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Class Notes 200510031 SW 60th Ave. January 05Rich Bowen, reunion chair Popular culture sometimes offers solace and perspective, even wisdom. I recommend the remake of “Dawn of the Dead,” now out on DVD. Something about seeking refuge from predatory cannibals in a shopping mall seems an apt metaphor, no matter what your politics or val-yews. Please think about attending the coming reunion. It’s a chance to renew friendships that, with the passing of time, make more sense than ever. For now, Stephen Morris, launched as editor of the reunion book project, needs you. John Boak has set up www.yale70.com as a web site for written contributions and pictures. Have a look. This is an extremely cool concept, a book that goes way beyond directory into an imaginative testimonial. We’ll need your creative efforts, and we’ll need editors – one per chapter, preferably -- to help sand and polish your recollections into deathless art. So get in touch with Stephen at smorris@sover.net. Do it. The result could be wonderful. Now the news. From Armenia, John Evans Evansinarmenia@aol.com sends this: “I was nominated to be ambassador here in May, and after being confirmed by the Senate and sworn in, arrived in Yerevan in August with my wife, Donna. We have an excellent group of colleagues here and a challenging set of issues ranging from regional security (Armenia is technically at war) to building up the economy and developing democratic institutions. Having missed all previous class reunions on account of my work in the Foreign Service, I'll try to make it to our 35th.” (By the way, Armenia is at war with Azerbaijan. I didn’t know either.) Jeremy Travis jtravis@jjay.cuny.edu has returned to New York to become president of the City University of New York’s 13,000-student John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Jeremy had been senior fellow with the Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center since 2000, and for the previous six years directed the National Institute of Justice, which is the research arm of the Department of Justice. A note from John Jayne bijayne@juno.com in Weston, Mass.: “Currently unemployed. “Taking some time off to compose music. No longer a software engineer. Not sure what I really want to do for gain.” Gus Epps aepps@cblaw.com just celebrated his 20th wedding anniversary with wife Ellen, and is in his 32nd year practicing law with the Richmond, Va., firm, Christian & Barton, specializing in bankruptcy and insolvency law. A poignant note from Lew Roney lewroney@msn.com in Cheyenne, Wyo.: “I am sure many of you have faced or will face the declining health of our parents. I guess that comes with our age. My father died on Sept. 28, after several months of declining health, when his heart just gave out. Things are fine here with us. I wish all of you with the same prospects good luck, and God bless.” I got a query from David Fink about the death of classmate David Sauvage. I don’t have good information for him or you. I did find out that David apparently had been in theater in New York for 20 years before moving to Englewood, Colo. A recent review of his performance as Henry Higgins in a local production of “My Fair Lady” was rapturous. His voice was described as “magnificent,” no surprise for a former Whiff. I’ve phoned David’s widow but couldn’t connect before this column deadlined. I’ll have more next time. If any of you know anything, or want to share remembrances, please send them along. This, from Conrad Cummings conrad@conradcummings.com: “After an eight-year sojurn in the heady world of pre-bubble-burst Silicon Alley, I'm back to my first love, composing music. I've been teaching composition at Juilliard in the Evening Division, with students including a Yale 2003 grad, a distinguished jazz musician, and a Wall Street honcho more or less our age. All of them compose the most amazing music. A new piece dedicated to the Roller Derby diva Marge Laszlo got premiered in January, and my political campaign opera ‘Photo-Op’ played opposite the Republican convention in August and got Robert Schechter’s rjs@aya.yale.edu daughter Rachel is in her sophomore year at Yale, a likely double major in economics and classics. “What's a Grecian Urn? About 40 drachmas a day....she didn't laugh either,” he writes. Son David is a junior at Emory and daughter Laura will receive her Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in agricultural/developmental economics. “I am still in Los Angeles, shivering when I receive the New Haven weather report and trying to keep up with all the new treatments for macular degeneration (for the benefit of my patients.) Douglas Grimes doug.grimes@aya.yale.edu is a full time grad student in Informatics at UC Irvine, having finished his second computer-related M.S. “Yoga, sleep, and running keep my body in balance, and a bit of The 2004 NIH Distinguished Clinical Teacher Award has gone to David Goldstein goldsteind@ninds.nih.gov, who runs the Clinical Neurocardiology Section of the National Institutes of Health. Wife Minka is a realtor with Long & Foster. Kira is married and due to deliver in January, Sam is at Georgetown Law studying for a master’s in law in securities regulation, and his wife, Tara, is pregnant with their second; Zvi studies at a yeshiva in Israel; Mona graduated from the University of Texas and may go into genetic counseling; Joey is a high school freshman. Bye for now. Stay well. March 05Rich Bowen, reunion chair Stephen Morris, reunion book editor
A procedural note: To meet the alumni magazine’s length limits, I’ve been routinely cutting a lot of the material I get from you and elsewhere. From now on I’ll post a fuller version of these notes on the web site, www.yale70.com. By the way, thanks to the efforts of webmaster John Boak that site is wonderful. Have a look. Now to sad news about classmates who won’t be joining us in May. William C. (Bill) Crooks died of cardiac arrest at his home in Greenwich, Conn., in November. Bill went to Lawrenceville before Yale and Penn afterward. There he got a master’s in international relations, an MBA and a law degree. He began his career as a lawyer, and then moved into financial services, where he most recently was a managing director with Morgan Joseph & Co. Bill was active in community affairs in Greenwich, where he moved in 1977 and where he served as president and chairman of the Historical Society. He swam varsity at Yale, and was a member of the 400-yard relay team that set three national collegiate records. He is survived by wife Karin Johnson Crooks, daughter Christiana Brinton Crooks and son, William Clayton Carter Crooks. Memorial donations may be made to The Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich, 39 Strickland Road, Cos Cob, CT 06807; or to The Lawrenceville School, c/o Danielle Marasco, P.O. Box 6125, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648. Kenneth Koford, who was an economics professor at the University of Delaware, died of cancer at his home in Wilmington in October. Ken got his master’s degree and Ph.D. from UCLA, and joined the University of Delaware in 1979. Among numerous distinctions, he founded and headed the university’s legal studies program, directed the U.S. AID program in Bulgaria from 1990-96, was a Fulbright lecturer at the University of Sofia in 1997, and served as editor of the Eastern Economics Journal beginning in 1999. In recognition of his contributions to university and country, Ken was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Sofia in 2001. Ken is survived by his wife, Blagovesta N. Dimitrova-Koford, his mother, father, stepmother and brother. The family requests donations be made to the Department of Economics, University of Delaware, Purnell Hall, Newark, DE 19717. Remembrances of Ken and Bill are welcome. Finally, I have information about David Sauvage beyond what I initially learned from classmate Daniel Fink (not his twin brother David, as I incorrectly reported last time.) Lawrence Eyre sent along a montage that David’s wife Cyndi assembled from e-mails and messages the ’70 Whiffs sent after David died. Those remembrances will be posted on the web site. On behalf of the group Lawrence and Phil Howard spoke and sang at the memorial service in Denver in July. David majored in math at Yale, got an MBA from Stanford and had a long and successful career in investment banking in New York, without ever relinquishing a passion for music and theater, Cyndi told me. She was his third wife. They met in Colorado while David was visiting his sister. He induced her to move back East with him. They married in 1990 and had two sons, Evan, now 12, and Michael, 11. All three are planning to attend the coming reunion’s Whiffs concert. Tired of New York, the family moved to Colorado in 1995. David was diagnosed with melanoma a year later. He quit his boutique investment banking firm to devote himself to being a fulltime dad for his sons and a part-time star of musical theater in the greater Denver area. Cyndi says that two years ago, knowing he was dying, David began assembling a book of thoughts and observations for their sons. She’s keeping it, now 20-some pages, for whenever they say they’re ready to read it. David died at home on their 14th wedding anniversary in July. From the Whiffs’ remembrances, this: “Dave, we joined in providing a bit more beauty and song to the world…I see your face, always smiling, and hear your voice, always resonant, throughout the day…You have chosen to live by what you love, and those who love you can be found far and wide….” In other news, Jonathan Friedland consage@netvision.net.il writes from Haifa, Israel: “Enjoying being the consular representative for the U.S. government in the north of Israel, and practicing law.” Son Josh recently got his double BA from Haifa University, daughter Talia sailed the Atlantic, and youngest son Ori is a high school junior. David M. Wyatt, an English professor at the University of Maryland, writes: “My Ann and I continue to operate L’avventura Restaurant in Charlottesville, Va., and my new book, And the War Came, about living through the fall of 2001, is just out from the University of Wisconsin Press.” From Mound, Minn., Robert (Collins) Cavender MD collins.cavender@aya.yale.edu reports that his younger son Joe, Yale ’97, a June law grad from the University of Chicago, is clerking in Minneapolis for the chief judge of the federal circuit. Elder son Ben just started law school at the University of Michigan. “Two sons, two lawyers, where did I go wrong!” Collins writes. Thomas Keller writes from his new home in Palm Harbor, Fla.: “After my dad died unexpectedly in April, my emotional ties to the Baltimore area were largely severed. I have taken a new job as an EVP at Imerica, a startup individual medical insurance company in Tampa.” Tom and wife Sherry are first-time grandparents. Jose Giron MD says he moved to Orlando nearly five years ago, and remains busy with his clinical practice in infectious diseases. “My children are focused on art and music more than medicine. Given the beleaguered state of health care, this may be a blessing.” Finally, from Neptune Beach, FL, William R. Wainwright MD wwainwright@jaxheart.com reports that he recently trekked to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro in East Africa. That’s 19,340 feet. I did that when I was 22. It was very hard. It’s unimaginable to me that anybody could do it at 56. Nice going, Dr. Wainwright. What’s your secret? Stay in touch. Oct 05I asked some classmates with strong ties to the region ravaged by Hurricane Katrina to send along their thoughts. Rodger Kamenetz kamenetz@aol.com, who lives, or lived, in New Orleans, sent this: “Moira and I were in New Haven dropping our daughter Kezia (class of 2009, Davenport) for her freshman year at Yale when the storm was approaching. On Friday, during the Freshman Assembly in Woolsey hall, we decided to stay not to fly back because of the evacuation. We are all well. “The social fabric of the city has been torn, and what's been revealed is the immense separation of classes and races, the privileged who can leave on their own, and the poor, who had to fend for themselves. Government let us down at all levels. But also revealed is huge courage, faith, and love of our city. New Orleans will rebuild.” Rodger’s home, as of this writing, appears to have been destroyed. He wrote an account, which is posted at: http://www.beliefnet.com/story/174/story_17427_1.html. It’s the best thing I’ve read anywhere about the storm and its leavings. See for yourself. “I'm from northern Mississippi,” Charlie Lipson clipson@midway.uchicago.edu writes, “and have lots of family and friends in New Orleans five separate families of cousins. All of them escaped and are fine, but their homes and livelihoods were damaged, and two families will have to move temporarily to keep their kids in school. The governmental response at every level was a second disaster, and inexcusable. There is no silver lining here except for the outpouring of care from people everywhere.” Ian Glenday IGlenday@aol.com., class treasurer, drove with his wife from Washington, D.C., to Clear Point, Ala., on Mobile Bay, where her family has roots: “On my arrival days after the storm the striking silence and darkness were almost eerie. A near empty I-10, and empty gas stations filled only with bleary out of state truckers and evacuees with only oversize coffees and Cokes to keep them going. The Mobile Bay eastern shore took the storm surge characteristic of the always strongest NE quadrant of a hurricane, with coastal flooding never seen before in recent times, leaving many houses inundated and collapsing. All this just on the eastern edge of the storm, and hardly comparable to the total devastation and flooding in the center of the storm beginning barely 60 miles to the west. The loss and dislocation will call for all our support for a long time to come.” From Kent Gibson kent@kentgibson.com, a native New Orleanian: “At the Seattle Special Olympics, nine contestants, all physically or mentally disabled, assembled at the starting line for the 100-yard dash. At the gun, they all started out, not exactly in a dash, but with a relish to run the race to the finish. All, that is, except one little boy who stumbled on the asphalt, tumbled over a couple of times, and began to cry. The other eight heard the boy cry. They slowed down and looked back. Then they all turned around and went back ... every one of them. Then all nine linked arms and walked together to the finish line. Everyone in the stadium stood, the cheering went on for several minutes. Some of us are more disabled than others.” In non-Katrina news, Larry Minch karenskaya@msn.com sends this: “In August, Joel Neiditz and his wife, Margo Custer, hosted an “812 reunion” —of those who lived in or frequented room 812 of Branford during our junior and senior years — at the beach house of Joel’s father Maish (class of 1940) in Westbrook, Conn. On hand were Jerry LaSala, his wife Sue and son Adrian (Portland, Maine); Charley Hickok and his wife Maaika (Harrisburg, Penn.); Fritz Sharninghausen, his wife Janet, son Liam, and daughter Jodie (Bellingham, Wash.); Jim Rothman and his wife Joy Hirsch (New York, N.Y.); and my wife Karen Payne and I (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) ”It was a magical event, like a family reunion without the intrigues and feuds. Even the weather cooperated. The humidity that had blanketed Connecticut all week lifted and was replaced by bright sunshine, clear skies and a gentle breeze. It was a 48-hour talkfest on lawn chairs facing the beach, punctuated by an occasional dip in the Sound, kayak paddle, or spin on Jim’s powerboat. I was amazed and enormously pleased by how much we all had to say to each other and how little it had to do with careers or possessions. At the end, we all had trouble pulling ourselves away. We swore to do this again, and before another 35 years go by.” Finally, a splendid piece of news from Lawrence Eyre leyre98@hotmail.com, who reports that Dave Sauvage’s son Michael won an international vocal competition in Wales one year to the day after Dave died. P.S. Let me invite all of you to post remembrances to classmates on our class website. Ben Slotznick bslotznick@comcast.net reports that the following have nothing yet posted about them: Joseph H. Ballow III, David R. Bernstein, David Bourquin, Peter J. Camillo, Raymond H. Deck Jr., Mark Deitz, Richard Laurans Feller, Thomas Fox Handel, Robert William Kohn, Gary P. Krebs, Robert P. Lawrence, James H. Leech 4th, David L. Lewis, William P. Lucas, John M. McCann Jr., David Glenn Meter, Steven Avery Pearson, Patrick Joseph Pleskunas, Keith M. Powers, Clinton M. Reed, Gary Andrew Reeves, George B. Reid, J. Seabron Sampson, Peter R. Shutack, Alexander Dick Smith Jr., William H. Starbuck Jr., Reginald Wheeler III, Richard B. Woline Jr., Edward M. Wright, William J. Yurcheshen. |