The Latest News from Your Classmates

November / December 2026

1950s

1952

About five years ago, the Class of 1952 celebrated its 70th Reunion, breaking the record for attendance. At the class meeting held then, officers were elected, and it seemed to me at the time an act of hubris to accept an office for the next five years. But here we are looking at an upcoming 75th Reunion. Planning to attend?

Over the last three cycles of Class Notes, no submissions from anyone in 1952 were received, indicating that we are all experiencing normal processes of aging. Transformative issues of mobility, medical appointments, housing and family changes, and general health concerns will clearly limit the number of classmates who would attempt to come to the Reunion.

However, if some of you are able to come, please contemplate whether you will do so. I hope to make it. For those who feel like they cannot make the effort, mark your calendar, and on June 10, 2027 raise a glass or mug (depending on what you put in it) and give a toast to the irreplaceable memories you have of your time and friends at Cornell, and be there in spirit. ❖ Tom Cashel, LLB ’56 (email Tom) | Alumni Directory.

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1953

As we settle into November and December, we’re taking a moment to appreciate the people and stories that keep the Cornell community connected. If you have a Cornell memory or story to share, don’t keep it to yourself—send it our way! ❖ Class of 1953 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12) | Alumni Directory.

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1954

Greetings from Pennsylvania, where I’m writing to you in August. I avoided 98 degrees in Des Moines by visiting family at a tiny lake south of Binghamton. I’m a bit handicapped: I have no computer with me, and I have no news from you.

I am recharging in nature—woods, water, sun, rain, breezes, many birds. My brother feeds the birds who entertain us with their brilliant colors and flashing beauty. I have lots of family here, as well as old and new friends, good food, a dog, and no TV.

With luck I’ll be able to share some news from classmates soon. ❖ Ruth Carpenter Bailey (email Ruth) | Class website | Alumni Directory.

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1955

There’s something about this time of year that makes a good catch-up feel especially welcome. So, consider this a note from your Cornell community: What’s going on with you? Drop us a line, and help keep your classmates connected. ❖ Class of 1955 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12) | Alumni Directory.

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1956

Barbara Travis Osgood, PhD ’80, recently wrote a personal essay that was published in Cornellians, called “Why I’ve Never Missed a Class Reunion Since I Graduated.” In it, she writes, “Every year that I have been at Cornelliana, the program has concluded with the ‘Evening Song’ and the ‘Alma Mater.’ Anyone in the audience who is a former Glee Club or University Chorus member is invited to come to the stage and participate.

“But this time, much to my horror, there was no invitation. Yet I had been a member of the Women’s Glee Club as well as a singing group, the Cornellaires. I knew that I would be terribly disappointed to miss singing onstage with the group; it was always the high point of my Reunion. The singers always made the ‘joiners’ feel so welcome. I remembered a few years when I practically climbed onto the stage and willing hands helped me up. I absolutely could not miss this at my last Reunion!

“There was a brief moment of indecision—and then I was sure. Regardless of any protocol, I was going to spend the last day of my last Reunion singing the ‘Alma Mater’ on the Bailey Hall stage. As the chorus began to sing ‘When the sun fades far away …’ I left my seat, headed down the aisle alone, found the stairs, and started up. I was immediately grasped by some undergraduates, who helped me the rest of the way and opened their arms to draw me into the group. My Reunion was complete!” You can read the entire essay here.

Judy Cimildoro Jones writes, “As a chemistry graduate, I worked two years in the laboratory of hospitals. However, I then went to the University of Michigan and earned a master’s degree in biochemistry. I also met my husband-to-be. Upon graduation, we spent four years working at the Dow Chemical Company in Midland, MI.

Cornell would likely not have the Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island in New York City without Ernie Stern ’56’s interventions.

Gligor Tashkovich ’87, MBA ’91

“My husband decided that he wanted to teach, and we moved to Toledo, OH, where he was a professor in the chemical engineering department at the University of Toledo. We had our two children and I was a full-time mom (the best job I have had).

“In due time, there was a problem with funding the public schools. I ran for a seat on the Toledo Board of Education and served for four years. Then I ran for a seat on Toledo City Council and served for 10 years. Then, a position that matched my credentials was the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, which I was appointed to serve on by Governor Voinovich for a five-year term, and reappointed for another term by Governor Taft. I have been blessed to have wonderful life with my family and contributing to society.”

Gligor Tashkovich ’87, MBA ’91, writes, “I was one of many of the younger Cornellians influenced by the energetic example set by your long-serving class president’s service to our beloved University. And, for those who still want to pay their respects in person, Ernie Stern is resting in the new part of the Pound Ridge Cemetery in Pound Ridge, NY, just over the Connecticut border from New Canaan, Stamford, and Ridgefield. He and his wife had a weekend house in town.

“I have attended Pound Ridge’s Memorial Day parade and celebration most of my life and a few years ago, I was surprised and saddened to find Ernie there, as I had not known he was (briefly, it turns out) ill. Ernie’s contributions to Cornell were vast and I trust they have been documented in earlier class columns or elsewhere. For but one example, Cornell would likely not have the Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island in New York City without his interventions. Rest in peace, Ernie; you will always be remembered warmly.” ❖ Class of 1956 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12) | Alumni Directory.

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1957

After many decades of East Coast living, Matthew Sagal, BChemE ’58, has made a major move. He tells it best: “After outliving two lovely women in my life, I took good advice from friends and moved to Chicago to be near one of my three sons and his wife and kids. I am in a senior residence in Uptown, close to Lake Michigan, called Admiral at the Lake. It’s a great, informal place, with many distinguished, interesting people who are not full of themselves.

“I have become engaged in many activities, including co-managing a science discussion group that brings advances in science, engineering, and medicine to curious residents who may not have a science background. I also manage a regular chess group and am trying (without success) to find enough poker players to start a game. Even with the usual aches and pains, I can get to the gym most days. I am enjoying Chicago’s vibrant cultural life, and have become an ardent Cubs and Bears fan.

“I have not gotten any grandchildren to Cornell, but I have a few more to go who are pre-college age. I am grateful that my three sons are well and happy. Some may know that my middle son, the one living nearby, is Peter Sagal, the host of NPR’s Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me. That’s my major claim to fame around here.”

Matthew has his own notable accomplishments. After completing his BChemE at Cornell, he earned his PhD in physical chemistry at MIT. He not only earned his graduate degree, he also met his bride and the mother of their three sons in Boston. Much of his early career was spent as a scientist and R&D executive at Bell Labs. As a business development executive, he led the startup of Lucent Microelectronics’ R&D, sales, and marketing activities in Europe and Asia. (Lucent Microelectronics was subsequently renamed Agere Systems.)

Matthew later became a senior partner of the Alliance Management Group. In that role, he led seminars and workshops on strategic alliances at many industry and academic forums in the U.S. and abroad. In 2003 he and a colleague published The Strongest Link: Forging a Profitable and Enduring Corporate Alliance, a book that gave practical solutions to the problem of why 60–75% of corporate alliances fail. In a much earlier (1982) quote from Matthew, he said, “I have felt pretty well prepared by both the scientific and humanistic aspects of my Cornell education.”

I co-manage a science discussion group that brings advances in science, engineering, and medicine to curious residents.

Matthew Sagal ’57, BChemE ’58

Renovations are being made to King-Shaw Hall in the ILR School. Scheduled for reopening in the spring of 2027, it will house the new Gerald Dorf Student Commons and Jerry’s Café. Named in honor of Jerry in recognition of his lifelong connection to Cornell and legacy within the ILR School, the construction was made possible by a generous gift from his family.

After Jerry’s passing in 2022, his family wanted to make a gift which would benefit the ILR community. His wife, Evelyn, Jerry’s high school sweetheart, said, “Having an ILR student commons and a café is something that would have made him happy. The café is the kind of place Jerry would have loved to be able to sit down, relax, have a cup of coffee, and enjoy some camaraderie with people that he loved going to school with.” The proposed menu includes biscuit-based breakfast sandwiches and lunches featuring sandwiches, soups, and salads.

How much time Jerry devoted to relaxing when he was an ILR student is debatable. He held an Army ROTC scholarship, worked various part-time jobs, and was the sports announcer at WVBR. All this, plus he had convinced Evelyn to forgo her Stanford University acceptance and enroll instead at Ithaca College. Indeed, they married just before our senior year began. The following years must have been a whirlwind, with employment, Army service obligations, enrollment in law school, plus the 1959 arrival of son Mitchell and son Brian in 1961.

In 1963 the Dorf family moved to Union, NJ, where Jerry served as executive director of the New Jersey chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association with primary labor relations responsibility. In 1968 Jerry established a private law firm specializing in labor and employment representing both public and private sector clients. He also found time to help found the ILR Alumni Association, served as its first president, and was a life member of the Cornell University Council.

Son Mitchell ’81 joined his father’s law firm a few years after graduating from UPenn’s Law School, prompting Jerry to rename his firm the Law Offices of Dorf and Dorf. After Mitchell passed away in 2001, the family established a scholarship, recently converted to the Mitchell Lane Dorf Memorial Legal Research Assistantship, in the ILR School. Brian said of his father, “The ILR School gave him the foundation to build a magnificent career, which he appreciated throughout his life.” For more details of Jerry’s career, Google “Cornell University Jerry’s Café.”

Our 70th Reunion, with its headquarters in the Statler Hotel, will give us an opportunity to check out Jerry’s Café as it is just a hop, skip, and jump from the Statler. (Ok, we may walk there more sedately, perhaps with the aid of a cane or a walker.) Just as a reminder, our 70th Reunion is June 10–13. Our first event, at 5 p.m. on Thursday, is the Passing It Forward Ceremony and Reception in the Statler Ballroom. We have the privilege of presenting the official 2022 Reunion banner to the representatives of that class as they reunite for the first time at their 5th Reunion. For Statler room reservations, the phone number is 800-541-2501. More 70th Reunion information will be sent to you early in 2027. ❖ Connie Santagato Hosterman (email Connie) | Alumni Directory.

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1958

Hello, classmates. We have NO news to share for the first time in 68 years, but help is on the way! As we go to press, the annual class News and Dues letter is about to be mailed, on a schedule which the University revised for some reason. So there are hopes we’ll hear from many of you as you follow through, like you’ve always done before.

For now, we’ll simply ask if anyone has any great ideas for our 70th Reunion in ’28 and will watch for any news from any ’58ers. Cheers for now, as we send our usual wishes for all to have enjoyable and happy holidays as this year closes out. ❖ Dick Haggard (email Dick) | Barbara Avery, MA ’59 (email Barbara) | Alumni Directory.

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1959

As I write this in late August, a total of 3,681 freshmen are arriving on campus. May they prosper, and may they forge friendships that endure as long as those that many of us began on that same journey 71 years ago.

“We all agree that it’s incredible that we’ve known each other since 1955!” writes Judy Goldman Frommer. She, together with Tammy Livingston Weintraub, Rachel Rudin Blechman, Barbara Benioff Friedman, Beth Amster Hess, Susan Cohen Lubick, Susan Itkin Sarlin, and Carole Sahn Sheft, have monthly Zoom gatherings. As Susan Sarlin said in this column several years ago: “We talk of politics, literature, movies, and activities. However, most supportive is the personal: losses of partners, grief, illness, and the healing of shared recollections.”

Judy, a long-time resident of Wellesley, MA, keeps busy with local organizations and friends. “Compared to the rest of the world, I’m living in la-la land and just hope that doesn’t change. My traveling is mostly visiting family in Atlanta, Chicago, and New York. The downside is that I lost my husband of almost 61 years in 2021, but overall I consider myself very lucky.”

Also friends since freshman year are Ron Demer, BME ’60, and Jim Glenn, BME ’60. “Like many ’59ers, I am now 89,” notes Ron. “I am in good health and love Ithaca. The weather is milder, with much less snow; I use my snow blower only twice each year. We have lots of drinking water from Cayuga, no forest fires or floods, and great ice cream at the Dairy Bar and Purity, and we are blue politically. My adult children in Atlanta and Portland, OR, want me to move in with them before my health declines. My major problem is that I get fatigued by physical exertion and cannot cut the grass, trim the boxwood, or drive distances to visit friends or attend away athletic events as I used to. Fortunately, ESPN+ broadcasts all Cornell games for $120 per year, so I can see the home events in person, and enjoy the others on TV.”

We all agree that it’s incredible that we’ve known each other since 1955!

Judy Goldman Frommer ’59

Ron was instrumental in getting Jim, his BME classmate, to pledge SAE. Many years later, while at Harvard Business School, Ron stressed to the dean that Jim should be accepted—pointing out that Jim shouldn’t be rejected because he hadn’t visited for an interview; after all, he was serving in the Army in Taiwan at the time! One might even credit Ron with aiding romance: In their fifth year on the Hill, both men were freshman dorm counselors; Ron was also hired by the dean’s office to coordinate the freshman men’s social program. “I scheduled a bus trip to Elmira College and needed a chaperone. I asked Jim and he agreed. While there, Jim went to the library. A cute blonde sat down opposite him. They have been married 65 years.”

Jim and said wife, Gwen, live in Taos, NM, some 7,070 feet above sea level in the Sangre De Cristo Mountains. “Our usual summer tourists are not happy this year as our daytime temperatures are as hot as those in Texas,” writes Jim. “Fortunately, nighttime temperatures are about 35 degrees cooler.” Jim keeps busy volunteering as a Lions Club member, is involved in church work, and does house chores. Gwen nurtures beautiful flower and vegetable gardens, often using her flowers for altar arrangements at church.

Their daughter, Melanie, and her family visited this summer and for the second year, two grandsons completed the annual 10K “Up and Over” race at the nearby Taos Ski Valley (the race starts at 9,500 feet and goes up to 11,800 feet and back down again). Melanie, who has a PhD in engineering mechanics and is the failure prevention expert at the Federal Aviation Administration, was looking forward to speaking at an international conference in New Delhi in September—the city where she was born while her dad was there with International Harvester. ❖ Jenny Tesar (email Jenny) | Alumni Directory.

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1960s

1960

Do the autumn leaves falling bring you right back to November on the Hill? If you’ve been meaning to share an update, now’s a great time to send it our way. Your classmates would love to hear from you! ❖ Class of 1960 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12) | Alumni Directory.

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1961

Fred Stahl sent a lengthy note describing his lifetime project, Partners for Science. This educational program flourished and found a home in many international locations. Fred and Karen ultimately retired to Spokane, WA, where they continued their work with the program.

The rest of the story belongs to Fred, who writes, “After many years of teaching middle school math and science, I left the classroom and began a program for preparing elementary teachers to encourage hands-on science and cooperative learning. This program, Partners for Science, initially addressed 50 schools in Cochise County, AZ. The training program involved Saturday workshops and kits that could be signed out, covering topics in earth science, physical science, and life science. I also visited all 50 schools as a guest speaker, demonstrating their favorite topics. These included fossils (earth science), roller coasters (physical science), and magnificent Madagascar, wings, and feathers (for life science). In the 1990s I conducted a summer science camp for elementary and middle school students. It evolved into a camp for just teachers, with resources from the Scripps Institute, renowned science educator Joseph Cornell, and other prominent university science professors.

“As the popularity of the Partners for Science in-class program increased, I traveled to many states and even internationally. The foam-rubber pipe insulation and marbles for roller coasters were lightweight enough to take to England, Germany, Hungary, and Nepal. When teaching at the International School in Budapest, I was invited to go to their next soccer game. I asked where it was to be held. ‘Vienna’ was the answer. ‘We only play international schools.’ Imagine needing a passport to go to a school soccer meet! Running along the Danube was a highlight of that summer.

“In 2012, my wife, Karen, and I moved to Spokane, WA, to be near family (daughter Laura and son-in-law Erik). Opportunities at schools have been fewer, but libraries often appreciated the programs. As an educator, now for 60 years, I thoroughly enjoy being docent for our fabulous Art Deco Fox Theatre in Spokane. Having ushered over 220 times, the interesting people and celebrities I’ve met have been memorable. The Fox brings back memories of a 15-year period when I occasionally ushered in New York City for the Roundabout Theatre. Meeting Laurence Fishburne, Harry Connick Jr., Stockard Channing, Chita Rivera, and John Cleese were quite the experiences.

My wife’s role in 1967 as Maria von Trapp’s music director at the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, VT (just after we were married) made for some wonderful memories. I served as maître d’.

Fred Stahl ’61

“Karen and I enjoy singing in our German choir. I spent three years in Munich as a German linguist for Army intelligence. Karen’s role in 1967 as Maria von Trapp’s music director at the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, VT (just after we were married) made for some wonderful memories. I served as maître d’. Downhill skiing is still my favorite winter activity. It’s really the easiest sport. You sit, ride up the hill, turn around, and coast down. Then repeat. The hardest part is getting there from the car.”

An old friend and refugee from the U-Halls, Martin Rudolph wrote, “Enjoying life vertically! Most enjoyable are NYC and summers in the Berkshires, MA (classical concerts, theater, ballet, museums, lectures, beautiful countrysides, eating, great friends with common interests, including the passionate hopes that humanity will change its current direction), and travel (UK in September). I never worked a day in my 45 years of teaching mostly precalculus/calculus at Oceanside High School. I retired 20 years ago. I’m now consumed with advocating substantive changes in the past/present endemic misguided pedagogies.

“During the pandemic, I wrote a book (unpublished) about what, why, and how to affect those changes in order to raise the public’s awareness of this root of ‘all’ societal problems. Yet, I’ve never seen serious discussions about it on TV. I’m hoping to find an influential partner. My wonderful wife, Karen, and children Greg and Joanna are an amazing part of my life; they are all unique thinkers. My Cornell profs and friends clearly had great influence in the development of my thinking. Of memorable note are Stuart Brown (philosophy), Frederick Marcham (history), Hans Bethe (physics) and Ralph Agnew, Marc Kac, and Jack Kiefer (math). Thus I chose to be a high school teacher.”

I believe Bill Tuohy is a first-time Class Notes writer. After more than a few years he writes, “I recently moved to senior housing at Piedmont Gardens in Oakland, CA. Diverse careers took me into universities, engineering, and government.” What is he doing in retirement? “Working to stay upright on two feet.” About his time at Cornell, he writes, “It took me from the world of small-town, rural New York State into the hustle of modern, urban life—I’m still trying to figure out this life.”

We conclude our column with late-breaking news: Marian Pearlman Nease will be joining the production as co-correspondent and will author our next issue. Please, send in your news to share with your classmates. ❖ Doug Fuss (email Doug) | Marian Pearlman Nease (email Marian) | Alumni Directory.

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1962

Save the date: 65th Reunion—June 10–13, 2027!

I like to think that you all were busy having lots of summer fun in mid-August when I was scrambling for news to meet the deadline for this column. You know—traveling, visiting with family, carousing at the beach and in the mountains, and generally enjoying life in our senior years. What a lovely image that makes. That lack of news, alas, is why I’m calling this column “Class Notes Lite.”

FYI: This column’s lead time is long! If you haven’t sent in anything recently, you will have likely already missed the deadline for the next column (Jan/Feb 2027). So, please, take a moment or two now to send along info for the following column, which will appear—wait for it—in March/April 2027! Reading about your comings and goings is always fun and is what holds this class together.

While I was hustling for tidbits, I did come across a few Cornell links that I think you may find of interest. One of my birder friends was raving about Merlin Bird ID, the world’s leading birding app. Merlin, which helps identify birds by sound, photo, or visual description, was developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology!

For sports buffs, here’s a link to Big Red Sports. Follow your old favorites and find a few new ones, too, among the many men’s and women’s teams playing their hearts out for Cornell. Go Big Red!

Want to relive a few (or many) of those days on the Hill? Check out the Cornell Daily Sun archives housed online at the Cornell University Library. So easy and so much fun.

Our 65th Reunion is coming up. You probably have received a notice or two about it by now, and you still have plenty of time to figure out what you plan to do. In the meantime, I recommend you head to our class website, where you can revisit old Reunions via photos from our first to our last one (see Reunions), browse our 25th and 50th Reunion Yearbooks (see Archives), and watch the 50th Reunion video. Plenty of nostalgia for everyone.

Save the date: 65th Reunion—June 10–13, 2027!

Take a moment, please, to send along news and updates of what’s happening with you and your family. And check out Classmate News on our class website for timelier information. Send your entries to: ❖ Judy Prenske Rich (email Judy) | Alumni Directory.

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1963

From our class president, Paula Trested Laholt: “I hope everyone is anticipating a wonderful Reunion as we advance through the next year and a half. Our Reunion chair, Nancy Cooke McAfee, is waiting with anticipation for ideas to incorporate, or definitely not incorporate, into our festivities.”

From one of our dedicated class council members, Harvey Rothschild: “Life plugs along, albeit at our age, slowly. I don’t move as fast as I used to, and then with a walking stick. But which of us does? Inflation is catching up way too rapidly. How bad is it when I saw a sign for gas yesterday at $5.22 and thought ‘Goodie!’ I remember buying all the gas I needed for a weekend’s dating for under a buck. Ah me, memories.

“Speaking of memories, you may remember that I would hit you up for class dues along about April and you may have thought, ‘He’s forgotten to bug me. Hallelujah!’ Well, I hate to spoil the fun, but I haven’t forgotten. Cornell changed the class dues year to match the University’s fiscal year ending in June from the calendar year we used to use. Dues have remained at $20, unless I missed a class officers meeting. That’s all the word for now from sunny Bellevue, WA, a.k.a. Puget Sound country.”

You should have received a class dues notice by the time you are reading this. I hope everyone has responded and sent in their dues by now.

We have several children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren living close by, so we maintain a long-standing tradition of hosting Thursday dinner at our house.

Vivian Grilli DeSanto ’63

Classmate Maury Lacher writes from Poughkeepsie, NY, that his wife, Miriam Browner Lacher, passed away on May 3 after a fight with pancreatic cancer.

Vivian Grilli DeSanto and Marty live in Wilmington, NC. Vivian writes: “We just celebrated our daughter’s 60th birthday and will be traveling next week to Kansas to celebrate our youngest granddaughter’s 16th birthday. We are still driving the 20 hours each way—so far, so good! We aren’t sure how many more times we will be able to make that drive, but we are still hanging in there. On the way, we stop in Ohio to visit my high school BFF. Lots of fun and reminiscing.

“We have several children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren living close by, so we maintain a long-standing tradition of hosting Thursday dinner at our house. Since I still love to cook, it gives me a great opportunity to try out new recipes. We are truly blessed! I enjoy playing bridge weekly and volunteering at church and also at our downtown performing arts theater quite often. Been doing that since its opening almost 11 years ago. I meet great volunteers and see lots of good shows. So far, so good. We are both in pretty good health and I’m walking daily and love the Silver Sneakers classes at the gym twice a week.”

If you have time to consider sending me an update about your lives, please note that I really need news for future columns. ❖ Nancy Bierds Icke (email Nancy) | Alumni Directory.

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1964

Ralph Cerny writes, “My wife of 52 years, Maureen, passed away in 2023. In 2024 I married one of her best friends, Carol Polston, whom I have known for 53 years. We split time between her home in Ludington, MI, and Traverse City, and our winter home in Sarasota, FL. We enjoy anything competitive, including golf, ping pong, and board games.

“I play piccolo in the Scottville Clown Band, a rag tag group of musicians from the west Michigan area that ‘marches’ in small town festival parades and performs musical shows afterwards. Its motto is ‘Semper Sitientes,’ which means ‘always thirsty.’

“At the conclusion of each show we play school songs from the major colleges in Michigan, but—startling to me—we begin with ‘Far Above Cayuga’s Waters,’ which our emcee explains is ‘one of the most beautiful of all college songs.’ As the band’s ‘Ivy League trained piccolo player,’ I get to sing it in front of crowds all over west Michigan, which I do more than a dozen times each summer. Makes me proud every time!”

Donna Gellis Grushka is proud to report that her daughter, Yael Grushka-Cockayne, was recently appointed dean of the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. She is the first woman to hold the position in the 70-year history of the Darden School!

I play piccolo in the Scottville Clown Band, a rag tag group of musicians from the west Michigan area that ‘marches’ in small town festival parades and performs musical shows afterwards.

Ralph Cerny ’64

Robert Gosseen writes, “I am nearly 83 and, as senior counsel, head the employment law practice at the Manhattan law firm of Schwartz Sladkus Reich Greenberg Atlas LLP. I don’t play pickleball like the other octogenarians, so I practice employment law every day. It’s been a long and rewarding career—foreshadowed by my early decision acceptance as a 16-year-old by the ILR School. Does anyone remember the old Quonset hut in which the school library was housed? Cornell set me on a joyful path that I’ve followed for more than 60 years. I have never looked back.”

Barry Bendel, BEE ’65, MEng ’66, recently penned a personal essay—titled “I’m Among the Last ‘Hangovers’ (But Not the Ones You Think)”—that was published in Cornellians. In it, he writes, “Most people who know the name at all know it from the Glee Club’s a cappella group, the Hangovers, founded in 1968 and still singing today. But the name didn’t start with them. They borrowed it. And the thing they borrowed it from is gone. For about 20 years, from World War II until 1965, the College of Engineering ran a five-year undergraduate curriculum.

“The change had come out of wartime necessity, and departments adjusted their programs from four years to five, one after another. Mechanical engineering’s first class to reach the new fifth year did so in 1950–51. By the time I arrived, the fifth year was simply how things were done. You finished what everyone else finished in four years, and then stayed for one more—hanging over, in the slang of the place, into a year most of your classmates didn’t have.” You can read Barry’s full essay here. ❖ Class of 1964 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12) | Alumni Directory.

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1965

Jan Dimartino Foreman writes that she’s been spending time with family and friends, exercising, traveling, and attending bible study, widows’ groups, church, and book club. She moved to Windsor Run retirement community in Matthews, NC, to be near her son and granddaughter. Before that, she writes, “I’d been in the same house in Greensboro, NC, for 50 years. The last 14 alone since my husband, Bob, died.”

Jan adds, “At Cornell, I learned to think critically, to plan out of the box, and a love of art. I still keep up with Cornell roommates Alison Bok, Marty Fanning Cronk, and Pat Streicher Tweedie.”

Loren Meyer Stephens has been enjoying writing, reading, movies, travel, and her newest hobby, needlepoint, which she has taken up for relaxation. “My son, Josh, and his girlfriend, Mary, just bought a house. They are busy working, cooking, and gardening.”

Loren adds, “Do you have a story to tell? Apparently this is a good time to leave a legacy. I am working on a book about an Italian immigrant from Nereto and my second novel, tentatively titled Elise Goldberg Goes to Paris. I will be off to Sedona for a few days of rest and then a sister vacation in Carlsbad, CA in August. Wishing everyone good health.” ❖ Joan Hens Johnson (email Joan) | Stephen Appell (email Stephen) | Alumni Directory.

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1966

Happy holiday season to all. It is the end of summer as I write and almost the beginning of winter when you read this. All the class officers send best wishes for holidays of joy and a wonderful new year.

It’s a new dues year—now on a schedule that begins in the fall! Along with your dues, do send your news (it takes all of us to write this column). While we await your notes, we thought you might find it fun to hear how some of the ’66 class officers spent their summers after June’s Reunion weekend. Think of this column as your elementary school report: “What I Did On My Summer Vacation.”

Rolf Frantz, class co-president: “Nancy Nystrom Frantz ’68 and I took our son, daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren on a nine-night cruise in July/August. We visited Bermuda, St. Martin, San Juan, and the Dominican Republic. Did our 5-and-half-year-old grandson enjoy it? Well, when we all disembarked, he was wearing a pirate hat and carrying a (balloon-inflated) sword. Guess you could say he did. The cruise provided additional enjoyment, as Nancy’s Cornell roommate, Cheryl Marlette Christensen ’68, her husband, and several of their family members were onboard, and seemed to be enjoying the cruise as much as our crew.”

John Monroe, PhD ’70, class co-president: “What a wonderful 60th Reunion! We enjoyed partying with 80-year-old Phi Psi classmates Bob Everett ’65 (with Mary Jansen Everett), Bill Maxfield, Jack MacDonough, Gary Crahan, MEng ’67 (and wife Carol), Gene Lutz, MEng ’67, MBA ’68 (with wife Mary Ann), Bill Robinson (with wife Syrena), Bill Vanneman ’65, and Chuck Andola ’65 (with wife Maureen Tosi Andola). I’m delighted that VP of Student and Campus Life Ryan Lombardi and I didn’t get electrocuted at the ’66 Overlook dedication ceremony.

“After Reunion, my wife, Meg Warne Monroe, MS ’68, and I moved into grandparent mode. We took our British grandsons, ages 9 and 12, and their parents to America’s top tourist attractions: Washington, DC, and Disneyland (not Disney World!). In Washington we logged 20,000 steps a day chasing the boys through the National Air and Space Museum and past Chuck Berry’s candy-apple red Cadillac at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. We enjoyed long forced marches in Disneyland, following our British daughter-in-law navigating to the rides with the shortest lines.

Senior citizens turn out to have been teenagers in the ’60s and they all enjoy my brass quintet’s arrangements of Beatles and Glen Campbell tunes.

John Monroe ’66, PhD ’70

“After Disneyland, I spent a week at music camp at Cal Poly Humboldt, a vertical campus reminiscent of Cornell, except for an ocean as the main water feature. I climbed 106 stairs each morning to get to the rehearsal hall. My music activities have increased going into fall. Senior citizens turn out to have been teenagers in the ’60s and they all enjoy my brass quintet’s arrangements of Beatles and Glen Campbell tunes. We’ve played at four retirement facilities in August, with a prospect for more in the fall.”

Judy Kurtz Polcer, VP of membership: “How’s this for a circuitous Cornell connection: For our 50th wedding anniversary, my dear friend Jill Bernstein Phillips ’95, daughter of my close friend Jan Ostroff Bernstein, gave Ed and me a dice game called Q-Less. Upon turning over the container, I saw the name of the creator: Tom Sturdevant. After some research, I discovered that this is the same Tom Sturdevant ’64 who sang with me and Fred Kewley ’65 in a trio organized by musician Harry Chapin ’64. After 62 years, Tom and I reconnected and had a fabulous hour-long phone call. We were delighted to learn that we both have continued with our music, playing and singing. We shared memories, talked about our current lives, and have exchanged music recordings.”

Bill Maxfield, class treasurer: “It was great to catch up with classmates at our 60th Reunion. The ‘Overlook’ class gift exceeded expectations. I am trying to downsize in anticipation of transitioning into a continuous care retirement community. They all have waiting lists that will give me a few years to find homes for accumulated stuff from a house and barn for the past 50 years. Meanwhile, I bought an electric assist bike so I can continue to ride with younger bikers. Getting old is hard work.”

Jeanne Brown Sander, VP and 60th Reunion co-chair: “After a whole year of trips to Ithaca to locate venues for Reunion events, endless Zoom calls looking for souvenirs and designing centerpieces, etc., Alice Katz Berglas and I would like to thank our ’66 classmates and their relatives and friends who attended our 60th Reunion in June. We had a wonderful time being together on the Hill again after 60 years since our graduation. Our final attendee count was 168! It was the best turnout for a 60th Reunion since COVID. We were still a small part of the 7,000 who returned to Ithaca for a Reunion weekend.

“Five years ago, the Hotel School established a Hotelie Hall of Fame. I have been involved since the beginning, researching former graduates, submitting nominations, and introducing the chosen at the formal induction ceremony. However, on the Friday of Reunion weekend, this year’s inductees were announced, and I was surprised to be on the list. I believe I am the first in our class to be voted into the Hotelie Hall of Fame. Induction is in November.”

I believe I am the first in our class to be voted into the Hotelie Hall of Fame.

Jeanne Brown Sander ’66

Bruce Mansdorf, VP: “Rebecca and I celebrated our 60th Reunion in June by bringing our daughter from London, Lucy Mansdorf Hirom ’06, who celebrated her 20th. We planned it that way. Great fun meeting old friends, seeing our class gift installed above Libe Slope, and making new friends. One day a bunch of us were gathered talking, and I asked a charming couple, whom I hadn’t known during school, where they lived. Funny, they said Venice, CA, just a few miles from where we’d spent the last 40+ years of our lives. And now we have the best new friends in our long-time but unknowing neighbors, Stan and Judy Sandy Coleman. How’s that for a fun, continuing reward for all of us from a truly wonderful Reunion week.”

Ralph Janis, VP and our Ithaca liaison: “Reunion was amazing. The weather was perfect. Our newly dedicated benches are perfect. Our gatherings with President Mike Kotlikoff, Provost Kavita Bala, and professors Robert Frank and Tom Gilovich were enlightening, warm, and invigorating. The food was excellent, especially the catered dinners. And we all looked fabulous (even when hobbling up the hills). The planning committee outdid itself once again!”

I share my own news too. Susan Rockford Bittker, class correspondent coordinator: “Donald and I set forth on a weeklong trip to Colorado in August. The weather and smoke from the Washington State fire modified our original plans to see more of the Northwest. We drove home across country as we had to pick up a sculpture that a Virginia sculptor made for us. We spent the end of the trip in the Buffalo, NY, area with family to celebrate our 82nd birthdays!”

Alice Katz Berglas, VP of communications, and Mary Jansen Everett, VP of networking, send a note here too: “Thank you ongoing: for everything, every year, this new Cornell ’66 year. Of course, please send in your dues! And your news. (Everyone really does want to read about everyone.) A reminder, too: please consider supporting our ‘Diamond Bear’ fund as you send your dues. It is Diamond Bear that makes possible—every year—all the things you tell us you enjoy: the four-color mailings and updates, the projects and gifts we do together, the special extras every year, and the ‘extra’ extras at Reunion. They have come to define the Cornell Class of 1966. They are unique to ’66. Our dues membership numbers (!), our Reunion attendance, and our class gift successes are stunning and remarkable. It is how we make incredible things happen: together. We wish everyone health-filled, joy-filled holidays and a new wonderful year to share.” ❖ Susan Rockford Bittker (email Susan) | Pete Salinger, MBA ’68 (email Pete) | Alumni Directory.

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1967

Dan Feld (New York, NY) writes: “I was one of the speakers at Prof. Andrew Hacker’s memorial service, held last June in New York City. I was a student of his as a Cornell undergraduate. What follows is taken from the speech that I gave there:

“Andrew Hacker, a prominent Cornell government professor in the 1960s, died in April 2026 at age 96. Prof. Hacker left Cornell in 1971 to become a professor at Queens College, where he taught until shortly before his death. Many years ago, I took the professor’s introductory government course as a star-struck freshman, having read his New York Times Magazine articles while in high school in Brooklyn. I had even written to him as a high school student about one of his articles. He replied graciously.

“In my junior year, I took his great government honors program seminar, one of a small group of very fortunate students, and Prof. Hacker was my advisor when I wrote my senior thesis. My memories of Prof. Hacker remain vivid. He was brilliant, often funny, provocative, controversial, with a commanding presence and never dull. He was also intimidating and could sometimes be mocking or biting in criticizing a student. One day in his seminar, I watched as he made a female student cry.

“I wanted the professor to be a little kinder, a little gentler. But his combative teaching style had a serious purpose: to motivate his students to do their best work. Laziness was not an option for Prof. Hacker’s students. Every week in the junior year seminar, he assigned another book to read. And every week, we had to write a paper, which had to be three pages—no more, no less.

“We put our weekly papers in his mailbox the day before each class so he could read them overnight. At the start of each session, which began at 8:30 in the morning, he selected one paper to be read by the student author, who was then subjected to intense questioning by the professor. He then opened the discussion to the entire class, always under his firm direction. Every class was intense but memorable.

Being chairman of the county board of elections was not on my bucket list for my ninth decade of life.

James Davis ’67

“After Cornell, I kept in touch with Prof. Hacker, sometimes running into him in New York. One night my wife, Norma, and I had dinner with him at a New York restaurant, and Norma once did some research for the professor in her work as a law librarian. Whenever I saw him, I felt once again like a star-struck undergraduate. According to his New York Times obituary, Prof. Hacker once said: ‘The Cornell students were smarter, but the Queens students were hungrier.’ That was a typical Hacker statement: I felt flattered and insulted at the same time.

“Whether the professor considered me a smart Cornell student or just another hungry, hard-working kid from Brooklyn, I always wanted to do my best work for him. Tonight, 63 years after I first was a student of Prof. Hacker, I came to this gathering wanting once again to do my best work for the famous professor—one last time.”

Dianne Pilgrim Digilio (Bay Shore, NY) writes, “It was a pleasure to attend my granddaughter’s graduation from ILR! She follows in her mother and aunt’s footsteps. An additional treat was spending two nights at the Statler—great hospitality and delicious Sunday brunch.”

James Davis (Hayesville, NC) reports, “Being chairman of the county board of elections was not on my bucket list for my ninth decade of life, but I was coerced into it because I had made several complaints of elections violations and one went to court with national implications. It takes a lot more time and education than I realized. Trying to get entrenched bureaucrats and state legislators to do their part is very time consuming. Other than that, I am thankful that I am still healthy enough to put in 12-hour days and our children, Cristian ’97 and Samantha ’00, MAH ’17, are nearby. Since my father, Francis Davis ’35, went to his 60th Reunion, I hope to make ours.

“How did attending Cornell change the trajectory of my life? Cornell opened doors that attending a lesser-regarded school probably would not have. How else to explain how a farm boy traveled all over the world meeting and working with leaders of countries and industry?” ❖ Richard Hoffman (email Richard) | Alumni Directory.

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1968

November is here. Please send more news and updates for our next edition! Let us know about what you and your family are doing, your visits with our classmates, or your reflections on your years at Cornell.

Sam Roberts reports that he is “too old to retire.” Sam was the city editor of the New York Daily News from 1977–81 and its political editor from 1981–83. He then joined the New York Times and was its urban affairs correspondent from 2005–15. Over the last decade or so, he has written approximately 1,500 obituaries for the New York Times.

In addition to being a newspaper editor, Sam is a prolific author of books. His 13th book, Are They Dead Yet? The Art of the Obit, was published by Bloomsbury Publishing this past August. Sam describes this latest book as “a droll exploration of why people write and read obituaries” and an “exploration of the questions that arise when writing a succinct yet record-defining account of a life.” One of the book’s commentators called it “mordantly wonderful.” Another wrote, “I almost died laughing” and a third noted, “My own departure would not be so bad if only Mr. Roberts could write the obit!”

Among Sam’s other books are, The Brother: The Untold Story of Atomic Spy David Greenglass and How He Sent His Sister, Ethel Rosenberg, to the Electric Chair, published in 2001, and Grand Central: How a Train Station Transformed America, about the history of Grand Central Terminal, written and published in 2013 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Grand Central Terminal. Back then, Sharon Lawner Weinberg, PhD ’71, and I had the pleasure of attending Sam’s presentation about this excellent commemorative book at the Cornell Club–New York. Sam also has been hosting—since 1992, when the series first began—the weekly public affairs television talk show “The New York Times Close Up,” first on NY1 News and more recently on CUNY-TV. You can read more about him here!

Elaine Elinson, like Sam, is a widely published author. Her debut novel was published this past August by Sibylline Press. It is called Radiant as the Stars. In Elaine’s words, this “historical novel follows Anna Reader, an immigrant garment worker in Chicago who decides to go back to her shtetl in Ukraine, by herself, at age 20 on the eve of the Russian Revolution. Thrilled at first to join her cousin in the radical Jewish Labor Bund, she soon finds herself in over her head.”

According to her publisher, Elaine is also “coauthor of the award-winning books Wherever There’s a Fight: How Runaway Slaves, Suffragists, Immigrants, Strikers, and Poets Shaped Civil Liberties in California and Development Debacle: The World Bank in the Philippines, which was banned by the Marcos dictatorship. Named a San Francisco Public Library Laureate, her work has been published widely, including in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Kirkus, San Francisco Chronicle, Ms. magazine, and the Jewish Book Council. Elinson served for two decades as the communications director of the ACLU of Northern California and editor of the ACLU News. She lives in San Francisco, speaks Russian, and sings in Yiddish.”

David Silverstein ’68, JD ’73, and Leslie Roth Silverstein ’73 enjoyed a South Pacific cruise where they spent ‘an overnight docked in Sydney harbor facing the amazing opera house—a sight that never gets old.’

David Silverstein, JD ’73, and his wife, Leslie Roth Silverstein ’73, split their time between their Cape Cod and Vermont homes. They recently returned from “a wonderful 10-week South Pacific cruise,” where they spent “an overnight docked in Sydney harbor facing the amazing opera house—a sight that never gets old.” As active Cornell alumni, they are board members of the Cornell Club of Cape Cod, where Leslie serves as program vice president, responsible for event planning.

Davie and Leslie’s older son, Scott ’08, and his family, including their 7-year-old grandson, live in Vermont where Scott runs a structural engineering business. Their younger son, Brett, MMH ’14, and his family, including their 3-year-old grandson, live in Colorado, where Brett works on developing hospitality/multi-family real estate. After retiring from teaching business law at Suffolk University School of Management and “mostly” retiring from his intellectual property law practice, David has become involved with efforts to reform “outdated condominium/HOA laws in Massachusetts and many other states.” His 79-page article on this topic was recently published in the American Bar Association’s Journal, Real Property, Trust and Estate Law.

Joel Negrin and his wife, Linda Schwartz Negrin ’69, are enjoying “semi-retirement” from their respective careers as a corporate and business lawyer, and as an interior designer and decorator. Joel writes, “The best part is that all three of our kids (and families) live a total of 13 miles from our house—which is our third house of over 50 years in Mamaroneck, NY.” They both have time and energy to do volunteer work, play lots of tennis (Joel has played in the USTA Nationals in Surprise, AZ, for the past two years), and relax with their hobbies. Linda remains an active artist and is on the board of the Mamaroneck Artists Guild. She has shown her work recently at the Rockland Arts Festival, the Rye Arts Center, the Rockefeller Gallery, and the Mamaroneck Artists Guild Gallery. Joel and Linda continue their love of travel. Joel reports they have been to an amazing total of 68 countries and that he has visited 45 states!

Ron Kopicki, MA ’71, who provided us with an update this past April, shares some further reflections and details on his life after graduation. Ron writes, “I stayed on at Cornell after graduation but shifted from chemistry to history.” He spent three additional years at Cornell studying history but did not finish writing his PhD dissertation. Ron then worked for two years for the Museum of History and Science, part of the Smithsonian Institution. “That was fun and challenging for a while, but I wanted to move on a faster track so I went back to school—this time to Stanford University, where I received an MBA with a concentration in finance.

“Upon graduation I came back to Washington to work for a consulting firm, ICF, which did a public policy analysis for public and private sector clients. There I worked on projects for Federal Express and for the DoE. Subsequently, I joined Conrail and worked on its restructuring and refinancing. From Conrail I moved on to CSX, where I worked as the director of strategic planning and then as the VP of intermodal operations. After spending two more years as a partner in a logistics/transport strategy consulting firm based in Washington, I joined the World Bank, where I focused on privatizing railroads, ports, trucking, and warehousing companies around the world.”

Ron and his wife, Ann Asby, live in Easton, MD. He continues to do “some pick-up consulting” and teaches at the local adult education forum. He writes, “Attending Cornell provided me with an opportunity to understand how to compete in a larger and more sophisticated world than the one that existed around the small coal mining town where I grew up.”

I look forward to receiving more news and updates from all of you! Please email me about you and your family with news you would like to share with our classmates. ❖ Steve Weinberg, MBA ’70, JD ’71 (email Steve) | Alumni Directory.

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1969

Several years ago I, Nancy Jenkins Krablin, volunteered to be one of ’69’s rotating class correspondents. Here is the news from classmates for the November publication!

Ron Gidron writes from Madrid that 2026 has been a year of milestones. He celebrated his 80th birthday, his 58th wedding anniversary with wife Lourdes, and 63 years together as a couple. Family and friends gathered for a musical celebration featuring songs Ron composed about love, life, gratitude, and their hometown of Alicante. Retirement has been anything but quiet: Ron remains active in music, writing, teaching, travel, and photography. In 2025 he published a 550-page family memoir. Ron and Lourdes also enjoy spending time with their six grandchildren. Reflecting on Cornell, Ron says his years in Ithaca broadened his perspective and launched his career as an international executive and businessman.

Ildiko Czmor Mitchell writes that she has returned to the workforce part time as a field representative for the U.S. Census Bureau. Her greatest satisfaction in life comes from seeing her grandchildren and having the health to remain active! This year she plans to resume hiking the Appalachian Trail, heading south from Front Royal, VA. Ildy would love to hear from classmates who live along the AT! (By November publication, this segment will have been completed BUT it is likely Ildy will be continuing in summer 2027!) Contact her if you might be willing to help with trail logistics or a vehicle shuttle next summer—or simply to say hello!

Carol Merrifield Giordano recently moved to live closer to her son in Long Island City after 50 years in Bellport. She is enjoying 11th-floor views of New York City, new, young neighbors, and exploring a different community with son Peter.

Dick Hoffman ’67 writes that his spouse and our classmate, Eileen Barkas Hoffman, passed away in April. Eileen and Dick were devoted Cornellians throughout their lives. Eileen was a recipient of the ILR School’s Groat Award, the school’s highest honor in the field of labor relations. Dick received the William “Bill” Vanneman ’31 Outstanding Class Leader Award in 2021 in recognition of his exceptional volunteer service to Cornell. Their daughter, Vanessa Hoffman ’07, is an international development expert at the American Institutes for Research. We know Dick takes great pride in the family’s Cornell connections and hopes that tradition might continue through grandsons Ethan and Alex.

Judy Lyke Clarke and family retail many fruits from a third-generation farm, Prospect Hill Orchards-Clarke Family Enterprises, near Milton, NY. Weather dictates much in agriculture! The erratic spring nipped buds, thus much of the 2026 crop was lost. The Clarkes are moving the farm to a more economically sustainable platform; they opened a distillery and tasting room in May with event space and are hoping the new enterprise welcomes many to the farm! The taproom is operating under the name 1817 Cidery and Distillery.

The balance of our allotted class column is recollections of my undergrad extracurricular activities. Coeds recall that we started our time on the Hill with full curfews and skirts at the knee. We were not allowed on the Schoellkopf Field and there were few non-intermural athletic activities for coeds (it was pre-Title IX)! By graduation in 1969, hems were mid-thigh and in loco parentis was history! Our class was part of many changes at Cornell!

Cornell Chorus memory: after a winter concert in Sage Chapel, gathering under the Baker Arch and spontaneously singing the ‘Hallelujah’ chorus in eight-part harmony. It might have been snowing!

Nancy Jenkins Krablin ’69

Unlike John Rees, MEng ’70, who has shared his magnificent scrapbooks, I put all my programs, flyers, etc. in a cardboard box. This ended up under my bed on the lower level of my parents’ home. Said house was built into a rocky hill, so my “private lower-level suite” opened out to a field and a three-quarter-acre pond, but had a linoleum/concrete floor—cold in winter and summer. Summer condensation on that surface was absorbed into said box, which subsequently molded. No nice scrapbook to provide reminders of classmates I may have forgotten!

Having enjoyed participation in high school musicals, freshman year I tried out for the Octagon cast of L’il Abner. This was an all-student group that staged Broadway musicals. A “Sadie Hawkins Day Race” was scheduled on the Arts Quad for some day in April. It snowed! One scene had two secretaries, both named Nancy. We sang something I do not recall—standing on the right wing of the Statler stage wearing navy blue skirts and prim white blouses. That scene involved very muscular guys—recruited from the Teagle gym to show off their brawn. They could not stop giggling while strutting across the stage. 1966 was pre-pantyhose! Leg makeup ensured all the Dogpatch gals’ limbs were the same hue. That orange smear was a mess to remove!

Having experienced the chaos of one Octagon production, sophomore, junior, and senior years I joined the Savoyards. This organization presented Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. To this day, I think it is more fun to be in a G & S musical than be the audience, as the British satire can be obtuse and the libretto is often four characters singing in harmony, clearly articulating totally different aspects of the story line!

The leads (pretty sophisticated music for many characters) were primarily awarded to voice majors from Ithaca College. Nan Nutt, Joan Sullivan Genthe, and Bob Zimmerman were also chorus members of the Savoyards. Having a community that hiked to the fifth (I think) floor of one of the Barton Hall towers to rehearse many weeks was almost relaxing. Somehow, I accomplished more when climbing into that tower four nights a week than after the musicals had been staged! It was great fun to be in the casts of Iolanthe (Prof. Fred Kahn sang one part—amazing bass!), H.M.S. Pinafore, and Trial by Jury. A regret: having opted out of singing in The Mikado. I staffed the Statler box office and hummed the melodies.

Cornell Chorus memories: after a winter concert in Sage Chapel, gathering under the Baker Arch and spontaneously singing the “Hallelujah” chorus in eight-part harmony wearing a “cute little black dress” that came halfway down my thigh. It might have been snowing! Staying four in a room in Buffalo for a performance of Berliotz’s Requiem with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, if memory serves (and it might not), then driving to Niagara Falls with Carol Jones and (her then-likely fiancé) Dave Van Schoick, MEng ’70, after the concert. Chorus regret: not singing the choral part of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at Saratoga Performing Arts Center with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy in July 1969. (I believe Carol and Dave did!) Other classmates were likely on the stage. Larry and I watched from the lawn with my family, regular SPAC attenders.

This correspondent is inviting you to include anecdotes you might contribute to future class columns with your News and Dues letters! My thanks are extended to Adam Sieminski, MPA ’71, and Cindy Nixon DuBose for contributions. ❖ Nancy Jenkins Krablin (email Nancy) | Alumni Directory.

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1970s

1970

Once again, I am sitting at my computer in the north suburbs of Chicago. The weather is better than when I was writing my last column, although there was some recent Canadian wildfire smoke mixed with high temperatures, possible thunderstorms, and also possible tornadoes.

Your class correspondent recently spent some time in Oshkosh, WI, among perhaps 700,000 others interested in aviation, for a week of just about anything about flying and airplanes. The Canadian smoke and less-than-ideal weather was also a factor here, as one might guess. But an attraction for me was to see performing an amazingly restored Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter plane, not unlike what my late father, Carl Cecilia ’42, instructed in and flew in the Pacific theater during WWII.

Diana Christopulos (Salem, VA) continues her work on the environment and outdoors. She has been named president-elect of the Blue Ridge Land Conservancy (BRLC), based in Roanoke and covering 17 counties in Virginia. She has previously served as president of BRLC as well as president of the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club, which maintains 120 miles of the trail in southwest Virginia.

Diana’s life trajectory was changed by graduating from Cornell as a history major, which helped her earn a graduate fellowship, complete a doctorate in history, and earn enough in the private sector to retire at 55 and hike the entire Appalachian Trail.

Mike Turell (Frederick, MD) is a retired entomologist who received the CALS Outstanding Alumni Award this year in September. Mike is known for his drive to educate his community, especially youth, about the importance of insects. He has had an impressive career in entomology and continues to be invited around the world to speak on his work. He is one of the most-cited entomologists on mosquito-borne diseases. Mike was in Ithaca to accept his award on September 18, and also was at Insectapalooza, the annual, one-day insect festival hosted by the Department of Entomology at Cornell on October 24.

When you read this, you may also have recently received notice of class dues and such, along with urging to send any notes as to recent activities, travel, awards, etc. Please send in your news form!

As always, you may contact me directly, or you may use the university’s standard form, the online news form. Please send something! ❖ John Cecilia, MBA ’79 (email John) | Alumni Directory.

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1971

Allow me to introduce myself to those whom I might not have met or who don’t remember me from our days on the Hill. I, Ken Werker, will be serving with our friend Elisabeth Kaplan Boas as your class correspondent for the Class of 1971 and look forward to receiving all your news about family, new accomplishments, travel, and, of course, gatherings with fellow Cornellians.

What have I been doing since graduating Cornell? Well, at the beginning of senior year, I met Janet Feldman ’74, and, to make a long story short, Janet and I celebrated our 54th wedding anniversary this past May. After earning my MPA at Harvard’s JFK School of Government (and after Janet finished her BA at Harvard), we packed our VW Beetle with all our worldly possessions along with my boyhood dog and moved to Vancouver, Canada, where we’ve made our home.

I’ve enjoyed various management roles and, in my last career prior to retirement, was a managing partner of one of Canada’s largest executive search firms. Janet is currently a professor of psychology at University of British Columbia (UBC), where she focuses on language acquisition in infants.

We have two sons who live walking distance from us, along with their families. Greg ’98, MEng ’99, and wife Kim have an almost 16-year-old, Owen. Greg is the senior associate dean of students at UBC’s business school and Kim is a book publisher, focusing on the fabric arts. Eric (Harvard ’00) and wife Alana have two children, Jonny, 14, and Dalia, 13. Eric is on leave from Simon Fraser University, where he is a professor in the business school. He’s currently serving the Canadian government as director of economics and policy for the King’s Privy Council, which advises the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Alana is a family physician.

When we’re not in Vancouver, you can find us at our cabin at Whistler, where those of us still young enough to ski enjoy the slopes in the winter or all that nature offers in the summer.

The team that Irene Smalls ’71 led has secured a $400,000 CREST Capital Grant nomination for Wari House, the women’s residence she founded at Cornell University 58 years ago.

Those of us on the “Left Coast,” or who live in a foreign country, feel a little distant from Cornell. By being a class correspondent, I’m looking forward to renewing old friendships and making new ones—and hey, if you’re ever passing through Vancouver or Whistler, do drop me a note and perhaps we can get together!

Irene Smalls has sent us an exciting update to her news in our previous class report. The team that she led has secured a $400,000 CREST Capital Grant nomination for Wari House, the women’s residence she founded at Cornell University 58 years ago. When Wari House was established in 1968, its goal was simple: to create a home where women could find community, support, and sisterhood while pursuing their education. This grant funding will support critical building renovations that will help preserve Wari House for future generations of Cornell students.

My Phi Ep fraternity brother Mark Katz came to Vancouver to visit Janet and me in April, and we took the opportunity to give him a whirlwind tour of the city. It was a thrill for us to introduce him to our sons, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren, who peppered Mark with questions about what their parents and grandparents were really like in the “old days.”

Mark still works part time as a hospitalist with Kaiser Permanente in Los Angeles, and when he’s not busy with his medical practice, he loves spending time with his son, Marcus. This past summer, Mark and Marcus did their semi-annual father-son trip and went to Italy (Cinque Terre, on the Ligurian coast). Recently Mark told me of his visit to San Diego to another fraternity brother, Stu Lourie ’69, to celebrate Stu’s 79th birthday.

Erik Videlock and wife Joyce escaped another Philadelphia winter to their second home in Tucson, where they continued to engage in their passion for biking. In addition, they are regulars at the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Tucson Jazz Festival, several theater companies, and the Tucson Festival of Books. During their time in Arizona, they were joined by a number of friends and family members from Philadelphia, including daughter Ali, an eighth-grade math teacher in the Philadelphia public schools, son-in-law John, and grandchildren Rose and Ernie. Daughter Beth visited from her home in L.A., where she is on the UCLA medical school faculty conducting research on the brain-gut connection in patients with Parkinson’s disease. ❖ Ken Werker (email Ken) | Elisabeth Kaplan Boas (email Elisabeth) | Alumni Directory.

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1972

Fellow classmates, this is Wes Schulz, ME ’73, your class correspondent who produced this column. Your input is appreciated.

Our 55th Reunion will be June 10–13, 2027. Nancy Roistacher (our dedicated class president) encourages everyone to join in the planning and celebration of our 55th Reunion year. We have a lot to celebrate and a lot to be thankful for. The class treasury will subsidize our 55th Reunion to make it more affordable. The class also plans to subsidize local events around the country as well, so more classmates will have the opportunity to get together.

Many members of the class came to our 50th Reunion in 2022, but a significant number still felt constrained by the COVID epidemic and did not attend. Nancy hopes that many of those who did not feel comfortable in 2022 are now planning on coming in 2027.

Some people will not be able to attend due to other concerns, but Nancy hopes they will be able to join in some of the 55th Reunion-year celebrations. Our class has scheduled some events in the past years and plans to arrange more. The coming year will provide other opportunities for our classmates to get together either in person or virtually. Nancy encourages everyone to attend.

I am really looking forward to next June. I have been to every one of our ’72 Reunions and highly recommend attending. Start making plans now and encourage your friends to be there with you.

After taking flying lessons in 2023, Jim Kozuch ’72 decided to stick to the ground, where he enjoys walking the family dogs, exercising, and driving his red Mustang convertible.

Jim Kozuch reports that he recently became an adjunct professor in Lehigh University’s technical entrepreneurship (MEng) program in the College of Engineering and Applied Science. Jim taught Intellectual Property Creation and Management this past summer to graduate students pursuing a master’s degree in technical entrepreneurship. This fall he will teach Intellectual Property: Strategy for Research Impact to PhD students in Lehigh’s Research Translation AcceLUrator, which helps researchers move their innovations from the lab toward real-world impact.

Jim has practiced intellectual property law and litigation with the Philadelphia firm of Caesar Rivise PC for the past 28 years (16 years as a shareholder) and works from the firm’s office in the Lehigh Valley, where he and his family have lived since 1980. He also serves as an arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association and the International Centre for Dispute Resolution.

Jim and his wife are the proud parents of their daughter who graduated from Cornell’s Hotel School. After taking flying lessons in 2023, Jim decided to stick to the ground, where he enjoys walking the family dogs, exercising, and driving his red Mustang convertible. He is a big fan of Cornell basketball, hockey, and lacrosse—2025 National Champions! A proud alum of Cornell’s College of Engineering, Jim earned an MBA from Lehigh and a JD from Temple University’s School of Law. Before law school, he worked in the energy industry for ten years in engineering and then strategic planning.

Thank you to all who have written in. Keep the news coming! As always, you may contact me directly, or use the University’s standard online news form. ❖ Wes Schulz, ME ’73 (email Wes) | Alumni Directory.

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1973

The summer has been hot and smoky for many of us. Hopefully by the time this column hits the Internet, things will have calmed down, weatherwise at least. Likewise, I hope more news will arrive with the fall.

My husband, Dave, and I became first-time grandparents in March, of a girl named Grace. She’s happy and healthy and lives in Stanford, CA; a lovely place, if far away from where we live.

As Cornell closes the books on fiscal year 2026, Wayne Merkelson, JD ’75, and Susan Murphy, PhD ’94, shared a heartfelt thank you for the support our class showed this year. Whether you contributed through a gift, volunteering, or cheering Cornell on from afar, it all adds up to a meaningful impact for today’s students. In total, the Class of ’73 had 518 donors and 50 Tower Club households who contributed $5,838,969, with $530,263 directed to the Cornell Annual Fund.

Additionally, our Class of 1973 Scholarship saw $67,671 from 80 donors. We continue to make great progress towards our goal of $1 million in book value by our 55th Reunion celebration! Please send your news to: ❖ Phyllis Haight Grummon (email Phyllis) | Pam Meyers (email Pam) | Dave Ross (email Dave) | Alumni Directory.

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1974

Marleen Kay Davis celebrated the conclusion of her career, after four decades of architectural education, by hosting a big party in a Neyland Stadium skybox and thus starting her new chapter of life as “retired.” She also bought a small condo in D.C.’s Capitol Hill, to be closer to her son and his family. Ilene Hartman Klein, who resides in Netanya, Israel, has a burgeoning family. She writes, “We welcomed two new grandchildren recently for a new total of 28 grandchildren from our five children! Our eldest granddaughter just gave birth to a baby boy, so my husband, Moshe Klein, and I became great-grandparents!”

Marlene Angel Harper lives in Los Angeles and loves salsa dancing and performing standup comedy. For work she is a studio teacher for TV and film, providing education and welfare for child actors. Marlene is also an actress and voice-over talent in the entertainment industry. She just launched a beta version of her new free community app, called Hello Snow Leopard. Perry Jacobs’s daughter Jessica ’09 was married August 8 in a beautiful location in the Hudson Valley. Perry notes, “He’s not a Cornellian, but otherwise a great guy.”

Both Mary “Mi” O’Connell and Kristen Rupert alerted me to the wedding of Julie Kane and Robert Butler, who celebrated their recent marriage with a reception at the Audubon Clubhouse in New Orleans in July. Cornellians in attendance included Kate Dubina Seawell, Alison Dreizen, Lonnie Steinberg Wittenberg, Ray Seraydarian, MEng ’76, and Julie’s sister Cindy Kane ’78. Julie is professor emerita of English at Northwestern State University of Louisiana and a past Louisiana Poet Laureate. Her sixth milestone poetry collection is Naked Ladies: New and Selected Poems (LSU Press, 2025), which was a longlist finalist for the Julie Suk Award and a California Review “Best Poetry Books of 2025” selection. Robert is a Pulitzer Prize-winning fiction writer and a Krafft Distinguished Professor at Florida State University, holding the Michael Shaara Chair in Creative Writing.

Marleen Kay Davis ’74 celebrated the conclusion of her career, after four decades of architectural education, by hosting a big party in a Neyland Stadium skybox.

This past April, Bruce Mainzer organized a trip to Halle, Germany, to honor victims of Nazi persecution for his family and two other families who are descendants of close friends of his father. Bruce relates, “In all, 26 people traveled from the U.S., Argentina, and England to install 16 plaques in four different locations in Halle at the last freely chosen home of these families before they were forced to flee or deported to a death camp. These plaques are called stolpersteine (stumbling stones) and the effort was started in 1992 by artist Gunter Demnig. There are now more than 100,000 stolpersteine all throughout Europe honoring victims of Nazi persecution. My family also visited the towns of Bad Kissingen and Schmalkalden in Germany, the birthplace of my grandfather and grandmother. Each locale’s city government hosted us, and sponsored sessions with local school children in Germany to educate about the past, and to honor families. It was a very meaningful trip.”

In a meaningful but much less somber vein, I (Betsy Moore) organized a family reunion for 70 people held in Central New York in July. Attendees ranged in age from 6 months to 79 years. We all enjoyed hanging out, getting reacquainted, and meeting the newest members of the family. Sixteen of us were Cornell alums, including Tom ’79 and Carol McKenzie Moore. ❖ Betsy Moore (email Betsy) | Perry Jacobs (email Perry) | Linda Meyers Geyer (email Linda) | Alumni Directory.

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1975

As the years march on, we find that more of us are moving into retirement activities, saying goodbye to so many years of professional endeavors, and the range of retirement interests seems extensive.

Our 50th Reunion in 2025 brought a number of classmates that I’ve not recently seen. Delta Gamma sister Sue Lindstrom Newman, MBA ’76, traveled from Naples, FL. Having received her BS in industrial engineering and her MBA from Cornell, Sue has spent much of her career involved with the aerospace sector for both large corporations and family business with her husband. Her family has split their retirement years between Southwest Florida and Western New York, where they had raised their two children on the shores of Lake Erie.

Sue’s fellow engineering classmate Mitchell Frishman has retired from the field and currently resides in Kingston, PA, having previously lived on both coasts. During his career, he worked in a variety of capacities including test engineering, technical sales, applications engineering, project management, and technical documentation. Applications of his work range from microwaves and fiber optics to optoelectronics for companies such as Hughes Aircraft Company, Lucent Technologies, and Integrated Defense Systems. Mitchell recalls the fond memories of traying on Libe Slope, a winter activity enjoyed by so many of us in Ithaca. And when not in class or on the Slope, you could probably have found him on campus showing a film.

Another engineer sharing his insights and experiences from our Cornell years is James Heliotis, MEng ’76. He went on to receive his master’s degree in engineering from Cornell and a PhD in computer science from the University of Rochester in 1984. A retired professor of computer science at Rochester Institute of Technology and an engineer at Xerox, James now lives in Rochester, NY. Reminiscing about his time on campus, his favorite memories were being a member of Kappa Alpha Society, singing in Glee Club and Chorus, learning music composition, taking courses in foreign languages, sliding down Libe Slope in snowy weather, the elm trees on the Arts Quad, experiencing work interactively with a computer rather than punch cards (my, how times have changed!), and meeting his future wife.

Who knew that—when he left Wellesley High School in Massachusetts in 1971 bound for Cornell—Joseph Lavin would make such an indelible mark on the hospitality field? Joe was recently honored by the Cornell Hotel Society, chosen as a Hotelie Hall of Fame inductee for 2026. During his days on campus, he was a member and officer of Beta Theta Pi fraternity, president of the Majura Nolanda Society (a.k.a. the Mummies), hockey reporter for WVBR, and a member of the Cornell Senate, Concert Commission, and Hockey Fans Association.

Following graduation, Joe was hired by the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, where he participated in a new prototype training program in each hotel department and was promoted to assistant manager. At the hotel consulting firm of Laventhol & Horwath in San Francisco, he found his niche in helping to shape the future of the hospitality field—and then on to Marriott (creating Springhill Suites), Quality International, ExecuStay, the Norwich Inn, and numerous Cornell activities, all expanding his hospitality experience exponentially. Follow more of Joe’s travels after graduating in the article found at this link. Congratulations, Joe!

Joseph Lavin ’75 was recently honored by the Cornell Hotel Society, chosen as a Hotelie Hall of Fame inductee for 2026.

From Fairfax Station, VA, John Van Beek writes that he learned the value of an education and of lifelong friends while at Cornell. When not practicing law in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC, John enjoys being with his granddaughter and is involved in softball, books, and travel. His son had married a woman from Thailand and moved to the country—and John reports a great trip!

Also living in the metropolitan Washington area is Leslie Canfield Perlman. After leaving Cornell, she received her JD from Vanderbilt Law School in 1978. Leslie’s professional activities had taken her to New York, where she practiced law before relocating to Washington, DC, to become a trial and appellate attorney with the Department of Labor.

Following retirement, Leslie co-founded her own consulting and expert witness firm. She and husband Jeff Perlman, also a former attorney, have enjoyed retirement by hiking, biking, and skiing in Wyoming and Maine, traveling, and collecting American antiques, including blue decorated stoneware, wooden inkwells, and children’s books. Kids Jordan ’10 and Mike ’13 both live in the D.C. area. Leslie’s words of advice to future Cornellians: do everything!

Having received his MD from Cornell Medical College and New York Hospital following graduation, Steven Werns, MD ’79, then moved to Ann Arbor, MI, where he did his cardiology fellowship and joined the University of Michigan faculty. In January 2025, Steven returned to NYC, where he is currently the chief of cardiology at the Hospital for Special Surgery and professor of clinical medicine at Weill Cornell. Retirement, he says, is a distant dream that might materialize after his three children graduate from college.

Steven has remained in contact with our alma mater in many ways, including attending Cornell Day at Yankee Stadium in July and visiting campus in the summer when his younger son attended wrestling camp at Cornell. Steven’s daughter did a mini-internship at Weill Cornell in June before heading back to Ann Arbor, where she and her twin brother are both sophomores.

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. ❖ Joan Pease (email Joan) | Mike Tannenbaum (email Mike) | Deb Gellman, MBA ’82 (email Deb) | Karen DeMarco Boroff (email Karen) | Alumni Directory.

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1976

So happy to announce that Scott Keenum and Cecilia Bethke married April 25, 2026, in Silver Spring, MD. They shared their wedding celebration with many Cornell alums including: General “Jay” ’73 and Debbie McCoy Paxton ’75, Mark Clemente ’73, MPS ’77, Jack Brewster ’75, Mark ’75 and Christine Magill Kamon ’75, Dan and Kathy Jones Brammell ’77, Kevin Bruns ’79, Mark Dewey ’75, Mike Hayes ’77, LuJon Rossi ’75, Mike Sandul, Beth Wright-Seeley and Jim Seeley, and Don, MBA ’79, and Karen Krinsky Sussman. I’m sure that we all wish Cecilia and Scott happiness and congratulations.

Summer has allowed some travel for me (Lisa Diamant). In celebration of husband Joel Marcus’s 75th birthday, we took a cruise to Bermuda with my adult children, their spouses, and my granddaughter, and his adult children and their spouses. The weekend after we returned, we attended a beautiful wedding in New Hampshire for one of my friend’s daughters. Then we spent a quiet weekend in Bailey Island, ME. Spending time with friends in Ogunquit, ME, was our next planned “adventure” after Labor Day.

Please send your news to us! ❖ Lisa Diamant (email Lisa) | Pat Relf Hanavan (email Pat) | Alumni Directory.

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1977

Hi everyone! I hope you are all well and have a wonderful holiday season. Here are updates from a few of our classmates.

Kenneth Myers writes, “After training to teach American literature and 10 years teaching at Middlebury College, I took a leap and shifted my focus to American art.” Kenneth next spent six years as a curator of American art at the Smithsonian Institution’s Freer Gallery. In 2005 he joined the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), where he was in charge of the museum’s great American art collection. Kenneth retired from the DIA in September 2026, but, he notes, “not from research and writing about American art.”

After leaving the DIA, he moved to NYC to be with his wonderful wife, Marianne, and his stepdaughter, Morgan. Kenneth also plans to spend more time with his daughter, Sarah Myers ’13, who lives in South Dakota, where she is a silviculturist with the National Forest Service. Ken writes, “My mom, Frances Goldberg Myers ’51, lives in Asheville, NC, near my sister, Pam Myers ’78. My brother, Nathaniel “Chip” Myers ’82, DVM ’87, and his wife, Dana Kellerman ’85, DVM ’90, are veterinarians in Pittsburgh, both with undergraduate and graduate degrees from Cornell. Quite a Big Red family tradition.”

Mark Lange recently traveled to Stowe, VT, on vacation with some of his family including his 4-year-old grandson, Nolan. Along the way they stopped in Hanover, NH, for a quick luncheon reunion with Mark’s roommate, Jay Buckey Jr., MD ’81, and Jay’s wife, Sara Masters Buckey. Jay is a professor of medicine and director of the Space Medicine Innovations Laboratory at Dartmouth. Mark, his family, Jay, and Sara were able to catch up on old times, including their years in Texas, where Mark practiced architecture and Jay became an astronaut. What a fun way to introduce a 4-year-old to science!

Cara Lebowitz Kagan is also on the move. After living in New York State her entire life, Cara moved to Delray Beach, FL, in August 2026. Best wishes on your new adventure, Cara! Many of you know that she is one of our class Reunion chairs, so you can look forward to hearing from her and other members of our class officer team as we approach our 50th Reunion in June 2027!

Please send news about what’s happening in your life—celebrations, trips, family milestones, work, retirement, etc., or just favorite Cornell memories. We enjoy hearing from you and having the opportunity to share your stories with our fellow classmates.

Keep all your news and views coming in via the online news form! ❖ Mary Flynn (email Mary) | Howie Eisen (email Howie) | Alumni Directory.

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1978

More retirements, semi-retirements, thinking about retirements, and new adventures to report.

Dan Miller is the host of a weekly podcast called Climate Chat on YouTube and LinkedIn channels, where he interviews climate scientist authors, activists, and solution providers about the climate crisis and climate solutions. Past guests include James Hansen, Steven Chu, Adam McKay, Bill McKibben, and Cornell climate scientists Doug McMartin and Daniele Visioni. With nearly 150 episodes available, Dan thinks many ’78 Cornell alumni will find the podcast interesting and important.

Pam Marrone is doing her part to combat climate change with her fourth startup, the Invasive Species Corporation. It focuses on biological solutions for controlling weeds as alternatives to toxic herbicides in agriculture. The company also has the only environmentally friendly solution for zebra, quagga, and golden mussels, and has discovered marine microorganisms that can control sea lice of salmon, which Pam identifies as the worst pests in aquaculture. Pam’s husband, Mick Rogers ’78, retired from his position as field faculty advisor for Smith College School of Social Work.

Still living in Duxbury, MA, Andre Martecchini, MEng ’79, is “partially” retired from his civil engineering consulting business at Kleinfelder in Boston, MA, but says somehow, he’s still spending too much time working. “I love what I do, and I don’t intend to fully retire, but trying to reduce workload over the next few months is my goal,” he says.

Dan Miller ’78 is the host of a weekly podcast called Climate Chat.

Over the past year, Andre completed a bucket-list adventure by doing two legs of the Clipper Round the World sailing race. In November/December 2026, he sailed leg three—from Cape Town, South Africa, to Fremantle, Australia. It took 22 days to cover the 6,500 miles in the Southern Ocean on stripped-down 70-ft. racing boats with a crew of 18 from around the world. “We had incredible downwind sailing with huge waves and high winds, which was a thrill ride,” enthuses Andre.

In June/July 2026 he sailed leg eight, from Washington, DC, to Oban, Scotland, which covered 4,300 miles in 17 days. After a ten-day layover in Scotland, they did the final five-day leg from Oban to Portsmouth, England, for the race finale. The experience included four weeks of training in Portsmouth in 2024–25 prior to the race. “Although the sailing was tough and strenuous,” writes Andre, “the overall experience and the people I met will be cherished forever.”

Since retiring from the Argonne National Laboratory as a physicist more than ten years ago, Derrick Mancini has been running a small craft distillery in his suburban village outside Chicago. Although still a small business, he is hoping to find someone from a younger generation to take over. Derrick has also been teaching as an adjunct professor, but he’s not sure for how much longer. He is hoping to travel more with his wife once she retires from her freelance trade journalism career.

Ken Moy writes that he’s still working in different roles at the same place he has been for 40 years: the Nevada National Security Sites, formerly known as the Nevada Test Site. “Fortunately, I’ve worked from Santa Barbara, CA, all these years!” he jests. (And, he’s had the same wife for 43 years!) They have three grandchildren who he calls “awesome,” and another was on the way when writing this in August.

That’s all I’ve got this time around. Don’t forget to take a moment and tell us all what’s new with you. ❖ Ilene Shub Lefland (email Ilene) | Cindy Fuller, PhD ’92 (email Cindy) | Alumni Directory.

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1979

Fall is always a glorious time of the year on campus, and it was especially magnificent in 1975, the year most of us started at Cornell. It’s impossible to believe that it’s been 51 years since our college journey began. We were so hopeful about a wonderful college experience. Who knew it would lead to so many wonderful friendships and paths?

Nancy Sverdlik and Beth Anderson ’80 were feted on campus on October 17 as recipients of this year’s Frank H.T. Rhodes Exemplary Alumni Service Award, which recognizes alumni who have demonstrated extraordinary service to Cornell through long-term volunteer activity.

Kevin Bruns spent the summer and fall on Keuka Lake in between seeing grandkids in Massachusetts and visiting family in Marin County (CA), Denver, and Chicago. And planning for our 50th Reunion (mark it down: June 7–10, 2029!). Affinity VPs Elizabeth Kutscher Rosenstein and Kevin continue to build their affinity group leaders list. Contact them at cornellaffinity79@gmail.com to volunteer or find out who’s leading your Greek house, club, dorm, sports team, music group, etc. A well-attended Reunion is a fun Reunion.

Judith van Adelsberg Berman and her husband, Michael, MBA ’86, live in Tel Aviv. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences in spring 2026. Judith is the Nathan Galston Chair in Antimicrobial Drug Research and has been a member of the Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research at the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences at Tel Aviv University for the past 15 years. Prior to that, she was a professor of genetics and cell biology at the University of Minnesota.

Mark Wilson, MBA ’80, and Denise Rempe ’80 are delighted to report the wedding of their daughter, Brooke Wilson ’16, to David Goldgof ’16 on July 11 at Holman Ranch in Carmel Valley, CA. David is the son of Regina Franco ’86 and Mike Goldgof ’86, MEng ’88. The weather was perfect for the ceremony, dinner, and dancing. Many Cornellians were in attendance, including David’s siblings, several family members, Kevin Hunt ’84, and a representative crew of Class of ’16 friends. All had a wonderful time and many guests from the East Coast booked a West Coast vacation around the wedding.

Cornell’s Adult University (CAU) turned out to be a mini-reunion for our class. Week one had Janet Goldin Rubin and Nancy Sverdlik, who took an excellent course called You and Your Brain, taught by professor emeritus (psychology) Tim Devoogd. They dissected a sheep’s brain! They also enjoyed an evening lecture featuring Corey Ryan Earle ’07 talking about technology at Cornell, bowled at Helen Newman, and took a “behind the scenes” tour of the Bowers College of Computing and Information Science. CAU headquarters was in Balch Hall, where everyone enjoyed the renovated cooled rooms and the main lounge. Evenings had food and drinks for socializing, making for enjoyable sharing. There were lots of small-world stories.

Cornell’s Adult University turned out to be a mini-reunion for our class.

Linda Moses ’79

Attending week two were Lisa Barsanti Hoyt, Judy Ashby, Deb Seidman, and Danna Levy, who said, “I waited 47 years for this experience, and it didn’t disappoint! My seminar explored an amazing novel, Mr. Mani, by Israeli author A.B. Yehoshua, and was attended by a small-but-mighty group of interesting people from a range of professional backgrounds and perspectives. What fun to be back on campus, taking a humanities seminar on the Arts Quad after years of science classes!” After the banquet, Lisa rounded up people and Brad and Mary Maxon Grainger, MPS ’87, hosted everyone in the Statler Bar.

Libby Bush Bollich attended both weeks of CAU—for her, it was the focal point of a four-week journey. She lived in Balch and reports that she was very glad to see the lounge spaces preserved! She took Stoicism during the first week and Engineering in the Roman Empire during the second week. In Stoicism, there was a fascinating and impressive group of classmates that made for a mentally absorbing and challenging week. The class started with Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle before contending with Stoicism and Zeno of Citium, Cleanthes, and Chrysippus. A lot was packed into those five days.

Engineering in the Roman Empire included learning about Greek heritage (allowing a nice connection with the previous week’s course), labor and craftsmen, surveying and tools, and water (aqueducts, of course). Among the interesting field trips was one to the Arts Quad to try using a surveying tool called the Roman groma—and Libby says they were awful at it! They also saw the Synchrotron, now used for generating intense X-rays for various lab uses. Altogether a fascinating week!

Libby spent the weekend between sessions exploring Ithaca including a visit to Moosewood, Taughannock Falls, and the Botanic Gardens for a docent tour, plus an outside evening session with arachnids and a lecture by the new head of the Botanic Gardens. She also won a Cornell rugby shirt at bingo and some free ice cream at the Dairy Bar.

Libby planned to decompress during her two weeks on campus, but was brought down to earth when she looked at the pre-reading materials for Roman Engineering. The Stoicism reading load was sufficient to keep her from even trying! Next year, if she comes for two courses, she says she will be sensible and choose one “light” one.

Libby drove to CAU via a circuitous route from her home in Covington, LA, where she landed after receiving a job offer at Cornell in 1979. (She writes, “The job was at Shell Oil—worst salary offer, but most interesting job. I married a Cajun and that settled that.”) In June, she decamped with a ladder and electric hedge trimmers to trim the boxwoods on her grandparents’ grave in an old cemetery in Monroe, NY. Along the way, Libby detoured to the Biltmore estate in Asheville, NC, to see the grounds that were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. From there she drove along the Blue Ridge Mountains with a stop at the Luray Caverns.

Once in New York State, she went to Harriman, where she saw the railroad bridge that was built after an accident in the early 1900s; a sleigh crossing the tracks was hit by a train killing everyone (including a great-aunt aged 13 at the time) except for Libby’s grandmother-to-be! Now the whole area has overwhelmingly changed. In Bear Mountain, she walked to the river where the boats from New York City used to dock when she was a child, and also went up the Perkins Memorial Observatory Loop, with its glorious view of Manhattan and the Hudson River.

After CAU, Libby headed to Watertown, NY, and took a cruise from Alexandria Bay in the Thousand Islands. It was beautiful and she was glad to be cold! By Friday, Libby was driving back to Louisiana, following back roads along the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario, until Erie, PA. Two more days of about 600 miles each, and she was back home.

Please share your stories with us. Send updates via the Share Your News form, the online news form, or emails sent directly to any of our class correspondents: ❖ Linda Moses (email Linda) | Larry Bunis (email Larry) | Cynthia Ahlgren Shea (email Cynthia) | Alumni Directory.

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1980s

1980

The dearth of submissions from classmates means I get this space all to myself! If you are averse to puerile drivel, you’re out of luck, pal. To avert future pain and unhappiness, send your correspondents news.

In the spring of freshman year, Hobe (not his real name) and I climbed down the northern wall of Fall Creek Gorge, under the Triphammer Bridge. The reason escapes me at this remove. Fully clothed, we swam to the remains of the power station next to the falls. We decided to explore it, but it was dark inside; “I have matches in my pocket!” I exclaimed. Hilarity ensued.

Speaking of my freshman hallmates, because that’s what I was doing, Brad from Montana was an echt Westerner, and introduced a few of us to polo. The sport, not the shirt. Polo isn’t only the effete rich-boy domain of Eastern blue-bloods, and Brad was a muscular no-nonsense horse-riding stud muffin who liked to hit things with sticks. I mean, who doesn’t? He was far from effete, and I’m not even sure he owned a necktie.

Once, my hallmates got into my single in U-Hall 5 while I was out and built a six-foot-high pyramid with the beer cans they found. I proudly showed a picture of it to my folks; my pop smiled, but my mother was horrified. Despite this, she put the picture in a family album. Perhaps she meant it as a warning to future generations, but I like to think she was showing early signs of senility. After she died I hauled the family albums to our home in Vermont, where they molder in the basement under a pile of beer cans.

Our Reunion chairpersons are already beavering away at plans for our 50th. I suggested a Nude Twister Night, but I haven’t heard back from them. Perhaps a letter-writing campaign is in order. Think of it! The cracking of joints will drown out the screams of onlookers.

Do you sing country-western songs in the shower? Can you balance a spoon on your nose? What is your passion? We need to know. Tell us who you want to see at our 50th Reunion in four years. Write to your class correspondents! You’re not getting any younger just as fast as the rest of us aren’t, so get cracking before you tumble further into senescence. ❖ Dik Saalfeld (email Dik) | Chas Horvath, ME ’81 (email Chas) | Karen Vecchio DeFusco (email Karen) | David Durfee (email David) | Alumni Directory.

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1981

Hi everyone, this is Jon Landsman writing my first class column in many years. I was a class correspondent from 1981 to 1991, and it is great to be back writing news about the class and our classmates.

Some thoughts on our 45th Reunion: it was spectacular! It was our first in-person Reunion in 10 years, and there was a great vibe, camaraderie, and turnout. It was nice to reconnect and speak with so many classmates and their family members. It was nice to have our class cocktail party and dinner at the Straight, in the Ivy Room and Okenshields, where we had many, many meals as students. It was also fun to be back on West Campus in the “new” dorms (which are not really that new anymore).

With 230 classmates attending, we tied the 45th Reunion attendance record with the Class of 1974. Let us all aim for record turnout at our 50th Reunion from June 5–8, 2031. Mark your digital calendars now, tell your friends, and may we all be healthy and able to attend.

Thanks to our 45th Reunion co-chairs, Celia Rodee, Tanis MacKay-Bell, and Daniel Weisz, and our 45th Reunion registration chair, Heidi Fleischman, for their hard work and dedication in planning and implementing our Reunion.

Notably, our class fundraising campaign had 570 classmates making a gift in honor of our Reunion, raising more than $15 million, a new best for our class. Thanks for the efforts made by our 45th Reunion campaign chairs, Kenny Blatt, Cathy Cosentini Bonczek, John Boochever, Fred Cohen, Laura Dake Roche, and Lisa Kremer Ullman.

Many thanks also to Fred Cohen, who served the class as president for the past 10 years. He is returning as class treasurer. The class elected officers for the next five years at our festive Sunday morning brunch at the conclusion of Reunion.

Congratulations and good luck to our new president, Cathy Cosentini Bonczek, and to the other class officers for the next five years: vice president Laura Dake Roche; treasurer Fred Cohen; membership chair Rochelle Michaux-Conway; affinity chair Daniel Weisz; Reunion chairs Celia Rodee, Tanis MacKay-Bell, and Monique van Perlstein; Reunion registration chair Heidi Fleischman; Annual Fund representatives John Boochever, Lisa Kremer Ullmann, and Wendy Rosenthal Gellman; web community manager Steve Ritchey; and class correspondents David Boraks, Jon Landsman, and Betsy Silverfine.

Also thanks to classmates who were elected to serve on the class council, a group that works with the officers on class projects. Cathy writes that, as president, she is really looking forward to working with all of the officers, the council, and any classmates who would like to become more involved in the class and Cornell alumni activities.

With 230 classmates attending, we tied the 45th Reunion attendance record.

Jon Landsman ’81

Cathy is an executive communication coach. This allows her to travel around the world, helping senior executives with their leadership and fundraising messages, among other things. She is based in her hometown of Stamford, CT. Check out her website. In June, Cathy came out with a new book, The Simple Magic of Executive Communication: Forget Perfection. Communication That Changes Everything Begins With Connection. She was able to sign some copies for classmates at Reunion.

As for myself, I was a newspaper reporter in Upstate New York for three years after Cornell, then I pivoted to law school at University of Pennsylvania and have been a practicing attorney in NYC since. After starting out at a large NYC law firm, I have had my own civil litigation and real estate practice in Manhattan since 1993. My wife and I live in New York and have two teenage children in high school. My 11th-grade son is now studying for the SATs!

In recent years, I have discovered the joy of spending a week at Cornell in July at Cornell’s Adult University. CAU offers all types of classes, ranging from the traditional classroom setting to the outdoors—bird watching, bike riding, sailing, golf instruction, etc. You can attend for one or two weeks. You can stay in a dorm, at the Statler, or off campus. Notably, there are no homework assignments, no prelims, and no grades. There are activities but the pace is relaxed. The campus is particularly beautiful and quiet in July.

I first attended in 2023, taking a course in art history (a subject I knew very little about). The class met in the Johnson Art Museum and also toured several collections in libraries and other buildings. I stayed in Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hall, a brand-new dorm on North Campus. In 2025, I returned and took a course on Cornell history, studying many of the University’s archive collections. I stayed at the Statler, and I must say I was very impressed with the hotel and the service.

In 2026, I was unable to stay for a full week, but I visited and stayed in the Statler for a few days and reconnected with CAU friends. For 2027, CAU will be in session from July 11–23. Here is the link for more information. Registration opens in January 2027. Funny thing is, we are among the CAU youngsters! Most of the attendees graduated before us.

I met a classmate, Christine Oaklander, in the Cornell history class in 2025 and I saw her again in 2026. Christine wrote that she enjoyed CAU tremendously in both 2025 and 2026. She took Cornell history courses both years, taught by University Archivist Evan Earle ’02, MS ’14, and his brother, Corey Earle ’07, unofficial Cornell historian, known for his entertaining lectures and on-campus course about Cornell history.

Christine is an art consultant and independent art historian and said she loved seeing the amazing range of art, papers, photos, and books held by the Cornell Archives and the Rare and Manuscript Collections. She also enjoyed the tours to collections around the campus, which include rare tropical plants at the ag college and the Fashion + Textile Collection in the College of Human Ecology. One of her favorites was the brain collection, which includes the brain of serial murderer Edward Rulloff (after whom Rulloff’s bar was named). Christine also enjoyed a stunning portfolio of original watercolors by George Catlin.

Lisa Kremer Ullmann ’81 and her husband, Michael ’80, are hosting a Class of 1981 post-hockey-game event at Slattery’s Midtown Pub in Manhattan, a few blocks from Madison Square Garden.

In 2026, CAU had rooms at the newly renovated Balch Hall, and Christine stayed there as she had stayed in Balch her senior year. CAU had a lounge in Balch, where people congregated and socialized. Christine convinced her U-Hall 1 friend and our classmate Terry Steinberg to attend CAU and reports that Terry and her friend enjoyed their courses.

Another memorable moment from CAU 2026 was a tour of the Straight, which ended at the Willard Straight Hall Theater—the current home of Cornell Cinema (no longer housed in Uris). It is good to hear that Cornell Cinema still exists and still offers movies on the big screen to students.

Leslie Camhi writes that she lives in Manhattan and that on December 21, 2025, her son Asher ’25 graduated from Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences, with a major in science and technology and minor in astronomy. Leslie adds, “It was a great day and I couldn’t be prouder.”

For classmates in the New York City area, there are some events in November you should know about. The Cornell-Columbia football game is scheduled for Saturday, November 21, at noon at Wien Stadium in northern Manhattan. Then, later in the afternoon, look for the Cornell Sy Katz ’31 Parade downtown near the Cornell Club.

The following Saturday is the Cornell-Maine hockey game at Madison Square Garden, November 28, starting at noon. Our class has a ticket block, but by the time you read this it will either be sold out or released back to the ticket office. However, tickets will still be available on Ticketmaster or secondary sites such as Stubhub! If you want to sit near our class, our ticket block is in Section 105.

Lisa Kremer Ullmann and her husband, Michael ’80, are hosting a Class of 1981 post-hockey-game event at Slattery’s Midtown Pub in Manhattan, a few blocks from Madison Square Garden. This is open to all, not just for those attending the game. To register or ask any questions, please reach out to Lisa (email Lisa).

For those of you who live in or visit Southwest Florida, please note that three classmates—Pam Bulcroft Moore, David Meade, and Lisa Kremer Ullmann—are officers of the Cornell Club of Southwest Florida. If you are in the Fort Myers/Naples area, you are invited to join in the club’s many fun events all year long. Contact Lisa to be added to the club’s email list. I usually visit Naples once a year and I just added my name to the list.

Everyone, please do not be bashful—submit your news to the class correspondents so we can write about you. Tell us about your spouse, partner, children, grandchildren, work, second careers, third careers, retirement, travel, leisure activities, and anything else you want to share.

Even if we spoke at Reunion, kindly resubmit your news as your dedicated columnists may not have been taking notes! And one more thing: we are trying to have classmates support the class by paying class dues. Here is the link. ❖ Jon Landsman (email Jonathan) | Betsy Silverfine (email Betsy) | David Boraks (email David) | Alumni Directory.

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1982

Reunion is coming, folks! Look soon for details on the scheduled events and how to register!

In a big, big honor for himself and for our class, class co-president Charles Stuppard was named as one of six 2026 recipients of the Frank H.T. Rhodes Exemplary Alumni Service Award. He received the award at a ceremony and dinner on campus earlier this autumn. This is one of Cornell’s most prestigious alumni recognitions. We, of course, claim the beloved Dr. Rhodes as “our” president, since he arrived on campus at about the same time that we did.

According to Cornell’s website, “Frank H.T. Rhodes, the ninth president of the University, is one of the most beloved and respected administrators in Cornell’s history and has eloquently inspired alumni of all ages as well as generations of Cornell students to continue their life after Cornell as dedicated Cornellians. In 1994, the Cornell Alumni Association, with the endorsement of the Board of Trustees Committee on Alumni Affairs, established the Frank H.T. Rhodes Exemplary Alumni Service Award in his honor. This award recognizes alumni who have demonstrated extraordinary service to Cornell through long-term volunteer activity. Consideration is given to the length and depth of activity; gifts are not among the criteria used to select honorees.”

From Switzerland, Mark Stenzler reports: “In 2025, after 17 years working for the Swiss federal government, I have retired from the ‘day job.’ Blues Zeppelin radio program continues to broadcast every two weeks on Swiss Community Radio and WRFI in Ithaca. I now have time to travel extensively to music festivals and gigs throughout Europe and Canada. Since retirement, I have traveled to France, Austria, Italy, Scotland, England, Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Lapland (Finland), Denmark, Canada, Portugal, Belgium, and Estonia, all for music. Blues radio and live music keep me very busy.”

Over the last several columns we have been reporting on the retired life of John Pisacane, and he has checked in again with some further details, as he and spouse Teresa Newell are well into their second year of full retirement. His experiences have been similar to those of many of us as we collectively slide into this new phase of our post-Cornell lives. After selling his practice, John had done some maternity coverage for a colleague while Teresa finished up her career at Microsoft, but they have both been fully retired since April 2025.

Since retirement, I have traveled to France, Austria, Italy, Scotland, England, Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Lapland (Finland), Denmark, Canada, Portugal, Belgium, and Estonia, all for music.

Mark Stenzler ’82

They had the usual necessary and “ginormous” garage sale in San Jose to empty the old house and moved to a home half the size in Pismo Beach, CA, where they enjoy the beach weather, the slower pace, and the additional time for hobbies and travel. Although still getting their retirement schedules down, they are “super happy with this new phase in our lives.”

Along with travel abroad, as reported earlier, John has gotten healthier and reduced his stress levels, now that he is no longer running his own business in healthcare. He plans on playing more golf and seeing his kids more often, and he has a goal of learning to play guitar. John says, “I do still participate in charity dental clinics here in California to help those in need. No work for pay, and the volunteer dentistry at charity dental clinics is fun more than work.”

John reports, “Our first son got married this year, and the other two are in stable relationships, so we are happy that they seem happy; we wouldn’t mind seeing some grandkids in the future.” In reply to how Cornell has influenced his life since graduation, John offers, “I always tell people that Cornell gave me the tools to be successful in my life. I learned to grasp large amounts of information quickly and then consolidate these data into a few coherent points to convey to patients, colleagues, or the public.”

Classmate and prolific author Henry Herz has passed along some information on several of his latest efforts. In July 2026, he moderated a panel at San Diego Comic-Con titled “LitRPG: Dungeon Crawler Carl and Beyond.” The panel featured Dungeon Crawler Carl book series author Matt Dinniman, as well as authors S.M. Boyce, Travis Deverell, Seth Ring, Eric Ugland, and Shawn Wilson. Henry says, “There’s a lot of buzz around the Dungeon Crawler Carl book series by Matt Dinniman. It is slated to become a Peacock TV series helmed by Seth MacFarlane.”

Then in August, an anthology that Henry co-edited was released, featuring stories from numerous bestselling authors. It is titled The Big Bad Book of Kaiju and is published by Titan Books. He says it falls into the genre/market of “adult giant monster anthologies.”

We look forward to seeing everybody at our 45th Reunion in just a few short months. Until then, don’t forget to browse our class memory book and send us your news! ❖ Mark Fernau (email Mark) | Nina Kondo (email Nina) | Doug Skalka (email Doug) | Alumni Directory.

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1983

Hi all. It’s been quite the sporty summer. Who knew that the drama of the World Cup could be so mesmerizing?! We enjoyed marching with the Tartan Army in Miami Beach, and rowing with Norway in their game against Senegal at the Meadowlands. Then with my wife, Sarah, and daughter, Rachel, we switched jerseys and watched England rise against Norway at Hard Rock Stadium.

Along the way, various iterations of family added tennis to the mix: French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open. And, so as not to be stuck on the stands watching, we all got together for a very active week at Whistler in British Columbia—rafting, ziplining, riding, hiking, via ferrata, and a sport I will think twice before ever doing again: downhill cycling. Bruises aside, it was all lots of fun! Highly recommend for a summer sojourn.

Can you believe our 45th Reunion is less than two years away? We would love as many folks as possible to get involved in the committees organizing the great event. It will be a fabulous way to reconnect with classmates. To find out more, please reach out via the Class of ’83 Facebook page, send notes to any of the class correspondents listed below, or reply to any of the class emails. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Speaking of which, please continue to send in your news: travel, family, work, retirement. What are some funny Cornell stories that you remember and can share? Who are classmates you want to give a shout-out to?

Nancy Gilroy Smith reports that she is back on the grass tennis courts and having a blast after being sidelined for several months with a knee injury. Go Nancy! Special thanks to her for organizing tickets to the October 31 biennial Cornell/Princeton tailgate and football game. More details to follow in the next Class Notes.

Of course, it’s that time of year again. Look out for mailings about Thanksgiving Big Red hockey on November 28 at Madison Square Garden, when Cornell takes on Maine.

Scott Boltwood hails from Abingdon, VA, and is still working—and will be until his twin boys graduate from college: one is a junior at Furman University, another is at Virginia Tech. Scott is currently 52,000 words into a book project—a history of a Belfast professional theater—and continues to teach 20th- and 21st-century British literature, which he loves!

We had a very active week at Whistler in British Columbia—rafting, ziplining, riding, hiking, via ferrata, and a sport I will think twice before ever doing again: downhill cycling.

Stewart Glickman ’83

Scott writes, “I see so many posts from old friends and classmates who are retired or planning to retire. Me too! I plan to retire in two years, which will be enough time to transfer my duties as a professor/administrator off to someone new. Yes, for those of you who remember me, it is distinctly odd that such a lackluster student became a professor, Fulbright Scholar, and author for Cambridge University Press.”

This professor is also a student: Scott will be testing for his Sandan (third-degree black belt) in aikido early next year—and the build-up is beating him up! “As someone preparing to take his Sandan test in a few months, I want to remind my classmates to keep active. If you need to lose weight and return to physical activity, do it slowly, ease your way back into strenuous activities, and slowly work towards that beach-ready body for our 45th Reunion in 2028! Shout-out to my old friends Josh Schechtel ’84, Kenny Robinson, David Zapata ’85, and Eileen Wells ’84.”

Great to hear from Scott Miller, who is a retired manager of aerospace product and program management at Lord Corporation. Scott and his wife, Kelley, love their lives in Landrum, SC, where they bike, hike, and enjoy the great outdoors along with their dog, Brie. Scott likes his volunteer work at the local Landrum Rail & History Museum. Their two daughters live fairly close by in Virginia, and Scott and Kelley share exciting news that they are expecting their first grandchild by the time these Class Notes hit the press. Big congratulations!

Scott also just authored a book, available on Amazon, called Work According to Dad: Practical Advice on Surviving and Thriving in the Working World. He writes, “It’s a candid, practical, and sometimes opinionated guide to the working world, offering practical career advice on ‘soft skills’ like effective communication, prioritizing tasks, recovering from setbacks, and advancing in your career.” Good going, Scott!

Our Class of ’83 has also been very active with terrific events online—come join us! Conceived, organized, and facilitated by classmate Lisa Yanguas, “Experience Matters” is a virtual biannual series over Zoom sponsored by the Class of ’83, sharing the wealth of experiences among us that are of interest to others, during this pivotal time in our lives.

Lisa writes, “We have now held three highly successful sessions covering: relocation and snow birding; your ‘Act II,’ including volunteer work, avocations, and career transitions as classmates approach or head into retirement; and, most recently, all things travel, highlighting unique travel experiences and opportunities. Each of the sessions has featured different classmates as presenters who have shared their personal journey before we opened the floor up to questions, contributions, and discussion among the entire group of attendees. These sessions have been very well attended and we have had a hard time closing out the discussion after the allotted hour—a great problem! We post the video of each session on the Class of ’83 Facebook page so that those in different time zones or who were unable to attend can still access the information. We look forward to continuing this series and welcome classmates’ input as to future topics of interest.” Thank you, Lisa!

Yes, for those of you who remember me, it is distinctly odd that such a lackluster student became a professor, Fulbright Scholar, and author for Cambridge University Press.

Scott Boltwood ’83

TechChat is our Class of ’83 quarterly and very timely online technology discussion spearheaded by Yonn Rasmussen, PhD ’89, for which we are grateful. Yonn writes, “During our second TechChat of 2026 on May 7, we watched the full TED Talk ‘Why AI Is Our Ultimate Test and Greatest Invitation’ by technologist Tristan Harris. He has an urgent question: What if the way we’re deploying the world’s most powerful technology—artificial intelligence—isn’t inevitable, but a choice? In this eye-opening talk, he calls on us to learn from the mistakes of social media’s catastrophic rollout and confront the predictable dangers of reckless AI development, offering a ‘narrow path’ where power is matched with responsibility, foresight, and wisdom.

“We had thoughtful discussions about the impact of AI on humanity in many aspects of our lives, both in terms of the potential benefits and potential risks to our society. With the ever-increasing adoption of AI in our lives, we also discussed the rate of change and our capability to keep up with the changes. The post-AI world is forever changed compared to the world before the advent of AI, and we discussed the similarities in how our society changed with the emergence of social media platforms and internet use in our society. There are many lessons learned from our rollout of social media, and we discussed the need for more regulation and tighter policies relating to the use of AI technology.

“During our third TechChat of the year on August 6, we watched the full TED Talk ‘What Moral Decisions Should Driverless Cars Make?’ Should a driverless car kill you if it means saving five pedestrians? In this primer on the social dilemmas of driverless cars, Iyad Rahwan explores how the technology will challenge our morality and explains his work collecting data from real people on the ethical trade-offs we’re willing (and not willing) to make.

“We had very active discussions about this timely topic, given that, for example, Waymo is becoming more prevalent in cities such as San Francisco and many people use Tesla’s self-driving mode. One of the classmates called in while driving his Tesla in self-driving mode, so we had a conversation while he was giving us real-time feedback on how the drive was going. Many of the chat participants had positive feelings about self-driving cars based on their experiences. Although there are currently technology limitations, many thought the benefits are also significant, especially as we become older. We had lively discussions on moral dilemmas regarding the trade-offs we are willing to make in how algorithms should handle various hypothetical accident scenarios. We also noted that there may be cultural biases in outcomes that may result in different algorithms and regulatory standards in different countries.”

“Our next TechChat will take place on November 5, from 7–8 p.m. ET. We will first watch together ‘What Makes Us Uniquely Human?’ by Erwin Raphael McManus before our discussion. Please join us as we continue this important and timely conversation on AI and humanity!” ❖ Stewart Glickman (email Stewart) | Nancy KornFreeman (email Nancy) | Alyssa Bickler (email Alyssa) | Alumni Directory.

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1984

Hey classmates! Summer is winding down here in southeast Michigan, but my family and loved ones seem to be moving at lightspeed. I always imagined this stage of life would bring more reflection, more contemplation, and a slower pace. Instead, it’s been full speed ahead. As they say, carpe diem! Life is good.

June began with an exciting milestone when my wife, Sherry, and I, Mike Held, joined the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club. It has become a wonderful place for family gatherings, dining, boating, and tennis. Later in the month, we attended a Lincoln Motor Company dealership conference in Dana Point, CA, and stayed at the beautiful Waldorf Astoria. What an incredible venue! We toured the USS Midway, caught plenty of game fish in the Pacific, and soaked up the Southern California lifestyle. Back home, Sherry and I continued playing tennis during the week and on weekends to keep our competitive spirits alive.

July got off to a memorable start as we joined millions of Americans in celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. For a brief moment, it felt as though the country had rediscovered a sense of unity. The FIFA World Cup added to that feeling, fostering camaraderie and goodwill around the globe. The day after the final match, we traveled to Seattle to vacation with family, and the region was buzzing with excitement and positive energy.

August began on a high note with the USTA District and State Championships; my wife, Sherry, and I were fortunate enough to win championships with our outstanding teams.

Mike Held ’84

As usual, I managed to find some excellent fishing opportunities in Puget Sound, reeling in king and coho salmon. The primary reason for our trip, however, was to spend time with our older son and his growing family. It was wonderful to see everyone and create new memories together. Toward the end of the month, work took me from the scorching Gulf Coast of Texas to Upstate New York, where the cool, damp weather east of Albany offered quite a contrast.

August began on a high note with the USTA District and State Championships; both Sherry and I were fortunate enough to win championships with our outstanding teams. Adult tennis is remarkably well organized—certainly easier than trying to coordinate 20 people for a baseball game! The month concluded with even more happy news: we learned that another grandson is on the way, due in January, and our younger son became engaged to his beautiful fiancée during a trip to Annecy, France.

People often ask me, “How are you doing?” My immediate response is usually, “Livin’ the dream!” For so many reasons, I feel blessed. Looking back, I’m convinced that the highs and lows of my four years at Cornell in the early 1980s helped prepare me for every stage of life that followed. I hope you feel the same way.

Best wishes to all, and here’s to making the most of every season of life! I know this is more of a personal note, so if you’d like better content, please submit your news to Charles, me, or Cornell. I’d love to hear and read more about the great Class of 1984! ❖ Michael Held (email Michael) | Charles Oppenheim (email Charles) | Alumni Directory.

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1985

“On September 4, I visited Cornell to attend the inaugural Robert and Nancy McKersie Labor Day Lecture,” shares Liz McKersie. “This is a new annual event honoring the legacy of my father, Robert McKersie, former dean of the ILR School (1971–79). It was a wonderful occasion in my dad’s memory. Many thanks to Dean Alex Colvin, PhD ’99, and the entire ILR staff, who made me and my brother, Bill, feel very welcomed. It was good to be back on campus and I will be attending next year with my Cornell siblings, Rob ’86 and Ali ’91.”

Siobhan Griffin has published a new book, Sun Cheese: Lessons From Regenerative Farming That Can Help You Rewrite Your Future. According to the publisher, “In Sun Cheese, environmental writer, regenerative farmer, and agricultural consultant Siobhan Griffin offers a bold, hopeful answer to the unravelling of ecosystems and climate: humanity has had the power to impact climate for 64,000 years—and now we must learn to use that power to heal it.

“Drawing on 35 years of organic and regenerative farming, Griffin challenges the despairing story that ecological collapse is inevitable. Instead, she introduces readers to the ‘Restoracene’: a new era of restoration where deserts turning green, revived wildlife populations, clean water recharging aquifers, and people working together in their own self-interest are not utopian dreams, but practical possibilities. From the rebirth of biodiversity on her Upstate New York farm to the urgent need for ocean restoration and social justice, Griffin reveals how resource management, food systems, and community autonomy are deeply connected.” ❖ Class of 1985 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12) | Alumni Directory.

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1986

As I write this note, it’s been two months since our 40th Reunion. In the absence of any written news from our classmates to relay, I thought I would take a minute to send a few thoughts on the different ways we stay connected as classmates.

For those of us who returned to the Hill in June for our 40th Reunion (we were nearly 500 strong!), we were able to connect face to face. I personally hounded many friends to attend and I am so grateful they graciously complied! I was struck by how happy everyone was that they made the effort to come. One classmate told me this was his first Reunion and that he won’t miss any of our future Reunions because it was such a wonderful experience.

Our phenomenal Reunion chairs Lisa Hellinger Manaster and Katie Roth Boyar once again put in Herculean efforts and the results were an unforgettable weekend. They even arranged for a New York Knicks win!

In addition to Reunion, many classmates meet in person throughout the year, which we love to hear about. Please let us know who you see and how you stay connected. We also appreciate the written news you share about your lives. Please take a minute to send updates and we will include them in our columns.

On a final note, it isn’t too early to start planning for our 45th Reunion. Mark those calendars for June 2031! ❖ Lori Spydell Wagner (email Lori) | Michael Wagner (email Michael) | Toby Goldsmith (email Toby) | Alumni Directory.

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1987

Karen Odden’s sixth novel, An Artful Dodge, was published on June 2 by Soho Press. The book is the first in a new series. According to the publisher, after earning her biology degree from CALS, Karen received her PhD in English from New York University and taught Victorian literature at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. She is the author of five crime novels set in 1870s London, including her award-winning USA Today bestselling debut, A Lady in the Smoke: A Victorian Mystery. Her work has been nominated for the Lefty, Anthony, Agatha, and Derringer awards, and was chosen for the Best Mystery Stories of the Year in 2025 and 2026. A transplant from New York, Karen lives in Arizona with her family.

Amit Batabyal was recently appointed the interim director of the Golisano Institute for Sustainability in the Rochester Institute of Technology. In June he presented two papers at the World Congress of the Regional Science Association International in Quito, Ecuador. The trip to Ecuador concluded with an enjoyable visit to the Galápagos Islands.

For 30 years, Rachel Durfee and Peter Tan ’86, MArch ’88, have owned a rental building in Madison, WI, that provides stable affordable housing to people in the community. The building was built in 1964 and has four apartment units. Rachel and Peter recently applied to the Efficiency Navigator program—which focuses on reducing energy costs and increasing energy efficiency in affordable rental housing—and their building was selected for funding! At a March 2026 press conference, where Rachel and Peter were the featured participant speakers, they put it together that the executive director of Efficiency Navigator’s parent organization, Claire Schaefer Oleksiak ’05, is also a Cornellian.

Rachel and Peter used the grant funds to replace the building’s original windows, which were single pane and made of aluminum. According to Rachel, they were inefficient, were drafty, and collected frost in the winter. The new windows are made of high-efficiency glass and have functioning glides and locks. The windows have vastly improved the comfort and quality of life for their tenants and allowed their rents to remain affordable. ❖ Liz Brown, JD ’90 (email Liz) | Whitney Weinstein Goodman (email Whitney) | Alumni Directory.

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1988

Greetings, Class of ’88! 2026 is coming to a close, which means this is the last news column for this current year. Many of us have turned 60—a big milestone—and are now one year older and wiser!

Robert Rosenberg, an attorney and writer, has been enjoying lots of plays and shows with his wife, Patricia Cook ’89. For the past year, he has written “Technotainment Scorecard,” a free weekly newsletter that explores the crossover between technology, entertainment, media, and law. He has a large readership. His son, Reed ’20, an actor and comedian in Los Angeles, interviewed Rob about what he has learned from year one of producing his newsletter.

Speaking of authors, Nancy Fischer Richardson wrote a new novel, This Is a Lie, under her thriller pen name, Cleo Ballard. The story is a tale about how AI can become a monster, and the novel is getting some good reviews. Perhaps you want to add this book, from one of our very own classmates, to your holiday wish list or your reading list for 2027.

Alan Riffkin, a sports enthusiast, writes in that he enjoyed watching the New York Knicks win the historic NBA championship after waiting for 53 years, alongside fellow classmates Michael Weissman, Dean Asofsky, and Matt Bromberg.

Alan Riffkin ’88 enjoyed watching the New York Knicks win the historic NBA championship after waiting for 53 years, alongside Michael Weissman ’88, Dean Asofsky ’88, and Matt Bromberg ’88.

Meanwhile Victor Seidel, a professor in the Graduate School of Business at Babson College, has been busy launching the new doctor of business administration degree there. As part of this process, he attended the Engagement Management Scholarship Conference in Madrid, Spain, in July. To celebrate his recent milestone birthday, Victor shared a bottle of 1966 port with fellow ’88ers Steven Chartier, Steve Santisi, and Tom Baxter, MS ’89, plus Tom’s wife, Jill Schiffhauer Baxter ’91, that had been given to him for this special occasion. Victor also stays in touch with Bruce Kruger, MEng ’89, and Elizabeth Altman.

Diane Little Sassano reports that she was “feeling happy with Diane Weisbrot Nagle and her husband, Tom, at Disney’s Hollywood Studios” in sunny Florida. They discovered that they live just a short drive from each other.

Lisa Pasquale Semmes, our class president, was vacationing on the beautiful islands of Turks and Caicos. She had a fabulous time being together with her family at Club Med. They spent their time sailing, playing tennis, practicing yoga, attending dance parties every night, and even finding time to eat lots of food and relax. She said, “The best part was being together.”

Happy New Year everyone, and all the best for a happy and healthy 2027. Please keep sending your news to me. I love hearing from our classmates, both near and far. ❖ Pamela Darer Anderson (email Pam) | Alumni Directory.

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1989

As we gear up for the holiday season and welcome 2027, please take a minute to send us an update about yourself and classmates you keep in touch with. This column is only as good (and as long) as the news we receive. Here’s the news we received this time. Thank you for sharing!

Fiction writer Kristi Bahrenburg Janzen, who uses the pen name Wolf Bahren, presents her third thriller, The Secessionist’s Wife. Reviewers say the book is both a quick airplane read and a thought-provoking commentary. The story follows a journalist and her rival/boyfriend as they rush out to the heartland to cover a rapidly escalating terrorist attack on Ft. Riley, KS. Meanwhile, the Kansas governor announces she has everything under control, and a devout farm wife and mother of three suddenly realizes her husband is doing more than just target practice. Produced by FriesenPress, The Secessionist’s Wife is available for order from most major online book retailers.

Kristi’s previous novels, Agents of Suzharia (2016) and Source of Deceit (2020), can be read as standalone works, or as prequels. A foreign correspondent for AP-Dow Jones in the 1990s, she has been a freelancer and fiction writer for more than 25 years. Her articles have appeared in a variety of publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Farming Magazine, Mother Earth News, and Edible Chesapeake. Kristi is also a part-time lecturer in the University Writing Program at George Washington University in Washington, DC.

I just spent an epic vacation in Europe celebrating my 60th and my wife’s 50th birthday year.

Trevor Steer ’89

Gerry Haddad submitted a note with the following news: “In May we were in Ithaca to celebrate my son Aidan ’27, BS ’26’s graduation! He now joins his Cornell alumni sisters, Amelia ’19 and Genna ’21. A huge thanks goes to my wife, Linda, who has officially earned the title of ‘Cornell Mom, 2015–2026.’”

Trevor Steer wrote, “I just spent an epic vacation in Europe celebrating my 60th and my wife’s 50th birthday year. We did a full ‘C,’ driving from Berlin to Amsterdam, with a quick detour through Bruges to Paris, then through Switzerland to Munich. Sites visited included: Holocaust Memorial and Berlin Wall in Berlin; Heineken Experience and Canal Tour in Amsterdam; Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and Moulin Rouge show in Paris; and ‘biergartens’ and ‘brauhauses’ (Hofbrahaus, Pauliner, Augistener, and Hocker Schor) in Munich. We met up with Class of 1990 close friend Deborah Lu in Berlin and overall met very cool and friendly people along the way. There is just something special about watching World Cup Football (soccer) games anywhere in Europe, and having fun with strangers, as if they were longtime friends … even for 2 a.m. games.”

We want to know what’s new with you and the classmates you keep in touch with. Please take a few minutes to complete the online news form or email any of us. Happy holidays and wishing you a very happy and healthy New Year! ❖ Stephanie Bloom Avidon (email Stephanie) | Kris Borovicka Gerig (email Kris) | Anne Czaplinski Treadwell (email Anne) | Lauren Kidder McGarry (email Lauren) | Alumni Directory.

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1990s

1990

Hello classmates! As I write this column, summer is winding down and a new school year is starting at Cornell; I hope your summer has brought lots of relaxation, time outdoors, sunshine, and maybe a vacation. And by the time you read this, we’ll be approaching and gearing up for the holiday season!

For me, 2026 has continued to involve plans with Cornellians! In March, 10 of us planned a special night in New York City to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway. Why Harry Potter? Because Dani Goldberg, child of Jonathan and Adena Walker Goldberg, made their Broadway debut in the show’s ensemble cast in late 2025. Dani plays one of the three dementor roles. For those unfamiliar, in the Harry Potter series, dementors are malicious former guards at the wizarding prison who hover above the ground, which, in the show, involves their flying directly over the audience’s heads while attached to a wire harness system and swooping down to create a terrifying effect. Dani has been preparing for this role for a long time, including attending and graduating from Northwestern with a degree in musical theater, training at the Actors Gymnasium’s Professional Circus Training Program, where they received a Certificate in Aerial Arts, and performing in various regional productions and other shows, films, and commercials.

Karen Saul Miller organized our outing to see the show with Adena to support Dani. Our group, which also included Jennifer Bitz Gold, Vivian Althaus Harrow, Leslie Waltzer Pollak, Michele Waltzer Posen, Trish Drobner Spear ’89, Robin Strauss Rashbaum ’89, and llissa Rubinstein Sternlicht ’89, first had an early dinner at the Cornell Club’s dining room, thanks to Karen’s membership there. We then headed to the show, where we were also joined by Vivian’s son, Max Harrow ’20, MEng ’21.

I highly recommend the show, even for people like me who have not read all the Harry Potter books or seen all the movies—it was interesting, entertaining, and exciting to see (and kvell over!) our classmates’ child performing in it. (Pro tip from Adena, which definitely was helpful to follow and understand the plot and certain references: see the fourth and eighth movies before going to the show.)

In March, 10 of us planned a special night in NYC to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Jonathan ’90 and Adena Walker Goldberg ’90’s child plays one of the three dementor roles.

Adena and Jon have seen the show multiple times, including with Todd Pines and his wife, Robin. And Adena and Jon’s son Ben Goldberg ’21, a software engineer at Datadog, and his fiancée, Ally Newman ’21, also took a group of Cornell friends to see it. Adena and Jon have two other sons, Noah, an attorney at Harvey AI, and Jonah, a junior at Miami Herbert Business School.

In addition to enjoying the show and dinner at the Cornell Club, it was great to catch up with everyone in our group, many of whom had their own news about their children’s accomplishments. Scott and Jen Bitz Gold’s two children are both pursuing PhD degrees: son Zachary in ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton and daughter Gillian in human-computer interaction at Carnegie Mellon University.

Jen and Scott live in Ardsley, NY, along with their new Australian Labradoodle puppy, Auggie. Jen has worked for many years as an editor for the Rivertowns Dispatch, the local newspaper. She also works for Private Prep as an advisor for law school admissions. Scott recently moved to the labor and employment law group at NYC law firm Skadden. He is a top fundraiser for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society with his team, Going for the Gold!

Leslie Waltzer Pollak’s daughter Jamie ’26 graduated from Cornell this past May and is still in Ithaca, working in clinical research supporting women’s health as a lab manager at Cornell’s O’Brien Laboratory, while planning to pursue a career in medicine. Younger son Jeremy just began his freshman year at Yale, while oldest son Jesse works as a human factors engineer in Cambridge, MA, after graduating from Tufts in 2024. Leslie lives in Croton-on-Hudson, NY, with husband Steve and two adorable golden doodles, Jakey and Leo.

Have you had any get-togethers with your Cornell friends lately? Please write in and tell us all about them. ❖ Nancy Solomon Weiss (email Nancy) | Allan Rousselle (email Allan) | Liselle Petzen Esposito (email Liselle) | Rose Tanasugarn (email Rose) | Class Facebook page | Alumni Directory.

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1991

Greetings from Ithaca! As I write this column in mid-August, the Cornell campus is buzzing with activity. The finishing touches are being put on the new Meinig Fieldhouse, which sits between Bartels Hall and Tower Road and will be open this fall. Campus Road is newly paved, and there is a new Cornell University cornerstone on North Campus to welcome our first-year students. All good stuff!

I’m happy to share that a few of our classmates have been featured in other publications lately! Benjamin Watson was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 22 to serve as commander of the III Marine Expeditionary Force and Marine Forces Japan, both headquartered at Camp Courtney on Okinawa, Japan. Ben was commissioned through Cornell’s ROTC program and has had a distinguished career in the U.S. Marine Corps. You can read more about Ben’s experiences and recent promotion as reported by Brian McElhiney in Stars and Stripes. Congratulations, Ben!

In case you missed it, Todd Kennett, the Spirit of ’57 Director of Rowing and Cornell’s men’s heavyweight crew coach, was recently featured in Cornellians. After joining the crew team as a walk-on in 1987, Todd has maintained a lifelong commitment to Cornell rowing teams, coaching women’s novice and varsity, as well as men’s freshman, lightweight, and varsity. His consistent presence has had an impact on the rowing teams for three decades. You can read more about Todd here.

Benjamin Watson ’91 was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as commander of the III Marine Expeditionary Force and Marine Forces Japan.

We also got a career update from Jose Medina. He is delighted to share two recent milestones in his writing career: “My debut verse novel, Only the Dead Let Me Talk This Much, won the 2026 Lambda Literary J. Michael Samuel Prize, and I was also selected as a 2026 PEN America Emerging Voices Fellow. As a queer Chicano writer, I’m deeply grateful to Cornell for helping nurture my love of literature and writing, and I’m excited to see where these opportunities lead next.” You can read more about Jose here.

Lastly, please visit our class website to see or share photos from our record-breaking 35th Reunion in June. And it’s never too early to commit to attending our 40th Reunion on June 5–8, 2031. If you come back before then, give me a shout if you want to connect!

Do you have news to share? We would love to hear from you! Use the online news form or feel free to contact one of us directly: ❖ Susie Curtis Schneider (email Susie) | Ruby Wang Pizzini (email Ruby) | Amy Gellert Lebovitz (email Amy) | Nicole Luecke (email Nicole) | Susanna Suh (email Susanna) | Alumni Directory.

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1992

Jennifer Driscoll, MPA ’96, has joined Hinshaw & Culbertson as an antitrust partner in the New York office. She received a BS and master’s from Cornell University. Formerly with Robinson & Cole, she joins Hinshaw’s Healthcare group, and brings extensive experience managing antitrust litigation and counseling matters for U.S. and foreign companies in a broad range of industries.

David Atkins writes that he is the founder of Quietus, a startup in New York focusing on Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD). He writes, “We went live on August 5, the day the law was enacted in New York State. As far as I know, we are currently the only company in the state focusing on MAiD. Please let me know if you would like to find out more.”

Tish Oney currently teaches with the Voice Study Centre (University of Essex, UK) for the Master of Arts in Voice Pedagogy program. She is a contributing author of Sotto Voce, Readings in Voice Pedagogy: Legacies of Richard Miller (National Association of Teachers of Singing and Bloomsbury, 2026). Her first book of original music, The Songs of Tish Oney, Volume 1, has been published by North Star Music, with more volumes to come.

Tish continues to sing, record, compose, arrange, and conduct music. She actively serves on the editorial boards for the Journal of Singing, National Association of Teachers of Singing and Bloomsbury Books, and the Jazz Education in Research and Practice journal, for which she is the international mentoring chair. She writes regularly for Classical Singer Magazine, All About Jazz, and her own Substack blog.

Marc Wallace ’92 co-launched Cantina Cruises, a river-based ‘floating fiesta’ with tequila tastings, margaritas, chips, salsa, and more.

She and her husband, George Gabor ’89, have recently relocated to Jacksonville, FL, so he can continue teaching AP calculus and precalculus at Christ’s Church Academy. After serving the College Board for four years as an AP calculus exam reader, he has elevated to the post of table leader for the exam. Tish writes, “We enjoy walking on the beaches of Jekyll Island with our dog, Peanut.”

Alli Frank lives in Sun Valley, ID, with her husband and two daughters. She is the co-author of Tiny Imperfections, Never Meant to Meet You, The Better Half, Boss Lady, and Run for Your Life, Callie Kingman, as well as a USA Today-bestselling essayist.

Marc Wallace opened District Taco in and around metro Washington, DC, but it also has outposts in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Central Florida. The most recent, in Brooklyn, opened in early 2026. According to a recent story in Cornellians, “By 2023, the growing enterprise had landed on an industry magazine’s annual list of the 40 hottest fast-casual startups, which declared: ‘District Taco is the restaurant rags-to-riches story at its finest.’”

The story adds, “Even amid District Taco’s success, Marc is still involved in tech entrepreneurship—including as co-founder and CEO of Flybuy, a platform that leverages AI for the retail, restaurant, grocery, and hospitality fields. And—in a joint offering between District Taco and a local party boat company—he co-launched Cantina Cruises, a river-based ‘floating fiesta’ with tequila tastings, margaritas, chips, salsa, and more.” ❖ Sarah Ballow Clauss (email Sarah) | Wilma Ann Thomas Anderson (email Wilma Ann) | Jean Kintisch (email Jean) | Alumni Directory.

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1993

Hey classmates! Welcome to our November/December Class Notes! Hope to see you in person over Thanksgiving weekend in our ’93 section at Frozen Apple 2026: Cornell vs. Maine, at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, November 28 at noon EST.

Speaking of alumni spirit, don’t miss our magnetic classmate, Jon “Hammer” Gordon’s appearance on the very cool Cornell (Thank) U podcast, which features a diverse assortment of alumni (but is not officially affiliated with the University). You can listen here! In this episode, Jon thoughtfully engages with podcast creators Michelle Stuzin Katz ’90 and Stephanie Marmelstein Gitlin ’90 about his Cornell experiences, the peaks and valleys of his award-winning career, and his personal evolution—with insight and humor.

Speaking of summits and ravines, last summer Amy Scheingold Turner and Christine Arnoso Meckley trekked the Tour du Mont Blanc circuit together, hiking over 100 miles and climbing about 33,000 feet through France, Italy, and Switzerland. Two phrases come to mind here besides the obvious congrats: amazing, and it’s never too late!

It’s also not too late to start getting emails from us about ’93 ticket blocks and getting together, virtually and in-person. There are many classmates (over 700!) with outdated or inactive email addresses. If you think we might have the wrong contact info for you, please reach out to any of us listed below, or go to Cornell Connect to update your information.

We are collaborating to make our 35th Reunion our best one yet, and hope you will be a part of it! We’d also love to hear from you about any updates fit—or maybe even unfit—to print! Take care and please share. ❖ Melissa Hart Moss, JD ’97 (email Melissa) | Theresa Flores (email Theresa) | Mia Blackler (email Mia) | Alumni Directory.

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1994

Monica Flores shares, “I started writing speculative fiction in 2023 and I’m happy to report that my short story ‘The Forty-First Day: Selurong Arrival’ was recognized by the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses on their 2026 Asian Pacific American Heritage Reading List.

“Secondly, this year my speculative fiction piece about a robot in a future Philippines is published in the benefit anthology Hope Is Not Passive by Quills and Cosmos Press, with all proceeds supporting legal defense for immigrant children.

“Finally, I’m planning to be in attendance at the Filipino American International Book Festival in October, both to discuss my upcoming short story collection, Arkipelago Awakening, as well as an anthology I’m producing titled Galleon Dreaming, which features 25 global Pinoy authors and poets.” You can learn more at her website! ❖ Jennifer Rabin Marchant (email Jennifer) | Dika Lam (email Dika) | Dineen Pashoukos Wasylik (email Dineen) | Alumni Directory.

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1995

Another year is almost at its end, and our class continues to have exciting adventures and achievements.

Earlier this year, Michael Greger was featured in this very publication for his work on diet and longevity. In 2011, he launched the nonprofit organization and website NutritionFacts.org, which now has a companion app, a podcast, and a wealth of continually updated videos and news. He is also a bestselling author—writing the How Not to Die, How Not to Diet, and How Not to Age trio of self-help guides, each of which has a companion cookbook. You can read more here.

Those who attended our 30th Reunion last June might remember Alie Shaper and her amazing wines. Although an engineering major, Alie found her true passion in viticulture and oenology and, in 2006, founded Brooklyn Oenology, a pioneering New York wine brand that brought together regional agriculture and Brooklyn’s creative culture. The brand’s Williamsburg tasting room helped introduce a new generation of wine drinkers to New York wines.

From there, Alie relocated her business to the North Fork of Long Island, where she created As If Wines—named for her initials combined with the word “if,” as in “What if?”—and later partnered with Robin Epperson-McCarthy to create Chronicle Wines, a women-owned collection of brands. Today, Alie lives in McLaren Flat, South Australia, with her partner (and fellow winemaker), Tim. You can read more about their story here.

Adam ’95 and Laura Stout Sosinsky ’95 got to check off two bucket list items: visit Fiji and stay in an overwater bungalow in French Polynesia.

Annemarie Segaric Garcia recently restarted her coaching business after 25 years. She writes, “And this time, I’m bringing everything I’ve learned since—about fear, about waiting, about what it actually means to build a fulfilling life instead of just a driven one.”

Over the summer, Adam and Laura Stout Sosinsky got to check off two bucket list items: visit Fiji and stay in an overwater bungalow in French Polynesia. They report, “19,288 miles, 10 flights, 11 boat rides, four time zones, one helicopter ride, and only two lost bags.”

And of course, there are our Cornell comings and goings. Gary Noronha dropped his oldest child off for their first semester in August, while back in May, David and Angela Whitehead Quigley got to be with Hannah Quigley ’26 “as she sang our alma mater for the first time as an alum. Surreal, and we both are awed by how hard she worked to get her degree (magna, no less). She continues to push us to new levels of pride.”

A month later, David and his son Elliot embarked on a nine-day backpacking trip through the back country of New Mexico. “This is our third of four summers of adventure (next year in the Boundary Waters!), and I am so delighted he keeps bringing me along. These trips will be etched in the highlight reel of my life.” ❖ Alison Torrillo French (email Alison) | Class website | Class Facebook page | Class Instagram page | Alumni Directory.

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1996

I am so very excited to introduce myself as your new class correspondent! This June, after 30 years, I, Maria Castro-Dara, returned to Ithaca for my first on-campus Reunion. It was a walk down memory lane and a time to make new memories, given that the campus has changed so much since graduation. The energy was electric and the camaraderie ran high—it was especially fun to get together with the ’96ers and to also meet alumni from the other Reunion years, from ’56 to ’21. Hearing where life has taken them since our days on the Hill was endlessly fascinating.

Speaking of which, I flew cross-country from the San Francisco Bay Area to New York, but road tripped the final East Coast leg from Brooklyn to Ithaca with my soul sister, Lourdes Herrero Gavilanes, just like during our student days. On campus, I caught up during lunch at the Statler Hotel with Kristin Gutenberger Grossman, who resides in Ithaca with her family and works as the associate director of Cornell Real Estate. She gave me a comprehensive tour of the campus after lunch, and we marveled at the new growth and took comfort in the timeless traditions.

A HUGE thank you to our Reunion chairs, Katrina James and Carlton Griffin, and our registration chairs, Chetna Bansal, MEng ’97, and Emily Hart Reith. Their thoughtful planning, clear communication, and warm welcome made us feel back at home on West Campus!

Happily, this October I was back on campus for the inaugural Cornell Volunteer Summit, open to all Cornell’s volunteers, regardless of title. This three-day gathering includes speakers like the president, deans, and university leadership and the opportunity to make deeper connections across Cornell volunteer organizations. I looked forward to meeting in person our co-class presidents, Jennifer Lagnado-Papp and Lee Hendelman, MBA ’03, and the rest of our class council.

Finally, I wanted to share that the husband, David Kornreich, PhD ’01, of our former class president, Alexandra Clinton, tragically died on August 30 in an aviation accident in Enfield, NY. David taught physics and astronomy at Cornell as an adjunct professor. He participated in the East Hill Flying Club, and outside of the classroom and flying, he was also part of Ithaca’s roller derby community. We extend our deepest condolences to Alexi.

Do you have news to share? Use the online news form or feel free to contact me directly. ❖ Maria Castro-Dara (email Maria) | Alumni Directory.

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1997

As the leaves fall and the year winds down, we’re thinking about all the ways our alumni community continues to grow and change. What’s new in your life? Share your news with us—we’d love to celebrate it with your classmates. ❖ Class of 1997 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12) | Alumni Directory.

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1998

“I am reaching out to share exciting news and an accomplishment I am honored to celebrate as a Cornell alumna,” writes Anyeley Dzegede Hallová, founder and CEO of Adre. “I was recently honored with a ULI Americas Award for Excellence for my work on the Parrott Creek project in Oregon. This award recognizes exceptional development projects that demonstrate excellence in innovation, community impact, sustainability, and the overall development process.

“Parrott Creek is a transformative residential treatment campus that reimagines care for youth involved in Oregon’s juvenile justice and behavioral health systems. The project brings together trauma-informed design, environmental stewardship, and a community-centered approach to create a healthier and more supportive environment for youth, families, and caregivers.

“Through Adre, I am advancing a new model of real estate development that integrates sustainability, equity, and community impact. I believe the built environment can be a powerful tool for creating healthier communities, expanding opportunity, and addressing some of society’s most pressing challenges.” ❖ Class of 1998 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12) | Alumni Directory.

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1999

Stephen Bocskay, MA ’06, published the book Candeia: o Samba, o Quilombo e o Ativismo Negro (Malê, 2026). Written in Portuguese, it draws on more than 15 years of archival research and field interviews with activists, intellectuals, and artists to examine the political legacy of samba musician Antônio Candeia Filho and his Grêmio Recreativo de Arte Negra e Escola de Samba Quilombo—a cultural organization and samba school founded in Rio de Janeiro.

The book addresses questions of Pan-Africanism, community politics, Black feminism, cultural autonomy, and the dimensions and limits of Black radical thought. Since its launch in Brazil in June 2026, the book has made a significant impact there, garnering press coverage in leading newspapers.

Stephen is also the author of Brazilian Popular Music and Censorship: From Getúlio to Redemocratization, forthcoming from Cambridge University Press. Currently, he is seeking opportunities to work as a consultant, providing research, strategic insights, and cultural expertise on Brazil and Latin America to businesses, organizations, and media.

Michelle Schenandoah graduated with a BA in American studies and American Indian studies. Later, she was a Cornell University Haudenosaunee Fellow. In 2016, she founded Rematriation, a Haudenosaunee women-led nonprofit that uplifts Indigenous women’s voices. This summer, Michelle was invited to host a talking circle in Gloria Steinem’s NYC home.

Recently, Michelle released Rematriated Voices, a five-part talk-show series streaming on PBS that brings together some of the most influential Indigenous voices of our time to explore the history of Haudenosaunee influence on democracy, women’s rights, and natural resource management. Her team has created a toolkit for organizations and advocates to host episode screenings, and is on track to hit their goal of 90 nationwide screenings within the first year. ❖ Class of 1999 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12) | Alumni Directory.

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2000s

2000

Greetings to the Class of 2000. I hope this newsletter finds you in good health and in good spirits. I’m sure each one of you are hard at work, making a difference in the lives of others, friends, family, and the world in general. I’d love to read about it; we’d all love to read about it. So drop me a note through the online news form or email. ❖ Denise Williams (email Denise) | Alumni Directory.

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2001

The leaves have long since turned in Ithaca, only the Tootsie Rolls and Necco Wafers remain from the Halloween candy stash (come on, does anyone actually eat those?), and many of us are settling into the sprint toward year-end and preparation for the holidays. It feels like just yesterday that our class was at Cornell for Reunion, yet somehow several months have already slipped by.

One unexpected benefit of our 25th Reunion was how many old friendships were rekindled and how many new ones were formed. More than 240 classmates, spouses, partners, and children made the trek to Becker Hall for a weekend full of memories, laughter, and enough Hot Truck, Dairy Bar, and Collegetown favorites to undo months of healthy living. Cornell’s official Reunion webpage now hosts class photos and memories from the weekend, so be sure to take a look if you’d like to relive a few moments or spot a familiar face.

One of the best parts of serving as a class correspondent is seeing the incredible variety of paths our classmates have taken. Every issue reminds me that, while we all graduated together in 2001, we’ve spent the last 25 years building different lives and careers.

Congratulations to Chris Kercher on launching his own law firm, Kercher Law PLLC! After 17 years at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, Chris has opened a litigation practice designed from the outset to put AI to work. Chris describes the firm’s philosophy: “Most AI legal technology promises to need lawyers less. This firm was founded by asking the opposite: how do you put the first chair closer to the work—deeper in the record, earlier in the thinking, in the room for the moments that decide the case?”

Chris’s approach uses technology to handle much of the document and research preparation, giving lawyers more time for strategy, counseling clients, and courtroom advocacy. An exciting new chapter for Chris—and an interesting look at how the practice of law is changing. Check out Kercher Law and congratulate him on the launch!

In the finance world, Daniel Schwartz is co-managing partner at 3G Capital and co-chairman of the board of Restaurant Brands International—the parent company of Burger King, Tim Hortons, Popeyes, and more. Earlier this year, he appeared on episode 458 of the Invest Like the Best podcast titled “Inside 3G Capital.” The discussion focused on the unique investment philosophy and operational playbook of 3G Capital. Their approach has produced a series of iconic investment deals. Give the podcast a listen!

Daniel Schwartz ’01 is co-chairman of the board of Restaurant Brands International—the parent company of Burger King, Tim Hortons, Popeyes, and more.

Amit Bhatia, founder of AyBe Capital Advisers (formerly Swordfish Investments), was back on campus in August with two of his children as the guest of honor for the dedication of the Amit Bhatia Information Desk at Olin Library, in recognition of his continued support for the Cornell Library. This follows the Amit Bhatia Libe Café dedication in 2011. In his speech, he described the library as a special place for students to mingle: “For me, the two most important things you get out of university are the social experiment of being around people and meeting wonderful people, and then it’s, of course, the learning.”

Congratulations, Amit, and thank you for your continued support of Cornell. Read the full article here. Amit has also had longstanding involvement with English professional football, serving as the owner and director of the Queens Park Rangers (QPR) Football Club. He recently stepped down in July from the board of QPR after an 18-year run with the club, including its 2011 promotion to the Premier League.

Elsewhere in the business world, congratulations to Tim Hentschel, co-founder and co-CEO of HotelPlanner, whose company landed at number 917 on the 2026 Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies. Founded in 2003, the travel technology business helps arrange individual, group, and corporate travel, combining online reservations with live agents and AI tools. Quite a journey from our days of coordinating rides home for break! You can check out the company’s recognition in Inc.’s profile and its August announcement.

On the medical front, Nathan Connell recently received the 2026 Physician of the Year Award from the National Bleeding Disorders Foundation. Congratulations!

Maybe we’ll see you soon in the New York area. There’s the Cornell-Columbia football game in Manhattan on November 21 (followed by the biennial Sy Katz ’31 Parade) and Frozen Apple hockey at MSG on November 28.

As always, we’d love to hear from you. Send us your updates so we can share them with the class. Email either of us, visit our website, join and participate in our Class of 2001 Classmates Facebook group, and follow our Class of 2001 Instagram. We look forward to hearing from you. ❖ James Gutow (email James) | Nicole Neroulias Gupte (email Nicole) | Alumni Directory.

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2002

There may not be any news to share this time around, but there’s always room for a new chapter. If you’ve recently celebrated a milestone, started something new, or simply have an update for your classmates, let us know! ❖ Class of 2002 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12) | Alumni Directory.

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2003

Summers are perfect for mini reunions. In early July, Liana Wong Eng ’04 and her family visited my family in Salt Lake City as they road-tripped from Southern California to Jackson, WY. Liana is a pediatrician in Los Angeles who has “a patient who is very interested in attending Cornell!”

In mid-July, my family and I spent some time in Dallas with my husband Clement Chow’s family. His brother, Jeremy Chow ’05, BA ’04, and sister-in-law, Jennifer Chang ’05, hosted us. The cousins had a great time playing together and we enjoyed delicious local food. Jeremy is an associate professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He’s been part of the division of infectious diseases and geographic medicine since 2016.

While in town, we also went to Fort Worth to visit Janina Wong Mak, her husband, Daniel Mak ’04, and their children. Janina writes, “I’m hybrid-homeschooling our kids half the week and also serving as operations coordinator for our new church.” Daniel is Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Skunk Works director for airborne software; he has been with the company since graduating.

Hope you’ve had an opportunity to catch up with classmates too. Please send us your updates—we love to hear from you! ❖ Candace Lee Chow, PhD ’14 (email Candace) | Jon Schoenberg, ME ’03, PhD ’11 (email Jon) | Alumni Directory.

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2004

In case you missed it: A recent article in Cornellians proclaimed, “How Is Academia Like Punk Rock? Ask Cornell Prof David Rand ’04.”

According to the story, “The métiers of professor and punker may seem worlds apart, but Cornell faculty member David Rand sees parallels—quite a lot of them, in fact. ‘I’ve got this spiel,’ Rand says, ‘about how playing in a punk rock band and being an academic are extremely similar occupations.’

“As he explains, both start with a germ of an idea—in science it’s a hypothesis or observation, in music it’s a riff, lyric, or bit of melody—that must be developed into something coherent, even beautiful. ‘But you have to capture it—writing the paper or recording the song—in order to share it with other people, and that’s always the most painful part. But if you don’t, it doesn’t count for anything, because no one will find out about it.’

“Then, Rand says, you put your creation out into the world, and hope people like it.” You can read the full story here! ❖ Class of 2004 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12) | Alumni Directory.

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2005

One of our very own, Melanie Manoach, is facing an unexpected challenge with her characteristic strength, determination, and gratitude. Last year, Melanie was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer after doctors discovered a tumor in her leg following severe, unexplained leg pain. Despite the diagnosis and ongoing treatment, she continues to work full time, exercise, and spend time with her husband and two children.

This fall, Melanie will take on the Jimmy Fund Walk to support Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, walking the 5K with friends. In a recent profile in Home News Here, Melanie shared her experience and a message of hope for others facing cancer: “You can be strong in the face of evil. You have to get up every day.” We are thinking of you, Mel! ❖ Jessica Rosenthal Chod (email Jessica) | Hilary Johnson King (email Hilary) | Alumni Directory.

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2006

“In a new memoir, TV writer and stand-up performer Alison Leiby tackles comedy, tragedy, and everything in between,” reports a recent Cornellians story. “In the collection of 14 essays—which Harper’s Bazaar calls a ‘laugh-out-loud treatise on what it truly means to embrace every part of yourself’—Leiby contemplates such issues as coping with chronic pain and opting for an abortion, along with more lighthearted topics, like playing sports, being a cat mom, and obsessing over the ‘Real Housewives’ shows.”

Jessica DiMenna Watson writes, “Last December, my husband and I, along with our 15-month-old son at the time, moved to Seoul, South Korea, for my husband’s new job with the New York Times. Since relocating, we welcomed our second child, a daughter, in June. While overseas, I am taking a step back from my career as an oncology nurse to focus on my family and immerse myself in Korean culture.” ❖ Class of 2006 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12) | Alumni Directory.

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2007

Benjamin Crovella writes, “My wife, Cassie, and I welcomed our daughter, Annabelle, in June, who joins big brother, 2-year-old Jackson. We’re enjoying raising our children in Boston, MA.”

Have more updates to share? Please feel free to reach out to me or submit online! ❖ Samantha Feibush Wolf (email Samantha) | Alumni Directory.

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2008

Patrick Nichols is president and CEO of one of Las Vegas’s most iconic resorts, the Italian-themed, luxury Venetian Resort. Reports a recent Cornellians story, “Not only is the Venetian one of the vacation mecca’s most iconic properties, it’s the biggest in North America in terms of guest rooms (and number two in the world, behind one in Malaysia).

“‘The scale is the first thing you notice; it’s massive—68 acres, 19 million square feet, more than 7,100 suites,’ Nichols says. ‘Unlike some of the newer resorts in town, we are themed, and you can see that everywhere in the public spaces. I think that creates a sense of place, which harkens back to the golden days of Vegas.’” You can read more about Patrick here!

Ian Shelley, BS ’07, recently published his first book, This Is Your Zoo: 150 Years of Community, Conservation, and Change at the Maryland Zoo. According to a recent news release, “As it celebrates its 150th anniversary, Maryland Zoo has released this book of nonfiction detailing the institution’s colorful history—from a ragtag start as a menagerie of abandoned animals into a world-leading animal care and conservation institution.

“Written and meticulously researched by the zoo’s registrar, Ian Shelley, with a foreword by president and CEO Kirby Fowler, this is a tale about the resiliency of people and animals, and the generations of Marylanders who never stopped rallying behind their beloved zoo. The book title refers to a weekly TV show of the same name featuring the zoo that aired on Baltimore television in the 1950s.

“‘The facility we have now bears almost no resemblance to what was here in 1876,’ Ian said. ‘The Zoo has evolved and grown in ways that would have been unimaginable back then. That we have been able to do so—to survive in the face of extreme hardship and ultimately thrive and accomplish great things—is a testimony to the support the zoo has received from the surrounding communities over the years. When Marylanders walk through the front gates, I really want them to reflect upon that and realize that this is very much their zoo.” ❖ Class of 2008 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12) | Alumni Directory.

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2009

Ryan Gomez checks in from New Orleans, where he’s landed as a geospatial analyst for the Orleans Parish District Attorney. Fifteen years in, he says he’s found that life in Louisiana partners well with his Cornell education. “New Orleans is a port town, more sensory than cerebral, that’s welcoming always but that ultimately rewards patient relationships.”

Ryan is active in the gay community and in the city’s Mardi Gras social traditions. With its many conventions, festivals, and Saints games, he welcomes any student, alum, or faculty passing through the Gulf South who needs an introduction, a recommendation, coffee, a drink, or general hospitality. ❖ Class of 2009 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12) | Alumni Directory.

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2010s

2010

Cheers! The holiday season is upon us, and I hope you’re finding time to slow down, reconnect, and enjoy being with the people who matter most.

I’ll go out on a limb and suggest that this may not be everyone’s favorite time of year in Ithaca. I still remember trudging to and from nighttime prelims in 30-degree weather, my toes so numb they felt permanently frozen. Here’s a shout-out to Raynaud’s disease (look it up!) because it often felt like I was being tortured and punished at the same time. Ah, the fond memories.

Looking back, though, I can appreciate the resilience that came from those long, cold walks across campus. Cornell had a way of pushing us beyond our comfort zones, whether we were ready for it or not. The challenges we faced, academic and otherwise, shaped us in ways we may not have recognized at the time but can appreciate now.

As you reflect on your own time on the Hill, I encourage you to share your latest life events, milestones, and accomplishments with our class. Those memories, even the difficult ones, helped shape who we are today and often remind us how far we’ve come. We’d love to hear what you’ve been up to and help celebrate the next chapter of your journey.

Warm wishes for a joyful holiday season and a wonderful New Year. Your next Class Notes will be from Jennifer Wholey Lehman in January/February. ❖ Grace Guichardo Watkins (email Grace) | Jennifer Wholey Lehman (email Jennifer) | Alumni Directory.

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2011

Daniel Anastasio, a professional pianist with a doctorate in musical arts, has upwards of 82,000 followers on Instagram and more than 35,000 on TikTok, plus some 25,000 subscribers on YouTube. “Through social media videos and live performances around the country, Anastasio breaks down classical music for new and casual listeners—explaining what they’re hearing, why it sounds the way it does, and what makes centuries-old compositions worth listening to today,” reports a story in Cornellians.

Says Daniel, “People more than anything just need to be educated—not in a didactic way, not being talked down to. … Just a little explanation and a little playing will show how immediately accessible and moving this music can be for anyone.” ❖ Class of 2011 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12) | Alumni Directory.

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2012

As Thanksgiving approaches, we’re reminded how much the connections we make at Cornell can mean, even years after graduation. Keep those connections going by sharing your news with your classmates! ❖ Class of 2012 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12) | Alumni Directory.

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2013

One of our classmates, Angela Lu, was recently a featured speaker at Cornell’s annual REALTalk discussion panel. This year, the panel’s theme was “Finding Your Inner Strength” and explored ways to strengthen resolve when faced with exceptionally challenging situations—whether at school, at work, or at home.

The speakers shared candid personal stories and offered insights about how they conjure resilience to overcome obstacles, regroup after significant setbacks, combat imposter syndrome, and manage through uncertainty.

Angela is a strategy consultant for Acumetis, an international firm offering their expertise to life sciences and biopharma clients. She was born in Canada and grew up in Hong Kong, where her parents still reside. She first came to the U.S. to attend Cornell, and since leaving Ithaca, her personal journey has spanned seven cities and three countries.

Angela currently serves as the president of the LGBTQIA+ Alumni Association of Cornell (aka Cornell Pride). Outside of work, she clears her mind and re-energizes by crocheting and playing pickleball. ❖ Class of 2013 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12) | Alumni Directory.

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2014

Hello, Class of 2014! I hope that you are all having a wonderful end to 2026 and enjoying time with friends and family. This has been a light year for news submissions from our class and, looking toward 2027, I would love to hear from you and share your accomplishments, big and small, with our classmates and the wider Cornell community. Please reach out if you have news to share or questions about Class Notes. ❖ Samantha Lapehn Young (email Samantha) | Alumni Directory.

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2015

November is a month for gathering, reminiscing, and catching up with old friends. Consider this your invitation to catch up with your Cornell classmates, too! Send us your latest news, and look for it in an upcoming Class Notes. ❖ Class of 2015 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12) | Alumni Directory.

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2016

Madeleine Moss, who earned a BA in French literature, has recently published a new novel, Mistranslation. According to the publisher, University of Iowa Press, “In Upstate New York in 2001, 9-year-old twins Sabina and Camilla spend the summer weathering the moods of their erratic mother while finding themselves pulled toward diverging interests: Sabina into the mystery of their absent French father and Camilla into burgeoning popularity. But their lives are shaken up by the arrival of an Arab French family across the street. Thrilled by what she sees as a link to the country of her origins, Sabina attempts to befriend the family’s son, Khalil, and is rebuffed for reasons she doesn’t understand.

“Yet as the twins and Khalil come of age, they are drawn into a tense and ever-shifting triangular dynamic. As Sabina strives to find her father and make sense of her mother, as Camilla confronts whether the power she held in youth translates to adulthood, and as Khalil reckons with the psychological fallout of a family tragedy, their paths converge in ways both surprising and inevitable. Bookended by events with global resonance, Mistranslation is a continent-spanning chronicle of family, inheritance, and the reverberations of the choices we do—or don’t—make.” ❖ Class of 2016 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12) | Alumni Directory.

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2017

There may not be any news to share this time around, but there’s always room for a new chapter. If you’ve recently celebrated a milestone, started something new, or simply have an update for your classmates, let us know! ❖ Class of 2017 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12) | Alumni Directory.

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2018

One of our classmates, Lydia Anglin Grant, was recently a featured speaker at Cornell’s annual REALTalk discussion panel. This year, the panel’s theme was “Finding Your Inner Strength” and explored ways to strengthen resolve when faced with exceptionally challenging situations—whether at school, at work, or at home.

The speakers shared candid personal stories and offered insights about how they conjure resilience to overcome obstacles, regroup after significant setbacks, combat imposter syndrome, and manage through uncertainty.

Lydia is an attorney in the sustainability practice group at Kirkland & Ellis, where she advises clients on environmental, social, and governance matters, sustainability strategy, and regulatory compliance. Lydia’s career has been shaped by her willingness to pursue opportunities before she felt fully ready for them and the resilience to keep going when the path was anything but straightforward.

While at Cornell, she founded the Black Ivy Pre-Law Society, which was featured in Teen Vogue, interned on Wall Street and in the Obama Administration, twice lobbied Congress on student federal financial aid policy, and supported numerous organizations advancing the professional and leadership development of women and people of color.

A Houston native and the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, her journey has taught her that resilience means betting on herself when the path ahead is uncertain and believing there is always more to come. Outside of work, Lydia has a passion for traveling the world, mentoring, and hiking with her husband, Scott, and their dog, Logan. ❖ Class of 2018 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12) | Alumni Directory.

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2019

Actress Dominique Thorne, who is best known for her role as Riri Williams (a.k.a. Ironheart) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, came back to campus in September for film screenings, discussions, and meetings with students. She’s the 2026 Heermans-McCalmon Distinguished Guest Artist, a program of the Department of Performing and Media Arts (PMA) in the College of Arts & Sciences.

“Everyone is living in a fantasy that once you get the one breakout job, everything changes,” Dominique said. “But this has been more of a gradual becoming of what I am. There are a million and one projects I’d like to work on, and it’s all about getting the opportunity to do those things.” You can read more here! ❖ Class of 2019 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12) | Alumni Directory.

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2020s

2020

November invites us to slow down, look around, and appreciate where life has taken us. We’re grateful for the stories our alumni share with one another, so if you have news to report, send it our way for an upcoming Class Notes column. ❖ Class of 2020 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12) | Alumni Directory.

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2021

Our classmate Jonathan Moon, MS ’24, with his partner Ertai Liu, PhD ’24, founded Budbreak, an agritech startup that helps growers monitor crops and access data more quickly and easily. The process revolves around Emma, the robot they designed that rolls up and down the rows of crops taking thousands of photos, which are then compiled to create a digital replica of the field with details about each plant—from height and size to signs of disease, pests, and animal damage.

In a recent Cornellians article, Jonathan said of Emma, “She can autonomously navigate vineyard rows and collect data for hours at a time. It’s like a Roomba: you just start it and let it go. … It’s a way of optimizing agriculture. We want to unlock a superpower for farmers, so they have full insight on the status, condition, health, and production of their fields.” You can learn more here! ❖ Class of 2021 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12) | Alumni Directory.

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2022

As Thanksgiving approaches, we’re reminded how much the connections we make at Cornell can mean, even years after graduation. Keep those connections going by sharing your news with your classmates! ❖ Class of 2022 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12) | Alumni Directory.

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2023

Our very own Veer Chotrani, BA ’24, is an elite squash player—currently number 38 in the world! According to a recent Cornellians story, “‘On the court, I think I’m a creative player with different kinds of shots,’ he observes. ‘I’m also a very calm guy; I try to have an ice-in-my-veins mentality.’

“Chotrani grew up in Mumbai, where he started following his father—once ranked first in the nation—onto the squash court at just two years old. At nine, he was top in the country for his age group, and began playing in international tournaments in Hong Kong, Malaysia, and elsewhere.” ❖ Class of 2023 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12) | Alumni Directory.

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2024

November is a month for gathering, reminiscing, and catching up with old friends. Consider this your invitation to catch up with your Cornell classmates, too! Send us your latest news, and look for it in an upcoming Class Notes. ❖ Class of 2024 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12) | Alumni Directory.

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2025

Former Cornell soccer star Sydney Malaga is continuing her soccer and academic career—in Scotland! While earning her master’s of finance at the prestigious University of St. Andrews, she’s competing at the highest level of British intercollegiate soccer.

Eliz Celik and Puloma Bishnu co-founded Ayna, a personalized women’s health marketplace that helps women navigate the overwhelming number of health and wellness products available to them. Users share their needs, goals, and preferences, and Ayna helps them discover products that are more relevant to what they’re looking for. ❖ Class of 2025 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12) | Alumni Directory.

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2026

Ana Hoffman Solé was recently selected to join an expedition team in an initiative to explore biodiversity in the Pacific Ocean. She is a 2026 remotely operated vehicle (ROV) engineering intern in the Ocean Exploration Trust’s Science & Engineering Internship Program and will sail aboard its Exploration Vessel Nautilus during the 2026 expedition season.

Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Ana was selected as one of 19 interns from hundreds of applicants and planned to join the team aboard Nautilus in August and September to explore the ocean around Wake Island (roughly midway between the Hawaiian and Mariana Islands)—one of the most isolated land masses on Earth.

This 30-day expedition will utilize the ROV, mapping, and telepresence systems of the Nautilus to collect critical baseline information across this largely unexplored region, with a focus on science priorities of the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument, including abyssal plain habitats, unexplored seamounts, and potential maritime heritage sites associated with the Battle of Wake Island.

“I’m so excited to get to explore such a special place and ecosystem while continuing to build my ROV and at-sea skills. Nautilus has an incredible mission to explore and share, and I am grateful to get to be a part of it during this expedition,” says Ana. ❖ Class of 2026 (email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12) | Alumni Directory.

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Grad

Agriculture and Life Sciences

Tina Phillips, PhD ’17, was recently featured in Cornellians, where she shared five ways people can help prevent birds from colliding with windows during migration. Tina is the assistant director of engagement in science and nature at the Lab of Ornithology. She recommends steps including reducing nighttime lighting, treating windows to minimize reflections, and using bird migration data to determine when preventive measures are most important.

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Architecture, Art, and Planning

Howard McCalebb, MFA ’72, has an art exhibition titled “The Golden Mean” in the Lyman Allyn Museum in New London, CT. This exhibition features small and mid-size sculptures, drawings, paintings, and collages. His work—which has largely been inspired by the golden ratio—has been exhibited across the U.S. and in Germany, Norway, Denmark, Bulgaria, China, and the United Arab Emirates, and it is featured in museums worldwide. Howard lives and works in Norwich, CT, operating the studio and gallery Dada Post USA. Prior to that, he spent over a decade in Berlin, Germany, running the gallery and artist residency Kunstraum Dada Post.

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Arts & Sciences

After 50 years at Fordham University, Clara Rodriguez, MS ’69, retired this summer and became professor emerita of sociology. During her career, Clara authored 11 books and became an expert on Latino identity and representation, with her research contributing to changes in how the U.S. Census Bureau collects information on race and ethnicity. She also served as a cultural and Spanish-language consultant for TV’s “Sesame Street” and “Dora the Explorer” and was Fordham’s first Hispanic dean and the first woman to serve as dean at its Rose Hill campus.

William Brice, PhD ’71, co-authored a book titled Cornell’s First Geologist: Charles Fredrick Hartt, Explorer Geologist in North and South America. The book presents the life of Charles Hartt and the impact he had on Cornell and Brazil as he organized and conducted the first geological survey of Brazil in 1875. The book was published in 2024 by the Paleontological Research Institution on West Hill.

Garth Drozin, GR ’81, retired in March 2023 after a 36-year career as a trial attorney and judge in Los Angeles. He quickly returned to composing music, directing ensembles, and lecturing on composition and contemporary music at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and the University of North Texas College of Music. He has attended performances of his music at Arkansas State University, Cerritos College, and the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. His latest composition, “Asian Overture in White,” written for 12 percussionists, will premiere November 21 at California State University, Northridge. The Jazz Big Band of the Los Angeles Lawyers Philharmonic Orchestra will also perform his 1974 piece “Sutch As It Is” later this year; the work was recently performed by the Cerritos College Jazz Ensemble for the first time in 51 years. Garth married Jianwei Guo on August 1, 2025, and the couple recently visited the Hill. “Hello to all you fellow music and Risley maniacs!” he writes.

Jody Greene, PhD ’98, is a coauthor of the upcoming Faculties: A Dialogue on Inciting Constructive Change in Destructive Time, which will publish in November 2026 from Duke University Press. The book offers guidance for faculty and others in higher education who want to participate in administrative and educational decision-making and contribute to institutional change. Jody is a professor of literature and founding director of the Teaching and Learning Center at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Pawan Dhingra, PhD ’02, is the author of Success Won’t Save Us: How Asian Americans Can Fight White Supremacy, which is set to publish in February 2027. The book examines how Asian Americans can be celebrated for their achievements and upward mobility while also experiencing racism and racialized violence. Pawan explores how those experiences are connected to broader systems of racial inequality and offers approaches for addressing racism through changes in education, politics, and the economy.

Javier Lezaun, PhD ’04, co-authored a book titled Mosquito Work: Vectors of Global Health, which follows entomologists, technicians, community volunteers, and mosquitoes themselves to illuminate the collaborations, experimental improvisations, and political entanglements that shape contemporary disease control for one of global health’s most persistent problems. Mosquito Work is set to publish in November 2026.

Doreen Lee, PhD ’07, is the author of The Urban Grotesque: Life and Debt in Jakarta, which is set to publish in November 2026. The book examines the hidden costs of everyday life in Jakarta through stories of debt, grift, mobility, and obligation. Through these experiences, Doreen explores how residents navigate relationships, financial pressures, and life in an unequal and expensive city.

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Business

George Tse-Ghen Hung Jr., MBA ’02, published Centurion Oath: A Novel of the Roman Centurion at the Cross, in March 2026. This Christian fiction book is about a Roman centurion whose experience at the crucifixion transforms his faith; he returns home and creates a secret sanctuary for fellow soldiers while confronting his family and his loyalty to the Roman Empire.

Tyeise Huntley Jones, MBA ’10, was selected for Leadership Greater Chicago’s 2027 Class of Signature Fellows, a group of 43 of the region’s promising leaders participating in a civic leadership development program designed to provide the knowledge and network to lead transformative change. Tyeise is the director of nonprofit leadership programs and partnerships at the Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.

David Adler, MBA ’15, is a senior oncology drug development and translational medicine leader with more than 15 years of experience spanning pharmaceutical development and academic cancer research. He spent a decade in senior medical and clinical development leadership within Bayer AG’s Global Oncology Clinical Development organization, leading oncology programs from preclinical research into the clinic. David currently serves as chief scientific and medical officer of the PATHORA Institute of Pathology and Tissue Medicine. His work focuses on the strategic decisions that shape the path from scientific discovery through clinical development and help determine whether promising innovations can become medicines. He also holds academic appointments at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and the University of Bonn, and is building a pro bono initiative in Israel to strengthen the translation of academic cancer discoveries into drug development.

John Hui, MBA ’15, was honored by the Asian American Business Development Center as one of the 2026 Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business. John is a healthcare entrepreneur and executive who co-founded Rendr, a multispecialty medical group serving Asian communities in New York City, in 2019. As chief development officer, he oversees business development, marketing, and population health initiatives for the organization, which serves nearly 200,000 patients across more than 100 clinics. John also co-founded the digital health company Twiage in 2015 and served as CEO until its acquisition by a healthcare technology company in 2024.

Brian Balduzzi, MBA ’18, joined Holland and Knight LLP as a partner in the global wealth and family office practice group in its Philadelphia and New York offices. Brian focuses his legal practice on wealth planning, tax, charitable planning, business succession, and estate and trust administration and counseling. He provides comprehensive legal counsel to high-net-worth individuals, families, business owners, and others. He is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Florida, and the U.S. Tax Court, and he is in the process of waiving into the Illinois and South Dakota bars.

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Engineering

Ertai Liu, PhD ’24, was recently featured in Cornellians for his work as co-founder and chief technology officer of Budbreak, an agritech startup that uses robotics and artificial intelligence to help farmers monitor crop health. The company’s autonomous robots travel through fields using cameras and AI to collect data on individual plants, helping growers identify signs of disease, pests, and other problems. Originally developed for vineyards, Budbreak’s technology is now being used on more than two dozen commercial farms in Northern California to monitor crops including grapes, berries, citrus fruits, almonds, and pistachios.

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Human Ecology

Allyse Tanovitz, MPA ’24, is in her second year as the principal of a private school and is exploring a run for her local public school board in California. “The things I learned at Cornell not only helped me get the position I am in,” Allyse writes, “but I have been making systematic changes at the school and they are being noticed by the staff and community.”

Mursal Rahim, MPA ’25, was recently featured in Cornellians in a story about her journey from Afghanistan to Cornell. Mursal fled Afghanistan with her family as the Taliban took control of Kabul in 2021 and later came to Cornell. Her story is also featured in The Last Free Women: A Daring Escape from Afghanistan and Coming of Age in America, which chronicles the experiences of Rahim and four other Afghan women over five years.

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Group

University Chorus & Glee Club

As the year comes to a close, it is bittersweet to share that this will be my last column for the Cornell Chorus and Glee Club in Cornellians. When I was asked to start it two years ago, I was excited for the possibilities ahead; what I have found is a wonderful community of alums that already has their own channels of communication without sufficient need for another.

Although I have no new updates to report, I want to reinforce how strong the bonds we make through music truly are. When I started Cornell as a freshman in the fall of 1991, I tried out for the Chorus on a whim, never expecting how much it would shape my life. Before that time, I never knew what an Alto 2 even was, let alone that I WAS one! The Alto 2 section became my home for four years—it was, for me, a place that felt very special and gave me an identity. And, although I still carry that Alto 2 pride, I can say without hesitation that some of my best friends to this day came from other sections of the Chorus (you know who you are).

When I started Cornell as a freshman in the fall of 1991, I tried out for the Chorus on a whim, never expecting how much it would shape my life.

Alison Torrillo French ’95

Over the years with Chorus alums, I have attended weddings and been in bridal parties, gone on trips together, introduced our children, and found a safe haven when things got rough in my life. And this is not just limited to the Chorus, as many friends are Glee Club alums, some of whom have even brought me on board to support their teams in my professional capacity as a facilitator, trainer, and consultant, and have been amazing advocates for my work—not to mention great companions for Broadway shows!

Music has also made me more confident. I never would have tried out for After Eight had it not been for Lisa Brannigan Rodvien ’96. And I wouldn’t still be singing a cappella today were it not for my partner in setting up my first group post-college, Jessica Graus Woo ’93. There is something about small group harmonies that not only makes my heart soar but also forces me to pay close attention and own my part. And as with many things in life, the whole becomes greater than any one of us individually.

And so I say thank you for being there for me, in good times and bad. While I may not be writing this column anymore, Chorus and Glee Club will always be in my life and my heart. ❖ Alison Torrillo French ’95 (email Alison) | Alumni Directory.

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Top: Photo by Ryan Young / Cornell University

Published October 30, 2026