Class Notes

March / April 2022

Columns compiled by your class correspondents

1940s

1940s

1946

We would love to hear from all of you! Has your family grown? Have you read any good books lately? What kind of impact did your time at Cornell have on your life? If you have a moment, please send an email or letter to: ❖ Dorothy Taylor Prey, 1 Baldwin Ave., #501, San Mateo, CA, 94401; tel., (650) 342-1196; email, dmprey@aol.com. Class website. Online news form.

1947

Greetings, Class of ’47! Please send your musings and updates to us for future columns. How do you spend your time these days? What is your favorite memory from your time at Cornell? What brings you the most satisfaction? We’d love to hear from you. ❖ Class of 1947, c/o Alexandra Bond ’12, abb83@cornell.edu. Online news form.

1948

Happy spring! We would love to hear from each of you. Have you started any new hobbies (or bad habits) lately? Do you still keep in touch with any fellow Cornellians? How do you spend your time these days? Let’s stay connected and stay in touch. Send your news to: ❖ Ray Tuttle, 65 Oyster Reef Dr., Hilton Head Island, SC 29926; email, RayTutt@aol.com. Online news form.

1949

We don’t have any news from classmates to report this issue—but we hope that will change in the future! Has your family grown? Have you read any good books lately? What kind of impact did your time at Cornell have on your life? If you have a moment, please send an email to: ❖ Class of 1949, c/o Alexandra Bond ’12, abb83@cornell.edu. Online news form.

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1950s

1950

Classmates! Here we are in the 23rd year of the 21st century. How many of you expected to ever be using a 2022 calendar, or writing that number on a check? And, allow this into your now-aging brain: you have lived 40% of your country’s history! So give thanks and celebrate with the following who have written in. And take a moment to write and tell us how things are going with you.

Paul Kirchner (Niskayuna, NY; pkirch2422@verizon.net) doesn’t work but provides work for local doctors. He celebrated a 70th wedding anniversary last October and stays occupied with caregiving and visits from family: three kids, eight grandkids, and three great-grandkids. Herbert Steinberg (Armonk, NY; mathnucl@gmail.com) reports being physically frail but stays mentally active with weekly Zoom meetings and online math and science forums. He would like to hear from classmates.

Jean Michelini Partisch Hughes (Sarasota, FL; farpart@yahoo.com) reports that last November her late husband, Rodney Russell Hughes, was interred with military honors in the Veterans National Cemetery in Sarasota. On aging, Jean optimistically reports, “I have three first cousins, two age 98 and one age 100, so I will be around for a long time!” About Sarasota she says, “There is much to do here, and we have an active Cornell alumni group. However, more people are moving here, and it is becoming quite crowded with lots of traffic.”

Sonia Pressman Fuentes (Sarasota, FL; spfuentes@comcast.net) is a role model for seniors—avoiding retirement and staying active, in her case with continued support for the National Organization for Women. She currently appears in a documentary film on Amazon Prime called My Name is Pauli Murray. The late Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray was a colleague and friend of Sonia’s at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Murray was a lawyer, writer, poet, and professor, the first female Black Episcopal priest in the US, and, along with Sonia, a co-founder of NOW. The film was shown in February at New College of Florida in Sarasota, where Sonia lives. See Sonia’s website for more information.

With a scarcity of news reports, I have been featuring bios of class officers, previously president Jim Brandt, past president Dick Pogue, and vice president Nels Schaenen. Other officers have been slow to respond, so to meet the current deadline I provide a bio of me, your class correspondent of 21 years. It’s a terse story of unexpected, delayed opportunities and a professional life that began late at age 40. A story of one who flunked chemistry but taught high school chemistry and published a high school science textbook. Of one whom, with a grade of 60 in Bonehead English, became an accomplished writer. Of one whom, at age 36, with five young kids, and having already sent two foster kids to college (one to Princeton), became a full-time doctoral student.

Boyhood during the Depression on small farm 30 miles east of Buffalo, NY. US Navy WWII. Cornell on GI Bill for BS in Agriculture. The U. of the South for master’s in science. The U. of Rochester for doctorate in science education and biology. High school teacher, 11 years. Drake U. professor of science education, 25 years; teacher education department chair, eight years. Adjunct professor, Iowa State U. and U. of Iowa. Visiting scholar/professor, Curtin U. (Perth, Australia) in 1988 and 1995.

Author of Science Meets the UFO Enigma and four other books, 23 journal articles, 27 research reviews, and 89 presentations to state, national, and international conferences. Professional lectures in Taiwan, Australia, Mexico, Israel, and Russia (dined in the Kremlin). Critiques of 28 science films (including two “NOVA” films) for the American Assn. for Advancement of Science. Scientific research: “Origins of Lake Effect Storms” (for NOAA); “Topographic Effects of Continental Glaciation”; “Palynology of Post-Glacial Swamps”; and “Base Line Characteristics of Iowa’s Lake Okoboji and Little Sioux River.”

Honors: Fulbright laureate; fellow of the Iowa Academy of Science; fellow of the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science; Distinguished Service Award from the National Assn. for Research in Science Teaching; Distinguished Achievement Award from Washington, DC, Press Assn.; New York State empire farmer; high school hall of fame citation reads “Farmer, Science Educator, Scientist, Author, World Traveler.”

Travels to all US states, all provinces of Canada, half the states of Mexico, and 32 other foreign countries on five continents. Directed Friendship Force people-to-people exchanges to France, Germany, England, Wales, and the Czech Republic. Home-hosted visitors from India, Chile, Australia, Macau, England, Russia, Tanzania, New Guinea, and others. Sixteen study visits to Pre-Columbian archeologic zones in Mexico and Central and South America.

Lectured on the science/theology interface; taught five courses for the senior college at Drake U.; and gave 15 presentations on eclectic topics to the Torch Club of Des Moines. Lifetime of skiing in Colorado and Minnesota, bicycling in Iowa and Minnesota, and sailing in Iowa and Florida. And service to community, church, Kiwanis, Torch Club, Ray Society, and Friendship Force. At age 93, continues to write a column for Cornell alumni publication and an eclectic publication for members of his retirement community and 60 others. Still active member of Torch Club and Golden K Kiwanis Club.

Currently lives in retirement home in Des Moines, IA, with wife Erma, who nurtured five kids and three foster kids. Entertains their four-generation family of 51 on a 230-acre farm retreat in Southern Iowa. ❖ Paul Joslin, 13731 Hickman Rd., #4207, Urbandale, IA 50323; email, phjoslin@aol.com. Online news form.

1951

When asked how her daily life has changed recently, Frances Goldberg Myers (fjgmyers718@gmail.com) reported, “Sadly, I now have to rely on home cooking. No restaurants, movies, plays, music—all the things that Asheville, NC, offered, in smaller doses than NYC but still fun.” She adds, “I live in a senior community and remain active on committees: strategic planning, grounds, activities. Mostly, the younger folk tell me that I am a ‘role model’ since to talk and walk at the same time seems admirable in someone who is almost 92. I know they mean to compliment, but I know the truth—luck and an inquiring mind have helped.”

About her family, Frances writes, “My son, Ken ’77, is the curator of American art at the Detroit Inst. of Art. He followed in the footsteps of his younger sister, Pamela ’78, who is the director of the Asheville Art Museum and finished the $24 million expansion of the museum during lockdown. She has, in 25 years, created the premium art museum in the southeast US. Our youngest, Nat III “Chip” ’82, DVM ’87, has a mobile practice in Pittsburgh, along with his wife, Dana Kellerman ’85, DVM ’90. My children, believing in zero population growth, have produced two grandchildren. Ken is proud of Sarah ’13, who is now a silviculturist with the US National Forest service in Black Hills National Forest in South Dakota and Wyoming. Benjamin, son of Chip, may break the Cornell pattern, but at 16, who knows?”

Frances adds, “I don’t seem to have time for anything new. It takes all day to look at the computer, read the New York Times and the Washington Post and the book for book club, cook and eat meals, remind myself I should exercise—well just a little, and a walk would be nice—and talk on the phone, over email, and via Zoom.” What brings Frances the most satisfaction? “Getting up in the morning, walking, and seeing the beauty of the sky and trees and mountains and reflecting on my life, the joys and sorrows. I am grateful for the life I had.” Wonderful to hear from you, Frances! I hope you all follow her example and send your news and letters to: ❖ Brad Bond, email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12, abb83@cornell.edu. Online news form.

1952

As I write, we are six months from our 70th Reunion, June 9–12, 2022. This column’s first words go to our Reunion co-chairs, Tom Cashel, LLB ’56, and Cappy Heyl Innes. First Tom: “When Cappy and I were at our 65th Reunion and conscripted by our dedicated classmate Paul Blanchard to be Reunion co-chairs for the 70th Reunion of the Class of 1952, I felt it a bit more than an act of hubris to think I could reach 92 and complete the task. Yet here we are, five years on and facing the threshold of our 70th in June. We have been working to offer a memorable Reunion: Rik Clark is enthusiastically helping to promote attendance and hoping to break the attendance record for a 70th Reunion now held by the Class of 1937; Cornell’s “unofficial historian” Corey Earle ’07 will lead our class event, tracing the changes in Cornell over these 70 years, focusing on and moderating discussion of the generational differences we have all experienced; and the Statler will be a convenient venue as our headquarters. All we need are those classmates who can do so to come together and share in the joy of memories of the place and friends that were so much one of the best parts of their lives. CU in ’22!” Now Cappy: “Registration for our 70th Reunion will begin in March or early April when Alumni Affairs will send registration forms via ground mail. Watch your mail! If you have questions, please call our Alumni Affairs rep, Brenda Canniff, at (607) 255-1916.”

And now, thanks to the University’s sending out that plea for news to all our classmates, we have news to share. Alan Sokolski (Silver Spring, MD; acsokolski@verizon.net) wrote, “For the first time since COVID arrived, accompanied by other members of my family, I returned to Ithaca in mid-November. We went to see granddaughter Samantha Noland ’21 perform in the fall play, where she was the lead. When she graduates the week before Christmas, I will watch the ceremony that will be streamed. This past summer she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.” Alan has been taking Osher/Johns Hopkins courses for nearly 30 weeks a year, including the summer months. “I enjoy courses taught by highly knowledgeable presenters via Zoom. The majority are art and music, which I greatly enjoy and which I never studied before. This term: Giacomo Puccini/Richard Strauss, Gustav Klimt, the Divine Comedy, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and Shakespeare’s legacy.”

Asked how his daily life has changed recently, Charles Soumas (Cotuit, MA; cotuitchas@comcast.net) replied, “At 93, every new day is a blessing.” He has been writing short stories, 15 so far, which he hopes to self-publish. Subjects include murder, humor, sci-fi, love, terror, and so forth. He would love to send copies of any to fellow Cornellians. What else has been happening? “My 14-year-old grandson has developed an application for Google that has resulted in over 2 million hits and downloads from all over the world.” What brings Charles the most satisfaction these days? “My wife of 58 years, my family, and my friends.” Harriette Scannell Morgan (morgmorgmorg@aol.com), asked how her daily life has changed recently, writes, “The bones do not work as well, so I use a rollator in our retirement center. Socializing has been limited since COVID made its ugly appearance.” What has she been doing? “I am the archivist for our community and am an avid reader on my Kindle. I also love playing the TriPeaks game on the computer, as it reminds me of my favorite place, the Grand Teton mountain range.” What else is going on with your life or family? “Our grandson and two sons love to travel. They will be glad when they can do so again.” The most satisfaction? “Being able to get out of bed in the morning.”

David Greenwood (Pompton Plains, NJ; greenwood.david2@gmail.com) writes, “There has been some loosening of COVID restrictions at Cedar Crest, the retirement community where I live. Dining rooms are functional, and masks are not required except in groups of more than 30. I edit our quarterly magazine, sing in our singers and chorale groups, write short plays in our playwriting workshop, perform with the players, take part in our Zen Buddhist sangha, and attend exercise classes.” What brings David the most satisfaction these days? “Being alive and functioning at the age of 90.” Lewis Ward-Baker (patnlew@rochester.rr.com) writes, “Like all of those in our classmates’ vulnerable age range, there has been the constant questioning of how much exposure to our usually active lives we should prudently curtail to avoid infection—but I can’t give up music, which has always been part of my search for beauty in the world. I continue to sing with several groups, large and small. The big change is to sing with masks on.” Lewis adds, “I’ve been working on a play—my first major writing attempt since term papers on the Hill. My writing partner and I are seeking the rights to the original stories by I.B. Singer, on which our effort is based—and it’s not easy!” What else? “We’re eagerly anticipating an encore of last year’s holiday celebration that honors our four-generation family’s many birthdays and an anniversary that all fall during November, December, and January.” The most satisfaction these days? “Sharing these rich years with my wonderful wife, making music, and trying to live out my motto: ‘Seek beauty and be kind.’”

Now then, with all your help, I have reached my 900-word limit. I still have news from Sue Youker Schlaepfer, Rik Clark, and Jim Ling. They will be first next time, but there is room for more. Write! A quick note to Het: My rollator is purple; what color is yours? ❖ Joan Boffa Gaul, joangaul@mac.com. Online news form.

1953

I am writing this in early December and wish you holiday greetings even though you won’t see this article until spring.

Julian Aroesty (jma38@cornell.edu) reports, “For years, I listened to my elderly patients tell me that they are moving near their grandchildren, since so many of their friends have also moved, died, or been confined to assisted living. Now I am in the same position, having moved to Scituate, MA, three miles from Hayden, 4, and Clair, 2, both of whom spend every Wednesday at our home and visit several times in between. It is a joy.” Julian consults for a Harvard medical insurer and for Coverys, a national malpractice insurer. He also does second-opinion consultations for Teladoc International, mostly in Europe, India, and Asia. He is cycling regularly for a couple of thousand miles each winter in Florida, and also is rereading the classics (starting with War and Peace for the tenth time as recommended by V. Nabokov, so that one could enjoy the craft of the writing separate from the story itself). This September, Julian’s niece matriculated at Cornell—as did two of his four kids, but none of his grandkids (four chose not to apply and three are not yet college age). What brings him the most satisfaction now is his family and grandchildren. He says, “Wealth, prestige, and profession all pale in comparison to the joy of interacting with our youngest two, who are as delighted to be with us as we are with them.”

Jack Brophy (johnbrophy@aol.com) and Jack Allen, PhD ’66 (jwallen@msu.edu) have been close friends since 1937, when they were classmates in second grade in Pelham, NY. Fate has intertwined their experiences. Both were accepted at Cornell, unaware that the other had applied. They were roommates freshman year and joined Sigma Phi. Jack Brophy recalls their unexpected meetings while in the service: “Jack Allen entered the Marines in ’53, but I was in a five-year ME course and joined the Navy in ’54. Freshman year, we hitchhiked weekly to the Navy Reserve in Ithaca. Then came Korea, and they began activating men from the Reserves. That summer, I was accepted into the NROTC and two weeks later received orders from the Reserves to report to Bainbridge, MD, as a seaman recruit. The NROTC prevailed. I have two Navy discharges. I land on my feet a lot. Jack was not called up and went to OCS for the Marines. We met up again when I was stationed in Baltimore and Jack was at Camp Lejeune, NC. Then I went to San Diego, and he was sent to Camp Pendleton, CA, just above San Diego, then to Korea, then to Camp McGill in Japan near Yokosuka Navy Base at the same time that my LSD-8 was sent to Yokosuka, where we met again. We were both on an amphibious exercise off of Japan, where we ended up being two of just 18 people in a meeting of the Marine Platoon Leaders and Navy Communications! We later attended a Cornell alumni meeting in Tokyo, where Jack met Linda Cone ’58 (Hotel), his future wife, who was then a management intern at the iconic Imperial Hotel. We then both came back to California, where we spent Thanksgiving at my cousin’s in L.A. This must be a record number of coincidences!”

From his home in North Carolina, Bob Neff, JD ’56 (princetoneff@aol.com) describes his ongoing autobiography. “A few years ago, some shirttail relatives suggested I author an autobiography—just for family consumption. I titled the piece ‘Thirty Thousand Sunsets’ and calculated that it would carry me to my mid-80s, by which time I’d be fully cooked. This morning, I counted and voila! I’m coming up on 35,000 sunsets!” Bob reminds us, “An American’s life expectancy in the year most of us were born was age 59! I hope all readers are still fully involved in the overtime we are enjoying. Aren’t we all lucky to be seeing and doing so much.”

Gerry Grady (gradygerry@comcast.net) writes that he is very happy keeping in touch with Elliot Cattarulla, Chuck Berlinghof, Jack Brophy, Vinnie Giarrusso, Dick Hayes, Fletcher Hock, Bruce Johnson, MBA ’54, Louie Pradt, and Bob Weber. He reports that Porter Stone has moved back to Syracuse. Gerry has taken up genealogy and now has 350,000 names in his database! Queen Elizabeth, Lady Gaga, Obama, JFK, U.S. Grant, Amelia Earhart, Clint Eastwood, Frederic Remington, Tyrone Power, Elizabeth Taylor, Peter Plamondon, Chuck Rolles ’56, Ezra Cornell, etc. All relatives! Sounds like Gerry. Please keep your messages coming. ❖ John Nixon, nixn1@hotmail.com; Jack Allen, jwallen@msu.edu; Ed Gibson, edwincosgibson@gmail.com; Caroline Mulford Owens, 53news.cornell@gmail.com. Online news form.

1954

In the November/December Class Notes, we wrote about three distinguished classmates. As we submitted our column, we received word that one of them, Steven Weinberg, died on July 23. Perhaps you read the full-page obituary in the New York Times on July 25.

Since then, I have communicated a bit with his wife, Louise Goldwasser Weinberg (LWeinberg@law.utexas.edu). She writes, “He had become the world’s greatest living physicist. There are lots of Nobel laureates, but he was also a lifetime leader in his field and in cosmology as well. You can find endless affection for him among his colleagues if you type ‘Steven Weinberg’ into YouTube’s search bar.” They have a daughter, Elizabeth.

YouTube also presents a wealth of information about Louise’s career. After earning two degrees from Harvard Law, she developed expertise in the fields of constitutional law, federal courts, conflict of laws, and legal theory and jurisprudence. She writes that what earned her the chair in law at the U. of Texas’s law school was “my Federal Courts casebook. Although women’s works were sparse of adoption back in 1994, I was honored to be told it was ‘one of the great casebooks.’ My chief interest, though, was in the conflict of laws, an unpopular area in which my articles did make a few contributions to theory. Two years after I came to Texas, Steven decided to join me here in Austin.” Louise adds, “Though I’m now mourning Steve and sheltering at home, I have Zoom meetings with my book group and my poetry group. Among my closest friends are politicians, judges, journalists, financiers, theater directors, and authors.” She continues to enjoy a rich life.

An intriguing anecdote from Louise concerns three classmates, all of whom were female, Jewish, and destined for law. “Once, in a dorm room full of coeds, somebody asked Ruthie Bader Ginsburg what she wanted to become, and she said she wanted to be a lawyer. I remember laughing and saying, ‘Why?’ I couldn’t imagine such an ambition. My father had been a workaday lawyer in a small practice in a dusty office and I saw nothing in it. Years later I was inspired by the Warren Court.” The third coed from that conversation who became a noted lawyer is Judith Weintraub Younger, the first woman dean of a law school in the US. In the early 1970s, after Fred Wood, already a prominent Episcopal minister and class leader, had died, in his memory our class sponsored a forum with Cornell United Religious Work. It was in the early days of the feminist movement. Those planning the event asked the speakers’ agency in New York for a provocative speaker. Completely by serendipity they chose Judith, whose topic was “The Law is a Male Chauvinist Pig.” She gave a rousing talk with marvelous humor, and we all survived!

We have heard from Lawrence Keeley (lwkeeley@juno.com) who lives in the Dallas area. He studied in CALS (what we knew as the Ag school) and remembers that Prof. George Trimberger, GR ’45–46, exerted a strong influence on him; he was an expert in dairy cattle and taught cattle judging as well. Lawrence had a dairy farm, was a county agricultural agent, established an agri-business, and recruited for agri-business. He and his late wife have six children.

When folks like Louise and Lawrence share news or memories, we can present this column. We look forward to hearing from more of you. You may fill out and submit an online news form here, or you may email either of us directly at the addresses below. And, as always, you may read more at our class website, long and well maintained by Jan Jakes Kunz. ❖ Ruth Carpenter Bailey, rcbhtb@gmail.com; Bill Waters, billwaters@optonline.net.

1955

Malcolm Whyte has been “writing articles and a book on Edward Gorey.” He also has been “happily surviving” COVID-19. He writes, “Karen and I and our teacher daughter got our vaccinations.” Malcolm is getting a lot of satisfaction from the fact that his wife, children, and some grandchildren are close by, thanks to Zoom.” His biggest takeaway from the pandemic is “family and friends’ visits and hugs.” Malcolm included his e-mail address (wordplay@worldpassage.net) and we hope others will do the same. Remember, your friends want to know your news—and this is such an easy way to keep up.

Class president Bill Doerler and his wife, Pat, are “returning to Singer Island in Florida after a one-year COVID hiatus.” Bill is starting off the new year with prospective plans for Class of ’55 lunches, which he will be co-hosting with Ron Ganeles. One get-together will be on Singer Island and another in Boynton Beach. A great way to catch up with old friends. ❖ Nancy Savage Petrie, 85 Brook St., Noank, CT 06340; e-mail, nancysavagepetrie@yahoo.com. Online news form.

1956

Books from two California classmates: James Larrimore (Del Mar, CA) has a new book regarding a war correspondent of WWI. For more information, contact him at jameslarrimore11@gmail.com. Lael Jackson (Oceanside, CA) published her book, Jump at the Chance!, a memoir with lots of Cornell stories.

Sad news: Maria Radoslovich Cox (Ponte Vedra Beach, FL) passed away in October. Maria was a most successful interior designer. A contribution for the Johnson Art Museum could be considered in her name by her Cornell friends. ❖ Phyllis Bosworth, phylboz@aol.com. Online news form.

1957

Judy Richter Levy, LLB ’59, once again organized a class dinner in NYC prior to the biennial Cornell-Boston U. hockey game at Madison Square Garden. In attendance, besides Judy, were Ron and Prudence Dunbar, John Sarna, Emita Brady Hill, and Christine Zeller Lippman. Bob Boffa had hoped to be there, but a long drive and impending knee surgery intervened. Adult beverages were served, and the discussion turned to Tripod (cut me off, that dog only has three legs). To cap things off, the Big Red won a spirited game.

I regret to report that Bill Schumacher, PhD ’64, passed away in August of last year. He is remembered as the number-five oar in the “Engine Room” of the 1957 crew, undefeated in our senior year and winners of the Henley Regatta. Bill was so much more than that, having taught engineering in Argentina with the Peace Corps (meeting his wife, Amelia, in the process) and spending time at Stanford Research Inst. International. He got the nickname “Shifty” for his quirky moves on the dance floor; Bill claimed his nickname stemmed from his prowess on the basketball court. ❖ John Seiler, suitcase2@aol.com. Online news form.

1958

Writing in late 2021, we all wonder where the pandemic is going with new variants popping up as time moves on. Classmates are active, nevertheless, and we have some reports to pass on in this continued digital method of communication. Your co-correspondent has no firm news on the hard copy issuance of same, since nothing new has come from the University beyond, “It’s coming in 2022.”

As we go to press, we have just learned of our loss of Liz Fuchs Fillo last November. Liz had been so pleased in her autumn note for this column that her hip revision of last spring would lead to a more mobile life after her years of pain following a skiing accident in 2012. She had been active on various boards, writing her memoirs, gardening, and, most important to her, singing. As she wrote then, “I’m working on a one-woman show called These Are a Few of My Favorite Sings, songs I’ve performed going back to my Cornell days up to the last ten years or so. How lucky we are to have each other, great friends, a cozy home (still in Princeton, with spouse Chris Coucill), and activities that bring us joy and stimulation.” We will miss Liz, her Sherwoods’ singing, and her bright smile and fine humor whenever we gather on campus, and we extend our sympathy to her husband, Chris, to Steve Fillo ’59, and to Liz’s children and grandchildren.

Allan Hoffman published a new book in February 2019 as an open access book, free to download (as full book or individual chapters) at this website. The book is titled Water, Energy, and Environment, and Allan brings all three components together as he writes to conserve and protect our future. Further conversation can be had with Allan at arh0531@gmail.com. Another of our many writers, Holocaust scholar Arthur Shostak (arthurshostak@gmail.com), mentions his 34th book since 1961, this one titled Stealth Altruism: Forbidden Care as Jewish Resistance in the Holocaust. He and Lynn have lived in California since 2006 and now reside on “an island of 80,000 happy people, Alameda Island.” Arthur, “a revisionist,” he says, gets most satisfaction these days from writing about the Holocaust and also enjoying his five grandchildren.

Muriel King Taylor, MD ’62, sends an update from last year that she is now in a good medication and rehab program for TB, saying that getting that disease “is rare in my neck of the woods (Washington State), so I’ve appreciated the excellent care, follow up, and information provided by the Pierce County Health Dept. I am about halfway through my nine months of prescribed medication and expect to be cured of TB but probably not my shortness of breath. I have not ever been infectious (for which I am grateful), but COVID, while complicating life for everyone, has fit in well with staying at home and reducing my activities. So life continues, just on a smaller scale, and I find myself grateful for all. Best wishes to all 1958 Cornellians.” We wish you well, Muriel, in your continuing recovery. Louis Bucciarelli, MS ’60 (llbjr@mit.edu) has a new great-granddaughter, Ada, who resides in Palo Alto, far from his home in Belmont, MA. He reports that all family are healthy and employed.

Louesa Merrill Gillespie (louesa@outlook.com) keeps a good eye on the “strong family business, Beachmere Inn,” she writes, glad to see business returning last spring in Ogunquit, ME. Louesa says, “I’m living with the seasons, enjoying my garden of 55 years, friends, and family visits, learning Mahjong, and staying active in church and local nonprofits.” From a bit further south, we learn that Martin Steinberg still works from home in Naples, FL, connecting with Boston U. med school and consulting for biotech as “part of the team that has developed a possible cure for sickle cell disease and thalassemia, a runner-up (after COVID vaccines) for ‘science breakthrough of 2020.’” Although he hasn’t seen his grandchildren since 2019, he continues to find satisfaction in his ability to work. He adds, “If you’re well situated, survival is easy; otherwise, good luck.”

Sheila Siegel Friedman (sheilalf@sbcglobal.net) says, “I have a sharpened view of the world having read Dark Money, as well as Code Blue about medical service, along with Finnegans Wake with an international Zoom group.” Sheila adds an interesting note that “the Arecibo Observatory situation has impacted the life of my son, Jonathan ’84, whose home overlooks the space left by the collapsed disk.” That loss is sad, one must say, after its amazing observations over the decades past, and Cornell was a major part of it all.

Robert Hendricks, PhD ’64 (rwhendricks37@icloud.com) writes, “I spend most of my time classifying and cataloging my photos—some 25,000 images—creating slide shows, note cards, and calendars of our travels, and giving lectures on our garden travels to Europe.” Robert and Delores are very happy in their retirement home since 2018, Brooksby Village in Peabody, MA, where Robert has had an “outstanding reception” of his series of TV shows, “the production of seven resident gardeners and photographers in the style of a quiz show for residents to identify flowers and wild animals.” His biggest takeaway from the pandemic is this: “The group of anti-everything, which rejects science and now the vaccines, is beyond my comprehension.” Al Podell feels similarly in both actions: he also put on a show, this one a party for 240 friends last fall in NYC, of selected pictures from his 25,000 images of travels, and, as Robert would be pleased to know, not one case of COVID has shown up from that gathering. Good news. For now, cheers to all; keep well. ❖ Dick Haggard, richardhaggard11@gmail.com; Janet Arps Jarvie, janjarvie@gmail.com. Online news form.

1959

The new normal. As I write this in mid-December, Cornell has canceled University events and moved all final exams online due to an increase in COVID-19 cases. All of us seem to be living in a hybrid world, exemplified by Alan Newhouse’s (arnewhouse@gmail.com) recent Irish music session among a group of five live and two Zoomer musicians.

“To say that the last 22 months have been challenging would be an understatement,” writes Harry Petchesky (Harry@hjpesq.com), of counsel with LePatner & Assocs. in NYC. “While the times have been challenging, they have also been very busy, interesting, and unique in that we have adapted to working remotely with Teams arguments of a successful Appellate Division appeal, a protracted settlement negotiation of a lawsuit pending since 2013, Zoom meetings with clients and friends, and communication by email, cell phone, and landlines becoming the norm. Barry LaPatner has decided to close our office and work remotely. I, in turn, will be moving into an office, hopefully by year’s end.” In addition to his professional activities, Harry is a life member of the Cornell Council with service from 1980. When not in the city, he and his wife, Jill, relax in their country home in Upstate New York. They spent a December evening with Nelson Joyner and his wife, seeing an All-Australian cabaret featuring Harry’s nephew Benjamin McHugh, who has appeared in Broadway musicals, most prominently in one of the lead roles in Mamma Mia. Harry also reports that he and his Tau Delta Phi classmates have had two Zoom meetings and are planning their third.

Harry noted, too, that he and Ellie Applewhaite were on a Zoom call on December 15 as part of the committee for their 60th Columbia Law School reunion this coming June. The following evening, I had the pleasure of dining with Ellie, Linda Rogers Cohen, and Marian Fay Levitt at the Cornell Club–New York. Among our Cornell-oriented topics of discussion was the ’59 class scholarship, which as of June 30, 2021 had a book value of $387,589 and a market value of $486,455. Later in the year, class officers agreed to transfer $75,000 from our class treasury to the scholarship fund. “This left the class treasury with a balance of over $54,000, which is considered adequate for ongoing expenses and support of future Reunions,” reported class treasurer Bill Kingston. “Our plan is to reassess the situation after our 65th Reunion in 2024 and determine appropriate next steps.” Note that the amount available for scholarship awards is determined by the value of the fund and the rate of payout from the endowment. A student is selected by Cornell’s Office of Financial Aid and Student Employment to receive an award. Once that student’s financial need is met, if there are funds remaining in the payout, a second student is selected, and so on.

“What has been your biggest takeaway from the pandemic?” asked the 2021 Share Your News form. “Be patient and enjoy the small pleasures unnoticed before,” wrote Elise Schmahlfeldt Hall (ehall20435@gmail.com). “My life took a very sad and unexpected change on March 10, 2020, when Allan, my husband of 65 years, passed away. Two weeks later, our independent living retirement community in Fort Myers, FL, went into COVID-19 mode, with restricted visitors until spring 2021, after all residents had been vaccinated.” Elise enjoys playing bridge, Mahjong, and Samba with fellow residents, and is happy to have her son and daughter living nearby.

Carol Vieth Mead (newfmom01@gmail.com)—the email address reflects the fact that she owned Newfoundland dogs for 40 years—saw her daughter, Betsy Mead Noel ’86, for the first time in 19 months when they took a Natural Habitat Adventures/World Wildlife Fund trip to Glacier National Park. There were only eight people in the group, including the guide. Carol participated in several short hikes, “so I can honestly say I went hiking in the park!” On longer hikes, Carol remained behind, with bear spray she fortunately did not need. “The scenery was spectacular, though some days it was somewhat masked by smoke coming from fires in Oregon. Those fires impacted our flights home, since available fuel was being used for fire-fighting planes. I managed to return to Los Angeles the day I was supposed to, but Betsy had to spend a night in Kalispell, waiting for sufficient fuel to get her back to New York.” Carol continues to take Omnilore classes at the Osher Lifelong Learning Inst. at California State U. “Omnilore offers three terms of classes with about 25 choices each term,” she explains. “I opt to take just one course each term. As part of each course, one is required to do a 45-minute oral/PowerPoint presentation on something connected with the course topic. In one class, I spoke of aviators who were authors, focusing on Lindbergh and Saint-Exupéry. In another, I presented information on the construction of the Statue of Liberty. Most recently, in a class based on the book The Alchemy of Us, I spoke about two things that are now obsolete but that greatly influenced our world: the teletypewriter and the laying in 1963 of the transatlantic cable. My father was the principal liaison between Bell Labs and the Teletype Corp., so I thoroughly enjoyed looking through many of his papers and notes.”

Reminders: Previous class columns can be found at the Cornellians Class Notes archives. And you can 24/7/365 email your latest news to me directly. ❖ Jenny Tesar, jet24@cornell.edu. Online news form.

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1960s

1960

Reporting from North Falmouth, MA, in November, Leonard Johnson says, “We find it hard to believe that Patty and I have lived here on Cape Cod for over 40 years. On top of that, last June we celebrated our 60th wedding anniversary. We are in pretty good shape, especially now that Patty is almost fully recovered from the removal of a cancer tumor; I know that she is better because she is now back on her bike. Cycling continues to be our primary form of physical activity, and we will both ride over 2,000 miles this year. Alas, I am now on an e-bike. I manage to spend a couple of weeks every year fishing in Montana with friends I have known for many years. I’m also still heavily engaged in land conservation on the Cape, on the board of our land trust in Falmouth and president of a consortium of land preservation organizations across the Cape. The other evening, when I was watching a gorgeous sunset, I was reminded of seeing the sun set over West Hill as I walked down the Library Slope to Llenroc. I still know the words to ‘The Evening Song’!”

Another cycling devotee, one notable for his past participation in an annual race across Iowa, is Peter Rodgers, BEE ’62 (pete@watkinsrodgers.com). He writes, “Cycling, golfing, and yard work helped me get through COVID. In addition to trying to play golf three times per week and cycle three times per week, I am responsible for maintaining three lakes, two dams, and three pavilions in our community. My motto is ‘Use it or lose it,’ which got me over 4,600 miles on my bike last year.” Answering the question about what brings him the most satisfaction, he says, “Watching our family continue to develop, being outdoors, and spending quality time with my wonderful wife, Barbara, and our two dogs. Our four grandkids are terrific young adults.”

Nancy Hoeft Eales sent word that she and Dick ’58 “haven’t cut travel much despite COVID, having gone to both Seattle and Tucson earlier this year. We also spent Thanksgiving in Galveston with our son, Alex, who lives in Alvin, TX, and our daughter, Tracy, who came from Seattle to join us for the weekend. We did the usual Eales thing, birding at local wildlife refuges, then ended the visit at Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts enjoying an exhibition of French Impressionist painters on loan from Boston. Last week we went to New York to meet the late Marilyn Miller Roche’s husband, D’Arcy; the Roches were our closest friends during our years in New York. It’s great to see old friends. I’m also in touch with Frank Earl, my earliest childhood friend, who still lives in Slidell, LA, and is doing well.”

Peter Vail (Englewood, FL) says he is “still involved with working,” which presumably means he is continuing to raise pedigreed dairy cattle and oversee his fertilizer business, CaroVail. He is also pleased to report that his granddaughter was married in fall 2019. Ron Pereira (ronpereira07@gmail.com) reports from Monroe, NC, how his life has changed: “I’m spending more time reading books and writing, less time traveling. I finished my second book, Thoughts on Thinking, and am making notes for the next one. I’m continuing my liberal arts education that I started at Cornell by reading lots of books, exploring previously unread authors all the time.” He notes proudly, “I now have eight grandchildren, five of them nearby in North and South Carolina, one in Virginia, and two in Montana.” Ron hopes “to go fishing soon on my oldest boy’s tuna-fishing boat off Oregon Inlet in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.”

Returning from a fall trip to the California Bay Area, Dan Martin ’58 was good enough to pass along news about classmates of ours that he visited. He spent four nights in Los Altos Hills with Jim, BME ’62, MBA ’63, and Becky Quinn Morgan, who had recently returned from a trip East that began in Ithaca, where they spent time on Cornell business. They next went to Vermont to visit Becky’s brothers and then to the Washington, DC, area, for stops at Monticello and the Greenbrier before returning home. “Both are well and in good spirits,” says Dan, though Becky is still recovering from hip replacement surgery. Dan also took a ferry ride from San Francisco to see Connie Reed Goldsmith and her husband, Jim ’56, in Mill Valley, a charming village in Marin County, where he enjoyed his time with them.

Emil Cipolla, MBA ’63 (etcipolla@gmail.com) sent the sad news from Portsmouth, RI, that his wife, Barbara, died in September 2019 after a long illness. Emil, after early years in the military and a long career at IBM, is now a volunteer member of Portsmouth’s Economic Development Committee and serves as the legislative chair of the Rhode Island chapter of the Military Officers Assn. of America. He has two adult children, both of whom have PhDs in Engineering: Jeffrey, PhD ’92, who has a senior position at Raytheon, and Kimberly, winner of a Meritorious Civilian Service award from the Dept. of the Navy, who recently retired from the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport. Please send your news directly to me or fill out an online news form. ❖ Judy Bryant Wittenberg, jw275@cornell.edu.

1961

Just a few lines from classmates to report this time. We are wishing you all well in 2022. Take care, you all.

From Diane Baillet Meakem: “My news is that I now have FOUR grandchildren who are undergraduates at Cornell! Two are the son and daughter of Chip ’93 and Andrea Freedman Meakem ’93, and two are the daughter and son of Glen and Diane Boone Meakem of Sewickley, PA. Two other grands are at Harvard and Tufts, seven younger grands are in grades K–10, and three have already graduated from college. We are a busy family! Stay well. Sure hope we make it for a Reunion in 2026!”

Donald Trice, BS ’63 (dontrice39@gmail.com) writes, “We just spent a fun week at Hilton Head Island with Kappa Sigma alumni John Foster, Harry Morgan ’63, BME ’64, and Jim Mitchell ’63, and our spouses. Frank Voelker ’62 was to come, but his wife broke her hip and is still recuperating. This group gets together about every two to three years. The last get-together was in Boothbay Harbor, ME, in summer 2019. We have had several events over the years including a seven-day trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in 1989.”

Rosanna Romanelli Frank (rrfrank@optonline.net) reports, “Husband Marshall and I have gotten all our vaccination shots and are looking forward to attending campus events when they are once again in full swing. Meanwhile, we plan to make an extended visit to London to catch up on all the museum exhibits and theater before returning for Thanksgiving with family.”

We have heard from Ruth Schimel (ruth@ruthschimel.com), who is “enjoying meeting new, varied people, making progress with my work, and updating unending self-maintenance. Grateful to be in my related fourth, fifth, and sixth careers concurrently to use this precious time well. I’m a career and life management consultant, author, and manager of an atypical foundation. Just published my seventh book, Happiness and Joy in Work: Preparing for Your Future. As far as I know, it’s the only book designed and customized for each reader to become an expert in their current and future work, however defined. The first chapter is available for free. Paradoxically, the COVID constraints have brought my dispersed family closer with regular communication and sharing as well as visits. Grateful for the new layers of intimacy with the generations who bring meaning and joy to me and others.”

Your class correspondent Susan Williams Stevens and husband Bill live in Reno and are planning a two-week spree in Hawaii, to attend Bill’s youngest daughter’s wedding on Oahu. We will stay in a cottage on the beach in Kauai before braving Honolulu, weather reports notwithstanding. This was our second trip in 2021, having gone East after grandson’s high school graduation (he’s now in engineering at UMD). We took the train again; I do not recommend it for people our age. Managed to drive through upper New York State, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, enjoying being East and all the history that goes with it. Please remember to let Doug Fuss or me know what is going on in your lives! ❖ Susan Williams Stevens, sastevens61@gmail.com; Doug Fuss, dougout@attglobal.net. Online news form.

1962

So many of our classmates have sent us their news and memories of our time on the Hill that we have gotten somewhat behind; some of these items date back to late winter/early spring 2021, and we are sorry for the delay. However, we do want to be sure that all voices are heard! One additional caveat: most of these entries had to be transcribed from handwritten notes. Apologies for any errors!

Houston Stokes (hhstokes@gmail.com) writes: “I have been reading Dereliction of Duty by H.R. McMaster about the reasons for the Vietnam War disaster. I did not realize what was going on behind the mask of the government during that period. We have been in our Sawyer, MI, house since March 2020, when we escaped Chicago trying to avoid COVID-19. Diana and I got our first Pfizer shot on January 16 and celebrated Biden being our new president on January 20 with a tenderloin dinner for supper. We are horrified at the large number of people who have died of COVID, and the widespread economic suffering of many of the people in our country. We are walking and reading, and I am reviewing economic articles as an editor of an economic journal. We enjoy seeing our four grandkids on FaceTime but miss hugging them in person. We look forward to our Reunion.”

Willa Radin Swiller (wswiller@gmail.com) writes, “I have had a job working for the Democratic Party in NYS as a district leader for more than half of my life.” Herbert Mathewson, MD ’66 (hubmathewson@comcast.net) writes, “I enjoy writing an evidence-based bi-weekly blog of medical fun facts: hubslist.org. I would love feedback from my Cornell classmates.”

Linda Kopp Thomas (lkthom@aol.com) writes, “Here’s a nice memory from my years at Cornell: I loved the outdoor hikes with my Geology 101 class as we explored the Ice Age history of the campus. I remember hiking for miles up some stream with Annette Gates Shimer as we did our best to complete our assignment to map the buried Interglacial Gorge. Of course it was raining, but my yellow slicker held out. When we finished, we went to Noyes Lodge to warm up. I took off the slicker and found I was completely soaked anyway, from condensation. It was a great day!” Linda adds, “Music is a saving grace for us. I sang in a senior choir and stepped in as director when the director moved away. For three years I had a blast with the BearTones (of Bear Canyon Senior Center). We entertained at various senior retirement places and rehabs, including memory care places. Some residents who don’t speak still sing every word of every song. It’s so good for us! New Mexico is just beginning to open up again, and we may be able to sing again in August.”

Victor Ericson (vericson@aol.com) writes, “The April 23, 2021 issue of the Bainbridge Island Review features an article highlighting the major role Charles Schmid and his wife, Linda, have played over the past 50 years in advocating for the environment of the island. In addition to being recognized by the City Council with a special day on June 18—also their anniversary—the Schmids were earlier featured in a book, In Praise of Island Stewards (Association of Bainbridge Communities, 2002), for their work in securing Superfund status for a former creosote plant on Eagle Harbor, where the Seattle/Bainbridge ferry docks. Charles also last year received the Governor’s Award for his significant environmental efforts over many decades. In the early 1990s, the Schmids were leaders in a campaign to form the City of Bainbridge Island, resulting in more local control of land use and development. Since our daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter are now residents, I have observed many of the quality-of-life benefits that have occurred because of municipal governance. In closing, I’m sure you will join me in congratulating the Schmids for this well-deserved recognition. I think we can also agree that Charles has earned our appreciation as one of the best men afloat.”

Stephen Ploscowe, LLB ’65 (sploscowe@foxrothschild.com) writes, “Wendie (Malkin) ’65 and I are staying healthy and trying to stay busy. I am becoming a labor arbitrator, playing golf, and reading lots of novels. We are retired and spending the winter at our home in Boca Raton, FL. Our granddaughter is at Cornell—she is a third-generation Cornellian.”

From David Hill (dhh11@cornell.edu): “Judith and I live in Basking Ridge, NJ. I turned 80 in February and look forward to turning 100 in 2041. I sing tenor in a German chorus and bass in the church choir. We enjoy having our son, daughter-in-law, and three granddaughters living two miles away, and continue to enjoy the pleasures of friends and family.”

This from Frances Denn Gallogly (tangogal@gmail.com): “Vincent and I split our time between Fort Pierce, FL, and Bridgeport, CT. We have three children living in Louisiana and Brooklyn and two grandchildren in Louisiana. I enjoy photography, walking, reading, shooting sporting clays with friends, and gardening. Our biggest takeaway from the pandemic is the great pleasure we derive from enjoying the beauty of nature and wildlife.”

Robert Lieberman, MS ’65, lives in Ithaca with his spouse, Gunilla. Robert writes, “Usually I’m moving around the planet working on a new film or attending screenings of my films. Obviously, I’m not doing that now. I’m burning less jet fuel and feeling less guilty! Although I’m still a senior lecturer in Physics and a faculty fellow at Cornell, I continue to shift my focus toward making films and writing novels. (The business card he attached lists seven of each!) My biggest takeaway from the pandemic is how intimately the entire world is connected—also, how much unnecessary travel had been taking place before the pandemic and how we should reevaluate what we are inflicting on this fragile planet we call home.” When he wrote, Robert was in the process of preparing for a Cornell alumni Zoom event. Titled “Lights, Cameras, Cornell!,” the webinar discussed the independent film business and was done in conjunction with the screening of Robert’s new film, Echoes of the Empire: Beyond Genghis Khan.

Don Boose (boosed@pa.net) writes, “Lil and I live in Carlisle, PA. I retired from my 29-year teaching career at the US Army War College, following a 30-year career as an Army officer, in summer 2019. I currently have no writing, research, or teaching projects underway, but I audit classes at nearby Dickinson College and take advantage of virtual concerts, theater, films, and lectures. Lil and I look forward to resuming those activities in person. I spend time walking, enjoying music, opera, theater, and informative lectures online, and staying in touch with friends, family, and colleagues. My pandemic takeaway is the realization that Lil and I can get along fine so long as we have each other.”

Lori Krieger Yellen (lkyellen@gmail.com) writes, “Since Rick ’60 passed away, I moved from Buffalo, NY, to Manhattan. I’d be happy to hear from old friends in the city. For the last 28 years, I have been actively involved in stock market investing. I have seven grandchildren and like to dance tango.”

Paul (pschreiber33@gmail.com) and Meri Klorman Schreiber ’65 live in North Easton, MA. They have three sons and eight grandchildren living in New Jersey, whom they miss seeing. Paul does part-time medical marijuana assessments.

Now that 2022 is upon us, and we can make reservations for our 60th Reunion, please consider joining us. Consider, too, sending in your favorite memories to share in future columns! Many thanks to Judy Prenske Rich for her excellent editing, formatting, and detective work to fact-check this column. ❖ Evelyn Eskin, evelyneskin@mac.com. Online news form.

1963

Happy New Year to all. Hopefully many more of you are reading this through the online publication Cornellians. Eventually, there will be some kind of printed version of the Class Notes/Cornellians, but there is not at this time.

Many of the classmates referred to in this column sent me their information in late spring 2021, so there are a lot of references to the pandemic. At the time of this writing in late 2021, the pandemic has not gone away but vaccinations and boosters have made things a bit safer.

Ed Butler, MS ’65, writes that he and Nancy (Taylor) ’64 “are fine, got vaccinated last winter, and enjoyed using our place in Ocean City, NJ, a lot this summer. Last year during the pandemic and before vaccines, our daughter and family, who live in Hoboken, moved to our place in Ocean City from mid-March to mid-September, so we did not get there as much. We are still being careful about COVID.”

Barbara Hartung Wade, MEd ’64, still lives in Malverne, NY, with her daughter and her husband. As of May, she was getting out of the house, going to restaurants, and finally traveling. She spent the pandemic being a “homebody.” Unfortunately, her family all contracted coronavirus in March/April 2020. Everyone is fine. Barbara also continues to tutor English and Spanish.

Bill and Frankie Campbell Tutt (ftutt@comcast.net) “were lucky and breezed through COVID with little stress other than not being able to see our son and grandchildren. During the pandemic we entertained, traveled, and were very active physically.” Frankie still operates an adventure travel company, Tutt Travel. Bill is active with Pike’s Peak or Bust Rodeo Foundation and the US Space Foundation, and he is on the board of Cheyenne Mountain Country Club in Colorado Springs. Son Ben manages the Condado Vanderbilt Hotel in San Juan, PR. Frankie and Bill spend their time in mountain homes in Summit County and Vail, CO.

J. Thomas, MBA ’64, and Nancy Williams Clark ’62, MEd ’64 (clark@dubinclark.com) live in Old Chatham, NY. Tom writes, “We sold our farm—Old Chatham Sheepherding Co.—to an animal science professor at Cornell, David Galton, who has changed the name to Old Chatham Creamery but has kept making the marvelous prize-winning cheeses plus some new ones. They even won best in show at the American Cheese Society annual competition. Some of our people made the trip to Groton, NY, where the new creamery is. The grandchildren are in Cornell and coming to Cornell. Two legacies so far. We have ten grandchildren, the youngest being 4 years old.” When asked what brings him the most satisfaction in life these days, Tom wrote: “Not having to worry about so many little things and big things.”

Steve ’62 and Marjorie Walker Sayer live in Sarasota, FL. Marjorie’s art was shown at a pop-up show in the Arts Advocates Gallery located in the Crossings at Siesta Key in Sarasota from November 20 to December 11, 2021. You can visit ArtsAdvocates.org to see more about Marjorie’s work.

I am sad to report that Virginia “Ginny” Hoffman Morthland died in September from complications of ALS. Ginny and Dave ’62 divided their time between Tucson and Lake Oswego, OR. Ginny and I were able to keep in touch due to the Cornell Club of Southern Arizona and the garden club to which we both belonged. She will be missed.

From Ithaca, David Gersh, JD ’65 (gersh_1@msn.com) wrote, “My beloved wife of 58 years, Nancy (Goldstone), died of a stroke on June 3. We met at a freshman mixer in Dickson in the second week of school and were inseparable until her death, 62 years later. I am having to reinvent myself, learning how to cook, do laundry, and reach out to friends. I spend winters at my condo in Berkeley (available for rent June–December) to be close to my grandkids. I’d love to hear from classmates.” Please note that his email address has an underscore following “gersh.”

Warren Icke ’62 and I spent our summer in Telluride, CO, as we usually do. Luckily, all three sons and almost all of their children were with us at some point. We celebrated my 80th birthday on July 1 with 13 out of 16 of us together in Telluride. Warren and I kept busy during the pandemic by getting outside as much as possible. Warren still bikes, swims, and hikes, while I get out and walk each day. I gave up golf during the pandemic and haven’t returned to it. Living in Tucson makes it so easy to get out almost every day, though we always need rain. We also had a cruise on a small ship from Juneau to Ketchikan, AK, in August. Alaska is an amazing place.

Please send news to me either by mail or email. ❖ Nancy Bierds Icke, 12350 E. Roger Road, Tucson, AZ 85749; email, nancybicke@gmail.com. Online news form.

1964

Spring is here! At least it feels like it as I write this in mid-December, and it’s a spring-like day outside my suburban Chicago window. But no matter the weather where you are, settle back with some classmate musings.

David Evans (de031942@gmail.com) writes, “I retired as a government consultant two years ago and moved to St. Simons Island, GA, from Reston, VA.” Like many of us, David writes of the plague: “Based on the pandemic, we are vaccinated, but still staying safe at home with occasional visits to the beach and friends. With family in Virginia, Washington State, and other locations, we have occasional family visits.” David adds, “With the many challenges facing us these days, we spend much time truth-seeking while supporting the many groups seeking to save our democracy.” He also notes, “We have been following Ancestry lately, especially my wife Sherry’s Native American roots.”

Janet Warren Fatherley (janetfatherley@gmail.com) writes, “I enjoy retirement. I like to read and cook. There’s always something to do in an 1849 Vermont farmhouse with two acres and a garden.” She also enjoys “keeping in touch with my lifetime of friends all over the world, via email or letters. Also, I do genealogy for my family.” Janet reports something that may seem curiously un-Vermont-ish: “I have been attending a French conversation group for several years at the Bradford Public Library.” That pastime may stem from “French Provincial Countryside,” a Cornell alumni tour she took in October 2019 (“Wonderful tour and travel companions!” she notes). “We visited the D-Day beaches in Normandy, among other places. The tour started in Toulouse and ended in Paris.” Once in Paris, Janet had dinner with her Cornell roommate, Linda Weinstein Brimm, and her husband, Michael ’63, who live in Paris. Janet notes she is “very interested” in Alice Soewito ’21, last year’s Class of ’64 John F. Kennedy Memorial Award recipient, who hopes to work on pollution management in Indonesia. Writes Janet: “I studied Indonesian language at Cornell with Prof. John Echols, and my granddaughter Alana is a junior at the U. of Southern California majoring in environmental engineering and shares the same interests as Ms. Soewito. She sounds extraordinary! I wish she and Alana could meet.”

Sonia Kosow Guterman, MS ’67, who lives in Belmont, MA, wrote last March, “I’m still doing patent law and still enjoying it. Sadly, I couldn’t visit my five grandchildren, but the success of vaccinations will remediate that soon.” Meanwhile, she wrote: “The pandemic has led to teaching others the joy of recorder playing. I have three students, and we play duets on (the internet videocall software) Skype. They have made progress.” Sonia also enjoys what she calls “sourdough culture,” which she describes as “perfect for an old Aggie biochemist.” She’s been “spreading cultures to many friends” and enjoying “sourdough waffles every Sunday.” Of recent travel, she wrote, “Sadly no, but now that I am vaccinated, I go to many New England locales.”

Our annual class newsletter will be in your mailboxes soon. Please use the enclosed news form to send us information about your activities and interests for our future Class Notes columns. That’s all for now. I could always use more of your news, so please update me by e-mail, regular mail, our class website, or our class Facebook page. ❖ Bev Johns Lamont, 720 Chestnut St., Deerfield, IL 60015; e-mail, blamont64@comcast.net. Online news form.

1965

Tim Fullam’s (timfullam@hotmail.com) home is in Auke Bay, AK. He comments, “I retired for the second time in 2015 and since then have been relearning how to play the organ, an instrument I studied in high school and briefly at Cornell. Family and the organ music of Bach bring me the most satisfaction.” Sadly, Tim’s wife, Stella, has died. His granddaughter joined the Air Force, and a grandson owns and operates a plumbing and heating business. Another child is in college in California, and another is traveling the world finding himself (despite the pandemic). Tim enjoys sailing, gardening, studying Italian, and reading.

Judith Russell Davidson (judithdavidson@comcast.net) and husband Arthur live in Orleans, MA, and they acquired a puppy last spring, “which keeps us entertained.” Judith continues to play chamber music and duplicate bridge. She gave up tennis after she fell when trying to play after two knee replacements.

Find Dave Bridgeman (dmb56@cornell.edu) and his wife, Karen, in Alva, FL. “Being married to Karen, the angel that God sent me after my first wife passed away, brings me the most satisfaction day after day.” Dave plays golf weekly, although he states, “The scores are going in the wrong direction.” Happily, for Dave, the Atlanta Braves won the World Series—for only the second time since he began rooting for them in the worst-to-first year of 1991!

Antique car buff Gary Ash, MS ’73 (gash99@comcast.net) and his wife, Jane, have enjoyed life in Dartmouth, MA, for 20 years. They are fortunate that two daughters and husbands and three of four grandchildren (11, 15, 16) also live in Massachusetts; the fourth is working in California. “I’m mostly retired, although still do some industrial consulting in high vacuum equipment and cryogenic machinery. The work funds my antique car hobby. We have five Studebakers ranging from 1932 to 1965. I recently finished a 12-year project to re-create a 1932 Studebaker Indy racecar from scratch. My Cornell Engineering education was a big help, plus 50-plus years of industrial experience.” Jane and Gary took the car to the Studebaker Club meet in September 2021 in Indianapolis, and also to the Indy Speedway Museum. Photos were taken next to one of the original five Studebaker Indy cars. Be in touch with Gary, who will email you photos of family and the Studebakers!

Daryl Goldgraben Smith (darylgsmith@earthlink.net) and spouse Barbara Bergmann live in Claremont, CA. Daryl continues to consult with campuses and professional organizations on diversity issues in higher education. “In light of the past few years, addressing inequity has become more urgent. My book, Diversity’s Promise for Higher Education: Making It Work, is in its third edition.”

Jim Haldeman (jeh5@cornell.edu) and his wife, Jan, believe daily life has changed somewhat due to COVID, but they continue to enjoy their lives, remaining vigilant but positive. Living in Ithaca they attended Cornell hockey and basketball games in 2021. Various Zoom offerings from Cornell also appeal to them. Although limited by COVID, they have managed to continue traveling. They have two grandchildren, a 15-year-old girl who lives in Ithaca and spends a lot of time with them, and a 23-year-old grandson who lives in Paris. “Our grandson, along with his dad, spend the month of August with us every year, except for the 2020 COVID travel shutdown.” Jan and Jim remain healthy and joyfully celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary. They have joined the many folks who play pickleball several days a week. Jim prepares meals for neighbors in time of need and cooks just for fun as well. His other activities include gardening and working on classic wooden jigsaw puzzles, Sudoku, and crossword puzzles.

Jeff Dubin (DubinJS@cs.com) submitted a witty narrative: “I have been accorded the position of senior advisor to my oldest grandchild’s struggles with applying to Cornell. Having endured this myself and for both my daughters (Jennifer ’95 and Danielle ’98, BS ’01), I find that I am both useful and irrelevant.” Jeff and wife Elaine are disappointed to curtail travel due to COVID restrictions. Jeff still works in labor, employment, and healthcare law. He enjoys working and is appreciative of a young assistant lawyer who works with him.

Sad news from Judy Hayman Pass (judyhpass@gmail.com), who writes that her husband, Jeffrey ’64, died in April after battling Alzheimer’s disease. Judy is a passionate gardener and plays duplicate bridge.

Dick Gildersleeve (dickgildersleeve@gmail.com) issued an invitation to stop by and say hi. He and his wife, Kate, are still living in Stamford, CT, and own the Crab Shell Restaurant on the water, which continues to thrive after 33 years! They have two children and four grandkids close by in Old Greenwich and Stamford. Another child is in Boulder, another is in San Francisco, and two more grandchildren are attending the U. of Colorado in Boulder.

Nancy Ridenour, MAT ’73 (nridenour@twcny.rr.com) derives great satisfaction during the summer from her extensive garden and lotus pond, which is also appreciated by garden conservancy tours. Although extensive travel has been limited by COVID, Nancy went to NYC this past fall to see the amazing Kusama exhibit at the Botanical Garden in the Bronx, and also enjoyed shows and art museums. “Since retiring in 2005 from 32 years of teaching biology, I have focused on developing my photography skills and business. As a member of the State of the Art Gallery in Ithaca, I’ve had the opportunity to show my work in solo and group shows.” Nancy has exhibited at over 100 venues in New York State. For more information, visit her website.

Stay tuned to our next column for more news from classmates—and please send your news to either of us! ❖ Joan Hens Johnson, joanipat@gmail.com; Stephen Appell, bigred1965@aol.com. Online news form.

1966

When you receive this, we hope that the worst of the winter is over, and that, perhaps, spring has sprung!

Priscilla Rachun Linn, who lives in Arlington, VA, just outside of D.C., retired from the US Dept. of State in 2014 as senior curator of the National Museum of American Diplomacy. She vacations in her cottage on Cayuga Lake in Romulus, NY. Robert Barnhill Jr. wrote that he is 50% retired; enjoys golf, boats, and cars; and enjoyed his vacation in Portland, ME. He has two sons and “great grandsons.” He quipped that in 1966 he never imagined “getting old.”

Doris Nagel Atwood Sullivan married Peter Atwood in 1971. She received her master’s at U. of Pennsylvania, majoring in Penn’s American civilization department. After leaving as a professor of English and American literature in 1973, she taught at several institutions in New England. After Peter died, she married Paul Sullivan. When her kids got older, she flew with Paul on consulting trips all over the world. She wrote, “Paul and I have recently moved to a CCRC, Carleton-Willard Village, in Bedford, MA.” They live close to their children and their families.

Martha Goell Lubell went to visit Baltimore with her husband. There, they revisited the Baltimore Museum of Art. “We were thrilled to see exhibits of Matisse, Juan Gris, and ‘Women Behaving Badly,’ which focused on Black and white women who challenged the status quo!” Bob Kehr (rlk42@cornell.edu) wrote that he and wife Ellen “are planning for our 50th wedding anniversary. It will be this spring, and the celebration will include our daughters, Katherine (Bryn Mawr ’99) and Emily ’03, our son-in-law (Amherst ’03), and three grandchildren (ages 6, 2, and 2—and who are even now being told to choose between Cornell and Amherst). I’m still working full time, whatever that means in the COVID era, and teaching very part time as an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School—activities that are at least partly explained by our healthy self-preservation instinct that has caused us to avoid the traveling that Ellen and I so much enjoy. But we’re still hoping.”

Bill Caplan, BS ’68, wrote: “My third book, Thwart Climate Change Now: Reducing Embodied Carbon Brick by Brick, was just published by the Environmental Law Inst. Press. I’m working hard to promote its message.” Class co-president Rolf Frantz, ME ’67 (nrfrantz@verizon.net) and his wife, Nancy (Nystrom) ’68, have been ardent cruisers for years, and they bit the bullet to take a week-long cruise out of Bayonne, NJ, over Thanksgiving week. They report that much felt normal—but much felt different. They needed proof of vaccination and negative COVID tests within two days of sailing. Families with unvaccinated young children had to have them screened before boarding. The crew was all fully vaccinated. On board, masks were required at all indoor venues except when eating or drinking, or when at an event or venue that was restricted to fully vaccinated guests. “Yes, it was a bit of a hassle, but being able to get away after almost two years of being virtually housebound was a treat.”

Class co-president John Monroe, PhD ’70 (Monroe.jw@gmail.com) reports a message from Pete Leech: “Yes, I’m still alive!” Pete’s an active watcher of TV singing competition shows. He, John, and John’s wife, Meg (Warne), MS ’68, have enjoyed handicapping American Idol contestants over the years. “Our record is flawless—we have never picked the ultimate winner!” John and Meg enjoyed a short stay in England to visit their grandchildren (and son and daughter-in-law) over Thanksgiving. They were amused by the enthusiastic English adoption of Black Friday with no preceding Thursday holiday. John’s also been in contact with Larry Mohr. This summer Larry and wife Nancy (Huxtable) ’67 moved from their Atherton home to Vi at Palo Alto, a CCRC in Palo Alto. They are enjoying their new home.

Susan Rockford Bittker (ladyscienc@aol.com) was also able to get away! “In September I traveled to Montreal and Quebec for a week with my sister and sister-in-law. The scariest part of the trip was needing to get the results of my COVID test before getting to the border. Email results came in about 40 miles from customs crossing as we were driving on the Adirondack Northway! Masks and vaccine cards got us every place we wanted to see!”

Alice Katz Berglas (alice.berglas@gmail.com), VP/communications, shares this spring message: “We closed Cornell’s fall 2021 semester with two new ’66 ‘Hidden Jewels’ presentations. Carol Hockett welcomed us to the Johnson Museum of Art with a riveting program spanning more than a century, titled ‘Picturing Change: Photography and Social Justice.’ Corey Earle ’07 (Cornell historian) and Evan Earle ’02, MS ’14 (University Archivist, Kroch Library, Rare and Manuscript Collections) opened the vault below the Arts Quad for a peek at some of the treasures Cornell has collected since its founding (a signed copy of the Gettysburg Address and the desk where E.B. White 1921 penned Charlotte’s Web, among them). A holiday treat! Join us to uncover more wonders and ’66 ‘Hidden Jewels.’ My wishes for health and new adventures!”

Just a thought: some of us have been participating in the Cornell alumni Zoom meetings, which are interesting; they are held every two weeks. To gain access, go to anypersonanyparty.org. ❖ Pete Salinger, peteRsalinger95@gmail.com; Susan Rockford Bittker, ladyscienc@aol.com. Online news form.

1967

Chuck Butler (Helena, MT; chuckbutlr@aol.com) writes: “Retired early long ago and enjoy volunteering, winters in South Florida, and the rest of the year in Montana. Main project now: getting more shots in arms. Only 51% of Montana’s eligible population has been vaccinated.”

Melanie Mayer (Santa Cruz, CA; mjmayer@ucsc.edu) writes: “I’m still in Santa Cruz, CA, but retired from my faculty position at UCSC. I’m working on a two-volume history of the City of Santa Cruz’s water system. Unlike most cities in California, our water (now often scarce) comes completely from within the county. What can be learned about conserving this resource from looking at it historically?”

Roger McCauley (Lubbock, TX; rwmccauley1@gmail.com) writes: “My wife and I moved from southeast Ohio (where we had lived for 50-plus years) to Lubbock, TX, last year to be near our two grandchildren. We enjoy the local arts and music scene (hometown of Buddy Holly and Mac Davis), as well as cheering on the Texas Tech Red Raiders football and basketball teams. We are now fully vaccinated and feel safe to move about our local neighborhood. I send holiday greetings to my classmates and a special shout-out to my fellow Theta Xi brothers.”

Susan Jossem Mitloff (Sarasota, FL; susiebethknit@verizon.net) reports: “We have been in Florida for 25 years. Happy to have friends Toni Forman Meltzer and Carol Farber Wolf, and I recently connected with Susan Kane Strahs and husband Ken through our local alumni club. I enjoy knitting and sell my ‘wearable art’ on pelicanknits.com. Had to give up tennis, pickleball, and the dragon boat team, but am still active swimming, doing Pilates, and going to the gym. It’s hard being away from our kids and grandkids, but finally we were able to visit after almost two years.” Satisfaction and hobbies: “Just waking up, staying healthy and active. Knitting is my passion.”

Douglas Shore (Atlanta, GA; dlshore2660@gmail.com) reports: “Visited the Cornell Tech campus in NYC for the first time in November, attending Entrepreneurship at Cornell’s Eclectic Convergence conference, an annual fall event in NYC. Heard pitches from some 20 student businesses enrolled in EaC’s eLab program, and discussions with several successful Cornell alumni entrepreneurs and executives, including Doug Lankler, JD ’90 (Pfizer), Jessica Crolick Rolph ’97, MBA ’04 (Happy Family and Lovevery and Cornell’s Entrepreneur of the Year for 2021), Ryan Hudson ’02 (Honey), and Colin Walsh ’90 (Varo Bank). Recommend that any Cornell alumni interested in entrepreneurship should look into getting involved with Entrepreneurship at Cornell. Disclosure: I am a member of EaC’s Advisory Council.”

Janetta “Jinny” Rebold Benton (JBenton@pace.edu), who is distinguished professor, art history at Pace U. in New York City, published her ninth art history book, How to Understand Art (London: Thames & Hudson, 2021). Publishers in various countries have produced translations in French, Italian, Spanish, German, Latvian, and Russian. She’s also a Fulbright senior scholar (Russia) and Fulbright scholar (China).

Alan Paller, who died last November 9, was, according to the New York Times, “a cybersecurity pioneer who devoted his life to improving the digital defense of the US.” Per the Washington Post, he was “an early and influential advocate for cybersecurity and a diverse cyber workforce.” The Post continues, “He increasingly sounded the alarm about the threats to an evermore digitally connected world,” and he launched “one of the most successful private-sector efforts to train generations of cybersecurity professionals and sought to broaden their ranks by including women and people of color.” With his wife, Marsha (Mann), who survives him (as do his daughters, Channing and Brooke, a sister, and two grandsons), Alan founded the SysAdmin, Audit, Network, and Security Inst., the world’s largest cybersecurity research and training organization, developing more than 40,000 cybersecurity practitioners each year. He and Marsha subsequently founded the National Cyber Scholarship Foundation, which hosts hacking challenges for high school and college students.

In 2000, Alan convened a “group of cybersecurity luminaries,” says the Post, to discuss best practices; this led to the startup of the Center for Internet Security, which developed standards now adopted worldwide, called the Critical Security Controls. These are “prioritized and actionable steps of the very first things organizations needed to do to stop cyberthreats,” the Times reported. “Soon the controls were hanging in boardrooms. In 2016, Kamala Harris, then the Attorney General of California, warned businesses in the state that failure to comply with the controls would make them potentially negligent in the eyes of a 2004 California law.” Says Tony Sager, the former chief operating officer of the National Security Agency’s Information Assurance Directorate, which oversees cyberdefense: “People in this industry talk about public-private partnership all day, but I can only really think of four examples, and two of them came from Alan.”

As of when I’m writing, near the end of 2021, we have been advised that our 55th Reunion will be held on campus June 9–12, 2022. Everybody is hoping that present conditions will have significantly improved by then, so that a return to campus will be a wonderful occasion. The class officers urge you to stay in touch with your friends from Cornell and encourage everyone to join us in June. We all will want a great weekend to reconnect with friends and the University. The invitation will be sent out in the spring. Put the date down now on your calendars. ❖ Richard Hoffman, derhoff@yahoo.com. Online news form.

1968

As the pandemic subsides, Gordon Silver (gordonhsilver@gmail.com) makes his annual pilgrimage from his summer/fall hangout in Aspen, CO, to his winter/spring hideout on Fisher Island, FL, where he can continue his outdoor sporting activities and his work with nonprofit organizations. Like many of us, he hopes to resume his pre-COVID active travel schedule, but we’re all keeping up with the news on the latest variant, Omicron, to decide if there are sharks circling too near the shore to venture close. We all hope to get the all-clear—as with Gordon, we miss seeing family and friends and traveling around the world. Richard Weir (rw38@cornell.edu) laments the demise of the hard copy version of Cornell Alumni Magazine.

Carol Ganz (carolganz@gmail.com) and her husband are relying on the vaccine regimen as they resume traveling and had just returned from southern Italy and Sicily when they sent their news. They have three married children and six grandchildren, ages 8–14, all living in Atlanta. At home, Carol designs and sews machine embroidery and warns us, jokingly, that if you stand still near her, you just might get monogrammed. Stephen Drabkin (nantucketman@aol.com) spends the winter in Florida and the rest of the year on Nantucket, MA, where he is a part-time ranger and a part-time pilot, when he’s not fishing, boating, and restoring cars. Whenever the weather and time permits, you’ll find Stephen at the beach, where he considers himself guardian and protector of the environment and the wildlife.

Barry and Annette Shaw (shawbarrym@gmail.com) still live in Vestal, NY, and they too are eager to resume their travels. Barry enjoys pickleball, skiing, snowshoeing, and their seven-pound mixed-breed Maltese. In fact, they recently cruised from Seattle down the West Coast, through the Panama Canal, and up the east coast of Mexico, finishing in Ft. Lauderdale. Barry enjoys the freedom to sleep late, taking naps, and the many other rewards of retirement.

Bruce Greyson (brucegreyson.com) is one of the world’s leading experts on near-death experiences. In his recently published book, After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal about Life and Beyond, he shares the lessons he has learned over nearly a half-century of studying near-death experiences (NDE). From his website: “Backed by decades of pioneering scientific research and firsthand accounts, Bruce reveals evidence that has led him to rethink his understanding of the nature of life, death, and the continuity of consciousness. Although NDE’s reveal a lot about dying and what might come after, they reveal much about life and the value of compassion and our interconnectedness with one another—and about what makes a life meaningful and fulfilling. After invites us to open our minds to these experiences, and in so doing expand our understanding of what it means to be human.”

We hope you enjoy the new format for our alumni publication and, of course, the Class Notes. We continue to enjoy hearing from the members of the Class of ’68. ❖ Chuck Levitan, clevitan22@comcast.net. Online news form.

1969

Guest columnist Jon Kaplan, MD ’74, trained in internal medicine and infectious diseases and enjoyed a 36-year career at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta before retiring in 2016 (before COVID!). He continues to provide patient care at the Atlanta V.A. and follows closely what is happening with COVID. He likes to think he provides useful advice on this topic to family (when they ask) and friends (including Cornell classmates!). He participates in recreational activities, including skiing (which he enjoyed for a day with classmates Steve and Ingrid Dieterle Tyler in Utah last March!). Jon lives with his wife, Linda, in Atlanta; two daughters, one son-in-law, and one granddaughter live far away (Cortez, CO, and San Diego, CA).

Rev. John Bradley, BS ’71, reports that he is retired; he and wife Joan (Hartwick ’74) have enjoyed time with their twin grandchildren, who, having discovered minerals in rocks (geodes?), now hammer rocks to bits to see what’s inside. John had cataract surgery and can now see better (including, maybe, what’s in the rocks). Jane Plitt has enjoyed researching and publishing books about forgotten women—and speaking about these stories to inspire various groups. She has been invited by ARTE, the French and German equivalent of PBS, to narrate its documentary of Martha Matilda Harper. As Harper’s biographer, Jane spent six years researching the forgotten story of how she created modern retail franchising. In her spare time, Jane notes that she quarantined in NYC to be able to help her daughter and family with the birth of Jane’s fourth grandchild.

Leslie DeGroff, DVM ’69, still practices veterinary medicine part time. He says he enjoys most everything, including just being alive! Two grandchildren were married this past year. Edward Wilson has relocated to Ft. Bragg, NC, to be safety and occupational health integration liaison officer at the US Army Special Operations Command, where he provides in-house industrial hygiene support and coordination for US Army Special Forces (Green Berets) and Rangers. He plans to resume using his private pilot certificate to fly around North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. Ed is following Sherman’s March to the Sea through the Carolinas and visiting sites of the final battles of the 149th Infantry Regiment (New York volunteers from Onondaga County!) in the Civil War.

Roy Black reports that he and wife Adrienne have been self-isolating in their condo in Decatur, GA (a neighbor of this columnist!) since March 2020—under COVID-19 house arrest. He has been working from home and reports Zoom fatigue. The new norm! He says that his wife is getting very good at cooking, but he does not want to bring up the idea of opening up a restaurant. We hope his wife does not read this column. Roy’s takeaways from the pandemic: “Vita brevis. Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.” (Look up the words!)

Gary Shaye (who happens to be a frat brother of this columnist) moved to a home on Burden Lake, just outside of Albany, NY, a year ago. Gary continues to work part time for Save the Children, with whom he has had a great career, working and living in Nepal, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti. His work as vice president for international programs for ten years took him to many additional countries, including northern Colombia (to assist with the Venezuelan migration crisis) just before the COVID pandemic. Gary took a cross-country trip to visit his son in California this past June, stopping to visit three national parks, including Glacier National Park, where he and this columnist worked the summer of 1968, before our senior year. Gary plans to spend more time with his five granddaughters.

John Mitchell, MD ’73—both an undergrad and a medical school classmate of this columnist—writes that he has left private practice in NYC and moved with wife Edith to Marshfield, WI, where he is joining daughter Asha Yancy Okorie, MD ’05, at the Marshfield Clinic, seeing neuro-ophthalmology, glaucoma, and general eye patients. John has written a novel, currently in the hands of his publisher, titled “Love, Epidemic, and the Corps,” about a man-made epidemic unleashed in a Harlem hospital, the Marine Corps, admitting African Americans to the Corps during WWII, and love. We look forward to reading how John weaves these topics together!

General themes that surface in contributions of our classmates include retirement, visiting grandchildren, COVID isolation, cataract surgeries, and knee replacements! We hope you all stay well and get your COVID boosters. Please submit news about yourselves and your families via the online news form, or to our crack Cornellians liaison Alexandra Bond ’12 at abb83@cornell.edu. ❖ Jon Kaplan, jonkaplan7@gmail.com.

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1970s

1970

Sitting down to write a column is always a bit confusing. Where to start? Fortunately, I am writing just after the Thanksgiving weekend, and I was able to watch (through technological miracles!) the Red Hot Hockey game from Madison Square Garden. For those of you who do not follow college hockey, Red Hot Hockey is a biennial game against Boston U., a rival from past years now playing in another conference. It was a pretty high-scoring affair, with the Big Red victorious. The final score: Cornell 6, BU 4. Brings up memories of the ’69–70 season, our senior year, where our team never lost a game, all the way to their national championship!

Drew Copeland, PhD ’77 (Westlake Village, CA) is still semi-retired, working as a consultant/senior scientist in laser development. The pandemic has caused him to avoid travel except by car, while finding satisfaction from his grandchildren and reading about science and mathematics. His biggest takeaway from the pandemic is being appalled by the early politicization of it. Drew praises our alma mater, where he spent eight years that he characterizes as some of the best of his life. He concludes with his pride in being a Cornellian, and his belief that it continues to be both excellent and marvelous.

Jeff Altamari (Saratoga Springs, NY) has been retired from the oil and gas business in Houston since 2014. He and his wife, Janet, traveled extensively before COVID, with family in both London and Paris. He now satisfies himself by being involved in philanthropy and community activities, having served on public commissions, as a financial advisor on two mayoral campaigns, and on the boards of Planned Parenthood and Open Saratoga. He is working with Joe and Betsy Post Falconi ’72 to organize a Sigma Chi pledge class reunion in Ithaca. As his takeaway from the pandemic, Jeff also expresses dismay with the rise of demagoguery and the ignoring of science.

Joli Adams (Saint Cast Le Guildo, France) writes of trying to keep mentally and physically fit with all the COVID restrictions. Her proximity to beaches in Brittany on which to walk, Zoom sessions with family, groups in Paris, Cornell alumni with whom she can talk, and online reading to figure out what is happening with others all help. Her biggest takeaway from the pandemic is knowing her family in France and Seattle has remained safe—and realizing much is due to privileges in life and attitudes toward science and medical history.

Sharon Sauerbrunn Doyle, MFA ’72 (Newmarket, NH), a retired screenwriter and teacher at USC, served on a panel last year about the pandemic and the arts, where it was discussed that the protocol-driven nature of TV production has driven up the costs of production. In retirement, she is trying to write a novel about Charlemagne’s daughters. She has three grandchildren, two children who are actors, and one child who is a fine artist doing shows in New York, Brussels, and Seoul. The most satisfaction in her life these days comes from walking in the woods with her dog, hanging out with her husband, reading every day with her 8-year-old grandson, and cooking. Sharon’s biggest takeaway from the pandemic is the eerie similarity to the events of 1918–19: massive deaths, rising racism, and unrest in labor. She sees us getting through this but with great changes in urban life.

William Lee, ME ’71 (Grayslake, IL) writes that he retired from 40 years of practice in intellectual property law at the end of 2013, and then lost his wife of 44 years to Alzheimer’s in September 2014. Since that time, he has been staying busy hiking, biking, and skiing—anything to keep him physically and mentally challenged. Turns out that Bill lives in a neighboring community; we had a great phone conversation as I was writing this column, where I found out that he has already planned five skiing trips for this coming season. Bill Fogle (Mesa, AZ) sent a short note about his contribution to a book about the 1967 Cornell Heights Residential Club fire, called The Year of the Fire by Jabez Van Cleef ’69. Pages 273–317 include an appendix that Bill wrote about the incident.

Andrea Strongwater (New York, NY; astrongwater@nyc.rr.com) sent a note with an attached picture of her latest Cornell jigsaw puzzle, portraying the interior of Sage Chapel. Many of you most likely have her puzzle that was done for one of our Reunions. Andrea mentions the new one should have reached the Cornell Store in October, assuming no more COVID closures of the factory in Indiana. Her works can also be found on her new website, made possible since the NYC Chamber of Commerce included her in a program to help businesses through pandemic issues. Andrea says it’s fun to be painting Cornell!

I have come close to using all the responses sent since late spring 2021. We’re told that the Class Notes section of the new website is one of the most popular destinations. Classmates really want to know what is going on! So keep sending your news! You may contact me directly, or you may use the university’s online news form. ❖ John Cecilia, jlcecilia96@gmail.com; tel., (312) 524-2912.

1971

Pivoting toward retirement and attempting productivity during the pandemic, many in the talented Class of ’71 have turned to creative expression. Some profiles:

After retirement from teaching ceramics and sculpture at a NYC private school, my good friend Shelley Fox Berne turned to watercolor. Shelley paints vibrant still lifes, New York urbanscapes, and landscapes (Tuscany and Upstate New York). When not painting or traveling, Shelley and husband Bob ’70, MBA ’71, PhD ’77, cycle, golf, and enjoy their four grandchildren.

Ed Thompson recently returned to silkscreen printmaking after a decades-long hiatus, having learned the craft from Steve Poleskie, a New York artist on the Franklin Hall faculty, during his senior year at Cornell. On the Hill, it was a welcome respite from his rigorous Government major and Vietnam-era campus turmoil. Today, it remains an escape from quotidian responsibilities and the drumbeat of extremist politics. For years after graduation, the only thing Ed printed were personal Christmas cards. But even that ended when silkscreen technology dramatically changed, and he was too busy with a family and an environmental law career to keep up with it.

When Ed retired a few years ago, he took local junior college classes to re-learn the craft and built a cozy backyard studio in California wine country, where he spent many happy hours creating and printing images that exemplify the natural world. Because of his love of the outdoors and deep appreciation for nature, Ed’s work has focused on landscapes, both expansive and intimate. With subtle color and abstraction, he seeks to evoke the spirit and mood of each special place, while trying to develop a distinctive personal style. Visit his website to see some of his work.

On a personal note, Ed writes, “I am lucky to have been happily married to my wife and muse, Ann, for 46 years. We lived for many years on a small farm in the scenic Maryland countryside outside Washington, DC, where I worked for the Environmental Defense Fund and helped found American Farmland Trust, another nonprofit conservation organization. In 2003, I was asked to run the California office of AFT, and we moved, first to Davis, then to Sebastopol, CA. Last November, seeking a change of scenery, we moved to Port Townsend, WA, described as a ‘Victorian seaport and arts community’ on the Olympic Peninsula. Ann and I have two adventurous and accomplished children. Daughter Abigail is a professional sommelier working for a boutique winery, Patricia Green Cellars, in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Son Parker is a data analyst working for a Bay Area company that services nonprofit organizations. He and his wife, Victoria, who live in Bozeman, MT, had our first grandchild, Ethan Pacific, in July 2021.” Ed would be glad to hear from classmates about his work and their own exploits at ethompsonjr@gmail.com.

For Lisa Previti Rose, the search for new, exciting, joy-filled, beautiful things never stops. After decades of success in business, she discovered an unexpected path: painting. From her website (where you can see some of her work!) we learn that growing up, Lisa never painted; her only connection to art was an aunt who was a commercial artist. With innate gifts of creativity and style, she studied Design and Environmental Analysis at Cornell and propelled herself into an interior design career. At 67, she laid pastel to paper and fell in love. “I had no idea I could paint,” she emphasizes. She took her extensive experience in interior design and used it as a starting point for creating stunning compositions in two dimensions. Lisa’s pastels and oils belie deep technical training. Key influences include Teresa Saia, Jeanne Rosier Smith, William McCarthy, the wonders of nature, and her fascination with color. “I was initially inspired by the lusciousness of a pastel box filled with fantastic colors,” she says. For Lisa, the world is rich in unexpected shades, and she loves showing people the abundant beauty that can be so easy to miss.

Lisa has received wide recognition for her technical mastery and incredible color sense. In 2019, she won the first-place award for pastels in the Cultural Council’s “Celebrate and Create” event. She has also had her work featured on the cover of the Pen Woman Magazine and the Vero Beach Magazine, as well as in articles for “Under the Oaks, Vero Beach” and Sag Harbor Express, and online through Environmental Learning and Daily Paintworks. She is an active member of the Pastel Society of America, the National League of Pen Women, the Vero Beach Art Club, the Artists Alliance of the East End, and the Wednesday Group. You’ll find this full-time artist in her studios in Vero Beach, FL, and Sag Harbor, NY. When not painting, she’s outside gardening, boating, or golfing—gathering inspiration. She loves adventure and believes her art is part of that. “Art can be fun. It doesn’t have to be serious!” Her bright, colorful, representational paintings (with a dash of abstraction) aim to “bring joy and color into people’s homes.”

Joan Goldberg works in wool felt. She and her partner, photographer Beat Keerl, designed and built their concrete Cragsmoor, NY, home and studios. Joan employs manipulation, chance, saturation, and improvisation to produce her textile creations, explaining “the felting process is intimate, tactile, gestural, and meditative. I am fascinated by the possibilities of the materials and often unpredictable results. The demanding physicality of the process also requires delicacy, layering, and an intuitive connection to drawing, color, and scale. It is painting with wool. There is an almost magical evolution as each piece approaches completion. The finale is visceral rather than determined.” In addition, Joan’s series based on animal hides takes a non-referential view. “They are maps of the entrails of non-existent creatures … references to landscape and the geology of my surroundings. The scale is related to my body/personal space. Viewed on walls, they are tactile and have a transformative quality of costume and tribal ritual. Felt is the oldest man-made textile and remains a living practice in many cultures.” Her website is joandoeswork.com.

Artist Nina Gordon Schwartz resides in Virginia. COVID knocked out many 2019 plans, including a group show at the Schlesinger Center at NOVA Alexandria in October 2020 and a large, two-person show at Green Spring Gardens in spring 2020. Shows didn’t take place, and local galleries remained closed well into the next spring. Nina is a member of the Art League, the Springfield Art Guild, and Del Ray Artisans; she had three pictures in the SAG online show and two in the SAG Annual Show at Green Spring Gardens (a wonderful botanical garden to visit even without art shows!). Nina often paints landscapes there. Getting out to paint was a boon to Nina during the pandemic. With over 30 years as a designer and art director, much of Nina’s work has been in advertising, book design, and direct mail design. Google her to see examples of her designs in corporate branding and collateral materials, which serve to visually express a company’s mission and philosophy. She also designed about 20 covers for newly translated Yizkor books for JewishGen.org. Yizkor books are memorial books, each commemorating a Jewish community destroyed in the Holocaust. The books were originally published in Hebrew or Yiddish and are now being translated into English and published both as physical books and online.

Future columns may feature some ’71 musicians, singers, actors, and writers. Whether or not your talents lie in those areas, please send us information about yourselves or classmates. ❖ Cara Nash Iason, cara.nash.iason@gmail.com; Elisabeth Kaplan Boas, ekb7@cornell.edu. Online news form.

1972

REUNION, REUNION, REUNION. Just a friendly reminder that our 50th Reunion is scheduled for June 9–12, 2022. Let’s hope the pandemic will not interfere with this historic event.

Jerry Miknis sent us a report from the annual Delta Upsilon golf outing. The pandemic curtailed their annual (since 2003) reunion in conjunction with the Ben Mintz Golf Outing in Ithaca. So this year they decided to double down. Twelve brothers detoured through Wellsville, NY, on the way to Ithaca to play a couple rounds at the Wellsville Country Club as guests of Charlie Joyce and Wellsville mayor Randy Shayler, MBA ’73. Participants included Jerry (PA), Charlie, Randy, Tom Guba (NY), Bob Mauro (PA), Scott Schnuck (MO), Dan Miller (MO), Tim Rowlands (PA), Doug Herron (OH/MA), Jack Moresko (CT), MBA ’76, Jim Parolie (NJ), Tom Rakowski (NJ), Jim O’Hargan (FL), and Mike Murphy (CA). Rain cut short the second round, so they headed to Ithaca, where they were joined by John Dougherty (FL), John Peterson (NY/FL), Rod Clemente (NJ), Keith Daub ’73 (KY), and Jim Theodorakis ’73 (NY). They played the Cornell course on Friday and an Ithaca club on Saturday for the Ben Mintz event. Additional golfers included Ed Marinaro, Ed Marinucci, and Coach Paul Pawlak. Bill Ellis, William “Buck” Briggs ’76, and Mark Clemente ’73, MPS ’74, joined the DU group for libations at Moakley House after the round at Cornell.

Bob Tausek of Charleston, SC, wrote to inform us that Ken Peters retired recently. Ken was in Navy ROTC at Cornell and entered active duty in the Navy upon graduation. During the Cold War, Ken flew Navy P-3 Orion sub-hunters searching for Soviet submarines off our Atlantic and Pacific coasts. He obtained his master’s at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA, and later attended the US Naval War College. After he left the service, Ken worked as an IT manager and analyst for high-tech companies.

In response to our inquiry about the lack of sold-out Cornell home hockey games, Larry Baum replied: “Ever since Lynah increased its capacity to 4,267 about seven or eight years ago, the rink hasn’t been ‘full’ for many home games. Most were still near-sellouts because season ticket holders bought the tickets and didn’t show up.” (Whenever the Baums were away, they’d give away their tickets.) Of course, for the big games and toward the end of the 2019–20 season, Lynah was totally full. Some people choose to stay warm and watch the games on TV on the ESPN+ network. Larry went on to tell us that his wife, Trudy, their sons, and son Ari Baum ’07’s girlfriend just returned from a Caribbean cruise. “It was nice to be out of the country, just for a week. The ship, built for nearly 3,000 passengers, had 750. Maintaining social distancing was quite easy! And even though it left from Florida, EVERYONE was confirmed vaccinated, and everyone also had to have a clear antigen or PCR test prior to boarding.” (So much for the Florida governor saying otherwise—Larry heard that the cruise lines told him they would just leave!) So the Baums had the run of the place.

In mid-December, class president Nancy Roistacher hosted a Zoom meeting for our class. It was well attended. Joe Parent, BA ’71, who lives in Southern California, reported that his latest book, A Walk in the Wood: Meditations on Mindfulness with a Bear Named Pooh, is now in its seventh printing. Unfortunately, the new printer can’t deliver the new books until mid-January due to supply chain issues. Joe emphasized that this is a family reading book, and the audiobook is currently available. He performs all the voices, including Pooh. Joyce Jaffe Sinclair of Palo Alto, CA, said that she read Joe’s prior successful book, Zen Golf. Bruce Graev is still working in his financial consulting business. He lives in Florida, where he is on the board of the Naples, FL, theater company and is involved with his synagogue. Gary Goldberg, DVM ’76, and I reminisced about living in Baker Tower, wing E, during our freshman year. Gary reported that one of the other wing E residents, Albie Luloff, BS ’71, is now a professor of rural sociology at Penn State. Gary now lives in Panama with his fiancée, whom he met on a Jewish singles Caribbean cruise. The couple grows coffee beans on their farm and was surprised to find a large Jewish community in Panama. While in the Army, Gary served as a veterinarian anesthesiologist; he once anesthetized two elephants in the same day. He also had the experience of riding in an elevator with Andy Warhol and an unconscious baboon.

Frank Dawson signed into the Zoom meeting a little late, after just getting off a plane from Colorado. Another later arrival was Paul Kaye, who told us that he met his wife in their Government 101 class freshman year. Their section T.A. was the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) leader David Burak ’67, MFA ’80. The Zoom group had a short discussion about the current pandemic. Nancy reported that her practice was heavily into telemedicine during the first six to eight months of the “quarantine.” Some patients have now expressed a preference for this type of interaction with their doctor. Send news to: ❖ Alex Barna, alexbarna@comcast.net; Gary Rubin, glrubin@aol.com. Online news form.

1973

Now that most of us have reached 70, it’s time to reassess—and what follows are some very creative approaches to retirement.

Jeff Corwin (jcorwin@virginia.edu) and spouse Linda live in Virginia, where Jeff’s been retired since 2019 from the neuroscience and cell biology departments at the U. of Virginia School of Medicine. He was a visiting professor at Stanford U. in 2019 and became an adjunct professor at the start of 2020, but left Stanford last March due to the pandemic. However, that led Jeff to discover a new focus: woodturning. He finds that the feel of a newly sharpened chisel against spinning wood brings a satisfaction similar to what he felt performing microdissections. He still has a small lab at UVA, but now that the woodshop has stolen his heart he is seldom at the microscope. And he’s pretty good with that chisel—even selling his work through local galleries.

Jeff and Linda’s son Patrick married his longtime sweetheart in fall 2019; they both earned their master’s degrees in geophysics and now live and work in Houston, TX. Jeff took a break from the lathe last summer when he and Linda boarded their sailboat to cruise from Virginia to Maine and back. When Linda’s mom, Angie, turned 99, Linda, her sister, and Jeff took turns partnering with Mom for a little swing dancing and rumba. Says Jeff, “She still has the moves!” He also reports that he and the other five members of his men’s group still meet every two weeks, as they have for about 19 years. Jeff has also been a scuba diver since 1969, and he and Linda plan to go diving together in the tropics.

George Ragsdale (gtragsda@bellsouth.net) and spouse Eleanor are living on Georgia’s St. Simons Island. George is retired from Georgia-Pacific, but not so retired that he can’t teach a class in business law and ethics at the local U. of Georgia campus. Life these days is about playing golf together, traveling to new destinations, and returning to Italy as often as they can. Says George, “We are very content with our home and the opportunity to contribute to our community. We are also very proud of our family—both children and grandchildren.”

Kenny Gallt (hpmg87a@aol.com) and Suzannette Catalano live in Lombard, IL, where they run a landscape architecture firm. They worked all through the pandemic and celebrated their company’s 50th anniversary at Universal Studios last August. Since his firm specializes in bringing tropical trees and plants into Chicagoland buildings, he gets to shop in Florida—and having turned 70, he is sometimes tempted by the warm weather but is having too much fun to relocate just now. For Kenny’s 70th birthday, Suzannette presented him with an Amtrak vacation from Chicago to Glacier National Park in Montana. They booked a sleeping berth and stayed at the sturdy “tall tree” lodge built by the Civilian Conservation Corps 100 years ago. They had a great trip, although it was followed by a sobering postscript when two weeks later that same train derailed—killing three people. Says Kenny, “When it’s your time, it’s your time.” And they’re not going to shy away from adventure; in fact, he and Suzannette have now taken up rock climbing—assisted by a Ford Bronco that they take off-road, where they shift into “rock crawler” mode and just drive over the boulders. They’ve even participated in Ford’s Bronco Off-Roadeo. He predicts this will be the next Baby Boomer sport. I predict Kenny and Suzannette will one day have their own action figures.

Ann Prezyna (houseboata@gmail.com) and Gordon Lewis now shuttle between their floating home on Lake Union in Seattle and their 120-acre ranch in southeast Arizona. Ann works for Animal & Earth Advocates PLLC, a law firm she cofounded in 2019 that specializes in nudging state and government agencies to protect wildlife. Last fall, they succeeded in stopping the Wisconsin wolf hunt. Ann also started a new nonprofit, Washington Wildlife First, to help preserve wildlife and wild lands in Washington State, and she serves as president of the board of directors for the Coastal Watershed Inst., which does nearshore restoration work in Puget Sound. She says it’s working with like-minded people who are passionate about protecting our natural world that keeps her going. She’s also taken up Zoom yoga.

Lastly, Laurence Ference (lsfcyborg@yahoo.com) and spouse Joann have sold their house in Vermont and are establishing a new home in Surry, ME. After spending most of his time getting the new place in shape, he’s now working part time selling wood and propane stoves, hot tubs, and all the other things Mainers need to keep warm. He loves hunting and spending hours in the woods among the deer, squirrels, eagles, and hawks, and generally enjoying the splendor of the Maine wilderness.

Patti Miller Ross ’72 and I (David Ross) continue to get to know our two grandchildren, both of whom seem more attracted to Grandma than Grandpa. Probably because I refuse to pander by using baby talk. I’m happy to report a successful recovery from preventive open-heart surgery—I was back on the radio here in Seattle after a few weeks. I had tried to ignore the irregular heartbeat for years, but turns out it was a good thing I had it checked. As for my own retirement—not yet. Bonneville Media is a great company and I plan to work at least two more years. By then I figure the grandkids will be able to carry on a proper conversation. ❖ David Ross, dlross6@msn.com; Phyllis Haight Grummon, phg3@cornell.edu; Pamela Meyers, psmeyers73@gmail.com. Online news form.

1974

Let’s dive right in with news from Merrill Weitzner Naughton (merrillnaughton@hotmail.com), who has recently welcomed a first grandchild, Evelyn Rae. Merrill says, “She is a joy beyond words, and helped to soften the recent loss of our 16-year-old labradoodle, Eloise.” She goes on to say, “We had hoped to travel and had plans in place when COVID hit. Need I say more? So we limit our social contact and certainly trips that involve airplanes and airports. We did just take a bold step and spent two weeks in Northern California visiting family.” As for hobbies these days, Merrill reports, “I have always been a recreational swimmer but have become committed to daily laps as my source of exercise. I also walk. I read loads of news and am trying to add more books to the agenda.”

Esteban Rosas Jr. (egr5@cornell.edu) wrote, “COVID restrictions made me play my saxophone from my terrace to the street to overcome boredom; now my neighbors demand it, and I love it.” Those are lucky neighbors! He now has a jazz quartet with his grandsons, the Stray Cats Jazz Band, and they enjoy practicing and playing together. Esteban goes on to say, “Retired in 2016, I opened a consulting firm in analysis of economic variables for governments and industry. It keeps me busy. I contribute with former roommate Don Gross as a consultant to his office in Washington, DC. I hope Bob Hoff and Blaine Rhodes read this and remake contact. They were my fellow Chemical Engineering ’74 friends.” On top of all that, Esteban has been made a grandpa three times, has been married for 46 years, writes op-eds for local papers, and listens frequently to eCornell Keynotes. Healthwise, he is dodging hypertension and has had a stent! He gets the most satisfaction these days from having time at last to enjoy his family full time. He also tells us, “Remembering my days on the Hill soothes my soul.”

There is double news from the Fornari household, as Victor and Alice Johnson Fornari update us on their lives. Victor is the division head of child and adolescent psychiatry at Zucker Hillside Hospital and Alice is associate dean of the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and a vice president for Northwell Health. They have three married children and five grandchildren, ages 10 months to 7, and enjoy family, beach, nature, and kayaking. Also from the medical community, we heard from Barbara Gales, who is busy with patient care at the Spokane V.A. Medical Center. She recently received the Hidden Figures Award and was recognized as Top Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Specialist of Spokane Valley, WA, by Top Doctors. She gets the most satisfaction these days from serving those in need of medical services. Through the pandemic she remains dedicated to giving hope and enhancing her patients’ functional abilities and quality of life.

Leslee Carver is glad to at last be able to visit her sisters and their families in person and is enjoying hosting small dinner parties (with fully vaccinated friends) and giving back through her volunteer work at the Lakeview Pantry. She’s been taking Pilates classes and playing canasta online with family. From the pandemic she has learned the importance of being calm with minor inconveniences and that “one never knows what others are going through.”

Most of us probably didn’t know that, since September 2020, Betsy Beach has had five major surgeries! Betsy says she has had “hip replacement, ovaries out, spinal fusion surgery (that had the longest recovery period), and then cataract surgery in the left eye and then the right eye. (Amazing results with the cataract surgery: I no longer need contact lenses or reading glasses.) So I am back to hiking, biking, and swimming, and I hope to get back on the tennis court and pickleball court in August. On the bright side, the timing was fortunate because I did not have to forego any travel or gatherings given the shutdown with COVID.” At this writing, Bill Van Sweringen, ME ’75, was “planning on visiting Cornell in early September to meet with Chi Psi fraternity brothers and alumni post-pandemic.” He misses the printed Cornell Alumni Magazine! In family news, his daughter has started a medical residency at the U. of Michigan.

Daniel Schadler, PhD ’74, wrote, “I retired in 2015 after 40 years on the faculty of Oglethorpe U. in Atlanta, GA. I enjoy growing large disbud chrysanthemum flowers and I am currently the president of the National Chrysanthemum Society. I am the only (and likely the last) accredited chrysanthemum judge with credentials from NCS in the State of Georgia.” Kudos to classmates who already know the definition of a disbud chrysanthemum—or even know a chrysanthemum judge! Lastly, our congratulations go out to Hope Comisky, who is the chair of the employment and ethics and professional responsibility practice groups at Griesing Law. She was named by Best Lawyers as the 2022 Lawyer of the Year for Employment Law Management in the Philadelphia area.

From spinal fusions to saxophones, the Class of ’74 is an intriguing bunch. Keep the news coming. ❖ Molly Miller Ettenger, molly.ettenger@gmail.com; Lucy Babcox Morris, lucmor1433@gmail.com; Jim Schoonmaker, js378@cornell.edu. Online news form.

1975

“On the move” seems to be the theme of our column this month, as so many of our Cornell friends have not only changed home and office locations but have toured both in the US and abroad. I traveled with Scott Keenum ’76 to visit my longtime friend and Delta Gamma sister Karen Leung Moore and her husband, Jim, who relocated from St. Louis to Somerset, NJ, in the fall, enabling them to be much closer to their son’s family in Princeton. While Karen continues to manage her medical equipment sales firm headquartered in St. Louis, she also enjoys being able to spend more time with their 9-year-old twin granddaughters, beginning with a week of sunshine in Florida with the entire family. We’re looking forward to Karen and Jim being back on the East Coast, where impromptu Cornell gatherings will be more frequent.

Another classmate who has recently relocated is Brian Dawson. After 44 years of service at Travelers in Baltimore, MD, Brian has retired as a technical specialist and moved to Lewes, DE. He and Patty will now enjoy relaxing in their new home near the beach, which I’m certain will be the site of many gatherings of his family and Cornell friends.

Karen Moore shared information about some of the great trips taken by other friends and classmates. Ann Welge Schleppi and her husband are having fun traveling throughout the country in their RV. Samuel Kim, ME ’76, and his wife, Julie Yu, enjoyed an Italian adventure to Florence, Cinque Terre, Siena, San Gimignano, Pisa, and the Chianti region of Tuscany last summer. By all accounts, the scenery and the food were fabulous! Vicki Cummings’s home base is in Asheville, NC. She is loving life, having taken advantage of plenty of opportunities to fulfill her bucket list, hiking and traveling around the US—and what’s not to like about the scenery and artistic community of Asheville!

In addition to our world-class travelers, the Class of ’75 includes several authors with recent publications. Passionate about financial literacy, Rodney Brooks is a veteran financial journalist whose columns are currently found in US News & World Report and AARP’s Senior Planet. He has also written for the Washington Post, USA Today, and TheStreet.com; been a contributor to National Geographic, Next Avenue, and Forbes; held reporting and editorial positions for the Bulletin in Philadelphia, the Asheville Citizen-Times, and the Ithaca Journal; and authored numerous articles and books about personal finance and retirement planning. Published in fall 2021, his most recent tome is Fixing the Racial Wealth Gap, drawing upon his experience as a financial advisor to African Americans.

Chuka Ndubizu, MS ’76, has penned a personal story that chronicles his struggle as an ex-Biafran soldier who came to the US to obtain an education, and his difficult experience in Ithaca when he arrived. Going to America begins in Nigeria soon after the Nigerian/Biafra war in 1970, when it was extremely difficult for a young lgbo man to obtain a passport and a US student visa, and goes on to reveal the difference between the expectations of a young African student as he struggled to come to the US and the realities he experienced upon arrival. While Dr. Ndubizu lacked the money to pay for an Ivy League education, he had tremendous faith and determination to succeed—and indeed he was successful as an alumnus of Cornell’s undergraduate and graduate Mechanical Engineering program. Another Class of ’75 author is Winsor Jenkins, whose book Game of Teams: Discover How to Become a Collaborative Leader was published in February 2021 and is available on Amazon. Winsor is founder and president of Winsor Jenkins & Assocs. LLC, based in Boise, ID. His company specializes in collaborative leadership development, including both leader and team coaching.

James Ross, JD ’82, has penned two award-winning historical fictions. Hunting Teddy Roosevelt, published by Regal House in 2020, is the story of an attempted assassination of Teddy Roosevelt while he was on safari in Africa in 1909. It won the Independent Press Distinguished Favorite award for historical fiction and the American Fiction Award in the adventure/historical category and was a finalist for two other national awards. James’s other book, Coldwater Revenge, published in 2021 by Level Best Books, is the story of two brothers involved with the same woman, and the mayhem that ensues when one brother begins to suspect the other of helping her cover up a murder. To date, this second novel has won the Firebird Book Award for legal thrillers and the American Fiction Award for mystery/suspense: hard-boiled crime. It was also a finalist in the mystery-legal category for the Readers Favorite Book Award and received a Paris Book Festival Honorable Mention for general fiction. His second book in the Coldwater mystery series, Coldwater Confession, is scheduled for release in April 2022. James has also written short fiction and short stories and is a frequent contributor to (and several times winner of) the live storytelling competition Cabin Fever Story Slam, and he has appeared as a guest storyteller on the Moth Mainstage. His live performances, online stories, newsletter sign-up, and much more can be found on his website. Congratulations to James for the abundant recognition of his literary talents!

Please take a few minutes to send us highlights of your life after Cornell, college friends you’ve seen, and memorable moments on campus, and we’ll share the news in our upcoming columns. To update your contact info with the University, go to this page. ❖ Joan Pease, japease1032@aol.com; Deb Gellman, dsgellman@hotmail.com; Karen DeMarco Boroff, karen.boroff@shu.edu; Mitch Frank, mjfgator@gmail.com. Online news form.

1976

Marise Lada Textor, MS ’78, transitioned away from the corporate world to become an independent consultant, specializing in strategies for advocacy for industry on air quality matters under the Clean Air Act.

Hancock Estabrook LLP is proud to announce that John McCann, JD ’82, has been selected for inclusion in “Upstate New York Super Lawyers” for 2021. John is a partner in the labor and employment practice. He represents management in connection with employment litigation, collective bargaining, labor arbitrations, preparation of employment contracts, formulation of employment policies and practices, investigations, labor audits, supervisory training, and compliance with all applicable employment laws and regulations.

After 26 years at Banner Health, 21 years as a chief medical officer, Paul Stander became the associate chief of staff, geriatrics and extended care at the Phoenix V.A. Health Care System in 2014. He is involved in patient care; teaching students, residents, and fellows in geriatric and palliative medicine; and administration of a large department. Paul was also appointed to the Maricopa County Dept. of Public Health, conveniently timed to coincide with a once-in-a-century pandemic. He’s also serving on the board of trustees of Vitalant Inc., the second-largest blood banking organization in the country, and he is the chair of the board of Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Arizona. Younger daughter Kelsey married Michael Grossman (a Princeton grad; oh, well) and they live in L.A., where she is a nurse practitioner for UCLA and he works for Goldman Sachs. Older daughter Karli is engaged to be married in March 2022 and lives in San Francisco, where she works for Stanford U. Paul’s lesson from the pandemic: “Take nothing for granted and live every day to the fullest.”

Bruce and Kim Stone Reisch ’84 moved out of their home of 34 years (an 1870 Victorian) and into a much smaller house on one and a quarter acres, just two miles away. They love their new place but miss their family home. He is still actively working as a professor of grapevine breeding and genetics at Cornell AgriTech, where he enjoys working with great colleagues. Their three kids all live and work in Boston—though the work is remote these days. Bruce’s most satisfaction in life now comes from family, friends, wines, and vines! He is amazed by our resilience through challenges and the rapid scientific advances resulting in the treatments and vaccines.

In July 2020, John Rodis stepped down as president of Saint Francis Hospital in Hartford, CT, and started his own healthcare consulting company, Arista Health LLC. The focus is to help health systems and hospitals drive quality, safety, and patient experience. He wrote a book titled You Put Your Life in Their Hands; its aim is to educate consumers of healthcare to become better “shoppers.”

Because of the pandemic, Vito Brancato says life has changed in several ways: visiting family and friends, the constant need to wear a mask, not being able to listen and dance to local music (especially GrassRoots in Trumansburg, NY), and eating out, to name a few. Vito works for Discover Cayuga Lake, a nonprofit educational and tour-boat organization on Cayuga Lake. He is a narrator, educator, and crew member on the MV Teal, a tour boat, and you should all check them out when you are in Ithaca. Two years ago, his house at Sheldrake Point on Cayuga flooded out. Now he is back living in Trumansburg. His granddaughter who lives in Tucson just received her first communion. At the risk of sounding corny, Vito says that being in love with his partner, Peggy, for the last 16 years is the best thing in his life. His main takeaway from the pandemic is the realization of how fragile life is and that it should not be taken for granted.

Richard and Debra Sabin Nemchek find satisfaction these days by: learning without exams and required written assignments; growing their 3-year-old granddaughter’s (Sophie) picture book library; anticipating the marriage of their younger son, Kyle, and future daughter-in-law Annie Gumpel; and seeing the success of daughter Cara ’05’s reading intervention practice in NYC and online. Their biggest takeaway from the pandemic is that knowledge is power.

After 35 years, Steven Stein moved from Connecticut to New Jersey to be closer to family. He is working in real estate rentals, mortgages, and development. As of May 2021, his seventh grandchild was on the way. The most satisfaction in his life comes from spending more time with family and meeting new people in the community. The pandemic has taught him that most of us are flexible in what we do, to our betterment. Some people may be irrationally inflexible in their beliefs and actions.

Stephanie Mendel Hayano left corporate life last spring and moved from New York to The Villages, FL, with her husband, Carl. She is active in the local kayak group and is kept busy exploring the beautiful springs and rivers in the state. On a sad note, Stephanie’s father, Ernest Mendel ’52, passed away in December 2020. Stephanie gets the most satisfaction in life from being close with and spending time with family. It’s important to stay active, get outside, and focus on positive, enriching things to do. ❖ Lisa Diamant, Ljdiamant@gmail.com; Pat Relf Hanavan, Patrelf1@gmail.com. Online news form.

1977

Thanks to the ongoing efforts of Alexandra Bond ’12 from Cornellians, co-class correspondent Mary Flynn, and many of our classmates, we have yet more news to report. This will begin the second in our series “Tales from the Plague Year+” (the + denoting that the plague has been going on for longer than a year, if anyone needed reminding). We even have a new variant (more about this later in the column).

Monica Huffman Posey reports that after five years as president of Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, her contract has been renewed for another five years. She has spent 29 years at the institution. Monica is the first African American female president of a major educational institution in the Cincinnati area. Congratulations on this accomplishment. Great to see another pathbreaker from our class.

Tom Lord, BA/BME ’77, reports that he is happily situated in perpetual social distancing in Green Mountain Falls, CO, in the mountains west of Colorado Springs. He was planning to take his first international trip since attending COP25 (the UN Climate Change Conference) in Madrid to attend COP26 in Glasgow, if all went off as planned. His efforts these days are associated with regulatory and compliance activities associated with helping firms manage and control their carbon-related transactions—assuring that carbon is controlled with the same risk and compliance programs as any other tradeable commodity. This has overlapped into mentoring in programs like MassChallenge, a startup accelerator in the energy or water side of ESG (environmental, social, and governance) activities. Tom will try to make our 45th Reunion, but if not, he assures us that he will make our 50th (which would be the first he has gone to). He will have to solve how to attend both the Arts & Sciences and Sibley School reunions at the same time. Tom has three kids and no grandkids (yet). His daughter finished her master’s in Korean language at Oxford in 2020 in the midst of the pandemic.

Sharon Dolin, PhD ’90 (sharonjdolin@gmail.com) is still teaching poetry-writing workshops. Her memoir, Hitchcock Blonde, was published by Terra Nova Press in 2020. Her translation of poems by contemporary poet Gemma Gorga, Late to the House of Words: Selected Poems, won the Malinda A. Markham Memorial Translation Prize and was just published by Saturnalia Books. She also received a 2021 NEA Fellowship in translation. Congratulations on these accomplishments! What gives Sharon the most satisfaction is writing poetry and being involved with her synagogue community. Her 22-year-old son, Samuel, moved last June to Jersey City with his girlfriend into his first apartment and is working at DTCC. Sharon has extended her talents and has been painting with watercolors and playing the ukulele.

Joyce Lynum Frett retired from early education and is living in Niagara Falls, NY. She has two adult children and two grandchildren and says she will likely relocate to be closer to her children. Currently she is trying to reduce the clutter accumulated from teaching and parenting—a work in progress, she notes. Joyce has been active in the Cornell Black Alumni Association (CBAA).

Michelle Freedman Brill and husband Michael live in East Brunswick, NJ. After 12 wonderful years as a family and community health sciences educator with Rutgers Cooperative Extension, Michelle will be retired as of January 1, 2022. She will remain active in her work as a breastfeeding advocate and educator with the New Jersey Breastfeeding Coalition by co-chairing the New Jersey Breastfeeding-Friendly Child Care Designation Program. What brings Michelle the most satisfaction nowadays are her children and grandchildren.

Now it is time for my latest jeremiad regarding all things COVID and pandemic. For those of us for whom the novelty of the pandemic had worn off (just kidding), along comes Omicron. What do we know about this latest flavor of virus, as of this writing in December 2021? Apparently, it spreads very rapidly, perhaps more so than the Delta variant, and has been associated, preliminarily, with less severe disease in South Africa. They have a younger population than we do, so this experience may not be extrapolatable to the US. There were reports on Twitter that Omicron may be more resistant to vaccines. Before you get agita, a rule of thumb for me is that I don’t get my science from Twitter; we will have to wait for more complete, peer-reviewed scientific reports. There is every evidence that vaccination still mitigates the severity of COVID, even from Omicron. What vaccines still do is prevent the virus from entering into the bloodstream and the lungs, where it can and does cause damage. The strategy remains the same: the way to prevent spread is to continue to wear masks indoors, per the CDC recommendations, and get vaccinated (that includes the boosters, which appear to provide extra protection against Omicron). This will reduce spread and virus replication, which leads to the emergence of more contagious variants of the virus.

mRNA technology will likely not be going away soon, as it is being used to develop mRNA vaccines against the Omicron variant if needed (it may not be). Beyond that, mRNA therapeutics will play a large role in the future as a therapy for a variety of diseases. There have been pre-clinical and early clinical studies in malignancies and in autoimmune diseases. Coming full circle, there was a small clinical trial using mRNA to promote blood vessel growth in patients with heart attacks, which was presented at the American Heart Assn. annual meeting in November 2021. I say “coming full circle” because one of the developers of mRNA therapies initially wanted to study mRNA therapies for heart attacks in the 1990s. There is a very interesting article on the development of mRNA therapies in the Wall Street Journal, which is worth reading.

Again, here’s to renewed travel in 2022, including to our 45th Reunion. Speaking of our 45th (where did the time go?), a shout-out to Donna Darragh Copley and Mary Flynn for putting together preparations for the Reunion. You can go to our class Facebook page and class website (yes, we have both). Save the date, June 9–12, 2022. Class headquarters will be at Carl Becker House on West Campus. Everyone can help by contacting friends, roommates, and teammates to encourage them to come. CU in June! Please stay safe, be careful, and follow the science. Best wishes. ❖ Howie Eisen, heisen@pennstatehealth.psu.edu; Mary Flynn, maryflynn1@me.com. Online news form.

1978

When I saw the plethora of emailed updates I received, my first thought was: “Holy Triple Sui, I hit the jackpot!” For obvious reasons, the common thread among these updates is the pandemic and how our resourceful classmates are dealing with it.

Steve Southwick writes: “I am still living in California, but after 35 years we will be making our way to Florida. Lots has changed in California in 35 years. So many problems. We will be building a new home in Florida and are really looking forward to the change. My wife and I are busy with work and play. My wife is a nurse from West Africa (Liberia), and I am managing some investments and doing some farming and developing new varieties of fruits, which are being patented and licensed to global partners. Our health is great, and even though we live in California, we have not been locked down since food and healthcare are both essential. We traveled to San Blas, Panama, in 2020 and Tanzania and Zanzibar in January 2021. Lots of local adventures throughout the US in 2020 and 2021. I was in Lebanon in 2019 and near the Syrian border with refugees working with agriculturalists to improve food production and supply. We have been very fortunate. The academic training I received at Cornell was critical in my life. I hope that this can be said by those currently enrolled and recent graduates as they reflect.”

Patrick Singer celebrated 40 years in sales with Newport Meat Co. in Southern California. Now owned by Sysco, it’s one of the largest volume distributors in the US for Certified Angus Beef. He resides in San Diego, and he and wife Robin have two daughters and two grandsons. He comments, “Just had my second ACL surgery but am otherwise very healthy and active. Still skiing the black runs.”

We occasionally get correspondence from classmates who attended Cornell’s nursing school, like Brenda Smith-Booth, who graduated with a BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing). “While I ended up getting a doctorate in clinical psychology, some of the very, very best years of my life were spent in critical care nursing. I do believe these were special years, shielded for the most part from divisive politics. The morale factor was key. It’s so very corny these days to talk of a higher purpose, but it was there.”

Jan de Roos, PhD ’94 (Sarasota, FL) recently moved to Florida after teaching at Cornell for 31-plus years, although he plans to keep his Ithaca home as a summer place. Jan reports, “Retiring during COVID has been interesting. I’m embracing the opportunity to have a fresh start on routines, interests, and time spent with family, and a new place. I recently lost my oldest daughter to a long battle with colon cancer and moved my youngest daughter to Washington, DC, to start her career after she graduated from GWU. My daughter’s death was a watershed event, but I am grateful for all the support I get from family and a group called the Compassionate Friends. Radio-controlled model sailboat racing is an interesting hobby. There is a world-class sailing facility where I can take my DF95 (0.95-meter model boat) and there are races three days per week.”

Hanna Hasl-Kelchner, MBA ’78 (Durham, NC) is helping executives, managers, and entrepreneurs conquer business issues hiding in plain view that matter to their bottom line with her Business Confidential Now podcast that entered season seven in January 2022. It’s available wherever podcasts are streaming and at businessconfidentialradio.com. She finds tremendous satisfaction helping people have “aha” moments that help them be more successful and prosperous in their business.

Carol Boyd Amos, ME ’80 (Hockessin, DE) is the recipient of a Maude’s Award, which recognizes innovation in Alzheimer’s and dementia care. Carol introduced the Caregiving Principlein 2018, which states: “‘Needs of the loved one’ minus ‘needs filled by the loved one’ equals ‘needs to be filled by the caregiver(s).’” The loved one has needs and will be able to meet some of them; the unfilled needs define the role of the caregivers. As the disease progresses, the loved one will be unable to fulfill as many needs, therefore increasing the role of the caregivers.

Another Delaware denizen (Wilmington, to be exact) is Gary Holcomb. Gary and wife Julie traveled recently to Newport, RI, for son Dave’s wedding. Gary is president and CEO of Compass Precision, a manufacturer of precision metal components in Charlotte, NC. “I was working remotely before COVID-19 made it more acceptable! Job is great—very fortunate to be paid to do stuff I love doing.”

In the medical field, Ted White received his PhD from the U. of Michigan and worked at the Netherlands Cancer Inst., the U. of California, San Francisco, and the U. of Washington, Seattle. He is now the dean of the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences at the U. of Missouri, Kansas City. In his research, he studies yeast and fungi that cause disease in humans, focusing on how these fungi develop resistance to antifungal drugs. He is the Marion Merrell Dow professor and a fellow of both the American Academy of Microbiology and the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science. He is recently married to Dennis and is living in Prairie Village, KS.

That’s all the news that we can fit this time. Stay healthy, happy, and sane, and check our next column for more updates! ❖ Cindy Fuller, cindy@cindyjfuller.com; Ilene Shub Lefland, Ilene.lefland@gmail.com. Online news form.

1979

Greetings to all! As I write this column, the Omicron variant is surging, particularly here in Manhattan, and I can only wonder where we’ll be by the time this column is in print. Perhaps closer to seeing our way out of this pandemic? One can only hope.

As reported in a recent Cornell Dept. of History newsletter, David Langbart, a diplomatic records archivist, received the first-ever Anna K. Nelson Prize in Archival Excellence from the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR). David has worked at the National Archives for 44 years, starting as an intern in 1977. He credits the late Cornell professor and diplomatic historian Walter LaFeber, his freshman seminar leader and later adviser and friend, with impacting his life and career direction. More about David’s fascinating accomplishments can be found here.

Cindy Estis Green—CEO and co-founder of Kalibri Labs, a big data analytics firm specializing in hospitality—was a featured speaker at Cornell’s Nolan School of Hotel Administration. You can read more about Cindy’s impressive career at this link.

Michael Kaufman (mkaufmanscpc@gmail.com) wrote in from St. James, NY. Although he retired a few years ago, he is still involved in government and has served for the last decade as a commissioner on the Suffolk County Planning Commission (along with fellow Cornellians Errol Kitt ’81 and John Condzella ’07). Michael is also one of the chief environmental officials on the Suffolk County Historic Trust, overseeing various local mansions. Sadly, he reports losing his mom during the first COVID wave and says he’s been “hiding in my bunker since I saw COVID coming in late January 2020. No restaurants, no travel, Zooming all day.” Michael adds that “takeout food, surfing the web for Caribbean vacation spots, and a day without Zoom,” are the things that bring him satisfaction these days.

Geoffrey Hewitt, MPS ’79 (washingtonirving1972@gmail.com) of Morrisville, NC, has been retired for almost ten years after a career in hospitality that included work at Rockefeller Center. His twin 33-year-old sons are both pursuing business paths: Brent is completing an MBA at Duke, and Eric lives in California, where he is employed by EA (Electronic Arts) and worked on the development of Apex Legends, the second-most-popular video game worldwide.

On the grandbaby front, Cindy Green of Manhattan reports that daughter Claudia Green Cohen ’09 gave birth to her first child, Dax, in October 2021. And son Ben Green Cohen joined the Cornell “family,” as a FinTech student in the Johnson School’s MBA program.

As for my own news, I (Danna Levy) have kept busy throughout the pandemic with various academic pursuits, as well as freelance work as an annual report writer for various healthcare nonprofits. My husband, Jeff Riback ’75, and I managed to take some strategically planned trips when the timing seemed safe, including resumption of our “grand tour” of the 30 Major League Baseball stadiums. This past summer, we caught the Mets in Cincinnati and D.C. We are hoping to pick things up in April with the Yankees in Arlington, TX (stadium number 25). Fingers crossed! And adding to the grandchildren among us is Lily Sage, born last May to daughter Jaclyn and son-in-law Michael. She joins big sister Ella Jade, age 3.5.

Please help us keep this column interesting by sending in your news! Use the online news form or submit an email directly to any of your class correspondents: ❖ Danna Levy, DannaGOA@gmail.com; Linda Moses, Lindakmoses@gmail.com; Cindy Ahlgren Shea, Cindy.Shea01@gmail.com.

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1980s

1980

I hope you are enjoying this break from Zoom meetings, buying food and clothing on your computer, paying bills on your computer, watching movies on your computer, and reading the newspaper on your computer to peruse these Class Notes on your computer. It makes me look fondly upon the punch cards we used for our freshman-year engineering computer courses. You occasionally got out of your seat to put the punch cards in the feeder, and you were next to real people you could smell (not always a good thing) and touch (rarely a good idea).

Here’s the latest news from some of our classmates, in most cases sent in by computer. We’d love to hear from your computer too; please tell us what you are up to by having your computer contact one of your class correspondents (email addresses at the end of this column) or by using the online news form.

Carol Moore Dyer sold her 120-year-old home in Redlands, CA, and has moved to the Central Valley region of California, specifically Paso Robles. Carol is thrilled to no longer be dealing with the maintenance of an old home and stays healthy by bike riding, running, and swimming. The riding is particularly enjoyable due to the large contingent of mature riders in the area, with many group rides. Carol and her partner use a 1990s steel tandem to ride over the rolling country roads. They are also old movie buffs (silents through 1950s) and when not biking they enjoy watching these old movies on Amazon Prime. The pandemic has provided them an opportunity to simplify their lives and enjoy what they have at home.

Stacy West Clark (stacy@stacyclarkmarketing.com) is based in Pennsylvania and reports that she loves her work as a consultant to lawyers and law firms on the East Coast. Her specialties include helping them grow their revenues and improve client and referral source relationships. Business is booming. She started her consultancy 30-plus years ago after working as a lawyer for the global law firm of Morgan Lewis, eventually serving as its first marketing officer for six years. She has written articles for Pennsylvania’s oldest legal journal (the Legal Intelligencer) and has a show on a local TV station called “Legal Talk with Stacy Clark.” You can view her shows and articles at this website.

Sukwah Lai Lin reports from Los Angeles that she has a passion for music and is posting her compositions on her website. She is also attending school part time to pursue an undergraduate music degree. When not working on her songs, Sukwah is involved with a wellness company offering liposomal-based products for immune system support. She shares that she knows she is doing what God calls her to do and adds that her 93-year-old father and siblings moved to California this past year.

Michael Fey, PhD ’80, won four New Jersey Senior Olympics gold medals in his age group (the 50-yard butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle swimming). In 2018 he finished seventh in the 50-meter backstroke in the FINA (International Swimming Federation, in English) Masters World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea. He holds an all-time record for the 100-meter individual medley in swimming in New Jersey and plans on breaking more records. In the last few years, he has also trekked up Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa, up Machu Picchu in Peru, and to the Mount Everest Base Camp. It’s not all about physical activity, though; he owns his own business as a numismatist, has published several books on silver dollars, and is the senior instructor for the American Numismatic Assn.’s Summer Seminar.

Margo Sue Randall Bittner reports that her Class of 1980 husband, Jim, has been appointed the interim director of the New York Horticulture Society. This is in addition to being president and general manager of the family-owned Bittner Singer Orchards, located in Appleton, NY. Appleton is an appropriate town for the orchards, in that organic apples are one of its specialties. Margo and Jim got married in Anabel Taylor Hall in August 1979.

Roberta Walter Goodman (roberta_walter_goodman@yahoo.com) continues to spend her weekdays with her three horses and is very excited that her homebred 3-year-old Trakehner filly, Ruby, has been started uneventfully under saddle. Her trainer says that Ruby is an old soul, and she is excited to see how she continues to develop. Roberta remains deeply involved in her synagogue, spearheading their 2021 fundraiser that exceeded goals despite the COVID environment. Roberta’s biggest news has been the August birth of her first great-grandchild, Aidan Benjamin, the son of Roberta and husband Lenn’s oldest grandson. He’s a smiley, cuddly baby, and they are thrilled! ❖ Chas Horvath, chas@horvaths.org; David Durfee, drd225@cornell.edu; Leona Barsky, LLB39@cornell.edu; Dik Saalfeld, rfs25@cornell.edu. Online news form.

1981

Who can believe how fast time is going? I’m writing this just before the new year, and I wish you all a happy 2022! May this year bring you joy, happiness, and lots of travel. I, for one, am hoping to travel more, and I yearn for the days when the virus is behind us! I know that I was sorry to miss the Red Hot Hockey game vs. Boston U. The Class of 1981 had 59 attendees with their families and many Cornell children.

Some of those that attended included: Bill Ten Hagen, Martin Koffman, Claudia Bloom with son Ben, Ed Baum with daughter Claire Baum ’16 and nephew Eric Baum ’15 (son of Howard ’79 and Ellen Zukofsky Baum ’80), Katherine Furman Pasik with daughter Aerin Leigh Pasik ’21, and John and Laura Dake Roche—who tell us that they took the train in and back (very late …) from Connecticut along with their daughter, Carolyn Roche ’20! The class had so much fun and were blessed with a Cornell hockey expert and scribe: Michael ’80 and Lisa Kremer Ullmann’s niece’s hubby, Matt Durham ’07, who was yelling out the BU goalie’s mother’s cell number. Now that’s different! Michael and Lisa were also at the game, accompanied by their son Matt Ullmann ’12 and his wife, Sheri (Jiang) ’12. Cornell brought the Kelley-Harkness Cup back to Ithaca for a third consecutive time, defeating Boston 6–4 in the eighth edition of Red Hot Hockey at Madison Square Garden.

On another note, I did speak as part of a wonderful panel, “A Conversation on Fundraising and Philanthropy” (I am an annual giving officer for Hadassah Women’s Zionist Organization of America). Here is the link to watch. Also speaking on behalf of JPMorgan Chase, Celia Rodee was on a panel celebrating International Day of Persons with Disabilities. She was amazing and quite prolific. I had the privilege of watching the Zoom! I also finished speaking to many students who were applying to Cornell either ED (early decision) or regular decision. I was happy to find out that “my ED” got into Cornell and their legacy will continue!

I have recently seen Eric Messinger ’83 in NYC. We always have a good time catching up and I have fun chatting away with him. John Hoffman has spent the last year and a half directing the film Fauci for National Geographic. To say that it was an utterly unique way to experience these times is an understatement. Along with his co-director and a stupendous creative team, John had the great privilege of making a portrait of a doctor, scientist, and long-serving public health leader whose character was forged by HIV/AIDS, only to be tested in unimaginable ways by COVID. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend that you do! It was fascinating.

Bob Zeidman recently published a novel, Animal Lab (Swiss Creek Publications). Jon Patterson ’77, DVM ’81, retired from Michigan State U. College of Veterinary Medicine (MSU CVM) in March 2019, after a 32-year career as a faculty member in the Dept. of Pathobiology. His wife, Karen, retired from MSU CVM, where she worked in medical records, in 2015. They are enjoying retirement together, managing their small ten-acre farm, which includes three horses, two dogs, and three cats. Jon has been able to exercise, draw, paint, and do more things! He loves spending time with his wife, relaxing together and just doing chores around the farm. Phebe “Clark” Ladd Swope is a system architect for Red Hat Enterprise Linux. She is also the VP of training for the Information Systems Security Assn.’s Colorado Springs chapter, helping grow more cybersecurity professionals. Her kids live in Houston. Thanks to their Christmas visits to Colorado, they knew how to handle the snowstorm and freezing temperatures when the storm hit. Clark volunteers with the Office of Emergency Management.

Howard Worman (hjw14@columbia.edu) tells us that his son, Maxwell ’25, started at Cornell (A&S) in the fall. Go Big Red! I know that I just finished having one-on-one discussions with prospective Cornell students by Zoom (no more in person), and each one is so talented! I wish them all the best of luck. Marianne Van Sicklin Knight is a knowledge management specialist with Americares, building on the MS she obtained from Columbia in information and knowledge strategy. Kudos and good luck to you, Marianne, on your new gig! Steve Ritchey’s daughter Leah recently got married; we wish the whole family well!

Lori Balton told us that she received a delightful early Christmas present—she was so happy to be accepted into the Television Academy, a great complement to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as such great work is happening on screens large and small these days. Lori gives special thanks to Orin Kennedy, a pioneer in the location management field—whose credits include such shows as “The Twilight Zone,” “Ally McBeal,” and “Doogie Howser, M.D.,” to name a few—who insisted she belonged in the field and started waging the fight so long ago. Decades later, Lori is grateful.

Please send me your news! New job, new travels, new retirement gig? We want to hear about it! Stay safe and stay well! ❖ Betsy Silverfine, bsilverfine@comcast.net. Online news form.

1982

We are getting close to our 40th Reunion. It is hard to believe that so much time has passed since we roamed the streets of Collegetown, Ithaca, and the Cornell campus. Much has changed over the years (the Chapter House, the Nines, Triangle Books, the Chariot, and others are long gone), but much has also remained. It is still a beautiful spot with tons of energy and activity. Hopefully we will all be able to get together to celebrate in June. In the meantime, please stay in touch and continue to send us your news.

We received some great news from our classmates Jeff and Dori Meeker Wolfe (Houston, TX; dori.wolfe@gmail.com). Dori notes that they welcomed their fifth grandchild into their family. Congratulations! Not surprisingly, Dori also writes, “Our world has gotten a little smaller due to COVID.” Dori has remained busy working as a solar developer, and Jeff has been working as an entrepreneur.

While some of us are busy with grandchildren, others are still busy raising children. David Ilan Weis (diw3@cornell.edu) writes that he and his wife, Claire, have three children, ages 16, 12, and 10, the oldest of whom is beginning to think about college plans. He gets great satisfaction from “watching our children mature and grow (slowly) into the young adults they will become.” David has been busy with a new business venture, Mayweather Boxing + Fitness, a partnership with Floyd Mayweather Jr. The first location opened in January in Culver City, CA, and other locations are planned for Redondo Beach, Brentwood, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and Marina Del Rey. David reports, “I am very excited for this next stage of my career.”

From Silver Spring, MD, Josette Williams, BA ’91 (ladydayjo@gmail.com) writes that she has been serving as the president and CEO of the Ivy League Alumni of Color (ILAC). Information regarding ILAC and its activities can be found at ivyleaguealumniofcolor.org.

One of our retired classmates has written us regarding his recent activities. Timothy Muck (imothymuck1992@gmail.com) shares that he has been battling multiple sclerosis, “which I have largely put under my control.” Timothy says, “Each year in this part of Washington State there is a celebration called Seafair, which includes a noisy, gas-powered boat race. I have begun floating (no pun intended) the idea of making this an electric boat race. It seems to make more sense than trying to make the Indy 500 an electric car race.” He adds, “About 28 years ago, when I was still a licensed attorney, I spoke to criminal justice offices about the need for alternatives to incarceration for first-time, nonviolent drug-law offenders in Washington State. A few years after I began my little campaign, a ‘drug court’ was developed to help non-violent drug users battle their addictions.” Now a retired public interest lawyer, Timothy is considering several new career opportunities including a “Zoom meeting between kids in Shoreline, WA, where I live, and kids in Nairobi, Kenya. Yes, Zoom tourism …”

On the personal side, I (Doug Skalka) can report that I attended my daughter’s Class of 2020 Cornell graduation this past September with my wife, Susan, and our three daughters, Abigail ’19, BA ’20, Elizabeth, and Rachel. As you might imagine, my daughter’s unplanned, rapid departure from Ithaca in March 2020 was a traumatic event and we did not have high expectations when she returned to campus for a delayed pandemic-impacted graduation ceremony. Cornell far exceeded those expectations; the ceremony and the welcome we all received was fantastic. We were amazed to see how many graduates and their families returned to campus 18 months after they had been forced to leave. It was a great weekend and a proud moment to be a Cornellian.

Thank you all for staying in touch and responding to our many inquiries for news and information. I hope to see many of you in June. Until then, stay well and enjoy a beautiful spring. ❖ Doug Skalka, dskalka@npmlaw.com; Mark Fernau, mef29@cornell.edu; and Nina Kondo, nmk22@cornell.edu. Online news form.

1983

Happy New Year to all! It’s currently a brisk winter day in the nation’s capital, but I’m hoping for warmth and a return to somewhat normal times before too long. If any class members are interested in joining Jon Felice, Stewart Glickman, and me (Tom Helf) as a volunteer class correspondent for the Class Notes, please send me an email (tomhelf@aol.com) and I’ll do my darnedest to rope you in.

Congratulations to radiologist and nuclear medicine physician Carolyn Cidis Meltzer, who was recently named the dean of the Keck School of Medicine of USC and will begin her new duties this March. Carolyn had been the William P. Timmie Professor and chair of the Dept. of Radiology and Imaging Sciences at Emory U., where her research focused on the brain’s structure and function during normal aging, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and psychiatric disorders later in life, as well as cancer imaging. During Carolyn’s 15 years at Emory, she served as executive associate dean of faculty academic advancement, leadership, and inclusion, and the chief diversity and inclusion officer. Carolyn also led the Academy for Radiology and Biomedical Imaging Research as president, served on the National Advisory Council for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, and led a joint initiative between Emory and the Atlanta V.A. Health Care System to strengthen care and reduce barriers to accessing health services for military veterans. Best of luck to our accomplished classmate!

Marcia Crayton (aicram@aol.com) recently checked in from Springfield Gardens, NY, where she resides with her husband, Alvin Williams. In June 2020, Marcia retired as an assistant principal from Westbury High School on Long Island, after having previously worked as a Spanish teacher and with the NYC Dept. of Education. Marcia currently spends her time as a travel agent/advisor/consultant, a freelance photographer and musician, and a travel blogger.

John Salatti (lawriters@hotmail.com) lives with his wife, Andrea, in the hill country of Western Germany (specifically, Gummersbach, North Rhine-Westphalia), and continues to operate his business, LAWriters, which he started in the ’90s. LAWriters teaches anyone, but particularly lawyers and judges, how to write more effectively, and offers both in-person and online programs to domestic and international clients. John also edits legal documents for private practitioners, edits books, and enjoys “tromping the hills and meadows where we live and meditating in the silence.”

Phyllis Ho (info@phyllisho.com) works as a clinical general dentist and a trained forensic dentist for the Suffolk County Medical Examiner, and she lives in Manhattan with her husband, Andreas Benzing. Phyllis is also the current president of the American Society of Forensic Odontology (where she is involved with establishing national standards) and is a fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. In Phyllis’s spare time, she swims with a local Masters program, and has lately found a passion for marathon and cold-water swimming, including several swims around Manhattan Island!

This past September, class officer Mark Rhodes and his wife, Kim (Osborn), met up with class president Nancy Gilroy at the Seabright tennis club in Rumson, NJ, for a Cornell tennis team fundraiser. They also had the opportunity to meet former Wimbledon and Australian Open Champion Dick Savitt ’50 and played tennis on beautiful grass courts under a clear blue sky with former team members from the Cornell Class of 1962 and 1970.

Also in the fall, I took a day trip to Greenwich Village to eat dinner and catch some live music with John Gaines, Rob Smith, and Mark Censits. Mark owns and operates the wine and spirits retailer CoolVines, with locations in Newark, Jersey City, and Hoboken. Rob, Mark, Ira Langstein, Roy Passer, and I are hoping to re-unite the Bourgeois Blues Band to play at our 40th Reunion, provided of course that we can find some young folks to schlep our equipment.

Any news you would like to share? Please send an email to any of us so that we can include your news in future columns. You may also submit an online news form or post on our class Facebook page. Take care! ❖ Tom Helf, tomhelf@aol.com; Jon Felice, jbfelice@jbfelice.com; Stewart Glickman, stewartglickman@gmail.com.

1984

And thus, the year 2021 has come to an end, and we’re looking forward to great happenings for the Class of ’84 in 2022. By the time you read this, spring will be around the corner!

Caroline Kunz Reeves ’83, BA ’84 (ckreeves2001@yahoo.com) wrote to say that she recently published a collection of poetry and photography, co-authored by her husband, Allan, that shares their travels across the globe and provides reflections on social justice. The book is available through Amazon, Google Books, and their publisher, Redhawk Publications.

Anne Kelly shares that she has become executive vice president at AMC Networks. She joined the company more than a decade ago as its senior vice president for corporate and securities matters and as corporate secretary. In her more than ten years with the company, Anne has increased her role to include oversight of their compliance, data privacy, and cybersecurity efforts, in addition to her significant responsibilities as corporate secretary. In her expanded role, she is responsible for all of the company’s corporate governance, securities and finance, compliance, cybersecurity, data privacy, and other general corporate legal matters, and she oversees the company’s in-house lawyers and outside counsel relating to these areas. Many congratulations and best wishes to Anne in her new role!

José Nieves got together with John Hunsinger and Ed Seydel ’83. They visited José to give some emotional support after a serious car accident in October. Cornellian friends are indeed friends for life!

So, folks, the class really needs your support in any capacity. You may volunteer as preparations for Reunion 2024 begin to take place, or perhaps you may want to volunteer in any other capacity. Visit our class website, where you can see a list of officers and their roles. You can reach out to any of us, and we will put you in contact with the right people.

And with this, I bid you aloha until next time. Remember, you all have “happs” in your life that you can share with the members of your class. Send your news through the online news form or directly to your class correspondent: ❖ José Nieves, jmn12@cornell.edu.

1985

Hello all! Well, at this writing we have made it through 2021! However, I feel we are taking two steps forward and one step back, nationally. Working in healthcare, all I see is case after case of COVID. Mind you, staff have all been fully vaccinated, and the elderly residents of the continuing care retirement community (which includes over 450 independent living, assisted living, and skilled nursing residents) have as well. Many are boosted at this time too, but Omicron doesn’t seem to care. Fortunately, this variant can be milder, but people are still sick—the elderly who have underlying illnesses are sick longer, and staffers are still not allowed to work if they test positive, which puts the whole operation at risk and at substandard levels. Not to say that those that show up are not working hard, but we are tired. And I know that this is not just where I work. It is everywhere.

This brings to mind when my husband and I went to a restaurant last month and waited about 20 minutes for a table, though there were about seven available in the small, neighborhood Italian restaurant where we have celebrated anniversaries, birthdays, and date nights. There was one server. The poor guy ran around serving everyone. He was a great waiter, was always smiling, didn’t need a pen to write down the order, and forgot nothing. Thankfully, no patron was rude, or yelled for a check, or demanded anything from this young man. I’m sure everyone over-tipped him as we did, but if he is the only one there, night after night, I feel for him and the rest of the skeleton staff.

So, as tired as we all are, as frustrated, exhausted, and stressed out as we all are—wherever we are—just remember that when you are in a situation where you are requiring a human being for help, service, or any assistance, be grateful that they showed up. Showing up is the name of the game these days. Service may not be five stars, but they are there. Be thankful.

Many of you may still be working remotely. Some may have retired early (you lucky devils!). I would like to hear from you all and see how you are coping with this pandemic! What are you grateful for during this time? Have you changed anything in your life because of this? New career? Did you move? Please write, even just to share your frustrations or to share the wonderful things that are happening even in these, some of the hardest times our generation has seen.

I have one single piece of news from an ’85 classmate. Curtis Wells “CW” Dewey, DVM ’89, recently received the dvm360 Veterinary Heroes Award for integrative medicine! Dr. Dewey is president of Elemental Pet Vets—located just outside of Ithaca in Freeville, NY—which focuses on rehabilitation, herbal treatments, acupuncture, and other modalities of traditional Chinese veterinary therapy, including food therapy and Tui na massage therapy. The Veterinary Heroes program celebrates the achievements of outstanding veterinary professionals who have worked to push the field forward and make a difference in animal care. CW wrote that he thought this might be worth posting in alumni news—I am sure it is! Congratulations!

If you have any news, big or small—recommendations for Netflix or Paramount+ series, movies or books you have enjoyed, or people from Cornell you’d like to reconnect with—write me and I will be happy to add you in. Stay well, stay safe, and let’s get through this, people! ❖ Joyce Zelkowitz Cornett, cornett0667@comcast.net. Online news form.

1986

Hello, Cornell classmates! I, Ellen Nordberg, am honored to be a new class correspondent and am writing from Boulder County, CO, where I live with my aerospace engineer husband, and where we bike, ski, hike, and get outdoors as much as possible. I’m a freelance essay writer and also teach water fitness classes outside year-round (my 81-year-old mom joins us in her wetsuit!). Our identical twin boys are freshmen at CSU Fort Collins, where they major in mechanical engineering when they’re not choreographing TikTok dances. We miss East Coast water, though, and this past fall I got to kayak with my freshman-year roommate Lauren Jensen Corning (Belmont, MA) in New Hampshire and cruise the Delaware River by Philadelphia with Beth Arveson Adams (lysbethadams@gmail.com) and her husband, Dan ’84, ME ’86. Their daughters have both graduated from college, and Beth has recently retired from a career in technical sales for environmental services, HVAC, and recycling companies. Her LinkedIn profile now reads, “Retired to put family and friends first and give back!”

I loved watching Drew Martin play varsity basketball for Cornell and was happy to catch up with him. Drew (drew@siliconbeachadvisors.net), who has his own tech consultancy, Silicon Beach Advisors, writes, “I’m semi-retired and transitioning from playing basketball to golf and surfing, since I’m living in San Diego. In September, I got together with seven other ATOs and met in Vegas for a fun weekend.” Drew was also featured in a Wall Street Journal article in August 2021 about how parents can retain the family togetherness they created during COVID—Drew and his three 20-somethings continue to surf together.

Betsy Mead Noel (elizabethmnoel@gmail.com; Ithaca, NY) is a sometime ski visitor to Colorado. She says, “I am retired from dentistry, but am working as a crossing guard for Belle Sherman Elementary, am reading applications for the Johnson School, and will be substitute teaching for Ithaca city schools beginning this week. I am single and on the market.” Betsy stays in touch with her freshman-year roommate, Deirdre Maltais Heisler (dmh0828@gmail.com; Burlington, MA), who tells us, “I have been working for Epsilon in the field of marketing analytics for the past 31 years. My husband of nearly 35 years, Adam, and I are living outside of Boston and have four children: Alyssa, Kira, Alexander, and Nicholas. Our youngest is a high school senior and will be heading off to college next year, making us free birds. We are looking forward to some long overdue travel in the upcoming years. In the meantime, we are enjoying all the ‘lasts’ of the school years, which will be coming to an end after 23 years. It’s time for a new era! We welcomed our second granddaughter, Izabel, this past April. Her big sister, Zoey, turned 2 in August. We enjoy visiting them in North Carolina whenever we get a chance.”

Jonathan Flaks (jonathan@jfcoach.com; Mt. Kisco, NY) writes, “I just celebrated 23 years since I started my leadership coaching and strategic planning business in 1998. We support a lot of executives through job changes (résumés, LinkedIn, interviewing, etc.) and we lead powerful business meetings and communication building events for organizations. My older son (of two) is making a living in the music business in Los Angeles. My younger guy just finished Binghamton U. and is working at Chappaqua Performing Arts Center as they revive the 300-seat theater for concerts, lectures, and shows. Kate (my fiancée) and I bought a sailboat in October 2020 and it’s been fabulous fixing it up and sailing it around Rhode Island, Stamford, CT, and places in between. I left an eight-piece rock band I played with for ten years and started my own thing, Acoustic Clambake, playing classic rock, yacht rock, and a splash of reggae.”

Suzanne Rowan Kelleher (Saratoga Springs, NY) is a staff writer at Forbes, covering travel trends and industry news. Previously she was a longtime freelance travel writer, including several years at Forbes as a senior contributor. She is married and has three college-age kids. Suzanne has remained in contact with a handful of Cornell friends, especially her freshman roommate, Janet Elie Faulkner, and Christine O’Sullivan, MBA ’92.

Writing from Weatogue, CT, Allison Passer Ostern (allisonostern@gmail.com) says, “Our son Jake will graduate in December from the U. of Connecticut, and our younger son, Bennett, is a freshman at Trinity College playing golf and hockey. I am a meeting planner with Cigna focusing on producer/broker meetings and events. COVID threw a wrench in live events, but they are coming back in spring 2022. For fun I play on two USTA tennis teams, which I love. This fall, our “302 crew” had a mini-reunion. We rented a large home outside of Ithaca and had a great time reverting to our college days! In attendance were: Leesa Storfer, Laurie Miller Brotman, Sheryl Haft Flug, Laurie Greenberg Goldheim, Mara Block Bernstein ’85, Merrill Rudin, Janet Weissman Pfeffer, Linda Scall Ragin, Barbara Kaufman Seeley, and Cindy Kaufman.

Here’s hoping that by the time you read this, the snow conditions in Colorado have improved. Anyone coming out this way, feel free to look me up! ❖ Ellen Nordberg, ellen@ellennordberg.com; Toby Goldsmith, toby.goldsmith@gmail.com; Lori Spydell Wagner, loriwagner86@gmail.com; Michael Wagner, mwagner123@gmail.com. Online news form.

1987

Hello, classmates! I am very excited about our upcoming 35th Reunion, which will be held June 9–12, 2022. I hope to see many of you there. Here is the link to our class Reunion page. Also, please make sure you “like” our class Facebook page, where there will be updates as our hardworking Reunion chairs—Mary Bowman, Melissa Hodes Friedenberg, Alejandro Padilla, and Claudia Regen—continue to make plans. There’s lots of news to share, so let’s get to it!

Geoff Achilles (herculesgm@yahoo.com) writes with wonderful news that he and his wife welcomed their first child—a son—in May 2021. “Other than the sleep deprivation, he is a blessing and a joy.” At the end of 2020, Geoff was appointed the director of the Green Hydrogen Task Force at Air Products and has been “heavily involved in leading the energy transformation” for his company.

Michael “Mick” Gilbert, MS ’90, is the director, energy and sustainability, at Fairstead—a real estate developer. Recently, Fairstead announced a $500 million equity commitment to help expand the nation’s housing for families most in need. Here is the news release, which quotes Mick, if you’d like to learn more. Prior to joining Fairstead, Mick was manager of business development for Con Edison; a commercial energy manager for a large industrial company; a consultant for several domestic and international clients; and an employee of the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Karen Lootens Odden (kmodden@gmail.com) just published her fourth Victorian mystery. The novel—Down a Dark River—is set in 1870s London and features “former thief and bare-knuckles boxer Michael Corravan, now an inspector at Scotland Yard faced with a series of beautiful dead women sent floating down the Thames in small boats.” Kirkus described the mystery as “a harrowing tale of unbridled vice that exposes the dark underbelly of Victorian society.” And New York Times bestselling author Charles Todd praised Down a Dark River as a “complex and compelling mystery. A must-read for mystery fans!” Karen’s previous novels, also set in 1870s London, featured young women protagonists who turn amateur sleuth when someone they love is injured or murdered. Karen’s current book is “darker, with a professional detective and themes of revenge and empathy,” and is available in hardback, e-book, and audio.

Brian Kelley is a professor at the U. of Texas at San Antonio. He instructs courses in 5G-new radio communications, the internet of things (IoT), advanced wireless communications, and software engineering. He recently was named principal investigator in 5G experimental site networks. The things that bring the most satisfaction to Brian’s life these days are “reading, research, and spending time with my friends and family.” As for new hobbies, Brian has “discovered some new ways to cook crispy chicken.”

Lastly, Katherine Long reports that she recently celebrated 14 years of service as a member of Senator Patrick Leahy’s Vermont staff. “While my boss has announced his retirement at 81, I am looking forward to exploring new career opportunities over the next year, while continuing to serve Vermonters through the end of 2022.” Katherine’s daughter, Ella, is dancing and studying geography at the U. of Vermont. Her son, Ronan, is working in an after-school program. Katherine has been running regularly throughout the pandemic and recently ran two half-marathons.

Be sure to see our next column for more news from our classmates—and please keep sending your news our way. We love hearing from you! You can submit an online news form or email any of us at the following addresses: ❖ Lisa Burns Griffin, LAG77@cornell.edu; Whitney Weinstein Goodman, wwg5@cornell.edu; and Liz Brown, etb29@cornell.edu.

1988

I hadn’t been on Cornell’s campus in a long time but got the opportunity to visit this past fall as my old housemate Laura Bloch was visiting her daughter, Ella Yitzhaki ’24, and invited me to stay with her in the Statler Hotel. The last time I stayed at the Statler was as a senior in high school when I visited Cornell for the first time for my on-campus interview! Does that even happen anywhere anymore? Anyway, as you all know, Cornell’s beauty in the autumn cannot be compared, and I drank in the crisp air and the colors of the leaves, while revisiting old haunts on the Hill and even the farmers market downtown. It was nice to be back and nice to see students on campus and out and about this year as the COVID restrictions had been lifted from last year. If you can swing it, I urge you all to make a trip back to Ithaca to revisit some wonderful memories and the most beautiful campus of them all!

Rob Rosenberg writes, “My wife, Pat Cook ’89, and I recently had the pleasure of returning to campus to visit our daughter, Grayson Rosenberg ’23, and to finally celebrate the long-delayed commencement of our son, Reed Rosenberg ’20. The weather was spectacular, and the weekend coincided with Homecoming, so we were able to catch up with classmates and friends including Howard and Pamela Goldberg Greenstein and Charles ’86 and Adrienne McVicker Reing ’87. We also got to see Darryl ’89 and Laura Magid Lapidus, whose son David ’20 was also back for the Class of 2020 Commencement. Congrats again to the Class of 2020!”

Diane Weisbrot Nagle (dwnagle@icloud.com) also sent in news saying, “Lots of changes! Left California (Redondo Beach) almost two years ago after 26 years and relocated to Clearwater, FL. Married Tom Nagle (BU ’83) in January. (We met at the ice rink I trained at in El Segundo, CA, as he was on layover from his commercial pilot job, skating in a public session and wearing a BU hockey jacket …) Bought a house in May and am totally enjoying sitting on our dock and bird watching. My son, David, is to graduate from USC this December, and my daughter, Kiana, is working on college transfer applications—I’m desperately trying to get her to move out to Florida with us.”

Renee Roth-O’Neil is still working remotely at the company she owns and operates, an IT consulting firm called Tech Valley Talent. Her son, Gavin, is in his junior year of high school while her daughter, Ashlyn, is at RPI pursuing an architecture degree. The things that bring Renee the most satisfaction these days are helping her children pursue their dreams, spending time with family and friends, and her successful career and business. Renee writes that for her, the biggest takeaway from the pandemic was learning how much we all depend on each other to do the right thing all the time.

Well, that’s it for the news this cycle. If you would like to read a longer column next time, send in those updates! Your news can be big or small, happy or sad; it’s nice to just to hear from you and stay connected. You can share via the online news form or send any of us an email. Until next time! ❖ Debbie Kaplan Gershenson, dag97@cornell.edu; Aliza Stein Angelchik, aangelchik@sonorusbrand.com; Lynn Berni, smartymc66-cornell@yahoo.com.

1989

Hopefully all is well with you and you’re staying healthy and safe and enjoying the end of winter/start of spring. We are in desperate need of your news! I know you may think life has been “boring” during the two-plus years of the pandemic, but we still want to hear from you. Here’s what we have for you this time. Hope you enjoy the updates. Send us some news and we’ll feature you in the column too!

Congratulations to Susan Comninos, whose first book of poems, Out of Nowhere, was released in February. The collection explores what it means to be a woman, a daughter, and, above all, human. She brings a feminist, relevant voice to the old themes of love, loss, and finding beauty in broken people. More information about the book can be found here. Susan is an award-winning poet and is also a freelance arts and culture journalist, covering books, authors, and literary trends for the Atlantic online, the Boston Globe, the Chicago Tribune, the Christian Science Monitor, and the Jewish Daily Forward.

Jill Ruderman Sandford submitted news online to let us know that for the last six years, she has been chief legal officer of FirstLight Fiber Inc. They are private equity owned and operate a robust fiber optic communications network and 15 data centers in six northeastern states. Jill wrote, “I was so excited to visit my son, Tom ’24, on campus one Sunday in September and to see Cornell through his eyes. While many things have changed in the last 30 years, there is still something unique and special about Cornell that remains constant.” John Dunn ran into Beth Grous when they were both moving their daughters in on move-in day in August. John came across the country from Seattle to Ithaca and Beth came from Sudbury, MA.

Lots of news from Dina Weiss Linfoot, who wrote, “As a physician, the pandemic has been particularly difficult. I was honored to be chosen to be a participant in an eight-day medical mission trip to Israel this past July as a Healthcare Hero. I traveled with three dozen other US and Israeli women/mothers in healthcare with the Momentum Organization. We visited with medical specialists, EMTs, and other healthcare-related industries, in addition to the typical spiritual and religious sites, while bonding and de-stressing together. After graduating from high school in 2020 and taking a gap year in Israel, my son, Noah, is now a freshman at the U. of Georgia. I spend a week each summer going back to overnight camp—in the North Georgia Mountains, as volunteer camp doctor. On my way up to camp this past summer, while passing through Atlanta, I was fortunate to enjoy the hospitality of Jamie Platt Lyons and her husband, Jonathan, who have the BEST basement guest room of all time!”

Rob Ceske sent in news about his daughters. “Our oldest, Marie ’20, was glad to finally be able to celebrate her graduation in person in September. She has been working as a litigation paralegal at Wachtell Lipton since graduation and recently moved to NYC. Our youngest, Claire ’23, is a junior studying Biology. She has been doing research in Cornell labs, working as an Intergroup Dialogue Project facilitator, and enjoying all that Cornell has to offer.”

The following update came from Laura Pearlman Kaufman: “I started my business, a franchise called Office Evolution, in February 2019. Office Evolution is a shared workspace concept offering private offices, conference rooms, coworking, a business address, and more, with flexible terms in a friendly, professional setting. Although things were rough during the beginning of the pandemic when people couldn’t come to the office, lots of people are now able to work remotely and don’t want to be in the house anymore, so they come work at our office! My Westport, CT, location is especially busy with people who used to do the long commute to NYC and are now happy to be working five minutes from home. I am gratified to be running a local business that supports other small, local businesses, provides better work/life balance so people can spend more time with their families, and even benefits the environment by decreasing commutes. Our son Elliot ’23 is a junior Hotelie and lives in the same off-campus Greek house, now ZBT, where I used to hang out with my dear friend Dina Weiss Linfoot when she lived there in AXO! So, we have three Kaufman Cornellians in our family, all from different undergrad colleges: John (A&S), Laura (Hum Ec), and Elliot (Hotel). Some of the hockey chants have changed and apparently Louie’s Lunch has replaced the Hot Truck (shout-out to Shortstop Deli, where the WGC and PMP live on), but the gorges, Slope Day, and Psych 101 in Bailey Hall are forever!”

I, Stephanie Bloom Avidon, reunited (over the phone) with Kathy Dedrick Urban after 25 years. Thank you, Facebook. It’s always nice to catch up with friends. Kathy is a nurse living in Smyrna, TN, and has two kids. She keeps in touch with Libby Bauer, Sharon Bender ’90, and Leslie Wagner ’88, who all live in Maryland.

Please send us news about you, your family, and other classmates you keep in touch with. We love hearing from you. Either email us or submit an online news form. Thanks! We can’t wait to hear from you! Your class correspondents: ❖ Stephanie Bloom Avidon, savidon1@hotmail.com; Kris Borovicka Gerig, kgerig@columbus.rr.com; Anne Czaplinski Treadwell, ac98@cornell.edu; and Lauren Kidder McGarry, laurenkiddermcgarry@gmail.com.

Back to the top

1990s

1990

I’m happy to share that, as this column reflects, our classmates have been busy gathering together, traveling, and pursuing career changes and other adventures.

Homecoming took place in Ithaca last fall. Kevin Kozak attended his first one since graduating and reports that he “had fun at the Alpha Gamma Rho tailgate hosted by Jeff King ’93.” Last fall, Kevin also enjoyed trips to Hawaii and to the Del Mar Breeders’ Cup in California with Jim Ward and Michael McMahon ’93. Kevin has three daughters, including Allie ’24.

Red Hot Hockey returned to Madison Square Garden over Thanksgiving weekend. Classmates Karen Saul Miller, Vivian Althaus Harrow, and Andy and Arlene Goldstein Stein were all there to cheer on the Big Red in its win over Boston U.!

Melyssa Plunkett-Gomez, who lives in Newton, MA, has been traveling for marathons. When she and husband Andres Gomez-Rivas turned 50, they ran the San Francisco Marathon together and have since “gotten hooked”—running the New York City Marathon next and Chicago last fall. Melyssa will run the Paris Marathon on April 3. She works in sales strategy and business development at Allego, a software company she helped found in 2013. Daughter Emma graduated from Bates College in 2019, is doing research at a hospital in Boston, and will start a PhD program this fall. Son Carlos is a sophomore at Bates.

I, Nancy Solomon Weiss, took a road trip south last fall with my husband, Aron Minken ’80, and saw two classmates along the way. Melissa Chalson Leff was in Asheville, NC, when we were, and we spent a day together exploring the River Arts District. In November, Melissa left a position as principal court attorney for the NYS courts for a new role as special counsel for the NYS Office of Court Administration, Office for Justice Initiatives. She is “very excited to start work on a new initiative for the courts.” Melissa’s son, Jacob, is a senior at the U. of Pittsburgh in the emergency medicine program and has already earned his paramedic certification. Melissa’s daughter, Ally, is a sophomore at Ohio State U., where she studies speech and hearing sciences.

Also during our road trip, we stayed in Atlanta, GA, with Randi Freedman Meyer and husband Gary, who recently celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary! Randi works as an accountant, and Gary, a pharmacist and longtime pharmacy owner who sold his business several years ago, bought an established fence installation company last year. The new business “has kept us quite busy the past year, especially with the increase in construction during the pandemic, and it has been a family affair. My son, Jared, a US Marine veteran, and my daughter Jessica are both in college and spent last summer helping out with everything from computer spreadsheets to reorganizing the warehouse. I help with the bookkeeping and budgeting, and our youngest, Abbi, who is in eighth grade, goes out occasionally with Gary to assist as well.”

Rob and Susan Portman Price, MRP ’91, also embarked on a big change, “moving from Sharon, MA, to ‘Music City,’ Nashville, TN, in December 2021! Plenty of room for Big Red visitors!” Rob still loves his role as CEO of School of Rock. Sue plans to get back to painting and to continue volunteer work, including serving on the Cornell Hillel board of trustees. Oldest son Sam ’20, BFA ’21, graduated from Cornell last May with a BFA and works in Boston as a social media manager for a nonprofit and on his art business. (Check out Sam’s art here.) In December, middle son Max graduated early from Tufts U., where he studied international relations and economics, and moved to Washington, DC. Youngest son Jack is in his second year of a five-year co-op program at Northeastern U., majoring in computer engineering.

Janet Stone McGuigan shared news of her new role serving the town of Greenwich, CT: “Hello to our classmates in Greenwich! I’m always thrilled to meet fellow Cornellians; there seem to be a lot of us here. I have recently been elected to the Board of Selectmen. I welcome any advice or guidance you may have for me, and of course the excuse to share happy memories of our time in Ithaca! For those alumni living outside of New England, a board of selectmen—a form of government dating back to Colonial times—serves as the executive governing body of the town.”

My co-correspondent Allan Rousselle wrote two short stories that were published in anthologies last year, including “Tomorrow Could Have Been Different,” which appears in Space Force … and Beyond, a collection of science fiction stories. “My story is a Catch-22-style sendup of life aboard a military space station, where everything is built by the lowest bidder. I’m particularly glad to be included in this anthology. One of my earliest fiction sales was to an anthology that included a story by a dear friend of mine who died recently. He had encouraged me to submit to the Space Force anthology after he had sold a story to the editor, and this turned out to be my last opportunity to share a table of contents with him.” (Check out Allan’s stories at his author page.)

Have a new job? Travel plans? Please send in your news for our future columns. ❖ Nancy Solomon Weiss, nancyswm@outlook.com; Allan Rousselle, agr2@cornell.edu; Rose Tanasugarn, nt28@cornell.edu. Online news form.

1991

Greetings from Ruby Wang Pizzini, your former class treasurer and now one of your new class correspondents, alongside Wendy Milks Coburn, Joe Marraccino, Susie Curtis Schneider, and Evelyn Achuck Yue. We’re so excited for the opportunity to help share what you’ve been up to over the last 35 years (and counting)!

A little about me: as an undergrad, I lived in Founder’s Hall, Balch Hall, and, lastly, a Collegetown apartment across the street from the Palms. I’m still very close with my roommates, Arang Hoang Cistulli, Irene Ngai Tennant, and Rosemary Chi Christiansen ’89, MS ’92, as well as with my Chi Omega sisters. Although I was a Neurobiology and Animal Sciences major in the College of Arts & Sciences, it took me almost a decade (and a few job changes) to discover my true passion in marketing and communications. I owe a lot of my good fortune to the time I worked at MetLife—from the many colleagues who have become lifelong friends, to my first rent-controlled Manhattan apartment, to my MBA from Fordham U. (hooray for tuition reimbursement!), and, finally, for my husband Mark, with whom I was set up on a blind date by a co-worker. Life does work in mysterious ways! Today, I’m a principal, marketing and communications, at BNY Mellon and live in the lovely suburb of Glen Ridge, NJ, where we enjoy attending events hosted by the Cornell Club of Northern New Jersey. In addition to staying involved with our class, I’ve enjoyed volunteering on the Cornell Annual Fund Committee of Northern New Jersey (NNJ), first as a committee member since 2012 and then as chair since 2017. If you live in NNJ and would love to join a terrific group of volunteers who are passionate about helping to equip our alma mater “to do the greatest good,” feel free to reach out (ruby.pizzini@gmail.com). Mark and I are the proud parents of Grace, 18, and Milo, 13. Although we were sad our daughter did not apply to Cornell, we are thrilled that she is currently living her best life at the U. of Michigan, studying chemical engineering and cheering on the Wolverines from the “Big House” all the way to the Orange Bowl!

I’m delighted to share that my dear friend Arang Cistulli (Arang.Cistulli@gmail.com) and her husband, Joe, celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary this past December. In addition to successfully launching their two grown kids, together Arang and Joe have run 11 marathons, five half-marathons, and numerous 10Ks and 5Ks! Arang is a founding member and chairperson of membership for the Orchid Giving Circle (orchidgivingcircle.org), founded in 2015 with the Texas Women’s Foundation. In response to learning that less than 1% of all philanthropic dollars go to Asian communities, a group of Asian women came together to provide grants and foster philanthropy for the North Texas Asian community. In seven years, membership has grown to 86 professional women of Asian descent, and collectively they have awarded over $1 million to 30 local organizations benefiting underserved Asian communities.

The India Education Diary reports that Cornell Trustee David Einhorn recently became the namesake of the David M. Einhorn Center for Community Engagement. The center will help equip students with the knowledge and empathy needed to address pressing social problems. “Community-engaged learning fosters self-reflection and enables students to build positive interpersonal relationships with people of different backgrounds and world views,” says David. “It helps them recognize how interconnected and interdependent we are—as neighbors, colleagues, and citizens.”

Perry Ground was recently featured in a CALS Coffee Break—which is a new series spotlighting some unique work and passions of CALS alumni in half-hour-long webinars. In “Stories of the People from the Longhouse,” Perry brought stories about the beliefs, traditions, and history of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) people to life. He is a Turtle Clan member of the Onondaga Nation of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. He’s been a storyteller for over 30 years and learned many of the stories he shares from elders of Native American communities. Perry is also the Frederick H. Minett Professor at the Rochester Inst. of Technology.

Shelley Stuart (sls1@cornell.edu) writes that she is currently looking for online facilitation work while simultaneously building up her once sidelined bee business, just in case. Recently, she has also launched a Kickstarter campaign for a new one-gallon batch brewing kit called “Brew a Braggot.” You can learn more at her website.

You may have heard a familiar voice from Lynah Rink on ESPN+, sharing play-by-play commentary for Big Red hockey alongside Grady Whittenburg (fun fact: Grady was also the announcer of Big Red Hockey our senior year) this past season. It belongs to none other than Tim Vanini (who has an amazing voice, by the way). Back in the day, Tim (jtimvanini@gmail.com) and teammate Doug Derraugh set a Cornell record by playing in all 119 games in their four years on the team. Tim’s parents may have set their own record by attending all 119 home and away games, but that’s a story for another time. Tim will continue to announce the women’s games on a regular basis—and the men’s as well, on occasion, so stay tuned!

That’s all the news for now. Many thanks to all who sent in updates. Keep the news coming! Submit an online news form or contact any of us directly: ❖ Ruby Wang Pizzini, ruby.pizzini@gmail.com; Evelyn Achuck Yue, evelyn_yue@yahoo.com; Susie Curtis Schneider, theschneiders@live.com; Joe Marraccino, joe.marraccino@wfafinet.com; Wendy Milks Coburn, wmilkscoburn@me.com.

1992

Hello again, Class of ’92! Here’s some news to keep the good vibes going in 2022. Kick back and enjoy!

Dylan Willoughby, MFA ’95, tells us he has had poetry published in Sledgehammer Lit (Guernsey), the Laurel Review, the Sparrow’s Trombone, Bloom Magazine (Scotland), Fahmidan Journal, Goat’s Milk Magazine (Canada), ZiN Daily (Croatia), and Melbourne Culture Corner (Australia). His poems are forthcoming in Pareidolia Literary, Ample Remains, and Amethyst Review. Also, Dylan’s photography is forthcoming in “Rejection Letters.” He is working on a memoir and two new Lost in Stars EPs. Congrats on your continued accomplishments!

Tish Oney writes that over the past couple of years she has authored two books for publisher Rowman & Littlefield. Peggy Lee: A Century of Song was released in July 2020 in connection with Lee’s centennial birthday. Tish’s book Jazz Singing: A Guide to Pedagogy and Performance caps her 25-year career as a professor of music and was released in February 2022. Congratulations! Tish is an active professional singer, composer, conductor, musicologist, and author, writing articles for Classical Singer Magazine, JazzTimes, and All About Jazz. She serves as mentoring chair for the professional journal Jazz Education in Research and Practice. Tish is also a minister of music at a local church and enjoys mentoring foster children.

Classmate Jack Schaedel has joined national employment law firm Jackson Lewis PC in the firm’s Los Angeles office as a principal. He joined the firm from FordHarrison and has more than 25 years of experience pursuing his passion, which is advising California and nationwide employers and litigating on their behalf. Jack has advised and represented clients ranging from small startup companies to large multinational corporations with more than 100,000 employees in a variety of industries, including manufacturing, professional services, and hospitality. Best of luck to you, Jack!

That’s all for now! Keep your news coming, Class of ’92! ❖ Lois Duffy Castellano, LKD2@cornell.edu; Jean Kintisch, jmk226@cornell.edu. Online news form.

1993

Happy spring, all, and here’s to a great 2022! Can you believe that we are only a little more than a year away from our 30th Reunion, June 8–11, 2023? Let’s hope our Reunion is in person because there’d be nothing like catching up one-on-one after a pandemic roller coaster! But for now, here are the latest successes and updates from our classmates.

Congratulations are in order to Nora Bensahel (A&S), who has co-authored a new book! Check out Adaptation Under Fire: How Militaries Change in Wartime, published by Oxford University Press. The book identifies the characteristics that make militaries more adaptable, illustrated through historical examples and the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and delves into how they can adapt quickly and effectively in the future.

After working in Spain for 15 years, Aaron Hicks and spouse Holly (Creech) ’94 are back in the Ithaca area for a six-month sabbatical. They enjoy walking in the gorges and seeing the clock tower. They are also spending time with extended family and three of their four adult children, including son Thomas, who is proudly Class of ’23 in the College of Arts & Sciences. Way to keep Cornell in the family, Aaron and Holly, and welcome home!

Whit Watson reports that he and spouse Tracey find themselves empty nesters now that their daughter is attending Boston U. and their son is at Northwestern. Of course, this translates into many, many flights to visit them. Professionally, Whit has been at Golf Channel for the last 11 years, where he broadcasts tournaments 20–25 weeks a year. Over the course of his career, he also called college basketball games for NBCSN and has done radio work for Westwood One. 2022 is an exciting year for Whit because he is transitioning from a full-time staff member to a freelance role. He would love to hear from anyone in the broadcast industry who has been through this kind of transition. And of course, Whit is playing a lot of golf and would be happy to meet up with classmates should they find themselves in central Florida looking for a game. Please drop Whit a line and take him up on his offer at whitjwatson@gmail.com.

Please keep in touch! Drop any of us a line. We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you at Reunion 2023! ❖ Mia Blackler, miablackler@yahoo.com; Theresa Flores, taf6@cornell.edu; Melissa Hart Moss, melimoss@yahoo.com. Online news form.

1994

Happy spring, Class of ’94! If you haven’t submitted news in a while, please take a moment to fill out an online news form or write to any of us directly! Have you moved recently? Has your family grown? Have you started a new job, or found renewed meaning in an old job? Have you started any new hobbies (or bad habits) recently? Whether things in your life are changing or stable, we want to hear from you! ❖ Dineen Pashoukos Wasylik, dmp5@cornell.edu; Jennifer Rabin Marchant, jar1229@yahoo.com; Dika Lam, dikaweb@yahoo.com.

1995

As we officially hit the two-year mark of the pandemic, I am continuing with our stories from classmates about how they have navigated these times, what they’re doing, and how their perspectives may have changed. If you haven’t submitted your update, it’s never too late—I always love to hear from classmates and share their news (plus, I’m now running low on news for our next installment).

First, an exciting update: Libby Aherne (elizabethaherne@yahoo.com), about whom I wrote in the Nov/Dec column as a candidate for the 6th Judicial District of the New York State Supreme Court, WON her election, making her the first woman to hold a Tompkins County Supreme Court seat. Congratulations, Libby! In other news of “Extremely Cool Stuff Our Classmates are Doing,” Adam Lippes designed the outfit of the First Lady of the US, Dr. Jill Biden, for her visit with Pope Francis at the Vatican on October 29, 2021. You can read more about the ensemble, a custom-made jacquard dress and blazer, and about Adam, here.

Moving on to Bridgeport, WV, Frederick Alcantara (alcfre@gmail.com) is on the teaching faculty of the United Hospital Center Family Medicine Residency Program. He says that what brings him the most satisfaction these days is his family. Matt Rader, senior vice president, integrated marketing and analytics at Public Label in Norwalk, CT, was featured in this interview in October. He noted how COVID “is and will be the single most impactful shift for shoppers and retail for a century or more,” with its emergence accelerating digital adoption within the shopping space “at least ten years within the span of 12 months.”

Also in October, for National Eat Better, Eat Together Month, author and chef Amy Riolo launched a “30 Day Mediterranean Lifestyle Contest” with the release of her latest book, Mediterranean Lifestyle for Dummies. And another of our prolific classmate novelists, Brenda Janowitz (brendajanowitz@gmail.com) had her seventh novel, The Liz Taylor Ring, published by Harper Collins/Graydon House in February 2022. Check it out on Amazon or, better yet, at your local bookstore!

Rob Friedman (rob@friedmanpa.com) shared news of his trip last summer to tour colleges. Writes Rob, “I tried to meet up with classmates Alon Barzilay in Philadelphia and Jordan Berman in Princeton, but unfortunately was not able to see either because of tight schedules. We of course also made it up to Ithaca, and our oldest, Sam—who is starting his senior year in high school—really liked Cornell. We spent some extra time in Ithaca and hiked Buttermilk Falls, Robert Treman Park, the Cornell Botanic Gardens, and all around campus. Sam wants to major in computer science, and he was particularly impressed with Gates Hall. I did some reminiscing and even got a new key to visit the Q&D tower, which was a particular thrill. It would be fun to be able to go back for freshman move-in day. Fingers crossed!”

Lastly, Andrew Conn (connandrew@aol.com) writes in from Brooklyn, NY, that, after four years as head of North American communications for BNY Mellon Investment Management, he became head of executive communications at State Street in September 2021. Other recent changes for Andrew, his wife, Kay, and their family include: moving houses three years ago; elementary school graduation for their daughter last spring; writing a novel; and coping with COVID, which Andrew had (and recovered from) toward the beginning of the pandemic. When asked what his biggest takeaway has been over the last 18-plus months, Andrew said, “All the givens, all the routines, everything expected and accepted can be lifted away in a moment. What’s behind that has always been there; it’s the facing up to it that’s the challenge.”

I look forward to sharing—and receiving—more news from all of you! Until then, stay connected and well, classmates. ❖ Alison Torrillo French, amt7@cornell.edu. Class website. Class Facebook page. Online news form.

1996

As I write this, we are in the throes of the holiday season—and all the busy-ness that comes with it. Despite this, I am relishing my new role as one of the class correspondents, as I take this moment of quiet to peruse updates from fellow classmates.

I am currently living in Philadelphia with my husband and three daughters and working at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia at their Feeding and Swallowing Center and primary care network. Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I had the opportunity to meet up with Paul Kuo, who was visiting family in New Jersey, along with his daughter Cassandra ’25, who was wrapping up her first semester in the College of Human Ecology, studying health policy. Paul and wife Ingrid Kuo live in California with their three other children. Paul is director of analytics and media relations at Ballengee Group, a sports agency representing MLB players. Ingrid owns two Nothing Bundt Cakes stores in L.A.

Also in California, Jung Hee “June” Han writes that she and her husband, Charles Choy, moved to California wanting a change in lifestyle. “I am more available to my children now that I am part time and am enjoying them as they navigate high school!” She is working as an anesthesiologist. “As we grow older, our health has been something we don’t take lightly anymore. I had some health issues that gave me a scare, but I am doing well and am enjoying all the precious moments life has to offer.” She writes that despite the challenges of parenting through the pandemic, “we are much closer and stronger as a result of it. During most of the pandemic, I was fortunate to be home with the kids and was able to pick up sourdough baking. I bake sourdough everything—including bagels, bread, baguettes, pizza, and a whole host of other foods.”

Also on the West Coast, Erik Schwiebert, who lives in Seattle, writes that he continues to work on Office for Apple platforms at Microsoft since graduating from Cornell. He just celebrated his 25th year of employment there. He spends his days working from home and enjoying family time with his children. Sadly, his wife, Catherine (Meeks) ’98, passed away last summer.

Please continue to send updates! We love hearing from all our fellow classmates and wish you all a joyous and healthy 2022! ❖ Catherine Oh Bonita, catherine.bonita@gmail.com; Marjorie Polycarpe Jean-Paul, carpo129@hotmail.com; Janine Abrams Rethy, janine.rethy@gmail.com. Online news form.

1997

“In August, I began a new role as director of HR services for Weill Cornell Medicine, with responsibility for talent acquisition, employee relations, learning and development, HR compliance, and immigration,” writes Eric Saidel. “It is thrilling to be ‘back’ at Cornell after 25 years, learning the ins and outs of the medical school and helping to support its mission (care, discover, teach).”

If you haven’t submitted your entry for our Class of ’97 Faces project—ahead of our 25th Reunion this June—please do so at our site here. Can’t wait to see you all in June! ❖ Sarah Deardorff Carter, sjd5@cornell.edu; Erica Broennle Nelson, ejb4@cornell.edu. Online news form.

1998

Greetings, ’98ers! What have you been up to lately? Got a new job? Read a good book? Whether you’ve moved across the country or simply started a new hobby, we’d love to hear from you. ❖ Uthica Jinvit Utano, udj1@cornell.edu. Online news form.

1999

Happy spring, Class of ’99! If you haven’t submitted news in a while, please take a moment to fill out an online news form or write to us directly! Have you moved recently? Has your family grown? Have you started a new job, or found renewed meaning in an old job? Have you started any new hobbies (or bad habits) recently? Whether things in your life are changing or stable, your classmates want to hear from you! ❖ Class of 1999, c/o Alexandra Bond ’12, abb83@cornell.edu.

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2000s

2000

Hello, everyone! How is 2022 treating you so far? I’m sure there are some new endeavors in the works, and I’d like to hear about them.

Lisa Pinsker Munoz has a book coming out next year! According to the press release, “Science writer Lisa Pinsker Munoz has signed with Columbia University Press for her first book, tentatively titled ‘A New Picture of a Scientist: Creating a New Culture for Science That Overcomes Obstacles in Equity.’ The signing includes a collaboration with the Picture a Scientist film team to expand on materials from their award-winning independent film, which chronicles the groundswell of researchers who are writing a new chapter for women scientists. Through personal stories and data, the book will illuminate the scale and scope of harassment and discrimination faced by women in science while interweaving research-based solutions to make the culture of science more diverse, inclusive, and equitable for everyone.” The book is tentatively scheduled for release in fall 2022. That is exciting news. Lisa also was on a podcast for the Society of Women Engineers in late December, where she talked a bit about her time at Cornell. It can be listened to here.

If you have news to share, drop me a note through the online news form, or feel free to contact me at my email address: ❖ Denise Williams, ddw7@cornell.edu.

2001

I wonder if I’m the only one feeling a bit wistful at perhaps being the first generation of Cornell alumni who don’t get to be ornery at the current undergrads about how much harder we had it back in our day. Sure, they have Uber and Google Maps at their fingertips, but who among us would trade places with the kids today, navigating a pandemic during their college years?

The kids will be all right, however. Especially if the lovely thank-you note our class officers received recently from the recipient of our Class of 2001 scholarship is any indication. We’ll refrain from sharing identifying details—if you want to know things like this, consider volunteering as a class officer!—but suffice it to say, we were impressed and inspired by her two-page letter describing her personal journey as the daughter of immigrants, her work experiences and leadership activities while juggling coursework, and her plans for after she graduates from ILR in May.

Now, let’s turn our attention to our own stars, shining brightly in our BrightCrowd book online. (If you haven’t created your page yet, or would like to update it, please do so at this link.)

Ashish Patel, in Houston, TX, is using his industrial engineering degree as chief growth officer/cofounder at CareSet Systems Inc. “I found myself intersecting drug companies with federal data assets. There’s a nexus of impact that ranges from COVID to cancer treatments and everything in between that patients and caregivers endure on the road to recovery,” he writes. It’s a long way from those youthful days at Cascadilla Hall, playing flag football and enjoying the gorges; we hope to see you at our 25th Reunion (June 4–7, 2026), Ashish!

Also staying nice and warm these days, Sharon Ellis is a real estate attorney with two kids in Miami Beach. (I just spent a week there—in between our winter break travels from Delhi, India, to Seattle, WA—dodging COVID at my little sister’s Big Fat Greek Wedding: Omicron or Bust! Wish I had thought to look up classmates in the area, if only for advice on finding a vaccinated babysitter.) Sharon writes, “I loved everything about my experience at Cornell (except the cold weather)! I’m from Florida, so that was a big shock! I remember walking home from the library once so cold, and the snow was coming up from the ground at me. I remember my great friends Amy Gruenhut and Randi Eisner Saffian and all the wonderful smart people I met along the way. I am so grateful for my time at Cornell and the memories I have. I also appreciate the education I received and the Ivy League experience!” She adds, “I encourage anyone to reach out to me at any time if they will be in Miami!” Next time for sure, Sharon!

In Sea Cliff, NY, Joel Maxwell is a newlywed, a new homeowner, and a partner at Marks, O’Neill, O’Brien, Doherty & Kelly. “My favorite memories are of meeting my friends, who are still some of my closest friends, eating in RPU, and walking to class,” he writes. When he wasn’t in class, you could find him playing ice hockey—did any of you play with him or cheer him on?

As for me, Nicole Neroulias Gupte, I continue to stay busy keeping up with all of you, with help from my fellow class correspondent, James Gutow, of Manhasset, NY. In between writing these Class Notes columns, I have a full plate of American Embassy School (New Delhi) board service, curating and creating stories at Trailing-Spouse.com (got one to share?), and editing reporting produced by women in developing countries for Global Press Journal, a nonprofit news outlet. I’m hoping to make up for the disappointment of our in-person Reunion having to go virtual last year by flying to NYC in late April for my 20th Reunion at Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, where I got my master’s degree in 2002 and will be joining the alumni board this year. For those of you lucky enough to still call Manhattan home, perhaps our paths will cross as I cram in my pilgrimages to Grand Central Terminal, a Broadway show (trying to decide between The Music Man and Company), and the finally finished St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church at Ground Zero—fortified by enough toasted sesame seed bagels with cream cheese and paper-plated slices of pizza to tide me over until the Big Apple and I can meet again.

To share news and get 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, NicoleMN6@gmail.com; James Gutow, james.gutow@yahoo.com. Online news form.

2002

Andrea Park Zadd is the executive vice president of Crestmont Auto Group in Cleveland, and at the end of 2021 she became the recipient of the “Ally Sees Her” award as a rising dealership leader. This award—from Ally Financial Inc. and the National Assn. of Minority Auto Dealers—honors women dealership leaders whose lives revolve around helping their communities and promoting diversity in the automotive industry.

Ally is donating $10,000 to two nonprofits with personal significance to Andrea: Korean American Professionals in the Automotive Industry and the May Dugan Community Center in Cleveland. “It’s so important for kids to see someone they can identify with as they dream of a successful future and careers that spark their interest,” Andrea said. “While Crestmont Automotive has many female sales professionals and service advisors, I’m hopeful initiatives like this will inspire more young women to seek automotive retail careers. It’s a dynamic industry and I’m proud of the work we’re doing to create a more inclusive and flexible work environment.”

Theresa Condor was recently appointed chief operation officer of Spire Global Inc., overseeing its weather, aviation, earth intelligence, and space services business units worldwide. She says, “At Spire we use rich global data from the ultimate vantage point of space to create reliable, high-impact insights about the earth, oceans, and atmosphere to power our customers’ initiatives and solve complex challenges.” Theresa was formerly executive vice president and general manager of Spire Space Services and Earth Intelligence.

Andrew Luria recently wrote The Adventures of Charlie Marley: Midnight’s Moment In Time, about “two 12-year-olds and one quirky inventor who race against time, miscalculations, and the intergalactic police to try to change the outcome of the most embarrassing ending in World Series history. Along the way, they meet some of the greatest athletes of all time—Babe Ruth, John Elway, Jackie Robinson, Mary Lou Retton, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, and Michael Jordan—inadvertently playing a part in making their most impactful moments play out just the way we remember them.”

Andrew is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning news and sports anchor. He played college football and baseball at Cornell and semi-pro baseball for the Santa Barbara Foresters. When Andrew isn’t writing children’s books, he loves coaching his three kids in sports and teaching an award-winning broadcasting class at their elementary school. He and his wife enjoy spending time with their family at the beach near their home in Carlsbad, CA, where they live with their two Boston terriers, Archie and Henry. At one point or another, his family also had dogs named Charlie, Emma, Cooper, Muffin, Oakley, Buster, Dizzle, Rocky, and Midnight—all names of characters that can be found in The Adventures of Charlie Marley. ❖ Carolyn Deckinger Lang, cmd35@cornell.edu. Online news form.

2003

Dana Ellis Hunnes’s book Recipe For Survival: What You Can Do to Live a Healthier and More Environmentally Friendly Life was published by Cambridge University Press. Dana says that it “empowers us and gives us the tools, the ways in which we, as individuals, can protect Earth and our own health. These were principles I learned throughout my education in Nutritional Sciences at Cornell.” She adds that, in addition to publishing the book, “I’m also a registered dietitian at UCLA Medical Center and a public health professor at UCLA. I did my PhD research and studied climate change in Ethiopia, where part of my heart remains. I am an environmentalist and advocate.” Congratulations, Dana, and best wishes with the book!

We also heard from Davis+Gilbert LLP that David Fisher, JD ’06, was promoted to partner. David has a concentration in labor and employment law. Congratulations!

We look forward to hearing about the great things our classmates are doing via news and notes submissions; until then, all the best. ❖ Jon Schoenberg, jrs55@cornell.edu; Candace Lee Chow, CJL24@cornell.edu. Online news form.

2004

Carmela Blackman writes, “The past few years I have built a wine consulting business, CB Cellars, to introduce those who are interested to the world of fine wines. If there are any Cornellians who would like to know more about sourcing wines or investing as an alternative asset, please email me at concierge@cbcellar.com.” Send your news to: ❖ Jessi Petrosino, jessi.petrosino@ey.com. Online news form.

2005

Dan Schiff currently leads institutional development at Martha’s Table, a community nonprofit in Washington, DC. He welcomed baby Oliver in April 2020. Katrina Bernardo recently bought a home and moved to the suburbs of New York City. She is working as a neurologist at NYU Langone Hospital—Long Island.

Bryn Fuller Goodman writes, “We welcomed a baby girl into our family in 2019, and every day she teaches us something new.” Bryn is practicing law as a management-side labor and employment attorney at Fox Rothschild. Her husband, Peter, opened his own law firm practicing commercial and labor and employment litigation. Bryn was promoted to partner in the labor and employment department in 2021. What brings her the most satisfaction in life these days? “Laughing with my family and running in Central Park.” ❖ Jessica Rosenthal Chod, chodjlr@gmail.com; Hilary Johnson King, hilaryaking18@gmail.com. Online news form.

2006

I sent out an email to all of my fellow ’06ers a couple of weeks ago, requesting your news for this column! If you responded to that email, check our future Class Notes columns to see your news. And if you didn’t reply, please take a moment to submit an online news form or email me directly with your updates or musings. Got a new job? Read a good book? Whether you’ve moved across the country or simply started a new hobby, we’d love to hear from you. ❖ Kirk Greenspan, kag62@cornell.edu.

2007

Hello, 2007! Hope everyone has settled into the rhythm of the New Year, while staying healthy and safe. Certainly a big change from last year, and I hope everyone is adjusting. As always, my contact info is at the bottom if you’d like to contribute to future columns.

Jumping right in, our classmate Kristamarie Pratt Branciforte of Manchester, CT, is a professor in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program and Master of Prosthetics and Orthotics program at the U. of Hartford. She was also promoted to associate program director of physical therapy, and she designed and installed a new state-of-the-art kinesiology/motion lab that helps quantify abnormal movement patterns, specifically on lower extremities following an injury. “The focus of my work aims to develop and validate clinical tools, particularly wearable sensors, for quantifying altered movement patterns that aid in clinical decision making,” Kristamarie says. And in case she wasn’t busy enough, she became a mom in June 2021 to son Owen and is greatly enjoying watching him grow. Congrats!

Lauren Hirsch is a reporter for the New York Times and DealBook, covering business, policy, and mergers and acquisitions. In November 2021, she gave a webinar at the Cornell Club–New York, where she discussed the topic of vaccines in the office. After her time at Cornell, Lauren went on to earn an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. She has also reported for Reuters and CNBC.

In Saratoga Springs, NY, Joe Anderson is leading Northwestern Mutual’s Anderson Financial Group. From their new facility, they recently made a gift to the Warren and Denyse Mackey Foundation, which provides support for youth, underserved communities, and health initiatives. Keep up the great work, Joe! And lastly, one more congratulatory note to Corey Kaplan, who recently made partner at Davis+Gilbert LLP.

Don’t forget, this is our Reunion year! Who could have imagined that 15 years later, we would have advanced in our careers, built families, lived through a global pandemic, moved across the world, and so much more?! As of this writing, the format of the Reunion is not yet solidified, but hopefully we’ll be able to get together in some way!

I’m looking forward to sharing more exciting stories with everyone. Have news to share? Please feel free to reach out to me or submit online! ❖ Samantha Feibush Wolf, srf29@cornell.edu. Online news form.

2008

Happy spring, Class of ’08ers! We sent out an email to all classmates a couple of weeks ago, requesting your news for this column. If you responded to that email, check this space in the next Class Notes section to see your news! And if you didn’t reply, please take a moment to submit an online news form or email either of us directly with your updates or musings. Got a new job? Read a good book? Whether you’ve moved across the country or simply started a new hobby, we’d love to hear from you. ❖ Libby Boymel, LKB24@cornell.edu; Elana Beale, erb26@cornell.edu.

2009

In February 2021, Molly O’Toole—an immigration and security reporter with the Los Angeles Times—was named the Zubrow Distinguished Visiting Journalist Fellow in Cornell’s College of Arts & Sciences! According to a Cornell Chronicle article about Molly, “O’Toole was one of the recipients of the first Pulitzer Prize for audio journalism in 2020, reporting for an episode of ‘This American Life.’ The episode, ‘The Out Crowd,’ explored the impacts of the Trump Administration’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ asylum policy, which stipulated that asylum-seekers be returned to Mexico to wait for US court hearings rather than being allowed to remain in the country. She has also reported for the Washington Post, the Atlantic, the New Republic, Newsweek, and the Associated Press from Central America, West Africa, the Middle East, the Persian Gulf, and South Asia.” The Zubrow Fellows program brings accomplished journalists to Cornell each year to interact with faculty, researchers, and students. Welcome back to the Hill, Molly! ❖ Jason Georges, jag243@cornell.edu. Online news form.

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2010s

2010

Earlier this year, I sent out an email to you all, requesting your news for this column. If you responded to that email, check this space in the next Class Notes section to see your news! And if you didn’t reply, please take a moment to submit an online news form or email me directly with your updates or musings. Got a new job? Read a good book? Discovered (and subsequently binge-watched) a new show that we should all know about? Whether you’ve moved across the country or simply started a new hobby, we’d love to hear from you. ❖ Michelle Sun, michellejsun@gmail.com.

2011

Can you believe it’s been more than a decade since we graduated? What have you been up to in the last ten-plus years? I know many of you have been traveling, starting new careers, starting families, and more. Please take a moment to submit an online news form or email me directly with your updates or musings. Whether your news is ordinary or extraordinary, we’d love to hear from you. ❖ Class of 2011, c/o Alexandra Bond ’12, abb83@cornell.edu.

2012

Cindy Marinaro, ME ’13, is excited to reunite and reconnect at our 10th Reunion. She is working at the Walt Disney Co., celebrating eight years this February 2022. Cindy is currently a team lead systems engineer in the simulation department, supporting all new attractions at Disneyland and all of their international parks. She recently opened the Amazing Spider-Man Show, which features an advanced, trajectory-tracking, animatronic launching through the air. Now, she is managing the production of two simulators being used by a dozen ride control engineers to test their software for two upcoming attractions.

Cindy lives in Los Angeles and she enjoys exploring the food scene as well as camping and hiking in most of the California national parks—including Lassen, Channel Islands, and, of course, Yosemite. She shares that the absolute best part of being in L.A. is hanging out with two of her best friends from Cornell: Melissa Lee, who is now a chief resident at the L.A. county hospital in pediatrics; and Amanda Dunn, ME ’13, who is now a manager of the Starlink Factory at SpaceX.

Jessica Tapfar has joined The Ned in London as hotel manager. Jessica was most recently director of operations at Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam, where she had been since 2017. She says: “While the building and operation itself is so big, we have the ability to make each guest feel special with our interactions.” ❖ Peggy Ramin, mar335@cornell.edu. Online news form.

2013

Happy spring, Class of ’13! Earlier this year, I sent out an email to you all, requesting your news for this column. If you responded to that email, check this space in the next Class Notes section to see your news! And if you didn’t reply, please take a moment to submit an online news form or email me directly with your updates or musings. Got a new job? Read a good book? Discovered (and subsequently binge-watched) a new show that we should all know about? Whether you’ve moved across the country or simply started a new hobby, we’d love to hear from you. ❖ Rachael Schuman, RASchuman@gmail.com.

2014

Hello, 2014 classmates! I hope you are having a happy spring!

Emilyn Teh is the host, creator, and executive producer of the new weekly show “Costumes N’ Cocktails,” which premiered in October 2021 on YouTube. While recapping favorite TV shows with friends over Zoom during the pandemic, Emilyn was struck by how often conversations turned to fashion. Inspired by the former E! show “Fashion Police,” Emilyn’s show focuses on the fashion choices of TV characters and kicked off its first four episodes with a focus on the new HBO Max “Sex and the City” reboot, “And Just Like That.”

Lara Gentilini and her sister, Justine Gentilini ’12, ran the NYC Marathon as members of Fred’s Team on November 7, 2021. Through their fundraising efforts, the sisters raised over $13,000 for Memorial Sloan Kettering. The inspiration for fundraising was their late mother, Kristin Gentilini, known to many as Cookie, who had received care at Memorial Sloan Kettering for triple negative breast cancer. To learn more about Lara and Justine’s journey to the finish line, visit cookiescause.org.

Lauren Slebodnick, a former member of Cornell women’s hockey, was recently inducted into the New Hampshire Legends of Hockey Hall of Fame on October 24, 2021. From 2015–17 Lauren played two seasons of professional hockey with the Boston Pride, a team of the Premier Hockey Federation, where she helped win the Isobel Cup in 2016.

In 2019, David Weyant, MBA ’14, was appointed by the Government of Alberta, Canada, to serve as the board chair for Alberta Health Services, Canada’s largest health services organization. It was initially expected to be a part-time role, but the pandemic required a significant amount of additional work (on top of his other full-time job), such as overseeing contact tracing, staffing, and vaccine rollout.

Thank you to our classmates who contributed to this column! If you have any news you’d like to share via Class Notes, please reach out by email! ❖ Samantha Lapehn Young, SRL76@cornell.edu. Online news form.

2015

Our latest column starts off with some big news! Catherine Rieflin and Daniel DeFlumeri got engaged on November 1 in Half Moon Bay, CA. The pair met in August 2011 after being placed in the same orientation group at Cornell. Though they live in California these days, they still look for any excuse to return to the Hill where they first met and fell in love.

In more big news, after luring her to the Cornell Club under false pretenses of a Cornell Hillel alumni event, Daniel Chazen proposed to Erin Gross ’17 on October 22. They were surrounded by family and friends. Congratulations to both couples!

Adam Kirsch, MBA ’16, has spent the last four years at West Monroe, a boutique consultancy, where he leads a group specializing in coaching the leadership teams of technology companies through selling their businesses. Over the last year, he’s had the opportunity to advise on several unicorn exits and looks forward to continuing to grow this offering. Outside of work, he’s actively involved in the community, serving on the NYC advisory board of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship and the boards of Cornell fencing and Beta Theta Pi. ❖ Caroline Flax, csf79@cornell.edu; Mateo Acebedo, ma698@cornell.edu. Online news form.

2016

Vanessa Sanchez describes herself as a “fashion-designer-turned-engineer, working to make our clothing smarter through materials science. Specifically, I research robotic fabrics that sense the wearer and their surrounding environment and respond accordingly.” She’s currently pursuing her PhD in materials science and engineering at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Writes Vanessa, “I didn’t start out as an engineer. I began school at the Fashion Inst. of Technology for fashion design and graduated with a BS from the Fiber Science program at Cornell. Then I wanted to go even deeper into materials, which led me to Harvard. My unique background enables me to understand garments from the clothing system level to the textile structure to the underlying materials chemistry. I’ve seen firsthand how creating smart clothing facilitates the intersection of design and engineering. It’s what got me interested in STEM. This multidisciplinary work sparks creative technical solutions and is a great platform for project-based learning. I have shared my passion for engineering and design education by serving as a mentor in programs including the Open Style Lab Summer Program, where student teams develop adaptive wear.”

Matt Laberge, MBA ’16, is proud to announce that he recently became a partner and regional leader in KPMG’s economics and policy practice. In this role, Matt will continue to serve his private, not-for-profit, and government clients in resolving some of their most prominent challenges related to the economy, their market, and their policy environment. Send your news to: ❖ Meghan McCormick, mcm324@cornell.edu. Online news form.

2017

Molly Kestenbaum writes, “I am starting a new project, See2Hear, with my co-founder Richard Rosenthal, to raise awareness about hearing loss. Our goal is to create a movement that will allow us to develop new hearing aid technology—which is a personal mission, as I am hearing impaired myself!” According to See2Hear’s website, only one in five people who could benefit from a hearing aid actually wear one—and as Baby Boomers reach retirement age, the number of people with hearing loss is expected to double by 2030. So there is definitely room for improvement!

According to the website, Molly was born with a bilateral hearing loss, which was diagnosed at the age of 3. “With less than 30% natural hearing in both ears, Molly required hearing aids and other assistance throughout her life to help her to communicate with others. She currently wears a hearing aid and cochlear implant, and while these have helped her throughout her life, she feels there is an opportunity to push the boundaries of hearing aid technology and design. Currently, hearing aids and cochlear implants have not kept up with current technological demands and need to become more comfortable, accessible, and user friendly.” ❖ Class of 2017, c/o Alexandra Bond ’12, abb83@cornell.edu. Online news form.

2018

Hello, Class of 2018! This past year, Vaibhav Bhutani launched his first digital technology product, SpyneAI. This web tool uses AI to create digital backgrounds for photos of cars, providing a much more affordable alternative for dealerships that would normally need to pay for a physical photoshoot facility. Trained on millions of car images, the AI edits photos to create accurate shadows and reflections, and can even remove background noise like trees or other cars. Since then, the product has expanded into a company called Spyne—where Vaibhav is head of product—which works on AI image editing tools. The journey to building SpyneAI was eventful and included beta testing their product with billion-dollar companies, “fending off Russian hackers, and sometimes just trying to manage millions of images in pipelines,” Vaibhav said.

If you have any news about yourself or a classmate, send me an email! And remember to follow the Class of 2018 Instagram (@cornell_2018) for more updates. ❖ Stephanie Yan, smy43@cornell.edu. Online news form.

2019

“A group of ten teenagers from New York City are mysteriously teleported from their summer camp to the alternate dimension of Zygorra, where they discover the Zygorrans possess supernatural powers stemming from a previous scientific misadventure on planet Earth. The teenagers start developing their own powers, but they also learn uncomfortable truths about themselves, which they must come to terms with.” So reads the description of a new book, Tales of Zygorra, written by our very own Aditya Shukla! He writes, “What started as a hobby after attending the Gotham Writers Workshop in NYC turned into a passion project over the past couple of years. Being an avid reader of books in the fantasy genre during my childhood, I wanted to recreate the same experience for a new generation of readers.” Congratulations, Aditya!

What have you been up to so far in 2022? Do you have any news to share? We’d love to hear from you: ❖ Class of 2019, c/o Alexandra Bond ’12, abb83@cornell.edu. Online news form.

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2020s

2020

2021 is coming to a close as I write this, and I hope you all had happy holidays and a happy New Year! What a year 2021 has been, filled with its share of ups and downs—from the availability of vaccines to the rise of Delta and Omicron variants, from graduating in Ithaca and Big Red Hockey at Madison Square Garden to learning to accept Zoom events as the “new normal.” Our post-college experience has been entirely shaped within the confines of this pandemic, but the Class of 2020 continues to shine strong.

Julia Miller, along with a team of Cornell researchers, published a paper in the Planetary Science Journal with research comparing fluvial characteristics in images of Saturn’s moon Titan—from Cassini’s Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)—to images of Earth. “Although the quality and quantity of Cassini SAR images put significant limits on their utility for investigating river networks, they can still be used to understand Titan’s landscape at a fundamental level,” Julia told the Cornell Chronicle.

The research was funded by NASA and the European Space Agency, and will be used to inform the Dragonfly mission to Titan. “These maps will provide context for understanding things that Dragonfly finds locally and regionally, and will help to place Dragonfly’s result into global context,” said Alex Hayes, associate professor of astronomy in the College of Arts & Sciences and another co-author of the paper.

Also making an impact on global events was Lily Bermel ’21, BS ’20, who was a member of the US climate diplomacy and negotiations team for COP26, an international climate change conference held in Glasgow in November. Lily attended as a special assistant from the US Dept. of State’s Office of Global Change (OES/EGC). She was previously a Cornell delegate at COP25 in Madrid in 2019.

Wishing everyone a safe and joyous 2022! Please share your news, life updates, or fun facts with your fellow alumni by submitting an online news form or by sending an email to: ❖ Shruti Juneja, sj453@cornell.edu.

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Grad Notes

Agriculture & Life Sciences

Saundra Yancy McGuire, MAT ’71, authored Teach Students How to Learn (2015) and Teach Yourself How to Learn (2018). Both offer insights into the foundations of effective learning, geared toward pupils and teachers, respectively. Saundra is director emerita for the Center for Academic Success and retired assistant vice chancellor and professor emerita of chemistry at Louisiana State U.

In October, Ronnie Coffman, PhD ’71, and Joseph DeVries, PhD ’95, both received the Distinguished Award for Meritorious Service from the African Plant Breeders Assn. (APBA) at the APBA conference in Rwanda. “I commend Dr. DeVries and Dr. Coffman for their selfless service to plant breeding capacity development in Africa,” said the president of the APBA. “From their visionary and catalytic work emerged a vigorous and sustainable model to train African plant scientists on African crops right in Africa.” The award honors Ronnie and Joseph for their achievements fostering the establishment of the African Centre for Crop Improvement in 2001 and the West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement in 2007—both of which have emerged as African powerhouses for the training of elite plant breeders.

Arts & Sciences

Clara Rodríguez, MS ’69, professor of sociology at Fordham U., has written a number of books, the most recent of which is America, As Seen on TV: How Television Shapes Immigrant Expectations Around the Globe. Published in 2018, it won the International Latino Book Award.

Two Big Red grads are employees at Argonne National Laboratory, a Dept. of Energy lab outside Chicago: Glenn Decker, MS ’84, PhD ’86, is an accelerator physicist, and Walter Hopkins, MS ’10, PhD ’13, is a physicist. Walter recently recorded a nine-minute video about the search for the Higgs boson, an elementary particle that is notoriously difficult to detect. (That video can be viewed here.) Glenn is the associate project manager for the upgrade to Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source (APS), an X-ray light source, and he was recently featured in a video discussing APS, which can be viewed here.

Marjorie Maddox Hafer, MS ’89, is professor of English and creative writing at Lock Haven U. and has published 13 collections of poetry—including Transplant, Transport, Transubstantiation (Yellowglen Prize); True, False, None of the Above (Illumination Book Award Medalist); and Begin with a Question (Iron Pen, March 2022). She has also penned children’s and YA books and 650 stories, essays, and poems in journals and anthologies. The recipient of numerous awards, she gives workshops and readings around the world. For more information, you can visit her website.

Harvey Young, MA ’00, PhD ’04, received the 2021 American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR) Distinguished Scholar Award. He is dean of the College of Fine Arts at Boston College and is a cultural historian whose research on the performance and experience of race has been widely published in academic journals and profiled in major newspapers and magazines. As a commentator on popular culture, Harvey has appeared on CNN, “20/20,” and “Good Morning America,” as well as within the pages of the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, Vanity Fair, and People. He has published nine books, including Embodying Black Experience; his tenth book, Theatre & Human Flourishing, will be published in 2022 by Oxford University Press.

Marquis Bey, MA ’17, PhD ’19, recently authored Black Trans Feminism (Duke University Press). Marquis is assistant professor of African American studies and English at Northwestern U. Notes the book’s description: “Bey offers a meditation on blackness and gender non-normativity in ways that recalibrate traditional understandings of each.”

Jillian Marshall, MA ’16, PhD ’18, writes, “After earning my PhD in the music of contemporary Japan (traditional, pop, and underground), I moved to New York City to start over and pursue bigger dreams I’ve always held—especially of writing books. That dream is coming true, with my first book coming out this April with Three Rooms Press. Titled Japanthem: Counter-Cultural Experience, Cross-Cultural Remixes, my book not only chronicles music’s intersection with Japan’s fascinatingly variegated society, but also details my own meta-journey into (and out of) academia, including details of my time at Cornell. I’m grateful every day that I am living a life of my own design, and that I’m able to sustain myself as a freelancer in charge of my own time. I study jazz trumpet and piano, and adore caring for my pet hamster with my wonderful boyfriend, here in New York City.”

Graduate School

Jayme Breschard, MA ’05, has become senior managing community planner and climate action specialist at Barton & Loguidice (B&L), a multidisciplinary consulting firm that provides technical solutions to clients throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Jayme will be based in B&L’s Rochester office. She has 20 years of experience working for national and regional technical firms and public planning organizations, and she has an extensive background tackling sustainability, climate and flood resiliency, stream restoration, water quality, and hazard mitigation needs.

Kristin Alongi, MS ’10, has taken on a new role as vice president of business transformation at Rich Products, a $4 billion global food manufacturer serving customers across retail and foodservice segments.

Hotel Administration

Jens Thraenhart, MMH ’00, was recently appointed CEO of Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI). Jens is a tourism veteran of 26 years and will “usher in a new era for the organization, one that will see the BTMI transition to a more commercial marketing enterprise, which is reshaping its operations to better compete in the new pandemic era of global tourism,” the news release stated. He is conversational in three languages (English, French, and German) and can speak basic Spanish, Thai, and Mandarin as well. Jens has been recognized as one of the Top 25 Most Extraordinary Minds in Travel and Hospitality three times and by Travel Agent Magazine as one of the Top Rising Stars in Travel, and he was added to the Hall of Global Tourism Heroes in 2021.

Industrial & Labor Relations

Roxi Bahar Hewertson, MPS ’04, has written two books, Lead Like it Matters—which aims to help readers master four key tenets of leadership and create a ripple effect of positive change—and Hire Right, Fire Right, which provides decision-makers at any supervisory level with advice they need to navigate hiring, developing, or firing someone.

At the beginning of this year, Liz Heitner, MILR ’06, became the chief human resource officer at the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Co., a Fortune 1000 company in Philadelphia. In her new role, Liz will concentrate on the growth of employee and field development programs, corporate social responsibility, and sustaining the focus of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

Johnson Graduate School of Management

Kristie Gebhardt Grinnell, MBA ’99, was recently named senior VP and chief information officer at DXC Technology, a Fortune 500 global technology service provider. At DXC, Kristie will lead global IT strategy and operations and will be responsible for integrating and streamlining systems, implementing new digital capabilities to improve performance and efficiency, and ensuring the stability of DXC’s global IT infrastructure. A strong supporter of academic STEM programs for young women, she is a recipient of the 2018 Women in Technology STEM Leadership Award, Washington Business Journal’s 2020 Women Who Mean Business Award, a 2020 Capital CIO of the Year ORBIE Award, and a 2021 National CIO of the Year ORBIE Award.

Formerly a senior partner in consulting, Donna Peters, MBA ’99, is now a certified executive and career coach and the host of the award-winning podcast The Me-Suite, which was a finalist for Best Business Podcast 2021 and ranks in the top 2% of podcasts globally. She has also penned a book, Options are Power: Career Strategies for High Performers Who Want a Life. Donna writes, “If you’re exploring, wanting more, or simply stuck, you need options to: cultivate the role you want work to play in your life; run toward something, not from something in your career; and shape the future you want to live in. This book will help you—or someone you care about—create and evaluate options.”

Cybersecurity attorney Garylene “Gage” Javier, MBA ’16, is one of the inaugural 10 Under 10 Notable Alumni honored by the Johnson Recent Alumni Council, which celebrates alumni who have graduated within the past ten years. She recently joined the privacy and cybersecurity practice group in the Washington, DC, office of Crowell & Moring. Gage is also a recreational pilot and race-car driver who loves to sail, a volunteer with the National Filipino American Lawyers Assn., and a pro-bono champion for domestic violence victims.

Law School

Richard May, LLB ’60, writes, “I recently published a collection of short stories titled Witness for the Defense, which draws upon my experiences observing people’s foibles and everyday curious encounters while serving the Delaware Bar for over three decades. I am a lifelong resident of Delaware and currently live in Hockessin with Jean, my wife of nearly 50 years.”

Richard Tuttle, JD ’78, has penned Wyoming, a novel about a young man dealing with an irrational aversion to money. This character becomes a subsistence farmer and hunter in Wyoming who trades favors with friends and neighbors for food and other necessities—until he is arrested and put on trial for evading tax payments.

Veterinary Medicine

Mary Kate Lawler, DVM ’95, was named 2021’s American Hero Veterinarian by the national organization American Humane. According to the announcement, “Dr. Lawler has graced the Spay-Neuter Assistance Program with her leadership as chief surgeon in San Antonio since 2006, and as executive director since 2015. Her tireless work and dedication allow her to perform as many as 8,500 spay/neuter surgeries per year. When the last surgery is finished each day and the patients are recovering, she deftly shifts to her role as executive director. She has traveled extensively and has participated in spay/neuter clinics in India, Mexico, Ecuador, the Galápagos Islands, American Samoa, and Hawaii, and on reservations in the American Southwest.”

To be included in a future Grad Notes section, send your news to cornellians@cornell.edu.

Top image: Jason Koski/Cornell University

Published March 1, 2022