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CORE TO
COMMENCEMENT
COLUMBIA COLLEGE
~ Nearly 100 years ago, Columbia College altered the landscape of | :
_ American higher education with a pioneering experiment ea
now known as the Core Curriculum. | -
_ Today the Core to Commencement campaign — the College’s first-ever
_ — seeks to create other life-altering experiences for our students andthe __
faculty who teach them. Join us in the next phase of this ambitious
oe endeavor to make Columbia College the greatest undergraduate
experience possible — one that we will all oe pride in.
ME OT tae Pe! POs oe ROL LT ht eT Fee OIE SPO es ake
iN ua es |
| sy) y =
Ve ee Wellness and Beyond the Teaching and) Access and
The Core at 100 Community Classroom Mentoring Support
college.columbia.edu/campaign
collegecampaign@columbia.edu
Contents
Better Call Khadijah
From the courtroom to the boardroom,
Khadijah Sharif-Drinkard ’93 is a
force for positive change.
By Molly Shea
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2 ae
ALA TTETE dager,
“CELE AAM
pre oiveteoteie
The Hometown Historian
Associate Professor Frank A. Guridy
feels “a real responsibility” to bettering
the College community.
By Fill C. Shomer
26-38 ROBES ot SRNR PLA NaS a res 7
§ De abate Ota ray
Dante's Infernal Inbox
A divine comedy for the modern age.
By Susanna Wolff 10
Cover: Illustration by Forge Colombo
dlumninews \-)
departments
3 Message from Dean James J. Valentini 31
On finding your groove, from Core
to Commencement.
4 The Big Picture 32
6 Within the Family
7 Letters to the Editor 36
8 Around the Quads
Columbia's Freedom and Citizenship
program marks 10 years. 38
13 Roar, Lion, Roar
Athletics Hall of Fame adds its newest members. 85
26 Columbia Forum: Young China: How the
Restless Generation Will Change Their 88
Country and the World by Zak Dychtwald 12
Charting the rise of a powerful new generation.
Now on CCT Online
PRINT EXTRAS THE LATEST
- President Lee C. Bollinger remembers
Gerry Lenfest LAW’58
- Bill Isler 03, on the Chinese spirit baijiu
- Thank you to our FY18 CCT donors
Like Columbia College Alumni
facebook.com/alumnicc
View Columbia College alumni photos
instagram.com/alumniofcolumbiacollege
ue Follow @Columbia_CCAA
Join the Columbia College alumni network
college.columbia.edu/alumni/linkedin
college.columbia.edu/cct
TAKE FIVE | JULY 13
“Truthfully, | wouldn’t do
anything over. | made great
lifelong friends, played in New
York City, witnessed incredible
performances at the Met Opera
and BAM and St. Ann’s, held
up a Sweaty, pre-platinum,
crowd-surfing Lady Gaga in
a tiny dance club, sat two
uncomfortable feet away from
Ahmadinejad v. Bollinger and
bumped up against global
perspectives in a challenging
and diverse environment.”
— Actor Kurt Kanazawa 11
Contents
Message from CCAA President
Michael Behringer ’89
Five reasons to be excited about the new academic year.
Lions
Josh Martin 13; Jennifer Lee 90, GSAS’98; and
Bill Isler’ 03, plus other alumni newsmakers.
Bookshelf
Amsterdam Exposed: An American’s Fourney into
the Red Light District, by David Wienir ’95.
Class Notes
Alumni Sons and Daughters; Just Married!
Obituaries
Henry L. King 48
The Last Word
On his 50th reunion, a CC’68 alumnus rows
around Manhattan to honor a fallen classmate.
LION’S DEN | SEPT. 20
“I'll never forget my first trip to
Le Pavillon on 57th Street. | was
with a sophisticated girl from
Sarah Lawrence who knew this
scene that | did not. Trying to be
adventurous, | ordered my first
artichaut vinaigrette. | had no idea
what to do with it. So | took one of
the leaves and put it in my mouth
and nearly choked to death. My
date was doing her best to keep a
straight face and not humiliate me
in the midst of the rich and famous.
‘Do you like it?’ she asked.
“It’s a little ...’ | searched for the
word. ‘Chewy. A tad chewy.”
— Vanity Fair contributor William
Stadiem ’69, from “Food for Thought”
Columbia
| College
Today @
VOLUME 46 NUMBER 1
FALL 2018
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Alexis Boncy SOA'11
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Lisa Palladino
DEPUTY EDITOR
Jill C. Shomer
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Anne-Ryan Heatwole JRN’09
FORUM EDITOR
Rose Kernochan BC’82
ART DIRECTOR
Eson Chan
Published quarterly by the
Columbia College Office of
Alumni Affairs and Development
for alumni, students, faculty, parents
and friends of Columbia College.
ASSOCIATE DEAN,
COLUMBIA COLLEGE
ALUMNI RELATIONS
AND COMMUNICATIONS
Bernice Tsai ’96
ADDRESS
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530, 4th FI.
New York, NY 10025
PHONE
212-851-7852
EMAIL
cct@columbia.edu
WEB
college.columbia.edu/cct
ISSN 0572-7820
Opinions expressed are those of
the authors and do not reflect
official positions of Columbia College
or Columbia University.
© 2018 Columbia College Today
All rights reserved.
MIX
Paper from
responsible sources
Bes FSC® C022085
= Message from the Dean
Finding Your Groove
his semester, we welcomed the Class of 2022 to Columbia College. New Stu-
dent Orientation Program leaders, a group of dedicated and enthusiastic student
volunteers, greeted families on College Walk and walked the students to their
new homes. It was a busy day, filled with introductions, activities and, eventually,
some bittersweet goodbyes.
This year, student leaders selected “Find Your Groove” as their orientation theme. They wanted
to convey to incoming students that the College offers many opportunities for finding your iden-
tity and settling into your new community. When I became dean of the College seven years ago,
I found an unanticipated groove. Though I had been a member of the chemistry faculty for more
than 20 years, being dean offered a much broader engagement with Columbia students and
faculty than I had previously experienced. As
I transitioned into my new role, my eyes and
mind opened up to many possibilities. And
what I found was exceptional.
You've heard me say that Columbia is the
greatest college in the greatest university in
the greatest city in the world. I believe that
to be true because the greatness of an edu-
cational institution is really measured by the
opportunities it affords, and by that measure
Columbia College is remarkable.
One such measure can be seen in our
Core to Commencement campaign, the first
campaign exclusively devoted to Columbia
College’s students and faculty. When we launched this effort two and a half years ago, we
set out to enhance every part of the undergraduate experience to ensure it was the best pos-
sible. We have had tremendous success. Alumni, parents and friends have rallied in support
of a shared belief that the College is an institution that will help shape the future of society.
The campaign has secured new endowed professorships, created almost 1,000 funded summer
experiences and established initiatives that increase the offerings to undergraduates in both
business and the field of civil and political rights.
Recently we decided to expand Core to Commencement to a goal of $750 million, from
our original goal of $400 million. The campaign will continue to raise support for faculty
and students while enhancing wellness and community, increasing the real-world experi-
ences students will have beyond the classroom and developing greater access and support
for all students. It will also propel the Core Curriculum — as we approach its centennial in
2019 — in order to extend the experience and its imprint into the next 100 years.
We hope we can continue to count on your commitment to support the growth of this
great institution. Visit college.columbia.edu/campaign to learn more about our campaign,
about our vision and about why this is the moment to support our future. An education at
Columbia College can prepare thousands of young people each year to help build a better
world not just for themselves, but also for us all.
Sei
James J. Valentini
Dean
KILLIAN YOUNG
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New Student Orientation
Program leaders cheered
the Class of 2022 at
Convocation on August 26.
EILEEN BARROSO
6 CCT Fall 2018
JORG MEYER
Within the Family
Happy New Year!
S we were putting together the Fall
issue, I realized it had been a while
since Id written this column. Too
long, frankly. I found myself missing
this chance to talk to you about the issue and also
CCT in general — how we're changing, what we’re
excited about, the questions on our team’s collective
mind or the questions we have for you, our com-
munity of readers. With that thought, I had one of
my New Year’s resolutions (because, as anyone who
marches to the academic calendar knows, the start
of the fall semester is the real new year): No matter
how busy the dash to production, I would be sure to
take a break to reflect and write this page.
So, how are we changing? What are we excited
about these days?
To begin, our new “Around the Quads” depart-
ment, “Hall of Fame.” We've invited the eloquent
and inimitable Thomas Vinciguerra ’85, JRN’86,
GSAS’90 — who has an insatiable appetite both
for history and all things Columbia — to write each
quarter on an alum or school figure from the deeper
past. Our aim is to leave you with an appreciation
for Columbians whose names you might know
but whose particular accomplishments might have
become obscured through time, or whose influence
has renewed resonance today. Tom’ first installment
shines a light on Thomas Merton 738, GSAS’39
(page 10), whose call to a Trappist monastery at 27
began an unlikely journey to becoming a leading
writer, theologian and social activist.
We're also excited to welcome humor writer and
New Yorker contributor Susanna Wolff’10 back to
our pages. Susanna last wrote for us in summer
2017, when she delivered a wry orientation for that
year’s graduating seniors, “Welcome to Life!” Here,
her take on Dante and email — two topics that all
College alumni can relate to — is truly inspired
(page 22).
Elsewhere, in our features, you'll meet two
people — a professor and an alumna — who are
committed to positive change: Historian Frank A.
Guridy is the new faculty coordinator for the Mel-
lon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program,
which puts underserved students on the path to
a Ph.D. And Khadijah Sharif-Drinkard ’93, VP,
associate general counsel with Viacom Media Net-
works, is answering the question, how can you be a
social activist and do good from within a company?
“Columbia Forum,” meanwhile, excerpts a new
book by Zak Dychtwald ’12, whose research into
China’s millennials unpacks the far-reaching influ-
ence of a powerful new generation.
A note on our cover: We decided to try some-
thing different by commissioning a stand-alone
illustration. I had the good fortune of taking the
artist, Jorge Colombo, on a campus tour in mid-
August to scout locations and consider possible
scenes. In many ways, it was an exercise in imagi-
nation: We were circling Van Am Quad on a
steamy day, paths and benches empty, and the sky
threatening rain, while on his iPad Jorge conjured
fall foliage, cool-weather clothing and the bustle of
students all around. But what came from that day,
after sketches turned to final art, was something we
feel to be quite true and timeless — the pleasures of
being absorbed by a good book, in this place at the
heart of every CC-er’s experience.
To circle back, I mentioned at the outset that
I wanted to use this space to bring up questions,
and here are two I hope you'll answer after reading.
How did you like this issue? Which article most
stood out for you, and why? We of course welcome
letters to the editor after every issue, and as CCT
continues to evolve, one of our goals is to see that
section expand to fill several pages and include an
array of voices and perspectives. A rich letters sec-
tion is both a measure of an engaged readership
and a way for us to learn what resonates (and some-
times, what doesn’t).
Please write me at alt2129@columbia.edu_ or
using our easy Letters to the Editor webform,
college.columbia.edu/cct/contact-us. I look forward
to hearing from you.
Alexis bck SOA'11
Editor-in- Chief
JESSICA RAIMI
Letters to the Editor
I was sad to read of Edward “Ted” Tayler’s death (Summer 2018, “Around the Quads”),
about a month before the Class of ’68’s 50th reunion. I had been hoping that he might
be present so I could thank him for teaching me to read. My sharpest memories from
college (aside from the awfulness of the war, the constant threat of the draft and the
hardships of the civil rights struggle) boil down to gratitude for the Core Curriculum
and for Professor Tayler’s classes senior year, when I took both his Milton class and
Shakespeare seminar. It doesn't feel like an exaggeration to say that he taught me to read
— to set aside assumptions and presumptions, appreciate the various meanings (some-
times opposite meanings) of the same word and to simply open my mind to the text and
the genius behind it. He was a challenging teacher — intense, playful and demanding.
After the Peace Corps, I went to law school, where I believe my success was
driven in significant part by what I learned through Professor Tayler’s version of the
Socratic method. He inspired me to concentrate, pay close attention to the text (the
facts) and be open through avoiding preconceptions.
Roy Thilly 68
Baileys Harbor, Wis.
The Meaning of Music
I was 8 when I began taking piano lessons,
until then, I'd played by ear. 1 have worked
I read with great interest the interview with
Associate Professor of Music Kevin Fellezs
in the Summer 2018 issue [“The Essentials,”
“Around the Quads”]. I was struck by him
saying, “Instead of the mechanics of music, I
wanted to think about the meaning of music.”
all my life as a professional pianist, conduc-
tor, music director, arranger and orchestra-
tor. (I gave up composing many years ago,
as I had no desire to starve to death.) I have
been a member of the American Federation
of Musicians for more than 50 years.
My life has been spent contemplating and
analyzing music. I am no musical snob, and
am interested in all sorts of music, no matter
the genre.
In my far from humble opinion, music,
the most abstract of the arts, simply “is.” It
doesn’t “mean” a damn thing.
Mack Schlefer 66
New York City
A Surprising Advisor
I read with interest “The Essentials” column
about Associate Professor of Music Kevin
Fellezs in the Summer 2018 issue [“Around
the Quads”], and I was amazed that his
academic advisor had been Angela Davis.
Describing her as a “political activist” was
quite the understatement to me. She is most
famous for being on the FBI’s Most Wanted
List in 1970 because of her involvement in a
deadly armed courtroom takeover and hostage
situation in California. She had purchased the
weapons used to murder the judge two days
prior and was a fugitive for two months before
her capture in New York City. 1 remember
being totally surprised when she was acquitted
of any responsibility for the four deaths in the
courtroom incident. In teaching a course this
fall on Ms. Davis, perhaps Professor Fellezs
can shed some light on the acquittal.
Being advised by the notorious Angela
Davis in earning a doctorate in the history
of consciousness at UC Santa Cruz must
surely have been a surreal experience.
James Mullin ’77
Dover, N.J.
[e Contact Us
CCT welcomes letters from readers
about articles in the magazine but cannot
print or personally respond to all letters
received. Letters express the views
of the writers and not CCT, the College
or the University. All letters are subject
to editing for space, clarity and CCT
style. Please direct letters for publication
“to the editor” via mail or online:
college.columbia.edu/cct/contact-us.
Fall 2018 CCT 7
Center for the Core Curriculum Director
Roosevelt Montas 95, GSAS’04 leads a
Freedom and Citizenship program seminar.
restling with Hobbes and
Locke might not be the
average summer fare for
most high school stu-
dents, but for the past decade Columbia's
Freedom and Citizenship summer pro-
gram has encouraged a small set of rising
seniors to pursue an experience — and an
education — outside the norm.
The four-week seminar (one week of
orientation, three weeks of classes), which
recently marked its 10th anniversary, aims
to give underrepresented (minority, immi-
grant and/or low-income) New York City
students a taste of college life before they
embark on their final year of high school.
CCT Fall 2018
PHOTOS COURTESY FREEDOM AND CITIZENSHIP AT THE CENTER FOR AMERICAN STUDIES
Bringing the Core to High School Students
Monday through Friday students have a
reading and writing assignment — roughly
20 pages of reading from a Core Curricu-
lum text and then a one-page reflection on
the work. Students discuss the readings the
following day during a two-hour seminar. In
addition, the students — who live in campus
residence halls Sunday night through Friday
evening — meet with tutors in the afternoon
and evening to go over the classwork.
Noted Columbia faculty deliver guest
lectures throughout the seminar; this year
featured historian Eric Foner’63, GSAS’69
and linguist John McWhorter, among oth-
ers. “There has been a tremendous eagerness
among the most distinguished Columbia
faculty to bring their expertise to this proj-
ect,” says Roosevelt Montds 95, GSAS’04,
director of the Center for the Core Cur-
riculum and one of the program’s founders.
In addition to Montds, Andrew Del-
banco (the Alexander Hamilton Professor
of American Studies) and Casey Blake (the
Mendelson Family Professor of American
Studies) helped create the seminar. Mon-
tas says the choice to get involved was easy:
“Andy called me one day and said, ‘Hey, if
we work up a partnership with the Double
Discovery Center to teach a Core-like
seminar in the summer to kids, would you
be interested in designing that curriculum?’
— and that was music to my ears!” After
drawing up the syllabus, Montds taught
the first cohort of 15 students and contin-
ues to teach in the seminar today.
The program has grown to 45 students,
but they still meet in groups of 15. Gradu-
ates have a 100 percent college placement
rate and graduate at a much higher rate
than their peers. Former students have
returned as TAs and to attend reunions.
Montas says that thanks to the success
of the program, Columbia is exporting
the idea to other universities. He notes,
“We see this program as offering a model
to many other institutions for this kind
of engagement with their communities”;
Yale University and Carthage College
have already launched similar programs
and more schools have expressed interest
in bringing the program to their campuses.
For Montds, who came to the United
States at 12 not speaking much English,
the program is a way to help a new gen-
eration of students like him experience
the life-changing power of a Columbia
education. “The thing I’m most passionate
about is bringing a Core-type education to
populations that have traditionally not had
access to that kind of education,” he says.
“Students’ lives are actually transformed by
this kind of education.”
Hamilton Medal Will Go To Lisa L. Carnoy ’89
The 2018 Alexander Hamilton Medal will be presented to Lisa L.
Carnoy’89, chief financial officer for AlixPartners and a supporter
and leader of the College and University for three decades. She is
the first female medalist in the award’s 71-year history.
The medal, given annually in November at the Alexander Ham-
ilton Award Dinner, is the highest honor awarded to a member
of the College community. Presented by the Columbia College
Alumni Association, Dean James J. Valentini and President Lee ©
Bollinger, it recognizes distinguished service to the College and
accomplishment in any field of endeavor.
A role model, advisor and benefactor to many, Carnoy has been
a member of the University’s Board of Trustees since 2010 and is
currently co-chair, with Jonathan S. Lavine ’88, after having served
on the College’s Board of Visitors for four terms and being vice-
chair from 2008 to 2010. She has supported the College, Athletics,
and Arts and Sciences, and endowed the Carnoy Family Program
Chair for Contemporary Civilization at the College as well as the
Norman J. Landau Scholarship Fund, the latter with her mother,
Marjorie Hirshberg. Carnoy currently co-chairs both the College’s
Core to Commencement campaign and the University’s Columbia
Commitment campaign.
Carnoy majored in American studies and history and gradu-
ated cum laude. She earned an M.B.A. from Harvard in 1994. A
student-athlete in track and field, she is a member of the Columbia
Campaign for Athletics Leadership Committee and a founding
member of the Women’s Leadership Council for Athletics. Car-
noy was named among the 25 most influential women for the
25th anniversary of the Columbia-Barnard Athletic Consortium,
and Women in Science at Columbia named a leadership award
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother at Columbia’s 1954 bicentennial
Charter Day celebration.
COURTESY COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES
in her honor. In 2000, Car-
noy was awarded an Alumni
Medal, for service of 10 years
or more to the University, and
in 2007 was presented a John
Jay Award for distinguished
professional achievement.
Prior to joining global con-
sulting firm AlixPartners in
2018, Carnoy spent 23 years
at Bank of America Merrill
Lynch, most recently as divi-
sion executive for U.S. Trust,
the private bank within Bank
of America, and as BoA’s New York City market president. She
was on the Global Wealth and Investment Management leader-
ship team, as well as on BoA's Operating Committee.
Carnoy has been a passionate advocate for diversity and co-
founded several organizations, including the Womens Leadership
Council at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. She is an independent
director of the U.S. Soccer Federation and sits on the boards of the
United Way of New York City and Rodeph Sholom School. Carnoy
has been named to American Banker’s list of “Most Powerful Women
in Finance,” and in 2013 was presented the Merit Award from the
Women's Bond Club.
This year’s Alexander Hamilton Award Dinner will take place in
Low Rotunda on Thursday, November 15. Proceeds from the black-
tie event directly benefit College students by supporting the priorities
of the College, including financial aid, student life and community.
DidYouKnow?
Halloween Is Also
Columbia's Birthday
Columbia celebrates Charter Day every October 31 — the date
in 1754 on which New York governor James De Lancey granted
a charter on behalf of King George II, creating King’s College
(which, 30 years later, was renamed Columbia College). While
Charter Day’s major anniversaries have often been marked by
large celebrations, the 200th in 1954 was an especially big blowout:
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother was the guest of honor at a
Charter Day dinner, held at the Waldorf-Astoria on October 30;
the following day she accepted an honorary degree to recognize
her family’s role in creating King’s College. During the dinner, the
Queen Mother read a message from her daughter, Queen Eliza-
beth I] — then alittle more than a year into her reign — which (in
part) said: “I pray that [Columbia] may long continue its task of
inspiring free citizens in the pursuit of sound learning and encour-
aging them to apply it to the benefit of their fellow-men.”
Fall 2018 CCT 9
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The Monk Who Would Not Be Silent
By Thomas Vinciguerra ’85, JRN’86, GSAS’90
~ onks are supposed to
live in isolation and
silence. Not so Thomas
Merton 738, GSAS’39.
When he died 50 years
ago in December, he was so well known that
the news made the front page of The New
York Times.
Today, Merton remains the world’s
worldliest hermit. From within his rural
Kentucky monastery, he issued dozens of
volumes of letters, journals, essays, transla-
tions, reflections and verse. These books,
many published posthumously, have canon-
ized him as both a leading Christian thinker
and a bridge builder across faiths. Their very
titles (Dancing in the Water of Life, Emblems
of a Season of Fury, Conjectures of a Guilty
Bystander) evoke a restless conscience. For
10 CCT Fall 2018
those who have ever wondered how to serve
both God and Caesar, or struggled to rec-
oncile religions, Merton remains a guide.
Merton (his priestly name was Father
Louis) was a unique penitent. As both
adolescent and grown-up, he had one foot
in the godly realm and another in secular
— even sinning — society. On campus,
he drew cartoons for Jester, wrote for the
Columbia Review, joined Philolexian and
crashed on the couch at Alpha Delta Phi.
Off campus, he frequented jazz clubs and
flirted with communism.
But all the while, Merton was aspiring
to grace. He was 18 when, he recalled, “I
first saw Him.” And as civilization hurtled
toward total war, he increasingly embraced
Him. In November 1938 he had himself
baptized at Corpus Christi Church on
EDWARD RICE ’'40
West 121st Street, just behind Teachers
College. A week after Pearl Harbor, he
entered the Abbey of Our Lady of Geth-
semani, 50 miles southeast of Louisville, to
join the Trappists. “I don’t think we’ll ever
hear from Tom again,” his mentor, Mark
Van Doren GSAS 1921, said ruefully.
Far from it. In 1948, after an attempt at
censorship by one of his monastic superi-
ors, Merton published a memoir, The Seven
Storey Mountain. He told of a child born in
France during WWI — one who was raised
there, in England and in New York. He told
of a fragmented family. And he told of an
awakening that culminated in a permanent
home in “the four walls of my new freedom.”
The Seven Storey Mountain was a surprise
bestseller and inspired many who were look-
ing for heavenly guidance during the early
Cold War. It spurred a bevy of readers to
check out the monastic life, and it helped
demystify Catholicism for a pre-Vatican II
America that still regarded the Church of
Rome with suspicion. Merton's friend and
editor at Harcourt Brace, Robert Giroux’36,
noted that another sign of the book’s impact
was the resentment it provoked among those
who thought it inappropriate for any monk
to write. Of the negative mail that poured
into his office, Giroux recalled in 1998, “I
had a short answer for the hatemongers:
‘Writing is a form of contemplation.”
From then on, Merton neither would nor
could be immured. His increasing renown
posed an existential dilemma. Merton had
sought attention, yet he could not wholly
abandon his ascetic discipline. In that dou-
ble-edged regard, said the writer Edward
Rice 40, Merton’s friend, and sponsor and
godfather at his baptism, “His entire life was
a search, one that led him further and fur-
ther into the inner — and outer — reaches
of the human mind and soul.”
That search expanded as issues of race,
peace and especially holiness of all kinds
preoccupied him in the 1950s and ’60s.
“I am trying to figure out some way I can
get nationalized as a Negro,” Merton told
another College friend, the minimalist poet
Robert Lax ’38, “as I am tired of belonging to
the humiliating white race.” To the Pakistani
Sufi master Abdul Aziz he wrote, “I would
like to join spiritually with the Moslem
world in this act of love, faith and obedience
toward Him Whose greatness and mercy
surround us at all times.” As war in Southeast
Asia began making headlines, and monks
on the other side of the globe began setting
themselves on fire, he intensely explored Zen
Buddhism in relation to the West.
When Pope Francis addressed a joint
session of Congress in 2015, he cited four
Americans who, he said, had succeeded in
“seeing and interpreting reality” — Doro-
thy Day, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther
King Jr. ... and Merton.
Ultimately, Gethsemani proved too
small for Merton. He acquired his own her-
mitage on the grounds; there he received
visitors ranging from old Columbia cronies
to the folk singer Joan Baez. Correspon-
dence arrived from Evelyn Waugh, the
cranky author of Brideshead Revisited, and
the future Nobel Prize winner in literature
Czeslaw Milosz. He traveled within the
United States and even abroad, meeting
three times with the Dalai Lama.
Merton’s death on December 10, 1968,
was mysterious, even bizarre. Following a
session at a religious conference in Bang-
kok (“I will disappear from view and we
can all have a Coke or something,” he said
by way of adjourning), he apparently took
a shower, slipped on the floor, grabbed an
upright fan for balance and electrocuted
himself. He was 53.
Ten years later, Columbia Catholic
Ministry inaugurated its annual Thomas
Merton Lecture, funded by the Hugh J.
[’26] and Catherine R. Kelly Endowment.
This past spring, a $100,000 gift in mem-
ory of Edmund J. Kelly LAW’62 was made
toward the lectures.
Merton’s journals from 1964 and 1965
were published as 4 Vow of Conversation. It
is a vow he has kept.
GUENTER KNOP
Mendelson and Menin Elected to
University Board of Trustees
Victor H. Mendelson ’89 and Julie Jacobs Menin ’89 have been elected to the Uni-
versity Board of Trustees. Their term began on September 4, and brings the total
number of College alumni on the 24-member board to 13.
University President Lee C. Bollinger congratulated and welcomed the new addi-
tions, who also included David Greenwald LAW’83, Julissa Reynoso LAW’01 and
Kathy Surace-Smith LAW’84. “They have already established themselves as enthusias-
tic and engaged alumni of the University,” Bollinger said, “and we know they will bring
to the board invaluable expertise and experience in civic and professional leadership.”
Mendelson is co-president of HEICO Corp., an aerospace, defense and electronics
design and manufacturing company in Miami, Fla. He has worked for the organiza-
tion for more than 25 years and in numerous roles including general counsel, executive
VP and subsidiary CEO. Mendelson
earned a J.D. from the University
of Miami. He most recently was
chair of the College’s Board of Visi-
tors and is a member of the Core to
Commencement Campaign Steering
Committee. The Mendelson family’s
connection to the College spans more
than 100 years and four generations,
starting with Mendelson’s grandfa-
ther Samuel (Class of 1906), followed
by his father, Laurans ’60, BUS’61,
Mendelson and his children Lindsey
"18 and Nicole ’20 and his brother Eric ’87, BUS’89 and his children Hayley ’17 and
David ’18. In 2016, the family established the Mendelson Center for Undergraduate
Business Initiatives, a joint program between the College and the Business School.
Menin is the commissioner of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Enter-
tainment, an agency that encompasses film, television, theater, music, advertising, pub-
lishing, nightlife and digital content. She previously was the city’s commissioner of the
Department of Consumer Affairs and chair of Manhattan Community Board 1. She
also was an attorney at Wiley Rein, senior regulatory counsel at Colgate Palmolive, and
founded and ran Wall Street Rising, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting business in lower
Manhattan following 9-11. Menin earned a J.D. from Northwestern. She is a member of
the College’s Board of Visitors and the Columbia College Alumni Association Board of
Directors, and has been an adjunct professor of public policy and law at SIPA.
Victor H. Mendelson ’89
Julie Jacobs Menin ’89
Steven P. Marcus ’48
Memorial
A memorial for former Dean of
the College Steven P. Marcus °48,
GSAS’61, who died on April 25, 2018
(see “Obituaries,” Summer 2018), will
be held on Thursday, December 13,
at 4 p.m. in the Faculty Room of
Low Library. All are welcome.
Fall 2018 CCT 11
Around
tiads
In Memoriam: H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest LAW’58, Supporter of
Columbia Faculty, the Law School, the Arts
H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest LAW’58, a cable
TV pioneer, entrepreneur and prominent
philanthropist whose generosity left an
enduring imprint on the University, died on
August 5, 2018, in Philadelphia. He was 88.
Harold FitzGerald Lenfest was born on
May 29, 1930, in Jacksonville, Fla., the son
of Harold C. and Herrena FitzGerald Len-
fest. He and his twin sister, Marie, moved
with their family to Scarsdale, N.Y., the
following year. When Lenfest was 13, the
family moved to a farm without plumbing
or electricity near Lambertville, N_J.
Lenfest’s mother died shortly after the
family’s move and his father traveled often
for his job in sales of diesel engines for
ships. “I pretty much ran the farm,” Len-
fest once said. He attended a series of high
schools before graduating from Mercers-
burg Academy in Pennsylvania. Lenfest
worked odd jobs, including as a farmhand
in lowa, a seaman on an oil ship and a
laborer in the North Dakota oil fields. He
eventually enrolled in Washington and
Lee University in Lexington, Va., gradu-
ating in 1953 with a degree in economics,
then served on a destroyer in the Navy,
attaining the rank of captain. He and his
wife, the former Marguerite Brooks, whom
he married in 1955, then settled in Green-
wich Village while he studied at the Law
School. She supported the couple as an
12 CCT Fall 2018
EILEEN BARROSO
elementary school teacher until Lenfest
earned his degree.
Upon graduation, Lenfest joined the law
firm Davis Polk & Wardwell. One of the
firm’s clients was Walter Annenberg, owner
of the media holding company Triangle
Publications. In 1965, Annenberg offered
Lenfest a staff attorney position at Triangle,
and Lenfest quickly rose to oversee the
company’s cable television operations.
‘The pivotal moment in Lenfest’s career
came in 1973 when Annenberg decided
to sell two cable systems. Lacking capital
of his own, Lenfest convinced two Penn-
sylvania investors to buy the entities. In
exchange, he promised a 100 percent return
on their investment within five years. The
companies, Suburban Cable and Lebanon
Valley Cable, became the bedrock of Len-
fest’s privately held media holding com-
pany, Lenfest Communications.
During the next two decades, Lenfest
Communications grew its subscriber base
from 7,600 customers to more than 1.2
million. In 2000, the company was acquired
by Comcast for approximately $7 billion.
The Lenfests gave away more than $1 bil-
lion earned from the sale. “[W]e really
don’t want to die with much money to our
name,” Lenfest told Philanthropy magazine
in 2011. “Andrew Carnegie said, “The man
who dies thus rich dies disgraced.’ That
makes an awful lot of sense to me.”
Long a supporter of public institutions,
Lenfest donated to Columbia, Mercersburg
Academy, Washington and Lee, Wilson
College (his wife’s alma mater), the Kim-
mel Center for the Performing Arts, the
Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Barnes
Foundation and the Museum of the Ameri-
can Revolution. He also chaired the Phila-
delphia Museum of Art and the Curtis
Institute of Music. The Lenfest Scholars
program, which Lenfest and his wife created
in 2001, offers college scholarships to rural
high school students in central and south-
eastern Pennsylvania. Lenfest also supported
environmental causes and organizations.
‘The scale and breadth of Lenfest’s gen-
erosity to Columbia was remarkable. In
2005, he established the Distinguished
Columbia Faculty Awards, known as the
Lenfest Awards, with a $12 million gift.
The awards honor exceptional instruction
and scholarship, and winners each receive
a $25,000 stipend for three years. Lenfest
and his wife also provided funding to build
and renovate the Law School’s facilities
and support its faculty and students.
In 2011, Lenfest pledged $30 million to
support the construction of a hub for cul-
tural and civic exchange on the Manhat-
tanville campus. Designed by Renzo Piano,
the 60,000-sq.-ft., state-of-the-art facility
opened in 2017 as the Lenfest Center for
the Arts.
Lenfest also supported journalism. In
2012, he was part of a group of six inves-
tors that agreed to purchase the Phila-
delphia Media Network, publisher of the
Philadelphia Inquirer, The Philadelphia Daily
News and Philly.com. That arrangement fell
through and in 2014 Lenfest and fellow
investor Lewis Katz became PMN’s own-
ers. In 2016, Lenfest gave $20 million to
create the Lenfest Institute for Journalism,
a nonprofit dedicated to developing and
supporting sustainable business models for
local media.
Lenfest was honored with the Medal for
Excellence, the Law School’s most presti-
gious award for alumni, in 2008. Lenfest
also was a Columbia University trustee
emeritus, having sat on the board from 2001
to 2013, and the University awarded him an
honorary degree (LL.D.) in 2009. In 2011,
the College bestowed on him the Alexander
Hamilton Medal. That same year, Lenfest,
along with now-Irustees Co-chair Jona-
than S. Lavine ’88, created the $5 million
Lavine-Lenfest Matching Fund, to endow
five positions for assistant professors teach-
ing the Core Curriculum.
Lenfest and his wife were awarded the
Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in 2017.
In addition to his wife, Lenfest is survived
by his children, Diane Lenfest Myer, H.
Chase and Brook; sisters, Marie Schmitz
GSAS’59 and Lauren; brother, Robin; and
four grandchildren.
— Lisa Palladino
CCT Print Extras
Read President Lee C. Bollinger’s statement
on Lenfest at college.columbia.edu/cct.
ROAR, LION, ROAR
Lion Legends
Columbia will celebrate its latest cohort of
all-time athletic achievers with admission
to the Columbia University Athletics Hall
of Fame.
‘The 2018 class comprises 17 individuals
— 15 former student-athletes and two
longtime staff members — and four
teams representing 14 sports programs
and seven schools across the University.
Honorees are slated to be recognized at a
black-tie dinner and induction ceremony
in Low Library on October 18.
Founded in 2006, the hall of fame
welcomes a new class biannually. This
year’s honorees include two key members
of the 1968 Ivy League champion men’s
basketball team, Heyward Dotson’70,
LAW’76 and David Newmark’68.
Dotson was a three-time All-Ivy League
selection before being awarded a Rhodes
Scholarship to Oxford. Newmark, a
7' center, averaged 19.9 points per game
as a Lion and played in the NBA for the
Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks.
Coinciding with the 35th anniversary
of the Columbia-Barnard Consortium —
which enabled students of both schools
to compete on the same teams — the
1985-86 women’s basketball squad will
q: ROAR!
For the latest news on Columbia athletics,
visit gocolumbialions.com.
also be honored; the team distinguished
itself by going 21-6 and earning a bid to
the NCAA Division III Tournament.
Other members of the new class
include Harry A. Fisher, the first head
coach in the men’s basketball program;
Dr. Barton Nisonson’62, PS’66, the 1962
NCAA sabre champion who became the
orthopedic surgeon for the Jets and the
Rangers; and longtime administrator Ken
Torrey, who was instrumental in the start
of Columbia’s varsity squash programs.
For a complete list of honorees, visit
gocolumbialions.com.
MIKE MCLAUGHLIN / COLUMBIA ATHLETICS
Chichi Ikwuazom ’20 notched 14 kills in volleyball’s win over St. Francis College on September 14.
Fencing Gold
A trio of former Lions fencers made
history this summer by propelling the
four-person Team USA to its first gold
medal World Foil Championship.
Nicole Ross ’13, Nzingha Prescod 15
and Margaret Lu’17, along with team-
mate Lee Kiefer, delivered the dramatic
win against number 1 ranked Italy, 45-35.
“It’s so special for us because we’ve been
working so hard and so long together and
there’s so much love between us,” said
Ross, a 2012 Olympian who has been on
the national team since 2010.
The championships were held in
Wuxi, China, on July 26. En route to the
finals, Team USA defeated Spain, Canada
and South Korea. In the championship
match, the Italians led 10—4 before Ross
earned a clutch victory, Prescod followed
with a win to tie the score at 16-16 and
Kiefer sealed the title by defeating Italy
world champion Alice Volpi.
Prescod finished
individually among
the top eight in wom-
en’s foil, while Ross
ranked in the top 16.
“We always knew
that we could get
there and we just had
to really believe that
we could do it on that
day,” said Prescod, who also competed at
the 2012 Olympics. “[So] why not today?”
Nzingha Prescod ’15
Hoop Dreams
Two former Lions basketball players are
heading for the pros.
In September, Jeff Coby’17 signed a
contract with the New York Knicks. Coby, a
Haitian National Team standout, spent his
rookie season playing for teams in Spain.
In August, Camille Zimmerman 18
signed a contract to play for Kouvot-
taret, a club team in Finland’s premier
women’s basketball league. The 6'1" guard-
forward wrapped up her collegiate career
as Columbia's all-time leader in points
(1,973), rebounds (940), field goals made
(728), field goals attempted 1,707), free-
throw percentage (.826), games played
(113) and games started (112).
Get the Download
How is women’s cross country doing in its
bid to defend its Ivy League title? Is Lions
football having another banner year? The
new Columbia Athletics app can help
fans keep tabs on the latest news, scores
and more.
Available for download through
the Apple App Store and on Android
devices through Google Play, the app
features schedules and photo galleries,
can be tailored to send notifications about
favorite Lions teams and offers up live
stats, audio and video. Users can also
interact with other fans on social media.
Fall 2018 CCT 13
BETTER CALL
By Molly Shea
n 2007, after a decade working her
way up within the legal department
at media giant Viacom, Khadijah
Sharif-Drinkard ’93 found herself in
a new role: approving music videos
that would play on BET. ‘The stakes
were high. Protesters had begun to gather out-
side the network president’s house in Wash-
ington, D.C., chanting their disapproval of the
sometimes violent, and often sexist, video fare.
Soon, the president had trouble walking out
her front door each morning. So when Sharif-
Drinkard was dropped into the Midtown
boardroom where video decisions were made,
she saw an opportunity.
“T was the only woman in the room when I got
there,” says Sharif-Drinkard, now VP, associate
general counsel at Viacom Media Networks. “I
said to myself, ‘Now I see why this is the way it is.
Because nobody’s saying the things that need to
be said!’ So I took it upon myself to say, “Well, I’m
in the room now, and IJ need to say something.”
A group of seasoned businessmen — most of
them her superiors — would watch each sub-
From the courtroom
to the boardroom,
Khadijah
Sharif-Drinkard ’93
is aforce for
positive change
mission from record labels, screening for any-
thing that might be inappropriate for viewers.
Most of the videos were sexually explicit —
“women were basically sex objects; they didn't
have a face or a head, they were just a body part”
— but in the pre-#MeToo, pre-#TimesUp era,
they often got a pass. None of the men saw a
problem. Sharif-Drinkard did.
“T would say, “This video can’t air!” she recalls.
“People didn't always like it, but it started con-
versations about what was acceptable, and what
was not. When Nelly swiped that card through
that woman's behind? Just not acceptable.”
But nixing videos wasn't enough — Sharif-
Drinkard wanted to stop the misogyny before
it was shot, and spare the company the hassle
of rejection after rejection. “I figured out how to
get to the labels early,” she says. “I started say-
ing, ‘Listen, give me some [plans] in advance, so
I can see what the video's going to entail. Then
I can tell you, there’s too much of this, or that.
Don't shoot this, shoot that.”
It was a real risk. Her male coworkers were less
than thrilled and Sharif-Drinkard worried she
JORG MEYER
-
BETTER CALL
might lose her job. “They would call me The Suit,” she
recalls. “I'd hear, “Why are we letting her in the room?”
But slowly, during her three years on video duty, she
began to turn her reluctant coworkers. She flagged
every issue she saw, told labels exactly what was wrong
with their submissions, over and over, until it stuck.
Until others saw the problems, too. “It wasn’t over-
night, but little by little they'd say, ‘Go get Khadijah!”
The protests stopped, as did (some of) the blatant sex-
ism and gratuitous violence. It confirmed a theory that
Sharif-Drinkard was starting to believe: that by work-
ing hard and proving your own worth, you can use your
power to push for change, and propel others forward.
It’s easy to see Sharif-Drinkard’s worth. She wins
over boardrooms with a wide, easy smile, and you
get the sense that everyone who knows her sees her
as a friend. Somewhere between hollow humility and
oversized bravado, she navigates an impossible middle
ground: She sounds delighted, but not smug, as she
rattles off her (many) accomplishments over a coffee
squeezed between meetings. She’s proud of what she’s
done, because what she’s done has helped others, and
isn't that the point?
“She has that sort of voice and personality that
brings people to her,” says Miguel Batista’93, BUS’99,
a childhood friend and College classmate. “She does a
really good job of galvanizing folks.”
Take, for example, her first court case, at just 17: Sharif
by Salahuddin v. New York State Education Department.
Sharif-Drinkard grew up in the Harlem projects,
not far from campus. As a public school student, she
BECAUSE WHAT SHE'S DONE HAS HELPED
OTHERS, AND ISN'T THAT THE POINT?
16 CCT Fall 2018
had learned to advocate for her education — and she
and her friends were running into a wall.
“We were all public school girls who were straight-A
students who didn’t do well on the SAT, and because of
that, we didn't get a lot of money for scholarships,” she
says. She saw a clear bias: Access to tutoring and test
prep made it easier for wealthier students to do better on
the SAT than poorer students. Data further showed that
white and Asian test takers tended to score more highly
than their black and Latino counterparts. A mentor
tipped Sharif-Drinkard off to ACLU chatter about
the unfair scholarship allocations, and connected her
with one of the union's attorneys, Carrie Wong. Sharif-
Drinkard and Wong assembled a group of female high-
schoolers with high GPAs and low SAT scores, and
together they pressed charges — with Sharif-Drinkard’s
name on the case, since she was the first to speak up.
‘They won: The court ruled that New York could no lon-
ger award scholarships based solely on SAT scores.
By the time she got to Columbia, she was ready for more.
“T came in [with] guns blazing,” Sharif-Drinkard
says. Her courtroom experience had motivated her to
fight for what was right, and set her on a path for law
school. “I was moved by what Shirley Chisholm did —
she ran for President in 1972, way before a black man
ever ran. Here she was, a woman from Brooklyn who,
for all intents and purposes, didn’t have a whole lot. ...
I was buttressed up a little bit by the notion that people
who didn’t have a whole lot could still do a lot.”
But as she planned her future as a human rights attor-
ney, she began to wonder if her skills might be better
used elsewhere. “There was a part of me that felt like
there wasn't a whole lot of movement in human rights
law,” she says. “The question was, how could you be a
social activist, and also make money and donate, and do
good? How can you do good within a company?”
Sharif-Drinkard was “not a big TV fan growing up,’
but worked at Viacom for a year between college and
law school, gaining on-the-ground experience before
jumping back into classes. “I saw that people are really
impacted by what they see on TV,” she says. “So my
goal was to make television that gets people to focus
on things that are inspiring. I thought, if we could get
more people to share the [positive] on TV, and not just
the crazy, it’s a good thing to be involved in.”
At Fordham Law School, she finally faced her deci-
sion: Stick to human rights law, or stake her claim in
entertainment and build a platform for change? She
chose the platform. Returning to Viacom, she worked
her way up from assistant to video approver to her cur-
rent position, where she leads a team of a half-dozen
young attorneys and para-professionals.
As associate general counsel, Sharif-Drinkard han-
dles contract and deal negotiations, checks in on TV
and movie sets, counsels clients on navigating produc-
tion hurdles and ensures that advertising partners’ needs
are met to keep the production on track. “I’m just try-
ing to make sure I’m helping the business move forward
in some way,” she says. “It’s an interesting hodgepodge
of practicing law.” It also allows her to throw her legal
weight behind important projects — particularly those
that promote diversity and highlight people of color.
“Diversity has always made sense — not only
because it is good for business, but [also because] it’s
the right thing to do,” she says. “It makes sense that we
would want to tell stories about people who have dif-
ferent life experiences, diverse perspectives, and come
from a variety of cultures and races. Telling these sto-
ries makes the artistic landscape richer, and it allows for
the humanizing of more communities that have often
been left on the periphery of American storytelling.”
The recent success of Black Panther, Black-ish and
similar movies and TV shows is what Sharif-Drinkard
yy
often calls “a start” — a step in the right direction, but
not the whole picture. “There is a lot of work to do with
respect to including African Americans, Latino Ameri-
cans, Asian Americans, Arab Americans and more in
the natural fabric and landscape of filmmaking,” she
says. “Our experiences are too diverse, and we are too
complex. We need hundreds, if not thousands, of pro-
ductions to properly represent our experiences. We need
to greenlight more shows that speak to diverse commu-
nities, staff more diverse writers, directors and producers,
and ensure that the shows that do make it to screen ...
acknowledge that all communities have layers and layers,
and that there is not one story for any particular group.”
As an attorney, greenlighting shows is not exactly
Sharif-Drinkard’s job. But she’s found a way to get
around that.
She pushed, hard, to bring the awards show Black
Girls Rock! to BET in 2010 — a coup that took more
than two years of negotiations. “I think it helped to
shape the culture, for little black girls to say, ‘I’m cool!
I rock!” she says. It was particularly important to her
as a mother to two young black girls, now 13 and 15.
(Sharif-Drinkard, her husband and their daughters live
in West Orange, N.J.) “That was something that was
monumental for us, because it gave a voice and a plat-
form to women and girls, who didn’t see themselves
the way they wanted to be seen.”
The same full-bodied effort went into saving Kasha
and the Zulu King, a children’s animated movie that
aired on BET in 2012. She was assigned the basic legal
responsibilities of handling contracts and financial nego-
tiations. But when she heard production was running
behind schedule and about to be shut down, she sprang
into action. “The young man who created it ... was using
college students in Atlanta, at Spelman and Morehouse,
so it was taking a lot longer [than anticipated],” she says.
“But he was really shaping and molding these new cre-
atives, so I pushed not to pass on it.” She petitioned her
bosses to stay the course, negotiated longer contracts.
“When it was all said and done, it looked amazing!” she
says. It also won a 2013 NAACP Image Award.
Developing young talent is important to Sharif-
Drinkard. As a boss, she takes her direct reports under
her wing, teaches them how to navigate corporate life.
One of those mentees was Rakiat Gbadamosi, who
joined Sharif-Drinkard’s team in 2014.
“Right away, she would let me sit in on all her deals, on
all the phone calls, include me on emails, so 1 knew what
being a lawyer looked like,” says Gbadamosi. “She'd give
feedback on everything — not just on my work product,
but how she feels like I’m networking, steps she thinks
I should be taking. She was always going to the higher
ups and saying, Rakiat’s been with us for ‘x’ amount of
time, she deserves a raise. I want her to advance.”
Sharif-Drinkard’s superiors say she’s earned her
influence. “When you hear Khadijah talk about a
potential solution to a problem, she’s talking from
a position of strength,” says BET general manager
Michael D. Armstrong. “You never have a doubt
when you listen to her. [You know] that she’s going to
exhaust all her resources and find a solution.”
Sharif-Drinkard’s advocacy extends outside of Via-
com, too: She’s on a handful of boards, including that
of the Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Asso-
ciation, where she mentors those looking to break into
her industry and effect the same changes. She takes
humanitarian trips, organizes networking opportuni-
ties, chairs award ceremonies, even helps to coordinate
summer camps for low-income New Jersey
students. It’s enough to make anyone’s head
spin, but not Sharif-Drinkard’s. To hear her
explain it, it’s simple: She’s invigorated by
the possibility of creating something better,
something that lasts.
“T think there’s a lot of power we have,
even when we don't necessarily know we
have it — that’s why I’m always energized
to do something,” she says. “We can sit and figure out
the things that didn’t go right for us, or we can figure
out the things we can make right for other people.”
Molly Shea is a journalist based in Brooklyn, N.Y.
COURTESY KHADIJAH SHARIF-DRINKARD '93
Bringing the Black Girls
Rock! awards to BET
was especially important
to Sharif-Drinkard as a
mother of two. Here,
she attends the 2017
show with her daughters,
Jalsa (left) and Madinah.
VID STUFF
Sharif-Drinkard shares her
favorite (acceptable!) video picks.
college.columbia.edu/cct/latest/
feature-extras
Fall 2018 CCT 17
THE
HOMETOWN
HISTORIAN
AoOOCIATE PROP ESS O Rar RaN Kea Giese
FEELS “A,.REAL RESPONSIBIGI LY —1O-BE Tel-b ean
teh € OLE BR GEeCOMNGUINIEEY
rank A. Guridy never saw himself becoming a professor. Born working-
class in Inwood — “a stone’s throw from Baker Field” — and raised in
the Bronx, he was in fact the first person in his family to go to college.
After graduating from Syracuse in 1993, Guridy, an associate professor of
history and African-American studies, completed his Ph.D. at the University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 2002. He taught at the University of Texas, Austin, for
12 years before starting at the College in 2016.
Now he has the opportunity to mentor students who want to follow in his foot-
steps. [his fall, Guridy began a three-year term as the faculty coordinator for The
Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship program, a Mellon Foundation initia-
tive to put more underrepresented minority students on the path to earn Ph.D.s
and prepare them for academic careers. Guridy will lead weekly seminars, advise
MMUF fellows, and help candidates identify and explore topics that pique their
intellectual interests.
As a historian, Guridy has an intellectual interest in the institution itself. In
fall 2017, he began teaching “Columbia 1968,” a class that asks students to deeply
examine one of the most important events in the University’s history. And though
his current research has shifted to U.S. sport and urban history, focusing on the
relationship of sports to urban political economies, there is still a College connec-
tion: “My dad used to watch the Columbia football games, so my first relationship
with and awareness of Columbia is connected to sports,” he says.
In 2010, Guridy published his award-winning first book, Forging Diaspora:
Afro-Cubans and African-Americans in a World of Empire and Jim Crow, about the
connections between the black freedom movements in Cuba and the civil rights
movement in the United States during the first half of the 20th century. He took
an eight-month sabbatical this year to complete his next book, an examination of
Texas’ impact on American sporting culture. Guridy returned to his office one late
afternoon in July to speak with Columbia College Today.
2 : BY JILL C. SHOMER
THE
HOMETOWN
HISTORIAN
Q: How did you become interested
in studying history?
A: I was a political science major at Syra-
cuse at an interesting time, the period of
the first Gulf War in 1990. One of my
professors was an international political
economist and I got sucked into the history
of British imperialism in India and
the Middle East.
When I was a junior I got a letter say-
ing there were opportunities for under-
represented students to get their Ph.D.s,
and even though I had never considered
grad school, I became convinced I had the
makeup to go. 1 got into Northwestern’s
political science master’s program, moved
to Chicago and then in the summer before
I was to begin my first semester, I realized
the program wasn't the right fit for me. I
took a year off and worked odd jobs while
I figured out my next move. I spent a lot of
time in the city’s amazing bookstores, and
that helped me realize that studying history
was the better fit. 1 got my master’s from
the University of Illinois before transfer-
ring to Michigan to do my Ph.D. work.
I was very interested in studying the his-
tory of the Caribbean, since my family is
from there. I had the good fortune of going
to Cuba to do research and I ended up
regularly traveling and researching on the
island from 1998 to 2009.
Q: What was that like?
A: It was challenging — this was before the
agreements between the Obama admin-
istration and Raul Castro, before the nor-
malization of U.S. and Cuba relations. You
had to get a license from the U.S. Treasury
Department and then travel through a third
country. Once I got there I needed to get
permission to do research, and they were
suspicious of foreign researchers. So I had
to learn how to make the right connections,
convince them I wasn’t there to overthrow
the Cuban government. [Laughs.] They
didn’t know what to make of me, but I felt
very comfortable there.
Q: And Forging Diaspora is based on
your work there.
A: Yes. When I was there it became clear to
me that Cuba was totally intertwined with
the U.S. in the pre-Castro era — essentially,
Cuba was sort of a neo-colony of the U.S.
One of the results of that relationship was
20 CCT Fall 2018
a flourishing of all these interesting cultural
and social relationships between African-
Americans and Afro-Cubans — between
artists, between intellectuals, there was a lot
of synergy that people had not really known
about. And so my book became about how
these two black populations of different
backgrounds would have these perceived
commonalities and how they used each
other as a way to inspire their own freedom
movements in their own homelands.
Q: What made you start the
“Columbia 1968” class?
A: I was inspired by the “Columbia and
Slavery” course that President [Lee C.]
Bollinger helped initiate, which encourages
students to look at Columbia’s relation-
ship to slavery, but it really is this bigger
project of looking at this institution’s his-
tory. They had this amazing event at Low
Library; I saw the students talk about their
became a better place. A year after the
protests, Charles V. Hamilton — the
renowned political scientist who co-wrote
Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in
America, which was a bible for black stu-
dent movements at the time — was hired.
Hollis Lynch was hired as the first black
tenured professor in the history depart-
ment. There are the beginnings of a curric-
ulum of black studies. There are bumps in
the road all the way through, but in terms
of black students having a space socially
and intellectually, that’s all super important.
Then there’s greater representation of
groups on campus: With the development
of the University Senate, and students hav-
ing a say in how things are run, it became
— at least in theory — a more democratic
place. Spaces were created that did not
exist before and the administration under-
stood it had to be more responsive to key
parts of its constituency. It forced Colum-
TTAINKIT BEHOOVES US TO LOOK AT AN EARTIER
PERIOD OF POLITICAL POLARIZATION AND TO SEE IF
THERE ARE ANY LESSONS THAT CAN BE LEARNED.’
research and a light went on in my head.
‘The anniversary of the protests was coming
up, and I wanted to do a class that was just
about the events of ’68 and have students
research any aspect of it. I thought that
undergraduates could handle the challenge
of doing work on a politically polarizing
topic, in a period that’s fairly recent, and
contend with people who are still alive.
Students wrote papers about the causes, the
aftermath, the protest itself, the experiences
of women at Barnard, the Asian-American
student experience, the Jewish student
experience, the Harlem aspect — there are
so many different ways to look at it.
Q: In a New York Times article published
earlier this year about the Spring 68
anniversary, you said: “They should put a
plaque on the Sundial. It should say, ‘This
event happened. It was difficult and vio-
lent. But it made our community a better
place.” In what ways do you think the
College community is better?
A: It became a more inclusive place. From
the black student perspective, Columbia
bia to join the late 20th century, and to
me that’s a good thing. That’s the story of
many institutions — you don't have change
without struggle.
Q: What do you think about teaching the
course again this year? Do you feel like
you're bringing something different to it
in 2018 than in 2017?
A: I think in some ways it’s a continua-
tion. Of course, the 2016 election was in
my head when I first thought about this
class, but that wasn’t the only thing. 1 am a
scholar who is committed to political and
social change. So that means my work as a
teacher is about getting students to think
in a broader and more critical way about
the world they live in.
Q: And that’s a tenet of the Core.
A: Yes, and I take that seriously. We're
living in a very polarizing moment, and I
think it behooves us to look at an earlier
period of political polarization and to see if
there are any lessons that can be learned —
not that they can be replicated, but it abso-
lutely requires a reckoning with the legacies
of that period and how they continue with
us today. And I think our students are hun-
gry for that. I think a lot of them are prob-
ably scared, and they need to know about
people who have been here before — not
just the protestors, but also a whole cast of
characters who were, in their own way, try-
ing to make Columbia a better place, and
make the world a better place.
It sounds really idealistic but I think it’s
important to encounter historical actors like
that. Not to do the same things they did, but
to see that in the past there were people who
were facing difficult circumstances who felt a
sense of agency in tackling those challenges.
I think our students intuitively understand
that after 2016. It’s time for us to think
about how we can make our country bet-
ter and our world better than what we have
right now. And that’s why this class works.
Q: Speaking of the Core, have you
taught any Core classes?
A: I haven't, but I would be interested
down the road. I feel like I’m missing out
on a key part of the Columbia experience
by not teaching CC. The most impres-
sive people I’ve met at Columbia are the
undergrads. Columbia is like a liberal arts
institution insofar that students expect you
to give them time, but not in an entitled
way. The vast majority of my interactions
with undergrads are not about grades; they
just want to talk about ideas.
Q: What do you think is important about
liberal arts education right now?
A: I think it encourages students to engage
in the act of imagination. It forces them
to think creatively about their career goals,
to not get locked into a pre-professional
path. Along the way they’re encounter-
ing classes from the Core to seminars in
whatever department they’re in, thinking
creatively about knowledge production and
how they can translate that knowledge to
the broader world. And because it’s liberal
arts in New York, they can walk down the
street and be able to imagine all sorts of
application possibilities.
Q: Are you teaching any classes about
sports culture?
A: Yes, I teach a big lecture class called
“Sports & Society in the Americas.” It gets
COURTESY FRANK A. GURIDY
Guridy in Cuba, in 1998.
students to think about sports as a site of
critical inquiry. If you want to understand
how we think about manhood, woman-
hood, race, patriotism — sport is a fasci-
nating way to think about these questions.
I’m going to teach it again in fall 2019.
I love it, and I get a lot of non-history
majors and a lot of student-athletes. It
gives these really smart young people per-
mission to think about a passion they have
and consider it as an intellectual exercise.
Q: And your upcoming book is about
sports in Texas?
A: Yes. Texas has an interesting relationship
to the popularization of sports in the U.S.
in the 20th century, and also its social and
cultural impact. Football emerged in the
Northeast, but its popularity in southern
states like Texas made it a national
phenomenon. The building of the Houston
Astrodome in 1965 set the template
for all stadium construction afterward
— they developed from structures with
uncomfortable bleachers where people
went solely to watch sports to these
hyper-privatized, living room/man caves
with giant scoreboards and luxury boxes.
Stadiums become places that generate
revenue. Houston also plays an interesting
role in the feminist and civil rights
movements, as a place where talented
female and black athletes began emerging
on the national stage. The famous “Battle
of the Sexes” tennis match between Billie
Jean King and Bobby Riggs, for example,
happened in the Astrodome.
Q: Sounds like you had a productive
sabbatical. What do you like most about
teaching here?
A: This place allows me to do all the things
I want to do. It allows me to teach under-
graduates, to train scholars, it allows for an
intensity of intellectual interaction. Plus
there’s a lot of institutional work for me
to do here — as diverse and international
and inclusive as Columbia is, it still needs
more diversity in positions of power, and as
a scholar of color who’s tenured at the Uni-
versity I feel a real responsibility to that. It’s
part of the reason I’m going to work on the
Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship
Program, to encourage underrepresented
students to get Ph.D.s in the humanities.
Q: You've come full circle!
A: Yes! I was raised in a working-class
family in the Bronx! This is a wonderful
opportunity to continue the work I want
to do in my hometown. There’s an amazing
energy that runs through this community,
and I see myself being fed by it for quite
some time.
Fall 2018 CCT 21
Dante's infernal inbox
A Divine Comedy for the Modern Age
idway upon the journey of my life, I found First Circle: Limbo
myself within a forest dark, for the straight- The first of the daunting 9,586 emails before me seems
forward pathway through my inbox had hardly deserving of its unanswered fate. A friendly
been lost. Ah me! Trapped within the sins request from someone I don’t see often, for advice on
something about which I don’t know that much.
O, the misery that could have been avoided had I just
undeleted emails after another. Through my inbox is the responded with a vague sentence or two when I first
way into the suffering city, through my inbox is the way to received this! Instead, I allowed weeks to pass, leaving
me with no choice but to provide a thorough response
of clutter, I descend through one sphere of
eternal pain, through my inbox runs a quest to achieve the ple bilities tee Sen a
divine: Inbox Zero. Abandon all hope, ye who scroll here. unread. With one last pitiful glance, I star it, like that
By Susanna Wolff to
means anything, and scroll on.
Second Circle: Lust
“hey..” the subject line whimpers. An email from an ex
looking to “catch up.” The time stamp of desperation
reads 12:09 a.m., and though I first read the email at
12:10 a.m. that same night because I, like everyone,
check email constantly, I know I must not reveal this
fact by responding immediately. The plea must remain,
gasping and groaning, in my inbox for, like, three
more days. For there is no greater sorrow than passing
up an easy opportunity to appear better off than an ex.
© Third Circle: Gluttony
Scrolling down, I see new sufferings, new sufferers
surrounding me on every side. Rising from the depths
of order confirmations and delivery estimates is a
three-headed beast of Seamless, Grubhub and Eat24.
All are owned by the same company, and yet I get
separate emails from each. Most are easy to vanquish,
but O, here is one hurling a 20 percent discount offer
7 A straight into my famished jaws if I order two meals in
illustrations by Annelise Lapossela one day, and who am I to delete such a deal?
Dante’s Infernal Inbox
Owwo
fourth Circle: Greed
The stars that marked our journey’s beginning fall away as I am assailed by cries of,
“One Day Only!” “Don’t Miss This!” An anguished hand reaches out to warn that these deals
wont last, and, over this monster of commerce’s shoulder, I see the decaying remains of hundreds
of Flash Sales. “How did all these places even get my address?” I holler, and yet I stumble against
the force of want. Everlane has a box-cut turtleneck dress that will make me look like a fat-faced
baby art teacher, but I save the email just in case I change my mind or, perhaps, my face.
fifth Circle: Wrath
As I approach the next email, an invitation to a former co-worker’s birthday party
I surely won't attend, my heart lifts in the face of such a supremely deletable request. But no
sooner have I clicked the trashcan icon before hot fumes of reply-all passive aggression pour
from the invitation’s mangled corpse like boiling blood, for the sender did not use BCC.
After the first accidental reply-all, each following request that people stop replying to all is
sent to all, creating more rage and more eternal replies.
Sixth Circle: Heresy
I cross into a valley, my eye catching on the 3,542nd email. Though it has a July send date,
the word “Christmas” shrieks from the subject line. O, the wretched horror of a holiday
planning email from my mother! I have already gifted Christmas to my in-laws, but I shall wait
until Thanksgiving to reveal this blasphemous fact so that it’s not a whole thing.
© Seventh Circle: Violence
“No! Please, no!” I moan as I find yet more replies clinging to a 62-message battalion
of bridesmaids’ logistics. What started as an honor has become a curse as the Damned Captain,
the bride herself, fuels my fury with each demand for her collection of loyal friends who
don’t know one another to purchase plane tickets and penis straws and a very specific shade
of coral dress that no one actually sells. Ah me! If she thinks I’m buying her a
wedding gift as well, she is sorely mistaken.
iS
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ee 4 -
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Fighth Circle: fraud
“Time Warner is now Spectrum,” the message bellows. “Exclusive offers” follow mere
moments later. | wrestle and drag these oppressive alerts to the trashcan’s infinite abyss.
But then I notice that my monthly autopay went up by almost 30 bucks. What fraudulent
scheme is this?! Now I must leave this slimy swamp of landline bundle deals as a reminder
to call and complain about my bill. Just as I know that I will never actually call, I know
that Spectrum will send me all these messages again in the real mail.
Ninth Circle: Treachery
At last! I’ve made it to the furthest depths of my inbox where, surely, only the real erasable
detritus lingers. “Do it!” a pained voice cries. And I, shaken to my bones, discover the voice is
my own. “Do it! Do it!” One after another, all the task reminders sent to myself and never
addressed. The betrayal burning through me, I fight the only way I can: “Clean out inbox,”
I scrawl, then send this missive to join the others in the interminable pile, a monument to my
failure, before I scroll back to the surface. I’ve received nine new emails.
Susanna Wolff 710 is a writer living in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in
‘The New Yorker and on CollegeHlumor.com, where she was formerly editor-in-chief.
Fall 2018 CCT 25
Columbia! Forum
Bright Young Things
Zak Dychtwald ’12 is charting the rise of a powerful new generation
The day an author turns in his first book is usually one to
remember. But for Zak Dychtwald 712, his finished manu-
script was just one of several milestones. The same afternoon
he submitted Young China: How the Restless Generation Will
Change Their Country and the World he quit his job and started
a consultancy and think tank, named after his new book. “T
registered the company from my office,” he tells CCT’ He
found the process “disturbingly easy, like buying a scooter,” but
remembers realizing, “I could finally do what I dreamed about.”
Though still in his 20s, Dychtwald has become an in-demand
expert on one of the biggest cultural influences of our time: the
Chinese millennial. According to an article Dychtwald wrote
for The New York Post in February, there are five times more
millennials in China than there are in the United States. At
around 400 million (as of 2016), the number is greater than the
populations of the U.S. and Canada combined. With China on
course to possibly surpass the U.S. economically by 2028, this
Dychtwald at The Temple House luxury hotel in Chengdu.
26 CCT Fall 2018
SIXUE DAN
worldly generation of Chinese youth — a group that’s increas-
ingly digital, educated and well traveled — has the potential to
alter all of our futures.
Dychtwald points out that more Chinese youth will be
attending American colleges, buying real estate in the US.
and making up audiences that Hollywood will look to when
creating plotlines. (Large “first openings” for movies are now
starting to take place in China.) That means that firms in sec-
tors like banking, real estate, travel and culture are eager for
Dychtwald’s insights.
Dychtwald’s infatuation with China began when he was a
child in California, reading Eastern-based sci-fi and watching
Bruce Lee. As a College student, he spent a term at Hong Kong
University. Intrigued by the mainland, he moved to Suzhou
after graduation. Through a succession of odd jobs — tutor-
ing, videogame translation, freelance consulting — and a lot of
railway travel across the countryside, Dychtwald got to know
this young Chinese generation as well as any Westerner could.
This years-long cultural “deep dive” was professionally
invaluable; he says “everyone wants to know” about his iden-
tity research. A recent speaking event at the Columbia Global
Center in Beijing about the anxiety of Chinese people born in
1990 or after drew more than 99,000 listeners via livestream.
Topics like this exemplify the bold research that Dychtwald
is most interested in pursuing. For him, Chinese millenni-
als seem like a “restless generation,” distinguished from their
elders by an avid quest for identity. “This ... generation is the
first in modern Chinese history that, by and large, doesn't have
to think about subsistence questions like ‘How is my family
going to eat’... ?” he writes in his book. Instead, they are think-
ing about self-definition: “What do I want for myself? My
family? My country?”
Here, Dychtwald looks at the way that today’s Chinese family
structure is shaping the lives of this important group.
— Rose Kernochan BC’82
HOW THE RESTLESS i
GENERATION WILL CHANGE THEIR |
COUNTRY AND THE WORLD
Uneasy Lies the Head That
Wears the Crown
China's Little Emperors and
Their Heavy Expectations
iangeuo’s big eyes beamed out from beneath well-
styled hair, combed over and sealed in place. A
blue argyle sweater with gray and orange accents
hung easily from his shoulders. His brown cordu-
roy pants looked newly pressed. Jiangguo looked prepared
to discuss his résumé for the position of regional manager
at the Samsung semiconductor factory up the street.
Jiangguo was five years old. While he waited for class
to begin, his thumb remained mostly in his mouth.
The heels of his Velcro-close shoes lit up every time he
shifted his weight. He stood in a row with four other
children in the center of the high-tech classroom. Their
gazes were trained on my right hand, where Cici, my
puppet and co-teacher, rested.
I sighed. It was difficult to shake the feeling that in
front of me were the little emperors I had heard so much
about before I came to China. China’s one-child policy
meant that all of a multigenerational family’s attention
and resources were heaped on just one kid. The result was
expected to be a generation that had been spoiled rotten,
the so-called little emperors.
The uncomfortable implication was that if these were
China’s little emperors, I was their court jester. After all,
I was dressed in a highlighter-orange jumpsuit, with my
right arm elbow-deep in a green turtle hand puppet. I
taught weekends at a training school for wealthy pre-
school and kindergarten students. The national media,
government, and parents alike have attacked China’s
education system for producing good testers but not
good thinkers, creators, or team players. My school
offered a solution. It aimed to plant the seeds of English
through immersion learning while its young students
became comfortable with technology.
I looked at the turtle puppet. He looked at the crowd.
Together we pronounced the word microscope with exag-
gerated slowness. His wide-set, googly eyes bounced and
bobbled as he surfed over the heads of Jiangguo and his
classmates, asking them in English, “What amazing tech-
nology are we going to learn about today?” The two young
Chinese teaching assistants translated in singsong voices.
“Repeat after me,” I said. “Microscope.” The teaching
assistants coaxed the five young students to repeat the
word microscope with them.
To my surprise, a murmur of “microscope” bubbled
up from the back of the class. I looked at Jiangguo and
his classmates. None of them had so much as opened
their mouths.
The class door at the back of the room shut abruptly,
and Jiangguo’s grandmother looked at me guiltily from
behind the glass partition. At the back of class an entou-
rage of thirty adults, five or six for each of the students,
stood watch over the class, separated from us by the big
glass partition, a setup that bore a striking resemblance
to a zoo. They shifted noisily. Becky, one of the TAs (they
all went by their chosen English names at work), turned
and politely reminded the crowd to please let the stu-
dents answer for themselves. Sherry, the school manager,
moved around them with her electric smile and tailored
dress, trying to convince the parents to buy larger pack-
ages of classes. Many complied. With only one child to
spend on, why not?
Jiangguo’s family was easy to pick out. As Jiangguo
munched on his thumb, his mother, father, paternal
grandmother, paternal grandfather, maternal grand-
mother, and an uncle watched anxiously. His grandpar-
ents could be seen pointing at him and commenting on
his progress, his interaction with other kids, or the way
he held a seashell. His mother stood in back, arms folded
Fall2018 CCT 27
Columbia|Forum
across her chest, beaming at her son and scribbling on a writing pad
she kept with her at all times. All his relatives stood throughout the
hour-long class, watching intensely as little Jiangguo twiddled a
microscope, fiddled with a computer program, played with a robot,
or just stood quietly in the middle of the room.
Through the classroom window we could see the world’s largest
LED screen reigning over the most developed part of the city, the
gleaming new glass and steel of Suzhou Industrial Park. The district,
like many of China’s city centers, had not existed a decade or two
earlier. I looked back at this group of little emperors: a class of five
students with a three-person teaching team and an entourage of more
than thirty adults pressed against the glass in back. I sighed again.
During a break, Sherry asked what was wrong. I told her I felt
like a performer for these little emperors.
Without missing a beat, Sherry nodded toward the back of the
class. “The original little emperors are in the back of the room,” she
said, flashing her electric smile. And then, with a no-nonsense look,
she told me, “Now get back to class.”
Stunned, I stood for a moment in a corner of the classroom before
doing the math. The Western media had dubbed only children “the
little emperors” in the early 1990s. Today, the demographic created
by the one-child policy — four grandparents and two parents who
focus all their attention on one child — is referred to as the “4:2:1
problem.” I was so used to taking the “little emperor” concept for
granted that it had not occurred to me the original one-child genera-
tion had already grown up.
“The Western media had dubbed only
children ‘the little emperors’ in the
early 1990s. Today, the demographic
created by the one-child policy is
referred to as the 4:2:1 problem.”
China has been tracking the developmental pitfalls experienced
by generations of only children for decades, long before we in the
West started paying attention. In 1987, when China’s first only chil-
dren were turning seven, China released a propaganda film called
China’ Little Emperors — a “how-not-to” film about raising the first
generation of only children. It plays like a Chinese child-rearing
version of Reefer Madness (which claimed the effects of “marijuana
cigarettes” were the loss of sanity and committing aggravated assault
with an axe). Overindulgence and excessive pressure, the Chinese
movie claimed, would lead to societal ruin. The overriding fear was
that when these hundreds of millions of spoiled only children grew
up, they would unleash their awfulness on the country.
Many Westerners have asked me, “What kinds of contributors can
these little emperors be to society given their excess-oriented founda-
tion?” Hedge fund managers want to know, “What are those little
emperors looking to duy, exactly?” Even foreigners who have worked
in China for years will often grumble, “Those spoiled little emperors
are a pain in my...” as a kid steps on their shoes at Pizza Hut.
Sherry was right. The first group of these only children had
already grown up. They are my friends, classmates, tutors, teachers,
bosses, managers (Sherry included), and, technically, clients. As I
looked out the window at the new Suzhou Industrial Park, it was
tough not to think that if the stereotype of little emperors has not
changed in thirty years, it is nearly the only thing in all of China to
have remained the same.
—_—
——
The front gates of Suzhou University open up to the part of the city
called Suzhou Industrial Park, a mix of new residential apartment
buildings and factory headquarters.
The layout of the city district has a sprawling feel compared with
other parts of Suzhou — it is spacious and carefully planned, and
the roads are as broad as highways. Along the park’s wide lanes the
logos of Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, L'Oréal, and Samsung beckon
from the sides of new industrial warehouses.
On the other side of Suzhou University, across a small river and
following paths meandering between trees and red brick school
buildings, the back gates of campus opened up to old Suzhou, the
Suzhou that earned the moniker “heaven on earth” centuries ago. The
university’s back gate opens onto a narrow alley lined with cheap stu-
dent eats. Come nightfall, college students streamed out the back gate
and into Suzhou’s milky bluish-black twilight, splitting off into “fly
dives,” bare-bones eateries known for good food and minimal décor.
Some broke off and formed a line at the Egg Wrap Grandmas-
ter’s stall, the most famous savory crepe wrap stall in Suzhou. A
hundred paces from the grandmaster’s stall, the alley converged on
an eight-hundred-year-old canal. At dawn and dusk an old man
punted a small boat up and down the waterway, ducking beneath
the arched bridges and the willow branches. Not half a mile away
in the other direction, Samsung’s robust semiconductor factory
clicked and whirred. At the end of each day, I would make the trip
by electric bike from my job at Suzhou Industrial Park, through the
university, and out the back gates to eat at Trade Winds.!
At the time, Trade Winds was the most modern restaurant on
the alley. Opened by a graduate of Suzhou University, it featured
a long countertop that encircled the griddle and gas ranges, which
made talking easy. The owner claimed he modeled it after the late-
night tavern on Midnight Canteen, a Japanese TV show that was a
mixture of melodrama and food worship; the show had a major cult
following in China. Trade Winds’s walls were covered with Polaroid
pictures of young people. If you hung out there, each face from the
Polaroid wall would eventually squeeze through the sliding door and
hunker down at the bar for a bowl of the signature red-cooked pork
noodles. The place had a homey feel, and many students treated it as
such, eating and chatting there after class. It was a community.
Xiao Lu was a central part of that community. A particularly sharp
bioengineering student, Xiao Lu was a customer-turned-employee
who worked at Trade Winds when he wasn’t in class. He washed
dishes and talked with the customers after the lunchtime rush. All
the while his biochemistry books were open at eye level on the top
1. Several years ago, many cities around China outlawed motorbikes, both as a way to clean up city air and incentivize green industries. Now, the streets are packed with
electric mopeds that people charge every night in their apartment complexes.
28 CCT Fall 2018
View from the bridge: a canal §n Suzhou, China.
shelf over the sink. He often read while he worked. Once, when just
the two of us were in the restaurant, he told me that his happiest
memories were from Trade Winds. Soon, though, he would gradu-
ate, and the pressure of finding a job was beginning to eat at his
nerves. I would watch him at the countertop, meticulously filling out
countless applications for chemical engineering positions, while the
rest of the students talked during their break from class.
One day I walked hurriedly into Trade Winds after work and
slammed the door behind me. Xiao Lu raised his eyebrows and
looked up from his books. A few regulars sitting at the bar greeted
me. “What’s up?” Xiao Lu asked.
Work had been frustrating. As I peeled off my orange jumpsuit
with the school’s logo on the front, I explained to the Trade Winds
regulars how excessive it all seemed: one foreign teacher (me), two
TAs, the head of the school, my green turtle puppet Cici, and a
mass of family members all teaming up to teach these five-year-
olds how to say a few words in English.
My frustration soon degenerated into criticism of my students.
“This is why China’s only children have such a bad reputation abroad,”
I ranted. “Jiangguo and the rest of my class are all little emperors!”
My words landed with a thud. People sitting next to me stared
quietly into their bowls of noodles.
Wei Yu, a twenty-year-old economics student, broke the silence.
She looked at me sternly and said, “A little outdated with this kind
of ‘little emperor’ talk, aren’t we?”
Gesturing with a pair of chopsticks, Zhang Jing, who was finishing
his master’s in mathematics, added, “This is like saying, ‘You know how
American youth love their hopscotch and nickel arcades!”
Xiao Lu had been quiet behind the counter as he worked on the
stack of bowls and chopsticks in the sink. He finished wiping off the
metal base of the large rice cooker and put it down on the counter.
ZHANG YONG / CREATIVE COMMONS
“That term, ‘little emperor, is total bullshit.”
I was taken aback. Xiao Lu doesn’t swear.
“Why?” I asked.
Xiao Lu took a deep breath and threw the dish towel over his
shoulder. “As a foreigner, you cannot begin to understand the tre-
mendous amount of pressure put on your little students,” Xiao Lu
said. “Think about what you're seeing next time you're in class: six
people standing around watching a five-year-old learn English. Do
you think that kid wants to be there? Wants to be studying Eng-
lish on his Saturday instead of playing in the park? Wants all that
focused attention? No chance.”
‘The students around the countertop stared at Xiao Lu. He had
rarely put that many sentences together in a day, let alone a minute
or two.
“But it is the only way a family thinks their kid can get ahead
today,” he continued, “so his parents and grandparents watch him,
groom him, tutor him meticulously to make sure he will be able
to get good grades, get into college, get a job, marry young, buy
an apartment, and ultimately help support his parents and grand-
parents. We get more attention, more food, more resources. In
exchange we give up our youth.”
Taking the dish towel off his shoulder, he turned around, flipped
the faucet on, and turned the page of his biochemistry book with
the back of his hand.
“In summary: two characters,” Xiao Lu said, turning around
once more and holding up two fingers in the air, “E 7, vali.”
Pressure.
From Young China: How the Restless Generation Will Change Their
Country and the World by Zak Dychtwald. Copyright © 2018 by
the author and reprinted by permission of St. Martin’s Press.
Fall 2018 CCT 29
EW LATE AT EON ELE GEL SOLID EG PEIELIT LEG RET INE,
While the lion has been Columbia’s mascot
since 1910, the current iteration of our leonine
representative, Roar-ee, made his debut at the
2005 Homecoming game. Previously called
Leo Columbiae, his new name was selected in
a name-the-mascot contest; Roar-ee took his
place in Columbia Athletics history by beating out
alternative Suggestions Hamilton, Hudson, K.C.
and J.J. — roar, lion, roar!
BEN HILDER (CURRENT); CCT ARCHIVES (ARCHIVAL)
30 CCT Fall 2018
Josh Martin 13; Jennifer Lee "90, GSAS’98;
Bill Isler 03
36
Amsterdam Exposed: An American’s Journey
into the Red Light District, by David Wienir ’95
Alumni Sons and Daughters
Just Married!
85 Obitue
Henry L. King ’48
Five Things to Look
Forward to This Year
By Michael Behringer ’89
With the fall upon us, CCT asked me to reflect on what I’m most
excited about for the academic year:
1. Columbia Athletics. Forget about the Giants and the Jets —
this fall, the most exciting football in New York is being played on
Morningside Heights.
Last year, the Lions had their best season in 21 years, earning a
second-place Ivy League finish. With 15 of 22 starters back this
year, we're well positioned to make another run for the title.
But football isn't the only team
that deserves a spotlight: Lions
archery, baseball, basketball, crew,
fencing, soccer, squash, swim-
ming, tennis and track are just
some of the other teams dominat-
ing. Did you know that last year
Columbia won seven Ivy League
championships and two national
= team titles, and earned three
number 1 national rankings?
Our athletes energize Colum-
bia, rallying the students and
alumni who have been returning
to campus in record numbers. |
hope this year you'll don Colum-
bia blue, come to a game and join
me in supporting our teams.
BRIAN FOLEY / COLUMBIA
2. The Core Centennial. For almost a century, College students
have been united, inspired and happily tortured by the Core
Curriculum. Two days to read Plato's Republic? A dissertation on
Descartes before dinner? If it’s Thursday it must be Thucydides. No
problem — I wasn’t planning to sleep anyway.
I’m an unabashed cheerleader for the Core. It’s the one thing
that all College alumni have in common and the reason many of us
chose to attend Columbia.
I loved President Lee C. Bollinger’s remarks at Commencement
this past May, when he emphasized that in today’s world we need
the Core Curriculum more than ever. As he eloquently stated, “The
Core is a set of values that is essential for the health and well-being
of any individual, any institution.”
Officially, the Core’s 100th anniversary is fall 2019. Leading
up to that yearlong celebration, the College will acknowledge the
centennial through new programs, opportunities to go back to the
classroom and much more.
alumninews \)
SCOTT RUDD
3. Reunion 2019. ‘The great Class of ’89 will celebrate the 30th anni-
versary of our graduation this spring. Kind of painful to write this one,
as it means I’m now closer to retiring than to relaxing on the Steps.
I love my class, and we always have fun turning back the clock
at special weekends. But reunions aren't just for those whose classes
are marking a milestone year. The Alumni Office offers activities
and classes with faculty for all alumni at All-Class Reunion, which
takes place the Saturday of reunion weekend. So even if it’s not your
reunion year, I hope you'll come back to campus to catch up with
friends and to reconnect with the College. Reunion 2019 will take
place Thursday, May 30-Saturday, June 1.
4. The Alexander Hamilton Award Dinner. The Alexander Ham-
ilton Medal is the highest honor awarded to a member of the Col-
lege community.
This year’s dinner will be especially momentous, as it honors my
classmate Lisa L. Carnoy’89. I’ve known Lisa since we were floor-
mates on Carman 8, and I can't think of anyone more deserving.
She’s been an advocate for women, athletes and really, all things
Columbia, for decades.
‘The dinner will be held in Low Rotunda on Thursday, November
15. We're expecting a record turnout, and I hope to see many of
you there to honor one of our best (college.columbia.edu/alumni/
events/hamilton/2018).
5. Columbians in the News. With more than 51,000 living alumni
across the globe, our ranks include Nobel Prize-winning scientists
and statesmen, legislators and judges, CEOs and stay-at-home par-
ents, artists and activists, actors and musicians, entrepreneurs and
engineers, and everything in between.
It’s no understatement that Columbians have a profound impact
on the world. I’m never surprised — and am always proud — to
hear of fellow alumni’s achievements, and I’m looking forward to
seeing what we do next.
ROAR!
Fall 2018 CCT 31
By Alex Sachare ’71
hen Josh Martin 13 was in Rome a year ago, like
most tourists he visited the Colosseum. But he
looked upon the ruins of the ancient arena from an
unusual perspective, that of a professional football
player with a degree in anthropology from Columbia.
“We are the modern-day gladiators,” Martin says of himself and
his colleagues in the National Football League. “Millions of people
watch us battle every week, in the stadiums and on television. It’s
interesting to me to look at the NFL and the interactions in the
locker room, the traditions of the game and the different rituals
we have.”
Martin, who turns 27 in November, is not your typical football
player. He was an All-Ivy First Team defensive lineman for Colum-
bia in 2012, and while he was not selected in the next year's NFL
draft, he received a phone call from Andy Reid, head coach of the
Kansas City Chiefs, saying the team would offer him a free agent
contract. Martin, 6'3" and 245 pounds, spent his first four years in
the NFL playing for three different teams, primarily on special teams
as he transitioned from a college lineman to a pro linebacker. He
32 CCT Fall 2018
enjoyed a breakout season with the New York Jets in 2018 when, in
addition to continuing to excel on special teams — he ranks among
the top 10 in the NFL in tackles since 2016 — he started nine games
on defense and led the Jets with 12 tackles for a loss.
“Last year was a huge step forward for me. Not only was I able
to maintain my status on special teams, but I was also able to con-
tribute on defense,” he said this past summer, prior to the start of
training camp. “Every year I’ve had a bigger role; now it’s a matter
of building on my role. The key thing I have to do on defense is get
to the quarterback, and I spent two weeks this off-season working
solely on that. It’s a different mindset.”
Martin, who excelled academically as well as athletically at
Cherokee Trail H.S. in Aurora, Colo., was set to attend the Uni-
versity of Wyoming until a guidance counselor mentioned “this Ivy
League school in New York that I hadn’t heard of.” One recruit-
ing visit to the Big Apple convinced him. “I liked that we were
treated like regular students,” Martin says. “We slept in sleeping
bags on the dorm room floor. At other schools they put me up in
nice hotels and I felt like I was being played.”
It was playing of another sort that clinched his decision. “We
went to Times Square on Saturday night and I stayed out later than
I ever had in my life,” he recalls. “It must have been 3 or 4 in the
morning, and we were walking by this side street or alley and there
was this guy all by himself, wailing away on his tenor sax. Now, I’m
a big music guy, it’s important to me to at least be around it, and
that sealed the deal for me.”
Martin says he majored in anthropology because “it’s the study
of social culture. I’ve always been interested in learning about peo-
ple, why they do the things they do and think the way they do.
It’s also something that has inspired me to travel, which I really
love.” Martin took his first major trip in the 2017 offseason, visiting
Japan and China, and last spring he went to South America —
from the coffee plantations of Colombia in the north to the glaciers
of Patagonia in the south — as well as to Italy.
Martin, who lives in Jersey City, has become active in community
affairs in the metropolitan New York area. “I felt 1 was losing myself
in football — I had all these other interests that I had put on the back
burner,” he says. Martin is on the Board of Directors of the Har-
lem School of the Arts, which enriches the lives of children and their
families, and works with Project Rousseau, a nonprofit founded by
Andrew Heinrich’13 that provides help to at-risk youth with the goal
of enabling them to attend college. Martin was also selected by the
NFL to be a personal finance boot camp ambassador, and speaks to
hundreds of players about taking care of their money.
And he remains thankful to that street musician whom he stum-
bled upon during his recruiting visit, even though — as the only
Lion currently competing in the NFL and one of only a dozen
Jennifer Lee ‘90 Investigates Identity
By Remy Tumin
ennifer Lee 90, GSAS’98 was 3 in 1971 when she emi-
grated from Seoul to the United States with her family. Her
father worked at a hammer factory during the day and her
mother, a nurse, worked at night. They lived in Philadelphia
and eventually opened a small clothing store in an African-Amer-
ican neighborhood.
Lee and her younger sister were always one of, if not the only,
Asians in their schools. “From an early age I was acutely aware of
my minority status in school settings,” Lee says.
Now, as an alumna professor of sociology at Columbia, she is
looking to turn that feeling of isolation on its head. Lee’s experi-
ence lends her a unique lens through which to pursue her research
in race relations, migration and inequality.
“When I was an undergraduate, none of my courses focused
on Asian Americans. I had no Asian-American professors and no
Asian-American role models,” says Lee, who joined the faculty in
2017.“When you don’ see yourself and your experiences reflected
in your courses, you assume [those experiences] aren't important,
arent relevant and aren't worthy of inquiry.
“I’m committed to doing research that places the study of Asian
Americans as central to the discipline of sociology,” she adds, “so
COURTESY JOSH MARTIN '13
7
Ivy Leaguers who played in the league last season — he knows he
“might be looked at a bit differently” by his pro football teammates.
“T wear my Ivy League cap with pride,” Martin says. “It’s not the
easiest thing to do to get to the NFL from the Ivy League, and Pl
always have that degree to fall back on.”
Alex Sachare 71 is a former editor-in-chief of CCT and has followed
the Jets since the early 1960s, when they played in the Polo Grounds as
the New York Titans.
that I can teach the type of courses that were never offered to me.”
Lee is clearly reshaping the conversation. The author of several
books, she routinely contends with questions of race, the immi-
grant experience, identity and how different cultural groups inter-
act. Her most recent work, The Asian American Achievement Paradox
(2015), received three top awards from the American Sociological
Association in 2016 — The Pierre Bourdieu Award for the Best
Book in Sociology Education, The Thomas & Znaniecki Award
and the Book Award on Asian America.
But finding her professional calling took time. After graduation,
Lee matriculated at GSAS; by her second year, though, she still
wasn't feeling a connection to academia. Then she became a research
assistant for sociologist and Columbia professor Robert K. Merton.
“[He] made me realize the kind of opportunities that are there for
professors and made me a much stronger researcher and someone
who was committed to both teaching and research,” says Lee, who
went on to earn a master’s, an M.Phil. and a Ph.D.
Lee was also a principal investigator of the 2016 National Asian
American Survey, the only academic survey of Asian-Americans.
Conducted every four years since 2008, it includes 10 Asian groups
and is conducted in 10 languages. Aside from the NAAS, Asian
Fall 2018 CCT 33
aS Se
COURTESY JENNIFER LEE '90, GSAS’98
Americans aren't typically included in national surveys and polls,
Lee notes, “so we don’t have reliable survey data about their atti-
tudes, experiences and opinions on policy issues.”
For her next book, Lee wants to explore how success is measured
among immigrant populations, and what and who society consid-
ers to be successful. “Who do we think is more successful — a
second-generation Mexican American with a community college
degree or a Korean American with a Ph.D.?” Lee asks. “We tend to
look at outcomes without thinking about starting points. What I
want to do is shift the narrative to think about the starting points.”
When she’s not teaching, Lee says, her Pomeranian, Kaia, “is my
life,” and the two are often seen on campus together — the pup
hangs out for office hours and is popular with the students. Lee splits
her time between New York City and Newport Beach, Calif., where
her husband lives. The couple enjoys surfing during the summer.
Lee, who this semester is teaching “Critical Approaches - Study
of Ethnicity and Race,” says that some might call her choice of
research “identity research” or “me-search.” But she takes another
view. “We need more research on diverse populations, so that we
can better teach our increasingly diverse student body to craft their
own narratives.”
Remy Tumin is an award-winning journalist who has covered every-
thing from small-town politics to presidential visits, dog cotillions to
critical housing shortages. A born-and-raised New Yorker, she now
works and writes for The New York Times.
Bill Isler ‘O3 Is Betting on Baijiu
By Anne-Ryan Heatwole JRN’09
n a warm April evening in Brooklyn's trendy Williams-
burg neighborhood, Bill Isler ’03 is slinging cocktails
and greeting guests at the Museum of Food and Drink.
Standing in front of a wall made of Chinese takeout
containers, Isler makes sure each visitor gets a cocktail of rum, pas-
sionfruit liqueur, pineapple juice, lime juice and, as the featured
ingredient, daijiu. The Chinese alcohol, which Isler affectionally
describes as “inimitable,” is poised to make a move on Western audi-
ences and Isler’s company, Ming River Baijiu, is at the forefront.
Baijiu, pronounced “bye-joe” and translated as “white spirit” in
Mandarin, is a catch-all term for traditional Chinese grain spirits.
Isler had his first taste of the complexly flavored libation — think
nearly overripe fruit with a bit of an earthy burn — while study-
ing abroad in China as a College student; “I thought it was the
worst thing ever,” he says. However, the spirit grew on him and he
later learned that his first experience wasn't unique. Baiju is typi-
cally drunk neat at room temperature during traditional Chinese
dinners; small, thimble-sized amounts are taken dozens of times
throughout the meal. Those unfamiliar with the drink often end
up overconsuming.
“A lot of Westerners end up really disliking baijiu because of the
way it’s drunk more than because of its taste,” Isler says. “If they go
to a dinner and have 30, 40 shots of it, they'll feel terrible the next
34 CCT Fall 2018
day and, because baijiu has a distinctive aroma and flavor, it stays
with you a long time.”
Because baijiu is not usually used in cocktails or consumed on
its own without food, there weren't bars in China — or anywhere
else in the world — dedicated to serving the spirit. Isler and three
business partners decided to change that, launching the world’s
first baijiu bar, Capital Spirits, in Beijing in 2014 (Isler had been
working in China since graduation and had opened another bar in
2005). “We wanted to treat it like any other spirit in the West. We
offer tasting flights, cocktails and education,” he says.
Capital Spirits quickly made a splash, winning Time Out Beijing’s
“Best Specialist Spirits Bar” and “Best Newcomer Bar” awards. The
bar then popped up on The New York Times’ “36 Hours in Beijing,”
which recommended readers check out the “hutong speakeasy with
antique wooden furniture and no sign on the door.” Forbes Travel
ranked it as a top-three place for cocktails in Beijing, thanks to
the unique opportunity for travelers to sample baijiu. “It was a tiny
little hole in the wall, but somehow we managed to attract lots of
attention,” Isler says.
News organizations weren't the only ones taking notice of the
new approach to an old spirit: Baijiu producers began to reach
out. “We were approached by a lot of major distilleries,” Isler says.
‘They eventually partnered with Luzhou Laojiao Distillery to start
—~
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newsmakers
oul,
alumninews
branding a Sichuan-style strong-aroma baijiu, fermented from
whole-grain sorghum, to export to the West’s untapped market.
“They were looking for someone like us, we were looking for some-
one like them — we had very similar ideas about how to bring
baijiu to Western markets,” he adds. The team brought on baijiu
expert Derek Sandhaus, and Ming River (comprising Isler, Sand-
haus, Simon Dang BUS’10 and Matthias Heger) was born.
Isler and the Ming River team’s current aim is to teach new audi-
ences what's available outside the Western spirits market. According
to the International Wines and Spirits Record, the volume of baijiu
sold globally is more than two and a half times that of the second-
best selling spirit — vodka — making baijiu the world’s most-sold
spirit, but almost all of the sales are in China. “Ming River is a vehicle
through which we're able to edu-
cate people about strong-aroma
baijiu and then baijiu in general ... :
eae to focus a, ae as CCT Print Extras
much as possible,” says Isler. View a video of Isler at the
Isler’s April event was a cel- Museum of Food and Drink and
ebration of Ming River's arrival: 9¢t 4 Daijiu cocktail recipe at
10,000 bottles were scheduled to college.columbia.edu/cct,
land shortly in New York, another
10,000 in California and a final 10,000 for European distribution.
By World Baijiu Day on August 9 (“eight nine” in Mandarin sounds
similar to “baijiu”), Isler and Ming River had partnered with a half-
dozen NYC restaurants and bars to make exclusive baijiu cocktails
to celebrate the day — part of their strategy to target mixology/
craft cocktail bars, as those bartenders often look to surprise cus-
tomers with new and unusual tastes. Says Isler, “It brings a flavor to
the cocktail that’s unlike any other ingredient.”
The Emmy Awards aired on Septem-
ber 17 and two alumni were nominated
for their acting: Brandon Victor
Dixon ’03 in the category of Outstand-
ing Supporting Actor in a Limited
Series or Movie for his work in Jesus
Christ Superstar Live in Concert and
Kate McKinnon ’06 in the Supporting
Actress in a Comedy category for her
work on Saturday Night Live.
Former U.S. Attorney General Eric H.
Holder Jr. ’°73, LAW’76 received the
American Bar Association’s Thurgood
Marshall Award on August 4 at the
Thurgood Marshall Award Dinner in
Chicago. The distinction recognizes
members of the legal profession for
their long-term contributions to the
advancement of civil rights, civil liberties
and human rights in the United States.
Kai-Fu Lee ’83 was honored with
the 2018 Asia House Asian Business
Leaders Award and will receive it
at a gala dinner in Singapore on
November 22. He was recognized for
“championing Al innovation and policies
to ensure its positive social impact.”
Author and journalist Franklin Foer ’96
wrote The Atlantic’s September 2018
cover story — “How Trump Radicalized
ICE” — in which he explores America’s
immigration crisis. Kevin Baker ’80
wrote “The Death of a Once Great
City: The fall of New York and the
urban crisis of affluence” for the July
2018 issue of Harper’s Magazine;
he considered the loss of NYC’s
individuality as high rents force out
mom-and-pop shops and chains take
over neighborhoods.
Jordan Hewson °12, SOA’17 appeared
in Vogue’s September 2018 issue in
the feature “Here, There, Everywhere:
34 Stars Who Continue to Shine ona
Global Stage.” Hewson was highlighted
for creating Action Button, “an embed-
dable tool that allows readers to take
actions — through tweeting support,
signing petitions, or charitable dona-
tions — on a wide swath of social and
political issues.”
On September 3, writer Michael
Musto ’76 appeared on NPR’s “All
Things Considered” to talk about the
August 31 closure of iconic tabloid
The Village Voice. On the program,
Musto, who wrote the paper’s nightlife
column for 30 years, discusses the
history of the Voice and how he feels
about its demise.
Fall 2018 CCT 35
| book S h e lf ee ;
oe + + IE eres aaa
Oe
David Wienir ‘95 Goes Dutch in an
Unusual Coming-of-Age Tale
By Jill C. Shomer
hen anyone mentions Amsterdam, you probably
think: Van Gogh. Anne Frank. Bicycles. Canals.
You might also think: Hookers. The infamous
Dutch capital is known for all of those things, but
David Wienir 95’s memoir, Amsterdam Exposed: An American’
Journey Into the Red Light District (De Wallen Press, $12.95), is
primarily concerned with the latter.
The coming-of-age story, which recently won the grand prize as
the Top Book of 2018 at the Hollywood Book Festival, describes
the author’s friendship with a Dutch prostitute named Emma, but
is also about a young man stepping outside his comfort zone. “I
think it’s a very different book than what people might imagine,”
Wienir says. “This is not a survey of the sex worker industry; it’s a
story that can shape how we see the world.”
Still, the provocative subject mat-
ter kept Wienir, now an entertainment
lawyer based in Beverly Hills, from
writing his story for 18 years. “I was
afraid to share myself,” he says. “When
you're in corporate America, it’s almost
as though you're told to check your per-
sonality at the door. It took me a long
time to find the necessary vulnerability.”
Wienir was 26 and a third-year law
student at UC Berkeley in 1999 when
he took a semester to study interna-
tional law in Amsterdam. Feeling pres-
COURTESY DAVID WIENIR '95
sured to “sell his soul” in exchange for a
corporate law career, he recalls the deci-
sion to travel to Holland as an opportunity to “break free” from a
more traditional law school path. He arrived knowing he wanted
to write a book about the red light district, hoping to introduce
readers to the women who worked the windows and share their
perspectives on the industry from a Dutch point of view. Wienir
explored the seedy neighborhood, asking for interviews and trying
to make connections before ultimately forming an intense but pla-
tonic bond with 24-year-old Emma. He writes a poignant, heart-
felt letter to her in the book’s epilogue.
“T hope the book finds its way to Emma,” Wienir says. “There’s a
lot that this book gets at, but one of the main objectives is to human-
36 CCT Fall 2018
DAVID WIENIR
ize the women there and have
a conversation about the issue
in a different way. It’s a subject that touches mainstream society a
lot more than we want to acknowledge.”
Examining a topic from different sides is something Wienir
learned at the College; he calls his experience there “beyond trans-
formative.” Growing up in California, he says he had always roman-
ticized New York, and he found that Columbia in the early 1990s
still had “that Kerouac/Ginsberg intellectual vibe.”
He was the president of Carman Hall, a member of Alpha
Delta Phi Literary Society and a co-founder of the Uptown Vocal
a cappella group. Studying abroad as a junior in the Oxbridge
Scholars program was a big part of Wienir’s College journey and
started his love affair with Europe. He thinks fondly of the Core
to this day: “It’s been everything to me,” he says. “It’s given me an
ability to think deeply about things and care about ideas.
“To me, Columbia was about searching,” he says. “Diversity was
welcomed, and people were genuinely interested in how others
came to certain understandings. That foundation led me to want
to be a writer, to be willing to strip myself of preconceived notions
and explore. Columbia for me was not about fitting in; it was about
being different.
“We're so quick to label everyone around us,” he continues.
“Republicans, Democrats, lawyers, prostitutes. But we're also quick
to label ourselves. We all want there to be order in the world so that
we can make sense of it. But by doing that we put people in cages,
and ourselves, too.”
Wienir has written three other books; he’s dedicated this one to his
wife, Dr. Dina, a pioneer of the legal cannabis movement in Califor-
nia and the inspiration for the Nancy Botwin character on the Show-
time series Weeds. He now works in a creative environment at United
Talent Agency, and says his colleagues have been beyond supportive.
Ultimately, he believes his chutzpah comes from Columbia:
“There are extraordinary things waiting for you if you put yourself
out there. Go knowing you're smart and be comfortable searching.
My time at the College gave me the courage to go places other
people might not have been comfortable going.”
And to anyone aspiring to be creative in corporate America, Wienir
offers this advice: “Just do it. If there’s something you need to write or
something you need to say, there’s a path that’s there for you.”
THE FEVERS
OF REASON
The Fevers of Reason: New and
Selected Essays dy Dr. Gerald
Weissmann ’50. Weissmann calls this
book “a sort of autobiography” of
his life in science; his essays cover
a range of subjects from “Ebola to
Eisenhower, Zika to Zola” (Bellevue
Literary Press, $19.99).
Father of the Man: A Novel
by Anthony Robinson ’53. Set in
the Maverick Art Colony — a
utopian Woodstock retreat where
the author grew up — in the 1940s,
this story’s point of view alternates
between a 13-year-old boy and
his writer father (CreateSpace
Publishing, $17.95).
The Wind Blew Me There:
Memories of a Ship’s Surgeon
Aboard Barquentine Verona dy
Dr. Barnett Cline’58. A memoir and
travelogue of a young physician's
year at sea that includes information
from the original ship’s log, a sele-
ction of photographs Cline took on
the voyage, and excerpts from letters
he wrote and received (CreateSpace
Publishing, $9.65).
Tyrants of the Heart: A Psycho-
analytic Study of Mothers
and Maternal Images in James
Joyce by Michael Zimmerman ’59.
The author synthesizes his lifelong
interest in James Joyce, whose
work he has taught extensively,
and his fascination with the kinds
of psychoanalysis practiced today
(Ipbooks, $35).
Left, Gay & Green: A Writer’s
Life by Allen Young 62. Young,
whose Communist parents taught
him to fight for the oppressed,
shares his experiences and
adventures as a journalist and
activist who has devoted his life
to a variety of causes (CreateSpace
Publishing, $25).
Twilight of American Sanity:
A Psychiatrist Analyzes the
Age of Trump dy Dr. Allen Frances
63. Widely cited as the writer of
the diagnostic criteria for Narcissistic
Personality Disorder, Frances
argues that the rise of Donald J.
Trump is darkly symptomatic of a
deeper societal distress (William
Morrow, $27.99).
Greater Gotham: A History
of New York City from 1898 to
1919 by Mike Wallace 64. The second
part of a NYC history series; the
first book, Gotham: A History of New
York City to 1898 (which Wallace
co-authored), won the Pulitzer
Prize for History in 1999 (Oxford
University Press, $45).
Death of the Dinosaur: How
Wall Street Has Changed and
Where It Is Headed dy Jory
Berkwits ’69. The author explains
how years of scandals in the
financial services industry have
eroded the public’s trust, and
explores what can be done to help
Wall Street resurrect its reputation
(Atlantic Publishing, $12.95).
alumninews
Madame Claude: Her Secret
World of Pleasure, Privilege, &
Power dy Bill Stadiem ’69. Stadiem,
a bestselling biographer, screenwriter,
social historian and frequent contribu-
tor to Vanity Fair, details the life of
the woman behind the world’s most
glamorous and successful escort
service (St. Martin’s Press, $27.99).
Surveyor of Customs: American
Literature as Cultural Analysis
by Joel Pfister ’73. An examination
of how American writers such
as Benjamin Franklin, Nathaniel
Hawthorne and Edith Wharton
can be read as critical “surveyors”
of customs, culture and capitalism
(Oxford University Press, $35).
Engine of Impact: Essentials
of Strategic Leadership in the
Nonprofit Sector by William F.
Meehan III’74 and Kim Starkey
Jonker. The authors identify seven
components of leadership that set
high-achieving organizations apart
from the rest of the nonprofit world
and describe how those principles
can be applied to attract greater
financial support (Stanford Business
Books, $29.95).
Animus: A Short Introduction to
Bias in the Law dy Wilham Araiza
83. Araiza analyzes some of the mod-
ern Supreme Court’s most important
discrimination cases through the lens
of “animus,” the legal term used as a
rationale for the public’s dislike of a
particular group (NYU Press, $25).
CRYSTAL HANA KIM
The Internationalists: How a
Radical Plan to Outlaw War
Remade the World dy Scott J.
Shapiro 87 and Oona Hathaway.
Two Yale Law School professors
tell the story of the Peace Pact,
signed by world leaders in 1928,
by placing it in the long history of
international law from the 17th
century through the present
(Simon & Schuster, $30).
Decarcerating America: From
Mass Punishment to Public
Health edited by Ernest Drucker ’94.
This collection of essays from
experts across the criminal justice
reform movement offers a construc-
tive set of proposals for bringing the
American incarceration rate in line
with that of other democracies
(The New Press, $27.95).
Hell & Back: Wife & Mother,
Doctor & Patient, Dragon Slayer
by Dr. Tali Lando Aronoff ’00. This
humorous memoir is a guide for breast
cancer patients, their families and
friends; the author shares her experi-
ence with a restrictive diet, her experi-
ments with wigs after chemotherapy
and her return to work during radia-
tion treatment (Archway, $35.95).
If You Leave Me: A Novel dy
Crystal Hana Kim ’09. Kim’s debut
novel tells the story of two ill-fated
lovers in Korea and the heartbreak-
ing choices they’re forced to make in
the years surrounding the country’s
civil war (William Morrow, $26.99).
— Jill C. Shomer
Fall 2018 CCT 37
graduation.
38 CCT Fall 2018
The Class of 1906
donated this
clock, installed
between Hartley
and Livingston
Halls in 1916, to
: mark the 10th
anniversary of its
1942
Melvin Hershkowitz
22 Northern Ave.
Northampton, MA 01060-2310
DrMelvin23@gmail.com
On May 23 I had a note from Paul
Hauck, in Florida, reporting that at
98 he is probably the oldest living
member of our Great Class of 1942.
I am also in touch with Dr. Gerald
Klingon in New York City and
Stewart Mcllvennan in Colorado.
Gerry and Stewart are both 97. Paul
is our leading candidate to become
a member of the Centenarian Club
in 2020. The current writer is only
95, so I hope to continue writing our
Class Notes for a few more years.
The Columbia Lions website
reports that Patrick Eby ’20 (6'3"
and 240 pounds), the long snapper
on our football team, is a pre-season
All-American, nationally ranked in
the top three in the nation (not just
in the Ivy League) at his position.
Accurate long snappers are crucial
for field goals, punts and PATs,
all of which can decide the outcome
of our games. Best wishes to
Patrick if he decides to pursue a
pro football career.
Our newest basketball recruits
include Floridian Ben Milstein ’22,
younger brother of our talented field
goal specialist Oren Milstein ’20. Ben
is a point guard, and will probably see
significant playing time as the season
progresses. Our team returned with
almost all of our experienced starters,
so we should be in contention for
the Ivy League championship in the
2018-19 season.
Best wishes to all surviving
classmates. You can reach me at the
addresses at the top of the column
or at 413-586-1517.
1943
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
[Editor’s note: CCT is sad to
report that longtime CC’43 class
correspondent Dr. G.J. “Dan”
JILL SHOMER
D’Angio passed away on September
14, 2018. He submitted this column
shortly before his passing. |
Reflecting on our trip to the United
Kingdom this past February: An
abiding memory is how kind and
helpful strangers were. Spotting two
doddering figures, a man and woman
on the street immediately offered to
help. The trip was nearly 75 percent
disaster and 25 percent success. My
wife, Dr. Audrey Evans, and I arrived
in Scotland during “The Beast from
the East,” a Siberian blizzard blowing
west. All transport, including taxis,
was banned on Edinburgh streets. We
almost didn’t make it to the building
where Audrey’s investiture as a Fellow
of the Royal College of Physicians of
Edinburgh was to take place. It was
only a few hundred yards from our
hotel, but the sidewalks were icy and
the route downhill. Audrey was all for
walking the few hundred yards. Next
stop, the ER. Instead, a friend scared
up a taxi and we made the venue.
The investiture was an important
occasion for Audrey. She started
there as an indifferent pre-med
student (because of health setbacks)
SCOTT RUDD
and now she was to become — and
became — an RCP Fellow.
Audrey achieved her 93rd birth-
day during the U.K. trip. She also
was accorded an honorary doctorate
(D.H.L.) by the Holy Family Uni-
versity of Philadelphia in May.
I was ill all winter (and before)
but suddenly recovered in May. The
chronic problem stemmed from a
prescribed drug I was taking. The
curtains parted three days after it
was discontinued, and I was healthy
again — felt only 90 years young
rather than aged 96.
Our trip to Columbia for my 75th
class reunion went very well. Audrey
and I met Bernie Weisberger on
June 1 in Midtown and had a delight-
ful dinner with him. We then rode
in a cab on the morning of June 2
to 116th Street and the campus and
enjoyed what I call “The Luncheon
for Ancients” under tents on South
Lawn. Bernie and I were the only
43ers present. Too bad you missed
it, classmates! Many of you live a lot
closer than Bernie (Evanston, III.) and
I (Philadelphia). We also met Annie
Sirju of CCT there, an added pleasure.
A new adventure on June 16: A
heart attack. Audrey moved into my
room for the 48-hour uneventful
stay. | was home and free of dis-
abilities thereafter. Turns out there
were two small areas of ischemia
but no infarct that accounted for the
7/10 chest pain. Good news! I never
believed in guardian angels, but I
have one — in my son-in-law, Greg
Hinson. He is an experienced hos-
pital pharmacist as well as a prince
among all men. He has been oversee-
ing every detail at home, as well as
those related to my medications.
The medical and nursing care
was superb at the Hospital of the
Dr. G.J. “Dan” D’Angio ’43 (left) and Bernie Weisberger ’43 at Reunion 2018.
University of Pennsylvania. We are
lucky to have it available within
minutes in a taxi.
Our family get-together was
planned for August, here in Phila-
delphia. We are planning to attend
the 50th anniversary meeting of the
International Society of Pediat-
ric Oncology in Kyoto, Japan, in
November. As a past president of
SIOP, it was hoped I would be there
to participate in the festivities. Long
way, but we hope to make it.
A Columbia nugget: Henry
Suzzallo TC 1905 was born in San
Jose, Calif, on August 22, 1875, of a
Venetian family. He attended Teach-
ers College, where he earned a mas-
ter’s in 1902 and a Ph.D. in 1905.
Before becoming president of the
University of Washington, Suzzallo
was, among other posts, an adjunct
professor of educational sociology
at Columbia. In 1915 the University
of Washington offered Suzzallo the
presidency of the university, where
he remained until 1926. The UW
library is named for him. Suzzallo
became president of the Carnegie
Foundation for Advancement of
Teaching in 1930 and died on
September 25, 1933, in Seattle.
From Bernie Weisberger:
“Greetings, fellow Class of 43
survivors, wherever and whoever
you are. Dan notes that we were the
only two to show up at reunion but
I wonder about that a little because
there werent separate tables for the
individual classes but a collection of
unmarked tables under the tent on
South Lawn on a beautiful day, and
we seated ourselves ‘pell mell,’i-e.,
without assignments. (Historical note:
Thomas Jefferson was considered a
wild radical for using that arrange-
ment at White House dinners.) I
really like Dan's description of it as
“The Luncheon for Ancients.’
“Moreover, the lunch was the
highlight of the months since I last
wrote in mid-March. One of the
other delights was to meet our Class
Notes editor, Annie Sirju. It was
altogether a lovely day in all respects,
weather included — hot, yes, but no
rain, allowing us to enjoy (at least
for my taste) the real delight of eat-
ing outdoors.
“Outside of an in-law family wed-
ding in New York in February, already
mentioned in my last letter, there
were no celebrations of life milestones
among my grandchildren during the
chilly spring here. I can't, however,
resist a proud mention of the fact
that my eldest, Abigail Rich, bless
her, is working in San Francisco as an
attorney for an organization that pro-
vides legal support to asylum seekers.
This work is needed more than ever
while President Trump and Attorney
General Jeff Sessions insist on their
brutal policies of ‘zero tolerance’ that
keep applicants in virtual criminal
detention while awaiting hearings,
and are now talking about even deny-
ing such hearings, otherwise known
as ‘due process of law,’ on the grounds
that the Constitution only provides
it to those already born or natural-
ized here. No pity, no exceptions
and no proof that immigrants “bring
disease and crime and take jobs from
Americans.’ I’ve heard it all before
in our national periodic outbreaks
of xenophobia, and as Goethe said
of some other issue, ‘what’s true in
it isn’t new and what professes to be
true is a lie. I read that in German
class in my sophomore year, another
benefit of a Columbia education.
“Otherwise, I remain in pretty
good health on this date, only a
month away from turning 96, and am
very grateful, though of course there
are small losses too familiar to all of us
ancients to spell out and whine about.
I say this with full awareness of good
friend Dan D’Angio’s more crucial
health problem that he describes in his
own letter and wish him a speedy and
thorough recovery. And good health
to all of us, the ‘happy few.”
1944
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
Share your story, news or even a
favorite Columbia College memory by
sending it to either the postal address
or email address at the top of the
column. Wishing you a pleasant fall.
Fall 2018 CCT 39
1945
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
Share your story, news or even a
favorite Columbia College memory
by sending it to either the postal
address or email address at the top
of the column. Enjoy the fall.
1946
Bernard Sunshine
165 W. 66th St., Apt. 12G
New York, NY 10023
bsuns1@gmail.com
Class of 1946, I hope that you
enjoyed the summer and that your
fall season is going well. I have no
news for the column this issue, so
please take a moment and send an
update to either of the addresses at
the top of this column. We would all
be happy to hear from you.
a7
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
Dr. Nicholas Giosa shared a thought,
as well as one of his poems: “As a
nonagenarian whose gift of awareness
will soon be spent, while there is
time, let me extend thanksgiving to
Columbia University for a scholarship
granted and a wonderful education
that followed, which helped make the
journey memorable.”
Ruminations on Impending
Oblivion - an Agnostic’s Strain
As I bend and bald beneath the restless
tweaks of time, as cheekbones
protrude and cheeks
sink in - portending what awaits all
who have viewed the light of day;
as the orbits
about my cataractous eyes become
ever-deepening valleys, and the tremors
of my hands belie the pen that
would record
a line - perhaps, even a stanza
or two, of poetry !
40 CCT Fall 2018
as I become a caricature, compared
to what once prevailed, well aware
that what lies
ahead is but a pittance as to what
went before;
that now, my senses are more
in abeyance
rather than at their posts of duty;
I reflect on the absence of a
promising agenda
that attends this juncture of despair;
and so, haltingly, I beseech whatever
powers that be.
Teach me to accept the
besetting circles
of isolation that lay siege to
the ramparts
of old age; and to accede to the
impending coda
of oblivion that awaits those who
have been fortunate to
have witnessed
the estate of being - the awe,
of nature’s tapestry.
Teach me to kneel before
Necessity’s Decree:
that all who have known
the endowment
of awareness, in time, must acquiesce
to the demise of the senses as they
become consigned
to the repository of extinction -
prey, to the closing grip of mortality.
At the end, for passage, let there be
neither music nor tears, neither
halting elegy
nor proclaiming eulogy, let there be
naught,
but the escort
of silence.
Nicholas Giosa
February—June 2018
Share your story, news or even a
favorite Columbia College memory
by sending it to either the postal
address or email address at the top of
the column. Best wishes for the fall.
1948
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
Dr. Robert C. Feulner touched
base: “My relationship with Colum-
bia University began in 1944 when
I enjoyed employment as a part-
time musician in the University
band and the University Orchestra
while attending the High School of
Music & Art.
“My college education began
in June 1945. My classmates were
older, more mature young men,
many having returned from service
during WWII. Their friendship, and
the education I received at Colum-
bia, were the basis for most of what
I have since been able to accomplish.
“After receiving an M.D. from
NYU-Bellevue Medical Center,
I suffered a bout of pulmonary
tuberculosis, which was success-
fully treated. This led to training in
radiology, one of the less physically
demanding specialties. Twenty-
five years of practice at Waukesha
Memorial Hospital were followed
by 10 years of practice at Froedtert
Hospital, Milwaukee Regional
Medical Center. I have been
awarded a Fellowship in the Ameri-
can College of Radiology.
“My wife, Marny, is a graduate
R.N. who practiced as a nurse and
subsequently as a nurse anesthetist.
We have raised five children, now
scattered about the country.
“Other activities have been
building and flying a single-engine
Kitfox. However, soaring in a glider
accounts for most of my time in the
skies. I have been rated as a Three-
Diamond class soaring pilot.”
Dr. Alvin Eden checked in: “It is
hard for me to believe that I gradu-
ated from Columbia 70 years ago and
still continue to practice pediatrics,
teach medical students and author
childcare books. My tennis is down
to doubles one time per week. I
remember my baseball coach Andy
Coakley telling us stories about
another Columbia player he coached,
Lou Gehrig (Class of 1923).”
Dr. Frank Marcus shared his
bio; he is “professor of medicine at
the University of Arizona, College
of Medicine, in Tucson, Ariz. His
area of expertise is clinical cardiol-
ogy, cardiovascular pharmacology
and clinical electrophysiology. He
graduated from Columbia College
and received a master’s in physiology
from Tufts University. He graduated
from Boston University School of
Medicine cum laude in 1953. He
did his internship and residency at
the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital
in Boston from 1953 to 1954 and
1956 to 1958. He was a research
fellow in cardiology at the Peter
Bent Brigham Hospital from 1957
to 1958 and then completed his
cardiology training at Georgetown
University Hospital in 1959. After
a year as chief medical resident at
Georgetown University Hospital he
was appointed chief of cardiology at
the Georgetown University Medical
Service, D.C. General Hospital.
He held this position from 1960
to 1968. During this time he was
promoted to associate professor of
medicine at Georgetown Univer-
sity Hospital. In January 1969, he
became professor and chief of the
Section of Cardiology at the Univer-
sity of Arizona College of Medicine.
In 1982 he was appointed Distin-
guished Professor of Medicine and
held this endowed chair until 1999.
He is certified in the American
Board of Internal Medicine and in
the Subspecialty Board of Cardio-
vascular Disease.
“Marcus was founder and first
president of the Arizona Chapter of
the American College of Cardiol-
ogy 1987-88 and was president
of Association of the University
Cardiologists 1990-91. Among his
honors are the Laureate Award of
the American College of Physicians
in 1987, the Distinguished Alumnus
Award from Boston University
School of Medicine in 2003; Master
Clinician Award of the American
Heart Association, Council on Clini-
cal Cardiology in 2005; Outstanding
Achievement Award of the European
Cardiac Arrhythmia Society in 2011;
and the Pioneer in Cardiac Pacing
and Electrophysiology Award of the
Heart Rhythm Society in 2011. He
has been or is a member of the edito-
rial/scientific board of 14 cardiovas-
cular journals and is a consultant and
reviewer for 26 journals.
“His initial research interests
were directed to understanding
the pharmacology of cardiac drugs
including digoxin, amiodarone and
propafenone. Later he turned his
attention to this investigation of
cardiac arrhythmias. He introduced
radiofrequency energy for cardiac
ablation procedures. He co-authored
the first comprehensive clinical
description of the disease arrhyth-
mogenic right ventricular cardio-
myopathy, which was published in
Circulation in 1982. He organized a
task force to establish current crite-
ria for the diagnoses of this disease,
(Circulation 2010).
“From 2001 to 2008, Marcus
was the principal investiga-
tor of the NIH-sponsored study
‘The MultiDisciplinary Study of
Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular
Cardiomyopathy/Dysplasia.’ He is
now one of the principal investiga-
tors of the NIH-sponsored study
‘Genetics, Mechanisms and Clinical
Phenotypes of Arrhythmogenic
Cardiomyopathy, September 2013-
June 2017.
“He is the author of 165 abstracts
and 334 articles in peer-reviewed
journals and has written 70 book
chapters. He is co-editor, with
Dr. Gaetano Thiene, of a book on
arrhythmogenic right ventricular
dysplasia/cardiomyopathy, published
in 2007; and co-editor, with Drs.
Aiden Abidov and Isabel Oliva, of a
book on cardiac MRI in diagnosis,
clinical management and prognosis
of arrhythmogenic right ventricular
dysplasia/cardiomyopathy, published
in 2016.
“He and his family established the
Samuel and Edith Marcus Visiting
Professorship in Cardiology at the
University Health Science Center.”
Share your story, news or even a
favorite Columbia College memory
by sending it to either the email
address or postal address at the top
of the column. Classmates would
be happy to read about you, too.
Happy fall.
1949
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
cecfund@columbia.edu
John Weaver
2639 E. 11th St.
Brooklyn, NY 11235
wudchpr@gmail.com
Here I go again! A couple of terrific
letters from classmates, which I will
quote in their entirety, arrived in my
inbox. By way of introduction, an
abbreviation of a long and productive
career from Art Feder LAW’51, who
speaks too modestly of his accom-
plishments. Nevertheless, he is still at
work and we are grateful to have his
correspondence and particularly his
astute analysis of current develop-
ments in his field of expertise.
He writes, “The road to hell
being paved with good intentions
and my being over 90, I thought it
behooved me to get off the road.
Hence what follows.
“T had already finished my
first year of law school, thanks to
the professional option, when we
graduated from the College. I went
on to practice as a partner in three
law firms, ending my career with 20
years at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver
& Jacobson. I specialized in tax law,
particularly federal income tax law,
and was reasonably well thought of
as a practitioner in the field. (I hear
you ask, what do I think of last year’s
legislation? A technical travesty, a
vehicle for enriching the rich and an
economic disaster.)
“Since leaving active practice, I
have been house counsel for former
clients and still manage to stagger to
the office most days.
“As was the style in those days, I
married Ruth Ann Musicant BC’49
in September 1949. Amazingly we are
still together. We have had three chil-
dren and seven grandchildren. Having
grown up in New York and environs
none of them attended Columbia,
other than Catalina Feder BC’19.
“All in all it has been a good trip,
but I am deeply worried by what the
next 20 years hold for the nation.”
Another classmate provides us
with a glimpse into his fascinat-
ing biography, along with a very
personal narrative of life as it some-
times deals us missteps, hiccups and
opportunities to demonstrate our
resilience and resolve. Fred DeVries
SEAS’50, SEAS’51 has experienced
more bumps in his road than any
of us deserve, but his upbeat tale of
what otherwise would be, in part, a
woeful story deserves reading.
Fred writes: “Since I entered the
College before I was 16, I’m not yet a
nonagenarian! I won't figure the odds
on making it to 2020, but we'll see!
“T started many times to write a
brief update, but it never happened.
Part of our house is one step below
the rest, and I tripped stepping up
from it about three years ago and
came down hard on our flagstone
floor. Broke my forehead, cheek, nose,
left wrist, and four or five ribs. My
wife, Mary, heard me from upstairs
and we called 911. After about two
months of hospitals and rehab, I
came home. Luckily, my ambulatory
apparatus was undamaged, so my
only health problem is COPD.
“Late last September, Mary beat
on the second floor with a wooden
chair so her deaf husband would come
upstairs; we called 911 for her to go by
helicopter to the hospital of the Uni-
versity of Philadelphia to be treated
for a stroke. She got the inoculations
in time and is slowly gaining back her
life. Her 88-year-old babysitter is not
very expert, but he’s learning!
“When I came home from rehab,
Marv Lipman PS’54’s letter cau-
tioning old folks not to trip and fall
made good reading, but too late!
“My life’s accomplishments don't
include a lot of notorious acts, but
I’ve been a lucky eyewitness to
history. A few items that might be
amusing: I spent most of my time
until 1951 living on West 89th
Street, a block from the Soldiers’
” as isk
alumninews \-,
to the railroad station before Friday
breakfast, to see/hear Herbert
Lehman introduce us to Adlai
Stevenson. That night, I flew to New
York for Alumni Day, and Ike put in
a quick appearance at Baker Field.
(Two in two days!)
“Mary’s matched me somewhat:
Her classmates at Philadelphia’s
Chestnut Hill Hospital School of
Nursing used to escort Annapolis
midshipmen when they came up for
the Army-Navy game each year. Her
very shy Georgia escort, JC (just
country) versus her JC (just city),
she realized not too long ago, had
been fully named Jimmy Carter. She
beat me on that one!
“We've lived in Niagara Falls;
Louisville, Ky. (it was so cold when
went to the Kentucky Derby that
SNE ee
Dr. Robert C. Feulner 48 has built and
flown a single-engine Kitfox and has been rated
a Three-Diamond class soaring pilot.
and Sailors’ Monument, dedicated
on Memorial Day in 1902. I always
wondered why my dad often asked
why I had to go to Brooklyn for
dates — weren't there enough girls
in NYC? Shortly before his 1967
passing, I found he'd played in the
fife-and-drum corps at the dedica-
tion, so Brooklyn had not been part
of NYC in his childhood.
“T went to the Columbia Gram-
mar School at West 93rd and Cen-
tral Park West. We had an all-day
plan, so I was playing soccer baseball
in 1937, in Central Park’s North
Meadow, when the Hindenburg
passed overhead on its way toward
Toms River, N.J. Am I the last’49er
to have seen it?
“The photo of Earl Hall in the
Spring 2018 issue (Class Notes,
page 44) caused me to sit down and
write: Mary and I were married
by Rabbi Hoffman in the Dodge
Room in 1959. (His family, the
Binswangers in Philadelphia, go
back to Revolutionary days.)
“At Columbia, I had the rare
experiences of seeing Ike many
times and Winston Churchill mak-
ing the V-for-victory as he entered
the Low Library.
“In 1952, I walked one block
from where I lived in Niagara Falls
year, they ran out of coffee — too
cold for mint juleps!); Memphis;
Wilmington, Del.; and the last
50-plus years in Chadds Ford, Pa.
N.C. Wyeth’s sign for the Chadds
Ford Barber Shop has been retired
with honor — it reads, “This is the
place where Washington and Lafay-
ette had a very close shave!’
“My mining industry travels
(mainly for DuPont) have taken me
as far north as Fairbanks, Alaska; to
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
(a gold town); past most of Canada
to Newfoundland; to Johannesburg’s
centennial (another gold town); to
the Great Barrier Reef in Australia,
and to very south on the southern
island of New Zealand (gold min-
ing, again) — it was early August,
and we had snow at 1,500 meters up
the Southern Alps.
“My only time in Asia was a
pleasure trip to Israel. Was invited
by 60 Minutes Australia to critique a
cyanide spill in Transylvania about
80 miles east of Budapest — didn't
see many bats! Was on their T'V for
at least 10 minutes.
“Guess I don't have a lot of justi-
fiable complaints! Unlikely we’ll be
there for our 70th, but guién sabe?”
A few days later, Fred passed
along this addendum of family
Fall 2018 CCT 41
history connected to Columbia
College: “Don't know if it makes a
relevant added note to my earlier
submittals, but it’s in the same
category: my dad’s brother-in-law
was Alfred Pollak (Class of 1902).
He became basically a pediatrician,
worked heavily at the Montefiore
Hospital and had an office on West
72nd between Amsterdam and
Columbus Avenues.
“Rather early in his career, he had
an obstetric call: He delivered Lou
Gehrig (Class of 1923) — glad this
job had no hitch! Best regards, again!”
Best regards, indeed. Thanks to Art
and Fred. I hope the rest of you, hav-
ing enjoyed a relaxing summer, have
renewed energy extending to your
fingertips, thusly enabling the writing
of your eagerly anticipated notes!
1950
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
No news for this issue — please take
a moment during the fall to send in
a note. Your classmates want to hear
from you. Be well!
1951
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
Richard Wiener sent “a brief sum-
mary of what I’ve been up to: My
second poetry collection — Sense of
Age — was published a few months
ago as a companion piece to my
Sense of Time collection. My autobi-
ography, Survivors Odyssey ... from
oppression to reconciliation, has been
translated into German, and is being
used in German schools.
“My legacy gift to Berea College
— the Richard Wiener Garden of
Peace — is under construction. It is
intended as an oasis on the campus
for contemplation, and will be identi-
fied as emanating from a Jewish child
survivor of the Nazi Holocaust.
“As I have done for many years, I
still share my history of persecution
and reconciliation with school and
42 CCT Fall 2018
church groups. It is my life mission
to help create a world of peace and
harmony by sharing my experience
in dealing with hatred during my
childhood as the only Jewish boy in
a school of Hitler Youths.
“T celebrated my 90th birthday
last fall with a banquet for my
children, grandchildren and many of
my closest friends, still mentor about
20 men in my ManKind Project
international brotherhood commu-
nity and recently completed my 48th
staffing as ritual elder in one of our
transformational trainings.”
Leonard “Len” Stoehr visited
with several classmates this past
summer: “During the last week of
June, my wife, Jan, and I drove from
our home in Stanardsville, Va., to the
Chautauqua Institute, Chautauqua,
N.Y., for a short vacation. On the
way to Chautauqua, we visited over-
night with my former roommate, and
fraternity brother, W. Fred Kinsey,
and his wife, Carol, at their beautiful
home in Manheim, Pa.
“While in Chautauqua, Jan and
I had a wonderful luncheon in Erie,
Pa., with Dr. Richard C. Boyle and
his wife, Dorothy. Dick and I had
not seen each other since graduation
day, June 7, 1951. After completing
his NROTC-required three years of
active duty with the Navy and his
medical training, Dick has been a
hometown family physician in Lake
City, Pa. He still practices medicine
at a local free clinic.
“There are now only seven Class
of 1951 NROTC graduates still
alive from an original class of more
than 40.”
Share your story, news or even a
favorite Columbia College memory
by sending it to either the postal
address or email address at the top
of the column. Classmates would be
happy to learn what you are doing,
too! Wishing you a peaceful fall.
1952
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
From Donald Surr BUS’53: “I
much enjoyed the football stories in
the Summer issue. Irvin Herman,
take pride in your limited athletic
abilities back then on the 150
pounds team. At 5'11" those days, I
weighed only 125 pounds, which put
me at risk in a high wind. Howard
Hansen, I do remember being told
of that remarkable Army game you
described having seen as a Bullis
Prep senior. My older roommates
in Livingston told me of it, when |
arrived in fall 1948. I arrived with
two classmates from Worcester
Academy, who became your team-
mates, Skip Salvatore and George
Vitone. Charlie McCann LAW’SS,
another of your teammates, roomed
across the hall from me, and we
shared our first Morningside
Heights beer together. Buying a beer
in New York was legal at 18 back
then, which had not been true back
in our native New England — not
that barkeeps ever asked. Howard, I
remember you also, and well, from
our chats at subsequent alumni
gatherings on campus. Glad to hear
that you are well.
“Incidentally, I now weigh
considerably more than 125 pounds
but at 88 am advised not to take up
football. There is no team anyway in
the retirement community, White
Horse Village, where my wife, Claire
TC’55, and I now live in Edgmont,
Pa. We have a bocce court and a
putting green, plus an excellent
workout center and heated pool
that I do use. At Columbia I sang in
the Glee Club. Still at it. We have
an 85-voice chorus here at WHV,
where former college glee club and
church choir members hang out. We
also have excellent cuisine and a bar
serviced by professionally trained
mixologists, all of which make these
later years more pleasant.”
From Carl Meier ’52, PS’56:
“Having just read the Class of 52
notes in the Summer issue, I was
reminded of my debt to Columbia. At
87, it is difficult to not give thanks for
continuing to be independent physi-
cally and mentally (my kids wonder
at times). My life after graduating was
medical school, then service in the
Navy (assigned to the 2nd Marine
Division). The years sped by with
marriage, three children (Temple,
Duke and Princeton), medical prac-
tice, then founding and directing a
residency program for 20 years at the
CMDNJ-Rutgers Medical School
system. Federal grants permitted our
program to prosper and thrive over
the past 40 years, training more than
250 family physicians — 70 percent
serving the medical needs of New
Jersey. I have been retired some 25
years from active medicine and the
United States Navy. Still volunteering
locally in religious and medical needs
of our community in Ft. Myers, Fla.
Miss getting back to alumni reunions
but continue to have fond memo-
ries of CC, Humanities and all my
chemical engineering courses — but
not the labs.
“Wish I could do it all over again
and enjoy the Lion’s Den, rowing
on the Hudson River and travel-
Columbia football’s 1950 offensive team. Standing, left to right: Wes
Bomm ’52, Bill Wallace ’52, Gerry Audette 52, John Wagner ’55,
George Vitone ’52, Ernie Gregorowicz ’53 and Don McLean ’51. Kneeling,
left to right: Mitch Price 53, Kermit Tracy ’52, Coach Lou Little, Howard
Hansen ’52, Verne Wynott 52 and Frank Toner ’52.
ing through the tunnels to miss
the weather above. Best to all the
remaining classmates.”
Pete Vayda attended the Society
for Human Ecology’s international
conference in Lisbon in July. While
there he presented a paper, “Wildfire
Research in Indonesia and Dubious
Assumptions about Interdisciplinar-
ity,” in a session that he had helped to
organize, “How to and How Not to
Achieve Effective Interdisciplinarity
in Environmental-Change Studies.”
From Howard Hansen: “In my
junior year at Columbia (1950), we
had a reasonably good football team,
although our record of four wins and
five losses didn’t show it! My senior
year (1951), we had five wins and
three losses. Looking back at history,
prior to Coach Al Bagnoli’s eight
wins and two losses in 2017, the
1951 team was one of six winning
teams in 67 years. That’s going back
to the Lou Kusserow’49, Gene Ros-
sides ’49, Bill Swiacki’49 team that
beat Army’s great 32-game winning
streak at Baker Field in 1947.
“I say to myself, “That’s not so bad
after all’ for the following reasons —
strong competition and tough, close
game losses.
“After the previously mentioned
Army upset, they went on another
three-year winning streak and, in
1950, were the number 2 ranked
team in college football and were
finally upset by Navy at Philadelphia
in their usual year-end game.
“Going back to 1950, we were
fortunate to upset a very strong
Cornell team in New York at the end
— scoring in the last minutes to win
20 to 19. Sadly we lost to Dartmouth
by one score on their field and Navy
in New York when they scored two
touchdowns in the last 16 seconds —
a record! Final score was 21 to 7. At
Yale we lost by 6 points (20-14) when
their future All-Star linebacker, Bob
Spears, flat out dove at me, having
taken a pitch out from quarterback
Mitch Price ’53 and going for the
tying touchdown around right end on
the fourth down in the final minute.
The tip of Spears’ stretched out
fingers snagged the toe of my right
foot on its way down to be planted.
My face landed upon Yale’s yard line!
I’m looking at the photo of that tackle
on my Lion’s Den historical office
wall office as I write this. A nationally
ranked Penn team whipped us at
Baker Field. As usual, they were big,
strong and aggressive and quarterback
Reds Bagnell had a big day. Reds was
a Maxwell Award winner and runner-
up for the Heisman Trophy.
“As shown in the 1950 offensive
team photo displayed near this long-
winded article, we had two excellent
pass-catching ends in Wes Bomm
#80 and Don McLean’51 #86.
Good-sized, strong tackles in Bill
Wallace #72 and George Vitone
#79 and a big solid center in John
Wagner’55 #58. Our guards were
All-East and future Honorable Men-
tion All-American Gerry Audette
#61 and efficient sophomore Ernie
Gregorowicz’53 #76. Kneeling are
Frank Toner #42, our future track
team captain, speedy “scat” back and
future honorable mention All-
American Verne Wynott #16, me
#35, Coach Lou Little, strong backup
quarterback Kermit Tracy #23 (our
future baseball captain) and quarter-
back Mitch Price ’53 #22.
“Other mostly defensive players
on the 1950s team were Bill Malone
51, Tom Federowicz, captain Al
Nork’51, Gerry Cozzi, Leo Ward,
Bob Schwegler, Mel Sautter, Paul
Vitek, Al Ward, Bob Wallace ’53,
Don Travisano, Dick Danneman,
Don Page, Bill O’Brien, Joe Coufal
51, Ralph White SEAS’S1, Stephen
Reich’53 and excellent punter and
all-purpose player Tony Misho.
“Moving on to my last years,
1951 team: Coach Little was
quoted in New York papers that our
backfield same as our 1950 team
shown, was one of the best in the
‘Ivy League,’ as we were called unof-
ficially in those days.
“Sadly, our opening game with
Princeton was canceled because
tragically two teammates came
down with polio during our pre-
season camp at Camp Columbia in
Connecticut and we were quaran-
tined. Princeton started off slowly
that year, edging out four victories
in a row and then rolled five games
undefeated for the second year
in a row and ranked number 3 in
college football. Their triple threat
quarterback Dick Kazmaier won the
Heisman Trophy that year. Sadly, we
were ready for that in our opener,
but! Next we shut out Harvard 35-0,
Yale 14-0. Penn took us handidly at
Baker Field. At Army’s Homecom-
ing game at West Point we rushed
for 324 yards and they scored on
an intercepted pass and fumble
recovery deep in our territory. Army
won 14-9! The game ended as we
alumninews
were third down on their 2-foot line
as time ran out after we had just
scored to win but were flagged for
offsides. I was carried off the field
toward the end of the first quarter
going for a score but didn’t make
it. Misho had more than 100 yards
rushing replacing me after being in
the hospital for a week prior to the
game. We were ranked number 2 in
the Ivy League that year.
“Coach Little’s retirement was
in 1956. He was on TV being
interviewed by the famous, cigar-
smoking Edward R. Morrow. After
having dinner, glued to the evening
show, when Murrow asked the coach,
among other questions, “What was
your most disappointing loss?’ Coach
Little responded in detail the above
Army homecoming game and I
couldn't finish my dinner!
“Presently, and with much effort
and time in getting statistics about
Columbia football history, | am
most pleased to report the follow-
ing: In evaluating Verne Wynott’s
statistics (including punt returns and
pass receptions) I couldn't believe
how impressive his numbers were
compared to other significant back-
field players. As a result I submit-
ted his name for consideration to
the Columbia University Athletics
Hall of Fame, whose results were
to be announced in August. I’ll be
surprised if he doesn’t quality.
“It appears that based on factual
statistics received that the Wynott-
Hansen backfield combo have the
best combined career average yards
per carry of any two backfield mates
in Columbia history (mid-1930s) at
5.1 yards.
“T think I will have another glass
of wine tonight and toast my team-
mates. We all know it takes good
blocking upfront and T formation
backfield faking to get the superior
results indicated.
“PS: Regarding the nearby photo,
only Bill Wallace, Frank Toner and
[are alive today, but not running. Jim
Ward’50 and Al Ward’53 were my
teammates and their brother, Bob
‘Hardguy’ Ward, was lineman of
the year in college football in 1951,
Maryland. His playing weight was
189 pounds! The 1951 UPI All-
American team posted 13 Ivy team
members with Gerry Audette and
Verne Wynott listed as Honorable
Mention among them. The weights
of the first team tackles were 230
and 225 pounds, respectively. Times
have changed — weightlifting in our
day was a no-no. In the photo, the
only players missing on starting 1951
team are Don McLean’51 and John
Wagner’55, who was drafted into the
Marines, but returned to graduate.”
1953
Lew Robins
3200 Park Ave., Apt. 9C2
Bridgeport, CT 06604
lewrobins@aol.com
Our 65th reunion dinner on June
2 in the Tauber Room on the
fifth floor of Butler Library was a
delightful success! The following
attended: Joseph Aaron, Dick
Auwarter, Joel Danziger, Bill
Frosch, Seymour Hendel, Jay
Kane, Richard Kleid, Richard Lan-
dau, George Lowry, Nick Ramos,
Harry Rice, Ed Robbins, Lew
Robins, Martly Saiman, Nicholas
Samios and Jim Steiner.
Ed Robbins graciously agreed
to introduce our class speakers, Jay
Kane and Joseph Aaron. Jay’s
mother, Margaret Brassler Kane, has
created sculptures that have been
viewed by hundreds of thousands of
visitors in major museums throughout
the United States. Classmates viewed
a breathtakingly beautiful example of
her work. Jay also indicated that the
current President of the United States
selected one of his mother’s sculptures
for his home.
Classmates were also fascinated
with Joseph’s description of some
of the latest medical advances that
he predicts will soon be able to help
people suffering from cancer, heart
trouble, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson's and
other diseases.
After Jay and Joseph spoke, I had
a chance to describe how Profes-
sor Fred Keller’s discovery of the
psychological principles of operant
conditioning enabled radiomen in
the U.S. Navy to learn touch type in
four and a half hours and reduced
the time to teach radiomen Morse
code from 200 hours to 100 hours.
Years later, applying the principles
of operant conditioning, it became
possible to teach children who have
autism and/or Down Syndrome to
successfully read.
Classmates, wives and significant
others at the dinner enjoyed the
following anecdote about Dean
Harry Carman. A few years after we
Fall2018 CCT 43
graduated, Dean Carman and his
wife, Margaret, invited me to spend a
weekend at their home at Schuyler-
ville, N.Y. For several hours, Dean
Carman (77), his neighbor Jim (67)
and I (27) worked to build a long
stone wall on the Carmans’ property.
At some point, Mrs. Carman brought
out a huge pitcher of lemonade and
insisted we take a break. While we
sipped our drinks, Jim pointed his
trowel at the dean and said, “I don’t
know what kind of teacher he is, but
he’s a damn good mortar man.”
Joseph Aaron attended Chicago
Medical School, graduating with
an M.D. in 1976. He and his wife,
Jane, were married in 1958 and have
a daughter and four grandchildren.
In 1999, the governor of New Jersey
appointed Joseph as medical director
of the division of disability determi-
nation for the Department of Labor,
where he supervised 60 physicians.
Dick Auwarter was captain of the
College swim team. He has served
aboard U.S. Navy destroyers and in the
Office of Naval Intelligence. He and
Kathryn Evers were married in 1958
and have seven children and 18 grand-
children. In 1957, Richard joined
IBM and spent 35 years in marketing
assignments. He has spent more than
45 years on volunteer projects and
helped raise millions of dollars to fund
34 pre- and post-cancer projects.
Joel Danziger married Joan
Kaufman of Mount Vernon, N.Y.,
and started his own law firm in 1959.
‘They have three children and four
grandchildren. Joel’s firm has grown
enormously and concentrates in the
area of employee benefits, trust and
estates, corporate, and tax. Through the
years, they have lived 45 minutes from
Lincoln Center on a 30-acre farm
with horses, dogs and one ornery goat.
Bill Frosch is married to Paula
Geshwind. They have two children,
who are both physicians, and four
grandchildren. At Cornell, Bill was
the interim chair of the Department
of Psychiatry and he has performed
research in psychopharmacology,
substance abuse and a bit of genet-
ics. He also has written scholarly
studies of the relationship of mental
illness and creativity and claims to
still be an enthusiastic oboist.
Larry Harte and his wife, Judi,
enjoy Larry’s hobby of racing
sailboats and traveling (to more than
75 countries!). Larry has tracked
polar bears in northern Canada and
crawled on his belly on arctic ice floes
44 CCT Fall 2018
just to get a glimpse of newborn harp
seals. He has chaired the depart-
ment of dentistry at the St. Barnabas
Medical Center in New Jersey and
has lectured internationally.
Seymour Hendel and his wife,
Patricia BC’53, were married just
before the start of our junior year at
Columbia and Barnard. They have
three children, six grandchildren and
one great-grandchild. My hunch is
that Sey and Pat probably have the
honor of being the first couple in
our class to wed. Over the ensuing
years, Sey became a Superior Court
judge and the presiding judge of the
Civil Division in Hartford, Conn.
He has chaired the task force on
judicial department security and,
in 1980, instituted the Connecticut
Court Visitation Program.
Jay Kane’s mother is one of
America’s most prominent sculptors. A
number of years ago, after retiring from
a highly successful Wall Street career,
Jay became his 94-year-old mother’s
business manager and was involved in
marketing and negotiating her bronze
foundry activities. Her works have
been exhibited since the 1940s at the
Metropolitan and Whitney Museums.
Jay indicates that his mother’s most
well-known work, Harlem Dancers,
is in the permanent collection of The
Smithsonian American Art Museum.
A number of years ago, he sent me the
following note in his mother’s honor:
“I think a good artist requires more
talent and dedication that a good
banker. Compare a group of truly dis-
tinguished artists today with a similar
group of bankers. Which is anyone
even likely to know existed 150 years
from now? I rest my case.”
Richard “Dick” Kleid and his
wife, Rhoda, have one daughter,
Susan, who is an attorney in Denver.
Sadly, Rhoda passed away shortly
before our reunion in June. She was
a treasure to everyone who knew her.
In our freshman year, Dick, Harry
Rice and I used to have lunch every
day in John Jay Hall.
In in our 50th reunion class
directory, George Lowry wrote the
following: “One wife, two sons, two
careers and only six jobs. My life in a
nutshell. To begin, I chose excellent
parents, who had the good sense and
good luck to get out of Czechoslo-
vakia with their two sons in 1939.”
When the founder of Swann
Galleries in Manhattan decided to
retire, George eventually became
chairman of this auction house that
specializes in literary properties,
books, autographs, atlases, photo-
graphs, prints and posters. Readers
of The New York Times might
remember reading the story of
Swann selling Anne Frank's letters
to Michael Milken. Currently, the
popular TV show Antiques Roadshow
is part of the Swann company that
is run by George’s oldest son. Their
second son works with his mother at
the Argosy Book Store.
Ed Robbins was the toastmaster
for our 65th reunion dinner and
warmly introduced Jay Kane,
Joseph Aaron and Dean James J.
Valentini. Ed and his wife, Beverly,
winter in Palm Beach, Fla., and
summer in Bedford, N.Y., and Man-
hattan. For many years, Ed was a
University trustee. Later he became
trustee emeritus and a member of
the trustees’ finance committee. In
our 50th reunion class directory,
Ed wrote, “One of my hobbies is
gardening. Beverly often says I pay
the gardener not to weed. We enjoy
every day of our lives together and
with our glorious family.”
Lew Robins: During our reunion
dinner, Dean Valentini reached our
table and stopped to chat with my
wife, Saralee. “Many years ago, when
our daughter was little more than 2,
Dean Carman and his wife invited us
to visit their home in Schuylerville,
N.Y., where he taught our little girl
how to water a flower garden,” Sara-
lee told Dean Valentini. “I'm going
to have to put the story of Harry
Carman teaching a little girl to water
flowers on my bucket list to tell other
classes,” replied our current dean.
This was the first Class of 53
reunion that our son, Harry Todd
Robins 90, has attended. Saralee
and I were especially delighted when
he told us that after having met our
great classmates at dinner, he was
looking forward to seeing them again
at the next five-year reunion dinner.
Martin Saiman practiced law in
New York for more than 40 years.
His specialty was real estate law and
he became chairman of his firm real
estate department. He represented
the New York Yankees in their lease
of Yankee Stadium. He also repre-
sented the developer of the World
Financial Center in lower Manhat-
tan. After his retirement, he’s spend-
ing his time playing tennis and golf.
After graduating, Jim Steiner
SEAS’61 spent three years as a U.S.
Navy officer on a wooden-hulled
minesweeper in Charleston, S.C.
As luck would have it, Henry Vil-
laume and Ladi Perenyi were also
stationed nearby, on similar ships.
After his years in the Navy, Jim
and wife, Mihoko, were married in
Tokyo. They have two daughters.
As the years passed, Jim picked up
a master’s at Columbia, a real estate
license, a custom broker’s license and
a pilot’s license. In a note he recently
sent tome, Jim wrote, “As I tell my
daughters, I’m still not sure what I
want to be when I grow up.”
From Anthony Robinson: “I
recently finished a new novel, Father
of The Man. This is my eighth novel,
going back to 1960 when my first
novel, 4 Departure From the Rules, was
published. Father of The Man takes
place in the early 1940s and tells the
story of a family in the Maverick Art
Colony in Woodstock, N.Y., where
I grew up. My father was Henry
Morton Robinson (Class of 1923). In
my novel, the main character, Jacob
Darden, is a writer. He writes a great
bestseller, Ze Cardinal, even as my
father wrote a bestseller of that name.
But Jacob's novel (inside Father of The
Man) is markedly different in one
specific way. In essence Jacob Darden
wrote The Cardinal how my father
should have written it, in my opinion.
In this particular, I like to think
Father of The Man is unique in the
annals of Columbia letters.”
1954
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Bernd Brecher
35 Parkview Ave., Apt. 4G
Bronxville, NY 10708
brecherservices@aol.com
Good news, gentlemen of ’54, we
have a 65th Reunion Committee in
place and are working hard on next
year’s event. Some of the most bril-
liant minds in our Class of Destiny
are plotting away as I write this
column, which you will receive in
October. On our committee are Dick
Bernstein SEAS’55, Arnie Tolkin,
Kamel Bahary, Al Hellerstein
LAW’S6, Saul Turteltaub LAW’S7,
Ron Sugarman, David Bardin
Left to right: Paul de Bary ’68,
Toni Coffee BC’56, Bernd Brecher
54, Arthur Delmhorst ’60 and the
permanent representative of the
Federal Republic of Germany to the
United Nations, Christoph Heusgen,
at the Columbia University Club
Foundation’s Ambassador Series
on May 29.
LAW?’56 and me. Others may have
joined over the summer (this column
was written in late July) and we invite
interested classmates to get in touch
and join us right now.
For now, all, mark your calendars
for the weekend of Thursday, May
30-Sunday June 2, 2019, during
which time we will pick two days for
our events. Please share with me/us
any suggestions — questions welcome,
too — that you may have about our
reunion. We want to hear from you.
Lou Paterno joins a small but
growing band of classmates who
send messages in verse — rhymed,
free or otherwise — and I get a
special kick out of opening these
“surprises” and sharing them with
all. Lou writes, “Here is my contri-
bution for the Class Notes column:
Ode to Columbia
Many years have since past
Broadway at 116th Street
Freshman Orientation
New friends, new challenges
Growing up — fast
Time stood still
Time flew
All a memory
Alla blur
Class of 54
The Bicentennial Class
Aging gracefully
Remembering thankfully —
Roar Lion Roar
“As for what I’ve been up to since
graduation,” Lou continues, “it’s
covered in the journal I recently had
published, The World I Live In, and
it spans the last six decades. It even
includes some references to my years
at Morningside Heights that may
‘ring a bell.’ It’s available on Amazon.
Carol and Larry Gartner report
they have now celebrated 20 years
”
of retirement on their small ranch
in Valley Center, Calif., where
they grow citrus and vegetables for
themselves and friends. “This is the
longest we have ever lived in one
place,” Larry writes. He continues to
be active in breastfeeding medicine
as a member of the board of direc-
tors of Baby-Friendly USA.
His and Carol’s interest in pedi-
atric history has been recognized by
the naming of the Historical Archive
Center at the American Academy
of Pediatrics after both of them. He
shares that “of even greater pleasure
to both of us is the move of our
daughter, Madeline, and son-in-law,
Mark, from Minnesota to a house
just a mile away from our place in
Valley Center. Both are retired sur-
geons. With their arrival in Califor-
nia, both of their children and their
families are now here. Son Alex is a
movie producer in Hollywood and
daughter-in-law Judy is a novelist.”
Can't make up that kind of stuff,
Larry, and congratulations on hit-
ting the jackpot. Our best to the
whole mishpoche.
David Jonas Bardin LAW’56
has written an article — “We the
People’ Versus Congress” — for an
online blog and monthly magazine.
David believes that Congress should
not use its constitutional power
over the District of Columbia to
decide local issues, such as whether
local government may subsidize a
poor woman's cost of an abortion or
administer a well-regulated mari-
juana market (as do eight states).
Why not debate such policies
locally, David asks, and subject local
decisions to review as to reasonable-
ness by impartial judges — not by
congressmen and senators from
other parts of the United States?
He points out that the people of the
District of Columbia do not have a
single voting member in Congress.
David was pleased to discover
support in the inaugural address of
our ninth President, William Henry
Harrison, who said that Congress
should use its power to legislate for
the federal seat of government only
to safeguard national government
operations and not to restrict indi-
vidual liberties of District residents.
David’s article also picks up on a
controversial modern view that
America’s Founding Fathers used
“We the People” to mean individuals
joining in a society in order to pro-
tect individual rights to life, liberty
and property. That view, he says, is
consistent with John Locke’s theory
of natural rights, contrasting with
views that “the People” are a collec-
tive (or a majority of a collective).
David criticized congressional
“meddling” in policy choices that
were better left to the people of
D.C. on July 28 over a delicious
Nepalese dinner at Washington,
D.C.’s Laliguras Restaurant with
me, my wife, Helen, and his wife,
Livia. (While Helen and I do dinner
monthly with David and Livia, he is
available for dining and commentary
with other classmates in between.)
Joe Arleo SEAS’56 writes that
he has “nothing new to report since
the last update, but then that’s good
news to report. For 64 years I’ve been
meaning to tell you youre terrific
keeping all of us in touch with one
another all these years. I look forward
to seeing you and the rest of our
Class of Destiny next year (silly idea:
how about a re-issue of our 1954
beanies?). Warm regards to all.”
Thanks, Joe, we'll expect you at
the reunion and to share with us
what life has been like for a novelist
whose work has been available on
Amazon virtually forever. Remem-
ber, all, that “keeping in touch” is a
full court press in which the entire
class must engage.
Be aware that obituary notices
are in a separate section of CCT.
Listings are selective and frequently
include our classmates. These Class
Notes, however, list all classmates’
deaths that we are made aware of.
Sometimes death notices are repeated
— different copy — in both sections
but not in the same issue. We report
herewith on the passing on July 2 of
Joshua Greenberg LAW’56, junior
Phi Beta Kappa at the College and
Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar at the
Law School, partner at Kaye, Scholer
for more than four decades, as well as
an adjunct professor of law at NYU
and Pace University law schools. Josh
was active in numerous philanthropies.
Our sincere condolences to his three
children and eight grandchildren.
Larry Kobrin LAW’57 proudly
shares, “My family continues to
compile Columbia degrees. My
son Jeffrey 92, GSAS’96, TC’'18
was recently awarded a Ph.D. from
Teachers College and my grand-
daughter, Yaira, is CC’21. Jeffrey's
wife, Michelle Greenberg-Kobrin 96,
LAW’99, ended an 11-year term as
dean of students of the Law School
and now teaches at Cardozo: Law
School. All told, our family holds 10
Columbia degrees and one tenured
professorship (daughter Rebecca).”
Larry continues to be senior
counsel of his law firm.
By the way, Larry, Helen and I
attended a U.S. Holocaust Memorial
Museum event in NYC last May, at
which Rebecca was a guest speaker;
be very proud.
“At some point,” Larry concludes,
referring to Columbia tuition, “we
should start getting a discount.” (If
you ask, he will send you several
copies of the petition.)
The Columbia University Club
Foundation, of which I’m VP,
continues to host and sponsor our
Ambassador Series on behalf of
the Columbia University Club of
New York, with the participation of
the United Nations Association of
New York. We lucked out twice this
year, first with the South Korean
representative during the Olympics,
and again — on May 29 at the
Penn Club — with Ambassador
Christoph Heusgen, permanent rep-
resentative of the Federal Republic
of Germany to the United Nations.
Praised by Politico as “the last Atlan-
ticist,” this previous foreign policy
and security advisor to Chancellor
Angela Merkel ducked no questions
and addressed the overflow audience
on issues from world order to immi-
gration to NATO and beyond. At
the post-lecture reception more than
one attendee, acknowledging Mr.
Heusgen’s winning sense of humor,
whispered to me, “This ambassador
is a rock star.”
Now for some home news:
My grandson, Jared Brecher, was
scheduled to travel in August with
the Southern California Chicago
Cubs Scout Team to Osaka, Japan.
‘They were scheduled to play six
games — four against college teams,
two against high school teams. His
team consisted of both high school
and college players who range from
Division 1 to Division 3. While in
Osaka they were to visit Koshien
Stadium to watch a high school
game in the prestigious National
High School Baseball Champion-
Fall 2018 CCT 45
ships of Japan. The team planned
also to visit Kyoto during the seven-
day visit. Jared plays middle infield
and is a right-handed pitcher. He;
our son, Dan; Dan’s wife, Sharon;
and their daughter, Sydney, live
in Pacific Palisades, but Jared is a
fanatic Mets fan. (Who knows,
they could use some help.) Jared is a
senior at Palisades H.S., has terrific
grades, is looking at colleges, and
travels up and down the West Coast
playing baseball. Sydney, a sopho-
more at the University of Michigan,
returned in July from a 10-day
Birthright Israel trip and family
visit, and is still up in the clouds.
Before I sign off, forgive me if
news any of you may have sent for
this issue did not make it into these
Class Notes. My PC and systems
apparently partially crashed as I was
preparing this column, part of which
I reconstructed from memory and
earlier draft notes. If yours was lost,
please resend soon for the next issue;
you all know the kick I get in doing
this column for our class. Remember
to circle your calendar dates for next
year’s reunion, and to send in your
questions and suggestions early. Even
better, join our Reunion Committee.
As always, be well, stay well, do
good and do well, write, call, email
... and all my best. Excelsior!
1955
Gerald Sherwin
181 E. 73rd St., Apt. 16B
New York, NY 10021
gs481@juno.com
It couldn't have worked any better for
the Thai soccer team and their govern-
ment. Friendships are wonderful, as
shown by our attendance at reunions.
Two more years until we celebrate
another reunion. Not freedom from
captivity in a cave, although the old
tunnels are a good example. On a
sad note, two classmates have passed
away: Ron McPhee and Bob Spar-
row. [Editor’s note: See “Obituaries”
for more on Sparrow. ]
Some of our guys attended the
funeral services: John Naley, Char-
lie Brown, George Raitt, Alfred
Gollomp, Don Laufer, Jack Free-
man and Paul Taormina’56.
The baseball team (which won
the Ivy League title) lost to number
1 team Florida, which eventually
was eliminated in the finals.
46 CCT Fall 2018
The Class of 55 summer lun-
cheon was held in Faculty House.
We hope we will duplicate its suc-
cess at another event, and we hope
a larger crowd will attend another
class luncheon. Attendees will be,
I hope, Harold Kushner, Berish
Strauch, Dick Kuhn, Anthony Vis-
cusi, Steve Rabin, Herb Cohen,
Aaron Hamburger, Bob Bernot
and Dick Ascher.
Attendees at All-Class Reunion
on June 2 were Howard Lieber-
man, Norm Goldstein and your
trusted correspondent.
The Columbia University Senate’s
meeting schedule has been released;
it appears there will be some inter-
esting highlights coming forth.
Season football tickets are at a
premium due to the success of the
roaring Lions and their second-place
finish in the league last season.
Lee Rodgers was trying to get
Norm Goldstein’s contact informa-
tion. Lee had lived in his house for
well over 50 years. Norm was last
known to be living in Manhattan.
Relax and stay healthy. Be ahead
of the curve. We need you for the
next reunion, which is looming.
Love to all! Everywhere!
1956
Robert Siroty
707 Thistle Hill Ln.
Somerset, NJ 08873
rrs76@columbia.edu
Welcome to fall, Class of 1956. Bill
Epstein ’55, SEAS’56 is recovering
from hip surgery. Len Wolfe reported
that Frank Thomas was the subject
of an NPR documentary. Mike Spett
advised that Don Kazimir SEAS’57
was the subject of an article in the
Palm Beach Post about bringing home
a yellow (research) submarine, in
which he reminisced about his time
at sea as captain of the Ben Franklin.
I took some classes through
Rutgers’ adult education program
here in New Jersey, and found Stan
Marcus and his brother, David
Marcus ’58, as classmates.
The Class of 1956 was repre-
sented at the Alumni Parade of
Classes at Class Day on May 15 by
Alan Broadwin, Ron Kapon, Dan
Link and David Gerstman. Alan
reports that there were only two
classes older than ours, and each had
only one representative.
Several members of the Class of 1956 made it to All-Class Reunion on June 2.
Seated, left to right: Jordan Bonfante, Bob Siroty, Peter Klein, Ralph Kaslick
and Alan Broadwin; standing: Al Franco SEAS’56.
Classmates met for lunch in July
at Dan Link’s club in Larchmont,
N.Y., and — for the first time in 62
years for some of us — met with Ken
Swimm. Great conversation followed
as Dan, Peter Klein, Alan Broad-
win, Jack Katz, Mark Novick and
I were still unable to learn of Ken’s
highly classified engineering projects.
We will try again in August.
Please do send in your notes. Your
classmates want to hear from you!
1957
Herman Levy
7322 Rockford Dr.
Falls Church, VA 22043
hdlleditor@aol.com
Al Fierro told us that his best
friend, Charlie Straniero, died on
October 27, 2017.
From Erich Gruen: “Living for
more than a half-century on the
‘left coast,’ I have lost touch with
almost all my Columbia coevals and
classmates. I lost my dear friend from
those days, Don Clarick, two years
ago, thus severing what had been my
closest tie to the class. I do see Bob
Alter regularly because we have been
colleagues at UC Berkeley through
the decades and share many interests.
And I maintain a most welcome
contact with Alvin Kass, but we have
not seen one another for several years.
Otherwise, I rely on your news.
“I am now in my mid-80s, retired
from UC Berkeley for little more than
a decade. But I remain active in the
profession. I still have three graduate
students who are working on their
Ph.D. dissertations with me. I travel
regularly to deliver lectures or make
presentations at conferences. Various
papers of mine continue to appear in
journals and conference volumes. And
I hope to complete a book dealing
with ancient perceptions of ethnicity
so long as I am still (reasonably) sound
of mind. My most recent book, Te
Constructs of Identity in Hellenistic
Judaism, appeared in 2016; it is not
exactly a bestseller. My wife, Ann,
and I travel frequently (and not just
to conferences). Three children and
five grandchildren are scattered across
the globe from Washington State to
Munich. But we manage to arrange
trips that include one or usually more
of them on the itinerary.
“I am reminded of my age only
when I meet someone who says
‘You're looking good.’ That must
mean ‘I am surprised that you are
still walking the earth.”
Yours truly, Herman Levy,
attended All-Class Reunion 2018 on
June 2. The event was superimposed
on the quinquennial class reunions
(e.g., those for 1958 and 1963).
The morning began with the
Dean’s Breakfast and State of the
College Address, held in the Rotunda
of Low Memorial Library. James J.
Left to right: Alan Broadwin,
Ron Kapon, Dan Link and David
Gerstman represented the Class
of 1956 in the Alumni Parade of
Classes at Class Day on May 15.
Valentini, dean of the College and
vice president for undergraduate
education, opened by awarding the
President’s Cup to Paul Neshamkin
63 (the 1963 class correspondent).
Dean Valentini then discussed a new
initiative at the College, “My Colum-
bia College Journey,” customized for
each student. It was developed with
input from the faculty and the Board
of Visitors.
‘The initiative is set forth on the
My Columbia College Journey web-
site (college.columbia.edu/journey):
“Your Columbia College experience
is a journey. Each choice you make
— every class, extracurricular activ-
ity, internship, residential experience,
research opportunity, conversation
and interaction — is helping you
grow personally, professionally and
as a citizen of the world. Our goal
isn't just for you to develop skills,
capacities and capabilities, but also
to understand 4ow you developed
them, where you developed them
and how the experiences fit in with
your entire Columbia College jour-
ney and the journey you will take
after Commencement.”
Dean Valentini then discussed
the Columbia College Fund goals,
saying that he wants to make all
contributors, regardless of amount,
feel part of the College develop-
ment. A question-and-answer
period followed.
Next, I attended the reunion key-
note address, delivered by Paul Auster
69, GSAS’70 in Roone Arledge
Auditorium in Alfred Lerner Hall.
Auster, a bestselling author, member
of the American Academy of Arts
and Letters and of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences, and
Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Arts
et des Lettres, read autobiographical
and Columbia-inspired excerpts from
his acclaimed novel 4321. Most of it
reflected the anti-Vietnam war spirit
of the late 1960s.
Following the address, I made
my way to the South Lawn tents for
the All-Class Luncheon. Finding
no table for 1957, I sat down with
several quite alert members of the
Class of 1943 and guests. Indeed,
I encountered no members of the
Class of 1957 at any time that day.
After lunch I took the tour of
the Manhattanville campus, the
triangular area just west of Broad-
way and a block or so north of the
125th Street subway station. Where
once-dilapidated warehouses stood,
the area now has eight modern
glass high-rises. Of them, five are
completed and three remain under
construction. Prominent among the
completed ones is the Lenfest Cen-
ter for the Arts. It faces south across
the “Small Square” plaza leading
to West 129th Street, across which
is the Prentiss Hall building. Also
across the plaza is University Forum,
a triangular building scheduled to
open this fall as a conference center.
‘The tour took place in the
Lenfest Center for the Arts. The
Katharina Otto-Bernstein Screen-
ing Room overlooks the plaza, the
conference center, the Prentiss Hall
building and the spire of Riverside
Church. Upstairs is the lantern
room, which, in addition to the
others across the plaza, affords a
view of Grant’s Tomb. Downstairs
is the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach
Art Gallery. For me, the afternoon
ended with a wine tasting on Low
Plaza. On Sunday I met Kathleen
and David Kinne for brunch.
Have a pleasant fall, classmates.
1958
Peter Cohn
c/o CCT
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
petercohn1939@gmail.com
Barry Dickman was the class
historian for almost 60 years and
was the Class Notes correspondent
from the time he graduated until his
unexpected death on January 29. He
was a wonderful man and terrific
historian. His wife, Carol, writes,
“Barry loved Columbia and his time
at Columbia helped shape him into
the special person that he was. The
friendships that he made at Colum-
bia were very special and remained
so for his entire life. After his gradu-
ation from Harvard Law School he
practiced estate and trust law. He
found his practice fulfilling because
he was personally able to help clients
with difficult, and life-threatening
and life-altering, decisions.”
In addition to Carol, Barry left a
son, Stephen, and a daughter, Sue.
Our condolences to his family.
Barry did such a great job as class
historian that it will be a challenge
to replace him. Let me begin by
updating my own status. In 2017,
alumninews \.
I retired as an academic cardiolo-
gist after 10 years in Boston on the
faculty of Brigham and Women’s
Hospital and Harvard Medical
School, followed by 35 years at the
Stony Brook University Medical
Center on Long Island. Twenty-
two of the 35 years were spent as
the founding chief of the cardiol-
ogy division. Patient care, teaching,
mentoring, administrative duties
and, of course, clinical research,
kept me busy. The latter resulted in
five textbooks, several in multiple
editions, and 250 scientific papers. I
also co-authored two books for the
public with my wife, Joan, on the
medical and psychological aspects
of heart disease. Now I am adjusting
to my role as emeritus professor.
Since moving to Manhattan's Upper
West Side, I have had ample time to
travel with my wonderful wife of 50
years, as well as see more of our two
sons and their families. Joan and I
are also pursuing another collabora-
tion: We have begun to give talks
at community centers, corporations
and other interested organizations
on how to live well while aging. I
handle the medical aspects while
Joan discusses psychological and
nutritional issues.
The 60th reunion at the
beginning of June turned out to
be something special, with 45
members of the class participat-
ing. Many brought their spouses
along. In addition to Joan and me,
in attendance were Howard Allen;
Henry Barbour; Peter Barth;
Ernie Brod and his wife, Ruth;
Rick Brous and his wife, Marcia;
Ira Carlin; Joe Dorinson; George
Ehrenhaft; Tom Ettinger; Charlie
Feuer; Marsh Front and his wife,
Laura; Harvey Feuerstein and his
wife, Audrey; Bob Furey; Charles
Golden; Generoso Gascon;
Howard Gruber and his wife,
Alice; Peter Gruenberger and his
wife, Carin Lamm, Mort Halperin;
Robert Hartman and his wife,
Monica; Ed Hankin and his wife,
Barbara; Paul Herman and his wife,
Malka; Larry Harris and his wife,
Susan; George Jochnowitz; Steve
Jonas; Maurice Katz and his wife,
Margery (from California); Maurice
Katz and his wife, Elizabeth (from
New Mexico); Steve Klatsky and
his wife, Karen; Roger Lawrence;
Bob Levine and his wife, Anne;
Walt Lipow; Bernie Nussbaum
and his wife, Nancy Kuhn; Howie
Orlin and his wife, Anita, Howard
Presant and his wife, Laura; Shelly
Raab and his wife, Judy; Art Radin
and his wife, Miriam Katowitz; Sid
Rosdeitcher and his wife, Linda;
David Rosen and his wife, Andrea;
Fred Silverblatt; George Stern
and his wife, Fran; Ted Story and
his wife, Cynthia Crane Story; Ron
Szczypkowski; Bob Waldbaum
and his wife, Ruth; Eli Weinberg;
Mark Weiss and his wife, Joan;
and Leo Zickler and his wife, Judy
BC’58. On a sad note, Paul Gom-
perz was at the reunion but without
his wife, Jan, who passed away from
a neurodegenerative disease last year.
‘The reunion festivities began
off-campus on May 31 with a
cocktail reception hosted by Peter
Gruenberger and his wife, Carin
Lamm, at their Upper East Side
apartment. The next day, many
classmates attended Mini-Core
Classes and/or campus tours before
regrouping for dinner at Faculty
House. Former Dean Bob Pollack
61 spoke. On June 2, an informal
afternoon session was held in
Pupin Hall, consisting of two parts.
First, my son Alan’93, who was
on campus for his 25th reunion,
gave a fascinating presentation on
cryptocurrency. This enlightened
many of us about the new world of
bitcoin and blockchain. The second
part of the session was moderated by
Joe Dorinson. Attendees recalled
defining moments from our college
days (or in some cases, just fun
stories). That night we reassembled
at a Midtown restaurant for the
final Reunion 2018 dinner. Professor
Gareth Williams was the speaker.
I think it is safe to say a good time
was had by all!
Many thanks to the Reunion
Committee (admirably led by Peter
Gruenberger) for planning what
turned out to be a very pleasant
sojourn into the past while enjoying
the present.
Other non-reunion news of
note: On April 28, the Varsity
Show presented to Joe Klein the
University’s highest theater award,
the 2018 I.A.L. Diamond Award,
in recognition of his long career as a
Broadway musical director, and for
directing the 1978 Varsity Show, The
Great Columbia Riots of 1978. Also
noted was his dedication to helping
undergraduates with voice lessons,
and giving/offering advice on musi-
cal theater history and style, and
Fall 2018 CCT 47
advice and suggestions for under-
graduate musical theater produc-
tions. Joe acknowledged that being
conductor of the Columbia bands
and musical director of the Barnard
Gilbert and Sullivan Society were
certainly instrumental in preparing
for a Broadway career that included
assignments such as Man of La
Mancha and Chorus Line. Dozens of
recent and not-so-recent alums were
on hand to cheer their mentor when
he received the award.
Ernie Holsendolph has pub-
lished his memoir, Let Me Tell It. It
is about a boy born in south Georgia
who left to go to Cleveland in 1940.
The book describes his odyssey from
Georgia to Columbia and his career
as a journalist at The New York Times.
It is available on Amazon.
‘The Class Lunch is held on the
second Tuesday of every month in
the Grill of the Princeton Club, 15
W. 43rd St. ($31 per person). Email
Art Radin if you plan to attend, even
up to the day before: arthur.radin@
janoverllc.com.
1959
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Norman Gelfand
cloiGGii
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
nmgc59@gmail.com
Richard Engelman writes, “I
recently returned from a bucket list
trip on a safari to the Serengeti in
Tanzania. It was a phenomenal expe-
rience with eight days of seeing the
world’s best wild animals and experi-
encing the Maasai culture. They are a
unique people who are trying to enter
the 21st century with the beginning
of universal education through the
seventh grade. All the children who
cannot get to school by walking
live in dormitories at each school.
‘They are learning in three languages:
Maasai, Swahili and English. I would
strongly recommend going to the
Serengeti for a safari, as the experi-
ence is well worth the effort and
expense. If one would like to have
48 CCT Fall 2018
a recommendation for a wonderful
tour group specializing in Tanzania,
please communicate with me.
“My wife and I are residents of
Massachusetts but have a winter
retreat in Boca West, Fla. This is very
much like an adult summer camp,
with the inability to tell one day
from another since there are so many
activities every day of the week. Our
son is a cardiac surgeon at Baystate
Medical Center in Springfield,
Mass., where I still am employed.
He recently was one of a group of
young cardiac surgeons throughout
the United States to initiate an
organization based on a European
model, begun by colorectal surgeons
and called ‘Enhanced Recovery After
Surgery.’ The surgeons sought to
provide guidelines for improving care
in adult cardiac surgery with specific
goals to reduce complications and
expedite recovery. I had a hand in
the first (early) step in this direction
when I established and published a
protocol termed ‘Fast Track Recovery’
in 1992, but my approach was not
nearly as extensive as what is now
being proposed.
“We also have two daughters.
One is an artist working in glass,
with three children and living in
our community, and the younger
one is a lawyer in Manhattan. Our
three (son and two daughters) have
seven children and the two oldest
are now 24. One is a screenwriter
in Los Angeles and the other is a
nurse practitioner in Manhattan. Our
youngest grandchild is 11. He is our
youngest daughter's son, and lives in
New Jersey, so all of our family are in
the Northeast.
“Tt is truly fascinating to have
been in cardiac surgery when it
was a specialty that the brightest
aspired to achieve. Now that the
remuneration is so depressed and
the workload often overwhelming,
one cannot find sufficient trainees to
follow in one’s footsteps, and private
practice is a thing of the past. Very
few cardiac surgeons can maintain
a practice without hospital support,
such that they have largely all
been recruited by the hospital and
are now employees with the rules
that apply to all staff, for better or
worse. We were in private practice
until about 2001 when we could
not support the overhead with the
reduction in reimbursement and
were forced to accept the hospital as
our employer. This is a trend that has
to be nationwide. Interesting times
we are now living in.”
Eric Jakobsson informs us: “I had
a wonderful adventure this past spring
teaching a course [at the University of
Illinois], “The Evolution of the Uni-
verse from an Anthropocentric Per-
spective.’ It is a seminar course, with
19 upper-division undergraduates in
the sciences, through the University
Campus Honors program. We start
with the Big Bang and move forward
like a temporal microscope, moving
forward in time and narrowing down
to humans. The text is Maps of Time,
by David Christian, which I augment
with scholarly and scientific papers as
relevant to each section.
“T have a few scientific papers
under review (with collaborators).
Perhaps the most important is at
Proceedings of the National Acad-
emy of Sciences, where we have
submitted a computational protocol
for design of synthetic antibodies
against evolving viruses.
“T am writing this from a hotel in
Rochester, Minn., where I am visit-
ing the Mayo Clinic for diagnosis
and therapy for lumbar stenosis,
which is giving me great pain if I
walk for more than a few blocks
or stand more than a few minutes
(unless I use a cane). I have had a
steroid injection for temporary relief
and was probably going to have
surgery this past summer (surgery
was put off until after the semester
in order not to have the recovery
period interfere with my teaching).
“T continue to find new dimen-
sions in my love for my wife and in
my appreciation of all the variety of
the world. I could wish I were not so
old, but since that would be futile, I
will not bother. Best to all.”
From David Smith we hear,
“My wife, Helen, and I set out from
Barbados on the 14th of April for
six months abroad. On the Windstar,
a five-masted sailing ship, we began
a 14-day Atlantic crossing, which
took us to Lisbon. From Lisbon,
we flew to Athens and motored to
Mani in the far Peloponnese for a
four-week stay by the sea, with a trip
to The Palace of Nestor — Nestor,
whom Homer calls wise and king
in sandy Pylos. Then off to Turkey,
which has more Greek temples than
Greece. Dear friends live in Bodrum,
by ancient Halicarnassus, where
Herodotus was born.
“Leaving Turkey, we journeyed to
the Orkney archipelago off the north
shore of mainland Scotland. There
we will stay until early September.
Helen once again was to work on
the now-famous Neolithic site, the
Ness of Brodgar. Together, we will
write a paper on the small, fired clay
balls found at the site. It is becoming
apparent that such clay balls appear
at many Neolithic sites, from Catal
Huyuk in eastern Anatolia to several
sites in Orkney.
“After Orkney, we were to
conclude our odyssey in Cabreret,
a small village nestled beneath the
cliffs along the river Célé. There
we planned to wrap ourselves in
the many splendors of Quercy and
be with old friends for the last five
weeks of our journey. ‘One’s destina-
tion is never a place, but rather a
new way of looking at things’ —
Henry Miller.”
Louis Stephens lets us know,
“T have been working on a series
of seven large canvases, 5'x6' each,
larger than anything I’ve worked on.
‘The theme occurred to me when I
was in my 20s but hadn't material-
ized until about a year or so ago.
Each canvas is based on the seven
days of Creation as described in
Genesis, King James Bible, with
one canvas for each day. The Bible
descriptions for each day are short,
but very poetic, I think. I should
mention at this point that I am not
in any way of the persuasion of the
Christian right, so don't get the
wrong idea. This is purely for me an
aesthetic challenge.
“T am now up to Day 6.1 can
only work on one canvas at a time in
my apartment/studio. Each Day is
only about 80 percent done. When
I finish Day 7 to about this level of
completion, I will try to find a suit-
able studio space where I can see all
seven not-fully-completed canvases
together against one wall. I then
plan to complete them individu-
ally but also as a correlated series.
For those interested in technique,
I generally start each canvas with
acrylic paint and then finish with
oils. If any of you know of a suitable,
large studio space in Manhattan let
me know.
“My wife, Karen DeLuca
Stephens, has been working on a
screenplay about baseball, based
on a true story and the Italian-
American experience. Called Hitting
Home, it takes place in Boston in
1937. Bracketed between the Great
Depression and WWII, the story
alumninews
is about an immigrant family’s
struggles to adapt to a new country
and how their children unite them
via our national pastime. Thankfully,
Karen is beyond the initial stages
of this script becoming a reality,
in that the project now has the
support of the Rhode Island Film
and TV Office. She has also been
collaborating with a production
company there and is working with
our brother-in-law, who lives in Los
Angeles and knows people in the
industry. It’s an artistic and poignant
script, no crime involved, and we are
knocking on wood every day in the
hopes that she could soon have a
real movie come into being. Anyone
in the field please get in touch if
youre interested.
“Best wishes to all.”
Norman Gelfand writes: “My
son Sammy Gelfand was featured in
a New York Times story in the sports
section on June 7. He achieved this
distinction without murdering any-
one, being indicted or being a politi-
cian: He works for the Golden State
Warriors and is now the recipient of
three NBA championship rings and
one from the D league.
“Breaking news — he now works
for the Detroit Pistons. He switched
after the season was over.”
Please make plans to attend our
60th reunion next year. 1 am sure
that details will be coming soon.
1960
Robert A. Machleder
69-37 Fleet St.
Forest Hills, NY 11375
rmachleder@aol.com
‘The saga of the 60s’ role in the
repainting of the Spuyten Duyvil
“C” continues. Another Class of 60
coxswain emerges who dangled from
a rope and wielded a brush: Claudio
Marzollo. Claudio recalls his par-
ticipation and, even more beguiling,
relates his subsequent conquests of
challenging heights on the campus
and beyond.
“T have been reading with interest
the tales of the painting of the big
‘C’,” Claudio begins. “It was news
to me that it (creation of the ‘C’)
was so recent. I had thought it dated
from forgotten eons, not that it was
just a few years old when freshman
rowing coach Al Lawn gathered
the coxswains in spring’57 and told
us that we would be refreshing the
faded paint. I enjoyed the experience
and even volunteered for a second
shift. That set me off on a (later and
short) career of serious rock climb-
ing. When I was a senior, Steve
Larsen ’62 and I pooled our financial
resources and bought a climbing
rope and looked around for a suit-
able target. The ascent of the front of
our fraternity house, Psi U, was easy
and we looked for a greater chal-
lenge. The front of Butler Library
seemed like a worthy Everest, so one
spring evening we gathered our gear
and set off to scale Mr. Butler’s Very
Big Library.
“Getting to the first level was
a bit of a challenge but once we
reached the big grating behind the
columns it was a piece of cake. The
problem then became the campus
security guards, who gathered at
the foot of the climb — at least five
floors beneath us — demanding
that we come down. We suggested
that they come up. They declined
the offer and pointed out that they
could wait us out and that we would
have to eventually descend. The logic
was inescapable, so we eventually
rappelled down. They took my ID
and the climbing rope and sent us
on our way, which was, of course,
to The West End, letting us know
that we would be hearing from the
Dean's Office. Steve didn’t bring his
wallet and didn’t have his ID but
they figured I'd remember his name
when interrogated.
“The next day I did hear from
the dean (I wish I could remember
his name but I’m at a point where
I struggle to remember my own
name) summoning me to his office,
where I had been just a couple of
days before with a delegation from
the APO service fraternity to deliver
a check for the scholarship fund.
The dean wasn't that interested in
reprimands; he just wanted to know
how the hell we'd gotten that far up
on the outside of the building. After
a technical discussion of the climb-
ing obstacles, he handed me my rope
and my ID with the admonition,
‘You graduate in two days. Can you
stay out of trouble till then?’ Can
you imagine that happening today?
“When I returned from my tour
of duty in the Navy two years later,
Steve had become a more seasoned
climber and brought me into the
world of the Shawangunks. These are
a series of cliffs in New Paltz, N.Y.,
not really mountains but rather sheer
cliff faces of simple-to-impossible
rock climbing challenges. For the
next five years I became a semi-
serious and semi-competent rock
climber. I was, however, dividing my
weekends between serious climbing
and my other sporting love, ocean
racing. It eventually dawned on me
that I would have to choose one or
the other to get good. I ended up
choosing sailing and have enjoyed
that tremendously over the following
nearly 60 years since graduation.
“T now cruise my J40 on the East
Coast, anywhere from Virginia to
Nova Scotia, during the summers
and am giving some almost serious
consideration to taking the boat to
the Caribbean this winter, since I
hate winters.”
but had ceased to make the trip
into Manhattan from Cold Spring,
N.Y., some years ago and during the
period when his wife, Jean Marzollo,
was ill. “The event that is reshaping
my life at the moment,” Claudio
notes, “is the passing this last April
of my wife, partner and best friend
for the last 50 years. Jean was a
children’s book author — you might
have read her books, chief among
them the J Spy series — to your
grandkids. Being alone for the first
time in half a century is a new chal-
lenge I am struggling with, and it is
very difficult to once again be flying
solo, despite a supportive family and
community. I’m sure I’m not the
only one who has had this happen,
and my heart goes out to classmates
who have had this sad experience.”
Ernie Holsendolph 58 has published his memoir,
Let Me Tell It, which describes his odyssey from Georgia
to Columbia and his career as a journalist.
Claudio’s narrative requires a
few comments.
First, the “Ode to the Coxswain”
will need revision; we boated at
least two heavyweight and two
lightweight freshman shells, so there
must be other former 60s freshman
coxswains who may yet come forth
with their own account as “C”-
painting participants, and it would
be wise for a rewriting of the Ode to
wait. If you're out there, let me know.
Second, Claudio’s recollection
of his adventures in ascending
formidable heights modestly omits
a singular triumph that marked a
brilliant start of our freshman year.
At the Soph-Frosh Rush (once an
annual tradition at the College, but
having been abolished by the Dean's
Office, now a relic) it was Claudio
who outmaneuvered the assembled
members of the sophomore class,
ascended the greased poll and then
descended with the freshman beanie
the sophs had impaled. Semper
Excelsius rast be in Claudio’s DNA.
Finally, it was wonderful to see
Claudio at our First Thursday Class
Lunch in June, but he came only
after suffering an enormous loss.
Claudio had been one of the
inaugural and most consistent
attendees at our monthly lunches,
Jean was an immensely gifted
author, illustrator and educator.
She wrote more than 150 children’s
books and her J Spy books have
been translated into more than
20 languages. Lengthy and loving
remembrances appear in Pudlishers
Weekly and The New York Times. They
are well worth your reading.
Ira Jaffrey and his wife, Harriet,
have relocated from Colorado to
Santa Fe, N.M. Ira continues to
consult on oncology, his medical
specialty. While at the College, Ira
took an interest in the Dead Sea
Scrolls, and he has continued to
pursue that interest. He shares, “In
1960 I took a course with Professor
Theodore Gaster, “Ihe Religions of
The Near East, Mesopotamia and
Egypt.’ He was one of the first to
translate a portion of the scrolls. He
gave us words in Aramaic, which
we had to translate into Hebrew
and annotate. In April, Harriet and
I traveled to The Denver Museum
of Nature & Science to revisit the
scrolls during an exhibition of them
and artifacts from the Qumran exca-
vations. [his was my third encounter
with the scrolls, the second being in
Israel at the museum of the scrolls.”
In May, Bill Tanenbaum and his
wife, Ronna, attended the ceremo-
Fall 2018 CCT 49
nial opening of the United States
Embassy in Jerusalem. He says, “The
trip was inspiring and enlightening.
Attending the ceremony of moving
the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem was
an event beyond belief. Approxi-
mately 750-800 people attended,
many of them dignitaries from the
United States and Israel. Several
speeches were made, including a
video of one by President Trump.
Jared Kushner and Prime Minister
Netanyahu delivered speeches that
had the audience standing and
applauding. Toward the end of the
speeches, some of the audience
had tears in their eyes. In 1995, the
USS. Senate voted 93-5 to have the
embassy moved to Jerusalem. Dur-
ing the next 23 years, no President
gave the OK until President Trump
did. This was truly an historic event.
It was an honor for us to be there.”
1961
Michael Hausig
19418 Encino Summit
San Antonio, TX 78259
mhausig@yahoo.com
Mike Clark SEAS’62 has been
retired since 1994. He and his col-
lege sweetheart, Joanna Burggraf,
a nurse from St. Luke’s, recently
celebrated their 55th wedding
anniversary. Some highlights of
retirement life have been a fantastic
four-week cruise to Antarctica, the
opportunity for Mike to fly fish all
over Canada, Alaska, South America
and Russia, and the chance for
Mike and Joanna to hike most of
\Y
Contact CCT
Update your address,
email or phone; submit a
Class Note, new book,
photo, obituary or Letter to
the Editor; or send us an
email. Click “Contact Us” at
college.columbia.edu/cct.
50 CCT Fall 2018
the American West, Lake Louise in
Canada and Machu Picchu in Peru.
They continue to stay as active as
their advancing years allow and to
enjoy time with their two “children,”
now both over 50!
After Columbia, Mike and
Joanna moved to California, where
Mike earned a master’s in chemical
engineering from UC Berkeley
and worked at Los Alamos Lab
on a nuclear rocket engine. Mike
returned to Berkeley for a Ph.D. in
chemical engineering in 1967 and
went to work for Dow Chemical in
Walnut Creek, Calif.
After a series of promotions and
moves to various Dow locations in
the United States, they moved to
southern Holland in 1984 when
Mike was appointed R&D director
of thermoplastics for Dow Europe
and site R&D for Dow’s Terneuzen
facility. In 1987, he was named VP
of plastics and polymers R&D for
Dow Europe and they moved to
Zurich, Switzerland. One of the
highlights of their time in Swit-
zerland was when Dow had R&D
directors of all the European auto-
mobile companies attend a four-day
retreat in St. Moritz. They rode
the four-man bobsled run with the
Swiss team that had just won the
Olympics using polymers developed
for them by Dow!
In 1990, Mike and Joanna
returned to the United States,
moving to Midland, Mich. (Dow’s
headquarters) when Mike was
promoted to global R&D director
for Dow’s engineering thermoplas-
tics. After four years of battling
the nasty Michigan winters, Mike
retired from Dow, and he and
Joanna returned west, moving to
Reno, Nev., and set about doing all
the things they didn’t have time for
while working. They climbed many
of the mountains in Nevada, skied
all over the West and Mike took up
his new passion of fly fishing. He
stayed active by competing in USTA
tennis in Reno, Las Vegas, Northern
California and in Tucson, Ariz.,
where they have a winter home.
Arnold Klipstein, a gastroenter-
ologist, is 79 and works part-time in
Bangor, Maine. He moved from his
home, after 34 years, into a condo for
people older than 55. Arnold lives
with his fiancée, whom, he writes,
gives him youth and zest. He visited
Anchorage, Alaska, this past summer
after a cruise and a visit to the wilds
of Denali National Park. During the
trip, Arnold had the opportunity to
go dog sledding for the first time. He
noted that his son and daughter are
in their 50s and his oldest grandson
recently graduated from college.
David Konstan GSAS’67, in
his new book, In the Orbit of Love:
Affection in Ancient Greece and Rome,
argues that the ancient Greeks and
Romans had generous and altruistic
feelings, but that they expressed
themselves mainly in relation to
loved ones. David considers the
issues of friendship, loyalty, liberality,
gratitude, grief and civic bonding,
and shows how affection plays a
crucial role in each of these domains.
David is professor of classics at
NYU and the author of, among
other titles, Pity Transformed; The
Emotions of the Ancient Greeks:
Studies in Aristotle and Classical
Literature; Before Forgiveness: The
Origins of a Moral Idea; and Beauty:
The Fortunes of an Ancient Greek Idea.
Ed McCreedy was honored in
June for reaching the milestone of
50 years as a member of the Union
County, N.J., Bar, and giving a
lecture on ethics. Ed writes it is hard
to believe it’s been 31 years since
he served as County Bar president,
and 13 years since he was State Bar
president. Ed says he still has fun
trying cases, but tries to travel and
play golf a bit more.
Stuart Newman was talking
with the person sitting next to him
recently on a flight to San Diego
— that individual turned out to
be Stephen Schifrin, the son of Al
Schifrin. To make the “small world”
even smaller, Stephen lives around
the corner from Stuart’s son, Mike,
in the Scripps Ranch section of San
Diego County. Stuart spoke with Al
after they landed. Al is retired, living
in the Bay Area and sends regards
to the class. On another note, it was
a Columbia summer for some of
Stuart’s grandchildren: His eighth-
grade grandson recently returned
from a great experience at Columbia’s
baseball camp, and his high school
senior granddaughter took a course
in urban planning at Columbia.
Joseph Rosenstein recently
retired from Rutgers as a distin-
guished professor emeritus of
mathematics after teaching there for
48 years. This summer he published
Memorable Verses in the Torah (The
Five Books of Moses): Commentary and
Questions (memorableverses.com).
Celebrated composer Charles
Wuorinen GSAS’63’s 80th birthday
was honored by The Da Capo Cham-
ber Players with a concert on April
12 at the Merkin Concert Hall at
the Kaufman Music Center in New
York City. The Da Capo ensemble
performed many of Charles’ works
and works of other composers he
influenced over his long career.
Sadly, Thomas Gochberg
passed away on May 24, 2018, after
a brief illness. Tom was co-founder
and CEO of TGM Associates,
headquartered in New York City.
After graduation, Tom worked
for several years at Chemical Bank
before joining Smith Barney & Co.
to start Smith Barney Real Estate
Corp. In 1970, with Tom’s leader-
ship, Smith Barney Real Estate cre-
ated the first open-ended real estate
partnership, SB Partners, which
continues to the present day.
Tom was one of the founders of
the Pension Real Estate Association
(PREA) and was its first president
in 1977 and its second chairman. In
1978, he led a successful effort to
modify the U. S. federal tax code to
permit pension funds, under most
circumstances, to utilize leverage
when acquiring real estate assets
without incurring unrelated business
taxable income. This has brought
hundreds of billions in capital into
real estate in the ensuing decades. In
2010, PREA paid tribute to Tom at
its annual meeting, honoring him as a
founding father of the organization.
Tom and his wife, Letty,
graciously hosted wonderful class
dinners at their home during many
of our five-year reunion celebrations,
and Tom volunteered use of his
office facility for the New York City
class lunch club’s monthly meetings.
He will be missed dearly by the
class. A commemoration of Tom’s
life was held on June 14 at the New
York Yacht Club.
1962
John Freidin
654 E. Munger St.
Middlebury, VT 05753
jf@bicyclevt.com
Six hundred years ago, Leonardo da
Vinci wrote, “Water is the driving
force of all nature.”
‘Thirty-seven years after the
founding of alma mater, Benjamin
Franklin published his Autobiogra-
phy, which stated: “When the well is
dry, we know the worth of water.”
Then Groucho Marx said: “Well,
Art is Art, isn't it? Still, on the other
hand, water is water. And east is
east and west is west and if you
take cranberries and stew them like
applesauce they taste much more
like prunes than rhubarb does. Now
you tell me what you know.”
Well, you're the water of this
column. And the well is dry. Please
send news to either of the addresses
at the top of this column about you
and yours.
1963
Paul Neshamkin
1015 Washington St., Apt. 50
Hoboken, NJ 07030
pauln@helpauthors.com
About 50 of our classmates and an
equal number of spouses and friends
returned to campus in May for our
55th reunion. I wish more of you
had been able to make it, because
it was wonderful. I thank the entire
Reunion Committee for making it a
successful event, and especially Phil
Satow and his wife, Donna GS’65,
for hosting our Thursday evening
cocktail reception at their loft.
Frank Partel summed it up beau-
tifully: “My wife, Mary Ellen, and I
had a very enjoyable and rewarding
time at our 55th reunion. What made
it such a unique experience was the
attendance of so many of you who
returned. Most of you I knew only by
name during my undergraduate years,
but through Paul’s luncheons and
Peter Broido 63 met up with his
freshman-year roommate, Barry
Bem ’63, in Washington, D.C., in June.
our reunions I have come to know
many of you. Each time I return I am
rewarded to learn a little more about
those who are familiar classmates,
and meet someone virtually totally
new. I am in awe of your accomplish-
ments and the rich, fascinating lives
that you have created for yourselves.
Many thanks for your presence. My
compliments to the Reunion Com-
mittee for architecting a delightful
series of class events, with a special
note of appreciation to the Satows
for their lovely kick-off cocktail party.
Thank you so much for coming. I
look forward to seeing you at Home-
coming, perhaps another luncheon
and our 60th.”
Joe Applebaum writes, “Our
55th reunion was a wonderful oppor-
tunity to reconnect with old friends
and make some new ones. The boat
ride was memorable. Since I haven't
lived in New York for many years, it
was remarkable to see how the West
Side skyline has changed. After the
reunion, my wife, Phyllis, and I trav-
eled to Oregon and spent a week with
Allen Frances and a high school
classmate of ours, Ed Kreusser.”
Jack McMullen writes, “I
attended the 55th reunion and recon-
nected (and in some cases connected
for the first time) with some valued
classmates: Ed Coller, Joe Apple-
baum and Ben Tua, and old friends
Stan Yancovitz and Allen Frances.
“Tam recently back from a
two-week hiking trip of the Dingle
Peninsula of western Ireland. My
Vermont buddies and I did 90
miles in nine days and my feet were
smoking for days afterward. Still,
it was worth it. We got 10 straight
days of sunny weather, low humidity,
calm winds and bright blue skies.
Old-timers told us they hadn't
seen weather like that for 40 years.
Apparently, this part of Ireland is
blustery and rainy most of the time.”
David Alpern writes: “Much
enjoyed our reunion, particularly
the boat ride and Manhattanville
campus in what amounts to a new
Harlem, as Professor Kenneth
Jackson explained to us at lunch up
there. Also the chance to reconnect
with Peter Zimroth and his wife,
celebrated actress Estelle Parsons,
with whom I had the unexpected
pleasure of a lunch in Sag Harbor
when she appeared at our Bay Street
Theater there at summer's start.
“Before that I enjoyed a delight-
ful Mississippi Riverboat cruise with
my wife and 92-year-old mother-in-
law, on whose bucket list it has been
floating for years.
“And the East Hampton Star later
published my review of a timely
book, The Promise and the Dream: The
Untold Story of Martin Luther King,
Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, coinciding
with the anniversary of their assas-
sinations: online at bit.ly/2M4TIEZ.
“Still voicing new stories of inter-
est to the blind for gatewave.org and
playing too much bad tennis.”
Allen Frances is a retired psy-
chiatrist who now beach-bums and
babysits, but also occasionally writes
stuff about saving normal emotions
from medical imperialism and the
insanity of the age of Trump. He
loves our reunions and hopes to be
vital and sentient enough to make
the next one.
Peter Broido writes, “As a Class
Agent, I called a number of class-
mates to encourage them to come to
our 55th reunion. One of them was
my freshman year roommate, Barry
Bem, who lives in Washington,
D.C. We had not seen each other
since we graduated. As I now live in
Baltimore, we decided to have our
own reunion, which took place in
D.C. in June. I can report our mini-
reunion was a success.”
Doug Anderson writes, “As we
were graduating in 1963, my wife,
Dale, was preparing to give birth to
her daughter Barrie SW’18. A few
years ago, Barrie decided to get an
M.S.W. and graduated, aged 55, the
day of our 55th College reunion. Nice.’
Michael Erdos writes, “Just a
week before our reunion our son,
Alexander, and his wife, Jackie,
provided great joy with the birth
of our granddaughter — Grace
Elizabeth! We are now looking for
an apartment in Manhattan. (Any
leads would be greatly appreciated.)
We will no doubt be spending more
time in New York.”
Paul Gorrin writes, “After itera-
tion upon iteration, Crossing Brook-
lyn Bridge is finished, and I will be
sending it around. In collaboration
with a local artist I will be beginning
a children’s book series, using the
bedtime stories I had made up for
our four children.
Nick Zill, keeping up his humor-
ous political resistance, sent me the
following: “Here’s a new video from
City In A Swamp called ‘Please
Leave America,’ in which President
Trump doesn't remember the words
to ‘God Bless America,’ so he imag-
ines the song as he'd like to hear it.
Artwork and animation are by Mike
Rimbaud. Accompaniment is by
Skip Edwards, based on the Irving
Berlin original. Parody lyrics are by
yours truly. Go online to view it:
bit.ly/2nh5OY6.”
Charles Miller reports, “I recently
joined the firm of Leichtman Law
as a senior counsel in its Manhattan
offices, where I continue to serve
and advocate clients’ intellectual
property interests and concerns in the
chemical, pharmaceutical, plastics,
engineering and design fields,
including relevant appellate practice
as a member of The Association of
Amicus Counsel.”
Ed Coller notes, “The Band’s
2018 fiscal year — which ran from
the end of the 2017 football season
to the end of the 2018 season
— elected a board (‘bored’ in Band-
speak) and selected a drum major,
all nine of whom were women (lots
of Barnardians). An historic first for
a 100-plus-year-old organization,
and maybe for all but a few special
interest student groups. A long way
from the 60s, when no women were
allowed to set foot on the field, and
a far, far better thing that we do
than what we did then.”
Gary Rachelefsky writes, “I am
in my fourth retirement year and,
believe it or not, I have survived and
am unbelievably happy. I am enjoy-
ing my time with Gail, my bride of
52 years; my eight grandchildren
(ages 5—21 years); golf (a new hobby
started to, as Gail puts it, ‘find male
friends’); reading for pleasure; going
to the health club; learning to cook
and travel; and going to museums
and theater. Recently returned from
two weeks in London and Paris with
our 9-year-old granddaughter. What
a fantastic trip. UCLA is honoring
me by establishing an endowment in
my name for the allergy and immu-
nology program at UCLA. Gail and
I are healthy and truly enjoying our
elder years. The door is always open
to all Los Angeles visitors.”
Steve Barcan reports that he
spent the summer at his home on
Cape Cod while doing rehab at
Cape Cod Hospital from his recent
cardiac procedure. While there he
continued work on the campaign of
Tom Malinowski, a Democrat with
a good chance of unseating longtime
congressman Leonard Lance in New
Jersey’s 7th Congressional District.
Fall 2018 CCT 51
Henry Black writes, “The sum-
mer is half over, which means it is
time to focus on the coming football
season. Last year was just a joy with
an 8-2 record, but not enough for
an Ivy championship. We all expect
that 2018 will be The Year. My wife,
Benita, and I have been busy with
theater, the offerings of the New-
York Historical Society, Columbia
spring sports (Ivy champs in tennis,
baseball and lightweight crew) and
all the wonderful things New York
has to offer. No wonder we are offi-
cially called Columbia University in
THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
“So far this summer Benita and
I spent four days in Cooperstown,
N.Y., at the Baseball Hall of Fame
and the Glimmerglass Festival. It
was my first time at the hall, which
is a must for any baseball fan.
We will take cruise on the Baltic
Sea and will be back in time for a
meeting of the American Heart
Association in Chicago. I urge all of
you who can to attend our monthly
class luncheon, which is held on the
second Thursday of every month
at the Princeton Club at 15 W.
43rd St. It has become one of the
highlights of my month. I hope to
see you there.”
If you missed our 55th reunion,
you can reconnect with your class-
mates at our regular class lunches at
the Princeton Club. If you're back in
NYC, the next ones are on Novem-
ber 8 and December 13. Check
cc63ers.com for details.
In the meantime, let us know
what you are up to, how you're doing
and what’s next.
1964
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Norman Olch
233 Broadway
New York, NY 10279
norman@nolch.com
I am writing in July for this Fall
issue. I hope each of you had a
wonderful summer.
The new academic year brings
happiness and excitement to Ivan
Weissman and his wife, Jane
52 CCT Fall 2018
Rosenman. Their daughter, Julia,
finished high school and is now at
Skidmore College, and their son,
Jesse, is at NYU School of Law.
After graduating from Cornell in
2016, Jesse taught for one year in
a charter school and spent another
year tutoring middle school and
high school students.
Congratulations to all.
Peter Trooboff has become
senior counsel at Covington &
Burling in Washington, D.C., the
firm at which he had been a partner
for many years. Peter received the
Manley O. Hudson Medal from
the American Society of Interna-
tional Law, which is awarded to a
“distinguished person of American
or other nationality for outstanding
contributions to scholarship and
achievement in international law.” In
April, the society held a traditional
luncheon in Peter’s honor, at which
he was interviewed about his life
and work in international law by
Harold Koh, former dean of the Yale
Law School and former legal advisor
to the Department of State. The
room was filled with family, friends
and colleagues.
Your classmates salute you, Peter.
Mark your calendars: With the
summer over, our informal monthly
class lunches resume on the second
Thursday of each month at the
Princeton Club, 15 W. 43rd St. in
Manhattan. Join us, and remember
to send in a Class Note.
The Summer issue brought
the news that Michael Barnett
DM’67 died. Michael was a retired
periodontist and research consultant
with wide-ranging professional and
cultural interests. He served as an
Army captain during the Vietnam
War, and was a lifelong French horn
player. Requiescat in pacem.
1965
Leonard B. Pack
924 West End Ave.
New York, NY 10025
leonard@packlaw.us
Readers with good memories may
recall my column last year about a
letter to CCT from Dan Carlinsky
and many others supporting a petition
by the Columbia University Alumni
Band Association protesting the deci-
sion to ban Orgo Night [from Butler
Library], a long tradition by which
the Marching Band crashes into the
library at midnight before the first day
of exams. More than 50 years after
graduation, Dan returned to the pages
of Spectator with an op-ed on the
University’s changing of the tradition.
You can read Dan’s op-ed using this
link: bit.ly/2niNpKj.
Don Bachman PS’69 sent a
brief update: “I am largely retired
from radiology. Living on Cape
Cod, with sojourns to Washington,
D.C. (where our 4-year-old twin
grandchildren are), and our condo
on Sanibel Island. The twins were
born at 24 weeks weighing about
1 pound, spending months in the
hospital. Miraculously they are nor-
mal and thriving, so we feel blessed.
I feel guilty when reading about all
the achievements of our classmates
and would love to do something
important. I exercise, sketch, read
and try not to be in despair regard-
ing the state of the world.”
As far as your correspondent is
concerned, bravo, Don!
Dor’s note shows how easy it is
to give an update without having to
create a magnum opus.
I got a great note from Bob
Caserio: “I missed our 50th reunion
because I was guest-teaching a
graduate seminar at Temple Uni-
versity’s Rome campus. I wish I had
been able to be in two places at once.
Happily, in recent weeks I’ve caught
up with dear classmates. I’ve had
dinner with David Denby and Roy
Skodnick, and gone to the theater
with them; and I’ve been on the
phone with my former roommate
Howard Matz. Last fall I was again
in touch with Peter Rutter, and
around the time of the big reunion,
exchanged emails with another
former roommate, Elliot Dorff. Now
if only I could see Mike Friedman!
“As I write I am just about to
retire from 47 years of university
teaching, the last 16 of which have
been at Penn State’s main campus,
University Park. Not retiring from
intellectual life, I am taking projects
with me. My Cambridge Introduction
to British Fiction, 1900-1950 is at
the start of its production process. I
also am at work on Complete Works
of Wyndham Lewis. Lewis was a
great and ornery cultural critic,
visual artist and novelist. In 1927
he issued The Lion and the Fox, a
brilliant study of queer Shakespeare.
That’s the volume of the Oxford
project I’m editing, and it’s in line
with the LGBTQ facet of my
scholarship — and with my life.
I think I reported in this column
that in 1981-82 I was one of the
first self-identified gay men in the
United States to adopt a child. He
was then an EI Salvadoran orphan.
My spouse, Kristoffer Jacobson, and
I are amazed that the child is now
turning 40!
“To have had a university career
in the humanities in the second
half of the 20th century, I can’t help
but think, is to have experienced
the institutions of American higher
learning at their optimal moment.
Nowadays, especially in the humani-
ties, intellectual morale, of the kind
prevailing at the Columbia I knew
(the Columbia of Lionel Trilling
(Class of 1925), GSAS’38 and
Steven Marcus’48, GSAS’61), has
declined. That is partly the result
of our miserable national political
state, and probably more the result
of the subordination of liberal arts
studies to profit motives, especially
in publicly funded, i.e., underfunded,
institutions. I wish wealthier uni-
versities would advocate funds for
humanities studies everywhere and
not just for themselves. But please
forgive the soapbox! It’s not very
‘retiring’ of me.
“T end with thanks, Leonard, for
your extraordinary stewardship of this
column. I find news of the experiences
and achievements of the Class of 1965
a continuing inspiration.”
I also wrote last year about the
history of evolution science videos
by Niles Eldredge GSAS’69.
Niles has an update: “We have our
video finally up and running on the
NilesEldredge channel on YouTube
(go online to see: bit.ly/2vqhMm]J).
We also sliced it up into three parts,
to facilitate use in classrooms. And
we have begun to post short vlogs to
enhance and expand on the themes
of the video itself.”
Andy Fisher saw in my Summer
column that Jeffrey Bell died in
February, and offered the following
additional thoughts: “That issue of
CCT awakened some interesting
memories. It was sad to learn of the
passing of Jeff, our political class-
mate. Jeff was one of the pioneers of
neo-conservatism, even at WKCR,
where, in addition to being sports
director, he was instrumental in
arranging for libertarian icon Ayn
Rand to do a weekly program, ‘Ayn
Rand on Campus.’
Jay Woodworth ’65 (left) and Larry
Guido ’65 at the Metropolitan Club
during Thanksgiving 2017.
“My fondest memory of Jeff
in college days was the night of a
Princeton game when, for some
reason, I had to do the halftime
newscast from the sideline bench
instead of the WKCR studios. Out
on the court, Princeton's Bill Bradley
was almost singlehandedly beating
us; sitting next to me on the bench,
Jeff was doing the play-by-play.
“We next met ata WKCR
reunion arranged by Ken Howitt
76 in 1977. The previous year, Jeff
had organized Ronald Reagan's
unsuccessful run in New Jersey’s
Republican primary. Over dinner,
my classmates asked Jeff what plans
he had for his political future. ‘Oh,’
he said, ‘I thought I might run for
the Senate.’ We were skeptical, if not
downright scornful. ‘Run against
Clifford Case, who's been in the
Senate for 24 years?’
“Sure enough, Jeff ran in the
Republican primary the next year,
and deat Case! He then ran against
— that’s right — Bradley, and got
trounced. For the record, Jeff also
ran for the Senate 36 years later,
losing to Cory Booker.
“It was also interesting to read of
the many achievements and distinc-
tions of Class of 1965 members
in the field of music. I am not a
musician, but I love music, and I was
married to an exceptional musician
for 36 years. Sharon had a stunning
coloratura voice, but was unsuccess-
ful for years in trying to use it —
despite the finest training — to sing
opera. It was after her Irish-Ameri-
can mother died that she learned to
play the harp, and had great success
singing Irish love songs and sacred
songs, accompanying herself on the
harp. After Sharon died of cancer in
2006, I donated her concert harp to
St. Patrick’s Cathedral. You would
think that a church named for the
patron saint of Ireland would already
have had a harp, but it didn’t, and
now it does.
“When I was in Korea anchoring
the 1988 Olympics for NBC Radio
Sports, I missed being at home for
Sharon's birthday and realized I had
to do something special for her. So I
found, purchased and shipped home
a traditional Korean instrument, a
zither, called a gayageum.
“After her death, with the assistance
of Professor Aaron Fox, the head of
the musicology faculty at Columbia,
I donated the gayageum to Columbia,
where it was meticulously restored and
is now part of the school’s collection of
musical instruments.
“Finally, I relay belated news
of the death of Steve Berns, a
classmate at the Albany Academy,
who came to Columbia with me
in 1961, but failed to navigate his
freshman year and graduated from
the University of Hawaii. Steve died
on November 27, 2017, after the
proverbial long battle against cancer.
“Thank you, Leonard, for your
faithful reporting of the passage of
the Class of 1965 through the years.”
At an age where many of us
are hanging up our spurs, Steve
Hoffman has formed a new law
firm, Hoffman & Kessler. He wrote:
“Hoffman & Kessler concentrates
its practice in commercial and intel-
lectual property litigation, as well as
corporate transactions and securities
matters, including mergers and
acquisitions, corporate finance and
corporate governance, and a wide
range of general business matters.
You can reach me at shoffman@
hoffmankessler.com.”
I got the sad news from Larry
Guido that Jay Woodworth
BUS’67 died on June 15, 2018, at
his home. Larry informed me that
Jay was suffering from an extremely
rare jaw cancer. Larry writes, “Jay
comported his personal and profes-
sional lives with dignity, solidar-
ity and warmth to his family and
friends. His death was with dignity,
as befit him.”
Jay’s family is planning a memo-
rial service on Saturday, October 20.
I did a search and found the
report of Jay’s marriage to Susan
Ray on May 23, 1970. Susan
attended our 50th reunion with Jay
only days before she died. The wed-
ding announcement noted that Ron
Chevako was best man.
Jay was a distinguished economist
and worked for the U.S. Department
of the Treasury and Bankers Trust
before starting his own economic
consultancy. I previously wrote in this
column about Jay’s extensive model
railroad collection. His Times obituary
contained this nugget: “Jay designed,
fabricated and built a working scale
model of the original McKim, Mead
& White Pennsylvania Station, com-
plete with waiting room, announce-
ment board, arched iron work and
subway-level train tracks.”
With Larry, Jay co-chaired
our class’ fundraising efforts in
connection with our 50th reunion.
His energy and good spirits were
unfailing and the results of the
campaign were outstanding and a
source of great pride to him. Those
who attended our 50th reunion will
remember that he stepped in at the
last moment for an ailing Jeff Bell
and made a brilliant presentation at
our class’ economics forum.
Jay had been a member of Colum-
bia’s Sachems. Here is what Joseph
Simone ’79, president of that orga-
nization, wrote about Jay: “I am sad
to report that on June 15, the Senior
Society of Sachems lost one of its
most beloved members, Jay Wood-
worth 65. Jay was a great collaborator
and devoted board member, and was
always busy organizing events for the
Sachems. His planning work for the
Centennial was instrumental, and
this year — despite already suffering
from advanced cancer — he worked
diligently on planning our 105th
Anniversary Reunion Celebration.”
Fellow Sachems board member
Paul Petrylak SEAS’83 recollects:
“Jay simply loved Columbia and
the Sachems. That love was evident
in everything he did from ginning
up spirit and commitment from his
classmates to his leadership on our
Board. Jay was always quick to vol-
unteer his time, resources and views
on how to grow our spirit. Even
while battling his illness, he made
the trek into the city to attend meet-
ings being integrally involved in our
105th dinner, making contributions
and adding his perspectives in any
way possible.”
In looking back at the Centen-
nial, John Phelan’85 recalls: “I
met Jay when planning the 100th
Sachem reunion. You could always
count on Jay for being at all the
meetings and when not there in
person he was on the phone partici-
pating. He loved the Sachems and
loved being a part of creating the
new organization. As Jay and I were
both New Jersey people, we often
walked back from Sachem meetings
together to catch our respective
trains. He loved walking and talking.
When Jay got cancer, we both spoke
about his treatments and I shared
what I was learning from my own
daughter’s illness. I will miss Jay. He
was a kind soul. He truly exempli-
fied our Sachem motto: Not by your
words but by your deeds shall you be
known. We will be thinking of Jay
and remembering him at our 105th
Anniversary Celebration.”
1966
Columbia College Today
cct@columbia.edu
[Editor's note: CCT is sad to report
that after many years of great
columns, Rich Forzani has stepped
down as class correspondent. The
following is his last submission. ]
Randall Bourscheidt’s note in
the Summer issue was not, in
fact, Randall’s note — the note
that accompanied his name was
actually an update from a different
classmate! Here is Randall’s note as
it should have appeared: “One of the
more memorable asides and digres-
sions James Shenton ’49, GSAS’54
made in his great class on American
history, in my sophomore year, was
this: In 1947, the great American
historian Allan Nevins was sitting
in his office across campus, musing
on the state of the world. As he later
recounted, ‘I said to myself, “Well,
we won. We have peace — except
for some storm clouds to the east.
What does this mean for histo-
rians wanting to write about his
event? Well, FDR is gone, but we
have Churchill and de Gaulle and
Eisenhower. In the normal course
of things, in 10 years they will each
publish their self-serving memoirs.
It will take 10 more years for histo-
rians to have access to enough of the
record to publish the first compre-
hensive histories of the conflict.’
“Then, looking across the room,
his eye fell on a tape recorder. ‘But we
have this! If we can simply persuade
these men to speak to us, we will
Fall 2018 CCT 53
have the essence of the story.’ And
thus was born oral history, which
flourishes to this day worldwide but
most especially in an ongoing project
housed in Butler Library.
“T never forgot this story, and
now I have begun to use Nevins’
discovery. I am creating the Archive
of New York City Cultural History,
housed in the New York Public
Library. Aside from documents that
chronicle the decisions made by New
York City’s government to build and
support cultural institutions such as
the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
the American Museum of Natural
History and the Brooklyn Academy
of Music, I have been doing oral
history interviews — these days
with cameras, too — of leaders of
the city’s cultural sector to record
the continuing development of this
partnership between local govern-
ment and private cultural institutions.
This partnership — modern policy-
in-practice — continues to this day,
having added newer organizations
such as the Studio Museum in Har-
lem and El Museo del Barrio, and
ambitious new institutions like The
Shed, now under construction in the
development of the Hudson Yards on
the West Side.”
From Mark Amsterdam: “I am
very sad to report the death of my
dear friend Gene Leff. Gene loved
his years at the College. Despite
suffering the early stages of ALS,
he managed to attend our 50th
reunion. Gene had a keen and
abiding interest in Asian philosophy
and spirituality, especially Hinduism
(which was nourished by his studies
at the College and, in particular,
wie
Sa (a)
Stay in
Touch
Let us know if you have a
new postal or email address,
a new phone number or
even a new name:
college.columbia.edu/
alumni/connect.
54 CCT Fall 2018
Oriental Civilizations). Gene found
his spirituality extremely important
to him during his illness. He was a
bright, personable man who did his
best to save our planet.”
Rich Forzani: “I had the oppor-
tunity to write to and speak with
Gene over the past two years. He
was a remarkable individual.”
Steve Weinberg GSAPP’68
writes, “Still advising the always-
inspiring Habonim Dror North
America progressive Zionist youth
movement (actually run by youth,
like we used to do things at Colum-
bia in the 60s) and its network of six
summer camps.
“As a Columbia-trained city plan-
ner ([I earned a] master’s in planning
in that frighteningly marvelous
Spring 68), ’'m impressed with
Columbia’s Manhattanville campus...
“T appreciated attending the 50th
anniversary events of the University
takeover and the 1968 strike with
Carl Arnold, Roger Lehecka’67
and Jim Stockinger ’68.
“T recently sat with the new
executive director of the Roger
Lehecka Double Discovery Center
in ‘Ferris Booth 2.0’ and also with a
few talented program alumni of the
past 53 years of the amazing pro-
gram we CC’66ers started in 1965.
We discussed the mobilization of a
supportive alumni network of both
the high school students served by
the program and the Columbia and
Barnard students who have been
tutoring and mentoring DDC high
schoolers all these years.
“Oh, and death beckons with ever
more ‘definable features’ (to steal a
William Holden line from Network).
Has me totally flummoxed.”
James Larson sends greetings
and is thinking of a visit to campus
this fall. He stopped by the CC’68
reunion in May to see Sigma Chi
brothers from the era, me included.
We agree that while College-wide
events are excellent, nothing comes
close to the Affinity Receptions,
where one hangs with the folks who
were your true college pals.
Bruce Trinkley: “Once again my
profound appreciation, thanks and
congratulations to everyone who
participated and assisted in the Low
Library performance for the 50th
class reunion in June 2016 of the
Varsity Shows of 1966 and 1967,
The Bawd’s Opera and Feathertop.
Many of my more recent works,
written with my collaborator Jason
Charnesky, can be found on You-
Tube. Just Google “Trinkley opera.’
‘There, among others, you can see my
magnum opus, YORK: The Voice of
Freedom, about the only African-
American on the Lewis and Clark
expedition, in a production filmed
for PBS with principals from the old
New York City Opera.
“Columbia Alumni Singers
continues to be active, singing at a
reception for the Class of 1968 in
Butler Library on June 1 and for the
Performing Arts Affinity Recep-
tion on June 2, co-conducted by me
and Jerry Weale’57 (with a guest
star performance by Jon ‘Bowser’
Bauman ’68, of Sha Na Na fame).
CAS is now preparing a program,
Lyrics, for the Philolexian Society’s
Joyce Kilmer Memorial Bad Poetry
Contest in November.”
A recent note from Michael
Garrett details his spring trip to
Japan, along with about 26,000
photos he brought back. If the Land
of the Rising Sun appears somewhat
faded going forward, I would blame
Garrett’s unconscionable theft of all
available light waves. See them at
gandalflion.smugmug.com/2018-
Best-of-Japan.
Harvey Kurzweil and his wife,
Barbara, report the joyous birth of
a grandson to daughter Liz, and
Tom Chorba is anxiously awaiting
his and his wife Celeste’s second
arrival via Phillip and Dawn. I am
anxiously awaiting free, good cigars
from these gentlemen.
Tom Beeler and Carl Bellows
reunited after almost 50 years this past
April at the United States Depart-
ment of Entomology in Washington,
D.C., after a surprising discovery
of their mutual lifelong interest in
African dung beetles, spending a long
afternoon catching up in our nation’s
capital. This, coincidently and regret-
fully, may add credence to comments
regarding this country versus Norway,
but I hold myself above adding any
snarky comments.
I spent Memorial Day Weekend
on another road trip with my son.
‘This time we went to Québec, via
Montreal. While I admire the latter
as an outstanding town, I must say
that Québec (the Old City) is an
incredibly encapsulated micro-
cosm of small-town France. The
architecture is 1800s, the food is
excellent and authentic, the citizenry
is friendly and the exchange rate
is wonderful. So skip the six-hour
overseas flight and just take a long
weekend north.
Also, I just learned via Ancestry.
com (the DNA folks) that, while
the good-looking part of me is
mainly northern Italian, I am also 4
percent Jewish, which may explain
my admission to the College and my
fondness for chopped liver. However,
discreet inquiries have sadly advised
that I am still 1 percent short of
eligibility for a certain International
Zionist group. Farewell to conspira-
torial weekends in Zurich.
Richard Postupak informs
us of a pleasant afternoon spent
recently with Richard Beggs in
Naples, Fla: “We passed a few hours
tasting some of Mr. Beggs’ favorite
single malts. Since he was buying, I
willingly accompanied him, having
learned that courtesy as a young
man. Rich revealed to me over the
course of the afternoon that he
acquired his taste for Scotch as an
undergrad at Columbia. He related
that his first bottle was an epiphany.”
Apparently, Stu Hankins was not
so generous, as Mr. P. also described
a short meeting with him over
only one drink a week or two later.
‘They were accompanied by Frank
Newell. “For some reason, Frank
is enamored of Ivanka Trump. He
actually likened her neck poetically
to that of a swan; long, smooth and
soft. Lovely, almost Rabelaisian in
description,” says Rich.
John Doody informed me that
he is in the process of selling his
property on St. Barts. I’m wonder-
ing if there is any linkage to the trip
down there I told him I was thinking
of making.
This will be my final column as
class correspondent for CCT. It has
been a genuine pleasure and delight
to have misled and misinformed so
many of you these past years, and
I leave with a smile. Class Notes
Editor Annie Sirju will be soliciting
my replacement, and you should
know she is a joy to work with. My
sincere thanks go to you all for this
wonderful opportunity. I vowed
during Freshman Orientation that
I would get even with the class if it
took a lifetime, and I am proud to
have succeeded just in time.
Live long and well, and never
worry about what others may think.
As an FYI only (and possibly an
overshare), I have decided to include
CC in my will. After very adequately
providing for my family, I will leave
the balance to the College, a bit
under $2 million, although this will
obviously be subject to the vagaries
of the market, so perhaps less. While
this pales compared to what many of
you have already contributed, or plan
to, I only mention it to encourage
others to share as well.
Finally, let me reveal the secret
of having your name mentioned in
dispatches: Send in an update so it
can be included. Simple as that. Or
be visited by Postupak.
1967
Albert Zonana
425 Arundel Rd.
Goleta, CA 93117
az164@columbia.edu
We heard from Carl Prestfeld:
“Compared to the abundance of
superstars that make up Columbia
alumni, my biography is quite mod-
est. After graduation, I spent more
than four years in the Army as a
Russian linguist. Since then I have
spent my years as an administra-
tor in higher education at various
schools in Texas and, finally, at
Murray State in western Kentucky,
where I retired after being the
budget director and the university
liaison to the state coordinating
board. My wife and I celebrated
our 50th wedding anniversary last
December. We have three daughters,
eight grandchildren and three
great-grandchildren, none of whom
live close by our current home in
Murray, Ky. We are traveling a fair
amount to see our children and
grandchildren, who are scattered in
Tennessee, Maryland and Arizona.
I am also thoroughly enjoying the
time I now have for reading, running
the occasional 5K and tracking, with
lurid fascination and concern as a
citizen, the ongoing spectacle of the
amazing Trump Flying Circus.”
Neil Hawks writes, “I am happily
retired after 15 years or engineering
with the Pennsylvania Department
of Transportation and 30 years as a
program director with the National
Academy of Sciences.”
Ira Krakow wrote in honor of the
late Harold Wechsler GSAS’74: “On
April 27, 2018, I attended an all-day
symposium at NYU, dedicated to the
life and work of Dr. Harold Wechsler,
my College roommate (729 Hartley)
for three years (1965-67) and my dear
friend for more than 60 years. Harold
died suddenly in February 2017, only
a few months before our 50th reunion,
which he played a key role in organiz-
ing. At the time of his death, he was
co-director of the programs in educa-
tion and Jewish studies at NYU’s
Steinhardt School. His book, Unwel-
come Guests, a comprehensive study of
race, class, religion and gender in the
history of minority access to college,
will be published posthumously.
“Harold had a lifelong love
and devotion to Columbia, both
personally and professionally. His
Columbia Ph.D. thesis, The Quali-
fied Student: A History of Selective
College Admissions in America, was
a pioneering work in the history of
higher education, as well as the his-
tory of Columbia, especially the era
of Nicholas Murray Butler (Class of
1882). He was a graduate student
at Columbia in 1968, attempting
to find common ground between
protesters and the administration
during those interesting times by
maintaining connections with both
sides. His motto was ‘It’s Better To
Build Up,’ something which I think
applies now as much as then.
“The symposium was as much a
Class of 67 reunion as a celebra-
tion of Harold’s professional life.
In attendance were Mel Brender,
Tony Greco, Billy Heinbach, Ken
Kramer, Roger Lehecka and, of
course, me.
“I would be remiss if I omitted
what Harold felt was his great-
est honor, the WGMF (World’s
Greatest Mets Fan), which the Mets
awarded him in 1964 and in 1969,
the year they won the World Series
against the Orioles.
“The Mets marketing people
created the WGMEF contest more
as a joke, I think, than anything
else. Harold was consistent as well.
He always rooted for the underdog,
in baseball and in life. Actually, his
two dogs were named Shea (after
the stadium) and Homer (after the
Official Dog of the Mets).
“For the first contest, contestants
wrote a letter explaining why they
should be chosen. On his desk,
Harold had a sepia framed picture of
Marvelous Marv Throneberry, who
played for the original 1962 Mets
(40 wins, 122 losses). Throneberry’s
ineptitude was legendary, according
to his Wikipedia page and also my
recollection. I swear I remember
that before an important exam,
alumninews \:)
Left to right: Lara Idris 18, Samuel Lehn 18, Roger Lehecka ’67, Janet Lorin ’95
and Bianca Williams-Alonzo ’20, at the Lehecka Scholars’ spring brunch.
Harold would kneel down and rub
his Throneberry picture, treating it
something like an amulet or icon,
praying for success. Seems to have
worked. Anyway, several of us wrote
a letter to the Mets marketing
department, nominating Harold
for the award. I never saw Harold’s
letter. In mine, I mentioned the
iconic picture and Harold’s strange
behavior toward it.
“Anyway, Harold won the contest.
He won all sorts of Mets memo-
rabilia, such as a signed baseball
with all the Mets players autograph.
Mayor John Lindsay hosted a gala
dinner at Gracie Mansion for Harold
and the team. That’s WGMF 1.0.
“In 1969, the Mets marketing
department resurrected the WGMF
contest. This time, Harold wrote his
nomination letter. I didn't even know
about the contest. Anyway, there was
really no contest. I suspect the Mets
marketing people didn't even open
the other letters, because he was a
shoo-in to win WGMEF 2.0.
“Anyway, that’s the story. Harold
would have wanted every ‘i’ to be
dotted and ‘t’ to be crossed ... .”
Christine Bullen BC’67 wrote
in memory of her husband, Rick
Bullen Jr. Rick died on February 3,
2018, after a four-year battle with
cancer. He died at home in North
Carolina, in the company of Chris-
tine, to whom he'd been married for
50 years, and his daughters, Valerie
and Georgia.
She writes, “The son of Richard
‘Dick’ Bullen and Annabelle Smith,
Rick, the eldest of three brothers,
was born in California in 1945. He
attended Hackley School, and then
Columbia College, where as an
undergraduate, he met Christine V.
Nodini BC’67. They married on
February 22, 1968. After Rick com-
pleted his master’s at MIT Sloan
School of Management, the family
moved to Hastings in 1982, where
they raised their two daughters.
“Rick worked primarily in system
design for financial services. He
loved music, playing the guitar and
piano. He enjoyed sailing and skiing
in his younger days and the traveling
that came with those pursuits. His
main passion, though — his real
vocation — was the analysis and
research that went into understand-
ing the stock market and investing.
“Never ones to be far from water,
Rick and Chris spent as much time
as they could on Fire Island, where
Rick could always be found cook-
ing at the grill. He was convivial
company for many neighbors. He
had a love of card and word games,
and a discerning palate when it
came to food and wine. He got more
time to grill, and golf, when he and
Christine retired to North Carolina
in 2011. In 2012, he became a
grandfather to Ava.
“Rick was loved for his intelli-
gence, humility and good humor, and
for being a caring, supportive father.
He was also one-half of a strong and
lasting marriage. He could be stoical
and he tried to carry himself with
dignity until the end. Rick will be
missed by all whom he met.”
David Lehman’70 sent in a
tribute to Larry Besserman, who
died earlier this year: “Larry wrote
letters to The New York Review of
Books correcting dubious statements
about Israelis and Jewish history.
‘Jews most assuredly did not return
Fall 2018 CCT 55
to Jerusalem in order to spite the
Pope, local Arabs, or Amos Elon,’ he
wrote. And when Thomas Friedman
characterized Israeli patriotism as
‘peasant-like,’ Larry objected and in
the process summed up the history
of the Jews, ‘a three-thousand-year-
old people, twice exiled, too-often
hounded and cheated out of basic
human rights, and persecuted finally
with a maniacal fury reserved for no
other people on earth.”
Be well all of you, and do write.
1968
Arthur Spector
4401 Collins Ave., 2-1417
Miami Beach, FL 33140
arthurbspector@gmail.com
Here I am at home in Miami Beach,
wondering how I can write about
our 50th reunion for those who were
there and those who were unable to
attend. It was by unanimous acclaim
a wondrous success, I am happy to
report. It was truly rewarding for
me and others — I was told many
times over that it was a roaring
success. Those 325 or so alums
and guests and spouses were great,
spirited, active, ebullient, cheerful,
quick-witted and seemingly sharp
as a tack. We had about 215 alums,
including engineers, from 68 (and
a few others from other classes as
part of Mas Taketomo’s raucous
fraternity group).
Our cocktail party Thursday night,
the first night, was cheerful, warm
and exciting. But Friday night’s
cocktail party and music after by the
Columbia Singers (with a special role
for Jon Bauman) in the Wein Read-
ing Room of Butler was elegant and
resoundingly almost perfect. I had
dinner that night with John Chee,
George Ting, Tony Kao, Randy
Vaughn and Ross Ain. We ate at
Shun Lee Palace and the conversa-
tion should have been filmed.
The luncheon on Saturday was
packed and Dean James J. Valentini,
who was grand, said something
along the lines of ‘what a crowd.’
He was right — not an empty seat
in the place. You could feel and see
the luncheon at Faculty House was
a pleasure; classmates also had a
chance to say what they had learned
in the last 50 years in three minutes.
So let me back up to Friday:
Our program was stunningly
56 CCT Fall 2018
good. Columbia offered All-Class
Reunion programming, but ours was
better by a marathon. Bob Carlson
did a photo essay of good memories
with “Caring for the Tlinget in
Sitka, Alaska: A Matter of Respect”
and Cliff Andrew presented
“Northbound on the Appalachian
Trail or Bears, Hillbillies, Gaia and
the Survival Rule of Threes.” Buzz
Zucker gave us “Thirty Theater
Years in New York” with John
Grant, our writer/producer/director/
playwright, Buzz goes to, on average,
200 shows a year in Manhattan.
Al McCoy, a professor of history
at the University of Wisconsin and
Columbia’s Professor of History
Lien-Hang Nguyen, gave a program,
“Vietnam's 1968 Tet Offensive
50 Years Later.” Al, by the way, has
written many books.
John Roy and Nigel Paneth
oversaw our programming and John
was so proud of the “Enduring
Values of the Core Curriculum” ses-
sion with Professor Patricia Kitcher,
the Roberta and William Campbell
Professor of the Humanities. All
the sessions were full! Leigh-Wai
Doo might have gone to Harvard
Law, but he regaled folks with his
“Surfing Island Kid Goes to the Big
Apple: How Columbia Changed my
Life” session. Leigh-Wai was ebul-
lient and cheerful; he probably did
some unusual surfing on Morning-
side Heights! He and Frank Dann
came in from Hawaii.
Everyone then headed to Butler
Library for libations and music. I
found the feeling in the library to
be truly special. I could see others
feeling great, too. I wish we had kept
the place open to 2 a.m. The singing
was great and I can report that Ross
Ain and I sing really well together.
We might try out for the Met cho-
rus with “Roar, Lion, Roar,” “Sans
Souci” and “Stand, Columbia.”
Saturday morning and Saturday
afternoon had great sessions —
“Why Teach History of Law at a
Time Like This” with Mike Hindus,
a lecturer in American Studies at
Columbia, and William Heffernan,
a professor of criminal justice at
John Jay College. Mike has a Ph.D.
from UC Berkeley and a law degree
from Harvard and Bill has a Ph.D.
from Harvard and a law degree from
the University of Chicago. They did
a great job to a packed house. “The
Future of Medicine and Biosci-
ence” discussion was a superb panel
>»
Left to right: Elliot Schnapp 68, Cliff Andrew ’68, Mike Tracy ’68 and
Peter Janovsky ’68 enjoying their 50th reunion this past spring.
— fascinating, enlightening and
hopeful about the future. It included
Bill Chin, the Bertarelli Professor
of Translational Medical Science
at Harvard; Dan Carr, professor
of public health and community
medicine at Tufts; Jules Dienstag,
the Carl W. Walter Professor of
Medicine at Harvard; and Bill
Henrich, president and professor
of medicine at the University of
Texas Health Science Center at
San Antonio. At this point all the
sessions were outstanding and there
were more to come!
We had “Best in the East: The
1968 Ivy Champs and Nationally
Ranked Basketball Team,” where
Larry Borger and Buzz Zucker
reminded us about ’68 basketball —
lighter than medicine, but it’s good
medicine indeed to recall the days
of yesteryear. Columbia basketball
Ivy League champs: What a year
that was. We were all winners. Pat
Dumont spoke on “An America
Nomad: A Perspective on Living
and Working in Africa for 40 years.”
It was an amazing saga.
Lunch on Friday was under tents
with other classes. After lunch Dick
Morris talked about his years in the
Clinton White House and shared
observations about today’s world
with “Life and Work in the White
House.” He was very good and our
class was open to different views, I
am happy to report. Ken Jackson,
a renowned Columbia professor
of history, followed with thoughts
about New York City. We were
honored to have him join us and
speak at “Columbia and New York:
Comparing 1968 to 2018.” John
Roy wanted so much to hear Jack-
son and other CC professors; what
good fortune he was able to pull that
off. Nigel Paneth and John worked
so hard to ensure the great program-
ming — a salute to them. Paul de
Bary LAW’71, BUS’71 might have
gone to Columbia graduate schools,
but his knowledge of wine was on
display for the great “The Joys of
Wine’ session.
Then we had our reception in
Alfred Lerner Hall, followed by our
great dinner. Tom Lenhart LAW’72
(after being a senior partner at a law
firm he opted for Harvard Divinity
School) gave warm remarks and
spoke about our departed classmates
for a short period.
Thanks, Tom. I was struck by how
comforting your essence was for me.
Then Janet Furman introduced
Billy Cross of the famous Walkers.
Billy Schwartz “almost live from
Copenhagen,” a star in Europe,
greeted the class. He performed a
special piece for us.
Then Bruce Margon, a profes-
sor emeritus of astronomy and
astrophysics and a Hubble Telescope
team leader, was so good — his
slides, charm, humor and breathtak-
ing observations had the place spell-
bound. Tom Sanford spoke before
Bruce about the success of the
class fundraising; he led the team.
I chipped in a little, as did others,
and we broke our records — and our
record turnout for the reunion bodes
well for future giving, of course. I
salute Tom and the committee. I
also salute Peter Janovsky for his
work on the bio book, which will be
available in some form at some time.
I did get to introduce Bruce, which
was a wonderful honor for me. It
was so incredible to look out at the
full congregation of tables of 68ers,
all enjoying the festivities.
Nigel Paneth, a renowned public
health professor, university professor
at Michigan State and a doctor,
talked to us with Cliff Andrew, a
professor of medicine at Vanderbilt,
DAN CARLINSKY '65
about how to live to 100 — some-
thing about The Gold Rail and
The West End and drinking daily,
smoking Cuban cigars and exercise,
too. That session was on Sunday
morning; it was fully attended and
very good. We did our own Sunday
programming, as the official reunion
was over on Saturday night. We
had been told no one would go to a
Sunday event; as usual, the Class of
1968 had different views.
Thanks to Nigel and Cliff for
their advice at a great breakfast in
Alfred Lerner Hall. They are avail-
able for consultations for the next
30 years.
Sadly, I need to report that John
Roy passed away on July 5 in his bed
while visiting his son in Memphis.
And some may know that my friend
and John’s friend from Naples, Fla.,
Greg Winn, passed away shortly
before our reunion, which he wanted
to go to so much. I trust that John and
Greg are upstairs laughing and debat-
ing something important, as well.
I will make a few additional com-
ments about reunion attendees, but I
will miss many, for which I apologize.
I wished I had had more time to say
hello for more than a few seconds
to most people. I only saw Joe
DiBenedetto for 10 seconds; I am
unhappy about that but there is time
left. I saw Blas Padrino, in from
Orlando with his wife, and Paul Gal-
lagher and his wife, Pam. Paul and
Pam’s daughter is an astronomer and
astrophysicist and Bruce knows her
— small world and big world.
I chatted with Cliff Latting, from
Birmingham Ala., and his wife, and
there was Ira McCown from Miami
The 1967-68 Ivy League Championship basketball team celebrated the
Beach and Robin Resnick from Fort
Lauderdale and Tom Reed and his
wife from Naples, all Florida. Tom
Reed, Tom Sanford and Al McCoy
looked like the strongest in the class.
Bob Brandt and Buzz Zucker could
climb a mountain. Reid Feldman was
in from Paris and is keeping active
as an international lawyer. Seeing
Gordon Harriss is always grand
— I was one of the many students
of his dad. I saw Doug Freundlich
from Arlington, Mass.; I grew up in
Arlington. Nigel Paneth told me he
saw Jay Dobkin for a moment. Frank
Costello made it from Los Angeles
and Frank Dann from Honolulu. I
saw John Davis and his wife; John
claims he can’t play World Cup soccer
anymore. John saw Albin Beyer;
I had hoped he would come. Al is
a superb artist — he is retired and
working on huge pieces of art. He was
a professor of art history. Jon Kotch
had his big smile; he was visiting
family in the city and is a professor at
UNC Chapel Hill in public health,
running the program there.
It is impossible to recap everyone,
I surely will miss so many — Nat
Taylor, Jon Synder, Jim Shorter,
Terry Lyman, Eric Lerner, Alan
Anderson, Peter Cherneff, Andy
Herz, Michael Kronstadt, Roger
Nott, Doug Motz and his wife,
Lorey Pollack, Sandy Rabison,
Steve Ross, Paul Spirn singing for
us, Roger Wyatt and his wife from
upstate New York, Bob Weisell,
Steve Wang, the great physicist
Robert Wald and Seth Weinstein,
my dear friend and great developer.
Tom Seligson sat with me at din-
ner and it was great to know he had
50th anniversary of its championship season at the Columbia vs. Dartmouth
game in February, at which President Lee C. Bollinger (far left) presented
each of the players with a commemorative basketball.
MIKE MCLAUGHLIN / COLUMBIA ATHLETICS
alumninews
a good time, as he was a challenge to
get to attend. Robert Brandt and I
called him so many times he relented
rather than call in the Greek gods.
Tom, I think you said the dinner was
great. It was indeed.
I am doing this relying on
memory — a concept that we might
talk about at the next reunion.
Apparently, Cliff Andrew knows a
good deal about the topic.
Our program was superb — the
classrooms were full, our dinner was
the best, the turnout the most ever
and the fundraising very good. It
seemed that good feelings were in
the air. The Reading Room cocktail
party with singing is a classic event
to be copied.
Columbia College sent us off well
educated and we return appreciative
and grateful for the good times and
yes, the challenging times, too. Hope
to see you all again on the trail on
the way to 100. Warmest regards.
1969
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Michael Oberman
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel
1177 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036
moberman@kramerlevin.com
Once again, Irv Ruderman and |
carried our Class of 1969 banner in
the Alumni Parade of Classes, held
this year on May 15 and celebrating
the graduation of the Class of 2018.
Looking at that class year, our class
is fast approaching the 50th anniver-
sary of our graduation, and reunion
planning is underway.
From John Marwell: “My wite,
Gloria, and I moved to Sheldon, S.C.
(about midway between Charleston
and Savannah, Ga.), last September.
‘The nearest town is Beaufort, S.C.,
20 minutes from us. Our daughter
Julianna is a physician at the Medi-
cal University of South Carolina in
Charleston and she is about an hour
north of us. We live in a sporting
community, a 5,500-acre former plan-
tation known as Brays Island. Out-
door amenities abound, everything
from equestrian activities (60 miles
of riding trails), to fishing, boating,
hunting and extensive shotgun sports,
not to mention our own 18-hole golf
course. Art Baer’68 moved here a year
earlier and we were very fortunate to
connect with him and his lovely wife,
Pat, shortly after we moved in.
“Son Jeremy is an appellate litiga-
tion partner in the Washington, D.C.,
office of Vinson & Elkins and lives in
McLean, Va., with his lovely wife, Jill
(also an attorney), and their 5-year-
old twin sons, Liam and Gates, and
2-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Lucy.
Son Jonathan is a commercial real
estate broker in Westchester, Putnam
and Duchess counties. I am serving
in a counsel capacity to Shamberg
Marwell in Mount Kisco and have
retired from the active practice of law,
except to work with the firm's partners
on occasional legal matters. Frankly,
Gloria and I never dreamed we would
have South Carolina license plates, but
the living here is very pleasant and it
has worked out wonderfully for us!”
From Jonathan Schiller LAW’73,
who recently completed his service
as chair of the Columbia University
Board of Trustees: “Earlier this year,
our 1967-68 Ivy League Champion-
ship basketball team celebrated the
50th anniversary of our champion-
ship season, a season many of you
will remember. Four from our class
who played on that team — All-Ivy
Roger Walaszek, Bruce Metz
SEAS’69, Tom Garnevicus and me
— were in attendance at our weekend
reunion. All-Ivy and Rhodes Scholar
Heyward Dotson’70 also attended,
which was a thrill for all of us, as we
had not seen him for a long time. We
gathered downtown at Loring Place
for a luncheon with our friends and
families, including grandchildren. We
were joined by the son and daugh-
ter of our great All-American Jim
McMillian’70, who passed away in
May 2016. Also sharing this moment
with us were Dean James J. Valentini,
Athletics Director Peter Pilling, men’s
basketball coach Jim Engles and a
number of distinguished alumni, some
of whom were in school with us: Phil
Milstein’71 (Columbia University
trustee emeritus), Mark Kingdon’71
(Columbia University trustee emeri-
tus) and Hon. Rolando Acosta’79
(Columbia University trustee). Many
stories and memories were shared over
a wonderful three hours together.
“That evening, we attended the
Columbia versus Dartmouth game,
where President Lee C. Bollinger
Fall 2018 CCT 57
recalled our championship at
halftime and gave each of us a com-
memorative basketball.
“Next year is our class’ 50th! I
look forward to seeing many of you
at reunion.”
Steve Conway GSAS’71 reports:
“After decades as a supercomputer
market analyst, at 71 I have a new
interest and advise governments and
companies about artificial intel-
ligence, i.e., the status, technologies
and issues associated with machine
and deep learning. These days I’m
organizing fall conferences on self-
driving vehicles (a.k.a. automated
driving systems) in Detroit and
Stuttgart, a center of the German
auto industry. Like classmates, I’ve
learned a Columbia liberal arts
degree prepares a person for more
than cocktail party conversation,
although Castiglione’s The Book of the
Courtier still come in handy.”
Steve Steindel writes: “I have
a special dimension to share in our
50th anniversary year. After mar-
rying off our three daughters and
enjoying time with our nine grand-
children, my wife, Lisa, and I will
finally welcome a daughter-in-law
into our family. Our youngest child
and only son, Avi, will be married
to his bride, Dominique Lellek, in
Ulbersdorf, a small village in Saxon
Switzerland in southeastern Saxony,
Germany. As I understand it, the
Erbgericht Ulbersdorf is very much
like a town hall or JCC, so we are
returning to a site that the bride
knew well as a child and where her
parents danced all night in the ball-
room when they were young. Now
a whole new generation/culture of
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58 CCT Fall 2018
simcha dancing will be added to the
local history. It will be especially
meaningful for me to officiate under
this chupa, given all the special
nuances and considerations. Lisa
and I speak no German and most of
the people invited are guests of the
bride, who have never seen a Jewish
wedding ceremony. Our Steindel,
Friedman and Dauber families
will be a distinct minority in the
assemblage. But Avi and Dom are
truly in love, committed to a Jewish
home and raising Jewish children, so
we are very grateful. Wherever they
end up living might open our eyes to
new vistas of joy and continuity.”
From Dick Menaker: “In May
2015, our 14-lawyer firm became
the New York beachhead for Ofhtt
Kurman, a much larger outfit
based in Baltimore. I continue to
practice much as before, only now
as a principal of Offit Kurman,
after more than 35 years as partner
of the law firm I co-founded in
1983. I had started practice at a
Wall Street institution, Sullivan &
Cromwell, surrounded by immi-
grants from Morningside — e.g.,
Ron Alexander, Neil Anderson’68,
Dan Caldwell’70 and Bill Stadiem,
among others. Friendships from
those S&C days linger four decades
on, and many of the relationships
led to interesting client assignments
in what became known as Menaker
& Herrmann. We had a fabulous
run out of offices in midtown, start-
ing in the Steuben Glass Building
at 777 Fifth, then in the Newsweek
Building on Madison, and since
1992 at 10 E. 40th St., Spider-Man's
favorite climbing wall. My com-
mercial litigation practice at M&H
took me all over the world — Hong
Kong, Buenos Aires, Ziirich, Tokyo,
Amsterdam, Riyadh. There were
dozens of trials and appeals, includ-
ing some notable results against
the Helmsleys, the General Motors
Investment Trust, the heirs to the
Campbell’s Soup and Tylenol for-
tunes, and other well-heeled litigants
in the securities, publishing, energy,
broadcasting, real estate, construction
and advertising industries. We were
counsel to the Lehman Securities
Investor Protection Corp. trustee,
fought battles over the F-35 joint
strike fighter and defeated three class
actions claiming (wrongly) that inter-
net tracking amounts to wiretapping.
Assignments of endless strangeness
continue with the new firm.
“Tm still married to Faith Ritchie
after 42 years, with two sons teaching
in the sports world. Still involved
with Columbia men’s tennis as a
cheering alumnus, and with the
Marching Band; still playing medio-
cre tennis and performing on the
trumpet in various local ensembles;
still shooting the breeze with Peter
Janovsky 68, Scott Anderson (on
his trips to New York from Gaines-
ville, Fla.) and Jim Lynn SEAS’69
(now in Stamford). Looking forward
to the 50th reunion.”
John Herbert, with humor and
hope, notes: “My grand-nephew,
Justin (9), plans to represent the
fourth generation of Herberts to
graduate from Columbia College,
100 years after his great-grandfather,
Benne Herbert ’32. Then there was
me, then Uncle Mike Herbert 77
and then my daughter Amy Herbert
98. Justin might even choose to
duplicate one of the many CU
graduate degrees held by the family.”
Ira Cohen is sad to report the
passing of Harvey Bernstein
in April 2018 after a seven-year
battle with ALS. Ira says: “While at
Columbia, Harvey was a member
of the Board of Managers and a
chemistry major graduating Phi
Beta Kappa. During his college
years he was also committed to
social change, as immortalized in a
Life magazine centerfold as he and
others prepared for the onslaught of
the tactical police force on the steps
of Havemeyer Hall. Harvey earned a
medical degree from the University
of Pennsylvania Medical School,
which was followed by residency
in pediatrics at the Albert Einstein
School of Medicine. He practiced
pediatrics for 35 years in Smith-
town, N.Y., where he was chair of
pediatrics at St. Catherine of Siena
Medical Center. In addition, he was
a voluntary clinical faculty member
in the Stony Brook University
School of Medicine’s Department
of Pediatrics, where he received the
best teacher award multiple times
from the pediatric residents.
“Harvey loved to travel,
highlighted by a climb of Mount
Kilimanjaro with his son Adam in
his early 60s, as well as trips to Ant-
arctica and the Galapagos Islands
with his wife, Maureen. He also
loved his time at Columbia and gave
generously as a John Jay Associate.
“Harvey is survived by his wife,
Maureen; children, Adam, Leigh
PH’12 and Dana; children’s spouses,
Rachel, Tim and Craig; and a
coterie of close friends from his
Columbia days which, in addition
to me, includes Joseph Kushick,
Arnold Barnett and Jerry Gliklich.
‘The outpouring of letters and sup-
port from the entire Smithtown
medical community, as well as from
his patients and their families, is a
tribute to how much he contributed
to so many lives.”
My last column reported on Bill
Stadiem’s latest book, Madame
Claude: Her Secret World of Pleasure,
Privilege, and Power (see “Book-
shelf,” this issue). Bill told me that
Vogue included his book among the
17 best summer reads.
1970
Leo G. Kailas
Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt
885 Third Ave., 20th FI.
New York, NY 10022
Ikailas@reitlerlaw.com
I am happy to report that I heard from
some classmates for the first time!
Lewis Siegelbaum retired in
May as the Jack and Margaret Sweet
Professor of History Emeritus at
Michigan State University, but not
before a conference celebrating his
career took place on campus with
guests from France, England and
throughout the United States. Now
the happy grandfather of a girl born
in June in Los Angeles, he is revis-
ing his memoir (Stuck On Commu-
nism: Memoir of a Russian Historian)
for publication next year.
My longtime friend Dan Feld-
man reports, “I recently returned
from a State Department-funded
weeklong project in Armenia, talk-
ing with judges, prosecutors and
investigators at Yerevan’s Justice
Academy about strategy and tactics
in fighting against corruption. A
few months ago, public fury at
years of corruption sparked a ‘velvet
revolution in Armenia, resulting
in the installation of a new leader
who had long been an outspoken
critic of the government and indeed
had been imprisoned for his role in
leading previous protests. This fall, I
will take advantage of my 2018 sab-
batical from teaching to work with
a Rome-based institute to study
and evaluate anti-corruption efforts
in Italy. A three-month stay, in my
Bll
Leo Kailas 70 (right) with Emanuel
Ax ’70 after Ax performed a benefit
concert in Great Barrington, Mass.,
on behalf of The Literacy Network
of South Berkshire.
view, constitutes actually living in
a country, as opposed to visiting.
‘This will be a first for me and for
my wife, and is an exciting prospect.
All best wishes to you and to all my
Columbia classmates.”
Dan indeed sounds like he is
having a good time while doing
good work.
Leonard F. “Len” Levine
GSAS’77 writes, “I retired from the
federal government in January after
34 years of civil service, primarily
with the Department of Defense and
the Defense Information Systems
Agency, as a computer scientist. Since
that time, I’ve worked with a personal
trainer twice a week, audited several
graduate courses at George Mason
University (a half-hour drive from
home) in both systems engineering
and political science, and taken sev-
eral weeks of vacation in Boston and
New York. I live in Vienna, Va.”
My friend since we were class-
mates at Bronx Science, Robert
Launay, reports, “I am writing
from Amsterdam at the end of a
European tour. I was on leave spring
quarter [from my professorship at
Northwestern] and decided to try
to wrangle as many invitations to
speak in Europe as possible. I gave
talks in London (School of Oriental
and African Studies), Brussels (Free
University), Bologna (John XXIII
Foundation for Religious Studies),
Paris (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en
Sciences Sociales) and the Universi-
ties of Bayreuth and Gottingen. We
are now vacationing in Amsterdam
and the Auvergne. I have a book
coming out in October, Savages,
Romans, and Despots: Thinking about
Others from Montaigne to Herder.
It is available for pre-order from
Amazon, which sent me an email
stating that, given my recent activity,
I might be interested in the book.”
Frederic P. White LAW’73, with
whom I have become reacquainted at
many reunions, is dean at Cleveland-
Marshall College of Law and is
receiving a deserved honor: He will
be inducted into the law school’s hall
of fame on October 26.
On behalf of our class, congratu-
lations!
Larry David combined his news
with a love note to his wife: “I met
my wife, Sharon (née Strickland),
the prettiest nursing student at St.
Luke’s, in 1966, and now after 50
years of marriage, four children, 10
grandchildren and who knows how
much grief I gave her, she is still the
prettiest girl I know. We celebrated
our 50th at Hotel du Village in
New Hope, Pa., not far from our
home, and were pleased that our
good friends Bill Bender’68 and his
wife, Nancy (née Shillito) — also a
Columbia/St. Luke’s couple — were
able to join in the festivities.”
Steve Boatti and his wife, Linda,
have been retired for several years,
Steve from law and Linda from
Members of the Class of 1973 gathered at their 45th reunion this past spring.
alumninews
teaching. They live in Riverdale in
the Bronx and enjoy time with their
grandchildren, Ramona (3 and a
half) and Desmond (3 months).
In another note that shows us what
an impressive group of young men
we were part of, Steven W. Stahler
writes, “I continue to do research in
theoretical astrophysics at UC Berke-
ley. Last year, a colleague and I found
strong evidence that all low-mass
stars, including our sun, were born
with an orbiting companion star. The
companion usually drifts away soon
after birth. Our twin sun could be very
far away by now, perhaps on the other
side of the galaxy.”
Frequent contributor Larry Rosen-
wald GSAS’79 notes, “Leo's request
for newsworthy items finds me at the
Amherst Early Music Festival and
Workshop, where I’ve been teaching
and performing since 1982. We did a
terrific production of a 17th-century
French opera, Lully’s Cadmus et
Hermione, with giants and pythons
and dragons, for which I wrote and
performed some explanatory narra-
tions. I'm now a philologist and lan-
guage coach on a project exploring the
14th-century Roman de Fauvel, a story
about a horse of a strange-colored coat
who ascends to the heights of power
at the French court, with everyone in
the court currying favor with him. A
tale with significant contemporary
”
relevance, it seems to all of us ....
1971
Jim Shaw
139 North 22nd St.
Philadelphia, PA 19103
jes200@columbia.edu
Class of 1971, 1 hope that you are
having an enjoyable fall. I did not
receive any news this issue, so please
do write in for the Winter column!
Remember back 51 (fifty-one!) years
ago and the feelings we had, including
of adventure, as we entered Columbia
College. We are still connected.
1972
Paul S. Appelbaum
39 Claremont Ave., #24
New York, NY 10027
pappel1@aol.com
Ever wonder what retirement is like?
Ed Reisner has retired and taken up
a new hobby: “I am retired from my
general dentistry practice and my wife,
Gwen, and I now spend time collect-
ing grandchildren. With new arrivals
in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, I have
learned an entirely new skill set: I can
change a diaper in the dark.
“The four new members of the
family (Hannah, Violet, Benjamin
and Samuel) are proof that the Laws
of Thermodynamics are not invio-
lable — particularly the conserva-
tion of energy. These children clearly
expend more energy than they can
possibly store, and they lend support
to my theory that toddlers draw
energy from nearby adults. They are
also more fun than they have any
right to be.”
Richard Macksoud’s retirement
also sounds grandchild-oriented. He
writes, “I have four grandchildren,
the last one the first girl, so we will
over time finally get rid of all the
Barbies, American Girl dolls and
Breyer Horses that we have saved
since our last was finished with
them. It will make a large hole in
the storage garage.”
Richard wants you to know that
if you find yourself in Jackson, Miss.,
or along the Mississippi Gulf Coast,
you should give him a call.
And since grandchildren seem
to be the theme for this issue, con-
gratulations to Shlomo “Stanley”
Newfield, whose daughter Chana
Sara had her second child in June,
an 8-pound, 1-ounce boy, Yosef
Yitzchok. Shlomo works part-time
as a dermatologist and spends much
of the rest of his time studying
‘Talmud and Jewish law in the
Lubavitch Hasidic community in
which he lives.
1973
Barry Etra
1256 Edmund Park Dr. NE
Atlanta, GA 30306
betra1@bellsouth.net
Jose Sanchez reported the death
of Angelo Falcon, of a heart attack
on May 24, 2018. He and Angelo
had been active in Latino policy
analysis since 1982 and Jose says,
“Angelo had a tremendous impact
on the Latino community and on
America in general; his void will not
be filled anytime soon.”
Jose remains National Institute
for Latino Policy board chair.
Fall 2018 CCT 59
Andy Manale attended his first
reunion this past June, and now
regrets it being his first, saying,
“It was a moving and memorable
experience.” His latest publication
reflects his CC education and the
pursuit of purposes bigger than
himself: “Principles and Policies for
Soil and Water Conservation” in the
Journal of the Soil and Water Conser-
vation Society, available at swcs.org.
Out of class, Lou “The Count”
Cortelezzi’75, a longtime session
and backup sax machine, released
his first solo disc, Only Child. Nice
listening, and it was great to see his
smiling face on the cover!
Please share your 45th reunion
experiences — I could not be there,
and would like to post them! Hasta.
1974
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development fontact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Fred Bremer
532 W. 111th St.
New York, NY 10025
f.bremer@ml.com
As we move through our 60s, it
seems like many of us are experi-
encing the “Invasion of the ISTs.”
No longer are our days interrupted
merely by dentISTs or perhaps
an allergIST, now our aging body
parts require visits to their brethren:
orthopedISTs, urologISTs, derma-
tologISTs, nephrologISTs and other
speciallSTs. Seeing one IST seems to
always result in referrals to yet more
visits to other ISTs — and eventually
you end up needing a psychiatrIST.
At an age when many find 18
holes of golf taxing, Peter Boody’s
century bike ride (100 miles) last
June is notable. He was raising
money for a foundation established
by an editorial assistant when he was
editor of the Southampton Press.
Peter posted on Facebook, “Made
it! 5 a.m. to 3:45 p.m., Manhattan
to Deckers. No issues except a little
pain.” Peter was ninth of 300 riders
in his fundraising for autism research.
Perhaps it is thoughts of our pend-
ing 45th reunion, but whatever the
reason, notes have come in from some
seldom-heard-from classmates! From
Los Angeles came an email from Gar-
rett Johnson (an entertainment law-
yer with his own firm). He relates that
one of his clients was recently awarded
two Grammys. Garrett is active on
the board of the California Copyright
Conference, as well as involved as a
member of the Society of Composers
& Lyricists. His daughter, Kelsey, is a
Teach For America program graduate
who is currently working with special
needs students in Los Angeles. His
wife, Charmaine Jefferson, is the
former executive director of the Dance
Theater of Harlem and the California
African American Museum at Expo-
sition Park. She now has her own
consulting firm.
I heard from Frank Bruno
BUS’76 (a partner at the law firm
Sidley Austin in its NYC office) that
his younger daughter was married
last December. That makes him an
“empty nester,” he says, “but both
daughters (and one grandson) live
nearby, so we see them quite often.”
He adds that last January he attended
Garrett Johnson ’74 was recently in Washington, D.C., on business and
connected with classmates. Left to right: Sylvester Conyers ’74, Johnson
and Ron Mason ’74.
60 CCT Fall 2018
the wedding of the youngest son of
Charlie Martorana (an attorney in
Buffalo). Also in attendance were
Lou Modica and his wife, Linda
BC’75. He says Lou has now retired
from his medical practice in Tennes-
see. Frank said, “It was really good to
catch up with old friends.”
Thanks to the firm’s mandatory
retirement policy, Peter Sullivan
has now retired from his 36-year
career doing antitrust law as a partner
of the law firm Gibson, Dunn &
Crutcher, starting in its Los Angeles
office and ending up in its New York
City office. He says he is “having a
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many. I’m sure there will be a lot
more to learn when we gather at our
45th reunion next May!
1975
Randy Nichols
734 S. Linwood Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21224
rcn2day@gmail.com
Robert C. Schneider has been
selected to serve on the 40th
Reunion Committee for Wharton
Graduate School’s 1979 M.B.A.
Bill Meehan 74 publishes a Forbes.com column that
leverages the content in his book, Engine of Impact:
Essentials of Strategic Leadership in the Nonprofit Sector.
great time — I’ve already taken trips
to China and Hawaii.” Most of his
time is now spent doing work for St.
Bartholomew’s Church in Manhat-
tan and flipping houses in Nantucket.
(“My inner Trump is coming out,”
he quips.) He and his wife, Mary
Krueger BC’74, have twin daughters:
Hilary ’07 (who works for a consult-
ing firm in Los Angeles) and Carly
07 (who recently started at a large
public relations company in NYC).
Peter Zegarelli posted on Face-
book last May: “Proud of our son
James for getting his M.B.A. from
UVA’s Darden School of Business.”
Bill Meehan now publishes a
Forbes.com column every two weeks
that leverages the content in his book
Engine of Impact: Essentials of Strategic
Leadership in the Nonprofit Sector.
Roger Kahn’s daughter, Amanda,
graduated from Weill Cornell Medi-
cine last spring. Now she’s off to
Philadelphia with her husband
and baby to do a residency in
internal medicine at the Jefferson
Medical Center.
Rob Knapp’s older son, Henry,
was recently married in San Fran-
cisco. Younger son Aaron does web
design in NYC. Daughter Ester,
a pediatric oncologist, lives in Louis-
ville with her husband and daughter.
‘There you have it. Some class-
mates still working, while others are
moving into retirement. Just keeping
up with the kids and grandkids
seems to dominate the time for
class and in June was named to the
Advisory Board of the Council of
Development Finance Agencies.
Also setting aside lesson plans and
hanging up the regalia, Dr. Robert
Sclafani GSAS’81 has joined the
ranks of the retired. He continues
with his beermaking, and his brews
have been featured at several pubs.
Many of you already know that
my friend and freshman roomie José
Martinez passed away this past spring.
I asked our good buddy William H.
McCarthy Jr.’74 to remember José for
us. He writes, “With great sadness and
many fond memories, I write in tribute
to a great man of Columbia and a true
Lion in every respect, José Andreas
Martinez. José and I met on move-in
day in late September’71. Along with
Charlie Lindsay and, briefly, Bill
Megalos’77, José and I were among
the randomly destined ‘Gang of Four’
of Carman 709. Randy Nichols
soon after joined the Gang as José’s
roommate, and they became good and
dear friends for life. José, Charlie and
I moved across Amsterdam to 115th
Street sophomore year, into some
pretty nice digs owing to Charlie’s
contacts with the Off-Campus Hous-
ing Authority (where José also landed
a student job). We shared those digs
until my ‘early release’ with the Class
of’74, yet the bonds formed with José
continued, indeed grew stronger, in the
years and decades to follow.
“José entered the business world
upon leaving the Heights and, after
living initially in the D.C. area,
returned to Ohio and soon after met
the love of his life and his soulmate,
Lisa Buoni, whom he married in
1978. They settled in Cincinnati
(where José’s mom, sister Maribel and
he had moved from Puerto Rico when
he was 11). Lisa’s first career was in
nursing, but the allure of the law led
her to the University of Cincin-
nati College of Law — a move that
inspired José to follow in her footsteps
a year later. While Lisa combined her
areas of expertise into a successful
practice as a risk management counsel
to hospitals, José became a successful
trial attorney, ultimately plying those
skills as assistant attorney general for
the State of Ohio.
“José proudly maintained his
connections to Columbia, for many
years interviewing Cincinnati-area
candidates for the College, and by his
participation in alumni events, most
notably his monthly attendance at
Alumni Chapter lunch meetings, at
which Ed DeGregorio’74 was also a
regular. José also followed Columbia
sports with a passion, no doubt owing
to his years as a member of the light-
weight crew. He would later yield his
oars in favor of cycling and become an
accomplished ‘century’ rider and avid
follower of the Tour de France.
“Among the many interests that
José and I shared were professional
tennis and the March Madness of
college hoops. This past March, I
uncharacteristically didn’t hear from
him, so I reached out during the
Final Four weekend. He informed
me that he had been diagnosed with
late-stage pancreatic cancer. Discor-
dant as a word could be, the ‘bless-
ing’ for José was that he declined
faster than his racing bike could take
him, passing away but days later.
For Lisa, their families and friends
— including his Columbia friends
too many to name — José’s passing
marked the loss of a gentleman
about whom never an ill word was
uttered and toward others never an
ill word did he utter. RIP, brother.”
1976
Ken Howitt
1114 Hudson St., Apt. 8
Hoboken, N.J. 07030
kenhowitt76@gmail.com
To get in the writing mood about
the Class of ’76, I cranked up the
old tuner-amplifier, the Technics
SL-D20 turntable with the new
stereo speakers that I recently
purchased. I reached back to 1975
and put on Jefferson Starship’s Red
Octopus album and then sat down
at the typewriter (oops! I mean the
computer) to let all of you know
about the latest updates.
As always, leading off with a
Mika update from Syracuse: The
good news is that the little pup (now
over a year old) actually recognized
me and did not bark that much at
me. I had a nice long weekend with
Linda and Dennis Goodrich. I was
there to attend the wedding of Liz
and Fred Rosenstein ’78’s daughter,
Lauren. To make the Columbia
weckend complete, I stayed at Chez
Goodrich for three nights and
enjoyed the July weather, good food
and a lot of memories, as always.
One classmate actually asked
for an update on me! I am now in
my 30th year in the same condo in
Hoboken. When I moved here with
my wife (at the time, eight and a
half months pregnant with our first
son) into a fourth-floor walkup,
we were across the street from the
Maxwell House factory and the cof-
fee smell on a humid day was great!
Now, I am right across the street
from the million-dollar condos of
Maxwell Place. The kids are all on
their own — my daughter (CC’13)
in Manhattan and the two sons
(a Scarlet Knight and an Oregon
Duck) in Jersey City Heights. The
granddaughter is 3 and often is a
companion of mine on walks, at
movies, baking cookies and so forth.
‘The most significant life change for
me in the last year was the diagnosis
of Celiac Disease, which resulted in
my changing to a gluten-free diet.
I still do a lot of baking, but now
require all new recipes with grain-
free flour.
Some great news for Celiac
alumni is that V&T has gluten-free
pizza, so | will continue to eat there
post-Columbia athletics events, and
plenty of times more. I have been
eating at V&T since 1965, when my
eldest brother entered Columbia. I
even offered more than 50 years of
continuous meals at V&T as proof
to my gastroenterologist that it was
impossible for me to have Celiac,
but all the tests proved the doctor
right. I feel a lot better in general
with the new diet, which includes
V&T’s terrific steamed broccoli.
alumninews
Speaking of doctors, Patrick Ber-
gin sent this in: “I’m a cardiologist
in Oregon (vide infra) since moving
here in 1988.1 graduated from
Dartmouth Medical School in 1980,
spent two years in the Indian Health
Service working for the Navajo Tribe
in Shiprock, N.M., after finishing
my internal medicine training, also
at Dartmouth. Thereafter, I spent
two more years at Dartmouth doing
a cardiology fellowship, followed by
one year at the San Francisco Heart
Institute doing a then brand-new
thing called an ‘angioplasty fellow-
ship.’ On to Oregon thereafter, as my
first wife kept thoroughbred horses
and we needed someplace rural. Or
something like that. :)
“Thereafter, two kids: Mike and
Tess. Mike recently graduated from
UCLA Law School and Tess gradu-
ated with a B.A. from the University
of Oregon and is now a full-time
musician. In the in-between times,
I started a medical device company,
Innovasa, and became a franchi-
see of Five Guys Burgers and
Fries, bringing to the community
increased cardiovascular risk, which
I now assiduously stamp out. It’s a
long story, obviously.
“BIW, I saw Beautiful: The Carole
King Musical in February when I was
in NYC for a cardiology thing. Also
saw Book of Mormon, for the second
time. Caught Hamilton during August
the prior year. Love Broadway!”
Speaking of loving Broadway, the
Class of 1976 has an alumnus who
has a long history of doing just that
and plenty more! Michael Musto
contributes the following: “I cur-
rently write a weekly entertainment
related column for NewNowNext.
com, which is MTV/Logo’s LGBT
site, and I still do pieces for the Vi/-
lage Voice after all these years. (The
Voice is website-only now.) But I’ve
also returned to performing. (As a
student, I was in plays on campus, as
well as in Barnard’s Gilbert and Sul-
livan Society productions.) Recently,
I was a guest star at Feinstein’s/54
Below for Countess Luann de Les-
seps from The Real Housewives of
New York. I’m also doing duet shows
at Alan Cumming’s East Village
Club, Club Cumming, which benefit
various charities. And I am one of
the co-hosts of Theater Talk, the
long-running TV show on CUNY
TV about theatrical happenings.”
Another New Yorker, John
Mason, checked in from Brooklyn
with this update about him and his
wife, Olivia Rowan: “We are doing
the ‘empty-nester’ thing. I saw Joe
Cellini (still with Apple) in San Jose
in February a couple of times. Did
get to a couple of Columbia basket-
ball games. Loved the World Cup,
except for its location. Let me know
if you are ever in Brooklyn. I’m in
lovely Windsor Terrace.”
Rob Brager LAW’99 checked
in from the Washington, D.C.,
area, where he is at Beveridge &
Diamond. In looking at the company
website, it seems Rob has spent a
long legal career in many different
types of law, with a lot of expertise in
environmental issues.
Rob is the type of classmate who
makes this task so rewarding. He
took the time to check in and make
sure that my life as a single was going
well. With three kids in their 20s and
a granddaughter, I am pretty busy ...
even alone. I appreciate all the well
wishes and kind thoughts that the
great Class of 1976 has sent along.
Another single-flying ’76er is
Michael Imperiale GSAS’81: “I am
a solo (from divorce) empty-nester
with three kids. All the kids are
doing well: My son is an accountant
in Florida with three little ones of
his own, my older daughter teaches
high school biology here in Ann
Arbor and is expecting her first child
next month and my younger daugh-
ter is a registered dietician working
at a hospital in a Detroit suburb.
“Professionally, I’ve been on the
faculty at the University of Michigan
for almost 34 years. Last summer
I took on an administrative role as
associate VP for research. For a little
more than a decade, I’ve been quite
involved in science policy discussions
at the national level, mainly dealing
with biosafety and biosecurity. All in
all, it’s been a great ride.
“In the ‘small world’ category,
a couple of months ago I was at a
small conference in Italy, and one
of the other attendees turned out to
be Marc Goodman, who is a bio-
statistician at Cedars-Sinai Medical
Center/UCLA. We didn’t know each
other at Columbia but it was great
reminiscing about our time there.”
So now we get to the 10 Carman
crew. Michael Shaff checked in from
Irvine, Calif., where he practices law
and specializes in all aspects of fed-
eral income taxation. In an exchange
of emails, I mentioned that I was
looking forward to the World Cup
Fall 2018 CCT 61
Your
final (unfortunately Croatia lost), and
Mike responded (in true 10 Carman
fashion), “The only way that I would
be watching the World Cup final is
if | were paid my normal billing rate
to do so. Depending on when it’s on,
I expect to be watching the Red Sox-
Blue Jays game instead.”
Michael had this tragic news:
“Sadly, I attended the funeral of my
freshman roommate on 10 Carman,
Joseph Markowitz, in January. After
numerous chemotherapy treatments,
Joe succumbed to cancer. I can attest
that he faced death with courage and
aplomb. He called me at the office
about 10 days before he died just
to say goodbye. His well-attended
funeral was a small testament to his
character and the genuine affection he
engendered. He left behind his wife
of about 28 years, Fran Black, and
twins, Cara and Ian, who recently had
graduated from college.”
The last bit of 10 Carman news is
that my sophomore-year roommate,
Dave Reed, came to New York
from Chicago, where he recently
retired from a long law career. Natu-
rally, Dave still looks like he just got
off the golf course — tan, trim and
energetic. He and his family went
to Shinnecock Hills Golf Club to
watch a round of the U.S. Open. He
came in a day early so that we could
catch up in person, since the last
time we did so was maybe 20 years
ago. We toured the Columbia cam-
pus and went to see the Manhattan-
ville campus construction. Then we
had a nice Italian meal at Pisticci on
La Salle Street near Columbia. Dan
Baker introduced me to that great
place at a lunch a few years ago.
Submit
ED
Photo
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photos that feature at
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Click “Contact Us” at
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62 CCT Fall 2018
Hope to see a lot of you at Home-
coming on Saturday, October 20,
when we will beat Dartmouth!
So, the Starship’s Red Octopus
album just finished with “Whatever
I do, there will be love in it!” That’s a
fitting tag line for the Bicentennial
Class of 1976. For me, it is always
a pleasure! Keep bringing me the
news. My motto is, “All the news
that fits, I'll print!”
1977
David Gorman
111 Regal Dr.
DeKalb, IL 60115
dgorman@niu.edu
Greetings, Class of 77! While I have
no news to share in this issue, I hope
that you all had a great summer and
that you are enjoying the fall. Please
take a moment to send a note to
either of the addresses at the top of
the column — your classmates want
to hear from you!
1978
Matthew Nemerson
35 Huntington St.
New Haven, CT 06511
matthewnemerson@gmail.com
From the opening events around
town (which I missed) to the final
dinner (which I also missed), I
heard from dozens of classmates
throughout Reunion 2018 that they
were having a great time, both back
at Columbia and in their own lives
and families.
Congrats to everyone who
organized the 40th’s events and to
Columbia itself, which seems to
have its act together more consis-
tently these days than most of us can
remember. That said, I do suggest
retiring Low Library as a major
event venue — beautiful, historic
and the very definition of our school,
you bet, but impossible to hear, pre-
sentation technology from the 1990s
and no AC? Let’s get real, guys...
We open with Gary Pickholz: “Al
missed the reunion, but had a great
excuse: We just had a newborn son.
Not grandson. Son. My seventh, my
wife’s first. The Lord has a bizarre
sense of humor and irony. Must be
all that omnipotence. In short, life
is marvelous.”
Robert Anthony, from New York
comments, “Kudos to you, Matt,
Jon Freedman and the others who
made the 40th reunion events so
enjoyable. It was good to see Judge
Joe Greenaway — whom I see
regularly — and reconnect with
Kevin Powell, whom I haven't seen
since we were at Brooklyn's William
McKinley J.H.S. I especially enjoyed
the site of the dinner — in the
Butler Library main reading room
across from the circulation desk
— where I spent most of my four
years at Columbia in a work-study
job. I still continue to review gadgets
and gizmos for various publications
via my company, Stadium Circle
Features, which is named after my
old sports column for the Columbia
Daily Spectator.
“The campus grounds and build-
ings are in much better shape than
they were in the 70s and’80s. I
like the quality of the Wi-Fi across
campus — even outdoors — and
free to all.”
From Marvin Siegfried: “I was
glad to see that 309 Havemeyer Hall
looked exactly the same.”
So funny to me (your humble
scribe, Matthew Nemerson) that
Marvin mentioned this, because
I snuck into 309, too, and it’s still
one of the great rooms in the whole
world. Suddenly I was back in Shen-
ton’s Civil War class!
Marvin continues, “I enjoyed see-
ing Andy Benesch at the reunion,
along with Joel Levinson and
Richard Schloss.
Russ Frazer said it was great
to see old friends and the new
tennis courts.
Ted Faraone noted that he saw
a lot of folks, including an ex-room-
mate. “I went to the dinner with Lesa
Rader. Saw Iris Greenberger BC’78
for the first time in almost 40 years.
Had a wonderful time chatting with
Rob Aldisert’s lovely and charming
daughter. For next reunion, please
ensure that sound systems work and
that dinners are not held in libraries
with tables so huge that no one can
talk to anyone except the next person.
We had an excellent panel. Few of us
could hear it.”
From Kevin Powell: “I checked
into my spartan room in Wallace
Hall wondering if a true Spartan,
Leonidas maybe, wouldn't have found
it luxurious. The Manhattanville cam-
pus was astounding. The Jerome L:
Greene Science Center and the
Lenfest Center for the Arts were
both breathtaking. At Lori E. Gold
BC’78’s request, Michael Giniger
and I dropped in on the Barnard’78
dinner just in time to see the video at
the end. It was a riot.
“For Saturday morning’s breakfast
I sat next to a Class of 63 alum who
was at a big table all by himself. He
regaled me with fascinating tales of
his grandfather’s work with John D.
Rockefeller, United States Treasury
Secretaries past and Austrian nobil-
ity — exactly what I would have
imagined from an older alumnus.
Paul Auster ’69, GSAS’70s readings
from 4321 made me determined to
grab it off my reading table and start
plowing through it. He movingly
evoked the time surrounding the late
’60s demonstrations — one of my
strongest reasons for coming to CU.
“Professor David Helfand’s
lecture on the age of the universe,
intelligent life outside of the earth,
radioactive half-lives and a host
of other topics was scintillating.
Coincidentally, a few minutes after I
was telling Mike Giniger about my
geology professor Walter Alvarez’s
theory on the asteroid that killed
off the dinosaurs, it was being
echoed back to me in this lecture.
The class dinner on Saturday was
wonderful (even the food). I caught
up with Robert Anthony, whom I
also knew from William McKinley
J.H.S. in Brooklyn, and Joel Levin-
son from John Dewey H.S. Tom
Mariam moderated a panel where
Tim Weiner and Don Guttenplan
presented their thoughts on the
Trump administration and many
other things (Judith Miller!).
“The Manhattanville campus is
spectacular! It was all lots of fun.”
I (Matthew Nemerson) spent
a lovely Friday night hanging out
with John Flores on the balcony
of Faculty House overlooking a
very together-looking Harlem
and where we had spent many an
evening as undergrads looking out at
a very different northern Manhat-
tan in the 70s. Says John, “It was
great catching up with classmates.
The Manhattanville tour was very
interesting but can someone explain
how West 126th, 127th and 128th
disappeared? I always make a stop at
the bookstore, but now to buy stuff
for my grandson.”
From David Margules: “What
impressed me most was that Tom's
diner still makes the best grilled
cheese sandwiches. I enjoyed the
reunion and reconnected with many
people who were important to me so
long ago. I missed seeing quite a few
who couldn't make it.
“Tam still practicing law in
Delaware, where I head the Chan-
cery Court practice for Ballard
Spahr. I’m still married to Michelle
Seltzer Margules BC’77. I still have
four sons. Andy, who is married, is
completing a urology fellowship in
Charleston, S.C. Elliot is a public
defender in New York (in large part
a result of the malign influence of
Josh Dratel). Sam is a chef, and
Will is a junior at Hunter.”
From Dean Margolis: “I have
been named president of POPiN,
which provides a gym workout on
demand. Our mobile app allows
gym-goers to attend a variety of
fitness facilities with zero commit-
ment; users access a gym without a
membership and pay per minute for
only the time they use.”
1979
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Robert Klapper
8737 Beverly Blvd., Ste 303
Los Angeles, CA 90048
robertklappermd@aol.com
A shocking reminder from Harlan
Greenman LAW’82: “Can you
believe we are staring at our 40th
reunion next year?!”
Harlan also updates us with
professional news from last year:
“T was wooed to bring my team to
the New York office of Greenspoon
Marder, a law firm with Florida
origins and currently with a footprint
in a dozen states. It is extremely
energizing and exciting to oversee
the expansion of the New York
Real Estate Practice Group!
“On the non-professional side,
older daughter Cathy ’12 contin-
ues to excel as a ‘dev’ (software
developer) in Silicon Valley and her
sister, Beth, is emerging as both a
radio and television personality and
a playwright/director/dramaturg in
Athens, Ohio, where she finished
her sophomore year. Beth made her
directing debut with The Odd Couple
and made a documentary in Ireland
during the summer. We planned
to use the occasion as an excuse to
visit the Emerald Isle as well, having
already journeyed to London and
Wales earlier this year. Looking
forward to seeing everyone in 2019
at our 40th reunion!”
‘The Spring issue’s CC’79 Class
Notes inspired John Pagano to
write. He reflects on the “Columbia
College course and teacher that
proved profoundly transformative,
reorienting me in my junior year
from pre-med to English major and
directing me along a path that has
kept me at Columbia University my
entire adult life, first in my capacity
as an instructor at General Studies,
then in the summer high school
program, then as a lecturer in Bar-
nard’s English Department, where
I have been for the last 30 years (1
also taught in the Barnard HEOP
Program for 15 years, and I chair
the Humanities Department at the
Manhattan School of Music, where
I have taught for 25 years).
“Clearly, to propel me in such a
direction, the teaching and guidance
of Professor Wallace Gray qualifies
as the most inspiring intellectual
experience of my college years. I
enjoyed what you had to say about
Professor Karl-Ludwig Selig, who
was a good friend as well, along with
so many others: Professor Joseph
Bauke GSAS’63, Carl Hovde’50,
Edward Tayler and Michael Wood,
to name a few.
“Seeing Joe Ferullo’s name also
prompted some recollection, since I
can recall many an afternoon spent
in the Commuter Lounge with
my fellow Columbians, especially
Richard Milford.
“In any event, I felt compelled to
articulate my own recollections of
the teacher who shaped my intel-
lectual experience and my life more
profoundly than any other during
my time at Columbia College ...
“T recall those initial moments of
unsettling doubt when I realized, con-
current with the completion of pre-
med requirements in my junior year,
that I wanted to shift my educational
path in a radical way by becoming an
English major. The renowned Core
Curriculum initiated this directional
change, particularly Lit Hum, and the
relationship I developed with Profes-
sor Gray enabled me to successfully
navigate the challenges of vocational
alumninews
reorientation in my remaining time at
the College.
“As anyone attending the College
at that time would recall, students
would often camp out at the Regis-
trar the day before registration, just
to secure a spot in Professor Gray’s
course. Since I was making my
decision in the spring of my junior
year, after registration had concluded,
Professor Gray’s coveted section
was already filled, but he made an
exception to add me to his roster.
While engagement with founda-
tional literary works confirmed my
sense that teaching literature was
the most gratifying ideal to which I
could aspire, it was Wallace Gray’s
inexhaustible passion, commit-
ment, empathy and mentorship
that encouraged me every step of
the way and propelled me toward
success. His personal investment in
his students was legendary, on display
with all who moved within his
compelling sphere, and in his decades
at Columbia he helped countless
young men assess their intellectual
potential and refine their imaginative
impulses. At a time when my sudden
redirection struck virtually everyone
around me (including Dean Henry
Coleman ’46, who advised rest from
the grueling pre-med curriculum
to reconsider my decision) as prob-
lematic — if not downright crazy
— Professor Gray’s confidence and
encouragement were inspiring.
“The friendship we developed
radiated outward to include my
then-girlfriend, Susan, now my
wife, as well as my best friend from
college, Richard Milford, Susan's
first cousin, now an accomplished
orthopedic surgeon. We would
regularly join Professor Gray for
conversations in his office or walking
around campus, receiving invaluable
guidance during these formative
years. [he ease with which he could
transition between roles as teacher,
pre-med advisor, mentor and friend
was remarkable to witness, and to
this day, when Rich joins Susan and
me at family gatherings, we still
weave a web of collaborative recol-
lection in praise of Professor Gray.
“Professor Gray embodied all
that was most admirable about
Columbia's brand of higher
education, especially his passionate
commitment to his students and
his abiding love of literature. I am
deeply grateful for his intellectual
illumination and genuine friendship
during my Columbia years. He was
the presiding genius who affirmed
my own vocational commitment
and enabled me somehow, through
all the unpredictable byways of
experience, to remain an integral
part of the Columbia community.
Professor Gray showed me to what
extent a life of imagination could be
thoroughly enchanting — the magi-
cal spell he cast has remained potent
and energizing to this day.”
Geoff Newman GSAS’82
continues in his role as the business
and customer focal point for the
Asia-Pacific region for UTC Aero-
space Systems. In addition, he is a
director and member of the board
of the Silicon Sensing U.K.-Japan
Joint Venture for MEMS (micro
electronic mechanical systems). He
is based in Connecticut, and travels
frequently to Japan, Korea and the
United Kingdom.
Robert C. Klapper: This Colum-
bia memory comes from riding in the
elevator in my hospital, Cedars-
Sinai’s new, $800 million building.
‘The elevator requires you identify
yourself before being allowed to press
any buttons. Thank you, Steve Jobs.
Other than feeling like Fred
Flintstone yet again in 2018, the
Columbia memory was struck
because of the access to one floor
and not to another — meaning, I
had to leave the elevator and literally
walk up a flight of stairs to the cor-
rect floor. I’m still short of breath!
To the elevator, my ID badge
meant that I was from Mongolia
— not that there’s anything wrong
with Mongolia, it probably looks a
lot like New Haven (it’s just a joke;
calm down, all of you who live near
the best pizza in America, Sally’s
and Pepe’s).
The Columbia flashback took
me back to a moment during our
freshman year, riding in the eleva-
tor with half of the football team,
the testosterone filling the car to
the point where the cables were
screeching. In the corner was a tiny
Don Knotts classmate from Andy
Griffith’s Mayberry (I won't reveal
his name, as he probably has a black
belt in karate at this point), who
had pressed the button to go to the
second floor. The mob of Neander-
thals in uniforms were about to take
him apart physically for having the
audacity to press the button to only
go up one floor, when all of a sudden
the truest voice of reason that those
Fall 2018 CCT 63
of us living in that concrete mauso-
leum on 114th Street called Carman
had ever met (Doc Deming) inter-
vened on behalf of the pocket-pro-
tected, belt-above-his-belly-button,
organic chemistry major.
What Doc did in this moment of
mob madness has stayed with me all
these years. His skill at using words
always impressed me because from
his lips, they were mightier than the
sword. Thank God, there he was
— at the other end of the elevator,
trapped in the land of giants as we
ascended from the lobby. At the
perfect moment when the rabid dogs
were about to tear this guy apart,
Doc proclaimed, “Gentlemen, before
you criticize Barney Fife over here,
instead of all of you exiting the eleva-
tor on your chosen 10th floor, why
don't you leave us on the ninth floor
and walk up a single flight of stairs?”
He defused the situation instantly
and elegantly, and I’ve never forgot-
ten it. So on some level, I’m kind of
happy my artificial intelligence ride
at my hospital the other day trig-
gered a most pleasant flashback to
that moment 43 years ago.
God bless you, Doc Deming,
wherever you are.
Roar, Lion, Roar!
1980
Michael C. Brown
London Terrace Towers
410 W. 24th St., Apt. 18F
New York, NY 10011
mcbcu80@yahoo.com
I hope everyone is cheering on the
Lions football team this season.
Send in your news for the Winter
issue by writing to either of the
addresses at the top of this column
— your classmates want to hear
from you!
1981
Kevin Fay
8300 Private Ln.
Annadale, VA 22003
kfayO516@gmail.com
A few columns ago, I reached out to
the Class of 1981 regarding retirement
plans (if any), which prompted an
emphatic “heck, no” from Mark Allen.
Mark noted that when he encounters
folks our age talking about retirement
64 CCT Fall 2018
they do not talk about stopping work
completely, but rather plan to do more
interesting things such as teaching
or consulting. As Mark is a professor
(at Pepperdine, teaching manage-
ment and organizations), what would
he do after retirement? He loves his
job, does it extremely well (last year
he was honored with the Global
Training and Development Leader-
ship Award by the World Human
Resources Congress in Mumbai and
was named one of the world’s Top
100 HR Influencers by Engagedly).
Thus, no plans to retire or even slow
down. Now, as to how he got to teach
at Pepperdine: After college Mark
moved to California immediately and
completed an M.B.A. at Pepperdine,
followed by a Ph.D. at USC. It’s not
all work for Mark, as he did mention
an upcoming trip to Las Vegas and
the opportunity to participate in the
World Series of Poker.
I also heard from Lyle Brooks,
providing us with his update for the
21st century. Lyle majored in phi-
losophy at Columbia, wrote articles
for Spectator and was the news direc-
tor at CTV. After college, he worked
for several years at Columbia in the
Office of Alumni and Develop-
ment. During this time, he served in
the University Senate representing
employees. After working for CU
he went to law school, followed by a
stint in a small but connected NYC
commercial and municipal litigation
boutique law firm. Since 1994, Lyle’s
been a court attorney in the com-
mercial division of the New York
State Supreme Court in Manhat-
tan. He’s also taught law at both
Hofstra and the New York Law
School. For the past 12 years, Lyle
has devoted most of his free time
to helping women suffering from
hyperemesis gravidarum, a debilitat-
ing pregnancy-related disease that
causes constant and uncontrollable
vomiting and nausea, dehydration,
dramatic weight loss and malnutri-
tion, and potentially organ failure. He
also is a volunteer coordinator for the
Hyperemesis Education and Research
Foundation (helpher.org), and the
director of Beyond Morning Sickness
(beyondmorningsickness.com).
For 32 years, Lyle’s been married to
Kerry Koutsouris BC’81, an electrical
engineer with the NYC transit system.
Lyle is the grandson of Louis Gins-
berg GSAS 1924 and the nephew of
Beat Generation poet Allen Ginsberg
48. His father, Eugene Brooks,
changed his name from Ginsberg
upon leaving the Air Force after
WWIL, and was an attorney and poet.
His father did frequent readings with
Allen Ginsberg and also acted as Jack
Kerouac ’’44’s personal lawyer in the
1950s and 1960s. His obituary is at
nyti.ms/2O1BID0.
I went back and forth with
Lyle trying to connect the dots on
classes and professors (no success),
but was more successful on various
classmates. Lyle would like to reach
out to his buddies at the CTV
(Christopher Wilcock ’80, Caleb
Solomon ’80, Steve Goldberg ’82,
Fred Balzac’80 and Lou Antonelli)
and to Jay Marcus’80 and Bob
Spoer, whom he knew via campus
politics. As with most alumni from
the late 1970s, Lyle’s noticed the
many changes on Morningside
Heights (i.e., losing Mama Joy’s and
Green Tree). The grit is definitely
gone from the neighborhood.
Finally, I heard from Kenny
Young, lead singer and driving
influence behind the band Kenny
Young and the Eggplants. He writes,
“Despite all good sense and logic,
my band released our sixth album
(Plantastic Voyage) on Cheese Thing
Records about a year ago. We had a
great time promoting the album on a
U.K. tour that commenced in Edin-
burgh and concluded in London.
Along the way, we were invited to the
BBC Broadcasting House for a live
interview and performance on BBC
6 Music. The tour was nonstop fun,
and we managed to complete it with-
out creating an international crisis.”
If you want to learn more about
Kenny and his music, please check out
kennyyoungandtheeggplants.com.
Hope the class had a great sum-
mer, and I encourage members to
drop me a line.
1982
Andrew Weisman
81S. Garfield St.
Denver, CO 80209
columbiacollege82@gmail.com
Greetings gents, still coming down
from last quarter’s high — great
turnout! See how well things work
out when you collude? Real life les-
son there, although not necessarily a
universal truth.
Checking in first this quarter is
“triple threat” classmate Noel Katz:
“Some earn retirement; others have
retirement thrust upon them. Last
summer my wife got a dream job,
with Disneyland, but it meant tear-
ing me away from my native New
York, where I have all my contacts,
friends and a four-decade career in
musical theater. Lyricist, composer,
librettist, musical director, improvi-
sor, teacher, accompanist, coach: I
guess this serves as a requiem for
a calling. I wrote about a dozen
musicals that regaled New Yorkers
in Off- and Off-Off-Broadway
theaters, including our musical
wedding (we now have a 6-year-old
daughter). I improvised with Robin
Williams (pre-Columbia) and Amy
Poehler and taught for Second City.
I trained Broadway performers (star-
ring in Hello Dolly, Wicked, School of
Rock et al.) and accompanied singers
as basically similar as Lady Gaga
and Vanessa Redgrave.”
Noel, that’s been quite a run! I
for one will be looking forward to
hearing what you get up to next, so
keep us posted!
Checking in just before my CCT
“drop-dead deadline” is our accom-
plished and extraordinarily erudite
classmate Brian Erler (M.D.,
M.B.A., Ph.D. — your grandmother
must be pretty cheesed you never
got a law degree!). Brian writes: “My
daughter, Jacqueline 22, has begun
her Columbia journey, 40 years
after I began mine. When I told her
that we had an Animal House toga
party during our orientation, she
gave me a strange look and said that
she didn’t know what I was talking
about (are we really that old?).
“I earned a Ph.D. in chemis-
try at the University of Southern
California in 1985 and an M.D.
at SUNY Downstate College of
Medicine in 1989. I completed my
pathology residency at Cedars-Sinai
in Los Angeles and a cytopathology
fellowship at UT. MD Anderson
Cancer Center in Houston. I am
chair of pathology and president of
the medical and dental staff at Jersey
Shore University Medical Center
in Neptune City, N.J. 1 am also
associate professor and vice chair of
pathology at the Hackensack Merid-
ian School of Medicine at Seton
Hall University in Nutley, NJ.”
Great news about Jacqueline
getting into the College! I have to
think that it’s a positive sign that she
doesn’t know about toga parties!
Keeps those notes coming!
Roy Pomerantz
Babyking/Petking
182-20 Liberty Ave.
Jamaica, NY 11412
bkroy@msn.com
Our 35th reunion was very well
attended and a huge success. I had
the pleasure of walking to the Friday
night reception with Philip Dolin,
a prominent Manhattan-based
producer-director-cinematographer.
His bio on his Particle Productions
website states: “Philip has over 25
years of combined experience in
filmmaking, producing, advertising
and marketing. As a producer he
created short films, commercials and
over 65 hip-hop music videos (for
renowned artists including Salt-
n-Pepa, Kid n’ Play, MC Lyte and
Monie Love). He received an MFA
in film from Columbia University
and directed and produced a feature
film, B MOVIE that played at
festivals in Europe and the United
States. In the world of advertising
he was a VP, Senior Copywriter
at Wunderman, one of the world’s
largest direct marketing agencies
where clients included AT&T,
Microsoft, IBM and Citibank. He
has a B.A. in history from Columbia
College, Columbia University and
spent two years in South America
as a Fulbright Scholar. Philip is a
producer on the feature documen-
tary Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries
and Mentors of Ricky Jay, which pre-
miered at the 50th New York Film
Festival and was distributed to over
50 cities in the U.S. and Canada.
Entertainment Weekly put Deceptive
Practice on its list of the top 10 films
of 2013. Philip recently earned his
black belt in shito-ryu karate and
now trains in krav maga.”
Stephen Holtje is the label
manager at ESP-Disk’, content
editor of CultureCatch.com and
freelance development editor for
Oxford University Press. ESP-Disk’
was founded by Bernard Stollman
51, LAW’54.
Jonathan Green has been senior
counsel for the City of Chicago for
14 years. Jonathan was a Democratic
candidate for the Cook County
Circuit Court in Illinois; he came in
second place and was defeated in the
primary election on March 20. He
received 25 percent of the vote.
Michael Cataldo was co-captain
during his senior year of Colum-
bia’s crew team. He was part of the
United States National Rowing team
that claimed gold at the Henley
Regatta in England and gold in the
Pan American Games in Caracas,
Venezuela. He is still a competitive
masters rower. Michael is CEO of
Massachusetts-based Convergent
Dental, an equipment and technol-
ogy company and developer of the
world’s first computer-aided CO,
dental laser system.
Also at the Friday night recep-
tion were Keith Woo SEAS’83, a
licensed real estate broker at Com-
pass; Angela Cheung SEAS’83, a
psychotherapist; and Kella Hui. It
was great to catch up with my good
friend Ken Chin, who is a partner
and chair of Kramer Levin's banking
and finance department.
Nicholas Paone is a litigation
partner at White, Fleischner &
Fino. His daughter Abigail attends
the Boston Conservatory and spe-
cializes in musical theater.
Dan Jaffe LAW’89 teaches
in the Legal Writing, Leadership,
Experiential Learning, Advocacy
and Professionalism program at Case
Western Reserve University School
of Law. He previously practiced at
Squire, Sanders & Dempsey in the
fields of educational law and labor
law. He is married and has two kids.
David Coplan SEAS’84 earned
bachelor degrees in liberal arts and
in industrial engineering. He is an
amateur bicycle racer.
Rob Dell Angelo PS’87 attended
the Saturday dinner. He is married
with three kids. Rob is a partner
with Munger, Tolles & Olson in Los
Angeles. His practice includes all
major commercial litigation with an
emphasis on defending companies
in security matters and disputes over
corporate control. Prior to attending
UCLA (Order of the Coif, editor of
UCLA Law Review), Rob obtained
an M.D.
Martin Ottomanelli is a regional
credit officer in the middle market
commercial banking division of
Huntington Bank.
Gardner Semett BUS’91 lives
in the New Jersey house in which he
grew up. He and his wife, Daphne,
have two kids, Victor (26) and
Gabriella (25). Gardner is the execu-
tive VP of BankUnited in NYC and
has an M.B.A. His favorite professor
was Kenneth Jackson. Gardner is
dumninews «3
in touch with Jon Ross and Doug
Novins PS’87, a child psychologist.
Andy Barth, the Saturday night
keynote speaker and a University
trustee, has been married to Avery
for 30 years. She and their three
daughters attended USC. Andy and
Avery also have a son, Andrew’16.
Mike McCarthy’s son, Oliver, is a
senior at Poly Prep in Brooklyn. Oli-
ver is a left-handed pitcher and has
signed a Letter of Intent to attend
Duke. Blue Devils Head Coach
Chris Pollard stated: “He’s a left-
handed pitcher who's been up to 90
mph with a ton of heavy sink on his
fastball.” He is listed as the number
2 left-handed pitcher in New York
State by Perfect Game. Oliver was
8-1 last season with a 1.05 ERA.
Dan Jochnowitz LAW’85 was
selected as one of only two under-
graduates from Columbia College for
the six-year B.A./J.D. program. He
was a Stone Scholar all three years
at the Law School. Dan is an expe-
rienced commercial transactions and
IP specialist. He is a partner at the
Austin law firm Egan Nelson. His
kids are Ariel (16) and Avery (13).
Jay Lippman is managing
director of Exiger, a leader in
regulatory, anti-money laundering,
anti-corruption, reputational and
risk consulting. He lives in Milburn,
N.J., with his wife and two kids:
son Ben graduated from University
of Michigan and daughter Sarah
graduated from Penn State.
Miro Lovric was the place kicker
on the football team. He works in
the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Gerrard Bushell GSAS’04
is the president and CEO of the
Dormitory Authority of the State
of New York, one of the nation’s
leading issuers of tax exempt bonds
and a major financier of capital for
New York State’s infrastructure. He
earned a B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. in
political science from Columbia.
Marty Shore works for the U.S.
government in Washington, D.C.
George Bogdan: “I attended
some events, just not any dinners.
I checked out new buildings in
Manhattanville and the relatively
new Northwest Building attached to
Pupin. Attended a few lectures on
Friday and Saturday. I have been a
senior attorney in the banking divi-
sion of the New York State Depart-
ment of Financial Services since July
2015. Bank regulation is not very
exciting stuff, but I need a steady
paycheck. I haven't bothered to
update my LinkedIn page or spread
the information very much. I moved
to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, last year.”
Jon Ross: “After 33 years in Los
Angeles, I am moving to New York
City. There are myriad good reasons
for the move at this time, but the main
reason is that developers bought my
building and are tearing it down to
make way for expensive townhomes
(ah, the gentrification of Venice).
Other reasons include my work for
hurricane survivors in the Caribbean,
being closer to my mom and getting
down to some serious fundraising to
ramp up MicroAid projects.”
Dan Schechter GSAS’87,
PS’91: “I was unfortunately in
Europe (as my update will explain)
during our reunion, but I have
an update: After nearly 10 years
in Switzerland at the University
of Geneva Hospitals — where I
was deputy chief of the child and
adolescent psychiatry service, and
where I remain on the University of
Geneva Faculty of Medicine — I
was appointed to the NYU School
of Medicine faculty in January 2018.
Tam the new Barakett Associate
Professor of Child and Adolescent
Psychiatry and director of the Stress,
Trauma, and Resilience Treatment
Service there; and at NYU Langone
Health, I am also medical director of
perinatal and early childhood mental
health services. As my family is still
in Geneva for now, we have long
commutes. Congratulations to my
friends and classmates of CC’83 on
the occasion of our 35th reunion!”
Wayne Allyn Root: “Humanix
Books announced it has signed
nationally syndicated radio host and
author Wayne Allyn Root for a new
book on Donald Trump’s business
and political success. ‘President
Trump has achieved awe-inspiring
success in business, entrepreneur-
ship, branding, PR, publishing,
television and now, of course,
politics,’ Root said. T’ve studied
Donald Trump’s life for decades
(since I graduated [from] Columbia
University and started my business
career in 1983) and owe much of
my own success to the remarkable
lessons learned from this man.”
My wife, Dr. Deborah Ghar, and
T attended Eddy Friedfeld’s July 24
NYU Tisch School class, “Comedy
Auteurs, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen,
Billy Wilder and Jerry Lewis.”
Eddy was, as usual, brilliant. Other
Fall 2018 CCT 65
Class Notes
Alumni Sons and Daughters
Seventy members of the Columbia College Class of 2022 and seven members of the Columbia Engineering Class of 2022
are sons or daughters of College alumni. This list is alphabetical by the parent(s)’ last name.
STUDENT
Christine Anagnos
Haworth, N.J.
Samuel Angell
Englewood, Colo.
Julia Angkeow
Bel Air, Ma.
Lauren Apollaro
Flower Mound, Texas
Nareg Balian
Chevy Chase, Ma.
Benjamin Barth
Teaneck, N.J.
Chloe Brown
Hollywood, Fla.
Sean Burke
Hackensack, N.J.
John Chapman
Atlanta
Emma Lee
Swarthmore, Pa.
Elan Cooper
Memphis
Julia Cosgrove
Los Angeles
Lucas Cremers
Potomac, Ma.
Kate Della Pietra
Wyckoff; NJ.
Tatianna Dugue
New Hyde Park, N.Y.
Jared Edwards *
Westport, Conn.
Jackson England
Paramus, N_J.
Jacqueline Erler
Freehold, N-J.
Benjamin Sherwin
Montclair, NJ.
Maximilian Fraenkel-Thonet
Mendham, N.J.
66 CCT Fall 2017
PARENT
George Anagnos ’80
Jim Angell ’83
Piamsook Angkeow 90
Anthony Apollaro Jr.’93
and Penny S. Apollaro’93
Nairi Balian ’88
Jay Barth’85
Stephen Brown’82
William Burke ’92
Michael Chapman ’84
Esther Chung ’87
Pace Cooper’85
Ben Cosgrove 90
Sandra Cremers 91
Christopher Della Pietra’89
and Annmarie Giarratano
Della Pietra ’91
Gabriel Dugue’82
Scott Edwards ’87
Derek England 94
Brian Erler’82
Joshua Feldman ’87
Anne Fraenkel-
‘Thonet’87
STUDENT
Samuel Freilich
New York City
Gregory Ginsburg
Bronx, N.Y.
Emma Lia Godshall
Philadelphia
Samantha Greenberg
Winter Park, Fla.
Kent Hall *
Califon, N.J.
Elizabeth Jackson
East Brunswick, N_J.
Lucas Jerez *
Barcelona
Christopher Kang *
New Providence, N.].
Lauren Kang
New Providence, NJ.
Ashley Kim
Manhasset, N.Y.
Margot Kleinman
New York City
Jeremy Krisberg
New York City
JiHoon Ko
Lexington, Mass.
Hudson Kussie
New York City
Nikhil Lahiri
Somerset, NJ.
Bridgette Lee
Hackensack, NJ.
Matthew Leone
Westport, Conn.
Morgan Levine
Houston
Payton Geller
New York City
Payton Lill
Webster, N.Y.
PARENT
Jonathan Freilich ’87
Carl Ginsburg 77
Craig Godshall’80
Jonathan Greenberg’71°
Scott Hall ’90
Christopher Jackson’81
Victor Jerez ’87
Ilwon Kang’84
Ilwon Kang’84
Paul Kim ’87
Howard Kleinman ’84
Brian Krisberg’81
Yu Jin Ko’83
Paul Kussie’81
Devraj Lahiri ’93
Robert Lee’84
Nicholas Leone ’88
Daniel Levine 91
Jennifer Levine 91
James Lill ’96
STUDENT
Evan Lim
Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Aaron Liss
Silver Spring, Md.
Simone Liu
Alexandria, Va.
Warren Ma
Bangkok
Kaleigh McCormick
Rockleigh, N.J.
Matthew Molinelli*
Greenwich, Conn.
Kate Johnson
Saint Helena, Calif:
Samantha Sacks
Chicago
Emma Nisonson
Carmel, Ind.
Isabelle Pierce
Katonah, N.Y.
Eilam Lehrman
New York City
Isaac Pope
New York City
Sarah Powless
Darien, Conn.
Grace Prochilo
Wilson, Wy.
Samuel Raab *
East Brunswick, N.J.
Hart Rapaport
New York City
Abigail Richmond
Newton, Mass.
Herbert Rimerman
Stamford, Conn.
Isaac Rosenblum-Sellers
Washington, D.C.
Charlotte Rothschild
New York City
PARENT
Kee-Hak Lim’82
Kevin Liss 84
Joseph Tiang-Yau Liu ’87
Eric Ma’89
Paul McCormick’78
Bruce Molinelli’84
Mark Nelson’81
Robin Newberger 87
Evan Nisonson’84
Clay Pierce ’90
Marya Pollack’87
Joseph Pope’72 °
Wayne Powless 91
Mark Prochilo ’86
Eric Raab ’82
Richard Rapaport ’69
Sarah Richmond ’88
Claudia Rimerman’88
Marc Rosenblum ’91
and Catherine Sellers 91
Andrew Rothschild ’92
STUDENT PARENT
Quentin Rubel David Rubel’83
Chatham, N.Y.
Maya Rubin Michael Rubin ’87
Newton, Mass.
Lucia Crerend Teresa Saputo-Crerend ’87
Mount Kisco, N.Y.
Matthew Schechter William Schechter ’76
Irvington, N.Y.
Catherine Schmidtberger * Michael
New York City Schmidtberger’82
Khyber Sen Amar Sen’90 and
Brooklyn, N.Y. Erhmei Yuan 90
Beatrice Shlansky
Ferrisburgh, Ve.
David Shlansky’90
Julia Silbert Richard Silbert’81
Weston, Conn.
Jeffrey Torborg Greg Torborg ’90
Manhasset, N.Y.
Lyla Trilling Lawrence Trilling 88
Los Angeles
Kathryn Vaske John Vaske 88
Norwalk, Conn.
Shulamit Weinstein Matthew Weinstein 95
Bala Cynwyd, Pa.
Emma Weise Arthur Weise 93 and
Mount Kisco, N.Y. Kristina Nye 93
Richard Weitzel Richard Weitzel Jr.’77
Youngstown, Ohio
Henry Williams Ann K. Williams ’89
Pleasantville, N.Y.
Hannah Fenlon Dana Ww’91
Chappaqua, N.Y.
Christopher Yun Jaime Yun ’89
Manhasset, N.Y.
Three incoming Columbia College or
Columbia Engineering transfer students are
sons or daughters of College alumni.
Avery Kim’21 Joachim Kim’81
New York City
Harris Walker ’21 Jeffrey Walker ’83
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Sophia White SEAS’20** Gregory White’89
Port Washington, N.Y. and Vera S. White 90
“member of the Engineering Class of 2022
* Combined Plan Program (College and Engineering)
* deceased
topics he covered in his summer
curriculum included silent films;
vaudeville and radio; screwball and
romantic comedy; comedy teams;
the Golden Age of television and
early sitcom; comedy incubators,
Catskills, Chitlin Circuit and early
standup comedy; standup comedy
and blockbuster comedies; sitcoms;
and political comedy. Eddy also had
a recent appearance on Fox News.
Basketball player Lukas Meisner
19 signed a pro contract in Germany
and will forgo his senior year. He is
the third player from the 2018-19
team to leave the program in the
last few months. Jason Faulds’21
(University of Michigan) and Myles
Hanson ’21 (Xavier) are transferring
to other schools. With the loss of
these three big men, Randy Brumant
21 (6'7"), Ike Nweke ’22 (6'7") and
Patrick Tape ’20 (6'11") will get
major playing time.
I attended the 2018 annual
Columbia/Barnard Hillel Seixas
Award Dinner. Jim McMenamin
was one of the honorees. Jim has
been working at Columbia since
1981, when he became Colum-
bia College’s dean of admissions.
Jim and his wife, Sirkka, are the
proud parents of Kira’08; Kim 10,
GSAS’18; and Karli’14, SIPA’18.
See you at Homecoming!
1984
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Dennis Klainberg
Berklay Cargo Worldwide
14 Bond St., Ste 233
Great Neck, NY 11021
dennis@berklay.com
Roar, Lion, Roar to David God-
fried, Philip Hirschhorn and
William Basri, fathers of recently
minted Columbia College grads,
and participants in this year’s
Alumni Parade of Classes!
David’s son Robert ’18 majored
in sociology and is working with the
Center for Strategic and Interna-
tional Studies in Washington, D.C.
After Class Day, Robert’s suitemates
(from Russia, Texas, Minnesota and
Turkey) and their respective families
had a wonderful dinner at Sympo-
sium on West 113th Street.
Philip’s son Paul’18 graduated as
an urban studies major and is look-
ing to pursue a career in law, despite
his father’s decision to do the same.
“I am a shareholder at Buchanan,
Ingersoll & Rooney and head of its
New York office. I am a trial lawyer
primarily litigating patent and com-
plex intellectual property disputes,”
writes Philip.
Bill’s son Noah’18 is in medical
school at Washington University in
St. Louis. As they were traveling in
Europe, Bill and his wife, Nancy Basri
87, ran into her cousin Jon Rutchik
86 on the same flight to Copenha-
gen. It’s a small Columbia world.
Dennis Klainberg and his wife,
Dana Klainberg TC’89, are happy
to celebrate the graduation of their
third child, Sydney Klainberg, from
SUNY Geneseo! Sydney achieved
magna cum laude honors in psychol-
ogy and hopes to pursue a Ph.D.
path in that field, pursuant to a few
year in research.
Shameless dad here: If any of you
know of psych research opportuni-
ties, don’t be shy!
Ahoy, Chase Welles! He writes,
“The Public Art Fund has commis-
sioned noted artist Tauba Auerbach
to reimagine WWI ‘dazzle’ (a.k.a.
marine camouflage) on the historic
1931 FDNY Fireboat John J.
Harvey, in which I have been a
partner since we purchased the boat
in 1999. We offered free trips every
weekend through the summer. The
boat is spectacular.”
Adam Van Doren leaves no
stone unturned! He writes, “I have
been teaching at Yale College for
seven years and recently have writ-
ten a book, The Stones of Yale, which
includes my paintings of 30 Yale
campus buildings, with each paint-
ing accompanied by an essay by me
about that building.”
Adam’s professor at Yale, Robert
A.M. Stern’60 (the recently retired
dean of Yale’s Architecture School)
wrote the foreword.
Better call Ben Pushner! He
says, “Started a job with the Law
Offices of Jeffrey S. Glassman
in downtown Boston (plaintiffs
personal injury law). I welcome
referrals, and if any classmates are
passing through the area, I am
happy to buy them lunch.”
Michael Feldman resists retire-
ment, remains productive! He writes,
Fall 2018 CCT 67
“My wife, Alicia, gave birth to our
son Ezra, as seen by half a million
people on my daughter’s YouTube
channel, bit.ly/2LEhnaf. I am
practicing business litigation with
the law firm of Cheffy Passidomo in
Naples, Fla.”
Dr. Carlton Long, I presume! He
writes, “I received this year my doc-
tor of ministry degree, summa cum
laude, from the Morehouse School
of Religion — Interdenominational
Theological Center, in Atlanta. The
program in practical theology and
ethnography gave me a chance to
return to my great loves: philoso-
phy, language, faith and the ‘social
construction of race.’
“T attended the John Jay Awards
Dinner in March as a guest of
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti
92, SIPA’93, who was being hon-
ored along with four other CC lead-
ers. It was delightful to see Roger
Lehecka ’67, GSAS’74 and many
others who made my experience at
Columbia, as student and instructor,
so deeply meaningful.”
“Papa don't preach,” unless it’s
Daniel Cohen! Daniel was ordained
a reverend in the American Baptist
Churches USA. He is a psychothera-
pist in individual practice and with
the homeless.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, it’s
P. Langham Gleason! “As an adjunct
professor at Texas A&M University-
Kingsville, my pharmacology co-
investigators and I recently received a
grant,” he writes. “We are studying the
gut biome, obesity and neuropsycho-
logical problems in Hispanic children.
Branching out from brain surgery
(still, it’s not rocket science ... ).”
Left to right: Jon Orlin ’’85, Dan Poliak
’°85 and Charles Butler ’85 on a recent
trip to Oregon. Poliak says, “Hard to
believe we met more than 37 years
ago, in August 1981 on Carman 4. We
haven't aged a day.”
68 CCT Fall 2018
Mazel tov, Jonathan Duitch! He
writes, “My daughter Merav gave
birth to a beautiful girl, Libi Dror, in
April 2017. This made us grand-
parents. Just call me Saba, or Saba
sababa. And in March of this year,
my son Nadiv married his beloved
Vicki. So good news all around!”
On July 12, at Prentice Hospital
in Chicago, David Houston Cavicke
was born to Mr. and Mrs. David L.
Cavicke. We hope he will join the
Class of 2040.
Longtime reader, first-time
contributor, Naju Patwa! He writes,
“My wife, Fehmida Chipty (Welles-
ley’88), and I celebrated a triple
graduation of our daughters from
graduate school (Hopkins), college
(Wellesley) and high school (third
child going to Wellesley). All took
the Columbia-Barnard tours but,
alas, no one chose the father’s path.
My wife and I are both physicians at
Winchester Hospital in the wonder-
ful town of Winchester, Mass. ’m
the director of the sleep center and
service chief for the pulmonary
department. I did my training IM/
pulmonary/ICU in the Bronx at
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
at Montefiore and worked a transi-
tional couple of years at Metropoli-
tan Hospital-New York Medical
College. Due to the timing of school
events in our town of Winchester
coinciding with reunion, I wasn't
able to make the trip, but am hoping
that in 2019 I will make it.”
Yes! Hope to see you at our 35th
reunion next June!
1985
Jon White
16 South Ct.
Port Washington, NY 11050
jw@whitecoffee.com
Lots of great updates — thanks to all!
Louis Warren earned the 2018
Bancroft Prize in history from alma
mater for his acclaimed work, God’
Red Son: The Ghost Dance Religion
and the Making of Modern America.
Louis is an American historian and
a W. Turrentine Jackson Professor of
Western U.S. History at UC Davis,
where he teaches environmental
history, the history of the American
West and United States history.
From Seth Schachner BUS’90:
“All is well with the Schachners.
After a dozen years in Miami, we
Left to right: Lee Ilan ’87, Sue Raffman ’87, Amy Asch ’89, Rebecca Turner ’87,
Maya Hartheimer BC’88 and Laurie Gershon ’87 attended the Mostly Mozart
Festival production of Leonard Bernstein's Mass in July.
relocated to Los Angeles, as my
media consulting business has grown
there. Both kids are doing great, my
wife, Allison, is an attorney; and
daughter Liv started high school in
Santa Monica. Happy to reconnect
with Columbia friends in L.A.”
For the last three years Jack
Schorsch has been living in Berlin
and teaching Jewish studies at the
Universitat Potsdam. “I am particularly
excited about the Jewish Activism
Summer School that I founded and
that is running its second program
this year (jassberlin.org). My latest
book is The Food Movement, Culture
and Religion: A Tale of Pigs, Christians,
Jews and Politics. For play therapy I
make collages (jonathanschorsch.
com). I report and opine on my blog,
Another Jew Back in Berlin (https://
jonathanschorsch.wordpress.com).
My partner, Gail Cohen BC’86, and
I have five kids, ranging from 25 to
15. It has been wonderful, miraculous
and fascinating to raise them and learn
from them.”
After graduating from Columbia,
Joe Alt became a New York City
cop and worked 20 glorious years
doing midnights in Central Park.
He writes, “Upon retirement, my
wife, who is a public school teacher,
convinced me that school would be
a nice afterglow environment for
me. To her credit, I’ve been very
happy working as a special ed teach-
ing assistant the last nine years in
a beautiful town in Suffolk County
called Bellport. When I’m not spin-
ning yarns to teenagers, I’m often in
town drinking coffee and watching
the trees and birds.”
Ken Handelman SIPA’86 writes
from Kabul, Afghanistan, where
he is spending a year as the U.S.
government's day-to-day emissary to
the Afghan national security advisor.
Ken observes that after 23 years as a
professional bureaucrat in the Penta-
gon (in a variety of roles that have
actually been extremely rewarding,
he says), he decided it was time for
live entertainment. The good news
is that politics in Kabul, byzantine
as they may be, are calmer than
politics in Washington these days.
Ken says he spends the majority of
his time in the presidential palace,
which is quite safe, working with
the Afghan leadership to bring a
strategic approach to the seemingly
endless war with the Taliban. The
June 2018 ceasefire was a small ray
of hope — the first time in 17 years
of conflict — which everyone in
the political and military classes is
trying to expand upon. Everyone
is sober about the possibilities for
a quick peace, but since 22 of the
99 transnational terrorist groups
recognized by the U.S. intelligence
community have a presence in the
Afghanistan-Pakistan theater, it’s
hard to conceive of just packing
up and leaving. Ken says he would
invite 85ers to drop by for a visit,
but it’s too difficult to get visitors
through the contingent of Georgian
(Tblisi, not Atlanta) troops who are
responsible for perimeter security at
the base: They are tough.
Ken returned home for R&R in
August to help send his older son to
law school at Washington University
and his older daughter to law school
at Penn. Meanwhile, his younger son
began senior year at the College of
Charleston, and his younger daughter
began her freshman year at the Uni-
versity of Delaware's World Scholars
Program in Madrid. Patient spouse
Lisa is holding down the fort in
Bethesda, Md., where all are welcome;
no Georgian perimeter security.
Jim Davidson is an entrepre-
neur, author and peace activist. He
forwarded me a terrific essay, “Dis-
rupting Television,” on the concept
of interactive television. One of the
featured concepts, FreedomT VNet-
works, is working fast to build its
team, design its own cryptocurrency,
implement new software and get its
television networks up and running.
You can check it out on Twitter or at
FreedomT VNetworks.com.
Louis Kanganis BUS’87 and his
wife, Peggie, relocated to Marin, Calif,
last fall from New York. Peggie is a
corporate VP at Williams Sonoma,
focused on the Pottery Barn brand. “I
formed a hybrid investment/operat-
ing partnership in the food sector, so
most of my work is in Sonoma county
and the Central Valley. Several coffee
companies (retail and wholesale) are
in the portfolio. Our most significant
entity is New Barn, which produces
the leading organic almond milk in the
natural food channel. It’s the best and
cleanest product on the market, and we
are very proud of it. We have a full slate
of product diversifications coming over
the next year to build on that success. I
recently parachuted in to New Barn as
its chief financial officer/chief informa-
tion officer to help grow the company.
“The family is doing great. My
son works in operations at Vintus
Wines, the 2017 Wine Enthusiast
Importer of the Year. My stepdaugh-
ter is a sophomore at Penn. Our
little one is a junior in high school
— top 50 nationally in chess in her
age bracket and an All-State athlete
in track. We are very proud of all
of them. And yes, we were all at
the recent Penn-Columbia football
game where the Lions came out on
top in overtime! Columbia is playing
Penn in Philly this October, so we
will probably fly back to see it.”
Antonio Pagan SW’87 began
work as director of finance and
administration of the Columbia
World Projects in May. CWP, a
presidential initiative, aims to apply
the large body of academic and
research knowledge toward resolving
real-world issues. During the coming
year, CWP and academic, private and
public sector partners will launch and
implement projects tackling an array
of world issues such as food insecu-
rity and climate predictions, reducing
carbon footprint using clean forms
of energy, and eliminating financial
inequalities. Projects will test and
apply research findings and measure
effectiveness, impact and replicability
around the globe. Tony is respon-
sible for all project administrative
and finance operations, developing
processes, procedures and policies.
‘The new position also marks Tony’s
return to Columbia’s campus after a
six-year absence.
Ivan Sacks LAW’92 completed
his fifth anniversary as the global
chairman of Withersworldwide, an
innovative international law firm that
focuses on representing individuals
in their personal, business and phil-
anthropic endeavors. It has 17 offices
around the world and during Ivan's
tenure as chairman has expanded
dramatically, especially along the
Pacific, where it has added offices
in Singapore, Australia and Japan,
as well as four offices in California
in the last five years. Ivan remains a
New Yorker when he is not traveling
for his firm and clients, and said his
experiences and studies at Columbia
in East Asian studies, history and
law continue to play a rich part in
informing both his professional life
and personal values every day.
Eric Chenoweth has recently pub-
lished The Alarming Story That Won't
Go Away in The American Interest.
lota Epsilon Pi brothers (left to right) Martin Prince ’87, Ahmet Can ’88 and
Richard Simonds ’87 met for dinner at Nusr’Et Steakhouse in New York City.
Gregory Jarrin reports from
Arizona, where “we have had our
monsoon season with heavy rains
for nearly all of July, causing some
flooding in Northern Arizona. This
week, however, it’s going to dry up
and reach triple digits for the next
three to four days in Winslow.”
Gregory is the Indian Health Ser-
vice chief clinical consultant for sur-
gery, and ran the second annual IHS
Surgeons Conference in Flagstaff,
Ariz., last September. The conference
included lectures on breast cancer,
colorectal cancer and complications of
trauma and acute care surgery, as well
as a hands-on workshop on retrograde
endovascular balloon obstruction of
the aorta (REBOA) — new technol-
ogy in trauma resuscitation.
Finally, Mark Rothman “writes
from an apartment in Jerusalem
my family rented for the last three
weeks of July. It is Tisha B’av, a day of
mourning Jews have marked since the
destruction of the Temple in the first
century of the common era. My wife,
Vicki, and I are here to see our sons
and enjoy Israel. The one who became
an Israeli citizen several years ago
served in the army and is now finish-
ing his first year at Jerusalem Techni-
cal College. The youngest is about to
go into the army, and we will be here
to send him off. Our family will be
united once again when our third son,
actually the middle, Eitan SEAS’17,
will join us late next week.
“This evening we walked down
to the Western Wall, a retaining
wall that is the only remnant of the
Temple. Seeing the wall itself on this
night of millennial commemoration
was both a deep dive through a tour-
ist magnet and a moving experience.
“The trip comes at an auspicious
time. I left my job as the CEO of
a domestic violence shelter at the
end of June and will embark on
new endeavors. I’m developing a life
coaching practice (marklifecoach.
net) and writing a book based on
my experience in men’s circles and
through sponsoring others in 12-step
recovery, and I'll be forming a
partnership with a friend to finance
the purchases of condominium
homeowner associations. I’m also
training for the TCS New York City
Marathon to benefit Sharsheret, an
organization helping women facing
breast cancer, ovarian cancer and
BRCA-gene diagnoses by linking
them with other women who've
experienced the same challenges.
“By the time this is published, the
year of mourning will be over for my
father, Louis Rothman’57 (of blessed
memory). It’s been a tough road in
the last three years, losing first my
mother, Augusta Klieger Rothman
(of blessed memory) and then my
dad. As my second year of mourn-
ing closes, I’m catching glimpses
of the significance of these rites of
passage. As long as at least one parent
was alive, I always knew a period of
mourning awaited, a Damocles sword
hanging over me. I anticipate a kind
of freedom, knowing the anticipation
of these losses is behind me, mixed
with an evolving sadness at how
much of my life I won't be able to
share with my parents.”
1986
Everett Weinberger
50 W. 70th St., Apt. 3B
New York, NY 10023
everett6@gmail.com
Bennett Gordon and his wife,
Katie Jay, are proud to announce the
addition of 3-year-old Haley Hui
Jay-Gordon to their family. They
and their children — Max (22), Jake
(20), Mira (7) and Eliana (5) — are
thrilled with the new addition.
Family Day was March 5, in Hefei,
Anhui Province, China, and Haley
came home to Hollywood, Fla.,
on March 18, accompanied by her
parents and sisters. She is adjusting
well to her new surroundings and is
a joy, say her parents.
Bennett is a financial advisor for
Wells Fargo Advisors in Boca Raton
and Katie is director of Florida
operations and legal services for
Adoption STAR.
Congrats, Bennett and Katie!
Classmates, let’s see your news
here — send me an update at
everett6@gmail.com!
1987
Sarah A. Kass
PO Box 1006
New York, NY 10113
SarahAnn29uk@gmail.com
Many thanks to the incomparable
Lee Ilan for bailing me out at the last
minute and for giving you some great
news to read. Lee writes that Laurie
Gershon rounded up a few former
Fall 2018 CCT 69
members of the Columbia Glee
Club — Lee, Rebecca Turner, Sue
Raffman, Richard Simonds, Maya
Hartheimer BC’88 and Amy Asch
’89 — in July to attend the Mostly
Mozart Festival production of Leon-
ard Bernstein’s Mass, which the Glee
Club had sung at Alice Tully Hall in
1987. Lee says, “It brought back great
memories, and we all managed to
refrain from singing along.”
Lee also wrote: “I attended the
memorial service for Evelyn Reid
BC’87, who inspired so many with
her powerful singing voice and
her work to promote foster care
and adoptions. She was a longtime
member of Farah Chandu’s Willow
Interfaith Women’s Choir, and Farah
and others gave heartfelt remem-
brances. I last saw Evelyn in late
January, when she came out to hear
Rebecca Turner and Sue Raffman
perform Rebecca's original songs at
Espresso 77 in Jackson Heights.”
Lee’s personal news is that she was
honored by the Brownfield Coali-
tion of the Northeast with its 2018
Outstanding Individual Achievement
Award, as she approaches 20 years of
cleaning up brownfields for the City
of New York.
Way to go, Lee!
Have a great fall, everyone! Send
me your news for the Winter issue.
1988
Eric Fusfield
1945 South George Mason Dr.
Arlington, VA 22204
eric@fusfield.com
One index of how much time has
passed since our graduation is that
the last Supreme Court justice to
sit on the bench during our College
years is retiring this year — and one
of our classmates is now serving on
the Court. That’s the difference three
decades can make.
As for me, I was writing around
the time of our last reunion about
the birth of my daughter, Esther.
She started kindergarten this fall,
which means I’m having trouble
figuring out where the last five years
went, let alone the last 30.
The good news about the pass-
ing of 30 years is that our reunion
— well attended and much praised
— took place this year. As Matt
Sod wrote, “I enjoyed seeing many
of our friends and classmates at our
30th reunion. Shared many laughs
with Nick Leone, John Miller and
Dave Putelo over the course of
the weekend. And how great was it
many [more] of our class’ football
alums made the weekend’s festivi-
ties: Mike “Grim” Kennelty, Tony
Natola, Sean Wright, Rich Ritter
and Homer Hill.”
Prior to reunion, Anmet Can
wrote, “I met up with my lota
Epsilon Pi brothers Martin Prince
87 and Richard Simonds’87 at Salt
Bae’s new New York restaurant,
Nusr-Et Steakhouse. Martin is
senior manager at Deloitte and lives
in Connecticut with his wife and
three daughters. Richard is a partner
at Alston & Bird, a New York-based
law firm. He lives in Westchester
with his wife and three sons; the
oldest is a sophomore at Haverford
and the other two are in high school.
“T am the chief operating officer
of Boomset, a startup in the event
management sector, traveling back
and forth between our Istanbul and
Mike Kennelty ’88, Tony Natola ’88, John Miller 88, Sean Wright ’88,
Matt Sodl ’88, Dave Putelo ’88, Nick Leone ’88, Rich Ritter 88 and
Homer Hill 83 at a Columbia football gathering during Reunion 2018.
70 CCT Fall 2018
Clockwise from bottom left, Nick Leone 88, Grace Leone, Matt Sod 88,
John Miller ’88 and Dave Putelo ’88 reconnected at their 30th reunion
this past spring.
New York offices,” Ahmet contin-
ued. “T live in northern New Jersey
with my wife and two boys. The
older is a freshman at Swarthmore
and the younger is a junior at Mont-
clair H.S. who studied at McGill
this past summer. We have an LEP.
Facebook page and were looking
forward to having a mini reunion
this summer.”
Keep the updates coming! I look
forward to hearing from you.
1989
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
cecfund@columbia.edu
Emily Miles Terry
45 Clarence St.
Brookline, MA 02446
emilymilesterry@me.com
T heard from Cristina Mitchell,
who admitted to doing some
“unofficial” Columbia College
Women mentoring. Christina has
been on the clinical faculty at the
Warren Alpert Medical School of
Brown University since she finished
residency there in 2000 and, for
the last couple of years, has been
involved with a new program in
which students spend most of their
third year working with doctors
in different specialties one day a
week. Cristina writes, “For the last
year, I got to work with Michelle
Diop 13 (C@i13 gulp!), who is
super smart and an all-around cool
person. It has been great compar-
ing our CC experiences — we both
had Deborah Mowshowitz for bio!
I live in Providence (now known to
some as the sixth borough), with my
husband, Roger Blumberg ’83, who
still pines for Morningside Heights,
and our daughter, Ellie (16). I would
love it if classmates passing through
PVD on their college tours would
get in touch.”
In April I attended Columbia
College Women’s event at Casa
Italiana, featuring New York Times
investigative reporter Jodi Kan-
tor 96, who broke the Harvey
Weinstein story, and Columbia
Professor of Psychology Val-
erie Purdie-Greenaway 93, who
researches biases against women
and minorities. It was fascinating to
hear about the investigation from
Jodi interwoven with Professor
Purdie-Greenaway’s psychologi-
cal context and insights. The event
was also a mini-CC’89 reunion,
where I caught up with Kimberly
Sautelle Neuhaus, Julie Trelstad,
Stephanie Falcone, Lisa Landau
Carnoy (who, after 25-plus years in
banking, has joined AlixPartners as
chief financial officer), Amy Rinzler
Weinreich and as many other
women from our era.
Cristina Mitchell 89 and Michelle
Diop 13 work together at Brown
University Medical School.
alumninews
At the CCW event there were
several alumnae with their daugh-
ters, including Julie Trelstad, a
book publishing strategist whose
daughter, Elizabeth Trelstad 16,
started an exciting venture, Beaker,
a company which, in plain English,
“provides chemicals.” Elizabeth
majored in chemistry and says, “At
Beaker we're on a mission to bring
scientific rigor and transparency to
the creative narrative of consumer
packaged goods.”
Michael Behringer had just
about the best excuse for not
returning a phone call — he was in
Africa at Victoria Falls celebrating
his birthday and his 15th wedding
anniversary with his wife, Nisha,
and their family. Michael writes,
“T was out of the country for most
of June. If you are still collecting
50th birthday celebrations for
Class Notes (I am at the very tail
end of our year, December 22),
we celebrated my big birthday
with a three-week trip through
Southern Africa and the kids.
‘The in-laws joined, as well, for a
portion of the trip. Nisha and I
honeymooned in Africa, so it was
extra special to return to places
like Victoria Falls — almost to
the date — but this time with the
whole family in tow.”
Michael is getting our next
(I-refuse-to-do-the-math) Reunion
Committee going now, so please write
to tell me if youre planning to attend,
and mark your calendars for Thursday,
May 30-Saturday, June 1, 2019.
‘Those interested in getting
involved with Reunion 2019 plan-
ning should please reach out to the
Alumni Office via the emails at the
top of the column.
1990
Rachel Cowan Jacobs
youngrache@hotmail.com
Time for a check-in with Warigia
Bowman. Rigia recently accepted
a position as assistant law professor
at the University of Tulsa College
of Law, which is a top 50 private
research university. Her focus is
water law, natural resources law, and
administrative law and regulated
industries. After almost 10 years as
a professor at universities in Mis-
sissippi, Egypt and Arkansas, she’s
thrilled to be in Oklahoma because
it’s only one state away from her
home state of New Mexico. Rigia’s
children are 12, 10 and 9, and they
keep her busy, as one would expect.
Rigia loves to garden and pickle and
still wants to own a low rider, and
is working on that goal, along with
her goal of owning goats, cows and
sheep. She’s in touch with Margie
Ramos, Mario Hurtado, Sally
Barnes (née Graham) and Paul
Barnes, Eric Haxthausen and
Martin Benjamin.
Eleni Demetriou Passalaris
attended a lecture at Princeton given
in May by Columbia Professor
Jennifer Lee. [Editor’s note: See
“Lions,” this issue.] Not a coinci-
dence that Jitendra Joshi was there
to hear Jennifer, too. Unfortunately,
no photos were taken.
Speaking of no photos, in May
I attended a Columbia College
Women gathering at the home of
Amy Zalman. This lovely event was
co-hosted by Melissa Steinman
and additional representation from
our class came in the form of Liz
CC’89 classmates (left to right) Lisa Landau Carnoy, Emily Miles Terry,
Amy Weinreich Rinzler and Stephanie Falcone Bernik gathered at
Columbia College Women’s signature spring event in April.
Lubow Poston. CC’90 was literally
in the house!
It was also in Montreal, in July,
when 80 percent of East Campus
820 (Judy Shampanier, Laura
Frank, Robin Wald SEAS’90 and
I) road-tripped to celebrate our
50th birthdays. Robin proved her
engineering skills remain sharp,
managing to fit four suitcases in a
teeny hybrid’s trunk. Hitting almost
every church and kosher restaurant
in the city, we proved that we are
in better shape now than we were
in the 1980s, averaging nine miles
of walking per day and very little
alcohol! Flashback/no flashback,
Laura had to skip some sightsee-
ing to work on a research paper for
school. No joke, folks. She’s actually
pretty close to done on her disserta-
tion for her history Ph.D. from the
University of Maryland. She and
her two college-aged children (one
is a junior at Maryland, the other
is a sophomore at Hunter College
and a Macaulay Scholar) can all do
homework together!
‘The night before our departure,
Dan Sackrowitz and his wife,
Rachel, came to Judy’s house for din-
ner. He’s preparing for our old age,
working for a hearing aid company.
Isaac-Daniel Astrachan is doing
well, still at Stephen B. Jacobs, still
cheering on son Aidhan in his soccer
endeavors. Because Isaac did such an
outstanding job remodeling Judy’s
first kitchen, he’s going to be design-
ing the kitchen in her present house.
Sharon Rogers was in New
York in June for the bar mitzvah of
Laura’s youngest son but wasn't able
to join us in Montreal because she,
too, has a dissertation to write.
If you are tired of not seeing your
name in print, there’s an easy fix for
that! Write to me at youngrache@
hotmail.com — the longer your
update, the better this column will be.
1991
Margie Kim
margiekimkim@hotmail.com
No news this time, CC’91! Let’s
have a giant column for the Winter
issue — send me news about what
you got up to this summer, or share
any big plans you have for 2019.
Your classmates want to hear from
you, so shoot me an update at
margiekimkim@hotmail.com!
Left to right: Robin Wald SEAS’90,
Laura Frank ’90, Rachel Cowan
Jacobs ’90 and Judy Shampanier
90 road-tripped to Montreal in July
to celebrate their 50th birthdays.
1992
Olivier Knox
olivier.knox@gmail.com
Robert Carey wrote in with a
professional update. “After 11 years
of running my own trade-journalism
and content-marketing firm, I’ve gone
back to the corporate world as an
employee of London-based Informa, a
leading business intelligence, academic
publishing, knowledge and events
business,” he emailed.
In August, Robert says, he
became a senior editor for Meet-
ingsNet, which covers the meeting/
convention/trade show/special event
industry, which he has tracked over
his entire career. “In fact, Charles
Butler’85 hired me as an edito-
rial intern at Successful Meetings
magazine in early 1992, so I would
take the subway to midtown for a
half day of work and then return
to campus for afternoon classes.
Charles added me to the full-time
staff after graduation, and I stayed
there 15 years,” Robert says. This
gig is a remote position, “so I will
continue to split my time between
Phoenix and New York,” he adds.
This column needs your notes!
Send them to me at olivier.knox@
gmail.com.
Fall 2018 CCT 71
Class Notes
1995
Betsy Gomperz
betsy.gomperz@gmail.com
“Exceeded expectations!” “So.
Much. Fun.” and “Best reunion yet!”
were just a few of the enthusiastic
comments I heard in the days and
weeks following our reunion. Neil
Turitz and the Reunion Commit-
tee did an amazing job preparing a
fun-filled weekend and also devot-
ing significant energy to a PR and
communication plan — brilliantly
and effectively carried out by the
entire committee, but especially by
Rebecca Boston and Paul Bua
— that got so many classmates to
attend. Thank you!
During the three days of events I
was thrilled to see so many familiar
faces defying time. Events kicked
off on Thursday, May 31, at V&T,
where the Reunion Committee
hosted a dinner; it sold out! Dinner
was followed by an outing to nearby
bar Amity Hall, where even more
classmates showed up. That evening,
I caught up with Eric Alto GSAPP
96, who lives in NYC and is an
architect and Addison Golladay,
who recently married and is a
lawyer in NYC. There was also Ezra
Kenigsberg, who lives in Austin,
Texas, with his wife and child and
works in software design; Jessica
Wollman, who lives in Brooklyn
and works in education; Jehanne
Henry, an attorney for Human
Rights Watch based in New York,
Nick Kottak, who lives in Maryland
with his wife and three kids and is
Columbia
College
Alumni
n Facebook
Oo
facebook.com/alumnicc
Like the page to get
alumni news, learn
about alumni events
an
d College happenings,
view photos and more.
72 CCT Fall 2018
a professor of anthropology; Rita
Pietropinto-Kitt, who devotes
significant time to Columbia, lives
in New York, has three children and
is married to Tom Kitt’96 (who has
won a Pulitzer and Tony Awards in
collaboration with Brian Yorkey);
Zach Meisel, who lives in Phila-
delphia and is a doctor; Yumi Koh,
a money manager based in Atlanta;
Joe Ori, an attorney based in
Chicago; August Leming, an entre-
preneur and executive coach who
lives in New Jersey with his wife and
son; Steven Rivo, a documentarian
based in Brooklyn; David Shimkin,
an attorney living in Los Angeles;
Tina Chai, who lives in New York
and has spent years working in the
fashion industry, Doug Meehan
BUS’08, who works for an invest-
ment firm, is married to Caroline
Suh and lives in Brooklyn with their
daughter; Chris Tessin, who made
the trip from Seattle; Pete Sluzska,
who lives in Brooklyn with his
family and is an animation director,
and Matt DeFilippis, who works in
music licensing for ASCAP.
On Friday, cocktails were held
on the roof deck at the Dream
Hotel in Midtown, followed by
a visit to Tom’s diner, where we
took over the place entirely and
chowed down on some late-night
eats — especially some milkshakes
and fries with gravy. Sure enough,
even more classmates joined the
fun! It was great to see both Chris
Collins SEAS’93 and Craig Col-
lins — Chris lives in San Francisco
and Craig lives in Portland, Maine,
and I still have trouble telling them
apart. I also caught up with Kevin
Connolly, owner of a swimming
pool maintenance company on Long
Island called Aquaman and married
with three kids; Christine Dicks
Coster, who lives in Florham Park,
N.J., with her family and is a finan-
cial planner; Liz Hale BC’93, who
is a doctoral candidate in education
policy at Harvard; Valerie Purdie-
Greenaway, a superstar professor at
Columbia hard at work on a book;
Joel Lusman BUS’99, who lives in
Greenwich with his wife and two
children and is a money manager
(after running his own hedge
fund); Chad Moore, a video game
designer living in Mission Viejo,
Calif., with his wife and two kids,
Joel Cramer, who lives in Chicago
with his wife and three kids; Matt
Streem, an entrepreneur who lives
outside of Cleveland with his wife
and two kids; Matt Thompson,
who lives in Colorado with his wife
and son and owns and operates a
mountain bike trail design/build
company; Thad Sheely, who is
in Atlanta with his wife and two
boys and who is the chief financial
officer for the Atlanta Hawks; Drew
Stevens SEAS’93, who lives in
San Francisco with his wife and two
kids and is a software designer and
shirt designer (drewshanklin.com);
Joe Saba, a musician who owns
his own original music licensing
company and lives in Brooklyn with
his wife, Jennifer Fetner BC’93,
and two children; Jeff Sweat, an
author who started with our class,
left for two years and then returned;
Julien Vulliez 92, SEAS’93, a 3-2
engineer who now lives in Houston
with his family; and Kartik Seshan
SEAS’93, a technology investor
who lives in New York with his wife
and daughter and is relocating to
Singapore later this year.
On Saturday there was an all-
class luncheon on South Lawn and
in the evening our class “dinner” was
held at Faculty House in conjunc-
tion with Barnard and Engineering.
I say “dinner,” in quotation marks
because this year there was a twist.
Rather than a sit-down affair, as in
years past, the Reunion Committee
came up with the idea to dispose
of that concept and instead host
a three-hour cocktail party. It was
a smashing success, and everyone
loved it. Getting the chance to
mingle with old friends for an
extended period — and yes, even
make new ones — made the evening
even that more special before
everyone headed to Low Steps for
the Starlight Celebration’s “dancing
under the stars,” (or “dancing in the
rain,” as it turned out).
I enjoyed seeing Jennifer Hays
Woods, who came from Indiana,
where she is a lawyer and raises
her two daughters (and sadly lost
her husband suddenly in 2016);
Alyson Berliner, the first person I
met at Columbia, and who lives in
New York with her daughter; Tom
Casey, a money manager who lives
in Connecticut with his wife and
four children; Andrew Ceresney,
an SEC enforcement lawyer, who
lives in New York with his wife and
children; Melissa de la Cruz-
Johnston, a young adult fic-
tion writer extraordinaire, who
lives in L.A. with her husband
and daughter; Sean Doherty, a
plastic surgeon living in Boston,
Mercedes Falciglia, a doctor who
lives in Connecticut; Jessie Auth,
who lives in New Jersey with her
daughter, Rhanda Moussa and
Dan Gillies SEAS’93, both lawyers
who live in New York with their
kids; Linda Lipsius, who lives in
Denver, with her husband and is
an entrepreneur; Sara Niego, a
psychiatrist who lives in Fairfield,
Conn., with her husband and three
kids; my Carman 11 floormate
Lorenzo Wyatt BUS’02, who is a
private contractor in Connecticut;
Sandra Fahy, who teaches history
at The Packer Collegiate Institute in
Brooklyn; and Jennifer Larrabee,
who is a lawyer for HBO and lives
in New Jersey with her husband and
two daughters. I also loved seeing
Shiva Sooudi Farouki, Catherine
Van Dusen, Hyon Su Kwon, Nina
Abraham Lieberman, Antoine
Mitchell, Oliver Staley, Amanda
Schachter, Elena Cabral, Molly
Harris, Paul Sangillo, Greg Lang,
Karla Lema, John Philip, Mar
Wolf, Aimee Cervera Rank and
Mary Thompson SEAS’93.
Alan Cohn, Alan Freeman
and I have a longstanding tradition
of visiting our fathers’ Class of
1958 dinner, but this year the 60th
reunion class was not on campus, so
we enjoyed our own class festivities.
Both Alans are lawyers, live in the
D.C. area with their families and
contributed to the weekend — Alan
Cohn gave a presentation on cyber-
security issues to the Class of 1958
at its luncheon and Alan Freeman
did a lot to spearhead fundraising
efforts for our class.
Finally, there was a special
moment where Neil Turitz and
Alan Freeman paid tribute to the
classmates we have lost, including a
special testimonial to Rachel Mintz,
Neil’s Reunion Committee co-chair,
who died of uterine cancer in January.
As Neil noted, the V&T event and
the notion of turning the Saturday
dinner into an extended party were
Rachel’s ideas, and it felt like she was
there with us that evening.
Another person who was with us,
literally, was James Mitchell, who
provided a much-needed moment of
levity after the somber tribute to our
lost classmates. Mistakenly listed
as one of the people who had died,
he pointed out that he is, in fact,
very much alive, was present and
enjoying the festivities very much,
thank you! The ER doctor lives in
the Maryland suburbs of D.C. with
his family, and his Lazarus-like rise
from “the dead” turned into one of
the most unintentionally hilarious
moments of the entire weekend.
Again, it was wonderful to be
back in New York with so many
familiar faces. In fact, a group of
us decided to relive the old days
and stay in the dorms (Wallach)
— Jenny Hoffman, Ali Towle,
Julie Hassan, George Hassan,
Patti Lee, Robyn Tuerk, Sandi
Johnson and an extra appearance
by Joe Calcagno! Our location had
the added advantage of proximity
for late-night visits to Koronet!
This column only captures a
fraction of classmates who attended
reunion, so please send me addi-
tional updates on classmates with
whom you reconnected so I can
include more in the next column!
1994
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Leyla Kokmen
lak6@columbia.edu
DeAnna Gossett BUS’99 is a busi-
ness professor in Los Angeles, and she
and her husband, Sharron Gossett,
have five children. “We also have a
1-year-old grandson,” she writes. “My
son Randy Person, whom some might
remember from sophomore year, is 26
and finished his master’s in education
at the University of Pennsylvania
last year. He works at St. George’s, a
boarding school in Rhode Island.”
Class Notes are submitted by
alumni and edited by volunteer
class correspondents and the
staff of CCT prior to publication.
Opinions expressed are those
of individual alumni and do not
reflect the opinions of CCT,
its class correspondents, the
College or the University. By
submitting to Class Notes, you
acknowledge that the text is eli-
gible to appear in print as well as
on CCT Online and in archives.
Paul Bollyky has been busy
at Stanford, teaching, practicing
medicine and running a research lab.
He invites you to check out the lab’s
work at bollykylab.com. “We live
on campus,” Paul writes, “and it’s all
about as close as I’m likely to get to
my dream of living in one of those
pre-war apartments on Riverside
Drive and teaching at Columbia.”
James Bradley is a psychologist
in private practice in Aventura, a
suburb of Miami. “I live in Miramar,
Fla., with my wife and three sons,”
he writes. “On the weekends, I can
be found fishing off of Marathon in
the Florida Keys.”
Shira Boss ’93 shared an update
about Chad Finley GSAS’06, who’s
been making the rounds in the
media sharing insights on astropar-
ticle physics. Chad was an author on
a cover story in Science journal and
was also quoted in The Washington
Post and heard on NPR. “Chad was
a Rabi Scholar at the College and
is a physics professor at Stockholm
University in Sweden,” Shira writes.
“He has been involved in the Ice
Cube project to detect neutrinos for
more than a decade — including a
hands-on research trip to the South
Pole. For the past many months
he has been one of the scientists
analyzing data from a handful of
high-energy neutrinos picked up by
their detectors buried in the glacier
at the South Pole. In short, they
have the first answer to a decades-
old scientific question of where do
neutrinos come from — these came
from a blazar four billion light years
away/ago.”
Also in the news recently was
Kate Gutman BUS’01, who joined
Gannett’s USA Today Network as
head of content ventures. In this
newly created role, Kate oversees the
company’s non-news content brands,
including the food-blog network
Grateful Ventures, the sports site For
The Win and other brands. She also
oversees Gannett’s digital video and
podcast studios, as well as a variety of
live events. Previously, Kate was VP
of strategy and digital media at A+E
Networks International.
Danny Franklin started a job as
a partner at Bully Pulpit Interactive,
a strategic communications firm
that worked on each of the last three
presidential elections, as well as for
causes and corporations.
Change is afoot for Kathryn
Hudacek Harlow: “As our youngest
adlumninews
son, Alex, entered Cornell this fall,
my husband and I sought to adjust to
the empty nest,” she writes. “I experi-
enced a revolution by morphing from
a cat person into a dog person. (If any
of you remember, Rebecca Boston
93 and I kept a contraband pet cat
in Furnald junior year because I had
to have cats in my life). John and I
brought home a Spinone Italiano
named Oochy, and he is a versatile
hunting dog. His breed is meant to
be aggressive and point, flush and
fetch game birds. We've discovered
Oochy would rather be groomed,
petted and chase butterflies. Maybe
we ll show him, as his father was
Westminster Dog Show champion. I
wish I hadn't waited so long to bring
dogs into my life.”
Kathryn even commissioned a
portrait of Oochy by Michelle Rivera
88; you can see examples of Michelle’s
work at michelleriveraoriginalart.com.
And finally, Mary Killackey
writes that all is well in New
Orleans — and she’s putting in an
early plug to remember our 25th
reunion next year. Make your plans!
Thanks, all!
1995
Janet Lorin
jrf10@columbia.edu
Congratulations to David Wienir,
whose fourth book, Amsterdam
Exposed: An American’ Journey Into
the Red Light District, has been
published. The memoir tells the true
story of when he moved to the Neth-
erlands to write a book about the
district, and everything that followed.
Kirkus Reviews calls it “a provocative,
enlightening, humorous, and impres-
sively executed guide to Amsterdam's
twilight world.” [Editor’s note: See
“Bookshelf,” this issue. |
At his day job, David is an enter-
tainment lawyer and senior business
affairs executive at United Talent
Agency in Beverly Hills; he’s also
taught entertainment law at UCLA
Extension for more than a decade.
He previously practiced at Gang,
‘Tyre, Ramer & Brown in Los Ange-
les and Grubman, Indursky & Shire
in New York, where he represented
artists, including Madonna, and
Steven Spielberg.
In 2015, David married “Dr.
Dina.” She was the inspiration for
the Nancy Botwin character in the
cable show Weeds and was named
the “Queen of Medical Marijuana in
LA” by Rolling Stone, he writes.
All eyes are on Texas, where
Democrat Beto O’Rourke is chal-
lenging Ted Cruz for his Senate
seat. Beto represents El Paso in the
House. In July, Beto’s campaign
announced he had raised $10.4
million for the three months ending
June 30 — more than double Cruz’s
$4.6 million tally, according to the
Dallas Morning News.
1996
Ana S. Salper
ana.salper@nyumc.org
Happy fall, classmates! I went
to campus a couple of times this
summer, and maybe it’s just me, but
somehow every time I set foot on
campus I get what my son Max calls
“that happy feeling.” That feeling
of complete and utter happiness,
when absolutely nothing can bring
you down. The campus vibrates with
a wonderful combination of intel-
lectual energy, excitement, memories
and history. Just putting that out
there — perhaps in an effort to
beg you to PLEASE SEND ME
NOTES so that we can all read
about one another and perhaps col-
lectively share “that happy feeling.”
One of the programs I attended
on campus was a great event orga-
nized by Columbia College Women.
It was an evening of conversation
between Jodi Kantor, our Pulitzer-
Prize winning classmate who broke
the Harvey Weinstein story, and
Columbia Professor of Psychology
Valerie Purdie-Greenaway ’93, who
researches biases against women and
minorities. It was a fantastic event,
filled with alumnae from different
class years. I spent time chatting
with Erica Bens (née Sulkowski),
Justine Schiro and Rose Kob.
Rhonda Moore was also in
attendance, as was our very own
Columbia College Associate Dean
of Alumni Relations and Communi-
cations Bernice Tsai.
I recently spent time with Barbara
Antonucci at the beach on the East
End of Long Island. Barbara lives
in San Francisco with her husband,
Nicholas Mercer, and her kids, Giada
“Gia” (11) and Maximilian “Max”
(9). Barbara, a partner at Constangy
Brooks Smith & Prophete, was
Fall 2018 CCT 73
recently made deputy chair of the San
Francisco office of the national labor
and employment law firm.
lan Lendler recently published a
children’s picture book, The Absolutely,
Positively No Princesses Book! Jan
writes that it promises a total and
utter lack of princesses (although,
to be honest, one or two may have
snuck in somehow). Kirkus Reviews
wrote, “Frenetic dialogue and charis-
matic protagonists bring a page-turn-
inspiring energy to the story.”
I have nothing more to report.
I beg you to please write in — let’s
make our next column a robust one!
Here is my inspiration for the fall:
“Fight for the things that you care
about, but do it in a way that will lead
others to join you.” — Justice Ruth
Bader Ginsburg LAW’59
1997,
Kerensa Harrell
kvh1@columbia.edu
Dear classmates, I hope you all had
an enjoyable summer! I am happy to
present to you our class photo from
last summer’s 20-year reunion. It
was taken just before we sat down to
our Saturday dinner on June 3, 2017,
in the SIPA building. I am the one
in the front row wearing a pink silk
shantung wrap dress and holding
my then 7-month-old baby, Amara,
who was wearing a matching pink
tutu. My baby is fixated on Leslie
Kendall Dye, who is immediately
to my right. Leslie was wearing her
grandmother’s lovely pearl necklace
that evening, and I’m afraid my
baby found it utterly irresistible as
we were posing! This most likely
explains why Leslie has turned away
from us by the time the photo was
snapped, and I don't blame her for
wanting to protect her priceless
inherited pearls from the repeated
attempts of a pair of tiny, monkeyish
hands to snatch them away and then
most likely chew on them.
Let me see if I can identify a few
more classmates in the photo —
that’s Katie Karpenstein standing
just behind the number seven, and
Raji Kalra immediately to Katie’s left,
holding up the edge of the banner.
And then in the front row on the far
right are Sareeta Amrute, wearing
solid black, and to her left is Jyoti
Thakkar wearing solid orange. I wish
I could identify more, but being an
74 CCT Fall 2018
By popular demand, a photo from the Class of 1997’s Saturday dinner at Reunion 2017!
introvert I’m afraid I didn’t do much
socializing during my college days!
Our first update comes from Les-
lie Kendall Dye, who lives on the
Upper West Side with her husband
and their daughter, Lydia. She writes
essays and articles and is working
on a book. Our paths never crossed
when we were students. As far as we
can both recall, we met only when
we happened to be standing next
to each other as we posed for the
aforementioned photo. It was only
for a few moments, and we did not
even introduce ourselves by name. A
few months later, I received a friend
request from her on Facebook, and
she confided that the reason she
sent me the request was because she
noticed my political leanings and
found me to be a kindred spirit.
I am glad we connected, because
Leslie and I have now teamed up for
some necessary charity work. I will
let Leslie tell you all about what we
started doing this summer. She writes,
“Recently I have been volunteering
with a new organization, Immigrant
Families Together, which is devoted
to raising money for the purpose of
freeing detained immigrant mothers
who were forcibly separated from
their children after crossing the bor-
der. IFT supports them through their
process of applying for asylum and
being reunited with their children. In
our first two weeks of operation,
IFT has successfully freed seven
mothers from ICE detention facilities
and driven them to the various
states where their children have been
transferred. We expect to repeat this
many more times. Our slogan is
‘One Woman at a Time.’ Find us at
immigrantfamiliestogether.com.”
Deb Feldman shared some excit-
ing news regarding what she wound
up doing toward the end of last year.
She spent the last two months of
2017 on the road with her 11-year-
old son, Edward Turner, who was
on tour with the Broadway show 4
Christmas Story, The Musical. Edward
played the principal role, Ralphie, in
12 cities during a whirlwind eight
weeks. Deb worked remotely while
on the road with Edward. She works
in NYC and is the co-founder at
Gray Scalable, a New York- and
Los Angeles-based HR consultancy
providing embedded recruiting
support, organizational planning,
management coaching, training,
compensation planning and design,
and other HR services for high-
growth companies. She also sings
professionally in NYC. She and her
husband, Ed, live in New Jersey with
Edward and their 9-year-old twins,
Morgan and Loren.
Lauren Goodman Dell left law
firm practice this past March after
12 years to join Brown Advisory as
a strategic advisor in its New York
office. She will use her tax, trusts and
estates and charitable governance
experience to help individual fami-
lies and endowment and charitable
foundation clients. She says that she
is excited to be starting this career
chapter at such a great company.
Melissa Morrone edited a book,
Human Operators: A Critical Oral
History on Technology in Libraries
and Archives (libraryjuicepress.com/
human-operators.php).
As for me, Kerensa Harrell,
I have not been sleeping too well
lately. As I finish this column, it
is mid-July. I keep thinking about
all the babies, toddlers and other
children who have been forcibly
separated from their parents by
ICE after these asylum-seeking
immigrant families crossed illegally
into the United States at our South-
western border, many having fled
from violence in Central America.
My heart aches for these thousands
of poor children and their parents,
and I shudder to think about the
irreparable psychological damage
that this cruel practice of forced
separation is doing to these families.
Studies show that such a traumatic
separation from their parents can
create a lifetime of emotional and
even physical problems for the child.
As a mother, I can imagine
what sheer agony it must be for the
parents to have their children taken
away, and then spend months not
knowing where their children are
or whether they are being taken
care of. Each moment not knowing
where your child is must feel like
an eternity. Some of these children
were still breastfed infants, whom
the guards ripped away from their
mother’s breast while being nursed.
Our federal government, directed
by an iniquitous administration, has
malevolently abducted thousands
of children and shipped them off to
dozens of states across our country
in hopes of deterring future asylum
seekers once they hear of these
horror stories. I firmly believe that
this administration's policy of forced
separation is an act of child abuse,
and is so evil that those responsible
should be brought up in front of The
Hague for crimes against humanity.
I feel that I cannot even find the
right words right now to express
how devastated my soul feels at the
knowledge that this is happening
now. It is a dark era for our nation
and I fear we are heading toward
fascism. The America of today
strikes me as eerily similar to Berlin
circa 1930, and I can only hope that
come November, there will be a big
blue wave to save us.
Class Notes
|
CHRIS BALMER '07, SOA'14
Well, now that I have perhaps
set myself up for being sent off to
an Alaskan gulag once they begin
rounding up the intelligentsia (if
I may flatter myself), let me wrap
up this column with a song. I'd like
to cue the old lullaby “You Are My
Sunshine” and dedicate it to all the
little ones who are currently crying
out for their parents due to forced
separation by ICE. I wish so badly
that I could scoop up all these sad
little children right now, tell them
they needn't worry anymore and
then quickly take them to their
parents. It is one of the songs that
I often sing to my own baby when
she needs soothing, and it has sen-
timental value in my family, as my
guitar-playing paternal grandfather
used to sing it to put my father to
sleep when my father was a young
boy in the 1950s. My paternal
grandfather lived to his 90s, passing
away in 2016, just a few weeks after
my baby was born, and even when
he was in his 90s and my father in
his 60s, to our great amusement my
father would still fall peacefully right
to sleep as we all sat in the parlor at
my grandparents’ house if my grand-
father grabbed his guitar and started
singing this particular song.
Blessings to all, and please do
send me your updates!
1998
Sandie Angulo Chen
sandie.chen@gmail.com
Welcome to the 20th reunion
Class Notes! I thought it was the
best reunion we've had so far. Let
me start by thanking my fellow
members of the reunion committee:
co-chairs Andy Topkins, Emily
Youngs, Eric Hopp and Jaren
Janghorbani, and members Julie
Yufe, Adria N. Armbrister Mak-
oOuangou, Jen Chung, Daniel Oh,
Scarla Pineda Chevalier, Lizzie
Simon, Arnold Kim and Suehyun
Kim. A special shout-out to Amol
Sarva, who hosted our opening
reception and was generally a sup-
portive ringleader.
We had 166 attendees, among
them Tomachukwu Acholonu,
Michelle Albrecht, Alejandra
Almonte, Arjun Banerjee,
Jaydeep Bhatt, Lucio Biase,
Ruth Bieler, Jeremy Blacklow,
Anne Bowers, Saverio Brighina,
Janice Brown, Lauren Brust,
Lisette Camilo, Cathy Chang,
Chas Sisk, Katherine Coffin,
Rully Rochmat, Afari Dwamena,
Natalie Edwards, Ezra Freedman,
Ben Gardiner, Ilya Gertsberg,
Amy Herbert, Timothy How-
ell, Michele Hyndman-Hodge,
Edline Jacquet, Silvie Jensen,
Angelique Jewell, Elon Johnson,
Andrew Johnston, Ann Kans-
field, Adam Kolasinski, Jordan
Konig, Ben Kornfeind, Jeannette
Jakus, Sarah Sharfstein Kawa-
saki, Andras Kovacs, Grace Lee,
Teresa Lopez-Castro, Erin McCo-
nkey, Michael McCosker, Meena
Merchant, William Miller, Megan
Mulligan, Tanya Nebo, Nicole
Nembhard, Corey Newhouse,
Adam Nguyen, Derrick Nunnally,
Chloe O’Brien, Veronica Lei,
Taylor Ortiz, Aurelie Paradiso,
Daniel Pianko, Melissa Pianko,
Megan Enright, Scott Parkes,
Zachary Pelleriti, Zita Peterlin,
Eunie Popp, Matthew Purdy,
Nitchet Quarles, Joshua Ratner,
Elizabeth Riordan, Cara Rosen-
Left to right: Class of 98 members Scott Parkes, Anne Bowers, Michelle
Ahn, Taylor Ortiz and David Keogh SEAS’98 at Reunion 2018.
alumninews §
baum, Adalis Sanchez, Thomas
Sanford, Adrian Sas, Dayce
Schrieber, Gretchen Schumann,
Melissa Scott, Teresa Segura,
Maxim Strongin, Aviva Sufian,
Melinka Thompson-Godoy, Tif-
fany Tolbert, Jeffrey Tse, Jackie
Vo, Jonathan Tua, Julie Sensat
Waldren, Carolina Wyka and
James Zimmerman.
Apologies if I missed your
name, but that’s from the final
pre-registration guest list! Here
are some updates from reunion:
In addition to the Thursday night
welcome reception hosted by Amol,
we also gathered again for drinks
and conversation at a Friday night
cocktail party, and then Saturday
was full of activities on campus. One
standout event was a special Ethnic
Studies lunch panel organized by
Adria, who moderated the discus-
sion about the 1996 ethnic studies
protests and how they affected and
impacted our class. On hand to talk
about their perspectives were Felice
Bell SEAS’97, Elbert Garcia ’97,
Hans Chen’97, Frances Negrén-
Muntaner (professor of English and
Comparative Literature and previ-
ous director of the Center for the
Study of Ethnicity and Race) and
me. The reunion’s highlight, however
was the class dinner on Saturday,
followed by the Starlight Celebra-
tion on Low Plaza.
Julie Sensat Waldren writes,
“T live in Madison, Wis., with my
husband and 7-year-old daughter.
We visited Columbia together
during reunion and also had a great
time visiting the Statue of Liberty. It
was so great to visit campus, connect
with friends and feel the energy of
the city again! I am an organiza-
tional development consultant at a
K-12 ed-tech company”
Kirsten Wegner lives in Wash-
ington, D.C., with her husband
and their three children. She is the
CEO of Modern Markets Initiative,
which, according to LinkedIn, is an
education and advocacy organization
devoted to the role of technological
innovation in creating the world’s
best markets. Kirsten is known for
her thought leadership in advanc-
ing secure savings and investment
through innovation.
Teresa Lopez-Castro attended
with her husband, Luis Gispert. Teresa
and Luis live in Crown Heights and
have a 3-year-old preschooler. Teresa
is an assistant professor of psychology
Jordan Konig ’98 and Sandie Angulo
Chen '98 enjoyed the festivities at
their 30th reunion.
at City College. Luis is a professional
artist and photographer.
Angelique Jewell may have
traveled the farthest to attend
reunion. She lives in Nanchang,
China, where she’s the academic
chair for foreign courses and writ-
ing teacher at the Attached High
School to Jiangxi Normal University.
Angelique has taught both in the
country and as an expat for years.
Edline Jacquet is married to
Mario Cancel. They have a 4-year-
old, Gabriela, and live in Morning-
side Heights. Edline is a director of
policy at FPWA (formerly Federa-
tion of Protestant Welfare Agen-
cies), while her husband is pursuing
a doctoral degree in ethnomusicol-
ogy at Columbia.
Brook Shepard and his wife,
Xhenete, split their time between
Red Hook, Brooklyn, and their
country house in Kingston, N.Y.
‘They have a son, Mason (9). Brook
runs a boutique digital ad agency,
Mason Interactive.
Scott Grimm and his wife,
Nadine, are both professors in lin-
guistics at the University of Roches-
ter. They have a son, Henry (3). Scott
and Nadine met in Ghana, Africa,
in summer 2008. Nadine, who’s
German, was teaching at a summer
school for documentary linguistics
while Scott was researching a Gha-
naian language in the same coastal
town. They were married in 2013.
Cara Rosenbaum moved back
to New York City after many years
as a physician in Chicago. She is
a hematologist/oncologist at New
York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell
Medical Center with an expertise in
treating blood cancers, specifically
Fall 2018 CCT 75
Submit
Your
multiple myeloma and amyloidosis.
She’s also an assistant professor of
medicine at Weill Cornell Medical
College. She lives on the Upper East
Side and said she'd love to get back
in touch with classmates in the area!
Sarah Sharfstein Kawasaki is
also a physician; she’s at the Penn
State Milton S. Hershey Medi-
cal Center in central Pennsylvania.
Sarah is also an assistant professor of
psychiatry and director of addiction
services at Pennsylvania Psychiatric
Institute, a collaboration of Penn State
Health and UPMC Pinnacle. She and
her husband and their three children
live in the Harrisburg, Pa., area.
Anne Bowers (née Pordes)
traveled from London to attend
reunion. Anne and her husband,
Pete, live in South London with
their spirited son, Jack (4). She is a
public-sector consultant specializing
in strategic advising and program
development. Anne is an avid runner
and cyclist, and I highly recommend
looking her and Pete up if you're
traveling to London.
Alejandra Almonte (née Mon-
tenegro) and her husband, Jorge,
live in Northern Virginia with their
children, Javier (a sixth-grader) and
Lucia (a fifth-grader). Both Alejan-
dra and Jorge are attorneys.
Lisette Camilo works for the City
of New York as the commissioner of
the Department of Citywide Admin-
istrative Services, which “ensures City
agencies have the resources needed to
provide the best possible services to
the public.” Lisette was appointed to
her position in January 2016. She has
spent the majority of her career in
public service.
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76 CCT Fall 2018
Chloe O’Brien (née Salamon-
O’Connor) and her husband, Patrick,
live in Pleasantville, N.Y., with their
children (an 8-year-old and 6-year-
old twins). Chloe is the deputy
brands director at Hearst Magazines
International. She and Patrick, an
attorney, were married in 2008.
Anne Marie Ugarte has two
daughters and lives in Manhattan.
She is a client relations manager for
Ingram Publishing’s Content Group.
Danny Wyatt and his wife,
Chrissy Gonzalez, were at most of the
events. They and their daughter, Calla
(5), live in Park Slope. Danny works
at Facebook and previously worked
at Google. He and Chrissy (a fellow
Texan) met and lived in Seattle, where
they both attended graduate school at
the University of Washington.
Melanie Samarasinghe lives
in Cobble Hill and works for Twit-
ter as a senior manager in large
client solutions.
Meena Merchant lives outside
of Seattle with her husband, Mitch,
and their two sons. Meena is the
CEO of a media production com-
pany, Werxo, and also the executive
director of a nonprofit, The Owl
Project, whose mission is “bringing
community together through the
creation of public art.”
Adam Kolasinski and his wife,
Ana, traveled from College Station,
Texas, for reunion. Adam and Ana
are both professors at the Mays
Business School at Texas A&M.
They have three girls: Kathleen,
Michelle and Annette.
Jeremy Blacklow is still in Los
Angeles, where he’s the entertain-
ment media director for GLAAD.
Jeremy’s also a DJ, an avid cyclist
and pug enthusiast who has the cut-
est dog in America.
Erin McConkey (née Harken)
lives in La Jolla with her husband,
Phil, and their daughter, May (15),
who’s a sophomore in high school.
Erin is a passionate paddleboard
surfer and horticulturist.
Michael Mohammed is a
performer and director who worked
at the San Francisco Conservatory
of Music; he’s a doctoral student at
Teachers College.
Amy Kristina Herbert is a board-
certified pediatric dentist and an
assistant professor in the department
of pediatric dentistry at UTHealth
School of Dentistry at Houston.
Julie Yufe lives on the Upper
East Side with her husband,
Michael, and their preschool-aged
daughter, Zoe. Julie’s a VP of global
marketing at Anheuser-Busch
InBev. Her work takes her around
the world — like to Russia during
the World Cup.
News from double ’98 couples:
Melissa Pianko and Daniel Pianko
continue to live on the Upper West
Side with their children, Bella,
Noah and Ethan. Chas Sisk and
Cathy Chang are in Nashville with
their three children. Chas works at
Nashville Public Radio and Cathy,
a reverend, is a hospital chaplain.
Jackie Vo and Jeff Tse flew in
from Austin, Texas, just in time to
make the class dinner and recep-
tion. They have two girls. Jackie is a
dentist in private practice and Jeff is a
physician. Jeannette Jakus and Ben
Kornfeind live in Riverdale and are a
dermatologist and a senior manager
for an affordable-housing real estate
developer, respectively. They have two
children, Sam and Lily. Taylor Ortiz is
a hematologist/oncologist at Francis-
can St. Francis Health in Indianapolis
and Veronica Lei is counsel for Eli
Lilly. They have two sons.
Joshua Ratner and his wife,
Elena Ratner BC’98, came from
Connecticut for reunion. They
have four children (two boys, two
girls). Josh is a rabbi and a director
of advocacy for JLens Network.
He previously was the director of
the Jewish Community Relations
Council in Connecticut, the associ-
ate rabbi at Yale and the rabbi at
Congregation Kol Ami. Elena is
an ob/gyn and a professor at Yale
School of Medicine.
Arete “Arlene” Koutras recently
joined the law firm Windels Marx
Lane & Mittendorf as special counsel
and resident in the New York office.
As for me, my husband, Hans
Chen’97, and I celebrated our 17th
anniversary at reunion. We live in
the Maryland suburbs of Washing-
ton, D.C., and have three children:
Elias (16), Delia (13) and Jonah
(10). I review movies and books for
various outlets but mostly for Com-
mon Sense Media. I’m also active
in the nonprofit We Need Diverse
Books, which advocates for more
diversity in the publishing industry
and children’s/young-adult literature.
Apologies to everyone I saw
briefly but didn't quiz for information
to include in this Class Notes. Please
continue to send updates, and I hope
to see you at our 25th reunion! Also,
if you want to see a lot more reunion
photos of classmates, go to college.
columbia.edu/cct/issue/fall18/article/
class-notes and type in our class year
to see a slideshow!
1999
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
cecfund@columbia.edu
Adrienne Carter and
Jenna Johnson
adieliz@gmail.com
jennajohnson@gmail.com
Big news, CC’99: Our 20th reunion
is coming next summer! Mark your
calendars now, and have an excellent
fall. Please also take a moment to
send a Class Note for the Winter
issue; it’s a great way to stay in touch
before reunion!
2000
Prisca Bae
pb134@columbia.edu
Loved hearing from John Jay
12 floormates Michelle Gerard
Ramahlo and Jasmine Wagner.
Michelle was elected secretary of the
American Classical League, which is
dedicated to promoting the teaching
and learning of Latin and Greek.
Apparently, the ACL is celebrating
its 100th year in NYC next summer
— so a huge congratulations to it
and to Michelle!
Jasmine, meanwhile, published her
second book, On a Clear Day, and
got great reviews in The New Yorker
and Hyperallergic. She’s also recently
started a position at Basilica Hudson
and invites anyone from CC’00 to
visit and to give her a heads-up if
they're in the Hudson Valley. She
recently had dinner with Mira Lew
and Alex P. Klein’01 (also from Jay
12) in Manhattan and was so happy
to see how well they are doing.
After stints at IDEO, Califor-
nia College of the Arts, and as a
freelance innovation consultant,
Jenny Fan has renewed her interest
in creative writing. Her short fiction
has been published in print and
online in Obra/Artifact, Bottlecap
Press, 1888 Center, The New Engage-
ment and The Laurel Review, among
others. She lives in San Francisco
with her husband and two children
and is working on a novel set in
Fukushima, Japan. You can find her
work at jennyfanauthor.com.
Congrats to Daniel S. Kokhba,
who opened his own law practice.
He provides business litigation, out-
side general counsel and art private
client services, so drop him a note at
danielkokhba@gmail.com if you're
ever in need of an attorney!
Matthew Matlack recently joined
Ruckus Networks supporting clients
in Oklahoma and Arkansas. He has
been busy supporting technology
projects with the BOK Center in
Tulsa and the Chesapeake Energy
Arena in Oklahoma City. His
13-year-old daughter, Georgia Rose,
is an accomplished actress and singer.
In 2017, Brendan Colthurst
moved (after 21 years in NYC!) to
Los Angeles to direct promotional
videos for companies like Crap Alert
(bit.ly/2vRx5nH). This past June,
he headed to San Antonio, Texas,
to help RAICES (raicestexas.org),
one of the leading legal advocates
for families separated at the border,
as a digital consultant. Los Angeles
is still home, but he is enjoying
Texas and spending time with the
organization's executive director,
Jonathan Ryan.
On a personal note, as an
immigrant, I am so proud to know
that our classmates are leading the
effort to reunite families. Thank you,
Jonathan and Brendan! And thank
you to everyone else for sending
your updates!
2001
Jonathan Gordin
jrg53@columbia.edu
Hi everyone! In my Spring 2018 col-
umn, I wrote about Dina Epstein’s
wonderful visit to Los Angeles; there
was even a photo of Dina, Annie
Lainer Marquit and me in Union
Station. Well, there was some clever
cropping and “bump concealing” by
the CCT photo editors. Dina and
Annie have both given birth to boys
since that time!
Dina and her husband, Eitan,
welcomed their son Leor Jacob
Levisohn on April 9. Leor joins
brothers and sister Ezra, Talya and
Ilan. Leor holds the distinction of
being the fourth child of two fourth
children. Can anyone in our class
top that? Dina took various road
trips this past summer, and on her
travels to Chicago and Cape Cod
she saw Nancy Michaelis (née
Perla), Jeff Lee, Rebecca Lurie
BC’01 and Adam Lurie SEAS’02.
Annie Lainer Marquit and her
husband, Jonathan, welcomed their
second son, Jacob, on May 3, making
Sam a big brother. I was honored to
attend Jacob’s bris in Los Angeles
to celebrate with the Lainer and
Marquit crew.
Yasmin Zerhouni is back in
California after a two-year research
fellowship. She is finishing her sur-
gery residency in the Bay Area.
Welcome back to California,
Yasmin! And best of luck with
your residency!
Ben Wheeler announced his
departure from New York City:
“Except for one year, I’ve lived here
for the last 21 years of my life.” Ben
and his wife, Kate Cortesi, and
their two daughters will relocate to
Cambridge/Somerville, Mass. Ben
got a job at the MIT Media Lab
working on the team that makes
Scratch, the kids’ programming
platform.
It’s a dream job for him, he says,
and I think it’s so well suited for
someone who has been passionately
devoted to teaching kids to program
for decades.
Best of luck to Ben and Kate in
their new home!
My dear friend Marla Zink
wrote in with an exciting dispatch
from Seattle: “I am excited to
share that today is my first day as
the managing member of my own
(solo) law firm! I’m still focusing on
appellate public defense. Check out
marlazink.com.”
Marla also shared that she
recently saw Sara Batterton on a
brief visit to D.C. Sara left a long
and illustrious stint at Uncom-
mon Schools to take on an exciting
leadership role as the VP of strategy
and operations for Whittle School
& Studios. Marla and Sara discussed
their exciting new job transitions.
Before she left Uncommon
Schools, I had the great pleasure of
working with Sara professionally.
Since I’m based in Los Angeles, it’s
unfortunate that my professional
and Columbia lives don’t overlap
much. That meant it was a rare
alumninews
treat to work with Sara, even if our
interactions were only via videocon-
ference, email and text!
If any other Columbia alum
needs to discuss HR operational
consulting, please feel free to reach
out to me! I’m always happy to chat.
In the last issue, we accidently ran
an old note from Andrew Rudman
instead of his intended update. So
here it is! He writes, “Since my last
check-in, my wife, Punam, has given
birth to two more daughters: Annu
(born in 2015) and Isha (born last
October). That makes three daugh-
ters. Yikes! It’s, uh, very noisy in
our house. Still in Los Angeles, and
I’m still making music for a couple
different cartoons (as Andy Bean),
including writing all the songs for
Disney’s reboot of Muppet Babies,
which debuted in March! Pretty fun
writing tunes for Kermit, Fozzie,
Gonzo and the Muppet gang.”
I hope everyone had a great
summer! Let me know what you
are up to!
2002
Sonia Dandona Hirdaramani
soniah57@gmail.com
Katherine Longhi has been
appointed the director of programs
at the Global Institute for Extraor-
dinary Women.
Ellen Gustafson spent a day
with Oxfam America as a Sisters
on the Planet Ambassador, in the
United States Capitol Building,
talking to female congressional
leaders about standing up for
America’s strong history of welcom-
ing refugees.
Nadeem Meghji SEAS’02 is
head of Real Estate Americas for
Blackstone Real Estate and
was recently selected as a Young
Global Leader by the World Eco-
nomic Forum.
Omid Malekan SEAS’02
published his first book, The Story of
the Blockchain: A Beginner’s Guide to the
Technology That Nobody Understands.
He would like to explore the possibil-
ity of writing a feature on the promise
and perils of blockchain technology.
Jennifer Lisette Lopez writes,
“Since we graduated a lot has hap-
pened! I lived between NYC and
Europe for a while, but I married my
Swedish husband in 2009 and we
settled in Madrid, where I started
a career teaching dance, in English.
We have since had two daughters
and recently bought an apartment
here, so we are installed for the
foreseeable future. The interesting
job that I booked for this past sum-
mer was with SuperShe Island. Read
more at jenniferlisettelopez.com.”
Greg Shill completed a fellowship
at Harvard Law School in the Pro-
gram on Corporate Governance and
joined the faculty of the University of
Iowa College of Law as an associate
professor. His focus is corporate law,
corporate governance, contracts and
urban mobility. He is based in Iowa
City, an agreeable college town three
hours west of Chicago. In recent
years, he has been meeting up with
fellow CC’02ers — including Dan
Hammerman, Dave Myers, Daniel
Ramirez and Nick Schifrin — in
Florida for spring training.
Susan Wile Schwarz was
married in Florence, Italy, during
Memorial Day Weekend. Colum-
bians in attendance included Stacy
Wu, Dan Bloch, Sasha Ban BC’03,
Alexa Winnik’03, bridesmaid Gina
Grinstead ’03, Maritza Gonzalez
SIPA'10, Andrew Russeth’07 and
Susan’s dad, Paul Schwarz’61.
Susan and her husband, Luis
Vera, welcomed their son, Ignacio
Julius Vera Schwarz, on November
11, 2017. Susie writes, “So far, Baby
Nacho is showing a great aptitude
for sleeping and smiling, though it
remains unclear if he will become
a fourth-generation Columbian by
joining the Class of 2040.”
2003
Michael Novielli
mjn29@columbia.edu
It was so awesome to see so many
of you at Reunion 2018, just a few
months back! We far exceeded
the goals that the Alumni Office
had set for us, with a total of 118
CC attendees (not counting their
additional 112 guests or our SEAS,
Barnard and GS friends!) across the
various events. We are sad that many
of you were unable to join, but we
know that it can be difficult with
families and commitments. Our
20th reunion is going to be even
bigger and better, so please make
arrangements so that you can join us
in 2023! It was great working with
everyone on the Reunion Com-
Fall 2018 CCT 77
Class Notes
Fust Married!
CCT welcomes wedding photos where at least one
member of the couple is a College alum. Please submit
your high-resolution photo, and caption information, on
our photo webform: college.columbia.edu/cct/submit_
class_note_photo. Congratulations!
HOLLY JONES
1. Ginia Sweeney 10 married
Bartram Nason at Lake Eden Events
in Black Mountain, N.C., on May 5.
Left to right: Josh Kindler ’08, Chris
Harris SEAS’08, Irina Ikonsky ’08,
Joseph Hall SEAS’08, the bride,
Lauren Seidman ‘10, Rebecca Evans
10 and Nellie Bowles 10.
2. Ramsey McGlazer ’05 and Ifeolu
Sered ’05 (née Babatunde) at
Sered’s wedding to Barak Sered on
July 1 at the Bedford Village Inn in
Bedford, N.H.
3. Joanie Bilms 12 married Chris
Wilbanks at The Georgia Club in
Statham, Ga., on September 30,
2017. Left to right: Kevin P. Bilms
Jr., Rosemary Bilms, the groom,
the bride, Kevin P. Bilms ’81 and
Kelleigh Bilms.
4. Mary Martha Douglas 11 married
George Stasinopoulos on May 5 in
the Conservatory Garden of Central
Park in New York City.
5. Jocelyn Bohn 15 married
her high school sweetheart
during Memorial Day Weekend.
Left to right: Tammuz Huberman 715,
Hayley Galitzer 15, Jeremy
Stern 15, the bride, Meghna
Mukherjee 715, Kira Ullman 15,
Benji Schechner 15 and
Leandra Cole 15.
6. Peter Luccarelli Ill "07 married
Stephanie Sisco in Asheville, N.C.,
in April. Left to right: Larry Dyer
SEAS’79, Eric Hirani SEAS’11, Chris
Luccarelli 16, Peter Luccarelli Jr.
SEAS’78, Bryan Liou SEAS'12, the
groom, Yong Park GS"10, Reid Ellison
SEAS’08 and Tom Meister ’09.
7. Anthony Walker ’07 married
Tanya Walker ’07 (née Lindsay) in
Scottsdale, Ariz., on May 5.
78 CCT Fall 2018
mittee, including programing and
outreach co-chairs Josh Hurvitz
and Tamar Simon, fundraising
co-chairs Nathania Nisonson and
Geoff Williams, and committee
members Sam Arora, Nadege
Fleurimond, Lauren Harrison,
David Keeffe, Carter Reum,
Justin Sellman and Katie Sheehy.
I'd personally like to thank Tamar
for all of her tremendous efforts on
outreach for reunion (I’m sure many
of you received emails from her), as
well as maintaining our class’ Face-
book page. She’s really gone above
and beyond for us!
Our classmates were active
throughout the weekend and prior
to it. Tamar Simon, Jenny Bach
and Justin Sellman carried our
class banner at the Alumni Parade
of Classes during Class Day, May
15. Carter Reum was a panelist
for the “Columbia College Young
Alumni Presents: Lessons from
Startupland” event on Friday
afternoon. The first 50 attendees
received a copy of his bestselling
book Shortcut Your Startup: Speed Up
Success with Unconventional Advice
from the Trenches, which he co-wrote
with his brother, Courtney Reum
01. Josh Hurvitz gave awesome
opening remarks for our class dinner
on Saturday, for which we filled the
entire Lerner Party Space (of Lerner
Pub fame). There were so many of us
that we had to really squeeze to fit
into the class photo!
Now, on to the updates:
Internationally acclaimed mixolo-
gist Don Lee, formerly of PDT
and Momofuku, opened his own
cocktail bar, Existing Conditions,
in Greenwich Village at 35 W. 8th
Street (near Macdougal Street).
Don recently joined Bill Isler at the
16th annual Tales of the Cocktail in
New Orleans. Tales of the Cocktail
is an “annual gathering that’s equal
parts cocktail conference and family
reunion’ and features “a spirited
schedule of brand new seminars,
tastings, competitions and network-
ing events representing the latest ...
(the cocktail) industry has to offer.”
Bill continues to help Ming River, a
Sichuan daijiu (Chinese liquor made
from grain) producer, expand its
presence in the United States. [Edi-
tor’s note: See “Lions,” this issue. ]
Erick Tyrone’s law office (Tyrone
Law Group) could be spotted in a
recent episode of The Real House-
wives of Potomac.
Jeffrey Hsieh exceeded his goal
for the D10, an event where “driven
leaders with a passion for competi-
tion, a commitment to athleticism,
and a love for camaraderie born
from experiences in sports come
together to produce a profound
social impact,” by raising nearly
$5,000 for pediatric cancer. He com-
peted in a 400m run, football throw,
pull-ups, 40-yard dash, broad jump,
500m row, vertical jump, 20-yard
shuttle, bench press and 800m run.
Katori Hall’s latest musical, Tina
— as in, Turner — is now showing
in London.
Josh Stein-Sapir is an associate
partner at Keyes Real Estate in
Los Angeles.
Raheleh Hatami works in business
development for Roivant Sciences.
2004
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Jaydip Mahida
jmahida@gmail.com
Rachel Neugarten writes, “Greet-
ings, CC alums! For the past six years,
I have been working for Conservation
International and traveling extensively,
I make maps to help policymakers
and donors decide where to invest in
environmental conservation, based
on scientific data on biodiversity,
forest carbon stocks, ecosystems
that protect people from storms and
floods, sources of fresh water or other
variables. I have worked in Madagas-
car, Cambodia, Brazil and Liberia, and
I recently returned from Chengdu and
Hong Kong. I am based in Arlington,
Va., and would love to connect with
other alums in the region.”
Nuria Net JRN’11 recently
moved from Miami to Barcelona
with her husband and son. She’s a
journalist-producer at Radio Gladys
Palmera, focused on Latin music.
Logan Schmid, his wife,
Christina Tobajas, and their two
children spent six weeks in Spain
this summer, mostly in the Pyrenees
mountains, where the kids attend a
day camp each July. In August, he
returned to work at Facebook’s
New York office.
Courtney Shay PH’07 writes, “I
married Graham Carssow this year
and we had a daughter on May 22,
Colette Jeanne Carssow. After seven
years as an operating room nurse,
I am going back to my English
major roots and using my research
background from the School of
Public Health, as I am now a clinical
editor for the AORN Journal at the
Association of periOperative Nurses
offices in Denver.”
I have been trying to get out
more and reconnect with folks from
college who are still in the New
York/New Jersey area. It has been a
really positive experience to recon-
nect and share with people.
Please continue to send in
updates, as we want to hear from
as many folks as possible. Career
and family updates are always fun,
but please reach out to share info
about trips you might take, events
you have attended or are looking
forward to, or even interesting books
or shows you have come across.
You can send updates either via
the email address at the top of the
column or via CCT’s Class Notes
webform: college.columbia.edu/cct/
submit_class_note.
2005
Columbia College Today
cct@columbia.edu
Happy fall, Class of 2005! Thank you
to everyone who wrote in this issue.
From John Kluge: “A few updates:
I moved back to Charlottesville,
Va., where I married my lovely wife,
Christine, a professor of politics at
UVA. We welcomed our baby girl,
Mirren Wynne, this past January, and
Tam now building an exciting initia
tive, the Refugee Investment Network
(refugeeinvestments.org). Would wel-
come collaboration from Columbia
alums as we build a new paradigm for
global migration solutions!”
Jeffrey Schwartz shared that he
married Lauren Wolkove on July 4;
in attendance was Britton Schwartz
01, Jeffrey’s sister.
From James Bondarchuk: “I
was recently awarded my Ph.D.
in philosophy from Harvard. The
title of my dissertation was ‘Self-
Consciousness in Kant’s Moral Phi-
losophy.’ I am moving to Delaware
to teach math and philosophy at St.
Andrew’s School.”
After founding and then run-
ning the award-winning Empower
Generation (a social enterprise that
empowers women to become clean
energy business leaders in Nepal) for
the past eight years, Anya Cherneff
has successfully negotiated a merger
between Empower Generation and
Australia-based Pollinate Energy. As
she exits her startup she is looking
for opportunities to empower women
economically, enhance justice and
equity for all, and create diverse and
inclusive companies that are a force for
good. Anya is based in the Bay area.
From Jonathan Filbey: “I
recently relocated to Melbourne
with Octopus Investments, looking
at funding large scale renewable
energy projects. Would be great to
connect with Lions down under!”
Ifeolu Sered (née Babatunde)
married Barak Sered on July 1 in
Bedford, N.H. Ramsey McGlazer
was in attendance to celebrate the
happy occasion.
Share your notes for the Winter
issue by writing to cct@columbia.
edu. Looking forward to hearing
from you!
2006
Michelle Oh Sing
mo2057@columbia.edu
Hi everyone! Hope you are well.
Here are some updates from our
classmates: Teddy Diefenbach
left his creative director role at
Square Enix and is working around
Asia while developing his next
videogame. His last game, Hyper
Light Drifter, was recognized by
The Game Awards and Indepen-
dent Games Festival and is being
rereleased on the Nintendo Switch
this year. His indie game-making
collective, Glitch City, has entered
its sixth year in Los Angeles.
Jonathan Ward writes, “I am
back in D.C. and have founded Atlas
Organization, a consultancy focused
on the rise of India and China, and
the new geopolitics of Asia. Since
returning to the United States, I
have consulted for the Department
of Defense and have recently com-
pleted our first project for a Fortune
500, which is exciting. Getting
busy as U.S.-China relations take a
new turn. Still doing a lot of public
speaking in Washington, and have
had a range of trips abroad this year.”
Fall 2018 CCT 79
Rob McNamee lives in Arling-
ton, Va., with his wife, Erin, and
their sons, Charlie (1) and Henry
(4). In June, he left the law firm
life to join the Financial Industry
Regulatory Authority, working on
capital markets policy in the Office
of General Counsel.
Jose Montero writes, “I moved
to the Amazon Music team as its
new head of customer research.
Really excited to learn about the
music industry and also perform
with the Amazon orchestra! Hit me
up next time you're in Seattle!”
2007
David D. Chait
david.donner.chait@gmail.com
Thank you, everyone, for sharing
your exciting updates!
Gabriel José Bolafios shares,
“T got married in 2013 to Megan
Hanson, then finished my Ph.D.
in music theory and composition
at UC Davis. We spent three years
in Nicaragua and we’ll be moving
to Maine next year, where I'll teach
music theory and music technology
at Bates College.”
Peter Luccarelli married
Stephanie Sisco in Asheville, N.C., in
April. In attendance were Larry Dyer
SEAS’78, Eric Hirani SEAS’11,
Chris Luccarelli’16, Peter Luccarelli
Jr. SEAS’78, Bryan Liou SEAS’12,
Yong Park GS’10, Reid Ellison
SEAS’08 and Tom Meister ’09.
Negar Kordestani has been in
the Washington, D.C., area a little
more than a year now and is enjoy-
ing being back home, closer to fam-
ily and friends! She is a mid-level
Eric Bondarsky ’07 (left) and Evan
Schutzman ’07 met up at Bravo
Pizzeria in Kew Gardens Hills, N-Y.,
in June.
80 CCT Fall 2018
litigation associate at Blank Rome’s
D.C. office.
Elizabeth Miller shares, “Jon
[Miller] and I want to share the
exciting news that we welcomed our
third son, Joseph Isaac, on Father’s
Day, June 17. He joins Nathaniel (3)
and Zachary (2).”
I’m also very excited to share
that my wife, Amanda Chait
GSAAP’13, and I (David Chait)
welcomed our second daughter,
Sally Donner Chait, on June 11,
and no one is more excited than big
sister Julia.
Monica Jacobsen (née Ager)
writes, “I am an attorney advisor at
the Department of State’s Office of
the Legal Adviser, specializing in
human rights law. My husband, John,
and I welcomed our second child,
Josephine ‘Josie’ Marie Jacobsen,
on June 3. Big sis Vivian is over the
moon at her new role and has assured
us she plans to be a ‘big helper.”
Andrew Russeth writes, “Avi
Zenilman drove up from Baltimore
for a weekend in New York and,
with our friend Noreen Malone,
we picked up delicious, hulking
Italian sandwiches from Jimmy’s
Famous Heros in Sheepshead Bay
and learned about its storied eating
contest. Then we hit the beach at
Fort Tilden, enjoying the burning-
hot sun and some ice-cold beverages.
We recommend you visit Jimmy’s the
next time you're in the area!”
Matt Reuter shares, “I graduated
from my residency in physical medi-
cine and rehabilitation at Thomas
Jefferson University Hospital in
Philadelphia! I took my first job as
an attending physician, at Hartford
Hospital in Connecticut, beginning
in August. After several years of
being on call most weekends, I look
forward to having weekends free.”
Emily Hoffman shares, “In
January 2018, I graduated with
an M.A. in dance movement
psychotherapy from the University
of Roehampton in London.
I’ve recently traveled to Nepal
to do volunteer work providing
psychotherapy and life skills
training through dance and
movement in a women’s shelter
with survivors of trafficking and
sexual assault. Learn more about
this project and offer support at
movingthroughmovement.com.”
Christina Kim writes, “I started
a bean-to-bar chocolate making
traveling workshop called the ‘Secret
Cacao Garden in Washington, D.C.
In April I quit my full-time job as a
nurse at Georgetown University to
pursue my passion.
“T have direct trade relation-
ships (through contacts I made
on Instagram!) with cacao farms
from countries such as Ecuador
and Guatemala, and infuse local
healing plants from farmers to create
medicinal grade chocolates. Using
cacao as a canvas, I seek to creatively
bring awareness to mental and
physical wellness, as well as global
and local food and social justice
issues. I currently hold workshops
at Common Good City Farm (a
D.C. urban CSA) and was at the
Oakcrest Farmers Market, in July, as
part of the Prince Georges County
Food Justice Coalition’s vision to
provide healthful, affordable food to
residents and to support the growth
of local businesses owned and oper-
ated by people of color.
“My next mission is to travel
to cities all over the world to learn
about and bring awareness to
rebuilding communities through
agriculture and love. Other future
collaborations will include working
with nonprofits for mental health,
as well as fundraising to the farming
communities I work with in the
United States and globally.”
Alison Mariella Désir shared
a recent press release: “Members
of #Run4AllWomen, a grassroots
movement which uses running as
a vehicle for social change, will run
2,018 miles to help Democrats take
back Congress in this year’s midterm
elections. Led by #Run4All!Women
founder, ultra-marathoner, and social
activist Alison Désir, Midterm Run
will galvanize runners (and walkers)
from across the country to raise
money and awareness for 11 can-
didates for the U.S. House of Rep-
resentatives — and six for the U.S.
Senate — committed to the group’s
core values regarding women’s health
and women’s rights, common-sense
gun control, LGBTQ+ issues, immi-
gration, criminal justice reform and
affordable health care.”
2008
Neda Navab
nn2126@columbia.edu
I hope that everyone who attended
our 10-year reunion had an amazing
Class Notes
time; write in and tell your class-
mates all about it!
Chenni Xu moved back to New
York after living and working in
China for seven years, and is now
at Ant Financial doing corporate
communication. She encourages
classmates: “Please reach out!”
In mid-July, Danielle Slutzky
Eddleston welcomed her first child,
Ariella, with her husband, Sloan.
Ariella has been navigating her
home base in the Upper West Side
and is slowly making her way to play
on Columbia’s campus!
Have a great fall, and do send me
your news at nn2126@columbia.edu
— CC’08 wants to hear from you!
2009
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Alidad Damooei
damooei@gmail.com
Whoa, our 10-year reunion will
be here before we know it! Take a
minute to send in a Class Note for
the Winter issue. Your classmates
would love to hear from you!
2010
Julia Feldberg Klein
juliafeldberg@gmail.com
Natalie Gossett got engaged to her
partner in crime, Kyle Bogdan. She’s
planning on a long engagement and
a beach wedding.
Contessa Gayles writes, “I’ve
spent the past four years as a pro-
ducer at CNN in New York, where
I created, produced and directed
award-winning digital video series
and original documentaries. My
latest documentary, The Feminist on
Cellblock Y, follows a convicted felon
as he builds a feminist movement
from behind bars at an all-male
prison in Soledad, Calif. Through
an unlikely, inmate-led rehabilita-
tion program, men on the inside are
presented with the opportunity of a
new lease on life — all they have to
do is challenge everything they were
taught about what it means to ‘be a
man.’ The Feminist on Cellblock Y is
available to stream on the CNNgo
app (Apple TV, Roku, smart
TVs, etc.) and at this link: cnn.
it/2LZaa4c. I hope you'll watch!
“Also, I recently left CNN to
pursue documentary as an indepen-
dent filmmaker and founded my
New York City-based production
company, Cocomotion Pictures.
Reach out about visual storytelling
and doc-making collaborations:
contessa@cocomotionpictures.com.”
Sean Quinn writes, “I was gifted
a vacation to Ireland from my wife,
Liana Tedesco ’11, for my birthday.”
Lauren Casey Hayes-Deats
and her husband, Caleb Hayes-
Deats LAW’11, welcomed their first
child, Harlan James, on June 16. The
family is moving from Brooklyn to
Washington, D.C., this fall.
Alani Gregory completed her
residency in internal medicine/
primary care this past June at Yale
New Haven Hospital. She will be
staying at Yale to be one of the chief
medical residents for the Yale Primary
Care Residency Program. Thereafter,
she plans to work in primary care
and continue to pursue her research
interest in using health education as
a means to reduce chronic disease in
underserved communities.
Chris Yim shares, “Greetings
from a bathroom in a hotel in the
Dolomites! I’m currently on the
road with my wife, Grace, trying
to see what eating pizza and pasta
every day does to one’s form. We
are traveling through Europe for
another month before heading back
to the Bay. Our summer has been
full of spontaneity, bonding, friends
and a little adventure.
“We quit our jobs (I got let go
from mine) earlier this year and are
cruising around the world until the
end of the year. We saved up a little
bread so we are taking this opportu-
nity to ‘find ourselves.’ I have found
that I can drive a manual car if the
situation calls for it (thanks mostly
to Dario Abramskiehn, who taught
me how). I have also learned that
you can smile and approach almost
anyone. Most people are open to
making friends. Highlights of this
trip have included nearly getting
mugged by a 12-year-old on a bike
while out on a jog, making friends
with a group of Swiss architects and
meeting up with them in Zurich
two months later and learning that
Peter Traverso SEAS’10 is mak-
ing a star in a lab in Germany (we
met up in Copenhagen). When he
explained what he was doing, I only
understood every fifth word.
“The biggest highlight of the last
few months was seeing my best pal,
Varun Gulati SEAS"10, marry his
queen. It was the Virginia version of
the Royal Wedding, but way cooler.
We danced for three consecutive
days without any breaks. I shattered
bones in my right foot, but I’m on
the mend now. I saw a bunch of
friends from Columbia so it felt like
a teaser for our 10-year reunion.
“My meta goal these days it to
just be content. I have found that we
are trapped by all these narratives in
our lives that tell us how we should
be and how we should live that they
replace the act of living itself.
“T want to give a big shoutout to
my good friend Allon Brann, who
was at the Gulati wedding. At the
end of the night, we were tasked
with cleaning up the after-party. My
foot had been smashed at that point,
and Allon stepped up in a big way
to make sure that we swept all the
empty bottles and cans into trash
bags to make sure that the Dulles
Hyatt was pristinely cleaned. He
also gave me the most generous hug
at the end of that night that a guy
could ask for.
1?
“That wraps up my update. Adieu
2011
Nuriel Moghavem and
Sean Udell
nurielm@gmail.com
sean.udell@gmail.com
Happy fall, 2011! We're excited to
share lots of updates this quarter, as
classmates have had busy, productive
and apparently joyous starts to 2018.
Lauren Dwyer started a job in
March as director of digital sport
at Sportradar (still in New York),
focusing on sports data and fol-
lowing the rollout of legal sports
betting in the United States closely.
She says she looks forward to stay-
ing involved with the College and
Columbia Athletics, as always.
Erin Adams spent the summer
in Los Angeles after her first year of
medical school at Howard Univer-
sity College of Medicine, where she
was the Hepatitis C co-coordinator
for the student-run clinic and also
was on the student council. She
Left to right: Grace Yim, Chris Yim 10 and Adina Rose Levin 11 met up at
Fabrica Moritz in Barcelona in May.
hasn't let medical school stop her
from spending time on beaches and
at music festivals, recently running
into Zachary Kourouma on a festi-
val field. She also works with Court-
ney Wilkins ’07, Aaron Edmonds
09, Itanza Lawrence SEAS’12 and
Jana Johnson on curating events
for the Black Alumni Council
Columbia University LA Chapter.
Mary Martha Douglas married
George Stasinopoulos on May 5
in New York City. Surrounded by
friends, family and Lions from three
decades of graduating classes, Mary
Martha and George exchanged vows
in the Conservatory Garden of Cen-
tral Park before everyone headed
to Locanda Verde in TriBeCa for a
night of jazz, wine and pasta. After
a few celebratory weeks in Italy
(more wine, more pasta), the couple
returned home to Manhattan, where
they live with their dog, Aggie
(who was Puppy of Honor). Both
Mary Martha and Aggie have taken
George’s last name, and MM has
spent the months since trying to fit
her now even longer full name onto
all official documents.
Aliko Carter wrote to us from
the Oakland, Calif., office of the
California Health Care Founda-
tion, where he recently began as
a program associate (a.k.a. grants
coordinator). Aliko is pumped about
this work, he says, especially helping
to expand the MediCal program
for low-income Californians, and
ultimately achieving universal,
quality health coverage through-
out the state. Additionally, Aliko
writes grants for not-for-profits
across the San Francisco Bay Area,
which involves him in issues like
prisoner reentry, social support for
the LGBTQIA+ community, police
violence, HIV/AIDS awareness and
underprivileged youth programming.
He says he is grateful to be able to
work on both sides of philanthropy,
and to help promote equity across
his beloved California.
When he is not performing the
duties of a grants coordinator and
grant writer, Aliko produces and
hosts the “Locked on Warriors”
podcast, a daily look into all the
happenings within and around
Golden State Warriors — the reign-
ing champions of the NBA.
Long live the Lakers.
Aliko has been freelance writ-
ing about sports since 2015 and is
published on Bleacher Report and
forbes.com. He also stays active in
the Bay Area’s LGBTQIA+ commu-
nity. There’s a post-dystopian space
adventure novel rattling around in
the back of his head; 2018 is the year
he puts pen to paper. Aliko says his
journal helps keep him grounded. He
is also anchored by a strong contin-
gent of CU grads in and around San
Francisco, some of whom he is lucky
to call friends for life. In his limited
free time, Aliko enjoys being in the
sun, and napping.
Dhruv Vasishtha married his
best friend and better half, Molly
Spector BC’11, this past July. Dhruv
was not excited about the COOP
table — strategically placed in the
far back of the venue — taking their
shirts off during speeches.
Long live COOP.
Brynn Plummer has been living
and working in Nashville since
graduation. After teaching middle
school English through Teach For
Fall 2018 CCT 81
America, Brynn spent five years on
TFA’s Nashville Regional Team, first
as the manager of diversity, recruit-
ment and community, and then as
the managing director of alumni
leadership. In September, Brynn
was to transition from TFA to
take on the role of VP of inclusion
and community relations with the
Nashville Entrepreneur Center. She
also recently had the opportunity to
break bread (actually, chicken and
waffles) with Jon Tanners as he
was passing through Music City.
Long live Jon Tanners.
Last March, Adina Rose Levin
left New York to try her hand at life
in her other favorite city: Barcelona.
For more, visit adinaroselevin.com/
musings (password: evita). While
in Barcelona, she’s had the chance
to connect with Rebecca Smith’13,
who lives there (Adina was her first-
year RA in Wallach), and Chris Yim
"10, who was passing through with
his wife, Grace. While Adina waits
for her long-term visa to process, she
has also been spending time in her
hometown of Chicago, where she’s
enjoyed meeting up with her former
John Jay floormate Dylan Isaacson
(who began a residency at North-
western), Isaac Lara (who was in
town to speak on a law panel), and
Renuka Agarwal ’12 and Kamal
Yechoor SEAS’11, who both gradu-
ated from the University of Chicago
Booth School of Business last June.
If you plan to be in the Barcelona or
Chicago areas, please drop Adina a
line at adina.rose.levin@gmail.com.
She would love to hear from you!
Adam Sieff got engaged
over Memorial Day Weekend in
Montecito, Calif., to Madeleine
McKenna, who said yes despite
Adams insistence on displaying the
entire CC and LitHum syllabi on
their living room bookshelf. He says
he’s looking forward to celebrat-
ing their wedding with fellow
Columbians sometime next summer.
In the meantime, Adam keeps busy
as a commercial and constitutional
litigator at Latham & Watkins
in Los Angeles where, among
other things, he handles antitrust
and intellectual property matters
involving entertainment technology
markets, and is suing the President
for banning transgender people from
the military.
Finally, Rachel Heng’s debut
novel, Suicide Club, was published
in July and has been translated into
eight languages. Suicide Club is a
literary dystopian novel set in near-
future New York, where life expec-
tancies average 300 years and the
pursuit of immortality has become
all-consuming. It has been named
a most anticipated book of 2018 by
‘The Huffington Post, ELLE, The
Independent, The Irish Times, NYLON,
Tor.com and The Rumpus. You can
order Suicide Club on Indiebound or
Amazon and see Rachel’s U.S. tour
dates at rachelhengqp.com.
We're thrilled to hear about
everyone’s successes! Remember that
you can always reach out to us with
updates at the email addresses at the
top of this column.
2012
Sarah Chai
sarahbchai@gmail.com
Hello, my friends — let’s get right
to it!
Columbia rowing reconnected at Jocelyn Bohn 15’s wedding during Memorial
Day Weekend. Left to right: Aneesha Baliga 16, Laney McGahey ’17, Karli
McMenamin 14, the bride, Alex Swift 15, Kellie Solowski 14, Carly Tashjian 16,
India Knight 16, Lottie Galliano 14 and Hilary Going 14.
82 CCT Fall 2018
Monica Carty 15 (right) visited Noeleen Advani 15 in Cape Town,
South Africa, in April.
Congratulations are in order for
Kelicia Hollis, who is pursuing a
master’s of international educa-
tion at the Universidad de Alcala
with the Teach and Learn in Spain
Program run by Instituto Franklin
in Alcala de Henares, Spain (right
outside of Madrid). It is a one-year
program, which started this fall, and
Kelicia will obtain a master’s and
teach in a local public school.
Gillian Rhodes shared her latest
dance updates from Pakistan: “After
two years of dancing for a profes-
sional company in South Korea,
I’ve been based in Lahore, Pakistan,
for the past five months. I have
performed my own solos all over
the country as well as performing
cultural and folk dances regularly
with a local company, teaching
workshops, and loving the chance to
discover and learn about the country
and culture.”
Hong Kong Nguyen sent a lovely
letter from Japan: “I hesitated sending
updates because, well, I haven't always
been a very vocal person and might
have easily gotten lost in the sea of
amazing CC fellows. Ever since my
first week on campus, I have struggled
to remember my peers’ names, not just
because I met so many people within
only a couple of days, but also because
they all remembered mine so effort-
lessly. ‘Hi, Hong Kong,’ someone
would call out to me, and I could only
wave back awkwardly, as I couldn't
respond the same way. Nonetheless,
I am writing now after reading all
the sweet Class Notes from friends
I sadly didn't get to know during
my time at Columbia; a part of me
always wishes I had met and talked to
more of you. So, I thought, why don't
I share my story now? A big caveat:
‘This story involves some reflections
on child-rearing. ;)
“Ten years since entering college
and six years since graduation, I am
now a researcher-at-home taking
care of my 10-month-old daughter,
Sophie, in Oita, southern Japan.
Post-graduation life hasn't been
smooth, and such is life, but I am
glad to have found a mission in life:
To redefine the life of a stay-at-
home mom. Living in Japan, I face
the unquestioned reality of being a
housewife, which I frankly think is
worthy of being proud of, but is usu-
ally underappreciated. Being a full-
time mother is hard work, especially
so when caring for and communi-
cating with an (erratic) infant.
“My husband, who is doing
a master’s here, understands my
concerns and shares the chore with
me as much as possible, but there
always comes the inevitable time
when I am alone with the baby. My
biggest priority each day, then, is to
ensure Sophie is happy and healthy.
My other concern is to write at least
500 words every day on any paper
that I am working on. I am lucky
enough to have found a research
position at a Vietnamese university
that allows me to work online,
overseas and freely as I want. I haven't
gone to graduate school yet, but this
doesn't stop me from pursuing serious
publications at well-ranked journals.
So, you might find in the end this
is actually a blatant attempt at self-
promotion: I recently co-authored a
paper on healthcare economics that
was published on Nature’s Palgrave
Communications. It’s available at
go.nature.com/2K8WNt8. Please
do read and help me share the
study. I would love to talk to anyone
interested in the topic.
“T will be based in Japan for the
next three years, possibly joining a
graduate program. I hope my story
didn’t bore you and that I hear from
classmates, many of whom I regret
not getting to know more. All the
best wishes to our class!”
2013
Tala Akhavan
talaakhavan@gmail.com
What’s new, Class of 2013? There’s
no news this time, but I’m sure you
guys had exciting summers that your
classmates would love to read about!
Did you go to our five-year reunion?
Tell me all about it! Send in your
news and I'll be happy to run it in
the Winter column!
2014
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Rebecca Fattell
rsf2121@columbia.edu
CC’14, I hope you had a great sum-
mer! Share what sort of adventures
you got up to by emailing me at
rsf2121@columbia.edu. CCT also
loves photos, so if you met up with
any other College alums recently,
send in a photo of the group! And
finally, our five-year reunion is
coming next spring, so start getting
hyped now! Hope you're doing well,
and have a great fall!
2015
Kareem Carryl
kareem.carryl@columbia.edu
Hello, Class of 2015! We have some
great news to share! Jocelyn Bohn
Left to right: Brandon Martinez 16, Manny Tamargo SEAS16, Pablo Mendoza “16
and David Hamburger 16 at Hi-Life Bar & Grill on the Upper West Side.
writes, “My high school sweetheart
and I were married during Memorial
Day Weekend in our boarding school
church, followed by a reception
in my grandparents’ backyard. We
had many College alumni present,
including my college roommate Kira
Ullman, who was in the bridal party!
It was a fun day filled with so much
joy and love. We are grateful for our
amazing group of Columbia friends.
[Editor’s note: See “Just Married!”
Also in attendance but not pictured
were Hunter Little, Lea Beltra-
mino Hendey, Dave Filosa’82,
Joyce Chang ’86, Jim McMenamin
(senior associate dean for Columbia
College development/senior director
of principal gifts and former head of
admissions) and some others!”
Monica Carty visited Noeleen
Advani in Cape Town, South
Africa, in April. Noeleen has been
working in the public health sector
in South Africa for three years, and
Monica has always wanted to go to
Cape Town. She sent a photo from
its Bo-Kaap neighborhood!
Stella Zhao let us know that
Chloe Durkin is moving to Los
Angeles after she got a job at Para-
mount as a writers’ assistant. This is
after she was a producers’ assistant
at Marvel for a couple years. “She’s
excited, and so am [!” says Stella.
Last but not least, I congratulate
Sonali Mehta and David Berman
on their recent engagement! I’m
excited for you both!
Thank you to everyone for the
great submissions! As always, your
classmates want to hear from you!
Please be sure to submit updates to
Class Notes by writing me at the
address at the top of the column or
via the CCT Class Notes webform,
college.columbia.edu/cct/submit_
class_note.
alumninews
Left to right: Sam Tkach SEAS'16, Jeremy Cohen 16, Rachel Mester SEAS16,
Jesse Depaoli 16, Elizabeth Trelstad 16, Aidan Mehigan “16 and Lily Liu-
Krason 16 recently had a mini CC’6 reunion.
2016
Lily Liu-Krason
lliukrason@gmail.com
Hey CC’16! Thanks to some nomina-
tions, I’ve been able to grab some cool
updates from classmates. Please keep
sending me people you want to brag
about and I'll reach out, or you can
submit directly to me at liukrason@
gmail.com or college.columbia.edu/
cct/submit_class_note.
I recently had a fun reunion with
Sam Tkach SEAS’16, Jeremy
Cohen, Rachel Mester SEAS’16,
Jesse Depaoli, Elizabeth Trelstad
and Aidan Mehigan. Check out the
nearby photo! I'd love to see some
photos from the rest of yall!
From Madison Ford: “After
graduating, I spent some time at
DujJour magazine in its editorial print
division. Since leaving the magazine
in early 2017, I have been freelance
writing and pursuing acting oppor-
tunities. My film, Nathan’ Kingdom,
is currently in its festival run and has
been met with an exciting response
from audiences so far. It recently
screened at the Dances with Films
Festival in Los Angeles, following its
premiere at the Sedona International
Film Festival, where it received the
Heart of the Festival award. The film
follows a sister and her brother, who
is on the autism spectrum, attempt-
ing to keep their lives together
amid pressures from social services.
My co-star, Jacob Lince, is an actor
on the autism spectrum, and his
performance in the film is not only
artistically powerful, but also has
been inspiring for those who wish to
see more representation of those with
disabilities in the arts.
“In order to pay off these Colum-
bia loans (who would have guessed
that creative writing and film majors
wouldn't have an instant financial
return?), I have also been working at
Hi-Life Bar & Grill on the Upper
West Side. Come by during my
Sunday bartending shift for ‘Sunday
Fundays’ and you might run into
Brandon Martinez, David Ham-
burger, Pablo Mendoza, Manny
Tamargo SEAS'16, Justine Hor-
ton or Dani Lopez, if you’re lucky.”
From Lizzy Trelstad: “Hey,
CC’16! I spent the summer after
graduation in the Catskill Moun-
tains. How very COOP of me.
I soaked up the good air, built a
hiking trail and finally read Harry
Potter. Part of that summer was
recovery from pre-med exhaustion,
part prep for the next year spent
holed up in a cosmetics innovation
lab. The chemistry was great fun, but
by mid-2017 I saw some dubious
practices in the world of consumer
goods. So I quit to try to puzzle out
a solution. Many moons of network-
ing and research later, I got accepted
into an NYC incubator and founded
Beaker. We're a data startup on
a mission to translate chemicals
into plain English. Yay, science!
(Psst, we're hiring! I’m looking for
a tech and business development
co-founders. HMU if you wanna
help change the way search engines
recommend products, or if you think
science is cool.) Rawr.”
Fall 2018 CCT 83
Left to right: Susan Stryker, Joel Sanders 78 and Seb Choe ‘17 at the
2018 AIA Conference on Architecture for the launch of Stalled! Online,
an open-source website that makes design research on inclusive
restrooms accessible to a wider audience.
ZO17
Carl Yin
carl.yin@columbia.edu
Jen Shahar recently graduated
from Rutgers with a master’s in
biomedical sciences with an oral
biology concentration, and is now
attending the School of Dental
Medicine.
Justin Aimonetti writes, “I spent
the summer interning with the
Department of Justice’s National
Courts Section in Washington, D.C.
I am proud to announce that based
on my first-year academic perfor-
mance at the University of Virginia
School of Law, I have been invited
to join the Virginia Law Review.”
Bianca Guerrero has this
update: “I finished the Urban Fel-
lows program in May and took two
weeks off. During that break, I took
a trip to the Big Island in Hawaii
with a close friend and fellow Tru-
man Scholar. I had to cut the trip
short due to the volcanic activity
but am glad I went because the tide
pools, geo-thermal pools and other
places I enjoyed were eventually
destroyed by the lava.
“T now work with the mayor's chief
policy advisor in the Office of Policy
& Planning. I am learning about and
Left to right: Miranda Roman 18, Anna Chubaeva 18, Maleeha Chida 18 and
Srishti Sinha 18 caught up in New York City a few weeks after graduation.
84 CCT Fall 2018
working on policies related to criminal
justice reform, labor and consumer
protections, and seniors and their
caregivers. I traveled to Jackson Hole,
Wyo., for a week in the mountains to
bond with friends from the fellowship
and clear my head with some hiking
and stargazing.
“T continue to be involved in
the housing justice movement
through the tenant association in
my building and through the Bronx/
Upper Manhattan branch of NYC
Democratic Socialists of America.
I was super stoked about Alexan-
dria Ocasio-Cortes’ win against
Joe Crowley and am excited to get
involved in other areas of DSA’s
work and campaigns uptown.”
Joey Santia shares, “I usually
like sausage on my pizza, but yester-
day I ordered a pepperoni.”
Sebastian Choe writes, “I work
at Joel Sanders Architect, a firm in
New York City at the intersection of
design/research led by a Yale profes-
sor. [his past year I’ve been project
manager for a project that recently
launched, Stalled! Online, which
compiles three years of design-
research on inclusive public rest-
rooms responding to controversies
of transgender access to restrooms
into an online multimedia resource.
“T recently had design work exhib-
ited at the 2018 Barnard+Columbia
Architecture Alumni Exhibition
— visual art as well as a community
design project in Upstate New York
(a public park/community garden I
”
am co-designing)
2018
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Alexander Birkel
and Maleeha Chida
ab4065@columbia.edu
mnc2122@columbia.edu
Alex Bass, who majored in art
history with a business management
concentration, is starting her own
company, Salon 21, an art and social
gathering space for young creatives
in the New York area to come
together, talk, dine and support
the next generation of artists. The
Julia Zeh 18 (left) and Briley Lewis
18 relaxed at Disneyland before
beginning Ph.D.s this fall.
space aims to host monthly cocktail
parties for members and artists to
socialize, eat, connect, collaborate
and discover new talent.
Abhinav Seetharaman writes,
“A few days after graduation, I left
for India to continue my fieldwork
with Tibetans in Exile. ] had writ-
ten my senior thesis on Tibetan
refugees and their citizenship rights
in India, and went back in May to
conduct supplementary research. I
had the rare opportunity to meet
and speak to His Holiness the Dalai
Lama toward the end of the trip,
something that I'll always treasure.
Since returning from India, I’ve been
interning at an NGO in D.C. and
went on a one-week trip to Dar es
Salaam, Tanzania, to help conduct a
project on wildlife conservation and
poaching prevention. I’m excited to
be starting my one-year master’s in
global thought back at Columbia
this fall!”
Briley Lewis and Julia Zeh
started their Ph.D.s this fall at
UCLA for astrophysics and at Syra-
cuse for biology, respectively. Before
all that work though, they had
some fun on vacation in California,
including a trip to Disneyland.
Srishti Sinha caught up with
Miranda Roman, Anna Chubaeva
and Maleeha Chida over brunch
after returning to New York from
India. Srishti still struggles to wake
up in time for brunch, despite hav-
ing to get to work at 7 a.m.
Have a great fall, and please send
your notes to the email addresses at
the top of the column!
obituaries
1943
G.J. “Dan” D’Angio, pediatric
oncologist, Philadelphia, on
September 14, 2018. Born on
May 2, 1922, D’Angio had a long,
happy and productive life devoted
to family and the care of children
with cancer. He was the Class of
1943 Class Notes correspondent
2009-18. D’Angio was predeceased
by his first wife, Jean Terhune
D’Angio, and is survived by his
current wife, Dr. Audrey Evans;
brother, Carl J.’41; sons, Carl
and his wife, Donna, and Peter
and his husband, Greg Hinson;
two grandchildren; and two
great-grandchildren. Memorial
contributions may be made to St.
James School, 3217 W. Clearfield
St., Philadelphia, PA 19132.
1948
Joseph A. Montimurro, retired
ob/gyn, Venice, Fla., on April 11,
2018. Born on October 31, 1927,
Montimurro was a graduate of
Greenwich (Conn.) H.S. and the
Yale University School of Medicine
(1952). Following his internship at
St. Luke’s Hospital and residency at
Sloane Hospital for Women/New-
York Presbyterian-Columbia Univer-
sity Medical Center, he returned to
Greenwich in 1959 to establish his
ob/gyn practice and affiliation with
Greenwich Hospital, where he prac-
ticed until his retirement, delivering
more than 3,500 babies. Montimurro
was a proud veteran and following
his internship served as a captain
in the Air Force as a flight surgeon
in Newfoundland and Greenland,
1953-55. During his internship
he met Sarah Hamilton; they were
married in 1954. In their retirement,
they lived in Naples, Fla., Cumber-
land, Maine, and most recently
Venice. Montimurro’s greatest
passions were golf, classical music,
opera, history and enjoying time
with family and friends. His wife
survives him, as do his children, Lisa
and her husband, Jim Grimes, Joe
Jr., and Suzanne and her husband,
Greg Hardy; five grandchildren;
one great-granddaughter; brothers,
Francis, Lawrence and Anthony; and
Anthony’s wife, Cathi. Montimurro
was predeceased by his sister, Marie
Ledda, and a grandson.
Seth Rubenstein, attorney, Brook-
lyn, N.Y., on April 16, 2018. A
third-generation trusts and estates
lawyer, Rubenstein died with work
in hand. A graduate of Brooklyn
Law School, he served in the Army
during the Korean Conflict and
then worked for the law firm of his
father, Kings County Surrogate E.
Ivan Rubenstein. Soon thereafter he
formed his own law firm, where he
practiced the rest of his life. Ruben-
stein was an advisor in the 1960s to
the Bennett Commission that mod-
ernized trust and estate law in New
York, resulting in today’s Estates
Powers and Trusts Law and Surro-
gate’s Court Procedure Act. He held
leadership positions in numerous bar
associations and was the first lawyer
from Brooklyn admitted as a fellow
of the American College of Trusts
and Estates Counsel. He had hun-
dreds of reported decisions, many of
which made law and many of which
were controversial, including when
he was appointed by the Supreme
Henry L. King 48, Trustee Emeritus, Helped Select University Presidents
Henry L. King ’48, a University
trustee chair emeritus, Columbia
College Alumni Association Board
of Directors member emeritus and a
member of the selection committees
for University presidents George
Rupp and Lee C. Bollinger, died on
June 18, 2018, in New York City.
He was 90.
King was a member of the
University’s Board of Trustees
from 1983 to 1995, serving two
terms, and was its chair from 1992
to 1995, during which time he
headed up the searches for Rupp
and Bollinger. An accomplished
attorney, King was presented a
John Jay Award for distinguished
professional achievement in 1992
and a University Medal in 1968,
for 10-plus years of service to the
University. He was a member of
the CCAA Board of Directors
from 1966 to 1968. As a student,
King worked on Spectator and was
a member of the Senior Society of
Nacoms. He chaired the Columbia-
Presbyterian Health Sciences
Advisory Council in the mid-2000s.
After high school in Brooklyn,
King graduated with honors from
the College, earned a degree from
Yale Law School in 1951 and had
a more than 60-year legal career at
Davis Polk & Wardwell as a litigator,
becoming a partner in 1961. His
practice focused on antitrust and
securities law. King successfully
challenged New York City’s
calculation of its female employees’
pensions, which had been based
on their longer life expectancy and
resulted in lower annual payments
to women than men, and at his
firm championed the promotion of
women. Over time, King’s practice
shifted to corporate board advisory
work and complex arbitration. He
was the firm’s managing partner for
12 years.
King was a member of Trinity
Church Wall Street’s vestry. He later
led the Trustees of the Cathedral
Church of St. John the Divine,
shepherding its recovery from a
fire, and led the development of a
residential building on its Close. He
also was president of the New York
State Bar Association and remained
involved with Yale. King was a
member of the Council on Foreign
Relations, the American College
of Trial Lawyers and the College
of Commercial Arbitration,
and served on the boards of the
American Skin Association, Chapin
School, Episcopal Charities,
New York Academy of Medicine,
Population Council, Citizens
Committee for New York City,
and Lawyers Committee for Civil
Rights Under Law.
In NYC, and on Fishers Island,
N.Y., where he was an active
community member for 55 years,
King belonged to several social
clubs. His recreational interests
included opera, travel, tennis, golf,
skiing and fly-fishing. He was
devoted to his family, and is
survived by his wife, Margaret
Gram King; children, Matthew
LAW’91 and his wife, Elizabeth,
Katherine Baccile and her husband,
Peter, Andrew and his wife, Topsy,
and Eleanor Stringfellow and her
husband, Matthew; Margaret’s
sons, Michael Sokolov and his
wife, Ellen, and Joseph Sokolov;
15 grandchildren; three step-
granddaughters; and a son-in-law,
Dave Cantlay. King’s daughters
Elizabeth Robertson and Patricia
Cantlay predeceased him.
Memorial contributions may
be made to Columbia University,
Yale Law School, the Cathedral
Church of St. John the Divine or
St. James Church.
— Lisa Palladino
Fall 2018 CCT 85
Court to act as guardian ad litem
for David Berkowitz, the notorious
Son of Sam, in the civil proceedings
following Berkowitz’s apprehen-
sion. Rubenstein is survived by his
sons, Joshua, Ephraim ’78, SOA’97
and Micah; daughter-in-law, Sarah;
seven grandchildren; and one great-
grandson. Memorial contributions
may be made to the Columbia Col-
lege Fund or Brooklyn Law School.
Kenneth R. Williams, retired
research scientist, Kennett Square,
Pa., on November 4, 2017. Wil-
liams was born in New York City on
August 23, 1922. He and his parents
moved to Teaneck, N.J., and he
graduated from high school there.
Williams was a chemistry student at
the College when he enlisted in the
Army during WWII, he was part of
the Army Signal Corps in Europe.
Williams completed his chemistry
degree and earned a degree in phys-
ics in 1949 from GSAS. At Colum-
bia he met his wife, Ardis Paul, who
predeceased him in 2008 after 61
years of marriage. Williams worked
with the Textile Fibers Department
of the DuPont Co. in industrial
end-use research. Williams was
an avid reader of European and
American history, and early man;
attended classes at the Osher Life-
long Learning Institute; and was an
amateur orchardist and gardener.
He is survived by his daughter,
Evelyn. Memorial contributions
may be made to Osher Lifelong
Learning Institute, Attn: Ellen M.
Saienni, 2700 Pennsylvania Ave.,
Arsht Hall, Wilmington, DE 19806
or to Penn Memory Center, Attn:
Terrence Casey, 3615 Chestnut St.,
Room 236, Philadelphia, PA 19104.
Checks for Penn Memory Center
should be made out to Trustees of
the University of Pennsylvania with
ADC - PMC in the memo line.
1951
Stanley GY. Lee, retired military
servicemember, Lakewood, Wash., on
October 9, 2016. Born in Washington,
D.C., on November 17, 1921, Lee was
the oldest of 10. He traveled the world
as one of the first Asian-American
pilots for the Army Air Corps and
the Air Force. He served proudly
in WWIL, the Korean War and the
Vietnam War. After almost 30 years
of service he retired and became a
86 CCT Fall 2018
computer programmer. Lee continued
to travel extensively with family and
friends, frequently attending reunions
of his WWII 12th Bomb Group. Lee
was predeceased by his wife, Gertrude,
and is survived by his daughter, Sha-
ron Saunders; son, Gary, and his wife,
Betty Lee; two grandchildren; and one
great-granddaughter.
1952
Donald N. Scofield, retired Baptist
minister, Penney Farms, Fla., on
April 18, 2018. Scofield was born
in Brooklyn, N.Y., on July 2, 1930.
He was a graduate of Erasmus H.5S.,
Eastern Seminary (B.D., 1956) and
Penn (M.A., 1956). He married
Ruth Mitchell, a native of Scotland,
in 1957; she predeceased him in
2011. During his ministry, Scofield
served three churches, one in Penn-
sylvania and two in New Jersey. He
and his wife, Jane McCurry Music,
who survives him, retired to Penney
Retirement Community.
1955
Robert E. Sparrow, retired attorney,
Hollis Hills, N.Y., on June 9, 2018.
Sparrow was born and raised in
Brooklyn. He earned a J.D. from the
Law School in 1957 and was a distin-
guished defense attorney for 53 years,
working on high-profile cases includ-
ing Winston Moseley’s notorious
murder of Kitty Genovese. He was
president of the Queens County Bar
Association and named its lawyer of
the year in 1993. An all-around ath-
lete, Sparrow was a nationally ranked
handball player, accomplished tennis
player and certified scuba diver. He
was also a licensed pilot, a nature lover
and a passionate explorer who touched
Robert E. Sparrow ’55
all seven continents during his many
travels. A lover of poetic verse, Spar-
row composed a clever rhyme for
every celebration. Generous of spirit
with loved ones and strangers alike, he
made friends at every turn and main-
tained them with his loyalty, intellect
and sense of humor. Sparrow was also
a hero, having saved his then-young
son from a fire and donated his kidney
to extend the life of his since-deceased
daughter, Laurie. He is survived by
his wife of 61 years, Marcia; son,
David; sister, Joyce; son-in-law, James
Palumbo; daughter-in-law, Darcy
Jacobs; and four grandchildren.
1958
John J. McGroarty, retired oph-
thalmologist, Burbank, Calif., on
December 22, 2017. McGroarty
John J. McGroarty ’58
was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1936
and began to run track at Bishop
Loughlin H.S. At Columbia, he
ran track and cross country for four
years and was selected as captain
in his senior year. He made many
lifelong friends running through the
hills of Van Cortlandt Park in fall,
on the boards at Madison Square
Garden in winter and on the cinder
track at Baker Field in spring. He
was active on campus in fraternity
life and NROTC. After three years
of active duty in the Navy, McGro-
arty returned to study at New York
Medical College and completed his
ophthalmology training at the Hark-
ness Pavilion of Columbia University
Medical Center. McGroarty moved
to California with his wife, Kathleen
(née Mitchell) and practiced oph-
thalmology for more than 30 years in
the San Fernando Valley while on the
medical staff of St. Joseph’s Hospital
in Burbank. He is survived by his
sister, Carol Frazier; brother, James
64; children, Sean, James, Daniel,
Michael and Meghan; and eight
grandchildren. His was divorced from
his wife in 2003. Memorial contri-
butions may be made to Columbia
University Athletics Track & Field.
1961
William N. Binderman, attorney,
Philadelphia, on February 15, 2018.
Born on July 1, 1939, in West Vir-
ginia, Binderman was raised on a
farm, attended high school in Lake-
wood, N.J., and won a scholarship
to Columbia. As an undergraduate,
he was the voice of Columbia foot-
ball for WKCR and a member of
the senior society of Nacoms. For
his major in sociology, Binderman
lived with the indigenous people of
Chiapas, Mexico, gathering their
recollections of the Mexican Revo-
lution and of Emiliano Zapata. He
earned a degree in 1963 from SIPA,
then another in 1964, from the Law
School. He practiced law in New
York City, then in Philadelphia, spe-
cializing in litigation with a concen-
tration in family law. He was also for
a time a TV producer with WABC,
associated with Like It Is. Binder-
man was a patron of music and
theater, particularly jazz, and was on
the panel of judges for Philadelphia's
Barrymore Awards for Excellence
in Theatre. He was president of a
Conservative Jewish congregation
in Larchmont, N.Y., and for many
years was president of CC’61, orga-
nizing many reunions. In 1997 he
Obituary Submission
Guidelines
Columbia College Today welcomes
obituaries for College alumni.
Deaths are noted in the next
available issue in the “Other
Deaths Reported” box. Complete
obituaries will be published in an
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information. Due to the volume of
obituaries that CCT receives, it may
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obituary to appear. Word limit is 200;
text may be edited for length, clarity
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Click “Contact Us” at college.
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was awarded the CCAA President’s
Cup. Binderman is survived by his
wife, Roberta (née Evantash); chil-
dren, Daniel and Deborah, from his
marriage to Gail Alexander Binder-
man BC’62; and Roberta’s children,
Edward Evantash and Jill Schuman.
Memorial contributions may be
made to WKCR.
1967
Richard H. Bullen Jr., financial
services system designer, Hastings-
on-Hudson, N.Y., on February 3,
\
Richard H. Bullen Jr. 67
2018. The eldest of three brothers,
Bullen was born in California in
1945. He attended the Hackley
School, and then the College, where
as an undergraduate he met Chris-
tine V. Nodini BC’67. They married
on February 22, 1968. After Bullen
completed his master’s at MIT Sloan,
the couple moved to Hastings in
1982, where they raised their daugh-
ters, Valerie and Georgia. Bullen
worked primarily in system design
for financial services. He loved music,
and playing the guitar and piano, and
enjoyed sailing, skiing and traveling
in his younger days. His main passion
though, was the analysis and research
that went into understanding the
stock market and investing. Never
ones to be far from water, Bullen and
his wife spent as much time as they
could on Fire Island, N.Y. He had a
love of card and word games, and a
discerning palate. Bullen got more
time to grill, and golf, when he and
his wife retired to North Carolina
in 2011. He is survived by his wife,
daughters and one granddaughter.
Memorial contributions may be
made to Campaign Zero: The End of
Prostate Cancer (go online to donate:
bit.ly/21d708i).
1971
Eli A. Rubenstein, attorney and
philanthropist, Newton Center,
Mass., and New York City, on
January 27, 2018. Raised in Silver
Spring, Md., Rubenstein graduated
magna cum laude and Phi Beta
Kappa from the College and earned
aJ.D. in 1974 from NYU. After
three years at Cabot, Cabot &
Forbes, he launched a 40-year career
at Goulston & Storrs, becoming a
partner and director in the firm's
Boston and New York offices, with
expertise in real estate development
and financing strategies. Rubenstein
donated his time, talent and support
to several charitable organizations,
including the cause closest to
his heart, the National Multiple
Sclerosis Society. He served on
the MS Society’s national board,
including three years as chair, and
spent decades on the Greater New
England Chapter board. He will be
remembered by friends and family
for his dry wit, excellent cooking
and mixology skills, pragmatic
advice, steadfast kindness and
loyalty. Rubenstein is survived by
his wife of 46 years, Emily Broner
Rubenstein BC’72, SW’74; son,
Isaac, and his wife, Michelle;
daughter, Abigail ’05, and her
husband, Maxwell Bogue; and two
grandsons. Memorial contributions
may be made to the National MS
Society (main.nationalmssociety.org/
goto/elirubenstein).
1991
Christopher M. Antollino, digital
media technologist, New York City,
on August 20, 2018. Antollino was Jo9 Charles A. Radi Sr., global managing director and chief
born in New Haven, Conn., the hrormation security officer, Miami, Fla
son of Frank Antollino and Sandra
Lynn Antollino Blais. He grew up
and attended school in Branford,
Conn. Antollino was valedictorian
at Hamden Hall Country Day
School in 1987 and earned a
degree in political science from the
College. He worked in technology
and business analysis at various
firms such as Ogilvy, Penguin
Books and the Publicis Groupe.
Antollino easily made friends and
Christopher M. Antollino ’91
had a ribald sense of humor. He
enjoyed traveling and cooking, and
had a talent for percussion and
photography. He was predeceased by
his mother; stepfather, Roger Blais;
and uncle, Marshall Lynn. He is
survived by his father; stepmother,
Charlene Antollino; brother,
Gregory; sister, Robin Antollino-
Bukoski; aunt, Roberta Antollino;
two nephews; and a niece.
— Lisa Palladino
Fall 2018 CCT 87
the/astword
A 50th Reunion Row Around Mannattan
By Alfred W. McCoy 68
ne glorious afternoon in fall 1965 — the start of my
sophomore year — I arrived at Baker Field to find crew
practice canceled. Instead of returning home | took a
single shell from the boathouse and, for the first and
only time, rowed through the Spuyten Duyvil, across the Hud-
son, into the shadows of the Palisades. The sun’s slanting rays cast
a golden glow on smooth autumn waters. The boat rolled easily
through the glassy wakes of freighters heading upriver. The dark air
beneath the Jersey cliffs chilled the sweat.
Forty years later (after a heart attack), that singular memory
inspired me to take up rowing again, albeit on a tamer lake near my
home in Madison, Wis.
Last fall, planning for my 50th reunion brought up recurring
memories of a classmate and crewmate, John Norton Jr.’68, who
died in 1969, just a year after our graduation. An Australian air-
craft carrier sliced through the bow of his Navy destroyer, sending
73 sailors to the bottom of the South China Sea. Since Norton
lived most of his short life in and around Manhattan, I decided to
remember him by rowing around the island.
So, on a Sunday morning in June, while the Class of 1968 was
heading to a reunion breakfast in Alfred Lerner Hall, I pushed off
from Columbia's boathouse with a younger cousin for a 33-mile
CCT Fall 2018
JOHN NACHILLY
row around Manhattan in single shells. I was nervous, even a bit
frightened. I had never rowed longer than 12 miles and, at 73,
doubted I still had the endurance. At reunion, three classmates
with whom I'd rowed advised against tempting fate. A fourth
warned about capricious currents at Hell Gate that once nearly
overwhelmed his ocean-going sailboat.
But those fears evaporated as we turned into the Hudson at
6:30 a.m., exhilarated to find calm waters and a fast ebb tide. As
we flew downriver, Manhattan unfurled before us, from the spires
of Riverside Church and the spectacular skyscraper geometrics of
Hudson Yards, to the soaring towers of the Financial District. At
Midtown, that speed was needed when I found myself between a
massive barge and its dock, sprinting away as a stocky tug crewman
rained obscenities upon my head.
Rounding the Battery at lower Manhattan, the Hudson's calm
waters gave way to ocean swells from the Verrazano Narrows,
chop from countless ferries and headwinds on the East River. Yet
we still needed speed to clear a Staten Island Ferry as its engines
churned for departure. Once across that busy harbor into the lee
of the Brooklyn waterfront, the river rewarded every stroke with
an ever-changing panorama — the sinuous Brooklyn Bridge,
the sculpted Manhattan Bridge, the silvery Freedom ‘Tower.
While Manhattan soared even more majestically from so low
to the water, the Brooklyn-Queens shoreline was littered with a
century of concrete rubble and rotting piles.
We timed our passage through Hell Gate for the brief slack tide,
but midway across my cousin shouted “whirlpool” and we strained
against swirling currents. Minutes later, I was blindsided by a
ferry’s wake, with waves so high they blocked my view. But with
one short stroke, my old boat turned stern first into the swell and
stayed true as I surfed through steep rollers that otherwise could
have capsized me.
Heading up the Harlem River around 1 p-m., | remembered the
succession of bridges overhead from those long-ago crew practices.
Beneath the high span of Hamilton Bridge that marked our turn for
a three-mile grind back to the boathouse, I decided to see if I could
still do it and so relearned rowing’s shared secret: pain that penetrates
every sinew. But when you reach the dock at Baker Field’s boat-
house, as I did at 2:30 p.m., it suddenly stops, instantly forgotten.
As we were leaving the boathouse, a van pulled in and two young
oarsmen with medals around their necks got out. “Were those
gold?” I asked. “Yes,” they said, smiling — Columbia's lightweight
crew had just won the national championships by a second.
Yet rowing is more than winning. A boat, a blade, water, motion
— it’s elemental, even spiritual, bonding all who share a boat, even
50 years later. I guess that’s why all of us who rowed with him still
think about John Norton, fondly and sadly.
“Thanks to stipend support from the
Columbia College Fund, | was able to pursue
an unpaid internship with the Bureau of
Population, Refugees, and Migration, working
on humanitarian relief efforts throughout
the world. Having the opportunity to make a
concrete impact for migrant populations was
invaluable in helping to assess and shape my \ . |
future career aspirations.” o == ‘ | |
— Alexandra Karppi CC’20 | | i
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CORE TO COLUMBIA.
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622 W. 113th St., MC 4530 Burl. VT 05401
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Columbia
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Today
UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR.
NOBEL PRIZE WINNER.
CCT gets a rare peek inside
Dr. Richard Axel ’67’s lab.
Winter 2018-19
ONES TO WATCH
-ET THE INSPIRING YOUNG
_ ALUMS WHO MAKE UP OUR
~ INAUGURAL “LION'S PRIDE”
CRISIS AT THE BORDER
IMMIGRATION LAWYER
JONATHAN RYAN ‘00 WORKS
TO REUNITE FAMILIES
“MAKING A MURDERER”
MOIRA DEMOS 96 RECKONS
WITH THE PHENOMENON OF
HER HIT NETFLIX DOCUSERIES
CORE TO
COMMENCEMENT
COLUMBIA COLLEGE
i
en
SCOTT RUDD
the right education must tune the strings of the
Lae body and mind to perfect spiritual harmony.”
| : - : : Plato
| | | : Help support the College’s comprehensive approach to learning, which
cultivates intellectual growth, emotional and physical well-being, and agility
_ in today's constantly changing world. We are strengthening community and
_ preparing students for life at Columbia College and beyond.
- oe oS Support Wellness and Community Through Core to Commencement:
3 SCcollege columbia.edu/campaign
Contents
CCT and CCYA shine a spotlight on
13 inspirational young alumni.
ow, Y A. AW JAR GA YUVAL EAULO YU
University Professor Dr. Richard Axel ’67 is on a
quest for knowledge across multiple disciplines.
By Matthew Hutson
\ NO
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EX YY
\ f oer
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Immigration lawyer Jonathan Ryan ’00 is
helping fractured families at the border.
By Atossa Araxia Abrahamian 08, fRN’11
Cover: Photograph by Forg Meyer
departments
3 Message from Dean James J. Valentini
Transferring knowledge and understanding
from alumni to students.
4 The Big Picture
6 Within the Family
7 Letters to the Editor
9 Around the Quads
A MacArthur “genius grant” winner, the first
female Alexander Hamilton Medal honoree,
a Columbia Giving Day record and more.
17 Roar, Lion, Roar
Stand-out seasons for women’s cross country
and football!
38 Columbia Forum: /f You Leave Me
by Crystal Hana Kim ’09
Kim gets in touch with her Korean roots in
a multi-layered debut.
Now on CCT Online
college.columbia.edu/cct
Like Columbia College Alumni
facebook.com/alumnicc
View Columbia College alumni photos
instagram.com/alumniofcolumbiacollege
Follow @Columbia_CCAA
in) Join the Columbia College alumni network
college.columbia.edu/alumni/linkedin
Contents
alumninews \j
42 Working in a Winter Wonderland
43 Message from CCAA President
Michael Behringer ’89
A conversation with Alex Wallace Creed ’88 about the
CCAA’s Odyssey Mentoring Program.
44 Lions
Moira Demos 96, SOA’08; Ady Barkan ’06;
Erika Henik ’90; and Thad Sheely ’93, plus other
alumni newsmakers.
48 Bookshelf
Suicide Club: A Novel About Living by Rachel Heng ’11.
50 Class Notes
Just Married!
85 Obituaries
88 The Last Word
A father and daughter reengage with the Core
by reading Dostoevsky together.
LION’S DEN | DEC. 20
“| was dogged by a sense of
failure. | had adequately prepared
for my ‘practical’ life — being an
academic. But after semesters
when | was grateful if | could pee
between classes, | had spent
significantly less time on the
impractical life | had wanted —
being a writer. So | leaped.
And fortune did favor me — | had
great part-time jobs, my novel
started to have a shape, | woke
up practically humming. | was the
personification of that emoji that
looks like it is squeeing.”
THE LATEST
TAKE FIVE | DEC. 7
“Tl love] the view of campus
looking out toward Butler
from the Steps or Low. It
provokes a response in my
body that only the best views
and works of art can do for
me. It invigorates, inspires
me to learn and connect with
the world, and to be the best
version of myself. It’s even
better knowing that downtown
Manhattan awaits beyond it.”
— Artist Negar Ahkami ’92
— Novelist lvelisse Rodriguez ’97,
from “Living Your Best Life?”
Columbia
: College
Today &
VOLUME 46 NUMBER 2
WINTER 2018-19
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Alexis Boncy SOA’11
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Lisa Palladino
DEPUTY EDITOR
Jill C. Shomer
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Anne-Ryan Heatwole JRN’09
FORUM EDITOR
Rose Kernochan BC’82
ART DIRECTOR
Eson Chan
Published quarterly by the
Columbia College Office of
Alumni Affairs and Development
for alumni, students, faculty, parents
and friends of Columbia College.
ASSOCIATE DEAN,
COLUMBIA COLLEGE
ALUMNI RELATIONS
AND COMMUNICATIONS
Bernice Tsai ’96
ADDRESS
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530, 4th FI.
New York, NY 10025
PHONE
212-851-7852
EMAIL
cct@columbia.edu
WEB
college.columbia.edu/cct
ISSN 0572-7820
Opinions expressed are those of
the authors and do not reflect
Official positions of Columbia College
or Columbia University.
© 2018 Columbia College Today
All rights reserved.
MIX
Paper from
responsible sources
ee FSC*® C022085
Message from the Dean
Transfer Your Energy and Experiences
hat is energy, really, and how do we conserve it? That is the question posed
in a course, “Energy and Energy Conservation,” that I developed some
years ago and am teaching again this semester. Before becoming dean in
2011, I spent 20 years teaching undergraduates as a faculty member in
the chemistry department, and it’s still a
great thrill for me to be in the classroom
particularly when I am teaching a course I
created. Our students never fail to inspire
me, and they always remind me why
Columbia College is such a special place.
In the classroom we talk a lot about
words and concepts, and the different ways
in which we can use them. For example,
I talk in my class about heat. As a scien-
tific concept, heat is really only one thing:
a transfer of energy. But when I think
about the idea of transferring one thing to
another, I can't help but think about it in a
broader context, and other examples of transferring something valuable, such as transfer-
ring knowledge and understanding from a former student to a current student.
Through your successes as College alumni, you have developed certain resources, skills,
capacities and capabilities. There is a real story about each and every one of those oppor-
tunities that you can convey to the 4,500 College students currently living some of those
same experiences. Your stories are about more than a single classroom, more than a major or
a concentration and more than the degree you earned at the end of your time at Columbia.
There is a particular kind of experience that is unique to the College community. It
revolves around our grounding in the Core Curriculum and our location in New York City,
the greatest city in the world. Each of you experienced some part of this journey in your
own unique way, and now each of our current students continue on a similar journey.
You can transfer your knowledge and understanding to our current students. Whether it’s
through the My Columbia College Journey website (college.columbia.edu/journey), where
you can submit your own reflections; our student wellness effort, Live Well | Learn Well
(wellbeing.columbia.edu), which has a “Get Involved” button at the bottom of every page;
or by participating in the Odyssey Mentoring Program (odyssey.college.columbia.edu), there
are many opportunities for you to convey the lessons you have learned.
And these students want to hear from you. Time after time, I hear them talk about how
valuable it is to get firsthand knowledge from those who have walked the same halls, been
instructed in these same Core classes and found the success they, too, hope to achieve
after graduation.
In this new year, I hope you will remember why I often say, “College Walk doesn’t extend
from Broadway to Amsterdam; it extends around the world.” That extension includes you,
our 51,000-plus alumni, who can help propel this great undergraduate experience.
pee a
James J. Valentini
Dean
9
MARTIN SECK / COLUMBIA COLLEGE
Winter 2018-19 CCT 3
oN
—= Pe ge ee oo 4 oD
“ es I
+ pee ee
yn
8
of
A NOBEL IN
NEW JERSEY
Arthur Ashkin ’47 won the Nobel Prize in
Physics on October 2 for groundbreaking
research in laser physics. His invention
of optical tweezers enabled scientists to
take hold of “particles, atoms, viruses and
other living cells with their laser beam
fingers,” creating new ways to observe
and control the machinery of life, said the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
At 96, Ashkin is the oldest person ever
named a Nobel laureate. He shared the
prize with two other scientists who were
honored for separate work in the field.
Ashkin, meanwhile, continues to work grote” 8
from his home in Rumson, N.J. “That’s my
hobby, more or less,” he told the Nobel
website. “I was interested in science since
| was a kid, so | tell my wife that’s the only
thing that I’m really good at.”
JORG MEYER
PHOTOS BY JORG MEYER
6 CCT Winter 2018-19
Within the Family
An Inspiring Issue
ime for a glass of bubbly — we're thrilled
to uncork two of our most anticipated
features: our cover story on Nobel Prize-
winner Dr. Richard Axel’67, and a spe-
cial feature, the Lion’s Pride Honors, spotlighting
notable young alumni.
Typically, as a quarterly, we start working on big
articles six or seven months before they reach your
mailbox. But we first broached the idea of sitting
down with Axel, who rarely gives interviews, a year
ago. We were delighted when he said yes — and
granted our writer Matthew Hutson a lab tour, to
boot. While many readers might know Axel for
his breakthrough work mapping the genes that
are responsible for our sense of smell, he truly is
a scientist who defies categorization. The resulting
article is an eye-opening portrait of a man who has
made a career of bridging disciplines and pushing
boundaries. And he’s raising the next generation of
scientists to do the same.
Lion’s Pride, meanwhile, began a full 18 months
ago, when we embarked on a new partnership with
Columbia College Young Alumni. Because it was a
first, there was no road map to follow — just the
shared wish to celebrate some of our most com-
pelling recent graduates. We worked up timelines,
designed a logo, launched our nominations cam-
paign. The suggestions we received were read and
reread, and tough decisions were made. Then came
the interviewing, writing, editing, art.
But in reflecting on all that went into Lion's
Pride, what made the greatest impression was the
experience of speaking with the honorees them-
selves. Their personalities came through in a flash,
some gushed, others were reserved. But all were
articulate, passionate and purposeful, ambitious in
their vision and humble in their accomplishments.
They spoke thoughtfully about how their time at
the College had influenced them personally and in
their careers. They aspired to make a difference in
their industries, their communities and the world.
(Let’s not kid; they already are.)
The Lion’s Priders also got me thinking about
what it means to live your dreams and to make a
meaningful life for yourself. And they reminded me
of one of the reasons I became a writer and editor
— because I believe in the power of story to inspire,
and they left me feeling exactly that.
I hope they do the same for you.
Elsewhere in the magazine you'll find alumni who
are at the forefront of current news and culture. We
have a timely Q&A with Jonathan Ryan ’00, execu-
tive director of RAICES, a nonprofit providing free
or low-cost legal services to immigrants and refu-
gees; a profile of Moira Demos’96, SOA08, who has
returned to Manitowoc County, Wis., with Part 2 of
her hit Netflix docuseries Making a Murderer; and an
excerpt from Crystal Hana Kim’09’s much-heralded
debut novel, If You Leave Me.
Finally, why have one Nobel
winner when you can have two?
In October, Arthur Ashkin ’47
was named one of three win-
ners of the 2018 Nobel Prize
in Physics, making him, at 96,
the oldest person ever named
a Nobel laureate. The trio was
honored for their groundbreak-
ing research in laser physics,
and Ashkin in particular for
his invention of “optical twee-
zers.” The breakthrough allowed
scientists to use pressure from
light to manipulate tiny organ-
isms without damaging them — “an old dream of
science fiction,” as the Royal Swedish Academy of
Sciences said in its announcement.
Arthur Ashkin ’47
Ashkin graciously welcomed us into his home
in Rumson, N.J., for a photo shoot for The Big
Picture (page 4). Though he retired from a 40-year
career at the renowned Bell Labs in 1992, he con-
tinues to work in his home office. He holds 47 pat-
ents. He has plans for another.
Talk about an inspiration.
Alexis Boncy SO ~
Editor-in-Chief
EDWARD RICE '40
Letters to the Editor
- Fife dS gif df 4 j 7
aE SFT TS MISTL TT TAT ERIE ET PTGS
Thank you! I was overjoyed to read Thomas Vinciguerra’85, JRN’86, GSAS’90's
excellent piece on Thomas Merton ’38, GSAS’39 in the Fall 2018 issue
(“Around the Quads,” “Hall of Fame”). Merton, more than anyone else, had a
profound effect on my early life, leading me to abjure all conduits of standard
success and enter into an 11-year “retreat” of alternative education, communal
living, antiwar activity, music, mediation, political theater and writing.
Even when | married and had children, a career path of entrepreneurship
and craft permitted our family generous blocks of time for wilderness explo-
ration by foot and air, as well as latitude for my and my wife’s inner lives.
Still on our shelf are tattered Merton volumes from undergraduate days at
Columbia, and I have never regretted one iota the path he signaled.
Merton rightly belongs in the “Hall of Fame.” Vinciguerra’s piece is a
lovely reminder, and I maintain with humor that the seven-story mountain
was but the climb up to a friend’s room in Furnald Hall.
Kurt Meyers ’70
Tucson, Ariz.
from Stanford when I met him in Humani-
ties A on my first day at Columbia College
Rx for a Lucky Life
Edward “Ted” Tayler, the late Lionel Trilling
Professor Emeritus in the Humanities (Sum-
mer 2018, “Around the Quads,” “In Memo-
riam”), was a 29-year-old newly minted Ph.D.
in fall 1960. I found him to be a magician in
the classroom, but he also became my friend.
‘Throughout my undergraduate years and
subsequent studies toward my doctorate, he
wrung from my mind every drop of intellec-
tual kindling to light up my understanding
of what he liked to call “old books.” “Sweat
a little more, Paulie,” was his characteristic
response to my first efforts to elucidate a
literary crux or biblical selection he would
send me during all of these years. Early
on, he sent me text from John VII:58 —
“Before Abraham was, I am.” “If you get
this, Paulie, you've got English Renaissance
religious literature.”
We would meet for lunch at Henry’s on
Broadway at West 106th Street (he loved
the hamburger), and talk about Dickinson,
Hopkins and Stevens, and then our grand-
children. For the last 20 years or so, I self-
ishly thought of him as my private treasure,
but I was always aware of his unique intel-
lect and sainted presence, which I had no
right to claim as mine.
Ted acted as my prescription for expe-
riencing the life of the mind. He pos-
sessed a personality, voice and teaching
style students never forget. Those of us
lucky enough to have experienced him
received a priceless education in how to
stand back from ourselves to think about
cultural change and its impact on art. He
taught us to look for differences from, not
similarities to, ourselves; to apprehend eas-
ily overwhelming conceptions of time. He
encouraged us to be patient “understand-
ers,” in Ben Jonson's phrase. He taught me
to think — and to be grateful. How lucky
was I?!
Paul Neuthaler 64
Chappaqua, N.Y.
[se Contact Us
CCT welcomes letters from readers
about articles in the magazine but cannot
print or personally respond to all letters
received. Letters express the views
of the writers and not CCT, the College
or the University. All letters are subject
to editing for space, clarity and CCT
style. Please direct letters for publication
“to the editor” via mail or online:
college.columbia.edu/cct/contact-us.
Winter 2018-19 CCT 7
More than 50 areas of study to explore
and endless opportunities to discover for:
Undergraduates | Graduates Adults & Professionals
sos.columbia.edu/summerl9
STUDENTS
COLLEGE EDGE SUMMER IMMERSION GLOBAL SUMMER IMMERSION
July 6-26, 2019
Fall & Spring Semesters
Summer-Fall, Spring-Summer, Fall-Spring Session 1: June 24-July 12
Session 2: July 16-August 2
Session 3: August 5-August 9
gl? COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
MACARTHUR FOUNDATION
Winner's Circle
Writer Kelly Link’91 was named one of
2018’s 25 MacArthur fellows, earning a
$625,000 “genius grant” to be paid out
over the next five years. Link is the author
of several story collections that feature
fantasy and magical realism, including
Magic for Beginners,
Pretty Monsters and
Get in Trouble, which
was a finalist for the
2016 Pulitzer Prize
in Fiction.
Link lives in
Northampton,
Mass., and runs the
publishing house Small Beer Press with
her husband. “I did breathe an enormous
sigh of relief when I thought about how I
was going to pay bills next year,” Link told
The Washington Post. “It allows me to keep
writing the kinds of narrative that I most
want to write.”
New Wellness Website
Columbia College has launched a new
website in support of undergraduate
well-being. Live Well | Learn Well
(wellbeing.columbia.edu) serves as a
central location for information on health
and wellness resources across campus.
Through articles and videos, it also
hekiniensins arstinged 7)
chronicles students’ personal wellness
stories — part of an ongoing effort to
encourage a campus culture that values
and promotes individual well-being and
a healthy community. A third section of
the website reports on the objectives and
BRUCE GILBERT
CARNOY AWARDED ALEXANDER HAMILTON MEDAL: Dean James J. Valentini presented the
2018 medal to Lisa L. Carnoy ’89, the first female honoree, at Low Rotunda on November 15. Despite
an unseasonably early snowstorm, President Lee C. Bollinger, Columbia College Alumni Association
president Michael Behringer ’89 and more than 250 guests were on hand for the festivities.
progress of the College’s partnership with
the nonprofit The Jed Foundation.
“Driving this work is a common vision
for our community: one where the indi-
vidual and collective are provided with the
tools they need to flourish in academic
studies, professional pursuits and personal
interests,” said Dean James J. Valentini.
CCT Gets a Gold
Columbia College Today won an Eddie
Award for best single article at the 2018
Eddie & Ozzie Awards. “Under Pressure”
— the Winter 2017-18 issue’s cover story
— explored trends in student wellness and
how colleges are evolving to meet their
communities’ changing needs. CCT also
took home two honorable mentions: for
best full issue, for the Spring 2018 issue,
and for a profile or Q&A, for a profile of
actor Brandon Victor Dixon’03 in the
Fall 2017 issue.
The annual Eddie & Ozzie Awards
honor excellence in editorial and design
across all sectors of the magazine industry,
and have been presented by Fo/io: for
more than two decades. This year, 263
awards were chosen from a field of more
than 2,500 entries.
$4.36 mitton
The seventh annual Columbia Giving
Day, October 24, was a huge success.
Through 2,325 gifts, the College received
$4.36 million, the largest sum among the
Columbia schools or institutes, and set
a Giving Day record for donations and
dollars. All told, Columbians hit a new
high, raising $20,155,293 from 17,103 gifts.
Winter 2018-19 CCT 9
FacultyLounge
By Jill C. Shomer
n Szabolcs Marka’s office in Pupin
there are three large recliners,
surrounding a blackboard full
of notes. No desk. When I
raised an eyebrow at the unusual
furnishings, Marka was unfazed: “You can
be more creative when you're comfortable
— plus there are no desks between
minds,” he says with a shrug.
Marka, the Walter O. LeCroy, Jr.
Professor of Physics, believes strongly that
creativity is a critical component of science
research — “a witches’ brew of thinking,”
he calls it — and his approach to his work
borders on literary. “Real science is a quest,”
he says. “It’s a fire burning in you. You have
to have a dream, you have to have difficulty
and you have to have the unknown — if
there’s no unknown, there’s no risk. You
believe in yourself and just go for it.”
Marka’s work at Columbia is multidis-
ciplinary: In addition to doing research
and teaching undergraduate courses
like “Physics for Poets” and the popular
“Weapons of Mass Destruction” in the
physics department, he is an astrophysi-
cist, and is also passionate about the field
of biophysics. He has collaborated with
students from CUMC and the Mailman
School of Public Health, has worked with
the Zuckerman Institute and is a member
of the Integrated Animal Behavior
Center. Marka enjoys the differences in
10 CCT Winter 2018-19
culture, expertise and viewpoints that
these multi-department collaborations
provide: “Creativity comes from a diverse
set of ideas from diverse teams,” he says.
In 2009, five years after joining the
Columbia faculty, Marka made headlines
for his biophysics work with mosquitos,
developing an idea that would prevent
the spread of malaria by creating a “light
shield” through which airborne insects
will not fly. Marka and his team — which
included his wife, Zsuzsa, a research scien-
tist in the Columbia Astrophysics Labora-
tory — received funding from Bill Gates’
foundation (“now ‘hat guy is a visionary”)
and were featured in The New York Times
Magazine as an “Idea of the Year.”
Potentially saving communities from
insect-borne illness has immediate, tangible
benefits, which can be unusual in physics.
“I’m not going to die in binary black holes,”
he says. “Can I do something that makes a
difference? The idea was good, but not as
good as the reality — it changed my life.”
It was not Marka’s first life changer. He
is a longtime member of the Laser Inter-
ferometer Gravitational-Wave Observa-
tory (LIGO) team, which made history in
2015 with the first-ever direct detection
of gravitational waves. The observation
was hailed as one of the most important
in the world, confirming Einstein’s general
theory of relativity and marking a new era
JILL SHOMER
in astronomical exploration. Marka con-
tinues to innovate in LIGO at Columbia:
“The department is a wonderful place to
do science,” he says. “We support each
other. Whatever I want to know, there’s an
expert who is my colleague.”
Marka first found support for his sci-
entific quests growing up in a small town
in Hungary, where both of his parents
were teachers. He was always fascinated by
astronomy and physics; when he was 12 he
built a Newtonian telescope from scratch.
After a year of mandatory military service,
he got his diploma in nuclear physics (the
Hungarian equivalent of a master’s) from
Lajos Kossuth University in 1993. Seeking
growth and freedom, he pursued his doctor-
ate in the United States and earned a Ph.D.
in particle physics from Vanderbilt in 1999.
Marka says he’s happy to return the
privilege of support by passing it on to his
students. Shaping the next generation of
scientists and communicating the beauty
of physics — even to non-physicists — is
his favorite part of teaching. “It’s good for
you,” he says. “The world becomes more
open; it’s very empowering.”
And again, Marka thrives in an
environment of creative problem solving.
“Faculty is responsible for the preserva-
“Columbia is a
wonderful place to
do science. We support
each other. Whatever
I want to know,
theres an expert who
is my colleague.”
tion of knowledge, the communication
of knowledge and the advancement of
knowledge,” he says. “Each person has
a mixture of those abilities and desires,
and in an academic community you have
all these differences in these strengths.
The important thing is that the whole is
capable. And that’s something Columbia
excels in — creating that space to freely
create and for all departments to interact.
That’s the future; that is Science.”
Ambassador
for
Columbia -
College
‘s Future
Volunteer with the Alumni Representative Committee to represent
Columbia College by interviewing applicants in your region, and
support Admissions at the same time! You'll help applicants learn
about the College by sharing your Columbia knowledge
and insights. It’s fun, easy and rewarding!
Visit college.columbia.edu/alumni-interviewing to learn more.
Interviewing begins January 2, 2019.
ALUMNI
REPRESENTATIVE
COMMIT TEE
Student
Maya Lugo ’19
CCT: What’s something interesting
you learned this week?
Lugo: I took a workshop on NVivo,
which is a coding software for interviews.
When you do interviews and transcribe
them, you can code them for themes and
patterns and different things the subject
says. It was really helpful because I have a
research project to do.
Jast facts
Major: Sustainable Development
From: Bronx-born, grew up in Yonkers, N.Y.
CCT: What’s your favorite Core
reading so far, and why?
Lugo: I have three favorites, but one of
them is Song of Solomon. Toni Morrison
takes you on a trip; the best way I can
12 CCT Winter 2018-19
put it is that she creates this kaleidoscope
of narrative. She’s following one central
character, but brings up the stories and
backgrounds of all these other characters
who have an effect on his life. This whole
tale is so pertinent to the black experience,
and the way that she does it is so poetic,
you can almost taste the words.
CCT: What do you like to do outside
of class?
Lugo: I’ve been going to drum circles and
learning how to play the djembe, and I’ve
been free-styling from time to time, writ-
ing poetry, creating songs — I’m starting
to sing more in public. And I absolutely
love playing tennis. It’s my therapy!
CCT: How do you like to take
advantage of being in New York City?
Lugo: Last semester I went out with
friends a lot more to spoken-word events
and drum circles, and was just exploring
different things that the artistic side of
the city has to offer. I recently went to the
Brooklyn Museum because it had the first
Saturday of the month [free event], and it
was an amazing experience! There were so
many spoken-word poets, and there was
a dance exhibit that turned into a dance
party when they opened up the space for
people to dance. It’s important to use this
time to do adventurous things like that!
, SUPPORT
lf YOUR
Columbia College Today has always been
your magazine — the place to read about the
incredible achievements and remarkable stories
of College alumni, faculty and students. Please
consider visiting cct.givenow.columbia.edu to
make a tax-deductible contribution.
Whos
Shannon Marquez
Dean of Undergraduate Global Engagement
What drew you to this role?
I’ve worked in global health and international
education for 20 years. Traditional study abroad
is often the first thing people think of when
we talk about global experiences. But there
are global internships, research and service-
learning [education through real-life community
problem-solving], as well as global courses.
So I was excited when I learned that Columbia
was looking for a senior leader to help develop
a strategic vision that would incorporate
these types of activities into undergraduate
global engagement.
Though you began transitioning into
your work here in November, you started
full-time in January. What most excites you
about the year ahead?
Setting up a new organizational framework that
will support partnership across the undergradu-
ate schools and promote global engagement
activities. This will also provide an opportunity
to strengthen connections, and share experiences
and learning from different academic perspec-
tives, including the professional schools.
What’s the most important thing for students
to know about the recently launched Center
for Undergraduate Global Engagement?
That it will significantly increase the diversity
and breadth of global engagement and provide a
centralized resource for students.
What would you say to a student
who’s uncertain whether to pursue a
global opportunity?
Td talk to them about how we live in an increas-
ingly interconnected world. And how, to fully
participate in that world, it’s important to
increase their cross-cultural understanding and
explore the array of global engagement opportu-
nities available. That includes here in New York
— a truly global city! — on campus and abroad.
Short-term international experiences, global-
themed courses, research opportunities and
internships are great alternatives to completing a
traditional semester-long study abroad program.
eu
RES
Did you study abroad or have another
kind of international experience as
an undergrad?
No, but I completed the seventh, eighth and
ninth grades in Japan before returning to the
U.S. to complete my last three years of high
school. Because I attended an international
school while I was there, in addition to learning
about Japanese culture, I was also able to build
relationships with students from many different
backgrounds and cultures — from Europe,
Africa, the Americas and other Asian countries.
It gave me a solid foundation to develop my
interests in exploring the interconnections
between people and places around the world.
ie. a
COURTESY SHANNON MARQUEZ
Winter 2018-19 CCT 13
HallofFame
The Painter Who Wouldn't Be Pigeonholed
By Thomas Vinciguerra ’85, JRN’86, GSAS’90
ulitzer Prize-winning critic Emily Genauer once
remarked that a certain artist refused to be pigeon-
holed. “I don’t know whether she meant it as a criti-
cism,” responded Charles Alston CC 1929, TC’31
— the artist in question and a player in the Harlem
Renaissance — “but I always thought it hit it right on the head.”
Across more than 40 years, Alston indeed wouldn't be pigeon-
holed. “Tl do very realistic things,” he said, “and very far-out avant
garde things.” But in general his milieu was the black experience,
drawn from many walks of life. Alston painted and sculpted for
individuals and institutions, illustrated for newspapers and maga-
zines, pursued his own keenly felt projects and conveyed his expertise
in the classroom. He exuded, said Robert Beverly Hale CC 1923,
former curator of American art and sculpture at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, “imagination, zest and enchantment, sensitivity and
grace, reverence, wonder and awe.”
Alston was more modest: “I think primarily I’m a figure painter
and I’m concerned about people.”
Girl in a Red Dress, 1934
14 CCT Winter 2018-19
‘The son of a reverend in Char-
lotte, N.C., “Spinky” Alston
moved with his family to New
York City during WWI. At
Columbia, he joined Alpha Phi
Alpha and drew for Spectator and
Jester. But Alston's real extracur-
ricular life was conducted north
of campus. “The 135th Street
corner was our meeting place,”
he remembered. “You'd go into
Hotcha and Bobby Henderson
was playing the piano, Billie
Holiday was singing. You'd go
across Lenox Avenue to the little
bar across from Harlem Hospital
and Art Tatum was playing the
piano. Ethel Waters was there.
The place just jumped.”
During the 1930s and’40s, Alston contributed to Fortune, Made-
moiselle, Colliers and other major magazines. His October 6, 1934,
cover of The New Yorker depicts a janitor conducting a stage full of
empty chairs and deserted music stands. He designed a Duke Elling-
ton album cover and book jackets for Eudora Welty and Langston
Hughes CC 1925. During WWII, he drew inspirational cartoons
for the Office of War Information that appeared in more than 200
black newspapers. Alston made as much as $25,000 annually in
commercial art. But he yearned for greater self-expression.
“Finally,” he recalled, “I said to my wife, TI can’t do this anymore.”
His first year after abandoning the commercial world, around 1947,
was “pretty tough,” he admitted. “If I made two thousand bucks
I did well.” Still, Alston stuck with it, taking commissions both
private and public.
Throughout his professional life, he conveyed many forms of black
identity. Midnight Vigil vividly features a dozen gatherers at a death-
bed in a cabin with a potbellied stove; some are mourning, others are
exhorting. His mural The Negro in California History: Exploration and
Colonization depicts events ranging from 1527 to 1850. Among the
subjects are ex-slaves; Biddy Mason, a pioneering businesswoman
and philanthropist; and explorer James Beckwourth, who discovered
a crucial path through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Alston’s 1970
bronze bust of Martin Luther King Jr. was the first image of an
African American displayed at the White House.
Alston did not shirk from bold statements. In 1936 he com-
posed Magic in Medicine and Modern Medicine for the Works Prog-
ress Administration's (WPA) Federal Art Project (he also was the
project's first African-American supervisor). These two murals, for
Harlem Hospital, compared and contrasted holistic curing in Africa
ANDREW HERMAN
Charles Alston CC 1929, TC’31
Midnight Vigil, 1936
with black physicians being trained in new Western methods — but
they were initially rejected for “too much Negro subject matter.”
In 1933, Alston executed a charcoal sketch of a black man, noose
around his neck, lying helpless before an exultant white lyncher
holding his bloody, severed penis. “We stared at the powerful image
in a shared silence,” recalled educator and mediator Lemoine D.
Pierce upon seeing it with Alston more than 35 years later.
However, Alston rejected artistic distinctions based on race. ol
would hate to think that I was in an exhibition because I’m black,
rather than because I am a good painter,” he told Robert Doty,
curator of the Whitney Museum of American Art, in 1971. “Sepa-
rate exhibitions lead to separate standards, and separate is by nature
unequal in a democratic society.” Alston's palette was color-blind:
“T don't think the standards are black, white, green or whatnot. The
thing that makes an African mask great is the thing that makes a
great painting by Rembrandt great, really essentially, you know?”
Alston’s most enduring achievement might have been his years
of instruction at the Art Students League, City College, Utopia
Children’s House and other institutions — including a WPA-
funded workshop at his studio at 306 W. 141st St. Known simply
as “306,” it was a hothouse for budding Harlem artists. Among
his students was 10-year-old Jacob Lawrence. “I am glad I had
the sense at the time to
realize that this kid had
a very unusual, unique
kind of talent,” he said.
Lawrence became one
of the best-known Afri-
can-American painters
of the 20th century.
Currently at the Uni-
versity’s Wallach Art
Gallery is the exhibi-
tion “Posing Modernity:
The Black Model from
Manet and Matisse to
Today” (closing February
10). It includes Alston's
1934 oil Girl in a Red
Dress. The title subject,
wrote Alvia J. Ward-
law of Texas Southern
University, conveys such
“engaging intellect,” “serious self-confidence” and “thoughtful matu-
rity” that she constitutes “a symbol of the Harlem Renaissance.” She
reflects Alston’s aesthetic.
“Before you're a painter,” he said nine years prior to his death in
1977, “you're a human being and you're involved in what happens.”
HOLD FAST TO THE.
“SPIRIT OF YOUTH .
LET YEARS TO COME
“DO WHAT THEY MAY.
JAIME DANIES SEAS’20
DidYouKnow?
The Yule Log Tradition Is
More Than 100 Years Old
n 1910, President Nicholas Murray Butler CC 1882
[ sees to have a gathering during winter break to cre-
ate a home-away-from-home holiday atmosphere for the
students staying on campus. A December 19, 1910, Spectator
article predicted how the elaborate Christmas Day celebra-
tion would unfold: “The Dean [Frederick A. Goetze] has
arrived and an expectant hush has fallen over the group about
him at the fire place — the lights are low. The doors burst
open and in come four men dragging the Yule log whereupon
the musicians play the ancient Yule log anthem, during which
the log has been placed in the fire place.
“After the song is finished the Dean takes a candle which has
been lit from a previous fire and, with appropriate words, lights
the fire. As the flames roar up the chimney, taking a loving cup
— he toasts the future of Columbia. The cup is then passed in
turn to the men who brought in the log (representative students)
and after their toasts have been drunk — Sans Souci is sung.”
Today, the event is held before winter break so that all stu-
dents can attend. The celebration still features readings, songs,
toasts and, of course, the lighting of the ceremonial log.
Winter 2018-19 CCT 15
ONLINE |
GET THE LATEST
college.columbia.edu/cct
ROAR, LION, ROAR
Running Down a Dream
Women’s cross country had a banner
season, winning the Ivy League Heptago-
nal Championship trophy for the second
consecutive year. Four Lions ran their way
onto the All-Ivy League team, and cross
country director Dan Ireland was named
Ivy League and Northeast Regional
Coach of the Year.
‘The team also took the NCAA
Northeast Regional Championship
title, en route to the NCAA Cross
Country National
Championships
in Madison, Wis.,
on November 17.
Their performance
at nationals —
coming in 18th of v
31 teams — marked Shut-out King 2
the best finish for
an Ivy League team Soccer’s Dylan Castanheira 19 was
since 2013. Libby Kokes ’19 was the top named Ivy League Defensive Player of
Columbia runner, finishing the 6K-course the Year and a first team All-Ivy selection,
capping a Columbia career that earned
in 20:43.6.
Back at the Heps championship, which him a place as one of the top goalkeepers
in Ivy League history.
took place on October 27, Erin Gregoire
19 finished in second place (20:49.3), Castanheira, who hails from Landing,
while Kokes took fourth (20:53.4); both N.J., broke the conference record for
runners’ performances earned them spots career goals against average at 0.513. He
MIKE MCLAUGHLIN / COLUMBIA ATHLETICS
Goalkeeper Dylan Castanheira 19’s shut-out performance vs. Penn was one of five this season.
BEN ENNIS
A Winning Season (Again!)
Libby Kokes “19 : :
Columbia football captured the Empire
State Bowl in a dramatic home victory
over Cornell on November 17 — and
with that, the team notched its first back-
to-back winning seasons since 1961-62.
Hero honors for the day went to wide
receiver Mike Roussos ’22. Cornell had
taken a 21-17 lead with 58 seconds to
go when Roussos scooped the ball on a
on the All-Ivy first team. “Going into
this race, we knew it was going to be a
tough one,” Gregoire said, referring to
the drenching rain the night before. “This
course is all grass and dirt, so it turned
q: ROAR!
The winter sports season is under way! For
the latest, download the Columbia Athletics
app or visit gocolumbialions.com.
into a mud pit. We had to prepare last
night, but I think that helped ease our
stresses and we were excited to go into
this as one unified team.”
Katie Wasserman ’20 came in 11th
place at 21:07.7, and Alexandra Hays’21
was 13th at 21:08.5. The pair made the
All-Ivy second team.
squib kickoff and returned it 87 yards for
a touchdown. The Lions defense then held
Cornell as the clock ticked down, sealing
the comeback and closing out the season
on a high note.
Roussos also scored earlier in the game,
on a first quarter 91-yard punt return.
Other highlights included Chris Alleyne
19’s 33-yard field goal — the culmina-
tion of a drive set up by an interception by
Fara’ad McCombs ’22 — and a touch-
down run in the fourth quarter by Kyle
Castner 19.
“It’s such a momentum boost, because
you not only have the short-term momen-
tum of winning the game, but you also
get a tremendous amount of momentum
heading into the off-season and recruit-
ing,” said Coach Al Bagnoli. “I couldn't be
happier for everyone concerned.”
‘The Lions finished the year with a 6-4
overall record (3-4 Ivy League).
went 10—5—1 in net this season, for a
four-year total of 33-10—4. He also set a
program record with 25 career shut-outs,
while posting the second-highest save
percentage in Columbia history at 0.841.
Two teammates joined Castanheira on
the All-Ivy League first team: forward
Dylan Mott’19 and defender Blake
Willis ’21. Midfielder Danny Laranetto
’20, defender Vana Markarian ’20 and
midfielder Andrew Stevens 22 were
named to the second team.
Men's soccer on the whole had a strong
season, capturing second place in the
Ivy League (5-2) and going 10-5-1
overall. The players had their eyes
on the league crown, but lost 2-1 in
a heartbreaker season finale against
Cornell on November 10. John Denis
20 notched the lone goal, with an assist
from Sebastian Gunbeyi’22, but Cornell
evened the score to force overtime.
Winter 2018-19 CCT 17
sR aR WEI MISA EEE IRE RIDS LTE OTR DREN §
Z a 3 RR RING EL OT
AYLA STEVE KEVIN ALEXANDER
BONFIGLIO ‘09 MARTINEZ ‘11 TYAN ‘16 DONNELLY ‘14
ONES TO
: WATCH:
RILEY
JONES ‘17
KATHERINE
JIN ‘16
SABAAH
FOLAYAN ‘13
CCT AND CCYA SHINE A SPOTLIGHT ON
13 INSPIRATIONAL YOUNG ALUMNI
ILLUSTRATIONS BY ALYSSA CARVARA
THOMAS
KENDALL
KAPUSTA ‘12
TUCKER ‘14
ANA HELENA GAVIN CARLYN
DE OLIVEIRA LOBO ‘15 NEWTON-TANZER ‘12 DOUGHERTY ‘18
YEAR AND A HALF AGO, when we began talking with Columbia College
Young Alumni about a partnership to spotlight young alumni, we faced an
exciting but daunting challenge. The graduates of the past decade number
nearly 11,000, spread across the globe. They have climbed literal and
figurative mountains, along with pursuing countless other endeavors worthy
of report. How would we even begin?
Then we realized, who better to ask about young alumni than the alumni
themselves? In March 2018 we put out a call for nominations for our first
‘ Lion’s Pride, and in the months that followed we were thrilled at the number
of names we received. We learned about alumni making waves in industries
from education to business, from the arts to science and technology. They
were leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs. Their work had a meaningful impact
on their communities and the wider world. It also had an impact on the peers
who submitted their nominations, which in some ways was the greatest tell —
these were alumni who uplifted and awed those around them.
The more we read, the more we realized that we wanted this feature to
A: TS ae
be more than a list, and to go deeper than biography. We wanted to get to
know the Lions behind the successes — what drew them to their work,
what challenges they overcame, what kept them motivated — and to bring
you those stories.
The 13 honorees you'll meet in the next eight pages are doing very
different things, but all are creating lives they feel proud of. They are united
by their commitment and passion. And they all have a lot more up their
sleeves. We hope you find their stories as inspirational as we do.
— The Editors
The Problem Solver
As a senior, Carlyn Dougherty ‘18, SEAS’19_ = Columbia. She also founded a company with
signed up for Hacking for Defense (H4D), her H4D partners (three from GS and two from
a class where students tackle actual problems SIPA) to back their app, CasTaC, short for
posed by the Department of Defense and U.S. Casualty Triage and Communication.
intelligence agencies. The computer science Dougherty’s H4D experience began with a
major thought it was “a perfect chance to do broad question: How can communications on
a more practical application of the things I’d the battlefield be improved? After interviewing
learned and build something real-world.” about 150 people in the military community, she
Today, that practical application — an app and her team decided they'd work specifically to
she and classmates developed for use by the ease the inefficient information exchange around
military — is on its way to saving lives. battlefield injuries.
It’s an exciting time for Dougherty, who's ‘The current system, Dougherty says, amounts
pursuing a master’s in machine learning at to a chain of medical care where notes about
20 CCT Winter 2018-19
patients are scribbled on a card, then handed
off from medics on the ground, to helicopter
medivacs, to doctors. “The cards get ripped, get
bloody, things aren't written down at all,” she
says. Most of the time, too, these situations occur
in areas without preexisting (or secure) satellite
infrastructure. Some radios might be available
for medical purposes, but messages compete
for an operator’s time, and information easily
becomes garbled.
CasTaC avoids those drawbacks by
piggybacking on something called line of
sight communication, where military members
are equipped with Android devices that can
talk back and forth so long as they’re in view
of each other. Medics can use the app to
input data once they’re relieved of caring for
patients, medivacs in turn can alert doctors
to who’s incoming. “Sutures can be prepped,
medicine put into syringes — it’s that little bit
of time that can help them save lives, ideally,”
Dougherty says.
The team has applied for grants and is
working with the federal government to move
toward field testing. Along the way they've
presented to Congress and met with veterans.
“They've seen how issues like this get ignored
on a lot of levels,” says Dougherty. “But when
you have the kind of intellectual heft we have
at Columbia, being able to solve problems that
have meaning — or at least make the attempt —
is really important.”
Ayla Bonfiglio ‘09 wants to change the stories
that students hear in the classroom — about their
histories, their wars, their cultures and their people.
That’s the mission at the heart of the Conflict
and Education Learning Laboratory, a foun-
dation co-created by Bonfiglio with a global
mission: to forge an international agreement to
reduce divisive stereotypes in textbooks. CELL
focuses more on research than advocacy, and
much of its work is gathering the evidence to
galvanize change. In this case, by studying dis-
criminatory educational content and its impact
on prolonging or inciting conflict and violence.
Education is a civic project, says Bonfiglio,
“but we also know the saying that history is
written by the victors.” Take for example the dif-
ferences in how Israeli and Palestinian textbooks
narrate shared events, or portrayals in the United
States of its past with Native Americans. eles
not always a blatant stereotype or slur against
an outsider group,” she says. “It can also be the
complete omission of history.”
Persuading leaders that their countries need
reforms like this can be sensitive, Bonfiglio
adds, “but that’s where having an international
focus helps. We're saying it’s something we all
have to do.”
Bonfiglio’s conviction is born of a decade
of research into refugee education and forced
displacement (she has a master’s from Oxford
and is pursuing a Ph.D. at the United Nations
University in the Netherlands). Her introduction
to the field came as a College student studying
The Change Agent
abroad in Uganda. Refugees were arriving from
the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and
Somalia, and she began exploring why those
living in urban areas were able to become more
self-reliant than those in settlements. The big-
gest determinant, she concluded, was education:
“That’s when I first saw how crucial it was to
people living in contexts of crisis.” She soon
moved from questions of educational access to
the influence of the content itself.
Edueation is a civic project,
says Bonfiglio, “but we also
know the saying that history
is written by the victors.”
All told, Bonfiglio has interviewed nearly 400
refugees. When people are willing to describe
their turbulent pasts, with all the pain that
entails, she says, “you really have to ask yourself,
‘Why am I doing this?’ It should hold you more
accountable to actually trying to create some-
thing that effects change.”
CELL was officially launched during a meet-
ing of UNESCO’s executive board in October
2016 and has since formed partnerships with
organizations worldwide. “We are very young,”
Bonfiglio says, “but all this support, I think, is
testament to the fact that we have an important
issue here and one worth fighting for.”
Winter 2018-19 CCT 21
The Inventors
As two-thirds of the biotech company Kinnos, Kevin
Tyan ‘16 and Katherine Jin ‘16 received their
first patent for their groundbreaking product Highlight
in August.
Highlight is a decontaminant solution created to
protect health care workers and patients from infections.
As a color additive mixed into disinfectants like bleach,
Highlight turns the disinfectant blue and modifies it;
when sprayed or wiped, the disinfectant spreads and
adheres to waterproof surfaces. The color fades in real
time to indicate that decontamination is complete.
‘The product was born in October 2014 after the pair
— along with Jason Kang SEAS’16 — decided to enter
“I don't think a lot
of people knew how
vulnerable the Ebola
health care workers
were during the
crisis, so it felt really
rewarding to create a
tool that would make
their lives easier.”
Columbia’s Design Challenge,
“Confronting the Ebola Crisis.”
‘The charge: to conceive inexpensive,
tech-driven solutions to meet the
obstacles posed by the epidemic.
As biology majors (Jin double-
majored with computer science) it
was a topic they were all interested
in. “The idea was to address a very
simple problem — you can’t really
see what youre doing when you're
disinfecting,” Tyan says. “If you can
make the process as visceral and
obvious as possible, you can make
a big impact and protect people on
the front lines of these outbreaks.”
Still, the trio didn't expect Highlight to gain as much
traction as it did. In December 2014, they formed
Kinnos, and won third place in the Columbia Venture
Competition’s Undergraduate Challenge, with a prize of
$10,000. Kinnos was also chosen as a winner of the U.S.
Agency for International Development’s grant, “Fight-
ing Ebola: A Grand Challenge for Development.”
22 CCT Winter 2018-19
The team worked on iterations, made research trips
to West Africa, studied patents and got up to speed on
fundraising while still undergraduates. “One of the most
defining features of working in a startup is you basically
are in constant crisis mode,” Jin says. “Things change
quickly, opportunities arise suddenly and you need to
move fast to keep up momentum. You must always be
ready to adapt and move forward.”
Tyan, now in his first year at Harvard Medical School,
grew up near the National Institutes of Health in
Bethesda, Md., and was a crew chief for Columbia’s EMS
corps. “I don’t think a lot of people knew how vulnerable
the Ebola health care workers were during the crisis,” he
says. “These are people who are putting themselves in
harm’s way to try to curb the outbreak. A lot of them had
been stigmatized for working with Ebola, and they weren't
welcome back in their homes. So it felt really rewarding to
create a tool that would make their lives easier.”
While at the College, Jin, originally from Louisiana,
served as a campus coordinator for Harlem Hospital
Health Leads, which enables health care, community and
government organizations to share resources. “Infection
prevention is a vitally important part of the health care
system, but also one of the most overlooked,” she says.
“The repercussions can be catastrophic. By empower-
ing health care workers to clean more effectively, we can
reduce the amount of unnecessary and life-threatening
infections that affect populations worldwide.”
Kinnos now has patents pending on additional
formulas of Highlight and are launching the technol-
ogy for hospitals and other health care facilities in the
United States.
Is it an accident that the Highlight powder is Columbia
blue? The team had considered a few other colors, but Tyan
notes, “Blue has a calming sense, a connotation of cleanli-
ness. It wound up being the perfect chemical reaction.”
The Civie Soldier
The first thing to know about Adam
Sieff ‘11 is that he believes in giving
back — deeply. The reason he joined his
Los Angeles law firm was its commitment
to pro bono work, and within weeks of start-
ing he was cold-calling nonprofit civil rights
organizations to ask how he could help.
Today, as an attorney with Latham &
Watkins, Sieff donates hundreds of hours
each year to volunteer cases. He’s currently
representing a group of soldiers challeng-
ing President Trump's ban on transgender
military service, and has joined with the
NAACP to eliminate racial inequities
among three school districts in one of North
Carolina’s most rural, low-wealth counties.
“There is vast inequality in who gets educa-
tional opportunities and why, and [working]
to make meaningful differences in the kind
of adequate education that young people in
poor communities are given — that strikes
me with a moral urgency,” he says.
Sieff’s sense of civic duty shapes more
than his professional life. He regularly
volunteers in his community and advo-
cates for causes he believes in; lately that’s
included immigration rights and helping
L.A.’s homeless. All his work is getting
noticed: Last summer he was honored as
an emerging civic leader by the Empower-
ment Congress, an organization dedicated
to engaging and supporting Los Angeles
County’s Second Supervisorial District.
That kind of hyperlocal impact is one of
the most rewarding aspects of Sieff’s work,
he says — even more so because he grew
up in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley. His ideas
about service took root as a result of both
his faith and family upbringing: “In Judaism,
we talk about how the world is broken and
even though we know we can't put it all
back together again, we strive to do just that
anyway.” Columbia furthered his under-
standing of what it would mean for him to
The Sports Guy
ESPN producer Steve Martinez ‘11 is
living his dream. It took a lot of hard work
— and he’s not stopping yet — but for now,
as one of the hands behind the basketball
show The Jump, it’s the dream. “T picture
myself being a kid at home who would
watch it,” he says, sounding not unlike a
delighted kid himself. “If I was a teenager at
this time I'd be rushing home every day to
watch this show I get to make.”
Martinez basically was that teenager.
He grew up a superfan in Washington
Heights — the Knicks’ 1994 title run was a
seminal childhood experience — and was a
TV anchor and sports reporter for his high
school. He majored in film studies, then
beelined for ESPN after graduation. After
four years as a researcher, his basketball
expertise earned him an invitation to join
a small team developing a new show. The
Jump, launched in 2016, was so successful
it was quickly promoted from a 30-minute
seasonal series on ESPN2 to a daily, year-
round program on the network’s main chan-
nel. By the end of 2017, Sports IMustrated
was calling it the smartest basketball show
on television.
What sets The Jump apart, Martinez
says, is the team’s understanding of tone
and ability to shift between topics. “We're
serious when we need to be — we can cover
sexual assault allegations against the CEO
live a meaningful life. “Ultimately what I
drew was that I wanted to make a difference
in the community I came from. It held a
purpose for me.”
Sieff readily admits to the frustrations
of slow-moving government and legal
systems. But he tries to stay inspired.
“When youre at trial there’s a saying: ‘A
brick is not a wall.’ But all you need is brick
by brick, get the evidence down — it’s the
same concept,” he says. “You have faith
in the belief that if you string together
enough little wins, you'll get somewhere.”
of a team — but we can also handle the
humorous stories of the game.” And while
life on deadline is stressful, as is working in
live television, Martinez isn’t complaining.
As he sees it, his job is to put a plan in place
that works, but also be able to deal with
the inevitable misfire: “If your knowledge
of your subject is strong enough then it
shouldn't be an issue.”
Martinez — who kept the press cre-
dentials from the first game he covered at
Madison Square Garden, as a reminder of
how far he’s come — says one of his focuses
is inclusive content that embraces diversity.
He cites a Hispanic Heritage Month seg-
ment that covered how basketball has taken
off in Guatemala thanks to expat college
students who bring it home with them. “We
showed middle-aged Guatemalan women
playing full-court basketball; it’s incred-
ible,” he says. “That’s part of the reason I
love sports — how it connects and unites
people. That’s what I try to do in a small way
every day: bring people together, make them
happy about something that they enjoy.”
Winter 2018-19 CCT 23
24 CCT Winter 2018-19
The Expat Entrepreneur
As an undergraduate, Gavin Newton-Tanzer ‘12
co-founded a nonprofit, Global China Connec-
tion, to foster exchange opportunities between
U.S. and Chinese university students.
Fair warning: This is not that story (though
GCC has since grown to thousands of members
worldwide). But from that experience came
Newton-Tanzer’s next act, Sunrise International
Education, which since 2012 has flourished at
what was once an unlikely enterprise — bringing
extracurricular activities to Chinese students.
As Newton-Tanzer explains, through his work
with GCC, he began noticing a trend. Families
would ask him about his path to college, and
his honest assessment — he wasn’t good at
standardized tests, but was a jazz pianist and
heavily invested in clubs and especially debate
— brought “blank stares.” “Extracurriculars were
not a thing,” he adds. “Kids would literally be in
school until 6 or 7 p.m., and then they had late-
night study.”
At the time, he says, wealthy Chinese families
were beginning to look more seriously at having
their children educated in the United States. But
that meant adapting to an admissions process
that was rounded in its considerations — a
sharp difference from China’s notoriously tough
universal entrance exam.
Newton-Tanzer saw an opportunity. Focusing
on debate as a way to engage and help students
think outside academics, he and a business
partner began setting up tournaments around
the country, offering to train students for free
if they participated. From seven tournaments
The Documentarian
Sabaah Folayan ‘13 may not have planned to
be a documentary filmmaker, but she’s already
making a splash. Her directorial debut, Whose
Streets?, premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film
Festival and was acquired by Magnolia Pictures;
the film chronicles the August 2014 protests in
Ferguson, Mo., sparked by the shooting death
of Michael Brown Jr.
Folayan, born and raised in Los Angeles,
thought she would be a physician. After
getting her degree in biology, she started the
applications for medical school but found
the process dehumanizing. So she moved
toward public policy and became a strategic
planner at the Osborne Association, which
helps formerly incarcerated people put their
lives back together. Always a writer, she
realized she had a knack for interviewing.
“T also realized how powerful and cathartic
these conversations could be,” she says.
Folayan knew there were stories to be told
from the protests in Ferguson, so she and
a College friend, cinematographer Lucas
Alvarado-Farrar 13, traveled there to do
interviews for a report on the public health
implications. “With the police and protestors
facing off like they were, it was going to cause
PTSD in the community,” she says.
Arriving at the chaotic scene, Folayan
quickly realized it was not the time or place
for multiple-choice questions about mood,
appetite and sleeping habits. “We started
doing interviews on camera and it quickly
became obvious that we had to keep
documenting this,” she says. “Then it became
a matter of learning on the spot how to make
a documentary.”
With no funding at all the first year, making
the film was a challenge. “I was paying out of
pocket, sleeping on couches, taking small jobs
here and there — ruining my résumé in order
to keep doing this,” she says. Folayan and
her team got their first grant in August 2015,
then raised a quarter-million dollars at a
documentary funding event that October.
Despite the obstacles, Folayan — who
received a “30 Under 30” nod from Forbes last
year — is now on the right path; her next
project is about the Equal Rights Amendment.
“When you can make a film that’s very
emotionally driven, it gives people the
Opportunity to see themselves reflected,” she
says. “For people of color, Whose Streets? was a
chance to reflect the dignity that’s in struggle
and in protest. I’m motivated by trying to give
a voice to people who are not usually heard.”
that first year, Sunrise today runs more than 50
annually; its offerings have also expanded to
include extracurriculars ranging from robotics to
arts programs. All of the programs are grounded
in the idea of nurturing communities of like-
minded students and giving them a platform to
demonstrate their knowledge.
Newton-[anzer and his partner are no longer
on the front lines of travel and teaching; their
Beijing team numbers just under 100,
and they've dedicated themselves to pushing
into new arenas. One example: Sunrise is
helping non-Chinese universities communicate
with prospective students and families
(hosting websites, running social media);
it’s their solution to China’s “great firewall,”
which blocks access to select foreign websites.
ast
Sunrise ts helping non-Chinese universities
communicate with prospective students
and families; it’s their solution to China’s
“creat firewall.”
Why China? Newton-Tanzer credits his
high school language tutor, a U.N. interpreter,
with opening his eyes to the opportunities that
come from “being able to facilitate dialogue and
communication between two great powers.”
At 18, Newton-Tanzer boarded a plane
for a gap year in Beijing: “I was completely
unprepared,” he says with a laugh. But he was
clearly on his way.
The Personal Pollster
Kendall Tucker ‘14 is ready for real
conversation, and she’s betting the rest of
America is, too.
That’s the premise behind Tucker’s data tech
company, Polis, which is collecting information
about people the old-fashioned way: by knock-
ing on doors.
“The pendulum has swung heavily toward
digital and digital outreach,” says the Boston-
based CEO. “And I believe it’s swinging back
pretty heavily to seeing people as people, putting
down devices and having conversations in person.
“Unlike groups that are stealing data,” Tucker
adds, she believes in an up-front approach and
in-depth interviewing. “People can tell us, ‘Hey,
these are the groups I want to come talk to
me, and these are some groups I don't.’ And by
knowing what people actually care about, we can
contact them in respectful, impactful ways.”
Where Polis gives pavement pounding an
innovative twist is in its app, which essentially
turns the data it gathers into interactive
neighborhood maps for businesses and political
campaigns. Users are given ideal routes, with
dots for every home where Polis has been;
click, and they get demographic info and learn
about the issues that matter to residents and
whether they’re likely to be receptive to the
service — or idea — being pitched. It even
offers scripts based on what’s likely to make the
interaction more effective.
Tucker, who majored in political science,
founded Polis in 2015 purely as a tool for
political canvassing. (The idea stemmed from
her own frustrations as someone who had
volunteered for campaigns and found the
door-to-door approach to be both ineffective
and inefficient.) By the end of 2016, the app
had been picked up by roughly 150 campaigns,
notably that of Libertarian presidential
candidate Gary Johnson. Its success earned
attention from Forbes to The Washington Post
and Today, and soon for-profit businesses began
calling. At the time, Polis wasn't designed for
them, but Tucker and her team decided to take
on the challenge. Today, much of the company’s
business comes from energy, telecommunications
and security companies.
All told, the Polis team has knocked on
10 million doors. Their goal is to speak to all
300 million Americans in the next five years.
It’s ambitious, but that’s what excites Tucker.
“We have a vision of the world functioning in
a different way, and a team that’s incredibly
committed to the mission. It’s been a really
exciting journey.”
Winter 2018-19 CCT 25
The Producers
Like several other Lion’s Pride honorees, Thomas
Kapusta ‘12 (left) and Alexander Donnelly ‘14
created something new by asking themselves an ambi-
tious question: “Hey, why don't we ... ?” In this case, their
vision was to launch an independent theater forum that
values artistic collaboration over commercial success.
Now in its third year, The Corkscrew Theater Festival
presents new work by early-career artists during four
weeks at the Paradise Factory Theater in the East Village.
Kapusta and Donnelly founded Corkscrew in 2017,
taking advantage of the opportunity created when the
popular New York International Fringe Festival went
“In King Lear,
Lear says,
‘Nothing comes from
nothing, but with
theater, something
comes from
nothing — it’s magic.
We ean do that.”
on hiatus for a year. “We realized
the time was now to fix the festival
process and make it more artist
centric,” Donnelly says. “There are
a lot of people who can't raise the
money to put on a show at Fringe
and we didn’t want that to be a
hinderance to genuinely good art
that was out there.”
The two met at The Brewing
Department, a theater company
Kapusta founded with four other
College alumni in 2013. The group
operated for four years, producing
the work of its collective members.
Kapusta was a director, and Donnelly, who worked on
Wall Street, did fundraising and producing.
After the other Brewing Department founders split
off to pursue graduate school, Kapusta says, “I was left
with a moment of ‘What would happen if I turned the
collaborative mission outward and solicited submissions
from the community beyond this group?’ That’s when
Alex and I first started talking about this, and we just
sort of started dreaming about what we could make.”
26 CCT Winter 2018-19
They wanted to create a forum that was small enough
to be hands on but big enough to provide meaning-
ful exposure for rising artists. They decided on a name
(“Corkscrew’ represents turning potential energy into
kinetic energy”), put together an application and began
doing outreach for submissions. “We hoped we'd get five
— we ended up getting around 70 submissions our first
year,” Kapusta says. In their second year they had three
times that amount.
“We go out of our way to find people who are working
in robust collaborative models,” Kapusta says. “If you start
with that premise — that we can do more together than
we can do apart — people really live up to that challenge.”
Donnelly and Kapusta both have had theatrical leanings
since childhood. Kapusta performed in plays at school in
Wappingers Falls, N.Y., and at the College realized this
was the work he wanted to do. For Donnelly, who grew up
in New City, N.Y., theater was his reward for getting good
grades. He worked on shows in high school, and though
he majored in financial economics at the College, acted in
musicals and performed in the Varsity Show.
Their collective experiences shaped the vision of the
warm, collaborative space they wanted to create, and the
two are thrilled by what they’ve already achieved. And
now that Fringe is back on, they’re not worried. “[Fringe
will] still be very good at what they do, which is produc-
ing a massive festival,” Donnelly says. “We want to be
more curated. Corkscrew is a true incubator — we're the
place where artists can come to genuinely feel supported
for their work.”
“T get a lot of joy from encouraging artists to see their
vision into reality, and from working together to achieve
a collective perspective on the world,” Kapusta says. “In
King Lear, Lear says, ‘Nothing comes from nothing,’
but with theater, something comes from nothing — it’s
magic. We can do that.”
The Altruist CEO
Riley Jones ‘17 understands that the
right intervention at the right time can
change a person's life. He came to Colum-
bia from Chicago’s South Side via a
Questbridge scholarship for low-income
students; while still an undergrad, Jones
became the CEO for BLOC, a coaching
company that empowers young people of
color to build fulfilling careers.
In 2014, when Jones was a sophomore,
he learned through the College’s Black
Students Organization about a career
and identity conference being held at
Princeton. “The conference was amazing,”
he says. “I told the woman who organized
it I wanted to help plan the next one. She
asked me to join its new team.”
Jones quickly became a leader, and
the first BLOC conference was held in
November 2015 in New York City. More
than 500 students from across the country
attended. “We called it ‘Uprising’ — our
goal was to give students a platform to
have the conversation about diversity in the
workplace,” he says. The conference focused
on tech jobs but also included panels on
academia, medicine, business and law.
After Uprising’s success, the BLOC
team was ready for more, and they had
their work cut out for them. “There are
statistics about how hard it is to get venture
capital for POC and WOC founders,” he
says. “It’s a challenge getting in front of
people who want to support what we're
doing. We had to think out of the box.”
Jones took advantage of the fact that
he was a student to start conversations
with potential donors: “Many people
find students non-threatening and non-
intrusive,” he says. “And people take me
more seriously now that I’m in law school.”
Jones is studying social entrepreneurship
at NYU Law — the idea that you can do
well financially and do good for the world at
the same time. “You can have social impact
built into your business model,” he says.
The STEM Edueator
Ana Helena de Oliveira Lobo ‘15
is (literally!) expanding universes for
young women. Lobo, a Ph.D. candidate
in planetary atmospheres at CalTech, is
the founder of the WLF Program, which
provides free STEM education to girls in
developing countries and prepares them for
careers in the sciences.
Launched in July 2018, WLF had
more than 50 teenage girls sign up for its
first program in Londrina, Brazil. Dur-
ing the course of a week, Lobo taught the
attendees an intensive calculus course,
with computer science, astronomy and
planetary science lectures included. At the
end, the students were tested; the majority
scored a B or above. “Their performance
way exceeded my expectations for what we
could accomplish in a week,” Lobo says.
Lobo was inspired to develop WLF after
experiencing sexism in her own education.
As a high school student in Brazil, there was
little encouragement for women to study
science — there were no female science
teachers in any field, and male teachers could
be condescending. “They referred to boys as
‘talented’ and girls as ‘hard workers,” she says.
Lobo received lessons in math and physics
from her mother, a researcher, and majored in
astronomy and earth sciences at the College.
‘Three years later, BLOC is thriving —
and getting noticed; Forbes added Jones
and his co-founder, Amina Yamusah, to its
2019 “30 Under 30” Social Entrepreneurs
list in November. The company is now
considering how to improve job prospects
for other marginalized people, such as
the formerly incarcerated, or young
people who grew up in the foster care
system. “There are people who have to
hold these identities and navigate the
workplace,” Jones says. “We're focused on
how to use data to empower them rather
than displace them.”
“Td had the idea before I left Columbia
that I would eventually do something to
support other young women,” she says.
“Watching the political climate here and
in Brazil, it seemed like it couldn’t wait. As
a graduate student I now have the skills
necessary to teach, and I was prepared
to give back — that was reason enough
to get started.” Lobo wanted to serve in
communities outside major cities, where
she felt STEM opportunities were really
lacking. “The lack of role models is a big
deal,” Lobo says. “In the U.S., while there
are still a lot of challenges for women in
science, we're very active about talking
about it. The reality is that here [in Brazil],
a lot of these girls don’t know that these
fields exist.”
Lobo is also experimenting with
mentorship and empowering techniques
that will boost girls’ confidence as well as
their skills. WLF is moving forward with
a second course series, expanded to two
weeks, scheduled for this July.
Winter 2018-19 CCT 27
.
|
ae:
wall Bo veetien
Dr. Richard Axel 67 in
his Manhattanville office.
THE MIND
» SCIENTIST
17
technician Julia Barasch
a
|
Axel and research
in the lab at Columbia's
j
Zuckerman Institute
30 CCT Winter 2018-19
Dr. Richard Axel '67 attributes the path of
his Nobel-Prize-winning career, in part, to a Dutch
mail van.
In the 1940s, biologist Nikolaas Tinbergen found
that male stickleback fish would attack the sides of
their tank at noon. That happened to be when the
mail van, with its red bottom and white top — just
like a rival male stickleback — would. drive by. In the
1980s, Axel, a mid-career molecular biologist with a
budding interest in innate behavior, learned of the
anecdote in a journal article and read on, discover-
ing other programmed behavior in the stickleback,
including the fact that females whod never seen a red
male were attracted to them. Behavior, he knew, was
controlled by the brain. “That was the final observa-
tion that drove me into neuroscience,” he says.
Axel, now a professor of biochemistry and co-direc-
tor of Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute, has a knack
for combining fields, like following the trail from
molecular biology into neuroscience. Working with
people from other areas has served him, and science,
well. In 2004, he shared a Nobel Prize for work on the
neuroscience of odor perception.
Axel’s self-narrative contains many contingencies
and inflection points, and he credits various men-
tors with shaping him. “It was a combination of my
passions and people who were extremely important
in guiding a young boy,” he says. “My parents were
great, but they were not educated. The idea of me
becoming a scientist was not within their lexicon.”
When asked if he would have ended up where
he is without various nudges, he deploys a sly mix
of humor and humility. “No. Maybe I would own a
kosher delicatessen. I would’ve enjoyed that.”
Distinguishing nature from nurture can be hard,
but one gets the sense Axel would have been success-
ful under many conditions — maybe even Nobel suc-
cessful. “He’s a remarkable intellect across all fields,”
says his close collaborator Larry Abbott Ph.D., co-
director of Columbia’s Center for Theoretical Neuro-
science and principal investigator at the Zuckerman
Institute. “He knows everything to a first approxima-
tion. He knows art, he knows the theater, he knows
novels and he can quote poetry at any moment.” Not
to be dismissed: “He also has an incredible fund of
jokes. So that makes him fun to be around, because
he has so much in his head and sooner or later it
comes out.”
Gens up in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, Axel
started working at 11, delivering false teeth to
dentists. One of his early nudges toward the life of
an intellectual came in middle school. At the time he
was keen on basketball, but his principal pushed him
to attend Stuyvesant H.S., an establishment for those
gifted academically but not necessarily athletically.
In one game, he faced an opponent who put his
hand in front of Axel’s face and said, “What are you
going to do, Einstein?” before scoring 54 points to
Axel’s 2. (That player was Lew Alcindor, who now
goes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.)
As a student in Manhattan, Axel fell in love with
the culture, visiting the opera twice a week, studying
at the New York Public Library, hanging out with art-
ists in the Village. When Columbia offered him a full
scholarship, he accepted in order to stay close to his
family and to continue the big city experience. With-
out ignoring the arts, he focused more on his books,
especially literature.
“T really feel Columbia shaped me,” he said during
a recent visit to his lab. “It was during that period that
my quest for knowledge was born, and they nourished
it beautifully. It was a very exciting time, the 60s. We
were learning amidst turmoil. And, as there is now,
there were real greats, Moses Hadas [GSAS’30],
Jacques Barzun [CC 1927, GSAS’32], Lionel Trill-
ing [CC 1925, GSAS’38], Meyer Shapiro [CC 1924,
GSAS’35]. These were really great humanists.”
More happenstance: To support himself, Axel
found a job washing glassware in a medical lab.
The process by which DNA makes RNA, which
then makes proteins, was being worked out, and it
entranced the young Axel. “It was clear that all of
the information necessary to create life over billions
of years resided in the order of bases in DNA,” Axel
says. “And now the question was how you decode that
information to generate the variations in life. It was
a spectacular problem and it was being torn apart by
very elegant experiments.” His curiosity surpassed
his facility with flasks, so he was fired and rehired
as a research assistant. The laboratory head, Bernard
Weinstein, fed his hunger, and Axel decided to pur-
sue biology over literature.
Axel went off to medical school at Johns Hopkins,
but he was no better with scalpels and stethoscopes than
with beakers. At one point he sutured a surgeon's fin-
ger to a patient. He writes in an autobiographical essay
on the Nobel Prize website: “I was allowed to gradu-
ate medical school early with an M.D. if I promised
never to practice medicine on live patients. I returned
to Columbia as an intern in Pathology, where I kept
this promise by performing autopsies. After a year
in Pathology, I was asked by [the department chair]
never to practice on dead patients.”
Axel returned to Columbia for a postdoctoral fel-
lowship in molecular biology. Because he'd gone to
medical school to avoid the draft — he calls him-
self a “yellow beret” — he owed the government two
years of work and went to the National Institutes
of Health, in Bethesda, Md., for a second postdoc.
Finally, in 1974, he returned to Columbia once again,
this time as a professor.
ne of Axel’s early discoveries paid off handsomely.
In the mid-1970s, researchers were developing
recombinant DNA technology, the ability to move
genes from one organism to another. Axel and two
colleagues found a way to place a gene in a eukaryotic
cell — one with a nucleus — and make sure that it
succeeded in producing proteins. “That turned out to
open up a whole new arena of both biology and bio-
technology,” Axel says, allowing for innovative pro-
tein therapies and discoveries about the genetic basis
of disease. “It was really exciting.” At the time people
accused him of playing God for mixing distinct spe-
cies, but recombinant DNA is now used regularly,
with Axel’s patents netting the University close to a
billion dollars.
Instead of endlessly generating scientific papers out
of the discovery, Axel moved on, often led into new
areas by his students and postdocs. He didn't know
anything about immunology when a young immunolo-
gist named Dan Littman joined his lab. They stumbled
upon the gene for the receptor to which HIV binds,
“an interesting observation of some importance,” Axel
adds. A modest assessment, as that observation has led
to the potential for new treatments for AIDS patients.
In the 1980s, Axel began talking with University
Professor and the Kavli Professor of Brain Science
Eric Kandel, the neuroscientist who would win a
Nobel Prize in 2000 for his work on memory. The two,
bored in faculty meetings, would hold side discussions
on biology. Axel wondered whether there was a place
in neuroscience for a molecular geneticist. That’s when
he came across the story of the Dutch mail van and
the innate responses of those stickleback fish. “That led
me to think that you are building a perceptual system
through evolution,” he says, “and how do you build
those? You build those with genes.” He made himself
comfortable in yet another discipline, neuroscience.
Axel was fascinated by how brains can create rich
representations of the world using just the activation of
neurons. As a molecular geneticist entering neurosci-
ence, he felt that the sense most amenable to his exper-
tise was olfaction. How are we able to recognize such a
wide variety of molecules that we identify as odorants?
Somehow we can detect thousands or millions of dis-
tinct smells in the world. Axel figured such a skill would
require receptors for many different odor molecules, and
those receptors would require many genes.
In 1982, a “tenacious” researcher named Linda Buck
joined his lab, Axel says. When he set his sights on
olfaction, she began working with “thoughtfulness and
intensity” to identify genes for odorant receptors. Buck
worked on the problem for six years as they took lots
Winter 2018-19 CCT 31
——
32 CCT Winter 2018-19
of missteps, finding genes that met maybe one crite-
rion but not others. “And then she came up with a very
clever experimental design,” Axel says, “and very late
one night she walked into my office and showed me a
set of data that revealed the existence of an extremely
large family of genes that exhibited the properties one
would expect for odorant receptor genes. And the
remarkable thing was there were a lot of them.”
They didn’t know quite how many at the time, but
today the count stands at more than 1,000 mamma-
lian genes for olfactory receptors. That’s the largest
family of genes in a human genome of 25,000 genes.
“When we explored the data together,” Axel says,
‘T fell silent for an extremely long time. I was so
impressed with the thoughtfulness of the experiment
and the power of the result. At that moment my head
was beginning to formulate models for the function of
the olfactory system.” Dozens of potential experiments
unfolded before his eyes. “I could see the next decades of
our lives employing the genes as a very powerful entree
into very complex perceptual problems,” he says. “And
that’s where I stand today.” They published their discov-
ery in 1991, 13 years later, once its impact had become
clear, Buck and Axel were awarded a Nobel Prize.
he olfactory system has proven a potent muse
for Axel. “What’s occupying me is how the brain
accommodates the rich variability in the world, how
meaning is imposed.” He notes how, for the French
novelist Marcel Proust, “the smell of a madeleine
brought forth seven volumes of Remembrances of Things
Past.” Olfaction is also fascinating to him because
smell is the most primal sense; it equips organisms to
find food and mates, and to avoid predators.
In outlining the perception of odor, Axel’s lab has
found that each odor molecule activates a few dif-
ferent receptors scattered randomly in the nose. All
of the receptors of a given type, however, transmit
signals to their own spot in the olfactory bulb, essen-
tially a waystation in the brain for processing smells.
Together these spots form a kind of map of smell-
space, so that with advanced imaging, Axel can look
at which regions of a rat’s olfactory bulb are active
and know what it’s sniffing.
Signals from the olfactory bulb head to several
other brain areas, including the amygdala, which
triggers innate reactions to certain smells. Lately,
Axel’s lab has been using a new experimental method
called optogenetics, which allows scientists to make
particular cells active or inactive by shining light on
them. With this technique, Axel has shown that
deactivating regions of a mouse’s amygdala prevents
it from avoiding fox urine — usually a red-alert smell.
But activate the regions, and even without exposing it
to urine the mouse goes running. Together, the reac-
tions demonstrate the amygdala is essential to pro-
cessing innate odor responses.
The olfactory bulb also sends signals to the piriform
cortex, an area of the brain that processes learned asso-
ciations. This pathway especially interests Axel. “The
really important questions are how you impose mean-
ing on a particular representation in the brain,” he says.
“If I asked you to describe what the odor of an
orange meant to you, and you had never seen an
orange, it would be a very, very different perceptual
event than if you had indeed experienced that odor
when you cut an orange while you were sitting in an
orange grove on the shore of the Mediterranean with
a loving partner. And it’s all of these experiences that
give a richness to perception that involve aspects of
the brain about which we know rather little — mem-
ory, emotion, cognition.”
Answering big scientific questions requires careful
experimentation, and on a tour of his lab, Axel asks
one of his post-docs, Evan Schaffer Ph.D. GSAS’11,
to demonstrate “the toy.” This turns out to be a device
that holds a fruit fly to the surface of something
EVAN SCHAFFER PH.D. GSAS'11
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resembling a track ball. It records the direction a fly
crawls as it’s bombarded with sights or smells — “basi-
cally fly virtual reality,” Schaffer says. At the same time,
a microscope called SCAPE, developed by Elizabeth
Hillman Ph.D., a professor of biomedical engineering
and radiology at Columbia and a principal investigator
at the Zuckerman Institute, is used to detect the activ-
ity of all 10,000 neurons in a fly’s brain. Observing the
fly as it tries to escape a heat source or approach phero-
mones might tell us something about how we react to
pleasure and pain. “What is an emotional state?” Axel
asks. “Anxious, afraid, hungry, aroused — what’s the
representation of an emotional state in the brain?”
“What’s inspiring about working with him,” his
colleague Abbott says, “other than that of course he’s
a great scientist and all, is that he has tremendous
drive to get to the bottom of the big questions.” Buck,
who won the Nobel with him, agrees. “He is not con-
tent to add bricks to a standing structure of knowl-
edge,” she says. “He wants to push the boundaries.”
Meanwhile, Axel draws lab members from differ-
ent fields and gives them room to roam. “He really lets
people explore new ideas and chart their own course,
once he is confident that they can do it,” Buck says.
Leslie Vosshal Ph.D.’87, a former lab member who
is now a professor at The Rockefeller University, says
being in his lab was “like being in a circus. Everyone
was attempting something improbable and death-
defying.” Vanessa Ruta Ph.D., who was a neuroscience
postdoc in Axel’s lab for five years before also becom-
ing a professor at Rockefeller, says his appreciation of
Pee eee eee errs
diverse people and perspectives “encouraged me to be
a much braver and broader-thinking scientist.” That
inclusive approach has helped Axel move into new
areas. “I’ve been eclectic in my interests as I’ve moved
around,” he says. “I did genetics, molecular biology,
immunology, neuroscience. You can’t move facilely
from one discipline to another in biology without hav-
ing spectacular colleagues around to teach you. I had
students as well as Columbia professors who afforded
a rich environment for me to learn and collaborate.”
Again he deflects credit to his surroundings: Nurture.
xel still finds time to leave the lab and pursue
his interests in art and culture. “I’m obsessed
with opera,” he says. “I’m at the opera at least once a
week in season. I listen to music. My son’s a creative
photographer. I spend several hours a week
in museums and galleries. My Nobel autobi-
ography begins, ‘New York City is my world,’
and it is.”
“He’s an incredibly sociable person and he
really takes advantage of living in the city as
much as anyone I know,” Abbott says. “He’s
a real product of the city.” He’s also a prod-
uct of the school that engaged his interests in the
humanities, that turned him on to biology and that
has supported him for most of his career. As Abbott
says, “He is Columbia, right?”
Matthew Hutson is a freelance science writer in New York
City and the author of The 7 Laws of Magical Thinking.
Winter 2018-19 CCT 33
Immigration lawyer Jonathan Ryan ‘OO
is helping fractured families at the border
By Atossa Araxia Abrahamian ‘08, JRN'Tl
RISIS
he Trump administration’s family
separation mandates may have sent
the world reeling last summer, but
Jonathan Ryan ’00 wasn’t all that
surprised. As the director of the
Austin-based Refugee and Immigrant Center
for Education and Services (RAICES), Ryan
sensed trouble at the border long before the
detention of immigrant children became front-
page news. The legal problems faced by trau-
matized migrants, asylum
seekers, frantic parents and
frightened minors had in
fact formed the fabric of
his work for years.
Ryan’s own experience
at the border was what
pushed him to become
an immigration attorney
in the first place. Shortly
after 9-11, Ryan, who was
born in Canada to an Irish
immigrant family, went to
Mexico for the holidays.
When he tried to cross back into the United
States, where he was attending law school at the
University of Texas-Austin (UT-A), he realized
his green card had expired and was detained until
his father was able to come get him.
While his fellow travelers — some of them par-
ents with young children — languished in deten-
tion in Mexico, “I showed up at the border in the
back of my parents’ Mercedes, with my white
privilege packaged around me,” Ryan recalls. “The
border patrol guy looked at my car, looked at me,
carved something with his pen on the back [of my
green card] and just told me to get it renewed —
and we drove right into the United States.” Ryan
became a U.S. citizen shortly thereafter, and “point
COURTESY RAICES
Jonathan Ryan ’00
to point, from that day [at the border] to right
now, it’s been a single experience.”
The realization that borders exist for some
people more than others, and that this discrep-
ancy often falls along racial and class lines, com-
pelled Ryan to volunteer for cases at UT-As
immigration law clinic as soon as he got back to
school. After a stint at a local legal nonprofit, he
joined RAICES, which provides free or low-cost
legal services to immigrants and refugees.
Though Ryan now spends much of his time
liaising with the media and donors, he contin-
ues to practice and be involved in operations
on the ground. For example, he recently helped
defend a Deferred Action for Childhood Arriv-
als (DACA) recipient who had participated in a
protest outside the Immigration and Customs
Enforcement office in San Antonio. “He was
targeted, arrested and deported for his exercise
of his First Amendment [right],” Ryan says. “I
represented him and worked with his family
from the day he was arrested.”
In recent months, RAICES has made head-
lines for spreading awareness about family
separations, speaking out against the travel ban,
raising millions of dollars to help refugees and
migrants, and turning away a quarter-million-
dollar donation from cloud computing firm
Salesforce because of its ongoing contract with
the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
In October, Ryan talked with Columbia College
Today about his decade with RAICES and his
perspective on how things have — and havent
— changed since Trump took office.
A cage at the U.S. Border Patrol Central Processing
Center in McAllen, Texas, on June 17, 2018. It holds
people who were taken into custody related to cases
of illegal entry into the United States.
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TOP RIGHT: ICE
special agents
arresting suspects
during a raid.
BELOW: Ryan
demanded to be let
into a building in
Austin, Texas, where
demonstrators were
being arrested on
April 30, 2018.
7
36 CCT Winter 2018-19
Q: How did your detention at the U.S.-
Mexico border inform your career?
A: When I got back to school, I immediately
found an immigration clinic. The profes-
sor told me to buzz off because I was a 1L,
so I told her what had just happened to me,
and she relented. I was so deep in it, there
was nothing else I could do and I basically
transitioned right into practice. I interviewed
three times at the local immigration nonprofit
[after graduation] and when I didn’t get the
job, I said [to them], “This is what I want
to do with my life; this is what I’ve built up
everything to do. If I’m not getting this job,
there’s a problem.” And they hired me.
Q: How has having three passports —
Irish, Canadian, American — shaped
your idea of what citizenship means?
A: We've accustomed ourselves to the portabil-
ity of our identities in so many ways, yet with
respect to our citizenship or the nation-state
itself, we still adhere as people to a notion that
is really arcane and archaic, like the subjects
clustered around the castle. But the question
that is really foremost in my experience in
Mexico, and in the experience of thousands of
clients with whom I’ve worked in the last dozen
years, is, Who has the power to do what to me?
COURTESY JORGE SANHUEZA-LYON / KUT NEWS
COURTESY ICE
Q: Has there been a sea change in the
way the U.S. is handling immigration
since Trump took office?
A: No. The very worst laws that we have on the
books were passed by Democratic presidents.
We're living in a country where children and
parents are [detained] in a for-profit prison
system together. In a country that has pushed a
deterrence strategy to stop refugees from com-
ing to our border. In a country that has penned
declarations [labeling] women and children flee-
ing violence and seeking asylum at the southern
border a top threat to our national security.
That is not [just] the country of Donald
Trump that I am describing. Everything
that I just said to you took place in 2014
under President Barack Obama’83. All
Trump is doing is stepping on the gas. He
has not had to do anything. He has not had
to build anything. He has just continued and
advanced and increased the [existing] policies
and mechanical structures. And what has
facilitated this, in the 12 years since I’ve been
doing immigration law, is this explosion of
for-profit prisons and immigration detention.
Of course, it would be disingenuous of me to
say that there’s not something new and different
and more dangerous about this presidency. But I
think it’s only the other side of the same coin.
Q: As the family separations blew up
the news last summer, what was it like
from your vantage point at RAICES?
A: We've been seeing family separation
for many years. [hat was not a new policy,
[although it] certainly was expanded and has
increased. The reason that we grew from being
an organization of four people to 150 people in
10 years was not [anything I did] — as much
as I'd love the story being about me as an entre-
preneurial nonprofit CEO tycoon. It’s that
we've been responding to crisis constantly dur-
ing the past 10 years. [Last summer's crisis] was
much bigger, to be sure, but we are quite used
to doing the work in these moments .... It was
a tumultuous summer, there’s no doubt about
it, but the disruption, for us, was about manag-
ing the media and the shock and horror of the
American people, for whom this was new.
—
Q: Some Democrats who were upset
about the family separations, like
Marc Pocan (D-Wis.) and Pramila
Jaypal (D-Wash.), have called for
the abolishment of Immigration and
Customs Enforcement. Do you think
“Abolish ICE” is a useful protest slogan?
A: 1 support the abolition of ICE. But to take
ICE away, and merely to replace it with —
what? The military? Some other enforcement
branch of the government? That’s not enough.
ICE is the wrapper around racist, xenophobic
and violent policies and people. So I don't
see ICE as the root cause; I think you have
to dive deeper. Our government is trying
to make the experience of refugees seeking
protection so similar to the horror that they
are fleeing that they decide to go back, that
they decide that it was better back where they
were. That is the problem.
Q: Do you have any insight into what
goes on in an ICE agent's head, or a
DHS attorney's head, when they're
making arrests and separating families?
A: I think that there is a lot of effort under-
taken through training and corporate culture
to further the dehumanization of immigrants,
thus enabling human beings to perpetrate
violence against other human beings with-
out always realizing that that is what they’re
doing. Very few people whom we encounter
within ICE or the Border Patrol or other
agencies consider themselves to be that agent
of terror. In fact, we sometimes encounter
agents and officers who point to other parts of
their own bureau and say, “Those are the bad
guys. I’m just doing my job.”
Q: Your organization got some press
last year when it rejected a $250,000
donation from the tech company Sales-
force. What went into that decision?
A: The decision to reject the Salesforce money
did not take even five minutes. It was a transpar-
ent and overt attempt at handwashing on the
part of a multi-billion-dollar corporation that
was under pressure — internally and externally.
Q: What is it going to take to change
this anti-immigration regime, and where
do you see yourself in that fight?
A: 1 am a lawyer, but I recognize that the law
is downstream of culture, and culture itself
is downstream of art. I don’t think that we’re
going to legislate or sue our way out of this
situation. If you look back in history, Brown wv.
Board of Education was decided in the ’50s. That
JOHN MOORE / GETTY IMAGES
did not stop segregation in schools. The real
changes of Brown were not made until people
took to the street in the 60s. You look back at
every significant change or improvement to our
law and our societies, and it has been through
the direct action of people, masses of people,
taking to the street, raising their voice, showing
solidarity and taking risks.
There isn’t going to be a comfortable way
out of this. It’s going to take sacrifice. All of
these moments, from the revolution to civil
rights, to the ending of slavery, to women’s
suffrage, to gay rights — we, in retrospect,
apply that narrative of inevitability, but that
was not the case in real time.
Atossa Araxia Abrahamian 08, JRN’11 is
a senior editor at The Nation and the author
of The Cosmopolites: The Coming of the
Global Citizen.
A caravan of
migrants with plans
to reach the United
States crossed
into Mexico from
Guatemala on
October 21, 2018.
Winter 2018-19 CCT 37
Columbia! Forum.
In Love and War
Crystal Hana Kim ’09 gets in touch with her Korean roots
‘There are, famously, writers who hate to write. James Joyce
described writing in English as “the most ingenious torture
ever devised for sins committed in previous lives.” But oth-
ers — like Crystal Hana Kim ’09 — find in it a form of
salvation. The process is essential to her: “If ’'m not writing,
I’m not happy,” she said bluntly in an interview with Ny/on.
Kim grew up in Jericho, Long Island, the daughter
of immigrants, and Korean was her first language; she'd
translate it into English in her head. This made writing
— rather than speaking — “the most comfortable way to
communicate,” she tells Columbia College Today.
So it wasn't surprising when Kim, once admitted to the
College, turned her English major coursework into her per-
sonal creative writing program. She started taking workshops
and writing short stories, though they were a far cry from the
complex, engrossing, research-based fiction she would later
undertake. “When I started writing in college, I really pushed
away from writing about anything related to Korea,” she later
said. “It was because I was worried that that’s all I could write
about.” In a recent essay for The Paris Review, she sums up
much of her undergraduate fiction as “fragmented scenes”
featuring “faceless, raceless, colorless young women in shitty
relationships.” But it was also at the College that she began to
explore the complexities of the mother-daughter bond, and,
eventually, to sketch out Korean characters. She also started
thinking about getting an M.FA.
As an immigrant’s daughter, Kim feared that the M.F.A.
route could be “too risky.” But when her desire to write
remained strong, she returned to Columbia, to the School
of the Arts, to pursue her true passion. This time around,
she decided to embrace her roots. A series of intercon-
nected short stories she had been working on — narratives
in different characters’ voices — turned into a multi-
voiced novel set during the Korean War and its aftermath.
Its central focus was a realistically drawn woman, Haemi,
38 CCT Winter 2018-19
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who grows from a teenage refugee in the South Korean
countryside, displaced within the borders of her own
country, into a postwar wife and mother.
To flesh out the novel, Kim knew she needed to steep
herself in extensive historical research. She watched docu-
mentaries, studied political and historical texts, and pored
over photographs (a collection from the City History Com-
pilation Committee of Seoul proved to be a trove of visual
information). [he toughest part of her research was finding
details about the wartime experiences of Korean women.
“Their voices were not valued, so it wasnt recorded,” Kim
says. Growing up, she loved war movies but had always
found it frustrating that the stories focused on male heroics
and never the women who had to “make sure that daily life
is running,” despite the chaos around them. “The war affects
you even if you're not at the battle line,” she says.
The novel, If You Leave Me (William Morris, 2018),
excerpted here, is a moving, multilayered debut — told
from five separate points of view — about the Korean refu-
gee experience during the war and afterward. The voices
of Haemi and those who know her give it the immediacy
of an oral history, with eloquence added by Kim's skillful
prose. Chang-Rae Lee called Kim “a born storyteller,” while
Richard Ford praised her “great poise, lyricism, intelligence.”
These days, in addition to writing fiction, Kim is a
director of writing instruction at the nonprofit Leader-
ship Enterprise for a Diverse America. She is working on
her second novel, a story that should include at least one
Korean-American. The writing process — a tin of pen-
cils and pens, a candle that she lights when she begins —
continues to sustain her. One of her literary touchstones,
Kim tells Columbia Journal, is a Louise Erdrich quotation:
“I approach the work as though, in truth, I’m nothing and
the words are everything. Then | write to save my life ....”
— Rose Kernochan BC’82
“Graced with teily wonderiulWriting: great pnise. lyricism, intelligence
and an utt@ply engrossing portrayal of life. —RICHARD FORD
CRYSTAL HANA KIM
Haemi
HOW
yunghwan and I met where the farm fields
ended and our refugee village began. I
waited until my little brother was asleep,
until I could count seven seconds between
his uneasy inhales. I listened as Hyunki’s breath strug-
gled through the thick scum in his lungs. If he coughed,
I'd stay and take care of him. On those nights, I imag-
ined Kyunghwan waiting for me by the lamppost with
cigarette butts scattered in a halo around his feet.
Everyone in our village whispered what they wanted
to believe: the war would end and we would return to
our real homes soon. Mother and the other aunties chat-
tered in the market. They had survived thirty-five years
of Japanese rule and the Second World War. They had
withstood the division of our Korea by foreign men.
What was a little fighting among our own compared
to past misfortune? We can stitch ourselves back together,
Mother said. I believed her.
When Hyunki’s breathing was steady and slow, I
slipped out through the kitchen entrance and went in
search of Kyunghwan. He and I were celebrating. We
celebrated every night.
&
A year ago, when the 6-2-5 war between the North and
South began, everyone in my country fled, propelled by
confusion and news in the form of unexpected sounds—
bullets, airplanes, the cries of the dying.
The mothers, daughters, elders, and children of my
hometown stampeded south, hitching ourselves onto
trains, scrabbling up mountains, wading through paddies,
and treading rivers. Mother, Hyunki, and I wore white and
carried loads on our backs and on our heads. We walked
until we reached the southeasternmost tip of our peninsula,
where shelters gathered around markets and landmarks to
form crude villages. All along the coast, people I knew
from childhood lived crammed up against strangers. Most
settled in the center of Busan, where houses and churches
and schools and salvaged structures packed the streets.
Refugees thronged together as tight as bean sprouts, as if
closeness and the East Sea equaled protection.
Mother separated us from the others, planting us far-
ther out in the fields, away from the ocean and its cur-
rents. She said it was foolish to live so close together.
“They'll be killed clean in one day if the Reds come.
Swept into the sea like a pile of dead fish.”
She often spoke of luck and what happened in its
absence. We were lucky to have been among the first
wave of refugees. We were lucky her great-uncle had
died soon after our arrival, so we could claim his straw-
roofed home as our own. It was small and time-worn,
but less fortunate families sheltered beneath scraps of
steel. We were lucky the others, displaced and adrift, had
not dared to crowd us out — and lucky to have found
this place where life persisted, where news of fighting
arrived on leaflets but didn’t yet invade our days.
I felt lucky for nothing except my nightly distractions —
for Kyunghwan, whom I had known since childhood, and
his desire to erase my fears, and our secret hours together.
I arrived through the field to find Kyunghwan waiting.
He blew a stream of smoke in my direction, and the
clouds curled toward me, hazy and warm. I breathed in
their bitter scent. “What took so long?” he asked.
“Hyunki’s sick again.” I grabbed the cigarette from his
lips. “It took him a while to fall asleep.”
He nodded at the hanbok I wore. “You still want to go?”
“Would I chance coming out here for no reason?”
I blew a smoke ring in the dim glow of the lamppost.
Winter 2018-19 CCT 39
Columbia!Forum
His gaze lingered on my long wraparound skirt and
short jacket top. I shrugged. “I don’t want to wear the
men’s pants anymore. We'll be careful.”
“T don’t know.” He stared at the road connecting our
market to the other makeshift villages. “What if some-
one catches us?”
“No one will hear us if we’re quiet.” I started toward
his bicycle, partially hidden behind the thick barley.
SIEGES FO:
“We'll head east,” he said, catching up to me. “Found
some extra money this time.”
“Can we buy food? I’m so hungry I sucked on one of
Hyunki’s tree roots today.”
Kyunghwan held the bicycle steady as I scooted onto
the handlebars. “We'll see.”
I didn’t care where we went, if we only cycled around
in the open air. But Kyunghwan liked to hunt for the
hideaway bars rumored about among the men. These
establishments moved from alley to alley, avoiding
detection. Even when we found one, they rarely allowed
two sixteen-year-olds like us in — so we'd beg drunk-
ards and homebrewers to pity us a bowlful of makgeolli.
We ‘d drink in fields and forests and behind buildings.
On lucky nights, we ‘d find a bar and pretend we were
wounded orphans.
As the dirt road raced toward us, I closed my eyes and
listened to Kyunghwan’s steady breathing. “I’ve got you,”
he whispered whenever he felt me tense. But when we
were drunk and cycling back, I’d loosen and stare at the
black sky, my hair whipping into his face — and he’d tell
me to straighten up, that we'd fall into a ditch one day.
In the next village, everything looked the same as in
our own. Mud and grass-built quarters, an open road
where a market assembled every morning, scrap-metal
shelters scrounged together from what people could find.
“We'll cover the bicycle here and walk,” Kyunghwan
whispered as we reached a standing tree.
At the first hideaway, the men joked that I was a poor
man’s whore and refused us entry. Eventually, we found a
narrow shack made of wooden planks and blankets cramped
into a back alley. Kyunghwan wrapped his arm around my
shoulders. When a man tried to stop us, I touched Kyung-
hwar's cheek the way I thought a lover might.
“I got drafted. This is our last night together,” he said.
The man let us in with a warning. “Don't bring atten-
tion to yourselves.”
A few men looked up as we ducked under the blanket
entrance. The makeshift bar was composed of makeshift
objects. Upended tin drums were packed tightly together
to form tables. A plank bolstered by metal dowels acted as a
serving area at one end. Crates, bricks, and the ground were
used as seats. We wove through the unwashed bodies to a
corner spot with two crates. I tried not to look at the others,
to feel the heat of their gazes. I hoped it was too dim or too
late in the night for them to care that I was a girl.
Once we were seated, it was too dark to make out
Kyunghwan’s face. I could see only the shadow of his
thick, straight nose and thin lips. I liked it this way. I
40 CCT Winter 2018-19
knew him already — the smooth arc of his forehead, the
turn of his wrists, the freckles along his right arm and
how, when traced to his elbow, they formed an ocean's
wave. His face was beautiful when he wasn’t using it to
charm others. He tilted his head toward the lone candle
burning in the center of the room and closed his eyes; he
knew me, too.
We listened to the sound of bowls hitting drums. We
sipped cloudy-white makgeolli until our eyes adjusted
to the dark, and we talked about the drunks all around
us. A lonely grandfather with drawings of women and
children lining his table — his family, perhaps. Another
man with a jagged scar running across his face. In the
flickering candlelight, it shone like a streak of fat.
“What do you think her story is?” Kyunghwan nod-
ded at the only other woman in the bar. She was older
and wore a short hanbok top that exposed her breasts.
I watched Kyunghwan’s gaze sweep over her body. Her
companion reached out a hand, but I couldn’ tell if he
meant to touch her or cover her up.
“She’s clearly not his mother.” I glanced at my own
hanbok top, my hidden chest. “She has nice breasts.”
“They're saggy.”
“Big, though,” I said.
Kyunghwan turned back to me with a wide grin. I
stood, saying, “I want food. The alcohol’s hitting me too
fast.” | hadn't eaten since morning and knew he probably
hadn't, either. We were stupid, wasting money like this,
but I didn’t care. I placed a hand on his shoulder when he
tried to stand. “Stay. Pour us another bowl.”
I ordered arrowroot porridge and fried anchovies, a
small lick of red pepper paste. The barman squinted at
me from across the wooden stand. “Your father know
youre here with a man? How old are you?”
“Old enough.” I tapped my knuckles against the scrap of
wood that separated us and tried to look as if I didn’t care.
“You shouldn't be in a place like this.”
“I already paid.” I jutted out my chin. “The porridge,
please?” He shook his head. “Wait here.”
When he returned, I told him, “He’s leaving for Seoul.
He’s drafted.”
The man bent over and sank a bottle into a large pot
of makgeolli. Milky clouds swirled through pale moony
liquid. After he filled the bottle, he wiped it with a
brown rag. “Here,” he said. “I don’t understand this war,
this fighting our own.”
I dropped the makgeolli on our tin drum and held
out a plate piled high with small fried fish. Kyunghwan
pinched one by the tail and sucked it down. “Got thirsty
on your way back?”
“The barman took pity on us. Can you get the other dish>”
Kyunghwan brought over the porridge and raised his
eyebrows. “Who orders mush?”
I shrugged. “Steal more money next time.”
“You know what the barman said? To take good care
of you tonight.” Kyunghwan grinned.
“Now I feel bad for lying.”
“Me too. We shouldn't joke about that.”
He scooted closer. I watched his hands and mouth,
how he only smudged a drop of pepper paste onto a
spoonful of porridge.
“What if you are drafted?” I asked.
“What does it matter?” He sipped, smacked his lips.
When he exhaled, I smelled the spice and fish collecting
on his tongue. “The man’s watching. Let’s act like a couple.”
I let Kyunghwan feed me an anchovy but made a face
when the barman looked away. “That’s not what couples
do. And what do you mean it doesn’t matter?”
He wouldn't answer. I let it go.
We poured each other bowls the formal way, with
bowed heads and both hands. We talked in old drunken
man accents until our stomachs hurt with laughter. He
recalled our hometown and our grade-school teacher,
the one with the cluster of moles on his cheek. How we
two had been the clever ones, yet only Kyunghwan was
ever praised. I asked if he remembered how Teacher Kim
had made the girls wash the floors with rags that rubbed
the skin from our fingers. Kyunghwan reminded me that
even if I hated him, Teacher Kim was dead, so we sipped
makgeolli in his honor. We quieted until Kyunghwan no
longer liked our wistfulness, until he tried to get me to
raise my top like the lady in the corner. We drank until it
was hard not to touch each other. Then he answered me.
“It doesn’t matter if I get drafted or if I don’t show up
tomorrow night because you're letting Jisoo court you.
He told me.”
“That’s not true.” I pushed my bowl against his, until
our rims touched.
“He’s my cousin.”
“Your fathers are cousins,” I said. “And that doesn't
make what he says true.”
“Don't lie to me.”
I had forgotten about Jisoo. I didn’t want him in the
room with us—not even the mention of him. I looked up.
I could use my face to charm, too. “Pour, Kyunghwan.”
He sighed and filled my bowl,
They kicked everyone out an hour later, in time for us to
scurry home before national curfew. I hated leaving, the
sudden plunge back into our lives, but I liked how I felt
scraped clean with alcohol, painted over with indiffer-
ence, until I was a wash of emptiness inside. We stum-
bled into the street, and I watched the sadness drift out
of us. “There it goes,” I said, pointing as it floated away
into the riven sky.
“What are you talking about?” Kyunghwan tugged my
arm. “Get on the bike.”
As we raced through Busan’s dirt streets, I thought of
our hometown. The boys’ middle school had stood along
its western edge. When we were younger, when boys and
girls were still allowed to be friends, Kyunghwan and I|
spent our free afternoons there. A stone wall enclosed the
property, and on one side it cornered around a tree. The
tree’s roots had broken through the ground, causing the
stones to loosen and form a nook. This was where we sat,
our backs to the sunken slabs, our feet propped against the
trunk, as Kyunghwan taught me what he'd learned that
day. After the Second World War, when we were liberated
from Japan and students were taught to replace their for-
eign alphabet with our own Korean, he was the one who
showed me. I was no longer allowed to attend class, but we
still believed we'd go to college together someday. Until
then, Kyunghwan wanted to share all he knew.
Northeast of that school was my real home, waiting
for my return. Wild and yellow forsythia bushes grew
along the wall that enclosed our property. I remembered
the smooth slab of stepping-stone that led to our thatch-
roofed hanok. It was just wide enough for four pairs of
shoes. I used to place flowers in Father’s sandals to rid
them of his smell. Above the step, a planked wooden
porch ran the length of our home. Even then, Mother
had insisted on living apart from the others, if only by
Tonight, soaring through these
streets, [imagined reaching for the
clouds, swirling them around a
stick and licking them down.
half an hour’s walk and a few fields. I imagined the struc-
ture now. Packed full of Korean and American soldiers,
or worse — the Reds, our rooms ransacked and gutted.
“Do you miss home?” I turned on the handlebars to
catch a glimpse of Kyunghwan’s face.
“Don't wobble.” He thrust his head forward, his voice
heavy with effort. “And you should dress as a boy next
time. I don’t like how those men stared.”
“They were my father’s pants.” I kept my head straight
and still, watching the texture of black trees on black
sky. My hand searched for Kyunghwan’s fingers on the
handlebars. “I had to wear them when we fled.”
“T didn’t know.” He paused. “Haemi?”
“Keep cycling, Kyunghwan.”
I listened to his breath as he pedaled up the hill. It was
a habit I’d learned from Hyunki, this concentrating on
steady beats of air. Some nights, after a day of watching
my little brother ache and Mother hunger, I wanted to
wrench the stars from the sky and fling them at our feet.
But tonight, soaring through these streets, I imagined
reaching for the clouds, swirling them around a stick and
licking them down.
“Let’s do this even when we go home,” said. “Meet in
the night and explore. Do you want to?”
Kyunghwan, quiet and distant, cycled on.
From the book IF YOU LEAVE ME: A Novel by Crys-
tal Hana Kim. Copyright © 2018 by Crystal Hana Kim.
Reprinted by permission of William Morrow, an imprint
of HarperCollins Publishers.
Winter 2018-19 CCT 41
Winter snow brings a calm to campus, dampening the city noise outside the
Gates. But the calm masks a flurry of behind-the-scenes activity: Columbia
Facilities is on the case, and has been since long before the first flake fell.
Preparations for winter storms begin in late summer, according to
Facilities’ blog, when “[iJnventories of the previous winter’s snow removal
equipment is used to estimate how many plow trucks, snow blowers,
Bobcat skid-steer loaders, ice breakers, and shovels will need to be tested
and delivered to each of the University residential buildings in which they
are stored for the upcoming season. De-icing materials are also kept at the
ready, and contingency plans are made in the event of equipment failure or
if extra snow removal is needed.”
COLIN SULLIVAN '11
42 CCT Winter 2018-19
Moira Demos ’96, SOA’08; Ady Barkan ’06;
Erika Henik ’90; Thad Sheely ’93
50 a ass \ | ote c
Just Married!
e
By Michael Behringer ’89
Numbering more than 51,000 worldwide,
Columbia College alumni are involved in
virtually every profession and career imag-
inable. Alumni and students interested
in expanding their professional network,
soliciting career advice and exchanging
ideas frequently ask the College what
opportunities exist to connect with this
powerful community. I always direct
them to the Odyssey Mentoring Program
(odyssey.college.columbia.edu), a dynamic
platform offered by the Columbia College
Alumni Association (CCAA).
Odyssey, which recently marked its first
anniversary, connects alumni and students
for short- and long-term mentoring
relationships, as well as for more informal
connections. Importantly, it’s designed to
be flexible. You can give as much, or as
little, time as you have, to either students
or fellow alumni looking to grow person-
ally and/or professionally. The mentoring
relationships can be adapted to fit your
work style and availability. Communi-
cations can run the gamut from email,
phone and text conversations to in-person
meetings over coffee or a meal.
Alex Wallace Creed 88, general man-
ager of news, entertainment and studios at
Verizon Media Group/Oath; a member of
the CCAA’s Board of Directors; and VP,
State of the College, had a very positive
Odyssey experience when she was paired
with Destiny Spruill’20, who was inter-
ested in journalism. I asked her about it.
Behringer: What led you to participate
in the Odyssey Mentoring Program,
and what did you expect to contribute
or get out of the experience?
Wallace Creed: I love interacting with
Columbia College students. Each one I meet
reminds me why I loved my time at Colum-
bia. They are smart and inquisitive and
honest. I also love mentoring. I think it is
MICHAEL EDMONSON '20
Author Klancy Miller 96 spoke to College
students about pursuing their passions
during an Odyssey Mentoring Night at
the Columbia Alumni Center.
important to share some of the lessons, good
and bad, that I’ve learned along the way.
Behringer: Was it easy to set up your
profile on the portal?
Wallace Creed: Yes! It took less than
10 minutes.
Behringer: Tell me about your mentee.
Wallace Creed: She is a journalist and
works on Spectator. She already knows
more about the profession than I did
when I graduated! And she has a love of
reporting and truth telling.
Behringer: How do you and your
student communicate?
Wallace Creed: We email, and we have
met for coffee on occasion. She was an
intern in my office last summer so I saw
her in the office every day, which was great.
Behringer: What did the experience
leave you with — and did you learn
anything? Did you feel the interaction
was meaningful?
Wallace Creed: Being a mentor might
be the most rewarding thing I have done
as an alumna. It has reminded me what I
felt like as a student and all the things I
wanted to do with my life after I left. It
has reconnected me to my 20-year-old self
in a very interesting and impactful way.
Thank you, Alex! I encourage all
alumni, and students, to learn more about
Odyssey and to consider participating.
I’ve been involved with the program since
its launch, and have found it to be a great
way to give back and stay connected to
the College community.
ROAR!
Winter 2018-19 CCT 43
AUSTIN HARGRAVE / NETFLIX
Moira Demos ’96 Returns to the Scene of the Crime
By Nathalie Alonso ’08
nce you've created a cultural phenomenon, what do you
do for an encore? Moira Demos 96, SOA’08 and Laura
Ricciardi SOA‘07, the filmmakers behind the true-crime
Netflix docuseries Making a Murderer, took a somewhat
meta approach: They returned to Manitowoc County, Wis., to grap-
ple with a world changed by the impassioned response to their work.
Part 1 of Making a Murderer, which won four Emmys in 2016,
chronicled the trials of Wisconsin man Steven Avery and his teen-
age nephew, Brendan Dassey, who were convicted of the 2005 mur-
der of a 25-year-old woman. The defense claimed that Avery was
framed by police — retaliation for a multimillion-dollar lawsuit he
filed against Manitowoc County after a 1985 wrongful conviction for
sexual assault and attempted murder. The question of whether coer-
cive interrogation tactics might have elicited a false confession from
the learning-disabled Dassey provided an equally sensational subplot.
44 CCT Winter 2018-19
The series’ first installment became a binge-watching hit and
sparked intense discussions on social media. Demos marvels at “the
response from so many different people — different backgrounds,
different education, different races, different countries. ... We really
couldn't have expected or dreamed of anything that great,” she says.
“We were thrilled.”
In October, Netflix released Part 2, featuring Avery’s and Das-
sey’s lawyers as they attempt to dismantle the cases against their
clients. “Things can happen in the darkness much more easily than
when a bright light is being shone on them,” says Demos. “Now
we're going to watch how it plays out with more attention.”
A second season allowed Demos and Ricciardi to examine the
effect of the series’ popularity on the cases. Part 1 inspired hun-
dreds of thousands of people to sign petitions calling for Avery and
Dassey to be released. But while Making a Murderer casts doubt on
their convictions, Demos maintains that for her and Ricciardi, who
are a couple, the goal was to expose viewers to the flaws of the U.S.
criminal justice system.
“Our hope is that [viewers] come away with a much deeper
understanding of what’s working and what’s not working,” Demos
says. “That can affect how they make choices, how they behave in
their own lives, in their own roles in the system, whether that be as
jurors, as voters or as consumers of crime shows on T’V.”
Making a Murderer Part 1, along with the podcast “Serial” and
HBO’s The Jinx, arrived as part of a wave of true-crime entertain-
alumninews
ment that reignited interest in the genre. Demos would like to
see its success inspire other filmmakers to pursue stories they find
compelling. “Just because the world doesn’t want you or is telling
you ‘no’ doesn’t mean that there’s not a place for what it is you're
offering,” she says. “Especially in the entertainment world, if what
you want to make isn’t out there, people probably want iter
Nathalie Alonso 08, from Queens, is a freelance writer and an editorial
producer for LasMayores.com, Major League Baseball’: official Spanish-
language website.
“Be a Hero, Urges ALS-Afflicted Activist
By Jenn Preissel ’05
dy Barkan 06 has strong opinions. As the program direc-
tor at The Center for Popular Democracy (CPD), he’s
committed to righting the inequities he sees in our
democracy. During the Supreme Court confirmation
hearings for Brett Kavanaugh, Barkan lobbied against the nomi-
nation and stood with fellow activists at Congress while sexual
assault survivors shared their stories. His October 2018 op-ed in
The Nation called on his fellow citizens to unite as activists and
movement builders — to go beyond the ballot box and “solve
[problems] with people power.”
But Barkan is running out of time to fight. He suffers from ALS
— amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Geh-
rig’s disease. Diagnosed in 2016, the disease has steadily depleted
his nervous system and robbed him of the ability to communicate
verbally. Yet Barkan appears indefatigable; he tirelessly campaigned
Ady Barkan ’06 (center) at the Los Angeles Supports a Dream Act Now! protest
at the office of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on January 3, 2018.
GABRIEL OLSEN / GETTY IMAGES
all of last summer for the “Be A Hero” initiative, appearing at rallies
and mobilizing voters to “be heroes” by backing progressive candi-
dates supporting affordable and accessible health care.
During the Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act,
Barkan was arrested for protesting in the Capitol building, but oth-
ers relayed his appeal: “I have ALS. I am dying. But when we come
together, our voices echo so loud through the halls of Congress, out
to the Supreme Court, up Pennsylvania Avenue, all the way to Wall
Street.” Barkan later went viral when he confronted Sen. Jeff Flake
(R-Ariz.) on a plane, imploring him to “think about the legacy
that you will have ... If you take your principles and turn them into
votes, you can save my life.” Flake tweeted about the exchange,
thanking Barkan for healthy debate on the issue.
Barkan says that when he arrived at Columbia, his politics were
more traditionally centrist Democrat. But as the Iraq War devolved
from “mission accomplished” into disarray, he saw friends joining
protests and was perturbed by the funneling of funds into war rather
than into public programs. Inspired by courses with famed econo-
mists Joseph Stiglitz and Jeffrey Sachs, he began to view progressive
economic policy as a curative for bias in health care and education.
Barkan’s first job out of college was as communications director
for Democrat Victoria Wulsin, a longshot congressional candidate
in the Republican stronghold of Cincinnati. He pitched press cover-
age, wrote speeches and prepared the candidate for debates. “People
before politics,’ he came up with that,” Wulsin told the Ohio weekly
CityBeat. “Other people have said it, but it’s sort of his brand.”
The last two years have been filled with challenges for Barkan as
his health deteriorated and the political losses piled on. “We lost
the tax fight, we failed to get DACA renewed and, of course, we
lost the Kavanaugh fight,” he laments.
But he’s been spurred on by fellow activists and average citizens
he has met touring the country. And his young son has served as
an inspiration, as well. “I especially enjoy talking with him as his
language develops, watching how his mind works.”
Barkan’s perennial optimism bleeds into his message: “Political
outcomes are not predetermined. By being involved, we can change
what happens.”
Jenn Preissel 05 is a high school math teacher in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Winter 2018-19 CCT 45
By Anne-Ryan Heatwole JRN’09
or Erika Henik ’90, chocolate is more than a craving —
it’s a calling. The owner of Sweet on Vermont, Henik cre-
ates handmade chocolates that are distributed to gourmet
markets and stores across New England. But while she
now works out of a professional kitchen in Burlington, Vt., Henik’s
chocolatier skills were developed right on Morningside Heights.
COURTESY ERIKA HENIK '90
While Henik was a student at the College, she met Linda Grish-
man, who was making sweets out of her apartment on 110th Street
to sell at stores around New York City. Needing an extra hand
with truffle production, Grishman asked Henik to work with her
part time, and Henik’s love of chocolate making was born. “I knew
nothing about chocolate when I started,” she says. “But I learned
— I worked with [Linda] for four years and it was amazing.”
Henik, a psychology and Middle Eastern, South Asian and
African studies double major, went on to work on Wall Street and
then earned a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley. But she kept in touch with
Grishman, who later left New York City and founded Sweet on
Vermont in 1996. Grishman occasionally contacted Henik to ask
if she would again be interested in partnering in the chocolate
business. “Fast-forward 25-ish years and it was finally the right
moment for me,” Henik says. She decided to leave Wall Street
behind and purchased the business from Grishman, who was ready
to retire. Says Henik, “It was really nice — even though I bought
her out it still felt like the transfer of a family business because we
talked about it all the time.”
Five years later, Henik continues to grow the company, with
a menu that includes barks, bars, peanut butter balls and brittles
(the chocolate-dipped maple-almond brittle is especially beloved
by customers, she says). All of Sweet on Vermont’s confections
are handmade, so every day is different. Orders change based on
New England tourism trends and what Henik calls “gift-giving
seasons,” like Valentine’s Day, Mother's Day and the end-of-the-
year holidays. One day could be spent dipping brittle and mak-
ing chocolate bars, another focused on custom orders or crafting
Vermont maple caramels.
“One of the things I love about this business is that it’s really
hard to say what’s your favorite, or what’s anyone’s favorite,” Henik
says. “There’s something for everyone.”
Tne Atlanta Hawks’ Stadium Star
By Alex Sachare ’71
ot all basketball stars throw down slam dunks or drain
three-point jump shots. Many work behind the scenes
so that fans can have a good time watching athletes like
LeBron James and Steph Curry on the court.
One of those is Thad Sheely ’93, chief operating officer of the
Atlanta Hawks. Sheely was hired by the NBA team in 2015 to
remake the arena in which the Hawks play their home games.
Three years later, State Farm Arena was unveiled — just in time for
the 2018-19 basketball season.
Sheely, who was an urban studies major, recognized the many
advantages of the original arena’s downtown location, including
46 CCT Winter 2018-19
ample parking and a MARTA rail station on site. So he decided
to keep the structure and renovate everything inside. His vision: a
convenient, affordable, state-of-the-art venue for sports, concerts
and other attractions.
“To me the right location for an arena is downtown. But a new
arena would have cost $500 million,” says Sheely. Instead, the team
spent $200 million “to rebuild from the roofline to the baseline —
all the fun stuff, everything the fan touches.”
Sheely says his urban studies background is vital in his work.
“Understanding urban design and planning gives you a feel for how
these buildings function,” he says. “You are bringing a small town of
WELCOME 10 THE NEIGHBORHOOD
OPEN HOUSE PARTY |
alumninews \-)
For example, the Hawks partnered with Zac Brown, vocalist
and lead guitarist of the eponymous Atlanta-based band, to create
the 20,000-square-foot Zac Brown's Social Club within the arena.
There is also Killer Mike’s Swag Shop, a barber shop where fans can
get their hair cut while watching the game.
Sheely, who has an M.B.A. from Stanford, was working on the
financing of sports arenas when he decided it might be more fun to
be on the other side, “spending the money instead of trying to raise
it.” After helping to design an arena for the NBA’s Miami Heat, he
joined the NFL’s New York Jets and worked on a proposed Mid-
town Manhattan stadium that was a central part of the city’s bid
to host the 2012 Olympics. After those Olympics were awarded to
London, Sheely and the Jets partnered with the New York Giants
to build MetLife Stadium in the New Jersey Meadowlands.
Sheely was working on Hudson Yards, a $20 billion mixed-
used development on the same site that had been proposed for the
Olympic arena, when the Hawks’ then-new owner, Tony Ressler,
COURTESY THAD SHEELY '93
recruited him to recreate the team’s arena. Sheely says he enjoys
Atlanta Hawks chief operating officer Thad Sheely 93 with his family at the overseeing all aspects of team and arena business operations and
ta ante
renovated State Farm Arena’s open house on October 20.
17,000-20,000 people together for one night and you want to give
them a good experience. The same things that make a city successful
make an arena successful. And the connection between a city and an
arena is important. We wanted our arena to be tied into the city of
Atlanta, the state of Georgia and what makes these places special.”
newsmakers
Three alumni were named to the
Forbes’ “30 under 30” list for 2019:
Erica Dorfman ’11 (head of finance
and operations at Tally Technologies,
a software company that helps
people manage credit card debt)
in the finance category; Riley
Jones 17 (cofounder of BLOC, a
coaching company that empowers
young people of color to build fulfilling
careers) in the social entrepreneurs
category; and Jessica Schinazi ’11
(head of business development and
branding for Amazon’s Luxury Beauty)
in the retail and e-commerce category.
Hannah Assadi ’08, SOA’13, author
of the novel Sonora, was one of the
five honorees of The National Book
Foundation’s “2018 5 Under 35” —
a selection of debut fiction writers
under 35 whose work promises to
leave a lasting impression on the
literary landscape.
real estate development.
“Sports are interesting because they are very small businesses with
very large portfolios. We are in the live entertainment business, and
it’s as much about the overall social experience as anything.”
chief of CCT.
Alana Mayo ’06, head of production
and development at Outlier Society,
a production company, was profiled
in the November issue of Essence in
“Meet Alana Mayo, Michael B. Jordan’s
Not-So-Secret Weapon”; Darryl
Pinckney ’88 and Jamel Brinkley ’97,
GSAS’07 were featured in The New
York Times Style Magazine’s November
30 interactive feature “Black Male
Writers for Our Time”; activist and
long-distance runner Alison Mariella
Désir ’07, GSAS’11 was featured in the
October issue of Vogue in “Shop Fall
Fashion Inspired by 14 Real Working
Women”; and actress Amanda Peet ’94
was profiled by The New York Times on
October 27 in “Amanda Peet Struggles
With Her Tennis Game.”
Brandon Victor Dixon ’03 will appear
in Fox’s live musical event Rent, in
the role of Tom Collins. The show will
air on Sunday, January 27.
Alex Sachare’71 is a longtime sports journalist and a former editor-in-
Two alumni received awards from the
Breakthrough Prize Foundation,
which celebrates the achievements
of scientists, physicists and mathemati-
cians. Adrian Krainer ’81, a professor
of neuroscience at Cold Spring Harbor
Laboratory, received the 2019 Break-
through Prize in Life Sciences, and
Daniel Harlow ’06, assistant profes-
sor of physics at MIT, received the
2019 New Horizons in Physics Prize.
They were honored at a ceremony on
November 4.
The 2018 Crain’s New York “Fast 50
List,” which identifies the metro area’s
fastest-growing firms, included two
alumni-run businesses: CEO Jeffrey
Kupietzky ’93’s Powerlnbox (an
email monetization company) came
in at number 4, and founder and CEO
Robert Reffkin 00, BUS’03’s Compass
(an online real estate company), was
number 8.
Winter 2018-19 CCT 47
bookshelf
Who Wants to Live Forever?
By Molly Shea
achel Heng ’11 spent four years strolling from Morning-
side Heights down to Union Square, Soho and China-
town, but she never really saw the city for what it was
— “a bubble of contradictions,” she says — until she
decided to write a book about it.
‘There were glimpses during her college years, sure. She was dis-
turbed by the American healthcare system, which paled in com-
parison to her native Singapore’s government-supervised version.
“That’s something that shocked me about the United States — the
fact that if you don't have money to pay for a treatment, you're kind
of left in a lurch,” she says. “I was like, what do you mean, it’s going
to cost me $5,000 to get this random treatment? If I don’t have
$5,000, ’'m screwed?” Working in private equity after graduating
opened her eyes to more: How rising housing prices have pushed
city natives to outer boroughs. The grow-
ing income gaps. And the way that some
people swilled $12 green juices in the
hopes of living to 100, while others could
barely afford McDonald’s.
Heng explores these inequalities in
her debut novel, Suicide Club (Henry
Holt, $27), which tells the story of New
York City in the not-so-distant future.
Some New Yorkers have the potential
to live for hundreds of years, provided
they follow a strict set of government-
mandated health guidelines (no red
meat, no high-impact exercise) and opt
ANDREW BENNETT
for the cutting-edge surgical procedures
that turn their skin to Teflon and their hearts into endlessly beating
machines. Any appeal of an everlasting life is lost early in Chapter
One — the characters are largely depressed, repressed and, despite
their extended lifespans, terrified of dying. As they grapple with
their many opportunities and limitations, some decide to opt out
by joining a hedonistic group called the Suicide Club.
The settings might be different, but the characters’ obsessions and
privileges tend to be amplified versions of what Heng sees around
her now. The treatments that characters undergo in the book sound
like they'd appear in next week’s Goop newsletter, along with their
attempts to live in ultra-clean, allergen-free housing, and the relax-
48 CCT Winter 2018-19
ation exercises they do to
boost their lifespan. “There’s
something quite existential about fixating on these small, everyday
decisions, as if somehow, if you get everything just right, youre going
to live forever,” Heng says. “[ You think] all your problems are going to
be solved because today, you didn’t eat that chocolate and instead ate
this superfood — but then you find out that actually, that food gives
you cancer. There’s something strange and darkly comic about it.”
Heng, who majored in comparative literature at the College and
spent four years working in finance before turning to writing, bor-
rowed from her own experiences when shaping her fictional world.
Take a recent visit to Flatiron vegetarian hotspot abcV: “On the
menu they were breaking down the ingredients in the juices and
various things — very well intentioned,” Heng says. “All of them
included really fancy-sounding ingredients, like St. John’s Wort,
and then there was one line that said ‘carrot,’ and it told you why
carrot was good for you.” She laughed at how preposterous it all
was — the need to highlight the nutritional benefits of the hum-
ble carrot and our need to feel sure of every morsel we put in our
bodies. “We've entered this weirdly dystopian era,” she says.
As funny as the wellness fixation can be, Heng sees a deeper issue
at play in both her story and modern day: humankind’s reluctance
to surrender. While she hopes others relate, Heng says she wrote
the book in part to reckon with both her own fear of dying and
her annoyance with the current obsession with health. “I do have a
tendency to try to control everything, and I think I’m very much the
lesson that I’m telling in the book, to a degree,” she says. “My hus-
band jokes that I wrote an entire book to justify my diet.” It worked,
somewhat. Heng says she feels a little less frightened of the end, and
more at peace with her less-than-healthy eating habits.
Now an M.FA. student at UT Austin’s Michener Center for
Writers, Heng is taking in her new city’s contradictions and
inequalities, and shifting her focus to historical fiction. But she
hasn't lost sight of the biggest mystery of all. “A poet friend told me
that a famous poet said there are only three topics: love, death and
the changing of seasons — which is really about death,” she says.
“T never write about love, so I think I’ll keep writing about death.”
Molly Shea is a journalist based in Brooklyn, N.Y. Her last article for
CCT was “Better Call Khadijah,” in the Fall 2018 issue.
[BOY
“e Min
ey Jerome CHaryn
A Nation Like All Others:
A Brief History of American
Foreign Relations 4y Warren I.
Cohen ’55. Cohen, Distinguished
University Professor Emeritus
at the University of Maryland,
provides a comprehensive overview
of America’s foreign policy and
diplomacy from 1776 to the present
(Columbia University Press, $35).
The Perilous Adventures of
the Cowboy King: A Novel of
Teddy Roosevelt and His Times
by Jerome Charyn ’59. Theodore
Roosevelt — New York City
police commissioner, Rough Rider
and 26th President — assumes
superhero status in Charyr's playful
historical fiction (Liveright, $26.95).
Weird Thoughts 4y Tomas Wm.
Hamilton ’60. Seventeen short stories
of science fiction, fantasy and satire
span the years 1912 to 50 million
years in the future (Strategic Book
Publishing & Rights Agency, $15.87).
Religion Within Reason
by Steven M. Cahn ’63. In under
96 pages, Cahn examines big
questions of faith and reason,
morality, miracles, heaven and
hell, mystical experiences, religious
diversity and the problem of evil
(Columbia University Press, $25).
We Can Do It: A Community
Takes On the Challenge of School
Desegregation sy Michael T.
Gengler ’66. How black and white
AR pistorHe
S) OpAMA AND
Y THE DECLINE OF
Thomas Andrew O'Keefe
R KIMBALL
administrators, teachers, parents
and students worked together to
create desegregated public schools
in Alachua County, Fla., in the late
1950s (Rosetta Books, $24.99).
Hells Heroes: How An Unlikely
Alliance Saved Idaho’s Hells
Canyon by David C. Carlson ’68.
The author focuses on three critical
policy issues relating to the Hells
Canyon National Recreation Area
(Caxton Press, $16).
No Property in Man: Slavery
and Antislavery at the Nation’s
Founding dy Sean Wilentz ’72.
Acclaimed political historian
Wilentz upends conventional views
of the Constitution, describing the
document as “a tortured paradox
that abided slavery without
legitimizing it” (Harvard University
Press, $26.95).
Milk Street Tuesday Nights:
More Than 200 Simple
Weeknight Suppers That
Deliver Bold Flavor, Fast
by Christopher Kimball ’73. Named
one of Epicurious.com’s “Greatest
Home Cooks of All Time,” Kimball
delivers a quick and easy cookbook
for beginners and foodies alike
(Little, Brown and Co., $35).
Monsters, Animals, and Other
Worlds: A Collection of Short
Medieval Japanese Tales
edited by Keller Kimbrough and Harou
Shirane ’74. Stories and illustrations
BUSH Il,
U.S. HEGEMONY
IN THE WESTERN
HEMISPHERE
THE
LiFe. OP INiONs
alumninews
h Decorating §
tf a Room of {
One’s Own j
AND
UNE XP EG {
TED Anye }
x NTU,
es OF Ay RES
~~ UrLigg
NEVER
SHUT Up
featuring hungry ghosts, flesh-
eating demons, talking animals,
amorous plants and journeys to
supernatural realms (Columbia
University Press, $35).
The Existentialist’s Survival
Guide: How to Live Authentically
in an Inauthentic Age dy Gordon
Marino ’76. St. Olaf College
philosophy professor Marino
dispenses wisdom about facing
existence head-on, especially when
the universe feels like it’s working
against you (HarperOne, $25.99).
The Duty to Stand Aside:
Nineteen Eighty-Four and the
Wartime Quarrel of George
Orwell and Alex Comfort dy Eric
Laurensen ’82. An examination of
the literary and political arguments
between two of Britain’s most
prominent intellectuals during
WWII (AK Press, $16).
Bush Il, Obama, and the Decline
of U.S. Hegemony in the Western
Hemisphere 4y Thomas A. O'Keefe
82. O’Keefe reviews the last decades
of U.S.-Latin American relations
and explains why the United States
has lost so much power in this part
of the world (Routledge, $44.95).
Animals and Animality in the
Babylonian Talmud dy Beth
Berkowitz 92. Berkowitz, chair
of the Jewish Studies department
at Barnard, considers themes in
animal studies — intelligence,
jonas ny BEGGA STADTLANDER
morality, sexuality, suffering, danger,
personhood — with a religious
perspective (Cambridge University
Press, $80 Kindle edition).
Plagues and the Paradox of
Progress: Why the World is
Getting Healthier in Worrisome
Ways by Thomas Bollyky ’96.
The author interweaves history
about the rise and fall of plagues
in human societies with modern
case studies of the consequences
(MIT Press, $27.95).
Never Shut Up: The Life, Opinions,
and Unexpected Adventures of
an NFL Outlier dy Marcellus Wiley ’97.
A candid autobiography from one
of the best football players in
Columbia history (Dutton, $28).
Decorating a Room of One’s
Own: Conversations on Interior
Design with Miss Havisham,
Jane Eyre, Victor Frankenstein,
Elizabeth Bennet, Ishmael, and
Other Literary Notables dy Susan
Harlan 99. Harlan spoofs decorating
culture by imagining famous
fictional homes and “interviewing”
the residents about their true tastes
(Abrams, $19.99).
Violence: Humans in Dark Times
by Brad Evans and Natasha Lennard
10. Conversations with historians,
theorists and artists that explore the
problem of violence in everyday life
(City Lights Publishers, $18.95).
— Jill C. Shomer
Winter 2018-19 CCT 49
While the illuminated trees on
College Walk have brightened
students’ winter wanderings for
decades, the white lights went
“green” in 2017 when Columbia
Swapped out traditional bulbs
for LEDs. The lights stay on
from early December until the
end of February, and the switch
is estimated to save a total of
127,900 Kilowatt-hours.
50 CCT Winter 2018-19
1942
Melvin Hershkowitz
22 Northern Ave.
Northampton, MA 01060-2310
DrMelvin23@gmail.com
I regret to report that one of my best
friends from our years at Columbia,
Jay Topkis ’46, died on September 1,
2018, at 94. Jay originally was a
member of the Class of 1944, and
his time at the College was inter-
rupted by military service. We met
while playing softball and touch
football in intramural games on the
old South Field, and thus began
our lifelong friendship. We were
separated by Yale Law School for
Jay and NYU Medical School for
me. Years later, I was happy to give
medical advice to Jay and his mother
before I left NYC to work in New
MICHAEL EDMONSON '20
Jersey, Washington, D.C., and Provi-
dence, R.I., while Jay progressed in
his distinguished career as a partner
in the prestigious law firm of Paul,
Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garri-
son. He appeared in cases before the
Supreme Court, representing Vice
President Spiro Agnew and baseball
player Curt Flood and — after his
retirement in 1995 — taught at the
Law School. Farewell to a brilliant
friend, one of Columbia’s most
distinguished graduates.
I am writing these notes before
the start of our 2018 football season,
which begins on September 15 at
Central Connecticut State. Our first
Ivy League game will be a nation-
ally televised night game against
Princeton on September 28 at Wien
Stadium. Hopes are high for this
team, which returns many starters
from 2017 on both offense and
defense. Coach Al Bagnoli needs to
find a quarterback from at least five
potential candidates. A pre-season
consensus among Ivy League
coaches ranked Columbia fourth
in the league, behind Yale, Harvard
and Princeton. However, I believe
we have the talent to win the Ivy
League Championship and have an
undefeated season. By the time this
issue of CCT is published, we will
know. Roar, Lions!
Dr. Gerald Klingon, our retired
neurologist living in Manhattan,
celebrated his 98th birthday on
September 22. He remains perfectly
lucid in our telephone conversa-
tions, though occasionally forgetting
names and dates as we chat (I, too,
suffer from the same lapses). Gerry
remains interested in Columbia
affairs, with special emphasis on
our football and basketball teams.
His son, Robert (Amherst College
and UC Berkeley School of Law)
and daughter, Karen (Rhode Island
School of Design) help him with his
daily affairs, and are honorary mem-
bers of our Great Class of 1942.
The Wall Street Journal recently
published its rankings of colleges
and major universities. Columbia
was ranked fourth in the nation, with
Harvard (as usual in this publication)
ranked first. Several criteria were cited
in this report, too numerous to list
here. In one category, faculty, Colum-
bia has always been preeminent, with
such great teachers as Jacques Barzun
CC 1927, GSAS’32; Mark Van
Doren GSAS 1921; Dwight Miner
CC 1926; Carlton J.H. Hayes CC
1904, GSAS 1909; Lionel Trilling
CC 1925, GSAS’38; Irwin Edman
CC 1916, GSAS 1920; Joseph Wood
Krutch GSAS 1924, Gottlieb Betz,
James McGregor, Everard Upjohn
and many others who made unforget-
table impressions on their students.
Having been blessed with three
great-grandchildren, now 5,4 and 1,
I’m hopeful that at least one of them
will continue our family tradition at
Columbia. My grandson Benjamin
Hathaway’10 shares my loyalty to alma
mater. Long may Columbia stand.
1943
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
Happy 2019, Class of 1943. If you
wish to share your news in this
column, please send it to either of
the addresses above. Be well in the
New Year.
Thanks to Bernie Weisberger
for writing in! He reports: “Greetings,
classmates. This is the member whom
Dr. G.J. ‘Dan’ D’Angio called ‘faithful
Bernie Weisberger, writing in Septem-
ber to review the last three months.
“I must start at the end with the
very sad news that Dan died on Sep-
tember 14, 2018, as his son informed
me. It hits home with special force
personally. Dan and I were not
acquainted in our campus days, but
in the interchange of letters here we
became pen pals and found we had
much in common, as you might see
in the Spring 2018 “Last Word’ sec-
tion in CCT (college.columbia.edu/
cct/issue/spring18/article/43-reverie)
— mainly a genuine affection for
‘our’ Columbia — and eventually met
face to face, once when I visited him
and his wife at their apartment in
Philadelphia, and again at last June’s
reunion. In our letters to each other
we shared experiences. He recalled
being on the lightweight crew and
days of living at their quarters on the
Harlem River, the odd life of being
a medical student in the seven-year
accelerated program and being
mobilized with his fellow doctors-
to-be into the Army, uniforms
and all, with its regulations and
requirements somehow fitted into
days of labs and learning. I shared
with him in 2015 my recollections
of going to Selma as a ‘witness’ to
the struggles that culminated in the
Voting Rights Act of 1965. He liked
it so much that he made an effort to
get it incorporated into an article for
CCT but as I recollect, space con-
siderations didn’t permit it. Dan was
simply a fine and caring person to
know and I am sure a terrific doctor,
and I feel the poorer for his loss.
“That said, I go back to the few
events that stand out from the trivia
of daily life, hoping I’m not repeat-
ing myself — an unfortunate habit
that grows with my age. Two weeks
after the reunion, on June 16, |
became for the first time the subject
of a TV interview, with a camera
crew coming into our apartment,
moving furniture around, installing
bright lights and positioning me
in their glare. They were making
a documentary, which I will only
briefly describe, on the subject of
an academic spoof at the University
of Chicago in which I took part as
a faculty member in 1962. It was a
mock scholarly ‘debate” among Jew-
ish supporters about the importance
and relevance to the history of
Anterican religion of two familiar
holiday foods, the ‘latke,’a potato
pancake usually served during Cha-
nukah, which occurs in December,
and the ‘hamantash, a triangular
pastry shell filled with prune or
other kinds of jam, consumed at
Purim, in March. I suspect that this
is not exactly news to any non-Jews
living in New York, Chicago or
other centers of Jewish population.
The ‘debate’ was originated at that
time by a couple of Jewish faculty
members and the rabbi of Hillel
House, the Jewish student center,
and eventually became a tradition
that spread to other schools. My
role in the interview was to give a
genuinely serious interview on how
and why the debate was created at
that moment in time, but in the
debate itself “back then’ I spoke as
an historian, furiously defending the
latke as the truly American Jewish
dish, citing documents both real and
imaginary. The other participants
on both sides used and abused their
particular fields of specialization.
A relatively recent book containing
all of the debates almost up to the
current year of “The Great Latke-
Hamantash Debate’ is in print. I
don’t know when and where the
video will appear.
“The other memorable event
was the annual Father’s Day ‘Race
Against Hate,’ described in my ear-
lier letters. I have been a regular par-
ticipant in a 5K (three-mile) walk
for at least the last seven or eight
years, the times getting longer each
one. This time, with temperatures
in the 90s, I shortened the distance
to two miles (nobody really takes
the results seriously) and was proud
of myself for finishing with the aid
of my daughter, her husband and
one granddaughter still in residence
in Chicago, who supplied me with
Gatorade and rest stops.
“Finally, I had an early birthday
party on August 10 for convenient
Winter 2018-19 CCT 51
scheduling for all, with out-of-town
(Denver) daughter Beth and her hus-
band, and the resident granddaughter
of the race, Rebecca. We had the usual
meal at daughter Lise’s house, with my
favorite strawberry shortcake for des-
sert. And so passed another milestone.
Nothing worthy of remembrance in
my personal history thereafter until
today. Best wishes to all of you from
one of us who’ still here and still a
loyal son of alma mater.”
1944
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
Dr. Daniel Choy PS’49 notes that
a friend from CC days, Durham
Caldwell ’48, is editing From Farm
Boy in Hawaii to the First Chinese
Envoy Plenipotentiary to London and
Paris, Dan's biography of his father,
Jun Ke Choy CC 1915.
Share your update, or even a
favorite Columbia College memory,
by sending it to either the postal
address or email address at the
top of the column. Wishing you a
Happy New Year and winter season.
1945
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
No news from classmates! Share
your update, or even a favorite
Columbia College memory, by send-
ing it to either the postal address
or email address at the top of the
column. Wishing you a pleasant
New Year and winter season.
1946
Bernard Sunshine
165 W. 66th St., Apt. 12G
New York, NY 10023
bsuns1@gmail.com
Greetings for the new year, Class
of 1946. Please take a moment this
winter to write in. Your classmates
want to hear from you. Be well.
52 CCT Winter 2018-19
1947
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
Arthur Ashkin was awarded a Nobel
Prize in Physics on October 2. At 96,
Arthur is the oldest person to win
a Nobel. Read more about him, his
research and this amazing honor on
The New York Times website: nytimes.
com/2018/10/02/science/physics-
nobel-prize.html, or on the Colum-
bia News website: news.columbia.
edu/content/arthur-ashkin-cc47-
wins-nobel-prize-in-physics.
Classmates would love to hear
about you, too. Share your update,
or even a favorite Columbia College
memory, by sending it to either the
postal address or email address at the
top of the column. Wishing you a
joyous New Year and winter season.
1948
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
Dr. Walter J. Henry writes: “I am 91.
In 1948 Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower
had been named president of Colum-
bia. By chance, I was in the vicinity
of Low Library when he made
what I believe to be his first visit
to campus. I had a camera with me
and took a picture of him climbing
the Steps. A/ma Mater can be seen
in the background. Eisenhower was
accompanied by Adm. Ernest J. King,
commander in chief, United States
Fleet and chief of naval operations. I
love that Eisenhower grin!
“T retired from the practice of
thoracic surgery 28 years ago. I had
a successful practice and loved every
minute of it. I have a wonderful,
loving family.
“T owe a great deal to Columbia
for allowing me to get into medical
school. I remember the day, a long
time ago, when the mailman came to
our house in Brooklyn with a letter of
acceptance from Columbia College.
My first choice! Oh happy day!
“IT remember the time I went to
Pupin Hall for a physics class. There
was a soldier in full battle gear, with
a large rifle, guarding the hall. We
did not know what to make of it.
Later we learned — the Manhattan
Project. The atomic bomb!
“My regards to classmates.”
Share your update, or even a
favorite Columbia College memory,
by sending it to either the postal
address or email address at the
top of the column. Wishing you a
Happy New Year and winter season.
1949
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
John Weaver
2639 E. 11th St.
Brooklyn, NY 11235
wudchpr@gmail.com
Writing this in the week in which we
memorialize the catastrophic events
of 9-11, the somber reminder of the
times and the growing list of occa-
sions to which we must apply “Never
Forget” as the categorical heading.
From Joe Russell, a sharing of
a journal written by his son in the
hours and days following 9-11. It
is a lengthy, breathtakingly detailed
memoir of a time of momentous
significance. I am convinced the
son is the fruit of the parents and
Joe’s profoundly Columbian heart is
evident in this moving journal.
This event prodded my own
recollection. I had written a letter
to Dean Austin E. Quigley to allow
him to understand that we were
comforted to know our son, having
just begun his freshman year at the
College, was in the best place we
could imagine in the wake of the
tragedy. He had graduated from
Stuyvesant H.S., which became
a triage center when the towers
fell. The proudest moment in my
personal life was hearing my letter
quoted in the dean’s address on
Class Day in 2005 at the graduation
of that 2001 freshman class.
It is always encouraging to hear
from a classmate who has remained
on the sidelines for as long as I can
recall. Dr. Robert Lincoln was
motivated by a comment from Joe
Russell to share his own recollec-
tion of “The Game.” He reminds
us that following the Army game,
Columbia’s season featured four more
games in which the defensive squad
held all four scoreless. The only score
was one touchdown resulting from an
interception by Syracuse.
If I may, Gene Rossides, it is
time to hear from you. This time had
to be an extraordinary one for you
and we would all love to hear your
personal feelings about that signal
moment for us all.
From Burt Silverman, a letter
worth reading. He remains active
in his artistic pursuits and informs
us of his most recent honor, find-
ing his place in the Metropolitan
Museum of Art. He writes, “I am
one of the ‘bench players’ mentioned
in Richard Sachs’ last letter to
you (Spring 2018), having not sent
word of either my survival among
the proud few nor of any reason-
ably interesting other news. But the
Spring 2018 issue, commemorating
the 50th anniversary of the historic
student strike that involved so many
passions and meaningful reflections,
also stirred me to write to you about
that event. This was delayed, of
course, by other things — life stuff
— so here’s the follow-up.
“Nineteen years after graduation I
returned to the Columbia campus in
a far different role than as an alum-
nus. In 1968 I had become a rather
notable illustrator for both The New
Yorker and New York magazine. The
latter assigned me to do drawings of
the strike on campus to illustrate an
article written by a student partici-
pant. Being there, and responding
to the heightened atmosphere of a
newfound ‘resistance’ that clearly
paralleled the ongoing anti-war pro-
tests, I found myself feeling almost
like a student again and very much
in tune with the protest. It was a
powerful time and one that is now
still clearly remembered. In the years
since I have drifted from away from
the College in part because as a
commuter student I had none of the
dormitory-kinds of friendships that
form bonds, but more so because my
connections to the art world were
far more demanding.
“T did have some of my art
reproduced in CCT about 18 years
ago and then a reflection of my
college experience in a CCT series
titled ‘My Last Meeting’ with the
people in my class for our 60th
reunion, where we made special
tribute to who was an ongoing force
in remedial medicine for the elderly.
I painted a portrait of Dr. Robert
Butler PS’53 to honor this occasion.
(We became friends briefly; this vig-
orous, wonderful man died very soon
afterward, the victim of a startlingly
aggressive form of cancer.)
“But what now finally gets me to
write is that one of the drawings I
made during the strike was recently
acquired by the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, and that has once
again revived the memory of Spring
68. Its accession by the museum
now makes the strike part of a
significant art historical record to
which I am also honorifically bound.
“I know photographs are now
the visual lingua franca of all our
recorded memories — instant self-
1950
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
Happy New Year, Class of 1950!
News from Arthur Westing:
“My wife, Carol (of 62 years and
counting), and I have lived in the
Wake Robin Life Plan Retirement
Community in Shelburne, Vt., since
2017, where we have been busily
making a host of friends (includ-
ing Joseph “Bud” Kassel and his
wife, Ruth), and pitching in with
such resident-run outdoor activities
within the community’s 75 acres of
A documentary about George Zimbel °51, made ba
A 8 A
his son Matt Zimbel and a colleague, was shown at the
Raindance Film Festival in London.
ies — but I like to think that in my
oddball place as a realist painter,
art does have some role to play in
illuminating the world around us.
“P.S. I send a warm hello to Dr.
Marvin Lipman PS’54, who was on
the editorial staff of the Jester with me
so many summers ago in’48.”
Burt, all of us who were there 10
years ago recall that extraordinary
portrait that projects Dr. Robert
Butler's visage in such profound
emotional depth. While brushes,
pigment and canvas may not be the
“lingua franca” of today, it remains
the timeless medium of thought and
emotion expressed beyond words. For
that we all are grateful to you. And
Marv will see your greeting here.
Sadly, at the time of this writing
I received a phone call from the
daughter of Fred DeVries SEAS’50,
SEAS’51. Fred has suddenly taken
leave of this earth. We had most
recently exchanged emails expressing
hope of seeing one another at our 70th
reunion. His life is both a reminder of
our fragility as well as an example of
extraordinary accomplishment.
Thank you all for your notes. It
is winter and the days are shorter,
there is more evening time for you
to think about writing a note before
the Spring 2019 issue.
woodlands as sugaring (some 270
taps), hiking trail maintenance (some
five miles) and nature trail develop-
ment (a roundtrip of one mile).
Moreover, Carol and I have for many
years been leading nature hikes for
the Appalachian Mountain Club in
Acadia National Park. The two of
us consider our role in establishing
and maintaining a substantial nature
reserve in southeastern Vermont as
one of our major achievements.
“As to professional activities, I
am long retired from professing and
deaning in academia, from directing
the United Nations program on
Peace, Security, and the Environ-
ment, and from international envi-
ronmental consulting, but remain
somewhat active in the International
Crane Foundation’s project on
protecting in perpetuity the Korean
Demilitarized Zone as a crucial
nature reserve. Highlights of my
efforts have appeared in the 2013
book Arthur H. Westing: Pioneer on
the Environmental Impact of War.
“My overriding concern now
is the increasingly unsustainable
exploitation of the world’s natural
environment, inevitably accompa-
nied by the ever-diminishing biota
it can support — all this driven by
the ever-more egregiously increasing
alumninews
levels of over-population, unavoid-
ably accompanied by unsustainable
demands on the global resources and
sink capacities.
“My contact information is westing
@sover.net.”
Be well CC’50, and do take a
moment to send in a Class Note to
either of the addresses at the top of
this column.
1951
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
Ralph Lowenstein JRN’52 writes:
“Ralph and his wife, Bronia, visited
Israel in May 2018, during the 70th
anniversary year of the establish-
ment of the Jewish state. Ralph is
believed to be the only Columbia
undergraduate to serve in the Israeli
armed forces during Israel’s War of
Independence. A native of Danville,
Va., he volunteered at the end of his
freshman year and drove a halftrack
in the 79th Armored Battalion. He
returned at the end of the war, going
to summer sessions to make up for
the lost time, and graduated with
his class. There were about 1,500
American and Canadian volunteers.
Ralph also served in the Army
during the Korean War, following
graduation from the Journalism
School. In later life, as dean of the
University of Florida College of
Journalism and Communications, he
was one of the longest-serving deans
— 18 years — in the history of the
university. In retirement, Ralph and
Bronia reside in Gainesville, Fla.,
home of the university.”
George Zimbel checked in: “A
documentary about George Zimbel
was shown at the Raindance Film
Festival (calendar.raindancefestival.
org/films/zimbelism) in London. The
film was made by Matt Zimbel, his
son, and a colleague, photographer
Jean-Francois Gratton of Montreal.
It has been shown in Beijing and
Shanghai and is on the Canadian
CBC network. George and his wife,
writer Elaine Sernovitz, emigrated to
Canada in 1971. Elaine passed away
in 2017 (go online to read more: bit.
ly/2QGWSrs). George continues to
reside in Montreal. He is no longer
printing, instead focusing on his
poetry. His work is available through
many fine galleries throughout
Canada and the United States
(georgezimbel.com/contact).”
Phillip Bruno and his wife, Clare,
are in Scotland, enjoying a busy time
of art galleries, museums, studio visits
and so on — plus grandkids! Clare
writes, “A highlight was the recent
opening of the new V&A Dundee.
Perched on the water’s edge, this
amazing building by Kengo Kuma
will act as the Bilbao effect, trans-
forming the city. Very exciting.”
“T love Scotland, and I love my
life here,” says Phillip. “It is a big
change from Manhattan but people
are so friendly.” Phillip has a trainer
who works at the tennis club nearby
and there is a Victorian church
next door. It’s very convenient. Plus,
there’s a huge central private garden
belonging to all the surrounding
houses, which date from 1870.
Phillip sends all best wishes to
classmates.
1952
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
Best wishes for a happy and healthy
new year, Class of 1952! We heard
from George Economakis, who
shares: “I, born 1930, took more
than a moment to write and send
you this Class Note, hereunder:
“I kept postponing research on
the real causes of the Greek schism
between ‘royalists’ and ‘venizelists,’
started by Prime Minister Venizelos
one century ago. So I was glad
when 30-month old Areti-Georgia,
daughter of my son Andrew’87,
recently ‘unearthed’ from my library
a volume titled Constantine I and
the Greek People by Paxton Hibben,
an American diplomat, journalist
and humanitarian, who published
the work in New York in 1920. It
had looked like a textbook from my
Columbia days. The subject is about
King Constantine I, Prime Minister
Venizelos, WWI and the French
and British allies.
“Thus I researched, wrote and
circulated a 30-page report on what
happened to neutral Greece in
order to get us involved in WWI. I
included, as well, the responsibili-
Winter 2018-19 CCT 53
ties for the Greek nation tragedy of
1919-21 in Asia Minor. The Hellenic
army consisted of more than 200,000
able but exhausted soldiers from
our Balkan wars, plus the necessary
mountain artillery. Greeks were to
fight the empires of Austria-Hungary
and Germany, Bulgaria, plus eventu-
ally the Ottoman Turks. There was
foul play, intrigue and bluffing by
Venizelos together with the entente
allies (French and British Empires).
‘The two powers unofficially landed
in 1915 for a military base in Thessa-
loniki and started the shameful battle
in Athens for the final dethroning in
1917 of Constantine I, the ‘soldier
king of the Hellenes.”
Please take a moment to write
in to either of the addresses at the
top of this column. Your classmates
would love to hear from you!
1953
Lew Robins
3200 Park Ave., Apt. 9C2
Bridgeport, CT 06604
lewrobins@aol.com
Greetings in the new year, and best
wishes for a happy 2019. Please take
a moment to send your news. Class-
mates would love to hear from you!
1954
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Bernd Brecher
35 Parkview Ave., Apt. 4G
Bronxville, NY 10708
brecherservices@aol.com
Happy New Year 2019, men of the
Class of Destiny. Yes, we graduated
65 years ago come this May, and it’s
a time of reflection for most of us.
As I write this quarterly column for
the Winter 2018-19 issue of CCT’
in Westchester County, it’s fall and
nearly 80 degrees, and I need to
project my observations so those of
you reading this on the East Coast
while watching the snowflakes and
not living in Southern California
can better relate to my thoughts. I
am often reminded of Philip Roth’s
54 CCT Winter 2018-19
comment in The New York Times
in 2014, not long before he died:
“Yes, character is destiny, and yet
everything is chance.”
Many of you, as we exchanged
birthday thoughts this year,
expressed a focus on — others a
combination of aspects of — pride,
nostalgia, resignation, and hope.
Sarcasm was endemic, fatalism rare,
cynicism absent. Good for us!
Our Reunion Committee is now
11 men strong, and is dealing with
a number of key issues such as pro-
gram; meals; College, class and guest
speakers; venues on- and off-cam-
pus; housing; the 65th anniversary
questionnaire and directory; costs;
and spouse/significant other possible
needs and special interests. College
support in helping underwrite
expenses will once again be available.
Our anniversary Class Gift requires
ongoing attention.
Added to our committee since
the last issue of CCT are Jack
Blechner, Ted Spiegel and Dick
Werksman LAW’S8. Others: Let
me know if you want to join us;
we need you. [wo members of the
Alumni Office staff work with us as
liaisons and active participants. We
look to them to smooth the way,
open doors, help guide our wishes,
and generally be there with caveats
and encouragement to assure we
have a great attendance and success-
ful celebration.
Thanks to all of you who sent
this correspondent happy birthday
wishes last October, led off by Bob
Weber SEAS’55, SEAS’56, who
lamented, “I have stopped counting
birthdays; next year I'll be 86 and —
if you've ever worked in a restaurant
— you know that ‘86’ means ‘there is
no more.”
Does this mean that if Bob
stopped counting he might actually
be 100? Good for you, Bob! But
he also made some suggestions for
reunion: “Hospital beds in the dorm
rooms we'll occupy; escorts for those
of us who've unfortunately lost our
spice (that’s plural for spouse); giant
nametags so we can see whose names
we've forgotten; and a T-shirt with
the Columbia logo to replace the one
that’s faded from our 25th reunion.”
A classmate observed about Jack
Blechner and Barbara Blechner
BC’56’s most recent European trip,
“I am so happy for you being busy
all those times. I haven't been busy
since 1998 and won't be until the
dishes tonight.” Jack replied, “Nice
that you have so much time to relax.
You're still funny as ever! Yes, I’m
very busy ... going to the trainer to
help me stand up ... and, of course,
doctors’ appointments.”
New Class Notes feature, the
Quarterly Quiz: Guess who did the
dishes. First five responses get a
long-distance hug.
“Old” Saul Turteltaub LAW’57
shared these thoughts on his birth-
day, September 20: “A Day at the
Age of 86: It starts the night before
at midnight. You are wide awake.
You've been asleep two hours and
will now be awake for another two
hoping to fall back to sleep but no
luck. At that point, 2 a.m., you've
learned to take two Tylenol PMs
so you can fall back to sleep two
hours later at 4 a.m. and sleep till 7
a.m. You wake up with five hours of
sleep behind you and are ready to
face the day, which should provide
a time and place for a nap. ‘Place’
is optional as in the past you have
fallen asleep during the day in your
office chair, the passenger seat in a
friend’s car, and the driver’s seat in
your own car.
“Into the bathroom for your
morning pills. A baby aspirin to thin
your blood, and I hope to prevent a
heart attack from fat blood; atorvas-
tatin to lower cholesterol; Caltrate to
help your calcium, whatever you need
it for; vitamins B12, C, and D3, to
help your B12, C, and D3 shortages?
“Then back to bed and lie there
until your wife wakes up so you can
give her a good morning kiss before
you get out of bed and get dressed five
minutes later after you find your socks.
“As good, or young, or the same
as you felt or thought you felt when
you were 30 you now come face to
face with the enemy. The mirror.
‘There is a head with little hair on it
and a face that looks and is old. But
what the mirror can’t show is your
mind, which thank God is the same.
It has not yet gotten old. It is as old
as you have allowed it to be. What
your grandchildren know about the
computer, podcasts, internet, etc.,
which you don't, is not because you
are unable to learn but because you
chose not to. Friends your age or
older know that stuff and all you
need to know is their phone number.
“Time to go into the kitchen for
breakfast and your first decision.
Do you want bananas or raisins
with your corn flakes (depending on
whether you have constipation or
diarrhea)? Both if you have neither.
“If you haven't turned the TV on
in the bedroom, you turn it on now
to CNN and the ‘Olds.’ No news.
It’s the same as it has been for the
past 12 hours, since you saw it the
night before, hoping it would put
you to sleep.
“You pick up the morning news-
paper, which has been delivered to
the house and immediately turn to
the obituary page to see if anyone you
know died and then if anyone you
know of died. With any luck there
will be one. If it’s someone you knew
you will be able to call the family and
perhaps write a wonderful memorial,
which will occupy a portion of the
otherwise uneventful day. If it’s only
a famous person you knew of you
will be able to call friends and tell
them and kibitz about him or her.
One of the plusses of being 86 is you
will know or know of a lot of dead or
dying people.
“Then, as you get up to leave the
kitchen, your wife asks, ‘Are you
going anywhere today?’ “Why do you
ask? ‘Because those pants don't fit
you anymore. They’re too long and
all bunched in around your waist.’
“She’s right, of course. All of a sud-
den, it seems, you have lost 30 pounds
and shrunk three inches. That’s 10
pounds an inch. You now admit you
are an old man, but you still don't
think or feel like it. Not fair.”
“None of you should talk about
busy,” writes Arnold Tolkin. “I
am still running my own million-
dollar business, and (away from the
office) after having four sons and 12
grandchildren (nine boys and three
girls), we now have five great-grand-
daughters and at the time of writing
are expecting a great-grandson in
December. I am busy playing with
dolls, erector sets and trains, and
staying away from doctors.”
Concerning our reunion, Arnie is
“thinking about lunches, cocktails,
and hors d’oeuvres, and a few late-
night dinners ... as well as some
NYC cultural events and that a
lecture or two would be nice.”
You heard it here first!
Joseph V. Ambrose Jr.’51 shares
sad news about a classmate: “I
am advising you that my younger
brother, Robert F. Ambrose, passed
away on August 25, 2018.”
Birthdays appear to have occu-
pied — admittedly or not — many
CC’54 classmates’ ruminations this
past year. Ted Spiegel’s on June 15
“was filled up like a traffic round-
about, witness to my creative and
economic imperatives. A freelance
photojournalist is by necessity a
multitasker and the day bore witness
to my ongoing challenges. Dawn
saw me at the computer, compil-
ing an edit of photos illustrating
an article about the Modern War
Institute at West Point.”
Ted is the creative force behind
the West Point Guide Book, published
since 1999, and a frequent photo
contributor to West Point magazine.
His busy day included several meals
and a surprise party, “topped off
with a transatlantic chat with (wife)
Signy, who has been in Norway
since mid-May. My birthday cel-
ebration continued with a Father’s
Day lunch, shared with my sons
David and Erik, their wives, and
four grandchildren.”
Wow! Wanna be reunion chair?
Dick Bernstein suggests we may
want to get way-y-y-y off campus
for our 2019 reunion, for example,
“Perhaps the Alumni Office can
investigate a tour of One World Trade
Center coupled with dining nearby.”
At this time, gents, it’s all still on
the table; send suggestions.
A classmate asked how his “story”
can get into the CC’54 Class Notes.
“Easy,” I replied, “a very large gift
to the College Fund should do it ...
or not.”
I explained once again that this
column is about him, about all of us,
and about our connection with alma
mater. I solicit, as do the editors,
any and all information from every
one of you — family, professional,
achievements, endeavors, observa-
tions, rhymes, hobbies, memories.
No one pays to play: This space is
about you. So, all, keep sending me
stuff, and we'll take it from there.
A note about me. My wife, Helen,
and I were invited to Halberstadt
once again, where a year ago I lec-
tured at the Gymnasium (high school)
to mostly 17-year-old students about
the Holocaust and its part in my life
and my family’s lives. I also hosted
an extended information session for
adults and families in the garden
of the house where I was born,
sponsored by the Moses Mendels-
sohn Akademie. My personal mission
the past several years has been to talk
whenever and wherever about this
seminal event, and — as per the slo-
gan of the United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum — urge listeners,
especially young people, to “never
stop asking why.”
Until next time, gentlemen,
again, be well, do good, help cure
the world, nurture your passions,
live fully today, attend to your future
more than your past, and keep in
touch. Excelsior!
1955
Gerald Sherwin
181 E. 73rd St., Apt. 16B
New York, NY 10021
gs481@juno.com
There has been a lot of Columbia
activity on- and off-campus.
One sad note is the passing of
Jim Hudson in his home in Santa
Fe, N.M.
In addition, Don Marcus
has moved from Brooklyn to Pitts-
field, Mass.
The 2018 Alexander Hamilton
Dinner honored Lisa L. Carnoy’89
in Low Library in November. The
Columbia University Athletics Hall
of Fame dinner was conducted in
Low Library in October. Alumni
Leaders Weekend took place in
early October, hosted by the Colum-
bia Alumni Association. Homecom-
ing was in mid-October, and we
played Dartmouth.
Dick Kuhn was getting ready for
the basketball season. The schedule
includes Rutgers, Northwestern
and Boston College, in addition to
the Ivy League teams and playing
Iona in Madison Square Garden
in December.
The Columbia/Penn Club
featured several member events and
has thrived under the leadership
of James Gerkis 80, LAW’83. We
have begun preparing for the 65th
reunion for our class and hope to
see the following at this event:
Don Laufer, Alfred Gollomp,
Roland Plottel (our patent expert),
Allen Hyman, Bob Bernot, Herb
Gardner, Anthony Viscusi, Herb
Cohen, Bill Epstein, Al Martz (and
his red convertible), Jack Free-
man (and his fielder’s mitt), Chuck
Garrison, Jerry Plasse (now
residing in Montana and a former
Ford Scholar), Bill Langston (living
with his family in a brownstone
in Harlem), Milt Finegold, Bob
Schoenfeld, Bob Mercier, Barry
Pariser (and his paintings), Neil
Members of the Class of 1956 met for lunch in September. Seated, left to
right: Jack Katz and Dan Link; standing, left to right: Jerry Fine, Bob Siroty
and Steve Easton.
Opdyke, Roger Stern, Harold
Kushner and Milt Merritt.
Beloved classmates, enjoy your
life to the fullest. The 65th will be in
front of us before we know it. Exer-
cise, watch your diet and be happy as
you go through your day.
1956
Robert Siroty
707 Thistle Hill Ln.
Somerset, NJ 08873
rrs76@columbia.edu
CC’56 met in July and August at
Dan Link’s club in Larchmont, N.Y.,
for tennis and lunch.
I heard from Mike Spett, in
Boca Raton, Fla., about his travels
in Croatia and Slovenia, including
a travelogue and an account of his
wife Lisa’s injury and treatment at a
hospital. Mike reports she is doing
well, and that the treatment (both
medical and personal) was first-class.
Alan Broadwin gave me a copy
of the 1955 Columbian (for which
he took pictures and which I never
saw), which includes a picture of me
talking to Professor George Nobbe,
my pre-med advisor. Don’t remem-
ber taking the picture, but want to
say I look the same.
In September, | started a class (“On
the Road to 2020”) taught by Gerry
Pomper’55, Board of Governors of
Government (emeritus) at the Eagle-
ton Institute. I was recently appointed
to the advisory council of the Osher
Lifetime Learning Institute at Rutgers.
In August we welcomed a “new”
member of the lunch roundtable,
Paul Bergins, who lives in White
Plains, N.Y., and practices law there.
Ron Kapon is the author of
two articles in the latest issue of
Cheese Connoisseur — “Dinner at
Brooklyn’s Denizen” and “Wine
from Long Island.”
I have received multiple photos
on Facebook from my med school
roommate Frank Neuberger as he
travels around the world.
In September, we met again for
tennis and lunch. Past class president
Steve Easton was in town while
his North Carolina home was under
attack from Hurricane Florence.
Ken Swimm wrote that as
we met, he was sailing down the
Danube with a group of Columbia
alumni, but none from CC’56.
From Ron Kapon: “I was asked to
write my analysis of Columbia foot-
ball and basketball for these Class
Notes. This will be all football. Let’s
start with Coach Al Bagnoli. I love
him and his enthusiasm. ... Bagnoli
was the best football coach in the
Ivy League at Penn (112-47 from
1982-2014). ... Columbia Athletics
Director Peter Pilling hired him as
soon as he heard he was available.
Bagnoli started 1-5, then 2—5 and
last year (2017) was 5—2 in the Ivy
League. There are 100 players and
18 assistant coaches (I remember 50
players and eight assistants).”
Stephen Easton: “My report
on our latest class lunch and tennis
game is a good one in that we played
for over an hour and were able
to stay on the courts. The contest
between Dan Link and Jerry Fine
against Jack Katz and me ended in
a draw. Bob Siroty, our class presi-
Winter 2018-19 CCT 55°
Members of the Class of 1956 met for lunch in August. Seated, left to right:
Maurice Klein, Ron Kapon and Jerry Fine; standing, left to right: Bob Siroty,
Paul Bergins, Alan Broadwin and Dan Link.
dent/referee, was there to make sure
none of us cheated (as if we would
... ha ha). I particularly enjoyed the
day. Since moving to North Caro-
lina, I do need an occasional New
York City and Columbia classmate
fix. | was in New York the week of
September 10-17 and spent time
with my New York family members,
saw two Broadway shows — one
of which was based on the life of a
Columbia alumnus (guess who) —
and attended a lecture sponsored by
the University’s 1754 Society (for
College donors).
“It turns out that based on plans,
my wife, Elke (visiting Germany),
and I (visiting New York) missed
Hurricane Florence, which did
unfortunately hit our area as pre-
dicted. After being in North Carolina
for two years, we have experienced
Hurricane Matthew and Hurricane
Florence. We love where we live but
do not like hurricanes.
“Tt’s always good to attend
Columbia events and I think each
of our classmates should make an
effort when they are in New York to
connect with classmates.
“I celebrated my birthday this
past August 21, and I am thankful
that I’ve been able to keep active
playing golf and tennis, and exercis-
ing. Also, I have managed to get
back into being somewhat more
active in my real estate business to
the point where I now own four
Dollar General stores in the south-
east United States.
“This September, Elke and
I celebrated our 16th wedding
anniversary. We are traveling and
exercising, keeping up our health.
56 CCT Winter 2018-19
Elke is recovering amazingly well
from her stroke and we were plan-
ning to go back to Los Cabos this
past October.
“I spoke with Ron Kapon, who
is keeping me up to date on the
goings-on of Columbia football
and basketball.
“My brother, Maurice Easton
SEAS’55, who lives in the same St.
James Plantation complex as Elke and
I, had to evacuate for Hurricane Flor-
ence. He and I will repair any damage
to our houses when we return.
“That’s all I have to report for
now, other than to encourage each
of our class members to share their
goings-on, as I do, with Bob Siroty.
Martin Mayer reports that
his brother-in-law Barry Beller
PS’60 died recently at his home in
Santa Fe, N.M.
I received a plea from Jerry Bres-
low, who said that as he approaches
85 he would like to know about
others of us “survivors.” The first half
of his report follows; the remainder
”
will be in the next issue.
“There have been some interest-
ing doings in my life since I last
reported in. At that time, I had
recently retired from the board of
the Strathmore Hall Foundation, a
Montgomery County, Md., cultural
organization that operates a cultural
center on behalf of the county. I also
was board chair of one its perform-
ing partners, the Maryland Classic
Youth Orchestras. In 2014, the
foundation approached the MCYO
about merging, which we agreed to,
and achieved in 2015. As part of the
deal, MCYO got an ex officio seat on
the Strathmore board, which I have
occupied for the past three years.
‘This created a unique experience,
which I doubt will be duplicated.
“Under its by-laws, Strathmore
has three classes of directors: those
appointed by the county executive,
those elected by the board and those
designated ex officio by certain enti-
ties. Initially I was appointed to the
board by the county executive, Doug
Duncan’76, whom I knew through
the local College luncheon group.
I was an appointee for eight years.
Then, in its wisdom, the Strathmore
Board elected me to a three-year
term, and I served until I reached
my maximum time of allowed
board service, 11 years. Now I am
designated an ex officio director, and
theoretically can serve in total an
additional nine years. Thus, if I live,
I could serve until I am 90, at which
time I am told I shall be bronzed
and put in the lobby of the Music
Center. I don’t think anyone else
will ever serve in all three director
classes, and for 20 years.”
To be continued ... let’s hear
from more of you “survivors.” It’s
only three years until our 65th.
1957
Herman Levy
7322 Rockford Dr.
Falls Church, VA 22043
hdlleditor@aol.com
From Edward Alexander: “I’ve not
done much writing since Leah, my
wife of more than 59 years, died in
2017. But I have a piece forthcom-
ing in Mosaic, ‘Lionel Mordechai
Trilling,’ a review-essay of the vol-
ume of his correspondence, edited
by Adam Kirsch. It should be of
interest to those who took Trilling’s
year-long course on 19th-century
literature at Columbia.”
Gary Angleberger: “At your
invitation, here is a brief description
of a wonderful tour my wife, Judy,
and I were able to take this past July
to the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.
“We flew to Glasgow, where we
met the small group of 13, from
various parts of the United States,
and our guide and driver. After a
long ferry ride we arrived at the
location in the Outer Hebrides
from which we began our tour. The
Hebrides are described as an almost
‘other-worldly realm of Scotland.’
They are more than 200 islands
stretching about 130 miles from
north to south, lying northwest
of the coast of Scotland. We did
not tour the entire 200 islands,
but we toured at least five or six of
them. We were overwhelmed by
the sense of isolation and unusual
beauty of the lakes, mountains and
inlet beaches. The white beaches of
beautiful blue and green waters were
mostly uninhabited, and the sparse
population of the island reminded
us we were in an unusual place. We
stopped for a visit at the Hebridean
Smokehouse at Clachan on the Isle
of North Uist — it sells smoked
salmon to homes and businesses
around the world.
“Our nights were spent in mod-
est small hotels, which were not in
abundance on the islands. We saw
preserved sites of staircases going
down into what we learned were
areas inhabited by our ancestors of
the Stone Age. We saw and visited
‘blackhouses,’ some of which go back
to the days of the Vikings. Some of
them are still occupied by retired
fishermen and their families. In
South Harris we saw St. Clement’s
Church from the 16th century, in
which a congregation still worships.
And, of course, one of the highlights
of the trip for Judy was the stop on
the Isle of Harris, home of the Harris
Tweed. (We did not bring enough
spending money for a jacket.)
“Tt was an incredible array of
scenery and a glance into a history
we knew little about. It was an
experience we will have with us for
all our days.”
Warren Boroson has retired
as a financial journalist; he was a
syndicated columnist for Gannett
and wrote more than 20 books,
including one on Warren Buffett
BUS’51. These days he gives talks
on music (especially on old opera
singers) at Bard and Marist. He’s
almost finished writing a book
on opera singers and composers.
One of his sons, Bram, is a tenured
professor of astrophysics in Atlanta;
the other, Matthew, is a novelist
(The Girl with Ghost Eyes: The Daoshi
Chronicles, Book One). His wife of
more than 50 years, Rebecca, is a
retired newspaper editor. They live in
Woodstock. N.Y.
Stan Cohen PS’61: “I have
been awarded the Golden Goose
Award for 2018 (for the discovery
of Cytokines), which was awarded
on September 13 at the Library of
Congress. It is sponsored by a coali-
tion of organizations, including the
Association for the Advancement
of Science and major universities.
‘The description, taken from the
website, is as follows: “The annual
Golden Goose Awards honor seem-
ingly obscure studies that have led
to breakthroughs in the develop-
ment of life-saving medicines and
treatments; game-changing social
and behavioral insights; and major
technological advances related
to national security, energy, the
environment, communications, and
public health.”
Michael Ferragamo: “Although
retired from 32 active years of uro-
logical practice for 20 years, Michael
has continued his lecturing and
seminars on the proper and accurate
coding for urological services and
procedures. His presentations to
urologists and urological depart-
ments at many medical institutions
and hospitals have taken him to the
majority of states during these 20
years. He would love to hear from
classmates at liqgold2@aol.com.”
Lawrence Merrion: “I lost my
beautiful wife, Judy, in December,
from a sudden massive stroke. Liv-
ing alone after 20 years of wonderful
companionship is not the way I
expected to finish my time on this
earth. I traveled to Fort Myers,
Fla., in February from California
to visit my Michigan brother, who
vacations there for three months
a year. | have taken a week at the
Santa Cruz beaches in California. I
recently returned from a wonder-
ful Princess Alaskan cruise, which
I shared with my 21-year-old
grandson, Connor, out of Seattle,
with beautiful weather for spotting
the wildlife. Now I am preparing
for my extended trip to St. Louis to
visit childhood friends, and then on
to Michigan, where I was born and
raised, to visit family. Travel provides
a diversion from my tragic loss,
and fulfills some of my goals in life.
Most of my Columbia friends and
Sigma Chi fraternity brothers are
gone, but not forgotten.”
Sam Rosenberg: “My spouse,
Jeff, and I celebrated our 30th
anniversary as a couple this past
January and in March, our fifth as
a pair actually married. While he
does his unretired lawyering, I go
on filling my retired years translat-
ing works of both Old and Modern
French. During the next several
seasons, I expect to see the publica-
tion of poetry of Paul Verlaine, the
lyrics of a 13th-century trouvére, the
chronicle of a 12th-century observer
of some memorable crusaders and
their foes and first of all, Armand
Lunel’s history of the Jews of the
south of France. To some extent,
such activities entail collaboration
with colleagues, which makes them
all the more rewarding.”
Jacques Ullman: “I am sitting
on a bench in a little village in
southwest France, the country where
I was born. As did a number of the
members of our class, I came to the
United States to escape fascism.
I have had a beautiful life as an
American, growing up in California,
going to Columbia and architectural
school at Cal, and establishing a
family and an architectural career in
the San Francisco Bay area. I should
feel content and fulfilled. But, is the
unthinkable possible — should we
be worried about fascism again?”
From Paul Frommer: “After a
22-year career in the Navy my wife
and I had decided to remain in the
Washington, D.C., area, specifically
our home in Alexandria, Va. Then
1979-2013 it was a second career in
the insurance business, punctuated
by the birth of four children (includ-
ing one set of twins). Add two
grandchildren to that with another
on the way.
“We've done some traveling, the
most interesting being hiking in
England, Scotland and the Alto
Adige region of Italy. Sad to say my
knees gave out before I reached 70
and access to deep, deep discounts at
ski slopes.
“Tm in frequent contact with
my brother Alan Frommer (in
Wellesley, Mass.), Lou Sheinbaum
(in New Jersey), John Taussig (in
California) and Harry Siegmund
(in Hawaii). Health is holding up
and at the same time amazed that I
shall soon be 83! Best to all.”
After attending the American
Bar Association’s annual meeting,
held this year in Chicago, yours truly
visited a cousin and family in Madi-
son, Wis. Among other things, we
visited the campus of the University
of Wisconsin and the town of New
Glarus, which lies southwest of
Madison in Green County. An article
in the June 1947 National Geographic
Magazine refers to the town as “Deep
in the Heart of ‘Swissconsin” and
to the town and environs as “Little
alumninews
Switzerland.” The pioneer settlers of
the town were immigrants from the
Canton and town of Glarus, Switzer-
land, who arrived in 1845. There is a
monument to the first settlers next to
the Swiss Evangelical and Reformed
Church, where my cousin's wife’s par-
ents were married. Her late mother
was of Swiss-German descent.
‘The town has a number of chalet-
style buildings and restaurants serv-
ing Swiss-German food, including
bratwurst (grilled pork sausage).
1958
Peter Cohn
c/o CCT
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
petercohn1939@gmail.com
‘The final numbers for Reunion 2018
are in and compared to other classes
celebrating their 60th reunions, our
class is among the leaders in abso-
lute numbers of alumni attending,
percentage of surviving class mem-
bers attending and money raised for
the University. Well done, guys!
From our mailbox, Mike Geiger
writes: “I have had a hectic life with
many ups and downs. All is well
now. I live in Florida with a Bronx
Science classmate whom I met at
a high school reunion several years
ago. It seems that I have waited all
my life for her and the wait has been
worth it. I also have three children,
all married to wonderful spouses,
and they have given me six grand-
children. All are well and successful.
“After Columbia, I went to
optometry school. It was a wonder-
ful decision. My 50-plus years
in practice have provided me an
enormous amount of satisfaction. I
have provided clear vision to many
patients of all ages, and have saved
countless others by detecting malig-
nancies, diabetes and hypertension.
Very gratifying. Late in my career,
after having been president of the
largest optometric society in New
York State, I became interested
in nutritional eye care. There are
very few of us in the country. I was
invited to be the eye expert on Dr.
Andrew Weill’s two websites, as well
as the founding director of the Oph-
thalmic Nutrition Society. The other
directors were primarily teachers
and scientists. My appointment as
founding director was based on my
book, Eye Care Naturally, as well as
my many journal articles. I have also
lectured on this book as well, and
still give talks in Florida and around
the country on general nutrition.
“As of last summer, I am fully
retired and enjoying the golden
age far away from the hazards of
New York winters. We do a lot of
traveling around the world. My
favorite trips were two African
safaris, but the European museums
and architecture were also enjoyable
and informative. I miss our
monthly poker games at Peter
Gruenberger’s home, but have
several games in Florida. It was
always nice to be with classmates.
I shall cherish the memories.”
Stephen Jurovics SEAS’58
informs us that his book, Hospitable
Planet: Faith, Action, and Climate
Change, became one of his publisher's
best sellers in 2018. Steve remains
busy giving talks at congregations
about climate change as both a secular
and religious issue. He can be reached
at info@hospitableplanet.com.
On a sadder note, George
Jochnowitz has informed us that
Dr. Edward Halperin has passed
away. Ed practiced psychiatry in
New Rochelle, N.Y., for many
years. We also learned of the death
of another physician classmate, Dr.
Herman Frankel, who was a retired
pediatrician, but still active in causes
related to the well-being of children,
in Portland, Ore.
CCT received a letter from Henry
Kurtz: “My absence from Class of
58 and general Columbia alumni
activities is due to a series of serious
medical ailments, beginning with
heart surgery that required triple
coronary bypass and aortic valve
replacement. (I must now moo like
a cow when I pass a butcher shop.)
A year later a malignant tumor
was removed from my neck, and it
turned out the cancer had spread to
my throat, requiring seven weeks of
radiation and chemotherapy. Things
came to a merciful end a year ago
when a prostate problem called
TURP occurred, requiring what
is considered minor surgery, so I
wouldn't have to wear a catheter for
the remainder of my life.
“T am thankful to the skillful
doctors, nurses and general staff at
Lenox Hill Hospital for pulling me
through all of this, and the interest
of some of my Class of 58 friends,
Winter 2018-19 CCT 57
especially Bernie Nussbaum and
Tom Ettinger.
“During this difficult period,
I continued to write and publish
articles for historical and antique
toy periodicals, and recently started
work on my seventh book.
“My condolences to Barry Dick-
man’s family on Barry’s passing. He
was one of the best of the Spectator
editorial managing board, on which
T also served.”
As of the time of writing, we are
looking forward to the beginning
of the football season. As in 2017,
our team should be competitive
in every game and hopes for an
Ivy League championship are not
unrealistic. During reunion, several
of us were discussing the turnaround
in the football team, something
we thought we would never see.
Through the years we had been told
the lack of success was due in part to
the long distance necessary to prac-
tice at the Baker Athletics Complex.
However, the other men’s teams
that also had to make the same trip
(tennis, baseball, soccer, lightweight
crew) had multiple championship
seasons. Now that we are in the
Coach Al Bagnoli era we realize
that what we had lacked was not a
closer practice field, but a coaching
staff that could recruit and mentor
excellent student athletes from all
over the country. We have that now.
The class lunch is held on the
second Tuesday of the month at the
Grill at the Princeton Club, 15 W.
43rd St. ($31 per person). Email Art
Radin if you plan to attend, even
up to the day before: arthur.radin@
janoverllc.com.
1959
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Norman Gelfand
c/o CCT
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
nmgc59@gmail.com
It is with great sadness that I report
the death of Harvey Seidenstein,
which occurred on September 3,
58 CCT Winter 2018-19
2018. You can find his obituary online
at bit.ly/2E2PCVs. I thank Joseph
Mittel for bringing it to my attention.
Let me remind everyone to plan
to attend our 60th reunion. This may
be our last; let us get together again
to enjoy one another’s company and
do what we do best: talk and discuss.
In other news, our class has been
active in producing volumes — of
yes, books — for us to enjoy. In
alphabetical order of the authors’
last names: Jerome Charyn’s novel
about Teddy Roosevelt, The Perilous
Adventures of the Cowboy King, will
be published in January, the centen-
nial of Roosevelt’s death; J. Peter
Rosenfeld edited and contributed
to Detecting Concealed Information
and Deception; and Steve Trachten-
berg is co-author of Leading Col-
leges and Universities: Lessons From
Higher Education Leaders.
James Cooper has relocated to
Sarasota, Fla., from the Washington,
D.C., area.
Fred Lorber informs us: “I’ve
lived in California for 20 years now.
I used to visit NYC a few times
a year and often traveled to D.C.
when I consulted with federal agen-
cies. Now, I am happy to never have
to get on a plane again. I surren-
dered my elite travel status and no
longer can fly first-class. Six hours in
coach! Instead, I spend three hours
a day at the gym, enjoy the bounty
of the farms in the Central Valley
(Stockton, Calif.) and run a restau-
rant for one customer, me. With my
cat companion, Kutah, I get a taste
of real love and loving. I suggest to
any senior living alone: Get a pet.”
Steve Trachtenberg writes:
“Busy summer. Retired from The
George Washington University.
Spent a week in Lisbon. Spent a
week in London. Spent a week in
hospital with pneumonia. Spent two
weeks on Martha’s Vineyard. Spent
a week fishing in Maine. And here
we are at Labor Day.”
Stay well, Steve.
From Paul Kantor: “As the years
accumulate, my wife, Carole, and
I are still able to travel — we are
not as limber, nor as bold, as before,
but we have had some wonderful
experiences. The first was an October
trip to the pocket-sized country of
Luxembourg. Much to see, including
an amazing museum that dives into
the ground to display five floors of
prehistory and history. The city is
naturally fortified by hills and rivers,
and resisted conquest many times —
most recently by a gaggle of math-
ematicians interested in algorithms
that can make decisions for us. The
hosts treated us to a marvelous
dinner, as well.
“On the way home we spent a few
days in Amsterdam. Carole had never
been there. We walked long distances
in the delightful residential neigh-
borhoods, joined the crowd at the
Rijksmuseum to admire Rembrandt's
The Night Watch (12x14 feet), among
other (smaller) masterworks that we
had seen only in books. We stayed in
Amsterdam long enough to have a
favorite place for breakfast. More in
future Class Notes columns.”
Frank Wilson writes, “Sixty
years? Really??? I’m not sure where
I will be next summer. And since
I’m about as far away from NYC as
one can be in the continental United
States, it’s really not practical for me
to be part of the [Reunion Com-
mittee]. But I would like to stay
informed in case I can work out a
way to be in New York this summer.
“A major retirement project for
me (now close to 40 years running)
has been researching the life and
work of my great-grandmother’s first
cousin, Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen.
Everybody has at least some interest
in their genomic ancestry and I’m no
exception, but this has turned out to
be an epic journey. A major driver for
me was the receipt of a small gold
wedding band, which came with the
claim that it was the ring worn by
Roentgen’s wife in the image of the
‘Hand mit Ringer he circulated with
the initial report of the discovery of
the X-ray. It has not been an easy job
authenticating that claim, but it has
been fun. If the Reunion Committee
is looking for wild-card presentations,
I'd be happy to oblige. Roentgen, as
you might know, was invited to come
to Columbia after he had moved
from Wuerzburg to Munich, but
ended up not doing so because of
WWI. He and his wife did not have
children (they adopted his wife’s
niece) and his closest relatives all
ended up in the United States. It’s
quite a tribe. The first ones who came
did so with the intention of bringing
the German Reformed Church to
those living in the wilderness. I’ve
already given a version of this talk
in Zurich, at the Center for X-ray
Analytics in Ditbendorf.”
Ralph Alster sends his memory
of former Dean of the College
Steven Marcus ’48, GSAS’61: “I’m
deeply saddened by Steven's passing.
I remember him, along with James
Shenton ’49, as the two faculty I
had more than a class-attendance
relationship with. I'd visit with
Shenton regularly up in his attic
office for that constant stream of
jokes he always had pouring out
of his miraculous psyche and, with
most jokes not at all understood,
I'd sit there with that stupid grin
on my face that was my pretense
to understanding — and prayed he
didn’t see through it. A bit less puz-
zling was his sometimes requesting
some complaint or other of his be
delivered by me to Jerome Charyn.
The fact that we'd sat next to each
other in his intro to American his-
tory class must have persuaded him
we were closer pals than was the
actual fact. But as I’d never wanted
him seeing me as absolutely friend-
less as I was, I never tried correcting
that misperception.
“There'd been also a sometime
New Yorker poet (name unremem-
bered) whod been the critic/faculty
advisor to a creative writing course
I took in my first [’59] senior year
whod very understandingly reviewed
the long narrative poem I'd written
for his course; and that alcoholic
(name likewise unremembered)
WWII-vet novelist whod also
reviewed some stuff I'd written, and
whose parting words to my one meet-
ing him in his office had been “Don't
let the bastards grind you down.’
“But Steven was most memorable
of all for his kindness in the run-in
with him on Broadway after my
several-weeks-running not showing
up to his Victorian novel seminar.
I'd written this weird essay for
him early on where I documented
every ‘bosom’ reference in Horace
Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto. 1
flatter myself now that maybe it had
something to do with his having
given so much attention to Victorian
pornography in his groundbreaking
“The Other Victorians’ that I'd not
even been aware of at that time. He
stopped me on Broadway one day in
our near passing each other unno-
ticed that I'd been hoping to accom-
plish. He asked, “What’s happened
to you, Ralph? How come I haven't
been seeing you at my seminar the
past few weeks?’ I'd been too embar-
rassed to tell the truth — that I'd
been too busy engaged in pleasuring
myself with my nervous breakdown.
And too ignorant as well — because
I'd not realized at the time that’s
what it was.
“But he must have seen it in
my baffled silence, for he advised
and urged that I avail myself of the
counseling that the College provides
to students lost inside their own
emotional turmoil. Had I known of
his own scholarship’s deep engage-
ment with Freud it might less have
struck me an insult to some personal
deficiency he detected in me, and
more the kindest, most insightful
advice he could right there on the
spot have offered. ...
“T continue consolidating my
20-plus volume multi-generational
saga that will be titled The Killing of
Warp Zona — Dex Dsame’s Iamporn
Starbuck's Soul-Dump Odyssey when
and if I ever finish consolidating it
and getting it published before my
passing that — as little as I want
to believe it — I must be getting
closer and closer to. So I pray for
my having at least one year to enjoy
its being published, if I ever manage
accomplishing it.”
1960
Robert A. Machleder
69-37 Fleet St.
Forest Hills, NY 11375
rmachleder@aol.com
Barry Epstein writes from Silver
Spring, Md.: “I retired at the end
of 2017 as a gastroenterologist in
College Park, Md., after 46 fabulous
years. My wife, Evelyn, and I were
a couple throughout my years at
Columbia and we were married in
1961 when she was able to graduate
from Brooklyn College in two and a
half years and I had finished my first
year at Chicago Medical School.
Evelyn was a full-time teacher in
Chicago to support us and also had
four part-time jobs. Our daughter,
Amy, was born nine days after my
med school graduation and eight
days prior to my internship at
Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.
After five years at Mount Sinai as
an intern, resident and fellow we
moved to Silver Spring, Md., where
I served two years at Andrews AFB
before starting my own practice.
“Evelyn went back to school and
got an M.S.W. at Catholic Univer-
sity; she is a psychotherapist. Amy
got an M.S.W. as well, in San Fran-
cisco, but her interest is in education
and she helps run three charter high
schools in the East Bay. She is mar-
ried to Liat Barnea; no children.
“Our son, Michael, was born
51 years ago and he is a practicing
attorney in Towson, Md. He and
his wife, Rachel, have two kids: Jake
(14) and Isabella (9).
“My career in medicine was
never boring, as I was involved
almost from my first day in practice
in teaching and administration at
Prince George’s Hospital Center
and Doctors Community Hospital,
both in Maryland. At various times
I was chief of gastroenterology,
chairman of medicine, president of
the medical staff, medical director of
quality and a member of the Board
of Directors at both hospitals.
“As a now ‘old guy’ I have thought
about regrets. I do wish that despite
being a pre-med and an experimen-
tal psychology major at Columbia
that I was able to take more liberal
arts classes rather than the single
government class I took as a junior
with Dr. Rothchild. In retrospect,
I appreciate the CC and humani-
ties exposure that I had. Likewise,
because I was in Chicago for four
years and then settled in the D.C.
area, | almost lost touch with my
many College and Phi Ep friends,
who were an important part of my
life 1956-60.
“Adjusting to retirement has been
a work in progress and I wish that
my golf game could be slightly less
aggravating. I exercise daily, love
spin classes and ski every year in
Colorado, and Evelyn and I take at
least one big trip every year. We have
a house in Bethany Beach, Del., and
welcome visitors.”
Barry would love to hear from old
friends and Phi Ep brothers. If you
would like to be in contact with him,
send me a note and I will be pleased
to forward his email address.
A sad note: In corresponding with
Vince Russo in July, Vince advised
that Sheila Kay, his wife of 55 years,
had died suddenly after taking a fall,
and that he, their four children and
15 grandchildren were in the midst
of grieving. Our deepest condolences
to Vince and his family.
Finally, a sobering note. I received
— you might have as well — an
invitation to the Columbia University
Athletics Hall of Fame induction
ceremony in Low Library, held on
October 18.1 must have overlooked
alumninews
in prior years (and noticed only now)
that inductees are categorized in the
“Heritage Era” and the “Modern
Era.” We, lads, are in the “Heritage
Era,” which begins when the memory
of man runneth not to the contrary
— indeed, one of the inductees is
Charles Sands CC 1887 — and ends
prior to 1968-69. The “Modern Era”
runs from and after 1968-69.
“Heritage Era?” “Modern Era?”
Bah, balderdash! I quickly accessed a
scene in the 2015 Terminator sequel,
where Arnold Schwarzenegger
reprises his cyborg role. Passed over
for an assignment because of age,
Schwarzenegger defiantly declaims,
alone in the cab of his truck, “I’m
old, not obsolete.” And to lighten
my mood I pulled up the Maurice
Chevalier/Hermione Gingold duet,
“I Remember It Well” by Lerner
and Loewe, in the 1958 production
Gigi. Maurice recalls his long-past
rendezvous with Hermione as she
interjects a correction to each of
his factual lapses. I smiled as they
reached the last verse: M: “Am I
getting old?” H: “Oh, no, not you.”
(Does anyone in the “Modern Era”
even know that song?)
Gentlemen, we're old, but we're
not obsolete. Take a nap. And then,
send us a note.
1961
Michael Hausig
19418 Encino Summit
San Antonio, TX 78259
mhausig@yahoo.com
At 78, Professor John Gregory
Learned continues to carry a full
load teaching graduate courses,
mentoring graduate students (three
Ph.D.s launched this last spring)
and carrying on research projects in
Hawaii, the mainland United States,
Japan, Antarctica and Europe.
He has given several invited talks
recently in Trieste and Paris. He
says he expected to be resting in
his rocking chair by now, but not
so. In fact, he and his woodworking
partner have recently entered several
Maloof-style rocking chairs of koa
and mango wood in the Hawaii’s
Wood Show. Hurricane Lane had a
minimal effect where John lives.
Avrum Bluming reports on
the recent publication of Estrogen
Matters: Why Taking Hormones in
Menopause Can Improve Women’s
Well-Being and Lengthen Their
Lives—Without Raising the Risk of
Breast Cancer, which he wrote with
social psychologist Carol Tavris. The
book was available in hardcover and
audiobook on September 4. Avrum
has been studying the positive
effects of hormone replacement
therapy (HRT) for more than 25
years, including its benefits for his
patients who have had breast cancer.
He was dismayed by the shoddy
science and alarmist headlines
generated by the Women's Health
Initiative in 2002. Avrum and Carol
provide the evidence that physicians
and their patients need to make bet-
ter informed decisions about HRT.
More information can be found on
estrogenmatters.com.
Avrum is a hematologist, medical
oncologist and emeritus clinical
professor of medicine at the Uni-
versity of Southern California. He
is a former senior investigator for
the National Cancer Institute and is
a Master of the American College
of Physicians, an award bestowed
on fewer than 500 of the 100,000
board-certified internists in the
United States.
Bob Salman and his wife, Reva,
celebrated their 55th anniversary
with a brief stay at their favorite
place in Cape May, N_J. Their grand-
daughter, Sydney Spiewak, began
her residency in clinical dietetic
nutrition in September at The
University of Saint Joseph in Con-
necticut. Sydney is the great-great-
niece of Columbia football icon Sid
Luckman ’39.
On the political front, Bob is
active in New Jersey campaigns to
help the Democrats regain control
of the House of Representatives.
After making his predictions at our
October lunch he will see how well
he did when he summarizes the
election results on November 9 at
Brookdale Community College.
‘The year 2017-18 was a major
changeover time for George Souls
for both work and play. At work he
turned over future real estate deals
to associates at Houlihan Lawrence
realty, and will make referrals solely.
George was with the group for 20
years, a richly rewarding experience
“making people happy,” he says.
On the sports coaching side,
he stepped down from soccer
travel team status with Shrub Oak
Athletic Club, having served local
youth for 38 years. He led 28 teams
Winter 2018-19 CCT 59
during that time, coached more than
500 children and held leadership
positions as well, including VP of
fields, league select coach and head
coach of a 400-player club. He was
honored in 2009 with induction
into the East Hudson Youth Soccer
League Hall of Fame.
George now takes it easy, coach-
ing a recreation team of second- and
third-grade boys every Saturday
and attending as Shrub Oak Club
Liaison to the EHYSL, to a sister
league (Westchester Youth Soccer
League) and to the Yorktown Rec-
reation Commission, which oversees
sports facilities and games for 6,000
Yorktown children, including his
granddaughter Anna.
Because he has more leisure
time, George has transitioned to
more great-grandchildren to add to
the two they already have is growing.
Their five grandsons, four of whom
who are older than 25, seem to be in
no rush to marry. Phil and Maureen
have 11 grandchildren.
1962
John Freidin
654 E. Munger St.
Middlebury, VT 05753
jf@bicyclevt.com
Many thanks to all who sent in news.
Geza Feketekuty “remarried
last December to Melissa Ravenel,
my wife Carol Hanes having passed
away in 2010. I enjoy retired life,
dividing my time between Lake
a ]
Don Splansky 62 was honored by Congregation
yi i] Y 8reg
Temple Beth Am in Framingham, Mass., on the
50th anniversary of his ordination as a rabbi.
some other areas to fulfill his keen
interest in the environment and
local and community organiza-
tions. He is active in the Bedford,
N.Y., Audubon Society, performing
annual stints with its garden and
natural landscaping work. A devoted
oenophile, he chairs the Westchester
chapter of the American Wine Soci-
ety and plans its monthly tastings
throughout the county. With a
serious concern for his community,
George was recently appointed
to a four-year term as a member
of the Yorktown Economic and
Business Revitalization Commit-
tee, reporting to the town board on
business growth and vitality. Like
many towns throughout America,
Yorktown has had its share of busi-
ness downturns, and George hopes
to increase commercial tax revenue
to minimize residential tax increases
for the 36,000 town residents.
George reflected on how Columbia
helped shape his outlook on what he
would do with his life with a quota-
tion from William Arthur Ward: “If
you can imagine it, you can achieve it.
If you dream it, you can become it.”
One of Phil Cottone’s grand-
daughters (the fourth of six) was
married in June, so the prospect of
Phil and his wife, Maureen, having
60 CCT Winter 2018-19
Anna in central Virginia during
the summer and St. Pete Beach in
Florida during the winter, with lots
of kayaking, swimming, biking, jog-
ging and sailing.”
Geza attended graduate school
at Princeton and taught interna-
tional economics there, at Cornell
and at the Paul H. Nitze School
of Advanced International Studies
at Johns Hopkins University. He
then left academia and spent 27
years at the Executive Office of the
President from Johnson to Clinton
— first in the Bureau of the Budget
(now the Office of Management
and Budget), then the Council of
Economic Advisers, the West Wing
and finally the Office of the United
States Trade Representative, where
he became the senior civil servant
as the senior assistant U.S. trade
representative. After “retiring,”
Geza moved to Monterey, Calif., to
establish a master’s program to train
trade diplomats and lobbyists at the
Monterey Institute for Interna-
tional Studies (now the Middlebury
School of International Studies at
Monterey). After that he taught
short training programs on the same
subject to officials and business lead-
ers in countries around the world,
and was the senior advisor to the
president and CEO of the Overseas
Private Investment Corp.
Writing from Scarsdale, N.Y.,
Martin Kaufman LAW’66, like
many of us, chooses to talk of his
children more than himself: “I
work full-time as general counsel
of a nonprofit public interest legal
foundation — I am on track to file
about a dozen amicus briefs in the
U.S Supreme Court this year (2018)
— and my wife and I will soon cel-
ebrate our 50th wedding anniversary.
However, the real news is about kids
and grandkids.
“Our oldest son is director of
the medical ICU at NYU Langone
Medical Center and lives only 20
minutes from us. His two boys have
broken the 6-foot mark — much
taller than their dad or me. Their
oldest, who is captain of his high
school tennis team, is in the throes
of applying to college. Our younger
son was promoted to vice chair-
man of thoracic surgery at Mount
Sinai Hospital. This past summer
the Romanian government invited
him to Bucharest to operate on a
senior government official. His oldest
daughter started high school, and his
younger daughter is a multi-sport
athlete in junior high. Our youngest,
a daughter, gave birth to a boy, her
first child, seven months ago. She,
her husband and the baby live in
Manhattan, and spend quite a few
weekends with us — to our delight!”
Bob Sobel and his wife, LaDean,
enjoy their 95 acres of hardwoods
and streams surrounding their home
outside Hohenwald, Tenn., where
they moved after Bob retired from
medical laboratory management.
Bob and LaDean travel two to
three months a year. Last year they
drove to North Carolina, Missouri,
Arizona, California, Missouri, Ohio,
Colorado, Utah and South Carolina.
Bob says: “We are always amazed at
the productivity of American farms.
The addition of wind farms and
solar energy fields testifies to the
country’s changing values.”
Writing from his iPad, Larry
Gaston remarked: “Retirement:
Half as much income; twice as much
spouse. But seriously, I nap and read
much more for pleasure.”
Ten years ago, Carl Jakobsson
SEAS’63 retired from engineering,
by which he earned his living. Now
he coaches elementary and middle
school students in math and chairs
the Political Action Committee of
the Bremerton, Wash., NAACP.
“T take those roles seriously,” he
writes, “because I am convinced that
America needs the NAACP now,
more than ever. Aside from that, I
am just a family man with a wife,
four children, three stepchildren and
23 grandchildren.”
Congregation Temple Beth Am
in Framingham, Mass., honored
Don Splansky on the 50th anni-
versary of his ordination as a rabbi.
During his response to the congre-
gation, Don invited everyone to his
75th anniversary, and wryly added,
“Although in another 25 years, | may
not know the difference between the
ACLU and UCLA.”
After 23 years at Beth Am, Don
retired from the active rabbinate
and joined the faculty of St. Mark’s
School in Southborough, Mass.,
where he taught until 2014. He
recalls: “I enjoyed my time on the
faculty. The others in the religion
department were Episcopal priests,
who were very welcoming. One, a
frequent visitor to Israel and expert
in Holocaust studies, has remained a
dear friend. The required course we
each taught was an introduction to
Judaism, Christianity and Islam. I
still teach at my temple; this year on
the Zohar, Spinoza, Mendelssohn
and Herzl. We of the Class of 62
must keep our brains from rusting!”
Albert Wax LAW’65 retired
after 50 years of criminal defense
practice — principally homicide and
death penalty trials of late — in New
York and California. He and his wife,
Margaret Jenkins, who is the artistic
director of the Margaret Jenkins
Dance Company, have lived in San
Francisco since 1970. Their daughter,
Leslie, was a social worker for many
years in the San Francisco Unified
School District and now works at
Dropbox. Albert stays in touch with
his college roommate and basketball
teammate Marty Erdheim, who
captained the 1962 team.
The Summer 2018 issue of Mani-
toba History features Dan Stone’s
article, “Climbing the Vertical
Mosaic, Winnipeg’s Polish Commu-
nity Between the Two World Wars.”
It argues that folk dancing, craft
shows and other cultural activities
helped overcome prejudice and sped
the integration of Poles into the
Canadian mainstream. Dan dances
with the Village Green Morris Men
and participates in the Jewish Heri-
tage Centre of Western Canada.
From Maryland, Frank Giar-
giana PS’66 writes: “All goes
well; 54 years married to Marie,
two lovely daughters and six super
grandchildren! In 2006 I retired
from practicing diagnostic radiology
and nuclear medicine. Now I review
the accreditation of other physicians.
We lived in Columbia, Md., for
47 years and recently moved to an
over-55 community in nearby Mar-
riottsville, Md. This past summer we
caught up with Ethel and Bernie
Patten PS’66, who were on a major
road trip from Texas. Through the
years we've seen other classmates
from CC and P&S. Although this is
my first contribution to CCT, I read
our Class Notes religiously.”
Conversations With Colleagues: On
Becoming an American Jewish Histo-
rian (2018) published Gerry Sorin
GSAS’69’s essay “Finding My Place
in ‘the Great Tradition.” The Louis
and Mildred Resnick Lecture Series,
which Gerry has directed since its
founding, has entered its 30th year.
Gerry is working on a book about
Saul Bellow.
Roman Kernitsky continues his
full-time work as an ophthalmolo-
gist in central New Jersey. He writes,
“T had the pleasant experience of
having Dr. Frank Grady visit me
from Lake Pleasant, Texas. He is also
an ophthalmologist. I had not seen
him since our days at Columbia, and
it was wonderful to reminisce about
those times. I also saw Art Garfunkel
perform in Red Bank, N,J. It’s bit-
tersweet to see how we have aged.”
Michael Stone recommends the
play White Guy on the Bus, by Bruce
Graham. Michael says: “It is the
most thought-provoking play I’ve
seen in years and deals with racism.
It has already played in New York,
but if it returns or comes to a theater
near you, don't miss it!”
Vincent “Vinnie” Fasano died
on March 17, 2017, in Montreal. He
majored in philosophy and minored
in archaeology. After graduation he
was drafted and served two years in
Mannheim, Germany, as an MP. On
returning to the United States, Vin-
nie completed graduate work at the
University of Alabama and McGill
University and then accepted a
teaching position in the anthropol-
ogy department of Dawson College
in Montreal. He is survived by his
wife of 51 years, Julie; son, Erik,
daughter, Louise; and granddaugh-
ters, Isabella and Sophie.
Neilson Abeel and his wife, Tori
Bryer BC’63, took an epic voyage in
mid-July. After flying from Portland,
Ore., to Faial, Azores — 850 miles
west of Portugal — they spent three
days in the village of Horta, where
they visited the 19th-century sites
of the American Consul. For three
generations, the Dabney family —
Boston cousins of Neilson’s ances-
tors — held that position. Neilson
had been there in September 1956,
while aboard what he describes as
“a crippled ‘student ocean liner.” It
anchored outside Horta to await the
shipment of parts and mechanics
from Lisbon to repair the vessel. At
that time Neilson knew nothing of
his connection to the Dabneys.
Reverting to his 2018 trip,
Neilson and Tori boarded a 75-foot
Dutch ketch, Anne-Margaretha,
which had sailed up from Antarc-
tica. As working crew, they stood
two four-hour watches a day: steer-
ing, keeping lookout, changing sails
and washing dishes. The 10 fo’’sle
folk on board were in their 20s, 50s,
60s and 70s. Neilson was the oldest.
From Faial they sailed 1,000
miles in 12 days to A Corujfia,
Spain, and saw sperm whales and fin
whales, porpoises, pelagic birds and
glorious stars. On their sail to the
Bay of Biscay on the North Atlantic
coast of France, winds blew at 30
knots. Sailing a close reach with no
assist from the engine, they drove
Anne-Margaretha at eight to nine
knots into a head sea. Upon arrival
in A Corufia, Neilson’s crewmates
gave him a breakfast hurrah to
celebrate his 78th birthday. Then
Neilson and Tori drove along the
Atlantic coast of Spain and Portugal
and visited museums in Lisbon. As
Neilson writes, “Adventures keep the
blood flowing.”
1963
Paul Neshamkin
1015 Washington St., Apt. 50
Hoboken, NJ 07030
pauln@helpauthors.com
It was a long, hot and wet summer, and
my recently-retired wife and I spent
almost all of it at our house on the
Jersey Shore. Very lazy and relaxing.
Henry Black let me know what
he and wife, Benita, did last sum-
mer: “We decided to forgo our usual
Chautauqua summer and instead
alumninews «.
took a cruise called ‘Jewels of the
Baltic.’ Embarking in Copenhagen,
our ports of call were Tallinn, St.
Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm,
Warnemunde (with access to Ber-
lin), Kiel (with access to Hamburg),
then back to Copenhagen for
disembarkation. As newbie cruisers,
our verdict was, wed rather visit
cities on our own, but a cruise might
be delightful by itself.”
I read about many of your sum-
mer travels on Facebook. If you
“friend” Peter Broido you can see
pictures of his trip to Spain and
Portugal, and various other points.
Facebook is a great place to keep up
with classmates. Spend some time
looking for them (and if you friend
me, you will find many classmates
listed as my friends).
Richard Juro LAW’66 sent a
long note about his recent Congo
adventures. I have added it to
cc63ers.com, which I have recently
updated. He writes, “We were run-
ning out of countries in our quest to
go to all 195 or so nations. Yemen
and Afghanistan are still too danger-
ous for us to visit, and the small West
African nations were just getting free
of the deadly Ebola epidemic.
“We planned to fly into Kinshasa,
the capital city of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo. The DRC,
as the big Congo is known, is a large
country in Central Africa, rich in
minerals and other resources, but near
the bottom of the world list in help-
ing its people become safe and secure,
and lead a decent and happy life.
“Our decision to head to the
DRC was firmed up when we met
Professor Paul Williams of the Uni-
versity of Nebraska at Omaha. Paul
was born and raised in a village in
the Congo by a missionary mother
and engineer father. He assured
us: ‘I’m heading for the Congo for
a month. I'll be happy to set my
schedule so I can be in Kinshasa
then and take you around.’
“But a few days before we were to
fly to Kinshasa, Paul regretfully told
us: ‘My own visa has not yet been
approved, so I can’t meet you there,
and I can only get you a guide or
driver if I’m there in person.’
“But Paul did give us the name of
Jeffery Travels, a reliable taxi com-
pany. We emailed them, but worried
that no emails would get through
because of a scheduled demonstra-
tion against Congolese president
and long-term strongman Joseph
Kabila by the Catholic Church
(which shows how convoluted
things get in the DRC). Luckily,
the email worked, and a couple of
Jeffery’s people showed up at the
airport to meet us. We had planned
well and had no checked baggage
that could be broken into or disap-
pear. We paid, and they took us the
25 miles to the surprisingly excellent
Hotel Kempinski Fleuve.
“If you look on the internet for
guides or tours in Kinshasa, unlike
any other big city of 12,000,000,
there is nothing listed. But when
Paul couldn't make it, our travel
agent contacted American Express,
which came up with an expensive
but real tour company with a Kin-
shasa ‘branch office.’ Sure enough,
the next morning, our guide, Nor-
bert, appeared in the lobby.”
And so Rich’s adventure to the
Congo begins. He writes about the
visiting the amazing Bonobos, and
finding a Chabad in Kinshasa. You
can read it all on our website.
Nick Zill sent the following:
“Here’s City in a Swamp’s new
music video: ‘Statue of Liberty
Leaving New York.’ It has a wonder-
ful vocal by Lena Seikaly, and
artwork and animation by Michael
Rimbaud. Concept and parody lyrics
by yours truly. Go online to see it:
youtu.be/NNEz8KEEtx0.”
Michael Lubell writes, “For the
last year and a half I have been on
a roller coaster ride. The American
Physical Society, for whom I had
been director of public affairs since
1994, decided to terminate my con-
sulting contract shortly after Donald
Trump was elected. The society, a
major publisher of physics journals,
was beginning to face financial prob-
lems resulting from ‘open access’ pres-
sures and, in hindsight, some unwise
business decisions. The result was the
unexpected departure of a number of
senior staff. I was one of them.
“It took me a number of months
to recover from the shock, but by
the early summer, I was on to new
things. I signed a contract for a
book, Navigating the Maze: How
Science and Technology Policy Shape
America and the World. A historical
narrative, it is replete with stories
that explode long-held myths and is
due out soon.
“T also began work on a proposal
for joint venture of the Aspen Insti-
tute and PBS NewsHour on science
and society. It took almost a year to
Winter 2018-19 CCT 61
assemble the pieces but Aspen and
PBS finally signed off on the project
in mid-June, and it rolled out in
early fall. I was executive director
and was joined by John Holdren,
President Obama’s former science
advisor, and Norman Augustine,
retired CEO of Lockheed-Martin,
as co-chairs of the advisory board.
We are looking forward to an excit-
ing year tackling big problems and
having them featured in segments
on NewsHour during the course of
the year and at forums in Aspen
next summer.
“On the personal side, my wife,
Laura, and I live in Weston, Conn.,
and are renovating a house that
dates to 1814. Laura is pursuing
her passion for painting — abstract
realism in acrylic. My daughter,
Karina ’02, lives and works in
Washington, D.C., and is using
her law degree as an analyst and
journalist covering anti-trust
issues for the Capitol Forum. She
juggles her professional life with
motherhood (two children: Tristan
and Axel), as well as running, an
avid interest she shares with her
French husband, Romain Mareuil.
In the last six months she has won
a number of 5Ks and, at the end of
April finished sixth out of 6,000
overall (and first in her age group)
in the Women’s National Half
Marathon. I have no idea where she
gets all the energy to do everything
she does. I am still the Mark W.
Zemansky Professor of Physics at
CCNY, so perhaps it’s familial.”
Fred Kantor 64, who entered
with our class and often sits with us
at our regular class lunches, writes,
[a
Contact CCT
Update your address,
email or phone; submit a
Class Note, new book,
photo, obituary or Letter to
the Editor; or send us an
email. Click “Contact Us” at
college.columbia.edu/cct.
62 CCT Winter 2018-19
“T had the rare privilege of having
lunch with the class I entered the
College with in 1959, at which time,
in my estimate, Columbia had one
of the top three physics departments
in the free world. It did secret work,
and had three Nobel Prize-winning
teachers — I.I. Rabi, Polykarp
Kusch and T.D. Lee — and others
so honored later.
“T already had a properly three-
phase wired personal lab in Mary-
land, and experience with vacuum
tubes and semiconductors. Kusch
gave me two years of course exams
he'd taught. I suggested a better way
to answer one question; he said,
‘Good point.’ I did not take the final
in thermodynamics. Kusch’s remark
was relayed to me: “There are some
courses in which a man shows good
taste by getting an F’ My undergrad
lab was terminated in less than
three weeks; grad lab was waived by
Professor Lucy Hayner on the basis
of my publications. Kusch sent me to
work in Maryland between first and
second undergrad school years. Later,
my father called me in school to tell
me that my boss had been ordered to
publish solely under his own name
and not mention my name, and that
my boss would find work elsewhere.
I took grad courses as an undergrad
and graduated from college a year
later. Later, around the time of riot-
ing, I stopped by to talk with Kusch,
and said that I was going away for
a while. Kusch said, “You have your
own way of doing physics ... [long
pause] ... It seems to work.’
“There’s lots more I could add, for
example, my patent on the large-area
X-ray telescope built at Columbia
in the 1960s, but let’s leave that for
some other time.”
Rich Juro passed on the sad news
that James B. Johnson passed away
on August 16, 2018, in Omaha. He
is survived by his wife, Bev; four chil-
dren (including Joel’90, who became
a successful hip hop singer), and their
spouses; and six grandchildren. Jim
got a Ph.D, and spent his career at
the University of Nebraska at Omaha
as a professor of political science.
He retired from the university a few
years ago.
Rich writes, “Jim was in my
political science senior seminar, and
he continued with it into his profes-
sional life. Long ago we were both
somewhat involved in recruiting and
admissions for the College. I talked
to him a few times through the years,
but not recently. His family, his stu-
dents, his friends and his colleagues
at UN-Omaha will miss him.”
If you're in NYC, you can reconnect
with your classmates at our regular
class lunches at the Columbia Club
(for now, we are still gathering at the
Princeton Club). The next are on Janu-
ary 10, February 14 and March 14.
Check cc63ers.com for details.
In the meantime, let us know
what you are up to, how you're doing
and what’s next.
1964
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Norman Olch
233 Broadway
New York, NY 10279
norman@nolch.com
Inspired by an article in Financial
Times, and with our 55th reunion
approaching, I have a two-part
question: What do you wish you had
known when you were 18, and what
advice do you have for the members
of the College’s next graduating
class as they face becoming “adults”?
I will publish your reply (and please
tell me where you live).
The Alan J. Willen Memorial
Prize was awarded last May to Alex-
andra Fay’18 for her senior thesis
in history, “Crimes of Government”:
William Patterson: Civil Rights, and
American Criminal Justice. Express-
ing her appreciation for the award,
Alexandra calls the paper the most
challenging project of her Col-
lege career, and explained why she
chose to explore Patterson's life. She
says: “This essay was the product
of my Columbia education and my
longtime interests in radical history.
Since my early exposure to the Black
Panther Party (local history in my
hometown of Oakland, Calif.), I have
maintained a passionate interest in
the radical side of the Civil Rights
Movement. My choice to study Pat-
terson, the African-American Com-
munist lawyer who came into conflict
with the NAACP, certainly stemmed
from this personal interest.
“Meanwhile, at the heart of
my essay lies a body of questions
inspired by the quintessential
Columbia College experience,
the year of political philosophy in
Contemporary Civilization. CC
was my favorite class. To this day I
pursue the meaning of justice; I live
to discuss models of government. In
studying Patterson, I pursued one of
my favorite questions: What is the
role of law in a flawed republic?
“T intend to continue my studies,
and ultimately engage in the practice
of justice, by heading to law school.
But first, not unlike Patterson, I
am off to Russia for a year. While I
am teaching English as a Fulbright
finalist, I will be on the lookout for
traces of the world that so inspired
my favorite American radical, Wil-
liam Patterson.”
1965
Leonard B. Pack
924 West End Ave.
New York, NY 10025
leonard@packlaw.us
Dear classmates, a recurring problem
I have had as class correspondent
is the 1,500-word limit for each
column. The eagerness of classmates
to share their experiences and lives
has truly caused my cup (or column)
to run over. But for some reason, I
have not received a single item from
any of you recently. Do not let this
continue! I know you enjoy reading
this column, but it won't be of much
interest if there is nothing in it.
I had dinner last May with
Michael Cook and Howard
Matz. The aforementioned space
limitations precluded me from
including it in previous columns.
While we talked about what we are
up to currently, the conversation
inevitably turned to our thoughts
about our days at Columbia. We all
acknowledged the importance of the
curriculum and professors on our
experiences, but we came away from
our dinner with a renewed apprecia-
tion for the inspiration and learning
we derived from our classmates and
other students. The influence of our
fellow students is one of the prin-
cipal things that make the college
years so special, we agreed.
I learned that Howard and I
share a passion for so called gypsy
jazz, or “jazz manouche” in French.
Howard and his wife, Jane, are good
friends with Pat Philips-Stratta,
the presenter of the annual Django
All-Stars (which tours the United
States with superlative French jazz
manouche musicians). Shortly after
the dinner, I attended one of the
All-Stars’ performances at Birdland
Jazz Club in New York City, and
I said hello and gave Howard and
Jane’s greetings to Philips-Stratta.
Dan Carlinsky has written widely
about jazz manouche and the clubs
in Paris that present the music there.
If you can catch this music wherever
you are, I strongly recommend it.
Let’s hear from you!
1966
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
Happy 2019, Class of 66. Best
wishes for the New Year, and thanks
to all who wrote in.
Victor Kayfetz is a freelance
Swedish-English translator, editor
and ghost writer for the Nobel
Foundation and for major banks in
Sweden and Finland, dividing his
time between a house in the Oak-
land hills overlooking San Francisco
Bay and a pied 4 terre in Solna
overlooking Stockholm. Aside from
world travel, his passions include
photography, a hobby inherited
from his father, Dan Kayfetz’37.
He is a supporter of the libraries at
Columbia and at UC Berkeley, his
other alma mater.
From Geoff Dutton: “By the
time you read this, my daughter
Deniz will know whether she got
into CC. Of course I hope she
does and will benefit from CU’s
vast resources as she prepares for a
career in environmental science. My
own career has circled from digital
cartography R&D to geospatial
consulting to software engineering
to technical writing and now, in
retirement, to writing fiction and
nonfiction. After scattering some
400 scrivenings across the net, my
first novel was co-published in Sep-
tember under my imprint, Perfidy
Press. A radical literary thriller that
tracks a group of young leftists in
Greece mounting a terrorist attack
in Turkey, Turkey Shoot (subtitle
‘He might not be the terrorist you
expected’) is the result of three years
of research, writing, revision and
obsessive pitching. Its principal pro-
tagonist is an Iraqi refugee who has
bones to pick with the United States
and ISIS, but each of my dirty half-
dozen radicals and their tribulations
share the limelight.
“Except for a nasty virus last
spring and a gut-wrenching parasite
that decimated me during my book
launch, my health is good, my wife
and daughter are well and I continue
to contribute articles and stories to
CounterPunch, Medium and my
blog (Progressive Pilgrim Review).
I wish you and your families good
health and fortitude to withstand
the multiple assaults our environ-
ment and polity face nowadays.”
From David Paglin: “David's
Conscience Drama Directive theater
project in Washington, D.C., has
formed around the aesthetics of two
great Columbia professors whom we
remember from the 1960s: the inter-
nationally renowned scholar/critics
Eric Bentley and Robert Brustein
GSAS’57. This past year, CDD
produced Brustein’s savagely sad and
funny play about Lee Strasberg and
Marilyn Monroe, in her unhappy
final years, Nobody Dies on Friday.
The hoped-for next show: Bentley’s
The Recantation of Galileo Galilei.”
From Bob Meyerson: “My
daughter Ella (named after a local
lake and a wonderful woman from
my youth who lived in our Dyck-
man Street apartment building
and whom we called Aunt Ella,
who had a dog named Pretzel, and
whose brother was a steward on
ocean liners from where he brought
me back mint condition postage
stamps of the beautiful Eva Perén,
wife of the questionable head of
Argentina in the 1950s — might we
soon see cameos of Melanomia on
USPS offerings?), yes, my wonderful
daughter Ella was (finally) married
on October 7 by a Conservative (but
liberal) rabbi at the American Swed-
ish Institute in Minneapolis, where
some might say ‘Jewish Rabbi, as
if there were another variety. I’ve
had nothing but good luck with
American Swedes, despite their
homeland’s ticklish foreign affairs
during WWII and some other
recent, disturbing rumbles back in
Sverige. My Korean son, Jin, and
granddaughter Blue (so named long
before Beyoncé stole the name) were
also in attendance, jet-lagged but
jazzed. Skol pa fisken.”
From Anthony F. Starace: “On
a day of pouring rain on the campus
of the University of Chicago in
late June 1968, my wife, Katherine,
and I were married, so last year
marked our 50th anniversary of that
life-changing event. To celebrate,
Katherine and I took three active
vacations to places we had not been.
The first, in late March, was a gath-
ering with our son and daughter and
their spouses at the Enchantment
Resort outside Sedona, Ariz. We
hiked in the surrounding Red Rocks
scenic region, took a guided tour of
Hopi Indian archaeological sites and
enjoyed fine dining, a surprisingly
good wine tasting at an Arizona
winery and a marvelous spa.
“In May we joined a hiking tour
of rural Umbria and Tuscany with
four other couples and two guides.
Near Norcia, which was devastated
by a 2016 earthquake, we went
truffle hunting with a farmer and
his two trained dogs and hiked in
a vast national park in which we
saw few people, but large cultivated
fields of Umbrian lentils. Our route
passed through Assisi, where I
hiked for an hour with an Italian
schoolteacher/guide and discussed
her economic and social situation, as
well as the current political climate
in Italy. Moving on to Cortona and
Pienza in Tuscany, we hiked through
vineyards and had a detailed lecture
about and a wine tasting of the
famous Rossos and Brunellos of
Montalcino. Throughout our trip,
lunches were typically prepared by
farmers (couples or brothers) at
their farms from ingredients grown/
raised on the farms. Dinners were at
Michelin-starred or other fine res-
taurants in first-class resort hotels.
“Following two physics confer-
ences in England at which I gave
invited talks in July, we took another
walking/hiking trip through the
Cotswolds, again with four other
couples and two guides. We began at
Stratford-upon-Avon and finished
in Bath, walking/hiking primarily
along the Cotswold Way. Our route
passed through picturesque small
towns with thatched roof houses
and amiable pubs. One day we had
afternoon tea at a sheep farm at
which we discussed the farmer’s
regrets about having voted for
Brexit, as most of his lambs are cur-
rently exported to France. Another
day we toured Sudeley Castle, the
resting place of Catherine Parr, the
last of King Henry VIII's six wives.
In the evenings we repaired to first-
class hotels with spas.
“T have been at the University of
Nebraska for 45 years and continue
to enjoy being an active senior
scientist in my field. My wife and I,
luckily, remain in good health with
only the usual bothers of increasing
age. I have made national and inter-
national professional commitments
out to 2020.”
CCT is sad to report that long-
time CC’66 class correspondent
Rich Forzani passed away on Sep-
tember 12, 2018. He will be missed.
[Editor’s note: See Obituaries. ]
1967
Albert Zonana
425 Arundel Rd.
Goleta, CA 93117
az164@columbia.edu
We heard from Marty Oster:
“I closed my practice of medical
oncology at NewYork-Presbyterian
Hospital/Columbia University
Medical Center in October 2017
after more than 41 years. I am still
associate professor of medicine at
P&S and am semi-retired, practicing
medical oncology three days a week
at a Columbia affiliate in Westchester
at NewYork-Presbyterian/Hudson
Valley Hospital, where I have run
into Bob Klein, who is practicing
infectious disease. Semi-retirement
gives my wife, Karen, and I more
time to spend with our six grandkids,
all of whom live within a half-hour
of our home in Armonk, N.Y. I
also have all Saturdays free now to
see more Columbia Lion football
victories! Last year, 1 was awarded
the Practitioner of the Year Award at
NYPH/CUMGC, named after Jerry
Gliklich 69, PS’75.”
David Schiff GSAS’74: “My
latest book is Carter, and it is a study
of the life and work of composer
Elliott Carter, with whom I studied
at the Juilliard School. In contrast
to the two quite different editions
of my Music of Elliott Carter (1983
and 1997), I wrote the new book for
general readers and kept technical
discussion to a minimum, concen-
trating instead on Carter’s complex
and elusive character, and on the
surprising developments in the
outpouring of music he composed,
amazingly, in the last 25 years of his
Winter 2018-19 CCT 63
CHRIS BALMER '07, SOA'14
Class Notes
life. Carter died just a month before
his 104th birthday and was compos-
ing nearly to the end. I first heard
Carter’s music live at concerts by the
Group for Contemporary Music in
what is now Miller Theatre, when
I was an undergraduate and was
fortunate to work closely with him
first as a doctoral student at Juilliard
and then for more than 30 years as a
close associate.”
Be well, all of you, and do write.
1968
Arthur Spector
4401 Collins Ave., 2-1417
Miami Beach, FL 33140
arthurbspector@gmail.com
As I write this in the fall I am in
Miami Beach, enjoying the slightly
too-warm weather. I hope you will
call me if you are going to be in
South Florida — I would be thrilled
to see classmates. Living here is a
change of pace.
There is a Columbia Club here,
with which I suspect I will be active.
It seems that football will have a
good season — maybe better than
good. A toast to the student-athletes,
the exceptional Coach Al Bagnoli
and his extraordinary coaching staff.
As of the time of writing, we had
won four in a row and 10 out of the
last 12 games!
The reunion feedback continues.
I’m glad so many folks went and so
many reported having a great time.
The Class of 68’s 50th reunion class
giving was unprecedented, with
comprehensive giving coming in
at approximately $2.6 million —
exceeding our goal of $1 million.
And the Columbia College Fund hit
the 50th reunion giving $300,000
goal (with a small amount thrown in
after the bell rang for the Alexander
Hamilton Award Dinner). We had
181 donors — more than our goal
of 165! And finally, the number of
John Jay Associates-level donors was
38 — nearly double our goal and
more than our historical average of
nine a year. Our turnout for reunion
being record-breaking for any 50th
reunion and (I believe) for any class
of modern times means we will do
more. The Reunion Committee, led
by Tom Sanford, deserves accolades
for these results — importantly, our
giving supports exceptional students
and our uniquely special alma mater.
As for classmates, Art Kaufman
sent some notes on watching the
early Columbia football win. He
went to a game with his grandkids.
He and I have seen a number of
basketball games too, and are hoping
for a good season.
I received a picture of Tom San-
ford rowing on a Connecticut river
looking fit and in good humor. He
and Al McCoy and, I suspect, others,
are still rowing — quite impressive. It
is surely the case that exercise in our
age group is a good idea, though it
is challenging. I swam this morning;
I try to do it every day. Neil Gozan
sent a note commending me for my
swimming; I suspect he and Frank
Dann and the swim crowd in our
class are still at it. Seth Weinstein
swam at my place in the city — mod-
est, but the pool is great (at the top
of the building). Seth loves to swim
and sail.
Robert Brandt sent a great
picture of his wife on a horse on
a windswept beach in Capetown,
though Robert was not on a horse ...
hmmm. They had been in London
enjoying the town and went to South
Africa. Buzz Zucker went to India
for a long vacation. We will get some
great reports from him, for sure.
The Class of 1968 had a record turnout at Reunion 2018!
64 CCT Winter 2018-19
Great to see U.S. News & World
Report listing Columbia as the num-
ber 3 school in the nation — still
off by a bit, as I still believe the city
(as a distinguished professor for the
school) adds tremendous learning
experiences and access to jobs.
I am working on our 70th
reunion and figure that one will
require some longer-term planning!
I got reports from Barry Wick on
his knee surgeries — it appears he
is up and around, recovering quickly
and ready to rock and roll. Glad he
is doing well.
Peter Janovsky and I have
debated the best way to ensure good
healthcare for the nation and how
to look at the public health issues
of the day. I continue to believe that
access to a cardiologist is a good
thing, but heart disease needs a cure,
so I am hoping that we get beyond
just taking Simva or other generics.
I hoped to make it to Homecom-
ing and hoped to have seen you there.
Do send in updates when you
can, and do stay well.
1969
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Michael Oberman
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel
1177 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036
moberman@kramerlevin.com
Our 50th reunion approaches! If you
are not receiving emails from Colum-
bia College about Reunion 2019,
please send a note to ccreunion@
columbia.edu to update your email
address. [Editor’s note: Please also let
CCT know: college.columbia.edu/
cct/content/contact-us. |
From Rick Winston: “After many
stops and starts, my book, Red Scare
in the Green Mountains: Vermont
in the McCarthy Era 1946-1960,
has been published. It’s a study of
how the Cold War hysteria of the
era affected one state with a strong
streak of independent thinking, and
unfortunately it is a lot more timely
now than when I began work on it
eight years ago. There are several fas-
cinating stories in the Green Moun-
tains that I explore: a high-profile
academic firing, a conservative sena-
tor who helped take down Joseph
McCarthy, controversies involving
left-leaning summer residents and
some veteran newspaper editors
who spoke out against McCarthy’s
tactics. Available through your local
indie bookstore or Amazon in both
print and Kindle (but please, don’t
buy from third-party sellers, as
neither the publisher, Rootstock, nor
I get anything!). Contact me with
any questions or publicity ideas, like
radio shows: winsrick@sover.net.”
Gregg Geller shared the nearby
photo of himself, Woody Lewis,
Bob Merlis and David Turner
taken at Moose Lodge # 652 in
Burbank, Calif., during the celebra-
tion of Bob’s 70th birthday.
David Parshall sadly reported
on the passing of George A. Nelson
III’70 (sharing a remembrance
written by George’s wife of 31 years,
Bettina): “George Albin Nelson
III, associate real estate broker,
New York, N.Y., on May 29, 2018.
George was born on July 6, 1945,
and grew up in Wilton, Conn.
He attended St. Paul’s School in
Concord, N.H., and the Atlantic
College at St Donat’s Castle in
Wales prior to attending Colum-
bia. There he received a B.A. in
modern European history. George
remained in New York City, where
he worked at the Economic Capital
Corp. before teaming up with his
wife and becoming a real estate
broker. Those who knew him best
remember him as a man of great
humor, wit and esoteric knowledge.
‘George will be remembered for,
among other things, an astound-
ingly brilliant mind,’ said David
Parshall. Friends often remarked,
‘We didn't need Google. We had
George.’ An unabashed animal lover,
he volunteered for many years at the
Bronx Zoo and with Bettina took
his therapy dog every week to visit
children in the psychiatric unit at
Mount Sinai Hospital. He enjoyed
bridge, backgammon, tennis, farm
team baseball games and, most
especially, adventuresome traveling
and scuba diving. Above all, he was
a family man. ‘George moved in
sync with Bettina, said David. “They
were inseparable and did everything
together — working and playing.’
He was devoted to his son, Alex,
with whom he loved discussing the
news of the world and the politics
Left to right: Gregg Geller 69,
Woody Lewis ’69, Bob Merlis ’69
and David Turner ’69 met at Moose
Lodge #652 in Burbank, Calif., to
celebrate Merlis’ 7Oth birthday.
of the day. But he was truly happiest
when he was out on a long, lazy
afternoon walk in Central Park with
his family and his dog.”
George is survived by Bettina;
Alex; Alex’s wife, Winnie; and a
grandson, Jack.
From Howard Goldman: “I plan
to retire on May 1. I'll have been in
practice nearly 42 years by then and
will be turning 72. Having moved
to Florida in 1977 ’'m not moving
anywhere, even though the state
has changed in many ways, most of
them not good, over the years we
have lived here. We do have a place
in Maine, where we will spend a
few of the hot months. But my two
daughters live locally and I have
three grandchildren, including a
10-month-old boy whom I admit
doting upon, so I don't want to be
far away for long. I have loved what
I do, especially the surgical part
— I specialize in cataract surgery.
However, I know the time is coming
when one of my five partners might
just say, ‘Goldman, you seem a little
too shaky to do eye surgery.’ I’d
much rather go out on a high with
people missing me rather than say-
ing, ‘Good riddance!’
“T intend to volunteer at the Cari-
dad Center in Boynton Beach. It is
an amazing free clinic with which
I’ve worked doing charity eye sur-
gery for about 15 years. Prior to that
I traveled to developing countries
including Ecuador, Panama, Jamaica
and Guyana teaching and perform-
ing cataract surgery on indigent
blind people. That got tougher after
9-11 and my wife started telling
me I was too old to schlep through
jungles anyway (we'd go with a team
of two or three surgeons and four
or five nurses and technicians, along
with 50 or so boxes and trunks of
equipment and supplies). I view the
charity work as paying my ‘rent on
Earth.’ I’ve been very fortunate to do
what I do and have done well at it,
so I feel obligated to do what I can
for those less fortunate; part of my
Jewish heritage (or guilt?).”
From Roy Feldman: “The
Columbia University Club of
Philadelphia is again pleased to
invite alumni to the Brandywine
Hunt Timber Races at its beautiful
Chester County race course, coming
April 1. Nadia and I wish to host
you for victuals and libations directly
on the homestretch with a great
view of the finish line. Last year, 35
Columbia folks joined us.
“The Brandywine race is fiercely
competitive for amateurs and
professionals alike in a family-
friendly atmosphere and delightfully
welcoming to fans of horses, racing,
land preservation and fox hunting.
Races include every aspect of the
sport: Kids like racing stick ponies
made from socks, face painting, even
lead line pony races. Older kids race
on the grass while horses prepping
for the major spring venues run
three miles over 16 solid jumps.
“All we expect from you is thirst,
hunger and an RSVP that tells us
how many we will feed. (I believe
there is a $20 parking charge.) Plan
to come to the races! Not that far
from NYC and a beautiful area,”
Joe Materna LAW’73 writes: “I
practice law (and love it every day)
as a trusts and estates attorney, with
my principal office at 40 Wall St.
and satellite offices on Staten Island,
N.Y.; in Naples, Fla.; and in Jersey
City, N.J. I was recently honored
with the Albert Nelson Marquis
Lifetime Achievement Award by
Marquis Who's Who, the world’s
premier publisher of biographical
profiles. This award was given to me
in recognition of my lifetime achieve-
ments, demonstrated leadership in
the legal profession, credentials and
successes through the years as a trusts
and estates attorney and Law School
graduate, having been highlighted in
more than 50 editions of Whos Who
during the past 40 years, includ-
ing Whos Who in American Law,
Whos Who in Finance and Business,
Whos Who in the East and Whos
Who in America. My wite, Dolores,
and I celebrated our 43rd wedding
anniversary last December. My three
daughters are true-blue Columbia
alumni and I am so proud of them.”
Joel Solkoff shared his bio
from his website (joelsolkoff.com);
here is an excerpt: “In 1976 while
researching a book on international
food policy, I interviewed Secretary
of Agriculture Earl Butz. I was 28
and had just had surgery to remove
a lump under my right arm. My
physician had left a message on
my telephone answering machine.
Before the interview, I called back
Dr. Amiel Segal, who insisted I
immediately come into his office.
I asked why. Dr. Segal said he
could not tell me over the phone.
“What’s so important that you can't
see me right now?’ I said, ‘I have
an interview with the secretary
of agriculture in 10 minutes; he’s
more important than you.’ That is
how I found out I had cancer. The
interview progressed smoothly in
an altered-like state. Afterward,
following surgery, friends and
relatives rushed to my hospital bed,
convinced I would die shortly. I have
come to regard agriculture policy in
much the same fashion as the widow
of the Winchester rifle fortune
regarded continual work on her San
Jose Winchester Mystery House. As
long as the work continued without
cease — her fortune-teller predicted
— she would never die. I have
maintained a more liberal approach
than the fortune-teller insisted upon
— fathering two daughters, greeting
the approach of a granddaughter
and publishing books on other
subjects (including housing policy
and surviving cancer). Throughout
it all, I maintain the superstitious
belief that as long as I continue to
research and write about the politics
of agriculture I will live forever.
“T am at work on a blueprint for
economic policies that will ensure
that no one dies of starvation. As I
write, 20 million people are in dan-
ger of doing so; every 10 minutes, a
child in Yemen dies needlessly for
want of food. One consequence of
the treatment for cancer that saved
my life was that radiation perma-
nently damaged my spine. For more
than 20 years, I have been a paraple-
gic — not in a wheelchair but in a
battery-powered mobility device
that takes me so rapidly to my
destination that friends and strang-
ers on the street comment on the
speed which takes me from hither to
yon. A frequent comment is, ‘If you
don’t slow down, they will take your
license away.’ I get around on a POV
scooter. Al Thieme, who invented
the POV scooter and whose com-
pany, Amigo Mobility, makes the
best scooters in the universe, and |
have become friends. I am trying to
get his company to think about 3-D
in design construction more than it
does. My basic mission is: integrate
design of elderly and disability
housing with 3-D modeling.”
Joel's website provides greater
detail (with graphics) on his work
on this mission.
Planning continues for our 50th
reunion, and you should be receiving
periodic emails. (If you are not, see the
first paragraph of this column.) Our
main effort is to draw as many class-
mates as we can to the reunion. Please
plan to attend; check college.columbia.
edu/alumni/events/reunion-2019 to
see who else plans to attend; and
help us with our outreach effort
to other classmates. Let’s work
together to create a terrific reunion
for this landmark anniversary.
1970
Leo G. Kailas
Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt
885 Third Ave., 20th FI.
New York, NY 10022
Ikailas@reitlerlaw.com
Gareth Williams, the Violin Family
Professor of Classics and the chair of
the classics department at Columbia,
and Professor Eileen Gillooly, a pro-
fessor of English and comparative
literature at Columbia and former
head of the Core Curriculum, are
working with representatives of our
class to plan a day-long seminar in
early May for us.
‘The topic is presently open but
initial ideas are for a program on
the early philosophers we studied
in Contemporary Civilization and
their impact throughout history and
even in modern times. We also plan
to sprinkle some art history into
the discussions. James Periconi
responded immediately that he
was interested in both planning
and attending such a seminar. He
noted that Professor Williams had
given a thought-provoking talk at
an All-Class Reunion (formerly
known as Dean’s Day), and Jim was
thrilled that Professors Williams
Winter 2018-19 CCT 65
and Gillooly would be part of the
program. Jim reported that he had
“just (in May) spent two weeks in
and around Athens on a Grolier
Club trip visiting great libraries and
archeological sites, including the
part of the Greek (as opposed to
Roman) agora there, led by the guy
in charge of agora excavations, John
Camp from the American School
of Classical Studies. He showed us
where it is very likely Plato taught
his students and the library was,
and (elsewhere) where Socrates was
imprisoned. Sent goose bumps up
my spine with memories of CC, Lit
Hum and three years of Greek with
the Jesuits before that!”
Jim noted that both he and
Steven Schwartz remain aspiring
academics and that he lives that life
vicariously through his Columbia
professor life partner.
My old friend Frank Motley
LAW’74 is still trying to go for
a Guinness World Record as the
Class of 1970 graduate with the
most grandkids (19) and great-
grandkids (8). Retired for two years
from a career in legal academics and
administration, he is still waiting
on his invitation to the Masters. |
remember Frank as the general of
our excellent basketball team, and he
remains one of our most loyal and
friendly classmates.
I also have news from David
Lehman, who remains a dedicated
scholar. He reports: “Having retired
from my faculty appointment at
The New School, I can now spend
more time on literary projects. In
September, both The Best American
Poetry 2018 (the selections made
by Dana Gioia) and a new edition
of The Best American Poetry 1988,
the first volume in the series (the
selections made by John Ashbery
GSAS’50, now deceased), were
published. In 1988, no one, not even
my friend Pangloss, thought the
anthology series would be going
strong 30 years later.
“In honor of A.R. Ammons
(1926-2001), I undertook an
Ammons-like adventure — to write
a long poem in daily increments
chronicling the turn of the year. I
began Playlist on November 21,
2017, and completed it on Janu-
ary 15, 2018. Largely concerned
with the music I was listening to
(classical, jazz, Sinatra and popular
standards), Playlist will be published
in the spring.”
66 CCT Winter 2018-19
David kindly sent me copies of
The Best American Poetry 2018 and
the new edition of The Best American
Poetry 1988.1 am constantly amazed
about how much David loves the
subject matters he writes about,
including two of my favorites, Bob
Dylan and Frank Sinatra!
1971
Jim Shaw
139 North 22nd St.
Philadelphia, PA 19103
jes200@columbia.edu
No column this time, but please
do take a moment to send in your
news for a future issue. I hope that
you have an enjoyable winter and a
Happy New Year.
1972
Paul S. Appelbaum
39 Claremont Ave., #24
New York, NY 10027
pappel1@aol.com
Neil Izenberg hit a milestone —
retirement. He says, “In my case, it’s
after 42 years of being a physician.
As a pediatrician with fellowship
training in adolescent medicine and
pediatric endocrinology, much of
my life has centered on trying to
improve children’s health — mostly
within academic health systems —
such as Jefferson in Philadelphia
and the Nemours Children’s Health
System in Delaware and Florida.
Beyond that, my real love has been
developing and distributing educa-
tional media products for parents
and children, including creating
the first (and still the most visited)
website on the topic: KidsHealth.
org, launched in 1995 (the Stone
Age of the web). I’ve been a witness
to, and an active participant in, a
number of amazing social and tech-
nology changes that have shifted the
world. When I retired last March,
I was probably the longest serving
founder/chief executive of a health
website — or for that matter, almost
any high-profile site.
“At KidsHealth.org, in addition
to our main website, we distributed
educational (and, I hope, persuasive)
content to more than 90 children’s
hospitals, along with libraries of
patient instructions incorporated
into the electronic health record
and libraries of instructional videos
about a huge range of issues. Along
the way, we received our share of
awards and recognition. I took a
few mementos when I left the office
for the final time, but most remain
in their cases at my former place
of work. Sure, I loved it — or at
least 95 percent of it. And, sure, I
could have done more. Sometimes,
though, it is time to move on to
something new.
“Now, like many of you, I’m fac-
ing a challenge as I enter this new
phase of life: What's next? What
will I do with all that time previ-
ously spent on answering emails
and calls, attending meetings, and
leading and collaborating with my
staff of physicians, editors, designers,
producers, marketers and tech-
nologists? What will I do with the
creative drive I previously focused
on products in the always-changing
digital, connected world I lived in?
I’m still working on the answers.
I'd like to take some of what I’ve
learned and apply it to other
important spheres: the fight against
climate change, encouraging civic
participation and greater community
in a divided world and fighting the
pernicious ‘isms’ that are corroding
our nation and the world (racism,
sexism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism,
Islamophobia, homophobia and the
rest). | have some ideas there I’m
working on, but, without my prior
platform, it’s a challenge.
“Beyond that, I’ve enrolled in a
writing workshop near Philadel-
phia, where I live, and have begun
a humorous (I hope) memoir about
my lifelong infatuation with snacks.
Columbia plays a starring role there,
of course. On a highly related note,
I’m trying to lose some pound-
age that mysteriously has crept up
through the years and whip myself
into better shape. Those are chal-
lenges, too. Those damn snacks take
a toll. The reality is, though, I guess I
don't fully know what’s next. I guess
we never really do.”
If you have anecdotes or remem-
brances on the topic of food and eat-
ing during your Columbia years, Neil
would love to hear them. (You can
contact me for his email address.)
Something that’s not quite
retirement is what Steven
Hirschfeld PS’83 is experiencing.
Although he retired from active
duty in the U.S. Public Health
Service last August, after 28 years
of uniformed service, Steven is
continuing his activities related to
clinical research as a civilian. Hence,
he says, being retired is more of
an administrative status than an
actual lifestyle. He remains as busy
as ever but, among other changes,
will no longer be the first called for
deployments for disaster response.
Finally, I’m pleased to share the
good news that my daughter Avigail
BC’05 and her husband, Aharon
Charnoy, have presented us with a new
granddaughter, Meital Bracha. I can't
even wrap my head around the fact
that she’ll be a college grad in 2040.
1973
Barry Etra
1256 Edmund Park Dr. NE
Atlanta, GA 30306
betra1@bellsouth.net
OK ... not a lot of response to my
plea for reunion notes. Apologies for
not being there!
Apologies also to Robert
Pruznick, whose submission got
lost and then found. Robert retired
last April after nearly 37 years at
the Arc of Warren County, N,J.;
Arc provides lifespan advocacy and
services to children and adults with
disabilities and to their families.
Robert built it from a $50,000
organization into a $10 million
organization, and today its HQ is
named in his honor. He was named
Humanitarian of the Year by the
Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber
of Commerce in June, and he has
moved on to work with Aging in
Place villages.
Robert and his wife, Kathy,
celebrated their 45th anniversary the
same weekend as our 45th reunion!
Raymond Forsythe has been
named VP of the board of the
National Cancer Center; he had
been a board member for two years.
Founded in 1953, the center funds
basic research into the causes, diag-
nosis, prevention and cure of cancer.
James Firman BUS’77 is
president and CEO of the National
Council on Aging and was named to
The NonProfit Times Power and Influ-
ence Top 50 list for the fifth time.
‘Thanks to those who wrote —
entreaties to the rest. You can send
your news to either of the addresses
at the top of the column. Haséa.
MAY 30—JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Fred Bremer
532 W. 111th St.
New York, NY 10025
f.bremer@ml.com
As George Jefferson said on the
1975-85 sitcom The Jeffersons, “We're
moving on up!” The latest Wall Street
Journal/Times Higher Education
College Rankings were announced
late last summer. The rankings use
15 factors that emphasize how well
a college prepares students for life
after graduation, as well as surveys
of students about how challenging
they find their classes. Columbia was
number 2 — behind Harvard, but
ahead of Yale, Princeton, MIT and
Stanford. Not too shabby!
Most of us would find writing a
single novel outside our skillset. But
Les Bryan JRN’75 tells us of the
publication of his second novel, The
Tale of the Small Town Boy (available
in print or ebook from Amazon).
He writes, “If you are from a small
town, studied abroad, know about
depression or just wonder what in
the world I might write, then this is
a quick read.” He adds, “We are well
and enjoying the ‘struggles’ of retired
people with grandchildren on the
other side of the Atlantic.”
I saw a cryptic posting from Ken
Marks LAW’77 on Facebook last
fall. Mark is general counsel at Exo-
star and lives in Reston, Va. The note
said he participated in the Grand
Prix of Baltimore last September,
driving the Flying Lizard Racing
Porsche 911. There must be more to
this story! Stay tuned.
An email came in from Arthur
Schwartz saying, “I keep forgetting
to update.” Therefore, this entry will
cover three years. In 2016, Arthur
was counsel to Bernie Sanders in
New York and a delegate to the
Democratic National Convention.
In 2017, Arthur had a heart attack,
but was back to work in three days.
In 2018, he was counsel to Cynthia
Nixon (then-candidate for New
York State governor), Jumaane
Williams (then-candidate for NYS
lieutenant governor) and Zephyr
‘Teachout (then-candidate for NYS
attorney general).
Arthur says he is “still plugging
along” at Advocates for Justice
Chartered Attorneys, principally
doing union side labor work (mainly
for the NYC transit union) and
plaintiff’s employment law. He has a
live one-hour radio show on WBAI,
where he “talks politics from the
‘Berniecratic perspective’.”
His daughter Rebecca graduated
from Tulane in 2017 and is now
with Brooklyn Defender Services
doing public defender work. His
middle daughter is at the Packer
Collegiate Institute and is starting
to think about college applications.
His youngest daughter just became a
teenager. Arthur says, “The younger
two daughters are top-level com-
petitive gymnasts — but there are
no gymnastics at Columbia!”
From Belfast, Maine, we hear from
Bob Adler that his son, Jacob, has
been appointed the rabbi at Congre-
gation Kehilat Shalom, a Reconstruc-
tionist congregation near Princeton,
N,J. Bob’s daughter, Rachel, recently
graduated from Temple with a degree
in occupational therapy. Bob contin-
ues his involvement with The Legal
Aid Society.
‘There you have it. Classmates
writing books, racing in a grand prix
and being far too busy in politics. If
you have news to share, please send
it along!
1975
Randy Nichols
734 S. Linwood Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21224
rcn2day@gmail.com
Footloose and fancy-free, Fernando
Castro has been on a grand tour of
Europe. He’s been museum-hop-
ping, wining and dining, people-
mixing and sometimes even dancing
in the streets!
After 40 years as a public servant
litigating major civil and criminal
cases on behalf of the United States,
primarily in the federal courts
of appeals and the United States
Supreme Court, Doug Letter
recently left the U.S. Department of
Justice. When he left, Doug was at
the highest rank of the career: Senior
Executive Service. On his departure,
Doug was honored at a ceremony
alumninews
by several Supreme Court justices,
as well as more than a dozen other
federal judges. During his time at
the Justice Department, Doug had
served details as senior counselor to
Attorney General Eric H. Holder
Jr.’73, LAW’76; as deputy associate
attorney general under Janet Reno;
and as associate counsel to President
Bill Clinton in the White House
Counsel's Office. Doug has not
retired, but merely shifted to being
a senior litigator at the Institute for
Constitutional Advocacy and Protec-
tion at the Georgetown University
Law Center, where he is also a full-
time faculty member.
At Georgetown Law, he teaches
national security law as well as a
seminar on constitutional impact
public interest litigation. At the
institute, Doug participates in
litigation and other efforts defend-
ing freedom of speech and voting
rights, advocating for immigrant
interests, pursuing criminal justice
reforms (designed to implement
the principle that it is not a crime
in the United States simply to be
poor) and defending government
whistleblowers. In its latest victory,
the institute succeeded in obtaining
court orders barring alt-right and
neo-Nazi groups from returning to
Charlottesville, Va., as organized
armed private paramilitary groups.
Doug asks that you please go online
to check out the institute’s valuable
work (law.georgetown.edu/icap).
Doug lives with his wife in
Bethesda, Md. One of his daughters
works on Capitol Hill for Sen.
Patty Murray (D-Wash.). His other
daughter is in the restaurant busi-
ness in Bethesda.
Bob Schneider and his wife,
Regina Mullahy BC’75, are traveling
folks! Late last summer, they were
in France. Highlights of their trip
included the Cathedral of Notre-
Dame du Paris, dinner at the Eiffel
‘Tower, the Chateau du Fontaine-
bleau and Chartres Cathedral, as
well as Napoleon's tomb and Pére
Lachaise Cemetery, with the graves
of Eugéne Delacroix and Jim Mor-
rison. Shortly after returning, Bob
was off to Chicago for the National
Association of Bond Lawyers Bond
Attorneys’ Workshop and a visit to
their daughter, Meg. At the end of
the week, he took in the Cubs-
Cardinals game at Wrigley Field.
‘The same week, Regina headed to
Houston to visit their son, John’07,
and his wife, Stephanie Pahler
BC’06, and the grandkids.
Bob Sclafani and his wife, Chris,
have also recently wined and dined
their way across France, visiting
museums and wineries.
1976
Ken Howitt
1114 Hudson St., Apt. 8 |
Hoboken, N.J. 07030 |
kenhowitt76@gmail.com
Homecoming was a great day.
CC’76ers in attendance included
Jim Bruno, Mark Joseph and Jon
Margolis. It was a fun day and, like
the Spring Sports Day and All-Class
Reunion in early June, it was a good
chance to catch up with old friends.
Check out the Columbia College
Alumni website (college.columbia.
edu/alumni) for details throughout
the year on all events and oppor-
tunities. If you click through to the
Programs & Events section, there are
listings for regional events worldwide.
Now on to the updates:
In March 2018, Gordon Kit
initiated the inaugural year of the
Dr. Saul and Dorothy Kit Film
Noir Festival, a planned 10-year
series in his parents’ honor, held
at the Lenfest Center for the Arts
on the Manhattanville campus.
Eight terrific American noir films
were screened during the five-day
festival. They were the American
films shown in Paris right after
WWII, and resulted in the French
film critics adopting the term “noir”
to this new uniquely American
genre. The festival’s inaugural year
included talks by film scholars and
a conversation with the film writer/
director Paul Schrader, and was well
attended despite the challenges of a
late winter snowstorm.
Gordon sent in this preview for
the 2019 festival: “This year’s edition
of the Kit Noir Festival promises
more of the same with a new set
of films from the 1940s, all based
on stories [by] Cornell Woolrich
(also known as William Irish) [CC
1925], as well as talks by several film
scholars. In early 2019, please check
the Lenfest Center for the Arts
website (lenfest.arts.columbia.edu)
for tickets, more information and
the lineup of films and talks for this
year's festival, which is scheduled for
March 27-31.”
Winter 2018-19 CCT 67
In addition to Gordon, Derrick
Tseng was also in the audience
last year. If some of you attend this
year, let’s try to get together for a
mini-reunion at an area restaurant
before one of the films. Since Gor-
don, Derrick and I will be there,
we may already be a mini-reunion.
Let’s make it larger! Email me if you
are interested.
Jon Margolis writes: “Not much
new to report other than feeling old
now that I have a 16-month-old
grandson. Both daughters are long
gone from our apartment, although
they are three and five blocks away.
It is nice since we see our grandson
at least once a week.”
Ira Breskin JRN’92, a senior
lecturer at the SUNY Maritime Col-
lege in the Bronx, checked in with
the following: “My book, The Business
of Shipping (ninth edition), recently
was published. Substantially updated,
the 448-page book offers unique
insight into seismic industry changes,
enabling readers to become quickly
conversant with this arcane, but
important, sector. A primer, it encap-
sulates much that I have learned
during 15 years teaching maritime
economics, history and regulation at
SUNY Maritime College.”
From Bill Walker: “A shout out
to our fellow WKCR alumni. My
wife, Beth BC’76, and I moved to
the Hudson Valley 11 years ago
when I was offered a position with
the Levy Economics Institute of
Bard College. Bard was a part of
Columbia 1928-44. This is a foot-
note for Columbia, but an important
part of Bard’s history as it grew from
a small college dedicated to prepar-
Stay in
Touch
Let us know if you have a
new postal or email address,
a new phone number or
even a new name:
college.columbia.edu/
alumni/connect.
68 CCT Winter 2018-19
ing men for the Episcopal priest-
hood to the international institution
it is today.
“Something that Columbia alums
would recognize at Bard is the
required first-year Seminar. FYSEM,
as it is known, is basically a combina-
tion of Lit Hum and CC. First-year
students meet in small classes of
about 15, sit around a table with a
professor and read, discuss and write
about the books on the syllabus.
“While some new faculty at Bard
are required to teach FYSEM, there
is a core group of us who volunteer.
Every September, as I walk into the
classroom, my mind goes back to
that day in fall 1972 when I went
into a classroom on one of the
upper floors of Hamilton Hall and
sat down at the table to begin Lit
Hum. My professor, Donald Frame
GSAS’41, clearly loved the course
and guided us firmly but gently
through the two semesters. It really
hit home when I looked out the
window while we were discussing
the Allegory of the Cave in The
Republic and saw the name PLATO
engraved on Butler Library. I felt I
had finally come home.
“I cannot promise I am as good
a guide as Professor Frame was, but
I enjoy the work. And in the first
week of September, I went into the
classroom, introduced myself and
the syllabus, and for a few moments
I was 18 again, on Morningside
Heights, beginning my Columbia
education. We opened with Plato,
of course.”
Our Class Notes correspon-
dent emeritus Clyde Moneyhun
checked in with this news from last
summer: “I spent three weeks in
Spain, using a grant from the Alexa
Rose Foundation and funding from
my university (Boise State) to visit
with three of the Catalan-language
writers I translate: Dolors Miquel
(a poet from Catalonia), Jordi Can-
tavella (a novelist from Barcelona)
and Pong Pons (a poet from the
island of Menorca). Pong and I have
already published one book (E/ salo-
bre/Salt — see “Bookshelf,” Summer
2018) and have another one in the
works. Dolors and I are working
on her irreverent collection, Missa
pagesa (Peasant Mass), and Jordi
and I are working on his novel of
the Spanish civil war, E/ brigadista,
which focuses on the participation
of African-American volunteers in
the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. My
son, Gabe (16), was along for the
trip, so we did manage to have some
fun too — visiting cathedrals and
Roman ruins, sunning ourselves on
Mediterranean beaches, eating tapas
and paella. That’s three summers in
Spain for me now, and it’s beginning
to look mighty fine as Retirement
Plan A.”
Here is a contribution from Gary
Lehman BUS’80, SIPA’80 that
says he is “hanging around” but that
seems like a real understatement!
From Gary: “I am hanging around
the house these days for now, going
to the fitness center, downsizing,
shopping and cooking dinner from
time to time (but getting a little sick
of not working). My wife (SIPA’80)
is nurse case manager at a Manhat-
tan hospital. I retired in 2015 after
36 years at a ‘big blue-colored’
technology firm (appreciating that
pension). I earned a second master’s,
in homeland security, at CUNY/
John Jay College of Criminal Justice,
and graduated in June 2016. Took
two gap years, but am now looking
for work in homeland security, if I
am not too old (although that seems
to be the case — time will tell).
During the two years off I refinished
the basement and updated the
kitchen (did some of that work, but
to be honest not the plumbing, elec-
tricity or cabinetry!); my wife and |
traveled to India and Sri Lanka and
road-tripped in the United States
and Canada; and I scuba-dived in
the Red Sea and Bahamas. I am one
of the directors at The Scuba Sports
Club of Westchester and am the
northeast news correspondent (vol-
unteer) for Dive News Network and
a on the Community Emergency
Response Team.
“In recent years I summitted Kili-
manjaro in Tanzania, Elbrus in the
Russian Caucasus (I was 1,000 feet
short of the summit; the weather
became dangerous), and Pikes Peak
for Making Waves To Fight Cancer/
Swim Across America (I trek and
climb these days to fight cancer,
can’t open-water swim fast enough
anymore). In June I concluded my
mountaineering days with a trek
to the Mount Everest base camp
(can you tell I am bucket-listing?)
— gaining donations for Sloan Ket-
tering, MD Anderson, Northwell
and Cold Spring Harbor Labora-
tory to fight cancer (my older sister
died of pancreatic cancer in 2009).
My twin daughters are 30 (wow,
where did the time go?). J1 is a
level-two hospital case worker with
a Columbia master’s in social work;
J2 is a Tulane and LSU Law grad
internet attorney inside the Beltway;
and youngest daughter, J3, has a
master’s in social work from Boston
College. J2 has our granddaughter
(6 months) and J3 has our grandson
(3), both the apples of our eyes (my
wife is ‘the lady in the phone’ when
we FaceTime). And among all our
daughters, we also have six grand-
dogs who go wild when I bring
them dried codfish skin treats. So
that is the beat of life around these
here parts these days.”
Gara LaMarche writes: “I’m
happy to say that in the past year the
number of our grandchildren has
tripled to three, with Max joining
his 7-year old brother, Sam, and
Leo just blocks away in Brooklyn,
where we all live. Lisa Mueller and
I marked our fifth anniversary by
returning to the scene of our wed-
ding in Watch Hill, R.I., near where
I grew up, and where I worked in
the summers. I have been president
of the Democracy Alliance for five
years, working harder than ever to
organize donors to take back our
democracy from ... well, I’m sure
we're a bipartisan group of CC
grads, but ... from the deeply unfit
occupant of the White House who
has no respect for democratic norms
or the rule of law.
“In my spare time, in addition
to spending as much time with
the grandkids as possible, I chair
the boards of two public media
organizations, StoryCorps and The
New Press, and also am on a few
human rights boards — The Fund
for Global Human Rights, The
Leadership Conference on Civil
and Human Rights, and Scholars
at Risk — while binge-watching
as many noirish, anti-hero Netflix,
Amazon and cable series as | can
manage. Dan Baker and I remain
close friends who see each other
regularly — we made our annual
trip to the Shelburne Inn during
Columbus Day weekend with our
wives — and our daughters are best
friends, too! It’s been 46 years since
he embarrassed me on our first day
in Carman Hall by observing in
front of a dozen other freshmen that
‘you have no hair on your chest.”
No room for a Mika report, but a
Syracuse trip is due for me. Thanks
for the big response from all the
1976 veterans. Keep enjoying life
and telling your classmates about all
the living that is still left to do!
Lich
David Gorman
111 Regal Dr.
DeKalb, IL 60115
dgorman@niu.edu
I begin with an “information please”
item, from Jon Fraser, a professor
of theater and film at Long Island
University. “I've been contacted,” he
writes, “by someone at Barnard who
is putting together a book about all
of the Greek-language productions
of classics that started, apparently,
with my production of Medea in
1977. She wants me to write about
the production. Alas, my memory
of 40 years ago isn't sharp, so I ask
anyone who was either in the pro-
duction or else saw it to contact me
(jfraser212@gmail.com).”
Though I did not attend, I can
remember it being advertised,
because I remember thinking that a
production of Euripides in ancient
Greek was going to be a one-shot
experiment at best; but happily, I
turned out to be entirely wrong. In
any case, anyone who remembers
something about the actual produc-
tion should contact Jon.
“I am so relieved to find out it is
not too late in life for fabulous adven-
tures!” writes Peter Basch, concern-
ing a three-month leave of absence he
took from CalTech’s Jet Propulsion
Jeffrey Moerdler ’78 (left) met with
Gary Pickholz ’78 while Moerdler
was on vacation in Israel.
Laboratory, where he is a technical
writer. Peter’s adventure began when
he was hired to write marketing
documents for a software company
in France: the documents were in
English, but the interaction with the
engineers was in French. “Finally, my
Lycée Francais education pays off!
I mean, aside from getting me into
Columbia.” He continues: “My wife
and | rented an apartment in Lyon
and immersed ourselves in the local
life. | recommend Lyon to anyone
looking to visit France beyond Paris
and the Cote d’Azur. The restaurants
are amazing. My wife took a cooking
class at the Institut Paul Bocuse (the
national icon Paul Bocuse, possibly the
most important chef in France since
Escoffier, died six days after her class;
I don't think there was any causation).”
Harry Bauld sent a detailed
report (those are good). Concern-
ing the present: To date, Harry has
spent more than 37 years teaching
high school and writing. “My recent
book of poetry is The Uncorrected Eye,
and everyone should feel free to buy
many copies; makes a great gift for
family, friends, colleagues, bartenders
and other dependents. On Writing the
College Application Essay, based on my
work at Columbia and Brown, is in
its 25th anniversary edition.”
Harry worked in admissions for
four years, first at Columbia, then at
Brown. He was “rescued,” as he puts
it, by a former Columbia admis-
sions director, Michael Lacopo, who
had become headmaster at Horace
Mann, and threw Harry into a class-
room. “After a few years at Horace
Mann in the ’80s, and a few more
tilling the rocky soil of the freelance
written word, I ended up at the Put-
ney School in Vermont for 16 years,
and had two daughters (the elder of
whom, Lizzy Straus ’09, SOA14, is
also a poet — il miglior fabbro). In
2007, I moved back to New York so
my wife, Inés, could begin a year at
Teachers College, and I returned to
the embrace of Horace Mann.
“Two years ago, with current
baseball coach Brett Boretti’s help,
Jim Bruno ’76, Joe Cosgriff’78
and I (three consecutive Columbia
baseball captains) organized the
40th reunion of the 1976 baseball
team at Baker Athletics Complex, a
great event that included members
of the’77 team — back-to-back
Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball
League champions (the Ivies plus
Army and Navy, in those days). We
alumninews “
Members of the Class of 1978 at Reunion 2018. Left to right: Paul Cutrone,
Tom Reuter, Joe Greenaway, John Flores and Al Feliu.
have reveled in the impressive suc-
cess of the Boretti era but also want
to point out that we believe the ’77
incarnation was the first Columbia
team in history to win a post-season
game — in the ECAC tournament,
against Fairleigh Dickinson.”
1978
Matthew Nemerson
35 Huntington St.
New Haven, CT 06511
matthewnemerson@gmail.com
As I’m writing this issue’s column,
the news is basically telling me that
our grandchildren may well have to
navigate a country that is debat-
ing the efficacy of democracy while
dealing with climate change that
will make large sections of the coun-
try unlivable — if not underwater.
Makes our lives seem relatively
mundane and predictable. Too bad
the rest of the country didn't take
CC (so at least they would have a
better sense of the consequences of
bad ideas) and a few world history
survey classes (to understand the
consequences of foolish actions). Oh
well, maybe next time. Or do you
believe in parallel universes?
People are still talking about the
great panel at reunion — and the
fact that they couldn't hear a lot of
what was said. You guys are so picky!
Don Guttenplan notes, “Two
milestones for me (apart from
sharing a panel with my old friend
Tim Weiner at reunion): In March
I took over as editor of Jewish
Quarterly, a 75-year-old London-
based journal of culture, politics and
general yiddishkeit, which welcomes
readers and subscribers from around
the world. And in October, my latest
book — The Next Republic: The Rise
of a New Radical Majority, which
blends history and reportage to offer
a hopeful, and I hope realistic, sense
of the political road away from the
twin cliffs of Trumpism and corpo-
rate Democratic hand-wringing —
was published.”
Don, I did some hand-wringing
earlier. Sorry.
Talking about being underwa-
ter, Wendell Graham writes, “I
retire in August after 24 years as a
county judge in Miami, five years
prosecutor, six years criminal law.
Returning to practice law empha-
sizing mediation. My wife, Janice,
works at a nonprofit helping bridge
emancipated, dependent children
from early adulthood to indepen-
dent living. Oldest son teaches
dance in Atlanta. Second son is an
Army staff sergeant. Youngest is a
sophomore (at Canterbury, in Con-
necticut), whom I hope applies to
the College.”
From New Jerseyan Barry Sage
El: “Recently retired from the tech-
nology consulting field. Have two
granddaughters who turned 1 last
year. My BC’78 wife’s independent
bookstore continues to thrive after
20 years. Go, Lions football; good
start to the season. I am concerned
about the overall health and welfare
of our government, as it is becoming
a government based on partisan
mob rule. The issue is no longer
Democrat or Republican but rather
what is right and wrong.”
Barry, what’s your wife’s name?
And no hand-wringing.
Winter 2018-19 CCT 69
Members of Old Blue, alumni from Columbia Ultimate Frisbee teams of the
late 1970s and early 1980s, had a reunion during Labor Day weekend with
friends and family members. Front row, left to right: Jordan Hirschhorn, Jim
Drennan ’84, Phil Hirschhorn ’84, Bob Kennelly SEAS’81, Ernie Cicconi ’81,
Chris Betts 84, Harry Betts and Adam “Sonofschotz” Silverschotz; back row:
Bob Jarrett SEAS’83, Joe Strothman ’84, Chris Schmidt ’81, Steve Kane ’80,
Alex Bagley ’80, Greg “Grog” Verbeck, Paul Tvetenstrand SEAS’82, Alex
Lynch LAW’87, Tom Jacobson, Mark Silverschotz ’78 and Ken Gary SEAS’81.
David Margules’ kids could star
in a whole evening of primetime TV
drama plots: “I work in the Delaware
office of the national law firm Ballard
Spahr, where I lead the Chancery
Court/Corporate Governance prac-
tice. ’m married to Michelle Seltzer
BC’77; our 40-year anniversary is
coming up in February. We have four
sons — a doctor, a public defender,
a chef and a college student. I’m
hoping to do a better job keeping up
with old friends this year.”
Jeffrey Moerdler: “I had the
pleasure of seeing Gary Pickholz,
for the first time in decades, while
I was in Israel on vacation. It was a
great mini-reunion.”
And while we often hear from
Pickholz on the politics of Israel, we
have never gotten a report about its
infrastructure from him, until now:
“First morning of operation, first
‘fast’ (125 kph) train from Jerusalem
to civilization (not quite to Tel Aviv,
only as far as the airport between
the cities). 1 am on the fourth train
ever to depart Jerusalem, first per-
mitting hoi poloi rather than Man-
darins, Mullahs and Rajahs. History
of electric mass transit rail: 1881,
Berlin S-Bahn; 1883, Brighton line
to Victoria, London; and now 2018,
Israel, half of one line.”
Michael Wilhite is using Facebook
and LinkedIn to help me do my
job: “Social media has allowed that
list to be long as I reconnected with
classmates. I attended a retirement
reception for Steve Singer this year.
Steve was the academic counselor
for Columbia Athletics when I was
a freshman. By the time these notes
70 CCT Winter 2018-19
are published my youngest daughter
will be 4. It’s cool being a father again.
Maybe this one will go to Columbia.
Retirement is not in my vocabulary. I
am still having fun and enjoying my
life. 1am humbled and appreciative
of being inducted into the Columbia
University Athletics Hall of Fame.
Thank you to those who attended
games and always had an encouraging
word. I love the new football coach,
and the team is on the brink of a
championship season. The start has
been great. Women's soccer is also on
the upswing. The Bubble will be up
again at Robert K. Kraft Field; it has
helped mitigate bad weather. The ath-
letics facilities are first-rate. Go Lions!”
“Tm in full-time private psychiatric
practice,” reports Richard Schloss,
“in Huntington, N.Y. Celebrated my
33rd wedding anniversary in August
with Meredith Jaffe NRS’82 (now a
full-time dentist). Had Saturday din-
ner in Butler Library at reunion and
hung out with Marvin Siegfried and
his wife, Sharon.
Richard laid out the next year
for us, “I predict: Mueller will indict
people close to Trump for ‘conspiracy
against the United States’ for their
role in the Russia meeting, includ-
ing Donald Jr., and will also issue
indictments for financial malfea-
sance against others close to Trump,
such as Jared Kushner, but will be
unable to charge Trump himself.
His presidency will be damaged, but
he will not be removed from office.
Democrats will take full control of
the House but will gain only one
Senate seat and will divide the Senate
50-50; Pence will come in to break
the tie in every vote. Partisan rancor
will worsen, and lawsuits between
Democratic states and the adminis-
tration will tie up the courts.”
There were a slew of quips about
the reunion and the campus; here
are a few of them:
“Very impressed by how well
manicured the place looked, practi-
cally Princetonian!”
“North campus was astounding.
John Jay was amazingly unchanged.”
“More joint events with Barnard.”
“More discussion and debate and
less passivity for participants.”
“We need a barbecue.”
“Caught up with a lot of folks.”
“They could not get the sound
right for panel discussion at the
class dinner.”
“Can I help to get the logistics
right for the 45th?”
“Told Chris Dell that I wished
he were secretary of state. He said,
‘So do I.”
1979
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Robert Klapper
8737 Beverly Blvd., Ste 303
Los Angeles, CA 90048
robertklappermd@aol.com
News from Mark Fleischmann:
“The entire staff of Sound & Vision
magazine has been laid off by a new
owner, leaving me with time on my
hands. I spent the first two months
writing and publishing a short book,
The Friendly Audio Guide, aimed at
young people pondering their first
stereo systems. I will spend the rest
of this year working on other book
projects before returning to freelance
writing, which occupied about half
of my previous career.”
Andrew Semons reports, “Much
to my surprise (and delight) I’m still
hard at work. IPNY, the ad agency I
started with some coworkers from my
Ogilvy and Mather days seven years
ago, is doing well and has been named
for the past two years in a row one of
New York’s top agencies. Our roster
of clients includes some high-profile
for-profit clients in the financial
services and healthcare sectors. But
the real joy of the past seven years
has been building strong marketing,
advertising and fundraising initiatives
for major nonprofits, including The
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society,
City of Hope, WNET Thirteen and,
most recently, The First Amendment
Museum, a non-partisan initiative
to reacquaint U.S. citizens with their
First Amendment freedoms and
inspire productive civil discourse.
“T split my time between NYC and
the East End of Long Island, where
my husband manages a local newspa-
per. We sail as often as we can.”
Robert C. Klapper: “My Colum-
bia memory for this column involves
our experience with the football team.
“As you might imagine, none of
these memories involve any victories
on the playing field. Winning in
football was never our priority,
which is good since it never hap-
pened. But as I recently learned,
the big reason I loved our football
program and couldn't wait for each
game was to hear the comments of
our coach, Bill Campbell 62, TC’64.
We all became aware of his life
beyond the field in Silicon Valley.
“That iPhone and iPad and
iWatch and i-in-everything that
seems to be surrounding us in life
now was the vision of Steve Jobs and
Apple. But if you read the biography
of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson,
you will quickly learn that the key
player and coach behind the scenes
of this revolution was that very same
Columbia football coach, Bill Camp-
bell. His impact in helping to create
the modern world is astonishing.
“One of the many careers that I
perform as a modern Renaissance
man, in addition to being an ortho-
pedic surgeon here in Los Angeles,
is I host a radio show every Saturday
on ESPN, Weekend Warrior. (You
can hear the podcast on the ESPN
app). A recent guest was Columbia’s
head football coach, Al Bagnoli. For
23 years he was the head coach at
Penn, and brought it nine titles. He
is the most successful coach in the
history of the Ivy League. President
Lee C. Bollinger has done many
great things at the school since we
graduated, but I believe that even
more impactful than the Manhat-
tanville project will be convincing
Coach Bagnoli to come out of
retirement from Penn and to bring
his magic to our football program.
“At ESPN I work closely each
week with Marcellus Wiley ’97, and
it was great to have him spend a
segment on the air with me after the
coach's interview. What became very
clear to me in talking to both Bag-
noli and Wiley was the tremendous
impact Campbell had on their lives.
I remember his raspy voice and tre-
mendous charisma in the few times
I saw him while on campus. Coach
Bagnoli told a story about the day
he went to visit Campbell in his
office in Silicon Valley; prior to the
meeting Campbell had just finished
speaking with Tim Cook, now CEO
of Apple. Bagnoli then said that
after his appointment, Campbell
was off to visit a Pop Warner foot-
ball program he had created. This is
happening all the while Campbell is
CEO of a software company, Intuit.
“What I learned, while rediscov-
ering the life, the myth, the man, the
legend that was Campbell, was that
during our four years at the College
reading about those dead iconic
thinkers (Hobbes and Locke, Vol-
taire and Thucydides), Campbell was
an iconic thinker walking among us.
“Just like when professor Karl-
Ludwig Selig taught me that
Cervantes and his masterpiece, Don
Quixote, was more than just a novel,
Coach Al Bagnoli, Marcellus Wiley
and Steve Jobs taught me that Bill
Campbell was more than just a
football coach.
“Roar, lion, roar!”
1980
Michael C. Brown
London Terrace Towers
410 W. 24th St., Apt. 18F
New York, NY 10011
mcbcu80@yahoo.com
Every year since 1990, on the
weekend after Labor Day, Old Blue
(alumni from Columbia Ultimate
Left to right: Mario Biaggi ’80,
Charlie LaRocca ’80, Joe Ciulla
*80 and A.J. Sabatelle ’80 ata
gathering for Sabatelle’s birthday.
Frisbee teams of the late 1970s and
early 1980s) reunites. There is a
reunion on Friday night to carbo-load
at V&T and play disc golf on the Ken
Gary SEAS’81-designed campus
course — holes include hitting A/ma
Mater from Carman (par 4) and
hitting the bust in the Van Am Quad
from the Butler main doors (par 3) —
and then play Ultimate on Saturday.
‘This year Chris Schmidt’81 and
Pascale Schmidt BC’83 hosted the
Saturday game on Long Island.
In a major upset, after strategically
and viciously fouling and breaking
the rib of perhaps the finest player
on the Legends (over 60) team in
the first half, the Rookies (under
60) won 15-14. The photo on the
opposite page shows the survivors of
the contest, along with some of their
family members and friends: front
row, Jordan Hirschhorn, Jim Dren-
nan ’84, Phil Hirschhorn’84, Bob
Kennelly SEAS’81, Ernie Cicconi
81, Chris Betts ’84, Harry Betts and
Adam “Sonofschotz” Silverschotz;
and back row, Bob Jarrett SEAS’83,
Joe Strothman’84, Chris Schmidt
81, Steve Kane, Alex Bagley, Greg
“Grog” Verbeck, Paul Tvetenstrand
SEAS’82, Alex Lynch LAW’87, Tom
Jacobson, Mark Silverschotz’78 and
Ken Gary SEAS’81.
I hope you are all doing well
and that your New Year is healthy
and happy!
1981
Kevin Fay
8300 Private Ln.
Annadale, VA 22003
kfayO516@gmail.com
Since most of the Class of 1981 is
approaching the big “60,” it is fitting
that I should hear from classmates
as they cross this threshold onto
the next stage of life. In the case
of Richard Gentile, he is lucky
enough to have friends from
Columbia surprise him with a
60th birthday party — one year in
advance. The party was orchestrated
by Lenny Cassuto and Kevin
Costa, who flank Richard in the
photo at top right. The three amigos
and their wives spent Labor Day
weekend at Cape Cod, talking about
old days and the future. They extend
best wishes to the class.
I also heard from Frank Boyle,
who lived across from me on 7
Hartley about 40 years ago (yikes).
Frank is a longtime professor of
English at Fordham. He’s taken a
research leave this year to finish a
book, Opening Heads in Early-Mod-
ern and 18th-Century Literature and
Science. The term “neurologie” was
coined in the 17th century; Frank’s
book is about the impact this new
science had on the literature of the
time. We used to have epic parties
on 7 Hartley, I have fond memories
of this dormitory (after Hartley it
was the Fiji House, which at times
was about as clean as the MTA stop
at 116th and Broadway ... oh well).
I have a positive update from
Tom Glocer, who is obviously not
slowing down as he approaches
60. He writes, “The family is great.
Maarit and I celebrated our 30th
anniversary last summer; Walter,
our second child, joined his sister
Mariana at NYU; and Simba, our
third Bull Mastiff, is 2.
“Work is busy, as I co-founded
three firms last year: bluevoyant.
com, a cyber defense company;
capitolis.com, a Fintech platform;
and communitascapital.com, a finan-
cial markets-oriented venture fund.
“Tam on several public company
and charitable boards (Atlantic
Council, Cleveland Clinic, Colum-
bia Global Center (Paris), Merck,
Morgan Stanley, Publicis, Yale Law
School) and find time to keep up my
support of our beloved Columbia.”
Have a great start to 2019, and
please take a moment to write in
with an update!
1982
Andrew Weisman
81 S. Garfield St.
Denver, CO 80209
ColumbiaCollege82@gmail.com
Greetings, gents! As I put cuneiform
to clay tablet it is now the end of
September. Here in Denver the days
are growing shorter, the leaves are
starting to turn and the last vestiges
of civil political discourse are now just
a fond receding memory. I’ve decided
that I am now a single-issue voter:
Our much-cherished Core Curricu-
lum should be nationally mandated.
On that baleful note I was happy
to receive news from our highly
accomplished, globe-trotting media
vanguard Fred Katayama JRN’83.
In his own words: “I always believed
Lenny Cassuto ’81 (left) and Kevin
Costa ’81 (right) surprised Richard
Gentile ’81 with a 60th birthday
cake (a year early!) during Labor
Day on Cape Cod.
the answer to ‘How do you get
to Carnegie Hall?’ was practice,
practice, practice — not a Columbia
College B.A. in East Asian studies
and a master’s from the Journal-
ism School. But I wound up with
a private dressing room (complete
with a Steinway) and my name in
Playbill and on the poster outside
the entrance. Sitting on stage next
to the conductor and facing a sold-
out audience of 2,800, I narrated
portions of the last letters written
by people who died in WWII. The
concert was titled The Last Message.
I synced my narration to the music
performed by the Tokyo Philhar-
monic Orchestra and a men’s chorus
group. It’s something else to hear
your own voice resonate at Carnegie.
“I love getting together with guys
from the College. I had dim sum in
Chinatown late in the summer with
Steve Carty’85, who has a daughter,
Monica ’15. Somehow, we got the
memo and found ourselves sport-
ing matching orange polo shirts
instead of Columbia's Jordy blue. In
February, I had dinner in Rome with
Greg Burke JRN’83, who’s got an
ultra-cool gig: He’s the chief Vatican
spokesman for Pope Francis direct-
ing the Holy See’s press office. Greg
and I were classmates at the Journal-
ism School and are both alumni
of Time, Inc., where he toiled at
Time while I wrote for Fortune. In
April, I had drinks with my former
uber boss, Tom Glocer’81, who was
CEO of Thomson Reuters and now
is on the boards of Morgan Stanley
and Merck. I had coffee with Alex
Moon last year. Every other year, I
get together over dinner with Mike
Radigan, Jim Connolly and Mike
Winter 2018-19 CCT 71
Your
Class Notes
Tubridy. In winter months, I tend
to run into Louis De Chiara on
the street. Before returning to the
financial news beat, I every now
and then would tap Rob Polner at
NYU Wagener to find a professor to
interview on a public policy issue.
“T recently had lunch in Tokyo
with my Japanese literature professor,
the esteemed Donald Keene ’42,
GSAS’49. I get together with him
every year to celebrate his birthday.
He turned 96 last June. And I still see
professors Carol Gluck, Gerry Curtis
and Paul Anderer from time to time.”
Thanks, Fred — on stage at
Carnegie Hall, what an extraordi-
nary accomplishment! Really great
update! Greg B., Alex M., Mike R.,
Jim C., Mike T., Louis D. and Rob
P., I would love to hear from you
guys as well!
1983
Roy Pomerantz
Babyking/Petking
182-20 Liberty Ave.
Jamaica, NY 11412
bkroy@msn.com
Greetings, classmates. Eddy Fried-
feld recently hosted a program with
the actors from the TV show The
Flash (watch the interview online at
bit.ly/2NwPFbB or see a snippet at
bit.ly/2A0IfKg). Also, see the review
of the Sid Caesar set that Eddy
produced (and wrote a booklet for)
at bit.ly/2PqfMTI.
Wayne Allyn Root gave a speech
at the September 21 Trump rally in
Las Vegas: see it at bit.ly/2OM97pp.
Submit
ED
CCT welcomes Class Notes
photos that feature at
least two College alumni.
Click “Contact Us” at
college.columbia.edu/cct.
Photo
72 CCT Winter 2018-19
On September 20, The New York
Post reported, “David Newman, the
team’s senior VP of marketing and
communications, will be leaving the
Mets after this season. Newman has
held the position since 2005.”
Amelia Raftopoulis and her
son, Philip ’22, attended a Summer
Sendoff event hosted by my wife,
Debbie, and me. Amelia’s brother is
Othon Prounis.
Dan Loeb, founder and CEO
of Third Point, is seeking to replace
the entire Campbell Soup Co. board.
Dan is heavily involved in education
reform efforts, specifically support-
ing charter schools. He endowed
the Daniel S. Loeb Scholarship for
undergraduate study at Columbia
University. Dan is a prominent art
collector. His Wikipedia page states,
“Dan has traced his love of art to his
student years at Columbia, where he
saw Poussins’s The Rape of the Sabine
Women at the Metropolitan Museum
of Art and took an art humanities
class as part of the Core Curriculum.”
Alex Treitler: “The piece about
me in the Summer 2018 Class Notes
has resulted in my making a connec-
tion with Teddy Weinberger, who
lives in Israel. We both have degrees
in religious studies and a professional
background in this field. There are
a number of other touchpoints, and
it has been very rewarding to have
made this connection.
“T have four children: a son who
is 30 and is a professional violin-
ist living in Sweden; he has his
own quartet (the Treitler Quartet)
together with his wife that has won
awards and distinctions in Sweden. I
saw him, his wife and my grand-
daughters (3 and 5) in December
2017 when they visited me and
gave concerts in the Twin Cities. I
have three daughters from a second
marriage (7, 11 and 13). They too
are musical (violin, cello and piano)
and pursue many other interests. My
oldest is a rising talent at an after-
noon youth circus school, Circus
Juventas, the largest of its kind in
the United States.
“T started my own business,
Life Language, last spring and am
working to get it off the ground. The
business creates interactive websites,
books and audio that capture the
lives, culture and memory of a
family’s oldest generation. Lots of
work to start, but fascinating and
rewarding. I have made a connection
with Professor Peter Rudnytsky, at
the University of Florida, my fresh-
man Lit Hum professor and hugely
influential in setting a standard for
intellectual rigor that has stuck with
me. For our 35th reunion I made a
gift in his honor to the Columbia
Black Alumni Council Scholarship
Fund. I don’t have a lot of free time,
but will likely continue to coach my
daughters’ basketball teams and con-
tinue to be engaged in addressing
implicit bias in education.”
Nick Paone: “I became a partner
in the law firm of Fleischner Potash,
which formed after the dissolution
of my old firm, White Fleischner &
Fino, in 2018. My daughter Abigail
graduated last May from The Boston
Conservatory at Berklee in the field
of acting and musical theater and, as
much as she has become addicted to
Boston, is New York-bound because
her colleagues told her it’s the right
thing to do — her parents’ voices
being inaudible to her. My daughter
Lillian, a high school senior, has
been discovered as a talented jazz
singer, but will probably not pursue
that in college, being very practical-
minded (though who knows what
will happen down the road). For the
past few years, I have resurrected
my musician past by playing in rock
bands on keyboards at choice venues
in New Jersey (a.k.a. dive bars)
and am between projects, having
accumulated too much gear to let it
go to waste.”
Ed Joyce: “On October 28, my
wife, Linda Gerstel, joined our 17
teammates and nearly 400 other
cyclists as we participated in the 19th
Wheels of Love Bike Ride — a five-
day, 300-mile ride through the Negev/
southern Israel to raise money for the
physically challenged children of the
ALYN Hospital in Jerusalem. ALYN
Hospital is one of the world’s leading
specialists in the active and intensive
rehabilitation of children, regardless
of their religion or ethnic origin (it is
the only such hospital in the Middle
East!). The name of our team is once
again Grumpy Roadsters — apropos
of our warm and fuzzy dispositions.
Last year, we raised nearly $115,000.
‘This year, we have set an aggressive
team goal of raising at least $125,000.
If you need more motivation, this
year’s ride also marks our 25th wed-
ding anniversary, and we can think of
no better way to celebrate it.
“Donations are tax-deductible
for U.S. residents and can be made
online by clicking on our individual
pages, wolusa.org/goto/edjoyce or
wolusa.org/goto/lindagerstel, or by
clicking on our team page: wolusa.
org/goto/grumpyroadsters.”
Jon Ross: “Major earthquakes
recently caused widespread damage
and loss of life on the Indonesian
island of Lombok, near Bali. A
series of magnitude 6-plus temblors
killed more than 400 people and
destroyed almost 80 percent of the
homes, displacing approximately
350,000 men, women and children.
Here at my nonprofit, MicroAid,
our heart goes out to the survivors
and the victims’ families. And I am
encouraged to see the first respond-
ers and relief supplies reaching
the area. MicroAid is a long-term
recovery organization, rebuilding
permanent homes for families after
the emergency workers have left,
and I will go in later and help people
get out of the temporary tents and
the rubble of their homes, and help
them return to self-sufficiency.
MicroAid continues to rebuild
houses for families affected by the
2015 earthquake in Nepal. I am also
getting ready to help families whose
homes were destroyed in the Carib-
bean by hurricanes in fall 2017.
Please donate to help the earth-
quake survivors in Indonesia.”
We were honored to have Andy
Barth as our keynote speaker for our
35th reunion. Excepts of his remarks:
“Amazingly, 35 years ago we were
graduating from the College. Where
did those years go? For me, in those
35 years, | worked two summer jobs,
attended Columbia Business School,
worked 32 and a half years for the
same investment management firm,
the Capital Group, and have now been
retired for six months. 1 got married
(30 years in October), had four chil-
dren (three girls, all USC Trojans; one
boy, a Columbia grad) and have lived
30 of those 35 years in Los Angeles.
“In those 35 years, it is remark-
able to me how the four years before
at Columbia have consistently
colored and influenced my life.
There is rarely an instance in which
the education, the people or the
institution of Columbia has not
played a role in causing, influencing
or enhancing my life’s major events.
A recent perfect illustration was my
involvement at the Rio Olympics
in 2016. I had been chosen as the
Team Leader of the U.S. Men's
Freestyle Wrestling team, a role
which allowed me to march in the
Opening and Closing Ceremonies
and reside in the Olympic Village
during the wrestling competitions.
Coincidentally another Columbian,
Kyra Tirana Barry’87, was the
team leader for the Women’s Team.
On a side note, her husband, Dave
Barry 87, was the team leader for
the Men’s Greco-Roman Team at
the 2012 London Olympics. This
honor does not find me without
Columbia. While I enjoyed some
victories at Columbia, I was by no
means a great wrestler. Our team
won three Ivy League Titles, but the
best that could be said about me was
that I was a good wrestler who had
a few great moments. What brought
my name to the attention of USA
Wrestling was my love for the sport
and for the Columbia program.
“When I endowed the head
coaching position here, I did not
realize that it was the first of its
kind in the country. Somewhat
fitting as Columbia is the oldest
college wrestling program in the
country, now 115 years old. In 2011,
I had the chance to bring attention
to our sport and to Columbia by
publicizing the fact that in its rare
books division, Columbia held a
2,000-year-old papyrus manuscript
that is the oldest written coaching
manual in the world — and yes,
it is on wrestling. The University
helped me prepare beautiful copies
that were presented in a ceremony
held at Casa Italiana to the National
Wrestling Hall of Fame and the
international governing body of
wrestling, at that time named FILA.
“On to Rio, where the Columbia
connections are plentiful. As I was
standing, chatting with Kyra, outside
the USA residence hall in the village,
waiting to proceed to the open-
ing ceremonies, we found Nzingha
Prescod’15, who competed in fencing
later that week. Also later that week,
I watch Katie Meili’ 13 win a bronze
medal in the 100m breaststroke. My
son, Andrew ’16, and I stood up and,
to the bewilderment of those around
us but only to the embarrassment
of my wife and daughters (all USC
graduates), broke out singing Roar,
Lion, Roar. You never have to go far to
find Columbia success and excellence.
(No, I am not referring to the singing.)
“... The Columbia education is like
an intellectual Olympiad. Four years
of Core Curriculum, with the bright-
est students from every state in the
United States and from 92 countries,
all mixing together, studying together,
coming to understand and appreciate
each other through a consistent set of
disciplines and rigors. To me, this is a
strong basis of hope for our future. ...
I would like to close with a quote from
Pat Riley, the former coach of the L.A.
Lakers and New York Knicks. I met
him at a book signing, shortly after
his successful years with the Lakers.
I was buying a couple dozen books
for my investment team and getting
them autographed. He was impressed
(or grateful) with the number of
books and inquired who they were
for. I explained I was taking over
responsibility for a group that needed
to come together as a team. He looked
at me and said: “We may not be the
Lion, but we can be the Lion’s Roar.’ I
loved that phrase and have never had a
chance to use it. So, there is no better
way to end this. For those of you who
still can, be the Lion. For the rest of us,
let us be the Lion’s Roar.”
Finally, former Columbia bas-
ketball standout Jeff Coby’17 made
the New York Knicks training roster
this fall.
1984
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Dennis Klainberg
Berklay Cargo Worldwide
14 Bond St., Ste 233
Great Neck, NY 11021
dennis@berklay.com
David Stafford is in his sixth year
as general counsel of McGraw-Hill,
the educational publisher, based in
NYC. He and his wife, Caryn BC’85,
LAW’88 live in Scarsdale, N.Y., with
the youngest of their three children,
Allison, a senior in high school. Their
younger son Andrew is a senior at
Cornell and their son Daniel lives in
Rockland County, N.Y. “I’ve always
loved sports and fancied myself an
athlete,” David says, “but Allison puts
me to shame. She is the best athlete
in our family and has been recruited
to play soccer by a number of colleges.
She hopes and expects to play varsity
soccer at Amherst College in 2019.”
Also living in Scarsdale is John
Kornfeld: “After 30 years of practice,
alumninews \)
setinatcenacslenosrasnsentasesecitecsslyeseecsaesedaseccseeesissssselecssacyssessasatscedsa'itedesctreseveareetssachoseetsscursareiessedvrucstadautesneassuens suebscansaisaesasisacsstvaa ving edna ceed set vatenbareatoeenes \oneaneneueesanaseaslccsssieeps ccnwesseaeseeusecssls daecesavudanaseususeruesadcsisadresleiccacrnseeavaaestocnendenslneskenncst teeters saeco IRS Tee NNER Tc ecaecersencreee ts
Left to right: Evelyn Jagoda ‘14, David Kahn ’80, Dennis Klainberg ’84 and
Constantino Tobio ‘96 at Homecoming 2018.
I started my own firm, the Law
Offices of John A. Kornfeld. I focus
exclusively on family law. I have been
named a Super Lawyer six years
running, as well as one of New York’s
Leading Family Lawyers and one
of New York’s Best Lawyers in the
field. My wife, Julie, and I celebrated
our 20th wedding anniversary; our
oldest child is a sophomore at the
University of Chicago, our middle
child is a junior at Scarsdale H.S.
and our youngest is in the seventh
grade at Scarsdale Middle School. I
look forward to attending our 35th
reunion (can it be that long?).
All hail outgoing Columbia
University Senate alumnus Kurt
Roeloffs! “After a year of our family
traveling through Africa and Europe,
we have landed in Cambridge,
England, for local study and a new
London-based real estate investment
venture. My study will focus on theol-
ogy and business ethics, which is a
nearly completely abandoned field of
study, and [my wife] Shyanne’s study
will be at the intersection of nutrition
and psychology, one of the very hot-
test fields around. Our three younger
children are in local schools and our
oldest is finishing high school in
Connecticut. In early July we hosted
a send-off for Columbia’s incoming
students from the United Kingdom
in the offices of Seaforth Land, the
new venture that I chair. The students
loved the cool WeWork sort of vibe
that the place has and the very warm
send off from local alumni who
included Helene Tagliaferri SEAS’83,
Maria Shiao SEAS’86, Alexi Thomas
16 and Drew Feldman SEAS’17.”
Rocking the internet is Max
Rosen, president and founder of
Indigo Productions, which special-
izes in the creation of social media
videos to publicize the films of Sony
Pictures, among others. Max has
written an interesting and insightful
blog that will benefit developers and
awe just about everyone else with an
interest on what attracts the most
attention online: bit.ly/2OEsiBJ.
Salutatorian Cary Pfeffer loves
that dirty water (yes, Boston is his
home): “Still a partner at Third Rock
Ventures — the lifesciences venture
firm I helped create 11 years ago.
We have recently built and funded
our 50th biotech company. Daugh-
ters Samantha and Ayla are a junior
and a freshman respectively in high
school. Wife Ruth does an amazing
job balancing her leadership devel-
opment consulting business and the
kids. All’s good.”
Class President Larry Kane does
a takedown! He reports: “Will be
going to the 35th reunion and back
to NYC for the Columbia 1980-81
wrestling team’s induction to the
Columbia University Athletics Hall
of Fame — classmates on the team
include Ed Gaudreau, Bill Lubell,
Yossi Rabin, Chip Trayner, Karl
Oprisch SEAS’84, Ron Wolowiec,
Jack Bailey, Bill Goritski, Danny
Hiller, Drew Scopelliti, Miles
Vukelic (who died a few years ago)
and me. This is my third sports hall
of fame. The others are my high
Winter 2018-19 CCT 73
Class Notes
)
MBI UNIVERSITY
BH a Noon
Several College and Barnard alumni met up at Judah Cohen ’85’s
daughter’s wedding on May 28. Left to right: Mark Moskowitz ’85, Cohen,
Sherri Cohen BC’91, MJ Kanner TC’93, Barry Kanner ’85, Barry Schwartz '85,
Roberta Schwartz, Dvora Reich BC’86 and David Reich ’85.
school, Penfield H.S. in Western
New York, and Galileo H.S. in San
Francisco, where I was head coach
of the varsity wrestling team for 15
years (and where O.J. Simpson went
to school!).”
Let’s get ready to rumbll[IIIII!le!
Come back to campus and celebrate
the 35th!
1985
Jon White
16 South Ct.
Port Washington, NY 11050
jw@whitecoffee.com
We got so many updates that I
forgot to mention some of my
recent reconnections at Columbia
events, particularly with a number of
Glee Clubbers. I ran into the Hon.
Timothy Tomasi LAW’88 at our
Law School reunion in June. Tim
dispenses justice as a Superior Court
judge in Vermont. During the same
month, at the Kingsmen reunion on
the Lower East Side, it was fantastic
to see David Zapolsky, who con-
tinues his good work at Amazon.
And it was great to reconnect last
fall at a Columbia dinner with John
Phelan, who is pursuing a master’s
at the Mailman School of Public
Health. It was also wonderful to see
Hector Morales at the same event;
Ambassador Morales practices law
in Washington, D.C.
In other news, Joe Novak is a
diplomat with the State Depart-
ment. “After tours through Jeddah,
Montreal, Jakarta, Manila, Colom-
bia, Islamabad and Dhaka, I am the
74 CCT Winter 2018-19
director of the Office of Regional
Policy Coordination in the Bureau
of International Organization
Affairs in Washington, D.C.,” he
writes. “The office focuses on several
matters, including the G-7 process
and on ways to support Israel in the
UN and in specialized agencies. We
also focus on U.S. linkages on mul-
tilateral issues with regional bodies,
such as the African Union, ASEAN,
the Organization of American
States and the Arab League. We
also develop analytical data and
metrics, including with reference to
UN voting by other countries and its
coincidence with U.S. positioning.”
Mark Scherzer started with
Morgan Stanley in November 1985,
and passed his 33rd anniversary, “hav-
ing survived the dot.com bubble, the
financial crisis, many changes in man-
agement and so on. | focus on large-
scale projects across our third-party
supplier base and have negotiated
tens of millions of dollars of contracts.
I remain active on the boards of a
number of charities, focusing on at-
risk youth, and fundraising.”
Judah Cohen shares happy news:
“My daughter, Gabriella Cohen
BC’'18, married Avery Feit SEAS’18
on May 28. In addition to many
recent and current Columbia/Barnard
students, we also had some friends
from the Class of 1985 in attendance.”
In late September, Hector
Morales reported: “As of next week,
I will join Macquarie Capital’s
Infrastructure and Energy Group
full time as a managing director and
chairman of Latin America.”
Mitch Regenstreif moved to
DLA Piper when his “legacy” law
firm merged into DLA Piper. He
shares that it “has been a good
move, as it’s a really great firm with
amazing real estate and corporate
departments. I have also been able to
work with firm lawyers nationwide
and overseas. My three daughters
are also doing well. Oldest Nina
graduated from Penn last May and
is in Vienna on a teaching Fulbright.
Second daughter Claire is a junior
at Colorado — we all love Boulder!
And baby Grace, a junior in high
school, is stuck at home with mom
(Ellen ’88) and dad. Too much
attention for her liking!”
In 2018, Philip lvory was named
assistant director of The Writers
Studio Tucson, a branch of the New
York-based creative writing school
founded by Pulitzer Prize-winning
poet Philip Schultz. He has been
teaching creative writing on the
intermediate level at Writers Studio
since October 2016. In 2018, Philip
had short stories published in Ghost
Parachute and Two Cities Review,
with stories slated to appear in
Menacing Hedge and Oklahoma
Pagan Quarterly. His story “Keep
Me Company” was named third-
place winner in Oklahoma Pagan
New Montgomery St. If you
go to San Francisco you'll likely
experience one of his projects.
Andrew’s working on the
renovation of the San Francisco
Armory, a major project at
UC Santa Cruz, as well as the
reconstruction of the entire seawall
along the San Francisco waterfront.
He got married in 2015 to Michael
TenBrink, and they are now the
proud guardians of dog Bibi.
After a 23-year career as a gaffer
(chief lighting technician) for film
and television, Brooks Tomb left
“the business” 11 years ago to be
the director of regional offices
for the nonprofit Sunshine Kids
Foundation. He says, “We provide
exciting group activities and trips for
kids with cancer. I work out of our
eastern region office in Hartford,
Conn., and while I miss sunny
Los Angeles, I have been able to
reconnect with Andrew Andriuk,
Peter Strunsky, Robert LaPalme,
Alex Spiro, John Adelman, Ron
Schwartz and occasionally Jason
Chervokas. I was on campus
recently and obtained an alumni
library card. I hung out at Butler
for a few hours between meetings.
Andy Ahn ’86 recently moved from Indianapolis to
Philadelphia. He is a neurologist and neuroscientist who
Quarterly’s Spooky Samhain 2018
Contest. He is working on a dark
fantasy novel and maintains a blog
at writeyourselfsane.com.
Andrew Wolfram GSAPP’88
lives in San Francisco and is a
principal at the architecture firm
TEF Design, the president of the
San Francisco Historic Preservation
Commission and president of the
Golden Gate Chapter of Lambda
Alpha International, a land use and
real estate organization. During the
last 20 years he’s had a role in some
amazing projects in San Francisco,
including the renovation of the San
Francisco Ferry Building, a new
building for Pixar, many projects
in the Presidio of San Francisco,
including the Presidio Officers’ Club
and the Presidio Landmark apart-
ments, and the renovation of the
spectacular Art Deco tower at 140
focuses on the discovery of medicines for headache and pain.
It was a wonderfully peaceful way
to spend an afternoon. I highly
recommend it.”
I’m unfortunately ending this
update on a sad note: Jorge Hirter
told me of the passing last year of
Wylie Burgan. After Columbia,
Wylie received multiple master’s
and spent his career as a teacher.
He taught social studies, English
and special education in public high
schools in Chicago; Fort Pierce,
Fla.; Bedford, N.Y.; and New York
City, as well as was an assistant or
adjunct professor for several Florida
community colleges. At Lehman
HLS. in the Bronx he also was the
coordinator of the Justice Academy
and coach of the award-winning
Herbert H. Lehman H.S. Law Team.
Wylie last was an assistant principal
at the School of Math, Science, and
Engineering in New York City.
Jorge commented, “During his
time at Columbia, Wylie was active
in student government and received
several awards and honors for his
service to the College community.
His private parties at John Jay were
legendary. He was also a member
of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity.
‘The political and philosophical
discussions often lasted to dawn.
It was a pleasure and challenge to
cross rhetorical blades with such an
eloquent orator. He was always clear
on what he wanted to do in life:
teach in high school so that he could
contribute to future generations
in becoming valuable, aware and
responsible citizens. He stayed true
to this course.
“Wylie, you are greatly missed.”
I second that.
1986
Everett Weinberger
50 W. 70th St., Apt. 3B
New York, NY 10023
everett6@gmail.com
I hope this column finds you well.
‘Thank you for taking time away
from your iPhone to read this analog
column. Actually, did you know that
you can read this column and CCT’
online? Just go to college.columbia.
edu/cct; you can download issues
as PDFs, or you can click on Class
Notes and enter 1986 (or any class
year), and the notes immediately
pull up.
Andy Ahn is moving back east.
He reports: “I am a neurologist and
neuroscientist with a focus on the
discovery of medicines for headache
and pain. I recently moved from Eli
Lilly and Co. in Indianapolis to Teva
Pharmaceuticals in Philadelphia.
At Teva I will be leading a clinical
development group focused on the
discovery and development of novel,
non-opioid medicines for migraine
and other headache disorders,
including post-traumatic headache.
Together with my wife and daughters
(9 and 11), I will relocate in the
spring. I am glad to connect with
other Philly residents, or any class-
mates interested in developments in
this field, through LinkedIn.”
Joel Berg writes: “My biggest
news is that, in addition to continu-
ing my ‘day job’as CEO of Hunger
Free America, I am now the lead
host of a new radio show, America,
We Need to Talk, Fridays 6-8 a.m.
(online at bit.ly/2Rx1py9).”
Congrats to Scot Glasberg on
receiving the Distinguished Service
Award of the Plastic Surgery Foun-
dation, the charitable and research
arm of the American Society of Plas-
tic Surgeons, at its annual meeting in
Chicago. Scot recently completed his
term as president of the New York
County Medical Society.
1987
Sarah A. Kass
PO Box 1006
New York, NY 10113
SarahAnn29uk@gmail.com
I’m so happy to report that I have
started to hear from more classmates.
Remember that you make this col-
umn special, so the more you write to
me, the more enjoyable this column
is for everyone.
Andrea Basora recently
accepted a new position— she is
now assistant VP of global digital
communications for Chubb Insur-
ance, with an office near Bryant
Park. She also moved to the Upper
West Side last year — 97th and
West End Avenue — and says
she loves being back near our old
stomping grounds.
Bob Boland, who entered with
the Class of 86 but graduated with
us, sent the following: “In July
2017, after 16 years of teaching
sports law and leading the sports
management programs at NYU, and
more recently, the oldest and long-
recognized number 1 program in the
world at Ohio University, and occa-
sionally representing players, coaches
and professional teams as part of
several sports representation firms
and consultancies, I opted to take on
a new challenge in a frontline role
in major college sports as athletics
integrity officer at Penn State.
“The role at Penn State is a
first-of-its-kind position, created
as part of the university’s response
to and recovery from the Sandusky
scandal in 2011.1 report to the
president and Board of Trustees to
ensure the university's 31 varsity
sports are meeting not only NCAA
and Big Ten Conference rules but
also the university's highest values
in integrity, fair treatment and
responsibility. One person held
the position before me, but given
alumninews
the tumultuous times surrounding
major college sports, the role is one
I am very pleased to have and think
is something of a blueprint for a
position that is almost a necessity to
help protect universities participat-
ing at the highest levels of athletic
competition going forward. Perhaps
the most important part of my work
to date has been in helping prevent
sexual harassment and misconduct
— as #MeToo has definitively come
to sports, sports will be forever
changed as a result. It is only logical
that for organizations where talent,
earning or market power are critical
that some process needs to exist to
help the institution move forward.
“I also got remarried last June, at
the Ladies’ Pavilion in Central Park,
to Regan Fad. Regan, an in-house
counsel for a consulting firm, lives
on West 79th Street between two
old haunts of my Columbia days,
The Dublin House and the Ameri-
can Museum of Natural History.
So I am at least a part-time Upper
West Sider again, which does feel a
good bit like coming home.
“T will admit to being somewhat
logistically handicapped in my life
choices in that I had worked at
NYU and lived in NYC, at least
most of the time, since 1995, after
a sojourn to the Southeastern
Conference for graduate and law
school and work in college sports.
It was there that a former governor
of Alabama, Albert Brewer (now
deceased), who was my law school
mentor, introduced me to our com-
mencement speaker — then-chair
of the Senate Judiciary Committee,
Orrin Hatch — by saying, “This
fellow played football at Columbia
University.’ People in the SEC
footprint tended to imagine that
statement meaning a bit more
than most Columbia students do; I
never sought to correct them. But
after divorcing in 2014 and moving
to Ohio in 2015, 1 met the right
woman on my first visit back to the
Big Apple in October 2015. We've
had a modern commuter relation-
ship and now marriage since, but it
does allow me a few more chances
to get up to Morningside Heights
and to Baker Field.
“So Iam a lion once again, this
time a Nittany one. But Pll always
be a proud Columbia Lion.”
Steve Abrahamson is VP of
direct response for the National
Audubon Society, in charge of all
mass fundraising for the organiza-
tion. He and his wife, Maritza Guz-
man, my dear high school classmate,
live in Montclair, N.J., with their
daughter, Sofia.
Farah Chandu is in the news:
She reported that her choir (she is
the director) was recently profiled
in Newsday, with lovely cover art
and an even better story: online at
nwsdy.li/2O10Q66.
On a personal note, I have
accepted a new position as adjunct
associate professor in the communi-
cation arts and sciences department
at CUNY’s Bronx Community
College. It is a wonderful opportu-
nity to combine all my experience
in journalism, film and psychology. I
am continuing my other position as
an adjunct professor of psychology
at Mercy College.
1988
Eric Fusfield
1945 South George Mason Dr.
Arlington, VA 22204
eric@fusfield.com
Congratulations to Dr. Heather
Ruddock, who was inducted
in October into the Columbia
University Athletics Hall of Fame.
Heather, a former track star and
one-time Ivy League record holder
in the 400m race, was one of 15
student-athlete alumni who were
selected by a committee of alumni
and athletic administrators last year.
Nowadays Heather is a physician
with Advocare West Deptford
Pediatrics in Pennsylvania. A
graduate of Temple’s Lewis Katz
School of Medicine, she teaches in
the emergency department of St.
Christopher’s Hospital for Children
and is professionally involved with
two homeless shelters.
Rebecca Wright is returning to
Morningside Heights in January,
after being named the inaugural
director of Barnard’s computer
sciences program. Rebecca, a Yale
Ph.D. who has been a professor
at Rutgers since 2007, will run
Barnard’s new Computational
Science Center, which will work
closely with Columbia’s computer
science department. As one-third
of Barnard students now major
in the sciences, the center that
Rebecca now heads “will provide
opportunities to mesh STEM, the
Winter 2018-19 CCT 75
social sciences, and the humanities,”
according to Spectator.
Many of our classmates inspire
us with their work — both their
vocations and avocations. Wallace
“Todd” Johnson, who wrote from
Nebraska, is such an example. Todd
heads the entrepreneurship and
job creation practice at Gallup and
spends “evenings and weekends in
Nebraska prisons helping the men
and women focus on their strengths
so, upon release, they have a better
chance of securing employment.”
Now that Todd and his wife,
Mary, have three sons in college
(TCU, LSU and Ohio State), they
have marked their transition to
empty-nestinghood by acquiring a
Golden Retriever, Maggie.
Keep the updates coming! I look
forward to hearing from you.
1989
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Emily Miles Terry
45 Clarence St.
Brookline, MA 02446
emilymilesterry@me.com
The Arizona State Bar has awarded
Kim Harris Ortiz, a native Tucsonan,
the prestigious Michael C. Cudahy
Criminal Justice Award in recogni-
tion of her tireless dedication as a
prosecutor. Kim began her 25-year
Columbia
College
Alumni
on Facebook
facebook.com/alumnicc
Like the page to get
alumni news, learn
about alumni events
and College happenings,
view photos and more.
76 CCT Winter 2018-19
career at the Santa Cruz County
attorney’s office in Nogales, Ariz.,
where her first trial was a home
invasion. An impressive and witty
orator since her Columbia days,
Kim presented the “longest opening
ever” according to the judge of her
first trial — both defendants were
convicted after two weeks of trial.
Kim left Nogales for the Attorney
General’s Office, where she has been
for 19 years under four adminis-
trations, supervising the Tucson
prosecutors since 2011. Kim has also
received awards for victim advocacy
and outstanding trial team, and she
sits on AGO’s Ethics, Brady and
Wiretaps committees, is an elected
member of Criminal Justice Execu-
tive Council and co-teaches sentenc-
ing at University of Arizona's James
E. Rogers College of Law. She enjoys
vacationing in Mexico with her twin
son and daughter and photographer
husband, reading true-crime novels,
making mouth-watering omelets and
doting on her Labrador Retriever.
Also some good news from Roger
Rubin, who has returned to his
journalistic roots and is again covering
sports for Newsday. Roger has been a
part of the New York sports writing
scene for nearly 30 years, covering
high school and college sports for
New York Newsday 1989-95. Some of
my favorite articles Roger wrote were
his reporting on Frank Seminara
when he was an MLB pitcher. Before
that Roger was a reporter for Sports
Illustrated, covering college sports
and Major League Baseball 1988-89
and, of course, he had a marvelous
career at Spectator in the late’80s when
our football team finally broke the
44-came nightmare losing streak. I
recently dug up Roger’s article (his
lede is “It’s over!”) and also found a
photograph of a cluster of Columbia
students (including my husband, Dave
Terry ’90) toppling the goal posts. (I’m
not sure when a parent shows their
children such a picture, as right now
our kids seem both too young and too
old — so maybe never?)
Roger writes, “The landscape of
journalism is littered with good people
put out of work by economics. | am
one of the fortunate today. After
freelancing for a variety of publica-
tions for the last two years, I am happy
to report that Newsday — where I first
worked after graduating — offered me
a full-time gig. In many ways return-
ing to Newsday feels like coming
home. My six years at New York News-
day were some of the most enjoyable
of my career, but also incredibly
valuable. It also introduced me to the
sports scene in New York and showed
me the great connection that can form
between a community and the news
organization that serves it.”
The Class of 89 continues to
influence and impact Columbia in
spectacular ways. Most recently,
Julie Jacobs Menin and Victor
H. Mendelson were elected to
the Columbia University Board of
Trustees which, with members Lisa
Landau Carnoy and Wanda Hol-
land Greene, means the Class of
°89 has four trustees.
Of her election to the Board of
Trustees, Julie says, “I am thrilled to
serve on the Board of Trustees of an
institution that has personally been
so formative in my life by spark-
ing my interest and dedication to
public service, and has been at the
forefront of educating generations
of students as one of the world’s
premier educational and research
institutions. Having started in one
of the first classes of female students
at Columbia College, to now see the
university from this new perspec-
tive is a profound honor and I look
forward to contributing to the next
generation of Columbia.”
And Victor writes, “I’ve enjoyed
just about every moment of my
Columbia affiliation, from the first
day of Freshman Orientation in 1985
onward, and staying involved is very
rewarding. Not only do I find it intel-
lectually stimulating, but also staying
in touch with our fantastic classmates
and meeting so many other Colum-
bians is a true joy. ’'ve made some
wonderful friends from my Board of
Visitors service and among alumni
in the Miami area. I’ve also become
friends with many of Columbia's
superb administrators, who are
remarkably enthusiastic about our
school. My children, Lindsey ’18
and Nicole ’20, feel the same way
and watching them at Columbia has
extended the Columbia enjoyment
for me and my wife, Lisa.”
And the CC’89 news doesn’t end
there — in November, Lisa Landau
Carnoy, co-chair of the University
Board of Trustees, became the first
woman to be honored with the Col-
lege’s Alexander Hamilton Medal,
for her great dedication to Columbia
over the years.
Congratulations to all!
See you at 30th reunion in May!
1990
Rachel Cowan Jacobs
youngrache@hotmail.com
In August, I had the pleasure of
attending one of the worldwide send-
off parties for incoming first-year
students. I ventured to the Bethesda,
Md., home of Nairi Balian’88 (she
throws an awesome event) and was
happy to see David Javdan walk
through the door. It was probably one
of his last few nights out because on
September 1, he and his wife, Beth,
became the proud parents of Chase
Alexander, brother to sisters Parker (8)
and Madison (11).
After several years working on this
project, lsaac-Daniel Astrachan
was thrilled to see the opening of
citizenM Bowery on the Lower East
Side. It’s the world’s tallest modular
hotel. At the opening party in
September, he might have had a few
celebratory drinks on the rooftop.
Were you in Paterson, N,J., in
the fall? If so, you might have seen
a poem by Ben-David Seligman
hanging on the wall of the Paterson
Museum. The museum held a
poetry contest in conjunction with
an exhibit about environmentally
conscious fashion, and his poem was
one of four winners! Ben-David has
had poems in journals over the years,
but this was his first poem featured in
a museum. Way cool, if you ask me.
I hope everyone had a happy,
healthy and prosperous fall, and that
you are itching to write to me with
your news in 2019.
1991
Margie Kim
margiekimkim@hotmail.com
My good friend Elise Scheck
Bonwitt, an attorney and mediator
in Miami, is such an amazing role
model for compassion and service.
She has always had a passion for
helping others in her community and
recently expanded her reach by start-
ing a social enterprise selling products
made in Latin America. The website
(shopamenta.com) has beautiful,
unique products and helps artisans
gain economic security and support
their own communities. CCers can
email her at elise@amentagifts.com
for a CC discount code.
Jacqueline Harounian ’91 hosted Tova Mirvis ’95, bestselling author of The
Book of Separation: A Memoir, in her home in Great Neck, NLY., for a book
signing and lecture. Left to right: Harounian, Mirvis, Regina Ajodan ’89 and
Tamara Harounian SW’18.
Jacqueline Harounian hosted
Tova Mirvis 95, SOA’98, bestsell-
ing author of the memoir The Book
of Separation, in her home in Great
Neck, N.Y., for a book signing and
lecture. Also in attendance were
Regina Ajodan’89 and Jacqueline’s
daughter Tamara Harounian SW’18,
who plans to attend law school.
Among the themes discussed were
Jewish divorce and co-parenting after
divorce, issues that Jacqueline often
encounters in her professional prac-
tice of divorce and family law. She is
a partner in Wisselman, Harounian
& Associates in Great Neck.
After three years at GlaxoSmith-
Kline in New Jersey, Joel Ruben-
stein will relocate to Helsingborg,
Sweden, where he will be the VP
of sales and marketing at Nicono-
vum AB, a small pharmaceutical
company specializing in nicotine
replacement products.
John H. Chun was recently
appointed to the State Court of
Appeals, Division One by Washing-
ton Governor Jay Inslee. John was a
judge on the King County Superior
Court and a trial judge for the criminal
department, the Unified Family Court
and the Maleng Regional Justice Cen-
ter. Before his judicial career, John was
in private practice, focusing on complex
commercial and employment litigation.
He was a partner at Preston Gates &
Ellis (now K&L Gates) and Summit
Law Group. John also was a judicial
law clerk for the Hon. Eugene A.
Wright on the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Ninth Circuit. His community
involvement has included sitting on
the boards of the Judicial Institute
and the Washington Low Income
Housing Alliance. Over the course of
his career, John has worked to mentor
young people of color to pursue higher
education, including law degrees.
Congratulations, John!
For those who haven't sent an
update recently, please let me know
how youre doing at the email address
at the top of the column. Hope you
had a happy holiday season!
1992
Olivier Knox
olivier.knox@gmail.com
Anna Levine Winger wrote
from Berlin. She reports that her
Emmy-award winning T'V series,
Deutschland83/8 6, is available on
Hulu. Anna also says she has “quite
a few Columbia graduates” working
with her at Studio Airlift, her Berlin
production company.
My old friend Sara Hall was
appointed interim director of the
School of Literatures, Cultural
Studies and Linguistics at the
University of Illinois at Chicago
after a three-year stint directing the
campus-wide office of under-
graduate research. “I continue to do
research and teach at UIC and to
lecture and lead audience discus-
sions on German and Austrian film
at Chicago's and Milwaukee’s art
house cinemas and international
film festivals,” says Sara, who lives in
Evanston with her husband and her
12-year-old son, Spencer.
Kevin O’Connor, self-described
“longtime listener, first-time caller”
(please follow Kevin's example!)
tells me that he’s working with the
Columbia University archivist “to
donate my extensive documentation
about student life — COOP, Exis-
tential Despair and Postcrypt — on
Morningside Heights 1988-1992.”
More from Kevin: “Posters, clip-
pings, photographs and drawings
are all in the mix. I love that our/my
college memories will be moldering
in permanent repose in a cardboard
box somewhere in a basement of a
library of a large research university,
somewhere in the City of New York.”
(Cue Raiders of the Lost Ark’s “top
... men.”
Kevin's lively email ended with
this, and rather than try to figure out
what he meant, I’m sending it along
in full:
“Ben Appen, CC’92
Bob Guay, CC’92
‘Have Your Picture Taken with
Edward Said’— Polaroid Instamatic
November 3, 1991, River Hall”
New job? New family? Hang out
with long-lost CC friends? Send me
an update!
1993
Betsy Gomperz
Betsy.Gomperz@gmail.com
CC’93, it’s a brand-new year! Any
fun 2019 plans? Take a moment to
send in an update and share what’s
going on with you — your class-
mates want to hear from you!
1994
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
cecfund@columbia.edu
Leyla Kokmen
lak6@columbia.edu
Nicole Sanders (née Johnson)
writes that she and her husband,
Omar Sanders, have three kids and
“have been thinking about college
a lot, as we have sent our firstborn
off to Bucknell University to be a
student-athlete!” Nicole adds that she
still gets to spend time with College
friends, including Sharene Barnett
and Kemba Dunham at the Harlem
Haberdashery Masquerade Ball.
Michael Cervieri and his wife,
Homa Dashtaki, divide their time
between New York City and Los
Angeles. In July, they had their first
child, Zomordd Ahoo Cervieri.
After many years in New York
City and London, Tom Lloyd's
family is now based in Houston. He
says, “My wife, Alicia (a Spanish
exchange student to the Law School
in 1993), and I feel blessed to have
three growing-up children: Pablo
(16), Alexander (15) and Sophia (9).
We are starting to look at colleges,
including CC, for Pablo. Crazy!”
Tom remains in the oil and gas
business, now responsible for mar-
keting and midstream with Mara-
thon Oil after many great years with
Hess. He says he would love to see
any CC folks who are in Houston or
traveling through.
And finally, Dr. Richard Ponzio
is directing the Stimson Center’s Just
Security 2020 program in Wash-
ington, D.C., which is dedicated to
advancing the Albright-Gambari
Commission recommendations
between now and 2020 (UN 75).
‘Thanks to everyone who shared
updates — keep them coming!
1995
Janet Lorin
jrf10@columbia.edu
Thanks to Dr. Rebecca Gottesman
PS’00 for answering my call for
an update. Rebecca, a vascular
neurologist, was quoted in a New
York Times article this summer
about how dizziness upon standing
may be a risk factor for dementia
(nyti.ms/2RAz4qs).
Rebecca writes that she’s happily
married to Ed Goldstein. They live
in Bethesda, Md., with their daugh-
ters, Leah (14) and Naomi (11).
Rebecca is a professor of neurology
at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and
Ed is an attorney at the Govern-
ment Accountability Office in
Washington, D.C.
Nick Vita was honored last April
at the Tribeca Film Festival with a
Disruptive Innovation Award. He is
co-founder, vice chairman and CEO
of Columbia Care, the largest medi-
cal cannabis product development,
manufacturing and dispensing opera-
tor in the United States. Columbia
Care offers alternative treatments for
illnesses and a variety of other health
conditions, such as sleep disorders,
depression and cancer.
Congratulations to Mala Iqbal,
whose art show “Fellow Traveler”
made it to Indiana, hosted at the
Modelle Metcalf Visual Arts Center's
Metcalf Gallery at Taylor University.
Happy 2019, classmates! Kick off
the new year by sending in a note
with your news!
Winter 2018-19 CCT 77
Class Notes
1996
Ana S. Salper
ana.salper@nyumc.org
No news this time! Please take a
moment to send in a note — this
column needs you! What are you
looking forward to in the New Year?
What’s new with you? Send me an
email. Your classmates want to hear
from you!
199s
Kerensa Harrell
kvh1@columbia.edu
Dear classmates, I hope you are
all doing well, and I send you my
warmest wishes for the winter
season! I am delighted to present the
following updates.
Darrell Cohn shares this joyous
news with us: “My wife, Leah
Kahn, and I welcomed Hadar Yael
Earth-side last January. We live
in Berkeley, Calif. I do technical
operations for Tapingo.com, and
Leah is the senior Jewish educator
at the UC Berkeley Hillel.”
Paul Tuchmann writes: “After
spending the last 11 years prosecut-
ing corrupt politicians and soccer
officials as an assistant United States
attorney in the Eastern District of
New York, in August I became a
partner at the law firm of Wiggin
and Dana. I’ll work out of the firm’s
New York office as well as its office in
New Haven, where I moved with my
wife, Deborah Coen, and our chil-
Submit
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78 CCT Winter 2018-19
dren, Amalia (in eighth grade) and
Adam (in fifth grade), when Debbie
joined the Yale faculty as a professor
in the history department and chair
of the program in history of science.
It was hard to leave Morningside
Heights, where we lived while Deb-
bie was teaching at Barnard, but I
have to admit that New Haven has
its charms. Please let me know if
you're passing through, as it would be
great to catch up with CC’97.”
Eva Garland founded Eva Gar-
land Consulting. Based in Raleigh,
N.C., her firm was recently featured
in the news as one of the fastest-
growing private companies in the
country: bit.ly/2Ef9FjQ_
Melinda Powers has published a
book, Diversifying Greek Tragedy on
the Contemporary US Stage.
Sarah Bunin Benor also has a
book coming out: bit.ly/2NztLEQ.
As for me, Kerensa Harrell,
I’ve been thinking how exciting it
is to see SO Many women running
for political office right now. The
feminist in me is eager to cheer
these brave ladies on as they throw
their hats into the ring! One of
them is my friend and fellow New
Yorker, Barbara Cady, who lives in
Florida and is running for a seat
in the Florida House. She and I
met here in Florida, in 2016, when
we were volunteering for Hillary
Rodham Clinton’s field office in
Orlando during the primary. We
were so elated when our team won
the DNC nomination, and then we
were so crushed and shocked when
we lost the presidential showdown
afterward. I remember softly rocking
in my green velvet nursing chair, at
home in downtown Orlando in the
early morning on that day of horror,
November 9, holding my one-
week-old baby in my arms as I was
reeling from the unbelievable turn of
political events, and I was thinking
that were it not for the fact that I
had this precious little bundle of joy
to focus on, all the hours of every
day, I would surely have slipped into
a deep depression. My friend Barb
fully commiserated with me and
then — she got the bright idea to
run for office herself! I am so proud
of her and so excited for her. As I
sit here wrapping up this column
it is mid-September and I have my
fingers crossed that my friend will
win her election in November.
I'd like to end this column with
some song lyrics, and dedicate them
to all those brave ladies who have
dared to step up in these politically
dreadful times and get themselves into
the running to become a new wave of
much-needed leaders for us. So let me
cue one of my favorite songs: Shirley
Bassey’s rendition of the old Broadway
hit “Everything’s Coming Up Roses.”
When I lived in NYC, with all its ups
and downs, this was a song I would
play whenever I needed some hope
for a better future for myself. Some
people pray; some people listen to a
melodic pep talk by Bassey (I just love
how fairy-godmotherly she is in that
song!). The song includes the verses
Now’ our inning. Stand this world
on its ear!
Set it spinning! That will be just the
beginning!
Curtain up! Light the lights!
We've got nothing to hit but
the heights!
We'll be swell. We'll be great.
I can tell. Just you wait.
That lucky star I talk about is due!
Baby, everything's coming up roses
for me and for you!
Blessings to all, and please do send
me your updates. Feel free to keep in
mind that your updates needn't be
just about the usual topics like career/
marriage/birth announcements —
they could also be on your exotic
travels, your exciting adventures, your
fascinating hobbies, your philan-
thropic endeavors, your charming
children, your daring projects, your
poetic musings and/or your flowery
reminiscences. Or simply tell us
about some delightful local event that
you just attended or a family vacation
that you just went on. If nothing else,
you can always write to say hello! It
would be splendid to hear from as
many of our classmates as possible. I
look forward to hearing from you all.
In lumine Tuo videbimus lumen.
1998
Sandie Angulo Chen
sandie.chen@gmail.com
Hello, Class of 1998! After our mas-
sive post-reunion column in the last
issue, this set of Class Notes is short
and sweet.
Congratulations to Lori Meeks,
whose second child, daughter
Penelope Ann, was born on August
21. Penelope joins brother Jupiter (3),
who is “especially proud and excited”
to have a baby sister. Lori and her hus-
band, Jason Webb, have been married
since December 2012 and are both
associate professors of religion at the
University of Southern California.
Eric Leshinsky recently started a
job as a senior designer and planner
with Design Workshop in Austin,
Texas, where he has been living
with his family for three years. He
adds, “If there are CC’98ers here in
Austin or nearby, give a shout!”
1999
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Adrienne Carter and
Jenna Johnson
adieliz@gmail.com
jennajohnson@gmail.com
Our 20th reunion is fast approach-
ing! Will you be back on Morning-
side Heights this May? Send your
news to either of us, and get ready
for Reunion 2019!
2000
Prisca Bae
pb134@columbia.edu
Happy New Year! Kick off 2019
by sending in a Class Note — let
the rest of the Class of 2000 know
what’s new with you!
2001
Jonathan Gordin
jrg53@columbia.edu
No news this time, CC’01! Send me
a note for a future issue. Let’s kick
off 2019 with full columns!
2002
Sonia Dandona Hirdaramani
soniah57@gmail.com
It’s been 20 years since we all
stepped onto the Columbia campus
to start freshman year!
A throwback to the 1990s is
exactly what I needed, and I got it at
an amazing ’90s-themed party with
famed hip hop DJ Funkmaster Flex,
hosted by Scott Ostfeld 98 and Jen
Maxfield Ostfeld ’99. It turned into
a mini Columbia College gathering
with Nafiz Cekirge’97 and Elias
Dokas’91 also in attendance.
Exciting baby news: Alex
Cabrera announced the birth of Jax
Alexander Cabrera, who arrived at 7
pounds, 14 ounces.
Agnia Grigas (née Baranaus-
kaite) argued her points at the
Senate Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources in favor of positive
national security, economic, political
and geopolitical implications for the
United States and its European allies.
Others on the panel included Hon.
Steven Winberg (assistant secretary
of fossil energy, DOE), Kevin Book,
Tyson Slocum and Mark Mills.
Calvin Look and Christian Bjoel
were married in Pantelleria, Italy, on
September 3. Columbia alumni who
helped them celebrate were Betty
Shzu, Brandon Sproat SEAS’02,
Su Ahn and Kara Bauer’01. Inter-
esting side note: It’s supposedly the
island where Odysseus was seduced
by Calypso for seven years.
Have an excellent start to the
new year, and please take a moment
to send in a note with your news!
Happy 2019!
2003
Michael Novielli
mjn29@columbia.edu
I’m happy to share updates from
classmates, spanning a wide
spectrum of industries — from
education to journalism, medicine
to start-ups, and everything in
between. Our class continues to
crush it in every imaginable sector,
and this is only the beginning ...
Mindy Levine ’04, GSAS’08,
an associate professor of chemistry
at the University of Rhode Island,
is the first recipient of the Sessler
Early Career Researcher Prize.
Basketball alumna Katie Day
Benvenuto BUS’12 is the senior
executive director for development at
Columbia and has three children with
her husband, Dan: Nick (5), Adrienne
(3) and Alexa (10 months). She had
a great time at the 15th reunion
last spring and was excited for the
2018-19 Columbia football season.
Katie also shared that two classmates
were inducted into the Columbia
University Athletics Hall of Fame
last year: Katie Beauregard Sheehy
LAW/’06 for volleyball and Erin Rag-
gio Eriksen for track & field.
Yoni Appelbaum writes, “After
nearly four unexpectedly news-
filled years as politics editor at The
Atlantic, ve taken on a new role,
launching the ‘Ideas’ section. I’m in
Washington, D.C., with my wife,
Emily SEAS’03, SEAS’04, and our
two kids.”
Jennifer Baskin (née Last)
writes, “After 15 years in NYC,
I now live in Menlo Park, Calif.,
with my husband, Bryan, and our
three children. Although I missed
reunion, it was wonderful to meet up
with Leena Gupta, Jill Freedman
and Ali Nogi BC’04 recently in
Arizona.”
Jessica Beard is a trauma sur-
geon at Temple University Hospital
in Philadelphia. She is involved in
research and advocacy for gun vio-
lence prevention. She also works in
Ghana, where she trains physicians
to perform surgery. Jessica lives with
her husband and 3-year-old son in
Philadelphia.
Adele Burnes writes, “I live in
Berkeley, Calif., with my husband
and kids (4-year-old twins and a
6-month old — all boys). I am the
COO ofa tech startup, YouNoodle,
and we support startup programs
globally. ’m happy to report that
Columbia's startup programs run on
our platform.”
Nicholas Carrier lives in Brook-
lyn and is an associate partner at
Prophet, a global brand and growth
consultancy.
Following 11 years as a book
scout with Bettina Schrewe Literary
Scouting, Flora Esterly joined Far-
rar, Straus and Giroux as subsidiary
rights manager in February 2018.
She married Guyon Knight on
August 31.
Pat Holder writes, “My wife,
Kirsten, and I, and our kids, Finn
(6) and Nora (3), live in Piedmont,
Calif., a small community between
Oakland and Berkeley in the
Bay Area. Finn is thriving in his
kindergarten class, and Nora adores
her friends in preschool. Kirsten
continues her work designing visitor
use and large-scale landscape proj-
ects in the planning office at Golden
Gate National Recreation Area. |
am two years into my role as a group
leader in the department of protein
chemistry at Genentech, in which
I design biotherapeutics for oncol-
ogy and ophthalmology. We keep
in touch with friends from 116th,
including a summer visit to see
Brooklynite Kim Grant (and fam-
ily), as well as regular weekends to
Tahoe with our SoCal friend Alex
William-Resnick (and family).”
Andrew Arnold writes, “I got
a Ph.D. in machine learning at
Carnegie Mellon University and
was a quantitative portfolio manager
for nine years. I recently moved to
Google, where I am working on
large-scale machine learning. In
2011 I married my grad-school
Brigham and Women's Hospital
division of urology. She writes, “I
am the division’s first female pelvic
reconstructive surgeon. Since mov-
ing here I’ve had the opportunity
to reconnect with Nyia Noel and
Merranda Logan BC’04, who are
also physicians in the city.”
Sean Benderly writes, “During
the past year I have been working on
the prototype of a revolutionary out-
door camping toilet (think Camco
but with all of the bells and whistles
of a construction grade outhouse).
Look for us at the PSAI Conven-
tion and Trade Show in Mobile,
Ala., in March.”
Please continue to send updates,
as we want to hear from as many
Adele Burns ‘03 is the COO of tech startup
YouNoodle, which supports startup programs globally,
including Columbias.
sweetheart, Anne-Michelle Gallero,
and we have a wonderful son, Henry,
who's in kindergarten. We live in
Chinatown, NYC.”
Eli Akhavan writes, “I am a
partner and chair of the private cli-
ent and wealth preservation group at
CKR Law, an international law firm
with offices all over the world. My
specialty is in estate and asset pro-
tection planning. I also advise for-
eign clients on their tax and estate
planning with respect to their U.S.
interests. My clients include high
net-worth families based in China,
Taiwan, Europe and the Middle
East. I have also been a professor of
international taxation at St. John’s
University School of Law.”
2004
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Jaydip Mahida
jmahida@gmail.com
Elodi Dielubanza relocated to
Boston in 2017 and recently finished
her first year on the faculty of
folks as possible. Career and family
updates are always fun, but please
reach out to share about trips you
might take, events you have attended
or are looking forward to, or even
interesting books or shows you have
come across. You can send updates
either via the email at the top of the
column or through the CCT Class
Notes webform, college.columbia.
edu/cct/submit_class_note.
2005
Columbia College Today
cct@columbia.edu
Happy 2019, Class of 2005! Wishing
you all a happy and healthy new year!
Bridget Geibel Stefanski moved
to Toruri, Poland, in August for a two-
year stay with her husband and kids
(ages 8, 3 and 0). She'd love to connect
with alumni in Poland or those who
are there for a visit! You can reach her
at bsg2001@columbia.edu.
In July, John Zaro was named
to the 2018 Forbes magazine’s list
of America’s Top Next Generation
Wealth Advisors.
Claire Snyder married Dan
Whalen (Ohio Wesleyan University
08) in August in downtown Jersey
City, where they have lived since
2011. Guests included Yen Yen Ooi
Winter 2018-19 CCT 79
Fust Married!
CCT welcomes wedding photos where at least one member of the couple is a
College alum. Please submit your high-resolution photo, and caption information,
on our photo webform: college.columbia.edu/cct/submit_class_note_photo.
Congratulations!
LUCY HAWTHORNE
80 CCT Winter 2018-19
4: Dr. Marianna Zaslavsky ’07
married Paul Alexandrov on July 1
in Puglia, Italy.
2: Simone Foxman ’11 and Benjamin
Clark 11 were married in March in
New Orleans. Left to right: Jeremy
Sklaroff 11, Jessica McKenzie BC’11,
Linette Lopez ’08, the groom,
Rajib Mitra SEAS’11, the bride, Mike
Wymbs, Kamal Yechoor SEAS'11 and
Mitch Newman ’09.
3: Ari Schuman 15 and Becca
Meyer Schuman “15 (who met during
Days on Campus in 2011 and began
dating during NSOP) were married
on August 11 at the Green Building
in Brooklyn. Back row, left to right:
Sireesh Gururaja 15, Karl Daum ’15,
Gabriel Pestre 15, Joel Schuman
’80, Eric Schuman SOA‘17, Alex Mark
15 and Michael Gildin “15. Middle
row, left to right: Sylvia Korman
BC'18, Madeline Pages BC’17 and
Audrey Crabtree-Hannigan “15.
Front row, left to right: the bride, the
groom; Rachel Chung SEAS"15 and
Jess Kleinbart SEAS'14.
4: On September 8, Fabio De
Sousa 16 married Alison De Sousa
(née Overton) at the Rialto Theatre
in Tampa Bay, Fla. Left to right:
Sean Ballinger SEAS’16, Niger
Little-Poole SEAS16, the groom,
Idris Sardharwala SEAS‘16 and
Alexander Roth “16.
5: Schuyler Brown 06, BUS’12
married Lucia Villar BUS’11 and
celebrated in Mexico City. Left to
right: David Kampfe BUS’12; Abbas
Fawaz BUS'11; Nathaniel Greenberg
06, BUS12; the groom (in white),
Aaron Schiller 06; Craig Battin ’06;
Yago Amerlinck-Huerta 06; and
Brandon Green ’06.
6: Shira Burton ’09 married Jonas
Specktor on August 11 at Macalester
College in St. Paul, Minn. Front
row, left to right: Sasha de Vogel
09, Nathalie Aferiat (née Celcis)
BC’09, Alison Powell BC’O9, Priya
Murthy ’O9, the bride, the groom,
Brendan Ballou-Kelley ’09, Henry
Klementowicz SEAS’O9Y, Claire
Shanley ’92, Ashraya Gupta ’09,
Robyn Gordon BC’'11 and Adrianne
Ho BC’09. Back row, left to right:
Eric Rosenblum ’09, Shakeer
Rahman '09, Benny Shaffer ’09,
Katie Reedy ’09, Jolene Richardson
SOA'15, Stephen Christensen
SOA‘15, Max Friedman ’09, Nick
Kelly ’09, Glover Wright ’09,
Andrew Lyubarsky ’09, Ben Heller
09, Morgan Whitcomb SEAS’09
and Colin Kinniburgh ‘12.
SEAS’04, SEAS’05; Evita Morin
(née Mendiola); John Paul Mey-
ers; Catharine Fairbairn BC’06;
and Professors Jack Snyder SIPA’78,
GSAS’81 (father of the bride) and
Robert Jervis.
Claire and Dan also recently pur-
chased their first home, in Teaneck,
N.J., next door to the house where
Claire grew up, and where her
mother, and sister, Anna Snyder’11,
still live. This year, Claire became
lead teacher of the eighth-grade
team at Link Community Charter
School in Newark, N.J., where she
has taught since 2011.
2006
Michelle Oh Sing
mo2057@columbia.edu
Hi everyone. I hope you are well!
Here are some updates:
Raquel Otheguy Ph.D. is an
assistant professor in the history
department at CUNY Bronx Com-
munity College.
Andrew Liebowitz and his wife,
Gail Liebowitz, welcomed a second
daughter, Willow Hunter Liebowitz,
in March.
Jonathan Ward completed the
first year of his start-up consultancy,
Atlas Organization, which focuses
on China, India and U.S.-China
strategic competition. He also
finished drafting a book on Chinese
global strategy and is engaging with
U.S. Fortune 500 companies on
U.S.-China relations and the Indo-
Pacific, particularly as the trade war
heats up.
Jonathan McLaughlin writes,
“Te moved to Portland, Ore., on my
second turnaround with Erickson Inc.,
a helicopter OEM focused on aerial
firefighting and powerline construc-
tion. Portland is incredible — it
reminds me of Brooklyn in the early
Class Notes are submitted by
alumni and edited by volunteer
class correspondents and the
staff of CCT prior to publication.
Opinions expressed are those
of individual alumni and do not
‘reflect the opinions of CCT,
its class correspondents, the
College or the University. By
submitting to Class Notes, you
acknowledge that the text is eli-
gible to appear in print as well as
on CCT Online and in archives.
2000s, only better food and hiking
(and less people). For any alumni
nostalgic for that period, tell them to
come on out — I have killer food recs.”
Schuyler Brown BUS’12
married Lucia Villar BUS’11. The
couple celebrated in Mexico City
surrounded by Columbia friends and
family, including Aaron Schiller,
Brandon Green, Yago Amerlinck-
Huerta, Nathaniel Greenberg
BUS’12, Craig Battin, David Whit-
temore, Michael Fasciano and
Courtney Fasciano BC’06.
Vickie Baranetsky JRN’07
(a.k.a. vdb2003) is a first amendment
attorney and general counsel at The
Center for Investigative Reporting
in the Bay Area. She often sees her
Columbia friends in California, visits
family and friends in NYC and sends
love to all of you. She writes:
“We grounded oaks grow
Earning rings, knots; shooting roots
“Readied for frerce floods.”
‘Thanks everyone for sharing, and
best wishes for a joyous winter season!
2007
David D. Chait
david.donner.chait@gmail.com
Thank you, everyone, for sharing
your exciting updates!
Marianna Zaslavsky married
Dr. Paul Alexandrov on July 1 in
Puglia, Italy. Emre Cicek, Joe de
Pinho-Neum’06 and Danny Yagoda
SEAS’06 were in attendance.
Marianna recently went full-time on
launching a startup in the fertility
space and hopes to help improve
patient outcomes for fertility preser-
vation and infertility treatment. She
also recently moved to Rhode Island
but works out of NYC every week.
Ping her if you are in Rhode Island
or want to chat fertility!
Jimmy Vielkind writes, “After
five years at Politico, I have a new
job at The Wall Street Journal. ’m
still writing about New York State
government and politics and remain
based in Albany. Drop me a line if
you're ever in the capital city!”
Jami Jackson Mulgrave earned
a Ph.D. in statistics from North Car-
olina State University in December.
She is a postdoctoral research scien-
tist in the department of biomedical
informatics at Columbia.
alumninews
Members of the Class of ’09 (along with their significant others) posed for a
photo while waiting for the National Portrait Gallery to open. From top left,
clockwise: Priya Murthy ’09; Shira Burton ’09’s husband, Jonas Specktor;
Burton; Eric Rosenblum ’09; Rosenblum’s wife, Allie Rosenblum; Ashraya
Gupta ’09; Nick Kelly 09; and Murthy’s husband, Nick Goldberg.
Daniel Simhaee moved to
Rochester, N.Y., last year for a two-
year fellowship in vitreoretinal sur-
gery. He has plans to return to NYC
next year and is excited to start his
career as a retina surgeon.
Capital markets attorney Jinelle
Craig has joined Womble Bond
Dickinson's Charlotte, N.C., office.
From a press release: “Craig’s practice
focuses on commercial lending, cor-
porate transactional and general com-
mercial matters and her experience
includes advising lenders on acquisi-
tion financing, real estate financing
and working capital credit facilities, as
well as assisting with public financing
transactions for transportation, edu-
cational, technology and healthcare
institutions. She also guides clients in
cross-border transactions.”
Happy 2019, everyone!
2008
Neda Navab
nn2126@columbia.edu
Carmen Jo “CJ” Rejda-Ponce has
been promoted to senior trial coun-
sel at Germer in Houston, Texas. CJ
practices in the areas of employ-
ment law and civil rights defense for
governmental entities.
Please take a moment to write in
with some news — make it a New
Year’s resolution! Travel plans, job
changes, family news, hobbies, funny
CC memories — everything is wel-
come in Class Notes. Drop me a line
and have a very Happy New Year!
2009
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Columbia College Today
cct@columbia.edu
[Editor’s note: CCT thanks Alidad
Damooei for his almost 10 years of
service as class correspondent. This
is his last submission. Please send
notes to CCT at the address at the
top of the column. |
Happy 2019, Class of 2009! Our
10-year reunion will be here in just a
few months, so please make plans to
come back to campus!
From Shira Burton: “Some of us
got together in Washington, D.C.,
to celebrate the wedding of Nathalie
Celcis BC’09 and Corey Aferiat. Priya
Murthy and her husband, Nick Gold-
berg; Eric Rosenblum and his wife,
Allie Rosenblum; Ashraya Gupta;
Nick Kelly; and my husband, Jonas
Specktor, and I took a picture sitting
on the steps of the National Portrait
Gallery while waiting for it to open so
we could view the Obama portraits.”
Have a great new year!
Winter 2018-19 CCT 81
2010
Julia Feldberg Klein
juliafeldberg@gmail.com
Natalie Gossett got engaged to Kyle
Bogdan, and recently was visited at
the beach by Chiara Arcidy with her
husband, Zach, and their dog, Charlie.
Shaina Low earned a J.D. from
the CUNY School of Law last May.
After sitting for the bar in July, she
began working for an international
children’s rights NGO. She looks
forward to a career devoted to ful-
filling CUNY’s motto: “Law in the
Service of Human Needs.”
For the sixth consecutive year,
Adam Lampell, Preston Pohl’09,
Alexander Hamilton Sullivan,
Jeremy Theodore Whyte ’11,
Timothy Tzeng, Sean Michael
Xavier Quinn, John Ryan Withall
SEAS'10 and Tom Davison ’08
attended their Fantasy Football draft
in Chicago, along with guest mem-
ber Robert Andrew Hartnett Ill.
Derek Squires writes, “Last year
was a roaring success (see what I did
there?). Started a job at KINETIC,
a wearable tech startup. Planning
a wedding for this August at the
Quogue Wildlife Refuge. And rais-
ing a puppy, success TBD.”
Chris Yim shares, “Yesterday, I
found myself at the Encore Beach
Club in Las Vegas watching the
disc jockey Marshmello perform,
and I had to wonder — is this life? I
couldn't help but wonder if this was
the epitome of American capitalism.
It might be the American dream to
get to a place where you can waste
ean
Alumni friends met up in Chicago
in August for their annual Fantasy
Football draft. Left to right: Preston
Pohl ’09, Adam Lampell 10, Alex-
ander Hamilton Sullivan 10, Jeremy
Theodore Whyte ’11, Timothy Tzeng
10, Sean Michael Xavier Quinn 10,
John Ryan Withall SEAS’10 and
Robert Andrew Hartnett III 10.
82 CCT Winter 2018-19
money in abundance without think-
ing about it.
“T got back from my second
Burning Man a few weeks ago. It’s
been a weird transition back from a
few months of travel, straight to the
burn, then reintegration into ‘normal’
life. I still don't have a job. It’s funny
how that still is one of the first few
questions that I get from people. I’ve
noticed that people use that inquiry
as a form of filtering or validating.
My best response is to tell that per-
son that I’m doing whatever it is that
I am doing in that moment, whether
it is drinking a coffee, dancing or
talking to a stranger.
“T took a few friends to Burning
Man this year who have never been
— Tiffany Jung and Varun Gulati
SEAS10. We had an amazing time,
and it was transformational in many
ways for me. I have this tendency
to judge, categorize and label things
when I don’t need to. I also have this
inclination to create moments instead
of letting them create themselves. On
the playa, it’s a good test of listening
and observing. In normal everyday
living, we're like rats in a maze, except
the maze we've figured out. We go
from our jobs to home, mill about
our relationships and are used to our
conditioning. Out there, the maze
is stripped and — in a blank-slate
world — you have to figure out
where you want to go, what you
want to be, and what you want to do.
Of course, there is a lot of noise out
there like there is anywhere else, so
it’s still a challenge to listen.
“One of the best days that I had at
this year’s burn was by random chance.
My friend woke me up to go see the
sunrise, we rode our bikes out there,
watched it break like an egg yolk over
the mountain in the distance. We rode
by a symphony at a giant silver orb
as we went to find some tea. When
we finally found it, we met a woman.
Soon after the conversation started, a
dust storm rolled in and forced us into
a teepee. We stepped into that teepee
and didn't leave for six hours. In those
hours, other people came in, opened
up their hearts and divulged their
deepest traumas and intentions. We
napped in there, and exchanged gifts,
including hugs and stories. I exited
that teepee with a more open heart.
“Three things I’ve cried to lately:
Jamie Foxx’s 2005 Oscar acceptance
speech, my first sunrise at Burning
Man this year and the U.S. Open
Women’s Tennis trophy presentation.
“Thanks for letting me share.”
2011
Nuriel Moghavem and
Sean Udell
nurielm@gmail.com
sean.udell@gmail.com
Merry winter, CC’11! We hope that
the change in season is filled with
joy, the company of loved ones
and several gained pounds from
good meals. |
Your correspondents continue to
be in good health and enjoy subjective
happiness. Nuriel is halfway through
his second year of neurology resi-
dency, which offers daily fascination
and learning. Recently, he was able to
administer alteplase (a clot-busting
medication) to a stroke patient within
10 minutes of their arrival to the
hospital. The experience of watch-
ing this patient’s stroke dissipate was
immensely rewarding, and Nuriel’s
quick action resulted in minimal
stroke-related complications.
Sean recently returned from
Botswana's capital, Gaborone, where
he spent two months on a general
medicine rotation through the
Botswana-Penn Partnership. He
learned a tremendous amount about
advanced HIV and medicine in a
developing country. He also made
some friends and (he hopes) served
his patients well, but he’s glad to be
back on this side of the pond, where
filter coffee is served on every street
corner. Sean’s on the interview trail
for psychiatry residencies, so be on
the lookout for him as he criss-
crosses the country.
While Sean is looking for a new
job, Ashley MacLean is ready to
announce her new post at Credit
Suisse’s sales team! Ashley has been
living in NYC since graduation,
where she had been working in
finance as an equity derivatives VP
at J.P. Morgan. After seven years on
the trading floor there, she made
the move to Credit Suisse. Ashley
continues to be an active member of
the Columbia community, spending
time as intern coordinator and a
contact for the athletics depart-
ment’s career services division.
When she is not working, Ashley
can be found managing a softball
team, spending time with friends or
excitedly planning her next vacation.
Mazel tov, Ashley!
Alex Ivey was in Beijing and
Hong Kong October-December
for a work secondment. During
this swing through China, he was
training his colleagues, taking in
the sights and making adventurous
culinary decisions.
Ben Philippe is an adjunct
associate professor at Barnard, where
he teaches in the departments of
English and film studies. When he
is not professing, Ben is writing. His
media coverage regularly appears
in Observer and The Guardian, and
on Thrillist and others. His 2019
debut novel, Field Guide to the North
American Teenager, is forthcoming
this January. Make sure to buy it in
stores when it’s out in hardcover!
Many congrats, Ben!
Kurt Kanazawa appeared on this
season's third episode (October 4) of
Shondaland’s Grey's Anatomy as Tad,
a 25-year-old arrogant stockbroker
with a bloody nose who thinks he’s
the most important patient in the
hospital. So, typecasting. (I had no
idea this show is in its 15th season.)
He also will compete in Takano
Athletics’ Olympic weightlifting
competition in the 73kg class, under
Italian coach Antonio Squillante
— FORZA! Also, Kurt admits to
stretching the truth in previous
updates. (Class correspondents
cannot independently verify the
claims made by alumni who submit
to this column. We take limited
responsibility for the content of
these updates.)
Simone Foxman and Benja-
min Clark have some news: They
got married in March in Ben's
hometown of New Orleans! Colum-
bians in attendance were Jeremy
Sklaroff, Jessica McKenzie BC’11,
Linette Lopez ’08, Rajib Mitra
SEAS’11, Mike Wymbs, Kamal
Yechoor SEAS’11, Mitch Newman
09 and Steve Lowenthal.
Simone and Ben met during
their time at Columbia, fulfilling
every mother’s wildest fantasy for
their children. (Or is that just my
mother’s fantasy?) Many, many,
many congrats, Simone and Ben!
We're thrilled for you both.
It is truly a joy to receive your
updates. Feel free to send updates to
the email addresses at the top of the
column. Happy holidays, and have a
very joyful and safe new year!
2012
Sarah Chai
sarahbchai@gmail.com
Hi friends. Thank you for continuing
to submit your notes and photos. It
is exciting to hear from all of you and
to share your stories with our class!
Elizabeth Kipp-Giusti writes
from New York: “I am rounding out
my second year of working at The
Public Theater with the opportunity
to create a new position, development
associate of leadership and capital
giving. I find it deeply gratifying to
support The Public’s dynamic, inclu-
sive programming and to help shape
the magnitude of the institution's
impact for generations to come. I
chair the Columbia Alumni Associa-
tion Arts Access Committee and am
a CAA Board of Directors member,
focused on cultivating a vibrant,
creative community at Columbia.”
I haven't received as many sub-
missions as usual, but the class really
wants to hear from you! So to put
my money where my mouth is, I'll
share an update. I recently started a
job as an attorney in the player rela-
tions department of Major League
Soccer, which is headquartered in
New York. This comes after a three-
year stint at Debevoise & Plimpton.
I’m looking forward to attending
many more soccer games and hope
you will attend too!
Shoot an email with your news to
sarahbchai@gmail.com, and have a
great 2019!
2013
Tala Akhavan
talaakhavan@gmail.com
No news this time, CC’13! Make
it a New Year’s resolution to take
a minute and send in a note about
what you're up to. Can't wait to hear
from you!
alumninews
Kemji Jamil Ohayia 15 proposed to Naintara Goodgame BC’15 on October 27
at Barnard College.
2014
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Rebecca Fattell
rsf2121@columbia.edu
Happy 2019! Take a moment to send
in a note about what’s going on with
you in the New Year. Travel, hobbies,
work, family, adventures — we want
to hear about it in Class Notes! Email
me to be included in a future issue.
2015
Kareem Carryl
kareem.carryl@columbia.edu
Hello, Class of 2015! It’s hard to
believe it is already winter and a
brand-new year!
As always, classmates want to
hear from you — especially as we
get into 2019! Please be sure to
submit updates by writing to me
at the address at the top of the
column or via the CCT Class Notes
webform, college.columbia.edu/cct/
submit_class_note. CCT also loves
photos, so if you have one of you
hanging out with College friends,
share it via the CCT Class Notes
webform, college.columbia.edu/cct/
submit_class_note_photo!
2016
Lily Liu-Krason
lliukrason@gmail.com
Hey Class of 2016, how’s it going?
It’s been pretty busy in NYC here
and all over the world for classmates!
Please, please continue to write to me
and nominate some of your friends
and peers who are doing things big
and small, impactful and fun!
I recently started a project with
the UN Data Innovation Lab that’s
been really rewarding. We're trying
to find new ways of using social
media data to help prioritize and
allocate funds to fight poverty. I’ve
also been on an Asian-American
content binge with Crazy Rich
Asians, Set It Up, To All the Boys I've
Loved Before and Searching.
Smita Sen; Joo Won Park
SEAS’17, SEAS’18; Siena Sofia
Bergt 18; Angela Wang ’17;
Christina Tang; and Aramael
Pefia-Alcantara’17, SEAS’17 have
launched an interactive art exhibit,
INTO THE SHELL, at the Imag-
ine Science Festival. It premiered
in New York City on October 12.
INTO THE SHELL launched at
Burning Man Festival, where it was
sponsored by Voodoo Manufactur-
ing and Fractured Atlas.
On September 8, Fabio De
Sousa wed Alison Overton, now
Alison De Sousa. The couple, joined
by many friends and family, wed in
a beautiful ceremony at the Rialto
theater in Tampa Bay, Fla.
Winter 2018-19 CCT 83
MADDIE WALSH
reunion last Summer.
Taylor Gray 16, Alison Chang 16 and Sonya Li 16 had an impromptu NYC
Taylor Gray, Alison Chang and
Sonya Li had an impromptu NYC
reunion last summer when they hap-
pened to fly in from Texas, California
and Mexico at the same time.
Phantila Phataraprasit and
Caitlin de Lisser-Ellen have started
a furniture company, Sabai Design,
that aims to offer affordable, cozy,
convenient and sustainable furniture.
After going through the apartment
furnishing process themselves,
they realized there was room for a
furniture company that specifically
prioritized the needs of young pro-
fessionals. They are in the process of
designing their first product, a sofa,
and want your input! They will be
posting design updates and polls on
their Instagram (@sabai.dsg) to keep
everyone updated and to ensure they
are designing a sofa you'll love. The
expected launch date is this summer,
so be on the lookout for the Sabai
sofa. For more information, or if
you have inquiries, send a note to
general@sabai.design.
Happy 2019, everyone. Please
take a moment to write!
2017
Carl Yin
carl.yin@columbia.edu
Natalie Tanner competed at the
European Athletics Championships
for the German national team in
the 10,000m (track) in Berlin on
August 8.
84 CCT Winter 2018-19
Ethan Wu shares his feelings
on pets: “Pets are an interesting
conundrum post-graduation. On one
hand, many of us desire a pet of our
own as a stable companion in socially
unsteady times (or perhaps just want
to show off our newfound cash flow
in aquariums). On the other, most of
us can't ourselves be a stable compan-
ion to our pets, what with constant
flights to client sites or travel to visit
now-spatially-distant friends. This
has led to a point in which some of
us whom have adopted a pet now
face the issue of knowing that we
cannot provide the best possible liv-
ing situation for our pets.
“T, for example, am in a living
situation that precludes cohabitation
with my cat, as my roommates are
allergic. So I have left him with my
parents. Am I a bad owner? Maybe.
My advice for you? Get a bird
instead. They’re smart, surprisingly
cuddly and easy to take care of —
like Steve Fan’s parrot, Mango.”
Jeff Coby shares, “After gradu-
ation, I started my first professional
basketball season in Barcelona. After
that, I came back to America, where
I was selected to represent my coun-
try in the FIBA AmeriCup pre-
qualifiers. There I played for Haiti
as the starting power forward. I am
training with the Knicks organiza-
tion, hoping to fulfill my dream!”
In exciting news, Jeff signed with
the Knicks in late September!
Carlos Diaz is beginning his
second year of teaching high school
biology at La Salle College H.S., a
private, Christian brothers, all-boys
school in Wyndmoor, Pa., a suburb
of Philadelphia. He was the survival
skills counselor last summer at
Camp Lindenmere in the Poconos.
He finished applying to medical
schools and is waiting to hear back.
Sammi Bottom-Tanzer writes,
“T started my M.D./Ph.D. at Tufts
last summer. Here’s to eight years
in Boston!”
Karisma Price is a second-year
M.F.A. candidate in poetry at
NYU, where she is a Writers in the
Public Schools Fellow. She is also a
2018 Cave Canem Fellow and has
had work published in Narrative
Magazine, Four Way Review, Wildness
and elsewhere. Last year, Karisma
was named one of the writers on
Narrative Magazine's “30 Below 30”
list and was named Writer of the
Week at Maudlin House. She also
is working on a photography project
involving American street performers
and 35mm film.
Justin Bleuel recently moved
back to NYC.
Eric Ho began a doctoral study
in the education department at
the UCLA Graduate School of
Education and Information Studies
this fall.
Bianca Guerrero writes, “A few
months ago, one of the initiatives
I worked on during my fellowship
was finally funded and announced
to the public! The mayor committed
$12.8 million to close the maternal
mortality rate gap among mothers of
different races (black women in NYC
experience particularly high rates of
pregnancy-related complications and
mortality). The money will go toward
new staff in public hospitals to sup-
port mothers with chronic conditions
and high-risk pregnancies; a network
of public and private hospitals to share
best practices and introduce training
in public and private hospitals; and
a public education campaign to
help mothers recognize the signs of
important complications, among other
things. It is so satisfying and encour-
aging to see some of the solutions I
researched and pitched to my team
now manifesting into real change!
“My job at the Mayor's Office of
Policy & Planning has been great so
far — we are a small (but grow-
ing) team of three and I continue
to learn so much about how New
York City works. I took a weeklong
trip to Wyoming last July and fell
in love with the mountains, prairies
Class Notes
and wildlife. I’m hoping to road-trip
from New Mexico up to Colorado,
and separately, from San Francisco
to Vancouver, Canada, this year to
see more of the west.
“T recently became a member of
Manhattan’s Community Board
12. I was placed on the housing
and human services and traffic and
transportation committees. I’m a
little skeptical of how effective the
board might be at producing change
but I am going to give it a try.”
2018
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Alexander Birkel and
Maleeha Chida
ab4065@columbia.edu
mnc2122@columbia.edu
Briley Lewis started a Ph.D. at
UCLA and took last summer to
work on her personal creative proj-
ects, which mainly focus on women
in STEM. One of her zines is now
in the Barnard Zine Library, and if
you want to check out her work go
to briley-lewis.com.
Last summer Julia Zeh spent
three weeks in Santa Catarina,
Brazil, doing field work for the lab
she joined for her Ph.D. Each day
she watched southern right whale
mother/calf pairs from sunrise until
sunset, counting an average of 17
pairs in this bay in Imbituba. She
got the chance to watch mother
whales swimming with their fins in
the air and their babies lying on the
moms’ bellies. She says she’s proud
to rep Columbia while observing
whale behavior in Brazil!
Alex Bass has been working on
starting her own company, Salon
21, an art and social gathering space
for young creatives in the New York
area to come together, talk, dine and
support the next generation of art-
ists. The space aims to host monthly
cocktail parties for members and
artists to socialize, eat, connect, col-
laborate and discover talent.
We hope everyone is having a
great start to 2019. Please send in
your news to either of the email
addresses at the top of the column!
obituaries
1946
Victorino Tejera, professor
emeritus, New York City, on August
25, 2018. Tejera earned a B.A. in
philosophy Phi Beta Kappa and a
Ph.D. in 1956 from GSAS under
the direction of classic American
philosophers Justus Buchler
GSAS’39 and John Herman Randall
Jr. CC 1918 with the dissertation
Victorino Tejera ’46
“Philosophy and the Art of Poetry.”
He also translated and wrote
poetry for The Columbia Review.
Tejera wrote 15 books, and his
university teaching career, which
included Stony Brook University,
from which he retired, spanned
40 years. He redefined philosophy,
considering the disciplines aesthetics,
metaphysics and intellectual history,
and widened the philosophical
organon with the inclusion of the
humanistic disciplines of literary
and art criticism and semiotics in
a time that restricted the organon
to formal and philosophical logic.
Tejera studied ancient Greek with
Fred Householder Jr. GSAS’41. He
used original sources to counter the
traditionalist reading of Plato with
its predilection for ethical or political
propositions, and expounded a
revised “dialogical” reading of the
Dialogues through their literary
construction and expressive speech.
Consistent with Randall and
Woodbridge, Tejera wrote that the
dialogues were “brilliant ironical
constructions abounding in wit and
concerned with the way such matters
as human excellence, knowledge, and
the state ought to be conceptualized.”
1952
Hugh C. Hackett, real estate inves-
tor, Naples, Fla., on June 2, 2018.
Hackett, nicknamed “Bossman,”
was born on September 12, 1930,
in the Bronx. He graduated from
Ardsley H.S. in 1948 and served in
the Army until 1955, during which
time he was stationed in Stuttgart,
Germany. Hackett married Regina
Mary Purce on October 4, 1958,
and they lived in Sayville, N.Y., for
almost 40 years prior to relocating to
Naples, Fla. Hackett was a success-
ful real estate investor and developed
properties for 7-Eleven and oil com-
panies including BP Amoco, Shell
and Texaco. He was an avid reader
of biographies and history, enjoyed
jogging and working out at his local
gym, and derived immense plea-
sure from spending time with his
dogs, Schultz, Baron and Finnegan.
Hackett is survived by his wife; chil-
dren, Hugh’81, John, Christopher
and Elizabeth; daughters-in-law,
Rita and Maureen; and four grand-
children. He was predeceased by a
brother, John.
1955
James R. Hudson, research
director, Santa Fe, N.M., on July 13,
2018. Hudson was born in 1933 in
Cleveland. He attended the Army
Language school in Monterey, Calif.,
James R. Hudson ’55
and served as a special agent in the
Army Counter Intelligence Corps in
France. Upon his return he earned an
M.A. and a Ph.D. in sociology from
the University of Michigan. Hudson
employed his research expertise at the
Russell Sage Foundation, conducting
studies on issues of police-community
tensions/relations, public education
and economic development. He
held faculty/research positions at
Bryn Mawr College, SUNY Stony
Brook and Penn State Harrisburg,
serving there as the division head
of the Behavioral Science Program.
Hudson moved to the Bay Area, then
to Santa Fe. With his wife of more
than 20 years and research partner,
Trish, he co-founded the Melos
Institute, a nonprofit applied-research
organization, where he introduced
a groundbreaking paradigm for
managing membership-based
organizations. Hudson wrote,
co-wrote and edited a number of
books and articles including The
Unanticipated City: Loft Conversions in
Lower Manhattan (1987) and Special
Interest Society: How Membership-
based Organizations Shape America
(2013). He is survived by his wife.
1957
James E. Abrams, retired sales
and sales management executive,
Downingtown, Pa.,on April 1, 2018.
Abrams was born and raised in New
York City. After working for small
and large companies, he fulfilled his
dream by forming his own firm, Jener
Associates. He was a proud member
of the NROTC and a three-time
Varsity C winner in baseball. At his
College graduation, Abrams was
commissioned and assigned to NS
Norfolk (Va.). Shortly thereafter, he
was reassigned to the U.S.S. Bulwark,
a minesweeper, out of Charleston,
S.C. After two years of active duty,
he joined the Naval Reserve, where
he rose to the rank of commander.
Abrams loved baseball and coached
kids for a number of years in his com-
munity. He served military veterans
by driving them to appointments and
was an active member of his church.
Telling jokes and stories was another
of his loves, though, admittedly, some
were really “groaners.” Abrams is sur-
vived by his wife of 56 years, Rosema-
rie, as well as his daughters, Jennifer
and Erica; four granddaughters; and
his brother, Tom’58.
Charles A. Straniero, retired ob/
gyn, Mendham, N,J., on October
27,2017. A native of the Bronx,
Straniero was a lifelong Yankees fan.
At the College, he earned a B.A.,
with a minor in art history, and in
1961 an M.D. from Georgetown
University School of Medicine. After
completing his residency at Wayne
State University School of Medicine
in Detroit, Straniero served as a
captain in the Air Force, stationed
in Rantoul, IIl., 1966-68. He was a
senior attending physician at Hack-
ensack University Medical Center
and a founding partner of Prospect
Women’s Medical Center, where he
practiced ob/gyn for 38 years and
ushered more than 4,000 lives into
the world. Straniero is survived by
his wife of 57 years, Marilyn (née
Caputo); children, Carla and her
husband, Robert Barone, and John
and his wife, Dawn Trusio; and six
grandchildren. Memorial contribu-
tions may be made to the “Charles
Straniero MD Memorial Fund” at
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
(giftfunds.stjude.org).
1959
Robert L. Moore, retired business-
man, Sudbury, Mass., on July 29,
2018. Born on December 10, 1937,
Moore was raised in the mining
town of South Fork, Pa. The first
member of his family to graduate
from college, he was a scholarship
student at Columbia. In 1980, Moore
launched Omni Apex, a corrugated
packaging company, with offices in
Acton, Mass., and later Concord,
Mass., as well as a manufacturing
plant in Fitchburg, Mass. A writer,
philosopher and naturalist, Moore
enjoyed reading, poetry, classical
music, nature walks and time by the
sea. He self-published three books
after his retirement: the two-part
Compendiary: A Letter to My Children
in the Form of a Commonplace Book
and Gathered Thoughts: An Anthology
of a Life Enjoyed, a book of his poetry.
Both are included in the collection
at Harvard University’s Widener
Library. Moore’s life was guided by a
strong sense of curiosity, a fierce self-
reliance and a wry sense of humor.
He is survived by his wife of 59 years,
Winter 2018-19 CCT 85
Lynn Hirsh Moore BC’59; three
sons; and five grandchildren.
Harvey Seidenstein, physician,
Stamford, Conn., on September 3,
2018. A major in the Army; known
as the “Father of Cardiology” in
El Paso, Texas; and a dedicated
clinician at Greenwich (Conn.)
Hospital, Seidenstein will be
remembered for his devotion to his
patients during his 55-year career.
He is survived by his wife of 33
years, Jacquelyn Peters Seidenstein;
and children, John and his wife,
Veronica, Ellen Janay and Benjamin.
1960
Thomas G. Waldman, medieval
scholar, Philadelphia, on July 1,
2018. Waldman was born in Cleve-
land. He earned an M.A. in 1961
from GSAS and a D.Phil. from Lin-
coln College, University of Oxford.
Waldman was a fellow of the Royal
Historical Society. He specialized in
12th-century France, in particular
on the abbey of Saint-Denis in Paris
and its abbot Suger. For many years
he was an associate professor in the
history department at Penn, where
he was also director of corporate and
foundation relations. Waldman was
a co-founder of the Delaware Valley
Medieval Association and helped
secure a grant from the Lilly Foun-
dation that enabled its success. He is
survived by his brother, Ronald, and
sister-in-law, Lee; nieces, Elizabeth
Haspiel and her husband, Joseph,
and Margot Waldman and her hus-
Obituary Submission
Guidelines
Columbia College Today welcomes
obituaries for College alumni.
Deaths are noted in the next
available issue in the “Other
Deaths Reported” box. Complete
obituaries will be published in an
upcoming issue, pending receipt of
information. Due to the volume of
obituaries that CCT receives, it may
take several issues for the complete
obituary to appear. Word limit is 200;
text may be edited for length, clarity
and style at the editors’ discretion.
Click “Contact Us” at college.
columbia.edu/cct, or mail materials
to Obituaries Editor, Columbia
College Today, Columbia Alumni
Center, 622 W. 113th St., MC 4530,
Ath Fl., New York, NY 10025.
86 CCT Winter 2018-19
Thomas G. Waldman ’60
band, Tim Lemmon; and five grand-
nieces and grandnephews. Memorial
contributions may be made to the
Curtis Institute of Music, 1726
Locust St., Philadelphia, PA 19103
c/o Anthony J. Brown.
1961
Thomas J. Gochberg, real estate
financier, New York City, on May 24,
2018. In 1979, Gochberg arranged
a management takeover of Security
Mortgage Investors, a publicly traded
real estate investment trust, becoming
its president and renaming it Secu-
rity Capital Corp. Security Capital
purchased and merged with Smith
Barney Real Estate, making the com-
bined firm one of the nation’s largest
fully integrated real estate financial
holding companies. In 1991 Goch-
berg co-founded TGM Associates, a
specialized money management firm
focused on investing in multifamily
real estate for institutional clients.
Gochberg had been fascinated with
sailing since his youth in New Eng-
land, but had no opportunity to sail
until the 1970s. He taught himself
celestial navigation and competed
in world racing events, including
the Sevenstar Round Britain race
and the OSTAR Single-Handed
Trans-Atlantic race. He completed
several transatlantic crossings, cruised
the Mediterranean, circumnavigated
Newfoundland and made a number
of cruises to Bermuda. Gochberg was
a patron of the New York Yacht Club,
the University Club, the American
Sail Training Association and The
Cruising Club of America, and was
an involved College alumnus. He is
survived by his wife, Letty; daughter,
Sarah 00; son, John; daughter in-law,
Kim, two grandsons; brother Donald;
and numerous nieces and nephews.
1962
Vincent J. Fasano, retired profes-
sor, Montreal, Quebec, on March 17,
2017. Fasano majored in philosophy
and minored in archaeology. After
the College, he was drafted and
served two years with the Army in
Mannheim, Germany, as an MP.
On returning to the United States,
he completed graduate work at the
University of Alabama and McGill
University before taking a teaching
position in the anthropology depart-
ment of Dawson College in Mon-
treal. Fasano is survived by his wife
of 51 years, Julie; son, Erik, daughter,
Louise; and two granddaughters.
Jack Hurwitz, retired, New York
City, on December 24, 2017. Hur-
witz was born on December 22,
1940, into a large, Upper West Side
Jewish family. He went to Horace
Mann, and majored in English lit at
the College. Hurwitz was the third
generation to run the family busi-
ness, Robert Hull & Co. After he
retired, he devoted his time to his
favorite things: traveling the world,
going to the theater, spending time
with friends and family, and walking
the city he loved. He is survived by
his wife, Carol; daughters, Rudie,
Diana and her husband, Nathan
Tidd, and Tamara and her husband,
Dan Dornan; seven grandchildren;
sister, Lynn Zelevansky and her
husband, Paul; nieces, Claudia and
Nora; and longtime friends Alan
Weinstein and Lloyd Perell. As his
granddaughter Noa wrote, “We will
celebrate him forever by reading the
books he gave us, making the meat-
loaf he taught us was universally
liked, and filling glasses just half full
because you should never pour what
you'd be bothered to spill.” Memo-
rial contributions may be made to
The Center (gaycenter.org/support/
give/gift/once) or Landmark West
(nycharities.org).
1964:
Edward C. Steinberg, retired urban
planner, White Plains, N.Y., on
June 19, 2018. Born on June 14,
1942, in Ellenville, N.Y., Steinberg
earned an M.S. in urban planning
in 1966 from GSAPP. He began his
professional career that year as a plan-
ner for the New York office of the
Department of Housing and Urban
Development. He went to White
Plains in 1970 to work for the Urban
Renewal Agency, where he was later
named director. In 1985, Steinberg
was appointed commissioner of plan-
ning for the city. He was often seen
in his trademark Stetson hat walking
the renewal areas. Later, he became
director of the Stamford Urban
Redevelopment Commission, and
consulted until his retirement. Stein-
berg was an avid photographer and an
enthusiastic participant in the hobby
of model railroading, for which he
authored dozens of articles in national
magazines. He is survived by his wife
of more than 50 years, Marian; sons,
Joshua, and his wife, Rachael, and
Alex and his wife, Esperanza; daugh-
ter, Jean Borrup, and her husband,
Kevin; four grandchildren; sister,
Phyllis Greene; and brother, Clarence.
Memorial contributions may be made
to Congregation Kol Ami (White
Plains), the Alzheimer’s Association
or The Nature Conservancy.
1966
Richard O. Forzani, IT sales execu-
tive, Garfield, N.J., on September 12,
2018. Forzani was born on April 25,
1945, in the Bronx. A student-
athlete and active alumnus of the
College (he was the CC’66 Class
Notes correspondent 2012-18),
Forzani served in the Navy Reserve.
He enjoyed traveling, fine dining,
military history, Columbia football,
penning letters to the editor and
spending time with his friends and
family. Forzani was predeceased by a
son, Troy, and is survived by his wife,
Kathleen; children Daniel “Casey,”
Katelyn and Richard; younger sib-
lings, Diana, Carol, Mary, Lillian,
Edward and Michele; two grand-
children; 13 nieces and nephews;
and countless others whose lives he
positively influenced with his gen-
erosity, larger-than-life personality
and ability to charm a room with his
sense of humor. Memorial contribu-
tions may be made to Villa Marie
Claire hospice in Saddle River, N.J.
1968
Gregory F.T. Winn, scholar, lec-
turer, civil servant, diplomat, author,
Naples, Fla., on April 19, 2018.
Winn was born on August 20, 1946.
He worked at the United States
Information Agency as division chief
and senior program advisor and was
involved with American support for
the independence of Ukraine. For
several years he was deputy director
of Grants Management for Ameri-
Corps and as its senior grants advisor.
Winn spoke six languages and earned
master’s degrees from NYU and the
University of Southern California,
where he also earned a Ph.D. in
international relations. He received
Fulbright scholarships for research
and teaching in Korea and Japan
and taught international relations at
USC, American University and Ave
Maria University. The author of 25
published articles, after retiring Winn
completed two historical novels. He
received the Army Commendation
Medal for his service in military
intelligence and held a first-degree
black belt in judo. Winn and his wife,
Vera, visited more than 60 countries.
He is survived by his wife; sister,
Claire; daughter, Natasha Lantz, her
husband, Jon, and their daughter; and
son, Tyler. Winn was predeceased
by a daughter, Alanna Alexandra, 20
years prior. He also leaves his wife’s
daughters, Anya Mendenhall and her
three daughters, and Masha Sharma
and her husband, Jony, and their two
sons. Memorial contributions may
be made to the Russian Orthodox
Cathedral of St. John the Baptist,
c/o Fr. Victor Potapov, 4001 17th St.
N.W., Washington DC 20011.
1971
Eli A. Rubenstein, attorney, Newton
Center, Mass., on January 27, 2018.
Raised in Silver Spring, Md., Ruben-
stein graduated magna cum laude
and Phi Beta Kappa from the Col-
lege and earned a J.D. in 1974 from
NYU. After three years at Cabot,
Cabot & Forbes, he launched a
40-year career at Goulston & Storrs,
becoming a partner and director
in the firm’s Boston and New York
offices, with expertise in real estate
development and financing strategies.
Rubenstein donated his time, talent
and support to several charitable
organizations, including the cause
closest to his heart, the National
Multiple Sclerosis Society. He served
on the society’s national board,
including three years as chair, and
spent decades on the Greater New
England Chapter board. Rubenstein
will be remembered by friends and
family for his dry wit, excellent cook-
ing and mixology skills, pragmatic
advice, and steadfast kindness and
loyalty. He is survived by his wife of
46 years, Emily Broner Rubenstein
BC’72, SW’74; son, Isaac, and his
wife, Michelle; daughter, Abigail ’05,
and her husband, Maxwell Bogue;
and two grandsons. Memorial contri-
butions may be made to the National
MS Society (main.nationalmssociety.
org/goto/elirubenstein).
1989
Charles A. Radi Sr., global manag-
ing director and chief information
security officer, Miami, Fla., on
August 21, 2018. A fourth generation
Miamian, Radi was a star student
athlete at Miami Southridge Senior
H.S., where he was a key player in
baseball, wrestling and football and on
into college ball. He had a successful
Charles A. Radi Sr. 89
career that spanned nearly 30 years
as a highly sought-after authority in
computer and network security. While
he enjoyed many achievements, Radi’s
proudest and happiest moments were
the times spent with family. He will
be remembered for his fun-loving,
jovial and spirited personality. Radi is
survived by his father, Gabe; sisters,
Heather and her husband, Mark
Bermudez, Michele and her husband,
Bob Vicente, and Shawnee and her
husband, John McFadden; children,
Charles Jr. “CJ,” Kristin, Zachary and
Courtney. He is also survived by his
children’s mother, Valerie Radi, who
was his wife for 23 years. Radi was
predeceased by his mother, Jackie.
Memorial contributions may be
made to the ALS Association Florida
Chapter in honor of Radi’s mother.
— Lisa Palladino
Winter 2018-19 CCT 87
the/astword
A Father-Daughter Duo Takes on Dostoevsky
The Columbia College Alumni Association recently launched Core
Conversations, a virtual book club that allows alumni around the world
to reengage with the Core in a close reading of texts, guided by Columbia
faculty. The first Core Conversation began in October with more than
400 College alumni signing up to tackle Fyodor Dostoevskys Crime and
Punishment, /ed by Professor Deborah Martinsen. Among those read-
ers were Bill Gray ’77 and his daughter Campbell Gray ’11. Columbia
College Today caught up with the Grays to ask them about the book
club and the family College connection.
CCT: What inspired you to sign up for the book club together?
Campbell: I’ve had many conversations with my dad over the
years about the Core, going back to freshman year and The Iliad
and everything in Lit Hum. We always had this bonding experi-
ence [over books], but haven't done so in a few years, since I gradu-
ated. My dad heard about the book club first and signed up and
encouraged me to do the same.
Bill: Campbell has a love of reading, as I do, and we occasionally
read the same books together and then talk about them over din-
ner. When I saw this digital book club, I thought this would be a
great opportunity to do it together!
CCT: What have your conversations about Crime and Punish-
ment been like?
Campbell: They've been really good; I was just home for Thanks-
giving, when my dad caught me finishing off the latest assignment,
and we worked through the questions that Professor Martinsen
had provided. We've had really casual conversations about it, usu-
ally using the provided questions as jumping-off points.
Bill: There’s also the issue of bragging rights; Campbell has posted
a few times, I’ve posted a few times, but it’s Campbell’s posts that
have gotten the most appreciation from Professor Martinsen. So
there’s a bit of a competitive angle here — I have to come up with
something good!
CCT: Did you read Crime and Punishment as part of Lit Hum
and, if so, is there anything that stands out as different this time?
Campbell: Crime and Punishment was part of the syllabus when
I was at school and I remember really enjoying it. But as much as
college students are theoretically adults, I would say that my read-
ing it at 18 versus reading it now at 29 has been really different.
Professor Martinsen’s introductory post talks about the political
atmosphere in Russia at the time and the religious implications of
the text, which I’m sure were explained when I was 18 but weren't
at the forefront of my mind while reading. Now I have a lot more
background going into the reading that has informed it quite a bit.
Reading a book 10 years later really gives a different perspective.
Bill: I’m pretty sure it was not part of my curriculum — I think we
read The Brothers Karamazov. I did read Crime and Punishment 10
years or so ago when Campbell was talking about it — I think it
88 CCT Winter 2018-19
was one of her favorite books from Lit Hum — and I realized it was
a gap in my reading. It’s funny reading it now, because I remember
reading things as a College student and being very judgmental of
the characters’ flaws, and their failures and their weaknesses; now
I read them with much greater sympathy. I don’t know, maybe as
an older person you're more aware that humans are flawed. It’s fun
reading something and seeing how your perspective changes as a
60-plus-year-old.
CCT: Thanks to the Core Curriculum there is a shared educa-
tion across generations of College alumni. What does that
mean to you as a Columbia family?
Campbell: When I was applying to colleges, the Core was at the
forefront of my decision-making process. It always really appealed to
me that everyone at the College has some of the same experiences
— shared experiences that span so many years. I loved the Core; I
think it’s one of the most special things about a Columbia education.
Bill: I was in one of the last all-male classes — that didn’t change
until the 80s — so it was great having a daughter go to Columbia.
Despite that huge difference in the composition of our classes, I
believe in the whole concept of the Core, that there are some things
that are fundamentally human that are captured in books. Yes, the
books may change from time to time, but the issues that are dis-
cussed and our common humanity are always there. To be able to
participate in this book club, where there are people younger than
Campbell, people who are middle-aged, people who are older, all
discussing the fundamental human issues that are in these great
works of literature, I think it’s pretty inspiring.
Columbia College is celebrating the centennial of the Core Curriculum
in the 2019-20 academic year.
REUNION WEEKEND
Come back to Columbia BOLG
saslicmanty ae, appr T
‘a we ee, a3: cement tic ~
COLUMBIA REUNION — A WEEKEND FOR ALL ALUMNI
Alumni of all class years are invited back to campus to see classmates and friends; to
learn from faculty and alumni experts; and to see College Walk, Butler Library and the
neighborhood where you grew up. If your class year ends in 4 or 9, you'll also enjoy Milestone
receptions and dinners. If your class year ends in a different number, come for the weekend
and be part of Columbia College again.
THURSDAY, MAY 30 —- SATURDAY, JUNE 1
www.college.columbia.edu/alumni/reunion
Se SP ee
|
Nonprofit Org. |
U.S. Postage |
PAID
Permit No. 724
Burl. VT 05401
Spring 2019
Columbia
College
Today w&
RUJEKO
HOCKLEY’S
VERY
BIG
YEAF
The contemporary art
curator is poised to
open the 2019
Whitney Biennial.
Core to Commencement
is over halfway to $750 million.
Help us achieve our goal to make possible:
CORE BEYOND THE
uit M
CURRICULUM WELLNESS AND CLASSROO
Another 100 years of Internships, research
COMMUNITY
the Core, preparing our and global experiences,
Programs, spaces and ;
students to have an expanding students
a community culture,
impact on society. ’ skills, worldviews and
strengthening He yaad
the well-being and ea ab oa
resilience of
TEACHING AND our students. ACCESS AND
MENTORING SUPPORT
Providing support Committing to a diverse
for exceptional and vibrant community,
faculty, who invest in 3 and offering equal
undergraduates and access to our
expand wisdom for all. unique education.
The Campaign for Columbia College
aims for new heights: to create the
greatest undergraduate experience possible.
- CORETO
COMMENCEMENT
| COLUMBIA COLLEGE
we
754
Contents
at the Museum
Contemporary art curator
Rujeko Hockley ’05 is about to
open her biggest show yet — the
2019 Whitney Biennial.
By Alexis Boncy SOA’'11
Captain Marvel-ous
Anna Boden ’02 breaks barriers as the
first female director in the MCU.
Story by Anne-Ryan Sirju FRN 09;
art by Steve Mardo
The Transformation
ot New York
Two esteemed documentary filmmakers
discuss our ever-changing city.
By Famie Katz ’72, BUS’8O
Cover: Photograph by Jorg Meyer
departments
3 Within the Family
4 The Big Picture
6 Letters to the Editor
8 Message from Dean James J. Valentini
Increasing opportunities for students
to develop global awareness.
9 Around the Quads
William P. Barr ’71, GSAS’79 sworn in as
U.S. Attorney General; the John Jay Awards
Dinner; Reunion Weekend 2019 Alumni
Keynote speakers and more.
16 Roar, Lion, Roar
Remembering legendary football coach Lou Little.
35 Columbia Forum: Say Nothing: A True Story
of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
by Patrick Radden Keefe ’99
An investigative journalist from The New Yorker
Contents
alumninews \/
38
40
44
Aa
46
85
Modernizing a Monument
Message from CCAA President
Michael Behringer ’89
Volunteers with the Alumni Representative Committee
make a difference in the College’s future.
Lions
Daniel Gritzer 00, Joanna Parker ’05
and Bianca Guerrero 17
Bookshelf
Milk Street Tuesday Nights: More Than 200 Simple
Weeknight Suppers That Deliver Bold Flavor
by Christopher Kimball ’73
Class Notes
Just Married!
Obituaries
Harold Brown 45, GSAS’49;
Wallace S. Broecker 53, GSAS’58
explores a decades-old mystery.
Now on CCT Online
Like Columbia College Alumni
facebook.com/alumnicc
View Columbia College alumni photos
instagram.com/alumniofcolumbiacollege
Follow @Columbia_CCAA
Join the Columbia College alumni network
college.columbia.edu/alumni/linkedin
88 The Last Word
Columbia’s lacrosse tradition leaves a lasting legacy
for a former team member.
LION’S DEN | JAN. 17
THE LATEST
“Chefs and musicians both must
take a jumble of disparate elements
and arrange them beside each
other just so — such that each,
somehow, complements the others,
striking a chord that is greater than
the sum of its parts. When that
balance isn’t there, we notice. We’d
notice if a rock band came onstage
with seven bass players and no
guitar players ... and we’d definitely
notice if our trail mix came with 99
peanuts and one M&M.”
TAKE FIVE | FEB. 15
“| remember that one of our
suitemates was a nationally
ranked debater, and he and |
really got into it. It didn’t matter
what the topic was, we’d argue
about it. | recall one afternoon
when another kid on the floor
got a haircut ... three days
later we were still battling over
the physics, history, semiotics
and phenomenology of hair
aves — Musician PJ Sauerteig °15, from
vis-a-vis faces.”
“Will Cooking Make You a Better Musician?”
— Book designer and writer
Peter Mendelsund ’91
JORG MEYER
ere excited about our Spring issue every which
way, but one aspect that’s been exhilarating and just
plain fun is how current it feels. Being timely in a
traditional news sense is one of the built-in chal-
lenges of publishing a quarterly magazine. But all of our features
this spring have a pulse on what’s happening in culture right now.
As I write this message, we are less than three months from the
opening of the 2019 Whitney Biennial, co-curated by our cover
star, Rujeko Hockley ’05. I had the pleasure of speaking with
Rujeko and getting a behind-the-scenes primer on what it takes to
produce one of the most ambitious and highly anticipated contem-
porary art shows in the country. The scope is boggling, and the pace
from start to finish seems breathless. But what resonated most was
the depth of her investment in the artists, and her commitment to
championing their place in society. There’s no doubt that the show
will be widely discussed and give cause for head scratching, argu-
ments and swoons. But whatever our individual views on individual
works, Rujeko reminds us that they all offer the gift of perspective,
as well as the opportunity “to use a different part of our brain and
a different part of our heart, a different part of our being, to think
about things.”
While we're on the subject of big openings, we were thrilled to
catch up with Anna Boden’02, director of the surefire blockbuster
Captain Marvel, not long before it hit theaters on March 8. For the
uninitiated, the movie is the latest installment in the epic and inter-
connected Marvel Cinematic Universe that has ruled the box office
over the last decade. It’s also the first in the series to be directed by a
woman. What better way, then, to pay tribute to this barrier breaker
than by giving her a starring “superhero” role? Associate Editor
Anne-Ryan Sirju JRN’09, herself an avid Marvel fan, pitched the
idea for a graphic feature when we first learned that Anna was on
board, and then collaborated with talented artist Steve Mardo. It’s
been a joy to watch Annie marshal this passion project from con-
ception to completion, and its approach marks a first for the pages
of CCT — kapow!
Shifting gears, former CCT editor Jamie Katz ’72, BUS’80 sat
down with the two talents behind the landmark eight-part PBS
series New York: A Documentary Film. The pair — filmmaker Ric
Burns ’78 and architect and author James Sanders ’76, GSAPP’82
— are in the midst of developing a ninth episode that considers the
future of cities. Their fascinating conversation previewed this new
chapter, an exploration of New York’s explosive growth, transform-
ing culture and the challenges brought on by affordability, gentrifi-
cation and climate change.
Finally, “Columbia Forum” brings you an excerpt of a book
just published at the end of February, Say Nothing: A True Story of
Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland, by investigative journalist
Bringing You Stories That Are
Cool, Cultural and Timely
Patrick Radden Keefe ’99. This stunning work of narrative nonfic-
tion has already picked up critical accolades for its reporting, crafts-
manship and all-around gripping storyline. It’s also a reminder to be
on the lookout for Radden Keefe’s byline in The New Yorker, where
he has been a staff writer since 2006. His recent look at how reality
TV producer Mark Burnett turned Donald Trump into a paragon
of American business success is illuminating, and his article about
the Sackler family’s culpability in the opioid crisis remains chilling
and relevant more than a year and a half after its original publica-
tion. Go back and read them.
| Columbia
| College
| Today
CCT
Five
The Latest - ie cease Glimer '96
Winter 2018-19
The Radical Authenticity of
Beto O’Rourke
But really, I hope this entire issue inspires you to go, read, see and
do. (Bonus: Check out CC7’s website where, in mid-February, we
published a feature exclusive about Beto O’Rourke ’95, the Texas
Democratic Party candidate who nearly upset Sen. Ted Cruz in the
November elections.) We'll be here waiting to hear from you, and
keeping our fingers on the pulse.
Alexis Boncy SOA'11
Editor-in-Chief
Spring 2019 CCT 3
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WE “SPOT”
A WINNER!
Each year, the Office of
Global Programs hosts a
photo contest for students who
have participated in a study
abroad or fellowship experience.
Jason Hagani 19 was one of
this year’s three College winners;
his photo “Peekaboo,” taken at the
Mpala Research Center as part
of the 2018 Columbia in Kenya
: program, won the top honor in
; the “Free For All” category.
:
‘ To see all three College winners,
H go to ogp.columbia.edu/study
abroad/photocontest/2019.
4 CCT Spring 2019
<
P| my iat ’ > Spring 2019 CCT 5
Columbia
: College
Today @
/ VOLUME 46 NUMBER 3
] SPRING 2019
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Alexis Boncy SOA'11
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Lisa Palladino
DEPUTY EDITOR
Jill C. Shomer
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Anne-Ryan Sirju JRN’09
FORUM EDITOR
Rose Kernochan BC’82
ART DIRECTOR
Eson Chan
Published quarterly by the
Columbia College Office of
Alumni Affairs and Development
for alumni, students, faculty, parents
and friends of Columbia College.
ASSOCIATE DEAN,
COLUMBIA COLLEGE
ALUMNI RELATIONS
AND COMMUNICATIONS
Bernice Tsai ’96
ADDRESS
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530, 4th FI.
New York, NY 10025
PHONE
212-851-7852
EMAIL
cct@columbia.edu
WEB
college.columbia.edu/cct
ISSN 0572-7820
Opinions expressed are those of
the authors and do not reflect
Official positions of Columbia College
or Columbia University.
© 2019 Columbia College Today
All rights reserved.
MIX
Paper from
responsible sources
wee FSC® C022085
Letters to the Editor
A Beloved Tradition
In the Winter 2018-19 issue, which fea-
tured the much-appreciated profile of my
classmate Dr. Richard Axel ’67, I was also
pleased to be reminded of the now-108-
year-old Yule Log tradition.
I encountered the Yule Log ceremony in
my freshman year, 1963. It was presided
over by history professor Dwight Miner
CC 1926, who — in addition to his aca-
demic expertise in American history and
Contemporary Civilization — was an
expert on Columbiana. This perhaps was
the result of having grown up on Morn-
ingside Heights, matriculated at alma
mater and taught there all his adult life.
Professor Miner was regularly voted the
College’s most popular professor, and I became especially enamored of his
knowledge of Columbia history. He told the story behind poet Clement
Clarke Moore CC 1798's composition of “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (popu-
larly known as “The Night before Christmas”) — off the top of his head!
— as a Christmas present to his children. Then he read the poem (my recol-
lection is that he recited it from memory) with the same theatricality that
enhanced his teaching.
Professor Miner also gave a short history of the Yule Log ceremony, which
was then more than 50 years old. He observed that the age of the event was
somewhat unusual, saying, “Typically, a tradition at Columbia is something
that happens one year in a row.”
Ah, nostalgia. Thanks for the reminder of one of the many things I loved
about Columbia and of all the great teachers like Miner and, now, like Axel.
Carlton Carl’67
Martindale, Texas
Thank You
Emily moved to Berlin to work for a
few years and now is pursuing a master’s
in transcultural studies at the University of
Heidelberg. I have witnessed her growth and
drawn such pleasure from seeing her thrive at
Columbia and beyond. CCT is a link for me
to the University and a view to the ongoing
inspiration that students offer to the world.
Geoffrey Hyatt
Westminster, Colo.
Thank you for publishing such a satisfy-
ing product as Columbia College Today.
My daughter, Emily Frances Hyatt 714,
adored her time at Columbia. The aca-
demic rigor, diverse student population
and New York City backdrop are memo-
ries that she often cites as making it such
a special experience.
JAIME DANIES SEAS'20
summer at
Columbia
Undergraduates | Graduates | Adults & Professionals
sos.columbia.edu/summerl9
PROGRAMS FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
)
i
ay iy
a
COLLEGE EDGE SUMMER IMMERSION GLOBAL SUMMER IMMERSION
July 6-26, 2019
Fall & Spring Semesters
Summer-Fall, Spring-Summer, Fall-Spring Session 1: June 24-July 12
Session 2: July 16-August 2
Session 3: August 5-August 9
8 0 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY sps.columbia.edu/hs19
Message from the Dean
Enhancing Students’ Global Experience
here’s no mistaking that we live in a global society. Whether
our students come from outside the United States, learn one
of more than 40 languages in our classrooms or choose to
spend time studying abroad, global awareness is a core com-
petency for all of us. And “all of us” includes me.
The photo shown here was taken earlier in my career during one
of my many trips to East Asia for scientific collaborations and sci-
ence conferences. Those experiences showed me early on how we
are all connected and how my work had an impact on a colleague
on the other side of the world. We faced similar challenges, asked
similar questions and sought to discover similar solutions. Together,
we were able to bridge the distance and work collectively toward our
shared goals.
One shared goal I have now as dean is to propel the global experi-
ence of all undergraduates at Columbia. When there was a leader-
ship change in the Office of Global Programs two years ago, I asked
the deans of Columbia Engineering and the School of General
Studies, and the provost of Barnard College, to join me in thinking
about a new direction for that effort. Recognizing that we had an
opportunity to rewrite our vision for global programs, I wanted to
be thoughtful and deliberate in building an enhanced experience
for our students. I recognized the importance of engaging with
our faculty and students, along with administrators throughout the
University and in our Global Centers, to determine the best model
for developing our undergraduate global education. What could we
do to maximize the value of our students’ global experience? How
was their experience abroad complementing their experience on
campus? How might it enhance their future and become part of
their journey as a Columbia College student?
The College’s leadership spent more than a year interviewing
students, faculty and fellow staff on Morningside Heights and at
Reid Hall in Paris, assisted by an outside consultant to help carry on
this substantial organizational effort. We visited peer institutions to
learn about their opportunities and experiences. We found recurring
themes: the need for a more diverse range of programs, expand-
ing beyond traditional study abroad; greater research support; well-
defined learning outcomes that apply to all our students; increased
global opportunities on campus and in New York City; and a desire
to connect more extensively with the global endeavors of faculty not
only in our four undergraduate schools, but also with the faculty of
Columbia's many graduate and professional schools.
This collaborative and extensive work resulted in the creation of
The Center for Undergraduate Global Engagement. Its expanded
mission calls for enhancing access, supporting existing programs
and developing opportunities for undergraduates to pursue global
education and develop global understanding. Serving as a hub of
global activity on campus, the center will bring together under-
graduates, faculty from throughout the University and staff.
Led by Dean Shannon Marquez, whom you met in the Winter
8 CCT Spring 2019
2018-19 issue, it will ensure that all Columbia
undergraduates have the opportunity to achieve Dean James J.
Valentini during
a research
trip abroad.
defined global competencies.
Our undergraduates participate in hundreds
of programs around the world every year, and
these experiences teach them understanding, self-sufficiency and
core competencies to further their personal development. Our goal
is to empower our students to be active and effective citizens of
our global community. Whether in Uganda, France, Israel, Chile,
Greece or right in Morningside Heights, we are committed to
leveraging the center’s new role on campus. We are excited to see
where this work will lead us as we continue to build the greatest
possible experience for our students.
James J. Valentini
Dean
COURTESY DEAN JAMES J. VALENTINI
Gyllenhaal, Willimon
To Be Reunion
Keynote Speakers
Golden Globe-winning actress and
producer Maggie Gyllenhaal ’99 and
producer, screenwriter, playwright and
showrunner Beau
Willimon’99, SOA’03
will speak at the
Reunion Weekend
2019 Alumni Keynote
on Saturday, June 1.
The two will discuss
storytelling through
television and film,
and how they choose
projects that reflect their values and
advance a particular vision of society.
Gyllenhaal, a 2009 John Jay Award hon-
oree, currently stars
Gyllenhaal
in and produces the
HBO series The Deuce,
and starred in the
2018 Netflix film The
Kindergarten Teacher.
Willimon was the
showrunner for the
Netflix series House of
Cards for four seasons;
Willimon
his latest series, The First, premiered on
Hulu and Amazon Prime in September.
He also wrote the screenplay for the 2018
film Mary Queen of Scots.
Annual Report
Columbia College published its annual
report in January, reflecting on achievements
and other milestones from the 2017-18
academic year. Among other things, the
report highlights My Columbia College
Journey, a new framework designed to
encourage students to routinely reflect on
and assess their ongoing personal develop-
ment; the launch of Live Well | Learn Well,
a digital hub for well-being resources on
campus; the announcement of The Eric H.
Holder Jr. Initiative for Civil and Political
Rights, which is carving out a distinctive
&
=
5
:
DEAN’S SCHOLARSHIP RECEPTION: Almost 350 named scholarship donors and College student
recipients turned out for the Dean’s Scholarship Reception, held February 12 in Roone Arledge
Auditorium. The annual event brings attendees together to meet, share advice and swap stories
about their College experiences. The speakers were Dean James J. Valentini (second from right);
lyobosa Bello-Asemota 19, a past recipient of the Columbia College Young Alumni Scholarship and
one of this year’s recipients of the Benjamin F. & Bernice Block Fund (far left); and Souren Ouzounian
’89, of the Ouzounian Family Scholarship. Also shown above are Jonathan Schiller 69, LAW’73,
University Trustees chair emeritus (second from left), and Doug Wolf’88, Columbia College Alumni
Association chair. For more photos from the reception, go to facebook.com/alumnicc/photos.
experience for undergraduates through a Roberts & Co. The dinner, which was
focus on historical, contemporary and future attended by more than 450 people, supports
visions of justice; and the Odyssey Mentor- the John Jay National Scholars Program.
ing Program, which connects alumni and
students for mentorship, networking and = |"
other opportunities. View the report at
alles edliabaead ca AtSAEONN Barr Confirmed as
Attorney General
William P. Barr’71, GSAS’79 was sworn
Congrats, John J ay in as U.S. Attorney General on February
Award Honoree s! 14 after being confirmed by the Senate
in a 54-45 vote. Barr previously served as
Five alumni were honored for distinguished AG, from 1991 to
professional achievement at the 41st annual 1993, under President b
John Jay Awards Dinner, held on March 6 George H.W. Bush. 2
at Cipriani 42nd Street. This year’s recipients Since then he has been i"
were James Brett’84, BUS’90, managing a corporate lawyer, 2
partner at JT'B Capital Partners; Erik general counsel for =
Feig 92, founder and CEO of PICTURE- GTE Corp. (which a
START; Jodi Kantor’96, a journalist and merged with Bell ‘
=
author; [om Kitt ’96, a composer, arranger,
orchestrator and music supervisor; and
Alisa Amarosa Wood ’01, BUS’08, partner
at global investment firm Kohlberg Kravis
Atlantic to form Veri-
zon in 2000) and with the firm Kirkland
& Ellis. He also sat on the Time Warner
board of directors from 2009 to 2018.
Spring 2019 CCT 9
FacultyLounge
Magdalena
COURTESY MAGDALENA STERN-BACZEWSKA
ee ewska
By Jill C. Shomer
ianist Magdalena Stern-
Baczewska was sent to her
first piano lesson at age 5 as
punishment for being mean
to her little sisters. Still, it was
unlikely she would have chosen another
career path — Stern-Baczewska grew up
in Katowice, Poland, to a family of pia-
nists and singers. “It was a no-brainer,”
she says. “I was playing even before I
started formal lessons. But my teacher
made me sensitive to beautiful sounds
from the very first lesson.”
Stern-Baczewska now shares that
gift as the director of Columbia’s Music
Performance Program (MPP), a posi-
tion she’s held since 2014. She teaches
a performance master class for student
musicians, as well as Music Humanities as
part of the Core Curriculum.
Stern-Baczewska was performing in
Warsaw when she was recruited by a pro-
fessor at the Mannes School of Music, at
‘The New School. She demurred, but the
professor persisted, checking in with her
months later. “That phone call changed
my life,” she says. She arrived in New
York City for auditions in 1998. “I was
living from one miracle to another, and |
loved every minute of it,” she says. Stern-
Baczewska earned bachelor’s and master’s
degrees from Mannes and a doctor of
10 CCT Spring 2019
musical arts degree from the Manhattan
School of Music.
“T think we are conditioned as young
musicians to dream of becoming perform-
ers and practice in hopes of becoming a big
star,” she says. “But I was always open to
teaching.” Stern-Baczewska gave private
lessons to children, was an adjunct at the
College for one semester in 2011, led cham-
ber music ensembles at Mannes and taught
at Montclair State in New Jersey before
returning to Columbia. She also spent four
years working at Yamaha Corporation of
America, which she says gave her the neces-
sary skills to run a program such as MPP.
“It’s been five years and I still pinch
myself,” she says. “My colleagues are
fantastic, and being able to help students
— the majority of whom are not music
majors — pursue their passion on a high
level is a true privilege.” More than 300
students receive music instruction through
MPP. “They’re there because they love
it,” Stern-Baczewska says. “They’re not
locking themselves up practicing to be
the next great soloist — they’re all about
interactions with others, building relation-
ships, making music together. It inspires
me every day.”
Her “Master Class” is a focused seminar
for a dozen student performers, includ-
ing those from the Juilliard-Columbia
program who take music instruction at
Juilliard and the remainder of their classes
at the College. The students perform for
the group and receive high-level critique
from each other. “They are truly super-
human,” Stern-Baczewska says. “And they
appreciate the experience of being able to
verbalize their thoughts.”
Teaching non-performers in the Music
Humanities setting is even more reward-
ing for her. “I learn so much from my
students; I don't have to fear them being
close-minded or unaccepting, even with
more ‘difficult’ music,” she says. “They
always find a way for it in their world,
and they help me into it as well. A new
chemistry is created in every session.”
“There is constant discussion about
inclusivity in Music Hum,” she continues.
“We're talking about the masterpieces of
Western music, but I try to make sure that
what the students hear and see in terms of
performances is diversified. I don’t want
classical music to feel elitist, and we can
connect music to issues we face today —
for example, we talk about anti-Semitism
when we discuss Wagner. It can be
intense, but the students say they’re glad
we're having those discussions.”
Last summer, Stern-Baczewska joined
Professor Robert E. Harrist Jr. GSAS’81
in Paris at Reid Hall for a linked session of
Art Hum and Music Hum. The combined
program, which launched in 2015, lasts
six weeks and includes daily classes and
cultural events. Stern-Baczewska, who has
performed around the world, also recently
played a concert at the Columbia Global
Center in Beijing, inviting two students
from the MPP to join her. “Being able to
share this experience with MPP students
was a big milestone,” she says.
When not teaching or performing,
Stern-Baczewska studies Chinese —
her eighth language — and she and her
husband, an ear, nose and throat physi-
cian specializing in sleep, enjoy attending
the Met Opera, dancing at silent discos
and binging on Netflix (“we're watching
Narcos right now; it’s our way to decom-
press”). The two met collaborating on a set
of recordings that would help his patients
fall asleep, creating three volumes called
Music For Dreams. “It was a fascinating
process because | had to find new ways
to interpret the music in order to provide
therapeutic benefit. My job is usually to
1”
keep people alert and engaged!
StudentSpotlight
Zehra Naqvi 21
What’s something interesting you
learned this week?
I’m taking a class called “Making History
Through Venturing” — our professor,
Amol Sarva’98, is amazing. He’s done
a lot of work in startups and entrepre-
fast facts
Major: Financial Economics, with
concentration in Art History
Hometown: Hong Kong
Favorite spot on campus: Low Steps at
sunset, right at the beginning of the fall
semester when it’s still warm and everyone
is newly back on campus
neurship and was a philosophy Ph.D.
It’s interesting to think about finance in
the context of philosophy. This week we
talked about Descartes and how his ideas
influence the startup world and creating
a business. It was the different aspects of
my education coming together!
What’s your favorite Core reading so
far, and why?
Pride and Prejudice. It was my favorite
before Columbia, but re-reading it here
gave me a new perspective. Jennifer
Rhodes ’00, GSAS’17 was an absolutely
amazing Lit Hum professor; she let us put
our own ideas forward — whether or not
they were academically correct was not
something she was concerned about.
What do you like to do outside of class?
Lion Fund is a Columbia-based hedge
fund/investment management fund that
introduced me to finance and raised my
interest in it. It also motivated me to be
aware of new ideas and emerging trends
that are going to affect the world — in
ways that we might not realize — in 50,
60 years. Also GLO, which is my fashion,
social justice and activism graphic T-shirt
line (and now it’s turning into a media
platform) that focuses on empowerment
and awareness. That’s something I’ve been
doing since Hong Kong. I feel like people
don’ realize that Generation Z has a lot
of power right now, and we focus on try-
ing to emphasize how important our ideas
are and how we can shape the world.
How do you like to take advantage of
being in New York City?
I’m majoring in financial economics and
art history, and those are two industries
that dominate New York. I always see new
exhibitions at museums — the Michelangelo
exhibit at the Met last year was gorgeously
curated, there was a Warhol exhibit at the
Whitney I went to, and the Morgan Library
just did Tolkien's manuscripts and sketches.
At the same time, New York City gives me
a place to develop my interest in finance.
The huge powerhouses of the finance world
started here, so access to that history — and
understanding the nature of the financial
world in New York and America — is some-
thing that I really try to take advantage of.
i=
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DidYouKnow?
Furnald Hall Housed a
Student-Run Grocery Store
ously unused basement of Furnald Hall. In a March 21, 1978, article for
Spectator, David Brown’76, who spearheaded the co-op’s creation, reflected on
the 18-month process — from battling bureaucracy, to getting alumni support, to
| n March 1976, a group of students opened a co-op grocery store in the previ-
Ae
k We
COLUMBIAN, 1980 EDITION
rousing student enthusiasm — and how the co-op had grown since its opening. The
co-op “is run by students who see it as being in their own best interests to sell food
cheaply, provide good jobs for other students, and create a pleasant atmosphere in
the store,” he wrote. The grocery store was popular with students for offering goods
at lower prices than other stores on Broadway, and remained open until 1989.
HallofFame
The Editor Who Made “The Gray Lady” Great
By Thomas Vinciguerra 85, JRN’86, GSAS’90
t a time when anyone can
post anything instantly
on social media, it’s never
been easier to spout non-
sense. It’s also never been
easier to screw up on such matters as gram-
mar, punctuation, capitalization, spelling
and syntax. For these days, Theodore M.
Bernstein CC 1924, JRN 1925 was made.
For 47 years, Bernstein was a lodestar of
The New York Times. He literally drew up
its front-page arrangement of articles and
pictures every night — a job so important
that on particularly newsworthy occasions,
he would autograph copies of his layouts
for colleagues. He composed many of the
Times’ banner WWII headlines. And his
choices of typography, story placement and
graphics set a pattern that still makes the
once-dense newspaper easier on the eye.
But it was as the Times’ arbiter of
style, usage, standards and practices that
Bernstein remains invaluable to those who
Theodore M. Bernstein CC 1924, JRN 1925
12 CCT Spring 2019
care about properly deploying the English
language in the internet age. “If writing
must be a precise form of communica-
tion,” Bernstein said, “it should be treated
like a precision instrument.” In his heyday,
his precepts echoed both within and with-
out the walls at 229 W. 43rd St.
Bernstein, a New York City native,
found his calling as managing editor
of Spectator, where his duties included
marking up every issue for style and
proofreading faults. He joined the Times
as a copy editor upon graduating from the
Journalism School. Working his way up
the masthead, he ultimately carved out
a domain in the southeast corner of the
third-floor newsroom, in a windowed office
dominated by a world map that covered an
entire wall. There he would chain-smoke
and, when not napping (doctor’s orders
after a heart attack), take his work seriously.
Part of Bernstein’s devotion stemmed
from personal tragedy. In 1938 he and his
wife Beatrice’s only child, 3-year-old Eric,
was struck by spinal meningitis, causing
permanent brain damage. After that, as his
niece Marylea Meyersohn said, the Times
became “his home, his refuge, his family.”
When Bernstein was promoted to
assistant managing editor in 1951, man-
aging editor Turner Catledge told him
that the newspaper could no longer spend
too much money on too much newsprint.
‘The writing had to be tighter, brighter,
clearer. It was a tough balancing act. Bern-
stein wanted none of what he derided
as “Model T sentences” — pile-ups of
clauses choked with confusing detail,
common in the Times of that era. “To
enlist with the too-orthodox would be to
tend toward prissiness and to risk losing
touch with the popular tongue,” Bernstein
reflected. “To enlist with the too-liberal
would be to invite the horrors of anarchy.”
So Bernstein championed simple, smart
prose. “One idea to a sentence” was one
of his most important edicts. This, he
knew, was not always possible. “To take
an extreme example,” he wrote, “it would
be nonsense to write: “Ihe American flag
is red. It is also white. It is blue, too.” But
always, Bernstein urged, remember your
audience. If you don't, you might find
yourself “writing about a man drawing
horsehair over catgut instead of about Isaac
Stern playing a Bartok concerto.”
Bernstein codified his dictates every
two or three weeks in an in-house review
of recent Times output, Winners && Sin-
ners. Some of this newsletter was devoted
purely to reinforcing basic grammar rules
and noting factual errors. But frequently,
Bernstein used what he called his “bulle-
tin of second-guessing” to improve the art
of storytelling. Once, the word “tuxedoes”
was arbitrarily changed to the snootier
“dinner jackets.” Bernstein wailed, “In
what kind of ivory tower does this editor
dwell?” He cheered what he called “dabs
of color,” as when Russell Baker described
North Dakota senator William R.
Langer CC 1910 “chewing his customary
cellophane-wrapped cigar.”
At his best, Bernstein was both instruc-
tive and uproarious. “A Phi Beta Kappa
graduate of Dartmouth, Pat Weaver’s
head is said to burst with ideas,” wrote
one reporter. Bernstein asked, “What
did Dartmouth do with the rest of him?”
When a story about the new Beverly Hil-
ton Hotel mentioned its “floor-to-ceiling
walls,” he wondered, “Why didn’t anyone
ever think of those before?”
“When he spoke, he was not argued
with,” said Betsy Wade BC’51, JRN’52, the
Times first female copy editor. “People who
had been there before me by 10 or 20 years
sometimes grew weary of him. But they
said, “This is what Bernstein says, and this is
how we do it.’ They were almost reverential.”
Winners && Sinners was originally meant
only for internal Times consumption. But
as its reputation grew, the paper began dis-
tributing it to “wordmongers” (a Bernstein
word) on the outside. Eventually, as he put
it, “a book publisher twisted the author’s
arm.” The result was Bernstein’s popular
1958 guide, Watch Your Language, and a
series of similar volumes. Today, his titles
— Headlines and Deadlines; More Language
That Needs Watching; and Miss Thistlebot-
tom’ Hobgoblins among them — can still
be found within reach of many a diligent
writer along with Fowler, the Chicago
Manual of Style, and Strunk and White.
Bernstein died on June 27, 1979.
Among his many innovations, his front-
page Times obituary noted, was a new
punctuation mark. It was the “interro-
bang,” a combination exclamation point
and question mark, to denote questions
that were actually exclamations. Five days
later, a red-faced Gray Lady publicly cor-
rected itself. What Bernstein had actually
proposed was a “pronequark” — a question
mark lying on its side.
Bernstein, ever the exacting apostle of
an evolving mother tongue, would have
appreciated that.
LookWhosTalking
Lisa Hollibaugh
Dean of Academic Affairs
You joined the College in 2016 from Barnard,
where you were dean for international and
global strategy. What drew you to this role?
I was intrigued by the opportunity to provide
support for so many aspects of the academic life
of undergraduates. I have the chance to work
with faculty as they develop their curriculum,
with advisors as they offer guidance and with
students as they pursue opportunities beyond
the classroom.
What’s your typical day?
Every day is a bit different because it depends
on the questions, suggestions or concerns I hear
about from faculty, administrators and students.
I might work with a faculty member on a pro-
posal for a new or changed major, or do research
for a curricular committee, or talk with adminis-
trators and librarians about how to support undergraduate research programs or pull
together materials and ideas that help to promote the goals of the Core Curriculum.
KILLIAN YOUNG
What’s the best part of your job?
The people. A university is all about the endeavors of individuals, especially the
faculty and students, and I enjoy not only providing support for their efforts in
any way that I can, but also thinking with others about the collective project of the
University that unites us all. And I get to learn, constantly!
You're very involved with My Columbia College Journey. Why do you think
it’s important for students to take a holistic, rather than purely academic,
view of their College experience?
Columbia offers so many opportunities — far too many for any of us to pursue all
of them. So students need to make choices each semester: what courses to take,
what clubs to engage with, what internships to accept, what kind of fun to have.
‘The act of making choices like these is a big part of what makes college such an
important process in the transition from childhood to adulthood, and My CC
Journey gives students a framework and a vocabulary to help them think through
these choices, to understand the value of what they’re achieving or developing in
each competency. It encourages students to reflect and to make sense for themselves
of their time at Columbia.
What’s one thing about yourself that would surprise readers?
What a hard question! Perhaps it would surprise some people to know that the
dean of academic affairs wasn’t always a star student in college herself. I did well in
the subjects that I loved, but I didn’t give my best efforts to courses that didn’t cap-
ture my interest. I had to learn that discipline over a more extended period of time,
so I can confirm, from personal experience, that a person can continue to develop
the Core Competencies long after graduation!
Spring 2019 CCT 13
SATTELnee Bettanirne iaka et alibi ee Lisciststn
rid Rit dian oe eae ee
eae A!
with lectures and talks reminiscent of the
Core Curriculum, and relating texts to corel issues.
_ ie ° Fi
stalling ecepeapiincg cies omen?
Se RAO SRT et ee Pate
seseeal
by strolling college Walk and seeing Everts
campus spots and neighborhood haunts.
with live jazz and wine tasting. Then, finish off
the weekend dancing under the stars. é
across all class years! If your class year
ends in 4 or 9, enjoy special programming. Graduate any other year? Choose from
among more than 30 events on campus and across NYC.
ROAR, LION, ROAR
They Called Him “Mr. Little”
By Alex Sachare ’71
hat is the job of a football coach? Lou Little, the win-
: ; ; ningest coach in Columbia football history, shared his
thoughts on that subject just months after leading the
Lions to their most famous victory, a 7-0 win over Stanford in the
1934 Rose Bowl.
“The teaching of the fundamentals of the game is only a small
part of the duties,” he wrote in Low Littles Football, co-authored with
Arthur Sampson of the Boston Herald. “Only those who possess the
understanding of a father, the patience of an artist, the diplomacy of
a politician, the exactness of an accountant and the leadership of a
master of industry become successful.” Later in the same chapter he
added one more qualification, as true today as it was in the 1930s:
“A football coach must be a psychologist along with everything else.”
Born Luigi Piccolo in Boston in 1893, but better known by
the anglicized version of his name, Little, who died 40 years ago
this spring, remains foremost among Columbia football coaches.
Though Little posted losing records in his later seasons, his land-
mark wins and distinctive style on and off the sidelines combined
to concretize his legacy. A two-time All-American lineman at
16 CCT Spring 2019
MARY KATE CONNORS
Penn who played four seasons professionally, he coached for six
years at Georgetown before coming to Columbia in 1930, where
he would lead the football program for 27 seasons. His teams won
149 games, lost 128 and tied 12; his 110 victories at Columbia are
68 more than the school’s second-winningest coach, Ray Tellier.
Writing on White House stationery upon Little’s retirement in
1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower described him as “a national
symbol of fair play and good sportsmanship” and praised his “long
career dedicated to the youth of America.” And Pro and College Hall
of Fame quarterback Sid Luckman’39 once said of Little, “I never met
anyone in my life who had such a tremendous effect on me.”
An example of his players’ dedication was offered by Gene
Rossides 49, LAW’S52 in an interview in January: “In my third
year, I shifted to quarterback in the wing T and was just learning
the position. So Coach Little reached out to Sid Luckman and
asked him to come help me at spring practice. At the time Sid was
coaching the Notre Dame quarterbacks, but when Coach called,
he dropped everything. Talk about my good fortune — I had Sid
Luckman for three hours a day for a month, teaching me every-
thing about playing quarterback!”
A dapper dresser who was known for his impeccable suits, fancy
fedoras, pince-nez glasses and extensive array of shoes, Little
maintained a close relationship with Columbia’s academic lead-
ers, including longtime Dean of Students Nicholas M. McKnight
CC 1921. He made sure none of his players were cutting classes,
arranged for tutors for any who fell behind in their studies and
helped them secure employment following graduation.
A disciplinarian who insisted on being called “Mr. Little” by his
players until graduation, after which they were permitted to call him
“Coach,” Little cared deeply about those who played for him. Rossides,
a four-time letter-winner who went on to a prominent legal career in
Washington, D.C., recalled the time he was summoned to the coach's
office during the week prior to the first game of his freshman year.
“He asked me whether my mother would be coming to see me
play — he knew my dad had passed away. I said no, she had to
work at Schrafft’s restaurant on Saturdays, and sometimes she had
to do a split shift where she would work lunch at one restaurant
and dinner at another. The next thing I know, my mother had every
Saturday off and she had the choice of which Schrafft’s she wanted
to work in — no more split shifts! That’s how much he cared about
each and every one of his players.”
Howard Hansen ’52, a varsity center for three years and captain
of the 1951 team, described Little as a builder of men. “He taught
us more than the game; he taught self-discipline and sportsman-
ship,” says Hansen. “Boys who came to him went away as men.”
Little was president of the American Football Coaches Asso-
ciation in 1939 and was a longtime chair of its Rules Committee,
helping to shape the way the game is played. He was the 1953
recipient of AFCA’s Amos Alonzo Stagg Award,
presented annually to the “individual, group or insti-
tution whose services have been outstanding in the
advancement of the best interests of football.” Little
was inducted to the College Football Foundation
Hall of Fame in 1960 and the Columbia University
Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006.
Little’s Lions posted a 5—4 record in his first season
at Columbia, then lost just one game in each of the
next four seasons. The highlight of that era was the vic-
tory over Stanford in the Rose Bowl, which at the time
was the only college football bowl game. It pitted the
best team in the Pacific Coast Conference against an
opponent of their choice, and since many of the syndi-
cated sports columnists in New York had been touting
Columbia, the Lions got the nod after completing their
1933 regular season with a 16-0 win over Syracuse.
Following a four-day cross-country train trek, the
Lions arrived to very un-California-like weather. It
rained in Pasadena for a full week, and the New Year’s
Day game was played only after the fire department
pumped 18 inches of water off the field. Not sur-
prisingly, it was a sloppy affair, and heavily favored
Stanford committed eight fumbles. Columbia needed
just one play to win it, and that play was KF-79 — a
misdirection play in the second quarter in which All-
American quarterback Cliff Montgomery ’34 faked a
handoff to Ed Brominski 35 going right, then gave
the ball to Al Barabas’36 in the opposite direction; he
ran untouched into the end zone from 17 yards out.
“For hours Montgomery and Barabas had practiced
hiding the ball,” Little wrote months later in his book.
“There is no doubt that they frequently believed, dur-
ing the season, that such tedious drilling was a waste
of time. But the situation finally developed when this
play was worth its weight in gold.”
If the Rose Bowl was Victory Number 1 of Little’s
tenure, the win over Army in 1947 was Number 1A.
A crowd of 35,000 filled the old wooden stadium at
Baker Field on October 25, as the Lions hosted an
Army team that was riding a 32-game unbeaten streak
and had not allowed a single point all season. Colum-
bia trailed 20-7 at halftime, but Rossides and Bill
Swiacki’49 connected on a 28-yard touchdown pass in
the third quarter, Lou Kusserow’49 scored on a 2-yard
run in the fourth quarter and Ventan Yablonski TC’48
kicked both extra points. The 21-20 upset ended with
pandemonium as Columbia fans poured onto the field
and pulled down the goalposts.
Little coached at Columbia for nine more seasons
before leaving in 1956, when he reached the then-
retirement age of 65. He moved to Delray Beach,
Fla., and returned to campus only once, in 1977, when
a scholarship was named in his honor. He died on
May 28, 1979, at 85.
Alex Sachare’71 is a longtime sports journalist and author
and a former editor-in-chief of (CIE
MIKE McLAUGHLIN / COLUMBIA ATHLETICS
Bull’s-eye
Sophia Strachan ’20 (above) earned the 2019 Collegiate Compound
Indoor National Championship on February 24. Contested at 13 regional
sites across the United States, the championship is determined by looking
at archers’ performances across all locations. Strachan, who also earned
the national indoor title in 2017, earned a score of 1,169. Her win also
qualified her for the National Indoor Final on March 15%
With a score of 1,131, Brittney Shin’21 earned ninth place nationally
in the compound division. On the recurve side, Christine Kim ’21 placed
fourth in the country with a score of 1,115, Meghan Collins ’22 was sixth
with 1,108 and Aileen Yu’19 was ninth with 1,092.
Magnificent Seven
Five individual track and field
athletes and two relay teams
combined to bring the Lions seven
titles at the 2019 Indoor Heptago-
nal Championship, held February
23-24 in Cambridge, Mass.
Katie Wasserman 20 took the
women’s mile title in 4:43.93, while
Sam Ritz’19 captured the men’s
mile title in 4:06.70. Alek Sauer ’19
earned gold in the 1,000m run, and
set an Ivy League meet record to
boot, with a time of 2:21.96. Daniel
Igbokwe ’20 earned the triple jump
title with a 15.82m/51-11 jump.
And Erin Gregoire ’19 won the
womens 3,000m with a dominating
time of 9:25.65.
As for the team events, the men
captured the distance medley relay
on the strengths of Ritz, Solomon
Rice ’19, Willie Hall’20 and Brodie
Holmes ’22, who combined for
a time of 9:57.25. And Solomon
CI: ROAR!
For the latest, download the
Columbia Athletics app or visit
gocolumbialions.com.
Fountain ’21, Jackson Storey ’21,
Sauer and Josiah Langstaff’19 won
the 4x800m relay in 7:35.85.
Mighty Swords
Men’s and women’s fencing won
their respective Ivy League fencing
titles in February — the second
consecutive championship for the
women and the sixth consecutive
for the men (though the first time
the men have held the title out-
right since 2008). Sylvie Binder’21
captured the individual women’s
foil championship with a perfect
14-0 record. And head fencing
coach Michael Aufrichtig was
named Ivy League Coach of the
year for women’s fencing.
The men and women also piled
up the All-Ivy accolades. Andrew
Doddo ’20 (sabre), Sam Moelis
20 (foil), Nolen Scruggs 19 (foil),
Nora Burke ’22 (sabre), Binder and
Iman Blow’19 (foil) were named to
the first team roster. Second-team
honors went to Calvin Liang 19
(sabre), Cedric Mecke ’22 (epee)
and Sidarth Kumbla’21 (foil).
At press time, the Lions were set
to host the NCAA Regionals on
March 10 at Vassar College.
Spring 2019 CCT 17
BEHIND
THE
SCENES
AT THE
MUSEUM
Contemporary
art curator
Rujeko Hockley '05
is about to open her
biggest show yet —
the 2019
Whitney Biennial
~ Hockley at the
Whitney Museum
_ of American Art;
behind, Salon Hodler
by Louise Lawler.
RUJEKO HOCKLEY ’05 CAN’T
TALK ABOUT THE ARTISTS.
The embargo is made clear, apolo-
getically but firmly, within the first few
minutes of our conversation about the
upcoming Whitney Biennial — that
ambitious, much-anticipated and often
controversial survey of what’s worth
knowing in contemporary American art.
Hockley is co-curating the show, set to
open May 17, and when we first spoke last
September, invitations to participate were
still going out. In fact, she and co-curator
Jane Panetta were still meeting artists for
consideration — a tour that had them
crisscrossing the country from Portland to
Cleveland, to Miami and Puerto Rico.
“That’s one of the interesting things
about a biennial,” Hockley says. “You're
making it up as you go. I mean that in the
best possible way — you dont get to do all
the thinking, make all the decisions and
then start inviting people to be a part of it.
You do it as you go because that is what is
required by the nature of the timing.” The
process moves quickly, she says, and calls for
a focus on the details and the big picture all
at once: “As a show that happens every two
years, it has its own cycle and metabolism.”
‘The pace is not entirely new to Hockley,
who's been in high gear since moving to the
Whitney Museum of American Art two
years ago. For a while she still had one foot
in her former home, the Brooklyn Museum,
shepherding a major exhibition about black
female artists that then traveled to three
other locations. At the Whitney, she imme-
diately joined a team developing a collec-
tions show that looked at almost 80 years of
protest art and how artists have confronted
the political and social issues of their day.
Then came the Biennial appointment.
Hockley also shares that she’s pregnant —
“It’s an especially busy year, it turns out,
even more than I planned.” Considering the
magnitude of the undertaking that is the
Biennial, this seems a rather understated
take on Hockley’s 2018.
‘Then again, maybe that’s an equanimity
that comes from taking on a challenge of
just the right shape and size. Hockley brings
a résumé that also includes a curatorial
role at the Studio Museum in Harlem, and
throughout her career — and even before,
as an art history major at the College — she
has focused on questions of equity, access,
inclusion and history. The Biennial, the
signature of an institution that has long
queried and redefined what it categorizes
as American, falls right in her wheelhouse.
One way to define the show, Hockley
says, is as “an every-two-year check-in on
‘What do we mean when we say ‘American,’
and when we say ‘American art’?”
Given the current political and cultural
climate, it’s a charged moment to offer
an answer. But maybe that’s why it’s also
a moment when the Biennial, and art in
general, can play an especially vital role.
“One of the things that art can do is allow
us to have perspective — to look at the
macro, the span of human history, the span
f
'
#
BEHIND
THE
SCENES
AT THE
MUSEUM
BELOW: Emma Amos’s 1966
painting “Flower Sniffer”
was bought by the Brooklyn
Museum after appearing in
“We Wanted a Revolution,” a
show co-curated by Hockley.
20 CCT Spring 2019
of human behavior, hundreds of years,
thousands of years,” Hockley says. “But
I think it also allows us to use a different
part of our brain and a different part of our
heart, a different part of our being, to think
about things.”
he Brooklyn Museum exhibition
that had Hockley running between
boroughs, back when she started at the
Whitney, turned out to be one of the most
significant of her career. “We Wanted a
Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965—
85” explored how black female artists of
that era contended with a double exclusion:
a second-wave of feminism that largely
belonged to white women, and a black
community that increasingly wielded art
as an expression of civil rights — even as it
embraced a Black Power sexism that gave
the platform to men to do the expressing.
Put another way, as The New York Times
wrote in its apt headline, the show cap-
tured what it was like “to be black, female
and fed up with the mainstream.”
Hockley and co-curator Catherine
Morris worked on the show for three years,
venturing beyond the museum's walls to
pull art and archival ephemera from librar-
ies, special collections and other sources,
and also to work with the artists them-
selves. When it opened in April 2017, the
reviews were positive. (Hockley had started
at the Whitney just the month before.)
The New Yorker hailed it as a “superlative
survey” and Artforum, a “landmark exhibi-
tion.” The Times praised its “textured view
of the political past,” leading viewers to the
conclusion that “the African-American
contribution to feminism was, and is,
profound.” Ultimately, the show traveled
to the Institute of Contemporary Art in
Boston, the California African American
Museum in Los Angeles and the Albright-
Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, N.Y.
For Hockley, it has been especially
meaningful to see what happened after-
ward. “The show continues to have a life
in the world,” she says, partly because its
featured artists — many of whom had been
underrecognized despite being long estab-
lished in their careers — are becoming
more widely known. Hockley explains that
some are winning gallery representation,
landing solo shows at museums, having
their work acquired by significant institu-
tions. Painter and printmaker Emma Amos
had paintings from “We Wanted a Revolu-
tion” purchased by the Brooklyn Museum
and the Cleveland Museum of Art. Sculp-
tor Maren Hassinger’s wire and wire rope
installation, which greeted visitors at the
exhibition’s entrance, was acquired for the
permanent collection at MoMA.
“This is the impact of doing a historical
show that adds to the historical record and
adds new, original research and thinking to a
time period that is felt to be well known —
it can have real ramifications,” says Hockley.
“Tt can really change not only art history but
it can also, actually, really change people’s
lives, the artists themselves. That’s been a
great lesson and an amazing privilege.”
‘The possibility and the power of a
historical collection is also a lesson Hockley
took, more broadly, from her time at the
Brooklyn Museum. “Like the Metropolitan,
it’s an encyclopedic museum going from
ancient Egypt to contemporary art. To have
colleagues who are versed in such a wide
array of disciplines and who have such deep
knowledge that is totally different from my
knowledge was amazing and important,”
she says. And from the Studio Museum —
which has a renowned artist-in-residence
program and mission grounded in cham-
pioning artists of African descent — she
carries one of her core tenets: “As a curator
who's invested in contemporary art, who
works with living artists, you take your cue
from them. Your job is to support them and
their vision, first and foremost.
“What they bring to the world and to
society is really different from everything
else that we have,” Hockley adds. “Art
doesn't have a function per se, and yet,
when you think about a world without it,
that’s not a world we want to live in. Many
people would agree with that regardless of
political and religious affiliation. Whatever
art means to you — that creative impulse,
that drive in human beings to communicate,
to express themselves, to create something
that wasn't there before, out of the nothing,
out of yourself, out of your ideas, desires,
hopes, nightmares, out of your thoughts —
I think that’s a uniquely human capacity
and a uniquely incredible one.”
he Whitney Biennial is the longest-
running continual survey of American
art. It debuted in 1932, just a year after
the Whitney opened, when Paris ruled
“@tv+aeeteeoeewev*te * *
One way to define the show, Hockley says,
is as “an every-two-year check-in on
‘What do we mean when we say ‘American,’
and when we say ‘American art’?”
ABOVE: Lorna Simpson's
1986 photograph “Rodeo
Caldonia,” featuring members
of the eponymous theater
collective, from the exhibition
“We Wanted a Revolution.”
the art world and any appetite for art
was essentially for European works. Both
museum and show were bold declarations
that what artists were doing on this side
of the Atlantic was worth paying attention
to. (The museum also was socialite and
sculptor Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney’s
response to having her personal collection
— more than 500 sculptures, paintings,
drawings and prints by living American
artists — rejected by the Metropolitan
Museum of Art.) Nearly 80 years later the
Biennial has become, as The Village Voice
described it on the eve of the 2017 install-
ment, “an undeniable gale force in the
unruly landscape of American art.”
It’s worth noting here that Hockley is an
immigrant. Her mother is from Zimbabwe
and her father from Britain. Hockley was
born in Zimbabwe but has a green card
COURTESY LORNA SIMPSON AND
HAUSER & WIRTH
Spring 2019 CCT 21
BEHIND
THE STATE OF THE ART
We can finally talk about it! Peep our site
college.columbia.edu/cct/latest/
feature-extras.
22 CCT Spring 2019
on March 26 for Biennial preview images:
“As a curator who works with living
artists, you take your cue from them.
Your job is to support them and
their vision, first and foremost.”
and has lived in the United States for much
of her life. She recognizes there’s a certain
irony to being the curator of this distinctly
American show, but also, she laughs,
“Whatever! Who's more attuned to a place?
It can be the person who’s [on the outside].”
Indeed, co-curator Panetta says she
especially appreciates the “keen intellect and
compassion” Hockley brings to their work.
‘The pair was invited to helm the Biennial
in October 2017 — Scott Rothkopf, the
Whitney’s deputy director for programs,
praised their “broad and sensitive instincts
for artistic and cultural relevance” — and
by January they had embarked on what
they informally called their “listening tour,”
meeting with mentors, peers in the field
and curators of past Biennials and other
exhibitions of its kind. “We got a lot of good
advice and insights about the state of the
field as well as specifics around this Bien-
nial and its history,” Hockley says. “It really
expanded the reach of our consideration and
our looking and our thinking.”
As for the works they’re tapping for the
show, Hockley describes the selection as an
iterative process. Rather than begin with
a vision or themes, “the artists’ visits that
we went on led us to different visits, and
to different ideas, and we followed that
thread intuitively — taking our cues from
the work they were making, the things
they were saying to us and what they were
interested in — and built the show that
way.” (In the end, she and Panetta will
make approximately 300 studio visits.)
Hockley resists any interpretation of the
Biennial as an attempt to be definitive or
prescriptive about the state of modern art.
“Every Biennial is subjective to the people
who are doing it — different curators could
have done the same route of travel and
studio visits and come up with a totally
different show. ... There are many things
happening and no two people could ever
see them all and know them all, especially
because the art world has grown so much
in the last several decades.”
When Hockley and I catch up again in
mid-January, she still can’t discuss the art-
ists (by the time this article publishes, the
cloud of secrecy will have dispelled). She
can, however, offer a little more by way of
her and Panetta’s vision: “In a really over-
arching way we're interested in thinking
through and looking at the ways that artists
are thinking about history, thinking about
the past, and reframing it for the present
and for the future.”
Will she look at the reviews? “For sure,
I’m only human,” she says with a laugh,
“whether that’s a good idea or not. It’s
interesting to know what is or isn't landing,
and I want to know what other people
think about the work that I do.
“People always have something to say
about the Biennial,” she adds. “It attracts a
lot of attention, which is part of the privi-
lege of it. We are able to give all of these
artists what amounts to a very large plat-
form, and that is profound and meaningful
and we take that seriously. The thing I hope
— which is always the thing I hope when I
work with artists especially — is that they
feel proud of the way their work is shown
and the way they are represented; that they
come and they say, ‘Oh wow, this is amaz-
ing. These people really did well by us.”
WHEN ANNA BODEN WAS
YOUNG, SHE LOVED
WATCHING MOVIES WITH
HER PARENTS IN HER
HOMETOWN OF
NEWTON, MASS.
IN HIGH SCHOOL, SHE FELL FOR ROBERT ALTMAN’S ‘70S
MOVIES AND GOT EXCITED ABOUT FILMMAKING.
Sides cite See ea eae asso
BODEN KNEW SHE WANTED
TO END UP IN ARTSY
NEW YORK CITY.
;
(I ig B if
ra (t ew. A
AAU j a A
jp
SHE FIRST VISITED COLUMBIA ON A BEAUTIFUL SPRING DAY AND THE
CAMPUS — AND THE FILM STUDIES PROGRAM — BLEW HER AWAY.
24 CCT Spring 2019
PROFESSORS
LIKE ANNETTE
INSDORF AND
RICHARD PENA
INSPIRED BODEN,
AND SHE DOUBLE
MAJORED IN
FILM STUDIES
AND ENGLISH.
WHILE AT THE COLLEGE, BODEN
MET RYAN FLECK, A FILM STUDENT
AT NYU. THEY STARTED MAKING
SHORT FILMS, BONDING OVER
THEIR SHARED PASSION FOR
CHARACTER-DRIVEN STORIES. |
RRS TT:
THEIR FILMMAKING PARTNERSHIP — AS DIRECTORS,
PRODUCERS AND WRITERS — HAS ONLY GROWN IN
THE 20 YEARS SINCE. “WE'VE GOTTEN TO KNOW
EACH OTHER SO MLICH BETTER AND LEARNED SO
MUCH ABOUT EACH OTHER’S STRENGTHS,” SAYS
BODEN. “MORE THAN EVER, WE’RE ON THE SAME
PAGE ABOUT WHAT GETS US EXCITED ... WE'VE
CREATED A REALLY GOOD SAFETY NET OF TRUST.”
Spring 2019 CCT 25
IN 2006, THE PAIR RELEASED THEIR FIRST FEATURE FILM, HALF NELSON.
IT WON THEM A STRING OF ACCOLADES, LAUNCHED RYAN GOSLING'S
CAREER (EARNING HIM HIS FIRST ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATION) AND
SOLIDIFIED THEIR REPUTATION AS INDIE FILM DARLINGS.
Bui DESPITE THE
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
THEY’VE RECEIVED
OVER THE YEARS
FOR FILMS LIKE
MISS/SSIPP/ GRIND
AND SUGAR, THE
CO-DIRECTORS
FLEW UNDER THE
RADAR OF MOST
AMERICANS. THAT
IS, UNTIL MARVEL
CAME CALLING.
THEY WANTED BODEN AND FLECK TO DIRECT
A MOVIE. BUT NOT JUST ANY MOVIE:
CAPTAIN MARVEL, THE PENULTIMATE FILM
IN THE MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE —
A VAST, 11-YEAR SERIES SHOWCASING
THE HEROES CAND VILLAINS!) OF
MARVEL COMICS ON THE BIG SCREEN.
CAROL DANVERS — AKA CAPTAIN MARVEL — WAS
KNOWN TO BE A KEY PLAYER IN HOW THE PREVIOUS
FILMS’ INTERCONNECTING STORYLINES WOULD END,
AND FANS WERE EAGERLY AWAITING HER
INTRODUCTION. SHE IS, AS BODEN SAYS,
“THE MOST POWERFUL SUPERHERO IN THE MCU.”
26 CCT Spring 2019
GETTING THE NOD TO DIRECT ONE OF BODEN AND FLECK WERE
THE MOST ANTICIPATED MOVIES OF 2019 AT A PLAY WHEN THEY
DIDN’T HAPPEN RIGHT AWAY. “WE HAD A LOT GOT THE NEWS THAT
OF CONVERSATIONS OVER MANY, MANY THEY HAD THE JOB.
MONTHS WITH THE EXECUTIVES AT MARVEL,” “DURING INTERMISSION
SAYS BODEN. “WE PUT A LOT OF THOUGHT WE LOOKED AT OUR
AND PASSION INTO WHAT WE THOUGHT THE PHONES AND WE HAD
CHARACTER AND THE STORY COULD BE.” GOTTEN, LIKE, 15 CALLS
FROM OUR AGENTS AND
MANAGER,” SHE SAYS.
“IT WAS SO EXCITING —
IT WAS VERY HARD
TO PAY ATTENTION
TO THE SECOND HALF
OF THE PLAY!”
STEPPING ONTO SET WAS AN INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE — “THERE ARE JUST SO
MANY MORE KINDS OF PEOPLE WHO CONTRIBUTE TO MAKING THIS KIND OF MOVIE
THAN THE ART HOUSE OR INDEPENDENT FILMS WE WERE USED TO MAKING” —
BUT SOON IT WAS BUSINESS AS LISUAL. “WE GOT IN THERE AND STARTED
DIRECTING SCENES AND IT WAS LIKE IT’S ALWAYS BEEN WHEN YOL! GET DOWN TO
THE NITTY-GRITTY OF IT: IT’S JUST ACTORS IN A ROOM WITH A CAMERA.”
Spring 2019 CCT 27
| |
if
— NET
SSE
HOWEVER, SINCE THE MOVIE STARS AN ALIEN SPACE WARRIOR
WHO SHOOTS PHOTON BLASTS OUT OF HER FISTS, THERE
WERE DAYS THAT RELIED HEAVILY ON SPECIAL EFFECTS.
BUT THE MOVIE IS MORE THAN BIG EXPLOSIONS AND SPACE
BATTLES. FOR THE CO-DIRECTORS, TELLING DANVERS’ STORY —
AND HER JOURNEY OF SELF-DISCOVERY INTO HOW SHE BECAME
SUPERPOWERED — WAS A CHANCE TO PORTRAY AFANTASTICAL &
. CHARACTER WHO’S STILL VERY RELATABLE. }
en dah Doak
fi
“SHE’S SO HUMAN,”
SAYS BODEN. “SHE'S
SOMETIMES RECKLESS, |
SHE DOESN'T |
ALWAYS MAKE THE |
BEST DECISIONS |
FOR HERSELF, SHE
SOMETIMES FEELS LIKE
SHE’S GOT SOMETHING
TO PROVE AND SHE'S
SO FULL OF EMOTION.
AS WE FELL IN LOVE WITH
HER; WE FELL IN LOVE
WITH THE MESSINESS
OF HER HUMANITY AND
WE REALLY WANTED
TO EMBRACE THAT
IN THE MOVIE.”
BRINGING THE CHARACTER TO LIFE ff mae =
ON THE BIG SCREEN IS ACADEMY 2 (AID TTATAIBRATAID)
‘
AWARD WINNER BRIE LARSON. “SHE ff CA ANTIN MAIR fall
BRINGS SO MUCH CONFIDENCE AND :
CHARISMA TO THE ROLE. I REALLY
AM EXCITED FOR ALL KINDS OF
PEOPLE TO SEE HER, BUT ESPECIALLY | ee ee
WOMEN AND YOLING GIRLS, WHO | ae ae
DON’T HAVE AS MANY SUPERHEROES Hee
ON FILM TO LOOK UP TO.” oe
28 CCT Spring 2019
THE MCU HAS BEEN AT
THE FOREFRONT OF
RECENT DISCLISSIONS
AROUND REPRESENTATION
IN THE FILM INDUSTRY.
IN 2017, TAIKA WAITITI
BECAME THE FIRST
PERSON OF COLOR TO
DIRECT A MARVEL FILM
(THOR: RAGNAROK),
AND BLACK PANTHER
FOLLOWED IN 2018 —
THE FIRST MARVEL FILM
WITH A BLACK DIRECTOR
AND BLACK ACTORS IN
LEAD ROLES. CAPTAIN
MARVEL, THE 21ST MOVIE
IN THE SERIES, IS THE
FIRST WITH A FEMALE
LEAD AND THE FIRST TO
HAVE A WOMAN IN THE
DIRECTOR'S CHAIR.
THE FILM OPENED.
ON MARCH 8, AND IN
NEARLY EVERY
INTERVIEW LEADING
LIP TO THE RELEASE,
BODEN AND LARSON
WERE ASKED:
“WHAT'S IT LIKE
aaa) 10. BE THE FIRST
)
\e = : WOMAN TO HAVE
|\ ae ros > _ YOUR POSITION IN A
~ Ae N iw ss SM iy / V >»,
”.\ =4 t
SS
BODEN IS DIPLOMATIC: “I THINK THAT BRIE AND I FEEL THE
SAME WAY — THAT WE WILL BE EXCITED WHEN IT’S NOT
NEWSWORTHY FOR WOMEN TO BE IN THESE POSITIONS IN
THESE KINDS OF MOVIES. IT’S 2019! BUT WE DO BELIEVE
THAT THERE IS A REAL APPETITE FOR MORE CHARACTERS
LIKE THIS TO BE ON SCREEN AND FOR A LOT MORE
DIVERSITY BEHIND THE CAMERA, AS WELL, IN TERMS OF
VOICES. AND WE’RE HOPEFUL THAT WE, ALONG WITH A LOT
OF OTHER AMAZING WOMEN WE MET ALONG THE JOURNEY,
WILL BE USHERING IN A NEW ERA.”
Spring 2019 CCT 29
THE TRANSFORMATION OF
NEW YORK
BY JAMIE KATZ 72, BUS’80
TWO ESTEEMED
DOCUMENTARY
FILMMAKERS ~ fa mee
DISCUSS ee ————
\, OUR EVER- | 3 2 Sans
| CHANGING CITY
A
a oh nga a
HUDSON YARDS AS ie ——e - ) os eee
SEEN FROM THE 4s . cme ae Ce |
EAST VILLAGE.
BULDOELE
Beenenee
CECLCELE
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SURSUSSESEESSSSS
y Seagusscsssesgss
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MICHAEL LEE / GETTY IMAGES
COLUMBIA COLLEGE TODAY recently caught up with filmmaker Ric Burns ’78 and
architect/author/filmmaker James Sanders ’76, GSAPP’82, who collaborated (along
with filmmaker Lisa Ades) on the acclaimed eight-part PBS series New York: A
Documentary Film, and its companion book, New York. An Illustrated History. They have
updated the series twice since it first appeared in 1999; a ninth episode is now in the works.
Burns first came to the fore with the landmark PBS series and book The Civil War (1990),
which he produced and wrote with his brother, Ken, and Geoffrey C. Ward. Among
Burns’s other works are Coney Island (1991), The Way West (1995), Ansel Adams (2002),
We Shall Remain: Tecumseh’s Vision (2009) and The Chinese Exclusion Act (2018). His numerous
honors include a 2000 John Jay Award for distinguished professional achievement from the
College. Sanders is a principal of the New York design and research firm James Sanders +
Associates. His books include Celluloid Skyline: New York (2001) and Scenes from the City:
Filmmaking in New York (2006, revised in 2014). In addition to sharing two Emmys and
the Journalism School’s Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award with Burns for the
New York series, Sanders won a 2007 Emmy for co-writing Andy Warhol: A Documentary,
also with Burns. In 2013, he was appointed a research fellow at the Center for Urban
Real Estate at the Architecture School.
‘The conversation took place in October at the always-humming Upper West Side
COLUMBIA COLLEGE TODAY: You keep adding to
the New York opus. The series’ first installment
ended in 1931 with the symbolically powerful
construction of the Empire State Building.
RIC BURNS 78: Yes, that was an incredible
culmination, not just literally in terms of this
glorious skyscraper. The Wall Street crash and the
Depression brought a sea change for New York,
which had been going it alone for nearly 400
years as a rabid commercial center and cauldron
of diversity and change. The issues of modern life
had reached the point where they were not going
to be solved by J.P. Morgan and his pals getting
together and bailing out the economy. The federal
government had to act.
JAMES SANDERS "76, GSAPP’82: We always intended
to cover the entire story of the city, through the end
of the century, but released the initial five episodes —
ending in 1931 — before moving on. ‘The next two
episodes took us first through the Depression, the
rise of [Mayor Fiorello] La Guardia and WWII, and
then post-war New York, when the city was cata-
pulted onto the world stage as the unofficial capital
office of Burns’s production company, Steeplechase Films. Here are some edited excerpts.
of the world. But by the 1970s, the city was facing
the biggest crisis in its history, going up against
tremendous anti-urban feeling. New York was seen
as dirty, congested, dangerous. There was continu-
ing flight to the suburbs and the widespread belief
that New York was truly going down the drain, on
the brink of bankruptcy. Washington's reaction?
"FORD TOICITY, DROE DEAD!
BURNS: But after that precipitous fall from grace,
the city miraculously reemerged at the end of the
20th century. It did not die. And we thought at
that point our story was over. And then ...
SANDERS: What’s the old Trotsky line? “You
may not be interested in war, but war is interested
in you.” September 11, 2001, arrived, and we
realized we had to refract the entire narrative
we had created through the rise and fall of the
World Trade Center.
BURNS: A structure we had not mentioned in the
first seven episodes. Because it seemed in every
respect a Johnny-come-lately. Who cares? I mean
it’s not an attractive building ...
THE TRANSFORMATION OF
NEW YORK
RIC BURNS’78 (LEFT)
AND JAMES SANDERS '76,
GSAPP’82 AT BURNS’S
STEEPLECHASE
FILMS OFFICE.
JAMIE KATZ '72, BUS’80
32 CCT Spring 2019
CCT: Feelings changed in 1993, when it was
first bombed. Suddenly it became our
World Trade Center, and we didn’t want
anybody messing with it.
BURNS: Yes. And another trigger for the eighth
episode of our film series was something James
and I came to call the provincial cosmopolitan-
ism of New York, which we were absolutely guilty
of. As the historian Mike Wallace [CC’64] was
among the first to point out, when the planes
went into the buildings, an enormous amount
was revealed. For us it was the deep, deep inter-
connection between New York and America and
the world. It was not just Ellis Island. It was not
everybody parachuting in to the American dream
via its principal landing port, New York City. But
rather, there were going to be hard questions asked
about our relationship to the rest of the globe.
Now it’s as if we live in one city, interconnected
with every other part of the globe — demographi-
cally, economically, politically, climatically. The idea
that there is some kind of isolation, exceptional
or otherwise, vanished with 9-11. And on a bit-
terly cold day, January 1, 2002, a new mayor and
administration took over, which was completely
committed to this idea of the indissoluble inter-
connectedness of the entire globe.
CCT: You're talking about Mike Bloomberg.
BURNS: I’m talking about Bloomberg and a new
awareness of the need for a kind of hyper-technocracy,
in the sense that issues of immigration and climate
change, the economy, tourism, infrastructure, all
those things were connected globally. Not just the
problems, but also the challenges, the opportuni-
ties and the solutions, were now shared by all cities.
‘That’s why we're calling the next film “The Future
of Cities.” And we've turned to a new generation
of voices to discuss this.
SANDERS: One striking thing about this new
generation is they’re not really obsessed with the
past of New York. They’re anti-nostalgic. As late
as the 1990s the frame of reference was still the
departure of the Dodgers, the demolition of Penn
Station, and all the stuff from the 1950s and’60s.
This generation is building a new city. And they
are the new city — there’s an incredible diversity
of background.
CCT: Who are some of the voices you turned to?
SANDERS: People like Vishaan Chakrabarti, an
architect and planner who has worked for the city
government and for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill,
and now has his own practice. He takes a very
straightforward view about the future of the city
and about how growth is going to be sustained.
One of the premises, by the way, is that New York
needs to be a growing city. For the last half of the
20th century, although there was enormous demo-
graphic turnover, the overall population of the city
did not increase. Which meant that, for example,
the subway system and the whole infrastructure
that had been built by Robert Moses were able to
sustain the plus-or-minus 7.8 million people who
lived in the city. Well, that’s not true anymore.
New York is growing again and growing fast, as
anybody who goes to Long Island City can see.
It’s just like Shanghai over there, just incredible.
With that growth, accommodation has to be
made. Land has to be found. Transportation has
to improve. And to not accept that is to turn your
back on reality. One of the things Bloomberg and
his deputies understood was that the city that
had been built up mostly in the first half of the
20th century — its economy, its infrastructure, its
land use — needed to be wrenched into the 21st
century. We had miles of land zoned for factories
that didn’t exist anymore, yet couldn't be used for
anything else. And they said, we need that land.
‘That was not an easy decision, or one that went
down easily in every quarter. When youre feeling
the rawness of the city, with all the new construc-
tion, what you're feeling is more than just a lot of
buildings being built. You’re feeling this incredible
paradigmatic shift of the city. It is really changing
from one thing to another.
b
BURNS: Vishaan Chakrabarti, incidentally, is one of
several people in the film who teach at Columbia.
Of course, there’s also Ken Jackson, our great urban
historian. There’s Ester Fuchs, a professor at SIPA,
a remarkable person who worked in the Bloomberg
administration. She’s an amazing thinker about cities,
really brilliant. She shows how questions of gover-
nance became increasingly depoliticized as the 20th
century came to an end. There were earlier glimmers
of this — the post-political idea that cities have to be
governed with a sense of rationality, of fact-based data,
and of consensus; Mayor La Guardia gave us a great
example in his day. Amazingly, cities have become the
greatest unit of governability over the last two or three
decades. It’s not happening at the state level, it’s not
happening at the federal level, and may never again.
SANDERS: ‘The notion that the ingenuity and
creativity of smart, motivated people could be
mobilized to solve urban problems was not
apparent 30 years ago. I mean, there were books
literally called things like The Ungovernable City.
‘That was the understanding about New York.
No one would write that book anymore.
CCT: If you were Rip Van Winkle awakening in
New York today from a 20-year snooze, what are
some of the ambitious, large-scale changes that
you would find most surprising?
SANDERS: If New York had simply rebuilt the
World Trade Center, that would have been startling
enough. Probably only six cities in the United States
have more square footage in their downtown. So
it has rebuilt that whole downtown and then built
another one along the way: Hudson Yards. It’s the
largest real estate development in North America,
and one of the largest ever created. I see it from my
window. It’s just unbelievable. And it’s only half-
done. But the half that’s built is astonishing.
BURNS: ‘Then there’s the total transformation of
the waterways.
SANDERS: ‘The entire ferry service that has just
been introduced. Brooklyn Bridge Park, Gover-
nor'’s Island. Any one of these projects would have
astounded people in the 1980s, and suddenly there
are 10 of them. Plus the fact that every square inch
of Manhattan suddenly seems to be of insane value.
CCT: Downtown Flushing, Jersey City ...
BURNS: Manhattan's no longer the center of action.
Certainly not culturally, in terms of youth culture.
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THE LULLABY OF BROOKLYN: YOUNG PEOPLE ARE NOW LOOKING FOR FUN IN OUTER BOROUGH
NEIGHBORHOODS SUCH AS WILLIAMSBURG.
‘The action is truly within the perimeters of the
entire city now, which is really a remarkable and
wonderful thing. And I think that’s why the nos-
talgia is not there. This is not F. Scott Fitzgerald’s
My Lost City, where he wrote so movingly of the
destruction of the illusion of New York, like a shat-
tered dream, all the more poignant for being so.
CCT: But certainly, plenty of things are being lost
and damaged. Familiar blocks disappear; longtime
residents can no longer afford their apartments;
small businesses are replaced by humdrum chain
stores or sit empty for long stretches.
BURNS: It’s the inevitability of transformation, the
oldest story in New York. You build it up, you tear
it down, you build it up. It’s the creative destruc-
tion of capitalism. We do, fortunately, have pretty
stiff building codes and landmark preservation, a
concept that was born in New York. That hasn’t
gone away. But yes, there is that constant sense
that the ground is moving beneath your feet. It’s
not an easy place to live in that respect. It’s about
finding ways to adapt to it. And making sure that
as many people as possible have access to the
opportunities of that kind of dynamism. That’s
the real problem, not whether you can live in the
neighborhood you grew up in.
JENACRUZ.COM
“MANHATTAN’S
NO LONGER THE
CENTER OF ACTION.
CERTAINLY NOT
CULTURALLY, IN
TERMS OF YOUTH
CULTURE. THE
ACTION IS TRULY
WITHIN THE
PERIMETERS
OF THE ENTIRE
CITY NOW, WHICH
IS REALLY A
REMARKABLE AND
WONDERFUL THING.”
Spring 2019 CCT
THE TRANSFORMATION OF
NEW YORK
“WATER IS NOW THE
ENEMY, NOT THE
FRIEND. SHIVA
THE DESTROYER,
NOT SHIVA THE
BRINGER OF LIFE.”
34 CCT Spring 2019
nam Gea
SURGE PROTECTION: MARCHERS COMMEMORATE THE FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF SUPERSTORM SANDY
AND DEMAND CLIMATE ACTION FROM NEW YORH’S ELECTED OFFICIALS.
SANDERS: ‘The very success of the city has brought
huge issues of affordability and gentrification, a
term that I don’t much care for, but which we're
going to crack open in Episode 9. There’s another
brilliant Columbia guy, Lance Freeman, at GSAPP,
who went to Harlem and Clinton Hill and explored
what gentrification really means. He found all sorts
of contradictory and surprising results. But the
fact remains that as we speak, one-fifth of New
York lives in extreme poverty of a concentrated
kind, meaning not just poor, but poor and closely
together, and unable to find the ways out.
BURNS: ‘That kind of localized density and concentra-
tion of poverty — not just income inequality, but
educational inequality — those are the two burning
issues in New York, in America, and indeed around
the world, that aren't related to climate change.
CCT: Which brings us, finally, to that looming
threat. Hurricane Sandy was clearly another
defining event in the city’s history and a very
loud warning bell.
SANDERS: It will be one of the climactic scenes
in our new episode. We spoke to a brilliant
climatologist, another good Columbia man, Adam
Sobel, who has written this phenomenal book
PACIFIC PRESS / GETTY IMAGES
called Storm Surge about Sandy and what it means
for global climate change, and for New York, which
has always had a special relationship to the water.
Without the harbor, the immediacy of access to the
ocean, there is no New York. It just doesn’t exist.
BURNS: That fact and driver of the city — water
— is now the enemy, not the friend. Shiva the
destroyer, not Shiva the bringer of life. Or maybe
somehow both at the same time. When you pick
up the paper and see we have 10 or 12 years to
figure out how to reverse climate change, it’s dis-
turbing and harrowing and sort of traumatizing all
at once. [hat’s not Rachel Carson's Silent Spring.
You're talking about a level of plausibly apocalyptic
urgency that is everybody’s patrimony.
SANDERS: OK, it’s coming, we have to prepare for
it and we have to adapt for it. But how can we
actually mitigate it? We have other people like the
author David Owen telling us there’s only one way
out: The world, or certainly America, has to be
more like New York, which to the astonishment of
most people is the most environmentally respon-
sible place in America.
BURNS: Lowest per capita carbon footprint.
SANDERS: When you live in high-rise buildings
and you move eight million people by public trans-
portation and you share your heat and power, it is
the most efficient way to live. And there are serious
efforts underway, grand schemes like building park
barriers and berms along the shoreline, and all
sorts of other ideas being looked at. But there’s no
overestimating the enormity of the challenge.
BURNS: And yet there is a kind of optimism
within the culture of New York, which is not just
undimmed; I would say arguably it’s greater than
ever before for all the reasons James is describing.
Unlike many quarters of society, we seem to be
pulling together, not apart, developing solutions,
not fleeing from reality.’To have gone through the
last three generations in New York and to have
demonstrably solved — not permanently, and
not without major problems — so many of the
issues of contemporary collective life, in ways that
are scalable, that can be exported, that is a truly
remarkable thing.
Former CCT editor Jamie Katz’72, BUS’80 has
held senior editorial positions at People and Vibe
and contributes to Smithsonian Magazine and
other publications. His feature about the 50th anni-
versary of Spring’68, ‘A Tinderbox, Poised To I, enite,”
appeared in the Spring 2018 issue.
Columbia! Forum
“The Troubles” in Mind
The New Yorker's Patrick Radden Keefe ’99 explores a decades-old mystery
nvestigative journalist Patrick Radden Keefe 99
| seems able to tackle — in depth — any subject he
chooses. As a staff writer for The New Yorker, he has
covered the Sackler family’s role in the U.S. opioid crisis,
the arrest of “El Chapo,” and T'V producer Mark Burnett’s
role in shaping President Trump’s political career, to name
just a few. Several of his articles have been nominated for
National Magazine Awards; he won for his 2014 feature
“A Loaded Gun,” a portrait of mass shooter Amy Bishop.
Thanks to the free rein afforded him by his legendary
employer, “I don't have a beat, which I love. I’m a general-
ist, so I can write about anything.” And what do his wide-
ranging articles and books all have in common? “Secret
worlds,” he says simply.
In Radden Keefe’s third and latest book, Say Nothing:
A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
(Doubleday, $28.95), the landscape he unveils is the murk-
shrouded fen of the “Troubles” — the guerrilla war between
Irish nationalists (usually Catholic) and unionists (usually
Protestant) that roiled Belfast for three decades at the
end of the last century. Radden Keefe examines that time
through the lens of a single dramatic crime: the abduction
of Jean McConville, a young widow with 10 children who
“disappeared” in 1972.’The mystery comes to stand for the
covert violence done in the name of revolutionary prog-
ress, and the blood-drenched silence that still hangs over
Northern Ireland. The book's title comes from a famous
Seamus Heaney poem, “Whatever You Say, Say Nothing,”
a phrase used in an IRA poster featuring a gunman in a
balaclava that was posted on local walls.
Aided by new interviews and unpublished documents,
Radden Keefe recounts the events behind McConville’s
kidnapping, as well as London bombings and cross-
WILLIAM MEBANE
border executions. As the years pass and the revolu-
tion matures, political maneuvering gradually replaces
the violence. Some of Radden Keefe’s vivid characters
— young and fiery IRA revolutionaries like glamorous
“bomb girl” Dolours Price or guerilla commander Bren-
dan Hughes — change from perpetrators to victims. As
the years pass, they try in vain to blur guilty memories in
a dense fog of liquor and prescription drugs.
‘The construction of Radden Keefe’s narrative is painstak-
ing. Thread by thread, fact after fact, unexpected scenes and
patterns emerge. He credits University Professor Simon
Schama, the noted historian for whom he worked as an
undergraduate research assistant, with teaching him how to
narrate. It was Schama who influenced him to write in a way
Spring 2019 CCT 35
Columbia! Forum
that appealed to a mass audience, with prose that was accu-
rate but also seductive. He says his time at the College was
“galvanizing,” an era when he came into his own intellectually.
After graduation, Radden Keefe dreamed of pursuing
a writing career, but instead took side trips through aca-
demia, earning master’s degrees from Cambridge and the
London School of Economics before moving on to Yale
Law. His writing breakthrough came after 9-11, when he
recognized that the “obscure” master’s thesis he had writ-
ten about the NSA and global eavesdropping would now
be especially relevant. Repped by a top agent, his first
book, Chatter: Dispatches from the Secret World of Global
Eavesdropping, was published in 2005. Radden Keefe was
finally launched.
What still enthralls him about his chosen profession is
that rare time he calls “the Eureka moment.” “You spend
so much time digging and trying to make sense of a mys-
tery,” he says meditatively. And then, perhaps, someone
with whom he’s conversing will let slip an offhand piece
of information, or a document will reveal a clue, shifting
every plane in his mental picture of events.
Late in the process of writing Say Nothing, after years
of spadework, one of these moments took place. While
poring over an interview, Radden Keefe uncovered a
lead to the identity of the person whom he thinks shot
McConville. He explains in the book that the jolt of
knowing made him sit bolt upright. “Suddenly I stum-
bled across a missing piece and could see, for the first
time, the whole picture,” he says. “On the one hand, it
was a dark moment: I was very conscious that this isn’t
just a fun murder mystery — it’s the story of a war crime.
On the other hand, just in terms of sheer discovery, it
was the most exhilarating moment of my life as a writer.”
— Rose Kernochan BC’82
A TRUE STORY OF MURDER AND
MEMORY IN NORTHERN IRELAND
PATRICK RADDEN KEEFE
36 CCT Spring 2019
Albert's Daughters
WHEN DOLOURS PRICE WAS a little girl,
her favored saints were martyrs. Dolours had one
very Catholic aunt on her father’s side who would
say, “For God and Ireland.” For the rest of the
family, Ireland came first. Growing up in West
Belfast in the 1950s, she dutifully went to church
every day. But she noticed that her parents didn't.
One day, when she was about fourteen, she
announced, “I’m not going back to Mass.”
“You have to go,” her mother, Chrissie, said.
“T don't, and I’m not going,” Dolours said.
“You have to go,” Chrissie repeated.
“Look,” Dolours said. “Tl go out the door, I'll
stand at the corner for half an hour and say to
you, ‘I’ve been to Mass.’ But I won't have been
to Mass.”
She was headstrong, even as a child, so that
was the end of that. The Prices lived in a small,
semidetached council house on a tidy, sloping
street in Andersonstown called Slievegallion
Drive. Her father, Albert, was an upholsterer;
he made the chairs that occupied the cramped
front room. But where another clan might adorn
the mantelpiece with happy photos from family
holidays, the Prices displayed, with great pride,
snapshots taken in prisons. Albert and Chrissie
Price shared a fierce commitment to the cause of
Irish republicanism: the belief that for hundreds
of years the British had been an occupying force
on the island of Ireland — and that the Irish had
a duty to expel them by any means necessary.
When Dolours was little, she would sit on
Albert’s lap and he would tell her stories about
joining the Irish Republican Army when he was
still a boy, in the 1930s, and about how he had gone
off to England as a teenager to carry out a bomb-
ing raid. With cardboard in his shoes because he
couldn't afford to patch the soles, he had dared to
challenge the mighty British Empire.
A small man with wire-framed glasses and
fingertips stained yellow by tobacco, Albert
told violent tales about the fabled valor of long-
dead patriots. Dolours had two other siblings,
Damian and Clare, but she was closest with her
younger sister, Marian. Before bedtime, their
father liked to regale them with the story of the
time he escaped from a jail in the city of Derry,
along with twenty other prisoners, after digging
a tunnel that led right out of the facility. One
inmate played the bagpipes to cover the sound
of the escape.
In confiding tones, Albert would lecture
Dolours and her siblings about the safest
method for mixing improvised explosives, with
a wooden bowl and wooden utensils — never
metal! — because “a single spark and you were
gone.” He liked to reminisce about beloved
comrades whom the British had hanged, and
Dolours grew up thinking that this was the
most natural thing in the world: that every
child had parents who had friends who'd been
hanged. Her father’s stories were so rousing that
she shivered sometimes when she listened to them, her whole body
tingling with goose bumps.
Everyone in the family, more or less, had been to prison. Chrissie’s
mother, Granny Dolan, had been a member of the IRA Women’s
Council, the Cumann na mBan, and had once served three months in
Armagh jail for attempting to relieve a police officer from the Royal
Ulster Constabulary of his service weapon. Chrissie had also served
in the Cumann and done a stretch in Armagh, along with three of
her sisters, after they were arrested for wearing a “banned emblem”:
little paper flowers of orange, white, and green, known as Easter lilies.
In the Price family — as in Northern Ireland in general —
people had a tendency to talk about calamities from the bygone past
as though they had happened just last week. As a consequence, it
could be difficult to pinpoint where the story of the ancient quarrel
between Britain and Ireland first began. Really, it was hard to imag-
ine Ireland before what the Prices referred to simply as “the cause.” It
almost didn’t matter where you started the story: it was always there.
It predated the distinction between Protestant and Catholic; it was
older than the Protestant church. You could go back nearly a thou-
sand years, in fact, to the Norman raiders of the twelfth century, who
crossed the Irish Sea on ships, in search of new lands to conquer. Or
to Henry VIII and the Tudor rulers of the sixteenth century, who
asserted England’s total subjugation of Ireland. Or to the Protestant
emigrants from Scotland and the North of England who filtered into
Ireland over the course of the seventeenth century and established a
plantation system in which the Gaelic-speaking natives became ten-
ants and vassals on land that had previously been their own.
But the chapter in this saga that loomed largest in the house
on Slievegallion Drive was the Easter Rising of 1916, in which a
clutch of Irish revolutionaries seized the post office in Dublin and
declared the establishment of a free and independent Irish Repub-
lic. Dolours grew up hearing legends about the dashing heroes of
the rising, and about the sensitive poet who was one of the leaders
of the rebellion, Patrick Pearse. “In every generation, the Irish peo-
ple have asserted their right to national freedom,” Pearse declared
on the post office steps.
Pearse was an inveterate romantic who was deeply attracted to
the ideal of blood sacrifice. Even as a child, he had fantasies of
pledging his life for something, and he came to believe that blood-
shed was a “cleansing” thing. Pearse praised the Christlike deaths
of previous Irish martyrs and wrote, a few years before the rising,
that “the old heart of the earth needed to be warmed with the red
wine of the battlefield.”
He got his wish. After a brief moment of glory, the rebellion was
mercilessly quashed by British authorities in Dublin, and Pearse was
court-martialed and executed by a firing squad, along with fourteen
of his comrades. After the Irish War of Independence led to the
partition of Ireland, in 1921, the island was split in two: in the South,
twenty-six counties achieved a measure of independence as the Irish
Free State, while in the North, a remaining six counties continued
to be ruled by Great Britain. Like other staunch republicans, the
Price family did not refer to the place where they happened to reside
as “Northern Ireland.” Instead it was “the North of Ireland.” In the
fraught local vernacular, even proper nouns could be political.
A cult of martyrdom can be a dangerous thing, and in Northern
Ireland, rituals of commemoration were strictly regulated, under
the Flags and Emblems Act. The fear of Irish nationalism was so
pronounced that you could go to jail in the North just for display-
ing the tricolor flag of the Republic. As a girl, Dolours donned her
best white frock for Easter Sunday, a basket full of eggs under her
arm and, pinned to her chest, an Easter lily, to commemorate the
botched rebellion. It was an intoxicating ritual for a child, like join-
ing a league of secret outlaws. She learned to cover the lily with her
hand when she saw a policeman coming.
She was under no illusions, however, about the personal toll that
devotion to the cause could extract. Albert Price never met his first
child, an older daughter who died in infancy while he was behind
bars. Dolours had an aunt, Bridie, one of Chrissie’s sisters, who had
taken part in the struggle in her youth. On one occasion in 1938,
Bridie had been helping to move a cache of explosives when it sud-
denly detonated. The blast shredded both of Bridie’s hands to the
wrist, while disfiguring her face and blinding her permanently. She
was twenty-seven when it happened.
Against the projections of her doctors, Aunt Bridie survived. But
because she was so incapacitated, she would require care for the rest of
her life. With no hands or eyes, she couldn't change her clothes or blow
her nose or do much else for herself without assistance. Bridie often
stayed for stretches in the house on Slievegallion Drive. If the Price
family felt pity for her, it was secondary to a sense of admiration for her
willingness to offer up everything for an ideal. Bridie came home from
the hospital to a tiny house with an outside toilet, no social worker, no
pension — just a life of blindness. Yet she never expressed any regret
for having made such a sacrifice in the name of a united Ireland.
When Dolours and Marian were little, Chrissie would send them
upstairs with instructions to “talk to your aunt Bridie.” The woman
would be stationed in a bedroom, alone in the gloom. Dolours liked
to tiptoe as she ascended the stairs, but Bridie’s hearing was extra
sharp, so she always heard you coming. She was a chain-smoker,
Before bedtime, their father liked to
regale them with the story of the time he
escaped from a jail in the city of Derry.
and from the age of eight or nine, Dolours was given the job of
lighting Bridie’s cigarettes, gently inserting them between her lips.
Dolours hated this responsibility. She found it revolting. She would
stare at her aunt, scrutinizing her face more closely than you might
with someone who could see you doing it, taking in the full horror
of what had happened to her. Dolours was a loquacious kid, with
a child’s manner of blurting whatever came into her head. Some-
times she would ask Bridie, “Do you not wish you'd just died?”
‘Taking her aunt’s stumpy wrists into her own small hands, Dolours
stroked the waxen skin. They reminded her, she liked to say, of “a
pussycat’s paws.” Bridie wore dark glasses, and Dolours once watched
a tear descend from behind the glass and creep down her withered
cheek. And Dolours wondered: How can you cry if you have no eyes?
From SAY ANYTHING by Patrick Radden Keefe. Copyright
© 2019 by Patrick Radden Keefe. Reprinted by permission of
Doubleday, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group,
a division of Penguin Random House LLC.
Spring 2019 CCT 37
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Contents
41 Lions
Daniel Gritzer 00, Joanna Parker ’05,
Bianca Guerrero ’17
44 Bookshelf
Milk Street: Tuesday Nights: More Than 200
Simple Weeknight Suppers That Deliver Bold
Flavor, Fast, by Christopher Kimball ’73
46 Class Notes
Just Married!
85 Obituaries
Harold Brown ’45, GSAS’49;
Wallace Broecker ’53, GSAS’58
88 The Last Word
MODERNIZING
A MONUMENT
Since November 2017, the
landmarked St. Paul’s Chapel
has been undergoing extensive
renovations to protect the building
for generations to come. The work
has included replacing the roof’s
terracotta tiles, adding modern
waterproofing on the exterior,
cleaning the interior Guastavino
ceiling tiles, and restoring and
thermal-glazing the 16 stained-
glass windows in the dome. The
restoration of the 115-year-old
building is expected to be
completed near the end of 2019.
LEON WU '20
Spring 2019 CCT 39
Message from the CCAA President
Helping Future Students,
One Interview ata Time
By Michael Behringer ’89
ach year, from November through the end of
February, thousands of Columbia College alumni
from 286 regions around the world venture into their
communities to interview applicants to the College.
As volunteers with the Alumni Representative Com-
mittee, these alumni can contribute to the admissions
process and make a difference in the College’s future
and in the lives of young people all over the world.
ARC members are front-line ambassadors for the
College and the Office of Undergraduate Admissions.
They connect directly with prospective students, provid-
ing Admissions with unique insights and perspectives
gained by interviewing applicants in person (or virtually,
via Skype or FaceTime), participating in local col-
lege fairs and hosting events that welcome admitted
students. ARC members can also often connect with
students in regions where Admissions may not visit.
Through their interviews, alumni help provide a holis-
tic view of an applicant — one that goes beyond tran-
scripts and essays to look at aspects not always captured
in the application package. Importantly, for the prospec-
tive students, the interview can provide a window into
the influence of a College education, as evidenced by the
interviewer with whom they are speaking.
My interview with D. Keith Mano’63 is something
I remember vividly and fondly. Mano was a celebrated
(and controversial) novelist, a columnist for the
National Review and a TV writer. In those pre-inter-
net days, I knew none of this when we met in Long
Island City. He was simply one of the most interesting
people that my 17-year-old self had yet to encounter.
Our conversation stood apart from my interviews
for other schools. We shared a lengthy and spirited
discussion about literature, cars, the entertainment
industry and Columbia history. Mano took great plea-
sure in my critique of the latest season of The A-Team
(for which he was a staff writer), regaled me with sto-
ries of campus life in the ’60s and talked about his
passionate support of Columbia football.
Inspiring, provocative and thoughtful, Mano epito-
mized what I imagined a Columbian to be. His enthu-
siasm for the College was infectious. My interview
with him was an important factor in my decision to
attend. Years later, | wrote to thank him for inspiring
40 CCT Spring 2019
my Columbia journey. I know he didn’t remember our
encounter, but he graciously responded with a hand-
written note thanking me for the meeting and the
opportunity it provided him to stay connected with
alma mater.
I know I’m not alone in having this kind of posi-
tive alumni interview experience, as I’ve heard many
similar stories from other alumni. These anecdotes
are a testament to the role of ARC, and to how its
ambassadors have an impact that can inspire good-
will toward the College for years to come. Even when
an interviewed candidate is not admitted, leaving a
positive impression can still help elevate the College’s
reputation around the world and in your community.
The Columbia College Alumni Association sup-
ports ARC by recruiting alumni participants, enhanc-
ing the interviewing experience through training and
events, and recognizing alumni for
their participation. I’m delighted
to share that during the past 12
months, more than 1,000 new
members joined ARC, helping the
College to increase the percentage
of applicants interviewed in the
early decision cycle to about 60
percent — a record for us.
This interviewing season has
ended as I write this, but we'll be
looking for volunteers again in the
fall; we’re always striving to increase
the number of prospective students
we can meet! Please contact Eric
Shea, senior director, College alumni relations, at eric.
shea@columbia.edu for more information on the pro-
gram and ways to get involved.
I thank all current ARC members for their partici-
pation in this important program. They do an amazing
job, and we are grateful for their contributions to the
College. On Saturday, June 1, during Reunion Week-
end 2019, we'll honor ARC members at a special
reception for all alumni volunteers. I look forward to
recognizing their service.
ROAR!
ALUMNI
RR Resi NipAgi IV
CON TNE IET le le
COURTESY SERIOUS EATS
Daniel Gritzer OO Is at Home in the Kitchen
By Jill C. Shomer
iting down to lunch with Daniel Gritzer ’00, culinary
director at the award-winning website Serious Eats, Ih
strongly suspected I'd be invited to try something ... well,
serious. 1 was not wrong. We ate Japanese, and Gritzer
offered me natto, sticky, stringy fermented soybeans that are defi-
nitely an acquired taste. “They're hard to like,” Gritzer admitted.
“But I kept trying them and now I have a taste for them.”
It’s natural to assume a food writer and former chef would be
an adventurous eater, and Gritzer’s twisty life path is marked by a
similar enterprising spirit. By the time he landed at Serious Eats
in 2014, he had been a 13-year-old assistant at famed French res-
taurant Chanterelle, studied molecular biology, written a thesis on
African musical instruments, worked at a not-for-profit conser-
vancy, harvested almonds in Spain, shepherded 200 sheep in Italy,
made charcuterie in France, taught the Afro-Brazilian martial art
of capoeira, cooked in some of New York's top restaurants and been
an editor at Food €@ Wine. But being a food writer was his secret
ambition all along.
Gritzer grew up in a food-obsessed family in Brooklyn and
cooked at home, “funny things, like squid for breakfast.” When he
turned 13, his mother (“a total hedonist”) offered a bar mitzvah or
a fancy restaurant meal; he chose the latter and was taken to Chan-
terelle. After a chance introduction to chef David Waltuck during
dinner, Waltuck suggested young Gritzer reach out if he wanted
to come back to his kitchen. “It scared the crap out of me to call
him,” Gritzer says, but he did, and soon after he was in too-big chef
whites, piping salmon mousse onto toast. “A restaurant kitchen is
such an adult environment, and I was trying to seem cool,” he says.
“Everyone was so nice to me. It was an amazing experience.”
Still, it took a long time for Gritzer to get into the cooking life.
He explored his passion for science in a Columbia summer pro-
gram for genetics and molecular biology, and pre-med studies at the
Spring 2019 CCT 41
College, before a love for Art Humanities spun him instead toward
an anthropology major. Studying abroad his junior year, Gritzer
immersed himself in Asian and African music classes and fell for
the mbira, a Zimbabwean board and key instrument. He wrote his
senior thesis on it (“one of the highlights of my time at the College
was working with anthropology and musicology advisors”) and was
awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study in Zimbabwe after gradu-
ation. Unfortunately, his scholarship was canceled just a few weeks
before Gritzer was due to leave. “I still don’t know why,” he says. “But
it was an important moment because I graduated with no plan. I was
suddenly open to a whole new range of experiences and possibilities.”
So, he WWOOFed. Through the WorldWide Opportunities
on Organic Farms program, Gritzer ended up on a sheep farm in
Tuscany in 2001 and stayed in Italy for nine months. When he
returned stateside, Gritzer started working with green spaces for
the Brooklyn Bridge Conservancy. But he was still wondering how
he could best tie together his varied skills and experiences.
“People close to me were suggesting I was happiest working with
food — I was still cooking every night and reading cookbooks for
fun — so I should go back to that,” he says. “I finally came around.”
He called Waltuck and asked if he could intern for him, and started
cooking nights and weekends at Chanterelle. After eight months,
he quit his nonprofit job and became a full-time chef, working in
restaurants for five years. “Nights, weekends, birthdays, holidays —
when everyone else is having fun, you're working,” he says. “I started
to feel like an absentee member of my life.”
He couldn't transition to food writing without clips, so he started
a blog about his experiences on his second WWOOF adventure,
this time in central Italy, France and Spain. It worked, and Gritzer
was hired at Time Out New York when he returned in 2007. Then,
as a food editor at Food && Wine in 2010, he had his own cooking
column, wrote food-world profiles and essays, and edited recipes.
“It was such a great place to work,” Gritzer says. “I was the food
nerd on staff in a lot of ways, taking deeper dives into stories, going
down the rabbit hole.”
Now at Serious Eats, he believes he has his dream job. Gritzer’s
work includes creating and testing recipes, kitchen equipment reviews
and food-focused essays; on the “Cooking with Gritzer” page you'll
find his instructions on eating a whole lobster, best methods for clean-
ing cast iron and a recipe for a foolproof pasta carbonara. “For someone
who likes to go down the rabbit hole, this is the place,” he says.
Gritzer lives in Jackson Heights with his wife and 1-year-old son;
he burns off stress and calories doing capoeira. After seeing a man
at the gym holding perfect cartwheels, he started taking classes and
fell in love with the martial art. He has been practicing for 16 years.
His path has already been so varied that naturally, Gritzer is
looking for new ways to grow. “I’m considering writing a cook-
book,” he says. “As long as I get to go as deep as I want to go.”
Bianca Guerrero 17 Fights for New Yorkers
By Jill C. Shomer
esidents of New York City, remember Bianca Guerrero
17s name. The recent grad is already making waves in
city government.
Guerrero works in the Mayor's Office of Policy & Planning
as the special assistant to the mayor's chief policy advisor; her policy
research and proposals address new ways of tackling climate change,
identifying public health strategies and increasing worker protections.
“The mayor recently announced one of the proposals we've been work-
ing on — paid time off for all employees [in the private sector] in New
York City,” Guerrero says. “I hope it’s the next big worker benefit that
starts in NYC and spreads across the country.”
Guerrero, who grew up in Washington Heights and Yonkers, first
went to City Hall in 2017 as an Urban Fellow, part of a nine-month
program sponsored by the city that provides public policy work
opportunities in mayoral offices and city agencies. “It was like a crash
course in New York City government,” Guerrero says. “I was in the
Deputy Mayor for Health & Human Services’ office, supporting its
health and homelessness policy teams. A program we started around
improving maternal mortality rates and outcomes got funded right
after I left the fellowship, and it was the first time I realized how
really impactful policies are if you get the funding and momentum.”
Guerrero says she’s always been interested in public service. “My par-
ents are both public school teachers and immigrants from the Domini-
can Republic. We're a very close family and most of my extended family
are low-income, so I had an ethos that you can't only think of yourself;
42 CCT Winter 2018-19
OMAR ETMAN
you have to think of others around you.” In high school, Guerrero read
a biography of Robert F. Kennedy and became obsessed. “That made
me understand what public service and social justice really is,” she says.
Guerrero, a political science major, was a recipient of a 2016 Truman
Scholarship, which grants $30,000 for graduate study and provides a
stipend for scholars to live and work in Washington, D.C. Guerrero
worked at the National Low-Income Housing Coalition. “I care a lot
about issues like affordable housing and tenants’ rights,” she says. “I
learned that affordable housing is a problem beyond NYC and there’s
much more that federal and state governments can do to address it.”
In addition to her work at City Hall, Guerrero serves on a com-
munity board, on committees for trafic and transportation, and
housing and human services. “I’m trying to connect what I’m doing
at my job to problems that my neighbors are having on the ground.
I want to make sure these really progressive policy ideas aren't
brushing past everyday concerns,” she says.
Guerrero has her own concerns to advocate for: She was recently
diagnosed with endometriosis. “The disease is the thing that makes
me most angry in the world,” she says. “Ihe average woman in
alumninews
America suffers for 10 or more years and visits eight doctors before
a diagnosis, and my experience is on point with that. It affects 1 in
10 women, and doctors still aren’t sure how it works, plus the treat-
ments really suck. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has participated in national
campaigns to build awareness; I'd like to link with patient advocates.”
When asked where she wants to be in 10 years, Guerrero says,
“T love working in government. I might want to work with peo-
ple putting pressure on the executive branches, like the National
Domestic Workers Alliance — Ai-Jen Poo ’96 is my role model!
— expanding the conversations around workers’ rights. 1 want to
work for an organization that is raising people’s expectations of
government and expanding who worker policies serve.”
Joanna Parker ’05 Scores Big
on Shark Tank with Yumble
By Liam Boylan-Pett ’08
or Joanna Parker 05, going on Shark Tank was no day at
the beach. But neither was making healthy meals for three
rowdy kids with picky appetites, which was why she was on
Shark Tank in the first place.
This past December, Parker and her husband, David Parker
SEAS’04, appeared on the ABC reality show looking for investors
for Yumble, their kids’ meal delivery service. When they filmed the
show last summer, Yumble had customers in 26 states, with hopes
of expanding nationwide. The experience was nerve-wracking —
the harsh lights, the high-pressure pitch. They also had two “sharks”
arguing about whether their business could be successful.
In the end, investor and reality TV star Bethenny Frankel signed
on for Yumble — and the Parkers left Shark Tank with a $500,000
deal. (Frankel took a 6 percent stake in the company.)
The couple, who live in Englewood, N.J., created Yumble out
of personal frustration. After graduating from the College with a
degree in art history, Joanna took a job at Macy’s in product devel-
opment, then spent a few years as an early childhood teacher. Six
years ago, when the second of her three children was born, she
became a stay-at-home mom.
“T found it challenging to get healthy food in front of my kids
every day,” she says. David wondered if other parents felt the same
way. After posting anonymously to a Facebook group, Joanna found
she wasnt alone. In fact, after she asked the group if they would
be interested in meals delivered straight to their doors, strangers
started asking her to cook meals for their children.
With that, Panda Plates was born, and Joanna began sending kids’
meals locally to parents in need of a quick, healthy option. After 18
months and with the business booming, she needed help. So at the
end of 2016, David, who has an M.B.A. from Harvard, stepped in to
lend a hand. The Parkers reached out to HelloFresh co-founder Dan
Treiman, and he officially came on board at the end of 2016. By June
2017, the company had rebranded and kicked off as Yumble.
By the time of the Parkers’ Shark Tank appearance, Yumble was
delivering as many as 24 meals per week, at about $7 per meal, to
ss al
are’ ©
me) VUMBIEC
26 states. The investment from Frankel will help the Parkers as they
take Yumble nationwide in 2019.
Joanna is hoping that delivery expansion is just the start. In addi-
tion to wanting kids to have healthy food, she wants American
families to change the way they think about family dinners. Each
Yumble delivery comes with activity sheets or trivia cards. “Kids’
eating time is a stressful time of day,” Joanna says, “and we think we
can turn it into an exciting and dynamic time.”
Liam Boylan-Pett ‘08 is a leadership gift officer in Columbia's Office
of Alumni and Development. He founded Lape Magazine and has
written for publications such as The Undefeated, Bleacher Report and
Runner’s World.
Winter 2018-19 CCT 43
COURTESY JOANNA PAR
bookshelf
Cooking Made Easier with Milk Street
By Jill C. Shomer
hristopher Kimball ’73 wants to change the way you
cook. The former editor-in-chief of technique-heavy
Cooks Illustrated is now promoting simplicity; his new
cookbook, Milk Street Tuesday Nights: More Than 200
Simple Weeknight Suppers That Deliver Bold Flavor, Fast (Little,
Brown and Co., $35) is focused on ingredients, not time or tactic.
“The Milk Street approach — start with big flavors, end up with
big flavors — lends itself to Tuesday night cooking,” Kimball says.
“Time is not an essential ingredient in a lot of these recipes. Put a
spice rub on a pork tenderloin and cook it in a pan for eight min-
utes — the trick is what spices you use; you don't have to spend an
hour making a pan sauce. It’s very simple.”
Some chapters of Tuesday Nights focus on speed, featuring recipes
that are Fast (from start to finish in under an hour), Faster (45 min-
utes or less) and Fastest (25 minutes or less). A 20-minute cacio e pepe
calls for only black pepper, corn
starch, pasta and fresh pecorino
Romano. Other chapters high-
light themes, like Supper Salads,
Easy Additions and Pizza Night.
“For those of us raised on classic
American cookery, heavily influ-
enced by the cuisines of North-
ern Europe, this is a watershed
moment,” the book’s introduc-
tion reads. “This is how the rest
of the world cooks.”
Kimball started Milk Street
in 2016, soon after leaving the
company he co-founded, Amer-
ica’s Test Kitchen. Named for its
Boston address (the birthplace
of Benjamin Franklin!), Milk
Street includes a magazine, books, a cooking school, and television
and radio programs.
“My cooking had started to change a few years before I started
Milk Street,” Kimball says. “I travel a fair amount and I began
to realize that many parts of the world don’t cook anything like
Northern Europe. Traditional Northern European recipes take
fairly bland ingredients like potatoes, meat and dairy, and with a
COURTESY CHRISTOPHER KIMBALL’S MILK STREET
44 CCT Spring 2019
MILK STREET
lot of technique, time and heat you slowly build flavors. Master-
ing the Art of French Cooking was my tome for years — there’s no
spices in it. That kind of cooking is great but there are other ways
of looking at it.
“Other regions use wildly different flavors in a dish, like lem-
ongrass, ginger, fish sauce — there’s a lot of contrast of flavors, a
lot of spices, a lot of contrast of textures. It’s a whole different way
of thinking about what cooking is, what taste is. I find it’s a much
more appealing way to cook now. We're trying to bring some of
that back and adapt it to this country.”
His favorite recipe from Tuesday Nights is the Turkish Red Len-
til Soup. “At the end you take some oil and a little Aleppo pepper,
infuse it in the oil in two or three minutes and drizzle it over the
soup,” Kimball says. “The thing I like about it is that something
basic like red lentils can pretty quickly be turned into something
great just by adding a little bit of flavor contrast.”
You could say Kimball’s time at the College had flavor contrast
as well: “It was probably the worst time of all to be in New York
City, but I loved it,” he says. An art history major, he needed to
learn German to read original manuscripts, so he drove a cab on
the weekends to earn the money to spend the summer in Salzburg.
“The city was tough, but it was a great experience. There were a
lot of cool inexpensive restaurants. My friend’s girlfriend’s brother
was the drummer for The Velvet Underground. I saw the Grateful
Dead at the Fillmore East.”
Kimball believes that by taking a world view, home cooking is
starting to change similarly to the way music, architecture and
fashion have evolved. “Bob Marley is one type of reggae but there
are hundreds of kinds of reggae throughout the world,” he says.
“Food is going to go through the same revolution — youre going
to find all this melding and coming together. I think we’re at the
beginning of this, so my hope is that Milk Street can play a role. I
think it makes cooking easier and more fun, and you should enjoy
your time in the kitchen.
“Cooking is becoming one of the last things you can do with
your hands; it’s immediately appealing and it’s something you can
do for other people, as well,” Kimball adds. “It’s an expression of
yourself, it’s giving and it has immediate benefit — you don't have
to wait 10 years to see if something’s going to turn out. So I think
the idea that cooking is drudgery is soon going to be old news.”
rHE CONSGIENGRE OF
THE COUNTRY
Hubert Humphrey: The
Conscience of the Country dy
Arnold A. Offner’59. Historian Offner
provides the first definitive biography
of the liberal American politician
(Yale University Press, $35).
The Wonderful World of Bernies:
An Irish-Italian Adventure in
Queens dy Dr. Bernard Patten ’62.
Growing up in New York City circa
1941-62 — without much adult
supervision, but with plenty of fun
(CreateSpace Publishing, $15.90).
Paw Paw: A Novel dy John Dibble
‘68. The sequel to Dibble’s novel Dif-
juult Run features his lead character,
U.S. Park Police Detective M.J. Pow-
ers, investigating a double homicide
(CreateSpace Publishing, $10.58).
The Future of Academic
Freedom dy Henry Reichman ’69.
Reichman, an expert on campus free
speech, defends academic freedom
and clarifies its relation to freedom
of expression (John Hopkins
University Press, $29.95).
SUBMIT YOUR
BOOK TO CCT
Alums! Have you written
a book in the last year?
Tell us about it!
college.columbia.edu/cct/
submit_bookshelf
Za
y
Tableau with Crash Helmet
by Bill Christophersen ’71. Poetry that
considers a sense of the metaphysical
present in even casual situations
(Hanging Loose Press, $17.02).
The Uncorrected Eye dy Harold
Bauld’77. A collection of poems
written under the influence of jazz,
Shakespeare, Basquiat, boxing, the
Bronx and the Basque country
(Passager Books, $21.32).
Rock Critic Law: 101 Unbreakable
Rules for Writing Badly About
Music dy Michael Azzerad ’83.
Rock journalist Azzerad turns his
sharply perceptive eye to the art
of rock writing itself (Dey Street
Books, $23.99).
A Jack Greenberg Lexicon
by William Cole ’84. The life of
famed civil rights attorney and
Columbia College Dean Jack
Greenberg 45, LAW’48, who died
in 2016, written by his adopted son
(Twelve Tables Press, $38.95).
So Lo: A Modern Cookbook for
a Party of One dy Anita Lo 88.
Michelin-starred chef Lo believes
that cooking for one can and
should be blissful and empowering
(Knopf, $28.95).
Superheroes and Economics:
The Shadowy World of Capes,
Masks, and Invisible Hands
edited by Brian O’Roark and
Robert Salkowitz ’89. An economist
i” A Jack Greenberg Lexicon
By Williany Cole
and a business writer explore
the intersection of superhero
mythology and economic theory
(Routledge, $39.95).
Lagging Indicators: A Novel
by Jennifer Anglade Dahlberg ’93.
Wall Street executive Mia Lewis
experiences a spectacular downfall and
must rebuild her life and reputation
(IndieBookLauncher, $15.99).
The Talmud: A Biography dy
Barry Scott Wimpfheimer ’95. The
author tells the story of the ancient
Jewish book and explains why it
has endured for thousands of years
(Princeton University Press, $26.95).
Human Operators: A Critical
Oral History on Technology in
Libraries and Archives edited by
Melissa Morrone ’97. A look at how
library users and staff are affected
by industry-specific hardware and
software (Library Juice Press, $34.71).
The Shortest Way Home:
A Novel dy Miriam Parker ’00.
A grad student in Manhattan
takes a leap of faith and moves to
Sonoma to rescue a failing family-
run winery (Dutton, $26).
How to Hide an Empire: A History
of the Greater United States dy
Daniel Immerwahr ‘02. Immerwahr
tells the story of the United States
outside the United States, casting
American history in a new light
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $30).
alumninews
More Than Words dy Jil] Santopolo
03. In Santopolo’s latest novel, a
woman sees the men in her life in a
new light following the death of her
father (G.P. Putnam's Sons, $25).
The Deeper the Water the
Uglier the Fish dy Katya Apekina
05. Apekina’s well-reviewed
debut features two teenage sisters
who leave their suicidal mother
in Louisiana to live with their
estranged, narcissistic father in
New York City (Two Dollar
Radio, $16.99).
Preventing Palestine: A Political
History from Camp David to Oslo
by Seth Aniziska ‘06. The author, a
scholar of Jewish-Muslim relations,
discusses why Palestinians remain
stateless 40 years after the Camp
David peace accords (Princeton
University Press, $35).
The Club: How the English
Premier League Became the
Wildest, Richest, Most Disruptive
Force in Sports dy Joshua Robinson
‘08 and Jonathan Clegg. How the
ancient institution of soccer became
a 21st-century entertainment empire
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $28).
Magical Negro by Morgan
Parker ’10. Poems that explore
Black American womanhood,
from the author of There Are More
Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé
(Tin House Books, $15.95).
— Jill C. Shomer
Spring 2019 CCT 45
Spring brings
a bright splash
©f Color to
Morningside
Heights as
Campus flowers
and trees burst
into bloom.
46 CCT Spring 2019
1942
Melvin Hershkowitz
22 Northern Ave.
Northampton, MA 01060-2310
DrMelvin23@gmail.com
On October 25 I received an inquiry
from Reinhard Pauly, who had
seen my note in the Fall 2018 issue
about Paul Hauck being the eldest
surviving member of our class.
Reinhard asked me to investigate
and compare birth dates for Paul
and himself. After conducting this
research, I reported to Reinhard
that Paul was two months older,
upon which Reinhard said, “He
is older and I am the youngster.”
Reinhard was born in Germany,
emigrated to the USA and has had a
distinguished career as a musicolo-
gist. Other surviving nonagenarian
classmates are Dr. Gerald Klingon
and Stewart “Snuffy” Mcllvennan
(both 98), and me (95 as I write
this and, I hope, 96 by the time you
read this).
Our gallant football team
sustained 20 or more devastating
pre-season injuries, but went on
to win six games during the 2018
season. This courageous performance
bodes well for our 2019 schedule,
which will give us an opportunity to
win the Ivy League Championship
if our injured players recover and are
able to play. Compliments to Coach
Al Bagnoli for leading the team to
this inspiring record. My nostalgic
football notebook includes an entry
for our September 1941 game versus
Princeton at old Palmer Stadium. I
borrowed my father’s big old pre-war
Pontiac Sedan, loaded it with class-
mates, plus Howie Strateman’41, and
drove to the game. Our All-Ameri-
SCOTT RUDD
can quarterback, Paul Governali’43,
did not need to throw many passes
in this game. Instead, he ran all over
Palmer Stadium in our 21-0 victory.
Howie, always a free spirit, did
not have a ticket for the game, but
marched in among our cheerleaders
waving a huge Columbia megaphone.
Forty-one years later, on November
20, 1982, I was at the old Baker Field
with Ray Robinson’41 and Gerald
Green, watching us lose to Brown,
35-21, in the last game ever played at
Baker Field, now replaced by Robert
K. Kraft Field. After our loss this year
to Penn, 13-10, my research showed
that we have not won at Penn’s
Franklin Field since 1996.
On December 15 I received a
pre-Christmas and general family
news report from Marie Mcllvennan
BC47, wife of Stewart Mcllvennan
in Colorado. Marie (93) visits and
has dinner with Stew every night in
the nursing home where he has lived
for two years. Stew played varsity
basketball and was a star halfback on
our football team. After Navy service
in WWII on a destroyer in the
Pacific, Stew graduated from the Law
School, married Marie and worked
for the FBI before becoming VP of
a major trucking firm in Colorado.
Stew negotiated labor contracts with
the notorious James Hoffa, whose
mysterious disappearance and death
remain unsolved.
Patrick Eby ’20, a long snapper on
our football team, has been designated
as a member of the 2018 All-Amer-
ican squad. Columbia alumni who
were also All-Americans are Cliff
Montgomery’34, the quarterback on
our Rose Bowl team; the great Sid
Luckman’39, who led the Chicago
Bears to pro football fame; Paul
Governali’43, who succeeded Luck-
man; Bill Swiacki’49, who caught the
winning pass in our great upset over
Army in 1947; and Lou Kusserow
49, a great running back who teamed
with quarterback Gene Rossides’49 to
form the Goal Dust Twins.
On December 27 I received
a wonderful reminiscence from
Bill Hochman GSAS’55 (97) in
Colorado Springs. He is a retired
professor of history and former dean
at Colorado College. Bill, who has six
children, was one of the commanding
officers on an LST boat in the inva-
sion of Normandy when his ship was
blown up by a Nazi torpedo. He was
struggling in the water when he was
rescued by a British patrol boat officer.
Many years later, Bill had a reunion in
England with the man who saved his
life. Bill returned to Columbia after
the war, earned a Ph.D. in history and
began his long career as a professor at
Colorado College.
In 1941 Bill was the pitcher on
our champion softball team, the
Royal Elite Cuban Giants, which
included the now-deceased Don
Mankiewicz and Gerald Green,
plus Stewart Mcllvennan and this
writer. We lost to the Law School
team in the University Final.
Bill wrote an extraordinary remi-
niscence of his WWII experience in
the Normandy invasion, and it was
published in the Winter 2004 issue
of our Great Class of 1942 Newslet-
ter. In his recent letter to me, Bill
expressed his gratitude for his educa-
tion and friendships at Columbia. He
is certainly one of the finest members
of our Great Class of 1942.
Best wishes for the New Year
ahead to all surviving members of
our class.
1943
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
Happy spring, Class of 1943!
Bernard Weisberger writes: “Fel-
low members of the Class of 43, it
is time to record our activities in the
waning days of 2018. I will have to
begin with a couple of sad notes. It
was during September that I went
to campus for the memorial service
for Dean Emerita of the Journalism
School Joan Konner. Aside from a
rightful celebration of her achieve-
ments, well organized among several
speakers — each of whom was taste-
ful, appropriate and not excessively
long — the event had a personal
meaning for me because I was a very
close longtime friend of Joan; her
passing was for me something of a
death in the family.
“On an infinitely smaller scale,
October turned out to be as much of
a cruel month as T'S. Eliot’s April,
with my well-loved Cubs, after three
straight years of being in the playoffs
(including becoming the world cham-
pions in 2016) not even making it past
the starting gate. Eliminated from the
National League crown on the 30th
and from the wild card contest on the
very next day, their season ended with
the brutal suddenness of a beheading.
My fellow Cub fans and I did our
best to avoid suicidal depression and
accumulated a number of free hours
that otherwise would have been spent
in front of the TV set — though I
mustered enough heart to watch the
season-ending World Series with a
pallid pleasure in Boston's win. They
were my favorite American League
team — as a National League rooter
first and foremost since childhood,
I felt that I ought to show some
semblance of even-handedness when
I matured into a grownup. If there had
to be a series winner from the other
league, the Red Sox were my choice
because of memories of their stars,
especially Ted Williams.
“October may have lacked
exciting baseball, but certainly was
not a quiet month as the midterm
elections, sometimes with very small
turnouts, were fought with enlarged
numbers of participants and inces-
sant pleas for money. I didn’t mind
having my inbox stuffed every day
with desperate appeals for dollars
— if I don’t want billionaires buying
my government, I have to join with
others in providing small numbers
of dollars that add up to a real chal-
lenge. With no further elaboration, I
found the takeover of the House by
the Democrats (many of them actual
progressives, young and female)
highly gratifying.
“And then came December,
the month of Christmas trees,
menorahs, dreidels, office parties,
eggnog, avoirdupois, frenzied shop-
ping, replays of It’s a Wonderful Life
and Miracle On 34th Street, cries
of ‘Happy Holidays’ (and right-
wing grumbles about the ‘war on
Christmas’) and a kind of peaceful
exhaustion to gather strength for
New Year's Eve.
“I had a Columbia anecdote to
add but I’m worn out. I'll save it for
later. I wish you a happy spring.”
1944
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
Dr. Daniel Choy PS’49 wrote in: “I
am 92. Durham Caldwell’48 and I
met in 1943 while we were housed
on the sixth and seventh floors of
the Union Theological Seminary on
West 122nd Street and Broadway.
We were displaced from Harlem
Hall by the Navy. At the time, with
permission from the College dean,
I was editing a weekly competitor
to Spectator called Seventh Heaven.
Imagine my great surprise when I
heard from Durham in 2017 prais-
ing me for my editorship of it! The
praise was undeserved! [At the time]
I was writing a second version of
my father Jun Ke Choy CC 1915's
autobiography, started at the urg-
ing of former University president
Spring 2019 CCT 47
Grayson Kirk. This inspired me to
ask Durham to edit my revision.
This was so good I have asked him
to edit my forthcoming book, How
to Practice Medicine Without Tears.”
CCT would love to hear from
you, too! Share an update on your
life, or even a favorite Columbia
College memory, by sending it to
either the postal address or email
address at the top of the column.
Wishing you a sunny spring.
1945
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
No news from classmates! Share
an update on your life, or even a
favorite Columbia College memory,
by sending it to either the postal
address or email address at the top
of the column. Wishing you a pleas-
ant spring.
1946
Bernard Sunshine
165 W. 66th St., Apt. 12G
New York, NY 10023
bsuns1@gmail.com
Share your stories, news or even a
favorite Columbia College memory
by sending it to either the email
address or postal address at the top
of this column. Your classmates
would love to hear from you!
wie
aes) GD
Stay in
Touch
Let us know if you have a
new postal or email address,
a new phone number or
even a new name:
college.columbia.edu/
alumni/connect.
48 CCT Spring 2019
1947
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
Nothing to share this time! Send
an update on your life, or even a
favorite Columbia College memory,
to either the postal address or email
address at the top of the column.
Happy spring!
1948
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
Pianist Dick Hyman continues to
perform. He had two nights solo
at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola at Jazz
at Lincoln Center the week before
Christmas, and has other engage-
ments coming up in Florida, where
he lives and plans to concentrate
his efforts.
CCT would love to hear from
you, too! Share an update on your
life, or even a favorite Columbia
College memory, by sending it to
either the postal address or email
address at the top of the column.
Wishing you a lovely spring.
1949
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
John Weaver
2639 E. 11th St.
Brooklyn, NY 11235
wudchpr@gmail.com
Edward “Ned” Reardon started
with our class but had to take time
off for financial reasons, and gradu-
ated with CC’51. He shares: “After
graduating from Columbia College,
I spent two years in the Army as a
military intelligence agent. Follow-
ing the end of the Korean War, my
wife, Jean, and I settled in Syracuse,
where I worked for GE in business
planning. I retired from GE and
almost immediately began my sec-
ond career as a mental health case
manager. I worked until I was 82 (I
turned 91 in February).
“Jean and I had four children
(one is deceased), and we are very
close. We used to do a lot of antiqu-
ing in New England. We are active
in our church and also the Y. I’m
sort of a techie (iPad, iPhone).
Blessed by pretty good health.
“At Columbia I was active as a
cheerleader and also as a disc jockey
at WKCR. I remember listening
to Dick Hyman’48 as he played on
an old piano in the studio. Lots of
good memories.
“P.S. I loved Humanities and CC.”
Ned’s note is certainly welcome
and I know I can speak for our class:
Ned, you are very welcome as a
member of the 49ers. We share warm
memories of WKCR and I too recall
fondly listening to Dick Hyman’48
as he so masterfully coaxed extraordi-
nary music out of that old piano.
We are, in fact, engaged in meet-
ings as we try to plan a 70th reunion.
‘This would be a gathering of those
of us who have both survived and
continue to enjoy the prospect of fel-
lowship, nostalgia and the exchange
of ideas that can support our sense of
value and relevance.
You are reading this in good time
to determine to join us in all of the
above and whatever more you can
personally contribute to the assembly.
“The more the merrier” has never
had a more profound meaning. I
write this while also wishing that, if
you are reading it, you will make the
effort to join us. And if unable to
do that, share your thoughts for the
Summer isue — actually, any notes
you can share will be a feature of our
gathering. I look forward to sharing
your notes, which are assembled in
the two months or so before CCT
goes to press, with classmates.
1950
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
Warm wishes for the spring season,
Class of 1950! Please do take a
moment and send in a note to CCT’
at either of the addresses at the top
of the column, as we and your class-
mates would love to hear from you!
We were happy to hear from
Franklin Gill, who writes: “Greet-
ings! My wife, Mary, and I dwell
near the East River in NYC; I
remember happy days at Columbia
and hope all goes well.”
1951
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
“A bit of nostalgia from an aged ’51-er
(Ernest von Nardroff GSAS’66):
“T can still hear that old Lion roar,
“Although not as loud as before.
“But on some serene nights
“T dream of Morningside Heights
“And know he’s prowling just out-
side my door.”
Len Stoehr wrote in, too: “The
NROTC contingent from the Class
of 1951, which originally included
more than 40 newly commissioned
Navy and Marine Corps officers
on June 7, 1951, is now reduced to
either seven or eight survivors. Those
remaining, along with their current
hometowns, are Phil Bergovoy’50
(Sarasota, Fla.), Dick Boyle (Lake
City, Pa.), Ed Croswell’50, SIPA’56
(Monroeville, Pa.), John Handley
(Santa Barbara, Calif.), Al Harbage
SEAS’55 (Severna Park, Md.),
Merritt Rhoad (Glenside, Pa.),
Len Stoehr (Stanardsville, Va.) and
Warren Wanamaker. (I have an
email address for Warren that does
not return emails as undeliverable,
but have not received any response
from Warren, who apparently now
likes to be called ‘Jack.’ If anyone has
any information re: Jack, I would
appreciate the news.) My email
address is lenstoehr@gmail.com. I
am in contact with the remainder of
our group.”
Robert Rauch GSAS’56 sent his
autobiography in January: “It’s been
more than 67 years since graduation
from Columbia College — hard
to believe! That was followed by
graduate school at Columbia, with
everything done for a master’s in
English except the required thesis.
That was not completed until five
years later. In between, following
a short stint as a machinist — just
to change the unbroken record of
17 straight years of schooling — I
was awarded a State Department
Fulbright Grant to study at the
Italian state film school in Rome,
Italy. On my return from Europe, I
was appointed to a teaching position
in the English department at the
University of Notre Dame in South
Bend, Ind. ‘Roar, Lion, Roar’ was
replaced by “The Fighting Irish.’
“T completed my graduate thesis
while teaching there, but I realized
that the academic life was not for
me. I was drawn to a career in the
aerospace industry, first in South
Bend with Bendix Corp., until I
received a phone call from a new
General Motors aerospace division
in Santa Barbara, Calif. I traded in
my snow shoes for a bathing suit.
That was the start of 48 wonder-
ful years in idyllic Santa Barbara,
especially a marriage to my bride
and extraordinary companion now
in its 57th year, and the birth of five
children. My company position rose
from technical editor to assistant to
the general manager.
“Fate struck again in the form
of an accidental meeting with the
attorney of a local government in
California. That meeting ultimately
led to the gradual development of a
whole new career. Along the way, we
moved to the Silicon Valley in the
Bay Area. What began as a hobby
consulting on strategic planning and
public outreach for local govern-
ments ended as my occupation for
the next 20 years.
“My son entered the business and
now runs it. We provided manage-
ment consulting, seminars, public
outreach and strategic planning ser-
vices for well over 200 clients. Now I
am retired, trading my suit, shirt and
tie for jeans and a sport shirt.
“Looking back, I want to express
my everlasting thanks to Columbia
College for the best educational
experience in the world. So many
universities have turned their educa-
tional programs into high-end trade
school training. Columbia College
has kept alive the true meaning of a
liberal education.”
Thank you to these alumni who
wrote in! Classmates would like
to hear from you, too. Share your
news, life story or favorite Columbia
College memory by sending it to the
postal or email address at the top of
the column. Happy spring to all!
1952
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
Happy spring, CC’52! We heard
from Irvin Herman, who shares:
“Writing for CCT can become
addictive. My recent memoir of the
150-pound football team (published
in the Summer 2018 issue) was the
first time I had been in print since
1955. (Articles in medical journals
don’t count.) At that time, shortly
before I had decided that I was a
failure at journalism and decided to
go to med school, I was stringing
for a daily labor union newspaper by
writing feature articles about unions.
I had edited the paper for a short
time, but was unhappy writing head-
lines and chopping up stories and
quit. I eked out a living by writing
for 10 cents an inch. My last story
— I still remember the opening —
was ‘Animals at the Cincinnati Zoo
are wild about Local ...’ (forget the
rest). My zoo visit and interviews
ended when, in the hippopotamus
enclosure for a picture, the hippo
took umbrage and charged. That
much poundage chasing you leads
to speed and the ability to hurdle a
fence with athletic skills you did not
know you possessed.
“But, that is not what led to
this note. Recently, while trying
to downsize, I dug into a pile of
old papers and found a copy of The
Daily News from 1948, with pictures
of the Frosh-Soph Rush filling the
back page. I was included, with my
T-shirt ripped and my trousers near
demolished. Remember that old
tradition, played out in South Field?
Freshmen had to wear silly blue
beanies until we 1) pushed a huge
ball across a goal line against the
sophomore defense and 2) climbed
a greased pole to rescue a beanie
perched atop. Meanwhile, we were
doing hand-to-hand combat with
sophomores by tearing clothes off
the opposition, so we were wrapped
in defensive armor of adhesive tape
to guard against de-clothing. When
did that stop? I do not remember
the melee after our freshman year.
“In my defense, I just recently
had these memories pop into an
old man’s head. More frequently, I
alumninews
think of Van Doren, Krutch, Barzun,
Lynd, Mills and the many scholars
who led us through CC and the
Humanities, integrating ideas into
our thinking that still affect our feel-
ings and understanding of the world
in which we live.
“Incidentally, do they still use the
Skinner Box to train white rats in
the lab for psych 101?
“Before sending this off, another
Columbia memory jolt. My young-
est son, Charlie, was among those
receiving 2019 duPont Awards
held in Low Library. I watched the
ceremony on YouTube so I saw the
awesome interior. Every time I see
Low I remember that marvelous
College production of Murder in the
Cathedral with Roger Boxill superb
as Thomas Becket.”
Please take a moment and send
your news to CCT by writing to
either of the addresses at the top of
the column!
1953
Lew Robins
3200 Park Ave., Apt. 9C2
Bridgeport, CT 06604
lewrobins@aol.com
I hope that all members of the Class
of 1953 are having an enjoyable
spring. Please send your news to
either of the above addresses so that
we can have a full Summer column!
1954
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Bernd Brecher
35 Parkview Ave., Apt. 4G
Bronxville, NY 10708
brecherservices@aol.com
Friends, classmates, Columbians,
lend me your ears! ‘There are — as of
this writing in January — approxi-
mately 160 members of our Class of
Destiny for whom we have contact
information, many of whom will
be coming together on campus in
about nine weeks to mark, celebrate,
broadcast and commemorate the
65th anniversary of our graduation
ss
Alumni from various classes in the
1950s walked in the Alumni Proces-
sion at Convocation last August to
welcome the Class of 2022.
from Columbia College in 1954.
Add the four years when we all first
came together as freshmen in 1950,
and we have a total of 69 years as an
extended family.
I write this not to praise us but,
as several of you have mentioned to
me, to remind ourselves that at the
next five-year reunion our average
age will be 90. (Oy!) So-o-0-0, while
this year’s is not our last hurrah,
there may be no better time to con-
nect and reconnect, as any family
does on special occasions.
“65 4 54” is the rallying call for
our Reunion Committee, which
has been meeting and plotting for a
grand time since last September and
will still be meeting as this issue of
CCT goes to press.
Please get in touch with me or
any other member of the commit-
tee with any questions or concerns.
We and Columbia are bending over
backward to assure that anyone in
54 who is hoping to attend will be
able to do so. Committee members
are Kamel Bahary, David Bardin,
Dick Bernstein, Jack Blechner,
Bernd Brecher, Alvin Hellerstein,
Ted Spiegel, Ronald Sugarman,
Arnold Tolkin, Saul Turteltaub
and Richard Werksman. Michelle
Martin and Jennifer Alpert of
Alumni Relations and the Columbia
College Fund are working with us as
liaisons, point persons and interfer-
ence runners. More on our reunion
at the end of these Class Notes.
Herb Zydney SEAS’58,
SEAS’59 had the opportunity to
be on campus for Convocation last
August to help greet the Class of
2022, along with alumni from other
years. “It was an exciting opportu-
nity to meet and hear a bit about
the next generation of Columbians.
Each alumni decade, such as the
1950s, marched with a banner (see
Spring 2019 CCT 49
nearby photo) to greet these new
alumni-to-be. I was the only ’54er,”
Herb writes. “On a numeric note,
if there was such a greeting event
when we entered the College, our
equivalent greeters would have been
from the class of 1890. To help with
the arithmetic (1954-64=1890).
Seems to date us.”
Indeed, Herb; thanks for
the reminder.
A number of classmates have
heard by now from Kamel Bahary,
chair of our Class Gift Committee
for our 65th reunion, or from another
member of his committee. Kamel
has, since graduation, been a generous
donor to Columbia and supportive in
many other ways, including partici-
pating in Class of 54 reunions and
other activities, University programs,
and generally in all things Columbia.
When thanked for his contributions,
he usually replies to the effect of “I’m
only giving back.” As a University
publication noted in recognizing
Kamel and his younger brothers,
Emil Bahary BUS’57, SEAS’62,
SEAS’69 and Bill Bahary GSAS’61:
“For brothers Kamel, Emil and Bill
... Columbia University is more than
just their alma mater. It’s their intel-
lectual home — a place that laid the
foundation for their careers and lives
and that continues to inspire them.”
‘The brothers have established
several instruments for scholarship
support, Kamel’s gifts fund the Kamel
S. Bahary Scholarship Fund for
Columbia College students majoring
in neuroscience, and the Kamel S.
Bahary Fellowship Fund for doc-
toral students in neuroscience at the
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
“The last time I was with all the
guys in the Class of 54 I was 22,”
writes Saul Turteltaub. “At 86, if we
all get together here’s what I can’t do
anymore: 1) Go to the gym. There
were steps into the building, if]
remember. 2) Remember. And sadly,
3) Hang out with Henry Littlefield
GSAS’67. What a wonderful man
he was. So many of our classmates
have passed away, we must be thank-
ful for and look forward to seeing
many others at our reunion. I won't
be ashamed to hug and even kiss any
of you, so if you see me coming and
have a jealous wife, duck.”
Lou Paterno responded to this
column to thank Saul for his com-
mentary in the Winter 2018-19
issue’s Class Notes: “... glad to see
you haven't lost your sense of humor,
50 CCT Spring 2019
reminiscent of our Jester days. If
it makes you feel better, I am sure
many octogenarians follow similar
daily agendas. I know I do!”
Lou continues, “Rachel Carson
said it best when she wrote, If a
child is to keep alive his inborn
sense of wonder ... he needs the
companionship at least of one adult
who can share it, rediscovering with
him the joy, excitement and mystery
of the world we live in.’ Anyhow, in
the vernacular of the now genera-
tions — thanks for LOL.”
Somewhere in the million-volume
libraries of Columbia University is a
copy of a 204-page, soft-bound tome
that Christie’s or Sotheby’s are surely
dying to get their hands on. But no
one has found it yet, and the archival
Columbiana collection also doesn’t
seem to have it. The book’s title is
Columbia College 250th Anniversary
Reunion Yearbook 1754 - 1954 - 2004.
‘The subtitle: “Columbia College Cel-
ebrates 250 Years, Class of 1954 50th
Anniversary, June 3-6, 2004.”
I can virtually hear the auctioneer:
“Opening bids start at $50,000 — do
I hear $100,000?” In a blast to the
class this January we asked classmates
who had a copy to let me know.
Several did, bless them, but it soon
became obvious that more, if not all
actually, possessed The Bicentennial
Columbian, our 1954 yearbook. (My
carefully-cared-for copy is in my
library/study at home. The requested
2004 book is in a storage box and not
easily accessible. Shame on me!)
Among the responders were
Walter Slipe, Joe Arleo GSAS’56,
Jim Hays and David Bardin
LAW’56 — David sent me his copy
of the 2004 reunion yearbook, which
we hoped to use as a template for
our 2019 “reader’s digest” edition.
Until someone comes forward
to fund digitally copying the 2004
book, we're planning to copy
excerpts for distribution at our
reunion in May.
[Editor’s note: To see an image
of the Class of 1954's 65-year-old
logo celebrating the bicentennial, go
to college.columbia.edu/cct/issue/
spring19/article/class-notes and type
1954 in the search bar. ]
My “Greetings and Introduction”
15 years ago may serve as a bridge
to today, so I quote the lede: “At
graduation, we — The Bicenten-
nial Class — called ourselves “The
Class of Destiny.’ It sounded good
then. Is our destiny behind us or are
many of the 450-plus members of
our class who are still on this earth
continuing to fulfill our individual
hopes, plans and desires? Are there
mostly feelings of accomplishment?
Are there some feelings of regret?
What would we have changed could
we possibly, with hindsight, have
done so?” I concluded, “Thank you,
welcome and let this be the continu-
ation of a beautiful friendship.”
A 50-person Reunion Commit-
tee helped us achieve the largest
ever (till then) attendance by a 50th
anniversary class of Columbia Col-
lege. If we cannot repeat, let us at
least emulate.
Many of us, beyond the Reunion
Committee, are looking forward
to the weekend of May 30-June 1
not just for great faculty speakers,
delicious food, open mic sessions,
wild dancing (and some hobbling),
insightful panels of classmates and
current students, curated (OK,
guided) campus tours, a new look at
the CORE at its centennial, an insid-
er’s look into Columbia’s billion-dol-
lar entrepreneurial project, fascinating
new research in cosmology and
climate change, BUT ... BOOM!
CLANG! ZING!!! ... for the chance
to CONNECT, RECONNECT
and perhaps RECONSTRUCT
with family and friends of seven
decades. (I know — Oy!)
Until then, keep writing, call, email,
stay in touch however which way —
be good, do good, be well. Excelsior!
1955
Gerald Sherwin
181 E. 73rd St., Apt. 16B
New York, NY 10021
gs481@juno.com
One of the most exciting events on
campus is the Holiday Celebration
in Low Library, hosted by President
Lee C. Bollinger and his wife, Jean
Magnano Bollinger. Usually held in
mid-December, it was attended this
past year by a mixture of Columbia
people. When someone says the party
could not be any better from year to
year, it somehow gets better and bet-
ter — it was attended by more than
500. A terrific time had by all.
The Dean's Scholarship Reception
on February 12 was a close second
to the December event. The Class of
1955 Scholarship was handed out to
two student recipients.
Another spectacular event was a
luncheon held in Faculty House by
members of the Class of 1955. Herb
Cohen, Don Laufer, Ron Spitz,
Alfred Gollomp, Mort Rennert,
Dick Kuhn, Stan Zinberg,
Anthony Viscusi, Aaron Ham-
burger, Al Hoffman, Steve Rabin,
Chuck Solomon (still doing work
for the Dental School), Roland
Plottel, Jesse Roth, Bob Schiff,
Henry Weinstein, Elliot Gross,
Allen Hyman, Larry Balfus, Bob
Brown and Bob Kushner attended
the event or are attending future
lunches. Good camaraderie is the
lunch of the day, as well as a finan-
cial showing of $392,773.
We heard from Norman Gold-
stein, who has won many awards:
“So much is happening, all great,”
he says. Norman sees patients on
Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday. He
was recently honored by the interna-
tional association of top profession-
als, and is still trying to contact Lee
Rodgers, but no luck. He wishes
everyone well.
Columbia Athletics hosted its
Basketball Fireside Chat; the annual
event took place in January at the
Arts & Crafts Beer Parlor on Morn-
ingside Heights.
Be upbeat, look at the positive
side of things and stay healthy
around the clock. Participate with
your classmates. Be a part of the
winning tradition — the 75th
reunion is coming up.
Love to all! Everywhere!
1956
Robert Siroty
707 Thistle Hill Ln.
Somerset, NJ 08873
rrs76@columbia.edu
Greetings for spring, Class of 56.
From Jerry Breslow (continued
from the Winter 2018-19 issue):
“The other thing worthy of mention
is a recent experience I had as a
songwriter. Since 1961 I have been
involved with Hexagon, which each
year since 1956 has been performing
an ‘original, political, satirical, musi-
cal, comedy revue,’ raising millions
of dollars for local Washington,
D.C., area charities. My songs have
been performed since 1964, and
most of them have been for the first
act’s finale production number. Last
year, I was asked to write a song
The Class of 56 had a luncheon at Faculty House in November. Seated,
left to right: Sidney Spanier, Ralph Kaslick, Peter Klein and Buzz Paaswell;
and standing, left to right: Bob Siroty, Dan Link, Al Franco SEAS’56,
Alan Broadwin and Ron Kapon.
about the ‘Notorious’ Ruth Bader
Ginsburg LAW’59. The song I
wrote is titled ‘Kickin’ Up a Storm
for Justice R B G.’ Its last line states,
‘It’s vital that our women justices
survive; so we're Kickin’ Up a Storm
to keep RBG alive!’
“It so happens that Justice
Ginsburg was a classmate of mine at
Harvard Law School, Class of 1959.
I invited her to attend the show,
and she did so on closing night.
When she entered the hall and the
audience recognized her, she was
given a standing ovation. Ruth also
graciously agreed to come backstage
after the show and pose for pictures
with the kick line dancers and the
composer. I got a note from her say-
ing she enjoyed the show.”
Columbia's Faculty House was
the setting for a class lunch in
November. Alan Broadwin, Al
Franco SEAS’56, Ralph Kaslick,
Peter Klein, Sidney Spanier,
Dan Link, Buzz Paaswell, Ron
Kapon and I enjoyed a good time
with conversation and good food. I
suggest that if you are outside of the
New York metro area, try to arrange
similar events wherever you are. The
Alumni Office can assist.
Robert Green reports that he is
in Greensboro, N.C.
Jonas Schultz reports from UC
Irvine that, while he is officially
retired, he still is at the university
doing research in particle physics.
A long way from the Spectator
Managing Board.
On a sad note, I report the passing
of Maurice Easton, twin of our
immediate past class president,
Stephen Easton, in late October.
Steve writes, “We were one of five
sets of twins in our class at Columbia.
We both played lightweight football
and ran track, and Maurice played
freshman tennis. Our studies led
us in different directions. Maurice
left NYC for his career in engineer-
ing while I stayed in NYC for my
financial career. It is strange, as things
would work out, that we wound up
together, after 50 years of separation,
in North Carolina. Although we
did not share all the same friends at
Columbia, we were known to many
as the ‘Easton Twins.”
T’ve also received word of the
passing of Joel Pimsleur, a fellow
member of Spec’s Managing Board.
His obituary was published in the
San Francisco Chronicle, for which he
reported for 43 years. I also learned
of the passing of Leonard Karasyk
(in 2017), as well as of Morton
Levine and Robert Bart.
1957
Herman Levy
7322 Rockford Dr.
Falls Church, VA 22043
hdlleditor@aol.com
Joe Diamond sent us an article
by David A.M. Wilensky from The
Jewish News of Northern California
on “Robert Alter’s epic, literary
one-man Bible.” The article may
be found online at bit.ly/2Txj2yg.
Avi Stein, in The New York Times
Magazine's December 23, 2018 issue
(under the heading of “The Revela-
tions of Robert Alter”), noted, “A
pre-eminent scholar of the Hebrew
Bible has finally finished his own
translation — a 21st-century answer,
he hopes, to the King James Version.”
‘The Wilensky article shows a boxed
three-volume set of Bob’s translation.
That article traced Bob’s academic
career. While an undergraduate, Bob
continued his Hebrew studies at the
Jewish Theological Seminary, which
followed a post-bar mitzvah class in
the Albany, N.Y., area. At JTS he
decided to “achieve a complete mas-
tery of the Hebrew language,” taking
a Hebrew dictionary and becoming
determined to memorize it.
Bob then turned to Hebrew
novels in quest of his mastery of
the language. For most of his career,
however, “he was firmly ensconced
in the world of English and other
Western literature.” He earned
a Ph.D. in English literature at
Harvard in 1962 and went to UC
Berkeley in 1967. He has remained
there, currently as a professor of
Hebrew and comparative literature.
‘The Wilensky article quoted Bob as
saying, “I'd been reading the Bible
in Hebrew since my teens, and the
beauty of the Hebrew spoke to me
in all sorts of ways ... | wanted to
see if I could get more of that into
English than English readers have
been able to see so far.”
I commend to you both the
Wilensky and Stein articles.
From Ed Weinstein: “Dick
Cohen died on December 25, 2018.
By coincidence, I was in San Fran-
cisco visiting family and attended the
funeral with my wife and daughter
(Ilene 87). Dick and I had become
good friends as alumni; we did not
know each other as undergraduates.
Our daughters were classmates and
our wives were both named Sandra.
Eve, Dick’s daughter, gave a beautiful
eulogy, which summarized Dick's life
the way I remember him: “He was the
epitome of graciousness to everybody
he met. He gave so much — to his
community, to his patients, to his
family and friends. I value the les-
sons he taught: Be present, enjoy life,
read and learn so much as possible,
be curious, don’t be afraid to reinvent
yourself (hello, Ball Dude), don't be
afraid to be a little silly, a little dra-
matic, to make your opinion known.
He was a teacher, a leader, a learner
and a healer.”
“Dick embraced and appreciated
his life, treating it all as the blessing
BMT, 5 cscccsccsscccvscenscsrpsstecveecearestanecosecssedsecdscaecosivesstevsessoncsvasnvssrenssurseverevsensennnsceveusassusaserseseassoeoreecoreesessecesescdseasseasassisassssiesnssiasisvenssctacecsccsinenscensacessnceenternerstedeesansceescecepeassneedepeaseastsectennneseeecvensresrescsnsssssaseenedecesulassaseaussessnacesedestecavesdeticisesss sie WMMMMBs o0aiccs slr auscr
that it is. We have lost a beautiful
man and wonderful friend.”
[Editor’s note: Memorial contri-
butions may be made to Congrega-
tion Beth Sholom, 301 14th Ave.,
San Francisco, CA 94118. ]
John “Sparky” Breeskin’s son,
Davyd, told us of his father’s inter-
ment at Arlington, which happened
at 11 a.m. on January 14.
Alan Zuckerman: “Winter is
approaching and I am planning my
escape to Pompano Beach. I will be
there December 15, 2018—January
12, 2019. I am looking forward to
catching up with old friends. 1 am
still attempting to play golf and
always available for a meal or an
adventure. I shall be back in Madi-
son in late January and shall leave
in mid-February for a three-week
adventure in Australia. I shall also
visit with Eric and Julie in Los
Angeles on my way there.
“On a personal note, my health
is generally OK. I am battling
macular degeneration in one eye. It
is improving slowly, and I can still
drive, read and hit a golf ball. Find-
ing the ball, however, is sometimes
a challenge. I enjoy my family,
especially William and Lilly. We
traveled to Los Angeles in August
to see Eric and Julie and our South
African friends, the Kekanas. I spent
a week in Chautauqua with dear
friends, Dave and Betty Lollis and
Ed Safford, and enjoyed the lectures
and the culture. The theme of the
week was “The Future of Work.’ I am
taking three courses with our senior
learning program, PLATO. One
course revisited the year 1968, [one
of ] some pain and some hope. I can
recommend biographies of Leon-
ardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson
and Henry David Thoreau by Laura
Dassow Walls. They were two of the
most inquisitive and creative minds.
“The high point of last year was
my trip with Jonas, Kate, William
and Lilly to South Africa in March.
We were hosted by the Kekana
family. Thanks to [their] friendship
and hospitality, we saw many ani-
mals at a game park, visited historic
sites, including Robben Island, the
Apartheid Museum and the Cradle
of Humankind. Staying with the
Kekana family was the [best part
of the trip]. William and Malose
Kekana’s son, Mahlatse, developed
a friendship. Seeing the impact of
different culture on my grandkids
was special. We visited a friend of
Spring 2019 CCT 51
Malose’s, Andrew Mlengani (93),
who was convicted with Nelson
Mandela and served 26 years on
Robben Island.
“I was in Los Angeles in Novem-
ber and saw old Philadelphia friends,
the Weinbergs and the Browns. It
brought back [fond] memories. I
also traveled to Easton, Md.; Beth-
any Beach, Del.; and Washington,
D.C., and saw many dear friends.
Marilyn has been dead for almost
four years. She is still with me in
spirit and seeing old friends brings
back those great times. Thank you all
for reminding me how lucky I am.
“| The year] 2018 has been good
for the Zuckerman family, despite
our political insanity. I have lived
through half of the Trump adminis-
tration and am learning to live with
my outrage. I fear the damage that
will be done to our civility, the envi-
ronment, the rule of law and even
the economy. I am still an optimist
that the year 2019 will be one of
hope and reconciliation. I hope to
live long enough to see the end of
President Trump and the politics of
fear and anger.”
1958
Peter Cohn
c/o CCT
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
petercohn1939@gmail.com
Our mailbox for this issue contains
a note from George Jochnowitz
about a little-known subject that he is
Contact CCT
Update your address,
email or phone; submit a
Class Note, new book,
photo, obituary or Letter to
the Editor; or send us an
email. Click “Contact Us” at
college.columbia.edu/cct.
52 CCT Spring 2019
especially interested in and would like
to share with us. George writes: “A
new book has appeared. It is a collec-
tion of articles about Jewish languages,
Languages in Jewish Communities, Past
and Present. The editors are Benjamin
Wary and Sarah Bunin Benor’97.
It includes an article by me: ‘Judeo-
Provengal in Southern France.’ (Go
online to bit.ly/2MRju8a.)
“By way of background, I learned
in 1968 that there was one person still
alive who could speak Judeo-Proven-
cal. His name was Armand Lunel and
he lived in Monaco. I went there and
recorded him speaking and singing in
this disappearing language. I contin-
ued to do research on this subject, and
found a pre-printing women’s prayer
book in the library of the University
of Leeds, England. It was written in
Provengal — spelled in Hebrew letters
— and included the blessing, ‘Blessed
art Thou O Lord our God, King of
the universe, who made me a woman.’
(Online at bit.ly/2GdYE2gq.) A book
launch for the collection took place at
60 Fifth Ave. on December 10.
“In addition, some time ago I
wrote a book review of what appears
to be Herman Wouk CC 1934's last
book, which he completed at 100.
(Online at bit.ly/2SCm0EI.)”
CCT received a note from Bill
Claire, who shared a letter sent to
him from the American Academy of
Arts and Letters, which read in part,
“... we thank you for your generous
gift of your new book on the friend-
ship between two esteemed members
of the Academy, Mark Van Doren
and Robinson Jeffers entitled, Mark
Van Doren on Robinson Jeffers, An
Enduring Literary Friendship ... This
book will make a wonderful addition
to our library and it will add to the
cultural history of our institution.”
Bill adds, “I had a lifelong
involvement with Mark Van Doren
GSAS 1921 after college and my
editing of The Essays of Mark Van
Doren (1924-1972) won a New York
Times Notable Book Award.”
Also in the mail was a sad note
from Steve Jonas: “My wife of
eight years and constant companion
for 20, Chezna Newman of Man-
hattan, passed away peacefully on
October 25, 2018, after a four-year
illness. She leaves a son, Mark New-
man (who now joins my children
from a prior marriage, Jacob Jonas
and Lillian Wain, as my third child),
as well as a great pussycat, Gobi,
who joins my cat, Lenny, at my
home in Port Jefferson. Chezna also
leaves a loving brother and sister,
and many cousins and friends who
loved her as well. Her spirit, her
energy and her great smile will be
sorely missed by all of us.”
We send our condolences to
Steve and his extended family.
On a less solemn note, we turn to
the sports news. How did my foot-
ball predictions in the last issue of
CCT turn out? Mezzo-mezzo. I said
the team would be competitive in
all its games and maybe even have a
shot at the Ivy League title. Injuries
to many key players spoiled things
considerably: Two of our four losses
were not even close, but the team
played well enough to finish with
6-4 record and, for the first time
since 1961-62, Columbia had back-
to-back winning seasons. As this
column is being written, the bas-
ketball team will soon start the Ivy
League portion of its schedule after
concluding its out-of-conference
play with a poor record, although
many of the losses were close. I can’t
see the team winning more than
four or five league games but am
always hopeful.
The Class Lunch is held on the
second Tuesday of every month in
the Grill of the Princeton Club, 15
W. 43rd St. ($31 per person). Email
Art Radin if you plan to attend, even
up to the day before: arthur.radin@
janoverllce.com.
1959
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Norman Gelfand
c/o CCT
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
nmgc59@gmail.com
I first remind all of you of the
reunion celebrating the 60th anni-
versary of the graduation of the Class
of ’59 from the College, which will
take place on campus Thursday, May
30-Saturday, June 1. The details are
being worked out by a class Reunion
Committee, and it promises to be an
enjoyable event. I hope that as many
of us who can will attend. I am only
being realistic when I say it is the last
opportunity some of us will have to
see one another.
Jerry Cohen GS’59 writes, “I
am now in the 55th year of my
academic career and still enjoying it
immensely. I have no plans to retire.
In December I published my 16th
book, Currency Statecraft: Monetary
Rivalry and Geopolitical Ambition.
It is a kind of sequel to my book
Currency Power: Understanding
Monetary Rivalry. And a revised
second edition of my 14th book,
Advanced Introduction to Interna-
tional Political Economy, was to come
out in January.
“My publishing record in 2018
was overshadowed by that of my
wife, Jane Sherron De Hart, emerita
professor of history at UC Santa
Barbara. In October, De Hart, a
graduate of Duke’s Class of 1958,
published Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A
Life, the first full biography of the
107th Justice of the Supreme Court.
‘The book was some 15 years in the
making, delayed in part a decade ago
when our home burned down in one
of Santa Barbara’s periodic wildfires.
Years of research were destroyed.
Reviews since publication have been
enthusiastic, describing the book as
‘magisterial, ‘compelling’ and ‘a major
event in scholarship on American
law.’ By year’s end the book had gone
into its sixth printing.”
Allen Rosenshine obviously
is not letting any grass grow under
his feet. He writes, “My wife and
I recently spent 10 days touring
Iceland, sponsored, incidentally, by
the Columbia Alumni Association
(its tours are generally quite good). It
has become something of ‘the place
to go,’ probably since so much of the
world has become inhospitable, if
not dangerous, to Americans. In any
event, it was quite interesting, even
allowing for the many hours traveling
by van. The terrain is quite beautiful
and varied, from rolling meadows to
mountains to volcanoes to glaciers,
highlighted by magnificent waterfalls.
‘The weather (May) was luckily sunny
on half the days, but always on the
chilly side. The nation’s commitment
to totally geothermic heating and
electric generation is fascinating in its
execution. The modern concert hall in
Reykjavik is a technological marvel.
“The people are welcoming, and
our guide was helpful, pleasant and
historically (as well as currently)
knowledgeable. The food was
generally good and the bisques the
best I’ve ever tasted. Prices for just
about everything bought on our own
(food, liquor, clothing) were quite
high, no doubt since they import
practically everything except fish.
There were roughly 16 people in our
group, with a thankfully less-than-
average number of pains in the ass.
‘The only significant negative were
small hotel rooms with very little
closet and drawer space. Here this
travel promotion ends with a full-
disclosure declaration that I have no
financial or other interest in Iceland
(or Columbia alumni tours) except
as expressed.”
Bernie Pucker writes, “Who
would have ever thought we would
still be around and able to survey
some six decades since the charmed
days at the College?
“The reunion dates are on our
calendar. They coincide with my wife
Sue’s 60th reunion from Skidmore. Tis
a perfect time to reproduce the photo
of our wedding party and to remember
those days of joy and celebration.
“Sue and I will celebrate our 60th
wedding anniversary on June 15 while
dedicating the Samuel Bak Gallery
and Learning Center at the Holocaust
Museum Houston. This will be the
second Bak Museum to be opened.
‘The other we dedicated in November
2017 in Vilnius, Lithuania.
“At this late age we have
discovered cruises and enjoyed
Ports of European Civilization last
September and are signed up for the
Adriatic this September.
“As I celebrate my 60th, our
granddaughter Abby will be celebrat-
ing her 5th, son Michael his 36th —
double chai. All good numbers!
“This year we will publish Tales of
Thomas, an asymmetrical biography
of Brother Thomas Bezanson, as
well as a hardcover, Ner-ot in the
Art of Samuel Bak, a book on the
ceramics and sculpture of Hongwei
Li and a fourth collection of words
of wisdom by Brother Thomas. The
Brother Thomas Fund has funded
44 Brother Thomas Fellows, each
receiving $15,000 unrestricted.
“Life remains rich in experiences
and people. We will host a Columbia
event in March with Frederick Ilch-
man, chief curator of European art
at the Boston MFA. He was a Ph.D.
student of David Rosand GSAS’65!”
From Allan Franklin we hear, “I
have nothing very new to report but
here is something. My wife, Cyndi,
is continuing her music studies and
I continue to do research on the his-
tory and philosophy of science and
to ride my bike. It is now an e-bike,
which is marvelous for hills and
headwinds. My most recent book,
Is It the ‘Same’ Result? Replication in
Physics, was published in October.”
Robert Burd PS’63 sends us the
following: “I was looking forward to
60th reunion until I learned it was
the weekend of my granddaughter’s
bat mitzvah. So, I regret that I and
my wife, Alice, will not be there. Just
a personal note — following CC
I attended P&S, trained at Albert
Einstein and served two years in
Navy. I joined a hematology practice
in Fairfield, Conn., which grew to a
seven-person subspecialty hematol-
ogy/oncology practice. I also was on
the faculties of Yale and Columbia,
training subspecialty fellows. Alice
and I have two sons.
“T retired from practice on
January 1, 2016, and moved to
Sarasota, Fla. I am on the board of
the Columbia Club of Sarasota. I
maintain a longtime fascination with
American history — I will not com-
ment on the current administration.
“Regards to classmates; I am
sorry to miss this reunion.”
John Clubbe GSAS’65 is work-
ing long hours dealing with the
copyedited version of his Beethoven
manuscript. He plans to attend our
60th reunion.
T also have some sad news.
Dianne Wright, wife of Gil Wright,
died on December 10, 2018. Daniel
Stein informed me that his wife,
Caroline, died in December 2018.
My sincerest sympathies to both of
them and to classmates who have
suffered a similar loss. If anyone
wishes to communicate with them, I
will try to put you in touch.
Finally, from Steve Trachten-
berg: “Yes, we should all try to come
to our CC’59 reunion this year. Our
60th! ... [Looking ahead, ] Colum-
bia should continue to host as many
of us in one way or another as long
as we have the capacity to dictate
a codicil. As a longtime university
administrator, I think that our alma
maters (almas mater?) are arguably
too quick to dispatch us to the dust
bins of alumina. For what it’s worth
I have a similar quarrel underway
with Yale Law School. People like us
should be at the center of university
development efforts. The Harvard
alumninews
Kennedy School gets it. They sent
three people to see me about a gift
even after I explained that The
George Washington University had
honored me by naming the School
of Public Policy & Public Adminis-
tration “Trachtenberg.’
“T recently had my prostate detailed
by the urology chief at GW Medical
Faculty Associates. Quite interesting.
Where I was previously speaking in
Morse Code, I now have a recovered
fluency. This has made travel more
agreeable and I am leaving in a few
days to speak at a meeting in San
Francisco and see my son Adam’97
and his family. From there to Miami
for a week with my wife, Francine, and
then back to D.C. I recently found a
button that reads “Write in Cham-
berlain.’ Clearly this is our former CC
dean, Lawrence Chamberlain. What
office were we writing him in for? U.S.
senator from New York?
“As the years go by, I love more
and more reading in CCT about
the remarkable ongoing lives of
classmates. Thank you to Norman
Gelfand for his efforts. As one who
got into Columbia off the wait list (I
was on my way to Penn) at the 11th
hour, I am continually grateful for
that catch. I believe it made a great
difference. Following the careers
of CC’59 remains breathtaking. I
am ever blessed to have been part
of such an interesting company. So
much has been contributed to the
world by the scholars and doctors,
lawyers and teachers, artists and
musicians, businesspeople and more
who populated our number. Think
of what we might have done if we
had more colleagues of color, not to
mention women among us. We can
celebrate the new Columbia, the
inclusive Columbia, at our reunion
knowing that in the generations
to come Columbia College will
be that much more robust for its
inclusiveness. I am hoping to see
and embrace you all on Morningside
Heights (I will be coming to New
York from Madrid). But if I am
denied that pleasure for any reason, I
hope that Norman will tell you how
much I loved and respected you all.
“Lest this melancholy conclusion
lead someone to conclude that I am
on the brink of death or fighting
some grave illness, I hasten to say
not. I am as fine as the circumstances
permit. It’s just that thinking about
you all and the gathering ahead got
me to think more deeply than usual
about the happy days we shared, and
friends and classmates departed. And
for a moment there it depressed me.
But on reflection I feel blessed and
uplifted. And I say thank you to all
and to all a good night.”
1960
Robert A. Machleder
69-37 Fleet St.
Forest Hills, NY 11375
rmachleder@aol.com
With several significant milestones
having been reached, and passed,
Miles McDonald LAW’63 offers
the following reflections: “After 58
years of silence, and having celebrated
my 80th birthday and 55th wedding
anniversary, as well as retirement from
the practice of the law, I thought I
would report in. After college I went
to the Law School and practiced in
New York City for five years. I then
avoided commuting and joined a
small firm in Greenwich, Conn.,
which grew rapidly. I have always
been a trial lawyer, primarily defend-
ing doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical
companies and the evil manufacturers
of alleged carcinogens.
“Actually, I did anything that
came in the door and paid tuition
bills. Our daughter, Deirdre, hap-
pens to be the fourth-generation
lawyer in the McDonald family.
Some say we were born with con-
genitally forked tongues.
“Rowing at Columbia on the
lightweight crew with Art Delmhorst
and our tireless class scribe, Robert
Machleder, brought us lifelong plea-
sure and adventure. I became an ama-
teur boat builder, building a variety of
shells, kayaks and classic small craft.
Our fondness for rowing has taken
us down multiple rivers on the East
Coast, along the coast of Maine and,
most memorably, circumnavigating
Lake Como, Italy, in a touring double
and eating like very happy little pigs.
Sailing became a passion and we were
fortunate enough to be able to sail and
race numerous one-design boats, sail
trans-Atlantic and cruise the coasts of
Ireland, Scotland and the Baltic.
“Art and I see each other regularly.
Bizarrely, we are both from Brooklyn,
went to the same dancing class, live
in the same town and are members
of the same yacht club. I am thankful
for a fine college education and have
been blessed by a good life. I hope
Spring 2019 CCT 53
Class Notes
classmates have enjoyed their allotted
time as much as we have. Now, I’m
into golf and still-competitive squash
— but never pickleball.”
Congratulations to Bob Hersh,
who was inducted into the National
Track and Field Hall of Fame in
October in recognition of 60-plus
years of involvement in the sport. It
began when his father took him to a
track meet at Madison Square Garden
when he was 12. His reaction was
striking: “T just went nuts. I couldn't
believe it. I really thought this is the
greatest sport in the world.”
Bob was student manager of his
high school track team, then manager
of the track team at Columbia and
after Harvard Law School, then
returned to the sport, where he rose to
its upper echelons nationally and inter-
nationally as an official, administrator,
public address announcer and a writer.
With Bob at the induction
ceremony in Columbus, Ohio, were
his wife, Louise (née Sobin) BC’66;
three children; and five grand-
children. He was a board member
of the national governing body
for the sport, USA Track & Field,
1981-2015; chaired several com-
mittees; and was general counsel.
At the international level Bob was
on the world governing body for
athletics, the International Associa-
tion of Athletics Federations, and
was elected senior VP, the highest
position held by an American.
Among his achievements, he recalls,
“[I]n the 1980s I developed the
USA/Mobil Indoor Grand Prix,
a program that brought together
the meets on the North American
indoor circuit, and there were more
than a dozen of them at that time. I
designed the Grand Prix, wrote the
rules, and was the scorer and admin-
istrator; they actually at one point
gave me the title of commissioner.”
Bob was the public address
announcer for six Olympic Games
and nine World Championships,
and was the English language
voice of international track and
field athletics for a generation.
He announced, as well, numerous
major U.S. meets. Being chosen
to announce his first Olympic
Games was one of the most exciting
moments in his long association
with the sport, he says.
In an interview preceding his
Hall of Fame induction, Bob was
asked if there was one outstanding
moment in his long announcing
54 CCT Spring 2019
career. “Yes,” was his instantaneous
response, “It was the 2007 Penn
Relays 4x800 meters relay. I was on
the microphone, and much to my
surprise, and everybody else’s sur-
prise, Columbia won the race. They
came from behind at the end and
beat teams like Michigan, Villanova
and Georgetown; there were some
very strong track powers in the race.
Nobody expected Columbia to win
it. They came up at the end and I just
shouted ‘Columbia!’ It was one time
when I was sorry I was on the micro-
phone because I had to keep my
composure. What I really wanted to
do was start jumping up and down
and screaming. But I had to let the
crowd subside for a few moments,
and then come up with things to say.
If people ask me what’s the greatest
track race I’ve ever seen, that’s what
immediately comes to mind.”
And, when asked, “Was there
anyone who especially inspired you
during your career?” Bob’s response
was, “Dick Mason, who was the
head coach at Columbia when I
was there. He was a fine coach, a
very intense man about competi-
tion and about the sport, and at the
same time, he took a real, personal,
sincere interest in all of the team as
individuals, in their academics and
their personal lives. He was a father
figure to many athletes and he really
showed me that you can be very
much involved in the sport and have
great human values as well.”
Note: Mason was head coach
of track and field at Columbia
1953-70. He died in 2005 at 90.
A sad note. We lost Herb
London in November. Herb was
a Renaissance Man. His interests
and achievements encompassed
academia, politics, athletics and
music, although music may be a
bit of a stretch. Herb, at 6-foot-5,
starred on our basketball team. His
basketball skills developed early,
leading his high school to a New
York City championship in 1955.
In one game he scored 19 points in
the first quarter and was on track
to break the school — and possibly
the city — scoring records. With
his team leading by 20 points at the
end of the quarter his coach kept
him on the bench for the rest of the
game. In recalling that game, Herb,
initially furious, acknowledged that
it was not until he had reached a
higher level of maturity that he
understood and respected his coach’s
decision to bench him to prevent
the humiliation of an opposing team
that was no match for his own.
Following graduation from the
College, Herb received a tryout with
the Syracuse Nationals, but injury
prevented him from pursuing a pro-
fessional career. His musical career
was short-lived. In our senior year he
wrote and recorded a single, “We're
Not Going Steady” and, on the flip
side, “Hey Red!” He described his
songs as “bubble gum” rock’ roll.
“We're Not Going Steady” achieved
modest success and sales of the
record contributed to fund Herb’s
post-baccalaureate education.
After receiving a master’s in edu-
cation from Teachers College and
a doctorate in history from NYU,
the award of a Fulbright scholar-
ship took Herb to Australia. He
returned to teach at NYU, creating
and serving for two decades as dean
of what is now the Gallatin School
of Individualized Study, which
provides inter-disciplinary and out-
of-the-classroom learning. In the
course of time, Herb added to the
curriculum a focus on the study of
great books. On the political front,
Herb was a prominent and highly
respected conservative theorist,
advocate, author and voice. He was
president of the Hudson Institute
think tank 1997-2011 and later
was named president emeritus. He
was a senior fellow at the Center
for the American University at the
Manhattan Institute, chairman of
the National Association of Scholars
and founder of the London Center
for Policy Research. A frequent
columnist, his articles appeared
nationwide in major newspapers.
A prolific author, Herb wrote
approximately 30 books, and three
plays. A highly sought-after social
critic and commentator on major
radio and television programs, he
co-hosted CNN’s Crossfire for one
year. Herbs political efforts may
seem quixotic, running unsuccess-
fully for mayor of New York City
in 1989, for governor in 1990 and
again in 1994, and then for state
comptroller, but his efforts, which
suffered from a lack of funding, were
serious, thoughtful, issue-oriented,
forceful and purposeful.
Herb is survived by his wife, Vicki;
and daughters, Stacy, Nancy and Jac-
lyn. To his family and loved ones, and
to those he taught and mentored, the
class sends its deepest condolences.
1961
Michael Hausig
19418 Encino Summit
San Antonio, TX 78259
mhausig@yahoo.com
Stuart Newman LAW’64 continues
to practice law because he enjoys
doing so and meeting new chal-
lenges. As of January 1, Stuart and
his partners joined, en masse, Ofht
Kurman, a 170-plus-person law firm
with offices throughout the mid-
Atlantic corridor from Virginia to
New York. Exciting, and another new
challenge that keeps him on his toes.
Arnold Klipstein practices gastro-
enterology two weeks a month. As a
/ocum physician, he moves from med-
ical facility to medical facility as a
facility has need for gastroenterology
services. In December he was practic-
ing in Biddeford, Maine, where snow
and sub-freezing temperatures exist,
but he sent this note from his tree-
house in Cairns, Australia, where the
temperature was in the 90s. Arnold’s
20-day tour included wide areas of
Australia and New Zealand. The tree
house is not primitive and even has
Wi-Fi, but no TV.
Last May, Arnold sold his house
and moved into an active, 55-and-
over condominium facility in
Connecticut. Getting rid of items he
collected in the home he lived in for
34 years was quite an ordeal, he says.
As Arnold approaches 80, he
says he is not sure what the future
holds. He is still pretty healthy, has
a wonderful lady he now lives with
after going together for 10 years and
can perform eight to 14 endoscopic
procedures a day. If he stops work-
ing, he says, he believes he might
become bored.
Arnold’s children are doing well
and he has four grandchildren, ages
15-22.
Have a wonderful spring, Class
of 61!
1962
John Freidin
654 E. Munger St.
Middlebury, VT 05753
jf@bicyclevt.com
Kathryn and Peter Yatrakis, with
their four children, nine grandchil-
dren and many friends, celebrated
their 50th wedding anniversary on
December 8, the day they married
in 1968.
When not traveling or ensconced
in Helsinki, Finland, Charlie Mor-
row hides out in Vermont’s Northeast
Kingdom. In October he ventured to
Essex Junction, Vt., to present some
of his site-specific sonic illusions at
Vermont Tech Jam. These sound-
scapes vary from white noise for
workspaces to multi-layered render-
ings of specific locations at specific
times. For example, an 18th-century
British prison chapel, the meteor
collision that obliterated dinosaurs
on Earth, and shutting the door of a
Mercedes-Benz. Charlie has created
installations for the Smithsonian
Institution, the Pro Football Hall of
Fame, the New-York Historical Soci-
ety and the 2006 Winter Olympics in
Torino, Italy. Once he made a casting
call for crowd members at a bustling
19th-century kosher market.
Peter Krulewitch keeps in
touch with Professor Henry Graff
GSAS’49, who, Peter reports, “is
still sharp at 97.1 spoke to him in
early December and asked him to
comment on President Trump. ‘It
wont end well, he said. You can hear
Professor Graff’s remembrances of
the New York City of his youth at
oldnewyorkstories.com.”
Don Splansky’s daughter Yael
Splansky enjoyed a festive dedica-
tion of the renovation of her temple,
Holy Blossom, in Toronto. She is
the senior rabbi there.
For three decades, Jeff Milstein
served as a policy and strategic
planner in the Departments of State,
Commerce, Treasury and Defense.
Though now retired, he continues
to follow foreign and public policy
issues, and to contribute his “two
cents” to national discussions. “For
the past 10 years,” he writes, “I have
been participating as both a student
and teacher in the Osher Lifelong
Learning Institute at George Mason
University outside Washington, D.C.
The Bernard Osher Foundation has
established Lifelong Learning Insti-
tutes on about 120 campuses, and I
heartily recommend them.”
On December 5, The New York
Times published the following letter
from Jeff: “Vitally important stakes
in these trade negotiations between
the United States and China go
beyond tariffs, nontariff barriers,
technology transfer, intellectual
property, and cyber intrusion.
“Since 1972, a major strategic
objective of trade and financial ties
between the United States and
China has been the avoidance of war
and the maintenance of mutually
beneficial peace between these two
great powers.
“Policymakers and negotiators
on both sides must consider these
broader interests of mutually ben-
eficial peace as well as prosperity. So
should the business, financial, labor
and other interests who lobby their
governments. They also benefit from
these peaceful relations.”
In early December, Jerry Dop-
pelt and his wife, Sharon Weremiuk,
wrote that they “will be taking
their third trip to India over the
December holidays. This time we are
touring Rajasthan for three weeks.
On December 31 we'll travel to a
birder’s paradise to watch thousands
of Demoiselle cranes fly and feed.
Then we will traverse the desert
through miles of thorn forest, dunes
and scrub to visit a dhani, a small
desert settlement where the huts are
built with thick mud walls to protect
against the extreme climate. Finally,
we will ride by camel to the Manvar
Tented Camp for a sumptuous Raj-
asthani dinner, a bonfire and New
Year’s dawn over the desert.”
In an email from Vancouver,
Crawford Kilian sends this news:
“It’s been said that ‘Happy is the
nation without a history,’ and
perhaps alumni without news are
equally happy. I have little to report,
but my education continues.
“In September my wife and I went
via train from Stockholm to Ham-
burg and then to Amsterdam. We
renewed our love of train travel, and
learned en route that every quaint
little German town has quaint little
houses roofed with solar panels. Our
trains, powered by electricity, moved
rapidly, and we ended up in highly
electrified/human-powered Amster-
dam: Cabs to the train station and
airport must be electric, and the city
has more bicycles than people. Most
parked cars are hitched to charging
stations. It made me realize how far
behind we are.
“T continue to write articles for
Vancouver's online magazine The Tyee
and this year will write a series on
dementia — a public health concern
that will continue to grow and
eventually require serious political
action. We can't rely on unpaid family
members to provide care while the
alumninews
rest of us pretend there is no public
problem. As usual when I’m trying to
learn about something, I’ve created
a blog, The Politics of Dementia, as
a workspace and storage site. If any
classmates have experience with the
topic, I'd be grateful to hear from
them at crof@shaw.ca.
“The online world has provided
another surprising benefit: a British
publisher, Endeavour Media, has
revived several of my science fiction
novels as e-books, and damned if
they're not selling! Most popular is
Icequake, which in 1979 described the
collapse of the Antarctic ice sheet.
Each new report of a collapsing ice
shelf makes me feel creeped out.
“T’m also working on a revised
edition of Writing Science Fiction
and Fantasy, this time in partnership
with a talented Vancouver author,
Silvia Moreno-Garcia. We have a
contract with International Self-
Counsel Press and expect the book
to be published this autumn.
“This century is the setting for
countless science fiction stories,
but it’s turning out to be far stranger
and surprising than any author
could imagine.”
Former class correspondent Ed
Pressman (and Marcia) attended
Homecoming on October 20 and
sent this account: “As we have
done for several years, a group of us
gathered for Homecoming. Although
we cheered ‘Go Lions’ and were
disappointed with the outcome, we
reveled in a camaraderie that spans
60 years. Paul Alter and Nancy
Blank, Harvey Chertoff and Gail,
Stuart Rosenbluth and Lorrie, Stan
Waldbaum and Jewel, and Dave
Tucker and Michelle enjoyed a
lovely dinner at Nancy’s home. Gary
Roxland, Leo Swergold and Yen
Tan SEAS’62 joined us for the game,
but were unable make dinner. We
hope others will attend Homecom-
ing next year and contact Paul Alter
(alterp@aol.com) or Ed Pressman
(edwardpressman@mac.com).”
Ed has been retired from his suc-
cessful career in the paper business
since 2009. At Columbia he majored
in history and minored in music.
Now he is fulfilling his lifelong
dream of teaching, helming two
adult education courses on current
events: one at Westchester Com-
munity College and the other at the
senior center in Croton-on-Hudson,
N.Y., as well as a classical music
class at the COLLEGIUM for
¥
vera
Lifelong Learning, associated with
WCC. He adds, “I am grateful to
my teachers at Columbia and strive
to model my classes on theirs. It’s
never too late to reinvent oneself.”
Carl Jakobsson SEAS’63
writes, “Here is an invitation to a
gathering that is dear to my heart:
“The Bremerton [ Washington]
Branch of the NAACP, the Bremer-
ton unit of the Salvation Army, the
Mount Zion Missionary Baptist
Church, the Kitsap County affili-
ate of Habitat for Humanity, the
Ebenezer African Methodist Epis-
copal Church, the House of Refuge
Fellowship Church, and the Kitsap
County Filipino-American Associa-
tion invite you to the 19th annual
Mission Outreach Day on March 2,
2019, at 2:00 PM at the Salvation
Army Church in Bremerton.’
“Mission Outreach Day is an
annual commemoration of four
successful actions taken by the
contemporary church to protect the
human rights of people under attack.
Those occasions are:
“Adoption of the Namibian Con-
stitution’ (February 1990), ‘Release
of Nelson Mandela from prison’
(immediately following the adoption
of the Namibian Constitution),
‘People Power Revolution in the
Philippine’ (February 1986) and “The
Bloody Sunday March’ in Selma,
Alabama (March 7, 1965).
“We are trying to sustain the
memory of occasions that are being
deliberately forgotten by people
trying to rewrite history to fit their
predatory agendas. I know few
people will come to our event from
the United States, but hope some
may be moved to hold similar events
in their communities to ensure that
history is remembered.
“Aside from that, I spend a lot of
time helping young students with
math. As an old retiree, I have time
to do things I enjoy, rather than
what the boss says.”
From Durham, N.C., John Gar-
man BUS’67 writes: “Have found a
great annual conference on foreign
affairs. It is held in Chautauqua,
N.Y., in early October and is spon-
sored by Road Scholars. There are
three daily presentations led by six
recently retired ambassadors. Lots of
Q&A time in class and at meals.”
Bob Umans sends word that
he’s back at work, teaching freshman
seminars on health and disease at the
University of Massachusetts, Boston.
Spring 2019 CCT 55
Class Notes
He wrote: “I’ve been out of work for
a while, doing a little catering, but
missing teaching and the students.
It’s a little more tiring than it used
to be, but just as much fun! Also, I’ve
been attending Dean's Day (briefly
called All-Class Reunion and now
part of Reunion Weekend) every
year, and seeing fewer and fewer
classmates. Only three last year. I
hope more will return in the coming
years. The five-year reunions are a
great opportunity to reconnect with
friends from several classes who were
at Columbia while we were.”
[Editor’s note: All classes, not just
the “milestone” class years, which
this year end in 4 or 9, are invited to
attended Reunion Weekend 2019
for events on Friday, May 31, and
Saturday, June 1.]
1963
Paul Neshamkin
1015 Washington St., Apt. 50
Hoboken, NJ 07030
pauln@helpauthors.com
I was reminded at our January
class lunch of how interesting our
classmates are. By the way, this
year marks the beginning of the
15th year that we have held these
lunches (and I have written these
Class Notes). Time flies, but we
haven't changed that much. We have
learned to “Hold Fast to the Spirit
of Youth, Let Years to Come Do
What They May.”
Bob Kraft has been awarded
Israel’s 2019 Genesis Prize in
recognition of his philanthropy
and commitment to combating
anti-Semitism. The $1 million
award, widely known as the “Jewish
Nobel” prize, is granted each year “to
a person recognized as an inspira-
tion to the next generation of Jews
through professional achievement
and commitment to Jewish values.”
Bob will donate the prize money to
initiatives combating anti-Semitism,
and other forms of prejudices. “I
am honored to receive the Genesis
Prize and thank the Genesis Prize
Foundation for its recognition and
willingness to direct my prize money
to such worthy causes,” he said. “It
is important that we continue to
support organizations that focus on
combating prejudices by building
bridges and uniting people of differ-
ent backgrounds.”
56 CCT Spring 2019
Tom Lewis recently attended our
monthly lunch for the first time and
followed up with this note to fill you
in on what he’s been up to for the
last few (how about 56?) years: “I’ve
self-published four novels in the
last couple of years. The first three
are a trilogy about a young man
named Paul Rimbaud who drops out
of Columbia in the early 60s and,
more or less by accident, enlists in
the Army and embarks on a life as
a soldier. They are My Uncle, Oscar's
Cold War and The Last Days of Paul
Rimbaud. The fourth, unrelated to the
trilogy, is The Script Doctor, a novella
about getting away with murder. They
are available from an independent
bookseller, Book House (Albany,
N.Y., 518-489-4761); bhny.com; or
the author at 340 Press, 310 W. 86th
St., #11C, New York, NY 10024.
“T published two novels at com-
mercial houses in the early 80s:
Rooftops and Billy's Army. They are
long since out of print, fading away
like old soldiers. I’ve had the rights
reverted to me, to what end I do not
know. But I’ve lost whatever taste
and patience I had for struggling past
the gatekeepers and self-proclaimed
tastemakers in the NYC publishing
biz. I find it easy to self-publish and
refreshing to recover the time and
energy spent unraveling the demands
of a confusing mix of competent and
incompetent agents and editors and
freelance copyeditors and sub-rights
directors et al. I designed the covers
and required only my own approval.
I don't hear, ‘Gee, we really like your
book but we want you to rewrite it as
more of a family drama.’
“If my aging and somewhat dam-
aged neurovascular system holds up,
I want to finish another book or two.
I have a novel in mind and in partial
draft, and notes for a short nonfic-
tion book, not a memoir so much as
the story of a pilgrimage essentially
mapped out by having been sexually
abused at the ages of 9 and 10 by an
older boy who was teaching me to be
an altar boy in an Episcopal Church
where I grew up. The effects of sexual
abuse at that early age are powerful,
pernicious and lifelong. Abuse like
that is amazingly common, well-
known, highly stigmatized and not
well understood by health profession-
als, let alone law enforcement, the
judicial system or political leaders.
Time will show if I can manage this.
“Otherwise, my grown son and
daughter are healthy, competent,
loving people, and well grounded.
I haven't had what might be called
a career but I’ve been lucky to have
had interesting jobs in a history of
roughly 40 years working in and
around government: a speechwriter
for two New York governors; the
director of the New York State
Division of Veterans’ Affairs where,
among other things, I oversaw the
construction of a state veterans’
nursing home in Queens; work as
an executive at an HMO; being a
major account manager for Dell; a
busted first retirement, then six years
as a bureaucrat-executive in the Pen-
tagon and at a stand-alone defense
agency, from which I finally and
successfully retired, giving me the
time to write. I somehow bookended
a long work life with the Army and
Department of Defense.
“T’ve stumbled into a happy sec-
ond marriage, to a smart, interesting
woman, a healthcare attorney, who,
most of the time, tolerates and puts
up with me. We've been friends and
companions for nearly 25 years. We
share a happy, affectionate Golden
Retriever. I divide my time between
our apartment on the Upper West
Side of Manhattan, 30 blocks south
of Morningside Heights (where I
lived as a small child); and a house
upstate, near Albany and Sche-
nectady. These are parts of the world
I enjoy and know well.”
Frank Partel BUS’65 recently
returned from a two-week visit to
China and sent a 4,000-word “note”
of his observations and impressions.
Rather than try to include a snippet
here, I have posted it in its entirety
on cc63ers.com, which I am slowly
attempting to keep up to date. For
all those who have sent similar
lengthy notes, I promise to find
them all and post them.
Doug Anderson sends a note
from sunny Florida: “Having lived
in Palm Beach for 34 years and
having developed a circle of friends
of which my wife, Dale, and I are on
the young end, it was great last year
to run into two fraternity brothers
who were putting their feet in the
water, literally. Mark Weinstein 64
and Burt Lehman’62 each rented an
apartment to try PB out as a winter
escape from New York. Through the
years, I'd occasionally seen each of
them but we'd never gotten together
with our wives. Last year, Dale and I
had dinner with Mark and Peni and
everyone really liked each other. Same
with Burt and Brenda. This year, as
I was setting up a dinner date with
Burt, he mentioned that his College
roommate John Freidin’62 and John's
friend Kathy were going to be spend-
ing a few nights with them. I'd not
seen John in 56 years and thought it
would be fun if we all went to dinner
together — and so we did — and
it didn't take a minute to fall into
conversation as though we'd never
been apart. More interesting was how
well the women got along and how
much Dale said she liked everyone. As
our PB friends enter their 90s it’s a joy
to find additional new friends who are
really old friends. As they say, ‘Come
on down.”
Rich Juro LAW’66 writes,
“My wife, Fran, and I celebrated
New Year at Mammy Yoko Hotel
in Freetown, Sierra Leone. We
just avoided being caught up in an
anti-government protest, complete
with gunfire. Reminded me of when
a busload of us went to picket the
White House about Vietnam in
spring ’62 (except without gunshots).
A few days before we went to Mon-
rovia, Liberia, another interesting
experience. About 15 countries to
go toward our goal of visiting every
nation in the world.”
Wow! Rich is near an incredible
goal. Anyone else even close? Let
us know.
If you're in NYC, you can
reconnect with your classmates
at our regular class lunches at the
Columbia Club (for now, we are still
gathering at the Princeton Club).
‘The next are on April 11, May 9 and
on June 13.
In the meantime, let us know
what you are up to, how youre doing
and what’s next.
1964
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Norman Olch
233 Broadway
New York, NY 10279
norman@nolch.com
‘The new year is under way as I write. I
wish you and your loved ones a year of
good health, peace, joy and prosperity.
After many years of service,
Howard Jacobson LAW’67 has
retired as deputy general counsel of
Columbia. We wish Howard and his
family much happiness.
Dave Levin SEAS’68 is off to
Florida to escape the winter cold
of New York. While there he will
take a Disney cruise to the Carib-
bean with his wife, son, daughter-
in-law and grandchildren. Dave is
actively involved in planning for the
55th reunion.
Steve Rosenfeld LAW’67 writes
from New York: “Having retired for
the third time (as a partner of Paul
Weiss in December 2008, as chair of
the NYC Conflicts of Interest Board
at the end of 2012 and as a Legal Aid
lawyer for children in family court
in April 2017), I've been concentrat-
ing on writing short fiction, which
I started doing three years ago. I’ve
had some success with it: My stories
have been published in The City Key,
Reflex Fiction, Good Works Review,
Flatbush Review, The Rush and Mag-
nolia Review, and on JewishFiction.
net — all of which can be accessed
online (except for Good Works Review,
which is a print magazine available
on Amazon). One of those stories
received an Honorable Mention in
the 2016 Short Story America Prize
contest and another won First Place
in the 2018 Writer Advice Flash
Fiction Contest.
“Meanwhile, my wife, Joan, and
I are enjoying retirement and time
with our grandchildren. We sold our
Hamptons house last spring and spent
last summer renting in Chappaqua.”
In the Winter 2018-19 column,
I asked the following two-part
question: What do you wish you had
known when you were 18, and what
advice do you have for the members
of the College’s next graduating
class as they face becoming “adults”?
I hope replies will start to come in!
See you at Reunion Weekend!
1965
Leonard B. Pack
924 West End Ave.
New York, NY 10025
leonard@packlaw.us
Jim Alfini writes, “I had lunch with
Jim Murdaugh a few months ago.
It was uncommonly cold in Houston
in November, so we were dressed
accordingly. Jim practices law, repre-
senting Municipal Utility Districts
around Houston. Last August, I
retired from teaching at South Texas
College of Law Houston. However,
as dean and professor emeritus, I
keep my office, parking space and
email address.
“We shared Hurricane Harvey
stories. Although Jim’s home was not
flooded, his law firm’s offices took in
water, requiring him to work in his
undershorts from home for some
time. Our home also took in water,
forcing us to live in our Chicago
apartment until mid-December. I
had hip replacement surgery while
we were in Chicago. The only big
downside was that my wife, Carol,
who hates the Chicago winters, had
to walk our dog, Murphy, in the snow
in early December. Jim has also had
hip replacement surgery. True to form
given our age, we spent some time
comparing our respective surgeries,
recovery times, etc.
“Tam taking a Russian language
course in retirement. Although
it has been more than 50 years
since taking two years of Russian
at Columbia, I am amazed at how
much I recall. This prompted Jim to
comment on the excellence of our
Columbia education and to discuss
friendships we made. Because I was
a commuter from Yonkers, I didn’t
have as much time on campus as the
gentleman from Tyler, Texas.”
Mel Barenholtz GSAS’73
writes, “I am happy to report that
my grandson Yehuda Zev got
engaged at the end of November. I
have three sons and 17 grandchil-
dren. My oldest son, Daniel, and my
youngest son, Elan, each have four
children while my middle son, Levi
Yitzchok, has nine children. Yehuda
Zev (24) is Levi Yitzchok’s oldest
child and my oldest grandchild.
“January 29 was my 75th birthday,
so Yehuda Zev’s wedding on January
31 was a very nice birthday present
for me. The wedding was a happy
occasion but, as with all my family
celebrations, saddened by the absence
of my wife, Mynda Kate Newberger,
who passed away 17 years ago.
Mynda lived long enough to attend
the weddings of our three sons, but
only long enough to be a grandmama
to three of our grandchildren.
“T think it is very likely (do the
math) that I will be the first member
of our class to have a married
grandchild and, looking ahead, I
think there is a good chance that I
will be the first member of the class
to become a great-grandfather.
“Since this is my first submission
to our Class Notes, I will provide a
brief overview of my life since I left
Columbia College. I enrolled in a
Ph.D. program in physics at Colum-
bia. Mynda and I got married in April
1968, during the Columbia riots. I
left Columbia in 1972 with an M.A.
and an ABD (all but dissertation). I
left because my thesis research was
not working out and I had a wife and
two children to support. I found a job
as a computer programmer and was
a programmer /analyst for about 40
years, until December 2012.
“During the last six years I have
traveled to Israel several times to
visit my sister, Sherry BC’65, and her
five children. I have also traveled to
several countries in Europe and Asia
with various Kosher tour groups. In
2018 I visited India, the Balkans,
‘Thailand and Israel. I have /eyned
(read the Torah portion from a Torah
scroll) on Shabbat in synagogues in
Krakow, Pushkar, Belgrade, Zagreb,
Bangkok and Ko Samui and, on
weekday mornings, in the Guang-
zhou airport and in Jerusalem.”
Mike Friedman reports: “It has
been a long time since I have con-
tributed to Class Notes (or maybe
it is the first time), but I could not
ignore Bob Caserio’s plea in the
Fall 2018 issue to ‘see’ me. As I try
to fill in some of the blanks about
— in the words of the Grateful
Dead — ‘what a long, strange trip
it’s been,’ Bob (and others) might
see some opportunity for further
sightings. Here goes.
“T returned from Trinity College,
Cambridge, in 1967 to spend a year
teaching at the historically black
Knoxville College in Tennessee.
‘This proved to be an eventful year,
as Martin Luther King Jr. was
assassinated in Memphis during
the second semester, and I was fired
for taking a caravan of students to
Memphis for the march in support
of the sanitation workers in honor
of King’s memory. I challenged the
firing and was reinstated.
“T spent the following summer in
Washington, D.C., on the staff of
the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, camping out in Resur-
rection City between the Washing-
ton Monument and the Lincoln
Memorial, organizing protests, visit-
ing members of Congress, keeping
up morale, laying plans for activities.
Jim Alfini (left) 65 and Jim
Murdaugh ’65 had lunch in
November in Houston.
“T returned to New York to
teach at Brooklyn College in the
ill-fated SEEK Program and divided
my time between teaching and anti-
war activism.
“After two years teaching at
Brooklyn College, I moved to Cleve-
land with a group of activists to do
community and labor organizing. We
started a volunteer health clinic in
an underserved Appalachian, Latino
and Native American community
that was so successful the city health
department took it over. We also
started a newspaper that focused on
labor and community issues.
“In Cleveland, I took jobs
teaching at Cuyahoga Community
College, driving a cab and working
at a Westinghouse factory that made
outdoor streetlights and airport
runway lights. I worked at Westing-
house for four years, until the plant
moved to Mexico.
“Driving a cab had given me
membership in the Teamsters
union, and when I got laid off from
Westinghouse, I went to truck driv-
ing school and started driving in the
freight industry. In 1976, I became
a founding member of Teamsters
for a Democratic Union (TDU),
which is still going strong and is
likely the strongest and longest-
lasting rank and file caucus in the
American labor movement. I was on
its steering committee and edited its
national newspaper for nine years.
“T was a truck driver in Cleveland
for 14 years and ran for office in my
3,500-member local, twice losing
by just 60 votes. To supplement my
income during the various recession-
ary interludes, I took the test to be a
Spring 2019 CCT 57
ll
{
|
Ul
f
Class Notes
registered representative and become
a licensed stockbroker. It was never
really a career option, but it helped
when the freight was slow.
“TDU had annual rank and file
conventions every year and invited
all the lawyers who worked with
it to attend. One of those who
attended was Barbara Harvey, an
attorney in Detroit who now is
TDU’s de facto general counsel. In
the mid-1980s we started a long-
distance relationship, commuting
between Detroit and Cleveland.
“After about two years of com-
muting, it was clear one of us would
have to move. Having lost the two
elections noted above, I was a bit
burned out, and I ended up moving
to Detroit in 1988 to live with Bar-
bara and her 8-year old son, Daniel.
After a while, Barb and I married,
and we are still together. Daniel is
now married and is a physical thera-
pist who runs a couple of clinics in
Mt. Clemens, just outside of Detroit.
“In Detroit, I could no longer
work as a truck driver, as the Team-
ster leadership was not happy with
TDU and would work to ensure
I would not be employed in the
freight industry. So, at 44, I became
a student at the Wayne State Uni-
versity Law School.
“Upon graduating, I discovered
that the Teamsters Union had gone
out of its way to see that not only
couldn't I work as a truck driver, but
also made sure that no labor law firm
would hire me. The labor law firm
I had clerked for explained that it
wasnt going to hire me because the
Teamsters threatened to have all its
union clients go to other law firms
if it did, and it couldn't take the risk.
So, I was ‘forced’ to find work at
one of the larger and better-known
corporate law firms in the city.
“I became an employee benefits
attorney at the Honigman law firm
in Detroit, and found it interesting
and challenging enough to work
there for 22 years before retiring at
the end of 2013.”
Read what came next for Mike in
the Summer 2019 issue! Mike also
wrote, “This is not the career path
I envisioned upon graduation, nor
likely the one Columbia thought it
was preparing me for, but what the
hell, it has been challenging, reward-
ing and a lot of fun, but not without
its down moments.”
James “Jim” Levy informed me
of the death of his good friend Peter
58 CCT Spring 2019
Mound. Peter’s family published a
short obituary in The New York Times
on December 23. It read: “Peter
Mound, aged 75, Santee, Calif,
passed away on November 3, 2018.
Raised in New York City, he gradu-
ated from the Trinity School, Colum-
bia College and Cornell Law School.
He practiced law with the New
York City Corporate Council Office
until the 1990s, when he moved to
California for private practice.”
I asked Jim to tell me something
about his own life: “During the past
decade, I have been transitioning from
a cerebral focus to an outdoor recre-
ational lifestyle, seemingly attempting
to experience, somewhat belatedly,
the active physical involvement that
eluded me in my youth. To paraphrase
Leonard Cohen, I am essentially a
75-year-old kid in search of a dream.
Maybe this constitutes the final scene
of a script that can be titled ‘The
Revenge of the Collegiate Nerd.’
“I maintain my law practice on
a somewhat restricted basis, much
to the relief of Ann, my wife of 52
years, who believes that our marriage
vows should be restated to reflect
current realities (i.e., ‘For better
or worse, in sickness and health,
but not for lunch.’). In a sense I
am enduring King Lear syndrome,
essentially becoming a mere orna-
ment in my own highly efficient and
productive law office, which, usually,
but fortunately not always, can func-
tion superbly well without my daily
direction and micromanagement.
“What this all means is that dur-
ing a typical year in scenic northern
Vermont I indulge in many diverse
activities. In summer, I sail my
Cape Dory 25 on Lake Champlain,
where I also paddleboard and jetski.
I enjoy bike riding on a nearby
abandoned railroad bed, as well as
on other trails (purchasing this year
a RadRover fat tire electric bike,
which has enabled me to extend
my excursions while zooming past
younger bicyclists), and skiing, both
cross country and downhill (the
latter becoming my most accom-
plished physical activity, focusing on
black diamond glades).To a lesser
extent, golf, fishing, motorcycling
(I am a lifetime HOG member),
snowmobiling and Segway riding
have drawn my interest. Until I tore
my rotator cuff and bicep muscle
in a freak on-ice accident last year,
I participated weekly in a rather
competitive adult hockey league,
where not only was I the oldest
player but also a teammate of several
fellows who had played with my son,
Daniel, in high school. Perhaps the
pursuit that has most intrigued me
recently is my fledgling maple syrup
enterprise, which produced more
than 150 gallons last year and has
the potential for greater yields.
“Eventually, the laws of gravity
will win out, and undoubtedly I will
descend to a more serene and sed-
entary (I hope not too boring) status
(some folks call it old age, others
refer to it as maturity). Until then,
I will enjoy my newly discovered
second childhood.”
1966
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
From Harvey Kurzweil: “Our
friend Rich Forzani died in Sep-
tember after a long illness. He was
our most recent class correspondent.
Christopher Lopez’19 published
an October 22 article in Spectator’s
sports section on the Dartmouth
game; the last few paragraphs are a
tribute to Rich. It is quite a tribute
to our classmate.”
‘Those paragraphs are quoted
below; if you would like to read
the full piece, it is online at bit.
ly/2DY362V.
“Last season, in the thick of
preparing coverage for Homecom-
ing, a dedicated reader and football
alum Richard Forzani, CC’66, cor-
responded with me via email and
asked to write a letter to the editor
encouraging students to attend
Homecoming. In that letter, he
alluded to the ‘free food and beer’
for students, but also boasted about
the success of the team that season.
‘Columbia is back!’ Forzani seemed
genuinely excited that, for the first
time in a very long time, the team
was not only playing well but also
apparently capable of doing it again.
“T was recently made aware that
Forzani lost a battle with cancer in
early September, and couldn't help
but think how Forzani would have
marveled at the roar of the crowd
this season. For all his agitation
during the years of Mangurian and
athletic director M. Dianne Murphy
to instill change in the Athletic
Department, Forzani’s passion for
the program was unrivaled.
“Forzani was a regular com-
menter on Spectator articles, always
engaging in our content, win or lose,
and his emails to me were always
highlights. He would likely have
lamented the team’s performance on
Saturday like he always did, but I
certainly think he would have appre-
ciated what Bagnoli was able to do
given the circumstances.
“T felt it was the right decision
to dedicate a good portion of this
column to Forzani, as he was a true
Columbia football lifer. And for
a team that has suffered through
so many difficult years, Forzani’s
relentless optimism in the wake of
Bagnoli’s hiring was a sign of so
many things to come.
“Tt is wholly unfortunate that For-
zani won't see what Bagnoli is able to
accomplish going forward, but should
the Lions win a title in the next few
years, should all that Forzani ever
wanted come to fruition, it would be
perhaps the perfect ending.”
From Phil Myers: “I'm keeping
busy with family, research and music.
Spouse Anne Hoffman BC’70 and
I have lived in Winchester, Mass.,
since 1975. We see our sons, David
02, Josh and Jonathan, often, along
with two grandsons, Andy and
Ben. We spend several weeks each
summer in the Berkshires, where
we enjoy music and theater, and
visits with friends and family. We
keep in touch with John Akula,
Kenny Fox, Gene Fierman, Dan
Gover, Jeff May, Frank Mirer
and Cliff Rosenthal. I’m a senior
astrophysicist at the Smithson-
ian Astrophysical Observatory at
the Harvard-Smithsonian Center
for Astrophysics in Cambridge,
studying how stars form, using
observations and theoretical models.
Working with collaborators, post-
docs and students, we have recently
focused on the role of magnetic
fields in guiding star-forming flows.
“In 2005 I started taking jazz
piano lessons, and since then I’ve
played jazz and rock with a few local
groups. Most recently I’ve had fun
writing songs inspired by Gersh-
win, Porter, [Richard] Rodgers CC
1923 and Jobim. The songs are in
the form of jazz lead sheets, with
melody, chords and lyrics. You can
hear an album of more than 20 of
them online at bit.ly/2Bhng6b.”
From Leland Moglen: “T:S.
Eliot said it for me: ‘And when I
am formulated, sprawling on a pin
/ When I am pinned and wriggling
on the wall / Then how should I
begin To spit out the butt-ends
of my days and ways? / And how
should I presume?’
“Tt feels like a great life. Many
roads not taken. Many purposeless
wanderings in search of adventure,
ending up grateful to find a place to
sleep at day’s end. Lost a wife. Lost
a son. Got my neck broken when hit
by a car as a pedestrian two years ago.
I still glory in having had four kids
with a sixth grandkid on the way. I
still am happy to be up and about,
with no reliance on drugs, prescrip-
tion or otherwise, nor alcohol. I wake
up every day ready to savor the coffee
[...] and smell the flowers.”
From John Burrows: “Class-
mates and Lion friends, greetings
from Eden, Utah. I was busy during
the late fall, recording songs for a
new 16-song CD. This will be the
sequel to my The Perfect Storm and
Boats for Sale CDs (available on
iTunes). The working title is Jeans
and Boots and Bathing Suits, repre-
senting my life’s ocean and moun-
tain background. To keep costs at a
minimum, I am personally engineer-
ing the recording.”
From Bob Meyerson: “Bob
unfortunately continues on a down-
ward spiral. His magnum opus
years in the making, A History of
The Indefinite Article in 17th Century
Tuscany, was lost in the return mail
after National Enquirer Publications
turned it down. His wife of 50 years
left him for an older gentleman in
the nursing home suffering from
dementia and incontinence. His kids
agreed to arrange a 75th birthday
celebration for him this summer,
but only in exchange for a power
of attorney. To top it off, three old
Class of 66 mates hung up as soon
as they heard his voice. But Bob is
not to be dismayed. He is currently
in the market for a used prostate
gland and is willing to pay big bucks
for someone in need of quick cash.
He can be reached at the White
House, where he is the éminence
grise behind Trump’s foreign policy.”
CCT thanks all who wrote in for
this issue. If you would like to con-
tribute a note for the Summer issue,
or are interested in taking on the
role of class correspondent, please
write to cct@columbia.edu.
1967
Albert Zonana
425 Arundel Rd.
Goleta, CA 93117
az164@columbia.edu
Greetings for spring, Class of 1967.
John Cregor wrote from Kailua,
Hawaii, to mourn the death of John
Viebranz, his fraternity brother
and longtime friend. “John died on
October 13 of a sudden heart attack,
in South Korea. After graduat-
ing from Columbia, where he was
a member of Nu Sigma Chi, the
Blue Key Society and Nacoms, and
chairman of WKCR, John spent a
tour in Vietnam with the Army. He
then returned to his home state of
New Mexico for law school, where
he remained throughout his long
and distinguished legal career. I wish
I could tell you more about his legal
career, but I really know very little.
I think that he was a sole practitio-
ner most of the time. I know that
he spent several years practicing in
Socorro (a ‘Wild West’ town, as he
characterized it). I believe that he
practiced for some period of time
in Albuquerque, and he also talked
about some work at the state capital
in Santa Fe. I unfortunately don’t
even know the nature of his practice
nor clientele. Funny, but we never
really talked about each other’s law
practice. He is survived by his wife,
JeWon, whom he married in New
Mexico. Upon his retirement, John
and JeWon moved to her home
country of South Korea, where
together they ran a highly successful
English language school. We main-
tained a long friendship throughout
the past 51 years.”
Be well all of you, and do write ...
1968
Arthur Spector
4401 Collins Ave., 2-1417
Miami Beach, FL 33140
arthurbspector@gmail.com
Hello from sun, warmth, palm trees
and beaches: Miami Beach. Home
here continues to be a pleasure of
a different sort, as this world is
quite a change. Last night I heard
Pinchas Zukerman perform Bruch’s
Violin Concerto #1 — an astounding
performance with the New World
adlumninews
Symphony — and then Bartok’s
Concerto for Orchestra. | remember
first hearing Bartok’s Concerto for
Orchestra around 1962; it was writ-
ten in 1943, which made me think
quite a while about how modern the
piece was when I first heard it.
In the orchestra, I noticed Kevin
Chen ’15, a Columbia and Juilliard
grad from the great joint program.
I watched on TV as Bob Kraft
’63’s team won again, and Seth
Weinstein reports that Lions bas-
ketball won a recent game. Seth has
now become a big fan of Columbia
basketball and football. With Mike
Smith ’20 out for the season, bas-
ketball will be more challenged.
Football could be the greatest season
in decades — I recommend you get
tickets at least for Homecoming.
I went to the Alexander Hamilton
Award Dinner in November, where
Lisa L. Carnoy’89 (co-chair of the
University Trustees) was awarded the
Alexander Hamilton Medal. She is
an extraordinary alum and has had
great success over the years as a Wall
Street professional. She is the first
woman to win this award, and it’s so
well deserved. It was wondrous to see
all the Columbia alums there too. I
remember years ago seeing Lisa run-
ning in Central Park — the six-mile
loop — moving with light speed, it
seemed to me. Columbia is so for-
tunate to have her as co-chair; her
comments that night should be sent
to College alums.
‘The College has a sparkling dean
and an array of others serving —
the school is so popular (as we all
know it should be). I recently met
some first-years on campus, a bright
group from rural Georgia, Istanbul,
Budapest, lowa, Nashville, Syracuse,
Hawaii and Santa Fe. I was walking
around campus; I am shy but I did
chat with the group in front of a few
of the dorms and in Lerner Hall.
By the way, I continue to wish
my report on our reunion had
been much better — I wish I had
been able to report better from my
memory. [here were so many there
who I spoke to briefly and I was so
happy that so many clearly had a
great time. If anyone wants to add to
the record, please do!
Art Kaufman had some great
thoughts on the football and bas-
ketball programs — he’s hopeful, of
course. He went with his grandkids
to Madison Square Garden to see
the Lions beat Iona College. It was
a very good win; he said he had a
great time and sent a picture of his
grandkids with the Columbia Lion
mascot. I often see Art at basketball
games, where he clearly has fun, and
we have seen some great wins.
I saw Buzz Zucker and he told
me the following Columbia story —
to maybe be shared with prospective
and incoming students, because this
sort of thing doesn’t happen at many
schools! He writes, “Sophomore
year my roommate Bob Barnes
and I took the subway downtown
to see a play. While my parents had
taken me to some great original
Broadway shows (My Fair Lady,
West Side Story and Peter Pan, among
others), I was not prepared for this.
We went to Greenwich Village and
descended some steps to a hole-in-
the-wall basement place called the
Sheridan Square Theater — my first
encounter with Off-Broadway. It
was a revival of a play a guy named
Arthur Miller wrote 10 years earlier
when he was 40: 4 View from the
Bridge. | don’t remember much, just
that there could not have been more
than 50 seats in the theater, the play
was very dramatic and one of the
leads was a tall, young, good-looking
blond guy whom I could swear was
Jon Voight. Thanks to Google, I
discovered much more. Voight (per-
haps best known now as Angelina
Jolie’s father) did indeed play the
young lover. The doomed protago-
nist was played by Robert Duvall
and the ingénue was played by
Susan Anspach (who went on to star
in the film Five Easy Pieces); she’s
recently deceased. Oh, and there was
an assistant director by the name
of Dustin Hoftman. This was still a
couple of years before The Graduate
and Midnight Cowboy.
“Now I see well over 100 Off-
Broadway shows every year (and
lament that there are probably
another 50 I would like to see, but
...). I was attending one the other
night in Chelsea, at the Atlantic The-
ater Company on West 20th Street.
When I went to the lounge before
the show, I recognized a woman next
to whom I had sat several times. Her
companion sat with his back to me as
I approached. After I had been chat-
ting with her for a minute, he said to
me, ‘Buzz? Looking at him for the
first time I recognized our tennis-
playing and photographer extraor-
dinaire classmate Steve Gottlieb.
Talk about your small world: He and
Spring 2019 CCT 59
she were classmates at Jamaica H.S.
in Queens. By the way, the play was
very good.”
I met Zero Mostel once on
line flying to Boston on the East-
ern Shuttle; we were stuck there
and chatted for an hour at least. I
laughed and laughed. If you have a
story like this, send it in!
Paul de Bary and his wife,
Stefana, are flying here soon. I am
looking forward to hosting them.
(And having Paul select a great
bottle of wine! He is our class expert
on wine and song.) Seth Weinstein
says he will visit Miami too; he has
been working hard in the develop-
ment world but says that he could
use some beach sounds and swim-
ming. He was a sailor for a while
after college — he has some great
stories to share.
I heard from Bob Carlson and
Barry Wick. Bob had some great
photographs of nature and Barry
had ebullience and good cheer and
some jokes — he seems to have a
panoply of them! We might need
to call upon him to bring a routine
with him for our next reunion. I
have thought that some comedy for
the next one would be a great idea.
I hope you are also well and in
good humor. I wonder if you saw The
Wall Street Journal’s piece on Cicero’s
De Senectute, concerning old age. It
was a sparkling piece on Cicero's
thoughts on retirement. If you are in
that place, it’s a great read. I read Cice-
ros piece about 1962 in Latin class —
for sure it’s time to read it again.
1969
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Michael Oberman
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel
1177 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036
moberman@kramerlevin.com
Active planning continues for our
50th reunion. Keep a lookout for
emails, and at least one mailing, for
details or check college.columbia.
edu/alumni/reunion/2019/pledged
for a list of who is planning to
Rep. Ferry Nadler 69 (D-N.Y) — first elected
to Congress in 1992 — is now chairman of the
House Judiciary Committee.
I suspect our class knows how to
laugh, and I think a big laughing
session would be great, along with
some red wine.
Robert Brandt and I are overdue
for getting together. I am hoping to
see him in the city sometime this
year. We do talk periodically, thanks
to the cell phone and his appreciat-
ing reports from the pool area here.
Still chatting 54 years later — a
tribute to his tolerance for my Bos-
ton accent, among other things.
I ran into Bernie Weinstein 65
a few weeks ago — hadn't seen him
for years. What a quick-witted,
charming, fascinating fellow. We
met years ago through our daughters
and went to a Columbia lecture on
one of Plato’s works. We lost touch
and now are texting, emailing and
talking on the phone. Hope to see
him on my next trip to the city.
60 CCT Spring 2019
attend and other information about
Reunion Weekend 2019.
Jerry Nadler — first elected to
Congress in 1992 — is now chairman
of the House Judiciary Committee.
Henry Jackson writes: “I take
some joy in the fact that I’m still
above the sod, as my mother would
put it. My wife and I enjoy our
semi-retirement. We can now afford
the luxury of turning down the
translation projects we'd really rather
have nothing to do with, and cheer-
fully accepting those we like. With
the passage of time, my physical
limitations have become more pro-
nounced, but life is still enjoyable.”
An update from Howard
Goldman: “My biggest news is
my upcoming retirement on May
1, 2019. I participated in my last
World Sight Day the week of
Thanksgiving. That is a day when my
partners and I perform 20-25 free
eye operations on patients referred
to us by the Caridad Clinic, a free
clinic for migrant workers and the
local working poor (too ‘rich’ for
Medicaid, but too poor to afford
health insurance). I established that
tradition 12 years ago after I stopped
traveling to developing countries
under the auspices of Surgical Eye
Expeditions International. I led
the Florida chapter of SEE for
more than 20 years, leading and
organizing eye surgery missions to
Jamaica, Mexico, Guyana, Ecuador
and Panama. The satisfaction and
pleasure of facilitating the restora-
tion of sight has been the highlight
of my career.”
Bill Stark and his wife since 1969,
Sharon, each retired last summer. Bill
was assistant professor of psychology
at Hopkins 1973-79, associate and
full professor of biology at Mizzou
1979-92, endowed chair and then
full professor at Saint Louis Univer-
sity (biology) 1992-2018 and now
is emeritus professor. Sharon was
most recently residency coordinator
for anesthesiology at Washington
University in St. Louis.
From Bob Brookshire: “I retired
after 40 years in the reinsurance busi-
ness as an underwriter and broker.
My house overlooks the Pacific
Ocean and Trump National Golf
Club. My daughter, Devon, plays
professional basketball in Europe
(currently in France). Not happy
about the riots there. Reminds me of
Columbia. My wife, Jodie, takes good
care of me, our daughter and our two
Labradoodles. See you at reunion.”
Steve Ditlea writes: “Looking
forward to our 50th reunion to
renew old friendships. At our 40th
reunion, I was blessed by reconnect-
ing with Jim Weitzman, WKCR
radio veteran and real mensch, who
would go on to own a multi-cultural
AM radio station in Washington,
D.C. 1 and my wife, Nancy (whose
father taught CC at Columbia
soon after WWII), were fortunate
to visit with him near D.C. a few
years before he died in 2015. Still
surprised by how long-lived so many
of us are these days. To life.”
From Hank Reichman: “Since
2012 I have chaired the American
Association of University Profes-
sors Committee A on Academic
Freedom and Tenure. That work has
now yielded a book of my writings
on academic freedom, The Future of
| Class Notes
Academic Freedom, scheduled to be
published this April. Here’s some
of what the publisher says about
the book: ‘In The Future of Academic
Freedom, a leading scholar equips
us to defend academic freedom
by illuminating its meaning, the
challenges it faces, and its relation
to freedom of expression ... Henry
Reichman cuts through much of
the rhetoric to issue a clarion call on
behalf of academic freedom as it has
been defined and defended by the
American Association of University
Professors for over a hundred years.’
“The book has received endorse-
ments from university administrators
as well as faculty members, including
blurbs from Democracy Now’s Juan
Gonzalez 68, climate scientist
Michael Mann and Yale Law con-
stitutional law professor (and former
dean) Robert Post. In early April
T’ll be in New York to discuss the
book with faculty union leaders and
administrators at the annual Confer-
ence on Collective Bargaining in
Higher Education at Hunter College
and will also speak at NYU, Rutgers
and, I hope, Columbia.”
Nathaniel Wander GSAS’80
has had seven chapters published
from his professional/personal
memoir-in-progress, You Are
Here—x: Tales from the Evolution of
an Anthropologist. The most recent
publication (as of December 2018),
“Shver tsu Zayn a Yid,” can be
read in The Nasiona (thenasiona.
com/2018/12/11/shver-tsu-zayn-a-
yid). Nathaniel says, “Possibly of
most interest to Columbians is
‘Me and Margaret Mead Against
the World. It can be downloaded
from The Ponder Review (muw.edu/
ponderreview/read).”
From Woody Lewis BUS’77,
SIPA’77: “In April, my wife, Cathryn,
and I moved from Manhattan to
Guilford, Conn. We live on the
shoreline and on a clear day, we can
see Long Island across the Sound.
I’m continuing my web software
consulting practice from this location,
going into the city several times a
week. By the time of the reunion, I
will have published a book on enter-
prise blockchain strategy. Looking
forward to seeing everyone.”
Rich Wyatt LAW’72 writes:
“Since my last update, Rita and I
celebrated our 44th wedding anni-
versary, our daughter Marisa was
married and lives in Tuxedo Park,
N.Y., and our son Christian became
engaged and lives in Manhattan.
Marisa is a lawyer for a New York
City hedge fund and Christian is a
managing director of another New
York City hedge fund. We live in
Armonk, N.Y., and are involved
in our real estate consulting and
mortgage banking companies. We
recently sold our place in South
Carolina and bought a property in
Hampton Bays, N.Y., where we plan
to design and build a new home. I
look forward to everyone’s participa-
tion in and to seeing all of you at
our 50th reunion for a fun-filled,
enjoyable and memorable time!”
Larry Berger SIPA’70, BUS’71
reports that business keeps him
active with continued challenges and
new experiences. Last November,
he was part of the Panamanian
presidential mission to China for
the opening of Panama’s embassy
and further cementing of Panama's
opening of relations with China in
2017. “For me it was completing the
cycle, as I was part of a small group
invited by the Chinese government
in 1976 as part of Panama’s first
trade mission to China. Of course, a
trade mission (with many amenities)
and the China of that era is worlds
apart from a state dinner and today’s
China.” Larry adds: “May 30-June
1 are dates to which I look forward.
It will be great to see classmates and
share experiences. Columbia College
was a privilege and a very special
experience surrounded by talented,
generous friends.”
Michael Rosenblatt offers
some reflections as we head toward
reunion: “The 50th reunion of the
Class of 69 marks a time for reflec-
tion about self, family and friends,
work, our nation and our planet. I'll
start with family. My wife, Patty, is
involved in art and the interface of
science and art. She and I enjoy time
with our two children, their spouses
and our five grandchildren. We feel
it is the reward that comes after all
these years. Two years ago, we took
the entire 11-person Rosenblatt
‘biomass,’ ages 5-69 at the time, to
Iceland for an extraordinary vaca-
tion. We see our daughter, Mia, her
husband, Kevork, and their children
(Rose, 14; Greg, 12; and Arianna, 6)
quite often because they live within
walking distance of our former home
in Newton, Mass. Our son, Adam,
his wife, Amanda, and their boys
(Leo, 11, and Sal, 9) recently moved
to Durham, N.C., where Adam
joined the Duke faculty. Patty and I
take our grandchildren on a trip with
just us when they each turn 10. Our
Gloucester, Mass., home has become
the gathering spot for summer
vacations, and a place of peace and
connection throughout the year.
“Two years ago, after nearly seven
years as chief medical officer of Merck,
I stopped commuting to New Jersey.
Instead, I fight the traffic to Kendall
Square, Cambridge. The area was all
warehouses and abandoned factories
when I moved to Massachusetts. Now
it is the biotech capital of the world.
I joined Flagship Pioneering, a firm
that starts biotech companies out of
its own labs with its own scientists.
‘The science is stunning — we are
witnessing a revolution in the defini-
tion of a drug. Living cells are being
used to treat cancers, genes are being
edited and our microbiomes are being
studied to make ‘bugs’ into drugs.
“T am grateful to have been given
the opportunity to go to Columbia
College, where I was introduced to
both science and humanism and
the need to link both of them. I am
confident that research will overcome
many people’s illnesses and help
undo the damage that we have done
to our planet. I wish I had the same
confidence about our country. So
much divisiveness and unvarnished
hatred now passes as acceptable. Two
things are clear: We need innovation
and invention, and our country and
planet need leadership.”
1970
Leo G. Kailas
Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt
885 Third Ave., 20th FI.
New York, NY 10022
Ikailas@reitlerlaw.com
Lawrence Davis sent me a correc-
tive, but kind, note, as I had reported
him to be “Larry David” in my last
column. My apologies to Larry
Davis, and I suspect Larry David
would be flattered to be confused
with Larry Davis.
Professor Larry Rosenwald
GSAS’79 reports: “Heaven forbid
that I should be shy ... Pll have a big
essay published in Raritan sometime
this spring, ‘Sketch of a Pacifist
Critic,’ the critic in question being
me, and the essay being a micro-
cosm of the book I hope to write on
literature and pacifism.”
Professor Lewis Siegelbaum,
who earned a D.Phil. at Oxford in
1976, taught at La Trobe University
in Melbourne, Australia, 1976-83;
then at Michigan State University
1983—May 2018, when he retired.
He specialized in Russian history
and sent the following: “Encouraged
by your prompting, I would like fel-
low alums to know that I completed
a memoir, Stuck on Communism:
Memoir of a Russian Historian,
which will be published this year. It
of course includes a chapter on my
undergraduate years at Columbia.”
My friend Michael Aeschliman
GSAS’91 has written a review, “Lio-
nel Trilling in the Age of Enormity,”
that can be accessed online: bit.ly/
2DEvDKq.
Hoyt Hilsman LAW’75 sent the
following: “After CC and the Law
School, I made a fairly rapid career
shift and became a writer. Dozens of
screenplays and four novels later, I’m
still at it. However, a few years ago
I added politics to the mix, running
for Congress (unsuccessful, thank-
fully!) twice. I now head a regional
Democratic Party organization that
this year helped flip five Congres-
sional seats in Southern California
from red to blue. You might catch my
op-eds now and then in The New York
Times and/or The Wall Street Journal,
or check out occasional columns
on HuffPost. Traveling pretty often
with my wife. My son (a painter)
and his wife live nearby, which has
been great. Shout out to all CC
classmates.”
John Cauman is apparently
understated but accomplished. He
reports, “I have written two books,
both to be published this spring:
Matisse in 50 Works and Van Gogh
in 50 Works.”
Juan Uranga reports: “Finished
what should be my next-to-last
political campaign. We won a
California State Senate seat that had
always been in Republican hands.
My wife, Anna Caballero, became
the first Democrat, the first woman
and the first Latino (male or female)
to occupy the seat. We secured a
solid victory, taking 54 percent of the
vote. The Senate District (SD12) is
mostly agricultural. It encompasses
the Salinas Valley (where Anna and
I first practiced law — represent-
ing farmworkers — and where we
successfully launched our political
organizing efforts) and parts of the
Central Valley, where conservative,
Republican growers controlled most
political institutions. Our media con-
sultant and part-time social media
coordinator are both Columbia alums
(College and Journalism). My last
campaign comes in 2022, when Anna
is up for reelection. My first was
in 1982, eight years after I landed
in Salinas to help farmworkers.
Along the way a group of us, mostly
attorneys who arrived in the 1970s,
reshaped politics in the Salinas Valley.
It’s been a fun ride.”
Leonard Levine GSAS’77 sent
a complete report, which I thank
him for. “I’ve been retired from the
Department of Defense for a year
— December 31, 2017, at the stroke
of midnight — after 34 years of
federal service. I received the Defense
Information Systems Agency Civil-
ian Meritorious Service Award. I am
staying in Vienna, Va. I worked on a
wide range of computer simulation
systems, data management and inter-
national standards. My first work for
DISA, in 1986, was on the Strategic
Nuclear Attack Planning System.
SNAP needed major emergency
repair to support the negotiation of
the Intermediate-Range Nuclear
Forces treaty. (The United States is
threatening to withdraw from INF
in 2019 due to Russian violations.)
My last assignment was as DoD
primary representative to the Object
Management Group, where I was
the liaison chair and representative
to the International Organization for
Standardization. My crowning work
at OMG was the Unified Architec-
ture Framework used by industry and
international defense community
to model or specify a wide range of
computer and human systems. This
is not primarily for architecture of
buildings but could be applied to
large building projects.
“I took a couple “busman’s
holidays’ by auditing two graduate
courses in spring 2018 in systems
engineering and government at
George Mason University. I had
weekly Jewish Learning Institute
courses and a weekly private learn-
ing session with my rabbi. And I
fit in a trip to NYC and Columbia,
where I met with Rabbi Yonah
Blum of Columbia’s Chabad House
to discuss planning to support
Jewish student needs. I traveled to
Boston for Passover with family and
friends — and the Boston Museum
of Fine Arts — and supped with
Martin Newhouse GSAS’79.
Spring 2019 CCT 61
“Unfortunately, a routine
screening colonoscopy revealed a
cancer that required a successful but
unexpected seven-hour operation in
August 2018, a two-week hospital
stay and a two-and-a-half-month
stay in a rehabilitation facility. | am
now at home, continuing treatment.
I took the opportunity to begin
the long-overdue decluttering and
renovation of my townhouse condo.
Not much fun. By the time of publi-
cation, I trust I will have completed
the three-month chemotherapy,
restarted retirement plans and
resumed fun.”
Amen to Leonard’s wish for
renewed good health!
1971
Jim Shaw
139 North 22nd St.
Philadelphia, PA 19103
cct7inotes@gmail.com
[Editor’s note: Please note that Jim
Shaw has a new email address,
cct7 1Inotes@gmail.com. The old
email address no longer works. ]
Steve Ross teaches history at the
University of Southern California and
directs the Casden Institute for the
Study of the Jewish Role in American
Life. His most recent book, Hitler in
Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots
Against Hollywood and America, was
named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize
in History for 2018.
From Hillel Karp: “Jim Shaw
and the Class of 1971 — Whaddaya
mean, no news? [Last year was] the
50th anniversary of our freshman year,
the greatest year Columbia ever knew.
“We won the Ivy League basket-
ball championship, a playoff game
against Princeton. I remember that
season hearing Jimmy McMillian
’70 and/or Heywood Dotson’70,
LAW’76 calling ‘Brooklyn’ from the
floor. And Bruce Metz SEAS’69 at
the foul line.
“We also closed down the school.
I finished reading Up Against the Ivy
Wall: A History of the Columbia Crisis
and am into the Cox Commission
Report. I also have The Strawberry
Statement on my bookshelf, next to
the ‘red’ pamphlet, ‘Why We Strike.’
“Furnald 9! Arvin, Neal, Howie,
where are you? And not from our
class, but A.G., who got beat up by
cops on the fourth-floor landing of
62 CCT Spring 2019
Furnald, and J.G., who got expelled
after the second Hamilton bust?
Unfortunately, all my pictures and
8mm movies of the time were dis-
posed of, unceremoniously.
“My favorite teachers (whose
names I remember) were Richard
Greeman (humanities) and Michael
Harner (anthropology). And the
chain-smoking philosophy grad
student Nadler for CC and the Art
Hum teacher, Mr. Feder, whom I ran
into, quite by chance, at the Vatican
Art Garden the summer after my
junior year at the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem.
“On a personal note: At the
end of 1974, I married a classmate
from the Albert Einstein College
of Medicine, Arlene Yale. We are
still together. Our three kids all
attended Columbia College: Joshua
04, LAW’07 married Rona Behar
04. They live in Los Angeles with
daughters Dahlia (4) and Isla (2).
Josh is a partner at Myman Greens-
pan, entertainment law.
“Aaron 06 and (sorry) Harvard
Law ’09, married another lawyer,
Carla Pasquale. After a stint at
Cravath, he is now with Levine
Lee. They have Sam (3) and Vivian
(under a year).
“Rachel 10 is pursuing an M.F.A.
in directing at Carnegie Mellon. The
smartest of the bunch, she got A+ in
both calculus and freshman English.
She majored in theater arts.
“T am a radiologist. I was at
Christ Hospital in Jersey City for
more than 23 years, and now I am at
Newark Beth Israel Medical Center,
for 13 years. Still enjoying working
and going strong.
“On a sad note, my dad passed
away in 2003 from a sudden cardiac
event, and my mom in 2013 from
heart failure. I plan on sticking
around because I have a good car-
diologist, Fred Aueron, at Summit
Medical Group. On another medical
note, I had a right hip replacement.
Paul Lombardi at Morristown
Medical Center is the man for you if
you need a new hip.”
Mark Davies LAW’75: “I retired
at the beginning of 2016 after 22
years at NYC’s ethics board. Still
adjuncting at Fordham Law (New
York practice) and doing some pro
bono government ethics consulting
and teaching. In fall 2017 I started
at Union Theological Seminary,
going half time, which is more than
enough. Fascinating, but it turned
out to be difficult — and New Tes-
tament Greek is the hardest aca-
demic class I’ve ever taken. Makes
law school look like a piece of cake.
Still, it has been a wonderful experi-
ence. Thinking of switching from
an M.A. to an M.Div. program and
going for ordination, though that is
a long haul. We'll see.”
Michael Straus GSAS’09: “Last
year | had the pleasure of seeing two
long-standing translation projects
come to completion. The first is my
translation into English of Pablo
Neruda’s virtually epic poem, Grapes
and the Wind/Las Uvas y el Viento,
accompanied by an essay by Dr.
Helena de Aguilar, of the Columbia
faculty. The work had never been
translated into English, which is
kind of remarkable considering
Neruda won the Nobel Prize for
Literature. I also had the privilege of
presenting it at a public reading at
the Brooklyn Museum last spring,
where selections were also read by
a number of poets and Columbia's
own Professor Alfred MacAdam.
Coast — nice! My biggest accom-
plishment since leaving Columbia at
the end of 2016 was cleaning out 30
years of memories from my house in
Chappaqua, N.Y., getting it sold and
downsizing to a one-bedroom apart-
ment with a patio in nearby Ossining.
I’ve also become more active in my
synagogue, joining the ritual commit-
tee and helping lead the services as a
Torah reader and gabbai.
“My daughter, Deborah BC’14,
SPS'18, began a year in Israel in
September, working on a fellowship
with the American Jewish Joint
Distribution Committee. She’s
putting her master’s in negotiation
and conflict resolution to work by
helping underrepresented people get
the services they need. We met in
February for our annual vacation in
Aruba — my 35th trip to the Happy
Island — and I’m planning to visit
her in Jerusalem in the spring. I
hope to see some classmates on
Saturday during Reunion Week-
end. Meanwhile, my email remains
as801@columbia.edu.”
Mark Haselkorn ’71 is a professor of
human-centered design and engineering at the
University of Washington.
Copies are available on Amazon
‘The second is my translation from
the Greek of the Book of Revela-
tion, imaginatively illustrated on this
occasion by Jennifer May Reiland. It
too is available on Amazon.”
Arthur Engoron: “My son, Ian
Abbie Engoron, graduated from
Fordham Law in May 2018, passed
the July Bar Exam and started at
Olshan Frome Wolosky, in its share-
holder activism practice, in Septem-
ber. I preside over a wide range of
civil cases (breach of contract, fraud,
personal injury, property damage, real
estate disputes, etc.) in Courtroom
418 at 60 Centre St. in Manhattan.”
Alex Sachare shares that he “is
enjoying his retirement, writing for
CCT and others and loving hav-
ing my time as my own: watching
sunrises and sunsets, taking naps,
binge-watching shows like The West
Wing and House of Cards, going to
the health club when everybody is
at work, watching the Yankees and
Knicks when they’re on the West
From Lewis Preschel: “We've
been graduated (paroled?) from
Columbia for more than 47 years
— wow, how time passes. I left Har-
lem and went to school in Brooklyn
— Bed-Stuy, out of the frying pan
and into the fire. I believe nine oth-
ers from the class went to SUNY
Downstate College of Medicine with
me. If you are reading this, how about
a shoutout? For me and my medical
interests, what better location than
Bed-Stuy in the 1970s? I wanted to
learn trauma surgery and orthope-
dics. I graduated from Downstate in
1975 and completed my orthopedic
surgery training by 1980. In 1973, I
married Carole — 45 years and she
can still stand to live with me. How?
I don't know. She has a sweet disposi-
tion and that balances mine.
“T spent more than 23 years in
private orthopedic practice, a two-
man group in Central New Jersey.
For 18 years, I was on call every other
night and every other weekend. My
partner and I were two of the three
adlumninews
srasdernesornescassite (er coreunsrcccscastanslarentnectescescsesessesssussasceissssaisaiescpicdpovelsingssiuetecsersssesssesvas esresarccvesvesivesdsusdeenersusicdcesissedsuselasesecnedesresesersesdessessoderadecaesssuecccdascsdenisadawacdts decedses seclsrevsteracsecanencsceaoote ec arne rete e ea eaen Gand cele Teen Coe eee eee eee nna er arn
board-certified orthopedic surgeons
on staff at our hospital. It was hectic,
and exciting. Most importantly, I was
there for many people in their time
of need, no matter the hour of the
day. I choose my home address based
on the ability to drive to the hospital
in under 15 minutes. Our practice’s
credo was the sun never sets on a
fracture without treatment. In today’s
medical world, that credo is forgotten
like a buried fossil.
“Somehow, I found time to coach/
manage my daughters’ traveling soccer
team. I think some of my teammates
from Columbia, who remember how
I played on the field, as opposed to
in the goal, might say I handicapped
rather than trained those ladies.
However, with the help of professional
coaching, we sent several players on
to division 1 and 3 schools. My goalie
was a state Olympic Development
Program player. Those kids have chil-
dren, and the cycle continues. Several
became assistant coaches of local high
school teams.
“Carole and I have two wonderful
daughters. My oldest worked in the
field of public relations and she won
an ACE award, the equivalent of an
Oscar in public relations. My other
daughter is the VP of marketing for
a large real estate company. My two
sons-in-law help our family span the
Ivy League. They graduated from
Dartmouth and Brown.
“T have three grandchildren, all
under the age of 7. I can play soccer
with them because of the wonderful
cardiothoracic surgeon who saved
my life in 2010. He repaired my
aortic tear. The surgery’s five-year
survival rate is not high, but I am
still here. Every day, I am blessed
with wonders that I would not
otherwise be alive to see. We all
should remember that each day is
an opportunity for something good
to happen. Whether the good hap-
pens to us, or we make it happen for
someone else, who cares? Make it
happen. We cannot let the general
atmosphere in America today pol-
lute our concept of living a good
life. Live to your own standards and
make those standards too high to
reach. That way you always have a
goal in front of you.
“My short mystery story, 30 Years
to Life, was published in an anthol-
ogy (30 Shades of Dead) in 2017.1
plan to publish a novel (most likely
self-publish), using the same char-
acters. I write murder mysteries in
the noir style of the 1940s but with
a female protagonist, which switches
the paradigm. I write under the
pseudonym L.A. Preschel because
several agents have told me a man
cannot write a woman protagonist
well. I think that appropriately
ironic — reverse sexist discrimina-
tion. However, apparently, they are
right, as I do not have a literary
agent as yet. I have two queries out
as I write this autobiographical col-
lection of who-cares information. I
am also a member of the Columbia
Fiction Foundry, which is a group of
writers trying to elevate their game.
“Presently, I am retired from
gainful employ, and in retirement
I earned a master’s of library and
information science from Rutgers,
but I am still unemployed and enjoy-
ing every minute of my lack of direc-
tion. Ask me how I fill the time. Isn't
that what grandchildren are for? My
life has been full and I thank all my
classmates from the Class of 71 for
making life so interesting, starting
from back in the days when Colum-
bia had a nationally ranked basket-
ball team, and we learned about the
world, government and ourselves.
Never stop learning, never let banal-
ity fill your life.”
Mark Haselkorn is a professor
of human-centered design and engi-
neering at the University of Wash-
ington and is director of the Center
for Collaborative Systems for Secu-
rity, Safety and Regional Resilience.
Arvin Levine: “By the time you
read this in print, I will have moved
from the United States to Israel.
‘The complex collections of reasons,
feelings, ideas and aspirations that
are ‘me’ are coming to a new turning
point. Unlike a leopard, I am chang-
ing my spots (sorry).
“Oddly, I am finding the most
difficult part of this process is the
disentanglement from possessions
— not for financial reasons, but for
emotional and testimonial purposes.
Am I really parting with my fresh-
man beanie? I’ve had it with me
since coming to Columbia or earlier
and it testifies to a world that no
longer exists or could exist (perhaps
should no longer exist). But if I dis-
card it, the conversation ends there,
and that is the saddest thing of all.
Of course, I have my memories, but
as we well know, those are personal
and fundamentally inaccessible to
others, aside from being unreliable.
Perhaps, if you haven't looked at
something in 50 years (Introduction
to Contemporary Civilization in the
West, Volumes 1&2, anyone?), it’s
time to discard it.
“Open invitation to classmates to
look me up in Jerusalem (arvinlevine
at gmail should remain usable) or let
me know that you are already there!”
Eddie Goldman shares, “I have a
chapter in a new book called You Say
You Want a Revolution. It is written
by former members and support-
ers of the once-Maoist Progressive
Labor Party. I was in PL while at
Columbia in 1969 and left at the
end of 1970. My chapter deals a lot
with what happened at Columbia
during that period. One of the two
editors of the book is John Levin
’65, and some other chapters include
discussion about Columbia. The
book is available on Amazon.”
Bill Christophersen: “Last year,
Tableau with Crash Helmet, my third
collection of poetry, was published.
Its free-verse poems, many of them
set in New York, and bear some
stamp, I'd like to think, of the New
York School that Kenneth Koch (my
advisor and teacher at Columbia)
represented, though a madcap wit
and wry incoherence have never
been my strong suit.
“This spring, meanwhile, my
study of James Fenimore Cooper's
The Leatherstocking Tales, Resurrect-
ing Leather-Stocking: Pathfinding in
Jacksonian America, will be released.
The book looks at the five tales in
relation to the 19th century —
Cooper’s own era — rather than the
18th century, in which the books are
mostly set. For years I’ve researched
and written about Cooper’s fictions.
Last year some of that work was
recognized by the JFC Society. My
article “The Prairie as a Southern
Tale’ (LEAR 7: 2016) received its
James Franklin Beard Award.”
Please send news to cct71notes@
gmail.com!
1972
Paul S. Appelbaum
39 Claremont Ave., #24
New York, NY 10027
pappel1@aol.com
We'll start with some academic
highlights this time. Richard
Begam, a professor of English at
the University of Wisconsin-Madi-
son, teaches 20th-century literature,
modernism across the arts, and
literature and philosophy. Among
his recent books are Platonic Occa-
sions (with James Soderholm) and
two edited volumes, Modernism and
Opera and Modernism, Postcolonial-
ism, and Globalism.
Sean Wilentz, the George |
Henry Davis 1886 Professor of
American History at Princeton, has
a new book out, too: No Property in
Man: Slavery and Antislavery at the |
Nation's Founding. It’s a provocative
argument that the posture of the |
United States Constitution toward |
slavery — in particular its failure to
endorse a property right in slaves —
set the stage for challenges to slavery
in this country.
Congratulations to David Stern,
who won the Jordan Schnitzer Book
Award from the Association for Jew-
ish Studies for his book, The Jewish
Bible: A Material History. David is
the Harry Starr Professor of Classical
and Modern Jewish and Hebrew
Literature, and director of the Center
for Jewish Studies, at Harvard.
On a different note, I am pleased
to report that my daughter, Avigail
BC’05, and her husband, Aharon
Charnov, welcomed their third
daughter, Meital Bracha, into the
world last fall. 1 cannot begin to
describe what a pleasure it is to be
a grandfather, especially when all
seven grandchildren are around.
Finally, if you haven't been
receiving periodic emails from me
soliciting your contributions to
this column, it means | don’t have
your email address. Please send it
to me at the email at the top of the
column, and unless you tell me not
to, Pll pass it along to the Alumni
Office, as well.
Have a wonderful spring!
1973
Barry Etra
1256 Edmund Park Dr. NE
Atlanta, GA 30306
betra1@bellsouth.net
We're in our 50th anniversary year
of entering the College. Seems like
only ... half century ago? Hoo-ah.
In order of appearance: Jim
Firman BUS’77 is the president and
CEO of the National Council on
Aging and was named to The Non-
profit Times’ Power and Influence
Top 50 list for the fifth time.
Spring 2019 CCT 63
Joel Pfister is the Olin Professor
of English and American Studies
at Wesleyan; this spring he will be
visiting professor of humanities
at the Universita degli Studi di
Macerata, near the Adriatic Coast in
Italy. Joel and his wife, Lisa Wyant,
will be based in Rome; in addition
to teaching a graduate seminar, he
will advance work on his book on
American movies and social critique.
He sends a shoutout to Professor
Leo Braudy for his “Popular Cul-
ture” course back in the day!
Steven Glaser LAW’76 has
retired after more than 40 years at
the same law firm (Moses & Singer
in New York). One firm since gradu-
ating from the Law School! Wow.
Steve Greenberg checked
in from NYC, as well. He plans
to retire in 2020. He spends a lot
of time now watching one of his
grandsons excel at sports all around
Brooklyn. Steve started a 5013, The
Breezy Point Disaster Relief Fund,
after Hurricane Sandy, which raised
more than $2.5 million in grants
distributed directly to residents.
Bravo, Steve!
Marc Gross has become senior
counsel at Pomerantz after more than
AO years as a litigator; his final case
against Petrobras (Brazil) recovered
$3 billion for defrauded clients. For
his “next act,” he will be president of
the Institute of Law and Economic
Policy and also sit on the board of
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human
Rights. He also has more time to
spend with his four grandkids.
There you have it — grandkids and
retirements rule. As well they should.
1974
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Fred Bremer
532 W. 111th St.
New York, NY 10025
f.bremer@ml.com
“What a long, strange trip it’s been.”
These immortal words from the
Grateful Dead aptly describe the 49
years that span the time from the
hot, humid day in 1970 (September
25?) when we arrived on campus for
64 CCT Spring 2019
the first time to our 45th reunion
this coming May. Little did we
realize the momentous events that
would occur in our country and the
world during the next four years.
There are dozens of categories
that could be addressed but let me
narrow it down to two: politics and
science. I think few of us realize that
the microprocessor was invented
in 1971, which led to the handheld
calculator, the PC and so much
more (let alone the demise of the
slide rules that used to hang from
the belts of all the engineering stu-
dents). And 1973 brought the first
mobile phones. Think how different
our lives would have been without
these two breakthroughs.
The political world brought huge
changes. The Supreme Court in
1971 approved busing students as
a step toward greater equality. The
next year, 1972, brought the Water-
gate investigation (that seems eerily
to echo the current Russian med-
dling probe). The Supreme Court
made its monumental Roe v. Wade
decision on abortion in 1973. The
same year brought the “end” of the
Vietnam War and, more important
to many classmates, the end of the
draft. While technically occurring
after our graduation, | cannot omit
the August 9, 1974, resignation of
Richard Nixon. A long strange trip,
indeed, compressed into four years!
Got an update from Vincent
Marchewka (in White Plains, N.Y.).
He says he took a senior position on
the capital markets team at Bank of
New York Mellon and is “now com-
muting to the downtown area for the
first time in 20 years.” His daughter
Victoria was married last year and
lives in Manhattan. Youngest child
Katie ran the Chicago Marathon last
October with a time of 4:35. This
made her the third family member
to complete a marathon! Son James
continues creating financial products
for Barings in Charlotte.
Ed Kornreich (in Manhattan) is
a longtime partner at the NYC law
firm Proskauer Rose, specializing in
the healthcare area. He tells us his
home is getting a little crowded dur-
ing the holidays now that he has four
grandchildren. Daughter Davida (a
dermatologist in Philadelphia) has
two girls (one is 3 years old and the
other 4 months). His other daughter,
Molly, is a lawyer at Skadden Arps
and has two boys of roughly the same
ages (one is 2 years old and the other
4 months). Son Larry is a lawyer at
Goldman Sachs. Having three kids
who are employed in professional
fields and having four grandchildren
is a dream that I bet makes many
envious. (I am just envious that the
constant drain of tuition payments
has stopped for Ed. I am still shell-
ing out incredible sums for daughter
Katie, a sophomore at American
University in D.C., and for son
David, doing a master’s of finance at
Brandeis near Boston!)
It is hard to keep up with infec-
tious disease specialist Dr. David
Melnick (in Jamaica Plains, Mass.,
a Boston suburb). He has spent
time at Yale and Boston University
and then spent 15 years as the VP
of clinical development of anti-
infectious drugs at AstraZeneca in
Delaware. Then in 2015 he moved
on to do the same for Allergan. In
2018 David became the chief medi-
cal officer at Spero Therapeutics, a
five-year-old clinical stage biophar-
maceutical company that is develop-
ing treatments of multi-resistant
bacterial infections. Stay tuned for
what he is up to next!
From Lancaster, Pa., we hear
from Roger Cohen, who by day is
the senior advisor to the secretary
of the Pennsylvania Department
of Transportation. But he tells us
he has been proud to work the last
three years on the steering com-
mittee of the Regional Greenhouse
Gas Initiative, the first manda-
tory market-based program in the
United States to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions. There are currently 10
northeast states involved in this “cap
and trade” program.
Media executive Albie Hecht
(in Montclair, N.J.) is CEO of the
production company WorldWide
Biggies and the chief creative officer
of pocket.watch, a digital media
start-up focused exclusively on chil-
dren’s entertainment. Last fall he was
involved in the production of The
Election Effect, which won the Best
Documentary Series at the Interna-
tional Academy of Web Television.
Longtime Merrill Lynch financial
advisor Kevin Ward (in Montvale,
N,J.) continues to work part-time in
the Paramus, N.J., office. He shared
updates on his sons: Matt’11 (his
eldest) lives in San Francisco and is
working at Mux, a video analytics
startup. Matt recently married the
former Charlotte Crawford. Second
son, Mark, works for Pymetrics in
New York. The startup has created a
platform to do online testing for large
companies that need to weed through
hundreds of résumés. Third son,
Jamie, lives in San Francisco, where
he works for BlackRock. Youngest
son, Brian, is at Neuberger Berman in
NYC and supports its ultra-high net
worth division.
After 25 years in the financial
services and executive search sectors,
Ted Gregory returned to Columbia
in 2013 as the head of the “Diversity
Initiatives and Talent Recruit-
ment” effort. Part of his job involves
searches for both men’s and women’s
basketball, football and wrestling
head coaches. He also does com-
mentary on “Go Columbia Lions,”
the online broadcast of Columbia
football games. Ted is a deacon
at the Marble Collegiate Church,
where he also maintains his passion
for gospel singing. Daughter Jessica
BC’17 is completing a master’s in
education at Teachers College. She
plans to teach high school English
and creative writing.
There you have it. Classmates con-
tinuing in their longtime careers while
others move on to explore something
different. Come back this May for our
45th reunion and to learn more details
about “the long strange trip we've all
been on’ since 1970!
1975
Randy Nichols
734 S. Linwood Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21224
rcn2day@gmail.com
David Gawarecki says, “Retirement
is sooooooo stressful.” LOL, he was
writing from poolside somewhere in
Mexico, largely for the lack of winter
though he says he plays well with
the other senior citizens.
Marc Kozinn started a position
as medical lead, cardiovascular
innovative medicines development
— heart failure, clinical trials lead at
Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Update! After reporting in the
Winter 2018-19 issue that Doug
Letter had retired after four decades
at the Justice Department, he will
now serve as the top lawyer for
the House this year as Democrats
return to power. His appointment
was announced by House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) and comes
as Democrats prepare to unleash
what is expected to be a barrage
of investigations into President
Trump's administration and busi-
ness, along with separate probes into
tech companies and other industries.
‘The Hon. Albert Mrozik Jr. has
been appointed by the corporation
counsel as acting chief municipal
prosecutor for Newark, N_J. In Janu-
ary, he attended the opening and cel-
ebratory brunch for Equality — Pride
in Our History at the New Hope
Convention Center. The exhibition
takes visitors on a journey through
decades of gay pride and showcases
a collection of stories, photos and
memorabilia contributed by lesbian,
gay, bisexual, transgender and ques-
tioning individuals and their allies.
‘The report of Bob Sclafani
GSAS’81’s retirement in recent
Class Notes inspired Rich Coren-
thal to write. Rich says he is a bit
perplexed to learn of Bob’s attraction
to beer in his free time in Colorado.
Rich also said that he is not retiring
and is still representing the firefight-
ers, laborers and correction officers
union and employees. He recently
opened a law office in Westchester,
N.Y., after commuting to Grand
Central for 19 years. Rich’s wife,
Andra BC’76, is a pediatrician at
Bellevue Hospital. Rich says, “We're
basically unchanged and still looking
for good protests to attend.”
BTW, Bob Sclafani retired after
33 and a half years at the University
of Colorado School of Medicine,
where he is now emeritus profes-
sor of biochemistry and molecular
genetics. He continues his brewing
consultancy business, enjoying all
the brew he consults about. Bob also
has several big apple trees, and most
of the apple juice went into hard
MBIA ch
7.3 a LT OW
Me
cider. He says, “If you can't ferment
it, why bother?” He got tired of
picking — even after several groups
of friends helped — so he gave the
trees to a nearby company, Stem
Ciders, and he will get cider in the
spring. Bob says that he wishes that
he had learned more about fermen-
tation when studying chemistry and
biology at Columbia. He has been
trying to get more University chem-
istry and microbiology departments
to use fermentation as an example of
the practical uses of these subjects.
Remember, Louis Pasteur started
studying wine, which led Bob to dis-
cover microbes and vaccines! Several
universities in Colorado now offer
B.S. degrees in brewing sciences.
Joel Stern’s book Origami City,
a kit full of fun folding treasures,
tied for first place in the annual
Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards
in the “Activity Book 1 — Arts and
Crafts” category. You can view all of
the other winners — an amaz-
ing field — at moonbeamawards.
com/85/2018-winners. I asked Joel if
Columbia had consulted him when
designing the origami challenge for
2018’s Columbia Giving Day, and
Joel said he wasn’t even aware of the
challenge (I sent him a link!).
I continue to love my adopted
city, Baltimore. In addition to its
history — I see Fort McHenry from
my roofdeck — it also offers lots of
fun things to do and great places to
eat and drink. Recently, the Creative
Alliance at the Patterson Theater
had a showing of Rocky Horror Pic-
ture Show, with a (bad) drag queen
and a comical burlesque troupe. I
had, and used, all of the appropriate
props. I also went to the Baltimore
Museum of Art to see Indecent
Former crew members had a reunion at the Yale Bowl. Left to right:
George Freimarck ’76, Jim King ’75, John DiMartino ’75 and Mike Hirsh ’75.
Exposure, an incredible exhibition of
John Waters’ artwork, and met John
in the galleries and at the signing of
the show’s catalog.
1976
Ken Howitt
1114 Hudson St., Apt. 8
Hoboken, N.J. 07030
kenhowitt76@gmail.com
Back to the turntable and LPs.
Reaching back to high school with
Bookends from Simon & Garfunkel
(“America,” “The Sound of Silence”).
Got a Mika report to lead off
with. She was barking like crazy,
since Dennis Goodrich might be
retiring in the not-so-distant future
from his legal practice in Syracuse.
Both Linda, Dennis’ wife, and Mika
had the same reaction, and it wasn't
“Oh, goody!” Mika actually barked,
“What am I going to do with him
around all day?”
I am constantly amazed at the
breadth of occupations from ’76ers.
Here is an update from Charles
Philipp Martin: “I’m still writing
crime fiction in my home office,
a 1957 Airstream trailer in our
Seattle backyard. After Columbia I
attended the Manhattan School of
Music and then played in the Hong
Kong Philharmonic. Eventually I
quit to be a full-time writer, but I
stayed in Hong Kong for 17 years
altogether. Seattle became my home,
and that of my wife, Cathy, and son,
Toby, in 1998. New York was just
too warm for Toby, so he attended
St. Olaf in Minnesota.
“Neon Panic, my first crime
novel, came out in 2011. A story of
mine, “Ticket Home,’ was recently
published in the anthology Hong
Kong Noir. More crime novels are
in the works. And by the way, all
Columbia writers should credit CC
and Humanities in their acknowl-
edgements, don’t you agree?”
I do agree, but for some of us, we
should also thank Professor Cliff
and Professor Monarch.
Bryan Alix, a longtime Westport,
Conn., resident, is a regular attendee
at Lions games when Yale is included
and also when he has a Saturday
night to take family and friends to
Levien Gymnasium. More than a
year ago, Bryan started a venture,
Blix Broker, which specializes in
managing ocean freight to difficult
Frank Jacobyansky ’76 (left) and
Jim Berquist 76 at PNC Park in
Pittsburgh last summer.
and unusual destinations, as well as
difficult and unusual ocean cargo.
I guess the Core Curriculum
taught Brian how to handle difficult
and unusual.
Got this from Frank Jacob-
yansky: “We entered the College
in fall 1972; the previous fall the
football team had its best season in
24 years. Columbia recruited heavily
in southwestern Pennsylvania, and
seven of the freshmen football play-
ers were from southwestern Penn-
sylvania. Only three of us made it to
graduation: me, Bob Kimutis and
Jim Berquist. I am a general dentist
(Pitt DMD’82) and have practiced
in Normalville, Pa., since 1986 as
a solo practitioner. I plan to go
maybe 10 more years. Normalville is
very close to Frank Lloyd Wright’s
Fallingwater. If any classmates plan
to visit there, please let me know; I
am the only dentist around.
“In 2001 I found a note in my
office door. John Demas, a dentist
out of NYC, was taking his two
daughters on a tour of rollercoasters.
‘They took a side trip to Fallingwater,
he saw my name, and left the mes-
sage. I talked to John recently. He has
a private practice in NYC and lectures
at many local hospitals on forensic
dentistry. He was involved in identifi-
cations at the World Trade Center.
“T recently met up with Jim
Berquist at a Pittsburgh Pirates
game. Jim is the proud father of
five grown children and is in local
politics, on the town council of
Peters Township, a ritzy Pittsburgh
suburb. I couldn't talk Bob Kimutis
into coming. He is coaching several
baseball teams, mostly of older kids,
and it keeps him busy.
Spring 2019 CCT 65
“T have been married to Nancy
for 35 years. My oldest son got
accepted into WVU Dental
School. My other son is a chemical
engineering student at Pitt. I still
enjoy juggling and perform at local
events, play the sousaphone in our
local Italian band and organize our
town’s January 1 Polar Bear Jump
— we have the Youghiogheny River
running through our town, and we
average about 500 jumpers going
into the river each year.”
Joel Silverstein and I have
known each other from childhood
and have stayed in touch through
the years, since our parents also are
friends. My mom and Joel’s parents
live in the same senior complex on
the Jersey shore, and it is always
great to talk old times and children’s
accomplishments.
Joel practices law in New Jersey
at Stern Kilcullen & Rufolo, and
had this news about one of his
daughters, Elicia, who is a violinist:
“The Rubicon label has released my
daughter Elicia Silverstein’s debut
solo album — The Dreams & Fables
I Fashion — and it’s getting rave
reviews! It was chosen as the BBC’s
Music magazine’s Instrumental
Choice for January 2019, and in its
December 2018 issue, Gramophone
magazine wrote “This is a deeply
thought-through, bewitchingly
rendered succession of interpreta-
tions ... This is also one of those
rare albums truly conceived as a
whole listen from start to finish ...
Whatever Silverstein does next, I’m
already looking forward to it.’
“We are very proud of Elicia.”
George Freimarck critiqued
(after all, it is Columbia!) my choice
of listening to Jefferson Starship
while writing the Winter 2018-19
Class Notes, and spoke of his prefer-
ence of Jefferson Airplane.
Whatever (add shrug)!
George also sent in this: “My
big news: I accepted the challenge
to open an office and operation in
Munich for my company, Xceedance,
a consultancy dedicated to the insur-
ance industry. I have been here full
time since October. It is a wonderful
opportunity, not without its chal-
lenges, but among other things brings
back great memories of Professor Joe
Bauke’s classes in German Expres-
sionist poetry. I think he would get a
kick out of the whole notion.
“Also, at the Yale football game
at the Yale Bowl, I had a great time
66 CCT Spring 2019
with former crew mates (yes, rowing
team, aka, ‘crew,’ please not ‘crew
team’ — redundant!) from the Class
of ’75, including Jim King ’75, John
DiMartino’75 and Mike Hirsh’75.
Also had a great time catching up
with the inimitable and ultimate
Lion, Tom Sanford 68, heavy-
weight captain of the ’68 crew. I also
recently reconnected on LinkedIn
with my Carman roommate from
frosh year, Bob Campbell.
“Speaking of the Yale game, I saw
in the Class Notes how many of the
guys I knew were there, but somehow
missed. Hope to see more of those
folks again, sometime soon. Let me
know if you plan to be in Munich!
“In Lumine tuo ...”
Tom Motley checked in with
a couple of thoughts. In addition
to golf with Terry Corrigan, Tom
went south to South Carolina for
the Dizzy Gillespie Jazz Festival.
Another event he attended was
Barry Smiley’s wedding, which
included Effrem Nieves, Den-
nis Moore and Larry Collins,
along with Steve Barker’78, Darryl
Downing ’74 and Denise Jones
BC’76, plus their spouses. [Editor's
note: see “Just Married!,” this issue. ]
I usually don’t include informa-
tion from out-of-office replies, but
one that caught my attention was
from Roy Strickland, because his
signature included a link to his TedX
talk on architecture and urban design.
I watched the presentation and then
I did a little research on Roy. He is
another amazing ’76er! From the
University of Michigan faculty profile:
“Roy Strickland is an internation-
ally recognized and award-winning
urban designer and educator whose
practice, teaching and research have
engaged the global cities of London,
Paris, Tokyo, Istanbul, New York and
Beijing. He is professor of architecture
at the A. Alfred Taubman College
of Architecture and Urban Planning,
where he served as the founding direc-
tor of the Master of Urban Design
Program from 2001 until 2012.”
“Old Friends” (appropriately
enough) just finished on the
turntable, so it is time to wrap it up.
Most importantly, I thank all the
76ers for their continued support of
the College in so many ways. Our
fundraising last year was a great
effort and much appreciated by the
students, most of all.
So, I encourage all of my fellow
’76ers to send in their updates so we
can continue to share in the joys and
knowledge of our lives, benefit from
the caring and most of all, remember
the Old Friends and keep reaching
out to them — and new friends, as
well! Enjoy the spring and don't for-
get to get in touch if you get to NYC!
ee
David Gorman
111 Regal Dr.
DeKalb, IL 60115
dgorman@niu.edu
No news for this issue — please take
a moment during the spring to send
in a note. Your classmates want to
hear from you!
1978
Matthew Nemerson
35 Huntington St.
New Haven, CT 06511
matthewnemerson@gmail.com
In the last column we closed by
pointing out that in a different
universe, our accomplished ambas-
sador and statesman classmate Chris
Dell would have closed out his
career as Secretary of State. While
it hasn't happened (yet), here he is
himself commenting on his latest
career twists: “I’m adjusting to life
in Washington, after 21 years away.
It’s a very different and better place
to live. Despite all the crazy, it’s no
worse actually being in ‘Crazy Town’
than anywhere else. Keeping body
and soul together through a com-
bination of private sector banking
and consulting to the U.S. military.
Learning all about the joys of creat-
ing my own business [Dell Ener-
getix Consulting] in the process.”
Chris was very impressed with
how well maintained the lawn was on
South Field during reunion, which
leads me to believe they must have
put artificial fog machines in Foggy
Bottom and we have all lost the abil-
ity to detect the subtle difference
between fiction and reality. He hopes
to retire in Europe, “assuming we
have not destroyed NATO and the
EU and handed it over to Russia.”
Bill Hartung has also spent a
career in foreign policy: “I have
been continuing on the trajectory
that started when I was a philoso-
phy major and student activist at
| Class Notes
Columbia. We were in the lull that
followed the upsurge in activities
leading up to 1968, but we had
organizations working on issues like
getting the University to divest from
companies involved in apartheid
in South Africa, promoting human
rights in Chile and supporting the
United Farm Workers. It was as a
result of these activities that I began
doing writing and research on U.S.
foreign policy, which I do now as
the director of the Arms & Security
Project at the Center for Interna-
tional Policy.
“My current writing has focused
on ending U.S. support for the
Saudi-led war in Yemen, reducing
excessive Pentagon spending and
rethinking U.S. nuclear strategy.”
Never far from whatever the top
music gig in the country is, Steve
Bargonetti is presently playing lead
guitar for The Cher Show on Broad-
way, “I get to include tasty, diverse
guitar licks that conjure Van Halen,
Duane Allman, Wes Montgomery,
Nile Rodgers and many others.
Cher’s musical styles sure do cover a
lot of ground!”
Peter Samis has been creating
experiences for us for many decades
and now is onto a new chapter:
“After 30 years working at the San
Francisco Museum of Modern Art, I
retired from my position as associate
curator of interpretation last fall after
giving a big-picture view of ‘lessons
learned’ to the museum's staff.
“The next week, my wife, artist
Mary Curtis Ratcliff, and I lit out
on a fascinating monthlong road
trip across the Southwest to Austin,
Tulsa, Arkansas and back via Indian
Country, the Four Corners area,
national parks in Colorado and Utah
and finally across Nevada to Lake
Tahoe and the Calaveras Big Trees
(aka magnificent sequoias). I am
now free to research and write about
meaning-making and world views —
my passion since I cobbled together
an interdisciplinary focus of studies
at Columbia (including a wonderful
junior year spent in Paris).
“In the meantime, my museum
career has an interesting afterlife:
The book Creating the Visitor-
Centered Museum, which I co-wrote
with Mimi Michaelson, has been
published in Chinese. I’m also writ-
ing another book, this one about
personal meaning and world views
and how they play out across differ-
ent sectors of society.”
‘This is what I miss by not living
in New York and/or still subscrib-
ing to Harpers magazine: Don
Guttenplan appeared with Rick
MacArthur at Book Culture on
Columbus on October 2. Don notes,
“T was delighted to spend an evening
in conversation with Rick. I hope at
least some of the crowd came out of
interest in my new book, The Next
Republic: The Rise of a New Radical
Majority (my editor is Dan Simon
’79), which offers what one reviewer
called an ‘optimistic, but not delu-
sional’ take on where American
politics might be going. But without
the presence of Sid Holt’79, Steve
Ackerman’79, Tom Mellins’79, Ken
Sacharin ’79, Jami Barnard BC’78
and Nanci Fink Levine BC’79
it would have been a much less
memorable event. I also caught up
with Larry Friedman and Duncan
Moore a few days later in Chicago.”
‘The class’ prodigious liter-
ary success is carried on by John
Glusman, who has been editor-
in-chief of W.W. Norton & Co.
(the country’s oldest independent,
employee-owned publisher) since
2011. “While I’m proud of all of my
authors, including several Columbia
graduates, I’m perhaps most proud
of my son, Graham ’19,” John says.
Rob Blank, one of the first peo-
ple I met at Columbia (we shared a
floor in John Jay for years), has now
gone and left the country: “As I told
many during reunion, my wife, Sue
Coppersmith, and I have made the
move to Sydney, Australia. We feel
your pain over the government shut-
down and the rest, but we are glad
to be away from the chaos.
“Sue has assumed a professor-
ship at the University of New South
Wales. I am on leave from the
Medical College of Wisconsin and
expect to be spending my profes-
sional time at the Garvan Institute of
Medical Research. We are renting a
small house in Maroubra Beach and
searching for a more permanent base
of operations. I am feeling rejuve-
nated by having stepped away from
academic medicine in the United
States and — even more — academic
medicine administration in the states.
“My goals for the next five years:
Enjoy life. Enjoy family. Enjoy friends.
Enjoy work. Enjoy leisure. I think in
that order, but I could be wrong.”
Rob reflected on reunion, “Ham-
ilton Hall and Low remained frozen
in time while the rest of campus has
changed substantially, but we still
have to figure out a way to hold a
joint event with Barnard classmates.”
Warren Hoeffler wrote last
summer; my apologies to him, as I
misplaced his notes. He writes, “My
daughter Kaila recently moved to
Austin, Texas, reminding me of why
I moved to California: The allure of
the frontier.
“Standing on the shoulders of
giants as a biology major at Colum-
bia, I found the new research on the
molecular level fascinating. Initially,
I stayed in New York, working
at Cold Spring Harbor Labora-
tory, and coauthored a paper that
appeared on the cover of Nature. I
took this as a sign that I should con-
tinue with biology, so I did a Ph.D.
at Washington University, and found
myself again in NYC when our lab
moved to Rockefeller University.
After two first author publications
in Ce//, I sought the frontier in
the biotech industry — moving to
California to work for Genentech,
followed by a faculty appointment
at Stanford Medical School in der-
matology. I found a chasm between
science and medicine and have been
trying to fill in pieces, which I am
currently doing through my new
business venture in biotech.
Warren adds, “Ultra-low temper-
ature tissue freezing, tissue regenera-
tion, stem cells and cell assembly are
players in this sandbox. I do enjoy
the views of the Marin hills sur-
rounding my house, and plan to visit
Columbia on my next visit to NYC
looking for investors.”
Amittai Aviram enjoys “bicycling
to work in downtown Boston at
Medtronic to help develop a surgi-
cal robot system. I’m also teaching
one online master’s-level computer
science course a year through Wen-
tworth Institute of Technology. I
occasionally see Alex Demac in
NYC, and I have been correspond-
ing with Dan Coulter. My son,
Blake ’01, married his fiancée, Fan
Wau, in Zhangjiajie, Hunan, China,
last February. They live in Long
Island City, and Blake is an attorney
with Milbank.
“My book on poetry theory, Te//-
ing Rhythm, was quoted at length
by Jonathan Culler in his new book,
Theory of the Lyric. I have been
somewhat active with Boston Dem-
ocratic Socialists of America.”
Thinking back on reunion, Amit-
tai noted that everything looked
alumninews
great, and he'd like to see more
activities and even outreach to
classmates who might not be able to
afford the high event prices.
Edward Rosenfeld was
impressed during reunion by the
new campus beyond West 125th
Street. He writes, “I am divorced,
and partnered with a great new
woman. My daughter is 26, working
and in school to become a school
counselor. My son is 17, going to
Stuyvesant and waiting to hear from
engineering schools. I co-own a
media company, Rosenfeld Media.”
Robert Muirhead reports, “Not
much was happening here in the
wilds of Eastern last fall. The taste
of travel and extended vacation it
provided left me looking forward to
retirement and more exciting adven-
tures abroad.”
Oz is very popular this time
around, it seems.
Jeff Canfield, who works for the
Department of Defense in Virginia,
has “returned from Afghanistan, and
is now back to the D.C. routine.”
Looking ahead a few years,
Jeff is working on “finishing all of
Samuel Pepys’ diary [the accom-
plished Naval administrator and
daily recorder of his life as part of
London's leadership class 1660-70]
and helping ensure my granddaugh-
ters are on the path to becoming
Columbia students.”
“Jaime Morhaim (my Columbia
roommate), his wife and my wife are
going on a Silversea cruise this fall,
starting in Monte Carlo then to the
west coast of Italy to Taormina, then
to Croatia and ending in Venezia.
Columbia was good to us all,” writes
Francis Collini, who leads the
Renaissance Center for Plastic Sur-
gery & Wellness in Shavertown, Pa.
Francis continues: “Also, I am the
proud grandfather of Piper Quinn
(!). My first and only granddaughter
so far. She’s so beautiful and just
adds joy every day to our lives.”
Joe Schachner SEAS’79, who
works for Teledyne LeCroy, notes,
“The manager of my little software
group retired last June and told me
I should take over that position.
Well, I did, but I still also develop
software or at least fix some difficult
bugs. My one and only grand-
daughter is now 2.5 and talking
up a storm. It’s amazing to see her
transform from baby to kid. As for
me — no surprise — retirement has
appeared on my event horizon. I
figure in about four years, at which
point I hope to travel more and visit
our National Parks!”
Carl M. Sherer, of Jerusalem, is
married to Adina B. Weiss BC’82;
they have eight children and more
than eight grandchildren.
Your humble scribe has decided
to take a break from politics and
New Haven government for a bit
and has joined an old friend — and
successful serial entrepreneur — to
help him build a startup in the very
hot space of “energy efficiency as a
service.” The company, Budderfly,
will be doing its part to save many
millions of kilowatts of otherwise
wasted electricity (doing our part
to combat climate change) and is
looking to raise money with the idea
of making it quick and simple for
companies, governments or institu-
tions without access to easy capital
but with aging physical plants to let
Budderfly achieve 20-40 percent
energy savings through systems
upgrades and advanced sensors,
software and monitoring. Details
as We go.
Great thanks to everyone who
wrote in this issue.
1979
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Robert Klapper
8737 Beverly Blvd., Ste 303
Los Angeles, CA 90048
robertklappermd@aol.com
Reflections from Dr. Neville
Alleyne: “Just finished reading the
Fall 2018 issue. I could not help to
reach out to you and say Doc Dem-
ing was and is exceptional. Great
memories, my friend.
“T live in La Jolla, Calif., and do
spine surgery at TriCity Medical
Center and Scripps. We pioneered
Robotic Spine with the Mazor robot
seven years ago and became leaders
in this field.
“T have been blessed with three
children: Chris 19 (22), Will’20
(20), and Caroline (17). Chris plays
football and is the kicker; he is an
economics major. Will is a junior
and is pre-med. He enjoys club
Spring 2019 CCT 67
Football alumni had a golf outing in Scottsdale in October. Standing, left
to right: Steve Murphy ’79, Mel Velez ’79, Paul O’Connor ’79, Bohdan
Sosiak ’79, Rich Witherspoon ’79, Kevin Cook ’80 and Andy Elliott ’79;
kneeling: Mike McGraw ’79; photographer’s thumb: Bill Buchholz ’79.
volleyball. Caroline is applying as
a senior in high school and is the
captain of the volleyball, soccer
and lacrosse teams at The Bishop's
School in La Jolla. If she is fortunate
enough to also attend Columbia it
will be a quadruple legacy! Chris
will graduate on our 40th anniver-
sary — where did the time go?
“Say hi to Larry DiFabrizio, Joe
Fiorito, Marco Gottardis and my
roommate in med school, Rich Mil-
ford! Go Lions — roar!”
Paul O’Connor writes, “I have
always enjoyed your notes for our
class and have wanted to send you
information but have never been
organized or motivated enough to
do so. This comes to an end today.
Your reminiscence of riding the ele-
vator in Carman Hall with a group
of football players (I could’ve been
one of those ‘ohnofootballplayers’
in the elevator, by the way) was too
much. I had to write to tell you of
my recent elevator ride in Carman
Hall during Homecoming 2018.
“T was on a tour of the campus
with my grandson, who is consider-
ing Columbia. Because I was on
an official tour, I got to go into
Carman Hall. I went to the fourth
floor to see my old room. It was
too freaky to go actually in. We got
on the elevator and got off at the
floor I lived on sophomore year
— the mezzanine. We had figured
out during our first year at Carman
that the mezzanine had only three
rooms and its own TV lounge. The
68 CCT Spring 2019
only problem was if you ever took
the elevator to the mezzanine you
caught all kinds of grief from every-
one else on the elevator.
“So there we are with our fan-
tastic tour guide and we get on the
elevator on the fourth floor and hit
the mezzanine button. As we were
getting off the elevator, all kinds of
invective was showered down upon
us by both students and their par-
ents from inside the crowded eleva-
tor. I turned to the [group] and said,
‘I graduated from this place 40 years
ago and we used to catch all kinds
of crap when we get off on the mez-
zanine. I’m glad to see that tradition
still continues.’ The doors closed, and
I am sure those people did not think
it was as funny as I did.”
Robert C. Klapper: “In a recent
cleansing of my garage I discovered
a box that held a treasure from our
freshman year. No, it was not the
Barnard phone book or a menu from
Mama Joy’s. It was the red daily
planner that we all bought 40-plus
years ago. I would love to show you
a photograph of the cover, but the
sacred laws of this magazine do not
allow for these types of pictures, as
photos must feature alumni. [Edi-
tor’s note: You can see the planner
at college.columbia.edu/cct/issue/
spring19/article/class-notes by
entering 1979 in the search bar.]
“Let me describe to you in a few
words what the picture from your
past looks like. The size was about
the size of a current iPad. The back-
ground was red; the King’s Crown in
gold and the price $1.59. Under the
crown, capital letters COLUMBIA
UNIVERSITY BOOKSTORE.
Below that, ‘Assignments, below
that ‘AND’ and below that ‘DATES
TO REMEMBER 1975 TO 1976.’
When I discovered this dead sea
scroll in my garage, I gotta tell you, I
was nervous when opening the book
because the memories of the anxiety
were about to be relived. I felt like
Larry Hagman stumbling upon the
ancient bottle and by opening this
book Barbara Eden was going to
appear in my garage. (Although,
remember it was Barnard, and there
was no Barbara Eden.)
“The first shocking Columbia
memory launched from this find was
an appointment to meet with Dean
Patricia Geisler, the famed pre-med
advisor, the angel from above who
held our hands down the dusty road
of being a pre-med student back in
the day.
“This book truly did guide me
and gave structure to a week that
included crew team practice, study
sessions, midterm and final exams
and the occasional date with a girl
from the Fashion Institute of Tech-
nology. It almost seems I am reading
about someone else’s life.
“This issue’s column is dedicated
to what your daily planning book
might have looked like from Sep-
tember 1975 to May 1976.
“Roar, lion, roar!”
1980
Michael C. Brown
London Terrace Towers
410 W. 24th St., Apt. 18F
New York, NY 10011
mcbcu80@yahoo.com
Spring is in the air, and the city
will soon be bustling and blooming.
Yankees, Mets — will Columbia
baseball win yet another champion-
ship? Too much to choose from in
the Big Apple!
I trust 2019 has gotten off to a
good start for most of the Class of 80.
Tim Howard checked in from
Puerto Rico, where his is the head of
school at TASIS Dorado. He reports
that while Hurricane Maria was
traumatic, the island is recovering
and the school is thriving. After
living in Boston for almost 30 years,
Tim and his wife, Meg, love living
in PR. Their sons are pursuing their
dreams. John (28) works for KKR in
London and Daniel (25) graduated
from Davidson, coaches basketball
and works in Raleigh, N.C., for
FOCUS, a ministry to independent
school students.
We all should give PR a look, for
I hear the tax benefits are plentiful.
From Los Angeles, Ned Teit-
elbaum is doing some interesting
work on the history of wine in
the region. Specifically, the project
involves the establishment of an his-
toric grape garden in Willowbrook,
a community in South Los Angeles
between Watts and Compton. The
garden will be planted for three his-
toric and interrelated grapes — the
indigenous California Desert, the
Spanish Listdén Prieto and the inter-
specific hybrid of the two, known
locally as Mission.
Through the planting of these
three grapes, Ned hopes to provide
a lens through which to view L.A.’s
earliest agricultural, social and eco-
nomic history, and even its so-called
“pre-history.”
After three years, he hopes to
make a wine that will reestablish a
site-specific (and drinkable) ethno-
biology of the area. Workshops for
local kids and visits from culinary
historians are being planned for
the spring, when he will plant the
vineyard part of the garden — nine
rooted Listén Prieto, arranged by the
old Spanish method, the marco real.
Ned says, “I could go on about
how this project connects Los
Angeles to the ancient civilizations
of Rome, Greece and beyond, as
well as to the ancient civilizations of
the Americas. But I won't. I would
hope that anyone who has taken
Contemporary Civilization, which I
did with Professor Eugene Rice, can
see this project’s potential.”
Jay Kutlow is producing a
podcast series, The Sports Rivals,
with in-depth interviews of pairs of
athletes who have experienced some
of the most competitive, moving and
memorable rivalries in sports history.
Check it out.
Congratulation to Jack Hersch
SEAS’80, BUS’86 on the publica-
tion of his book, Death March
Escape. This is the story of Jack’s
father’s survival and escape from a
concentration camp. An interesting
read and amazing story.
Drop me a line at mcbcu80@
yahoo.com.
1981
Kevin Fay
8300 Private Ln.
Annadale, VA 22003
kfayO516@gmail.com
My inbox was empty in the fourth
quarter of 2018, save for a robust and
entertaining exchange of emails with
my friend Gregory Harrison, who
earned three graduate degrees (a mas-
ter’s in theology, a master’s in public
health and an M.B.A.). If there is an
alumnus in CC’81 with more than
four degrees, please let me know.
Gregory is the chief marketing
officer of a health system that he
describes as “startup” and I would
describe as “mature,” as it contains
more than 20 hospitals and 14,000
doctors. Gregory has two children
(19 and 17), so he is dealing with
high school and college issues.
My best to CC’81. I would
appreciate any and all updates!
1982
Andrew Weisman
81S. Garfield St.
Denver, CO 80209
columbiacollege82@gmail.com
Greetings, Class of 1982! Please
take a moment to share a note
about your life with your fellow
alumni. Travel, family news, favorite
Columbia memories — everything
is welcome in CCT. You can write to
either of the addresses at the top of
the column.
1983
Roy Pomerantz
Babyking/Petking
182-20 Liberty Ave.
Jamaica, NY 11412
bkroy@msn.com
Greetings, classmates. My sons and
T attended the Columbia versus Iona
men’s basketball game at Madison
Square Garden. Columbia won 74-71.
My kids loved seeing Columbia’s
name on the outside of this famous
arena before the game. Jim Weinstein
84 attended the game with his son.
Jim’s daughter Mimi’23 will start at
the College in the fall. His daughter
Grace will attend Washington Uni-
versity is St. Louis in the fall. Jim's
sister, Ilene Lederman’87, also has a
daughter, Hannah ’23, who will start
at the College in the fall. Jim and
Tlene’s father is Ed Weinstein ’57.
Ted Kesler: “I recently went ski-
ing with Rick Gersony’85 at Copper
Mountain, Colo. Rick lives in Lex-
ington, Ky., with his wife, Kim, and
their twins, Eli and Emmy (15). He
has a successful medical illustration
business at medmovie.com. I am an
associate professor of elementary and
early childhood education at Queens
College, CUNY, and co-direct the
master’s program for childhood edu-
cation. I do educational consulting in
school districts, teach and give key-
note speeches at conferences around
the country. I have a new book out
for teachers and teacher educators,
The Reader Response Notebook: Teach-
ing Toward Agency, Autonomy, and
Accountability, available on Amazon.”
Columbia College friends of Judy Enteles Landis BC’85 attended the
bar mitzvah of her son Barak Landis. Left to right: Roy Pomerantz ’83,
Eddy Friedfeld ’83, Jerrold Nadler 69, Mark Simon ’84 and Landis.
alumninews
Wayne Allyn Root: “Just like
my great President Trump, who
announced a trade deal with
Mexico and Canada against all
odds, I am relentless! This CC grad
is already national on radio. I’m
already national on TV. Now I’m
also national with my newspaper
columns. You'll start reading my
political opinions in a newspaper
near you! It’s an amazing honor to
announce that my Las Vegas Review-
Journal newspaper column has been
chosen for national syndication by
Creators Syndicate. My political
opinions will now reach newspa-
pers across the USA. P’ll join the
Creators Syndicate lineup of stars
such as Michelle Malkin, Patrick
Buchanan, Ben Shapiro, Walter
Williams, Armstrong Williams,
Dick Morris ’68, Thomas Sowell
and Hon. Andrew Napolitano — all
heroes of mine. Only in America
can a son of a butcher, and a small
businessman from Las Vegas, spread
his opinions to millions of newspa-
per readers.”
Larry Herman: “My son recently
graduated from Columbia Engi-
neering and works downtown on
skiing algorithm-type things that
I don’t understand. My daughter
graduated from Barnard last year
and is at NY Med in Valhalla, so
she moved home with us from our
pied a terre on the West Side. My
sister, Aileen Herman BC’85, has
three who graduated from Columbia
and one freshman. She is married to
Pace Cooper’85.”
Kevin Cronin: “After college and
law school, I worked for a decade for
Congress, assisting House and Sen-
ate members Dick Durbin (D-II)
and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.),
as well as working as associate staff
to House Budget Committee and
counsel to House Government
Oversight Committee. After moving
back home to Cleveland to address
some family issues, I took on the job
of a self-employed lawyer, but was
also active to help create a greener,
more bicycle-friendly community,
starting and leading two nonprofit
cycling advocacy groups (Bike
Cleveland). As part of the that, I
filed Northeast Ohio’s first lawsuit
on behalf of cyclists against the
Ohio Department of Transporta-
tion and the United States Federal
Highway Administration, which
after twists and turns and public
pressure, led to $6 million in cycling
infrastructure construction. While
seemingly unlikely, Cleveland has
rocketed up the charts and is now
number 37 in the nation in leading
publications as a bike-friendly place.
“T’ve also been active in area the-
ater, most recently using history to
write plays and act in and tell stories
of the Underground Railroad in
Northeast Ohio, serving on the board
of a group developing a pre-Civil
War building into a museum (the
Cozad-Bates House) to educate on
those activities, opening toward the
end of 2019. I had a health scare, but
have returned pretty well and swear I
will complete a triathlon again.
“While I earned a JV letter in
tennis at Columbia, I do not play
anymore, although I did enjoy a fun
run of working at the U.S. Open
Tennis Championships as part of its
press staff for about 15 years. I have
enjoyed reading about the successful
Columbia tennis performances (dare
I say powerhouse?) in recent years.
“As for Columbia, I haven't been
back to NYC in recent years and
miss former roommate Dr. Peter
Stevens, who died far too soon,
and talk periodically with Dr. Derek
Santiago, but that’s about it. I stay
in touch with Leslie Smartt’85 (née
Dreyfous), who came to Cleveland
for some visiting, politics and elec-
tioneering. A few years ago, I bought
a 115-year-old brick building for
a house in an old neighborhood of
Cleveland, which is alternatingly
exhilarating and terrifying.”
Kevin Chapman: “My new novel
(third), crime-thriller Righteous
Assassin (A Mike Stoneman Thriller),
was self-published on November 1
and is available on Amazon. It’s a
fun, tension-filled page-turner that
will be good reading for everyone
and has received a 4.7-star rating so
far. The story follows NYPD homi-
cide detective Mike Stoneman as he
and his partner, with some help from
the FBI, track a sophisticated serial
killer. Classmates will recognize
many of the New York City venues
and can visit KevinGChapman.
com to follow along. ‘The first two
classmates who contact me via my
website will get a free Kindle copy.
I’m also thrilled to announce that
my son Ross H. Chapman ’18 will
enroll at Boston University School
of Law next September (after a gap
year), following in the footsteps of
both his parents. Sharon and I are
super-proud of the kid!”
Spring 2019 CCT 69
Philip Dolin produced and was
a cinematographer for a new film,
The Show's the Thing: The Legendary
Promoters of Rock. The summary is
as follows: “When legendary talent
agent Frank Barsalona handpicked
promoters around the country to
feature his musical acts beginning
in the 1960s, he changed the shape
of live music performance forever
and helped skyrocket the likes of the
Rolling Stones, Simon & Garfun-
kel, David Bowie, Carlos Santana
and Bon Jovi into superstardom.
A hard-rocking tribute to the men
who brought more than five decades
of live music to millions of fans, The
Show’ the Thing reveals the fascinat-
ing, untold history of this often
overlooked but essential part of the
music industry.”
Daniel Ferreira: “At this time I
am reformulating my plans subse-
quent to the recent passing of my
companion, Susan Mae Bick. She
shared my life for 16 years, and is
the second domestic partner that I
have lost to cancer. Since I became
the default caregiver during her final
days, I have substantially withdrawn
from a broad spectrum of activi-
ties. Liturgical music performances
have continued, and I have made
about 80 appearances in and around
Media, Pa., so far during this cal-
endar year. Sue and I founded a
business, but that has not become
operational. I intend to initiate a
reboot as we move forward through
the season.”
Ken Chin: “Ken chairs the
Banking and Finance Group at
Kramer Levin and continues to be
a Super Lawyer, Best Lawyer and
Send in
Your News
Share what’s happening in
your life with classmates.
Click “Contact Us” at
college.columbia.edu/cct,
or send news to the address
at the top of your column.
70 CCT Spring 2019
Chambers-ranked for bank financ-
ing. He also chairs the nominat-
ing committee for the American
College of Commercial Finance
Lawyers and continues to co-chair
an annual seminar for the Practicing
Law Institute. His group at the firm
continues to grow. Ken concluded
his tenure as chair but continues to
serve on the Board of Directors of
the Charles B. Wang Community
Health Center. His wife, Lisa, has
settled in comfortably at Akerman.
She was listed as a Super Lawyer in
Real Estate and New York Metro
Women in 2018. After completing
the two-year leadership program at
GE Digital/GE Lighting, Nicholas
(24) has a permanent position at GE
Corporate in Boston, Mass. Austin
(22) is a senior at Syracuse.”
Steven Greenfield thanks Steve
Holtje for his suggestions. Steve’s
list of the top 11 (of the pops) for
the year:
1. Jorge Drexler, Sa/vavidas de Hielo
2. Juana Molina, Halo
3. Public Service Broadcasting,
Every Valley
4. Goldfrapp, Silver Eye
5. Natalia Lafourcade, Musas: Un
Homenaje al Folclore Latinoameri-
cano en Manos de Los Macorinos
6. Sampha, Process
7. Thundercat, Drunk
8. Sylvan Esso, What Now
9. Odesza, A Moment Apart
10. Robyn Hitchcock, Robyn Hitchcock
11. Always, Antisocialites
Ed Joyce attended the John Jay
Awards Dinner in early March with
his daughter, Sarah’19. He sat with
Steve Coleman, whose daughters,
Sarah ’15 and Madeleine ’20, also
attended. Ed adds, “My wife, Linda
Gerstel BC’83, and I completed our
five-day, 300-mile cycling adventure
through the Israeli desert, along the
Dead Sea and up the final climb into
Jerusalem. Thanks to many of you, we
and our team (The Grumpy Road-
sters) have raised nearly $185,000
for the children of ALYN! With
more than 550 on-road and off-road
cyclists, the Wheels of Love Bike
Ride has raised more than $3.7 mil-
lion to date for the children of ALYN.
Please watch this amazing video from
the ride (online at bit.ly/2GrQ204),
which includes interviews of Linda
and me at 5:40 and 6:10.”
Andrew Abere: “After 30 years of
working at other firms, both big and
small, I started my own economics
consulting firm, Pareto Economics.
I also returned to teaching part-time
in the Department of Economics
at Rutgers University, where I teach
law and economics, as well as public
policy toward business. I last taught
15 years ago and, as people might
imagine, some things have changed,
especially in terms of classroom
technology. Some things remain the
same, such as students wanting to
know what will be covered on the
final. I also am still ride director for
the charity bicycle tour I started in
2001, Ride for Autism. The ride ben-
efits the nonprofit Autism NJ, which
has been extraordinarily helpful to
my family during the last 25 years.
Anyone interested in learning more,
participating, donating, sponsoring
or volunteering can visit ride4autism.
rallybound.org.”
My family attended the bar mitz-
vah of Barak Landis, whose mother,
Judy Enteles Landis BC’85, SIPA’92,
is in the nearby photo with me,
Eddy Friedfeld, Rep. Jerrold Nadler
’69 (D-N.Y.) and Mark Simon ’84.
1984
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Dennis Klainberg
Berklay Cargo Worldwide
14 Bond St., Ste 233
Great Neck, NY 11021
dennis@berklay.com
A hearty ROAR, LION, ROAR and
WHO OWNS to the 35th Reunion
Committee! Jon Abbott, Christine
Cronin-Hurst, Tom Gilman, P.
Langham Gleason, Michael Hall,
Larry Kane, Carlton Long, Douglas
Mintz, Ben Pushner, Carl Wessel
and yours truly, Dennis Klainberg,
have been meeting to create another
great alumni experience.
With great joy, James Weinstein
and his lovely wife, Alicia, are proud
to report that their twin daughters
have made the “early decision” to
leave their Hoboken nests in search
of academic excellence. Following
their graduation in June from the
Trinity School, Mimi will attend
Columbia, while Grace will attend
Washington University in St. Louis.
Ever the foodie at heart, proud papa
Jim is bound to occasionally rescue
his daughters from dining hall food
in favor of V&T and Pappy’s Smoke-
house, respectively. (Matchmaker
alert for Grace! Jim: Liaise with
Steve Saunders (his note follows).
His son is also attending Wash U.)
Roar, Lion, Roar — literally! Wel-
come back, Columbia Lion mascot
Sean Schwinn! Sean writes, “I don’t
think I have ever submitted anything
to CCT, while I have enjoyed reading
Class Notes through the years. But as
we are coming up on our 35th anni-
versary, at the risk of writing more of
an autobiography than an update, I
will share a snapshot of where I am
these days. I married my sweetheart
from Clare College, where I went
after leaving Columbia. After eight
years with McKinsey, I am coming
up on my 25th anniversary with The
Boeing Co., where I am the VP for
strategy and market development for
Boeing International, in Washington,
D.C. My triplet children are 22 and
are pursuing dreams in Hollywood,
law and urban planning, respectively.
My youngest daughter and fourth
child is finishing high school and
received her first college admissions
letter, a stress-relieving milestone for
all of us. She plans to be a marine
biologist. The years have passed
quickly since leaving Columbia, but
have been rich with life’s joys and
rewards.”
Greetings from Steve Saun-
ders, a fellow resident on 9th floor
Carman. “My son Brian MacKenzie
Saunders graduated from Northwest-
ern University McCormick School of
Engineering with honors in indus-
trial engineering and is a data analyst
in Greenwich, Conn., for Vertafore.
I earned an M.B.A. in healthcare
management from Quinnipiac. My
wife, Michelle, is committed to many
charitable causes in our hometown
of Westport, Conn., and recently
finished her service as president of
the Westport chapter of Hadassah
Connecticut, earning national rec-
ognition for her work. Michelle and
I are now empty-nesters (along with
our red mini poodle, Heidi) with
our youngest son, Andrew Harrison
Saunders, matriculating in the School
of Engineering & Applied Science at
Washington University in St. Louis
with a major in chemical engineering.
“T practice general internal
medicine as a solo practitioner in
Milford, Conn., with special interest
in obesity medicine as a diplomate
of the American Board of Obesity
Medicine, while actively teaching
medical students at the Yale School
of Medicine and Quinnipiac’s Frank
H. Netter MD School of Medicine.”
Xie, Xie, David Prager Branner:
“Tm writing from Taiwan, where
I am on a monthlong business
trip. My scholarship and mar-
riage are doing well, and my job
in a technology company is quite
satisfactory and basically stress-less.
Since my wife and I have both been
contractors for some time, providing
various language-related services,
our paid-work lives continue to sup-
port our non-work lives — mine in
sinological scholarship and my wife’s
in Chinese calligraphy.”
Facing issues with his mother’s
health, and in consideration of the
emotional, physical and financial
stress that ensue in such matters,
David encourages us to think about
our lives and “figure out a model
that permits us to be insured and
salaried, but also to have productive
intellectual lives outside of work.
When considering our own future
... prepare well ahead of time for
our likely loss of independence in
late life.”
And last, but definitely not least,
congratulations to David Cavicke
and his wife, Mary Houston
Cavicke, on the birth last July of
their son, David Houston Cavicke,
Class of 2040!
Wishing you all continued suc-
cess and good health, and hoping to
see you at reunion.
1985
Jon White
16 South Ct.
Port Washington, NY 11050
jw@whitecoffee.com
James Lima’s national land use, real
estate development and economic
consulting practice based in NYC
continues to grow, with a focus on
public benefit initiatives. Cur-
rent projects include an equitable
economic development strategy on
behalf of a family foundation for
the Bahamian island of Eleuthera,
a “South Bay Sponge” coastal
resilience plan for flood-vulnerable
Silicon Valley communities, financial
modeling for developers building
affordable and market-rate housing
throughout NYC, co-authoring a
report recommending an equitable
community-driven stewardship
model for East River Park on the
Lower East Side of Manhattan, and
serving on the boards of the Billion
Oyster Project and a nonprofit pro-
posing a new American LGBTQ+
museum to be located in Manhattan.
Eric Lanzieri recently spoke
at the Palace Theater in Water-
bury, Conn., as part of its 2nd Act
program (bit.ly/2UI/TOf). He would
love to hear from friends from
freshman year on 7 Jay. As Eric said
to me, “John Jay was like some kind
of a social experiment, including
the fire alarm that went off in the
middle of the night once a week ....”
Sebastian Sperber reports from
London that his daughter Sofia
started at Wesleyan last fall, and
he and his wife, Sally, are officially
empty-nesters.
Mark Rothman’ last report was
from Israel; he was there again in
February. The son who went into
the IDF on the last trip has now
completed his training, and they
were privileged to go to Israel for
the ceremony marking that.
“My usual groundbreaking output
continues apace,” writes Thomas
Vinciguerra JRN’86, GSAS’90
from Garden City, N.Y. “Last fall’s
pieces included a full-page Times
story about the sale of the sketch-
books of John Mollo, who won an
Oscar for costume design for Star
Wars; a Wall Street Journal op-ed
arguing that Aquaman is a loser;
and a front-page Journal feature
about men who tart up their beards
at Christmastime with glitter, paint,
LEDs and ornaments.
“T also enjoyed working with our
old dean, Robert Pollack ’61, on his
fine foreword to the book I am edit-
ing about the 75th anniversary of
the University Seminars. Bob called
me a ‘great editor, having evidently
forgiven me for my days at Spectator.
“Finally, with the upcoming
move of portions of the campus to
Manhattanville, I’ve stepped up efforts
to secure permanent space for the
Philolexian Society. Philo is pressing
Low Library and Hamilton and
Lerner Halls on this matter. And I
have personally reminded the Trustees,
the Secretary of the University and the
General Counsel’s Office of the Trust-
ees’ official 1821 resolution to erect a
building for Philo and our vanquished
alumninews \/
rivals, the Peitholigian Society. This
resolution remains legally binding.”
While we are not using the “r”
word, Sal Giambanco and his
husband, Tom Perrault, “have some-
what retired to our home in New
Orleans. We still have our place in
San Francisco, and are still on a few
boards, but I am no longer traversing
the globe as a senior partner for
the pioneering impact investor, the
Omidyar Network. After deploying
$1 billion of capital and impacting
what we estimate to be 1.2 billion
lives, it’s time to slow down and enjoy
life. | have remained in touch with
my roommates of three years, Dan
Naccarella and Ben Carroccio.
Dan and his wife, Shawna, were
recently in Nola for the first time,
and Ben and his wife, Brenda, have
now been here a couple of times.
They came for last year’s Mardi Gras,
where Tom and I ride in Harry Con-
nick Jr.'s Super Krewe of Orpheus,
on Lundi Gras, and most recently for
the Alabama-LSU college football
game in Baton Rouge and the first
match between the Rams and Saints
at the Superdome. Ben and Brenda
have retired to both New York and
Puerto Rico. Ben, as many will recall,
was the founder of hotjobs.com, the
first internet company to take out an
ad during the Super Bowl.
“Both Ben and I, and Tom, have
been involved in hurricane relief
work in Puerto Rico; our federal
response to this tragedy is a national
disgrace. We're working with the
global NGO Endeavor to create
entrepreneurial ecosystems in the
developing world. I am a global
judge for Endeavor’s International
Selection panels. I was scheduled be
on my 10th judging panel this past
February in San Francisco.
“If folks are down south, please
stop by — if our house shutters on
Franklin Avenue in the Marigny
outside the French Quarter are
open, our house is open for food
and drink. We are in a 200-year-old
white Creole cottage. The pool is
open year-round and set at 102 dur-
ing our mild winter.”
Some sad news to report: Mike
Dzialo passed away last year (bit.
ly/2Wjw1W6). He left behind a
wife, Julia Bonem BC’87, whom he
met while at Columbia, and family.
On a happier note, Seth
Schachner is proud to report that
his son, Miles, is a member of the
Class of 2023! Congrats to Seth and
Miles and to all our other classmates
with sons and daughters who will
join Miles at the College next year!
Thanks for your updates! Reunion
is only 14 months away. Please keep
sending your news so we can ramp
up for our 35th!
1986
Everett Weinberger
50 W. 70th St., Apt. 3B
New York, NY 10023
everett6@gmail.com
Did you ever watch House Hunters
International on HGTV and wonder
what it would be like to buy a much
lower priced house in Latin America
and live the dream life in paradise?
Keith Farrell is doing just that.
Keith wrote in from Lake Chapala
in Jalisco, Mexico, where he bought
a house called Casa Dos Fuentes
in July 2018. After looking all over
Central America for a home to buy,
he visited friends near Lake Chapala
and was hooked. He splits his time
between Mexico and Long Beach,
Calif., where he’s lived since gradu-
ating from Columbia. He retired in
2016 as fire captain with the Long
Beach Fire Department. “Firefight-
ing is a young man’s game,” he said.
“Aches, pains and surgeries were too
much, Put in nearly 30 years.”
Keith has two boys, Hayden and
Emilio, and a daughter, Mercedes.
Mercedes graduated from Carnegie
Mellon and lives in Pittsburgh.
Dan Chenok sent us this update:
“T recently put on an academic hat
as adjunct associate professor with
the University of Texas’ LBJ School
of Public Affairs, teaching on federal
government budget, policy and man-
agement issues at LBJ’s Washington,
D.C., campus. I also co-authored a
book about government reforms in
the last 20 years and what they can
teach leaders in the United States
and around the world in the next
20 years: Government for the Future:
Reflection and Vision for Tomorrows
Leaders (businessofgovernment.org/
node/3057).
“Tm now six years into running
the IBM Center for The Business of
Government, a public-sector focused
think tank supported by IBM. Still
happily married to Jill Levison
Chenok’87, with two daughters in
college (Colgate and Occidental)
and one more at home!”
Spring 2019 CCT 71
Former East Campus roommates held their sixth annual girls’ weekend
in Lewes, Del., in early December. Left to right: Christine Jamgochian
Koobatian ’87, Kerry Russell Hudson SEAS’87, Michelle Estilo Kaiser ’87
and Lauren Alter Baumann ’87.
Congrats to Mark Prochilo, as
his daughter Grace Pochilo’22 is a
first-year! Mark is corporate treasurer
and head of real estate at Snapchat in
Los Angeles. Mark was the captain
of Columbia's varsity soccer team.
He worked at JPMorgan Chase
after graduation for four years, got
an M.B.A. from NYU Stern, was
European finance manager at Estée
Lauder, in treasury at PwC and the
ABB Group, returned to the PwC
treasury for 10 years in New York
and Los Angeles, became the assis-
tant treasurer at Herbalife and finally
joined Snapchat in May 2016.
Congrats also to Scot Glasberg!
His son Alex’23 got into the Col-
lege early decision.
Have a great spring, and please
take a moment to send in an update!
Ue keiyl
Sarah A. Kass
PO Box 1006
New York, NY 10113
SarahAnn29uk@gmail.com
Happy spring! We are at the stage in
life where many of us are experienc-
ing the pain of watching our parents
age. As many of you know, I lost my
mother about a year and a half ago, so
I felt a kinship with Paul Verna when
he wrote to tell me of the passing of
his father in December. But I was not
prepared for the story he told!
72 CCT Spring 2019
Paul wrote to say he was quoted
in a story on Today.com (on.today.
com/2RxHnXJ), which told the
story of how Paul’s father, Mario,
had been friends as teenagers with
Jorge Bergoglio, now known as
Pope Francis. Paul’s brother Matias,
unsure how much of the story was
true and how much was exaggera-
tion, faxed a note to the Vatican to
inform the Pope of Mario Verna’s
passing. When you read the story,
you will hear more about how, less
than 24 hours later, Matias was
driving alone when he received a
call from an “unknown caller.” He
picked up, and lo and behold, it was
the Pope! Do read the story. I cried
reading it the first time and I’m get-
ting teary reading it again.
Paul, thank you for sharing that
with us!
Christine Jamgochian Kooba-
tian shared news of the 1984-87
East Campus roommates sixth
annual girls’ weekend in Lewes,
Del., held in early December.
Joining Christine were Kerry Rus-
sell Hudson SEAS’87, Michelle
Estilo Kaiser and Lauren Alter
Baumann. Missing were Teresa
Saputo-Crerend and Donna
Pacicca. Christine noted that the
daughters of two group members
attend the College: Michelle’s
daughter Nicole Kaiser ’20 and
Teresa’s daughter Lucy Crerend’22.
Margaret McCarthy LAW’89
sent the following: “I work at Yale
at the Collaboration for Research
Integrity and Transparency as
the executive director. We focus
on getting more public access to
information used by the FDA to
regulate medical products. I like liv-
ing in New Haven — I’ve been here
since 2016. My daughter Hannah is
starting physician assistant graduate
school in the fall, and my daughter
Rebecca is attending the local com-
munity college.”
Margaret invites classmates
traveling through New Haven to
look her up.
Lynne Lada-Azer said that she
and Kyra Tirana Barry stopped
in to the Mathematics building
last November to watch Susan
Beamis-Rempe’s guest lecture on
bio-inspired membranes. Lynne said,
“Students were engaged as she walked
through her research. She is looking
for sponsorship to commercialize her
CO, membrane, which captures CO,
inexpensively. It is amazing science
that could have an enormous impact
on the environment!”
Interested in guided tours
through the Mediterranean? Dan-
iele Baliani writes that since 2002,
he has been leading what he calls
“handcrafted tours” of the Mediter-
ranean (mostly Italy, but also France
and Spain) with his boutique travel
company, Pantheon Adventures.
Daniele, a chef in the Boston area
who started his career with Daniel
Boulud right before graduation,
said the name hearkens back to his
childhood in Rome, where he grew
up steps away from the Pantheon.
Daniele says, “Last spring and
summer, I was in the Chianti
region of Tuscany and Sicily on two
separate tours. [he groups are small
(six to eight guests) and the tours
are created ‘on demand’ by the guests
themselves as they tell me where
and when they want to go — and
what they want to do while they are
in Italy — and I build an itinerary
around those wishes. Once the plan
is set, | meet the group at the arriv-
als area in Italy and off we go!”
Interested classmates should go
to vinoitaliano.com and click on the
link “Travel to Italy with Daniele”
to learn more and to get Daniele’s
contact info.
Joseph Meisel GSAS’99 sent
an update to tell us about his recent
appointment as Brown's university
librarian. Joseph, who also is deputy
provost, will provide strategic and
operational leadership for Brown's
library. He has also authored or
co-authored three books, as well as
numerous articles on political life in
Britain and the British Empire in the
19th and 20th centuries, and he is a
fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
Heartfelt thanks to everyone who
sent in updates! I would love to hear
from more of you, and since it’s that
time of year, please let us know where
your children will attend school in
the fall. We want to hear your news!
1988
Eric Fusfield
1945 South George Mason Dr.
Arlington, VA 22204
eric@fusfield.com
Jill Levey attended our 30th
reunion “and was happy to see [my]
first-year roommate, Leslie Harris,
as well as many others from Car-
man’s sixth floor, and other great
people.” Jill lives in New Jersey,
where she raises two teenage girls
and runs her own business, Levey
* Consulting, “which specializes in
grant writing and all aspects of
fundraising for nonprofit organiza-
tions,” she reported.
Dr. Diane Ridley PS’92 wrote, “I
am working a temporary anesthesia
position in Arizona for the Indian
Health Service.”
She encourages classmates to check
out photos on her Facebook page.
Kathryn Schneider LAW’91
co-conducted the National Chorale
at Lincoln Center in December.
The chorale annually presents
the Messiah Sing-In, a holiday
participatory music event with an
audience-chorus of 3,000 singers.
“Tm honored to again be among the
conductors assisting the wonderful
Dr. Everett McCorvey in carrying
on this beloved 51-year tradition!”
Kathryn posted on Facebook.
My daughter, Esther, started
kindergarten last fall, which puts me
13 years behind the standard set by
classmates whose children took their
places in the Class of 2022. Con-
gratulations to Nairi Balian, Nick
Leone, Sarah Richmond, Claudia
Rimerman, Lawrence Trilling and
John Vaske and their kids for their
accomplishments and for continuing
our class’ strong legacy tradition.
Keep the updates coming! I look
forward to hearing from you.
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Emily Miles Terry
45 Clarence St.
Brookline, MA 02446
emilymilesterry@me.com
Looking for some great shoes to
wear to reunion? Ann Peyton
Merin BUS’95 has your back. Last
year Ann co-founded the ingenious
ShoeCandy by Kara Mac, a line
of designer shoes with mix and
match accessories you can combine
to create your own heel-to-toe
shoe designs. Years ago, Ann left a
lucrative corporate consulting career
to enroll in beauty school. With
the goal of learning everything she
could about the beauty business,
Ann trained at Paul Mitchell in
Orange County, Calif., and in 2007
she opened Beauty Heaven, a high-
end, full-service salon in Orange
County, Calif.
Soon after Beauty Heaven
opened, Ann was appearing on E},
TMZ, TLC and CBS to share her
beauty tips and know-how, includ-
ing on TLC’s Wedding Day Make-
over, where she helped brides-to-be
find their ideal wedding day look.
Ann calls her ShoeCandy venture
“interactive and fun,” as the concept
is an innovative way to empower
consumers by offering more than
10 shoe styles and more than 100
accessories. ShoeCandy shoes are
sold online (karamac.com) and at
pop-ups around the country.
I’ve been listening to Laura
Cantrell’s lovely music since I
learned about it through a concert
she gave in New York City last year.
Laura was born in Nashville and her
interest in country music stayed with
her. After Columbia she launched
her long-running radio program on
WFMU in Jersey City, N.J., “The
Radio Thrift Shop,” a Saturday
afternoon staple in the New York
area for 13 years; she then moved to
wfmu.org and ran for two seasons
on BBC Radio Scotland.
In her 10-year recording career,
Laura released three acclaimed
albums: Not the Tremblin’ Kind,
When the Roses Bloom Again and
Humming by the Flowered Vine. She
has toured extensively in the United
Kingdom, Europe and Ireland. Her
music has been celebrated in the
press, including features in The New
York Times, O magazine, Elle and The
Wall Street Journal, and has has been
featured on NPR’s “All Things Con-
sidered,” “On Point” and “Weekend
Edition.” She has performed on 4
Prairie Home Companion, Mountain
Stage and the Grand Ole Opry, and
appeared on the television programs
Late Night with Conan O’Brien and
the Sundance Channel’s Spectacle:
Elvis Costello. In recent years, Laura
has been a contributor to The New
York Times and vanityfair.com.
To celebrate their 50th birthdays, several members of the Class of 1990
went to Napa Valley, along with friends and spouses. Left to right: Nancy
Pak 90, Hyun Bae SEAS’90, Peter Hsing SEAS’90, Kyra Miller, Norman
Tsang, Paul Santiago, Betty Tsang (née Mar) SEAS’90, Gloria Pak (née Kim)
’90, Steve Metalios ’89, Joy Metalios (née Kim) SEAS’90, Darren Duffy,
Anita Bose ’90 and Arlene Hong ’90.
alumninews
Laura also released Kitty Wells
Dresses: Songs of The Queen of Country
Music, a recording she made in honor
of one of her heroines, the great
Wells. A meditation on femininity in
country music, the set takes its title
from an original song written in trib-
ute to Wells. I found Laura’s music
on iTunes and Apple Music.
I was fortunate enough to catch up
with many CC’89ers at the Alexander
Hamilton Award Dinner last Novem-
ber, which honored Lisa Landau
Carnoy. A vicious snowstorm hit
NYC that night, but despite the bliz-
zard, many of us still made it to Low
Rotunda. As Michael Behringer
four days in Napa Valley, Calif, con-
gratulating themselves on reaching
the mid-century mark. In attendance
were Arlene Hong, Gloria Pak (née
Kim), Nancy Pak, Peter Hsing
SEAS’90, Betty Tsang SEAS’90
(née Mar), Joy Metalios SEAS’90
(née Kim), Hyun Bae SEAS’90 and
Steve Metalios’89, plus significant
others and friends. A weekend filled
with vineyard tours, huge dinners,
poolside lounging and retelling
hilarious old stories — so much fun!
Also fun was the Sonoma, Calif,
January 4 wedding of Dean Son-
deregger SEAS’90, SEAS’91 and
Tracy Campbell King. A destina-
a
Kathryn Schneider ’88, LAW’91
co-conducted the National Chorale at
Lincoln Center in December.
joked, “Lisa, if you didn’t know how
much we all love you, you have to
now.” Wanda Holland Greene awed
us with her magical and generous
speech about her longtime friend
and sang verses from Sam Cooke's
“A Change is Gonna Come,” saying
about Lisa words that rang so true:
“When you are friends with Lisa, you
know — from that place deep in the
soul — that she walks with you.”
Attendees included Kaivan
Shakib, Bonnie Host, Matthew
Engels, Robert Rooney, Donna
Herlinsky MacPhee, John Alex,
Chris Della Pietra, Julie Jacobs
Menin, Jaime Mercado, Luis
Penalver, Jennifer Ryan, Patrick
Ryan SEAS’89, Frank Seminara,
Raymond Yu, Michael Barry,
Stephanie Falcone Bernik, Omar
Kodmani, Souren Ouzounian and
John Timmer, and Victor Mendel-
son and his lovely family.
Here’s to more celebrating and
congregating in 2019. See you soon!
1990
Rachel Cowan Jacobs
youngrache@hotmail.com
And the 5-0 celebrations continue!
Anita Bose sent me fabulous docu-
mentation of a group getaway that
had been in the works for a while.
In late September, the gang spent
tion wedding for all, including Rich
Yaker SEAS’90, Chris Heck and
Pete Lavallee 90.
Dave Hunt has been up to
something good! After five years as
a Northwest business association
CEO (“Pacific Northwest Defense
Coalition, an association of over 300
NW manufacturing businesses”),
he is now senior VP of Strategies
360, the leading public affairs firm
in the West, and spending lots
of time in Oregon's capital! Son
Andrew graduated from Princeton
and is an Airbnb software engineer
in San Francisco. Daughter Emily
is a sophomore at the University
of Oregon Clark Honors College.
Dave’s in his second term serving on
his local community college board.
Paul Greenberg BUS’97°s chil-
dren are also getting older — funny
how that happens. His daughters are
14 and 11 and taking great care of
their dog, Benji. Paul’s digital video
company, Butter Works, is doing well
after its first year. It’s working with
Netflix, Viacom, Verizon, SoulCycle,
Discovery, Bustle and others on a
number of different types of projects
(some are straight content production,
while others are more comprehensive
and include strategy, distribution,
monetization and data analysis work).
Fred Schultz checked in with
me in early January to report, “My
lawsuit to throw Trump out based
on losing by three million votes
Spring 2019 CCT 73
Class Notes
was just thrown out by a three-
judge panel of the Ninth Circuit,
so now I will apply to be heard by a
10-judge panel, and from there (up
or down!), to the Supreme Court.
I’m encouraging everyone to file
their own similar suits, nationwide.
I will be running for President again
soon (fred4prez.us), and that will
take much effort, certainly. I swim in
the ocean and will be inline-skating
again soon, too, after a near-death
biking accident a few months ago.
‘Thank God for Obamacare! Love to
us all! We will win, now! RESIST!”
1991
Margie Kim
margiekimkim@hotmail.com
Share your stories, news or even a
favorite Columbia College memory
by sending it to the email address at
the top of this column. Your class-
mates would love to hear from you!
1992
Olivier Knox
olivier.knox@gmail.com
I remember my arrival on campus in
August 1988 as a frenzy of nice-to-
meet-yous and where-are-you-froms
— in my suite, on Carman 7, in line
for ID cards, in line for meal plan
cards, etc. ... One of the first people I
met once classes began was Samara
Bernot. She and I were in “Logic
& Rhetoric,” and she lived a floor
above me, on Carman 8.
Submit
E>
CCT welcomes Class Notes
photos that feature at
least two College alumni.
Click “Contact Us” at
college.columbia.edu/cct.
74 CCT Spring 2019
Well, Samara married Adam
Meshel LAW’95, is now Samara
Bernot Meshel, and she wrote in
with this fun update: Their daughter,
Zoe Meshel’23, will follow in the
footsteps of their son, Alexander
Meshel’18! Alexander is in his
first year at the Icahn School of
Medicine at Mount Sinai. Samara
punctuates this news with the most
suitable “Roar, Lions, Roar!” I’ve
seen in a while.
She continues, “We live in
Roslyn, N.Y., but look forward to
moving back to Manhattan soon.
Interesting tidbit: Adam and I
lived on Carman as first-years and
Alexander was randomly assigned to
a room on Carman 8 when he was
a first-year. So we are wondering if
Zoe will be assigned to a room on
Carman 8 as well!”
Sarah Silverman Aibel reports,
“T am so excited that my son Alex-
ander will be a member of the Class
of 2023, though I am disappointed
he wont be able to experience The
Plex or Cannon’..”
She is also happy to report that
she and three other alumnae have
launched the Los Angeles chapter of
Columbia College Women. They’ve
had an amazing time connecting
with so many CC alumnae in Los
Angeles and hosted a Mini-Core
event featuring Professor Julie
Crawford, the former chair of Lit-
erature Humanities.
Drop what you're doing and
follow the fine example set by Alex-
andra Colacito (née Hershdorfer),
who said she was succumbing to
guilt fueled by my Facebook appeals
to please, please, in the name of all
that’s holy, send me in some Class
Notes. She says, “I honestly have
NOTHING to report, especially in
comparison to the movers and shak-
ers and high achievers in our class.”
Nooooo, Alexandra. That’s never
true. I guarantee that there is some-
one reading this, either in our class
or the adjacent ones, who will see
this and be glad to hear from you.
Alexandra continues, “I left my
home state of California and moved
to Massachusetts with my husband
about eight years ago. I’m in North
Attleboro, right on the Rhode Island
border, a town that prides itself on
being a ‘red dot in a sea of blue.’
Politically interesting, let’s just say.”
She adds that she quit her job as
an attorney to stay at home and care
for her son, who is on the autism
spectrum. “I love the New England
seasons, educational system and
home affordability,” Alexandra says.
“T will probably try to get back
into the work force in the next
couple of years. In the meantime, I
have been pursuing a non-profes-
sional career of sorts as an animal
activist. | went vegan and have been
doing outreach regarding the cruelty
and environmental devastation
inherent in the animal agriculture
industry,” she says. “Most of my
outreach is in the form of cooking
delicious food and posting pictures
of it on Facebook, lol, but I’m also a
participant in the group Anonymous
for the Voiceless.”
Final word from Alexandra: “I’m
always interested in meeting up with
anyone in the New England area!”
Thanks to all of my contributors!
Follow their example and send me
a Class Note at olivier.knox@gmail.
com (I don’t know who oliver.knox@
gmail.com is, but he doesn’t want
your updates, while I do, so make
es
sure you get that second “i” in there).
1995
Betsy Gomperz
betsy.gomperz@gmail.com
Greetings, classmates. I would love
to get updates from you that I can
share in future columns. I can be
reached at the email listed above,
through the CCT website and
through Messenger.
I was happy to receive news
about Isaiah Delemar, who lives in
Atlanta. Isaiah’s news feels timely (as
I write this column in January), as
he recently led a team of lawyers and
National Park Service professionals
in a land transaction that culminated
in President Trump’s designation
of Kentucky’s Camp Nelson as
a National Monument. Initially
established as a Union Army supply
depot and hospital, Camp Nelson
became a key emancipation site and
refugee camp for African-American
soldiers and their families during
the Civil War. Isaiah’s work included
negotiating the land transfer and the
protection, preservation, promotion,
interpretation and maintenance of
the monument between Jessamine
County and the National Park Ser-
vice (campnelson.org/home.htm).
Isaiah also was the lead lawyer for
the National Park Service’s acquisi-
tion of Martin Luther King Jr.’s
birth home in Atlanta, completed in
December 2018.
Have a lovely spring, and do take
a moment to send in your news!
1994
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Leyla Kokmen
lak6@columbia.edu
Greetings, Class of 1994! Please
take a moment to share a note
about your life with your fellow
alumni. Travel, family news, favorite
Columbia memories — everything
is welcome in CCT. Send your news
to lak6é@columbia.edu!
And, in very exciting news,
reunion is coming! Clear your
schedule for Thursday, May 30-
Saturday, June 1, to come back to
Columbia for the big two-five.
1995
Janet Lorin
jrf10@columbia.edu
Thanks to Danny Ackerman
(who I think goes by Dan now) for
answering my call for an update all
the way from Brazil.
Danny has been in Sao Paulo
since September 2016 as the
Department of Justice’s Computer
Hacking and Intellectual Property
advisor for Latin America and the
Caribbean. He mentors police and
prosecutors throughout the region
on criminal cases involving the
internet, mainly digital piracy. “We
also train them on best practices for
investigating these cases and han-
dling electronic evidence,” he writes.
Danny and his wife, Gabriela,
have two dogs.
Beto O’Rourke came close to
winning a Senate seat over Ted Cruz
(R~Texas). Now we are awaiting his
decision about a 2020 run. At press
time we didn’t know, but by the time
you read this, we might. Regardless,
I’m sure we are all very interested to
see what transpires.
Good luck, Beto!
As we approach our 25th reunion,
please consider sending an update,
especially if you've never sent one.
Keep the news coming!
1996
Ana S. Salper
ana.salper@nyumc.org
Happy spring, classmates! Dulcie Lin
BUS’03 moved from NYC to Boca
Raton, Fla., and is hoping this update
will help her make some connections in
South Florida. Dulcie is still an associ-
ate real estate broker at Corcoran in
NYC (now 14 years) and has partnered
with some women who are “on the
ground” here in NYC, staying actively
involved in the deals. Her husband has
a new job in Jupiter, Fla., and her three
kids go to school in Fort Lauderdale.
Dulcie reports that Nadia Kihic-
zak is a dermatologist in NYC and
that Alissa Douglas SEAS’96 lives
in San Francisco and has a new son,
Sam. Alissa is a senior investment
professional at a family office.
Our class should be proud of the
fact that two of our notable class-
mates, composer/arranger/orchestra-
tor Tom Kitt and journalist/author
Jodi Kantor, were honored for their
outstanding professional achieve-
ments at the College’s 2019 John Jay
Awards Dinner, held in early March,
joining three other honorees from
other College classes.
Congratulations to you both —
way to represent the Class of ’96!
Hope to hear from many more
of you soon. For now, I leave you
with this:
“We weaken our greatness when
we confuse our patriotism with tribal
rivalries that have sown resentment
and hatred and violence in all the
corners of the globe. We weaken it
when we hide behind walls, rather
than tear them down, when we doubt
the power of our ideals, rather than
trust them to be the great force for
change they have always been.”
— The now-deceased Sen. John McCain’
farewell statement to the nation
Ld
Kerensa Harrell
kvhi@columbia.edu
Dear classmates, I hope you are
all doing well, and I send you my
warmest wishes! I am delighted to
present the following updates:
Monique Chang and Dan Russo
GS’96, BUS’98 bought farmland in
the Black Dirt region of Warwick,
N.Y. She says: “We and our 8-year-
old son are in the fifth season grow-
ing organic vegetables on weekends
from April to November, when we
plant heirloom and specialty veg-
etables. We offer a CSA vegetable
share from our home in Greenwich,
Conn. This venture has been a great
teaching tool for our son and his
friends, and has been great fun for
me, as I roll up my sleeves to tackle
any and all problems that crop up
at the farm. We love visitors, so feel
free to drop by on weekends at 397
Big Island Rd. in Warwick.”
Mike Pignatello and his hus-
band, Yang Gao, recently welcomed
twins James and Jeremy into the
world in Reno, Nev. Mike, who
enjoyed being on paternity leave in
Nevada, is about to finish his fifth
year in Taiwan with the United
States Department of State.
John Dean Alfone recently
worked in production on The Circus
(on Showtime), where President
Trump was speaking at an annual
convention for the National Rifle
Association in Dallas. John has since
moved to Taos, N.M., where he is
planning to bring a short film he
wrote/directed into feature-length
production after a profitless attempt:
bit.ly/2FviKVh.
Peter Langland-Hassan writes:
“Last December, an anthology that
I co-edited and contributed to, Inner
Speech: New Voices, was published.
It contains essays by philosophers,
psychologists and neuroscientists on
the nature and cognitive role of ‘the
little voice in the head.”
Nathaniel Mayfield completed
an executive M.B.A. at UT Austin
in 2016. A managing partner of the
Mayfield Dairy Queen, Nate also
started an oil and gas production
company and plays baroque trumpet
with several period instrument
ensembles. He dreams of taking a
year off and traveling the world with
his wife and three daughters.
Deb Feldman and her husband,
Ed Turner, live in New Jersey with
their three sons. Deb is cofounder of
Gray Scalable, an HR consultancy
that provides HR solutions for start-
ups and growing companies, with
offices in NYC and Los Angeles.
Her time at CC in the Glee Club
and Opera Ensemble led to her
professional singing side career,
where she met her husband. She
sings regularly as a soloist and mem-
ber of the ensemble with Voices of
Ascension in NYC. All three of her
children sing and play music — and
her oldest son, Edward, is currently
playing Friedrich in the Broadway
national tour of The Sound of Music,
following his 2017 run as Ralphie
in the Broadway national tour of 4
Christmas Story, the Musical.
Melinda Powers writes: “Last
year my book Diversifying Greek
Tragedy on the Contemporary US
Stage was published.”
alumninews \
- ea
%,
friends, and I rented a bounce castle
for the children and had a catered |
lunch delivered from her favorite |
restaurant. It is so wonderful seeing
her blossom into toddlerhood now.
She’s always making me laugh with
the funny things she says. The other
day she took me by the hand and led
me over to her toddler castle home
in the living room, then gleefully
welcomed me inside it with “Come
along, Mama — hop onboard!” as she
opened the gate and ushered me in.
At Christmastime I took her
to see her great-grandfather (my
maternal grandfather), whom we
call Paw Paw. He was as delighted to
Isaiah Delemar ’98 recently led a team whose
work culminated in the designation of Kentucky's
Camp Nelson as a national monument.
Sarah Bunin Benor co-edited a
book, Languages in Jewish Communities,
Past and Present, with Benjamin Hary.
Rebekah Gee writes: “I was
recently elected into the National
Academy of Medicine. Our identi-
cal twin girls are 6. 1 saw Athena
Bendo at the New Orleans Jazz
Fest, as usual.”
Omar Chaudhry GSAS’99
writes: “Practicing law in New York
for 13 years, I often analyze facts
and argue theories, which reminds
me of my Columbia days. My wife,
Samiyah, and I hope that our 11-year
son, Humza, will also choose a life of
analysis and reflection.”
As for me, Kerensa Harrell, as
I sit here wrapping up this column
during the first few days of Janu-
ary, | am feeling thankful to those
neighbors who have still not taken
down their Christmas lights, as my
2-year-old daughter loves our early
evening strolls to admire the holiday
lights on display in our neighbors’
yards. I shudder to think how disap-
pointed she is going to be one day
soon when we take our walk and
suddenly the holiday light decora-
tions will have disappeared.
For her second birthday party,
which was held at our house last
October, I did a “Boo! Look who’s
two!” party theme, since it was the
weekend before Halloween. We
had 28 people (family and friends)
over, five of whom were her toddler
see us as we were to see him, and |
feel so lucky that he is still alive and
well at 87! He is my lone surviving
grandparent, so I try to visit him as
frequently as I can manage. This past
Christmas, since I found myself sud-
denly single, I decided it was more
practical for me to just get a small
4-foot artificial tree from the store,
rather than getting my usual tall
pine tree from a tree a lot; but once |
had set it up at home I must confess
that I felt a bit depressed that it
looked so puny compared to what I
have been accustomed to. My little
one made me feel immediately bet-
ter, though, because the first words
out of her mouth when she gazed at
it were: “Wow, Mama, look — BIG
Christmas tree! So beautiful!” And
suddenly it did look quite big with
her standing next to it. As long as
she is happy, that is all that matters.
I always end my column with
a song, so I guess I'll end with the
classic “Jingle Bells,” since that is
currently my daughter’s favorite
song. Wishing you a Happy New
Year (and by the time you read this,
a happy spring!).
Blessings to all, and please do
send me your updates. Keep in mind
that your updates needn't be just
about the usual topics like career/
marriage/birth announcements
— they can also be on your exotic
travels, your exciting adventures,
your fascinating hobbies, your phil-
Spring 2019 CCT 75
anthropic endeavors, your charming
children, your daring projects, your
poetic musings, your flowery remi-
niscences... Or simply tell us about
some delightful local event that you
attended or a family vacation that
you went on. If nothing else, you can
always write us merely to say hello!
It would be splendid to hear from
as many classmates as possible. I
look forward to hearing from you. In
lumine Tuo videbimus lumen.
1998
Sandie Angulo Chen
sandie.chen@gmail.com
Another short update! Congratula-
tions to Constantine Markides,
whose first child, a girl named
Electra, was born on December 5.
Constantine, wife Caroline and baby
Electra live in Greece. Constantine
should also be congratulated for win-
ning — with Olympic gold medalist
Anthony Ervin — the 2018 Buck
Dawson Author Award, presented
by the International Swimming Hall
of Fame. Constantine co-authored
Ervin’s memoir, Chasing Water: Elegy
of an Olympian (2016).
More congratulations are in order.
Jeffrey S. Cohen-Laurie is now a
judge for the Superior Court of Los
Angeles County in California. He
was appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown
(D-Calif.) on November 29. Jeff,
husband Tim and daughter Dylan
(2) live in L.A.
Congrats, Judge Cohen-Laurie!
Looking forward to more
updates. Have a great spring!
1999
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Adrienne Carter and
Jenna Johnson
adieliz@gmail.com
jennajohnson@gmail.com
Dear classmates, give a big roar for
Lauren Gershell! And when you're
stocking up on sunscreen and beach
towels, preorder her debut novel,
That’ What Frenemies Are For, which
76 CCT Spring 2019
is sure to be a big hit on the shores
this summer. Lauren tell us it’s “a
fun, juicy beach read about the toxic
friendships surrounding an Upper
East Side stay-at-home mom who
turns her spin instructor into a fitness
superstar to impress her friends.” It
will be released on July 30.
And while youre making lists of
things to do, don’t forget to send us
your dispatches. We're looking forward
to hearing from you and to catching up
at our (gulp!) 20-year reunion. Mark
your calendars for Thursday, May 30—
Saturday, June 1. See you on the Steps!
2000
Prisca Bae
pb134@columbia.edu
Congratulations to Miriam Parker,
whose first novel, The Shortest Way
Home, was published in July 2018
and will come out in paperback in
July 2019. Miriam's second novel
will be published in 2020. She is
the associate publisher of Ecco, an
imprint of HarperCollins.
I know this is a busy time in our
lives right now, but classmates would
love to hear from you! If anything,
please share what you are all doing
for the big birthdays we’ve been
celebrating in 2018 and 2019.
2001
Jonathan Gordin
jrg53@columbia.edu
I hope everyone’s 2019 is off to a
great start! I was thinking about
how the columns have gotten a
bit sparser in recent months, and
I know why — when I started
writing this column in 2001 (!!!) I
would diligently keep a spreadsheet
of when I mentioned classmates
and reach out to others I hadn't
heard from in a while. And then a
few things came along with force:
Facebook (so many of you get your
Columbia alum news there!), more
demands at my job, my family, etc.,
and I fell out of that discipline. But,
every few months, someone sur-
prises me with an unsolicited update
out of the blue, and it’s wonderful.
So please, don’t hesitate to write and
let us know what’s going on with
you. In the meantime, here’s what’s
been going on with your classmates.
It was a treat to hear from Akiva
Shapiro LAW’07 (with whom I
worked at Spec), who has an excit-
ing, action-packed update: “Allison
Josephs ’02 and I celebrated our 18th
anniversary last summer. After a
number of years spent in Israel, the
Bronx and Teaneck, we now live in
Bergenfield, N.J., with our wonderful
kids —15- and 13-year-old girls and
10- and 8-year-old boys. In 2004, I
returned to Morningside Heights
for law school, and at the same time
entered a joint degree program in
religious studies at Yale. After I
received a J.D. from Columbia and
an M.A. from Yale, I chose to focus
my energies on the practice of law.
“T started working at Gibson Dunn
in 2008 in its New York City litigation
department and have been there ever
since — I was recently elected partner!
My focus is constitutional and
complex commercial litigation, so if
anyone has needs in those areas, don't
hesitate to reach out.
“Allison has also been very busy
professionally: A number of years
back, she left a stable nonprofit job
to start a 501c3, Jew in the City,
that uses social media to break down
misconceptions about Orthodox
Jews. She writes articles, produces
videos that have been viewed mil-
lions of times and speaks around the
world. More recently, Allison started
another initiative, Project Makom,
that helps former or questioning
ultra-Orthodox Jews find their place
in Judaism.”
My esteemed Spec editor-in-chief,
Dan Laidman, had an exciting
December. Dan and his wife, Deb,
are new parents to daughter Mira.
Dan and Deb are both attorneys in
Los Angeles. Mira is adorable — I
saw a photo of her fully outfitted in
Dodgers gear!
Congratulations to Dan and Deb!
Another esteemed Spec colleague,
and my managing editor, Demetra
Kasimis GSAS’03 (who is generally
responsible for teaching me how to
lay out the front page of a newspa-
per), wrote: “For the last few years,
I’ve been loving teaching at the
University of Chicago, where I am
an assistant professor of political
science. I recently published a book
on how ancient Greek thinkers, like
Plato, saw democracy’s relationship
to nativism: The Perpetual Immigrant
and the Limits of Athenian Democracy.”
Rabia Saeed announced that
her third child, a boy named Rafay,
arrived November 16. Says Rabia,
“Big brother Shane and big sister
Sylvie are very excited!”
Ram Ahluwalia announced:
“It’s official! It’s a boy! Our little
guy, Ryan, came into the world on
December 1 around 11 p.m. He
weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces, and
was 20 3/4 inches. Mom and Dad
are exhausted and so happy for our
bundle of joy!”
Ariel Neuman was recently
selected by the Daily Journal as one
of the Top 40 Under 40 attorneys
in California. Ariel practices white
collar criminal law at Bird Marella
in Los Angeles.
Ellen Volpe is one of the
principals of ET Family Travel, an
agency specializing in all things
Disney and beyond. Her goal is to
make all vacations stress free for her
clients, especially helping to navigate
all the details required for a trip to
Walt Disney World. She man-
ages a team of 75 agents who are
spread throughout the country, and
is always looking for other Disney
experts to join the ET Family. Con-
tact Ellen at etfamilytravell@gmail.
com or through etfamilytravel.com.
Be in touch! It’s always great to
hear from all of you.
2002
Sonia Dandona Hirdaramani
soniah57@gmail.com
Happy 2019 everyone! Cannot
believe it has been more than 20
years since we stepped on campus!
Gabriel Rabin married
Daungyewa “Hong” Utarasint in
Grafton, Vt., on the perfect sunny,
not-too-hot summer day of August
25. Dan Bloch, Seth Gale, Marnie
Glassman Gale, Ashley Henderson
03 and Ilan Wapinski attended.
Zecki Dossal joined Henry
Schein as a senior director. The
company created a role for him to
oversee the solutions development
process and harness innovation
across the company. Zecki had
joined GLG right after graduating
from Columbia, when the company
was 35 people (it’s now more than
2,000), so this is certainly a big
change for him, but an exciting one!
Mike Mellia is excited to
announce that last summer he
welcomed a son, Lapo Augusto
Lanteri Melli.
Helena Andrews-Dyer’s new
column for The Washington Post Mag-
azine, “Star Power,” is out now. She
dives into the intersection of La La
Land and the Beltway and is always
open to suggestions for columns.
Ashanti Blaize-Hopkins is in
Los Angeles and is an associate
professor of journalism at Santa
Monica College after 12 years as an
Emmy award-winning television
news anchor and reporter. She also
celebrated her fourth wedding anni-
versary and celebrated her daughter's
second birthday in November.
Jennifer Wildeman is a senior
portfolio advisor at Aksia, in Manhat-
tan. She has been there for three and
a half years. Jennifer lives in Rumson,
NJ., and has a 7-year-old girl (Lana)
and a 16-month-old boy (Logan). She
is coming up on her 10-year anniver-
sary (in May) with her husband, Steve,
and is in the midst of planning for his
40th birthday.
David Newman has been
elected partner at the law firm of
Morrison & Foerster; he began the
role on January 1. From the press
release: “[ David is] a member of the
National Security and Global Risk
+ Crisis Management Groups, [and]
is based in the Washington, D.C.,
office. Drawing on his experience
as a senior White House and U.S.
Department of Justice attorney
and his background in government
regulation and national security, his
practice involves guiding clients
through sensitive matters pertaining
to national security and global risk
and crisis management.”
2003
Michael Novielli
mjn29@columbia.edu
Happy Lunar New Year to all who
celebrate it — wishing you much
happiness, health and prosperity in
the Year of the Pig. Our classmates
are kicking if off on a high note,
with the following accomplishments
and updates.
Janice Berg was elected in
November 2018 to serve as the
judge of the 247th District Court of
Harris County, Texas.
Preslaysa Williams signed a
publishing contract for her debut
novel, Healing Hannah's Heart. It’s
about an Afro-Filipina fashion
model who flips her definition of
beauty and her identity after losing
her skin in a fire. It will be published
in September. Visit preslaysa.com
to sign up for her newsletter and
receive updates on the book.
Dora Danylevich earned a Ph.D.
in English (focusing on feminist
disability) from The George Wash-
ington University and is teaching
a course on culture, gender and
medicine in the women’s and gender
studies program at Georgetown.
Raquel Gardner continues to
build her clinical research program on
traumatic brain injury and dementia
at UC San Francisco, where she is an
assistant professor of neurology.
Simma Kupchan writes, “I have
been an attorney in the Environmen-
tal Protection Agency Office of the
General Counsel for more than a
decade and live just outside of Wash-
ington, D.C., with my husband and
children (Maia, Nina and Sam).”
Lien De Brouckere writes, “I
recently moved to lovely Portland,
Maine, and am continuing my free-
lance work on corporate account-
ability and human rights, with a
focus this year on Guinea and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo.
This means lots of travel abroad for
work, but I also have an amazing
cycling trip from Lhasa to Kath-
mandu that I’m training for!”
Justin Assad writes, “My wife,
Emily Taylor (Brown ’04), and I
welcomed our second daughter,
Meris Pease Assad, on November
5.Mom and baby are healthy and
big sister Henley (2) is very excited.
I am the head sailing coach at
Dartmouth College, and spend my
summers as the sailing master at the
Nantucket Yacht Club.”
Calla Brown writes, “I’m an
internist and pediatrician, and I
see patients at a federally qualified
health center in Minneapolis. ’'m
also in my second year of an aca-
demic general pediatrics research
fellowship at the University of
Minnesota. More importantly, my
husband and I welcomed our second
son on January 13 after a tough
pregnancy. Our older son is proving
to be a champion older brother and
we will spend a few months settling
into our new family routine before I
go back to work in April.”
Thomas E. Anderson Ill writes,
“T published two articles on orga-
nizational coaching in the Journal
of Practical Consulting last year. I
am also a recurring presenter at
the annual research roundtables at
Regent University’s School of Busi-
ness and Leadership, where I am
working on my doctorate in strategic
leadership. I recently was in New
York conducting a communica-
tion and feedback FaciliTraining at
Breakthrough New York’s leadership
retreat, where Devaughn Fowlkes
04 was in attendance. On a personal
note, I have the pleasure of being
married to the best woman in the
world, with whom I launched Teai-
iano Leadership Solutions (teaiiano.
com), and who also works with me
in business. We enjoy raising our
beautiful 6- and 9-year-old girls
together and having spontaneous
Nerf wars when we get the chance.”
2004
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Jaydip Mahida
jmahida@gmail.com
Miguel Verzbolovskis writes, “Last
May I was appointed Panama's
ambassador to Belgium and to the
European Union. It'd be great to
get together with other Columbia
alums, so please let me know if you
live here or are traveling through
Brussels: verzbolovskis@gmail.com.”
Adam Spunberg shares, “Work-
ing in partnership with Google, my
innovation team at AB InBev was
chosen as a finalist for the Gartner
Supply Chain Breakthrough of the
Year award. This was for our work
with using artificial intelligence,
machine learning to optimize
multi-variable filtration in the beer-
making process. The project was also
featured at Google Next 18.”
Sonia Marquez recently left the
law firm of Sidley Austin, where
she was a senior associate litigat-
ing white collar and commercial
disputes, and is now an immigra-
tion attorney at Brooklyn Defender
Services. She loves living in
Brooklyn with her puppy and near
her good friends from Columbia.
She is involved in the queer attorney
networking group Lesquires.
Megan McCarthy GSAS’15 and
her fiancé, Ted, recently relocated from
New York to Philadelphia, where she |
is VP of major gifts at Pennsylvania |
Academy of the Fine Arts. They are |
getting married at PAFA in March.
Megan also joined the Board of
Directors at GSAS, from which she
earned a Ph.D. in art history in 2015,
and is looking forward to staying
involved with Columbia while based
outside of NYC.
Andy Lebwohl LAW?’07 started
a position with Getzler Henrich &
Associates last October, working
in turnaround consulting. His son,
Ronan (4), already knows the lyrics
to “Roar, Lion, Roar” and he is try-
ing to get his daughter, Dakota (2),
to pick it up. Andy notes, “She’s a
pretty quick study — if you ask her
if she’s comfortable, she’ll tell you
she makes a nice living.”
Please continue to send in
updates, as we want to hear from as
many folks as possible. Career and
family updates are always fun, but
please reach out to share about trips
you might take, events you have
attended or are looking forward to,
or even interesting books or shows
you have come across. You can send
updates either via the email at the
top of the column or through the
CCT Class Notes webform, college.
columbia.edu/cct/submit_class_note.
2005
Columbia College Today
cct@columbia.edu
Happy spring, CC’05! Thank you for
taking the time to share your excit-
ing family, career and life news!
To kick things off, Melanie Lee
and Peter Kang welcomed their
son, Grant Kang-Lee, on January 5
at NewYork Presbyterian Brooklyn
Methodist Hospital in Park Slope.
Also in exciting baby news, Dar-
ren Bolton writes, “On January 7
my wife, Jessica, gave birth to our
first child, Margot Mae Bolton, who
weighed in at 6 pounds, 15 ounces,
and measured 20 inches. Margot
was born at Jefferson Hospital in
Philadelphia, just a few blocks from
our apartment.”
Wedding bells for James
Bondarchuk, who shares: “Pardis
Dabashi’08 and I got married in
October. The ceremony took place
at the Eolia Mansion in Water-
ford, Conn. We were joined by her
brother, Kaveh Dabashi; Dave
Spring 2019 CCT 77
Mancinelli; Kate Criss GS’08; Han-
nah Assadi; Peter Wiegand ’08;
Hal Scardino 08; Nilou Safinya ’08;
and Kristin Van Heertum ’08.”
Juliet Grames’ debut novel,
The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella
Fortuna, will be published in North
America on May 7. The novel, which
sold at auctions in 10 countries and
will be translated into eight lan-
guages, is an immigrant saga about
a family from a tiny mountaintop
village in rural southern Italy, and
unfolds the blood feud between two
100-year-old sisters: one beautiful,
charismatic and cursed; one plain,
well-behaved and spurned.
More book news! From Katya
Apekina: “After many years of work,
my novel, The Deeper the Water the
Uglier the Fish, came out this fall. It
was named a ‘Best Book of 2018’ by
Kirkus Reviews, BuzzFeed, Entropy,
LitReactor and LitHub; ‘One of
the Most Anticipated Books of the
Fall’ by New York magazine, Harper's
BAZAAR, BuzzFeed, Publishers
Weekly, The Millions, Bustle and Fast
Company; and won a 35 Over 35
Award 2018. As of now it will be
translated into Spanish, French,
German and Italian. It has been great
seeing college friends at my readings!”
From Brendon-Jeremi Jobs:
“T have been appointed as the first
director of diversity and inclusion at
The Haverford School, just outside of
Philadelphia. I’m driving the design
and implementation of a strategic
plan for diversity and inclusion with a
dynamic team. We have been doing a
lot of implicit bias training and racial
literacy practice. I’m continuing to
adjunct in Penn GSE’s Independent
Columbia
College
Alumni
on Facebook
facebook.com/alumnicc
Like the page to get
alumni news, learn
about alumni events
and College happenings,
view photos and more.
78 CCT Spring 2019
School Teaching Residency Program
as a history methods instructor. Last
year I was elected VP of the Board
of Directors at The Waldorf School
of Philadelphia, where we have also
focused heavily on inclusion, process-
ing Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragil-
ity: Why It’s So Hard for White People
to Talk About Racism as a team. Don't
think I’m leaving Philly anytime
soon. Holler if you're in town or want
to talk about any of these initiatives.”
From Graham Donald: “I moved
to Boise in fall 2018 with my wife. I am
in private practice as a vascular surgeon.
I am happy to be back in Idaho!”
2006
Michelle Oh Sing
mo2057@columbia.edu
Hi everyone. I’m thrilled to share
some wonderful news. Please join
me in congratulating our classmates
on these amazing personal and
career milestones!
Sean Wilkes writes, “I live in
Honolulu. My wife and I recently
celebrated the birth of our second
child and I was recently selected for
a fellowship in child and adolescent
psychiatry at Tripler Army Medical
Center, so I’m excited I get to stay
here for two more years.”
Libby Peters and her wife, Sarah
Stevenson, became moms on October
5 to daughter Findley Elizabeth, who
weighed 10 pounds, 3 ounces. All
three are doing well in Philadelphia.
Jonathan Ward has plans this
year to release his first book on
China, China’s Vision of Victory,
which outlines Chinese global
strategy and the race to replace the
United States as the world’s domi-
nant superpower.
Jenny Murray directed and
produced her first feature documen-
tary film, ;Las Sandinistas!, which
premiered in March 2018 at SXSW
Film Festival, where it won a SXSW
Special Jury Recognition Award.
‘The film also won the top honor,
Jury Prize — Best Film — New Direc-
tors Competition, and the Audience
Award for Best International
Documentary at Brazil’s Sao Paulo
International Film Festival. The
film has played more than a dozen
festivals worldwide, and was released
theatrically at the Film Forum NYC
for a two-week run in November.
[Las Sandinistas! also enjoyed theat-
rical releases in London; Chicago;
Austin; Columbia, S.C.; and Santa
Fe. The film was broadcast on PBS
World Channel on March 3 and will
stream on Amazon Prime in June.
Have a great spring!
2007
David D. Chait
david.donner.chait@gmail.com
Thank you, everyone, for sharing
your exciting updates. We want to
hear from you, so please let us know
what’s new in your life!
Matt Reuter shares, “The start of
spring also means the start of lacrosse
season. Eleven years ago, I was part
of a Columbia team that won 18
games and a club-level national
championship. I would like to give
a shoutout to my former teammates
Anthony Blandino SEAS’07, Ryan
McChristian and Dustin Byington
for helping to make that season
my favorite memory of my time at
Columbia. I write about Columbia
men’ lacrosse in this issue of CCT —
check out “The Last Word’ at the end
of the magazine.”
Joyce Hau writes, “I married Ed
Chiang SEAS’07, which is a funny
story since we didn't know each other
in college at all. We had quite a few
folks from Columbia join us at our
wedding in Bali on September 23, and
Izumi Devalier was my bridesmaid!”
Please send in a note or photo,
and have a great spring!
2008
Neda Navab
nn2126@columbia.edu
Happy spring, CC’08! Peter Law
writes, “At long, long last I am
submitting my first Class Note.
Heather Rabkin and I were married
on October 27 at Del Posto in New
York City. We honeymooned in Mar-
rakech, Morocco, over Thanksgiving.”
Alumni in attendance were
Shaun Salzberg; Allison Kade;
Diana Braham; Heather O’Neil;
Alex Breskin SEAS’08, PH’15;
and Greta Breskin BC’08.
Dan Haley was honored to be
selected as a 2018 Rising Star in
Entertainment and Sports by Super
Lawyers, one of the leading legal
industry publications, in connection
Class Notes
with his work at Cowan, DeBaets,
Abrahams & Sheppard, a full-
service entertainment law firm based
in New York City and Los Angeles.
Dan represents artists and producers
in theater, film and television.
Most recently, Dan represented
Jeremy Kareken and David Murrell
in connection with their play The
Lifespan of a Fact, starring Bobby
Cannavale, Cherry Jones and Daniel
Radcliffe, which opened on Broad-
way in the fall.
When he’s not in the office, Dan
is working on his own stageplays in
the coffee shops of Park Slope.
John Gardner started Kudos, a
daily personal training service with
a human coach via text and app,
in 2017. He says, “Founded on the
belief that personal trainers change
lives but are just too dang expensive,
Kudos makes it easy and affordable
to hit aggressive exercise and nutri-
tion goals. Clients agree — they
completed 16,801 workouts and
3,434 nutrition habits in 2018!”
2009
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Chantee Dempsey
chantee.dempsey@gmail.com
Greetings, esteemed classmates of
2009! The truly exceptional Alidad
Damooei has decided to step down
as our class correspondent after 10
years of compiling and perfecting
all of our wonderful life events for
alumni consumption.
Thank you, Ali, for your service.
With all that being said, I have
assumed the role of class correspon-
dent and look forward to hearing
about your lives. Please send any
updates you'd like me to share, from
milestones, to career accomplish-
ments, to worldly adventures, to
personal triumphs, to CU get-
togethers. I want to hear (and see,
so please include photographs)
about it all! You can reach me at
chantee.dempsey@gmail.com. Can't
wait to hear from you!
Without further ado, I'll kick off
the notes by sharing that my hus-
band, Nick Morin, and I welcomed
our first child, Madeline Blake
Morin, on September 27, 2018.
From Jisung Park: “I recently
married Irene YoungJi Kim SOA‘15,
who did her undergrad at UC
Berkeley. Last year we moved to
Los Angeles, where I am an assis-
tant professor at UCLA, teaching
master’s students in public policy
and working on the economics of
climate change. We miss the vibrant
seasons of the East Coast, particu-
larly NYC in the spring. But the
Southern California climate sure is
something I could get used to!”
From Stephanie Lindquist: “After
four years as the director of Bronx-
ArtSpace, a nonprofit gallery dedi-
cated to emerging artists and curators
from the Bronx, I am delighted to fur-
ther my educational and artistic pur-
suits. Having gardened in New York
for four years and developed multiple
plots dedicated to indigenous plants
and those of African origin, I am
thrilled to volunteer at a farm in the
Peruvian Andes to study Masanobu
Fukuoka’s natural farming principles.
They include no tilling/plowing, no
fertilizers/compost, minimal if any
weeding, no pesticides and no prun-
ing. There I look forward to working
with and documenting their incredible
biodiversity, including more than 200
varieties of potato, Mauka, Tarwi and
Arracacia roots — all cultivated by
Quechua for thousands of years! This
experience will inform my work as an
artist determined to make what has
been rendered invisible — ancient
plants and their diverse, indigenous,
largely female cultivators and their
stories — visible. To join me on this
adventure, follow me on Instagram
@StephLindquist.”
From Daniella Zalcman: “My
first story was published in National
Geographic Magazine in December
(on.natgeo.com/2Gsll0F), and I moved
to Paris in December as well, with
my husband, Joshua Robinson ’08.”
From JP McManus: “A decade
after being suitemates in Wallach and
EC, I and David LoVerme traded
hallways for tuxes, serving as grooms-
men in each other’s weddings.
“David married Kimberlee Bach-
man on August 27, 2017, after the
couple met in business school at
Boston College. The wedding was
in New York City, but they live and
work in Boston. I married Korrie
O’Neill on October 6, 2017, in New
Orleans. We live and work in New
York City with our dog, Roux. I
became a CFA charterholder earlier
this year after passing the Level III
exam last summer.
“The weddings took on the air of
pseudo-reunions as Jared Walker,
JP Park SEAS’09, Eric Rosenblum,
Oriana Isaacson, Mary McDonald
11, Isang Smith and Jon August
were on hand to party down.”
From Sierra Perez-Sparks:
“Andrei Petrenko and Sierra
Perez-Sparks married on August 4,
2018, in New Haven, Conn. Andrei
works for a quantum computing
startup (Quantum Circuits) in New
Haven, and Sierra is in her second
year at the Yale Law School. They
celebrated with many of their clos-
est friends from Columbia, includ-
ing Louis Abramson, Joanne
Rispoli SEAS’09, Thomas Chau
SEAS’09, Ester Murdukhayeva,
Rina Mauricio, Nikhil Gupta
SEAS’09, Alexios Shaw, Peter
Tsonev SEAS’09, John Kamfonas,
Ata Soylemez SEAS’09, Eliav
Bitan, Bilun Boyner SEAS’09, Paul
Ratchford ’08 and Ali Raza.”
Ralph DeBernardo and Kaitlyn
DeBernardo 10 (née Busler) relo-
cated to Austin, Texas, last year and
love living in their new city with
new career opportunities. Ralph
works for a private equity firm, Peak
Rock Capital, and Kaitlyn is the
head of sales and marketing at an
oil and gas technology firm, RigUp
(which is growing like crazy). They
also recently took a trip with Gene
Kaskiw to Park City, Utah, for
snowboarding and snowshoeing.
From Lawrence Sulak: “After
17 arduous years at the helm of
Silver Cloud Contracting and nearly
13 at Comin Correct Productions,
Lawrence has decided the time is
nigh to embark on new adventures.
Recently emboldened by his stint as
the chief of business development at
Black Box Productions, Lawrence
now seeks to rekindle his Southern
Mississippi Delta roots by launching
AntiFashion International, an eco-
conscious, Southern United States-
based fashion consultancy. Lawrence
asks any Lions in the Biloxi and
Jackson, Miss., areas to ‘holler y'all.”
From Dan Trepanier: “I got mar-
ried in October 2018 and my wife,
Karyn, and I moved to Greenwich,
Conn., where I am opening the sec-
ond retail location for the menswear
brand that I started while studying at
Columbia — Articles of Style (for-
merly “The Style Blogger’). Our flag-
ship store is in SoHo on Thompson
Street; feel free to stop by! Business
has been really good. We recently
finished making suits for Will Smith
and Martin Lawrence for Bad Boys 3.
Last year I had the privilege to teach a
class at Columbia, ‘Dressing for Suc-
cess, which I hope to turn into a more
regular engagement. One of my goals
with the brand is to educate consum-
ers on the perils of fast fashion and
encourage people to shop sustainably,
support craftsmanship and invest in
products made with integrity.”
Caroline Robertson recently
moved to Hanover, N.H., where she
is a professor of cognitive neurosci-
ence at Dartmouth College. Her lab’s
research focuses on understanding
the neurobiology of autism using
human neuroimaging techniques
(robertsonlab.com). She and her part-
ner, Orian Welling (MIT’09), have
a daughter who is just starting to
toddle, and they recently completed
a bicycle trip across China. Caroline
is interested in connecting with any
Columbia folks in the Upper Valley
area (cerw@dartmouth.edu).
Isabel Teitler completed her
first movie and is about to move to
Berlin to pursue her second. Let her
know if you're going to be in Ber-
lin or know anyone cool there she
should meet!
Emma Mintz joined the law firm
Carlton Fields in New Jersey!
Have a wonderful spring, and
please take a moment to send a note
to chantee.dempsey@gmail.com!
2010
Julia Feldberg Klein
juliafeldberg@gmail.com
Natalie Gossett got engaged to her
longtime boyfriend, Kyle Bogdan.
They are planning a beach wedding
for spring 2020. Natalie got together
with her former Ruggles roommates
Emily Wilson and Alyson Cohen
at Alyson’s housewarming in the
West Village.
Kevin Bulger shares, “I recently
spent a month in Tanzania with my
girlfriend. It is an amazing country
full of mountains, rainforests and
beautiful beaches. Definitely worth
a visit! In the past couple of years,
I have invested in some startups
founded by Columbia alumni.”
Samuel Garcia joined the new
Lathrop Gage office in Dallas, where
he will focus on toxic and mass tort
litigation. He writes, “Articles of
Style was founded by Dan Trepanier
09 and is a bespoke online tailoring
company. They have a shop in Soho,
so check them out if you’re in NYC.
I also have invested in Tara Chandra
’09 and her business hereweflo.com,
an organic femcare brand based in
the United Kingdom. I also started
a job with Farmer's Fridge, based
in Chicago. We provide affordable
healthy food through a series of
vending machines in public locations.
The company recently received a
round C of funding and will soon be
expanding to New York!”
Finally, from Chris Yim: “T’m
back in California. I settled down in
Oakland and am starting an inten-
tional community, focused on gath-
ering people who want to put their
attention toward self-growth and
cultivating community. This is an
open invite to anyone who wants to
swing by El Shire (yeah, that’s what
I’m calling it). At my house, you are
beautiful, accepted, valued, complete
and whole. Come as you are.
“My dream is to just be free. For
a while I was looking for the path,
but it turns out that I’m on it, it was
more a matter of sweeping away the
leaves and branches to see where I
was walking.
“A little bit about Oakland: It’s
just across the Bay Bridge from San
Francisco, but it’s remarkable how
different it’s feeling. I’ve started a
new chapter out here — ‘new year,
new me, right? I moved to Oakland
for more racial diversity, for more
socioeconomic diversity and so that
I could meet and get to know my
neighbors. I’ve met a lot of them,
and it’s been a real gift.
“The end of 2018 was a rough,
wild ride. It fueled a lot of growth,
but I can't say that it was easy.
Sometimes the house needs to be
demolished completely, all the way
down to the studs so that you can
build it back up and decide what you
want the foundation to look like. A
friend recently told me that up until
we're 20, we pretty much do what our
parents want us to do. In our 20s, we
start to figure out what we want, and
in our 30s, we try to start doing it.
“Highlights of the past few
months include visiting Varun
Gulati SEAS’10’s in-laws in Port-
land and hanging out with them
over the holidays. We played some
top golf, ate some bomb food,
Spring 2019 CCT 79
Fust Married!
CCT welcomes wedding photos where at least one member of the couple
is a College alum. Please submit your high-resolution photo, and caption
information, at college.columbia.edu/cct/submit_class_note_photo.
Congratulations!
|
AVA SOL PHOTOGRAPHY
WILL SCHILDKNECHT
80 CCT Spring 2019
PACIFIC DREAM
DAVE APPLE PHOTOGRAPHY
4. Lauren Ko 10 married Michael Milligan on
June 2 at Sebago Lake, Maine.
2. JP McManus ’09 married Korrie O’Neill on
October 6, 2017, in New Orleans.
3. Andrei Petrenko ’09 and Sierra Perez-Sparks
09 were married on August 4 in New Haven,
Conn. In attendance were Louis Abramson
09, Joanne Rispoli SEAS’09, Thomas Chau
SEAS’09, Ester Murdukhayeva ’09, Rina Mauricio
09, Nikhil Gupta SEAS’09, Alexios Shaw ’09,
Peter Tsonev SEAS’09, John Kamfonas ’09, Ata
Soylemez SEAS’09, Eliav Bitan ’09, Bilun Boyner
SEAS’09, Paul Ratchford ’08 and Ali Raza ’09.
4. Matt Pruznick 11 married Missy Sohigian on
October 6 at the Torre de Palma Wine Hotel in
Monforte, Portugal.
5. Colin Sullivan 11 and Cindy Pan 12 were
married on September 15 in New York City. Left
to right: Jon Katiraei 12, George Mu “11, Akhil
Mehta SEAS"11, Mira John SEAS’11, Rebekka
Troychanskiy 16, Spencer Seconi 12, the groom,
Gregory Feldman SEAS"12, the bride, Felipe
Goncalves 12, Julianne Maeda BC’12, Wendy
Rose 12, Maddy Kloss 12, Miriam Wiseman "11,
Sierra Kuzava 12 and Ricky Goncalves 15.
6. David LoVerme ’09 married Kimberlee
Bachman on August 27, 2017, in New York.
7. Alumni gathered at the wedding of Barry
Smiley ’76 and Sharo’n Smiley; in attendance
were Steve Barker ’78, Dennis Moore ’76, Larry
Collins ’°76, Denise Jones BC’76, Tom Motley ’76,
Darryl Downing ’74 and Effrem Nieves ’76.
8. Katie Yin 12 (née Brinn) married Frank Yin
SEAS‘12 in Pennsbury Township, Del., on October
13. Left to right: Bobby McMahon 12, Sarah Chai
42, the bride, Mason Fitch 12, Rebecca Fine 12
and Erik Kogut 12.
9. James Bondarchuk ’05 and Pardis Dabashi ’08
were married in October at the Eolia Mansion in
Waterford, Conn.
10. Brenda Salinas 12 married Nick Baker ‘12 in
Sayulita, Mexico, on January 4. Top, left to right:
the groom and Erik Kogut 12; bottom, left to
right: Kayla Daly 12 and the bride.
11. Jeremy Cooper 17 and Ellin Mitchell BC’19
were married in Hadera, Israel, on January 6.
More than 40 Columbia/Barnard alumni made
the trek overseas to attend. This photo is from
Cooper’s March 1, 2018, proposal in the staircase
leading up to Pupin’s telescope dome.
412. Alumni gathered in Maui, Hawaii, on November
10 for Chanel Vicini (née Soto) 12’s wedding. Left
to right: Maria Quincy 12, Amanda Su SEAS'12, the
bride, Nina Ahuja BC’12, Brandi Ripp 12, Stephanie
Tecca 12 and Renuka Agarwal 12.
43. On September 23, Joyce Hau ’07 and Edward
Chiang SEAS’07 were married in Bali, Indonesia.
Left to right: Izumi Devalier 07, Andrew Chung ’07,
alumninews
ne
BIA
Sophia Lin ’07, the groom, the bride, James
Chou SEAS’07, Cindy Tsai, George Liao SEAS’07,
Matt Nguyen ’07, Michael Peluso ’07 and
Alyssa Nylander.
14. Lila Dupree ’03 married Daniel Adair BUS14
on September 15 in Northeast Harbor, Maine. Left
to right: Robert Fraiman BUS’85, Benjamin Isaac
BUS14, Christine Ngo Isaac, Camilla Rockefeller
08, Ariana Rockefeller Bucklin ’09, the groom,
the bride, Shantala Menon BUS14, Sarah Kelly
BC’03, John Balzano ’01, Ganesh Chilakapati
BUS'14 and Prachi Snehal BUS'14.
15. Allison McLaren TC’15 and Ryan Haslett
42 were married in Old City Philadelphia on
November 17.
16. Heather Rabkin and Peter Law ’08 were
married on October 27 at Del Posto in New York
City. Left to right: Lauren Lyons Cole, Shaun
Salzberg ’08, Boris Kerzner, Allison Kade ’08,
the bride, the groom, Diana Braham ’08, Ben
Hamburger, Ari Belok, Heather O’Neil 08, Alex
Breskin SEAS’08 and Greta Breskin BC’08.
17. Matthew Ciambriello 11 married Francie
Shafer in Philadelphia on April 21, 2018.
Attendees included Eric Rozen, Madeleine
Stoler 11, Michael Henderson-Cohen BUS'13,
Terrence Prial 11, Pagie Cuscovitch 14, John
O'Loughlin 12, Chris Hays 10, Ryan Hays ’09,
Alex Crawley-Hays 11, Christina Henderson
10, Jeff Moriarity 11, Dylan Isaacson 11, Mike
Weisbuch "11 and Paul Corcoran 11.
Spring 2019 CCT 81
laughed plenty and spent some time
reconnecting with our human selves.
I bought an Instant Pot, which has
been the source of a lot of culinary
creativity. ’'m on a journey with my
writing, going back to the roots and
putting pen to actual paper. The cre-
ative journey is one that I’m figuring
how to explore and have. Not having
been raised creative and having col-
ored within the lines my entire life,
I have to learn to scrawl all over the
paper and accept that that’s my cre-
ation. Doesn't matter what anyone
else thinks about it.
“T’ve spent some time lately think
about our culture’s relationship with
consumption. How do we give more
and consume less? Our relationship
with consumption has led to the
degradation of our planet, and we're
in a crisis. We consume product,
relationships and people, and that
consumption has a way of draining
energy, something that we humans
have to figure out how to access and
create. A growth point of mine in
2019 is to give more, but to give in
a way that it fills my cup. Let’s talk
about this if this is something that
youre interested in.
“Lastly, I realized that I had such
a strong identity with being the
good guy and a people-pleaser that
another growth point of mine in
2019 is to respect myself by saying
‘no’ more often. This might contra-
dict my last point about giving more,
but it supports my desire to give
in a way that fills my cup. I'll leave
everyone with this wonderful quote
by Anais Nin, ‘And the day came
when the risk to remain tight in a
bud was more painful than the risk
it took to blossom.”
2011
Nuriel Moghavem and
Sean Udell
nurielm@gmail.com
sean.udell@gmail.com
Happy spring, Twenty-Eleven! We
hope you had an enjoyable last few
months of winter and, like you, we
look forward to the warmth and
fun times ahead as our home rock
continues another quarter-swing
around the local star.
Some classmates made some
exciting changes. Jachele Vélez
LAW’17 is happy to share that after
graduating from the Law School
82 CCT Spring 2019
and passing the New York Bar she
worked at the law firm of Covington
& Burling in Washington, D.C.,
doing antitrust and sports law work.
She’s now back in the tri-state area
for the year, clerking for a federal
judge on the Court of Appeals for
the Third Circuit, often catching up
with Shana Yearwood and Stepha-
nie Grilo’13, who are pursuing
Ph.D.s at Columbia.
Since graduation, Rosalyn Shih
had been mostly working in Beijing
as a college admissions consultant for
a private education company founded
by Columbia grads. This year, she
started freelancing as a facilitator of
experiential education programs for
high school and college students.
One highlight was seeing a full circle
rainbow after climbing to the top of
the Taoist Chicken Foot Mountain
in Yunnan Province. Rosalyn says
she is excited to move with her fiancé
to Kunming — the city of eternal
spring — in early 2019 to work for
Middlebury in China.
Others made 2018 a year for big
life events. Lety EINaggar released
the album Quest with Out Of
Nations, a project she and co-founder
Khalil Chahine started in Berlin to
reflect a dream for a world where
humanity comes before nationality.
Quest is a nine-track album that tells
a global story, taking inspiration from
Middle Eastern, Latin, pop-classic,
funk, electronic and jazz genres in
contemporary blends with a modern
sound. The band played in Cairo,
Berlin, Luxembourg and Bern in
2018 and looks forward to touring
in 2019 with their stage show, which
features eclectic stage design and
futuristic styling. Their music has
been featured on a variety of world
music, jazz and electronic music
and media outlets such as PRI’s The
World, the Huffington Post, Worldbeat
Canada, RadioEins, World Music
Central, Jazz Thing magazine and
Faze Magazin. You can hear Quest on
Spotify, Apple Music and most other
streaming services. Check out the
touring schedule at outofnations.com.
Colin Sullivan and Cindy Pan
"12 were married on September 15
in Manhattan. The wedding and
reception were at Academy Mansion,
a historic estate on East 63rd Street
formerly owned by the Woolworth
family, then home to the New York
Academy of Sciences. Other wedding
weekend events included Friday
cocktails and a rehearsal dinner at
Riverside Church (a nod to Colum-
bia’s neighborhood!) and Sunday
morning bagels in Central Park.
Colin and Cindy met in 2010
through Spectator. For the past five
years, they've lived in Gowanus,
Brooklyn. Two summers ago, after
Colin graduated from the Kellogg
School of Management, they
embarked on an 8,500-mile cross-
country road trip, and soon after
were engaged (with engagement
photos on Columbia’s campus!).
Colin is now at Cove Property
Group, a real estate development
firm in the city. One of the team’s
recent highlights was signing
Peloton to a 300,000-square-foot
lease for the growing company’s
new headquarters at Cove’s Hudson
Commons office building.
Matt Pruznick married Missy
Sohigian on October 6 at the Torre
de Palma Wine Hotel in Monforte,
Portugal. They were joined in cele-
bration by Danny Ferraro ’09; Blake
Pollard SEAS’11; Matt’s father, Bob
Pruznick’73; and Missy’s uncle,
Diran Sohigian’73.
And the thing everyone seems
to be most excited about in this
edition: Hanging out with Tuan
Felix Vo.
Lauren Parkes and Benjamin
Asch, her husband of three years, are
looking forward to trips in 2019 to
Paris to see Felix before heading to
Amsterdam and then to Sicily. Lau-
ren recently graduated from a family
medicine residency program and now
is an outpatient physician in Jackson,
N,J., for Hackensack Meridian
Health. She and Benjamin adopted
a 10-pound rat terrier, Sally (named
after astronaut Sally Ride) at the end
of 2017. Ben always wanted a big
dog so this year they compromised ...
and adopted a 5-pound chihuahua,
Hedy (named after 1930s actress
and inventor Hedy Lamarr). Their
dogs get along well, hiked Mount
Tammany with them and give lots
of kisses. Despite missing their
nightly dog cuddles when they travel,
Lauren and Ben love to experience
new cultures. They traveled to Hong
Kong and Bali last June, where they
climbed the Tian Tan Buddha and
Lempuyang Temple and snorkeled
the U.S.S. Liberty.
Felix and his partner, Nicolas,
came to Philadelphia in the last
week of December to stay with
Sean Udell and his boyfriend,
Jonathan. With Sean’s sister and
brother-in-law, the three couples
rang in the New Year at the recently
restored Metropolitan Opera
House, where they enjoyed stand-up
comedy with John Oliver and a
pre-show dinner at Vedge, a James
Beard-nominated restaurant featur-
ing seasonal vegetables (proving that
Philadelphia has more to offer than
just cheesesteaks).
Keep on conquering the world,
2011, and continue to send updates
to yours truly.
ZO1IZ
Sarah Chai
sarahbchai@gmail.com
‘Thanks for all the awesome photos
this time around, 2012!
Near these notes you'll find a
photo of Nick Baker, Brenda
Salinas and Scott Liu, who met
up in April in Madrid, Spain, at the
rooftop bar of the Circulo de Bellas
Artes. The three had not hung out
together since college and noticed
via Instagram that they were all
in Madrid at the same time. And
congratulations to Brenda and Nick,
who were married on January 4 in
Sayulita, Mexico. Check out “Just
Married!” in this issue for that news.
More great moments: John Jay
12: 10 years later! Freshman-year
floormates from John Jay 12 spent
the evening of October 13 celebrat-
ing Frank Yin SEAS12 and Katie
Yin (née Brinn). The two were
married in a beautiful outdoor cer-
emony at Winterthur in Pennsbury
‘Township, Del.
And on November 17, another
Columbia couple tied the knot in
Old City Philadelphia; congratula-
tions to Ryan Haslett and Allison
McLaren TC’15!
Have a great spring, CC’12! Keep
those notes and photos coming!
2013
Tala Akhavan
talaakhavan@gmail.com
Happy spring, Class of 2013! After a
successful and fun five-year reunion last
summer, the class has been up to great
things during the last few months.
Last spring Josh Johnson
graduated from the Warren Alpert
Medical School of Brown University
Nick Baker 12, Brenda Salinas 12
and Scott Liu 12 met up in April in
Madrid at the rooftop bar of the
Circulo de Bellas Arte.
and has returned to Manhattan as a
surgical resident at NewYork-Pres-
byterian’s Cornell campus on the
Upper East Side. He is undecided
about his specific surgical specialty
but is strongly interested in how sur-
gical care can affect health systems
at large. More importantly he is
happy to be engaging with and giv-
ing back to the city that has taught
him so much.
Alex Merchant and his wife had
a son, Cyrus, in December 2017,
who is starting to talk and walk.
Alex is nearing four years at the
Office of the Mayor of New York
City and will head to Princeton’s
Woodrow Wilson School of Public
and International Affairs this fall.
Ryan Mandelbaum still writes
about science for Gizmodo, occasion-
ally appears on Science Friday and
has gotten really into birdwatch-
ing. In his words, “The highlight of
winter 2018-19 was probably the
Razorbill flight. Razorbills are auks,
which are kind of like the Northern
Hemisphere version of penguins,
and thousands could be seen from
Montauk, the South Shore beaches
and even Coney Island.”
After graduation, Tanea Luns-
ford returned home to San Fran-
cisco to lead local restorative justice
efforts geared toward ending mass
incarceration. In 2017, she became
the director of San Francisco Chil-
dren of Incarcerated Parents Part-
nership. Growing up as the child of
an incarcerated parent, Tanea pushes
forward local, regional and statewide
policy efforts that aim to improve
the lives of children of incarcerated
parents. Her work is grounded in
healing the traumas associated with
parental incarceration by centering
the experiences and narratives of
those personally impacted. Through
her writing and directorship, Tanea’s
story has been featured in Vox, the
Harvard Kennedy School’s Journal
of African American Policy and Color
of Change. Since graduation, her
activism and storytelling efforts have
been awarded via residencies at the
Mesa Refuge, the Vermont Studio
Center and the San Francisco Public
Library, and a fellowship at the City
and County of San Francisco.
Denise Machin successfully
defended her dissertation, Find Your
Places Please: Gender in 21st Century
Amateur Ballroom Dance Practices,
earning a Ph.D. in critical dance
studies from UC Riverside on April
13, 2018. Her dissertation explores
ballroom dance practices in the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
Day Saints and queer communities.
Additionally, in August 2016 Denise
became the first woman to be
director of the Claremont Colleges
Ballroom Dance Company, the third
largest collegiate ballroom program
in the United States.
Amanda Gutterman is going on
three years as chief marketing officer
at ConsenSys, which she joined
when the company had less than
100 employees. Today ConsenSys
is one of the largest companies
in the blockchain space. Amanda
writes and speaks regularly about
blockchain and Ethereum at events
around the world, recently including
TechCrunch Disrupt and Davos.
She lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn,
with her fiancé, Sam. They plan to
get married this summer.
On a personal note, I married
Andrew Wood ’14 last September
in Los Angeles, where we moved
after several years in New York City
post-graduation. We both work in
L.A. (he in finance, me in tech), and
are looking forward to building out
the alumni presence out west!
2014
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Rebecca Fattell
rsf2121@columbia.edu
Maria Giménez Cavallo, who
majored in film and Italian studies,
sent in a great update! After such
a lovely study abroad experience at
Reid Hall, Maria moved to Paris to
pursue a career in the French film
industry. She has since worked with
Abdellatif Kechiche on Mektoub, My
Love: Canto Uno, which premiered
at the Venice Film Festival. As the
artistic collaborator, assistant direc-
tor and chief editor, Maria said she
had much fun casting the actors,
directing rehearsals, editing scenes
with several hours of rushes, restruc-
turing the screenplay and overseeing
post-production. Everything she
learned in Professor Annette Ins-
dorf’s and Professor Richard Pefia’s
film classes certainly served her well!
I recently left my position at
Sotheby’s and joined Bonhams
New York as the junior specialist in
Impressionist and Modern art. I’m
always delighted to give tours!
Have a great spring, and please
send your news to my email address
at the top of the column! And don't
forget that our five-year reunion is
almost here!
2015
Kareem Carryl
kareem.carryl@columbia.edu
Hello, Class of 2015! This is our first
column of 2019 and I hope you're
finding some luck sticking to your
New Year’s resolutions. If not, there
is still plenty of time left to get them
back on track! On to the notes!
Stella Zhao sent updates on two
of our fellow alums. First, Maria Lu
plans to travel with a classmate to
Japan. She will be taking a three-
week cruise to get there!
Maria — we cannot wait to see
the photos!
Stella also writes, “Will Krasnoff
14 started pursing a master’s in con-
nective media at Technion-Cornell
last fall, and will graduate in 2020.”
We have great news from Kenji
Jamil Ohayia! He writes, “I pro-
posed to my girlfriend, Naintara
Goodgame BC’15! We were sur-
rounded by friends and family on
Barnard’s campus right as she said
‘Yes.’ We had been dating for nearly
five years and I knew the time was
right to make the move. It could
not have been more perfect, and
what better place to ask the most
important question of my life than
where it all started?” [Editor’s note:
See photo in the Winter 2018-19
Class Notes, page 83.]
Congratulations to you both!
As always, your classmates want
to hear from you! Please be sure to
submit updates by writing me at the
address at the top of the column or
via the CCT Class Notes webform,
college.columbia.edu/cct/submit_
class_note.
2016
Lily Liu-Krason
lliukrason@gmail.com
Quick plug before I get to it: Please
write to me, or nominate someone
for me to bother for fun updates,
brags or hellos in Class Notes!
Here’s what some of your friends
have been up to lately:
Amy Li writes: “After two years
of investment banking, I decided I
wanted to try something completely
different. So, for the past six months,
I’ve been traveling in the United
States and New Zealand and work-
ing on organic farms to learn more
about where our food comes from,
and to eat tons and tons of cheese!
I started in Gales Creek, Ore.,
on Fraga Farm, the only certified
organic goat dairy in the state, milk-
ing its 100-goat herd and making
delicious goat cheeses (my favorite:
the ‘Goatzarella’) and amazing melt-
in-your-mouth goat milk caramels.
For the past two months, I’ve been
traveling in New Zealand. I started
out on a 250-cow dairy in Opotiki
(which is tiny, apparently) before
heading to an organic vineyard
and cidery in Matakana (amazing
perks) and most recently working at
a mushroom farm in Mangawhai,
where I helped grow, harvest and sell
oyster and shiitake mushrooms!
From Zachary Schwartz (he
graduated with CC’17 but is an
honorary CC’16 because he took a
year off!): “After graduating with a
degree in visual arts, 1 moved back
to Cleveland. In the past year, I’ve
had stories and fiction published in
Vice, Playboy and New York Tyrant.
I formed a hip-hop duo with my
friend and roommate, Morgan
Hughes 19, and we make music
under the name NO ROMANCE
(find us on streaming). I also work
at a solar energy startup, through
which I’ve spoken about renewable
energy at colleges, libraries and a
medium-security prison.
“Right now, I’m working on sto-
ries about vigilantes fighting heroin
Spring 2019 CCT 83
dealers and a former high-ranking
KKK ‘yellow dog’ in Ohio. In the
next year, I plan to continue writing,
putting out music and engaging in
new endeavors. Follow me on Twit-
ter @zach_two_times and follow us
on Instagram @noromanceohio.”
From Elizabeth Trelstad: “I
moved into the Columbia Startup
Lab in SoHo to continue work
on my startup, Beaker! (Named
after the Muppet! JK, it’s named
after glassware.) Beaker is building
software that audits the honesty of
marketing claims against the physi-
cal chemistry of beauty, personal
and home care products. Our secret
sauce lies at the intersection of
formulation and marketing, leverag-
ing chemical expertise to develop
high-performing, consumer-friendly
insights and content. We help
consumers find their next favorite
product, and help brands to develop
them. And we're looking to expand
the team! HMU if you're interested!
(We work with the best skincare
startups and get tons of free stuff, if
that helps.) When I’m not thinking
product build and pitch decks, I’m
hanging with my three-legged cat
and binge-watching baking shows.”
From Ankeet Ball: “I’ve spent the
last year working for a very secret firm
doing very secret things. This fall I’m
swapping bagels, subway delays and
street corner puddle pools for avoca-
dos, traffic and a permanent tan when
I head to UCLA to start my legal
studies. If you knew me at Columbia,
you knew me as a performer — noth-
ing excites me more than the prospect
of making art come to life — and
that’s what I'd eventually like to do,
working in business and legal affairs
that touch the entertainment industry.
In my last spring in NYC for the
foreseeable future, I’m living large.”
From Angad Singh: “College
habits don’t die. At Columbia, I was
making ‘Columbia style’ music videos
and studying international politics;
now, I’m producing international news
docs for VICE News Tonight and —
fingers crossed — am heading to India
soon to cover the world’s biggest elec-
tions. My job keeps me insanely busy
— or maybe I’m still a workaholic from
my Butler days. I still wake up early to
hit the gym, a student-athlete habit I
refuse to shake, though I’ve dropped
fencing. If you wanna catch me on
the weekends, look for the tall guy in
the turban riding his bike through the
city, or come dance your ass off with
me every third Saturday of the month
at Silver Factory to DJ Dwai, a fellow
CC'16 homie. CU soon y’all!”
2017
Carl Yin
carl.yin@columbia.edu
Hi friends. Here are some updates
from classmates.
Jeremy Cooper and his college
sweetheart, Ellin Mitchell BC’19,
were married in Hadera, Israel, on
The members of the rock band The Wild, The Innocent — left to right,
Guy Dellecave, Keegan Riley, Brendan Krovatin, Riley Burke 18, Michael
Coiro ’21, Nicholas Loud ’21 and Christopher Wright — recorded their
four-song EP with CU Records in Alfred Lerner Hall last fall.
84 CCT Spring 2019
January 6. In attendance were more
than 40 Columbia/Barnard alumni.
Bianca Guerrero writes: “I have
been at the Mayor's Office of Policy
& Planning for six months and love
it. My policy research and proposals
have mostly related to new ways of
tackling climate change, increasing
work protections on the municipal
level and identifying public health
strategies from other cities, states
and countries. I love this job because
it has allowed me to learn about so
many topics — labor, housing and
transportation issues to name a few.
Also, I have two amazing interns —
one whom I convinced to apply for
the Truman Scholarship! Working
in City Hall and volunteering on the
community board has really illumi-
nated how many perspectives exist
and challenged to me reconcile how
policy folks talk about macro issues
compared to how my neighbors
speak about their experiences.
“Outside of professional stuff: In
October, I found out that I have endo-
metriosis, an awful, under-researched
chronic disease that affects 1 in 10
women. I spent a lot of time visiting
doctors, researching the condition and
trying to learn from other patients.
My health forced me to pull back
from my other engagements (mainly
the Democratic Socialists of America
and the tenant association in my
building) but also presented opportu-
nities for me to reach my goal of read-
ing 30 books in 2018 and rediscover
my love of arts and crafts (cardmak-
ing, knitting) and writing (essays,
poetry). I turned 23 in November and
celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas
and New Year’s Eve with my family. I
don't know what this new year holds,
but I’m excited to find out!”
Ethan Wu shares: “I’ve recently
moved to Dallas and am pursuing
opportunities in the architecture
and real estate field. The Columbia
Alumni Association of DFW has
been a great experience and I trust
that fellow alumni feel the same. If
anyone in the area wants to connect
over a cup of coffee, please reach out
to me — I enjoy keeping up with my
fellow Lions (and just as importantly,
I know a few top beanhouses)!”
Eric Ho has finished his first
quarter of a Ph.D. program at UCLA
and is excited to begin conducting
research in his second quarter.
If you enjoy reading the Class
Notes, please send in one of your
own! We'd love to hear from you.
——
Be Se
Briley Lewis 18 (left) and Juan Pablo
Gatica 18 celebrated finishing their
first quarter of grad school with a
road trip to Arizona.
2018
2019
MAY 30-JUNE 1
Events and Programs Contact
ccaa-events@columbia.edu
Development Contact
ccfund@columbia.edu
Alexander Birkel and
Maleeha Chida
ab4065@columbia.edu
mnc2122@columbia.edu
Briley Lewis and Juan Pablo
Gatica both finished their first
quarter of grad school at UCLA, in
astrophysics and physics, respec-
tively. They celebrated with a road
trip to Arizona.
Livy Tang graduated from the
Morgan Stanley Technology Analyst
Program. She is a software developer
for Morgan Stanley Wealth Man-
agement in New York City.
During the past few months,
Riley Burke formed the rock
band The Wild, The Innocent with
Columbia post-bac psychology
student Brendan Krovatin, plus
Nicholas Loud ’21 and Michael
Coiro’21. NYC-based musicians
Keegan Riley, Christopher Wright
and Guy Dellecave also joined the
band. Last fall, they spent countless
hours recording their four-song EP
with CU Records in Lerner Hall.
‘The band is excited to officially
release its original music, which
fuses jazz and folk influences and
explores topics like intimacy, isola-
tion and connection.
Hope everyone is having a great
spring. Please drop us a note for the
Summer issue!
obituaries
1941
William N. Hubbard Jr., retired
physician and corporate executive,
Kalamazoo, Mich., on November 12,
2018. Hubbard, a University trustee,
1981-89, was born in Fairmont, N.C.,
on October 15, 1919. His M.D. was
awarded by NYU in 1944, and he did
his residency in the NYU Medi-
cal Division of Bellevue Hospital.
Hubbard joined the faculty in 1949,
becoming associate dean and associ-
ate professor of medicine. In 1959 he
was appointed dean of the University
of Michigan Medical School; in 1970,
he resigned to be a VP and general
manager at The Upjohn Co. He was
Upjohn’s president from 1974 until
his retirement in 1984. Hubbard
served two terms on the Board of
Regents of the National Library of
Medicine; he was chair twice. He later
served on the Board of the National
Science Foundation. Hubbard was
predeceased by his wife Elizabeth and
son Michael. He is survived by his
wife Joyce; son, William, and his wife,
Julia Laue; daughters, Mary Emma
Hubbard-Dodd, Elizabeth Anne
Mattson and her husband, Buz, Susan
Farquhar and her husband, Glenn,
and Shannon Smith and her husband,
Jeremiah; 10 grandchildren; and
six great-grandchildren. Memorial
contributions may be made to First
Presbyterian Church, 8047 Church
St., Richland, MI 49083.
1944:
Philip E. Duffy, neurologist and
neuropathologist, Easton, Conn.,
on September 21, 2018. Duffy was
born to American parents in Nimes,
France, and spent his early years
in France, Poland and the Czech
Republic. A 1947 alumnus of P&S,
and a longtime professor there, Duffy
interned at the Long Island Division
of Kings County Hospital and did
his residency at the Hospital of the
University of Pennsylvania. He was
a WWII veteran and served as a
captain during the Korean Conflict.
As a professor, and later director of
the Division of Neuropathology at
P&S, he authored Astrocytes: Normal,
Reactive, and Neoplastic (1983), which
reviewed the functions of astrocytes
and presented new immunocyto-
chemicals of glial fibrillary proteins
in those astrocytes in tissue and tissue
culture. Duffy was known as the
person who solved the mystery of
choreographer George Balanchine’s
death (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease).
He published more than 70 articles
in scientific journals. In retirement,
Duffy published three collections of
short stories. He was predeceased
by his wife, Natalie, and brother
Jacques, and is survived by his sons,
Henry, and the Rev. Edward and his
wife, Lynne; and two grandchildren.
Memorial contributions may be made
to the First Presbyterian Church
of Fairfield, 2475 Easton Turnpike,
Fairfield, CT 06825, or to the String
Quartet of Spring Bay, N.Y.
1947
Albert Burstein, attorney, politician
and public servant, Tenafly, N.J., on
December 27, 2018. Burstein was
born in Jersey City, N,J., and his time
at Columbia, where he played center
on the basketball team that won the
Harold Brown 45, GSAS‘49, Carter Administration Secretary of Defense
Harold Brown ’45, GSAS’49, a
scientist who helped develop Ameri-
ca’s nuclear arsenal and negotiate
its first strategic arms control treaty
as President Carter’s secretary of
defense, died on January 4, 2019, in
Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. He was 91.
Brown was born in New York
City on September 19, 1927, and
graduated from Bronx Science at 15.
At Columbia, he studied physics and
earned a bachelor’s in only two years,
graduating with highest honors. By 21,
he had earned a master’s (1946) and a
doctorate (1949), both from GSAS.
In 1952, Brown was recruited by
the Atomic Energy Commission
to be a nuclear weapons designer at
what is now the Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory in California; he
went on to direct the laboratory. From
1961 to 1965, Brown was director
of defense research and engineering,
responsible for weapons development,
and one of Defense Secretary
Robert S. McNamara’s “whiz kids.”
He was Air Force secretary from
1965 to 1969 and from 1969 to
1977 was president of Caltech.
‘The first scientist to become defense
secretary, a role he held from 1977 to
1981, Brown began the development
of “stealth” aircraft and accelerated
the Trident submarine program. As
a money-saving tactic, Brown and
Carter halted the B-1 bomber as a
successor to the B-52; however,
Pentagon budgets under Brown rose,
reflecting the need to modernize
strategic arms to meet challenges in
the Middle East and elsewhere.
Brown laid the groundwork for
talks that led to the Camp David
accords, mediated by Carter and
signed in 1978 by President Anwar
el-Sadat of Egypt and Prime Min-
ister Menachem Begin of Israel. The
accords led to an Israeli-Egyptian
peace treaty in 1979. In 1980,
Brown helped plan a mission to
rescue the American hostages held
by Iranians in Tehran; the mission
failed — eight American servicemen
were killed in an aircraft accident
and the hostages were not freed
until President Reagan took office.
Brown, who had helped negotiate
the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
(SALT I), signed in 1972 by Presi-
dent Nixon and Leonid I. Brezhnev,
also took part in talks that led to
SALT II, a pact signed by Carter
and Brezhnev in 1979. The Soviet
invasion of Afghanistan in 1979
killed the treaty’s chances, and Carter
withdrew it from consideration.
In 1979, around the time Carter
normalized diplomatic relations
with China, Brown visited Beijing,
establishing electronic monitor-
ing stations in western China that
allowed the Pentagon to collect
Soviet intelligence.
After leaving the Pentagon in
1981, Brown taught at the Paul H.
Nitze School of Advanced Inter-
national Studies at Johns Hopkins
University; from 1984 to 1992 he
was chairman of the school’s foreign
policy institute. Since 1990, he had
been a partner at Warburg Pincus, a
New York investment firm.
Carter awarded Brown the
Presidential Medal of Freedom in
1981. Brown also was honored with
the Columbia University Medal for
Excellence in 1963, the College’s
John Jay Award for distinguished
professional achievement in 1980
and Alexander Hamilton Medal
in 1990, and the Department of
Energy’s Enrico Fermi Award in
1992. He appeared on the cover of
Time magazine on May 23, 1977.
Brown married Colene D.
McDowell in the early 1950s; she
died in 2018. He is survived by his
daughters, Deborah and Ellen; sister,
Leila Brennet; and two grandchildren.
— Lisa Palladino
Spring 2019 CCT 85
Ivy League championship, was inter-
rupted by WWII, where he fought in
the post-D-Day Normandy invasion.
He received the U.S. Bronze Star
Medal and Chevalier of the Legion
of Honour. He graduated from the
Law School in 1949 and practiced
in New Jersey. From 1971 to 1981,
Burstein was elected to represent
Bergen County’s 37th District in the
New Jersey Assembly and served as
Democratic Majority Leader. He
was instrumental in revamping New
Jersey’s school funding system to pro-
vide fairly funded public education
and sponsored legislation revising
election laws. Later, Burstein chaired
the Law Revision Commission and
was a commissioner of the Election
Law Enforcement Commission. He
was named “Lawyer of the Year” in
1999 and received the Professional-
ism Award from the State Bar Asso-
ciation in 2006. Burstein founded
the firm Herten Burstein, which
merged with Archer & Greiner. He
is survived by his wife of 68 years,
Wallace S. Broecker 53, GSAS’58, “Grandfather of Climate Science”
Wallace S. “Wally” Broecker ’53,
GSAS’58, a geochemist who initi-
ated key research into the history
of humans’ influence on Earth’s
climate, died on February 18, 2019,
in New York City. He was 87.
Broecker was born on Novem-
ber 29, 1931, and grew up in Oak
Park, Ill., the second of five children.
Broecker’s parents, evangelical
Christians, sent him to Wheaton
College, a Christian liberal arts
school. He planned to become an
actuary, but a friend helped him land
an internship at what became the
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observa-
tory (LDEO) at Columbia, where
he fell in love with scientific instru-
ments and carbon dating. Broecker
transferred to the College and
earned a bachelor’s in physics. In
1958, he earned a Ph.D. in geology
from GSAS, and he joined the
Columbia faculty in 1959. LDEO
was Broecker’s academic home for
67 years; while there he worked
with J. Laurence Kulp, a geochem-
ist pioneering work on radiocarbon
dating, which allowed researchers to
86 CCT Spring 2019
Ruth; children, Jeffrey’75 and his
wife, Kim Constantine, Diane and
her husband, Jim Angel, and Laura;
brother David ’48 and his wife,
Jackie; and three grandchildren.
1949
Eric M. Olson, retired engineer,
Lincoln, Mass., on November 24,
2018. The only son of impoverished
Swedish immigrants, Olson earned
a full scholarship to Columbia right
before he joined the Army. He
trained in artillery but never saw
combat. Olson earned an M.A. from
GSAS in 1951 and embarked on a
successful career in defense research
and development, with a short detour
into solar energy research. With a
severely autistic older son, Olson and
his wife of nearly 60 years, Setha,
were leaders in the movement to
enact Massachusetts Chapter 766,
the first law to guarantee a public
education for all children regardless
determine the ages of materials as
far back as 40,000 years.
Broecker was able to understand
Earth’s climate system from research
into its oceans, atmosphere, ice and
more, and gave early warning of a
potential planetary crisis. In 1975,
he published the landmark scientific
paper, “Climatic Change: Are We on
the Brink of a Pronounced Global
Warming?” He was fond of saying,
“The climate system is an angry beast,
and we are poking it with sticks.”
Broecker noted that while the
global climate had been experiencing
a natural cycle of cooling, planetary
temperatures would soon begin to
rise because of the accumulation of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In
1976, they did; however, he had based
his predictions on a simplified model
of the climate system. In 2017, he
wrote a follow-up paper stating that,
as accurate as his prediction turned
out to be, “It was dumb luck.”
The author of more than 500
research papers and at least 17 books,
many self-published, Broecker sought
not only to warn the world about the
Eric M. Olson ’49
of disability, which became a model
for the federal Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act. Together
with his family, Olson enjoyed skiing
and hiking, and was an accomplished
mineral collector in his youth. After
he retired from The MITRE Corp.,
he and his wife traveled extensively,
including trekking to near Mount
Everest in Nepal, traveling the Silk
Road in China and Pakistan, and
risks of climate change, but also to
propose solutions. He argued before
Congress about the reduction of
fossil fuels, and received honors and
awards from foundations, govern-
ments and scientific societies, as well
as honorary degrees from universities.
Broecker was elected to London’s
Royal Society and the U.S. National
Academy of Sciences. In 1996, he
received the National Medal of Sci-
ence from President Clinton, and in
in 2004, the GSAS Dean’s Award.
Broecker married Grace Carder
in 1952; she died in 2007. Five
of their six children survive him:
Sandra, Cynthia Kennedy, Kathleen
Wilson, Cheryl Keyes and Scott,
as do his children from another
relationship, Milena Hoegsberg
04 and Tobias Hoegsberg. He was
predeceased by a daughter, Suzanne.
In 2009, Broecker married Elizabeth
Clark; she survives him, as do his
sisters Judith Redekop and Bonnie
Chapin; seven grandchildren; and
seven great-grandchildren.
Memorial contributions may be
made to Lamont-Doherty Earth
trips to Antarctica and the Galapagos
Islands. Olson was predeceased by his
wife and is survived by his children,
Matthew, Margaret, Sigrid and
Charles; and four grandchildren.
1956
Joel L. Pimsleur, retired writer and
reporter, San Francisco, on December
22, 2018. Born in New York City in
1935, the son of Solomon Pimsleur,
a composer, and his wife, Meira,
a librarian at Columbia, Pimsleur
earned a bachelor’s in journalism.
After a stint at the Yonkers Times and
writing for national magazines, he
moved to California and was hired by
the San Francisco Chronicle as a writer
for the Sunday “This World” section.
When the section was discontinued,
he was assigned to cover local news,
specializing in obituaries and police
coverage. Pimsleur often wore a
battered trench coat and sometimes
a hat while working the police beat.
Observatory Development Office,
61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964;
lamont.givenow.columbia.edu. Per
Broecker’s wishes, his colleague Sid-
ney R. Hemming will scatter his ashes
at sea on an upcoming research trip.
— Lisa Palladino
Learn more about Broecker: college.
columbia. edu/cct/archive/summer12/
features4 and Ideo.columbia.edu/
news-events/wallace-broecker-early-
prophet-climate-change.
BRUCE GILBERT / LDEO
“He reminded me of Columbo, the
television detective,” said Stevan
Thomas, his stepson. Pimsleur retired
when he left the paper in 1999,
after more than 40 years there. He
was married for 41 years to Terry
Pimsleur, an entrepreneur who staged
public festivals and street fairs around
the Bay Area. He remarried after
her 2008 death to Charlotte Prozan.
She survives him, as do his daughter,
Adrienne Keith; three stepchildren;
and a granddaughter. His brother
Paul Pimsleur GSAS’56, who
developed a widely known language
learning system, predeceased him.
1958
E. Michael Pakenham, retired
editor and wine columnist, Wellsville,
Pa., on May 9, 2018. Born in New
York, Pakenham graduated from
Blair Academy in Blairstown, NJ.
He studied economics for two years
at MIT and then studied at the
College without earning a degree. He
earned his chops in the late 1950s as
a reporter at the City News Bureau
in Chicago and as an assistant city
editor in the early 1960s at the
Chicago Tribune. Pakenham was
Washington correspondent for the
Tribune, 1963-65. He briefly was
foreign editor at the New York Herald
Tribune. At the Philadelphia Inquirer,
where he worked, 1966-84, he was
assistant managing editor and then
associate editor, as well as a colum-
nist. In 1984, Pakenham became the
editorial page editor at the New York
Daily News. He spent two years in
the early 1990s as executive editor for
the Sunday Correspondent in London
before becoming executive editor of
Spin magazine. Pakenham was books
editor and literary columnist at The
Baltimore Sun, 1994-2004. Since
2004, he and his wife, Rosalie Muller
Wright Pakenham, who survives
him, had a home editing business.
He retired in 2012. Pakenham is also
survived by his former wives, Mary
Connelly Graff and Jane Ashley
Pakenham; and daughter, Catherine
“Katie” Dempsey Pakenham.
1986
Steven J. Soren, attorney, Staten
Island, N.Y., on November 3, 2018. A
real estate and commercial litigation
attorney, Soren was a partner in the
Soren Law Group of Staten Island,
which he founded in 1998 with his
wife of 22 years, Karen. Soren earned
a bachelor’s in economics and pre-
medicine, and at the College was a
member of Phi Gamma Delta (Fiji).
He earned a master’s in real estate
development from the Architecture
School in 1988 and a law degree in
1996 from California Western School
of Law. Soren was an avid golfer
Steven J. Soren ’86
and skier who vacationed frequently
with his family in Vermont. As his
sons, James and William, developed
passions for jazz and baseball, the
entire Soren family enjoyed these
pursuits. Soren was a trustee of the
Staten Island Children’s Museum. In
addition to his wife and sons, Soren
is survived by his parents, Dr. Stanley
Soren’56 and Ruth Soren. Memorial
contributions may be made to the
Multiple Myeloma Research Founda-
tion (themmrf.org) or DKMS (We
Delete Blood Cancer; dkms.org).
— Lisa Palladino
Spring 2019 CCT 87
the/astword
Lacrosse’s Lasting Legacy
By Matt Reuter ’07
arrived at Columbia in fall 2003 puzzled
and intrigued by the school’s relation-
ship to men’s lacrosse. Columbia was
then — and remains now — the only
Ivy without a varsity men’s lacrosse team.
Yet I knew some school history with the
sport existed. My father, Thomas Reuter’78
SEAS’79, introduced me to lacrosse in the
ninth grade, playing catch using a stick he
had bought to play for Columbia in 1979.
After trying my hand at rowing for a year,
I joined the lacrosse team for the 2005 sea-
The 1908 men’s lacrosse team.
son. In the 14 years since, I have discovered
a rich history of Columbia lacrosse that
connects more than a century of players.
My first taste of Columbia’s lacrosse
tradition came against one of our oldest
rivals. In March 2005 we took to the Wien
Stadium field to face NYU. I had never
played a lacrosse game in front of more
than 50 fans, but I found more than four
times that number in the stands that day. I
soon learned that this was the latest edition
of an ancient rivalry dating back to 1881,
in which NYU defeated Columbia 4—0 in
Columbia’s first-ever organized lacrosse
game. That game led to many more, and
Columbia became one of the charter mem-
bers of the United States Intercollegiate
Lacrosse League, a group that awarded
championships in the sport for more than
60 years until the NCAA began sponsor-
ing tournaments in 1971. Nearly 125 years
later, my teammates and I set out to defeat
88 CCT Spring 2019
COURTESY WALID “WALLY” YASSIR SEAS'’88
our downtown rivals (after losing to them
on a last-second goal the year before). We
took an early lead, quieted the purple-clad
fans and comfortably won the game.
The following fall, I discovered another
theme of Columbia’s men’s lacrosse history:
renewal. Our team started from scratch with
new leadership after briefly falling out of our
club lacrosse league due to administrative
and financial problems. It was far from the
first time that men’s lacrosse had rebooted
at Columbia. After winning shares of two
conference titles in 1905 and 1909 — the
latter team included later-famous Harvey
Mudd SEAS 1912 and James Mackintosh
CC 1911 — the team disbanded after the
1910 season when its captain unexpectedly
resigned. It would take 53 years for lacrosse
to return to Morningside Heights, when Ray
Rizzuti’66 and a group of classmates revived
the team for an eight-game schedule in 1963.
Other than a two-year hiatus in the mid-
1970s, the men’s lacrosse club has existed
continually since. Rizzuti’s 1963 team played
a tough game against a more-experienced
Princeton squad before losing; my team-
mates and I on the 2006 squad did the same.
My last season of lacrosse is one I will
remember forever. After three years of van
rides to Baker Field, bus rides to away games
and a few nights spent at motels, we finished
Practicing on South Field in spring 1980.
COURTESY MATT KENNEDY '80
an amazing regular season at 14-1, surpass-
ing the 1990 team’s record of 11 wins. We
made the National College Lacrosse League
Final Four after a 10-5 win over Millers-
ville University of Pennsylvania, the team
Columbia takes on Princeton in 2006.
that beat us previously. I vividly remember
sprinting onto the field during the Final
Four to celebrate a 10-9 win over defending
champion Lynchburg College, which fea-
tured a winning goal with a minute to play
and two point-blank saves by our goalie in
the final 30 seconds to preserve the win. The
next day, after an easier win over Cortland
State, I held the only national championship
trophy I may ever hold.
Seven Ivy schools have varsity men’s
lacrosse teams, four of which will con-
verge on Wien Stadium in May for the
Ivy League Men’s Lacrosse Tournament. I
am happy to have found, through reading
old Spectator recaps and fundraising for an
endowment to support future teams, con-
nections with more than 200 alumni who
believe in the proud tradition of men’s
lacrosse at an Ivy school. Let’s honor that
tradition and “restore the roar” to Colum-
bia men’s lacrosse: Let’s make it eight.
Matt Reuter’07 is part of a group of former club
lacrosse players working to promote mens lacrosse
at Columbia. Read more about their work at
columbialionsmenslacrosse.shutterfly.com.
COURTESY THOMAS REUTER '78, SEAS'79
| i ‘
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We'll celebrate a century of dialogue and debate
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CENTENNIAL |
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SAVE THE DATE
September 27 — Opening Event
Join President Lee C. Bollinger, Dean James J. Valentini
and others to kick off a year of celebration.
Invitation to follow. In the meantime, be a part of
Core Stories, our community memory project, and join us
in celebrating this historic moment. Visit us online to IC
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CENTENNIAL
share your reflections on the Core and help give shape
to this century-old shared experience.
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Contents
The Write Stuft
Kick off your summer reading with the winner of
our first student short fiction contest.
All Aboard the BioBus!
Ben Dubin-Thaler ’00 is bringing the fun of
science to underserved communities.
By Fill C. Shomer
Graduation 2019
Hats off to the Class of 2019! Columbia’s newest alumni are
welcomed with speeches, interviews and more.
Smart Business with a
Social Conscience
Wah Chen ’92 takes on the housing crisis in Los Angeles County.
By Famie Katz 72, BUS’80
Cover: Illustration by Peter Strain
Columbia
College
Today @
VOLUME 46 NUMBER 4
SUMMER 2019
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Alexis Boncy SOA’11
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Lisa Palladino
DEPUTY EDITOR
Jill C. Shomer
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Anne-Ryan Sirju JRN’09
FORUM EDITOR
Rose Kernochan BC’82
ART DIRECTOR
Eson Chan
Published quarterly by the
Columbia College Office of
Alumni Affairs and Development
for alumni, students, faculty, parents
and friends of Columbia College.
ASSOCIATE DEAN,
COLUMBIA COLLEGE
ALUMNI RELATIONS
AND COMMUNICATIONS
Bernice Tsai ’96
ADDRESS
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530, 4th FI.
New York, NY 10025
PHONE
212-851-7852
EMAIL
cct@columbia.edu
WEB
college.columbia.edu/cct
ISSN 0572-7820
Opinions expressed are those of
the authors and do not reflect
official positions of Columbia College
or Columbia University.
© 2019 Columbia College Today
All rights reserved.
MIX
Paper from
responsible sources
pele FSC® C022085
Contents
departments adlumninews \y
3 Within the Family 38 Horam Expecta Veniet
4 The Big Picture 39 Message from CCAA President
Michael Behringer 89
6 Letters to the Editor Behringer’s top 10 reasons to attend Reunion Weekend.
8 Message from Dean James J. Valentini 40 Lions
This year’s Class Day message applies hermeneutic Ariel Schrag ’03; Francis Fortier III 59;
analysis to popular “Deantini” themes. Anna Brockway ’92; and Rich Juro 63, LAW’66,
plus other alumni newsmakers.
9 Around the Quads
Pulitzer Prize winners, faculty honors, CCT online 44 Bookshelf
archives and more. Early Work by Andrew Martin ’08
14 Roar, Lion, Roar 46 Class Notes
Men’s tennis coach Bid Goswami goes out on top. Just Married!
33 Columbia Forum: /t Speaks to Me: 83 Obituaries
Art That Inspires Artists by Jori Finkel ’92 Herman Wouk CC 1934; Donald L. Keene 42, GSAS’49;
Finkel asks 50 creators about their objects Joseph A. Sirola’51
of inspiration.
88 The Last Word
A Class of 1961 alum recounts his (gentle) revenge on
esteemed professor and poet Mark Van Doren.
Now on CCT Online
PRINT EXTRAS THE LATEST BION DEN | MAY 9
« Reunion Weekend Facebook album
« Class Day Facebook album
« Academic Awards and Prizes
“My first experience with
terrorism was when | was a
senior, my floormates and |
huddled around the TV watching
the towers fall. It seemed
incomprehensible to me at
the age of 20. My children are,
unfortunately, having to grapple
with it at the tender ages of 5
and 7. Until this point, they have
only seen the seemingly happy
co-existing of faiths. In my home,
all four of the major religions of
Sri Lanka live happily under one
roof, my own little melting pot.”
TAKE FIVE | APRIL 12
“My roommate dropped out
second semester so | became
one of those fabled freshmen
with a single, which helped
make up for the daily 5:45 a.m.
wake-up calls from the nearby
Ferris Booth Hall trash collection.
My room was also directly
across the hall from a computer
lab that was connected to
some secret futuristic network,
which ended up going live that
summer as the World Wide Web.
In hindsight, | was literally living
next door to the digital future.”
Like Columbia College Alumni
facebook.com/alumnicc
View Columbia College alumni photos
instagram.com/alumniofcolumbiacollege
Follow @Columbia_CCAA
Join the Columbia College alumni network
college.columbia.edu/alumni/linkedin — CCT class correspondent
Sonia Dandona Hirdaramani ’02,
from “Paradise Bleeds”
— Media executive Lavinel Savu ’94
college.columbia.edu/cct
JORG MEYER
watched Class Day from a new vantage point this
year — by the main stage, facing the graduates,
where I could take in the tent-covered scene as
the seniors marched in. There they were, all smiles
and Columbia blue, gowns festooned with meaningful
touches: the gold aiguillettes of the senior marshals, the
navy cords honoring commitment to Multicultural Affairs,
the colorful stoles signifying membership in Greek life
and other societies. More than 1,200 strong, together as
they rarely are, the Class of 2019 talked and laughed and
jostled about; they also shed a few tears, and no doubt all
manner of emotions rippled below the surface. (Certainly,
my own appreciation for the complicated feelings that
come with college graduation only emerged in time.)
I’m moved every year by this ceremony, with its
palpable pride and joy and sentimental expressions. P’ll
admit to a certain predisposition toward the art that is the
graduation speech. The best are honest, inspiring, humble
and not without humor. They speak to the feelings that
course through anyone who has reached this rite of
passage. And they are personal, born of the speaker’s own
experiences, driven by a desire to impart ¢Ais final lesson
or kernel of wisdom, to ask a mind-opening question, to
offer something on this momentous day that might be
carried forward.
Here I tip my hat to Brandon Victor Dixon ’03, who
delivered beautifully on this ideal. His was a moving
appeal to the responsibility we all have to and for each
other. Proximity is how we learn about each other, he said,
and there is no such thing as “trickle-down empathy.”
“Change and unity are created from the ground up by
coalitions of neighbors and friends. You can wield all the
reason and logic in the world, but sometimes the only way
to change someone is to literally touch their lives.”
You can read more from Dixon’s speech in our Class
Day and Commencement coverage on page 26. There,
you ll also hear from 10 seniors whom we asked for their
plans and also for their big takeaway from the past four
years. It may be a small sampling, but it gives a sense of
the diversity of interests and experiences in the Class of
2019. We look forward to seeing what they do next.
The same could be said of the writers we met through
CCT’s first student short fiction contest, the winner of
which has her story featured in this issue. We weren't sure
what kind of participation to expect when we conceived of
the contest last fall; as an alumni magazine, we also weren't
sure how well the current students knew us. Would they
even respond to our call? But we wanted to bridge that
gap with our future readers,
and to spotlight their talents
in a way that felt suited to our
pages. We were thrilled when
the final submissions tally
reached close to 70.
Winnowing that number to
five finalists was a challenge.
But the set that we sent to
our alumni judges glowed, and
they in turn were unanimous
in their selection of Sophia
Cornell ’20 as the winner. Two
additional stories, by Rachel
Page ’20 and Philip Kim ’20,
earned honorable mentions and
will be posted on our website;
I encourage you to read them,
and I thank all the students
who submitted a story. It was a
pleasure to read your work.
Thank you as well to our
judges, authors Kelly Link’91,
Darryl Pinckney ’88 and Jill
Santopolo ’03. They treated
their responsibility with the utmost care and respect.
And I have no doubt that their participation and what
it signaled — the possibility for students of having their
work read by such a venerable trio — is what spurred our
high number of entries.
Finally, if 1 may step outside the pages of this issue, I'd
like to highlight another special student experience that
CCT had this past semester — at the Senior Dinner, held
every year on the last day of classes. For those who aren't
familiar, the event is sponsored by the Alumni Office as
BILL PHILLIPS / LIFETOUCH PHOTOGRAPHY
a way to celebrate and welcome seniors into the ranks of
alumni. It’s always a festive night, and this year we set up
a photo-op to create some extra keepsake moments —
your face on the cover of CCT! We loved it, and hope the
seniors did, too.
I’m sure it won't be long before we see them again in
our pages.
Alexis Boncy SO ale
Editor-in-Chief
A Report on Student Affairs
CCTs newest
class correspon-
dents, Tj Aspen
Givens 19
(left) and Emily
Gruber 19, at the
Senior Dinner.
Summer 2019 CCT 3
nebigPicture
CREATIVE KEYNOTE
School of the Arts associate professor Trey Ellis led a
conversation about storytelling in TV and film with actress
Maggie Gyllenhaal 99 and House of Cards showrunner
Beau Willimon 99, SOA’03 at Reunion Weekend 2019 on June 1.
“Put your drop in the vast river of the human story, and that’s
~ a worthwhile life,” Willimon said. Find party pics, class photos
and more reunion snaps at facebook.com/alumnicc/photos.
SCOTT RUDD
Letters to the Editor
Thanks to CCT and Thomas Vinciguerra ’85, JRN’86, GSAS’90 for the nice retro-
spective on the life and work of Theodore M. Bernstein CC 1924, JRN 1925 [“Hall
of Fame”]. My father was one of Bernstein’s closest friends and worked with him in
writing and editing Bernstein’s book The Careful Writer: A Modern Guide to English
Usage. Bernstein greased the skids for me to get my first paying job in journalism,
as a night-shift “copy boy” at The New York Times. It was very instructive to watch
him at work: No matter how chaotic the news, no matter how outrageous the egos
of all around him, Bernstein maintained an imperturbable calm and was never rude
to anyone. Thanks to him and to the Jesuits who taught me Latin in high school,
I got to be something of a grammar and usage guru myself: I was the editor of the
Stylebook at The Washington Post.
Responsibility to Excellence
Regarding Thomas Vinciguerra’85, JRN’86,
GSAS’90’s excellent article on Theodore
M. Bernstein CC 1924, JRN 1925 in the
Spring 2019 issue: My SAE fraternity
brother Bill Smith ’57, who went to work
at Tbe New York Times, used to send me cop-
ies of Bernstein's Winners € Sinners news-
letter. Bernstein picked out excellent work
to praise, but he was also the defender of
the proper use of language and the paper's
resident grammar teacher.
I upbraided young Arthur Ochs Sulz-
berger Jr. at a conference some years ago
about the Times's failure to uphold those
standards, pointing out that I’d counted
6 CCT Summer 2019
Tom Lippman 61
Washington, D.C.
nearly a dozen errors in the paper just that
morning. He said, “We have bigger fish to
fry.” Perhaps, but I believe that as the self-
proclaimed “newspaper of record,” the Times
should have a responsibility to be a paragon
of excellence in the practice of its craft as
well. Alas, that seems just another sign of
decline in the once-great “Gray Lady.”
Robert Lauterborn 56
Chapel Hill, N.C.
A Passion for Lacrosse
Sentimental. Inspired. Motivated. All words
that describe my feelings as I read Matt
Reuter ’07’s “The Last Word,” in the Spring
2019 issue.
I too was a proud member of Columbia’s
mens club lacrosse team during my student
days, 1989-1993. Those teams were a diverse
collection of men from a variety of Colum-
bia schools. In addition to highly competitive
lacrosse, the team provided us with great con-
versation, camaraderie and fun. And while an
outside observer may have described us as a
ragtag operation, we were passionate about
the sport, and about Columbia.
Those passions endure — and perhaps
burn hotter — today, as lacrosse alumni
ponder the same question now as we did
then: How could Columbia, which is
located at the virtual epicenter of lacrosse
in America (most club players hail from
the tri-state area), be the only Ivy school
without a men’s varsity team?
Since the 1990s, lacrosse has continued
to grow and thrive in America, and espe-
cially in the Ivy League. In just that time,
the league has boasted an amazing seven
national champions, 10 finalists and many,
many qualifiers.
Put simply, the Ivy League may well be
the nation’s strongest lacrosse league —
with Columbia embarrassingly watching
from the stands, year in and year out.
Today, I am proud to be part of a dedi-
cated, organized group of alumni that is
working to promote lacrosse at our fine
institution and to ensure that the true “last
word” is a men’s varsity team at Columbia.
Matt DeFilippis 93
Bayville, NY.
Make It Eight
Thank you so much for Matt Reuter ’07’s
essay in “The Last Word,” Spring 2019.
Reading his narrative helped me relive
the excitement I felt playing for the men’s
lacrosse team 1992-96. I clearly remember
[e Contact Us
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about articles in the magazine but cannot
print or personally respond to all letters
received. Letters express the views
of the writers and not CCT, the College
or the University. All letters are subject
to editing for space, clarity and CCT
style. Please direct letters for publication
“to the editor’ via mail or online:
college.columbia.edu/cct/contact-us.
walking from Carman to South Field with
my lacrosse stick after seeing Eric Drath
GS’94 throwing the ball around with a
couple of his frat brothers (and his dog). I
committed to the team that day and spent
the next four years playing the game | love
with a group of guys that continue to be
some of my closest friends.
Special thanks to Matt for his research
about the team and for leading a group of
alums passionate about promoting men’s
lacrosse at Columbia. I love the fact that
Columbia will host the Ivy League tourna-
ment again! I will be there, but as I sit in
the stands my thoughts will wander to a
future where our team competes in a com-
plete Ivy League tournament — #makeit8.
Uchenna Acholonu Jr. 96
New Hyde Park, N.Y.
The Thrill of Victory
What a joy to read “They Called Him “Mr.
Little” by Alex Sachare ’71 in the Spring
2019 issue (“Roar, Lion, Roar”), particu-
larly that whopping victory over Army in
1947. Now that I have reached the plateau
of the 90s, memories fill the void of eye-
sight. That game was the big one for all of
us, and especially for me. My uncle was
a West Point graduate. The cadets were
overjoyed when their score totaled 20. Out
came their clean, square white handker-
chiefs — the West Point visitors stands,
waving us off. Undaunted, the Lion started
to roar. Our secret weapon was our feet,
pounding Baker Field’s old wooden stands.
Right after Bill Swiacki ’49 made his
amazing touchdown catch ... slowly but
surely, out came a sea of multicolored and
rumpled handkerchiefs signaling “bye-bye,
Army.” Never sang “Oh, Who Owns New
York?” as lustily. The corps surely heard
that, clean up the Hudson to the Point.
Durand Harootunian ’50
Ridgewood, NJ.
We Almost Lost Little
Alex Sachare 71’s otherwise commendable
profile in the Spring 2019 issue of Coach
Lou Little fell short by just one extra point:
Coach Little’s near-defection to Yale in
1947-48.
Just months after Columbia's miraculous
21-20 victory over Army at Baker Field on
October 25, 1947, Yale football coach Howie
Odell resigned to become coach at the Uni-
versity of Washington. Mindful of Little’s
coaching genius, the Yalies tried luring
Little to New Haven with a tempting offer
to become not only head football coach, but
also athletics director, for bigger bucks.
Little was torn. In early 1948, during a
Columbia-Penn basketball game he was
attending, Little told The New York Times
that “it was a terribly difficult decision I
had to make to choose between two of the
finest schools in the country.”
As Yale’s president, Charles Seymour,
began applying pressure on Little to depart
Columbia after 18 years as head coach,
Columbia’s defensive team rose to the
occasion. Ultimately, the job fell to Gen.
Dwight D. Eisenhower, then Columbia's
president-designate.
Eisenhower, in his memoir At Ease:
Stories to Tell Friends, recounted the meet-
TE CONNORS
ing with Little: “While I was still Chief of
Staff [of the Army], and on the eve of my
departure to take up my duties at Colum-
bia, I was given the mission of saving Lou
for the University. He had been offered
the head coaching job at Yale. Columbia
alumni panicked. They decided that only I
could persuade Lou to stay on. A group of
them, headed by Bill Donovan [CC 1905,
LAW 1908], of the OSS in World War II,
and Frank Hogan [CC 1924, LAW 1928],
the New York District Attorney, escorted
Lou to Fort Myer for a talk. I had no pro-
fessional or financial arguments to offer. I
was reduced to a personal appeal. It was
not at all eloquent.
“Lou, you cannot do this to me,’ said.
‘You're one of the reasons I am going
to Columbia.’
“The coach seemed a little flustered. But
he recovered quickly and, asking for time
to consider the future, we talked football,
reminisced, and had a general discussion
on the state of the game. For once all the
years I spent coaching seemed to make
sense. | continued to be uneasy about Lou’s
decision. And then I learned that immedi-
ately on his arrival to his hotel in Wash-
ington, he called his wife, Loretta, and said,
‘Stop packing. We're not going [to Yale].”
And thus did Eisenhower recall his
encounter with the man who would go on
to become, in Sachare’s words, “the win-
ningest coach in Columbia football history.”
Bob Orkand °58
Huntsville, Texas
Summer 2019 CCT 7
Message from the Dean
Interpreting “Beginner’s Mind”
At Class Day on May 21, I spoke about how the hermeneutic analy-
sis in Literature Humanities can be applied to the themes of Beginner's
Mind and My Columbia College Journey. The latter is a framework
designed to help students reflect on their growth and experiences at the
College. What follows is an abridged version of my speech.
he method of interpretation that our students learn in
Literature Humanities is called hermeneutics — try-
ing to determine what the writer intended to say to us,
assessing how the context of the time and place of both
the writer and the reader influence how we understand what was
written, recognizing that the writer might be conveying something
not actually intended, even seeing how the chosen grammatical
structure reinforces meaning. Hermeneutic analysis helps us under-
stand everything from sacred texts like the Bible or the Quran to
products of classic popular
culture. Today, I am going to
focus on the hermeneutics of
something that lies between
wisdom and popular culture:
Deantini themes.
Most prominent among the
Deantini themes is something
students have heard me say
many times: “In the Beginner’s
Mind there are many possibili-
ties, in the expert’s mind there
are few.” ‘The quotation is from
the book Zen Mind, Beginner’
Mind, by Shunryu Suzuki;
though not my own words,
I have adopted them and by
doing so, have imparted my
own meaning. When someone in a college or university offers instruc-
tion, the advice or guidance usually begins with, “You must” or “You
should.” To offer these words in this imperative form distinguishes the
person giving the instruction from the person receiving it and creates
a hierarchy of a superior and an inferior.
I certainly could have expressed this guidance as an imperative,
simply by saying: “You must have an open mind.” Doing so would
separate you from me, and place me in the position of the superior
instructing you, the inferior. But to say, “In the Beginner’s Mind
there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few”
serves to unite us rather than differentiate us. It places us in the
same position, sharing an aspirational behavior. Most importantly,
by the absence of words like “should” and “must,” it avoids entirely
the sense of my judging you.
My using Beginner’s Mind this way intends to encourage you
to put aside the judgment of others as your guide, and to use self-
KILLIAN YOUNG / COLUMBIA COLLEGE
8 CCT Summer 2019
awareness and self-reflection to formulate your own assessments
of the world. It reminds each of us to consider the possibility that
we might be entirely wrong in an assessment about which we feel
certain, and to temper our judgment of others who have made a
different assessment.
On the My Columbia College Journey website (college.columbia.
edu/journey/home), you won't find a single imperative sentence tell-
ing you what you must do or what you should do. Instead, you will
find interrogative sentences. For example, if you click on one of the
13 Core Competencies, such as “Civic and Individual Responsibil-
ity,” you are presented with three prompts: “How do you under-
stand your own values, actions and words?” “What service projects,
internships or other opportunities have you experienced that sup-
port these values?” “How might you imagine having an impact on
your own communities?”
‘These questions are constructed to invoke Beginner’s Mind. The
questions can be asked of me just as much as they can be asked of you,
emphasizing that we all strive to develop this competency throughout
our lives. They recognize that there are many possible ways for each of
us to develop civic and individual responsibility, and they encourage
each of you to imagine all possibilities. We don't create a hierarchy
of approaches and we don't assess what you are doing. Most impor-
tantly, we don’t judge your progress; in fact, we don't judge you at all.
There is, of course, a particular context of time and place in which
we use this interrogative form — a time and place dominated by
social media, where self-awareness, self-reflection and Beginner’s
Mind rarely seem to enter. It is a world of self-satisfaction, self-
celebration and snap judgments. With names like Instagram and
Snapchat that emphasize the instantaneous, the ephemeral, the
facile, it’s no surprise that the self-reflection and the modesty of
Beginner’s Mind can’t even get on the platform. And social media is
all about being guided by the judgment of others, via getting “likes”
and having “followers.” It is hard to consider the possibility that our
supposed knowledge might be wrong — hard even to pose inter-
rogatives that reveal genuine uncertainty — when we are marketing
ourselves to others.
We need Beginner’s Mind on social media as much as in our
classrooms — in the classroom we are less at risk of being misled by
“likes” and “followers,” and more likely to learn the value of humility.
T hope the guidance of Beginner’s Mind and My Columbia College
Journey will continue to serve you well. Congratulations to you, the
Class of 2019 of Columbia College.
See
James J. Valentini
Dean
COURTESY MICHAEL
COURTESY
LOS ANGELES TIMES
ROTHFELD ‘93, JRN'98
Three Alumni Win
Pulitzer Prizes
The 2019 Pulitzer Prize winners were
announced on April 15 and three alumni
were among the recipients. Harriet Ryan
96 (along with Matt Hamilton and Paul
Pringle, all from the
Los Angeles Times)
received the 2019
Pulitzer Prize in
Investigative Report-
ing for “consequential
reporting on a Univer-
sity of Southern
California gynecolo-
gist accused of violat-
ing hundreds of young women for more
than a quarter-century.” According to the
Los Angeles Times, the series “led to dra-
matic changes, including the resignation of
the university President C.L. Max Nikias.”
Ellen Reid’05 was awarded the 2019
Pulitzer Prize in Music for p ris m, “a bold
new operatic work that uses sophisticated
vocal writing and striking instrumental
timbres to confront difficult subject matter:
the effects of sexual and emotional abuse.”
Michael Rothfeld’93, JRN’98 was part
of the Wall Street Journal team that received
the 2019 Pulitzer Prize
in National Report-
ing “for uncovering
President Trump's
secret payoffs to two
women during his
campaign who claimed
to have had affairs with
him, and the web of
supporters who facili-
tated the transactions, triggering criminal
inquiries and calls for impeachment.”
Ryan
Rothfeld
seenoceeeoees
Faculty Laurels
The end of the academic year always
brings a succession of faculty honors. Most
recently, the Society of Columbia Gradu-
ates and the deans of Columbia College
and Columbia Engineering bestowed the
71st annual Great Teacher Awards on
ly SSS a ES a
BILL PHILLIPS / LIFETOUCH PHOTOGRAPHY
THE CLASS OF 2019 CELEBRATES AT THE SENIOR DINNER: On May 7, more than 900 members of
CC19 enjoyed dinner under a tent on South Lawn, marking their transition from students to alumni.
The event featured a welcome from Columbia College Student Council President Mina Mahmood 19,
as well as remarks from Dean James J. Valentini, Senior Fund co-chairs Jordan Cline 19 and
Emily Gruber 19, and Senior Dinner co-chairs Chase Manze ‘19 and Krystal Molina ‘19. The
evening closed with the Metrotones singing “Sans Souci” and “Roar, Lion, Roar.”
Professor of Music, Historical Musicology
Giuseppe Gerbino and Professor of Bio-
medical Engineering Barclay Morrison.
In April, the students had their say, giv-
ing their yearly awards for faculty members
who have contributed outstanding work to
publishing and academia. The Alexander
Hamilton Professor of American Stud-
ies Andrew Delbanco received the 44th
annual Lionel Trilling Book Award for The
War Before the War: Fugitive Slaves and the
Struggle for America’s Soul from the Revolu-
tion to the Civil War. Associate Professor
of History and African American Studies
Frank A. Guridy received the 58th annual
Mark Van Doren Award for Teaching
for his “humanity, devotion to truth and
inspiring leadership.”
Also in April, eight faculty mem-
bers were given Lenfest Distinguished
Columbia Faculty Awards for exceptional
instruction and scholarship, an honor that
comes with a stipend for each honoree
of $25,000 a year for three years. ‘This
year’s recipients were Taoufik Ben-Amor,
the Gordon Gray Jr. Senior Lecturer
in Arabic Studies; Associate Professor
of English and Comparative Literature
Matthew Hart; Associate Professor of
Political Science Kimuli Kasara; Profes-
sor of Writing Benjamin Marcus; Serena
Ng, the Edwin W. Rickert Professor of
Economics; Assistant Professor of Italian
Pier Mattia Tommasino; Gray Tuttle,
the Leila Hadley Luce Professor of
Modern Tibetan Studies; and Professor
of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental
Biology Maria Uriarte.
CCT Online Archives
History buffs and inquisitive alumni, take
note! Columbia College Today has a new
resource — our online archive, with access
to more than 60 years of issues start-
ing with 1954. Users can search using a
keyword index, or browse individual issues
as PDFs. The project was made pos-
sible thanks to a gift from the Columbia
University Club Foundation in honor of
former CCT editor-in-chief Alex Sachare
’71’s 18-plus years with the magazine,
and completed in partnership with the
Columbia University Libraries.
The archive is complete through the
Summer 2016 issue, and will be updated
with the latest issues every three years. For
more information, go to library.columbia.
edu/locations/cuarchives/cct.html.
Summer 2019 CCT 9
FacultyLounge
JORG MEYER
By Jill C. Shomer
ot everyone feels comfort-
able discussing the most
sensitive, hot-button
issues of our national
moment, but Josef Sorett
is here to talk about religion and race.
An associate professor of religion and
African American and African diaspora
studies and the founding director of the
Center on African-American Religion,
Sexual Politics and Social Justice (CARSS),
Sorett is interested in how ideas about
religion inform broader culture and society,
especially in black communities. “A deep
engagement with the complexities of reli-
gion and culture can help us imagine what
it means to be human,” he says.
Religion has played a major part in
Sorett’s own life. He grew up in and around
Boston, coming of age “on a diet of hip-hop
and praise and worship music.” At the same
time he was enjoying the new sounds of
The Sugarhill Gang and Doug E. Fresh, he
and his parents began attending a Pente-
costal Charismatic church that embraced
an especially expressive form of devotion.
“I spent my adolescence enmeshed in that
context,” he says. “The experience was
formative for so many of the questions I try
to answer in my research.”
Religion and race came together for
Sorett as a student at Oral Roberts Univer-
10 CCT Summer 2019
sity in the early 1990s. “On one hand, the
college was organized around a particular
set of religious tenets to produce a specific
kind of Christian person; at the same time,
it had a black student population of about
25 percent,” he says. “The ways in which
race was or was not addressed provoked
questions that there wasn't space on
campus to answer. I went for a master’s in
divinity [at Boston University], in part, to
wrestle with questions of theology and race
that had not been addressed.”
Sorett continued his studies at Harvard
and was in the first cohort of Ph.D. stu-
dents in African-American studies in fall
2001. “My first week was 9-11,” he says. “It
was quite an intense time to be studying
religion and race.” After completing his
classes, he and his wife moved to Brooklyn
and Sorett taught at Medgar Evers College
while researching his dissertation. Shortly
after graduation a job opened up at Colum-
bia that “fit exactly with my training,” and
Sorett joined the faculty in fall 2009.
He started teaching “Introduction to
African-American Studies” in 2011, and
has seen the class grow from being a small
course within the major to becoming part
of the Global Core requirement, enrolling
more than 100 students per semester. At
a time when racism has resurfaced among
the biggest concerns in our country, Sorett
aims to help students consider the present
in light of a much longer history. “I was
teaching African-American Studies at
the same time that #BlackLivesMatter
emerged, and watching groups of students
who had come of age in Obama’s aspira-
tional America now wrestling with public
incidents of anti-black violence with no
legal accountability,” he says. “Every week
there was something going on that would
seem to derail a nice historical survey.
“The responsibility is to slow students
down from whatever the headlines are
and challenge our faith in progress,” he
continues. “The way in which we narrate
American history, especially around race,
is often a story of chronological progress
to an Obama presidency or through the
achievements of the Civil Rights era. Now
all the more with the Trump presidency,
these things stand in the face of that neat
narrative of progress.”
The tension between the scholarly
and the activist has long been central to
African-American studies, Sorett says, and
is at the heart of his work with CARSS.
‘The center advances research, education
and engagement around religion, race and
sexuality with a focus on black churches
and their communities. “It’s very much
about bringing together university and
community, scholar and activist, theorist
and practitioner,” he says.
Sorett published his first book in 2016;
Spirit in the Dark: A Religious History of
Racial Aesthetics examines how religion
has figured in 20th-century debates about
black art and culture. He’s now wrapping
up his second book, The Holy Holy Black:
The Ironies of an African-American Secular,
and is editing a collection that grew out
of CARSS’s work, The Sexual Politics of
Black Churches.
When not at work, Sorett enjoys being
a soccer dad to his sons, ages 11 and 8.
Sports has always been a big part of his life
— he played basketball at Oral Roberts,
and recently became a faculty fellow to
Columbia’s men’s basketball team.
And in the classroom, Sorett says teach-
ing keeps him on his toes. “You can come
with a set agenda or anticipating specific
questions, and the students will take you in
a completely different direction,” he says.
“The classrom can help you see something
about your research you hadn't seen —
those lightbulb moments of clarity, when
you feel both older and younger all at once.”
Around
Juads
In Memoriam: Charles L. Van Doren GSAS‘59,
Professor of English Emeritus
Charles L. Van Doren GSAS’59, a
Columbia English professor emeritus
and a member of a distinguished literary
family who confessed to Congress and the
nation in 1959 that his performances on
a television quiz show had been rigged,
died on April 9, 2019, in Canaan, Conn.
He was 93.
Van Doren was born in Manhattan
on February 12, 1926. He attended the
Van Doren speaking at reunion in 1999.
City and Country School and the High
School of Music & Art, approaching
concert-level talent as a clarinetist. At 16,
he undertook the Great Books curriculum
at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Md.,
from which he graduated with honors
in 1947, after a break to serve with the
Army Air Forces in 1944 and 1945. Van
Doren earned a master’s in mathemat-
ics from GSAS in 1949. After studies at
Cambridge University in England and
the Sorbonne in Paris, he returned to
New York and in 1955 began teaching at
Columbia. He earned a Ph.D. in English
literature from GSAS in 1959.
The family name carried weight: Van
Doren’s father was Mark Van Doren
GSAS 1920, a Pulitzer Prize-winning
poet, literary critic and legendary Colum-
bia professor of English. His mother,
Dorothy (née Graffe), was a novelist and
editor. And his uncle, Carl, had been a
professor of literature, a historian and a
Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer.
The younger Van Doren captivated
audiences from November 28, 1956, to
March 11, 1957, on the NBC quiz show
Twenty-One. All told, he earned $129,000
(equivalent today to more than $1 mil-
lion). He appeared on the cover of Time,
received fan letters, brushed off marriage
proposals and signed a $150,000 contract
to appear on NBC shows for three years.
In succeeding months, as rumors and
skepticism over IV quiz shows grew,
some contestants admitted the programs
had been fixed. Van Doren denied it to
the press, the public, family, friends and
even a Manhattan grand jury. But on
November 2, 1959, he told congressio-
nal investigators that he had been given
questions and answers in advance and had
been coached to make his performances
more dramatic.
Van Doren, who was highlighted
among the show’s many participants
because of his family’s prominence, said
he agonized to come to terms with his
betrayals. Columbia accepted his resig-
nation, NBC canceled his contract and,
along with others who had lied to the
grand jury about their roles, he pleaded
guilty to misdemeanor perjury and
received a suspended sentence.
Afterward, Van Doren became an
editor and a pseudonymous writer, took
a job with Encyclopedia Britannica and
moved to its Chicago headquarters in
1965. He became a VP in charge of the
editorial department and edited, wrote
and co-wrote dozens of books. He also
returned to education, teaching English
at the University of Connecticut’s Tor-
rington campus, not far from his home in
Cornwall. He retired in 1982.
For decades, Van Doren refused to talk
publicly about the scandal. He declined to
assist in a documentary for the PBS series
American Experience in 1992, or in Robert
Redford’s 1994 movie, Quiz Show, of
which he was the focus.
Van Doren is survived by his wife,
Geraldine Ann Bernstein; their children,
John C.L.’84 and Elizabeth; and three
grandchildren. His younger brother, John
GSAS’52, died in January 2019.
— Lisa Palladino
DidYouKnow?
The First New York City Subway System
Was Designed by a College Grad
illiam Barclay Parsons CC 1879, SEAS 1882 was a pioneering figure in
New York City’s subway system. In 1894, Parsons became the first chief
engineer of the New York Rapid Transit Commission; as part of his work
he designed the original plan for the Interborough Rapid Transit subway — the city’s
first underground transit system. The original IRT line opened in 1904, and 116 Street
- Columbia University (now a 1 train stop) was part of the first wave of stations that
ran from City Hall to 145th Street at Broadway. At Columbia, Parsons was both a
co-founder of Spectator and class president.
cll one
7 COLUMBIA
| UNIVERSITY
ha KARA i
i
SCOTT RUDD
Summer 2019 CCT 11
HallofFame
The Restaurateur Who Brou
Glamour to the Table
By Thomas Vinciguerra ‘85, JRN’86, GSAS’90
mack amid the Manhattan The-
ater District’s riotous mix of boffo
hits and broken hearts sits a res-
taurant called Sardi’s. For decades,
that spot at 234 W. 44th St. has
been synonymous with premieres, celebrity
spotting, caricatures of show-biz types and
all-around entertainment razzle-dazzle.
And, for more than 45 years, it was
Vincent Sardi Jr. BUS’37, the “Unofficial
Mayor of Broadway,” who owned and ran
the place. He once called his family’s name-
sake establishment “a message center, a lov-
ers’ rendezvous, a production office, a casting
center, and even a psychiatrist’s office.”
He added, “We serve food, too.”
Sardi’s began life as a speakeasy that Vin-
cent Sardi Sr. acquired in 1921, six years after
his son, nicknamed “Cino,” was born. Even
as the younger Sardi studied on Morningside
Heights — his first two years were spent at
the College — he knew where his destiny lay.
Sardi, in the kitchen of his famed restaurant in 1966.
12 CCT Summer 2019
One day he told his father that he wanted
to follow him into the business. His mother
was appalled; her son, after all, was an Ivy
Leaguer. But Papa Sardi said, “There is
nothing disgraceful about being a restaurant
owner if you are well trained and do it right.”
So Sardi abandoned his pre-med track and
transferred to the Business School. Outside
of class, he toiled in the kitchen and behind
the cigar counter (“Dad said the cigar counter
was a job; I thought it was punishment”), as
well as spending time as a busboy, waiter, cap-
tain, headwaiter, host, buyer and accountant.
He formally purchased Sardi’s in 1947.
Under the guidance of Sardi /i/s, who
worked 14 hours a day, the restaurant
became legendary. The Tony Awards were
conceived there the same year that Sardi
bought out his father, and for decades the
nominees were announced at a luncheon
ceremony. Traditionally, an opening-night
cast and crew would adjourn to Sardi’s to
LEONARD NONES / CONDE NAST VIA GETTY IMAGES
ght Celebrity
await the early reviews. “If they’re good,”
said Sardi, “we start to hear, ‘Captain, a
bottle of champagne and the food menu.
God, I’m hungry!’ If the reviews aren't
good, all we hear is, ‘Check, please.”
Of course, Sardi’s also earned a reputa-
tion for its gallery of hundreds of celebrity
caricatures — a tradition begun in the late
1920s when Alex Gard, a poor Russian
refugee, struck a deal to draw them in
exchange for meals. (Stories are attached
to many portraits, including that of James
Cagney CC 1922, which someone stole
off the wall on the day he died.)
Sardi liked actors; he had been one in
his childhood, playing “Pietro the Little
Wop” in 1925’s forgettable The Master of
the Inn. He also appeared in Buckaroo in
1929; the reviews were so bad that the
producers cut all the extras after opening
night, “including me.”
Mindful, perhaps, of such misfortunes,
Sardi was an indulgent host, often allowing
patrons to run up large tabs. “I’ve learned to
be awfully careful with an actor out of work,”
he said. “A table in a good location is simply
my way of giving him a pat on the back.”
Along the way, he came to know many of
his clients. He took Broderick Crawford’s
Doberman for a walk every night when the
future Academy Award winner was starring
as Lennie in Of Mice and Men. He washed
dishes with actor/director Alfred Lunt, who
told him, “You serve fine food at your place,
and you know how to get people seated
gracefully — but after this, I know you
know how to run a restaurant!”
The Sardi’s name has carried far beyond
NYC; both restaurant and owner have fea-
tured on television and in numerous movies.
For its 1976 turn on NBC’s Big Event series,
the producers wanted a dish not normally
on the menu. “So we serve 200 people
Scotch grouse, which has to be cooked
practically raw,” Sardi recalled. “And all of a
sudden I hear, ‘Vincent! What is this crap?!”
In The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984),
“Cino” ejected Kermit the Frog after the
ambitious amphibian tried to replace Liza
Minnelli’s caricature with his own. But two
years later he sold the business for a reported
$92 million and retired to Vermont to play
polo, tend to his German Shepherds and
tinker with his collection of antique cars.
By that time, much of Sardi’s luster had
dimmed amid the 1970s decline of New
York City in general and Times Square in
particular. In 1988, New York Times critic
Bryan Miller described the once proud
landmark as “a bumbling parody of itself.”
The new ownership filed for bankruptcy
and closed the doors on June 30, 1990.
And so, determined to rise to the chal-
lenge of restoring his family’s name, the
septuagenarian Sardi abandoned pastoral
Vermont for bustling Midtown. Return-
ing to his beloved restaurant, he found a
crumbling, roach-infested building and
water dripping from stained ceilings. “It
was one of my saddest moments,” he told
Crain’ New York Business.
Sardi responded by investing $500,000 in
refurbishments, bringing back some of the
staff and in general being a reassuring face of
the old days. The grand reopening took place
on November 1, 1990, with a party for 400
guests to celebrate David Merrick’s revival of
the Gershwin 1926 musical, Of, Kay! In just
a couple of years, business was rebounding.
“We got through Prohibition and the
Great Depression,” Sardi said. “You can’t
just let a tradition like this go down the
drain.” And indeed, it has not. Satisfied
with the turnaround, Sardi’s longtime
owner left West 44th Street for good in
1997. Today, the restaurant is as firm a
fixture of the Theater District as ever.
When Sardi died on January 4, 2007, at
91, his peers saluted him the following eve-
ning as they long have other giants of his
realm — by dimming for one minute the
marquee lights of the Great White Way.
LookWhoss Talking
Josh Lucas
Executive Director
of Student Engagement
| see you have degrees from the Universi-
ties of Tennessee and Kentucky, and then
worked at Kentucky for a few years. What
drew you to Columbia?
I actually lived in New York City between
undergraduate and graduate school to pursue
acting. I loved the city and, after I decided to
go to graduate school for higher education in
student affairs, knew I wanted to make my way
back one day. Fortunately, a job opportunity
at Columbia brought me back. At the time,
it was a position that allowed me to work
on Orientation, student group advising and
community building programs.
What’s your typical day?
No day is the same. You can think you know what
to expect, but something could arise that needs
immediate attention, whether that is a student group concern or supporting my team.
Each day has meetings with students, staff and campus partners. And of course, lots of
emails. Coffee is my constant in the day. I have it morning, noon and night!
KILLIAN YOUNG / COLUMBIA COLLEGE
What’s the best part of your job?
Interacting with students. It’s the reason I wanted to be in student affairs. I had
incredible mentors in undergraduate and graduate school who provided me so many
opportunities, and I wanted to give back. Whether that is conversations in my office
or at campus traditions, retreats or fun programs, I love seeing students enjoy their
College experience, and the fact that I get to help create opportunities for them is
the best.
You have a lot of involvement with student group advising. How do you view
the place of those activities within students’ My Columbia College Journey?
I believe many students find a home and community at Columbia within their
student group, which then becomes a part of their Journey. The core competencies
outlined in the Journey can all be found within a student group, from teamwork
and collaboration, to oral and written communication, to civic and individual
responsibility, to wellness and resilience.
What’s one thing about yourself that would surprise readers?
That’s a tough question, mainly because I feel I’m open with my students, staff and
campus partners, but I'll try to name a few: I was a first-generation college student,
I was a commuter in undergraduate, I’ve run the New York City Marathon, I have
a full-sleeve tattoo (with plans for more), I love to travel, I am an uncle, I have been
with my husband, Ryan, for over nine years and married for a little over a year, and I
am extremely close to my family.
Summer 2019 CCT 13
ROAR, LION, ROAR
In the Sweet Spot
Men's tennis coach Bid Goswami knows
how to deliver a swan song — in his 37th
and final year at the helm, Goswami guided
the team to its sixth straight Ivy League title
and was named both the Ivy League and the
Wilson/ITA National Men’s Tennis Coach
of the Year. The Lions finished with a per-
fect 7-0 record in conference competition.
Overall, the team went 17-3, falling only to
teams ranked in the top 10 nationally.
Victor Pham
19 was named Ivy
League Player of the
Year for the second
consecutive year. He
bounced back from
fall wrist surgery
to close the regular
season with a 15-3
overall record and, as
the 37th seed in the NCAA singles tour-
nament, advanced to the second round
before getting knocked out. Meanwhile,
Jack Lin’21, who entered the NCAA
tournament as the 22nd seed, went one
round further, falling in the Round of 16.
Pham and Lin also were among the
players named to the 2019 first All-Ivy
League singles team; Adam Ambrozy’20
was named a second-team singles honoree.
q ROAR!
Keep tabs on all the Lions news! For the
latest, download the Columbia Athletics
app or visit gocolumbialions.com.
Victor Pham 19
In addition, Lin was named to the first
doubles team alongside William Mathe-
son ’19, and Pham landed on the second
doubles team with Rian Pandole ’21.
On the women’s side, Jennifer Kerr ’21
earned a spot on the first All-Ivy singles
team. Akanksha Bhan ’22 was named
to the second team in both singles and
doubles, and Paulina Ferrari ’21 also to the
second doubles team. The Lion women
concluded their season with a 15—4
record, 4-3 in the Ivy League.
14 CCT Summer 2019
Batter Up
Lions softball had its stron-
gest season in the program's
20-year history, finishing
with a 24—21 record after
going 15-6 in Ivy League
play. Their effort earned them
their first trip to the Ivy
League postseason, though
they lost in the first round
to Harvard. Coach Jennifer
Teague garnered Ivy League
Coach of the Year honors —
her first in her five seasons
leading the team. “This has
been such an amazing year
in so many different ways,
but the things I’m going to
remember most about Team
THE IVY LEAGUE / SIDELINE PHOTOS
20 are their energy and
spirit,” Teague said. “They loved
Fired up! Max Ortega ’21 at the 2019 lvy League Playoff Series.
each other and were great teammates to each other.” Max Oretega’21, Maria Pagane
21, Sommer Grzybek’20 and Alexa Pinarski’22 all were named to the All-Ivy first
team, while Madison Canby’20 earned a spot on the second team.
Lions baseball, meanwhile, fell to Harvard in the Ivy League Playoff Series, finish-
ing its year at 19-23 and just missing a bid to the NCAA tournament. Joe Engel’19
earned a spot on the All-Ivy first team, while Chandler Bengtson’19, Julian Bury ’20,
Liam McGill ’20 and Josh Simpson 19 landed on the second team.
Silver Medal
Columbia’s lightweight coxed varsity four
captured a silver medal on the last day
of the IRA National Championships in
Sacramento, Calif. They narrowly edged
out Princeton and Cornell, with all three
teams finishing within 0.8 seconds of each
other; Navy took gold.
Elsewhere at the championships, the
Lions’ lightweight varsity eight took fourth
place in the grand final, the lightweight
varsity four earned eighth overall and the
heavyweight varsity eight placed 15th.
From the Links
After a three-round weekend that saw
Columbia get stronger every time out,
men’s golf took second place in this year’s
Ivy League Championship, finishing just
one stroke behind Princeton. Agjun Puri
'21 was key to the team’s Sunday surge,
shooting five-under-par 66, the best round
for an individual in the entire tournament.
Individually, Daniel Core ’22 and John
Robertson ’21 were
Columbia’s strongest
finishers, tying for
seventh. The pair also
earned All-Ivy League
second team honors.
The women’s
team captured third
place during its Ivy
League championship
weekend, headlined by Jennifer Wang ’22’s
second place individual performance. Wang
shot a four-over-par 70-77-73-220, just
two strokes behind the leader. Wang also
earned All-Ivy First Team honors, only the
third player in school history to do so.
Jennifer Wang ’22
Ree
The mei Stuff
Pour a glass of lemonade and find a nice, shady spot — it’s time
to get to know the short fiction of Sophia Cornell ’20, the winner of CCT’s
inaugural student writing contest. We launched the contest at the start of last
semester, and Cornell’s story, “Host,” was chosen from an impressive 68 total
entries. (The flood during the last weekend of the submissions period had us
grinning — our breed are known procrastinators!)
So many stories, so many worlds. We couldn’t wait to dig in.
Reading them all highlighted the range of interests that animate the
College’s creative writers. The works ventured into different genres, and
explored themes both timeless and contemporary. In the end, we passed five
finalists to our judges; their decision was unanimous. They praised Cornell
for her ability to wholly inhabit a male psyche; for knowing how to conceal
information and play with notions of truth; and for the momentum and sense
of mystery that kept them engaged to the end.
A word on our judges: We were fortunate to enlist a panel that included some
of our most talented alumni writers: Kelly Link ’91, a 2018 MacArthur “genius”
grant winner and author of Get in Trouble; Darryl Pinckney ’88, author of Black
Deutschland and the forthcoming Busted in New York and Other Essays; and
Jill Santopolo ’03, New York Times bestselling author of The Light We Lost
and her latest, Wore Than Words. Listening to their discussion — the care and
respect that guided it, the insights that came from it — was a master class in
how to talk about writing. The three were touched by the ambition evidenced in
all the stories before them, and impressed that the writers had each in their own
way stepped outside of personal experience and invented worlds.
The judges also awarded two Honorable Mentions, to “Until the Bell Tolls”
by Philip Kim ’20 and “Rats” by Rachel Page ’20. You can find those published
online in our Feature Extras.
Our winner, Cornell, hails from Boulder, Colo., and is a creative writing and
economics-mathematics major. She is an editor for The Eye, the long-form
magazine of Spectator, and a biking trip leader for the Columbia Outdoor
Orientation Program. This is her first fiction publication. We’re proud to set the
stage for that debut, and look forward to seeing what comes next. >>
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omewhere in Nicaragua a child is named after
me. To be honest, I don't remember exactly
where in Nicaragua. I only spent seven weeks
there, and it was a decade ago. It’s what you're thinking:
I went on a program the summer after my sophomore
year in high school, and I wrote my college essay about
the experience.
I found out about the kid by accident when scrolling
through Facebook on a lunch break. Girls from my high
school are forever having babies and posting airbrushed
pictures of them with cat ears. The kid — soccer jersey,
missing teeth, maybe 8 years old — could have been one
of theirs. Then I saw that my host sister from Nicaragua,
Isabel, had posted it. I reread the text more closely and
saw with surprise that the kid had my name.
My name is uncommon and involves sounds not
endemic to Spanish. I'd rather not tell you what it is
because a very famous and despised person has the
same first name, and I find that after learning my name
most people take a while to warm up to me.I stopped
using the name in college. In my professional life and
with baristas I’ve made an effort to use my middle
name, Satchel. At home my girlfriend, Felicity, calls me
Puck. My family still calls me by my real name, which
is just one reason | don't like to talk to them.
This kid’s existence rattled me. In the picture, he was
in a backyard I remembered: enormous green leaves, cof-
fee trees, two lazy cows under a thatch next to a shed.
Nothing like where I live now, in Indiana. Now that I
put on a suit, go to work, come home every day to a sweet
person like Felicity, I’ve started to think I could someday
be a godfather. Or maybe a dog owner. But the 15-year-
old version of me, the only version Isabel ever got to see,
wasnt namesake material. 1 guess he was a good person,
but mostly he was angry, selfish, acne-infested.
On the day that I saw the picture, I got home from
work to find Felicity making a chickpea coconut curry.
Felicity is a good cook but she only makes about four
things. Still, I like her curry and was happy to smell it
bubbling away as I hung up my umbrella and my brief-
case and slipped off my loafers. She doesn’t want shoes
in the apartment, which is understandable.
I went into the kitchen and kissed her on the forehead
and asked about her day. Felicity works with special-needs
children and often has things thrown at her at work.
She looked up from the stove. “Peyton took his
shoelace off and tied it around his neck at recess. He
turned blue.”
“Oh, no,” I said. I have a hard time remembering the
names of all of her charges, and which ones have what
problems, but I try to listen intently so that she feels heard.
“Peyton’s mom told the school nurse she couldn't pick
him up right away and offered to send a driver instead.”
“Wow,” I said. She picked up the pan and poured
the curry into two bowls, controlling the flow of liquid
with a spatula. We kept meaning to buy a ladle.
We sat at the table and held hands and ate. I was
impatient to show her my namesake in the soccer jer-
sey. 1 thought Felicity would find the picture charming,
but when I showed her, she tensed up and let go of my
hand. She took my phone and zoomed in on the kid’s
face until it was pixelated.
“When exactly were you in Nicaragua?” she asked.
“Ten years ago.”
“Puck, is there any chance he’s your son?”
I almost laughed out loud. I was 15 that summer, all
leaking pustules and overbite, every inch a virgin. I had
not impregnated anyone.
Illustrations by Peter Strain
Summer 2019 CCT 17
18
CCT Summer 2019
Her round, bulging eyes were like two searchlights
on my face. I was a little turned on that she thought
of even my 15-year-old self as virile and sexual. Maybe
that’s why I did what I did.
What I did was give the impression that I was
searching through a vast archive of sexual experience,
so vast that certain memories were buried under the
sheer volume. “I don’t think so,” I said, “but I guess it’s
not impossible.”
We'd had the conversation about past sexual part-
ners, of course. I listened in agony as Felicity described
the drummer, the surfer, the minor league baseball
player, the tattooed chef, the boy next door, and the
youth group pastor. She went in reverse order, and
ended on a “friend” from high school whom she ran
into on a ski slope at 9 a.m. and blew on the chair lift
at noon and later spent a week with while her parents
thought she was at a tennis tournament.
Then it was my turn. I had no choice but to embel-
lish a little. I don’t remember exactly what I said, since
the whole conversation was extremely stressful and I’ve
a , Te QV
Re
a
ND
since done my best to never think about it again. But
I might have suggested that I was a bit of a Don Juan.
Now I have to avoid the topic entirely so I don't get
caught in a lie.
| REMEMBER the first time I saw Isabel, on my first
day in Nicaragua. All the Americans were bused from
the airport to a warehouse covered with murals of past
revolutionaries. The host families stood in bunches,
waiting for their “volunteers,” and the kids reassembled
into the cliques they had made on the bus.
The frizzy-haired coordinator woman pointed me to
my family. I noticed Isabel right away. She was a little
older than me, maybe 17, in a pink polo shirt, a small
birthmark under her right eyebrow. I followed them
to an old school bus that had once served Roosevelt
School District. The day was hot and muggy. The bus
was exactly like the school bus I used to ride with my
older sisters. I felt like a child again and suddenly felt
very relaxed, like I was floating in the warm water of
the scene and going where the current called.
Isabel and I had a low-level flirtation throughout the
summer. To be honest, I’m not sure it even registered
with her, but she worked me daily into a frenzy I had to
deal with in the wooden shed by the cows. I went there
at night to take bucket baths and have privacy. The
shed didn’t have a roof, so I guess it was more of a stall.
I liked to wash myself at night, especially when the fog
hid the stars. I had never been in such total blackness.
The family consisted of Isabel, her parents and a
toothless older man whose relation to the family I
never got quite clear. The dad was very kind and had
crinkly eyes. I liked him tremendously even though we
didn’t have much to say to each other. He once found
a flier on the ground and asked me to read it out loud
to him, which is how I realized he couldn't read. He
left every morning to work on a coffee plantation, so
I mostly spent time with Isabel and my host mom. I
often walked with Isabel to the soccer field, where she
liked to admire a spry little guy everyone called “El
Negro.” I joined in the soccer game exactly once.
‘The family and J ate rice and beans three times a day.
On special nights, my host mom mixed them together
so that the beans colored the rice. She called the dish
Gallo Pinto, as if it were a different food. My host dad
milked the cows every morning, but their milk was thick
and yellow, like unmixed paint, and I couldn't bring
myself to drink it. I'd spent the first half of the summer
playing video games in my basement, drinking Coke
and eating Girl Scout cookies by the sleeve. By my first
week in Nicaragua, I went weak at the thought of sugar.
My host mom made money by selling vanilla cup-
cakes in the nearby town. She baked a new batch every
few mornings. The kitchen had four plates and four
forks and 15 cupcake pans. On baking days I hung
about the dirt-floor kitchen all morning, offering to
sweep or beat eggs. If I looked just hangdog enough,
my host mom would offer me a cupcake. They tasted
like wet Nilla Wafers.
But one cupcake a day wasn’t enough. Isabel and
I never talked about it, but we began to sneak more
and more. The cupcakes rested on metal trays on a
splintering table in the open air outside the kitchen.
Isabel would walk by, arms swinging. She could snag
two cupcakes on the downswing without stopping. She
stuck them in her waist band and we hurried off to the
shed by the cows. The smell of vanilla or cow dung still
brings me back to those squished cupcakes, warm from
her hip, eaten in two feral bites.
We were complicit. I was too scared to actually do
the stealing, but Isabel and I both knew that I would
be blamed for the sudden increase in disappeared
cupcakes. I was pretty sure that as the American and
the guest, I wouldn't get in trouble. I never got quite
clear on the financial incentive for taking a volunteer
through the program, but I think it was generous,
because other people in the village often spoke long-
ingly of getting their own volunteers. The money must
have covered my portion of rice and beans and then
some. I hoped it made up for the lost cupcake revenue.
The family often asked how much my Adidas shoes
cost, how much plane tickets from the United States
cost. I said I didn’t remember, and when they pressed me
to guess, I automatically halved or quartered the num-
bers. I didn’t know how to be rich. At home, I was the
only one of my friends who didn't have braces. My par-
ents were always worried about money, actually far more
worried than anyone in Nicaragua seemed to be. I was
only on the expensive trip in the first place because my
grandma saw it as her duty to evacuate innocent civilians
from the war zone of my parents’ impending divorce.
The family asked me for money only once, when
they learned it was my birthday. My host mom said she
could make me a cake, vanilla, the way I liked it, but
maybe | could help out a little with the ingredients? I
panicked. I had some emergency money my real mom
had hidden in my backpack, but I didn’t want to make
the relationship with the host family as transactional
as it really was. So I told her I didn’t need a cake, but
thanks anyway.
My departure was surprisingly teary. I had written
thank-you cards to all the family members and I pre-
sented them on the last day with a flourish. I read my
host dad’s out loud to him. The whole family accompa-
nied me to another yellow school bus, which took me
back to the warehouse with the murals. | reunited with
all the volunteers and spoke in English again. At the
airport in Houston, I drank a milkshake and poured a
family-sized bag of Skittles down my throat, and then
I threw up on the plane to Chicago. My parents hadn't
coordinated with each other and they both arrived in
separate cars to pick me up from the airport. I don't
remember who I chose.
At home, I went back to the basement. Everyone in
the family was in the process of marking their territory
in the house and the basement was mine. I made a lot
of deals with God, offering to sacrifice various fam-
ily members for things I really wanted: a girlfriend, an
Xbox, plans on a Friday night.
Isabel messaged me a few times on Facebook. I was
lonely and bored, but I didn’t see much point in talking
to someone | would never see again. And I got nervous
texting in Spanish. I waited a while before I responded
to make it clear I wasn’t trying to be pen pals.
FELICITY AND | didn't mention Isabel or the kid again.
She went back to babysitting her screaming suicidal
kids and I went back to the office. Every night we
ate one of her four dinners and watched a movie or
had sex. She seemed a little scared of me, which I was
ashamed of but also liked on a primal level. She took
to grabbing my hand as we went to sleep and pressing
it to the underside of her upper arm where I could feel
her birth control implant, like a matchstick under her
skin. That was as close as we got to discussing preg-
nancy, or the kid with my name.
Around this time, the dictatorship fell in Nicaragua. Or
maybe a democratically elected leader turned into a dicta-
tor. In any case, the situation was getting bad. At work, I
saw a segment on CNN about the riots, the raided news-
paper offices and the violence in the countryside.
One Sunday at home, I got up from my catatonic
internet trawling and went to take a shit. I had just
sat down when Felicity said “knock knock” at the door.
She says that instead of actually knocking, a habit of
hers I have always found disgusting. I told her I'd be
out in a second, and settled in to take my time.
When I got out, Felicity was standing with her
arms folded in front of my computer. She pointed at
the screen where a Facebook message from Isabel had
popped up. I didn’t even think Felicity
could read Spanish. I walked slowly to
the fridge, where I got myself a Coke,
and then sat down to read the message.
Isabel said that everything now had to
be bought off the black market at crimi-
nal expense. Her dad had moved to Costa
Rica, but even the jobs there were disap-
pearing every day. She wanted to move
to the United States. A lifelong dream, she said, now a
necessity. She knew citizens of the United States could
sponsor family members for a green card. She hated to
ask, but maybe I could sponsor her. After all, weren't we
Honor
basically family? Didn't she have a son with my name?
I could feel Felicity’s searchlights on me. I shut my
eyes, but the underside of my lids were red, as if I were
looking at the sun. I remembered, fondly, the nights
I had bathed in the shed and hid in the blackness of
the sky.
RolL
Read two more stories we loved,
by Philip Kim ’20 and Rachel Page ’20:
college.columbia.edu/cct/latest/
feature-extras/fiction.
Summer 2019 CCT 19
PS oe 3
vhabats
- ry
a “ayy 7d
rs J
sonstronte title
TO UNDERSERVED
COMMUNITIES
L ABOARD
t BIOBUS
Students from a
Bronx elementary
school boarding the
BioBus II Airstream.
ANDY CRIBB /
CRIBB VISUALS
22 CCT Summer 2019
utside P.S. 133 in Harlem one rainy Monday
morning, a squealy group of first-graders
are jumping off a bus. It’s not a school bus,
or even a city bus — the excited students
have just finished a 45-minute, hands-on
science class aboard a solar-powered mobile
laboratory called BioBus. Examining tiny crustaceans
under powerful research microscopes is heady stuff,
and several children linger. At the door, Ben Dubin-
Thaler 00, GSAS’08 Ph.D. looks on, pleased.
“Dr. Ben,” as he is known to students, started Bio-
Bus in 2008 to test a hypothesis. While getting his
Ph.D. in biology, he would invite friends and their kids
to the lab where he did research, and the youngsters
always loved it. Dubin-Thaler became convinced that,
provided the tools and Opportunity to do hands-on
experiments, any young person could get excited about
science. “All the research shows that lab experience is
a huge predictor for people following STEM careers,”
he says. An activist as well as a scientist, Dubin-
Thaler was determined to bring science education and
engagement to underserved minority, female and low-
income K-12 students in New York City.
In the last decade, more than 250,000 students at
500 schools have gotten on a BioBus — 50,000 in
the past year alone. There are two buses now in the
fleet, a yellow 1974 Golden Gate transit bus and a
retrofitted Airstream trailer, their interiors tricked
out with $100,000 microscopes and monitors that
scan and display micro-content. Teams of scientists
give lessons onboard as well as at two BioBases, more
comprehensive education centers located on the
Lower East Side and in the Jerome L. Greene Sci-
ence Center on Columbia’s Manhattanville campus;
the majority of the staff are from groups underrepre-
sented in STEM fields, an inspiration to the primar-
ily black, Hispanic and female students they work
with. Ninety-nine percent of teachers at schools that
host BioBus ask for return visits, because the kids are
really that psyched.
Dubin-Thaler’s hypothesis was correct, and he’s
proven it several times over.
cience runs in Dubin-Thaler’s family. His father,
stepmother and stepfather are all physicists (his
mother, a rebel, is a lawyer), and Dubin-Thaler
recalls being immersed in the subject while growing
up in suburban Philadelphia. “I was definitely in and
around labs when I was as young as these kids, and it
was very formative for me,” he says. His father taught
physics at the University of Illinois, and an early seed
for BioBus was planted when Dubin-Thaler, still in
high school, interned one summer with physicist
Mats Selen, a colleague of his father’s. Selen had
started an outreach program called the Physics Van,
featuring whizbang experiments for kids (rockets!
liquid nitrogen!). Selen also got Dubin-Thaler think-
ing about what he wanted to get out of college.
Three generations of Thaler men attended Colum-
bia, so it would seem that he was destined to become
Observing a
caterpillar
aboard BioBus II
at the World
Science Festival.
ANDY CRIBB /
CRIBB VISUALS
“Dr. Ben” before he even walked through the Gates.
But Dubin-Thaler was open to having a College
experience that would shape and potentially alter
his path. “The really formative piece for me was the
activism, both the legacy of activism and the activism
that was happening on campus at the time,” he says.
“There were protests to diversify the Core Curricu-
lum, and pushes for union rights for campus work-
ers and tenants’ rights in the Columbia community.
‘That’s what really changed me — the broader social
thinking from the Core and the hands-on activism
that I got to be a part of.”
Dubin-Thaler also realized his privilege: “So
many kids in the city didn’t have anything close to
the opportunities and exposure to role models that I
had,” he says. “I was thinking critically about society,
and I was in New York City, where you have to con-
front those issues of poverty in the community. It set
up a conflict for me between science and social activ-
ism that I really struggled with. But I didn’t change
my major [from physics and mathematics], because
I didn’t know what the alternative path for me was.”
A collection of science mentors helped Dubin-
Thaler find his way. As a senior, he interned with
Nobel laureate Horst Stormer (one of the founders of
Frontiers of Science), who helped him realize he had
talent as a scientist and could be successful in the lab.
Dubin-Thaler’s transition from physics to biology also
occurred at that time. Emeritus Professor Michael
Sheetz, an interdisciplinary biologist and biomedi-
cal engineer, was being recruited by
Stormer for the biological sciences
department. He and Dubin-Thaler
connected during a visit to Stormer’s
lab, and Dubin-Thaler worked for Sheetz as a research
assistant for three years after graduation. He earned
his Ph.D. with Sheetz as his advisor.
Knowing that Dubin-Thaler was struggling with
how to make a difference in the world, it was Sheetz
who put Dubin-Thaler on an actual bus — albeit one
with a slightly different purpose. Dubin-Thaler was
sent on the road with Reverend Billy and the Stop
Shopping Choir, a social activist theater troupe help-
ing local communities engage with important issues
such as First Amendment defense and Earth justice.
“That tour was so audacious and inspiring! It gave me
the opportunity to explore the social engagement side
of science that I was still figuring out,” he says. “One
of Billy’s teachings that I still carry with me is the
idea of ‘exalted embarrassment’— that often the right
thing to do is also very embarrassing to do. Making
a meaningful connection with students often means
doing silly things, like pretending that I’m a shrimp.”
On tour with Reverend Billy in a 1970s transit bus,
Dubin-Thaler finally put all the pieces together —
he could create a bigger version of the Physics Van,
a moving science lab that could get young people
inspired about science and create some social change.
He didn’t waste any time putting the idea in
motion. After completing his Ph.D., Dubin-Thaler
Summer 2019 CCT 23
eZ
— ALL ABOARD
Tt BIOBUS
Below: Dubin-Thaler
readies micro-content
before a class.
WILLIAM WU
Opposite page, left:
BioBus intern
Eduardo Garcia
helps a student
from Girls Prep
elementary school.
ANDY CRIBB /
CRIBB VISUALS
Opposite page,
right: A science
class at BioBase
Harlem, in the
Zuckerman Institute’s
Education Lab.
PAULA CROXSON FOR
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY'S
ZUCKERMAN INSTITUTE
24 CCT Summer 2019
bought a bus off Craigslist. (“It turns out there’s a
large subculture of bus nuts in the U.S.,” he says.
“The bus nut community was happy to have a new
member who was doing something different.”) He
drove the bus to Burning Man, then to San Fran-
cisco, where he had it converted to run on vegetable
oil, before officially launching BioBus as a nonprofit
and teaching the first class onboard in 2008.
“It was eight high school students from a GED
program in Harlem,” he recalls. “They were excited
for the new experience and very patient with me as
I showed them cells from goldfish scales s/ococowly
crawling across the screen. Then they saw an ani-
mal attached to one of the scales and that’s what we
spent the next two hours looking at — they were
obsessed. They named it “Iwo Lips.”
He had zero business experience, but classmate
and start-up expert Jeremiah Marble ’00 was on
hand for advice. “I didn’t know what I was doing,
but in retrospect my instincts were good enough,”
Dubin-Thaler says. “And the need was obvious.”
From a philanthropic point of view, the 2008
economic crisis wasn't the best time to start a non-
profit, but BioBus got a lift from partners like Olym-
pus, which donated lab equipment, and Columbia,
which helped sign up volunteers and generate public-
ity at events with the bus parked on College Walk.
Early, critical support also came from biotech com-
pany Regeneron, co-founded by Dr. George Yanco-
poulos’80, GSAS’86, PS’87. Dubin-Thaler connected
with science teachers in the community through pro-
gramming at CUMC, and began making school visits
in the South Bronx with the assistance of the Depart-
ment of Education program Gear Up. BioBus was on
the road, and picking up speed.
What’s more, Dr. Ben had found his calling in
mobile teaching. “You have this chance to open
a young person's eyes to an incredible experience
they've never even imagined,” he says. “I especially
love rainy days on the bus, because students can col-
lect puddle water before coming aboard. In there are
paramecium, flagellates, small animals and micro-
crustaceans — it’s a zoo right on the sidewalk. And
that’s the best, when someone leaves the bus think-
ing about their world in a very different way.”
fter a fruitful seven years, BioBus’s mission was
ready to expand. “The students wanted more, the
teachers wanted more and the parents wanted
more, but logistically it was difficult to do longer
classes on the bus,” Dubin-Thaler says. Enter the
BioBases, where elementary-, middle- and high-
school students can take classes in biological, envi-
ronmental and material science after school, on
weekends and during the summer. The first BioBase
education center was created on the Lower East
Side with the help of the LES Girls Club.
In 2015, the Simons Foundation provided a grant
to launch a second bus and build a new base, and
Dubin-Thaler approached Columbia’s Mortimer B.
Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute. Building
on the Manhattanville campus was underway, and the
visionaries in the neuroscience department — includ-
ing University Professors Dr. Richard Axel ’67 and
Dr. Eric Kandel — wanted to make an education lab
that would be central to the Zuckerman Institute’s
new home in the Jerome L. Greene Science Center.
“At that point we were working with about 30 schools
in Harlem,” Dubin-Thaler says. “We said, ‘Let us use
the education lab for free, give us a parking space for
the bus and we'll reach thousands more students in
Harlem and the South Bronx,’ which was their target
area. And it happened.”
Senior Director of Scientific Programs Kelley
Remole 04, GSAS’12 Ph.D. worked with Dubin-
Thaler on the BioBase Harlem launch. “It was a very
fortuitous time to bring on a partner in science edu-
cation with different expertise,” Remole says. “Our
respect for Ben and what he’s done is profound —
his ability to deliver science in an authentic way
and engage people who wouldn't otherwise have
the opportunity to be engaged makes this a valu-
able partnership to us.” The Education Lab opened
in February 2017; the ground floor-level space is
flooded with natural light and has rolling desks and
lab equipment that can be flexibly configured for
group study. In addition to the Lab’s regular commu-
nity programming, BioBase Harlem runs afternoon
and after-school classes there three days a week and
teaches advanced lab sessions on weekends.
As someone whose path was significantly shaped
by mentors, Dubin-Thaler is keen to pass that on to
BioBus and BioBase students. “I think it’s important
to have people in your life who are older but who
arent your parents, so you can talk to them a little
more openly,” he says. “So that’s another thing we try
to provide.” BioBus has had 34 college interns just this
year, most of them at BioBase Harlem. “And we have
scientists in their 20s, 30s and 40s who can help the
students appreciate the bigger picture and advise them
on the next moves in their schooling and careers. It’s
so important for them to have that guidance.”
) ioBus now has 30 employees, including a facili-
\ ties team that manages the buses and equip-
\” ment and the operations team that handles the
logistic of having 50,000 students a jee onboard.
“Tm most proud of the pathways we’ve been able
to build,” Dubin-Thaler says. “I hear from former
students a lot — there are dozens
who have gone to college to study
science, and they tell us it’s partly
because of their experience with us.”
Dubin-Thaler believes that every
student in New York City should
have the opportunity to follow a
science path. His number 1 goal
is volume: more buses crisscross-
ing the city and a bigger network
of community labs. “If BioBus can
come together with city officials,
scientific and education communi-
ties, and universities and hospitals,
and make that a priority, I think we
would see an amazing shift in all areas of the city,” he
says. “I think we would increase the amount of trust
between communities and science, and we could
increase opportunity and start to address economic
disparity. And we would also have more scientists,
better science and more diverse representation in the
science community.”
Also, he says, science is just super fun. “I’m happy
to help young people be more fulfilled and better
able to follow their interests, whatever they are,” he
says. “Every class we have on the bus, there are three
or four kids who you can see are ready to get on that
path. They're the ones who want to skip recess to
stay on the bus.”
Summer 2019 CCT 25
GRADUATION2019 |
THE SUN SHONE as more than 1,200
students joined the ranks of alumni at Class
Day 2019. The ceremony, which took place on
May 21, opened with the 16th annual Alumni
Parade of Classes and featured remarks from
Dean James J. Valentini (see page 8) and
keynote speaker Brandon Victor Dixon ’03.
Dixon, an award-winning actor and producer,
ie ¥
is known for star turns in Hamilton on Broad-
way and the nationally televised live perfor-
mances of Rent and Jesus Christ Superstar.
Dixon opened with a walk down memory
lane (“Is there still a Taco Bell in Wien?”)
before asking the graduates to raise a hand if
they thought the world they were stepping
into is heading in the right direction. Seeing
the consensus was “no,” Dixon nodded. “I set
that up,” he said. “Because I want to challenge
the notion that things are getting worse.
“We receive much of our information and
energy from so few sources,” he continued.
“The little boxes we stare into constantly
funnel concentrated information to us, most
of which is cultivated bits of fear, noise, anger
and distraction — so much so that we begin
to think that is all there is. We begin to
believe that that is who we are. We lose hope
we shrink, we stop reaching for one another.
We separate to protect what we already have
instead of connecting to create what we all
need and deserve. But we make a mistake
when we accept the story that we are told,
when we accept that as the truest reflection
of ourselves and our neighbors.”
Describing his travels and the diverse
people he’s met, Dixon offered a counternar-
rative. “I believe our circumstances are forc-
ing us to recognize on a visceral level how
connected we all are and must be, not just for
our survival as a race of living beings but for
the evolution of our individual and collective
consciousness as a whole. ...’The darkness is
not what you fear. The darkness is the inabil-
ity to see light in one another. In whatever
?
you are about to engage in on this next step
in your life, I encourage you to think expan-
sively — more expansively than ‘where do I
want to work, how much do I want to make
or what do I want to do?’ I urge you instead
to instill every decision with ‘what am I try-
ing to create, where do I want to go, who do
IT want to become and who around me can I
enrich with those efforts?”
Dixon emphasized that he believes the
Class of 2019 is graduating at an auspi-
cious time: “Things are changing and
change is hard — it’s challenging because it
requires a breaking of things, and that can
look chaotic; it can feel stressful. But you
must break what is known in order to form
something new. And it is up to you to use
the tools you've been given here to visualize
the world in which you choose to live and
the role you choose to play in it. Because
I assure you, your vision does indeed have
power. Your vision is possible.”
The University-wide Commencement
took place the next day, with President
Lee C. Bollinger delivering his annual
address. Armond Adams ’06, Leslie
Gittess Brodsky’88 and Tracy V. Mait-
land’82 were among the 10 recipients of
Alumni Medals for distinguished service
to the University of 10 years or more.
Photographs by Eileen Barroso, Sirin Samman and Killian Young / Columbia College
26 CCT Summer 2019
“I URGE YOU TO INSTILL EVERY
DECISION WITH ‘WHAT AM I TRYING
TO CREATE, WHERE DO I WANT TO
GO, WHO DO I WANT TO BECOME,
WHO CAN I ENRICH?”
— CLASS DAY SPEAKER
BRANDON VICTOR DIXON ’03
CCT Print Extras
View more photos from Class Day, plus a list
of Academic Awards and Prizes winners, at
college.columbia.edu/cct.
Summer 2019 CCT 27
GRADUATION2019
DOANE
MAJOR: Anthropology
WHAT’S NEXT:
“Still working on it!”
THE CC TAKEAWAY:
“One foot in front of the
other; take everything one
day at a time and know
that things will work out.” Sarg
a
=~ 7 pr se, le Ge Bere MAJOR: Political Science and
| : é = ew | | eee African-American Studies
. .N al
WHAT’S NEXT: “Teaching elementary
special education in St. Louis,
WE PUT 10 VERY RECENT GRADUATES ON THE SPOT TO through Teach For America.”
GET THEIR LAST WORDS ON LEAVING THE COLLEGE THE CC TAKEAWAY: “We shouldn't
let the accomplishments we all
pursue so strongly distract us from
developing as human beings and being
able to empathize with each other.”
CIIMVA AKWAC
MTA AKKAS
MAJOR: Middle Eastern, South Asian
and African Studies
WHAT’S NEXT: “I’m working at a law firm
in New York.”
THE CC TAKEAWAY: “Slow down and
appreciate all the opportunities around
you, not just the educational ones — go
to panel events, go to events with friends.
There are so many initiatives around
campus. Really take the opportunity to
explore what you’re passionate about,
and discover new passions.”
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ESON CHAN
MAJOR: East Asian Languages
and Cultures
MAJOR: Economics and
Environmental Science
WHAT’S NEXT: “I'll be incorporating
my own game development and
consulting business in New York.”
THE CC TAKEAWAY:
“Rome wasn’t built in a day, and
neither will your business.”
WHAT’S NEXT: “Attending the
Law School.”
THE CC TAKEAWAY: “Keep an
open mind, but not so open that
your brains will spill out!”
28 CCT Summer 2019
DEJAVIS BOSKET
MAJOR: English, with a concentration
in Russian Literature
WHAT’S NEXT: “Working in
publishing here in town —
| hope with children’s fiction.”
THE CC TAKEAWAY: “Things are
never really as they seem when
you first look at them. Take the jump
to get to know someone or try new
material; it really opens things up.”
Kal
KAI MORSINK
MAJOR: Earth Science
WHAT’S NEXT: “Working for the Bureau
of Land Management in Wyoming on
geographic information systems.
THE CC TAKEAWAY: “Love and spend
time with the people around you,
because that’s the community that’s
going to come through for you when
you hit tough times. When you’re
looking for greater meaning, you can
find it in the community you’ve built.”
Kylee
RYLEE CARRILLO-WAGGONER
MAJOR: Comparative Literature
and Society
WHAT’S NEXT: “I’m heading to
Arizona to work on a farm and
volunteer on the border. The farm
harvests wild desert plants to support
sustainable living in the desert — it
goes back to traditional indigenous
ways of living on the land. I’m Chicanx,
so I’m excited to get back to that.”
THE CC TAKEAWAY: “Try! Don’t
be afraid of failure. Everyone can
do really cool things, and it’s exciting
to see what you can produce in
spaces where you have exciting
minds collaborating.”
TAREK DEIDA
MAJOR: History
WHAT’S NEXT: “I’m still trying to figure
that out, but | have two job offers — in
Boston and New Orleans.”
THE CC TAKEAWAY: “Being at
Columbia, studying humanities, you
get a good sense of how the world
and society operates. But you
also realize that you don’t know
everything and you can’t figure it all
out — you have to just use what you
have to get you to the next thing.”
Raya |
KAYA HANTSBARGER
MAJOR: Psychology
WHAT’S NEXT: “Moving to
South Dakota to work ata
residential treatment center
for children who’ve been
referred by child protective
services. Within a couple of
years | hope to either get my
master’s or doctorate so that |
can continue working with kids
in that kind of setting.”
THE CC TAKEAWAY: “Don’t
be afraid to take a risk. Take a
class you’re not sure you'll do
well in, or talk to someone that
you might be nervous to talk to.
Be willing to take those kinds
of risks because that’s how you
build the best memories and
make the best friends.”
Summer 2019 CCT 29
WITH A
SOCIAL
CONSCIENCE
LIKE MANY SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE, the effervescent
Wah Chen’92 zigged and zagged a bit before she found her
career groove.
Her first job after the College was hosting a prime-time
variety show on Singapore national television. For four years
she was a reporter and producer for British Hong Kong’s
TVB News. She co-authored a children’s book, Sassparilla’s
New Shoes, with her twin sister, Ming, and enrolled in UCLA’
graduate business program, earning an M.B.A. in 2003.
And then it clicked. In Chen’s final week of B-school,
with her cap and gown still waiting in the box, she inked
her first real estate deal: a plan to purchase a 12-story
Howard Johnson hotel near downtown Los Angeles and
convert it to 198 affordable apartments. “I literally wrote
out the deal terms with my now-partners on a napkin; I
have it framed,” she says. The four-person team formalized
their partnership, InSite Development, that same year.
Since then, as a real estate developer working in Los
Angeles County, Chen’s group has helped develop some
1,700 high-quality, low-cost housing units for the home-
less and others in need. “Affordable housing development
is my calling,” she says simply.
Her efforts can't come soon enough. In L.A. County
alone, a June 2019 government study reported, there are
58,936 homeless people, a 12 percent jump since last year.
Neighboring counties experienced even sharper increases.
Despite aggressive programs to alleviate the crisis, the
study notes, it remains an enormous challenge, affected by
economic forces and the interlocking systems of foster care,
mental health, criminal justice and the housing market.
Chen’s largest project to date is taking shape in Lancaster,
Calif., a sprawling city of 160,000 in the Antelope Valley,
70 miles north of downtown L.A. In October 2017, Lan-
caster mayor R. Rex Parris invited Chen and her partners to
develop transitional housing — essentially emergency shel-
ters — and permanent housing for the chronically homeless,
with extensive social services woven into the project. “They
gave us a 14-acre piece of city-owned land and basically
asked, “Will you do it?”
‘The team swung into action, engaging with key leaders,
planners and organizations, securing an array of tax credits,
rent support, federal housing vouchers and other funding
sources, keeping construction on track to open the first
buildings this summer.
There was good reason for the city to place such confi-
dence in Chen. “We have been helping develop Lancaster
for years,” she says, “working to revi-
talize its downtown, microfinancing
local businesses and building 1,000-
plus housing units, including artists’
lofts, senior studios, and family and
disability units for the chronically
and mentally ill.”
Chen recently guided a Columbia
visitor through some of those success-
ful downtown developments, begin-
ning at Don Sal Cocina & Cantina,
a popular Mexican restaurant. Don
Sal was a key anchor business for The
Boulevard, a once-decrepit nine-block
stretch that has been transformed into a thriving urban core
graced by palm trees and plane trees reminiscent of Barce-
lona’s Las Ramblas. ‘The housing is attractive and human-
scaled; the businesses as varied as a dog-grooming salon, a
Brooklyn-style deli, an independent bookstore and a movie
theater. “We really wanted to create a small-town vibe, where
people could walk safely, and go to restaurants and the farm-
ers market,” she says.
CHEN'S BLEND of business creativity and social concern
comes as no surprise to her College classmates and friends.
Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti ’92, SIPA’93 met Chen
freshman year in Carman Hall, and they remain close. He
recalls the energy and joy she invested in community ser-
vice projects they worked on together, such as Habitat for
Humanity, the Harlem Restoration Project and Columbia
Urban Experience.
“When Wah puts her mind to something, it gets done,”
Garcetti says, marveling at the range of her commitments,
accomplishments and social connections. “I mean, she was
involved in more causes, more clubs, more things on cam-
pus than anybody else.” She even attained one-name status
at Columbia, he says. “You didn’t have to say ‘Wah Chen,’
ever. You just said “Wah,’ and everybody knew who she was.”
Achievement and service are trademarks of Chen’s fam-
ily, too, going back to their roots in China. Her father, Tom,
BY JAMIE KATZ '72, BUS'80
WAH CHEN '92
WILLIAM WU
the Shanghai-born son of a high-ranking diplomat under Chiang
Kai-shek, entered Harvard at 15; he is now a retired Veterans
Administration pathologist. Chen’s mother, Margaret GSAS’73,
also Shanghai-born, earned a graduate degree at Columbia and
went on to a career in hospital administration. They raised their
four children in Millburn, N.J.
“We're all named for dynasties, except for me,” says Wah, whose
given name is Dehua — as in Zhong Hua, which means Republic
of China. Her older brother Han’s given name is Dehan, and sister
Ming was christened Deming. Kid brother Detang rebelled — he
prefers to be called Jay. “We grew up extremely tight-knit,” Wah says.
At the College, Chen had a concentration in history and East
Asian studies. As much as she enjoyed her academic work, her ener-
gies went in many directions, from playing tennis regularly on the
John Jay court with astronomy professor David Helfand to, well,
advancing the romantic prospects of fellow students.
“She was famous for setting people up,” Garcetti says. “She essen-
tially was a dating app — she would find you dozens of people to
date, one after the next. She was the ultimate connector.”
Connection with purpose remains Chen's greatest talent, suggests
her longtime friend Lisa Carnoy ’89, co-chair of the University’s
Old friends Chen and Eric Garcetti '92, SIPA’93 are godparents to Matthew
and Kaison Maruyama, sons of Yoshi Maruyama SEAS'92.
32 CCT Summer 2019
PHOTOS COURTESY WAH CHEN '92
The 14-acre “Kensington Campus” under
development in Lancaster, Calif.
Board of Trustees. “Wah is brilliant, optimistic, a magnet for people,”
Carnoy says. “If anyone can bring people together for a cause that
matters, it is Wah. She is a force for good in the world.”
For Chen, that means providing shelter to people who need it. “I
have a vivid memory of living in Furnald, looking out the window in
the dead of winter and seeing people sleeping on the subway grates to
“Wah was involved in more causes, more
clubs, more things on campus than anybody
else,” Garcetti says. “You didn’t have to
say Wah Chen,’ ever. You just said ‘Wah,’
and everybody knew who she was.”
stay warm,’ she says. “I thought, “That looks wrong.’ It’s quite rewarding
now, 25-plus years later, to have a small part in helping to alleviate that.
“What I love about real estate development is it rewards scrappy
people,” Chen adds. “You don't have to have gone to an Ivy League
school or worked at Goldman Sachs to really have an impact in
real estate. I feel like ’'ve been nimble and creative, and resourceful
enough to find financing. Now my partners and I are able to create
something out of nothing.”
Chen named the 14-acre Lancaster development Kensington
Campus after her 8-year-old daughter. Wah and her husband,
private equity and real estate investor Edward Renwick, have two
other daughters, Wyeth, 13, and Rainey, 11; they live in L.A.’s
Brentwood section. Chen plans to maintain and improve the prop-
erties she develops to keep them profitable and avoid public bail-
outs, and ultimately, to pass them on to her girls — along with her
own forward-looking spirit.
“I certainly hope that my daughters are one day able to set aside any
fears, doubts and anxieties and find joy in their work, earn their own
privileges, and experience as much as I have been able to after college.”
Former CCT editor Jamie Katz’72, BUS’80 has held senior editorial
positions at People, Vibe and Latina magazines and contributes to
Smithsonian Magazine and other publications. His feature “The
Transformation of New York” appeared in the Spring 2019 issue.
Columbia! Forum
Artists on Art
Jori Finkel ’92 asks 50 creators about
their objects of inspiration
In the early 1990s, Jori Finkel 92 was working shifts for
Columbia’s famed Bartending Agency. Students from the
agency were staffed at birthday parties, after-parties and gal-
lery openings, where Finkel got an early and intense insider’s
look at New York City’s high-flying art world. At the end of
one night at the Mary Boone Gallery, she watched as hundreds
of empty champagne glasses were stacked into a kind of trans-
lucent sculpture. “You would basically pop open champagne
bottles until your thumbs were bloody,” she tells CCT.
Fast-forward to Los Angeles, 2010. Finkel was now part of the
art world herself, as a lead arts reporter for the Los Angeles Times.
Frustrated by standard coverage, she wanted to make the Times's
approach more vivid and accessible by getting the voices of art-
ists directly to the public. She conceived of a
monthly column, “It Speaks to Me,” in which
an L.A. artist would be interviewed about an
artwork from a local museum. The format was
brief, the photo was (usually) black and white,
but Finkel knew she was on to something.
Her column idea also stemmed from her
love/hate reaction to standard museum wall
labels. Known as “didactics,” to Finkel’s mind
they were all too often wooden and schol-
arly, a type of text that distanced the viewer
instead of bringing them closer and into the
work. What if, instead of art history experts, gallery-goers
could interface with artworks through the words of art creators
who are, as Finkel says, “experts in seeing”?
Finkel imagined turning her idea into a book, and began work
on the project in 2015. Fifty artists participated in what became
It Speaks to Me
Art That Inspires Artists
Jori Finkel
It Speaks to Me: Art That Inspires Artists (Prestel, $29.95). Some
were emerging talents, others, like David Hockney and Marina
Abramovié, were already renowned. The artists were asked to
choose their objects of inspiration from hometown museums
— Finkel imagined the book could also function as a sort of
travel guide that could accompany an art fan from museum to
far-flung museum.
The project took about three years, with her time more often
spent lining up the artists than interviewing them. And the
artists’ selections were not necessarily what she'd expected.
Hockney, known for his “California modern” work, chose a
copy of a French Baroque painting; Abramovié chose a sculp-
ture from the out-of-fashion Futurist movement. Asked which
of her artists’ choices was the most surprising, Finkel mentions
the interview she did with the political dissident Ai Weiwei.
“Artists don’t always play by the rules,” she says. When he
was asked to choose an artwork, Ai first suggested the New
York City skyline. Then he zeroed in on an ancient piece of
carved jade, and their hour-long conversation turned into “one
of the most generous and eye-opening” exchanges Finkel had.
Ai revealed that when he was growing up during China’s Cul-
tural Revolution, it could be dangerous to own jade. Now, years
later, the artist had become a top collector of the luminous
stone. Finkel adds, “It’s a passion of his he rarely speaks about.”
Now that the collection is published, Finkel is embarking
on a series of summer talks and signings, from Toronto, to the
Hamptons, to New Mexico, where she’ll meet with contribu-
tor Judy Chicago. What’s next? Maybe, she hopes, more of
the same. “Working on this book has been so much fun, I am
tempted to turn it into a series.” — Rose Kernochan BC’82
Summer 2019 CCT 33
Columbia! Forum
Al WEIWEI
on a Shang Dynasty figure
from the tomb of Fu Hao
1300-1046 BCE. China, Henan Province, Anyang
Jade, height 2% in. (7 cm)
National Museum of China, Beijing
My interest in classical Chinese artifacts started very late because I grew up during
the Cultural Revolution, and the Communist Party was trying to erase ancient traces
from Chinese history. They were trying to destroy the older culture to establish the
new world. You couldn't have a jade piece at that time; it would be confiscated or you
would be destroyed yourself.
Growing up I really only saw one piece of jade — a seal given to my father before
he went into exile that had five characters on it: “If you know how to endure hard-
ship, you might find the way.” He later tried to smooth down the characters for fear
the words would give him away. It wasn’t until 1993, when I moved back to China
from the U.S., that I really started going to antiques markets to buy jade. Beijing has
an ocean of antiques. Now I probably have one of the largest jade collections.
‘This kneeling figure comes from the tomb of Fu Hao, the most complete archaeo-
logical discovery made by the Chinese government, undisturbed by tomb thieves. Fu
Hao was a remarkable military leader, maybe the most powerful female ruler in that
period of Chinese history. Archaeologists found 755 jade pieces in her tomb, which
speaks to her status. Jade is a very hard stone, so think about the amount of time and
energy needed to carve these pieces — this incredible manpower.
Some people believe this small carving represents Fu Hao herself, but I believe it’s
more mythological than memorial in function — a ritual object related to a higher
power. The piece protruding from her back looks like a fishtail, which would mean
she’s a god or ghostlike figure. In the Shang Dynasty, you often saw depictions of
humanlike figures with a dragon’s head or a fish’s tail. They are images of transforma-
tion. ‘The kneeling position is common, but the tail and headdress are unique; they
don't repeat in thousands of objects that come later.
Jade carries such weight in Chinese culture that every dynasty has used it. In
the Chinese language, there are a few hundred words just to describe the quali-
ties of jade, whether black, fine, small, or transparent. This figure is an example of
white jade, so it has this feeling of translucency and softness. When you touch it, it’s
extremely smooth, like silk.
34 CCT Summer 2019
Shang Dynasty jade.
COURTESY NATIONAL MUSEUM
OF CHINA, BEIJING
Summer 2019 CCT 35
Columbia! Forum
JUDY CHICAGO
on Agnes Pelton’s
Awakening: Memory of Father
1943. Oil on canvas, 22 x 28 in. (59.9 x 71.1 cm)
New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe
Whenever I see an Agnes Pelton painting, I feel drawn to its mystery and luminosity.
I always feel there is some deep symbolic meaning, but what that is isn’t always clear.
Pelton was part of the Transcendental Painting Group of New Mexico, a short-
lived group of painters in the 1930s and ’40s who, influenced by Cubism and the
Bauhaus, were primarily abstract. A peer of Georgia O’Keeffe, she was also brought
to New Mexico by the great eccentric arts patron Mabel Dodge Luhan. I see a
certain affinity between their work in the way they use color and form to convey an
internal reality.
My reading of this painting is that it’s a dreamlike scene: an abstracted landscape
with both night and day present simultaneously. Stars appear in the dark sky to the
left, while the small body of water is under the light sky to the right.
‘The form in the sky has been described as a golden trumpet, but that’s not how
I read it. If you look closely, underneath that shape and also on top of it is a faint
texture that makes it feel like it’s moving, spinning into a lighter sky. For me that
form ascending into the sky and spinning away from the landscape is a luminous
symbol of death.
Agnes Pelton’s father died when she was ten years old. My father died when I
was thirteen, and I also dealt with his death in abstract painting. If you rotate the
painting to the left so that it’s vertical, the mountain turns into what looks like a sil-
houette. The museum reads it as her father’s face, but I think that’s bizarre and literal.
Women like O’Keeffe and Pelton used abstraction to convey personal meaning, as
opposed to just dripping paint on canvas or making circles like Ellsworth Kelly. One
of my theories is that until the advent of abstraction, women artists were not free to
convey their experiences directly. Abstraction opened up the visual landscape for us
to invent forms to convey our internal reality.
Excerpt from “Ai Weiwei on a Shang Dynasty jade from the tomb of Fu Hao” and “Judy
Chicago on Agnes Pelton’s Awakening: Memory of Father published in It Speaks to Me:
Art That Inspires Artists (DelMonico Books-Prestel) © 2019 Prestel Verlag, Munich, Texts
© Jori Finkel. Reprinted by permission of DelMonico Books-Prestel.
36 CCT Summer 2019
Agnes Pelton, Awakening:
Memory of Father, 1943,
oil on canvas. Collection of
the New Mexico Museum
of Art. Museum purchase,
2005 (2005.27.1)
PHOTO BY CAMERON GAY
Summer 2019 CCT
Sy)
3
ad
maps),
Gifted to the University by the Class of 1885 in celebration of its
25th reunion, the Sundial is a beloved campus landmark. A
16-ton granite sphere originally sat upon the base, but in 1946 it was
removed after developing a crack. When functional, the Sundial
was unusual in that it tracked the date rather than just time of day.
A December 7, 1914, Spectator article reports that astronomy
professor Harold Jacoby CC 1885 “designed the astronomical part
of the memorial, which is the only timepiece of its kind in the world.
As there are two shadows cast by the ball, one on either side,
two plates are necessary. On these plates the days of each month
are marked out. By means of the calibrations on these plates, the
New York standard time is indicated once each day. The shadow
will fall exactly at the date at noon.”
SCOTT RUDD
38 CCT Summer 2019
Ariel Schrag ’03; Francis J. Fortier Ill 59;
Anna Brockway ’92; Rich Juro ’63, LAW’66
44
Early Work, by Andrew Martin ’08
46 aSS res
Just Married!
83
Herman Wouk CC 1934; Donald L. Keene ’42, GSAS’49;
Joseph A. Sirola ’51
By Michael Behringer ’89
always look forward to the Summer issue of Columbia College
Today, with its photos of students and former students
celebrating Class Day, Commencement and Reunion Weekend.
This year, my classmates and I celebrated our (gulp) 30th reunion
— although it still feels like yesterday that the Great Class of ’89
was together on campus.
I love just about everything having to do with reunion and
hope that everyone shares my passion for the weekend. I thought
it fitting, then, to share for this issue my Top 10 Reasons to
Attend Reunion Weekend. It’s never too early to plan for it!
1. Reconnect with Old Friends. My College classmates are some
of my closest friends, and there was a time when life without them
nearby was unimaginable. Now we're scattered across the globe
and don't see one another nearly as often as we intend to or should.
Reunions are the perfect excuse to come together. And now, most
reunion events are open to alumni from non-milestone years, too,
so it’s a great opportunity to bring all old friends together.
2. Relive the Past. Reunions are the one event where everyone
shows up older and then grows young again. What is it about
being on campus, surrounded by your friends, that reverses time?
For just 72 hours, we put aside career, family and other cares to
be 21 again. There should be a way to bottle this!
3. See Campus Today. College Walk. The Steps. Tom's. The
Hungarian Pastry Shop. 114th Street. Nothing beats physically
seeing these icons again. And Columbia is always evolving.
In addition to the many changes to the main campus, the
Manhattanville campus is an architectural gem that shouldn't
be missed. Regardless of when you graduated, you'll be amazed
at all of the restaurants, cafés and bars that have blossomed
on Broadway and Amsterdam. The undergrads never had it so
good. Still, Pll raise a glass in memory of our dearly departed
The West End and Cannon’s Pub.
4. Enjoy New York City. For out-of-towners, it’s a three-day
weekend in New York. For those in the tri-state area, it’s still a
three-day weekend in New York.
5. Meet Someone New. Even though we’re the smallest of
the Ivy League schools, I always meet classmates at reunion I
didn't know when we were students and relish the opportunity
to spend time with those I wanted to know better. Some of my
best reunion memories are from these encounters.
SCOTT RUDD
6. Talk Face to Face. That’s right, Facebook posts are not
conversations. Don't get me wrong — we all love seeing photos
from your latest ski trip and reading about your feelings on the
Game of Thrones finale. But these are a poor substitute for seeing
you in person, hearing your voice and sharing a real laugh.
7. Spend Time with Dean James J. Valentini. Have you met
the ever-popular Deantini (as the students call him)? He’s a fierce
advocate for all things Columbia and has done a lot to expand the
Core Curriculum, enhance the student experience and connect
with alumni. If you’ve not met him or heard him speak in person,
you should. You'll quickly realize why he’s so beloved.
8. Reflect on the Past. A few reunion truisms you'll witness:
No one’s life turned out exactly as planned. Nearly all alumni are
embarrassed by their younger selves. The older you get, the more
you realize you have in common with your classmates, regardless
of how you felt about them as undergrads. Having a drink with
your first-year floormates gets better with age. And regardless of
how old you are today, the best music ever made was whatever you
listened to in college.
9. Debate: V&T or Koronet? More heated than any political
debate, Columbians seem equally split and passionate on the
question. If you're like me, your pizza palate has expanded
since your days on campus. Are these two places as good as you
remember? Only one way to know for sure ...
10. Just Have Fun. Whether it’s your 5th or 50th, or even if it’s
not your milestone year, Reunion Weekend is a fun time. The
job, family and to-do list will still be there come Monday. In the
meantime, join the party.
I hope to see you at Reunion Weekend 2020! Save the date:
Thursday, June 4—Saturday, June 6!
ROAR!
Summer 2019 CCT 39
CHLOE AFTEL
Taking a (Graphic) Novel Approach to Her Life
By Jill C. Shomer
ould you want to relive your awkward younger years?
Really relive, as an art form? Novelist and artist
Ariel Schrag ’03 has made a career of turning her
most uncomfortable, transitional life moments into
relatable, award-nominated graphic memoirs. Her most recent
work, Part of It, is a “painfully funny” recollection of her formative
years growing up in idyllic, progressive Berkeley, through her early
20s in Brooklyn. But Schrag first made a splash with a series of
graphic memoirs she wrote about her high school years, while she
was still living them.
The High School Comic Chronicles comprises three books: Awkward
and Definition (9th and 10th grade, combined in one edition),
Potential (11th grade) and Likewise (12th grade). Schrag took a gap
year to finish the series before starting at the College. “Nothing was
more important to me,” she says. “I knew if I started college [right
after high school] I wasn't going to be able to finish.”
Schrag created her first comic strip as a child; her father was a
visual artist who read and collected various types of comic books
and graphic novels. “I found Maus in the house when I was 9 and
40 CCT Summer 2019
thought it was amazing,” she says. She attended a small private
school for nine years before moving on to a public high school.
“I went from being in a class of 13 to one of more than 1,000.
It was one of the most significant changes of my life,” Schrag
says. She channeled her feelings into her artwork. “I didn’t have a
specific vision to begin with; I just wanted to write a book about
my freshman year,” she says. “But people really responded to it and
I really loved doing it so I decided to do all four [years].”
Before starting her gap year, Schrag was obsessed with moving
to New York — “for all the typical reasons,” she says. Through
comics connections she got a job at St. Mark’s Comics (RIP), lived
in Fort Greene for a year and, though it would take her a decade
to complete the inking, finished writing her 400-page senior year
memoir before starting at Columbia.
“I adored the College,” she says. “I really appreciated it after a
rough year on my own. I felt really taken care of. To know I was
going to be able to spend the next four years dedicated to studying
felt like such a privilege.” In addition to her classes, Schrag
continued to ink Likewise, and Potential was just being published.
alumninews
———=—_
(Her friend, composer Nico Muhly’03, made posters for a reading
that they put up on campus and around town.)
After graduation, Schrag started teaching a graphic novel workshop
at The New School (she stayed until 2017 and has also taught at
Brown, NYU and Williams College) and began work on a novel,
Adam, a sexual coming-of-age comedy, in 2007. It was published in
2014; based on a galley copy, a producer she knew, Howard Gertler,
said he wanted to make Adam into a movie. Gertler got it in front
of developer James Schamus (a faculty member at the School of the
Arts), who bought it and hired Schrag to write the script. “They said
they imagined it as a very low-budget movie and to me that meant
that they were serious — it might actually get made,” Schrag says. She
was included in all the production steps and weighed in on the casting
with director Rhys Ernst. “I was really happy with the final movie,”
she says. “It’s really cool and surreal to see your work that way.” Adam
was shown at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and opened New Fest,
an LGBTQ film festival, on June 17.
Meet the Maine Maestro
By Eugene L. Meyer 64
hen Francis J. Fortier III ’59 goes for a walk in his
Upper West Side neighborhood, he says, the streets
are alive with the sound of music: “I walk down
West End Avenue and hear all the concertos coming
out of the windows. You are fully aware a good 60 percent of the
world’s musicians live on the West Side between Lincoln Center
and 125th Street. This is where it happens.”
Fortier’s ears are well tuned, as a violinist, conductor, and the
founder and chair of the nationally known Bar Harbor Music
Festival, now in its 53rd season under his direction. Since 1967,
some 2,200 aspiring and accomplished musicians and composers
DAVID RODRIGUEZ
Schrag now alternates between living in New York City and
Los Angeles with her partner, Charlie, a filmmaker, and their
toddler son. (Schrag’s comic “Pregnant on the Subway” is the most-
viewed piece of original content on CC7’s website.) She’s working
on her second novel, about adults. “T’ll just say it takes place in the
realm of lesbians and fertility, and there’s a slight science-fiction
bent to it.” She’s also been writing for television, most recently for a
USA Network series called Dare Me, based on the novel by Megan
Abbott (Gina Fattore ’90 is a co-showrunner). “I’m a big fan of
Megan's books and her writing, so it was exciting to take on her
voice and figure out how to express her characters. That’s the fun of
it, if you really love something, to be able to inhabit it.”
As for her comics, Schrag plans to keep those autobiographical.
Is she ever uncomfortable sharing personal details? “I’m more
concerned now about representing myself in a certain way,” she
says. “As a teenager that wasn’t on my mind — I just wanted to
speak my truth. I have way more hang-ups as an adult.”
have been part of the monthlong festival in the town on Mount
Desert Island, Maine.
Serious musicians had previously performed there, until a 1947
fire destroyed their theater. Some 15 years later, Fortier, then in his
early 20s and spending summers studying music at a private school
in Blue Hill, Maine, found his way to the town. “We went to Bar
Harbor to have beer and find good-looking young women. | said,
‘Any musicians?’ They said yes, there’s a great jukebox in the hotel.
I decided we could bring ... back [musical performances] because
we had this legacy in Bar Harbor.”
Fortier’s big break had come early, when he apprenticed in
Britain with the great Yehudi Menuhin, a conductor and the
violin soloist of the Bath Festival Orchestra. Inspired, Fortier not
only founded the Bar Harbor festival, but also became artist-in-
residence at more than 2,000 high schools, community colleges
and arts councils throughout the United States, using music to
inspire young people to turn away from drugs.
Music is in Fortier’ss DNA. His father, Frank J. Fortier Jr., a
commercial artist and corporate headhunter, had earlier been in
vaudeville, as a backup banjo player for Al Jolson. His mother
and siblings all played instruments, and, when he was a child, his
father happily drove him from their Scarsdale, N.Y., home to violin
lessons at 72nd and Broadway.
At Columbia, Fortier majored in music and minored in history,
and studied with such luminaries as James P. Shenton’49, GSAS’54;
Moses Hadas; and Lionel Trilling CC 1925, GSAS’38. Then came
graduate studies — a year at Yale and four more at ‘The Juilliard
School, where, he recalled, “The jury exams were excruciating.
Sixteen members of the string faculty elaborate on your weaknesses
as you play. You learn to deal with that kind of pressure. It gives you
muscle.” But, he said, “I was very glad to get out of Juilliard because
I could love music again.” ;
Summer 2019 CCT 41
Now 81, Fortier fills his off-season months with rehearsing, and
fundraising for and promoting the festival, which attracts tens of
thousands who come to hear eclectic concerts ranging from Mozart to
Ellington and top performers like pianist Murray Perahia and mezzo-
soprano Fenlon Lamb. “I’ve been given the gift of energy, the gift of
vision, and I have some strong people with me,” he says. Notably, that
group includes his wife, festival associate director and secretary Deborah
S. Fortier, herself an accomplished pianist, composer and teacher.
Fortier has two other passions: baseball — he’s an avid Yankees
fan and played first base in his younger days — and fly fishing,
which he enjoys during his own brief off-season at Brookside, his
Adirondack Mountain retreat. “I have good hands,” he says. And,
quoting Oscar Wilde, he adds: “I adore simple pleasures. They are
the last refuge of the complex.”
Eugene L. Meyer ’64, a former longtime Washington Post reporter
and editor, is the author, most recently, of Five for Freedom: ‘The
African American Soldiers in John Brown’s Army, winner of the
2019 award for Outstanding Biography/History book from the Ameri-
can Society of Journalists and Authors.
Anna Brockway '92 Makes Herself
Comfortable in Online Furniture Sales
By Rebecca Beyer
nna Brockway 92 remembers the first items that sold
on Chairish, the online marketplace for décor, furniture
and art that she and her husband, Gregg Brockway,
co-founded in 2013. The pieces were hers: slipper chairs
in, as she describes the fabric, “the most beautiful cut yellow linen.”
Brockway — a self-described compulsive decorator — was sad
to let them go but didn’t have room anymore; she isn’t even sure her
husband knew they owned them. A good price helped, but still, six
years later, she says, “I’m a little homesick for them.”
‘The chairs may be gone, but the company they helped launch is
here to stay. Chairish debuted as a website for private individuals
to buy and sell prized vintage pieces, and a solution to the problem
Brockway herself faced many times: what to do with beloved
but unnecessary home decor items. Since then, it has become
a destination for professional buyers and sellers. In 2016, the
company created another platform, DECASO, for modernist and
antique furnishings, and earlier this year it acquired Dering Hall,
which specializes in online sales of contemporary brands. Together,
the sites have nearly half a million products and a monthly audience
of more than 2.5 million.
Chairish was founded on the idea that quality is just as important
as quantity, something Brockway and her husband argued over
during the site’s early days. For Gregg, whose background is
in private equity and technology, “more is always better,” says
Brockway, who grew up going to furnishings trade shows with her
father, who worked in design, including as VP at Baker Furniture.
“T felt very strongly from the beginning that if you don't have
curation and an editorial perspective on what youre offering, there
is no brand and there is no reason for being,” she says. “If you want
to buy junky stuff online, there are a million places to do that. I
wasn't interested in competing with the behemoths.”
Each piece on Chairish is personally approved by a member
of the company’s eight-person curatorial team, which turns away
about 30 percent of submissions, Brockway says. The marketplace
also stands out for its use of technology, or what Brockway calls the
“secret sauce.” In 2017, Chairish launched “View In My Space,” an
augmented reality app that lets people see what a piece will look
42 CCT Summer 2019
RUS ANSON
like in their home. And Brockway says Chairish logs everything
from size, style and material, to maker and location, to create a
“lightning-fast and super-specific search.”
One of the company’s goals is to expand the 10 percent of the
furniture market that buys online. Brockway is sure that share
will grow. “With millennials coming into home ownership and
affluence, it’s sort of a freight train you can’t stop,” she says.
Brockway credits the art history degree she earned at the College
with helping her understand style and design, a talent she took
with her to Levi Strauss & Co., where she worked for seven years
pre-Chairish, including as VP of worldwide marketing. She also
says engaging with top-notch faculty gave her a confidence she
continues to draw on today.
“Columbia pushed me to find my voice and not be intimidated,”
she says. “That’s so invaluable.”
Rebecca Beyer is a freelance writer and editor in Boston.
aes
re
re
ny
alumninews
a
By Anne-Ryan Sirju JRN’09
his April, Rich Juro 63, LAW’66 was preparing for a
May cruise from Amsterdam to Dover to visit WWII
sites, but he had an unusual stopover planned for the
flight to Amsterdam: Equatorial Guinea. The small
Central African nation, sandwiched between Cameroon, Gabon
and the Atlantic Ocean, isn’t exactly on the way, but for Juro the
visit was part of a lifelong goal to visit every nation in the world
— and Equatorial Guinea was one of the last on his list.
Juro began traveling the world in 1966 when he and his wife,
Fran, celebrated Juro’s graduation from the Law School by “doing
Europe on $5 a day” for three months. ‘That trip, which included
stops in Moscow and ‘Tangier in addition to many traditional
European tour capitals, sparked their passion for travel — and they
just kept going. “Eventually,” says Juro, “we realized we had visited
about half the countries in the world and we said, ‘OK, let’s try to
see all of them.’ And we’re getting there!”
With roughly 14 countries left to complete their goal, Juro
acknowledges that most of the remaining locales present a challenge
because of political unrest and/or personal safety concerns (the yet-
to-be-visited list includes Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen). However,
Juro is optimistic those situations could change: In 2018, he and
Fran traveled to Sierra Leone and Liberia, a trip that would have
been impossible just a few years earlier due to the Ebola crisis.
Juro says that he and his wife — they’ve been together 57 years
— have always approached travel with a can-do attitude, and have
spent their lives trying to take advantage of opportunities when
they present themselves. Juro, now in his late 70s, admits that he
and Fran are more cautious now than when they were younger.
“We don’t go to countries ranked 3 or 4 by the U.S. Department
of State [travel advisory], because they are too dangerous for us at
an older age,” he says. But they don’t intend to slow down anytime
newsmakers
On May 6, Ann Kim 795 won the
James Beard Award for Best Chef:
Midwest. Kim is owner of and chef at
Young Joni, Pizzeria Lola and Hello
Pizza; all are in Minneapolis.
COURTESY RICH JURO ‘63, LAW'66
the Billboard Top 200. Ezra Koenig
06, Chris Tomson ’06 and Chris
Baio ’07 formed the band while they
were College students (co-founder
Rostam Batmanglij ’06 left in 2016,
soon: They have plans for a cross-Pacific journey at the end of this
year and will stop in the North Russian archipelago Franz Josef
Land in 2020. Juro’s travel philosophy: “Don't put it off. You never
know when you can't do it physically or politically.”
Globetrotting over the last six decades has brought the Juros
to beautiful natural scenery and given them firsthand perspective
on countries’ histories, but most importantly, it has been an
opportunity to enjoy cultural exchanges. “The more we travel and
the more people we meet, the more we get a better feeling for
what’s happening in different parts of the world,” Juro says. “And |
hope, by meeting us, they will have a better feeling for Americans.”
Competition’s Technology Challenge,
sponsored by Columbia Engineering,
for their startup, Serengeti, which
“uses artificial intelligence to aggregate
and share data.”
but appears on the album).
On April 30, Big Brothers Big Sisters
of New York City announced the
appointment of Alicia Guevara ’94 as
its new CEO, effective June 10. Guevara
is the nonprofit’s first female CEO.
Father of the Bride, the new album
from Vampire Weekend, was released
on May 3 and debuted at number 1 on
Playwright Terrence McNally ’60 was
one of three Broadway luminaries
honored for their lifetime achievements
at this year’s Tony Awards on June 9.
George Liu °17 and Jie Feng SEAS’17
took second place (and the $15,000
prize) in the 2019 Columbia Venture
D.D. Guttenplan ’78 was named
editor of The Nation, America’s oldest
continually published weekly magazine;
he started on June 15.
Roy Altman ’04 was confirmed as
a federal judge on April 4 by the
U.S. Senate; he serves the Southern
District of Florida.
Summer 2019 CCT 43
as
bookshelf
Andrew Martin ‘O08 Redefines
the Millennial Novel
By Yelena Shuster ’09
ndrew Martin 08 does not reflect fondly on his 20s. “’m
grateful to have survived that period of my life,” he says
over a bottle of IPA at his beloved college bar, The Dead
Poet (a bit on the nose for a struggling writer, he admits).
Luckily for him, that era proved incredibly fruitful for his debut
novel. Early Work (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $16) follows the listless
exploits of two writers in their 30s desperately trying to mold a career
— and some kind of life — out of the haphazard gigs and romances
of their 20s. The book focuses on Peter, a Yale English Ph.D. dropout
supposedly working on his novel, but actually spending most of his
time in an illicit love affair with Leslie, a fellow writer who ends up
unraveling whatever sense of contentment he thought he achieved.
In the vein of Philip Roth (one of Martin’s many literary heroes),
the book was somewhat autobiographical. While writing the novel,
Martin looked a lot like Peter: an aspiring writer who lived with his
longtime medical student girlfriend in Virginia. But despite what
readers — or concerned family members — might think, the simi-
larities end there: Peter is the anti-hero
Martin manifested out of his darkest fears.
“I wanted to capture that sense of anxi-
ety of being a writer,” Martin explains.
“Fear of failure was the biggest part of
it, of having spent all this time on some-
thing and then it turning out that you
can't do it. I really imagined that, at 23, I
was going to publish the great American
novel. I applied, quite arrogantly, to the
top 10 M.F-A. programs, and thought,
‘Surely one of them will take me.”
None of them did.
The English major credits his Colum-
bia mentor, the bestselling author and
chair of the Undergraduate Writing Program, Professor Sam Lipsyte,
for inspiring him to persevere. “After I got rejected, he sent me an
email that was really valuable, and said, basically, ‘Screw them. Make
your work good enough that they can’t say no.”
Martin's persistence paid off. Early Work was named a New York
Times Notable Book of 2018 and was included on The New Yorker
and Bookforum’s “Best Books of the Year.”
‘The same self-deprecating wit that won him accolades from the Los
Angeles Review of Books (“wall-to-wall with erudite repartee”) and the
LULU LIU
44 CCT Summer 2019
EARLY WORK
A Nerul
ANDREW MARTIN
Chicago Review of Books (“remarkable ear for natural dialogue and
pitch-perfect, witty banter”) also makes an appearance in real life.
“When I got turned down from every M.F.A. program I applied to,
I was like, ‘I went to Columbia. Do you know who I am? I worked for
the Columbia Spectator,” he quips. “In the scale of life lessons, it’s not
exactly like working in a coal mine, but that period of trying to figure
out how to become good at something I desperately wanted was really
hard. A lot of my friends were journalists publishing good work. So |
thought, “What am I doing with myself? Am I wasting my life?”
After the wave of rejections, Martin spent the next year work-
shopping his writing and got a full ride to the University of Mon-
tana M.F.A. program. It took five more years to publish his novel.
In between, he taught English, edited magazines or worked in pub-
licity while writing short stories and nonfiction for literary outlets
like The Paris Review and Tin House.
His breakthrough came after receiving a paid one-month writing
residency at the Ucross Foundation in Wyoming. There, he sat at the
computer 10 hours a day, averaging 1,000 words each session. He con-
tinued the practice after he left and wrote 450 pages in less than a year.
Martin credits all-nighters at Spectator for instilling the disci-
pline to finish a novel.
“At the paper, because we were so crazy and self-obsessed, it was
like, “We have to put out this newspaper tomorrow, and it’s worth
sacrificing everything else in my life to do this, even if it takes till 2
in the morning,” he recalls. “That work ethic was hugely important,
that sense of ‘I’m going to sit here till I get it done.’ It was the best
possible preparation.”
His advice for future Andrew Martins? Bleary-eyed, sleep-
deprived, uncompromising resolve.
“You have to acknowledge that it’s going to take up years of your
life, and you have to be willing to dedicate your life to it,” Martin
says. “It’s really hard to follow through on a novel. It’s easy to start.
It’s easy to be in the middle of one. It’s really hard to end one.
You're never going to get anything done unless you're willing to get
rejected 100 times and keep showing up.”
Yelena Shuster ’09 has written for The New York Times, Cosmo-
politan, InStyle and more. Her CCT Fall 2018 cover story, “Star
Power,” won the Folio Eddie Honorable Mention and a CASE Silver
Award. She founded and runs TheAdmissionsGuru.com, where she edits
admissions essays for high school, college and graduate school applications.
Vermont in the McCarthy Era 1946-1960
Reeaee slat anester neat r sere tes oeeccee Infinite
Al
SUPER-
POWERS
RICK WINSTON
The World | Live In dy Lou
Paterno ’54. A personal work of
prose and pictures that spans three
generations, featuring philosophy,
whimsy and reminiscences
(Infinity Publishing, $18.05).
Recollections In Tranquility
by Jay Martin ’56. The author,
a professor and psychoanalyst,
describes his epistolary history
with writers he knew as a young
man (Art Bookbindery).
Carter by David Schiff’67.
‘The first biography of Pulitzer
Prize-winning composer Elliot
Carter, written by his former
student and close associate
(Oxford University Press, $34.95).
Britt & Jimmy Strike Out
by Stephen Salisbury’69. Salisbury,
a longtime journalist for The
Philadelphia Inquirer, dives into
fiction with this timely satire about
a futuristic controlled society
(Alternative Book Press, $19.99).
Red Scare in the Green
Mountains: Vermont in the
McCarthy Era 1946-1960 dy Rick
Winston 69. In nine stories, Winston
explores how the small “rock-ribbed
Republican” state handled the anti-
Communist hysteria of the time
(Rootstock Publishing, $16.95).
Solito, Solita: Crossing Borders
with Youth Refugees from
Central America edited by Jonathan
Notes
ALVA NOE
Freedman ’72 and Steven Mayers.
Fifteen young narrators describe
how and why they fled their homes
to seek safety and protection in
the United States (Haymarket
Books, $19.95).
Latinxs, the Bible, and Migration
edited by Efrain Agosto’77 and
Jacqueline Hidalgo ‘00. A collection
of essays that examine the
conjunction between migration
and biblical texts with a focus on
Latinx histories and experiences
(Palgrave Macmillan, $139.99).
Hearts Set Free: A Novel
by Jess Lederman ’77. Characters
develop their relationship with
God in three interwoven stories
that feature historic figures such
as mobster Bugsy Siegel and boxer
Jack Johnson (Azure Star, $12.95).
Righteous Assassin:
A Mike Stoneman Thriller
by Kevin Chapman ’83.
NYPD detective Stoneman
and his partner, Jason Dickson,
attempt to solve four murders
that all occur on the last
Saturday night of the month
(independently published, $11.99).
Al Superpowers: China,
Silicon Valley, and the New
World Order dy Kai-Fu Lee ’83.
Al expert Lee describes how
significant advances in technology
will affect human history (Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt, $28).
Baseball '
s from a Philosopher at the Ballpark
a SAME 5
| PR AM,
| eee MENDEL Sup
4 Novey
The Kenyan TJRC: An Outsider’s
View from the Inside dy Ronald C.
Slye 84. A definitive history of
the Kenyan Truth, Justice and
Reconciliation Commission,
established in 2008 to come to
terms with systematic human rights
violations in the region (Cambridge
University Press, $34.95).
Infinite Baseball: Notes from
a Philosopher at the Ballpark
by Alva Noé’86. The author
examines the unexpected ways
in which America’s Pastime is
a philosophical game (Oxford
University Press, $21.95).
Life After Suicide: Finding
Courage, Comfort & Community
After Unthinkable Loss dy
Dr. Jennifer Ashton ’91. Ashton,
the chief medical correspondent
at ABC News, opens up in a
“heartbreaking, yet hopeful” memoir
about surviving the suicide of a loved
one (William Morrow, $24.99).
Same Same: A Novel dy Peter
Mendelsund ’91. The celebrated
book designer’s first work of
fiction is a darkly humorous look
at what it means to exist and to
create (Vintage, $17.95).
So You’re Going Bald!
by Jonathan Goldblatt ’95. Written
under the pen name Julius
Sharpe, this comic “bald memoir”
is a guide to appreciating life as you
lose your hair (Harper, $27.99).
THE
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FORTUNA
The Plaza: The Secret Life of
America’s Most Famous Hotel
by Julie Satow 96. A juicy look at
how this New York City icon has
symbolized money, glamour and
high society for more than a century
(Twelve, $29).
Becoming a Veterinarian dy Boris
Kachka’97. Part of the Masters at
Work book series, journalist Kachka
discovers how a popular childhood
dream job becomes a real career
(Simon & Schuster, $18).
Ask a Native New Yorker: Hard-
Earned Advice on Surviving
and Thriving in the Big City dy
Jake Dobkin ’98. The co-founder of
Gothamist spins one of the website’s
most popular columns into a book
of original essays that offer practical
information about the Big Apple
(Harry N. Abrams, $19.99).
Sounds Like Titanic: A Memoir
by Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman
03. An aspiring violinist from
Appalachia joins a New York City
classical music ensemble that turns
out to be a sham (W.W. Norton &
Co., $25.95).
The Seven or Eight Deaths
of Stella Fortuna: A Novel
by Juliet Grames 05. In Grames’s
fiction debut, an unusually
unlucky Italian girl and her family
emigrate to America on the cusp
of WWII (Ecco, $27.99).
— Jill C. Shomer
Summer 2019 CCT 45
i
7 v7
; | =
HAMILTON
Although campus
is quieter in
the summer,
the statue of
Alexander
Hamilton CC 1778
Still Keeps
watch over
Van Am Quad.
46 CCT Summer 2019
|
|
1942
Melvin Hershkowitz
22 Northern Ave.
Northampton, MA 01060-2310
DrMelvin23@gmail.com
As | begin to write these notes in
March, I’m pleased to report that
I have kept in touch with five
widows of our distinguished class-
mates: Gerald Green, Robert J.
Kaufman, Dr. Herbert Mark,
Don Mankiewicz and Dr. William
Robbins. In order, they are Marlene
Green in New Canaan, Conn., and
Boca Raton, Fla.; Susan Kaufman
in Scarsdale, N.Y.; Avra Mark in
White Plains, N.Y.; Carol Mankie-
wicz in Monrovia, Calif., and Dagny
Robbins in Mount Dora, Fla. I have
had both phone conversations and
mail correspondence with all of
them, thus preserving the memory
of these great and distinguished
classmates for future generations.
The New York Times published,
on February 25, a major obituary
for our famous classmate Don-
ald Keene GSAS’49, who was a
world-class scholar and translator
of Japanese culture and litera-
ture. After Pearl Harbor, Donald
enlisted to study Japanese; the skill
eventually led him to the bloody
battle of Okinawa. He returned
to Columbia for his doctorate and
SCOTT RUDD
eventually published more than
25 books of academic analysis and
personal philosophic commentary.
He eventually moved to Japan,
where he lived the rest of his life. 1
knew Donald casually, having met
him through my longtime friend
Philip Yampolsky (now deceased),
who was also a scholar of Japanese
literature. Phil and I were classmates
at Horace Mann before coming to
Columbia in 1938, and when Phil
became a scholar of Japanese culture
and literature, he introduced me to
Donald. At his death, Donald left an
adopted son, Seiki Keene.
Dr. Gerald Klingon (98) remains
lucid and interested in Columbia
athletics, especially football and
INN »:
laa
baseball. We frequently talk on
the phone, sharing our frustrations
with short-term memory loss, a
common deficiency in our age group
(I am 96). Gerry lives by himself
in his Manhattan apartment, with
devoted attention and frequent visits
from his daughter, Karen, and his
son, Robert.
Politics: Two Columbia alumni are
currently prominent. Beto O’Rourke
95, a candidate for President, rowed
on the heavyweight crew and played
in a rock band before graduation.
William Barr’71, GSAS’79, the
U.S. Attorney General, is the son
of Donald Barr’41, GSAS’50 (now
deceased), who was one of my friends
at Columbia. Donald was a some-
what eccentric, brilliant scholar, and
became headmaster of the Hackley
School in Tarrytown, N.Y., before
his retirement.
Sports: As I write this, Columbia
football will soon begin spring practice.
Our team returns 61 members who
played in 2018, including eight starters
on offense and nine starters on defense.
Returning from injuries last year are
star wide receiver Josh Wainwright ’19
and place kicker Oren Milstein ’20.
This team could certainly compete for
the Ivy League Championship.
Kind regards to all surviving
members of our Great Class of
1942. Long May Columbia Stand!
1943
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
Bernie Weisberger shares, “Fellow
members, another year ending in the
number nine is here and reminds
me that it was in autumn 1939,
that fatal year, when we became
Columbia freshmen, immediately
after WWII had begun on the 3rd
of September. I no longer recall
the exact date on which we were
expected to show up for classes, but
it was memorable to me; I’ll pass
it along since little of importance
has occurred in my life in these last
three generally wet and cold months
in Evanston, IIl., and I don’t want to
deal here and now with what I see as
the disastrous things going on under
the reign of would-be King Donald.
Going back 80 years in my mind is
much-needed escape.
“T lived at the time in Queens, and
was about to become a commuter
student to the College’s campus at
116th Street and Broadway. This
involved taking an IRT subway to
Times Square and from there a
northbound train to that exit. I set
out with a fellow freshman-elect but,
inexperienced and excited as we were
and both still in our teens, we bungled
the job and failed to note that we had
brought ourselves to the East Side,
and emerged at 116th Street on the
opposite side of Manhattan — with
about 10 minutes before due hour.
What to do? With an already-devel-
oping Columbia savvy, we pooled the
lunch money we were both carrying,
grabbed a cab that took up most of it
and hit the deadline. We were a little
hungry at lunchtime but contented
with our ‘escape.’
“Otherwise, a bit of family brag-
ging — my granddaughter Miriam
will take her doctorate in history at
Harvard in May and proceed from
thence to an appointment as lecturer
in history of medicine at Yale. Her
older sister, Abigail, continues val-
iantly to practice asylum law in San
Francisco under the pressure of the
President’s open hostility. I am as
proud of my other four grandchil-
dren as I am of them, but can’t resist
the honorable mention temptation.
“Hope more of you in our dwin-
dling roster will check in, too.”
1944
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
Share your news, life story or
favorite Columbia College memory
by sending it to either the postal
address or email address at the top
of the column.
1945
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
Please share an update on your life,
or even a favorite Columbia College
memory, by sending it to either the
postal address or email address at
the top of the column.
1946
Bernard Sunshine
165 W. 66th St., Apt. 12G
New York, NY 10023
bsuns1@gmail.com
Alan Berman GSAS’52 is “alive
and well” and living in Valparaiso,
Ind. “Last year,” he reports, “I started
to reread all of the books we read in
our Humanities course.”
While they may never appear on
the Lit Hum syllabus, Larry Ross
PS’51 has been writing poems mus-
ing on the travails of aging. Here’s
a sample: “Life effectively starts at
birth / and how we live it may vary. /
‘This is my view for what it’s worth: /
Demise doesn't have to be scary.”
Norman Hansen SEAS’50
writes that he was originally part
of our class, but his studies were
interrupted in March 1944 when he
was drafted into the Army. After his
discharge in 1946, Norm resumed
his studies at Columbia, graduating
in 1950 with a B.A. anda B.S. in
engineering. He went on to a long
and distinguished career as an engi-
neer for Mobil Oil. Today, he lives in
Bothell, Wash.
‘The obituary of Harold Brown
’45, GSAS’49 in the Spring issue
“brought back some sweet memories
of this extraordinary man,” writes
Burton Sapin GSAS’47. “Along
with his education in the physical sci-
ences and then his application of that
expertise to government weapons and
arms control ending up, amazingly, as
secretary of defense, he was equally
adept in the humanities. I got to
know him when both of us took the
advanced Humanities course that the
College offered at the time.”
We also mourn the passing of Dr.
Herbert Hendin PS’59 on February
17. Herb, a professor of psychiatry at
NYU and P&S, was an international
expert in suicide and its prevention,
working extensively with combat
veterans. We extend heartfelt condo-
Summer 2019 CCT 47
lences to his wife, Josephine, and the
entire Hendin family.
To end on a sweet note: am
thrilled to have joined the select
ranks of great-grandfathers! In
March, my granddaughter Hannah
gave birth to Maya Sunshine Nee.
1947
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
Share your news, life story or
favorite Columbia College memory
by sending it to either the postal
address or email address at the top
of the column.
1948
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
Dr. Alvin N. Eden writes: “I am
most fortunate to still practice
pediatrics, teach medical students
and play a bit of tennis doubles at
my rather advanced age. I recently
co-authored a chapter in a textbook
on anemia about iron deficiency in
young children.”
Durham Caldwell “sorrowfully
reports the loss of his beloved
wife, Jean BC’47, with whom he
had shared more than 71 years
of marriage. The former Jean
Connors died on January 19,
2019, in Springfield, Mass., after
a brief illness. Theirs was a college
romance, begun at campus radio
station WKCR, where both were
active. They met outside the station
just before the start of classes in
September 1946. They exchanged
first winks in the studio two weeks
later. And he proposed to her three
months after that in Barnard’s
Hewitt Hall after she had opened the
door to it by asking, ‘I wonder what
we'll be doing a year from now.’
“Jean was the mother of four, a
30-year correspondent for The Boston
Globe, a dedicated school volunteer
and a longtime volunteer educa-
tional and/or health care advocate
for numerous families and indi-
48 CCT Summer 2019
viduals. A piece she freelanced for
American Baby on a new procedure
for preventing an especially deleteri-
ous form of mental retardation was
named Best Magazine Article of the
Year by the American Academy of
Pediatrics. She received a number
of civic awards, largely for her work
with Somali Bantu refugee students
and families. But probably the
citation she appreciated most was
hand-lettered by a group of Somali
teens she had been working with:
“We may not remember everything
you said, but we will remember how
special you made us feel.”
Share an update on your life, or
even a favorite Columbia College
memory, by sending it to either the
postal address or email address at
the top of the column.
1949
John Weaver
2639 E. 11th St.
Brooklyn, NY 11235
wudchpr@gmail.com
I hope that those who attended our
70th class reunion had a marvelous
time. Please take a moment to write
about and share your experiences.
Your classmates would be happy to
hear from you.
1950
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
Wishing the members of the Class
of 1950 a healthy and happy sum-
mer. Please take a moment to share
your news or a favorite Columbia
College memory with the class. You
can write to either of the addresses
at the top of the column.
1951
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
David Kettler GSAS’60 “has just
completed a long-delayed study,
Learning from Franz Neumann: Law,
Theory, and the Brute Facts of Political
Life, which was to be published
late in the spring. Neumann was a
distinguished political theorist and
inspiring teacher for our genera-
tion, although most of his classes
were at the graduate level, where he
was my supervisor. Since he came
to Columbia late, after wartime
service in OSS, and died in an auto
accident in 1954, we were among
the few to encounter him. His
well-documented and productive
career encompassed 10 years as
labor lawyer for the Socialist labor
movement in Germany, three years
in London exile (where he earned
a political theory doctorate from
Harold Laski), six years with the
Columbia-afhiliated Institute for
Social Research (headed by Max
Horkheimer), four years with the
OSS and the Nuremberg war crimes
trial team and then the abortive
but brilliant career in Columbia’s
Department of Government.
“This is admittedly an unusual
sort of Class Note, especially among
us few survivors, yet I regard it as the
culmination of my Columbia years.”
Merritt Rhoad writes: “I have
been retired from IBM for 28 years.
I worked 32 years, and my aim is to
be retired at least as long as I worked.
‘The years are converging. I have had
to reluctantly give up skiing and
sailing due to peripheral neuropathy
in my feet. This causes a loss of
balance, a necessity for both sports.
“T continue to do volunteer work
for the Friends of the Wissahickon as
leader of the Structures Crew. We now
have 16 people on the crew, all retired.
“Life goes on and life is fun.”
Edward Hardy shared what
he titled “What If? A Farewell
Memory”: “For my four years at
Columbia College, I was privileged
to be a coxswain on the Heavy-
weight Crew.
“As a freshman, I participated in
the 46th Regatta of the Intercol-
legiate Rowing Association (IRA) at
Poughkeepsie. Out of a field of 10
we came in seventh after a two-mile
race and were accorded some mild
praise, as it was an encouraging
performance compared to recent
years. I returned to Poughkeepsie in
my sophomore year but as a ‘pickle
boat’ coxswain. No one realized at
the time that the IRA would not
return to the Hudson. In my junior
year I was the JV coxswain for the
three-mile course on the Ohio River
at Marietta. After good weather and
water conditions, none of us had
anticipated the rain and flood condi-
tions on the day of the race, except
the citizens of Marietta. Despite the
surprise to most of us and resultant
poor showings, we went back to
Marietta in my senior year. I was
again privileged to be a coxswain,
this time of the varsity rowing team.
Once again, the weather and water
conditions were very acceptable for
the practice days. The coach slyly
revealed to me that our time trials
rivaled those of the top contend-
ers. In fact, he said that Columbia
and Syracuse had the best practice
records leading up to the day of
the actual competition. Then, the
inevitable happened, again! Storms
up-river led to flooding and Colum-
bia was assigned to race in the
second lane from the shore, where
the currents would be slower than
the middle lanes. Syracuse actually
ran into a floating log, momentarily
stopping their rhythm. We turned in
a disappointing time despite the fact
that our power and keel remained in
harmony with our catch and run, as
we had demonstrated in practice.
“And so, despite the great experi-
ences that Columbia had afforded
me over four years, the retrospective,
“What if conditions had not drasti-
cally changed the day of the race?”
will pursue my thoughts for the rest
of my life.”
Share your news, life story or
favorite Columbia College memory
by sending it to either the postal
address or email address at the top
of the column.
1952
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
Summer greetings, CC’52! Howard
Hansen writes: “As a Columbia
basketball fan, I never felt that the
1950-51 undefeated and balanced
team ever got the recognition it
deserved. Think of it! The team went
undefeated in 22 straight games
and 31 straight victories over two
seasons. They averaged 20 points per
game more than their opponents.
Their end-of-season national rank-
From the record books: Men’s basketball went undefeated in 1950—51.
ing was number 2 in the Dunkel
NCAA Basketball Index and num-
ber 3 on AP. No team in history had
a higher end-of-season ranking.
“Four of the top 10 players in
the Ivy League (as voted by Ivy
coaches) were Lions: John Azary,
Bob Reiss, Alan Stein and Jack
Molinas’53. The team had an
unusual average scoring balance
in that no more than one scoring
point separated the top three
scorers (Azary, Reiss and Molinas).
The 1967-68 team, which was
inaugurated into the Columbia
University Athletics Hall of
Fame before the 1950-51 team,
had a 16-point average victory
over opponents!
“Post-Columbia, three of the
starting five went to Harvard
Business School. Three became
lawyers. Four became entrepreneurs.
One had a career as an Air Force
colonel, one became an engineer,
another a publisher of a major
newspaper and one a dean at
Columbia — need I say more?
An impressive group!”
1953
Lew Robins
3200 Park Ave., Apt. 9C2
Bridgeport, CT 06604
lewrobins@aol.com
Allan Jackman recently completed
a three-year memoir of his days as
the sports editor of Spectator. In this
latest note for CCT, Al reports hav-
ing framed autographed pictures of
Columbia’s great coach, Lou Little,
and our quarterback, Mitch Price,
hanging on his studio’s wall in Mill
Valley, Calif. Al writes, “Whenever
I look at the pictures of Lou Little
and Mitch, I think of Columbia’s
‘undefeated football glory days,’
which only lasted 1930-34, when
they won the Rose Bowl.”
Al also sent along the follow-
ing anecdote of what happened to
him as a youngster: “I was born and
raised in the Flatbush section of
Brooklyn, not far from Ebbets Field,
where the Brooklyn Dodgers played
since it was built in 1913. I lived
so close that I could walk to the
games. I remember on Wednesday
afternoons I could get into the
bleacher section in center field for
free if I brought along a pound
of scrap metal, which was melted
down for reuse in tanks and trucks.
I also remember one memorable day
when the man sitting next to me,
who was using a pair of binoculars,
suddenly gave them to me and said,
‘Look behind third base.’ When I
asked why, he said that Babe Ruth
was coaching there. Sure enough, lo
and behold, there was Old Bambino.
Many years later, my son read that
The Babe had indeed coached for
the Dodgers in 1944.”
Al has generously agreed to make
copies of his memoir available to
classmates who were members of
the football team when we were
undergraduates. If you would like a
copy, please send me your name and
mailing address.
Pll look forward to receiving data
about what is happening in our class-
mates’ lives for future issues of CCT.
1954
Bernd Brecher
35 Parkview Ave., Apt. 4G
Bronxville, NY 10708
brecherservices@aol.com
Hello all, I write this column for
CCT’s Summer issue six weeks
before our 65th anniversary reunion,
which you are now reading six weeks
after our reunion. So, all I write
about is possibly fake news, but here
goes: Our 11-member Reunion
Committee worked at making ours
the best attended 65th celebration
ever at Columbia. Our code was
“65 454,” and the mantra was how
members of the Class of 54 —
Columbia’s Bicentennial Class, the
“Class of Destiny” — individually
fulfilled their own destinies from the
perspective of 65 years later.
Our class dinner speakers —
Dr. Henry Buchwald PS’57, Hon.
Alvin Hellerstein LAW’56 and
Saul Turteltaub LAW’57 — were
planning to address this issue, as
were other ’54 attendees at an open
mic session and a panel discussion of
classmates and current students.
More on our reunion will be
covered in these Class Notes in the
Fall issue.
At its annual meeting this April,
the Academy of Political Science
elected Demetrios James Caraley
GSAS’02 to his 47th term as editor
of the journal Political Science Quar-
terly. The Quarterly was established at
Columbia in 1886 as the first schol-
arly journal in government, politics
and international affairs. Demetrios is
professor of political science emeritus
at Barnard and Columbia.
(Forty-seven terms? Congratula-
tions, Demetrios — was that by
popular vote or electoral college?)
Edward Cowan and his wife,
Ann Louise, continue to share their
travel adventures, highlighting their
late winter first trip to Switzerland
in nearly 35 years. Of Zurich and
Basel Edward writes, “We got
around smoothly on local networks
of trams, which invariably run on
time. Or we walked, especially
in Zurich, whose District One is
compact and contains most of the
museums, churches and restaurants
a visitor would want to see. We
especially recommend Fraumiinster
Church, a Protestant church with a
first-rate audioguide for visitors. It
stands a few hundred meters from
the Grossmiinster, bigger and more
visible and a Protestant landmark
... we stayed in hotels close to the
main rail stations, which adjoin
Central, where tram lines terminate.
The Kunstmuseums (fine arts) in
Summer 2019 CCT 49
Zurich and Basel are worth several
hours each.
“Blessed with uncommonly mild,
sunny March weather,” Ed contin-
ues, “we took a boat ride down the
lake and disembarked at Rapper-
swil-Jona, where we strolled and
climbed to the castle before taking
a train back to Zurich. Switzerland
is a tad expensive, but it is clean,
orderly, safe and well maintained.”
My own visits to Switzerland
began at a winter resort in 1938; the
last — with my wife, Helen, in 1988
— and in between several visits
mostly to Geneva on World Boy
Scouts business. I fully agree with
Edward’s take on the pleasures of
that country. Note also the Cowans’
take on walking and climbing: good
mobility maintenance for all.
Our crusading correspondent
and reunion stand-up speaker,
Saul Turteltaub, reminisces about
65-plus years ago when “summer at
Columbia was almost non-existent.
It started June 21 when we were
gone and ended September 21
when we were barely back. That
time in between for most of us was
necessary to raise money for the
next year of school. I needed $900 in
1953-54 and made it in the Catskill
mountains as a social director,
waiter, busboy or bellhop. I have no
idea how the kids today can make
$50,000 tuitions in two months as a
bellhop; that’s approximately $1,000
a day or a $100 tip for carrying two
bags to or from a room for each of
10 guests. The biggest tip I ever got
was $10 from a guest to open the
swimming pool for his girlfriend at
midnight, which almost cost me my
Holler at Us
in Haiku!
Core, one hundred years!
What’s a fun way to note it?
Poetry from you.
50 CCT Summer 2019
job when another guest woke up the
boss and complained.
“Bottom line,” Saul concludes,
“today’s tuition costs must come
down. We don't need new, expensive
professors every year — unless they
tip $100 each time for help with
their luggage.”
The New York Times in February
printed a letter to the editor from
Manfred Weidhorn GSAS’63,
where Manny commented on
the paper’s graphic presentation
“A Detailed History of Trump’s
Signature Promise, in His Own
Words.” He wrote, in part, “Did
the president know that he was
lying — that Mexico would never
pay for a wall — in which case he
has to be the greatest scoundrel in
American political history? Or does
he really think that he is uttering
actual truths, in which case he is the
most delusional person in American
political history?”
Indeed, here is ongoing food for
thought, Manny offered no answers,
just a challenge: “Fellow citizens,
choose your poison!” (I’m inter-
ested in our classmates’ individual
responses to his challenge. Email
me at the address at the top of this
column. Not at The New York Times.)
Our class valedictorian, Dr.
Henry Buchwald, was scheduled
to return to the scene of the crime
to deliver Valedictory 2.0 at our
Friday welcoming dinner reception;
I will tell you more about him and
the reunion in my next column. For
now, some quick observations: He
was coming in from Minneapolis
with his wife, Emilie BC’57, and
one of his four daughters, Amy, an
We’re celebrating the Core Centennial this year and would
love to hear your memories of the Core Curriculum! But
there’s a catch — you need to tell us in haiku. Send your
5-7-5 recollections to cct_centennial@columbia.edu, and
we'll run our favorites in the next four issues’ Class Notes.
actress, writer and stand-up come-
dian. (Saul, did you hear that?)
A week after our reunion, Henry
was slated to receive in Chicago
from the American College of
Surgeons the Jacobson Innovation
Award for groundbreaking surgical
development or technique. He is a
professor of surgery and professor
of biomedical engineering at the
University of Minnesota.
Another ’54 speaker, Judge Alvin
Hellerstein, was slated for our
closing banquet to make a widely
anticipated presentation, tentatively
titled “What Is Just Punishment?
‘The Anguish of a Sentencing Judge.”
Over the last several years, Al has
presided over some of the most
diverse and challenging cases in the
New York area — several detailed
previously in this column — and
was expected to cite them in his
overview at our closing event.
I hope many of you reading this
issue will have been at our 65th
reunion and will be willing to share
some of your own observations —
we can take it — for the Fall issue.
You know how to get me 24/7; if
not on the spot, I will always get
back to you. Meanwhile, as always,
be well, be good, do good, stay in
touch, help cure the world, remem-
ber the past but look to the future.
All my best, Excelsior!
1955
Gerald Sherwin
181 E. 73rd St., Apt. 16B
New York, NY 10021
gs481@juno.com
The Class of 1955 is spread across
the country, although it appears that
most alumni live in New England,
Long Island, Florida and California.
Despite poor weather, the Alexander
Hamilton Award Dinner was held
according to plan in November and
the John Jay Awards were given to
five College alumni in March.
‘The fencing team won its 16th
NCAA National Championship
and 52nd Ivy League Champion-
ship. Despite some beginning losses,
the men’s basketball team finished
strongly as the season came to a close.
This should be exciting times for fans
Bob Bernot and Dick Kuhn.
Elliot Gross is looking forward
to enjoying the company of class-
mates at the baccalaureate ceremony.
We have started planning for our
65th reunion. We hope to see Herb
Gardner once again at the Saturday
dinner, where he can tell tales of
what it was like to be a member of
the class. Meetings have been held
outlining events and what will take
place at reunion.
As they say, keep your sunny side
up; your diet is most important to a
happy life.
Love to all! Everywhere!
1956
Robert Siroty
707 Thistle Hill Ln.
Somerset, NJ 08873
rrs76@columbia.edu
Peter Poole writes, “I edited Jester
in 1956. 1 am now a retired Foreign
Service officer living in Sugar Hill,
N.H., with my wife, Alice, and a res-
cued pooch from Puerto Rico. I have
published 10 books on U.S.-foreign
affairs, and recently finished editing
the autobiography of my grandfa-
ther Ernest Poole, who won the first
Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1918.
I have the Columbia University
certificate on my wall. The title of
his book is The Bridge: My Own
Story, and it was first published by
Macmillan in 1940. With four other
grandchildren, I have obtained a
contract from Heritage Books in
Maryland to reprint it this year with
a new preface, table of contents and
index. I hope to market it to people
who run American studies courses at
USS. and foreign colleges.
“My grandfather was born in
Chicago in 1880, attended school
with President Lincoln’s grandson
and received good grades from
Professor Woodrow Wilson at
Princeton. He made his first trip to
Russia during the war with Japan
in 1905 and then became an active
reporter on the social problems of
immigrants in New York. Despite
being a socialist, my grandfather
supported Wilson’s efforts to involve
us in WWI and reported from the
trenches of German and Belgian
forces during the war. He returned
to Russia in 1917. In 1915, he pub-
lished The Harbor and in 1917 His
Family. Each sold nearly 100,000
copies, including later domestic and
foreign editions. During his career,
my grandfather published 24 books,
mainly novels and mostly with Mac-
millan. The average sale was 20,000
copies. He died in 1950.”
Had a great luncheon in Boyn-
ton Beach, Fla., on February 21.
Wonderful guests accompanied
Dan Link, Don Roth, Larry Cohn
(in from California), Mike Spett,
David Goler, Murray Eskenazi,
Stan Manne SEAS’56 and me for
a memorable afternoon.
Ralph Kaslick DM’62 writes,
“During the last 12 years I have
been the chairman of the visiting
professor program at the College
of Dental Medicine. Topics have
ranged from the future of dental
education, to the future of dental
research and the economic issues
involved in dental practice, includ-
ing the large student loan debt.
Visiting professors covering those
topics have included the executive
director of the American Dental
Education Association, the director
of the National Institute of Dental
and Craniofacial Research at NIH
and the president and membership
chairman of The Lyceum Society,
composed of retired and semi-
retired members of the New York
Academy of Sciences. Since 2010,
I have given presentations to the
society on diverse and often contro-
versial scientific subjects unrelated
to dentistry.
“After retirement, memory of
my college years provided me with
a desire to once again pursue my
nonprofessional academic interests in
addition to professional endeavors. In
January 2007, the Columbia College
Alumni Association implemented
the first Mini-Core Courses, and I
began attending. In 2016, I enrolled
in a series of mini-Core courses
focused on the role of Contemporary
Civilization. The first was ‘Socrates
and the Legacy of Conscientious
(i.e. nonviolent) Citizenship’ and
included works by Mill, Gandhi and
King. It was taught by former dean
of Columbia College and profes-
sor of political philosophy and legal
theory Michele Moody-Adams. In
2017, Professor Emmanuelle Saada
followed with a discussion of ‘State
and Violence, with reference to
Machiavelli, Fanon and others. In
2018, Professor John McWhorter,
in his course on “The Ideal Society,’
concluded the story of the develop-
ment of contemporary civilization
from Socrates to the modern day
citing — among others — Hobbes
(monarchy) and Locke (democracy)
to present-day political philosophers.
“Other Mini-Core presentations
have brought music and art into
modern perspective. Professor Brad
Garton, director of the Computer
Music Center, conducted a course,
‘Masterpieces of Western Music,
Revisited, which covered the entire
spectrum from early Renaissance
music to minimalist composers of
today, such as Steve Reich, Philip
Glass and John Adams. As a bonus,
upon my request, I was granted a
visit to the Computer Music Center
at Prentis Hall (West 125th Street)
founded in 1958 by Vladimir Ussa-
chevsky, who was a lecturer in one
of Douglas Moore’s music classes in
1955. I saw his original RCA Mark
II synthesizer and the latest advances
in technology used by Professor Gar-
ton in the production of new com-
puter music. This spring, I planned to
In February, members of the Class of 1956 met for lunch in Boynton Beach,
Fla. Seated, left to right: Bob Siroty, Dan Link, Don Roth and Larry Cohn;
and standing, left to right: Stan Manne, Murray Eskenazi, David Goler and
Mike Spett.
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Members of the Class of 1956 (and two Columbia staff members) enjoyed
lunch at New York’s Penn Club in March. Left to right: David Silver; Buzz
Paaswell 56; Alan Broadwin ’56; Steve Easton 56; Ken Swimm ’56; Gordon
Silverman ’55, SEAS’56; Len Wolfe 56; Mark Novick 56; Jesse Blumenthal
‘56; Ralph Kaslick 56; Jerry Fine ’56; Jennifer Alpert; and Bob Siroty ’56.
attend Professor Noam Elcott’00’s
course, ‘Modern Art/Modern Vision:
Monet, Picasso, Warhol.”
Alan Broadwin; Leonard Wolfe;
Jesse Blumenthal; Ken Swimm;
Jerry Fine; Ralph Kaslick; Steve
Easton; Buzz Paaswell; Mark
Novick; Gordon Silverman’55,
SEAS’56, SEAS’57; and yours truly
had a wonderful lunch at the Penn
Club on West 44th Street, embel-
lished by the presence of David Silver
and Jennifer Alpert (our class reps in
the Alumni Office). They marveled
at the attendance. We started looking
at favors for our 65th reunion in two
years. So far we came up with walking
sticks with a Columbia logo on its
head. Any suggestions? Look at the
pictures. We haven't changed much!
Stay strong. Stay busy. See you soon.
1957
Herman Levy
7322 Rockford Dr.
Falls Church, VA 22043
hdlleditor@aol.com
Herman Levy: In January 2019,
yours truly went on another
European trip, spending three days
in England and a week each in
Copenhagen and Amsterdam.
Based in London, I made day
visits to Reading and to Oxford. In
Reading I had lunch with the widow
of an old friend from Glasgow.
She moved to Reading to be near
one of her daughters. The follow-
ing day I went to Oxford. My older
nephew, Paul, spent a semester at St
Catherine’s College there in 1988,
and asked me to make a return visit.
I spent a vacation visiting him at
Oxford; I still have notes I took
during some of his classes. A quarter
century later, when Paul’s son, Noah,
spent a semester at the University of
London, I took him up to Oxford for
a day; we called his folks from Christ
Church College, which Paul and I
had visited. This time I also revisited
St Edmund Hall, where I completed
a four-day summer course on the
English Country House, which
followed the 2000 American Bar
Association meetings in London.
‘The next day I flew to Copenha-
gen. I had been there in 1968, 1969
and 1971, and was most pleased
to return. I noted some physical
changes in the city, especially more
foreign restaurants, notably my
favorite, Indian. The friendliness of
the people has remained; English
remains widely spoken. I felt quite
comfortable asking directions to my
hotel from people I encountered on
arrival at the railway station from
the airport at night.
Across from the station is the
Tivoli, an elaborate amusement
park complete with rides, pavilions,
pagodas and boating lakes, among
others. It was closed for the winter
on this visit; I visited it in 1968. On
the opposite side of the park is H.
C. Andersens Boulevard, with a top-
hatted statue of the beloved chil-
dren’s author. Down the boulevard is
the monumental radhus (city hall),
with its astronomical clock. Inside
is its ornate reception hall. Leading
from the Radhuspladsen (city hall
square) is the Streget, the famous
pedestrians-only shopping street.
From the Tivoli, in a northeast
line, are the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
collection, the National Museum,
and Christiansborg Slot (palace).
The Carlsberg exhibits comprise
antiquities and 19th-century French
Summer 2019 CCT 51
Class Notes
and Danish paintings donated by
members of the Carlsberg family
(the brewers). The National Museum
houses collections on Danish history
throughout the centuries.
Christiansborg is a complex of
several buildings, including the palace
itself, the parliament house and the
Royal Library. At one end of the
library is the Jewish Museum, which
houses a collection of Torah crowns,
pointers, Chanukah menorahs and
other Jewish art objects. In the midst
of the complex of buildings is a statue
of the Danish philosopher and author
Soren Kierkegaard. Now the ceremo-
nial rather than actual residence of the
Danish Royal Family, the palace has,
among other things, the magnificent
royal reception rooms.
Unfortunately, The Museum of
Danish Resistance, which com-
memorates Danish resistance to the
German occupation during WWII,
was closed for repairs follow-
ing a fire. Notably, the Resistance
Museum commemorates the
evacuation of all but a small number
of the approximately 7,000 Danish
Jews to Sweden during the war. Well
do I remember from a visit there in
1968 a photograph of King Chris-
tian X on horseback, giving the “cold
shoulder” to German soldiers salut-
ing him. The evacuation is recalled
in the novel A Night of Watching.
Again following the northeast
line, one finds the canal-like Nyhavn,
lined on one side with quaint old
gabled houses turned into restaurants,
bars and cafes with both indoor and
outdoor tables. Continuing northeast
from Nyhavn is Amalienborg Palace,
the present royal residence. I saw the
wie
ee (—_)
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Touch
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a new phone number or
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52 CCT Summer 2019
changing of the guard there. The cer-
emony was much less elaborate than
the ones at Buckingham Palace I have
seen. There were about a dozen foot
guards, wearing a black busby, black
double-breasted jacket with red piping
and white cross-belt, light blue trou-
sers with a white stripe down the side
and black shoes; there was no band.
Overlooking the scene is Frederik’s
Church, aka The Marble Church
(Marmorkirken), with its splendid
dome similar to those on St Paul’s in
London and St. Peter’s in Rome.
West of Amalienborg Palace is
the towered baroque Rosenborg
Castle, which houses the Danish
Royal Collections, including the
crown jewels.
I conclude my comments on
Copenhagen by recalling a social
services tour I took on my 1968
visit, which featured a daycare center
for children and housing for the
elderly. Those were quite advanced
for that time.
From Copenhagen I flew to
Amsterdam; I have lost track of the
number of times that I have visited
it. It is primarily the 17th-century
Dutch art and the quaintness of the
canal scenes, with their gabled row
houses, that have been the drawing
cards for me; there also are the
friendliness of the people and the
prevalence of English.
The center of historic Amsterdam
is the monumental so-called Royal
Palace, on Dam Square; recent royals,
however, have not lived there, prefer-
ring to live in The Hague. Sometimes
it is called the Town or City Hall. It
was designed and built in the 17th
century on numerous piles driven
into low-lying marshy ground. The
front of the palace is neoclassical.
A fairly short walk from the
palace is the Amsterdam Museum,
which traces the city’s history from a
small fishing village to a major com-
mercial center. It also has a number
of paintings and other art objects. A
few steps away is the quaint Begijn-
bof (“Bechayenhof”), an enclave of
small gabled houses, formerly a lay
nunnery and now providing housing
for elderly women.
Another short walk brings one to
the innermost of the five concentric
canals, the Singel. Following it for
a short distance, one encounters
Leidsestraat (Leiden Street), a
shopping street that crosses the
Herengracht (Gentlemen’s Canal),
the Keizersgracht (Emperor's
Canal), and the Prinsengracht
(Prince’s Canal), and ends at the
Leidseplein (Leiden Square), in
former times a farm market and in
recent times primarily of commer-
cial buildings and restaurants. There
also is the ornate Stadsschouwburg
(municipal theatre). At the far end
of the Leidseplein is the outermost
canal, the Stadhouderskade. Many
of the canal scenes are quite pictur-
esque, with gabled houses and small
bridges. Across the bridge over the
Stadhouderskade from the Leidse-
plein is the Museum District.
‘The principal museums are the
Rijksmuseum (the 17th-century
Dutch school), the Stedelijk
Museum (modern art) and the Van
Gogh Museum. The Rijksmuseum
houses many of the familiar works
of Rembrandt, Vermeer, de Hooch,
Hals, Van Ruysdael, Hobbema, Pot-
ter and Steen. Probably the stand-
outs are Rembrandt’s “Night Watch”
(actually the “Company of Captain
Frans Banning Cocq and Lieuten-
ant Willem van Ruytenburch”) and
the “De Staalmeesters” (the old
Dutch Masters Cigars ad). The Van
Gogh (“Van Hoch”) Museum has
a comprehensive collection of Van
Gogh’s paintings. Many if not most
are from his French impressionist
period; for some years he lived and
worked in Paris.
Also in the Museum District
is the Concertgebouw, famous for
its orchestra.
On my last day in Amsterdam, I
walked down the Stadhouderskade
to the Amstel River, saw the posh
Amstel Hotel and the “Skinny
Bridge” (somewhat reminiscent
of Van Gogh's “Langlois Bridge
at Arles”) and made my way to
the Rembrandtplein (Rembrandt
Square). The square has a statue of
Rembrandt; in front of it are metal
figures from the “Night Watch.” It
is appropriate to honor Rembrandt
with what probably is his greatest
work, even though in his time it was
not well appreciated. He was ahead
of his time to paint Captain Ban-
ning Cocq and company in action
rather than in one or two straight
lines or seated around a table.
I conclude my comments on
Amsterdam by noting that there
are many places of interest that I
did not cover on this visit; I had
covered them on earlier trips. They
include among others The National
Maritime Museum, the Tropen-
Members of the Class of 1958 met
for lunch. Clockwise from left: Shelly
Raab, Bernie Nussbaum, Tom
Ettinger, Paul Herman, Art Radin,
Henry Kurtz, Bob Waldbaum, Peter
Gruenberger, Dave Marcus, Eli
Weinberg and Harvey Feuerstein.
museum (tropical museum), the
Biblical Museum, the Anne Frank
House and the Jewish Quarter, with
its comprehensive museum, the
magnificent Portuguese Synagogue
and the Rembrandt House.
David Kinne reports that
Tony Antonio SEAS’57 died in
Roanoke, Va., on March 28. Tony’s
widow, Carol, has asked that checks
for memorial contributions be
made payable to the Trustees of
Columbia University and indicate
“IMO Anthony Antonio/Taub
Institute” on the memo line. The
Taub Institute includes Alzheimer’s
disease research. Checks should
be mailed to Columbia University
Medical Center, Office of Develop-
ment, Attn: Matt Reals, 516 W.
168th St., 3rd Fl., New York, NY
10032. Alternatively, memorial
contributions may be made online
at givenow.columbia.edu.
1958
Peter Cohn
c/o CCT
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
petercohn1939@gmail.com
Chuck Golden writes: “Barry Pariser
55 and his wife, Deborah, met me
and my wife, Sheila, at Matthew’s
Beachside Restaurant in Aruba on
January 14 to break bread and talk
about the good old days of Columbia
fencing. We have been doing this for
the past several years once we learned
that both families owned timeshares
in Aruba. Barry was NCAA sabre
champion in 1955.”
To which we would just add
that the good old days of Columbia
fencing are now the good new days
of Columbia fencing! The combined
men’s and women’s team dethroned
Notre Dame, the reigning NCAA
champion, to regain the title they
lost to the Fighting Irish in 2017
after Columbia’s NCAA champion-
ships in 2015 and 2016. Columbia’s
return to fencing prominence comes
despite the awarding of athletics
scholarships by Notre Dame and
other national powers such as Penn
State and Ohio State, not to men-
tion the intense competition from
within the Ivy League.
While we are on the subject of
athletics, how did my basketball
predictions turn out? We predicted
four or five league wins and that was
right on the mark. The good news
is that the team played much better
as the season progressed, especially
in two overtime losses to Harvard
(the eventual league co-champion)
and an upset of Yale (the other
co-champion) in New Haven, Conn.
We are only losing one starter to
graduation and — with the return
of injured players and new recruits
— we should have a good shot at a
top-four finish and qualification for
the league playoffs. As I write this
column in April, our perennial win-
ning teams (baseball and tennis) are
gearing up for the start of their Ivy
League seasons. Tennis had a very
good out-of-conference start and
will be the favorite to add another
league title to its record of five in a
row. Baseball had a slow start but
has a history of competitive league
play so we are hoping for the best!
Just before this issue went to
press we received a note from Joe
Dorinson: “I would like to share
two of my recent publications. They
Barry Pariser ’55 and his wife,
Deborah, enjoyed lunch with
Chuck Golden ’58 and his wife,
Sheila, at Matthew’s Restaurant
in Aruba on January 14.
are, in order of publication, 1) “God,
Jokes, Pamusseh and Tsores,” which
appeared in The Languages of Humor:
Verbal, Visual, and Physical Humor,
and 2) “Humor from the Edge,”
which appeared in Humor and
Politics: A Transcultural Perspective,
on pages 291-322.”
Joe submitted this entry while
recuperating from gallbladder
surgery and noted that his recovery
was being helped by “welcoming
laughter along with painkillers.”
Speedy recovery, Joe!
In the Fall 2018 Class Notes we
reported on the recognition that
Joe Klein received for his work as a
Broadway musical director, and for
his dedication to Columbia under-
graduates interested in pursuing
musical theater careers. Unfortu-
nately, we now have to report that
Joe passed away earlier this year.
A reminder that the class lunch is
usually held on the second Tuesday
of every month in the Grill of the
Princeton Club, 15 W. 43rd St. ($31
per person). Email Tom Ettinger if
you plan to attend, even up to the
day before: tpe3@columbia.edu.
1959
Norman Gelfand
c/o CCT
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
nmgc59@gmail.com
As I collect your submissions for
this edition of our Class Notes,
our Reunion Committee is actively
organizing our 60th reunion. But by
the time you read this, our reunion
will be over. I hope that those who
were able to attend had a good time.
I encourage those who attended to
share their comments about reunion
with classmates.
Some of us are still working at
our old trades. Jerome Charyn
is the author of a new book, In
the Shadow of King Saul: Essays on
Silence and Song. (Thank you, Steve
Trachtenberg, for bringing this to
my attention. I don’t know how you
had time to find this gem with all
that you do: traveling, giving lectures
and publishing books.)
Others have moved on to other
activities. Roald Hoffmann writes,
“T have just retired for the second
time, meaning that the last postdoc
alumninews \
Mra
Norman Gelfand ’59 shared a photo of the freshman wrestling team from 1955.
Front row, left to right: Dave Clark ’59, Ben Miller 59, Pete Kadzielewski 59
and Gelfand; and back row, left to right: Rich Donelli 59, Ed Mendrzycki ’59,
Jerry Perlman ’59, Bill Deely 59 and Coach Frank Russell.
has gone (but hasn't found a job ...).
I have been a theoretical chemist
at Cornell University — I usually
say from before you were born,
but I know that won't work with
you — since 1965, essentially my
only job. There are still several long
papers to write — one, just done, is
borderline readable, perhaps the title
tells you its subject: Simulation vs.
Understanding: a Tension, and Not
Just in Our Profession. That will cause
a ruckus. I continue thinking and
publishing in quantum chemis-
try — with work done in Belgium,
Israel, Saudi Arabia, Japan and
other places, to which I contribute
interpretation and ideas. But I miss
the structure of the research group
meetings I built up.
“Some of you might know that
I have another career as a writer.
We had a fantastic production of
an autobiographical play, Something
That Belongs to You, in Tokyo last year,
selling out a 400-seat theater for its
10-day run, with NHK broadcasting
the entire play. A new collection of
poems will be published this year. A
second poetry collection has been
making the rounds of publishers for
two years; no luck yet. A shared fate
— even ante-Irump — of writers,
not scientists.”
Frank Wilson informs us, “Last
year my wife and I spent a few days
in the city with our daughter (who
had signed up for a half-marathon
in Brooklyn) and our grandson,
whose 10th birthday it was. This trip
was just my speed and the perfect
moment to help guide a California
kid setting foot in The Big Apple
for the first time. There were iconic
visits to the dinosaurs at the Ameri-
can Museum of Natural History;
a sunny-afternoon stroll across the
Brooklyn Bridge; two eye-popping
hours at Tannen’s Magic Shop
(right out of Hogwarts!); a dash
thru MoMA near closing-time;
earsplitting, rocketing subway rides;
a make-it-yourself pizza; and a rev-
erent tour of the 9/11 Memorial &
Museum. We stayed at an Airbnb in
Brooklyn right across the street from
the best bagel shop I’ve ever visited
and am satisfied that my grandson
now understands the difference
between a bun and a bagel. Tons of
people never find out.
“So if we don't make it [to
reunion], it’s not because I don’t
still love the city and certainly not
because I’ve developed amnesia over
waking up to the world and its pos-
sibilities as a member of the incom-
parable Class of 1959 at Columbia.
How was I so lucky?”
I sent the following request to
classmates on my email list. If you
would like to be on the list, please
send an email to me at nmgc59@
hotmail.com. I will not share your
Summer 2019 CCT 53
email with anyone without your
permission: “Usually I ask you to
send in a summary of your current
activities, which I would appreciate
now, too, but this time I would like
you to think back nearly 65 years,
to the time when we first entered
Columbia. What are your recollec-
tions of the time we spent in the
College? Would you do it again?
How did the time that we spent
together affect your views and future
lifep Any thoughts and recollections
that you would like to share are
welcome. If you want to keep them
anonymous, I will respect that.
“The responses to this solicitation
should appear in the Class Notes
that appear at about the time of our
60th reunion. If I don't have space to
include them all in one issue, I will
publish them in subsequent issues.”
I have received some responses,
two of which I have included in
these Class Notes. More will follow.
Jim Thomas SEAS’60 writes,
“There are so many things, most
very positive, that I remember about
Columbia and NYC. I was from a
small city in Ohio — Alliance —
where I was a straight-A student
and captain of the football team that
finished second in Ohio. I thought I
had the world under my thumb. Boy,
was I in for a surprise at Columbia.
“T found that I was well prepared
in some subjects (chemistry, phys-
ics and math), and completely
unprepared for just about everything
else. While I virtually never had to
study at home in high school, I was
up the first year at Columbia about
every night until midnight preparing
for the next day’s classes. It was a
struggle that, thank goodness, I was
able to improve my learning skills
and reduce my long nights.
“T also was on the freshman foot-
ball team, which consumed four to
five hours per day, as compared with
the three when I was in high school.
‘The oddity of the two is we only won
one game at Columbia, while in high
school we were number 2 in the state
of Ohio. The difference turned out to
be a good lesson in the facts of life.
“In my first year at Columbia, I
was in a three-room palace in the
dorm with three other freshmen.
‘They were a pleasure, but two of
them did little or no studying, so
they could be a bit of a bother.
Because we had the big room and
had two guys not far from home, we
had things (big bowl of fish, large
54 CCT Summer 2019
couch and a TV) that attracted
other students. On weekend nights,
we were the center of the dorm.
“T got married my second year, so
I lived in apartments from there on.
Also, I had part-time jobs the last
four years: a men’s clothing store and
babysitting, each for one year, and a
drugstore at Amsterdam and 120th
Street for two years. While they
took some time out of my days, they
were extremely useful when I was
preparing to find a permanent job in
the real world.
“My oldest son was born in NYC
so he lived in NYC for two years
and was a source of fun, especially
on the weekends. He was spoiled by
neighbors who would fuss over him
when we were outside, but he turned
out very well, as did my other son
and my daughter.
“Columbia was absolutely great
in my opinion. The three years in
the College led me to interests I
have today. One was history, which
I choose many times when getting a
library book, purchasing one for my
collection or taking classes at Osher
Lifelong Learning Institute at the
University of Cincinnati. The other is
live theater, which my wife and I sub-
scribe to most of those that Cincinnati
offers. Of course, I was introduced to
live theater while in NYC. The last
year in NYC, I went to five shows and
now we subscribe to three theaters in
Cincinnati. The other interest is music,
which also was a NYC intro. [am
the longest subscriber to Cincinnati’s
POPS, the number 1 POPS orchestra
in the USA, and we go to a few operas
each year.
“T am proud to be a Columbia
grad and am thankful that I went
there. There is nothing that has
been more important in making my
professional and personal lives as
wonderful as they have been.”
From Arnie Offner we hear:
“T still appreciate my Columbia
College education, which fostered
critical thinking about the world
and inspired my undertaking a
career as an historian that ran for
five decades at Syracuse University,
Boston University and Lafayette
College. James ‘Jim’ Shenton ’49,
GSAS’54 was my role model as
a teacher and advisor, and I also
benefitted from the erudite lectures
of Walter Metzger GSAS’46, Joseph
Rothschild ’51 and Fritz Stern ’46,
GSAS’53. I officially retired from
Lafayette in 2012 as the Cornelia
F. Hugel Professor (Emeritus), with
the explicit purpose of complet-
ing my book, Hubert Humphrey:
The Conscience of the Country. [See
“Bookshelf,” Spring 2019.] I believe
the work restores Humphrey to his
rightful place as the most success-
ful — and liberal — legislator of the
20th century regarding not only civil
rights but also government sponsor-
ship of a good education, gainful
employment, health care for all and
a nonimperial foreign policy.
“The book also demonstrates that
Humphrey likely would have won
the crucial 1968 presidential election
over Richard Nixon had President
Lyndon Johnson not favored Nixon’s
harder negotiating stance toward
North Vietnam and refused to reveal
the Republican’s ‘treason’ (Johnson’s
word) in colluding with South
Vietnam's government to stymie the
Paris peace talks.
“A series of book tour lectures in
Boston, New York and Washington,
D.C., has led to interesting encoun-
ters with several people connected
to Humphrey and many who were
politically engaged in 1968.
“My wife, Ellen BC’61, and
I have been married for nearly
six decades and enjoy having our
children and grandchildren living
nearby in Newton, Mass.”
1960
Robert A. Machleder
69-37 Fleet St.
Forest Hills, NY 11375
rmachleder@aol.com
Horrific winter weather swept much
of the continent from the Pacific rim
to the Atlantic beaches; record snow-
falls, blizzard conditions in the Mid-
west, strong cold-waves, a polar vortex
from the north, tornado outbreaks in
the southeast and a bomb cyclone in
mid-March. In consequence, or so
one might surmise, classmates went
into hibernation, and incipient Class
Notes remained embedded in an
embryonic state and ceased to flow
timely for this issue of CCT.
The islands of Hawaii, however,
were not afflicted by the mainland’s
winter, and although volcanic erup-
tions had wreaked havoc in paradise,
Paul Nagano was not within the
zone of danger. He has continued to
produce marvelous watercolors at a
prolific rate, and now — in his 80th
year — has found a new form of
inspiration and expression, his third.
The landscapes of his earliest
years were inspired by actual sites,
wherever he lived or traveled.
About 20 years ago he found a
new form of expression, which he
dubbed “Symbalist.” As he describes
it, the landscapes were “more imagi-
nary, even fantastic, often inspired by
Balinese subjects or ideas, connected
to, but apart from, the visible world.”
And now, his new work “is
perhaps more symbolic, with some
connections to Bali, but reaches out
into new territory, for me, having
‘emerged’ not from an initial sketch
(my usual method), but painted
directly, developing into its images
sometimes by random placements
of color and form that slowly
evolved into the final work — which
surprised me, considering that I
had begun with no idea of what my
brushstrokes might lead.”
It is notable that First Republic
Bank has on display in its office in
Honolulu more than two dozen
pieces executed by Paul across several
decades. A visit to Paul’s website
(flickr.com/photos/ptnagano/albums)
is uplifting and an absolute delight.
‘This note is submitted as spring
makes its entry. The migratory birds
have returned and the trees are begin-
ning to bud. Arise lads, be in good
health and send me your Class Notes!
1961
Michael Hausig
19418 Encino Summit
San Antonio, TX 78259
mhausig@yahoo.com
Bob Salman LAW’64 was reap-
pointed to New Jersey’s Council
on Local Mandates by Gov. Phil
Murphy (D-N,J.) in February. Bob's
term is for four years. He was first
appointed to the council four years
ago by Gov. Chris Christie. The
nine-member council has jurisdic-
tion over any municipal, county or
Board of Education complaint alleg-
ing that the legislature has enacted
mandatory action without providing
funding for implementation.
Bob’s granddaughter Sydney
is completing her dietetic nutri-
tion internship and will be looking
for a permanent position in either
Connecticut or Boston. His grand-
daughter Taylor is completing her
junior year in Barcelona. Taylor is
in Maryland’s business school and
is interested in brand marketing.
Taylor and Sydney are great-
grandnieces of Columbia icon Sid
Luckman’39. Bob’s grandson Jack
received early decision admittance to
Wharton. His granddaughter Mack-
enzie is finishing her second year of
high school and is on the school’s
dance team. Bob and his wife, Reva,
celebrated their 56th anniversary
in June. Bob co-chairs the Jersey
Shore region for Columbia’s Alumni
Representative Committee.
Joe Wisnovsky, whose remem-
brance of Mark Van Doren appears
on the last page of this issue of
CCT, and his wife, the former Mary
Strunsky BC’61, recently celebrated
their 80th birthdays at a family
gathering in California with their
sons, Robert (the James McGill
Professor of Islamic Philosophy
at McGill) and Peter (a software
architect at Salesforce), as well as
with their grandchildren, Simon (a
postdoc in biochemistry at Stanford)
and Jasmine (an undergrad in phys-
ics at McGill).
Marty Kaplan and his wife,
Wendy, have been married for 34
years, second marriages for both.
‘They share five children, three of
whom graduated from Colum-
bia: Marty’s daughter Shira’89,
LAW’94, and Wendy’s sons David
Topkins 94 and Andrew Topkins
"98. Marty’s sons Jon and Ben went
to Harvard. All are married, and
there are 11 grandchildren.
Wendy is an art curator and she
and Marty have worked together
on two major international ceramic
exhibitions since moving to New York,
both opening at The Museum of Arts
and Design. They moved to New York
two days before 9-11 ... and stayed.
After Columbia, Marty graduated
from Harvard Law, clerked for a Fed-
eral Appeals Court judge and then
spent his entire legal career at Hale
and Dorr (Boston and New York),
which became WilmerHale. Marty
may be one of the last attorneys to
have a wide-ranging career, managing
corporate and real estate deals and
litigation, as well as estates and trusts.
He has represented Art Garfunkel
65 for more than 50 years; helped
get Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
out of the Warwick, R.L, jail; served
as Gov. Bill Weld (R-Mass.)’s chair
of the Massachusetts Board of
Education during the height of the
education reform movement; helped
organize and sell an oil funding busi-
ness and organize a bank (all success-
ful); and managed a foundation that
contributed more than $15 million in
grants to Columbia.
Marty was president of the
Columbia College Alumni Associa-
tion, organized the Committee on
the Future of Columbia College
(1993) and was on the College’s
Board of Visitors. He was chair
of the International Interreligious
Affairs commission of the American
Jewish Committee and gave the
AJC response to the Vatican State-
ment on the Shoah (1998) in Wash-
ington, D.C., with Cardinal Edward
Cassidy. He served on the board of
The Boston Foundation, as well as
nonprofits in the environmental,
human rights and arts fields.
Politics continued in Marty’s
life after his Columbia experiences.
He was on the finance committees
of Mike Dukakis, John Kerry, Bill
Weld, Fr. Robert Drinan and several
other Massachusetts state officers
and members of Congress.
Marty and Wendy are retired, liv-
ing in New York and Lenox, Mass.
(the Berkshires), and this past winter
— for the first time — renting in
Naples, Fla. (two months). After
returning to the cold, and getting
colds, they plan on three months
this year. Their passions are family,
politics, travel, good food, music and
art, and they look forward to the
next reunion!
Max Cohen was awarded U.S.
Patent 10166290 for intralesional
(intratumoral) dinitrochloroben-
zene and associated compounds
co-administered with checkpoint
inhibitors for cancer treatment
including treatment of metastatic
cutaneous cancers. Commercial-
ization will require licensing and
perhaps more clinical trials. Max is
in Potomac, Md., in the shadow of
the National Institutes of Health.
Tony Adler set up a class
Facebook chat group in March. He
has sent invitations to all who have
expressed interest in the group. Please
contact Tony if you want to join.
Group chats are a way to have
real-time conversations in groups
you are a member of. When you
create a chat in your group, it will
automatically create the same group
chat in Facebook Messenger. Keep
in mind that anyone in the group
can see and join a group chat. If you
Members of the Class of ’61 and their spouses enjoyed lunch at 10 Mile
Tavern at Copper Mountain. Left to right: Alex Liebowitz ’61, Bob Rennick ’61,
Mike Hausig ’61, Lisa Rennick and JB Hausig.
create a group chat, you become an
administrator of the chat.
My wife, JB, and I finished our
sixth year as volunteer ski ambas-
sadors at Copper Mountain, Colo.
Alex Liebowitz spent a week skiing
with us in February. During that
time, Bob Rennick and his wife,
Lisa, drove up for the day from
Colorado Springs, and we all met
for lunch at Copper.
1962
John Freidin
654 E. Munger St.
Middlebury, VT 05753
jf@bicyclevt.com
Allen Young recently sent news
about Howard Levin, his Livingston
Hall roommate (along with Eric
Levine, now deceased). Howard lives
in Stockbridge, Mass., near Allen's
home in Royalston, Mass. Although
the two had not been in touch for
years, they reconnected over dinner
in Northampton with Howard’s
wife, Judith (of 50 years), and Allen's
partner, David (of 39 years).
Howard graduated from NYU
Medical School and practiced
internal medicine, then rheuma-
tology. Between 1974 and 1988
he was a member of the San Jose
Medical Group in California. He
then became a clinical professor at
Stanford University and a senior staff
fellow in the National Institutes of
Health. Howard published the results
of his research in many prestigious
publications, and his medical career
expanded into the administrative
and business aspects of health care,
including several executive positions
at managed care organizations.
Recently Howard merged
his medical knowledge with his
entrepreneurial instinct to create
LympheDIVAs, and that makes a
wonderful, poignant story.
In 2004, Howard and Judith’s
34-year-old daughter, Rachel,
developed breast cancer. Although
treatment helped her, three years
later she was diagnosed with lymph-
edema, a lifelong side effect of her
treatment. As it often does, lymph-
edema caused a permanent swelling
in Rachel’s arms, and she was told
to wear compression sleeves. At that
time, all compression sleeves on the
market were uncomfortable and
ugly. So Rachel and a fellow breast
cancer survivor decided to create a
compression sleeve that was not only
medically correct, but also elegant
and comfortable. LympheDIVAs
was born to serve the needs of all
similarly affected women, and the
company quickly became successful.
Rachel died on January 22, 2008,
at 37, but her legacy of enabling
women with lymphedema to feel
beautiful and confident became a
passion and continuing source of joy
for the Levin family. Initially How-
ard was president of the company,
but in 2010 he turned leadership
over to his son, Josh. In Josh’s words:
“Rachel’s dream has become my life
work and passion. Our father, Dr.
Howard Levin, remains our chief
Summer 2019 CCT 55
Class Notes
medical officer, ensuring that our
garments are as medically correct as
they are beautiful.”
In 2011 the Levins moved their
business to Pittsfield, Mass., a
small, old manufacturing city where
industry had been in decline. The
city welcomed the new business,
and it has continued to grow and
increase the variety of its products.
LympheDIVAs now employs 14
women and men. It has brought
style and comfort to the medical
equipment industry, and developed
products using whole garment knit-
ting machines that enable the firm
to manufacture complex garments
without seams. Last year it sold
35,000 garments in 100 countries.
A tad more news about Charlie
Morrow from his friend Bart
Plantenga: “I finally put together
my radio show on Charlie — a very
intricate three-hour soundscape,
probably the most difficult of the
1,220 programs I’ve done. I am
guessing some of you might like this
and won't mind my sending it along.
It comes ahead of an article I wrote
on Charlie, which I hope to publish
(words as well as sound) at a deserv-
ing magazine or online platform.
The description is: “Wreck Morrow
Now 1222: Charlie Morrow, mad-
capped transcendentalist, animal-
friendly avant-gardist, conceptual
Dr. Doolittlist, Fluxus artist, avant
la lettre, and laugh-inducing maxi-
minimalist is a fascinating artist/
conceptual provoker of mass art
actions who has collaborated with
many of the 20th-century’s leading
artists: John Cage, Allen Ginsberg,
Charlotte Moorman, Philip Corner,
Nam June Paik, Simon & Garfun-
kel, Young Rascals, James Tenney,
Paul Dutton, Malcolm Goldstein,
Joan LaBarbara, Alison Knowles,
Jerome Rothenberg, Vanilla Fudge,
Glen Velez, Sten Hanson, Derek
Bailey, Jean Jacques Lebel, Ken Rus-
sell and many, many more. He also
wrote the earworm jingles ‘Hefty
Hefty Hefty’ and “Take the Train
to the Plane,’ among others. Listen
online: bit.ly/2IRv3gu.”
1963
Paul Neshamkin
1015 Washington St., Apt. 50
Hoboken, NJ 07030
pauln@helpauthors.com
In February and March, I attended
two of my favorite events. In
February, the Dean’s Scholarship
Reception, where scholarship donors
and recipients have a chance to meet
and get to know each other. I saw
Phil Satow and Don Margolis with
their scholars, and I joined my fellow
board members from the Columbia
University Club Foundation and
several of the 10 scholars we fund. In
March, Phil graciously hosted Henry
Black and his wife, Benita, and me at
his table at the John Jay Awards Din-
ner, and it was a wonderful night.
I recently asked for news and
requested that it be kept brief so
that we could include more class-
mates. Some of you took me too
literally, for example:
Michael Hassan writes, “Noth-
ing newsworthy (and that’s good)
other than living life is wonderful
Holler at Us
in Haiku!
Core, one hundred years!
What’s a fun way to note it?
Poetry from you.
We’re celebrating the Core Centennial this year and would
love to hear your memories of the Core Curriculum! But
there’s a catch — you need to tell us in haiku. Send your
5-7-5 recollections to cct_centennial@columbia.edu, and
we'll run our favorites in the next four issues’ Class Notes.
56 CCT Summer 2019
and to this day, I appreciate my
education at Columbia more every
year. Oh, to go back.”
Ed Coller writes, “Hello. My life
remains unremarkable.”
Allen Frances writes, “I have a
good life on beach, but no real news
of interest to anyone else. We are all
of us on borrowed time, playing with
house money.”
And some of us say they are
repeating: Jim Rodgers writes, “My
news is the same as I sent last year: I
practice law here in Brattleboro, Vt.,
work full-time, busy with some litiga-
tion but primarily solving problems
without a trial. My wife, Carol, is an
associate professor at SUNY Albany,
who is contracted to publish a book
with Teachers College Press and is
also busy advising a unique charter
school in the Bronx. My children all
live on the West Coast: Melissa in
San Francisco, and Jon and Liz in Los
Angeles. We will be getting together
the third week of April when we fly
to San Francisco for a family celebra-
tion. Our chocolate lab, Mozart,
would have loved to attend Columbia
but did not get a scholarship.”
And of course, we have some
CDs to plug.
Hank Davis and Scott Parker
64, GSAS’74 have co-produced a
major retrospective of Fats Domino's
music for Bear Family Records in
Germany. The boxed set contains 12
music CDs, a PBS documentary on
DVD and a large-format hardcover
book with musical commentary and
vintage illustrations from the ’50s.
“This was a total labor of love for
Scott and me. Fats’s music will never
be treated with more appreciation
than this,” says Hank.
Paul Reale announces that MSR
Classics has released Children’s
Palace, a collection of his music for
winds and piano. MSR is also pre-
paring Caldera with Ice Cave, which
contains “Piano Concerto No. 3” and
assorted works for string orchestra.
I am glad to hear from each and
every one of you!
Richard Goldwater writes, “I am
delighted to have joined Colum-
bia College’s Core Conversations
[online book club; college.columbia.
edu/alumni/learn/coreconversations |
on Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and
Othello. 1 am happy to think that the
liberal arts might survive at Colum-
bia College, even if it is Amazon
that makes this discussion possible.
Good for Amazon.
“The Varsity Show from 1963 was
Elsinore! (exclamation point courtesy
of Oklahoma!), a musical comedy
version of Hamlet. Inside its Playbile
(sic) was an ‘ad’ that expressed great
affection for our Shakespeare maven,
Professor Andrew Chiappe CC
1933, GSAS’39.
“T have retired from 50 years as
a psychiatrist and psychotherapist.
Chiappe’s Shakespeare course is my
only academic experience to affect
my life every day. His critiques taught
me to see each play as a world, and
the world as a play best understood
as a composite of two points of view.
Kenneth Burke called this idea a ‘per-
spective by incongruity’ comparable
to the need for binocular vision to see
the world in depth. In The Merchant
of Venice, for example, we see the
emotional, magical world of Belmont
in opposition to the logical, rule-
based commercial world of Venice. I
have found in my work as a marital
therapist that intimate partners often
polarize exactly this way. Never wrote
about it, though.”
Richard, I think that is worth
an article.
Ken Ostberg writes, “I read your
note while sipping a late-afternoon
beer in Bairro Alto, Lisbon. My
spouse of 35 years, Andrea (‘Andi’),
and I are here enjoying Portugal and
Northern Spain for the month until
Easter. It reminds us that one year
ago now we were touring ruins in
Sicily and finishing a four-week trip
with a friend on Malta — a well-
kept secret for most Americans but
now too popular with Europeans
and even Asians.
“Meanwhile, in the distant past
(last October) our older daughter,
Kristen, married. She and her spouse
live in Washington, D.C., where
her spouse is in the Secret Service.
And they are moving into their first
home, ahead of the Amazon-inflated
housing prices. Our younger daugh-
ter, Adrienne, and her husband
relocated from Seattle to Charlotte,
N.C. We now see them more often,
being 75 miles away in Winston-
Salem. Adrienne will become a
mom, and we grandparents, in July.
Health continues good. Alls right in
the Ostberg world.”
Lee Lowenfish continues to
indulge his passion for baseball on
many levels. He'll again teach his
popular “Baseball and American Cul-
ture” class in late July/early August at
the deservedly legendary Chautauqua
Institution in southwest New York
State. As a Branch Rickey biographer,
Lee will be part of a new documen-
tary on Jackie Robinson that started
streaming on the Fox Nation website
on April 15, the 72nd anniversary of
Robinson's breaking the color line in
major league baseball.
Lee’s working on a book about
the history of — and as an homage
to — the profession of baseball
scouting. He blogs regularly about
baseball, other sports and the
cultural life of NYC at leelowenfish.
com. Lee followed in person as
much as possible the 2019 Colum-
bia baseball season as it sought its
fifth Ivy League title in seven years
under Coach Brett Boretti.
Robert Shlaer writes, “Over
the 2018 winter holiday my wife,
Susan, and I had my entire family
here in Santa Fe for an extended
visit — and I do mean entire. Leah,
daughter; Ben, son; Marie Goeritz,
daughter-in-law; Milo, grandson
(5); Fritzi, granddaughter (2); Lid-
ian King, ex-wife; Jessie Monter,
Lidian’s daughter; Tomas Monter,
Jessie’s husband; and Tzayuli and
Kean, their daughter and son. The
group stayed sometimes here, and
sometimes in rentals in the Historic
District of Santa Fe, where they
could walk to everything. From the
first arrivals to the last departure it
stretched out to more than a month
and a half in December and January.
I cannot count how many hikes we
did, restaurants we tried or concerts
we attended, but the high point was
a flamenco performance (‘flamingo,.
if you ask Milo) by Entreflamenco.
‘The lead female dancer and co-
director is Estefania Ramirez, a
friend of Leah’s from college.
“To back up a bit, ever since I took
up the pipes I have been thrust into
more and more interesting social
connections than I could ever have
anticipated. On Veterans Day, I was
unable to march in the parade because
of a leg injury, so I arranged to ride in
an antique fire engine owned by the
Santa Fe Fire Department.”
If you visit cc63ers.com, you will
find a picture of Robert with Mayor
Alan Webber of Santa Fe right
behind him.
Stephen Honig writes, “I am
continuing the private practice of
corporate law with the Boston office
of Duane Morris, concentrating on
life sciences/biotech, which as an
industry has seized Greater Boston
and is our wave of the future. I had to
go back to school to understand which
molecules were the big ones; somehow
I seemed to have missed that chapter
as a history major. I also have decided
to publish some of my writings which
have accumulated since the 70s. To
now, my ‘publishing’ has been in the
business press and via my blog, clev-
erly named honiglawblog.com. But
in January I published my first non-
business writings since Spectator days
— a poetry collection, Messing Around
with Words. Those interested in follow-
ing my obvious decline through the
decades will find pieces on love, aging,
death, poverty in Africa and rusting
tanks on the Russian tundra; just look
on Amazon or at Barnes & Noble.
Undaunted by the presumptuousness
of this effort, I am now editing a short
story collection that discerning readers
will likely avoid, but I am having a
great time with it.
“On a personal note: Having chil-
dren at various junctures throughout
my life, 1 am now nurturing (in our
Newton, Mass., home) the (I hope)
last, a 15-year-old boy with seemingly
limitless interests; in January he is
off to high school for a semester in
Beijing, having studied Chinese for
five and a half years while thinking ill
(at least until now) of the father who
suggested it. My three older kids are
well out in the world, although the
two who are lawyers still have to work
for a living while my artist son seems
to have avoided that trap and man-
ages to hang out in Paris a lot. My
daughter’s son, my eldest grandchild,
is applying to colleges but, alas, only
where there are tall mountains and
lots of snow. Skiing College Walk did
not catch his fancy. My wife, Laura,
continues the solo practice of law in
nearby suburban Wellesley; lawyer-
ing seemingly has become a family
contagion. We travel a bit. A few
years ago I taught entrepreneurship in
a Russian law school (note: it cannot
actually be done), and in my spare
time I bemoan the lack of spare time.
Finally, those who know me will be
shocked to learn that I am involved
with Boy Scouts, which means I get
to sleep on cold dirt with my son's
troop, something that is decidedly not
my style to the extent I have any.”
Phil Satow writes, “I am proud
to inform you of the publication of
my daughter Julie 96, SIPA’01’s first
book, The Plaza: The Secret Life of
America’s Most Famous Hotel. It has
received rave reviews from multiple
Pulitzer Prize winners and New York
Times bestselling authors. It is avail-
able on Amazon, Barnes & Noble
and theplazabook.com.”
If you're back in NYC, you
can reconnect with classmates at
our regular second Thursday class
lunches at the Columbia Club (for
now, we are still gathering at the
Princeton Club). The next are Sep-
tember 12 and on October 10 (we
take off August).
In the meantime, let us know
what you are up to, how you're
doing, and what’s next.
1964
Norman Olch
233 Broadway
New York, NY 10279
norman@nolch.com
I posed two questions to the class:
What do you wish you had known
when you were 18, and what advice
do you have for the members of the
College’s next graduating class as
they face becoming “adults”?
I have received two responses so
far. First, Jerry Oster writes from
Chapel Hill, N.C.:
“1) I wish I'd known many, many
languages. I scored 800 on my
French college boards and thereby
somehow fulfilled Columbia’s
language requirement, except for
one semester of French conversa-
tion. From my mid-20s on, I’ve
taken stabs at Latin, Greek, Spanish,
Italian, German and Irish. I can ask
directions and order a meal in the
living languages among that array,
but not much else. College would
have been the time to learn more
of them.
“2) To future grads: Be a general-
ist, not a specialist; study what inter-
ests you, not what’s recommended.
When and if you begin a career, be
entirely ready to begin another.”
In line with his advice, Jerry adds:
“T’ve had three 12-year careers —
newspaper and wire service news
and feature writer; novelist and
playwright; and higher education
development and news writer.”
Next, Jack Kleinman writes:
“Your questions and my passing a
significant life milestone impel me
to write. I have ascended/descended
to emeritus status at the Medical
College of Wisconsin, where I was
active faculty for 43-plus years.
alumninews «:)
This change involves giving up the
active practice of internal medicine
and nephrology, although I will still
collaborate with some colleagues
in publishing research and will do
some medical student teaching. At
75, after a long career of taking care
of others, I find that I have to spend
more time and energy taking care of
myself, and I want to take more time
to enjoy pursuits such as photogra-
phy and travel, as well as spending
time with friends and family.
“At age 18, I wish I had realized
how much there was to see and do
in the world other than to get good
grades and advance toward career
goals. I don’t regret much, but I often
wish I had had more adventures
when I was young. As for advice for
graduates, I guess I would stress the
importance of finding good mentors
not just in their careers but also as
models for how to live their lives,
especially as parents, members of
their communities and citizens.”
I am writing this note in April
and it will appear after our 55th
reunion. I hope to report in the Fall
issue about reunion, and I hope
more of you will respond to the
questions I posed.
1965
Leonard B. Pack
924 West End Ave.
New York, NY 10025
leonard@packlaw.us
Space limitations forced me to inter-
rupt Mike Friedman’s submission
in the Spring issue. Here’s the rest:
“Since retiring from Honigman [law
firm], I have been working for the
nonprofit Center for Community
Based Enterprise, which I joined
as a board member when it began
in 2007. C2BE is committed to
economic development in Detroit’s
underserved neighborhoods through
developing networks of cooperative,
worker-owned businesses. Inspired by
the example of the Mondragon Corp.
in the Basque region of Spain, our
shorthand description of our mission
is to build Mondragon in Detroit.
We see the development of coopera-
tive, worker-owned companies as
a crucial way to lessen economic
inequality, build community wealth
and stabilize local job markets.
“My wife, Barb, is winding down
her sole-practitioner labor law
Summer 2019 CCT 57
practice. We are active in Jewish
Voice for Peace, and were recently
involved in working for the suc-
cessful election of Rashida Tlaib
(D-Mich.), a Palestinian-American
Muslim woman, as our congressio-
nal representative.
“Not too long ago, Barb and I
purchased a coop apartment east
of downtown Detroit, right on the
river, and have been remodeling it
for far too long, but plan to sell our
current Detroit house and move this
year. We also purchased a house in
the Hudson River valley — in Glen-
fort, N.Y., not far from Woodstock.
Our plan is to spend summers at
our New York house — Barb is an
inveterate gardener and could not
bear the thought of high-rise living
without a vegetable garden — and
the rest of the year in Detroit, where
I will continue my work with C2BE.
I hope we will be able to see Bob
Caserio and many other classmates
who will be in, or near, the NYC
area during our summer sojourns.
Everyone is also welcome to stop by
if and when they come to Detroit.
We'd love to see you and show off
the new and emergent Motor City.”
I got a nice update from Dean
Gamanos BUS’67: “I’ve been living
in Greenwich, Conn., for nearly two
decades and enjoying it totally. I do
get into Manhattan frequently, as I
teach a course on entrepreneurship
at FIT. Do a little marketing with
my boutique ad agency (reteleco.
com) and am involved with town
government, as a representative on
the RTM (Representative Town
Meeting; it’s Greenwich’s town
council). There are about 230 of us
\Y
Contact CCT
Update your address,
email or phone; submit a
Class Note, new book,
photo, obituary or Letter to
the Editor; or send us an
email. Click “Contact Us” at
college.columbia.edu/cct.
58 CCT Summer 2019
and we all attend a lot of meetings
but don’t get paid. It’s an interesting
endeavor and although somewhat
time consuming it helps keep the
town well governed (at least we like
to think so). I also started a wine
club (GreenwichWineSociety.com),
which has been holding tastings and
other events for 10 years.
“Having served in the Navy
after business school, I also serve on
the Town's Veterans Council. At a
November 11 Veterans Day event I
gave a talk, ‘Causes and Consequences
of World War I (this year was the
100th anniversary of the armistice).
Even though I’m not a professional
historian, the CC history course
taught by Professor Noyes left me
with a strong interest in the subject.
“On the personal side, I’m having
a great time being a grandfather
with four grandsons. My daughter,
Carolyn, and her husband live in
nearby Cos Cob with two boys,
both under 4. My son, Michael, isn't
as geographically close. He and his
wife live in Montreal. They also have
two little boys. Fortunately, they
like to come to Connecticut rather
frequently, especially in the warmer
months (I suspect our nice beaches
are part of the draw, especially versus
the colder climes in Canada!).
“Tm in touch with Rick Shuart
BUS’67 and John Sullivan but
miss our class lunches in the city,
which were a popular thing leading
up to our last reunion. Mike Cook,
or somebody, let’s try again at least
once in a while (or put me back on
the list if I’ve somehow fallen off!).”
I got a great letter from Tom
Gualtieri PS’69. If you attended our
50th reunion you will remember his
entertaining lecture on aging (yes, it
was entertaining!) at our class lunch.
Here is more from Tom: “Last night,
my wife, Frances, and I saw The
Mikado by our local Savoyards. They
did it in their own way and I remem-
bered having dinner with you in John
Jay on our first night at Columbia.
We had a shared interest in Gilbert
and Sullivan and you asked, ‘Are you
a G&S purist? I didn’t know what
the hell you were talking about. [Nei-
ther does your class correspondent.] I
got a sinking feeling that I was out of
my league, a feeling that didn’t leave
me until we graduated.
“Anyway, in May I’m making
the trek to NYC for our 50th P&S
anniversary. It reminds me of our
50th in 2015. I’m finally putting a
Ed Malmstrom ’65 (left), John P. White SEAS’68 (right) and Head Football
Coach Al Bagnoli at a golf outing for football alumni.
book around the talk I gave, Why
We Live As Long As We Do. Writing
is what I do now, when I’m not
growing flowers and tomatoes for
Frances’s famous restaurant, La
Résidence, or when I’m not at work.
Last year my book Obsessive Com-
pulsions: The OCD of Everyday Life
came out. Not a little is about some
characters at Columbia. None of us
would have made it if we weren't a
bitOC:
“After I left New York, I lived
in Montreal and then in Mound
Bayou, Miss., where I was a family
doc and delivered 500 babies. It
diminished my zeal for any medical
specialty that might keep me up at
night, so I came to Chapel Hill to
be a research psychiatrist for a while,
and then a neuropsychiatrist. After
40 years, I am finally getting the
hang of it. Good thing, too, because
our children have all chosen the
most expensive colleges to attend. I
shall have to work forever.
“In 1977, I married Frances, a
Tar Heel born and bred, and we
had three boys. The youngest, Tony
PS’16, is an orthopedics resident at
NYU. The older ones, Dieter and
John, run Frances’s restaurant, and
if anyone from CC’65 visits Chapel
Hill, come to LaRes and we will
share a bottle of champagne. Frances
works there, too, when she isn’t tak-
ing care of the grandchildren. Since
we obviously couldn't engender
female children, we adopted Geni
from China in 1997, then Nora in
2001 and Dia in 2005. Dia wants to
go to medical school. Did I tell you I
was going to have to work forever?
‘Tm trying to finish Why We Live
As Long As We Do, although I’m still
struggling with the why part. I think
it has something to do with ... I keep
changing my mind. My raison de
vivre is exorbitant tuition payments.
“My best memory of Columbia
College? It’s the same as P&S: That
they let me through, young and stu-
pid as I was. Meanwhile, keep well.
Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables,
drink green tea, exercise, keep study-
ing and stay happy.”
Don Shapiro sent this dispatch
from Taiwan: “This October will
mark half a century since I arrived in
Taiwan, expecting to stay 10 months
under a joint Journalism School and
East Asian Institute graduate pro-
gram from Columbia. I’m still there.
“Aside from Taiwan's great food
and wonderful people (I married
one of them in my fourth year
here), what’s kept me in Taiwan for
so long? For more than half that
time, I was a partner in a publishing
company that produced magazines
and business directories for the
reference of importers around the
world interested in Taiwanese goods.
At the same time, I was a regular
but part-time contributor (‘stringer’)
for major international publications
— first The New York Times and later
mainly Time magazine.
“There was a lot to report on.
It was a period of vibrant growth
for the Taiwan economy, which
developed in just a few decades
from a primarily agricultural base to
its position today as a world-class
producer of semiconductors and
other high-tech products. Starting
in the 1980s, the political story was
equally exciting. After years of one-
party authoritarian rule, Taiwan has
become one of the most open and
democratic political systems in Asia.
“In 2002, after the publishing
venture was bought out by
Singaporean interests, I joined the
staff of the American Chamber
of Commerce in Taipei as senior
director and editor-in-chief of
the monthly publication, Taiwan
Business TOPICS (accessible online
at topics.amcham.com.tw). The
chamber’s annual Taiwan White Paper
is a respected source of practical
recommendations on how to improve
the local business climate.
“AmCham Taipei is an autono-
mous organization rather than a
branch of the United States Cham-
ber in Washington, D.C., and we stay
out of politics, both Taiwanese and
American. But as a journalist and
chamber staff member, I’ve had the
privilege to get to know the leading
figures in the Taiwan government
(including every president since
1975), as well as the foremost Ameri-
can government officials and scholars
dealing with U.S.-Taiwan relations.
“Tm still enjoying the job too much
to retire, and there are challenging
times coming up for Taiwan that
I look forward to following. The
growing trade and security tensions
between the U.S. and China are creat-
ing increasing uncertainties in the East
Asian region that will present Taiwan
with both risks and opportunities.
“Outside of work, I’ve greatly
improved my table tennis game and
for years was president of the small
Taiwan Jewish community. I’ve also
been chair or co-chair of the Alumni
Representative Committee for
interviewing applicants to Columbia
from Taiwan. We typically get
80-some applications a year.
“Tm usually back in the United
States for much of June, mainly for
a week of meetings in Washington,
D.C., and then catching up with
relatives in the Chicago area. I rarely
get to New York City any more, but
my absentee ballots make their way
to Erie County.
“After years of living in the U.S.,
our daughters are now closer to home.
Younger daughter Laurie works in
Singapore in intercultural training,
while older daughter Debbie recently
moved back to Taipei to take a posi-
tion with the Shangri-La hotel group.
“If any classmates should make
their way to Taipei, please look us up.”
Derek Wittner had a blistering
letter published by The New York
Times regarding the college admis-
sions scandal that broke in March
2019: “As [ Times columnist] Frank
Bruni suggests, no one should be
surprised at the indictment of 50 par-
ents, college administrators and test
prep counselors. Financial aid, athlet-
ics recruitment, gifts, legacy admis-
sions — all these and other devices
are used to perpetuate the disparities
of wealth in higher education.
“And make no mistake, the unin-
dicted co-conspirators here are the
schools themselves and the leaders
of our educational institutions who
conspire to promote a system that
rewards these ‘nonprofit’ administra-
tors so generously.
“Reform will not come internally.
That would take courage. Rather,
this corruption of our notions of
fairness and merit must be dealt
with by responsible, as opposed to
partisan, oversight. These multibil-
lion-dollar institutions enjoy their
nonprofit status and tax exemptions
at the public’s expense. Given their
abuse of our trust, they must be held
to account.”
1966
Columbia College Today
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
cct@columbia.edu
From Roger L. Low: “Many of
us are turning 75 this year. In
celebration of that event, Roger
Low, together with his children and
grandchildren, went skiing in the
French Alps. It was a great oppor-
tunity for the 10 of us to spend time
together (and for Roger to show the
others that ‘he’s still got it’ on the
slopes). Best of all, lift tickets were
free to 75-year-olds. We made up
for that with excellent French food
and lots of wine.”
From Paul Hirsch: “I have
written a memoir, A Long Time Ago
in a Cutting Room Far, Far Away:
My Fifty Years Editing Hollywood
Hits — Star Wars, Carrie, Ferris
Bueller’s Day Off, Mission: Impos-
sible and More. It will be published
in November. It is neither a tell-all
nor a how-to, but rather, a personal
account of my five decades as a pro-
fessional film editor, the extraordi-
nary people I collaborated with, and
some of the aesthetic challenges we
faced and the solutions we devised.
It is for readers with any curiosity
about Hollywood filmmaking and
what goes on in the privacy of the
cutting room.”
From Geoff Dutton: “Mostly
I’m running our household of three,
soon to become two. When I’m not
being a gofer, I’m doing what I can
to market my novel, Turkey Shoot,
and researching and writing nonfic-
tion. Having become a generalist in
my dotage, my expertise knows no
alumninews
bounds. I particularly enjoy biting
the hand that used to feed me, the
technological industrial complex
under neoliberalism. Good thing
most of us are retired, so we won't
get the boot from robots. So as not
to be taken as a Luddite, I try to
take care not to conflate technology
with capitalism, but it’s the one that
ails the other, dontyaknow. Currently
polishing an essay on the contra-
dictions of recycling that might
become a serial and a book review of
Team Human by Douglas Rushkoff,
the NYC-based media critic and
all-around humanist who does
enlightening podcast interviews at
teamhuman.fm. Expect both items
to appear in The Technoskeptic, a
2-year-old web and print magazine.
Also assembling my contributions
to CounterPunch over the past five
years into a book of essays.
“Don't get to see too many
fellow alums, but am in touch with
Jerseyite Dan Gover, an English
professor at Kean University. Have
touched base with Andy Levine
and Mike Harrison, the former a
retired but prolific political thinker
out Delmarva way, the latter still
hacking for the Department of
Labor in Washington, D.C. It gets
“Tennessee Williams Songs’ were
premiered at the Song Collabora-
tors Consortia by tenor Robert
Hansen and soprano Loraine Sims.
At Dorland, Bruce set poems of
Maxwell Anderson (of course you all
remember him for valiantly trying to
revive verse plays!).
“His ‘Robert Frost Songs’ were
premiered at Columbus State
University in May. His ‘Mennonite
Songs’ will be performed next year
for the 75th Anniversary of Fresno-
Pacific University and his “Iwo
Invocations’ will be performed by
choirs and orchestras in Montreal
and Germany. His composition
studies at Columbia with Otto
Luening and Jack Beeson have
finally proved fruitful!”
Joe Lovett shares that his “latest
film, Children of the Inquisition, is a
documentary revealing the secrets
of what happened to the people
who were forced to convert or flee
Spain and Portugal during the
Spanish Inquisition. The stories are
told through their contemporary
descendants, many of whom are just
discovering their problematic Jewish
roots. The film was shot on four
continents over the last 10 years.
Children of the Inquisition premiered
>. 66h
Composer Bruce Trinkley ‘66's
Tennessee Williams Songs”
were premiered at the Song Collaborators Consortia by
tenor Robert Hansen and soprano Loraine Sims.
lonely here sometimes in the Boston
burbs, so say hey if you're up to it at
geoft@perfidy.press and I'll get back
at ya. Have a cool summer, keep
doubting and carry on!”
From Bruce Trinkley GSAS’68:
“In February and March, Bruce
Trinkley returned to his yearly
composer residency at Dorland
Mountain Arts Colony in the
beautiful wine country of Temecula,
Calif., where he has been inspired to
write operas, cantatas, choral works
and songs since his first residency
25 years ago in March 1994. On his
way to Dorland, he was a participant
in the first Composer Fair at the
ACDA National Conference in
Kansas City, hawking his published
octavos and manuscript choral cycles
and cantatas, and then traveled on
to Baton Rouge, La., where his
in March at the Seattle Jewish Film
Festival to a great reception. Other
festivals and community screenings
are planned. See childrenofthe
inquisition.com for more.”
From Bob Meyerson: “Bob
is hopeful that his luck is finally
turning around. After being evicted
from the nursing home when his
pet English python, Monte, escaped
down the drain, only to resurface in
the Commons Room jakes, scaring
the shxx out of a stall occupant, Bob
recovered enough to resume his
exercise regimen after a long winter’s
sabbatical. Unfortunately, what some
generously refer to as his ‘jogging’
was going so slow that he actually
started to lose ground, to the point
where he had to run backwards to
go forwards, confounding vehicles
and roadside coyotes alike.”
Summer 2019 CCT 59
1967
Albert Zonana
425 Arundel Rd.
Goleta, CA 93117
az164@columbia.edu
David Bessman PS’72 writes,
“At P&S, I did house training and
fellowships in hematology and spent
30 years as hematology-oncology
faculty at the University of Texas
Medical Branch Galveston. At 60, I
had a myocardial infarction, which
should have been fatal. I was lucky
to have a cell phone at hand, emer-
gency personnel two minutes away
and a catheter lab nearby. I retired
two years later after Galveston was
torn up by Hurricane Ike, in favor
of the ‘less stressful life of being a
physician at the State MR facility,
nine years so far. Since I'd beaten
the odds of surviving the myocardial
infarction, I decided to go after
getting in physical shape, a work in
progress. I’m married to Joan, 45
years. She is a nurse practitioner and
able to keep me in line. We have
three kids, all married and doing
well. They grew up in Texas and
refused all suggestions from Dad
that Columbia might be a college to
look at. We have six grandkids.”
We heard from Leigh Dolin:
“After 41 years in Oregon, my wife,
Leslie BC’68, and I have moved to
Burlington, Vt., and Montreal to be
near our grandchildren, who live in
Montreal. Since we have no official
status in Canada yet, we also have to
have a United States residence for at
least six months a year. Other than
being a lot smaller than Portland,
there’s not much culture shock
related to our Burlington move.
Burlington is Bernie Sanders country
and marijuana is legal to possess and
smoke, although not to buy or sell!
Pot is legal in Montreal, as in all
of Canada, but Quebec politics are
otherwise very strange. The Quebec
government is introducing legisla-
tion to ban the wearing of religious
symbols by public officials, including
teachers and policemen. But Mon-
treal is a wonderful cosmopolitan city
with many superb restaurants and
lots of bike paths. Leslie and I are
taking French classes but finding it
a bit of a challenge at our advanced
ages. It’s a bit weird living in two
places but it’s great being near family.
Burlington is an easy two-hour drive
from Montreal. And I’m closer to
Columbia — maybe I'll be able to
get to more alumni events!”
Robert Schulzinger writes: “I
had a stroke in 2010 and I retired
as a professor of history at the
University of Colorado. My wife,
Marie, and I had just moved in to
our dream house, which is ADA
compliant. Our daughter, Elizabeth,
lives in Phoenix where she practices
dentistry. She married another
dentist, Alan Ewell, in 2016.”
Tom Werman BUS’69 writes:
“After college I went for an M.B.A.
in marketing (‘advanced common
sense’) at the Business School and,
not knowing what I was doing at the
tender age of 24, I spent an unre-
warding year at Grey Advertising,
marketing soap and peanut butter
for Procter & Gamble. I escaped to
CBS Records as an A&R (artists
Former Roger Lehecka Summer Fellowship recipients gathered in the
Columbia Alumni Center in December to celebrate 15 years of the program
with Roger Lehecka ’67 (center), and hosted by Janet Lorin ’95 (far right)
and Lisa Carnoy ’89 (far left).
60 CCT Summer 2019
and repertoire) man at the Epic label,
and discovered and signed REO
Speedwagon, Ted Nugent (mercifully,
we never discussed politics), Molly
Hatchet, Cheap Trick and Boston
to Epic. I gravitated to the recording
studio, where I produced more than
50 LPs, 20 of which were certified
gold or platinum. I did most of these
in Los Angeles, where we raised
three wonderful children. We spent
much of each summer in Nantucket,
so that the kids were fully aware of
East Coast culture. After 23 years in
Laurel Canyon, Calif., I felt too old
to make records for teenagers — the
music had changed drastically and
I had had enough of the studio. We
came back east, bought a 10-acre
gentleman's farm in the Berkshires
and opened a small luxury all-suites
bed and breakfast, Stonover Farm. It’s
heavenly in the Berkshires, and we
travel easily into the city for muse-
ums, theater, real delicatessen food
and Columbia friends like David
Zapp and Gregg Geller’69. I still
cook breakfast and mow the lawns,
but I’ve outsourced all other labor,
so I have sufficient time to write and
play golf. Full retirement isn’t too far
away, but I still enjoy sitting down
with guests in the late afternoon for
wine and cheese. I’m very fortunate
to have had two gratifying careers,
and no boss since 1982.”
Travis T. Brown writes: “I am a
geologist in the oil and gas industry,
now some 45 years and still working.
After Columbia, I went to graduate
school, was in the Air Force, did a
tour in Vietnam working in muni-
tions and EOD, came back to gradu-
ate from school and then worked in
Denver for my entire career. My
wife and I have two grown children,
one working in New York and the
other here. My pastimes include
gardening, woodworking and fly
fishing. I was back for the 50th
reunion but disappointed at not
seeing more classmates.”
Herbert Broderick GSAS’78
writes: “I am a professor of art history
at CUNY/Lehman College, still
teaching in my 41st year. I recently
published a book, Moses the Egyptian
in The Illustrated Old English Hexa-
teuch. | am an elected fellow of the
Society of Antiquaries of London.”
Richard Friedman gave us a
succinct update: “Retired in Ala-
bama with one wife, four kids, two
grandkids, two dogs, 11 chickens,
and two ducks.”
And finally, Harold Koenigsberg
GSAS’69 writes: “I am a professor of
psychiatry at Icahn School of Medi-
cine at Mount Sinai in New York
City and director of the mood and
personality disorders program there.
I do brain imaging research on emo-
tion, and I see patients in my private
practice. My wife, Elizabeth, and I
have a 17-year-old daughter, Sylvie,
who is a junior at Bronx Science.”
Be well all of you, and do write.
1968
Arthur Spector
4401 Collins Ave., 2-1417
Miami Beach, FL 33140
arthurbspector@gmail.com
Greetings from Miami Beach, a
short distance from the University
of Miami’s Alex Rodriguez Park at
Mark Light Field. A few weeks ago
I witnessed the Lions baseball team
beating Miami (a great national
baseball franchise) 4-2. A shocker,
but even more amazing was the
coach — he is a superstar — used
nine different pitchers, one for each
inning. A great win and a wonderful
crowd of Columbia people, too. It
was a perfect night for baseball and
a great night for Columbia.
Speaking of baseball, Paul Bros-
nan, our record-holding pitcher,
emails me periodically with clever
stories. I believe Paul shares a record
with Lou Gehrig CC 1923.
Continuing with sports, Nigel
Paneth, our distinguished public
health professor at Michigan State,
recently was in high spirits, as his
basketball team slipped by Duke by
one point. I hope they will go all the
way. | am looking forward to our bas-
ketball season — we lost too many
games by two points this past season.
But I have hope with Mike Smith ’20
back as our brilliant point guard, Pat-
rick Tapé’20 as our superb forward
center (at the end of the season no
one in the Ivy League could defend
him; he scored nearly at will) and the
great Gabe Stefanini’21, a superstar
from Italy. And there is more talent
on the team, for sure. Try to see a
game this coming season!
One more thought on Columbia
sports: Don't miss football. It is going
to be a fantastic season. | am thinking
of organizing a special Homecoming
event for the Class of 1968. Let me
know if you are interested. I know of
at least 10 classmates who will be at
Homecoming and another group that
is likely to be there.
I saw Columbia Athletics Director
Peter Pilling in Florida and chatted
with him. He is impressive and
clearly doing a great job, as all the
sports teams are making progress.
I received notes from Art
Kaufman and Tom Sanford related
to The Wall Street Journal’s story
on admissions rates in the Ivies. It
appears that Columbia has moved up
to second, behind Harvard and ahead
of Princeton and Yale. Our Admis-
sions Office is doing an amazing job,
with more than 42,000 applications
and a 5.1 percent acceptance rate —
even lower than last year.
Some classmates — Barry
Wick, for example —have said that
interviewing prospective students is
a worthy activity and quite fulfilling.
I hope you will volunteer with the
Alumni Representative Committee
if you can.
I hear from Robert Brandt
regularly; today he told me he had
his birthday this past weekend, but
I forget the year — go figure, right?!
But I don't report numbers anyway.
Robert is in great humor and we are
overdue for dinner.
I recently saw Seth Weinstein,
Art Kaufman, Buzz Zucker, Paul
de Bary and the entertaining and
quite talented Bernie Weinstein ’65,
an affiliate member of our class. We
had a great dinner before a basket-
ball game and then saw a tough loss
to Harvard, the second of the year
losing by two. But we had a very
good time! The night before we beat
Dartmouth, and the team did beat
Yale, Penn, Cornell and Brown, so it
was a Strange season.
Peter Janovsky has sent out
info on the bios that we put together
for our 50th reunion. I hope you
received it.
Peter, thank you for your devotion
to the class on the bio front and, of
course, as a Marching Band supporter.
On March 19 it was announced
that Kenneth Tomecki was elected
president of the 2019 American
Academy of Dermatology, following
Mark Lebwohl’74. I have known
Mark for years and he has told me
many times that he is a fan of Ken.
Mark chairs the department of
dermatology at the Icahn School of
Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Ken
is a star at the Cleveland Clinic.
Quite impressive, these two talents.
Ira McCown and I heard
the New World Symphony and
Mahler’s “Symphony No. 1” (known
as “The Titan’) here in Miami, and
had a beer afterward. Ira is in good
shape and seems to be enjoying spin
class and swimming.
For Neil Gozan and Frank Dann,
among others, I am happy to report
that I now swim almost every day.
Barry Wick, our Colorado classmate,
says that his swimming is constant.
‘The last movement of Mahler's
“Symphony No. 1” seems a fitting
way to think about the next few years
— I hope they are exciting, and full
of spirit, energy and good health. I
also hope you are all doing well and
enjoying the summer.
1969
Michael Oberman
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel
1177 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036
moberman@kramerlevin.com
I had an April 1 deadline for this
Summer issue, which will appear
several weeks after our reunion, so
I am unable to report on reunion
before the Fall issue. I could predict,
but I will report instead when I can
write in the past tense.
There is news of one event to
share. On March 14, Jonathan
Schiller hosted a pre-reunion
kick-off event at the brand-new
offices of his firm (Boies Schiller
Flexner) in Hudson Yards, the very
evening before the official opening
when celebrities gathered below for
a special gala. The views are tremen-
dous, and we got to witness what
is billed as the largest private real
estate development in United States
history, arguably ranking ahead of
the Manhattanville campus in scope
and impact of a project (or maybe
not — our other campus is decades
away from completion). Apart from
practicing law and co-managing his
law firm, Jonathan was chairman of
the University Board of Trustees.
We had 27 classmates and 13
spouses/guests for the reception, and
we got to visit with (among others)
Jerry Nadler, whom many of us
see on television regularly. It was a
very promising start, for it showed
how easy it is to reconnect with or
to meet classmates less known when
we were at the College.
alumninews ‘|
As this is written, we are preparing
another blast email encouraging
classmates to attend, and the event
details are available in a mailing and
online. The following classmates
were on our Reunion Committee:
Jonathan Adelman, Ron Alex-
ander, Scott Anderson, George
Baker, John Bernson, Michael
Jacoby Brown, Steve Conway, Bill
Giusti, Martin Konikoff, George
Lindsay, Joe Materna, Richard
Menaker, Michael Oberman,
Fred Pack, Hart Perry, Richard
Rapaport, David Rosedahl, Mike
Rosenblatt, Irving Ruderman,
Mike Schell, Joel Solkoff, Stephen
Steindel, Alan Sullivan, Steven
Valenstein, Eric Witkin, Richard
Wyatt and Joel Ziff. (Roy Feldman
was an active and valued member of
the committee who passed away in
March.) I hope you planned all along
to attend, and did so, or I hope you
were persuaded to attend, and did so.
I expect those who do not attend this
milestone will live with some regrets.
In the meantime, a few items came in
prompted by my March 4 blast email.
From Arn Howitt: “I continue to
work at Harvard Kennedy School,
where I’m the founding co-director
of the Program on Crisis Leader-
ship, which conducts policy research,
leads several annual executive
programs and develops curriculum
materials on emergency manage-
ment, crisis response, disaster
recovery and resilience. With a close
colleague, I have developed a suite of
four intensive HKS executive educa-
tion programs for first response and
humanitarian aid leaders, higher
education executives, and National
Guard generals and colonels. Since
2002, we have had more than 2,500
participants in these programs.
“In addition, my professional
life has frequently taken me to
Asia, where I’ve done research and
lectured extensively at universities
and to government officials in China,
Japan, Vietnam, Korea, Nepal and
others. A recent book, Public Health
Preparedness: Case Studies in Policy and
Management, followed several others
on a range of emergency manage-
ment issues. Since our four children
— two daughters, two sons — are
now educated, three are married (with
four of their own children among
them), and all are independent, this
past fall, my wife, Maryalice, and I
were able to take a semester’s leave
to live in Beijing. There I was the
>’
a:
safes
mA
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5
Johnson and Johnson Chair Professor
of Leadership at Tsinghua University’s
Schwarzman College in a master’s
program intended as a Chinese
analog of the Rhodes Scholarship
program for students this year from
29 countries. Retirement may loom
sometime in the future, but I’m still
enthused about my work in general
and the enriching opportunities for
international engagement. The rocking
chair can wait a while longer.”
“T, John Van Dusen Lewis, con-
tinue to accumulate grandchildren:
A sixth (the first girl) was due just
before our 50th reunion. They are
all residing nearby in the Washing-
ton, D.C., area. Their grandmother,
Faith, whom I met in December
1966 (while a sophomore at CC) at
her parents’ apartment in the Dakota
on Central Park West (in which we
were married a stormy seven and a
half years later), continues to prac-
tice psychoanalysis down here on
the Potomac. A long-since retired
(2001) Foreign Service Officer
(USAID), I remain a principal with
the 12-year-old San Francisco-based
landscape carbon asset development
company Terra Global Capital.
In the past year, RainTrust has
asked me to serve as its director of
partnerships for building, on behalf
of the African Union, its impact
investors and the planet, the ‘Great
Great Green Wall’ of ‘forest gardens’
across semi-arid Africa. This Rain-
Trust, ‘climate smart’ agribusiness
initiative integrates (a.) precision
agriculture, remote sensing assisted
land-use decision support technolo-
gies, (b.) transactional blockchain
transparencies and (c.) international
e-commerce commodity export links
into combatting accelerating deserti-
fication and, therefore, reversing
compounding food, economic and
political insecurities in Africa.”
From Peter Behr: “My wife and
I continue to work part time, as
we love our work. We are regis-
tered massage therapists in British
Columbia, Canada, which means
mostly M.D.-referred patients with
disabilities such as post-stroke,
sciatica and whiplash injuries. I con-
tinue to hike, work on my organic
vegetable garden and travel. Went
to Africa in January to see wildlife;
it was amazing. I am in touch
with Steve Marx’63 and Jan Marx
GSAS’69, both CU grads. He was
a popular English instructor in the
1960s at CU.”
Summer 2019 CCT 61
Class Notes
Mark Brodin LAW’72 writes:
“Tam in my 39th year of law school
teaching, the past 35 at Boston Col-
lege. I have published 25 law review
articles, with about the same number
of readers. I am editorial consultant
to the six-volume Weinstein’ Federal
Evidence and co-author of a treatise
on Massachusetts evidence, as well
as a civil procedure casebook and
a constitutional criminal proce-
dure text. I have also published a
biography of iconic Boston criminal
defense and civil liberties lawyer
William P. Homans Jr.
“But as for the important stuff,
we have four grandsons, two each
in Madison, Wis. (where our son-
in-law is on the faculty of the Uni-
versity of Wisconsin Law School),
and two in Portland, Maine (where
our other son-in-law is overseeing
the Medicaid expansion project).
Our older daughter is an attorney
who was previously with Children’s
Rights in Manhattan, litigating
foster care class actions, and is now
with the Wisconsin Department
of Children and Families. Our
younger daughter taught for 10
years in Manhattan at the Town and
Churchill Schools before moving to
Maine. My wife is a retired teacher
of the deaf in Boston and Newton,
Mass. No plans for retirement yet!”
Ron Alexander writes that
“his retirement ‘job’ is being a
docent at the Supreme Court.
Tuesday mornings at the court, if
the justices aren't sitting in oral
argument, you can find Ron either
giving courtroom talks about the
court and the Supreme Court
Building, or leading private tours
Holler at Us
in Haiku!
Core, one hundred years!
What’s a fun way to note it?
Poetry from you.
around the building, including the
two conference rooms containing
portraits of all 16 prior chief justices,
which are used as props to structure
commentary on the history of the
court and the United States. Ron
bemoans Rutledge, has kind words
for Ellsworth (much underappreci-
ated) and Marshall (the great chief
justice), sneers at Taney, laughs at
Chase for overruling himself on
Greenbacks, scowls at Waite and
Fuller for subverting the Recon-
struction amendments, wonders how
White (Confederate) and Holmes
(Union) sat together on the bench,
thanks Taft for the building, praises
the Columbia men (John Jay CC
1764, Charles Evans Hughes LAW
1884 and Harlan F. Stone LAW
1898 — Korematsu notwithstand-
ing), shrugs at Vinson, celebrates
Warren for fulfilling Lincoln’s ‘new
birth of freedom,’ passes quickly
over Burger and regales his audience
with tales of Rehnquist’s gold stripes
derived from Gilbert and Sullivan’s
Iolanthe. Then there’s the justices’
dining room and, for the select few,
the highest court in the land: the
Supreme Court basketball court,
which sits above the courtroom.
And, when the court is hearing oral
argument, Ron may be found in the
bar section of the courtroom, listen-
ing to the rapid-fire questioning of
counsel, under the watchful eyes of
the overhead frieze sculptures of
Marshall and Blackstone, frozen in
quizzical contemplation of the folly,
or wisdom, of their current descen-
dants on the bench.”
From Henry S. Jackson: “I
remember how seductively beautiful
We’re celebrating the Core Centennial this year and would
love to hear your memories of the Core Curriculum! But
there’s a catch — you need to tell us in haiku. Send your
5-7-5 recollections to cct_centennial@columbia.edu, and
we'll run our favorites in the next four issues’ Class Notes.
62 CCT Summer 2019
the campus was in spring, just at
the time when term papers had to
be written and there were exams
to study for. I also remember my
mother’s mantra at that time of year:
‘Don't work too hard, but get it all
done.’ Somehow, most of us did.”
Peter Clapp writes: “I was an
Asian studies major. Apart from the
politics, evenings at The West End
and some lasting friendships, my
best memories of school are of a few
inspiring teachers, including Ken
Winston (CC), Fred Grab PS’63
(especially his one-semester class on
Ulysses), Hans Bielenstein (classical
Chinese) and Burton Watson’50
(Chinese poetry). If I knew then
what I know now, I would have paid
a lot more attention and learned
a lot more from all of them. Now
I’m a happily married (30-plus
years) semi-retired lawyer. I teach
business-law classes at JFKU School
of Law, a state-bar-accredited law
school in Pleasant Hill, Calif., and
I volunteer at the consumer justice
clinic of the East Bay Community
Law Center in Berkeley, where I
advise on debtor-creditor issues and,
where appropriate, prepare Chapter
7 filings for the clinic’s clients.”
I hope to have seen you at
reunion and that it was a grand suc-
cess in every conceivable way.
1970
Leo G. Kailas
Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt
885 Third Ave., 20th FI.
New York, NY 10022
Ikailas@reitlerlaw.com
I am happy to report that I com-
pleted a major arbitration in January
and received a favorable result in
March, which led to a week of vaca-
tion in London with my wife. The
Churchill War Rooms is a must-see
for any student of history, and I felt
extraordinarily privileged to be able
to tour the Houses of Parliament.
London is an architecturally beauti-
ful city and you can’t avoid encoun-
tering important historical places on
virtually every street corner.
A number of classmates wrote
very touching tributes to Professor
Edward W. “Ted” Tayler, who
passed away in April 2018. Professor
Michael Aeschliman GSAS’91
writes, “I knew Ted Tayler for exactly
50 years, 1968-2018, initially as
an undergraduate, and then as a
graduate student, as a great teacher,
then as a valued advisor and loyal
friend. He was my chief dissertation
advisor. The depth of my debt to
him, and fondness and respect
for him, is impossible to state in
brief compass. A constant source
of encouragement, he was writing
important, unforgettable things to
me within weeks of his death. As a
teacher, scholar and writer myself, I
think the shortest, simplest, truest
and best thing that I can say about
him is that he was a man of great
nobility and loving-kindness, with
a profoundly orthodox sensibility,
living in a confused, miscellaneous,
noisy era of promiscuous, vehement
self-expression. He articulated and
incarnated the central Columbia
humanistic tradition descending
from John Erskine CC 1900 — or,
ultimately more to the point, from the
Scriptures, Plato and the subsequent
Western literary canon, which he
loved and taught superlatively well.
With his death a very brilliant, even
celestial, light has gone out.”
Professor David Lehman, edi-
tor of The Oxford Book of American
Poetry, invited me to the Tayler
memorial service and added his
tribute: “Ted taught Elizabethan
17th-century poetry, Shakespeare
and Milton to many of us. A course
with Tayler was a life-changer.”
Martin J. Newhouse GSAS’79
sent his news: “Most newsworthy:
My wife, Nancy Scott, and I have a
new grandson, Herman Katz New-
house, born October 3 and residing
in Philadelphia with his parents, our
son, a journalist, and his wonderful
wife, an artist. Everything else pales
in comparison.”
Victor Hertz GSAS’75, who
founded, and runs with his daughter,
Accredited Language Services (I
have used them and they are excel-
lent), said he had no news to report
but sends regards to classmates.
Samuel Estreicher LAW’75,
a professor of law at NYU Law
School, proudly reports: “On Febru-
ary 4, Brooklyn Technical H.S. and
its Alumni Foundation presented
me with the Distinguished Alumnus
— 2019 Award.”
Congratulations, Sam, on a well-
deserved honor.
I often read Sam’s New York Law
Journal articles on labor law devel-
opments and always walk away from
them better informed.
1971
Lewis Preschel
L.A.Preschel@gmail.com
[Editor’s note: CCT welcomes new
CC’71 class correspondent Lewis
Preschel, who will write this col-
umn going forward. He shares:]
“Before I introduce myself, I thank
Jim Shaw for his long-term service
to our class. Jim listened to our sto-
ries and made them available for the
class to enjoy. We should thank him
for his energy and spirit. It’s not as if
he were retired during that time, and
had nothing else to do. Jim practiced
law. He raised a family (including
a Columbia graduate). At the same
time, he was an active Philadelphia
head of the U.S. House Committee
on the Judiciary is a member of the
Class of 1969. Our alumni are having
an impact in our present historic
times within the government of our
country. Not to mention, a gentle-
man educated at Columbia College
recently spent eight years leading our
country as President.
“We should also include in the
notable people from our class those
who were involved with Columbia
College, such as Alex Sachare,
who was editor-in-chief of CCT for
many years.
“Doctor, lawyer, tinker, tailor,
CEO and president; no matter what,
your life holds interest for your
classmates, so let us know where
your path in life has led, and what
surrounds you today, as well as what
Eddie Goldman 71 is a journalist, covering the
combat sports, in particular boxing, wrestling and
mixed martial arts.
sports fan and follower of Columbia
College sports. He donated his hard
work and energies. We are grateful
for all his labors.
“T will endeavor to continue bring-
ing news and information about our
class to you. I will try to be as ener-
getic as Jim was for all those years.
I am retired and have nothing else
to look forward to other than your
news. Please excuse my beginner’s
enthusiastic hyperbole.
“Our college, and in particular
our class, have changed the world,
so why not talk about where that
road led you personally? We were
educated at a hub of national
events, during a time of incredible
political and social activity. Almost
a half-century ago, we swam in
Columbia’s educational whirlpool
and survived, holding buildings
and deans [hostage], protesting the
Vietnam War, championing civil
rights causes and acknowledging gay
rights. We flashed fervent politics
across the spectrum — Democrats,
Republicans, Socialists, Communists,
Liberals and Conservatives. It led to
a member of the Class of 1971 being
US. attorney general twice and a
member of the Class of 1973 being it
once. (BTW — both earned graduate
degrees from Columbia, too.) The
surrounded you in the past. We are
closing in on our 50th reunion. The
Grateful Dead said it best: What a
long, strange trip it’s been.
“Your classmates are interested.
Let’s all stay in touch; build a com-
munity. To paraphrase the intro to
the old TV show Naked City: There
are hundreds of stories in the class
of 1971. Tell us yours.
“I am Lewis Preschel, and
after we graduated, I continued my
education at SUNY Downstate
Medical Center. I became a board-
certified orthopedic surgeon and
practiced for almost 25 years in
Central New Jersey before retiring.
I have a master’s in library and
information science from Rutgers
and have morphed into an author
of mysteries — short and novel
length. I had a short story published
in an anthology. I am about to
self-publish my first novel. | am a
member of the Columbia Fiction
Foundry, an association of writers
who support each other. It is
maintained through the Columbia
Alumni Association. I remain
married to the woman | met on a
blind date that Mark Haselkorn set
up my senior year. Carole and I have
two adult daughters, Sara and Jill,
and three grandchildren.
adumninews ‘
“Where did life take you? What
are you doing there? We cannot
know unless you communicate to
us. The class email address is listed
at the top of the column; drop your
classmates a line.”
Below are the notes that CCT
collected during the spring:
Fred Lowell: “After 43 years, I
have retired from the practice of
law and as chair of the political law
practice at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw
Pittman in San Francisco.”
Mark Davies LAW’75: “Retired
in 2016 after 22 years with NYC’s
ethics board. Nice to have that
government pension. Now in second
year (half-time) of seminary near
Columbia (Union Theological Semi-
nary), this semester taking Paul and
fourth semester of Greek (insane
and insanely difficult, at least at 70).
Love it, though.”
John Kuhn Bleimaier SIPA’73:
“Recently was named a trustee of
the Princeton Bar Association after
having practiced law in this town
for 43 years. FYI, I am the author of
more than 100 articles dealing with
theoretical jurisprudence, classic
automobiles and sporting shotguns.
Icing on the cake, yours truly is both
a poet and farmer by avocation. I
live at Falkenhorst in Hopewell, N_J.
Why not have a picnic at my spread
after the next Columbia vs. Prince-
ton game here out in the sticks?”
Eddie Goldman: “Since the
early 1990s, I have mainly been
working as a journalist covering the
combat sports, in particular boxing,
wrestling and mixed martial arts.
That has encompassed work on
websites, newspapers, magazines,
radio, internet radio, podcasts, film
and TV. In 2006 I started the ‘No
Holds Barred’ podcast, for which I
am still host and producer. In 2008,
I was presented by Gladiator Maga-
zine with its first-ever Journalism
Lifetime Achievement Award, and
named “The Conscience of Combat
Sports’ for my work combining
reporting on the combat sports with
discussion of the social and political
issues in them.
“In addition, I contributed a
chapter to the book You Say You
Want a Revolution: SDS, PL, and
Adventures in Building a Worker-
Student Alliance, which is written by
former members and supporters of
the once-Maoist Progressive Labor
Party. My chapter, largely about why
I joined, and left, this group, and my
experiences with it at Columbia, is
titled ‘PLP, The Struggle at Colum-
bia, and The Road to Irrelevance.’
“Tm not covering many live fights
anymore, but still watch lots of
boxing on TV and online. My blog,
www.eddiegoldman.com, is mainly
about my combat sports media work.
“T occasionally pass by the
Columbia campus, usually either to
join a demonstration or just use the
bathroom. I am curious to see what
a suite looks like these days inside
Carman Hall, my abode for three
years, so perhaps someone could
organize a tour.”
Donald York: “The Golden
Anniversary of Woodstock has
special meaning for me, Alan
Cooper and Richard Joffe 73, all
of whom performed at Woodstock
in 1969 before managing junior and
senior years alongside a showbiz
career beginning to take off big. This
summer The Gold Label will be
releasing a commemorative record
album in both CD and ‘old school’
vinyl editions!”
Donald also shared a press release
from the Bethel Woods Center
for the Arts, the historic home of
Woodstock: “Sha Na Na is celebrat-
ing their 50th anniversary as well as
the 50th anniversary of the Wood-
stock Festival at the original site in
Bethel, N.Y. Rock & roll doo-wop
legends Sha Na Na combined their
love for the classics of rock & roll
with a dynamic theatrical approach
as fellow college students at
Columbia University in New York.
In 1969 they appeared just before
Jimi Hendrix (who helped get them
the gig) at the Woodstock festival in
their eighth professional show.”
1972
Paul S. Appelbaum
39 Claremont Ave., #24
New York, NY 10027
pappel1@aol.com
Samuel Gladstone writes that he’s
been happily retired from a solo
independent family medical practice
since 2014, and stepped down as the
medical director of the local physi-
cian hospital organization in 2017.
Retirement seems to suit him: “I’m
recently back from an 11-day vaca-
tion to the Yucatan, with my wife,
Joyce Duncan, also a retired family
doc. We explored Mayan ruins and
Summer 2019 CCT 63
cenotes, and kayaked most days to
a lovely barrier reef for snorkeling.
Today I got to go cross-country ski-
ing from our wonderful house.”
Their oldest son, Peter, lives in
an adjoining town with his wife
and two children and they see
one another frequently. Samuel
adds, “Our middle son, Joshua, has
applied to the industrial engineering
program at UMass Amherst, where
we live, so it’ll be great to have him
home. Our youngest son, Gabriel,
has moved to the Denver/Boulder
area and is looking for work. He has
an M.B.A. from the Isenberg School
of Management at UMass Amherst.
(Any help would be appreciated.)
Life is great.”
Looking back on his years on
campus, Samuel says, “Tm forever
thankful for the education I received
at Columbia. I hope to see you at
our 50th reunion.”
Marty Edel has made some tran-
sitions, too, but it doesn’t sound as
though he’ll be retiring anytime soon.
He writes, “A lot of changes this past
year. After running a boutique litiga-
tion firm for more than 40 years, I
and my partners moved to Goulston
& Storrs, a Boston-based firm, in its
New York office. Also, starting this
year I will be teaching sports law
at the Law School, joining Jerry
Lynch, Mike Gerrard and Steve
Shapiro on the faculty.
“Our son, Charlie, had his second
book published, The Lessons of Trag-
edy: Statecraft and World Order. On his
book tour, he appeared on Morning
Joe and spoke at Harvard and Yale.
Charlie teaches at the University
of Sydney and is a senior fellow at
the United States Studies Centre in
Sydney. Most importantly, we have
four adorable grandchildren.”
Also enjoying being a grandfa-
ther is Alan Ducatman, who was
a professor in the School of Public
Health at West Virginia University,
where he was the interim found-
ing dean. Alan was also chair of the
WVU department of community
medicine for 15 years, and director
of WVU’s occupational medicine
residency program. “I am now
professor emeritus (as in, ‘control
my own time’), but continue to
consult and to publish actively in
my areas of clinical research interest.
These include environmental health,
especially health aspects of exposure
to the perfluoroalkyl substances, and
clinical quality improvement.”
64 CCT Summer 2019
But now for Alan’s really impor-
tant stuff: “The big news is our first
grandchild arrived in December.”
As long as we're talking about
grandfathers, John Miller reports
that his fourth grandchild was born
recently. And he pointed out how his
Columbia education helped shape his
new email address — which contains
his name and the word “why.” John
writes, “I remember it as if it were yes-
terday. I’m sitting in a small classroom
with a dozen students in Contempo-
rary Civilization. Our professor told
us, ‘You will not remember many of
the facts we teach but we will have
succeeded if we have taught you how
to reason, how to always question and
never accept anything as truth without
first questioning it. Never stop asking
why.’ A bit late, but 50 years later I
changed my email to honor him. And
I’ve never stopped asking why.”
Bill Flynn BUS’74, who spent
more than 30 years working in
advertising before retiring in 2006,
sent a note because he’s “usually
disappointed by the few comments in
our Class Notes. Having never con-
tributed, I too am responsible. Our
reunions also seem sparsely attended
but that might be due to my having
known so few of the attendees. The
years 1968-72 were not great for
Columbia. They left few uplifting
moments for this grad, who contin-
ued to live on Morningside Heights
through 1981 while I worked on
Madison Avenue. I often wondered
if the experience was so bad for most
of our classmates that they put those
years out of mind. Those few who
attend reunions appear to be the
cream of the crop, having excelled
academically and professionally; I’m
disappointed that I knew so few of
them as undergraduates. My Colum-
bia days, academically, athletically
and personally, were tough on and for
me, but I learned, and learned and
learned, even getting some of it right.
Unfortunately, my biggest takeaway
was to never put yourself in a posi-
tion where you cant win. With my
arrogance developing in this period,
I was smug, quickly determining
a winning and losing opportunity.
Avoiding such situations, I missed
opportunities and somehow made
my own losses. Some say tough times
are where wisdom is found. While I
don’t believe I found it in those years,
the seeds were planted. I hope more
of our classmates share in the future.”
I hope so, too.
Jocko Marcellino sends word
of the latest achievement of the
legendary group in which several of
our classmates played leading roles.
He writes, “As part of a summer-
long concert series, Sha Na Na will
perform June 1 at Bethel Woods,”
a return to the glory of their
performance at Woodstock. In the
words of the press release: “Rock &
roll doo-wop legends Sha Na Na
combined their love for the classics
of rock & roll with a dynamic
theatrical approach as fellow college
students at Columbia University in
New York. In 1969 they appeared
just before Jimi Hendrix (who
helped get them the gig) at The
Woodstock Festival in their eighth
professional show.’ The band rose to
stardom with four seasons of their
own worldwide television series, The
Sha Na Na Show, and their portrayal
of Johnny Casino and the Gamblers
in the movie Grease (the highest
grossing musical film of all-time).
Sha Na Na performed six songs on
the Grease soundtrack and the song
‘Sandy,’ sung by John Travolta, was
co-written by the band’s piano man,
Screamin’ Scott Simon ’70.”
Dare I suggest that rock and roll
is here to stay?
1973
Barry Etra
4256 Edmund Park Dr. NE
Atlanta, GA 30306
betra1@bellsouth.net
Need more notes, troops. Tough job
without em.
Don Jensen is editor-in-chief
and a senior fellow at the Center
for European Policy Analysis. He
is also an adjunct professor at the
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences
at Johns Hopkins, where he teaches
Russian national security policy. In
his spare time, he writes about and
analyzes baseball.
Paul Kaliades lives in Dobbs
Ferry, N.Y., with his wife, Jude; they
have five children. Paul is president
of Renters Legal Liability, a property
damage liability insurance program
for real estate portfolios nationwide;
he is also a partner in Milestone
Development Group, builders of
multi-family apartment communities.
Paul enjoys hanging out with
Don Jackson BUS’80 and Frank
Dermody, “telling blurry fables of
Class Notes
our football adventures, Forlini’s,
Johnny Balquist CC 1932 and
undergraduate life at 400 W. 118th.”
Henry Rosenberg retired
after 35 years of practicing
internal medicine and pediatrics
in Northampton, Mass., and is
spending more time on Physicians
for Social Responsibility. His
quotation: ‘When we talk about
nuclear annihilation, it’s hard
not to sound psychotic. Check
out preventnuclearwar.org for a
straightforward five-step plan to
save the world.”
That’s a sentiment of nobility I
can get behind. Hasta.
19774
Fred Bremer
532 W. 111th St.
New York, NY 10025
f.bremer@ml.com
After years during which it seemed
that College alumni were out of the
Washington, D.C., spotlight, there
has been a dramatic change. The
2008 election of Barack Obama’83
as President and his choice of Eric
H. Holder Jr.’73, LAW’76 as U.S.
Attorney General certainly turned
up the wattage on Columbia. Then
there was the 2017 appointment of
Neil Gorsuch’88 as the Supreme
Court Justice who succeeded
Antonin Scalia. As I write this
in early April, the evening news
is filled with pictures of House
Judiciary Committee Chairman
Jerry Nadler’69 battling with
Attorney General William Barr
’71, GSAS’79 over the release of
the Mueller report, and we see a lot
of the youthful face of presidential
hopeful Beto O’Rourke’95. Our
own Abbe Lowell LAW’77 gets a
fair share of coverage in his role as
attorney for Jared Kushner.
My apologies to the alumni I
have left out of this short summary.
We heard from Will Willis
BUS’76 (who lives in Palm Beach
Gardens, Fla). His email started
with, “Life really hasn't changed
much.” Then he said he is selling the
skincare company he started three
years ago and is off to the West
Coast for a six-month consult-
ing project with a Fortune 100
company. He adds, “Man, do I love
the action!” Then came the personal
news. “Overcame stage IV cancer
seven years ago and haven't looked
back. Loving life more than ever.”
He tells us he has six grandchildren
(four girls and two boys). What
followed was the real surprise, “You
may not know this, but I am a twin,
I have twins and one of my twins
had identical twin daughters. Three
generations: The Willis family are
ever overachievers!” He also says,
“Trying to finish my third book,
but it is difficult finding time ... I
wonder why?”
There have been several Facebook
posts from Barry Klayman (an
attorney with Cozen O’Connor in
its Wilmington, Del., office) about
the latest documentary (Zhe Brink)
by his daughter, Alison. The film
premiered at the Sundance Film
Festival in March. The New York
Times described it as “a fast-moving,
tightly packed, at times unnervingly
bit more conservative. In any event,
it should be a blast!”
Two classmates in Maine had
news to report. Bob Adler tells us
that his son, Jacob, was formally
installed as the rabbi for the recon-
structivist Congregation Kehilat
Shalom in Belle Mead, N.J., (near
Princeton). When asked what
“installation” means, Bob said it
means the members of the temple
watched Jacob for a year and he
passed probation.
Pediatrician Steve Blumenthal
claims to have retired, but admits he
is still “on call” for 10 24-hour shifts
per month for Mercy Hospital. By
my calculations, that still looks like
well over 40 hours a week! Steve
reports that his eldest daughter,
Kelsey, was married last August. She
is in the first violin section of the
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
eer en aa
Mark Rantala "74 is coming up on the
500th episode of a podcast (@baseballphd.net)
that he does with two lifelong friends.
entertaining documentary about
Stephen Bannon.” The film is the
result of Alison following the former
Trump chief strategist around
Europe for a year as he tried to unify
the far right ahead of the May 2019
European Parliament elections.
Barry said in his Facebook post,
when asked why she took on the
project, that Alison said she wanted
to study the nature of evil and the
nature of people behind policies that
damage our country.
There were two Facebook posts
from Ed Berliner GSAS’80 (who
lives in West Orange, N.J.). One
said he has been promoted to
become the dean of science manage-
ment/clinical professor of physics
at Yeshiva University in northern
Manhattan. He writes, “This is likely
the last title of my career,” but would
keep working “as long as I enjoy it
and am enjoying my colleagues.” In
another post Ed tells us he is regis-
tered for the August 4 Long Island
Bike Challenge: Bikes Battle Can-
cer. He says, “Just have to decide if I
am doing the century (100 miles) or
the metric century (62 miles). A few
years ago I know what I would have
chosen! Now maybe I should be a
After 23 years as a commercial
real estate broker, most of these
years with CBRE in Cleveland,
Mark Rantala (who lives in Rocky
River, Ohio) is in the midst of a new
career. He is now in his sixth year as
the executive director of the Lake
County Ohio Port & Economic
Development Authority. Mark
emailed: “Last year I was instrumen-
tal in the construction of a Miracle
League baseball field for children
with special needs. The project
included a baseball field designed
for wheelchairs, walkers and scoot-
ers so every kid can play baseball.
I consider it one of the greatest
achievements of my career.”
Mark is also coming up on
the 500th episode of a podcast
(@baseballphd.net) that he does with
two lifelong friends. On the family
front, Mark says his daughter Shan-
non graduated in 2015 from Cornell
College in Mount Vernon, Iowa,
and is teaching high school math in
rural southeast Ohio. Daughter Kerri
graduated in 2016 from Cleveland
State University and is selling real
estate in Huntsville, Ala.
An email came in from Chris
Hansen in London. It included a
alumninews
picture of him signing the bylaws
of the new Freemason lodge for
Columbians (officially Columbia
Lodge #1754 of the Grand Lodge
of the State of New York). He
writes, “As a signatory of the bylaws,
I formally became a founding mem-
ber of the lodge.”
Chris adds that he hopes to be
able to attend occasionally. He wrote
that membership in the lodge is open
to any male student 18 or older, fac-
ulty member or staff. He says women
in those categories will be directed to
a lodge of female Freemasons.
It is rare that I get to report a
“twofer” (that is, a single Class Note
that reports on the chance crossing
of two classmates). Mark Mogul
(who lives in Port Washington,
N.Y.) tells us how his wife, Laura,
ended up helping Anna Quindlen
BC’74, wife of Gerry Krovatin,
promote her latest book, Nanaville:
Adventures in Grandparenting. Laura
is the executive director of the
Landmark on Main Street Com-
munity Center in Port Washington.
It seems that Anna’s speaker’s
bureau selected the Landmark as
a venue for her to speak about her
book. Nanaville is based on her
experiences with son Quin and
grandson Arthur. I gather the book
recommends not so much doing as
hanging back and respecting the
parents’ choices.
There you have it. Some class-
mates are quasi-retiring, while
others are “shifting gears” to start
new careers in their 60s. There seems
to be a strong spiritual engagement
among both classmates and their
children. And across the board there
is creativity that is ever-present.
There will be a lot more to report
from classmates who attend our
45th reunion. Stay tuned!
1975
Randy Nichols
734 S. Linwood Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21224
rcn2day@gmail.com
Operation Varsity Blues, no Colum-
bia Blue included. As someone who
has worked in college admissions,
and interviewed applicants to
Columbia through the Alumni Rep-
resentative Committee, I found this
whole affair fascinating. Was Yale
the only Ivy “elite” enough, or what?
Starting with carnivale in Rio,
Fernando Castro has been danc-
ing, eating, drinking, sightseeing and
shopping while on an extended trip
through South America.
The trailer has dropped and The
Dead Don’t Die, the latest from Jim
Jarmusch, “looks as if it will be
some sick fun! With a dream cast!”
reports fan Jim Dolan. It will be in
theaters June 14.
Bob Schneider and Regina Mul-
lahy BC’75 have a new granddaugh-
ter. Maddalena Rosarina Patane
Schneider (“Lena”) is the daughter of
Claudia Patane and James Schneider,
Bob and Regina’s older son.
1976
Ken Howitt
1114 Hudson St., Apt. 8
Hoboken, N.J. 07030
kenhowitt76@gmail.com
The Class of ’76 seems to have been
real busy in the spring, since there
were very few updates. But you are
going to have to plow through this
column anyway. I did flip on the
turntable and listen to an album that
WKCR inspired me to purchase
in the 70s: the Columbia Records
issuing of the three-volume (each
volume a double album set) The
Billie Holiday Story. Appropriately
enough, I started with Volume 3 and
the song “Mean to Me” — not that
the paucity of updates indicates that
my classmates are being mean to me.
No, you are only being mean to the
whole class, since you have to read
my meandering thoughts without a
lot of news.
I did get one update, from author
Bill Minutaglio JRN’78, whose
ninth book, The Most Dangerous
Man in America: Timothy Leary,
Richard Nixon and the Hunt for the
Fugitive King of LSD, will be pub-
lished this summer. Bill says, “It’s
been optioned by the producers for
Steven Spielberg’s The Post.”
No column would be complete
without an update from the Linda
and Dennis Goodrich household in
Syracuse. Mika the dog reports that
the couple is still traveling, Dennis
is still angling for a 2019 retire-
ment and that another dog has been
added to their son’s household in
New Mexico.
I am planning a trip on July 4 to
Cooperstown to celebrate Birthday
Summer 2019 CCT 65
Class Notes
65, and will make a Syracuse swing
to see Mika, and also tune the
Goodrich piano.
By the way, my last trip to Coop-
erstown was in summer 1968 and as
much as I remember the Hall of Fame
— my dad got me an autograph from
Bill Terry, the last .400 hitter in the
National League, who happened to
be there — the most memorable part
of the trip was the evenings, when we
watched the Democratic National
Convention in the motel. Hard to
believe it was 50 years ago!
The Kit Film Noir Festival was
terrific for the second consecutive
year. I saw Gordon Kit, who is the
driving force. This year was dedicated
to movies based on the stories of
Cornell Woolrich, who took some
classes at Columbia and was a long-
time Morningside Heights resident.
The festival was held at the Lenfest
Center for the Arts on the Manhat-
tanville campus and again featured
lectures from professors across the
country. New this year, each film had
a detailed introduction, which made
the event much more than movie-
going. The festival will occur every
March for another eight years, and
I will highlight next year’s festival in
the Summer 2020 CCT.
On Sunday night of the festival,
I saw Francois Truffaut’s The Bride
Wore Black. Also in attendance was
Joel Silverstein, with his family.
After the film, we went to Pisticci on
La Salle Street, a few blocks away,
and enjoyed a terrific dinner and
great conversation about the movie,
our families, children and so on.
As a result of some emailing,
Derrick Tseng and Michael Shaff,
from 10 Carman, and Randy
Trowbridge and Frank Jacobyan-
sky also replied, but they have been
featured in columns recently. Thanks
to them for staying in touch.
‘That’s it with updates, but I still
have room to write, so I have some
reflections on completing my fifth
year as the class correspondent. I
started in spring 2015, as my wife was
continuing her cancer battle. All of
you saw me through those dark days
in January 2016, and our 40th reunion
that June was a terrific way to get back
a sense of balance (if I ever had any to
begin with) due to the kindness of the
76ers in attendance.
I'll always remember the incred-
ible caring and feeling that our class
had during our student years, and
now, so many years later, it is won-
66 CCT Summer 2019
derful to still share with all of you.
This column concentrates on mainly
the good news, but I have had many
emails and in-person conversations
about hip and knee replacements,
the number of daily pills, employ-
ment issues, career switches, family
experiences and so much more.
Amazingly, the one common thread
for the 76ers is our resiliency. No
matter what cards we have been
dealt, each of us works with what we
have and makes the best of it.
I am truly amazed at the width
and breadth of our journey since
Columbia — scientists, doctors,
lawyers, judges, professors, authors,
musicians, philanthropists, religious
leaders, government officials, non-
profit executives and so much more.
And, we all have one thing in com-
mon: We enjoy talking about how
we shape the next generation.
So, there are still so many more
stories to tell and share. I will keep
sharing them in this column. If you
had told me five years ago that I
would enjoy this more now, I would
have thought you were all nuts.
Instead, I now know that I am nuts!
Billie Holiday just started “Nice
Work If You Can Get It,” appropri-
ately enough, so I am going to kick
back in my living room and only get
up when the record has to be turned
over! Enjoy the summer! Keep send-
ing in those updates, and most of all,
keep smilin’!
LO
David Gorman
111 Regal Dr.
DeKalb, IL 60115
dgorman@niu.edu
John Santamaria retired from
pediatric emergency medicine in
2005. He says, “That was a great time
to do part-time consulting, pursue
hobbies and spend more time with
my young family.” But still he felt
something missing, an “anchor activ-
ity,” as he calls it. Eventually, as “the
youngest headed off to college and
my wife stayed busy growing her new
business, I decided to pursue a very
different specialty by entering fellow-
ship training for pediatric palliative
and hospice medicine.”
Never too late, right?
“My wife teases me that I was the
only fellow who already had cataract
surgery,” John adds.
After that, John became medical
director of the PedsCare program
and took a position at the Univer-
sity of Florida, where he is “still
surprised to know that Homecom-
ing Day is an official holiday for
university faculty.”
David Friend, senior VP of news
for CBS, was recently inducted into
the Silver Circle by the New York
Chapter of the National Academy of
Television Arts & Sciences. “Televi-
sion professionals are inducted
into the Silver Circle to recognize
significant contributions made to
the industry and the community for
25 years or more,” he says. “Among
this year’s inductees were Diane
Sawyer (Gold Circle), and Chuck
Scarborough, Sue Simmons and Dr.
Max Gomez (Silver Circle).”
In a recent column, the new book
of poetry by Harry Bauld was men-
tioned; to update, Harry has been on
the road doing readings in the New
York area, including at the Colum-
bia Alumni Center in November.
I missed the last column, or I
would have mentioned this: Last fall,
Dave Gorman published his first
book, a coedited Norton Critical
Edition of Aristotle’s Poetics. If his Lit
Hum instructor could see him now!
1978
Matthew Nemerson
35 Huntington St.
New Haven, CT 06511
matthewnemerson@gmail.com
Just when I thought Columbia had
established itself firmly in the very top
echelons of America’s most competi-
tive colleges, with a huge number of
applications, consistent high rankings
in all the surveys, and voracious
demand at local high schools for me
to use my influence as a class corre-
spondent to get people in, my sense of
our arrival was dashed by the sobering
revelation that Morningside Heights
was in no way involved in the great
pay-to-play scandal of the New York
and Hollywood elite. No coaches
were bribed, no imaginary women’s
hockey stars recruited and no cash
was slid over desks in Low Library.
But then I remember the disdain
that Nicholas Murray Butler CC
1882 had in the first half of the 20th
century for things like the Ivy League,
undergrads, the College and even
alumni associations. And I remember
the reality going back to 1754 — we
really are in our own league ...
I had a fun lunch with Jeff Klein
in the Theater District a few months
back, and then this note arrived
on Jeft’s birthday, which coincided
with our column deadline: “In the
fifth decade since graduating from
Columbia, I’ve finally achieved
something I’m unreservedly proud of
— Im a playwright! In April_4 Work
Break Downtown, my 10-minute,
one-act play, debuted at the Alleyway
Theatre in Buffalo, having won the
Maxim Mazumdar New Play Com-
petition. If you didn’t see it maybe
you ll catch it on its national tour,
details of which are ... being worked
out. Move over, Tony Kushner.”
Peter Triandafillou, from the
Huber Resources Corp. in Old Town,
Maine, writes, “I’m a forester and
business manager who looks after
700,000 acres of timberland in Maine,
the Midwest and Oklahoma. My
spouse is in the same industry, and
my two girls are successfully wending
their way through grad school. Look-
ing back on New York in the’70s
with a healthy dose of rose-colored
glasses, we were more gritty and less
politically correct in’74. Still, !'d think
it’s more fun and safer today.”
Chuck Callan, of Broadridge
Financial Solutions, is a frequent
contributor to these columns and
this month has a more personal fact
to report, as he notes: “I’ve switched
to a full-on plant-based (largely
whole food) diet to atone for past
sins, including, especially, the roast
beef sandwiches from John Jay.”
He is predicting another Ivy
baseball championship for the
Send in
Your News
Share what's happening in
your life with classmates.
Click “Contact Us” at
college.columbia.edu/cct,
or send news to the address
at the top of your column.
Light Blue 9 and cautions all of
you to steer clear of the things that
might bring you down before our
next reunion: “Avoid collusion with
foreign governments and steer clear
of day spas.”
Good advice for all Columbians
out there, I suppose.
So, who better to discuss the
impact of our relations with those
various unnamed foreign govern-
ments than Jeffrey Combs BUS’80
of NCI/Pond Mobile, who has been
“living in Moscow, Russian Federa-
tion, since 1998, where I am engaged
in the telecom industry and also
some private equity. I married a local
woman 11 years ago, and we have
two daughters. I have not been back
to Morningside Heights since the
mid-1980s, but I am sure it must be
better than when I was there last.”
Back to the regulars, Joe
Schachner, who often graces CCT
with his notes, is still at Teledyne
LeCroy, but he is beginning to think
not forever: “I'll turn 63 this year.
Thinking about retirement in a few
more years. My lovely wife will
retire at the same time, and we
should travel much more than we
can while working.”
When commenting on our
question of the month (“What
do you think about the Columbia
neighborhood these days?”) Joe
notes, “Absolutely better! If you
remember, when we were there we
were always told NEVER to walk
into Morningside Park, be careful to
always take the Number 1 subway
and to even be very alert and with
friends in Riverside Park.”
As someone who has frequently
taken walks from the Harlem-125th
Street Metro-North station to
campus in good weather, things have
certainly changed!
A sweet addition from Sigmund
Hough, a psychologist in Boston:
“We continue to enjoy and appreci-
ate life as a family with good friends.
Giving back to others, helping those
in need, continues over the years. I
thank Columbia for being a part of
my strong foundation in life and,
as we look forward to the next five
years, I hope to continue to be a
‘positive footprint’ for as long as I
am given the opportunity.”
Last column we heard of the far-
reaching plans of Rob Blank, who
had traveled with his wife to Sydney,
Australia, and we have a quick
update: “Sue and I are settling into
life in Sydney, now three months
in. She is at the University of New
South Wales and I am at the Garvan
Institute of Medical Research.
Happy to report that our daughter
Deborah is a sophomore at Carnegie
Mellon in Pittsburgh.”
If you are in the market for fur-
niture over the internet, chances are
you will happy to hear that Amittai
Aviram GS’06 is applying his
considerable technical know-how
to a new subject: “I recently left the
Medtronic surgical robotics project
and am a senior software engineer
at Wayfair, developing software to
predict and analyze supply shipping
problems. Got a condo unit in
Dorchester, Mass. (Fields Corner),
and am still bicycling to work. Still
in touch with Alex Demac and
Dan Coulter.
“When I think of New York
today versus when we were in
college it seems less fun and less
educational, but certainly much
safer, which is always something.
“Looking ahead, I’m hoping to
rise to become a team technical
lead at the new company. I plan to
continue teaching computer science
part-time, and write more fiction
and poetry. I hope to find a partner
and get to know my grandkids,
if and when they arrive.”
And, I’m thinking maybe Amittai
can hire Rob’s daughter to help him
automate their warehouses one of
these days.
We asked folks to let us know
their predictions for local baseball
success, and the Yankees won out
over the Mets and one reluctant Red
Sox fan. As I write this, the stand-
ings don't quite reflect that but we
will be back with one column (the
Fall issue) before the World Series.
Ted Faraone, who is paid to put
words into people’s mouths as the
president of Faraone Communica-
tions, and is always to the point with
us here, when asked to tell us his
number 1 goal for the 45th reunion,
he mentioned being “breathing.”
And on that optimistic note, I
close out yet another column. Spring
is back, and with the good weather I
urge you to stop by campus and take
a look at the continuing transforma-
tion of the Manhattanville campus
across 125th street. Other than a
confoundingly “creative” renumbering
of the streets, you will be delighted by
the emergence of a world-class new
piece of our beloved institution.
alumninews
Robert Klapper
8737 Beverly Bivd., Ste 303
Los Angeles, CA 90048
robertklappermd@aol.com
David Friedman PS’83 writes, “I
enjoy your columns immensely;
they certainly capture our time (now
centuries ago) at CU in a very literary
and moving fashion. Here is my
update: I’m professor of radiology
and co-director of the division of
neuroradiology at Sidney Kimmel
Medical College at Thomas Jefferson
University. I’ve spent my entire pro-
fessional career at Jefferson, and I was
the fellowship director for 18 years.
“T've been married to my amazing
wife, Elizabeth, for 33 years. She is a
pediatrician and did her residency at
Babies Hospital (now Morgan Stan-
ley Children’s Hospital of NewYork-
Presbyterian) 1985-88, and was an
ED attending there for an additional
and I are now empty-nesters with our
son, Alexander, having recently gradu-
ated from Carleton College in Min-
nesota. All in all, life is good (as long
as we don't read the newspapers).”
Robert C. Klapper: This issue’s
Columbia thought is related to a
blue pin I wear on my white doctor’s
coat when I see patients in my office
and make post-surgery rounds at my
hospital, Cedars-Sinai.
‘The pin is a miniature version of
what the Circle Line Cruise sees
emblazing the granite rock wall
across from the boat house on the
Harlem River at Baker Field. I wear
my blue ‘C’ pin proudly on my lapel.
It’s a gift from Victor Spinelli, a key
player in the Athletics Department
who was instrumental in arranging
for football coach Al Bagnoli to
appear on my ESPN radio show.
I didn't imagine that a little blue
pin (pin, not pill) would give me this
much pleasure. I enjoy explaining to
patients and colleagues here in Los
Angeles when I’m asked, “What
Peter Triandafillou ’78 is a forester and business
manager who looks after 700,000 acres of timberland
in Maine, the Midwest and Oklahoma.
two years. Our son, Daniel 16, has
completed more than half of his joint
M.D./M.B.A. program at Columbia.
We encouraged him to have some
additional arrows in his quiver of
skills as he embarks on his medical
career, hence the M.B.A. As someone
very wise has said, ‘Healing is an
art, medicine is a profession, and
healthcare is a business.’ Our lives
will always be inextricably linked to
both Morningside and Washington
Heights. Our family owes a great
deal to the education and opportuni-
ties afforded to us by Columbia. We
wish all of our CU friends well.”
Jeffry Frieden continues to
“teach about international politics
and economics, and political economy
more generally, at Harvard.” He adds,
“My most recent (academic) book is
a dense tome, Currency Politics: The
Political Economy of Exchange Rate
Policy. A book for a more general
audience, Global Capitalism: Its Fall
and Rise in the Twentieth Century, will
be coming out in its second edition
next year. My wife, Anabela Costa,
is the ‘C’ for on your coat?” My
response is always the same: “It’s
from the Columbia athletics depart-
ment; I rode on the crew team my
freshman year.”
I have spent the last 30 years prac-
ticing orthopedic surgery here in a
city 3,000 miles away from the Har-
lem River, but the look on the face of
the UCLA or USC alumnus/a who
asked me that question is priceless.
I have so many memories of rowing
my freshman year, but one stands
out more than any other. My parents
never watched sports on TV or in
person, but one day in April 1976
they came to watch me row in New
Haven, Conn., at the race with Navy
and Yale. Do you remember the scene
in My Fair Lady where she screams
at her horse during a race to ‘move its
bloody arse,’ embarrassing all those
folks around her? Well — and this is
according to teammate John Sharp,
whose parents relayed to him the fol-
lowing anecdote — apparently (with
my father hiding behind a tree, scared
to death at what my mother might
Summer 2019 CCT 67
scream out), as we neared the finish
line, with only 12 inches separating
Yale and the Columbia boat ... we
lost. My mother was heard to yell,
“They should put him in a boat by
himself; he’s better than all of them!”
Forty-four years later, when I
wear my Columbia pin, it makes me
think of that race and how proud
my mother was on that day.
Roar, Lion, Roar!
1980
Michael C. Brown
London Terrace Towers
410 W. 24th St., Apt. 18F
New York, NY 10011
mcbcu80@yahoo.com
It has been a wonderful summer
here, we are taking in all the city
has to offer. Congratulations to our
baseball team, which had another
stellar season under the leadership
of Coach Brett Boretti. We are really
looking forward to Coach Al Bag-
noli’s Lions, and this football season
looks to be one for the record books!
It is a little early to be thinking
about reunion, but 40 years will be
upon us before you know it. To that
end, Milton Diaz Perez SEAS’81
reached out, and we have procured
The Diks for our event. I am looking
forward to hearing the boys play
their classic’70s music. More to
Connie Shears and is called The Sci-
ence of Screenwriting: The Neuroscience
Behind Storytelling Strategies.
Please drop me a note at
mcbcu80@yahoo.com.
1981
Kevin Fay
8300 Private Ln.
Annadale, VA 22003
kfayO516@gmail.com
Very pleased to hear from Eric
Daum, who established his epony-
mous architecture office in Andover,
Mass., during autumn 2017 after
ending a 10-year partnership in
Merrimack Design Architects. Eric
received a Bulfinch Award in 2019
from the New England Chapter of
the Institute of Classical Archi-
tecture & Art for the design of a
private chapel on an estate outside
of Boston. He attributes his love
of Classicism to years spent on the
“Morningside Heights Acropolis” of
McKim, Mead & White.
Eric writes, “It was enormously
satisfying to have the opportunity to
design a building partially inspired
by the dark slide-illuminated rooms
of Hamilton and Avery during
Art Hum and architectural history
classes at Columbia.”
Eric’s son Karl’15 has followed
his muse from Brooklyn to the Left
Paul Gulino ‘80 has been an associate professor
at Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and
Media Arts for the last two decades.
follow in this column, and I will
be updating the Columbia College
Class of 1980 Reunion Facebook
page regularly.
I received a nice note from Paul
Gulino SOA’83, a longtime resident
of California living in Santa Monica.
Paul has been an associate profes-
sor at Chapman University’s Dodge
College of Film and Media Arts
in Orange, Calif., for the last two
decades. He recently married a col-
league from the religion department,
and the early reviews are positive!
Paul had his second book on screen-
writing published last year; it is a col-
laboration with psychology professor
68 CCT Summer 2019
Coast, where he is a first-year at the
San Francisco Art Institute M.F.A.
program. Eric has seen his Art of
Dating bandmates John Leland,
who spoke last year in Andover
about his wonderful book Happi-
ness Is a Choice You Make, and Dan
Zedek’83, who remains a rock god
with his new band, Field Day.
On a personal note, I learned of
the passing of a very dear friend and
mentor, Eugene Kisluk’71, GSAS’91,
from Bob Alpino ’80, SIPA’85. Mr.
Kisluk was the director of Columbia
Student Enterprises, an organization
that fostered student-led businesses,
providing an opportunity to develop
real-world management skills. Mr.
Kisluk was devoted to Columbia
University and its students; he was a
scholar and gentleman; and he had
a profound influence on my life (as
much as any professor). [Editor's
note: See Obituaries. |
1982
Andrew Weisman
81S. Garfield St.
Denver, CO 80209
ColumbiaCollege82@gmail.com
Greetings for summer, CC’82. Hope
youre all having a wonderful time.
Please take a moment to send a
note — travel, work, family, favorite
Columbia memories, anything you
want to share. Your classmates want
to hear from you!
1983
Roy Pomerantz
Babyking/Petking
182-20 Liberty Ave.
Jamaica, NY 11412
bkroy@msn.com
My wife, Debbie, and I attended the
2019 John Jay Awards Dinner. We
sat with Ed Joyce, Michael McCar-
thy, George Fryer and Dave Filosa
82. George is director of AEW
Capital Management. Michael’s son,
Oliver, is a standout pitcher at Duke.
Ed’s son, Adin, will attend the Uni-
versity of Michigan in fall 2020 after
spending a gap year in Israel, starting
this fall through spring 2020. The
crew table was celebrating teammate
and awardee James Brett’84, BUS’90.
I was the lone representative of the
Columbia University Juggling Club
at the table.
My sons, David and Ricky, and I
once again attended every Columbia
home basketball game. We spent
time at the games with Ken Howitt
°76; Michael Schmidtberger ’82; Ger-
ald Sherwin’55; Dennis Klainberg
84; Jim Weinstein 84; Columbia
College Fund Chair Raymond Yu
’89; Senior Associate Director of
Admissions Diane McKoy; Jeremy
Feinberg 92, son of physics professor
Gerald Feinberg; Athletics Director
Peter Pilling; Director of Principal
Gifts Jim McMenamin; former bas-
ketball stars Richie Gordon, Kevin
Chapman and Andrew Gershon;
Howard Rappaport’85; former bas-
ketball star Alex Rosenberg ’16; Rita
Pietropinto Kitt’93, SOA96, whose
husband, Tom Kitt ’96, was a 2019
John Jay Award recipient; filmmaker
Dan Klores, father of basketball
guard Jake Klores’21; Brian Krisberg
81; Irving Ruderman ’69; Dave
Filosa’82; Marc Mazur’81; and Joe
Cabrera ’82.
Eddy Friedfeld: “On September
29, 2018 I had the honor of per-
forming the wedding ceremony of
Tracy Klestadt to Esther Duval in
Bridgehampton in a sunset wedding
on the beach. Since graduating from
Columbia, I have also had the privi-
lege of alternatively officiating, being
best man, groomsman, toastmaster
or writing about the weddings of
Adam Bayroff, Paul Ehrlich, Neal
Smolar, Danny Schultz, Roy
Pomerantz, Len Rosen, Steve
Arenson, Jon White’85 and Allison
White BC’86 (née Breitbart), and
Judy Landis BC’85 (née Enteles),
honors I hold dear, and all of whom
remain close friends.”
Howard Guess: “After gradua-
tion, I moved to a small town near
Morgantown, Pa, where my parents
own an 18th-century fieldstone
house, which was being modernized
and fully renovated at that time.
‘The house is registered as a national
historic place and can be found on
Wikipedia. I helped oversee and
manage the renovations while taking
accounting classes at Villanova and
getting a paralegal certificate from
Penn State. I worked in Philadelphia
in a big law firm as a paralegal for
several years before moving to San
Diego, to attend law school.
“T graduated from law school,
passed the California bar and went
to work as a paralegal for the San
Diego City Attorney’s Office,
assisting with civil litigation as well
as municipal advisory for a decade.
I was elected president of my
labor union and served a full-time
two-year term before returning to
the City Attorney’s Office. After
returning, I was hired as a deputy
city attorney and was a criminal
prosecutor handling misdemeanors
committed in the city for another
decade before retiring in September
2017 after 22 years of public service.
I was cross deputized by the San
Diego DA, too. Currently, I’m a full-
time caregiver for my mother. We
split our time between our East and
West Coast houses.
“I was married for 10 years
(divorced) and helped raise my
ex’s daughter. While she is not my
biological child, she is my heart’s
child. I’m in a long-term relation-
ship now with a wonderful lady,
Becky S., and am learning about
being a grandfather to her grown
children’s kids (five at this time). She
is the love of my life. I competed in
ballroom dance in the late 1990s and
early 2000s dancing with my teacher
like on Dancing with the Stars. | did
well but gave up my bliss for my ex.
I practice Tai Chi and have a few
hobbies that keep me occupied.
“My Columbia journey began
many years earlier than my applica-
tion to the school. My parents and I
(age 8) were visiting the University
of Virginia campus when my father
asked if I'd like to go to a school
like it. I said yes, and he promised
to help me go to the best school I
could get into; it was Columbia. I
have fond memories of long walks
on Sundays from campus to the Met
and back, as well as exploring NYC.
A friend and I climbed up the bell
tower of Riverside Church one Sun-
day afternoon to see the park only to
hear the little bells start ringing. For
a Quasimodo moment we looked
at each other before running down
the tower steps as fast as we could,
before the bigger bells starting to
chime, yelling ‘the bells, the bells.’
“T have been in touch with a few
fellow swim team members and frat
brothers. I attended the 25th and
35th reunions and plan on more.
Many thanks to Ed Joyce and
others on the Reunion Committee.
Living full-time in California and
Holler at Us
in Haiku!
working for the last three decades
made attending events difficult. I
hope to attend more events now that
I’m retired and live on both coasts.
“Tl share one other story from
my undergraduate days. It was a
warm, sunny, spring Friday, fresh-
man year. It was the first really nice
day after the winter. I was supposed
to go to Lit Hum that afternoon
but found myself instead sitting on
the steps of Low Library next to a
keg and sipping cold beer. Professor
James Mirollo GSAS’61 stopped
and asked if I was coming to class.
I looked at the keg, looked around
and then looked at him. I said, ‘No I
don't think so, Prof,’ but invited him
to join us. He declined understand-
ably and headed toward Hamilton
Hall and class. As he walked away,
the breeze carried a soft voice saying
‘I wish I was still an undergraduate.’
While I seized that fine day — carpe
diem — | didn’ seize all of the
educational opportunities I might
have as a Columbia undergraduate.
I could have partied less but that too
was part of my college experience.
Gest lawies
Michael Granville GSAPP’92:
“T am a practicing architect and
furniture maker in New York City.
I live in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with
my wife, Patricia Mena (who is a
NYC public school teacher), and our
kids, Juliana (16) and Diego (12).
I’m in touch with Michael Hickins
— we met at freshman orientation
and have become true brothers.
He and I will catch the Yankees
tomorrow night in the Bronx! After
graduating I worked for a few years,
eventually in construction, which led
Core, one hundred years!
What’s a fun way to note it?
Poetry from you.
We’re celebrating the Core Centennial this year and would
love to hear your memories of the Core Curriculum! But
there’s a catch — you need to tell us in haiku. Send your
5-7-5 recollections to cct_centennial@columbia.edu, and
we'll run our favorites in the next four issues’ Class Notes.
alumninews
to my returning to Columbia and
getting a master’s from GSAPP.
“We are looking at colleges
now for Juliana, which brings
back memories of my own search
decades ago and reminds me of my
great good fortune in having been
accepted to Columbia. Sitting in
college info sessions now with my
daughter and hearing about the
large class sizes and the absence of
anything resembling the Core has
renewed my appreciation for our
college — without any context at
the time I think I took its fineness a
little for granted. Fresh out of high
school I found myself sitting around
a colloquium-sized table with at
most (at most!) 20 other kids and
a brilliant Contemporary Civiliza-
tion professor who showed me with
fierce but not unkind clarity in his
markup of my first paper exactly
why what I thought passed for criti-
cal thinking just simply wasn't. There
isn't a day that goes by that I don’t
draw upon the intellectual training
I received at CC — how to read,
how to write, how to question, how
to think. I feel very lucky to have
attended the College; it is a sustain-
ing enrichment of my life.”
Michael Hickins: “My memoir,
I Lived in France and So Can You,
was published this February. It’s a
recollection of running an American
restaurant, managing baseball teams
and having children in France. It’s
my fourth published book, and first
nonfiction book.
“T have incredibly fond memories
of three CU professors in particular:
David Damrosch, who was kind and
sharp and took an interest in me
personally, as well as in my writing;
Richard Kuhns GSAS’55, who
encouraged my ardor to find mean-
ing in literature — he was brilliant
and often churlish with undergrads,
but for some reason tolerated my
inferior intellect; and Wallace Gray,
who was my thesis advisor and with
whom I studied Joyce, and whose
kindness was legendary.
“After spending more than a
dozen years as a journalist, including
a fair number at The Wall Street Jour-
nal, where among other things I was
the founding editor of CIO Journal,
I was offered a position as senior
director of strategic communica-
tions at Oracle Corp., where I now
work. I am constantly amazed at and
indebted to my Columbia educa-
tion, which gave me the intellectual
foundation to follow my various
dreams wherever they have led me,
from Paris to New York, from the
restaurant business to journalism,
and from the business world to
fiction writing — which has always
been my North Star.”
I look forward to seeing you at
Columbia football games!
1984
Dennis Klainberg
Berklay Cargo Worldwide
14 Bond St., Ste 233
Great Neck, NY 11021
dennis@berklay.com
After seven years in Hong Kong
working at Sotheby’s, Richard Buck-
ley transferred back to New York. He
writes, “Great to have been in Asia
for so many years, and great to be
back in New York. One of the best
things about living in Hong Kong
was rowing again, so many years after
freshman lightweight crew. Nothing
beats ocean rowing and the views of
Hong Kong from the water.”
Kudos to Jon Abbott and his
family for honoring his parents by
establishing the Forrest and Marian
Abbott Endowed Scholarship at
Teachers College. As described in
a newsletter issued by TC, Jon’s
mother, Marian, studied for her
master’s at I'C and met Forrest,
who rose from purchasing agent
to superintendent of operations at
TC, where he also earned a master’s.
Some years later, Jon’s father joined
Barnard College as treasurer and
controller, and his mother as “one
of the elders in a community of
teachers and teaching advocates who
connected generations of families in
a life of common purpose.”
For more about the Abbott family
and Jon's life growing up at Columbia
(including a graduation picture!) go to
te.columbia.edu/articles/2019/march/
still-giving-back.
Last but not least, my better half,
Dana Klainberg TC’89, and I must
share our naches (pride and joy). By
this publication, daughter number
1, Emma Lauren Klainberg TC’19,
will have graduated from Teachers
College with an M.A. in higher and
post-secondary education, while
daughter number 2, Sydney Anne
Klainberg, will have commenced
her studies in the Ph.D. program in
psychology at Penn State.
Summer 2019 CCT 69
1985
Jon White
16 South Ct.
Port Washington, NY 11050
jw@whitecoffee.com
On one of my recent visits to the
Columbia neighborhood, I went to
the Manhattanville campus. These
buildings are now fully operational
and both help to transform the area
and update the entire Columbia
experience. Don't miss it on your
next visit to campus.
Larry Rogers has been a reference
librarian at the Begley Library in
Schenectady, N.Y., for more than
four years. He writes, “Making the
transition from a print library to a
digital media center has been both
exhilarating and challenging. SUNY
Schenectady is a community college
that focuses on workforce develop-
ment, and we serve new and return-
ing students from a wide variety of
disadvantaged backgrounds. Recently
I had the opportunity to lead two
guided discussions on Between The
World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Student response was very gratifying,
and the energy reminded me of the
spirited conversations we used to
have in my Lit Hum section about
Homer's I/iad and Plato's Republic.
“On a less elevated note, my latest
romantic thriller, Santiago’ Secret,
was released last year and sold quite
well. When people ask me if I’m
putting my Columbia B.A. in Eng-
lish literature to good use I remind
them that Ulysses by James Joyce and
Studs Lonigan by James T. Farrell
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70 CCT Summer 2019
were both once considered ‘dirty
books’ and were actually banned by
the Catholic Church for many years.
I can only pray that such an honor
will someday come my way. In the
meantime, interested classmates can
find my books on Amazon Kindle
under the name Carol Storm.”
Congratulations to Pace Cooper
— see the photo in this issue’s “Just
Married!” section that features seven
CC/BC alums in attendance at his
son’s wedding!
I was at a Columbia event in
April and sat next to John Phelan
PH'19. I think that John gets the
prize (although that is clearly not
the word for it) for paying the most
Columbia tuitions simultaneously.
Until recently, John was on board
for three enrollments (himself
included); he graduated from the
School of Public Health in May. I
also had a great time this past winter
catching up with another fellow
Glee Club singer, Leslie Smartt.
Over the last few months, for
all of the classmates whom I saw,
I also saw a bunch of what I like
to call “neighboring classmates,”
who are those who attended the
College when we did, but graduated
just before or after we did (please
feel free to send updates on those
folks, too). In Delray Beach, Fla.,
I had a beer with Phil Donahue
84, who regularly commutes from
Philadelphia to Delray for work. I
also attended my third NYU film
class with Professor Eddy Friedfeld
83. Other 83ers I have crossed
paths with include Mike Silver ’83
(another longtime coffee industry
veteran) and enjoyed the amazing
Mets with the ever-enthusiastic Jay
Lippman’83, the man who stood
on College Walk for me many
years ago in his propeller hat. And I
shared a ride home with fellow class
correspondent Dennis Klainberg ’84
and got my latest update on art and
motorcycle shipping trends.
And speaking of updates, it’s
time for my annual update: My
coffee pursuits continue unabet-
ted (29 years this summer). Our
company, which is celebrating its
80th anniversary, was featured last
spring in The Wall Street Journal. 1
have recently joined the board of the
National Coffee Association, which
enables my thoughts to percolate
(sorry) with larger industry leaders.
On the same Board of Directors is
John Fortin SEAS’84, who works
with a prominent roasting machine
company (we only realized the
connection over dinner, and shared
many a fine Columbia tale).
My extracurricular activities this
year have brought me back to the
Madison Square Garden stage to
sing in support of Andrea Bocelli
(everyone was there to hear him,
not me — as well they should have).
I also continue my passion for the
Mets as a season ticket holder for
33 years now. I suppose I must
accept some responsibility for their
decade-long failings, as I purchased
my tickets for the first time in 1987,
and they have not won since. I share
those tickets with Leon Friedfeld
’88, Corey Klestadt’86 and several
Law School classmates.
My oldest son, Isaac 14, contin-
ues his good work as a senior soft-
ware engineer at The New York Times
(I hope you saw Tom Vinciguerra
JRN’86, GSAS’90’s great column in
the Spring 2019 issue of CCT about
Times editor Theodore Bernstein
CC 1924, JRN 1925). Isaac has been
repeatedly cited in the Times, mostly
for the projects he has worked
on (most recently a discussion
on electronic filing), and on one
occasion featuring his home-baked
sourdough bread emblazoned with
the famous “T” from the masthead.
My middle son, Noah, graduated
from Duke last spring with a double
major and spent much of the winter
and spring climbing throughout the
Southwest and Far West. He has
scaled some famous and breathtak-
ing rock formations.
My youngest son, Josh, will
graduate from the University of
Miami next May and is planning
a repeat summer stint in the Cape
Cod Baseball League (if you've never
experienced this, it is baseball at its
purest). He has worked for local col-
leges and appeared on ESPN and the
ACC network and hopes to pursue
this career path professionally.
My wife, Allison BC’86, was
recently inducted into the Town of
North Hempstead Women’s Roll of
Honor, and continues her politi-
cal and social activism for multiple
educational and immigrant rights
groups across Long Island.
And by the time you read this,
less than 12 months remain until
our 35th (no, that’s not a typo)
reunion. Mark your calendars for
‘Thursday, June 4-Saturday, June 6,
and plan to join us. There will be
meetings this fall in New York to
plan the class-specific activities,
and anyone’s physical and/or virtual
attendance is most welcome.
1986
Everett Weinberger
50 W. 70th St., Apt. 3B
New York, NY 10023
everett6@gmail.com
After being off the grid for 12 years,
Barry Whittle is coming back home.
He writes, “After 12 years abroad
(five in Guatemala and seven in
Myanmar), we are moving back to
the United States this June and I’m
heading back to Population Services
International headquarters — the
organization I have worked for in a
variety of capacities during the last
23 years. Although we are already
feeling wistful about our time in
Myanmar (without actually having
left), we are also excited about get-
ting back to Washington, D.C.
“Our oldest daughter, Anna,
is already in the U.S., attending
UCLA, and our two youngest, Zoe
and Sam, will attend high school
and middle school in Falls Church,
Va. In my new role, I’ll oversee a
group of our larger country offices
(India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nige-
ria, Kenya and South Africa). My
wife, Elke, will take a break from
teaching and architecture for several
months while she goes through the
laborious process of reapplying for
her Green Card (which we are both
approaching with a strong dose
of fear and loathing during these
troubled political times). I am tak-
ing three months off this summer,
mostly just being lazy, but hoping
to attend a weeklong guitar camp
in San Diego and to spend a couple
weeks in a camper van with Elke in
Utah and its environs. Otherwise
we are shacking up at our place on
Moose Pond in Bridgton, Maine,
for the rest of the summer. Looking
forward to reconnecting with fellow
Columbia grads now that I'll be
closer to the action.”
Speaking of international travel,
Jonathan Rutchik and his clan
continue their adventures: “My son,
Rex (12), wife, Beth, and I visited
Madagascar this winter and had an
adventure full of culture, lemurs and
birds; good food; and learning about
the history and anthropology of this
biodiverse land. With government
politics threatening, we ventured
south and west to many national
parks and towns for baobab, bamboo
jungles and villages with a culture
of French and Malagasy language,
witchcraft, handcrafts, fruits and
vegetables, and sapphire mining
among others. Travels through Paris
added a cosmopolitan touch.
“At home in Mill Valley (Marin
County), Calif., just north of San
Fran, my occupational neurology
practice is bustling but continues
with the administrative challenges
of a small practice. I am to add elec-
tronic health records and some virtual
staff this year to help. I continue to
evaluate and treat many patients
with complex industrial neurological
injuries; teach nurses, doctors and
students through UC San Francisco;
and write on neurological disorders
in safety-sensitive job positions, such
as commercial drivers, police and
firefighters, as well as the neurotoxi-
cology of metals and solvents.
“Rex continues his athletic
development in tennis, baseball, flag
football, basketball, skiing and golf,
and is preparing for his bar mitzvah
in 2020, likely during a trip to Israel.
Beth, spends her time running and
hiking Mount Tam, playing guitar
and supporting local nonprofits at
the Mill Valley Library and Rex’s
school, along with other projects. I
too am performing — Steely Dan
this week! I also enjoy interviewing
applicants to CU each winter and
spring with the Alumni Represen-
tative Committee. All the best to
Columbia alums. Don’t hesitate to
reach out at jsrutch@neoma.com.”
Thank you for writing, Harry Lip-
man LAW’90! He says: “I’ve been
a litigation partner for two decades
at Rottenberg Lipman Rich, a
small, Midtown-based law firm, and
thought some classmates — perhaps
only because of the proximity to
alma mater — would be interested
to know that I recently led the legal
effort for the Upper West Side
condo that sued DJT Holdings for a
declaratory judgment that the condo
board could remove the “Irump
Place’ signage on the facade of its
building without violating a license
agreement with Donald J. Trump
dating back to 2000. Aside from
its political symbolism, the case is
notable for having resulted in a final
judgment in under four months,
from the filing of the complaint, in
January 2018, to the court’s decision,
in May 2018. The signage came
down in October 2018.”
Thomas Yanni is serving his
second term as vice chair of Palm
Springs’s Public Arts Commission
and was recently selected as a grant
reviewer for the California Arts
Council’s Youth Arts Action grant
program. Another volunteer activity
he enjoys is interviewing applicants
to Columbia as part of the Alumni
Representative Committee.
Dave Nachmanoff put down his
guitar to update us. He shares, “The
big news for me at the moment is
that my most recent album, Cerulean
Sky, was released on May 10 (after a
long recording process set that was
delayed by a vocal injury last year)!
For more info, see davenach.com. I'll
also lead a songwriting retreat in
West Virginia in May, which was
open to people of any experience level:
mountainsongwritingretreat.com.
Dave adds, “Recently visited
campus for the first time in years,
taking my daughter Sophia to look at
Barnard College and Columbia Col-
lege! It brought back so many great
memories. I also joined the College’s
online book club, Core Conversa-
tions (college.columbia.edu/alumni/
learn/coreconversations), through
Goodreads, revisiting Democracy
in America and Julius Caesar. If you
havent checked it out, it’s worth
a look!”
James Mitulski recently relocated
to Berkeley, Calif., from Boston to
take two jobs, as major gifts officer of
the Center for LGBTQ and Gender
Studies in Religion at the Pacific
School of Religion, and also to be
the pastor of Island United Church
UCC in Foster City, Calif.
When we last left Goran Puljic,
he and his wife, Melinda, were enter-
ing Stanford University as fellows
at Stanford’s Distinguished Careers
Institute. He says, “The DCI is a
one-to-two-year program for people
who have had a 20- to 30-year suc-
cessful career and are interested in
immersing themselves in academia
again in order to do a career pivot or
just to reengage with learning.
“We have the privilege of taking
virtually any course at Stanford, and
find ourselves in class with under-
grad and grad students every day. It’s
exhilarating! It’s also our first time
living on the West Coast, and that
is a huge part of the experience. We
finish our program in June, and will
alumninews
be back on the East Coast then. Our
oldest son, Nick SEAS'19, gradu-
ated with a B.S. in computer science,
and our younger son, Tucker, is
studying culinary arts at Johnson &
Wales University in Providence, R.I.
So yes, all four of us are in school at
the same time.”
Film editor Eric Pomert told us
about a documentary he produced
and edited during the last three years.
“Directed by Audrey Rumsby and
shot in London, Barry and Joan
(barryandjoan.com) is an untold Brit-
ish story about a quirky and delight-
ful stage and screen couple who
have spent 75 years performing and
teaching. Barry was a dancer in The
Red Shoes. This inspiring story traces
their play-filled lives as they built a
repertoire of performance spanning
from commedia dell’arte and Music
Hall to drag and nude theatre.”
1987
Sarah A. Kass
PO Box 1006
New York, NY 10113
SarahAnn29uk@gmail.com
When I joined the sports staff
of Spectator in fall 1983, my first
assignment was to cover men’s
tennis. I knew little about tennis
except for a few bad games I had
played with my brother on the
rare occasions we were even near a
court. I knew how the game worked
but I did not know the subtleties.
Nevertheless, I dutifully scheduled
an appointment with Coach Bid
Goswami and wrote a profile of him
for my first Spectator article. Soon
after, as I learned more, I was tasked
with the assignment of profiling
three first-year tennis recruits, whose
promise was going to guarantee the
success of men’s tennis at Columbia:
Matt Litsky, Phil Williamson and
Howard Endelman.
When I met Howie, we bonded
over our mutual friends back in
Roslyn and, of course, proceeded to
talk tennis. And the three first-year
recruits went on to accomplish
amazing feats for the men’s tennis
team, as promised, as Columbia won
two Ivy League championships, in
1984 and in 1987.
Now we come full circle with the
wonderful news that Howard is taking
over as men’s tennis head coach and
director of tennis operations with
Goswami’s retirement following the
2018-19 season. Howard spent the
last nine years as Columbia's associate
head coach. Previously, he had been
the head coach for the women’s team,
as well as having a successful business
and legal career.
Congrats, Howard! And Roar,
Lion, Roar!
Equally wonderful is the news
I received from Ed Weinstein’57,
classmate and dear friend of my
father, Alvin Kass ’57, and father
to my dear friend Ilene Weinstein
Lederman. He wrote, “December
13 turned out to be a special day
in our family. On that day, Ilene’s
daughter, Hannah Grace, was
admitted to the Class of 23 at
Columbia. In addition, Ilene’s nieces,
Grace Naomi Weinstein and Mir-
iam Rose Weinstein, were admitted
to the Washington University in St.
Louis and Columbia Classes of ’23,
respectively. It was also very special
and exciting for the grandparents of
the three girls.”
So thrilled for all of you! This
could be my happiest Class Notes
column ever!
1988
Eric Fusfield
1945 South George Mason Dr.
Arlington, VA 22204
eric@fusfield.com
Congratulations to Monica Byrne-
Jiménez TC’03 for being named
executive director of the Charlottes-
ville, Va.-based University Council
for Educational Administration.
“Established more than 60 years ago,
UCEA has been committed to the |
advancement and improvement of
educational leadership preparation,
research, and policy,” according to
the organization’s website. From the
press release: “With her experience
in both K12 and higher education,
Dr. Byrne-Jiménez will lead the
organization and continue the work
of UCEA member institutions.”
Monica, a Teachers College
doctoral graduate, has most recently
been on the faculty of Indiana
University, where she has taught
educational leadership and school
community relations. “Her scholar-
ship focuses on Latina/o identity
and school leadership, social justice
leadership preparation, faculty
diversity and doctoral student
Summer 2019 CCT 71
experiences, and the role of alterna-
tive epistemologies in research and
leadership,” UCEA’s website says.
Maria Roglieri also represents
our class in academia. “I’m a profes-
sor of modern languages, literatures
and cultures at a small college out-
side NYC, St. Thomas Aquinas Col-
lege,” she says. “I’ve been teaching
there for 24 years (Italian language,
literature, culture and music). I’m
also an advocate for the gluten-free
community and I’ve spent 14 years
counseling, writing and presenting
to and for the gluten-free com-
munity. I have a series of specialized
travel guides (theglutenfreeguides.
com) and most recently I’ve writ-
ten a good health and weight-loss
book especially for those who are
gluten-free. The Gluten-Free Skinny
gives you the skinny on healthy GF
food to eat instead of eating the
store-bought products that are full
of sugar and rice ... I’m very happy
and proud to be working with the
gluten-free community, and it is a
way for me to pay it forward after
my daughter and I got so much sup-
port when we were diagnosed with
celiac disease 15 years ago.
“Otherwise, lots of travel to Italy
for business (my own, and for my
school, where I run trips for students
and alumni) and pleasure. Three kids
(two in college; one who just gradu-
ated from high school) and a husband
who is a research manager at IBM.”
My former roommate Lee
Haddad, a father of four, continues
to teach Judaic studies and pursue
entrepreneurial endeavors in Israel
and the West Bank. He reports
that our former floormate Philip
“Shraga” Levy, who also lives and
teaches in Israel and has grown
children, is now a grandfather several
times over. That’s right, my friends,
we're in our 50s and some of us
are grandparents now. It was only
a matter of time, of course. I’m not
saying that Philip is the first one, but
he’s the first grandparent I’ve had
the opportunity to write about in
this column. Of course, my own kids
are still making their way through
elementary school, so life has a way
of keeping its own schedule.
Keep the updates coming! I look
forward to hearing from you.
1989
Emily Miles Terry
45 Clarence St.
Brookline, MA 02446
emilymilesterry@me.com
I lost an email last fall from Peter
Saint-Andre, who had kindly sent an
update. I finally found it, but let me
know if anyone else has emailed me
and hasnt seen his/her update. Clearly
my Class Notes system is fallible.
Peter writes from Colorado:
“Despite majoring in philosophy and
classics, I’ve been working on Internet
technologies since 1996 for small
startups and large companies like
Cisco; currently I’m a principal engi-
neer at Mozilla, nonprofit makers of
the Firefox web browser. I stay intel-
lectually active by writing short books
on philosophical topics (in the last
five years I’ve published on Epicurus,
Thoreau and Nietzsche, and now I’m
”
deep into research on Aristotle)
Holler at Us
in Haiku!
Core, one hundred years!
What’s a fun way to note it?
Poetry from you.
We’re celebrating the Core Centennial this year and would
love to hear your memories of the Core Curriculum! But
there’s a catch — you need to tell us in haiku. Send your
5-7-5 recollections to cct_centennial@columbia.edu, and
we'll run our favorites in the next four issues’ Class Notes.
72 CCT Summer 2019
Peter and his wife, Elisa,
celebrated their 20th anniversary
last year by building a house on
five acres outside of Denver. Peter
also writes, “I had the pleasure of
meeting Mi-Kyoung ‘Mitzi’ Lee,
who is a professor of philosophy at
the University of Colorado, Boulder.
I subsequently presented a talk to
undergraduates there on philoso-
phy as a foundation for success in
life and I’ve been invited to give
the departmental commencement
address next May.”
In addition to Peter, there is a
cluster of classmates in Colorado
enjoying mountain air and with
whom I’ve been in touch over the last
few years, including Elana Amster-
dam, Paul Childers, Ed Hamrick,
Jody Collens Fidler, who is a more
recent Colorado resident, and prior
to his moving to Washington, D.C.,
Neil Gorsuch’88.
I also heard from Russell Glober
SOA00, who married Amy Becker
last September at Kailua Beach Park,
a mile from where Russell grew up
on Oahu, Hawaii. Russell and Amy
have lived in the Little Osaka area
of West Los Angeles for three years,
and he has been a Westsider since
moving from New York to L.A.
in August 2000. Russell has been
self-employed as a certified personal
trainer and iOS/macOS consultant
for years. Since 2014, he’s also been
the logistics manager for jengagiant.
com, the official manufacturer of
oversized Jenga brand games. Amy
grew up in the San Marino/Pasadena
area and has worked in public health/
healthcare for many years, currently
as a solutions consultant for Kaiser
Permanente. She has also been the
master planner of the amazing vaca-
tions she and Russell have taken to
Kauai, Vancouver, London, Iceland,
New Zealand, the Big Island and,
later this year, Sicily.
For those who had a scheduling
conflict and were unable to attend
our 30th reunion, consider attending
the Alexander Hamilton Award
Dinner every November, or the John
Jay Awards Dinner every March, as
there’s always a contingent of class-
mates there to celebrate. This past
March several CC’89ers convened at
the John Jay Awards Dinner to lis-
ten to the captivating speeches and
celebrate this year’s recipients: Erik
Feig 92; James Brett ’84, BUS’90;
Jodi Kantor ’96; Tom Kitt ’96; and
Alisa Amarosa Wood’01, BUS’08.
Class Notes
In attendance from’89 were me,
Amy Weinreich Rinzler, Donna
MacPhee, Stephanie Falcone
Bernik, Steve Metalios, Bon-
nie Host, Frank Seminara, Lisa
Landau Carnoy, Victor Mendel-
son and Michael Behringer, plus
Tony Calenda’88; Joy Kim Metalios
SEAS’90; and Michael’s wife, Nisha
Kumar, whom we like to pretend are
CC’89, because in spirit they are.
1990
Rachel Cowan Jacobs
youngrache@hotmail.com
Dean Temple brings his solo
comedy show, “Voice of Authority”
— the true story of the Department
of Justice coming after him for $19
million he doesn’t have — to 59E59
Theaters in New York July 17-21,
and to Surgeon's Hall at the Edin-
burgh Festival Fringe August 2-24.
Dean recently had successful runs
at the Kraine Theater on East 4th
Street and the Pittsburgh Fringe,
where he won a Best of Festival
Award. He and his wife, Alex, still
live in Millbrook, N.Y.
Chris Alexander, who was active
in Columbia’s musical theater society
both as a director and a performer,
pursued a career in television as a
publicity executive, first at ABC
Entertainment and ABC News in
the 90s, and then moving to Los
Angeles and joining 20th Century
Fox Television 19 years ago. During
his original tenure at ABC, Chris’s
company was acquired by the Walt
Disney Co., and now it seems history
is repeating itself. He writes, “Yes,
once again, it seems we are being
acquired by Disney. For those who
are wondering how the merger will
affect me, I am happy to report that
I will continue in my role of head
of communications for the studio,
which continues to produce some of
the most distinctive programming
around, from This is Us to Modern
Family to the longest running series
ever, The Simpsons. I'm also four
years into a serious relationship with
a horse named Benjamin, whom I
ride regularly on more than 50 miles
of trails in Griffith Park in the hills
above Hollywood.”
Isaac-Daniel Astrachan reports
from his March weekend in Las
Vegas for the Modular Building
Institute World of Modular Confer-
ence: “I spoke at the conference about
our citizenM NY Bowery Hotel
project, the world’s tallest modular
hotel. At the closing banquet, we
won first place in the Permanent
Modular Hotel category for that
project. The rooms were built in
Poland and shipped to NYC (300
hotel rooms on one ship crossing the
Atlantic). The building is 19 stories,
including 15 floors of modular guest
rooms. Modular construction is ideal
for many different permanent and
temporary building types including
hotels, student housing and affordable
housing. I look forward to working on
many more modular projects.”
Josh Masur LAW’99 checked
in from Redwood City, Calif: “It’s
been a numerically significant year
here. In 2018, I turned 50, and my
wife, Shelly (she is on city council
and running for State Senate), and I
celebrated our 25th anniversary, the
21st birthday of our daughter, Julia,
and the 18th birthday of our sons,
Noah and Jacob. Then, in early 2019,
I left my professional home of 10
years to start the Silicon Valley office
of Zuber Lawler & Del Duca, a Los
Angeles-based firm started by my
Law School classmate Tom Zuber
LAW’99. In addition to my intellec-
tual property litigation practice, I’m
a ski patroller at Alpine Meadows,
and in the final year of my term
on the Board of Directors (and as
national treasurer) of the National
Ski Patrol. Alpine Meadows is one
valley north of Tahoe City. Gabriel
Kra and Sean Ryan have both had
kids on the team there as well. Sean’s
son was a teammate of my sons, and
Gabe’s kids have been coached by
my daughter. And Julie Bibb has
taken her family there to ski.”
Saving the best for last — the dog
news! Jennifer Lee GSAS’98 and
her dog, Kaia, have joined the
#ProtectPets Too campaign with
People and Animals Living Safely
(PALS). Victims of domestic violence
often must make the impossible choice
of leaving behind a pet in order to
seek safe shelter, as only 3 percent of
shelters allow pets. PALS has created
shelters in NYC that allow victims of
domestic violence to bring their pets
with them. Learn more about PALS:
urinyc.org/program/uripals.
In March, my family became
the happy forever family of Ethel,
a 1-year-old Standard Poodle we
adopted from Mid-Atlantic Poodle
Rescue. After two years of not hear-
ing the jingle-jangle of dog tags and
clickity-clack of nails on the floor,
our home feels complete again. For
all you dog lovers and owners out
there (hoping you are one and the
same), you know what I mean. For
the rest of you, if you've been con-
templating getting a dog, do it!
1991
Margie Kim
margiekimkim@hotmail.com
It’s summer, CC’91! Hope you're all
having a wonderful time. Please take
a moment to send a note — travel,
work, family, favorite Columbia
memories, anything you want to
share. We want to hear from you!
1992
Olivier Knox
olivier.knox@gmail.com
Are you there, classmates? It’s
me, Olivier.
This column only works when
you send in your updates — big
news, little news, fun news, seeing
old friends, welcoming new family
members. The world beyond your
Facebook friends wants to hear
about what you're doing, where
youre doing it, how, why, etc.
Please write to me at olivier.knox@
gmail.com! I won't even mind if you
call me “Oliver.”
Not, much, anyway.
1993
Betsy Gomperz
betsy.gomperz@gmail.com
Greetings classmates!
As I write, it is Patriot’s Day in
Boston, the day of the Boston Mara-
thon. I live about 100 yards from
the course. Amanda Schachter (a
Carman 11 floormate) reached out
to tell me she was running for the
first time! Amazingly, she qualified
for Boston with her NYC Marathon
run in 2017 and “wanted to give a
shout-out to freshman roommate
Kate Kerkering, who was on the
running team at Columbia and put
in all the hard work waking up super
early every morning — now I get it!
And to Patti Lee, who first turned
alumninews
me on to running in Riverside Park
sophomore year, though I didn’t
start taking the sport seriously, and
couldn’t run more than two miles,
until about eight years ago.”
I did my part and tracked
Amanda, and looked for her in the
sea of qualifying runners (it is a fast
race). I wasn't able to see her but did
see she finished with a great time.
Congratulations, Amanda!
In March, there was a Colum-
bia women’s soccer alumnae game
— Julie Davidson Hassan,
Sandi Johnson, Ali Towle, Molly
Sellner, Joan Campion 92, Kristine
Campagna ’94 and Tania Cochran
Secor 94 gathered at the field to
play the current team. The alumnae
won! Everyone went out for dinner
afterward and were joined by Robyn
Tuerk for a great NYC night out
(that I heard included karaoke!).
Speaking of alumni back on campus,
some of you may be aware that Lau-
ren Apollaro ’22, daughter of Tony
Apollaro and Penny Schneider
Apollaro SW’95, finished her fresh-
man year and played softball. Penny
and Tony have been getting lots of
time back on campus and cheering
for the Lions!
I made a trip to Atlanta in Febru-
ary for Super Bowl LHI. Ali Towle
is the senior director of brand and
joined Thad at the Post Malone/
Aerosmith concert at the arena. In
addition to a great show, Thad gave
us a tour of the renovated space and
innovative seating options for fans. I
also visited the Sheely family home,
where Thad, his wife and two sons
have settled in to life in Atlanta.
Please continue to submit
updates to the email address at the
top of the column!
1994
Leyla Kokmen
lak6@columbia.edu
Let me start with a sincere apology
to avid readers who might have
missed seeing robust CC’94 content
in the Spring 2019 issue. Life got
in the way of the CCT deadline, ’m
afraid. But let me catch up ...
Jeremy Workman’s documen-
tary The World Before Your Feet pre-
miered in theaters in November. It
then went on to play in theaters for
more than 125 days in the United
States and Canada, playing in
nearly 100 cities. The documentary,
about Matt Green's mission to walk
every street of New York City, was
produced by actor Jesse Eisenberg
and currently sits at 100 percent
Dean Temple ‘90's solo comedy show, “Voice of Authority,”
is about the true story of the DOF coming after him
for $19 million he doesn’t have.
fan experience for the New England
Patriots and I was able to attend all of
the team’s pre-game/post-game events
with her, which was beyond amaz-
ing — particularly because the team
won its sixth title (yes, I went there!).
I also had a pre-game “Go Lions”
exchange with Los Angeles Mayor
Eric Garcetti’92, SIPA’93, who was at
the game with his father and was clad
in a Los Angeles Rams jersey.
But my weekend in Atlanta was
also fun because we spent time with
Thad Sheely and his family. Thad
was recently profiled in CCT (see
“Lions,” Winter 2018-19) for his
work with the Atlanta Hawks, where
he oversaw the massive State Farm
Arena renovation and is the team’s
chief operating officer. Ali and I
on Rotten Tomatoes. Jeremy is in
production on a documentary about
20-year-old domino-toppling artist
and YouTube star Lily Hevesh.
In other media news, Janet Balis
works at EY, where she is a partner
serving as global advisory leader of
media and entertainment, and also
leading the marketing practice. “I’ve
been there for four years and find
the role to be ideal after spend-
ing almost two decades in media
and technology companies since
business school,” Janet writes. “After
receiving an M.B.A. at Harvard
Business School in 1999, I joined
Time Warner, where I spent more
than eight years. My later roles took
me to places like Martha Stewart
Living Omnimedia, where I led the
Summer 2019 CCT 73
media side of the business, and then
to The Huffington Post, where I was
publisher. After leaving HuffPost,
I went to an incredible technology
incubator called Betaworks, where
I ran the innovation lab. The most
endearing highlight of my career
relative to Columbia is undoubt-
edly my cameo appearance in the
documentary Radio that Changed
Lives, about Stretch and Bobbito
and their hip-hop show on WKCR
(where I was station president),
which aired on Showtime and is
now on Netflix.”
Janet lives on the Upper East
Side with her children Jared (14)
and Julia (11). She sees Brad Stone
93 and Orly Mishan often.
Karen Ortiz writes that after being
an attorney in city, state and federal
government for two decades, she
became a federal administrative judge
for the Equal Employment Opportu-
nity Commission in August 2018. She
presides over cases involving allega-
tions of discrimination in the federal
sector. On the personal side, Karen got
married on October 6 in Central Park,
where the College’s a capella group
Non Sequitur performed its rendition
of “In My Life” as a surprise for the
groom and guests.
In October, Karthik Ramana-
than headlined the CFA Institute
conference in Boston to discuss
geopolitical issues and investment
management. He shared insights
into global investor flow gleaned
through his travels abroad.
After running in the 2017
Democratic primary for New York
City public advocate and receiv-
ing 23 percent of the vote, David
Columbia
College
Alumni
on Facebook
facebook.com/alumnicc
Like the page to get
alumni news, learn
about alumni events
and College happenings,
view photos and more.
74 CCT Summer 2019
Eisenbach GSAS’06 ran in the
special election for the same office
in February.
And finally, I got a nice note from
Dy Tran, who offered an update of
what he’s been doing since graduat-
ing from Columbia and heading
to Tubingen, Germany. “After my
detour through Germany, some
years in graduate school and a brief
dalliance with academia, I raised a
son mostly in Brooklyn,” Dy writes.
“Some years ago, we moved to the
‘Brooklyn of the West,’ otherwise
known as Oakland, and my son
has now gone back east to Phillips
Exeter for high school. I’m working
on a novel, which I hope will be
ready in a year or so; it has been long
in the making. And in the middle of
life’s way, I have discovered the path
of yoga, which I highly recommend
as a salve far preferable to the sports
car for midlife crisis.”
Lovely to hear from everyone,
and thanks for the updates!
L995
Janet Lorin
jrf10@columbia.edu
I hope this finds everyone well, as
we are now in the countdown to our
25th class reunion! If you are inter-
ested in becoming involved in the
planning, please drop me a note.
Hilton Romanski writes, “After 18
years at Cisco (the full span to adult-
hood), I left my role as chief strategy
officer to join the private equity firm
Siris Capital Group. The firm takes
publicly traded technology companies
private and has about $7 billion under
management. I’m a partner at Siris
and have built a West Coast practice
out of Palo Alto over the last eight
months. I think we are bringing some-
thing exciting, unique and needed
to the Silicon Valley and technology
markets. Cisco was an awesome ride
and is one of the greatest companies
ever built, in my opinion.”
In his last position as chief strategy
officer, Hilton helped transform the
company from an almost exclusively
hardware and network infrastruc-
ture business to one that has about
one-third of its business generated by
software and recurring revenue.
“The stock price and value of the
company more than doubled in the
three and a half years that I was part
of the new Cisco management team
DAVID DINI SIPA’14
Members of the Class of 96 attended the John Jay Awards Dinner in March,
which included among the honorees Jodi Kantor 96 and Tom Kitt ’96. Left
to right: Uchenna Acholonu, Bernice Tsai, Kitt, Bich-nga Nguyen, Mila Tuttle,
Rose Kob, Pete Freeman and Kantor.
appointed in 2015,” he writes. “This
felt like the perfect time to start
writing a new professional chapter
and pursue my first passion of
dealmaking and helping other public
companies make tough transitions.”
Hilton, his wife, Emily, and kids
(ages 10 and 8) live in Palo Alto and
spend time enjoying the beaches and
mountains and are often found surf-
ing, skiing or snowboarding.
Congratulations to Dan
Petroski, who is celebrating the
10th anniversary of his wine com-
pany, Massican.
And we'll all be watching our most
famous classmate, Beto O’Rourke,
who as of this writing is running for
President of the United States.
If you've never written into Class
Notes, consider our 25th reunion a
good time to send an update!
1996
Ana S. Salper
ana.salper@nyumc.org
It’s summertime, classmates! I hope
you are all finding time for some rest
and relaxation, spending quality time
with friends and family, and diligently
composing the Class Note you plan
to send about your lives to your one
and only class correspondent.
I want to kick off this issue’s
notes with congratulations to Julie
Satow SIPA01, who recently
published The Plaza. The Secret Life of
America’s Most Famous Hotel (listed
in “Bookshelf” this issue). Julie’s
book has been described as the
definitive biography of the iconic
Plaza Hotel in New York City, and
as a thrilling, unforgettable history
of how the illustrious hotel has
defined our understanding of money
and glamour, from the Gilded Age
to the Go-Go Eighties to today’s
Billionaire Row. Julie is an award-
winning journalist who has covered
real estate in New York City for
more than a decade, and is a regular
contributor to The New York Times.
She lives in the West Village with
her husband, Stuart, and children,
Sophie (8) and Jonah (6).
Julie writes that for the past three
and a half years she was buried
in the stacks of hotel archives,
sifting through out-of-print books
and interviewing everyone from
Plaza bellmen, to Eric Trump, to a
disgraced Indian tycoon who owned
the hotel while serving a prison
sentence in Delhi. She says that one
of the coolest things was uncovering
stories that had been long forgotten
or were never previously known,
like a brutal murder perpetrated
by the construction workers in
charge of building the Plaza, or
the eccentricities of the woman
who wrote the Eloise books. Julie’s
research even took her back to
Columbia, which she says she really
enjoyed, spending time at Butler
and exploring the collections at
Avery. Julie says that it was the best
job she ever had.
Uchenna Acholonu attended
the John Jay Awards Dinner in
March, which honored five alumni,
including Jodi Kantor and Tom
Kitt, and said that it was a heart-
warming, pro-Columbia event that
he thoroughly enjoyed. He caught
up with classmates in attendance,
including Bich-nga Nguyen,
Mila Tuttle SIPA05, Pete Free-
man, Rose Kob and, of course,
Bernice Tsai, associate dean,
Columbia College alumni relations
and communications, who writes:
“Tt was so much fun to see the small
crew of ’96ers and to see two of our
classmates being honored for such
amazing work!”
In addition, Uchenna writes
that he is “ridiculously excited” for
the return of the Ivy League Men's
Lacrosse Tournament to Colum-
bia’s campus. “Lacrosse was such
an important part of my Columbia
experience. Even though we still do
not have a varsity men’s team I look
forward to sitting in our stadium to
watch elite-level lacrosse. I’m hap-
pily involved with a group working
to strengthen our current program.
Matt Reuter’07 spearheaded a
successful effort to raise more than
$50,000 for the team. I hope a
varsity program is on the horizon,”
writes Uchenna. [Editor’s note: See
“The Last Word,” Spring 2019, and
online at bit.ly/2IQqBOD.]
I leave you with this bit of inspi-
ration from a man this country was
truly proud to call our President:
“America will never be destroyed
from the outside. If we falter
and lose our freedoms, it will be
because we destroyed ourselves.”
— Abraham Lincoln
1997
Kerensa Harrell
kvh1@columbia.edu
Dear classmates, I hope you are all
doing well and enjoying your sum-
mer! I am delighted to present the
following updates from our class.
Swati Khurana received a New
York Foundation for the Arts grant
in fiction to support her novel-
in-progress. She was recently on
a feminist art panel with Emma
Sulkowicz’15 at C24 Gallery and
will be speaking at Yale University
and BRIC Rotunda Gallery in
Brooklyn about her creative practice.
Her Tarot card reading was featured
in Teen Vogue, and she has done
individualized Tarot-based affirma-
tions for friends at events for tequila
companies, private equity firms,
boutique hotels and feminist zines.
Rachel Goldenberg writes:
“My husband, Jim Talbott ’98, and I
and our two kids recently bought a
place and moved to Jackson Heights
in Queens. We are so happy to be
making our home back in New
York, and especially in this amazing
neighborhood. My start-up progres-
sive Jewish spiritual community,
Malkhut, is flourishing, as are our
kids, Amina and Ziv.”
Mike Pignatello and his husband,
Yang Gao, are now the proud parents
of twins James and Jeremy, born last
September in Nevada. Mike and
his family are concluding a five-year
assignment in Taipei this summer
with the United States Department
of State, and will work in Washing-
ton, D.C., for the next few years.
Sari Rosenberg is a U.S. history
teacher and writer. She is writing
the new 11th grade U.S. history
curriculum for the New York City
Department of Education with a
small team of educators. Sari is also
a frequent curriculum consultant at
the New-York Historical Society,
recently contributing as the teacher
developer for the “Hudson Rising”
(2019) exhibition.
Sari teaches U.S. history at the
High School for Environmental
Studies, a public high school in
NYC. In 2015, she co-founded the
Feminist Eagles, a feminist club for
teens, which frequently hosts high-
profile guests such as Alyssa Milano,
Audrey Gelman and Jessica Valenti.
Sari’s most recent media appear-
ances include TheSkimm’s back-to-
school series and the Travel Channel's
Mysteries at the Museum. Last year,
she wrote the #SheDid That series for
A+E Television Networks/Lifetime,
and did daily women’s history posts
and videos.
Sari shares her recent good
news with us, writing: “I have two
updates, both professional in nature.
I have been teaching U.S. history
at a public high school in NYC for
the past 17 years, so it’s nice to be
recognized! I received two awards
this March. The National Council
for History Education awarded me
with the prestigious 2019 Paul A.
Gagnon Prize, and I was celebrated
as one of the #DOESheroes by
the New York City Department of
Education, recognized for my work
as a U.S. history teacher and co-
founder of the Feminist Eagles. The
campaign ran on the @NYCSchools
social media channels.”
John Dean Alfone recently
attended South by Southwest,
where he was credentialed press and
wrote this article about musicians
from his home state of Louisiana
(online at bit.ly/2vkFBvz).
The Business School also hosted
a SXSW event during the week-
long conference at Attabar, which
John attended.
Amanda Pong PH’10 recently
moved to Gothenburg, Sweden,
with her husband and children. They
are busy adapting to the lifestyle,
language and culture, including
daily adventures for their energetic
children. They extend a warm
welcome to anyone traveling their
way in 2019.
As for me, Kerensa Harrell, as I
wrap up this column in late March,
I’ve been thinking about how lucky
I’ve been to get to be a stay-at-home
mom for my daughter, Amara (2.5).
In today’s world that seems quite a
luxury. It is such a joy and an honor
to watch her grow.
She is doing a great deal of
talking now, and enjoys correcting
my statements. A couple of months
ago we were strolling past a body
of water in our neighborhood,
which is a gated golf community
that is 51 percent nature preserve
(sounds nice, although in Florida
that also comes with alligators,
coyotes, bobcats, snakes, ants and
mosquitoes). As we passed by the
water, I said to her, “Look, baby,
there’s a nice pond.” To which she
replied, “It’s not a pond, Mama —
it’s a lake.” Hahaha, they grow up
too fast! She has also developed a
stock of standard responses for when
I need her to do something:
Me: “It’s bath time.”
Her: “No, thanks!”
Me: “It’s bedtime.”
Her: “Not yet!”
Me: “It’s time to get into your
car seat.”
Her: “Not today!”
Me: “It’s time to brush your teeth.”
Her: “I do not like brushing
my teeth!”
We've also been going through
a big transition in our family life,
unfortunately, and I’ve been doing
my utmost to try to mitigate the
disruption and stress that it inevi-
tably causes for a child. Luckily the
weather has been cooperating by not
being too hot, so I have been taking
Amara on frequent jaunts to the
Magic Kingdom, where she revels
in riding the spinning teacups, the
flying elephants, the flying carpets,
the carousel horses, the Small
World boat, the people mover and
the seashell journey to glimpse the
life of a mermaid. It’s only about a
15-mile drive from our house, so we
can easily drop by any weekday for
a couple of hours before or after her
midday nap (she still takes a daily
nap that lasts a couple of hours, and
I am encouraging her to keep that
up because that’s the only time she
lets me get housework done!).
As I sign off now, let me cue the Is
a Small World, along with a few lyrics:
‘Its a world of laughter
‘A world of tears
‘It’s a world of hopes
‘And a world of fears
“Theres so much that we share
“That it’s time were aware
‘It’s a small world after all”
Blessings to all, and please do
send your updates. Feel free to keep
in mind that your updates needn't
be just about the usual topics like
career/marriage/birth announce-
ments — they could also be on
your exotic travels, your exciting
adventures, your fascinating hobbies,
your philanthropic endeavors, your
charming children, your daring
projects, your poetic musings and/
or your flowery reminiscences. Or
simply tell us about some delightful
local event that you just attended
or a family vacation that you went
on. If nothing else, you can always
write us just to say hello! It would
be splendid to hear from as many
of classmates as possible. I look for-
ward to hearing from you. In /umine
Tuo videbimus lumen.
lle}
Sandie Angulo Chen
sandie.chen@gmail.com
Greetings, Class of 1998. Short and
sweet notes this issue.
Congratulations are in order for
Julie Yufe, who was named VP of
global marketing at Anheuser-Busch
InBev and lives in Belgium (AB
InBev’s corporate headquarters) with
Summer 2019 CCT 75
Fust Married!
CCT welcomes wedding photos where at least one member of the couple
is a College alum. Please submit your high-resolution photo, and caption
information, on our photo webform: college.columbia.edu/cct/submit_
class_note_photo. Congratulations!
1. Stacy Wu ’02 shared a photo 4. Juneyoung L. Chavez (née Yi)
from her 2017 wedding reception in 705 married Javier Chavez Jr. on
Brooklyn that featured Durier Ryan January 19 at New York City’s
SOA'13, Liz Berryman ’02, the bride, Daedong Manor. Left to right:
Susan Schwarz ’02 and Andrew Young Choi (née Jeong) SEAS’05,
Russeth ’07. Pamela Wong (née Lee) SEAS’05,
Helen Lee ’05, Carol Park ’05,
2. Pace Cooper ’85 and Aileen the bride, the groom, Jacky Tong
Cooper BC’85 at the wedding SIPA10, Suanne Lee (née Chen) ’05,
of their son Jeremy "17 to Ellin Jinyuan Jin ’05 and Lili Lee ’05.
Mitchell BC’19. Also pictured are
Jeremy’s brothers, Ethan 18, 5. John Myles White ’04 and his
Dylan 18 and Elan ’22, and sisters, wife, Heather McKinstry, outside
Yael and Serena. City Hall after their May 10 wedding.
3. Russell Glober ’89 married
Amy Becker at Hawaii’s Kailua
Beach Park on September 23.
my.
<— 8
oe — ek
wee
+ r
SUZI MECHLER
FOREVER TOGETHER (RYAN)
76 CCT Summer 2019
her husband, Michael Dreyer, and
their daughter, Zoe. If you're in the
Brussels area, feel free to get in touch.
Chris Perkel wrote in with his
first update. Chris and his partner,
Carinna, had their first baby, Edison,
last year. They live in the Silver Lake
neighborhood of Los Angeles. A
documentary filmmaker, Chris is
directing a documentary exploring
the 20-year history of the Coachella
music and arts festival. In 2017, he
won the Critics’ Choice Award for
Best Music Documentary for Clive
Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives.
Other films Chris has made include
a five-part primetime docuseries,
Phenoms, about the best young soccer
players in the world, and Foreman,
about George Foreman’s miraculous
heavyweight comeback, for Epix.
Congratulations on all of your
accomplishments, Chris!
Have a wonderful summer, and
please do take a moment to send a
note to the email address at the top
of the column!
i992
Adrienne Carter and
Jenna Johnson
adieliz@gmail.com
jennajohnson@gmail.com
Greetings, Class of 1999! Write in
to let us know how the 20th reunion
was! Who did you see? What did you
talk about? We want to hear all about
the connections and reconnections
that happened at this milestone
event. Write to us at either of the
addresses at the top of this column,
and have an excellent summer!
2000
Prisca Bae
pb134@columbia.edu
Amir Arison is in production on his
sixth season of the Sony/NBC series
The Blacklist, in which he portrays FBI
Agent Aram Mojtabai. Season 6 pre-
miered on January 3 on NBC. Amir
resides in Brooklyn, but divides his
time between NYC and Los Angeles.
He is also directing and producing a
documentary focused on the artistic
process of a young girl battling
cancer who is making a short film:
tatithedocumentary.com.
Mira Lew and Jonathan Schwarz
welcomed Thomas Minsuh Schwarz-
Lew to the world on February 6. In
addition to her new parental duties,
Mira is completing production on a
short documentary about the Taipei
hip-hop dance scene.
Jasmine Dreame Wagner was a
CSG Fellow at the Virginia Center
for the Creative Arts in March,
and then headed to Michigan for a
residency at Villa Barr at Michigan
Legacy Art Park through the begin-
ning of May. She shares, “I'll also be
giving readings in Washington, D.C.,
Columbus, Ohio, and Hudson, N.Y.,
and would love to meet up with any
Columbia alums along the way.”
Dana Maiden and Malcolm
McVay are enjoying raising their
Jasmine Dreame Wagner ’00, Yong-Kyoo Rim ’00, Mira Lew ’00, Prisca
Bae ’00, Dana Maiden ’00 and Alex Klein ’01 gathered in January for
Lew’s baby shower in Brooklyn.
children, Leo (5) and Carolyn (2), in
Los Angeles. Dana juggles work as an
artist, part-time photography profes-
sor, and interior design and art con-
sultant. Malcolm spent several years
working in environmentally focused
tech companies before leaving his last
“teal” job in 2015. He is now an inde-
pendent consultant working primarily
on clean transportation and mobility
projects, and says “Hi!” to everyone,
especially Carman 11.
Nathaniel Farrell published his
second book, a long poem titled Lost
Horizon. Nathaniel is a lecturer at
Washington University in St. Louis.
L.A.-based artist Ragen Moss
is featured in the Whitney Biennial.
According to The New York Times
(nyti.ms/2JbWtNe), she “makes
hanging, transparent sculptures that
she embeds with layers and paints
and that are evocative of human
forms. For the Whitney Biennial,
she made nine sculptures represent-
ing types, including a lawmaker, a
laborer and a rule breaker, that were
her answer to the question, ‘What
are the characters or ways of being
that our particularized moment are
forcing us to reckon with?”
In 2011, Alex Klein’01 relocated
from Los Angeles to be a curator at
the Institute of Contemporary Art in
Philadelphia. She is working on an
exhibition of sculptor Michelle Lopez
BC’92, a forthcoming publication on
artist Suki Seokyeong Kang, a collabo-
ration with the Kunsthalle Lissabon in
Portugal and an exhibition of her own
artwork at Grice Bench gallery in L.A.
2001
Jonathan Gordin
jrg53@columbia.edu
So much baby news this time
around! It’s so much fun to share
this stuff.
Robin Fineman (née Lefkowitz)
wrote in with exciting news: “My
husband, Evan, and I are overjoyed
to welcome a baby girl to our family,
Sybil Eden, born on September 21.
She joins big brother, Ezra (9), who
adores her. We live in Fair Lawn,
NJ. lam a partner in the litigation
department of Hartmann Doherty
Rosa Berman & Bulbulia.”
Congratulations to Robin
and Evan!
Reema Kapadia told me that
she and her husband welcomed
Samay Parekh on December 11:
“Big sister Rhea is ecstatic.”
Congratulations!
Akhill Chopra and Camille
DeLaite were delighted to welcome
their son, Arthur DeLaite Chopra,
on March 1. Arthur joins sister June.
Congratulations to Akhill
and Camille!
Finally, I, like so many of you,
recently celebrated a milestone
birthday. My amazing wife, Jamie
BC’01, threw me an incredible party
at our house in Los Angeles. The
list of alums who attended (many
from the East Coast) was impressive:
It was a gift to see Dina Epstein,
Annie Lainer Marquit, Rachel '
Bloom BC’01 and Erin Fredrick }
BC°01 all in one place, and not
on the Low Steps. I had the most
incredible night — many of you
might remember the specific night,
because we all watched the lunar
eclipse. In my case, an ice cream truck
pulled up at that exact moment —
the dramatic timing was impeccable!
I hope everyone else enjoys their
milestone birthdays as much as I did.
Please let me know for a future
issue what you did this summer,
and share information about your
“reunions” with CC friends.
Be in touch! It’s always great to
hear from all of you.
2002
Sonia Dandona Hirdaramani
soniahird@gmail.com
Hi Class of 2002! Exciting updates
all around; please keep them coming
to soniahird@gmail.com. Thank you!
Hannah Selinger lives in East
Hampton, N.Y., with her husband,
Dan Palmer; their two dogs; and
their two sons, Nathaniel and Miles
(born in 2016 and 2018). Hannah
is a freelance food and wine writer,
with content regularly appearing in
Edible Long Island, Edible East End,
Sag Harbor Express, The Southampton
Press and The Independent.
Lenny Braman and his wife,
Annie Green, celebrated the birth
of their third child, Quincy Miles
Braman, on August 5. Quincy
and his siblings — Gwendolyn
and Spencer — are getting along
famously. Lenny and his family live
in Fairfield, Conn., and he is a part-
ner at the law firm of Wofsey Rosen
Kweskin Kuriansky in Stamford.
Summer 2019 CCT 77
Stacy Wu started a solo IP law
practice (stacywulaw.com). She
and her husband, Arturo, recently
welcomed their first child, Delia
Maxene. ‘These days they split their
time between NYC and Italy.
Jill Santopolo ’03’s second novel,
More Than Words, was published on
February 5.
2003
Michael Novielli
mjn29@columbia.edu
Another academic year has passed,
and it’s hard to believe that it’s
already been a year since our 15th
anniversary. It’s never too early to
parents of three boys and a girl. Mor-
ris is also celebrating his 10th year at
Triangle Capital Group, a company
he founded in 2009 to invest in com-
mercial real estate debt and equity
opportunities across the country.
Belén Fernandez, author of The
Imperial Messenger: Thomas Friedman
at Work, had a new book out in
April: Exile: Rejecting America and
Finding the World. Historian Greg
Grandin calls it a “fascinating mem-
oir” and a “must-read how-to guide
for surviving on the periphery.”
Leah Bailey (née Davis) writes:
“T live in Walla Walla, Wash., with
my husband and three kids. I'll
be receiving a living donor kidney
transplant from a friend in a couple
of weeks and I’m switching up my
Fonathan Ward 06's first book, China’s Vision
of Victory, reveals the full scope and scale of
China’ global ambitions.
encourage everyone to attend our
next major reunion, our 20th, in
2023 — and, of course, you are also
welcome to attend reunion every
year. In the meantime, please send
along your personal, professional and
family updates so that we can keep
updated on what’s new in your life.
Brian Hansbury writes, “For
the last 13 years I have been a
commercial actor in New York. I
make my living doing voiceovers
for both commercials and promos.
My great love is improv. I wrote and
performed a one-man show about it
for a few months in 2016 and have
been doing musical improv (making
up half-hour musicals with the help
of very talented musicians) around
New York City and at festivals
around the country for the last sev-
eral years. NYC-based alumni can
see me most Tuesdays at the Magnet
‘Theater with my team, Warm
Blooded. In my spare time I despair
at America’s (and the world’s) slide
toward autocracy that not enough
people seem to care about and as a
result study the physics of informa-
tion, media, psychological biases and
politics with an eye toward fixing
everything (WINK)!”
Morris Doueck recently cel-
ebrated his 10-year anniversary with
his wife, Jamie. They are the proud
78 CCT Summer 2019
career path. I’m finishing a master’s
of arts in teaching through Seattle
Pacific University and I have been
hired to start teaching high school
English at a rural high school in
nearby Oregon. There’s much good
in the world.”
Lindsay Dunn LAW’06 and
her husband, Cameron Walker-
Miller TC’15, welcomed their first
child, Isidore William Miller, on
February 22.
Our classmates continue to excel
in academia, and I’m happy to share
updates from some of them:
Harold Braswell’s book The
Crisis of US Hospice Care will be
published in August. Harold is an
assistant professor of health care
ethics at Saint Louis University.
Ebony Dix is a lifelong learner
and psychiatrist at Yale.
Justin Assad writes, “My wife,
Emily Taylor (04 Brown), and I
welcomed our second daughter,
Meris Pease Assad, in November.
Meris is happy and healthy, and our
2-year-old is learning how to be a
big sister! We live in Hanover, N.H.,
where I am the head sailing coach
at Dartmouth College. Emily is
the program director at Nantucket
Community Sailing, so we spend our
summers on Nantucket teaching kids
how to sail. We would love to hear
from classmates who are up north or
on the island during the summer!”
2004:
Jaydip Mahida
jmahida@gmail.com
Nuria Net JRN’11 moved to Barce-
lona last year and writes, “Keeping
myself busy. Currently teaching at
the University of Barcelona journal-
ism program and launching my own
podcast production company, as
well as hosting my own Latin music
radio show on Radio Primavera
Sound. Would love to meet up with
anyone in the area!”
Please to send in updates, as we
want to hear from as many folks as
possible. Career and family updates
are always fun, but please reach out
to share news about trips you may
take, events you have attended or are
looking forward to, or even interest-
ing books or shows you have come
across. You can send updates via the
email at the top of the column or the
CCT Class Notes webform: college.
columbia.edu/cct/submit_class_note.
Have an excellent summer!
2005
Columbia College Today
cct@columbia.edu
Happy summer, CC’05! Thanks to
everyone for writing in, and congrats
on all your big life changes!
From Aisling Peartree: “Hi
Columbia friends! P'll be living in NYC
again until December of this year and
would love to reconnect. I’ve been
loving being a writer about addiction
and mental health, working remotely
so I can travel to my heart’s content.
I'm still singing (always!); I put out two
projects this past year — my album
Aisling and a mixtape, Angels in the
City, which you can find on smarturl.
it/aislingpeartree and smarturl.it/angels
inthecity, respectively. More music,
including a ton of covers, can be found
on youtube.com/aislingpeartree.
“T’ve been quite nomadic; road-
tripped cross-country twice last year
and lived in five cities, including
several months in Los Angeles to
record new music. I'll be in Spain
and Ireland for a month this spring,
then I’m planning to buy a home in
Florida this winter with my partner.
I'd love to hear from you (aisling.
1”
peartree@gmail.com). Be in touch
There is also lots of new baby
excitement for CC’05.
Natasha Shapiro shares, “My
husband and I welcomed our third
daughter on August 19.”
Jennie Magiera (née Cho)
writes, “My husband, Jim Magiera,
and I welcomed our first child, Lucy
Mikyoung Magiera, on August 31.”
From Andy Rios: “My wife, Puja
Patel Rios, and I welcomed our first
son, Matias Bodhi, in June 2018.
More recently, I took a new position
at Facebook to become an industry
manager for the eCommerce vertical.”
Daniella Ross shares, “We
welcomed our first child this past
December and we are smitten!”
2006
Michelle Oh Sing
mo2057@columbia.edu
Here are some updates from our
classmates — exciting milestones
for many!
Meredith Moll (née Humphrey)
BUS'12 recently welcomed a daugh-
ter with her husband, Tommy Moll
LAW’11. She also recently became
a partner at Foundation Resource
Management, a value-oriented
investment management firm based
in Little Rock, Ark.
Seth Wainer started a job with
the Port Authority of New York
and New Jersey, focused on strategic
planning for advanced infrastruc-
ture around renewable energy and
autonomous vehicles.
Jonathan Ward recently pub-
lished his first book, China’ Vision
of Victory. It brings together vast
amounts of evidence, revealing the
full scope and scale of China’s global
ambitions, and what it means for all
of us. It is readable, succinct, meant
for a wide American and international
audience, and available on Amazon.
Justin Ifill writes, “I had the honor
and pleasure of spending three weeks
in India this past February for a yoga
teacher training. It was amazing and
transformative. I am teaching yoga
more than ever now in eight loca-
tions among Brooklyn, Manhattan
and Queens, so I hope to catch more
CU alumni in class!”
Dan Elkind is busy putting the
finishing touches on a documentary
history of feminist anarchist Emma
Goldman. Democracy Disarmed,
1917-1919 is forthcoming, and will
be the fourth and final volume of the
acclaimed series Emma Goldman: A
Documentary History of the American
Years, which features Goldman’s
fight against the Espionage Act
of 1917, her imprisonment in
Missouri State Penitentiary, the
Russian Revolutions, Helen Keller,
radical-hunter J. Edgar Hoover
and much more, culminating with
Goldman's deportation to Soviet
Russia in December 1919. Dan is
the associate editor for the project,
assisting the founding editor,
Candace Falk, who (re)wrote the
Goldman story in Love, Anarchy,
és Emma Goldman: A Biography,
being reissued this summer. They
hoped to have the book out in
time for Goldman's 150th birthday
celebration on June 27.
2007
David D. Chait
david.donner.chait@gmail.com
Thank you, everyone, for sharing
your exciting updates!
Samantha Feingold-Criss
writes, “It is with incredible love and
joy that my husband, Dr. Jonathan
Criss, and I welcomed to the world
our beautiful son Hunter Maddox
in March. Miles (4) loves his new
role as best big bro! Come visit us in
Delray Beach, Fla.”
Carolyn Braff shares, “I am
thrilled to share that my husband
and I welcomed our second child
to the family on January 11. Emily
Sophia Herman joins big brother
Graham Robert Herman in proudly
wearing the Columbia blue all over
Chicago. We look forward to having
them both visit campus soon!”
Daniel Simhaee is finishing up
his final year of medical training and
will begin practicing as a vitreo-
retinal surgeon in NYC starting
in August. The road has been long
and arduous, he says, but Daniel is
looking forward to putting his skills
to use and helping improve and save
people’s vision.
Kasia Nikhamina and her
partner, Ilya, are looking for bright,
passionate, hardworking folks to
join their team at Redbeard Bikes.
Redbeard is a bike fit studio and
full-service bike shop in DUMBO,
Brooklyn. If you love to get people
on bikes, please drop Kasia a line at
kasia@redbeardbikes.com.
After spending two years clerking
for a federal judge in Miami, Lauren
Zimmerman has returned to New
York City to join Selendy & Gay, an
elite litigation firm that is majority
owned by women. Among her active
cases, Lauren is working on behalf of
public servants against a student loan
servicer that misled them about their
loan forgiveness options.
John Estrada SEAS’07 and Kori
Estrada welcomed their son, John
Leonardo “Leo,” into the world on
July 17, 2018. After years of research
they are launching their company,
RiseWell, a natural oral care company
with truly effective ingredients, with
the hopes of revolutionizing the
products people use at least two times
a day. With the help of Kori’s brother,
Dr. Derek Gatta, they developed a
toothpaste formulated with a natural
mineral that makes up 90 percent
of tooth enamel (hydroxyapatite),
which has been an active ingredient
in toothpaste in the Japanese market
for decades. RiseWell’s ingredients are
clean and backed by real science.
Kori continues to be the co-CIO
at Axon Capital and John is CEO
of RiseWell. They reside in NYC
and spend the weekends on Long
Island’s North Fork.
Aditi Sriram shares, “I recently
had my first book published and
would love to share that with the
Columbia community! Beyond the
Boulevards. A Short Biography of
Pondicherry is a nonfiction book about
a coastal city in South India called
Pondicherry. I trace the city’s histori-
cal, cultural and spiritual evolution up
to present day, which I access through
multiple languages — English, Tamil
and French. The book is the latest in
a series on Indian cities published by
Aleph Book Co., a publisher in New
Delhi. You can find details about the
book on my website, aditisriram.com/
beyond-the-boulevards.
“Beyond the Boulevards was
launched in Pondicherry in February
at its annual Heritage Festival. On
the 6th, I gave a presentation on the
book, and on the 7th, I was part of
a discussion about cities with other
authors and academics. I was lucky
to have my dad and my aunt in the
audience — actual Pondicherrians
— not to mention some extended
family and close friends.”
Aditi’s book is available online on
Amazon U.S. and Amazon India.
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Several Columbia soccer alumnae celebrated the U.S. Soccer Foundation’s
25th anniversary and U.S. Women’s Soccer in Los Angeles on April 8. Left
to right: Lexi Nichols 13, Catherine “Cat” Troup 15, Drew Effler 09, Shannon
Munoz Kelly ’07 and Ashley Mistele ’10.
2008
Columbia College Today
cct@columbia.edu
CCT thanks Neda Navab for being
such an amazing class correspon-
dent! She has stepped down, so in
the interim, while we search for a
new correspondent, CCT will handle
this column. Please take a moment
to send in a note — travel, work,
family, favorite Columbia memories,
or anything you want to share. We
want to hear from you!
2009
Chantee Dempsey
chantee.dempsey@gmail.com
Summer is finally here, Class of
2009! I hope you all had an amazing
time at our 10th reunion; write to
me about what you did and who
you saw! And with that, here is our
summer update:
David Cooper proposed to his
girlfriend, Subrina Moorley, while
they were visiting Venice, Italy
(she said yes!). They are planning a
wedding in Trinidad and Tobago in
summer 2021.
Please send your updates so that I
can share them in an upcoming issue!
2010
Julia Feldberg Klein
juliafeldberg@gmail.com
Congratulations are in order for
Benjamin Velez! He shares, “My
musical, Kiss My Aztec, co-written
with John Leguizamo, Tony Taccone
and David Kamp, premiered at
Berkeley Repertory Theater in May
and will be at the La Jolla Playhouse
in September! It will be my first
professional production since
writing the 114th Varsity Show in
2008, and I couldn’t be more excited.
I’m also getting married to Brice
Loustau this September in Bor-
deaux, France, his hometown!”
Chris Yim writes, “Chris Yim
is being.”
2O11
Nuriel Moghavem and
Sean Udell
nurielm@gmail.com
sean.udell@gmail.com
Happy, happy summer, CC’11! Your
physician correspondents hope that
the new season is filled with lots of
time outside — re-up on that vita-
min D! — and minimal annoyance
with seasonal allergies. And, yes, you
Summer 2019 CCT 79
read that correctly: physician cor-
respondentsss. In May, Sean Udell
graduated from Penn Med and
joined Nuriel Moghavem in taking
the Hippocratic Oath. Now, Sean
is a first-year psychiatry resident
(aka intern) at the Hospital of the
University of Pennsylvania. Mean-
while, Nuriel has moved into his
third year of his neurology residency
at the Stanford Medical Center.
He continues to write his quarterly
newsletter, Informed Consent CA.
In other medical updates, Erin
Conway graduated from her ob/gyn
residency at St. Barnabas Hospi-
tal in June. She is now gainfully
employed as an attending physician
at an ob/gyn practice in Red Bank,
N,J., Riverview Women’s Health.
Meanwhile, Erin Adams recently
finished her second year of medical
school at Howard University. There,
she is the president of the Interna-
tional Medical Group and teaches
sexual education to sixth-grade boys
and girls. In a rite of passage for all
medical students, she will be taking
her first licensing exam (Step 1)
this summer; we wish her the best
of luck on this important step. After
traveling to Peru last summer for a
medical mission trip, Erin caught the
global health bug. She is planning a
trip to Ethiopia, where she will be
working at the University of Gondar,
providing care to the country’s most
underserved population.
Some classmates have been work-
ing in other, non-medical careers, and
that’s fine. Jachele Velez LAW’17
passed the New York bar! Then she
worked for a year at Covington and
Burling in Washington, D.C., where
8O CCT Summer 2019
she focused on antitrust and sports
law. Back in the tri-state area for this
year, Jachele is clerking for a federal
judge on the Court of Appeals for
the Third Circuit. She often catches
up with Shana Yearwood and
Stephanie Grilo’13, PH’18, who are
pursuing Ph.D.s at Columbia.
Also pursuing a Ph.D. at Colum-
bia is Jordan Katz GSAS’16, who is
studying history and living in New
York City. At times, it can seem like
a never-ending process for Jordan,
but she assumes there’s light at the
end of the tunnel. This is uncon-
firmed, however. It’s definitely too
much time with alma mater, though.
Last October, Jordan married
Ian Franzen. The couple met online,
so Jordan wanted you to know that
sometimes internet dating actually
works! Michal Cohen, Miriam
Schachter, Miriam Wiseman,
Doug Yolen SEAS’11, BUS’16; Eric
Bressman 10, GS’11; and Chris Jo
10 helped represent Columbia at
last fall’s matrimony.
Congrats to Jordan and Ian!
Melissa Im is back in New York
after a long jaunt in Asia (most
recently, Singapore). She brought
back her husband, David, whom
she married in the Willamette
Valley (Oregon Wine Country)
last summer. Their wedding was
featured in Style Me Pretty (see it
at bit.ly/2GBWZT9), an industry
planning guide and inspiration
curator for weddings. The article
is incredibly titled “Subtle pops
of Cambodian culture, stunning
Tuscan-inspired designs and one
seriously crazy-in-love couple!”
Congrats to the newlyweds!
4
Dp
Adrian Silver 15 hosted a mini Columbia reunion in Lake Tahoe with several
classmates. Shown here, with other guests, are Silver, Gabriel Blanco SEAS
15, Nancy Zhang 15, Malini Nambiar SEAS’15 and Griffin Whitlock ’15.
Bracha Waldman TC’15 and
Benjamin Waldman GS/JTS’08 wel-
comed their second child, Theodore
Max, in March. Mom, Dad and big
brother Samson are all doing well.
Meanwhile, Austin Cohen
BUS’16 launched FlexIt at the
Consumer Electronics Show earlier
this year! F'lexIt is the mobile app
that quickly and seamlessly enables
users to access gyms where and
when they want and only pay for
the amount of time that they are in
the facility. FlexIt is in partnership
with more than 400 gyms across the
United States and is live in eight
markets — New York, New Jersey,
Virginia, Maryland, Illinois, Florida,
Arizona and Washington, D.C. —
with another dozen coming in the
next few months. You can download
FlexIt on iOS and Android plat-
forms in their respective app stores.
Check out flexit.fit for more
information, and a huge congrats to
Austin for this big next step!
With Dhruv Vasishtha being
boring and married these days, we're
left ending our column with the next-
best-thing, Kurt Kanazawa. Kurt
recently appeared butt-naked (and
speaking only Italian) as Galileo Mas-
coni in David Hare’s The Judas Kiss at
Boston Court Pasadena, which was
met with rave reviews in Broadway
World and utter confusion elsewhere.
Kurt also produced a 90-second web
series, Cooking Show, with co-writer
David Meyers in May. You can also
check out Kurt’s latest appearance on
broadcast TV as Tad on Grey's Anat-
omy (bit.ly/2Pt4peo)! After losing his
yacht, Tim Nesmith also moved to
Los Angeles, and Kurt is thrilled to
finally have a friend again.
It is always such a pleasure to
hear about the great things that
CC'11 is doing in the world. Con-
tinue to keep your correspondents
posted, and enjoy the sunshine!
2012
Sarah Chai
sarahbchai@gmail.com
‘Thanks for all the awesome updates,
CC’12! Here we go.
We can all keep an eye out for
Emily Kwong’s stories, which were
published on NPR in June. She
writes, “The first radio [story] I ever
made was at Columbia (WKCR!)
and that love affair has only deepened
since graduating. In December, I was
chosen for an international reporting
fellowship by NPR and The John
Alexander Project. My story is based
in Mongolia, where I was all winter,
looking deeply at how climate change
is altering rural and urban life.
“Prior to that, I spent four years
in Alaska as a public radio journal-
ist at KCAW in Sitka, an island
town in the middle of the Tongass
National Forest. That small, mighty
radio station was a true commu-
nity hub and creative home to me.
I loved my time there. If you're
looking for recommendations on
Alaskan travel, email me at eka610@
gmail.com. Also, find me on Twitter
@emilykwong1234.”
Cristina Ramos SOA23 writes
from our old stomping grounds:
“T finished my first year back at
Columbia, as an M.F.A. candidate
in theater (concentrating in
dramaturgy) in the School of the
Arts. It’s been a trip being back on
campus. I especially got a kick out of
seeing the new baby freshmen during
NSOP week while I was in a very
different kind of orientation! If you're
in NYC (or close by) and want to
stay in the loop about the work I'm
doing in the theater, both on campus
and off, I'd be happy to add you to
my newsletter, which I send roughly
two or three times a year. Or check
out cristina-ramos.com.”
Congratulations to Elizabeth Chu,
who by the time of this writing will
have graduated from medical school!
She writes, “While I have enjoyed
medical school for the last four years,
I am looking forward to graduating
in June and am excited to start my
residency training in ophthalmology
in Queens, N.Y., in July. I am also
excited to celebrate the upcoming
weddings of my East Campus suit-
emates Lisa Lian DM’18 and Shalini
Thareja in October!”
Congratulations are also in order
for Chuck Roberts, who was
recently admitted to the Bar of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
He is a law clerk to Judge Thomas
M. Hardiman of the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Third Circuit in Pitts-
burgh and has been selected for the
2019 class of the Attorney General's
Honors Program at the Department
of Justice in Washington, D.C.
Last, but certainly not least, Mat-
thew Siegfried shared an exciting
update: “In 2018, after purchasing my
100th pair of the Asics Gel-Kayano,
I was asked to become the brand’s
first fashion ambassador, helping
to spearhead the company’s efforts
to edge closer into the world of
high men’s fashion. It’s an exciting
opportunity and I look forward to
representing Asics in some really
cool ways this fall at its physical retail
locations across the United Sates.”
2013
Tala Akhavan
talaakhavan@gmail.com
In March, Richard Sun was named
to the Next Generation Commit-
tee of Family Promise, the national
leader addressing the issue of family
homelessness. From the press release:
“Founded in Summit, N.J., in 1988,
Family Promise comprises more
than 200 affiliates in 43 states and
engages 200,000 volunteers. The
organization’s comprehensive model
keeps families together and addresses
all the issues that contribute to
poverty, giving families the skills and
tools to succeed independently. The
organization serves more than 90,000
individuals each year. ... Recognizing
the potential impact younger genera-
tions can have in the battle against
family homelessness, Family Promise
has formed the Next Generation
Committee. ‘I’m excited to serve on
Family Promise’s NextGen Commit-
tee and help broaden the organiza-
tion’s reach, volunteer base, and
impact. Our generation is incredibly
active and vocal and can bring great
value to this cause,’ says Sun.”
I hope that all of you are having
an excellent summer. Please take a
moment to send in a note!
2014
Rebecca Fattell
rsf2121@columbia.edu
Happy spring, everyone! As I
write this in April, I am looking
forward to seeing you all at our
five-year reunion (!) in a few weeks
and catching up in person. I look
forward to the reunion recap notes
classmates will submit for the
Fall issue — send them to me at
rsf2121@columbia.edu!
2015
Kareem Carryl
kareem.carryl@columbia.edu
This year marks four years since
we graduated — where did the
time go?! As we start to see more
graduations, new jobs, engagements
and other life happenings, please
write to me, or feel free to nominate
someone for me to reach out to! We
would love to have more stories and
photos for our Class Notes! With
that said, here’s what some of our
friends have been up to lately:
Stephen Raynes and Michelle
Snyder are engaged to be married
and are moving to San Diego for
Stephen to begin his Ph.D. in
psychology at UC San Diego. They
lived on the same John Jay floor
adlumninews
their freshman year, when they
met and started dating. Thank you,
Columbia Housing!
Adrian Silver recently had a mini
Columbia reunion in Lake Tahoe
with Gabriel Blanco SEAS’15,
Nancy Zhang, Malini Nambiar
SEAS’15 and Griffin Whitlock.
As always, your classmates want
to hear from you. Please be sure to
submit updates to Class Notes by
writing me at the address at the top
of the column or via the CCT Class
Notes webform, college.columbia.
edu/cct/submit_class_note. Have a
great summer!
2016
Lily Liu-Krason
lliukrason@gmail.com
Hello, CC’16! What sort of
adventures are you getting up to this
summer? Write in and share about
all the new stuff you’re doing. Your
classmates want to hear from you!
2017
Carl Yin
carl.yin@columbia.edu
Evan Tarrth is releasing his debut
EP, Present, under the name Luck-
box on April 12. It'll be streaming
everywhere (Spotify, Apple Music,
etc). Artwork is by Elly Rodgers ’18.
Keenan Piper writes, “A case
report that I first authored, ‘Fatal
Balamuthia mandrillaris brain infec-
tion associated with improper nasal
lavage, which was published in the
International Journal of Infectious
Diseases, went viral last December/
January. It was first picked up by The
Seattle Times and then subsequently
nearly all major news networks (CBS,
CNN, TIME, People, FOX, etc.).
It was a huge shock to me to get
such a response. I guess people get
really wigged out about brain-eating
amoebas! ‘The story ended up being
the second-most-read story of The
Seattle Times in 2018 and resulted
in a formal CDC announcement
regarding proper neti pot usage.”
Laney McGahey continues to
enjoy San Fran life with other Lions,
including Auriane Stone, Christine
Wang, Mait Piccolella SEAS’17
and Terry Li. Laney left investment
banking last fall to pursue her passion
for baking. She invites Lions in the
Bay Area to drop in for coffee and
a pastry at Neighbor Bakehouse if
they’re in the Dogpatch area.
Ethan Wu adds, “It’s been more
than two years since graduation,
and every day it strikes me that life
continues to change in ways that are
unexpected. I have quit two jobs and
found meaning in friends, family and
self, and a new joy in conversation.
Life is more than a career — it is the
sum total of our experiences, and if
the experiences you are not having
on a daily basis are meaningful to
you, then your sum total will feel
unfulfilled. I encourage meeting up
with your fellow classmates — I have
greatly enjoyed not only reminiscing
but talking about growth and futures
with people I knew only tangentially
during school. Don't be a stranger!”
Madeleine Steinberg recently
started a role in business develop-
ment at Intersection, and lives in
Flatiron with Chris McComber
and Carl Yin.
2018
Alexander Birkel and
Maleeha Chida
ab4065@columbia.edu
mnc2122@columbia.edu
No news this time, CC’18! Did you
attend the one-year reunion? Write
in and let us know who you saw and
what you did! And keep us up to
date on all your summer adventures
as well — travel, work, favorite
Columbia memories. Anything you
want to share, we want to hear!
2019
Emily Gruber
Tj Aspen Givens
tag2149@columbia.edu
eag2169@columbia.edu
CCT congratulates all the members of
the Class of 2019 on their graduation
from the College! This is your maga-
zine, where you can share life updates,
recaps of exciting adventures, plans
and more! We are happy to welcome
Emily Gruber and Tj Aspen Givens
to the role of class correspondent. To
share your news in future columns,
just email them at either of the
addresses at the top of this column.
We can't wait to hear from you!
Summer 2019 CCT 81
CCT
ONLINE
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ORIGINAL STORIES
ALUMNI VOICES
UPDATED WEEKLY
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college.columbia.edu/cct
obituaries
1946
David H. Beyer Sr., retired military
officer, Hillsboro, Texas, on April 12,
2018. Born on October 28, 1922, in
Portland, Ore., Beyer was the son
of John Andrew Conrad and
Martha Emily (née Schulze) Beyer.
On September 1, 1945, Beyer
married Elaine Janice Miller in St.
Paul, Minn. They lived in many
places while Beyer served in the
Air Force, eventually moving to
San Antonio, where they raised
their children. Beyer was honorably
discharged as a lieutenant colonel,
and he and his wife his wife lived in
Austin for three years, Beaumont
for 30 years and finally Hillsboro.
He was a member of Christ
Lutheran Church. Beyer was
predeceased by his sisters Marie
Schmeidel, Ruth Courtney
and Dorothy Nelson, and a
granddaughter, Sherri Solleder. He
is survived by his children, Janice
C. Solleder, David Jr. and his wife,
Carol, Mark, and Nancy Keene and
her husband, Gary; sister Carol
Deitrick; eight grandchildren;
12 great-grandchildren; and three
great-great grandchildren. Memorial
contributions may be made to Christ
Lutheran Church, 915 Corsicana
Hwy, Hillsboro, TX 76645.
1948
Frederick R. Messner, retired
advertising and marketing commu-
nications professional, Woodcliff
Lake, N.J., on February 18, 2018.
Messner was born on July 1, 1926.
He earned both a B.A. and B.S.
in chemical engineering from
Columbia the same year. Messner
served at the VP level for a number
of major New York agencies includ-
ing McCann Erickson and the
Poppe Tyson arm of Bozell, Jacobs,
Kenyon & Eckhardt. He was a past
president of the Business/Profes-
sional Advertising Association at
the international level, and was
voted agency executive of the year
by both the New York and New
Jersey chapters. Messner was also a
member of ASCAP and composed
music ranging from pop standards
to classical chamber music. In his
later years, he employed his signifi-
cant musical talent teaching piano
students of all ages. Messner and his
wife, Vye, were frequent theater and
concertgoers throughout the greater
New York area, and he served on the
board of Palisades Virtuosi, a classi-
cal music ensemble. He is survived
by his children, Steven 73 and his
wife, Jill, Lynne, Kenneth GS’87,
and Kate and her husband, Stu.
Herman Wouk CC 1934, Prolific Author Known for Epic Wartime Novels
Herman Wouk CC 1934, an author
whose sweeping novels won him both
popular and critical acclaim — includ-
ing the Pulitzer Prize for his bestselling
shipboard drama, The Caine Mutiny
— died on May 17, 2019, at his home
in Palm Springs, Calif: He was just 10
days shy of his 104th birthday.
Wouk’s career ranged from the
novel Aurora Dawn, a satire about
radio admen (1947), to nonfiction
such as This Is My God (1959) and
The Language God Talks (2010),
to his memoir, Sailor and Fiddler:
Reflections of a 100-Year-Old Author
(2016). More than 30 years after
graduating from the College, reflect-
ing on his experience in the essay, “A
Doubled Magic,” Wouk wrote, “All
my writings, such as they are, trace
back in one sense or another to my
four years at Columbia.”
Wouk was born on May 27,1915,
in the Bronx, the middle child of
three, to Abraham and Esther (née
Levine). At the College, where he
majored in comparative literature and
philosophy, he studied with Irwin
Edman CC 1916, GSAS 1920, a
philosopher whose conservative skep-
ticism temporarily led Wouk away
from the Orthodox Judaism in which
he was raised. Wouk wrote a humor
column for Spectator, edited Jester and
dreamed of a career writing comedy
for the Broadway stage. Through
a classmate, he found work after
graduation as an apprentice radio gag
writer, and in 1936 became a staff
writer for radio comedian Fred Allen.
Immediately after Pearl Harbor,
Wouk enlisted in the Navy, entered
midshipman’s school and was posted
as a radio officer to the U.S.S. Zane.
While on board he read Don Quixote,
which turned his ambitions from the
stage to novel writing. He sent four
chapters of Aurora Dawn to Edman,
who placed it with Simon & Schus-
ter. The book sold reasonably well, as
did his semi-autobiographical novel
The City Boy (1948).
With The Caine Mutiny (1951),
Wouk struck gold. A drama on the
high seas leading up to a riveting
courtroom scene, it sold more than
three million copies in the United
States alone, won the Pulitzer Prize
for fiction in 1952 and was made
into a movie in 1954. Wouk adapted
the courtroom scenes into a hit
Broadway play, The Caine Mutiny
Court-Martial, also in 1954. He had
already made his Broadway debut in
1949 with The Traitor and returned to
Broadway with Nature's Way in 1957.
In the book Marjorie Morningstar
(1955), the heroine is a middle-class
Jewish girl who dreams of becoming
an actress, but learns to settle, happily,
for life as a wife and mother. The novel
inspired the 1958 film of the same
name. Wouk delivered another block-
buster with Youngblood Hawke (1962).
By 1958 Wouk had moved to the
Virgin Islands, and began plan-
ning an epic-scale novel dealing
with WWII. In 1964 he moved to
Washington, D.C., to do research,
and also traveled the world to inter-
view military leaders. In the end he
wrote two novels: The Winds of War
(1971), which covered the signing of
the Nazi-Soviet pact in 1939 to the
attack on Pearl Harbor, and War and
Remembrance (1978), which carried
the story forward through the libera-
tion of the concentration camps and
the dropping of the atom bomb. The
first TV mini-series installment of
‘The Winds of War, broadcast in 1983,
attracted 80 million viewers; War and
Remembrance was broadcast in 1988.
After writing the autobiographi-
cal novel Inside, Outside (1985),
Wouk applied his epic formula to
modern Israel in The Hope and The
Glory (both 1994). A conversation
with his brother, Victor, an electrical
engineer who had worked on the
Manhattan Project, provided Wouk
with the subject matter for 4 Hole
in Texas (2004). For his comic novel
The Lawgiver (2012), Wouk told his
tale in a modernized epistolary style,
furnishing letters, memos, emails,
Twitter posts and text messages
written by his characters.
Wouk's wife, the former Betty
Sarah Brown, who represented him
after founding the BSW Literary
Agency in 1979, died in 2011. He
was also predeceased by his brother
in 2005; sister, Irene Wouk Green,
in 2004; and son, Abraham, in
1951. He is survived by his children
Tolanthe Woulff and Joseph Wouk
°75, LAW’79; three grandchildren;
and two great-grandchildren.
— Lisa Palladino
Summer 2019 CCT 83
1951
Andrew P. Siff, retired attorney, New
York City, on September 24, 2018. A
1953 graduate of the Law School, Siff
had a general practice that included
trust and estates law and entertain-
ment law. He was the longest serving
board member in the history of
East Side House Settlement. Siff is
survived by his wife, Julie; daughter,
Maria; son-in-law, Philip Yang Jr.; and
two granddaughters. Memorial con-
tributions may be made to East Side
House Settlement, 337 Alexander
Ave., Bronx, NY 10454.
1953
Gordon G. Henderson, retired,
Spencer, W.Va., on April 24, 2018.
Henderson was born in Galetta,
Ontario, Canada, on October 19,
1931. At graduation he won the
Hardie Scholarship in Greek to
York College but chose instead
to accept a scholarship to Columbia;
he earned a Ph.D. in 1962 from
GSAS. Henderson was predeceased
by his brothers Lorne, Earl,
Clifford and Harold; sister,
Dorothy Grummett; and infant
daughter, Abigail. In addition to
his wife, Mary Ann BC’S3, he
is survived by his children Eve
Bostic and her husband, Jim, Sara
Scheuch and her husband, Jonathan,
and Martha Bennett and her
husband, Joe; and six grandchildren.
Memorial contributions may be
made to the Columbia College
Fund, Columbia Alumni Center,
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530, 3rd F1.,
New York, NY 10025; or college.
columbia.edu/alumni/columbia-
college-fund.
Alfred E. Ward, retired dentist,
Saratoga Springs, N.Y., on Novem-
ber 26, 2018. The president of his
senior class, Ward earned All-Ivy
status as a wide receiver and place
kicker, setting records for receptions
(42) and most consecutive extra
points. At the Dental School, from
which he earned degrees in 1958
and 1962, he met his wife, Sheila
Paquette; she predeceased him after
58 years of marriage. Ward founded
four Coach Lou Little football
scholarships, and loved opera, sail-
ing, golf, the Giants and everything
Columbia. He is survived by his son,
Sam’82, and Sam’s wife, Beverly;
twin daughters, Nicole NRS’87 and
Tara, and Tara’s husband, Tony; and
two grandsons.
Donald L. Keene 42, GSAS49, Japanese Literature Translator,
University Professor Emeritus
Donald L. Keene ’42, GSAS’49,
a Japanese literature translator
whose prodigious academic output
helped define the study of the
subject, died on February 24, 2019,
in Tokyo. He was 96. Keene spent
more than 50 years at the University,
which opened the Donald Keene
Center of Japanese Culture in 1986.
Born on June 18, 1922, in Brook-
lyn, N.Y., Keene was a child prodigy.
Entering the College on scholarship
in 1938 at 16, he studied the classics
of Western literature and honed his
talent for languages on French and
Greek. In 1940, Keene encountered
the literature that would define
his life: a 49-cent translation of
Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji,
an 11th-century story of courtly
love affairs and other intrigues, often
described as the world’s first novel.
‘The translation “was magical, evok-
ing a beautiful and distant world,”
he wrote in a 2008 memoir of his
relationship with Japan. For Keene,
who described himself as an “intense
pacifist,” Murasaki’s romance was “a
refuge from all I hated in the world
around me.” Shortly after Pearl
Harbor, however, Keene enlisted in
the Navy, where he volunteered to
84 CCT Summer 2019
study Japanese and traveled to Cali-
fornia to enter the Navy Japanese
Language School.
Keene’s first work as a translator
came in Hawaii, where he worked
on military reports captured from
Japanese units, and his first visit to
the country began on a beach in
Okinawa on April 1, 1945, one of
the bloodiest battles of the Pacific
campaign. After the war, Keene
returned to Columbia, earning an
M.A. and Ph.D. from GSAS in
1947 and 1949, respectively. Keene
spent a year as a visiting student at
Harvard and five years as a student
and lecturer at Cambridge.
In 1953, Keene received a Ford
Foundation fellowship to study
at Kyoto University. He returned
to New York in 1955 to teach at
Columbia, where he played a key role
in the development of the Depart-
ment of East Asian Languages and
Cultures into a national standard
bearer and taught classes on Japanese
literature and cultural history for
decades. He was named the Shinch6
Professor of Japanese Literature
in 1981 and became a University
Professor in 1989. Keene retired
in 1992 and was named University
Professor Emeritus, but taught a
graduate seminar every spring for the
following two decades; his final class
at Columbia, in spring 2011, was
widely covered by the Japanese media
and commemorated by a public
symposium. Columbia awarded him
a Litt.D. (Hon.) in 1997.
Keene had translated many of the
most important works of Japanese
literature into lively and eminently
readable English, and his scholar-
ship quickly became the foundation
of the study of Japanese literature
and culture in the English-speaking
world. He published around 25
books in English and many more
in Japanese and other languages,
ranging from academic studies to
personal reminisces. In 1985, Keene
became the first non-Japanese to
receive the Yomiuri Prize for Lit-
erature for literary criticism for his
historical survey of Japanese diaries.
Keene decided to become a
Japanese citizen in the aftermath of
the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster
that followed a deadly earthquake
and tsunami. The next year, he moved
to Japan and adopted Uehara Seiki, a
traditional shamisen performer and
bunraku puppet theater narrator, as
1955
Gordon I. Kaye, professor emeritus,
former chairman of the board and
CEO, Waquoit, Mass., on February
9, 2019. Raised near the Brooklyn
Botanic Garden, Kaye credited that
institution for introducing him to
the excitement of laboratory research
when he was 7. In 1963, he was
named assistant professor in surgical
pathology and director of the F. Hig-
ginson Cabot Laboratory of Electron
Microscopy at Columbia. In 1976,
Kaye moved to Albany Medical Col-
lege as a professor in and chairman
of the anatomy department and as a
professor of pathology; he retired as
the Alden March Professor Emeritus
of Pathology and Laboratory Medi-
cine. In 1993, Kaye and a colleague
founded WR’, which developed and
his son and heir. Now known as Seiki
Keene, he is Keene’s sole survivor.
The Keene Center has established
a scholarship fund in Keene’s honor.
Memorial contributions may be
sent to the Donald Keene Center
of Japanese Culture, Columbia
University, 1140 Amsterdam Ave.,
507 Kent Hall, MC 3920, New
York, NY 10027, or given online:
bit.ly/2XDZaeZ. The center will
host a memorial service at Columbia
on Friday, September 27. Read more
about Keene on the center’s website:
keenecenter.org/donald_keene.html.
— Lisa Palladino
JOE PINEIRO
alumninews
Joseph A. Sirola ’51, Actor, Voiceover Artist
Joseph A. Sirola ’51, an actor and
voiceover artist who played regular
roles on TV and the stage but had an
even more successful career behind
the microphone in hundreds of com-
mercials, died in New York City on
February 10, 2019. He was 89.
Sirola acted on Broadway, in
small theaters, on TV soap operas
and dramas, and in the occasional
movie; he even produced on and
Off Broadway late in life. But
his vocal flexibility made him far
richer. In the 1960s he began doing
voiceover work and soon found
himself in high demand. A 1971
article about Sirola said he could be
heard in 40 different commercials
at that time and speculated that
Americans who listened to the
radio or watched TV probably
heard his voice every day. He took
considerable pride in the vocation,
and said in the same interview, “The
day is long past when a person who
is merely a good announcer can do
an effective commercial.”
marketed equipment to perform
alkaline hydrolysis, the most effective
method for the treatment and disposal
of infectious biological waste. Alkaline
hydrolysis destroys pathogens includ-
ing the prions that cause mad cow
disease, scrapie and Chronic Wasting
Disease. A loyal alumnus, Kaye, who
earned a master’s in 1957 and a Ph.D.
in 1961, both from GSAS, was for
years an active admissions interviewer.
He is survived by his wife of 62
years, Nancy GSAS’60; daughters,
Jacqueline Kaye Dufresne and her
husband, Keith, and Vivienne Kaye
West and her husband, Rick; and
three grandchildren.
Robert Loring, retired orthodontist,
Hopatcong, N.J.,on February 25,
2019. Loring (née Lifschutz) was born
in 1933 in Brooklyn, N.Y. He com-
pleted his doctoral and postdoctoral
studies at the Dental School in 1958
and 1963, respectively. While at the
College, Loring was a heavyweight
oarsman. After dental school, he
entered the Army and was stationed
at Fort Monroe, Va.; he achieved the
rank of captain. After his discharge,
Sirola was born on October 7,
1929, in Carteret, N.J., to Anton
and Ana (née Dubrovich); both had
emigrated from what is now Croatia.
Sirola grew up in New York City
and graduated from Stuyvesant in
1947. He earned a business degree
from the College.
After service in the Army, Sirola
took a job as a sales promotion
manager at Kimberly-Clark. When
a girlfriend told him, “Youre much
more than a salesman,” he took some
courses in the arts at Hunter College,
one of which was in acting. His first
Off Broadway credit was in 1959 in
the play Song for a Certain Midnight,
and he made his Broadway debut
the next year, playing the proprietor
of a bar in The Unsinkable Molly
Brown. Later Broadway acting credits
included Golden Rainbow in 1968 and
a revival of Pal Joey in 1976. At the
same time, he was getting an increas-
ing amount of TV work, playing roles
on’60s and’70 shows like Get Smart,
The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Hawaii
Loring and his wife, Barbara, settled
on Staten Island, where Loring
established his orthodontics practice,
was president of the Staten Island
branch of the Alpha Omega dental
fraternity, was active in Kiwanis,
volunteered in the Staten Island
Hospital dental clinic and raised two
daughters. Upon retirement, Loring
and his wife relocated to their summer
home in Hopatcong. He enjoyed
attending lectures and traveling, was
an avid classic movie buff and science
fiction reader, loved boats, automobiles
and car racing, and enjoyed building
electronics and home construction
projects. Loring is survived by his wife
of 61 years; daughter Robyn Specthrie
and her husband, Leon Specthrie
85, PS’90, daughter Susan Crane’89,
LAW’92 and her husband, Hugh
Crane ’88; and three grandchildren.
1956
Barry M. Beller, retired cardiologist,
Santa Fe, N.M., on October 2, 2018.
Born in NYC, Beller graduated from
Stuyvesant H.S. and P&S (1960). His
Five-O, The Magician and The Mon-
tefuscos. In 1989, Sirola played the
father of the title character in Wolf
Sirola was also known for the
rooftop garden he kept at his
penthouse on the Upper East Side.
His roses were legendary: He gener-
ally sported one in his lapel when
he attended Broadway openings,
and each June he hosted a storied
“Champagne and Roses” party.
While filming the 1984 TV movie
Terrible Joe Moran, Sirola found a
fellow gardener in the film’s star,
James Cagney CC 1922. Just a few
years ago, Sirola invested $100,000
in the Off Broadway biographical
musical Cagney, which he produced
and which played more than 500
performances. It wasn't Sirola’s first
job as a producer; he worked on the
Broadway musical _4 Gentleman’
Guide to Love and Murder, which won
the Tony for best musical in 2014.
Throughout his performing and
producing careers, Sirola continued
voiceover work. He was still working
postdoctoral training in cardiology
was at the University of Chicago.
Beller served in the Air Force as
head of the cardiac catheterization
lab at Wilford Hall Medical Facility,
apa”
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Dr. Barry M. Beller 56
Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas.
After teaching at the Albert Einstein
College of Medicine, he returned to
San Antonio to help start the Uni-
versity of Texas School of Medicine
San Antonio, as head of cardiology,
and he held the Freeman Endowed
Chair professorship. While in private
when webisodes arrived: In 2010, in
a series of fake mini-documentaries
for Volkswagen, he played a fictional
codger named Sluggy who was said
to have accidentally invented a game
of punching someone in the arm any
time a VW was spotted.
Sirola is survived by his longtime
companion, Claire Gozzo; daughter,
Dawn Bales; and three grandchildren.
— Lisa Palladino
practice, Beller sat on the boards of
the San Antonio Symphony, the
Heart Association and the Southwest
School of Art in San Antonio, and on
the boards of the Santa Fe Chamber
Music Festival and Performance Santa
Fe. He was one of the founders of
KPAC, the 24-hour public classical
music station in San Antonio. Beller
enjoyed music and art, was a prolific
photographer and restored antique
autos. He is survived by his wife,
Natalie Mayer Beller BC’59; and
children, Jonathan’85, GSAS’88, and
Valerie, and their families.
Maurice S. Easton, Southport,
N.C., formerly of Birmingham,
Mich., on October 31, 2018. Born
in New York City, Easton loved his
family, skiing, tennis and all dogs.
He entered with the Class of 1955
and graduated in 1957 with a B.S.
in mechanical engineering from
Columbia Engineering. Easton is
survived by his wife, Cynthia; chil-
dren, Rachael, and Matthew and his
wife, Lauren; twin brother, Stephen
56, and Stephen’s wife, Elke; and
one grandchild.
Summer 2019 CCT 85
Obituaries
Robert Markowitz, retired health
care administrator and risk manage-
ment expert, New York City and
Kent, Conn., on February 17, 2018.
Born in New York City on Septem-
ber 16, 1935, to Lottie and Harry,
Markowitz earned an MLS. in 1958
from the School of Public Health
and enjoyed an esteemed career at
The Brooklyn Hospital Center, Long
Island Jewish Medical Center and
FOJP Service Corp., and served on
the boards of the New York Organ
Donor Network and New York
Blood Center. He and his wife, Susan
Forbes Markowitz, spent time in
New York City and Kent, Conn.
After retirement, they spent most of
their time in Kent, where Markowitz
volunteered at the town library, photo-
graphed special events and mentored
entrepreneurs at SCORE. He was
an athlete and sports fan, and a New
York Times crossword enthusiast.
Markowitz is survived by his wife of
23 years; daughters, Randi Udelson
and her husband, Don, Julie Abod
and her husband, Cornell, and Lisa
Markowitz and her husband, George
Carson; four grandchildren; brothers
Gene Martin and Jerry Markowitz;
and former spouse, Robin Pollack
(née Elsen), mother of his daughters.
Memorial contributions may be made
to the Kent Memorial Library (kent
memoriallibrary.org) or the New York
Organ Donor Network (liveonny.org).
1o7
George H. Betts, retired farmer
and social worker, Worcester, N.Y.,
Obituary Submission
Guidelines
Columbia College Today welcomes
obituaries for College alumni.
Deaths are noted in the next
available issue in the “Other
Deaths Reported” box. Complete
obituaries will be published in an
upcoming issue, pending receipt of
information. Due to the volume of
obituaries that CCT receives, it may
take several issues for the complete
obituary to appear. Word limit is 200;
text may be edited for length, clarity
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Click “Contact Us” at college.
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College Today, Columbia Alumni
Center, 622 W. 113th St., MC 4530,
4th Fl., New York, NY 10025.
86 CCT Summer 2019
on October 2, 2018. Born on June
30, 1934, in Highland Park, IIl.,
Betts met his future wife, Regina,
while both worked in the theater in
New York City, where they had their
four children before moving upstate
in 1971. A 1969 alumnus of the
EILEEN BARROSO
George H. Betts ’57
School of Social Work, Betts was
a dedicated civil rights activist and
social worker. He was a member of
the NAACP and Temple Beth El
in Oneonta, N.Y., until his death.
He also became a sheep farmer
soon after moving to Worcester
in 1984. Shown in the above
photo are Betts with his son
Christopher ’84 and grandson
Joseph ’15 at Joseph’s graduation.
1958
Joseph Geller, retired physician,
East Patchogue, N.Y., on September
24, 2018. Geller was born in Brook-
lyn, N.Y., in 1936. He was 16 and
his wife, Edyie, was 14 when they
met at John Adams HLS. in Queens,
where Geller was valedictorian of the
Class of 1954. At Columbia, Geller
was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He
and Edyie were married in 1961 and
he graduated from the NYU School
of Medicine in 1962. Geller was a
captain in the Air Force 1963-65,
stationed in Bangor, Maine. After
Dr. Joseph Geller ’58
his honorable discharge, the family
settled in East Patchogue. Geller was
a partner in the Patchogue Medical
Group, 1965-2001, from which he
retired. A dedicated, passionate and
patient-centered family physician
who until retirement continued to
make house calls, Geller and his wife
delighted in worldwide travel after he
retired, visiting every U.S. state and
every continent. They celebrated their
57th wedding anniversary in August
2018 during a family tour of Italy.
Geller is survived by his wife; chil-
dren and their spouses, Mitch and
Mary, Pam and Steve, Robin
and Brian, and Gregg and Debra;
and six grandchildren.
1959
Maurice R. “Rudy” Brody,
physician, La Canada Flintridge,
Calif., on January 6, 2019. Brody
grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y.,
playing stickball in the streets
with classmates from P.S. 181 and
walking to Ebbets Field to see the
Brooklyn Dodgers. After graduating
from Poly Prep, he excelled at the
College and the NYU School of
Medicine. Brody did a pediatric
internship at Children’s Hospital in
Los Angeles, but returned to New
York for his residency at Bellevue
Hospital. It was there that he met an
occupational therapist, Jill; they were
married in March 1966. Although
Brody was passionate about his
work, his true love was for his
family. He and his wife moved to
La Canada in 1971 with their young
sons. Brody is survived by his wife
of almost 53 years; son Steve and his
wife, Melanie, son Jon and his wife,
Holly; and three grandchildren.
1965
Costas “Gus” Hercules, psychia-
trist, Rapid City, S.D., on January
21, 2019. Hercules was born on
March 28, 1944, in New York City
to Nick and Hope (née Menicon)
Hercules. He graduated from Bronx
Science, and later the University of
Rochester School of Medicine and
Dentistry. After earning an M.D.,
Hercules completed his medical
residency and became a board-
certified psychiatrist. He moved to
the Black Hills of South Dakota in
1973, started a private psychiatric
practice and served the greater
Rapid City area for decades. In his
book, Se/fishians, Otherishites and
Fairishers: A Guide to Harmonious
Relationships, Hercules provided
the tools and guidance necessary
for restructuring unfair and hurtful
relationships. He was playfully,
but appropriately, dubbed “Costas,
the Greek God of Harmonious
Relationships.” Hercules is survived
by his sister, Thea Hercules Geotas;
nephew, Jordan Geotas and his wife,
Christyann; and their daughters.
He was predeceased by his parents;
sister, Anna Hercules; and nephew
Eric Hercules Geotas.
Peter Mound, attorney, Santee,
Calif., on November 3, 2018. Raised
in New York City, Mound graduated
from the Trinity School and Cornell
Law School. He practiced law
with the New York City Corporate
Council Office until the 1990s,
when he moved to California for
private practice.
Michael R. Sesit, retired journalist,
New York City, on January 24, 2019.
A native New Yorker, Sesit was
a second-generation Columbian,
following his father, Myron Sesit
CC 1927, and like his father, played
football for Columbia. After earning
a master’s in modern European
history from NYU, Sesit returned
to Columbia to briefly work in the
Provost’s Office before beginning
a long career in journalism. He
worked for Businessweek, The Wall
Street Journal and Bloomberg,
covering international finance
in New York, London and Paris.
Coworkers knew him as a dogged
and dedicated journalist, a loyal
colleague and an ardent sports
fan (still following the Lions), as
well as an accomplished military
historian who never missed a chance
to sneak in a sports or military
analogy. Survivors include his wife,
Susan Blackwell. Sesit had battled
Parkinson’s disease for nearly 20
years; memorial contributions
may be made to The Michael J.
Fox Foundation.
1967
Christopher P. Kirk, Cambridge,
Mass., on October 31, 2018. Kirk
was born on January 24, 1945, and
grew up in Seattle. He earned an
M.F.A. from Washington University.
Kirk is survived by his wife, Karen
Dorn; and sister, Hannah. He was
predeceased by a son, Spencer, and
an uncle, B. Kirk.
1968
Ronald M. Pristin, IT professional,
New York City, on October 27,
2018. Pristin was born in 1947 in
New York City and spent his entire
life on the Upper West Side. His
Columbia friends knew him for
his commitment to moral causes,
including human rights and civil
liberties. Pristin taught elementary
school for many years before becom-
ing a successful IT professional in
both the financial and public sectors.
He was a lover of music, photogra-
phy, film and the New York Mets.
He will be remembered first and
foremost for his sense of humor and
his love and devotion to his family.
Pristin was married to Pauline Lee-
Pristin for 42 years. She survives
him, as do his children, David and
Steven; daughters-in-law, Catherine
and Jazmyne; and two grandchil-
dren. Pristin was predeceased by
his parents, Irving and Sina, both
Holocaust survivors. Memorial
contributions may be made to the
Multiple Myeloma Research Foun-
dation (themmrf.org).
1971
Eugene “Gene” J. Kisluk Jr.,
independent appraiser of books and
manuscripts, New York City, on
November 19, 2018. Born in Poland,
Kisluk went to New Britain, Conn.,
in 1961 and graduated from New
Britain H.S. He earned both a mas-
ter’s and a Ph.D. in history, in 1977
and 1991, respectively, from GSAS.
Kisluk’s dissertation, Brothers from
the North: The Polish Democratic Soci-
ety and the European Revolutions of
1848-1849, was published in 2005.
Kisluk was known for his facility
in languages and his evaluation of
books and autographs, as well as the
personal papers of important 20th
century literary and political figures.
Among his more celebrated projects
was the appraisal of a trove of let-
ters written by Pope John Paul IJ,
which became the subject of a BBC/
PBS documentary in 2016. Many
knew Kisluk as an erudite man,
Eugene “Gene” J. Kisluk Jr. ’71
with a gift for engaging people on
countless subjects. He was a devoted
husband and father, coaching his
son Eugene’s soccer team and never
missing an event in which his son
participated. His son survives him,
as does his wife, Daniélle Gro-
sheide. Memorial contributions may
be made to the New York Public
Library (nypl.org/kisluk).
Paul J. Kulkosky, retired professor
of psychology, Butte, Mont., on Jan-
uary 20, 2019. Kulkosky was born in
Newark, N.J., on March 3, 1949, and
attended St. Cecilia Elementary and
Saint Peter’s Preparatory in Newark.
He earned an M.A. from GSAS in
1972 and a Ph.D. in 1975 from the
University of Washington, Seattle,
where he met his future wife,
Butte native Tanya Weightman.
‘They married in 1978. Kulkosky
was a past president of the Rocky
Mountain Division of the American
Association for the Advancement
of Science. After 35 years of science
and university teaching, Kulkowsky
and his wife left Colorado State
and Pueblo to retire in Butte. They
enjoyed traveling, camping and
hiking, and loved New York City
but also Montana cowboys, thanks
to their family friend Roy Delmoe.
Kulkosky is survived by his wife;
mother-in-law, Gracie Gillette;
brothers and sisters-in-law, Chris
and Mary Anne Kulkosky and Peter
and Elaine Kulkosky and their sons,
Mark Kulkosky and Steven Stein;
uncle, Ed; cousins, Victor, Daniel,
Michael, Gregory, Lucy Leonetti
Pipitone and Dominic Leonetti;
brother-in-law, Kerry Weightman,
and sister-in-law, Rita Casagranda
Weightman, and their children,
Cassie Weightman Wick and her
husband, Jon, and Ryan Weightman.
— Lisa Palladino
Summer 2019 CCT 87
the/astword
Getting Even with Mark Van Doren
By Foe Wisnovsky 61
uch has been written, in CCT and elsewhere, about
the deservedly Lionized teacher, scholar and poet
Mark Van Doren. Here’s a recollection of an unusual
encounter I had with him near the end of his long
and distinguished career on Morningside Heights.
After nearly 40 years as a member of the English faculty, Profes-
sor Van Doren (who received his Ph.D. from Columbia’s Graduate
School of Arts and Sciences in 1920) finally taught his last course —
a perennial student favorite titled “The Narrative Art” — in fall 1959.
The curriculum was simple: We met in class once a week, at which
time Van Doren would return the previous week’s graded home-
work, give a lecture on that week’s reading and introduce the next
week’s reading. The assignments encompassed a range of cultures,
periods, formats and lengths. Most were entire books. What they
had in common was that they were all forms of storytelling he held
in especially high esteem. In general, the assignments proceeded in
chronological order, from antiquity to the 20th century.
One of our first readings that year was a biblical excerpt, from
the Book of Kings, featuring the story of King David and his son
Absalom, wherein it is written that the father, lamenting the mur-
der of his son by Joab’s henchmen, memorably exclaimed: “O my
son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for
thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!” [2 Samuel: 19:4].
Our assignment was to write something, anything, of any length
or style — essay, poem, critique, parody, etc. — inspired by this
reading, and to hand it in by the start of the next class, a week later.
I regret to say that whatever I wrote in response to this assign-
ment has long since been lost and forgotten. When the time came
for our graded work to be returned, however, I was surprised to find
that my paper was missing, as were those of several others in the
class. Van Doren then explained that, owing to a spate of suspiciously
slick course papers recently submitted by Columbia undergrads, he
and other department members were taking special pains to make
sure that such works were not being produced and sold to students
by professional ghostwriters. Accordingly, he added, students whose
papers were not returned should make an appointment to meet with
him in his office at our earliest convenience to discuss the matter.
More bemused than upset, I dutifully made my appointment for a
few days hence and went back to my studies, which included my read-
ing of the next assignment in the course: The Castle, by Franz Kafka.
On the appointed day, I made my way to Van Doren’s office
in Hamilton Hall and introduced myself as one of the presumed
culprits. He greeted me noncommittally and gestured for me to
sit down opposite him. He then looked me straight in the eye and
asked, point blank: “Did you write this paper by yourself?” “Yes, I
did,” I replied. Whereupon, with no further ado, he said, in words
I'll never forget: “Well, I guess I’ll have to take your word for it.”
88 CCT Summer 2019
As I walked out the door and back down the long, empty hall-
way, I became more upset than bemused. Was that it? No small talk
about this or that? Not a hint of praise about my paper, however
faint? Before long, my upset turned to anger, and I began to think
about what I might do to return the favor.
And then it hit me: K.! I was just like K., the hapless protago-
nist in The Castle, which I had just finished reading. As I descended
the steps of Hamilton Hall and crossed Van Am Quad, a devious
scheme began to form in my mind. Like K., I had just met with an
inscrutable denizen of a castle of sorts, the epitome of unrespon-
sive, unaccountable authority, and I had been brushed aside like a fly!
Before, I was just reading about the evils of an arbitrary, soul-stifling
bureaucracy. Now, I was confronting it myself — complete with the
crushing punchline: “Well, I guess I'll have to take your word for it.”
I made straight for Butler Library, settled down in the main
reading room, took out my yellow legal pad and started scribbling.
As I descended the steps of Hamilton Hall
and crossed Van Am Quad, a devious
scheme began to form in my mind.
By the time I stood up, late that evening, my screed completed, I
felt much better, relieved of my anger and, I must confess, a bit
giddy about what I had done. I turned in my wickedly barbed
parody, mimicking K.’s humiliating ordeal, shortly thereafter and
looked forward nervously to its effect.
When Van Doren arrived for the next class, he took a bunch of
papers out of his briefcase and, as always, spread them out on the
table in front of the lectern, for students to pick up after class. Then
he did something astonishing. He announced that he owed some-
one in the room an apology. Referring to the issue of supposed
ghostwriting, he explained that in expiation for his poor judgment,
he would now read aloud a falsely suspected student’s paper on The
Castle to the class, in full, which he did.
At the end of the class, I retrieved my paper, smiled at the brief,
red-penciled comment at the top — “Revenge well taken!” — and
left the room, beaming.
A great man, and then some — a real mensch.
Joe Wisnovsky’61 worked for more than 50 years as a science writer and
editor for various publishers, including Scientific American, WW Nor-
ton &% Co., Princeton University Press, and Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
interd isciplinary :
experience was my first
outside of the U.S. and
only possible because of
College Fund support.
This Summer was both
personally and professionally
transformative, giving me
: = insight into who | am and what
bs | hope to accomplish with my
‘ environmental science degree. ™
. ‘ — Grant Pace CC’20
e:
Gifts to the Columbia College Fund support internship
stipends for College students, allowing Grant to spend
his summer at the Runa Foundation in Tena, Ecuador.
To make your gift, visit college.givenow.columbia.edu.
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