{Yes, these notes are not up-to-date. We plan to change that. }

Class Notes 2007

by Edward Wasserman
10031 SW 60th Ave.
Miami, FL 33156
(305) 662-1538
edward_wasserman@hotmail.com

January 07

From my Charlottesville neighbor George Gercke ggercke@adelphia.net comes this account of the recent Saybrook mini-reunion:

“In late September 14 Saybrugians, most from the Class of ‘70 and most with spouses or significant others in tow, converged on Charleston for the fifth installment in our ongoing series of unofficial reunions. In our 2002 gathering in Anchorage, we decided that Charleston provided a felicitous combination of weather, history, architecture and recreation as a backdrop for our aging, but still very active group. Trickling into Wild Dunes Resort on the Isle of Palms were Jim and Linda Fredrick (our Anchorage hosts), David Johnson and Sheila Conneen, Peter and Susan Mersereau (our future hosts), Rich and Joyce Schwartz, Katharine Ogden Michaels (Saybrook ‘72, who traveled from Italy to attend), David and Karen Ryugo, Joe and Kathleen Sheehy, Jim and Susan Metzloff; Charles, Gayle, and daughter Eliza Cohen; Bill Littlefield and Mary Atlee, Jack Holton and Christine Remy, Ian and Kay Glenday, Flip Dibner, and my wife Nancy, our daughter Emily and me.

“The accommodations were graceful, the food sumptuous, and the weather sublime, but the highlights of the reunion were the two cookouts hosted at the beach houses of the Mesereau-Schwartz-Ryugo-Cohen contingent on Friday night and the Fredrick-Sheehy-Metzloff-Littlefield group on Saturday. Busy days of visiting plantations, taking boat rides to Fort Sumter and walking tours of Historic Downtown Charleston, or lolling on the beach provided grist for conversation as we caught up with each other in the evening. This unofficial reunion habit appears durable, as Friday night we conclaved to decide where to meet in 2008 and who would host. Peter and Susan Mersereau emerged as our new organizers, and our next venue will be Lake George in September 2008.

“At our 35th in New Haven last year, Eric Rosenberg sought me out to give me a 1967 photograph of a group of us taken in the Saybrook stone courtyard. We pack more flesh and less hair than the figures in the picture, but eight of the eleven Saybrugians in the photo were at Charleston. The bonds form early at Yale, and seem to last a lifetime.”

From Cambridge, Scott Simpson SSIMPSON@stubbins.us sends word of his latest book, The Next Architect (Ostberg Press), “a counterpart to the first one I published a few years ago, How Firms Succeed A Field Guide to Design Management, which was about the organizational aspects of professional practice. The new one is more about personal vision and individual leadership in design. Basically, the design & construction industry is pretty archaic, based on contention rather than cooperation, and these two books are my modest attempt to change that paradigm once and for all.”

Robert Schechter rjs@aya.yale.edu writes: “Daughter Rachel is a senior at Davenport, president of Davenport, doing as much as any normal three Yalies. I'm embarrassed at how much more she's doing than I recall doing myself at the time. … Son David is beginning U of Chicago Law School, and I expect to receive a subpoena any day now. Daughter Laura is Professing Agricultural Economics at U of Wisconsin.”

Finally, Brent White brent.white@mac.com says he’s still enjoying retirement in Upstate New York, and Jeff Stern jstern@Forumcp.com seconds Henry Smythe’s suggestion of a class 60th birthday bash: “Great idea let me know how I can help in the New York area.”

March 07

I’m sorry to report that Matt Schaffer, businessman, poet and anthropologist, died of cancer in December. Matt was in Cologne, Germany, undergoing experimental treatment for a rare neuroendocrine carcinoma, which had flared up again in October. His wife Christine christinejcooper@yahoo.com and son Ethan ethan@growfood.org were with him. Matt was a Rhodes scholar whose work and accomplishments spanned an unusually broad range of intellectual passions, from West African language and culture to his own poetry. I’ll offer more details about his career next time.

Ian Glenday iglenday@aol.com received an account of Matt’s late January memorial service from Eric Redman, a Seattle lawyer who attended Oxford at the same time as Ian and Matt. An excerpt follows: “Christine had picked the small chapel built into the side of Seattle's massive St. Mark's Cathedral, imagining, I suppose, that since … Matt and Christine had lived in Seattle only five years, perhaps not many people would attend. I arrived on time, but the small chapel was filled to overflowing, the crowd jammed the entry and the steps, and out into the circular drive. Who are all these people? I wondered. They turned out to be students, and classmates (from Yale, Oxford, etc.), neighbors from Idaho, people he grew up with in Georgia, fellow patients in his support group, fellow practitioners in his meditation group, several scholars from Senegal, nephews and nieces from Vermont and Boston, politicians, environmentalists, local poets, and on and on.”

Classmates with remembrances are welcome to send them to me or post them on the class memorials web site that Ben Slotznick bslotznick@comcast.net tends, at www.simtalk.com/epilogue/epilogue.php.

Matt’s family asks that any memorial donations be sent to The Sandpoint Institute, c/o Grayson Schaffer, 369 Montezuma #510, Santa Fe, NM 87501. Grayson gschaffer@outsidemag.com writes: “We will use the donations to seed the Sandpoint Institute, a nonprofit Matt had envisioned to combat the environmental toxicity that is linked so closely to our nation’s cancer epidemic.”

On a totally unrelated matter, we have a vacancy opening up July 1 for class delegate to the Association of Yale Alumni annual assembly, a three-day gathering each fall in New Haven. You would represent us, have a good time, report back on AYA doings, be generally wise and useful. For details see http://www.aya.yale.edu/assembly/delegate_role.htm. If you’re interested, get in touch with me.

May 07

I’m swamped with workplace duties this time around, and you’re apparently so busy living your lives that you couldn’t be bothered to send along much in the way of news, so this installment will be brief, though happy.

We have this unusual and wonderful event: one of our classmates is a first-time father. Steve Goldin, my ex-roommate and longtime friend, writes from Miami Beach that he and his wife Deborah Bussel are the parents of Lily Yael Goldin, born on March 7 at South Miami Hospital. The parents, Steve writes, “are completely altered and delighted.” Congratulations to Steve and Debby at ire@cybermesa.com.

Scott Simpson SSIMPSON@klingstubbins.com is now managing director of the newly merged design firm KlingStubbins, according to a clip from the Architectural Record. The new entity, with more than 500 employees in six offices, is one of the top 10 U.S. design firms by size.

In other news involving Scott, I’m pleased to announce he has agreed to serve once again as class delegate to the Association of Yale Alumni annual assemblies.

More next time.

September 07

It’s amazing how little you learn from seeing some things firsthand. As I write this I’m entering my third week in the Amazon, based out of Manaus, capital of the Brazilian region, a city of a million and a half about 900 miles upriver. The university group I’m with has ventured up and downstream from here, and I can tell you, with utter confidence, there’s quite a lot of rainforest in Brazil. The Amazon is very big, something like the combined size of the entire state of Vermont plus Asia. That’s not to say global climate changes aren’t having effects here, in altered river seasonal fluctations that are affecting everything from fish size to malaria incidence. But as a short-time visitor you don’t see all that. It isn’t readily perceptible. Instead, what you experience is raw nature as sturdy, powerful, immense and unyielding. That’s an appealing change from our usual notions of a fragile environment. Only gradually do you begin to see that it’s an illusion.

From New Orleans, Rodger Kamenetz kamenetz@gmail.com sends this: “I am now the father of two Yalies and the father-in-law of one. Daughter Anya graduated in '02, went on to intern and then write a column for the Village Voice, which led to a book deal for Generation Debt (now in paper from Riverhead). She married Adam Berenzweig '97 in New Orleans last fall. Attending was Alan Bernheimer and wife Melissa. Younger daughter Kezia is a philosophy major in Davenport, class of ’09. Last spring she led an interfaith group of Yale students down here to patch up what's left of our city. My wife Moira Crone published Where What Gets Into Us, a book of stories, with University Press of Mississippi last year, and I'm up this fall with The History of Last Night's Dream, an exploration of dreams and interpretation coming from Harper Collins. In the fall I'll be speaking in Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, San Diego, Washington, Baltimore, Atlanta and Miami -- the schedule is on my website at http://kamenetz.com. I hope to see any classmates who come -- and bring your dreams.”

From Seattle, Bruce Miller, brmiller13@comcast.net, writes: “Boeing is keeping me even busier than usual with multiple major new engineering projects in the works.” Wife Elizabeth will soon take on a new assignment as customer service trainer, elder daughter Clare is settling into a new home in Port Townsend, Wash., and daughter Lindsey is starting a new job in property management in Portland.

The alumni people have released their annual list of graduates who have offspring currently enrolled at Yale. I don’t know what significance we’re supposed to attach to this list, and especially whether we’re meant to see it as a sign of some continuing commitment Yale has made to us and ours, a dubious notion on several fronts. But I’m including it here (omitting young Kamenetz) because it’s something I’m sure our classmates are proud of, and I’d hope we all join in congratulating them and the outstanding young people they’ve raised (whose names and colleges follow theirs inside the parentheses):

Gary Chanan (Laura, Berkeley ’10), Gordon Chase (Gregory, Branford ’10), Leonard Holbrook (Andrew, Calhoun ’10), Randall Kau (Timothy, Berkeley ’09), Jonathan Lear (Sophia, Stiles ’08), Stephen Madva (Elizabeth, TD ’08), Robert Miller (Steven, Davenport ’08).

Robert Milstein (Leland, TD ’08), Philip Moncharsh (Anna, JE ’10), Michael Pfeifer (Charles, Pierson ’09), Timothy Ramish (Andrew, Berkeley ’08), Thatcher Shellaby (Sarah, Pierson ’09), Stephen Sherwin (Spencer, JE ’08).

Send news.

October 07

From the greenest of states, Vermont, Stephen Morris, the maestro of our reunion book, sends this: “My latest book, The New Village Green (New Society Publishers) is now out. It's an anthology that portrays a community of environmentalists connected not by geography but by ideas, beliefs, values and electrons. It contains an interview with classmate David Quammen about his book, The Reluctant Mr. Darwin. The manuscript was proofed by another classmate, Stephen Frankel, who also proofed our Yale '70 book. Incidentally, I have extra copies of the Yale '70 book. If you'd like one, contact Stephen@ThePublicPress.com or at 100 Gilead Brook Road, Randolph, VT 05060 (either book $10 postpaid).”

Lew Roney lewroney@msn.com reports from Cheyenne, Wyo., that he has retired from teaching high school math and that his wife and he are dividing their time between Wyoming and Mesquite, Nev. “We also became first-time grandparents in March with the birth of our grandson, Holden Hume,” writes Lew, who is teaching part-time both in Cheyenne and Mesquite.

David Monk dbmonk@hotmail.com and his wife Amy retired from the foreign service in April 2005 and moved to Honolulu to be closer to Amy’s family. “Granted,” David notes, “the location has a few other benefits.” They’ve been volunteering for several Democratic candidates, “now that we’re free from the political constraints on federal employees,” and he says he’s glad they got out when they did.

Michael Frank mfrank@emp.com has been honored by the Ohio Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians as emergency physician of the year. Michael, who as an attorney serves as general counsel of EMP Management Group, was honored for his 30 years of service as the physician “who exemplifies the highest standards of professional service and is considered a clincians of unusual merit.”

Finally, I’m sorry to report, belatedly, the unexpected death of Andrew Lynton in August ’06. Andy, who lived in New York City, died of a heart attack while attending a conference in Bethesda, Maryland. The portrait of his life that emerges from talking with his brother Dick (YC ’66), who lives near Denver, is of a man who found his greatest pleasure not in career or family, but in meditation, dance and bringing people together. After college Andy got an M.A. in hospital administration and later used his considerable analytical skills to have a go at investing and day-trading in the financial markets, to no great avail.

He sustained himself with occasional work in bookkeeping and office support, but his continuing passion, Dick says, was Transcendental Meditation. Andy became a beloved part of the TM community and was devoted to the other members. “We should all have such a circle of friends and acquaintances,” Dick says. “He loved helping people and connecting people to one another.” Andy, who at Yale was in Berkeley, also became attached to the tango, which is as much a discipline as a dance, and developed many friends among New York-area devotees. Andy’s family (his father Harold was YC ’29) asks that contributions in his name should be made to the organization of your choice. I’d be glad to run remembrances from classmates who knew him.

One more thing. Some of you append hand-written notes when you send checks and what-not to the Association of Yale Alumni. That’s fine. The AYA collects these updates and forwards them to me. Also fine. What’s not fine is my inability to grab this correspondence out of the predatory mob of worthless junk mail that holds our postal system hostage and floods our homes. That’s a long of way of saying that the reason you’re only just now hearing about Andy Lynton’s passing is because the envelope containing that information was lost beneath the chaos of my living room. My point? If you have information to share with classmates, send it to me directly, preferably electronically. And if you want to be sure, give me a call (cell 305 968-6221.)

More next time.