comfortable in my own skin, to accepting love from others, and to loving others for who they are. This Bar Mitzvah is a celebration of my journey… Over the last 50 years, I have overcome challenges that I thought would kill me. You have, too. We have survived hardship and felt joy. We have buried people close to us and have welcomed new, fresh souls into our lives. We have gone through a lot. And, we are here. So, because you and I have made it to the Winter Solstice of 2013, it is right to have a big party.”
A big party of which I was honored to be a part.
SETH A. DAVIS | sethdavis@post.harvard.edu
17 Wolf Road, Croton-on-Hudson, NY 10520
My thanks to all of you who sent me recent updates. Inclusion here is based solely on order of receipt. If you don’t see your news here, you will in the next issue!
Starting with a personal encounter of an unusual kind, Rob Gelblum and I spoke together on a panel on brownfields development at a recent conference in Baltimore. We had them rolling in the aisles. Rob, after many years with the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office, is now in private practice in Raleigh.
Steve Goldschmidt went to San Francisco for the National Association of Realtors national conference, and had dinner with his old roommate, Steve Lewis. “After dinner,” writes Steve G., “he drove me back to the hotel in his shiny Maserati but he asked that I emphasize to you that he bought it used.” Duly noted. Steve L. also claims still to own the truck he drove at Wes.
Art Vanderbilt wrote to recommend Katy Butler ’71’s book Knocking on Heaven’s Door. Katy gives a moving account of the last years of her parents. Those who knew Jeff Butler of the CSS will not want to miss this.
Bob White sends the sad news that George Jett lost his wife, Lynn MacFarlane ’75. The two of them met at a Reunion in 2005.
After 12 years as pastor of churches in suburban New Jersey, Rev. Doug Stivison has accepted a call as minister of the Congregational Church of South Dartmouth, Mass. “It is a classic white clapboard New England Congregational church combining long history with a vibrant, outreach-focused congregation. Its 200-year-old spire is a navigational landmark to sailors on Buzzard’s Bay —with the church just three blocks from the harborfront of Padanaram.”
Bruce Throne sends us this report: “I’m still in Santa Fe practicing law, one child (Greg) in his last year studying engineering at Trinity U in San Antonio and my daughter now in Australia, 13 months into her solo travel around the world, intending to beat her dad’s record from the late ’70s. I’m spending a lot of time helping renewable energy providers in the state with the second greatest solar potential in the country (yes, it’s sunny here in New Mexico) trying to deal with state regulators who seem to think climate change is a ‘greenie’ hoax on the public. Bet Wes-Techers living on islands or the coasts are thinking otherwise (glug, glug). About five years ago, I actually ran for election as commissioner at our Public Regulation Commission (regulates electric utilities and more) and finished second out of six candidates in the Democratic primary to a young man without a college degree who subsequently got indicted for violating the state’s campaign laws, misappropriating public funds and other minor infractions of the law and had to resign. So much for a Wesleyan education. Where was that course in ‘local politics’ at Wes? Sorry to report that Bruce Hearey was one of the folks that squandered $100 for ‘seed money’ for my otherwise publicly-funded campaign, even though he’s still in Cleveland and, so far as I know, his only interest in New Mexico is attending local pagan ceremonies (I’ll let him describe that, if he can). Actually visited Bruce and his lovely wife, Steph, in Cleveland two summers ago where he graciously took me to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (his thousandth visit apparently, he told me yawning) and provided trivia (still yawning) about events in the ’60s and ’70s that even that museum didn’t seem to know about (thus confirming why he became a lawyer—trivia ad nauseum). Also ran into Larry Weinberg hiking on the Aspen Vista trail above Santa Fe a few years back; heard he’s retired and moved here but haven’t seen or heard from him his since. Perhaps because I lost that election to a convicted felon? The only way we recognized each other on the trail (with all that grey or receding hair) were the Wes t-shirts we both were wearing that day for some odd reason. Hard to believe those old t-shirts still fit, or even have survived this long. Hope everyone else in our class is surviving that well. Cheers.”
And, for his part, Bruce Hearey writes: “My Victorian Fiction class at John Carroll U. is going well despite its difficulty; anyone else ever read Daniel Deronda? (I am two-thirds of the way through a masters in humanities degree program.) I will be the president of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association come June, 2014. Stephanie and I had a great get-together with Robbie Brewster in NYC in November. He looks great, is doing well, and we even managed to talk for a few minutes about something other than getting so damn old. Played golf with Brian Silvestro ’70, Jack Ingraham ’70, and Steve Ingraham ’70 in August in Rochester. Nothing but happy news from this correspondent on the North Coast.”
Just before fall semester began, Dave Gerard and his wife, Miho, returned to campus to meet Professor Phil Pomper, who had been Dave’s history tutor in CSS, and a key adviser for his senior honors thesis. Dave’s son, Pierre Gerard ’15, an Earth & Environmental Sciences major active in a variety of green causes, joined them for a meeting in Phil’s office where they had a vibrant discussion about the merits of moderate versus radical activism to effect social change. Afterwards, they headed down to Luce Restaurant for lunch, where the conversation turned to psychohistory as well as their shared passion for vigorous exercise, and in Phil’s case, long distance running into his 70s. Pierre later attended the dedication at Homecoming of the Philip Pomper Classroom on the fourth floor of PAC. Dave is an organizational psychologist and is a principal consultant with Korn Ferry in San Francisco. He is active in interviewing for Wesleyan in Silicon Valley, and attended a recent gathering of prospective students, parents and alumni with the new Assistant Dean of Admissions, Kora Shin, in Palo Alto.
Thank you all! Watch for the rest next time!
SETH A. DAVIS
17 Wolf Road, Croton-on-Hudson, NY 10520 Sethdavis@post.harvard.edu
ARTHUR C. CLAFLIN, an attorney in Seattle, Wash., died May 23, 2013, at age 62. Elected to Phi Beta Kappa, he received his degree magna cum laude and then received his law degree from Yale University. He had been with the law firm of Bogle and Gates for 25 years, and since 2000 was with Hall, Zanzig, Claflin, McEachern. He had an interest in current events, great literature, and history, and he was an avid runner, having completed several marathons, including the Boston Marathon. Among those who survive are his wife, Gretchen Anders Claflin, two daughters, his brother, and several nieces and nephews.
JAN M. WOUTERS, a nuclear physicist who was associated with Los Alamos National Laboratory for much of his career, died Apr. 2, 2010. He was 56. After receiving his degree cum laude and with high honors, he received a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. An accomplished musician, he played a Bach organ fugue at his Wesleyan Commencement. His specialty at Los Alamos was computer data analysis in physics. Survivors include his wife, Laura Moltz Wouters, two children, his mother, his brother, and his sister, Dr. Annemarie V. Wouters ’79.
DOUGLAS B. THOMPSON, 60, a philanthropist and the founder of Jupiter Management Company, a private equity firm that invests in the energy sector, died June 9, 2010. He was a member of Psi Upsilon and received an MBA from Harvard University. While at Wesleyan he attended the Economic Institute in Santiago, Chile, where he developed a lifelong interest in South America and the start of his career in the energy business. He was predeceased by a brother. Among those who survive are his wife, Leslie Bacon Thompson, four children, his parents, three sisters, and a brother.
CATHERINE P. ROYCE, 60, a former deputy arts commissioner for the City of Boston, died Mar. 30, 2009, of complications from ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. After receiving her degree in humanities and theater, she was associated with several arts organizations and in 1994 received an MBA from Simmons College. In addition to consulting for various groups, she continued to perform with dance companies until her diagnosis. The author of Wherever I Am, I’m Fine, which was published in the final months of her life, and which is a collection of extraordinary letters about how to live deeply while dying gradually, she also shared her insights on National Public Radio. Her husband, A. Scott Nagel, two children, two sisters, and a brother survive.
Becket Royce McGough, sister of Catherine Royce, wrote to inform Wesleyan of Catherine’s passing. Ms. McGough added: “She had an obit published in the Boston Globe:
www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2009/04/02/catherine_royce_60_documented_travails_triumphs_in_als_battle/
. I do know that in lieu of flowers, she would like contributions made to The Boston Home, 2049 Dorchester Avenue, Boston, MA 02124.”
David L. Nicholl, 56, a lawyer who specialized in communications regulations, died of brain cancer Oct. 25, 2006. A College of Social Studies major at Wesleyan, he received his master’s degree in communications from the Annenberg School at the University of Pennsylvania and his J.D. from Catholic University. Early in his career, he worked for the Justice Department, on the team that prosecuted AT&T for antitrust violations, which resulted in the divestiture of the Bell System. He then joined the Federal Communications Commission in its cable TV and common carrier bureaus. For the past 22 years he was an attorney for the National Cable and Telecommunications Association on policy issues, serving as general counsel. Among those who survive is his cousin, Dr. Andrew R. Ganz ’62.
JEFFREY A. MARSH, 59, who had suffered severe degenerative neurological damage in an accident during his college years, and who spent most of his adult life in nursing homes, died Aug. 1, 2010. He was an advocate for the rights and interests of nursing home patients. Predeceased by his mother, he is survived by his father, stepmother, three sisters, and two stepsisters.
