Class Notes

September / October 2021

Columns compiled by your class correspondents

1940s

1940s

1945

Many thanks to Erin Kennedy in the Office of Alumni Affairs for reaching out to our class. And thanks to those who responded and shared your news, past and present, for our classmates to enjoy.

From Dorothy Scott Boyle: “I had been thinking I should try to be more helpful to my class column, as there can’t be too many of us left. I’m living in Ringoes, NJ, with my son-in-law, Richard Delello ’76, MS ’77. Cancer took my daughter, Margaret (Boyle) ’77, in 2012. Both graduated Cornell in the late ’70s and sent their son, Matthew ’12, to Cornell; I’m now awaiting the next generation. Last visit was our 50th Reunion when I picked up Maxine Katz Morse in New Hampshire and we drove to Reunion together. I lived year-round in Eastport, ME, for 45 years but grew up in Poughkeepsie. My Cornell husband, second lieutenant Robert Madden’s plane went down August 13, 1945.” Anita Pomeranz Schlossberg writes: “I am currently living in my son’s guest house on Hilton Head Island. I have eight grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren. I congratulate all of you for living to this advanced age. Cornell is in the distant past, but I think of my days there, where many lasting friendships were made, as well as beautiful memories. Thank you for the work you do.”

Robert Hirsch, BS ’47, writes: “I received your request for news from the Class of 1945 and have some of possible interest. My education was interrupted by World War II, where I served as a combat pilot in the Army Air Corps in Europe, but I returned after the war. My wife, Ethel, and I married prior to my senior year, on June 29, 1946, and will celebrate our 75th anniversary next month. We had our first child at Cornell and now have 20 grandchildren and 29 great-grandchildren. We live in Myrtle Beach, SC, where I am a former mayor, and still live together in our home of 51 years. Cornell prepared us well.” George Karp, BA ’47, writes: “I have moved to an assisted and independent facility in Walnut Creek, CA. I have all four of my sons in California, plus four grandchildren and my one great-granddaughter. I spoke to Barney Mayrsohn, BS ’47, and he still loves Cornell and the Class of ’45, as I do.”

From Alison Kent Bermant ’70: “I am writing to report the deaths of my Cornellian parents, Donald ’42, MD ’45, and Madelaine Ring Kent, BA ’44. Dad died on February 22, and Mom just 16 days later on March 10, nine days short of what would have been their 75th wedding anniversary. Both were devoted Cornellians. They attended all the Reunions and sent three of their four children to study at Cornell. Mom still cried tears of joy when listening to the Alma Mater. They met during Mom’s freshman year and remained inseparable even in death. While on the Hill, Dad was captain of the fencing team, student council vice president, and a member of Quill and Dagger and Tau Delta Phi. Mom appeared in many theatrical productions and was a member of Alpha Epsilon Phi. Dad practiced internal medicine and cardiology for 50 years on Long Island and Mom was active in local and national organizations. They traveled the world together and were a wonderful sight to behold on the dance floor. Happily, they both died at home from non-COVID-related causes. They are mourned by numerous Cornell family members including a surviving sister, nieces, nephews, and grandnieces, in addition to their children.”

I, Frances Shloss, am currently spending time at my cottage on Lake Okoboji, IA. Finally, after last year’s hiatus, we are enjoying yacht club races, social hour cocktail parties, art classes, and weekly theater shows. Last night’s Grease was as entertaining as anything you might see on Broadway. Many thanks again for your response for news. Class Notes is, and will continue to be, alive and well. ❖ Frances Shloss, 124-A South Maple Dr., Beverly Hill, CA 90212; tel., (310) 276-3345; email, fmshloss@roadrunner.com. Online news form.

1946

Men

Virtual Reunion was one Big Red ball. Our Class of 1946’s 11 classmates in attendance BEARly broke the 75th Reunion all-time record of ten, established by the Class of 1941. When the dancing at the ball stops and we get our feet back on Mother Earth, we’ll write up the glorious details and send them to you in the next column. We repeat from the last column that we would highly recommend that all Cornell Reunions in the future have a virtual choice for those unable to make the Ithacan Odyssey.

To list your email address in your submissions, email me at the below e-address. Include your name, city, and state. ❖ Paul Levine, 3273 Streamside Cir., #S-202, Pleasanton, CA 94588; tel., (925) 201-7575; email, pblevine93@gmail.com. Class website. Online news form.

Women

Hurrah for Erin Kennedy! She was our much-needed guide throughout the entire Reunion weekend. Without Erin, it would not have happened. Also then, of course, I am most grateful for the men on our committee, Phil Gisser and Steve Marder, and led by Paul Levine, BS ’49. With many questions about my sudden illness popping up, they were ready to take over if necessary. Fortunately, I appeared on Thursday, June 10, and was able to take over. I hope that many of you were able to see the wine tasting event with the Johnson family. This was a very special treat presented by New York State’s oldest and most prestigious winery established in 1961 by Fred Johnson ’43, BS ’46.

I would love to hear some comments from attendees of our virtual Reunion! Send them to: ❖ Dorothy Taylor Prey, 1 Baldwin Ave., #501, San Mateo, CA, 94401; tel., (650) 342-1196; email, dmprey@aol.com. Class website. Online news form.

1947

“I have a granddaughter attending Cornell,” writes proud grandfather Edward Simpson. “My wife passed away four years ago. Luckily, I have good friends and a close companion.” Edward spends winters in Florida, where he enjoys watching the wildlife, playing golf, and planning cruises with his companion. “I’m looking forward to playing bridge in person instead of online.” His biggest takeaway from the pandemic? “Appreciating your friends.”

Donald Van Waes, PhD ’51, is still living at home, spending his time golfing, gardening, and walking his therapy dog, Murphy. Time with family brings him great satisfaction, and he adds, “I welcomed my 15th and 16th great-grandchildren in 2020!” Congratulations!

Please take a moment to drop us a line and let us know how you and your family are doing. How has the pandemic impacted you? We’d love to keep in touch. ❖ Class of 1947, c/o Alexandra Bond ’12, abb83@cornell.edu. Online news form.

1948

Barbara Cole Feiden writes from White Plains, NY, that, like the rest of us, she doesn’t do much beyond reading a lot and seeing more doctors than she likes. In explaining her age of 96, she notes that she spent two years in the Canadian Army. (That alone makes her a bit unique in the Cornell Class of 1948!) Husband Barry ’49 was also a Cornellian but is now deceased. Oh yes, she is taking online courses with Cornell. Phyllis Flyer Kavett, professor emerita at Kean U., spends her time trying to stay healthy and vertical and gets the most satisfaction out of fresh air, sunshine, and a temperate climate. Her biggest takeaway from the pandemic? “How unappreciated life was without it.”

Jackie Smith Flournoy reports that her life changed with a recent move to the Broadmead senior living facility, where she is pleased to have her dinner delivered (cutting down on cooking) and got her two COVID vaccinations with great ease. When she is able to “get out” again, she hopes to work at a thrift shop with her daughter who lives in the area with her husband and three children, all of whom she sees frequently. Like many fellow retirees, she gets much satisfaction in getting rid of unnecessary paper and other items. On an upbeat note, she feels a side effect of the pandemic was a kinder attitude among people. James Howell, BS ’50, explains he actually graduated in 1950—having started in 1944, he got in two years, then had two years in the Army, and came back to the Hill for his final two years. Like others in his circumstance, he chose his original Class of 1948 to affiliate with and “reunioned” with the rest of us. Like others, again, he gets the most satisfaction in waking each morning and enjoying another day.

Your correspondent built his home 35 years ago on Hilton Head Island, SC, in what is now a fully developed community spread among the pine trees, oak trees, landscape shrubs, four golf courses, and many lagoons. I greatly enjoyed all that was offered then, but now nearly all of my friends are gone. The restrictions of COVID-19 have refocused my attention on all that Mother Nature has to offer. From my windows and glass sliding doors I can see the three suet feeders and one hummingbird feeder hanging sheltered under my roof overhang, my larger sunflower seed feeder hanging from a tree limb near my bubbling birdbath fountain, and the corncob feeder for squirrels on another nearby tree. I have many birds in permanent residence: cardinals, Carolina wrens, bluebirds, chickadees, house sparrows, tufted titmice, towhees, downy woodpeckers, etc., plus visitation by robins and finches (with the identity of all established by reference to the colorful and complete chart provided me by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in hopes I would become one of their regular reporters, but I found my partial red-green colorblindness made that too difficult).

One summer, the goldfinches migrating through the area stopped off long enough to completely strip the ripe, red berries from my pyracantha bush in about an hour! And on the ground, a rabbit loves to eat the green grass around my birdbath and stand on its hind legs to eat the flowers and leaves of my confederate jasmine. Occasionally, mother deer drops by to eat the leaves and flowers of my hibiscus and roses—several times accompanied by her two young does. Still remembered for many years, but gone, is mother quail walking across the backyard with four young ones trailing her. Of course, if you want to walk to the nearest lagoon you can watch the anhinga (birds) stand on the edge for hours with their wings outspread to dry their non-greasy, non-waterproof wings before entering the water—or not entering the water, because one of our alligators (six to 12 feet long) is swimming or sunning nearby. This viewing reminds me of the final scientific marvel: that all these plants, birds, and animals have chromosomes made up of just four amino acids (thousands of them in a string) arranged to instruct the living organism how to make an exact duplicate of itself! ❖ Ray Tuttle, 65 Oyster Reef Dr., Hilton Head Island, SC 29926; email, RayTutt@aol.com. Online news form.

1949

Jean Schultheis Brechter (Shelter Island, NY), whose grandson is graduating from Cornell next year, tells us that she is “looking forward to the hard copy” of the new publication. She wishes to point out that “many of us are old ladies” and perhaps are not comfortable with the new technologies.

Ann Seguin Hill writes from Toms River, NJ, “I just received my final edition of Cornell Alumni Magazine. I feel sad, as I looked forward to each edition of the magazine and the news and photos. I sadly missed the 70th Reunion. I was all set to go, and then I fell and broke a bone in my hip. I now live in a rehab nursing facility and am doing well. My two daughters and two granddaughters take good care of me. I’ll be a great-grandmother for the first time soon, and we are thrilled. COVID-19 has changed our lives. The visiting is different, but rules are changing for the better. A bright spot in my life is that Toni Hallinan Ottobre, my freshman roommate, lives ten minutes from me. We see each other often and talk on the phone. Toni and I can’t believe that we are 94 years old. As I look back on my life, I feel that one of the best parts was my four years at Cornell—the education, friendships, fun, and so much more.”

Please let us hear from each one of you. Contact your class correspondent: ❖ Dorothy Mulhoffer Solow, winspeck@yahoo.com. Online news form.

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1950s

1950

Welcome to the new Class Notes format. At this writing (June 15), we do not know the exact format in which you shall receive this. We have been assured it will be available free online, and by subscription for those who prefer a print version. We are overjoyed to be assured that it will reach all alumni, not the less-than-10% reached by the now-laid-to-rest Cornell Alumni Magazine. We hope this greater coverage shall generate more interest in our class column devoted to news and views of members of the Class of the Century. I’m elated to start my 21st year as your class correspondent. Trust me; your personal news is of interest to your classmates, so keep me informed and up to date.

There is a distinct pleasure with this correspondent’s job, countered by equal disappointment. Pleasure in learning and writing about our accomplished classmates. Disappointment in knowing so few personally. In past columns I have tried to feature those whom I have been lucky enough to learn about. It’s my hope that with the wider circulation of our column in the new communications hub, I may come to know about more of you and can send what I learn on to our eager classmates.

I was intrigued to learn that Ellen Forbes Andrews (Greenville, SC) came to Cornell at age 16 and asked her to explain. Her reply: “I started Cornell at age 16 with WWII veterans ten years my senior. I think I may be the youngest graduate in our class. I grew up on a farm near Homer, NY, 25 miles northwest of the campus. I had attended a one-room school, where I did six grades in five years (not skipping any) and graduated from high school in a class of 36 in 1946. I lived on campus because my father (Cornell 1922) felt I needed to experience campus life. While pledging Sigma Kappa, my big sister set me up with a law student. Given my age, he said he felt he was being set up with jailbait! It was strange having so many older students, but I was able to date guys closer to my age and thoroughly enjoyed my four years on campus. My friends tease me that I went four years and never saw anything rotten. Right now (May 29), I’m looking forward to a week in June celebrating my 91st birthday at Hilton Head with my whole family, including four great-grandchildren.”

While unable to travel to see distant family members during the pandemic, Allan Mitchell (North Rose, NY) happily reports on a fourth generation of 12 great-grandkids. He stays busy with gardening and home maintenance, and reports that his greatest satisfaction comes from public service work with his church and local Lions Club. Elizabeth Ann Alexander Weis (Osprey, FL) reports being blessed to be able to live at home and deal with whatever life offers. She is retired from the practice of law but thanks to phone, email, and Zoom retains an active role as mother. Her greatest satisfaction is the pleasure of being able to read, greet each day, see the seasons change, and maintain loving relationships with friends, neighbors, and her children. Biggest takeaway from the pandemic? Praise for front-line workers but also disappointment at some for their lack of concern for the rights of all. For her it has been a test of the backbone of our country. She has worries about the future but also sees much to be hopeful for.

In a little box on page six of the May/June issue of CAM it’s reported that next year’s tuition will be $60,286 in the endowed colleges and $40,382 in the statutory colleges. Additional costs will be: room and board, $16,396; activity fee, $309; health fee, $420; books, $1,000; personal, $1,876; plus travel. Total for 2021–22 in the endowed colleges: $81,287. Four-year projection around $330,000!

A compelling question should immediately arise. Is that an expenditure or an investment? If the former, what exactly is being purchased? What will be its enduring value? Compared to alternative expenditures, is it a wise decision? If it’s an investment, will it provide a reasonable return on the principal? Now consider that only a few applicants can write a check for $80,000. Of course, Cornell promises student aid to those who need it. However, some of such aid will be in the form of loans, consequently contributing to the already national out-of-control student debt.

However, the most crucial question is the extent to which a Cornell education may be superior to other colleges or universities. My opinion (based on 34 years as a professor in three universities, and experiences with 20 different colleges or universities attended by my five kids, two foster kids, 13 grandkids, and me) is that a Cornell education is not superior to other colleges and universities. However, it may be offset by the Cornell experience, its intrinsic socio/cultural value, and the fact that it opens doors—in my case, definitely the latter. I busted out, got reinstated, and graduated with a C-minus average. After ten years Cornell opened academic doors, and I earned master’s degrees in education and science and a doctorate in science education and biology from Rochester. This led to a wonderfully productive and satisfying life as a university professor. ❖ Paul Joslin, 13731 Hickman Rd., #4207, Urbandale, IA 50323; tel., (515) 278-0960; email, phjoslin@aol.com. Online news form.

1951

Let’s begin with my notes from the virtual Cornell Reunion in June. I attended several events, including: “A Cosmic Conversation”; “Class of ’51: Making the Most of Your Later Life”; “Class of ’51: Memories Mixer”; “The Future of Cities”; the Friday night game show “Clash of the Cornellians”; and a variety show called “Spirit of the Hill.”

The three-day Reunion began with Carl Sagan’s widow, Ann Druyan, talking about the activities at the Carl Sagan Inst., where they are still looking for extraterrestrial life. Ann and Carl fell in love while planning the space voyage that made him famous. We learned that Carl, who died in 1996, was attracted to Ithaca by the gorges, and that Carl and Ann went to jail for protesting several times. Prof. Corinna Loeckenhoff then talked about how to make the most of your later life. She recommended elasticity and exercise, and left us with a message that aging is not dying. It’s important to explore new things, learn new skills, and keep the brain active.

The most social event of the virtual Reunion was a panel of 23 classmates from the Class of ’51 commenting on their favorite teacher, discussing their favorite experience from their four years at Cornell, and in general talking about what’s been going on. The most interesting story, I thought, was from an alumnus who, when kept from getting on a plane from Italy to the US, recognized Mario Einaudi and requested his help on getting on the flight, which was provided. Prof. Einaudi taught at Cornell. Kind words were spoken about several other professors from our days at Cornell including David Daiches, Milton Konvitz, PhD ’33, Vladimir Nabokov, another man whose name I can’t remember, and Harold Bloom, a classmate of ours who is a Shakespeare specialist and became a professor at Yale. Classmates also reminisced about the Truman-Dewey election, when Dewey was declared the winner by a New York paper only to discover it was Truman who won.

The Friday night game show was fun, as I knew several of the answers. It was easy to watch. You got a chance to supply your own answer before the contestants rang in with their answer. Some of the questions were tough. The variety show was very good. I particularly enjoyed the drums, which were impressive. My mother wanted me to take up something musical and I said drums. I saw from the program what I could have been able to do, but my mom got tired of me pounding on drums after a month and I ended up with a flute. I enjoyed the singing the most.

The class officers for the upcoming term have been determined. Shelley Epstein Akabas agreed to be president; Chuck Mund is vice president; Rip Haley is membership chair; Betty Meng Howell is secretary; I remain class correspondent; the treasurer is Jim Stocker; and Reunion chairs are Rip Haley and Jim Stocker. A lot of money was raised, with over $3 million from our class.

Betty Howell (bettyhowell2017@gmail.com) writes, “Jack and I have given up driving. We are now dependent on apartment transportation.” Regarding activities in retirement, Betty states, “I remain involved with Master Gardeners and garden here at our apartment complex. Jack enjoys having large print books for reading. We try to walk every day, and we Zoom with our children.” Thomas Merrill’s daughter writes, “My dad passed away in December 2020. He was a Chemistry major, graduating in 1951. He went on to work in chemistry for his whole career. He remembered his Cornell days clearly and especially enjoyed living in a co-op house (Cayuga Lodge) while a student.”

Joseph Bertino (bertinoj@cinj.rutgers.edu) writes, “I’m now in a wheelchair. Spinal cord injury. I started a biotech company called Xiconic” (which lists him as chief scientific officer and president). Thomas Borthwick’s wife, Josephine, writes, “Tom died on January 31, 2021 from congestive heart failure.” He retired from a career in investment and moved to Pinehurst, NC, where he took up cabinet woodwork. Elizabeth Robinson von Dohlen (Bloomfield, CT; rjvondohlen@comcast.net) says, “Our life changed when we moved from our house to a retirement community. It was a good move because most of our old friends are no longer with us. At 91 we (Jack ’49, MRP ’54, and I) are just trying to stay alive and kicking.” Elizabeth adds, “We have three daughters, six grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.” “Staying alive” brings her the most satisfaction, although, she adds, “we regret the loss of freedom.”

Calvin Gage (Lake Bluff, IL; calgage@aol.com) writes, “A major change has been the shrinkage of our travel horizon. Since March 2020, we have lived within a radius of 15 miles from our home. Just short hops for groceries, medical appointments, etc. We put 1,200 miles on the car. No dining out, but found eating in a delight.” Calvin says he has been “aging gracefully” and gets the most satisfaction in life from “keeping in touch with family and friends.” Paul Jones (Atherton, CA) writes, “I am still alive, spending most of my time on Zoom.” Regarding work or retirement, Paul says, “I’m keeping busy with town and church duties and still trying to abort California’s misrouted, mismanaged, and mis-executed high-speed rail project.” He adds, “First great-grandson, age 2, and ongoing friendships” bring him the most satisfaction these days. His biggest takeaway from the pandemic is “patience.” ❖ Brad Bond, email c/o Alexandra Bond ’12, abb83@cornell.edu. Online news form.

1952

Well, here we are on the hub. First and foremost, thanks for all those news forms. We have lots to report here, and more for next time. Please note the little box on the news form that allows your e-address to be printed; if you did not mark that box, your email address is not included. Gerald Read (Rochester, NY; swcbread25@gmail.com) writes, “My wife, Shirley, and I moved to an apartment four and a half years ago. We both retired from teaching in Prattsburgh Central School; Shirley taught elementary grades and I taught agriculture. After part-time farming and traveling all 50 states and 24 other countries, we live a quiet life. COVID has kept us confined.” The Reads have 14 grandchildren and 15 greats, all of whom they enjoy when they can. What brings them greatest satisfaction these days? “Communications with family and friends, email, phone, and Facebook.” Their biggest takeaway from the pandemic? “The lack of visiting with family and friends.”

Alison Bliss Graham (Wynnewood, PA) says, “We miss traveling and seeing our ‘Western’ family—also concerts and theater in Philadelphia, where we have lived for 51 years! We will miss Cornell Alumni Magazine but hope Class Notes survive as we approach our 70th Reunion.” Family brings Peter Ward (Candor, NY) the most satisfaction these days, and he lists four children, 11 grandchildren, and ten greats. His biggest takeaway from the pandemic was “government control of our daily lives.” Anthony Bryant (Waukesha, WI) writes, “After returning from 15 days in French Polynesia on March 16, 2020 (just barely made it back), Andrea and I haven’t been able to travel very much. I’m in my office daily, preparing my grandson to assume the presidency of my company (Century Fence Co.) on January 1, 2022. We welcomed two new great-granddaughters into the family during 2020.” What brings Anthony the most satisfaction these days? “Having my company (an essential business) experience its most successful year in its 104-year history.” His takeaway from the pandemic: “You’ve got to stay engaged in the activities you’ve always done, otherwise your life is over!” Irwin and Arline Braverman Broida (Wayne, NJ) say, “Even though we have been told ‘old age is a privilege denied to many,’ we now know too well that it ain’t for sissies. Hello to all our ‘privileged’ ’52 classmates.”

Patricia Stitt Truell (Williamsville, NY) writes, “Like everyone else, my social activities were greatly reduced. Fortunately, I moved two years ago to an apartment in an independent living community, so I see people and have ‘some’ social life.” Eben Lang (Audubon, PA; langsebago3@gmail.com) sends best wishes to all of his classmates and hopes they got through 2020 and COVID with a minimum of stress and frustration. “Mimi and I live in a retirement community, Shannondell at Valley Forge, just northwest of Philadelphia. Because of state restrictions, we have not been able to visit or receive friends as much as we would normally like to. However, our place here is marvelous: fitness center, large swimming pool, card rooms, pharmacy, movie theater programs, wood shop work, and so on. If anyone would like more information, I would be happy to answer any email requests. The biggest event of the year, although not the most enjoyable, was the leak in the roof of our apartment. A heavy snowstorm, which turned into an ice dam, caused multiple water leaks into our guest bedroom. Fortunately, there were no guests because they would have been very wet. However, due to the quick work of our excellent maintenance department, damage was held to a minimum. How’s that for our most exciting experience? One of our most active projects until January 6 has been helping Joe Biden win the presidency. We are very happy with the results of the election. Many of our Republican friends would agree. I do hope that both sides can get together on some mutually agreeable legislation and actually get some things accomplished. Hopefully there will be more like Susan Collins and Mitt Romney.” Most satisfaction? “We are living mainly in our apartment except for supermarket, banking, and hardware store visits. We spend a lot of time reading, and I am in the fitness center as much as possible.” Biggest takeaway from the pandemic? “Never give up.”

Judith Calhoun Schurman (New Canaan, CT) has been “surviving the virus!” She’s got two great-grandchildren and was looking forward to a “big family reunion in Maine in September 2021.” Her greatest satisfaction these days came from “receiving two COVID-19 shots.” Shirley Sagen Norton (Canton, NY; snorton7@twcny.rr.com) writes, “For about a year now, life has been routine here at Partridge Knoll (independent living apartments). We were somewhat quarantined for most of 2020, but it’s better now. No one here got COVID and everyone got vaccinated. All my family are doing well—Bruce ’77, Bonnie ’81, DVM ’84, and Brian.” Biggest takeaway from the pandemic? “Get vaccinated, take care of yourself, and hope others do the same.” I have more news than will fit in this column, so don’t be surprised if material you sent in takes a few months to be published. I like your voices as they come through. Of course, we will make room for 70th Reunion news. ❖ Joan Boffa Gaul, joangaul@mac.com. Class website. Online news form.

1953

By the time you read this in September, I hope most of us will be vaccinated and that the lockdowns and mask wearing will be over. Freedom at last! Julian Max Aroesty (jma38@cornell.edu) reports he’s nearing 90 and wintering in Longboat Key, FL. “I’m cycling 100 miles per week (improving cardiovascular fitness and decreasing Alzheimer’s risk) and also still consulting and teaching at the hospital and teaching grandchildren Spanish. COVID has dulled my taste, which is gradually improving.”

Felice Bernstein Burns enjoys taking classes and playing bridge on the computer and feels very fortunate that she hasn’t suffered much during the pandemic. “I remember while living in Comstock, we were looking for a fourth for bridge. One of the male student workers said he’d be fired if he came to the girl’s dorm. Today, that’s a joke! I’m happy to be able to communicate with family and friends and that I’ve been vaccinated!” Henry Charlap has been living in a skilled nursing facility for the past three years. “I remember when I was in school, I won the dairy products judging contest in Springfield, MA. My brothers in Seal & Serpent dubbed me the ‘Best Nose on the Hill.’ My son has taken over my ice cream operation after taking a short course at Cornell.”

Donald Collin ’52, BEE ’53 (ibdrc@aol.com) reports that his wife of 65 years passed away in April. “I have severe neuropathy in both legs and have health aid most of the time, but I keep busy doing investments online—making money that I don’t need and plan to give away. I still belong to two yacht clubs even though I had to get rid of my 65-ft. Viking yacht because I’m no longer able to work on it. I’d like to hear from any old friends who are still alive.” Vince Giarrusso was awarded the Louis J. Conti Lifetime Achievement Award by the Cornell Football Assn. in 2018. The award recognizes former members of Cornell’s football program who have demonstrated a genuine commitment to Big Red football through their support, leadership, and service. A two-year letterman in football and three-year letterman in baseball, Vince played on Cornell’s last AP ranked football team in 1949 (ranked 12th) and on the Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League champions team in 1952. After graduation, he became a serial entrepreneur as an early Dairy Queen franchisee, owner of North Shore Shuttle, and owner of Fleetwood Recording Studios.

We were sorry to hear that Jim Hanchett died on July 3 after an extensive battle with Alzheimer’s. Jim was a longtime Class of ’53 president and at the same time was our alumni magazine columnist. When he retired as our correspondent, it took four of us to take his place! Even back when we were Phi Psi pledges together, Jim wanted to be a journalist. He worked at the Cornell Daily Sun and, after serving in the Air Force, he joined the New York Daily News, where he worked for his entire career. He served as historian of the Cornell Football Assn. for many years and contributed hundreds of articles to their seasonal newsletters and home-game programs, highlighting the storied history of Cornell football. His work in 2004–05 researching and gathering memorabilia and artifacts led to the creation of the football program’s Tradition Room. As a result, he was inducted into CU’s Athletics Hall of Fame during Homecoming weekend 2019. A longtime member of the Cornell University Council and the Student and Academic Services Advisory Council, he also served as the volunteer coordinator for the Continuous Reunion Club for more than 40 years. In 2015, he was chosen to receive the Frank H.T. Rhodes Exemplary Alumni Service Award, Cornell’s top award celebrating extraordinary service to the University through volunteer activities. Jim was the only Cornellian to win both that and the William “Bill” Vanneman ’31 Outstanding Class Leader Award, other than Bill Vanneman himself.

Ed Gibson (edwincosgibson@gmail.com) reports that his youngest daughter, Cosby, is developing as a songwriter and folk singer. You can check her out on her website. Ed says, “I’m very happy to have been isolated in the North Carolina mountains during the pandemic and I enjoy cocktail hour and staying alive.” Alan Quinby reports that he has a new address in Sarasota, FL. Joyce Wisbaum Underberg, BS ’52, feels fortunate that she got through the pandemic with little change to her life, other than being very bored. “My four kids and nine grandkids are all healthy and, I think, happy. I’m approaching the big ‘90,’ but feeling pretty spry. I still do organization work, read a lot, and play golf here in Rochester. My motto is: Carry on!”

Please keep your messages coming. ❖ John Nixon, nixn1@hotmail.com; Jack Allen, jwallen@msu.edu; Ed Gibson, edwincosgibson@gmail.com; Caroline Mulford Owens, 53news.cornell@gmail.com. Online news form.

1954

While most of us were hunkered down at home to avoid COVID exposure in early 2020, Ed and Joyce Dudley McDowell ’57, of Kilauea, HI, and Hermosa Beach, CA, were flying to Santiago, Chile, on the way to their umpteenth visit to Antarctica, a destination they call their favorite place on earth. It was their first trip back in ten years and they noted many changes: larger ships, more fellow travelers, rotated embarkation times, and no strolling or beach combing. Nonetheless they had an exhilarating excursion, despite Joyce’s losing a hearing aid to the sea and suffering a nosebleed problem as well. The last night in Antarctica they sailed through the Lemaire Channel in bright sunshine with icebergs jutting everywhere and reflecting the glinting sunlight. Their last view of Antarctica was in the same place as their first, back in 1986. In March they were preparing for a wildlife safari in India including tigers in the wild, but three days before departure, India closed its borders. After dodging that bullet, the McDowells finally did what the rest of us did in 2020 … stayed home, read books, and tended flowers. We hope 2021 has been better for them.

Jean Lanigan Lenehan of Radnor, PA, writes that she will miss the printed issues of CAM and hopes the powers that be will arrive at a solution. Stay tuned, Jean; a print subscription solution with a moderate annual price tag is in the works. Stan Birer, JD ’58, of Flossmoor, IL (imsrb@hotmail.com) advises that he is “very retired.” Stan and his wife, Lois, are both life directors of the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra and do a lot of work to keep music alive in their state. He looks forward to our 2024 Reunion.

John Donahoe of Pelham, NY (johndonahoe@aol.com) is also retired, having owned and run a successful sales recruiting company for 30-plus years. John is thrilled to report that his grandson William Serlin ’25 is a member of the freshman class that arrives in Ithaca this fall. Delvin Fanning, MS ’59 (delvindel@aol.com) of Riverdale, MD, is an emeritus professor at the U. of Maryland, having retired from teaching in 1999. Delvin is a renowned soil scientist and is still active as the newsletter editor of MAPSS, the Mid-Atlantic Assn. of Professional Soil Scientists. He hopes to participate in the 9th Int’l Acid Sulfate Soils Conference meeting in Adelaide, Australia, this November. He also hoped to celebrate his 90th birthday in July at his birthplace, near Copenhagen, NY. Bill Pinchbeck (wpinchbeck@yahoo.com) is retired and now living in a home all on one floor in beautiful Berlin, VT, where he enjoys playing the clarinet and sax as he did with the Cornell band during his undergrad days. Bill and his wife, Joanie, still own a cottage in Guilford, CT, on Long Island Sound, where they are able to summer again as the pandemic wanes.

Our class webmaster, Jan Jakes Kunz (jjk.jaj3354@gmail.com), sent us the following note that we are happy to share with all our ’54 readers: “Tired of bingeing on old TV shows during the pandemic? Spend some time on campus by going to our class website, whose ‘Get Involved’ page has links to Cybertower and CornellCast, two sites that will change your life. You can immerse yourself in videos on an amazing variety of topics—everything from politics to outer space and even diets, plus talks by Sandy Weill ’55, John Cleese, professors, students, alums, and just friends of Cornell. While you’re on the page, you can also shop at the Cornell Store or keep up with Cornell sports news. Then, stop on the website’s ‘Community’ page to travel the world, no mask required. Enjoy the great photos taken by Jim and Joan Symons. It’s a breath of fresh air.” ❖ Bill Waters, billwaters@optonline.net; Ruth Carpenter Bailey, rcbhtb@gmail.com. Online news form.

1955

A welcome note from Herb Roleke: “Settled in after two years in our retirement community. We have a daughter nearby in Stuart, FL, who keeps us up to date. Family and friends from up North love to visit, as we have a house for them to stay at. With our daughter, we manage our real estate, which consists of several business properties, and our income has remained good because of it.” The most satisfaction in Herb’s life comes from “a happy marriage of 65-plus years to Mary Ann, and our lovely family.”

Barbara Loreto Peltz wrote on April 20 from “the beautiful East End of Long Island.” She reports, “The ospreys have returned to their nests and the daffodils are in bloom. And I had my first indoor bridge game with real people yesterday.” Barb was happy to recognize that she has “internal resources to survive,” and it helps that she enjoys reading and taking part in a “delightful book club.” Good news from an old friend. Peter Eschweiler is “trying to be as retired as possible.” After retiring in 1991, he was active in a senior housing project in Pleasantville, NY, and he also chaired a lecture series for seniors at the public library, which has been suspended due to the pandemic. Peter’s wife, Mickie (Symonds) ’53, has Alzheimer’s, but “she is still as bright and cheerful as she can be,” Peter reports, and his satisfaction comes from “keeping Mickie safe and happy.” We wish you well. Pete says that his biggest takeaway from the pandemic is “enjoying our togetherness.”

Barbara Brott Myers sent in her email address for friends and roommates to note: bjmyers1955@gmail.com. Buck Cody can be reached in Naples, FL, and his email is buckcody@orlandotelco.net. He explains, “Since my wife passed, some things have changed.” He still spends summers in Old Saybrook, CT, and has downsized his golfing from four times a week to two. “But I’m still above ground and reasonably healthy, and I thank God for that!”

David Berler, MD ’58, who lives in Chevy Chase, MD, is enjoying lots of golf, tennis, outdoor and gym exercise, and family visits, especially since his vaccination. He says, “COVID has brought Zoom into our lives!” When asked about his biggest takeaway from the pandemic, David commented about the “ability of people to adjust and work from home,” plus “virtual experiences and medical awareness.” On the same point, Sylvia Verin Mangalam, MA ’57 (aw361@chebucto.ns.ca) feels “lucky to live in the Atlantic bubble” with less COVID worries. Her takeaway thought was “the need for a guaranteed annual income.” Sylvia’s complaint is that her eyes are “down the tubes—a real drag.” She adds, “No more tree climbing. At 87, I still play the recorder and write protest letters.” You go, girl!

Interesting news from Robert Wyvill (“a.k.a. Fr. Christopher, OSB,” he writes) who lives in Washington, DC. “After NROTC at Cornell and three years on active duty aboard a destroyer, I joined a Catholic Benedictine Abbey, a monastery in Washington, DC. Now, at age 90 and in good health, I am very grateful to God for stability here for 60 years. Much has changed, but more has been the same within the monastery. I am grateful for living with 11 brother monks and no virus cases, which allows daily face-to-face social interaction without masks within the monastery, not the isolation that many elderly suffer.”

Thanks to everyone who’s submitting their news. We look forward to hearing from you! ❖ Nancy Savage Petrie, 85 Brook St., Noank, CT 06340; email, nancysavagepetrie@yahoo.com. Online news form.

1956

The Super Class of 1956 had our 65th Reunion by Zoom, a first for us. A fascinating talk by Corey Earle ’07, Cornell’s unofficial historian, described the reasons the Class of ’56 was and is still the “Super Class.” His talk was followed by one-hour get-acquainted mixers. For those of you who attended, we would love to hear your comments. And thanks to our Reunion chair Carole Rapp Thompson for her efforts in making this happen.

We are pleased to announce that the Inst. of Mathematical Statistics (IMS) has created the IMS Grace [Goldsmith] Wahba Award and Lecture, to honor Grace’s “monumental contributions to statistics and science; pioneering and influential work in mathematical statistics; machine learning and optimization; broad and career-long interdisciplinary collaborations that have had a significant impact in the fields of epidemiology, bioinformatics, and climate sciences; and outstanding mentoring during her 51-year career as an educator.”

Mike Fawer (New Orleans, LA) spent 50-plus years as a defense attorney. During his career, he argued more than 125 cases and one before the US Supreme Court. His book is titled From the Bronx to the Bayou: A Defense Attorney’s Odyssey From Charles Evers to Edwin Edwards and Beyond. Learn more here. ❖ Phyllis Bosworth, phylboz@aol.com. Online news form.

1957

Ed ’54 and Joyce Dudley McDowell have not missed much while coping with their altered lifestyle during the pandemic. A tour of Antarctica proved daunting due to too many passengers and excursions that would test the endurance of a sophomore. That didn’t slow them down as they prepared for a wildlife safari in India, only to have the borders of that country closed. Joyce has decided to read the entire collection of Dickens’s novels and has come up with a means to extend the life of orchids—she puts the spent orchids in the shower (plenty of humidity and a handy skylight).

Jane Tabor Gillett, BS ’80, has her own book, Kids Aren’t Baby Goats, available on Amazon, and is also working on a book of her poems. Now that things have opened up to some degree, an RV might be in her future. Speaking of travel, Tom and Shirley Besemer Itin, BS ’00, are contemplating a move from Michigan to either Utah and/or Arizona—to follow the westward migration of their children—where I’m sure Tom will continue his entrepreneurial pursuits.

Lawrence Abelman is still practicing trademark and copyright law in New York City, enjoying interaction with children and grandchildren. If he strolls across the Brooklyn Bridge, he can learn something of the construction of the bridge from the bronze plaques made by Bill Gold’s company. Bill is in the office every day, even though son Joshua ’01 runs the show at the foundry. John Herzog, founder of the Museum of American Finance and veteran of Wall Street—labors that took the family business from a few employees to a firm the size of which interested Merrill Lynch in purchasing it—now labors happily in his flower garden.

Peter Wolf, ME ’59, is fully retired from 40 years on the Washington, DC, Superior Court, and he and Frances now reside in a retirement community in Winston Salem, NC, near their summer cottage in Roaring Gap. Peter is learning stop-motion photography and has mastered his Apple Watch. Michael De Nicola is quite active in the Optimist Club of Calgary (AB), a service organization focused on young people. Golf and reading take up a lot of the rest of his time. Elizabeth Cohen Theil, a Bacteriology major as an undergraduate with a doctoral degree in biochemistry (wow), resides in San Francisco, having achieved the title of emeritus after a career as a professor at North Carolina State U. ❖ John Seiler, suitcase2@aol.com. Online news form.

1958

So nice to be able to be out and about now and get back to our more regular lives! What an impact COVID had on our ways of living. Hopefully, all of you have not lost loved ones due to the epidemic!

Dick Stormont lost his wife of 59-plus years and has now moved into a prime continuing care facility in Buckhead near Atlanta. He has three married children and grandchildren who live in Atlanta. Jack Kelly also lost his wife right before Christmas and misses her greatly but is still working and helping manage the Kelly Group at J.P. Morgan with his two sons. He has six grandchildren living in Manhattan and New Jersey.

David Hill has remarried and retired from his farming and beef cattle business. Daniel Seidel was manager of the 150-lb. crew for one season and has a memory he will never forget: “It was early spring and there were still ice floes and floating debris in the lake. One boat started taking in water as it hit an ice floe. We sent two boats back to the boathouse (no cell phones then) and took the crew back to the boathouse for showers. Then we went back to retrieve the shell, which took 12 men to haul out of the water! I don’t remember who was in that crew, but I’m sure they’ll never forget that night!”

Charles Rosak gifted his two prize collector classic cars to his two daughters after over 50 years of ownership, but he is still active in classic car clubs. “Fortunately, everyone in my family is happy and healthy and enjoys getting together!” Chick Marshall had a knee replacement in January and missed traveling, family gatherings, etc., due to the pandemic, but he enjoyed cooking at home, collecting wine, and walks around the neighborhood. Chick is retired but helping friends in the restaurant business survive through the pandemic. He set up an email list of 60 Southern California restaurateurs to show info on government programs and ideas that were working to generate sales and profit during the epidemic. He enjoys sharing family times and being able to resume playing golf, fly fishing, bird hunting, and seeing friends. He thinks we will be dealing with the effects of the pandemic for a number of years. Travel, cruising, and dining out will continue to thrive in many ways that may not be to the liking of those in our generation.

Jack Wade, JD ’61, and his wife are still traveling and enjoying concerts! Six original Sherwoods are still alive and six have passed away, he writes. “Our last Sherwood Zoom session had two dozen participants.” Jack has three children, eight grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. He thinks the pandemic has been “Darwinian in every sense of the word.” Sonja Kischner Wilkin has kept busy during the pandemic, keeping a journal that is still ongoing! She says, “I made it through the year with my physical and mental health intact and I’m looking forward to getting back to a somewhat normal pace.” Zoom has become a big part of her life.

Dorinda Larkin McNamara (daelm3674@outlook.com) has moved to a retirement community in Southern Pines, NC, and would love to hear from classmates. Ann MacLeod Cashen (anncashen66@gmail.com) moved to Kimball Farms, a retirement community in Lenox, MA. She says, “So far so good,” and is looking forward to the return of Tanglewood programs. Ann is still volunteering and planning day trips for fellow residents of Kimball Farms. She is thankful for friends and family who have all stayed well during the pandemic. She still loves to read and was looking forward to the return of movies in the theater! ❖ Jan Arps Jarvie, janjarvie@gmail.com; Dick Haggard, richardhaggard11@gmail.com. Online news form.

1959

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a broad range of adjustments and changes in our lives, well-reflected in classmates’ responses to the Share Your News form question: “What brings you the most satisfaction in your life these days?” Perhaps the most unexpected answer comes from Ed Wind of Huntington, NY: “Hanging out with my three chickens raised since the pandemic began.” For more than 50 years, Ed has worked full time teaching med students and interpreting X-rays. Previously at North Shore U. Hospital, he’s now a radiologist in the Northwell Health system. His medical career surely served as inspiration within the family: Ed’s son is a pathologist, his daughter is the program director at the Coalition for Healthy School Food, and his oldest grandson is a medical student at the U. of Illinois.

Paul Rosenberg (par1@nyu.edu) is another full-timer, still at the NYU College of Dentistry, where he’s a professor in the Dept. of Endodontics. He’s wondering if his family set an “Olympic record” this past year, with four of his granddaughters at Cornell: Alexandra ’21, Hannah ’23, Madeline ’23, and Samantha ’24. What brings Paul the most satisfaction these days? “Family, painting portraits, LIFE!” Abe Lieberman’s Memories of a Brain Doctor, published last year, is now available in both paperback and Kindle formats. Abe, who lives in the Phoenix, AZ, area, is a neurologist who specializes in Parkinson’s disease. The book takes us from Abe’s childhood in NYC’s Brownsville (then home to Murder Inc.) to his days at Cornell and his medical practice and research, providing insights into people whom Abe cared for, such as Muhammad Ali, or studied, such as Adolf Hitler.

Several folks spoke of technology in responding to another question on the Share Your News form: “What has been your biggest takeaway from the pandemic?” “Zoom-style meetings,” says Phyllis Corwin Rogers (rogersvc@sonic.net), who finds phone and Zoom calls with family and friends a joy. “Tech innovation has changed things, and many of these changes will stay with us,” writes Bill Dring, BArch ’61 (billdring@comcast.net). “I’m very involved in music (still an occasional gig), books, and outdoor activities,” says Patricia Hurley of Ivoryton, CT. “I have been fortunate to be living in a semi-rural area with many opportunities to be outdoors during the pandemic. I have also been able to continue directing my New Horizons Band and teaching my trumpet students, first on Zoom and now in person.”

“The number of deaths from the pandemic has been horrifying, including my Cornell and high school classmate Larry Glassberg,” writes Mary Ella Harman Feinleib of Cambridge, MA. Mary Ella finds much satisfaction from memoir writing. She has written over 100 short memoirs and continues to take a memoir-writing course. She also participates in a French conversation group and recently started studying German, a language she once spoke well but had forgotten. After a former life as biology professor, department chair, and dean at Tufts, she became a travel consultant—an occupation that effectively disappeared during the pandemic but is cautiously picking up. “One client canceled his planned trip to Nepal and has decided, for now, to go to California. Another client originally wanted to go to Germany but backed out and is going to Iceland, where the incidence of COVID is very low.”

“Thinking of others and making their days brighter” is what brings satisfaction to Jo Ellis Jones. For more than 50 years, Jo has lived in Alma, MI, having moved there with her now-deceased husband, Fred ’57, BS ’59, and their daughters when Fred took a job in the area with General Electric. For 42 years, she has served as the nutrition site manager for congregate meals at a food site in nearby Ithaca, MI. That job expanded with the opening of a senior activity building in 1993; Jo became the center’s director, a position she still holds. “The building has been closed since March 2020. I make many phone visits with the seniors to encourage them to take good care of themselves while we await the time when we can resume the programs, activities, and meals they so enjoyed.”

Dave and Peggy Flynn Dunlop, MS ’63 (thedunlops59@gmail.com) have moved from their home of 56 years in Brooktondale to Kendal at Ithaca, joining four other ’59ers living there: Pat Williams, Hank Stark, Carol Hardy, PhD ’81, and Bobbie Greig Schneider. Ron and Sally Schwartz Muzii (sallymuzii@bellsouth.net) are proud great-grandparents of Conner, born in April, and within two months already the subject of 200-plus photos on Sally’s cell phone. Both Ron and Sally continue to lead busy lives. “Ron will never retire!” comments Sally, “but he has started to take a day off during the week from his hotel marketing and consulting firm.” Sally, who had to give up tennis about seven years ago, stays busy with croquet and golf. Since 2019 she has been a referee with the US Croquet Assn., which entitles her to be called upon for local tournaments. She also teaches croquet beginners at the PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. She still plays golf with the WGA in both Florida and North Carolina—“but unlike the gentlemen golfers, I have never shot my age (or even gotten near it). Looks like I will have to live for two more decades to claim that title!” ❖ Jenny Tesar, jet24@cornell.edu. Online news form.

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1960s

1960

Back in the spring, when the pandemic still dominated our lives, class council member Donald Milsten answered the question about how his daily life has changed: “Are you kidding? I’ve not only not been out of the country, I haven’t even been out of the county!” Writing from Pikesville, MD, Don says that he found time during the run-up to last year’s presidential election to make telephone calls to prospective voters, describing the experience as “interesting,” as in comedian Arte Johnson’s schtick on “Laugh-In.” He was also glad to note that his physician son, Andrew, an emergency medicine specialist at the U. of Massachusetts Medical Center, “is thrilled that the 18-plus-hour shifts associated with COVID are now at last in the rear-view mirror.” Don has nine grandchildren and says, “I have enough grandchildren stories to overfill an entire class column. All good, I’m happy to say.”

Stanley Watkins (stanleywatkins@comcast.net) reports that he retired in 2019 after 49 years of practicing medicine in Annapolis, MD, where he was a specialist in hematology and oncology and served as medical director of the Research Inst. at Anne Arundel Medical Center. These days, he says, “I currently farm, hunt, and fish.” My wife, Gail, is a full-time artist, and our two children are doing well. Elizabeth is a professor at the U. of Maryland, and son Stanley is a cardiologist and vascular surgeon in Anchorage, AK. We have five grandchildren, all doing well.” Another recently retired oncologist is Martin Schock, who lives with his wife, Carole, in Silver Spring, MD. “Because of COVID-19, I have been going back to previous hobbies of playing the piano and doing things alone. I have not been able to travel but would like to hear from Cornellians in this area of the country.” Now half-retired as a result of the pandemic is physician Michael Goldberg, an orthopedic specialist, who used to practice in both Seattle and Boston. “COVID made it impossible to continue my bi-coastal life, so I have retired from clinical practice at Seattle Children’s Hospital and am now full time in Boston, where I am scholar-in-residence at the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare.”

After retiring from his general surgery practice at Ohio Permanente Medical Group 15 years ago, council member Roland Philip (Cleveland Heights, OH) became a volunteer at organizations like the Experience Corp., Cleveland Food Bank, and Hospice of the Western Reserve. “At the present time,” he says, “I am a member of the Cancer Institutional Review Board of University Hospitals of Cleveland and participate in the Novel Club of Cleveland and the Rowfant Club. My wife, Linda Sandhaus, who has retired from her pathologist position at University Hospital, is now a docent at the Cleveland Museum of Art, where she developed a lecture program on the impact of epidemics on art. My son, Joseph, is involved with medical record security at University Hospital, and my daughter, Sarah, teaches art in an independent school in Virginia. With the constraints of COVID, we have done no traveling but hope to visit the national parks in the Southwest this fall. And it’s almost countdown time for our 65th Reunion!”

Judy Thompson Hamer (jahamer@att.net) writes from Redding, CT, that her life has been changed very little by the pandemic. “Three generations of my far-flung family meet via Zoom every other week; I’ve seen more of them lately than ever before. Yeah! All the groups I’m involved in made a seamless transition to Zoom, including a book group, a writing group, writing class, a meditation group, and exercise classes. In addition, I’m writing a memoir about my marriage to Bill G. Buckley; the working title is ‘Soul Mates.’ Ironically, after completing my dissertation on the teaching of writing, I promised myself never to write anything again. But, never say never.” Tom Dandridge, MBA ’62 (Rockford, MI) also coped well with COVID’s restrictions. “Throughout the pandemic year,” he says, “I managed to play in bridge tournaments. My regular partner twice a week was Jim Van Fleet, who lives in Virginia, while I played from Western Michigan.”

Still busy raising Wagyu cattle at Emma Farms in Aspen, CO, Tom Waldeck is proud of the recent prizes his animals have won in competitions at Louisville, Denver, Houston, and elsewhere, including some grand championships. He and his wife, Vivian, have two children and several grandchildren, including one now enrolled at Tufts, twin granddaughters now applying to colleges, and two living near the Waldecks in Aspen and “enjoying the outdoor life.” Among the things bringing Tom the most satisfaction these days are family, friends, art, music, travel, and raising prize-winning cattle. Paula Friedman (Gresham, OR) says that while waiting for a second dose of the vaccine this spring and wondering what the next months would bring, she recalled a similar experience during her early childhood when “the grown-ups were all looking forward to when the war is over, but the war’s end brought a new terror, nuclear bombs. So while I’m hoping this year of shelter-in-place may open soon to our old, more expansive ways, I’m trying to prepare for if it doesn’t. I’m still doing freelance book editing, though clients have been rare this pandemic year, and am completing my third book for publication, ‘Of Elegant Time,’ a short story collection. Next—starting a vegetable garden!” Please keep sending your news to: ❖ Judy Bryant Wittenberg, jw275@cornell.edu. Online news form.

1961

We hope you enjoyed our 60th (virtual) Reunion! For once in our memory, there was no rain, no cold chilly mornings, and no fatiguing walks to our old haunts. From June 10–12 we enjoyed a virtual get-together from the comfort of our homes and laptops. As a pandemic-restricted event, we were able to attract over 150 classmates attending our various Zoom meetings. Our Thursday cocktail party was an electronic meet-and-greet with the breakout rooms letting us renew memories with our classmates. Corey Earle ’07 regaled us the following morning with the on-campus events of our four years, most of which were lost in the mists of time—except for the Asian flu. Fifteen percent of us came down with the bug, including me, for almost two weeks. Following Corey Earle, Jack Neafsey, MBA ’63, gave a fine tribute to Peter Meinig, dedicating a memorial reading room at Uris Library in his honor and acknowledging his contributions to Cornell as a trustee and supporter of Cornell.

Class president Dick Tatlow concluded our final breakout session on Saturday by thanking our Reunion committee of Carol Gittlin Franklin, Jim Moore, LLB ’64, and Marshall and Rosanna Romanelli Frank for working on our behalf to produce a fine event in difficult circumstances. Also, special thanks to Pat Laux Richards for all the tasks she undertook—and she has volunteered to continue on into our next five-year period. Pauline Sutta Degenfelder was recognized for her years spent pre-planning this event, and there was a special remembrance of Jay Treadwell for his many contributions to previous Reunions.

A post-Reunion note from Sue Rand Lewis: “We took our own advice after the first ’61 breakout session and scheduled a Zoom reunion of the 40th and 45th Reunion chairs: Jon Greenleaf in Santa Barbara, CA, Peter (and Elke) Greenberg in Rockville Centre, NY, and Sue Lewis (and Gordon Garrett) in Sarasota, FL. We were unable to reach our fourth chair, Ginny Buchanan Clark in Fort Wayne, IN, but plan to have more of these gatherings until we can arrange to get together in person. In her stead, Gerrit White joined us for 45 minutes of stories, laughter, and catching up prior to the class cocktail party on Saturday. We found we were all well, active, and eager to get back together on the Hill when conditions will allow. In the meantime, we were very thankful for the efforts of this year’s Reunion chairs for bringing us together to reminisce via Zoom. All of us were also thankful that our time as Reunion chairs was then and not now!”

New input and an update from Reunion co-chair Carol Franklin: “With the pandemic, I am still working but doing much of it virtually. More residential clients now, but most of my many years of space-planning and interior design were for Fortune 500 corporations. I interact with friends from the Leonia, NJ, community and high school, family, and a book club with 14 SDT sorority sisters, as well as synagogue Gesher Shalom.”

Dorcas McDonald sent along an impressive portfolio describing the Learning for Living Inst., where she is the executive director. Located in Boulder, CO, the institute focuses on life success skills for young people. You may visit their website here. Also responding to our call for news is Garry Friedman, who retired from CBRE as a commercial real estate broker after 33 years and still maintains an active practice in Scarsdale. During the pandemic, his son was working remotely from Garry’s home conducting compliance investigations. His comment on the pandemic: “You learn to appreciate health and good company.”

Peggy Thomas, our Pottery Lady, wrote from Ridgefield, CT, about life during the pandemic. “Luckily, COVID did not take away any close friends or loved ones. But it DID take away the ‘busy-ness’ of my daily life. It left me with time. I realized how free that felt. I had the time to become creative and explore new forms with my clay. I had the time to linger in my gardens and appreciate their beauty and bounty and all the work and time I had put into creating them. I had the time to revel in the silent solitude and surprises of nature as I cleared trails in my woods. I had the time to thoughtfully transcribe hundreds of letters written by my Dad and Mom during his three years overseas in WWII. I treasure this delightful and newfound gift of time. I promise myself to remain disentangled from my former busy life and concentrate on all the pleasures of my new leisure life. But then, of course, there is always Zoom.”

Ruth Schimel has just published her seventh book on Amazon, Happiness and Joy in Work: Preparing for Your Future (the only book with tailored guidance for individuals). For a description and access to the first chapter, click here. Ruth was planning to participate in the ILR Alumni Assn. NYC chapter program “Redefining Retirement: Purpose, Passion, and Service” on June 23. Lastly, from Marilyn Slutzky Zucker, a request to amend her recent posting on our class website. Only her married name was mentioned, leaving some friends in the dark by not mentioning her maiden name. Please keep your news flowing to us. ❖ Doug Fuss, dougout@attglobal.net; Susan Williams Stevens, sastevens61@gmail.com. Online news form.

1962

Continuing the theme of notable professor memories, Otto Doering, PhD ’73, submits a story he calls “By Chance”: “When I was in the process of busting out the end of my sophomore year, I had to choose an advisor. I was a Government major and went to the department secretary for advice because she was one of the few people who had smiled at me. I explained that I was not up to having Rossiter or Hacker and then asked her, ‘Who is nice?’ Without any hesitation she responded, ‘George Kahin.’ I signed up and then proceeded to bust out. I spent four months wrangling horses in the Canadian Rockies (having never ridden a horse when I took the job) and six months preparing cases in the Municipal Courts of New York City. In fall 1961, Dean Perry was willing to let me back in, so I arrived in Ithaca to sign up for classes. I had to put together a class schedule with my advisor and then get signatures from those teaching the classes. I climbed the stairs to the attic of what was then Franklin Hall, where George Kahin had a plywood cubicle for an office. Two of the plastic chairs outside his door were occupied by a bird colonel from Army Intelligence and a ranking State Dept. officer. These were the early days of US on-the-ground involvement in Vietnam. I quickly learned that Kahin was an expert on Southeast Asia and likely the foremost expert on Vietnam. He spent more time with me than he did with the colonel and the Foreign Service officer.

“I signed up for Kahin’s ‘The US and Asia’ class and received the first A I ever got at Cornell. I had never worked so hard for a class before. He put his faith in me, and I was desperate not to disappoint him. I then took his ‘Governments and Politics of Southeast Asia.’ These two classes were remarkable, drawing on Kahin’s post-war experiences in Southeast Asia, his wide-ranging knowledge, and his skills as a teacher. I did not have a lot of contact with him but felt he would help me if I needed it. I applied to the London School of Economics and, with my dismal undergraduate record, Kahin’s letter of recommendation was the only reason I got in. On finishing at the LSE, I was offered two jobs in Southeast Asia and made a good choice between them with Kahin’s advice. After four years away from Cornell, I returned with my wife and child for graduate work in another field. A month later, Kahin phoned out of the blue inviting my wife and me to dinner to meet someone he thought we should know. That individual became a lifelong friend. George Kahin continued to be a part of my life until his death. We visited every time I came to Ithaca and he and his wife visited us. I realize now that he quietly and unobtrusively watched out for me. I was never quite sure why. I certainly wasn’t a very impressive specimen when I arrived at his door to get him to sign my class schedule in 1961.”

Rick Kelly (kelrichop@gmail.com) writes: “In the 59 years since my graduation, most of which were spent in the hospitality industry, I have accumulated a great family, great friends, and an adventurous life in the US and abroad. Suffice to say, the Hotel school was the catalyst for all these wonderful memories. One salient memory of my time at Cornell involved one of the finest men I’ve ever met, Dean Robert Beck ’42, PhD ’54. When returning to the Hotel school, after a brief hiatus during which I acquired the practice credits I needed to graduate, I submitted my proposed class schedule to him; his response was classic Dean Beck, and I quote, ‘Kelly, if you are prepared to spend another year here, stick to this travesty—here is a more practical schedule that will see you out of here in June.’ At graduation, he addressed me with a smile on his face: ‘Kelly, we are finally getting rid of you!’”

Joy Harwood Rogers, BS Nurs ’63, writes, “I kept this a secret, but I went to Cornell from Montreal, Canada, at age 16, not due to brilliance but because schools in Quebec at that time only had 11 grades and my birthday is late in the year. I told one date, and he withdrew in shock because, after all, I was jailbait. From then on, I told anyone who asked that I was 18! I was at Cornell for two years and then went to the nursing school in New York City. A fun fact is that Tony Fauci, MD ’66, was in the parallel medical school class. Professor Marchand was assigned to the nurses and welcomed us with dinner at his home, a really special occasion. The nursing school was three years, so I am actually a member of both the Class of ’62 and ’63. Tony Chan has been instrumental in orchestrating Zoom meetings for the nurses. Such fun to connect. I loved Cornell. It was a struggle, as I had not had any American history. Also, I noticed that all the American girls had a certain charm on their charm bracelet. I finally asked what it was for. Well, wouldn’t you know, it was the National Honor Society. My Canadian accent got me into trouble when I asked for a map and was queried about what I had spilled—my ‘map’ sounded like Upstate New York’s ‘mop’! So there were many cultural as well as academic challenges for me. I was fortunate that my brother Fred Harwood ’59 was two years ahead of me and really guided me through many hoops. I had great friends as dormmates and sorority sisters. They made me feel welcome. I remember all dates were study dates! I wonder if it’s still like that or if current students have to study as hard as we did. I loved walking to class in that gorgeous crispy snow, and then the blessing of the first days of spring. I feel blessed to have gone to Cornell and then to the nursing school, which sadly has since been closed. A great education led to a fun life and many great memories and lasting friendships.”

Paul Marantz sends this story, called “Cornell Goes to the Dogs”: “When I warmly recall some of the most consequential high points of my time at Cornell, its canine population is not the first thing that comes to mind. Nonetheless, there’s no doubt that the lively group of dogs roaming the campus was a distinctive part of the Cornell scene. Rumor had it (though I have no idea whether there is any truth to the tale) that a benefactor had left money to Cornell on the express condition that dogs have the run of the campus. In any case, whether this folk tale was true or false, there was a happy pack of dogs that freely wandered the campus, passing in and out of the buildings unhindered. Most prominent among them was Tripod, a huge, majestic dog who, despite missing a front paw, ruled the pack and roamed near and far in regal splendor. The coming and going of the dogs was usually uneventful, but on one occasion, in the middle of a large lecture class, a couple of amorous dogs moved front and center into a broad aisle and began to copulate. We were all transfixed by this unexpected spectacle, but the instructor (whom my fallible memory recalls as the prominent political scientist Ted Lowi), perhaps being more worldly than we were, was completely unruffled. He made some brief comment acknowledging the unusual activity and calmly proceeded with his lecture. Some 60 years later, while having strong memories of his impressively calm demeanor, I can’t remember what he had to say, and the copulating dogs remain a vivid memory of my time at Cornell.” And on that note, I invite you to search your brains for stories of your time at Cornell! ❖ Evelyn Eskin, evelyneskin@mac.com. Online news form.

1963

It is hard to imagine that our 60th Reunion will be in just less than two years. Put June 8–11, 2023 on your calendars! Robert Sze writes, “As all cultural activities ceased ’round the Boston area and Harvard classes went remote, my wife, Corinne, and I got very sick of walking the streets of mid-Cambridge. On August 17, 2020, we worked up the courage and took a plane back to our home in Santa Fe, NM. I haven’t actually worked on the home for some 20 years and there was much to do on the landscaping around the house. I have also started a project of making very complicated drawings that take days to complete—started with Frank Lloyd Wright’s buildings. Our son returned to Santa Fe with family about two and a half years ago, so it’s been great to babysit our grandchildren. We love the great scenery of the Sangre de Cristo Range.”

George Ehemann, ME ’66 (ehemanng@comcast.net) and his wife, Diane (Siegenthaler), live in Lancaster, PA. He wrote, “We will celebrate our 57th anniversary in September. Our oldest child is a Corning manufacturing manager; our youngest is a teacher in Tennessee; and our middle child works for Delaware Parks and Rec. I am active in church and choral groups, plus I volunteer as a math tutor in public schools. Grandson Ben has enrolled in Cornell Engineering Class of 2025.” John, MBA ’65, and Cecelia Kennedy write, “Like just about everyone, our lives changed dramatically over the last year. We have both hunkered down. We did build our new house in North Carolina last year and moved in July. We are now building a new house in Florida that will be ready in April. I am proud of my nine college graduate children and their successes, and my 24 grandchildren with more upside potential.” His biggest takeaways from the pandemic: “Trust my instincts regarding being cautious, wear a mask, wash hands, and social distance.”

Ron and Gail Berlin Makara (gailmaui@aol.com) live in Santa Rosa, CA, where they have been since 2004. “We’re in the same boat as everyone else—being in wine country makes it easier. Come visit Sonoma!” Gail adds, “Our family, our friends, and ourselves are safe and healthy, and we’re moving on.” Martin, DVM ’66 (martinwolf105@gmail.com) and Debra Kirschner Wolf ’66 live in West Palm Beach, FL. When asked how their daily lives changed, Marty writes, “We’re at Ibis Country Club—a 365-day-a-year camp. I do a lot of art work, mainly mosaic art, some painting, and photography. We have two kids and six grandkids. Son Jeff is a pulmonologist on the front line. Daughter Michelle is CEO of an invitation company. Grandson Kyle Wolf ’25 was accepted early decision for the coming year.”

Joan Travers Barist (joan@joanbarist.com) and her husband, Jeffrey, live in Washington Depot, CT. “We left our wonderful life in NYC and moved in March 2020 to our home in Litchfield County, CT. Have been reading, cooking, walking, and taking online classes. Hoping to return to NYC and our favorite museums, ballet, and opera. I have read more books in one year than in a lifetime—it hasn’t been a total waste.” Madeleine Leston Meehan admits that she is a dinosaur since she doesn’t do email. She writes that the lockdown affected every part of her life. She is “stuck in paradise” (St. Thomas, Virgin Islands), has done more reading, and notes that she’s had “time to think how silly and wonderful the world is, especially since we’re living longer than most people facing octogenarianism.”

Hal Spitzer, BArch ’66, and his husband, Tom Martin, live in Hamden, CT. Hal says, “I closed my architectural firm in NYC in 2006. I don’t do any more projects. I work solely as building architect for co-ops and condos in NYC. I am very active in nonprofit organizations. I thought I had lived long enough to know how my senior years would play out. The pandemic cured me of that presumption.” Gordon and Mary Priedeman live in Lake Oswego, OR. “Because of COVID and my age, I gave up my volunteer work last March as a docent at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport. I had volunteered there since 2002. What brings me the most satisfaction these days is my family and backyard birds.”

Marty, BEE ’65 (martylustig@gmail.com) and Dianne Flannery Lustig ’66 live in Prairie Village, KS. Marty writes, “My Cornell five-year Engineering education enabled me to start a small-time handyman business. I do this on both a volunteer and a for-profit basis. The handyman business has allowed me to engage my grandkids at various stages, to talk with them and teach them a few things, and they, in turn, help me carry heavy stuff. I am no longer running due to too many back surgeries but still ride my bike. Dianne, already an outstanding cook, has become an expert in baking. She is also an expert (IMHO) needlepointer and is vice president of the local Needlepoint Guild chapter and teaches classes. I am also president of the Cornell Club of Mid-America. Regarding the pandemic: public health is a major reason that most of us are alive. Also, thanks to the Cornell medical school, the world has Anthony Fauci, MD ’66.” That’s it for this column. Send your news to: ❖ Nancy Bierds Icke, 12350 East Roger Rd., Tucson, AZ 85749; email, nancybicke@gmail.com. Online news form.

1964

It’s early autumn, and hopefully pretty much pandemic-free. Or at least COVID-free enough that you’re hopefully more active and up to sending me your latest news. Here’s what we have to share now.

James Glover, who lives with wife Connie in Cambridge, MD, writes that he’s teaching part time at area colleges and universities and also does personal counseling and coaching with students. He’s into bird watching, fishing, and travel—the last most recently to St. George, UT. The Glover family enjoys teaching, boating, and travel. Benjamin Brown has made an in-state move, from Hollis to Milford, NH. Lillian Clickner Schleede and husband Fred ’63 also recently moved in-state, from Norfolk to Virginia Beach, VA. Lillian is retired and enjoys feeding birds, being in her church choir, reading books, and visiting with grandchildren.

Michelle “Mickey” Katz hasn’t been in this column in 23 years. She notes that she is an attorney/mediator, and she and husband Bob Shayne live in Los Angeles, CA. Diane Herson Franklin was last here in 2000, and shares that she and husband Steve live in Wilmington, DE. Wistar Morris and Anthony DeLaurentis were last in our July 2004 column, and both report new addresses—Anthony and wife Helen in Crofton, MD, and Wistar and wife Martha in Bryn Mawr, PA. Warren Jones, last here a decade ago, notes he and wife Kathleen still live in Wilmington, NC.

Richard Reed (richardreed42@att.net) has lots of news! He recently finished authoring his Martian “hard science fiction” trilogy, Distant Ancient Sky: A Martian Adventure, Ghosts Do Dance, and Outposts of Mars. Richard also wrote a play in honor of his late wife, Sharon: Grandpa’s Pixies, a comedy-drama he considers apt for middle- or high-school audiences and community theater. Richard otherwise runs a burger shack near his Bellaire home in Houston, TX, with his daughters, that specializes in bison meat. He also enjoys heirloom gardening and seeing his five grandchildren. With all else, he notes his biggest takeaway from the pandemic as “survival.”

Lois Weyman Dow certainly knows what survival can mean. She and husband William Rowe were struck with, in her terms, unplanned “downsizing” in August 2020 when a tornado uprooted a tree that then crashed into their house in Delaware, ripping up the roof and ruining their living room and master bedroom. Then in mid-December, a raging ice storm uprooted more trees that fell upon and ruined the just-repaired roof plus garage doors. Lois reports they got by thanks to helpful neighbors and supportive insurance. They now are in the process of moving to a retirement community in Henrico, VA, where they will be close to both their son’s and daughter’s families.

Alan Goldenberg, BCE ’66, reports navigating through the pandemic by “reading a couple of books a week and doing lots of puzzles.” He and wife Barbara (Greenwell) ’68 otherwise managed to vacation in India and Nepal in early 2020, but then had three vacations postponed to this year, then two of them put off until 2022. When the Goldenbergs do travel, it’s from their home in Oakland, CA. Barbara Cade Pringle, MA ’68, last in this column seven years ago, says she and her husband, Bob, PhD ’67, have just published a two-volume memoir, Friendly Fires: Recollections of a Diplomatic Family, on their many years abroad in Southeast Asia and Africa—he as a Foreign Service officer, she as an itinerant teacher. Barbara says she taught children from sixth grade to university level, covering various subjects but mostly history, her Cornell major. The Pringles now live in Alexandria, VA. Nancy Greyson Beckerman (nancybgb@verizon.net), who lives in Pound Ridge, NY, reports her husband, Barry ’61, died in 2001.

Ann Wilson Rounds lives in Superior, CO, near Boulder, but travels to Hawaii where her older daughter lives, and to New Hampshire to be with her sister. She otherwise plans international travel once the pandemic is done with. Ann is a retired high school English teacher but still does tutoring. She also is a coordinator for the Boulder Newcomers’ Club, plus plays the piano and enjoys being with her grandchildren. Chuck Zambito reports that Zambito Produce Sales is now a part-time business, selling “a few potatoes, oranges, etc.” Chuck also continues with the New Jersey Agricultural Society and New Jersey Farmers Against Hunger. He and wife Barbara live in Haddon Heights, NJ. Charles Oliver, who lives in Canaseraga, NY, for half the year, writes he’s still involved in his business (sale of farm and garden machinery) but is turning it over to his two sons. Charles spends winters in Florida, but “loves New England, especially New Hampshire, which we try to visit every two to three years.” Michael “Tim” Graves shows a sarcastic bent when he writes of “enjoying the pleasures of the pandemic lockdown.” He otherwise notes, “We are in disbelief that our oldest granddaughter is already in the college search and application process. And her sister is not far behind.” Tim and wife Suzanne live in Fairport, NY.

That’s our word limit for now. I could always use more news for our new column, so please update me by email, regular mail, our class website, or our class Facebook page. ❖ Bev Johns Lamont, 720 Chestnut St., Deerfield, IL 60015; email, blamont64@comcast.net. Online news form.

1965

Henry Nave, ME ’67, and wife Michele almost managed through the COVID crisis unscathed, but Michele did have a mild case. Henry is writing a book on construction, “Bidding, Building, Busting,” which follows the pathway of a construction life, and he believes it will give useful career marketing advice to college-level engineers. His current activity is doing arbitration work on construction disputes. Teaching Bible study classes brings him much satisfaction. “We can all get through problems if we deal with facts rather than politics,” he writes, when asked about his takeaway from the pandemic.

Live theater and musical performances are two things Judith Russell Davidson missed most during the pandemic. She also missed duplicate bridge but was able to enjoy playing chamber music and reading a lot of books. Happily, she was looking forward to a summer visit from her daughter and newest baby in July 2021. Key to her work in retirement is managing the family charitable foundation. Gretchen Wunsch Bronke and Henry have moved to a lovely in-law apartment attached to a new home their son Kevin and his family have built. They are able to help babysit their autistic 5-year-old and welcome the opportunity to share meals. A pandemic disappointment has been the inability to travel. Luckily, however, they could occasionally see grandchildren!

Carolyn Arvanites Kennedy, MAT ’66 (ckennedy43@sbcglobal.net) shared, “I had a stroke recently and, although mild, a few months later I still tire easily and need help with meal prep and clean up.” She’s now more diligent paying attention to healthy eating and regular exercise. Carolyn has a granddaughter in Finland and comments, “My grandson plans to study engineering in college, like his grandfather W. Keith Kennedy Jr., PhD ’68.” Carolyn expresses gratitude for her years at Cornell with the opportunity to meet marvelous students from all over the US and Europe as well as the experience to learn from wonderful professors and attend plays and concerts on campus.

Another classmate with a challenging medical issue is Dennis Black (dbblack@gmail.com). “I was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2020 and had surgery, radiation, and chemo. Received a hopeful prognosis in 2021 and plan to go on planning for the future.” His upbeat attitude allows him to continue working part time at Mesirow Financial, and the chairman of the board has announced that Dennis is not allowed to retire. Dennis and his wife, Joyce (Ostroff) ’66, are proud that grandson Aidan ’25 will start Cornell as a freshman, a third generation! Dennis is completing the last two installments of a $1 million challenge grant to support Posse Chicago Foundation at Cornell. The Posse Foundation is a student opportunities and youth leadership program that matches promising high school students with top-tier colleges and universities across the US.

Substitute teaching and private early-school-age tutoring provided enriching experience for Meri Klorman Schreiber (meri.schreiber28@gmail.com). Meri and husband Paul ’62 live in North Easton, MA, and stayed close to home but did take some trips to New Jersey to see their three sons and eight grandchildren. John Mitchell states, “My retirement activities include: off-road mountain biking, volunteering at the local food bank, taking care of school children, and a program of continuing education. My most satisfaction comes from my good health, enabling me to have an active lifestyle and be with family and friends.” He believes his good health kept him from getting infected. John has one son and two grandchildren.

Bob McCabe, BS ’67, MBA ’70 (RobertJMcCabe@aol.com) manages a full load of civic responsibility. He was elected to the Vero Beach City Council in November and is also president of the Vero Beach Chamber of Commerce and treasurer of the Sunrise Rotary Club of the Vero Beach Foundation. “Running a political campaign with minimal personal contact was a real challenge!” He and his wife welcomed their seventh grandchild in December.

Along with many other classmates, Dianne Zimet Newman and husband Martin were impacted by the COVID restrictions that did not allow travel to children and grandchildren. When this column appears, I join with others in trusting we are all vaccinated and can appreciate the opening of the country and the easing of travel restrictions. Dianne comments she has taken several courses via Zoom with classmates who live in the UK, France, and Israel, and all over the US. She volunteers with the Women’s Fund of Rhode Island, the Jewish Community Day School of Rhode Island, the Fuchsberg Center in Jerusalem, and Cornell. Applause for her chairmanship of CAAAN Rhode Island, a position she has held for more than 20 years.

“The important elements in life can be prioritized and honed down to simple things, like staying healthy and keeping in touch with loved ones, along with helping those in need,” writes Henra Solomon Briskin (henpen20@aol.com). She further commented, “Everything changed once the virus hit—all the little and big things from whether to grocery shop or have food delivered, to canceling family visits and trips. Mostly I stayed in my own cocoon and Zoomed with relatives and friends.” Zoom also allowed her to attend concerts, lectures, and plays. Alex Mastoris, MS ’67 (AlexNMastoris@gmail.com) opened a new steakhouse restaurant, Rocco’s at the Brick, in Newtown, PA. “Retiring five years ago was not for me.” He loves being back in the business and comments on “how drastically the pandemic hurt our hospitality industry, both hotels and restaurants.” Alex now has six great-grandchildren! ❖ Joan Hens Johnson, joanipat@gmail.com; Stephen Appell, bigred1965@aol.com. Online news form.

1966

Our 55th Reunion was great! Being together online was certainly different, but it did work. At the kick-off session, Alice Katz Berglas welcomed us and then presented our gift, “ThrivingRED/The Arts,” to Ryan Lombardi, Cornell’s VP for Student and Campus Life. The gift continues our support for students in West Campus housing. Ryan described the focus on well-being and mental health to get the students through this year. The gift acceptance was followed by a fascinating presentation by Roberta Moudry ’81, PhD ’95, on “New North,” the five residences under construction on North Campus. Her talk included a history of residential life at Cornell, starting with the policy that no students would live on campus and were expected to locate accommodations in the community, to today’s efforts to enhance campus living as a significant component of the University experience. For the first time in its history, Cornell will become a truly residential university, with all freshmen and sophomores required to live on campus—in dormitories, program houses, cooperatives, fraternities, or sororities.

Our forum on Thursday was a presentation by former Cornell professor Fredrik Logevall on JFK in 2021, a look back at his life and ours. Prof. Logevall raised some thought-provoking questions on how Kennedy worked and what could have happened if he had lived through two terms. Breakout sessions to develop these thoughts followed. Our Friday social hour and ice cream party started with Judy Kurtz Polcer introducing Paul Merrill, director of Cornell Jazz Ensembles. He has performed at our last three Reunions (with Judy as vocalist). He explained how the student groups were able to perform even if they could not be together. Using a computer program that could put multiple players together almost instantly as they played from individual rooms in Lincoln Hall made for some great music. This was followed by our party in breakout rooms. It was great to see and talk to classmates. Mimi Vu represented her father, Khoi “Kenny” Vu, who recently passed. She was interested in speaking with classmates who knew him during his years as an Engineering student at Cornell. Many thanks to Alice Katz Berglas and Mary Jansen Everett and all who worked on making this Reunion a success! We look forward to our 60th.

Now on to classmate news. Kathleen Earle Fox (mainewatercolors@gmail.com) is currently completing a book describing the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania, which will be published by the History Press in late 2021 or early 2022. She is still an active watercolor artist and had a show at the Granite Gallery in Tenants Harbor, ME, this summer. When asked what she never imagined doing/being when we graduated, she responded, “Being 76 years old!” Nathaniel Pierce earned the distinction of winning the New Yorker magazine cartoon captioning contest! His winning entry appeared in the March 15, 2021 issue.

Jeanne Duchow Solomon, BA ’68 (jeanksolomonmd@aol.com) and husband Bill still live in Pebble Beach, CA, where she was a family medicine physician until her retirement two years ago. As an English major, she was surprised to end up enjoying the sciences. She came to Cornell from Puerto Rico; her family moved there when she was 7. She found Cornell a fantastic place to grow in knowledge and experience. Between junior and senior year, she did a “junior year abroad,” going to the U. of the Seven Seas twice—two times on a cruise ship around the world. Then she returned to Cornell to graduate. After “typical English graduate” jobs, she detoured to science. She wishes she could live it all over again—fun but with scary turns. She knows we will always be bonded by having spent pivotal years together. Jeanne attended her first Reunion this year!

John Bayersdorfer (jdbayersdorfer@gmail.com) had a career in marketing management in New York, California, and North Carolina, primarily in the textile industry. He retired as international VP for marketing for Cone Mills Inc. With his wife, he now co-owns Nanco Travel Services, specializing in unique travel adventures. John himself has traveled to more than 80 nations. His civic activities have included past board member and president of Montclair, NJ, lacrosse and ice hockey clubs, and he is a certified ice hockey referee. He was cofounder of the Triad Lacrosse Association in Greensboro, NC, and is a board member of the Kiwanis Club of Greensboro. John’s son is a two-time collegiate lacrosse All-American.

Steve Krich, PhD ’72 (krich.steven@gmail.com) moved from Lexington, MA, to Cambridge, MA, a few years ago. An active cyclist, over the past 15 years he has biked from California to Florida; the Rhine River; and the German/Polish border to Tallinn, Estonia. He climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro for second time with family. He says he never imagined he would learn conversational Hebrew. Vacations include volunteering on an Israeli army base and a Budapest-to-Amsterdam river cruise. Steve and his wife summer at their home in the Berkshires, where kids and grandkids join them.

Sadly, we learned of the passing of class correspondent Deanne Gebell Gitner in May. Deanne was active in charitable organizations. She was a journalist, writing and editing for her local newspaper. She later became communications coordinator for the Millburn, NJ, public school system. Deanne was a life member of the Cornell Council and involved in many Cornell activities. ❖ Susan Rockford Bittker, ladyscienc@aol.com; Pete Salinger, peteRsalinger95@gmail.com. Online news form.

1967

Doris Klein Hiatt (Rumson, NJ; dhiatt@comcast.net) retired in 2012 from Monmouth U., where she was an associate professor of psychology, but she retains her clinical practice in West Long Branch—Zooming from home in Rumson during the pandemic. Doris and I started out as co-class correspondents way back when.

Gary Gould (North Chesterfield, VA; 713gag@gmail.com) writes: “A move to Richmond, VA, has been great and not so great. Great because we are closer to three of our children. Not so great because our other two children are farther away.” Gary is business manager for a family retail store, Maple’s Farmhouse LLC in North Chesterfield. “COVID has locked us up and we haven’t been able to have a full family vacation or travel,” he adds, noting that the most satisfaction in his life comes from “children, grandchildren, and work.” What’s his biggest takeaway from the pandemic? “Someone who will remain nameless should have taken this COVID-19 much more seriously!”

Dave, BS ’69, and Becky DeBell (Surprise, AZ; blackbearbecky2@hotmail.com) “just moved to Arizona from Florida (March 2021). Arthritis drove us from ‘high’ to ‘very low’ humidity. First retirement was in July 2011, second retirement was in July 2016, and I am now mentoring those who are interested. Two grandchildren are at Grand Canyon U. in Phoenix, so it’s nice to be close to them.” Satisfaction comes from “staying in shape, experiencing new things, and landscaping our big backyard.” Pandemic takeaway: “Practice proper techniques and get vaccinated! We got ours and are doing fine.”

Ivan Blum, ME ’68, MBA ’69 (Southbury, CT; ivanjblum11@gmail.com) “retired from Deloitte and from IBM. I’m an adjunct professor of statistics, analytics, and operations management. Still working on my golf game and improving my home chef undertakings. Ivan’s “keeping busy and loving four daughters and six grandchildren in Connecticut, New York, California (S.F.), and Washington, DC. A certain satisfaction (but not the most) comes from one of my sons-in-law who is a winemaker in Sonoma and ships his own wines.” Carol Stilwell Himes (Pueblo, CO; skihimes1@comcast.net) is a docent at Rosemount Museum, a Victorian mansion in Pueblo. She’s also mentoring a girl in the eighth grade, skiing, playing golf, and hoping to start traveling soon. “Appreciating good health and the arrival of vaccines.”

“About five years ago, I sold my ophthalmology practice and continued to work there part time until I retired last January,” reports David Campbell (San Diego, CA). “I loved it but always wanted to quit while I was ahead. The decision was facilitated by the birth of our first grandchild, who lives in L.A. with our daughter and her husband.” He’s also enjoyed Zooming with classmates John “Jay” Green, Sam Powers, Charlie Barer, MD ’71, and Jim Peterson.

Lois Thetford (Seattle, WA) reports, “My teaching in the U. of Washington School of Medicine went all online in 2020 for spring and summer, hybrid for fall. It was a hard adjustment, but we made it work. I teach in the physician assistant (PA) training program, where we have had our 54th class and trained 2,700 PAs, and I still love working with students and patients.” Most satisfaction: “Walking with my life partner, Jean Rietschel.” Biggest pandemic takeaway: “Expect the unexpected.” Jane Capellupo (W. Henrietta, NY; jacapellupo@rochester.rr.com) writes, “I cannot currently go to my gym; it’s closed. But I have been able to continue with my personal trainer at his studio.”

“Although I retired from Lehigh U. four years ago,” reports Richard Weisman, PhD ’73 (Bethlehem, PA; rnw1@lehigh.edu), “I am still involved in several activities including a research project, Engineers Without Borders, and a few study abroad ventures. Study abroad has been on hold, of course. I was playing trumpet in five groups until the pandemic, and I look forward to getting back to all of them.” Carole Newman Allen (Arlington, MA; cornell@tomandcarole.org) became president of the Massachusetts Medical Society (publisher of the New England Journal of Medicine) in May. “The last time I set foot in my office there was in March 2020. Our building has been closed since then, yet we hold numerous meetings and webinars—all remote. My life consists of many Zoom sessions. In the summer I spent a lot of time in the garden at our Martha’s Vineyard home.” Carole adds, “Our younger son, Austin, his wife, Anna, and daughter Tabitha moved to Nepal last September for a two- to three-year posting with the US Foreign Service. We managed to see them and older son David ’97 (West Orange, NJ) and his husband, Michael McGrann ’96, and son Theo last August.” Satisfaction: “Communicating with family, and feeling that the MMS is making a difference helping to fight COVID and also racism.” Pandemic takeaway: “Our biggest disservice was to our nation’s children, especially those most vulnerable by race, age, disability, etc. But the pandemic also opened some doors—e.g., the use of telehealth, which will continue to enhance health and mental healthcare. We learned we can conduct business remotely, often more efficiently than before. The pandemic also exposed existing disparities.” ❖ Richard Hoffman, 2925 28th St. NW, Washington, DC 20008; email, derhoff@yahoo.com. Online news form.

1968

Sara Straw Winship (sarawinship@bellsouth.net) and her husband, Dale, live in Alpharetta, GA, where life has been close to normal for several months. That means in-person Pilates and book clubs and in-home gatherings, frequently at their northern Georgia cabin. As Sara was a young grandparent, she thinks about adding “great” to that title, especially since her grandson Dylan at age 25 was married in May. Sara offers us this advice: “Well-being is a state of mind; turn off the news!” Paul Rohan (pr68@cornell.edu) lives in Westport, CT, where he was awaiting his second COVID vaccine shot to free him from the severe restrictions imposed in Connecticut. He feels there was a lot of misinformation and unnecessary restrictions imposed over the past year. Mark Belnick (mab3468@gmail.com) and his wife, Randy, live in Greenwich, CT. He’s been lecturing and teaching courses in constitutional interpretation and civil liberties at Princeton for the past 16 years. He is also a co-producer of a new musical version of the iconic Back to the Future, which played to rave reviews and SRO audiences during its trial run in Manchester, England. The show is scheduled to open this fall (COVID-permitting) in London’s West End for an open run before heading (hopefully) to Broadway.

Richard Golding (goldenrl@delhi.edu) and his wife, Evelyn King, live in Mechanicville, NY. Rich, like many of us, finds that he’s been communicating better and more often with his family during the pandemic. He’s still teaching and advising at SUNY Delhi, SUNY Schenectady, and the Baptist Health System, as well as volunteering at a New York food pantry. During the nasty days of the pandemic, Rich has had a great time Zooming with Cornellians including Paul Rohan, Dean Goumas, Bob Arnold, Rich Garick, Bob Cantor, and Gil Reynolds, all of whom also served in the military. Louise May Gruber (LMG@nyc.rr.com) lives in NYC. She was motivated by this past year’s events to give up her part-time work and totally retire, which has given her the time to refurnish and redesign her apartment. Like so many of our classmates, she is especially excited about resuming her world travels and returning to normal in-person contact with family and friends. Louise feels that the pandemic has taught us how fragile life can be and suggests we take advantage of its many opportunities before it’s too late.

Barry Shaw and his wife, Annette, live in Vestal, NY. He’s spent the past year doing overdue home projects, reading, cooking, and baking, and as of March he’s playing pickleball again. Lately they’ve been enjoying takeout with their fellow vaccinated friends, especially with classmate Stuart Schiff and his wife, Susan, who live in the area. Barry and Annette were volunteers for Pfizer’s vaccine study. Annette got the vaccine and Barry got the placebo and immediately after approval he was vaccinated. H. David Reines and his wife, famed Supreme Court reporter Nina Totenberg, live in Washington, DC. David and Nina were close friends with the “Notorious” Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’54, whom they hosted for 23 consecutive Saturday evening dinners up to ten days before her passing. As a surgeon and professor at Inova Fairfax Hospital, David has been particularly busy over the past year, both teaching aspiring doctors and vaccinating patients. He says working and teaching still give him great satisfaction, and with the improvements resulting from the vaccines he is looking forward to traveling and being with family and friends again. His biggest takeaway from the horrendous year of fighting COVID is that “even illness is political.”

Susan Mascette Brandt (susanbrandt@gmail.com) and her husband, Bill, live in Sharon, MA, where they moved from Rochester, NY, to be closer to their two boys and their families, which include five grandchildren. Since retiring almost 20 years ago, they’ve taken several extended road trips across the US and Canada, accompanied by their standard poodle. Susan’s favorite place has been Newfoundland, but her greatest pleasure is being with her grandchildren. She also reports of her sadness at the passing of her favorite professor, Walter LaFeber. As a Government major she took every course he gave just because he was the teacher.

As you are filling out the news form, please try to write legibly. I was a financial consultant, not a pharmacist, and sometimes have difficulty interpreting your handwriting. Jokingly: ❖ Chuck Levitan, clevitan22@comcast.net. Online news form.

1969

Greetings! 1969 column number two from the Krablin Computer, continuing the replies received in March. As many have rolled up our sleeves, we are finally able to gather with friends, visit distant family, and look back on 2020–21 with more optimism that there will be life after COVID!

Lest we quickly forget this novel year, classmates were generous in describing their pandemic worlds. Tim Savage (timothysavage1@mac.com) wrote, “I’m in regular touch with my fraternity brothers (Alpha Phi Delta) but have lost touch with the general class. After graduation my wife, Barbara (Green) ’67, and I joined the US Peace Corps. We were in Peru for three years working in the dairy industry, ag extension, and rural home improvement. After the Peace Corps, I had a long career as an art director in advertising and kept at it as an employee until four years ago. As a sideline and hobby, I was active as a fine artist/illustrator. I’m still active in the field, though virtually. I teach watercolor painting and pastel painting online through Great Neck Community Education. I also teach a cultural survey course online titled ‘An Historical Tour of the New Yorker Magazine.’ I’m also now operating a design business developing websites for individual entrepreneurs, and I’ve done two virtual art lessons for the New York City Cornell Club—hope to do more. We live in a co-op in Queens, in a quiet neighborhood. Over the past year, Barbara kept up in-person work in the revenue cycle office of a multi-practice healthcare provider. Other than delivery/pick-up from work, we were pretty much in the apartment. No meals out. We did get to spend a happy week in Maine in late summer, after the restrictions were generally lifted.” (Tim’s was the only illustrated email received!)

Barbara Fuchs Turell wrote that she wants to return to campus both to reunite with college friends and to check out the many changes. Every year she and her husband, Mike ’70, MS ’72, enthusiastically talk to Frederick, MD, area applicants about a Cornell education. They feel like they can do the best job if they stay current and see the new campus assets for themselves. Barbara says, “Being on campus, the wonderful memories return.” Kenny Rubin, MS ’71, JD ’73, a “first-time contributor,” included a summary of the half-century he’s been absent from class news! His career centered on the environment. “I began at the brand-new US Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, after one of its founding predecessor programs paid for my Cornell MS (all about limiting eutrophication of Cayuga Lake by removal of ammonia in wastewater using chlorination, followed by the removal of chloramines with activated carbon … a best-seller—not!). After a brief stay at the EPA, I completed law school at Cornell, then went to the US Dept. of Justice in what is now its environmental division; I quit when former EPA head Bill Ruckelshaus resigned as head of the DOJ in the Saturday Night Massacre. Next, I went into mega-law firm Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP for 40 years. With thanks to Pfizer, I’m now happily reunited with two granddaughters after a year in isolation with my wife in Bethesda. The pandemic has changed so much—big time. We could not have gotten through this without the internet and Amazon. Will the massive spending on infrastructure lead to a boomlet in civil engineering programs?”

Alan Shineman and his wife, Genny, are well and in their 40th year in Westfield, NJ. “Like many others, we have spent the year Zooming with local friends as well as our daughter and son and families now residing in D.C. and L.A., where we have not been able to visit since 2019. Genny, a licensed clinical social worker, has been holding multiple tele-sessions, which have been in much demand during the pandemic.” Penny Smith Austin, like many of us, will miss the print Cornell Alumni Magazine! With her husband, Cle ’68, they spend most winters in Naples, FL. “I have been retired for 12 years from my most recent job as a guidance counselor and administrator at a local private elementary school in our hometown of Erie, PA. Cle is still involved in our businesses, and our youngest son, Peter ’00, has joined the company. We are happy to have him and his wife and two daughters living in close proximity to our home. In Naples, we see several fellow Cornellians, including Hank and Barbara South, Sandy Marsilius, widow of Newman Marsilius ’68, Bill and Catherine Perez, and Phil ’68, BS ’69, and Pat Wanzenberg. I am also in contact with my sorority sisters Joan Gottesman Wexler ’68, Debbie Brown Tifft, and Janet Jacobi Grossman ’68.”

Wendy Wallitt had sad news to report. Classmate Debbie Panitch died of a blood cancer on February 24. “In true Debbie fashion, she was strong and upbeat, but realistic, up until the end. I miss her so much!” Wendy’s son and his family came to live with the Wallitts in Ithaca for most of last year, since daycare programs were closed. “My husband and I took care of our 2- and 4-year-old grandchildren while their parents worked remotely. Having so much time with grandkids was the silver lining to this pandemic. No boredom for us! Now, I’m helping the refugee assistance program I work with to gear up for the likely arrival of new refugees later in the year. And I’m trying to keep as physically active as possible to keep this old body in working order.”

News of John Melillo from his daughter indicates he enjoyed Phi Gamma Delta and playing varsity basketball as an undergrad. John was drafted to serve in Vietnam. He is a disabled veteran. He retired as a marketing exec in NYC and has taken up oil painting. John created a multimedia exhibition for the Southampton Cultural Center reflecting his life experiences. Zell Berman Rosenfelt wrote about the sage advice of her daughter’s Gov professor, Elizabeth Sanders, who suggested that Natalie ’01 pursue law and encouraged her to become an antitrust lawyer. Natalie is now practicing for the US Dept. of Justice. Susan Wohryzek Mittler retired from teaching and serving as union president in Ithaca. She is a regent on the NYS Board of Regents and teaches ILR 6082. Daughter Jessica ’94 (U. Mich, MPP, MHSA; Harvard, PhD), who is teaching at VCU, and son Craig ’98 (UPenn Wharton, MBA) are both doing well. Ingrid Vatsvog Wachtler, ME ’70, owns and manages Woodbrook Native Plant Nursery, she says, “to keep me out of mischief!” She expressed, as did many, the loneliness of the year past and great joy in helping children with grandchildren—five with more expected.

Many classmates have sent news! Thanks to all who responded to my email request in March and those who sent news to Ithaca. Class co-president Robert Tallo will be reporting your news in the next column! ❖ Nancy Jenkins Krablin, njk22@cornell.edu. Online news form.

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1970s

1970

Typically, I write this column two to three weeks before the deadline. This round, my deadline was June 15, and I am writing now on June 12. Perhaps unconsciously, I procrastinated until after the Saturday components of virtual Reunion 2021, which have just completed. Although not filled with numerous informal conversations and without the marvelous natural background of Ithaca in June, there was still opportunity. It was great to see nearly 40 classmates on Zoom for our happy hour, and interesting to hear Anita Harris and some brief reminiscences around her first book, Ithaca Diaries, written from her journals of our undergraduate years. Although not of this class, it was also great to see my friends from the Continuous Reunion Club as well. For those who crave the experience of Reunion sooner than 2025, I recommend it. Finally, the truly sentimental Cornell songs, always my favorite at Reunion, performed by socially distanced, masked members of the Chorus and Glee Club, in a very unique location, were enough to bring tears to this old man’s eyes.

In my earlier columns (all four of them), I have been asking for all of you to send your notes. And you have! Over the last two months I have received nearly 30 written notes, along with a couple of emails. So there is now a lot of material to pass along, some of which, due to space limitations, may not appear for you until near the end of the year. Be patient!

My freshman next-door neighbor in U-Hall 5, Steven Ludsin (East Hampton, NY; Ludsin@gmail.com), says his daily life has changed due to the pandemic through “schmooze deprivation,” as he has been schmoozing most of his life. He continues to work as an attorney and a real estate broker. His history in investment banking allows him to do business brokerage and investment advisory work. Steve speaks of his life having been a series of rituals involving exercise, a digital journal, and creation of abstract digital expressionism. Steve is a prolific writer of letters to editors, claiming over 300 have appeared in print, many in the New York Times. He describes, as an example, a letter to the Times regarding deaths caused by fraternity hazing, which he strongly believes must end. Steve is proud to have served on the President’s Commission on the Holocaust, and the US Holocaust Memorial Council, which created the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. James Norman (Wallingford, CT) retired some time ago as the engineering administrator for the Connecticut DOT. His younger son is the Brown U. swim coach, after coaching at Yale, and his older son worked for CNN for several years. James and his wife, Claudia, are looking forward to starting travels as the pandemic subsides.

COVID effects of social isolation in daily life are the first part of a note from Philip Schwartz (Santa Monica, CA; philschwartzdp@gmail.com). He continues to teach at USC (online, of course), while wife Andrea teaches nine yoga classes each week from their home. As cooking (mostly Italian) is his preferred hobby, they have enjoyed many new recipes. Social gatherings with friends have been via Zoom, yet they have been visiting with their children and grandchildren in L.A., following the health protocols. Philip is very pleased to teach cinematography in the USC School of Cinematic Arts. In addition, he has been studying Italian for the last two years at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in L.A., looking forward to using it in Italy as soon as possible. Participation in online webinars involving art history, photography, and politics has also filled their time. Son Eric and husband Martyn have recently departed NYC and bought a home in L.A. The newest grandchild, Shiloh Grace, was born two and a half years ago—a real joy, Philip says. Satisfaction is found in cooking, daily exercise and yoga, reading, bike riding, trying new recipes, streaming films, and staying in touch with Cornell friends Doug Wyler, Mark Tabakman ’71, and Stan Shore ’71. Philip’s biggest takeaway from the pandemic has been a newfound appreciation of intellectual pursuits, physical exercise, and staying in touch with friends and family.

Connie Fern Miller (Watkins Glen, NY) is still practicing law in her community at the south end of Seneca Lake. She is pleased that her daughter and son-in-law moved to a house nearby, also in Watkins Glen. This has provided her with the pleasure and joy of seeing her grandson, born November 17, 2019, progress through his first year of life. Andrea Strongwater (New York, NY; andrea.strongwater@gmail.com) still works at her home studio as an artist and takes walks in the park daily. She paints art for products, among them many jigsaw puzzles that can be found at the Cornell Store. Some of you may remember a puzzle as a Reunion gift, portraying the Arts Quad in winter, with small inset panels of significant buildings, which features Andrea’s work.

Even though I have a backlog of your submissions, they will soon be a part of this column. And, with the positive changes for many due to the falling of pandemic cases, I’m sure there will be interesting and fun events and more to share. So send your notes! As always, you may contact me directly, at my email or phone below. If I don’t answer, leave a voicemail and I will call you back. Or you may use the online news form. ❖ John Cecilia, jlcecilia96@gmail.com; tel., (312) 524-2912.

1971

As of early June, just over 170 of us had registered for our 50th Reunion. Early reporting from Alumni Affairs couldn’t yet break down how many were first-timers, who joined from the farthest distance, who’d had perfect attendance, and the like. BUT YOU CAN! (Shameless plug: your class correspondents encourage you to chime in with whatever you might like—from the most trivial to the most important about you, your interests, friends, etc. Don’t tempt either of us to be creative with your life stories.)

There will never be sufficient thanks for Barbara Brem Noveau and her team for leading these past five years, and most recently to the Reunion chairs who designed as good a program as possible given the University’s restraints. Huzzah to chairs Kathy Menton Flaxman and Gilda Klein Linden, registrar Arthur Mintz, and all the class council. We have a new slate of officers: co-presidents David Beale and Martha Coultrap; vice president Laurie Berke-Weiss; strategic planning/immediate past president Barbara Noveau; membership chair Mitch Weisberg; secretary Gayle Yeomans; treasurer (and Reunion registrar) Arthur Mintz; class correspondents Elisabeth Kaplan Boas and Cara Nash Iason; historian Naomi Katz Mintz; Reunion chair Kathy Flaxman; affinity chair Dale Cohen; nominating chairs Barbara Noveau and Laurie Berke-Weiss; and webmaster Craig Ewing, MBA ’72.

Our class is making a lasting gift to mark the 50th. It’s in two parts—one physical, the other programmatic. The Class of ’71 Medicinal and Healing Garden will greet visitors entering Cornell Health just south of the Ho Plaza steps from the Straight. There will be signage that identifies the plants and credits our class. We welcome additions to the non-physical portion of our gift. It creates funding for mental health services. Do consider adding your name to our 50th Reunion gift. The need for mental health support continues to grow.

At Reunion, the (great) Class of ’71 sponsored two events. In conjunction with the Class of ’70 and A&S, there was “What’s Going On! Rock, Soul, and Protest in the 1960s,” taught by favorite music professor Steve Pond and moderated by our classmate Rick Zelman. I was happy to see so many classmate participants. Cornell architectural historian par excellence Roberta Moudry ’81, PhD ’95, designed our campus tour to highlight the many changes on the campus we love. She began with the enormous new residential initiative (north of RPCC, beyond Donlon), crossed over Triphammer Bridge, trekked southward on Feeney Way to the Engineering campus, and went back to Ho Plaza in front of WSH, yoking changes in the built environment to the ideas that transformed our campus. (Not-fun fact: the Ivy Room is no more; it subsumed into Okenshields.) Our last stop was Cornell Health, whose entrance will feature our 50th Reunion legacy gift. It’s planned to be a special place for all Cornellians.

Saturday night, our class got together at our happy hour. Some in the Zoom boxes toasted the outgoing and incoming class officers with Reunion swag they’d bought at the Cornell Store, stemless wineglasses etched with the class logo designed by our own Dale Cohen. Those gathered learned more about the class gift and new officer slate, before being randomly divided into two sessions of ten breakout rooms. Finally, we had a taste of what many cherish most about Reunions—the opportunity to see friends and chat. Of course it was not sufficient, but it was quite nice all the same. Feedback about Reunion format has been, unsurprisingly, mixed. There were those who jumped on the virtual platform who would not have jumped at the chance to spend a long weekend in centrally isolated Ithaca. For some first-timers, Zooming lowered the bar to try something new. For many, the chance to load their schedules with professor talks, learned panels, specialized field updates, exposure to new faculty, campus walks, and concerts proved rewarding, but for many the verisimilitude of being on campus amidst the beauty of our remembered places was a mixed blessing. As Mitch Weisberg said that night, quoting Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s lyrics (1968), “Ain’t nothing like the real thing, baby. Ain’t nothing like the real thing, no no …”

On a sad note, Linda Germaine-Miller reported the death of Diane Brenner on Reunion eve, June 6, 2021. Linda wrote, “As many of you know, Diane was my college roommate, a major in Human Development and Family Studies, a member of the Dean’s List, a former executive director of the NYS Psychological Assn., and, most importantly, a proud Cornellian.” Many will remember Diane as a force of nature, dedicated to her family, Cornell, and the many causes she embraced over an all-too-short life. For more information contact either of your correspondents.

And, on a happy note, the Hollywood Reporter of June 21 brings news that Howard Rodman, former Writers Guild of America-West president, was elected a governor of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 54-person board. Our news keg is empty; dear classmates, please send refills. Respectfully submitted: ❖ Elisabeth Kaplan Boas, ekb7@cornell.edu; Cara Nash Iason, cara.nash.iason@gmail.com. Online news form.

1972

Greetings, Class of ’72! What are you doing for work and for fun? How has the pandemic impacted you? What did you learn at Cornell that has stuck with you the most throughout your life? Please take a moment to drop us a line—we’d love to keep in touch. ❖ Gary Rubin, glrubin@aol.com; Alex Barna, alexbarna@comcast.net. Online news form.

1973

As with just about every edition of the Class Notes since we all started turning 65, there are more retirements to report. Prominent among them is Caleb Rossiter, PhD ’83, who picked up a pencil and announced (in handwriting that almost shouted) his retirement from a 50-year crusade in anti-imperialist politics. “It’s somebody else’s problem now!” he wrote. He’s now officially liberated from the op-ed pages and free to find refuge studying differential equations, refreshing his undergrad skills on the bluegrass fiddle, reading classics, and absolutely NOT reading the news. Even more impressive, he’s determined to be at Barton Hall as the fastest 70-year-old in the Hartshorne Masters Mile, organized each January by the Finger Lakes Runners Club (except 2021, when it was canceled due to COVID). What brings him the most satisfaction these days is waking up knowing he’s not woke. As for his biggest takeaway from the pandemic, he writes, “As they say about the impact of the French Revolution—it’s too soon to tell.”

Jamie Lawenda (jamie@kingo.com) lives in Lower Manhattan and has semi-retired—in that she no longer goes into the office. She runs a shoe sourcing and design company with her husband, Lorenzo, and now also her son, who has taken over the design work so she can stay home and draw. She’s also been sourcing masks, gloves, and protective gowns for first responders and hospitals, but it’s art that’s become her passion: she’s mastered the skill of folded paper drawing, samples of which you can see on Instagram (@jamielawenda). Her biggest takeaway from the pandemic: stay calm, be productive, and keep in touch with friends and family.

And then we have the flip side of the retirement trend: un-retirement. Glenn Cantor (gcantor63@gmail.com) reports that, having survived the pandemic, he went into consulting on drug discovery and development for small pharmaceutical companies—as well as volunteering as a science editor, grant reviewer, and trustee for the cancer nonprofit Int’l Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia Foundation. But living in Bend, OR—where there’s hiking, bicycling, skiing, and easier access to the grandchildren in Portland—at least it can still feel like retirement. It’s a busy time (finally!) for Paul Witt, who sent an update on his two hotels in Gettysburg. The pandemic was not kind to the hospitality industry, and bookings dropped by half. But Paul reports they’re still above water and business is slowly returning. He still goes to work every day with a simple goal: to make it to the office just in time for lunch. He also has his 2-year-old grandson nearby to keep things in perspective.

The past year is one that Mark Twentyman (marktwentyman@gmail.com) will never forget. He’s grateful to have lived through it. Mark’s all-too-close encounter with COVID in March 2020 was written up in Cornell Alumni Magazine in a story titled “Band of Brothers,” which reminds us that Cornell relationships—in this case his Alpha Sigma Phi brothers—could one day save your life. As of April, he reported being “nearly recovered,” which tells you how debilitating COVID can be. A happy ending, but a terrifying ordeal. I recommend reading his story—it will remove any vaccine hesitancy you may have felt.

Steven Fruchtman (smfruchtman@gmail.com) lives in NYC and runs a biotech company (he’s president of Onconova Therapeutics) focused on discovering and developing novel products to treat advanced cancer. His pandemic takeaway is that science and nature are amazing. Agreed! At least when they’re not terrifying. His biggest satisfaction is seeing the young adults his kids have become. Melanie Rodin Polk (melaniepolk@aol.com) is in Ponte Vedra, FL, newly retired and newly relocated away from ice and snow. Her un-retirement involves teaching nutrition at the Osher Lifelong Learning Inst. at the U. of North Florida, where she’s finding a new circle of friends but missing those two adorable grandkids in Atlanta. Her pandemic lesson: “We never know what tomorrow will bring—live now!” She’s waiting for COVID to pass so she can get busy traveling.

Charles Camisa lives with his wife, Kathryn, in Naples, FL, after retiring from Riverchase Dermatology as director of the psoriasis treatment center. But then he, too, decided to un-retire into the role of medical director of OnSpot Dermatology. OnSpot uses a fully equipped van to take the dermatology clinic to the community—one of the innovations prompted by COVID. Nancy Dworkin Miller (formerly Nancy Dworkin Weber) lives in Jersey City with husband Jerry, and she began counseling sight-impaired people while pursuing her BS in Human Development. And while she’s working mostly from home now, she is far from retired, serving as executive director/CEO of VISIONS, which provides vision rehab and job placement for blind people of any age. She also volunteers as board president of the New York Vision Rehabilitation Assn. In between those duties it’s all about her family, which now includes great-grandchildren! Her biggest challenge during the pandemic has been helping blind people cope with social distancing, which is difficult when you can’t see masks and boundary markers.

Of course as I write this, more and more restrictions are being relaxed, and we have several vaccines running offense, so by the time you read this in September you may well be thinking, “What’s COVID?” Let’s hope. ❖ David Ross, dave@daveross.com; Phyllis Haight Grummon, phg3@cornell.edu; Pamela Meyers, psmeyers73@gmail.com. Online news form.

1974

It’s now a “pandemic in transition,” as an ever-increasing number of us venture out and about, crossing state lines and even booking a bit of international travel. Following that trend, we recently drove the 770 miles from Salt Lake City to Tucson and saw a ribbon of RVs on the road. A year ago, we made the same trip and struggled to find public bathrooms, food, and gas once we were north of Flagstaff, AZ. There is no shrubbery on the roadsides of Rte. 89 in northeast Arizona or southeast Utah! RV parks were pretty much empty, most drive-through restaurants were denying entry to use their restrooms, and we even encountered a gas station with the same policy. One station near Lake Powell had about a dozen toilets and all but one bore an “out of order” sign. An enormous bottle of disinfectant was provided on a table outside that stall. I was very grateful. At another gas stop, near a (closed) turnoff to the Grand Canyon, they literally had a bouncer keeping people without masks out of the inside of the station. I appreciated that guy. Roadside stands that usually sold Navajo jewelry and weavings were deserted, motels shuttered.

We had been warned to carry plenty of water as there were reports of other travelers being reluctant (because of the pandemic) to share water in the event of a breakdown in the 100-plus-degree heat. Entrance roads to Bryce Canyon, Zion, and Grand Staircase had no traffic. The trip last year was also notable for the curfews Arizona and Utah had imposed in the wake of public anger about the murder of George Floyd. Considering the distance needed to be covered (much of it on two-lane highways), and a window of about 14 hours to complete the trip within curfew-obeying hours, it was not your usual Great American Road Trip. Plumes of black smoke drifting up from a downtown Phoenix neighborhood reinforced the dystopian feel of the day. Obviously, we would not have made the trip if not for the need to help out a family member, and yet it provided a view of some of the effects of the pandemic we otherwise would never have seen.

In late April, fellow classmate Lucy Babcox Morris and I joined with more than 100 other Cornellians from the ’70s for a virtual cheese-tasting course sponsored by the Class of ’76. The impetus for the presentation came from a unique collaboration between Cornell, Old Chatham Creamery, and Murray’s Cheese, with the result being the award-winning Stockinghall Cheddar. Attendees pre-ordered the class sampler of five different cheeses, which were delivered to our homes the day before the class. I always thought picking up my course books at the start of every semester was fun, but this was a whole different kind of course prep fun! We nibbled cheeses while learning about cheese caves and cheese mites, and just plain enjoyed seeing the faces of so many Cornellians from the ’70s.

There is news from Deborah Nelson Russell, BS Nurs ’74 (rndrussell@yahoo.com), who has recently married and moved. She is setting up their new home in Brentwood, CA, after 20 years in her last home, and hopes to do some RV travel when they are settled. Deborah finds the most satisfaction these days from watching her children and grandchildren do well in life and is expecting another grandchild this December! She also reflects on her biggest takeaway from the pandemic, noting, “It is very sad and unfortunate to see how distrustful some people are of the authorities and of the national news. If we would have listened and believed, so many more people would be alive.”

Charles Shapiro (chas613@hotmail.com) has become a grandpa this past year and also moved from Wayne, NE, to Omaha to be close to his two adult sons. He is “grateful they wanted us to be closer,” and writes, “Being a grandpa is the best!” Congratulations, Charles! He goes on to say that after retiring three years ago, “I have been finishing up projects from my faculty position, writing papers, and mentoring former graduate students. I serve on several boards related to agriculture or rural issues. I joined Rotary as a way to do community service.” He adds, “I am focusing on the little things in my daily life and enjoying each day. I help out where and when I can, but the heavy lifting needs to be passed on to younger people.” When asked about his biggest takeaway from the pandemic, Charles writes, “It is difficult for people to change, but necessity helps push change along. So many organizations were resistant to distance/internet communications up until the day they had to adjust. We won’t go back fully. We have a better understanding of what needs to be done in person and what can be done from a distance.”

Plenty of other classmate news to follow in the next column! ❖ Molly Miller Ettenger, molly.ettenger@gmail.com; Jim Schoonmaker, js378@cornell.edu; Lucy Babcox Morris, lucmor1433@gmail.com. Online news form.

1975

While the Cornell Reunion in 2021 was once again virtual, we’ve received word that smaller local gatherings of Cornellians have begun. I was most excited to have been with several friends in early June at a Delta Upsilon barbecue hosted by Tina and Mike Sandul ’76 at their home in Gambrills, MD—and catching up was such a joy! Our hosts still operate a busy law firm, but with numerous remote court encounters. Other Maryland attendees included Scott Keenum ’76, a mortgage loan officer in Silver Spring with PenFed Mortgage and an avid pickleball player, and Mark and Christine “Ting” Magill Kamon (cmkamon@gmail.com) from Kennedyville on the Eastern Shore. During the past year, they’ve enjoyed their new home on the Sassafras River, boating, golfing, and visits with their three married children and seven grandchildren. Ivette and Mike Hayes ’77 from Bethesda are both working in the D.C. area, with Mike a trainer for automobile dealerships and Ivette a lobbyist for the automotive industry.

Traveling from New Jersey to attend were Wendy and Mark Clemente ’73, MPS ’77, a Glen Ridge municipal court judge and practicing attorney, Debbie and Walter Grote ’74, and Laura and Luciano “LuJon” Rossi from Monmouth Junction near Princeton. The Rossis’ daughter, Nina, and her family reside in Silver Spring, MD, and receive frequent babysitting support from their proud grandparents. LuJon is still cycling, a passion he was able to enjoy during the pandemic. Dr. Grote is an internal medicine specialist in Columbia, NJ, where telehealth services have undoubtedly expanded during the past year.

Several Class of ’75 guests at the Sandul barbecue drove down from Pennsylvania to join the festivities including Debbie and Jack Brewster from Philadelphia and Sandy and Stephen Bigalow from the Pittsburgh suburbs. Jack has retired from many years of teaching Latin and classical studies at Swarthmore and a prior career in the Navy. Steve, recognized as one of the country’s leading experts on Candlestick investment, is an author/educator on the topic. John “Jay” ’73, ME ’74, and Deborah McCoy Paxton, BS Nurs ’77, now reside in Northern Virginia after traveling the globe for four decades in their service to the US. Debbie had served in many diverse healthcare roles with military-related organizations and Jay retired as assistant commandant and four-star general with the US Marine Corps. Their extended family was able to gather again when their son married earlier this year in Florida.

Jan Carr (jan_carr@verizon.net) is a Human Ecology graduate, where she was part of the N-K program in Human Development and Family Studies. She is now a writer/editor, primarily for children’s books. Her picture book Star of the Party: The Solar System Celebrates! was on the Crown (Penguin Random House) spring list. This publication centers on the solar system, and though she never had the opportunity to take Carl Sagan’s astronomy course, Jan did cross paths with him when he came to pick up his son Nicky at the IACC Daycare Center where she student taught. If you’d like to know more, you can visit her website and check out her new book here.

Eliot Schuman (ems@ddw-law.com) is litigation partner at DelBello Donnellan Weingarten Wise & Wiederkehr in White Plains, NY. He and wife Heidi are proud parents of Rachael ’13, a litigation associate at Paul, Weiss in NYC, and Paul ’17 at USC law school. Both followed dad as ILR grads! Aline “Pixie” Ordman (aordman@sover.net) is busy teaching oil painting and pastel workshops throughout the States and Europe. She was scheduled to teach in Russia, but COVID postponed that. Daughter Samantha is a high school art teacher in New Hampshire and son Max is a lawyer in San Francisco. Check out Aline’s website to see some of her works!

Gail Henderson (g_e_henderson@yahoo.com) writes from her 50-acre farm in Ontario, Canada, which she shares with one of her daughters, a son-in-law, and three grandchildren (a 2-year-old and just-born twins!). She remarks, “We are a bit remote—and blessed to have our family with us in lockdown.” Before the move, Gail developed her career in IT but also devoted her time to theatrical pursuits with her partner. He was involved in theater tech while Gail had been a director, producer, performer, and teacher, mainly in musical theater. Pretty impressive! Gail fondly remembers her Kappa Psi days at Cornell.

In Oakhurst, NJ, Stephen Gough has recently completed reading Hitchcock Blonde: A Cinematic Memoir, written by Sharon Dolin ’77, PhD ’90, published by Terra Nova Press. He remarks that Sharon’s warmth, honesty, and good humor come through in her writing. One of his fondest memories from Cornell is eating watermelon down to the rind with classmate Kathy Cook at the reservoir. Benson Peyton and wife Cathy live in the Upstate New York town of Adams Center, where he is an outstanding woodworker, craftsman, and contractor. One of Ben’s latest undertakings was creating a fabulous wood-framed stained-glass window for a local church.

Three classmates from Massachusetts have checked in with news. In Littleton, Charlotte Russell (ccr6273@verizon.net) continues to participate in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s FeederWatch program and birding. Now semi-retired from real commercial estate, Suzy Nagin Klass (klass.suzy@gmail.com) in Orleans has lived on Cape Cod for the past 11 years, having moved from Reno, NV. What a change! We also received relocation news from Elisabeth Ann Rittner Needleman (erittner@yahoo.com), who now lives in Watertown, MA.

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 your news in our upcoming columns. To update your contact info with the university, click here. ❖ Joan Pease, japease1032@aol.com; Deb Gellman, dsgellman@hotmail.com; Karen DeMarco Boroff, karen.boroff@shu.edu; Mitch Frank, mjfgator@gmail.com. Online news form.

1976

It was a different kind of 45th Reunion, but wonderful as ever to see everyone, even from afar! Bill and I, Pat Relf Hanavan, enjoyed hearing the history of Cornell during the times of our class, the class 45 years ahead of us, and the Class of 2021. Historian Corey Earle ’07 called 1921–1937 Cornell president Dr. Livingston Farrand, a renowned public health specialist, “the Dr. Fauci of his day.” Farrand required smallpox vaccines for all Cornell students. Corey talked about the buildings and the fields of study that were new for the three classes and could answer all our questions about what was still on campus—or not. Bill and I also loved Saturday’s virtual cocktail hour, with BYO strawberry Bellinis and a charming campus tour by our old friends Kevin and Ellen Gobel Walsh. Thanks to our class Reunion committee for their hard work and creativity in adapting the event: Mary Pykosz Creekmore, Martha Plass Sheehe, Terry Wolff Heinichen, MBA ’83, Karen Roche Cosgrove, Liz Carter Foster, and Joe Colosi, ME ’77. And additional thanks to class president Liz Foster for serving as our congenial MC. Kudos to you all!

Arden Handler (handler@uic.edu) is a professor of maternal and child health and community health sciences, director of the Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health, and division director of community health sciences at the U. of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health. A pandemic takeaway for her has been that “teaching synchronously online has many positive aspects.” Arden and husband Robert Carlton live in Evanston. Their children have both graduated from college—Miara ’20 from Cornell’s College of Human Ecology, and Evan from Northwestern in 2016. Arden takes most satisfaction from, she writes, “my home, my husband, my dogs, my kids, and making change in Illinois to reduce inequities in maternal and infant health.”

Gordon Fox and spouse Lynne Belmont live in Santa Rosa, CA, where, Gordon reports, “routines of pre-pandemic life are returning. Illness forced retirement, but I don’t miss work. I’m spending days in the garden, walking, and reading.” His greatest satisfaction comes from “finishing a good book, seeing a good film, and observing seasonal changes.” As of May, he was hoping to hold a wedding for his younger daughter during the summer. The pandemic made him realize “how much I miss physical proximal contact with others.” So true!

Philip Loud writes that for him and his wife, Jennifer, in Northport, MI, “our daily lives changed little during COVID. We are retired and have been for ten years. Luckily, our two sons live nearby, and due to their jobs were able to work from home and stay isolated.” His greatest takeaways from the pandemic have been a “greater focus on what is important, and appreciating the small, home-based pleasures.” Philip has lots of hobbies, including hiking, biking, and skiing, and plenty of projects with building furniture, refurbishing old items, and volunteering. “Pre-COVID, we were able to do some traveling, mostly to Scotland and Italy,” writes Philip, who adds that he takes satisfaction in “spending time with and completing projects for my sons and their families.”

In Fort Johnson, NY, Gregory Meyers (meygerg@yahoo.com) has found himself “working more from home; taking more days off; spending more time reading, both professional and personal; and still playing hockey, kayaking, snowshoeing, and gardening with Lori,” his wife. Greg is pastor of Fulmont Community Church in Gloversville, “which was started by a Cornell grad, Dr. Kevin Cope ’83.” Greg has been there for 16 years and a pastor for 35. He says he projects some form of retirement in a year or two. “All three children are settled in careers; two are teachers. In the last five years, I’ve had wonderful vacations to Alaska (twice), Oregon, and Utah national parks (Arches, Bryce, Zion, all spectacular).” His biggest takeaways from the pandemic are “the importance of little conversations and connections in a church family, and the fact that the absence of these small things has made ministry of caring and relationship-building difficult to maintain.” Greg adds, “I was quite disappointed the men’s and women’s hockey teams did not get the opportunity to play for championships in 2020.” Greg most appreciates “spending time with my wife of 40 years; playing with our two beautiful granddaughters, ages 5 and 3; and kayaking in the Adirondack Mountains with family and friends.”

If you missed our online Reunion, catch up at our class website. How has your life changed in the past year or two? How are you easing back into the world? Do let us know! ❖ Pat Relf Hanavan, patrelf1@gmail.com; Lisa Diamant, ljdiamant@verizon.net. Online news form.

1977

I’m writing this column in June at the conclusion of a very successful 2021 virtual Reunion weekend. Though our 45th Reunion isn’t until June 2022, the Class of ’77 officers hosted a Zoom ’70s-themed concert on Friday evening, June 11, featuring Geoff Gailey’s band, Nucklehead. Geoff and his fellow talented musicians Lloyd Shelby, Steve Board, Ryan Sweeney, and Greg Nance entertained us for over an hour with an informal get-together that enabled all participants to join in the fun. The band played a great list of ’70s hits that brought us down memory lane and helped us “Embrace the Spirit” as we kick off planning for next year. Some of you may remember great Nucklehead performances from past Reunions. The band is always a crowd-pleaser. Hopefully Geoff and Nucklehead will be able to join us next June in Ithaca! Thank you to them for sharing their time and talent with us.

Classmates from across the country joined in, including class president Joe Reina, vice president Laurie Robinson, Roxanne Nersesian Paul, Donna Darragh Copley, Chuck Ortenberg, Cara Lebowitz Kagan, C. Ann Vitullo, John Molinda, Debbie Lathrop Lechner, Susan Warshaw Ebner, JD ’80, Sheryl Checkman, Brenda Jacobs, Mary Flynn, and Christopher Podd, ME ’78, as well as Michael Fortune ’76. The evening also gave us an opportunity to hear memories and current news from classmates.

Roxanne Paul reminisced about her time in the Cornell Outing Club. She served as the president her senior year and noted that it was the second biggest club on campus at the time. Roxanne didn’t own a car back then but got to go on all kinds of trips to the Green, White, and Adirondack mountains. The club members climbed Mt. Marcy and Mt. Washington in winter. What amazing trips! Ann Vitullo is serving as chair of the Library Advisory Council for Cornell, which provides alumni input to the University Librarian. The council will be working on fundraising for the library as part of the next capital campaign, to be announced in the fall. She also hopes to be on campus in October for the Trustee-Council Annual Meeting (TCAM) if it’s held in person.

Susan Ebner is a partner at Stinson LLP, chairing the government contracts and investigations practice. She is finishing up her year as chair of the American Bar Assn. Public Contract Law section. Susan also works with the National Defense Industrial Assn. as co-chair of the Cyber Legal Policy Committee in its Cybersecurity Division. On a personal note, Susan writes that she is still happily married to her husband, Eugene. She notes that their daughter, Casey Jill ’14, lives close by and “that is the best!” Mark Lange became a first-time grandfather this year when his lovely granddaughter Audrey Mae was born in May. Audrey is the child of Mark’s middle daughter, Maggie, and her husband, Andrew. Mark’s eldest daughter, Allison, and her husband, James, are expecting.

Lastly, our class officers have begun planning our 45th Reunion from June 9–12, 2022. We are planning for a beautiful Ithaca weekend and hope you can all attend. Ideas for the weekend are welcome. Please email ideas, suggestions, questions, or comments to our Reunion chairs: Cara Kagan, CLK816@aol.com; Donna Copley, cornell77reunion@gmail.com; Geoff Gailey, geoffgailey@sbcglobal.net; Halsey Knapp, hknapp@khlawfirm.com; and Karen Lipton Wellin, karenwellin@gmail.com.

As you know, we always enjoy sharing your stories. Please keep your news and views coming in via the online news form, or write directly to either of us: ❖ Mary Flynn, maryflynn1@me.com; Howie Eisen, heisen@pennstatehealth.psu.edu.

1978

While many of us are bemoaning the loss of the print edition of Cornell Alumni Magazine, the folks behind the new communications hub are certain you’ll love the modernized online format! Instead of waiting for a print publication to arrive at your door, this “living document” allows you to check in regularly for news updates and enhanced content including interactive features. You’ll also have the ability to find classmates and locate Cornell communities across the globe. Still very much a work in progress, the project is being guided by input from an advisory board of alumni with communications and digital media expertise.

A few more stories have come in from classmates on their adjustment to life during the pandemic and beyond; some have faced it with major life changes, others in smaller ways. With the pandemic lasting far longer than he expected, Stephen Wiggers says he’ll be doing a lot of things differently now. Although retired after 30 years of pastoring United Methodist Churches in Western New York, Stephen is continuing his service to others as a full-time hospice chaplain for Halifax Health–Hospice of Central Florida. “Serving others in life’s deepest medical challenges” brings him the greatest satisfaction, he says.

“We need each other.” That was Paul Andreassen’s biggest takeaway from months of pandemic-induced isolation. After 15 years of research, he solved the “synoptic problem”—the problem of the literary relationships among the three synoptic gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Now that his boys are graduating college, Paul says he can finally retire. David Doupe marked 16 years leading national accounts for Jones Lang LaSalle—now from Orinda, CA, where he moved last April. “Nothing like a pandemic to speed unpacking,” he quipped. David and his wife, Beth, are now close to two sons and two granddaughters. Their youngest son, Tom ’12, was married last year. With life starting to return to normal in the spring, David was “looking forward to no longer living like a house cat!”

Pam Marrone retired as CEO of the company she founded, but she’s keeping busy as a board member of Marrone Bio Innovations and advising several startup companies—most founded by women. In July, she completed her term as a Cornell alumni-elected trustee and has been enjoying gardening, especially with mature perennials. Pam’s thoughts on the pandemic: “Trained as a scientist, I find it sad how many people ignore science, taking too lightly the risks and number of deaths.”

If you’re looking for a way to honor a classmate who is no longer with us, now is the time to consider donating to the Class of ’78 Memorial Scholarship Fund. This year, our generous class president, Kent Sheng, BA ’82, is offering up an added incentive: he will match each dollar contributed with a $2 gift! The goal is for this challenge to raise $100K in new money for the endowment fund. Cindy will be back with the next installment of news and views from the Class of ’78. Help her make it a good one by sending yours to us: ❖ Ilene Shub Lefland, ilene.lefland@gmail.com; or Cindy Fuller, cindy@cindyjfuller.com. Online news form.

1979

As I write this column, I am optimistic that Cornell will have another successful year during unprecedented times. Hopefully we are spending extra time outside, reconnecting with friends and family, and enjoying nature. Clearly, COVID affected everyone, each with our own stories.

Karen Randolph Davis said that COVID restricted her social activities, which were limited mostly to as-needed trips for doctor appointments and grocery runs. During COVID, she was unable to visit her dad in a nursing home, and recently her husband Larry’s mom also entered one. Since retiring ten years ago, Karen gets the most satisfaction from returning to her sewing, and she is remodeling her clothes with new appliques. She learned from the pandemic that there are always multiple jobs that need to be done inside the house—usually they are last on the priority list!

Richard Friedman said that like so many people, he has been working virtually since March 2020. He worked from Westport, CT, until late January, then in Boca Raton, FL, until mid-April 2021, and is now back in Westport. Richard continues to run his six-lawyer firm representing executives vis-à-vis employment-related agreements and business divorces among shareholders, LLC members, and providers. Last October, Richard and his wife, Sandy, welcomed their second grandson, James, who joins big brother Max. Richard loves spending time with his family, helping clients, traveling extensively when possible, and running/working out. During the pandemic, he learned, “Clients don’t care where I am or whether I am wearing a suit or shorts.” Pierre Crawley (pierre@peppadewusa.com) and wife Doris have a new address in Fort Lauderdale. Pierre is president at One Brand Inc. and marketing agent for Peppadew-brand fruit from South Africa. He gets a lot of satisfaction working with daughter Camille, who joined the company to work on imports and marketing. He says his biggest takeaway from the pandemic is “patience,” adding that in business, survival involves control and execution with both inventory/expenses and sales.

Several classmates wrote from Pennsylvania. Michael Finke (mcfinke@att.net) and his wife, Elizabeth Oyler, moved to Sewickley. Michael is professor emeritus in Slavic languages and literature at the U. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Julie Jones (JLJMD83@msn.com) and Richard Zook live in York. In September 2020 they became grandparents to Benjamin James Murray, and Julie happily cares for Benji every weekday. The bright spot of this pandemic was her group of Cornell friends, “Clo,” who hold a monthly Zoom book club that she loves. It includes Maggie Chon, Dale Feuer, Judy Gelber, Karen Matrunich, and Rebecca Maron Mazin, and they have great discussions and friendships. Julie serves on the Lancaster Conservancy’s board helping to forever preserve woods and water. During the pandemic she realized that “truth matters. Science saves lives. We don’t need to be ‘busy’ all the time. Nature heals. The US has lots of reparations to make.”

Jacqueline Webb is a professor of biology and the George and Barbara Young Chair in Biology at the U. of Rhode Island, now in her 15th year at the university! Julie Pareles (juliepareles@gmail.com) just accepted a position as regional development officer for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Julie is pleased to share that her two sons graduated from Cornell this year. One was in Arts & Sciences (Physics) and the other in Engineering (CS).

Several classmates hail from the Carolinas. Russell Stahl reported no great changes in daily life because he still works as a cardiac surgeon. The pandemic slowed down routine healthcare, but emergencies kept coming. Given the shortage of heart surgeons, he plans to continue working for a few more years. And now, it seems that everyone wants to visit or move to Myrtle Beach, SC. Russell and his wife, Roz, intend to travel more to spend time with their children and seven grandchildren, and they expect more to come. They most enjoy going on biking adventures. Russell still loves to study, read, exercise, and see new things. Every day he learns something new, which is amazing. His biggest takeaway from the pandemic is that he now knows more about virology than ever. “Viruses are nimble, so medical technology has to keep up,” he remarked.

Another classmate, Sharon Rowe Freeman, lives in Clayton, NC. There is not a lot of change in Sharon’s life because she already was working remotely while part time at North Carolina State U., but she is gradually phasing out. The last of her research papers came out in January. She’s currently doing a series of “one pagers” on common pasture weeds for the Amazing Grazing website for the Center for Environmental Farming Systems. Sharon is still cautious around crowded places and tends to minimize trips away from home. Her exercise routine (outdoors, as before) has remained solid. All in all, she fared well. Mostly her family is healthy, although her partner has idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and is in a research trial to hopefully stabilize or improve his breathing. Sharon gets the most satisfaction in noticing all of the beauty around her and all of her daily blessings. During the pandemic she found that peace is possible, even in chaos.

During this difficult time, and always, remember that Cornell and your classmates are here for you. Feel free to reach out to classmates, including class officers. If you have news to share, please send it to: ❖ Linda Moses, lindakmoses@gmail.com; Danna Levy, DannaGOA@gmail.com; or Cynthia Ahlgren Shea, cynthia.shea@sothebyshomes.com. Online news form.

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1980s

1980

As I am writing this, I am being serenaded by cicadas and brooding about 2021. On June 23, my U-Hall 4 roommate, Tom Murphy, moderated a panel of distinguished ILR alumni (redundant?) in a discussion titled “Redefining Retirement: Purpose, Passion, and Service,” sponsored by the ILR Alumni Assn. NYC Chapter. The discussion examined what researchers call “the longevity bonus,” and how, thanks to increased lifespans, people today can expect added years of productivity and relaxation, with new purpose and meaning. The panel also offered its insights on how to make life after 60 into one’s most productive years and the critical need for planning, as health or finances can derail the best of intended dreams.

“I have recently been using a gift subscription that I received for StoryWorth.com to chronicle my life. In it, I reference several Cornellians,” writes Craig Pearl, who explains that those stories are “intimate and tongue-in-cheek—as was our group.” Here’s a preview of his entry about Ron Levinson: “Ron was our secret. Only we (Ralph Luongo, June Gershefski Hanly, Susan Meadows, Aida Samarzija, Ken Bradley, Chris Painter, Chris Evans ’81, Steve Gordon ’79, etc.) knew how intelligent, witty, creative, clever, and fun-loving he was. To others, he was a shy, unassuming, withdrawn, blend-into-the-woodwork nerd. Actually, he was that in our eyes, too, but we also saw the other side…. College is a very special time in our lives, and I’ll always miss the fun-loving camaraderie, acceptance, and mutual experience of our group. My only regret regarding Ron is that we now live across the country from each other—and not across the hall!” (If you’d like to read more, contact Class Notes editor Alexandra Bond ’12 at abb83@cornell.edu to be put in touch with Craig.) Happily, Craig shares that he had a Zoom call with Ron, Aida, Ralph, and Chris Painter.

Dave DuPont (davidjosephdupont@gmail.com) recently sold his company, TeamSnap, and relinquished his role as CEO, although he still works for the company as an advisor to the board. While he still enjoys advising companies and organizations, in his retirement he’s taking more time to ski, cycle, travel, and be with his family and friends. His biggest takeaway from the pandemic is that “life is full of surprises.” Sharon Key Beals (skkb58@gmail) reported on unexpectedly connecting with her college roommate on a somber weekend, saying that she “was happy to see Joyce Rosen [the weekend of May 29–30], though the circumstances were less than ideal. It was raining and cold; she was nearby as she was cleaning out her mom’s place as she had recently passed. I was in New Jersey to finally spread my mom’s ashes from a year ago May. One of the Old Tappan, NJ, regulars was kind enough to bring a tent to the ‘ceremony’ we had to dedicate my mom’s tree. Turns out Joyce frequents the Union Square Market, where Ronald Binaghi has been a regular for decades, hauling produce in from Stokes Farm. Such a small world.”

Denise Rempe has been spending her time tending to those things in her life that are important to her. She’s making plans once again for future travel with her husband, Mark Wilson ’79, MBA ’80. Denise is working as a “community volunteer”—essentially lending a hand through board membership and executive committee leadership—to make an impact. Son Ryan celebrated his 30th birthday in June and is a manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers, and daughter Brooke Wilson ’16 earned her JD degree this year, graduating from Washington and Lee U. cum laude. Perhaps the thing that brings Denise the most satisfaction is her garden, which is looking “pretty spectacular,” notwithstanding the weeds. All in all, over the past year she’s learned not to take time for granted or let stuff accumulate, “as hopefully there isn’t another lockdown to provide a reason to clear out the closets.” Nancy Dobkins Medford and her husband, David, have been enjoying life through a combination of family, friends, plans for the future, hard-earned wisdom, and a lakefront property. While Nancy is the administrator of David’s ophthalmology practice, she is planning to retire soon. Their son, Michael, received his PhD in astrophysics from UC Berkeley in May and is expecting his first child (their third grandchild) in November. They also get to see grandsons Tyler, 7, and Ellis, 4, often. Nancy and David bought a lake house in Lackawaxen, PA, and have been enjoying the relaxation of that life. Nancy offers this lesson from the pandemic: “Enjoy everything while you can. I also survived a very major heart attack in March 2019. Both things taught me to appreciate everything!”

The lesson that Shirley Hegel Hansen (sjhansen2000@gmail.com) has drawn from the pandemic is that family comes first and we really don’t need too much else, so she really appreciates that all her family members are home now. Her son is home, doing college online, and her husband has been loving working from home. Although she’s not working (for pay), she’s been busy doing “lots” of gardening (her yard, her neighbors’, and the city park), dog walking, biking along the river from the ocean, watching TV with her husband, reading, continuing her healing from her chronic Lyme disease, and soaking in the bathtub. Susan Coombs Hess, PhD ’18’s biggest takeaway from the pandemic has been being able to slow down and accomplish things on her to-do list. She recently retired and has been enjoying traveling, reading, writing, gardening, and finishing house renovations. Impressively, Susan resumed her graduate work in pharmacology in 2016 and received her PhD (from Cornell) in 2018. Many years ago, she got her bachelor’s degree at Cornell while an employee, but then work and family intervened.

This column began with an entry about Tom Murphy, so let’s conclude with a marvelous question he suggested for future columns: Now that we appear to be emerging from the grips of the pandemic, what are the three most positive or significant COVID experiences you have had that you will remember ten years from now? We are collecting answers from our classmates and will write about them in future columns. Write to any of us directly with your pandemic thoughts—or with any other news you’d like to share with the Class of ’80! ❖ David Durfee, drd225@cornell.edu; Dik Saalfeld, rfs25@cornell.edu; Leona Barsky, LLB39@cornell.edu; Chas Horvath, chas@horvaths.org. Online news form.

1981

Who can believe that we celebrated our 40th Reunion? Doesn’t it feel as if we just graduated? And who can believe we did our Reunion by Zoom? I know we all hoped we would have been together in Ithaca, but due to COVID protocols, we just weren’t able to pull it off. I do hope that our next one (eek 45th!) will be in person and I hope you will all be there. I know that I personally tuned in to not only our class Zooms but other wonderful events over Reunion including “Celebrating the Class of 2020” (since they totally didn’t have a graduation); “Lessons From a LEGO Design Master” (how fun is that job?); “Behind the Seams: Inside the Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection”; and the Cornell Chimes Sunday concert. I could have stayed on for many more as well!

On June 6, we all set our tables for our celebrity chef dinner! Will Guidara ’01 connected all of us on Zoom. For those not familiar with Will, he is a Cornell Hotelie who was a co-owner of Eleven Madison Park, named the number one restaurant in the world in 2017. Will was also a co-owner of NoMad New York, NoMad Los Angeles, and NoMad Las Vegas and is a James Beard Award winner. The first part of the evening was hosted by classmate and hockey phenom Brock Tredway. Brock is a co-owner of Sebago Lake Distillery and he led us in creating a craft cocktail using his Sebago Lake Spider Island Rum, called Big Red 40. Following Brock, we had a wine tasting hosted by Cornellian Rory Williams, MS ’11, vineyard manager and son of John Williams ’74, also a Cornellian and founder of Frog’s Leap Winery in Rutherford, CA.

Charlie Palmer and his son Reed Palmer ’20, a Cornell Hotelie, hosted our main event. Charlie Palmer was named “Best Chef in America” in 1997 by the James Beard Foundation, and he is best known for his award-winning restaurants in NYC and Las Vegas, both named Aureole. Special recognition goes to Charlie for opening his newest restaurant, Charlie Palmer Steakhouse, in Times Square during the pandemic. The two of them hosted a demonstration kitchen, leading us through a gourmet cooking experience. I honestly don’t know which dish or drink I liked best—the wines, rum, bruschetta and prosciutto-wrapped zucchini, orecchiette with pesto and charred asparagus, or, of course, the “Straight cookies.” I was lucky as my husband, Russ, was busy putting together all these dishes so that I could enjoy the virtual Reunion with everyone!

After dining with the James Beard chefs, we all met at our favorite Ithaca haunts for some stimulating conversation and “face time.” We had a multitude of Ithaca hot spots (a.k.a. Zoom rooms)—the Chapter House, the Nines, Rulloff’s, and Collegetown Bagels—to socialize. There were so many faces on the screens and I was so delighted to see everyone—too many to mention! A big shout-out to Susan Levitt, Renee Miller-Mizia, Karen Levine Whitman, Cathy Cosentini Bonczek, and Laura Dake Roche for all of their hard work putting this fabulous dinner together! And, of course, thank you to everyone behind the scenes making this happen!

Our class was proud to host the “Tradition and Transformation” virtual campus walk during Reunion. Classmate Roberta Moudry, PhD ’95, an architectural historian, showed us the many “glass-to-grass” transformations that are changing the campus and readying it for the future. In a short time, with the North Campus Residential Expansion, Cornell will be able to house all freshmen and sophomores on campus. Roberta was joined by Dave Boraks, a public radio journalist and our own class “Red Talks” host, to explore the thoughtfulness and care that’s gone into these transformations.

The “Spirit of Cornell” event began with this Land Acknowledgement: “Cornell University is located on the traditional homelands of the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫɁ (the Cayuga Nation). The Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫɁ are members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, an alliance of six sovereign Nations with a historic and contemporary presence on this land. The Confederacy precedes the establishment of Cornell University, New York State, and the US. We acknowledge the painful history of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫɁ dispossession and honor the ongoing connection of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫɁ people, past and present, to these lands and waters. This land acknowledgment has been reviewed and approved by the traditional Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫɁ leadership.” It is wonderful that Cornell is doing this. To top off our Reunion weekend on Saturday night, we mingled, chatted, and got some more face time in small, virtual rooms at our 1981 After Hours Party. I know we will party hard in person again and again and again!

You will have received notifications from us (if we have your email!) about our Class of 1981 yearbook, which we’re creating with the help of BrightCrowd. The virtual yearbook will comprise pages for each classmate that creates one. We have nearly 200 pages already and it’s wonderful to see pictures of our friends and their families and to learn all that has happened in the past 40 years. You can add or edit your page at any time for approximately one year, after which the book will be closed but saved (like a book on a shelf that you can access virtually). In this way, we’ll always have a reminder of our 40th Reunion year! If you have any questions, please contact Cathy Bonczek (cathybonczek@mac.com), Laura Roche (ldakeroche@aol.com), or Fred Cohen (flc4@cornell.edu).

So yes, I will be writing the class column again for the next five years! Please send me your news! ❖ Betsy Silverfine, bsilverfine@comcast.net. Online news form.

1982

It has been a long time since many of us have been able to travel freely and visit with classmates. As things have started to open up and restrictions have been relaxed, our classmates have been sharing their news about recent travels and experiences through the pandemic. Soon we will all be getting information regarding our 40th Reunion in Ithaca. I am looking forward to returning to the Hill, visiting my favorite sites in Ithaca, and seeing as many classmates as possible.

We received news from several classmates who remained very busy during the pandemic. Paul Weisman (psweisman@hotmail.com) is the section chief of cardiology at Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, WI. As you might imagine, Paul writes that he has been incredibly busy throughout the pandemic. He notes, “I worked all year despite COVID-19, taking care of people with serious cardiac conditions regardless of their COVID status.” Paul also noted his biggest takeaway from the pandemic: “Front-line healthcare workers risking their lives to save others has made me more proud of my profession than ever before.” Paul and his wife, Laura, have been married for 35 years and have two sons working as computer engineers, one in Silicon Valley and one in Chicago.

Another physician from our class, Michael Panosian, reports that he recently retired from the Dayton V.A. Medical Center, where he worked as the chief of otolaryngology since 2007. Prior to working at the V.A. hospital, he served in the US Air Force. Michael writes that he has stayed busy “traveling cross country through national parks with my lovely wife of 34 years, and visiting our kids in Arizona and South Carolina.” He also notes that he finds great satisfaction in “watching our 2-year-old grandson, Silas, and enjoying the majestic and beautiful landscapes our country has to offer.” One of our other classmates has been busy traveling lately. Mike Curtis now resides in Albuquerque, NM, with wife Sheryl and son Austin. He and his family escaped the Southwest summer heat and spent time traveling through New England, visiting his daughter at Yale, and making stops in Newport, Cape Cod, and Boston. Mike writes that he plans to be traveling again next summer and will be in Ithaca for our Reunion.

Several of our classmates have written to us about the benefits of working from home. When addressing the impact of the pandemic, Glenn Minkoff (minkogl@outlook.com) writes, “The single bright spot has been the success we’ve had working remotely. It enabled my wife and me to make the move to Florida sooner than we thought possible.” Glenn now lives in Boca Raton, having moved from Dallas in September 2020. He is the senior VP and head of structured loans for Caliber Home Loans Inc., an independent mortgage banking company. Glenn also notes that his greatest satisfaction is “spending time with my wife and family, but with our kids scattered around the country, the pandemic has made that a huge challenge.” Another supporter of working remotely, Livingston “Tony” Satterthwaite writes from Indianapolis, IN, that he has continued to work throughout the pandemic at Cummins Inc. He notes, “I just reached 33 years there and recently moved to the vice chairman role.”

Thank you for sending us your news. We are always interested in hearing from you and sharing your news with our classmates. Please keep in touch—and plan to join us in Ithaca for our 40th Reunion. Take care and stay well. ❖ Doug Skalka, dskalka@npmlaw.com; Nina Kondo, nmk22@cornell.edu; Mark Fernau, mef29@cornell.edu. Online news form.

1983

It’s great to see so many things opening up around Ithaca. I’m looking forward to seeing many classmates at Homecoming this fall. As a reminder, our class officers are currently planning our 40th Reunion. We would welcome any classmates who may be interested in providing new ideas and perspectives to the planning process.

It’s been terrific to hear from Abbie Bookbinder Meyer, who writes that she is a furniture sales associate. She loves her job and has been quite busy with people moving and updating their homes. She and her husband, Mark, have recently sold their home and moved to a townhouse with a lot less upkeep. She notes that her biggest takeaway from the pandemic has been how lucky she is to have wonderful friends with whom to get through it. Marilee Temple Harris, MAT ’85, remarks that despite the pandemic, life goes on—masked, distanced, and antisepticized throughout. She is mom to two college students and is teaching sixth grade full time. She is also a part-time minister to the Damariscotta Baptist Church. She’s enjoying watching her daughters “rock on.” Her biggest takeaway from the pandemic has been just how mixed up the world truly is.

Across the pond, Steven Ciabattoni sends word that he has been living in Zurich, Switzerland, for the past 15 years. He is often in New York, where he still maintains a residence. He works as a medical doctor and radiologist with “vRad” (Virtual Radiologic). Before the pandemic, Steven was happy to often meet with many of his favorite Cornellians including: Anna Esaki-Smith in Hong Kong and NYC; Beth Tremer Herrick ’82, MD ’86, in Zurich and Boston; Susan Ades in Zurich, D.C., and NYC; Alan Berman ’82 in NYC; Patty Morrissey ’82 in Zurich; Kevin Smolich, MBA ’82; Glenn Powder ’82 in Zurich; and Katy Keib Johnson, who he often travels with in Berlin, Zurich, Rome, Vietnam, and New Zealand. Steven writes, “I loved popping in to see Amy Brown Fraser ’84 in Darien, CT, where my sister Amy Ciabattoni Keating ’87 lives. I’m looking forward to seeing more of Andy Hahn, JD ’86, in NYC. I hope to finally connect with long lost friend Andrew Schrauth, MLA ’96.” Steven reports that the COVID lockdown in Zurich and NYC was bearable for him and that his parents and family all managed to escape the wrath of the pandemic. More than anything, he’s looking forward to traveling again!

Catherine Brokenshire-Scott has recently moved back to her hometown of Bethesda, MD, after living in South Africa for 23 years. Now that the pandemic is ending, she is looking forward to going out of the house and rekindling ties. She is currently the director of a project helping local organizations prevent and treat HIV/AIDS in Africa. Her daughter, Amanda, graduated from American U. in May 2021. When not working, she has been enjoying gardening and walking on the beach. As a consequence of the pandemic, Catherine has reflected and reset practices; for example, “Everything in our house is now environmentally friendly.”

Congratulations are in order for classmate John Davis, who has recently been appointed the next president and CEO of Historic Deerfield. Historic Deerfield maintains more than 50 historic structures in Old Deerfield, MA, and focuses on the significance of small-town America to the national culture. John is currently the interim director of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City and formerly served as provost and undersecretary for museums, education, and research at the Smithsonian Institution. Send news to: ❖ Kim Todt, krt5@cornell.edu; Jon Felice, jbfelice@jbfelice.com; Tom Helf, tomhelf@aol.com; Stewart Glickman, stewartglickman@gmail.com. Online news form.

1984

I still maintain that the ’80s was the best decade ever, and that 1984 was the pinnacle of the decade (but I’m biased anyway). Lucky for us, that was our year! Here’s our latest news.

More Cornell Class of ’84 grandchildren have arrived! Beth Sowers Chirico is a new Nana! Her first grandchild was born on Christmas morning. Beth also writes that she is a senior quality manager at AHF Products Inc. During the pandemic, she has learned to like being alone. Thomas Hall (tshall@comast.net) shares the joyful news that he welcomed granddaughter number three, Emmie, in 2020, born to Chloe Hall ’12 and Justin Steimle ’12, ME ’13. His other granddaughters are Addison, 4, and Quinn, 1. Thomas also said that he is running a startup incubator in North Carolina.

Kathy McCullough says that life has been mostly in a holding pattern for a year, but she got her second Pfizer shot and is looking forward to getting some things back to normal. During the pandemic, she has learned that “you can’t predict anything, and the best thing is to ‘go with the flow’ as much as possible.” She has written a book, How to Make Your Script Better Than the Rest, a collection of screenwriting essays. Kathy has also seen many Cornellians via Zoom meetings (or IRL socially distanced) including Marty Stevens-Heebner, Jennifer Maisel ’87, Lee Rosenthal ’87, Max Schwartz, fellow book group member Peggy Pierce ’83, Lindsay Liotta Forness, and Janet Insardi—and Kathy has enjoyed the worldwide Zoom meetings hosted by Tony Chen ’12, ME ’12.

Chris Gabriele (cmg007@gmail.com) says that weekly Zoom calls with Eddy Street roommies have been a highlight of a very challenging year. During the pandemic, she has gained a new appreciation for the importance of facial expression and communicating with others. Masks make it difficult! She loves seeing stories about wildlife reclaiming areas in the absence of humans. Nature is resilient! Chris is a whale biologist at Glacier Bay National Park, and a founding member of the nonprofit Hawaii Marine Mammal Consortium. James Mann (mari-servnetwork@comcast.net) has been retired for seven years and, prior to the pandemic, had been traveling a lot. He just moved from California to Reno, NV, and is loving every minute of it! He says it should have been done five years earlier. From lessons learned during the pandemic, his advice is, “Sit tight, wear your mask, and wait it out—all will be fine in time!” After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, he can’t wait to resume his travels this December with a cruise from Lima, Peru, to Cape Horn to Buenos Aires. Good friends, food, wine, music, and travel bring him the most satisfaction these days.

Debbie Goldman Weis (dweis@zoominternet.net) retired in June 2020 from a 30-year career in marketing, innovation, and business development at GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Health Careers. She had been traveling about 50% of the time, and while she misses some of the people she worked with, she enjoys extra time “off the road.” Debbie is now principal and founder of i4growth LLC, an independent consultancy helping businesses grow through insight, ideation, innovation, and inspiration. She and husband Mark are now empty nesters, with their oldest son living and working in Northern California and their youngest in Arlington, VA. Debbie has enjoyed reconnecting with a number of Cornell friends this past year via Zoom, and she hopes to see some in person as the pandemic resolves.

And as another season leaves and we say hello to the next one, I wish you health—no matter where in the world you continue to be a proud ’84 Cornellian. Write! Email! Everyone reading this column will love to hear from you. You know the name and email address of your class correspondent: ❖ José Nieves, jmn12@cornell.edu. Online news form.

1985

It’s summer 2021 as I write this, and the nation is opening up. How are we all doing these days? Glenn George, MBA ’86, from New Jersey, is proud to say son Teddy ’24, is a sophomore at Cornell majoring in Civil Engineering. Jim Rowe, chief of staff at the emergency animal hospital in West Chester, PA, sounds very satisfied in his work. He is happy to be available to his patients at all hours, and he loves seeing the bond between humans and animals. He is also thrilled that his daughter qualified for Districts in track, running 300-meter hurdles.

Susan Stevens Boucher (ssteveboucher@gmail.com) has retired to Washington, NH, writing novels and consulting part time for solar companies. Susan enjoys family time, pets, nature, and writing, but having “alone time” is definitely a good thing too! Steve Garrison is happy to be back in Orlando working for Marriott Vacation Club as director of sales operations! He enjoys spending time with wife Lisa. (35 years! Congratulations!) Steve’s daughter Carly lives nearby, and daughter Kristy is living in Australia—they’re hoping to get together in the fall. Steve is enjoying one day at a time, hoping the country will resume some form of normalcy, and looking forward to seeing Cornell sports again!

Nicholas Theodore from Ruxton, MD, says his son Costa ’20 graduated from Cornell last May; he rowed varsity crew for four years and is now teaching in Arizona while applying to law school. Nicholas’s younger son is now rowing for Columbia. Nicholas received a $13.48M award from DARPA to develop miniature ultrasound and electrical devices to treat patients with acute spinal cord injury. He continues to work in refining robotic technologies for spinal surgery, which he loves. He also looks forward to spending time with family and has been reminded during the pandemic that “life is short, and we need to make the most of it.” Well said! Now that Joseph Kulakofsky’s twins have graduated, he says his life can begin (LOL). He is “still trying” to run the engineering department at Blue Sky Research. He states, “Contrary to popular belief, we were not involved in the space lasers that started the fires in California.” Joseph says his golf game has been stellar! His takeaway from the pandemic is that “there is a sad lack of ‘collective good’ in this country that just lost a lot of lives.”

Paul Valerio (paul@valeriostrategy.com) is a branding strategy and market research consultant for creative services agencies and tech companies in the San Francisco Bay Area. Daughter Audrey graduated from U. of British Columbia in Vancouver—and had to stay there once the border closed. Son Oliver started high school online and had yet to go to in-person schooling when Paul wrote. Paul says he is learning to adapt to living more deliberately and with knowledge that old routines and assumptions were far more fragile than he knew. His takeaway from the pandemic: “That competence is essential and rare, and that the true measure of any society is how it treats its most vulnerable people in a time of crisis.”

Catherine Stockinger moved her chiropractic practice to a new office just at the start of the pandemic. She says it’s been a great place for patients to welcome “HEALTH care.” Catherine explains, “We need HEALTH care, not just sick care, even during a pandemic. Providing essential healthcare for patients desperate to avoid COVID hotspots, ERs, and urgent care centers took pressure off those facilities.” Her Cornell Nutrition education and further studies through her D.C. degree helped support those who work to avoid regression of immune-compromised health.

Karen Hovsepian Ayoub (karen.ayoub276@gmail.com) writes, “I feel very fortunate and blessed that the pandemic (the ‘pause’ as I call it) has not had any significant negative effects on my family. If anything, it has highlighted our resilience. Been wonderful to, at times, have my twin sons—Philip ’22 (Engineering) and Luc (Syracuse ’22)—studying from home, especially with the opportunity to listen in on their online lectures. After working in sports and special events management for 15-plus years and then being the at-home parent for twin sons for 18-plus years, I’m now in the process of figuring out the ‘next stage.’ After my husband’s passing in March 2018, it was time to begin a new chapter in my life. Sold our family home in Greenwich, CT, and moved to a waterfront community in Darien, fulfilling a dream of living by the water. Rediscovering spending time with family and friends, in particular my two favorite people in the world, my twin sons. So interesting to watch their character and personality develop on an almost daily basis. As with every experience, there are positives and negatives. Letting the positives motivate you and the negatives inform you to keep moving forward is something we all need to be reminded of, and usually it’s the ‘big’ events that do this. Change is inevitable; it’s all in how you view it.”

This pandemic has affected each of us in different ways, but I believe we have a lot in common in the takeaways. Moving forward is all we can do—as individuals, as communities, and as a society. Let’s make sure we do. ❖ Joyce Zelkowitz Cornett, cornett0667@comcast.net. Online news form.

1986

It is a relief to finally have news that involves in-person events like graduations, weddings, vacations, and family reunions. It seems most people are gratefully leaving the Zoom calls behind and stepping back into the “real world.”

We received news that Chris Goodman has been named chief marketing officer at Crowe, a public accounting, consulting, and technology firm in the US with offices around the world. Chris has more than 30 years of experience developing integrated marketing programs. He recently led his own marketing consulting firm and previously served in CMO roles at both KPMG and Accenture. He also served as an executive vice president at Young & Rubicam and a senior vice president at IMG. He is currently an executive coach at the Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management and a council member at the Villanova School of Business. He has also served on the advisory council at Ad Age. Congrats to Chris as he takes on this new role. Caroline Myers Nielson writes that she is adding more activities back into her life after vaccinations and with the arrival of warmer weather. She is retired and trying to figure out “what that looks like” for her. At the moment, it involves lots of volunteer work and appreciating time with loved ones, including her grown children. Her takeaway from the pandemic is that we all need to take some time to smell the flowers and appreciate our loved ones and the simple pleasures of togetherness.

Chris Arbogast shares news from Reno, NV, that he is working in the area of machine learning while his wife, Barbara, is dabbling with retirement—trying to figure out if it will be permanent. His son graduated from U. of Colorado, Boulder, and his daughter is a junior at the U. of Nevada, Reno. Jeff Lux is excited to share news of the graduations of his son, David (BFA in photography), and his daughter, Stephanie ’21 (Biomedical Engineering). Jeff was pleased that the Cornell Class of 2021 was able to have guests at Commencement. He noted one of his takeaways from the pandemic was how quickly work from home became the norm in the auto industry.

Summer travel plans kicked into high gear with many classmates taking off to visit friends and family. Sydney Solomon Neuhaus and her husband, Harry, spent time with Steve ’84 and Susan Seligsohn Howell on Martha’s Vineyard. Maggie Holcomb Schubauer and Jimmy ’87 attended daughter Julia ’18’s graduation from USC (MFA) and then took a trip up the California coast ending up in San Francisco, where their daughter Katie Schubauer Brooke ’13 lives. Tom Bernardo ’87 and his family also traveled to California to visit his daughter Sabrina in Big Sur. He and sons Lance and Thomas joined up with John Tagliaferri for some golf at Pebble Beach and Spanish Bay. “Tom and I and his two sons played two majestic rounds of golf in the historic forest at Pebble Beach,” John writes. “Despite some atrocious golf, a good time was had by all. Dinner at Cantinetta Luca with prosciutto di Parma and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese brought back great memories of our playing days for the Parma Panthers.”

One of the casualties of the pandemic was the cancellation of our in-person 35th Reunion. I hope some of you were able to participate in the virtual Reunion in early June or made plans for personal reunions with small groups of Cornell friends. Plans are already being made by some members of the classes of ’85 and ’86 to join the Class of ’87 next year for a cluster event. The Cornell spirit is indomitable! ❖ Lori Spydell Wagner, loriwagner86@gmail.com; Michael Wagner, mwagner123@gmail.com; Toby Goldsmith, toby.goldsmith@gmail.com. Online news form.

1987

Hello, classmates! I (Lisa Burns Griffin) hope you and your families are well and enjoyed the summer. As I write this column at the beginning of June, my husband and I are welcoming home our daughter, Clara ’24, who just completed her sophomore year as a Hotelie and is preparing to begin an internship at a winery on Seneca Lake. We also recently celebrated our son’s graduation from high school; Gates will be attending Emory U. in the fall. So an empty nest is on the horizon, and I am having great trouble wrapping my head around the notion!

This past year certainly was an unprecedented time for the Cornell community. I was very proud to watch the students step up to the plate, doing their part to keep the university open during the pandemic and making great sacrifices along the way. One aspect of my daily routine these past months was monitoring Cornell’s COVID-19 tracking page. At of the end of the academic year, roughly 75% of the on-campus population had been vaccinated, which makes me hopeful that next semester will resemble a more normal college experience for everyone.

A very bright spot is that Cornell was able to celebrate its 153rd graduating class—in person—by holding a series of smaller Commencement ceremonies instead of the customary single graduation ceremony. The ceremonies took place throughout Commencement weekend, May 28–30. Several children of our classmates graduated this year, including Amanda Cronin ’21, daughter of Audrey Mann Cronin; Gabriel Welch ’21, son of Ruth Weiner and Pat Welch ’85, MBA ’89; Lizzy Goldman ’21, daughter of Dan and Diana Lawson Goldman; and Brian Forness ’20 (who actually graduated in December 2020), son of Bob and Lindsay Liotta Forness ’84. Congratulations to the graduates and their families!

Susan Sheu Mann conveys happy news about her good friend and Cornell Alpha Phi sister Amy Wong. Amy married Robert Williams on Saturday, May 29, 2021. Best wishes to the newlyweds! Tom Tseng, ME ’94, reports that he met up with John Klein for a “mini-reunion in San Diego” at the end of May. The second edition of Leila Belkora, MS ’88’s 2002 book on the history of astronomy, Minding the Heavens: The Story of Our Discovery of the Milky Way, is due out this year. Leila is working on a new book and also recently joined the Astronomers for Planet Earth movement so that she can “incorporate ideas about climate change in my astronomy outreach.” Leila and her husband both work from home, and her daily life has not changed much since the pandemic. Leila enjoys regularly Zooming with “far-flung cousins” and marvels at “our good fortune that mRNA vaccine technology was ready in time for this pandemic.”

Jennifer Maisel’s play, Eight Nights, which premiered in Los Angeles at the Antaeus Theatre, won the Ovation Award for Best Playwriting. The Los Angeles Times praised Eight Nights as being “insightful and moving.” The play portrays a 19-year-old Holocaust survivor’s journey of recovery and renewal, offering a “deeply personal window into the refugee experience and its generational repercussions.” Jennifer recently shared her experiences with our class as part of the e-learning series “Adventures in Storytelling” program. If you would like to learn more about Jennifer’s works, you can check out her website. Jay Bainbridge ’86, BA ’87, who is an associate professor at Marist College, co-authored a recently published book titled How Ten Global Cities Take on Homelessness: Innovations That Work. The book “takes on perhaps the most formidable issue facing metropolitan areas today: the large numbers of people experiencing homelessness within cities.” Jay is one of “four dedicated experts with firsthand experience who profile ten cities—Bogota, Mexico City, Los Angeles, Houston, Nashville, New York City, Baltimore, Edmonton, Paris, and Athens—to explore ideas, strategies, successes, and failures. The authors answer essential questions about the nature and causes of homelessness and analyze how cities have used innovation and local political coordination to address this pervasive problem.”

That’s all for now, but please keep sending your news our way. We love hearing from you! You can submit a Share Your News form, fill out the online news form, or email any of us at the following addresses: ❖ Lisa Burns Griffin, LAG77@cornell.edu; Whitney Weinstein Goodman, wwg5@cornell.edu; and Liz Brown, etb29@cornell.edu.

1988

Happy fall, classmates! I hope you are all enjoying the changing colors and the cooler temperatures. I know I am! I always loved the cool, crisp autumn days on Cornell’s campus, and I hope all the new first-years are enjoying new experiences, new classes, meeting amazing classmates, and diving into everything that Cornell has to offer.

Jane Wiener Parish’s daughter Rebecca is one of those lucky first-years this season, as she has just begun her journey as part of the Class of 2025! She was admitted last spring and we wish her a wonderful four years! Jill Katz Miller, JD ’91 (jmiller@mtrustlaw.com) and her husband, Michael, wrote in to tell us that their youngest daughter, Dana Katz ’25, will also be joining the Cornell community as a first-year in the School of Hotel Administration! “So exciting!” While Dana is enjoying all the newness that Ithaca has to offer, Jill remains in New Jersey and continues to commute to her New York City office M–F, working as an estate attorney. In addition, this past spring semester Jill worked as the director of estate planning clinics at Cornell Law School. The things that bring her the most satisfaction these days are a good work-life balance and making sure she has time to spend with her family, friends, and colleagues. Jill’s biggest takeaway from the pandemic is that we can do a lot more remotely than any of us could have anticipated. “Webinars reach a lot more people vs. seminars! And this has been especially beneficial for the Cornell Law School estate planning community.”

New Cornell beginnings are very exciting, but equally exciting are the culminations of four years of study! Jill Silverman Greenspan is happy to announce that she celebrated son Joshua ’21’s Cornell Commencement this past spring as he graduated from the School of Hotel Administration. Jill writes that after graduation, Josh moved to Columbus, OH, in August to start work for Lument, a commercial real estate financial services company. Congratulations! Andréa Meadow Danziger also sent happy news about daughter Sophia ’21’s graduation. “I am so proud! It was a cold and dreary weekend, but it was thrilling to attend the in-person graduation! Cornell did an excellent job orchestrating four separate ceremonies, split up by colleges, so that every student could participate in a graduation ceremony. Sophia will be working at Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) in New York City in sales and trading. Other classmates who I saw with their graduating seniors included Caryn Abner Zweig, David and Jen Brooks Trachtenberg ’89, and Jill Greenspan. We all ran into each other the first evening in the pouring rain, bundled up and masked up at the Argos Inn.”

Alison Minton continues to share updates about her now-famous cockatoo, Chris, who made news in the British Press in June. For those of you not yet familiar with Chris, he is quite the actor and recently made an appearance in an episode of “Million Dollar Listing New York” that aired mid-June. If you would like to see him you can watch Season 9, episode 7 on demand! His next starring role will be as the subject of a children’s book. Stay tuned. Jennifer Krasnoff tells us that due to COVID, she is spending more time becoming domesticated. Changes include more time to cook, chill, enjoy the outdoors, and spend with her kids and pets! A real turnaround from work-around-the-clock life. However, as a dermatologist, Jennifer has been busy developing smarter sun protection. Because she could not find a great sleeve for outdoor protection to use during endurance training, she made one! It is called Dr. Jen’s UVRx and you can check it out here. When asked what her biggest takeaway form the pandemic was, Jen replied, “Gratitude for the small stuff: health and value of domestic life at home.”

We also heard from Jayne Gilbert Peister, who sent in this update, “After being tapped for four different consulting roles in biotech clinical operations and commercialization, I decided to create my company, Access Biotech Consulting!” Jayne chose to be very busy post-retirement, after working at Eli Lilly and Co. for 30 years! As for the rest of her family, her oldest daughter has moved to Boulder, CO, and her youngest daughter to Israel. What brings Jayne the most satisfaction these days is spending time riding through beautiful Westchester, Fairfield, and Dutchess counties on her new road bike. Her biggest takeaway from the pandemic is that life without #FOMO is a much more comfortable one!

Thank you to everyone who contributed news to our column! We appreciate hearing from everyone and what you and your families are up to. As always, send us your stories, “hellos,” good news, sad news, whatever you wish to share. We all just want to stay in touch! You can reach us using the online news form, or write to any one of us at the addresses below. Until next time! ❖ Debbie Kaplan Gershenson, dag97@cornell.edu; Aliza Stein Angelchik, aangelchik@sonorusbrand.com; or Lynn Berni, smartymc66-cornell@yahoo.com.

1989

In the early days of the Great Shutdown, at my lowest points, I would find myself repeatedly blinking, long and hard, behind my mask (or gossamer veil, as I would think about it at those moments) in desperate and futile attempts to channel Barbara Eden’s magic eyelids from “I Dream of Jeannie.” “[BLINK] Just make it all go back to the way it was. [BLINK BLINK] Please just go back to the way it was. [BLINK BLINK BLINK BLINK] GO BACK TO THE WAY IT WAS!”I did this several times until one time I caught someone staring at me in the Kroger aisle. Now, over a year later as I write this, my eyes are blinking again, but now my forearm is raised to my brow amidst the blinding light of Possibility (and the unbridled storm of metaphors). Sure, the physical, emotional, and financial detritus of the surroundings is more akin to the “morning after” scene from The Hangover than to a 1960s sitcom, but the masks are off and there’s no tiger in the bathroom, so things are looking up, at least for now. And we’ve received quite a bit of class news to prove it.

As for me, having had the ultimate false start to our empty nesting a year and a half ago with the sudden (and mercifully temporary) return of our younger son from college for five months of 2020, my fully vaccinated husband and I just returned from a belated 28th anniversary trip to New Orleans and will be heading to Hilton Head and Las Vegas over the next few months. We also plan to make nuisances of ourselves with our two sons in Maryland and Indiana, soon and frequently.

Several of our classmates shared good news from the year that was. Alan Eisner, ME ’92, writes, “In September I moved from Pace U., where I’d been a professor for more than 20 years, to Clark U. in Worcester, MA, to be the dean of the School of Management. Helaine Korn ’86 and I celebrated 25 years together, and Jacob ’20 and Rachel graduated from college. So even in a pandemic, some good things happen.” Janine Lossing writes from Potomac, MD, “I’ve retired from 25 years in marketing consulting and am now helping high school students with their college essays. I love it! Brian ’21 is graduating in May and headed to Ft. Sill, OK, after commissioning to serve in the Army. He has thrived in his four years of ROTC at Cornell and we are very proud of him.”

“Work has gotten super-busy; who would have thought working from home could be so time-consuming?” writes Trevor Steer. “General Motors calls it ‘Work Appropriately,’ and it means we can work from anywhere that is appropriate, is convenient, and meets GM’s cybersecurity guidelines. I still need to be physically available for things that come up that require my presence, but it does mean that for short periods of time, I can do my work from anywhere without having to use full vacation days (as I just did for about a week in Florida). I am LOVING this WFH thing. Monnika and I are both fully vaccinated and back to traveling quite a bit: family trip to Florida; Nashville weekend (solo); Put-in-Bay, OH, weekend (with Monnika); a golf weekend trip (solo); and two Jamaica trips (one solo in July and one with the family at the end of the year). Should be a great year!”

Debbie Schaffel echoes Trevor’s thoughts on WFH and travel, writing, “During the past 15 months I have spent my time working way more than anyone should, exercising a lot, and looking forward to traveling again. Now that things have started to open up again, I spent the last week in April in Turks and Caicos and Memorial Day weekend visiting friends in Atlanta. Upcoming trips include a quick weekend at Disney followed by a slightly longer weekend to Iceland and then a jaunt to Fenway to see NKOTB (New Kids On The Block) in a twice-postponed concert date and a visit with Suki Tepperberg while in Boston. I continue to work from home and don’t see any signs of that ending anytime soon as my company is being surprisingly conservative about opening back up.”

While Lyon Hall buddies Carol Borack Copenhaver, Lisa Spellman Porter, Vaishali Trivedi Bhatt, and I continue to get together via Zoom every few weeks, there was a mini in-person Mennen Hall reunion recently when Doug, ME ’90, MBA ’91, and Lisa Peskin Merrill ’90 learned that Chuck Taylor would be staying overnight in Burlington as a pilot for Jet Blue. They gathered for a sunset dinner overlooking Lake Champlain with fellow Vermont residents Chris Ford and Bill Kallock ’90. Doug writes that he and Lisa live outside of Burlington, VT, and were excited to return to Ithaca to celebrate the graduation of son Alex ’21. While on campus, they enjoyed seeing Craig and Lisa Hamburg Pearson, who were present for daughter Melissa ’21’s graduation. Craig and Doug reminisced about their time on the sailing team with Boris Corujo ’87, whose daughter, Pia ’21, graduated as well.

“My family and I are spending a lot of time at our farm in Skaneateles, NY,” writes Albert Joerger, PhD ’97. “I recently joined the Central New York Land Trust as president and CEO. Our four children are off at college. We spend time together at our farm.” Albert has an excellent perspective on this past year, citing spending time with family as the most satisfying of activities. May we all take to heart the words with which Albert closed his update: “This is not a rehearsal! Live now!” Hopefully, if your eyes are blinking excitedly nowadays, it’s not because of the unexplained presence of jungle animals in your home but rather because your future is so very bright. ❖ Kris Borovicka Gerig, kgerig@columbus.rr.com; Lauren Kidder McGarry, laurenkiddermcgarry@gmail.com; Stephanie Bloom Avidon, savidon1@hotmail.com; Anne Czaplinski Treadwell, ac98@cornell.edu. Online news form.

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1990s

1990

In my first full column as your class correspondent, I am happy to share exciting news of new college beginnings and recent college graduations of many of our classmates’ children. A number of classmates have children who started at Cornell in August and who, as an added bonus, will be on our Reunion schedule once they graduate!

Christine Monterosso’s son Josh De Leeuw ’25 joins the College of Engineering. Christine and husband Marc De Leeuw are also busy raising Adam, 15, Sara, 9, three dogs, and three cats! Alice Alonge Kenniff, MS ’91, and husband Jim also have a new Cornellian in the family: “Happy to say Dylan will be joining the Cornell Class of 2025, studying Computer Science. It’s been his goal since he was a little boy and thought it would be fun to roll down Libe Slope.” During the pandemic, Alice “took advantage of Cornell’s online offerings, including the wines class I didn’t have a chance to take on campus.”

Congratulations to classmates with children at the other end of the college journey! In May, Jonathan and Adena Walker Goldberg celebrated the graduation of their son Ben ’21, who now begins work as a software engineer at Datadog in NYC. Adena writes, “It was a surreal experience watching my son march across Schoellkopf Field as he graduated from Cornell Engineering, remembering my 21-year-old self doing the same thing 31 years earlier with Jonathan seated next to me—then as students on the field and now as parents in the stands.” Adena and Jonathan live in Westchester County, NY, where Adena uses her law degree in projects for advocacy, civil rights, and social justice, and Jonathan is an oncologist at CareMount Medical Group. They have three other sons: Noah, a second-year law student at Cardozo; Daniel, a sophomore at Northwestern U.; and Jonah, a ninth grader who has not yet divulged whether he eventually will apply to Cornell. Howard ’89 and Karen Saul Miller’s son Parker ’21, BS ’20, earned a BS in December 2020 and a master’s in Electrical and Computer Engineering in May from Cornell, and started work at MITRE Labs in Boston in July. Their son Harris ’24 is a member of the Cornell Racing project team, an engineering project team that designs and builds electric racecars to compete with other student teams from around the globe. Son Grant is a sophomore at Babson College and completed an internship this summer at Got Sole, an online sneaker hub.

Scott and Jennifer Bitz Gold’s son, Zachary, graduated from Yale in May and moved to Cambridge, MA, for a job with a renewable energy company. “We are amazed, not just by his accomplishments, but that we could possibly have a kid who has graduated from college!” Daughter Gillian, a sophomore at Yale, enjoyed her first year “despite virtual classes and an untraditional experience.” Jen and Scott recently celebrated their 26th wedding anniversary “with a home delivery of ice cream from Cornell’s Dairy Bar.” Jocelyn Auyeung Wietfeldt and husband Peter’s oldest son, Dylan ’22, is studying Food Science in CALS. Their son Justin is a sophomore at U. of Michigan, where he plays on the men’s lacrosse team, and son Cameron is a sophomore at New Canaan High School. Jocelyn serves as secretary of the Cornell Club of Fairfield County, CT.

William Navas, who started a consulting business that provides development and project management services to hotel owners, discovered during the pandemic that “business can be done differently without downside.” William lives in Great Falls, VA, with wife Susanne, who is pursuing a second master’s degree at William & Mary. Their daughter, Jacqueline ’23, is in the College of Human Ecology. Classmate Jennifer McComb also has been studying through Cornell. In May, after four months of weekend classes, Jennifer completed an eCornell certificate program in Executive Presence. “I can already see a huge difference in my confidence in public speaking,” she said, “which is helpful to me in my role as president and CEO of the Community Foundation of the Florida Keys.” Jen resides in Key West, FL, where she recently met up with Alex Counts ’88, Dave Geller ’74, and Stephanie Burke Scuderi ’94 at the Salty Oyster.

Elisa Barfus Bremner lives in Armonk, NY, with husband Ross and is now an empty nester. Older son James has a graduate training job in England and younger son Cameron graduated (a year early!) from the U. of Vermont in May. Elisa works at the Arc Westchester with adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, teaching healthy cooking and meal planning. She created cooking videos for the Arc website during the pandemic when in-home visits were on hold. “I’m now up to ‘Quick Easy Delicious’ number 35. My job brings satisfaction when a client tells me how I helped them to make better choices.” Elisa, who took to frequent hikes when her gym closed during the pandemic, reflected that “daily activity outside in nature is so much better than the gym! And we adopted a second cat, a rambunctious Turkish Van kitten that keeps us entertained. We have so much to be grateful for.”

It’s wonderful to hear so much happy news from our classmates, despite the difficulties of the pandemic over the past year. Please keep your news coming and email any of us directly: ❖ Nancy Solomon Weiss, nancyswm@outlook.com; Allan Rousselle, agr2@cornell.edu; Rose Tanasugarn, nt28@cornell.edu. Online news form.

1991

Although we were all disappointed not to celebrate our 30th Reunion on Libe Slope this June, the Class of 1991 pulled together an incredible virtual Reunion. Our virtual Reunion allowed us to extend the celebration over a few months, and classmates were able to participate in innovative and exciting ways. Planning efforts were led by Reunion chair Jeff Weintraub, MD ’95, and class president Jana Pompadur Kierstead.

Our first event, held in April, was led by Kim Brown Bixler and Abbe Goldberg Groffman. We were treated to special performances by Cornell’s a cappella group the Touchtones and Cornell’s amazing dance group BreakFree. We heard and saw how current Touchtones and BreakFree dancers pivoted during the pandemic, and ’91 Touchtones alumni Kim Martin-Epstein, Erinn Greene Ryen, and Lisa Dell DeLuca also joined in the celebration! Our next event, in May, “Eating the Future,” planned by Dorine Colabella DiConti and J. Tim Vanini, began with music by the Hangovers and featured a presentation from ’91 classmate Mitchell Davis, a foremost expert in the fields of food, restaurants, and food systems change. Some classmates who joined also created the featured beverage for the evening, the “Rhubarb Shrub.”

Then in June, we held the Class of ’91 rooms party, which occurred during the University’s virtual Reunion weekend. Thanks to Eric Rosario, BA ’10, and Kathy Kraus Bolks for their planning efforts, which allowed many ’91ers to re-connect and meet some new ’91ers as well. Our final Reunion event, in July, coordinated by Kim Bixler, involved a virtual chocolate trip around the globe, and we learned the ins and outs of chocolate tasting as we sampled delicious offerings made with cacao grown all over the world. Additional thank-yous go out to the other ’91ers that were very involved in virtual Reunion planning including Paul Hayre, Bob Baca, Andrew Stifel, Robyn Lipsky Weintraub, Ruby Wang Pizzini, Charles Wu, Kris Hurley van Riper, and Karen Paul Zimmer, MD ’98.

Hopefully some of you tuned in to the University-sponsored Reunion event “Clash of the Cornellians,” a trivia night challenge to see how well contestants (from any Reunion class) know Cornell today. Our very own Jeff Weintraub, MD ’95, took the win! And another huge congratulations goes out to Robyn Weintraub, who had her 35th New York Times crossword puzzle published and has hit for the cycle, having created a crossword every day of the week for the New York Times. Well done, Jeff and Robyn! In other class news, ’91 set a new record in funds raised for a 30th Reunion campaign. We also reached our goal for Cornell Giving Partner Members and for the Annual Fund. Thank you all for your generous contributions!

As we were not able to meet in person, the Class of ’91 is sponsoring a Reunion memory book. This project, spearheaded by Charles Wu, provides all classmates an opportunity to catch up with others. Hundreds of classmates have already participated, and we encourage all of you to join. Create a private page before the end of this year (secure and only visible to other ’91ers) all about you: what you’re up to these days, favorite memories of your time on the Hill, and pics from then and now. If you did not receive an email with a link and instructions, please drop us a message at cornell91@cornell.edu, and we’ll send you the link to join.

The conclusion of our 30th marks the beginning of a five-year run for our next slate of class officers. Check out the full listing here. This is the last column for Tim Vanini and Lori Attanasio Woodring. Joe Marraccino and Wendy Milks Coburn will be staying on as correspondents, and will be joined by Ruby Wang Pizzini, Susan Curtis Schneider, and Evelyn Achuck Yue. Please keep in touch and send any news or updates by using the online news form. Have a wonderful summer and don’t forget to write in and tell us what you have been doing! ❖ Lori Attanasio Woodring, lori.woodring@yahoo.com; Joe Marraccino, Joe.Marraccino@wfafinet.com; Wendy Milks Coburn, wmilkscoburn@me.com; Ruby Wang Pizzini, ruby.pizzini@gmail.com; Susan Curtis Schneider, skc12@cornell.edu; and Evelyn Achuck Yue, evelyn_yue@yahoo.com.

1992

As I write this, summer has begun, and things are starting to feel more normal. Another sign of normalcy is news from classmates! But first, a bit of housekeeping. Since the new format of our Class Notes is published online, the news intake form has been updated so you opt in to have your email address included. So please know that if an email address is listed below, that classmate has asked for it to be published. Thanks!

Ajay Makhija served as Foreign Service medical officer for the US Dept. of State in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. His family was evacuated out of Ethiopia during the COVID pandemic and political unrest. He continued to serve in Addis without them but was happy to be reunited after six months! He writes, “Family is important and critical for mental well-being during the pandemic.” So glad you are safe and together again! Eileen Rappaport buys, sells, and rents residential real estate in New York City. She also runs a 5K in Central Park almost every day. Her daughter is almost 11 years old, and Eileen enjoys dancing and playing tennis with her. They hope to travel to Holland and Italy as soon as they are able. Eileen’s biggest takeaway from the pandemic: “Cherish your family. Take time to relax. Stay healthy—it’s what’s most important!”

Theresa Lewis has entered her 17th year of service with the New York State Office of Children and Family Services as a child care licensor. Working remotely was a challenge at first, but for Theresa it became a very positive experience. “Slowing down has its benefits.” Family has always been her priority. She writes, “The pandemic has changed how we interact with each other. Despite the changes in how we interact, our bonds have been strengthened and time together prioritized.” Neeraj Khemlani began a new role as president and co-head of CBS News and the CBS Television Stations. He is responsible for a newly formed division that unifies CBS News, CBS News Digital, and CBS Television Stations. Neeraj is an award-winning journalist and news and media executive with a very impressive and notable resume! He is married to author and former ABC News correspondent Heather Cabot, and they are the parents of teenage twins.

Someone else with teenage twins is Jennifer Livingston Schwartz (Hailey, ID; jandlschwartz@hotmail.com) and her husband, Larry ’89. Their twin boys will be starting high school next year. Jennifer and her family love to be outdoors and ski, hike, bike, and run. Jennifer’s biggest takeaway from the pandemic is resilience and flexibility. She and Larry own daVinci’s Italian restaurant, which will have celebrated 25 years in business by the time this is published. I’m sure resilience and flexibility were important for both their personal and business lives this past year. Congrats! Kurt Voellmicke, MD ’96 (a twin himself), and Lisa Ipp-Voellmicke, MD ’96, have a daughter who will be a freshman in Cornell’s College of Engineering this fall. Welcome to the club! It’s so fun to see your kids making the campus their own.

Out in California, Tanya Kachen Bentley (tanyabentley@gmail.com) does health economics analysis for a mindfulness-based research center at UCLA. She also runs a research-based nonprofit studying the science of breathing for health and well-being, called the Health & Human Performance Foundation. During the pandemic, she enjoyed regular online Buddhist meditations and teachings, journaling, surfing, hiking, snowboarding, and connecting with family and friends. Tanya has two kids. Her daughter is at MIT and her son is in high school.

Also in California, Dylan Willoughby, MFA ’95, keeps writing and publishing poems in Fahmidan Journal, Bloom Magazine (Scotland), vulnerary magazine, and the Laurel Review. He is working on two new albums under his music moniker, Lost in Stars. Patricia Cutillo Jillson (patty_cc@yahoo.com) lives in Amherst, NH, with her husband, Michael ’91, and two daughters. Patricia wrote that she’s a “still-at-home” mother (love that!) who is working to re-find and reinvent herself and get back into writing. She is enjoying reminiscing, reflecting, and looking forward. She says, “Finding the good in unfortunate circumstances helps me sleep better at night.”

My business, Pine Hill Events LLC, recently celebrated our ten-year anniversary! As you can imagine, the pandemic hit the events industry very hard. I’m so happy that we are bouncing back and I’m busy planning in-person events again! And speaking of events, our 30th Reunion is coming up, June 9–12, 2022! Please plan to join us! And send us your news! Email us or use the online news form. Be well! ❖ Jean Kintisch, jmk226@cornell.edu; Lois Duffy Castellano, LKD2@cornell.edu.

1993

Hello all! We hope you had a wonderful summer with family and friends, filled with laughter and love. If we’ve learned anything over the past year and a half, it’s to take the time to enjoy life, focus on the positive, and re-connect with our daily activities and routines that were previously on pause. Here’s some welcome news from our classmates.

Justin Sacks (jmsacks@wustl.edu) reports that he and his family—spouse Bethany and a teenage son and daughter—have relocated from Baltimore, MD, to St. Louis, MO, where he is now the Shoenberg Professor and chief of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Washington U. in St. Louis. In addition to overseeing the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Justin performs head-to-toe cancer, trauma, and aesthetic reconstruction surgeries. He is also the co-founder of the biotech company LifeSprout.

Susan Kadiff Owen of Brookline, MA, shares the good news that her grandson, Jasper, was admitted early decision to the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning in the Class of 2026. Jasper’s father, Josh Owen, is also a classmate of ours. Congratulations to Jasper! Keep the good news coming with your adventures and accomplishments! ❖ Mia Blackler, miablackler@yahoo.com; Melissa Hart Moss, melimoss@yahoo.com; Theresa Flores, taf6@cornell.edu. Online news form.

1994

From Hong Kong, Sean Alexander, MBA ’01, reports that he’s been living a healthier, more family-oriented lifestyle these days. When he’s not at work—selling third-party research for Arete—Sean enjoys hiking trails in the area. He’s also been “giving time to the French Int’l School in Hong Kong” lately, especially given that his biggest takeaway from the pandemic is that “children need to be in school.”

As for Jorge Rey, his biggest takeaway is “the importance of being prepared for events of this nature—and counting blessings every day.” Jorge is the director of regulatory response and senior derivatives counsel at Factor Law. “I’ve been working from home for the past 14 months and am grateful I have more time to spend with my family, read, exercise, and rest. I’m also grateful that my entire family has now been able to get vaccinated, and I’m getting ready to celebrate my five-year wedding anniversary.” What brings him the most satisfaction these days? “Having my pets accompany me during the workday—and catching up with my Cornell friends via Zoom!” Catch up with your Cornell friends by sending us your news! ❖ Dineen Pashoukos Wasylik, dmp5@cornell.edu; Jennifer Rabin Marchant, jar1229@yahoo.com; Dika Lam, dikaweb@yahoo.com. Online news form.

1995

Just a couple of updates this installment—but very exciting ones at that! Michelle “Mikki” Knudsen (michelle.knudsen@gmail.com) published her 50th book for young readers in May 2021, She Persisted: Nellie Bly, a biography of the groundbreaking journalist and part of Chelsea Clinton’s new She Persisted chapter book series featuring American women who changed the world. Mikki also sold the rights to her next picture book, “Luigi,” which will be illustrated by Library Lion artist Kevin Hawkes and tells the story of a spider, mistaken for a kitten, who gradually comes to love his newly adopted home. Her best and happiest news, however, is that she married Mr. Jaz Ellis in a tiny and beautiful backyard ceremony on June 5, 2021. This joyful event also made her the incredibly lucky stepmom of two amazing girls.

And Steve, MS ’96 (sheinzel@gmail.com) and Wendi Rabiner Heinzelman are excited to announce that their son, Nate ’25, will be joining Cornell’s freshman class this fall in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. He’ll be a third-generation Cornell engineer.

Would love to hear what you’re up to—please share using any of the following links! ❖ Alison Torrillo French, amt7@cornell.edu. Class website. Class Facebook page. Online news form.

1996

We’ve certainly been through a lot over the past year and a half. Now, many elements of our daily routines, experiences, and lives are moving closer to something approximating “normal.” But we’ll probably remember a lot about this time. Fortunately, as our classmates will attest, this includes some valuable lessons learned!

Marjorie Polycarpe Jean-Paul is leading development and alumni relations while also serving as the chair of the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) committee for a private, independent school. She sees every day the effects of new, pandemic-inspired protocols. They not only help to protect students, faculty, and staff, but also demonstrate that safety is a true community responsibility, where everyone has their own vital role to play. COVID cautions aside, Marjorie is fulfilled to see in real time the fruits of her fundraising and community engagement work. By learning in a more inclusive environment, students are able to better interact with each other and work through differences, which positively impacts their overall experiences in school—and in life!

Marjorie returned to Cornell to get a certificate in DEI and, in the true Cornell spirit of turning knowledge into action, created Black Advancement Networking Group (BANG) as a career development resource for professionals of color. She also presents at a variety of New York State and national conferences. Over this time, Marjorie has recognized that her passion is to create opportunities to help others build community connections. With a 9-year-old and a 14-year-old who is just entering high school, Marjorie is enjoying the educational journey of her own kids as well!

Tseng-Yuan “Steve” Chen, ME ’97, is group chairman for Group Meridian Enterprise, part of APEX Int’l Trading Co. Ltd. He reports that Taiwan got the pandemic under control early last year, so that besides working from home for a few months, business life was not greatly altered. Even so, he observed the importance of staying humble and thankful. With his hard work paying off, Tseng-Yuan is grateful to be able to support his family. His son, Collin ’22, will be graduating a semester early this year, and his daughter, Chloe, is hopeful that in a few years she will be able to come to campus as a student! In March 2020, Karin Klapper Orenstein moved to Maine, a long-term plan that preceded the pandemic. After six months of telecommuting, she left her job in order to put family first. But during her time working from home (which was a new arrangement at her organization), Karin found that it offered new opportunities for productivity. She hopes that employers in general learn from this so that everyone can benefit.

As your class correspondent, I’d say we have also been through a lot over the years! With our newly approved slate of class officers, I’ll be switching roles to serve as VP to our new president, Jennifer Lagnado-Papp, MAT ’97, with Alexi Clinton providing guidance as immediate past president. I’m honored to continue working with these amazing women to support our class. Plus, we have a team of new class correspondents ready to carry the torch and share our truths. So keep those stories coming! ❖ Lee Hendelman, LeeHProHelp@gmail.com; Catherine Oh Bonita, catherine.bonita@gmail.com; Marjorie Polycarpe Jean-Paul, carpo129@hotmail.com; Janine Abrams Rethy, janine.rethy@gmail.com. Online news form.

1997

Ever wonder where your food comes from? Back in February, Jorrie Adams Bruffett was an alumni panelist for “The Business of Food: From Farm to Table,” a livestream discussion on this topic hosted by Cornell’s College of Business. Jorrie is the president of Pret A Manger (popularly referred to as Pret), an international sandwich shop franchise chain based in the UK. “Since opening our first shop in London in 1986, Pret’s mission has been simple,” notes its website. “To serve freshly made food and good organic coffee, while also trying to do the right thing.”

Please take a moment to send us your news! What have you been doing for work? Did you pick up any interesting quarantine hobbies? What did you learn from Cornell that has stuck with you? We’d love to keep in touch. ❖ Sarah Deardorff Carter, sjd5@cornell.edu; Erica Broennle Nelson, ejb4@cornell.edu. Online news form.

1998

Class of 1998, we always want to hear from you! As the world begins to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions are lifted, know that your ties to the Big Red family remain strong. Here’s what some of our classmates have been up to!

In March 2021, Christopher Fonzone, a partner at Sidley Austin LLP in the privacy and cybersecurity group, was nominated to the Biden-Harris Administration as general counsel for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. After he graduated from Harvard Law School in 2007, Christopher clerked for Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, then for Justice Stephen Breyer of the US Supreme Court. Prior to joining Sidley, Christopher served as deputy assistant and deputy counsel to President Obama and as legal adviser to the National Security Council. In May, the 24 recipients of the 2021 Bush Fellowship were announced, and Nathan Johnson was honored as one of the extraordinary leaders in his profession. He will receive a $100,000 grant from the Bush Foundation to further his cause: more equitable opportunities for community-engaged development and diversifying the architecture world.

To honor her late father, Neil Krieger ’62, who passed away due to COVID-19, Hilary Krieger and her brother, Jonathan, have been trying to get the word “orbisculate”—a term coined by their father—recognized as a legitimate word in the dictionary. According to the Krieger family, the word means “to accidentally squirt juice and/or pulp into one’s eye, as from a grapefruit when using a spoon to scoop out a section for eating.” Check out their website. David Haro celebrated his one-year work anniversary at LiveRamp, working on data collaboration solutions. Outside of work, David volunteers with the local Scouts organizations, where they teach young people about community service, appreciating the great outdoors, and life skills they will carry into adulthood. Thank you all for sharing your latest news, and keep the updates coming! ❖ Uthica Jinvit Utano, udj1@cornell.edu. Online news form.

1999

Teju Prasad collaborated with his father to write What’s my Frequency?, a children’s book that aims to teach toddlers about sound frequency through animal noises. Teju’s father, Dr. M.G. Prasad, was a professor of mechanical engineering at the Stevens Inst. of Technology for more than 37 years who specialized in acoustics, sound, and vibration. “It was his and my vision to create a book that would introduce science to children in a fun and relatable way,” says Teju. “Working on this project with my father was extremely meaningful to me. Given his passion for the study of acoustics and vibration, I knew [this book] would be an excellent part of his continued legacy.”

Amanda Ann Klein’s new book, Millennials Killed the Video Star: MTV’s Transition to Reality Programming, is now available from Duke University Press. Drawing on interviews with industry workers from MTV programs such as “The Real World” and “Teen Mom,” Amanda examines the historical, cultural, and industrial factors leading to MTV’s shift away from music videos to reality programming in the early 2000s and 2010s. Amanda, associate professor of film studies at East Carolina U., is also the author of American Film Cycles: Reframing Genres, Screening Social Problems, and Defining Subcultures, and coeditor of Cycles, Sequels, Spin-offs, Remakes, and Reboots: Multiplicities in Film and Television.

Michael Allers recently joined the law firm Gunderson Dettmer as a partner in its San Francisco office. Mike has significant experience representing growth equity and private equity funds in equity financings, mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures, among other strategic transactions. “It is exciting to join a firm with such an exemplary reputation in this ecosystem and a single-minded commitment to the same types of clients I am focused on,” he said. Mike earned his JD from the U. of Michigan Law School and a master’s from the Naval Postgraduate School. He also served as an officer in the US Navy. Please send us your news! ❖ Class of 1999, c/o Alexandra Bond ’12, abb83@cornell.edu. Online news form.

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2000s

2000

I love hearing news from fellow alumni! Cornellians are out there, celebrating milestones, accomplishing goals, making progress, and changing the world for the better. Here are a few things your fellow class members are doing.

Many thanks to Phil Yuen, CEO of Aurabeat Technologies in Hong Kong, who made a significant contribution to the health and safety of Cornell staff and students during the COVID pandemic. Phil’s company has developed an air filtration system that can eliminate 99.9% of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) from the air indoors. He was able to manufacture and donate 30 units to the Statler Hotel, which has been used to house students in isolation. Phil’s company has also installed many units throughout Hong Kong, in restaurants, schools, and office buildings.

Kara Doyle, PhD ’00, writes, “I’m very pleased to announce the publication of my book, The Reception of Chaucer’s Shorter Poems, 1400-1450: Female Audiences, English Manuscripts, French Contexts (Boydell and Brewer Press, 2021). It’s a study of the way Chaucer’s audiences initially encountered his female-voiced and female-focused short poems—namely, in manuscript collections together with late medieval French works and poems by some of Chaucer’s imitators. Analyzed as a group, these anthologies reveal the roots of the controversy about Chaucer’s sympathy for women’s perspectives. They also suggest the multilingual context that shaped both Chaucer’s poems and his audiences’ reactions to them, and hint at the female social networks in which his poems circulated in the first 50 years after his death.”

You can make your submission for the Class Notes to me at: ❖ Denise Williams, ddw7@cornell.edu. Online news form.

2001

Thanks to our Class of 2001 Reunion co-chairs, Marisa Laks and Lorraine Medeiros-Fago, virtual Reunion brought us together to celebrate 20 years since we marched proudly out of Schoellkopf Field as newly minted Cornell grads.

Heading into the jam-packed long weekend of webinars and online concerts, we offered commemorative T-shirts featuring a pandemic-themed Class of 2001 logo (designed by Lorraine) and presented two events just for our classmates—who tuned in from Canada, China, Korea, India, and across the US. For a Friday night cooking demonstration, Alison Gilmore Carr taught us how to make a baked version of Cornell Chicken (invented by Prof. Robert Baker ’43), Cape Codder cocktails, pesto, salad dressing, and a summer berry trifle. For Saturday game night, we played trivia and Pictionary and enjoyed a virtual escape room. Congratulations to our winners—Kate Costa Leming, Michael Hanson, MPA ’02, Steve, ME ’02, and Heather Bernstein Kopleff, and Josh Blackler—who received Cornell Store gift cards as prizes.

Some of us managed to spontaneously turn the virtual festivities into an in-person event after all, watching along with Cornellians in our homes or neighborhoods—or from even farther away. Kudos to Emily Hollander Levine’s timing for hosting Tara Benedict, Claire Blais Santarelli, John, ME ’02, MBA ’07, and Alison Gilmore Carr, Leigh Craven, Kristin Lorenze, and Erin Richter Weber (coming in from Maryland for the occasion) and their families for a barbecue at her Wakefield, MA, home. Helmed by Lora Epstein and Sarah Binder Mehta, our special 20th Reunion campaign raised more than $1.5 million for our alma mater, from 501 classmates (31 at the Tower Club level). Check out the honor roll here. (If you haven’t yet made your donation, there is still time. Every gift of any amount counts!) Relatedly, this year’s Class of 2001 Meinig Family Scholarship, a projected payout of $3,725, has been awarded to a College of Human Ecology senior.

We’re excited to welcome our new slate of class officers, with a few vacancies still available for anyone who would like to work on programs and activities leading up to our big 25th Reunion (save the date: June 4–7, 2026): co-presidents, Lora Epstein and Michael Hanson; co-VPs and membership chairs, Malinda Lesko and Sarah Mehta; secretary, (vacant); Cornell Annual Fund representatives, Stephen McBrady, Sarah Mehta, and Troy Townsend; communications co-chairs, Nicole Neroulias Gupte and James Gutow; treasurer, Praveen Anumolu, ME ’03 (temporary); Reunion chairs, Marisa Laks and Lorraine Medeiros-Fago; Reunion registration chair, Claire Ackerman; affinity chair, Tara Benedict; class council members, Claire Ackerman, Praveen Anumolu, Tara Benedict, and Jeremy Werner. In my experience, serving as a class officer has been a great way to reconnect with old friends and even make wonderful new professional and personal connections with classmates. (I’m probably not the only one out there that had made lots of friends in OTHER classes, and I wish I had focused more on our own, since you’re the ones I get to reunite with every five years!)

In other class news, James Gutow (one of our new class officers) and wife Christobel (Lorie) welcomed their third child, Charlotte, in March. In the mood for a cozy, adventurous mystery novel? Jennifer Ng Chow has published Mimi Lee Cracks the Code. Here’s a blurb: “When murder follows Mimi Lee to her romantic island getaway, she puts on her best sleuthing hat with her sassy cat in tow.” Read more here. Virginia Schmidt Barry writes, “I haven’t been into the office in over a year—loving my extra time with family.” She’s an attorney at an insurance company, insuring mutual funds. She also enjoys swimming and skiing, and gets a lot of satisfaction from hearing teachers praise her kids’ good behavior. Her biggest takeaway from the pandemic is, “Be very grateful for your health, family, and other blessings.”

Adrienne Nerio Martinez, MBA ’08 (arn4@cornell.edu) checks in from Charlotte, NC—with her first ever submission for Class Notes! She has been working at Bank of America in technology operations for the last four years, and she is excitedly preparing for her first child and a wedding. She and her fiancé also own a landscaping company that he runs full time. “Although 2020 was a difficult year, we managed to create some good,” she writes. Her biggest pandemic takeaway? “Many of my relationships with friends and family have strengthened during this time in a way that I didn’t think some could when we were exclusively virtual.”

Monica Marusceac (monica.marusceac@gmail.com) is a Marine Corps Reserve officer who has recently taken active duty orders for “talent management, organizational design, and strategic change management” at the Marine Corps HQ in Virginia. She also still owns her own business, Peak Performance Assocs., on top of the past year of remote-schooling three kids and managing a new home, two aging dogs, and aging parents. “It’s a wonderful life,” Monica writes. She gets satisfaction from working out, sleeping in on Saturdays, watching “The Mandalorian,” and tending to her orchid collection. Her biggest pandemic takeaway? “A simple life can be more fulfilling than a complicated, busy life. Less is more.”

As for me, I’m still curating and creating stories of grit and creativity for Trailing-Spouse.com (reach out if you or someone you know has an experience to share related to making the most of a partner-prompted relocation!) while also working as an editor at Global Press Journal, a nonprofit news organization that trains and employs female reporters in developing countries. I’m also vice president of the board of governors of the American Embassy School in Delhi, India (where my children are attending second and sixth grades), and OBVIOUSLY singing Cornell’s praises to the high schoolers getting started on their application process.

We always love hearing from you! To share news, please email me, visit our class website, like our Facebook page, join our Facebook group, and/or follow us on Twitter (@Cornell2001). ❖ Nicole Neroulias Gupte, NicoleMN6@gmail.com. Online news form.

2002

“Black women are beautiful, intelligent, and capable—but mostly they embrace strong. At times, this strength can get in the way of addressing physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, and other traumas that are commonly experienced among Black women.” So reads the description for a new book by clinical psychologist Inger Burnett-Zeigler, titled Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen: The Emotional Lives of Black Women. In it, Inger uncovers how clinging to the image of being a strong Black woman, rather than acknowledging and addressing trauma, can lead to mental and physical problems including anxiety, depression, hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and more. Drawing from her own personal stories and the stories of family members and clients, she offers Black women a new framework to understand their life experiences and heal through mindfulness, self-care, and compassion.

A few classmates sent in brief news forms. Monica Arroyo, a pediatric neurologist at her local children’s hospital, let us know that her family brings her much happiness—especially these days. Congratulations to Geeta Kohli Tewari, who has joined Widener U. Delaware Law School as an assistant professor of law. And Allison Strickland checked in from West Falmouth, MA, with no news.

“Not too much has been happening this past year,” says Vincent D’Aloia. “I’ve gotten a lot better at cooking, spent a lot of time on video calls (both for work and to stay in touch with family and friends), and also recently taken up meditation as a means of unplugging and re-centering myself. The daily hustle and bustle of our digital world can be exhausting. I would say the biggest change in my life is the amount of time being spent at home. I have not traveled in the past year and I have been working exclusively at home since March 2020. I also have not been socializing, so it’s just me, my husband, and our dog for the most part. It’s a big change from regular trips to see family and friends around the country.” As the director of project management for a Biotech company in Silicon Valley, he leads a team of scientific project managers. “It’s challenging and rewarding work,” says Vincent, who adds that “being a mentor and helping others succeed” brings him great satisfaction. His biggest takeaway from the pandemic? “Take nothing for granted and treasure every moment you have with the people you love.” ❖ Carolyn Deckinger Lang, cmd35@cornell.edu. Online news form.

2003

Greetings, classmates! I hope you were able to catch a few of the 2021 virtual Reunion sessions. The highlight for me was tuning in for “Spirit of the Hill” with my family. I would like to extend a hearty congratulations to Clement Chow, who was recently awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor in the Dept. of Human Genetics at the U. of Utah School of Medicine! We also heard from Kendra Flood Knapik, who lives with her family in Vermont, that she “took over an abandoned vineyard and started a winery, Ellison Estate Vineyard LLC.” In addition to keeping busy with “converting the vineyard to an organic and biodynamic production, and producing old-world style natural wines on Lake Champlain in Vermont,” Kendra has been spending time outside with her three young children.

Krishna Maheshwari, ME ’03 (kkm9@cornell.edu) is senior director of products management at Cloudera. He lives in Cupertino, CA, with his family and says that these days, he has enjoyed “building new products and playing with his kids.” Lastly, congratulations to Erika Ettin, who made her New York Times crossword debut on June 7!

Please continue to let us know what you’re up to. It’s always a pleasure to hear from you. Until next time: ❖ Candace Lee Chow, CJL24@cornell.edu; Jon Schoenberg, jrs55@cornell.edu. Online news form.

2004

To the Class of 2004: We recently learned some exciting news! NASA aerospace engineer Swati Mohan is the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover landing mission’s guidance, navigation, and controls operations lead—effectively the eyes and ears of the spacecraft on its seven-month, 300-million-mile cruise to Earth’s neighboring planet. Swati described the capsule containing Perseverance as it entered the thin Mars atmosphere at 12,000 mph, briefly becoming a fast-flying fireball and then deploying a supersonic parachute. The Perseverance craft landed safely on Mars on February 18. The craft slowed and tossed its back shield away, while looking for a parking spot on the Red Planet. With the help of retrorockets and a sky crane, Perseverance slowed to a gentle 1.7 mph at Jezero Crater and came to rest. During the long journey—during which the craft averaged around 48,000 mph—Swati and her colleagues made sure the spacecraft was aimed correctly in space. Other Cornell alumni at mission control included Aaron Stehura ’09, ME ’10, and Kevin Lo ’13, ME ’14.

Please continue to send your news and updates. It’s always fun to read and learn what our classmates are up to. Thanks, all. ❖ Jessi Petrosino, jessi.petrosino@ey.com. Online news form.

2005

Hello, Class of 2005! I hope all of you are healthy and enjoying a return to normalcy. Taylor Cocalis is the co-founder of Good Food Jobs, an online search engine for the sustainable food and food culture field. She’s also the co-founder of Suarez Family Brewery in the Hudson Valley. “Allow me to introduce myself,” Taylor writes on her website. “I’m Taylor. And I’m a gastro.gnome. What is a gastro.gnome, you ask? Well, here are a few definitions to clarify: gastronomy is the practice or art of choosing, cooking, and eating good food; gnome (in folklore) is one of a species of miniature beings that inhabit the interior of the earth and act as guardians of its treasure. gastro.gnome is a jovial individual whose main purpose on earth is to connect people who derive pleasure from good food. After forging my own career path within the world of food, I realized that my efforts were best spent guiding other qualified, capable individuals on their path to food (and life) enlightenment.”

In April, Taylor was one of three alumni speakers with experience as entrepreneurs in the alcoholic beverage industry at a Cornell Club of Rockland and Cornell Mid-Hudson Alumni Assn. event. Participants were guided on a tasty adventure, sampling wares created by the speakers. We look forward to hearing from you! ❖ Hilary Johnson King, hilaryaking18@gmail.com; Jessica Rosenthal Chod, chodjlr@gmail.com. Online news form.

2006

From the desk of the Class of 2006 Reunion chairs: Throughout 2020 and into 2021 we held out hope that our 15th Reunion would be safe, healthy, and held on campus. When the University officially announced that the 2021 Reunions would be virtual, we were deeply disappointed. Suffering from Zoom fatigue ourselves, our goal became providing classmates with a unique virtual experience that would bring the fun to them while still connecting them to Cornell. Plus, we knew we had to have some great swag!

Fortunately, with some help from the New York State Brewers Assn., Birchrun Hills Farm, and Jenny Lemons, we were able to taste some Lucky Hare brews, eat tons of cheese, and macrame a holder for one of our many pandemic plants—all while enjoying a few beverages in our new tumblers or party cups kept cold in a brand-new cooler! Thank you to those of you who joined us for these virtual events. We think they were some of the best of the pandemic—but we are biased, so if you attended an event and have feedback, let us know. We’d love to hear from you!

Not even the best virtual event can replace that feeling you get crossing the Arts Quad or enjoying some ice cream from the Dairy Bar, so as the shift back to “normal” continues, we hope that you find a time when it’s safe for you and your family to make it back to the Hill. We know that we will at some point, so we can start dreaming up some non-virtual fun for our 20th Reunion. Looking forward to seeing you all in 2026! Your Class of 2006 Reunion chairs: ❖ Susan Dauber, smd52@cornell.edu; Rachel Flynn Malone, rjf36@cornell.edu; Krystyn Tendy, kt99@cornell.edu. Online news form.

2007

Hello, 2007! We’ve made it to “back to school” time for many of our colleagues in education—though for many of us, it means back to school as a parent! How things have changed since our first days at Cornell. What advice would you give yourself about your first semester at Cornell? Let me know—my contact information is below!

Speaking of learning, our classmate Kelly Lee (kellyweb@gmail.com) is a newly minted author of a children’s book about finances. What is Money? explains the following in a way that little kids can understand: What is money? Where does money come from? What should kids do with it? Why should we save? Kelly also has a website about the subject. She lives in the Bay Area with her family.

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

2008

In March 2021, Caryn Teitelbaum Babel and husband Dan welcomed their daughter, Maisy Willow. “Looking forward to bringing her to Ithaca!” Caryn writes.

“I graduated from a Master of Public Administration degree program at the George Washington U.,” Kendall Banks wrote last spring. “Now, after two years of living the student life, I’m back to working full time and enjoying the fruits of my academic labor!” Kendall started a new job for a USAID implementing partner, Cardno Int’l Development, supporting project management and business development in the economic growth and governance team, with a technical specialization in monitoring and evaluation of program results and impacts. What brings her the most satisfaction these days? “Enjoying the spectacular springtime weather in the D.C. area! After a long winter, there is nothing as rejuvenating as spring.” Kendall notes, with respect to the pandemic, she’s learned that “honesty with ourselves is one of the most important skills to cultivate in times of challenge, because it supports our ability to be resilient.”

As always, continue to send your news via the online news form. Please do keep the updates of both major life changes and those of the arcane day-to-day life variety coming. We’d love to hear from you and give you your 15 minutes of Cornell fame! Also, be sure to stay tuned for news of great upcoming class happenings and events via our class pages on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. ❖ Libby Boymel, LKB24@cornell.edu; Elana Beale, erb26@cornell.edu.

2009

Greetings, ’09ers! What are you doing for work? Did you pick up any unusual quarantine hobbies? How has the pandemic impacted you? What did you learn at Cornell that has made the greatest impact on your life so far? Please take a moment to drop me a line—I’d love to keep in touch. ❖ Jason Georges, jag243@cornell.edu. Online news form.

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2010s

2010

Happy summer, Cornellians! Despite the pandemic at hand, Cornellians have still been busy starting new things. After working on Wall Street for the last decade, Lauren Rome embarked on a mission to help people feel their best by creating Romer Skincare—a woman-owned, clean-ingredient, sustainable facial skincare line that is also gender-neutral. Check it out here! Lauren has moved to Chicago and is enjoying life with her husband and golden retriever.

Nicholette Chan spent the last eight years in London completing her Master of Architecture degree and working for Zaha Hadid Architects, but she has now moved back to New York and launched a design brand, NICHOLETTE-A. It’s focused on translating clean architectural structure into high-quality leather handbags and accessories. She is also looking forward to a big family reunion now that everyone has been vaccinated.

What new things have you been up to? Send in your updates at: ❖ Michelle Sun, michellejsun@gmail.com. Online news form.

2011

We missed seeing all of you in person at our 10th Reunion this year but know everyone was wishing we could celebrate our first decade as graduates together. Did you “attend” the virtual event? What were your favorite/least favorite parts? Did you secretly enjoy being able to tune in from the comfort of your own couch?

Please take a moment to drop us a line and let us know your thoughts—plus anything else that’s been going on with you these days. What are you doing for work and for fun? How has the pandemic impacted you? We’d love to keep in touch. ❖ Class of 2011, c/o Alexandra Bond ’12, abb83@cornell.edu. Online news form.

2012

After a long stretch in Chicago, Edwige Joseph relocated to Columbus, OH, with her fiancé and is in her second year as the principal of a charter middle school. She’s found that running a school, house hunting, and wedding planning during this time has been rewarding, exciting, and stressful. In Columbus, Edwige has had the chance to continue her work for the Cornell Alumni Admissions Ambassador Network (CAAAN), meeting high school seniors throughout Central Ohio who are interested in Cornell. She’s also found Columbus to be a growing and fun city to explore. Riley ’11 and Clare Berner Nash welcomed their son, Rhett Robert, on February 2, 2021.

Victor Ramos is working as an architect in Coral Gables, FL. Recently, he’s been providing satirical cartoons for a friend’s new local journal. Laura Anderson Hackett stopped working in October 2020 as an academic advisor at UC Davis to stay home with her two daughters. Lately she’s been doing a lot more cooking and pretend play with June, who was born in July, and Leona, 3. She shares that life with a 3-year-old has made her notice the little things more—birds chirping, flowers in bloom, and new concepts. During the pandemic, she learned to live in the present and take things as they come. Focusing on gratitude and appreciating long-distance friendships, like with Kristin Court Sweezy, has also helped tremendously. ❖ Peggy Ramin, mar335@cornell.edu. Online news form.

2013

This time of year always makes me think about new beginnings—and one of our classmates, Ken Babcock, just launched the next phase of his company, Tango, of which he is the co-founder and CEO. Tango is a technology company that builds workflow intelligence software to help companies remotely watch and learn from their top performers. Specifically, Tango’s Chrome Extension auto-captures workflow best practices to help existing teams and new hires in their onboarding process.

Last year, Tango received seed funding from top-tier investors and is full steam ahead on piloting early customers, such as the Farmer’s Dog, Drift, and FabFitFun. Currently just a team of nine, Tango has already launched a waitlist for customers and is looking to grow its team. By the time you read this, Tango may have already publicly launched its product. You can get in touch with Ken at ken@tango.us. If you have news to share, please email me at: ❖ Rachael Schuman, RASchuman@gmail.com. Online news form.

2014

Hello, 2014 classmates! I hope you all had an amazing summer! This August, Dana Lerner started at Columbia Business School as a full-time MBA candidate in the Class of 2023.

Abigail Morrison and Derek Corbett were married on June 05, 2021 at the Fontainebleau Inn, a short drive from Ithaca on the beautiful Cayuta Lake. Over the past year, Abby has been working as a program manager in Gbarnga, Liberia, on an epidemiological study of Lassa fever. After moving back to Raleigh, NC, earlier this summer, Abby began a PhD program in health behavior at UNC Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health. She will be studying gender-based violence prevention.

As one of the attendees at Abby and Derek’s wedding, I greatly enjoyed getting to explore Ithaca and the Cornell campus for the first time in two years, since being back for our 5th Reunion. After making the obligatory Collegetown Bagels and Purity Ice Cream visits upon my arrival, I headed to campus to enjoy the quiet June day just a week after students returned home for the summer. Collegetown and North Campus are looking very different these days, with the demolition of the original College Ave. CTB, the construction of the new Dyson building on Dryden Rd., and the construction of new dorms as part of the North Campus Residential Expansion project. I look forward to seeing further campus developments the next time I visit!

Please send me any news that you would like to share with your 2014 classmates and the wider Cornell community! ❖ Samantha Lapehn Young, SRL76@cornell.edu. Online news form.

2015

As the weather warms up and summer approaches, our classmates have been up to a lot! Monica Pascual Mercado has had quite the year, including graduating from U. of Puerto Rico law school, moving to Washington, DC, getting married, passing the D.C. Bar, and starting a new job. She is currently serving as a staff attorney at Advocates for Justice and Education in Washington, DC. She advocates for and represents families seeking to ensure their children receive the fair and appropriate education that they have a right to receive.

Speaking of big moves, Danielle Copeland has been living abroad and is currently spending time learning Italian and Japanese so she can move to Italy or Japan in the future. Julliard Del Rosario is spending the summer at Affiliated Managers Group as a summer associate, affiliate investments and strategy, before returning to Wharton for his second year. Adam Kirsch, MBA ’16, has been working at West Monroe as a management consultant and had the opportunity to build a new service opportunity from scratch. Send your news to: ❖ Mateo Acebedo, ma698@cornell.edu; or Caroline Flax, csf79@cornell.edu. Online news form.

2016

Hello, Class of 2016! In our next column, I will report on details about Reunion and our new slate of class officers. In the meantime, what did you think about the virtual event? Did you secretly enjoy being able to tune in from the comfort of your own couch?

Please take a moment to drop us a line and let us know your thoughts—plus anything else that’s been going on with you these days. What are you doing for work and for fun? How has the pandemic impacted you? Your classmates would love to hear from you. ❖ Meghan McCormick, mcm324@cornell.edu. Online news form.

2017

Jenna Chong, ME ’18, is currently working as head of people operations at Lula, a startup that “makes insurance available for purchase on a per episode basis rather than per year,” she explains. “An episode can be a 45-minute Uber, a three-day Airbnb, or even a two-day trucking haul. It’s a new twist on insurance that’s already leaving its mark on the industry.” To learn more about this venture, you can click here.

In July, Brooke Wingo was a guest on the second episode of Entrepreneurship at Cornell’s new podcast, Startup Cornell, which explores the bold entrepreneurial ideas coming from Cornell students, faculty, staff, and young alumni. Brooke is cofounder and president of Zone Swimwear, a company offering fully customizable suits for teams. In this episode, she shares the story of starting her business, how she survived during the pandemic, and words of wisdom from her grandfather that she carries with her every day. ❖ Class of 2017, c/o Alexandra Bond ’12, abb83@cornell.edu. Online news form.

2018

Hello, Class of 2018! Hope you all had a refreshing summer. Sean Scullen spent some of his summer relaxing by the Great Lakes with his dog, but most of it was dedicated to preparing for the Michigan Bar exam. Sean graduated from Penn State Law in the spring and began a job as an attorney at the law firm Strobl Sharp PLLC. He was originally planning to join his father’s law practice, where he’d been working throughout law school, but the father-son pair both decided to join Strobl Sharp after the firm reached out to them.

Sean worked at Penn State Law’s Entrepreneur Assistance Clinic while in law school, and he plans to focus on transactional business and estate planning at Strobl Sharp. “I enjoy working in estate planning because it’s very personal and individualized, and it is a great feeling to help and get to know the people,” he said. He’ll also continue to work in sports law—representing professional athletes in endeavors like NFL draft preparation, contract negotiation, and marketing and branding—which he became interested in while playing football at Cornell.

Feel free to reach out if you have any life updates or updates about your classmates. Until next time, follow us at the Class of 2018 Instagram (@cornell_2018) for more news! ❖ Stephanie Yan, smy43@cornell.edu. Online news form.

2019

“We have been working with the US Space Force for the last year, helping them automate detection of new unknown events in low-earth orbit and automate performance monitoring of radar without any labeled data,” writes Chetan Velivela, co-founder of All Vision Technologies. “We just started working with some commercial clients to help them detect fraud, market changes, and more.”

Vini Tripathii is the founder of startup Invictus BCI. “Our mission is to create a non-invasive and affordable neuroprosthetic brain-control interface so that amputees can control their prosthetic hand just like their real hand,” she writes. “This will tremendously improve quality of life and independence, and decrease the medical problems that come with overusing the contralateral limb. We recently received the Cornell Tech Open Studio 2020 Award and are also winners of the MIT Pear Award.”

Please take a moment to send us your news! What are you doing for work and for fun? Did you pick up any interesting quarantine hobbies? How has the pandemic impacted you? We’d love to keep in touch. ❖ Class of 2019, c/o Alexandra Bond ’12, abb83@cornell.edu. Online news form.

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2020s

2020

From competing in the Olympics to launching nonprofits, the Class of 2020 continues to inspire! In recent news, Taylor Knibb is one of five Cornellians competing in the Olympic Games in Tokyo, and she’s the youngest in US Olympic Triathlon Team history. According to the Cornell Chronicle, Taylor was part of the Big Red track and field and cross country teams and studied Psychology at Cornell. In an interview with the Cornell Daily Sun in 2018, she explained that her days at Cornell usually consisted of “waking up before dawn for a morning swim practice, attending classes, and then running around ten miles afterward in cross country practice, before getting to dinner and homework.” All that hard work paid off, and Taylor automatically qualified for the Olympics by winning the World Triathlon Championship Series race in May. “I was very, very excited, but I was more excited to put together a race that I was happy with, and everything that came with it—the win, the qualification—was very overwhelming,” she told the Washington Times. Go, Taylor—we’re all rooting for you!

Jehron Petty was featured in a blog for the Center for Regional Economic Advancement (CREA) at Cornell for launching a nonprofit the day after Commencement. ColorStack’s mission is “to increase the number of Black, Latinx, and Native American college students in computing through community building and career development.” At Cornell, Jehron was the co-president of Underrepresented Minorities in Computing at Cornell (URMC), and ColorStack has already connected over 1,000 members in the online community. “During my first internship, I was the only Black intern at the office where I was employed, on top of being one of the only Black students in my Engineering and Computer Science classes at Cornell, so I realized that underrepresentation was going to be an ongoing theme,” he said. Good luck in this new venture, Jehron!

Looking forward to the upcoming Homecoming festivities in September, when we can properly celebrate the Class of 2020 in person (better late than never)! In the meanwhile, please share your news by submitting it here or sending an email to: ❖ Shruti Juneja, sj453@cornell.edu.

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Grad Notes

Arts & Sciences

Elizabeth Kier, MA ’88, PhD ’92, has a new book out from Cornell University Press this summer. “War and Democracy: Labor and the Politics of Peace re-examines the effects of war on domestic politics by focusing on how wartime states either negotiate with or coerce organized labor, policies that profoundly affect labor’s beliefs and aspirations,” reads the book’s description. “Because labor unions frequently play a central role in advancing democracy and narrowing inequalities, their wartime interactions with the state can have significant consequences for postwar politics.” Elizabeth is a professor in the Dept. of Political Science at the U. of Washington. She specializes in international relations with an emphasis on international security and civil-military relations.

From Duke University Press comes Archiving Mexican Masculinities in Diaspora by Nicole Guidotti-Hernandez, MA ’00, PhD ’04. Nicole is a professor of English at Emory U. and author of Unspeakable Violence: Remapping U.S. and Mexican National Imaginaries, also published by Duke. In her new book, she challenges the stereotypes of machismo with nuanced portraits of Mexican men and masculinities along and across the US-Mexico border.

Industrial & Labor Relations

Peter Wai Chan, MPS ’04, let us know that he received his Doctor of Education from Teachers College, Columbia U. on June 30. Peter is an associate professor and chairperson of the production management department at the Fashion Inst. of Technology (FIT).

Johnson Graduate School of Management

Vlad Lokshin, MBA ’15—who received his degree through a joint program with Cornell Tech—recently created Turtle, a collaboration platform for freelance software developers and companies looking for top engineers. “Freelancing and hiring people globally should be a first-class part of the work economy,” says Vlad. “But it’s been a second-class thing, something people do if they want to save money, just a cheap race to the bottom. Historically, freelancers have been mistreated on these networks. We feel that’s wrong, and we believe we can turn that on its head.” Before getting his MBA, Vlad studied engineering and business at the U. of Maryland.

Earlier this year, Ankit Dhawan, MBA ’16, launched Virtuelly, a startup that aims to curate virtual experiences for remote workers to do team building and other fun activities. In June, Virtuelly organized a comedy event—part of their monthly “Unmute & Unwind” series—featuring “America’s Got Talent” contestant Usama Siddiquee. The website’s many ongoing offerings include trivia events, stretching and mobility guides, magic shows, cooking classes, and even a murder mystery game.

Weill Cornell Medicine

Medicine and Shariah: A Dialogue in Islamic Bioethics, edited by Aasim Padela, MD ’05, was published last June by the University of Notre Dame Press. In it, Aasim brings together experts from various backgrounds, including clinicians, Islamic studies experts, and Muslim theologians, to analyze Islamic bioethics—a field that aims to provide guidance on ethical or moral issues relating to medical and scientific fields, in particular those dealing with human life. “Much ink has been spilled in generating Islamic responses to bioethical questions,” notes the book’s description. “By providing a multidisciplinary model for generating Islamic bioethics rulings, Medicine and Shariah provides the critical foundations for an Islamic bioethics that better attends to specific biomedical contexts and also accurately reflects the moral vision of Islam.

Top image: Jason Koski/Cornell University

Published October 5, 2021