Class Notes

January / February 2023

Columns compiled by your class correspondents

WE’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Class Notes are your opportunity to connect with your class and share news. Did you get married, have a baby, or welcome a grandchild? Have you marked a career milestone or taken a trip? Do you have a Big Red memory that would make your classmates smile?

Submit Your News!

1940s

1940

We received a wonderful note from Dorothy Wagasky (not a Cornell alum herself), who lives in a Sun City Center, FL, retirement community with our Clarence Padgham. She wrote, “A well-worn Cornell shirt caught my eye as I sat down beside my favorite golfing friend, Clarence, of the Cornell College of Agriculture—a sparky 105-year-old, born September 2, 1917.”

Dorothy asked him a few questions to share news of his life with his fellow alumni. “When one thinks of a 105-year-old, there is wonder. What are his day-to-day activities? Walking quite upright with his walker, he attends breakfast at 8 a.m., which usually consists of corn flakes or oatmeal, banana raisin toast, bacon, and coffee. Next, it’s off to activities, which may include group fitness class, worship service, and other special programs depending on the day. Lunch is at noon, then an afternoon nap and dinner at 5 p.m., followed by enjoying golf and football on TV. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tom Brady are his favorites. On Sunday, he joins friends on the bus to the Prince of Peace Catholic Church, always dressed in a jacket and necktie.

“Born in Farmington, NY, Clarence spent his entire life in New York, except between 1942 and 1945, during which he served in the U.S. Army as a staff sergeant for Special Services. He traveled to France and England. His boyhood was spent on the family farm. The Padghams had an enterprising farm, raising beans for a canning company. The three boys and two girls took pails and joined several hired hands to fill buckets of beans. Family activities included attending county fairs. When he was 10 or 11 years old, he showed prized blue-ribbon sheep. His favorite fun thing to do was swimming in ‘Mud Creek’ and sharing the old tire swing.

“After his Army service, he began a career with the cooperative extension in the counties near home, visiting more than 300 dairy and vegetable farms, where he became friends with many. A highlight of his college career was meeting his wife, Rose (Brodbeck) ’39, BS ’40, who was in the College of Home Economics. Regretfully, he never fathered children. When asked what he did for fun, he said having fun was difficult, as he worked and studied his whole day and weekend—although he mentioned some dancing; his favorite is the foxtrot. He did return for his 75th Cornell Reunion, where he made a donation to the University.

“In closing, his advice to the present Big Red students: ‘Have some fun! Find time to add fun to your day.’ He added that washing dishes at the sorority house was fun sometimes; however, his days were work work work!” Many thanks to Dorothy for keeping us in touch with Clarence! ❖ Class of 1940 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1941–1947

We haven’t heard from any alumni in these classes recently, but we hope you will take a moment to submit an online news form or send us an email! We would love to stay in touch—and feature you in an upcoming Class Notes section! ❖ Classes of 1941–1947 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12).

1948

Lenore DeKoven reports that, at age 90, she published the second edition of her book, Changing Direction: A Practical Approach to Directing Actors in Film and Theatre. She is now 95. As to her family, she has a grandson who is a famous rapper under the name Marlon Craft. And she gets the greatest satisfaction these days watching her two grandchildren grow into beautiful human beings and contribute positively to our culture.

At this moment your correspondent is in the fourth and last day of the year’s first hurricane watch on Hilton Head Island, SC. It started as a Category 1 in the Gulf of Florida’s west coast; turned into a Category 4 (almost 5) in 24 hours (unbelievable!); devastated Sanibel Island (which I visited when it was an undeveloped gem in the 1960s) and much, much more; crossed to the Atlantic Ocean as a tropical storm; came up the coast as a Category 1; passed us on HHI still at sea and generating maybe 40 mph winds and some rain on the island; and was predicted to go ashore again in northern South Carolina. Wow! ❖ Ray Tuttle (email Ray). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1949

Happy New Year! Please take a moment to write to us. What is a typical day in your life like? Is anything new happening with your family? Have you read any good books lately? We’d love to hear from you. ❖ Dorothy Mulhoffer Solow (email Dorothy), 484 Fischler St. Ext., Wellsboro, PA 16901. Share your news here.

1950s

1950

From class officers: Recall that because of COVID-19 our 70th on-campus Reunion was postponed two years until summer 2022. As we look ahead, in 2025 we’ll be celebrating our 75th “Class of the Century” Reunion and we’d like to get the word out now so that we can get as many classmates to attend as health and physical conditions will allow. (Regarding mobility: This year there were plenty of wheelchairs as well as wheelchair-accessible buses and vans. Attendees did not miss any event for lack of suitable transportation. This will be true in 2025.)

Our stay this year was at the Statler Hotel on campus, a delightful facility and very well run. Like this year, in 2025 the class will cover the cost for registration, major meal events, and one night of two, or two nights of three, at the Statler. Your major investments will be your desire to attend and your transportation cost.

Our Reunion last summer was not as successful as we would have liked it to be, but it was great fun for those able to be there. Unfortunately, when it came to encouraging attendance, we weren’t given the go-ahead to be included until it was too late to get the word out to classmates to make plans to attend. However, we attendees were able to go to our college breakfasts, where we learned much about current and future campus happenings. Of course, we enjoyed Cornelliana Night featuring the Cornell University Chorus. It was the 100th anniversary celebration of the chorus, and the current club was joined by many of their alumni. We also thoroughly enjoyed the funny, informative lecture by Bill Nye ’77 the “Science Guy,” who was celebrating his own 45th Reunion. We can expect an equally fine program in 2025. Cornell is a vibrant and ever-changing world, and it was wonderful to see and experience many of the changes. Hope you can attend in 2025.

Class news: William Atkinson wrote, “At age 97, I’m still hanging in there in assisted living in Youville House, Cambridge, MA. Follow me on Twitter (@Atkinsopht), where I do my best to raise awareness on climate change and to hold the feet of the feckless press to the fire. Visit my webpage for pieces on astronomy and mountaineering.” Jim Gourlay, DVM ’52 (Wilton, NY) reported: “Paul Jones ’51 was a roommate way back when. His determination to be sure politics didn’t overrule good judgment in rail affairs is still dominant in his thinking. Go Paul.”

Cornell is a vibrant and ever-changing world, and it was wonderful to see and experience many of the changes.
Paul Joslin ’50

Note to readers: The purpose of this column has been to inform you of the activities of classmates, thereby promoting lifelong acquaintances and friendships. In the past, to facilitate communications among classmates, we have included email addresses for those being reported on in the column. Unfortunately, we have heard some complaints about spammers. Consequently, while we can still mention a city of residence, we can no longer include email addresses in the column. To communicate with classmates, you can access the Alumni Directory. Of course, for you to be able to contact me, I’ll still have to include my email address at the end of each column. Because of my profound hearing loss, it’s best to contact me by email. I do have a special phone for the hearing handicapped, which is handy, but still a bit iffy for precise communication.

Column trivia: When I have had insufficient news from readers, I have typically filled out our column allotment with writings I thought might be of interest to you all. Below is one drawn from an eclectic publication I do for my retirement home residents and other interested persons.

For the past year or so, a curious insert has appeared in each issue of TIME magazine. It’s always an attractive, colored, small-print, two-page article extolling some selected virtuous aspect of life in China. This piece is titled Kite Capital Soars and proclaims the city of Weifang in Shandong Province as the kite capital of the world. The city acknowledges this with kite-themed landmarks, including a railway station depicting a fluttering butterfly, public sculptures portraying the popular pastime, and streetlights along the main thoroughfare leading to the sprawling venue for the annual international kite festival. According to the article, there are more than 400 kite factories in the city that employ more than 80,000 workers. Each year, more than 220 million kites are made, with 95% of them exported to 40 countries worldwide. A traditional Weifang kite is made of bamboo, paper, and silk and is brightly painted to illustrate a selected theme. At this year’s April international festival, the highlight was a kite replica of China’s space station. It included a complex of several linked kites that included the space station module and a spacewalk. Its construction took 20 craftsmen two months. ❖ Paul Joslin (email Paul), 13731 Hickman Rd., #4207, Urbandale, IA 50323; tel., 515-278-0960. Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1951

From San Francisco, CA, Adele Mongan Fasick writes, “I am still keeping up my blog honoring women in history, Teacups and Tyrants. Last week I posted my 300th post. I am still active in the local League of Women Voters to encourage people to get out and vote. My three daughters and their families are at the center of my life, and we all see a lot of each other.”

Frances Goldberg Myers writes, “What’s always shocking to think about is that I’m still alive at just about 93. We moved to Asheville, NC, 22 years ago to live near our daughter, Pamela Myers ’78. The move opened up a new world to these New Yorkers, but it was an easy change because Pam—as the director of the Asheville Art Museum—included us in her active life in the community and so we became engaged in the now-called Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Center for Creative Retirement and other civic and arts organizations. We moved to an independent retirement community, and that is where I am happily living out my life. Nat ’49, BA ’51, died in 2004 after 22 years of married life.

“At Crowfields, my home, I am known as the ‘history,’ having lived here so long and been involved and still active in writing and reading groups, planning monthly lectures and part of the long-term planning for the community. I take great pride in the accomplishments of our children. The Asheville Art Museum was just awarded a National Medal, one of five in the country, by the Institute for Museums and Libraries. Son Kenneth Myers ’77 is the curator of American Art at the Detroit Institute of Arts and son Nathaniel ‘Chip’ Myers ’82, DVM ’87, owns a mobile veterinary practice in Pittsburgh, PA.

“Believing in zero population growth, we have but two grandchildren: Sarah Myers ’13, who is now a silviculturist with the National Forest Service in Nebraska, living in South Dakota; and Benjamin Myers, who is approaching the year of decision as to college. We hope he doesn’t break the line because, to me, Cornell has been the touchstone of my life—I learned to question, to keep learning, and to make the friends of a lifetime. It’s also where I met the love of my life, Nat.” ❖ Class of 1951 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1952

First, that which came in late spring in response to the News and Dues mailing. Anthony Bryant (Waukesha, WI) wrote that he and Andrea have been traveling the world when not working, and they have circumnavigated the globe twice and gone ocean cruising about 25 times. COVID interrupted trips in the last two years. Tony went on, “I am in my office daily as chairman of my 105-year-old company, Century Fence, started in 1917 by my father, Henry Bryant 1904, who was also graduated from Cornell and a member of Sigma Phi fraternity, like me.” Tony took great pleasure witnessing his grandson Matthew Powell assume the presidency of Century Fence on January 1, 2022. Matthew started with the company in 2014 and has completely updated the technology. Tony enjoys “supporting important causes in both Milwaukee and Waukesha, financially and with personal efforts.”

Nancy Harrington Booth (Brooklyn, CT) shares, “I have trouble now spotting birds (I was an ornithology major with Dr. Arthur Allen 1907, PhD 1911) as I have to stay indoors mostly. I keep very busy pursuing my various hobbies: hand sewing, puzzles, Sudokus, drawing with colored pencils, coloring books, and watching old movies and news on TV.” Nancy’s sister, Janet Harrington Hall ’54, died in 2017. Nancy enjoys “staying in my old-but-beautiful restored 1760 home in eastern Connecticut. My daughter Janet prepares delicious, healthy meals. Recently, I finished my first 3D puzzle—an accurate model of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. It was a lot of work but turned out beautifully.”

Bernard Patten (Athens, GA) has been “developing a music and nature program, the Secret Sits, in memory of my bride.” From their website, we learn the organization’s name comes from a Robert Frost poem: “We dance round in a ring and suppose, / But the Secret sits in the middle and knows.” Bernard has also been writing a book regarding “pioneering the use of digital/electronic currency to bridge national emergencies and automate societal design for optimal function in accordance with founding U.S. principles.” Bernard is a “retired but not retiring” University of Georgia ecology professor, continuing his research in ecology and the environment. “I continue working on the central concerns of my life, which still bear the imprint of my Cornell education.”

While I was sitting on a bench behind McGraw Tower, a 25-year alumna had her daughter photograph the two of us just to be able to prove that she had met a 70-year alumnus.
Stephen Tauber ’52

I heard from C.V. Noyes, MBA ’55, and Daniel Stoddard ’78—each telling me of the death of Dan’s mother, our classmate Patricia Lovejoy Stoddard, on September 10, 2022. Pat was involved in many things but was most active with the Daily Sun during her Cornell years. She went on to a rich, full life thereafter. Pat attended our 70th Reunion this past June.

Stephen Tauber (Lexington, MA) was also at our 70th. He writes, “Travel problems kept me in Ithaca for an additional day after the Reunion. While I was sitting on a bench behind McGraw Tower on Sunday afternoon, in a light drizzle, a 25-year alumna, also in Ithaca for an additional day because of travel problems, had her daughter photograph the two of us just to be able to prove that she had met a 70-year alumnus.” Stephen’s non-Reunion news: “I remain active as a philatelist. As a volunteer at the Spellman Museum of Stamps & Postal History, I have been organizing the museum’s holdings of U.S. perfins (stamps with holes punched into them). This spring I also organized a scavenger hunt for the Waltham Stamp Club (which actually meets in Weston, MA).”

I have a September letter from Jack Brennan, DVM ’52: “With my daughter, Mary Ann Brennan Randall ’81, at the wheel, we were five miles west of home en route to Reunion. Alas, my stomach pains became unbearable. So we went east to St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany. Four days in hospital was a very poor substitute for our 70th Reunion. What a bummer! I was to have been the only attendee from our 1952 College of Veterinary Medicine class. There are four of us on the up side of grass, and the others were unable to attend. Well, now I can plan for the 75th and hope for the best! Go Big Red.” There is a note that one of Jack’s classmates, Robert Schechter, has written a book, My Small World, about his experiences as a veterinarian. It is getting five-star ratings on Amazon.

There are two more items that I will begin with next time: emails from James Strub and Jim Ling. Feel free to write and add to them. ❖ Joan Boffa Gaul (email Joan). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1953

Julian Max Aroesty reports from Scituate, MA, that he has maintained his Harvard Medical School teaching appointment and continues to attend three to five teaching conferences via computer each week. He still reviews medical malpractice cases for the Harvard system, defending MDs, RNs, and hospitals. “Had all COVID shots—nonetheless had COVID twice, and lost 20 lb., but gradually gained back half. Muscles are weak but gradually returning as I increase walking and cycling.”

Julian and wife Elaine still spend winters in Longboat Key, FL, renting the same condo every year. “I cycle 15 miles every day, which adds up to 2,000 miles for the five-month season. It’s a pleasure to be at a site that allows outdoor activities virtually every day.” In Massachusetts, they have moved near the two youngest of their seven grandchildren and enjoy caring for them one day each week. “Experiencing their physical and mental growth is such a joy!” Julian has recently reread War and Peace, paying closer attention to the final 100 pages in which Tolstoy denigrates the folly of war.

Julian’s Cornell experience was a little different from most Class of ’53 members. “My family could not afford to send me to Cornell, so I joined the Teamsters Union and worked in the kitchen during the summers of 1949 and 1950 and during my second and third years at Cornell. The University has given me so much that I have made a point of donating to the Cornell Annual Fund every year since graduation.”

If you missed seeing Robert Ashton at our last Reunion, here’s why he was absent. “I was happily on my way to my 65th Reunion,” he writes, “when medical issues whopped me upside the head, and I nearly bought the farm. Had to move from New York City to Portland, ME, where family and an assisted living facility provide wonderful support. I travel by Zoom all over the country and the world, take classes at a senior learning facility here, and actually teach a class on astronomy. Okay—astronomy for beginners. Back when I could travel, I attended astronomy gatherings at Cornell and a couple of summer schools. Wow! What a change in the campus since 1952! I am most mobile behind a walker; helped by family and friends, I can attend local concerts and plays. I’d welcome contact from anyone.”

I travel by Zoom all over the country and the world, take classes at a senior learning facility, and actually teach a class on astronomy. Okay—astronomy for beginners.
Robert Ashton ’53

Jack Brophy sends thoughts about productivity: “After retiring, many of us cease to be active in a productive sense. A couple takes care of one another, but what passed for being productive seems to be lost as we age. Do we all become stagnant in our quest for living out our lives? Perhaps the productive stage in our lives is replaced by learning new information or replacement activities. I was quite productive after retirement: I started an engineering sales rep/distribution business that survived profitably for 11 years, juggled many construction DIY projects for our house, developed a watch and clock hobby, sang with the Gentlemen Songsters at senior care facilities, played tennis and paddle tennis, took 15 brides to their weddings in my white Rolls Royce, and led a monthly memoir-writing group at the library. Then I had a stroke two years ago, which affected my balance, left a tingling throughout my left side, and curtailed my productivity. I will continue to write memoirs and stories, but I am limited in my activities. What is your story?”

Marian Van Valkenburgh Goodrich writes from her home: “I never imagined living on the plains of Colorado at the age of 91! But even through this crazy pandemic, I’ve managed to see all my close family, including children, grandchildren, and great-grands.” Marian recalls her first animal husbandry lab in 1950: “It was a bitter cold morning with the sun glistening on a freshly laid snow. Beautiful—but I was filled with apprehension as I made the two-mile walk to the Ag campus. I knew little about farm animals—being a native New Yorker—and had never even been to a county fair. Nor did I know anyone in the class—and I was the only girl. As I entered the barns filled with dairy cows and kids in overalls, I thought: ‘I’ll never pass!’” Well, she did pass, of course, and with each lab her comfort level grew. “I learned a lot about farm animals, but as a sociology major I didn’t take many hands-on animal classes.”

Paul Joslin ’50, the Class of 1950 correspondent, writes: “I’m working on a story about Carson Geld ’50, a city boy who, shortly after graduation, moved to Brazil, where he became a progressive and well-known farmer. He married Ellen (Bromfield), daughter of prolific and Pulitzer author Louis Bromfield. From their farm in Brazil, she authored nine books and also worked as an agricultural writer for the São Paulo newspaper.” Who remembers? ❖ Caroline Mulford Owens (email Caroline); Bob Neff (email Bob); Jack Allen (email Jack); John Nixon (email John); Jack Brophy (email Jack). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1954

Irwin Bernstein received his MA and PhD from the University of Chicago before enjoying a career as distinguished research professor of psychology at the University of Georgia in Athens. Now an emeritus there, he has not slowed down academically or personally. Irwin and one of his sons did an African safari just before COVID hit and saw all the “big seven” megafauna. His family also spent a week camping in the Okefenokee Swamp. Irwin claims that he can still paddle a canoe, enjoys snorkeling, and can even swim better than he can walk. Also, pre-COVID, Irwin taught part time outside the U.S. including three semesters in China and two in Costa Rica. His next plan is an Alaskan cruise to see the glaciers.

Kenneth Guy Paltrow of Portland, OR, writes that he has finished a booklet titled “A Common Sense Psychiatric Evaluation of Planet Earth.” In retirement, Ken has done some blog writing on the subject of “metapersonality.” If you are interested, his blog can be found here. Ken is planning to move from the West Coast to North Carolina to be with his grown family.

We received “Share Your News/Views” responses in the same mail drop from two 1954 Tri-Delt sorority officers, president Jean Lanigan Lenehan and VP Jane Gregory Wilson. Jean lives in Radnor, PA, and enjoys water aerobics, yoga, reading, and needlepoint. She lives near her family, which calls for lots of fun activities. Jane lives in Sun City Center, FL, and enjoys playing bridge, needlework, and cruising. Her last cruise was a 28-day trip through the Panama Canal. Jane’s next trip will be a drive to North Carolina and the District of Columbia to spend time with family.

Cindy Noble, who lives in Ithaca, spends her time volunteering, visiting friends, and reading. Her favorite memory of Cornell is her membership in her sorority, Kappa Delta. Her advice to today’s undergraduates is: “Be yourself and make friends.”

Irwin Bernstein ’54 claims that he can still paddle a canoe, enjoys snorkeling, and can even swim better than he can walk.

Virginia Glade Poole, whose husband, Lee ’57, died several years ago, lives in an independent care senior community in Peachtree City, GA. She still enjoys making music, “singing and playing my oboe. There aren’t many 89-year-old oboists.” Keep it up, Virginia!

Steve Kaplan and his wife, Judy, live in Wayland, MA, and enjoy family time with “four wonderful grandsons, ages 12 to 25, who are bright, athletic, and real good kids.” The pandemic closed down most everything for Steve. A bad back stopped tennis, skiing, travel, and swimming for him and he even gave up piano lessons this year. Steve’s advice for undergraduates is: “Work hard, play hard, and enjoy—college doesn’t last forever but great memories do.”

Bob Hill, who was commodore of the men’s 150-lb. crew while at Cornell, has spent most of his post-college life in ski country’s Rutland, VT, far from the Cayuga Inlet. Bob recently sold his feed and grain business and now spends his time walking the dog (at a place where he can run free—no leash), managing investments for himself and his family, and, most importantly, remembering his wife, Wendy (Witherell) ’55, who died in early 2021. Wendy was a renowned senior ski racer, instructor, and coach based at Killington, VT—the largest ski resort east of the Rockies and 15 miles from their Rutland home. RIP Wendy.

Cornellians recently published a great personal essay by our classmate Joanne Wilson Wietgrefe, “Recalling the ’50s on the Hill, an Era of ‘Gracious Living.’” You can access her essay here. You may recall that Joanne wrote one about the “Evening Song,” which we featured in an earlier column. ❖ Bill Waters (email Bill); Ruth Carpenter Bailey (email Ruth). Class website. Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1955

Let me start by sharing some news about myself. The big news is that last autumn my partner, Marian Pritchard (Columbia School of Nursing 1952), fell down while peering into the zucchini patch and broke her hip. Hopefully by the time you read this she will have recovered.

Beverly MacNamara Wait is spending half of the year at home in Chesterfield, MO, and the other half in warmer climes, on Barefoot Beach. No new hobbies, but she reports, “I’m still working on golf and bridge!” E. Howland Swift misses the School of Hotel Administration’s quarterly Hotelie magazine. He adds that he’s enjoying time with his kids and grandkids.

Seymour Musiker writes from Palm Beach Gardens, FL, that he enjoys waking up in the mornings and doing jigsaw puzzles. Both William Boyle Jr., MBA ’56, and Phyllis Birnholtz Melnick checked in from Ohio—from Medina and Shaker Heights, respectively—with no other news.

My Newfield, NY, neighbor Donna Jean Avery Darling, MS ’61, is happily maintaining a house and a cat, and she shares that she’s thrilled to still “be able to do anything and go anyplace.” She reports, “I now have a surrogate daughter who has grandchildren.” Donna enjoys seeing each sunrise.

Daniel Sachs writes from Riderwood Village retirement home in Silver Spring, MD, that he serves on the board of directors of the Riderwood Democratic Club. “In whatever time I have left, I’m an artist—my paintings hang outside the Riderwood Encore Auditorium and elsewhere on campus.” Daniel continues to teach at the Prince George’s Community College. This fall, he taught a course titled the Many Faces of Hate (“a timely topic,” he notes). He also sings with the Gentlemen Songsters, a male singing group that gives two concerts a year. “Our concert in November featured pop hits from the ’50s and ’60s.”

Charlotte Bialo Picot is vice president of the board of her seven-building co-op in Forest Hills, NY, and she is very involved in local Queens politics. “I recently traveled to Santa Monica with a daughter to visit another daughter on my birthday—for the first time in two years!” Charlotte enjoys taking a walk on a beautiful day, enjoying a good book or movie, playing bridge, and getting together with family for holidays, especially after not doing so throughout the pandemic.

Clive Usiskin is from a family with four generations of Cornell alumni! “Our youngest grandchild is a junior at Cornell. Next year, he expects to earn both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the same time. What a difference from 1955, when it required five years for me to earn my bachelor’s in engineering physics.” Clive writes from Princeton, NJ, that he attended three weddings of grandchildren last year. (Perhaps his family will be able to boast of five generations of Cornellians in the future!) Clive enjoys playing with his 2-year-old great-grandson, gardening, and playing chess.

Howard Brandwein took up oil painting 20 years ago and has been “improving ever since.” I don’t know what genre he specializes in; perhaps it’s landscapes of the Pacific Northwest near his home in Portland, OR. When he’s not painting or worrying about the divisive state of our nation’s politics, he raises sheep and dogs.

For most of 2020 and 2021, our children became our parents. They were very strict! In 2022, we were allowed more freedoms.
Emily Larkin Jakes ’55

Ann “Toni” Telfer Eaton gardens and maintains her home in Gill, MA, which is on a three-acre wooded plot. She is busy keeping track of the doings of her extended family. “Having had three husbands (in succession), I have expanded my family from the original two children and three grandchildren to add five stepdaughters, two stepsons, and 12 step-grandchildren!”

Laura Weese has lived at Horizon House in downtown Seattle, WA, since 2014. She is involved with others there in finding solutions to the ills of Seattle’s urban society—many of which were exacerbated by the pandemic. Keeping up with the activities of her children and grandchildren scattered across the country occupies a good bit of her time. When she wrote to us, she was looking forward to starting tai chi; how is it going, Laura?

Steve Clingan (Elk Grove Village, IL) reports, “We bought a company in a slightly different area of the steel business and are trying to figure out how to run it.” He gets great satisfaction from working with the young people he employs, and adds, “Grandkids are the wonderful dividend of raising our kids!”

Harold Fountain and his wife, Marjorie (Iowa State 1959), live in Clinton Corners, NY, where he keeps the six-acre lawn well mowed. Following the experiences of their grandchildren gives them much joy these days. Sadly, Harold shares that one of his daughters was among the 10 people killed in the March 22, 2021, shooting in Boulder, CO. We send you our sincere condolences on this unimaginable loss.

Emily Larkin Jakes and her husband, Jerry ’53, live in Sylvania, OH. They have downsized their living quarters from their large 100-year-old home to a condo. These days, they are enjoying many word and number games, as well as “the best thing that happened during the pandemic,” their 2-year-old great-granddaughter. “For most of 2020 and 2021, our children became our parents. They were very strict! In 2022, we were allowed more freedoms.”

Bill Lockwood, BME ’57, enjoys “sleeping in late” at his home in Oyster Bay, NY. Like many of us, he takes it day by day and is “trying to make it to my 90s.” His 15 grandkids and four great-grandkids are rooting for him.

Dave Montague says that “being of sound mind (I think)” has enabled him to be writing his “third book on government issues in national defense in the 21st century.” Dave adds that he’s supported in his endeavors by Nancy, “who has put up with me for years.”

Richard Perry and his wife, Roberta, live in Natick, MA, and have been blessed with eight children, 30 grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren at last count. He reports “enjoying each and every day” and is looking forward to warmer weather and spending time with family, both new and old.

That empties my Class of 1955 correspondence folder. To share and close: I have recently become a member of the Cornell Free Speech Alliance, an organization that focuses on campus issues associated with limitations placed on freedom of expression by staff and students and changes in the way the University’s goals and history are currently being presented. ❖ John Wertis (email John). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1956

“I have recently published a heart-warming ‘family history’ book about my grandfather and mother during World War I,” writes James Larrimore. In Their Own Words shares, among other writings, letters between New York Herald war correspondent Don Martin and his 11-year-old daughter, Dorothy, who was back home in Silver Creek, NY. Don arrived in Europe on January 1, 1918 and covered the exploits of the American Expeditionary Forces up to his untimely death from the Spanish flu on October 7 of that year. You can learn more about the book here.

Nancy Kohler Dean has been battling non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and, after three rounds of chemo and 32 of radiation, she reports, “I’m still here!” Although she had to give up driving, Nancy reports that she’s enjoying her extended family—including three kids and spouses, eight grandkids, and three great-grandsons—and playing Words with Friends on her tablet. Sadly, Lucia Long Schwarz shares that her son Peter died from a brain tumor in May 2021. We send you our sincere condolences, Lucia.

Cidney Brandon Spillman shares that her husband, Robert ’53, died in May 2017. “I’m trying to get used to being a widow.” Cidney is enjoying her new dog, Tyler, and her daily interactions with the dog walker. Diane Newman Fried, MEd ’58, writes from Trumbull, CT, that she is participating in some study groups and enjoys keeping up with her family—including a grandson who recently graduated from RIT!

I will close with this lovely letter from Joanne “Sunny” Styles Kuskin: “I never took time to plan for becoming this old! Many friends are lost. After Cornell, I never wanted to battle Ithaca’s winter again. Ironically, I live here now and did so several times in the past. For many years, my second husband and I lived partly in Nova Scotia. There, we owned a home, a boat, three small dogs, three large cats, and two Indian Runner ducks. We developed an extensive collection of folk art.

“I am no longer working as a bilingual psychologist (Boston Children’s Hospital) and director of the East Coast of the Educational Records Bureau, a testing company. At many levels, I taught art appreciation, psychology, and more. I have had some writing and some photographs published in papers and magazines in New England (I lived in Connecticut for 40-plus years). In Nova Scotia, I wrote a column for its largest newspaper on topics ranging from a pie auction to the fatal crash of Swissair Flight 111. I continue to enjoy writing.

Four adult children, three grandchildren, and one querulous cat enrich my life.
Joanne “Sunny” Styles Kuskin ’56

“Four adult children, three grandchildren, and one querulous cat enrich my life. Two daughters live in Ithaca and help me. I gave up driving before I was told to. Reluctantly, I sold my sporty little Honda. The expression ‘Life is what happens when you make other plans’ fits me well. In the span of about one year, we sold our unique property, then I began to lose my sight. Hearing aids made my earring collection unused—and then I had to move again because my dear and talented second husband died. It is hard to write these words. Our home had to be left.

“Where I live has a relationship with Ithaca College—I am in a memoir group with IC. Professionally and personally, I know that everyone has a story to tell. It may or may not get told. If you haven’t, try writing your memoir. Memories can be painful. Memories can be enjoyable. Memories can sustain you.

“As for new hobbies … do health issues count? Getting rid of ‘stuff’ still compels me. De-cluttering is still hard. Do my children really want their kindergarten report cards? My second husband, Anton, was a professional flutist (he hated the word flautist) and performed throughout the U.S. and Canada for years. When he decided to stop performing professionally, he threw his tux into the trash. Of course, I fished it out. I can listen to his Trio Sonata CDs with great pleasure and some tears. He lived a very productive life. When he became ill and I could no longer read, he read literary short stories to me every night as we lay together in bed.

“One son has been putting together a book of my short stories. Isn’t hope the thing with feathers? I have a small collection of large feathers including one from a condor. I used to raise swans—really—and now I watch birds. The surgeon who replaced my hip said, ‘There is only one exercise you need—WALK.’ So that is an almost daily pleasure. I am still curious about life and the living of it. Like most of us, I have had some real ‘challenges’ but also much for which to be grateful. Abrazos, amigos.”

Please send us a letter! We’d love to hear from you. ❖ Phyllis Bosworth (email Phyllis). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1957

We Cornell co-eds were promised housing for all four undergraduate years, so unlike today. One of our co-eds was Ann Phillips Drechsel. Ann entered the College of Home Economics from a high school graduating class of about 35 students in Bath, NY, yet quickly found herself at home. Her dad and two of his brothers were Cornellians, so she had been on campus many times before. Ann became active in campus and class activities and to this day those memories bring her joy.

Ann married our classmate John “Andy” Drechsel, MBA ’58, in 1958 and sadly has been his widow for about 10 years. Of their three sons, the youngest earned his master’s degree from Cornell. Ann continues to live in their home in Tenafly, NJ, where her Siamese cat keeps her company. She has a koi pond and has deer visiting her property. She noticed that one of the deer has a baby there every year. Over many years, Ann has become so adept at needlepointing that she became certified and taught classes in both needlepointing and knitting. Now she reads and stitches and keeps up with all the current news. Ann was saddened by the passing of John Seiler as, apparently, they resembled each other so uncannily that their Cornell friends called them “twins.”

Michael Hausman stays active using the technology of Zoom to teach his film development classes at both Columbia University and the Art Institute of Pasadena. He instructs his students to educate and to entertain. Mike was a polysci major at Cornell, became a stockbroker for a couple of years on Wall Street, then turned to his interest and talents in art as a painter and photographer. His move into the entertainment field soon followed. You certainly have seen many of his films and many of his documentaries without realizing Mike was the producer.

I found an interesting interview in which Mike describes his journey, complete with anecdotes, which you can view here. This interview was recorded on February 18, 2020, just before the pandemic hit. He describes the changes in the movie industry since he first became involved and the current scene. He said the role of the producer is to bring the project in on budget and on time.

In the 1970s, Mike bought a cattle ranch in central Montana. It wasn’t long before he switched from cattle to bison. He started with three buffalo and now has a herd of 40. Despite its location about 40 miles from the nearest grocery store, Mike has been able to stay involved with his students and his friends. He enjoys reading good books and being in a book club with five of his Great Neck high school friends. He might just find his next project in one of those books. You may enjoy seeing his long list of films and documentaries. (Just to tease you: among many, many others, he produced Amadeus, Silkwood, and Nobody’s Fool.)

Gilbert Riley ’57 now rides a ‘monster’ scooter to maneuver on sidewalks, driveways, and his lawn.

On a more somber note, Sally Ann Blake Lavery wrote to us in the spring. Sadly, she passed away at the end of September. Sally Ann worked in the hotel industry after her graduation from the Hotel School. Looking to broaden her horizons, she joined the Navy in 1962, worked in human resource management, married widower Richard in 1972, and retired from the Navy in 1983 as a commander. They built their dream house in 1983 and even after Richard’s passing in 1993, Sally Ann lived there until moving to a retirement community in 2010.

For many years, Sally Ann remained active in the Granite State Waves, the National Waves, two museums, and the Friends of the Amesbury (MA) Library. She was a longtime member of the Sons & Daughters of the First Settlers of Newbury, MA. When she wrote us, she noted enjoying reading and her new hobby of genealogy. Thank you for your service, Sally Ann, and thank you for your early breaking of a glass ceiling.

Gilbert Riley sends these words of advice from Maine: “Beware of black ice!” A few winters ago, Gil had a nasty fall on black ice and became so injured that now he rides a “monster” scooter to maneuver on sidewalks, driveways, and his lawn. After Gil graduated with his BME and served his six months of military service, an Alpha Chi Rho fraternity brother’s connection led him to meet Betsy, an Elmira College sophomore. That ended what would have been a confirmed bachelor’s life for Gil, when Cupid flung those arrows.

Gil and Betsy have lived in Wilton, ME, since he took advantage of a Pitney-Bowes retirement package 31 years ago. They were drawn to Maine after previously volunteering for the Mission at Eastward, a Habitat for Humanity-type home repair ministry in western central Maine. Both continued to volunteer in various social service activities and to enjoy the social values and outdoor life of Maine. Living there has become even more amenable with the advent of technology. They hold a Riley family Zoom meeting every Saturday night, as their four children and offspring are now spread all around the world. Gil keeps his mind sharp by solving many types of puzzles daily and by building kits of wooden medieval weapons. He certainly remains grateful for his long, happy marriage! ❖ Connie Santagato Hosterman (email Connie). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1958

Jack Kelly is still working with his sons, John and Rob, running the investment management Kelly Group at J.P. Morgan in NYC. Jack lost his dear wife in December 2020. He is always happy to hear from friends and recently had dinner with Mike Griffinger and his wife. Jack also had a book published in July 2022, called A Great American Love Story.

Jeff Brown states that he can fortunately live his preferred (if boring) life! He is still working full time for the U.S. Army—seeing if applicants to the military are medically qualified. He worked full time during the COVID epidemic. Jeff has been camping for years in a tent but recently bought a 19-ft. Ford camper!

John Padget, MS ’59, has been busy in Key West, FL, recruiting Black teachers for local schools and running charitable organizations. He is trying to downsize, selling his house in Amsterdam and giving money and assistance to lower-income families.

Lois Tucker recently officiated at the marriage of her oldest granddaughter. The newlyweds are recent graduates of the University of Pittsburgh Medical School! A wonderful experience for her! She belongs to three book clubs, two in Rochester and one in Sandwich, MA, where she spends the summer. She has a granddaughter at Cornell (now a senior), who is on the polo team and is an animal science major! She is enjoying the simple pleasures of life, reading, taking walks, Zooming with friends, and sleeping late! She keeps busy playing bridge and croquet and going to doctor appointments with her husband. Actually, she says, they are doing quite well!

Martha Pennell is currently living in RiverWoods Exeter, a continuing care community in New Hampshire. She plays duplicate bridge, is an alternate on Exeter’s Zoning Board of Adjustment, and is part owner of the Sanford, ME, Country Club.

Joseph Mathis and his wife continue to pursue international travel and have visited 34 countries to date. They are scheduled to explore the French and Italian rivieras next spring. Joseph has served as president of the Rotary Club of Sarasota Bay, the volunteer board of Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium, and the Florida West Coast Woodworkers club. For the past 23 years, he has served as a docent team leader and public speaker for Mote—a paradigm shift from dairy market economics professionally to marine science in retirement. His hobbies of creating artistic renderings in wood and extensive reading have filled any vacant time. ❖ Jan Arps Jarvie (email Jan); Dick Haggard (email Dick). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1959

“At our advanced age, we are all acutely aware that our life paths take many unexpected twists and turns,” writes Diane Bishop Hanson. “In July 2021, my second husband, Hugh, died. Thus began a whole new adventure for me, and for his children and mine. I soon began to realize that, even though I was in good health, it was going to become difficult for me to maintain the house and yard by myself. So I decided to sell the house in Basye, VA, and move to a continuing care community some 45 minutes away, in Harrisonburg, VA. The community includes cottages, villas, and apartments, and I am lucky to have a large two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment with views from two balconies—and a bright new kitchen!” she writes.

Diane continues, “Do you remember the excitement of moving into your dorm freshman year, meeting new people on your corridor, and feeling the wonderful sense of adventure? Walking around with a map of campus in your hand, and everything was a totally new experience? Well, here I am, at 85, experiencing those feelings in my new surroundings. Finding delight in walking into the foyer of the building, where someone is playing the piano, and plopping down in a chair with others who are listening. Trying to remember the names of the new folks I meet—when most of them are white-haired ladies like myself and it is difficult to tell them apart. And so many questions to be answered by the more than helpful people who run this place.”

After 50 years as CEO of Thanksgiving Coffee Co. in Fort Bragg, CA, Paul Katzeff has handed the reigns to son Jonah. “I was just elected to the Mendocino Coast Hospital District Board and something had to go,” he writes. “Although we want to do everything we can conceive of that enters into our vision, we just don’t have the time for everything.” One thing that was a victim of this realization was running. It was Paul’s desire to break the world record in the over-80 100-meter sprint. “I got my time down to 19 seconds, which was 4.35 seconds off the record. That put me 40 feet behind the record, and I decided it was out of my reach.” Not out of Paul’s reach is playing baseball. In September he was in Canton, OH, playing third base and pitching for the Canton Sparks in the inaugural over-80 tournament at Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium. Four nine-inning games in four days!

Do you remember the excitement of moving into your dorm, feeling the wonderful sense of adventure? Well, here I am, at 85, experiencing those feelings in my new surroundings.
Diane Bishop Hanson ’59

“Two extremely busy octogenarians discussing our various aches and pains.” That’s how Jerry Schultz, in India for a meeting of the All India Ophthalmological Society, referred to his most recent get-together with Ratan Tata, BArch ’62, head of the Tata Group, the multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai. But, of course, there was more. Over tea at Ratan’s home (Tata Tea, of course), Jerry congratulated Ratan and his company on reacquiring Air India at the beginning of 2022. “It was founded in 1932 by Ratan’s predecessor, J.R.D. Tata, as Tata Airlines and nationalized by the Indian government in 1958. We also discussed the reasons India has become a giant of world industry and technology. We departed as old pals, hoping to see each other again at Reunion in 2024, if not sooner.”

In mid-October, Cornell held a naming celebration and groundbreaking for the new academic building that will house the Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science. Funding for the building largely comes from a nine-figure gift from Ann Schmeltz Bowers, a Silicon Valley champion and longtime philanthropist. Scheduled to be completed in 2025, the building will be located next to Gates Hall at the corner of Hoy and Campus roads. “The building will provide space and maintain community for Bowers CIS, where 76% of all Cornell undergraduates take at least one class, and which has experienced a six-fold increase in enrollment over the past decade and recently passed the milestone of 2,000 student majors,” the Cornell Chronicle reported.

Brief takes: Mary Drake Korsmeyer of Canonsburg, PA, and her family traveled to Iceland on a cruise in July. Bourke Larkin Kennedy has moved from her home in Auburn, NY, to a retirement community in Longmont, CO, where one of her daughters resides. Wayne Montague, BS ’63, of Seneca, SC, is “the same ol’ wannabe fisherman, just enjoying life—every day!—seeing the Blue Ridge Mountains and beautiful Lake Keowee.” In Rochester, NY, Roz Bakst Goldman continues to appraise fine art and work with clients’ estates and charitable donations. She is also working on a research project, “The History of the Rochester Print Club.” The club, founded in 1930, is still in existence.

The practice in Cornellians of including folks’ email addresses in class columns ended following reports of spam. Instead, you’re encouraged to use the Alumni Directory as a way to connect. The directory has the benefit of being behind a log-in, which protects everyone’s contact information from would-be scammers. ❖ Jenny Tesar (email Jenny). Share your news here.

1960s

1960

From Aspen, CO, Tom Waldeck reports that he and his wife, Vivian, are “enjoying the cultural and outdoor life in the Rockies.” He recently sold his Wagyu cattle business but renewed his commodity trading business. Early in 2022, the Waldeck family travel plans were cut short due to COVID restrictions, but they are looking forward to traveling in 2023. Gerard “Gerry” Cerand writes from Ithaca, to which he moved several years ago, that he is totally retired after selling his oil companies and is now “just taking care of the house and following various sports.” Gerry says that what brings him the most satisfaction these days is “being alive!” (He had a stroke in spring 2021 and is grateful to have recovered.) He has three Cornellian offspring, Lauren ’01, Tanner ’04, and Jacqueline ’07.

It was good to hear from Judy Melnotte, who writes, “I am still in Reston, VA, after 48 years, having spent 40 of those years employed as a research statistician and CPA.” She says she “hardly recognizes the city now with the explosive growth and development of the region. Fortunately, I live in a still-quiet area much enjoyed by me and my rescue cat. My health is fine except for some walking difficulties after a treadmill accident—now being treated by a personal trainer. Fun times include lots of cooking, book club, Zoom sessions with old friends, and my daily Wordle. Like many of us, I feel almost too busy and wonder how I ever worked.” Bob Lockard, who lives in Mechanicsville, VA, spent much of his career as a banker and now serves as a Red Cross disaster volunteer. He lives with his wife, Ellen, in a retirement community, which Bob says is “not far from where our son and grandchildren live in Bethesda, MD, so we have the pleasure of watching our grandchildren growing up.”

Stephen “Sandy” Saperstone, BEP ’62, reports that in retirement, “I wrote a digital book, have been taking courses in geology, economics, and history, and am serving as president of my homeowners’ association. I’m also enjoying life with my wife, Barbara, in Old Town Alexandria, VA, and spending time with my 13 grandchildren, nine of whom live nearby.” Merrill Burr Hille, a professor of zoology at the University of Washington, Seattle, has managed to publish two cell biology manuscripts in 2022. She and her spouse, Bertil, enjoy hiking in the mountains and have traveled to Europe, where they walked around Mont Blanc. Soon, she says, “we will go to Tanzania, Malawi, and Botswana for a month.” Robert Clark, formerly a tax law attorney in Las Vegas, NV, says he’s now “enjoying my 13 grandchildren and a great gal, getting great satisfaction from family and friends, as well as reading and helping others. I’ve also picked up two hobbies: still photography and ballroom dancing.”

In retirement, I’ve enjoyed traveling; I went to Tibet and China in 2015 with Alys Chew Yeh ’60, a corridor-mate from Dickson Five in our freshman year.
Carolyn Carlson Blake ’60

Carolyn Carlson Blake (Allendale, NJ) says, “In retirement, I’ve enjoyed traveling; I went to Tibet and China in 2015 with Alys Chew Yeh, a corridor-mate from Dickson Five in our freshman year. I have 12 grandchildren: in September the first one got married and my youngest granddaughter left for the Peace Corps in Botswana. I’ve also become involved in the church community and am writing a family history.” Now retired after a career in banking, Kevin Pickard of Fredericksburg, TX, is “involved with Rotary International and working to develop water and sanitary facilities in Katona, Tanzania.” Kevin and his spouse, Hetsy, are, he says, “enjoying a life of ease and plan on traveling to Australia and New Zealand in the fall.” His five grandchildren are beginning their college experience.

Heartfelt condolences to our classmates who have recently lost a spouse. Sharon Lasky Mishkin, who lives in Indianapolis, IN, writes, “Sidney, my husband of 59 years, passed away in October 2021. However, I am managing slowly to find satisfaction in gardening, membership in a book club, and visiting friends and family. I’m especially enjoying daughter Tracy ’88 and her family, who live close by.” Janice Petro Billings sent word from Corona del Mar, CA, that “I lost my dear husband, Ross, in 2020 after a 50-year-long wonderful marriage. We have six children, 13 grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren. Thus far, what brings me great satisfaction is doing things with the children, continuing to teach, and living in this house that Ross designed and built. I’ve also been tutoring adults in literacy, serving as a member of the local historical society, and trying out painting as a new hobby.” Janice will be retiring in 2023 after a 60-year career in education, where she was a schoolteacher, an administrator (several years as a superintendent), and then a professor at Pepperdine University.

From Martha’s Vineyard, MA, Ken Iscol sent a “sad news update. My wife of 44 years, Jill, passed away suddenly on May 22, 2022.” Ken is coping with his loss by taking comfort from the fact that he has four grandchildren. Son Zach ’01 was recently appointed New York City Commissioner of Emergency Management, and daughter Kiva ’03 has become the head of the Iscol Family Foundation. Ken is now living full time on Martha’s Vineyard in the Iscols’ former summer house, where he is active in a variety of sports. Send your news to: ❖ Judy Bryant Wittenberg (email Judy). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1961

By this time, most of you know that Dick Tatlow, our class president, passed away in September. Dick was an enthusiastic and dedicated leader. Significantly, his efforts were a driving force in bringing the Peter C. Meinig ’61 Memorial Reading Room into being.

Here I will share co-president Jim Moore, LLB ’64’s comments, which are posted on our website: “It is with great sadness that I write to advise you of the death of our long-time class president and leader, Richard ‘Dick’ Tatlow, on September 17, 2022. Dick was a loyal and devoted friend to all who knew him, to Cornell, and to our country. He held both a bachelor’s degree in engineering and an MBA from UVA. As an undergraduate he was a member of Phi Gamma Delta and a cheerleader during the football season. Dick’s many friends recall him as a superb athlete and to some he was ‘an incredible dancer.’ Dick served as an officer in the U.S. Army, including a tour in Vietnam during the war. Dick is survived by his wife, Pat Whiskeman Tatlow, son Chip, and daughter Leslie, as well as several grandchildren.”

Henrik Dullea reported, “Volunteer opportunities abound in Ithaca. I have just finished chairing the legislative redistricting commissions for both the City of Ithaca and Tompkins County. Sally (Gilligan) ’63 and I presently co-chair the Love Living at Home senior group, providing a wide range of services and programs for local elderly as part of the national Village to Village Network. Our son, Erik ’88, has just begun his latest public service engagement as associate counsel of the National Security Agency; grandson Joe ’19 is serving as an Army helicopter pilot in Hawaii; and granddaughter Kaitlin (future DVM ’23) just received her white coat in a College of Veterinary Medicine ceremony. Sally’s son Peter Ziegler, PhD ’07, and his wife, Kim Niewolny, PhD ’06, are both on the faculty of Virginia Tech.”

Peter Greenberg sent an email update: “Our classmate Bill Kornblum, who is a professor emeritus and taught for many years at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY), wrote a terrific new nonfiction book entitled Marseille, Port to Port. Bill was a fraternity brother of mine at Tau Delta Phi. We (about 15–16 of us) have been meeting for an hour via Zoom every month and most of us have found the conversations to be a lot of fun. We tune in from California, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, New York, New Jersey, Florida, and Pennsylvania. Lew Rothman, MD ’65, is our ‘Zoom master.’ Happy to report that a fourth-generation Cornellian from our family, granddaughter Ariana Greenberg ’26, joined the incoming freshmen in the College of Arts and Sciences this past fall.”

This June, Margie McKee Blanchard ’62, MA ’65, and I will be married for 60 years. We met at Cornell and still consider it our home base.
Ken Blanchard ’62, PhD ’67

Barbara Hasenzahl Eckelmeyer writes from her home in Skillman, NJ. She is now retired but is keeping fit with hiking, yoga, bocce, and aerobics. In addition to volunteering at the library, she is involved at a farm owned by her sister and brother-in-law. May Lee Ling, living in Laguna Woods, CA, is also retired but volunteering weekly as a church counselor. May enjoys travel with her family, which includes 10 grandchildren.

Another note came from Phyllis Mark Turner, who sends best wishes to Carol Gittlin Franklin. Phyllis is splitting her time between Palm Beach Gardens, FL, and Setauket, Long Island. This was followed by Sheila Weinrub Trossman noting her Friday Boca breakfasts each winter with a list of classmates including Dale Abrams Adams and others.

John Sundholm is retired from the U.S. Air Force Civil Engineering Center and is residing in Eldred, NY. “I’m still playing trumpet in two concert bands with big summer seasons. Karol and I still take short camping trips with our travel trailer. Too busy for new hobbies at this time.”

Diane Baillet Meakem continues her shuttle between Jupiter, FL (six and a half months), and Greenwich, CT. “I enjoy playing the piano, golfing, walking, and reading for two book clubs and for my personal enjoyment. I’m into gardening but not playing bridge. I’d rather be active outdoors. My family includes four grandkids at Cornell, one at Harvard, one at Tufts, and three already graduated. Two are still in high school and five are in grade school. Grand total of 16!”

Ken Blanchard, PhD ’67, remains unretired. “I’m helping run a 42-year-old company that has been successful in helping people be better leaders around the world. My title is chief spiritual officer. I am the head cheerleader! I leave a morning message for everybody every day, praising folks and giving them some inspiration to keep up the good work. This June, Margie (McKee) ’62, MA ’65, and I will be married for 60 years. We met at Cornell and still consider it our home base. Son Scott ’88 is a fifth-generation Cornellian. We are working on our 16-year-old grandson to be the sixth generation. Wouldn’t that be special!”

And finally, we owe a special thanks to Marshall Frank, our ex-president, for his significant efforts in making the Meinig reading room a reality. Marshall has been tireless in his commitment to both Cornell and our class for many years. Please keep your news flowing to us. ❖ Doug Fuss (email Doug); Susan Williams Stevens (email Susan). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1962

There are just two entries for this month, but they contain some good ideas for classmates to ponder. The first, a brief account of a lovely trip, reminds us that many classmates are now traveling again and might enjoy sharing highlights. Since none of us is taking anything for granted these days, and since we are in varying states of mobility, those of us who are no longer traveling may take pleasure in reading about our still wandering peers and remembering our own adventures. Those of us who are still traveling may get some new inspiration and ideas! The second item, published in the New York Times and submitted by Ron Demer ’59, reminds us of our many very colorful and creative classmates. So read, get your juices flowing, and send us something that we can ponder and enjoy!

From Neil Schilke, MS ’64: “Ro and I just returned from a Western Canada trip. Started in Vancouver, BC. Took a cable car up Grouse Mountain for a dramatic view. Walked the Capilano Suspension Bridge. Boarded a Rocky Mountaineer train for Kamloops, BC, and saw dramatic changes in scenery, from the lush green fields of the Fraser Valley, through forests and winding river canyons surrounded by the peaks of the Coast and Cascade mountains to the desert-like British Columbia interior. Next day we re-boarded the train to Jasper, Alberta. We were surrounded by dramatic scenery through the Monashee and Cariboo mountains as we climbed toward the Continental Divide. We stayed at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, situated in the Jasper National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Cruised Maligne Lake and saw the rock formations in the Maligne Canyon. Headed for Lake Louise, stopping at the Columbia Icefield on the Athabasca Glacier and visiting the Glacier Skywalk. Lake Louise is idyllic; from the chateau we could see the beautiful lake with reflections of the surrounding mountains and glacier. Then on to Chateau Banff Springs via the Yoho National Park. Got a spectacular view of the Chateau and surrounding area from the Banff Gondola. Final stop was Calgary, AB.”

When Lenny Lipton, a physics major in the College of Arts and Sciences, died last month, an extensive write-up of his life and accomplishments appeared in the New York Times. Lenny was singled out for his many notable achievements, including as a documentary filmmaker and author, and his decades of pioneering research in 3D filmmaking. Of particular interest to us is that as a 19-year-old Cornell freshman, Lenny wrote a poem titled “Puff the Magic Dragon,” based on a 1936 poem by Ogden Nash. His friend Peter Yarrow ’59 found the poem in his typewriter and later transformed it into lyrics that he set to music and, in 1963, recorded with his folk group, Peter, Paul and Mary. The rest is history. It was the “bountiful” royalties from this singular accomplishment that helped fund Lenny’s decades of research in stereoscopic projection. According to Ron Demer, who sent along this wonderful item, Yarrow gave Lenny the “Puff” royalties because “it was the right thing to do.”

I hope you enjoyed these contributions and will consider submitting your own! ❖ Evelyn Eskin (email Evelyn). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1963

By now, you know the date for our Reunion get-together on campus: June 8–11, 2023. But what you may not know yet is what’s being planned. We’ll have a new building to reside in on North Campus (with A/C), an excellent variety of food, plenty of Cornell-style entertainment, and a few surprises of our own—all planned for convenience, relaxation, and time to reconnect with classmates. Let’s make our 60th a memorable time. Come join us! Contact Reunion chair Paula Trested Laholt (email Paula here) with your ideas and offers to be involved.

Harvey Rothschild wrote from Seattle, WA: “This July has been a mostly happy time. My number-two son and his family were in town on home leave en route from Pretoria, South Africa, to a new posting at the embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia. They camped out in the side yard over Fourth of July weekend. They were here from June 26 until July 21. On their last night here, we went to the opening of Come From Away. My eldest grandson got left behind because he will be starting at the University of Washington next month. I got to have a birthday breakfast with my number-one son at the Pancake Corral (a Bellevue institution), where his mother worked while in high school. The next day, we all got together at the county park on the Tolt River to celebrate my firstborn’s (Wendy Rothschild ’86) birthday. On the third, we (as we call ourselves) Rothschildren had a big family reunion with family coming in from Pretoria, Brooklyn, Boston, Phoenix, and all around Puget Sound country. I rounded out the birthday perfecta by celebrating mine with Wendy and the Pretoria crowd and then number-two son’s birthday at my place. He cooked and I washed up. Circling back to the beginning of this note, I leave for Jakarta on Boxing Day (December 26) and come home after the grandsons go back to school on January 9, 2023.”

One of my classmates who sends news each year is Joan Travers Barist. She and Jeffrey live in Washington Depot, CT. Last spring, Joan returned from a month in Tuscany visiting churches and small villages. “I am working at Brooklyn Museum as a volunteer and love to garden, travel, read, and be with my grandchildren.”

Cynthia Raymond is very busy these days. “I am wearing a mask when leaving home and spending hours Zooming in front of laptop screens. I am also editing my photos on the computer to prepare my memoirs. I am enjoying traveling again and getting together with old friends and new, in person and on FaceTime/Zooms. I am also cyber communicating with friends and family around the globe.”

Nancy Deeds Meister wrote: “In June, my husband, James Book, and I went on a rafting/hiking trip in the Grand Canyon to celebrate my 80th year. I am a deacon at Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Tucson. My granddaughter, Carline Meister, graduated in May from Salpointe High School in Tucson and will be attending Ole Miss.”

In June, my husband and I went on a rafting/hiking trip in the Grand Canyon to celebrate my 80th year.
Nancy Deeds Meister ’63

Whin, ME ’68, and Joan Melville write, “We have been traveling to see kids and grandkids from our home in Pittsford, NY. We went to Turks and Caicos for six weeks, which included scuba diving. I continue with the alumni corporation for Alpha Sigma Phi. I serve as treasurer and project manager for some major projects.”

John and Rosalind Needham live in Holland, OH. “I never imagined that I would have nine grandchildren. I do volunteer work, especially for our church. I get great satisfaction out of helping others and watching our grandchildren grow and thrive. A new hobby I recently took up is baking. YUM!”

Joseph Lamendola “became a senior citizen at the Temple, GA, Senior Center. There is much to do—lunch at noon every weekday. Games in the a.m. and p.m. Twice every week I travel to dine and/or go to shows. I am preparing my home in Watertown, NY, for sale. I have been a snowbird with my daughter in Florida and my oldest son in Georgia. I expect to spend six months with my son this winter. I am also a member of a coffee klatsch group in Watertown and another in Georgia.”

Dave and Thelma Finnigan live in Celebration, FL. “I am launching a startup at age 80 along with publishing my new book, The Green Actioneers Family Action Guide. I am also going from school to school with a one-day program teaching families how to go green. The website can be viewed here. I am also transitioning our home to become sustainable. I am reducing my carbon footprint and helping others to do the same. We are still swing dancing two or three times a week. I go there in my 100% electric car that I power from solar panels on the house.”

I have been told by my Cornellians editor that due to some complaints of spam, they are no longer listing email addresses in the text of Class Notes columns. You can find contact information for many classmates in the Alumni Directory, which is behind a Cornell log-in. That is all for now. See you in June. ❖ Nancy Bierds Icke (email Nancy), 12350 E. Roger Road, Tucson, AZ 85749. Share your news here.

1964

Happy New Year! Here’s hoping you’re all well and COVID-free. We’re getting traces of more activity in the news you send—a good sign that things are improving.

Catharine Shull McCalmon writes, “I spent 20 years fundraising for University of Colorado, Boulder. I started as a proposal writer and ended as a vice president for corporate and foundation gifts.” Cathy still lives in Boulder with husband Byron ’62, MEd ’70, and says, “Greatest joy: both children, plus three grandchildren, moved back to Boulder from California and live within six blocks of us!” She and Byron made a pre-COVID trip to Bordeaux, Toulouse, and Carcassonne (France) with classmate Ann Wilson Rounds and her husband, Tom. Of that trip, she notes, “I spent more than 12 years learning French, which I never studied in high school or at Cornell.” The McCalmons have also been to New Zealand, South America, elsewhere in Europe, and Africa. Cathy otherwise enjoys hiking, golf, driving grandkids, playing tennis, and running—“before old age sets in!”

P. Alan Loss, last in this column a dozen years ago, writes that he retired just last June from Personal Wealth Advisory LLC, where he was a certified financial planner for 37 years. He is now associated with the Restorative Justice Conference as a facilitator for a small nonprofit. He is also on the investment committee for Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology. Alan and wife Linda live in Lancaster, PA, and travel to visit children and grandchildren—plus international travel, lately including a cruise of the British Isles last April, and in 2021 a driving tour of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Next up is a planned trip to Portugal.

Barbara Rainard (Glenshaw, PA), also last here a dozen years ago, regales us with her pre-COVID adventures: “As a child, I visited the Egyptian exhibit at New York’s Metropolitan Museum and was entranced, especially with the tiny figurines of people going about daily tasks. I became fascinated with archeology. Finally, I decided I wanted to actually see Egypt’s ancient sites, and my husband and I went on a Cornell alumni trip to Egypt in 2019. We started in Cairo, touring the ancient ruins, the museum, the lovely Coptic churches, a mosque, and a synagogue, as well as a visit to the souk. Then it was off to Luxor to more ancient sites, including the Valley of the Kings. Next were four days of sailing down the Nile in a dahabiya with stops in villages, temples, tombs, and quarries. We ended in Aswan with another temple, the dam, and the interesting Nubian Museum. Our accommodations were luxurious, the food was great, and we got to see some of daily Egyptian life as well as the expected pyramids, etc. Our guides were highly informative and great company. And then came COVID! Our timing was just right.”

As a child, I visited the Egyptian exhibit at New York’s Metropolitan Museum and was entranced. Finally, my husband and I went on a Cornell alumni trip to Egypt in 2019.
Barbara Rainard ’64

Toby Kleban Levine, last here three winters ago, also caught us up on activities: “I sold my house in the Berkshires two Octobers ago, and after spending the winter at my condo in Bonita Springs, FL, I moved into an independent living apartment at NewBridge on the Charles, a continuing care retirement community just south of Boston. Both my daughters are nearby, and I am making lots of new friends. I’m also going to the Berkshires every other weekend for Tanglewood, Jacob’s Pillow, and theater.” Toby recently got together with Eileen Corwin Mason and her husband, Art ’63, and would welcome visitors who live near her condo.

Judie Pink Gorra (Washington Depot, CT), last here just over two years ago, writes, “I continue to do psychological evaluations for my local school district. It’s very part time, and I am enjoying the continued engagement with students, teachers, and parents.” Judie otherwise enjoys quite varied activities: “I love reading the applications for the Class of ’64 JFK Memorial Award. Besides church and environmental activities, I just agreed to be chairperson of my town’s housing commission. We’re trying to address the need for affordable housing in a town where the median price of a home is well over $1 million. I’m a bit out of my comfort zone, which ‘they’ say is good for us at this stage in life!”

As if that isn’t enough, Judie goes on: “I have been taking an acrylic painting course mostly online recently through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute—a challenge.” With all that, Judie also travels, notably riverboat cruises in Europe, of which she says, “I’m hooked on this kind of travel, but also have enjoyed a lot of hiking—most recently in the Grand Canyon and Sedona. Good for the soul and the body.” Judie says she also enjoys watching her grandchildren grow; notably, a granddaughter is a junior at Cornell and played in a rugby tournament. Judie notes, “So now I’m learning about rugby.”

Phyllis Rickler Alexander, who lives in Greenwich, CT, writes that she is a “recovering” (her term) real estate agent who also serves on the local town council. Phyllis otherwise enjoys grandchildren, bridge, knitting, and gardening. Of travel, she notes she and husband Timothy are “hopefully going around the world on a COVID-postponed trip.”

That’s all for now. I could always use more of your news, so please update me by email, regular mail, our class website, or our class Facebook page. ❖ Bev Johns Lamont (email Bev), 720 Chestnut St., Deerfield, IL 60015. Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1965

Andrew “Tom” Schmeltz notes that he and wife Peggy are in the process of moving from Ketchum, ID, to Cambridge, MD. He wonders why he kept “a lifetime of stuff” that now requires packing. His daughter and grandchildren will be just an hour away in Chestertown, and also good friend and classmate Sam Dell, ME ’66, will be close by outside of Baltimore. He says: “Given the current teacher shortage, I hope to substitute in Cambridge and maybe even give a little bit of help in addressing the utter lack of knowledge and understanding of our country’s history. Fly fishing here has been really good and I’m looking forward to exploring the spring creeks in Pennsylvania, Western Maryland, and northwestern Virginia.”

Michael Steinitz (Antigonish, NS) is now professor emeritus at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish. He has been active on Commission 13 of the International Union for Pure and Applied Physics (Physics for Development), and on the steering committee for the United Nations International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development, 2022–23. He is a past president of the Canadian Association of Physicists—and for 15 years, he was editor-in-chief of the Canadian Journal of Physics. Michael and his wife, Heidi, derive much joy from their two children and three grandchildren.

Jeffrey Dubin (Huntington, NY) relates that he and wife Elaine were preparing to travel to Scandinavia on a September Cornell’s Adult University trip with Prof. Nancy Green. His oldest grandson, Jake ’26 (son of Jennifer Dubin Ludgin ’95), just started his first year in the engineering college. Jeff is still working at his labor and employment law practice. While he has cut back on days and hours worked, he is still not thinking about retirement.

Howard Zuckerman (Pikesville, MD) retired from his professional career as a CFO in 2003. He spent seven years in public accounting, eight in the pharma industry, and almost 20 in telecommunications, including in Mexico City (1996–2000). He has three sons and six grandchildren living in Rockland County, NY, and Baltimore County, MD. Howard has traveled extensively during retirement and has served on a voluntary basis on numerous boards of nonprofit organizations in the D.C. and Baltimore areas. He is currently an active board member of two Jewish community centers: one in Southern New Jersey and one in Baltimore. He has thus far been lucky to avoid COVID and hopes to attend our class’s 60th Reunion.

Frank O’Connell, MBA ’66 (Woodstock, VT, and Daytona Beach Shores, FL) recently finished writing a book, Jump First, Think Fast, that was published in late October 2022. It includes an account of his childhood, his experiences at Cornell, and his subsequent career path. You can learn more about it at this website.

Frank O’Connell ’65, MBA ’66, and Barbara live on a 120-acre farm in Woodstock, VT, where they enjoy the views from the lean-to at the top of the hill.

Frank and Barbara will have been married 48 years this December. They raised four children, daughters Beth and Kim, and sons Sean, MBA ’17, and Mack ’10, and they have six grandchildren and three great-grandsons. Sean’s wife, Beth Kosta O’Connell, MBA ’17, and Mack’s wife, Caroline King ’10, also graduated from Cornell. Frank proudly notes that his father attended Cornell and his mother was an aide to five of the deans at the Law School.

Frank says motorcycling is his passion, and about 25 years ago he founded the American Flyers Motorcycle Club along with Rich Marin ’75, MBA ’76. Frank has traveled the world with Barbara via cruises. He notes: “We have reached five-star status, so it allows a few benefits and great staterooms.” He has served in leading positions with numerous prominent corporations through his career and recently bought Schylling Toys with other investors, serving as CEO for a time.

Frank and Barbara live on a 120-acre farm in Woodstock, VT, but spend the winters at their home in Daytona Beach Shores, FL, on the Intracoastal Waterway, where they can fish, boat, and enjoy family visits. However, Woodstock is what the family considers home—it’s where they find peace, get around with tractors, ATVs, motorcycles, and other vehicles, and enjoy the views from the lean-to at the top of the hill.

Kenneth Rabin (Warsaw, Poland) became a widower in 2001. He married Anna Wysocka in 2003 and moved to her hometown of Warsaw in 2005. In 2007, he retired as EVP of Ruder Finn but continued to consult in the field of health communications thereafter. Ken returned to the academic world in 2019 as a senior scholar at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy—and he’s been part of an international research team that has published extensively on vaccine hesitancy issues.

Carl Eisenhard, DVM ’69 (Springville, NY) regrets to report that Deborah (Hoyt), his wife of 55 years, lost a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease on December 18, 2021. She earned a BS with honors and distinction in food and nutrition from the College of Home Economics in 1965. We express our condolences to the entire family.

Michael Burns, BS ’68, retired and is enjoying his grandkids and traveling. He went to Newfoundland and Labrador this year to see the sights, especially enjoying L’Anse aux Meadows, where the Vikings landed 1,000 years ago. Frank Maxant, ME ’68, is proud that his grandson Jeremy Simon is a member of the Class of ’26, majoring in computer engineering.

Please keep the news coming to us. Remember that people love to hear about your doings via our column. ❖ Stephen Appell (email Stephen); Joan Hens Johnson (email Joan). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1966

Our classmates are still keeping busy in a variety of ways. Tom Jensen, BArch ’70, of Logan, UT, continues to work because he loves it. He founded an architectural firm for his region. He has taught at a university in Madaba, which gave him and his wife the opportunity to live and travel in Jordan and Israel. He is active at home doing business development for a local contractor and serving on the city council. Tom is the author of a training course for building officials. He teaches in his church, is chair of facilities for Eccles Theater, and is involved in numerous civic and planning initiatives. Current activities include golf, grandkids, and doctor visits! He served on the Logan Municipal Council for 10 years, with a focus on restoring and activating the growing town center.

Richard Ekstrom reports that he and his wife have recently moved from their Pittsburgh home to a 55-plus community in Sewickley, PA. His son-in-law, Nick Courage, has published his third young adult novel, Snow Struck.

After a serious bicycle accident in 2019, Ralph Schwartz is back to riding. He is enjoying retirement and also stays active by hiking and cross-country skiing with friends. Ralph lives in St. Paul, MN, and is delighted that his son, his daughter-in-law, and their children have moved back to St. Paul from Seattle, so he sees them more often. While he was recovering from his injuries, he discovered puzzles, including Sudoku, Spelling Bee, Wordle, and crosswords. He never imagined he would train and participate in cross-country ski racing and hopes to do it again. Travel for Ralph and his wife has included a cruise on the Rhône from Avignon (pre-COVID) and a week in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, last spring. They also enjoy weekends at their lake place.

Peter Meyer, ME ’67, is active in civic affairs. He is on the facilities committee at the YMCA of Montclair, NJ, and is a trustee of the Land Conservancy of New Jersey. He keeps busy with his four grandkids, his dog, walking, and maintaining wellness. He never imagined he would someday be living on a lake watching great blue herons and cormorants, feeding ducks, and spotting turtles on logs. His most recent travel was to Chautauqua, NY.

Peter Meyer ’66, ME ’67, never imagined he would someday be living on a lake watching great blue herons and cormorants, feeding ducks, and spotting turtles on logs.

Ellen Bravo and her husband, Larry Miller, have written a novel, Standing Up: Tales of Struggle, published by Hard Ball Press. The book has received testimonials from other authors and public figures, and Ellen is now writing full time. Back in 1966, she never thought she would be doing lots of workouts, including Zumba, Pilates, and Pound! Ellen and Larry are traveling for the book tour. They also visited Kauai as their younger son’s partner is from there. They try to spend time visiting their sons: Nat, who leads a children’s theater in Austin, TX, and Craig, who is a musician in Oakland, CA.

Doris Nagel Atwood Sullivan, of Bedford, MA, is a professor of English at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (formerly North Adams State College) in North Adams, MA. She volunteers as a Cornell admissions ambassador. She was a library trustee for 47 years in three different libraries as she and her husband moved from New Hampshire to Massachusetts. She never thought she would be living in a continuing care retirement community and is busier than ever. They have a home on Squam Lake in New Hampshire and travel there often. They are very active grandparents and community volunteers.

Martin ’63, DVM ’66, and Debra Kirschner Wolf have retired and live at the Club at Ibis, a country club in West Palm Beach, FL. Martin ran an animal hospital where Deb also worked for 44 years. He also taught for 30 years in New York City. He is now active as a mosaic artist, but they have plenty of time for relaxing. Deb plays cards and Mahjong. Their travel has included India (Marty’s favorite) and a 26-day cruise of the Baltic, Scandinavia, Russia, the U.K., and Nova Scotia. They have six grandchildren. One teaches, three are in college including one at Cornell, and the two youngest are at home. Son Jeff is a pulmonologist and head of critical care at St. Francis Hospital. Daughter Michelle is CEO of a paper and gift company.

Jean Duchow Solomon, BA ’68, is a retired family medicine physician. She reports that her wonderful husband, Bill Young, died last year (2022). Sadly, this has been a year with a lot of changes for her. She is splitting her time between homes in Pebble Beach and Palo Alto, CA.

From Alice Katz Berglas: “It’s October 24 as I write in NYC. It’s been a week of cloud-free blue skies, followed by heavy rain and winds, and now an early morning dense grayness that masks from view the buildings just across the street. The Yankees lost, and enough said about that by this former Brooklyn Dodgers fan/Yankees convert. Spring Training and pitchers/catchers and a new baseball season seem far away. Pumpkins and skeletons line the brownstone windows on my street, and election flyers are on every doorstep. But indeed, as you read this, a New Year—2023!—will have begun. New possibilities! New times to share with family and friends/classmates. Much new to do together! So whatever the traditional January/February weather in your part of the globe, I hope it is easy and welcoming. The ’66 class leadership team joins me in wishing you good health and new great happenings—and invites you to do what we have been doing for 60.5 years: sharing new times as the Cornell Class of 1966, creating each new year together. Happy Great Everything—to each and to all!” ❖ Susan Rockford Bittker (email Susan); Pete Salinger (email Pete). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1967

Noel Relyea, PhD ’73 (Cupertino, CA), married to William Wood ’70, now plays fiddle in a bluegrass band. “They own and operate a small winery, R&W Vineyards, and enjoy family ski and beach vacations and other celebrations.” Their grandson has started college and Noel started classical violin studies.

Sally Nellis Kuehl (Rochester, NY) reports: “For the third time, I have driven the support car while my husband biked across the country. At age 60, he did Yorktown, VA, to San Francisco. At 70, it was Seattle to Bar Harbor. This year, not wanting to wait until he was 80, it was San Diego to St. Augustine. These are all well-mapped routes through Adventure Cycling! My siblings and I continue to support the 1747 Nellis Tavern in St. Johnsville, NY, by baking pies for the annual Rhubarb Festival. My twin, Sandy Nellis-Lane, is also a ’67 alumna.”

Pauline Watkins Runkle (Fort Lauderdale, FL) has “become a great admirer of Florida, the diversity of its terrain, its people, its wildlife. I’m watching the sea turtles nest on my beach. I paint and study art. I look for birds and travel to nesting and migratory pathways. Since retirement, I draw, I paint, and I am very active in my art societies—from my home in Ft. Lauderdale to my once-home on Cape Ann, MA. I’m grateful for my good health, my passion for learning, new opportunities for friendship, my participation in my church, my volunteerism, and my passion for recognizing every dawn as a window for new opportunities.

“I was a Hotel School student. My parents more than encouraged me to get a business education rather than one in the liberal arts. At Cornell, I worked hard. I missed football games while drawing up hotel plumbing and electrical systems. From the windows at Statler, I watched fall-clad students on their way to Schoellkopf on Saturdays. Soon I decided to double up on requirements and completed all in three years. The fourth year I set out to begin a new education, taking history of the American play, classes in the Ag school, and most importantly drawing. It was during my first drawing class in the Cornell Botanic Gardens that I began to see life differently.”

Robert Hastings, MS ’72, is “living in Switzerland. I never imagined during my college years in the ’60s and first career years in the ’70s that I would end up spending the rest of my life here. In 1980, President Reagan killed federally funded solar research and demonstration, the Swiss accelerated it, and I had specialized in building research making renewable energy an integral part of architecture. So here I am 42 years later.”

It was during my first drawing class in the Cornell Botanic Gardens that I began to see life differently.
Pauline Watkins Runkle ’67

Robert continues, “Now, 12 years into retirement, I have finally caught up with all personal and financial endeavors—i.e., resolving quadruple taxation issues (U.S., Switzerland, Germany, and Austria). This resulted from working and investing in each of these countries. Each demand full taxation on worldwide income and each have devious tricks to get around treaties to prevent double taxation. A main hobby is traveling, photographing, and writing—but no longer for work, just for fun. And no longer globally, but limited to New England, Florida, Switzerland, and European countries bordering Switzerland.

“Two granddaughters are my greatest pleasure these days. I continue to be awed that at 8 and 12 they are fluent in four and five languages. Our house garden is also a big pleasure as is our Audi Q3. And I confess, it’s a pleasure after breakfast not rushing off to work but moving to the sofa with a mug of coffee to read the newspaper. Life is full with my present inventory of activities.”

Michael Samach (Morris Plains, NJ) is soon approaching retirement “after 44 years in medical practice. I will split time between New Jersey and Naples, FL, where I’ve been spending time.” He enjoys “seeing my grandchildren grow up” and has taken up the new craze of our generation: pickleball.

Anita Sherbet Weis (Tucson, AZ) is “still shocked to find myself living happily in the Arizona desert. I also never imagined I would be a divorced single parent, and certainly never imagined that I would meet my second husband, Merv, at my school’s parent night. For a gal whose longest trip until 1967 was from New York to Florida, it’s been surprising how much of the world I’ve now seen.

“I worked for 30 years in education as a teacher, counselor, department chair, and assistant at the school my sons attended. I earned three master’s degrees: from Northwestern University (counseling), the Institute for Psychoanalysis Teacher Education Program, and National Louis University (school administration).” Anita has two sons, Mark and Brian, a scientist and an independent consultant, respectively. Her four grandchildren are studying at Tulane and WPI, and two are in high school. Her stepdaughter, Sari, is a personal trainer.

“I was a volunteer reading teacher in a Tucson charter school and served on their board,” Anita continues. “In addition to the typical retirement things, I wrote a book, Grandma Stories, for my grandchildren, designed and sewed 10 baby quilts for great-grandchildren to be, and planted a pretty spectacular desert garden. Just being healthy makes me happy. I love Pilates and my daily hikes with my husband and two doodles. My closest friends are Howard ’65 and Janice Klopper Richard. I am a very upbeat person who finds joy in all the beauty surrounding me.” ❖ Richard Hoffman (email Richard), 2925 28th St. NW, Washington, DC 20008. Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1968

I’ve written several times about our classmate Joyce Banch Flynn’s achievements in competitive track and field, which were inspired by her husband, Daniel, a lifelong competitor himself. Starting her competitive career in her late 60s, Joyce has racked up an astounding record in local, national, and international competitions. This year she competed in the 75- to 79-year-old age group. After winning gold medals in high jump, long jump, and triple jump at the National Senior Games, she went on to garner a gold medal in the high jump, a silver in the long jump, and a bronze in the triple jump at the World Masters Track and Field competition held in Tampere, Finland, this past summer. Not just a jock, some of her other hobbies include the Westhampton Garden Club and active participation in various environmental causes, as well as local politics and fundraising. Joyce should be an inspiration for all of us.

Sara Straw Winship recently sold her long-held cabin in the Georgia mountains that was a frequent vacation spot where she hosted friends and family and parties for every occasion. She now has reconnected with the Atlanta arts, drama, and concert scene, as well as attending Braves ballgames and frequently going out dancing. Sara belongs to two book clubs and is keeping in shape attending Pilates classes. She recently traveled from Atlanta to Erie, PA, to reunite with KKG roommates Janet Jacobi Grossman and Mary “Lugi” Hartman Schmidt—both are going strong. She reports that they laughed themselves silly recounting campus days.

Karen Woyshner Zill and her husband, Nicholas, have lived in Washington, DC, for 40 years, where she worked in public media at WETA, managing educational projects and writing guides for TV and films. She and Nick have been producing political satire/musical comedy shows for the past decade, with a break from 2017–20. Their newest show, titled “Two Cheers for Democracy,” has been touring many of the major cities in the country. Information about the show is available here.

Joyce Banch Flynn ’68 garnered a gold medal in the high jump, a silver in the long jump, and a bronze in the triple jump at the World Masters Track and Field competition.

Gordon Silver made his annual migration from his summer home in Aspen, CO, to his winter hideaway on Fisher Island, FL. Gordon is still working as an independent corporate director and serves on nonprofit boards. He recently saw classmates Steve, MBA ’70, JD ’71, and Sharon Lawner Weinberg, PhD ’71, and he hosted brunch on Fisher Island with Jane Frommer Gertler and her husband, David ’67, ME ’68. Gordon recently completed another home on Cape Cod, where he’s looking forward to visits with friends and family. Gordon is still active in sports including golf, tennis, biking, and hiking and is always happy spending time with any of his five grandchildren.

Howard Weinstein reports from Newton, MA, that he still works full time as chief of pediatric hematology and oncology at Mass General Hospital in Boston. Almost as impressive, he finished his 30th Boston Marathon in April, to raise funds for his childhood cancer program at Mass General. Way to go, Howard! He and his wife, Ann Hochberg, have much to celebrate with their son, Aaron ’16, having just graduated from Harvard Business School, and his twin sister, Becca, interning in pediatrics at Mass General Hospital. Howard states he receives the most satisfaction from his children, of whom he is overwhelmingly proud.

Kathleen Maney Fox and her husband, Gary, live in Cortland, NY, spending the icy months of January through March in sunny Venice, FL—where each day she walks to the beach for a yoga session, and later in the day the Foxes walk to the jetty to watch the pelicans and fishing boats come in with their daily catch. She describes life there as a paradise! Kathleen’s daughter Melissa Toner Lozner ’97 and her husband purchased a lake home in Skaneateles, NY, just 13 miles from Kathleen’s home, so she sees her family frequently. Kathleen says when recounting her life, she is happy. Looking forward, she’s excited about watching her grandchildren grow up and live theirs. ❖ Chuck Levitan (email Chuck). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1969

Here in Downingtown, PA, when that direct ray of the sun hit the equator in its continuous journey, thermometers plunged! Fall arrived with a vengeance, keeping daylight temperatures in the 70s and overnight temps in the 40s. It’s time to think about preparing the arboretum (that “goes to camp” indoors for the summer) to make our interior “white cave” more inviting! Just for perspective—by the time you read this, that perpendicular beam will have touched 23.5° south and be again moving north to expand our daylight hours!

No big news from the Krablins—several kite-making workshops, visits with family and friends, our 16th annual family camping trip to North/South Lake campground in Haines Falls, NY, and kite festivals in North Carolina, Maryland, and New Jersey. After the COVID hiatus, outdoor music events resumed, long a part of summer for us.

Steve Kussin is an adjunct professor in the department of radio, television, and film at Hofstra University and has been an education reporter for WCBS Newsradio 880 in New York City for 12 years. Steve recently published his second book, It’s the Principal of the Thing: You Can’t Make This Stuff Up, based on his 21 years as a high school principal. His first book, Five Freshmen, follows college students of varied backgrounds from 1965 to 1969. Amazon.com will be happy to provide you with both! I am sure we “blissfully retired” educators can relate to the school experiences as well as the perspectives of our college years through Steve’s characters. Steve and Sharyn celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary; they have three sons and four granddaughters. Again, like many, Steve wonders where the years have gone but acknowledges the “great run” and fond memories of being at Cornell.

Susan Scheer Germaine writes from Rye Brook, NY, that daughter Michelle was married to Joshua Fox on September 26 in Kennebunkport, ME. Attending Cornellians included Joseph Miller and Linda Germaine-Miller ’71 and Louis Germaine ’68.

From Larchmont, NY, Linda Negrin sends news that she is taking classes to be a Westchester County Election Inspector—go Linda! (We are poll workers!) COVID encouraged Linda to return to painting and assemblage. In 2021, two series of paintings were created: Corona Monsters 1 and 2. Local shows displayed 2, and 1 is/was on exhibit at Bethany Arts Center. Son Noah Negrin ’06 and his wife, Su Ming, are the proud parents of Sienna, 5, Nash, 3, and Wyatt, 1. Daughter Meredith Negrin Safer ’98 and husband Jonah (with grandson!) live only four minutes from Linda and Joel ’68. A toy Aussiedoodle puppy, Blue, has become part of their family. Linda and Blue are in puppy training together!

Steve Kussin ’69 recently published his second book, It’s the Principal of the Thing: You Can’t Make This Stuff Up, based on his 21 years as a high school principal.

Kenneth LaPensee lives in Hampton, NJ, works for a pharmaceutical company (AbbVie), and is writing a mystery novel. Daughter Aimee is getting married soon! Kenneth’s new hobby is world travel—but Kenneth reports that he derives the most satisfaction from getting outdoors and enjoying gatherings of friends and family.

News from Phyllis Baker Weih: she and Jeffrey are moving to a continuous care retirement community in Portland, OR, after 33 years in their home. She owns and helps manage rental properties with her daughter, manages financial investments, and is the “go-to person” for medical questions from family and friends. Phyllis’s new hobby is geology (do come back to Reunion and explore the fascinating geologic history of the Ithaca area!), but, as is true for many of us, being with family and friends and being out in nature—especially the High Desert overlooking the Deschutes River Canyon—brings Phyllis the most satisfaction.

In Westtown, PA, Don Verdiani, ME ’71, is president of the ambulance club and works with the Red Cross National Disaster Response Team as an EMT. Don has welcomed a fourth grandchild into the family! From the other end of the world, David Silverman writes from Rotorua, New Zealand, that he is raising Belted Galloway cattle, writing poetry, and very happy to wake each morning!

Bruce Winningham, MBA ’74, is downsizing his marketing consulting firm in Westport, CT. He is sponsoring an Afghan family and is in his sixth year as sponsor of a Syrian refugee family. John reports having had a micro-robotic prostatectomy performed by a Yale (New Haven) “rock star” with 100% success! Retiring from her third career as in-house attorney at Independence Blue Cross, Benita Fair Langsdorf is now figuring out the next chapter of her life in Philadelphia. Her daughter, Melissa ’98, married Vince Martini in Chicago on December 17. Many Cornellians were expected to share this wonderful occasion!

Thanks so much to these classmates who submitted news! Please send your news and share your lives with classmates. Which reminds me—it is not too soon to put our 55th Reunion on your calendar: June 6–9, 2024! On October 11, Cindy Nixon Dubose, Greg Baum, Alan Cody, Charlotte Bruska Gardner, Jon Kaplan, MD ’74, Bob Potter, Steve and Ingrid Dieterle Tyler, Joyce Shorter Brown, Larry and Nancy Jenkins Krablin, John Wilkens, ME ’71, and Sally Knowlton Zoomed (Sally from a ship sailing to New Zealand!) to start planning this auspicious gathering. Let’s try to break the attendance record for our 55th! Never returned to campus? It is never too late! Of course, Continuous Reunion Club members are always welcome! Hoping to see lots of friends (never say old …) and make new ones “on the Hill” in 2024! ❖ Nancy Jenkins Krablin (email Nancy). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1970s

1970

Your correspondent recently returned for a few marvelous days in the Finger Lakes, focused one lake over from Cayuga. Based in Watkins Glen, at the southern end of Seneca Lake, time was spent wandering among (and tasting at) wineries, scouting out restaurants, venturing over to Keuka Lake and Hammondsport for the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum (and more wineries), and experiencing the many ways in which the village of Watkins Glen celebrates its place as part of the foundation of motorsport in America. As a native Upstate New Yorker, I was pleased to be back in familiar surroundings, with a marvelous companion.

An interesting Cornell experience has been the opportunity to read a very compelling new book, We Showed Baltimore by Christian Swezey. It is a detailed history of the rise of Cornell lacrosse in the 1970s and dives deeply into the personalities of the players along with the late Richie Moran, Cornell’s extraordinary coach. It is also an interesting look at what things were like in Ithaca and Cornell in the same timeframe as our undergrad years.

One change you will see in these columns is the eliminating of email addresses in the text of Class Notes, following feedback from some readers about spam. Instead, you are encouraged to use the Alumni Directory as a way to connect. The directory has the benefit of being behind a log-in, which protects everyone’s contact information from would-be scammers. Also, starting with the September/October Class Notes, my email address no longer appears at the end of each column, but is instead behind a link that will generate an email to me.

Kurt Gerhardt Krammer (Concord, MA) writes briefly that he is still working in an Alzheimer’s clinic in Lexington, MA, getting satisfaction by helping others in need. At this writing, he was waiting to go on an annual trip to France, postponed for two years, to again be in their house in the Pyrenees.

William McCumiskey (Oyster Bay, NY) notes that paying tuitions for 20-year-old twins at the age of 74 is something he never imagined he would be doing. He spends time teaching, both as a PGA professional (teaching golf) and also as a substitute teacher at Plainview and Farmingdale high schools. Significant this academic year are the graduations of daughter Rosie from Clemson, with honors, and son Willie from SUNY Geneseo in business. William finds satisfaction these days in reading a book and taking a nap before cooking dinner and washing dishes. He notes (perhaps like many of us) that a newly adopted hobby is visiting doctors.

A few years ago, I picked up my old clarinet, which I had not played for more than 50 years, and discovered I could still play!
Sharon Hoopes Piers ’70

Paul Trause, JD ’74 (Encinitas, CA), is now volunteering to build small sleeping cottages for individuals without homes, while seeking land and permits to build a village of cottages. His son, Tommy Trause ’04, has purchased a home in Seattle, while his daughter, Amanda, and family are moving to Nairobi to teach in the International School of Kenya for two years. Paul is still enjoying reading, walking (especially on the beach), music, and sunshine, along with daily life with his wife of 51 years, Mary Anne (Staigers), PhD ’75.

Sharon Hoopes Piers (Grand Rapids, MI) for the last five years has been, with her husband, raising two teenaged grandsons. She notes, “They are wonderful boys, but the jury is still out as to whether the situation is keeping us young or aging us more rapidly—busy times!” As a couple, they have also been active in the Citizens’ Climate Lobby and have lobbied in Congress for a carbon fee and dividend proposal. In all, Sharon and her husband have 12 grandchildren between them, some finishing school, getting married, and starting careers. There are lots of birthdays to remember. As for hobbies, Sharon tells this story: “A few years ago, I picked up my old clarinet, which I had not played for more than 50 years, and discovered I could still play! Those things we learn in our youth stick with us over the years. I’ve enjoyed playing in a small orchestra at our church.”

Cynthia Johnson O’Malley (Newport, RI) has started traveling again! Last fall she and her daughter did a trip down the Rhine River. During the winter she was in Palm Beach, FL, and this spring she has been with her son in Sonoma, CA.

And lastly for this edition, the trend of classmates writing books continues! Robert Berne, MBA ’71, PhD ’77 (New York, NY), now emeritus at NYU after serving as professor, dean, and vice president, wrote a recently published novel, Tuscan Son, where a mild-mannered university vice president is thrust into a hellish Panamanian prison for unknown reasons. The author’s wife, Shelley (Fox) ’71, created the watercolor that forms the cover of the book.

Keep sending your notes! There were a very large number that reached me this past May, all of which have now appeared here or in prior columns. I do have one serious additional request. I once heard that as we become more successful, our handwriting becomes less legible. I know we, as Cornellians, are pretty successful, as I have had to resort to emailing or calling several classmates to help me decipher family names of non-classmates, destinations, etc. So if you handwrite your notes—please try, at least for names, to make them less of a puzzle. I will be very thankful!

As always, for your own news, you may contact me directly, or you may use the University’s standard online news form. ❖ John Cecilia (email John); tel., (312) 524-2912. Alumni Directory.

1971

Classmates who’ve sent in news are heroes this column. Feel free to email your class correspondents about yourself or your Cornell pals or simply fill out the questionnaire when it arrives. While I am willing to write fiction about you, Cara Nash Iason continues to point out that we prefer using the facts supplied to us. Thank you all, sincerely.

Does it surprise you that Dave Himmelblau has been collecting art in Mountain View, CA? He used to think all artists and collectors were crazy. Now he respects the artists, but confesses that “this collector, at least, is pretty crazy.” Deeply involved in the management of his condo association, he’s also active on technical/professional committees about metallurgy, “solving problems in a resourceful and inventive manner.” His plate is quite full.

Also very busy and also in California, Marc Cohen is a full-time attorney representing state agencies. But there’s more: he’s a colonel in the California Military Department, helping coordinate aid to Ukraine. He enjoys an occasional cigar and bourbon, being outdoors, hanging with his wife, Lyn, and enjoying their grandson, now nearly a year old.

I keep hearing about pickleball. You too? Out east on Long Island, Eileen Nuhn Petrillo played for a number of years until knee replacements forced her to take a hiatus. She’s back on the courts again and active with Long Island Cares, the Harry Chapin Food Bank, and gardening at her church and within her gated community. There, she’s involved in exercise classes, water aerobics, and helping with social and fundraising activities. Until the pandemic is farther in the background, she has made only sporadic visits away from home in Ridge, NY.

Also from New York, news from the Mohawk Valley: Charles Tallent continues to practice law in Canajoharie and serve on the board of the Canajoharie Library and Arkell Museum. It collects, preserves, researches, and presents American art and Mohawk Valley history. Founded by the first president of Beech-Nut Packing Company, Bartlett Arkell’s personal collection was important to the museum’s first collections including works by Gilbert Stuart and Robert Henri, and which currently includes seven (!) oils by Winslow Homer and significant paintings by artists such as Thomas Hart Benton, William Merritt Chase, Childe Hassam, John Singer Sargent, and Albert Bierstadt. Exhibitions also feature the Beech-Nut collection of early 20th-century advertising material. Chuck is the proud father of two sons, Joshua (Brown ’00) and Jeremy (Columbia ’03).

Imagine what recent months were like for Julie Furman Stodolka ’71, who managed four Facebook pages and the office of a local Democratic party in a battleground state!

Laura Katz has begun traveling again, this year from her home in Woodstock, NY. A highlight was to Turks and Caicos. To find out more, check out her Instagram (Laura Katz Art) or her handsome website, where she states that she “turned to abstraction and let feelings and inspiration come from within. I like to keep a sense of play.” Laura has created signature collections under her own name, including one for the fashion and lifestyle brand Waverly; one of her designs was the first at the company to sell 1,000,000 rolls of wallpaper!

Have you been following Gilda Klein Linden’s tow-behind camper as she and husband Jeff Krawitz travel around the U.S.? Facebook has pics and a travelogue. Gilda also does volunteer work as a retired (still licensed) nurse with Bergen County, NJ, Medical Reserve Corps, and enjoys knitting projects, keeping up with her reading list, and her passel of family (three sons with spouses and three grandchildren, and two stepdaughters with spouses and two more grandchildren). Based in Fair Lawn, she’s done the Cornell Extension Master Gardener program.

Last June, feeling that COVID was waning, David and Tina Beale were able to travel to Israel. Their photos are on Facebook too. They became grandparents in April ’21 to Josh and wife Heather’s child. Semi-retired from the practice of law in Boca Raton, David spends mornings exercising and doing the nonprofit work that brings him much satisfaction, including attention to small-business people with legal issues.

Delighted to be in good health and able to keep physically active with tennis (primarily) and golf (secondarily), Marilyn Porter Winder Woolfolk doesn’t even report that she and Gerald have also been on the road—visiting friends and family. I know; I saw them in Manhattan, where we enjoyed a bit of time to catch up. Retired as professor emerita of dentistry and assistant dean emerita of student services at University of Michigan, our classmate forged key roles there—beginning as a lab research assistant before earning her DDS, then as a faculty member, and later as assistant dean and dean, where she advanced important initiatives. She told me none of this; it’s on the university website! Retired some 10 years, she recently co-authored Undaunted Trailblazers: Minority Women Leaders for Oral Health. It collects stories from 31 minority women, including the authors, who have made contributions to their fields. She and Gerald are celebrating their 51st wedding anniversary in January 2023.

Imagine what recent months were like for Julie Furman Stodolka, who managed four Facebook pages and the office of a local Democratic party in a battleground state! Besides her political organizing, she’s studying the Icelandic language. She and Joe live in Plymouth, WI. ❖ Elisabeth Kaplan Boas (email Elisabeth); Cara Nash Iason (email Cara). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1972

Hello from one of your three new class correspondents. I’m Susan Farber Straus, “burning the midnight oil,” hoping to make my writing deadline. In that respect, it seems like nothing has changed in the 50 years since being a student at Cornell! Yet some things have changed, so here is the news—and from quite a few classmates!

Irwin Rosenfeld has surprised even himself by taking up acting over the past three years. He’s acted in four musical comedies, six comedies (two as a stand-up comic), two murder mysteries, and one drama. He is currently rehearsing for another stand-up comedy act and another musical comedy. Singing in a choir, playing competitive bridge (Silver Life Master), and playing online trivia round out his many activities. Irwin lives in Dana Point, CA, and, like many of us, is often on the road (or in the air, as the case may be) visiting his kids and grandkids. His daughter and two grandchildren (both champion swimmers) live near Seattle, and his son and four grandchildren live in Tennessee.

Gail Povar reports from Bethesda, MD, that she is “sort of retired,” working as a part-time board member of a Central Institutional Review Board, reviewing studies for regulatory and ethical adherence to human subjects’ protections, teaching medical ethics and medicine, and helping an Afghan refugee family navigate the U.S. healthcare system. As busy as she is, she still has time to pursue her new hobby of watercolor painting. She and her husband, Lawrence Bachorik ’71, frequently see their two young grandsons, ages 2 and 4, and have cautiously begun traveling again.

Robert Blye made the decision to retire almost 10 years ago, walking away from a job he held and enjoyed for 40 years. With his wife, Carol, he travels the world to go birding and to experience different natural landscapes and cultures. They especially enjoy the Neotropics and have spent the last two springs in Mexico with plans to return in 2023. The two also volunteer at food banks and help provide housing for the indigent. Robert reports that he’s most gratified by seeing his children and their spouses and families make meaningful contributions to their communities and society. Robert takes great satisfaction in watching his grandchildren grow up and become independent. With family all over the U.S., including nine grandchildren, he’s kept quite busy traveling.

Kathleen Parrot, MA ’79, lives in Blacksburg, VA, where she reports that she is doing some consulting, volunteering at an 18th-century plantation, spending time on her fiber arts, and, like many of us, trying to age gracefully. She recently became both a grandmother and a widow. Kathy receives her greatest satisfaction from her family, and the time and freedom to pursue her favorite activities.

Debra Farrell Dolinski, BFA ’71, is residing in Como, Italy, with her husband, Michael. She reports she is helping Ukraine refugees and has hosted three families so far, with a willingness to continue to do so as long as there is a need. In addition, Debra is a volunteer for a suicide hotline. Her other activities include painting, photography, working with children, and gardening. She has six grandchildren who are no longer kids! “Peace of mind” brings her the most satisfaction these days.

Irwin Rosenfeld ’72 has surprised even himself by taking up acting over the past three years.

Peter Katona writes that he never could have imagined changing medical specialties from clinical infectious diseases to public health, but that’s just what he’s done! More specifically, he is leading the efforts to help UCLA with its COVID response. He and his wife, Dorothy, who live in Los Angeles, have bought a second home in Santa Barbara. Peter writes that he receives the most satisfaction from family, especially his grandkids. Consulting and tennis keep him busy.

Bruce Collins, who lives in New York City and is retired, reports that he has a part-time “security job” escorting his wife, Grace, and her mother, both of Chinese descent, to protect them from anti-Asian violence. Although Bruce lives in a studio apartment, the same one he’s lived in for the past 41 years, he gets out of the city to go “peak-bagging” in New England. After 35 years of being car-free, he’s enjoying a recently bought used car and considers taking care of it his new hobby. He puts the car to good use by driving food from his church’s food pantry to needy local families. Lastly, Bruce shared that he and Grace have three nephews, a niece, three grandnephews, and one grandniece.

Lewis Perdue writes in that he is as busy as ever, or, in his own words, “over-busy with retirement nowhere in sight.” He lives in the “quasi-country,” a couple of miles west of the town of Sonoma, CA, with his wife, Megan Mills. Previously he taught at UCLA, worked as an investigative journalist in Washington, DC, served as an aide to a state governor and a U.S. Congressman, and had stints with startups and large enterprises. Currently he publishes a “freemium” digital publication, Wine Industry Insight, with more than 24,000 daily business/finance/management subscribers. According to Lewis, this has proven to be fun, profitable, and wine-inclusive! In addition, he writes, “Right now, a large share of my time is devoted to a small early-stage company, Revolution Algorithms, which has developed a completely new recommendation system called Clans. The system is built around my patent-pending implicit perception capture algorithm. Validation tests put Clans at 81% accurate, even with wine. I invented Clans because I got tired of lame/irrelevant recommendations.”

Lewis is also chairman/chief scientist at the Center for Research on Environmental Chemicals in Humans. His latest paper, published last week, described a large body of new methods to move human nutrition studies toward causality and replicability. Lewis continues to write thrillers and has a newly published book, Hellhound, that we can all purchase from Amazon. Lewis hopes to return to backpacking in the Eastern Sierras after recovering from cataract surgery and would like to team up with an experienced partner eager to explore the high country between Bridgeport and Lone Pine. You can contact him via the Alumni Directory.

Lastly, Louise Shelley, who attended the Class of ’72’s visit to George Washington’s Mt. Vernon in Virginia, continues to teach and do research at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. She is the Omer L. and Nancy Hirst Endowed Chair and a University Professor in the Schar School of Policy and Government. Louise founded the Terrorism, Transnational Crime, and Corruption Center (TraCCC) when she started at George Mason 15 years ago and is currently the director. She has authored 17 books and more than 200 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. Her work, which focuses on the security risks caused by transnational environmental crime, has had an impact on national and international policy and reform efforts. Recently she was awarded George Mason’s Earle C. Williams Presidential Medal for Faculty Excellence in Social Impact. Congratulations on a well-deserved honor!

Thank you to all who have written in. Keep the news coming! Wishing you a happy and healthy New Year. ❖ Susan Farber Straus (email Susan); Frank Dawson (email Frank); Alex Barna (email Alex); Wes Schulz (email Wes). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1973

Renew your connection to Cornell, reconnect with classmates, and refresh your spirit by returning for our 50th Reunion (yes, it is true!) the second weekend in June 2023. Festivities start on Thursday evening, June 8, and continue through Sunday, June 11. It is 8.5 driving hours from my Cincinnati home to Reunion headquarters at Hans Bethe House. See you there! Programming highlights and other Reunion information are on our class website as well as our Cornell Class of 1973 Facebook page.

Colleen Colbert is living in Ithaca and working with Cornell students as a psychologist in private practice as well as practicing downstate in Rockland County. Colleen’s 96-year-old mother, Cornell Class of 1946, has been “safe and sound at home” throughout the pandemic. Colleen enjoys gardening; visiting the Cornell observatory when she is in Ithaca; going on trips to the Berkshires, the Hudson Valley, New York City, and Cape Cod; knitting scarves; doing origami; and attending New York City art museum talks online. (I also continue to enjoy online art talks originating from museums and art experts around the world, including Florence, Amsterdam, New York, and Cambridge, as well as Cornell’s own Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art.)

Don Doucette lives in Davenport, IA, with wife Lynn Zarzinski, and they have three children and three grandchildren. Don says, “I’m retiring after nearly five decades helping other first-generation college students like me uplift themselves and their families by the power of higher education.” He has “loved recently reconnecting with old Cornell friends and looks forward to seeing them at our 50th, or otherwise via email.” Dan’s retirement plans include “writing about what I have experienced and learned; rediscovering my golf swing; improving my fitness, swimming, and skating skills; relearning partially learned French and Spanish; honing a few DIY skills; reading for pleasure; and discovering and learning about people and parts of the world not yet visited.”

Abby Ershow, who lives in Columbia, MD, with spouse Hans Plugge, retired in December 2021 after almost 40 years of federal service at the National Institutes of Health. She now is working as a part-time consultant to the NIH’s Office of Dietary Supplements. Abby also serves as a volunteer Maryland Master Naturalist docent at several local nature centers. She is “hoping to return to choral singing as the pandemic shutdowns diminish.”

Bruce Jentleson, PhD ’83, lives in Durham, NC, and is a professor of public policy and political science at Duke University. Bruce was a distinguished fellow at Washington, DC’s Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars from January through May 2022. His new book, Sanctions: What Everyone Needs to Know, was published by Oxford University Press this past fall.

Fellow Ohioan Norman Lange writes, “I’m working with immigrants to learn English and pass citizenship tests, which many times involves babysitting toddlers so their mothers can attend class.” He and wife Ruth are “extremely blessed to have all five children in Greater Cleveland.” Norman enjoys “staying in touch with high school and college friends and connecting with cousins in Germany.”

I’m working with immigrants to learn English and pass citizenship tests, which many times involves babysitting toddlers so their mothers can attend class.
Norman Lange ’73

Jamie Lawenda, who lives in New York City with spouse Lorenzo Castellon, writes that she is “making art again after 40 years of designing shoes and accessories and traveling all over the world.” She also enjoys cooking and baking and writes that her son has graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and has become a designer.

Miriam (formerly Norma) Reiss “is having fun in Tucson, AZ. She loves being a career and life coach, and her new book, Precious You: Clearing the Path to Higher Self-Esteem, is doing well. Says Miriam: “I tried retirement for a nanosecond. A life of pickleball, Mexican Train, and grandkids is great—for somebody else.” (I confess that I had to go online to find out that Mexican Train is a game played with dominoes.)

Robert Shuman of Philadelphia, PA, is on the full-time faculty at Temple University’s Tyler School of Art and Architecture, teaching design and professional courses in its Master of Architecture program and serving as architecture program head. He also is “working on ‘phase three’ of his northern Pennsylvania retreat—year 19 of the project.” He enjoys spending as much time as possible with his 4-year-old granddaughter, “who unfortunately for us lives in Charlotte, NC, 10 hours away!” With all four of our grandchildren living a similar distance away in North Jersey, I totally understand.

Torin Togut lives in Lawrenceville, GA, and is an adjunct professor at the University of Georgia School of Law, where he teaches disability and education law. Hopefully, Torin and his wife, Teresa, were able to travel to Northern Europe on their planned September 2022 cruise. Torin’s new hobby is gardening.

Mary Vane is “enjoying resettling Afghan refugees in Wilmington, DE,” and “providing aid to conflict-ridden countries in the Middle East.” Mary started her residential life at Cornell on the same Mary Donlon Hall corridor where I lived 53 years ago and is one of the first people I met on campus.

Our son, David Greenberg ’05, brought our grandson Max, 3.5, to Cincinnati from North Jersey for his first visit ever in November. I pray that this new post-pandemic normality continues. Send news to: ❖ Pam Meyers (email Pam); Dave Ross (email Dave); Phyllis Haight Grummon (email Phyllis). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1974

Happy New Year! Only one more year until our 50th Reunion! Gary Loesch, ME ’75, writes from Sayville, NY, that he retired from a 47-year career at H2M architects + engineers, as COO and corporate risk advisor. He also served on the ACEC Business Insurance Trust for 11 years, the last five as chairman and then trustee emeritus. He’s looking forward to spending more time with his wife, Ann Marie, and their entire family, including six grandchildren. January through March you’ll find him skiing on the slopes, and later in the year playing golf.

William Van Sweringen, ME ’75, checks in from Houston, where he is still working but also “still mentoring Cornell students through semester study projects to investigate new methods for doing construction of facilities.” He and his wife, Pat, “just purchased a second home in Santa Fe, NM, and hope to spend some time there in outdoor activities and socializing after I retire.” So he’s interested in connecting with other ’70s alumni in that area.

Laurie Harris reports that she retired from teaching in 2019, and, after her husband passed away in January 2021 “after 45 incredible years of marriage,” she moved that April to Texas, in the Woodlands area of North Houston. She’s busy with math tutoring, exploring her new community, making new friends, and “loving every minute” with her son, his wife, and their two children. She’s discovered that “grandkid love is so special!” And after 20 years, she’s bike riding again.

Jeffrey Diamond is “still actively practicing law as a real estate attorney at Marcus, Rosenberg & Diamond,” which recently celebrated its 34th year with a move to a new location on Madison Ave.—which is handy because his three children live and/or work in Manhattan. There are also identical twin grandsons to keep him and wife Carol busy. He says that his most satisfaction these days comes from “love of family and friends, writing songs and playing guitar, and shooting hoops and trying to dribble like Steph.”

Betsy Schilling Card writes from Reno, NV, where she lives with her husband, Steven. “I’m still working part time as a breast radiologist and I’m active in a nondenominational Christian church.” She says that her most satisfaction now comes from her family and her work.

Ronald Pies updates his news that appeared in the November/December column. He recently published a book titled The Ethics of the Jewish Mystics—“a topic of long-standing interest for me. The book requires no previous knowledge or belief in Judaism or mysticism. It is centered on ethical principles that can guide anyone interested in living a spiritually fulfilled life. I think our classmates would find it helpful in a time of stress and turmoil.” He adds, “I still do writing for the Psychiatric Times and love to read philosophy and medieval history—a legacy of my wonderful Cornell education.”

We thank all for their contributions and invite you to continue to send in your news. ❖ Jim Schoonmaker (email Jim); Lucy Babcox Morris (email Lucy); Molly Miller Ettenger (email Molly). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1975

I have seen pictures of the fall multicolored trees and foliage on campus, and I am jealous of all who get to see them in person. How much is that plane ticket?

Jim Krsnich (Naples, FL) enjoys playing solo and rock and roll band gigs and shares that both music and friends bring him the most satisfaction these days. When asked what he is doing in work or retirement, with great humor he wrote, “Holding down a recliner.”

Linda Walz Riggi (Glens Falls, NY) still teaches economics at SUNY Adirondack and has also taught students in Qatar for the past three semesters. Linda is still operating a small gardening business, when she’s not oil painting (generally buildings—she especially likes European architecture).

Ted and Lori Sternlicht Lucki ’77 are in Port Jefferson, NY, where they enjoy their eight grandchildren—all under 10. Their retirement is active, spent traveling one week per month. Ted describes life as a “balancing act”; with eight grandchildren, there can be no doubt.

Steve Sauter and wife Leah are in Needham Heights, MA. My Sigma Nu fraternity brother never imagined he would be attending so many Cornell webinars. “They are great!” Steve is mostly retired from his position as director of the Acute Hospital Program at MassHealth. He keeps very busy with many endeavors: fitness; grandchildren; the Exchange Club of Needham; the Needham History Center; travel, including to Lititz, PA, to celebrate his mother’s 90th birthday with siblings and their kids; friends; home improvement projects; renewed interest in dinosaurs and paleontology via good reading and museum exhibits; and “maybe a ‘dino dig’ in Montana or Wyoming next year!” To cap it off, Steve’s new left knee is now one year old. (I have to ask, are you still playing basketball?)

Julia Balliett Rose and husband Phillip live in Accord, NY, where she practices body- and expressive arts-centered psychotherapy and play therapy with children. She is also a practicing homeopathic consultant. Julia works to end mass incarceration and is offering play therapy to newly immigrated Afghan children. Her oldest son is building a timber frame house nearby with his partner; the younger is paragliding; and her daughter is a professional dancer and choreographer in Berlin. Julia gets the most satisfaction from love and connection, including all of nature; singing with Phillip, a musician; and dancing (she was a professional in the ’70s and ’80s).

Linda Walz Riggi ’75 is still operating a small gardening business, when she’s not oil painting.

Karen Lafky Stoufer, DVM ’78, and husband Ron live in Wormleysburg, PA, where she serves as a board member for ECHO International, a sustainable agriculture organization focused on “hope against hunger.” Karen just retired from 32 years with the Christian Veterinary Mission and 12 years in veterinary practice. Karen loves “being part of my grandkids’ lives” and adds, “I just started birdwatching with friends.”

Margery “Tiggie” O’Boyle Gerli and husband Jay live in Sharon, CT, and have two grandsons, 4-year-old Tate and 7-month-old George. Both parents are ’09 Cornellians. Most satisfaction these days? Taking Tate for horseback riding lessons.

Deb Whipple Degan, MAT ’76, and husband Mike ’70, BS ’76, live in Wilton, NH, and are starting to travel again following the pandemic. Deb still volunteers in her church and takes lots of walks with their dog, Maggie. “I love watching our children and grandchildren grow and achieve their goals—and our oldest granddaughter is looking at colleges. I’ve been knitting lots of sweaters, mostly for my grandchildren.”

Vicki Mercer and her husband, “Jimmy-Boy,” live in Eugene, OR, where she got a job similar to what she did in Raleigh, NC—complete with drawings of plants and animals. Satisfaction these days? “Telling my husband what to do, and having him do it well—better than I would have.”

On the topic of retirement, I (Mitch Frank) once asked my father when he was about 75 if he was going to retire from his consulting business for apparel manufacturers. A man of not many words, he looked me in the eyes and said only two: “To what?” That ended the discussion. To this day it is the best answer I have ever heard to this question.

Per Cornellians, as you may have noticed, email addresses are no longer included (following complaints of spam). However, you can connect at the Alumni Directory, which requires a log-in, and find out contact information for those classmates that have provided it to the University. Please stay in touch and continue to share your lives with us! ❖ Mitch Frank (email Mitch); Deb Gellman (email Deb); Joan Pease (email Joan); Karen DeMarco Boroff (email Karen). Share your news here.

1976

Wendy Alberg, BA ’78, is back in the old stomping grounds. Wendy writes, “After 17 years near Baltimore of a life led like an Anne Tyler novel, I’m settling back into my Ithaca house. Get in touch.” (You can find Wendy’s and other classmates’ contact information in the Alumni Directory.) Carla Holder has also been in the area: “In the last weekend of September, we were up at Greek Peak for a niece’s wedding—a lovely event. I never was at Greek Peak while I was at Cornell because I didn’t ski and didn’t have a car. That Monday, we dropped by campus and donated memorabilia from the Sage Chapel choir and the chorus to the Archives—both posters (Christmas Lessons and Carols) and Daily Sun clippings. I wrote down the story of choir members visiting Day Hall the week after a sit-in (security was called) and then breaking out in Christmas carols (the photographer was called). The young man on the desk was quite surprised that the ’70s had come to call. I’d already arranged things with Evan Earle ’02, MS ’14, the archivist.” So glad those materials are being preserved, Carla!

Paula Cassell, who lives in Washington, DC, wrote, “Retired U.S. Foreign Service officers never fade away. I was called back to work two years on the Coronavirus Task Force and am still in the department nearly three years later. After years away from family and friends, reconnecting, restoring old relationships, and building new ones has brought great satisfaction. As a part-time realtor, I enjoy helping those who think they will never be able to own a home to feel the pleasure of holding their first set of house keys.” As for new hobbies, Paula says, “Not new, but planting seeds and nurturing and watching things grow never gets old.”

For most of us, this has been our 50th high school reunion year. Philip Loud wrote that he was “heading back east in October for my 50th high school reunion in Wellesley, MA. We are going to show the movie we made as juniors in high school, despite how rough a copy it is now, and hear our favorite classmate band play once again. Should make for some embarrassing moments.” Philip said, “I have now been retired for 12 years and filled that time with family, volunteering, fixing stuff, and building stuff. I enjoy winter and summer where I live in Northern Michigan, with skiing in the winter and boating in the summer. We have two granddaughters who we are lucky enough to see very often as our sons live only 25 miles away.”

I missed my own high school reunion in Calgary but made it to a class reunion at my old school in England in October, which was so much fun—the first time I’d seen some of those folks since 1968. All the travel resulted in a mild case of COVID … so it’s still out there. Stay well, everyone, and let us know if you’re back on the road! ❖ Pat Relf Hanavan (email Pat); Lisa Diamant (email Lisa). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1977

It was a busy year, and I hope that all of you had some time to relax and enjoy it. Several of us who attended our 45th Reunion in June had the opportunity to relax with family and friends on travels later in the summer.

Robin Waite Steinwand and her family visited Turkey in August. She writes, “My trip to Turkey was a reunion of sorts, as 50 years ago I postponed my Cornell admission for a year to attend high school as an exchange student in Izmir, Turkey. It was great to reconnect with this beautiful country, visiting historic sites and sampling food and wines from Istanbul, Izmir, Cappadocia, and the Southeast.” What a fantastic experience to share with your family, Robin.

Also in August, Lalana Janlekha Green traveled to Harrogate, England, to attend the 2022 International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival. Lalana’s daughter Marisa conducted The Grand Duke on the evening of August 18 at the Royal Hall. Congratulations to Marisa on this wonderful accomplishment!

I was able to visit new friends Jeff Earickson, MS ’80, and wife Amy at their lovely summer home in Sullivan, ME. It was the first time I ventured to that part of New England, which is so beautiful and peaceful. Jeff and Amy were wonderful hosts and excellent tour guides. It was a great visit! In September I traveled to Scotland, my first overseas adventure since COVID began. I was with a tour group that included fellow Cornellians Richard ’70 and Karen Greenspan Lind ’70, and we enjoyed comparing our Cornell and travel experiences. The trip was full of adventures with visits to Glasgow, the Isle of Skye, and through the Highlands. Our timing coincided with the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, and we arrived in Edinburgh as the tributes to her began. It was amazing to witness history and the pageantry of British royalty.

John Molinda was in Philadelphia in September after a trip to the U.S. Open. John writes, “Hate to see the summer go. Wish I could turn it back to the start of the summer when we were all up in Ithaca. Great time!”

While some of us were in Ithaca enjoying Reunion in June 2022, Michele Braun was graduating from Hebrew University’s Melton School with an MA (summa cum laude) in Jewish education. This comes 45 years after graduating Cornell (ILR) with a BS, 43 years after earning her first master’s degree, and after a long career in financial industries, mostly with the Federal Reserve.

With renewed excitement for learning, Michele is launching Braun Learning LLC, a new venture focusing on adult education (on topics including Jewish textile art, Torah study, cybercurrencies, and payments systems) and improving access to mainstream education for students with disabilities. Her new website can be found here. Michele writes, “Yes, I know this is an oddball combination, but they are linked by what I know and also by the complex and intellectually challenging nature of each topic. I continue to be grateful for the Cornell education that encouraged grappling with such multidimensional challenges.” Congratulations, Michele, and best wishes for your new venture.

The summer was also an extremely difficult time for many in Southwest Florida. Michael Klauber shared that he has been involved in Hurricane Ian relief efforts. His restaurant, Michael’s On East, has partnered with several organizations to help feed thousands in Southwest Florida. Michael’s has sent over 10,000 meals and is supplying up to 5,000 meals per day during the recovery process, aimed at providing relief for Charlotte, Lee, and Sarasota counties. Here is an article about his work. Our thanks to Michael and his many colleagues who have helped those seriously impacted by Hurricane Ian. It is an overwhelming task. Well done!

We enjoy hearing from you and having the opportunity to share your stories with our fellow classmates. Please keep all of your news and views coming in via the online news form or directly to either of us. ❖ Mary Flynn (email Mary); Howie Eisen (email Howie). Alumni Directory.

1978

Recreation has emerged as a common thread in the news received for this column, as our retired classmates enjoy their leisure!

While appreciating the cool, dry weather of California’s central coast, Alexandra Swiecicki Fairfield, PhD ’85, paddles for the Central Coast Dragon Boat Association—something she’s wanted to do since living in Hawaii. Alexandra also volunteers with the Morro Bay Natural History Museum and with a sea otter survey program based in Monterey. Despite battling Lyme disease, she is able to bike, swim, and golf every week.

Retiring from radiology a few years ago, Brian Meagher trained last year for the HoliMont Ski Patrol in Ellicottville, NY, and volunteers there on Saturdays. In the off season, you can find him on his new e-bike. Out West, Mitchell Lowenthal, JD ’81, volunteers for the Aspen Ski Company and leads ski tours of Snowmass Mountain once a week during the winter. A Cornell Law graduate, Mitchell teaches a seminar on complex litigation at Columbia Law School and wrote an essay, “Edward Weinfeld: Steadfastly Principled Judge and Warmhearted Teacher,” published in Of Courtiers and Princes (UVA Press, 2020). His son, Daniel ’14, was married in June 2019.

Eileen Silverman Guerrieri caught the pickleball bug in her retirement in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Line dancing, karaoke, the beach, family, and friends occupy the rest of her time. Eileen was expecting her second grandchild when she wrote in.

Exactly 50 years after moving into U-Hall 6, known then as the “Sperry Hall Experimental Living Center,” Jan de Roos, PhD ’94, has retired with “cherished memories” of Cornell. He spent 31 years teaching at the Nolan School of Hotel Administration, followed by two years as academic director of the Cornell-VinUniversity Project—an initiative to support the first private, not-for-profit Vietnamese university based on international standards. Jan recently moved to Sarasota, FL, where he is living “la dolce vita” and says he has “become singularly responsible for the spike in airline traffic, visiting cities across the U.S.” He’s maintaining his Cornell spirit, becoming active in the Cornell Club of Sarasota-Manatee and meeting many Cornellians in the area.

Toby Brown Gooley, a veteran of the supply chain field since graduation, thanks the pandemic for enlightening the world about the nature of the beast. “2021 is the year that being a supply chain professional became cool!” she remarks. Toby is now a part-time writing coach in the Master of Supply Chain Management Program at MIT and continues to write and edit. Her husband is continuing his three-decades-plus run as an administrator at BU, making them a “dual-college couple”—something Toby says is fairly common in Boston. Their daughter also lives and works there.

Alexandra Swiecicki Fairfield ’78, PhD ’85, paddles for the Central Coast Dragon Boat Association—something she’s wanted to do since living in Hawaii.

Bruce Clements is winding down four decades of an independent insurance agency. While in the area for a wedding at the Aurora Inn in Aurora, NY, he enjoyed a visit to the Botanic Gardens on campus. Bruce’s daughter, Katie ’12, is in Michigan starting up a naturopathic practice, and his son, Tim ’15, is a PhD geologist working with the USGS on an earthquake notification plan for Californians. “A couple of fine fourth-generation Cornellians,” he notes. Bruce volunteers with the Lions Club with a focus on sight, hearing, and youth, while still enjoying competitive golf and tennis.

After 25 years as a Franciscan friar, Daniel Sulmasy, MD ’82, was released from his vows and married his wife, Lois, 10 years ago. He is now a professor of medicine and philosophy and directs the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University.

Gary Holcomb is happily relocated in Wilmington, DE, where he works remotely as CEO of Compass Precision, a manufacturer of complex components for aerospace, defense space, and medical applications. Gary’s daughter, a regional sales manager for a commercial security manufacturer, lives nearby; his son and daughter-in-law live in Atlanta, where he manages the website for the Indianapolis Colts and she is a veterinarian.

Also in Wilmington, Mary Bowler Jones is spending her time volunteering for local nonprofits and serving on boards and advisory councils. (She has also served in a variety of positions over the years as an alumni officer for our class.) Mary just completed a term as chair of the Delaware Theatre Company and is now kept on her toes by son Matt ’10’s two young children. Mary has returned to painting and is reviving her childhood dream of being an artist! She’s also enjoying seeing friends and family in person rather than on Zoom.

After 34 years in medical practice, Jeffrey Lefkowitz retired in 2021. Since then, he and his wife have done extended road trips between Vermont and Florida, as well as an Alaska adventure with Cornell Alumni Travel. Daughter Jaclyn ’14, a senior behavioral scientist at Vanguard, was married last year.

Walter Milani is working on Broadway as the company manager of the 10-time Tony-nominated musical Paradise Square. He caught Cornellian friends Doug Johnson, Mary Zimmerman Kocur, and Walter Peek ’80 at one performance.

If you didn’t get the email, there’s good news for those who prefer to read the news about fellow alums and other Cornell happenings on the page. The print version of Cornellians, the alumni publication, will soon be available! Subscriptions are priced at $36 a year for four issues, beginning in spring 2023. The publication will consist of a curated selection of material from the website. You can subscribe online or send a check along with a downloadable mail-in subscription form. Remember, you can also submit an online news form or email either of us. ❖ Ilene Shub Lefland (email Ilene); Cindy Fuller (email Cindy). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1979

A. Richard Bonanno, MS ’80, is the associate dean of North Carolina State University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, in Raleigh, NC. He and LuAnne have three daughters and six grandkids, ages 1–9. “We still own the farm in Methuen, MA, Pleasant Valley Gardens, managed by our youngest daughter, Heather,” Richard writes. “I’m still trying to properly swing a golf club after all these years.”

Biologist Jo Handelsman has written A World Without Soil: The Past, Present, and Precarious Future of the Earth Beneath Our Feet. In it, she addresses the soil-loss crisis that has been accelerated by poor conservation practices and climate change. You can learn more about the book here.

Send your news to: ❖ Cynthia Ahlgren Shea (email Cynthia); Danna Levy (email Danna); or Linda Moses (email Linda). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1980s

1980

Victor Schwartz is the founder of VOS Selections, an importer and distributor of fine wines, spirits, and sake in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Last summer, Victor was featured in an episode of the Black Wine Guy Experience podcast, titled “The Road Less Traveled: Victor O. Schwartz’s Never Ending Story.” Victor also shares that wife Cushla Naegele’s work “has never been better. She has been painting ethereal images of last century’s women’s waistcoats and undergarments, inspired by the anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire.” You can see her paintings here.

About their two daughters, Victor says, “Chloe is working with me at VOS and doing an incredible job. It’s wonderful to see my team turn to her for answers instead of me. Besides working a number of harvests, she spent most of 2019 working at one of our wineries in the Entre-deux-Mers region of Bordeaux. Her French is impeccable. She lives with and takes care of her 98-year-old grandfather. Tallulah spent most of last year working on a biopic in Germany about a renowned and controversial feminist named Alice Schwarzer. She is back in New York, living in Brooklyn and seeking her next move.”

Chris Spear reports that he and wife Laura “moved from their 1990s house in a sleepy suburb to a 1790s house in Providence, in the shadow of Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design. There are more than 40 restaurants within an easy walk, many museums, and a Trader Joe’s being built around the corner.” For now, Chris is not considering retirement: “The 200-year-old home needs a facelift more than even me, so I will be teaching computer design and verification for a few years.”

Dan Simpkins, ME ’81, writes from Bethesda, MD, “I’m running my third startup, called Dwellwell Analytics, which is creating an AI-based sensor system to transform residential maintenance. We call it a ‘check engine light’ for homes. While many friends are retiring, I’m working really hard to make a great startup service in the face of many obstacles, while getting great help from Dave Karlin. What is exciting is that my daughter, Nina ’19, is on my UX design team. Earlier this year my wife, Irene, and I broke ground on a new house. We also had a mini-Cornell reunion with Barry ’79 and Barbara Goldman Novick ’82, Rob Tucker, Len Sanders, and Dan Troy, with spouses in tow!” Dan adds, “I’m also doing important philanthropy, including getting a new class called Compass off the ground in the engineering college.”

Robert Gaut never imagined he would be “enduring COVID (avoiding it, really) and performing manual home repairs.” Robert retired in June 2021 but is still consulting a bit. “I hope to develop a habit of chasing a wee white ball through well-maintained grass. Over the river and through the woods is my current habit.” His other hobbies include “declining car warranty offers and outsmarting my busy beagle.” Proving the adage that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, Robert’s son graduated from Clemson summa cum laude. Robert lives in Easley, SC.

I hope to develop a habit of chasing a wee white ball through well-maintained grass. Over the river and through the woods is my current habit.
Robert Gaut ’80

Kathy Dixon Leone is “working to improve the lives of foster children in Palm Beach County’s dependency system,” including “doing a lot of public speaking to raise awareness and needed funding.” Along with her work in foster care, she finds satisfaction in spending time with her family. As for her sons: Nick ’21 moved to New York and works in the music business; Jake works in real estate development in Palm Beach and is loving it; Griff started at Columbia Business School this August; and Ben opened his first art studio in West Palm Beach this fall.

Karen Friedman See writes, “I moved to Sarasota and am involved in our local Cornell Club as chair of the scholarship committee that helps local students, and I also recently became vice-chair of the grants committee for the President’s Council of Cornell Women (PCCW). Enjoying reconnecting with Cornell.”

Nayla Rizk reports from San Mateo, CA, that she never imagined “being retired and beginning to travel the world again—where things are open—with my husband, Robert. He’s a professor and will never retire. I serve on a great nonprofit board, Education for Employment, focused on helping young people in the MENA (Middle East North Africa) region find/keep employment in the private sector.” Eschewing the virtues of free time, she stays busy with her four grandchildren who live nearby, all under the age of 4, and keeping the roses in her small garden at their best.

Cheryl Saunders brings news of an exciting change of focus in her life. Last year, she retired from the NYC Department of Education and is now an account executive at the Positive Community (TPC). “TPC is at the pulse of the spiritual network of the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area. We report the good news of the church. At present, there are few media outlets that tell our stories on our own terms, about community progress and goodwill affirming the dignity of our humanity.” Her godson, Brandon Neugebauer, is starting at West Point this term.

Shawn Marie Boyne recently accepted an appointment as associate vice chancellor of undergraduate education at the University of Illinois, Springfield. Shawn served as a professor of law at Indiana University’s Robert H. McKinney School of Law for 12 years before switching to administrative work focused on student success.

Mark Eisenberg was recently named a James McGill Professor of Medicine. This honor is awarded at McGill University to senior scholars in recognition of their excellence in research and international leadership. You can read more about it here.

Please stay healthy and write to any of us directly with any news you’d like to share with the Class of ’80. ❖ David Durfee (email David); Leona Barsky (email Leona); Dik Saalfeld (email Dik); Chas Horvath (email Chas). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1981

Happy New Year! Who can believe it is 2023? I am getting ready to go to Israel soon with work and am so excited to see Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. I can’t wait to see all that I have been fundraising for! I will be there for 10 days, and it is a trip well deserved. My family and I are doing well and are in the throes of college planning for Ella and high school planning for Brayden. Please do let me know when you are in South Florida (Delray Beach)—I would love to get together with you!

Pam Bulcroft Moore of Avon, CT, welcomed her first grandchild—a beautiful baby girl named Carson Lea. Pam is still an equity partner at McCarter & English. She just finished the sixth edition of her book on Connecticut employment law and wants to do some creative writing. She has three great sons: an employment lawyer, a digital marketer, and a musician who has made himself a large following on TikTok and has been invited to audition for TV music shows. She loves ballroom dancing—and her young Bulgarian instructor, she says with a smile!

Also in Avon, Richard Colletti has been a veterinarian for 34 years and has six children. His oldest daughter is also a veterinarian and will take over his practice, Mountain View Animal Clinic, when he retires. His other children are a U.S. forestry ranger, a physician assistant, a cybersecurity engineer, a poultry facility manager, and a recent high school grad who loves boxing—who will possibly try out for the Olympics. Richard has two wolfhounds from Scotland, a standard poodle, a green-winged macaw, and an eclectus parrot. He and his wife recently celebrated their 30th anniversary. Richard says his life has given him all he could ask for and more. He is very content.

Jim McCaffrey lives in Boulder, CO, and is retired from both Turner Broadcasting System and his second career as a commercial pilot (fun!). When he wasn’t in class, you could find Jim at the library, at the Thirsty Bear Tavern, or around Beebe Lake.

Also in Boulder is Wayne Citrin, who is now retired. He is co-founder/CTO at JNBridge. He has many fond memories from our days on the Hill: the Springsteen concert at Barton; getting into Big Red sporting events with a press pass and standing on the sidelines; going to Watkins Glen to photograph the Grand Prix (and borrowing all the fancy Nikon equipment for free); poker tournaments in the Donlon lounge; and the all-nighter he and others did to finish a final group project for their operating systems class. After graduating from Cornell, he went to Berkeley to get a PhD in computer science. Following a stint at IBM in Zurich, he took a faculty job at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He ultimately decided academia wasn’t for him and knocked around the Boulder startup community, starting two companies with his wife, Deborah (they’ve been married for 25 years). They ran the second one for 20 years and sold it this past January. Now he’s thinking about the next stage!

Wayne Citrin ’81 has many fond memories from our days on the Hill, including the Springsteen concert at Barton and poker tournaments in the Donlon lounge.

Preston Quirk finished architecture school at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 1982, and then he moved to Savannah, GA, with Joyce (Sansbury) ’82. Preston worked for two firms in Savannah and got licensed in 1985. He and Joyce got married in 1985 and moved to Nashville, TN, in 1986. He worked for two firms in Nashville (1986–92) and started his own firm in 1992, doing about 65% residential work and 35% small commercial projects. They have two children, Miles, 31, and Emily, 27, and they both live in Nashville. He is semi-retired as of 2020 but still doing some work for his favorite clients. He stays busy bicycling, has a collection of sports cars, races a go-kart, water skis in the summer, and sometimes rides an off-road motorcycle on trails in the woods. So much fun!

Karen Wright Donnelly (Bel Air, MD) tells us that her career was very successful. She started out in labor relations for the State of New York before she married Bob ’81, BA ’84, and moved to California. There, she worked in employee relations at Kaiser Permanente for 11 years and became a director of HR. She helped open Baldwin Park Hospital—a career highlight, she notes. She had Kelly ’12 and Jenn (life highlights!) and then moved back to the East Coast, to New Jersey. She worked for Sovereign Bank, then went to work for Wolters Kluwer for two years. She keeps busy with multiple hobbies and friends, and she enjoys watching her children be terrific adults.

Dave Pace (Frisco, TX) tells us his life has been a wandering path of eclectic experiences—each of which has offered him the chance to expand and grow. He’s worked and lived all over the U.S. and around the world. He’s been a business executive, entrepreneur, consultant, adjunct professor, sports team owner, nonprofit founder, Wall Street investor, and rancher. Most importantly, though, he has been together with Patti since his junior year at Cornell (married 40 years); they have two fantastic children and two beautiful grandchildren. As for what’s next, he says, “Who knows? But I can’t wait to figure that out.”

I want to encourage to you to use the Alumni Directory to connect. It has the benefit of being behind a log-in, which protects everyone’s contact information. Please let me know how you are doing and what’s going on with you! Thanks, and stay well! ❖ Betsy Silverfine (email Betsy). Share your news here.

1982

Congratulations to Lauren Silfen and her daughter, Meredith, on their degrees from Columbia University! Lauren was hoping they would be a rare pair of mother-daughter graduates in 2023, but Lauren was happy to receive her PhD in economics in May 2022, almost exactly 40 years after our Cornell graduation. She also received her MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business in 1986. Lauren wrote that she completed many of her classes online during the pandemic and defended her dissertation in record time. She added, “One of the silver linings of the pandemic was that I was able to conduct my research on first-generation undergraduate student experiences more quickly because I was largely working remotely. Meanwhile, Meredith received two BAs from Columbia University and Trinity College Dublin in 2022.”

Eric Alterman is looking forward to contributing to and participating in a festschrift (a volume of writings by different authors as a tribute or memorial), honoring his lifelong academic mentor Walter LaFeber, to be published by Cornell University Press. There will also be a conference held in 2023, on what would have been Prof. LaFeber’s 90th birthday and the 60th anniversary of the publication of his first book, The New Empire. The event will be held at Cornell Tech in NYC, and there are currently 14 historians participating, all former students, with many more expected to attend the conference.

As for memories, Eric wrote, “Bruce! (See my 1999 book, It Ain’t No Sin to be Glad You’re Alive: The Promise of Bruce Springsteen, to relive that show.) I am also looking forward to the publication of my 12th (and best) book, We Are Not One: A History of America’s Fight Over Israel, by Basic Books. I actually started it as my honors thesis under LaFeber, and crazily (nerdily) kept my notes and even used some of them.” Eric’s jobs include being a CUNY distinguished professor of English at Brooklyn College and contributing writer to both the American Prospect and the Nation, where he had been the magazine’s media columnist for 25 years. Eric has a 24-year-old daughter who graduated from the University of Wisconsin and has shown amazing grace and courage through very difficult health issues.

Lauren Silfen ’82 was happy to receive her PhD in economics in May 2022, almost exactly 40 years after our Cornell graduation.

Emily Garr Gottschalk wrote from Monmouth Beach, NJ, that her younger son, Marc, married Caroline Gomez and “they had a whole crew of Cornellians at the party.” Emily is doing real estate development and home design; she began buying and selling real estate during COVID. She has also picked up furniture making, needlepoint, and beading.

Just a reminder that as part of Reunion, our class created an online memory book using the Brightcrowd app. If you want to know more, contact classmate John Mennell. The latest entry (at the time of this writing) is from Carl Olson, who is a librarian at Towson University and lives in Baltimore. Carl was on the men’s fencing team and wrote that he “loved walking through the wooded areas of Beebe Lake. If it began to rain, I would duck into an abandoned changing shed made of moss-covered cinder block and a rusting metal roof, way down a narrow path by the narrow stream feeding the lake. It was usually full of autumn leaves, but it got me away from the madding crowd.” You can read more in the memory book, where Carl added, “They say everyone will have three careers. I tried book publishing, first in marketing then in editing. I then found librarianship, which was a great adventure, but also supported my marrying and raising a family.”

Nancy Lasker Behler created her page in our memory book and wrote, “I have been working as a reading teacher in the Nashua School District in New Hampshire. My school receives Title I federal funding because 85% of our student population lives in homes with incomes below the poverty level. Many of our children speak English as a second language and come from areas all around the world. In 1985, Matthew, ME ’83, and I married and subsequently had two children. Our daughter earned her PhD in sociology at Cornell in 2016. Our son also graduated from Cornell that same year with an BA in government. Mat and I enjoy hiking and are lucky enough to live near the White Mountains in New Hampshire. Some of our other hiking adventures have been in Iceland, Norway, and Italy.”

Please remember to submit your news via the online news form! Also, we are no longer including email addresses in the text of our columns due to feedback from some readers about spam. Please use the Alumni Directory as a way to connect to classmates and friends. The directory has the benefit of being behind a log-in, which protects everyone’s contact information from would-be scammers. ❖ Nina Kondo (email Nina); Doug Skalka (email Doug); Mark Fernau (email Mark).

1983

As I write this, I am only a few days removed from a class officers call, during which we got the scoop on our upcoming 40th Reunion from class Reunion chairs Lisa Esposito Kok and Tony Giobbi. I can’t divulge any details at this point, but let me just say that the weekend promises to be epic. Please keep an eye out for emails with further details and registration information.

Mark Wentling, MPS ’83, recently published a book titled Kansas Kaleidoscope, which you can purchase through Amazon and other online book retailers. Mark shares that his novel is “based on true life experiences growing up in small towns in Kansas in the 1950s.”

Former men’s polo team member Duncan Huyler and wife Erica (Nichols) ’82 live in Aiken, SC, on a 15-acre horse farm. Erica judges horse shows around the country and shows her Thoroughbred. Duncan trains and shows his Standardbreds, one of which is named Gabe The Bear Dean and was a gift from Janet Durso, DVM ’89. Their son Connor Huyler ’11 lives and works in New York City for Fluent, Inc. Other son Garrett Huyler ’09 and wife Kelly (Hansen) ’09 moved to Charlotte with Duncan’s and Erica’s grandson, whom they hope will be a member of the Cornell Class of 2042!

Eric Smith shared that his son Stephen recently enrolled on the Hill as a member of the Class of 2026, and will major in chemical engineering, which will make him the third generation to learn in Olin Hall. Eric’s father, Carl Smith, is Class of ’57, and daughter Sarah is studying public health at NYU. Eric also writes, “It’s been 32 years since I started a manufacturing company with classmate Don Gulbrandsen and I haven’t retired because we’re still having fun. We stay in touch with our study group partner Corey Kenneally, who has retired from P&G. Corey and I share a passion for running long-distance races. Laura and I have raised our family in Augusta, GA, but upon entering empty-nest status in June 2022, we plan to spend most of our time in our homes in Maine and Amelia Island, FL.”

Lastly, and sadly, we learned from Neil MacCormick that Jim Hines passed away in September 2022 after a brief illness. Jim leaves behind his father, a brother, and a sister, as well as a gang of great friends from U-Hall 4. He had just retired from Raytheon in Massachusetts, having worked there for 39 years. Jim loved Cornell, always attending class Reunions and other events, and we will all miss him dearly. Our sympathies and condolences to Jim’s family.

Any news you would like to share? Please submit an online news form or write to any of your class correspondents. Be well, and we hope to see you at Reunion! ❖ Tom Helf (email Tom); Jon Felice (email Jon); Stewart Glickman (email Stewart); Nancy Korn Freeman (email Nancy). Alumni Directory.

1984

While we enjoy another winter season, do you remember this time 40+ years ago as a student on the Hill? The view of Cayuga Lake, walking up Libe Slope (if you could!), memories of looking down from the Suspension Bridge (if you dared to), laughing every time you passed the painted footprints in the Arts Quad denoting the shaking of hands of A.D. White and Ezra Cornell, the chimes … amazing memories!

Our news this time around: Scott Eskwitt shared that he and Christine have relocated to Bozeman, MT. He is handling policy and communications at Wildfire Defense Systems Inc., based in Bozeman, protecting the company’s clients’ properties from wildfire across 22 states. Christine has kept her position managing sustainability programs for Ansell Healthcare and is working remotely. They love their new life out in the Gallatin Valley, surrounded by four mountain ranges and passing grazing cattle on the way to his office. If anyone is in the area, or passing through, he invites you to get in touch!

Jeanine Thomas Riband got a kick out of reading a past entry in our class column about her husband, Herb, which stated that she was teaching at the International School of Louisiana. Looks like a spellcheck correction (humble apologies from your class correspondent!): “It’s actually the International School of Lausanne, Switzerland, where we have been living for the past 22 years. I have been having a lot of fun doing STEAM activities with 8- to 12-year-olds for the past three years now.” Herb and Jeanine’s latest news is the marriage of their son, Daniel, to Natalie. The wedding was in Switzerland, with a celebration in the beautiful vineyards near their house. Jeanine and Herb enjoyed their second marriage celebration in NYC in the fall, as the bride is from Long Island and they live in NYC. Twice the fun! What satisfies Jeanine these days is gardening, and she is busy wilding their hill. She continues to love hiking, rowing in Lac Léman (Lake Geneva), and doing yoga.

Your correspondent, José Nieves, is happy that his son, Joshua, tied the knot with a beautiful young lady, Karla. It seems like the age “27” is the magic number, as José and wife Kelly married when they were both that age too! We wish them a long and happy time together.

And that’s it for this episode of “Cornell ’84 Worldwide News.” Remember that you can send your news via the online news form. Adiós until next time! ❖ José Nieves (email José). Alumni Directory.

1985

Last September, our classmate Anne Evens was one of seven recipients of the 27th annual Heinz Awards! Given by the Heinz Family Foundation, this award recognizes “outstanding contributions to the arts, the economy, and the environment.” Anne is the CEO of Elevate, a Chicago-based organization that works to ensure equal access to climate solutions that provide clean and affordable heat, power, and water in homes and communities.

According to the Heinz website, “Although multifamily rentals comprise 30 million households in the U.S., the sector is least likely to have energy-efficiency measures in place. With two-thirds of these households spending more than 50% of their income on housing, efficiency retrofits can be life-changing for families facing rising costs. Under the leadership of Dr. Evens, Elevate champions energy efficiency improvements throughout the U.S. in affordable housing and programs that advance renewable energy, water conservation, lead abatement, and indoor air quality, primarily in multifamily buildings.

“Over the last 20 years, Elevate has upgraded more than 116,000 housing units and 2,000 social service agency buildings with energy efficient retrofits; reduced carbon dioxide emissions by more than 213,000 tons; saved families more than $94.4 million; and created 1,181 clean energy jobs.” Congratulations, Anne!

Please take a moment to send us your news! ❖ Joyce Zelkowitz Cornett (email Joyce). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1986

Carol Rosen Kagan writes with an update from Massachusetts. “My husband, David, and I sold our home in Framingham, MA, after 25 years and moved to a townhouse in Newton, MA. I have been running Pint Size Yoga, a traveling yoga program for children, for 18 years. I thought I’d have to call it quits in 2020, but surprisingly, my business has bounced back and I am visiting more places than ever. My motto is: ‘I’ll keep doing this as long as I can get up off the mat from cobra pose.’ Perhaps it keeps me young? My kids are in their 20s and making me proud. We are heading to New York to see my daughter Jordana’s professional stage debut in The Prom. Excited is an understatement. I remain very close to classmate Sheryl Engel Olshin, who lives in Massachusetts also.”

Thanks for sending your news! I hope everyone follows Carol’s example and sends us an online news form. ❖ Lori Spydell Wagner (email Lori); Michael Wagner (email Michael); Ellen Nordberg (email Ellen); Toby Goldsmith (email Toby). Alumni Directory.

1987

Denise Aranoff wrote that she was fortunate to return to campus “during all three of Ithaca’s seasons: winter, rain, and summer.” She enjoyed being back at Lynah for hockey and at Purity for ice cream with a large gang of class officers, and she had a great time at Reunion. When not driving to Ithaca, Denise still works in marketing and recently joined a regional pest-management company as the vice president of marketing, “finally putting all my ‘critter’ experience from working at the Agricultural Experiment Station to good use.”

After 23 years on staff at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Alicia Luchowski joined the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) in April as lead strategist for reproductive health and access. SMFM’s physician members care for individuals experiencing high-risk pregnancies, and Alicia supports the advocacy they do to ensure that their patients have access to the full range of reproductive health services, “particularly during this challenging time.”

Debra Howard Stern connected with quite a few class members in October at the Trustee-Council Annual Meeting on campus. Debra wrote that she had a lovely dinner conversation with Alex Hanson, attended the Annual Fund breakfast with Gligor Tashkovich, MBA ’91, and shared quite a few rides in the elevator with her elevator buddy, Anne Meinig Smalling. At the meeting, Darrell Butler led two fantastic programs on diversity, equity, and inclusion; a conversation with Carl A. Kroch University Librarian Elaine Westbrooks; and a “fantastic” workshop for the University Council.

Debra’s daughter, Veronica Stern, is presently on tour with the Broadway musical Anastasia, playing the character Anya. The tour is throughout North America, so if you are interested in seeing the show, find out when it will be in your area.

Denise Aranoff ’87 wrote that she was fortunate to return to campus ‘during all three of Ithaca’s seasons: winter, rain, and summer.’

Kim Leinwand Erle had an exciting autumn. She wrote that after working for several years in climate-related public service for NY Green Bank, she returned to the private sector as global head of environmental, social, and governance for H.I.G. Capital. Kim is still “fighting the climate fight,” she wrote, and six weeks into her new job she was “loving it already.” Kim’s oldest daughter got married on October 23. In attendance were Cornellians Melissa Weiss Bausano, Betsy Schwartz Brint, and Jennifer Moore Stahlkrantz ’86—with whom Kim has “been lucky to share many life celebrations”—as well as her next-generation Cornellian, Eric Erle ’16.

October 15–16 marked the 39th annual reunion of the women of U-Hall 2. This year’s get-together was on the North Fork of Long Island. In attendance were Roberta Tulman Samuels, JD ’90, Anne Blum, Astra Groskaufmanis, Karen Lee Nichols, Amanda Dookram Slade, Josephine Connolly-Schoonen, Laurel Sgan, and Christine Donohue Hofstedt. Many other regulars were unable to attend.

Anthony Kochis wrote that for the last two years, a bunch of classmates from the School of Architecture, Art, and Planning have gotten together via Zoom every Sunday at 11 a.m. Anthony is still running A.J. Kochis LLC, a home-remodeling company that primarily serves the District of Columbia. He visits his dad in Endicott, NY, every few weeks. Anthony’s dad is still working as an upholsterer at the age of 87.

Julia Chu is a senior vice president for Neuberger Berman Trust Co. and heads up its philanthropy and family governance advisory. Julia helps clients clarify their philanthropic and family goals. Her new hobby is meditation.

Gustavo “Gus” Espinosa has been with Intel Corp. for 31 years and in the summer was promoted to vice president in the company’s graphics development department. He says he is still enjoying engineering but is thinking about retirement. In the fall his youngest child, Claire, started college at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Gus has returned to playing guitar and is taking lessons. Send your news to: ❖ Liz Brown (email Liz); Whitney Weinstein Goodman (email Whitney). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1988

Greetings! We have lots of exciting news from the Class of ’88. Heather Taylor Bumsted wrote to share that, though she lives in Atlanta, she spent the summer planning her daughter’s wedding in the Adirondacks. She observed an old wedding superstition and buried a bottle of bourbon (unopened and upside down) a year before the big day to ensure nice weather—and it worked! She and the family had a stunningly beautiful Adirondack day. That’s the good news. The bad news is she still can’t find the bourbon!

Allison Weiser Strout recently had her middle-grade novel, Next Door to Happy, published by Holiday House/Margaret Ferguson. It received great reviews! You can read more about her book here.

In 2015, Rich Uhlig founded Quadrant Biosciences, a life sciences company dedicated to improving lives by delivering innovative diagnostic, therapeutic, and virtual healthcare solutions. In partnership with SUNY Upstate Medical University, the company developed a COVID-19 PCR test. In addition, Quadrant has partnered with many municipalities to survey SARS-CoV-2 levels in their wastewater.

Mark Podgainy writes that he’s been with the same firm, Getzler Henrich, for the last 15 years, helping to turn around and restructure middle-market businesses. The company was recently bought by another company, and he now leads the real estate and hospitality practice and the higher education practice. He has two daughters in college, one at Grinnell and the other at Case Western, and his youngest is in 10th grade. His longtime hobby is short-course triathlons.

Please send us your news using the online news form. We look forward to hearing from you! ❖ Aliza Stein Angelchik (email Aliza); Debbie Kaplan Gershenson (email Debbie); Lynn Berni (email Lynn). Alumni Directory.

1989

Take a moment to bookmark Cornellians, the digital-first alumni-oriented publication of our alma mater. There are faint echoes of Ezra’s motto in Cornellians’ mission “to engage and inspire alumni throughout their lifetime by informing, entertaining, and connecting the Big Red community around the globe.” A quick scroll is like an online walk through the campus paths and halls. A recent article (at this writing) reported on the Homecoming initiative to have alums write down, in five words or less, what Cornell means to them. My own little Post-It would have gone something like: “prelims, Hot Truck [literally two words, but emotionally just one], high standards, lifelongfriends.”

We’ve all been doing something since graduation, so take a moment to share parts of your own lifetime story with the Cornell community around the globe by emailing any of the class correspondents (links are below) with your happenings. It doesn’t get any easier—and speling & gramer don’t matter because it will all get cleaned up by our wonderful editorial staff. Cornellians’ online nature allows for expanded content with class news, so share away!

Speaking of activities and connecting with alums, I was able to meet up with Carol Borack Copenhaver and Lisa Spellman Porter in Blacksburg, VA, for a fun weekend of walks and talks, with much of the conversation happening over local beers and national (Starbucks) coffees.

In addition, Vaishali Trivedi-Bhatt and I have taken to cell walks-and-talks. Once a month or so, we walk in our respective neighborhoods (she in Edison, NJ, and me in Athens, OH) while talking on the phone. It’s not quite the same as going to and from classes together and we don’t usually quite make it to 10,000 steps, but I am absolutely certain we go way over 10,000 words.

Speaking of steps, in September my husband and I spent two weeks in Ireland and Northern Ireland, where we averaged about 18,000 steps a day. We were also able to pop over to New York City in July and down to New Orleans this past spring. He and I had each been hit with COVID (January and June, respectively) but our vaccines and boosters must have worked because we had minimal problems and have felt very comfortable traveling. In a desperate attempt to revive my English-major skills, I also started a short-story group with some of my local friends. We discuss the works of Dorothy Parker, Eudora Welty, Raymond Carver, and others as an excellent excuse to eat cheese and drink wine (or, on the colder nights, Earl Greybuie—Earl Grey tea spiked with Drambuie. It loosens the mind and helps it think.)

In a desperate attempt to revive my English-major skills, I started a short-story group with some of my local friends.
Kris Borovicka Gerig ’89

I had hoped to get a visit from Jennifer Beardsley-Smith this past summer, but Jenna’s plans changed and she and son Isaac ended up in England instead. I would dearly have loved to see them (and still hope to), but I understand that the British Museum, the Tower of London, and West End Theatre (just a few of the items on Jenna and Isaac’s itinerary) weigh a bit heavier against Southeast Ohio … though we do have a hot dog museum here and a football stadium named after Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow. Considering Isaac is starting high school (and is in the jazz, concert, and marching bands), I’m guessing time to travel might be a bit limited for a while.

In more kid news, Carolyn Day Flowers writes, “Pat Levy-Zuckerman and I connected this week at University of Chicago’s first-year college send-off, as two of her triplets and one of my twins are starting there as first-year students. Love our Cornell connection extending to the next generation!” (Special note: that info came from Robin Strauss Rashbaum, who passed it to Stephanie Bloom Avidon, who passed it to me. Kind of a 21st-century Pony Express thing going on there.)

Which reminds me, Lisa Spellman Porter also managed a kid college move when she helped son Ryan settle into his university apartment at Drexel in September. In November, Lisa and husband Bob travel to Northwestern to see daughter Erica for family weekend. Lisa also expressed relief that her latest work conference is at home in Pittsburgh, where she’s a professor of materials science and engineering at Carnegie Mellon—no extra travel! The conference is for the American Vacuum Society. “We ride vacuums, not brooms,” says Lisa—but I looked at the website, and it’s a bit more involved than house cleaning.

Remember, you can drop any class correspondent a line about what you’ve been up to, who you would love to re-connect with, or your favorite Cornell memories (five words or more!). We look forward to sharing all the news. ❖ Kris Borovicka Gerig (email Kris); Lauren Kidder McGarry (email Lauren); Stephanie Bloom Avidon (email Stephanie); Anne Czaplinski Treadwell (email Anne). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1990s

1990

Happy 2023, classmates! Your class correspondents sincerely hope that this year you will make a resolution to send us more updates for the class column—like Sheri Saltzman did last autumn. We’d like to wish Sheri and her husband, Rob Min, MD ’90, a happy early silver anniversary. Rob is currently the chair of the radiology department at Weill Cornell, and Sheri has been an ob/gyn there for 24 years. Their daughter Samantha ’26 is a freshman at Cornell and older sister Olivia is a junior at Haverford College. Sheri writes, “I had never seen the dorms on North Campus. They were pretty nice. No more U-Halls, but U-Hall 1 was the best. So many fun memories.” Having lived in nearby U-Hall 4, I totally agree with Sheri’s assessment. She and Rob moved back to NYC from Westchester after becoming empty nesters. Sheri is working on her golf game because Rob and the girls love playing so much.

Risa Arin of Chatham, NJ, is another classmate who wrote in with exciting news: “I’m thrilled to announce the launch of XpertPatient, which, unlike any other website, has been purposely designed to empower newly diagnosed cancer patients and their caregivers. A passion project of mine has become a reality! Please help me spread the word—empowered patients, better treatment results.”

Roger Smullen also contacted us to say that he co-founded Earth Foundries, Inc. to end California’s catastrophic wildfire threat and combat global warming by up-cycling forest waste into carbon-negative products and energy. Roger has spent 30 years in the technology world in a variety of product development, marketing, and business development roles. In addition to his BEE from Cornell, he earned an MBA from Santa Clara University.

My freshman seminar pal Monte Frank, JD ’93, of the Connecticut law firm Pullman & Comley, was recently named to the “Best Lawyers in America 2023” for commercial litigation. Chair of the Connecticut Bar’s Federal Judiciary Committee, Monte was honored in August by the American Bar Association as “Advocate of the Month” for his tireless work to end gun violence by advancing non-partisan solutions. He represents Connecticut in the ABA House of Delegates and is chair of the Policy Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Gun Violence.

Fellow former Cornell tour guide Deb Dubois continues to travel extensively throughout the U.S. as president of the MBA Open Doors Foundation. She often gets to meet sports legends such as U.S. soccer great Abby Wambach and Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers. I would be very envious, but I occasionally run into Spanish soccer star and 2010 World Cup champion Andrés Iniesta and Yu Darvish’s dad in Kobe when I visit my friends who live in the same apartment building.

Hats off to Thwen Chaloemtiarana ’90, who was in charge of installing 49 vote centers and 59 ballot boxes in San Mateo for last November’s elections.

Big Red athletes continue to be involved in alumni activities. In November, former football player Matt Russo hosted a Cornell Mosaic and Cornell Entrepreneur Network discussion about The Loyola Project, a documentary focused on the 1963 national champion Loyola Ramblers, a team that changed college basketball during the height of the civil rights movement. Matt was joined by Kevin Boothe ’05, director of the NFL’s management council, and Marques Zak, MBA ’10, American Express director of cultural platforms, as they led the evening of networking and learning about diversity and inclusion. Matt has been managing partner of Northwestern Mutual NYC Midtown since 2016.

Spring training is just around the corner. Last October, the New York Yankees gave fans something to cheer about in the post-season, but did you know that Harrison Bader is godfather to David Owens’s son Miles? David founded the New York Grays Baseball Club in 2006 and was Harrison’s baseball coach at Horace Mann School as well. The Grays are primarily made up of children from varied ethnic and economic backgrounds who live in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. Several Grays players have gone on to become successful college scholar-athletes. In case you missed it, Bader hit his first homer as a Yankee in game one of the American League division series; he had four home runs in total during the team’s playoff run; and he’ll be playing for Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic in March 2023 in Miami. Hopefully by the time Miles is old enough to apply to Cornell, the baseball team will be an Ivy League powerhouse and he can follow in his dad’s footsteps as a Big Red pitcher and outfielder!

Hats off to Thwen Chaloemtiarana, who was in charge of installing 49 vote centers and 59 ballot boxes in San Mateo for last November’s elections. Introduced by KQED as a Burning Man artist who coordinated the setup of vote centers across the county, Thwen commented, “The goal is sort of the same, right? It’s a big art piece that’s helping people.” He gets an extra big thumbs up from me for helping to speak to prospective Cornell students in Thailand over Zoom. His dad, Thak, PhD ’74, was dean of admissions for the College of Arts and Sciences for many years and was my undergrad adviser. Thwen and his wife, Jennifer (West), who celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary last July, are the proud parents of third-generation Cornellian Saijai ’24.

Last but not least, I close with my first class column grandchild announcement! Congratulations to Amy Geller on the birth of her grandson, Cameron, who got to meet his great-grandmother in New Jersey. They were both born in ’22—1922 and 2022! All the best to you and yours in 2023! Please send us your news! ❖ Rose Tanasugarn (email Rose); Nancy Solomon Weiss (email Nancy); Allan Rousselle (email Allan). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1991

Hello, Class of 1991! It’s fall as I write this from Glen Ridge, NJ, where I’m 45 days (but who’s counting?) into a hybrid work arrangement and commuting two to three days to the office in Jersey City. After nearly three years working from home, we were welcomed back with free Starbucks, renovated workspaces (standing desks!), a bank of EV chargers in the garage, permanent outdoor dining areas, and a new Shake Shack and Whole Foods in the neighborhood—not all bad!

I am happy to hear that normalcy has returned to the Hill as well. Our class council members—Tamar Ben-Dov, Lisa Bushlow, Mark Cisz, Meredith Clark Shachoy, Mark DeAngelis, MPA ’92, Jacqueline Flake, Cristos Goodrow, Sharlyn Carter Heslam, Cathy Merrill, Daniel Sturman, Maureen Larson Tarantello, Jeff, MD ’95, and Robyn Lipsky Weintraub, and Karen Paul Zimmer, MD ’98—all returned to Ithaca for Cornell’s Trustee-Council Annual Meeting (TCAM) in October and were happy to report that “fall is amazing, and Ithaca is still Gorges!” Check out the group pic on our Cornell91 Facebook page.

The month prior, thousands of Cornellians came together for Homecoming 2022, full of Big Red spirit, including Lisa Bushlow and Nicole DelToro, who found time to catch up when Lisa wasn’t busy organizing the laser fireworks show or escorting President Pollack. Lots for Nicole to celebrate, as September also marked the 20th anniversary for Andrews & Cole, the executive search, recruiting, and consulting firm based in Washington, DC, that Nicole co-founded in 2002. I have a feeling that Nicole will be making many return trips to campus as she begins her new chapter as “Cornell Mom” to Colin ’26 (A&S).

Other classmates are embracing new chapters: Elizabeth “Wendy” Gale Langley of Crofton, MD, tied the knot with Craig during COVID in 2020. She is enjoying newlywed life and working for a nonprofit that specializes in linguistic software that’s used for literacy and Bible translation among typically oral language and sign language groups. Joseph Suh has joined Reed Smith as a partner in the global corporate group in New York. Formerly with Greenberg Traurig, Joseph provides counsel to investment managers and their private funds on fund formation and structure, plus investment activities of private funds. Learn more about his practice here.

Robert Zverina ’91 is marking the 25th anniversary of Picture of the Day, his ‘blog’—in quotes because blog wasn’t even a word when he started it!

Douglas Fambrough of Boston, MA, shared that his company, Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, was recently bought out and now he and his wife, Kimberly Moy, are test-driving retirement. Matthew McGrath and his wife, Ann, of San Francisco, CA, have two sons—one in college and the other in his senior year in high school. Matthew has been involved in corporate finance and is looking forward to retirement someday! He is getting ready to build a house in Texas, glad to be singing again, and trying “not to be so bad at golf.”

Denise Law LaGalia is celebrating two graduations in 2022: Catherine graduated eighth grade in June and Matthew graduated in December from Virginia Tech (dual majors in computer science and psychology). Dan and Libby Harrison write that daughter Stephanie is a high school junior. “We will be looking at colleges. Cornell is on her list.” Dan adds that he was planning to meet up with Jeff Bershad ’90 for the All-Star Game and Home Run Derby in Los Angeles.

Hong Kong-based Johnny Tseng and his wife, Noelle Lee, recently dropped off their older daughter to boarding school in London, where she is entering ninth grade and has decided to pursue her studies abroad. To help from missing her too much, Johnny has recently joined a Bible studies fellowship at his church and is excited to get more involved with his faith.

By the time you read these Class Notes, Robert Zverina will be marking the 25th anniversary of Picture of the Day, his photo “blog”—in quotes because blog wasn’t even a word when he started it! “I had no idea I would keep at it this long or that it would accrete into the single largest creative endeavor of my life.”

Congratulations to all! Got news to share? Use the online news form or feel free to contact one of us directly: ❖ Ruby Wang Pizzini (email Ruby); Wendy Milks Coburn (email Wendy); Joe Marraccino (email Joe); Evelyn Achuck Yue (email Evelyn); Susie Curtis Schneider (email Susie). Alumni Directory.

1992

Our lovely 30th Reunion brought great memories, as so many of us graced the campus. Many others returned in the fall for the first in-person Homecoming since 2019. Personally, at Homecoming, I (Wilma Ann Thomas Anderson) was thrilled to meet some current members of Baraka Kwa Wimbo, the gospel ensemble I founded on campus in 1991, more than 30 years ago! Cornell is the place where many hobbies, dreams, and careers were sparked. I studied abroad in Spain as an undergraduate and met jazz great Dizzy Gillespie there. Now, I have moved to Spain and am singing jazz and other genres professionally (check out my Instagram). I love that Cornell keeps cultivating talent in all areas; just read the bios of leaders in all industries—you will definitely see C.U. out there!

Tish Oney is a fellow classmate making her mark as an artist. She enjoys being a guest on podcasts, radio broadcasts, and other media interviews due to authoring books. She never imagined she would be writing for JazzTimes, Classical Singer Magazine, All About Jazz, and the Journal of Singing, in addition to singing professionally. Tish is a professional musician, author, musicologist, and voice teacher. She enjoys singing with symphonies, orchestras, and big bands; arranging and composing music; and conducting. Way to go, Tish! We can learn more about her endeavors by visiting her website.

Brian Nowicki reports that his nest just got emptier. He and his wife, Debra, recently dropped their youngest son off at college. So what are they doing with all this new-found free time? Hiking and road biking, of course! And that’s not all. Brian recently left his job of 27 years to join an alternative energy hydrogen startup. We know that startups sometimes mean “stayups”—stay up late, that is. Hopefully, Brian will have lots of time to “woosah” and engage with nature through his hobby of sculling on the Merrimack River. How’s that for staying fit and destressing at the same time?! Thank you for sharing, Brian.

At Homecoming, I was thrilled to meet some current members of Baraka Kwa Wimbo, the gospel ensemble I founded on campus in 1991, more than 30 years ago!
Wilma Ann Thomas Anderson ’92

Paul LaCava, MD ’96, is celebrating his third year as a practicing internist at Princeton Medical Group. This year marks his 24th year being happily married. Congrats are in order! As an empty-nester, with all three children away at college, Paul will be enjoying traveling. On a recent trip to some of the Finger Lakes—Cayuga, Seneca, and Keuka—he was able to enjoy both the Wagner Vineyards Estate Winery and his photography hobby.

Priscilla Powell Coq shares that she is an attorney, arbitrator, mediator, and HR professional. Along her career trajectory, she managed an investigations unit and recently became a Certified Fraud Examiner. In her free time, Priscilla is improving her Spanish and learning French and Creole through the Duolingo app. It’s never too late to learn—or teach; she is also now considering sharing her professional skills and expertise by becoming a professor. Some of Priscilla’s favorite Big Red memories include Hungry Bear, Louie’s Lunch Truck, and Domino’s Pizza delivery at 2 a.m.

Wow … those were the days. Anyone else share those memories? Even though we graduated 30 years ago, some things still feel like they happened yesterday. I can’t wait to see some of you on campus soon and/or in a virtual hangout—and to read more news from our classmates in the next issue! You can send in news via the online news form or directly to any of us. Wishing you joy and wellness. ❖ Wilma Ann Thomas Anderson (email Wilma Ann); Jean Kintisch (email Jean); Sarah Ballow Clauss (email Sarah). Alumni Directory.

1993

How is your 2023 so far? We are looking forward to hearing all about it at Reunion! Your class president, Mike McMahon, and Reunion co-chairs Amy Miller Moore and Jess Graus Woo and the rest of your Class of ’93 officers are busy finalizing Reunion details. Be on the lookout for more info in the coming months.

Eisner LLP announced that Aron Izower has joined the firm as a partner in the corporate and entertainment groups. Over more than two decades, Aron has carved out a valuable niche as a corporate attorney in the entertainment industry, specializing in transactions and advisory work for media companies and high-net-worth individuals, including joint ventures, acquisitions, brand development, corporate structuring, capital raising, equity incentives agreements, and large-scale endorsements. “Aron has an extensive breadth of knowledge and expertise in executing complex transactions and negotiating significant deals in the entertainment industry,” the chair of Eisner said.

Brianna Kikta Ricks is living in coastal Connecticut with her husband, Tyler, and their three adult children. Brianna and her sister, Annyssa Cantor (Ithaca College ’95), started a business, Me To You Box, six years ago and enjoy working together to curate gifts for special occasions and corporate events. ❖ Theresa Flores (email Theresa); Mia Blackler (email Mia); Melissa Hart Moss (email Melissa). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1994

Leisurewear may have dominated our wardrobes during peak pandemic, but the other day I realized I was wearing a Cornell T-shirt … from 1994. (That would explain why it was disintegrating.) Please tell me I’m not the only one with vintage campus garb! Speaking of which, can you believe our 30th Reunion is coming up in a couple of years?

In the meantime, mini reunions must suffice. Last March, on a trip to Concord, MA, I was lucky to catch up with Brian Penney, who is living in New Hampshire with his wife, Suzy Iverson ’95, their two daughters, and many chickens. Brian is a professor and chair of biology at St. Anselm College.

In October, I strolled the quaint streets of Saugatuck, MI, with Jason Saculles and his adorable black-and-white pup, Judd. A resident of Chicago, Jason recently started a new job as the director of customer relations management and membership marketing at Echelon. The company “offers a wide range of innovative connected fitness equipment,” such as bikes, rowers, treadmills, and fitness mirrors, “to help make healthy living attainable and accessible to all.”

Speaking of Chicago, after many years at Goodyear in Ohio, Seth Klugherz relocated to the Windy City as vice president of marketing for Haribo. Did a tantalizing image of gummy bears just pop into your head?

Moving boxes were also in the cards for attorney Praveena Nallainathan, who now calls Tampa, FL, home. The former global director of diversity, equity, and inclusion at Dechert LLP, she joined Quarles & Brady last June, where she specializes in corporate immigration law. Praveena’s pro bono work includes providing legal assistance for Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) and to displaced Afghans.

Hemda Mizrahi checked in from NYC, where she is raising two daughters and expanding her training/coaching business, Life & Career Choices, as a work-life strategist. “I’m focusing on exit strategies, career transitions, wellness/quality of life, and performance effectiveness for executives and entrepreneurs. I’m integrating a growing interest in emotion and stress regulation.”

Tom Goldstone ’94, executive producer of ‘Fareed Zakaria GPS’ for CNN, credits his time in the Cornell in Washington program with launching his career in journalism.

In New Jersey, Mike Rapolas is now the financial planning and analysis senior leader at Berjé Inc., a producer of flavors and essential oils.

From Upstate New York, Kirstyn Cassavechia Smith wrote about a worthy initiative from her employer, the South East Area Coalition: “In April, the nonprofit opened the Tool Shed, a library of more than 700 tools for residents of the greater Rochester area. Many people can’t afford tools or have no space to store them. This program gives access to everyone for $25 per year.”

In the D.C. area, Justin Antonipillai is the founder and CEO of WireWheel.io, which “aims to modernize and simplify how enterprises protect and manage the privacy of personal data.” Before WireWheel, Justin served as acting undersecretary for economic affairs at the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Speaking of the nation’s capital, Tom Goldstone, executive producer of “Fareed Zakaria GPS” for CNN, credits his time in the Cornell in Washington program with launching his career in journalism. In September, Tom traveled to Ukraine to produce a segment on schoolchildren’s reactions to the war. Was there a particular class or program at Cornell that changed the trajectory of your own life?

If you need to decompress, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology hosts various birdcams online. You can relax your eyes with albatrosses in New Zealand or gray-headed chachalacas at a Panama fruit feeder (just ignore the odd marauding squirrel). Find your feathered friends here.

Last fall at Homecoming, alumni and students reflected upon the question, “What does Cornell mean to you—in five words or less?” I posed the same question to our Class of ’94 Facebook group. Christina Bentanzos Pint, MArch ’00, wrote, “Growth, discovery, intensity, friendships, beauty.” Mike Banino answered, “We built each other there.” Check out more heartwarming responses in this story from Cornellians, our online home for all things alma mater. ❖ Dika Lam (email Dika); Dineen Pashoukos Wasylik (email Dineen); Jennifer Rabin Marchant (email Jennifer). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1995

Seeing as I am writing this during election season, let’s start this column with politics. Wait! Before you run away or cover your eyes and say “nyah nyah I can’t see you”—it’s a nonpartisan position and it’s one of our classmates!

Joe Dalaker was elected this past May to serve as council member of Ward 4 in the Town of Cheverly, MD. He is proud to have been instrumental in developing the town’s first playground that is fully accessible to children and parents with disabilities. For his usual job, he serves as an analyst of social policy at Congressional Research Service, where he helps members of Congress and their staff understand how poverty is measured and how poverty statistics are used in policymaking. Congratulations, Joe, on your new role and thank you for your important work.

While I was still smiling from Joe’s update, I heard from Jake Tyler, who works in corporate governance for Morgan Stanley and serves as corporate secretary for its two national bank subsidiaries. He’s working on a very rewarding pro bono case with a Cornell connection, which I am sharing in his own powerful words.

“Morgan Stanley Legal is working with Tahirih Justice Center to seek immigration asylum for a group of nearly 150 young women who attended the Asian University for Women and fled Afghanistan on a U.S. military transport as the Taliban came back into power in August 2021. The women, who went through a harrowing ordeal trying to get to the airport to leave Afghanistan and who did not know where they were going when they got on the U.S. military transport, ended up at a military base in Wisconsin for three months and then were relocated to universities around the country. Their story has been featured in extensive articles in the New York Times Magazine and London Times. Seven of them were relocated to Cornell and I requested to work with one of the new Cornellians to help her seek asylum. We’ve filed all her paperwork and prepared legal briefings, and her interview with the asylum officer at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is next week. I’m grateful to have this opportunity to try to help this Cornellian. I know she has a bright future ahead.”

Academy Award-nominated Andrea Berloff ’95 and a fellow screenwriter have formed a creative partnership with Netflix to write feature films for the streaming service.

Outside of work (where, P.S., Jake recently celebrated his 20-year anniversary!), he moved during the pandemic with his wife, Jessica, and daughter Emma from Astoria, Queens (NY) to Fairfield County, CT. He shared that in early fall he took Emma on a Cornell Club of Fairfield County sailing excursion on Long Island Sound. If all of this weren’t enough, he continued to bowl me over by sharing that Jessica returned this fall to the New York stage after a pandemic hiatus in A Man of No Importance at Classic Stage Company, an Off-Broadway theater. The show was directed by John Doyle, and she performed alongside the likes of Jim Parsons and Mare Winningham. I’m still picking up my jaw from reading this.

But then, just when I thought my jaw was firmly back in place, I saw an update from Drew Filus that his Academy Award-nominated wife (and our classmate!), Andrea Berloff, and fellow screenwriter John Gatins have formed a creative partnership with Netflix to write feature films for the streaming service. In case you forgot, Andrea is best known for co-writing the script of Straight Outta Compton (for which she earned an Academy Award nomination) as well as World Trade Center, a drama about 9/11 that was directed by Oliver Stone, and Blood Father, a crime thriller directed by Jean-Francois Richet. For Netflix, she co-wrote The Mother, starring Jennifer Lopez.

And another classmate, Dani Wolff, whom you may remember as the visionary behind our “95 Faces” some time ago, traveled to Greece this fall, hosted by the Athens Film Office for development on her TV pilot, “Syros.”

So many amazingly accomplished classmates—from politics to social justice to entertainment—so little time. But don’t let that deter you from sharing your news, because here’s the best part about our class: we are all pretty darned amazing. So send news, grand or small, personal or professional. I’d love to write about you!

Until next time, stay connected and safe, classmates. ❖ Alison Torrillo French (email Alison). Class website. Class Facebook page. Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1996

“I recently traveled to Seattle to see family,” writes Veronica Vazquez. “While there, I visited the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, WA, with fellow Class of 1996 graduate Andrea DeTerra.”

Heather Nydam, MHA ’99, shares, “I married Bret Sibley on July 22, 2022, in Dryden NY!” Heather is CFO and chief integration officer at Amazing Care Home Health Services. Please send us your news! ❖ Marjorie Polycarpe Jean-Paul (email Marjorie); Catherine Oh Bonita (email Catherine); Janine Abrams Rethy (email Janine). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1997

Eric Saidel writes, “I joined the HR department at Weill Cornell Medicine in August 2021 and was then appointed the interim senior director of HR for Weill Cornell in February 2022. It is amazing to be working for Cornell and to be back in a Midtown NYC office, where I can reconnect with fellow Cornellians including Francesco Del Vecchio, Kristin Maloney, Dan Doron ’99, and other CU Glee Club and Chorus alumni in the area.”

Laura Goddard has some good news to share! “After 13 years together, I married Hugo Pasten on June 19, 2022 at Green Hill Farm in Sharpsburg, MD. Hugo and I co-own Mountain View Polo Club in Charles Town, WV, where we teach lessons and host practices. He is a professional polo player from Chile and manages the polo club and farm full time. I have been working as a scientific patent examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the last 18 years.”

Amelia Bookstein Kyazze released her second novel, Ahead of the Shadows, in September 2022. The book is based on her experiences working as a photographer and writer for humanitarian organizations in Africa, Asia, and Southern Europe. Taking place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Darfur, Sudan, and the gritty back streets of Paris, it is also about the transmission of trauma from one generation to the next, and whether one unconventional boy might be able to break the cycle. You can learn more at her website.

David Labush is working in commercial real estate with a couple of part-time jobs. “I’m currently in a rebuilding phase,” he says. What brings him the most satisfaction? His answer is short and sweet: “My three dogs.”

Doris Chen Zahner recently co-edited and co-authored a book, Does Higher Education Teach Students to Think Critically?, which examines the critical thinking and written communication skills of higher education students across six countries. Doris is the chief academic officer at the Council for Aid to Education, a nonprofit educational assessment organization based in New York City. Please send us your news! ❖ Sarah Deardorff Carter (email Sarah); Erica Broennle Nelson (email Erica). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

1998

Dates are set and events are being planned to ensure that our 25th Reunion is a Big Red success! Mark your calendars, because we want to see you back on campus the weekend of June 8–11. Until your return to Cornell, keep sharing your news with us.

Kim McMunn writes, “I have used marathons to travel the world, and last October I finally completed the six World Marathon Majors, after waiting for the London Marathon to return after the COVID pandemic. Now I have my sights set on running a marathon on all seven continents.” Kim has checked off the boxes for North America, Europe, and Asia, and she is heading to Antarctica in March 2023. Run, Kim, run! Your Big Red family is cheering you on!

The Knezevic-Kong family now call Southern California home, after spending 16 years in Seattle. They moved to be closer to family. Hoon Kong remains with Microsoft and Sonja Knezevic-Kong, ME ’00, is “embarking on new adventures, after nearly two decades in the reinsurance business, followed by a pandemic pause.” Wishing you well in your new home sweet home!

Amy Snyder Kaminski was the editor of a book published by Elsevier in 2021 titled Space Science and Public Engagement: 21st Century Perspectives and Opportunities. Stephanie Silver Silberstein directed a theatrical adaptation of Agatha Christie’s A Murder is Announced, presented by the Seton Hall University Arts Council at the South Orange Performing Arts Center. Congratulations to Amy and Stephanie!

We want to hear from you, so please email me or fill out an online news form! ❖ Uthica Jinvit Utano (email Uthica). Alumni Directory.

1999

“I am a fashion designer creating luxury clothing for girls and ladies,” writes Margaret Zacharska Plutecka. “My brand is called Amelie et Sophie. We sell mostly to Middle Eastern countries as well as to the U.S., Japan, and Europe. We have our own atelier, where we produce our dresses only from the finest European fabrics. I also LOVE interior design, so I am creating interiors in all the new apartments and houses that my husband, Wojtek, is building (he is in a real estate business). He used to come and visit me at Cornell. Now we have three children: Matthew, 22, Chris, 19, and Sophie, 14. The boys are studying abroad and Sophie is still in high school. We live in Warsaw but are planning to move somewhere closer to the beach.”

Ashish Vaidya, MBA ’07, writes, “Jenn (Jolly) ’00 and I are doing well and our boys—Aiden, 12, and Dylan, 6—started eighth and second grades, respectively. We continue to live in the Bay Area and have had the chance to take several trips this year (finally) to Hawaii and Southern California, and we are looking forward to our upcoming trip to Toronto. I have joined several Cornell-related boards as a member of the Advisory Council of Entrepreneurship at Cornell, chair for Cornell Alumni Admissions Ambassador Network, and board member for the Cornell Northern California Alumni Association.”

Wendi Lynn Czekanski married a fellow Cornellian, Adam ’98, after six years in the Army. “We had two kids, and I’m now a full-time kid driver,” Wendi writes. “I still enjoy fitness and travel, and I spend most of my days shuffling kids around from activity to activity. Between them, they run, ride horses, play football, do Tae Kwon Do, do Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, play instruments, play soccer, ski, and snowboard.”

Joseph Beck shares, “My daughter, Hanna, started her first year at Occidental College. My son, Eli, has expressed interest in becoming a Hotelie!”

An assistant professor of planetary sciences at Brown, Ingrid Dauber ’99 is a research scientist with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Nicole Salgado recently repatriated back to the D.C. metro area after 16 years abroad in Central Mexico, where she had been consulting, writing, raising a family, and, since 2013, working for Peace Corps Mexico as an environment program and training specialist—placing, training, and supervising volunteers focused on climate resilience projects. This October, Nicole joined the global headquarters staff as a supervisory training specialist with the Office of Overseas Programming and Training Support.

Ingrid Daubar co-authored a study published in September in Nature Geoscience that details the impacts of four space rocks that crashed on Mars in 2020 and 2021. This is the first study done using data detected by NASA’s InSight robotic lander, which was designed to study the deep interior of Mars and touched down on the planet in 2018.

An assistant professor of planetary sciences at Brown, Ingrid is a research scientist with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), leading the Impact Cratering Working Group on the InSight mission. She is one of several hundred scientists and engineers around the world contributing to this mission. “I was lucky enough that my public high school in East Lyme, CT, had a planetarium,” she said. “It sparked my interest in astronomy and space.” On the Hill, she majored in astronomy before earning her PhD in planetary sciences at the University of Arizona and becoming a research scientist with JPL.

The four space rock impacts in the study mark the first time seismic and acoustic waves from an impact have been detected on the red planet—a development that has provided a new way to study Mars’s crust, mantle, and core. “It was super exciting,” Ingrid recalled of the impacts. “My favorite images are the ones of the craters themselves. After three years of waiting for an impact, those craters looked beautiful.”

Tune into our next column for news from Carol Carty, JD ’02, Myisha Frazier, and Wenbi Lai, ME ’00. And please send us an online news form with your own news, big or small! ❖ Class of 1999 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12). Alumni Directory.

2000s

2000

I hope this newsletter finds you in good health and in good spirits. I’m sure each one of you is hard at work, making a difference in the lives of friends and family, and the world in general. I’d love to read about it; we’d all love to read about it. So drop me a note.

Nadia Huancahuari shared a published article about the work she and her colleagues are doing at Mass General Brigham in Boston to decrease healthcare inequities. “We are hoping to share our wins and challenges so that other healthcare systems and patients can feel encouraged about this work. My Twitter handle is @NHuancahuari_MD.”

This past fall, Noah DeGarmo competed in the Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition, for outstanding, non-professional pianists age 35 and older. Noah studied with Xak Bjerken at Cornell, and the professor played a duet with him at the concert. Noah’s lifetime goal is to be a physician who is active in music. After earning a bachelor’s in economics from Cornell, the Carlisle, MA, native graduated medical school at Columbia and completed his residency at Northwestern.

Now a respected and well-published emergency medicine physician, Noah holds a position at Arlington Memorial Hospital. He grew up seriously studying both the piano and oboe, and lamented the limited performance opportunity after college, which led to amateur competition participation. He currently studies with Alessandro Mazzamuto in Dallas.

As an amateur pianist, Noah had the opportunity to perform “Rhapsody in Blue” at the Symphony Center in Chicago as a finalist in the Chicago Amateur Piano Competition in 2012. In 2019 he founded the Boulanger Piano Quintet in Dallas, comprising musicians in the medical field. Having struggled with tendonitis since he was 18, he also has a passion for helping musicians with the prevention of performance and practice-related injury. He is a great example of a double-interest former student being successful at both.

It’s great to hear what exciting things are happening in the lives of Cornell alumni. You can submit your news through the online news form or directly to me: ❖ Denise Williams (email Denise). Alumni Directory.

2001

Happy New Year! I wonder how many of us count the Y2K ball drop—during our junior year—as one of our most memorable New Year’s Eves? I can’t help thinking of it every year around this time, remembering the high-spirited revelry at the Jersey City apartment of recent grads Andrew Schinder ’99, JD ’03, Brian Markowitz ’99 and Jeff Shapiro ’99 briefly shifting into tipsy panic as the apartment’s desktop computer took a few extra minutes to reboot at 12:01 a.m. Got a Cornell-ish story to share from that night? Let us know! See below for contact details.

Another funny-in-hindsight memory I recently flashed back to was prompted by a Daily Sun article about the triumphant (?) post-pandemic return of the August swim test. I remember someone about six lanes away from me needing a lifeguard rescue, which had been my greatest fear while shivering on the pool deck awaiting my turn; Jennifer Lubacz remembers rowing coaches trying to recruit her! How about you?

Swim laps still aren’t my thing, but I stay in decent shape by dabbling in yoga—when in India, right?—and otherwise running around after my kids and dog. How about you? Are you among our classmates taking midlife fitness to far more impressive levels? For example, Lauren Wallach Hammer ran the Berlin Marathon in September, finishing in 3:58:06, followed by a 3:52:09 finish at the Chicago Marathon two weeks later. She plans to run the London Marathon next! When she’s not breaking a sweat around the world, she’s staying hydrated in my old stomping grounds of Briarcliff Manor, NY, working in Greenwich, and raising a couple of cute kids.

Have you been traveling, too—and have those travels included Ithaca? Social media reveals that several classmates have dropped by for recruiting, speaking engagements, Homecoming, and family vacations in the past year. We love seeing your photos and hearing about what campus and Collegetown look like these days! Please keep sharing in our Facebook group, via Twitter, or via email. Remember, hundreds of us live thousands of miles away and have to live vicariously! It will certainly be less of a shock at our next Reunion (save the date: June 4–7, 2026!) if we already know that X bar is gone, Y dorm has gone up, yadda yadda yadda.

Certain topics—such as the Dairy Bar’s deliciousness, favorite clock tower tunes, and walking to class uphill through snow both ways—always transcend generations.
Nicole Neroulias Gupte ’01

No excuses from the folks like Jeffrey Harradine, JD ’04—whom you may recall from South Baker Hall freshman year or otherwise around campus (or even over at IC visiting his future wife)—still living that Finger Lakes dream! Based in the Rochester area, Jeffrey is now senior managing counsel at Xerox Corporation and recently discussed his transition to in-house counsel with the Modern Counsel network, including “the excitement and challenges, and how the values instilled in me early on by a judicial mentor continue to serve me well.”

Fellow KDR and Big Red Marching Band alumnus Larry Chirch recently started a new position as senior counsel at the Chicago-based law firm of Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP in its newly opened Edison, NJ, office. At Hinshaw, Larry will continue to focus his practice on financial services litigation. When not working, Larry can be found in his hometown of Basking Ridge, supporting and coaching his sons’ various youth sports teams. This past spring, he even connected with Patrick and Elizabeth Segall Arangio while coaching their son’s baseball team—small world!

Did you raise a glass to our alma mater in October? Tara Benedict shared a photo of “Framingham, MA, representing for Zinck’s Night!” on our Facebook page. A week earlier (better for India’s festive season schedule), Salil Gupte and I had also managed to grab drinks with an assortment of Cornell alumni in Delhi. We didn’t stumble upon anyone from our generation, but it was truly fascinating (if not a bit intimidating, storytelling-wise) to chat with alumni who had graduated during the Great Recession or the pandemic. Fortunately, certain topics—such as the deceptively difficult wines class, the Dairy Bar’s deliciousness, favorite clock tower tunes, and walking to class uphill through snow both ways—always transcend generations.

What stories do you like telling about our Cornell years? What new memories are you making? For reminiscing, updating, and getting back in touch with classmates, please email either of us at the addresses below, visit our website, like the Class of 2001 Facebook page, join our Class of 2001 Classmates Facebook group, and/or follow us on Twitter (@Cornell2001). ❖ Nicole Neroulias Gupte (email Nicole); James Gutow (email James). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

2002

Ryan Silbert’s first original graphic novel—co-authored by the late great Stan Lee—was published on November 15. Alliances: Orphans “blasts readers into the heart of our galaxy alongside William Ackerson, a man lost in space on a quest to find the source of his uncanny abilities. As gravity waves ripple across reality, warping time and space, he meets the Orphans. They are each the last of their kind, all their kin having been wiped out. Orphans is a fast-paced, intergalactic treasure hunt that explodes the Alliances universe into the cosmos. The band of lone survivors must become a family to save the very fabric of reality.”

“I was sad to miss our 20th Reunion, but I have a good excuse,” writes Tamera Stover. “I’m excited to announce our first child, Evelyn Lee! She was born June 3 and has received lots of love from my dear Cornell friends harkening back to JAM dorm days. Professionally, I’m approaching my fourth year at Google, where I am lead machine learning/AR user experience researcher for the shopping team. (All those 3D/AR pieces of furniture you’ve been seeing? That’s my team!) I also work on product inclusion across the company. I’m still living in the Bay Area—in Dublin, CA, because of that safety, space, and schools thang the (relatively affordable) suburbs have going on.”

Dave Nayak, a board-certified allergy-immunology physician, farmer, and community activist, is also founder of the Strength to Love Foundation and Nayak Farms. These organizations share an important mission: combating food insecurity in the State of Illinois through the Nayak Farms Sweet Corn Initiative. This program has created infrastructure and logistical operations with a goal to donate over 1,000,000 pounds of sweet corn—and possibly additional specialty crops like green beans—to the eight major Illinois food banks by 2026. This is a unique concept of growing produce specifically for food banks, and the aim is to encourage other farmers to grow and donate fresh produce by creating favorable policy changes for farmers in the Illinois State Legislature.

Please take a moment to send us an online news form. ❖ Class of 2002 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12). Alumni Directory.

2003

Happy New Year! Please take a moment to write to us. What is a typical day in your life like? Is anything new happening with your family? Have you read any good books lately? We’d love to hear from you. ❖ Jon Schoenberg (email Jon); Candace Lee Chow (email Candace). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

2004

I hope one of your New Year’s resolutions is to write to your class correspondent! Have you marked a career milestone or taken a trip recently? Do you have a Big Red memory that would make your classmates smile? We would love it if you shared your news with us! ❖ Jessi Petrosino (email Jessi). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

2005

I know that many of you have been enjoying the digital availability of our Class Notes on Cornellians—as it is one of the most popular sections of the alumni site! For those of you who are missing print, a quarterly print version of Cornellians will launch in spring 2023. A curated selection of the Class Notes will appear in the print edition. Please continue to share your updates to be featured digitally—and maybe even in the quarterly digest!

We recently heard from Kevin Boothe, who spoke at Clips and Conversation, an event held in New York City in partnership with the Cornell Entrepreneur Network, Entrepreneurship at Cornell, and Cornell Mosaic. Kevin is a director in the NFL Management Council.

DeVon Prioleau joined the leadership team of Cushman & Wakefield, a global real estate services firm. He is currently spearheading the integration of multi-service lines for Mastercard. As one of three regional directors, he will focus on expanding his portfolio in North and Latin America. ❖ Hilary Johnson King (email Hilary); Jessica Rosenthal Chod (email Jessica). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

2006

Hello, Class of 2006! I hope you and your families are enjoying the cooler weather and the holiday season. My little ones truly love this time of year. As we get closer to the end of 2022, we’re pleased to share the latest news with you around the class.

John Rawlins III has recently become the director of the Black Resource Center and campus diversity officer for the University of California, San Diego. John has spent 16 years in the field of student affairs and diversity, equity, and inclusion within higher education. Previously working as director of the Black Student Center at California State University, he is very excited for this new opportunity. We’re excited for you!

Nova McCune Cadamatre’s winery, Trestle Thirty One, was recently honored by Cornell’s annual Alumni Wine program created by Alumni Affairs. Their 2021 Riesling was named the program’s winning white, sourced from vineyards across Cayuga, Seneca, and Keuka lakes. Nova was the first female winemaker in the U.S. to become a Master of Wine and was honored with a spot on Wine Enthusiast’s “40 Under 40” list. Trestle Thirty One was established by Nova and her husband in 2015, and we’d like to congratulate them both and wish them continued success!

What’s new in your world? We’d love to hear more about you, your families, and what you’ve been up to lately. Please share your news with us! ❖ Kirk Greenspan (email Kirk). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

2007

Happy New Year, Class of 2007! So glad to be opening this year with you all! As we start to look toward all the wonderful things that await us in 2023, I have some news below from last year.

I had the opportunity to join Sara Tam in celebrating her marriage to Eric Tang in October. It was a beautiful fall day in Jersey City, where they live. Everyone had a fantastic time, and I had a chance to see some of our classmates, Tiffany Chieu Liu, Katie Miller, and Willa Brenowitz as well as others from 2006: Kristen Munnelly, Dan ’04 and Michele Segalini Westfall, and Bryce and Cait Myles Webster. It definitely set a tone for a fun, wonderful marriage—congrats!

How did you ring in the New Year? Visit with any Cornellians? Let me know! Looking forward to sharing more exciting stories with everyone! Have any updates to share? Please feel free to reach out to me or submit online. ❖ Samantha Feibush Wolf (email Samantha). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

2008

Happy New Year! Please take a moment to write to us. What is a typical day in your life like? Is anything new happening with your family? Have you read any good books lately? We’d love to hear from you. ❖ Libby Boymel (email Libby); and Elana Beale (email Elana). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

2009

Hello, Class of ’09! If you responded to my email asking for news in December, look for your entry in our next Class Notes section! If you haven’t sent us news in a while, please take a moment to fill out a form. We’d love to hear from you! ❖ Jason Georges (email Jason). Alumni Directory.

2010s

2010

I hope one of your New Year’s resolutions is to write to your class correspondent! Have you marked a career milestone or taken a trip recently? Do you have a Big Red memory that would make your classmates smile? We would love it if you shared your news with us! ❖ Michelle Sun (email Michelle). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

2011

Effective on January 1, 2023, our classmate Lauren Tsuji was promoted to partner at Perkins Coie, an international law firm that represents companies across a wide range of industries and stages of growth. In the Seattle office, Lauren is a member of the privacy and security practice, representing technology companies with a focus on privacy and data security litigation and consumer class actions. Her litigation experience includes disputes involving the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act (BIPA), Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), Washington Privacy Act (WPA), and other state and federal privacy statutes.

Please take a moment to send us your news! ❖ Class of 2011 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

2012

Irene Li (who was profiled in Cornellians in May 2022) has big news to share about her restaurant, Mei Mei. Two and a half years after Irene and her partners closed the restaurant’s doors, they have plans to open a new space, a dumpling factory in South Boston’s new Iron Works. They are hoping to add a classroom and café to welcome customers (and their famous Double Awesome) back to Mei Mei.

The last few years have been a rollercoaster for the company, and Irene shares that she’s proud of her team for continuing to live their values of sustainability, equity, and building community through food. They hope this new gathering place, which opened at the end of 2022, will be the beginning of a successful new chapter for her family’s food truck turned restaurant turned dumpling company and café. Best of luck to Irene on this new venture! ❖ Peggy Ramin (email Peggy). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

2013

Happy New Year! Please take a moment to write to us. What is a typical day in your life like? Is anything new happening with your family? Have you read any good books lately? We’d love to hear from you. ❖ Rachael Schuman (email Rachael). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

2014

Happy New Year, Class of 2014! I hope that 2023 is off to a wonderful start for you! Richard Horgan, who was highlighted in our March/April 2021 column for being named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list as the founder and president of nonprofit organization Cure Rare Disease, was recently featured in a new article from the Boston Globe.

In summer 2022, Richard received news that his younger brother, Terry, who has muscular dystrophy, would be able to receive a new gene therapy treatment whose development was funded by Cure Rare Disease and that is specifically designed for Terry’s genetic mutation. Richard assembled a group of scientists to design, test, and manufacture a personalized CRISPR gene editing therapy for his brother that would help produce missing proteins.

Because of the rarity of the mutation involved in Terry’s condition, it is unlikely this therapy will be utilized by other patients—which marks this as the first clinical trial of a personalized CRISPR therapy. Beyond that achievement, this is also the first clinical trial utilizing gene editing technology for muscular dystrophy as well as the first clinical test of a new version of CRISPR that—rather than editing the DNA sequence—affects how the patient’s cells interpret their DNA. In addition to Cure Rare Disease’s efforts to fund therapies for Terry, they are also working on 19 other therapies utilizing a variety of genetic technologies.

Please reach out if you or your 2014 friends have any news to share. ❖ Samantha Lapehn Young (email Samantha). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

2015

It was an exciting year for our class! Claire MacManus married her high school sweetheart, DC Gaitley, on August 27. Sarah Greenberg also married her now-husband, Scott Gardner. Sarah had several Cornell friends in the wedding party, including Alyssa Troutner, Meaghan Moran Whitmer ’14, Julie Park ’17, Mia Blakstad ’16, and Alyssa Pizzurro Pasquel ’16, BS ’15.

In professional news, Alexa Ravit recently started a new position as director of communications and outreach for the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit (HIWU). She says that starting January 1, HIWU will be enforcing a national, uniform anti-doping and medication control program for Thoroughbred horseracing in the U.S., which has previously not existed. Good luck, Alexa!

It was also a big year for Julliard Del Rosario, who completed his MBA at Wharton in May 2022, got married in Vietnam in June 2022, and started a new job in July 2022! Congrats! ❖ Caroline Flax (email Caroline); Mateo Acebedo (email Mateo). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

2016

Danielle Boris, MBA ’21, is one of the Johnson College of Business’s 10 Under 10 notable alumni for 2022! She is the founder and CEO of Sandbox, a platform that enables leaders to align employees’ skills and interests with project needs to drive purpose and engagement within the organization. Danielle is also a speaker and the author of The Energy of Weirdos: The Science Behind How People-First Leaders Create Unstoppable Organizations. According to her website, she’s working to “power organizations by tapping into the weirdo in each of us.” Congratulations!

If you have anything you’d like to share with our class, please submit an online news form or write to me at: ❖ Meghan McCormick (email Meghan). Alumni Directory.

2017

Justin Kuyper, who previously worked in consulting in NYC, recently started his own business that focuses on public and private investing. “When I am not in NYC, I travel frequently for work. Over the past year, I have worked in India for three months, Brazil for two months, and the U.K. for two weeks.”

Justin adds, “I vividly recall sitting in Uris Hall with Prof. Jennifer Wissink for office hours, preparing for my ECON 1120 final. I did not realize it at the time, but the insights she shared with me that day not only helped me perform very well on the final exam, but also shaped the course of my life. The confidence instilled in me that day made me realize that economics would be my major. This choice led me to thrive at Cornell, engage deeply with the economics department, and develop a further understanding of micro- and macroeconomic theory that serves me each and every day. Quite frankly, if it wasn’t for Prof. Wissink and for the Cornell curriculum, I would not be where I am today.”

Nuha Fariha writes, “I have a 1.5-year-old son, Joel ‘Jojo’ Kareem Buckley. I also have a chapbook with Game Over Books coming out in July 2023, God Mornings, Tiger Nights.” According to the publisher’s website, “Nuha is a first-generation Bangladeshi American writer. A first-year MFA candidate at Louisiana State University, she served as fiction editor of the New Delta Review. Her work has appeared in the Liminal Review, Yellow Arrow Journal, and Jamhoor, among others. Nuha lives in Baton Rouge with her son and partner.”

Please take a moment to send us an online news form. ❖ Class of 2017 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12). Alumni Directory.

2018

Hey, Class of 2018! Jamie Morgenstern ’19, BS ’18, an ILR graduate, has just started an MBA program at the University of Michigan. Jamie has been working at Deloitte Consulting since she graduated from Cornell, advising Fortune 100 companies in the healthcare sector. “I was at a pivotal point in my career after four years,” she said. “I knew that in order to continue to make an impact at Deloitte, I needed to enhance my business acumen.”

While at Deloitte, Jamie also led the firm’s recruiting efforts for Cornell graduates. She said this experience was particularly rewarding because Cornellians also helped her obtain her position at the company: “In this role, I was able to pay it forward.”

Any fun news to share with your classmates? Send it to me: ❖ Stephanie Yan (email Stephanie). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

2019

Congratulations to Jacob Markin, who writes, “I passed the Virginia Bar and am practicing in Fairfax, VA!”

Please take a moment to send us some news! ❖ Class of 2019 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

2020s

2020

I hope one of your New Year’s resolutions is to write to your class correspondent! Have you marked a career milestone or taken a trip recently? Do you have a Big Red memory that would make your classmates smile? We would love it if you shared your news with us! ❖ Shruti Juneja (email Shruti). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

2021

After graduating from Cornell, Clara Rice moved to Zambia for a year to study the effects of COVID-19 on reproductive health supply chains. Clara was the recipient of a Fulbright student award to Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, where she collected data on contraceptive access in Zambia in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing supply chain disruptions.

Clara’s path to a Fulbright began at Cornell, when she traveled to Zambia and researched nutritional health with the Cornell Global Health Summer Program. She was taken with Lusaka and her research—“I wanted to learn more,” she said. She was planning to travel to Kenya the following summer when the pandemic canceled all travel. She used the time instead to write her Fulbright application, developing her plan to return.

During her Fulbright, Clara traveled to five countries in southern Africa. She went to multiple traditional ceremonies and learned from the history and culture of different ethnic groups within Zambia.

Clara now lives in New York City and works as an associate at Chemonics International, a healthcare supply chain company. The work involves procurement of reproductive health supplies in Africa. “This builds directly on my Fulbright research, which is an exciting opportunity.”

Clara’s favorite memories from Cornell include being president of Anything Goes, a musical theater group, and “especially performing in shows.” She also spent time outside, exploring Ithaca’s gorges, and was a regular at the Ithaca Farmers Market. ❖ Geneva Saupe (email Geneva). Alumni Directory. Share your news here.

Grad

Agriculture & Life Sciences

Michelangelo Lieberman, MPS ’16, writes, “Before attending Cornell for my graduate studies, I had spent the previous two years in West Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer working with human trafficking victims. I lived in the city of Saint-Louis, Senegal, and built gardens for talibés, young boys forced to beg on the streets in the name of God. I ended up writing a thesis (among other pieces) that focused on the talibés’ living conditions and lifestyle, all while living within the starkly different conditions of the Sigma Pi fraternity house.

“I took a job as an RA at Sigma Pi. In some ways it felt like I was being redeployed. I went from surrounding myself with homeless boys and the chanting of children at Koranic schools to upper-class kids and the curious mutterings of mumble rap. The transition was startling to say the least. Eventually, though, I adapted, as we humans do best. The wonderful people and community at Cornell not only aided the transition process, but they began to change my perspective, inspiring me to set course in a new direction.

“After Cornell, I moved back to my hometown where I now write local environmental policy. I’ve written laws for battery storage and solar, and I’ve proudly passed legislation requiring homes to be built with 10% more efficiency. For the past two years, I’ve advocated for and am now managing the town’s Climate Action Plan, a blueprint to carbon neutrality.” Michelangelo is now working with the Carbon Reduction for Earth’s Wellbeing Project, which aims to support individuals in reducing their ecological footprint.

Architecture, Art & Planning

Peter Kaufman, PhD ’86, is “having a ball in Vermont at the age of 76. Our cabin is our Balmoral, and our house is our Windsor Castle. We just don’t have a Buckingham Palace. I am the sexton at St. James Church in Woodstock, VT. Lots of fun vacuuming the daddy long-legs as far as I can reach. Google says that Hamlet calls himself a sexton. Makes sense. My stepson, Doug McKee, teaches econometrics at Cornell, and his wife, Vida Maralani, teaches sociology with tenure.” Peter enjoys living in the woods, playing pick-up sticks (“but for real”), blowing leaves away, and playing ping-pong, among other things.

Arts & Sciences

David Barron, PhD ’92, was selected to exhibit in the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize show—the U.K.’s most prestigious annual open exhibition for drawing. Of the more than 3,200 submissions from 1,617 artists in 45 different countries, only 113 drawings by 94 artists were chosen.

Russell Chorush, PhD ’94, works for Heim, Payne & Chorush in Houston and has earned selection in the 2023 edition of the Best Lawyers in America based on his expertise in patent lawsuits and other intellectual property disputes.

In October, Helen Molesworth, PhD ’98, led a walk-through at the UCLA Hammer Museum of an exhibition called “Bob Thompson: This House Is Mine.” Helen is an American curator of contemporary art based in Los Angeles.

Pheng Cheah, PhD ’98, and Caroline Hau, PhD ’98, co-edited Siting Postcoloniality: Critical Perspectives from the East Asian Sinosphere, which was published by Duke University Press in December. Pheng is professor of rhetoric and geography at UC Berkeley and author of What Is a World? On Postcolonial Literature as World Literature. Caroline is professor of Southeast Asian studies at Kyoto University and author of The Chinese Question: Ethnicity, Nation, and Region in and Beyond the Philippines. In Siting Postcoloniality these two contributors reevaluate the notion of the postcolonial by focusing on the Sinosphere—the region of East and Southeast Asia that has been significantly shaped by relations with China throughout history.

Daniel Peña, MFA ’13, has written “Why the White Gaze Needs Brown Trauma: An Essay in Cardinal Directions,” which was published in the fall 2022 issue of Ploughshares. Daniel is a Pushcart Prize-winning writer and the author of Bang: A Novel (Arte Publico Press, 2018). His work has been featured in the New York Times Magazine and the Guardian, among other outlets. Previously, he was a Picador Guest Professor for literature in the American studies program at the Universität Leipzig in Germany and a Fulbright-García Robles Scholar at the Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City. He lives and teaches in Houston, TX.

Hotel Administration

When Geoffrey Hewitt, MPS ’79, wrote to us in October, he was looking forward to meeting his first grandchild! “I’m grateful to be here still to see her birth,” he wrote. “In 10 years, I’ve read approximately 400 books so far. Right now, I’m reading Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II, Chancellorsville, and Robert E. Lee’s Greatest Victories: The Battles of Second Manassas, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville.” Geoffrey has also been walking every day.

Johnson Graduate School of Management

Walt Jura, MBA ’80, writes, “Well, I have some news both rewarding and not so good. I’ve had a successful and satisfying professional career culminating in early retirement. However, I am sad to report that I have endured several most difficult challenges in my personal life. My first wife, Sarah, a surgical RN—who was also my first girlfriend when I was 7 and she was 6 and living two blocks away from me in Greenwich, CT—sadly passed away from complications related to pancreatic cancer, diagnosed at stage 4 in January 2007. After several years of continuing my professional responsibilities at MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital in Baltimore, plus trying to be a loving and caring dad to my three sons and trying my best (in hindsight, poor judgment) to act as their mom, I finally decided to accept executive long-term disability and retired in 2008.

“I met another wonderful and lovely woman online and after several years of dating, we married in 2014 in Nampa, ID, where Rose Ann had two adult children and several grandchildren. Rose Ann made a major sacrifice and moved with me to Maryland. Four years later we relocated to East York, PA, while my youngest son completed his undergraduate degree at Penn State. Following his graduation, I decided to make the sacrifice Rose Ann had made six years earlier, and we relocated to Kuna, ID, a suburb of Boise.

“Just before relocating to Idaho, I was diagnosed with REM sleep behavior disorder and Parkinson’s. I feel so fortunate that the Boise area has two highly regarded healthcare systems. Now that last summer’s oppressive heat-breaking records (99% of summer days were in mid/upper 90s and 100s every day), I am starting to resume moderate running (no more football, ha), strongly advised by my clinical team. I am also contemplating returning to volunteer work at a local hospice, which I did following retirement; I received so much, giving back to those in need of support. I learned much in my two years in Ithaca—more than the fine academics, about life in general—and I’m proud to be an alum. I continue to wish all of my Sloanies great health and happiness.”

Lisa Goldson Armstrong, MBA ’09, chief marketing officer and vice president of global marketing, Resideo Technologies, was named to the Twin Cities Business magazine’s 2022 “Notable Leaders in Marketing” list. “These individuals have proven themselves, and the brands they represent, worthy of recognition.”

Roland Foss, MBA ’11, resigned his position as regional manager at Bellhop in October to return to active duty for a one-year stint with the Army Reserve’s 311th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) in Los Angeles, CA. Recently promoted to lieutenant colonel, Roland leads a cell in the Support Operations section, where he will lead planning efforts for the unit’s participation in the African Lion ’23 series of exercises. Meanwhile, he runs a car-sharing business and is partnering on a retail startup launching in the new year.

David Weyant, MBA ’14, recently received the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal. This medal was awarded to 7,000 Albertans throughout 2022 in recognition of significant contributions to the province. David is the president and chief executive officer of the Alberta Lawyers Indemnity Association (ALIA). Prior to joining ALIA, his career included private practice with international, national, and local law firms as well as serving as the senior vice president and general counsel of Alberta Health Services. In 2004, David was awarded the King’s Counsel designation. He has served on the board of directors for various public and private corporations and associations including not-for-profits, an insurance reciprocal, startups, and a Toronto Stock Exchange listed corporation, and he has served as board chair for both the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and Alberta Health Services. He currently serves as a director on the Alberta Insurance Council and the National Client Protection Organization.

John Hui, MBA ’15, started a digital health company called Twiage. “We have successfully deployed its award-winning pre-hospital communication technology with Cayuga Medical Center and Bangs Ambulance, to help Ithaca and Tompkins County accelerate life-saving emergency care.”

Dan O’Toole, MBA ’16, writes, “We recently launched Lukasa, a modernization business and technology consulting firm. As business and technology specialists, we’ve been on the inside of companies for many years experiencing the difficulties of disjointed data, inefficient business processes, and the many variables that inhibit agility and growth in the data-driven economy. Lukasa’s comprehensive global team of business operators, full-stack engineers, designers, solution architects, and product managers have the flexibility to scale based on project scope, need, and duration. Clients, therefore, experience the freedom of an all-encompassing strategy and development team, with abundant resources at the ready.”

Weill Cornell Medicine

Judith Rovno Peterson, MD ’86, is a visual artist and cat person based in Sioux Falls, SD. “My recent ink painting series, ‘Power Grid Cats,’ has been exhibited at the University of South Dakota, the University of Sioux Falls, and the Washington Pavilion Visual Arts Center, and it will be going to Mount Marty University. My cat and I were interviewed in September 2022 for a segment that aired on South Dakota Public Broadcasting Radio. I also do public health photography on an ongoing basis for the Healing Words Foundation in association with the State Medical Society.” You can learn more at Judith’s website.

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Top image: Photo by Ryan Young / Cornell University

Published January 1, 2023