Tag: 1986

Michael Levin wrote: “With profound sadness, we share that Mark Hill passed away in September.

“Friends including Steve Cadigan, Gus Conroy, Jeff Dorsey ’85, Art Horst (and wife, Martha), Jerry Hourihan, Jeremy Mindich ’87, Ralph Savarese, Tina Varone Zimmerman (and husband, Peter), and Tony Zimmerman (and wife, Ann), and I—many of whom had lived with Mark in Foss 10, Foss 6, or at 151 Church Street—traveled from across the country and even overseas to attend his funeral. Over the weekend, we shared memories, tears, laughs, and hugs and exchanged stories with each other and with Mark’s family, including his wife, Jackie, children Erica and Nick, his mother, and five older siblings. In celebration of Mark’s life, Gus Conroy spoke eloquently, poignantly, and humorously, recalling moments as Mark’s roommate at Wesleyan, living together in Taiwan after college, and, most recently, hosting Mark at his home near Houston when Mark was being treated for cancer at MD Anderson, as well as invoking Buddhist teachings learned in one of several classes they took together at Wes. Since Mark’s death, we have communicated more frequently by group text, and we are already looking forward to being together for Reunion weekend in 2026 (when two Horst children and one Mindich are scheduled to graduate from Wesleyan) and hoping also to gather at some point in 2025.

“We encourage classmates, teammates, people who attended parties at 151 Church Street, and anyone else who wants to share memories of Mark to email classnotes@wesleyan.edu or offer condolences to his family via michaeljlevin@yahoo.com.”

A link to Mark’s obituary can be found online at classnotes.blogs.wesleyan.edu.

Marc Rosner shared: “I got married to Diane Gross in January, retired from teaching science in June, and incorporated Hudson Valley Numismatics. This includes pro bono appraisals and home visits for seniors, vets, and those in need. Met Dave Warne for dinner to catch up; he looks the same as he did back in Clark. 

Grace Huschle Delobel, a first-time contributor to the ’86 Class Notes(!), sent in this news: “Since graduating, I’ve had the chance to live an ordinary life in some extraordinary places—Nepal, Tanzania, Pakistan, the Philippines, and for the past 25 years, France. I raised three kids, adopted a bunch of pets, and work as a scientific translator. Living overseas has its ups and downs, especially losing touch with people, but I’m trying to change that (starting with this Class Notes entry . . . ). On the flip side, living in Europe offers some valuable advantages. Due to recent events in the USA, I decided to launch a new venture, Onsite Insight France (www.onsiteinsightfrance.com), to share my experience with anyone toying with the idea of relocating abroad. I tried to convince Tamar Rothenberg, Dana Martin, Lyndsey Layton, and Susannah Goodman ’87 to take the leap during a Thanksgiving trip to the U.S. No luck yet, but I am working on it.—Grace”

Hi ’86ers! Some news from classmates:

Monica Jahan Bose had a very busy spring 2024: “In March, I had an exhibition in Dhaka, Bangladesh, as part of a U.S. Art in Embassies visit. The exhibition was a three-channel video installation with collaborative saris about climate change and its impact on farmers in Bangladesh and around the world. In June, I created a temporary public art project called Swimming in front of a D.C. public school and pool, looking at inequities in access to water and swimming. Also in June, Michael Scott Bennett ’87 and I celebrated our 30-year wedding anniversary and visited our daughter, Tuli, in Portland, Oregon, where she just started a Doctor of Nursing Practice/Midwifery program at OHSU. Our younger daughter, Koli, is a junior at Bryn Mawr College this fall. Sending love to our friends in Classes of ’86 and ’87!”

Steve Elbaum wrote to remind us of Bill Gerber’s victory last November to be first selectman in Fairfield, Connecticut. Steve said, “he had a lot of financial and moral support from Wes alums from the mid and late ’80s and won by 37 votes (out of about 18,000 cast) in a state-mandated recount. He and his wife, Jessica ’90, have long been elected officials in Fairfield.”

Ernest Friedman-Hill: “I was recently promoted to distinguished member of the technical staff at Sandia National Laboratories, where I’ve worked for 32 years (remotely from the East Coast for over 25 years!). Although I enjoyed my time as a chemistry major at Wes and went on to get a PhD in chemistry (MIT ’92), I’ve been working as a computer scientist almost the whole time I’ve been at Sandia. I’ve written a few books and worked in a range of areas from rule-based systems to graphical programming environments and automated workflow. Stacia ’85 and I will celebrate our 35th anniversary in the spring.

George Justice: “I am entering my third year as provost at The University of Tulsa and excited to participate on a junket—er, a Fulbright Fellowship to France this October. I’m also on my own this year, with wife, Devoney Looser, on a full-year fellowship at the Huntington Library; son, Carl, a senior at Pitzer College; and son, Lowell, a freshman at Wes. We loved coming to campus together in April for WesFest, which sealed the deal for Lowell.”

Lisa Porter: “Hi all: I have moved from San Francisco to NYC, where I am currently the voice and dialect coach for the national tour of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. With the closing of the MFA program at the American Conservatory Theater, where I was the head of acting and dialects, it was time to start a new chapter. I am having a wonderful time seeing Wes friends. Just last week, Shawn Cuddy, James Hallett, Mary Beth Kilkelly ’85, and I went to see Frank Wood ’83 in his show, The Meeting: The Interpreter. In May, Melinda Newman and I went to NOLA for Jazz Fest and saw The Rolling Stones.” 

Marc Rosner: “It happened! I retired from teaching science after 37 years. Diane and I are now working full time at Hudson Valley Numismatics doing estate consultation and sales. Much of our work is helping seniors and their families downsize and find a home for possessions and treasure.”

Ellen Santistevan: “Like most of us in the Class of ’86, I am turning 60 this year and doing a few things to celebrate myself. The biggest thing was that I got to take a dream trip (focused on volcanoes) to Iceland in August with a group of alumni from New Mexico Tech, where I got my master’s degree. Getting to spend 10 days in a land that constantly and consistently reminds you that you are small, and the world is so big, was exactly the restorative dip into nature that I needed, among a group of friends and acquaintances that share a deep bond of the Tech experience. For a future trip, I am lobbying for the volcanic islands of Greece (where I did my undergraduate fieldwork with Joop Varekamp) and/or Italy.”

Lastly, Bennett Schneider says: “It was an extremely busy Pride Month in June. One of the highlights was being asked by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to bless the raising of the Pride Flag over all county buildings. I was asked to create the blessing, which invoked LGBTQ deities from spiritual paths all over the world. Have been seeing Lisa Rosen, Melinda Newman, Cobina Gillitt ’87, Nathan Gebert ’85, Al Septien ’85, and a bevy of others. Went to Palm Springs with Melinda Newman for my 60th and she made it a truly special birthday celebration. Performed my 19th wedding and my third memorial service as a spiritual

Bill Gerber sent in this update: “Steve Elbaum and his wife, Jill, was part of a group that recently acquired Cold Hollow Cider Mill in Waterbury, Vermont, near Stowe. Still practicing law in Stamford, Connecticut, Steve and Jill spend many weekends at the mill. John McIntyre, John Brais, Dave Patterson, and I visited [recently] and we were incredibly impressed by how fluent Steve has become in cider production! While there we FaceTimed with Nic Pifer.”

Tavy Ronen shared: “I am still happily living in Manhattan, near Lincoln Center. I have been at Rutgers for almost three decades and am a professor of finance, specializing in market microstructure and corporate bonds. About 10 years ago, I launched a set of Business of Fashion programs for Rutgers Business School, and I get to occasionally hang out with fashion executives and attend New York Fashion Week events. 😊 My daughter is still in grad school nearby, so I feel very lucky to get to spend a lot of time with her. She is, by far, my most notable single-authored work.

            “As we collectively approach our 60th birthday, I think often of Sara Williams, whom so many of us loved dearly. As most of us know, she died so young and tragically. Last month I sat in the Key Park at Gramercy Park, beneath the building she grew up in, and wondered where she would have been now.”

Marc Rosner wrote: “In just one month: 60 candles, wedding bells, and a retirement incentive from Hastings-on-Hudson schools. Four decades supporting science is enough; Diane and I are retiring to build appraisals, restoration, and sales at Hudson Valley Numismatics. (Who knew WESU senior Silversmithing would ignite a second career?) Recently had lunch with Amy Grossman ’88. Always texting Alex Rothman, Andrew Zeller, and Dave Warne.”

And speaking of Alex Rothman, he wrote: “How time flies. Somehow Nina and I are now entering our 30th year in Minneapolis; long enough that our two sons are now off and have found their way (back) to the East Coast. Fortunately, life does lead me back to New York, and on a trip this past March, [I] had a great day eating and wandering about NYC with Dave Warne and Andrew Zeller.

Tierney Sutton updates us too:“The last few years have found me continuing to record and tour with several projects. The Tierney Sutton Band is still going strong and  we’ve opened up to some wonderful new personnel. (My last run in New York featured the great Lenny White on drums [Chick Corea and Return to Forever]). I have also done several tours of the U.S. and Europe with the Paris Sessions trio, which features my husband, Serge Merlaud, on guitar. (We split our time between Paris and Los Angeles when not on the road.)

“March 1, 2024, I released a new album, Good People, which is a collaboration between me and the San Gabriel Seven, a horn-based band that has done projects with many other artists. Eight of 10 tracks were either written or co-written by me, so this is a big departure. I’m especially excited about the title track, Good People, for which I produced a video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLq6CqzmTvY). It’s essentially Schoolhouse Rock! for systemic racism in the U.S. I’m planning to create a series of songs and videos to address U.S. history that is too often overlooked.”

Erika Levy shared: “I’m still enjoying my work as professor of communication sciences and disorders at Teachers College, Columbia University. My daughter is now a sophomore at Wes, having as great a time as I did, and it’s fun to visit her. My son is waiting to hear college decisions, and soon my husband and I will be empty nesters. My job keeps me very busy, but I try to squeeze in work with refugees and practice speaking languages. Always happy to connect with my Wesleyan classmates.”

Bennett Schneider said on June 16, 2023, the Los Angeles Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence received the Los Angeles Dodgers’ community hero award on the team’s annual LGBTQ Pride Night at Dodger Stadium. Bennet, as Sister Unity, was one of the members to accept the award on the group’s behalf. “The award recognized our group’s 27 years of work as activists and fundraisers in the LA LGBTQ community,” he said. Unfortunately, he added, there were “2,000 protestors right outside the stadium, and three weeks of back-to-back press interviews and news coverage, positive and negative.” Bennett also noted that the garment he wore at the event was “hand sewn and every single red AIDS ribbon—about 100—was sewn on by Lisa Rosen.

“A month afterward, Lisa and I dined al fresco with Amanda Marks ’88. . . . Still see Nathan Gebert ’85, who now winters in Japan every year and stops off here in Southern California to visit on his way to and from.”

Rich Koffman writes, “My wife, Jacqueline, and some friends (including Rich Monastersky and Victoria Nugent ’91) and I recently formed a private sponsorship group under the State Department’s Welcome Corps program. The program allows groups of private citizens to sponsor and help resettle refugees in the United States. Our group was matched with a refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who arrived here in late September after more than two decades in a refugee camp in Tanzania. With some guidance from the folks at HIAS, who provide resources for private sponsorship groups nationwide, we have helped him find an apartment, register for government benefits, and sign up for English classes, and we are working to find him employment. It’s been a challenging, eye-opening, and rewarding experience thus far. I’ve even learned a little bit of Swahili! I highly recommend the program to anyone who may be interested in helping refugees establish themselves in the United States.”

Kate Nunn Mini wrote,“I am now practicing pediatrics in New Haven. Yale Health is a wonderful place to work! Although I continue to see patients, my focus over the last few years has been pediatric mental health, specifically, integrating behavioral health into primary care. My kids are doing well out in the world, so it’s a great time for me to dive into this work!”

Emily Cowan said, “Big changes for me in the last 18 months: I bought a condo on the northern edge of Concord, New Hampshire, and I started a new job at a community mental health center. I’m glad to be working for a big organization again, especially one with tech help and administrative support. Middle age has not improved my abilities in these things. My daughter is a lifty at a ski resort out West, and I’m holding off on getting my next dog because I travel to see my parents. They are both 90 and they are marvels.

Dana Walcott wrote,“After working at the same place for almost 25 years, I have a new job. I had been unhappy at the old place for the last one to two years. I could not do the same old stuff any longer. I needed something new. I needed a change. I found a new job working at a world-class loudspeaker manufacturer 10 miles from my house here in Massachusetts. I could not be happier.”

Jeff Liss said, “My wife, Susan, and I have now moved full time to the East Side of Manhattan, finally selling the house in the Philadelphia suburbs. I ran into classmate Nina Mehta on the street shortly after moving in! I recently left my job in big consulting to be the global VP of Customer Experience at a large provider of solutions for health-care professionals. In the last few years, I have crossed paths with old friends: Tim Harvey ’85, Dan Seltzer, Carrie Normand ’87, Majora Carter ’88, and the newly elected first selectman of Fairfield, Connecticut, Bill Gerber. I am also now the board chair for a great nonprofit called the Josephine Herrick Project (www.jhproject.org) and work closely with our executive director, Miriam Leuchter ’85.”

Roger Lebovitz reports that his latestbook,Obscure Blessings, will be published by Fomite Press in 2025.

Kris Bluemel shared she was recently appointed to the position of interim associate dean of the McMurray School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey. The last time she worked in a normal office environment, Monday through Friday, was in 1988 when she was a marketing assistant at the University of Georgia Press. She is still involved with publishing and books as professor of English and Wayne D. McMurray Endowed Chair of Humanities at Monmouth. Her latest book, Enchanted Wood: Women Artists, Rural Britain, and the Twentieth-Century Wood Engraving Revival, is due out from the University of Minnesota Press this year.

Ethan Knowlden wrote he is “making good on my retirement pledge to get involved in ending homelessness here, I am now on the board of the Arizona Housing Coalition, the state’s largest housing stability advocacy organization. I’m also interning at a local law firm that focuses on affordable housing transactions for nonprofit and for-profit clients. And I fill the rest of my time serving as president of my local community council while we commence a $10 million expansion of our community center.”  

Steve Berliner contributed that he is“alive and well and retired (with no regrets), living in New Orleans with my fiancée of 10 years, Laura. Two kids—Felix ’25 and Rebecca, a senior in high school—dog Rudy and cat Wiley, and Laura’s son, Christopher, a musician living in Oakland. I spend most of my free time enjoying retirement with Laura, visiting with my kids (they live in Brooklyn with their mom), tying flies, swing dancing on Frenchmen Street, and tinkering around the house (a historic side-hall shotgun built in 1836). Need to do more fishing with those flies. Taking an online computer programming class and enjoying that a lot too. I still talk now and again with my college buddy, Andrew Bennett—saw him a few Thanksgivings ago in D.C., which was great. Went vegan in 2020 and am enjoying my vegetables!”

Several updates to share from ’86 classmates:

Hal Ginsberg reported: “I’m not sure if you heard the sad news about Sandy Goldstein. He died on June 27 after battling ALS for two years. Throughout his illness he received love and support from the many Wesleyan Delta Tau Delta brothers to whom he remained close in the 37 years since graduation. He leaves behind his beloved wife, Marla, and children, Steven and Sarah.

“Regarding me, I am focusing on my YouTube Livestream @halitics, where I critique both major political parties from a progressive perspective Monday through Friday.”

Sarah Bridges wrote: “Hi to all. After graduating from University of Minnesota with a PhD in psychology, I embarked on a career consulting to organizations and nonprofits. I started my own firm 25 years ago and love the work and our team. I currently live on a farm outside Minneapolis, near my four grown children. We have a slew of rescue animals and are transitioning the land to organic space. I see Nina Russo ’87 regularly despite the distance (she is in upstate New York) and we did our doctorates together at the U. Life is really good—a lot of writing, reading, and time outside.”

Mike Sealander said: “I’m still living in eastern Maine. Most of my free time is taken up with gardening and studying Japanese. I have a daughter in a PhD biology program, a daughter starting a master’s in electrical engineering, and a son in college. Although my town is quite rural, there happens to be a couple Wes alums, and we’ve traded notes about Zonker Harris and whatnot.”

Sally Spener transferred to the San Diego, California, office of her longtime employer in late 2022, after 23 years in Texas. Her husband of 32 years is university professor/administrator across the border in Tijuana, Mexico. Sally does water policy work along the U.S.–Mexico border.

Andy Clibanoff retired from executive coaching and is beginning his next chapter when he turns the page. His son, Leo ’23, graduated this past May and is launching his professional career. Andy is in contact with Randy MacLowry, especially when visiting Middletown. He also added that his wife, Denise, and their daughter, Callie ’19, co-hosted an alumni event, with concert by the Wes band the Overcoats (Hana Elion ’15 and JJ Mitchell ’15), in the Fishtown section of Philly.

James Dearborn expressed gratitude for “the completely unexpected emotional support I received from fellow classmates John McIntyre and John Wiseman. They arrived unexpectedly at my mom’s funeral in Castine, Maine—a remote village in Down East Maine. I will be forever grateful for the lengths they went to be there for me and my family, including my son Andrew ’22. The friends you make at Wesleyan truly do last forever.”

Eric Heinze shared: “My 2022 book with the MIT Press, The Most Human Right: Why Free Speech is Everything, went into its paperback edition in September. It was nominated in the UK for The Next Big Idea (Season 18) and was featured at the Oxford Literary Festival 2023.

Here’s a link to the paperback: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262547246/the-most-human-right/.”

Eric was also “invited as a speaker in the UK Parliament Group on accountability in Iran, July 2023, organized by Association of Anglo-Iranian Women in the UK and Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI); [and I was] invited as keynote speaker at Danish Parliament, The Future of Free Speech, December 2022.”

Eric Howard updated: “After spending 16 months in New Hampshire running the Timber Framers Guild, I am back in Maine as the executive director of the Environmental & Energy Technology Council (E2Tech.org). When considering the shift, I polled my kids and asked if I should do more in terms of sustainability, climate action, and decarbonization, and they all said ‘yes.’  I was working on climate change in the 1980s, so it’s a return to my roots.” Eric’s other developments are earning the Certified Fundraising Executive credential and completing his doctoral dissertation on knowledge-sharing practices of entrepreneurs.

George Justice is beginning his second year as provost at The University of Tulsa and is settling into that strangely interesting city. He continues to teach, do research, and participate in his company, Dever Justice LLC, which focuses on leadership development for faculty.

Doug Polaner contributed that he “recently saw Jonathan Harber and John Bogosian plus their lovely families. Happy to report, all doing well! Bogo is living the dream in Boulder, Colorado, where we also left our youngest son for his freshman year at CU Boulder. Our oldest, Mason, is starting his final year at Wesleyan. Has loved it, of course! He is captain of the swim team and holds three school records for the 100-, 200-, and 500-yard freestyle. As for me, still hocking wine here at Polaner Selections—2024 will be our 25th year in business! Time flies. Meanwhile, happy 60th birthday to all our classmates celebrating now/soon. See you all in 2026 for the 40th Reunion.”

Jonathan Harber also had some news: Rick Segal ’75, Aysha Khan ’20, and he have embarked on a mission to revolutionize education in New York City through a visionary initiative, Runway Green at Floyd Bennett Field. Nestled within the heart of Brooklyn, Floyd Bennett Field is a national park, holding unique historical significance as New York City’s inaugural airport. Today, Runway Green is poised to transform it into an immersive, experiential learning campus. Jonathan is also the founding chairman of Launch, an expeditionary learning middle school in Brooklyn, and Aysha recently joined to help manage special projects, including the opening of a Launch high school on the Floyd Bennett Field campus.