PETER W. WEISMILLER, an ethnomusicologist and guitar teacher, died Jan. 14, 2014. He was 63. After receiving his degree cum laude and with honors, he moved to Seattle in 1979 for the master’s program in ethnomusicology at the University of Washington. He taught humanities for many years at the Northwest School in Seattle and helped organize programs of Asian music in the Seattle area. One brother, three sisters, and nine nieces and nephews survive.
It boggles the mind to think how much more difficult the task of Class Secretary would have been in the days before e-mail. You’ve all made my life easier by replying to my pleas for class notes and updates. Many thanks! What also delights me are the number of first-time contributors we are still hearing from after all these years. Here we go:
Jay Kilbourn wrote about his profession combining business and ecology. Jay is VP of the firm Resource Solutions ,which is doing a host of good things: making composts from bio-solids, assisting paper mills in recycling their products, and assisting farmers in New England and New York with fertilizer alternatives made from wood and other materials. All of the work is part of thinking known as industrial ecology, to redesign industrial processes so that waste will be intentionally recyclable and a more valuable resource.
Bob Nastri has been nominated to the State Superior Court by the Governor of Connecticut. Sarah Schultz O’Loughlin is a school psychologist at a Charter Public School in Norwood, Mass.; she lives in Hull, Mass., is happily married to husband Spencer, and has four sons. I was impressed to hear that her sons are in business together.
Eric Simons, a frosh hallmate of mine, writes from Colorado about building a new home in the hills of Buena Vista, soon departing from Boulder. Eric, always the outdoorsman, has been developing and building wind farms around the globe. He’s married to his nearly retired corporate lawyer wife, Linnea, and has three grown sons. Eric would love to hear from Jack Brandon, Lee Brown, Greg Powell, Sarah Plotkin, and Leah Schmidt.
Carol Cooper has a 2013 music feature for the Village Voice, on the yearly Globalfest international artist showcase, which is up for a Pulitzer Award. In addition, she is teaching creative writing at the Manhattan Center for Science and Math. By the time we read this, John Fink will have made his way to New York for TV business and hopefully met up with Rick Dennett and Peter Guenther. Buzz Cohen has begun previews for his 62nd production as stage manager at the Public Theater in New York. Buzz manages one show per season at the Trinity Rep in Providence. Julie Shapiro is teaching law in Seattle and is proud of her son Eli ’17, a freshman at Wesleyan. Will Altman has been busy publishing works on the following: Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche: The Philosopher of the Second Reich; Martin Heidegger and the First World War; Plato the Teacher: Crisis of the Republic; The German Stranger: Leo Strauss and National Socialism. All books are published by Lexington Books. Will has retired from more than 30 years teaching in public high schools to devote himself to research and writing. He resides in Florianopolis, Brazil.
Jim Melloan wrote of leaving his position at Inc. Magazine to move back home to Westfield, N.J., to care for aging parents as well as do freelance writing and editing. On Sundays, Jim co-hosts a music jam at a place called Old Man Hustle on New York’s Lower East Side. He is in touch with Tom Kovar ’76, David Oppenheimer ’78, Jack Freudenheim ’79 (and his band Borough Boys), Ann Beutler Millerick, Professor Neely Bruce, John Williams, and Kit Reed.
Hank Rosenfeld’s book on Groucho Marx is receiving rave reviews in Italy. Sue Guiney wrote in about her new novel in her Cambodian series: Out of the Ruins. Sue has spent several months in Cambodia this year teaching a workshop in a shelter that is part of a different NGO: Enfants du Mekong. It has been helping kids in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam for over 50 years.
Mark Beamis wrote about remaining sane and serene as well as adjusting to the change in mayor in Boston. Jerry Stouck and wife visited their Wesleyan junior son David ’15 late last year in China and reports David’s siblings are all fully engaged in academics: both as graduate and undergraduates. Laraine Balk Hope wrote late last year describing her economist work at the Inspector General’s Office for the U.S. Postal Service. Her husband, John, is teaching biotechnology at Johns Hopkins. She is spending time with her extended family in the UK including a new grand-nephew. Lisa Nelkin and husband Bret are retired and living in Colorado Springs, traveling RV-style throughout the US and Canada. Lisa has a daughter married and living outside Baltimore, as well as a certified therapy dog.
Jerry Caplin is busy renovating homes in Charlottesville with his company, Silk Purse Properties, creating affordable rentals for blue collar families. He appears to be loving every minute of it. By the time we read this, Deb Mercer should have returned from her husband’s birthday celebration in France. Jane Goldenring has been a visitor in New England during this relentless winter to film Boychoir with an all-star cast including Dustin Hoffman. In addition, her new Disney Channel TV movie, Zapped, will be aired this summer. Finally, Peter Oldziey writes noting however the technology has changed things such that appreciation of music, or how he organizes his outdoor adventures, he still relaxes in jeans and tie-dye shirts just as he did at Belknap or on the Lodge or Upper Porch. “The more things change the more they stay the same.”
Ain’t it the truth!
Gerry Frank | Gfrank@bfearc.com
Here we are just a couple of days before Thanksgiving and outside here, in Lexington Center, the holiday lights are being strewn in most of the trees on Massachusetts Avenue, along with garlands being wrapped around the historically appropriate light posts. And if that were not enough, a gentle snow is falling. All of this to remind me that another year is winding down and that it is time to connect with friends and family, in appreciation for what this past year has brought.
Wendy Brown Giardina wrote en route to the States to celebrate her first Thanksgiving in many years. Wendy stopped work this year in favor of great books, writing, and long nature walks. Home is still in Switzerland, near her grown daughters. Joel Backon continues work at Choate; he will be on sabbatical next year to write a book with the working title of Clarity: Understanding the Real World. Joel’s son, Jacob, was married last year and teaches at St. Marks School. Joel plans, himself, to be married this spring to the woman he met eight years ago. Congratulations on all fronts! Deb Mercer wrote about her empty nest being a bit fuller this holiday with the return of her actor/writer son, Garrett. Deb, as board president for a Rhode Island Arts Center is busy fundraising for a chair lift to make her facility accessible. Jonathan Gertler and family are doing well. Jonathan is working on a second CD of original material “working with great musicians and fulfilling his musical fantasies.” He has been in touch with Ellen Gendler, Bob Krakower, Tom Kovar ’76, and Susan Davis Pereira. Business life continues to be busy in Boston and abroad as CEO of his consulting and advisory firm serving the biotech, pharma, and med tech community. Arnie Alpert forwarded me an article by William Greider in The Nation, mentioning Ron Bloom as a good candidate to be nominated to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. Jason Baron wrote in that he has retired as director of litigations at the National Archives, only to begin work as “of counsel” at a Washington, D.C., law firm. He and his wife, Robin, have celebrated their 22nd wedding anniversary and their daughter, Rachel, is a freshman at Bowdoin. Jason is in touch with Helen Taenzer Lott, Peter Stack, Bruce Kaplan, Jerry Stouck, and Drew Kaplan. Jason would like to be in contact with Foss Hill 5 alums and others. Contact Jason at jrbaron3@gmail.com. Hope Neiman’s job has been taking her to Asia recently, without much sightseeing time. Her daughter graduates from Wesleyan in 2014. Hope is encouraging fellow classmates to work with the Career Center to help place Wesleyan graduates. Don Spencer continues his work from home with his private equity firm and with his local volunteer fire department (every youngster’s dream!). His eldest daughter, Jocelyn, is a “Teach for China” fellow in rural China; his younger daughter, Alyssa, is a freshman at Clark University. Me? Well, my life this year has been divided, like so many of you, into many different parts. In spring, I assumed the role of board chair at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum here outside Boston. It is an exciting time learning about the workings of a not-for-profit and motivating a board and staff into creating something which is greater than the sum of its parts. With over 28 acres, the place has the opportunity, and is poised, to do some amazing things with its location not far from Walden Pond. Not having relinquished my day job, the architecture business seems to be booming with our office fortunate to maintain a variety of types of projects. I continue to further my religious buildings portfolio. The “spiritual” designs contrast with the large residential component to my business, from single family to congregate housing. During the past year I was delighted to visit Chicago, at the subtle urging of my great friend Iddy Olson. As an eastern snob, I couldn’t imagine what the Midwest could offer during the summer. Boy, what a dope; Chicago was beautiful. We had a great time exploring the wonders of Lake Michigan and touring the vast architecture of this incredible city. Iddy has carved out a charming life incorporating all past and present periods in it: from her childhood, college, adult and professional periods. Currently she is spending the Thanksgiving holiday in Hawaii with her two kids.
That is it for now. Best wishes to you and yours for a wonderful 2014.
Gerry Frank
Gfrank@bfearc.com
MICHAEL E. NEWTON, a systems analyst in Seattle, Wash., died Sept. 26, 2012. He was 57. He received his degree cum laude and with honors, and attended graduate school at Washington State University. An avid outdoorsman, he was a member of the Mountaineers and enjoyed exploring the mountains of the Northwest. He is survived by his wife, Mira Zalokar-Newton ’79, D.V.M., three children, his mother, five brothers, one sister, and a sister-in-law, Nadja Z. Golding ’77.
Dena (Seibert) Thomas of Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., and Chatham, MA died on April 21, 2005 after a valiant battle with leukemia. She was 49. Dena was born in New York City, the daughter of Wilson and Susan Seibert. She was raised in Croton on-Hudson and graduated from Hackley School in Tarrytown in 1973. Dena received a BA in American History from Wesleyan in 1977. She then attended The Fashion Institute of Technology before embarking on a successful career in the fashion and accessories field, which began at Bloomingdales and included a decade with Bally of Switzerland. Mrs. Thomas served as a Trustee of Teatown Lake Reservation in Ossining. Dena spent her summers on Cape Cod in Chatham. She will be remembered for her generosity of spirit towards all with whom she came in contact, as well as for her fierce loyalty to her family, especially her two sons. She is survived by her husband of 20 years David B.Thomas ’77, her sons William S. and Spencer W., her mother Susan H. Seibert of Chatham, MA and Naples, FL, sister Sara A. Seibert of Redondo Beach, CA, brother Andrew W. Seibert of New York, NY, sister and brother-in-law Susan S. and John T. Cooney, Jr. of Ossining, one niece and one nephew Sara W. and Jack T. Cooney. Predeceased by her father Wilson A. Seibert, Jr. who died on April 20, 2005.
CAROL JEWETT ROSTAD, 52, a vice president of GenRe Securities, died June 30, 2007. She received her degree magna cum laude, earned a master’s degree at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies, and a PhM at Columbia University. During her career she taught economics at Drew University and had worked at several banks in New York City. She is survived by her daughter, Laura K. Rostad, her parents, a sister, a brother, and an extended family. (For more information, see the Times Tribune, July 8, 2007.)
EDWARD G. (Ned) ROGERSON, 52, a senior vice president at BankAtlantic, died Dec. 15, 2006. He was a member of Psi Upsilon and received an MBA from Northeastern University. He is survived by his wife, Shelby Coleman Rogerson ’78; a daughter; a son; his life partner, Juan Carlos Guerrero; his parents; and a sister.
DONNA L. MORAN-AMARANT, 55, a nutritionist who had just completed a master’s degree in library science from Southern Connecticut State University, died Sept. 8, 2005, of injuries suffered in an automobile accident. After attending Wesleyan as an Etherington Scholar, she received a bachelor’s degree in nutritional science from the University of Connecticut. She was a member of the Haddam (Conn.) Land Trust and was a past president and leader of her synagogue in Deep River. Among those who survive are her husband, George Amarant, their son, another son from her first marriage, her father and stepmother, four sisters, and many nieces and nephews.
RICHARD S. GOLDMAN, M.D., a physician who practiced internal medicine in Sudbury, Mass., died Apr. 4, 2009. He was 54. A member of Psi Upsilon, he received an MPH from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a medical degree from the Boston University School of Medicine. The former husband of Barbara Kaplan Goldman, survivors include two daughters, his parents, a brother, and a friend, Ashley Devine.
JAMES A. GIARDINA, James Alfred Giardina (Wesleyan Class of 1977) died on Saturday 25th of August 2007 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer, at his home in Rheinfelden, AG. James was born in Santa Monica, California on May 17th 1955, son of James Alfred Giardina (?) and Barbara Helen Nordgren Giardina (?).James graduated from Cromwell High School in 1973, then attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, graduating with a degree in European History in 1977. He began his career in Connecticut as a banker, then in 1979 moved to S?o Paulo, Brazil as a financial consultant. In 1983 he left Brazil to get an MBA from INSEAD, in Fontainebleau, France and subsequently began a 23-year career in finance with the Swiss pharmaceutical industry. From 1983 – to 1993 he worked with Sandoz AG, with postings in Basel, Jakarta, Indonesia, Guadalajara, Mexico and Dallas, Texas. In 1993 he joined the Roche Diagnostics Division, returning to Switzerland. James was married in 1980 in Smiths Parish, Bermuda to Wendy Suzanne Brown (also Wesleyan alumni of 1977), and they have two daughters, Stefanie Grace, born in 1984 in Basel, and Francesca Blythe, born in 1987 in Singapore. In March 2000, James and his family took on Swiss citizenship. He is also survived by a sister, Nancy Giardina Bennett, who lives with her husband and two sons in Farmington, Connecticut. A service was held in his memory on Friday 31st of August at the Christkatholische Stadtkirche zu St. Martin in Rheinfelden. Instead of flowers, the family would be grateful for a donation to a charity of your choice, or the Aargauische Krebsliga Ambulante Onkologiepflege (AOP) Postcheckkonto: 50-72019-9 or the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, (www.pancan.org) 2141 Rosecrans Avenue, Suite 7000, El Segundo, CA 90245.
