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MAY / JUNE 2006 VOLUME 108 NUMBER 6 alumni magazine Contents Features 36 The Quiet Americanist DAVID DUDLEY In the Vietnam era, historian Walter LaFeber’s ability to untangle the forces behind American foreign policy made his class a Cornell essential; when he retired this year after nearly a half-century on the Hill, he gave his farewell lecture to a packed Broadway theater instead of a lecture hall.What made the unassuming, 36 Cubs-loving, Indiana-born professor such a beloved institution to generations of undergraduates? That’s one question Walt can’t answer. 2 Letter From Ithaca Parting words 24 4 Correspondence Frank talk 8 From the Hill Bridge trouble. Plus: Crime story, the master plan comes together, a banner year for admissions, Bailey Hall gets a new front yard, and freshmen get Gatsby. 12 Sports Déjà vu on ice 42 Minority Report SUSAN KELLEY 14 Authors For the love of books Cornell now boasts the greatest racial and ethnic diversity in its history, with more than a quarter of undergraduates self-identifying as members of a minority group. But minority representation in alumni organizations lags far behind overall numbers, despite a host of efforts to step up recruitment.What happens to African American, Asian American, Native American, and Latino Cornellians after graduation, and why do so many minority alumni have mixed feelings about staying involved with their alma mater? 30 Finger Lakes Listing 54 Classifieds & Cornellians in Business 57 Alma Matters 60 Class Notes 48 Building the Bomb 102 Alumni Deaths MURRAY PESHKIN ’46, AB ’47, PHD ’57 In 1944, Murray Peshkin was a nineteen-year-old studying math and physics at Cornell when he was drafted into the Army and sent to a 112 Cornelliana The man who changed chicken secret laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico, to join a unique gathering of the world’s greatest scientists.As Robert Oppenheimer, Special Section: Hans Bethe, Richard Feynman, and Phil Morrison raced to build the terrible weapon The Wines of New York State that changed the world, Peshkin 17 Currents crunched their numbers, dug blast gauges out ANIMAL MAGNETISM | Temple Grandin, cow whisperer TALL ORDER | Bagging the world’s highest peaks of the desert, and did the unsung dirty work behind the Manhattan FACE VALUE | Alums peek into Facebook.com UNCOMMON CAUSE | Changing the world, CRESP-style OF SPORTS AND SUSTENANCE | Athletes get more than lunch at Trillium Project. 48 Plus | An academic all-star and an ice cream tribute Cornell Alumni Magazine (ISSN 1070-2733; USPS 006-902) is published six times a year, in January, March, May, July, September, and November, by the Cornell Alumni Federation, 401 East State Street, Suite 301, Ithaca, NY 14850. Subscriptions cost $30 a year. Periodical postage paid at Ithaca, NY, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Cornell Alumni Magazine, c/o Public Affairs Records, 130 East Seneca St., Suite 400, Ithaca, NY 14850-4353. MAY / JUNE 2006 1 Letter From Ithaca Unfinished Business YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND TOMORROW AT CAM nOT LONG AFTER HE LEFT HIS POSITION AS CORNELL’S vice president for university relations to go to Duke, John Burness had lunch with me at a Hell’s Kitchen Italian restaurant. He wanted to talk about higher education; I wanted to find an alumni volunteer opportunity. We both wanted to eat. One course led to another, and John introduced me to this mag- azine’s board. I write to you now, more than a decade later, as my last act as chair of that board. The magazine is in fine shape—Jim Roberts ’71, our editor and publisher and my classmate and friend, has the awards to prove it. But we face real dangers that we need to address now. The Cornell Alumni Federation owns CAM. The vast major- ity of its 28,000 subscribers choose to receive the maga- zine when they sign up for class membership. Because we are independent, we print what we want without benefit of the advice or con- sent of the University’s pub- lic relations machinery. We intend to keep it that way— and there’s the rub. COURTESY THE AMERICAN LAWYER The University gives us office space, assistance from the Alumni House staff, and access to its alumni database and employee benefits pro- gram. We are grateful for all Aric Press ’71 that. However, unlike our mates at Harvard, Yale, or Princeton—to cite three institutions to which we like to compare ourselves—Cornell does not distribute its alumni magazine to all its alumni. There are many reasons, including cost. But after spending years on this subject, years full of good faith task force reports, meetings, proposals, and the like, I have concluded that the real stumbling block is another C-word: control. What Cornell doesn’t control it doesn’t want to circulate. Instead, it prefers publications extolling good works by large donors and, lately, an e-mail compilation of campus news as fil- tered through University Communications. Both are worthy efforts. But as beneficiaries of Cornell educations, we can tell the difference between managed news and an independent voice— and most of us prefer the latter. What is it that Day Hall doesn’t like about us? Once administrators get the pro forma denial out of the way, they invariably launch into a parade of what I can only call the not-so-horribles. I will mention three. The first is always the same: a lame attempt at humor the magazine ran in the late 1990s that portrayed Cornell as the “lowest leaf” of the Ivies. The problem wasn’t the idea—anybody on your U-Hall floor who didn’t get into Harvard?—but the execution. It wasn’t funny. More to the point, it hasn’t been repeated. Can we all please get over it? The next example in the litany of perfidy varies. The one I like to cite was an irritated reference over a breakfast meeting to an article so minor I had missed it: an opinion piece in 2003 that politely objected to a proposed parking lot on a West Campus site (not yet known as Redbud Woods). My Day Hall companion was clearly agitated by that, but truly, as the controversy moved on, that story was but one of many—and the next day the sun rose over Ithaca. Sort of. Mercifully, the third complaint has fallen out of favor. For a while last year, we received furious warnings over our investigation of the poorly explained resignation of Jeffrey Lehman ’77. Dire consequences were predicted. Instead, after CAM published its thorough and less than incendiary account, a curious thing happened: University officials began to send the piece to people who inquired about the subject. Now maybe that means we missed the real story. But I think what it really means is that some at Cornell found value in having a trusted independent voice in their midst. Maybe this year we can build on that. Maybe this year the University will come to grips with the fact that Cornell has the second lowest percentage of alumni givers in the Ivies—ahead of only Columbia—and will leverage the marvelous resource you hold in your hands. Maybe. But we can’t wait forever. Our costs grow, our circulation is flat, and we need to control our future. The Federation and the CAM board are exploring fundraising opportunities to support our independence. That will be a task for future alumni volunteers. Thanks for allowing me to do this job. Now I think it’s time for Burness and me to have another espresso. — Aric Press ’71 Editor in Chief, The American Lawyer Chairman, Cornell Alumni Magazine Committee 2 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE What was Canon thinking when they developed a system that could stop this car in its tracks? ©John Lamm. Photo taken with Canon EOS equipment. “Exactly what I was thinking.” JOHN LAMM As a professional automotive photographer, I know there’s no tougher test for a car–or a camera–than Sebring. Between cars roaring by at 200 mph, the changing light of a 12-hour race and the extreme conditions, you need cameras and lenses that are fast, responsive and tough. Qualities you’ll find up and down the entire EOS system, including the remarkable EOS Digital Rebel XT with 8.0 megapixels. It’s incredibly easy to use, but advanced enough to create professional quality photographs. For a little more creative control, the new EOS 30D is just what you asked for. It shoots at 5 frames per second, and features an extra-large 2.5” LCD. And with the EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM lens,* you can shoot in low light 3 stops slower than usual without camera shake–ideal for a 12-hour race like Sebring. Whatever your style, when it comes to cameras, Canon sets the pace. OVER 50 EF LENSES • IMAGE STABILIZATION • VIRTUALLY NO SHUTTER LAG • HIGH SPEED AUTOFOCUS ©2006 Canon U.S.A., Inc. Canon, EOS and EOS Rebel are registered trademarks of Canon Inc. in the United States and may also be registered trademarks or trademarks in other countries. IMAGEANYWARE is a trademark of Canon. Visit us at www.usa.canon.com or call 1-800-OK-CANON. All rights reserved. *Optional lenses sold separately. Correspondence Frank’s Fantasy CORNELL AND THE ROOTS OF THE NEOCONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT IN THE END OF HISTORY AND THE Last Man, Francis Fukuyama ’74 created one of the great works of fantasy fiction of the end of the last century (“Frank’s Place,” March/April 2006). It postulated a glorious alternative universe, one that at no point touched the world in which we live and work. How this achievement, enormous as it is, could possibly qualify Fukuyama as a sage—or even a professor of international relations—is quite another matter. Surely, his recent decision briefly to visit earth is purely personal, quite without interest to the rest of us, and utterly devoid of serious political significance. Donald Mintz ’49, PhD ’60 Ringwood, New Jersey NOW THAT YOU HAVE PROFILED NOT one but two influential neoconservative alums—Paul Wolfowitz ’65 (July/August 2004) and Francis Fukuyama—am I the only one who sees the irony? While at Cornell, Wolfowitz and Fukuyama could have studied the results of arrogant idealism in American foreign policy with Walter LaFeber in the history department or George McTurnan Kahin in government. Instead, they soared above it all in CloudCuckoo Land with Allan Bloom. Unfortunately, we are all paying the price for this misguided idealism. Diana Christopulos ’70 Salem, Virginia Mistaken I.D.? IN MARCH/APRIL 2006, YOU CORRECTED two of the three errors in “Leap of Faith” (the sidebar to “God and Man at Cornell,” January/February 2006). I was saddened that CAM was unwilling to correct its third error, which called the IDEA Center “a large and well-funded machine.” The IDEA Center is a small organization with no physical office and a budget of about $10,000. It receives no funding from any other I.D. organization and survives by the volunteer work of less than ten staff members who have other full-time jobs that actually pay. The growth of IDEA is attributable to the grass-roots interest of openminded students, like Cornell IDEA Club leader Hannah Maxson ’07, who simply want to explore scientific evidence and viewpoints that are typically unmentioned in science classrooms. Casey Luskin Co-Founder & President-Emeritus IDEA Center Seattle, Washington Ed. Note: Luskin is also an attorney and program officer for the Discovery Institute, which has an annual budget of $4.1 million. DURING MY SENIOR YEAR, I WAS FORtunate to be enrolled in Astronomy 321, Life in the Universe, taught by Professor Frank Drake ’51. During the “origins of life” portion of the class, Professor Drake described some alternate explanations for the origins of life, including the one known today as Intelligent Design. He described a scientific basis for the theory and, despite his disagreement with it, respectfully named some scientists who espoused it. One basis for the theory was a statistical model showing that the “natural” or “random” construction of long-chain amino acids was so unlikely as to be effectively impossible despite the vastness of time and space. This was consistent with the observation that only short-chain amino acids are created within the repeatable bell jar experiments that combine primordial sludge and electricity. The presentation of this alternate theory was considered appropriate as a subject to be taught to undergraduates by the world-renowned inventor of SETI. Today, many school committees and parents insist that the theory be prohibited from public classrooms. Is this progress? Steve Elias ’83, MEE ’84 Amherst, New Hampshire I.D. IS NOT A CHALLENGE TO THE broad body of science. It may or may not be a challenge to evolution, depending on the mind of each individual. I consider I.D. to be a complement to evolution, presented as a perspective and applicable to evolutionary theory where evolution falls short. I agree with Hunter Rawlings that “evolutionary theory says nothing about the existence or nonexistence of God.” The author of the theory, however, was not neutral on this matter. Charles Darwin, an ordained minister, abandoned God and religion in favor of his new theory, which in his mind contradicted God. Additionally, he alienated and abandoned his friends who, though they supported his new theory, were not willing to abandon their religion. After his landmark publication, Darwin essentially became a hermit. When a second Beagle voyage presented Speak up! We encourage letters from readers and try to publish as many as we can.They must be signed and may be edited for length, clarity, and civility. Send to: Jim Roberts, Editor Cornell Alumni Magazine 401 E. State St., Suite 301, Ithaca, NY 14850 fax: (607) 272-8532 e-mail: jhr22@cornell.edu 4 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE alumni magazine ALUM CORNELL NI FEDER ATIO N Cornell Alumni Magazine is owned and published by the Cornell Alumni Federation under the direction of its Cornell Alumni Magazine Committee. It is editorially independent of Cornell University. CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE COMMITTEE: Aric Press ’71, Chairman; Kevin McEnery ’70, MBA ’71, Vice-Chairman; Carol Aslanian ’63; Betty Eng ’92; Linda Gadsby ’88; William Howard ’74; Richard Lipsey ’89; Cristina Shaul ’91; Sondra WuDunn ’87. For the Alumni Federation: Rolf Frantz ‘66, ME ‘67, President; Mary Berens ’74, Secretary/Treasurer. For the Association of Class Officers: Kevin McManus ’90, President. Alternates: Micki Kuhs ’61 (CAF); Robert Rosenberg ‘88 (CACO). EDITOR & PUBLISHER Jim Roberts ’71 ASSOCIATE EDITOR David Dudley ASSISTANT EDITORS Chris Furst, ’84–88 Grad Susan Kelley EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Tanis Furst CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Beth Saulnier Sharon Tregaskis ’95 ART DIRECTOR Stefanie Green PRODUCTION ASSOCIATE Lisa Frank CLASS NOTES EDITOR & BUSINESS MANAGER Adele Durham Robinette ACCOUNTING MANAGER Barbara Kemp ADVERTISING SALES Alanna Downey CIRCULATION COORDINATOR Sandra Busby EDITORIAL INTERN Matt Berical ’06 EDITORIAL AND BUSINESS OFFICES 401 East State Street, Suite 301, Ithaca, NY 14850 (607) 272-8530; FAX (607) 272-8532 website: http://cornellalumnimagazine.com IVY LEAGUE MAGAZINE NETWORK For information about national advertising in this publication and other Ivy League alumni publications, please contact: ADVERTISING & PRODUCTION OFFICE 7 Ware Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (617) 496-7207 DIRECTOR OF SALES DEVELOPMENT Lawrence J. Brittan (631) 754-4264 NEW YORK Tom Schreckinger (212) 327-4645 Beth Bernstein (908) 654-5050 Mary Anne MacLean (631) 367-1988 NEW ENGLAND & MID-ATLANTIC Robert Fitta (617) 496-6631 TRAVEL Fieldstone Associates Robert Rosenbaum (914) 686-0442 DETROIT Heth & Associates Donald Heth (248) 720-2456 CHICAGO Robert Purdy & Associates Robert Purdy (312) 726-7800 SOUTHWEST Daniel Kellner (972) 529-9687 WEST COAST Bill Harper (310) 297-4999 WEST COAST TRAVEL Frieda Holleran (925) 943-7878 Issued bimonthly. Single copy price: $6. Yearly subscriptions $30, United States and possessions; $45, international. Printed by The Lane Press, South Burlington, VT. Copyright © 2006, Cornell Alumni Magazine. Rights for republication of all matter are reserved. Printed in U.S.A. Send address changes to Cornell Alumni Magazine, c/o Public Affairs Records, 130 East Seneca St., Suite 400, Ithaca, NY 14850-4353. Representing the Art and Soul of America’s finest artisans, and reminding us that Life is a Gift! “CONVERSATION” Wall Sculptures in Hand-Cast Resin. By M. Buonito $106.00 to $125.00 An inspiring offering of American Handmade Pottery, Art Glass, Jewelry, Woodwork, Fiber, Kaleidoscopes and more. . . Celebrating Our 34th Year (1972-2006) • An Ithaca Tradition 158 Ithaca Commons 607-277-2846 e mail: manager@americancraftsbyrobbiedein.com MAY / JUNE 2006 5 6 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE CORRESPONDENCE him with the opportunity to revisit the evidence in light of his conclusions, he declined. This is hardly the mark of an open-minded, critical scientist. Debate must be encouraged at our universities, but this is not what Rawlings is encouraging. He has made up his mind on this matter, and he does not want to hear or respect your opinion. He wants to change it. Joseph Dos Santos ’74, MCE ’75 Winfield, Alabama Out of Our League I WAS UPSET BY A QUOTE USED IN THE article “A League of His Own” (Currents, March/April 2006). Marc Zawel ’04 and his anonymous quoted student are certainly allowed to have an opinion about the “girls” at Cornell, but I am dismayed that CAM would choose to showcase the statement that “the girls offer very little at Cornell.” Surely there were other juicy quotations about Cornell that could have been used in this piece. That quote is insulting not only to more than half the student body currently at the University but to scores of female alumni, as well as the countless Cornell men who are married to or dating their female counterparts. I hope that most Cornellians, male and female, agree with me that there are beautiful, intelligent, and sexy Cornell alumnae and students. And I hope that the stereotype that women can either be smart or pretty, but not both, sees no further light in this magazine. Thalia Goldstein ’02 Boston, Massachusetts Author’s Request ARE YOU A MOTHER WHOSE CHILdren have left home? If so, you are eligible to answer my survey. I am a social psychologist, the author of The Sacrificial Mother, and a reporter for the New York Times. This is my official invitation to you to help me with my research for a book I am writing on how women feel about their children leaving and what they plan to do in the next stage of their lives. By doing so, you will become part of my original research. But you may also find that answering the questions will be thought provoking and provide you with insights about yourself. Go to www. DrCarin.com and click on “Answer Survey.” Carin Rubenstein Sleepy Hollow, New York Campus News From the Hill Hate Crime? STUDENT STABBING INCIDENT STILL UNDER INVESTIGATION EARLY IN THE MORNING OF FEBRUARY 18, ILR STUDENT Nathan Poffenbarger ’08 was arrested after allegedly stabbing a visiting student during an altercation near the Baker Tower archway on West Avenue. Charles Holiday, a senior at Union College in Schenectady, was stabbed in the chest and taken to the trauma unit at Arnot Odgen Hospital in Elmira, where he was treated for a collapsed lung and released several days later. Poffenbarger turned himself in to University Police later that night. He was charged with second-degree assault, a Class D felony, and later released on $20,000 bail. The incident reverberated on campus for weeks because of its racial dimension: Poffenbarger, a native of Woodsboro, Maryland, who had transferred to Cornell in September from Frederick Community College, had been expelled from a West Campus fra- ternity party earlier that evening, reportedly for his repeated use of racial slurs. Ithaca Police Chief Lauren Signer told the Albany Times Union that Poffenbarger was “yelling and screaming things of a racial nature” when he and a female companion encountered a group of three black Union College students, including Holiday, walking nearby. The ensuing scuffle was witnessed by a patrolling Ithaca Police officer, but Poffenbarger fled before he could be apprehended. Tompkins County DA Gwen Wilkinson says that she will give the grand jury the option of charging Poffenbarger with a hate crime, a Class C felony. If Poffenbarger is indicted, a criminal trial is likely. In the wake of the stabbing, a number of student and community forums and rallies focusing on racial concerns were held on campus and in the Ithaca community. On February 28, Interim President Hunter Rawlings fielded questions from students and staff at a meeting in Willard Straight Hall. The incident, he said, “has had a galvanizing effect on all of us. . . . This is an incident that makes us all think seriously about violence in our midst and racial issues in our society.” GREEN Sun not included: A solar home designed and built by a team of students was sold for $121,000 at a campus auction held—in a heavy rainstorm—on April 7. The 640-square-foot house, which won second place in the U.S Department of Energy’s 2005 Solar Decathlon competition, was purchased by an anonymous alumnus and moved to his property in nearby Lansing to be used as a second home. 8 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE Future Perfect UNIVERSITY HIRES MASTER PLANNING FIRM IN APRIL, STEPHEN GOLDING, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT for finance and administration, announced that Cornell has hired Urban Strategies Inc. of Toronto to head a consulting team charged with developing a comprehensive master plan for the campus. The master plan, scheduled for completion in 2007, will address land use, building construction, and transportation issues on the Hill over the next ten to twenty-five years. According to Cyndi Rottenberg-Walker, a principal with Urban Strategies, environmental issues will be a key consideration. “The master plan will provide a tremendous opportunity for Cornell to become a model of sustainable campus planning, which will benefit not only the University but the entire region,” she says. Development of the plan will include outreach to faculty, students, and staff as well as residents of neighboring communities through meetings, interviews, and workshops. Urban Strategies has prepared master plans for the University of Minnesota, the University of Toronto, and the University of Ottawa. Spring Break Tragedy FRESHMAN DIES DURING UVA VISIT A CORNELL FRESHMAN VISITING A FRIEND AT THE UNIversity of Virginia in Charlottesville over spring break was found dead in a dormitory room on the morning of March 17. Nineteen-year-old Matthew Pearlstone ’09, a St. Louis native who was studying engineering and computer science and had been named to the dean’s list for his first semester on the Hill, had been drinking at the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity on the night of his death. Toxicology tests performed by the state medical examiner’s office in Richmond determined that Pearlstone died of alcohol intoxication, but the office did not disclose his blood alcohol content level. A memorial service was held for Pearlstone on North Campus on April 3. Donations for a memorial fund can be sent to the Matt Pearlstone Scholarship Fund, c/o Ladue High School, 1201 S. Watson Road, St. Louis, MO 63124. CU Raises $354 Million GIVING TOTAL DOWN FROM PREVIOUS YEAR ACCORDING TO THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION, private donations to Cornell for the 2004–05 fiscal year totaled $354 million. This represents a decline of 8.3 percent from the previous fiscal year, when the University raised a record-setting $386 million. Cornell’s total for 2004–05 placed it fifth on the year’s list of top fundraisers; Stanford was first, with $604 million, followed by the University of Wisconsin, Madison ($595 million), Harvard University ($590 million), and the University of Pennsylvania ($394 million). Wisconsin’s total was inflated by an unusual $296 million donation from Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Wisconsin. (When the company changed from nonprofit to for-profit status, the state required it to distribute some of its holdings to nonprofits.) Overall giving to American colleges and universities increased by 4.9 percent for the year, although the proportion of alumni making gifts declined. Stewart Avenue Bridge Thurston Avenue University Avenue Thurston Avenue Bridge Alumni House Arts Quad Work Zone BRIDGE IMPROVEMENT AND OTHER PROJECTS TO DISRUPT TRAFFIC FLOW DRIVING ACROSS CAMPUS WILL BE EVEN TRICKIER FOR the next year and a half, as a reconstruction project is under way at the Thurston Avenue Bridge. On March 20, the City of Ithaca began work on an $8 million widening of the campus landmark, which spans Fall Creek Gorge just west of Beebe Lake. During the first phase of construction, one lane is remaining open in the southbound direction (from North Campus to Central Campus). Both lanes will be closed for about a month during the summer; car and bus traffic will be detoured to the Stewart Avenue Bridge, and pedestrians will be rerouted to the Triphammer Footbridge. Construction work will stop during Commencement and Reunion, allowing traffic to move in both directions. It will also be halted over the winter. When work resumes next spring, the bridge will be closed in both directions. The scheduled completion date for the project is October 31, 2007. The renovated structure will have wider motor vehicle lanes, wider sidewalks, bicycle lanes, and better lighting. The intersection at the south end of the bridge will also be improved, with the addition of a turning lane onto University Avenue. Getting around campus—or trying to park—will be further complicated by a raft of other projects, including ongoing work on the Life Sciences Technology Building, adding another level to the Hoy Road Parking Garage, the expansion of Lynah Rink, and continuing construction of residential halls on West Campus. In addition, work on the $85 million physical sciences building, to be located west of Clark Hall, is expected to begin in about a year. For information on project schedules, parking lot closings, and traffic detours, go to: www.aff.cornell.edu/SpecialConditions/CampusConstruction. MAY / JUNE 2006 9 FROM THE HILL in Qatar, founded in 2002. At the College of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Donald Smith announced that he would step down as dean when his second five-year term concludes on June 30, 2007. Smith will return to the faculty. Mary Sansalone, PhD ’86, a member of the engineering facuty since 1987, will leave the Hill this summer to become the dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis. Her appointment begins on July 1. A New Look PROVIDED BAILEY HALL FORECOURT TO BECOME PEDESTRIAN PLAZA NINETY YEARS AGO, THE AREA IN FRONT OF BAILEY HALL was the site of a model schoolhouse and the original Minns Garden. The schoolhouse was later demolished, the garden relocated to a site in front of the Plant Science Building, and the forecourt became a parking lot. Now, as the renovation of Bailey Hall nears completion, the University has announced plans to once again transform this space. In January, University Architect Peter Karp unveiled a design by Michael Van Valkenburgh ’73 for an Italianate-style pedestrian plaza that will replace the parking lot. Van Valkenburgh’s concept includes stone walkways, wooden benches, and plantings of ornamental trees. Karp hailed the $4.5 million project as a “public amenity for the students, faculty, and staff, and a wonderful forecourt that celebrates the rebirth of Bailey Hall.” Construction was originally set to begin in June, but has been pushed back to early 2007 because of the need to coordinate the schedule with other projects now under way. While the idea of improving this area has met with general approval, the plan has proven somewhat controversial. Faculty with offices in the area complained that they had not been consulted and lamented the loss of sixty-five parking places. Others expressed concerns about access for emergency and delivery vehicles; these are being addressed in a new perimeter plan. Staying & Leaving GOTTO REAPPOINTED, SMITH STEPS DOWN, SANSALONE DEPARTS THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES HAS EXTENDED THE TERM OF Dr. Antonio Gotto Jr. as dean of the Weill Cornell Medical College and provost of medical affairs. Gotto, who has headed the medical school since 1997, will continue in his position for another five years. He has overseen a period marked by strong philanthropic support and expansion of facilities, both at the New York City campus and at Weill Cornell Medical College Give My Regards To . . . These Cornellians in the News President-Elect David Skorton, recipient of Northwestern University Alumni Association’s 2006 Alumni Merit Award, given to Northwestern alumni who have distinguished themselves by high achievement in their professions or endeavors. Paul Ginsparg, PhD ’81, professor of physics and information science, winner of the Paul Evan Peters Award presented by the Coalition for Networked Information, the Association of Research Libraries, and EDUCAUSE, an association that advances higher education through information technology. Ginsparg was honored for his creation of arXiv, an Internet archive that streamlines online scholarly publishing. Toby Berger, professor of engineering emeritus, and Jean-Yves Parlange, professor of biological and environmental engineering, both elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Kathleen Rasmussen, professor of nutritional sciences, recipient of the Excellence in Nutrition Education Award from the American Society of Nutrition for her teaching contributions. Geraldine Gay, PhD ’85, Department of Communication chair, named the inaugural Kenneth Bissett Senior Professor. The post honors Kenneth Bissett ’89, who was killed in 1988 when Pan American flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland. Stephen Marschner, PhD ’98, assistant professor of computer science, recipient of a 2006 Sloan Research Fellowship for his work with computer graphics. Abby Joseph Cohen ’73 and David Cohen ’73, winners of Cornell Hillel’s 2006 Tanner Prize for their contributions to the Jewish people and to Cornell. Gary Reichard, PhD ’71, appointed executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer of California State University. Lynn Schneemeyer, PhD ’78, appointed vice provost for research at Newark University. Dean Miller ’83, executive editor of the Idaho Falls Post Register newspaper, which won the Scripps Howard Foundation’s Edward Willis Scripps Award for a series of articles that documented how local Boy Scouts of America leaders concealed court files to cover up the history of pedophiles who preyed on boys at local scout camps. 10 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE Knocking on the Door CORNELL MORE SELECTIVE THAN EVER A RECORD NUMBER OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS APPLIED to Cornell this year, and a record number were turned away. Undergraduate applications reached an all-time high, with 28,097 aspiring freshmen vying for a spot on the Hill this fall—a 15 percent increase over last year. The tidal wave of applications produced another record: the University admitted only 24.7 percent of the students who applied, its lowest admit rate ever. Two Trustees ALUMNI ELECT BROWN AND REILLY IN EARLY APRIL, INTERIM PRESIDENT HUNTER RAWLINGS called Kelly Smith Brown ’88, MBA ’92, and Philip Reilly ’69 to give them the good news that their fellow alumni had elected them to the Board of Trustees. Their four-year terms begin on July 1. Brown, a brand manager at Procter & Gamble, has served on the CALS Advisory Council, the JGSM Advisory Council, and the University Council; she has been president of her class (1993–2003), vice president of CAF (1999–2001), and president of CACO (2001–03). Reilly, the CEO of Interleukin Genetics, holds a JD from Columbia and an MD from Yale in addition to his Cornell degree. He has taught at the Harvard Medical School and was director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center for Mental Retardation from 1992 to 2000. Green Light FRESHMEN TO READ AN AMERICAN CLASSIC MORE THAN 3,000 INCOMING FRESHMEN AND TRANSFER students will soon be reading (or rereading) a classic novel about the disintegration of the American dream during an era of material excess: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, this year’s selection for the New Student Reading Project. It was chosen not only for its evocative Jazz Age prose and deftly drawn characters, but also for the issues it raises, says Michele MoodyAdams, vice provost for undergraduate education. “It provides an opportunity to reflect on the complexity of many defining American ideals, on the ethical and social implications of unchecked materialism, and on the potentially corrosive effects of unregulated desire.” Students, alumni, and community members will use the 1925 novel as a springboard for a host of scholarly activities, including symposia and small-group discussions. Now in its sixth year, the New Student Reading Project was the brainchild of Provost Biddy Martin, who conceived it as a way to encourage intellectual as well as social rapport among incoming students. On Second Thought WOODPECKER SQUABBLE CONTINUES A DEBATE OVER THE REDISCOVERY OF THE IVORY-BILLED woodpecker by a team of Cornell ornithologists last year reignited in March with the publication of a peer-reviewed paper in Science. The paper cast strong doubt on key video evidence that purported to show an ivory-bill in flight. The challenge was led by one of the most famous names in birding: author and illustrator David Sibley, whose Sibley Guide to Birds is an essential handbook of the field. In the article, Sibley and three coauthors concluded that “none of the features described as diagnostic of the ivory-billed woodpecker eliminate a normal pileated woodpecker.” A response paper by Lab of Ornithology director John Fitzpatrick and his colleagues was included in the same issue. The footage in question is the so-called Luneau video, shot by University of Arkansas professor David Luneau in April 2005 and now the subject of analysis by experts and amateurs alike. In a four-second sequence filmed from Luneau’s canoe, the bird can be seen, blurry and indistinct, as it flies away. Sibley and his co-authors contend that the black-and-white patterns on the creature’s wings could be consistent with the smaller pileated woodpecker; the Cornell team counters that the markings are more characteristic of the ivory-bill, and that the bird’s distinctive flapping motion indicates the larger species. For updates, go to: www.birds.cornell.edu/ivory/. R&D By studying the flight pattern of dragonflies, professor of theoretical and applied mechanics Z. Jane Wang has discovered that airplanes might increase efficiency if they travel with more up-and-down motion rather than in a level path. Wang presented her research on flying systems and fluid dynamics at the 2006 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Cornell researchers have fabricated “nano-keys” that interact with cell membranes and trigger larger-scale responses within cells, such as the release of histamines in an allergic response. Insights gained from this approach may lead to new drugs to treat allergies, high cholesterol, and viral infections. Barbara Baird, PhD ’79, professor of chemistry and chemical biology, presented the study at the 2006 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In the first study to test people who eat foods bred for high concentrations of micronutrients, the iron levels of women who ate iron-rich rice were 20 percent higher than those who ate traditional rice. Lack of iron is the most common micronutrient deficiency in the world. The research by nutritional sciences professor Jere Haas and colleagues was published in the Journal of Nutrition. More information on campus research is available at www.news.cornell.edu. MAY / JUNE 2006 11 Sports Two Strong Finishes, One Great Start WRESTLING AND HOCKEY EXCEL IN NCAA thing went right for a red-hot Har- vard team, which defeated the Big CHAMPIONSHIPS; LACROSSE OPENS WITH SIX WINS Red 6-2 to claim the ECAC title. c ORNELL’S WRESTLING AND MEN’S hockey teams closed the season strong, although both are perhaps The team’s NCAA tournament appearance had a strong feeling of déjà vu. Once again, they were sent to the Midwest—this time to Green Bay, Wisconsin—where lamenting what might have been. After they battled back from a 2-0 once again securing the Ivy League title, deficit in the first game to win 3- the wrestlers sent eight competitors to the 2. (Last year, their opponent was NCAA Division I tournament in Okla- Ohio State; this time, it was Col- homa City. The team finished fifth overall, orado College.) On the next night, with four members earning All-American they faced a powerful Midwestern honors: Troy Nickerson ’09 (125 pounds), squad playing in front of thou- Dustin Manotti ’06 (157 pounds), Jerry sands of their own fans in a tightly Rinaldi ’07 (197 pounds), and Joe Maz- contested game that went into zurco ’06 (184 pounds). Last year’s team overtime. This year the opponent took fourth in the tournament, with was Wisconsin, not Minnesota, Travis Lee ’05 winning his second national championship. and it took three overtime periods SPORTS INFO of hard-fought scoreless hockey This year, Nickerson was the story of championship match against Joe Dubuque before Cornell was defeated 1-0. Goalie the tournament—and the season—for the of Indiana, a fifth-year senior and the David McKee ’07 came up with perhaps Big Red. A five-time New York State high defending national champion. Nickerson the greatest performance of his stellar school champion at Chenango Forks High lost 8-3, but said afterwards that the match career, stopping 59 Badger shots, many at School, Nickerson finished the regular sea- would provide him additional motivation close range, before a Jack Skille one-timer son with a 32-1 record and was named for his sophomore season. Dustin Manotti went into the net at 111:13. The exhaust- both rookie of the year and wrestler of the did almost as well, falling to his first oppo- ing game—the second-longest in NCAA year in the Ivy League—the first male ath- nent but then winning five consecutive hockey history—turned out to be McKee’s lete to earn both honors in the same sea- matches to capture third place. Rinaldi was last in a Big Red uniform. A week later, it son. In Oklahoma City, he defeated four 3-2 to finish fourth, and Mazzurco took was announced that he was leaving school straight opponents to advance to the sixth in his weight class. to sign a pro contract with the NHL’s The hockey team won 22 games and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. was selected for the NCAA tournament, Back in Ithaca, the men’s lacrosse team but again closed its season with a bitter got off to its best start since 1987, winning overtime loss. The icers battled injuries, its first six games and rising to number especially to defensemen, all year, yet still two in the national rankings. They faltered managed to finish only one point out of in the seventh contest, falling to Penn 8-6 first place in the ECAC regular season. The on a rainy day in Philadelphia, but Big Red then downed Clarkson in two rebounded the following week to trounce straight double-overtime nail-biters at Harvard 10-3 in Cambridge. Senior Joe Lynah Rink to advance to the semi-final of Boulukos and freshman Max Seibald each the league tournament, where they blanked tallied three goals for the Big Red as they Colgate 2-0. But on the next night every- improved their record to 7-1. SPORTS INFO Standouts: Wrestler Troy Nickerson ’09 had a sensational freshman year, making it all the way to the NCAA championship final in the 125pound weight class. Goalie David McKee ’07 was once again a star for the men’s hockey team, holding opponents to 2.08 goals per game and setting school records for consecutive games played and career shutouts. After the Big Red’s 1-0 triple-overtime loss to Wisconsin in the NCAA regional final, he left school to sign a professional contract with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Wisconsin went on to win the national championship, defeating Maine 5-2 and Boston College 2-1. 12 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE Sports Shorts TOP FROSH Troy Nickerson isn’t the only member of the Class of 2009 to have already made a mark in the Cornell record books. In women’s basketball, Jeomi Maduka ’09 was named the Ivy League rookie of the year and earned second-team All-Ivy honors. Maduka, who was joined on the Ivy all-rookie team by guard Kayleen Fitzsimmons ’09, was fourth in the league in scoring (14.8 points per game) and fourth in rebounds (7.8 per game). She also earned second-team All-Ivy honors in indoor track, finishing second in the long jump at the Heptagonal Championships with a school-record jump of 20 feet, 3-3/4 inches. She also took second in the triple jump. More honors were won by Adam Gore ’09, who was named the Ivy League men’s basketball rookie of the year after setting Cornell freshman records for scoring (12.9 points per game) and threepointers (82). Gore, who earned Ivy League rookie of the week honors eight times, was joined on the All-Ivy second team by Lenny Collins ’06. LYNAH EXPANSION The sold-out attendance count of 3,836 for Big Red hockey games will soon be no more. As soon as the last home game was played in March, Cornell moved ahead with a Lynah Rink expansion project that will add more than 400 seats, as well as new locker rooms, equipment rooms, and offices. Most of the changes will be made to the building’s south side, which faces the Schoellkopf Crescent parking lot. The west end of the building will also be renovated to accommodate improved storage and laundry facilities. OLYMPIAN FEATS The 20th Olympic Winter Games had a Big Red tint, as multiple Cornell connections could be found on the rinks and slopes of Turin, Italy. Melody Davidson, on leave from her position as head coach of the Cornell women’s hockey team, led the Canadian women’s hockey team to its second straight gold medal, posting a perfect 5-0 record. Competing for the U.S. team, Travis Mayer ’04 finished seventh in Sports Scoreboard WINTER TEAMS FINAL RECORDS Men’s Basketball Women’s Basketball Fencing Gymnastics Men’s Hockey Women’s Hockey Men’s Polo Women’s Polo Men’s Squash Women’s Squash Men’s Swimming Women’s Swimming Wrestling 13-15; 8-6 Ivy (3rd) 8-19; 5-9 Ivy (5th) 8-9; 1-5 Ivy (6th) 4-2 22-9-4; 13-6-3 ECAC (3rd); 6-3-1 Ivy (2nd) 9-18-1; 5-15 ECAC (T-9th); 2-7 Ivy (6th) 14-6 8-13 8-8; 1-5 Ivy (6th) 5-9; 0-6 Ivy (7th) 8-2; 6-2 EISL (T-3rd) 3-8; 0-7 Ivy (8th) 10-4; 5-0 Ivy (1st) men’s mogul skiing; he won a silver medal in the event at Salt Lake City in 2002. Ice dancer Jamie Silverstein ’07, skating with partner Ryan O’Meara, finished in sixteenth place, while Matt Savoie, who deferred his admission to the Law school to compete at Turin, placed seventh in men’s figure skating. In addition, Emily Hughes, daughter of John Hughes ’70, MBA ’71, JD ’74 (captain of Cornell’s 1970 national champion men’s hockey team), and Amy Pastarnack Hughes ’71, MBA ’74, sister of David Hughes ’04 and 2002 gold medalist Sarah Hughes, finished seventh in ladies’ figure skating. HOOPS EXEC Bryan Colangelo ’87 has taken his award-winning career as an NBA executive north of the border. On February 28, Colangelo was named president and general manager of the Toronto Raptors, ending his 17-year tenure with the Phoenix Suns. Colangelo spent 11 years as GM of the Suns and was named the 2004–05 NBA Executive of the Year after the Suns won a leaguehigh 62 games. HEP HEP HOORAY While Barton Hall is no longer the full-time home of the Heptagonal Indoor Championships each spring, Cornell is still home to the Jeomi Maduka Heptagonal titles. This year, the women’s team won its fifth straight Heps indoor SPORTS INFO championship while the men’s team earned its third title in four years. The women scored in 15 of 18 events, taking six first-place finishes along the way while running their overall Heps streak, including both indoor and outdoor meets, to nine. Morgan Uceny ’07 won her second straight 800-meter title with a meet-record time of 2:06.88, and went on to earn All-American honors in the 800 with a fourth-place finish at the NCAA championships. Sheeba Ibidunni ’06 col- lected two Heptagonal titles, winning the weight throw and shot put. Other women’s Heps champions were Sarah Wilfred ’07 in the high jump, Jamie Greubel ’06 in the pentathlon, and the 4x400 relay team of Linda Trotter ’06, Cameron Washington ’07, Christina Cossell ’07, and Uceny. The men’s team won only two individual titles—Evan Whitehall ’07 in the pole vault and Rayon Taylor ’07 in the triple jump—but added 11 second- and third-place finishes to beat runner-up Princeton by 20 points. SAFE AT HOME Erin Sweeney ’04 has returned to the softball program, this time as a part-time assistant coach. A four-year starter at Cornell, Sweeney was an assistant coach at St. Anselm College last season. During her Big Red playing career, Sweeney set season and career records for stolen bases and helped the team to Ivy League titles in 2001 and 2004. Cornell finished 29-17-1 last season and was second in the Ivy League. ON THE RUN Max King ’02 was selected to represent Team USA in the world cross country championships after finishing third in the U.S. championships on February 19. King, who lives in Bend, Oregon, and is a research chemical engineer, covered the 12K course in 35:20, taking third by seven seconds. The world championships were held April 1–2 in Fukuoka, Japan; King finished 57th. MAY / JUNE 2006 13 Authors alized, and argues for the worth of “durable fluff,” “formulaic creativity,” and “iridescent mediocrity.” The book reconsiders major writers like James Joyce while paying attention to minor figures who are rarely studied. In Brief ROMANCING SPAIN by Lamar Herrin (Unbridled Books). When Lamar Herrin sailed to Spain in 1969, he fell in love not only with his future wife but with her country as well. Herrin, former director of the Cornell creative writing program and author of five novels, including House of the Deaf and The Lies Boys Tell, weaves his memoir between the past and the present. He tells the story of this quixotic courtship and how the young lovers were able to surmount the obstacles of the Catholic Church, Franco’s government, and Spanish tradition in order to marry. PARADOXY OF MODERNISM by Robert Scholes, PhD ’59 (Yale University Press). Scholes, the Research Professor of Modern Media and Culture at Brown University, contends that the neat binary opposition of high versus low espoused in modernist art and literature is misleading. He examines works in the middle ground that earlier critics have trivi- SECRET GIRL by Molly Bruce Jacobs ’76 (St. Martin’s Press). Jacobs was thirteen before she discovered the existence of her younger, mentally retarded sister, Anne. Her upper-class parents rarely spoke of Anne and seldom visited her. But at age thirty-eight, separated from her husband and trying to bring her alcoholism under control, Jacobs decided to meet her sister for the first time. From this tentative beginning the sisters form a bond, and Jacobs learns acceptance and forgiveness. THE STRONGEST BOY IN THE WORLD by Philip R. Reilly ’69 (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press). From his perspective as a physician, geneticist, and attorney, the CEO of Interleukin Genetics explores the science and the social issues behind such topics as human evolution, the impact of genetics on the future of sports, the mysteries of genetic diseases, the similarities between dogs and people, the consequences of genetically modified foods, and the ethical dimensions of stem cell research. AMERICAN PLACES by M. Perry Chapman ’58, BArch ’64 (Praeger Publishers). Many colleges are trying to reclaim the sense of cohesion that was lost during the rise in attendance after World War II. Chapman, a professional planner and principal architect at Sasaki Associates, argues for campuses to be designed as working examples of healthy environments that enhance the virtues of human scale and physical setting. He cites the practical benefits of such design: better student and faculty recruitment, increased alumni donations, and stronger linkage between institutional traditions and societal change. 14 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE AUTHORS Recently Published Fiction ASK ME NO QUESTIONS by Marina Budhos ’83 (Atheneum). Nadira and her family live in New York City on expired visas and dream of becoming legal citizens. But their dreams end after 9/11. When her father is arrested at the Canadian border, Nadira fears that her family will be deported to a Bangladesh they hardly know. TWO HOT DOGS WITH EVERYTHING by Paul Haven ’93 (Random House). Writing his novel about a young boy’s love of baseball provided Haven, a bureau chief for the Associated Press, a way to connect with American culture while reporting on war and terrorism in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Children’s BEETHOVEN’S WIG by Richard Perlmutter ’71, illustrated by Maria Rosetti (Rounder Books). Based on the Sing Along Symphonies music series, the book (and accompanying CD) combines illustrated adventures and lyrics set to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. CREATING CLEVER CASTLES & CARS by Mari Rutz Mitchell ’98, MS Ag ’03 (Williamson Books). Mitchell, a lecturer of art history at Ithaca College, encourages children to build imaginative structures out of boxes, sheets, cardboard, newspaper, and other everyday materials. Non-Fiction RUSSIA’S DANGEROUS TEXTS by Kathleen Parthé, PhD ’79 (Yale University Press). The director of Russian studies at the University of Rochester examines the history of writers’ uneasy relationship with the state, whether czarist or Communist, and explores changes in Russian literary tradition since the collapse of the Soviet Union. TOO STRESSED TO THINK by Annie [Larris] Fox ’72 and Ruth Kirschner (free spirit publishing). This guide for teens explains the roots of stress and gives advice on how to make good decisions and lead more balanced lives. NURSES ON THE MOVE by Mireille Kingma ’70 (Cornell University Press). A consultant on nursing and health policy for the International Council of Nurses examines how globalization influences the labor market for highly skilled nurses. DRAWING DISTINCTIONS by Patrick Maynard, PhD ’70 (Cornell University Press). Maynard, a professor of philosophy at the University of Western Ontario, surveys the practice of drawing, from prehistoric cave markings to THE LITTLE GUIDE TO YOUR WELL-READ LIFE by Steve Leveen, PhD ’82 (Levenger Press). Steve Leveen is the CEO of Levenger, the company that supplies well-heeled bibliophiles with reading lights, lap desks, and other bookish accessories. But he admits that he was not a great reader in college. “Virtually any list of important classics would have precious few check marks from me,” he says. “Somehow, with Cliffs Notes and cunning, I faked my way through.” In midlife, he was “reborn to a life of reading” after listening to unabridged audio books, and has been making up for lost time. In this short guide to opening up the world through the pleasure and power of books, Leveen interviews writers, librarians, booksellers, and editors about their reading techniques. “Far from being solitary and indulgent, a well-read life can be one that connects us to each other and that does good in the world.” modern artists, from children’s art to complex schematics. THE PROMISE OF THE FOREIGN by Vicente L. Rafael, PhD ’84 (Duke University Press). Through close readings of newspapers and novels, vernacular theater, and accounts of the 1896 revolution, a professor of history at the University of Washington argues that translation was key to the emergence of Filipino nationalism in the nineteenth century. MIEN RELATIONS by Hjorleifur Jonsson, PhD ’96 (Cornell University Press). Jonsson, an assistant professor of anthropology at Arizona State University, questions the ethnographic research on Thailand’s hill tribes and reveals its blindness to history and to political manipulation. GOAL-FREE LIVING by Stephen M. Shapiro ’86 (John Wiley & Sons). A guide for achieving a good life without the tyranny of a play-by-play handbook or rigid goals. THE JOLLY PRESIDENT by Joey Green ’80 (Lunatic Press). This parody of The Jolly Postman features pocket pages with satiric letters and cards addressed to President George W. Bush from Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, Dick Cheney, and others. THE QUEST FOR HUMAN LONGEVITY by Lewis D. Solomon ’63 (Transaction Publishers). Significant life extension will have profound social, political, economic, and ethical consequences for society, argues Solomon, a rabbi and professor of business law at George Washington University. THE MASTERS OF SUCCESS by Ken Blanchard ’61, PhD ’67, Diane Hanson ’68, Jack Canfield, John Christensen, et al. (Insight Publishing). The authors of several well-known business books explain their methods for discovering new ideas and attaining success. 6 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE BOSSES by Stephen E. Kohn ’80 and Vincent D. O’Connell (Career Press). The president of Work & People Solutions and a corporate trainer present techniques for developing intelligent and effective leadership. DISEASES OF TREES AND SHRUBS by Wayne A. Sinclair, PhD ’62, and Howard H. Lyon (Cornell University Press). This standard reference on the diseases of forest and shade trees and woody ornamental plants is thoroughly revised and updated, and includes a CD-ROM with additional information. DISCOVERING NATURAL PROCESSES by Gray Merriam, PhD ’60, and Jeff Amos (Penumbra Press). Photographs and text illustrate the fundamental processes that enable environmental systems to be self-sustaining. AMPHIBIANS OF EAST AFRICA by Alan Channing and Kim M. Howell ’67 (Cornell University Press). A comprehensive study of the 194 species of frogs and nine species of caecilians in East Africa. ABSOLUTE BEAUTY by Gerald Imber (William Morrow). A clinical assistant professor of surgery at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center explores new methods for staying young-looking. 16 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE Currents Animal Magnetism AUTISTIC PROFESSOR SEES THE WORLD FROM THE COW’S POINT OF VIEW JASON KOSKI / UP Wild at heart: Visiting professor Temple Grandin’s insights into animal behavior led to a career designing humane livestock facilities. t HE FIRST SLIDE IN TEMPLE GRANdin’s lecture on farm animal behavior featured a meatpacking plant with a problem: cattle refused to enter the building. “The owners were ready to tear down this facility and totally change it,” the Colorado State University animal scientist recounted, until they called on her for help. Grandin took one look at the site and identified the problem. It wasn’t the building—it was the American flag that fluttered nearby. Cattle have acute senses of sight and hearing that alert them to potential predators, and the flag frightened them. “There’s rapid movement, it’s high-contrast,” Grandin told her undergraduate audience, “and it makes a really scary sound—almost like fire.” Grandin, a Frank H. T. Rhodes Class of ’56 professor, has reshaped livestock handling facilities worldwide; half of all cattle in North America are slaughtered in plants she designed, including ones that supply McDonald’s, America’s largest buyer of beef. Her insight into animal behavior is thanks to, not despite, having been born with autism, and she’s written several books about her experiences, including the 2005 best-seller Animals in Translation, co-authored with Catherine Johnson. During a week on campus in February, Grandin spoke about subjects from career options for people with autism to animal welfare. She’ll return annually for the next four years of her five-year professorship. Grandin’s work springs from the idea that people with autism think the way animals do—using images and other sensory information, not language. “My mind is like Google for images,” she says. “You put in a key word and it brings up pictures.” Autism is a neurological disorder that affects, among other things, the functioning of the brain’s frontal lobes, where abstract thought takes place. For Grandin, the condition manifested by age two in a violent temper and delayed speech and social skills. “I’d rip wallpaper off the wall and eat it,” she wrote in the London Sunday Times in 2005. Grandin is also sensitive to sound and touch—a common characteristic of autism. In grade school, class bells sounded “like a dentist’s drill,” she says, and today she prefers soft clothing such as her signature satin Western shirts. Her sensory amplification resulted in constant anxiety, which she diminished later in life with antidepressants. Like most people with autism, she has trouble navigating social cues; she was fifty when she discovered that people communicate with their eyes. Grandin overcame these difficulties, she says, thanks to educational intervention. A nanny taught her to enunciate and take turns when she was a child, and in high school a science teacher encouraged her interest in engineering. Given the MAY / JUNE 2006 17 CURRENTS proper mentoring, children with highfunctioning autism can translate their specialized interests and abilities into successful careers, she says. Grandin’s capacity to visualize in three dimensions, for example, helps her to test-run new equipment designs in her mind’s eye. Some animals have similar “savant” skills, such as carrier pigeons that return home based on sensory memories of things they see and smell along the way, Grandin says. “Animals notice details that people don’t.” Thanks to her unusual insight, she developed livestock equipment that controls animals by triggering their natural behaviors. In conventional facilities, workers often have to force cattle to move by shouting at them or shocking them with electric prods. But most cattle walk quickly and calmly through Grandin’s curved chutes, which take advantage of the animals’ tendency to move in a circle when they graze. She’s proudest of her design for a high-speed conveyor belt, A Slippery, FOOD SCIENCE STUDENTS GET THE SCOOP ON Sloppy Slope ICE CREAM w hen Ezra Cornell said “any study,” he may not have envisioned Sloppy Slope Jolt—the winning flavor in Food Sci- ence 101’s annual ice cream-making competition. Its student creators say the flavor was inspired by two essential aspects of life on the Hill: coffee-fueled studying and Slope Day indulgence. Sixty students split up into three teams, each of which formulated an ice cream inspired by a Cornell land- mark and aimed at the University community. Working in groups posed the biggest challenge, says Joseph Hotchkiss, professor and chair of the Department of Food Science. But the technical aspects of commercial ice LISA FRANK cream processing—such as determining proper ratios of butterfat, particulate (crunchy bits), and air (a key ice cream component)—was no piece of cake either. “Ice cream is actually a rather delicate and difficult product to manufacture,” Hotchkiss says. Sloppy Slope Jolt is made of coffee ice cream with swirls of caramel and fudge and chunks of hazelnuts and brownies. It narrowly beat out Rawlings’ Green, a crème-de-menthe concoction with cookie bits and fudge (to look like mud) and marshmallow swirls (for snow), and Lynah Faithful, a white mint-flavored ice cream with chocolate disks (for hockey pucks) and colored-sugar fish (to evoke the Harvard game). The Cornell Dairy, which makes about 18,000 gallons of ice cream per year, is now producing Sloppy Slope Jolt to sell on campus and serve in dining halls. If the flavor catches on, the Dairy will add it to the regular rotation. “I’m not a cof- fee person,” says Vincent Nykiel ’76, the Dairy’s general manager, “but it does have the brownies and fudge, so I think it will sell with the kids.” called a center-track restrainer. It transports live animals faster and with less stress than conventional methods, such as shackling them by the back hooves and hanging them upside down or dragging them across the slaughterhouse floor. Some small-scale facilities resist Grandin’s innovations. But the larger meat producers have embraced her work, because gentle handling in well-designed facilities improves efficiency and maintains good meat quality. Stressed animals pose a greater threat to livestock workers and fall more frequently. That means bruised beef that can’t be sold at top dollar, and stress hormones that turn pork pale and mushy. “She basically took what was an inefficient plant in the old days and helped create the equipment that allows the well-run large meat plants as we know them today,” says Joe Regenstein ’65, MS ’66, a food science professor who has collaborated with Grandin. Her more humane facilities have also helped the meat industry respond to the concerns inherent in animal slaughter. This has been true especially since 1999, when McDonald’s, under pressure from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, hired Grandin to audit the welfare of the animals slaughtered in its suppliers’ facilities. She came up with a simple scoring system that has since become the industry standard. While some animalrights groups laud her work, others point out its paradox: her efficiencies have enabled the meat industry to kill more animals than ever before. “She is working with the animals’ natures,” says Gene Bauston, MPS ’96, president and cofounder of Farm Sanctuary, a farm animal protection organization based in Watkins Glen, New York. “But slaughtering animals and treating them as commodities denies them their most fundamental nature: their desire to live.” Grandin, who eats meat, contends that livestock wouldn’t exist if humans hadn’t bred them, so we bear responsibility for their welfare. And Nature isn’t as kind. “I’ve gone out to ranches and seen cattle that have had big patches of hide stripped off by coyotes, and they were still alive,” she says. “I feel very strongly that we’ve got to give them a decent life.” — Susan Kelley 18 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE CURRENTS Tall Order “PEAK BAGGER” KEVIN FLYNN ’81, MS ’85, SEEKS OUT THE WORLD’S HIGHEST POINTS k EVIN FLYNN ’81, MS ’85, HAS HAD a couple of Mount Everests in his life. One, metaphorically, was the notion of him ever attending an Ivy League school after graduating in the bottom 20 percent of his high school class in Rochester, New York. But after straightening himself out at Finger Lakes Community College, he earned a degree in environmental education (and later a master’s in communication) on the Hill. “That was a big deal,” he says, “and I felt really good about doing that.” Same goes for his conquest of the other Everest. Come mid-November, when he plans to make his way up Australia’s Mount Kosciuszko, Flynn will own a place among an elite list of mountaineers who have climbed each of the Seven Summits (the highest point on each continent). But his trek toward the top of the world began with a much easier ascension, a scramble to the top of 4,960-foot Mount Haystack in the Adirondacks when he was eighteen. “My parents were never outdoorsy—they were Holiday Inn types—so that was an entirely new experience,” says the fortynine-year-old Flynn, who is part owner of Martino Flynn, an integrated marketing communications firm outside of Rochester. “From then on, I was hooked.” There followed a series of greater hills to climb. First, he became an Adirondack Forty-Sixer, climbing each of the region’s 4,000-foot-plus peaks. Then he trekked to the top of windy Mount Washington in New Hampshire, his first experience with crampons and an ice axe and the thrill of a wintry ascent to an inhospitable summit. Finally, there came an assault on Alaska’s 20,320-foot Mount McKinley in 1992, an attempt that proved unsuccessful when the weather didn’t cooperate. The following year, he tried again, this time summiting North America’s highest mountain. Fewer than 120 people have managed the Seven Summits feat since 1985, when Texas businessman Dick Bass became the first to do it. Although Flynn gradually began crossing the fabled seven off his todo list—19,340-foot Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in 1998; 22,831-foot Aconcagua in Argentina in 2001; 18,513-foot Elbrus in Russia in 2003—he never expected to complete the task. “It always seemed too audacious,” he explains, “just because COURTESY OF KEVIN FLYNN 20 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE King of the mountain: Rochester ad man Kevin Flynn is one peak away from conquering the Seven Summits, the highest point on all the continents. there was Everest, and I never thought I could do that.” Until he did—barely. After an unsuccessful attempt two years earlier, Flynn reached the rooftop of the world, 29,035 feet up, on May 15, 2004. It was the payoff for months of training and more than fifty days of climbing from camp to camp to acclimatize to the altitude. During the grueling thirteen-hour “summit run,” he came within a whisker of being forced to turn back. And when he finally reached the peak, he stayed for just ten minutes. “I would have liked to have spent more time, but I wasn’t feeling great, and it was late in the day,” Flynn recalls. “I knew I had to get down, so there was no joy for me.” As he wrote in his self-published memoir, Mt. Everest: Confessions of an Amateur Peak Bagger, “People would ask me, ‘What’s it like to stand on the summit of Everest?’ I wouldn’t know. When I got to the top, I sat down.” And for good reason. Flynn’s health declined rapidly during the slow, perilous descent. By the time he arrived at his base camp two days later, doctors told him that he had a fever, pneumonia, and possibly a dash of HAPE (high altitude pulmonary edema). He was eventually evacuated by helicopter to Kathmandu. The possibility of death is unavoidable when tackling the world’s most imposing peaks. Flynn’s first attempt at McKinley came just a month after eleven people had died on the mountain. Near the top of Aconcagua, he found a frozen body while digging around for his gear cache. And during his first attempt of Everest, he descended the hazardous Lhotse Face minutes after a British climber had plummeted to his death there. But according to Flynn, the fear keeps him alert—and safe. “I think you have to have your eyes open,” he says. “It’s easy to say, ‘Oh, it could never happen to me.’ But I think it just helps you to make better, smarter decisions.” Not only is climbing dangerous, it can get expensive. The tab for Flynn’s two Everest treks came to nearly $40,000 each (one-fourth of which went to the Nepalese government). And last December, it cost him about $30,000 (most of it airfare from Chile) to reach his sixth summit: 16,067foot Vinson Massif in Antarctica, where the temperature dipped to forty below Visit us on the World Wide Web for subscription and advertising information, or to stay in touch. www.cornellalumnimagazine.com (800) 724-8458 Your biggest source for Cornell, IC & Ithaca is Gorges T-shirts & souvenirs T-SHIRT EXPRESS 210 The Commons, Ithaca, NY 14850 Phone: 607.273.6667 & 607.256.2777 www.t-shirtexpressions.com E-MAIL: SHALIMAR@LIGHTLINK.COM MAY / JUNE 2006 21 CURRENTS Cornell Sheep Program Blankets Created from wool of Cornell Dorset and Finnsheep, each blanket is serially numbered on the Cornell Sheep Program logo and comes with a certificate of authenticity. Red stripes at each end and red binding accent the 100% virgin wool. Blanket sales help to support the Cornell Sheep Program, and $10 from each sale goes to an undergraduate scholarship fund. Lap robe (60 x 48 inches, 1 stripe) $69 Single (60 x 90 inches, 3 stripes) $94 Double (72 x 90 inches, 3 stripes) $105 Queen (78 x 104 inches, 3 stripes) $129 8.25% tax (within NY) $8 per blanket shipping. Cornell Orchards, Cornell Dairy Store, or the Department of Animal Science, 114 Morrison Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-4801 Phone 607-255-7712 Fax 607-255-9829 www.sheep.cornell.edu (click on blankets) cspblankets@cornell.edu 22 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE zero and the environment was, Flynn says, “as close as you can come to leaving the planet without leaving the planet.” Flynn is grateful that his advertising firm is successful enough to give him the financial means to pursue his passion, and that his wife, Maggie (an Adirondack Forty-Sixer herself), has been steadfast in her emotional support—FWA (Full Wife Approval), he calls it. Indeed, Flynn revels in the fact that the seventh of his seven summits, Australia’s Kosciuszko, is a relatively simple 7,310-foot day hike—a pleasant change from his other death-defying ascents into thin air. That means this time he can take Maggie with him. He figures he owes her. — Brad Herzog ’90 Triple Threat AN ACADEMIC ALL-STAR FIELDS A NATIONAL SCIENCE MAGAZINE d ouble-majoring in economics and molecular and cell biology would be enough work for most students, but not Kevin Hwang ’07. When he’s not studying inflation rates or peering into a microscope, Hwang devotes most of his time to the Triple Helix, the national undergraduate science organization he founded in 2004. The group publishes a bi-annual academic journal, available both in print and online (www.thetriplehelix.org), that focuses on the intersection of science and law, taking an interdiscipli- nary approach to such topics as medical ethics, college drug use, and evolution. “Scientific issues don’t operate in a vac- uum anymore,” says Hwang. “You can’t just do research in GREEN a lab, come up with a scientific result, and expect it to make a difference in the world. There are all kinds of things that are going to impact it.” Hwang started the Triple Helix magazine to mend what he saw as a rift between students in the sciences and the humanities. Soon, undergraduates from a wide array of majors—including English, government, business, marketing, and economics— became involved, and Hwang found that friends at other schools were also interest- ed in the group’s interdisciplinary approach to scientific issues. Now, just fifteen months later, the Triple Helix has become a nationwide network with fourteen chap- ters, each with its own independent publication, at such universities as Penn, Berkeley, and Stanford. “When I first came up with the idea to expand nationally, everyone told me—even my mom told me—that it was impossible,” says Hwang. Similar national nonprofits at universities generally have a full-time adult staff to help run the organization, but Hwang thought he could do it just with students. “I’m kind of a dreamer in some sense—I’m kind of an optimist—so I decided to try it out.” Now the Triple Helix is beginning to expand internationally, with chapters forming at Oxford, the University of Singapore, and Australia’s Melbourne University. It’s a formida- ble job for founder and CEO Hwang, but one that has not been without its rewards: in February, he was named to the All-USA College Academic Team by USA Today. “Sometimes I have to pry myself away from doing Triple Helix stuff to do my homework,” admits Hwang, who also serves as vice president of the Undergraduate Society for Intellectual Property and treasurer of his fraternity, Pi Delta Psi. He doesn’t seem to mind having to divide his time. “I really enjoy the research that I’m doing, the activities, and my fraternity,” he says. “I think that if you find your real passion and your real interest, you’ll find the time to make it happen.” — Matt Berical CURRENTS Face Value ANDY LEVINE FOR TODAY’S STUDENTS—AND A FEW OTHERS—FACEBOOK HAS CHANGED THE WAY TO KEEP IN TOUCH o N OCTOBER 25, 2005, JOSH KIEM ’78 went where few men and women of his generation have gone before: Facebook.com, the online social networking website that is now a fixture of American college life. Kiem created a simple autobiographical profile, listing essentials like his hometown (Park Ridge, Illinois) and major (operations research and engineering) and including a recent photo. But unlike the undergrads who use Facebook to post snapshots, see what their friends are doing tonight, and generally procrastinate, Kiem joined to keep track of his daughter, Maddie, who went off to the University of Illinois this past fall. “I wanted to see what she was up to and have another connection with her,” he says. Kiem, a program manager at Motorola, may be the rare middle-ager on the Facebook rolls, but he is not alone. The college phenomenon that is Facebook also includes recent grads who keep their accounts active after graduation and older alumni who are discovering that its value as a social networking tool extends offcampus. Some faculty and staff hold Facebook accounts as well, among them Cornell’s new president, David Skorton, who joined as University of Iowa president (and has more than 4,000 names on his friends list). Launched by a Harvard student in the spring of 2004, Facebook quickly spread throughout the Ivy League and beyond; the service now boasts more than 6 million members, many of whom check the site several times a day. Like the paper “pig books” once handed out to incoming freshmen, it was originally designed to help introduce classmates to each other. Members create a profile by posting photos of themselves and filling in information on their major, hometown, and favorite music and movies. But unlike the facebooks of old, the site can be updated regularly, and users can also view entries at other schools, essentially creating a vast inter- and intra-college network that allows friends to keep track of one another effortlessly. Perhaps a little too effortlessly: many parents and administrators worry that users are unwittingly opening themselves up to a host of security issues by revealing their personal lives online. The online social networking site MySpace.com, which boasts more than 60 million mostly younger users and is one of the most popular sites on the Web, has been a focus of such concerns since last March, when a thirty-nine-year-old man was arrested for having sexual relations with a fourteenyear-old girl he met via the site. But Facebook’s college-based audience is much smaller than that of MySpace, and it offers a number of privacy features that might deter online predators. To join, members are required to have a working dot-edu e-mail address and their profiles can initially be fully viewed only by other students at their school. Students from other colleges must ask to be added to the friends list of a person who attends elsewhere before being granted access, so a Columbia student would have to be accepted as a friend by a Cornell student before being able to see that student’s profile. Additionally, members can (but rarely do) choose not to reveal their profiles to anyone they haven’t identified as a friend, essentially blocking strangers from viewing their information. For alumni, many of whom move to different states or lose touch with classmates after graduation, reuniting online via Facebook can make more sense than plying the deeper waters of the larger networking sites. “I saw the potential it gave me to keep in contact with people I met at Cornell,” says Andy Goldin ’03, “and I discovered that I could also find people from my past who had been long lost.” Lauren Moran Matzke ’98 had a similar motivation when she decided to join last summer. While few of her classmates are on Facebook, Matzke still finds the site a “great way to keep people up to date, communicate in a fun way, and just know what is going on with people that you may not necessarily keep in frequent contact with over time.” Like Josh Kiem, Syl Tang ’94 initially joined to keep in touch with a younger family member—in her case her brother, an active member of the Facebook community who attended Harvard. But while 24 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE Tang found the site useful for contacting her brother while he was away, she doesn’t think that Facebook is an effective replacement for a standard alumni network. “It’s missing some of the elements that alumni usually look for,” she says. “If it had more professional networking, it would be more interesting.” For that, Tang recommends TheSquare.com, another online community that offers membership to students and alumni of selected schools and also provides career and dating networking. Alumni face a few roadblocks before invading the world of Facebook. Many don’t have the requisite cornell.edu e-mail account, although the University will provide one to alumni as a forwarding address. Recent grads can also run into trouble when they go to graduate school and have to set up a new account. “I do wish it had the functionality to add additional schools,” says Matzke, who currently attends Florida State University as a graduate student. But perhaps the biggest hurdle is that alumni who didn’t come of age in the Facebook era might not know the site exists. “If Facebook could come to Reunion, that would be great,” suggests Tahl Ben-Yehuda Saidel ’92, who joined to keep in touch with younger friends but was disappointed to find few of her classmates. (At the moment, only five members of the Class of 1992 are listed.) There are no plans to invite the site or integrate Facebook into the existing alumni infrastructure, according to the Office of Alumni Affairs, but Facebook’s effectiveness as a supplement to the University’s official efforts is clear, says Goldin. “The ease and availability of information is fantastic, and it’s always at your fingertips,” he says. “The website is very casual and could potentially foster more networking among alums.” With or without the University’s blessing, current students say that they will continue to use the site after they receive their diplomas. “I plan on using Facebook to check on everyone and to keep in contact with people from the other side of the country,” says Mary Moore ’06, who expects to move to Seattle this May. “You can get updates without even having to speak to the person. It’s instant gratification.” — Jill Weiskopf ’06 Uncommon Cause AFTER THREE DECADES, CRESP CONTINUES TO CALL OUT TO ACTIVISTS OF ALL STRIPES f IVE YEARS AGO, REGINA CLEWLOW ’01, MS ’02, had an undergraduate degree in computer science, a passion for changing the world, and no clear idea how to go about doing it. A graduate student in engineering with a focus on sustainable development, she felt frustrated by the insulated nature of her coursework. “Traditional engineering programs typically do not expand beyond the classroom, “ Clewlow says. “But there is a lot of focus now on making connections between the classroom and the real world. When I approached various Cornell fac- ulty and staff about my ideas, they met me halfway in creating a program to put engineering students to work on real-life issues.” Now she’s the executive director of a national nonprofit, Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW), that boasts a network of 1,500 students and professionals in thirty chapters on campuses across the country, managing projects to alleviate poverty on five continents. ESW volunteers design rainwater storage tanks in Africa, build low-cost corn grinders in Guatemala, and teach Java programming MAY / JUNE 2006 25 CURRENTS in Bosnia-Herzegovina. headed the organization for the last eight representative member to CRESP’s advi- But before Clewlow could build ESW, years. Housed in Anabel Taylor Hall, sory board. “I’m always amazed by how she needed to obtain nonprofit status, CRESP has a full-time staff of two and much the projects are learning from each which can be a formidable hurdle. So, like thirteen additional staff members. other,” says Wessels. “There’s a synergy many young Cornell idealists before her, Some of the groups CRESP takes here—it’s not just a loose coalition of she approached the Center for Religion, under its wing eventually go on to achieve groups.” Ethics, and Social Policy (CRESP). independent status as nonprofits in their Given the hot-button issues that Founded in 1971 by Rev. John Lee Smith, own right. In the Ithaca area, several such CRESP takes on—one recent project, former director of Cornell United Reli- projects—including the Community Dis- TheocracyWatch, tracks the rise of the gious Work (CURW), the religious right in the Repub- organization functions as an lican Party, and CRESP has incubator for newborn non- been active in sponsoring profits, helping them secure campus events protesting the 501(c)(3) legal status and Iraq war—it’s little wonder offering fiscal and administra- that the group is a frequent tive oversight, along with the target of ire from conserva- credibility of being associated tive students and alumni. with a long-standing institu- But, Wessels notes, CRESP’s tion. “For a new organization, relationship with the Univer- it’s financially difficult to get sity isn’t strained by the often started,” says CRESP director fiery political rhetoric of the Anke Wessels. “We want to be groups on its roster. “We able to provide opportunities have a lot of support among and resources for people who the administration,” she says. have a strong vision and “They appreciate that there ideals, to see if their dream should be many voices on will come to fruition.” campus.” The affiliation Inspired by such Viet- agreement between CRESP nam-era campus activists as and Cornell is a loose one, CURW’s Rev. Jack Lewis and and no funding for CRESP Father Daniel Berrigan, projects comes from the Uni- CRESP was originally con- versity. The organization also ceived as a kind of progres- takes its pedagogical role sive think tank—founder seriously, says Wessels, who Smith proclaimed its mission teaches a course, Leadership was to “perform an adversar- in Public Service, in the ial role in intelligently criti- UP Department of City and cizing existing social policy.” Activism 101: CRESP director Anke Wessels puts politics into prac- Regional Planning. “Even CRESP championed a host of tice by helping a host of nonprofit projects get started. though the issues we’re con- efforts in the 1970s, including cerned with are often politi- the EcoJustice Project, a pioneering envi- pute Resolution Center, the Women’s cal, we’ve always tried to remember our ronmental group, and the now-forty- Opportunity Center, and the Learning mission is educational.” year-old Committee on U.S.–Latin Amer- Web—are now thriving. Farther afield, the Given the current cultural climate, ican Relations (CUSLAR), which has long affiliate group CRESP-Senegal recently Wessels says that CRESP’s future challenge been a reliable critic of U.S. political obtained independent NGO status. “It’s will be to define the most effective ways to interference in Central and South Amer- absolutely a success when projects make it fight for change without alienating others. ica. In the 1980s, CRESP was active in the on their own,” says Wessels. “But it’s also a “Social activists aren’t all that good at lis- fight against apartheid South Africa; more success when projects stay. They are doing tening to the other side—I’d like us to not recently, globalization and free-trade good work, and by pooling resources we contribute to the polarization,” she says. issues have been common themes. can do more.” Currently sixteen projects “We can be passionate about our vision Through the years, as causes have come operate under CRESP’s auspices, including while still being open to perspectives dif- and gone, CRESP’s core pursuit has EcoVillage in Ithaca, a celebrated co-hous- ferent from our own, because we recog- remained unchanged: “We’re all about ing community, and Ithaca City of Asy- nize in all people a universal desire to con- working toward a just, peaceful, and sus- lum, which provides refuge for politically tribute to others.” tainable world,” says Wessels, who has persecuted writers. Each project sends a — Catherine Faurot 26 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE CURRENTS Of Sports and about what her son was trying to do. “Raymond was small for his age, and Helen would ask what I thought about his Sustenance playing,” says Rex, who met Raymond on Bring Your Child to Work Day and gave him a Cornell football jersey signed by team members. “I always had role models, usually high school kids. I saw that he was STUDENT-ATHLETES FEEL RIGHT AT HOME looking up to me.” Other Big Red athletes attended Raymond’s games last fall, and IN TRILLIUM a FTER THE FINAL HOME FOOTball game of his Cornell career, safety Kevin Rex ’06 was greeting graphs from all Big Red sports. They have also created memorials for Cornell athletes who died in recent years. his confidence grew. “I didn’t watch football before,” Raymond says. “I was nervous at first. I like football better now. One time [Rex] made an interception, and the next day, I made one. I thought about him when I did it.” well-wishers when he spotted a red-haired Helen Prouty says that she and her Football head coach Jim Knowles ’87 woman and her ten-year-old son, who wore husband, Mike, weren’t very interested in says that efforts like Rex’s mentoring of a Pop Warner jersey. Beaming, Rex hugged sports until Raymond started playing Raymond Prouty are just one aspect of the boy and lifted him to his shoulder. baseball and football. Before long, she rec- community involvement by Cornell ath- Rex had met Helen Prouty at Trillium, ognized that the athletes in her cashier letes. “Everybody’s got something they the dining hall on the Ag Quad where line were a great source of information do,” he says, noting that football players food-service workers have made a point of welcoming the student-athletes who eat there. The athletes say they appreciate the attention, and many have become friendly with the workers. But Rex went further, becoming a mentor to Prouty’s son, Ray- mond. “For many students, lunch is just a quick break,” says Rex. “The staff tries to be friends with everyone, not just athletes, but it takes effort on both sides. Fortunately, I took the time one day [to talk to Prouty], and it’s made a difference in my life.” Rex, a biology major with medical school aspirations, says that when he was a freshman Trillium “was this cool place where upperclassmen ate, and I was intim- idated. But Helen and the other ladies were always smiling, asking how life was going.” His sophomore year, the football team had a pre-game breakfast there, and the workers offered encouragement for a team struggling to win. “You brought up Cornell football and people would laugh,” Rex says. “I began to go to Trillium even when I didn’t need to eat, just to see the ladies and, on a bad day, get a hug.” The sports-minded members of the staff first grew to know some of the men’s hockey players—Ernie Kostrub ’69 has been attending games at Lynah since he was a student—but the passion spread. Last fall, the Trillium workers put up PROVIDED posters promoting women’s volleyball, and Home team: Cornell safety Kevin Rex ’06 forged a friendship with Trillium in May they taped up a collage of photo- staffer Helen Prouty and her football-loving son, Raymond. 28 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE read to kids at area schools, offer a friendly ear to people in Cayuga Addiction Recovery Services, and raise money through events like a car wash to benefit Family and Children’s Services. “I think we all recognize we’re in a small community,” Knowles says. “I tell the players they’re responsible for getting people into the stands, for being visible, for watching how they conduct themselves.” Other Cornell teams, including both the men’s and women’s lacrosse teams, have launched similar community efforts, and the wrestling team raises money every year for Hospicare. Cindy Bower, another Trillium worker, is a fixture at wrestling matches along with her husband, Charles. Their son Anthony is a high school wrestler, and Bower found him a mentor a few years ago: 174-pounder Tyler Baier ’05, who was sitting out that season for medical reasons. “Tyler would ask how Anthony was doing, so I brought in videotapes,” Bower says. “Tyler said he wanted to help.” Baier tutored Anthony on technique, mental preparation, and setting goals— and in 2002 the young wrestler won the sectional title and competed in the state championships. Bower says that many of the wrestlers feel a special kinship for the Trillium staffers. “I meet their parents and the guys always say, ‘This is Cindy—she takes good care of me,’ ” she says. Bower recalls comforting Baier before the funeral of wrestler Scot Elwood ’06, who died accidentally in 2003. “He found me in the kitchen and hugged me and cried,” she says. “We’re friends, but it’s more. It goes beyond the sports thing. I think we’re like substitute mothers for the guys.” Baier agrees, saying, “All I know is that every time I walked through the doors, I would look forward to seeing the ladies and receiving their warm welcome. We would help to brighten up each other’s days.” When Kevin Rex finished his final exams in December, Helen Prouty gave him a candy dish full of sweets, and coworker Linda O’Connor presented him with a gift from the staff: a new dartboard to replace one that he and his roommates had broken. “I was blown away by the love,” Rex says. “I felt kind of undeserving.” — Scott Conroe, MPS ’98 MAY / JUNE 2006 29 Finger Lakes Listing • LIVE • WORK • VACATION • OR RETIRE Near Cornell Another of my very special Cayuga Heights homes Offered by Lorraine Quinlan, Associate Broker Warren Real Estate Spectacular architect-designed, much admired, elegant brick home with slate roof sited on a lushly landscaped acre. Winter lake views from an elevated flagstone terrace accessible from large eat-in kitchen, formal dining room, and grand living room. The rear yard is something special! Glassed, sun-filled, year-round solarium is just a step down from the living room. Main floor has an intimate library. Two-car garage is accessed from kitchen. Hardwood floors. Four bedrooms. Fifth bedroom or studio apartment with private staircase is great for guests or an au pair. Four full baths. Three fireplaces, including one in the master bedroom suite! Security system. A home to be enjoyed and appreciated. Lower-level study opens to covered loggia. For more information and pictures visit: warrenhomes.com Please call Lorraine Quinlan: 607-257-0666 (office) 607-257-6760 (home) 607-330-5240 (mobile) lcquinlan@warrenhomes.com THE HEIGHTS OF LANSING Newest development by builder Ivar Jonson Luxury Townhouse Living, Conveniently Located • Spacious open-floor plan with high ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows • Three bedrooms, 3.5 baths • Custom-built kitchens with granite countertops • Two fireplaces, air conditioning and elevator in each unit to access second floor • Oversized two-car garage • Worry-free living with property maintained by Homeowner Association Opening in Summer 2006 For more information and to view model, contact: Forest City Realty Janet Jonson, Broker/Owner 607-272-7755 www.ithacahome.com 30 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE Professional Service with Sincere Care • Fluent in both English and Chinese • Specialize in Buying and Selling of Residential Homes, New Construction, Multi-Unit Investment Properties • First-Time Home Buyers & Relocation Jenny Ying Chai Associate Broker • Responsiveness, Integrity, Compassion • Many satisfied customers Direct: 607-220-5323 http://www.geocities.com/jennyychai Cell: 607-279-5551 Kimball Real Estate Est. 1948 Sales 607-257-0313 Rentals Cayuga Heights 186 Pleasant Grove Road Ithaca, NY 14850 Mike Kimball ’67 b Moving to Ithaca? Visit these websites: Ithaca Board of Realtors www.ithacarealtors.com Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce www.tompkinschamber.org Ithaca Convention and Visitors Bureau www.visitithaca.com 32 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE YOU’VE EARNED IT . . . Historic turn-of-the-century estate on more than 50 acres of woodland, lawn, and creekbed six miles south of Ithaca, NY. Magnificent 40' x 80' companion barn designed for “gentleman farmer”; stables with turned columns and decorative ironwork. 4,500-square-foot Queen Anne Revival includes original woodwork, gourmet kitchen, guest/ nanny’s quarters, and residential elevator. $649,000 For more information: Carol S. Bushberg, Broker Associate Christopher George Real Estate 304 College Avenue, Ithaca, NY 14850 607-272-8213 (work) 607-279-4530 (cell) Former Cornell Post-Doc ELVINA AMATI A broker who will care about you (607) 220-5370 (Office direct) (607) 387-4277 (Residential) realtorelvina@yahoo.com www.amatihomes.com 2333 N. Triphammer Rd. Ithaca, NY 14850 MAY / JUNE 2006 33 HORSE FARM This much-admired, totally unspoiled 1860 Greek Revival with 17-stall barn, 5 paddocks, and riding ring, sits in a prime location just minutes from Cornell University, Tompkins County airport, shopping and services, and major highway access. Meticulously maintained and preserved, it looks much as it did 100 years ago with its parlor and sitting rooms, wide-pine plank floors, and frieze-band windows. In addition, yesterday’s spaces have been adapted to today's living and you’ll find a den/office, a TV room, 3 bedrooms, and 3 full baths. Outside are lovely gardens, a meandering stream, and an outstanding mortar-free stone fence. This is a rare opportunity. Linda Hirvonen Associate Broker Warren Real Estate of Ithaca, Inc. Cell: 607-592-3665 lahirvonen@warrenhomes.com 34 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE Cayuga Heights Magnificent treasure on 1.9 acres. Completely renovated. Main living quarters has five-plus bedrooms. Exquisite architectural detail throughout. Separate guest suite. Grounds equally beautiful and include a sculpture garden. Short walk to Cornell. Suzanne Benisch Lic. real estate agent 607 257 7537 www.ithacamansion.com MAY / JUNE 2006 35 The Quiet Americanist By David Dudley Historian Walter LaFeber, favorite of generations of students, leaves the classroom 36 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE In 1959, Walter LaFeber was a newly minted assistant professor of American history at Cornell and, at twenty-six, barely older than some of his students. One day his wife, Sandy, visited him in class. LaFeber taught from a detailed sheaf of notes, and Sandy LaFeber, who had been a speech major at Stanford, was not impressed by her husband’s performance at the lectern. “You know,” she said, “you’re never going to get tenure here. You never looked up once.” The prediction proved inaccurate; in the succeeding forty-seven years, LaFeber improved. He put away his notes and learned to lecture from memory, the same technique that his own graduate school mentor, University of Wisconsin historian Fred Harrington ’33, had employed to great effect. So successful was LaFeber that the two-semester History of American Foreign Policy course that he developed at Cornell quickly became a popular draw. At its peak more than four hundred students enrolled each semester to take in the thrice-weekly orations—held for many years in Bailey Hall to accommodate overflow crowds—that they now often recall as the highlights of their undergraduate careers. “The course became known as ‘Walt,’ as in, ‘Are you going to see Walt today?’ ” recalls Andrew Tisch ’71, who audited LaFeber’s lectures during his undergraduate years at the Hotel school. By then Vietnam had made the foreign policy course, heretofore merely popular, officially indispensable. “The lecture was so riveting that you really went to see the professor, not the course. He was unique.” In December, LaFeber, the first Andrew and James Tisch Distinguished University Professor, held his final seminar and announced his retirement from teaching. The last class itself featured a low-key send-off—a round of applause from the gathered members of the history department staff, a cake, and a gift (a Chicago Cubs jersey) from his students. Somewhat more in keeping with LaFeber’s largerthan-life stature among alumni was another event, a farewell lecture in New York Diplomatic solution: LaFeber’s grasp of world affairs is as formidable as his modesty. “I know enough about foreign policy,” he says, “to know how little I know.” NICOLA KOUNTOUPES / UP City on April 25. Originally scheduled to be held at the Museum of Natural History, all 900-plus seats were snapped up four days after it was announced in February, and organizers were forced to move the show to the 2,900-seat Beacon Theater. Tisch—who endowed the chair (with his brother James ’75) that has kept LaFeber teaching for an additional four years and also proposed the tribute—had an even grander venue in mind. “My original idea was that he should deliver a final lecture at Carnegie Hall,” he says, “but Walt wouldn’t have anything to do with that.” It is the rare seventy-two-year-old history professor who can fill a Broadway house, but ever since he put away his notes four decades ago the soothing Midwestern monotone of Walter LaFeber has proven to be a strangely powerful force. As the 1960s unspooled, the most compelling show on campus was the earnest young professor from Indiana who sat on a desk and explained why his country did the confounding things that it did. Among his exstudents are one present and one former national security advisor, Stephen Hadley ’69 and Sandy Berger ’67, along with a legion of prominent American historians, political theorists, and powerful policy- MAY / JUNE 2006 37 COURTESY OF TED LOWI Team player: A youthful history department takes the field in the early 1960s. LaFeber, then about twenty-eight, kneels on the far left. makers. “The students who had the good fortune to take courses from him were among the anointed in the world,” says President Emeritus Dale Corson, a charter member of the Walter LaFeber admiration society. “He gives an insight that comes from the heart. It isn’t just somebody standing up there talking—it’s somebody standing up there talking to me.” LaFeber determinedly aw-shucks his ‘He can be just as much of a liberal as I am, but without the soapbox rhetoric,’ says government professor Ted Lowi. ‘I knew when I met my match.’ Ted Lowi UP way out of these encomiums; he’s heard it all before, and will hear it all again before this year is up. “The students showed up out of fear—they were scared to death they were going to miss something that was on the exam,” he says. “If I’d been talking about fourteenth-century Florence, they would not have been there, no matter how good I was. It was because I was talking about U.S. foreign policy. It was the times.” A chat with Walt LaFeber offers only the barest glimpse into the cult of personality that sprung up around perhaps the most popular and influential professor on campus. He is almost pathologically modest about that distinction, pre- ferring to divert the praise to present and former colleagues in the history and government departments, especially the tight-knit group of prominent hires that, like LaFeber, arrived as young scholars in the late 1950s and early 1960s and “grew up together” on the Hill. “I like to think I’m a good teacher, but I’m certainly no better than a number of people in this department. And nobody in their right mind in the 1960s would have said I was a better teacher than [government professors] Allan Bloom or Ted Lowi, my God.” Lowi himself disagrees, after a fashion. “He fooled everybody,” says the political scientist, who came to Cornell in 1961. “He was probably just as insecure as the rest of us.” As twentysomething professors, Lowi and LaFeber shared a wall of their adjoining offices in Sibley Hall—and very different classroom styles. Lowi was known as a blustery preacher who boomed in the rich drawl of an Alabama native. The mild-mannered LaFeber spoke so softly that students in large halls needed to remain stone silent to hear him. “He had this finishing-school character—very polished, very elegant,” Lowi says. “Walt has a way of combining anecdote with argument and real feeling; like me he’s got that populist distrust of power. He can be just as much of a liberal as I am, but without the soapbox rhetoric. I knew when I met my match, the bastard.” Lowi recently unearthed a snapshot from the early 1960s, a faded color photo of the history/government touch football team, which occasionally took on grad students in intramural contests. (“We beat the crap out of them,” Lowi says.) It is a formidable squad, at least intellectually. There’s Donald Kagan, now a conservative lion at Yale, with the prominent presidential scholar Clinton Rossiter ’39 under center. On the far right side of the group is the constitutional expert Walter Berns, presently a fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute; LaFeber and Lowi line up, appropriately, on the left. With his vintage black-framed glasses and prominent pate, LaFeber, then about twenty-eight, appears to possess all the gridiron presence of a gangly Bob Newhart. But don’t be fooled. A high school basketball star, LaFeber had good hands and a fiercely competitive spirit. “Walt’s got a strong macho streak,” Lowi says. “He didn’t like to lose.” 38 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE UP LaFeber in the classroom, late 1960s: “He stands up there without notes, talking for an hour on a very logical development of a theme, and never misses a beat,” says President Emeritus Dale Corson. “Beautifully structured. There aren’t many people who can compete in his league.” T he office LaFeber presently inhabits is an odd two-level space in McGraw Hall, with a bookcase-lined balcony and a soaring window overlooking Cayuga Lake. He shares the room with Joel Silbey, the White Professor of History Emeritus, retired from teaching since 2002 but a frequent occupant of the neighboring desk during his afternoon visits to retrieve e-mail and kvetch about baseball. LaFeber’s side of the room is heaped with the artifacts of his many pursuits, scholarly and otherwise. On the wall are portraits of two of his heroes: John Quincy Adams, the poet president who warned his nation not to “go abroad in search of monsters to destroy,” and Ernie Banks, irrepressible shortstop of the hopeless Cubs. Growing up in tiny Walkerton, Indiana, LaFeber would take the train into Chicago to Wrigley Field, and he still follows the team’s tortured fortunes, making annual tips to Phoenix for spring training. “It does prepare you to teach foreign policy,” he says. “I was in Arizona last week watching the Cubs play—they’re just terrible—and it reminded me again of the limitations of human nature. You’d never think you’re going to go out and democratize the world with this group.” One desk away, Silbey chuckles. A Brooklyn native, he grew up a fan of the Dodgers’ crosstown rivals, the Giants. “One of the things that unites us is that, in my life and in Walter’s, we rooted for nothing but losers. That gives you a sense of history . . . and fate.” This isn’t precisely true—LaFeber’s also a Notre Dame football fan—but there is a certain fatalist streak in his scholarship. As a graduate student in the mid-1950s LaFeber was a member of the so-called “Wisconsin School” of historians who trained at the University of Wisconsin with Harrington and William Appleman Williams, the controversial Cold War revisionist and author of The Tragedy of American Diplomacy. The Wisconsin School questioned the prevailing orthodoxy about the U.S. abroad and emphasized the economic roots of American foreign policy— and its persistent, often ruinous expansionist tendencies, a theme that has been a LaFeber perennial since his first book, The New Empire: An Interpretation of American Expansion, 1860–1898, which was adapted from his PhD dissertation on Grover Cleveland. It won the American Historical Association’s Beveridge Prize in 1962, and quickly established LaFeber’s bona fides as MAY / JUNE 2006 39 “a star in a galaxy of young historians,” as Guggenheim Fellowship in 1988 and the the Cornell Alumni News proclaimed in a prestigious Bancroft Prize for 1998’s The 1963 profile. Clash, a historical overview of U.S.–Japan- Other books and many more scholarly ese relations. LaFeber was also the first accolades would follow, including a recipient of the Clark undergraduate teaching award, just one reflec- tion of the life-changing powers ‘Walter represents the ascribed to his lectures and seminars by those who attended. ur-notion of what it Sandy Berger notes the existence of a bipartisan “LaFeber mafia” means to be a disinter- of former students at work in the nation’s capital (“His net- ested scholar,’ says Eric work—across parties—could teach our much beleaguered Alterman ’82. ‘There’s a CIA a thing or two,” he writes in an e-mail), but few talk of an willingness to follow the influential “LaFeber School” of foreign policy thought. The scholarship wherever it prominent students he once mentored—a group that pres- leads, even if it’s in ently includes Under Secretary of Defense Eric Edelman ’72, politically inconvenient Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fried ’74, and Venezuelan directions.’ ambassador William Brownfield ’74—seem likely as not to dis- agree with his liberal revisionist take on American history. “They took everything I taught, reversed it, and ended the Cold War,” LaFeber jokes, a bit ruefully. This may be taken as evidence of LaFeber’s technique of rigorous classroom non-indoctrination. In seminars, he didn’t argue with students, and his own convictions were couched in such unassuming, anecdote-laden terms that even conservatives were charmed. “I didn’t try to instill anything in anybody,” he says. “I’ve never cared about having disciples. [Allan] Bloom, of course, did, but he was very convinced he was right. I’m often not.” Students faced a bewilderment of viewpoints during the days when Bloom espoused his Straussian ideals while Lowi and LaFeber lobbed revisionist hand grenades about American imperial hubris back down the hall. “Some of the most interesting experiences I’ve had over the years have been with students who came to me after class to say, ‘Professor LaFeber disagrees,’ ” says Silbey. “I’d explain why I said what I did and say, ‘Now go back and ask LaFeber what he thinks.’ ” UP 40 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE LaFeber grins. “We were all talking across ideologies, and we’d carry on these debates through the students,” he says. “We had a great time confusing them. ‘Can’t you people agree on anything?’” Later, in the 1970s and 1980s, a changed political climate meant that LaFeber was as likely to face friction from the left, says Eric Alterman ’82, media columnist for The Nation and an English professor at CUNY–Brooklyn College. “He was a lot harsher on everybody than I wanted him to be,” he says. “He didn’t withdraw from tough judgments. To me, Walter represents the ur-notion of what it means to be a disinterested scholar. There’s a willingness to follow the scholarship wherever it leads, even if it’s in politically inconvenient directions.” Alterman, who wrote the 2003 bestseller What Liberal Media?, recalls that his 1992 book Sound & Fury, a history of the American political pundit class, developed directly from his exposure to LaFeber’s classroom. “I was disabused of dozens and dozens of ideas I thought I had at the time,” he says. “After you take a class with Walter LaFeber, if you’re honest with yourself, you can’t accept any easy pieties. The people you think are the good guys are often lazy and wrong or dishonest, and you have to deal with it.” L aFeber posseses, he says, a Calvinist view of human nature, which is accompanied by an equally uncompromising work ethic. Both were forged in childhood: for a dozen years, from age eight until he graduated from Hanover College, a small Presbyterian school in southern Indiana, LaFeber labored in his father’s Walkerton grocery store. “It was one of the best experiences in my life,” he says. “You deal with people day in and day out, and it’s very different from going to school.” The interpersonal skills he acquired behind the cash register may go some way toward explaining LaFeber’s enduring popularity, even among those that don’t share his politics. “The reason I had classes with hundreds of students was that I was committed to a particular point of view, so there was something there that students could either agree or disagree with, and I think they understood that if they dis- agreed they weren’t going to fail the course,” he says. This, LaFeber stresses, was a trait shared throughout the department. “If there’s a common denominator, it’s that we all cared about foreign policy. We acted as if this was really important— important enough that we’ve essentially committed our own lives to it. That’s the quickest thing a student sees.” It’s a commitment that seems not to have wavered in the professional lifetime that LaFeber spent at Cornell. He says that “the last twenty years have been just as exciting as the first, in some ways more so,” and raves about the drive and savvy of his current students, especially a senior seminar on post-9/11 foreign policy he taught last year that he calls “one of the best classes I’ve ever had.” So why retire? “I didn’t want to wear out my welcome,” he says. The decision to leave the classroom had been long in coming; LaFeber went on half-time fifteen years ago in order to devote his spring semesters to research, and had been planning to retire several years ago. The 2002 Tisch professorship lured him back to teaching, but heart surgery in the summer of 2003 forced a medical leave (his first and only) that cancelled fall classes that year. Now fully recovered, LaFeber chose not to renew his chair for another term. “I wanted a long, consistent period of time,” he says. “You get to be a certain age, and you realize it won’t be long before you’re in that great library in the sky. You think you’ve got to use the libraries down here before you run out of time.” LaFeber has no plans to go quietly. He has a long list of scholarly chores, including an examination of the Boxer Rebellion in China and a revision of his 1967 textbook America, Russia, and the Cold War, 1945–1966. But the project he seems most passionate about is a book of essays on 9/11 and its aftermath, a topic that has brought many of LaFeber’s notions about U.S. expansionism and its historical context back into academic vogue. “One thing that really interests me is how historians after 9/11 played up people like Theodore Roosevelt and the whole idea of American empire, wrongly,” he says. “They essentially prostituted the history for the sake of policy. One of my favorite phrases is, ‘Behind every man on horseback is a writer with a shovel and a broom.’ There were too many people with shovels and brooms after 9/11.” LaFeber’s elder-statesman standing among American historians and his persistent—and prescient—criticism of the war in Iraq have given him a second career of sorts as a public intellectual. In a 2002 op-ed in the Washington Post he warned that the Bush Administration’s pre-invasion promise to seed democracy throughout the Middle East “flies in the face of everything we know about Iraqi history.” More recently, he took to the same pages to blast Condoleezza Rice for a January speech that defined U.S. foreign policy as having “the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world,” a pointed quote from Bush’s second inaugural address. “Only a person ignorant of human history could seriously discuss ‘ending tyranny in our world,’ ” LaFeber wrote. “It is rooted in a human nature that cannot be changed, only contained.” The piece was well-received by the punditocracy, which was a pleasant surprise. “If I’d done it eighteen months ago,” LaFeber says, “I might have gotten death threats.” The rising chorus of skepticism regarding the war, he notes, has familiar echoes. “I’ve been struck by how the debate has changed in the last year. We are now about where we were in 1965 on Vietnam. A lot of people feel used. And a lot of people know that they essentially suspended disbelief.” But LaFeber remains a historian, not an opinion maker; he takes the long view about his country’s weakness for seeking monsters abroad. “This is just the way Americans think,” he says. “The argument next time will be what it was this time. They’ll say, ‘Yeah, Vietnam didn’t work and Iraq didn’t work, but circumstances are different now. We’ve learned how to do it.’ Or, ‘We have more power now.’ And there will always be enough people around who, for oil or whatever, will say, ‘Let’s do it, and here’s the reason why.’ ” He stretches his long legs and smiles wanly. As so many students recall, LaFeber never flashed anger in the classroom, even at those who didn’t do the reading; histrionics were not a part of the show. He wove his stories, pulled pieces together, and, then as now, let others decide what to make of it. “As a historian or a Cubs fan, you tend to be pessimistic about these things,” he says. “You’re not surprised. But maybe you’re disappointed that these people who are making policy didn’t learn their history. Especially if some of them are from Cornell.” C MAY / JUNE 2006 41 Minority ReportBYSUSANKELLEY UNDERGRADUATES ARE MORE DIVERSE THAN EVER – IS THE ALUMNI LEADERSHIP KEEPING PACE? It was one of the defining moments in Cornell history: just after five o’clock on a foggy April morning in 1969, about fifty Afro-American Society (AAS) members McLaughlin ’70. “We thought we were doing something significant, even though many of our parents were horrified. My mother was dismayed: ‘I didn’t send you there for that!’ ” entered Willard Straight Hall’s back door and commandeered the building’s keys. The students cleared out employees and visiting parents, locked and barricaded the doors, and began their thirty-six-hour occupation. With the takeover complete, some AAS members performed a decidedly less subversive act: they called Thirty-seven years later, some of those student activists— many now parents of college-age children themselves—are still struggling to engage with the University, this time from within. Minorities now make up about 9 percent of living alumni and participate more than ever in alumni activities, from mentoring undergraduates to serving on the Board of Trustees. But for many, something happens in the transition from student to active alumnus: they leave the Cornell fold—sometimes for years, some- home. “We were elated,” says Andree-Nicola times permanently. The percentage of minority alumni who par- 42 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE ticipate in Cornell activities lags well behind their overall representation in the alumni body, despite determined efforts by the University to step up recruitment, especially for leadership positions. While many minority alumni applaud those efforts, they say Cornell could—and should—be doing more. Exactly how many alumni, minority and otherwise, participate in Cornell activities is hard to quantify. The various alumni groups individually track participation, but there is no comprehensive database. However, some key indicators tell the story of minority involvement: Only about 10 percent of eligible alumni have joined the University’s oldest and most established minority alumni affinity group, the Cornell Black Alumni Association (CBAA). The Cornell Latino Alumni Association (CLAA) has enrolled 3 to 6 percent of eligible alumni, while the Cornell Native American Alumni Association (CNAAA) has signed up about 8 percent of its potential members. The Cornell Asian Alumni Association (CAAA) offers free membership for one year to any Asian undergraduate who wants it, but has only about 150 dues-paying members. While the racial makeup of such highprofile organizations as the Board of Trustees and University Council has become decidedly more diverse in recent years—minorities now comprise 16 percent of the Board and at least 9 percent of the Council—groups such as the advisory councils for the colleges are still disproportionately white. “We are looking at a sea of Caucasian faces,” says Renee Alexander ’74, a founding member of CBAA who recently became the director of Minority Alumni Programs (MAP) in the Office of Alumni Affairs. “There are lots of minority alumni out there who are eager to become involved. We have to find them and assess what their interests are and where they best fit. I have an important job.” Many of Cornell’s estimated 20,000 minority alumni say they’re concerned about the situation, given the everincreasing diversity of undergraduate classes. Over the past ten years, the number of alumni, not including foreign students, who identify themselves as members of a minority has doubled. More than 36 percent of the Class of 2010 selfidentify as minority—the highest percentage ever. Asians and Pacific Islanders are the largest group of minorities in the JOHN ABBOTT class, at 18 percent. African American and Latino students follow, at 7 and 6 percent, respectively. Six percent identify themselves as “bi-multicultural.” (The actual percentages may be higher because some students choose not to report their ethnicity.) Thanks to a growing pool of qualified multicultural applicants, the trend is likely to continue. “There’s no reason to believe that it will diminish,” says Doris Davis, associate provost for admissions and enrollment. “Cornell’s commitment to racial and ethnic diversity remains strong.” Andree-Nicola McLaughlin ’70 MAY / JUNE 2006 43 The University’s current initiative to involve more minority alumni dates back to 1985, when Austin Kiplinger ’39, then chair of the Board of Trustees, headed a committee charged with identifying weaknesses in alumni activities. Among the recommendations in the so-called Kiplinger Report of 1987 were programs to increase involvement and leadership among female, international, and minority alumni. As a result, the President’s Council of Cornell Women (PCCW) was formed in 1990, followed a year later by Minority Alumni Programs, which supports Cornell’s minority affinity groups. In 2002, the Board went further, creating the Minority Alumni Initiatives and Implementation Committee (MAIIC) and charging it with increasing minority alumni leadership. MAIIC initially education on career, personal, and academic issues; and forums for professional networking. MAIIC’s most visible effort to address those needs has been Cornell Mosaic, a three-day conference in April 2005 that drew 650 minority students, faculty, staff, and alumni to Ithaca for networking and workshops that aimed to “celebrate diversity and advance inclusion.” To reach alumni who could not or would not attend that conference, and keep in touch with those who did, MAIIC has taken the concept on the road, sponsoring regional Cornell Mosaics in conjunction with other alumni events. Conferences in New York City and Philadelphia drew a total of about 175 participants; events in Chicago and Los Angeles are slated for this fall; and MAIIC plans at least one Cornell Mosaic, perhaps in Atlanta, in 2007, as well as another in Ithaca in three to four years. “The idea is to involve alumni and inform them about what’s going on at Cornell, with students and on campus,” says Liz Moore ’75, a trustee who has chaired MAIIC since its inception and serves on the ILR Advisory Council. “The other goal is to inform them about opportunities for involvement as alumni leaders.” Renee Alexander ’74 sought benchmarks for its charge by tracking the racial makeup of a host of alumni organizations, but has since focused on such key groups as the Board of Trustees, University Council, and PCCW. Four years after its founding, MAIIC has not yet compiled precise statistics on the latter two, although Mary Berens ’74, the director of Alumni Affairs, says that each has at least 9 percent minority representation. From 2002 to 2004, MAIIC—which consists of thirty alumni and three students—posed a question to focus groups of minority alumni and students: what would encourage minority alumni to become more involved? It became clear that they wanted three things: more opportunities to interact with students; continuing What’s at stake if the University’s efforts fall short? Foremost is untapped dollars and underutilized talents. “A lot of alumni of color are doing well, and they have a choice in where they donate their discretionary funds,” says Linda Gadsby ’88, a former president of CBAA and a current member of Cornell Alumni Magazine’s governing committee. “Cornell might lose out if they are not embraced and brought back into the fold.” Nor will Cornell benefit from their expertise, says Ramona Connors Muñoz ’94, a KEVIN STEARNS / UP Shinnecock Indian. Currently the University is missing out on the unique perspectives of “some great scientists, educators, and entertainers,” she says. Cornell could also find it more difficult to recruit the most talented minority students. Ken Roldan ’86, CEO of Wesley, Brown & Bartle, an executive search firm with a specialty in diversity recruitment, says that the University’s ability to engage its minority alumni could be a lure for applicants. “Let’s face it— now students are a little bit more savvy,” says Roldan, a former CLAA president and former University Council member. “They’re going to realize that it’s not about what you know, it’s who you know. If you’re not going to have people of color coming back to the University and feeling a sense of partnership and value, Cornell is going to lose in the long run.” 44 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE The implications extend beyond the campus, says AndreeNicola McLaughlin, the former AAS member who began her academic career at CUNY’s Medgar Evers College. Now the Dr. Betty Shabazz Distinguished Chair for Social Justice and a professor of English, cross-cultural literature, and interdisciplinary studies at Medgar Evers, McLaughlin fears that without greater minority involvement Cornell will produce alumni unable to compete effectively in a multicultural world. “We have people going to study abroad who don’t even deal with the different cultural groups in their own city,” she says. “This is another kind of illiteracy—cultural illiteracy—that we have to overcome.” The decision of minority alumni to become involved in Cornell also affects current undergraduates. “If you’re a student of color and you hardly ever see alumni of color return, what does that tell you?” Linda Gadsby says. “They graduated and they’re not looking back. If students follow that pattern, the trend continues.” Ramona Connors Muñoz ’94 TRIO RISE It would be difficult to find a stronger advocate for Cornell than Denise Meridith ’73. She has been an alumnielected trustee and founded alumni clubs in Washing- qualified “without knowing that I was a Regents Scholar and spoke Latin.” Gadsby remembers Ithaca as the first place where someone hurled “the N-word” at her. More recent graduates have rarely had to contend with such overt racism, but they have faced other challenges. For Ramona Connors Muñoz, who was the first in her family to attend college, socioeconomic and cultural differences compounded a tough academic transition from SUNY-Farmingdale, where most of the students with whom she associated came from lower-income families. “You thought, ‘Well, I’m not from a wealthy background, I ton, D.C., New Mexico, and California. She serves on the don’t belong here.’ ” T. J. Carrizales ’01, president of CLAA, says CALS Advisory Council, has been a CAAAN ambassa- that students who were unaware of resources such as the Latino dor, is a ten-year district coordinator for the CALS Living Center often felt that Cornell was an unfriendly, isolating Alumni Association, and is active in the Cornell Club of Arizona. place. “You miss that culture, that sense of family, that’s really She tells prospective students that Cornell offers the highest qual- strong in the Latino community, and it takes time to establish a ity education they can get. “Having a Cornell degree, you can go new community at Cornell.” anywhere in this country,” Meridith says. “It’s the key to opening Such cultural issues also resonate among Asian students: Gin- many doors.” ger So ’79, former University Council chair and a current mem- But ask her to describe her undergraduate days, and you’ll ber of the Cornell Alumni Student Mentoring Program’s board, hear a more complicated story. “I really disliked Cornell when I says she knew Asian students who were the first in their families was going there,” she says. Her advisor repeatedly discouraged her to attend college and needed guidance on how to develop a rela- from becoming a veterinarian—and told her that African Amer- tionship with their professors. She knew not to see the faculty as ican people didn’t know how to study. She says the career plan- unapproachable “sages on the stage,” she says, but rather as men- ning office was also negative about her plans; she eventually tors and advisors. “I was lucky because I had that experience, dropped out of the pre-vet program and graduated with a BS in although some of my peers may not have.” wildlife biology. “There were all these little things that built up Nicole Xian ’00, president of CAAA, says that, if anything, she and said you aren’t going to get there,” felt reverse discrimination: some Meridith says. on campus expected her to be For other minority alumni, memories of inspiring professors and life-long ‘If you’re not involved, you smart because of her ethnicity. “It is, after all, a very ‘white’ school— friends are mixed with less pleasant recollections of racially charged interac- can’t change anything,’ says but it depends how you perceive it. If you want to feel like a minor- tions. Dennis Williams ’73, a former vice ity and discriminated against, the president of the Cornell Alumni Federation and Georgetown University’s asso- Linda Gadsby ’88. statistics will support you, because there are obviously more white ciate dean of students and director of the students on campus,” she says. Center for Minority Educational Affairs, “But if you don’t choose to think describes his freshman year, begun the fall after the Straight that way, if you want to feel that you are just part of a diverse uni- takeover, as “traumatic.” Regina Little-Durham ’78, the current versity, there are obviously a lot of Asian people at Cornell. You CBAA president, says the biggest emotional drain was dealing can definitely see that when you compare Cornell to other Ivy with white students who assumed that she was less academically League schools. It feels very diverse.” MAY / JUNE 2006 45 Moore says she tries to emphasize how flexible volunteering can be. “If it’s not this year that you can go once a month to a meeting because of other commitments, that’s fine. But maybe, for exam- ple, you can attend just one meeting to talk to students.” Another challenge is the belief that what Cor- nell really wants from them is their money. “A lot of minority alumni view alumni outreach as a thinly disguised way of raising money for the University,” So says. To counter that perception, Moore mentions the many opportunities that do not require a financial contribution. Cornell Mo- saic was one good exam- CHRISTOPHER SADOWSKI ple, she says. “Having Ken Roldan ’86 events where we’re reach- ing out to alumni to talk Some minority alumni say that their negative experiences on about their experiences at Cornell, to learn about the current sit- the Hill have actually fueled their Cornell involvement: their goal, uation at Cornell, and to learn about other topics that interest they say, is to insure that current and future undergraduates don’t them—that’s a nice way to reintroduce them to the University.” face the same challenges that they did. “That’s usually the reason Other recruitment challenges have to do with matters of that people want to be involved,” says Deniqua Crichlow ’99, identity. In the past decade, the Office of Alumni Affairs has director of the Johnson School’s made a determined effort to ask Office of Diversity and Inclusion and alumni if they identify with a minor- a former director of Minority ity group and explain why it’s asking, Alumni Programs. It was the case with Gadsby: she avoided Cornell ‘All these organizations says Mary Berens. (Until the 1970s, it was illegal for universities to ask stu- activities for years because she felt the University hadn’t supported her as an undergraduate—but time, and maturity, changed her perspective. She now serves on PCCW and exist, all these opportunities exist,’ says Denise Meridith dents about their ethnicity.) But not all minorities identify themselves as such, making it difficult to find them, let alone recruit them. For example, Nicole Xian says that some Ameri- MAIIC and recently finished terms on the University Council and the ’73, ‘but unless people know can-born Asians see themselves as American, not Asian. “At Cornell, ILR Advisory Council. “If you’re not involved, you can’t change anything,” about them, there’s not there are a lot of people like that. They don’t necessarily feel like they she says. But that argument doesn’t sway everyone, says Little-Durham. “There much you can do.’ are a minority.” If some alumni don’t define themselves as minorities, others are many black alumni that I’ve tried don’t define themselves as Cornell to reach out to who said the experi- volunteers—at least not officially. ence for them was so overwhelming Some, like Maynard Brown ’76, MBA and so intense that they never want to have anything to do with ’83, a Los Angeles high school teacher who encourages talented Cornell again—ever.” students to apply to Cornell, work outside the context of the Some of the biggest obstacles to minority alumni involve- alumni organizations. In the past, individuals like Brown have ment have nothing to do with ethnicity. Lack of time is a prob- not been cultivated for leadership positions in the alumni infra- lem for many younger alumni building families and careers. Liz structure, Berens says—but that’s changing. 46 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE In the end, the “personal ask” is the most effective the radar screen but are recruiting tool, according to Berens. “That’s how you get alumni involved—you ask them.” Unfortunately, the shortage of active minority alumni has limited ‘It’s a vessel that we can very accomplished in their industries, and nobody ever asks them to their reach. Few have been involved for extended periods of time, Liz Moore says—“and those that continue to fill and it will come back and speak.” Others suggest that have been are generally tapped into a great deal.” never be full,’ says Liz minority alumni would feel more inclined to par- ticipate if programming Even skeptics acknowledge that Cornell Mosaic represents an important step forward in encouraging more minor- Moore ’75. ‘There’s no such thing as absolute success.’ were better aligned with their interests. Asian alumni, for example, are particularly interested in admissions issues, according to So. “One way to reach out to them is to do information sessions with admissions topics,” she ity alumni involvement. But there’s a general feel- says. Joe Scantlebury ’84, a former Ujamaa residence hall direc- ing that Cornell could be doing more. “I’ve always tor and student trustee, says the University must demonstrate that said it’s their weakest point on diversity,” says it is engaging in social justice initiatives, not just reaching out for Meridith. “They’re headed slowly in the right direction with corporate support. “Is the University trying to be-come more Mosaic—but you have to have a continuing effort.” She suggests accessible to communities of color? Is it trying to deal with edu- creating a targeted marketing and education campaign to let cation issues and the achievement gap in America?” says Scantle- minority alumni know bury, a senior policy officer with the Bill & how they can become Melinda Gates Foundation. “I don’t hear Cornell involved. “All these saying, ‘We see world problems, we see state organizations exist, all problems, and we want to bring our intellectual these opportunities exist,” power to that discussion.’ I don’t hear the Uni- Meridith says,“but unless versity promoting itself as that kind of institu- people know about tion—but I see a lot of Black and Latino alumni them, there’s not much actively engaged in that kind of work.” you can do.” According to Muñoz, an Akwe:kon residence Gadsby agrees. Cor- hall director from 1995 to 1998, the process of nell can’t simply assume building minority alumni involvement should that interested alumni begin with the student experience—hiring more will log onto the alumni faculty of color and supporting minority theme website, she says; it houses. Students also need to see that the Uni- needs a more targeted versity recognizes and values diverse leadership, approach: “Linda Gads- Dennis Williams says. “If we’re going to expand by, we want you to the leadership, then the leadership has to recog- become involved in the nize and value the things that I do and that I care ILR Advisory Council. about, even if they’re different from the things Here’s a contact person that you do and you care about.” who would love to hear Significant initiatives like Cornell Mosaic are from you. If I get a personal letter like that, I’m going to be much more Nicole Xian ’00 crucial to long-term success because they signal PROVIDED that Cornell is serious about its commitment to diversity in the alumni leadership, says Williams. inclined to get involved.” “It’s only when you get a lot of money and re- Cornell could also make better use of the skills of those who sources and university leadership actually in-volved and showing are already involved. Roldan says that even when he was serving up that people say, ‘Oh yeah, I guess they mean it.’ Those are the on the University Council’s human resources planning com- right steps. I don’t know if they are going to be sufficient. I don’t mittee, Cornell never took advantage of his expertise in diver- think anybody knows yet.” sity workforce issues. “It’s not like there’s been proactive out- Liz Moore, the MAIIC chair, is optimistic about the process reach,” he says. “And I’ve been in the circle.” Gadsby, a lawyer, currently under way. “It’s a vessel that we can continue to fill and would like to see more minority alumni invited to campus to it will never be full,” she says. “There’s no such thing as absolute teach or present on panels. It was sixteen years after she gradu- success. But we have a foundation and we have a framework that ated before she was invited to speak on campus. “And I’m an will outlast me as a trustee, and it will, I hope, continue on for a active alum!” she says. “Think of all the people who are not on considerable amount of time.” C MAY / JUNE 2006 47 BUILDING THE BOMB By Murray Peshkin OA Memoir of the Manhattan Project n July 16, 1945, the first nuclear bomb was exploded at a test site in the deserts of New Mexico. The world changed that day. Within a month, Hiroshima and Nagasaki would be devastated, and World War II would come to an end. The expression “weapons of mass destruction” was When I arrived at Los Alamos in late summer 1944, I was a nineteen-year-old college student who had been drafted into the Army, and I was lucky to have been assigned to the Manhattan Project, as it was called. I had been studying mathematics and soon to become part of our vocabulary. Nuclear weapons would define our foreign policies and our deepest fears in the ensuing years; to this day, we live in dread of them. Much has been written about those days at Los Alamos, the secret laboratory near Santa Fe, New Mexico, where the bomb was designed and built. I physics at Cornell, and had a one-year deferment from military service. I was one of about ten physics students being encouraged to take almost twice as many courses as would normally be permitted so we would be more useful to the war effort. The armed forces were then accepting volunteers for several attractive programs where we could serve, most of them involving electronics. And then there was the mystery program, which one of our professors spoke to us about. Little was known: people were needed at many different levels; it would be a scientific as well as was one of the workers there. This is a personal memoir of my participation in that work, along with some reflections of an old man who was then very young. a patriotic opportunity; it was based in the United States but we would not see our families until the war was over; we would not be able to tell anyone where we were or what we were doing. There was no program to apply for or to be accepted into. We would simply be drafted in the routine way and sent off for basic training. Then, somehow, we would be reassigned to the mystery program. Three of us decided to go. After basic training in Louisiana, I LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY This article was originally published in the Chicago Tribune Magazine, July 24, 2005. Reprinted with permission of the Chicago Tribune; © Chicago Tribune; all rights reserved. 48 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE Ground Zero: The first atomic bomb detonates at the Trinity test site in New Mexico, July 16, 1945. MAY / JUNE 2006 49 was removed from my unit and, along with about ten others, ted information about the project to the Soviet Union and later placed on a train under sealed orders. A circuitous route through escaped execution by providing the testimony that sent his sister, about a dozen states took us to Santa Fe, the gateway to the secret Ethel Rosenberg, and her husband to the electric chair. military base in the mountains. The power of whoever was Luckily for me, I disliked Greenglass and avoided him. One of manipulating our movements was already visible. At each of the my friends was less lucky. He also disliked Greenglass, but once, many changes of train, our designated leader went to the Army’s against my advice, he did Greenglass a major favor. My friend had station master, who immediately found space for us on the first an apartment in nearby Albuquerque, where he met his wife on train to our next destination despite the mobs of soldiers and weekends when he could get away. Once, during a period when civilians clamoring for space. Somewhere along the way they gave my friend’s wife was away for a few months, Greenglass begged us our own rail car, and after that we only needed to ask trains to my friend to let his pregnant wife stay there. At the time, afford- pull it. able housing in Albuquerque was almost nonexistent, and my That the Manhattan Project was able to take soldiers out of friend reluctantly agreed. Greenglass apparently used the apart- fighting units that desperately needed them was, as I was soon to ment as a meeting place to transfer his secret material to the learn, only the tiniest evidence of its priority. To build the huge Soviet Union. Several years later, during the McCarthyism of the plants needed to produce plutonium and enriched uranium, all 1950s, my friend had serious troubles because of that act of kind- manner of scarce and expensive industrial materials and resources ness, and I was also tainted by it because I defended him. were requisitioned. In a minor but interesting example, the Har- Life in the Army barracks at Los Alamos was mostly pleasant. vard cyclotron was dismantled and shipped to Los Alamos, where Our daily routine was only a little different from that of our civil- it was reassembled. ian co-workers. Married soldiers whose spouses were present lived in tolerable dormitories. Those separated from their spouses by the war could console themselves that they were vastly better off A t Los Alamos I was one of some 300 enlisted soldiers, mostly men. Many of us were undergraduate students of engineering, mathematics, or science. Most of the others were machinists or other technical workers. A few were more mature scientists, but most of those, from graduate students on up, were pro- than many other soldiers. The married civilians with children had their families with them and lived in ordinary residences. The birth rate was unusually high. How could it not be? I was assigned to the theory division, led by Hans Bethe, who was later awarded the Nobel Prize for figuring out how the stars generate their energy and other achievements. Bethe was arguably the tected from the draft and worked as civilians. most powerful nuclear theorist in the world at that time. Under The military side of our lives was almost comical. We were in him were various groups working on a wide variety of problems, the Army but not of the almost all related to designing a nuclear bomb. Army. We slept in Army bar- It was an amazing organization, containing a sub- racks but barely lived there. stantial fraction of the world’s leading nuclear theorists. We had officers who were There were also some young people little older than I nominally in charge of us, who would later become the next generation’s leaders. but they had almost no con- And that was only the theory division, a small part of the trol over us. While we were laboratory. There were several experimental divisions that under their command, we could be described in similar terms. worked in an area forbidden Also in the theory division, alas, was Klaus Fuchs, an to them under the superior excellent physicist who told everything about our work command of civilians. They to the Soviet Union. He had far more to tell than did the knew nothing of the pur- machinist David Greenglass. The historian Richard pose of the project. They Rhodes, when he later studied that period, found that only knew that from time to Fuchs had advanced the Soviet bomb project substan- time there were loud explo- tially. Of course, nothing could have stopped the Rus- sions in the nearby hills and sians, even without Fuchs’s help. Once they knew the valleys, evidently detonated Call of duty: Physics student Murray bomb was going to work, they had to make the invest- by somebody and calmly Peshkin ’46 was nineteen when he ment needed to get one of their own, however great the ignored by us. (Those were was drafted and sent to New Mexico sacrifice required. ordinary chemical explosives to assist in the Manhattan Project. On top of all the divisions was the laboratory direc- like TNT. A nuclear bomb is detonated by a chemical COURTESY OF MURRAY PESHKIN tor, J. Robert Oppenheimer. He was one of the country’s leading scientists at that time, and his staff included sev- explosive and numerous experiments had to be done.) eral others who were at least as accomplished, such as Enrico The most positive side of barracks life was the good company. Fermi, who had led the team that developed the world’s first Among my fellow soldiers I had friends who were bright, inquis- nuclear reactor, without which the Manhattan Project could not itive people with many interests and diverse experiences. A have been undertaken; Luis Alvarez, who later invented the remarkable number of them later became nationally prominent ground-controlled approach that all major airports use to guide scientists. There was also some not-so-good company. One of our planes for landing; and Robert Wilson, the founding director of number was the notorious spy David Greenglass, who transmit- Fermilab. 50 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE Being at the very bottom of the heap, I was put to Through Dick’s office work performing numerical computations with an elec- there passed a virtual tric desk calculator, a marvel of rods and wheels that parade of the leading sci- could add and subtract, multiply and divide. All day entists at Los Alamos, as long I crunched ten-digit numbers and wrote them on well as some visiting con- spreadsheets. I was solving differential equations that sultants. They wanted the were needed to predict the critical mass of a bomb benefit of his ideas and his under various assumptions about the many unknown judgments. Often, he properties of the nuclei in the bomb material. invited me to listen. On Then I became the beneficiary of a second stroke of one occasion, Feynman’s good luck. The renowned twenty-seven-year-old physi- visitors were Hans Bethe cist Richard Feynman needed an assistant, and he and the mathematician selected me. Working for Dick Feynman was exciting; John von Neumann, who he was like no other person I have ever met. I was still sometimes came to Los spending almost all my time crunching numbers, and Alamos as a consultant. the truth is that if Feynman had had a programmable Johnny, as all called him, pocket calculator like one you can buy today for $25, he was one of the pioneers of would not have needed me. But he didn’t have one, so quantum mechanics, the there I was. Dick did more than supervise my number crunch- NUCLEARWEAPONARCHIVE.ORG inventor of game theory and of the first truly math- ing; he told me about other scientific issues with which Doctor Atomic: Project director J. Robert ematical theory of eco- he was involved, some related to the Manhattan Project Oppenheimer surveys the Trinity site with nomics, and one of the and some not. He also showed me how to pick the U.S. Army Major General Leslie Groves. leading theoreticians in the primitive locks that were commonly used on file cabi- early development of elec- nets at that time, one of his pastimes at the lab. I think he did all tronic computers. His mathematical prowess was legendary, and that both out of general kindness and to motivate me by making all revered him. my work interesting. Bethe and von Neumann had been kicking around an idea for Remembering Hans Bethe Upon completion of the Manhattan Project, Hans Bethe returned to Cornell, where he taught, performed research, and mentored the next generation of theoretical physicists for thirty years—and beyond. Even after his retirement from teaching in 1975, Bethe remained a towering figure in the field, continuing to make discoveries and publish important papers. He died on March 6, 2005, at the age of ninety-eight. On September 18, 2005, the University celebrated Bethe’s life with a special event in the Statler Auditorium. The speakers included many of Bethe’s colleagues and family, as well as President Emeritus Dale Corson, who characterized the physicist as “the community’s conscience.” Two hours of video of that event are available on Hans Bethe: Celebrating “An Exemplary Life,” a DVD produced by Professor Emeritus J. Robert Cooke and published by the Internet-First University Press. The disc also includes articles about Bethe from a special issue of Physics Today, a sixteen-page Cornell Chronicle tribute published in September 2005, and a photo gallery. This is the third Bethe DVD produced by the Internet-First University Press; the others are Quantum Physics Made Relatively Simple: Personal and Historical Perspectives of Hans Bethe Manhattan Project veterans Bethe (left) and Boyce McDaniel take a spin around the Wilson Synchrotron in 1968. CORNELL UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES, DIVISION OF RARE AND MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS,CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY and Remembering Hans Bethe. For information about purchasing the DVDs, write to digital@cornell.edu. Much of the material is also available online at http://ifup.cit.cornell. edu/bethe. — Jim Roberts ’71 an alternative bomb design, and they wanted to know the critical even kill people. The experimenters routinely exposed themselves mass in that complicated design. Such a calculation was far to neutron doses that we would not accept today, but they were beyond our computational abilities at the time. Feynman listened not unreasonable under the pressures of war. to the question and asked, “Why me?” It was not a complaint. It The war in Europe ended on May 8, 1945, but our work con- meant, “Why do you think I can solve such a problem any more tinued. On July 16, it all came together with the successful explo- than you can?” Addressed to Bethe and von Neumann, that was sion of a plutonium bomb at a desert site, code-named Trinity, a reasonable question. One of them answered, “Nobody can cal- some 200 miles from Los Alamos. Until that time, I never heard culate that, so we want you to guess.” That any person question whether we should was a measure of their respect for Feynman’s build such a bomb or whether we should insight. use it. But when the use of the bomb in After we both left Los Alamos, Dick warfare became an imminent reality, some became one of my graduate school profes- seventy Los Alamos scientists signed a peti- sors at Cornell. His courses were a joy. Often, tion to President Harry Truman urging that long-understood phenomena that seemed the bomb not be used until Japan was given routine would become exciting when he pre- an opportunity to surrender under stated sented his uniquely insightful way of look- terms. The petition was submitted through ing at them. His way was always simpler and channels, only to be stalled by General more physical than the standard way, leaving Leslie Groves, the overall commander of the us to wonder why we hadn’t thought of that. Manhattan Project. He used no book and gave few references. It A few weeks after the test, I went to the all came from his head. Asked for references, Trinity site as part of a team assigned to dig he would say, “I’m trying to train physicists, out the blast gauges that had been buried in not librarians.” the ground at different distances from the Ironically, while any competent student bomb. It was suggested that theorists could learn physics wonderfully well from Feynman, most could no more learn how to do physics from him than they could learn to dance by watching a ballerina. Only he could do it his way. His idea of a mathematical proof was to give two examples. With Feynman’s insight, he could choose the examples PROVIDED In retrospect: Murray Peshkin, shown here in a recent photo, says that the decision to drop the atomic bomb “may have been the worst decision ever made by a well-meaning president.” should go because we had had no previous significant exposure to radiation. Five of us volunteered. I’m sure none of us questioned why that information was so important that it couldn’t wait until the radiation levels were lower. That would not have been within the culture of the time and place. so they tested all the possible loopholes. When So off we went across the desert with we grumbled that his proof lacked mathematical rigor, he said, our shovels, to dig out the blast gauges. In retrospect, it wasn’t “D’ya know what rigor mortis means? It means, ‘Died of too such a serious risk. Many medical X-rays are comparable, much rigor.’ ” although there was the added danger of possibly inhaling radioac- Feynman had few doctoral students of his own. I studied tive sand in the crater. We wore crude radiation monitors to warn under Hans Bethe, as did most of my fellow theoretical physics us if we were staying too long, but we finished the job before we students, but Bethe and most of his students were working on would have had to leave. As soon as we got out of the crater we Feynman’s then-new theory of quantum electrodynamics, for discarded our clothes, which had become sandy. Heading back to which Feynman would later be awarded the Nobel Prize. The the base to shower, we appeared to be a comedy team: five naked most original part of my thesis grew out of a chance conversation men driving across the desert. All except me—I was wearing shoes with Feynman late at night in an Ithaca coffee shop. He just tossed and socks because I was driving the car and the pedals were hot. out one of his beautifully simple ideas. The mathematician Mark Kac, who knew Feynman well, wrote in his autobiography that When the war ended in August 1945, many people began to leave there are two kinds of genius—the ordinary geniuses, who seem Los Alamos and return to their normal lives. I, being in the Army, to be just like you, only much better, and the magicians. I knew had to stay. As all the others in my group soon left, I joined an who the magician was. experimental team that was building a novel kind of nuclear reac- tor. That group was led by Philip Morrison, who later became one W hile we were doing our calculations at Los Alamos, experimental groups were testing explosives for detonating the bomb, or dealing with the chemistry and physics of uranium, plutonium, and other special materials. Some of their work was dan- of my teachers at Cornell and was a truly heroic person. Phil was by profession a theoretical physicist, a former student of Oppenheimer, but he took on some of the most sensitive experimental tasks at Los Alamos. He was one of a few who flew to Tinian, an island in the Pacific, to assemble the bombs. He then went to Hiroshima and Nagasaki to inspect the damage and talk with people there. He was so horrified by what he saw that he became a tireless campaigner for bringing nuclear weapons under gerous, especially the studies of control so they would never be used again. chain reactions. Fissioning atomic nuclei emit neutrons—invisi- During the McCarthy era, Phil and other former students of ble particles that, like X-rays, penetrate matter and can harm and Oppenheimer’s were targeted by congressional investigators try- 52 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE ing to get to Oppenheimer by extorting information from them about left-wing connections that they shared with their former teacher. Phil was furious at Oppenheimer because he had betrayed others in an attempt to protect himself, but Phil was not going to be used that way and took risks that could have sent him to jail by refusing to answer questions on legally untested constitutional grounds. The issue was bigger than just the man. Oppenheimer had a certain symbolic value, and to let him be destroyed by the McCarthyists would have been awful. I have to add here that I have all this only from my conversations with Phil, most of them many years ago. I can document nothing. Philip Morrison died at eighty-nine while I was preparing this memoir. He was a respected professor at MIT, and the country is deeply in his debt. Building the reactor was fun. There was no owner’s manual, and we had to improvise in inventive ways. The war was over, but we kept working the same way we had during the war. I held the plutonium fuel rods in my bare hands. The rods had a coating that adequately protected us from radiation and were not seriously dangerous, but today they would be held by a robotic device, not a human being. Another part of our group, working in a remote laboratory, was doing a truly dangerous experiment that ended in disaster. They were conducting what was called a critical assembly, in which two small plutonium hemispheres were being brought slowly together. The nuclear chain reaction became more intense as the hemispheres approached each other, and by measuring the increasing number of neutrons emitted they were studying the dynamics of the reaction. One of the experimenters was moving the plutonium hemispheres with his hands. It was generally agreed that the right way to do this was to raise the lower hemisphere, not lower the upper one, so the two would separate if the movable one was somehow dropped. On this occasion, though, they were doing it the other way, lowering the top hemisphere toward the bottom one. Something went wrong, and the two hemispheres came together. Louis Slotin, the man with his hands on the experiment, threw away the top hemisphere instantly, but it was too late. The huge burst of neutrons caused massive internal injuries, and Slotin died a few days later. The others in the room were apparently not seriously hurt because they were further from the source of the neutrons. Nothing visible or audible had happened, although some of the people reported that they had seen a faint blue glow in the air near the plutonium. The military guard standing next to the door was the last man out that door because he didn’t know anything was wrong. I have often wondered why normally rational people were doing such an insanely dangerous experiment after the war was over, and why in their haste they overrode obvious safety procedures. I think it was simply the momentum of our habitual ways. So how did the country that invented modern democracy, the country that enshrined the pursuit of happiness as a national goal, come to create and use the most monstrous weapon in history? At first, we believed we were in a race with Germany. But it turned out that the Germans had given up trying to build a nuclear bomb, as we discovered after they surrendered. Should we have quit the effort at that point? Some at Los Alamos may have raised that question at the time, but I never heard it. In retrospect, we had no choice but to continue. The development of a nuclear bomb was inevitable once fission was discovered in 1939. We knew that the energy released in the fission of a single atomic nucleus was about a billion times the energy released per atom in chemical reactions, and we would quickly learn that each fission would produce extra neutrons to sustain a chain reaction. Neither the United States nor the Soviet Union could trust the other. Each would have had to build a nuclear bomb within a few years after the war ended in any case, and both would have succeeded. It might well have taken us longer because we might have had difficulty recruiting the best scientists in the country to do the job, and the Soviets faced no such problem. Assuming we had to build the bomb, should we have used it on people? I hope racism wasn’t part of the equation behind that decision. Hatred of Japan and racial hatred of the Japanese were continually being stoked by the government and media during the war—easily done, because the Japanese atrocities really were horrible. There seemed to be military justification for its use. Although the tide had turned on the Asian front, we still faced heavy losses. It was widely predicted that invading Japan would cost us as many as 1 million casualties—yet an invasion loomed unless we could force Japan to surrender. An earlier attempt to accomplish that by massive bombing had failed. On March 9, 1945, we staged a 1,000-plane raid on Tokyo that left as many dead as would the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs together— about 100,000 people. But that did not end the war. On the other hand, as far as I know, no serious effort was made to end the war by negotiating a conditional surrender before the bombs settled the issue. And it seems no real consideration was given to wasting a bomb by demonstrating it in a lightly occupied area. Other reasons have been given for using the bomb so quickly. The Soviet Union had started to move troops toward Japan, and we didn’t want them to share in the victory and probably ruin the rehabilitation of Japan. In that sense, the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki may have been the first victims of the Cold War. Another justification for the nuclear bombings was given by the military historian Richard B. Frank, who said that the Japanese armies were killing some 100,000 people a month in China and Manchuria. Any delay in ending the war would have prolonged that slaughter. All those reasons for using the bomb have some validity, although they apply better to the first bombing, of Hiroshima, than to the second. Nevertheless, it may have been the worst decision ever made by a well-meaning president. We established that we are willing to use weapons of mass destruction on defenseless civilians, and we raised the suspicion that racism was involved, especially when we used the second bomb without allowing reasonable time for the Japanese to organize themselves to surrender. The Third World saw this country, once a beacon of hope for humanity, as the ruthless bomber of defenseless non-European populations. We will pay a high price for that for many years. C MURRAY PESHKIN ’46, AB ’47, PHD ’51, is a senior physicist at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois. 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(802) 863-8424, Martha Keenan. TRAVEL/TOURS NEW ZEALAND—We specialize in small, intimate group travel to New Zealand. Blend cultural, adventure, and wildlife experiences during the day with fine dining and cozy lodges at night. Black Sheep Touring. 1-800-206-8322; usinfo@blacksheeptouring.co.nz; www.BlackSheepTouring.co.nz. WEBSITES ANTIQUARIAN BOOKS PRB&M (The Philadelphia Rare Books & Manuscripts Company)—Early books of Europe & the Americas, other rarities as chance may supply. Members ABAA/ILAB. Visit us at www.prbm.com. PROFESSIONAL SERVICES Inkwater Press seeks fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for book publication, royalties, (503) 968-6777, www.inkwaterpress.com. PERSONALS MEET BRAINY SINGLES 100% FREE —Seeking Intelligent, Educated, Cultured Singles? Visit Intellect Connect: http://www.intellectconnect.com. EUREKA! Intelligent life exists in Science Connection. Attractive and nice, too. www.sciconnect.com. SMART IS SEXY Date fellow graduates and faculty of the Ivies, Seven Sisters, MIT, Stanford, medical schools and some others. More than 5,500 members. All ages. THE RIGHT STUFF 800-988-5288 www.rightstuffdating.com “Ithaka gave you the marvellous journey. Without her you wouldn’t have set out. Wise as you will have become, so full of experience, you’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.” — from the poem “Ithaka” by Constantine P. Cavafy Register online at http://classof71.alumni.cornell.edu or call Kathy Flaxman at 301-654-7414 56 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE NEWSLETTER OF THE CORNELL ALUMNI FEDERATION ALUM almaCORNELL mattersNIFEDER www.alumni.cornell.edu ATIO N PROVIDED Why Philadelphia? It’s more than the cheesesteaks. CACO moves Mid-Winter Meeting south N ew York City had been the site of the Cornell Association of Class Officers’ annual Mid-Winter Meeting for the past 100 years. So why did CACO move its 101st gathering to Philadelphia in 2006? Cost and logistics were the main factors (although rumor has it that Philadelphia’s famous cheesesteaks were also a lure). In an April 2005 letter, CACO president Kevin McManus ’90 and vice president Jane Hardy ’53 described the reasoning to their constituents. The Mid-Winter Meeting, one of the largest alumni training programs for Cornell volunteers, requires significant conference space. But class officers, with their connections and resourcefulness, book few guest rooms. That’s an unappealing combination for hotels, which profit by booking a proportionate number of guests to meeting rooms. “We pay a heavy penalty in price and planning time that has historically been reflected in your registration fees,” McManus and Hardy wrote. Philadelphia offered not only cheaper hotel rooms and conference venues but also easy access for class officers traveling from Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and New York City. And so the Mid-Winter Meeting unfurled on February 17 and 18 in the City of Brotherly Love. It drew 400 class officers, other alumni volunteers, students, and university administrators— about the same number as have attended in previous years, McManus says. “As you can imagine, I was nervous, after 100 years in New York City. But we had a great turnout, a great pro- gram. People were engaged and energized. It exceeded my expectations.” Although the venue changed, the programming continued to focus on lead- ership training. Workshops covered such topics as Reunion 2006 and Reunion 2007, officer orientation, the Cornell Annual Fund, the University’s website, Loyal alumni leaders: John '48 and Phyllis Kent of Yardley, Pennsylvania, joined more than 400 class officers, other alumni volunteers, students, and university administrators in February at CACO's Mid-Winter Meeting, one of the largest alumni training programs for Cornell volunteers. and how to create a class council. Af- sponsored a lively celebration. “They ter McManus led CACO’s annual put on an outstanding event,” Mc- meeting, Susan Murphy ’73, PhD ’94, Manus says. Joe Giles ’84, the Phillies’ vice president for student and aca- director of business development, host- demic services, spoke about cultivat- ed the activities, which included a tour ing leaders at Cornell. She was of the stadium and a “Taste of Philly” followed by Glenn Altschuler, MA ’73, dinner at the stadium’s Diamond Club, PhD ’76, dean of continuing education where alumni were seated with their and summer sessions, and Isaac classmates. The Cornell Bandstand Kramnick, government professor, who Dance was especially popular after gave an insider ’s look at their book strong winds knocked out the connec- The 100 Most Notable Cornellians. tion to a big-screen viewing of the Cor- After the official events conclud- nell men’s hockey and basketball games ed on Saturday afternoon, the crowd taking place on campus. A silent auc- moved to Citizens Bank Park, home of tion of donated items, including a the Philadelphia Phillies, where the Delaware beach house vacation and a Cornell Club of Greater Philadelphia (continued on page 59) May / June 2006 57 Calendar of Events May 15 – July 15, 2006 For updated information, call the Office of Alumni Affairs, (607) 255-3517 or visit us online at www.alumni.cornell.edu New York/Ontario CAA/Central New York, May 16—Cornell Alumni Federation Speaker Series: Jennifer Gerner, professor of policy analysis and management. Contact Lindsey Hazelton, 315/682-6258, Lhazelton@ hancocklaw.com. CWC/Cortland, May 16—Cornell Alumni Federation Speaker Series: Alfonso Torres, associate dean for veterinary public policy, speaking on “Bird Flu: Facts and Fears.” Contact Martha Dumas, med24@cornell.edu, 607/758-4150. CC/Greater Capital District, May 24—Tour of Siena College’s Market Trading Room. Contact Nancy Radick Lynk, thelynks@midtelnet.com, 518/439-3948. CEN/Rochester, May 31—Guest speaker Sophie Vandebroek. Contact Magdalena Kalinka, mak93@ cornell.edu, 607/254-8327. CC/Rochester, June 3—Scholarship social. Contact Nannette Nocon, CCRscholarship@aol.com, 585/ 475-9430. CAA/Ithaca, June 10—Reunion happy hour, Collegetown Bagels. Contact Nadine LeMoine, 607/ 257-7538. CAA/Central New York, June 12—Adopt-a-Highway cleanup. Contact Bruce Simmons, 315/682-7603. CWC/Syracuse, June 12—Annual meeting, Cornell recipe chicken barbecue, and plant sale. Contact Janet Fallon, jbf28@cornell.edu, 315/696-5492. CC/Rochester, June 16—Red Wings baseball. Contact Ross Lanzafame, rlanzafame@hselaw.com, 585/231-1203. CAA/Mid-Hudson, June 20—Reception for incoming freshmen. Contact Janelle Styles, jstyles1@aol. com, 845/677-3994. CWC/Cortland, June 20—“Cornell Through the Decades: Our Memories.” Contact Terry Ofner, 607/ 898-5739. Metro/New York CC/Fairfield County, May 20—Special Olympics. Contact Amy Gepes-Wiener, amymgepes@aol.com, 203/762-8352. CC/Fairfield County, May 21—Cornell Alumni Federation Speaker Series: C. C. Chu, professor of textiles and apparel, speaking on “Entrepreneurial Spirit: Using Human Spare Parts to Save Lives.” Contact Dotty Kesten, dotkes10@optonline.net, 203/222-7830. CC/Long Island, May 22—Cornell Alumni Federation Speaker Series: C. C. Chu, professor of textiles and apparel, speaking on “Entrepreneurial Spirit: Using Human Spare Parts to Save Lives.” Contact Lynn Burke, lynnagb@hotmail.com, 631/757-9063. CC/Fairfield County, May 24—Knitting group, fourth Wednesday of every month. Contact Donna Lavallee, dkf7@cornell.edu, 203/274-5706. CC/Northern New Jersey, June 25—New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Giralda Farms, Madison. Contact Christine Stuhlmiller, cstuhlmiller@yahoo.com, 973/822-8205. CC/Fairfield County, June 28—Knitting group, fourth Wednesday of every month. Contact Donna Lavallee, dkf7@cornell.edu, 203/274-5706. Northeast Regional Office, May 16—Young alumni leadership wine and cheese event, Nine Zero Hotel, Boston. Contact Shara Freeman, sef14@cornell.edu, 617/ 557-4168. CC/Berkshires, June 4—All-alumni event with President Emeritus Frank Rhodes, Stockbridge. Contact Toby Levine, toby@tobylevine.com, 413/ 298-3868. Regional Office, June 8—Young alumni gathering, Harpoon Brewery, Boston. Contact Shara Freeman, sef14@cornell.edu, 617/557-4168. Regional Office, June 13—Boston alumnae dinner, Papa Razzi, Wellesley. Contact Diane VerSchure, diane.verschure@cornell.edu, 508/653-9131. CC/Cape Cod, June 14—Board meeting, Thirwood Place. Contact Judith Carr, judith_carr@netzero.com, 508/539-0809. CC/Rhode Island and Bristol County, June 15— Cornell Alumni Federation Speaker Series: Lamar Herrin, professor of English. Contact Mitchell Edwards, medwards@haslaw.com, 401/457-5122. CC/Vermont, June 16—Cornell Alumni Federation Speaker Series: Lamar Herrin, professor of English. Contact Suzanne Furry-Irish, sufi7@together.net, 802/264-5015. CC/Cape Cod, June 21—Second Annual All-Ivy Clambake, Gray’s Beach, Yarmouth Port. Contact Art and Georgia Gast, a.f.gast@adelphia.net, 508/888-1836. CC/Boston, June 24—Day of service with Habitat for Humanity. Contact Keri Jones, keriajones@ hotmail.com. CC/Vermont, June 25—Freshman send-off picnic. Contact Suzanne Furry-Irish, sufi7@together.net, 802/264-5015. Regional Office, July 13—Young alumni gathering, Black Rhino, Boston. Contact Shara Freeman, sef14@cornell.edu, 617/557-4168. CC/Boston, July 15—Fenway Park outing. Contact Rick Arena, rarena@cornellclub.org. Mid-Atlantic CC/Washington, May 16—Annual dinner. Contact Adriano Sabatelli, adriano.sabatelli@gmail.com, 202/719-7856. CC/Washington, May 20-21—Big Red Dragons in the 5th Annual Dragon Boat Festival. Contact Bob Day, dayhaven@starpower.net, 301/438-7755. CC/Washington, May 20—Mt. Vernon Wine Festival. Contact Steve Piekarec, spiekare@cs.com, 703/ 281-4311. CC/Lancaster, June 1—Annual crab picnic and barbecue, Pequea. Contact Rick Faulkner, rmfaulkner@ msn.com, 717/284-1094. CC/Greater Philadelphia, June 14—Board meeting. Contact John Vitale, jvvitale@comcast.net. CC/Washington, June 18—Father’s Day picnic, Austin Kiplinger’s farm. Contact Steve Piekarec, spiekare@cs.com, 703/281-4311. CC/Washington, June 22—Riverdance, Wolf Trap. Contact Steve Piekarec, spiekare@cs.com, 703/ 281-4311. CC/Lancaster, June 22—Golf outing, York Country Club. Contact Jack Richards, JFRace@aol.com. Midwest CC/Michigan, May 20—2006 Formula Society of Automotive Engineers World Championships. Contact Hiroki Hirata, hhirata@ford.com. CC/Pittsburgh, June 7—Cornell Dinner Club, Sonoma Grill. Contact Laurel Raines, laurelraines@ yahoo.com, 412/771-6868. CC/St. Louis, June 18—CAAAN and all-alumni picnic, Tilles Park. Contact Tami Watson, tamitw@ earthlink.net. CC/Southwestern Ohio, June 24—Family picnic, Daniel Drake Park Shelter. Contact cornell_club@ yahoo.com. CC/Minnesota, June 28—World Issues Dialogue, Ridgedale Library, Minnetonka. Contact John Cayer, jlcayer@scj.com, 612/321-5762. CC/Michigan, June 30—Baseball and fireworks. Contact Trevor Steer, tsteer@sbcglobal.net. CC/Pittsburgh, July 5—Cornell dinner club. Contact Mady Bauer, mab79@cornell.edu. Southeast CEN/Miami, May 16—Robert Diener, co-founder of Hotels.com, speaking on “Conservative Entrepreneurship.” Contact Magdalena Kalinka, mak93@ cornell.edu, 607/254-8327. CC/Suncoast, May 18—Networking night, Sheraton Suites, Tampa. Contact Tom Murphy, tlm33@ cornell.edu. CC/Greater Jacksonville, May 21—Annual meeting and officer elections. Contact Ron Chandler, rpchan@bellsouth.net, 904/829-8417. CC/Greater Jacksonville, June 1—Monthly luncheon, first Thursday of each month. Contact Ron Chandler, rpchan@bellsouth.net, 904/829-8417. CAA/Charlotte, June 11—Charlotte Symphony, South Park. Contact Debra Alzner, dalzner@ carolina.rr.com, 704/446-6261. CAA/Atlanta, June 16—Cocktails, Atlanta Botanical Garden. Contact Sheyna Horowitz, sghorowitz@ gmail.com. CC/Gold Coast, June 22—Alumni year-end social. Contact Doug Pfeiffer, dfp8@cornell.edu, 954/ 448-6175. CAA/Southwest Florida, July 1— The Sound of Music, Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre, Fort Myers. Contact Neena Lurvey, 235/495-8576. Alma Matters 58 PROVIDED CAA/Charlotte, July 14—Happy hour, Village Tavern, Charlotte. Contact Debra Alzner, dalzner@carolina. rr.com, 704/446-6261. Southwest/Mountain CAA/Greater Houston, May 16—Cornell Alumni Federation Speaker Series: Government professor Isaac Kramnick speaking on “The Fuss Over ‘God’ in the Pledge of Allegiance.” Contact Alexander Bovee, amb68@cornell.edu, 979/266-7116. CC/Oklahoma, May 18—Cornell Alumni Federation Speaker Series: Government professor Isaac Kramnick speaking on “The Fuss Over ‘God’ in the Pledge of Allegiance.” Contact Elizabeth Dunlap, edc3@cornell.edu, 918/605-3876. Western CEN/Northern California, May 16—Sand Hill Road Luncheon Series: Gary Orosy speaking on “Classic Marketing Technology Applied to High-Technology Companies.” Contact Shannon Murray, shm4@ cornell.edu, 650-755-9711. CC/Los Angeles, June 3—Young alumni wine tour, Santa Barbara. Contact Heather Knauss, heather knauss@yahoo.com, 310/991-4128. CC/Los Angeles, June 4—Tour of Getty Villa. Contact Mindy Schleger, mind18@msn.com, 310/ 312-3690. CC/Arizona, June 9—Reunion happy hour, Rula Bula, Tempe. Contact Bill McGrath, wfm3@cornell. edu, 602/989-9300. International CC/France, May 18—Monthly get-together, Purple Bar, Hilton Arc de Triomphe, Paris. Contact Curtis Bartosik, cbartosik@yahoo.com. Fun in Philly:Tim O'Connor '80 of Redding, Connecticut, and Jill Klein '80 of Potomac, Maryland, made the trip to Philadelphia, where the Phillies' stadium was the site of a post-meeting celebration. (continued from page 57) hockey stick signed by Philadelphia Phantom Charlie Cook ’05, former assistant captain of Cornell’s hockey team, raised $7,000 for the Cornell Club of Greater Philadelphia Scholarship Fund. CACO co-chairs Marcia Epstein ’64, Jeff Estabrook ’80, JD ’83, and Mary Wilensky Kahn ’79 were the driving forces behind the meeting, with support from Mid-Atlantic Regional Office staff Janet Heinis, Carolyn DeWilde Casswell ’90, and Mary Ann Nelson. The meeting was funded through a grant from the Cornell Alumni Federation. Credit for the event’s success goes to them, and to the class officers and others who attended, McManus says. “Folks could have said, ‘No thanks, I’m not going.’ But the alumni embraced it.” Given that support, CACO plans to hold its Mid-Winter Meeting in Philadelphia for at least the next two years, McManus says. “It certainly showed that Cornell is more than just Metro New York.” Helping Hands O n March 28, representatives of the Cornell Alumni Association of Atlanta visited Big Red basketball player Khaliq Gant ’08 (center bottom) at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Gant received care there for two months after having injured his spine during a January practice. His recovery is going well, reports Robert Mandelbaum ’81 (second from right). “Prior to our arrival, Khaliq had just finished walking exercises,” Mandelbaum wrote in an email message. “His room was filled with letters and good wishes from people all over the country.” Gant, who grew up in Atlanta, plans to return to Ithaca in the fall to study communications. He is pictured here with (left to right) Frank Goldman ’87, JD ’94, Rick Woroniecki ’78, Mandelbaum, and Dean Gant, his father. May / June 2006 59 PROVIDED Class Notes  Shakespeare may have had it right after all, but it still seems to me that it is not “oft” enough that “the good that men do” is recalled, or acknowledged, by the recipients. I am reminded of this conviction by an e-mail from Adele Durham Robinette (niece of our own long-gone ’31der Archie Durham), the editor whose gentle prodding, thoughtful suggestions, hard work, and infinite patience keep these Class Notes columns the most read pages of this magazine. She cyberwrites: “I have always had a soft spot for Thomas Kelley, in that his was the first really nice letter I ever received at this job (I was a part-time Circulation Assistant at the time). I put it on my bulletin board in 1994, and it has been up there ever since, surrounded by other letters from alumni, photos of my family, and various reference sheets that I need within eyeshot. I don’t think we had written since then, but I always kept up with his whereabouts through your column.” Among the many “good” things this distinguished Seattle attorney and loyal Cornellian did in his long and productive life was taking the time to write that “nice letter,” and Adele’s posting of it was appropriate recognition. Sadly, classmates, this is also to let you know that another whom you hoped to see at our 75th Reunion will not be there. Adele was sending me the news that our Cornell Daily Sun editor died January 19, 2006. Jim Knipe, (James R., 728 Norristown Rd., Apt. D-203, Lower Gwynedd, PA 19002-2151) says, “Not as strong as I used to be, but hope to see you June 8, 2006.” Our compliments, Jim, on your understatement of the day, and congratulations on your determination to overcome all obstacles. Jim will be coming with his son. Bill Neckerman (William M., 1310 5th Ave., Apt. 506, Youngstown, OH 44504-1767) reports, “I moved into a retirement home in 1996. I get excellent care and am kept busy with exercise classes and entertainment programs.” But he adds wistfully, “I can’t make reunion. I’m unable to travel.” Rosemary Hunt Todd, (200 Alliance Way, Unit 239-C, Manchester, NH 03102-8403) writes that she still gets around visiting her family and friends in the Lake Michigan area and on Martha’s Vineyard. (Hey, Rosemary—and any other vacation travelers: Next time you come to the Vineyard, give me a ring; I’m in the Cape Cod phonebook!) Rosemary adds that she plans to come to reunion with one of her daughters. We look forward to seeing her at the Statler, where we’ll all be pampered! Bill Vogel (William H., 1361 E. Boot Rd., Apt. 111, West Chester, PA 19380-5988), our former honeybee fancier, sent us some remarkable pictures! One shows him in a dress blue uniform at a Memorial Day service (no note as to whether he is still able to get into his WWII outfit!) and another showing him at a recent reunion with two “buddies” who served with him in Iceland in 1941 before the US entered the fracas. He says they were the “radar pioneers.” Let’s check on his recollections; he’s coming to reunion with his niece and nephew. Larry Waitz, DVM ’31 (Dr. Lawrence T., 4595 Skunk Lane, Cutchogue, NY 11935-1543) sends in a very nice, long biographical response to the questionnaire. To summarize: “Retired for many years . . . took up painting in 1967 . . . have had many shows and sold many paintings . . . still do watercolors for my own pleasure . . . enjoy a vegetable garden, and my wife Ann has a flower garden . . . was Town Historian . . . and active in many local organizations. No long travel because of age (and) usual ailments . . . fortunate to have no pain . . . am able to walk around my home and yard . . . believe I am the last veterinarian in the Class of ’31.” (I hope you will understand my not making any comment about the address of our last vet!) Reta Maybury Waln (1900 Lauderdale Dr., Apt. D-108, Richmond, VA 23233-3918) wrote that she is now 99 years old, in very good health, still very active, and living independently in a lifecare residence—“a truly wonderful place with excellent care and residents who are loving and caring.” ❖ Bill Vanneman, 237 No. Main St., #250, So. Yarmouth, MA 02664-2088; tel., (508) 760-4250; e-mail, ggrampi@yahoo.com.  “Edmund Bacon, 95, the brilliant, irascible city planner who spent much of the first part of the 20th century reinventing Philadelphia and the American city and much of the latter part defending his achievements, died October 14, 2005, of natural causes at his Center City home according to his family.” The foregoing is the opening paragraph of an article from the Philadelphia Inquirer. The piece continues: “While not usually characterized as unduly modest, in later years he sometimes said that he was best known as ‘the father of Kevin Bacon the movie star, not to mention his five other children who were doing interesting things.’ But Mr. Bacon’s fame and legacy firmly rest on his service as executive director of the City Planning Commission from 1949 to 1970, a time in which he saw the development of Society Hill, Independence Mall, Penn Center, University City, Penn’s Landing, Market East, and the Far Northwest. His office was considered so visionary and effective that Time magazine put him on its cover in 1964.” This and other recognition of Ed’s significant public service were sent to me by our vigilant editor of Class Notes Adele Durham Robinette. 60 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE ROBERT BARKER / UP Rite of spring: Perhaps in honor of its upcoming renovation, Rand Hall joined the dragon on its annual prowl. This year, they circumnavigated the campus on a chilly St. Patrick’s Day before coming to a fiery end on the Arts Quad. MAY / JUNE 2006 61 These included the obit from the Inquirer quoted above and obituaries by the Associated Press, Philadelphia Daily News, and William Bunch’s phillynews.com. When we were gearing up for our 70th Reunion, I wrote Ed to urge him to attend. He was not able to join us, but I remember learning at that time that he maintained there was an unwritten rule, based on a gentleman’s agreement, prohibiting any structure with a height exceeding that of the statue atop City Hall. I am grateful to Adele. It is much easier to prepare a column when plenty of material is available than when there is none. I hope you all saw the “Cornelliana” piece on page 112 of the March/April issue of this magazine. It tells the story of how classmate Reed McJunkin’s father shot a 26-foot reticulated python in the Philippines many years ago, then brought the skeletal remains home, named it “Ralph,” and kept it around the house to impress guests. The giant skeleton is now on display in the Museum of Vertebrates at Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology, and I’m sure it is a significant attraction in the handsome new building. It has been a long time since I had news from William T. Thompson. On his holiday greeting and newsletter he put a note saying that he hasn’t much news but that his health is as good as can be expected. When he was working for Volvo he traveled a good deal and continued to do so long after retirement. He has long been involved in the affairs of his church. Like many of us, he gets around best with a walker but still has hopes of making it to Ithaca in ’07. Stout fella, that Bill! ❖ Jim Oppenheimer, 140 Chapin Parkway, Buffalo, NY 14209.  As I write, we are recovering from the heaviest snowfall in the history of the NYC Weather Bureau, which began to keep records in the mid1800s. It was just short of 27 inches. It is considered to be a friendly storm because it followed predictions by starting at night on a Saturday and continued most of Sunday—a well-behaved blizzard, without blustery winds. Those of you who attended our 70th Reunion last June will remember the startling announcement by Jeffrey Lehman ’77 during his State of the University address that he was resigning as president at the end of that month. Recent news from Ithaca indicates that the trustees have appointed Dr. David J. Skorton, a cardiologist who is president of the U. of Iowa, to be Cornell’s next president, effective July 1. He will have faculty appointments at the Medical college and the Engineering college as well. He is also a saxophone and flute player whose father emigrated from Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution. Meda Young Thetford and husband Norman ’34, MD ’38, live at 68 South St., Eatontown, NJ 07724. Meda reported last spring that they had had medical reverses. I am pleased to report that they are doing better and are glad to be together where their four daughters visit them, as does their doctor. Ruth W. Clements, 136 Clements Rd., Liberty, NY 12754 indicated that she has been retired for 33 years, but not from where. My supply of News has been temporarily exhausted, and I must wait for new material. I hope you will remember that when the News and Dues mailings reach you. Enjoy the spring. ❖ Albert G. Preston Jr., 252 Overlook Dr., Greenwich, CT 06830, tel., (203) 869-8387; e-mail, davada35@aol.com.  Reunion is just over a month away, June 8-11, and there is still time to sign up if you haven’t done so yet. I’m sure Bob Smith of Hagerstown, MD, speaks for many of you when he says, “I plan to be there for the 70th— health permitting!” Per your reunion mailing, accommodations are at the Statler Hotel, and the university and class treasury plan to significantly subsidize your stay. Other covered expenses are meals, buses, clerks, class photo, vans, etc., and there is no registration fee for you and your first guest. Being centrally located will practically eliminate the need for private cars, and there will be transportation available to events not held in the hotel. All meals, except for the Barton Hall lunches on Friday and Saturday, will be served in the Statler. “Renew your enthusiasm for the university you love!” We hope you can come to Ithaca in June! For more information, call Deanna Quvus of Alumni Affairs at (607) 255-7085. The following ’36ers paid dues and sent in News Forms confirming their addresses. Unfortunately, the News section was left blank, but perhaps you’ll get to catch up with them at reunion: Lillian Smith Eagan (Danbury, CT); Carlton Edwards (Ithaca, NY); Dr. Carolyn Drucker Goodman (New York City); Dr. Margaret Morgan Lawrence (Pomona, NY); James McArdle (Greenwich, CT); Josephine Biddle McMeen (Huntingdon, PA); Arthur Newkirk, PhD ’40 (Blue Hill, ME); Ruth Fisher Rosevear (Cincinnati, OH); John Senesy (Naples, FL); Dorothy Greey Van Bortel, MS ’41 (Rye, NY); and Alexander Wall (Sarasota, FL). Robert Soman requested more information on the ’36 Reunion and I hope he received the follow-up mailings. If not, Bob, please call Deanna at the above number. He writes, “I have moved to St. Paul, MN, where my step-daughter and sonin-law live, for health reasons. My wife required a transfer to a dementia facility as well. Still reading/ listening to classical music. Dr. Michael Golben, also of St. Paul, attends monthly meetings of the St. Paul/Minneapolis Cornell Reading Club. Capt. Fred Illston, last heard from in July 2005, says he has become “a pill-poppin’ greatgrandpa.” His grandchildren and great-grandchildren are a mixture of doctors, lawyers, professors, managers, Navy pilots, airline pilots, teachers, students, contractors, and . . . retirees! He writes, “After 33 years flying for American Airlines, the last years as director of flying operations, I went back for another ten years as a consultant. They couldn’t get rid of me, and I enjoyed (almost) every minute of it. To say that my experience at Cornell was a most helpful one is the understatement of the year.” After leaving American Airlines, Fred and his late wife Dorothy were in the real estate business for 20 years, buying, selling, and listing. “I still live on Eagle Mt. Lake in Fort Worth, TX, and enjoy a long membership in the US Coast Guard Auxiliary and the US Power Squadron. I’ve actually assisted people on the lake from time to time, and enjoy helping them.” Fred closes with this: “After 92 years, my store-bought teeth, ears, and eyes keep me perking along, and I have so much to be thankful for. Working out at the YMCA three times a week keeps me limbered up reasonably well. I trust this qualifies as ‘news.’ ” Yes it does! Thanks to all for your continued support of Cornell and the Class of ’36. Keep writing to us at the following address: ❖ Class of ’36, c/o Cornell Alumni Magazine, 401 East State St., Suite 301, Ithaca, NY 14850.  James and Ethel Atz are now living at Doncaster, a continuing care facility in Bloomfield, CT. There they will be near son Joshua, DVM ’84, and his wife Lenka Babuska, DVM ’84, who have a joint small animal practice in Glastonbury, CT, and two grandsons. The Atz clan also includes daughters Alison and Mikal and a third grandson. Jim, curator emeritus in the ichthyology department of the American Museum of Natural History, reports he is working on two “swan songs”—one about the early history of the living coelanth and the other a history of the word “aquarium.” Bernard and Adele Massell Diamond ’38 have moved from their home in White Plains, NY, to the Hyatt in Yonkers, a senior residence at 537 Riverdale Ave., Apt. 1401, Yonkers, NY 10705-5507. Bernie writes that there are lots of activities and “less work for us.” John and Jan DeBeers moved to 201 Upper Terrace, San Francisco, CA 94117. John had a laminectomy to remove an abscess from his spine in January ’05 and, at last report, was recovering nicely with the aid of bi-weekly physical therapy. The DeBeerses have two daughters, and their two granddaughters and grandson each has an MBA equivalent. Wendell Fairbanks, MS ’48, taught vocational agriculture for five years in New York high schools and earned a master’s degree in 1948. He was invited to join the faculty at the Agricultural and Technical Inst. in Farmingdale, the Long Island branch of the State University of New York, where he taught for 24 years. Wendell, now in his 95th year, is living at Columbia Ridge, an assisted care facility at 2300 W. 9th St., Apt. 206, Washougal, WA 98671. He has one daughter, Arlene, and his granddaughter Wendy, a graduate of Washington U., is working for the Weyerhauser Corp. in Grand Prairie, Alberta, Canada. Harvey and Anne Slatin enjoyed an unusual trip through the Stratford Circle Canals in England on a “narrowboat,” which is six feet wide and 60 feet long. Harvey is still playing tennis three times a week. Not yet retired, he maintains a consulting business and serves on several community boards. An active Kiwanian, he writes the club’s weekly newsletter and is webmaster of its website. He also designed the website for the Delaware County Cancer Coalition and is its webmaster. Anne has been reelected to a seventh term as deputy mayor of Stamford, NY, and is president of the library association. Son Thomas, whom some of us remember as an eager schoolboy and Cornell enthusiast of some of our earlier reunions, graduated from Marshall U. 62 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE In their 2005 Christmas card photo, taken against the background of the colorful “oniondomed” church in Red Square, Moscow, John and Ann Hough looked like determined world travelers—which they certainly are. They had thoroughly enjoyed a riverboat cruise in Russia from St. Petersburg to Moscow, an adventure they highly recommend. We have an update on the saga of Robert C. Brown’s “adventure” with a broken leg that led to an operation in a Spanish hospital in November 2003. Although Bob had recovered enough to take a cruise on the Prinzendam in the spring of ’05, it became necessary to have another operation last October—that one in a Florida hospital—to remove whatever the Spanish doctors did and, in the process, have a new hip added. He’s on the mend again, hoping the surgery works better this time. Bob’s ambition is to go around the world on the Amsterdam in 2007 and to be back for our 70th Reunion! Herman VanFleet lives about 70 miles from Ithaca in Towanda, PA, so he’s been able to get back to reunions easily, notably the 50th, 60th, and 65th. Herm and Aileen have three college graduate daughters, Alison, Katie, and Suzanne. An active church member and Rotarian, Herm enjoys fishing. Last recorded travel was to Nantucket Island. ❖ Robert A. Rosevear, 2714 Saratoga Rd. N., Deland, FL 32720-1403.  There’s much class news to share— too much for one column. Stay tuned for more in the issues ahead! Bernard Gartlir (Roslyn, NY) is still practicing law in New York and Florida, and after-hours activities include golf. As you may have read in his holiday greeting to classmates, he is recovering from serious surgery but expected to be back at work soon. What he’d rather be doing now? Basking in the sunshine! Bernard would like to hear from classmates at SBGartlir@aol. com. William Kumpf, MS ’50 (Elk City, OK; WAKumpf@cableone.net) is retired. He reads and spends time on the computer, but would also like to be traveling. He remembers faculty members Ken Post and Ralph Curtis 1901, MS 1906, and the Floriculture and Horticulture gang from his Cornell days. He’d like to hear from classmate Bernie Fernan. Olof Dahlstrand, BArch ’39 (Carmel, CA) writes, “Retired architect. I paint and draw for fun, plus do occasional illustrating commissions. Presently illustrating a book on western US mining history. After-hours activities include pestering the Carmel City Council, dining at some of our fabulous restaurants, meeting friends, and volunteering for community organizations. I went on a camping trip (sleeping bags on the ground, etc.) in August in the wilderness area on the slopes of Mt. Shasta. Would like to be having a few beers at the Dutch Kitchen or the old Zinck’s with a few of our long-gone classmates.” A month after we heard from Olof personally, we received an e-mail from another Carmel resident, Leona Fass ’65, who shared the news that Olof—also a former city councilman and planning commissioner—had been named the Carmel Residents Assoc. 2005 Citizen of the Year. The designer of several downtown buildings and numerous Peninsula homes, he is also known for his strong views on open government and his continued community service. As one supporter said, “He has participated in the public discussion of many issues facing our community, and his comments are always well thought out, presented in a positive and professional manner and with true refinement. When he speaks, the community listens!” Congratulations! And thank you, Dr. Fass, for sending the article. CLASS NOTES  It’s reunion time again—and a happier time than last year’s reunion when President Jeffrey Lehman ’77 announced his resignation. This year, Cornell will welcome as president David Skorton and his wife, Robin Davisson, from the U. of Iowa, from which Pres. Hunter Rawlings also came. Everyone seems very pleased with the selection committee’s choice. One of our friends, Cornell alumna Lee Anna Clark ’72, MA ’77, who is a professor and collegiate fellow in the ‘To say that my experience at Cornell was a most helpful one is the ’understatement of the year. FRED ILLSTON ’36 Elizabeth Jennings Perry (Bloomington, IN) sent thanks to the class presidents for the interesting book. In August she plans to fly to Wyoming to attend a granddaughter’s wedding. She remembers the swinging bridge from her years at Cornell, and writes that she and Henrietta Miller Brannin chat at least once a month and laugh over old memories. Mabel Levy Gerhart, MA ’39 (Perkasie, PA) retired after teaching languages for 37 years. She writes that in March 2005, she had a pacemaker installed after a momentary heart stoppage caused her to have a car accident. A blood thinner was also prescribed—the first time in her 88 years that she’s had to take medicine. Her vision was also affected, but, she writes, “I clean, cook, do laundry, iron, read, and do whatever is necessary to carry on my normal life. Entertainment is attending Philadelphia Orchestra concerts, and come spring I’ll be outside in the yard and pool. I have someone to help me in the yard and flower beds and am looking forward to the daffodils blooming again.” Mabel hears from classmates Violet Lanfear Weeden and Fern Bentley Blackburn. Leonard Roberts (New York City; Len RobertsMD@aol.com) is still in medical practice and enjoys golf and bridge when he’s not working. Recently he’s been reading Civil War history. Irving Lanzner (Redmond, WA; IRLJLL@verizon. net) is retired. He’s says he walks the dog a lot, and at the time he wrote, he had just seen his great-grandchildren in California for the first time. Col. Robert Shaw, USAFR (Ret.) writes that his activities are “rather limited due to the limitations imposed by passing years.” Still, he keeps his house functioning—but would rather be loafing. He hears from fraternity brothers Ralph Vreeland and George Hobby. Jay Fish (Englewood, FL; sfish114@aol.com) has been retired since 1978. “I play bassoon in a community orchestra and band, and play sax and clarinet in a trio every Friday. I’ve also been learning how to use a digital camera and fiddling with the computer. I enjoy the status quo.” Thank you all for writing. ❖ Class of 1938, c/o Cornell Alumni Magazine, 401 East State St., Suite 301, Ithaca, NY 14850. Dept. of Psychology at Iowa wrote,“I know David well and I think Cornellians will find him not only intelligent and deeply committed to sound educational values, but also warm and personable— the kind of person who inspires loyalty. Though I know her less well, I’ve also found Robin Davisson to be a wonderful person, an excellent scientist, and a great role model for women in academia.” Lee Anna also says she thinks her own best chance of getting back to Ithaca is to become president of the U. of Iowa! We welcome the new president and his wife, and hope they will enjoy living in the Camelot called Ithaca. Jean Linklater Payne commented on the collaboration between Cornell and Ithaca College, which affects Longview Senior Living Center at Ithaca, where she and Douglas, GR ’36-39, live. Cornell and Ithaca College participate in an ongoing gerontology study, led by Cornell with participation by I.C. departments, staff, and students, as well as those from Cornell. “Our daily lives are enriched by student interns, aides, and volunteers, and our evenings are enhanced by generous invitations to concerts and other events at both colleges. It’s a good life!” Jean sent a wonderful picture of her and Doug surrounded by nine great-grandchildren, all 5 and under! Mary Strong Irish writes that our 65th Reunion was the highlight of 2004 for her. Mary was in the first WAVES training class, USNR, in 1942 and reports that her lieutenant’s uniform hat is on display in the WWII exhibit at the Columbia County Museum. We’d like to hear more about your experiences, Mary! Mona Brierly Carvajal unexpectedly spent Thanksgiving ’05 in Vermont due to damage to her home in Boca Raton from Hurricane Wilma. She got to make snowballs for the first time in many years. Her daughter Nancy Carvajal Lang ’64, who has been active in AARP affairs for a long time, was a delegate to the White House Conference on Aging in Washington, DC. While in Vermont, Mona visited the Montreal Botanical Gardens, which she thought wonderful. Bet she didn’t know much of its success is due to its director, André Bouchard, PhD ’75, a Cornellian. MAY / JUNE 2006 63 I could use a lot more letters, dear classmates. Have a great summer, and keep in touch. ❖ Ruth Gold Goodman, 103 White Park Rd., Ithaca, NY 14850; e-mail, BG11@cornell.edu.  Happy May Day and a Flag Day of fun to all—although this is being written on a snowy Valentine’s Day! The News and Dues pleas have provided quite a bit of news—more than one column’s worth. But it won’t last forever, so do send your summer adventures! Ed Wardwell, having written right after Reunion that he had no news that’s fit to print, wrote a long, interesting letter. Unfortunately, he’s been coping with failing eyesight, but he praised all the assistance the Glens Falls Association for the Blind gives, including his personal taxi driver! John Weiner drove to Indiana last summer for a reunion of his old Army unit, the 97th Signal Battalion, 9th Army, where he was Adjutant. Another Army reunion (remember, it was the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII) was attended by Don Spittler, who went to Columbus, OH, for the reunion of veterans of the Battle of the Bulge, during which he was a member of the 924th Field Artillery Battalion. He also attended a reunion at Lake George of the retired employees of the New York Conservation Department, where he saw Joe Dell. Doris Van Alstyne Peller is active in sorority and church activities, as well as enjoying programs that Valparaiso U. provides retirees. She’s also traveled extensively, having visited six of the seven continents. A son-in-law is thankfully back from Afghanistan, and her oldest granddaughter is a freshman at Purdue U. Marjorie Dale Hemingway is now confined to a wheelchair, but is contented living in the Wayne County, NY, nursing home, only five minutes from her family and friends. Her address is: P.O. Box 211, Lyons, NY 14489. Gabrielle “Gay” Sichel Rosenbaum reports from Quadrangle in Haverford, PA, where she’s lived for 16 years and where she still keeps busy and gets into Philadelphia for concerts. A daughter and two grandsons live nearby. Ruth Maughan Russell still enjoys traveling, even alone. She remains in good health and is looking forward to our 70th Reunion in 2010! Larry Gardner wrote from Stuart, FL, that he enjoys golf, computers, and do-it-yourself 65th REUNION Save the date! June 8-11, 2006 For more information, call Alumni House 607-255-7085 The GREAT CLASS of 1941 64 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE projects and still does financial statements for large farms. He also reported the arrival last June of a great-grandson. John Rutherford has moved from Punta Gorda to Fort Myers, still in Florida. His address is: 10100 Cypress Cove, Apt. 413, Fort Myers, FL 33908. Another new address came from Bill Mogk. He’s moved to a LifeSphere village in Oxford, OH—home of Miami U. of Ohio—where he enjoys collegetown living and where a daughter and her family live, including two grandchildren and three great-grandsons. His new address is 46 Scarlet Oak Circle, Oxford, OH 45056. Betty Bishop Williams lives in a retirement home in Indianapolis, where she helps computer illiterate residents (with whom I empathize!) with email, etc., and is a member of SCORE, which councils small businesses. Her first great-granddaughter was born in May ’04. Theodore Kogon had a great time visiting his daughter in Stockholm, then taking a ferry to Helsinki and on to St. Petersburg by train. His “extended family” includes seven children, 12 grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. Our class is certainly doing well with our third generation offspring! Best wishes to all for a fine summer and let me hear all about your adventures, your unadventurous activities, and your family members— especially the great-grands! ❖ Ellen Ford, 300 Westminster Canterbury Dr., Apt. 416, Winchester, VA 22603.  Holiday cards from last winter are still providing new information about our classmates. Betty Niles Gray of Durham, NC, is working on getting back to Reunion. She and husband John are moving to an apartment. They worked in two short trips and continue to play golf and bridge, spend time in their garden, and pursue many other interests. Beatrice Colley Koteff of Chula Vista, CA, has lived there for 50 years—and in the same house for 38 years. Her children, grandchildren, and greats are scattered across the county, so she communicates with them by e-mail. Great to hear from her. Mary Munson Benson moved to a local retirement community named Woodsedge in Lansing, NY, and left the farm she and husband Clarence had lived on for about 60 years. They are adapting to a different life and enjoying new people. There are many Bensons and Munsons in Lansing. Attorney Carl S. Salmon Jr. of Manzanita, OR, died on July 2 last summer. He practiced law with his father and was well known for his community activism and philanthropy. He was anticipating our 65th Reunion and was planning to bring his trumpet to play with the Alumni Band. We’ll miss him. ❖ Dorothy Talbert Wiggans, 415 Savage Farm Dr., Ithaca, NY 14850-6504; tel., (607) 266-7629; e-mail dwiggans@verizon.net.  Interesting news from lots of you via Christmas cards. Jean Pardee Cole is so pleased with her new home at Friendship Village in Chesterfield, MO. She had a bout with pneumonia during the winter, but has fully recovered. Ken Hubbard (Ft. Myers, FL) is still playing banjo with the Gulf Coast Banjo Society, but reports that Sarasota County purchased Snook Haven’s land and restaurant on the Myooka River for $3.7 million. They are not sure they will continue their 12-year record of playing there, as it may become a public park. He is very pleased with the improved quality of our alumni magazine. Yates Dowell (Springfield, VA) writes, “I remarried after my former wife passed away after a 58-year marriage, four children, 12 grandchildren, and 14 great-grandchildren. I recommend it.” He’s looking forward to reunion. Morris and Phyllis Feil (Boynton Beach, FL) winter in New Jersey. Their son Jonathan ’76 lives in Seattle, and son Stuart has two children and lives in NYC. Perhaps I will hear from them on a visit. Morris continues his golf. George “Howie” Davis, a retired Navy captain, would love to hear from any of you. Write him at 508 Bartell Dr., Chesapeake, VA 23322. He’s still playing bridge. Also Paul Handler, DVM ’42, wants you all to write to him at 802 Orchard Hill Lane, Brewster, NY 10507 or by e-mail at adam.handler@gofastforward.com. He’s into creative writing—“Lots of good veterinary tales of both two- and four-legged characters!” Harry and Geraldine Backus Berg (Eden, NY; hbergjberg@ aol.com) are enjoying their 23rd year of retirement, six granddaughters, and the first greatgrand. Arno and Paula Collins Preller cruised around Cabo San Lucas and boast of five greatgrandchildren. They, too, would love to hear from you at 420 S. Marion Pkwy, Denver, CO 80209. I was excited when I learned the Cornell basketball team would play the U. of Washington in Seattle and on the Fox Sports Network. Imagine being able to see a game on TV! And it was a good one, although we are not in UW’s class. In the second half they used their second team. Superior size was the factor, as the score was tied for the first 12 minutes of the game. Cornell is putting more emphasis on their athletic teams and hopefully there will be more games on TV in the future. Don and Renee Brozan Goldsmith ’47 (Delray Beach, FL) are still active, Don in architecture and Ruth in interior design. Don is head of the local CERT (Civilian Emergency Response Team). The Goldsmiths traveled to England and Italy, play tennis and golf, and enjoy their art collection, three children, and two grands. Doris Stone Hanrahan (Montauk, NY) does not take lightly the destruction of her Punta Gorda home. “The inside is a horror. The walls are demolished down to the studs . . . I’ll be looking out my windows at the cold Atlantic instead of palm trees. Cold weather makes me mean, so by February stay out of my way!” Marilyn and Stan Brodhead (Nokomis, FL) love Florida and the very active Cornell and Ivy League clubs in Sarasota. They play golf and are into painting. Their son Richard left as dean of Yale to become president of Duke. J. Lee Hollowell (Hockessin, DE; holloxyz@aol.com) continues his research at an archaelogical site in Ollantoytanebo, Peru. Sadly, Harry St. John (Avon, CT), who loved Cornell, passed away from complications after a hip operation. Ilese Powell Symonds (Providence, RI) and her husband Paul, PhD ’43, both passed away in 2005. Ilese was executive director of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Children’s Concert Series and active in volunteer organizations. Also, Don Spittler ’40 wrote to tell me that Fran Gruen and his wife Ruth both left us recently. Extra news of CU: Cornell is offering an MBA program here in Washington. Small classes will meet in boardroom locations in Tacoma, Seattle, Bellevue, and other cities. Seventeen months of classes are delivered in a combination of three on-campus residential sessions and three Saturdays per month, held in Ithaca and Queen’s College in Vancouver, BC. They will also gather in their boardrooms and connect via video-conferencing to a studio at Cornell where they can talk to the professor. The cost: $92,000. In “News of the Weird‚” two Cornell entomologists named three new species of beetles that feed on mold after President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld. “We admire these leaders for their courage to do the very difficult and unpopular work of living up to principles of freedom and democracy.” Do keep writing to me to keep this column interesting. ❖ Carolyn Evans Finneran, 8815 46th St. NW, Gig Harbor, WA 98335; tel., (253) 265-6618; e-mail, CeeFinn@Juno.com.  Act I. 1943, Fort Bragg, NC: Jack Slater meets and falls in love with Kate just in time to be shipped to dangerous duty in the ETO. Act II. 1946, Stateside: Jack, newly home, calls Kate, who it turns out has married some other bloke. Jack weds, raises family. Act III. 1985: Single once more, Jack phones Kate. Surprise: nine years a widow. They court, marry, and move north. As assurance to Kate, should she miss her native soil, Jack buys house in her name in North Carolina. Act IV. This just in: Slaters vacate Cove Neck, NY; move into Fayetteville wedding present. Another poignant (but not the way he tells it) love story, this one from former Sun sportswriter Al Gould: “Recently resumed courtship of ‘old’ high school flame. Winters we dig for lost treasure and bait on historic Jekyll Island, GA. Summers find us at her retreat in Montpelier, VT.” Other scenery changes: Katherine and Lou Preston move to Horizon Village, Ithaca. Barbara Styles Hagan moves into an apartment in her daughter and son-in-law’s house in Bar Harbor, ME. “Love Maine, even the winter weather, and am pleased to have downsized.” The Craig Allens, after 18 years in Florida, relocate to Seattle, WA, to catch up with some of their widespread family. Craig also is pleased; old overcoat still fits. Join us in congratulating Ace Bean, recipient of the Frank H. T. Rhodes Award. Previous ’43 honorees: Larry Lowenstein, Mac and Marguerite Moore Baker ’45. I’ve a great story about Ace, his late son Dave, and Sigma Phi’s piano, but it won’t fit this space; watch for the next class mailing. Bill Bourke (Sagaponack, NY): “Not to feel left out, had an endoarterectomy April 2005, too quickly followed by stomach cancer in May. Surgery, radiation, chemotherapy. Still feel left out because no great-grandchildren at Cornell.” Travel notes from all over. Bill Grimes (Tucson, AZ): “Early in November Marilyn and I, along with Dottie and John Vanderslice, had a wonderful reunion sailing from St. Paul to St. Louis aboard the Mississippi Queen. The Bill Hopples, MA ’50, had to cancel at the last moment, but each sunset we remembered them in our toasts.” Beatrice Swick Ornitz: “Martin ’42 and I celebrated our 62nd anniversary with a world cruise on the Seven Seas Voyager. We are dinosaurs.” John Alden: Ann (Buchholz) ’45 and I enjoyed an alumni-sponsored trip from Berlin to Prague featuring a seven-day cruise on the Elbe, visits to Potsdam, Magdeburg, Wittenburg, Torgau, Meissen, Dresden, and spectacular scenery in the Saxon Alps on the Czech border. Weather fine. Meals sumptuous.” A number of you, Bill Correll for one, were justly miffed to find your name unjustly missing from the list of duespayers. We apologize for the miscreant (probably a second-hand computer from Yale), and assure you that there will be no further mishaps. We blindfolded and shot the computer; it will publish no lists. The White House Looks South, historian Bill Leuchtenburg’s latest book, drew this from Robert Dallek: “A marvelous example of the vitality and importance of regional, political, and presidential history. No one interested in the presidencies of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and Lyndon Johnson and the recent history of the South can afford to miss this book. It enriches our understanding of developments that currently affect all our lives.” John Murray, JD ’48 (Hastings-on-Hudson, NY): “Still practicing law and co-chairing (with Marion Miller Eskay ’54) the Second Friday Lunch Club, which was founded at end of WWII by the Cornell Club of Westchester and meets in nearby Valhalla. Our motto: ‘Not just good conversation, but food for thought, too.’ ”[Not exactly “Don’t tread on me,” but maybe the chicken noodle’s hot.] Marge Hannan Antell ’45 (Rochester, NY) mailed me a 9-1/2x13 photo of DU house partiers—not apparently partying, more like looking at the birdie. A supine Kurt Vonnegut ’44 is togged out in white tie, tails, clean white socks, dirty white bucks. I sent it on to him. He loved it, wished he had saved it and its like, asked that I thank Marge. Thanks, Marge. Dr. John Casale (Vero Beach, FL): “Francoise and I still going strong. Golf, tennis, cycling. Four years ago I took up paintbrush, canvas, oils, acrylics, and watercolor. Now running the art show at the Moorings Club here. Twenty-four grandchildren all doing well. Thanks be to God. Amen. Doc.” A phone call from Bud Kastner recalled the 1940 Finals Week Frosh Riot when the entire Baker Dorms population, prompted by the whoops of an over-stressed inmate, rushed outdoors to rumble, to let off steam, and, oh yes, to invert someone’s 1929 Model A Ford in the sanctity of the War Memorial arch. Proctor Manning studies the scene: “Get it out of there.” Silence. Nary a single volunteer. Ford owner (senior moments all around; no one can remember his name; not Bud, not me, not Bill Dunn) calls towing company. Tow truck and driver arrive: “25 bucks.” “You kidding? Who’s got 25 bucks? Take the car.” ❖ S. Miller Harris, P.O. Box 164, Spinnerstown, PA 18968; e-mail, millerharris@netcarrier.com. CLASS NOTES   It’s Super Bowl Sunday, but the game doesn’t start till 6 p.m., so let the column begin. Some of us are still gainfully employed. Sigmund Hoffman, MFS ’48, continues to sell chemicals to the fragrance industry, but Serena (Ginsberg) ’47, MA ’48, is totally retired. They spend summers on a lake near Great Barrington, MA, enjoying Tanglewood, Jacob’s Pillow, and golf. Peg Pearce Addicks “is not quitting.” She’s still associated with the Gunnery as faculty emeritus after 44 years, and town government affairs in Washington, CT. Allen Albright is still fruitfarming in Ontario, NY. His wife has Parkinson’s disease. Mitchell Zavon continues some consulting and much civic activity with Common Cause and church. Anne Bishop McKusick reports that her husband Victor still works full-time at Johns Hopkins U. They are now apartment-dwellers after 40 years in the same house. Edward King, JD ’49, announced 56 years’ private law practice in Ithaca with plans for retirement. When? Volunteers abound. Mort and Carol Shapiro Siegler ’47 have been elected co-chairs of the Center for Catholic-Jewish studies based on the campus of St. Leo U. in St. Leo, FL. Naomi Zion Schulman still volunteers as a second grade reading tutor and in the adult ESL (English as a Second Language) program in Stanford, CA. She announced that an endowed professorship in pediatrics was established by Stanford U. in honor of her husband. Ted Smith writes that Betty Bob does volunteer hearing testing for the Savannah, GA, public schools. She has tested more than 2,000 children. Ted is in his third year as a professor, teaching at-risk kids at the Salvation Army School once a week. He plays tennis three times a week and golf twice. They had a family reunion in August—17 people, including seven grandchildren. Each of the four male grands, aged 6-12, got to throw out a first pitch at a professional baseball game (minor league). They are all baseball fans and were thrilled by the privilege (Grandpa says he bought the franchise that allowed). After 27 years Thomas Eschweiler, BArch ’50, continues to operate the Wisconsin Architectural Archives every day from 2-5 p.m., which records architects’ contributions to Wisconsin cityscapes. He says he hosted the annual Cornell bash at his country home—which his family has done for 100 years—but it was a simplified event because so few of the old guard are left. Durland Weale, MS ’53, writes from Addison, NY, that he just finished 15 years as the township property assessor. He indulges his agricultural interests with a large lawn and garden and keeps up with youth activity as a school board member. He owns eight antique automobiles (one 90 years old) and “has to care for them. I need a 36-hour day to catch up.” Tom Dent of Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, volunteers for the ProLiteracy America affiliate in Tarrytown, NY. He is statistics keeper for the allvolunteer organization, which has 50 teachers, 20 board members, and 50-70 students learning English, with a waiting list of 100-plus (mostly Hispanic immigrants). This is very detailed record-keeping. His wife is director of tutoring. Margaret McCaffrey Kappa, retired from hotel consulting, reads to third graders weekly, MAY / JUNE 2006 65 helps school programs for grades 1-6 at the Methodist Church twice a week, and cooks weekly for 20 at a rest home. She sings in the Methodist and Catholic choirs, attends healing sessions, and exercises at the Episcopal Church. And she belongs to six clubs—golf and tennis included. Jane Knight Knott says she’s busier than ever and enthusiastic about her activities. She “enjoys every day as president of the Lewis College Foundation.” She works closely with the college administration and the long-range planning and development group. “Nice to be thinking about the future and its promises.” Marie Coville Ortner is delighted to find a growing number of Cornellians moving into her retirement community, Jenner’s Pond in West Grove, PA. Bob Hickman ’43, recreational birder since 1930, recently gave a lecture there with photos and calls of 93 species seen at Jenner’s Pond and on field trips. Marie is researching her grandfather, Dr. Frederick V. Coville 1887, who was responsible for bringing wild blueberries into commercial cultivation. She now has a history for the family and a commercial video. Classmates are reporting and solving health problems. Barbara Hall Bowne says she’s “just trying to keep ahead of the Parkinson’s demons.” Another victim and she have started a Parkinson’s disease support group. They had 16 members (and perhaps more since her writing) and they are learning together. We wish them luck. George Schreiner writes that he is living comfortably in Cape May Point, NJ, with wife Irene. “Macular eye problems severely limit solo activities, but I still use my reading machine and play solitaire on the computer.” He claims four children, five stepchildren, 24 grands, and three great-grands. Norma Hirshon Schatz of Longboat Key, FL, sent word that husband Mike ’41, LLB ’42, died of cardiac arrest on June 10. “I had almost 60 years with this wonderful guy.” ❖ Nancy Torlinski Rundell, 20540 Falcons Landing Circle #4404, Sterling, VA 20165.  Officially one of our classmates, although not well known among us, Vagn Flyger, BS ’48, a retired wildlife biologist at the U. of Maryland, died Jan. 9 at his home in Silver Spring, MD. Dr. Flyger (whose name is pronounced Vawn FLEE-gur) shuttled deer to the suburbs and pursued whales and polar bears in the Arctic. Known for an impish and teasing humor, he said he found the squirrel far more accommodating, if only because one did not suffer a hernia from handling it, and kept squirrels as pets, sometimes eating them, saying that they made a piquant substitute in any chicken recipe. He worked first with woodchucks and deer, but moved on to whales during Arctic expeditions sponsored by a Norwegian whaling company. The first summer, in 1961, was a bust because of rough weather. The following summer, Dr. Flyger wowed a band of weary Eskimos (whose forbears had struggled for centuries to harpoon whales and wrestle them into submission) by shooting a lethal dose of tranquilizer at a whale, which rolled over dead. He pronounced the whalemeat, which remained edible after the injection,“delicious.” Among his scientific observations: it is possible to sweat at 50 degrees below zero. My previous plea for identification of those in our reunion photo has produced some results: Ann Buchholz Alden (Delmar, NY) says that she is number 3-8 and wants the final list when complete. I will be glad to send it to all, if only those who haven’t yet responded will! Ann and husband John ’43 took a Cornell Alumni trip on the Elbe River, Berlin to Prague, in late October. She reports that half of the people on the boat were Cornellian or friends of Cornell and that “our young Cornell representative, Margaux Neiderbach ’99, was outstanding (like President Rawlings, she had never heard the song ‘Don’t Send My Boy to Harvard’ either). It was a good trip.” Another cruiser was Ruth Bussell McLay (Holmdel, NJ), who escaped some snow by going to San Diego and taking the Ryndam from San Diego through the Panama Canal to Fort Lauderdale. She says she’s tired of snow and would rather bask in the sun than write news to us. Thanks, anyway! Tireless traveler William Berley (NYC) went to Australia and New Zealand to enjoy the southern hemisphere autumn. Bill’s grandson Marcus was a June ’05 graduate, and his sister Heather ’07, a transfer from Syracuse, joins him in being thirdgeneration Cornellians. He loves reading good books and finds that it is difficult to stay healthy. Having recently read that good health is merely an obstacle on the path to the inevitable makes us wonder if the difficulty is worth it! James Carley, PhD ’51 (Tucson, AZ) enjoyed attending reunion but is concerned about “ambitious new edifices moving its appearance toward the jammed-up ugliness of UC Berkeley.” Jim was a participant in the annual “El Tour de Tucson” and says that he plans on doing half of the 109-mile course in about the time it takes the young racers to do it all. Who remembers the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory? In response to an inquiry to our distinguished classmate Engineering Dean (Emeritus) Edmund Cranch, PhD ’51 (Ithaca), we learned that in 1943 a new Research Laboratory of the Curtiss-Wright Airplane Division at Buffalo was dedicated, Dr. Clifford C. Furnas appointed its first director, and work began on the largest, most expensive piece of equipment in the building—the wind tunnel ($3.5 million). When completed, the tunnel was capable of testing large airplane models up to the then-unheard-of speed of 750 miles per hour—approximately the speed of sound. During war years, the laboratory grew steadily as part of the flourishing Curtiss-Wright family, but V-J Day documents were barely signed when the company was deluged with telegrams canceling contracts for wartime production of aircraft. Within weeks, production was reduced to 5 percent of wartime peak, and Curtiss-Wright decided to abolish the Airplane Division in Buffalo and discontinue underwriting the activities of the Research Laboratory. Dr. Furnas expressed his intent to keep the laboratory operating and entered into serious discussions with Cornell. On Dec. 21, CurtissWright bequeathed the laboratory to Cornell and provided a cash gift to complete the unfinished wind tunnel. In 1946, with Dr. Furnas as director, the 545 employees of Curtiss-Wright Research Laboratory become employees of Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory (CAL). In 1947 the CAL wind tunnel became operational and research began in automotive safety. The laboratory was incorporated as Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Cornell University, and the Treasury department ruled that it was in “nonprofit” status, which continued until 1972, when Cornell disposed of it. ❖ Prentice Cushing Jr., 713 Fleet Dr., Virginia Beach, VA 23454; tel., (757) 716-2400; e-mail, Cushcu45@wmconnect.com.  Our 60th Reunion is fast approaching. Can you believe we graduated in June 1946 (some accelerated during WWII, so graduated earlier)? I’m writing this in early February, but you won’t receive the news until May. I hope you’ve made your plans to attend. If not, get on the phone NOW and call for reservations. Better still, call some old classmates and get them to meet you there. Mavis Gillette Sand (East Aurora, NY), our co-chair, has engaged a piano player for our banquet and after-party on Friday. He is coming all the way from Lockport, so tune up the vocal chords to sing all our old favorites. The annual CACO Mid-Winter Meeting was held in Philadelphia on Feb. 17-18 to put the last polish on plans. Representing the women were Mavis, Pat Kinne Paolella, and Ruth Critchlow Blackman. Between Christmas cards and phone calls, I’ve contacted my AOPi sisters. Bill and Nancy Aungier Beveridge (Staten Island, NY) are planning on attending. Nancy has a new knee, and Bill plays golf despite a bad back. They had two grandchildren graduate from college last year. Charlotte Fry Poor (Peoria, IL) will be coming alone, as Bob has been in a nursing home for five years. She moved to a condo nearby. Mary Lou Rutan Snowden (Madison, WI) hopes to come, but Harry’s health won’t permit the trip. They have five grandchildren—four boys and one girl. Phil ’46 and Joan Flood Snyder (Salem, VA) and Orrie ’46, LLB ’48, and Ann McGloin Stevens (Wyndmoor, PA) are still living in their big houses and seem to be in the best shape of all of us. The Snyders have a conflict that weekend, but we can plan on seeing the Stevenses. Three of their five grandchildren are in college. The latest collegiate goes to Brown. Phil Kennedy ’47, ME ’48, and I plan on being there to greet you when you arrive, as we are coming on Wednesday. He had his knee operated on this morning and is home already. Others planning on being at reunion: Art and Doris Ticknor Van Vleet (Richmond, IN), and Ruth Critchlow Blackman (Newton, PA). Charlotte Cooper Gill (Hurley, NY) wrote that she and Fran Goheen Hofler live only two miles apart. They will be traveling together and will be glad to call the Statler home for the weekend. Charlotte’s oldest granddaughter was married in September. Dottie Taylor Prey will be arriving from San Mateo, CA. She moved from Pittsburgh last August to be near her children. It’s still not too late to join us in June, so make your reservations today. We would like to have our biggest attendance yet. See you on the Hill. ❖ Elinor Baier Kennedy, 9 Reading Dr., Apt. 302, Wernersville, PA 19565; tel. (610) 927-8777. Hallelujah! Our class website, http://classof 46.alumni.cornell.edu, has been rejuvenated. Now 66 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE CLASS NOTES we have links to important class information and alumni services. So far, your correspondent has viewed five areas, including ’46 Class History, a slide show of previous reunions and highlights of our imminent return to the Hill for our “60th in ’06” from June 8-11. Also, there is a list of classmates planning to attend, and a list of those who are deceased. What are highlighted are a special tour for us of new buildings, facilities, and dorms, plus demonstrations of some of the fields where Cornell shines. For the non-computer literate, much of this material is part of the Reunion Registration material mailed in early March. It was all done very well, with one exception we will try to correct. Some of the group photos in the slide show should be larger and brighter. At this writing in mid-February, Mavis Gillette Sand has reported that most class officers are accompanying her to the CACO (Cornell Association of Class Officers) Mid-Winter Meeting in Philadelphia to fine tune plans for reunion. Her fellow planners are Lloyd Slaughter, Dick Turner, Bill Farrell, Ruth Critchlow Blackman, Pat Kinne Paolella and Maj-Britt Karlsson Gabel. Before the CACO pilgrimage, Mavis sat down and submitted a charming memoir for the less-than-300-word contest. Dave Day has also sent in an interesting submission. We’d appreciate more competing memoirs, as well as parodies of “The Song of the Classes.” John Drew (Manasquan, NJ; jack@algonquin arts.org) closed Drew Engineering last year and is now full-time in a labor of love. He’s president and running the live theatre he and his wife Fran restored over 13 years ago. Algonquin Arts Theatre now gives more than 250 performances to about 70,000 patrons each year. If they can get away, Fran and Jack will attend reunion. Brendan O’Hara (Glen Head, NY; b_ohara@tullycos.com) wrote, “Three of my children graduated from Cornell. Now my oldest grandchild entered in September. There are 14 more grandchildren. And V-12 started it all.” Brendan is coming to reunion and is talking it up to his classmate friends. He doesn’t play hockey anymore, but still skates and plays golf. Rodney Stieff (Baltimore, MD) would love to be at reunion, but doubts he’ll be well enough to make it. But with the loving care of his wife Dottie, who knows? Rod continues to follow closely the fortunes of Cornell wrestling and lacrosse, on whose teams he once competed as an undergrad. The Cornell friends from whom he’d most like to hear are Robert Simonds and Dick Turner. Let’s keep working for a mammoth “60th in ’06” Reunion turnout. Let’s each of us call a classmate and ask him or her to join us on the Hill in June. TO PUBLISH YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS, e-mail it to me. Include your name and city and state of residence. Send news to: ❖ Paul Levine, 31 Chicory Lane, San Carlos, CA 94070; tel., (650) 592-5273; e-mail, PBL22@cornell.edu. Class website, http://classof46.alumni.cornell.edu.  Happy spring! As I write, in midFebruary, it is cold and snowing outside my window, but we will be reading this in wonderful weather with flowers and leaves and birds, and enjoying and grateful for them all. The big university news is surely that there is a new president, David J. Skorton, whom Cornell will inaugurate in early July as its 12th president. In President Skorton’s letter introducing himself to us all, he certainly sounds pleased with his appointment, with Cornell, and with all of us in the greater Cornell community. I know everyone wishes him and his wife, Robin Davisson, all success and happiness at our institution. The other big university news is that Melody Davidson, who is on leave this year from her position as Cornell’s women’s hockey coach, led the Canadian women’s team to the gold medal at the Olympics in Turin. Robert Olney, BA ’46, is retired from 3M Company. He lived in England both full-time and part-time for 26 years and now travels back and forth to Europe. All three sons have graduated from Cornell, as well as two grandsons and a granddaughter. Well done! You must get to campus often for all those graduations! Robert was married to classmate Wanda (Gasch), who died in 1988, and he married Ann in 1992. On his News Form he sent greetings to class treasurer Margi Newell Mitchell. Israel “Jay” Milner (izegmilner@ieee.org) is still (!) working parttime as an adjunct professor of environmental science at Temple U., and is also active in his Herb Meltzer says he is a volunteer usher ‘ ’at every possible venue within 100 miles. ARLIE WILLIAMSON ANDERSON ’47 Heinz Meng, PhD ’51, sent a long letter telling of his interesting and accomplished life as an internationally recognized ornithologist and falconer and member of many wildlife, ornithology, and falconry associations in North America, England, and Germany. A native of Germany, Heinz came to this country at age 5, and later pursued a lifelong interest in natural history and wildlife (especially birds) at Cornell, studying under Arthur Allen 1907, Paul P. Kellogg ’29, and George Sutton, PhD ’32. He joined the biology department at SUNY New Paltz, teaching and researching. Heinz was honored by the National Audubon Society for making a significant impact on conservation in the 20th century through his groundbreaking work to save the peregrine falcon from extinction. He was also honored with the first Distinguished Teacher Award by the New Paltz Alumni Association for his “singular accomplishments in leading students to knowledge and understanding.” In addition, he has authored numerous scientific articles and co-authored the book Falcon’s Return. The book is illustrated with many of his photographs and paintings, since he is also an accomplished wildlife artist. Heinz retired in 2001, but still teaches. He enjoys trout fly-fishing and has three children. Heinz is certainly to be congratulated on a life well lived. Renee Gaines Wallace (RWallace@vitaliving. org) serves as the board chairman of Vita-Living Inc. What does the company do, Renee? Help us stay healthy? She is a collector and an art appreciator and has four children and two grandchildren. Her daughter Melanie is a producer on “Nova.” Son Andrew has a PhD in philosophy and is a professor in California; son Lee is a photographer; and son Ricky, sadly, is severely brain damaged. Renee recently took a trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Richard Bass, a retired doctor living in Scottsdale, AZ, stays connected to medicine, and last year attended a conference at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. His wife Elizabeth volunteers in the emergency department at the Mayo Hospital in Scottsdale. They have three daughters and four sons. community. Last year he enjoyed visiting Israel and Costa Rica. He reports he has three beautiful granddaughters who are the children of son Joseph ’89 and his wife Allison. Walter and Elaine Tompkins Merkel (ww merkel@dnet.net) live in Lakeland, FL, in the winter and Hiawassee, GA, the rest of the year. Adrina Casparian Kayaian and her husband Berge celebrated their 42nd anniversary last year with a trip to Las Vegas. Frank Carney (Carney CU@aol.com) and his wife planned to celebrate their 50th anniversary cruising from Florida to Bermuda and trans-Atlantic to Spain, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. They were to return to Boston on their way to Orris Island, ME, where they live in the summer after wintering in Bonita Springs, FL. Sounds wonderful. Elaine Baker Temkin, who is retired from the education department at Brown U., lives in Pawtucket, RI, and summers in Westport, MA. Elaine took a two-week driving trip through Sicily. She sees Marjorie Maxwell Glantz and Natalie Mann Rosenstock and has two children and four grandchildren. Herb Meltzer, MS ’48 (hmeltzer@bigfoot.com), who is practically retired as a computer consultant, says his only business is, “Why isn’t this program you sold me 10 years ago working?” Besides answering those complaints, he publishes a monthly newsletter and is a volunteer usher at every possible venue within 100 miles. He has two sons involved in computers and publishing and a grandson “who gets away with simply being adorable.” In a very recent conversation with class president Pete Schwarz, he told me of a letter he is sending to all classmates. In the letterhead, to my surprise, he has named me Reunion Chairman, since we forgot to elect one in 2002. It’s all right with me, but maybe one of you out there would like to do it. I don’t own the job. If you would like to do it, please just say so. We will help. Keep in touch. ❖ Arlie Williamson Anderson, 238 Dorchester Rd., Rochester, NY 14610; tel., (585) 288-3752; e-mail, arlie47@ aol.com. MAY / JUNE 2006 67  John Mitchell, St. Petersburg, FL: “Grandson married in Raleigh August ’05. Recently discovered learning to enjoy life and be cheerful in spite of vision impairment.” Vincent Greci, Olympia Fields, IL: “Unemployed, (not) looking for a job. Haven’t been far from home lately. Last remember taking 3-yearold grandson to a park. Would rather be doing something to ‘perk up’ another soul. Plan to do this tomorrow. I was feeling depressed for a while because of a health problem. Then I received a wonderful e-mail from my granddaughter’s husband. (Ed. note: Anyone feeling down and wants a lift, call or write me. I’ll fax or mail a copy. It’s such a generic type of letter that it would make any man or woman feel good no matter what’s bothering them.) We have three children, seven grandchildren, and three greatgrandchildren. Have recently learned how beautiful children are! Solution to today’s problems is to get back to the Ten Commandments and re-learn how to respect one another.” Sally McGowan Rice, Wolfeboro, NH: “Keeping body and soul together. Still go to the gym at least three times a week and walk two-plus miles when it’s nice out. Hospice visits, AA meetings, and occasional concerts. Anyone seen Livingston Taylor (James’s brother)? He’s terrific! Singing and laid-back humor. Family wedding in Portsmouth, NH. I love wallowing in wonderful extended family. We learn more from the bad things that happen to us than we do from all the good things. Most pressing problem is Bush. Solution is patience. GOD is a three-letter word standing for ‘good orderly direction.’ Not so recent, but I like it. The meaning of life is to stay healthy until dead.” Herb Podel, Westport, CT: “Present day job is wholesale sports and recreation and community affairs. Everyone except me is getting older. Can’t remember what I last did. I would rather be graduating (the first time). Plan to live to at least 2008. Glad I’m still working. Most pressing problem today is how to improve the Mets. Solution is to root for the Yankees. Have not discovered anything new. It’s all been done before. Cornell can mean much more than a fine ‘ ’education; it can be a lifetime of friendships. DICK LOYND ’50 Bill McCurdy, Fort Lauderdale, FL (as of last Sept. 10): “In the hospital. Two separate hip replacements and a slight arterial stroke, otherwise OK.” Bob McKinless, Alexandria, VA: “Still leading bike and canoe trips for Washington Cornell Club and singing in Washington Men’s Camerata. Had a great family reunion May ’05 to celebrate the recovery (return) of a grandfather’s clock that had been in the family for six generations and had inadvertently been sold by one of my wife Nancy’s nephews. I’m pretty well recovered from a cycling accident from 2-1/2 years ago (broken leg). Rode in ‘Bike Virginia’ June ’05. Cycled 33 miles around the rim of Crater Lake in Aug. ’05 with a LXA fraternity brother, then camped and hiked with son, sonin-law, and two grandsons, 21 and 13, at Crater Lake, Lassen Volcanic Park, and Lake Tahoe.” Anatole Browde, St. Louis, MO: “Day job is consulting and grandkids. I’ve been relaxing or loafing, depending on your orientation. Traveled to Toronto and Chappaqua. Paying bills; would rather not be paying bills. Watching grandchildren grow.” William Kaplan, Chevy Chase, MD: “I’m into sports.” (Ed. is puzzled. How come, Bill, at the CAU last summer you were in “American Trials” and not “Golf Clinic”?) Tom Trafzer, Carmichael, CA: “Keeping out of trouble since retiring in ’89. A little golf, a little bridge, a little Internet surfing for family genealogy. Proudly watching the progress of our ninth grandchild in the Hotel school. In March ’05 Jane and I moved into a 1,450-sq.-ft. senior complex cottage. We dine in the central dining room each evening and are getting caught up in the activities and committees of this place.” The meaning of life is ‘don’t grow up.’ ” Maredith Nims Gubb, Houston, TX: “Attended the wedding of one of my older grandsons near St. Louis. Thankful they returned from Key West honeymoon before last year’s storms hit.” Lester Wise, Old Westbury: “Visited Cornell in August ’05 to see granddaughter Marissa ’07. Many changes since I last visited in 2003. Best to all!” Madeleine Miller Bennett, New York City: “Whitney Museum docent. No after-hours activity. Been to India. Attended film festival. Plan cruise January ’06 to South Pacific, New Zealand, Australia, Bali, Hong Kong. Lonely since losing Jay. World’s problem is Bush. Solution is next election. Haven’t learned anything new recently and I don’t know (get) the meaning of life.” Harold Raynolds, Woodstock, VT: “Opera (not singing), reading (Sigrid Undset, Kristin Lavransdatter). Where on earth are we headed? I was recently at the 125th anniversary banquet of the Cornell Daily Sun in NYC with 450 attending. My most pressing problem is self-government! World’s worst problem is US leadership. Solution: change it. The meaning of life is ‘loving what is.’ ” Charlotte Smith Moore, Binghamton, NY: “Went to Reading, MA, to help daughter move three miles to Wakefield, MA. Tomorrow (October 15) I go to wedding of Ken Jones ’51’s daughter in Burlington, VT. (That’s why Char was not at the Homecoming Weekend football tailgate party when Cornell beat Georgetown 51 to 7. We not only missed Char, but we missed her poppyseed cake also.) ❖ Bob Persons, 102 Reid Ave., Port Washington, NY 11050; tel. and fax, (516) 767-1776.  In the last column, our editor covered nicely for us. It was a time of chaos. We put our Greenwich house on the market in August and went blissfully off to our timeshare in Newport, RI. So much for vacation time! The first phone call was from our broker. Following the first open house, we had an offer that we could not refuse. From that silly moment on, life has been more hectic than a trip to the Trumansburg Fair or a Sebela concert. After settling on our next address, there was the cleaning out of over a half-century of “Oh, we’d better keep that!” It is a work of art still in progress, but many of you have been there. If not, prepare yourselves! I will spare you the dumbness of what turned up. Obviously, most of it was Cornell-related. Seven bumper stickers all proclaiming: Ithaca, NY: Centrally Isolated. Numerous Big Red Bear decals. Papers written for American Folk Lit. Eleven Cornell paperweights (the most interesting being cut from Ezra Cornell’s oak). There was a “greens flag” from the Robert Trent Jones Golf Course (President’s Cup - Alumni ’49), which I won in a bitterly contested playoff with ’49ers Walt Peek, Jack Jaso, and Tom Clements, plus numerous “shingles” attesting that I was a member of some organization or another (many unknown to me). Also: an autographed copy of A History of Cornell by Morris Bishop ’14, PhD ’26, the original mission statement, bylaws, and membership of “The Secret Eleven” (all ’49ers), the secret formula for Sphinx Head Sours, etc. The only thing missing is the traffic sign (embedded in a concrete block) that stood at the gate of Wells College, which members of the Big Red football team delivered to my room in the middle of the night. It was impossible to move and became a lasting part of the decor until graduation. As we conclude, we tip our Cornell cap (one of 14 that we came across) to those of you who live in warmer climes. This has been a wicked winter here. Nor’easters. Blizzards. Trees down everywhere. Very little power to the people! We don’t expect it to be much better at our next abode. We never said we were smart. There is always Vermont. At last, now we should be able to sort out the old news from the ancient to the new and get this column back on line. Stay well. Stay happy. Be proud to be a ’49er! ❖ Dick Keegan, 100 Ashlar Village, Wallingford, CT 06492; e-mail, rjk27@cornell.edu.  On February 18, 26 classmates and spouses gathered in the elegant Lincoln Room at the Union League of Philadelphia for our annual Class of 1950 dinner. You’ll recall that our dinner has always been held in conjunction with the Mid-Winter Meeting of the Cornell Association of Class Officers (CACO), because a nucleus of class officers would be in town—and this year the CACO meeting was in Philadelphia. Classmates came in from all over for our dinner: newlyweds Walt and Midge Downey Crone from Colorado; class president Dick Pogue from Cleveland; vice president Stan Rodwin and Joyce Wisbaum Underberg ’53 from Rochester; John and Jane Haskins Marcham ’51 68 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE CLASS NOTES from Ithaca, and Dave and Susan Dingle from eastern Long Island. Local attendees were chemical engineer Bruce Davis, MBA ’52 (Coopersburg, PA); Phyllis and Alex Richardson (Livingston, NJ), the guy who helped bring you the New Jersey E-Z Pass system; Jo Kessel Buyske (Princeton, NJ); hotelman Bob Fite (Cape May, NJ); Jane and Bob Post (Mantaloking, NJ); Molly and John Gribb (Doylestown, PA), an ob/gyn; Germaine and Lee Maiorana (Wyomissing PA), another ob/gyn; and Libby Severinghaus Warner (Bryn Mawr, PA). From Philadelphia itself were Betty and Earle “Bud” Barber and, of course, yours truly and my husband Charles Joiner. It was a splendid evening. Everyone enjoyed the gracious ambience of the Union League, and after dinner, class pianist Dave Dingle brought back memories of our days on the Hill, leading us in our old favorite college songs. CACO will meet in Philadelphia again next year, and we’ll probably have a class dinner again (and probably at the Union League again), either on Friday, January 19, or Saturday, January 20, 2007. So mark those dates on your calendar, and do join all of us next year! Earlier in the day, some of us had gathered for a class meeting. President Dick Pogue pointed out that at reunion last June, we set three Alumni Fund records for a 55th Reunion: the number of donors (497), the dollars raised ($9,603,675), and the number of Tower Club members (63). In other business, Midge Crone was named class secretary, and the Class Council was expanded with the appointment of six new members: Midge Crone, Roger Gibson (Ponte Vedra Beach, FL), Jim Hazzard (Ithaca), Charles Mackey Jr. (Berwyn, PA), Libby Warner, and Ralph “Cooly” Williams, MD ’54 (Santa Fe, NM). If you are interested in serving on the Class Council, please contact Dick Pogue at rwpogue@jonesday.com. Some other news: On a visit to Ithaca recently, Dick Loynd (Springfield, NJ)—a member, you may recall, of the football team that won Cornell the Ivy League championship our senior year—reviewed plans for Friends Hall, the Football Tradition Room, and the University Athletic Hall of Fame Room. Dick calls them an “outstanding presentation of Cornell’s athletic history—nothing to match it in the Ivy League. It will be one of the top facilities of the type in the country. Friends Hall commemorates the fact that Cornell can mean much more than a fine education; it can be a lifetime of friendships.” Dick is currently president of Loynd Capital Management in Short Hills. At reunion in June, Jean Thomas Herrington (Morongo Valley, CA) met, for the first time, a classmate connected with a bit of her past. Growing up in Hamburg, NY, Jean often visited Lockwood’s Greenhouses and Farm to get fresh vegetables. At a Reunion dinner one night, she chose to sit with people she did not know—and there at the table she met Doug Lockwood. Jean, a math major at Cornell, became an engineer. Naomi Knauss Drummond (Pilesgrove, NJ) has been widowed for the second time. Her husband Hall, whom she had known since junior high, died in the spring of 2005. Naomi was an administrative law judge in New Jersey. Glenn Ferguson, MBA ’51, former university president and ambassador to Kenya, has written another book, Traveling the Exotic: Distinctive Experiences in Twelve Unique Countries (Sunstone Press, Santa Fe, NM). Lorraine Vogel Klerman (Waltham, MA) is a professor at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis U. in Waltham. “I teach, conduct research, and have a range of administrative responsibilities,” Lorraine writes. Lorraine’s latest publication is Another Chance: Preventing Additional Births to Teen Mothers, a monograph for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. Previously Lorraine was chairman of the Dept. of Maternal and Child Health at the U. of Alabama, Birmingham. A correction: When I wrote in a recent column about a book—Understanding Parliamentary Procedure: A Tutorial—that Alex Richardson has written, I made a mistake on his website. It is www.learnsystems.net. Marjorie Leigh Hart has sent along a note from Ross Heald ’49 telling us about the death of his wife Marianne (Nethercot) on May 2, 2005, in Jackson, NH. “I lost Marianne after 56 wonderful years together,” Ross writes. ❖ Marion Steinmann, 237 West Highland Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19118-3819; tel. (215) 242-8443; e-mail, cjoiner@ix.netcom.com; Paul H. Joslin, 6080 Terrace Dr., Johnston, IA 50151-1560; tel., (515) 278-0960; e-mail, phj4@cornell.edu.  Oak Ridge, TN, proclaimed October 21, 2002 Victor Pare Day in appreciation of 14 years of volunteering social service for Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties. Vic, an Engineering Physics major at Cornell (BEP ’50, PhD ’58), retired from Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 1994. He worked there for three years after graduation and then went back to Cornell for a PhD. Since then he studied radiation damage to solids, important in reactor design, and development of energy from nuclear fusion. The problem with nuclear fusion, he says, is that it can’t be contained in a vessel due to the high temperatures generated. Instead it must be controlled by magnetic fields—but it generates its own field, which adds to the difficulty. An international project is now under way in France with participation by Japan, Russia, and the US. Vic says electric power from nuclear fusion is a “long way off.” Vic and wife Diantha (Francis) ’50 have two children and one grandchild. Their daughter is a nurse practitioner in the Cleveland Clinic and their son a massage therapist in Houston. We received word of the death of classmate Joan Circola Gasparello in August 2005. Joan and husband Ralph of Hingham and Nantucket Island, MA, raised five children. She helped found Hingham’s Wilder Memorial Nursery School and the Hingham Public Library. As chairman of the board of Wilder she organized numerous “night out” musical galas to raise funds; one such gala featured the music of folksinger Joan Baez. In the 1960s, Joan raised money to relocate the Hingham Public Library, persuading Bonwit Teller to hold a fashion show at the library. But she took the most pride in chairing the lecture series, getting poet Anne Sexton and science fiction writer Isaac Asimov to speak at the library. Joan also served as president of the South Elementary School PTA, and as a leader in the Hingham chapter of the League of Women Voters. In the 1990s, Joan and Ralph cofounded the National Association of Senior Travel Planners, with Joan as executive director. In addition to her love of travel, she enjoyed antiquing, visiting art galleries, and gardening. Mary Wagner Diegert, Vestal, NY, went on CAU’s Landscapes of the Last Frontier: Alaska from Fairbanks to Glacier Bay, led by Verne Rockcastle, PhD ’55, in June, and then attended a twoweek session on Cayuga Lake Archaeology and Paleobiology with John Chiment and Life on a Silken Thread: An Introduction to Spider Biology and Behavior with Linda S. Rayor. Don Regula, MD ’55, Schenectady, NY, and Elliott Siff, Westport, CT, did April in New York: A Spring Theatre Weekend last spring with Glenn Altschuler, PhD ’76, and David Bathrick. Bob and Joanne Clark Nelson ’57, Wilmington, DE, attended CAU for a one-week course titled Meritocracy in America with Robert H. Frank instructing. Al and Vivian Ginty, Orange, CA, are thankful for great health and are enjoying retirement, which includes church activity, golf, travel to see three sons and their families (including five grandkids), “and lots of other stuff.” Al’s staying in touch with Theta Chi brothers and other friends in Lockport, NY, where he grew up. Marcus and Sondra Bressler are building a home in Broomfield, CO, to be closer to their daughter Lisa in Westminster, CO. Marcus is still active in ASME as a member of the Boiler & Pressure Vessel and Nuclear Code Standards committees. He sees Don Griffin at code meetings. He has taught courses recently in Krsko, Slovenia, and Pittsburgh, PA. He plans to attend reunion in June. Reg Rice, MBA ’52, Menlo Park, CA, says he’s having too much fun to acquire a computer. Current obsessions include watercolors, duplicate bridge, travel, and local politics. In 2001, Joseph Bertino moved from Memorial SloanKettering to the Cancer Inst. of New Jersey at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick as associate director of the cancer center. Betty Goldsmith Stacey, McLean, VA, says she’s up to her ears in volunteering and yard work. She’s trying to spend more time on the family genealogy before the infirmities of old age catch up with her. “If only those people had stayed put—and left better records!” The Washington Monthly College Guide claims, “Other guides ask what colleges can do for you. We ask what colleges are doing for America.” An article in the September 2005 issue states, “While the private colleges of the Ivy League dominate most rankings of the nation’s best colleges, they didn’t dominate ours—only Cornell and the U. of Pennsylvania made our Top 10, and Princeton (tied with Harvard for the top slot on U.S. News’ current list) was all the way down at number 44, a few slots behind South Carolina State U.” Evan Hazard, Bemidji, MN, copied us on an e-mail to the WMCG, pointing out that Cornell is unusual in that four of its several colleges are state schools, parts of the State U. of New York, and thanked them for their “sensible alternative to U.S. News’ ratings.” Barry Nolin’s Class of ’51 Web page is http:// classof51.alumni.cornell.edu. Please send your MAY / JUNE 2006 69 news to: ❖ Brad Bond, 101 Hillside Way, Marietta OH 45750; tel., (740) 374-6715; e-mail, bbond@ee.net.  Firsthand news first. Jean Thompson Cooper, she of the Long Island Rug School, invited five of us for a week at her place on St. Thomas. Jane McKim Ross, Wilkes Barre, PA, and Key West, FL, volunteer raiser of serious funds for cultural and social services; Judy Calhoun Schurman, New Canaan, CT, retired travel agent and businesswoman; Patricia Moore Sullivan, Chicago, family and churchperson extraordinary; Joan Nesmith Tillotson, MD ’56, Fargo, ND, retired physician; and I all happily accepted. We are older, shaped differently, and may be wiser, but basically we are still us. The week was full of bright sun, blue skies and seas, and the laughter of women. Now, your turn, with news from those previously unheard from. Marshall Lindheimer, Chicago, IL, is an emeritus professor at the U. of Chicago and chairs the general advisory committee of their Clinical Research Center. He is also consultant to the WHO’s Dept. of Reproductive Health and Research. He and wife Jacqueline subscribe to the symphony and university quartet series. Active in community affairs, they were about to go on their fifth Cornell Alumni trip in February 2006. Alfred Pagano writes from Newark, DE, that though retired from E. I. DuPont, he consults part-time on the environment. After hours, he lists political party involvement, Christopher Columbus Monument Committee membership, and presidency of ItaloAmericans United. He spends time at concerts and football games and had spent two weeks with two of his grandchildren in the Bahamas. Sharon Follett Petrillose, Elmira, NY, is “keeping” house, books, husband, and healthy. She also keeps in touch with friends at home and in France. She’s keeping up her French and gardens in season. A recent trip to donate food to the SPCA gave the Petrilloses two new kittens. She and Bob are parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. Stephen Prigozy, Averill Park, NY, has retired as professor of electrical engineering at the US Merchant Marine Academy. His current interest is the telegraph. Pointing out that “Ezra’s money came from his early work on the telegraph,” he has done research and collects old telegrams and telegraph ephemera. Apart from that, he’s busy fixing up the mistakes done to his house. Bob Silman, Brimfield, IL, followed up his Cornell degree with one in chemical engineering from the U. of Texas in 1960. He does research at the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria. Spare time? He gardens, and he and wife Anita are both past presidents of Illinois Valley Kennel Club. They have bred eight champion Doberman pinschers. Roger ’49, ME ’52, and Jane Hillis Thayer live in Edgartown, MA. Jane, a psychotherapist and mediator, has, with her daughter Peggy, written the book Elderescence: The Gift of Longevity. She is busy presenting it. John, DVM ’52, and Mary Shear Brennan are in Schenectady, NY. Jack writes that he reads, golfs, and travels. He is a library trustee and recently has been attending Cornell Sprint football games to watch grandson Michael Brennan ’09, a fourth-generation Cornellian, play. Joan Aten Beach, Lantana, FL, is active at the Norton Museum of Art, Hypoluxo Island Association, and Atlantis Golf Club. She and Stafford ’51 have taken some wonderful trips each summer. They had just returned from New Zealand, Australia, and Singapore. Joan writes, “On to the next country! It’s hot down here.” Judith Kredel Brown, Rochester, MI, is still teaching. She is professor of anthropology at Oakland U. She writes, “I am now the oldest member of the faculty.” She swims just about every day in the university pool and does some lifting. Joan Stamboolian Braner, Tenafly, NJ, is also still at it. She owns “Conversations by Candlelight,” which offers singles dinner parties in a private home. She is involved with several study groups and enjoys theater, movies, books, and, not surprisingly, dinner parties. Sarah E. Gifft lives in Milford, PA. John Sanford’s news from Pass Christian, MS, is not happy. His present day job is battling with FEMA and the insurance company. He has been busy “picking through the debris that was once our house on the beach.” As to what he’d rather be doing: “Pick anything.” Gerald Read, Prattsburgh, NY, has retired after teaching Vo-Ag for 31 years. He and wife Shirley have traveled every state except North Dakota and have visited 24 foreign countries. They are busy maintaining two homes and enjoying 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Three of the grands were wed in 2005. Arnold Barron, Morristown, NJ, is senior VP at Weichert Commercial Brokerage real estate. He puts in time at the gym, but more with work and travel, both of which he loves. Meneleo Carlos Jr. wrote from Metro Manila, Philippines. President of RI Chemical Corporation, Meneleo is Chairman, Federation of Philippine Industries, and active with Philippine Foundation for Science and Technology and Rotary. He, like so many of you, lists a fond Cornell memory— meeting his wife, Filomena Reyes, MS ’53—and an old friend he would like to hear from. That leads to a reminder that your thoughts and wishes in those categories will be on our class Web page, http://classof52.alumni.cornell.edu, as will news of our 55th Reunion, which comes up next year. ❖ Joan Boffa Gaul, 7 Colonial Place, Pittsburgh, PA 15232; e-mail, jgcomm@aol.com.  During its first 100 years, the Cornell Association of Class Officers (CACO) held an annual mid-winter Cornell-in-Manhattan extravaganza. It was a time for training, both basic and advanced, of class officers and for the pleasure of Big Red company. For its 101st convocation, CACO moved to Philadelphia last Presidents’ Weekend. Hundreds came from near and far to jam the Downtown Marriott, bringing with them years of experience in helping Mater keep alums interested, and going home with new visions for the Cornell era to come. CACO MidWinter Chair Jane Little Hardy led the change of venue, but couldn’t attend the meeting itself due to husband Ernie, PhD ’69’s severe medical condition. She was truly missed. Fifty-three held an annual meeting of our own, about which you should have already received pertinent word. Besides the CACO activities, ’53 joined ’52 for dinner Friday at Philadelphia’s McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant, across the street from historic City Hall. Mark present Dick Halberstadt, Jim and Sandy Blackwood, Mort, JD ’55, and Anita Brown Bunis, GR ’53-54, Joyce Wisbaum Underberg, Stan Rodwin ’50, Shirley Sprague McClintock, Mary-Elizabeth Crabtree Turnbull, and the Hanchetts, Hat, Susie ’90, and moi. Caroline Mulford Owens came to the class meeting Saturday. It was a grand weekend. Hail, all hail, Jane Hardy. Author Joan Kanel Slomanson tapped her memory bank and other sources to share nostalgia with those who can’t really forget the cinnamon toast, or the ice cream sundaes, or even the dry martinis of those days of yesteryear, When Everybody Ate at Schrafft’s. That’s the name of her new book (subtitled Memories, Pictures, and Recipes from a Very Special Restaurant). Maybe you remember the Depression days New Yorker cartoon in which one of those lunching Helen Hokinson ladies is punishing herself “for being a naughty girl yesterday at Schrafft’s.” There were rafts of Schrafft’s around the Northeast when we were very young. Joan does them proud. Career diplomat Bill Marsh (Washington, DC) submits that “Dec. 23 was my last day of work—ever,” after 45 circumglobular years in the Foreign Service. “Was in the chair in the General Assembly from 10 to 1, casting three dozen votes on resolutions,” mostly negative, says he, doing his bit for peace on earth at the UN.“We now turn to house and home and to health as prime agendas. It has been a great run but I am slightly winded. Saigon (three years during the hostilities), the Middle East, and 15 years in Europe were exciting enough for several lifetimes. Glacially slow promotions, but ending up as Minister in Geneva and Chief of Mission in Rome, with the latest eight years on the US delegation to the UN. Name-dropping of past bosses would include Henrys (Cabot Lodge and Kissinger) and John Bolton (twice).” Julian Aroesty (Lexington, MA): “Still working full-time, although only 40 percent of the time in the office seeing cardiac patients, the rest in a Harvard research institute. Still defending physicians, nurses, and hospitals in malpractice suits. Out of 25 court cases, the defense has lost only once. Very gratifying work.” He’s been cycling for exercise (“15-20 miles per session”) and learning to fly to fulfill childhood wishes. Son Adam entered the U. of Michigan this year to study biomedical engineering and managed a perfect 4.0 GPA in the first term (“Better than my first term at Cornell,” says Pop). Adam’s thinking of an MD/PhD program after Michigan. At the U. of Wisconsin, John Webster continues teaching biomedical instrumentation and design, plus research on curing liver cancer by heating or freezing the tumors, finding out whether Tasers can electrocute the heart and measuring menopausal hot flashes. Spouse Nancy (Egan) is into wide-ranging volunteering. They celebrated their 50th anniversary with 14 descendants under a midnight sun near the Arctic Circle in Norway after a conference in Umea, way up in Sweden. 70 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE CLASS NOTES Other conferences took them to Prague, Dresden, Berlin, and London (plus France and Belgium). A builder by training, career, and inclination, Ralph Brice (Charlotte, NC) built a woodworking shop when he retired from the practice of architecture and has turned his hands to furnituremaking as a hobby. He tells of a mini-reunion with fellow Architecture ’53 grads Holmes Stockly, Conrad Hamerman, and Shoji Sadao and spouses at a bed and breakfast in Kennett Square, PA, a while back. “Great to see them after some 50 years and to see them doing so well,” says he. Reverberations of reunions past provide a mellow hour of music from the magical keyboard of Tom Foulkes ’52, backed by the clarinet of Louis Pradt, in their new DVD, “A Musical Toast.” There’s nothing much about those seven old ladies or the ship Titanic here, but there is a wonderful sound of jazz and pops, mostly of the ’30s and ’40s. For more information, reach Tom at keukalake@earthlink.net. Thanks to the CACO Board and an astonishing—and very gratifying—number of friends who submitted kind words, your correspondent was honored with the second annual William Vanneman ’31 Outstanding Class Leader Award at the Mid-Winter CACO lunch. It’s a challenge to be worthy. Bill, winner of the first annual Bill Vanneman award last year, has been an outstanding class leader since before most of us ’53 kids had begun to catch on to what was being explained to us in potty one-oh-one. He was at Mid-Winter Meeting to prepare for ’31’s 75th Reunion in June. ❖ Jim Hanchett, 300 1st Ave., Apt. 8B, New York, NY 10009; e-mail, jch46@cornell.edu.  Donald McCobb, MBA ’55, will soon be removed from Chick Trayford, MBA ’60’s lost list, as he is thriving in Naples, FL, with wife Jessie. They have recently been back to Italy, where Don lived for a number of years, and where we lost him, enjoying the marvelous wines, cheeses, and scenery of Tuscany. When not traveling or dodging hurricanes, Don is to be found on the golf course. Richard Schoeck of Bernhards Bay, NY, is a Master Forest Owner via Cornell Cooperative Extension and involved with the Shriners Child Identification Program or CHIP. Retired from teaching, Joan Shaw Taylor now volunteers at Samaritan Hospital, serves as president of her PEO chapter, and like the rest of us enjoys her grandchildren. Austin Edgar would rather be working, but is now retired from his wholesale florist business. Nowadays he spends his “after hours” attending Syracuse sporting events and singing barbershop both on the regional and national levels. Patricia Vogt Robida’s fondest memories of Cornell were friends, spring, and the gorges. Am sure she saw some spectacular gorges on her trip to Alaska. Being president of New Jersey West Hudson Valley Council, Union for Reform Judaism keeps Diana Skaletzky Herman very busy, and there is nothing she would rather be doing at the moment. Partly retired and busier than ever (heard that before), Robert Evans of Branchport, NY, works with the town planners, is town historian, has helped rebuild a WWII Memorial, and is writing a book on the area’s WWII vets. Last summer Bert Rosen was off to Ecuador. Bert always lives on the economy, so to speak; he rarely makes reservations ahead of time, learns to read foreign bus, boat, train, and plane schedules, explores the highways and byways like a local, and this past summer he also endeavored to avoid local disturbances or strikes throughout the country. Teaching part-time as an associate clinical professor of internal medicine doesn’t take up all of David Morse’s time; golf, tennis, walking, and travels fill in spare moments, although he would not mind spending more time on the course. Val Leinieks, MA ’56, now retired, spent 46 years teaching the classics at the U. of Nebraska. He says he feels as though he is on permanent summer vacation with all the time in the world to read the books he has written and lectured about for lo those many years. He plans to keep working on another book, but . . . only when he feels like it. John Eisele is now completely at leisure docenting on local wetlands, fly-fishing in the Sierra, and working with the Boy Scouts on their fly-fishing merit badge. In 2005 Pam and John took their second trip to Alaska, where are classmates) via our class website, http://class of54.alumni.cornell.edu/, or if they are not classmates, through the online Alumni Directory, https://directory.alumni.cornell.edu. Chick does a very good job at keeping the class site updated. Hopefully many old friends can be located. It helps if you add an e-mail address on your news form so we can respond to your requests. ❖ Leslie Papenfus Reed, 500 Wolfe St., Alexandria, VA 22314; e-mail, ljreed@speakeasy.net.  Our own Jay Hyman, DVM ’57, has been named one of seven winners of the 2006 Frank H.T. Rhodes Exemplary Alumni Service Award. This prestigious award is given each year by the Cornell Alumni Federation in recognition of extraordinary service to Cornell. Jay is the third member of our class to be honored: Ned Arps, MBA ’57, received the Rhodes Award in 1997, and Bob Cowie, MBA ’57, in 2003. This year’s group of winners will be recognized at a banquet on Friday, October 13, in Ithaca during Homecoming Weekend. Congratulations to you, Jay! ‘Saigon, the Middle East, and 15 years in Europe were exciting enough ’for several lifetimes. BILL MARSH ’53 they enjoyed the hiking, kayaking, and sightseeing in its southeast corner. Henry Renard, MBA ’55, writes that he recently joined the Johnson School Advisory Council. He still manages other people’s money and with his own enjoys good food and fine wine around the world. Bill Peters is doing volunteer hospital work along with recording for the blind and dyslexic. Some of his fondest memories of life on the Hill were those involved with fraternity life. John Clarke has not moved south or taken up a leisurely life; he is still running his fruit farm in Milton, NY. Spero Davis remembers fondly the wonderful instructors at the Hotel school and friendships that have lasted a lifetime. He is presently general manager for American Siding and Window in Des Moines while on his day job, but in his spare time Spero has built a plane with Peter Paris’s son. Abdul Assifi would love to retire and travel with his wife to lovely places, but is instead working with the government of Afghanistan to rebuild much of their destroyed infrastructure. His concentration presently is the rebuilding of its water supply, especially to revitalize irrigated agriculture. Linda Stagg Long had moved into Carmel from Big Sur, I suspect to be closer to her grandchildren who she loves to chauffeur. What a nifty town to do it in. The last question on the news form regarding old friends you would like to hear from has created a challenge for me, as I love puzzles; however, you can locate most people yourself (if they Class co-president Barbara Loreto Peltz kept busy with Cornell functions last fall. She and copresident Fred Antil attended CACO’s New Officer Leadership Training on campus in September. Eva Konig Ray and Ken Mason, JD ’60, participated in the program, which is designed to help new officers get a handle on their leadership roles. The Peltzes also went down to Princeton for the football game and met up afterwards with the AGR contingent, who enjoy a long tradition of getting together at Bill Doerler’s house every two years after the game. Barb especially liked learning the AGR motto, “No song unsung, no wine untasted, no brother unremembered.” The next day, the Peltzes took advantage of the glorious weather to attend the Princeton Invitational crew event. Twelve Cornell crews took part, Barb reports, “including our great women rowers.” Fred e-mailed me that there was a great crowd for Homecoming, with a shower coming only at halftime. The Cornell team claimed a decisive victory over Georgetown,“which showed that the Cornell football program has really turned around,” Fred added. He ran into Don Kennedy, Stan Goldberg, and George Pfann, LLB ’59, at the game, and later that night met up with others from the classes of the ’50s at the Ithaca Country Club party. After dinner, everyone gathered around the piano, including Bob Cowie who, according to Fred, was “singing up a storm. I had no idea he remembered all those old songs so well!” Also last fall, Fred and wife Ann attended the CAU trip to Gettysburg, which was led by History MAY / JUNE 2006 71 prof. Joel Silbey, his son David Silbey ’90 (also a history teacher), and Interim President Hunter Rawlings. The lecturers “captivated us with the history of this momentous battle, and the impact it has had on our nation.” Fred explains, “We had been to Gettysburg before, but now we can say we know Gettysburg.” Fellow ’55 participants were Al Blomquist, MBA ’57, and John Riley. Konrad Bald is a man who makes a difference. For the past three years, he has been the top money raiser for the Barrington, IL, CROP Walk, and in fact raised more than anyone else in the United States. He is also active in the local homeless shelter, and is the longest-serving volunteer (18 years) at the Northern Illinois Food Bank. To celebrate their 53rd anniversary, Konrad and Marjory (Tauscher) ’52 cruised to Tahiti. Dave Sheffield, MRP ’61, still practices architecture (“now on a smaller scale”), but finds time for travel. He and Allison (Hopkins) ’56 enjoyed a vacation in Paris and Rome with Peter, MRP ’57, and Mickey Symonds Eschweiler ’53. The Sheffields also enjoy getting away from it all at their cottage on Lake Mooselookmeguntic in Maine, where they pursue their respective hobbies: Allison is a prolific quilter and Dave weaves Nantucket baskets. Here’s a belated news item that will be of interest to the fishermen among you: Dick Mathewson and his wife Jane spent most of the summer of 2004 at their lake home in Minnesota. They visited the northernmost piece of land in the lower 48 states, Lake of the Woods, MN, where they found 365,000 miles of shoreline and 17,000 islands to fish around for muskie and walleye! Dick adds, “This is what retirement is all about for us.” Hope you’re all spending these blessed years in whatever way makes you happiest. ❖ Nancy Savage Petrie, nancypetrie@juno.com. Class website, http://classof55.alumni.cornell.edu.  We’re getting closer to what I think will be one of our best reunions ever. Ernie Stern, our president, and Percy Edwards Browning, our reunion chairman, have worked tirelessly along with the “core group” to plan and review every aspect of the event to make sure we will all have a fun and meaningful time. As you know, our 50th Reunion will be from June 8-11. From all I hear from our classmates, there will be many of us who will be returning for the first time since graduation. Ernest Stent and Phil Karlin are two of those who Robert Taylor has 11 grandchildren and is ‘ ’building a grandfather clock for each one. STEPHEN KITTENPLAN ’56 Bill Boyle, MBA ’56, writes that he recently visited Brazil to evaluate the booming agricultural economy there, and to explore investment opportunities. Joan Groskin Promin, my former freshman corridor-mate, lives in Ocala, FL. Joan has become an artist-in-residence at the U. of Florida’s Shands Teaching Hospital, and also serves on the Advisory Board of Directors for the university’s performing arts program. Out our way, Seymour Musiker writes that he’s still working full-time, and is now chairman of pediatrics at St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson. His daughter Randy Musiker ’85 was on campus for her 20th Reunion the same weekend as our 50th. Tad Slocum writes that after flying his own plane for 40 years, he finally had to sell it last year, but he’s still working, racking up his 43rd year in the investment business. The Slocums celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in Hawaii with the whole family. Bob Leader has five children, among them his son Henry ’84, who’s a partner in Case & Leader LLP in Gouveneur, NY. Bob himself commutes between Gouveneur and Cocoa Beach, FL, each month. Beth Barstow Calhoon is an art associate at the Art Inst. of Chicago, and serves as a lay Eucharistic minister and member of the vestry at her church. She’s also involved with Habitat for Humanity and PADS (Public Action to Deliver Shelter). Last April, Beth visited South Africa and found it a “stunningly beautiful country. Everyone we met was so hospitable, and they’ve made remarkable progress in the decade since the end of apartheid.” have never been back and I’m sure there are many others. If you have any questions about reunion, please contact me and I will send your inquiry on to the proper party. Let’s all have a great time! One of the events during Reunion Weekend, in addition to some interesting talks and dinners, will be a documentary on one of our most distinguished classmates, architect Richard Meier. Many of us who knew him as a mere youth have been interviewed for this presentation. Don’t miss it when you look at the program. Life is good for Lael Jackson and Mary Fitzgerald Morton, who say they will be coming to reunion. They recently went on a cruise to Acapulco and ended up with a group of dolphins in Ixtapa. We can’t wait to see them in June. Leland Mote of Big Bear Lake, CA, will be coming to reunion. He is still working as senior underwriter/auditor for the Clayton Group. Prior to reunion he plans to go to Alaska. An interesting guy is Robert Taylor of West Lafayette, IN. He is still teaching farm management and economics at Purdue with 500 students in his class. In addition to also teaching Sunday school, Bob is taking a group of farm management students to Brazil to study soybean production. He has 11 grandchildren and is building a grandfather clock for each one. Vera Johnson Winter Lee lives in San Francisco, CA, and is happily retired. She is involved in music for her church and is an usher for the San Francisco Opera and Ballet. Last spring she took a cruise through the Panama Canal. It has come to our attention that over the past years, we may have omitted from this column the fact that Martin Wunderlicht Pel-Or passed away on November 20 in the year 2000. His wife Susan (Cohen) ’59 still lives in Netanya, Israel. Another sad note is the passing of David Karl Orselet of West Chester, PA, who died on October 23. He was married to his high school sweetheart, Nancy Jane, for over 54 years. David was an executive of General Electric until 1990, the father of four, and the grandfather of five. Our condolences to his family. Phyllis Mable of Washington, DC, has retired from Longwood U. as VP for student affairs. She is now executive director of the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education. Her recent travel was to the south of France. Jim Yates is still practicing plastic surgery in central Pennsylvania. He is president of the American Assoc. for Accreditation, Ambulatory Surgery Facilities. Jim is also involved in many community activities and lives in Lemoyne, PA, with Debbie, his wife of 24 years. Jim Plunkett, Milwaukee, WI, has been recognized by his architectural firm for 50 years of service. He still specializes in civic and governmental work. Bill Purdy attended sailing class at Cornell last summer. He also traveled to Tucson to participate in the USTA Senior Men’s Doubles. Bill has seven children, 14 grandchildren, and one great-grandchild and makes his home in Scotia, NY. It was nice hearing from Orlando Turco, our great wrestler, who is still living in Ithaca. He coached at Ithaca High School for 35 years and is now a realtor. He has six children and five grandchildren. Elliot Goldstein, MD ’60, of Davis, CA, is an emeritus professor from UC Davis Medical School. He still teaches first- and second-year medical students. He recently went sport fishing for salmon on Craig Island, AK, with his sons, son-inlaw, and grandson. What fun that must have been! Lenore Palefski Shulman (Hillsdale, NJ) retired in June. Her first grandchild arrived just a short time ago and she could not be more thrilled. Donald Nadeau (Fairport, NY) retired in 1999 from Cadbury Schweppes as director of procurement for their North American region. He is also active in the US Power Squadron and spends time in Cancun and on the St. Lawrence River. Karl Fischer of Chatham, MA, has finally “packed in” the hotel business and is spending time with Nancy, his wife of 49 years, and their seven grandchildren. He will be attending reunion and is involved in the Cornell Club of Cape Cod. It was nice hearing from Gail Rudin from her home in Manhasset, NY, that she and husband Steve are still very involved in the University Library and have sponsored a lecture series on American culture. They traveled on the Adriatic and went to Morocco. They have five grandchildren. I hope I will see E. George Pazianos, LLB ’61, at reunion. Although retired, he is still living in Washington, DC, and also owns a farm in Virginia. He spent last October in Tuscany. Lorna Jackson Salzman of Brooklyn, NY, is an activist who writes about the environment with Climate Crisis Coalition. She is a member of the NYS Green Party and loves bird-watching, music, and keeping company with her 5-year-old granddaughter. 72 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE CLASS NOTES Sonia Goldfarb Brody lives steps away from Anita Hurwitch Fishman and Charlotte Edelstein Gross in South Orange, NJ. She is involved with the Society for Racial Harmony and recently went to Egypt. She also has her five grandchildren nearby, which makes her life even better! Baxter Webb of Palm Beach, FL, already has his flight and room reservation for reunion. He has been back to the Hotel school within the past year and got together with some of his Hotelie classmates at a party in San Antonio hosted by Dick Nelson ’57. Among those in attendance, along with their wives, were Dean Bob Beck ’42, PhD ’54, Jamie Poteet, Joe Thomas ’54, Archer des Cognets ’57, MBA ’60, and Bob Minium. We look forward to seeing Baxter. I am just ending my 40th-plus year of writing this column, in recent years with my buddy Phyllis Bosworth. Although some think I am half crazy (and maybe I am), I am going to continue. Gail and I divide our time between New York, Palm Beach, and Martha’s Vineyard, but our real joy is being with our three daughters and four granddaughters. Thank goodness for sonsin-law. Of course, I cannot end this column without telling you how wonderful it is hearing from everyone. I will apologize in person at reunion to all of you who failed to make this column. We will try to do better in the next 40 years. See you in Ithaca on June 8-11! P.S. For information regarding our upcoming 50th Reunion, please visit our website—created by classmate and reunion registrar Carol Rapp Thompson: http://classof56.alumni.cornell.edu. ❖ Stephen Kittenplan, 1165 Park Ave., New York, NY 10128; e-mail, catplan@aol.com.  A large contingent of classmates attended the CACO Mid-Winter Meeting in Philadelphia last February. Bert Grunert DeVries arranged a Friday night dinner at a local restaurant for the group that included Walter, PhD ’62, and Dixie Davis Curtice ’56, who made the short drive from Washington Crossing, PA. Locals Bill and Jan Charles Lutz, who had recently returned from a Caribbean cruise with the whole family, had a chance to compare travel notes with Marcia Wishengrad Metzger, JD ’60, who celebrated her 70th birthday with a trip to Costa Rica. Jan Nelson Cole was just back from skiing in Beaver Creek, CO, where she found that reaching a certain landmark age is beneficial when it comes to season passes. The class meeting on Saturday was largely devoted to plans for our 50th—just a year away—and Connie Santagato Hosterman is volunteering once again to help get things under way, joining co-chairs Paul Gladstone and Dori Goudsmit Albert. Ruby Tomberg Senie, BS Nurs ’75, continues with her project in cancer research while teaching two classes at Columbia U. School of Public Health. Barbara Kaufman Smith has reunion on her calendar for 2007, along with plans to use this year to tackle some long-neglected projects. And now that the Smiths have sold their hardware store, Barbara has more time to spend with her 3year-old granddaughter. Robert, JD ’57, and Carol Elis Kurzman’s oldest grandchild (and son of Marc Kurzman ’80) started college last fall. There’s a new granddaughter, their first, for Bob ’55, MBA ’57, and Vanne Shelley Cowie, who spent Christmas in Rhode Island before heading off for a much anticipated trip to Jumby Bay, Antigua. Besides 50 being the number of years since we graduated (as of next June), news notes now include reports of 50th wedding anniversaries being celebrated. For M.O. “Bus” ’54 and Carmen Lovre Ryan it was a trip to New Zealand and Australia in late January. This summer they’ll get away from the heat of Atlanta and head to their place at Lake Toxaway, NC. Saranac Lake, NY, is where Dick ’56 and Bobbie Redden Leamer will be spending their time from late May to early October. The Leamers undertook a major project last year when they “rebuilt” their old house at the lake. All of Dick and Bobbie’s children and grandchildren visit for a good part of the summer, enjoying long days in and on the lake. ❖ Judith Reusswig, 19 Seburn Dr., Bluffton, SC 29909; e-mail, JCReuss@aol.com. I received a “Happy New Year” call from Steve Weiss, in which we recalled having survived the rigors of Government 101 and Prof. Suchman’s admonitions, delivered with a smile the width of which was limited only by his ears. I went on to write mediocre satire while Steve founded and managed a Wall St. firm and served the university in several capacities, including an outstanding tenure as chairman of the Board of Trustees. Sounds like a career standoff to me. Pete Blauvelt checks in from Fair Haven, NY, where he is still board chairman of Cayuga College and the presiding judge in the area east of Rochester. I sat in on one of his sessions a few years ago, and can vouch for both his humor and bench demeanor, giving the term “frontier justice” new meaning. Our outstanding 1957 crew had a reunion in Washington recently, hosted by Carl and Daniele Schwarz. In attendance for the three days of merriment were Clayt and Kerstin Chapman, Bill and Amelia Schumacher, PhD ’64, Phil and Shirley Gravink, Bob Staley, MBA ’59, Brenda Davis, and Betty Eastham Simpson. Mark Levy, full-time ophthalmologist and sometime cabaret performer, took his act to Mohonk Mountain House, where Pete Gogolak ’64, sometime place-kicker and full-time cabaret enthusiast, was in the audience. If you’re near MMH at Thanksgiving, you’ll be able to enjoy an encore performance. Roger Jones, MPA ’60, and Peggy Haretos continue the pleasant life in the Spruce Creek fly-in community in Port Orange, FL, housing the airplane there and the boat at the nearby Halifax Harbor Marina. Roger has spent time with Ted Raab, Peter Wolf, ME ’59, and Jay Schabacker in the last year, and recent travels have included Greece, Italy, Turkey, Slovenia, and France. Eric Zitzmann, MD ’61, has been practicing orthopedics in Westchester, NY, for 37 years and is currently president of the local White Plains Orthopedic Association. After skiing in Vermont to celebrate his 70th, he spent time cruising around Croatia and Greece. He plays tennis with Roy Glah when their schedules allow, and often sees Dick Weiss, MD ’61, respected internist at White Plains Hospital. I’ll bet no classmate with the exception of Bill Hoblock has had a horse race named after him. That happened at Saratoga last summer. Bill is of counsel to the New York State Legislative Bill Drafting Commission and active on the Town of Colonie Planning Board. Joe and Wilida Leinbach enjoyed a cruise up the Nile, and said that it seemed just like the National Geographic pictures indicated it would be. ONE YEAR and counting to the BIG ONE. ❖ John Seiler, 221 St. Matthews Ave., Louisville, KY 40207; tel., (502) 895-1477; e-mail, suitcase2@ aol.com.  I had a wonderful letter and some newspaper clippings from Carolyn King Nytch. Seems her story was the inspiration for a documentary called “A Little Lower Than The Angels.” Growing up in Owego, NY, Carolyn called two of her parents’ closest friends by “Aunt” and “Uncle.” They had a little girl, by the name of Marilyn, who was born with cerebral palsy and profound mental disabilities. She lived with her parents until 1944 and then they never spoke of her again. They died in the 1980s, and Marilyn and Carolyn were named in their wills. That meant Marilyn was still alive, and Carolyn felt compelled to look for her. She found her in one of the group homes of ENABLE in Syracuse. Over the next two years, Carolyn came to know the woman she knew so little as a child. She realized Marilyn was a real person with a personality. Marilyn died in 2004 and Carolyn saw to it she was buried in her parents’ plot. This documentary was aired in Syracuse last summer and Carolyn is hoping it will make the cut for the National PBS program “Point of View.” The film is about much more than the personal story. It touches on developmental disabilities issues and on the horrible conditions that existed before group homes. Hedy Cohen Rose was invited to give the convocation address at Utrecht U.’s international honors college, the Roosevelt Academy, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands from Nazi occupation. Hedy, who spent four years hidden in a basement in Amsterdam, spoke of her wartime experiences and of those who rescued her and her sister. She has retired from academic life, but is still actively engaged as a consultant and with related activities. Some of the things she remembers most fondly from Cornell are the sparkling fall mornings on such a beautiful campus, the calm inspirational moods in Mike Abrams’s classes, and the debates and challenges presented in Milton Konvitz’s class that helped further her own thinking, although she didn’t realize it at the time. Muriel King Taylor, MD ’62, remembers the Art Quad dressed in fall, winter, and spring vestments! Muriel is retired but taking up painting. She took a watercolor workshop with her sister and is now taking sumie (Japanese ink) painting with a local artist. Robert Mayer is a financial consultant with Wachovia Securities. He also does a lot of volunteer work at hospitals and senior citizens homes and with the Federation of Jewish Agencies. He remembers most fondly “getting through my MAY / JUNE 2006 73 freshman year!” Scott Wetstone is a retired anesthesiologist. He keeps busy with travel, golf, dancing, entertaining, skiing, and the computer. His fondest memories of Cornell are the swim team, his fraternity (Phi Kappa Sigma), and the beautiful Ithaca scenery. Jack Dougherty is mostly retired but does consulting occasionally and teaches geotechnical engineering at the U. of Texas, San Antonio—also occasionally. Al Hershey also remembers fraternity life (Sigma Nu) very fondly—and all the great people that attended our great university. Don is owner and president of his own company, Hershey Enterprises, and has been in business for 35 years. ❖ Jan Arps Jarvie, 6524 Valley Brook, Dallas, TX 75254; e-mail, jjarvie@sbcglobal.net; Richard Haggard, 1207 Nash Dr., Ft. Washington, PA 19034; e-mail, dhaggard@voicenet.com.  In February Alexia Pincus Lalli of New York City and Hillsdale, NY, returned from her 25th trip to Cuba in seven years, with other foreign travels during the past year including Argentina, Costa Rica, Botswana, South Africa, and Italy. She was busy writing a paper on recent preservation, planning, and architecture in Havana, to be published after a conference at City U. of New York in March. “Never a dull moment,” she said, noting that in 2005 she worked for PEN as manager of their first international literature festival, “World Voices.” She is on the board of the Preservation League of New York State; Art Omi, an artists’ residence and sculpture park in Columbia County, NY; and Aston Magna, a Baroque music society in the Berkshires. Karl Van Wirt informed me of the death on January 30 of Charlie Cook of Devon, PA. Karl, Wayne Scoville, Karl Thomas, George and Bobbi Greig Schneider, and Bob Shaw sorrowfully attended a memorial service held for Charlie in Wayne, PA, on February 18. Doug Dedrick, DVM ’61, of East Aurora, NY, is retired from veterinary medicine and for the past three years has been studying at Christ the King Seminary, planning to graduate in May 2007. Toby Friedman Gottfried of Orinda, CA, recently retired as chief science officer of Calypte Biomedical and is now a technology consultant for a couple of biotech companies. She and husband Bill were the Fan Guests of Honor at the Left Coast Crime Conference in Bristol, England, this March. They were recognized for their efforts in organizing international mystery conferences, where fans and authors meet for discussions . . . and buying books! Toby’s latest publication, in the March issue of the journal Expert Review in Molecular Diagnostics, covered the use of rapid HIV tests in the developing world. “Adjusting happily to downsizing”: After more than 30 years, Jack and Adrienne Farber Hickey have moved from their house to a cooperative apartment in Scarsdale, NY. Adrienne continues her work as editor-in-chief at AMACOM Books, the book publishing division of the American Management Association. Recent travels have included Greece in 2005 and the Netherlands this March. Another classmate who “needed to downsize” and recently moved is Carolyn Hill Rogers, who is in Hebron, CT, in a home “on a hill with big sky all around and great sunrises and sunsets.” Dale, LLB ’63, and Jane Van Wynen Goodfriend ’61 still live in Rochester, MN. Jane keeps busy with a variety of volunteer activities while Dale “mediates, peddles antiques, swims, exercises, walks dogs, and tries unsuccessfully to stay out of trouble.” The couple has “four adult, gainfully employed children” and two grandchildren (three as you read this, with a fourth due in July). Judy Bookstaber Katz of Pittsfield, MA, is on her city’s planning board, “dealing with some serious what-kind-of-city-do-we-want-to-be issues right now.” She’s also on the board of the regional Cornell Club and of an agency that operates battered women’s shelters. Recent trips have included jaunts to Costa Rica, Panama, Israel, Ireland, and the American Southwest. A second hip replacement last October didn’t stop Anne Marie Behling of Fairview, NC, from kayaking in Florida in December, snorkeling and sailing in Belize in January, or skiing in Idaho in February, while “anxiously awaiting spring so I can do more landscaping around my new home.” (“Yipes!” thinks your computer-potato correspondent.) “Life after ‘retirement’ ain’t so bad,” writes Renee Stern Vogel of Providence, RI. Renee has pretty much retired from the practice of medicine. She went to law school in the 1990s and currently takes pro bono cases through the volunteer lawyers program of the Rhode Island Bar Association. She also acts as a guardian ad litem appointed by the court to help resolve custody battles over a child. “It is very interesting, and my medical background does help me sort through a lot of issues.” She and Ben have two granddaughters living in North Carolina, whom they visit as often as possible. Ben stopped delivering babies at around 7,000 deliveries and now concentrates on his gynecology practice . . . and has become a golf addict. Peter Bowman of Kittery, ME, is running for state senator as a Democrat in District 1.“It’s a lot of work, but I hope to make it fun!” he writes. Phil Kiviat, MS ’61, of Potomac, MD, started his third government sales consulting business this year. He and his wife, married 40 years, have four grandchildren. “Life is good here in Napa Valley,” says Sue Bates Cottrell. She invites all ’59ers to stop by Freemark Abbey Winery, where she has worked since 1982 and today is hospitality director. Sue sings in the St. Helena Chamber Choir, is active in a local book group, and in March went to Israel on a pilgrimage with several others from her church. “What fun to receive your note!” wrote Sue. I wish to thank everyone who responded to my first-ever mass e-mailing. It has been delightful to read, and be able to share, your news. Watch for more responses to the e-mailing in my next column and be sure to pay your class dues! ❖ Jenny Tesar, 97A Chestnut Hill Village, Bethel, CT 06801; tel., (203) 792-8237; e-mail, jet24@cornell.edu.  As this is being written, on Presidents’ Day Weekend, about a dozen classmates are cavorting in Philadelphia at the CACO (Cornell Association of Class Officers) MidWinter Meeting. Along with socializing, they are allegedly also starting to hatch plans for our 50th Reunion. More on this in the next column. Meanwhile, we have just received a letter of warm thanks from University Librarian Sarah Thomas for our endowment of the Class of 1960 Rare Books and Manuscripts Restoration and Binding Fund. Its income is being used to purchase and care for the university’s most valuable collections. Just recently, with monies generated by the endowment, the curator of rare books was able to purchase volumes by James Joyce, Vladimir Nabokov (who taught at Cornell when we were undergraduates), and E. B. White ’21. Congratulations to Jill Weber of Brookline, MA, on the occasion of her one-man (one-person?) show of new paintings in February 2006 at the Bromfield Gallery in Boston. The 2004 winner of the Maud Morgan Prize, given annually to woman artists in mid-career, Jill continues in her painting to depict elements of architectural space, a fitting linkage to her previous career as an architect. I’m relieved to report the re-appearance of Michael Glueck, MD, who temporarily went missing from all of the alumni records, including the 45th Reunion Class of 1960 Directory. As Mike tells it, “According to my friends and classmates, I disappeared faster than a spell from a first-year student at Hogwarts. Les Stiel of La Jolla, CA, was the first one to report that I was missing from class listings, and then the usually reliable Alumni Magazine mysteriously stopped coming. I began to question whether I had really been in Ithaca during the years 1956-60, though I do remember cold weather, hills, and a relative paucity of girls—most of whom were smarter than the guys and had splendid calves. Could I have been accepted at Harvard?” Mike wrote to re-assert his Cornell alumni-hood and to say that he can still be seen on the streets and byways of Newport Beach, CA, or reached by e-mail at 72143.2077@compuserve.com. Word comes from Nancy Hoeft Eales of Malvern, PA, that life now “revolves around birding, gardening, and volunteer activities. Dick ’59 is chairman of the Pennsylvania trustees of the Nature Conservancy, a job that takes lots of time, and I’m deeply involved (mired) in board work for a small Baroque music orchestra in Philadelphia—the usual groveling to raise money for the slighted arts. I’m also doing a lot of work for our local Planned Parenthood affiliate and a historical preservation group trying to save a clutch of old (200-plus years) buildings in the area. All this is shoehorned between our many birding and ‘civilian’ (i.e., non-birding) trips. In the last 15 months we’ve been to Australia, Uganda, Russia, Turkey, and Antarctica, and we’re off to Thailand and Cambodia for three weeks in February.” The Ealeses somehow also manage to find time to visit their children—Tracy, who lives with her husband in Seattle, and Alex, currently working in Houston. Jean Belden Taber reports that she and her husband sold their business and their house in Princeton, NJ, and moved permanently to Block Island, RI, in May 2005. Back in 1988, her husband left his job as an editor at Time magazine to start a weekly business publication, NJBIZ, and over the years Jean became more involved, 74 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE CLASS NOTES gradually assuming the duties of publisher. She notes, “Running one’s own business was a sometimes stressful and always 24/7 existence. Now, on this little piece of heaven out in the ocean, about 13 miles from the mainland, my husband is writing books and I have time to do all the things I put on hold to help run a business for the past 18 years. It’s a very different sort of life!” Bob and Toby Jossem Silverman have taken refuge from the Rochester winter in their new home in Naples, FL, where they plan to stay until April. Toby reports that she and Bob spend a lot of time with Bernie ’59 and Myra Rosenzweig Gross and recently had dinner with classmates Joel and Karen Kurtz Bayer. She also has plans to visit her sister Susan Jossem Mitloff ’67 in Sarasota. On the return trip north, the Silvermans will visit their daughter Deborah Silverman Shames ’89 and her husband Martin ’89, and look forward to spending the summer months in the Rochester area with their sons Steven ’92 and David and their respective wives and children. Toby has stepped down as a board member of the Cornell Club of Rochester after many years of service, but she and Bob will continue their work on the scholarship committee, which supports many Rochester-area undergraduates. It is with great sorrow that I report the death of Cathi Morgan Hunt of New York City on December 25, 2005. She had been in declining health for many months and died after a brief hospitalization following a bad fall. A memorial service will be held sometime in the coming months. Many of us remember with gratitude the graciousness with which Cathi hosted Class of ’60 parties in the penthouse of her apartment building on East 56th Street during the annual CACO meetings. Her survivors include her son Kevin Hunt of Briarcliff, who wrote that “she was truly blessed to have so many people care about her so deeply.” Keep the news coming! ❖ Judy Bryant Wittenberg, 146 Allerton Rd., Newton, MA 02461; e-mail, jw275@cornell.edu.  Sam Dugan, an adjunct asst. prof. of pediatrics at Dartmouth Medical School, was named “Retired Pediatrician of the Year” by the New Hampshire Pediatric Society. Retired since 2004, Sam was recognized for being a strong advocate for his patients. Doris Ruth Markowitz Greenberg is a developmental and behavioral pediatrician in Savannah, GA. She has spoken extensively about ADHD. Her son Michael Greenberg ’87 is a Cornell grad, as is her 97year-old father, Benjamin Markowitz ’30. After serving four years as president of the Cornell Alumni Federation, Micki Bertenthal Kuhs is concentrating once again on her law practice in the area of mediation and negotiation. Daughter Keira Kuhs ’87 and her children live in NYC; son William ’89 was part of the emergency team that stayed on to rescue zoo animals during Katrina. Jeffrey Fisher retired three years ago, but works as a consultant in developing exit strategies for owners of family businesses. He, his wife Patricia, and their dog Baxter have homes in NYC and East Hampton. John King is a computer consultant for small businesses, and teaches computer classes in adult ed. He and his wife Susan (Boesel) ’62 are planning a trip to Tanzania, South Africa, and Namibia. The consulting practice of Jim Goell, PhD ’65, includes helping companies that produce electronic equipment reduce time on marketing, development costs, and product failures. Do you remember “romping and stomping” with Peter Yarrow ’59? That’s the memory highlighted by Janet Ballantyne, PhD ’76. As Group VP, International for Abt Associates in Bethesda, MD, Janet traveled last year to destinations such as Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Jordan, and Peru. Bob Lincoln, associate general counsel at the Library of Congress, plans to retire soon to Virginia Beach, where he expects to polish his golf game. Joe Santamaria’s son Jason married Kimberly Seidel in Greenwich, CT. Joe still works as an architect, and plays tennis and golf for recreation. When the sun fades far away in the crimson of the west . . . Eleanor Stanford Erskine remembers the chimes playing the “Evening Song” as she walked through the Arts Quad at dusk. A retired librarian, she enjoys film, theater, travel, and volunteer work at her church and at a women’s resource center. Her “literary ladies” book group plans trips based on their readings. Bob Treadway recalls an on-campus debate between Norman Thomas and William F. Buckley Jr. Bob teaches English and travels in China. Nat Kolodney fondly remembers riding his motorcycle, playing his guitar, and philosophical discussions at Noyes. We did our best to make the Maine ‘ ’lobster an endangered species. DON JURAN ’62 Alfred “Ted” Rauch Jr., senior VP of Advest Investments, plays tennis and squash regularly and is involved with the Cornell soccer programs. He has served as a trustee of the Haverford School. Ted’s best times on campus were spent at Psi U, Jim’s place, and on the soccer team. What would he rather be doing? In his own words: “I would like to have a senior position with the Phillies—so we could finally have a World Series held here in my lifetime.” Lee Forker Jr. is president of the Boston-based investment firm New England Research and Management Inc. He hopes to pass the business to a partner and spend more time on wine trips. Lee fondly remembers his profs in the Economics department. The class has a “Fab Five” group of women who lunch together from time to time in Boca Raton. They include Dale Abrams Adams, Lori Carlson Lustig, Marian Pearlman Nease, Marlene Alpert Tein, and Sheila Weinrub Trossman. The advice given by Dale prior to their first meeting on how they would recognize each other was: “Please don’t wear your ’61 beanies; I know I’ll recognize each of you by your elasticized waistbands.” Bob, MS ’63, and Lorna Lamb Herdt ’62 retired to Ithaca, where Bob holds an adjunct position in International Agriculture, Economics and Management at Cornell. Among the joys of living in Ithaca, he reports, are cutting firewood, running the snowblower, growing vegetables, and community choral singing. As president of Alice Travel, Jerry Davis and his wife Irene have traveled extensively. The camaraderie of his fraternity brothers is something Jerry fondly recalls. Holly Ripans ’94, daughter of Allan ’55 and Gail Kweller Ripans, married Doug Witten in Atlanta in November.“It was a glorious affair with many Cornellians in attendance,” according to Gail. His volunteer work includes supervising grad students in the area of child abuse and helping in Westchester, NY’s Artist in the Schools program. Ron Barnes misses his Fiji brothers. He and his wife Addie helped plan the ’61 mini-reunion in Arizona last fall. Noah Greenberg fondly remembers football weekends and the Johnny Parsons Club (JAPES). As an architect, he is restoring an 1878 grand estate in Falmouth, MA. ❖ David S. Kessler, dsk15@cornell.edu. Class website, www.cornell61.org.  Mike Duesing (jmd29@cornell. edu) reports on the Phi Gam golf tournament hosted by Jack, ME ’64, and Libby Loose in Huntsville, AL. According to Mike, the Class of ’62 bested the ’61 contingent, and a good time was had by all. Classmates in attendance were John Doolittle, Dick Gaven, Fred Hart, Hal Bunshaw, John Lowrie, Narl Davidson, Byron McCalmon, M Ed ’70, Dave Morthland, and Mike. It was noted that the members of the Class of ’61 should be “questioned in a sincere manner to disclose the outcome of the three-day match.” In case you want to ask those questions, the players were Pete Whiskeman, Dick Tatlow, Ken Blanchard, PhD ’67, Pete Meinig, Jack Neafsey, MBA ’63, Phil Hodges, and Warren Spicka, all ’61. More from Mike: “Wife Joan and her business partner Molly Fitzpatrick (spouse of Dr. John of Ivory Bill fame at Lab of Ornithology) and I stayed at the Morthlands’ Tucson condo while the ladies went to the Tucson Gem Show. Joan and Molly are designing and making necklaces of semi-precious stones and selling them like crazy.” More on the Morthlands: Dave and Ginny (Hoffman) ’63 (morths@comcast.net) have sold their home in Oregon and moved to a condo in Tucson, AZ. In addition to keeping a condo in Lake Oswego, to have a spot near their son Cam and his family, they spend several months of the year on their boat, a 47-ft. Selene trawler, cruising MAY / JUNE 2006 75 the inside passage in Northern British Columbia. They keep the boat in Olympia, WA. “We will take her, the Ina Marie (named after my mom) to the Queen Charlottes this summer and who knows, maybe Alaska next summer.” Don Juran (drj5@cornell.edu) recently made his operatic debut as Zaretzky in Eugene Onegin, in which son Adam ’94 sang the title role. Don played Balthazar in The Comedy of Errors and is now rehearsing as Justice Shallow in The Merry Wives of Windsor. He and Carol took an Elderhostel course in lighthouses and life in and near the Bay of Fundy, which was based on Campobello Island in New Brunswick. Your classmates, and your correspondent, are hoping to hear from you! Do tell! ❖ Jan McClayton Crites, 9420 NE Seventeenth St., Clyde Hill, WA 98004; e-mail, jmc50@cornell.edu.  Joe Brennan and his companion Elaine Burns are active in Belmont, CA. Joe enjoys his three grandchildren who are nearby. He and Elaine just finished a Dean Ornish Preventive Medicine program with a 90-day vegan diet, daily yoga, aerobic exercise, and weekly group support meetings. John “Whip” and Karen Gunn are slated to rent a house with Joe and Elaine in San ‘Sandy Vogelgesang travels the country making speeches on the challenges facing ’women in developing nations. BEV JOHNS LAMONT ’64 They were joined there by Don’s brother Chuck ’53 and his wife Carolyn. “We all learned a lot and did our best to make the Maine lobster an endangered species. We intend to do more Elderhostels in the future.” The Gibbons law firm in New York mourns the loss of Peter Cobrin, a director in its intellectual property department, who died on December 3, 2005. The notice from his firm states, “Those among us who had the privilege to know him were blessed by his humor, his grace, and his gentle manner. Greatness is often used too casually when we lose someone we love, but in Peter’s case, his humanity earned him that accolade.” Peter served as a patent examiner in the US Army after graduation from Cornell. It was during his Army tenure that he decided to merge his passion for protecting the rights of inventors with his desire to practice law. Upon receiving his law degree from Georgetown, Peter founded his New York law firm, Cobrin & Gittes, and built the firm’s reputation and experience to become a well-respected intellectual property boutique serving many of the region’s leading corporations. In 2002, his firm, with its eight attorneys, joined Gibbons and bolstered that firm’s New York intellectual property practice. “Mr. Cobrin was a colleague, mentor, and friend to all who knew him, and he inspired and assisted the firm’s intellectual property attorneys with a variety of matters. He will be greatly missed by all of his colleagues, clients, and friends,” concluded the tribute. “One advantage of being old,” writes Frances Li, PhD ’71 (fli@nsf.gov), “is that I placed 11th out of 88 in my age/gender division in my second Marine Corps Marathon.” When not training, Frances is program coordinator for East Asia and the Pacific for the National Science Foundation. Her husband Carl Schaefer, PhD ’71, works on bioinformation at the National Cancer Inst. Their son is a senior at Williams and daughter a sophomore at Towson State U. They live in Chevy Chase, MD. Miguel de Allende, Mexico, in mid-July. Also, Joe, Whip, and Norman “Punch” Smith are planning their next Fiji mini-reunion in early October on Sullivan’s Island, SC. Joe encourages anyone who would be in the area during either of these events to e-mail him at jab296@cornell.edu. On October 13, 2006, two of our classmates will be honored with the Frank H.T. Rhodes Exemplary Alumni Service Award. J. Thomas, MBA ’64, and Nancy Williams Clark ’62, M Ed ’64, are being recognized, as well as Benson Lee. The award is given in recognition of extraordinary service to Cornell, in both length and quality of contribution by the individual, through activities within the broad spectrum of Cornell’s various alumni organizations, associations, and related groups. Congratulations to Benson, Tom, and Nancy. Vivian Grilli DeSanto, her daughter, two grandchildren, and friends held one of Parade magazine’s “Great American Bake Sales” in December. The bake sale proceeds went to Share our Strength, the national anti-hunger organization. Vivian and Marty are busy in Wilmington, NC. Martin Dollinger, LLB ’66, a partner in the Woodbridge, NJ, office of Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP, was ranked number one in the Real Estate category among top attorneys in New Jersey in 2005-06. Martin was noted for impressing clients with his easy handling of complex real estate transactions and responsive commercial service, according to Chambers USA. Chambers USA is a publisher of the renowned guides to the legal profession worldwide. Bob, MBA ’65, and Cindi Blakely have been living in Washington, DC, but have kept their house in Houston, expecting to return in early 2006. Bob had retired twice but was called back to be CFO of Worldcom while it was in bankruptcy. In 2004 it emerged from bankruptcy as MCI. He was then involved in the sale of MCI to Verizon. This last adventure was the most challenging and professionally satisfying assignment of his career. Bob and Cindi see Tom and Nancy Clark frequently since they are both members of the Board of Trustees and the Executive Committee of Cornell. Richard McKee’s summer 2005 news included a trip to Ithaca for the 2004 Homecoming and a trip to St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, in 2005. He and partner Mustafa Miseli had a great visit with Madeleine Leston Meehan in St. Thomas. Madeleine put on a great exhibition of her oils and drawing of musicians and dancers of the Caribbean. Mustafa loved the Virgin Islands, but had a hard time understanding fraternities during a visit to Cornell. Peter Heinrich is still active as owner/operator of the Lodge at Woodcliff Resort and Conference Center in Rochester, NY. From NYC, Cynthia Raymond writes that she voluntarily retired from her 35-year career in the travel industry after 9/11. Fortunately, she is now back at work 30 hours a week at a major travel organization. She has seen David and Debra Willen Stern more frequently since the Sterns recently had their fifth grandchild in New York City. Frances Cate Fowler married Dr. Gene Collins in February 2005 in Knoxville, TN. Frances’s book, Policy Studies for Educational Leaders, has been translated into Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. Leonard and Louise Salwitz Hochron are happily retired. They spend winters in Boynton Beach, FL, and the rest of the year in NYC and traveling. Their travels in 2005 included Guatemala, Greece, and Turkey—they love to travel. They would also love to see any classmates in the Boynton Beach area. I had breakfast with Nancy Deeds Meister, who, I found out, has lived in Tucson for 23 years. She and her friend, classmate John Ruether, PhD ’68, were on a two-week hike in the Andes in northern Peru in August. On the 13th day John, unfortunately, died of high altitude pulmonary edema. Nancy, John, and several others from Tucson were at about 14,000 ft. at the time of his death. They had spent the prior week in Cuzco and Machu Picchu acclimatizing. Before his death, John was senior manager and technical adviser for the US Dept. of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory near Pittsburgh. His PhD at Cornell was in chemical engineering. John was well-known in his field for his research and many presentations on global warming. His surviving children are Andrew ’95 and daughters Kristin ’99 and Robin. Nancy Meister is a clinical social worker on the bone marrow transplant team at University Medical Center in Tucson. Our sympathies to Nancy and to John’s family. ❖ Nancy Bierds Icke, 12350 E. Roger Rd., Tucson, AZ 85749; e-mail, icke63@msn.com.  This column is a bit thin because it contains the last of the classmate news I have. More forms should arrive shortly, so be sure to send yours with your class dues. Frederic Fischer, an attorney with Seyfarth Shaw in Chicago representing management in the field of labor and employment law and immigration law, has been named one of 20 “super lawyers” in Illinois by the publication Law and Politics. Ric also was cited by his peers as a 76 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE CLASS NOTES “leading immigration lawyer” in Illinois. He is a fellow in the College of Labor & Employment Lawyers, served as chair of the 7th Circuit Credentials Committee, and has been a co-chair of many ABA committees in the labor and employment fields. Ric lives in Highland Park, IL, with wife Gale. One of their two children is grown; the other will enter college next autumn. Historian John Fatherley finally has received formal credit for his longtime study of how US President Rutherford B. Hayes settled a littleknown 19th-century South American border conflict. Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson formally cited John in the Jan. 6, 2005 Congressional Record for our classmate’s endeavors to have Hayes recognized for arbitrating a boundary dispute between Paraguay and Argentina in 1878. A Paraguayan town, Villa Hayes, was established in honor of the president’s work there, and John has labored hard over the years to build ties between the village and the town of Hayes Center, NE. Sen. Nelson’s citation notes how John often journeyed both to Hayes Center and to Villa Hayes to educate students and townspeople about the American president’s contribution to hemispheric peace. In appreciation, Villa Hayes presented John with its town seal—which John in turn donated to the Hayes Center Historical Society. John still lives in Chicopee, MA, with wife Danielle. Alaskan Michael “Tree” Smith, PhD ’73, has kept busy roaming his state while hosting classmates. In July ’04, he and Michael Gibson spent two and a half weeks hiking in the remote Brooks Range. Then in February ’05, he hosted Alan Hirshberg and Alan and Barbara Greenspan Goldenberg ’68 for viewing of the northern lights, skiing, snowshoeing, and the start of the famed Iditarod dog sled race. Don Whitehead still owns and operates his Barons Cove Inn in Sag Harbor, NY. He also has a management company, Hospitality Enterprises. Don says he’s redesigning his house after having lived there for 30 years. Tennis, jazz, and basketball are his other current interests. John has three daughters: Melissa ’96, who followed her father into the Hotel school; Julianne ’94, who kept somewhat close to the tradition by majoring in Human Ecology; and Heather. His whole family— 12 in all, including five small grandchildren—went to Disneyworld last Thanksgiving. Paul Lyon, who lives in Montreal with his wife Louise, keeps busy as an English-French translator, consultant, singer, and orchestra conductor. He prepared Tales of Hoffmann for presentation in Quebec a year ago May, and reports he’s overall doing more music and less translating. He’s also preparing for retirement, which he plans to spend motoring through the US and Canada in an old camper. Sandy Vogelgesang continues to write, consult, get involved in local politics (she lives in Bethesda, MD), and do importing from Nepal and Tibet, an area of the world she and her husband Geoffrey Wolfe, also a retired Foreign Service officer, came to know during her three-year assignment as Ambassador to Nepal, which ended about nine years ago. She also travels the country making speeches on the role of women in US foreign policy, and on the challenges facing women in developing nations. Sandy also enjoys her annual trek to Ithaca to attend the President’s Council of Cornell Women meetings. She had a reunion luncheon in Washington, DC, recently with fellow Marylanders Gloria Moore Dorward and Pat Hammond Pearson, as well as Joan Kather Henry, who was visiting from Washington State. And to ensure she keeps busy, Sandy has two teenagers at home and enjoys hiking and photography. Alan Loss, a certified financial planner, is part of a group of financial advisors participating in the Ultimate Gift Experience, which, Alan says,“should have a major impact on how wealthy families move from success to significance.” Alan lives with wife Linda in Lancaster, PA. He enjoys golf and travel, last year to Costa Rica in March, Aruba in June, and golf and sightseeing in South Africa last October. Peter Mansky is director of the Nevada Physician Health Program for physicians who suffer from psychiatric disorders, drug addiction, and alcoholism. The group also promotes general wellness in physicians. Peter is a Distinguished Fellow in the American Psychiatric Assn., and recently completed eight years on both the board of the American Society of Addiction Psychiatry and the board of the Federation of State Physician Health Programs. He and wife Susan have two grown children and one still in high school. Peter enjoys playing guitar, photography, and bicycling. He writes that they love living in Las Vegas, and that he finds valuable the skills he developed in his 12 years as a medical director in New York. Sonia Kosow Guterman, MS ’67, a patent attorney with Lawson & Weitzen, works in patent preparation and prosecution in the biotech and nanotech fields, which recently included obtaining a patent for Harvard U. She has two grown daughters, lives in Belmont, MA, is on the board of directors of the Wellesley Symphony, and is learning to play the violin. Sonia also is into ballet— and boxing! Her last big vacation was to Prague. That’s all for now as I have run out of your news. Help keep the news flowing by responding soon to the annual Dues and News appeal you received with our class newsletter in midFebruary, and be sure to visit our class website, http://classof64.alumni.cornell.edu. ❖ Bev Johns Lamont, 720 Chestnut St., Deerfield, IL 60015; e-mail, blamont@tribune.com.  It’s hard to believe that a year ago at this time many of us were preparing to head back to campus for our 40th Reunion. This year, May will be just the month that we begin to prepare for summer. I recently received a letter from our co-presidents Barry Cutler and Sharon Hegarty Williams that brought the news that Penny Skitol Haitkin had been honored by Cornell. Penny was one of the eight alumni to be recipients of the 2006 Frank H. T. Rhodes Exemplary Alumni Service Award. The Rhodes Award is given in recognition of extraordinary service to Cornell, in both length and quality of the contribution to alumni organizations, associations, and related groups. This honor is not based on personal financial contributions to Cornell, business or professional achievements, or outside community service. We all know of Penny’s long-standing support of Class of 1965 activities. She and the other honorees will be recognized at a banquet on Friday, October 13, 2006 during Homecoming weekend in Ithaca. We received a lot of news from Michael Ross. His daughter Taylor is now a sophomore at UCLA majoring in English. Younger daughter Jourdan finished high school early and is in France studying French and art. She was planning to apply to Cornell to be a member of the Class of 2010. On a personal note, Michael reported he is presently VP and managing principal of HGA Architects’ Los Angeles office. His firm has been involved in a large number of university and civic projects throughout the state of California. Michael and his wife Jacqui live in Santa Barbara, CA. Thanks to Michael we learn that Peter Narins, PhD ’76, is a tenured faculty member at UCLA. Peter travels the world lecturing on his specialty—frog communication. From north of the border, we received news from Peggy Lavery Kochanoff. She and husband Stan ’66 are still in Nova Scotia growing trees and doing landscaping and landscape design. Their son Jim is working with them and is studying accounting, while son Tom is a personal trainer at St. Mary’s U. Both their sons graduated from Dalhousie U., Jim in business and Tom in sociology. Stan is one of seven registered consulting arborists in Canada—the first in Atlantic Canada. Peggy has written and illustrated two nature books, A Field Guide to Nearby Nature and Beach Combing the Atlantic Coast, and son Jim has had his novel, Men of Extreme Action, published. Not to be left out, son Tom was in a book demonstrating difficult exercises on the stability ball. Closer to Cornell, we received news from Dianne Rosborne Meranus. Dianne and her husband Philip, JD ’66, live in Riverdale, NY. Recently the Meranuses celebrated the marriage of their son Andrew to Rachel Asche. Dianne and Philip are experienced grandparents, as their daughter Elizabeth and husband Michael Lazaroff have seven children. Last fall, Dianne resumed the chairmanship of the human ecology department at Marymount College of Fordham U. She has been on its faculty for 21 years. Finally, James Goodrich brought us up to date with the activities of his three daughters. Early 2005 was a busy time for James and his wife Marcia. Oldest daughter Charlene, who is working on her doctorate in music, is married and had a baby girl in March 2005. Next daughter Beverly was married in January 2005 and was expecting her first child early in 2006. Youngest daughter Sabrina is a student at the U. of Wisconsin, Whitewater. James and Marcia live in North Prairie, WI. Please pass on your news with the dues notice, or contact us directly: ❖ Ronald Harris, 5203 Forestdale Ct., West Bloomfield, MI 48322; tel., (248) 788-3397; e-mail, rsh28@cornell.edu; Terry Kohleriter Schwartz, 36 Founders Green, Pittsford, NY 14534; tel., (585) 383-0731; e-mail, TerryKS7@ aol.com; and Joan Elstein Rogow, 9 Mason Farm Rd., Flemington, NJ 08822; tel., (908) 782-7028.  Reunion is near! June 8-11, 2006. Ithaca, NY. I just came back from a meeting in Philadelphia sponsored by the Cornell Association MAY / JUNE 2006 77 of Class Officers (CACO). Those of us from ’66 who were there spent most of the meeting planning just what would take place at reunion. It will be very interesting and lots of fun. Although we won’t be the most senior class attending, our membership in the Class of ’66 ensures that we will have great places to stay and meet and party. Susan Maldon Stregack (Silver Spring, MD; sms51@cornell.edu) has been married to Rollin Fraser for more than four years—and they still feel like newlyweds. “My life is good. I am living, loving, and laughing in ways I never imagined! I would love to hear from classmates.” She has been to Israel twice and to Poland and Prague on a study tour. Sue is still quite an avid photographer; she mentions having been to Jewish crematories, the Warsaw ghetto, and several death camps. “I said Kaddish (the memorial prayer for the dead) there.” I got an e-mail from Michael Hirsh (finanintl@aol.com). He writes, “I am country director for the Peace Corps program in Peru. We have 120 volunteers working on development projects throughout the country. Have been here about a year and hope to stay three or four more. Would welcome visits from classmates. Kids are in college in the States. Hope to make reunion.” Mary Moneen Polk Duhe, MAT ’67 (Katonah, NY; MMPGD99@aol.com) is teaching at a NYS correctional facility in Taconic. “I find it both incredibly challenging preparing 40 women ages 17 to mid-50s to pass their GED tests and incredibly rewarding. As much as I may have taught them, they have taught me more about real life, determination, humor, and the resilience of the human spirit.” Mary has a daughter graduating from Buffalo State College with a BS in social work, and a son awaiting acceptance (please) from the ILR school. He was his high school’s representative to Boys’ State last summer. Her husband Jim works in fashion publishing (Bridal Guide magazine). I hope she adds the following to our ’66 Reflections on the website: “The older I get, the more I appreciate the ‘gift’ of my Cornell experience—the scholarship, the setting, and my classmates . . . especially my ’66 friends.” Charles Weiss (Cornell@sfcalif.us) is in Atherton, CA. His youngest daughter, Rebecca ’09, was admitted to the Arts college. Daughter Jessica ’03 is going to UC Berkeley for a PhD in psychology. Ed Arbaugh writes from Cincinnati that “the nest is now empty,” now that their last child is off to Northwestern to study journalism. They plan a cruise of the Greek Islands for their 25th wedding anniversary. They will renew their wedding vows when the cruise ends in Rome. Peggy Kapisovsky and her husband Mark took a fabulous two-month, 10,000-mile winter road trip, meandering their way from their home in Georgetown, ME, to Arizona, visiting family and friends, and having wonderful birding adventures along the way. Sandra Semon Carberry is living in Newark, DE (Carberry@cis.udel.edu).“For the last five years I have been chair of the Dept. of Computer Science at the U. of Delaware. This year I am on sabbatical and will return to full-time research and teaching. My husband John and I recently returned from a month in China, where I visited several Chinese universities. We now have four grandchildren (including 1-year-old twins) and are thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to spend so much time with them.” Kurt Jenne (Chapel Hill, NC; kurtjenne@ earthlink.net) is looking forward to “just old friends” at reunion. “I have lived in Chapel Hill on and off for 33 years now, as a city planner, city manager, and later, on the faculty of the Inst. of Government at the U. of North Carolina. I retired in 2002 because of my deteriorating memory, but I regularly attend guest lectures and social events, where I stay in touch with friends and colleagues. All in all, life is sweet.” Steve Krich, PhD ’72 (sikrich5@aol.com) is in Lexington, MA. His daughter Abigail ’04 is now back at Cornell getting an MEng in EE. “I am still working, but reducing my hours.” Linda Jensen Hamlet lives in Steamboat Springs, CO, where she refers to herself as a “corporate volunteer,” sitting on several boards, including the Colorado Mountain College Foundation. I have heard from an equine veterinarian and an advisor to a senator on racing and gaming matters. He is also a member of the Albany Law School Board Government Law Center and on the Cornell University Board of Trustees. Jerry Bilinski, DVM ’69, take a bow (drbilinski@aol.com). I also need to mention that he is on the Advisory Committee of the Vet college. Finally, I heard from Jim Unckless (Fairport, NY; junckles@rochester. rr.com). He was in Ithaca last July for the wedding of his son Rob ’97, MS ’99, and Heather Fiore ’97 on the terrace of Willard Straight Hall. See you in June! Be sure to look at Roy Troxel’s Class of ’66 Web page, http://classof66. alumni.cornell.edu. ❖ John Miers, Johngmiers@ comcast.net; Bill Blockton, bill@rbsfabrics.com; Susan Rockford Bittker, ladyscienc@sbcglobal.net.  40th Reunion—June 7-10, 2007. Get ready! And check out our class website for details in the months ahead, http://classof67. alumni.cornell.edu/index.html. From Edwards, CO, Charlie Powers writes that he and wife Martha are enjoying “a lot of skiing in Vail” and suggests that Al Hoyt (Boise, ID) and family come to reunion. Margaret Meyer Rich (Ewing, NJ; stuartandmeg@aol.com) organized a daylong “Everest Anniversary Conference” at Princeton, at which “non-mountaineers were also welcome. Free of charge.” She adds that son Mike married Ann Lawrence in 2001 in Paris and still teaches at the Lycée Internationale St. Germain-en-Laye. Ted Hamilton (Walnut Creek, CA; tvhami 1967@aol.com) is a civil engineer and construction manager with Harris & Assocs., Concord, CA. As with a number of us, he writes that he’d rather be retired and mentions that Bob Holman (Olympia, WA) attained that status last October. Ted would like to hear from Vernon Noble ’63, BCE ’64. Nancy Keusch Mayers (Austin, TX; wowmom53@aol.com) reports: “Our family has just opened a new restaurant in Austin, TX, called Manny Hattan’s New York Delicatessen. When in town, visit us for the best corned beef sandwich served with a Texas attitude! This is keeping us very busy, but I still find time for my pottery.” Phyllis Bell Jonas (Atlantic Beach, NY; phyllis jbj@aol.com) is in her 24th year of teaching preK at the Brandeis School in Lawrence, NY. She celebrated her 60th last August, with Fran Keller Fabian, Joan Solomon Weiss, and Toby Tucker Hecht joining in the fun. Phyllis spends time with her four grandchildren, including Matthew Isaac born last September. And then there’s “theater, ballet, concerts, and walking the boardwalk with my special guy.” Robert Cucin, MD ’71 (New York City; robert@cucin.com) is chief executive officer of BioSculpture Technology Inc., a medical device company, and director of Airbrush Liposculpture of NYC. He’d rather be “sitting on the beach at St. Tropez or bashing the bumps on Ajax in Aspen,” and recalls “Brit Lit with Healey and Psych 101 with Maas” fondly from Cornell. Toni Ladenburg Delacorte (Alexandria, VA; tdelacorte@aol.com) is vice president of NAPS, a national news production and distribution service, and also serves on the board of the Brown Ledge Foundation and Northern Virginia Intergroup. She also volunteers—with golden retriever Remy—for Fairfax County’s “Pets on Wheels” program. Jay Moses, DVM ’70 (Mill River, MA; jthmoses@ mindspring.com) “un-retired after two years” and picked up five silver medals at various World Masters Competitions. Lou Giancola (Providence, RI; lgiancola@schospital.com) is president and chief executive of South County Hospital in Wakefield, RI, a 100-bed community hospital. Wife Pam is a developmental/behavioral pediatrician at Brown U. Oldest daughter Jennie is a second assistant director who worked on YaYa Sisterhood. Zoe is a social worker, and Anthony majors in film at NYU. The advance deadlines for this column mean that sometimes news crosses. In the January column we had what had been current news about a classmate who turned up the same month on the obituary page. Apologies all around, and we’ll do our best to avoid such happenings. Class officers met in Philadelphia in February, and reunion plans are well under way for June 7-10, 2007. After meeting in New York City for a century, Cornell has booked their class officer association (CACO) Mid-Winter Meeting in Philly for three years. Seemed to me as if someone must have mistaken their identity for our old rivals from Penn. ❖ Richard B. Hoffman, 2925 28th St. NW, Washington, DC 20008; e-mail, rhoffman@erols.com.  I hope you’re all having a good spring. Steve, JD ’71, and Sharon Lawner Weinberg, PhD ’71, were proud to welcome their first grandchild, Danielle. The parents are their daughter Allison and her husband Jason Barro, who live in Boston. Rich Cohen and his wife Kathy Krieger are labor lawyers in Washington, DC. Rich is with the NLRB, where he has argued numerous cases in the US Court of Appeals. Kathy is a partner in a union-side firm. They have a 15- and 13-year-old. Rich reports that his fraternity brothers David Heiden, Jon Ellman, and Steve Schwartz all have young families as well. Rich also sees Howard Kaufman and Bill Persina in Washington. He reports that Marc Durant enjoys traveling around on his motorcycle, which 78 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE CLASS NOTES is “not one of those big Harley-type jobs,” but more the type you see in action movies. I think Rich Cohen is right on the mark when he concludes, “What truly amazes is the number of Cornell friends who continue to enrich my life.” Eric C. Johnson and his wife Nancy live in Kalamazoo, MI. They volunteer for the Red Cross on disaster relief, and have been very busy in the last two years, including service in Florida and Louisiana. Eric retired from Kraft Foods around four years ago. He also enjoys volunteering with other local charities, such as Habitat for Humanity. David Gorelick reports news of his children. His son Daniel received a PhD in molecular medicine from Johns Hopkins, and daughter Sarah graduated from Penn and works for IBM. Son Jonathan is a grad student at Rutgers, and fifth child Jacob had a bar mitzvah last year. Corinne Ertel is an MD in the Boston area. She has a 15-year-old daughter. Corinne is in touch with Jane Friedlander Gerard and Ruth Mandel Pincus, both of whom are new grandparents. Corinne is also in touch with Nonie Diamond Susser and her husband Pete, who are veteran grandparents with three grandchildren. Ed Kemp, DVM ’71, and his wife Carol are busy in the residential real estate business on Cape Cod. Their company is Act 1 Carol O’Loughlin Real Estate in Falmouth, MA. Ed’s older daughter, Lindsey, graduated from Bond U. in Australia and is recently engaged. His daughter Julia attends Savannah College of Art and Design. Ed attends regular reunions with fraternity brothers from Sigma Pi. Steve Boucher was recently named Entrepreneur of the Year by the New Hampshire High Technology Council. The award honors individuals who have made significant contributions to the advancement of high tech business in New Hampshire. Steve is chairman, CEO, and founder of Airmar Technology in Milford, NH. Airmar specializes in the marine electronics industry and sells “transducers for recreational and commercial salt-water fishing.” Its marine technology is used in acoustic deterrents for fishing and aquaculture and the investigation/survey industry. In the fall of 2005 Karolyn Kinsinger Mangeot and Catherine Owen spent two weeks in China touring with Tai Chi friends of Karolyn’s husband Richard. The two travelers in China chronicled everything—Karolyn taking notes and Cathy taking hundred of pictures each day. Jay Goldstein is an active dermatologist in the Boston area. Bill Falik writes in from a trip in Australia with his wife Candy. Bill notes that after 26 years, “We now have an empty nest and are exploring the world together again.” Bill has stopped practicing law and sold his final master planned community in Roseville, CA. He is enjoying seeing the world “with different eyes than we did when we traveled 27 years ago.” I look forward to hearing from you. ❖ Gordon H. Silver, 2 Avery St., #26C, Boston, MA 02111; e-mail, gordon_silver@comcast.net.  “Cornell’s Alumni Directory is online! Now address updates are easier to submit. Classmates are easier to find. All address updates will be automatically sent to Cornell alumni records. Please check, update, and approve your alumni directory listing. All you need is your ID number. Go to https://directory.alumni.cornell. edu for more information and easy instructions. If you do nothing, your listing will reflect the most recent data from our alumni records. You will be able to use the secure, password-protected directory to look up other alumni. If you don’t have access to the Internet or you have questions, call 607-255-2390. Please note that the online directory is for alumni only and is not available to parents or friends.” This message was reprinted from an e-mail by the Alumni Affairs office. Channel 7 in Florida as their parenting expert on the program “Parent to Parent,” a weekly news segment. In addition, Sally is working on a new book, running, and doing work-outs, and says that she would rather be having “fun in the sun.” Meeting friends at the Straight is one of her fondest memories of Cornell. Ellen Gross Landau, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities at Case Western Reserve U., is organizing an international exhibition, “Pollock Matters,” and has just published Reading Abstract Expressionism: Context and Critique. In addition, Ellen tells us she was a visiting scholar at the American Academy in Rome. We now have an empty nest and are ‘ ’exploring the world together again. BILL FALIK ’68 Cornell’s Summer College offers high school students who have completed their sophomore, junior, or senior year and who have the academic ability, maturity, and intellectual curiosity necessary to undertake college-level work an opportunity to study at Cornell. The children of two classmates took part in 2005: Stephen Budow’s son Scott and Kenneth Rubin, JD ’73’s daughter Kelly. Alan Cody writes that he, Jay Noyes, and Don Tofias attended the Yale-Cornell football game at Yale, along with several other classmates. And although Cornell lost the game, Alan said that watching freshman quarterback Nathan Ford ’09 “throw passes like a pro was pretty amazing.” Perry Smith says that he has kept in touch with several classmates and really enjoys the reunions. As a New York State Dept. of Health epidemiologist, he is responsible for communicable disease control. Most recently he was involved in pandemic influenza planning. Away from the office, Perry says, “[I] really enjoy leisure time at our Adirondack camp with my wife and 11-year-old daughter.” Ann Agranoff teaches English at Queensborough Community College and, along with her husband Fred Anderes, is building a house in the Catskills. Ann says they are doing most of the work themselves. When not teaching or building, Ann is going to PTA meetings at LaGuardia Arts High School, where her daughter is a sophomore. What she remembers most about Cornell is eating pumpkin ice cream! The chimes in the morning and throughout the day are a happy memory reported by Gloria Jacobsen Lang, who is adjunct instructor at the Fashion Inst. of Technology. After hours, Gloria is vice chair of the President’s Council of Cornell Women. Another homebuilder, she and her husband Roger are putting up a “spec” house in East Hampton, just 600 yards from where they live. Gloria says that it was her husband’s dream after retirement. They have also been traveling in South America, to Santiago, Mendoza, and Buenos Aires. Another educator, Sally Weisberg Goldberg, MS ’71, professor of education and a specialist in parenting, has a new position with Fox TV A psychiatrist in private practice in Manhattan, Marianne Goodman enjoys a range of extracurricular activities including patron of the Metropolitan Opera, the American Ballet Theater, and the New York Philharmonic. As a mother of two daughters, one enrolled at Lehigh U. and the other at Riverdale Country School, Marianne finds herself traveling to Bethlehem for freshman events—a reminder of life at Cornell. When Lehigh beat Georgetown by a big number, she thought of Cornell hockey games in the ’60s. Marianne recalls waiting on line for season tickets and the games themselves. She also remembers: slipping on the Chemistry building steps, the Boxcar, SDS, marching in front of the Straight, the State Diner at 3:00 a.m., Watkins Glen, and the biggest tailgate party ever! Marianne remembers “just having an incredible range of possibilities and taking advantage of most of them.” Thomas Levanduski is taking full advantage of his retirement after 28 years of service with the Army Reserves, including six months in Desert Storm and 30 years with the New York State Dept. of Correctional Services, where he counseled inmates. Last November, he spent the entire month exploring Australia and New Zealand, and now he has more time for hiking, camping, kayaking, and skiing, as well as indulging his love for reading and movies. Tom credits Cornell with introducing him to the great movie directors. John Rees fills us in on our “found” classmate Pierina Parise. After receiving a master’s degree in library science from the U. of Hawaii, Perri spent time in Fiji with the Peace Corps. After 12 more years in Hawaii, she relocated to Portland and worked for Marylhurst College as an instructional and reference librarian. Today Perri is employed by Emporia State U. as the director of the Oregon Distance Program for the School of Library and Information Management. Curiously, Perri lives less than a mile from John! Not so near, David Shannon resides in Auckland, New Zealand. From John’s correspondence with him, we learn that David has spent many years in places that are often in the news today. After graduate school at Montana State U., a stint in MAY / JUNE 2006 79 the Army that included a posting to Heidelberg, Germany, going back to Cornell, and then a job with the Dept. of Labor in Montana, David says, “then it gets more interesting.” He joined the Peace Corps and went to Iran to work in the Kurdish area. During mid-tour, David traveled to Nepal via Turkey, Syria, Israel, and many other countries. Over the years David has worked for several non-profit organizations in Africa, Haiti, and is a high school resource room teacher in Sag Harbor. Son Adam lives in Brooklyn and works in the hotel/restaurant business as a general manager. Lynn and her freshman roommate Diana Roswick-Burr visit regularly. Diana lives in Larchmont, NY, with her husband Jamie and two teenage sons, Kenny a freshman and Jeremy a junior. They are about to embark on that “search for the perfect college” adventure! ‘Sally Weisberg Goldberg has a new position with Fox TV Channel 7 in Florida ’as their parenting expert. ARDA COYLE BOUCHER ’69 and Nepal. For the past 20 years, David has lived in New Zealand with his wife, and they have two teenage daughters. David is a leading job evaluation consultant who advises non-profit organizations on staff pay structures. He is also a member of the school board and the Arthritis New Zealand Regional Advisory Group. ❖ Arda Coyle Boucher, 21 Hemlock Hill Rd., Amherst, NH 03031, aboucher@airmar.com.  K. Brendi Poppel (kbrendi@ verizon.net) has enjoyed living in Santa Barbara, CA, for the past 18 years. She focuses on the spiritual and creative aspects of life. Brendi has been involved in an assortment of activities including acting in community theatre and television, working with developmentally disabled adults, public speaking, leading creativity seminars, and writing poetry and songs. She is currently studying voice and piano, and enjoys working out and walking. Martin Tang (Mtang@SpencerStuart. com) continues in the executive search business with Spencer Stuart in Hong Kong. Due to the economic boom in China and the shortage of managerial talent on the mainland, his business is doing well. Martin and his wife Anne have two children; Nicole (Stanford ’04) is working in Beijing, and Christopher ’07 is a junior in the Hotel school. Christopher has been studying Italian since his freshman year and spent the fall 2005 semester at the Cornell campus in Rome. Martin attended our 35th Reunion in June and was happy to see so many familiar faces. Almost three years ago, Lynn Girolamo Burke (East Northport, NY; lynnagb@hotmail. com) retired from her teaching career and now works as an educational consultant, primarily training teachers to teach reading using a “phonics approach,” in conjunction with whatever other instructional system their district uses. The flexibility of being self-employed affords her the opportunity to travel. Since retiring, she has been to Venice, Florence and Milan, Italy, Paris and Provence, Australia, and China. She is single again and learning how to navigate this whole new “singles scene” we Boomers have created. Her daughter Kristin lives in Southampton, NY, 2005-06 has been a year of work, weddings, and travel for Pete Hellmold (P1Hellmold@aol. com). He is completing his 19th year with the audit branch of the IRS near his home in Patchogue, NY. He generally works six or seven nights a week for six months, and then travels with a senior singles club indulging his photo hobby. So far these all-inclusive resort and cruise adventures have taken him to New Orleans, Barbados, the Bahamas, and Daytona Beach. Pete also enjoys his annual pilgrimages to Ithaca, and his Sedona, AZ, timeshare. Plans include the Dominican Republic and Acapulco. In June 2005, his son Erich married fellow Johns Hopkins U. grad and athlete Erin Wellner at a gala Gaelic wedding. This May, Erich, a four-year starter as defensive end at Hopkins, graduated from NYU Law School with honors. Erin is an assistant lacrosse coach at Georgetown. Pete’s daughter Sara is a graduate of Brandeis and lives in Boston, where she works for Tufts. She spent a year in New Zealand earning her master’s degree, with honors, at the U. of Auckland. Her fiancé, Tim, is a senior research librarian at Brandeis. Pete welcomes e-mails from classmates, especially his Sigma Pi friends. Murem Sakas Sharpe is CEO and cofounder (which means working 24/7 while enjoying mostly every minute of it!) of Evoca, a new Web 2.0 audio technology services company. With a co-founder and team of 20- and 30-somethings (including some Cornellians), the pace is fast and fascinating. She hopes her Cornell friends will visit the site (www.evoca. com) and take a test drive. Evoca makes it easy for everyone to create, organize, share, and search audio recordings. Murem and husband Tom ’69 are now settled into the historic district of Savannah, GA, and have begun to entertain visitors to their new home city. Traveling Cornellians are welcome! They have joined with other Cornellians in Savannah to form the Coastal Cornellians of Georgia and South Carolina. Events are held every couple of months in the region stretching from Hilton Head to Savannah on south to the Georgia islands. Tom has launched his second career in real estate sales and development with Celia Dunn Sotheby’s Realty (see his ad in the Cornellians in Business section). Their daughter Emily ’05 is in Qatar as a Fulbright Scholar, researching the roles of women in emerging democracies. In June she’ll go to Kuwait to continue her research. Son Eric is a junior at the Savannah College of Art and Design majoring in advertising design. Leona Sharpe Chamberlin (leona.chamber lin@nyu.edu) and husband Win live in Manhattan with their three children. Lee has been associate general counsel at New York U. for close to 20 years. Win is a real estate developer in New York City. Their son Brandon is in his second year at Northwestern U., majoring in theater arts with a special interest in theatrical lighting. Their daughter Felicity is taking a “gap” year and looks forward to attending college in the fall. Younger son Ned is a sophomore at Williston Northampton in Easthampton, MA. ❖ Connie Ferris Meyer, 16 James Thomas Rd., Malvern, PA 19355; email, cfm7@cornell.edu.   I am hopeful that you are looking forward to joining us at our 35th Reunion, June 8-11. Up-to-theminute class-related reunion stuff is at our website, http://classof71.alumni.cornell.edu. If you missed the new look of our class website under webmaster Craig Ewing, MBA ’72, now is the time to see it. Craig (cse7@cornell.edu) took over the site in late 2005, completely reworked it, and has been keeping it current. He would appreciate hearing your comments and suggestions. Thanks to everyone who was involved in the prereunion and reunion activities. Here is the news that was available back in mid-February. Thirty-eight classmates and spouses joined in for a spirited pre-reunion gathering in Philadelphia last February 17. Thanks to the efforts of James Pfeiffer, who arranged the event, and the urgings of Sally Clark Shumaker, a contingent of Philly-area classmates turned out and helped to make it a memorable evening. Among the Philadelphia crowd were Tony ’70 and Karen Erskine Biddle (karbiddle@aol.com), Michael Staines (MStaines@AtlasPipelinePartners.com), Michael and Jill Zimmer (ZimmerM@aol.com), Ron Porter (ronrporter@comcast.net), and Steve Altman (steve@altmanco.com). One Philadelphia couple who got into the spirit was Erik and Joyce Videlock (erik.videlock@verizon.net). Erik is a partner with the firm of Pepper Hamilton as a patent and intellectual property rights attorney in Philadelphia, PA. He was recently elected to the board of directors of Family Support Services. Also at the Philadelphia event were Richard and Jane Horwitz, who told us about their family’s Hurricane Katrina experience and Cornell’s help in making a difficult situation bearable. The Horwitzes arrived in New Orleans with daughter Libby for her freshman year at Tulane School of Architecture on August 25, 2005, just hours before the hurricane hit. Little more than a week later they ended their odyssey at Day Hall to take advantage of Cornell’s offer to make room for displaced Tulane students. “About 10 percent of Tulane’s architecture students did just that,” according to Richard. “Cornell deserves credit for its initial decision, and for the way in which they carried out the process.” 80 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE It was another eventful winter for John ’70, JD ’74, and Amy Pastarnack Hughes, MBA ’74. Unless you have been hibernating since last December and weren’t aware of it, the Hugheses had a second daughter skating in the Olympics. It must be some kind of record. Seventeen-yearold Emily, who finished third in the US Nationals last January, is the first US figure skating alternate ever to compete in the Olympics. This was her first international competition and Emily gave a credible performance. Though she finished seventh overall, third among the US skaters, Emily impressed everyone with a poise and presence that belied her age and experience. During some late-night cable TV channel surfing a few months ago, I noticed a familiar talking head on the History Channel. Quickly hitting the “last channel” button, I was treated to the image of Marsha Ackermann (mackerma1@ charter.net) holding forth with an off-camera interviewer about conditions after the famed Blizzard of ’88 in New York City. I dashed off an e-mail to Marsha and herewith her reply: “Funny that you should see that! I wrote an article on the 1888 Blizzard for a graduate seminar at Michigan; it was published in a New York State history journal. A George Washington U. professor quoted [the article] in a book he did on snow a few years later. When History Channel producers put together their Blizzard extravaganza, they contacted me out of nowhere, thanks to the professor’s book, [possibly] desperate to add a female ‘talking head’ to the mix.” Marsha knows something about cold in American history. Smithsonian Press published her thesis-turned-commercial-book, Cool Comfort: America’s Romance with Air-Conditioning. Efforts to stimulate interest in our 35th Reunion brought me news from Denison Hatch (dhatchjr@comcast.net). Denison and wife Wendy live in Wilmington, DE, while their two children attend Cornell. Says Denison, “When my son was admitted to Cornell, Wendy said he was a legacy, and when Erica ’09 chose from among six universities to attend Cornell, she was a dynasty. As for me, I retired three years ago from 23 years with a Wilmington, DE, law firm. I am enjoying retirement, serving as president of the board of directors of the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts and co-chair of Delaware College of Art & Design Capital Campaign.” “I just took my first trip back to Ithaca in 34 years,” writes Richard Perlmutter (richard perlmutter@gmail.com), “to visit Cornell with my son. And we just found out he will be attending Cornell, Class of 2010.” Richard, a composer, musician, and voice actor, is best known for his series of Grammy-nominated children’s music CDs titled “Beethoven’s Wig,” with an illustrated children’s book that was released last December. He is currently touring with a quartet of opera singers that performs with local symphony orchestras like the Baltimore Symphony. Richard lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three children. Please send news of yourself and any Cornellians with whom you are in touch. ❖ Matt Silverman, mes62@cornell.edu. Linda GermaineMiller, lg95@cornell.edu.  Bill Trommer has a new job as a math teacher/specialist at Jay Elementary School in Leeds, ME. Bill says that the kids are genuinely excited about learning—and that, of course, is about as rewarding as it gets when you are a teacher. He does miss being able to walk or ski to school, as the new school is 16 miles away from home. Bill’s daughter Leah has settled into her new job at the Tanglewood 4-H Environmental Center in Lincolnville, ME. She is renting a beautiful little cottage near the ocean in Northport, so Bill gets to see her every week or two. Bill’s older daughter, Heather, is enjoying life in Chicago, soaking up the urban lifestyle after growing up in rural Maine. She is the business manager for Jump Rhythm Jazz Project, a professional jazz dance company. Bill, Leah, and Heather ran the Chicago Marathon last October. Bill trained all spring and summer, and although it was very hard work, crossing the finish line was worth the effort. The Trommer family is planning on running another marathon this year. Bill says that Gerry Roehm ’69, BS ’72, lives in Colorado and stopped in to see him last fall during an eastern road trip. Another Colorado resident, Dave Hall ’71, wrote to let me know that he spent most of November in Florida helping his mother clean up after Hurricane Wilma. Although she suffered roof and water damage, luckily she was able to remain living in the house. Dave reports that daughter Jennifer produces the news for the CBS affiliate in Denver. Younger daughter Melissa graduated college last April and moved to Oklahoma City. William “Wes” Schulz and wife Diane live in Sugar Land, TX. A year ago the couple went on a vacation to Tucson to attend a mega-bead show. Then in May they traveled to Manhattan to visit daughter Amy, who is a graduate student (playwright) at the Actors Studio Drama School. They saw several one-act plays performed by the production company (off-off-Broadway) that Amy is a charter member of. Wes reports that Amy loves the theater scene in the Big Apple. During the summer, she returns to Texas and works as a swim instructor. Son Doug is with a paramedic team near Houston that performed heroic duty with other emergency personnel when the Hurricane Katrina evacuees were first brought to Houston. Wes and Diane had their own hurricane scare in the late fall when it appeared that Hurricane Rita was headed toward Houston. Trying to decide which items in your house to “save” from an approaching hurricane can be quite a dilemma. Wes also reported reaching two milestones last year: his 55th birthday (qualifying him for senior citizens discounts); and he finally broke down and purchased a cell phone with camera and text messaging. Now he spends ten minutes sending a text message that he could have completed verbally in ten seconds during a regular phone call. We received an electronic Christmas card from Mike Milley ’71 and wife Cathy. Mike’s “card” consisted of numerous photographs going back to a Peter, Paul, and Mary concert at Cornell in 1968. The Milleys live in Los Altos, CA. Larry Baum attended a reunion of “World Campus Afloat” and ran into Roberta Larson Duyff, MS ’73. “Bonnie” and husband Phil live in CLASS NOTES St. Louis, where Bonnie is a nutrition writer and speaker. Bruce McGeoch writes from Vermont that he and spouse Cyndy are getting used to their second winter there since moving from California after Bruce’s retirement. They did take a break from the snow last winter, taking a weeklong cruise of the Caribbean, and found time during the summer to travel to Winnipeg for a folk festival. Cyndy joined the local New England Financial Agency, where her focus is helping clients with long-term care. She also joined the Founders Memorial School in Essex, VT, as a para-educator, working one-on-one with special needs children in the third grade. Daughter Lauren works as a research assistant in the Oceanography Lab at the U. of Washington in Seattle. She is in the process of applying to graduate schools and plans to start a PhD program this fall. Bruce plans to work on his golf game at Vermont National Golf Course when spring arrives, as well as on getting the new house in order. Nicholas Seay, an intellectual property attorney with the firm of Quarles & Brady of Madison, WI, was selected as one of Wisconsin’s “super lawyers” by Law & Politics. The selection is based on an annual survey of attorneys across Wisconsin. Nicolas received his law degree from George Washington U. I can’t end this column without acknowledging the recent victory of my hometown Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XL. I know that current and former Pittsburghers like Bob Mauro, John Dougherty, Owen Snyder, John Yaros, Dale Webb, and Pat Narcisi were extremely happy that the Steelers were able to bring home their fifth Lombardi trophy. Send news to: ❖ Alex Barna, alexander.barna-1@nasa. gov; or Gary Rubin, glrubin@aol.com.  We’re halfway to our 35th Reunion in June 2008! Strange, I have the distinct impression I’m not even 35 yet, even though I’m slated to attend my 26-year-old niece’s Sage Chapel wedding this year, Molly Oliver ’02. Ah well, a trip to Ithaca is always enjoyable. Peter Yim e-mailed that he is CEO of CIM Engineering Inc. (CIM3). He lives in San Mateo, CA. Recently he’s been running a virtual community called the Ontolog Forum. Paul Kross of Macon, GA, is an associate professor of ob/gyn at Mercer U. School of Medicine and head of the division of urogynecology and reconstructive pelvic surgery. He just moved to Macon and is getting acclimated. He joined the medical school after 23 years in private practice in New York State. When not practicing medicine and teaching, Paul tours the south on his motorcycle. News in hard copy comes from Mark Evans in Madison, WI, where he lives with his spouse Robin Bloom. Mark is the director of technical services for the Madison Metro School District. He enjoys camping, carpentry, stained glass, insect collecting, and photography. You can guess that what he’d rather be doing now is to be outdoors more and in the tropics. Mark recently started a two-year term as president-elect of the Wisconsin Society of Certified Public Managers. He fondly recalls his time in Comstock Hall and MAY / JUNE 2006 81 most often hears from Jesse Perry III, Carol Koval, MAT ’74, and Perry Lou. David and Christine Dickieson Pesses send news from Gloversville, NY, where David is a family practitioner with Nathan Littanes Hospital. Christine is a substitute teacher, president of the library board of trustees, a Hebrew School teacher, an actress in local community center plays, and a quilter. Together they love to cross-country ski, snowshoe, read, and travel. They particularly like traveling to visit their children. Elizabeth is at Rice U. and survived Rita unscathed. Emily lives and works in Charlotte, NC, and Ruth is married and teaching mathematics in Connecticut. Ruth and her husband plan to move to Brazil, his native country. Looks like David and Christine have mostly southern travel in their future. They’d most like to hear from Mike Phillips ’74, Ed “Buggsy” Woroniecki, Eric Shirley, Peter Bloch, DVM ’76, and Andy and Beth Simon Swartz. Mona Deutsch Miller already enjoys the warmth of Los Angeles where she’s a research attorney for Justice Laurie Zelon ’74 of the California Court of Appeal. She and husband Steve spend their extra hours parenting their high school senior Thaïs. Mona continues to try and write plays and screenplays. She recently saw Lisa Pollak ’74 when Mona was back in New Jersey for the unveiling of Mona’s mother’s headstone. Lisa was, as always, a warm and gracious hostess. Mona would rather be traveling in Europe. She fondly remembers meeting friends at the Straight. The old Cornell friend she’d most like to hear from is Shah Allam Khan, MArch ’73, from Dacca, Bangladesh. Thanks for all the wonderful news you’ve sent. We’ve plenty to fill our next column, but we always enjoy hearing from you. Send your news to: ❖ Phyllis Haight Grummon, 1531 Woodside Dr., E. Lansing, MI 48823, or phg3@cornell.edu.  “Don’t take this the wrong way, but most of the people we work with are . . . well . . . younger.” That was how a prospective client greeted me just before I started a recent presentation. I was shocked, SHOCKED, to think someone considered me old; I sure don’t. So I went right out and bought some Just for Men to cover up the lot of grey in my little bit of hair. My wife Susan (St. Clair) said it won’t help, but I like to think it will. And so, to the news . . . starting with classmates’ children who attended the Cornell Summer College program: Mort Bishop and Mary Lang’s son Clarence; Richard Cohen’s son Adam; Benny Lorenzo’s son Manuel; Charles Singer, JD ’74’s son Lawrence; Richard and Mimi Schneider Trudeau, MPS ’93’s daughter Lindsay; Kim Paul Wegener, MBA ’76’s daughter Melanie; and Peter Baranay’s daughter Melissa. Fellow class correspondent and longtime PC Magazine columnist and editor Bill Howard of Westfield, NJ, has a new role with parent company Ziff-Davis as editor of www.technoride. com. “Technoride is about the technology that makes cars faster, cleaner, safer, and more fun to drive—navigation systems, cockpit controllers, hybrid engines, Bluetooth, back seat entertainment, and wireless communications.” He also write a cars section for the magazine. “While cars may never drive themselves, with radar cruise control, automatic braking, night vision, lane departure warning, and blind spot detection, it’s harder and harder to get into accidents,” Bill says. “But we Americans are a resourceful bunch. We’ll always find a way.” Bill was also appointed to a second three-year term on the alumni advisory board of Cornell Alumni Magazine. Ann Berman was appointed director at investment management firm Eaton Vance Corp. John McGrail, a clinical hypnotherapist and corporate performance consultant, reports that he loves golf and blue-water fishing, chasing tuna and marlin. John lives in Marina del Rey, CA, with wife Lynne-Anne. He is also working on a book to help people incorporate change into their lives without “the pain.” John would most like to hear from classmates Ellen Isaacs, Dave Lycett, and Joe LaQuatra, PhD ’84, as well as Rick Brunette ’76. Joel Rothaizer resides with wife Sandra Hill in Edmonton, Alberta. Joel is an executive coach and management consultant, but lists as favorite extracurricular activities “long-distance running, truth-seeking, and dogs.” He seeks contact with David Dann and Ed “Arlo” Thomas. Perhaps they can come and watch him run in the 2006 Boston Marathon. Edward Evans, MBA ’75, was named executive VP for HR at Allied Waste in Scottsdale. He was most recently the founding director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the Hotel school. Lynn Wechsler Mogilensky and her husband Judah ’72 finally made the pilgrimage back to Ithaca. Lynne works for the Montgomery County schools and is finishing her master’s in library science. Chester Salit joined the L.A. office of architecture firm Leo A. Daly as VP and director of operations. We received a nice note from Randee Mia Berman, who returned to campus twice this year, once to visit old friend and English professor Meyer H. Abrams and again to see singer/ songwriter/storyteller Gordon Bok. Randee recalls nostalgically how as a freshman she sought fellow musicians to play chamber ensembles. Her advisor, Peter Kahn, suggested she call up Meyer Abrams. “And that’s how I escaped the freshman North Campus dorm and started visiting the homes of professors.” Randee is a performer and writer, authoring articles for Cigar Aficionado, Metro, and NPR. She recently was a guest on “All Things Considered” for her unique linguistic skill—talking backwards. Marlene Strauss Barmish, MA ’76, reported that her eldest daughter Lara graduated from the Arts college in 2004 and is gainfully employed and living in NYC. Marlene is manager of administration for Wisconsin’s largest homebuilder, and is also chair of the Cornell Alumni Admissions Ambassador Network (CAAAN) in Madison, WI. Self-proclaimed Geneva Street survivor Jeff Diamond is a partner at Marcus Rosenberg & Diamond, a New York real estate law firm. Jeff lives in Scarsdale, and is happily married with three children. Margot Biegelson Ellis is the new director for the US Agency for Int’l Development for its mission in Uganda. She previously was with USAID in Gaza and the West Bank. Also in the news, Joseph Boardman has been nominated by the White House to head the Federal Rail Administration. He is currently commissioner of the NYS Dept. of Transportation. Judi Friedman Babcock writes that her son Jim ’08 is a freshman in the Engineering college.“It was a strange feeling bringing him to campus and seeing how much had changed.” Judi is a social worker and play therapist with school age children. She saw Mary Lacy and husband Jim this year. Mary is living in Maryland and working for the Library of Congress. Kathleen Denis guiltily admits to not keeping in touch, but she made up for it with a nice note. She and husband Albert Rohr toured campus this summer and were disconcerted to see Ithaca on a fine and sunny day—something we so rarely saw when school was in session, and something son Michael will experience as he matriculates this year. Albert is chief of allergy and immunology at Bryn Mawr Hospital, and Kathy is assoc. VP of technology transfer at Rockefeller U. She recently had lunch with Ken Kramer, and their closest friends are Tim ’69 and Libby Peters Blankenhorn ’69. Thirty-two years of married bliss is claimed by Saundra Whitney Curry, MD ’82, and husband Don ’73. And though they married early, they had kids late—with Peter, 12, determined to go to Cornell like his folks. Saundra is a senior member of the Dept. of Anesthesiology at Columbia. She keeps in touch with Kathy Tonnessen. Renee Alexander has been named director of minority alumni programs for Alumni Affairs and Development at Cornell. Renee will provide strategic direction for programs focused on increasing participation of Cornell’s 20,000 self-identified minority alumni, particularly in volunteer leadership positions. She will take the lead in working with the Minority Alumni Initiatives Implementation Committee (MAIIC), chaired by trustee Liz Moore ’75 and composed of 32 alumni, trustees, and students. Nancy Geiselmann Hamill is in her 26th year as a magisterial district judge, with one more election to go before she retires. She recently visited Susan Schindewolf Hirschmann ’73 and husband Tom ’70 on Long Island, and says that she’s considering going back to grad school. Evan Stewart, JD ’77, moved back to private practice, taking a position as leading securities defense attorney at Zuckerman Spaeder. Evan is also an adjunct professor at Fordham Law and Brooklyn Law and has published more than 100 articles on legal issues. Elliot Miller sells industrial and agricultural tanks and pumps and is also a sewer commissioner in Hewlett Harbor. Susan Niner Janes wrote in from London to report on her freelance craft design business. She’s written eight books, most recently publishing Bright Ideas in Papercrafts. Ellen Franklin is the executive director of Temple Judea, a large reform synagogue in the L.A. area. She is married and has three kids. She recently saw several Cornellians: niece Alison Santopolo ’05, Merrill Weitzner Naughton from Larchmont, and Eric Roth, who recently celebrated his daughter’s graduation from Cornell. Speaking of Eric, he joined the NYU Law School Board of Trustees. His son is in law school there, and Eric is enjoying reliving the experience 82 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE CLASS NOTES through him. The thing he remembers most fondly from his time at Cornell: meeting his wife (me too!). Speaking of which, Sue and I are just back from a fascinating “vacation” week at an international research institute in the rainforest of Guyana. And I’ve been recently traveling to Kyiv, Ukraine, working with a new client marketing their product in the US. I’ve started taking Russian classes, and it’s a real hoot to talk about growing up during the Cold War and how jaundiced our view of each other’s countries were. Even more fun: seeing the US through an ex-KGB guy’s eyes. Please send your news to: ❖ Steve Raye, spr23@ cornell.edu; Bill Howard, billhoward@comcast. net; or Betsy Moore, emoore@cazenovia.edu.  Straight to the news, except to say that in my Reunion Report last fall, I wish I truthfully could have said that we were entering the last half of our lives, instead of one-third. (Ah, to be 104 in 2057.) (Author’s note: “WLTHF” means “Would like to hear from.”) David Smiley ’74, BS ’76 (dsmiley22000@yahoo.com) has had lightning strike twice: for the second time, the company he worked for was bought out, with the usual reorganizations following. He is now in consulting, working at Rockwell-Collins in Iowa. He recently earned his Project Management Professional certification. Suzy Nagin Klass (snklass@hotmail. com) went to the Homecoming festivities with her son Elliot ’05, who is now a first-year law student at U. of Virginia. Traveling with her was daughter Sarah, a high school junior at Friends Academy, who is interested in Human Ecology at Cornell. Son Nate is a freshman at Washington U. in St. Louis. Suzy begins a new job in hospital administration, and looks forward to hearing from her dormmates from Dixon. This past summer, several of our classmates’ kids attended Summer College at Cornell: John Abeles’s daughter Julia, Peter and Nancy Natali Baranay’s daughter Melissa, and Cliff Thurber and Judith Harackiewicz’s daughter Mary. What a great experience. Speaking of great experiences, Dan Barry retired from NASA in April, and this past fall traveled to Panama to be a cast member for this season’s CBS “Survivor” edition. (Whatever you do, Dan, outlast any Harvard entries.) Sandra Belsky Auerbach celebrated her 25th anniversary at IBM, where she is a financial planning manager. Son Jonathan ’05 graduated from the Engineering college and is now at GW Law School. Daughter Alissa ’09 completes the legacy, having just started in Arts & Sciences. David Smith (seadog1193@yahoo.com) lives in Shavano Park, TX, and works as chief compliance officer for USAA in San Antonio. As a recent transplant from Minneapolis, he says he spends his time “figuring out the identity of the latest creepy-crawly” in the house or outside and “determining whether it’s venomous or not.” David remembers the Cornell chimes as a unifying theme regardless of whatever was happening in his personal life. Debra Lee Hovatter (dhovatter@ spilmanlaw.com) recently became a member of Spilman Thomas & Battle PLLC after her stint as general counsel/litigation for CitiFinancial Inc., and specializes in consumer finance, bankruptcy, banking, and commercial litigation. Bob Reich (resdreich@comcast.net) lives in Landenberg, PA, is married to Beth, works as a principal consultant in environmental engineering with DuPont, coaches baseball, is assistant scoutmaster in a Boy Scout troop, and is heavily involved in a local church. Best Cornell memory: his best friend, Richard Kapuscinski, bringing him a sandwich after taking over the Engineering building (Giap-Cabrall Hall): “After all these years, the sandwich means more than the ‘cause.’ ” Children Kurt (UConn Engineering), Anna (Northwestern), and Gregory (8th grade, “being groomed for the next Yankees shortstop”) fill out the family. Best memory: swimming in the gorge. WLTHF Christopher Stamatelos and Paul Kelly. Ann Welge Schleppi (acschlepp@cox.net) lives with husband Craig in Las Vegas. Ann is team leader, managing nurses and nursing assistants and also being a social worker for terminally ill patients. Her non-work “stress relief” is jewelry making. Best memory: “being passed up and down the stands during football games.” ‘Ann Welge Schleppi’s best memory: being passed up and down the stands ’during football games. MITCH FRANK ’75 Kathryn Gabinet-Kroo (KgKroo1219@yahoo. com) is in Montreal. She is married to Ira, works as a painter and translator, and has been doing a lot of creative writing but would rather be “painting in Venice!” Best Cornell memory: “the not very surprise birthday parties we threw for each other every year.” WLTHF Jeff Coffin ’73. Tom Scheibel is married to Kathleen, and is a vet in Brookhaven, NY. His favorite after-hours activities include clamming, horseshoes, meditation, and home improvement. Best Cornell memory: “sitting on Libe Slope enjoying the view.” Michele “Mickie” Patton Flores (flores@ cybertrail.net) is an educator at SUNY Potsdam. She likes hiking the Adirondacks and recently had a fellowship in D.C., but would rather be canoeing on Beebe Lake. Dianne Veris Puls (dvpuls@comcast.net) is a homemaker and lives with husband Mike, now in Irving, TX, after having downsized with their two sons in college. They went to CU/Boulder for Parents Weekend, and look forward to returning during ski season. Favorite Cornell memory: Straight Breaks and the beautiful fall days and colors (“We don’t get that in Texas”). WLTHF Nancy Newcomer ’74. Steve Sauter (stevendsauter@comcast.net) and wife Leah live in Needham, MA. Steve is administrator for the Transitional Care Units at MetroWest Medical Center. He enjoys folk music concerts at local coffeehouses, playing basketball (Steve, how DO you still do that?), and reading. Best memory: “walking down Libe Slope in the evening, looking across the valley while the chimes played—serene, cosmic, spiritual, beautiful!” WLTHF Chris Todd, MBA ’81. Karen Lennox is GM for Magellan Health Services in Columbia, MD, and commutes to San Francisco, where she owns a home and her two teenagers go to high school. Karen recently toured Cornell with her son, who is applying to the Engineering college. She regrets missing reunion, but spent that weekend with Kathy Long Campbell in D.C. Ralph Padilla (whanimalclinic@yahoo.com) is a vet in West Haven, CT, married to Yvette, and enjoying being a baseball/soccer/basketball dad. Keep those News Forms and e-mails coming. ❖ Mitch Frank, mjfgator@aol.com; Joan Pease, japease1032@aol.com; Deb Gellman, dsgellman@hotmail.com; Karen DeMarco Boroff, boroffka@shu.edu.  Reunion draws near, and I’m hoping to spot you all in Ithaca very soon! All the more important to catch up on news and be frighteningly up to date when we see our old pals. And, may I point out, we are getting to be very old pals. At least one classmate stated her intention last summer: From Los Alamitos, CA, Janet Tompkins Rydell wrote that she definitely planned to attend our 30th Reunion. She had just celebrated her 21st anniversary with Toyota Motor Sales and Toyota Financial Services, where she has made her career in the cash management department of the Treasury Group. Janet’s daughter Stephanie celebrated her bat mitzvah in 2004 with a party held aboard the Empress yacht, which cruised in Newport Harbor. Peter ’73 and Joan Tompkins Lifson ’73 and daughter Audra ’01 attended. Audra’s sister Deborah ’04 was busy at graduate school and couldn’t attend. Janet’s son David turns 12 this May. Leigh English (Chesterfield, MO) received Monsanto’s Edgar M. Queeny Award for 2005, as part of the team that developed YieldGard Rootworm, the first agricultural biotech product to control corn rootworm. The product was introduced only three years ago, and in 2005 it was used on more than four million acres of corn. R&D Magazine named it one of the 100 most technologically significant new products of 2005. Jody Jacobson Wedret is a senior pharmacist and assistant clinical professor at UC Irvine and active in the Cornell winter externship program. Her first book, Building a Successful Collaborative Pharmacy Practice, was published in 2004. Jody and spouse Loren live in Tustin Ranch, CA. James Ellithorpe sends the happy news that he married Anne-Marie Maindonald of Wellington, New Zealand, in January 2004. He moved to Singapore in November 2004 to take the position MAY / JUNE 2006 83 of project manager, information management deployment for the Asia-Pacific region for Chevron Global Marketing. From Taipei, Taiwan, Charles Chuang reports happily that son Steven ’09 is a freshman in the Engineering college. Erika Thickman Miller writes that her daughter Miriam is a freshman at Reed College. Son Ira is a high school freshman. Erika and husband Matthew live in Gladwyn, PA. In news from the Northeast, Michael McClellan is an attorney with Lefkowitz & Poulos in Hauppauge, NY. Gary Zahakos is a senior VP for My Cornell Daily Sun pal Ira Rosen moved in 2004 from ABC to CBS, where he is a producer for “60 Minutes.” Ira’s spouse Iris Schneider works as an adjunct in the math department of Pace U. My greetings to them in Sleepy Hollow, NY. Speaking of the Sun, I spotted many friends at the Sun’s 125th anniversary banquet in New York City last September. Curt and Gail Kaminsky Travers ’77 publish the weekly newspaper of Surf City, NJ, the SandPaper. Among other illustrious alumni banquet speakers, Kurt Vonnegut ’44 gave a short and pithy talk. ‘Doug Baumoel is interested in connecting with other alumni who have experienced ’family business from any perspective. CHIP BRUECKMAN ’78 investments at SmithBarney in New York City. Melanie Ancin Scott and husband Peder are partners in an engineering and architectural firm in the town of Southeast, NY. They live in Newtown, CT, with children Spencer, Katherine, Tressa, and Brenton, who range this year from fifth through ninth grades. All four play soccer year-round, have taken up lacrosse, and spent last summer swimming and sailing at Candlewood Lake and along Long Island Sound. In other summer activities, Richard and Robin Marks Kaufman’s daughter Jennifer attended the Cornell Summer College Program as a high school student. So did Grace Masters, daughter of Peter and Susan Corbett Masters ’78. Wendy Schessel Harpham’s fifth book, Happiness in a Storm: Facing Illness and Embracing Life as a Healthy Survivor, was published by W.W. Norton in September 2005. Wendy is a physician in Dallas and was diagnosed with Stage 3 lymphoma in 1990. As Jane Brody wrote in her “Personal Health” column in the New York Times on September 6, “Between the often-debilitating rounds of treatment that left her plagued with fatigue, Dr. Harpham lived as fully as possible, writing, attending her children’s sporting events and school plays, planning their bat and bar mitzvahs, enjoying each precious day and finding hope under every rock.” Since trying a new treatment in 1998, Wendy has been out of treatment as a “healthy survivor.” Those facing serious health challenges will also find encouragement and help in some of Wendy’s other books: Diagnosis: Cancer, After Cancer, and When a Parent Has Cancer. Another physician, Paul Mitchel Brager, writes that he and wife Laurie are thrilled that their twins Max and Sophie are now 2. Paul’s oldest son Daniel is a Cornell freshman, older daughter Sarah is in her third year at the U. of Pittsburgh, and Jonathan, 12, is a seventh grader. Paul wrote last summer, “I just completed a rigorous triathlon—mountain biking, kayaking, and running—in June and came in first in my age group. As an oncology-hematology physician I have been practicing in West Virginia for almost 20 years and enjoy my community and rural outreach focus.” If you’re traveling, be sure to stay at a hotel with a Khanna family connection. Arun Kumar Khanna writes from New Delhi, where he is executive director of the Claridges Hotel and where wife Rashmi is director of Krishraj Hotels and Motels. Their son Rahul, 23, received his degree in hospitality management in Switzerland and is now service manager at Jumeirah Int’l Hotel in Dubai, UAE. Only daughter Rakhi, 25, is not working directly in the hospitality field; Rakhi earned her master’s degree in psychology at the London School of Economics and works for Grow Talent Ltd. as a research and management consultant in Gurgaon, Haryana, India. From Winchester, VA, Deidra Dain writes that her spouse Michael Sottosanti “continues to enjoy working his craft of primitive technology with local and regional audiences. Scott has finished ninth grade; Daniel finished seventh. Both are avid tennis and soccer players, wrestlers, and paintball sportsmen. I’ve recently moved to a new firm, Danya Int’l, a health communications contractor, where I lead program development and support for the Head Start reviews.” Deidra adds, “Very sad news that my best friend and roommate at Cornell Mary Jo Del Popolo Myer passed away on May 27, 2005 of lung cancer. Diagnosis was September 2004. A great loss of friend and relationship.” All of our sympathies to Mary Jo’s family and friends. Each loss and close call reminds us of how much we value each other. I can’t wait to see everyone at our 30th Reunion this June. To think that we’ve known each other for almost 34 years now . . . Just be there! ❖ Pat Relf Hanavan, relf@tds.net; Lisa Diamant, Ljdiamant@rcn.com; Karen Krinsky Sussman, krinsk54@optonline.net.  This column brings a lot of news from our far-flung classmates. Julie Lee-Richter is a clinical psychologist in Littleton, CO. “After hours” extra-curricular activities include jewelry design, knitting, hiking, Red Cross volunteering, and reading. She says that she loves what she does, but would enjoy more days at the beach (“There are no beaches in Colorado”). Her fondest memory of Cornell is the beautiful campus. Julie would most like to hear from Susan Chin. George Drew lives in Rochester, NY, where he is retired—perhaps one of the first in the class. He has been traveling recently. George would most like to hear from L. Pearce Williams ’48, PhD ’52. After 18 years as a senior executive at the greater New York Hospital Association, Dana Eisenman Sherwin joined Deloitte’s Life Sciences and Health Care focusing on strategic client services in the Northeast. She has two sons, Kevin, 11, who is a classical guitarist and Brian, 15, who is a golfer and track/cross-country athlete. She has been living in East Hills, NY, for the past 12 years, and has been friends with Ruth Raisfeld for the past 32 years. Bernadette Fabrizio is an RN at United Health Services in Endicott, NY. She is working on her Master of Education via the Penn State World Campus and will finish in May 2006. Her fondest memory of Cornell is Libe Slope. Robert Moore lives in Longwood, FL, and is director of strategic planning for Convergys Corporation. He is also owner of Signature Systems of Florida, one of the largest fire alarm contractors in Central Florida. He has bought two condos in Daytona Beach as investment properties. Robert says he would rather be lying on a beach in Hawaii. He has many wonderful memories of Cornell. Susan Lewis Solomont of Weston, MA, is a senior fellow for the Philanthropic Initiative. She does lots of not-for-profit board work in her spare time. Daughter Becca, 19, is a sophomore at Tufts, and daughter Stephanie, 14, is a freshman at Weston High School. Susan just re-united with Ellen Fields. Bruce Schafer, MBA ’79, is in “transition” to his next day job, but in the meantime is supporting local town (Maplewood, NJ) and county politicians, chairing the membership committee of his church, and the father of twin girls. He is presently working in a self-owned consultancy in Philadelphia, which he states is “a charming city with a real sense of culture and poised for great things in the next 20 years” (those of us who live there would agree). Bruce remembers the amazing diversity of the students at Cornell. Seth Berman works on the structural analysis of anticlastic fabric radome and lives in Marblehead, MA. In his spare time, he coaches FIRST Robotics Lego Mindstorms for fourth and fifth graders. He most fondly remembers the Map Room in Olin Library and would like to hear from Harry Tom, Joe Johnson, BS Eng ’83, and Joe Abelson. Colleen Race Martin lives in Newburgh, IN, where she is an employee relations manager for Alcoa. She would rather be touring Eastern Europe. Colleen is a parent of a 14-year-old daughter who is in the marching band. Her fondest memory of Cornell is working at Noyes Hall Dining. She would most like to hear from John Vitale. Catherine Marschean-Spivak is a group manager at Campbell Soup Co. and lives in Boothwyn, PA. She spent a week in Tuscany in May 2005 visiting wineries and sites and taking cooking classes. She most fondly remembers life at Delta Phi Epsilon. Lori Jalens Sternheim lives in Boca Raton, FL, where she works as a 84 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE CLASS NOTES diagnostic radiologist. She has children David, 16, Gillian, 13, and Andrea, 12. Lori is planning her daughter’s bat mitzvah. Congratulations! Linda Snyder Huganir is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Baltimore, MD. Alice Benton Lanham is a self-employed architect for mainly high-end, custom residences, condominiums, and offices in Charleston, SC. Her daughter Katie is a freshman at the U. of South Carolina, majoring in chemical engineering. Diane Freedman, MAT ’78, is a professor of English at the U. of New Hampshire and is married to Brian McWilliams, MFA ’83. Diane enjoys open-water swimming, hiking, and gardening and recently traveled to France with her family. She is also home-schooling her son. She most fondly remembers hanging out with friends at Six Mile Creek and Fall Creek. Steve Kessinger is a group manager for AT&T Government Solutions and program manager for a Dept. of Defense research and development program to revolutionize simulated combat. He is working toward getting his children through seminary, law school, and elementary school. He most fondly remembers the fellowship of engineers, Army ROTC, and waffles at the Straight on the weekends. He would most like to hear from Jonathan Goldsmith. Gene Wypyski is a clockmaker at his antique store and spends his spare time keeping up with teenagers Eric and Adam. Chuck Samul is wine consultant and sales representative for Winebrow, a wholesaler and importer of wine in suburban Philadelphia. His wife Pamela is a 1980 graduate of Sarah Lawrence. Chuck also conducts private wine events at homes, restaurants, and clubs. He most fondly remembers going to Fall Creek and to lacrosse and hockey games and would like to hear from Doug Minard. That’s it for the months of May and June. Please forward news and views (and feel free to be wordy and to encourage friends to contribute) either to Lorrie or to me. ❖ Howie Eisen, Heisen@drexelmed.edu); Lorrie Panzer Rudin, rudin@starpower.net).  Joan Leibowitz Breidbart (Twiggle too@aol.com) and her husband David ’75 are excited that daughter Emily ’06 has been accepted to medical school. Stephen Kesselman, JD ’81 (skesselman@rmfpc.com) lives in Old Westbury, NY, and is senior corporate litigator at a large Long Island law firm. He has three children between the ages of 4 and 7. He regularly speaks with his ZBT fraternity brothers Bill Sternberg, Ron Frier, and Brian Ochs. Roger Davis (rmd2754@yahoo. com) is a professor at Youngsan U. in Pusan, South Korea. He is a graduate of the Indian Inst. of Yoga and is the founder of the Ikologiks Center for Global Studies. He is the author of a book titled The Yoga Therapy Handbook. Doug Baumoel (dsb@pobox.com) lives in Massachusetts with his wife Victoria and children William, 2, and Emily, 3. Doug graduated from the Wharton School of Business with an MBA in 1984 and spent 25 years working in the family business, which was sold to Siemens. He is now a family business consultant with his own firm, Continuity Family Business Consulting, in the Boston area. He is interested in connecting with other alumni who have experienced family business from any perspective, as he is always on the lookout for good case material and is interested in sharing stories. Doug still plays guitar, but says that lately it has been jazz arrangements of “Old MacDonald” and “Twinkle, Twinkle!” Doug is active in the Cornell Entrepreneurial Network and he also keeps in touch with Marty Lustick, his old roommate from Donlon. He has recently touched base with Bruce Zalaznick. Doug is looking forward to a visit to the Cornell campus soon. Cornell University Summer College reports that many Class of ’78 children attended this great program for high school sophomores, juniors, or seniors: Timothy ’77 and Ann Kane LaBeau’s daughter Kate; David ’80 and Laura Day Ayers, MBA ’86’s daughter Kathleen; David Bilmes’s son Elie; Glenn Fishman and Joanne Wallenstein’s daughter Julia Fishman; Seth Klion’s daughter Rachel; Daniel Sones’s daughter Amy; Abby Tucker’s son Simon; and Peter ’76 and Susan Corbett Masters’s daughter Grace. Cynthia Kubas Odegaard (cmk19@cornell. edu) hosted a Cornell Club of Hawaii event featuring our classmate and Cornell professor Steve Squyres, PhD ’81. Steve is currently the scientific principal investigator for the Mars Exploration Rover project and was in Hawaii as a “distinguished lecturer” at the U. of Hawaii. Steve also reminded Cynthia that it snowed at Cornell during September our freshman year. In November, Cynthia traveled to Naples, FL, to join classmate Linda Piccinino, MPS ’83, who was maid of honor at her sister Lisa Piccinino ’82’s wedding to Kevin Cook ’89! Linda is planning to come to Hawaii this summer so that they can celebrate (?) their 50th birthdays together. Bill Proscia received the George Mead Medal, United Technologies Corp.’s highest honor for individual accomplishment in engineering. This award was presented to Bill by CEO George David for the development of the application of resonators to dampen afterburner screech in aircraft engines. Without the use of a resonator, screech can destroy an aircraft’s hardware. George David called this technological advancement a “great, great product.” Bill was also recently promoted to Fellow at UTC’s Pratt and Whitney Division in East Hartford, CT. Barry Berkowitz reports on an accomplished career as a real estate investor/developer with over 20 years of experience in the acquisition, financing, development, management, and leasing of commercial and residential properties in NYC. He joined Eastern Consolidated Real Estate Investment Services in New York City, a firm with clients the world over. Anyone who is involved in the real estate market should feel free to contact Barry at BBerkowitz@easternconsolidated.com. Barry and wife Helene are the parents of three “children” ages 20, 18 and 16, and live in Bergen County, NJ. Boy, does time fly when you’re having fun. Jim Megna writes that his daughter is a freshman in the Engineering college. Jim is impressed with the changes on the Hill. Helen Graham Gurny’s son has followed in her footsteps and is a biology major in CALS. He hopes to be premed. Her daughter is graduating from the S.I. Newhouse School of Communications at Syracuse U. She is interested in sports production. Helen received her MA in art education at the College of New Rochelle in 2003 and now has her permanent certification in art in grades K-12 in New York State. She teaches art to grades 3-5 in the Bronx, creates murals in artist-in-residence programs in Westchester, and teaches metal sculpture in schools, camps, homeless shelters, etc. As a professional artist, she has commissions in metal sculpture and jewelry for private and public collections. Michael Riley (mdr14@cornell.edu) writes in with an update on the Cornell Hockey Hat Project. Michael tied in the Vermont Originals company, founded by the late Cornell professor Wendell Earle, PhD ’50, to the Cornell hockey team. Dr. Earle was a great Big Red hockey booster. Sales of the Cornell Hockey Hats benefit the Big Red Hockey team and honor the memory of Dr. Earle. Make your purchases at www.store. cornell.edu or www.vermontoriginals.com. Cindy Sweberg Kleiman reports that she and husband Mark are doing well in Marlboro, NJ. Cindy works with Lockheed Martin REAC and has daughters Gillian and Rachel. Cindy Morgan currently enjoys a variety of work. She has a private practice as a psychologist and serves as the outreach and training coordinator at Albion College Counseling Services. In her spare time, she performs with her husband of five years, Jim Hall, as the duo Hall & Morgan. They specialize in acoustic Americana with contemporary touches, and they released a CD, “The Real Deal,” in 2003. The CD demonstrates the variety of musical genres (folk, blues, bluegrass, old-time, singer-songwriter) and musical instruments (guitars, mandolin, fiddle, concertina, banjo) that Cindy and Jim enjoy, as well as showcasing their vocal harmonies. When they’re not exhausted from these activities, they enjoy working on “the never-ending project” of their 1860s farmhouse, and spending time with their family (including two grandchildren) and friends. Steve Potter, former fellow Cornell intramural sports guru, practices law in Cleveland as a partner in a small firm (Dinn, Hochman & Potter LLC). His oldest son, Brandon ’09, is finishing his second semester at Cornell. Other son Justin is a high school junior. Steve recently visited Chicago and saw several Cornellians, most from the Class of ’80. Thanks for letting me step up and take the assignment as rookie class correspondent. I appreciate all the email responses to my request for news and updates. Please continue to send news to: ❖ Chip Brueckman, jcb58@cornell.edu; or Pepi F. Leids, PLeids@aol.com. Go Big Red!  Summer will soon be upon us as you read this column, though I’m writing it on a snowy February day. With that in mind it seems fitting to think about summer plans for our family members, particularly those of high school age. In the summer of 2003 our son Brandon had a great experience at Cornell Summer College. He took a course in American Studies, “Democracy and its Discontents,” taught by Prof. Nick Salvatore in the ILR school. He had an excellent academic experience and entered college with three MAY / JUNE 2006 85 credits from this three-week summer course. Summer College offers a taste of the undergraduate experience to high school students who have completed their sophomore, junior, or senior year and have the academic ability, maturity, and intellectual curiosity necessary to undertake collegelevel work. Many students who participate in this program are children of alumni. In 2005, children of our classmates included: Alan Fox and Resa Mestel’s daughter Ariel; William and Margie M. Wang’s daughter Marlene; James ’77 and Catherine Gobel Farrell’s son Mac; and Michael Lau and Janice Chan’s daughter Tatum. More information about Summer College can be obtained by visiting the website at www.summercollege. cornell.edu for details about all of the programs. Sherri Kapel Kaplan writes that her daughter is a sophomore at Cornell and loves it. Sherri is a dermatologist in Ardsley, NY, and can be reached at uroderm@aol.com. Patrick Culligan (HCGINC@aol.com) writes that his daughter Cailin arrived at the Hotel school last fall. In describing his experience as a Cornell parent, Patrick paraphrases the credit card commercial: “Souvenir Cornell shot glasses and T-shirts: $91.00; textbooks, pens, and computer stuff: $725.00; first semester tuition, room and board: $23,000; having my old dorm overlook her new dorm: priceless.” Patrick and wife Barbara live in Germantown, TN, where he is president of the Hospitality Consulting Group Inc. We all know how wonderful Cornell is, but if your child is looking at other colleges, this may be helpful for you. We have classmates’ children attending a variety of schools, and they are willing to offer personal perspectives on their campuses to sons/daughters of other ’79ers. To request an e-mail contact for a college applicant, visit http:// classof79.alumni.cornell.edu/class79_029.htm and we will make a match. We are also seeking other college students to broaden the number of schools for whom we can provide information. Parents of college students, please visit http://classof79. alumni.cornell.edu/class79_007.htm. Several of my former Alpha Phi sisters are doing interesting things this year. Toby Nagle Ratcliffe writes that her husband Ray and daughters Rachel, 15, and Robyn, 13, are living on their 42-foot sailboat and sailing the Mediterranean Sea. They left port in June ’05 and plan on returning in summer 2006. You can visit their website at www. ketchyalater.org or e-mail Toby at ketchyalater mom@yahoo.com. Another former roommate of mine, Denise Gilbert, is planning an adventure this summer. She and several friends plan to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. This approximately 2,600mile hike extends from the Mexican to the Canadian borders. Denise will traverse mountains and deserts during her hike that should take from April until early October. Ever the adventurer, Denise has previously bicycled across the country and around the world in 2000. In fact, she is reuniting with friends from the 2000 cycling trip to make this hike. When she is not traveling she lives in Portola Valley, CA. Professionally, Denise claims that she is semi-retired and serves on the board of directors for a few biotechnology companies. She also spends a lot of time volunteering with open space and trail maintenance projects. Another Alpha Phi sister, Jeanne Hartley Talbourdet, is hard at work starting a new job as a project engineer at BAE Systems in Lexington, MA. She feels that she has come full circle as she is working in the same facility as her first job out of college at Honeywell. In fact, she is even taking over the office that she once shared with a coworker all those years ago. She is also the New England section chair for the American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics. This organization works to bring more science education to today’s children. Jeanne writes that she would love to see Alpha Phi sister Sunny Hallanan McMillan, who lives in the Philly area. Her fondest memories of Cornell are sunbathing on the roof of Alpha Phi and “fluffling” through the leaves in the fall. Jeanne and her husband John live in Danvers, MA, and can be reached at jandjt@aol.com. Richard Bowdon writes that after leaving Texas and the oil industry, he moved to the Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina and became executive director of the Summer Science Program (www.ssp.org). He is working from home, where his wife also home-schools their children who are 8 and 5 years old. The Bowdons spend a lot of time at home and can be reached at rdbowdon@juno.com. Classmates Mary Wilensky Kahn and Cathy Cappucci Needle hosted two events in conjunction with the Cornell Association of Class Officers (CACO) Mid-Winter Meeting in Philadelphia. The class dinner was held on February 17 at Bellini Grill in Center City. Wines from the Finger Lakes were brought in to enhance the Cornell experience. Mary Kahn was co-chair, along with Marcia Goldschlager Epstein ’64 and Jeff Estabrook ’80, JD ’83, for “Cornell in Philly,” the Saturday evening event held at Citizens Bank Park. This event included a Mummer’s band, a “Taste of Philly” dinner, behind-the-scene tours of the park (including the locker rooms), and viewing of Cornell sporting events throughout the evening. These events were open to all ’79ers and guests and were well attended. On a sad note her friends write, “With great sorrow we report the death of Debra G. Moses, who lost a valiant nine-year battle with breast cancer. Roommates Beth Anderson ’80, Janet Goldin Rubin, Sue Landzberg Schatz, and Nancy Sverdlik were there during her final days and witnessed the same courage then that kept Deb fighting each step of the way. At a memorial service, Beth spoke of Deb’s time at Cornell and how she was always a woman in a hurry—wanting to squeeze in as much as possible. Deb never looked at survival rate statistics for cancer patients, feeling they reflect the past, and she was focused on the future. Deb was a voracious reader, and gifts in Deb’s memory may be made to the Cornell University Library, Attn: M. Taube, 701 Olin Library, Ithaca, NY 14853.” Renewal forms for alumni class membership are sent every September. By mid-January, 524 classmates had already responded. However, we know that more than 100 classmates who paid dues last year have not yet renewed. Remember, in addition to supporting class events as we build toward our next reunion, your membership renews your subscription to this magazine. If you are reading this now, you are a member and you can encourage your Cornell friends to become members or renew their membership. You can direct them to http://classof79.alumni.cornell. edu/class79_005.htm for more information about membership and the link to the secure website to pay class dues. Member news that we receive at dues time is an important contribution to this column. However, your class correspondents would love to hear from you at any time. When the news gets sparse, it is difficult to write about your exciting lives. The column is only as good as the news that you send us. Send us an e-mail and let us know what is going on in your life. You can write us at classof79@cornell.edu, or directly at: ❖ Kathy Zappia Gould, rdgould@suscom.net; Cynthia Ahlgren Shea, cynthiashea@hotmail. com; and Cindy Williams, cew32@cornell.edu.  It’s difficult to follow on Dik Saalfeld and Dana Jerrard’s exceptionally entertaining columns in the last issues. I, too, have just reconnected with Cornell and our class, starting with last year’s 25th Reunion. In fact, in a weak moment, I volunteered to be a class correspondent, restarting a family tradition dating to the Class of ’26, and thus here I am. My challenge as class correspondent is not being able to use PowerPoint, my usual communication tool. All these extra words . . . no bullets . . . not even animation? My Strunk and White must be somewhere . . . We have a new class website to check out, thanks to volunteer webmaster Tom Murphy, at http://classof80.alumni.cornell.edu/ (note: no www). We want the Class of ’80 Web page to be the gateway for your continuing or revitalized relationship with your class and Cornell. It has links to the Daily Sun, Cornell’s main and alumni sites, previous alumni magazine columns, and Big Red Sports. It’s much more interesting and up to date. A special feature to check out is the link called “The Back Pages.” This takes you to a very special Cornell University Library/Cornell Daily Sun project—the digitization of the Sun’s historical files. The full 1978-79 year is online thanks to donations by the Class of ’79. It’s user friendly and easy to get into, though looking at some of the advertisements reminds me of looking at the turn of the century (1900) Sears catalogs—entertaining, yet frightening. Might we think to challenge you all to fund the 1979-80 year? Speaking of the Web and things of old, there is an archive site out there with mp3’s of the 1980 Dead concert at Barton many, many, years ago. Check it out at: http://www.archive.org/ audio/etree-details-db.php?id=17104. Now to catch up on the news from you! On the Legal Front: Jonathan Halpern checks in from his new role as partner in the litigation department of Winston and Strawn in New York. Jonathan had spent 15 years on the legal side of the major crimes unit as an assistant US attorney in the Southern District of New York. Geoffrey Jarvis emailed us that he lives in Chadds Ford, PA, with his artist wife Judith and their girls Mary, 11, and Anna, 9. Geoffrey is a partner in a Wilmington, DE, law firm specializing in securities litigation. Jeffrey Pargament is in employment law at Piliero Marra and Pargament in Potomac, MD, where he and Jill have children Sam, 15, and Michelle, 11. 86 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE CLASS NOTES From the Halls of Medicine: Nancy Dobkins Medford sends regards from herself and husband David, an ophthalmologist (Bifocals anyone? Get in line!), with Nancy managing the office. Daughters Rachel and Allison are in college, with Rachel just finishing at NYU, and Allison a freshman at GWU. Is there hope for Cornell from Michael, a sophomore in high school? From the Boston area, Annette Kriegel-Davidoff writes that she is a dentist in Quincy, married to a cardiologist and raising children Sara, Alisa, and Perry. Doreen Stewart, PhD, is working at Sound View Community Mental Health Center in the Bronx. Robert Parry, MD ’85, is a pediatric surgeon at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, OH. And the Corporate and Business World: Jarett Wait keeps his Cornell connections going at Lehman Brothers, where he has worked for 24 years. He writes that there are more than 140 Cornell alumni currently at Lehman, including: Tom Marino ’78, Paul Shang ’78, Jay Ernst ’81, and Woody Jay ’81, who recently retired to start a hedge fund. Cindy Cabral Donaldson writes that she has become an entrepreneur, having bought her own Allstate Insurance agency in Succasunna, NJ. Terri Ann Lowenthal writes in from Washington, DC, where she has been since graduation, raising her daughter and working as a consultant on census and demographics after a 14-year stint as a congressional aid. Terri is active in skating and continues her support of Cornell through the Washington Cornell Club and President’s Council of Cornell Women. Mario Alfano, MBA ’84, is a senior VP, marketing and strategy for CanWest, Canada’s largest media company, where he divides his time between Boston and Toronto. Mark Storer is VP, transformational solutions in the Center for Transformation of BAE Systems in San Diego, where he lives with his wife Toni and son Alex. Checking in with one liners (literally): Donna Chin reports in from Madison, NJ. Kwong A. Yeung lives in Irwindale, CA, with wife Anna and twins Albert and Ann. Evelyn Hurvitz is a doctor in Williamsville, NY. Ed Friedman called in from Merrick, Long Island, where he and his wife both practice law. Finally, we thankfully hear from Fr. Robin Dodge, also from the Washington area (Arlington), where between raising two teenage sons, he became the rector of St. David’s Episcopal Church in the Spring Valley section of Washington (NW) in February ’05. In the spirit of sharing, I live in Redding, CT. After 25 years in package goods sales and marketing, I’m doing the second career thing as a retail marketing consultant. I enjoy spending any spare time with my boys Campbell, 12, and Will, 10. Campbell hopes to be a fourth-generation Cornellian, while Will plans to be a professional cellist. My daughter Caitlin is a sophomore at the College of the Holy Cross and hopes to spend next year in Galway, Ireland. There seems to be lots of news of kids off to college, as well as second careers and lives. It’s a great time to network with friends and classmates with whom you share a common experience called Cornell. With last year’s reunion rush over, the news of classmates has dwindled down, so send us your news! And dues too! Please renew your Class of ’80 membership with the convenient online payment link from our home page and consider using the automatic dues renewal option. Get in touch and involved. Only four more years to our 30th Reunion! Cheers! ❖ Tim O’Connor, tvo2@cornell.edu; Cynthia AddonizioBianco, caa28@cornell.edu; Leona Barsky, leona barsky@aol.com; Dik Saalfeld, rfs25@cornell.edu; and Dana Jerrard, dej24@cornell.edu.  It’s hard to believe that our 25th Reunion is right around the corner (Thursday, June 8 through Sunday, June 11, 2006)! Please send in your reservation if you haven’t already done so. From the ever-growing open reunion activities Cornell provides to our special Class Forums and activities for children—from toddlers to teens and a BYO babysitter room discount—it’s sure to be a grand event for those coming single or with extended family in tow. Reunion committee co-chairs spent the winter and early spring making plans, scheduling events, and pulling together great entertainment. We used the leverage of our 25th to be sure we had priority for time with the premier special place to work. Along the way, I’ve seen Monika Woolsey ’82, who was in South Florida speaking to a group at Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale. It had been more than 10 years since we’d last seen each other—we had gone hiking around Sedona and the Grand Canyon! Rhonda Brauer let us know that she has been named corporate governance officer of the New York Times Company. Pamela Reiss (pbr8@ cornell.edu) is living in Ojai, CA. Also in California is Paul King (paul@kingwealth.com), in San Jose. He published the Identity Theft Resource Kit and founded KnightsBridge Castle Corp. to provide identity theft protection, detection, and recovery services to individuals and families. Mike Stocker (barry.m.stocker@smithbarney. com) joined Smith Barney in Allentown, PA, after 17 years in telecom with AT&T Microelectronics and Lucent Technologies. Marshall Watson (actmid@sbcglobal.net) now has a master’s in petroleum engineering from Texas Tech U. He was accepted into the doctoral program and awarded the Chancellor’s Endowed Fellowship, also at Texas Tech. In addition, Marshall co-authored an engineering monograph in 2004 entitled “Lily White or the Problem With Having my old dorm overlook her ‘ ’new dorm: priceless. PAT R I C K C U L L I G A N ’ 7 9 member of our entering class, President Emeritus Frank H.T. Rhodes. If you missed him at our 20th, he has forgiven us for Primal Scream Club and attempting to march on his house (some thanks should be given to that fact that nothing like “Mapquest” existed in the fall of ’77!). See you at CU! If you really can’t make it, we will miss you, so please send along greetings to classmates. You can go to the class reunion website, http://classof81.alumni.cornell.edu/reunion2006. htm, and send a message or postcard. The Cornell Association of Class Officers (CACO) Mid-Winter Meeting was held in Philadelphia this year during the Presidents Day Weekend. A few officers could not make it as a result, but the ever-present reunion co-chairs were represented by Heidi Fleischman, MS ’83, the registration chair, and Robin Rosenberg Segall, who learned of the new online registration process. The luncheon talk was called “An Insider’s Guide to The 100 Most Notable Cornellians,” and two of the three authors spoke. Prof. Isaac Kramnick shared where and how the idea for the book came to him and co-author Larry Moore, and told some stories about how they picked which alumni to include. Co-author Prof. Glenn Altschuler, PhD ’76, also spoke. Kramnick was quite the comedian and had the room laughing. I’m delighted to let you know that I am the director of classroom education for Junior Achievement of the Palm Beaches Inc., running all types of programs in the classrooms of Palm Beach County, FL. It is a very rewarding and Ethics.” Roger Wertheimer (rljrw@adelphia.net) is the VP, general counsel, and secretary for Independent Energy Partners Inc. in Englewood, CO. He lives in Colorado Springs with his wife Lori and daughters Julie and Rachel. In the Midwest (Kentucky, to be exact), Dan Kloiber (danexstream@ hotmail.com) tells us his company, Exstream Software (www.exstream.com), is doing very well! They have five offices in Europe and Sydney, Australia, and were ranked 180 on the Inc. 500 last year! Gary Lapera (glapera@michaelgraves.com) lives in Pennington, NJ, with his wife and two children. Jim Hahn works for a travel agent and was with a group in Antarctica at the time he wrote! Vicki Bunis Rosenthal’s second daughter, Stephanie, was bat mitzvahed on April 1. Lots of good wishes go out to the family! Sheila Gorman Steffel tells us that she saw Rich and Alison Wehmann Conley over Christmas. She says they look and are great. They are busy with three kids—the oldest is looking at colleges—and Alison is still enjoying her career as a school psychologist. The last time Sheila saw other Cornellians was when she did the Avon Breast Cancer Walk in NYC in October. Sheila, Kati Lennon Matthews ’82, and Karen Reusswig ’82 all walked, and they had a chance to catch up with Kathy Buckley Boak, Laura Baskes Litwin, and Alison Fial Greene at dinners in the city. Sheila will be at reunion and looks forward to seeing everyone! We can’t wait to see you in June! And even if you think everyone knows your news already, we don’t—so let your correspondents in MAY / JUNE 2006 87 on it! ❖ Betsy Silverfine, bsilverfine@adelphia. net; Kathy LaShoto, lashoto@rcn.com; and Jennifer Read Campbell, ronjencam@cox.net.  Congratulations to Julie Vargo, who sent exciting news about the recent publication by HarperCollins of her book, A Few Good Eggs, and the book tour that found her “talking about infertility on the ‘Today’ show, ‘ABC World News Now,’ and NBC’s ‘Your Total Health,’ as well as regional television and radio shows nationwide.” Julie adds that even People magazine, “her guilty pleasure read,” featured the book. “Most importantly,” the book tour allowed her to meet up with some of her “best Cornell buds,” including Sue Kravetz Syversen, who traveled from Boston to NYC; Jill Novack Lynch ’81 and “her beautiful brood of boys” in San Fran- Jennifer Gardiner Liguori’s annual holiday letter was a Merry Kris-Moose contest, with the prize of winning a “stupendous seven-day/sixnight, no-expense-paid excursion with the Liguori family!” Any takers? One question is, “Can you participate in at least three strenuous physical activities while on vacation? Concourse sprinting and baggage hoisting count.” You can e-mail Jennifer at jenliguori@msn.com. Julia Martin Langan reports that several former ILRies, including husband Greg, were in attendance at the January 2005 bar mitzvah of Jonathan Heiden, son of Lisa Kandel Heiden and her husband Rich. Lisa, an attorney with Hartford Financial Products, and Rich, a radiologist, live in Manhasset, NY, with their three children. Joining the celebration were John Levitt ’80, JD ’83, and Ellen Mechlin-Levitt. John and Ellen are attorneys and financial advisors who work together and live in Syosset with their It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it. ‘ ’Pass the chips and dip! NEIL FIDELMAN BEST ’82 cisco; and Ellen Blum ’84 and her family in Vermont. Julie is currently working on a novel and looking forward to our 25th Reunion next June. She adds, “How did the years fly by that fast?” We wonder the same. Terry Kilmer Oosterom and Teri Williams Harvey, reunion chairs extraordinaire, say it’s not too early to start thinking about reunion, June 7-10, 2007. They welcome those interested in helping “in any way—big or small” or who have ideas for souvenirs, meals, or events. Please e-mail Terry at cornelltko@aol. com or Teri at Harvey@goes.com. Mary Ellen Plubell Miller reports that she and Dianne Renwick are members of the President’s Council of Cornell Women (PCCW). They were both Browsing Librarians at the Straight, so Mel adds, “There is life after the Blibe.” According to the Cornell website, PCCW is a group of approximately 300 alumnae who are appointed by the Cornell president. Members “have achieved a high level of success in their career or avocational activities, and have a commitment to strengthening the experience of women affiliated with Cornell, as well as to involving more alumnae in Cornell activities.” Former class correspondent Neil Fidelman Best retired from covering the New York Giants for Newsday on Long Island after ten years on the beat. In his new life, he is the newspaper’s sports media and business columnist. He reports that instead of getting paid to attend football games, he now gets paid to watch them on TV, adding,“It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it. Pass the chips and dip!” With Brian Hayward doing commentary for NBC’s hockey coverage, there is potential for a Class of 1982 conflict of interest, writes Neil, but he promises to treat Hayward with complete objectivity and honestly write how great he is at the job. However, “if any Harvard goalies turn up on TV, he honestly will write how awful they are.” two children. Julia also wrote that she and Greg got together with Bruce Miller, MBA ’87, and his wife Ann Delaney, MBA ’87, last year, who were in town from Orlando, FL, where Bruce is an “Imagineer” with Disney. They were with children Derek and Mackenzie visiting Bruce’s ATO brother Mike Brody ’83 and wife Laura Delaney, who is also Ann’s real-life sister. The Brodys and their three children live in Summit, NJ. For those of you who lived in U-Hall 3 freshman year, you may remember two of our RAs, Beth Linderman ’79 and Bob Kimball ’79, who married, had two children . . . and recently became grandparents! Beth writes, “Bob and I are delighting in our granddaughter and adapting to the (mostly) empty nest.” She adds, “Bob continues to look for a general surgeon to join his practice, and I have taken on the job of interim executive director of a local counseling agency.” Their email address is rkimbal4@twcny.rr.com. Sue Casey Austin reports that they love their new home in Dallas, but she’s wishing that their house in Sherman, “now called the summer home,” will sell. “I no longer have to drive 60 miles to shop, eat, and have fun,” she writes, and even started an executive recruiting job with a firm in Dallas. Older son Anthony pulled off perfect PSAT scores, and younger son James wants to be a rock star. Speaking of great students, Cornell Summer College reports that several classmates have children who attended the 2005 program. These students “have the academic ability, maturity, and intellectual curiosity necessary to undertake college-level work.” Congrats to Sophia Logozzo Amaro’s son Ismael, Will and Julie De Simone Conner’s son Brian, and Kenneth Klimpel and Whitney Parker-Klimpel’s son Andrew, who were among the talented high school students who attended the 2005 Cornell University Summer College Program. I sure hope my 5-year-old son is as capable. He currently wants to be Cornell’s hockey goalie and runs around the house yelling “Sieve, sieve, sieve! It’s all your fault!” when someone does something wrong! ❖ Nina M. Kondo, nmk22@ cornell.edu; Mark E. Fernau, mef29@cornell.edu.  I’m writing this on the heels of an impromptu visit from my former dormmate and Collegetown roommate Dana Gordon, who had an unexpected layover in Houston on her way to vacationing with friends in Mazatlan, Mexico. For those of us who live far from Cayuga’s waters, getting to see one of our classmates is a major event and it was great fun to have a chance to visit with Dana. She’s working as deputy director of the Newsweek Research Center, and in her spare time serves as our class historian along with Omar Saldana. Dana recently enjoyed her 15 minutes (or was that seconds?) of fame when she and Ellen Bobka served as extras in a crowd scene toward the end of the direct-to-DVD film Cooch. “Don’t blink, or you might miss us!” warns Dana. Our mailbag is running on empty at this time of year (send News with your Dues when you get the class mailing this spring!), but we have received a few press releases highlighting the accomplishments of some of our classmates. Last fall, Stephen Nesterak joined Lowe Enterprises, a national real estate investment, development, and management firm, as senior vice president, and is responsible for all new commercial acquisitions and development opportunities throughout the Midwest, Southwest, and Rocky Mountain regions of the US. Steve was previously managing director for PDC Europe, the European affiliate of Panattoni Development Company. He now resides in Parker, CO. According to videogaming industry blogs, Reggie Fils-Aime is perceived as the “bad-boy of video game executives,” thanks in part to his 2004 presentation at the Electronic Entertainment Exposition, where he was quoted as saying: “My name is Reggie. I’m about kickin’ ass. I’m about takin’ names. And we’re about making games.” As the then-new executive VP of sales and marketing for Nintendo, Reggie developed an instant fan club whose members wrote rap songs, drew comic strips, and created Reggie action figures idealizing their new straight-talking hero. Before joining the Nintendo team, Reggie was chief marketing officer for VH1. Jonathan Hubchen shared with us his 2005 travel experiences, which had the added benefit of keeping him away from the immediate impact of Hurricane Katrina. “I traveled to Africa three times for the food industry project that I coordinate for the Louisiana State U. Agricultural Center. Two were early in the year, and since I didn’t want to miss Mardi Gras, they were strictly business. That was probably a good idea as I enjoyed the debauchery and I doubt the festival will be the same this year. The third time was at the end of August/beginning of September, which meant I missed Hurricane Katrina. While Mom was braving the elements, I was taking some annual leave and enjoying the sun. I did, however, almost kill myself going up this mountain—a jaunt that I could have done in my sleep during my younger 88 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE CLASS NOTES days. My job also took me twice to Washington, DC, once to Michigan, and once to Chicago. My latest business trip took me to Nicaragua and El Salvador to explore the possibility of a composting project.” Back from across the pond is Scott Boltwood and family, who spent a year-long sabbatical in the Northern UK. Shortly after their return to the US, Scott’s wife gave birth to twins. Welcome home, and welcome to the baby Boltwoods! Tara Priolo D’Amato is an attorney/solo practitioner in Jersey City, NJ, and is mom to Joseph, 13, and Ryan, 11. Kenneth Gassman is general manager for Dynatron, a manufacturer/importer of CCTV products, remote controls, and telephones. Kenneth, wife Jordana, and their two kids live in Woodmere, NY. Shawn Feeney Takacs and daughters Kristia, 15, and Kara, 13, are raising alpacas at the Treasury, home of “the world’s most treasured alpacas,” in Little Silver, NJ. Visit their website at www.thetreasuryalpacas.com for a glimpse of these beautiful and intriguing animals. Among the many talented high school students who attended the 2005 Cornell University Summer College Program were Paul and Joni Gottlieb Jablansky’s son Jeffrey, as well as Mr. and Mrs. David Levitan’s son Brandon. Cornell’s Summer College Program offers opportunities for high school students who have completed their sophomore, junior, or senior year and have the academic ability, maturity, and intellectual curiosity necessary to undertake college-level work. Please visit www.summercollege.cornell. edu for more details. Class president Lisa Esposito Kok reports that we have a new Vice President of the Class of ’83—Linda Moore! Linda has graciously undertaken the post and will be in charge of membership for our class. Welcome, Linda! And many thanks to Abbie Bookbinder Meyer for finding Linda for us! Lastly, we have news from a class correspondent in training, Julia Grace Randall, 8-year-old daughter of Eric Randall. Julia’s parents, maternal grandparents, two uncles, an aunt, and three cousins are all Cornellians. Given her early demonstration of school spirit, we hope to see Julia carry on the family tradition in a few years. Writes Julia: “My mom and I have a friend named Ezra Cornell ’70. He had an extra ticket worth $25 for my mom to the Cornell-Harvard hockey championship game in Albany on March 19, 2005. It would only cost $12, so I went to the hockey game, too. We got there just in time to see a horrible move—Harvard had scored! The cheering for Cornell stopped and became ‘Boo, Harvard!’ In a flash the Big Red Band played a happy tune to cheer us up. We clapped after the music stopped. Then it was intermission. We walked around the rink looking for my Grandpa. We knew where he was, but it was a long walk. He was happy to see us and we were happy to see him. Then the game started again. We cheered again and again, each time louder than the last. Cornell had finally scored! Now, the audience roared! Twenty minutes later, they scored again! Then it was intermission again. My mom bought me a Pepsi and then, back to the game! We cheered again and again! Then for the third time, Cornell scored! At last, they won the game, three against one!” We’re waiting to hear from you, too. ❖ Dinah Lawrence Godwin, Dinah.godwin@earthlink.net; and David Pattison, dpattison@earthlink.net.  We are between news cycles, so I tried an e-mail “reach out” for this column. I made a few mistakes along the way, but generally it proved to be an effective method of gathering news. Karla and I welcome news of you and friends, so please provide us with your e-mail address for future news gathering purposes! You can also provide your current e-mail info to the university via the website and the alumni link. Emil Manzo writes a long note that encompasses 1984 to the present. We present a summary of the note here. Emil moved to Florida in 1985, quickly got involved in his chosen field of Ag Engineering (selling agricultural products), and discovered that his high school sweetheart was living nearby! Annmarie and Emil moved to the Tampa Bay area and have two boys, 5 and 7. Emil is in touch with various Cornellians, including Al Rolli, who is in charge of a seafood marketing firm in New Jersey, but who travels to Florida often. Michael “Miles” Vinson lives in Sarasota with his wife Pauline and three children. Miles completed his PhD, taught at a university in the United Arab Emirates, and now writes software for a marketing company started by one of his students. Emil also tells us that Lew Senft has recovered from a serious job injury from awhile ago and now resides in Land-o-Lakes and markets ice cream. All of these folks mentioned lived in the same dorm on Thurston Ave., so this is a “shout out” to others from that dorm to stay in touch. You can reach Emil at ejm27@cornell.edu. Larry Delhagen is in Emmaus, PA, and was elected to a second term as president of the East Penn Chamber of Commerce for 2005-06. Larry works in Allentown for Ryan Beck and Co. in their Private Client Group. Terry Schillinger McLaughlin writes with the sad news that her husband died in September 2005 at the age of 44 from a reoccurrence of melanoma. Terry and her two boys want to remind everyone to get annual skin checks. Terry looks forward to hearing from classmates; you can reach her at tmclaughlin@nc.rr. com. Arlene Bluth (apbluth@aol.com) has retired from the practice of law and was elected in Manhattan as Judge of the Civil Court of the City of New York, beginning in January 2005. Arlene says, “I think it is the best job in the world—being able to treat people the right way and do the right thing all day long. I always keep in the front of my mind what Prof. James Gross taught us in the ILR arbitration seminar: every decision has to be written for the loser; it has to address all the arguments and explain the reasoning that led to the conclusion. Thanks, Prof. Gross!” Vicki Seiden Sherman (vssconsult@aol.com) sends this update from down under. The Shermans are in Canterbury, Victoria, Australia, and will return to their house in Chappaqua, NY, when their adventure is completed. Vicki’s husband works for AXA Australia and Asia, after having been in the AXA New York office. Children Alec, Katie, and Tyler are under 14 and keeping busy with swimming, tennis, and soccer. May 2006 brings the family back to the US for Alec and Katie’s bar and bat mitzvah. Tom Allon is the president/CEO of Manhattan Media, a publishing company that owns the four largest weekly community newspapers in Manhattan, AVENUE magazine (the second oldest city magazine in America), and a new magazine for parents, New York Family. This new magazine is edited by Eric Messinger ’83. Eric is married to Rebecca Tayne ’81 and they are raising their children Elena, 6, and Adam, 2, on the Upper East Side. Tom has three children, Jonah, 11, Tess, 9, and Lena, 7, and is raising them in the same neighborhood where he grew up, the Upper West Side. Tom is in touch with Steve Nachman, who is an assistant attorney general of New York State and married to Dr. Donna Better ’85. Steve and Donna live in Port Washington, Long Island, with their boys Michael, 7, and Ryan, 5. Joe Giles recently hosted a terrific Cornell Club of Philadelphia event at the Phillies’ ballpark, Citizens Bank Park. The Cornell Association of Class Officers (CACO) moved their annual Mid-Winter Meeting from NYC to Philadelphia this year, and Joe, in his role with the baseball team, hosted the “Welcome to Philly” event, where he spotted Dave Devereaux, Abbie Bookbinder Meyer ’83 and several other Hotelies. Joe, his wife Paula, and their children spent quality summer time in Bald Head Island, NC, with Curt Gilliland, his wife Cynthia Watros, their twin girls, and five other Cornell families (Paul Sheridan ’87, Geoff Koester ’85, Mike Szuromi, John Garibaldi ’85, and Jeff Cochran ’86). I received a great group photo taken on the beach—too bad it cannot be reproduced in the Class Notes. Although Curt is too modest to say it, his wife Cynthia Watros is one of the stars on the hit TV show “Lost.” Annie Higbee lives in Owl’s Head, ME (I have to look up the geography of such a pretty sounding place!), and spoke at the Waterford Inst. for Technology Design Conference in Waterford, Ireland, in March 2006. Rob Goldwasser (a Donlonite) and his wife Jenni (Katz) ’85 are paying for Cornell again! Their son Matthew was one of the many talented high school students who attended the 2005 Cornell University Summer College program. Melinda Thaler Milberg and her husband David recently welcomed their third (and final!) child. Their son Emmett Nathaniel was born in June 2005. Melinda “is taking the year off from teaching law school to enjoy their two daughters and new baby and to think about whether she ever wants to go back to work!” ❖ Lindsay Liotta Forness, fornesszone@aol.com; Karla Sievers McManus, Klorax@comcast.net. Class website, http://classof84.alumni.cornell.edu.  It’s a chilly 57 degrees here in South Florida. I’ve got the heat on in the condo. I remember days in Ithaca when the 216 Delaware girls would be lying out on the roof in this “heat” to catch some rays—long before we realized the effects of the sun on our skin. How naive and wonderful, those lazy, crazy, freedom-filled days at Cornell. Now it’s deadlines, budgets, children’s science projects, and coming to grips with the MAY / JUNE 2006 89 fact that we are at least two years over 40 at this point. Sorry, everyone—it’s true. The news is low as we near the end of another class dues year, though I did hear from four of you recently. But the time has come for each of our readers to send another update. If you haven’t done so yet, grab that recent class News and Dues mailing and send the News Form in. We are always happy to report on the normal goings-on of everyday life, as well as promotions, honors, babies, marriages, trips, or triumph over disease. Have you read a great book? Have you written a great book? What are your fondest memories of Cornell? Who would you like to be in touch with again? Write us! My life is hectic, chaotic, and full of wonderful moments of watching my 4-year-old son learn something new about this world. Like the other day when he announced to his classmates that in Florida, “a man can’t marry a man, but he can in California.” Progressive teaching, that’s what I am all about. Or that, unfortunately, he was given a holiday gift of a computer game. He plays it all the time. Now I’ll have to buy that X-Box thing and spend my life’s savings on technological things that keep our children from talking to us. Here’s the news I have. Sheri Wilensky married Tom Burke on September 25 last year and is now living in Exton, PA. Cornellians in attendance at the wedding included Ron Prague, John Spielberger, Ronee Trosterman Cowen, Lisa Reznick Mayer, and Scott Mandel. Sheila Winik Silberglied was Sheri’s matron of honor. Sheri is working for the National Headquarters of the American Lung Association. Congratulations, Sheri! Ed Catto recently joined Ogilvy’s 141 Worldwide as a senior account person in New York. This division focuses on integrated marketing and promotions for clients such as Unilever and Kraft. On the Cornell front, Ed recently championed a fundraising project for his fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha. To honor longtime houseman Hugh S. Gibbs, Ed is coordinating the remodeling and refurbishing of the fraternity’s library. Elliot Dee ’84, MA ’86, Mike Greenberg, Dave Bloom, and Bill Page have been great supporters. A preview is planned for Reunion ’06, and the official kick-off is scheduled for Homecoming. Laura J. Clark has a newborn! Not sure of all the details, but I’ll include them in my next column. Congrats! Hope you are getting some sleep, Laura! I also heard from Steve Garrison, who has been living a mere three hours north of me in Orlando, FL. He hangs out with Mickey on the weekends, he said, but works during the week as director of sales for Marriott Vacation Club Int’l with fellow DU alums Dan Autiello, Brian Miller, Dom Albanese, and Derek Baum ’88. Steve mentioned that Ed Utz ’87 moved out to California. Steve proudly boasts a 20-year marriage to wife Lisa, and has daughters Carly, 15, and Kristy, 10. Carly is starting to drive! I got a very funny e-mail from Ginny Scarola Sidman, who is enjoying life—in the manner only Ginny can! She’s raising her girls Melanie and Julia and doing a great job at it, if I may say so. Ginny recently went skiing with friends in Maine and had a great time, giving me moral support for my upcoming trip to Steamboat Springs, CO, with my fiancé! It is interesting at what different stages we are in our lives—even though we are all that 40something age together. Sheri is starting out her marriage, Laura has a newborn, and Steve is teaching his daughter to drive. Some of you may be sending your kids off to college this fall. How’s that for an emotion to deal with? So send your news, please! It can be about anything, or nothing, or maybe you just want to find your old roommate, or tell a story about something that happened 22 or so years ago. Whatever we do makes an impact on this earth. Share your life. Send info to: ❖ Joyce Zelkowitz, jmcornett@bell south.net; or Leslie Nydick, Lnydick@aol.com.  This month brings some interesting news from classmates on the healthcare front. Robert McKersie’s memoir, In the Foothills of Medicine, which describes his experiences with inner city patients as well as his medical treks to remote villages in Nepal, was published in 2005. Robert is a family physician who works on Chicago’s South Side and travels regularly to Nepal, where he volunteers his time as a doctor and teaches physical diagnostic skills to Nepalese healthcare providers. Susan Hirsch Levy Cantor recently joined Schering-Plough Consumer Healthcare (known for Claritin, Coppertone, and Dr. Scholl’s) as director, business development. Outside the office, Susan continues her interest in volunteerism: she was recently appointed to the board of directors of United Way of Greater Union County. Susan and her husband Josh reside in Westfield, NJ, and enjoy a hectic Bradyesque life with a combined five children. Gail Isaacson and family of Gaithersburg, MD, recently purchased a business in Bethesda. The Village Green Apothecary (www.myvillage green.com) is a blend of traditional pharmacy and complementary medicine, along with a compounding department. “We have some very exciting things going on at our store,” Gail writes. “We just started scheduling appointments with our four nutritional experts with a no-risk guarantee. And along with having extensive selections of nutritional herbal and homeopathic vitamins and supplements, we have a fullservice traditional pharmacy and a compounding pharmacy, which produces prescription and individualized nutritional formula products that can be custom-made.” Other movers and shakers who’ve reached new heights: Appropriately, Jeffery Weaver, MBA ’90, of Shaker Heights, OH, wrote of his new position, executive VP and group head, portfolio management, at KeyBank. Jeff Dunlap reported, “As of January 1, I have taken over as chairperson of the Employment and Labor group of my law firm, Ulmer & Berne LLP.” U&B is a firm of 190 lawyers with offices in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Chicago. Last August, Diana Collazo rejoined the Boston office of Fish & Richardson PC as counsel in the firm’s Patent Prosecution and Strategic Counseling group. She focuses on biotechnology, chemistry, and medical sciences. Prior to her return, Diana worked as an in-house attorney at Wyeth on patent matters relating to biotechnology. In January, Steve Dorritie of Syosset, NY, joined NorthMarq Capital after nearly two decades of experience in the mortgage and real estate business. He previously served as a principal and advisor for SplitRock Property Group and as director of commercial real estate for Washington Mutual. NorthMarq Capital is a national real estate investment banker providing financing for commercial real estate, including office, retail, industrial, and multi-family developments. Steve offers his free time to coaching his three sons (twins Michael and Matthew, 12, and Andrew, 9) in youth soccer. Sari Gelfman-Harner is president of Know A Baby LLC, an educational video company “devoted to children and their world.” The “Know A Baby” DVD released in December for children 3-48 months is designed both to stimulate a child’s imagination and activate the senses. Check out www.knowababy.com for more info. Correction Dept.: Our apologies to Rajat Bannerji, MD ’95, whose name was spelled incorrectly—three times!—in the March/April issue. Hope to see you at our 20th Reunion! For up-to-date info, visit http://classof86.alumni. cornell.edu/reunion2006.html. ❖ Hilory Federgreen Wagner, haf5@cornell.edu; and Donna Mandell Korren, donna@elementsmagazine.com.  First I bring news from our Class President as he heads out to Philadelphia for this year’s Cornell Association of Class Officers (CACO) Mid-Winter Meeting. He reminds us that reunion is right around the corner and our intrepid officers will be turning their attention to this at the meeting this year. You should be hearing plenty about our 20th (yikes!) in the months to come. We are going to need everyone out there to make sure that this is the year you bring a new classmate into our fold. If you are reading this, then you are already a duespayer. We want to get others who have not signed on this year, last year, or maybe never in the years since graduation to come on board as a duespayer! We reached 84 percent of our goal for duespaying classmates (485 of 600). We would really love to know why some classmates who have been duespayers previously did not pay their dues last year. If you know of classmates out there who haven’t paid, reach out to them, because this is the year to get involved and get geared up for our 20th Reunion. Here is some news from the latest gathering of your hard-working class officers. In attendance at Mid-Winter Meeting were Fred Barber, John Gee, Melissa Hodes, Eileen Napolitano, Scott Pesner, Heidi Russell, Stacey Neuhoefer Silberzweig, Tom Tseng, and Amy Janower Weinstein. Fred Barber has redone the website, and missing links have been updated. Fred is also planning to create an interactive class history project. Below are random shout-outs from classmates. No big theme this month, as I write this column between naps and feedings (ah, life with a newborn). Allison C. Fennell, DVM ’91, is enjoying a less stressed lifestyle in Springfield, VA. Heather Behn Hedden is a freelance indexer and website designer. She is head of the Web indexing special interest group of the American Society of Indexers. Shari Petronis Vander Gast is a 90 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE CLASS NOTES surveyor for the Joint Commission for Accreditation of Health Care Organizations, a watchdog agency for hospitals and health care providers. Jacklyn Patricia McFadden Case stays busy with her three small children and work. She and her husband run a frozen food distribution business that supplies institutions and wholesalers. She lives in the United Kingdom. Roberta Tulman Samuels, JD ’90, celebrated her 40th birthday at Mt. Tremblant in Canada with Astra Groskaufmanis, Anne Blum, Anne Drotning Alexander, Josephine Connolly Schoonen, and Lisa Sauer, MBA ’88. From Ithaca, Michael Riley Jr. has been named associate dean of alumni affairs, development and communications by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) at Cornell. Daniel and Susan Kazazean Robbins, MS ’87’s daughter Emily was one of the many talented high school students who attended the 2005 Cornell University Summer College Program. Charlie Muller took family and friends to Cornell lacrosse last year as they bid for a national championship. Verna Ng Tyree celebrated her “we’re turning 40” year with a girlfriend getaway shopping spree and spa weekend in Reading, PA. “Present were Jaea Hahn, Susan Sheu Mann, Grace Liu Spring, Sharon Holland Loucks, and myself. We had a fun time reminiscing.” Amy Janower Weinstein and her family have moved back East and are now happily settled in Chappaqua, NY. Another mover, Fred Barber took his family from Austin, TX, to the Dallas suburb of Frisco. Heidi Russell spent part of last fall in Budapest on a photography program. She’s also been showing in NYC, and her work is most excellent! Heidi also organized a topnotch happy hour at Bliss Bar in NYC in June. She and several officers brought together the classes of the ’80s for a summer celebration. Hope D. Mehlman has a new job, associate counsel at Regions Financial Corporation. So, that’s all the news for now—but I know that isn’t all of the news. So I make a personal plea to all of you out there to take a minute and send your class correspondents an e-mail with news! Or, if you haven’t done so yet, grab the News Form out of the annual class mailing and send it in! ❖ Debra Howard Stern, dstern39@yahoo.com; and Tom S. Tseng, ttseng@stanford.edu.  Greetings, fellow ’88ers! As you read this, I hope you are enjoying a warming spring, or perhaps even an early summer, in your neck of the woods. I am writing during a period of roller coaster weather patterns on both coasts. Recently, New York and points east had a snowstorm with record accumulations at the end of the same week that saw record high temperatures here in the San Francisco Bay Area. Mother Nature certainly has kept things interesting! Speaking of weather, classmate Debbie Brown sent word in her holiday greeting that she performed two weeks of Hurricane Katrina recovery duty at Chevron’s Pascagoula, MS, refinery. Chevron built a camp and 24/7 medical clinic for displaced workers and their families, gave food, ice, generators, and other supplies to employees and contractors, and donated ice and funds to the local community. Debbie said, “It was such a positive experience for me, so intensely real and affirming of the power to achieve when working toward a common goal and caring for each other.” As if that were not enough, Debbie returned to Houston just as Hurricane Rita was headed in that direction. She attempted to evacuate to San Antonio only to be caught in the incredible traffic jams. She remained behind and Houston was fortunately spared any major damage. In January, Debbie relocated to St. Paul, MN, and, after eight years with Chevron, has joined 3M’s corporate industrial hygiene division. Another ’88er with news of a move is Sara been appointed executive VP and general counsel of Crown Realty and Development, headquartered in Irvine, CA. Wendy welcomed her third child, daughter Morgan, into the world last year, joining big brothers Dermot, 6, and Connor, 2. Finally, we’ve heard from Robyn Tice, who is working at Bank of America as the head of communications for the asset management division, Columbia Management. Robyn sent in news about a number of classmates. Stefanie Morak Kalman, her husband Ken, and three children left Manhattan last summer after buying a house in Roslyn, NY. The family of Kara Danehy Maloney and husband Michael ’89 has Whatever we do makes an impact on ‘ ’this earth. Share your life. JOYCE ZELKOWITZ ’85 Miner Bailey. Sara and husband Al have moved to Champaign, IL. Sara now works for the Cabot Corp., which owns a plant in Tuscola that makes fumed silica, used primarily for polishing computer chips. The Baileys’ daughter Kathleen is 9 and in the 4th grade, while sister Melanie, 6, started Kindergarten last fall. Former class officer and regular writer Pam Darer Anderson let us know that her family got a little bigger last August with the birth of fourth daughter Kathryn Laurel. Pam is a very busy mom caring for four girls, running from art class to ice skating lessons. Pam noted that she thinks being a mom is “busier than being a Cornell student on the Hill.” Pam has been in touch with Cathy Bendor, who is “doing fine” in Washington, DC, as is Nancy Beck. Pam has spoken with Crissy Russo, who is busy with three girls of her own, and visited Tracy Sebastiano Patracuolla, another mother of three, who lives in New Jersey with her husband Dan. Thanks for all the updates, Pam! Another busy mom is Lori Schain Hiller, who works as a parent coordinator at her children’s school in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. She gets to work full-time and still see her kids Emily, 9, and Samuel, 6, quite a bit during the day. As Lori said, “A nice perk!” Lori keeps in touch with Alena Tepper Margolis in Philadelphia, Jamie Platt Lyons ’89 in Atlanta, and Amy Susman-Stillman ’89 in Minneapolis. The group tries to have a “moms’ weekend away” together once a year or so. My one-time roommate and Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity brother Ken Szydlow was recently recognized by the Greater Southern Dutchess Chamber of Commerce as one of the region’s “Forty Under 40.” The award recognizes individuals under the age of 40 who have made significant contributions to the Hudson River Valley community. Ken was recognized for his efforts as a board member on the Jewish Community Center of Dutchess County, the Vassar Temple, the Southern Dutchess Chamber of Commerce, and the Jewish Federation of Dutchess County, and for his participation as a member of the City of Poughkeepsie’s Marketing Council. Wendy Huang has continued to grow, with the addition of twins, who join two older sisters. Jana Dlouhy is still living in Colorado and is recently remarried. Kendra Eaton Smith lives in Medfield, MA, with her husband and three sons. Rebecca Church Bartlett still lives on Nantucket Island with her husband John ’87 and two daughters. Well, that’s all the reporting for this column. We are running low on news, so please take the time to fill out your News Form and mail it in when our annual class mailing arrives this spring. Update us on your own jobs, families, vacations, and general life adventures or those of any other Cornell classmate with whom you keep in touch. I hope everyone enjoys a warm and pleasant summer. Until next time, I wish you peace. ❖ Steve Tomaselli, st89@cornell.edu; and Suzanne Bors Andrews, smb68@cornell.edu.  Our chilly Vermont winter was warmed by a special visit from the Cornell Glee Club, who performed at the U. of Vermont in January. John Treadwell and I and our children had the pleasure of attending the performance, organized by local alumnus Bruce Hewitt ’61, and of hosting two of the talented singers overnight. Our guests, Justin Nisly ’06 and Matt Crooke ’06, both graduating English majors, brought back fond memories of senior year and the job search, and inspired our children both to keep singing and to go to Cornell! Continuing the indoctrination of the offspring, I will be taking the kids back to campus for Cornell’s Adult University (CAU) in July, having greatly enjoyed our first outing there last summer. What’s not to like about summer in Ithaca, unlimited chocolate milk in the dining halls (that’s the 7-year-old talking), terrific courses for the adults, and fun activities for the kids? They’re chiming in: “Swimming! Laser tag! The clock tower! The Dairy Bar!” We met some great people, including—as always—classmates I never met as an undergrad: Mary Riordan, who lives in Washington, DC, and is an attorney at the MAY / JUNE 2006 91 All the World’s a Stage ANTOINETTE LAVECCHIA ’89 a ntoinette LaVecchia calls herself a “theater artist,” a title that encompasses the variety of her work, from acting and singing to writing, directing, and producing. She’ll need all those skills in her next role: creating a play with fifty orphans in Addis Ababa, Ethi- opia. “It’s like everything I’ve done up to this point has led me to this project,” she says. LaVecchia and three col- leagues are collaborating on the trip this May to benefit Worldwide In Spite of Myself, about her relationship Orphans Foundation, a nonprofit with her Italian immigrant mother. An founded by Jane Aronson, a clinical English major, LaVecchia began her act- assistant professor of pediatrics at Weill ing career in earnest at Cornell, where Cornell Medical College, that advocates she appeared in thirty campus produc- for the medical needs of orphans tions. She’s now also an adjunct profes- abroad. The goal is to offer the chil- sor at New York University’s graduate dren, most of whom are HIV positive, acting program. a means for creative expression and to In Ethiopia, she’ll assign the chil- raise funds for their retroviral drugs. dren the same improvisatory acting “We’re going to Ethiopia with no script, exercises she gives her grad students. “I’ll because we want to tell the kids’ sto- say, ‘Tell your story and then sing it.’ Or, ries,” LaVecchia says. “My strengths lie ‘Get up and tell the poem of your life,’ ” in creating out of improvisation.” she says. “You want to see them for who LaVecchia has appeared off-Broad- they are. The second it becomes that way and at Carnegie Hall, and has writ- specific, it becomes universal, because ten and performed a one-woman show, what you see is true.” Dept. of Justice, and Mary Parente, who came up from New Jersey with her family. I delved into Architecture with Prof. Christian Otto and his wife, architectural historian Roberta Moudry ’81, PhD ’95, learning a lot from their lively lectures and inspired local tours—which even managed to include a winery! This summer I’m going to try Rowing. I figure checking off the list of things I never did while I was an undergraduate should make for quite a few fun CAU experiences over the years. Hope to see some of you there! I have some happy news to report from California. Cynthia Charatz Deculus and her husband B.J. welcomed a new daughter on January 11, 2006. Their son Julien is 3. The Deculus family recently moved to a new house in Tarzana, CA. Cynthia continues to work as an executive director at Cedars-Sinai Health System, and B.J. is focusing on his music; he is the leader and bass player for a Zydeco band, Bonne Musique Zydeco. Marisa Caruccio Khurana wrote in with a birth announcement also: she and husband Pradeep celebrated the birth of their twin daughters Asha Maria and Amita Elisa on the same weekend that their son Arjun Francesco turned 2! Marisa reports, “We moved out to Harvard, MA, just before the birth of our twin daughters. Needless to say, we have our hands full, and our home is full of joyous sounds (cries).” Via email, some news from Karen Leshowitz Colonna: “I just became general counsel of the US Insurance Ops of Allied World Assurance Co. I also recently attended the wedding of Andrea Goldschlager. Andrea, now the COO and CFO of Prism Business Media, married Nate Persily, a Penn law professor. In attendance were many ’89 Cornellians, including Dianne Nersesian, Shannon Gallivan, Rachel Hollander, Julie Holden Pollack, Steven Frank, and Shari Fagen. Even the groom’s mom was a Cornellian: Nancy Alfred Persily ’64. Julie Pollack also got a promotion in her position as counsel for Swiss Re; Rachel Hollander is now partner at Brown Raysman; and Dianne Nersesian has branched out into her own business as an intercultural and communications consultant. Hope everyone else is good.” Our class president, Debbie Schaffel, sent some news after she attended the Cornell Association of Class Officers (CACO) annual MidWinter Meeting in February in Philadelphia. Other ’89 class officers who attended were co-president Rob Chodock and secretary Michael Dabrush. Michael is also our new volunteer webmaster (thank you to him, and read on for exciting class website news). Debbie reported that Shannon Gallivan is working with class officers and class council members to plan a volunteer activity for the fall in various cities around the country. Anyone interested in helping to plan or in participating should contact her at smg38@cornell.edu. Another exciting class initiative that Debbie passed on from the CACO meeting is a plan to send this fall’s New Student Reading Project book, The Great Gatsby, to all of our classmates who pay their class dues by June 1! Book groups will be scheduled around the project, and interested ’89ers are encouraged to participate. Anyone interested in facilitating or attending a book club, please contact Rob (ric4@cornell.edu) or Debbie (cornellian89@yahoo.com). Debbie also notes that our class website is being updated again and should be everyone’s first stop for all things Cornell. Check it out at http://classof89.alumni.cornell.edu and check back frequently for new additions. Note that on the Cornell alumni website (www.alumni.cornell. edu) there’s a quick-and-easy link for you to send us your news! Please try this new way of keeping in touch, or keep e-mailing your updates to one of your correspondents: ❖ Anne Czaplinski Treadwell, ac98@cornell.edu; Mike McGarry, mmcgarry@dma-us.com; Lauren Hoeflich, laurenhoeflich@yahoo.com; and Stephanie Bloom Avidon, savidon1@hotmail.com.  Happy Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Father’s Day, and first day of summer! Can’t wait for that last one. Oregon’s winter rains made me think I could sell a book titled Ark-building for Dummies—but I’ve kept your news high and dry! Former class correspondent Kristyn Benziger Whitney and husband Scott welcomed Katarina Scott Whitney on July 11, 2005, after a whopping two days of labor. Wrote Kristyn: “I am never doing this again!” Katarina has a big brother, Callan. Gail Hoffman Limmer has become an elementary school librarian in Uniondale, NY. “I love my new career,” she wrote. “I find it much more rewarding than my hospital/nutrition career.” Gail and husband Scott have young daughters Julia and Danielle. More career news comes from Bill Navas, who left Starwood after seven years to join Hospitality 3, a New York hospitality development and consulting company. He and wife Susanne have two young kids, Jackie and William. Dermatologist Kimberly Bazar splits her time between private practice and a county/government hospital in the San Francisco Bay Area. She and husband Anthony Yun, an analyst with Palo Alto Investors, have son Jeremy, born July 2002. Dr. Michael Giovanniello, now of Salt Lake City, helped found the SMART Clinic, a comprehensive spine clinic that 92 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE CLASS NOTES specializes in minimally invasive surgery. It apparently didn’t keep him busy enough—he and wife Christine Chen have acquired two children, daughter Andrea through adoption and son Matthew by birth. If you were at our 15th Reunion, you may have seen Nandini “Dini” Sathe Merz seven months pregnant. She and husband Stephen ’91 provide closure by announcing the arrival of Ryan Merz on Sept. 6, 2005. Sisters Asha, 7, and Nina, 5, are thrilled. Deidre Hubbard Michael and husband Mark ’89 also now have a family of five. Colin Hudson Michael joined them May 31, 2005. He has a big brother Sean and a big sister Catherine. Deidre is an attorney with Baker & McKenzie in New York. My former Cornell Daily Sun colleague John Gauch, a financial analyst with IBM in Massachusetts, reported that on Oct. 11, 2005, Helaina “Hallie” Gauch entered the world. She has a big sister Emelia. John’s wife Shari Becker published her first children’s book, Maxwell’s Mountain, in February 2006. Matt Lesnick started his own law firm in Santa Monica, CA, specializing in commercial bankruptcy, restructuring, and litigation. He had been a partner at Bingham McCutchen. Matt attended Rob Becker’s October 2005 wedding in Utah and went mountain biking in Park City with Rob and Monte Frank, JD ’93. Matt wanted it known that “Monte almost slammed into a moose.” Another vacation tidbit: Audrey Kelleman wrote from Daytona Beach, FL, that she and Sheri Appel celebrated Queen’s Day 2005, the official birthday of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, in Amsterdam. Jill Pfefferbaum married Oct. 9, 2005, and is now Jill Saverine. She is director of human resources at Priceline.com. Cornell’s Adult University (CAU) sent word that Michele Plaue Kijak participated in its summer 2005 golf clinic, taught by James M. “Matt” Baughan and the staff of Cornell’s Robert Trent Jones Golf Course. Hey, maybe Michele could work that Big Red network to score a round at the private Carolina Golf Club in Charlotte, NC: Roger Wolfe is general manager there. He’s also the father of Ben August as of Jan. 10, 2006. We hope you’ll work the network, too, by keeping your updates coming! ❖ Amy Wang Manning, aw233@cornell.edu; Kelly Roberson, kroberson@lightswitch.net; Tamiko Toland, stmoluag@yahoo.com.  Greetings to all and welcome to another reunion year for the Class of ’91. We certainly hope to see many of you on the Hill this summer for our—gulp—15th Reunion. It is so hard to believe that 15 years have passed since we marched through the Quad and into Schoellkopf Field for Commencement. So much has happened since then for all of us and it has been a pleasure bringing you the news as one of your class correspondents over these last few years. We are in the late-season part of the cycle for Class Notes and Class Dues, so we are a bit light on the news, but I will give you what we have at this time. I will start with myself, as my wife and I welcomed our fourth child—and fourth daughter— into the family. Kennedy Isabelle Smith was born on November 22, 2005. My wife had suggested the name Reagan but I figured the Republicans control enough of my life as it is, so we went with Kennedy. Everyone is doing well, and while you might pity me, the lone male in the household, it isn’t so bad. Pity me in about 12 years when I have four teenagers. I think I’ll be moving out around then. The rest of the news consists of some scattered musings from around the class. David Stern wrote to tell us that he joined Clearstone Venture Partners, formerly known as Idealab Capital Partners, and is helping them focus on technology and media investments. David wants to know if anyone has any idea where Starck Johnson and Scott Peppet call home these days. Mark Tatum was promoted to NBA senior VP of marketing partnerships. In this role he will oversee the NBA’s relationships with brands such as Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, Gatorade, and Nike and work with them to develop NBA-themed promotions and advertising. He is credited with helping Southwest Airlines in the creation of Slam Dunk One, an NBA-themed plane. I’ve been on that plane, Mark, and I have some suggestions. Give me a call sometime. We’ll do lunch. Bring LeBron James. Chris Reynolds now has two children, Casey and Ciaran. He noted that he just started with Fimat on the Credit Derivatives desk and is working alongside Sean McAuley ’89. He also recently enjoyed a golf outing at Old Memorial in Tampa with Bob Budington. Bob and his wife just had their third child, Thomas. Aram Adourian writes that he, his wife, and their children will be returning to Armenia this year to celebrate their third wedding anniversary. They were married in Armenia and have a summer home in the mountains there. An Armenian mountain getaway sounds much better than DisneyWorld. I need a new travel agent. Julie Leung has joined North Highland Co. as a senior manager in its Philadelphia office. North Highland is an independent management and technology consulting services provider. She had previously spent time working with American Water, Accenture, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Novartis. Julie is proof that an ORIE degree is very useful. That’s all I have. Again, don’t forget about Reunion Weekend, June 8-11, 2006. Events and activities are planned for all members of the family, so bring the kids and have a great time on the Hill with your classmates. Bob Baca is our webmaster extraordinaire and has an info site for us at http://classof91.alumni.cornell.edu. Check it out, stay informed, and join us in June. Until then, good luck and goodnight. Keep sending info to: ❖ Dave Smith, docds30@yahoo.com; Corinne Kuchling, kuccori@hotmail.com; Nina Rosen Peek, nsr5@cornell.edu.  When you receive this magazine we will be about one year away from our 15th Reunion. Almost impossible to believe until I read all of the updates you send and look at all of our classmates’ accomplishments since graduation. And the planning has already begun for our return to Ithaca. We are looking for volunteers to serve on the Reunion Committee for 2007. If interested, please contact either Michelle Struble Bouton at mlbouton@hotmail.com or Tracy Furner Stein at tracy@hylandgroup.com. We’ve done a lot of impressive and exciting things personally, professionally, and academically over the last 14 years. Please remember to keep sending us your updates. The annual News and Dues class mailing should have arrived recently, so if you haven’t done so yet, please fill out the form and send it in. Renee, Wilma, and I look forward to hearing the latest news about you and any of our classmates that you’ve been in touch with. Debra Birnbaum writes that she has recently started a new job at Life & Style as the deputy editor-in-chief. She said she never imagined she’d spend so much of her day on Brad and Angelina, Tom and Katie, and Jessica and Nick! Debra lives in Manhattan. Cynthia Caruso is now working in Citigroup Asset Management as a managing director in human resources. Last summer she traveled to Egypt and Jordan for two weeks on vacation, sailing up the Nile, visiting the pyramids, and going to Petra. Cynthia was in touch with Ben Matos and Matt Hagopian last Thanksgiving, and she says that they are both doing great. Tracy Furner Stein and her husband Simon had their first child last year. Evan Philip was born on August 2, 2005. Tracy notes that Evan looks exactly like Simon, which she personally thinks is a great thing! Tracy is currently the executive VP for the Hyland Group in Chicago, IL. Allison Abel-Kahn and her husband Eric have made their family four, with the addition of daughter Lily Belle Kahn on February 22, 2006. Lily joins big sister Mady, who is now almost 2. Joe and Leslie Kurzik Dragon are living in Ottawa, Ontario, with their children Max Joseph, 4, Olivia Rae, 2, and David Hans, born on October 24, 2005. Joe recently took a position with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada as the director of outreach and recruitment programs. Leslie has formed her own marketing and communications company named Dragonworks. Benkai Bouey and his wife Theresa welcomed their second child, Caeleb Edward, into the family on June 22, 2005. Big sister Kaiya Elizabeth, who will turn 4 this June, is “absolutely smitten” with her new little brother. The family continues to reside in Los Angeles. Last year, Adam Rosenberg was named the chief of staff for the Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore. In this role, Adam manages the executive department and strategic planning for the organization. Previously, Adam worked for the Baltimore-based law firm Janet, Jenner & Suggs. He also served in the Office of the State’s Attorney for Baltimore City for seven years. Adam, his wife Jennifer, and their twin daughters live in Pikesville, MD. In December 2005, Laurent Campo was named general counsel for Voxtec Int’l Inc. (manufacturers of a hand-held translation system). Prior to joining Voxtec, Laurent practiced law at several law firms in Washington, DC. John Huber will start a new job in July 2006; he will be serving as the next head of school at the Barnesville School, a Pre-K through 8 county day school of 250 students in Barnesville, MD. John and his MAY / JUNE 2006 93 wife Janine (Blanchard) have boys James, 9, and Brian, 7. Barbara Auderieth Levison checked in from Florida and reported that she and her family are doing well. She said her “girls are growing up too fast!” Her oldest, Sarah, is 8-1/2 and in third grade. Her younger daughter, Amy, is 5, and starts kindergarten this fall. Barbara works as a geriatric care manager, which, she notes, is a growing business in Florida. Vivek Chopra and I work together as prosecutors at our local State’s Attorney’s Office in Montgomery County, MD. When at Cornell, we used to drive back and forth from vacations together in my old station wagon, and now we sit down the hall from one another. Vivek is a general felony prosecutor, focusing on certain geographical areas within our community, and I specialize in prosecuting domestic violence cases. Vivek and his wife Amber have son Noah, who is 6 and “doing great.” As for me, my kids are getting bigger. My son, also Noah, is almost 5 and will start kindergarten this fall; and daughter Tali is not far behind at 3-1/2. My husband Steve and I still live in the Maryland suburbs with our kids, the dog, and (did I mention?) our minivan. As I said at the beginning of this column, it’s hard to imagine that almost 15 years have elapsed since Cornell, but it’s easy to believe when we look at how much has happened during that time. Please send us your stories soon. ❖ Debbie Feinstein, Debbie_Feinstein@yahoo.com; Wilma Ann Anderson, info@WilPowerEnterprises.com; Renee Hunter Toth, rah24@cornell.edu.  Happy spring, everyone! I have a lot of news to share this time, so I will get right to it. Several of our classmates have found themselves in locales a far cry from Ithaca. After earning an MA at Harvard and an MBA at Wharton, Monica Quock Chan worked overseas, traveled extensively, and finally settled down in Honolulu, where she started a freelance writing business. Monica and husband Stephen are enjoying life in Hawaii and wish everyone a big “Aloha!” Hiromasa Mori is an “ex-pat in Japan, having a culture shock.” Hiromasa is a director at GE Healthcare in Tokyo and has children Sofia, 3, and Antonio, 6 months. Carolyn Durand is a real estate broker on Nantucket Island. Carolyn lives with her husband Benjamin and their dogs. She recently ran the San Francisco Marathon. Congratulations, Carolyn! Sarah Hoehn married Julian Mattiello in Fiji in May 2005. Sarah is a pediatric critical care attending and assistant professor of pediatrics at the U. of Chicago. In her (no doubt limited) free time, she enjoys running by Lake Michigan with her dogs. Finally, Amanda Cramer and husband Mauricio not only live in an interesting place, but Amanda has an interesting job as well; she is a winemaker at Nine Wine Estates in Paso Robles, CA. We heard from several classmates-turnedattorneys this month. Dan Emerson recently became VP/associate general counsel of Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., a video game publisher. Dan lives in Manhattan with wife Vanessa and 1year-old twins Jack and Charlotte. Brett Halsey practices commercial litigation with law firm Tew Cardenas LLP. He lives in Miami with his partner of 11 years, Frank Zanca. Last year Robb Tretter, wife Elizabeth, and daughter Stella moved back to Manhattan from Philadelphia where Robb began working at Linklaters, a large international law firm. He says, “Stella has been keeping us both busy and we’ve all been enjoying the city.” Finally, Robert Cohen recently left his law firm and moved in-house as associate general counsel, labor and employment with Omnicom Group. Robert and his wife Heidi live in New Jersey. It’s really nice to hear that so many of us volunteer our time to good causes. Douglas Egbert has been a volunteer policeman in his neighborhood on Long Island since 2001. During business hours, Douglas is a civil engineer with the NYS Dept. of Transportation in the construction division. Debra Rine Garcia volunteered extensively with the local SPCA while she and husband Jonathan were living in Monterey, CA. The Garcias now live in Virginia, where Debra is a biology teacher and field hockey coach at the Fredericksburg Academy. She writes, “At the moment I’d rather be doing much more work with the local humane societies here in Virginia.” Courtney Erickson spent last summer volunteering as a tutor to teach literacy to inner city children. When he’s not volunteering, Courtney is a teacher and private tutor as well as a freelance sportswriter and high school basketball and baseball official living in Niskayuna, NY. Esther Semsei Greenhouse, MS ’03, volunteers at her son’s school and also for NTSAD, an organization dedicated to the treatment and prevention of TaySachs, Canavan, and related diseases. Esther is a research consultant with the Cornell Inst. for Translational Research on Aging (CITRA). As is often the case, several of our classmates have written in to announce marriages or new arrivals. Kelly Horl married Richard Limekiller on November 27, 2004 in Red Bank, NJ. Fellow Cornellians Sima Asad Ali, Laurie Appel Barkman, and Lisa Moskin were bridesmaids. Kelly is currently working in the network sales department for the CBS television network. She and her husband recently left their apartment in Manhattan and purchased a house in Middletown, NJ. Rosemarie Ferrante Hooker wrote, “My husband Dan and I had our third (!) child, Grace Stephen Hooker, on April 5, 2005. She joins brothers William, 4, and James, 20 months.” The Hookers recently relocated from Westchester County, NY, to Northern California. Tricia Tafe Williams and husband Evan, JD ’96, also have three children. Natalie Louise was born on August 17, 2005. Tricia says, “Big sibs Sophie, 5, and Owen, 3, love to visit Cornell for football games!” The Williams family lives in Troy, PA, where Tricia is a family physician. Irene Argue Christy and her husband Tom had a baby boy named Perry Thomas on December 14, 2005. Last but not least, my husband Josh and I are happy to announce the arrival of our first child. Justin Harry Fox was born on December 23, 2005. We are all doing well and enjoying life in Los Angeles. Thanks to everyone who filled in a class news form. I will report on your news eventually. Keep it coming! ❖ Erica Fishlin Fox, ericazzz@aol.com; Yael Berkowitz Rosenberg, ygb1@cornell.edu.  Greetings to one and all—hope everyone’s getting ready to “take it outside” and enjoy some warm, summer weather! I’m writing this right after the Northeast was blanketed with over two feet of snow, so I’m really hoping the weather clears up soon! Charles and Angela Chapman Haase write in from Delaware, OH, where Charles is a design engineer at Honda and Angie is a stay-at-home mom to Marcus, Elise, and Stephen. Also busy raising babies is Javier DelCastillo and wife Ann, who live in Denver, CO. Javier is a director in the corporate development group of Tomkins PLC. Ann and Javier are raising two girls, Sofia and Isabella. Lots of new parents to report! Nicole Vantuno Wagner and husband Stephen welcomed twin boys, Leo Benjamin and Calvin Theodore, on October 27, 2005. This was five weeks after defending her thesis and earning her master’s degree in microbiology from Seton Hall U., a part-time effort while she continued to work at Schering-Plough. Brian and Kirstin Licciardello Nicholson welcomed twins Emily and Colin on July 5, 2005. Paul Donahue welcomed daughter Claire in August 2005. He and wife Sarah live in Mountain View, CA, where Paul works for Azul Systems, a start-up company. Kenneth Brooks Worthington and wife Julie welcomed son Bryan Brooks Worthington on October 3, 2005. Michelle Ostrelich and Howard Schlossberg’s daughter Fiona turned 1 in January; the family lives in Niskayuna, NY. Scott Aronson and wife Jacquelin welcomed their third child, Jayne Isabelle, on November 7, 2005. And Louis Ramos’s wife Michelle gave birth to Matthew Colman Ramos in January 2006; the family resides in Washington, DC, where Lou is an assistant US attorney. Elizabeth Golluscio writes from New York City, where she is the marketing director for a technology start-up. She notes that she completed her eighth marathon in November, and recently has been busy “getting married to an MBA classmate from MIT,” spending two years in Ireland/ Italy, and then coming back to NYC two years ago. Also from New York is Yoav Irom, who lives with his wife Lisa and works as a consultant focusing on insurance and employee benefits. Enid Haley Williams reports in from Madison, WI, where she is a seamstress for a local upholstery shop. She’s starting a business called Haley Studio; go to www.haleystudio.com to check it out! Enid also reports that she was married October 30, 2005 to Erik Nielsen. Don and Sandra Lean Patterson write in from Irvine, CA, where Don is an assistant professor at UC Irvine. The family is busy raising their two kids and getting used to California, where they moved from Washington after Don received his PhD in computer science. News shorts from other classmates. Amy Unell is director of operations for Blue Plate Catering in Chicago. Marc Laribee is a dairy farmer in Lowville, NY, where he lives with wife Christina. Osa Armi Wolff lives with husband Greg ’93 in Oakland, CA. Pei Hua Ku is in the military, serving as an assistant communications department head in Japan. Jennifer Power Doubet is a 94 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE CLASS NOTES materials engineer for Medtronic Neurological in Minneapolis and lives with husband Ryan. Sanjib Kalita is a marketing manager for Citicorp credit card products in New York. And Thomas Gellert, MBA ’99, JD ’00, is vice president for Atalanta Corp. in New York City. Thanks to everyone for writing! Hope you’re enjoying the spring! ❖ Jennifer Marchant, jennifer.marchant@kraft.com, Dineen Pashoukos Wasylik, dmp5@cornell.edu; Dika Lam, dikaweb@yahoo.com.  It always strikes me as odd when I sit down to write a column for a magazine that will be published in a completely different season. Case in point, there is roughly a foot of snow on the ground in Washington, DC, as I write this column, which you are now reading well into spring. At least being downright Ithaca-esque outside puts me in the right frame of mind to write about Cornell. But let’s start first with our classmates who have escaped “Ithacation” for warmer climates. In Los Angeles, Courtney Goldstein (cagoldstein@ hotmail.com) is a managing director for attorney search consulting firm Major Lindsey & Africa and writes that what she remembers most from her time at Cornell is “track and field, Pi Beta Phi sorority sisters, and wine class.” (Note no reference here of missing Ithaca weather!) Up the coast, Jason Erdell (jerdell112001@kellogg.northwestern. edu) checks in from San Francisco, where he is a senior director for Gap Inc., and N. Holland Foote (hfoote12@yahoo.com) sends the happy news that he and his wife welcomed daughter Meghan Elizabeth into the world on July 6, 2005. In Boca Raton, FL, Rob Friedman and his wife Ruth also welcomed a daughter, Rose Natanya, on December 5, 2005. Rob writes, “Rose’s older brother Sammy Rey, 2, likes helping take care of her.” One day before, on December 4, out in the place I’d most like to be right now—Hawaii—Noelehua Lyons Archambault (noe@noeandchris.com) and husband Christopher also recently welcomed a new baby, Kaeia James. However, Noelehua’s thoughts are not far from the Northeast, writing that classmate Elif Bali married Fred Holland ’96 back in Ithaca last 4th of July weekend. Also in upstate New York, Tina Pantuso Soares is a social worker and mother of two who teaches at the University at Albany. Extracurricular activities include teaching her son to skate and making home improvements, though she admits what she’d rather be doing is “sitting on a beach!” (Wouldn’t we all!) Tina also writes that she would love to hear from old Cornell friends Kristin Manley, Juliette Sorhagen, Lanie Bittner, and Brad Suter. Tina, you’ll be happy to know that Juliette also sent in some news. Now married to Brian Fershtman, she recently celebrated the first birthday of daughter Siena, on November 14, 2005. Also approaching a first birthday, on August 17, is Jacob Shechter, son of Carrie Fox and David Shechter, who write that their 3-year-old daughter Ilana loves being a big sister. Carrie, who attended our 10th Reunion, added, “Climbing up all those hills in the sweltering heat while more than six months pregnant was not easy. I really Field of Dreams MIKE LEVINE ’93 f or his high school yearbook profile, Mike Levine submitted a quote from Peter Pan: “I’ll never grow up, never grow up, not me.” Today he’s president of Van Wagner Sports Group, a national sponsorship and media sales company that provides advertising placement for NCAA football and basketball, the World Series of Golf, Major League Baseball, and NASCAR. It’s a field that helps him remain true to that youthful promise. “Working in sports has enabled me to feel like I was able to avoid having to grow up,” says Levine.“Even though I’m an adult, dad, husband, and someone who’s trying to help grow a business, I definitely feel like that bright-eyed kid I always was.” Levine played varsity lacrosse at Cornell and discovered an interest in sports marketing while selling team merchandise during his freshman year. After working at different campus venues as part of the event planning staff, the history major managed to combine his passions for sports, writing, and marketing into a career. He started out as a publicist for CBS Sports, then moved on to Athletes & Artists, the sports representation firm owned by Art Kaminsky ’68. He joined Van Wagner in 2002 and was named president less than two years later. Since then, Levine has expanded the company and pioneered some innovative advertising concepts, such as the Allstate field-goal program, which displays the insurance firm’s familiar “helping hands” logo on the goalpost netting at more than thirty Division 1-A college football stadiums around the country. “It’s not easy to snap your fingers and bring a new idea to life,” Levine says. “It takes lots of planning, thought, and execution. But it’s a fulfilling experience to take something and make it a reality of the sports landscape.” — Matt Berical appreciated the kindness of friends and fellow Cornellians who helped push me up Libe slope, brought me cold water, and gave me a seat during the tent party.” Across the ocean, in London, Larissa Selepouchin Stockton (larissa@larissa stockton.com) is also keeping quite busy with son Harris Richard, born December 21, 2004, and her two companies Larissa Stockton Design and its sister company L. Stockton Kitchens Ltd., launched this past November. Together with husband Richard ’92, a director of real estate at Morgan Stanley, the family has found time to escape the London weather and travel to warmer climes including exotic locales like Abu Dhabi and Dubai, as well as more familiar territory like Miami. Back in New York, some of our classmates are being featured in the media. Leland Stone (leland@stonestandard.com) recently had one of his company’s “more unusual products— cloth-covered wire”—featured in the New York Times. Leland and his partner Curtis Johnson have also moved into an historic home built in 1875, and recently attended a birthday party of classmate Eliseo Rios on the rooftop of another historic building, the Bushnell, built in the 1920s. Meanwhile, Goats.com, the brainchild of New York-based classmates Jon Rosenberg and Phillip Karlsson, was the lead-in to a Washington Post article on Web comics published last summer. Goats.com, now nearing its 10th birthday (the comic debuted April 1, 1997), boasts a readership of more than 80,000 on many days. That about wraps up this installment of Class News. Don’t forget to e-mail us with your latest and greatest. Remember, if you e-mail your news to Abra or me, it gets into the column a lot MAY / JUNE 2006 95 quicker than if you snail-mail hard copies, which don’t come to us directly. If you mailed something in and haven’t seen it in the column yet, that could be why. Stay tuned. Enjoy your spring and see you in July! ❖ Alison Torrillo French, amt7@cornell. edu; Abra Benson, amb8@cornell.edu. Class website, http://classof95.alumni.cornell.edu.  Ciao from Torino, Italy—or more specifically, Sauze d’Oulx, the tiny mountain village where I’m based to cover the Olympics. I haven’t seen this much snow since the blizzard freshman year—and at least there most of it was cleared quickly. (If you don’t believe me, ask Dominique Lazanski, who’s come out to visit me from London, where she’s doing her master’s at the London School of Economics, and is staying for a PhD.) Here I’m either literally walking on ice—you haven’t seen anything until you see a bunch of macho sports reporters creep down hills like little kids hugging the edge of the ice rink—or on the equivalent of a Slurpee. My flat is at the top of a Libe Slope-grade hill, and to add to the freshmanyear nostalgia, the other day I decided that rather than fall down the icy hill, I’d tray down. People clapped when I got to the bottom. Just look for me on the US skeleton team for 2010 in Vancouver! Call this the all-nostalgia all-the-time edition the Zwerlings’ news to me—has been made partner in her law firm, Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal. She works in the firm’s New York office. On July 27, ’05 Scott and Stephanie Schwarz Sailor welcomed Jenna Lauren. “She is so amazing and growing so fast,” Stephanie writes. The Sailors have made the move from NYC to Atlanta. “The weather is great and the people are so nice.” One person we will all miss at reunion this year is Daniel Rich. D.R., as he was better known, succumbed to his six-year battle with brain cancer on Nov. 16, 2005. While undergoing his treatment, D.R. persevered through law school, earning a JD from Emory Law School, and worked for a law firm in New York City. I remember commiserating with Dan over our history theses senior year—I can still see him standing on the steps of Uris Library—but I’m going to leave the real picture of Dan to someone who knew him much better than I did. To quote Jim Papa: “D.R. was known to his friends and family as a thoughtful, kindhearted, and intelligent person who never forgot to recognize a special occasion with a handwritten card or gift. His gifts were unique: always memorable and always tailored to the recipient. Dan’s life outlook and vocal opinions were among the personality traits that made him loved by those who knew him.” The Cornell-Penn rivalry rages on ‘ ’from our humble abode. K AT E B O LT O N ’ 9 9 of Class Notes, because Alexandra Clinton wrote to tell me the Chariot is closed, thus dashing my plans for a corn nugget fest when I get back to Ithaca this summer. Alexi is currently living in Boston, completing a dietetic internship at Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center. She reports that her best friend (and former roommate) Staci Nugent is now working at a Finger Lakes winery after earning her master’s in viticulture and enology from UC Davis last year. Wedding Watch: Alicia Parlanti and Dennis “Rusty” Madison were married Oct. 8, ’05 in New Jersey. Marguarite Carmody and Sheila DiGasper were bridesmaids, and Karen Szczepanski, Erica Gantner, Tim and Robyn Tuttle Burns, Darcy Peterka, Gina Saline Accordino, Geraldine Zikely, Chris and Denise Kothe Monti, and Dave Pospischil attended. “It poured on the day of the wedding, but we still had a great time,” Alicia e-mails. The couple are living in Jersey and both working in sales, Alicia for Myriad Genetic Labs and Dennis for US Foodservice. Congrats to Brian and Jessica Dalewitz Zwerling on the birth of Jacob Seymour on Feb. 1, ’06. Jessica recently completed her neurology residency at Montefiore Medical Center and is currently doing a fellowship in neuromuscular diseases. She says she’ll be staying at Montefiore as an attending next year. Brian is an ophthalmologist. Rachel Balaban—who first reported Funeral services for Dan were held in Manhattan on Nov. 20, and 18 of his DKE brothers came from across the country. According to Jim Papa, Adam Hocherman ’97, Matthew Mariani ’97, Jeremy Mason ’97, and Matthew Organ ’97 delivered moving remarks at the request of the family, telling stories that made mourners alternately smile, laugh, and cry. Other brothers in attendance included Brent Benkovic, Michael Greenberg ’97, Robert Halpin ’97, Blair Jenness ’97, Matthew Kirouac ’97, John Konstant, Jason Lipman ’95, Matthew Lusky ’95, Eric Neumann, Dean Pourakis ’97, Charles Spaziani ’97, Andrew Yakoobian, and Greg Yenik ’98. Plans are under way to memorialize him at the DKE Lodge (13 South Ave.) during Reunion Weekend on June 10 at 5 p.m. All who knew Dan are invited to attend. ❖ Courtney Rubin, cbr1@cornell.edu; Sheryl Magzamen, SLM1@ cornell.edu. For updated class events, news, and resources, visit http://classof96.alumni.cornell.edu.  I was recently at a friend’s party playing a cutthroat game of Cranium Turbo. I was doing well and getting answers quickly. I heard one person ask another, “How’d she do that?” The reply? “She went to Cornell!” Ahh, that seemed to say it all. Here’s what some of you are doing with our great Ivy League education. Kevin Cronin (Kevin.Cronin@clarkrealty. com) is currently working as a development executive with Clark Realty in San Diego. His present task? Building housing for the US Navy throughout San Diego County. In his spare time he keeps active by surfing with Ian Hafner ’98 and Joe Rossettie ’98. Also in California, Lisa Schwartz is completing her third year at Stanford Law School and will soon be moving cross-country to work at a law firm in New York City. While Lisa is preparing to leave California, Rachel Sprague Roseman (rachelroseman@eventsbybellissimo.com) and her husband recently moved back, setting up in Los Angeles. Rachel opened her own wedding planning business in Beverly Hills, while her husband is busy with his own new company. When not being a budding entrepreneur, Rachel is busy traveling to Australia and Hawaii. Rachel, maybe you can help Paula Gerber Gore pack for her trip. Paula (paulaannegerber@yahoo.com) is busy getting ready for a six-month trip to Sydney, Australia, with her husband Pankaj. In the meantime, she is working as an epilepsy fellow at the Barrow Neurological Inst. in Phoenix and keeps busy in her spare time with lots of hiking, dancing, and, of course, traveling. Enjoy your trip! Dropping us a line from the Garden State is Kristen Petersen (tscankris@cs.com). Kristen reports that she moved to New Jersey in 2001 and graduated from UMDNJ Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in 2004. She and husband Tom have sons Matthew, 4, and Michael, 2. Congrats, Kristen—that is a lot to accomplish in five years! Reminiscing fondly of Collegetown Bagels is Melissa Toner Lozner (melissatlozner@hotmail. com). Despite having a “day” job as an attorney, Melissa is busy with her infant daughter Ava Emerson Lozner, born in 2005. She and husband Josh reside in New Jersey with Ava and dogs Quinn and Stella. Sara Kelley and Doug Haden: if you are reading this, Melissa wants to hear from you! Jeffrey Chiou (jcc15@cornell.edu) and wife Ketty announce the birth of their son Maximilian in November 2005. The family currently lives in New Jersey. Welcome, Maximilian! Also keeping busy with a little one is Zsofia Leranth-Nagy (zsofia.leranth-nagy@yale.edu). Zsofia and Csaba Nagy welcomed a baby girl in 2004. She also keeps occupied as a financial analyst for the Dept. of Ob/Gyn at Yale U. Let’s say you have a great idea for a book, but you aren’t sure how to put it down on paper. You need the services of Kristin Loberg (pipsterk@ netscape.net), an independent professional writer and editor, working out of Los Angeles. In addition to getting great ideas on paper, Kristin trains for triathlons and continues to expand on her Cornell “Wines” education. She was also recently married to Lawrence Karasek in a California vineyard. Classmates Nancy Doon, Danielle Ledoux, Randy Martel, Jonathan Kruszynski, and Bob Delfierro were witnesses to the nuptials. The Honorable Harry J. Loberg ’57, BA ’59, presided over the ceremony. Our new class news forms have resulted in some great updates from classmates. Just because you forgot to send yours in when you paid you class dues doesn’t mean it’s too late. We want to hear from you! If you want to hear from a 96 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE CLASS NOTES particular classmate, send in a request and I’ll try to fit it in the column. For example, I’ve lost touch with my sophomore year roommate, Jessie Colwill Souther. Jessie, if you read this, send me an e-mail! ❖ Sarah Deardorff Carter, sjd5@cornell. edu; Erica Broennle Nelson, ejb4@cornell.edu.  The week we put this column together, the groundhog saw its shadow, and it looked like winter was here to stay for a while. So we allowed ourselves to indulge in a bit of fantasy, and started picturing in our mind the day when this column would come out in print and reach your hands. It’s now May. We can almost hear the chimes playing from atop the clock tower. It would’ve been Slope Day back in Ithaca. Ithaca . . . doesn’t it remind you of a land that you heard of once in a lullaby? Doctors and Lawyers and Teachers, oh my! Tara Kilfoyle is employed as an attorney for the US Court of Federal Claims in Washington, DC. She married Stephen Burks in June 2005, and the couple reside in Alexandria, VA. Stephen is employed as an electrical engineer with the Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Lab in Fort Belvoir, VA. Jake Mincemoyer, JD ’01, lives in Hoboken, NJ, and works for White & Case LLP. Emily Lane Kennedy is an attorney for Allen Matkins Leck Gamle & Mallory LLP in San Francisco. Lenor Marquis is an associate at Heller Ehrman and has built a pro bono practice with both breadth and depth while balancing her responsibilities at the firm. Lenor represents numerous children with disabilities in special education matters with an organization called NYLPI. In addition, she also represents homeless clients in public benefits and housing matters. Sam Bleuez lives in Liverpool, NY, and is a first-year cardiology fellow at SUNY Upstate Medical U. He has been spending his time playing with his 9-month-old son Andrew, born Jan. 3, ’05. He reported that his fondest memory of Cornell is the great times with friends. Jack Lu wrote in 2005 that he was in his third year of internal medicine residency, also at SUNY Upstate Medical U. He is doing a chief resident year in 2006 and will be applying for a heme/onc fellowship for after that. She’s off to see the . . . Willard? Jennifer Reese married Jon Reichard ’96 in August 2005 at the Plantations Arboretum and had a reception in Willard Straight Hall. Jennifer is keeping herself busy these days: she is teaching science education classes at Boston U., getting a greeting card business off the ground, and doing lots of yoga! She wrote that she’d rather be hiking in Costa Rica, however, and would like to hear from Jen Rosen. Somewhere over the rainbow . . . um, we mean, on the other side of the country, Amy Peterson and her husband recently bought a house in the Miraloma Park neighborhood of San Francisco. Amy has been working on her decorating skills and is also enjoying cooking in her new kitchen. She just started a new job at Autodesk Inc. as a project manager on the AutoCAD product. The couple wrote that they were looking forward to traveling to New Zealand and Fiji for three weeks in Feb/March 2006 to celebrate their first anniversary. Congratulations! There’s no place like . . . Uris Library. Amanda Lovallo’s memories of Cornell include the beautiful scenery in Ithaca, and being too stressed out in Uris Library to appreciate it! She is currently an emergency medicine resident in Pittsburgh, PA. She works a lot and dreams of being able to go traveling! For Gwenn Lazar, there’s no place like home. She bought a brownstone near her hometown in Albany, NY, that was built in 1872, which requires quite a bit of work in keeping up, but oozes charm. She lives there with Dustin Roller and a Yorkshire terrier named Princeton (when they get a bigger house, they will get a bigger dog and name it Cornell). Gwenn and Dustin both work for a company called NY Wired for Education in Albany (run by a Cornell alum). Gwenn is the director of client services (similar work to consulting), and Dustin is the VP sales and marketing. For fun, Gwenn was certified as a personal trainer and has a good time keeping active on the side. She also volunteers on the Foundation Board for a local hospital. They visited Cornell a number of times in the past few years and report that it is still beautiful, though Class of ’28 Hall is gone, and the Engineering Quad has changed quite a bit. Gwenn keeps in touch regularly with Cori Cunningham (NYC), Stephanie Bell (Sydney, Australia), Ariana Smith (Philadelphia), and Allison Davies Norton (Boston). Allison got married in Canandaigua, NY (a few lakes west of Cayuga) in August 2004. Cornellians that participated in, or attended, the wedding included Erin Brennan, Ally Byrne, Kate Cable, Lisa Viggiano Chamberlin, Meredith Gertler, Gwenn and Dustin, Jen Landers Neveu ’97, BS Ag ’98, Woody Sankar, Ariana Smith, and brother of the bride Randy Davies ’95. After several years in NYC and a ski season in Park City, UT, Allison and husband Greg have been living in Boston since 2002, where Allison works in development for Tufts U. Because, because, because, because, because . . . Because of the wonderful things you do, because we love to hear about them, because your classmates want to know what you’ve been up to . . . send news and updates to: ❖ Erica Chan, hc31@cornell.edu; and Gregg Herman, gdh5@cornell.edu.  Sometimes the task of a class columnist is best accomplished by letting you all speak for yourselves. Welcome to a Class of 1999 special edition column: “In Their Own Words . . .” “After a grueling and often painful four years,” Doctor Marissa Perman graduated from medical school at the U. of Maryland. Marissa is headed to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center to pursue a career in pediatrics. Another new doctor, Pierre Loredo, graduated from the U. of South Florida medical school and will be completing a pediatric residency at Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital in Pensacola, FL. For those looking for advice on Florida’s beaches, Pierre says: “As someone who grew up in Miami Beach and went to med school in Tampa Bay, I assure any and all that Pensacola has the most beautiful beaches in the State of Florida.” Maria-Richetta Camille Harris completed her veterinary degree at Mississippi State U. “I just got back from South Africa, where I worked with a wildlife veterinarian on white rhinos, giraffes, and other animals. I’m now working at the Wildlife Center of Virginia caring for native wildlife—deer, eagles, hawks, owls, turtles, snakes, bats, etc.” Kate Bolton married Steven Antonelli last May. On marrying a Penn grad, Kate writes: “The Cornell-Penn rivalry rages on from our humble abode in Mahwah, NJ. It extends from sports to whose mascot is wimpier to what color red sheets we have.” Kate works in circulation for Newsweek magazine. Blair Barton-Percival attended the U. of Michigan. “I obtained my Master of Social Work and my wife Rachel—both in one year!” Their son Cole Thomas John Percival was born in September 2004 and can already yell, “Go Big Red!” Jennifer Kantor Gershberg and her husband Michael welcomed Matthew Harrison Gershberg on September 21, 2005. The new mom reports: “I’m loving maternity leave, but am finally going back to work in March. I’m savoring the time between now and then!” “I started up a company softball team at Cree Inc., and we won the championship in our first season.” So writes Ed Hutchins, former member of the Big Red Pep Band and current manager of the advanced devices epitaxy lab at Cree in Raleigh. Jay Wang reports: “After 6-1/2 years in Portland, OR, I’ve just made the jump from newspapers to the online world, leaving the Oregonian for ESPN.com, where I’m a general editor. I’ve also traded raindrops for snowflakes, so bear with me while I adjust to winter again. On the plus side, Connecticut doesn’t shut down because of an inch of snow.” Class of 1999 president Sheyna Horowitz graduated from UVA Darden with her MBA last May, along with classmates Rob Gaige and Anna deVera Walker. After a cross-country trip through 23 states, Sheyna will start work at the corporate office of Home Depot in their general management rotation program.“It’s a two-year stint, with six months spent on the floor of a retail store selling hammers, appliances, and paint!” Katherine Ng writes: “Since my Cornell days, I have dallied in graduate school, software programming, disaster relief, financial planning, and global manufacturing to now end up in what is my most interesting challenge yet—starting a new entertainment company (PeachCraft Entertainment). I am so passionate about the work that we do that I wish I could show more people how creativity can touch all of our lives in a way that makes us more productive and appreciative of the powers we wield.” We’re guessing she was always a daredevil, given that Jena Ferrarese’s favorite Cornell memory involves “riding down from the Ag Quad to Stewart Ave. on the handlebars of a friend’s bike.” Jena spent last summer as a helirappel firefighter for the Salmon-Challis National Forest. (FYI, helirappelling is the deployment of qualified personnel from a hovering helicopter by means of an approved rope, descent device, and ancillary equipment. Yikes!) This winter she worked assorted jobs with the US Antarctic Program at McMurdo Station and writes, “I’m pretty darned satisfied with my life.” Thomas Feeney writes, “After I graduated from Fordham Law last May I realized just how much I missed Cornell, so now I’m bringing my two little children and my wife back to Ithaca. I received a Cornell Fellowship to pursue my PhD MAY / JUNE 2006 97 in Policy Analysis and Management. Don’t all the ’99ers wish they could go back?” Finally, a quick round-up of the latest crop of graduate school news: Jennifer Ann Mautone earned her PhD in school psychology from Lehigh U.; Julie Wojslawowicz received her PhD in human development from the U. of Maryland; Fadwa Hasan graduated with her master’s in human resource development from George Washington U.; Andy Chen graduated from U. of Chicago with an MBA in analytic finance; and Suzann Moskowitz graduated from Stanford Law School and now practices law at Ulmer & Berne in Cleveland. Have something quotable to say? Write to us! ❖ Jennifer Sheldon, jennifer.sheldon@gmail. com; Melanie Arzt, snoopymel@gmail.com; or Jess Smith, jessica@fenton.com.  I remember meeting Oceane Aubry in my freshman writing seminar first semester. I can’t believe it is almost 10 years later and she is now an associate veterinarian! She works with small and exotic animals at the Katella Animal Clinic, a small private practice in Southern California. That’s awesome, Oceane! Also enjoying warm weather is Cindy Aixmar Salgado. Cindy is a manager at El Verde Field Research Station, Inst. for Tropical Ecosystems Studies at the U. of Puerto Rico. She also began a master’s program in environmental management, concentrating in natural resources conservation at Universidad Metropolitana in San Juan. Shannon McCann Rand has become quite the entrepreneur here in New York City! She started her own personal training and nutrition counseling business, and also teaches a nutrition class at Marymount Manhattan College. Shannon even appeared on CBS’s “Early Show” to do an exercise segment! She has been enjoying life: exploring NYC restaurants, skiing, traveling, and collecting local wines. Also running his own business, Ross Siegel serves as the president of Reignition Recordings. When he isn’t making music, he volunteers for Human Rights Watch. Ross also just started full-time at the Stern School of Business at NYU, where he is working toward his MBA. Just over the bridge from Manhattan, Matthew Lewis is here in the Heights, where he lives with his wife Shireen. Matt is the regional scientific manager for Procter & Gamble Pharmaceutical, and is responsible for professional relations, scientific education, and patient outreach in the NY/NJ region. He also enrolled in the doctoral program for health education at Columbia U. In his “spare” time, Matt participates in volunteer building activities, and loves spending time with his wife, family, and friends. Donna Rancourt married Jereme Frigon on September 10, 2005 in West Forks, ME, where they currently reside. Jane Erica Feinson Coulter was a bridesmaid, and said it was an “absolutely beautiful day!” Donna is working as a bookkeeper for Jereme’s parents, but makes time for all her hobbies: candle-making, learning to sew, and enjoying the outdoors (hunting, fishing, and hiking with her new husband). Another happy couple, Sarah Fogelman and Dave Sachs married on July 4, 2005 in Saratoga Springs, NY. The two had met while working at Kraft Foods. Sarah’s bridesmaids included Cindy So, Elizabeth Martin Smith, and Meghan McCamey McIlroy ’99. Guests included Mara Brandsdorfer, Ben and Anna Rubinsztajn Graves, Joy Yoskowitz ’99, Jon Adler, and Andrea Ludwig. Sarah and Dave also recently bought an apartment in Manhattan on the Upper West Side. Sarah is still enjoying teaching science at Hunter College High School. I hope to see the cute couple around the city! Lucinda Neilon married Nathan Schettler ’01 in April of last year. The newlyweds are busy working on their new home in Wisconsin. Lucinda is an attorney specializing in employment litigation, and is proud to say that she finally obtained her US citizenship. Congratulations to all! Michael Zalar is a HOST Technology Center leader at Hemlock Semiconductor Corp. He’s been having fun testing his skills at indoor soccer. And last July, he went to San Francisco to run the marathon with Ron Paryl. Mike finished 48th and Ron finished 58th. While there, they met up with classmates Brice Wu and Mike Filler. Sarah Gish Powenski is an attorney at Blank Rome LLP in Philadelphia. She practices in the areas of business immigration law and labor and employment law. Shenyarai Pellerin is still a middle school science teacher, but unfortunately had to be evacuated after Hurricane Katrina. She hopes to one day teach again in New Orleans. We’ll keep our fingers crossed for you, Shenyarai! Shirley PuiWa Li is hard at work as an AVP senior analyst at Bank of America, but when she gets the time off, she takes advantage of the outdoors and goes hiking and rafting. Valerie Fristachi is living in Forest Hills, NY, and reports that she is still at working at Accenture as a technology consultant. Recently, she has been doing a lot of consulting for a federal client in D.C. and Kansas City, but she doesn’t mind the traveling because she is racking up the frequent-flyer miles! Valerie has been using those miles to attend lots of weddings, including Alla Brodsky and Vadim Yapnyar’s in August and Michael Seidman and Lisa Galluzzo’s in November. Last but not least, it’s great to hear from former class council member Kim Melson-Lee. Kim wrote us from Reston, VA, with all the great news the Lee family had this year! Kim was promoted to manager at Accenture in September, and her husband Blair Lee ’99 decided to change careers and pursue the field of medicine. Blair has already received acceptances at five medical schools! But the best news of all is the most recent addition to the Lee family, Emerson Ji-Eun Lee, born on November 18, 2005. The couple fondly calls their newborn daughter Emmy, for short, and now spend all their free time being proud, glowing parents. Congrats, Kim and Blair! Remember, we love hearing from you and love writing for you, so keep the news coming! ❖ Andrea Chan, amc32@cornell.edu; Christine Jensen Weld, ckj1@cornell.edu.  In just over a month, we will be returning to campus for our first reunion on June 8-11, 2006. The Class of 2001 Reunion Headquarters will be in Clara Dickson and if you would like to help with reunion preparations, please send an e-mail to classof2001_reunion@cornell.edu. Abby Wells is working as an analyst for the US Dept. of Defense in Washington, DC, while pursuing her second master’s in strategic intelligence from the Joint Military Intelligence College. After graduating from U. of Virginia Law School and passing the Bar, Natalie Rosenfelt is also working for the federal government as a lawyer in the antitrust division at the US Dept. of Justice. Christian Elwell, based out of Ithaca, NY, is running a rafting expedition company in Alaska May through October and then managing a cucumber farm in Honduras during the winter months. From New York City, Bianca Taxman reports that she is working as an art director for Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising. Last year she filmed a commercial for Nintendo in Toronto, Canada. Her younger sister, Ilana Taxman ’09, was a freshman this past year and now they have common college memories to share. Jill Newman Schaffer, ME ’02, has found a way to fully utilize her engineering degrees— without working as an engineer. In August, she and her husband Tim relocated to Ithaca, where she now works as the assistant director in Cornell’s College of Engineering Admissions Office. Her youngest sister, Susan Newman ’08, is also at Cornell. Reporting from the other coast, Scott Gallic is working as an environmental analyst at Kimley-Horn and Assoc. in San Diego, CA. Several classmates from North Carolina recently checked in. Monica Marusceac was winged (i.e., designated a Naval aviator in the Marine Corps) last May and has been attending pilot training at the Harrier Fleet Replacement Squadron in Cherry Point, NC. She will soon be relocated to Yuma, AZ, where her husband, Ramzy Ayachi, is already stationed. When not training to fly, Monica is training to be a yoga instructor. A “refugee” from Hurricane Katrina, classmate Enjoli Lawhorn is currently teaching high school math in Greensboro, NC. She had previously been teaching at the middle school level in New Orleans and working toward her master’s in public health from Tulane U. When not on the road working as a race engineer for number 31 Cingular NEXTEL Cup Car 37 weeks out of the year, Jeff Curtis lives in Mooresville, NC. On the advanced degree front, Lauren Tingey is pursuing a master’s in public health at Johns Hopkins U. and a master’s in social work at U. of Maryland. Also at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Sophie Aiyer is studying mental health. Along with Mehreen Yousaf, Sunghee Sohn is attending New York U. for graduate studies in global affairs. Last November Sunghee met up with Diana Tyler and Erin Bordley at the annual Ski Ball in NYC. Miriam Ordonez Clifford will be completing her master of arts in teaching this June. She and her husband Lt. Adam Clifford currently live in Yelm, WA. Joanna Samuelson has been working on her MBA at Babson College in a one-year program in Charlton City, MA. When not working as a nurse’s aide, Michael Agyei has been traveling extensively. Last August he took the MCAT and is looking forward to reunion in June. Also on the medical front, Ryan Nelson graduated from medical school at SUNY 98 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE CLASS NOTES Buffalo in 2005 and is currently a resident in internal medicine at the U. of Rochester, Strong Memorial Hospital. Jennifer Young is a first-year urology resident at the U. of California, Irvine and enjoys living in Southern California. After once boldly claiming that he would never find himself in the Northwest, Pete Dryer visited twice in 2005 and spent two months last fall in Portland, OR, for medical school electives in infectious diseases and internal medicine. Back in Toledo, OH, Pete has been preparing to enter an internal medicine residency program. Nicohl Merrill Swartley has been working as a loan officer for Farm Credit of Western New York since graduating. She is a 2004 graduate of Leadership Genesee and chaired the 2005 Genesee County Chamber of Commerce Agriculture Committee. She and husband Kyle had their first child, Kaleb, on May 20, 2005, and last October they moved to Seneca Falls, NY. Congratulations also to Thomas ’03 and Nicole Kordziel Downs on their July 9, 2005 wedding at Sage Chapel. Send news to: ❖ Trina Lee, TKL6@cornell.edu; or Lauren Wallach, LEW15@cornell.edu.  Well, we are almost through a non-winter in New York City! Graduation is a couple of calendar page turns away, and I look forward to doing some traveling between then and making my return to the real world with a full-time job, a normal sleep schedule, a cured addiction to “CSI” re-runs, bills I can pay, and everything. Until then I am working part-time at Bank of America in the Learning & Organizational Effectiveness group for the Global Capital Investment Bank, where I don’t even have to leave the office to get to an ATM. As always, I have some fascinating work experiences to report from our classmates. Cheryl Engelhardt writes, “I have been living in Harlem for a year and have been promoting my 2004 debut album release, ‘Shoes Off and Run.’ It is a rock album incorporating funk and jazz influences. My band and I have been playing all over the East Coast, as well as a recent tour of Texas.” Cheryl has worked with several other Cornell alums, including a few from the Cayuga’s Waiters and Nothing but Treble a capella groups—Jeff Solomon played saxophone on the album. Cheryl would love to spread the word—and the music (www.cbemusic.com). “I still cherish my Cornell experience. It is everything I am today and much of what I hope to be in the future.” David Carlucci was elected in November 2005 to the office of Clarkstown Town Clerk, the youngest person currently holding the position in the State of New York. David accomplished this by beating an incumbent who had held the office for 28 years. He has also been recently appointed to the position of marriage officer and would welcome any Cornell alumni who wish to have their marriage officiated by a fellow alum, provided they come visit him in Clarkstown. David can be reached at d_carlucci@town.clarkstown.ny.us, or visit his website www.davidcarlucci.com. Ken Meyer is back on the Hill as a 1L at the Law school. He claims that “Cornell is as rigorous as I remember it!” Ken spent the last three years working as a paralegal at the US Attorney’s Office SDNY. What he’d rather be doing now? “Sleeping!” His fondest memory of Cornell is watching election night 2000 at the Daily Sun office. Mike Suppe recently sent in an update: “I have been selected for the prestigious Newton Fellowship offered by Math for America, a non-profit educational firm striving to improve math public education by recruiting highly qualified professionals to teach in urban schools. As part of the fellowship I will earn a tuition-free master’s degree at Teachers College, Columbia U., in addition to receiving stipends totaling to $90,000.” Upon earning his degree, he will teach math in a Manhattan high school for four years. Mary Pat Craver is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Dept. of Medical Neurobiology and Immunology at the U. of Wisconsin, Madison. In her spare time Mary plays ice hockey with a beginner-level women’s club team at the university. While some of us are just beginning to go back to school, others are finishing up with their second degrees. Corinne McGown writes, “This past January I finished my MPH at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia and accepted a job with a boutique healthcare research firm in Manhattan.” Congratulations, Corinne! Pearl Plimpton in New York City, and John is an associate specializing in leveraged buyout transactions at the investment firm Apax Partners, also in New York. John’s father was an associate professor of Plant Taxonomy at Cornell; Heather’s father is a professor of Law at Cornell, where her mother is the dual-career consultant, helping the spouses of recruited professors find employment. ❖ Carolyn Deckinger, cmd35@cornell.edu.  Lots of news going on this month! Kay Scott-Seale and husband Bill are still in Texas, enjoying their time together and expanding their family. In the Midwest, Cathy Hermann writes, “I’ve been working with Starwood here in Chicago since graduation. I did the whole revenue management thing, and then moved into marketing, where I’m currently a regional field marketing manager. It definitely keeps me occupied and out of trouble!” Randolph Rodrigues is working with Microsoft Corp. as a senior financial analyst in their corporate development group. He is keeping himself busy not only with work, but as a Juvenile Rehabilitation Association volunteer and working with United Way of King County. Shenyarai Pellerin hopes to ‘ ’one day teach again in New Orleans. ANDREA CHAN ’00 Ann Hendrix writes, “I was admitted to the New Jersey Bar and the US District Court, District of New Jersey in December 2005 and am presently a law clerk for the Hon. Walter R. Barisonek, AJSC of the Union County Superior Court in Elizabeth, NJ. My husband Charles Jerdonek is a senior engineer at Cordis Corp., a Johnson and Johnson company in Warren, NJ.” Who is the old Cornell friend Pearl would most like to hear from? Molly Rusten ’01! Nicole Dorsky received her law degree from the Case Western Reserve U. School of Law in 2005, where she participated in the New England School of Lawás Int’l Law Program in Galway, Ireland, during the summer of 2003. She joined Gallagher Sharp in Cleveland, OH, a trial and business practice firm focused on the defense of civil claims for insurance and industry. Back in the Big Apple, Julia Ramey is starting a freelance job with New York magazine, though her work is also appearing in the Boston Globe and the New York Post. Tanvi Chheda left her job at a fashion magazine in New York to work and travel through India and Asia. Tanvi will be writing for publications in Mumbai and enjoying the food, weather, and people. “One of my favorite things at Cornell,” she writes, “was the delicious, homemade soups at Temple of Zeus— just perfect on a cold winter’s day.” Congratulations go out to Heather Hillman and John Whalen, who were married back in August 2005 at Sage Chapel. According to the announcement in the New York Times, Heather works as an associate in the litigation department of Debevoise & Elizabeth Abbett recently returned home after spending two years in service with the Peace Corps, volunteering for 27 months in Macedonia. Gideon Simpson is enjoying his third year as a PhD student in applied mathematics at Columbia U. Recent adventures include “studying in a basement office that makes Rockefeller look stunning by comparison.” He also lamented, “I’m glad I didn’t get into Columbia as an undergrad. I had more fun at Cornell than the undergrads here do.” Also in New York, Robert Profusek has “been involved with trying to produce a small, independent film and fundraiser for a Representative from Long Island.” He is currently working with Kaleidoscope Productions, a film and staging company, as an assistant producer. Michelle Silverio is a site administrator for the Montefiore School of Health Program in the Bronx after recently completing her MPH at Yale. Out in West Charlton, NY, Matthew Korona is a herd manager showing dairy cattle. Cecelia Sander is a law student at Cornell participating in AmeriCorps. Tamara Crepet is also at Cornell Law, working at the Cornell Legal Counsel’s Office and dancing (ballet) in her free time. She writes, “I am on my third year of Law school now at Cornell, on ‘leave’ from a Katrina-devastated Tulane Law School.” Martha Ann Klein is up at the Cornell Vet college on the surgery team and misses the 2002-03 rugby team. Michael Meadows is also in beautiful Ithaca working in the Architecture department and applying to PhD programs in Italian literature. MAY / JUNE 2006 99 Elizabeth Paddock is in Albany, NY, at the Albany Medical College. In addition to being a medical student herself, Elizabeth has been busy coordinating Medical Students For Choice, acting as VP of the American Medical Students Association and editor of the bi-monthly school newspaper, and training for the Chicago Marathon coming up in October. Jacqueline Dorn is finishing up her last year as a law student at Fordham Law. Piper Titus is managing a small retail liquor boutique while a full-time MBA/MPA student at Syracuse U. Amy Laport is taking classes at Duke U. while working as the director of corporate communications at Concord Hospitality. Hotelie sweethearts James and Nicole Boyar Moriarty live in Winnetka, IL. Nicole is a travel agent, and James is the president of Uber Tap. You can check out his company at www.ubertap.com. On the other side of the world, Joanne Goh is working in Hong Kong with Citigroup as a customer service officer in the Securities and Fund Meeting, and they are a brilliant bunch. Second, I had so many updates that I had to save some for the next column. So, keep the updates coming (my e-mail address is at the bottom), and don’t forget to pay your class dues so that you can keep receiving the magazine. Third, after two years of writing this column, I thought I would actually write an update about myself. After graduation, I moved to Atlanta, GA, to begin my first year of law school at Emory U. with several other Cornellians. While I loved Atlanta, I was given the opportunity to move back to New York City and work as a law clerk while attending Fordham Law School. So I packed my bags and drove back across the Mason-Dixon. It has been wonderful to be back in the City after five years away, catching up with old friends, hanging out with my College Ave. housemates, and just experiencing the City. (But I definitely miss sweet tea and biscuits, so if you’re down South please feel free to FedEx/UPS some.) Amy Elizabeth Bravo says she misses ‘ ’the corn nuggets at the Chariot! VANESSA MATSIS ’04 Services Operations. Jonathan Davis is a thirdyear medical student at UCSF School of Medicine. He writes,“Medical school is a lot of fun, but unfortunately can be all-consuming at times— mainly trying to get quality time with friends and family.” Meryl Conant in Staunton, VA, writes, “I am currently entering my second year as a general assignment reporter for WHSB N3. I am on-air every day, reporting on everything from courts, schools, and government to feature stories.” Overseas, Matt Haistings is wrapping up his Army tour in Iraq. He writes, “It’s been a long year, but I have to say that it’s been very rewarding. I’ve had the privilege of serving as a platoon leader for 55 soldiers and now as the executive officer for a unique headquarters troop. I mostly have an office job now, but have been able to get off of the base somewhat regularly and see the region. My favorite has been to fly in a Black Hawk helicopter; however, that’s not the norm. Work, work, work here. It’s also perpetually muddy. I can’t wait to get back to Colorado where there is grass and real roads!” We miss you, Matt, and wish you safe travels home in March! I’m working hard at the Olympic Hotel in Seattle and looking forward to the next couple of weeks when I will (hopefully) hear good news back from the law schools I’ve applied to. I have gotten into one already, but am keeping my fingers crossed!❖ Samantha Buckingham, swb9@cornell. edu; Sudha Nandagopal, sn58@cornell.edu.  First, our Class Council would like to congratulate the Class of 2006 on their graduation. I had the opportunity to meet the Alumni Class Council of 2006 at this year’s Cornell Association of Class Officers (CACO) Mid-Winter When I moved back to NYC, I essentially switched places with my friend Mike Janovec. After completing his first year of law school in NYC, Mike began an internship at the NorthPoint Group, a commercial real estate development company in Atlanta, in May 2005. A month into his internship, the NorthPoint Group offered Mike a position as a development manager. The decision was easy—Mike loved his work and he loved Atlanta. So he settled in Midtown and continued his work as a full-time employee performing development analysis, leasehold analysis, and due diligence work. In October 2005, following the break-up of the partnership at NorthPoint, Mike and another colleague left with their boss to form Lodestone Development LLC, which specializes in the construction of “mercantile condominiums” that offer small business owners and retailers an opportunity to build wealth and create equity through ownership of their place of business. Mike is the development manager for their first project, Ellard Mercantile Exchange, a two-story condominium complex located in the North Atlanta suburb of Roswell. Mike himself owns units, which he plans to rent. With Lodestone expecting Ellard Mercantile Exchange to be complete in late October 2006, Mike is not regretting his decision to leave law school or New York City. If you are in Atlanta or want more information on Mike’s endeavors, e-mail him at mike@ lodestonelimited.com. Congratulations to Alita Howard and her husband Karl Smolenski ’91 on the birth of their new son! Alita gave birth to little Obadiah on October 25, 2005. Amy Elizabeth Bravo is working as a freelance costume designer at various costume designing shows, which seems natural after all of her work at the Schwartz Center during her undergrad years. She says that among the things she misses most at Cornell are her friends and the corn nuggets at the Chariot! She would also love to hear from Ghetto. So, Ghetto, when you read this, call Amy! Many of our classmates have stayed close to university settings. Courtney Colton is very happy in Rhode Island, working as the managing editor of Infectious Diseases in Corrections Report at Brown U. She is also the development director for the Global Alliance for the Immunization Against AIDS Vaccine Foundation, and working as a Hepatitis C virus patient educator at the Miriam Hospital in Providence. One of the perks of her work is the domestic and international travel. She says she would love to hear from Angie Chin. Kathyrn Bach, my lovely sorority sister, has been very busy. She writes that she is in Ithaca as a grad student in the Dept. of Animal Science. She is also the alumnae advisor for Delta Delta Delta and a committee chair for Expanding Your Horizons, a program in mathematics and science geared toward girls in middle school. She is planning to return to New England and teach biology in independent and secondary schools. After spending time with Kathryn in Tridelta, I can wholeheartedly say that any student who has the opportunity to learn under her will be extremely lucky. Diana Gamzon is also in Georgia, but in Savannah working as the assistant director of events at Savannah College of Art & Design. Laura Gonzales is a graduate research assistant at Arizona State U. When she is not researching, she is exploring Red Rock country. She misses the intimacy of our campus and the close-knit friendliness of members of the Cornell community. Erin Cook, when you have a minute, e-mail Laura because she would love to hear from you. Ragavan Mahadevan is a second-year medical student at the U. of Arkansas College of Medicine. Best of luck on exams! ❖ Vanessa Matsis, vgm3@cornell.edu.  Can you believe we left the undergraduate world one year ago? It seems like only yesterday, yet so much has happened in one year. I’m already making my first move—from Philly, where I am currently a program assistant at a community arts non-profit—to Washington, DC, where I will be a community liaison and policy analyst with the White House Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. A huge change, but I’m up for the challenge. Our classmates are applying themselves all over the place, and it’s amazing to see what some of them are up to these days. At age 22, Nathan Shinagawa (D-District 4) became the youngest person ever elected to the Tompkins County Legislature. He will represent nearly 7,000 residents in the county’s most diverse and densely populated district. Nathan has been spotlighted in AsianWeek numerous times and, according to the magazine, he is the second highestranked Asian-American politician in New York State (based on the publication’s city, county, state breakdown). Nathan is not alone in local politics: Dominic Frongillo is on the Caroline Town Board, and David Gelinas ’07 (D-4th Ward) and Gayraud Townsend (D-4th Ward) serve on the 100 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE CLASS NOTES City of Ithaca’s Common Council. Dominic’s fulltime job is as a project assistant for the Tompkins County Planning Department, and Gayraud just began his third year on the Common Council. Many of our classmates have gone abroad to explore, work, and help others. Audrey McFadden works for the Stella McCartney fashion house in London. Outside of working hours she enjoys touring London and other neighboring countries, but she does miss her friends. Elizabeth Aronstam, Andrew Bennett, Lydia Gilbert, Reid Gooch, Alex Jackson, and Caitlin O’Shea are all volunteering for a year with the DREAM Project in Cabarete, Dominican Republic. They are working in several schools, teaching reading and computer skills, co-coordinating educational programs, setting up a science lab, building playgrounds, and planting and harvesting a vegetable garden. More information about the DREAM Project can be found at www.dominicandream.org. While some classmates travel abroad after Cornell, others find new paths right in the State of New York. Elissa Badean now works as a guest service specialist at the Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spa in Woodbury, NY, on Long Island. She has been working a lot and wishes she had more time for extracurriculars. Says Elissa, “I’d rather be back at Cornell, taking classes . . . [I miss] the beauty of campus, especially in the fall.” Thomas Balcerski currently works as a specialist in financial planning and analysis for Verizon Enterprise Solutions. He spends most of his free time “researching and writing ‘Cornell Acacia: The First Century,’ a history of Acacia at Cornell from 1907 to 2007.” Through this project he has been able to keep in touch with many Cornell Acacia alumni. Thomas accomplished a great personal feat on November 10, 2005, when he bowled a perfect game at Fair Lawn Lanes. Also working in NYC, Jean Woroniecki is an underwriting analyst at a commercial mortgage bank. She works many hours, attends Cornell Hotel Society events, goes out with other NYC Cornellians and AOPis, and overall enjoys NYC. Jhony Fung works as an IT consultant for portals, content management, and e-commerce with IBM Global Services. Lately Jhony has been traveling to client sites early in the week and enjoying NYC nightlife on the weekends. Ariel Brewster is finishing up her education at the Columbia U. Graduate School of Journalism and looks forward to a career in print media, writing, or editing. Daniel White, MBA ’05, is a senior strategic analyst with Intel Corp. and resides in Portland, OR. When he can, he skis on Mt. Hood, visits Oregon wineries, and runs in Forest Park. Although he has been “working too much,” he’s managed to make many trips to Arizona. He misses getting a slice of pizza on his way home from the Palms. While not working as a family employment advocate at Community Action Duluth in Minnesota, Autumn Day studies Spanish and Ojibwe, exercises, dances, stays involved with the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES), and travels. Congratulations to those classmates who have taken that next huge step in their lives and gotten married! Eric Mesa writes, “2005 was a very busy year for me. On July 1, 2005, I got married in Tampa, FL, to Danielle C. Nguyen, now Danielle C. Mesa. We had another wedding ceremony in New York City for her side of the family, then lived in Tampa while I awaited my government clearance before moving to the D.C. metro area to work for that huge bureaucratic machine known as the federal government. For any classmates missing Cornell, check out my set of Cornell pictures on flickr. com (http://flickr.com/photos/ericsbinaryworld/.” We wish you two many happy years together! As you all forge ahead with this next segment of your life, please stay in touch through the Class of ’05 column! I’m sure time flies by, but take a few moments to drop your class correspondents an e-mail, fill out a News Form, or go online to our class website (www.classof2005.cornell.edu) to keep us posted. ❖ Michelle Wong, michelle.r. wong@gmail.com; and Matthew Janiga, mwj3@ cornell.edu.  Thankfully, we can still spot many a newly graduated classmate wandering the streets of Collegetown. In fact, quite a few of our December grads are here for more education (or here to relax before they leave for more education!). Jennifer Liu is pursuing a master’s in Financial Engineering and adding a little spice to her resume this summer working for Merrill Lynch in sales and trading. The master’s program tempted Jess Sailor as well. You can find Jess “happily puttering around Ithaca, experiencing life as a grad student” as she works on her degree in Biological and Environmental Engineering. Brennan Veys started the one-year master’s program in Industrial and Labor Relations (MILR) in January. He plans to take a leave of absence to accept full-time employment with IBM Business Consulting Services this fall. Jarrett Stoltzfus is pursuing a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree at the Cornell Inst. for Public Affairs, to be completed in December 2006. Employed as a researcher at Cornell’s Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Gilda Shayan is working on a nanotechnology project to develop an in vitro model of the bloodbrain barrier. Others working at Cornell: Mitchel Feffer is helping Dean Lisa Staiano-Coico with her research on AlcoholEdu. In the fall, he will attend the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary. Bari Morris is working in a genetics lab before attending vet school next fall. Brian Warshay is keeping busy interning for Terracycle Organic Plant Food Inc. and studying for the GREs. Daniel Han is also in Ithaca, doing full-time research under Prof. Frank DiSalvo in the chemistry department. Amy Dressel is living in Collegetown soaking up one last semester of Cornell fun with her younger brother Blake Dressel ’09. Amy, if you need a movie one of these nights, you can visit fellow grad Dan Bushansky, who is “bumming around Ithaca” working at Collegetown Video until he begins working for Citigroup as a finance analyst on July 1. It seems like staying at Cornell, even for just a short period of time, is a very popular decision! Only a short drive from Ithaca, David Surrey relocated to the U. of Pennsylvania to conduct clinical research in their Heart Failure and Heart Transplant Clinic. Nicholas Cavallaro is working as a financial analyst at Lockheed Martin in Syracuse, NY, until he starts his MBA in June. Josh Litzman is working as a project manager for ArtInfo.com, a subsidiary of LTB Media, living on Long Island and commuting to Manhattan for work. In the same city, Evan Samek is working as a business analyst with Opera Solutions. Another New York City-bound grad, Cinthia Tejada started her career as a health educator for Alianza Dominicana’s H.O.P.E. Program, a communitybased organization where she is conducting workshops and running youth groups. North of Ithaca we have James Nuttall researching nuclear proteins at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Toronto. It seems many December grads just can’t resist home sweet home! Michelle Ho started work in April at Mandarin Oriental Hotel’s spa division in Hong Kong. Before that, she was home in Macau. Others hitting home: Keelah Rose, who can be found sleeping heavily to recover from all the sleep she missed as an undergrad. When she wakes up, she is heading off to France. Robert C. Markt is back at home in Shaker Heights, OH, until July 5, when he joins Toyota through their Engineer-inTraining program. Jessica Grodio is also at home, but will return to Cornell in the fall as a student in the Vet college’s dual DVM/PhD program. We of course have a couple of Teach for America recruits in our December graduate class. Tamara Alyse Urquhart will be teaching elementary school in Atlanta, GA, and Maisie Wright will be moving to the Mississippi Delta area to be a social studies teacher. Working overseas we have Alexander White heading to Kwazulu-Natal to work on a cattle farm, and Emily Dixon who is conducting volunteer research at the Social Research Center of the American University in Cairo, Egypt. Another volunteer, Edward Matthew Segal is working with AHJASA (a Honduran NGO) and the local Junta de Agua, to expand the water collection system for the community in Ojojona, Honduras. Jill Shemin is heading off to D.C. to work with the Foreign Agricultural Service in the Division of Int’l Cooperation and Development. Andy Guess is also living in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, working at AOL CityGuide. As for the West Coast, Ramisahaingotia Andriamanarivo is a health safety and environment specialist for Conocophillips at the San Francisco Bay refinery. Laura Seward has moved out to Newport Beach, CA, and is currently working as a project engineer at JJS INC. General Contractors in Irvine, CA. We also have Andrew Butts working full-time as a technical director at Pixar Animation Studios. Look for his name in the credits of the movie Cars, opening in June, as a character shading artist! Believe it or not, we are also about to leave Cornell . . . to start our own journeys, careers, and lives. Stay connected by signing up for e-mail forwarding at www.cuconnect.cornell.edu/. Keep receiving this magazine by updating your address at http://www.alumni.cornell.edu/update.htm. And let us know what you are doing by e-mailing your news to: ❖ Nicole Degrace, ngd4@cornell.edu; and Kate DiCicco, kad46@cornell.edu. Good luck! MAY / JUNE 2006 101 Alumni Deaths ’24 BS Ag—Lillian Rabe McNeill of Chester, NY, June 16, 2005; active in community and alumni affairs. ’27 BA—Dorothy “Dock” Curtis of Freeville, NY, August 23, 2005; physician; artist; taught and practiced medicine at U. of North Carolina, Greensboro; active in civic, community, professional, and alumni affairs. Alpha Phi. ’27 BS HE—Ida Hungerford McCartney of Ithaca, NY, May 31, 2005; owner of fabric, drapery, and upholstery shop. ’27, BA ’29—Gertrude Godfrey Ronk (Mrs. Samuel E., PhD ’34) of Williamsburg, MA, July 5, 2005. Kappa Alpha Theta. ’28 BA—Luther L. Emerson of Demarest, NJ, May 5, 2005; trust officer, Bankers Trust Co.; veteran; active in civic, community, professional, and religious affairs. ’28 BCE—Granget L. Kammerer of Centennial, CO, July 2, 2005; civil engineer; active in alumni affairs. Tau Kappa Epsilon. ’28 MD—Hilda Crosby Standish of West Hartford, CT, June 1, 2005; physician; medical director, Maternal Health Clinic; active in community, professional, religious, and alumni affairs. ’28 BA—Florine Glenn Van Arsdale of Bradbury, CA, October 18, 2004; homemaker. Pi Beta Phi. ’28 BA—Kathryn Altermeier Yohn of Port Jervis, NY, September 6, 2005; active in alumni affairs. Alpha Omicron Pi. ’29 J D — Abraham R. Goldman of Englewood, CO, January 26, 2005; attorney; active in alumni affairs. ’29 BA—Wilfred E. Hoffmann of Syracuse, NY, September 12, 2005; attorney; founder, Hoffmann, Hubert, and Hoffmann; represented the Onondaga Nation; active in civic, community, professional, and alumni affairs. ’29 BA—Martha Leroux Perry of Pittsfield, MA, May 27, 2005; homemaker; teacher; active in civic, community, and religious affairs. ’29 BA—Josephine Mills Reis of Sarasota, FL, August 8, 2005; received the Army-Navy “E” for distinguished work in World War II; active in community and alumni affairs. Husband, L. Sanford Reis ’29. ’30, BS HE ’31—Laura Myers Warren (Mrs. Thurman C. ’29) of Oak Park Heights, MN, August 1, 2005; active in alumni affairs. ’31 BA, MD ’34—Frederick R. Brown of Brooklyn, NY, August 23, 2005; allergist; active in professional and alumni affairs. Pi Lambda Phi. ’31 BA, PhD ’36—Jeremiah S. Finch of Monroe Township, NJ, August 25, 2005; professor emeritus of English, dean of the college, and secretary of the university, Princeton U.; authority on the work of Sir Thomas Browne; teaching assistant to William Strunk Jr.; active in community and professional affairs. Phi Sigma Kappa. ’31 BA—Leonard Gordon of Tamarac, FL, April 27, 2005; retired attorney; active in alumni affairs. Phi Sigma Delta. ’31 BA—Col. Emily C. Gorman of St. Petersburg, FL, July 4, 2005; directed Women’s Army Corps; also worked for Office of Economic Opportunity; veteran; active in professional affairs. Kappa Kappa Gamma. ’31—Robert C. Halgrim of Ft. Myers, FL, May 2, 2005; curator, Edison Winter Home Lab Museum; active in community and religious affairs. ’31—Edwin A. Hall of Brackney, PA, October 18, 2004; retired Congressman; worked for NY State Assembly and USDA; farmer; active in civic, community, and professional affairs. Chi Phi. ’31, BA ’32—Alfred W. Hopton of Youngstown, NY, August 13, 2005; owner, Niagara Industrial Labs and Cataract Labs; chemist, Hooker Chemical Co. Phi Kappa Sigma. ’32 BArch—Edmund N. Bacon of Philadelphia, PA, October 14, 2005; city planner, Philadelphia; designed Penn Center; veteran; author, Design of Cities; active in civic, community, and professional affairs. Psi Upsilon. ’32 BA—Herbert Dannett of Andover, MA, April 26, 2005; corporate attorney; active in religious affairs. ’32 BA—Marlitt Davidoff of Ridge, NY, May 4, 2005. ’32 BS HE—Jane Finney Herbert of Erie, PA, August 4, 2005; home economics teacher; active in civic, community, religious, and alumni affairs. Kappa Delta. ’32—Howard E. Kyle of Piqua, OH, May 25, 2005; co-owner, A.M. Leonard Co.; active in community and religious affairs. Lambda Chi Alpha. ’32, BA ’34—Max Slansky of McMinnville, OR, June 1, 2005; advertising executive; veteran; active in community affairs. Phi Sigma Delta. ’32 MA—Barbara Merritt Wheeler of Kalamazoo, MI, August 18, 2005; college and high school teacher; active in community and religious affairs. ’32, BArch ’33—E. Stewart Williams of Palm Springs, CA, September 10, 2005; architect; designed Frank Sinatra’s house, Palm Springs Art Museum, and other public buildings; veteran; active in community and professional affairs. Sigma Alpha Epsilon. ’33 MA—Stanley A. Burnshaw of Key Biscayne, FL, September 16, 2005; poet; anthologist; critic; publisher and biographer of Robert Frost; VP, Holt, Rinehart & Winston; established Corydon Press; editor and drama critic, New Masses; active in community and professional affairs. ’33 MS Ag—John R. Camp of Holyoke, MA, July 5, 2005; director, agricultural missions; director, Nelson A. Rockefeller’s philanthropic work in South America. ’33, BS HE ’34—Mary Ayer Davison of Waverly, OH, July 17, 2005; early child development pioneer; founder, Pittsburgh Area Preschool Assn.; educator; active in community and professional affairs. ’33 BS Ag—Elizabeth Pasto Hummer of Charlottesville, VA, September 22, 2005; dental assistant; horsewoman; active in community affairs. ’33 BS Hotel—Frank J. Oehlschlaeger of Sarasota, FL, September 1, 2005; art gallery owner; manager, Marshall Field’s fine art dept.; hotel manager; active in community, professional, religious, and alumni affairs. ’33—Selma Christensen Schlotzhauer of Austin, TX, May 12, 2005. ’33 BS HE—Laverne Haught Shay of Ithaca, NY, June 27, 2005; home economics teacher; owner, Red Wing Farm Antiques; active in community, religious, and alumni affairs. ’34—Theodore A. Baumgold of Stamford, CT, June 27, 2005; businessman; expert on classical music. Beta Sigma Rho. ’34 BA—Eleanor P. Clarkson of Sandwich, MA, September 9, 2005; freelance writer and editor; worked for McCall’s, Parents Magazine, Good Housekeeping, and Ladies’ Home Journal; active in professional and religious affairs. ’34 BA, BME ’36, MME ’37—James F. Hirshfeld of Roscommon, MI, May 11, 2005; mechanical engineer. Psi Upsilon. ’34, BME ’37—Robert M. Jett of Laconia, NH, formerly of Gilford, NH, September 30, 2005; engineer; tool designer, Scott & Williams; inventor, Jett & Stimpkee; active in community affairs. Lambda Chi Alpha. Wife, Elizabeth (Mosher) ’33. ’34 BS Ag, PhD ’60—Karl von Vorse Krombein of Mason Neck, VA, September 6, 2005; entomologist, Smithsonian Institution; also worked for the USDA; veteran; author; active in community, professional, and religious affairs. ’34 BME—Col. Leon H. McCurdy of Montgomery, 102 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE ALUMNI DEATHS AL, May 5, 2005; retired USAF officer; professor of air science, U. of Tennessee. ’34 BA—Horace G. Nebeker of Houston, TX, September 9, 2005; attorney, Texas Eastern Transmission Corp. and LaGloria Oil & Gas; veteran; active in civic, community, professional, religious, and alumni affairs. Chi Psi. ’34, BA ’36—Maurice E. Robinson of Pittsburgh, PA, August 7, 2005; retired VP, Pittsburgh Nat’l Bank; veteran; active in community, professional, and religious affairs. Lambda Chi Alpha. ’34, BS HE ’35—Marjorie Gibbs Roehl of Mount Pleasant, SC, May 9, 2005; active in community affairs. Delta Delta Delta. ’34 BA—Lucy Boldt Shull of Sarasota, FL, July 9, 2005; active in civic, community, religious, and alumni affairs. Husband, Francis M. Shull ’34. ’34 BS Hotel—Hubert E. Westfall of Sarasota, FL, June 19, 2005; hotelier; active in alumni affairs. ’34 BS Ag—Robert G. Williams of Gloucester, VA, March 30, 2005; active in alumni affairs. Alpha Zeta. ’34 BS HE—Ruth Creighton Woerner (Mrs. Joseph F. ’35, BArch ’36) of Tampa, FL, July 11, 2005; home economics teacher. Delta Gamma. ’35, BS Ag ’36—Charles G. Ashe of Fayetteville, NY, October 2, 2005; regional sales manager, Kendall Co.; owner, Agricultural Sales Co.; active in community, professional, religious, and alumni affairs. Alpha Zeta. ’35 BEE—Col. William A. Barden of Falls Church, VA, July 22, 2005; retired Air Force officer. ’35 BS HE—Margaret Sturm Conner (Mrs. John W. ’40, MS ’56) of Ocean City, MD, May 28, 2005; trustee, Hastings Joint Venture; active in alumni affairs. Delta Delta Delta. ’35—Wade C. Hoyt of Rome, GA, February 14, 1997. Chi Phi. ’35 BA—Kathryn Lounsbery Hutchings (Mrs. Robert S. ’35) of Columbia, MD, October 16, 2005. Kappa Alpha Theta. ’35-36 GR—Ruth Acklin Jenks (Mrs. Major B., PhD ’36) of Cleveland, OH, March 1, 2001. ’35 BEE—Frank E. Montmeat Jr. of West Caldwell, NJ, June 2, 2005; electrical engineer; veteran; active in civic, community, religious, and alumni affairs. ’35 BME—J. Hambleton Palmer of Annapolis, MD, May 5, 2005; consulting engineer; founder, Palmer & Clark Assocs.; veteran; yacht racer; active in community and alumni affairs. Alpha Chi Rho. ’35 BA—Catherine M. Safford of Jacksonville, FL, September 25, 2005; high school teacher; guidance counselor; active in community and religious affairs. ’35 BS Ag—Elinor Robison Washburn of Webster, NY, August 21, 2005; retired head lab technician, Schuyler County Hospital. ’35 — Edgar A. Zaloom of John’s Island, FL, formerly of Douglas Manor, NY, May 12, 2005; nut and fish importer; veteran; active in community affairs. ’36 BS Ag, PhD ’40—Jacob C. Bauernfeind of Gainesville, FL, May 18, 2005; active in alumni affairs. Alpha Gamma Rho. ’36 BS HE—M. Eileen Driscoll of Oswego, NY, August 15, 2005; retired school teacher; active in community, professional, and religious affairs. ’36 BME—Francis R. Fowler of Dayton, OH, August 27, 2005; designed military navigation and electronic systems, General Electric; active in religious and alumni affairs. Sigma Pi. ’36, BS Ag ’37—Karl A. Heinle of Boise, ID, formerly of Warwick, NY, December 15, 2004; supervisor, Orange County Social Svcs.; active in community and religious affairs. Alpha Zeta. ’36 BS HE—Helen Yossie Huff (Mrs. Warren C. ’35) of Independence, MO, March 13, 2005. ’36 BA—Peter M. Marcus of North Fort Myers, FL, August 29, 2005. Theta Xi. ’36 MS Ag—James A. McAleer of Lexington, VA, August 18, 2005; worked for General Electric, John Deere, and the War Production Board; antiquarian bookseller; active in civic, community, and religious affairs. ’36 BA, JD ’39—Ruth Rosenbaum Roemer (Mrs. Milton I. ’36, MA ’40) of Los Angeles, CA, August 1, 2005; pioneer in public health law; adjunct professor emerita, UCLA School of Public Health; represented the United Electrical Workers; campaigned on tobacco and abortion issues; author; active in civic, community, and professional affairs. ’36 BA, MD ’39—Charles B. Steenburg of Endwell, NY, and Naples, FL, October 22, 2004; surgeon; chief, emergency dept., Naples Community Hospital; also practiced at Wilson Memorial Hospital; veteran; active in community and professional affairs. ’37 BA—Morton W. Briggs of Middletown, CT, September 25, 2005; professor emeritus of Romance languages, Wesleyan U.; active in civic, community, professional, and religious affairs. ’37—Francis L. Brown of Erie, PA, April 23, 1995. Phi Kappa Sigma. ’37 BA—Peter Cantline Jr. of Goshen, NY, June 21, 2005; retired gas engineer, Central Hudson Gas and Electric; active in community and alumni affairs. Lambda Chi Alpha. ’37 BEE—Robert R. Gay of Naples, FL, January 25, 2005; engineer. ’37 BA—Francis R. Steele of Lancaster, PA, September 7, 2004. Delta Phi. ’37 SP Ag — Gerald W. Stevens of Moravia, NY, May 27, 2005; owner, Venice Center Apiary; veteran; active in civic, community, and religious affairs. ’37—Walter R. Tucker of Deposit, NY, June 26, 2005; CEO, E-Z Red Co.; veteran; active in civic, community, and religious affairs. ’37 BME—Herman Van Fleet Jr. of Phoenixville, PA, March 22, 2005; owner, Fairwinds Farm Tree Farming; active in alumni affairs. Kappa Alpha. ’38 BA—Urie Bronfenbrenner of Ithaca, NY, September 25, 2005; professor emeritus, Dept. of Human Ecology, Cornell U.; leading scholar in developmental psychology, child-rearing, and human ecology; veteran; author; active in civic, community, professional, and alumni affairs. ’38 BA, PhD ’43—George E. Detmold of St. Augustine, FL, August 12, 2005; dean emeritus, Gallaudet College; directed classical drama in sign language and designed Gallaudet’s first theatre building; English professor, Wells College; assistant dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Cornell U.; fencing coach, Cornell U.; veteran; active in civic, community, professional, and alumni affairs. ’38 BS Ag—Frances Galpin Hafermalz of Dryden, NY, May 15, 2005; active in community, religious, and alumni affairs. ’38 PhD—Paul L. Hartman of Ithaca, NY, May 20, 2005; professor emeritus, applied and engineering physics, Cornell. U. Wife, Margaret (Lockwood), MA ’35. ’38 BA—Ruth Drake Hayford of Englewood, NJ, September 13, 2005; librarian; teacher, Englewood school system; active in community, professional, and religious affairs. Kappa Delta. ’38 BS HE—Adeline Weaver Huxtable of West Winfield, NY, June 23, 2005. ’38 BS Ag—S. Paul Palmer of St. Petersburg, FL, September 2, 2005; stockbroker; veteran; active in community and religious affairs. ’38 BS Ag—Alvah W. Sanborn of Pittsfield, MA, June 17, 2005; retired director, Pleasant Valley Sanctuary; veteran; filmmaker; author; active in community affairs. Alpha Tau Omega. ’38 MD—Elmer K. Sanders of Houston, TX, June 13, 2005; surgeon; clinical assoc. professor, Baylor College of Medicine; veteran; active in professional affairs. ’38 PhD—Irwin T. Sanders of Weston, MA, August 1, 2005; sociologist; Balkans expert; professor emeritus, Boston U.; also taught at U. of Kentucky, Alabama College, and American College, Sofia, Bulgaria; author; worked for US govt. in Yugoslavia during WWII; active in civic, community, professional, and religious affairs. ’39—Eleanore Lange Brooks of Jenkintown, PA, January 21, 2004. ’39 BS HE—Jean Gillies Childers of Houston, TX, August 29, 2005; active in civic, community, and religious affairs. Delta Delta Delta. ’39—Sylvan Cole of New York City, June 4, 2005; owner, Sylvan Cole Gallery; veteran; active in community, professional, and alumni affairs. Zeta Beta Tau. Wife, Mary (Myers) ’72. MAY / JUNE 2006 103 ’39 BS Ag—Hubert R. Heilman of Port St. Lucie, FL, August 30, 2005; owner, Heilman Restaurants; active in professional and alumni affairs. Lambda Chi Alpha. ’39 BS Aero—John L. Johnston of Gorham, ME, June 23, 2005. ’39 BA, MD ’42—Charles M. Landmesser of Searsport, ME, July 27, 2005; anesthesiologist; professor emeritus, Albany Medical Center Hospital; active in community and professional affairs. Phi Gamma Delta. ’39 DVM—Col. Norbert A. Lasher of Hobe Sound, FL, August 28, 2005; retired US Air Force officer; veterinarian; active in professional and alumni affairs. Kappa Delta Rho. ’39 BS HE—Jean Smith McElwee (Mrs. Andrew W. ’36) of Ithaca, NY, July 12, 2005; vice president, Marshall Brothers Hatchery; active in community affairs. ’39—George S. Mennen of Chester, NJ, formerly of Sarasota, FL, May 5, 2005; chairman of the board, The Mennen Co.; active in civic, community, professional, and alumni affairs. Phi Gamma Delta. ’39 BA, B Chem ’40—John L. Present of Hilton Head Island, SC, formerly of Wilmington, DE, June 17, 2005; planning commissioner; retired executive, Hercules Inc.; active in civic, community, and alumni affairs. Beta Sigma Rho. ’39 BA—Helen Frank Sheingorn of Washington, DC, July 28, 2005; economist; teacher; author; active in civic and community affairs. Sigma Delta Tau. ’39—Richard A. Sloss of Hewlett, NY, June 5, 2005; president, Puro Filter Corp.; associate, Dept. of Ornithology, American Museum of Nat’l History; active in civic and community affairs. ’39 BA—Malcolm B. Sturgis of St. Louis, MO, June 16, 2005; founder, Sturgis Equipment Co. and M.B. Sturgis Inc.; veteran; active in professional affairs. Chi Psi. ’39, BEE ’40—Samuel I. Whittlesey of Largo, FL, August 25, 2005; electrical engineer, General Electric; active in religious and alumni affairs. Sigma Phi Epsilon. ’40—Phyllis Singerman Crane of Atlantis, FL, formerly of Englewood, NJ, May 17, 2005; director, Bergen County Arts Center; active in community affairs. Alpha Epsilon Phi. ’40—Janet Schuman Dreyfuss of Woodmere, NY, July 17, 2005; president, Dreyfuss Brothers Inc. ’40 BS HE—Marian Baillie Eyerly of Westport, CT, May 14, 2005; president, Travelstar Inc.; active in community, professional, and religious affairs. Alpha Phi. ’40 BA—Harold Flammer Jr. of Hilton Head, SC, July 12, 2005; music publisher; retired owner, Harold Flammer Inc. Delta Upsilon. ’40 BME—Robert F. Haller of Avondale Estates, GA, September 27, 2005; retired engineer; veteran; active in professional and religious affairs. Phi Gamma Delta. ’40 BA—Mary Savage Kyle of Laconia, NH, September 9, 2005; active in community and alumni affairs. Kappa Alpha Theta. ’40-42 SP Ag—Mary Kimball McLean of San Diego, CA, May 16, 2005; active in community affairs. Alpha Phi. ’40 BA—Adele L. Polansky of Bogart, GA, formerly of New York City, May 10, 2005; elementary school teacher; active in community affairs. ’40 BA, MD ’43—George G. Reader of Rye, NY, October 13, 2005; Livingston-Farrand professor of Public Health, Cornell Medical School-New York Hospital; veteran; author; editor; consultant on Medicare in the Johnson and Nixon administrations; active in community, professional, and alumni affairs. Sigma Pi. Wife, Helen (Brown) ’40. ’40 MS Ag—Harry E. Rhoades of Urbana, IL, August 10, 2005; assoc. professor of bacteriology and mycology, U. of Illinois; active in civic, community, professional, and religious affairs. ’40 BA—Carolin Medl Schwarz of Jamaica, NY, September 24, 2005; artist; art teacher; active in community, professional, religious, and alumni affairs. ’40 DVM—Herbert Shear of Haddonfield, NJ, September 29, 2005; veterinarian. Wife, Eleanor (Colden) ’39. ’40 MS—Sidney G. Spring of San Antonio, TX, March 20, 2004; veteran. ’40 BME—E. Bissell Travis of Ithaca, NY, September 20, 2005. Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Wife, Margery (Sauter) ’40. ’40—Rodney Vanden Heuvel of Matamoros, PA, June 16, 2005; hotel manager, Sherry Netherlands Hotel; veteran; active in professional affairs. ’40 MA, PhD ’43—Donald L. Van Horn of Hingham, MA, July 12, 2004. ’40 BME—W. Dean Wallace of Syracuse, NY, June 10, 2005; worked for Camillus Cutlery; veteran; active in community and religious affairs. Delta Tau Delta. ’41-42 GR—Wilfred P. Allard of Falls Church, VA, October 5, 2005; retired cultural attaché and Foreign Service officer; active in professional and religious affairs. ’41 BS Hotel—Ralph E. Antell of Richmond, VA, July 20, 2005; class correspondent, Class of ’41; personnel director, U. of Richmond; manager of administration, Philip Morris Research Division; veteran; active in civic, community, professional, and alumni affairs. Delta Upsilon. ’41—Edward H. Carpenter of Stoneham, MA, August 8, 2005. Phi Kappa Tau. ’41 BS Ag—Robert I. Everingham Sr. of LaFayette, NY, July 27, 2005; owner, Cascadale Farm; business mgr., Onondaga-Madison BOCES; veteran; active in civic, community, professional, religious, and alumni affairs. Alpha Gamma Rho. ’41 BME—Charles W. Lake Jr. of Chicago, IL, June 7, 2005; retired CEO, R.R. Donnelley & Sons; active in alumni affairs. Tau Beta Phi. ’41, BA ’42—Dorothy Hart Lang of Columbia, SC, May 26, 2005; nurse, US Public Health Service; active in community affairs. ’41 BS Ag—John F. Mapes of Fayetteville, NY, November 9, 2004. Kappa Delta Rho. ’41 BA, LLB ’42—S. Michael Schatz of Avon, CT, June 10, 2005; attorney; active in alumni affairs. Alpha Epsilon Pi. Wife, Norma (Hirshon) ’44. ’41 BA—Lillian Taylor Seaman of Columbus, OH, May 31, 2005; elementary school teacher. ’41 BS Ag, DVM ’43—Edwin B. Smith of Canton, NY, July 8, 2005; veterinarian; associate professor of animal science, Canton Agricultural and Technical College; former chief veterinarian, Montserrat, West Indies; active in community and professional affairs. Alpha Psi. ’41—Robert L. Zouck of Piney Point, MD, August 29, 2005; retired aeronautical engineer; veteran; competitive sailor; active in community and professional affairs. Alpha Sigma Epsilon. ’42, BME ’43—John W. Baer of San Diego, CA, May 18, 2005; mechanical engineer; worked for Ryan Aeronautical; veteran; active in civic and community affairs. ’42 PhD—William M. Epps of Clemson, SC, May 2, 2005; head of plant pathology and physiology dept., Clemson U.; veteran; active in civic, community, professional, and religious affairs. ’42 BS HE—Charlotte Crombie Hazen of Battle Ground, IN, June 26, 2005; dietitian; librarian; active in religious affairs. Delta Gamma. ’42 BS Hotel—Charles W. Jack of Jackson Springs, NC, June 4, 2005; veteran. Phi Kappa Sigma. ’42 PhD—Jake L. Krider of West Lafayette, IN, June 23, 2005; professor emeritus, animal sciences, Purdue U.; consultant, Food and Drug Admin.; active in community, professional, and religious affairs. ’42 BS Ag—Robert C. Laben of Davis, CA, August 7, 2005; professor emeritus of animal science, UC Davis; expert in dairy cattle production; researched effect of DDT on the dairy industry; active in community and professional affairs. Alpha Zeta. ’42 BS Hotel—Leonard W. Lefeve of North Palm Beach, FL, August 2, 2005; retired hotelier, Marriott Corp. Alpha Sigma Phi. ’42 BS HE—Eleanor M. Mitten of Baltimore, MD, August 18, 2005; librarian, U. of Maryland; veteran; active in community and religious affairs. ’42—L. Alan Passmore Jr. of Greensboro, VT, February 22, 2004. Psi Upsilon. 104 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE ALUMNI DEATHS ’42—John E. Ray III of Virginia Beach, VA, November 21, 2004; veteran. Phi Delta Theta. ’42 BA—John H. Sanders of Naples, FL, September 5, 2005. Psi Upsilon. ’42 DVM—Harold G. Scheffler of Buffalo, NY, April 25, 2005; veterinarian; veteran; active in community affairs. ’42, BA ’43—Virginia Witmer Studdert (Mrs. Hugh P., DVM ’43) of Central Square, NY, August 20, 2005; veterinary technician; sales manager; active in alumni affairs. Chi Omega. ’42—Norma Anderson Weatherby of Ithaca, NY, May 4, 2005; active in community affairs. ’42—Arnold O. Zaff of Big Indian, NY, June 19, 2005; active in alumni affairs. ’43, BS Ag ’69—Katherine Mehlenbacher Abraham (Mrs. George “Doc” ’39) of Naples, NY, May 24, 2005; gardening expert; greenhouse owner; radio host, “The Green Thumb”; author; active in alumni affairs. ’43 BS Ag, MS Ag ’50—Richard M. Dickerman of Endwell, NY, formerly of New Windsor, NY, May 6, 2005; vice president, Mt. St. Mary College, Newburgh, NY; former asst. superintendent, Maine-Endwell School District; veteran; active in religious affairs. ’43 GR—Dorothy Lobb Laben (Mrs. Robert C. ’42) of Davis, CA, August 7, 2005; taught chemistry, Oklahoma A&M U.; active in civic and community affairs. ’43 BME—Charles H. Spransy of Milwaukee, WI, May 17, 2005; active in community, religious, and alumni affairs. Sigma Alpha Epsilon. ’43 DVM—Daniel T. Woolfe of Boca Raton, FL, July 13, 2005; veterinarian; active in community and professional affairs. Wife, Ruth (Magid) ’46. ’43, BA ’42—Trevor Wright Jr. of Virginia Beach, VA, May 26, 2005; retired DuPont chemist. Phi Kappa Psi. ’44 MS—Paul D. Ankrum of Ithaca, NY, August 27, 2005; emeritus professor of electrical engineering, Cornell U. ’44 DVM—John Bentinck-Smith of Ithaca, NY, May 12, 2005; veterinarian; professor emeritus, Cornell U.; also taught at Mississippi State U. Coll. of Vet. Med; veteran; active in professional and alumni affairs. ’44 BME—Robert W. Bowler of Minneapolis, MN, July 16, 2005; mechanical engineer; coowner, Bowler Plumbing and Heating; vocational instructor; veteran; active in civic, community, professional, and religious affairs. ’44, BA ’46—Melvin Cohen of Newton, MA, August 27, 2005; operated Somerville Lumber and Supply Co.; veteran; active in civic, community, professional, and religious affairs. ’44—Robert G. Conway of Delmar, NY, July 30, 2005; attorney; asst. attorney general, claims and litigation bureau, NY State Attorney General’s office; veteran; active in community and religious affairs. Alpha Delta Phi. ’44—George Cushman Jr. of New Providence, NJ, June 7, 2005; vice president of marketing, Chubb Insurance; veteran; active in religious affairs. Alpha Gamma Rho. ’44, BME ’43—George Durham of Rochester, NY, October 5, 2005; manufacturing engineer, Apparatus Division, Eastman Kodak Co. and Kodak Ltd., Stevenage, UK; veteran; active in professional affairs. Chi Psi. Wife, Shirley (Dusinberre) ’48. ’44, BS Ag ’47—George B. Elliott of Cortland, NY, January 24, 2005; worked for the NY State Dept. of Environmental Conservation; photographer, Voices From Connecticut Hill; veteran; active in civic, community, and religious affairs. ’44, BME ’43—Joseph File of Pennington, NJ, October 16, 2005; professor, Plasma Physics Lab, Princeton U.; veteran; MRI researcher; active in professional and alumni affairs. Kappa Delta Rho. ’44, BEE ’43, BME ’45—Robert H. Garmezy of Ithaca, NY, July 19, 2005; retired vice president of automotive engineering, Blackstone Corp.; active in alumni affairs. Wife, Alice (Einstein) ’44. ’44 BME—Carl G. Hayssen Jr. of Hartland, WI, September 21, 2005; owner, Minar Office and School Supply; engineer; veteran; active in civic and community affairs. Chi Psi. ’44, BEE ’47, BME ’48—Roger S. Jackson of Shaker Heights, OH, October 10, 2005; engineer. Phi Delta Theta. Wife, Jane (Masson) ’49. ’44, BS HE ’43—Shirley Carr Ketchum of Averill Park, NY, September 28, 2005; taught for BOCES and Averill Park Schools; active in community and religious affairs. ’44, BME ’47—William Mearns III of Princeton Junction, NJ, October 23, 2004. Kappa Sigma. ’44, BA ’43—Andrew D. Miller of Mercersburg, PA, May 4, 2005; chief chemist, Firestone Int’l; veteran; active in community, religious, and alumni affairs. Theta Chi. ’44, BA ’47, MA ’50—Stephen C. Muchmore of Marshfield, MA, June 9, 2005; financial analyst; veteran. ’44, BS Hotel ’47—Donald S. Mungle of Ithaca, NY, August 1, 2005; accountant, New York State Electric and Gas; veteran; active in community, professional, religious, and alumni affairs. Seal and Serpent. ’44 BA—MariLee Myers Osborn of Gorham, ME, formerly of Rochester, NY, August 3, 2005; lyric soprano; active in community and musical affairs. Delta Gamma. ’44, BA ’49—Ivan E. Parks of Chemung, NY, May 10, 2005; worked for Facett Enterprises; veteran. ’44, BME ’47—John C. Pennock of Brewster, MA, formerly of Cardigan, Prince Edward Island, June 19, 2005; mechanical engineer; veteran; author; active in community affairs. Delta Tau Delta. ’44 BS ORIE—James A. Purdy of Fountain Hills, AZ, August 28, 2005; retired senior executive, Int’l Telephone & Telegraph; veteran; active in community, professional, religious, and alumni affairs. Sigma Phi. ’44—Hall Y. Sanford of Minoa, NY, April 28, 2005; manager, Agway; veteran. ’44, BA ’46—Louis A. Viviano Jr. of Plainfield, NJ, June 28, 2005; mortgage broker; veteran; active in religious affairs. Beta Theta Pi. ’44 B Chem E—G. Turner Wilson Jr. of Wilmette, IL, June 2, 2005; systems planner, BP, Amoco, and Standard Oil; active in community affairs. Theta Chi. ’45—Katharine Kilburn Bullard of South Dartmouth, MA, July 17, 2005; former town official; veteran; active in civic, community, and religious affairs. Alpha Phi. ’45—George L. Herland of Topsfield, MA, September 20, 2005; retired light manufacturer; veteran; active in community affairs. ’45 BA—Elizabeth LeBlond of Trumbull, CT, June 4, 2004. Kappa Kappa Gamma. ’45 MD—William H. Lohman Jr. of Glastonbury, CT, September 13, 2005; practiced internal medicine, Hartford Hospital; veteran; active in community and professional affairs. ’45, BS HE ’44—Elizabeth Pierce Martin of Richmond, VA, September 21, 2005. Delta Gamma. Husband, Calvin L. Martin ’44, B Chem E ’48. ’45—Joseph N. Mayer of Abita Springs, LA, February 7, 2005; retired college administrator, Eisenhower College, Cornell U., and Ithaca College; active in community, professional, and religious affairs. ’45, BA ’47—Donald S. Milman of Northport, NY, July 21, 2005; professor, Adelphi U. ’45-47 SP Ag—Frederick G. Rasweiler of Gulf Breeze, FL, May 28, 2005; manager of farm, grounds, and animal services, Pitman-Moore Inc.; dairy farmer; active in civic, community, professional, and religious affairs. ’45 BS Ag—Jean Carey Taylor of Ithaca, NY, August 24, 2005; high school science teacher; worked for Eastman Kodak. ’45, BS HE ’44—Adelaide Kennedy Underwood (Mrs. Arthur E. ’41) of Cortland, NY, May 19, 2005; school teacher; cooperative extension agent; active in community, professional, religious, and alumni affairs. Kappa Delta. ’45 BA—Margaret Bradley Wells of Cincinnati, OH, May 15, 2004; worked on the Manhattan Project. Husband, Edward R. Wells ’47. ’45 DVM—Ralph F. Wester of Auburn, NY, October 21, 2005; veterinarian; veteran; active in community and professional affairs. MAY / JUNE 2006 105 106 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE ’45, BCE ’44, PhD ’55—William Zuk of Charlottesville, VA, July 28, 2005; professor emeritus of architecture, U. of Virginia; veteran; author; sculptor; active in professional affairs. Delta Chi. ’46, BME ’47—Richard E. Goll of Huntingdon Valley, PA, May 11, 2005; project mgr., Campbell Soup Co.; active in civic, community, professional, and alumni affairs. Phi Kappa Psi. ’46-47 SP Ag—Henry E. Halstead of East Freetown, NY, May 17, 2005; owner, Hank’s Gun Shop; active in civic and community affairs. Delta Chi. ’46 BS Nurs—Nancy Matthews Harvey of Middletown, CT, September 27, 2005; registered nurse; active in community and religious affairs. ’46 BS HE—Jean Winter Lankford of Salisbury, MD, August 4, 2005; registered nurse; home economics teacher; active in community and religious affairs. ’46 BCE—William G. Pansius of Pinehurst, NC, July 15, 2005; former personnel director, OwensCorning Fiberglas; veteran; active in civic and community affairs. Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Wife, Doris (Swart) ’47. ’46, BME ’45—John H. Rasch of Carmel, CA, September 22, 2005; mechanical engineer; active in alumni affairs. Alpha Delta Phi. Wife, Adele (Arnot) ’49. ’46, BA ’45, MA ’48—Marjorie Inglehart Ried of Syracuse, NY, September 6, 2005; English and speech teacher; active in community and professional affairs. Delta Gamma. ’47 BME—John L. Ayer of Ithaca, NY, June 11, 2005; retired engineer; former supervisor, Town of Cazenovia; veteran; active in civic, community, religious, and alumni affairs. Wife, Helen (Allmuth) ’47. ’47—Marie Tipula Burgers of Fort Lee, NJ, September 25, 2005. ’47 PhD—William E. Chappell of Farmerville, LA, August 15, 2005; worked for USDA, U. of Connecticut, Cornell U., LSU Extension Svc., and US Farm Security Admin.; author; active in community, professional, and alumni affairs. ’47 PhD—Oliver C. Compton of Corvallis, OR, August 10, 2005; pomologist; professor of plant nutrition, Oregon State U.; active in community, professional, and religious affairs. ’47 MS Ag, PhD ’51—Joseph G. Coombs of Largo, FL, September 23, 2005; educator, US State Dept.’s Foreign Aid Program; veteran; active in professional and religious affairs. ’47—Alden C. Doliber of Savannah, GA, May 31, 2005; worked for H.P. Hood; veteran. ’47 BS HE—Harriet Hammond Erickson (Mrs. Burdette E. ’47) of Chapel Hill, NC, October 7, 2005; home economics teacher; active in community affairs. Delta Delta Delta. ’47, B Chem E ’48—Gordon W. Harrison of Youngstown, OH, April 7, 1998. Delta Tau Delta. Wife, Paula (Putnam) ’48. ’47 BA—Jean Raymond Heinzmann of Rockport, MA, October 4, 2005; poet; worked for Hallmark Cards; worked at the American School for the Deaf; active in civic, community, and religious affairs. Chi Omega. ’47 MD—Sarah Matteson Mitchell of Scarsdale, NY, August 10, 2005; physician; worked for New York Hospital, Westchester County Dept. of Mental Health. ’47—Evelyn Nurkiewicz Nicholas of Coral Springs, FL, August 26, 2005; homemaker; active in community affairs. ’47 BCE—Henry T. Roche of Sacramento, CA, July 31, 2005; civil engineer. ’47 BS Nurs—Mary Rutherford Schadt of Allentown, PA, September 21, 2005; registered nurse; employment counselor; active in community and religious affairs. ’47 M Ch E—Raymond G. Thorpe of Cortland, NY, September 6, 2005; emeritus professor of chemical engineering, Cornell U.; veteran; active in civic, community, and professional affairs. Beta Pi. ’47 PhD—Dwain W. Warner of Stanchfield, MN, September 30, 2005; professor, U. of Minnesota; curator of ornithology, Bell Museum of Natural History; veteran; active in civic and professional affairs. ’47 BA—Jerome Winston of Greensboro, NC, July 28, 2005; worked in the diamond and jewelry industry; veteran; active in community affairs. Zeta Beta Tau. ’48 BS ORIE—A. Sander Buchman of Old Greenwich, CT, May 6, 2005; manager of systems development, IBM. Beta Sigma Rho. ’48, BA ’47, MA ’48—Sidney T. Cox of Watertown, NY, October 19, 2005; journalist; composer; worked for NY State Assembly; veteran; active in civic, community, professional, and alumni affairs. Theta Delta Chi. ’48 BA—June Englebright of Grass Valley, CA, July 23, 2005; technical writer; television writer; worked in radio; active in civic, community, and professional affairs. ’48 BS Ag, DVM ’51—Robert D. Farrell of Mount Upton, NY, June 20, 2005; veterinarian. Alpha Zeta. Wife, Amanda (Goldsmith) ’54. ’48, BME ’49—Ronald M. Gammie of Wailuku, HI, July 24, 2005. Alpha Tau Omega. ’48, BA ’49—Stanley I. Halpern of Middle Island, NY, January 29, 2005; active in community, professional, and religious affairs. Alpha Epsilon Pi. Wife, Joan (Cohen) ’51. ’48 BA—Lt. Col. Calvin T. Hunt of Cortland, NY, August 14, 2005; retired US Air Force officer; airline captain, Mackey Int’l Airlines; veteran; active in community, professional, and religious affairs. ALUMNI DEATHS ’48 BS ORIE—Seymour H. Lutzky of Yonkers, NY, August 2, 2005; engineer. Tau Epsilon Phi. ’48 BS ORIE—W. Bruce McNaughton of Miromar Lakes, FL, June 14, 2005; president, Grant Manufacturing and Machine Co.; active in community and professional affairs. ’48 BA—Tracy B. Miller of Cazenovia, NY, June 29, 2005; pharmacology professor, SUNY Upstate Medical U.; also taught at UMass Medical School and Harvard Medical School; veteran; active in professional affairs. ’48 BS HE—Dorothy See Minville of Southborough, MA, October 9, 2005; kindergarten teacher; active in professional affairs. Kappa Delta. ’48 BS HE—Helen Palmer Plass of Pleasant Valley, NY, August 8, 2005; substitute teacher; active in community, religious, and alumni affairs. ’48 BEE—John G. Raine of Miami, FL, March 9, 2005; senior staff engineer, Florida Power & Light. Sigma Chi. ’48 — Howard L. Riley of Holicong, PA, April 15, 2005. ’48—Shirley Stone Rose of Brooksville, FL, April 1, 2005. Husband, Maurice T. Rose Jr. ’47. ’48 BA—Walter S. Schmidt Jr. of East Aurora, NY, June 17, 2005; retired dairy consultant; veteran. Psi Upsilon. Wife, Jean (Pearsall) ’48. ’48 BEE—Jesse M. Strong Jr. of Plano, TX, April 30, 2005; marketing manager, Dallas Morning News; veteran. Kappa Sigma. ’48 BA—Arthur C. Thomson of San Antonio, TX, May 23, 2005; active in alumni affairs. ’48, BA ’49—James Weinstein of Chicago, IL, June 16, 2005; founder, In These Times magazine; advocate of democratic socialism; veteran; active in civic, community, and professional affairs. ’48 M Ed, PhD ’50—Harold H. Wood of Omaha, NE, August 8, 2005; veteran. Wife, Julia (Papez) ’42. ’49—David G. Allen of Ithaca, NY, October 15, 2005; president, Bird Photographs Inc.; active in community affairs. ’49 BS Ag—Stanley M. Anderson of Glens Falls, NY, October 12, 2005; county director, USDA Soil Conservation Service; active in community and religious affairs. ’49 MD—Col. Ferris E. Cook Jr. of San Antonio, TX, August 4, 2005; retired US Air Force surgeon; former chief of surgery, USAF Hospital, Wiesbaden, Germany; hospital commander, Carswell AFB; active in community and professional affairs. ’49 BS ILR—Edward L. Delane of Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, April 29, 2005; retired CEO, Tumpane Corp. and Del Jen Corp.; veteran; active in religious affairs. ’49 BS HE—Suzanne Redwood Decker Dowdle of Woodstock, NY, April 24, 2005; home economist, Kerhonkson High School. ’49 BA, MA ’50—James T. Edmondson of San Rafael, CA, September 1, 2005; founder, Albion Publishing Corp.; editor for W.H. Freeman and Macmillan; real estate broker; veteran; active in community, professional, and alumni affairs. Delta Upsilon. Wife, Helvi (Selkee) ’48, MA ’55. ’49 BA—Philip W. Eggleston of Steamboat Springs, CO, May 30, 2005; hydroelectric plant operator, Upper Yampa River Water District; real estate developer; active in civic and community affairs. Phi Delta Theta. ’49 MS HE—Isabelle Trefethen Flight (Mrs. Richard E. ’47, MA ’49) of Rochester, NY, July 15, 2005. Delta Kappa Upsilon. ’49 BA—Shigemi Honma of East Lansing, MI, May 31, 2005; professor of horticulture, Michigan State U.; veteran; author; active in professional affairs. ’49 MS Ag, PhD ’51 — John G. Kleyn of La Conner, WA, April 22, 2005; professor, U. of Puget Sound; laboratory director, Washington State Dept. of Agriculture; senior microbiologist, Rainier Brewing Co.; also worked for AnheuserBusch and Monsanto; veteran; author; expert on orchids; active in community and professional affairs. ’49 LLB—William B. Lee Jr. of Pittsford, NY, September 15, 2005; attorney; partner, Nixon Peabody LLP; veteran; active in community affairs. ’49 BS ORIE—Charles G. McCartney of Pelham Manor, NY, June 2, 2005; coal industry executive; veteran; active in community and professional affairs. Phi Kappa Psi. ’49 PhD—Harry H. Pierce of Syracuse, NY, August 14, 2005; professor emeritus of history, Maxwell School, Syracuse U.; active in professional and religious affairs. ’49 BA—Ernest P. Quinby of Watertown, NY, August 5, 2005; retired director of communications, Philip Morris USA; veteran; active in civic, community, and professional affairs. Sigma Alpha Epsilon. ’49 BS ORIE—Sidney J. Rosen of Princeton, NJ, May 25, 2005; engineer; veteran; earned the Distinguished Flying Cross. Tau Delta Phi. ’49 B Chem E—Richard L. Shaner of Clarence, NY, October 7, 2005; chemical engineer; director, Shaner Solar Systems; worked for Union Carbide; veteran; active in community, professional, religious, and alumni affairs. Alpha Tau Omega. ’49 MD—Ross B. Sommer of St. Louis, MO, September 30, 2005; associate professor emeritus of clinical medicine, Washington U. School of Medicine; co-founder, Clinic of Internal Medicine; veteran; active in community affairs. ’49 BS Ag—Ruth Monin Stroman of Williamsville, NY, August 5, 2005; florist and nursery operator; active in community and religious affairs. Kappa Alpha Theta. ’49 BS Ag—Elvin G. Tyler of Penn Yan, NY, August 2, 2003. ’50 M Ed—Mary Black Banks of Bowling Green, VA, January 9, 2005. ’50—Eugene W. Dabbs III of Sumter, SC, September 16, 2005; engineer, Palmer and Mallard; veteran; active in community, professional, and religious affairs. ’50 BS Ag—Robert O. Davenport of Kingston, NY, May 13, 2005; partner, Robert O. Davenport & Sons; active in civic, community, and professional affairs. Alpha Gamma Rho. ’50 BEE—Charles J. Godwin Jr. of Pepperell, MA, October 18, 2005; electrical engineer; art gallery owner; veteran; active in community affairs. Tau Beta Phi. ’50, BArch ’52—Scott O. Hamilton Jr. of Little Rock, AR, formerly of Honolulu, HI, July 30, 2005; environmental planner, US Navy; urban planner; veteran; mountain climber; active in community affairs. Watermargin. ’50—Marianne Nethercot Heald of Jackson, NH, May 2, 2005; active in community affairs. Husband, Ross L. Heald ’49. ’50 BS Ag—Howard J. Huey of Skaneateles, NY, September 12, 2005; retired farmer; active in community and religious affairs. ’50 BS ILR—William H. McCarthy of Milwaukee, WI, August 4, 2005. ’50 MA—Paul W. McCoy of San Diego, CA, June 21, 2005; facilities administrator, San Diego State U.; editor, aerospace industry; poet; artist; veteran; active in community affairs. ’50—Judson A. Melius of Plymouth, MI, January 16, 2003; dining service manager, United Airlines. ’50 BA—Eleanor Maistelman Metzner of Albany, NY, May 28, 2005; housewife. ’50 BME—William M. Nick of Mentor, OH, May 9, 2005; mechanical engineer; veteran. Lambda Chi Alpha. ’50 MA, PhD ’52—William A. Oliver Jr. of Kensington, MD, October 8, 2005; research paleontologist emeritus, US Geological Survey; specialist on ancient coral reefs; veteran; author; editor; active in professional affairs. ’50 MD—Donald S. Robertson of Scottsdale, AZ, July 17, 2005; gastroenterologist, Southwest Bariatric Nutrition Center; author; active in community affairs. ’50 B Chem E—Malcolm A. Schoner of Woodbridge, VA, January 1, 2005. ’50, BA ’51—Robert E. Shellenberger of Clearwater, FL, September 15, 2005. ’50 MD—Craig N. Smith of South Windsor, CT, July 5, 2005; physician; veteran. ’50 BS HE—Edna Gillett Van Zandt of Plainsboro Township, NJ, formerly of Princeton, NJ, June 24, 2005; credit manager, Van Zandt Sales and Svcs.; active in civic, community, and MAY / JUNE 2006 107 religious affairs. Kappa Delta. Husband, Edgar L. Van Zandt ’49. ’50 BFA—Inga Brauner Vatet of Bradenton, FL, June 14, 2005; active in alumni affairs. Alpha Phi. ’51 MS Ag—Harry G. Downie of Guelph, Ontario, June 19, 2005; professor of physiology, Vet. College, U. of Guelph. ’51 MA, M Ed ’54—Jean Cooper Fuschillo of Ocean City, NJ, June 10, 2005; environmental activist; psychologist; social worker; active in civic and community affairs. ’51—Joan Circola Gasparello of Hingham, MA, August 7, 2005; chair, Wilder Memorial Nursery School and Hingham Public Library lecture series; executive director, Nat’l Assn. of Senior Travel Planners; advertising copywriter; active in civic and community affairs. Husband, Ralph M. Gasparello ’51. ’51 MA—James E. Holcomb of Troy, PA, July 20, 2005; high school language teacher; active in community and religious affairs. ’51 BA—Lore Lindner Holmes of Glen Cove, NY, August 24, 2005; archaeometrist-chemist, Brookhaven Nat’l Laboratory. Husband, Theodore J. Holmes ’51. ’51 BA—Mary Steele Knight of West Tisbury, MA, formerly of College Park, MD, August 3, 2005; active in community affairs. Alpha Omicron Pi. ’51, BCE ’52—William A. Marson of Cullman, AL, April 28, 2005. Tau Beta Phi. ’51 DVM—William P. Meleney of Rio Rancho, NM, August 4, 2005; veterinarian; worked for the USDA; veteran; active in community, professional, and religious affairs. ’51 MS ILR — Frank Plasha of Erie, PA, February 26, 2005; worked for Personal Advancement Institute. ’51 DVM—John W. Robinson of Meredith, NH, formerly of Greenwich, CT, July 18, 2005; veterinarian; veteran; active in community, professional, and religious affairs. Sigma Alpha Epsilon. ’51 DVM—Edward M. Sullivan of Portland, ME, October 11, 2005; veterinarian. Lambda Chi Alpha. Wife, Mary (Keesecker) ’48. ’51 MD—Walter J. Sullivan of New York City, July 10, 2005; physician. ’51 PhD—John P. Tomkins of San Luis Obispo, CA, December 14, 2004; professor of pomology, Cornell U.; expert on growing strawberries and grapes; veteran. ’51 B Chem E—James D. Wideman of Decatur, IL, May 1, 2005; director of int’l engineering, A.E. Staley Co.; developed Frannino corn germ process; also worked for Dept. of Agriculture and Biological Engineering, U. of Illinois; active in professional and alumni affairs. ’51, BS Ag ’52—Mary E. Woods of Clinton, CT, May 24, 2005; assoc. professor of social work, Hunter College; author of Casework: A Psychosocial Therapy; active in professional affairs. ’52, BME ’53—Neill K. Banks Jr. of Gloucester, MA, September 21, 2005; president, Bomco Inc.; veteran; active in community, professional, and alumni affairs. Theta Delta Chi. ’52—Lt. Cmdr. Arthur B. Baribault of Surry, ME, December 23, 2003; veteran. ’52 BA—Beverly Brokaw Beardsley of Hendersonville, NC, January 6, 2003. Husband, David P. Beardsley ’52. ’52 BME—Robert F. Drake of Las Vegas, NV, June 1, 2005; CEO, King Fifth Wheel; veteran. Tau Kappa Epsilon. ’52 M Ed—Carl W. Neuscheler of Glendale, AZ, July 26, 2005; retired industrial arts teacher and college administrator; veteran; active in community, professional, and religious affairs. ’52—Clifford H. Parke of Lakewood, OH, September 9, 2005. ’52, BA ’55—John M. Rehl Jr. of Woodstock, GA, November 27, 2003; high school English teacher; veteran. ’52 BME—Robert L. Rosenthal of Santa Barbara, CA, May 9, 2005; retired consultant. Tau Epsilon Phi. ’52—Robert Samson of Munds Park, AZ, May 14, 2005; mechanical engineer; worked for Motorola and the Burroughs Corp.; active in community affairs. Sigma Alpha Epsilon. ’52 JD—Lawrence H. Schultz Jr. of Greensboro, NC, formerly of Batavia, NY, July 8, 2005; attorney; judge; veteran; active in civic, community, professional, and religious affairs. ’52 M Ed—George D. Wightman of Burlington, NC, August 9, 2005; retired teacher and school principal; manager, Chautauqua Grocery; active in community and religious affairs. ’53 PhD—Gilbert W. Biggs of North Springfield, VA, September 12, 2005; agricultural economist, USDA; veteran; taught at Clemson U.; author; active in civic, professional, and religious affairs. ’53—Louis A. Crossett of Dansville, NY, January 24, 2005; worked for SKF Industries; veteran; active in community and religious affairs. ’53 BA—Dzigbodi K. Fiawoo of Houston, TX, August 11, 2005; taught at U. of Ghana, Cambridge U., Harvard U., U. of Pennsylvania, U. of Houston, and U. of Maiduguri; active in professional affairs. ’53 PhD — Richard B. Fischer of Ithaca, NY, August 7, 2005; professor emeritus, environmental education, Cornell U. Wife, Mary (Scofield), MS ’48. ’53 BS Hotel—William E. Hoge of Hendersonville, TN, May 30, 2005; retired food service businessman; veteran; active in community affairs. Psi Upsilon. Wife, Marilyn (Craig) ’53. ’53 BA—Gilbert M. Kiggins of Stuart, FL, May 13, 2005; vice president, Total Petroleum; veteran; active in community, professional, and alumni affairs. Sigma Phi. ’53 BArch, MRP ’57—Alexander Kira of Ithaca, NY, October 4, 2005; retired professor; active in alumni affairs. Wife, Marian (Myers) ’38, MS HE ’60. ’53 BA, LLB ’58—Donald E. Lampson of Ringoes, NJ, January, 12, 2003; attorney. Theta Chi. ’53, BME ’54, MS ’65—Terry F. Miskell of Freeport, ME, September 11, 2005; mathematics teacher; veteran; pilot; active in community and alumni affairs. Delta Phi. ’53 PhD—Nell I. Mondy of Ithaca, NY, August 25, 2005; professor emerita, nutritional sciences, Cornell U.; active in professional and alumni affairs. ’53 BS HE—Patricia A. Wizeman of Spring Creek, NV, formerly of San Francisco, CA, May 16, 2005; hospital administrator; attorney; editor; active in community affairs. ’53 BS Hotel—Stephen A. Zimmermann of Sarasota, FL, formerly of Burlington, MA, July 12, 2005; manager of corporate dining, RCA; veteran; active in religious affairs. ’54, BCE ’55—Charles H. Christian Jr. of Shaker Heights, OH, August 17, 2005; president, Christian & Klopper. Chi Epsilon. Wife, Marcia (Guillet) ’55. ’54 BS Hotel—Joan Carre Crawford of Largo, FL, July 11, 2005; travel agent; active in community and religious affairs. Kappa Alpha Theta. ’54 BA, MD ’58—Joanna Stein Dalldorf of Chapel Hill, NC, August 7, 2005; development pediatrician; authority on autism; worked with TEACCH (Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication handicapped Children) at U. of North Carolina; docent, North Carolina Museum of Art. Husband, Frederic G. Dalldorf, MD ’58. ’54—Gretchen Van Wagenen Gausby of Waddington, NY, October 5, 2005; active in religious affairs. ’54, BS ILR ’55—Robert L. Gray of Carthage, NY, August 30, 2005; owner, Gray’s Flower Shop; veteran; active in civic, community, professional, and religious affairs. Theta Chi. ’54—Donald L. Greenman of Cortland, NY, December 29, 2004; engineer, Brockway Motor Trucks. ’54 BS ILR—Lloyd K. Holtz of Tulsa, OK, May 10, 2005; attorney; test pilot; veteran. ’54, BS Ag ’56, MS Ag ’58—John Irwin of Bowie, MD, May 30, 2005; environmental virologist, NIH; consultant, U. of Maryland Dept. of Environmental Safety; former chief, virology section, Bureau of Laboratories, HEW; active in professional and religious affairs. ’54 BArch—Brin A. Kissel of Camden, NY, July 31, 2005; public health inspector; veteran; active in community affairs. Tau Kappa Epsilon. ’54 BME—J. Walter Lautenberger Jr. of Walnut 108 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE ALUMNI DEATHS Creek, CA, September 10, 2005; engineer; worked for the US Postal Service; consultant, Touche Ross; also worked for California Savings & Loan and Shell Oil Co.; active in community, professional, religious, and alumni affairs. Alpha Delta Phi. ’54—Kenneth R. Roberts of Centennial, CO, June 13, 2005; author; owner, Zzapp Prints; veteran. ’54 BA—Joan Randolph Scott of Arlington, VA, June 24, 2005; research biochemist, Georgetown U.; photographer; active in community, professional, and religious affairs. Husband, Paul C. Scott ’54. ’54 BA—Susan Bancroft Voigt of Frankfort, IL, September 1, 2005; homemaker; active in community, religious, and alumni affairs. Kappa Alpha Theta. Husband, John R. Voigt ’52, MBA ’57. ’54, BS Ag ’59—Rodger W. Wagner of Cave Creek, AZ, May 29, 2005; owner, Wagner Realty; active in community affairs. Alpha Tau Omega. ’54 DVM—Jack E. Wilkes of Camden Wyoming, DE, May 12, 2005; veterinarian, Stanton Equine Assoc. Alpha Psi. ’54—Richard H. Wilt of Moline, IL, August 28, 2005; architect; engineer; worked for Deere & Co.; owner, FTV Productions; active in community affairs. ’54 BA—Arthur Zilversmit of Lake Forest, IL, August 22, 2005; professor of history, Lake Forest College; author; active in professional affairs. ’55—James R. Buntain of Evanston, IL, September 23, 2005; dentist; veteran; active in community and professional affairs. Phi Kappa Psi. ’55, BCE ’56 — Anthony P. Cardone of Evergreen, CO, May 12, 2005; active in alumni affairs. Alpha Phi Delta. ’55 BA, LLB ’57—Melvin H. Osterman of Delmar, NY, August 14, 2005; attorney; partner, Whiteman Osterman & Hanna; director of employee relations, New York State; asst. counsel to Gov. Nelson Rockefeller; author; editor; adjunct professor, Cornell U., SUNY Albany, and Siena College; active in community and professional affairs. Phi Sigma Epsilon. Wife, Norma Meacham ’74, JD ’77. ’55 MNS—June Boss Yule of Prescott, AZ, June 23, 2005. ’56 MS—Melbourne C. Bailey of Charlotte, NC, July 12, 2005; regional director, Dept. of Agriculture and Markets, NY State; former professor, A&T U.; active in religious affairs. ’56 MBA — Harlan B. Bliss of Green Pond, NJ, October 15, 2005; president, Landmark Window Fashions. ’56 BS Hotel—Burt P. Kenyon of Peekskill, NY, May 16, 2005; worked in food management services for TWA; veteran; active in religious affairs. ’56 BA—Ann Austin Lampson (Mrs. Donald E. ’53) of Ringoes, NJ, October 20, 2004; receptionist, Vineyard Gazette. Delta Delta Delta. ’56 BA—Werner Mendel of Neversink, NY, June 26, 2005; owner, New Age Health Spa; active in alumni affairs. Alpha Epsilon Pi. ’56 BA—Deborah Epstein Miller of Jamesburg, NJ, November 13, 2003. ’56, BA ’58 — Barbara Taubin Phillips of El Cerrito, CA, August 12, 2005; writer; singer; editor, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Public Policy, and Teknekron; active in civic and community affairs. ’56 PhD—Jacob H. Tinga of Athens, GA, May 23, 2005; professor of horticulture, U. of Georgia; veteran. Wife, Patricia (McCaulley) ’55. ’57, BS Ag ’60—Laurence A. Cooper of White Plains, NY, May 27, 2005; superintendent of Parks and Trees, Greenwich, CT; business mgr., LIUNA Local 136; veteran; active in religious affairs. ’57 BA—Helen Wolff Cravis of Lexington, MA, April 29, 2005; educator, Boston public schools and Milford High School; active in civic, community, professional, and religious affairs. ’57 BA—John C. McCormick of Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, August 8, 2005; president and CEO, Swisher Cigar Co.; veteran; active in community and alumni affairs. Sigma Alpha Epsilon. ’57 BS HE—Florence P. Sabel of New York City, May 20, 2005. ’57 BFA—Carole Asen Snitzer of Somerville, MA, July 12, 2005; teacher, Boston public schools. ’57, BS Ag ’58—John A. Webb of Petaluma, CA, May 2, 2005; worked for the California workers’ compensation system; active in professional affairs. Pi Kappa Alpha. ’57 BS HE—Geraldine Guardia White of Pinellas Park, FL, August 28, 2005; schoolteacher; active in community and religious affairs. Alpha Omicron Pi. ’58—Clifford J. Barda of Seattle, WA, formerly of Laguna Beach, CA, May 4, 2005. ’58 JD—John J. Fitzgerald of Cortland, NY, July 28, 2005; attorney; partner, Fitzgerald-Taylor law firm; active in civic, community, professional, and religious affairs. ’58—Joseph E. Hodges of Crossville, TN, November 6, 2002. ’58 MS, PhD ’61 — Albert List Jr. of Doylestown, PA, August 4, 2005; professor emeritus of botany, Drexel U.; artist; specialist on the New Jersey Pine Barrens; veteran; active in professional affairs. ’58, BME ’59—John Norberg of San Jose, CA, July 12, 2005; real estate appraiser; deputy director, San Jose Redevelopment Agency; taught city planning, San Jose State U.; engineer; active in civic and community affairs. Kappa Sigma. ’58, BS Ag ’59—Joel S. O’Connor of St. James, NY, formerly of Ithaca, NY, April 27, 2005; oceanographer; worked for NOAA and the EPA; author; active in civic, community, and professional affairs. ’58, BS ILR ’59—John P. O’Hagan of Davis, IL, October 11, 2005; co-owner, Human Resources Planning Assocs.; veteran; active in civic, community, professional, and religious affairs. Phi Kappa Psi. ’58 M ILR—Arthur B. Siegel of Milford, PA, June 9, 2005; attorney; publisher, Pike County Courier; veteran; author; active in civic and community affairs. ’58 MILR—Valentine Tackowiak of Basking Ridge, NJ, January 4, 2001; worked for Interpace Corp. ’58-59 GR—Norman W. Ward of Oklahoma City, OK, May 13, 2005; int’l consultant; deputy chief of mission, Dominican Republic; deputy chief, Latin American Economic Program; veteran; active in professional and religious affairs. ’59 PhD—Norman H. Baker Jr. of New York, NY, October 11, 2005; professor emeritus of astronomy, Columbia U. Wife, Doris (Blum) ’57. ’59, BME ’61—Kenneth G. Braden of Boca Raton, FL, September 20, 2005; petrochemical engineer; vice president, Ralph M. Parsons Co.; active in community, professional, and alumni affairs. Phi Gamma Delta. Wife, Marguerite (Martindale) ’60. ’59 BS Ag — Keith W. Johnson of Oneida, NY, September 11, 2005; businessman. Sigma Alpha Epsilon. ’59, DVM ’61—Robert B. Lamb of Waterford, NY, October 9, 2005; veterinarian; veteran; active in community and religious affairs. ’59 PhD—Robert H. Ruf Jr. of Reno, NV, April 28, 2005; president, Greenhouse Garden Center; professor of horticulture, U. of Nevada, Reno; consultant, Sunset Western Garden Book series; author; active in community and professional affairs. ’59 PhD—Gordon L. Shaw of Laguna Beach, CA, April 26, 2005; professor emeritus of physics, UC Irvine; co-founder, MIND Institute; author; active in community and professional affairs. Wife, Lorna (Burg) ’58. ’59 BS Ag—Ruth Johnston Weldon of Victoria, British Columbia, September 12, 2005; high school science teacher; musician; active in community affairs. ’59 MBA—William H. Wilson Jr. of Raleigh, NC, November 25, 2002. ’60—Donald E. Eastman of Ithaca, NY, September 5, 2005. ’60—Roy W. Mann Jr. of Rome, GA, December 4, 2003. Chi Phi. ’60 MBA—Richard E. McPherson of Akron, MAY / JUNE 2006 109 NY, June 14, 2005; vice president, Barrister Information Systems; veteran; pilot; active in professional affairs. ’60 DVM—Lee E. Miller of Woodsboro, MD, August 29, 2005; veterinarian and cattle breeder, Mar Lee Embryo Transfer & Vet Clinic; veteran; active in community and professional affairs. Alpha Psi. Wife, Marilyn (Rives) ’57. ’60, B Chem E ’61, PhD ’67—Charles S. ReVelle of Towson, MD, August 10, 2005; professor of geography and environmental engineering, Johns Hopkins U.; systems analyst; assoc. editor, Management Science; author; active in professional affairs. Wife, Penelope (Rottmann) ’62. ’60 MBA—Tawat T. Yipintsoi of South Bangkok, Thailand, July 12, 2005; chairman/CEO, Yip In Tsoi & Jack Ltd. ’61 BA—William P. Francyk of Salt Lake City, UT, July 11, 2005; physician; began angiography program, LDS Hospital; active in community affairs. Phi Epsilon Pi. ’61 — Robert H. Jaycox of Oklahoma City, OK, May 18, 2005; real estate broker; sales manager; veteran; active in religious affairs. Kappa Delta Rho. ’61—Victor Klein of New York City, May 28, 2005; social worker, United Cerebral Palsy. ’61 MS HE—Joanne Hammonds McDonald of Washington, PA, August 26, 2005; horticultural therapist; teacher; active in civic, community, and religious affairs. ’61—Ronald E. Phillips of Lyme, CT, July 10, 2005; president, Phillips and Bonvini Assocs.; active in civic, community, and professional affairs. Lambda Chi Alpha. ’61, BA ’62—James B. Rather III of Port Washington, NY, August 6, 2005; partner, McMillan Rather; active in community affairs. ’61 BS Ag—Gerard P. Richards of Cortland, NY, May 19, 2005; owner, RBT Bookkeeping Service; veteran. Sigma Nu. ’61, BS Ag ’59, DVM ’61—Wilfried T. Weber of Springfield, PA, June 28, 2005; veterinarian. Alpha Psi. ’62 PhD—Harold E. Aller of Plymouth Meeting, PA, July 23, 2005; retired entomologist; former Inventor of the Year; active in community and professional affairs. Wife, Frances (Cromley), MS ’58. ’62 BCE—Donald H. Dwyer of Murrells Inlet, SC, August 10, 2005; chief engineer, Controllers, City of New York. Phi Kappa Sigma. ’62, BS Hotel ’72—Neil C. Irving of Scottsdale, AZ, September 22, 2005; hotel comptroller; veteran. Alpha Sigma Phi. ’63, BS ILR ’60—John B. R. Greene of Santa Cruz, CA, June 30, 2005. Phi Delta Theta. ’63 BA—Charles E. Hewitt III of Williamsville, NY, July 30, 2005; former editor, Tonawanda News; newspaper publisher and editor; active in community, professional, and religious affairs. Pi Kappa Phi. ’63 MD—David B. Marcotte of Fayetteville, NC, September 12, 2005; medical director, HSA Cumberland Hospital. ’63, BME ’64—Lewis E. Platt of Portola Valley, CA, September 8, 2005; former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard; chief executive, KendallJackson Wine Estates; non-executive chairman, Boeing; engineer; active in professional and alumni affairs. Alpha Tau Omega. ’63 — Frederick H. Ritter of Jupiter, FL, July 31, 2004. ’63, B Chem E ’64, PhD ’68—John A. Ruether of Peters, PA, August 13, 2005; research chemical engineer, US Dept. of Energy; also taught at U. of Ottawa; active in community and professional affairs. Alpha Tau Omega. ’63 BS HE, PhD ’73—Elizabeth Mitchell Wien of Ithaca, NY, May 5, 2005. ’64 BS Ag—James F. Hill of Spencerport, NY, July 3, 2005; co-owner, Twin Hills Golf Course; active in alumni affairs. Alpha Gamma Rho. ’64 BS Hotel—Daniel T. Webster III of St. Davids, PA, August 22, 2005; entrepreneur; int’l businessman; founder, WHAM Systems; active in community and professional affairs. ’65 BS Ag—Joshua M. Brand of Marlboro, NJ, September 17, 2005; president, Brand Ventures Group. Tau Delta Phi. ’65 PhD—Edith E. Down (Sister Mary Margaret of Scotland) of Victoria, BC, June 28, 2005; coordinator of home economics, U. of Alberta; high school teacher; historian of Catholic education in British Columbia; active in religious affairs. ’65 DVM—John D. Kopec of Churchton, MD, July 3, 2005; veterinarian, US Agriculture Dept.; veteran; active in religious and alumni affairs. ’65 PhD—Robert A. Moog of Asheville, NC, August 21, 2005; creator of the electronic music synthesizer that bears his name; owner, Moog Music; owner, Big Briar; consultant, Kurzweil Music Systems; active in professional affairs. ’65, BA ’68—Arthur B. Swanson of Fort Collins, CO, October 7, 2005; copy editor, Triangle Review. ’65—Philip C. Tavelli of Ithaca, NY, June 7, 2005; admissions and development officer, Ithaca College; veteran; active in civic, community, and religious affairs. ’66 MS Ag, JD ’69—Harry S. Chandler of Boise, ID, formerly of Portland, OR, April 2, 2005; attorney; partner, Stoel Rives; veteran; active in civic, community, professional, and alumni affairs. ’66 MS HE—Carolyn C. Driver of Bridgewater, VA, April 13, 2005; director of home economics, Virginia Dept. of Education; professor of home economics, Madison College; extension agent; active in community and religious affairs. ’66 BS Ag — Lowell E. Smith of Fayetteville, NY, June 25, 2005; retired executive, Dairylea Cooperative; veteran; active in religious affairs. Alpha Zeta. Wife, Judith (Babis) ’68. ’66 DVM—B. Dale Tarr of East Hampton, NY, January 21, 2005; veterinarian. Alpha Psi. ’67 PhD—Howard Bliss of Little Falls, NY, May 20, 2005; taught at Dartmouth College and Vassar College; veteran; antiques dealer. ’67 BA, JD ’71—Edward H. Fox of Rochester, NY, May 10, 2005; attorney; co-chair, health law practice, Harris Beach LLP; active in alumni affairs. Delta Chi. ’69— Gordon M. Huckins of New Hampton, NH, September 3, 2005; director of public works, New Hampton; dairy farmer; operated Huckins Construction Co.; active in civic, community, professional, and religious affairs. ’69 JD—Peter R. Schlam of New York City, June 1, 2005; attorney; active in alumni affairs. ’69 PhD—Anastasia Gregoriades Stavropoulos of New York City, June 15, 2005; virologist; professor, Queens College, New York College of Podiatric Medicine, and Public Health Research Inst.; active in professional and religious affairs. ’70 BA—William D. Asnis of Wilmington, DE, September 30, 2005; street minister; taught creative writing, UC Santa Cruz; active in religious affairs. Von Cramm. ’70 BA, JD ’73—Clayton M.Axtell III of Harpursville, NY, August 14, 2005; attorney; active in civic, community, professional, religious, and alumni affairs. Delta Upsilon. ’70 BA—William B. Guiney Jr. of Cooperstown, NY, July 7, 2005; pathologist, Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital; health officer; asst. professor of clinical pathology, Columbia Presbyterian College; author; active in civic, community, and professional affairs. Phi Sigma Kappa. ’70 BA—Portia Parratt Kowolowski of Redmond, OR, June 24, 2005; research specialist; active in community and professional affairs. ’71 BS Ag—William J. Chapp Jr. of Ithaca, NY, May 4, 2005; social welfare examiner, Tompkins County Dept. of Social Services. Watermargin. ’71 BA—Judith E. Gruber of Berkeley, CA, June 1, 2005; political science professor, UC Berkeley; campaigned for university childcare centers; active in community and professional affairs. ’71 BS HE—Margaret A. Rossi of Sandstone, WV, July 7, 2005; social worker; executive director, REACH Family Resource Center; active in community and professional affairs. ’71 BA—Louis J. Serpa of Arlington, VA, September 17, 2005; businessman; worked in the US Dept. of Education; active in community affairs. Sigma Alpha Epsilon. 110 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE ALUMNI DEATHS ’71 BS ILR—Gerard J. Shields of Ithaca, NY, June 19, 2005; painting contractor; active in alumni affairs. Phi Delta Theta. ’71 BS Ag—Francis J. Singer of Fort Collins, CO, September 21, 2005; research ecologist, US Geological Survey; senior research scientist, Nat’l Resource Ecology Lab, Colorado State U.; active in professional affairs. ’72 BA—Rajiv A. Kapur of Geneva, Switzerland, July 14, 2005; worked for UN High Commissioner for Refugees. ’72 BS AEP—Ronald J. Kendig of Brandon, MS, April 27, 2005; assoc. professor of orthopedic surgery and rehabilitation, U. of Mississippi Medical Ctr.; author; active in community and professional affairs. Chi Phi. ’72 BS Hotel—David W. Watson of Darien, CT, September 4, 2005; aviation executive; CEO, Green Aviation Mgmt. Co.; consultant; active in civic, community, and professional affairs. Phi Gamma Delta. ’73-74 GR—J. Andrew Ditzhazy of Northville, MI, May 21, 2005 Beta Theta Pi. ’73 BS ILR—Jeffrey A. Morse of Floral Park, NY, May 10, 2005; partner, Hodes & Morse. Alpha Epsilon Pi. ’73 BS ILR—Michael W. Schiefen of Ridgewood, NJ, September 13, 2005; VP, mergers and acquisitions, Siemens Corp.; veteran; active in community, professional, religious, and alumni affairs. Wife, Colleen (Vaeth) ’73. ’74 MRP—Mary Ann Anderson of Magnolia, MA, August 1, 2005; health care advocate; worked for Gov. Howard Dean; statistical analyst, U. of Massachusetts; active in civic, community, and professional affairs. ’74 PhD—Carl J. Naegele Jr. of San Rafael, CA, August 11, 2005; professor of physics and computer science, and dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, U. of San Francisco; veteran. Wife, Elizabeth (McVey) ’75. ’74 MD—Henry M. Scagliola of Bel Air, MD, May 30, 2005; physician. ’75 MS, PhD ’78—Glenn R. Clark of Charleston, WV, October 15, 1989. ’75 MPS—Bente Starcke King of Ithaca, NY, July 15, 2005; artist; scientific illustrator; taught illustration, Cornell Plantations; urban planner; environmental activist; active in civic, community, professional, religious, and alumni affairs. ’75 BS Ag, DVM ’78—Marilyn I. Schmidt of Ravena, NY, September 27, 2005; veterinarian; active in community, professional, and religious affairs. Husband, F. Richard Lesser ’77, DVM ’81. ’75 BS Ag—Kathleen R. Wing of Cheektowaga, NY, August 18, 2005; instructor of English and biology, Erie Comm. College and Dutchess Comm. College; author; graphic designer; laboratory technician; SPCA volunteer; active in community affairs. ’76 BS Hotel—Juan Bautista Bonini of Mayagüez, PR, July 27, 2004; general manager, Gran Hotel El Convento; veteran. ’76 BS Nurs—Sister Roberta K. Downey of Fairbanks, AK, formerly of West Hartford, CT, April 28, 2005; member, Sisters of St. Joseph; village health liaison nurse; director of quality assurance, Visiting Nurse Assn.; elementary school teacher; active in community, professional, and religious affairs. ’76 BS HE—Maryjo Delpopolo Myer of Ovid, NY, May 27, 2005; remedial reading teacher; active in community affairs. ’76 BA—Roberto J. Steinfeld of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, March 10, 2005; vice president, Banco Fonte Cindam. Sigma Phi. ’76 JD—Raymond J. Urbanski of Elmira, NY, May 7, 2005; attorney; active in professional affairs. ’77-78 GR—Paul A. Holmes of Florham Park, NJ, February 17, 2005; urban planner; active in community affairs. ’77 BS Ag—Storm E. Kildoyle of Sarasota, FL, May 31, 2005; owner, EX-IM Services; active in religious affairs. Kappa Delta Rho. ’77 MBA—Michael H. McArdle of Camillus, NY, July 3, 2005; asst. hospital program director, NY State Dept. of Health. ’77 BS Hotel—Thomas J. McDonald of Philadelphia, PA, May 15, 2005; director of operations. Chi Psi. ’78 BA—Helen Marts Murphy of Montclair, NJ, May 4, 2005; IT manager; painter; sculptor; musician; active in community affairs. ’79 MS—Patrick J. Clark of Woodinville, WA, May 6, 2005; information systems director, Nat’l Outdoor Leadership School; worked on radio astronomy and the Viking mission. Wife, Lysanne Cape ’84. ’79 BS Ag—Camille A. Killens of Detroit, MI, May 6, 2005; research book editor. ’80 BS HE—Diane Barton of Moorestown, NJ, August 4, 2005; internal medicine specialist, Cooper U. Hospital; associate professor, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School; active in professional affairs. Kappa Delta. ’80-81 GR—Holly Matey Craft of Ithaca, NY, August 25, 2005; former associate director, Cornell Fund. Husband, Harold D. Craft ’60, PhD ’70. ’80 BS Hotel—Paul J. Faranda of Round Rock, TX, September 26, 2005; controller, hotel industry; active in alumni affairs. Delta Upsilon. ’80 PhD—Kristin Hinds Frey of Tierra Verde, FL, October 7, 2005; genetic researcher, Nat’l Institutes of Health, Sloan-Kettering, and All Children’s Hospital; active in community and professional affairs. ’80 BA—Jonathan S. Kimmel of Piscataway, NJ, July 16, 2005; computer architect, Morgan Stanley. ’81 BS Ag—Michael B. Ross of Somers, CT, May 13, 2005. ’81 MS Ag, PhD ’88—Frank A. Vertucci of Fort Collins, CO, July 31, 2005; research aquatic biologist, US Forest Service; senior ecologist and manager of risk assessment, ENSR; president, Larimer County Board of Health; active in civic, community, professional, and religious affairs. ’82-83 GR—Sarah Gray Megan of Concord, MA, June 7, 2005; head of the music dept., Middlesex School; conductor; active in community and professional affairs. ’82 MPS — Guia Romero Minguez of Ayala Alabang Village, Philippines, August 21, 2005; consultant. ’82 BS Hotel—T. James Paradiso of Arlington, VA, October 17, 2005; director of client services, Coyle & Assocs.; operated Ratsies Terrapin Eatery. Pi Kappa Alpha. ’82 BS Hotel—Glenn M. Rivera of Bayside, NY, October 13, 2005; worked for Film Forum. ’83 BA—Kent E. Farley of Cincinnati, OH, March 16, 2005; manager. Phi Delta Theta. ’85 BS Hotel — Donald J. Howell of Lahaina, HI, April 29, 2005; project director, Marriott’s Maui Ocean Club; active in community affairs. Delta Upsilon. ’86 BS Ag, DVM ’89—Warren Rivera of San Juan, PR, August 3, 2005; veterinarian. ’87 M ILR—Carmen Albar Kase of Piedmont, CA, June 14, 2005; owner, Cakes by Carmen; attorney. ’89 BS ILR—Eric G. Kussoy of New York City, June 25, 2005; labor and employment attorney. Zeta Psi. ’92 BS Ag—Louise A. Parke-Dabes of Lodi, NY, October 15, 2005; public relations director, Lamoreaux Landing Wine Cellars; active in community and religious affairs. ’95 BS HE—Ellen-Lizette Cleckley of Springfield, VA, May 9, 2005; children’s writer and illustrator. ’97 BS Ag—Robert M. Bryant of West Palm Beach, FL, real estate investor. Phi Gamma Delta. ’98 BA—Susie Li of McLean, VA, April 18, 2000. Delta Delta Delta. ’98 BS Hotel—Aravind R. Marri of Bronx, NY, June 14, 2005; corporate client manager, Bally Gaming & Systems. ’02 JD, LLM ’02—Elizabeth Padilla of Brooklyn, NY, June 9, 2005; international human rights lawyer; marathoner; active in civic, community, and professional affairs. Husband, Telemachus Katsulis, JD ’02. ’05 BS Ag—Jeremy R. Block of New Hampton, NY, August 31, 2005; crop consultant, Crop Production Services. Alpha Zeta. MAY / JUNE 2006 111 Cornelliana equally ingenious: the egg helps the oil emulsify and binds the sauce to the meat, and since there was no added sugar, even the most inattentive Rotarian wouldn’t scorch it. To popularize his foolproof grilling technique—and build a market for smaller-grade birds—in 1950 Baker pro- Free Bird duced a pamphlet called “Barbecued Chicken” that included detailed instructions on everything from building a back- yard fire pit out of cinderblocks to mak- REMEMBERING ROBERT BAKER ’43 ing enough sauce and sides for a 300-person event. Distributed by Cornell t HE COMING OF SPRING IN CENtral New York is a time of receding snowbanks and chicken barbecues. The first whiffs of smoke begin to float over church parking lots in April, and by June volunteer fire companies and Lion’s Clubs from Sempronius to Penn Yan are hard at work swabbing smoldering racks of split broilers at weekend fundraisers. To natives, this seasonal ritual feels like an Upstate eternal, but it is in fact a relatively recent development that can be traced to the efforts of one man: food sci- Cooperative Extension and reprinted sev- director of the Institute of Food Science eral times over the ensuing decades, it was and Marketing, which Baker founded in the booklet that launched a thousand 1970. “It was his mission in life.” He did the job well. Baker and his Cornell team transformed the poultry industry and helped turn packaged chicken parts into a supermarket staple. In 1963 he pioneered the development of mechan- Cornell Barbecue Sauce Makes enough for 10 chicken halves 1 cup cooking oil 1 pint cider vinegar 3 tablespoons salt* 1 tablespoon poultry seasoning 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1 egg Beat the egg, then add the oil and beat again. Add other ingredients and stir. Brush sauce on the broiler halves every few minutes during cooking. Leftover sauce can be stored in a glass jar in the ence professor Robert Baker ’43, who came ically deboned chicken refrigerator for several weeks. up with the sauce recipe for what is popu- meat, eventually conjurlarly called “Cornell Chicken.” He died in ing up more than fifty *Adjust salt to taste. Chicken basted frequently during cooking will be saltier than chicken that has been lightly basted. March at the age of eighty-four. processed chicken prod- Baker actually devised the stuff in ucts, from nuggets and State College, Pennsylvania, where he was patties to chicken hot dogs and baloney. chicken barbecue fundraisers. Baker was a working as an extension agent while pur- The poultry business is now a $29 billion one-man movement, cooking chickens suing a master’s degree at Penn State in industry, with 40 percent of sales involv- county-to-county across the state as well the late 1940s. A visit from the governor ing processed meat. The New York Times as selling them at Baker’s Acres, the fruit prompted a call for a big dubbed Baker the “chic- farm and market he owned in North outdoor feed, and Baker ken Edison” in 1984 for Lansing, and at his concession stand at the suggested a chicken bar- the innovations he handed New York State Fair in Syracuse, a fair fix- becue, whipping up a sim- off to producers such as ture since 1949. To many an Upstater, ple vinegar-based basting Frank Perdue, who would alum and otherwise, the taste of a Cornell sauce for the occasion. At fly into Ithaca on his cor- chicken drumstick—mildly tangy, crisp- the time, the notion of porate jet to inspect Bak- skinned, tinged with smoke—is the cooking birds out in the er’s latest creations. “He essence of summer. open air was something of did everything,” Hotchkiss Baker passed away from a heart attack a novelty in the North- says, “but make money off on Monday, March 13; on the following east—the Weber kettle them.” Saturday afternoon his large extended grill wasn’t invented until CORNELL NEWS SERVICE It was that sauce from family gathered in the parking lot of the 1952, and chickens were generally saved for the Robert Baker State College, however, Lansing United Methodist Church, fired that made Baker a Cornell up the grill, and barbecued 425 chickens. occasional Sunday dinner. Baker changed icon. The concoction is both dead-sim- all that. He was hired by Cornell’s poultry ple—salt, pepper, oil, and apple cider Memorial donations for a graduate student science department in 1949 and charged vinegar mixed up with poultry seasoning fund at the Department of Food Science can with a specific duty: get people to eat and an egg—and a resourceful combina- be sent to the attention of Joseph Hotchkiss, more chicken and eggs. “Bob took that tion of key New York State agricultural Department of Food Science, 116 Stocking seriously,” says Joseph Hotchkiss, the products. The science behind it was Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853. 112 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE What can we do about AMERICA’S DIABETES EPIDEMIC besides treating it? “I’M NOT just a scientist; I’m a diabetic, too,” says Bill. “You might not think a drug company would want to prevent disease. But GSK wants to help people from ever developing diabetes. That’s why we support programs that reward schools for providing healthier food alternatives – all because childhood obesity can lead to adult diabetes.” Finding a way forward. A SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION IN CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE BY PAMELA GODDARD Last year was a very good year—but not perfect. That’s the word from Jim Trezise, president of the New York Wine and Grape Foundation. New York’s 212 vintners had much to celebrate in 2005, but also a bit to bemoan. Although it was a landmark year both legislatively and economically, it was tainted by bad weather that limited the size of an otherwise superb grape crop. “This was the year of two perfect storms, one great and one terrible,” says Trezise. “The great storm combined direct interstate shipment, economic impact studies, the unveiling of plans for the New York Wine and Culinary Center, and a new curriculum in viticulture and enology at Cornell, each of which is huge by itself but together have enormous positive impact on the industry’s future. The terrible storm combined a severe January freeze in the Finger Lakes with hurricane-spawned rains on Long Island in October, significantly reducing the quantity of key grape varieties like Riesling and Merlot in a year of NEW YORK WINE AND GRAPE FOUNDATION exceptional quality.” The troublesome weather hit just as demand was grow- ing for New York wines. In April, after a lengthy legal battle, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that required the state legislature to change the laws on wine shipping. Regulations had previously allowed shipments only within the state’s borders, but the court ruling forced the legislature to either allow both intrastate and interstate shipping or neither. Thankfully, the legislature chose to remove the restrictions on interstate shipping, and in July Governor George Pataki traveled to Lamoreaux Landing Winery on Seneca Lake to sign the direct shipment bill into law. Pete Saltonstall ’75, co-owner of King Ferry Winery and a tireless advocate of direct shipping, was thrilled that New York’s wineries had finally won the right to ship to customers outside of the state. Well, at least most customers . . . specifically, those in states that allow New York customers to buy from them. While the first part of this battle has been won, Saltonstall says, there is more work to do, and he encourages his fellow winemakers to keep up their efforts in Albany. “The state legislature has a hand in so many issues that affect our industry,” he emphasizes. “We have to provide for our own advocacy.” COVER ART BY STUDIO ALLEGRO PAMELA GODDARD is the coordination editor of the Finger Lakes Wine Gazette and a longtime observer of the New York State wine and grape industry. She also performs traditional American songs and recently released a CD entitled As Time Draws Near. WINES OF NEW YORK STATE 3 4 WINES OF NEW YORK STATE Wine Economics Just about anyone who’s been involved with the New York wine industry in the past ten years knows that the business has been growing. Now we have the numbers to back that up. According to a study conducted by Napa Valleybased MKF Research LLC, New York’s grape, grape juice, and wine industries contributed more than $6 billion in benefits to the state’s economy in 2004. This surprising figure includes not only wine and grape sales but more than $1 billion in wages, plus tourism COURTESY OF RICHARD OLSEN-HARBICH dollars, taxes, and a host of other revenue generators. And the research group calls the $6 billion figure a “conservative estimate” of the industry’s annual impact, as the severe frosts of 2004 limited wine production. Winery growth has been phenomenal. Seventy percent of New York’s wineries have opened in the past twenty years, and new wineries keep popping up—in fact, more than half of New York’s sixty-two counties now have wineries. The MKF Research report came out before last year’s change in the shipping laws, so the numbers should get even larger— especially as the study showed that more than 20 percent of visitors to New York wineries come from out of state. “The New York wine industry is finally beginning to get the recogni- tion we deserve,” says Jim Trezise, “not only in terms of quality but also economic impact.” Visitor Center Will Celebrate New York Wine and Food On a sweltering day in August 2005, Governor George Pataki hoisted a golden shovel alongside Jim Trezise of the New York Wine and Grape Foundation and Robert Sands of Constellation Brands to break ground for the New York Wine and Culinary Center, to be built on the north shore of Canandaigua Lake. This new visitor facility will offer a tasting room with a rotating selection of New York wines, hands-on courses in culinary science, a wine and tapas bar, and a variety of interactive exhibits. “From North Country apples to Long Island wine, the New York Wine and Culinary Center will be a celebration of New York’s agriculture and its many offerings,” said Pataki. “This represents a vision not only of the best here, but the best everywhere.” The Wine and Culinary Center, located next to the Inn on the Lake in Canandaigua, is expected to open later this year. To Your Health! According to two recent studies, moderate alcohol consumption may lower the risk of renal dysfunction and reduce aortic stiffness in young people. In a study by Harvard researchers, the risk of chronic kidney disease decreased with moderate alcohol consumption. The beneficial effect of alcohol on aortic stiffness in twentyeight-year-old subjects was particularly evident in women and is seen as “compatible with a vascular protective effect of alcohol that expresses well before the occurrence of symptomatic cardiovascular disease.” An ounce of prevention is a wonderful thing. WINES OF NEW YORK STATE 5 To Your Health! Cognitive function (otherwise known as thinking) is enhanced by moderate wine consumption, according to several recent studies from the U.S., China, and Finland. The independent studies all came to the same overall conclusion: when compared with abstention, mild to moderate alcohol consumption was associated with less cognitive decline among older people. However, the Finnish study showed that binge drinking in midlife is related to an increase in dementia, particularly for those who had passed out from excessive alcohol intake more than once. The Chinese study also indicated an association between heavy drinking and dementia. Moderation is the key. Studying Sustainability A s we watch fuel prices skyrocket, worry about global warming, and wonder what’s in the air we breathe and the water we drink, making sure that what we do sustains us for the future is important to our lives. Grape growers and winery owners are as concerned as anyone else, and they’re starting to look closely at the “three E’s” of sustainability: environment, economics, and social equity. Every grape-growing region in New York has seen an increase in the number of vineyard managers striving to grow grapes without damaging the environment, and a statewide program now supports sustainable viticulture efforts. The team—which includes organic grape growers as well as conventional growers from Long Island to the Niagara Escarpment—is working with researchers from the Geneva Agricultural Experiment Station under a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture. Their goal is to design a self-study guide to address a wide range of agricultural settings, covering all areas of the state. 6 WINES OF NEW YORK STATE NEW YORK WINE AND GRAPE FOUNDATION “Different regions have different concerns,” says Tim Martinson, PhD ’91, a grape specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension. “Producing this will be a challenge.” Martinson notes that growers are becoming increasingly focused on sustainability. “Everyone, even major producers, wants to be able to show their neighbors that what they’re doing is sustainable. So how do you know what you’re doing is right? You have to define it somehow. I think the greatest value of this project is as an educational tool. We can point out practices that all good growers should use.” Wine Appreciation I f New York State wineries find young visitors arriving at their doors with some knowledge of wine, it might be because of the Hotel school’s Introduction to Wines course (HA430). For more than a decade, 1,400 Cornell students a year have learned about the flavor components in wine, selecting wine, pairing wine and food, wine etiquette, and responsible drinking. The first offering of the class, taught by Vance Christian ’61, MS Hotel ’65, in 1962, attracted thirty Hotelies. Professor Stephen Mutkoski ’67, PhD ’76, took TED CRANE Taste test: Students in Professor Stephen Mutkoski’s Introduction to Wines class sample vintages from all major wine-producing regions—including New York State. Merritt Estate Winery Stop by and enjoy our fine awardwinning wines, free winery tours, and tastings in our newly remodeled gift shop with modern handicapped-accessible facilities. We welcome individuals and groups. VISIT THE WINERY DURING ONE OF OUR SUMMER 2006 WINE FESTIVALS: JUNE 10-11 STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL, with food, fun, a Classic Car cruise, and live entertainment with “About Face” on Saturday, June 10 from 6-10 pm and “Nik and The Nice Guys,” America's Number One Party Band, on Sunday, June 11 from 5-9 pm. SEPTEMBER 9-10 SEPTEMBERFEST featuring similar entertainment and a Chicken BBQ. Sit, relax, and enjoy a glass of our wine. For information on our festivals, new wine releases, and Web store promotions, visit us at www.merrittestatewinery.com or call us at 1-888-965-4800. Like we always say, “Save Water . . . Drink Merritt Wines!” Johnson Estate Wines Grown, Vinified & Bottled in the Chateau Tradition by New York’s Oldest Estate Winery Founded and operated by three generations of Cornellians Johnson Estate Winery, LLC 8419 West Main Road Westfield, NY 14787 Tasting Room Open 10-6 Every Day Telephone: 1-800-DRINKNY www.johnsonwinery.com In the heart of the largest grape-growing region east of the Rockies in western New York & Pennsylvania www.chautauquawinetrail.com 1/800/965-4800 WINES OF NEW YORK STATE 7 8 WINES OF NEW YORK STATE over the class in 1972, and by 1984 it was drawing 400 students from across the University. And it has continued to grow in popularity. In one class this spring, 708 students compared wines from New York, Washington State, and Oregon, three of the four top wine-producing states in the U.S. (The fourth, of course, is California.) The students tasted Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir from Oregon, Riesling and Chardonnay from the Finger Lakes, Cabernet Franc from Long Island, and Shiraz from Washington. The class finished with a sweet Niagara wine, once New York’s signature variety (and still a big seller). The students who complete this popular course may not remember all the odd terms that enophiles use to describe taste, but they’re sure to know how to appreciate fine wines. Ice Wine Wins Governor’s Cup Casa Larga Vineyards took top honors at the 2005 New York Wine and Food Classic with its 2004 “Fiori Delle Stelle” Vidal Ice Wine, rated Best of Show in a field of 671 wines from ninety wineries. This luscious dessert wine with the poetic name—which means “Flowers of the Stars”—has consistently won top awards around the country. “The name is meant to evoke the crisp starry nights of mid-winter when this wine is made,” says Andrea Colaruotolo O’Neill, daughter of winery founder Andres Colaruotolo. Vidal grapes are carefully protected in the vineyards, waiting for the first full freeze of winter; the naturally frozen grapes are then made into a brilliant NEW YORK WINE AND GRAPE FOUNDATION To Your Health! “Don’t binge” is the clear message from recent medical research. Studies by Dr. R. Curtis Ellison of Boston University Medical Center have shown that moderate alcohol consumption helps protect against heart disease, but binge drinking increases the risk. Ellison’s studies indicated that binge drinking (three or more drinks within one to two hours) completely negates the protective effect of moderate drinking for those who have had a heart attack. “In the wake of a myocardial infarction, many patients begin to appreciate life in a new way, to slow down and enjoy the pleasures around them,” says Ellison. “Savoring a glass of wine with a meal, or a beer or cocktail before dinner, may not only enhance the lives of these patients but also prolong them.” STERLING SILVER BOOKMARK Handmade in Ithaca 4-1/4" by 1/2" $39.95 available only at Handwork 102 West State Street Ithaca, NY 14850 www.handwork.coop 607-273-9400 shown actual size WINES OF NEW YORK STATE 9 10 WINES OF NEW YORK STATE amber-colored ice wine. “Fiori Delle Stelle” was first made in 1994, when only fifteen gallons were produced. Casa Larga has been increasing production every year, turning out 500 cases in 2004. After the Governor’s Cup award luncheon, Governor George Pataki traveled to Casa Larga to present the trophy in person. Second-generation winery owner John Colaruotolo was on hand to show him the hillside vineyard in Fairport where his family has been making fine wines for more than twenty-five years. “Everybody in New York has done a great job at working really hard to improve the quality of the wines,” says John. “Vintage by vintage, we’ve been making it better.” All New York, All the Time Robert Ransom and Susan Wine are on a mission to establish a strong identity for New York State wines. They maintain that regional names such as “Long Island” and “Finger Lakes” are meaningless to many wine enthusiasts, especially international visitors. So this husband-and-wife team is simply promoting “New York” at their Vintage New York wine stores. The idea that became the Vintage New York stores grew out of the tasting room at Rivendell, Ransom and Wine’s winery in the Hudson Valley. In addition to featuring their own wines, Ransom and Wine have made a point of offering the products of many other quality New York wineries. “In the past fifteen years, New York State has experienced a winemaking renaissance unlike any other region in the world,” says Ransom. “Where there were once only a handful of vineyards, today more than 200 vintners labor to create some of the most exciting and delicious wines in the country.” In 2000 the couple opened their first Vintage New York store in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood. Two years later, they established a To Your Health! According to a study published in Experimental Biology, grapeseed extract may help to prevent heart disease. The animal study showed that grapeseed extract prevented the buildup of cholesterol, which causes hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis). The study also confirmed previous work on the health benefits of grape powder and grape juice thanks to the antioxidant activity of flavonoids. While grapeseed extract seems to pack more of a health punch, we’ll stick to wine—it tastes so much better. second store on the Upper West Side, and then they opened the Vintage New York Wine Bar next to the Soho store last spring. The Wine Bar brings together New York wines and foods, and also offers unique blending sessions—customers can blend, bottle, and take home one-of-a-kind creations Come taste our wines, share your thoughts and help us write the next chapter in our history. Tasting & Sales Monday-Friday 11-5 Saturday 11-6 Sunday 11-5 Just five minutes south of Geneva on the east shore of Seneca Lake 623 Lerch Road, Geneva, NY 14456 315-585-4432 or Fax 315-585-9881 www.nagyswines.com • info@nagyswines.com WINES OF NEW YORK STATE 11 on the same day. Vintage New York also stocks artisanal cheeses, patés, fresh bread, and other foods made in New York State. “Local and sustainable—people love it,” says Ransom, “and Vintage New York is part of that consciousness.” Merlot Makers Unite Nearly two decades ago, a group of French wine luminaries identified similarities between the climate and soil characteristics of Bordeaux and Long Island, and they suggested that the New York region was well-suited to producing worldclass Merlot. Their vision proved prophetic, and last year five of Long Island’s top Merlot makers banded together to promote their region’s wines and maintain quality at the highest level. Pellegrini Vineyards, Raphael, Sherwood House, Shinn Estate Vineyards, and Wolffer Estates are the charter members of the Long Island Merlot Alliance, and more members are expected to sign on soon. Members must use grapes grown exclusively on Long Island with sustainable agriculture practices. The Alliance will use laboratory testing and tasting panels to ensure that members meet its qualifying standards, and they plan to release a collaboratively made wine called Merliance, designed to showcase the unique complexities of Long Island Merlot. “In essence, this was a group of people coming together in a very natural way,” says Barbara Shinn, co-owner of Shinn Estate Vineyards in Mattituck. “All of us have the same idea about where we’re going.” Seven Generations on the Farm In 2005 Fulkerson Winery marked 200 years of family farming, and the Fulkersons celebrated by opening a tasting room, wine shop, and juice plant in a handsome new building overlooking Seneca Lake. “This was quite an ambitious project,” says Sayre Fulkerson ’75. “We wanted something that would last and that we’d grow into.” The family’s legacy in the Finger Lakes dates back to 1805, when Caleb Fulkerson journeyed from Somerville, New Jersey, to stake out a piece of land on the slopes of Seneca Lake. The original plot of approximately 600 acres has been handed down from generation to generation: from Caleb to Samuel, to Harlan P., to 12 WINES OF NEW YORK STATE NEW YORK WINE AND GRAPE FOUNDATION WINES OF NEW YORK STATE 13 14 WINES OF NEW YORK STATE Harlan, to Roger, and then to Sayre. “It’s always been a fruit farm, one way or another,” says Sayre. “Peaches, black raspberries—that sort of thing.” Grapes first came into the picture, on a small scale, sometime around 1830. Sayre and his brother Harlan grew up working on the farm. Sayre says he’s always enjoyed the work, but it has sometimes been a struggle to get by. “I decided that if I was going to do this, I’d have to do something that took advantage of value-added products and try to go directly to the market,” he says. And thus the Fulkerson Winery was born in 1989. Fulkerson Winery now produces 10,000 cases annually in many styles, from prestigious vinifera varietals to “hot tub wines” like Sunset Blush and Red Zeppelin. The vineyards are planted with a mix of well-known grapes and some lesser-known varieties such as Traminette, Dornfelder, Vincent, and Himrod. Sayre Fulkerson also grows some varieties exclusively for his juice customers. While the Fulkersons are proud of their legacy, they’re also looking ahead—and a seventh generation will be represented when Sayre’s son Steven—currently studying viticulture and enology at Cornell—takes his place in the family business. Sales and tastings at Windmill Farm & Craft Market, Penn Yan, (Saturdays 8 am-4:30 pm), and the Syracuse Regional Market (Tuesdays 7am–2pm) R. Mattucci www.stoneagewinery.net P.O. Box 305 Liverpool, NY 13088 (315) 457-6718 To learn more about New York State wines and wineries visit www.newyorkwines.org WINES OF NEW YORK STATE 15