Monique Witt reports: “We are all still involved in music. Bill and Jane Pearson have joined Steven and me for a number of concerts, two stops with Rickie Lee Jones, while Ben tours with her and assorted jazz. Mike Minard ’75 shared a wonderful composition (he’s so talented), and I talk to Linda Bierer all the time, trying to start up our walks in the north woods again. Unfortunately, bitter cold in January, but spring always brings Central Park walks with friends. Ben is home between multiple tours, having circumnavigated the globe again. He toured Spain with Catherine Russell and the Midwest with his trio and Laura Anglade, and his third Nebula album is slated for release in February. Dev finished the last production details on new product lines for NAM and patent filings. Steven is going ‘of counsel,’ and I’m still doing board work when not at the sound labs. Looking forward.”

Howard Curzer writes: “After 45 years of teaching (mostly) in the Texas Tech University Philosophy Department, I retired in July of 2025. My wife (Anne Epstein) also retired from her solo practice as an internist and sleep medicine specialist. We left our home of 40 years and moved into a townhouse in Park Slope, Brooklyn, NYC, seven doors away from our daughter (Mirah), son-in-law (Josh), and granddaughter (Clara). I’m still doing research—writing papers and a book. Although I miss teaching a bit and might go back if I could find the right part-time position in NYC, I’m savoring the experience of not grading papers.”

Bill Bass shares: “In the first year of my retirement, I did little more than lay on a Florida beach. In the past 12 months, I’ve been a bit more active, traveling to Barcelona, Florence, Rome, Albuquerque, New Mexico, [and] Tulsa, Oklahoma, to deliver an address for the Cum Laude Society at my old high school; and then to Middletown for the alumni reunion where I stayed with Kathy Scholle Hale ’75 and her husband, John. Then on to Martha’s Vineyard where I visited with Rick Gilberg and his wife, Lisa, and followed that with a trip to London and more beach time in Florida.” Bill wrote this update from Toronto, and he flew back to Tulsa in January for his first solo art exhibition. 

In our last class notes, Fred Kessler shared that on January 7, 2025, they evacuated from their home in Pacific Palisades ahead of the fire that swept through their wonderful community and changed it forever. Their house survived but is currently uninhabitable. They hope to move back in sometime next fall. 

What else in 2025? On October 30 Fred had successful brain surgery to remove a benign tumor between the eyebrows that was causing increasing inflammation in “the Wesleyan-best-part of my brain.” The surgery was long and the recovery somewhat difficult, but they got it all.  

Also in 2025, his daughter embarked on her new goal of becoming an interior designer by taking on that role for their home remodeling and rebuild of the garage/studio and by sojourning to London for a three-month course.

Fred sends greetings to our 1974 classmates and many thanks to those who reached out to them after the fire to check on how they are holding up.

Karla Bell and Mark Wallach ’71 had a wonderful vacation at Chautauqua Institution. The lectures were insightful, educational, and, at times, funny. They heard Doris Kearns Goodwin speak about presidents, including the qualities she believes are necessary for a great president, and a paleoanthropologist on the cause for the dominance of humans over other competing species, etc. Midweek they were joined by Mark’s son, Philip ’05, his wife, Vera ’05 (both Wes CSS), and their three daughters. It was a thought-provoking week and a great visit. 

James Kempf writes: “My wife, Renate, and I moved into a continuing care retirement community called Enso Village in March last year, located in Sonoma County, California. Enso Village features ‘Zen inspired senior living,’ which means that unlike most CCRCs, the emphasis at Enso Village is not about turning away from the approaching end but rather turning toward it. There are many older monks from San Francisco Zen Center who have retired here, and there are many active Zen, Tibetian, and Vipassana meditation practitioners, as well as people who practice in the traditional Western religions of Judaism and Christianity. Moving here has been kind of like coming to Wesleyan as a freshman, there are so many interesting people to meet and such a broad variety of different activities to participate in.”

Charisse Lillie reports: “In December of 2025, I was honored by the Philadelphia Bar Association with its Justice Sonia Sotomayor Diversity Award, which recognizes individuals in the Philadelphia legal community who have made significant contributions to advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in the legal profession. In 2025, our two youngest grandsons, Kane and Cashel turned six and three respectively. My husband, Tom McGill, and I also have two sets of twin great-grandsons—Levi and Logan, who are three, and Nakoa and Jonas, who are one. Lots of joy and happiness during Christmas, Kwanzaa, and the New Year with the little ones!”

Harold Sogard notes that the increase in the number of our classmates giving to Wes during our 50th Reunion seems to be holding fairly steady, which is a wonderful thing. Especially in these tough times!

Larry Green has completed his first full year of retirement following 47 years of legal practice. He is devoting his time to nonprofit board service, consulting, writing, family, fitness, and travel. He wrote a short book under his Hebrew name, Lev, that was published by Page Publishing in late 2025 and entitled What If the Mystery of Dark Matter Has a Spiritual Solution?  Larry and his wife, Denise, live in Ogunquit, Maine, and are now blessed with seven grandchildren.

Howard Shalwitz returned to direct his first play at Woolly Mammoth Theatre in D.C. since stepping down as artistic director in 2018. It ran from February 3 to March 1, 2026.  The World to Come by Ali Viterbi focuses on the lively residents of a Hebrew home for the aging in California as the world around them is crumbling. Howard hosted a special performance and reception for Wesleyan alums on February 8.

Richard Orentzel ’73 retired from his FAA job a year ago, which included writing/editing material for government testing standards and aviation handbooks. Some serious safety-conscious people hammer out these publications, but their names never appear in print. He is currently spending more time writing poetry. Here are some samples:

how to feel good in the USA

a presidential helicopter

(Richard’s poems also include illustrations, but they couldn’t be transferred to this online note.)

Arthur Fierman received the Dr. Benard Dreyer Advocate for All Children Award presented by the Board of Directors of Children of Bellevue. This award was created in memory of Dr. Benard Dreyer, who dedicated his life to fighting for the well-being of children. Dr. Fierman worked closely with Benard for four decades and has deeply embodied the essential values that the award recognizes: kindness, equity, mentorship, and excellence in care.

The presenters of the award summarized Arthur’s work as follows: “Dr. Arthur Fierman is a distinguished pediatrician with more than 40 years of experience in general pediatrics at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Throughout his career, he has served in various roles as clinical leader, educator, and researcher, always dedicated to improving care for children and families living in poverty. His roles have included director of Pediatric Ambulatory Care and co-chair of the H+H Pediatric Council, where he championed innovative health care delivery models to enhance child health and development.

            “As director emeritus, Dr. Fierman continues to engage in scholarly activities, mentors the next generation of pediatricians, and advocates for asylum-seeking families, furthering his mission to improve pediatric health care in New York City and beyond. He recently returned from the American Academy of Pediatric annual meeting where he presented the 2025 plenary session Support for Asylum-Seeking Children and Families: A New York City Perspective, highlighting the work of pediatricians and other health care clinicians at Bellevue and NYC H+H in caring for these children and families.”

Fred Kessler reports, “After 47 years practicing law at the same law firm, Nossaman LLP, I am retiring at the end of this year. My work has predominantly been for public agencies, assisting them with innovative procurements and contracting for major infrastructure projects. This has made my career meaningful, helping to enable projects that broadly benefit the public.

            “My family home is in Pacific Palisades and, needless to say, was affected by the wildfire that devastated our wonderful community in January. Our home, built in 1929, is one of the few to have survived the flames, although it is currently uninhabitable, contaminated with soot, ash, and dust with elevated levels of lead and mercury. And our separate garage that served as my wife’s art studio burned down and with it years and years of her artwork, the saddest part of this experience for us. We are living through the plodding, difficult process of decontaminating the house, rebuilding the studio, arm wrestling with the insurer, and finding and dealing with consultants, architects, and contractors. We have lived in five different places since fleeing the fire, literally wandering Jews, currently nestled in Culver City. But we have our home to go back to someday, unlike many friends and neighbors who lost all. To put it mildly, Pacific Palisades is a surreal landscape, and we are living a surreal experience.

            Wishing all my classmates beautiful days ahead, with fire only in your fireplaces”. 

Charisse Lillie was honored by the Committee of Seventy in Philadelphia on May 14, 2025, at their fourth annual Women in Public Leadership event, with a Civic Leadership Award, focused on The Power of Mentorship: Celebrating Women Who Carry as They Climb. C70 is a nonpartisan organization founded in 1904 to combat corruption in Philadelphia, which is currently focused on work designed to improve democracy and government in Philadelphia.

Charisse’s family is doing well, and she is enjoying quality time with her grandchildren. She is still enjoying her work as a board member on several corporate boards, a couple of nonprofit boards, along with some consulting work.

Bob Baum was in the process of uploading a grant application to the National Endowment for the Humanities, when the grant window disappeared. They will no longer fund overseas research. Bob continues, “However, I was delighted to give the keynote address (in French) for a conference in Senegal marking the 80th anniversary of the death of a woman prophet named Alinesitoue, who was arrested by the French [and] detained in a prison camp at Timbuctou, where she was the only woman, and died within a year of scurvy.  I wrote a book about her. It was exciting to speak about her in a country that regards her as a national heroine.”

After 35 years in San Diego (interrupted by 10 years at various stints in D.C.), Rick Kronick and his wife, Amy, have relocated to Berkeley to be closer to their older daughter and her delicious seven-and-one-half and four-year-old sons. Leaving La Jolla and close friends was hard, but the move, especially because Amy has both MS and relatively advanced dementia, feels like a good decision. A side benefit is being marginally closer to their younger daughter and her scrumptious seven and three-and-one-half-year-old daughters in Seattle. Rick continues to do research and policy work on Medicare Advantage payment policy, is a member of the board of the California Office of Health Care Affordability, and fantasizes about writing about how the U.S. might implement and govern a less dysfunctional health-care financing system after he retires from UC San Diego in the not-too-distant future. He has largely recovered from a couple of bad bicycle accidents and other medical misadventures, is greatly enjoying exploring Berkeley and environs, and is working at making new friends and figuring out how to make life work without his partner of 44 years, especially challenging because he is still living with and caring for her (with the help of a spectacularly talented and loving caregiver). 

Monique Witt reports, “It’s been an unusually busy time. We hosted an event for Wesleyan alums in February on Park—an evening of jazz and conversation about improvisation with Roger Grant, from Wes’s integrated arts program, and my son, Ben, at his Steinway B (video and recording included in case anyone wants to view).  We had a dozen alums and spouses, through recent young musicians to members of our own class. Bill and Jane Pearson joined us, and it went long. In the months following, Jane and Bill joined Steven and me for a number of jazz nights round Manhattan, and Ben caught up with their son, Howe (also a musician), at the New Orleans Jazz festival, where Howe was playing with his regular big band and Ben was playing with Rickie Lee Jones (the hometown girl). Dev has been in an intense product- development phase and ExMachina is buzzing in preparation for NAM. 

            “I am still doing board work, and the changing regulatory climate has increased the time demands. I’m gardening a lot to compensate for the wet, cold, and compressed spring and entertaining more for Steven’s work. Steven is still working hard, but is traveling more to Ben’s events, not as far as he did to the Azores last summer, but in the U.S.” 

Michel de Konkoly Thege updates, “I had the great pleasure of recently reconnecting with our classmate Don Reid, who is a professor of modern French history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Don and I drove up together to Middletown in April, where I attended Don’s history Homecoming lecture on French conscripts in the 1960s. At this lecture, we also reunited with our mutual mentor, Professor Nathanael Greene, who was one of the hosts of the lecture. My wife, Harriette, and I subsequently hosted Don at a dinner at our New York City residence. This time with Don was the resumption of a valued friendship that has spanned much time and many mutual interests.”

Patricia Mulcahy shares, “I want to give a shout-out to Ellen Driscoll for organizing two protests on the steps of the New York Public Library. She was inspired by a March 7, 2025, piece in The New York Times that listed over 60 words and phrases that are now ‘disappearing in the Trump administration.’ On federal websites, no longer will you see the following: ‘environmental justice,’ ‘gender,’ ‘bias,’ ‘entitlement,’ ‘vaccines,’ ‘trauma,’ ‘peanut allergies,’ and ‘pronouns.’ Among so many others. 

“Ellen gathered a group of volunteers in her Brooklyn studio to paint these on placards that were then held up on the steps of the library. I didn’t paint, but I participated in both events at NYPL, along with Ellen and her husband, Steven, and members of a group called Rise and Resist. Claudia Catania joined us for the second one, a challenging session in a steady rain right before the No Kings march, punctuated by the chants of a passing parade of Hare Krishna adherents.  

            “Even in bad weather, we engaged the attention of passing tourists and others. And for the first one, some passersby even came up to join in. 

            “Ellen’s dedication to activism is consistent and unwavering. And that’s what gets results. 

            “Finally, I want to say that I’ve never been prouder to be a Wes grad than I am today. Michael Roth’s defense of intellectual liberty, free speech, and the values of democracy has been a complete inspiration.”

During Reunion 2025, we dedicated the bench and plaque celebrating our class of women who led Wesleyan’s return to co-education. The plaque reads, “In honor of the women of the Class of 1974 who led Wesleyan’s return to co-education. Given by the Class of 1974.” There were 20 to 25 at the event—women and men from our class, alums from other classes, and Wes staff. After I spoke, Phoebe Boyer ’89, chair of the Wesleyan Board of Trustees, spoke for a few minutes, thanking us for paving the way for women who came after us.

I attended the memorial service honoring Colin Campbell. It was an uplifting event held in the Campbell Reference Center in Olin Library. Speakers included Phoebe as well as Karl Scheibe and two of Colin’s daughters, Blair and Betsy. Nancy Campbell and Chip Campbell also attended. Colin is buried in the cemetery next to West College.

As Bob Gershen reminds us, he bought and rebuilt a small ranch house in Detroit within walking distance of his daughter, Emily, and her family, including her two infants, Milo (age three) and Naomi (age one and one-half). “Living near our offspring is an unexpected joy. My daughter, Jayme, is a Miami-based filmmaker who had three films accepted this year into festivals in New Orleans, Middlebury, and New York City.  It’s also a joy to see your children excel at something I know nothing about. This year Thanksgiving was a wonderful gathering at which I did no cooking and all four of my children were together for the first time in 15 years.” 

Nancy Collins writes, “This was the highlight of my year. On November 3, 2024, the newest women’s crew shell was christened Spirit of ’74. The name came about from a conversation spring ’23 at the initiation of the Phil Calhoun Endowment Fund for the crew teams. I was there [with my] husband, Brian Mahoney ’73, who had Phil as a crew coach. I was introduced as being in the first women’s shell. A group of the varsity women, who had won the silver medal that spring in their division at the NCAA championship in this brand-new unnamed shell, were very interested in the stories of the beginning of women’s crew as well as other women’s sports in those first couple of years of women on campus. I was so surprised and pleased when informed of their name for that new shell and of the christening event. In the picture: me and Adrienne Bentman, Anne Williams ’75, Brian Dawe ’70 (who was actually responsible for recruiting women to start the sport), Brian Mahoney ’73, and George Surgeon ’72, who helped Coach Dawe coach.

“Before this event, I reached out to the other women with whom I had roomed and who had also rowed, Jane Witten, Val Talmage,and Eileen Devereux ’76 (who entered with the Class of ’75). All of the women said that crew (and for Adrienne who is in Wes’s Athletic Hall of Fame for other sports as well) was the best and most important part of their experience as Wesleyan.” 

Blaise Noto updates us, “Reunion was terrific! So, thanks to all those who made it wonderful. I am semi-retired and a living in Halfmoon, New York, which is between Albany and Saratoga Springs. I am a lecturer at Skidmore College, in marketing and public relations and enjoy being at Skidmore!! Also, I have been busy being a judge for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences: Student Academy Awards and the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting—[including] judging in Oscar categories [of] international feature films, animated feature films, and live action short films.”

Larry Green retired as of year-end 2024 following 47 years of trial practice in Boston, taking pride in his service to clients and his mentorship of younger attorneys over the decades. Larry is grateful that he is retiring in good health. He will be spending his time with a combination of nonprofit board service, consulting, writing, travel, and fitness. Larry and his wife, Denise, were blessed on November 14 with their seventh grandchild. They live in Ogunquit, Maine, enjoying daily walks along the Atlantic shore, and welcoming any and all visits from Wes alums.

Andre Barbera reports, “My latest study, Original Sin and Time, will appear early in 2025, published by Wipf & Stock. This message causes me to reflect for a moment on Wesleyan and our studies there. Those years and ethos seem long ago and far away.  I am grateful for the opportunity to have attended Wesleyan, and in some ways, I learned a lot while there. But judging from publications and class notes, I fear that now I would be a stranger on campus. Perhaps my two recent books (one on faith and works published in 2020) are indicative of a diversity of thought and opinion cultivated at our alma mater.”

Ellen Levy-Sarnoff writes, “Under my pen name, Nelle Lamarr, my new psychological thriller, All My Lies, will be released by Inkubator Books! It’s about a writer who does an unthinkable thing and pays the price. I think it’s my most fun, fast-paced thriller to date. If you love to read bestseller Freida McFadden, whose daughter is going to Wes in September 2025, you will love this book!” 

Claudia Catania reports, “I’ve been spending a lot of time in Denver with son, Gavin, and his wife, Theresa, and their three boys ages two, four, and six. I’ll be spending more time in San Francisco where son, Max, and his wife, Shira, and their in utero, Baby Bean, (a fourth boy) live. I returned to Playing on Air (playingonair.org) for a year or so to reboot, but [I’ve left]. Take it away, Joshua! Italy, here I come!”

Monique Witt updates us, “Mostly the same music news: we have some albums in the mix and master stage, when Dev has time to produce. Dev is hip deep in the new product lines, which he hopes to beta in the spring. Ben [was] in NYC for December as it is one of the heaviest performance times of the year. He [went] back on tour in January for about six months all over. I had a really interesting dinner with Kate Lynch ’82 and Dean Roger Grant from the new integrated arts initiative, talking about everything from jazz to philosophy to the visual arts—exciting time to be in the arts at Wes. We hope to do an evening of jazz and commentary early next year. Steven’s just beginning to think about retirement, which I imagine will involve some aspect of the guys’ music.” 

In September, Bob Baum published his new book: Ancient African Religions: A History with Oxford University Press. Now he is applying for grants for his next book on Senegalese women prophets.

Jane Burns notes, “My 2024 news is summarized in the attached newsletter from our research group and includes receiving an endowed chair and an article in the The New York Times that resulted in the Clintons reaching out to me to participate in the Clinton Global Initiative. Website: https://pediatrics.ucsd.edu/research/centers/kawasaki-disease/index.html” 

Harold Sogard was disappointed with the results of the November elections. He plans to work toward a different outcome in the 2026 elections.

Mark Decker writes, “This past year, Jim and Nancy Gilson, Paul and Kim Liscom, Rip and Marjorie (’76) Dauster, Don Middleton, Bruce Duncan, Larry Green,and Cele and I have been enjoying periodic group Zoom sessions.

“This past June, Cele and I enjoyed a trip to Zambia, Botswana, and South Africa. We highly recommend it.

“On August 1, after 34 years at The Connell Company, I retired. I am now volunteering my time as board member of, and legal advisor to, the Schiff Natural Land Trust. The Trust preserves and maintains the bulk of the lands in Mendham and Chester, New Jersey, which formerly served as the national training center for the Boy Scouts of America.”

Jim Gilson tells us, “Nancy and I had the pleasure of hosting Mark and Cele Decker and Don Middleton just after Election Day. Our visit together slightly mitigated the pain and fear of the results because we could share that pain and fear with friends. All of us— plus Rip Dauster, Paul Liscom, Bruce Duncan, Larry Green, and interested spouses (including Marjorie Allen Dauster ’76)—continue our periodic Zoom catch-up calls, and as many of us as are able plan to get together again late in May at the beautiful house Paul self-built in West Yellowstone, Montana.” 

Bill Pearson writes, “Our major news is that we had our first wedding—Nate Pearson, our eldest, married Raegan Allsbrook on August 24, at our home in Ledyard, Connecticut. This is where Jane and I were married. We had the Wesleyan Gamelan perform for our wedding. Nate and Raegan had his brothers lead the band. It made for a wonderful August day.

His brother, Howe ’12, a Wesleyan alum, is a musician who lives in New Orleans and has spent much of the past year touring with the Deslondes, a great Americana band. His youngest brother, Henry, is a middle school math teacher in Trenton, New Jersey, and co-leads a modern rock band, Uncle Skunk.” 

John Shapiro notes, “Needless to say, it was great to see everybody at our 50th Reunion. The big news in our life is that we have finally become grandparents with the birth of a granddaughter named Noa. At the moment, she and her parents are living in San Diego, where we have visited multiple times since her birth in early October. Ultimately, they will be moving back to New York City, which will be a much easier commute for us!”

James Krantz writes, “My son, Daniel ’11, and his wife have welcomed our first—and hopefully not last—grandchild into our lives. One thing I’ve learned is that all the cliches are true. It’s heavenly.” 

“Greetings from the great state of Maine (reservedly). This is G. Beecher Johnson (Gary Johnson). (Beechnut; aka Fagus grandifolia) now sending my love.” 

Henry Avis-Vieira had two knee surgeries last year, one in March and the other in August. He is finally close to normal now—hiking and jogging a little. What a year! He is still sending out pictures from our 50th Reunion.

Christopher Moeller shares, “My only news is very sad news for me. My wife, Sarah, lost her battle with blood cancer in September. I find grieving to be a terribly difficult process.”

Carolyn White reports, “I was disappointed not to be able to attend the 50th Reunion, but I had a mini-reunion with freshman-year classmates Ellen Driscoll, Ann Duncan, and Anne Jacobs. It is precious to have maintained this friendship.

“July and August saw me in Paris for the Olympics, which was brilliantly well-organized. My next activity will be to, once again, lead a NAMI Family to Family course, helping families deal with a mental health crisis of their loved one.”

Fred Hosea writes, “As a World Health Innovation Fellow, I’m heading an international prototyping team to develop an AI platform to assist innovators in health care devices and services in creating innovations that satisfy a wide range of critical success factors and stakeholder requirements. Am on the board of newly formed Universal Clinical Engineering Federation, modeled on Doctors without Borders, based in India, to send professional CE volunteers into disaster situations to help restore hospital services, which obviously involves painful analysis of Middle East hostilities, massive population emergencies, and unprecedented targeting of humanitarian volunteers, ambulances, hospitals, etc. Here in Ecuador, we’re facing a national plague of drug trafficking and crimes, combined with disruptive climate impacts causing daily 14-hour power outages for two months due to lack of rain to run hydroelectric generators. The current president, Noboa, has signed an agreement to establish U.S. military bases in the Galapagos Islands.”

Lyn Thurber Lauffer shares, “I’m very sad to report the loss of one of our classmates, Fred Freije, who graduated with us, and who passed away on September 17 of this past year in London. He had actually matriculated with the Class of 1967, though he left for various reasons in the years following, till his return to campus in 1973, when few of us encountered him. 

My own acquaintance with Fred, and his family, only occurred a couple of years ago, because of my membership on the 1974 50th Reunion Committee. When I volunteered to contact classmates about reunion, I zeroed in on him, because of his London address. My family travels there often, as our daughter lives in London, and I was intrigued to meet another Wes alum there. My husband, Ferdinand, and I met with Fred in April 2023 and became fast friends. It was soon very obvious how much Wesleyan meant to him, in spite of his unconventional path to a diploma. The short version of his academic journey was summed up by his son, Tom, in his eulogy at Fred’s memorial service in September, which he has kindly sent to me: 

“‘A talented track sprinter, [Fred] received scholarship offers to Yale and Wesleyan. Always contrarian, he unsurprisingly chose to go to Wesleyan, a place he would proudly claim as the only school to expel him three times and still graduate him on a full scholarship.’

“The reason for that final scholarship offer came from our own beloved Steve Buttner ’61, who lured Fred back to Middletown from LA, where he was trying to break into filmmaking, thanks to his close relationship to Jeanine Basinger and the early film department at Wesleyan. He spent his senior year living with, and caring for the children of Professor Tony Connor, whose daughter also traveled to London this fall to take part in Fred’s memorial service. All in all, it seems to me, a journey shaped by every possible path that Wesleyan has always provided for its students, no matter what their circumstances.”

Members of our class enjoyed a record-breaking reunion as well as an experience that exceeded many classmates’ expectations. Some folks spoke of the reunion “afterglow.” If you didn’t see the record-breaking stats, here they are: 117 reunion attendees (classmates), $21.3 million raised in total support, $774,846 raised for Wesleyan’s greatest needs, and 53 leadership gifts. Let’s all plan to attend our 55th, if not earlier!

Jonathan Raskin has been given an academic upgrade to clinical professor of medicine at the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City. 

Bob Gershen reports, “My wife, Debra, and I came to a conclusion after our 50th Reunion that after a dozen years we’ve had enough of Florida. So, we bought an old ranch house a half mile from our youngest daughter and her family in Detroit and are rebuilding and modernizing it. We responded to all the positive vibes from the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival that we attended. This was in part driven by the fact that our second daughter’s latest film was accepted and screened Middlebury.”  

David Rynick updates us: “My second book, Wandering Close to Home: A Year of Zen Reflections, Consolations, and Reveries, was released on September 1. It’s a collection of short essays that seek to uncover the wonder of life through the ordinary, and sometimes challenging, realities of our lives. For more information go to https://davidrynick.com/wandering-close-to-home/ or find it at your local bookstore or online.

“Melissa Blacker ’76 and I continue to lead the Boundless Way Zen Temple here in Worcester, Massachusetts, now both in-person and online. I spend time in the garden, do a little life coaching, and we spend two days a week grandparenting two little ones in Waltham, Massachusetts.”

Christopher Moeller shares, “I am sorry I had to miss our class’s 50th Reunion. I had hoped to visit with some of the friends I knew during my short year-and-a-half enrollment at Wesleyan. However, life had other plans for me. Last January my wife was diagnosed with primary myelofibrosis, a type of blood cancer. We are still battling it and hoping to find a compatible stem cell donor.

“Best wishes to all of my classmates! If anyone comes through the Twin Cities, I would be delighted to reconnect. My contact information is in the reunion book.”

Arthur Fierman shares, “Sparked by conversations at our 50th Reunion, Ellen Driscoll generously offered to give a tour of her Grand Central Station mosaics installation, As Above, So Below to a number of our New York–area classmates. On June 24, we all met at the clock on the main concourse at Grand Central, and Ellen led us on an amazing tour of her work. After the tour, we had a great dinner at the iconic Oyster Bar Restaurant. In attendance for the tour and/or dinner were Ellen and husband, Steven, Pat Mulcahy, Jai Imbrey, Pam van der Meulen, Richard Orentzel ’73 and his wife, Bill Pearson, Inara de Leon, Charlie Steinhorn, Wayne Forrest, Steven Greenhouse ’73, and me and my wife, Shelly. 

“In August, my wife, Shelly, and I attended the 10th annual Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival, produced by Lloyd Komesar. The festival is also like a mini-Wesleyan reunion, with many members of our class and surrounding class years attending each year. In fact, each year Wesleyan sponsors a cocktail hour during the festival for Wes alums (although this year’s had to be canceled due to a scheduling conflict). We were excited to spend time with quite a number of our classmates at this fantastic event, including (to name several): Wayne Forrest and wife, Jean, Claudia Catania and husband, John Cady ’71, Sarah Cady Becker and husband, Bob Becker ’71, Ellen Driscoll and husband, Steven, Pam van der Meulen and husband, Steve, Wendy Starr and husband, Jeff Kessler, Lyn Lauffer, Caroline White–Lesieur, Rick Gilberg and wife, Seth Davis ’72 and wife, and, of course, the irrepressible Lloyd Komesar and wife, Maureen. Hope to see more classmates and Wes folks at next year’s festival!”

And speaking of Lloyd, he was honored for his 10th year leading the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival, which he founded. In honor of his service and “retirement” from this role, the Komesar Prize for Commitment to Culture and Community was named in Lloyd’s honor. 

In the second photo, Lloyd is seen on stage with the Vermont Teddy Bear he was awarded in celebration of this event.

Additionally, President Michael Roth sent the following letter to Lloyd: 

“Dear Lloyd,

“Congratulations to you on ten years of founding and leading the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival after your distinguished career in Hollywood. I know you will enjoy having at least a little more time to spend with your growing family. Thank you for your many years of volunteer service to Wesleyan, most recently with your 50th Reunion!  Go, WES!—Sincerely, Michael”

Monique Witt updates us on her family’s accomplishments. “Ben was commissioned to write a classical piece for the Lake George Music Festival. It’s an aleatoric piece (classical with some opportunity for choice during performance), but not his customary compositional style. He tells me classical musicians read and hear music with a very different vernacular than jazz musicians. He found it challenging. For anyone interested in contemporary classical, this festival is worth following.

“We had a Chicago wedding reunion weekend, sadly, but we hear it was wonderful. We’re still hip deep in sound: Ben has back-to-back tour travel: the South, Europe/Scandinavia, Iceland, West Coast, Japan, and Azores. New York City summer music is often outside, which means gigs at Lincoln Center Out of Doors and Open Streets, when they’re home. Dev finished development of the deployable algorithm and is back to producing the upcoming albums. Steven is in the thick of recruitment season—probably good, as his entire fantasy baseball roster is on injured status. Board work for me has been heavier, so some of the creative projects have languished. But good tennis, and we’re muddling through.”

Chris Neagle is now a performing artist! “My English Country Dance program performed a medley of tunes from the 18th, 19th, and 21st centuries at the Merrill Auditorium at Portland City Hall, Maine’s elite performance venue. Did you know that each dance has its own music? We danced to the mighty Kotzschmar Organ, a historic treasure, and the great house band from 317 Main, a wonderful community music program in Yarmouth. I now understand the joy my performing artist classmates have known for decades. Such fun!” 

Ada Jemison will definitely be there for Homecoming! She has fun photos from Reunion to share as well! And, yes, she still is basking in the afterglow!

Sandy Newman continues full-time pro bono advising of major donors and the Focus for Democracy donor network he co-founded. Evaluating programs through randomized controlled trials allows them to recommend programs that produce three or four times more votes for the money than typical programs. You can write Sandy for more info at sandynewman@gmail.com.

Claudia Catania provides family wedding photos. “Entire wedding party of our older son, Max Cady, and his bride, Shira Feifer, minus our daughter-in-law, Theresa Galli, off camera with her and Gavin’s youngest son! Max chopped down and trimmed saplings from our woods in the early morning—and instant huppah! John Cady ’71 in foreground on left, and me on the right. The whole mishpocha at our place for six days [in] July 2024.

“Max and Shira live in San Francisco; Gavin and Theresa in Denver, Colorado, and their business, 1000 Figs, is in New Orleans. Let us know if you live near Denver or San Francisco!! We’ve rented a carriage house on Gavin’s property!”

Ilene Rosenthal reports, “I am excited that my educational software company, Footsteps2Brilliance, is partnering with PBS and SBCSS to create the first transmedia program that turns television from a passive to an active medium for young children. My company has also been hired to create a game-based financial literacy program for upper elementary students. This will help students learn and apply key principals so that they can make better financial decisions as an adult. My husband and I are thrilled that our Wes daughter (Alex Rosenthal Spencer ’17) and her Wes husband (Keith Spencer ’16) will be moving to D.C., where Keith will be starting his residency program at Georgetown Hospital.  We live in D.C. so this will put them close to us.”

Lloyd Komesar enthusiastically shares, “Greetings to all my ’74 classmates! The Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival will be rolling out its 10th Anniversary Fest this August 21–25 in Middlebury, Vermont. Over the course of these five fun days, we’ll be screening 125 films on six screens, with 80-plus first- and second-time filmmakers in attendance from around the world, along with panels, presentations, special guests, happy hours and evening parties. Lots of parties. There are always many Wes grads who gather at the Fest, from ’74 and surrounding classes. We invariably have a damn good time. So, I extend an invitation to everyone who reads these notes to come join us in Vermont for our milestone 10th-anniversary celebration. If you have questions, contact me at lk@middfilmfest.org.”

Blaise Noto moved from Chapel Hill to upstate New York. He is living in Clifton Park/Halfmoon, halfway between Albany and Saratoga, to “semi-retire” and to be  close to family. He is teaching part time at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, in marketing and public relations, and is thrilled being part of that college community! “Looking forward to seeing all my friends and my brothers at DEKE at Reunion!”

Willy Holtzman shares, “In 2012 my play, The Morini Strad, inspired by the esteemed violin maker (and my best friend) Brian Skarstad ’73, had its New York premiere. A German language production recently premiered in Vienna to rave reviews. I took a bow for us both while Brian continued his magic at the bench.”

Howard Curzer writes, “I am still teaching philosophy at Texas Tech University. Teaching is getting a bit more difficult each year as academia begins to buckle under various stresses, and I get older and crankier. On the bright side, my research is bearing fruit. Last year I published a book on ethics. This year I published another. It is entitled, Difficult Virtues: An Aristotelian Perspective  (Routledge 2024).”  

Lee Coplan reports “Since retirement, my main commitments are music and bridge. I returned to playing the violin about 25 years ago when daughter needed a practice partner for Suzuki violin lessons. I’ve been playing in several klezmer groups for the past 13 years; since COVID hit only one group (KlezKonnection) is still operating. I played at a number of seniors’ homes, synagogues, city parks and bars, and several times at Toronto’s Ashkenaz Festival. I’ve also been playing in a community string orchestra (Strings Attached Orchestra) for the past 10 years, also with a mandate to play at seniors’ residences and schools, as well as community concerts twice a year. After a dry spell during the height of COVID, I’m happy to say that public performances are picking up again. It’s a pleasure to bring the joy of music into people’s lives.

            “After a 45-year (or so) gap, I resumed playing bridge in fall 2019. I originally learned bridge as a freshman at Wesleyan along with many classmates. The game has transformed over the intervening years, so I started with some refresher lessons. I started playing duplicate at the Toronto Bridge Club in February 2020. After three live games, COVID ended in-person play, and I eventually started playing online through Bridgebase (Lee_TO). Now I’m playing a mix of online and in-person games/tournaments. I hope to achieve life master status— I’m 40-plus silver points and 40-plus gold/red points short, so I need to get to, and be successful at, enough tournaments. I plan to play a good bit at the NABC summer tournament in Toronto this July, so I hope that brings me closer to my goal. I’d love to hear from any Wesleyan folks who come for the summer tournament.

            “Otherwise, I keep busy with theater, music, reading, etc. And, of course, I love to spend time with my sons and their families, including my two grandsons (two and nearly five) in Toronto and with my daughter either here or visiting her in Washington, D.C. Lydia and I also resumed traveling to a greater extent and look forward to doing a bit more over the next few years.”

Christine “Chris” Lees Jonientz of Hamden, Connecticut, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, November 7, 2023, at Yale New Haven Hospital, with her family by her side. Chris was born in Hempstead, New York, on May 29,1952. She graduated magna cum laude from Wesleyan University in 1974 with a BA in English. She earned a master’s degree in American civilization from Brown University in 1975 and an MBA from Temple University in 1985. Chris worked as a consumer banker and was a certified master gardener.

Reminder: Hope to see many of you at our 50th Reunion, May 23–26. Attendance for the Class of ’73 at their 50th was 96. Let’s surpass that number! 

Charisse R. Lillie was chosen one of their 2023 Directorship 100 honorees by the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD). Charisse is recognized as one of the most influential directors in the boardroom and corporate governance community. 

(The 2023 D100 comprises 50 directors and 50 governance professionals and institutions who exemplify the knowledge, leadership, and excellence NACD promotes. Nominees play a significant role in shaping the greater boardroom agenda.) 

Monique Witt and her sons, Dev and Ben, are currently working on the mix and master of Ben’s sixth album. “This one is solo piano and accordion. He and Dev chose to re-record some of the accordion parts at Avidon Audio Labs, Dev’s production group, and at the satellite space at OneTrickDog. Dev has engineered over a hundred discs, a number with Grammy nominations, primarily jazz/blues/world, but also some classical. He has also produced all Ben’s albums. We hope also to record Ben’s third album with the Nebula Project (the Sextet plus guests) in March. We are seeing a large volume of streaming of Ben’s work recently, perhaps from his touring exposure, and A Thousand Pebbles was submitted for Grammy consideration this year by a member of the selection committee.

“Ben continues to compose and his touring schedule is as packed as ever. Dev will also be out on the West Coast for his business. 

“While my work on the album is limited to graphics, I’m also finishing a manuscript on aesthetic philosophy that I began during the pandemic with a running partner, who is a curator at one of the NYC art museums. It’s certainly not my field of expertise, but there are two academic publishers who have expressed an interest, so we’ll see. It’s mostly a pretext to talk about beautiful works.”

Gary Johnson writes, “Thinking of you . . . and the wonderful times on campus.”

Nancy Collins reports: “Brian Mahoney ’73 and I split our time between Arizona and Minnesota (guess which season is spent where) but we are Arizona citizens at this point. Brian’s physical issues limit our traveling so we are basically homebodies. My time is spent being a PCA when called upon, organizing two book clubs, taking care of two flower gardens in the summer, doing some outside work at both homes; in Rio Verde, playing with the Lady Putter’s once a week (no golfing experience needed), and mentoring a boy (I started with him in third grade) who is now in ninth grade. I exercise every day since I need to keep myself in some 71-year-old shape so we can stay in our two homes, while binge-watching all old seasons of NCIS and NCIS: LA. In the past four years, I have sewn by hand seven Christmas stockings and am working on my fifth Advent calendar for our five grandchildren. In between, I am increasing my knitting skills. In summary, I am increasing the amplitude of other Wes grads accomplishment. I love living in the slow lane and have decided I really was programmed to be like my mom, a stay-at-home wife, and not really meant for the working world. I love being retired.

“Brian and I returned to Wesleyan in late September for the announcement of the Phil Calhoun endowment funds for Wesleyan crew. I was so impressed with what Wesleyan is currently; it was so different it didn’t bring back any less-than-ideal memories. It was a strange experience to be talking to the very accomplished members of the women’s and men’s crews. The women were intrigued by the alumni stories of being the first women on campus in recent history and of what starting the women’s sports teams were like. And they were all so clean-cut in comparison to the students of the 70s!! A very impressive bunch.”

Ken Jacobs writes, “As a relatively late-in-life dad with two adopted kids, I’m at least 10 years behind most of our classmates. My younger daughter is still in college and my son is training as an apprentice plumber. They haven’t launched yet, but they’re getting there! Of course, that also means I’m still practicing real estate law at Smith Buss & Jacobs in New York. We’re up 400-plus co-op and condo associations as clients and 27 lawyers, whom I’m training diligently to help take over the reins. 

“I’ve kept up my two most intense college pastimes over the years—tournament bridge and dancing. Bridge took second place to raising a family but I still managed to get to some tournaments; now that I have more time, though, for some inexplicable reason my card sense isn’t quite as sharp as it was in my 30s. I’ve folk danced, contra danced, ballroom danced, and East and West Coast swing danced in New York and New Jersey for over 40 years—my only regret is that my wife, Sharon, with two knee replacements and a hip replacement, can’t join me anymore. 

“I still read the Class Notes, but I haven’t decided yet whether to attend the reunion. We’ll just have to see.”

Peter Welcher updates us: “Still living near Annapolis. I’m adjusting to being semiretired, eight  hours per week doing tech blogging, etc. We’ve continued some travel and hiking (Banff, Canada area, Delaware Water Gap, and Phoenix area); hope to do more in 2024. We have four grown kids (three UMD, one Elon grad), who each have a dog. Plus five grandkids (one [born] in ’21, three around January ‘23, number 5 on the way). One kid will be spending two to three years working in Rome as USDA/Foreign Service officer handling negotiations; their wife doing USDA management work remotely. Another, State Department lawyer, will be spending two to three years in The Hague; her lawyer husband will be working remotely or as EU presence. We look forward to traveling to visit them!”

Bill Pearson shares: “Greetings to all. Hope to see many of you  in May for our 50th. I’m still working, primarily as a management consultant with Contemporary Leadership Advisors, a team of behavioral scientists, and me. I’m also active with several not-for- profits—the Osborn, National Council for the Traditional Arts, City Lore, and the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival. 

“Our three boys, Nate, Howe ’12, and Henry, are thriving and far-flung—San Francisco, New Orleans, and New Jersey. CFO, musician, and middle school math teacher respectively. No one married yet, but that’s coming up next August.

“Jane and I are doing our best to have adventures—seeing the boys, NYC theater and music, hiking, fishing, and camping.”

News from Carolyn White-Lesieur: “Nothing spectacular to report except four spectacular grandchildren: two in Toulouse, France, and two in Pelham, New York. All terrific in my eyes, of course. My last volunteer activities were with the Board of the UU Church in Harvard Square while continuing to be active with NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) as teacher and trainer for the Family to Family classes. But it is time to taper off volunteering to travel the world, which I hope to do with my French husband. It is now or never! My forever activity is women’s doubles and, luckily, the Boston area has so many tennis opportunities. 

“My philosophy on life is simple: if I am upright and walking, it is a good day. 

“If you have never been to our Lloyd Komesar’s Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival in August, maybe this is the year to go? Great atmosphere and films. Great atmosphere and films. A small cadre of Wesleyan folks are always there, along with Lloyd, to welcome you. But, first, see you at Reunion? 

Wayne Forrest reports, “2023 was a year of blessings. My one offspring, Jamie, got married on a beautiful August day on a lake in northwest Connecticut, fulfilling a wish I made in 2018 when my wife, Jean, was diagnosed with breast cancer only to followed by ovarian cancer a year later. I’ve never been overly religious and have only a tenuous belief in a power outside ourselves, but I prayed then that she would survive long enough to see Jamie’s wedding. I missed the 2019 reunion and thankfully things have normalized, and the future looks very bright. I’ve been so pleased to work with others on the 50th Reunion committee to help create activities (such as a gamelan reunion concert) that will bring more of us together next May. My current state of mind remains optimistic about retirement, but I am not retired. COVID taught us how to work from home—and kept me from a daily 45-minute train ride into Manhattan—and that is keeping me employed. But I see the future and it includes playing lots of music, tennis, cycling on an e-bike, as much travel as possible, and being with friends and loved ones.” 

James Krantz reports that his son, Daniel ’11, is now a father. He’s become a grandfather. What a joy!

Arthur Fierman shares: “It has been a whirlwind of a year . . .  Starting with my work as chief of pediatric ambulatory care at Bellevue Hospital, we have been doing our best to provide medical care to the thousands of migrant children and families who have arrived in New York City to seek a safer, better life. Many of these children and their family members are housed in shelters near Bellevue, and many have experienced unspeakable trauma prior to and during their journeys in the form of threats, actual physical or sexual violence, the death of loved ones, and/or political persecution. Most come to Bellevue initially to update their immunizations for school entry and to receive other routine health maintenance, but they need so much more in the way of mental health and social services. A surprising number of the children are also in need of care for significant chronic illnesses, which sometimes could not be adequately addressed in their home countries. The challenge has been great, but as I head into retirement from full-time work in January 2024, it is good to know that Bellevue will still be there to support the families in their pursuit of a better life. I am looking forward to retirement, anticipating continuing some connections to NYU and Bellevue, but seeking new adventures!

“On the home front, my wife, Shelly, and I became grandparents in April 2023, when our son, Andrew, and wife, Danielle, brought Ellie Harper Fierman into the world. She is a joy and an inspiration! This past summer, as we have done for several years now, Shelly and I attended the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival. Produced by Lloyd Komesar, the fest has been a wonderful event, with over 100 amazing documentaries, shorts, feature-length films, interviews with filmmakers and actors, and great social events each year. Rivaling the event itself over the years is the opportunity to hang out with so many Wesleyan ’74 classmates and other Wes grads—including Wayne Forrest and wife, Jean Seibel, Claudia Catania and John Cady ’71, Sarah Cady and Bob Becker ’71, Wendy Starr and [husband] Jeff Kessler, Lyn Lauffer, Carolyn White-Lesieur and husband, Jean, Bill Pearson and wife, Jane, Bill Burton, David Weller and wife, Rochelle Zabarkes, Seth Davis ’72, just to name a few. If you have never been, you should really consider coming for the 10th annual festival in August 2024!”

Henry Avis-Vieira is “very pleased to inform that all financial markets articles I’ve published in El Exportador—a prestigious trade finance journal headquartered in Madrid—between 2005 to the present are now available online at academia.edu.

“Having a super time working on our 2024 class reunion with so many of my classmates and our fabulous Wes coordinators, such as Mandy Broulik, Lucy Diaz, Geralyn Russo, and others. A real pleasure.”

Fred Kessler reports: “I have been blessed with a great legal career at one law firm, where I have worked for over 45 years; 40 years as a partner.  I specialize in helping public agencies conduct procurements for major infrastructure projects nationwide (mostly in the transportation sector) through innovative contracting methods including public-private partnerships. It is gratifying to work on matters that make a positive difference for the general public and create good engineering and construction job opportunities. But I am eagerly anticipating cutting back next year and fully retiring in the near future, so that I can devote more time to family, reading, the outdoors, travel, community service, and relaxation. A shout-out to all my Deke brothers, wherever you are!”

Gray “Jon” Cox is enjoying traveling in person and via Zoom to give book talks on his SmarterPlanet or Wiser Earth? Dialogue and Collaboration in the Era of Artificial Intelligence that was recently published by the Quaker Institute for the Future. Since it is a dialogical book about dialogical reasoning, which has come out just as AI has become increasingly dialogical and everyone wants to talk about it, he is feeling a bit like a Plato at the Googleplex. He is also contemplating a miniconcert tour for the album’s worth of songs that are incorporated via QR codes as part of the argument of the book— including the show starter: “I’m gonna slow right down, so I can get there sooner. I’m gonna slow right down, so I can get there today. I’m gonna slow right down, maybe even come to a full stop. Maybe if I come to a full stop I’m gonna get there right away.” Besides Amazon, etc., it is available in an electronic Creative Commons form at www.smarterplanetorwiserearth.com. He continues to live in his hometown of Bar Harbor, teach at College of the Atlantic, and enjoy family life in the wilds of Maine.