A Passion for Science - Columbia College - Columbia University

MICHAEL GERRARD ‘72 

IS THE GURU OF 

CLIMATE CHANGE LAW 

pAGE 26 

COLLEGE HONORS FIVE 

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI 

WITH JOHN JAY AWARDS 

pAGE 18 

Columbia College 

May/June 2011 

today 

Nobel Prize-winner Martin Chalfie 

works with College students in 

his laboratory. 

APassion for Science 

Members of the College’s science community 

discuss their groundbreaking research

I ’ll 

meet you for a 

drink at the club...” 

Meet. Dine. Play. Take a seat at the 

newly renovated bar & grill or fine dining room. 

See how membership in the Columbia Club 

could fit into your life. 

For more information or to apply, 

visit www.columbiaclub.org 

or call (212) 719-0380. 

The Columbia University Club of New York 

15 West 43 St. New York, N Y 10036 

Columbia’s SocialIntellectualCulturalRecreationalProfessional Resource in Midtown.

30 

Cover Story 

20 A PA s s i o n f o r sc i e n c e 

Members of the College’s scientific community share 

their groundbreaking work; also, a look at “Frontiers 

of Science,” the Core’s newest component. 

By Ethan Rouen ’04J, ’11 Business 

18 

26 

30 

20 

18 

FeatureS 

Joh n JA y Aw A r d s di n n e r fe t e s fi v e 

The College honored five alumni for their distinguished 

professional achievements at a gala dinner in March. 

By Alex Sachare ’71; photos by Eileen Barroso 

Gu r u of cl i m A t e ch A n G e lA w 

Law School professor and attorney Michael Gerrard ’72 

is considered the foremost expert on climate change law. 

By Shira Boss ’93, ’97J, ’98 SIPA 

cl u b sP o r t s fl o u r i s h A t co l u m b i A 

More students participate in club sports than in 

varsity sports, but at the club level, the students handle 

everything from travel to purchasing equipment. 

By Jonathan Lemire ’01 

FRONT COVER: EILEEN BARROSO 

Columbia College Today 

Contents 

73 

aluMni newS 

38 b o o k s h e l f 

Featured: N.C. Christopher 

Couch ’76 takes a serious look 

at The Joker and his creator in 

Jerry Robinson: Ambassador of 

Comics. 

40 o b i t u A r i e s 

43 c l A s s no t e s 

A l u m n i Pr o f i l e s 

Web Exclusives at college.columbia.edu/cct 

54 Melvin I. Urofsky ’61 

71 Arnold Kim ’96 

73 Raji Kalra ’97 

80 A l u m n i co r n e r 

Dr. Ralph Freidin ’65 shares 

his time and medical 

expertise by volunteering to 

work with the uninsured. 

Gro u n d b r e A k i n G re s e A r c h 

Professors Martin Chalfie and Maria Uriarte discuss their scientific research. 

dee P sP A c e ex P l A i n e d 

Watch Professor Brian Greene talk about his latest book, 

The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos. 

fiv e mo r e mi n u t e s 

Professor Katharina Volk discusses the subject of her book Manilius and 

His Intellectual Background, winner of the 2010 Lionel Trilling Award. 

26 

16 

departMentS 

2 let t e r s to th e 

edi t o r 

3 wit h i n th e fA m i l y 

4 Aro u n d th e Qu A d s 

4 Reunion, Dean’s 

Day 2011 

6 Class Day, 

Commencement 2011 

8 Senate Votes on ROTC 

8 Brill, Nnadi Win 

Goldwaters 

12 Student Spotlight: 

Anna Feuer ’11 

13 Alumni, Student 

Win Scholarships 

15 5 Minutes with … 

Katharina Volk 

16 Roar, Lion, Roar 

34 col u m b i A fo r u m 

Brian Greene, professor of 

mathematics and physics, 

posits in his new book, The 

Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes 

and the Deep Laws of the 

Cosmos, that the universe is 

immersed in a bath of photons 

from the days of its creation.

Volume 38 Number 5 

May/June 2011 

Editor and publishEr 

Alex Sachare ’71 

Managing Editor 

Lisa Palladino 

associatE Editor 

Ethan Rouen ’04J, ’11 Business 

foruM Editor 

Rose Kernochan ’82 Barnard 

contributing writEr 

Shira Boss ’93, ’97J, ’98 SIPA 

Editorial assistants 

Samantha Jean-Baptiste ’13 

Atti Viragh ’12 GS 

dEsign consultant 

Jean-Claude Suarès 

art dirEctor 

Gates Sisters Studio 

contributing photographErs 

Eileen Barroso 

Char Smullyan 

Published six times a year by the 

Columbia College Office of 

Alumni Affairs and Development for 

alumni, students, faculty, parents and 

friends of Columbia College. 

Address all correspondence to: 


Columbia Alumni Center 

622 W. 113th St., MC 4530 

New York, NY 10025 

212-851-7852 

E-mail (editorial): cct@columbia.edu; 

(advertising): cctadvertising@columbia.edu. 

Online: 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. 

© 2011 Columbia College Today 

All rights reserved. 

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. please keep letters to 250 

words or fewer. all letters are subject to 

editing for space and clarity. please direct 

letters for publication “t o t h e e d i t o r .” 

letters to the editor 

Joe Coffee Jr. ’41 

Thank you for your rich account of Joseph 

D. Coffee Jr. ’41’s rich life (“Obituaries,” 

March/April). 

Mr. Coffee was my off-campus interviewer 

when I was applying to Columbia. 

Friends had prepared me for all kinds of 

awful interview questions. But Mr. Coffee’s 

question was disarmingly simple: “Why 

do you want to go to college?” Not why Columbia, 

but why college. It was the unasked 

question behind the enterprise that I had 

been involved in for all the years of my education. 

I loved it. More than 20 years later, it 

is the only interview that I remember. 

And it remains one 

of the most memorable, and 

most characteristic, of all my 

experiences at Columbia. 

Ron Lee Meyers ’92 

New Yo r k CitY 

The excellent obituary of Joe 

Coffee Jr. ’41 reminded me 

of the lucky break I had in 

meeting him in 1948. I had 

graduated from the College 

in June and entered the 

Business School that fall and 

needed a job. I can’t remember Joe’s title but 

I believe he was on the University payroll. 

At that time, he was spending most of his 

time with the Columbia College Alumni 

Association (CCAA) and he hired me, with 

a title of assistant secretary of the association 

and a salary of $200 a month. 

Joe had the idea that led to the Alexander 

Hamilton Medal, and among the first 

awardees was V.K. Wellington Koo (Class 

of 1909, Class of 1912 GSAS), Chiang Kai- 

Shek’s ambassador at the time. It took a 

super-human effort to get 450 people into 

the Waldorf, but the next year’s honoree, 

“Wild Bill” Donovan (Class of 1905), fared 

much better. 

Joe was a tremendous source of ideas — 

Dean’s Day was next. His enthusiasm and 

boundless energy inspired the immensely 

talented group that ran the Alumni Association 

to make sure these concepts didn’t 

suffer crib deaths. Having the district attorney 

of New York County, Frank Hogan 

’24, ’28L, as president of the CCAA made 

life for me extraordinarily exciting and rewarding. 

On the campus, Harry Carman 

’19 GSAS was still dean, soon to be succeeded 

by Larry Chamberlain ’45 GSAS, 

and their great support and willingness to 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

2 

Columbia CollEgE Today 

help was greatly appreciated. 

What a great start Joe Coffee gave to 

a new alumnus who still treasures his 

friendship and guidance. 

John C. Thomas Jr. ’48, ’50 Business 

New Yo r k CitY 

dubious Modernism 

CCT editor Alex Sachare ’71 deserves 

praise for his candor regarding the new 

Northwest Corner Building: “I’m not a fan 

of these metal walls on Broadway and West 

120th Street, which a friend describes as a 

giant cheese-grater” (“Within the Family,” 

March/April). 

If only the dubious modernists 

entrusted with Columbia’s 

architectural heritage 

evinced similar bravery. 

For the last 50 years, most of 

the buildings erected on the 

Morningside Heights campus 

have been uninspired 

at best, egregious at worst, 

and altogether ruinous to 

the original McKim, Mead 

& White aesthetic. 

One would have thought 

we had learned our lesson 

from the late 1950s and early 1960s, when 

Mudd, Carman, Ferris Booth, Law, International 

Affairs and Uris combined to despoil 

Columbia’s Beaux-Arts unity with their 

jarring, ugly, soulless presence. But no. The 

1970s brought the Sherman Fairchild Center 

for the Life Sciences, looking like a collection 

of solar panels attached to a central 

core. In the 1980s, East Campus arose like a 

threatening monolith out of 2001: A Space 

Odyssey. In the new century, the Law School 

addition resembles a glass and steel box 

topped by an ocean liner’s smokestack. 

Perhaps no recent building was more eagerly 

anticipated, and so dismally executed, 

as Lerner Hall. Students and alumni thought 

that undergraduates would finally receive 

the spacious activities center they deserved. 

Instead, they got a disjointed monstrosity 

whose huge sloping ramps — which call to 

mind a Pachinko machine — waste the 

precious square footage that should have 

been given over to club space. I recently 

showed Lerner to a prospective College 

freshman. Gazing at the skeletal ramps and 

see-through facade she asked innocently, “Is 

it still under construction?” Honest. 

How does the University, with all of its 

(Continued on page 78)


during my first semester at 

the College, I attended a presentation 

by a representative 

of the New York City Police 

Department. He was on campus as 

a recruiter, looking for students who 

might be interested in careers in law 

enforcement after graduation. If that 

sounds a bit strange, consider that this 

was in fall 1967, months before the 

demonstrations and the police bust that 

left an indelible impression on anyone 

who was on campus on the night of 

April 30, 1968. 

I’ve long since forgotten the speaker’s 

name, but I remember one thing he 

said. The basic point of his pitch was 

this: Wouldn’t the city be better off with 

police officers who have been educated 

at schools like Columbia and who have 

put considerable thought into their 

choice of law enforcement as a career, 

as opposed to those who signed up 

because they were attracted by the prospect 

of wearing a badge and carrying a 

gun and putting in their 20 years before 

they got out? 

I don’t know if anyone in that room 

took him up on his offer, and I confess I 

didn’t give much thought to his point at 

the time. As a first-semester freshman, 

I wasn’t particularly career-focused — 

and police work would have been toward 

the bottom of a list had I had one. 

I’d gone purely out of curiosity, the same 

impulse that took me to many other 

such events that year. I thought it would 

be interesting to hear what a police 

recruiter had to say and what his pitch 

might be to a classroom of Columbians. 

His message came back to me during 

the debate about whether to invite 

ROTC back to campus, after Congress 

voted in December to repeal the “Don’t 

Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that had prohibited 

openly gay men and women from 

serving in the military. Six years ago, the 

University Senate (whose decisions are 

non-binding) voted 53–10 against inviting 

ROTC back, largely because “Don’t 

Ask, Don’t Tell” contradicted the University’s 

policy against discrimination. 

But this spring, after surveying students, 

W i t h i n t h e F a m i l y 

The Times, They Continue To Change 

soliciting e-mails from other 

members of the Columbia 

community and holding 

three open forums, the Senate 

voted 51–17 (with one abstention) 

to approve a resolution 

to invite ROTC back (see 

“Around the Quads”). Later 

that same day, the University 

issued a statement saying it 

would take the issue before 

the Council of Deans, with 

a final decision expected to 

come before the end of the 

school year. 

It seems to me that the police recruiter’s 

message applies to the military as 

well. Wouldn’t the country be better off 

with military officers who are educated 

at schools like Columbia? That, to me, 

is a compelling reason to invite ROTC 

back to campus. 

Taking “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” off 

the board, are there other U.S. military 

policies that stand in conflict with those 

of the University? This is a very important 

question, and any action regarding 

ROTC should depend upon a satisfactory 

answer. But if there are no conflicts, 

ROTC should be viewed not as 

a referendum on U.S. military service 

or governmental policies but rather for 

what it is: an opportunity for students 

who want to serve in the military to 

receive extensive expert training and to 

enter service as officers. 

Beyond the Core, the majors and 

everything else they absorb in the classroom, 

an important part of what students 

learn while attending the College 

is how to make life choices. As long as 

the policies of the U.S. military do not 

conflict with those of the University, 

shouldn’t ROTC be one such choice for 

Columbia students? 

dean’s Day, which used to be a 

stand-alone event, now is part 

of Alumni Reunion Weekend 

and will take place this year on Saturday, 

June 4 (https://alumni.college. 

columbia.edu/deansday). Its creator, 

Joe Coffee Jr. ’41, passed away in Janu- 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

3 

ary (see “Obituaries,” March/April) 

but must be looking down with pride 

on how his baby has grown. The fact 

that several private companies have 

copied the idea and made similar programs 

available to the public, albeit at a 

much higher cost than what Columbia 

charges, is a testament to its merit. 

This year’s program is a strong one, 

beginning with the Dean’s Continental 

Breakfast, at which Dean Michele 

Moody-Adams will offer remarks on 

the state of the College. Moody-Adams 

will then join Deans Feniosky Peña- 

Mora (Engineering) and Peter Awn 

(General Studies) and E.V.P. of Arts and 

Sciences and Dean of Faculty Nicholas 

Dirks to deliver Public Intellectual Lectures. 

After lunch, five distinguished 

faculty members will conduct Core 

Curriculum lectures, several affinity 

groups will hold receptions and alumni 

singers from a spectrum of groups will 

raise their voices in song. 

The entire program (which is free 

to reunion registrants) is open to all 

alumni and parents at the nominal cost 

of $75. If you want to eat on your own 

and just attend the lectures and other 

events, the cost is only $25. It’s a unique 

opportunity to be a student for a day 

and hear from some of Columbia’s 

best and brightest. 

Well done, Joe.

Spring at Columbia means 

a beautiful campus, warm 

weather and the College’s biggest 

event of the year: Alumni 

Reunion Weekend. Open this 

year to alumni from classes ending in 1 

and 6, events will take place on campus 

and throughout New York City from 

Thursday, June 2–Sunday, June 5. 

Dean’s Day, which is open to all alumni 

and parents whether from reunion 

classes or not, will be held on Saturday, 

June 4. To highlight this year’s program, 

Dean Michele Moody-Adams, as well as 

the deans of Engineering, General Studies 

and the faculty of Arts and Sciences, will 

deliver the Public Intellectual Lectures at 

Dean’s Day. 

The entire weekend is designed to reconnect 

alumni with one another and with 

the College while also offering familyfriendly 

events and a touch of the undergraduate 

experience through lectures and 

panels. Each class’ Reunion Committee 

has been working hard in conjunction 

with the Alumni Office to make the 

weekend fun and memorable. Events will 

include class-specific gatherings such as 

receptions, cocktail parties, panels and dinners; 

“Back on Campus” sessions featuring 

Core Curriculum lectures, Engineering 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

4 


around QuadS 

the 

Alumni To Gather for Reunion Weekend 

Gala weekend June 2–5 for classes ending in 1 and 6; 

Dean’s Day, June 4, open to all 

B y Li s a Pa L L a d i n o 

Dean Michele Moody-Adams will speak 

on “Morality and the Claims of History” at 

Dean’s Day this year. 

The Starlight Reception highlights the weekend with music and dancing under a tent on Low Plaza. 

lectures, tours of Columbia libraries and 

facilities, and more; New York City cultural 

options, including performances and 

art gallery tours; the all-class Wine Tasting 

and Starlight Reception with music, dancing 

and champagne on Low Plaza; and 

Camp Columbia for Kids. 

The 50th anniversary class, 1961, starts 

the weekend early with a special reception 

on Wednesday, June 1. The weekend 

officially kicks off on Thursday evening, 

June 2, with class-specific events and a 

choice of the American Ballet Theatre, 

New York Philharmonic or Broadway 

shows. These performances are open to 

all reunion attendees, but tickets must be 

purchased in advance. 

Friday, June 3, features an “Essentials 

of Estate Planning” breakfast and Back on 

Campus morning sessions, followed by 

class-specific events, campus tours and 

more learning opportunities. That evening, 

alumni may attend class-specific cocktail 

parties/receptions and dinners. Those 

who observe the Sabbath may participate 

in a Tri-College (College, Engineering, Barnard) 

Shabbat service and dinner. 

Friday evening also features one of 

the biggest and most popular events for 

young alumni (Classes 2001–2011), a party 

aboard the recently restored U.S.S. Intrepid. 

Join Engineering, Barnard and GS friends 

and classmates for dancing, flight simulation, 

food and limited open bar. Tickets 

will be available for purchase in advance 

at college.columbia.edu/intrepid or for 

$35 on-site the night of the event. 

Starting at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 

4, attendees’ children ages 3–12 may 

attend the all-day supervised Camp Columbia 

for Kids. Also on Saturday morning, 

all alumni, including Dean’s Day 

participants, may sign up for the Dean’s 

Continental Breakfast, where Moody- 

Adams will give an update on the College

Columbia CollEgE Today AROuNd ThE quAdS 

and present the President’s Cup. 

After breakfast, events continue for all 

reunion alumni and Dean’s Day attendees 

with morning Public Intellectual Lectures, 

lunches and early afternoon Mini-Core 

Courses. 

Late afternoon options include affinity 

group receptions, open to all reunion 

alumni and Dean’s Day attendees. Back 

for an encore on Saturday, after a successful 

debut last year, will be the Columbia 

Alumni Singers, who will gather in the 

morning for a rehearsal, then regroup for 

an afternoon performance and reception. 

Other afternoon affinity group options 

include a Varsity Athletics gathering, Spectator 

gathering and an Afternoon Tea and 

Music of Columbia Concert, featuring a 

string quartet playing music composed by 

fellow Columbians, among others. 

Reunion classes will continue the celebration 

on Saturday evening with the allclass 

Wine Tasting, elegant class-specific 

dinners and the all-class Starlight Reception, 

with music, dancing and champagne 

on Low Plaza. The weekend wraps up on 

Sunday morning with The New York Times 

and a bagels and lox brunch. 

Reunion class members can register 

and learn more at reunion.college.colum 

Alumni Reunion Weekend offers a plethora of 

family-friendly activities. 

PhOTOS: EILEEN BARROSO 

bia.edu. New this year, the Classes of 

1986–2006 can register via smartphone. 

(See your class’ Class Notes column in 

this issue for details and your class’ URL.) 

Class of 2010 One-Year 

Reunion Celebration 

the Class of 2010 kicks off the 

reunion season in May with a 

new event this year, a One-Year 

Reunion Celebration, to be held on 

Friday, May 20, from 7:30–9:30 p.m. at 

Astor Center, 399 Lafayette St. (at East 

4th Street). A $25 ticket to this private 

reception with College and Engineering 

classmates includes a full bar and hors 

d’oeuvres. Space is limited, so register 

by Tuesday, May 17: college.columbia. 

edu/2010reunion. 

Also new this year is the ability to send 

classmates an e-postcard to say hello and 

to encourage them to attend reunion 

(https://alumni.college.columbia.edu/ 

reunion/postcard). 

Non-reunion class members can register 

for Dean’s Day and select lectures at 

https://alumni.college.columbia.edu/ 

deansday. 

For more information or assistance 

with either event, contact the Alumni 

Office: 212-851-7488 or 866-CCALUMNI. 

DEAN’S DAY • SATURDAY, JUNE 4, 2011 • NEW YORK CITY 

Columbia College and the Columbia College Alumni Association are proud to 

sponsor Dean’s Day 2011. Scheduled for Saturday, June 4, the program provides the 

opportunity for alumni and parents to participate in thought-provoking lectures 

and discussions with some of Columbia’s �nest faculty. 

Dean’s Day 2011 is particularly noteworthy, as we are proud to announce that the 

Public Intellectual Lectures will be delivered by Michele Moody-Adams, dean, 

Columbia College and vice president for undergraduate education; Feniosky 

Peña-Mora, dean, �e Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science; 

Nicholas Dirks, executive vice president for Arts and Sciences and dean of the Faculty 

of Arts and Sciences; and Peter Awn, dean of the School of General Studies. 

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS 

8:00 a.m. Registration Opens — Alfred Lerner Hall 

8:30–10:15 a.m. Dean’s Continental Breakfast 

with Opening Address by Michele Moody-Adams, 

Dean, Columbia College 

9:30 a.m. Camp Columbia for Kids 

10:30–11:45 a.m. Public Intellectual Lectures 

Noon–1:30 p.m. Lunch 

2:00–3:30 p.m. Core Curriculum Lectures 

3:30–5:00 p.m. A�nity Receptions, including Columbia 

Daily Spectator, Varsity Athletics and 

a special performance by the Columbia 

Alumni Singers 

R E GIS T E R TODAY! • WWW. COLLE G E . COL U MBIA. EDU/ DEANSDAY

AROuNd ThE quAdS Columbia CollEgE Today 

Class of 2011 Approaches Class Day, Commencement 

For the more than 1,000 members 

of the Class of 2011, graduation 

season finally is here. 

This year’s seniors will join the 

ranks of Columbia College alumni following 

Class Day ceremonies on Tuesday, 

May 17, and Commencement on Wednesday, 

May 18. Alexandra Wallace Creed 

’88, senior v.p. of NBC News, will be this 

year’s Class Day speaker. She is only the 

second alumna to address the graduating 

class, joining Claire Shipman ’86, ’94 

SIPA, who spoke before the Class of 1999. 

Highlighting Class Day, as it has for 

the past eight years, will be the Alumni 

Parade of Classes, in which alumni carry 

their class year banners in the procession- 

B y aL e x sa c h a r e ’71 

al that also includes graduating students, 

faculty and administrators. This parade 

underscores the transition the graduates 

are making from students to alumni, and 

emphasizes that their Columbia connection 

is lifelong. 

Alumni are invited to represent their 

class by carrying its banner in the procession, 

which starts at 9:30 a.m. and is 

preceded by a breakfast for parade participants 

in John Jay Dining Hall. Alumni 

interested in taking part in this tradition 

should contact Nick Mider, event coordinator, 

alumni affairs: nm2613@columbia. 

edu or 212-851-7486. 

Later that day, the annual Academic 

Awards and Prizes Ceremony, at which 

Banner-carriers in the Alumni Parade of Classes were cheered on by last year’s graduating seniors. 

PhOTOS: ChAR SMuLLYAN 

panels highlight Forum in washington, d.C. 

approximately 300 alumni, parents and friends turned out for 

a Columbia World Leaders Forum on April 2 at the Ronald 

Reagan Building in Washington, D.C. The Columbia Alumni 

Association event featured four panel discussions: “An Insider’s View 

of Columbia: Today and Tomorrow,” “Global Health Care Policy and 

Dean Michele Moody-Adams (far left) moderates the student panel with 

(from left) Sarah Khan ’11, Tao Tan ’07, ’11 Business and Laura Kelley ’11 PH. 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

6 

Reform in Today’s World,” “Student 

Voices: Around Campus” and 

“Global Press.” Panelists included 

Dean Michele Moody-Adams, 

Provost Claude Steele, ABC News 

journalist Claire Shipman ’86, 

’94 SIPA and FCC Chairman 

Julius Genachowski ’85. There 

also was a welcome address 

from President Lee C. Bollinger; 

a keynote address by 

Assistant Attorney General 

Lanny Breuer ’80, ’84 SIPA, 

’85L (who filled in because his 

boss, Attorney General Eric H. 

Holder Jr. ’73, ’76L, was unable 

to attend); and a school-based 

networking luncheon. 

Students celebrate at Class Day 2010. 

students are recognized for their academic 

achievements, will be held in Faculty 

House at 3:00 p.m. 

The day after Class Day, the members 

of the Class of 2011 will participate in 

Commencement, where more than 11,000 

degree candidates from all University 

schools and approximately 20,000 guests 

will fill Low Plaza and South Field. 

The Baccalaureate Service, an interfaith, 

intercultural service celebrating 

the completion of each undergraduate’s 

academic career, kicks off the graduation 

season at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, May 15, 

in St. Paul’s Chapel. This year’s keynote 

speaker will be Peter Awn, dean of General 

Studies. 

President Lee C. Bollinger (right) 

greets Assistant Attorney General 

Lanny Breuer ’80, ’84 SIPA, 

’85L at the forum. 

PhOTOS: J.L. LINKO

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Columbia College Young Alumni 

invites the Classes of 2001–2011 

to attend the Young Alumni Party 

on the USS Intrepid.� 

The USS Intrepid is the young alumni port-of-call for College 

sailors and mates. Join Engineering, Barnard and GS friends 

and classmates, as we relive those Intrepid parties of old! We 

have charted a course for dancing, flight simulation, food and 

limited open bar. 

�� 

Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum 

West 46th Street and 12th Avenue, Pier 86 

New York City 

Tickets will be available for $25 in advance at 

www.college.columbia.edu/intrepid or for 

$35 at the Intrepid on the night of the event. 

Questions? Call 212-851-7977.


Senate Votes To Invite Return of ROTC 

The University Senate voted on 

April 1 to support inviting the 

Reserve Officers Training Corps 

back to the Columbia campus. 

Shortly afterward, the University issued 

a statement indicating the issue would go 

before the Council of Deans, and a final 

decision could be expected before the end 

of the semester. 

ROTC, which has units at more than 300 

campuses, has not been at Columbia since 

1969, following anti-Vietnam War demonstrations 

in Spring 1968. Columbia students 

wishing to participate in ROTC must train 

at Fordham University (Army) or Manhattan 

College (Air Force) or serve extended 

sessions in Quantico, Va. (Marines). 

The senate, whose recommendations 

are nonbinding, voted 51–17, with one 

abstention, to approve the resolution that 

states, in part, “Columbia University welcomes 

the opportunity to explore mutually 

beneficial relationships with the Armed 

Forces of the United States, including participation 

in the programs of the Reserve 

Officers Training Corps.” 

The vote capped several months of Senate 

debate regarding the return of ROTC, 

which began shortly after Congress voted 

in December to repeal the “Don’t Ask, 

Don’t Tell” policy that had prohibited 

openly gay men and women from serving 

in the military. The Senate’s task force for 

military engagement conducted a student 

survey in February, with 60 percent of respondents 

in favor of the return of ROTC, 

held three town hall-style meetings and 

invited comments via e-mail from the 


For many years, Columbia’s Corps of Midshipmen drilled on College Walk and in neighboring streets. 

Columbia community. 

Soon after the Senate vote was announ- 

ced, the University issued a statement to 

media that read, “We appreciate the diligent 

work by the University Senate in fostering 

a robust debate on the issue of military 

engagement and ROTC. As in any diverse, 

open community there will always be a 

range of strongly held opinions on such 

important issues. But as President [Lee C.] 

Bollinger stated after last December’s Congressional 

vote, the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, 

Don’t Tell’ offers an historic opportunity 

for universities to reconsider their own 

policies as well. As planned, we look forward 

to sharing the Senate resolution with 

the Council of Deans and seeking an official 

conclusion on this matter by the end 

of the semester.” 

Even if Bollinger follows the Senate 

recommendation, it does not mean ROTC 

will return to campus. A branch of the 

military would need to agree to start a 

Brill, nnadi win Goldwaters 

Zachary Brill ’12, from Somerset, N.J., and Chimno Nnadi ’12, from New Milford, 

N.J., both chemistry majors, each received the $7,500 2011 Barry M. Goldwater 

Scholarship in March. The scholarship is the most prestigious national undergraduate 

award for students studying the sciences, mathematics and engineering. 

Brill has worked in the lab of Professor Scott Snyder since 2009. He plans to pursue 

a Ph.D. in chemistry focusing on the total synthesis of natural products. In 2010, Brill received 

the Class of 1939 fellowship to pursue independent research. He is a violinist with 

the Columbia University Orchestra and a member of the Chandler Chemistry Society. 

Nnadi, who works in Professor John Hunt’s lab, will study molecular biology in a M.D./ 

Ph.D. program. In 2009, she received a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship 

grant. Nnadi is active with CU Emergency Medical Services and the Undergraduate Recruitment 

Committee. 

Dmitriy Timerman ’12E, a biomedical engineering major, received honorable mention. 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

8 

program at Columbia, and University officials 

would need to negotiate terms of the 

program with the Department of Defense. 

On March 4, Harvard, which has been 

without ROTC since 1971, signed an agreement 

to bring a naval ROTC program back 

to its campus effective on the date of the 

repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” At Columbia’s 

Senate meeting, there was a late 

push to add an amendment stating that the 

resolution would not take effect until the repeal 

is officially implemented, but Bollinger 

indicated he would not bring an ROTC 

program to Columbia until that point. 

Columbia was involved with ROTC 

since the program’s beginnings in 1916, 

forming one of the first Naval ROTC detachments 

in the nation. For more than 50 

years, ROTC students took Naval Science 

classes, drilled on College Walk and in 

neighboring streets, and worked on ships 

and submarines in New York Harbor. Columbia’s 

NROTC program graduated thousands 

of students to become naval officers. 

At its peak, Columbia’s Corps of Midshipmen 

rivaled the Naval Academy in size. 

Six years ago, the Senate voted 53–10 

against inviting ROTC back to campus. 

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was cited by opponents 

as a contradiction of Columbia’s 

policy of nondiscrimination. 

The University Senate, which was created 

in May 1969 in the wake of the demonstrations 

that rocked the Columbia campus 

the year before, has 108 voting seats, with 

63 reserved for faculty, 24 for students, six 

for officers of research, two each for administrative 

staff, librarians and alumni, and 

nine for senior administrators including the 

president, who chairs monthly plenaries. 

For more, go to columbia.edu/cu/ 

senate/militaryengagement.

This Is Columbia’s Moment. 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

$5 billion by December 2013


aluMni in the newS 

n robert K. Kraft ’63 has donated 

$20 million to Partners HealthCare, 

a Boston-based nonprofit health 

care system. The owner of the New 

England Patriots hopes his donation 

will galvanize states and philanthropists 

to invest in programs 

through which doctors and nurses 

impact a broader community, 

instead of specializing and joining 

private practices. In an interview 

with Boston.com, Kraft noted that 

while patients arrive from overseas 

for Boston’s elite medical care, 

“people living in our own communities 

aren’t treated properly” due 

to lack of access. The funds will 

create the Kraft Family National 

Center for Leadership and Training 

in Community Health, supporting 

medical practitioners caring for 

more than 200,000 patients. It also 

covers up to $50,000 in medical 

student loan debt in exchange for 

two to three years of service providing 

care for the community. 

n Goldman Sachs lost a star executive 

with the retirement of richard 

ruzika ’81, head of the Special Sit- 

CaMpuS newS 

n sciEncE: Amber D. Miller, the 

Walter LeCroy Jr. Associate Professor 

of Physics, has been appointed 

Dean of Science for the Faculty of 

Arts and Sciences. Nicholas Dirks, 

e.v.p. for Arts and Sciences, said 

when announcing Miller’s appointment 

on March 1, “Amber will be 

charged in part with figuring out 

how to make sure the core departments 

are fully supported and 

make sure the newer initiatives feed 

back with an organic continuity in 

relation to the departmental needs.” 

Since Miller joined Columbia in 

2002, she has worked on the Faculty 

Budget Group, the Space Planning 

Committee and the Academic Rev- 

iew Committee, and chaired the 

Executive Committee of the Faculty 

of Arts and Sciences. Her current re- 

uations Group, in April. Ruzika 

had spent nearly 30 years at the 

Wall Street firm. Only one year 

after graduating from Columbia, 

Ruzika joined J. Aron, which was 

acquired by Goldman in 1982. He 

climbed up the ranks, beginning as 

a silver and gold trader, and was 

named head of Global Commodities 

in 2000 and co-head of Global 

Macro Trading in 2006 before his 

final appointment leading the 

Special Situations Group in 2007. 

In announcing his retirement, The 

New York Times noted that Ruzika’s 

division “is known for its typically 

profitable deal on everything from 

golf courses to Texas wind power 

companies.” Ruzika received a 

John Jay Award for distinguished 

professional achievement in 2006. 

n To wish Elliott schwartz ’57 a 

happy birthday, the Portland Symphony 

Orchestra commissioned a 

score by him that premiered in 

January. His reflective composition, 

Diamond Jubilee, looks back on his 

75-year journey through music. 

A resident of Maine, Schwartz 

search involves a 6,000-lb. telescope 

that will capture light from the hot 

plasma, near Antarctica, that was 

left over from the big bang. 

Miller has received an NSF 

Career Award, an Alfred P. Sloan 

Fellowship and the Columbia Distinguished 

Faculty Award. She is a 

member of the Council on Foreign 

Relations and recently was the 

chief science adviser to the NYPD 

Counterterrorism Bureau. 

n indigEnous: This spring, the 

Center for the Study of Ethnicity 

and Race (columbia.edu/cu/cser) 

presented a public forum for speakers 

on indigenous rights. CSER 

Director Frances Negrón-Muntaner 

called it “a milestone both for the 

University and the larger commu- 

Tracy V. Maitland ’82, 

president and chief 

investment officer of 

Advent Capital Management, 

received the 

Black Alumni Heritage 

Award at the Black 

Alumni Council’s 

annual reception, 

held at Faculty House 

on February 24. 

PhOTO: COLIN SuLLIVAN ’11 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

10 

Elliott Schwartz ’57 

PhOTO: ERIK JORgENSEN 

has taught at Bowdoin since 1964, 

where he is the Robert K. Beckwith 

Professor of Music Emeritus and 

has been president of the College 

Music Society and national chair of 

the American Society of University 

Composers. Schwartz’s work has 

been acquired by the Library of Congress 

for its permanent collection. 

n Matthew fox ’89, who starred 

in the TV series Lost, made his 

stage debut in London’s Vaude- 

nity.” The forum was part of CSER’s 

Native American/Indigenous Studies 

Project and hosted three speakers 

— one each in February, March 

and April —working in academia, 

the arts and the political sphere. The 

forum was made possible through 

the funding of Daniel Press ’64, who 

for the last four decades has practiced 

Indian law and has worked on 

Native American economic issues 

on behalf of tribes throughout the 

country. 

n longEVitY: The International 

Longevity Center, a nonprofit organization 

founded in 1990 by the late 

Dr. Robert N. Butler ’49, ’53 P&S, an 

expert on aging who’s credited with 

coining the term “ageism,” will be 

transformed into an interdisciplinary 

center on aging headquartered at the 

Mailman School of Public Health. 

Discussions were under way for the 

move at the time of Butler’s death 

last July (college.columbia.edu/cct/ 

sep_oct10/obituaries1). 

n 100 YEars: The Rare Book & 

Manuscript Library and the University 

Archives commenced a yearlong, 

three-part exhibit, “Columbia 

University: 100 Years of Collecting,” 

on February 15. 

Part I, open until Friday, May 

27, is “Alma Mater: Origins,” 

which explores the beginnings 

of King’s College and feature ele- 

ville Theatre in March. Fox played 

Bobby in Neil LaBute’s latest play, 

In a Forest Dark and Deep. The play 

was billed as a “dark comedy of 

sibling rivalry” that “escalates into 

a psychological thriller bursting 

with savage conflict.” Fox’s intense 

performance with co-star Olivia 

Williams was well received by 

British critics. 

n dennis hirsch ’85, a law professor 

at Capital University, was featured 

in an interview in Columbus 

Business First in January. Hirsch 

specializes in privacy and environmental 

law, and was awarded 

a Fulbright Senior Professorship 

Grant last year to lecture at the 

University of Amsterdam and research 

Dutch information privacy 

regulation. In the interview, Hirsch 

shared his views on the challenges 

and recent innovations in privacy 

regulation, including Internet 

privacy, and suggested that the 

United States can learn a great deal 

from the system in place in the 

Netherlands. 

Atti Viragh ’12 GS 

ments from student life, the origins 

of the Core Curriculum and the 

movement to coeducation. Items 

on view include a lottery book 

that recorded the funds raised to 

establish the College in 1748 and 

The Book of Misdemeanors, used to 

record student infractions in 1771. 

Two distinguished international 

alumni, Pixley ka Isaka Seme 

(Class of 1906) and V.K. Wellington 

Koo (Class of 1908, Class of 1912 

GSAS) are profiled. 

The full exhibit will close on Fri - 

day, December 23. For more infor- 

mation and updates on Parts II and 

III, visit library.columbia.edu/news/ 

exhibitions/2011/20110323_univ 

ersity_archives_origins.html. 

n said rooM: Room 616 in 

But ler Library is now the Edward 

W. Said Reading Room, in memory 

of the late University Professor. 

The collection houses nearly 3,000 

volumes ranging from classic 

literature, music and fine arts to 

politics, religion and history. In 

addition to the Reading Room, the 

Rare Book & Manuscript Library is 

opening a selection of Said’s notes 

and marginalia for public viewing. 

Said taught at Columbia from 1963 

until his death in 2003. He wrote 

more than 20 books, among them 

the classic Orientalism, an in-depth 

examination of how the West per- 

ceived the East.

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expressing her thoughts 

through language comes 

easily to Anna Feuer 

’11, a passionate English 

major and writer. When the 

Marshall Commission called to 

inform her that she had been 

selected as a Marshall Scholar, 

however, the Los Angeles native 

was at a loss for words. 

“I was incoherent, babbling,” 

says the otherwise articulate 

Feuer amidst laughter. “I was so 

excited. It’s a huge honor.” 

Each year, up to 40 American 

students receive the prestigious 

Marshall Scholarship, 

which funds two years of graduate 

study at any university in 

the United Kingdom. This fall, 

Feuer will continue her education 

at the University of Oxford, 

where she will pursue master’s 

degrees in global and imperial 

history and English literature. 

According to Michael Pippenger, 

associate dean of the 

Office of Fellowship Programs, 

Feuer was one of 32 nationwide 

awardees chosen this year from 

a pool of 999 applicants. 

“Part of the application process 

is drafting and redrafting 

essays to make them into something 

special,” says Pippenger. 

“Anna never shied away from 

putting more time and energy 

into crafting the best application 

possible. She is a great communicator. 

She knows herself 

well and can get others excited 

about her ideas. Anna also had 

a great sense of humor, which I 

think helps students in such an 

intense competition.” 

At Oxford, Feuer will delve 

more deeply into the subject 

of her senior thesis, which analyzed 

the impact of the Hindu 

tradition on the Celtic revival 

of the late 19th and early 20th 

centuries. Feuer studied correspondences 

between Irish poet 

W.B. Yeats and Indian poet Rabindranath 

Tagore. She developed 

the project with the guidance 

of a professor at the University 

of Hyderabad in India while 

studying abroad her junior year. 

STuDenT SPOTlIGHT 

Marshall Scholarship Helps Anna Feuer ’11 Follow Her Passion 

Feuer enrolled directly at the 

university and took classes with 

local students. 

“A lot of study abroad programs 

in India have all the American 

students taking classes 

separately,” says Feuer. “I was 

able to make friends with my 

Indian classmates and interact 

more directly.” 

During her semester in India, 

Feuer lived in a university dormitory 

and devoted some of her 

spare time to volunteering as an 

English language tutor for boys 

ages 6–15 at the local Poor Boys’ 

Ashram. 

Upon returning to New York 

in May 2010, Columbia’s Department 

of English and Comparative 

Literature awarded Feuer 

the Richmond B. Williams Travelling 

Fellowship, which allowed 

her to spend three weeks in 

Dublin that August conducting 

research at the National Library 

of Ireland. 

“It was my first time at a national 

library and my first time 

doing that kind of research for 

an English project,” says Feuer. 

“To be able to see Yeats’ manuscripts 

was really exciting.” 

B y na t h a L i e aL o n s o ’08 

Anna Feuer ’11 has used her time at 

Columbia to engage with the writings 

of W.B. Yeats, one of her favorite poets. 

PhOTO: NAThALIE ALONSO ’08 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

12 

It was her interest in literature 

and texts in general that 

drew Feuer to the Core Curriculum, 

which enthralled her 

enough to apply early decision. 

“I liked the idea that all students 

should have a well-rounded 

education,” says Feuer. “I also 

liked that I would have to take 

science, even though that’s not 

my strong subject.” 

In addition to her initial inter - 

est in literature, a number of 

courses and professors at 

Columbia have helped shaped 

Feuer’s academic trajectory. 

She decided to study in India 

and learn Hindi and Urdu after 

taking the course “Gandhi’s 

India” as a sophomore with 

associate professor of history 

Janaki Bakhle. English professor 

Alan Stewart and James Shapiro 

’77, the Larry Miller Professor 

of English and Comparative 

Literature, helped solidify her 

decision to major in English. 

“Their classes really got me 

excited about being an English 

major,” says Feuer, whose essay 

“Reconstructing Englishness: 

Cultural Scission within the 

European Self” was published 

in the September 2010 

issue of the University of 

Virginia’s Essays in History 

journal. 

“Anna connects disparate 

ideas with creativity, 

enabling others to read 

literary texts and intellectual 

history in the fresh 

ways that she herself 

does,” notes Pippenger. 

Feuer also has put 

her literary talents to use 

outside the classroom. 

She was managing editor 

of the Columbia Journal 

of Literary Criticism as a 

sophomore and rose to 

co–editor-in-chief as a 

senior. In her sophomore 

year, she also became a 

staff writer for The Eye, 

Spectator’s features and 

arts magazine. 

“[The Eye] gave me the 

opportunity to write about 

and explore a lot of different 

subjects that I really didn’t know 

very much about,” says Feuer, 

who has written articles about 

financial aid and labor relations 

at Columbia. 

Feuer has been equally active 

off-campus. During summer 2009, 

with funding from the Los Angeles 

County Arts Commission, she 

completed a paid internship 

with PEN Center USA (penusa. 

org), a nonprofit that works to 

protect the rights of writers all 

over the world and foster a literary 

community among writers 

in the western United States. 

Feuer helped plan events and 

advocated for writers imprisoned 

abroad by encouraging members 

to send letters to the state governments 

involved. 

“In some countries — in 

China, for example — it seems as 

though the more Western mail 

is sent to the prisoner, the better 

the prisoner is treated in jail,” 

says Feuer. “It was really interesting 

learning about freedom of 

expression and the complicated 

politics that surrounds it.” 

In addition, Feuer has completed 

editorial internships at 

LA Weekly, n+1 magazine and 

W.W. Norton & Co. As a junior 

and senior, she devoted one day 

a week to tutoring fifth-graders 

struggling with reading at P.S. 

165 in Harlem. 

After Oxford, Feuer envisions 

herself returning to the United 

States to pursue a Ph.D. in 

English or history. She eventually 

wants to write nonfiction 

in some capacity and the suggestion 

that she could end up 

teaching at the university level 

brings a smile to her face. 

“That’s very attractive to me 

and definitely a big reason for 

wanting to get a Ph.D.,” she says. 

Nathalie Alonso ’08 is a freelance 

journalist and an editorial 

producer of LasMayores.com, 

Major League Baseball’s official 

Spanish language website. She 

also writes a career blog for 

women, herfabcareer.com.


alumni, Student 

win Scholarships to 

Continue research 

three alumni and one senior will 

continue doing research at the 

graduate level after receiving some 

of the most competitive and prestigious 

fellowships in the United States. 

Mollie Schwartz ’09, her class’ salutatorian, 

won the Hertz Foundation Fellowship, 

an award valued at $250,000 that 

gives “generous support to young leaders 

in applied sciences and engineering.” The 

fellowship, which goes to only 2 percent of 

applicants, comes with no strings attached 

and supports Schwartz, a chemical physics 

major from Washington, D.C., for up to five 

years of graduate work. She is currently 

deciding where to attend graduate school. 

Jun Hyuk Jason Kim ’08, an English 

major from Brooklyn, is in the 3 percent 

of applicants who received the Paul and 

Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, 

which gives first-generation Americans 

up to $45,000 a year for two years to 

fund graduate work. Kim, who worked 

at The New Yorker, is working toward his 

M.F.A. in playwriting at The New School. 

Christopher Beam ’06, a history major 

and political reporter for Slate, won the 

Luce Scholarship, which will provide him 

with $30,000 to support a year’s worth of 

language study and professional experience 

in East Asia where Beam, from Washington, 

D.C., hopes to find a job in journalism. 

Benjamin Turndorf ’11, a philosophy 

major from Skillman, N.J., will pursue an 

M.S. in modern Chinese studies at Oxford, 

supported by the Clarendon Scholarship, 

which provides $41,000 a year to 

“academically excellent students with the 

best proven and future potential.” 


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MAY/JUNE 2011 

13 

Through Columbia Alumni Association, 

life insurance is available in amounts up to 

$1,000,000, underwritten by New York Life 

Insurance Company (NY, NY 10010). 

For details about eligibility, coverage amounts, 

rates, exclusions and renewal provisions, please 

visit alumni.columbia.edu/insurance or call 

the plan administrator at 800-223-1147


in luMine tuo 

n fonEr: The DeWitt Clinton 

Professor of History Eric Foner ’63, 

’69 GSAS has been awarded two 

major prizes for his book The Fiery 

Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American 

Slavery. He won the 2011 Lincoln 

Prize, sponsored by Gettysburg 

College and the Gilder Lehrman 

Institute of American History. Foner 

will receive a $50,000 award on 

May 11 at the Union League Club 

in New York City. He also was one 

of three winners of the Bancroft 

Prize for History, awarded by Columbia, 

along with Sara Dubow for 

Ourselves Unborn: A History of the 

Fetus in Modern America and Chris- 

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at 212-851-7951 or 

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topher Tomlins for Freedom Bound: 

Law, Labor, and Civic Identity in Colonizing 

English America, 1580–1865. 

Foner also won the Bancroft, which 

carries a $10,000 prize, in 1989 for 

Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished 

Revolution, 1863–1877. [To read 

an excerpt from The Fiery Trial, 

go to college.columbia.edu/cct/ 

jan_feb11/columbia_forum.] 

n lEnfEst: Eight faculty members 

received this year’s Distinguished 

Columbia Faculty Awards, 

established by Trustee Gerry Lenfest 

’58L, at a dinner at Casa Italiana 

on February 8. The awards are given 

annually to faculty in recognition 

of scholarship, University citizenship 

and professional involvement, 

with emphasis on the instruction 

and mentoring of undergraduate 

and graduate students. Each winner 

receives a stipend of $25,000 per 

year for three consecutive years. 

The awardees are Rachel Adams, 

professor of English and American 

studies; Stuart Firestein, professor of 

biological sciences; Mahmood Mandani, 

the Herbert Lehman Professor 

of Government and professor of 

anthropology; Stephen Murray, the 

Bernard and Lisa Selz Professor of 

Medieval Art; Paul Olsen, the Arthur 

D. Storke Memorial Professor in the 

Department of Earth and Environmental 

Sciences; Susan Pedersen, 

professor of history and James P. 

Shenton Professor of the Core Curriculum; 

Achille Varzi, professor of 

philosophy and department chair; 

and Katharina Volk, associate professor 

of classics. [For more on Volk, see 

“Around the Quads” in this issue.] 

n parKin: Chemistry professor 

Gerard Parkin was among 11 indi- 

viduals and four organizations 

named by President Barack Obama 

’83 as recipients of the Presidential 

Award for Excellence in Science, 

Mathematics and Engineering Ment- 

oring. In announcing the awards 

on January 21, Obama said, “These 

individuals and organizations have 

gone above and beyond the call of 

duty to ensure that the United States 

remains on the cutting edge of sci- 

ence and engineering for years to 

come. Their devotion to the educational 

enrichment and personal 

growth of their students is remarkable, 

and these awards represent 

just a small token of our enormous 

gratitude.” 

n barZun: Jacques Barzun ’27, 

’32 GSAS, noted cultural historian 

and University Professor Emeritus, 

was among the 10 winners of the 

2010 National Humanities Medals 

for outstanding achievement in 

history, literature, education and 

cultural policy, President Barack 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

14 

Burgers and Basketball 

More than 100 alumni, family members and friends came out to 

Havana Central at The West End on February 11 for “Burgers and 

Basketball” to get an early start on June’s scheduled Alumni Reunion 

Weekend festivities. Following the reception, attendees cheered 

on the men’s basketball team, which fell short to Princeton 76–46. 

Enjoying the event were Erik Jacobs ’81, ’85 SIPA; his wife, Laura 

Eberstein Jacobs ’88; and their children, William and Margo. 

PhOTO: NICK MIdER 

Obama ’83 announced. 

Barzun, who is 101 and lives in 

San Antonio, taught at Columbia 

for five decades and has written 

or edited more than 30 books. He 

was honored “for his distinguished 

career as a scholar, educator and 

public intellectual,” according to a 

news release issued by the National 

Endowment for the Humanities. 

Other winners were authors 

Wendell E. Berry, Joyce Carol Oates 

and Philip Roth; historians Bernard 

Bailyn and Gordon S. Wood; literary 

scholars Daniel Aaron, Roberto 

Gonzalez Echevarria and Arnold 

Rampersad and legal historian 

and higher education policy expert 

Stanley Nider Katz. 

n sloan: Six Columbia faculty 

members have been named 

research fellows by the Alfred P. 

Sloan Foundation, which awards 

two-year, $50,000 grants to support 

the work of exceptional young researchers 

in the fields of chemistry, 

computer science, mathematics, 

biology, neuroscience and physics. 

Columbia’s 2011 Sloan Fellows 

are Sabin Cautis, assistant professor 

of mathematics; Dirk Englund, 

assistant professor of electrical 

engineering and applied physics; 

Aaron Lauda, the Joseph Fels Ritt 

Assistant Professor of Mathematics; 

Abhay Narayan Pasupathy, 

assistant professor of physics; 

Nathaniel Sawtell, assistant professor 

of neuroscience; and Latha 

Venkataraman, assistant professor 

of applied physics and applied 

mathematics. 

Alex Sachare ’71 

in MeMoriaM 

MARABLE: Manning Marable, 

the M. Moran Weston/Black 

Alumni Council Professor of 

African American Studies, 

founding director of Columbia’s 

Institute for Research in African- 

American Studies and director 

of the Center for the Study of 

Contemporary Black History, 

died on April 1. He was 60 and 

lived in New York City. Marable’s 

death came just days before 

the publishing of his long-awaited 

biography, and the culmination 

of his life’s work, Malcolm 

X: A Life of Reinvention. 

Marable had been at Columbia 

since 1993. During his 35year 

academic career, he wrote 

and edited numerous books 

about African-American politics 

and history and remained one 

of the nation’s leading Marxist 

historians. He was a prolific writer 

and impassioned polemicist, 

addressing issues of race and 

economic injustice in numerous 

works that established him as 

one of the most forceful and 

outspoken scholars of African- 

American history and race relations 

in the United States. 

A complete In Memoriam 

will be published in the July/ 

August issue.


Katharina Volk is an associate 

professor of classics. She 

received the distinguished 

Faculty Teaching Award for 

2010–11, and her book Manilius 

and his Intellectual Background 

was awarded the Lionel Trilling 

Award in 2010. her most 

recent book is Ovid, an introductory 

text to the poet. Volk 

earned an M.A. from Ludwig 

Maximiliansuniversität in 

Munich and a Ph.d. from 

Princeton. 

where did you grow up? 

In Munich, Germany. 

what did you want to be 

when you were growing up? 

At some point, I wanted to 

run a cafeteria in a museum, 

but I was really little. After 

that, I wanted to be a history 

teacher. Then I wanted to be 

an actress. That was the order. 

how did you become a professor 

of classics? 

In Germany, there isn’t a liberal 

arts college system. You 

had to decide on a subject 

early. I knew I wanted to go 

into academia, but wasn’t 

quite sure about the field. At 

first, I thought I was going 

to do German literature, but 

the German department was 

this huge, anonymous department. 

I had chosen Latin 

as my minor; I had started 

learning it in fifth grade and 

always loved it. The classics 

department turned out to be 

this nice, small department 

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where the professors were 

super-friendly. So I thought, 

forget about German, I’m going 

to become a classicist. 

can you talk about the book 

for which you won the lionel 

trilling award? 

I received the award for Mani - 

lius and his Intellectual Background 

and was really excited. 

First of all, I think it’s fantastic 

that Columbia has a book 

award that is given by students. 

Then there is the subject 

matter: Manilius was a poet 

who about 2,000 years ago 

wrote a very difficult poem 

about astrology. Even within 

classics, the topic is quite 

obscure. It’s not like Virgil or 

Ovid, who I’ve also worked on. 

Mine is the first monograph in 

English on this poet, and 

while I was working on it, even 

classicists asked, “What are 

you talking about? Manilius?” 

So it was very exciting that 

students gave this book 

the award for best faculty 

book of the year. 

what are you working 

on now? 

I published another 

book last 

year, Ovid. 

It’s much 

more mainstream, 

an intro- 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

15 

duction to the poet. Right now, 

I don’t have a book project. 

I’m working on something 

a bit marginal, a poem by 

Cicero. He was a famous orator 

and statesman, of course, 

but he also wrote poetry, 

including a poem about his 

own consulship. When he 

was the leader of the state in 

63 B.C., he thought he had 

done a really good job; most 

importantly, he had put down 

a conspiracy of people who 

Five Minutes with … Katharina Volk 

wanted to overthrow the 

government. He then wanted 

someone to write a poem in 

praise of his achievement, and 

no one wanted to do it, so he 

did it himself. We only have 

a few fragments of the work. 

Already in antiquity, everyone 

was making fun of the fact that 

Cicero wrote his own poem 

about how great he was. I got 

interested in it, so I’m giving a 

talk about it at a conference. 

are you usually attracted 

to obscure topics? 

If you’re a scholar, there 

are some authors and 

topics that everyone 

works on, and 

they’re great, 

but there are 

many other 

things going 

on that are 

interesting 

as well. I think it’s fun to look 

at the overlooked. In this case, 

Cicero is a very famous guy, 

one of the most famous people 

from antiquity and probably 

the one we know the most 

about because we have a great 

many works of his, including 

his letters. But he also wrote 

this crazy poem, and very few 

people talk about it. 

if you could be anywhere in 

the world, where would you 

be? 

Rome is definitely at the 

top of my list. 

what’s the last book you 

read for pleasure that you’d 

recommend? 

I read a lot of novels. I really 

enjoyed Room by Emma 

Donoghue. I thought it was 

amazing. I also recently read 

The Elephant’s Journey by José 

Saramago. I loved that, too. 

what’s your favorite spot in 

new York city? 

Riverside Park down by the 

river near West 100th Street. 

how do you recharge? 

I like to cook to relax. After a 

long day, I find it takes your 

mind off things. You have to 

concentrate, but it’s a different 

type of concentration. 

Interview and photo: 


To watch Volk talk about receiving 

the Lionel Trilling Award, go 

to college.columbia.edu/cct. 

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Sharay Hale ’12 added First 

Team All-American to her 

growing list of achievements 

and Noruwa Agho 

’12 captured the Ivy League 

scoring championship in highlights 

of Columbia’s winter sports season. 

Hale won two individual races 

and one relay and was named the 

outstanding female athlete at the 

Indoor Ivy League Championships 

for the second consecutive year, then 

finished seventh in 400 meters at 

the NCAA Championships to earn 

All-America honors. She might have 

finished even higher at the NCAAs 

had she not had to hurdle a competitor 

who had tripped and fallen 

into Hale’s lane. Heading into the 

outdoor season, Hale already had 

four school records to her name. 

Agho, a 6-foot-3 guard, scored 

a career-high 31 points against 

Brown in his season finale to finish 

atop the Ivy scoring chart at 16.8 

points per game, beating out Greg 

Mangano ’12 of Yale, who was 

second at 16.3 ppg. Agho was the 

only Ivy League player to finish in 

the top 10 in scoring, rebounding 

(10th, 4.9 rpg) and assists (5th, 4.3 

apg). He finished second on the 

team in rebounding, steals, blocked 

shots and three-point field goals, 

and is the first Columbia player to 

R o a R , l i o n , R o a R 

hale, agho highlight winter Sports 

earn first-team honors since John 

Baumann ’08 in 2007–08. 

n basKEtball: Agho’s allaround 

play helped the Lions 

compile a 15–13 record in Kyle 

Smith’s first season as men’s head 

basketball coach. It marked only 

Columbia’s third winning record 

in the past 28 years. 

Columbia tied for fifth in the Ivy 

League at 6–8. Princeton and Harvard 

were league co-champions 

at 12–2, and Princeton advanced 

to the NCAA tournament on the 

strength of a 63–62 playoff victory. 

Princeton was beaten by Kentucky 

59–57 in the first round of the 

NCAAs, while Harvard lost to 

Oklahoma State 71–54 in the first 

round of the NIT. 

Agho was named to the All-Ivy 

First Team and Brian Barbour ’13, 

Columbia’s starting point guard, 

received Honorable Mention after 

averaging 13.3 points and 3.2 assists 

per game and shooting .917 

from the free-throw line. 

The women’s team struggled 

early, losing its first 13 games, but 

hit its stride in midseason and went 

7–8 the rest of the way, with six 

of those wins coming against Ivy 

opponents. Despite a 7–21 overall 

record, Columbia’s 6–8 Ivy mark 

Noruwa Agho ’12 scored 31 points in his season finale to capture the 

Ivy League men’s scoring crown. 

PhOTO: gENE BOYARS 


MAY/JUNE 2011 

16 

was enough to tie Brown 

for fourth place in the 

league. 

Katheen Barry ’11 earned 

All-Ivy First Team honors 

by averaging team highs 

of 10.4 points and 7.4 

rebounds per game and 

leading the league with 

seven double-doubles. An 

economics/math and Spanish 

major, Barry was named 

to the Capital One/CoSIDA 

Academic All-America First 

Team, the first Columbia 

woman to be so honored. 

Brianna Orlich ’14, who 

averaged 9.3 points and 3.5 

rebounds per game, was 

selected to the league’s All- 

Rookie Team. 

n tracK and fiEld: 

Hale won the 200-meter and 

400-meter races and was a member 

of the winning 4x400m relay team 

to lead Columbia’s women to second 

place at the Ivies. Columbia 

amassed 213 points, its most ever, 

just behind Princeton’s 218. 

Joining Hale in receiving All-Ivy 

First Team honors for victories at 

the meets were Kyra Caldwell ’12 

(60m hurdles), Monique Roberts 

’12 Barnard (high jump), Uju Ofoche 

’13 (long jump), QueenDenise 

Okeke ’13 (triple jump) and 400m 

relay team members Caldwell, 

Ofoche, Hale and Miata Morlu ’14. 

Morlu also received Second Team 

honors by placing second to Hale 

in the 400m. 

Columbia’s men finished sixth 

in the indoor Heptagonals, with the 

meet’s bright spot coming when 

the 4x800m relay team came from 

behind to win in a school-record 

7:28.64. Dylan Isaacson ’11, Matt 

Stewart ’11, Sam Miner ’14 and Jeff 

Moriarty ’11 thus earned All-Ivy 

honors. 

n fEncing: Columbia’s combined 

men’s and women’s team 

finished seventh overall in the 

NCAA Championships, a performance 

that Coach George Kolombatovich 

called “one of the most 

satisfying I’ve experienced in all my 

years as a coach. No, not in terms 

of a high placing, although there is 

nothing wrong with seventh when 

you consider the level of the talent 

in collegiate fencing today, but 

rather how our team, the youngest 

Sharay Hale ’12 earned First Team All- 

America honors in the 400 meters at the 

indoor NCAA Championships. 

PhOTO: MIKE McLAughLIN 

in the tournament, responded to the 

intensity of the NCAAs. I’m looking 

forward to coming back to next 

year’s NCAAs with fencers who are 

vastly improved, and know how to 

win in the NCAA format.” 

Although the men were winless 

in the round-robin Ivy Championship, 

three Lion first-years earned 

All-Ivy honors. Alen Hadzic ’14 

went 10–5 to gain First Team honors 

in epee, Alex Pensler ’14 was 

11–4 and earned First Team honors 

in foil and Bo Charles ’14 went 

10–5 and was named to the Second 

Team. Hadzic and Pensler also 

earned Third Team honors at the 

NCAA Championship. 

The women placed second at the 

Ivies with a 5–1 record, losing only 

to champion Princeton 15–12 in the 

first round of the two-day competition. 

Five Lions earned All-Ivy 

honors: Katya English ’14 (13–5 in 

foil), Nzingha Prescod ’14 (16–2 in 

foil) and Loweye Diedro ’13 (16–2 

in sabre) made First Team, and 

Lydia Kopecky ’13 (12–6 in epee) 

and Sammy Roberts ’12E (15–3 in 

sabre) made Second Team. 

The women accounted for 54 

of Columbia’s 94 victories at the 

NCAAs, where the men competed 

for the first two days and the women 

followed. Kopecky won 13 of her 23 

bouts to tie for seventh in epee, the 

best finish of any Columbia fencer, 

and earned All-America Second 

Team honors. Roberts, who was 

12–11, and Diedro, who was 11–12, 

earned Third Team recognition in 

sabre.


n swiMMing: Adam Powell ’11 

closed out his Columbia career by 

capturing All-America Honorable 

Mention honors in the 50-yard freestyle 

when he qualified for the consolation 

finals with a time of 19.55 

seconds, a career best and a school 

record. Powell finished 16th overall 

in the 50, as well as 37th among 58 

swimmers in the 100 freestyle. 

Powell and Hyun Lee ’14E 

helped Columbia finish third in the 

Ivy Championship. Powell won 

the 50 and 100 free, Lee captured 

the 200 and 500 free as well as the 

200 butterfly, and the two teamed 

with John Wright ’13 and Patrick 

Dougherty ’13E to win the 400 freestyle 

relay. Powell finished second 

in the 100 backstroke and was part 

of two second-place relay teams — 

the 200 free with Wright, Dougherty 

and Kai Schultz ’14, and the 

400 medley with Lee, Johnny Bailey 

’12 and Matthew Swallow ’14. 

All event winners earn All-Ivy First 

Team recognition, with runners-up 

getting Second Team. 

Powell won the Harold Ulen 

Award as the Career High Point 

Swimmer and Lee won the Phil 

Moriarty Award as the High Point 

Swimmer of the Meet. 

The women also finished third 

in the Ivies, matching their best 

finish. Katie Mieli ’13 led the way, 

winning the 200 individual medley 

in a personal-best 1:59.20. For win- 

“Why? 

So tomorrow’s 

students can 

walk through 

the same doors 

that we did.” 

ning, she was named to the All-Ivy 

First Team. 

Although no other Columbia 

woman finished first or second in 

the meet, the team’s depth enabled 

the strong overall result. “Every 

swimmer and diver on this team 

contributed to our third-place finish,” 

said coach Diana Caskey. 

n wrEstling: Heavyweight 

Kevin Lester ’12 compiled a 23–6 

overall record and won all five of 

his Ivy League matches to earn 

All-Ivy First Team recognition from 

the league’s coaches. Chosen to the 

Second Team were Eren Civan ’11, 

who went 4–1 at 165 lbs., and Nick 

Mills ’13, who was 3–2 at 184 lbs. 

Kyle Gilchrist ’12 (3–1 at 133 lbs.), 

Steve Santos ’13 (2–0 at 149 lbs. 

after missing a month of the season 

due to injury) and Mike Pushpak 

’11 (3–2 at 197 lbs.) received Honorable 

Mention. 

As a team, Columbia was 3–2 in 

Ivy competition and 9–6 overall. 

n sQuash: Columbia’s squash 

teams enjoyed successful varsity 

debut seasons, the men’s team 

going 13–5 and the women’s team 

finishing 12–6. 

Graham Miao ’13 had the best 

record on the men’s team at 15–5, 

followed by Theo Buchsbaum ’14 

at 13–4, Clayton Dahlman ’11E and 

Alec Goldberg ’14 at 12–5 each, 

Steve Case ’64CC, ’68LAW 

university Trustee 

Columbia Alumni Association (CAA) 

inaugural chair 

Tony Zou ’13 at 12–8 and Andrew 

Tan ’14E at 10–6. 

Skylar Dickey ’14 Barnard had 

the best record on the women’s 

team at 15–3, with Anne Cheng ’11 

Barnard and Monica Stone ’14 at 

13–5, Jenny Schroder ’14 Barnard 

at 12–6, Katie Quan ’14 at 12–8 and 

Morgan Strauss ’14E at 11–5. Liz 

Chu ’12 was 8–8 at the No. 1 position 

and 9–10 overall. 

n EndowMEnts: Several 

College alumni have established 

endowments for the benefit of the 

wrestling and crew programs. Brothers 

David Barry ’87 and Michael 

Barry ’89, who wrestled together for 

Columbia in the 1980s, have established 

an endowment in support of 

an assistant wrestling coach position, 

the first endowment of an assistant 

coach position in the Columbia Athletics 

program. And Tom Cornacchia 

’85, a four-year letter-winner who 

rowed at the 1985 Henley Regatta, 

has made a leadership gift to the 

rowing program to enhance the 

experience of the more than 100 

student-athletes who compete for 

Columbia’s heavyweight, lightweight 

and women’s crew teams. 

n VarsitY ‘c’: Don Jackson ’73, 

’80 Business is scheduled to be 

honored at the 90th Varsity ‘C’ Celebration 

on Wednesday, May 4, 

in Levien Gym. Jackson, an All-Ivy 

“My life opened up when I 

came to Columbia,” Case says. 

“I want others to have the same 

experience and that’s why I put 

Columbia in my estate plan.” 

Join Steve Case and others 

in the 1754 Society, alumni 

and friends who have made 

bequests and other planned 

gifts to the University. 

quarterback who ranks in the top 

five for career touchdown passes 

and also played baseball at Columbia, 

is to be honored with the Varsity 

‘C’ Alumni Award along with 

Helen Doyle Yeager ’85 Barnard, a 

two-time captain of the women’s 

basketball team. Both are on the 

leadership committee for the Columbia 

Campaign for Athletics: 

Achieving Excellence. 

n coachEs: The Women’s 

Basketball Coaches Association 

has partnered with Columbia to 

establish The Center for Coaching 

Excellence, a leadership-training 

program hosted on the Columbia 

campus beginning this spring. 

The center, developed by Athletics 

Director M. Dianne Murphy in partnership 

with WBCA, is the first of 

its kind. It is designed to introduce 

coaches to various aspects of leadership 

and provide a deeper understanding 

and appreciation of the 

importance of ethics and integrity in 

women’s college basketball through 

a rigorous curriculum presented 

in a seminar-style environment. 

Coaches participate in an intensive 

2½-day seminar-style learning environment, 

featuring panel discussions, 

guest speakers, small-group 

breakouts, roundtables and interactive 

problem-solving. 

To learn more about Steve Case’s Columbia 

experience—and about planned giving— 

visit giving.columbia.edu/plannedgifts 

or call 800-338-3294.

Five accomplished alumni — 

Andrew Barth ’83, ’85 Business; 

Alexander Navab ’87; 

Kenneth Ofori-Atta ’84; Michael 

Oren ’77 and Elizabeth 

D. Rubin ’87 — were presented with 

2011 John Jay Awards for distinguished 

professional achievement on March 2 at 

the annual John Jay Awards Dinner. 

The diverse accomplishments of this 

year’s award-winners speak to the varied 

backgrounds and interests of College students 

and alumni. 

Barth, Navab and Ofori-Atta are leaders 

in finance. Barth is the chairman of 

Capital Guardian Trust Co. and Capital 

International Limited, Navab is a partner 

and co-head of North American Private 

Equity for Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. 

and Ofori-Atta is the executive chairman 

and co-founder of Databank Financial 

Services. Oren has been the Ambassador 

of Israel to the United States since 2009, 

worked on a kibbutz in Israel as a teenager 

and served in the Israel Defense Forces 

in the 1982 Lebanon war. Rubin is an 

award-winning war correspondent and a 

contributing writer to The New York Times 

Magazine and other publications who has 

reported from the front lines in the Balkans, 

Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan. 

The black-tie dinner, attended by 

approximately 600 at Cipriani 42nd 

Street in New York, benefits the John 

Jay Scholars Program, which aims to 

extend and enhance the academic and 

extracurricular experiences of outstanding 

College first-years with panels, 

discussions and presentations by 

leading professors and professionals. 

Leeza Mangaldas ’11, who spoke on 

behalf of the John Jay Scholars, many of 

whom attended the dinner, was born in 

a small fishing village in the Goa, India. 

“On the 16-hour plane ride to New York 

and Columbia, I could see my life was 

going to change,” she recalled. “Though 

the rural, sea-salt air made for an idyllic 

childhood, Columbia University in the 

City of New York seemed like the glorious 

antithesis to everything I’d known.” 

She praised the “astounding eloquence 

and passion” of Columbia faculty members 

and said, “At Columbia, the every- 

day is extraordinary.” An English major 

with a concentration in visual arts who 

has held summer internships in Hong 

Kong and Mumbai, Mangaldas plans 

to return to India after graduation and 

work in the film industry. (CCT profiled 

her in “Student Spotlight” in September/October 

2008: college.columbia. 

edu/cct/sep_oct08.) 

Board of Trustees Chair William V. 

Campbell ’62, ’64 TC welcomed the 

guests and introduced Columbia College 

Alumni Association Executive 

Committee member Kyra Tirana Barry 

’87, who thanked those in attendance 

and announced that the dinner had 

raised nearly $1.5 million. Dean Michele 

Moody-Adams recognized the faculty 

in attendance, calling them “the heart 

of the institution,” and the students who 

were in the audience, saying, “All of us 

are very proud of your accomplishments 

and look forward to the day you can 

stand up here as recipients of this award.” 

In his remarks, President Lee C. Bollinger 

said Columbia was at a historical 

moment in its 257-year history. The opening 

of the Northwest Corner interdisciplinary 

science building completes the 

original blueprint for the Morningside 

Heights campus at the same time that the 

courts cleared the way for Columbia to 

create “a new campus for this century” 

in Manhattanville. “This solves the space 

problem that Columbia has had for four 

or five decades,” Bollinger said. He also 

noted that the endowment had outpaced 

peer institutions by achieving a 17 percent 

gain last year and that the Columbia 

Campaign’s $4 billion goal had been 

reached more than a year early. Bollinger 

got a laugh when he added, “Naturally, 

we extended the campaign by two years 

and raised the goal to $5 billion.” 

Ofori-Atta, who is from Ghana and 

whose business is based in its capital, 

Accra, is the first African-born recipient 

of a John Jay Award. He was pleased 

when Bollinger named Nairobi as a 

future site of a Columbia Global Center. 

“Africa is truly the next frontier, and 

Columbia should be taking the lead 

in bringing us into the community of 

states,” he said. 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

18 


Five Alumni Honored at John Jay Awards Dinner 


PhOTOS: EILEEN BARROSO 

From top: Honoree Elizabeth D. Rubin ’87 (right) with 

fellow journalist Christiane Amanpour; honorees 

Andrew Barth ’83, ’85 Business (left) and Michael 

Oren ’77; and honorees Alexander Navab ’87 and 

Kenneth Ofori-Atta ’84.

Columbia CollEgE Today JOhN JAY AwARdS dINNER 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

19 

From top: Joining President Lee C. Bollinger 

(far left) and Dean Michele Moody-Adams 

following the presentation of citations are 

(left to right) honorees Andrew Barth ’83, ’85 

Business, Kenneth Ofori-Atta ’84, Elizabeth D. 

Rubin ’87, Alexander Navab ’87 and Michael 

Oren ’77; students played a prominent role 

in the ceremony as presenters and speakers, 

including (left to right) Warren McGee ’11, 

Alicia Outing ’11, Vesal Yazdi ’11, Leeza Mangaldas 

’11, Francesca Triani ’11 and Alexander 

Moll ’11; Mangaldas represented all John Jay 

Scholars in addressing the crowd of about 

600 at Cipriani 42nd Street, which is in an ornate 

former bank branch; and Moody-Adams 

praised the faculty in attendance, describing 

them as “the heart of the institution.”

MAY/JUNE 2011 

20 


Columbia’s curriculum has helped the College develop 

a reputation as one of the world’s great liberal arts institutions. 

The Core Curriculum, which dates to 1919, 

immerses students in great works of philosophy, literature, 

art and music and “creates a stable foundation because 

it is organized around timeless themes expressed 

in works that are unlikely to go out of style,” according 

to a recent Wall Street Journal article touting Columbia’s method. 

Alumni who frequently come to mind when people think about Columbia 

College include Barack Obama ’83 and Eric H. Holder Jr. ’73, ’76L; Allen 

Ginsberg ’48 and Paul Auster ’69, ’70 GSAS; Richard Rodgers ’23, Oscar 

Hammerstein II ’16 and Lorenz Hart ’18; Tom Kitt ’96 and Brian Yorkey ’93; 

Claire Shipman ’86, ’94 SIPA and Maggie Gyllenhaal ’99; Herman Wouk ’34 

and Jacques Barzun ’27, ’32 GSAS — people who have made their marks in 

the worlds of politics, law, the arts and the humanities. 

But the College also is a leader when it comes to the sciences, turning out 

Nobel-prize winning research and graduating students who become not 

only top doctors but also groundbreaking researchers on subjects ranging 

A PASSIOn FOR SCIenCe 

Members of the 

College’s science 

community 

discuss their 

groundbreaking 

research 

B y et h a n ro u e n 

’04J, ’11 Bu s i n e s s 

from the molecular structure of substances in our daily experience to large 

scale processes that play out in the farthest reaches of space. Now Dean Michele 

Moody-Adams — working with the new Arts and Sciences science 

dean Amber Miller, the chairs of the science departments and other academic 

leaders — is launching a planning and fundraising effort to enhance undergraduate 

course offerings and research opportunities in science. 

“Instilling an understanding of science is essential for the College’s mission 

of preparing students to live fully engaged lives as citizens and leaders,” 

Moody-Adams said. “Given the increasing importance of science to 

our daily lives and to issues facing the globe, we are intensifying our focus 

on developing scientific literacy for nonmajors as well as majors, and offering 

science majors the most challenging and rewarding science education 

possible. We hope to renew Columbia College’s commitment to providing 

our students with the best education in the liberal arts and sciences.” 

With what President Lee C. Bollinger has described as fitting symbolism, 

Columbia devoted its last piece of buildable space on its main campus 

to the Northwest Corner Building, an interdisciplinary science center 

that is home to lecture halls, a library and cutting-edge laboratories where 

leading scientists train the next generation of Nobel laureates. 

In this issue, current students, faculty members and one alumna discuss 

research projects on subjects as varied as the sense of touch, nanotechnology, 

forest ecology and statistics.

Columbia CollEgE Today A PASSION FOR SCIENCE 

Clockwise from top: 

Professor Martin Chalfie 

examines the sense of 

touch in worms; Joanna 

Wang ’11 (right) studies 

the behavior of mice with 

Rahia Mashoodh ’13 GSAS; 

Meredith Martin ’09 takes 

a brief respite from the 

field to work in the lab; 

Professor Andrew Gelman 

explores the world through 

statistics with GSAS student 

Zach Shahn; Professor 

Maria Uriarte and a researcher 

examine the forests 

of Brazil; Hechen Ren 

’11 studies the properties 

of graphene; and Martin 

examines agave plants in 

Mexico. 

PhOTOS, CLOCKwISE FROM 

TOP: EThAN ROuEN ’04J, ’11 

BuSINESS; COuRTESY JOANNA 

wANg ’11; COuRTESY MEREdITh 

MARTIN ’09; MIChAEL 

MALECKI; COuRTESY MARIA 

uRIARTE; EThAN ROuEN ’04J, 

’11 BuSINESS; COuRTESY 

MEREdITh MARTIN ’09 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

21

A PASSION FOR SCIENCE Columbia CollEgE Today 

Taking the Long Way To Becoming a Chemist 

Markrete Krikorian ’11 knew that she loved chemistry 

in high school. But when she entered the College and 

enrolled in general chemistry, she worried that she 

would be behind the many classmates already taking 

advanced organic chemistry early in their Columbia careers. 

“I told myself ‘I’ll somehow manage and make my own way,’” 

she says. “I was glad I started with general chemistry because it was 

good to be continuous and go from beginning to end at Columbia.” 

In the process, she completed laboratory work that might have 

seemed to be extra credit. But Krikorian took the extra work as 

a way of figuring out where her passions were. By the summer 

after her first year, she was working in the organic materials lab 

of Professor Colin Nuckolls ’98 GSAS. 

Three years later, she still is working in the lab and trying to 

choose from among the eight top graduate programs to which 

she was accepted. 

“This lab experience was an integral part of deciding to go to 

grad school,” she says. 

Krikorian, a Queens, N.Y., native, has worked on a variety of 

projects in the lab. Most recently, she has been studying the conductivity 

of stilbenes, molecules that could have applications in 

the field of nanocircuitry. 

Krikorian is using stilbenes as a model system to understand 

Martin Chalfie may be best known for winning the 

Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2008, but the William R. 

Kenan Jr. Professor of Biological Sciences also is “the 

world expert on tickling worms.” 

Chalfie shared the Nobel for the work he does with GFP, a fluorescent 

protein found in some jellyfish. Chalfie showed that other 

organisms given the jellyfish gene could make functional GFP. Investigators 

could then see the green cells or 

green proteins within living tissues. 

This discovery has far reaching consequences 

in biology, influencing work 

in genetics, developmental biology and 

cell biology as well as giving insight into 

disease processes such as cancer. With 

GFP, scientists can label specific cells and 

track their progress, whether it’s how 

a specific cell grows or how it moves 

through a body. 

Chalfie came across GFP while doing 

the research that has consumed much of 

his career examining the sense of touch in 

animals. 

“For the most part, we don’t know how 

we respond through these physical senses,” 

he says, “and that leads to one of the very 

big questions of sensory biology: How 

does an organism interact with its surroundings?” 

Using worms, he and his team of researchers 

look for mutants that are insensitive 

to touch, either by tickling them 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

22 

the way conduction works at small scales (a billionth of a meter). 

“The problem with nanocircuits is that they don’t conduct consistently 

and so a lot of energy is lost. If we can understand the mechanism 

of conductance at the nanoscale, we can bring nanoelectronics 

to the forefront,” Krikorian says. “Using a compound versus using a 

metal or rare element would be beneficial in many ways. It’s going 

to be a lot cheaper, a lot more environmentally friendly, and stilbene 

derivatives are easy to make and mass produce.” 

Until her junior year of high school, Krikorian wanted to be a 

writer. Indeed, she still writes daily and hopes that writing will be 

part of her life no matter what field she selects. 

Given her varied interests, choosing Columbia made sense to 

Krikorian because it offered an excellent liberal arts curriculum as 

well as opportunities to be involved in the research being carried 

out by Columbia’s outstanding scientists. 

Krikorian says that in addition to her work in the lab, she has 

benefited from Columbia’s small, friendly Chemistry department 

and from the chance to take graduate level courses, which have 

given her a taste of what her future in graduate school will be like. 

“The most important thing for me has been not to think of one 

path as the right thing to do but doing what is right for you,” she 

says. “Chemistry is what I really liked, and I’m not doing it because 

it’s a stable job. I do it because I want to be happy.” 

Nobel Prize Winner and Professional Worm Tickler 

Chalfie works with College students in his lab. 

with an eyebrow hair or poking them with a wire. When they 

come across these mutants, they clone their genes to find out 

what has gone wrong and identify the components that allow 

animals to sense touch. Chalfie’s work has led to a recent paper 

in which his lab identified the first molecule in an animal nerve 

cell that allows it to respond to mechanical stimuli. 

While Chalfie has been doing groundbreaking work, he is also 

a generous teacher who allows Columbia 

College undergraduates to join in his research 

and provide meaningful contributions 

during their time in the laboratory. 

Students often start out screening for 

mutants, which does not require extensive 

training but is a vital part of the process and 

often gets them hooked on the research. 

This summer, Chalfie will have three 

undergraduates working with him, Isaac 

Johnson ’14, Geneva Miller ’13 and Alexis 

Tchaconas ’14, as well as numerous graduate 

students. 

“I like to have first-year students work 

in the lab because if things work, they 

can continue working on the project for 

several years if they wish,” he says. “I 

have had undergraduates in the lab who 

have been integral parts of work and who 

have been co-authors on papers. We have 

also had really outstanding students who 

worked in the lab and nothing came from 

their work, but they developed into wonderful 

scientists and physicians.”


How Environment Molds DNA 

While mice may not be able to lie on a couch and 

squeak about their problems, they can provide 

valuable insight into how an animal’s environment 

can alter the way in which it 

develops, as psychology major Joanna wang ’11 is 

showing. 

For two years, Wang has been working in the lab 

of psychology professor Frances Champagne, examining 

how mice are affected by the environment 

in which they are raised. 

“We now know more that the environment plays 

a significant role in affecting behavior,” Wang says. 

“Not only are we passing on our DNA to our children 

but also our experiences and our behaviors 

influence them.” 

Wang’s experiments, which are the basis of her senior 

thesis, involve examining two sets of mice, one 

that is raised in isolation and one that is raised in a 

communal setting. She hopes the results of the study, 

The World Is Her Laboratory 

while most people are lucky if they land one job that 

makes people say, “How cool!”, Meredith Martin 

’09 is developing a career with one fascinating project 

after the next. 

Martin, who majored in Ecology, Evolution and Environmental 

Biology, began doing meaningful, in-depth research the summer 

after her sophomore year at the College, when she completed a 

Research Experience for Undergraduates project at the American 

Museum of Natural History. Working as a lab technician, she studied 

the genetics of sea turtle populations. 

“That’s one thing that’s great about going to 

school in New York,” she says. “You have access 

to all these great institutions.” 

As part of the Ecology, Evolution and Environmental 

Biology curriculum, Martin, who grew up 

in Brooklyn, spent a summer doing research in the 

mountains of Mexico. The results of that research 

became the basis of her senior thesis. Working with 

adjunct professor Charles Peters, who also is the 

Kate E. Tode Curator of Botany at the Institute of 

Botany at the New York Botanical Garden, Martin 

studied the basic ecology of agave, which is used 

Hechen ren ’11’s work in physics could seem abstruse 

even to a high school science teacher. But Ren’s time at 

Columbia College has allowed her to become a wellrounded 

student despite spending many hours in the 

laboratory. 

Ren, who grew up in China, first fell in love with Columbia 

on a visit to New York while she was a high school student. Enchanted 

by the cultural offerings of the city and the Core Curricu- 

Wang (right) and Rahia Mashoodh 

’13 GSAS study how 

the environment of mice can 

alter their behavior. 

Martin spent a summer doing field 

research in the mountains of Mexico. 

Applying Physics to Daily Life 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

23 

which is not yet complete, will reveal some of the social experiences 

that can alter the DNA in animals, changing their behaviors 

and the behaviors of future generations. 

Wang plans to continue doing research in the fall 

when she starts medical school. Although she is still 

waiting to hear from some of the schools to which 

she applied, she already has been accepted to several 

schools, including Stanford. 

She has been working in labs for some time and began 

her science career at a science and technical high 

school in Washington, D.C., where she was raised. The 

influence of her teachers in high school guided her to 

Columbia because of her many interests. 

“They really stressed that to succeed, you needed 

to take courses outside your field of interest,” Wang 

says. “Columbia has a great science program, but it 

was the Core Curriculum that really appealed to me. 

I always enjoyed literature and philosophy, and that 

tradition drew me to Columbia.” 

in tequila as well as a high-end liquor, mescal. 

She collaborated with a local NGO to figure out what influences 

the plants’ growth and how to most effectively improve yields 

while ensuring sustainability. Her work revealed that cattle trampling 

the plants did the most harm. 

“It was nice to be able to show definitively that it’s actually a 

factor and submit results to the community,” Martin says. “The 

findings had an effect on the farmers’ methods.” 

The offerings in the E3B department were what initially drew 

Martin to the College, but the opportunity to take 

a wide-ranging curriculum sealed the deal. 

“I liked the idea of having to take all these humanities 

classes that I wouldn’t necessarily have 

taken if I didn’t have the requirements,” she says. 

Martin is now in the Master of Forest Science 

program at the Yale School of Forestry, supported 

by a fellowship from the New York Botanical 

Garden. She continues to work with Professor 

Peters, although she is now studying how the 

growth of the camu camu fruit in the Peruvian 

Amazon is being affected by the fruit’s increasing 

popularity. 

lum, she knew that the College would provide the broad education 

she was seeking, as well the kind of students with whom she 

could comfortably share her ideas. 

“I was really into philosophy, and I thought that the Core 

would be the way to force myself to learn,” she says. “Everyone is 

learning the same thing, reading the same books, and we discuss 

them. I knew that if I wanted to come to a new country, I wanted 

to find the best way to learn about the culture.”

A PASSION FOR SCIENCE Columbia CollEgE Today 

Hechen Ren ’11 examines the 

properties of graphene at her 

lab in the Northwest Corner Science 

Building. 

Andrew gelman is a Professor of Statistics whose work 

touches on topics as varied as how voting patterns 

differ depending on religious commitments and economic 

status, and (along with researcher Alexander 

van Geen) how to find safe drinking water in Bangladesh. 

In his book Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State: Why Americans 

Vote the Way They Do, Gelman and his colleagues David Park, 

Boris Shor, Joseph Bafumi and Jeronimo Cortina ’03 SIPA, ’07 GSAS, 

dispelled several of the most common notions of who is voting for 

the different political parties. Their research showed that the differences 

in voting between “red America” and “blue America” are concentrated 

among upper-income voters. It is the rich, more than the 

poor, who are voting based on culture, on “God, 

guns and gays,” Gelman says. 

“Within any given state, the richer you are, 

the more likely you are to vote Republican,” he 

says. “It’s not the Prius versus the pickup truck. 

It’s the Prius versus the Hummer. The culture 

war is happening among the upper middle class 

and the rich.” 

Gelman has worked on many other projects 

at Columbia on topics including structure in social 

networks, reversals of death sentences, pub- 

While she enjoys reading the 

great books of Western Civilization, 

Ren, a math and physics major, 

devotes a lot of time to examining 

graphene, a one-atom thick 

sheet of bonded carbon, whose 

properties let her explore correlated 

electron systems in condensed 

matter physics. 

Many inspirations for her experiments 

come from theoretical 

physicists, who propose a hypothesis 

that Ren can then explore 

through graphene. 

Using Statistics Across Many Fields 

Assistant Professor of E3B Maria uriarte studies the ways 

in which forests regrow after humans abandon agriculture, 

and the effect of this process on the community composition 

genetics of plant species. She wonders whether 

biodiversity can be preserved as human beings encroach upon, and 

then retreat from, nature. She also investigates the ways in which 

climate change alters our relationship with the natural world. 

Uriarte, who teaches in the Department of Ecology, Evolution 

and Environmental Biology, does her research in the tropical forests 

of Puerto Rico, Brazil and Peru. Her work is an attempt to 

understand the effects of human interactions with forests in time 

to prevent further damage. 

“People are moving away from agricultural land all over the 

world,” she says. “To what degree can these forests that grow 

after agricultural abandonment resemble the primary tropical 

Gelman explores the world through statistics 

with GSAS student Zach Shahn. 

How People Impact the Growth of Forests 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

24 

“The field is very cool for undergraduates,” she says. “For us, 

it’s many small projects we can do. We can start from scratch, fabricate 

our devices, measure them and analyze the data, and really 

feel like we’re doing physics.” 

She also works with students from Engineering to explore 

graphene’s potential applications, such as high-frequency FET, a 

possible replacement for silicon transistors in computer chips. 

The work she has done with Associate Professor Philip Kim 

has given her a deep understanding of the sciences she has studied 

and landed her in an extremely enviable position: Ren has 

been accepted to do graduate work at Harvard, MIT, Princeton, 

Stanford, UC Berkeley and Columbia. 

“It is a hard decision,” she said. “I’m still trying to figure out 

where to go.” 

lic opinion on gay rights, patterns in stops by NYPD officers and 

measurements of cockroach allergens in New York apartments. He 

currently is working with researchers Matt Schofield, Ed Cook and 

Upmanu Lall at Lamont-Doherty on reconstructing climate history 

based on tree ring data. The scarcity of the data and the approximate 

nature of the models make reliable reconstruction a statistical and 

scientific challenge. 

Still, Gelman’s biggest project is creating a new introductory statistics 

course and writing a corresponding textbook. In an intro class, 

he says, there isn’t enough time to prove everything mathematically, 

so he is relying on a lot more showing and a lot less telling. 

The class involves a great deal of active learning and contains 

very little lecturing. An early project has students 

select what they believe is a random sample 

of candy from a bag and guess the weight 

of the entire bag based on the sample. An envelope 

hidden in the room before class always 

correctly predicts that all estimates will be too 

high because the larger candies will float to the 

top, skewing the results. 

“It’s like a survey of people,” he says. “You 

get the most talkative people. That’s why we 

need to do random sampling.” 

forests that were once there?” 

In Puerto Rico, Uriarte is examining the regrowth of forests that 

were once cleared to grow coffee, tobacco and sugar. She is trying 

to find out if new forests will support the biodiversity of the 

original primary forests, as well as offer the benefits that tropical 

forests provide to humans, such as clean water and carbon uptake. 

This is an issue of global importance because the area of degraded 

and secondary forests in the tropics covers an estimated 850 million 

hectares and is likely to increase. 

In Brazil, Uriarte explores how forest regrowth between remnant 

fragments of primary forest influences the genetic structure of the 

species that have survived inside of these fragments. She expects 

deep insights from this project because genetic data dates back 13 

years, making it possible to see firsthand what the genetic composition 

of species in remnant fragments looked like before and after


the pastures originally cleared in areas surrounding the fragments 

became reforested. Deforestation in the tropics is continuing at rates 

that lack historical precedent resulting in the extensive fragmentation 

of species-rich rain forests. Insights from Uriarte’s project are 

likely to be relevant to what is happening to forests in other areas. 

Uriarte’s work in Peru involves not only biologists but also anthropologists 

and climate scientists. For centuries, farmers in the 

Peruvian Amazon have used burning to manage agricultural fields, 

and more recently, to clear and clean pastures. Yet the landscapes of 

the region are being rapidly transformed by clearing for large-scale 

plantation agriculture, especially biofuel production, by extensive 

ranching and by new patterns of smaller-scale land uses by non- 

Amazonian migrants who arrive in large numbers from the coast 

and highlands of Peru. Large fires escaped from burning fields and 

pastures have become common dry season events that ravage forests, 

farms and settlements in much of Amazonia and recently, these 

destructive fires have become a major problem along this region. 

The immediate causes of increased fire susceptibility reflect a 

variety of changes in economic policies. The policies at stake have 

affected agricultural development and land settlement in the Ama- 

the seniors who will graduate from Columbia 

College this May were not yet born when 

Columbia first began to consider how to add 

a science component to the Core Curriculum. 

The debate began in 1982, when Professor 

David Helfand, now the chair of the Department of 

Astronomy, was asked to head the Committee on the 

Place of Science in a Liberal Curriculum. 

“When I got here in 1977, I was delighted to see that 

the faculty actually had the temerity to say, ‘These ideas 

are important, these books are important, and I don’t 

care what you are majoring in, you will all do this together,’ 

” he says. “I was simultaneously appalled that this 

Core Curriculum, which was advertised in the catalog as 

the intellectual arms of the University and preparation for 

life as an intelligent citizen, consisted of seven humanities 

courses, zero math courses, zero science courses 

and zero social science courses.” 

For 22 years, Helfand worked with faculty, administrators and 

alumni, many of whom had a deep emotional attachment to the Core 

as it was, in an effort to create a science component for the Core 

Curriculum. The basic goals of the project were “to show students 

that science is interesting because of the things we don’t understand, 

not the set of facts that we do,” and “to inculcate in them a set of 

quantitative reasoning skills that many students lack,” he says. 

In 2004, Columbia launched the Frontiers of Science course on 

a trial basis. In this one-semester class, which College students 

generally take in either the fall or spring semesters of their first year, 

students attend a series of lectures 

presented by noted senior faculty 

on current research, and then meet 

in smaller seminar-style groups to 

discuss the topics covered. 

The topics change every year 

as research advances. More than 

30 tenured professors have taught 

the course, and each lecture must 

be rehearsed twice in front of the 

faculty before it is presented to the 

students. 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

25 

zon Basin, and led to rising prices for tropical commodities including 

biofuels that might serve as substitutes for petroleum products. 

Many of these changes result from a series of enacted policies and 

decisions taken on national and local levels. The disruptions produced 

by rapid land use and demographic transformations are 

compounded by the uncertainties of a changing climate. Uriarte’s 

team aims to quantify the critical factors driving the increased incidence 

of fires. The researchers are trying to determine whether the 

fires are the result of droughts, or of recent changes in land use, or 

perhaps of the management practices of new migrants. 

“As scientists, we like to deal with one thing at a time,” she says. 

“Right now, so much is happening at once that that is impossible. 

What’s the effect of climate change on forests? Legacies of human 

land use? Development policies? There are so many important questions. 

The trick is to identify which ones we must manage to preserve 

biodiversity, critical ecosystem services and human livelihoods.” 

Ethan rouen ’04J, ’11 business is associate editor for Columbia 

College Today. His last cover story, about internships at the College, 

was published in the January/February issue. 

Frontiers of Science Broadens the liberal arts education 

Professor Darcy Kelley (left) says 

Frontiers focuses on what’s happening 

in science right now. 

PhOTO: COLuMBIA COLLEgE 

David Helfand has been 

thinking about a Core 

course in science since 

the 1970s. 

PhOTO: MARIANNE COOK, 

FACES OF SCIENCE 

“The course emphasizes the frontiers, the breakthroughs,” 

says Darcy Kelley, the Harold Weintruab 

Professor of Biological Sciences, one of the Frontiers’ 

creators. “Doing anything in science, you have to struggle 

through years and years of preparation. In Frontiers, 

you don’t. You get to cut to the chase and talk about 

what’s happening right now. That’s fun for faculty to 

talk about, but it’s also fun to hear.” 

The seminars are taught by tenured faculty and post- 

doctoral research fellows with a specific interest in interdisciplinary 

science teaching. Regardless of the instructor’s 

expertise, he or she teaches all components of the 

course, which has proven alluring to dozens of faculty 

members. 

“As scientists go deeper into their fields, their focus 

becomes narrower and narrower,” says Kelley, who this 

year gave four lectures on neuroscience. “Here, astronomers 

who haven’t done biology since ninth grade get to 

learn about and teach biology. Scientists do what they do because 

they love to learn science. Frontiers allows them to explore new 

fields. What’s not to love?” 

Although Frontiers initially was met with resistance from some 

students, others found it eye-opening. The course has begun to 

gain traction as a vital piece of the Core education, even converting 

some students from liberal arts majors to science majors. 

“Understanding scientific methods of argument and inquiry is 

an important requirement of citizenship in the 21st century,” 

says Dean Michele Moody-Adams. “Frontiers of Science seeks to 

develop that understanding so that students graduate from the 

College able to participate responsibly in those political, social and 

economic debates that require some awareness of the nature and 

goals of modern science.” 

Frontiers recently underwent an initial five-year review, and it 

continues to be revised, in a process that Helfand says he hopes 

will never cease. 

Moody-Adams has approved a second, more extensive review of 

Frontiers of Science. External reviewers will join Columbia faculty in 

examining the course’s content and methods to ensure that it fully 

embodies the goals of the College’s Core Curriculum. 

—E.R.

Gerrard visited the Marshall Islands late last year and witnessed 

the vulnerabilities firsthand. The capital, Majuro, rises only a few 

feet above sea level on an island whose width is roughly the distance 

between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue on the Columbia 

campus. It’s not just an outright disappearance underwater that 

threatens habitability but also erosion from rising tides, pounding 

by increasingly severe tropical storms, and salt water infiltrating 

the drinking water supply, which are already happening. 

Among the Marshall Islands’ legal concerns, which they share 

with other small island nations are: Where would their citizens 

go, with what citizenship status, if and when their country becomes 

uninhabitable? Would the country retain fishing and mineral 

rights? Would it still be a country at all? 

“The questions were so novel and difficult and numerous that 

they were beyond our capabilities to answer on our own,” says 

Gerrard, the Andrew Sabin Professor of Professional Practice, 

referring to the Center for Climate Change Law’s small staff of 

student interns, four fellows and two visiting scholars. Instead, 

Gerrard put out an international call for papers — answered by 

77 scholars in 23 countries — and organized a conference to be 

held at Columbia on May 23–25, “Threatened Island Nations: 

Legal Implications of a Changing Climate.” 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

26 


GuRu OF 

Climate Change 

lAW 

When an island nation is threatened with extinction due to 

rising waters, Michael Gerrard ’72 is the man to call 

B y sh i r a Bo s s ’93, ’97J, ’98 siPa 

leaders of the Marshall Islands, alarmed that their country is slowly disappearing 

into the Pacific Ocean due to rising waters caused by climate change, recently turned 

to environmental lawyer Michael Gerrard ’72 for help. 

Gerrard, renowned in the field of environmental law and especially climate 

change law, returned to Columbia from private practice two years ago to teach at 

the Law School and head the new Center for Climate Change Law (columbiaclimatelaw.com), 

the first of its kind. Its mission is to develop legal techniques and resources to help governments, 

companies and even individuals fight global warming and cope with its impact. 

It’s not just encroaching oceans that are a concern worldwide, 

says Gerrard. Climate change has grown into one of the most vital 

problems affecting the earth. Gerrard has been heavily involved 

in the issue for several years and has worked at the forefront of 

environmental law since its inception in the 1970s. He has written 

nine books on specific areas of environmental law, including 

the first and definitive volume on U.S. climate change law, and 

he has represented scores of corporate, municipal and nonprofit 

clients in environmental actions. 

“There’s overwhelming scientific evidence that humans are 

causing changes to the climate and that these changes will have a 

significant negative impact,” Gerrard says. He believes that legal 

techniques are among the most effective tools to change patterns 

of energy production and use and address climate change. 

Gerrard came of age in an industrial area of Charleston, W.Va., 

heavily polluted with discharge from chemical plants. While 

he was an undergrad, the country was just waking up to the 

importance of environmental protection. In 1970, the first Earth Day 

was celebrated, the Environmental Protection Agency was founded 

and Congress passed key legislation such as the Clean Air Act. 

“In the shadow of Vietnam, there was a lot of attention paid

Columbia CollEgE Today MIChAEL gERRARd ’72 

Signs of the damage caused by rising waters 

due to climate change are everywhere in the 

Marshall Islands. Top: Michael Gerrard ’72 

stands on a beach where much of the sand 

has been washed away, exposing the trees’ 

roots and threatening their survival. Middle 

left: Gerrard examines a building whose 

underpinnings are endangered by rising waters. 

Middle right: One of many gravestones 

that have been damaged by the encroaching 

seas. Immediate right: Gerrard and Martha 

Campbell, U.S. ambassador to the Republic 

of the Marshall Islands. Far right: Back home 

in Chappaqua, N.Y., Gerrard with his wife, 

Barbara, supervisor of the Town of New 

Castle, and their sons, William ’05, ’12 Arts 

(second from right) and David ’03, ’07 Arts. 

PhOTOS: dERRAIN COOK (MARShALL ISLANdS), 

LORI SAChARE (FAR RIghT) 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

27

MIChAEL gERRARd ’72 Columbia CollEgE Today 

to reforming society and controlling corporate conduct,” Gerrard 

says. “It became clear that the environmental problems of the 

country resulted not only from engineering failures but also from 

political and legal failures, and that political and legal action was 

a necessary component of fighting environmental decline.” 

A political science major, Gerrard initially pursued a career in 

journalism. He was a writer and editor at Spectator and worked in 

the summers and after graduation for the Charleston Gazette and 

the Charleston bureau of the Associated Press. 

But a seminar he took during his junior year, “Institute in 

American Politics and Social Change,” taught by Alan F. Westin, 

led him to his eventual field of environmental law. In Westin’s 

course, Gerrard studied the problem of air pollution in West Virginia. 

That research turned into his senior thesis, “The Politics of 

Air Pollution in West Virginia,” for which he won the Alan J. Willen 

Memorial Prize for the best thesis on American politics. 

After his stint in journalism, Gerrard came back to New York 

in 1973 to be a policy analyst at the Council on the Environment of 

New York City, affiliated with the Office of the Mayor. He became 

involved in the Westway case, the biggest development controversy 

in New York City in the ’70s. It involved a proposal to build an 

interstate highway on the far West Side that would have included 

landfill in the Hudson River and cost about $2 billion. “At a time 

when the New York subway and bus systems were falling apart, 

this would have cost $10,000 a linear inch,” Gerrard says. 

The battle helped inspire Gerrard to become a lawyer. “It became 

clear to me that this beast could best be fought in court and 

other legal arenas,” he says. “I watched lawyers use legal techniques 

to great effect.” 

During law school at NYU, Gerrard interned at the Natural Resources 

Defense Council and remained involved in the Westway 

case, which was defeated in 1985 on environmental grounds. After he 

graduated from NYU Law in 1978 and went to work for Berle, Kass 

& Case, Gerrard’s experience with Westway “led to a string of cases 

representing municipalities and community organizations litigating 

against highways,” he says. He then used many of the same legal 

techniques to represent municipalities and citizens groups fighting 

hazardous, solid and radioactive waste landfills and incinerators. 

when Gerrard attended law school, there was no environmental 

law program; the school’s entire offering on 

the subject was a single course taught by an adjunct. 

Gerrard has not only built his expertise working in the field but 

also has helped shape it through numerous books and articles, 

work with environmental advocates, teaching and now by forming 

and leading the Center for Climate Change Law. 

“He’s always on the cutting edge,” says Deborah Goldberg, who 

worked with Gerrard at two law firms and now is managing attorney 

of Earthjustice, a nonprofit public interest law firm. “He’s written 

the book on any number of issues just as they were emerging, 

and is still doing it now, with the Center for Climate Change Law.” 

Goldberg says he is the leading authority on environmental impact 

review in New York and that “the first thing anyone with a question 

in that area does is to reach for Mike’s two-volume treatise.” 

Gerrard wrote the first and leading book on U.S. climate change 

law, Global Climate Change and U.S. Law, in 2007. His two most recent 

volumes are The Law of Green Buildings: Regulatory and Legal 

Issues in Design, Construction, Operations and Financing, published 

last August, and The Law of Clean Energy: Efficiency and Renewables, 

which came out this spring. He now is co-editing a book on the 

law of adaptation to climate change, which includes domestic and 

international laws. Two of his books have won the Association of 

American Publishers’ Outstanding Legal Book of the Year award: 

the 12-volume Environmental Law Practice Guide and the four-volume 

Brownfields Law and Practice: The Cleanup and Redevelopment of 

Contaminated Land, both of which are continually supplemented. 

“He’s very unusual in not only the quality but the amount of 

his writing — books, articles and studies,” says Ross Sandler, professor 

of law at New York Law School, who was the adjunct who 

taught environmental law to Gerrard at NYU. “Many academic 

lawyers would envy his output over the years.” Sandler says part 

of what enabled Gerrard to be so prolific while practicing law 

full-time is that he “keeps voluminous files on every aspect of 

environmental law, and has them meticulously organized — he 

did the work of a computer even before computers.” 

Gerrard has been ranked by Who’s Who Legal and in the Guide 

to the World’s Leading Environmental Lawyers as one of the top environmental 

lawyers in the world. Peers surveyed by the publication 

group Best Lawyers designated him the 2010 New York Environmental 

Lawyer of the Year. Their awards are given to the attorneys 

a tagline for Gerrard’s career could be “act Globally, act locally.” 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

28 

who have earned their peers’ highest respect for “their abilities, 

their professionalism and their integrity.” 

“He has a really sophisticated perspective,” says Steve Cohen, 

director of the Earth Institute at Columbia. Gerrard was recruited 

to the faculty of both the Law School and the Earth Institute. “He 

understands the perspectives of interest groups, industry and environmentalists, 

and the details of environmental policy and law.” 

Gerrard continues his professional practice part-time as senior 

counsel at Arnold & Porter, where he was previously managing 

partner of the New York office and head of its environmental 

practice. He has represented numerous real estate companies involved 

in proposed development projects, helping them navigate 

the environmental review process and get the permits they need. 

Since 2002, he has represented developer Larry Silverstein concerning 

the environmental issues regarding redevelopment of the 

World Trade Center site. 

“Mike analyzes legal issues without favor or bias. He is the 

first person we all look to on a difficult or close issue in our field,” 

says Jim Periconi ’70, who met Gerrard when they attended NYU 

Law and who now runs a boutique environmental law firm in 

New York and remains a friend. “He’s given so much time and 

effort to nonprofits, and at the same time he has an impressive 

roster of corporate clients. He commands great respect in both 

camps — it’s rare for an environmental attorney to be so admired 

and trusted by such radically competing interests.” 

Gerrard points out that the two sides are not always conflicting. 

“Many companies really do want to comply with environmental 

laws and want to know what they are and how to do 

that,” he says. “Silverstein wants to make the new towers green. 

For years, we’ve been working on the design and construction 

and operation being as environmentally friendly as possible.” 

The towers now being erected at the former World Trade Center 

site will earn the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design 

Gold certification or the equivalent, Gerrard says. 

For several years in the mid-’90s, Gerrard represented the 

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) on a pro bono basis 

in litigation against the New York City Department of Sanitation 

for failure to implement the city’s recycling law. As a result of the

Columbia CollEgE Today MIChAEL gERRARd ’72 

case and political pressure, recycling was expanded. 

In 2008, he represented the NRDC in filing a petition — largely 

drafted by Gerrard — with the White House Council on Environmental 

Quality asking it to issue regulations requiring environmental 

impact statements to discuss greenhouse gas emissions and climate 

change. (The CEQ did issue proposed rules in February 2010.) 

Gerrard has a reputation for tact and gentility, which make him 

a more influential attorney and advocate and also, colleagues say, 

a behavioral role model. 

“Mike never gets frazzled,” Periconi says. “He’s the most generous 

of people in helping colleagues with the right way to approach 

a legal problem, providing sources of information you didn’t know 

existed, telling you the right people to call on an issue … and yet 

he’s supremely modest about his accomplishments. I’ve never heard 

anyone say a negative word about Mike Gerrard — ever.” 

Gerrard taught courses as an adjunct at 

the Law School, NYU Law and the Yale 

School of Forestry and Environmental 

Studies before joining the faculties of the Law 

School and the Earth Institute full-time at the 

beginning of 2009. 

“I came to feel climate change is one of the 

most serious issues facing humanity, and since 

I have some expertise, I felt an obligation to 

devote myself to helping devise solutions and 

train the next generation of leaders in the field,” 

Gerrard says. “There’s too much to be done, and 

not enough people to do it.” 

Cohen says Gerrard is truly interested in education 

and is a popular teacher, whose courses 

on environmental law, climate change law and 

energy law are always full. 

“What he brings to the classroom is his enormous 

experience from the time environmental 

law started, so students get the benefit of knowing 

what went on and how we got to where we 

are today,” Sandler says. 

Students say Gerrard, who can come across 

as staid before getting to know him, makes even 

lecture courses lively and interactive. He will play YouTube videos 

to bring the material to life, and has brought in bumper stickers 

from oppositional campaigns and original documents from cases 

for show and tell. “He’s quite funny, and intersperses anecdotes 

from his years of experience in the field throughout the class,” says 

Ben Schifman ’11L. “He’s been involved in many of the foundational 

environmental law cases we read in the case books — you 

are unlikely to have a professor who can do that in other fields such 

as, say, property law, which was largely developed centuries ago.” 

While student interest in pursuing environmental careers has 

been growing during the past decade or so — enrollments in related 

courses have increased, and the College added a major in 

sustainable development in 2010 — neither the school nor Gerrard 

fully anticipated his reception on campus. For 18 spots available 

in the spring 2010 semester for his “Seminar on Energy Law,” a 

topic Gerrard says was previously considered “an obscure corner 

of the law,” 130 students applied. Demand remains strong, and this 

semester, for the first time, Gerrard admitted 20 undergraduates to 

his “Climate Change Law” lecture class. 

Carolyn Matos ’12, an urban studies major who interned at 

the Center for Climate Change Law last summer, is taking “Climate 

Change Law” and says she has decided to pursue environ- 

Gerrard is a pioneer in environmental 

law and has helped shape the growing 

field with his prolific writings, professional 

work and the founding of Columbia’s 

Center for Climate Change Law. 

PhOTO: ERICA MARTIN 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

29 

mental law as a career, “primarily because of Professor Gerrard, 

how much he loves environmental law and how passionate he is 

about climate law.” 

“I find a great deal more student interest in environmental law 

now versus before,” Gerrard says, referring to his time as an adjunct 

lecturer at the Law School from 1992–2000. “Before, it was considered 

a specialty, and not a great many wanted to go into it as a career. 

Now, people are attracted to it. They think environmental issues are 

important to their own futures and the future of civilization. The environment 

poses many fascinating legal and policy issues they’d like 

to tackle. And they see job growth in this area.” 

to reduce his carbon footprint, Gerrard commutes to campus 

from his home in Chappaqua, N.Y., by Metro-North 

train to East 125th Street, a crosstown bus and a half-mile 

walk on Amsterdam Avenue. He points out that 

mode of transportation is a major determinant 

of one’s personal environmental impact. 

Gerrard and his wife of 34 years, Barbara, to 

whom he was introduced through taking the 

Westin course, also are active in local politics. In 

November 2009, Barbara Gerrard was reelected 

to a second term as supervisor (the equivalent 

of mayor) of the Town of New Castle, of which 

Chappaqua is a part. The town has become increasingly 

environmentally conscious under her 

leadership and was the first in New York to sign 

the state’s Climate Smart Communities Pledge to 

lower greenhouse gas emissions, promote recycling 

and reduce energy consumption. 

Michael Gerrard has chaired the town’s Solid 

Waste Advisory Board, which he admits sounds 

unglamorous but says plays an important role 

in any local environment. He also sits on several 

nonprofit boards, and for 10 years was the pro 

bono general counsel of the Municipal Art Society 

of New York. 

The couple’s sons, David ’03, ’07 Arts, and 

William ’05, ’12 Arts, are third-generation Columbians. 

Gerrard’s parents met while both were attending 

graduate school at Columbia: his father, Nathan ’52 GSAS, 

in sociology, and his mother, Louise ’69 GSAS, in political science 

(she took time off to raise Michael and his brother, then completed 

her Ph.D. when Michael was a first-year at the College). 

A tagline for Gerrard’s career could be “Act Globally, Act Locally.” 

At the same time that he has been working on the plight 

of drowning island nations, he was one of six private citizens appointed 

to work on the issue closer to home, as part of New York 

State’s Sea Level Rise Task Force. “The sea is rising and rising 

at an accelerating rate,” he says. “By the end of the century, the 

rise could be quite significant for low-lying cities, including New 

York.” Regarding his wide-ranging involvement in the field, he 

states simply, “There are a lot of balls to juggle.” 

Colleagues marvel at how much Gerrard accomplishes, and at 

the way he does it. Periconi says, “I think of Mike as perhaps the 

best exemplar of the mix of qualities promoted by a Columbia 

education: a spirit of intellectual adventurousness, tremendous 

public mindedness, contributing to the commonweal and not all 

that focused on promoting his own career yet with outstanding 

professional accomplishment.” 

shira boss ’93, ’97J, ’98 sipa is a contributing writer to CCT.

Club Sports 

Flourish at 

Columbia 

Nearly twice as many Columbia 

athletes compete in clubs as on 

the varsity level 

B y Jo n a t h a n Le m i r e ’01 

Club sports participants are Columbia’s 

oft-overlooked athletes. 

They are rarely written up in Spectator, 

and their games are not broadcast on 

WKCR. They aren’t recognized by fellow 

students when they walk across campus, 

nor do large crowds usually throng to 

their games. 

But they are everywhere, and their groups are growing 

in size, stature and skill. More than 1,600 students participate 

in club sports at Columbia, nearly double the number 

who are on the 31 varsity squads. 

There are 38 club teams on campus — from archery to 

kayaking, from racquetball to table tennis — and each team is 

entirely student-run. Students raise the money for uniforms, 

they make hotel and travel arrangements for tournaments, 

they network with alumni and they balance up to 15 hours a 

week of practice with their academic responsibilities. 

“You do everything,” says Marie Johnson ’12 Barnard, 

president of the Sailing Club. “And you’re not just an athlete. 

You learn to communicate, to organize, to fundraise. 

You learn more skills than just what you need to succeed 

at your sport.” 

Club sports are not intramurals, which are loosely organized 

games among friends that sometimes are played on 

South Lawn. Rather, club teams are well-run squads with 

an informative website (columbia.edu/cu/clubsports) and 

significant budgets that train at Athletic Department facilities 

and compete against other colleges — often including 

varsity teams — up and down the East Coast and beyond. 

They are open to all Columbia undergraduate and graduate 

students; even a handful of faculty and staff participate, 

though the vast majority of athletes are enrolled at the 

College, Barnard and Engineering.

Kerry Morrison ’11 (seated), 

captain and president of 

the Columbia Sailing Club in 

2009 and 2010, with Weston 

Friedman ’08 in one of the 

new boats that are the 

result of club members’ 

fundraising efforts.

CLuB SPORTS Columbia CollEgE Today 

Kelsey Mowatt-Larssen ’12 Barnard (right) will be captain of the Tae 

Kwon Do team next year. 

Though records often are fuzzy, club sports on campus date 

back to at least the 1920s, according to Athletics Department officials. 

Interest in particular teams has ebbed and flowed across 

the decades, but Morningside Heights has remained a welcoming 

home to organized non-varsity sports. 

In recent years, the number of students participating has steadily 

grown, from 1,241 in 2006 to 1,391 in 2009 to 1,649 this academic 

year. For many of those students, the ability to play their favorite 

sport on campus even factors into their decision of which college 

to attend. 

“I starting taking martial arts classes when I was 5 and was a 

black belt by 9,” says Miyako Yerick ’12, president of the Tae Kwon 

Do Club. “It became more than just a sport to me; it was as much 

about the mental aspects as it was the physical. I loved that combination. 

I loved how it made me feel completely in control. 

“It is a part of who I am,” adds Yerick, who grew up in the 

Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. “There was no 

question that I would compete while in college.” 

However, club sports also cater to a different sort of athlete, the 

one who is eager to try something new. 

“There are two categories of people who join club sports,” says 

Alexandra Voss ’11 Barnard, president of Columbia’s Club Sports 

Governing Board. “First, there are those who have been doing a 

sport a long time, usually in high school, and they want to continue 

to compete at a pretty high level. But there are others who 

get to a campus as a freshman and say ‘Hey, equestrian, I want 

to give that a shot.’ We are delighted to cater to those types of 

students, too. That’s the beauty of club sports.” 

twenty-seven sports offer co-ed squads for students to 

join, while rugby, water polo, volleyball, ultimate Frisbee 

and ice hockey have separate men’s and women’s 

teams. Lacrosse is available as a club for men (it’s a varsity 

sport for women). The Athletics Department provides space 

and support for the club teams, who rent the space themselves. 

“Students can start a new club team at any time,” says Brian 

Jines, director of intramural and club sports. “If enough students 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

32 

come forward in an organized fashion and with a detailed plan 

and budget, we’re happy to entertain the idea of a new team.” 

According to a University bylaw established in the 1970s, there 

cannot be a club team in a sport that already has a varsity squad 

— so, for example, no basketball, baseball or soccer. However, 

a few older clubs that duplicate a varsity team, such as archery, 

have been grandfathered in. 

All club teams are managed the same way. They each nominate 

four student officers who run their respective teams with the assistance 

of the Club Sports Governing Board, which is staffed by four 

elected undergraduates. Though Athletics Department officials are 

happy to provide guidance, the students run the show. 

“Each club is only as strong as its students,” says Johnson. 

“That’s an amazing thing. And I know the students want to be 

as strong as possible.” 

The entire club sports program, which has an annual budget of 

approximately $600,000, is funded in two ways. About one-third 

comes from a program known as Funding at Columbia, which is 

money collected from student fees that is distributed by a consortium 

of student councils. This year, that program — known informally 

as F@CU — is expected to distribute about $246,000. The 

other two-thirds is generated by the teams themselves through 

a combination of student dues, team fundraisers, alumni donations 

and, yes, even bake sales. 

“There’s a wide range in what teams need to fundraise,” says 

Voss, who is from Cambridge, Mass. “For, say, equestrian and sailing, 

those are expensive sports that require teams to raise a lot of 

money. But for the road runners, who use very little equipment, 

they charge one $10 fee per student and they have all they need.” 

Voss, a former president of the Tae Kwon Do Club, highlighted 

the need for increased alumni involvement to ensure the continued 

health of most teams. 

“The biggest challenge for a club sport, by far, is the high turnover 

rate,” she says. “It’s not like a varsity sport, which has the Athletics 

Department infrastructure. These are student-run teams and those 

students graduate. The alums, though, can be a constant presence.” 

Many former students agree. Some teams, like rugby, have 

long-established alumni organizations whose members help students 

with everything from fundraising to career counseling. But 

many others don’t have that in place, and a group of alumni is trying 

to change that. 

“Unlike the varsity sports, where a lot is done for you by the 

school, these students are doing everything on their own,” says 

Dave Filosa ’82, a member of the varsity crew team while at Columbia 

who now is a partner at Morningside Securities, an investment 

banking firm. “It’s a very self-motivated group who do 

it for themselves. There’s little glory to be had, even if they win a 

championship. 

“What they do is really impressive,” he adds. “We want alums, 

especially those who played a club sport themselves, to see 

that and ask themselves, ‘What can we do to help?’ ” 

Filosa is drawing upon his experiences with the King’s Crown 

Rowing Association, an alumni group founded in 1983 that allowed 

graduates to not only keep alive their love affair with crew 

but also to connect with their successors at the school. He is hoping 

to build similar bridges between alumni and the teams on 

which they played. 

“The goal here, at first, is to set up a framework so that the 

students are able to communicate in more direct ways with 

alums,” says Filosa, who is a member of the Columbia College 

Alumni Association Board of Directors. “Some teams haven’t 

kept great records, so it’s hard to reconnect with alums. We want

Columbia CollEgE Today CLuB SPORTS 

to make that easier. 

“We want to establish a relationship between club sports and 

the Alumni Association,” he says. “If we get greater involvement 

and interaction … well, the money will come from the alums 

someday, too, and that will really help the teams.” 

Some teams have taken the initiative. Earlier this year, the Tae 

Kwon Do Club hosted its second annual alumni dinner, and the 

graduates returned to Morningside Heights bearing valuable 

advice. 

“For any student who has a question, there’s an alum who has 

an answer,” says Yerick, who added that one of her team’s instructors 

is a Columbia graduate, Roshan Bharwaney ’05 TC. “It’s nice 

to have them around and to go to them for the answer. They’ve 

been around the block and know what they’re talking about.” 

Perhaps the greatest recent success of alumni and students 

working together to improve a club team came last year, when 

the Sailing Club needed a new fleet of boats. With some guidance 

from an alumni board, the team set upon an ambitious plan 

of cold-calling and letter-writing to Sailing Club alumni, capped 

off with a fundraising dinner. All told, they brought in about 

$115,000, well more than the $55,000 needed for the fleet of 10 

new 14-foot-long boats. 

“It was the hardest thing we’ve done but also the most rewarding,” 

says Johnson, the team president, who is from Seattle. “We 

tried to build up a base of alums to contact, and they responded and 

made this happen.” 

Members of the 30-person sailing team rent a van three times a 

week from September to November and again in March and April 

and drive north to City Island in the Bronx, where they practice 

on the waters of Long Island Sound. They compete nearly every 

weekend at schools such as Cornell, Dartmouth and the Naval 

Academy, but now, thanks to the new boats, they soon will be 

able to welcome their rivals to their own turf, or more accurately, 

water. 

“We’ve put Columbia University on the sailing map,” says 

Johnson, her voice brimming with pride. “Now, we can finally 

host regattas, too.” 

Columbia hosted one in April and will host two more in the 

fall, including an alumni regatta in October. 

“We’ve heard from so many alums who tell us, ‘We always 

wanted to do this — to buy these boats, to host these races — but 

you guys were the ones to finally make it happen.’ It’s such a 

feeling of pride and accomplishment,” says Johnson. Members of 

the team also will start teaching a sailing physical education class 

for undergraduates. 

an article in Spectator last fall posed the question of 

whether the sailing squad would consider petitioning 

to become a varsity sport, an opportunity another 

club team recently jumped at. Completing a process 

that began nearly a decade earlier, the men’s Squash Club and the 

women’s Squash Club each were granted approval to elevate to 

the varsity level for the 2010–11 season. 

In order for a team to make the leap, Jines explains, it must 

have high levels of success and participation as well as comply 

with pertinent NCAA and Title IX rules. It then needs the approval 

of the Athletics Department and the Faculty Athletic Committee, 

which governs the sports programs at the school. 

“It was a really proud moment for the club sports program, 

the Athletics Department and the school when the squash clubs 

were elevated,” says Jines, who notes that an elevation to varsity 

is a rare event. The last team to do so was softball in 2001. 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

33 

Anne Cheng ’11 Barnard compiled a 13–5 record in 2010–11 after 

women’s squash went from a club sport to the varsity level. 

PhOTOS: COuRTESY COLuMBIA CLuB SPORTS 

Both squash teams fared well in their debut varsity seasons. The 

men’s squad went 13–5 while the women went 12–6, and each team 

sent competitors to the national championship meets in March. 

“We were the last Ivy League school not to have a varsity 

squad,” says Liz Chu ’12, a captain of the women’s team, who 

grew up in New York City. “The alums were pushing for it, and 

the players were on board completely. It’s a lot more work but 

the trade-off is worth it. We have extra resources now: stipends 

for food, free uniforms and transportation, and tutors if you’re 

having a little trouble with a class. 

“It’s a great level of prestige,” says Chu, whose team will 

compete in a full Ivy League schedule next year. “It’s something 

we wanted.” 

Will sailing be next to make the move to varsity status? Not 

necessarily. 

“Do we have the school support and funding we need to make 

it happen? Yes, on both fronts,” Johnson says. “I can understand 

why some teams want to make the move, but I don’t think it’s 

right for us.” 

Several of the nation’s top sailing teams, like Brown’s squad, 

are club level and not varsity, she explains. And if the team leaves 

the realm of club sports behind, Johnson fears that what her team 

would gain in resources it would lose in control. 

“Students wouldn’t be running everything anymore,” she says. 

“And I’m afraid we’d no longer have one of the key elements of 

our team: We bring freshmen onto our boats who have never been 

on the water, and we know we’re training our future captains. 

“They’ll learn and grow into that role,” says Johnson, “and I 

think that’s what club sports are all about.” 

Did you participate in club sports at Columbia? Today’s clubs would like 

to hear from their alumni. Contact Brian Jines, director of intramural 

and club sports, at bj2149@columbia.edu, and he will forward your note 

to the respective club leaders. 

Jonathan lemire ’01 is a staff writer for the New York Daily News.

[ ColuMBia ForuM] 

the hidden reality 

Brian Greene explores parallel universes 

and the deep laws of the cosmos in his latest book 

Brian Greene, professor of mathematics 

and physics, is a theoretical physicist 

well-known for his discoveries in superstring 

theory, a field that (as Greene 

puts it) “has the potential to realize 

Einstein’s long-sought dream of a 

single, all-encompassing theory of the 

universe.” Greene also is the author 

of two bestselling books on cuttingedge 

physics. The first, The Elegant 

Universe: Superstrings, Hidden 

Dimensions, and the Quest for the 

Ultimate Theory, published in 2000, 

was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and 

was translated into a Peabody Awardwinning 

PBS series in 2004. Another, 

The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, 

Time, and the Texture of Reality, 

Brian Greene 

published in 2004, also is being pro- 

PhOTO: LARK ELLIOTT 

duced as a PBS series. 

Greene’s latest volume, The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes 

and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos (Knopf, 2011), 

takes his investigations one step further. This time, he looks at 

the parallel universes that may surround us, in forms of infinite 

variety. In the following excerpt, Greene describes the big bang 

theory’s poetic but inevitable revelation: There is cosmic microwave 

radiation suffusing our universe, its atoms lingering on 

from the distant past. 

Rose Kernochan ’82 Barnard 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

34 


apioneering group 

of physicists in the mid-1900s realized that if 

you were to shut off the sun, remove the other 

stars from the Milky Way, and even sweep 

away the more distant galaxies, space would 

not be black. To the human eye it would appear 

black, but if you could see radiation in the 

microwave part of the spectrum, then every 

which way you turned you’d see a uniform 

glow. Its origin? The origin. Remarkably, these 

physicists discovered a pervasive sea of microwave 

radiation filling space that is a presentday 

relic of the universe’s creation. The story 

of this breakthrough recounts a phenomenal 

achievement of the big bang theory, but in 

time it also revealed one of the theory’s fundamental 

shortcomings and thus set the stage 

for the next major breakthrough in cosmology 

after the pioneering works of [Alexander] 

Friedmann and [Monsignor Georges-Henri] 

Lemaître: the inflationary theory. 

Inflationary cosmology modifies the big 

bang theory by inserting an intense burst of 

enormously fast expansion during the universe’s 

earliest moments. This modification, 

as we will see, proves essential to explaining 

some otherwise perplexing features of the 

relic radiation. But more than that, inflationary 

cosmology is a key chapter in our story because 

scientists have gradually realized over 

the last few decades that the most convincing 

versions of the theory yield a vast collection of 

parallel universes, radically transforming the 

complexion of reality.

Columbia CollEgE Today ThE hIddEN REALITY 

reliCS oF a hot 

BeGinninG 

George Gamow, a hulking sixfoot-three 

Russian physicist 

known for important contributions 

to quantum and nuclear 

physics in the early twentieth century, was 

as quick-witted and fun-loving as he was 

hard-living (in 1932, he and his wife tried to 

defect from the Soviet Union by paddling 

across the Black Sea in a kayak stocked 

with a healthy assortment of chocolate and 

brandy; when bad weather sent the two 

scurrying back to shore, Gamow was able 

to fast-talk the authorities with a tale of the 

unfortunately failed scientific experiments 

he’d been undertaking at sea). In the 1940s, 

after having successfully slipped past the 

iron curtain (on dry land, with less chocolate) 

and settled in at Washington University 

in St. Louis, Gamow turned his attention 

to cosmology. With critical assistance 

from his phenomenally talented graduate 

student Ralph Alpher, Gamow’s research 

resulted in a far more detailed and vivid 

picture of the universe’s earliest moments 

than had been revealed by the earlier work 

of Friedmann (who had been Gamow’s 

teacher back in Leningrad) and Lemaître. 

With a little modern updating, Gamow and 

Alpher’s picture looks like this. 

Just after its birth, the stupendously hot 

and dense universe experienced a frenzy 

of activity. Space rapidly expanded and 

cooled, allowing a particle stew to congeal 

from the primordial plasma. For the first 

three minutes, the rapidly falling temperature 

remained sufficiently high for the universe 

to act like a cosmic nuclear furnace, 

synthesizing the simplest atomic nuclei: 

hydrogen, helium, and trace amounts of 

lithium. But with the passing of just a few 

more minutes, the temperature dropped to 

about 10 8 Kelvin (K), roughly 10,000 times 

the surface temperature of the sun. Although 

immensely high by everyday standards, 

this temperature was too low to support 

further nuclear processes, and so from 

this time on the particle commotion largely 

abated. For eons that followed, not much 

happened except that space kept expanding 

and the particle bath kept cooling. 

Then, some 370,000 years later, when the 

universe had cooled to about 3000 K, half 

the sun’s surface temperature, the cosmic 

monotony was interrupted by a pivotal turn 

of events. To that point, space had been filled 

with a plasma of particles carrying electric 

charge, mostly protons and electrons. Because 

electrically charged particles have the 

unique ability to jostle photons — particles 

of light — the primordial plasma would 

have appeared opaque; the photons, incessantly 

buffeted by electrons and protons, 

would have provided a diffuse glow similar 

to a car’s high beams cloaked by a dense fog. 

But when the temperature dropped below 

3000 K, the rapidly moving electrons and 

nuclei slowed sufficiently to amalgamate 

into atoms; electrons were captured by the 

atomic nuclei and drawn into orbit. This was 

a key transformation. Because protons and 

electrons have equal but opposite charges, 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

35 

their atomic unions are electrically neutral. 

And since a plasma of electrically neutral 

composites allows photons to slip through 

like a hot knife through butter, the formation 

of atoms allowed the cosmic fog to clear 

and the luminous echo of the big bang to be 

released. The primordial photons have been 

streaming through space ever since. 

Well, with one important caveat. Although 

no longer knocked to and fro by 

electrically charged particles, the photons 

have been subject to one other important influence. 

As space expands, things dilute and 

cool, including photons. But unlike particles 

of matter, photons don’t slow down when 

they cool; being particles of light, they always 

travel at light speed. Instead, when photons 

cool their vibrational frequencies decrease, 

which means they change color. Violet pho- 

The cosmic microwave background was formed approximately 380,000 years after the big bang. The different colors denote differences in temperature, 

which correspond to tiny density enhancements, that later condensed into the first structures. 

PhOTO: wILKINSON MICROwAVE ANISOTROPY PROBE 

tons will shift to blue, then to green, to yellow, 

to red, and then into the infrared (like 

those visible with night goggles), the microwave 

(like those that heat food by bouncing 

around your microwave oven), and finally 

into the domain of radio frequencies. 

As Gamow first realized and as Alpher 

and his collaborator Robert Herman worked 

out with greater fidelity, all this means that 

if the big bang theory is correct, then space 

everywhere should now be filled with remnant 

photons from the creation event, streaming 

every which way, whose vibrational frequencies 

are determined by how much the 

universe has expanded and cooled during 

the billions of years since they were released. 

Detailed mathematical calculations showed 

that the photons should have cooled close

ThE hIddEN REALITY Columbia CollEgE Today 

to absolute zero, placing their frequencies in 

the microwave part of the spectrum. For this 

reason, they are called the cosmic microwave 

background radiation. 

i 

recently reread the papers of Gamow, 

Alpher, and Herman that in the late 

1940s announced and explained these 

conclusions. They are marvels of theoretical 

physics. The technical analyses involved 

require hardly more than a grounding 

in undergraduate physics, and yet the 

results are profound. The authors concluded 

that we are all immersed in a bath 

of photons, a cosmic heirloom bequeathed 

to us by the universe’s fiery birth. 

With that buildup, you may find it 

surprising that the papers were ignored. 

This was mostly because they were written 

during an era dominated by quantum 

and nuclear physics. Cosmology had yet 

to make its mark as a quantitative science, 

so the physics culture was less receptive to 

what seemed like fringe theoretical studies. 

To some degree, the papers also languished 

because of Gamow’s unusually playful 

style (he once modified the authorship of 

a paper he was writing with Alpher to include 

his friend the future Nobel laureate 

Hans Bethe, just to make the paper’s byline 

— Alpher, Bethe, Gamow — sound like the 

first three letters of the Greek alphabet), 

which resulted in some physicists taking 

him less seriously than he deserved. Try as 

they might, Gamow, Alpher, and Herman 

could not interest anyone in their results, let 

alone persuade astronomers to devote the 

significant effort required to attempt to detect 

the relic radiation they predicted. The 

papers were quickly forgotten. 

In the early 1960s, unaware of the earlier 

work, the Princeton physicists Robert Dicke 

and Jim Peebles went down a similar path 

and also realized that the big bang’s legacy 

should be the presence of a ubiquitous 

background radiation filling space. Unlike 

the members of Gamow’s team, however, 

Dicke was a renowned experimentalist and 

so didn’t need to persuade anyone to seek 

the radiation observationally. He could do 

it himself. Together with his students David 

Wilkinson and Peter Roll, Dicke devised an 

experimental scheme to capture some of the 

big bang’s vestigial photons. But before the 

Princeton researchers could put their plan to 

the test, they received one of the most famous 

telephone calls in the history of science. 

While Dicke and Peebles had been calculating, 

the physicists Arno Penzias and 

Robert Wilson at Bell Labs, less than thirty 

miles from Princeton, had been struggling 

with a radio communications antenna (coincidentally, 

it was based on a design Dicke 

had come up with in the 1940s). No matter 

what adjustments they made, the antenna 

hissed with a steady, unavoidable background 

noise. Penzias and Wilson were 

convinced that something was wrong with 

their equipment. But then came a serendipitous 

chain of conversations. It began with a 

talk Peebles gave in February 1965 at Johns 

Hopkins University, which was attended 

by the Carnegie Institution radio astronomer 

Kenneth Turner, who mentioned the 

results he heard Peebles present to his MIT 

colleague Bernard Burke, who happened to 

be in touch with Penzias at Bell Labs. Hearing 

of the Princeton research, the Bell Labs 

team realized that their antenna was hissing 

for good reason: it was picking up the cosmic 

microwave background radiation. Penzias and 

Wilson called Dicke, who quickly confirmed 

that they had unintentionally tapped into 

the reverberation of the big bang. 

The two groups agreed to publish their 

papers simultaneously in the prestigious 

Astrophysical Journal. The Princeton group 

discussed their theory of the background 

radiation’s cosmological origin, while the 

Bell Labs team reported, in the most conservative 

of language and with no mention 

of cosmology, the detection of uniform 

microwave radiation permeating space. 

Neither paper mentioned the earlier work 

of Gamow, Alpher, and Herman. For their 

discovery, Penzias and Wilson were awarded 

the 1978 Nobel Prize in physics. 

Gamow, Alpher, and Herman were deeply 

dismayed, and in the years that followed 

struggled mightily to have their work recognized. 

Only gradually and belatedly has the 

physics community saluted their primary 

role in this monumental discovery. 

ThE unCanny 

uniformiTy of 

anCiEnT PhoTons 

during the decades since it was 

first observed, the cosmic microwave 

background radiation has 

become a crucial tool in cosmo- 

logical investigations. The reason is clear. 

In a great many fields, researchers would 

give their eyeteeth to have an unfettered, 

direct glimpse of the past. Instead, they 

generally have to piece together a view of 

remote conditions on the basis of evidence 

from remnants — weathered fossils, decaying 

parchments, or mummified remains. 

Cosmology is the one field in which we can 

actually witness history. The pinpoints of 

starlight we can see with the naked eye are 

streams of photons that have been traveling 

toward us for a few years or a few thousand. 

The light from more distant objects, 

captured by powerful telescopes, has been 

traveling toward us far longer, sometimes 

for billions of years. When you look at such 

ancient light, you are seeing — literally — 

ancient times. Those primeval comings and 

goings transpired far away, but the apparent 

large-scale uniformity of the universe 

argues strongly that what was happening 

there was also, on average, happening here. 

the pinpoints of starlight we can see with the naked eye are streams of photons 

that have been traveling toward us for a few years or a few thousand. 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

36 

In looking up, we are looking back. 

The cosmic microwave photons allow 

us to make the most of this opportunity. 

No matter how technology may improve, 

the microwave photons are the oldest we 

can hope to see, because their elder brethren 

were trapped by the foggy conditions 

that prevailed during earlier epochs. When 

we examine the cosmic microwave background 

photons, we are glimpsing how 

things were nearly 14 billion years ago. 

Calculations show that today there are 

about 400 million of these cosmic microwave 

photons racing through every cubic 

meter of space. Although our eyes can’t see 

them, an old-fashioned television set can. 

About 1 percent of the snow on a television 

that’s been disconnected from the cable 

signal and tuned to a station that’s ceased 

broadcasting is due to reception of the big 

bang’s photons. It’s a curious thought. The 

very same airwaves that carry reruns of All 

in the Family and The Honeymooners are infused 

with some of the universe’s oldest fossils, 

photons communicating a drama that 

played out when the cosmos was but a few 

hundred thousand years old. 

To watch Brian Greene talk about his work, go 

to college.columbia.edu/cct. 

Excerpted from The Hidden Reality by Brian Greene. 

Copyright © 2011 by Brian Greene. Reprinted with 

permission by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random 

House, Inc. All rights reserved.

Columbia CollEgE Today ThE hIddEN REALITY 

alumni 

news 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

37 

38 Bookshelf 

40 obituaries 

43 Class notes 

80 alumni Corner 

PhOTO: EILEEN BARROSO

Bookshelf 

the final Victim by Larry Jukofsky 

’46. A victim of the Holocaust rises 

from the grave as a vampire to take 

his revenge (Graveyard Publishing 

Co., $16.95). 

Joe biden: a life of trial and redemption 

by Jules Witcover ’49. In 

this biography, Witcover begins 

with the vice president’s roots in 

Scranton, Pa., and examines his 

private and political life (William 

Morrow, $27.99). 

an accidental sportswriter: a 

Memoir by Robert Lipsyte ’57. Lipsyte’s 

story of how he stumbled 

into a career as a prominent sportswriter 

includes insight into the lessons 

he learned from athletes and 

his personal heroes (Ecco, $25.99). 

Joe diMaggio: the long Vigil by 

Jerome Charyn ’59. After DiMaggio 

retired from baseball, some writers 

criticized his private life and labeled 

him as self-centered, but Charyn is 

more sympathetic (Yale University 

Press, $24). 

Journalism and other atrocities: 

an irreverent Memoir by Arthur 

M. Louis ’59. After four decades in 

journalism, the author recounts the 

behind-the-scenes drama of his career 

and life (CreateSpace, $16.95). 

You are My heart and other stories 

by Jay Neugeboren ’59. In this 

collection of short stories, Neugeboren 

raises questions about the 

complexities and mystery of life 

using diverse settings and various 

human relationships (Two Dollar 

Radio, $16). 

diary of a dean by Herbert I. 

London ’60. This memoir about 

London’s years as a professor and 

eventually founder and dean of a 

new college at NYU reveals how 

he balanced traditional Western 

standards of education with upand-coming 

technologies (Hamilton 

Books, $14.99). 

thinking about logic: classic 

Essays edited by Steven M. Cahn 

’63, Robert B. Talisse and Scott F. 

Aikin. The editors present provocative 

articles in the philosophy of 

logic; they provide further background 

in the introduction and 

discussion questions (Westview 

Press, $24). 

the chess players: a novel of the 

cold war at sea by Francis J. Partel 

’63. This naval love story follows 

Ensign Cannon on the Essex, an 

anti-submarine vessel, and fictionalizes 

naval incidents that took place 

throughout the Cold War (Navy Log 

Books, $21.95). 

sweet Justice: a Jake neuman 

Mystery by Jerry Oster ’64. Homicide 

detective Jake Neuman and his partner, 

Bobby Redfield, investigate the 

murder of a small-time crook and 

become embroiled in further trouble 

(PageTurner, $15.99). 

Embraceable Me by Victor Cahn ’69. 

In this comic play about how opposites 

attract, Edward and Allison 

try to resolve their feelings for each 

other (Samuel French, Inc., $8.95). 

writing Yoga: a guide to Keeping 

a practice Journal by Bruce Black 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

38 

’76. Part memoir, part instruction, 

Black’s debut delves into the nexus 

of yoga, writing and life (Rodmell 

Press, $14.95). 

humor 101 by Mitch Earleywine ’86. 

This book offers an introduction to 

the role of humor in the sciences 

(Springer Publishing Co., $20). 

bangkok Vanishing: a novel by 

Eric Rogers ’87. Blake Lawerence, an 

ex-Force Recon Marine, husband 

and father, is blackmailed after a trip 

to help a Cambodian orphanage 

leads him into the Thailand bargirl 

culture and Bangkok’s criminal underground 

(Exotic Press, $15.99). 

Vargas llosa and latin american 

politics edited by Juan E. De Castro 

and Nicholas Birns ’88. These essays 

examine the writings of Peruvian 

novelist Llosa in the realm of his 

political thought and from different 

perspectives (Palgrave Macmillan, 

$85). 

sub-versions of the archive: 

Manuel puig’s and servo sarduy’s 

alternative identities by 

Carlos Riobó ’90. Drawing on 

sources within and outside the 

Hispanic literary tradition, Riobó 

examines the work of Argentin- 

ean writer Puig and Cuban writer 

Sarduy, and demonstrates the 

popularity of archival fiction 

among Latin-American novelists 

(Bucknell University Press, $65). 

run Your butt off!: a breakthrough 

plan to shed pounds and 

start running (no Experience 

necessary!) by Sarah Lorge Butler ’95 


with Leslie Bonci and Budd Coates. 

This guide avoids shortcuts and 

focuses on burning more calories 

than are consumed to help readers 

lose weight; includes a companion 

workbook (Rodale Books, $19.99). 

otherwise Known as home by 

Tim Wood ’96. In his debut collection 

of poems, Wood finds 

inspiration in his daily life, experimental 

writing practices and 

Shakespeare’s sonnets (BlazeVOX 

[books], $16). 

Malcolm X: a life of reinvention 

by Manning Marable, the M. Moran 

Weston and Black Alumni Council 

Professor of African American Studies 

and professor of history and 

public affairs. Marable, who died 

on April 1, takes a new look at Malcolm 

X’s life and ends with a new 

look at his assassination (Viking 

Adult, $30). 

forms of Knowledge in Early 

Modern asia: Explorations in the 

intellectual history of india and 

tibet, 1500–1800 edited by Sheldon 

Pollock, the William B. Ransford 

Professor of Sanskrit and Indian 

Studies. These essays explain how 

changes in communication and 

the notion of power shaped thinkers 

in India and Tibet and their 

response to a changing world 

(Duke University Press, $24.95). 

henry James: novels: 1903–1911 

edited by Ross Posnock, the Anna 

S. Garbedian Professor of the 

Humanities. This final volume in 

a series examines and publishes 

James’ last three major novels: The

Columbia CollEgE Today BOOKShELF 

A Serious look at The Joker and His Creator 

Jerry Robinson, who attended the College in 

the early 1940s, decided to go to Columbia 

after he was offered a job illustrating a new 

comic book called Batman. 

N.C. Christopher Couch ’76, ’87 GSAS took a 

more conventional route. “When I visited the campus 

with my family, I knew instantly it was where I 

wanted to be,” he says. 

More than 30 years separated their time at the 

University, but a love of comic books brought them 

together, first as friends, then as collaborators on 

Jerry Robinson: Ambassador of Comics (Abrams 

Comic Arts, $35). The book charts Robinson’s life, 

from his boyhood in Trenton, N.J., in the 1920s and 

’30s to his appearances at Comic-Con conventions, 

where he is treated as a mythic figure in comic book 

history. 

Couch, who teaches courses on comic art and the 

graphic novel in the Program in Comparative Literature 

at University of Massachusetts Amherst, conducted 

more than 50 hours of interviews with Robinson, now 

89, to write the book. “I just set down the tape recorder 

and asked, ‘What would you like to talk about today?’ ” 

Couch says. 

Some of the stories Robinson told, such as how he 

landed the Batman gig, are the stuff of legend. At a resort 

in the Poconos, Batman’s creator, Bob Kane, took 

notice of the jacket Robinson wore to play tennis. It 

was covered in doodles, including one of a comb stick- 

ing out of the pocket. Amused and in need of an illustrator, 

Kane asked Robinson to work with him. 

Robinson was 17 at the time, “a combination of tough street 

kid, budding intellectual and innocent teenager,” Couch writes. 

He’d planned to go to Syracuse to study journalism. Kane’s offer 

prompted him to select Columbia, which would keep him in New 

York City near his work. 

It was in his creative writing classes at Columbia that Robinson 

got the idea for his most famous character, The Joker. 

“A villain with a sense of humor would be the kind of contradiction 

that would make a character memorable,” Robinson told 

Couch. 

Financial pressures and the demands of his comic book work 

pulled Robinson away from Columbia after only two years. Couch, 

who arrived in New York from St. Louis, stayed 11 years, earning a 

B.A in art history and three degrees at GSAS: an M.A., M.Phil. and 

Ph.D., all in art history and archeology. 

“I knew by my sophomore year I wanted to be a professor. I 

was always in the library or Schermerhorn Hall (the home of the 

art history department),” Couch says. “To relax, I loved just walking 

around the campus.” 

Guided by faculty such as the Lisa and Bernard Selz Professor of 

Ambassadors, The Golden Bowl and 

The Outcry (Library of America, 

$40). 

immanuel wallerstein and the 

problem of the world: system, 

scale, culture edited by David 

Palumbo-Liu; Bruce W. Robbins, the 

Old Dominion Foundation Professor 

in the Humanities; and Nirvana 

Tanoukhi. Top cultural theorists examine 

Wallerstein’s world-systems 

analysis, which explains why the 

West is able to exploit the rest of 

the world (Duke University Press, 

$23.95). 

B y am a n d a Go r d o n 

PhOTO: 

JIM gIPE, PIVOT MEdIA 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

39 

Pre-Colombian Art History and Archaeology Esther 

Pasztory ’71 GSAS and legendary cultural anthropologist 

Margaret Meade, Couch became a scholar of 

Native American and Latin American art. He wrote 

his dissertation on illustrations in Aztec manuscripts. 

In 1988 he joined the faculty of Smith. 

Like Robinson, he too wound up with a job in 

the comic book industry, becoming an editor at 

Kitchen Sink Press, which specializes in comic 

books. 

“One lesson I’ve learned is, if anyone asks you 

if you’d like to be a comic book editor, there’s 

only one answer: yes.” 

Couch says his five years at Kitchen Sink 

changed the way he teaches. “I’ve worked with 

printers, distributors, artists,” he says. “I have 

a kind of understanding that you can never get 

being just a scholar, and it deeply enriches my 

teaching.” 

It was through his job at Kitchen Sink that 

Couch met Robinson and reentered academe 

with a focus on comic books, teaching classes 

he describes as “historical and contextual survey 

courses that are totally informed by art history.” 

He’s currently teaching at New York’s School of 

Visual Arts and Trinity College as well as at UMass. 

For his book, Couch was eager to understand 

the sources of Robinson’s dark visual style. He 

learned that as a teenager, Robinson had formed 

a deep attachment to a volume of Edgar Allen 

Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination with illustrations by Harry 

Clarke. Robinson also spoke of going to see German expressionist 

films at MoMA. “For the first time, I had an explanation for what 

I’d seen all along,” Couch says. 

The book includes more than 100 of Robinson’s illustrations. 

Early on, before anyone thought of their potential historical 

significance, Robinson made a habit of retrieving his original art 

from printers and holding on to it. Many other artists’ work is lost 

forever. 

Post-Batman, Robinson created comic book heroes Atoman 

and London, and then moved on to editorial cartoons, illustrations 

for children’s books such as A Maxton Book About Atomic Energy, 

and the comic strip True Classroom Flubs and Fluffs. In 1974 

he wrote The Comics. Couch considers it the definitive history of 

newspaper comic strips. 

While he maintains his scholarly interests in Native American 

and pre-Colombian art, “comics is No. 1 now,” Couch says. “I 

don’t have any trouble with the idea of legitimizing comics. I’ve 

devoted much of my life to that.” 

Amanda gordon is a columnist at Bloomberg News. 

a behavioral theory of Elections 

by Jonathan Bendor, Daniel Diermeier, 

David A. Siegel and Michael 

M. Ting, associate professor of 

political science and public affairs. 

Using computational models and 

data on elections, the authors contend 

that politicians and voters are 

only boundedly rational, and they 

examine the effects on party competition, 

voter turnout and voters’ 

choices of candidates (Princeton 

University Press, $29.95). 

Samantha Jean-Baptiste ’13

obituaries 

1933 

arthur w. seligmann Jr., physician, 

New York City, on June 6, 

2010. Born on June 16, 1912, Seligmann 

graduated from Cornell University 

Medical College, where he 

was on staff for many years as associate 

professor of medicine. He also 

maintained a large private practice 

in internal medicine. During WWII, 

Seligmann served in the Navy as a 

lieutenant commander in the South 

Pacific. He was predeceased by his 

wife, Elizabeth Simon Seligmann, 

and is survived by his companion, 

Jane Mayer Field; daughters, Mary 

Ascheim and her husband, Robert, 

and Jean; three grandchildren and 

their spouses; eight great-grandchildren; 

sister, Jean Seligmann Levine; 

sister-in-law, Ursula Seligmann; and 

14 nephews and nieces. 

1940 

seth g. neugroschl, computer and 

technology expert, New York City, 

on November 4, 2010. Neugroschl 

entered with the Class of 1940 and 

earned a B.S. in industrial engineering 

and operations research 

in 1941 from Engineering. He was 

a former IBMer and leader of the 

“Computer, Man and Society” University 

Seminar at Columbia. Neugroschl 

was devoted to the betterment 

of humanity through the use 

of tools to improve global networking 

and to increase tolerance and 

understanding through the use of 

computers and other media. He 

was a pioneering thought leader 

in the effort to understand from 

a systems viewpoint the impact 

of computers on human society, 

planet Earth and beyond. Neugroschl 

received the Tannenbaum- 

Warner Award for distinguished 

scholarship and great service to 

the University Seminar Movement 

and was the Class of 1940 Class 

Notes correspondent from 1990 

until shortly before his death. He 

is survived by his wife, Geraldine; 

daughter, Judith Neugroschl- 

Melnick and her husband, Ari; and 

two grandchildren. 

1942 

franklin J. tobey ii, retired Army 

lieutenant colonel, editor, Purcellville, 

Va., on May 6, 2010. Born 

in Newark, N.J., on February 22, 

Franklin J. Tobey II ’42 

1919, Tobey had an early interest in 

natural history, was an Eagle Scout 

and was assistant to the doctor at 

Camp Mohican. He served in WWII 

as a Medical Corps motor-transport 

officer in Europe and married Marie 

Carolyn Wiederspahn in 1946. 

Tobey earned an M.A. in economics 

in 1947 from GSAS. He and his wife 

moved to Washington, D.C., where 

he wrote for the magazine Public 

Utilities Fortnightly, then worked 

at the Atomic Energy Commission 

(Energy Department). He was 

the editor of the Annual Report to 

Congress. Tobey was a merit badge 

counselor in mineralogy, atomic energy 

and herpetology; co-founded 

the Virginia Herpetological Society; 

and in 1985 published a survey of 

Virginia’s reptiles and amphibians. 

He wrote for Collier’s Encyclopedia 

Year Book and was a member of 

the National Press Club. After 

retirement, Tobey wrote, traveled 

and was a member of the Franklin- 

Ogdensburg Mineralogical Society 

and the Rock and Mineral Club 

of Lower Bucks County. He is 

survived by his children, Carolyn 

Tobey Berardesco, Franklin III and 

Alix Tobey Southwick; six grandchildren; 

six great-grandchildren; 

and a brother, John. 

1943 

warren w. Eason, professor and 

musician, Columbus, Ohio, on 

March 22, 2010. Eason was born 

in Mt. Vernon, N.Y., on October 6, 

1921. At a young age he showed 

talent for the French horn, studying 

at Juilliard and playing with 

the Columbia University Band at 

15. In 1940, he was chosen for the 

All American Youth Orchestra, the 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

40 

109 finest young musicians in the 

country. Eason learned to fly in a 

Stearman and SNJ and served in the 

Coast Guard Reserve as a musician 

first class. He earned an economics 

certificate and Ph.D. in 1951 and 

1959 from SIPA and GSAS, respectively. 

Eason’s academic career in 

Soviet economics spanned the Cold 

War to the end of the Soviet Union, 

taking him to the U.S.S.R. nine 

times. A professor at The Ohio State 

University from 1968–2003, he also 

taught at Syracuse, Princeton and 

Johns Hopkins. Eason became the 

inspiration for a home in Clintonville 

for people living with memory 

loss, Eason House. He is survived 

by his wife of 63 years, Jeanne (Fox); 

daughters, Katherine Power and 

Barbara Himes; two grandchildren; 

and a godson. Memorial donations 

may be made to WOSU or the Alzheimer’s 

Association. 

1944 

william V. beshlian, physician, 

Glen Rock, N.J., on April 24, 2010. 

Born in Turkey, Beshlian was raised 

in Paterson, N.J., and settled in 

Glen Rock 56 years ago. He was a 

1946 graduate of New York College 

of Medicine, and after serving 

with the Army Medical Corps 

began his residency at St. Joseph’s 

Regional Hospital Medical Center 

in Paterson. Beshlian had a distinguished 

career with St. Joseph’s 

that spanned 52 years. He received 

the hospital’s Distinguished Service 

Award and the 1991 Alumni 

Award, and also received the 100 

Years’ Service Award for father and 

son, H.K. Beshlian and W.V. Beshlian. 

Beshlian was a world traveler 

and loved tennis, cooking and jazz. 

He is survived by his wife, Doris 

(Mabey); son, Paul, and his wife, 

Deborah Ann; daughter, Lisa; two 

grandchildren; and sister, Anne 

Kazaros. Memorial contributions 

may be made to Doctors Without 

Borders or the Glen Rock Ambulance 

Corps. 

1945 

howard h. bess Jr., surgeon, Denver, 

on May 2, 2010. Born December 

5, 1924, in San Diego, Bess was 

raised in the Bronx and attended the 

Bronx H.S. of Science. He earned a 

degree in 1948 from P&S. During 


WWII, Bess was stationed in Lubbock, 

Texas, where he served in the 

Army Air Corps. He was honorably 

discharged with the rank of captain. 

Bess served his surgical residency 

at St. Luke’s Hospital in Denver 

and was on the staffs of St. Luke’s, 

St. Joseph’s, St. Anthony’s, Porter 

Adventist, Littleton Adventist and 

Swedish hospitals. He was a Fellow 

of the American College of Surgeons, 

member of the Colorado Medical 

Society, member of the Denver 

Medical Review Group, member of 

Phi Gamma Delta and 46-year 

member of the Denver Athletic Club. 

Bess was an avid outdoorsman with 

a love for fly-fishing and back-country 

escapes. He is survived by his 

wife of 53 years, Helen; sons, Robert, 

Charles, John, Daniel and Michael, 

and their wives; daughters, Lynne 

and Laura Ann; 22 grandchildren; 

and one great-grandchild. Memorial 

contributions may be made to Alzheimer’s 

Association of Colorado, 

455 Sherman St., Ste 500, Denver, 

CO 80203. 

1948 

John W. Gould ’48 

John w. gould, retired professor, 

Santa Monica, Calif., January 26, 

2010. Gould was born on March 19, 

1922, in Brooklyn, N.Y. He attended 

Boy’s H.S., where he edited the Boy’s 

High Weekly and was class president 

his senior year. He served in the 

1255th Engineer Combat Battalion 

from 1943–46 and was in General 

George Patton’s Army during the 

Battle of the Bulge. Gould earned 

an M.A. in English and comparative 

literature in 1949 and a Ph.D. in 

education in 1962, both from GSAS. 

His career was in education. He 

taught at Stony Brook School for

Columbia CollEgE Today OBITuARIES 

Boys from 1949–1954. From 1955–60, 

Gould worked in administration at 

CW Post College Long Island University, 

Columbia and Lafayette. He 

taught at USC’s School of Business 

from 1961 until he retired in 1987. 

Gould traveled widely in the United 

States, Europe and Asia, consulting 

for many corporations and teaching 

business communication in a 

number of Pacific Rim countries. In 

1991, he was reunited with his Army 

Battalion and attended 17 of their 

annual reunions. Gould was very 

involved in church activities. He 

is survived by his wife since 1949, 

Olwen (Stafford); children, Heather, 

William, David, Elizabeth and Carolyn; 

five grandchildren; and three 

great-grandchildren. 

henry h. Mcdonald, retired ophthalmologist, 

Pasadena, Calif., on 

April 9, 2010. McDonald was born 

on July 27, 1923, attended Stuyvesant 

Math and Science H.S. and enlisted 

in the Air Force at 19. He served as 

a navigator in the European Theatre 

of Operations throughout WWII. 

As a first lieutenant, he received the 

Bronze Star, flying 35 missions in the 

B-24 Bomber, and later 25 missions 

in the Royal Air Force “mosquito” 

plane. Following WWII, McDonald 

returned to New York, graduated 

from Columbia, earned a medical 

degree from NYU and completed a 

residency in ophthalmology there 

and at Harvard. In 1952, he married 

Dorothy Dieckhoff and in 1957 

began his practice in Pasadena. He 

was on the staff of the Huntington 

Memorial Hospital for 40 years. 

McDonald was an early advocate 

Obituary Submission 

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welcomes obituaries for 

College alumni. Deaths are 

noted in the next available 

issue in the “Other Deaths 

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take several issues for the 

complete obituary to appear. 

Word limit is 200; text may 

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Click “Contact Us” at 

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Obituaries Editor, 

Columbia College Today, 

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622 W. 113th St., MC 4530, 

New York, NY 10025. 

of small wound incision cataract 

surgery, the way all cataract surgery 

is done today. Throughout his career, 

and following his 1997 retirement, 

McDonald was active in the creation 

and development of ophthalmic and 

surgical instrumentation. He loved 

drawing, painting, chess and playing 

piano. McDonald is survived by 

his wife; children, Henry, Robert and 

Robyn; and six grandchildren. Memorial 

contributions may be made 

to the American Heart Association. 

1949 

Kenneth f. hadermann, retired 

teacher and school administrator, 

Lake Wylie, S.C., on April 25, 2010. 

Born in New York City, Hadermann 

enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 

WWII and was a member of the 

American Legion. He earned a 

master’s from Teachers College and 

was a member of Sigma Nu Fraternity. 

Hadermann was a teacher and 

school administrator in four states. 

In 1976, he relocated with his family 

to Berlin, Germany, where he was 

the principal of the John F. Kennedy 

School until his retirement to North 

Carolina in 1986. A volunteer Boy 

Scout leader for more than 50 years, 

he received the District Award of 

Merit and the Silver Beaver. As a 

member of the Order of the Arrow, 

a Boy Scout honor camper’s society, 

Hadermann became a Vigil 

member and received the Founders 

Award. After his retirement, he continued 

to serve youth as a Guardian 

ad Litem. Hadermann is survived 

by his wife, Hannelore; daughter, 

Karena, and her husband, Jeff; son, 

Kurt, and his wife, Elizabeth; and 

one grandson. Memorial contributions 

may be made to the American 

Heart Association. 

1956 

paul i. “ivy” bartholet, controller, 

Stonington, Conn., on May 20, 2010. 

Born in 1933, Bartholet attended St. 

Bernard’s School in NYC through 

eighth grade, later attending Pomfret 

School in Connecticut, where he 

captained the baseball and hockey 

teams. He earned a B.A. in economics, 

and he and his brother, Chauncey 

’56, ’57E, were doubles partners 

on Columbia’s tennis team. Bartholet’s 

first job out of college was with 

Metal and Thermit Corp. in New 

Jersey, where he was an accountant. 

He took night courses at Rutgers 

and was hired by IBM in 1961. 

Bartholet rose through the ranks 

during nearly three decades with 

the company, working as controller 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

41 

for three major corporate divisions, 

overseeing budgets and streamlining 

accounting systems. The family 

spent summers in Stonington, 

where Bartholet won nine men’s 

singles titles at the Wadawanuck 

Club. Divorced in 1983, he married 

Anne Baker Schwartz in 1985. Bartholet 

was involved in community 

activities and was an avid golfer. 

He is survived by his wife; children, 

Jeffrey, Frederick, and Carolyn Vail; 

stepchildren, Robert Schwartz, Joan 

O’Neill, Marianne O’Hearn and 

David Schwartz; nine grandchildren; 

brother; and sister, Elizabeth. 

Memorial contributions may be 

made to Denison Pequotsepos 

Nature Center or to the Stonington 

Community Center. 

1958 

James r. Meyers, civil rights activist 

and retired librarian, Ithaca, N.Y., 

on April 15, 2010. Meyers was born 

on August 9, 1936, in Detroit. His 

family soon moved to Pittsburgh, 

where Meyers attended St. Basil’s 

Catholic School for 12 years and 

initially wanted to become a priest. 

While at Columbia, he met Francis 

Joan Gillen, who became his wife. 

The couple later moved to South 

Bend, Ind., where Meyers worked 

for many years as the film librarian 

at the South Bend Public Library as 

well as devoting his passions and 

extra time to helping to end the 

Vietnam War and taking part in the 

countercultural ’60s revolution. In 

1996, Meyers retired and moved to 

Albuquerque, where he lived until 

2005 when he moved to Ithaca, 

N.Y., to be near his family. His passions 

included spiritual pursuits 

such as Dances of Universal Peace, 

reincarnation, the Unity Church, 

meditation, yoga, music, prayer, 

television, Transactional Analysis, 

astrology and co-counseling. Meyers 

is survived by his sons, Pete, and 

his partner, Mary Loehr, and David; 

and one grandson. 

1960 

norman h. nordlund, pilot, Brookfield, 

Conn., on April 28, 2010. Nordlund 

was born in Pori, Finland, 

on October 27, 1938, and grew up 

in Hastings, N.Y. After Columbia, 

where he earned a B.A. in economics, 

he was commissioned an ensign 

in the Naval Reserve through 

the NROTC Program. Nordlund 

became a naval aviator, flying the 

Douglas Skyraider AD1. He served 

on the aircraft carriers USS Independence, 

USS Saratoga and the USS 

Forestal from 1961–65. From 1965– 

67, he served as a flight instructor in 

Pensacola, Fla., instructing student 

naval aviators in carrier landings. 

After leaving the Navy in 1967, 

Nordlund began working for TWA, 

a career that lasted 31 years flying 

various aircraft including the 707, 

727, L1011 and the 747. He was an 

avid fisherman and loved deep sea 

fishing. Nordlund is survived by his 

wife of 48 years, Denise; daughter, 

Carolyn Montero, and her husband 

Bill; sons, Michael and his wife Jennifer, 

and Karl and his wife, Nicole; 

and five grandchildren. Memorial 

contributions may be made to the 

American Cancer Society. 

1965 

george w. “bud” goth, retired 

professor, Berkeley, Calif., on November 

28, 2009. Goth was born on 

June 23, 1943, on Long Island and 

earned a B.S. in chemistry. After 

Columbia, he moved to California 

and earned a Ph.D. in nuclear 

chemistry in 1973 from UC Berkeley 

and did post-doctoral work at 

Washington University in St. Louis. 

Goth returned to Berkeley, where he 

contributed to the grassroots newspaper 

of Berkeley Citizens Action 

during the late 1970s and ’80s. He 

taught chemistry part-time at the 

College of San Mateo in 1975 and 

then full-time at Skyline College in 

1980. Goth founded and edited The 

Advocate, a union newsletter for the 

American Federation of Teachers, 

Local 1943. He retired in 2006. He 

was an avid theatergoer and was 

active in film and book clubs, attending 

readings and serving on 

the Board of the Berkeley City Club 

for six years. Goth is survived by 

his aunt and uncle, Elizabeth and 

James Sharman; and 11 cousins. 

Memorial contributions may be 

made to the San Mateo County 

Community Colleges Foundation, 

memo line: The George Goth Science 

Scholarship. 

1968 

Melvin l. dennis, architect, expeditor 

and photography gallery curator, 

New York City, on June 13, 2010. 

Dennis was born in Portland, Ore., 

and grew up on the Oregon coast. 

He earned a B.A. in art history, did 

advanced art history studies at NYU 

and earned a B.Arch. from the Cooper 

Union in 1977. Dennis worked 

for several architecture firms in New 

York, including Pasanella & Klein, 

and the New York Public Library, 

and was later a building expeditor.

OBITuARIES Columbia CollEgE Today 

He was a co-founder and curator for 

the Puchong Gallery, which championed 

avant-garde photographers 

in the 1980s and 1990s. An active 

civic leader, Dennis was president of 

the Waterside Tenants Association 

and was a member of the New York 

County Democratic Committee and 

the Tilden Democratic Club, and 

a regular attendee at the Sixteenth 

Street Friends Meeting. He is survived 

by his brother, Everette; and 

four sisters. 

1973 

dennis E. Milton, judge, New York 

City, on May 31, 2010. Milton was 

born in 1951 on Staten Island, N.Y. 

He attended Regis H.S. and Fordham 

Law. Milton, a United States 

bankruptcy judge in the Eastern 

District of New York, was appointed 

in 2001. He is survived by his 

wife, Karen Greve Milton. Memorial 

contributions may be made to 

Regis H.S. in New York City. 

1981 

charles g. “grant” fulk, plumbing 

business co-owner, Menlo Park, Calif., 

on June 14, 2010. Fulk graduated 

from Sequoia H.S., where he was 

active in the drama program, and 

earned a B.A in English. He was 

co-owner of Dittmann Plumbing in 

San Mateo and is survived by his 

parents, Earl and Elizabeth; aunts, 

Ruth Morelock and Grace Phair; 

uncle, Jack Fulk; and a number of 

cousins. Memorial contributions 

may be made to Menlo Park Host 

Lions Club, “Menlo Park Project 

Read.” 

1985 

william f. Evans, investment banker 

and musician, New York City, on 

July 10, 2010. Evans was born in 

Towson, Md. He earned an M.A. 

in mathematics from Penn. During 

his school years, Evans played bass 

in both performance and recording 

with several jazz and fusion bands. 

After graduate school, he embarked 

on a 23-year career in the financial 

services industry, specializing in 

modeling and structuring complex 

tax-exempt mortgage revenue bond 

transactions for state housing finance 

agencies throughout the country for 

the purpose of financing affordable 

housing programs. Evans is survived 

by his former spouse, Laura; 

children, Katherine and Philip; 

parents, Bernard and Estelle; and 

brother, Robert. 

Lisa Palladino 

oThEr dEaThs rEPorTEd 

Columbia College Today also has learned of the following deaths. 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. 

1926 s. delvalle goldsmith, Patterson, N.Y., on February 18, 2011. 

1929 Eric c. lambart, retired rear admiral, Jacksonville, Fla., on February 17, 2011. 

1938 wells s. brimhall, retired banking executive, Provo, Utah, on March 10, 2011. 

1940 harold J. lehmus, retired physician, Coventry, Conn., on February 17, 2011. 

stanley l. temko, retired attorney, Washington, D.C., on March 7, 2011. 

Edmund w. white, retired chemical engineer, Silver Spring, Md., on March 5, 2011. 

1941 william h. goldwater, retired research director, Bethesda, Md., on February 23, 2011. 

1942 John b. Kelly, Scottsdale, Ariz., on December 27, 2010. 

1943 John g. pappas, retired physicist and chemist, New York City, on March 4, 2011. 

1944 donald p. Mitchell, retired business executive, Portland, Ore., on January 11, 2011. 

1945 charles E. silberman, Sarasota, Fla., on February 5, 2011. 

1946 Marvin l. aronson, psychotherapist, Mount Vernon, N.Y., on February 27, 2011. 

1947 Edmund J. guilhempe, Brooklyn, N.Y., on January 17, 2008. 

1949 arthur w. Mehmel Jr., insurance executive, West Hartford, Conn., on March 2, 2011. 

1951 Jeremy gaige, newspaperman and chess archivist, Philadelphia, on February 19, 2011. 

brian K. langworthy, organist and music instructor, Marietta, Ga., on, March 2, 2011. 

James w. lister, New York City, on April 27, 2008. 

1953 alan Macnow, public relations, marketing and market research executive, New York City, 

on December 25, 2010. 

1955 herman c. okean, Huntington, N.Y., on January 30, 2011. 

arnold J. schwartz, radiologist, Stamford, Conn., on March 8, 2011. 

1956 arnold d. bucove, physician and medical director, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., on January 10, 2011. 

1957 george broderick, Ocala, Fla., on December 7, 2010. 

herbert l. winans, retired corporate benefits executive, Lexington, Va., on March 20, 2011. 

1958 william w. bartlett, retired financial executive, Chappaqua, N.Y., on March 25, 2011. 

1959 douglas p. dunbar Jr., retired Navy captain, Tampa, Fla., on March 3, 2011. 

1960 Jerome h. cantor, psychologist and financial adviser, Brooklyn, N.Y., on December 15, 2010. 

John M. radbill, Albuquerque, N.M., on August 7, 2010. 

1964 brian safer, biochemist and researcher, Adelphi, Md., on February 6, 2011. 

christopher trumbo, film and television writer, Ojai, Calif., on January 8, 2011. 

1966 frederic neuburger, certified financial planner and tax practitioner, Syracuse, N.Y., on February 19, 

2011. 

1967 william M. crouch Jr., cartoonist and comic arts writer, Fairfield, Conn., on February 21, 2011. 

steven d.wexler, former carpenter; writer and teacher, Tijeras, N.M., on December 20, 2010. 

1988 nancy E. Mcadoo, communications/knowledge exchange content manager, Medford, Mass., on 

January 15, 2011. 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

42

Columbia CollEgE Today CLASS NOTES 

Class notes 

25 

40 



622 W. 113th St., MC 4530 


cct@columbia.edu 

howard n. Meyer ’34, ’36L, a retired 

New York lawyer and two-time 

Pulitzer Prize-nominated author, 

discussed challenges of immigration 

and civil rights in terms of the 14th 

Amendment. A product of the Civil 

War, the amendment made citizens 

equal before the law. 

Howard has written more than 

70 articles and books, and in his 

Pulitzer Prize-nominated book 

from 1973, The Amendment that 

Refused to Die: Equality and Justice 

Deferred: A History of the Fourteenth 

Amendment, he reflects on the 

beginnings and current significance 

of the amendment. Howard 

believes that because of new 

developments in the Arizona U.S. 

Senators’ attempts to repeal the 

14th Amendment, more specifically 

the effects the repeal would 

have on the children of Mexican 

nationals because their entrance 

into the country was not in accordance 

with the law, the nation 

will eliminate the rights of people, 

and people will begin to forget the 

importance of equality and justice 

values. 

Reading books such as Thomas 

Wentworth Higginson’s Army Life 

in a Black Regiment opened Howard’s 

eyes to the contributions of 

minorities such as women, African- 

Americans and other groups that 

have been omitted from textbooks 

in American history. Howard’s 

most recent book, The World Court 

in Action: Judging Among the Nations, 

was published in 2002 and also was 

nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. In 

it, he writes about the International 

Court of Justice and international 

law. 

Howard moved to Bolinas, Calif., 

in 2009 to be closer to his sons, Jon- 

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. 

athon and Franklin. He continues to 

follow current events about justice 

and equality nationally and internationally. 

david perlman ’39, ’40J writes, 

“At 92, I’m still science editor of 

the San Francisco Chronicle, covering 

everything except medicine — 

anthropology, seismic goings-on, 

cosmic universes, planets and so 

on.” [Editor’s note: CCT profiled 

Perlman in November/December 

2009: college.columbia.edu/cct/ 

nov_dec09.] 

41 

robert Zucker 

29 The Birches 

Roslyn, NY 11576 

rzucker@optonline.net 

Sad to report that Joe coffee, one 

of our most outstanding class 

members, passed away in January 

shortly after his 92nd birthday. 

Joe was our class president; voted 

most likely to succeed; a member 

of student board; a regular attendee, 

with his wife, Margaret, at our 

annual Arden House reunions; and 

a good friend. After graduation, 

he joined the Navy and served on 

the President’s staff, was executive 

officer on a destroyer escort that 

was sunk and then commanding 

officer of another destroyer escort. 

He was assistant to the president 

of Columbia and on its Board of 

Trustees. Joe was president of 

Eisenhower College and was the 

patriarch of a large and loving family. 

A memorial service was held at 

Columbia on April 28. [See March/ 

April Obituaries.] 

On a happier note, I spent Christmas 

week in Costa Rica with Fran 

Katz’s family, where I zip-lined, 

white water rafted, kayaked and 

hiked in the rainforest, including 

five bouncing suspension bridges. 

In February I took my family of 26, 

including 12 great-grandchildren, to 

Club Med in Ixtapa, Mexico. 

Ken Hechler ’40 GSAS, my last 

instructor in college, stayed at my 

house for two nights and lectured 

on April 8 at the Roslyn Library 

and then at C.W. Post (LIU). He 

wrote the book (also was a movie) 

The Bridge at Remagen and many 

other publications, was a colonel 

in the army, a long-term (and still) 

college professor and was President 

Truman’s speechwriter and 

adviser. He was a congressman 

for 18 years, secretary of state in 

West Virginia, and still lectures 

and writes. 

Let me know what you are doing. 

42 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

43 

Melvin hershkowitz 

22 Northern Ave. 

Northampton, MA 01060 

DrMelvin23@gmail.com 

On January 14, The New York Times’ 

obituary section carried a memorial 

tribute to franklin gerald bishop 

’43E, who died on January 14, 1996. 

Gerry’s widow, Evelyn, has faithfully 

published this annual tribute 

to Gerry since he succumbed to 

his final illness 15 years ago. This 

writer met Gerry at a freshman beer 

party in September 1938 in John Jay 

Hall, where we gathered around a 

piano to sing raunchy limericks and 

Roar, Lion, Roar. Gerry later became 

a good friend. He was a brilliant 

mathematician and engineer. He 

had a successful career as an engineer 

and management consultant, 

and finally as CEO and president 

of Matrix Corp. At our Homecoming 

football game in 1995, Gerry 

came up to the Remmer-Maniatty 

Alumni Lounge above Wien Stadium 

in his wheelchair to watch the 

game and visit with classmates. He 

already was very ill but perfectly 

alert and able to converse with us. 

That was the last time I saw him. At 

Columbia, Gerry was Dean’s Day 

chairman, and a generous financial 

supporter of the College, a tradition 

that Evelyn has continued through 

the years. We join Evelyn in remembering 

Gerry’s impressive professional 

accomplishments and his 

lifelong devotion to Columbia. 

The New York Times of January 24 

reported the death of clarence 

Eich ’43E on January 8. After WWII 

service in the Navy, he was a mechanical 

engineer at Combustion En- 

gineering. In 1962, Clarence joined 

the Foster Wheeler Corp., where he 

was issued several patents for new 

designs and products for power 

generation and rose to the position 

of e.v.p. before his retirement in 1984. 

At Columbia, Clarence was an active 

and widely respected classmate. 

He was a member of Sigma Alpha 

Epsilon, the Glee Club, the Van Am 

Society and the Debate Council. He 

earned silver and gold crowns, and 

was elected to Nacoms. He attended 

all of our significant landmark 

reunions and our Homecoming 

games at Wien Stadium. After his 

retirement, Clarence traveled widely 

with his wife, Ellen, enjoyed his golf 

games and was a skilled gardener. 

He won awards for his flowers and 

developed several new varieties of 

gesneriads. In 2001, Clarence was 

named Volunteer of the Year by the 

State of New Jersey Division of Parks 

and Forestry for his work on behalf 

of the Canal Society. He is survived 

by his wife; children, Mary, Robert 

and Claire; two grandchildren; and 

two great-grandchildren. We mourn 

the loss of such a distinguished 

classmate, and we extend our condolences 

to his family. 

The annual Dean’s Scholarship 

Reception, honoring donors to 

named scholarships, was held in Alfred 

Lerner Hall on February 3. Two 

of the finest members of our Great 

Class of 1942 are honored in perpetuity 

by memorial scholarships: 

charles f. “chic” hoelzer Jr. and 

Dr. herbert Mark. The Hoelzer memorial 

scholarship was established 

in 1978, the year of his untimely 

death, by this correspondent and 

Chic’s widow, the late Dorothy. The 

Mark memorial scholarship was established 

by Herb’s widow, Avra ’45 

Barnard; his sons, Peter, Tom and 

Jeremy; his cousin, Reuben Mark; 

and this correspondent after Herb’s 

death in 2006. In 1939–40, Herb 

was my Livingston Hall roommate, 

and thanks to Columbia, became 

my friend for 67 years. I encourage 

classmates who remember Chic and 

Herb to contribute to their memorial 

scholarship funds. Please contact 

the Columbia College Fund’s 

Eleanor L. Coufos ’03, director of 

annual giving programs, at 212-851- 

7483 for further information. 

I was sad to receive notice from 

our Alumni Office on February 

19 that werner rahmlow died in 

Camden, Maine, on January 3. In 

April 2009, Werner sent me a long 

autobiographical letter from his 

winter residence in Lady Lake, Fla., 

including reminiscences about his 

years at Columbia. Like Columbia’s 

most generous financial supporter, 

the late John W. Kluge ’37, Werner 

was born in Germany; he emigrated 

to the United States in 1932 

and became a U.S. citizen in 1942. 

He settled in Leonia, N.J., where 

he attended the local high school. 

Werner’s high school principal 

took him to the Columbia campus 

for a personal visit (could that ever 

happen today?), and Werner was 

eventually admitted with a full 

scholarship to study engineering. 

He commuted to the campus by 

trolley, 125th Street ferry, subway 

and on foot for three hours daily, 

five or six days each week, and still 

found the time to train and run 

for Columbia under track coach 

“Canny Carl” Merner (Werner had 

been an undefeated half-miler in 

high school). With his demanding 

engineering studies and long com-

CLASS NOTES Columbia CollEgE Today 

mutes, Werner said he could not 

keep up with the required readings 

for Humanities and Contemporary 

Civilization, and despite the inspiration 

from professors Weaver, 

Luckie and Baumeister, he “lost 

interest in college.” He also lost his 

scholarship and had to find parttime 

work to pay his tuition of $200 

a semester. After finishing three 

years at Columbia, Werner was 

about to be drafted and enlisted in 

the Navy. He served for four years 

as a Navy pilot during WWII and 

then returned to Columbia, where 

his fourth year was paid for by the 

G.I. Bill. As he said, “I could finally 

afford a K&E Slide Rule.” His sense 

of humor had remained intact. 

After graduation, Werner went to 

work for the Bendix Corp. in New 

Jersey as a versatile mechanical, 

electrical, chemical and civil engineer, 

and eventually a management 

executive. He lived in Westwood, 

N.J., and enjoyed golf, bowling and 

playing bridge. He invented and 

held a patent for a centrifuge that 

developed 800 Gs in 15 seconds, 

and stayed at Bendix for 34 years 

until his retirement, when he moved 

to Rockland, Maine, while spending 

winters in Florida. His first 

wife, Virginia, mother of his three 

children, died in 1987. All of the 

children, Richard, Carol and Donald, 

were college graduates, but none, 

regrettably, from Columbia. In 1992, 

Werner remarried and enjoyed life 

with his second wife, Louise, and 

attended our 50th reunion at Arden 

House, where he commented that 

he had enjoyed our notable 16–13 

football victory over Princeton in 

1988, which ended our 44-game 

losing streak. Werner closed his 

letter by expressing his devotion to 

Columbia (“Good Old Roar, Lion, 

Roar,” he said) and speculated that 

many of our classmates must be 

approaching 90. He was accurate in 

that observation. As I write this, Dr. 

gerald Klingon, stewart Mcilvennan, 

bob Kaufman and Dr. arthur 

wellington all have celebrated their 

90th birthdays. Werner was born in 

Germany on January 13, 1920, so he 

was 10 days short of his 91st birthday 

when he died. He had already 

become a distinguished member 

of our Class of 1942 Nonagenarian 

Club. He is survived by his wife, 

Louise; his children; three grandchildren; 

and three great-grandchildren. 

We salute Werner’s unusual life and 

loyalty to Columbia, and we send 

condolences to all members of his 

family. 

Some of this report was originally 

published in Class Notes in 

the July/August 2009, online-only, 

issue of CCT: college.columbia.edu/ 

cct/jul_aug09. 

Kind regards and good wishes to 

all classmates. I welcome news from 

you. Long may Columbia stand! 

43 

g.J. d’angio 

Department of Radiation 

Oncology 

Hospital of the University 

of Pennsylvania, Donner 2 

3400 Spruce St. 

Philadelphia, PA 19104 

dangio@uphs.upenn.edu 

Do you run into unusual or note- 

worthy Columbia ties in your reading? 

I do; send me yours. Here are 

some recent ones of mine. John 

Parke Custis enrolled in King’s 

College in 1773 but did not return 

for a second year. He was the child 

of Martha Custis Washington, by 

her first husband, and became the 

stepson of George Washington. J.P. 

Custis’ son was no better a scholar. 

He matriculated at the College of 

New Jersey (later Princeton) but 

was expelled for reasons related to 

decorum. He later dropped out of 

St. John’s College in Annapolis. 

Another two: There were professional 

athletes in Columbia history 

in addition to the great Lou 

Gehrig ’23. One was Eddie Collins 

(Class of 1907), quarterback on 

the Columbia football team and a 

star baseball player. He went on to 

play on major league teams, including 

the Philadelphia Athletics, 

and was inducted into the Baseball 

Hall of Fame. Collins is considered 

by many to be the greatest 

second baseman of all time. 

Brooklyn-born Sid Luckman ’39 

was another. The star quarterback 

played for the Chicago Bears from 

1939–50 and was inducted into the 

Pro Football Hall of Fame. 

My wife, Audrey, and I have 

several trips scheduled for this 

year. They include a lecture at 

a meeting in Amsterdam. We’ll 

take the opportunity to go to the 

British War Cemetery in Sittard, 

The Netherlands, where Audrey’s 

brother Pat is buried with all of his 

tank crew. They were killed in the 

battle for Geilenkirchen, Germany, 

in November 1944. I think I have 

located the spot where his tank 

was destroyed, just over the Dutch 

border, and we’ll try to find it. 

Sad news: walter J. sassano died 

in West Harrison, N.Y., on December 

28. He was 89. He enlisted in 

the Army in 1942 while a student 

at Columbia and was discharged 

as a captain four years later. He 

then became active in the American 

Legion and other community organizations. 

44 

henry rolf hecht 

11 Evergreen Pl. 

Demarest, NJ 07627 

hrh15@columbia.edu 

Friends, please take a moment to 

send me some information about 

your lives. I assure you that all your 

classmates, as well as other alumni, 

want to hear about what you are 

doing. 

45 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

44 

dr. Enoch callaway 

1 Mt. Tiburon Rd. 

Tiburon, CA 94920 

enoch_callaway@msn.com 

Dr. stanley braham retired from 

a Park Avenue practice of urology 

about 20 years ago and still lives in 

Manhattan. He was divorced about 

20 years ago and has three children 

scattered about, all doing wonderful 

things. He has a son in the Silicon 

Valley finance business and wonders 

if that wasn’t a better choice 

than medicine. Stanley has many 

health issues, including an aortic 

aneurism and a bad valve, which he 

has opted to live with, and so far so 

good. After he stopped practicing 

medicine, Stanley spent much of 

his time golfing. He belonged to a 

club in Bermuda and had a house 

in Florida near a golf course. He is, 

as lots of us say these days, “doing 

as well as can be expected,” but he 

mourns the inability to play golf. 

Dr. arnold Modell is “semi-retired,” 

still active in the Boston Psychoanalytic 

Society and Institute, 

and (remarkably for those our age) 

he is in good health. His most recent 

paper, “Not Even Wrong,” will be 

appearing in Psychoanalytic Inquiry 

within the next few months, as the 

galleys have been returned. In it, he 

discusses the difficulty psychoanalysts 

have in talking to each other. 

Dr. John peck ’47 P&S is another 

psychoanalyst who is healthy and 

semi-retired in that he maintains 

contact with the Los Angeles Psychoanalytic 

Institute and Society for 

Psychoanalytic Studies but no longer 

sees patients. At this stage in his life, 

he prefers to lie on a beach in front of 

his house and read (the hard life in 

Southern California!). 

Dr. gordon Mathes ’48 P&S lives 

in The Trezevant Episcopal Home, 

177 North Highland St., Apt. 4111, 

Memphis, TN 38111. He retired 20 

years ago and moved into the retirement 

home six months ago. He has 

been golfing since retirement and 

played nine holes on February 14! 

Dr. Melvin grumbach ’48 P&S 

signed up to be a naval officer just 

after Pearl Harbor, returned to the 

College and then went on to P&S. 

Following an enviable period of 

training and academic service, in 

1965 he became professor and chair- 

man of pediatrics at UCSF, presi- 

dent of the Endocrine Society in 

1981 and was elected fellow of the 

U.S. Academy of Arts and Science 

in 1983. I have a 52-page CV, an interview 

with him as past president 

of the Endocrine Society and a URL 

for the Wikipedia article about Mel 

(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melvin_ 

M._Grumbach). 

His pediatric endocrine group 

has addressed in a broad perspective 

the following: hormonal effects 

on growth and maturation, the developing 

brain and the endocrine 

system, the ontogeny of the human 

and ovine hypothalamic-pituitary 

apparatus, genes, fetal hormones, 

the origin of the Barr body, the 

ontogeny of human sex determination 

and differentiation, aromatase 

deficiency due to mutations in the 

gene encoding P450 aromatase and 

the biologic role of estrogen in the 

male as well as in the female. 

This last topic concerns the critical 

role of estradiol in the pubertal 

growth spurt and skeletal maturation 

in the male, as in the female, and 

the previously poorly characterized 

effects of estradiol in the male on 

glucose and insulin metabolism, 

lipid metabolism, bone mineral 

accretion and the maintenance of 

bone mass. In addition, aromatase 

deficiency suggests endogenous fetal 

estrogens synthesized by the conceptus 

are not an important factor 

in the differentiation of the female 

genital tract or the maintenance of 

pregnancy. Endogenous estradiol 

does not even have a critical effect on 

psychosexual development or sex 

differentiation of the human brain. 

The aromatase deficiency story is 

an illustration of Louis Pasteur’s 

insight: “Origin of scientific creativity: 

To know when to be astonished.” 

Mel says his studies on aroma- 

tase deficiency also illustrate the 

critical role of collaboration. 

The CCT staff notified me of the 

deaths of Dr. don Johnson and 

carter golombe. Obituaries will 

appear in a future issue. 

REUNION JUNE 2–JUNE 5 

ALUMNI OFFICE CONTACTS 

ALuMNI AFFAIRS Jennifer Freely 

jf2261@columbia.edu 

2128517438 

dEVELOPMENT Paul Staller 

ps2247@columbia.edu 

2128517494 

bernard sunshine 

20 W. 86th St. 


bsuns1@gmail.com 

46 

Roar, CC ’46, roar. The celebration 

of our 65th anniversary reunion, 

Thursday, June 2–Sunday, June 5, 

will indeed be memorable. 

Our return to campus includes 

a lecture at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, 

June 4 (choose from five possibilities), 

to which all reunion classes 

are invited. 

The setting for Saturday’s class 

reunion luncheon will be high in 

Butler Library (you may remember 

it as South Hall) with dramatic views 

of the campus and Low Library. 

At noon, we will gather for a


cocktail reception, meeting and 

greeting to the music of a live 

ensemble. Lunch will follow with 

welcoming remarks from Dean of 

Academic Affairs Kathryn Yatrakis. 

Dean Yatrakis continues a tradition 

that began with our 55th, took place 

again at our 60th and now will take 

place at the 65th. She recently told 

me how much she enjoyed meeting 

and getting to know so many of the 

class through the years. 

richard heffner has hosted 

PBS’ The Open Mind for 55 years. 

Dick’s guests have included Dr. 

Martin Luther King Jr., William 

Buckley, Elie Wiesel, Malcolm X, 

Betty Friedan, Supreme Court 

Justice Thurgood Marshall, Arthur 

Schlesinger and Benjamin Spock, 

and the list goes on and on. Of his 

program, The New York Times said it 

is easier to list those of importance 

who have not come under Dick’s 

microscope than those notables 

who have. 

For the celebration of our 65th, 

Dick invited Dean Michele Moody- 

Adams to appear on his program. 

She enthusiastically accepted, and 

we will preview the taped program 

followed by a Q&A, to which the 

dean graciously agreed. 

Enjoy the comradeship, reminisce, 

catch up, share a few giggles. 

Bring wives and friends. Celebrate 

the Columbia experience. Do not 

miss this moment. You can celebrate 

the 65th anniversary only once. 

Details about reserving your 

places at the reunion luncheon are 

in the mail. You also can register 

online: alumni.college.columbia. 

edu/reunion. 

lawrence Jukofsky authored 

The Final Victim, available at Barnes 

& Noble and on Amazon.com. 

A building site in Poland reveals 

a mass grave. One of the bodies 

is well preserved and is sent for 

a shrine to a temple on a barrier 

island, where this Jewish victim of 

the Holocaust takes his revenge on 

anti-Semites and ex-Nazis. Larry 

writes: “I am a bit old to be doing 

this sort of thing but boredom in 

the aged must be common. I have 

started a sequel plus a coming-ofage 

novel, much based on my beginnings 

as a V-12er in Livingston 

Hall and with encouragement from 

Dr. Knobbe years ago. I recall his 

last bit of advice, ‘Learn to spell!’ ” 

Larry would appreciate hearing 

from anyone who lived on the seventh 

deck (floor) and would love to 

have pictures of V-12ers who shared 

the deck. 

Larry, from what I know about 

the men in our class, boredom is 

not in their psyche. 

paul rotondi, who lives in Lake- 

wood, N.J., responded to my Dec- 

ember letter. His Columbia days 

were interrupted by Uncle Sam’s 

call, and he spent three years as an 

Air Force bombardier. Paul said: 

“I enjoyed a wonderful career as a 

businessman and CEO of a bank in 

New Jersey.” 

47 



622 W. 113th St., MC 4530 


cct@columbia.edu 

The Class of ’47 is looking for a class 

correspondent to write a bimonthly 

column for Columbia College Today. 

If you want an open platform and a 

chance to reconnect with classmates, 

please contact Associate Editor Ethan 

Rouen ’04J, ’11 Business at ecr2102@ 

columbia.edu. Until then, please 

send notes about your life, travel, 

family and experiences at Columbia 

to the postal or e-mail address at the 

top of the column. 

48 

Eric p. schellin 

2506 N. Harrison St. 

Arlington, VA 22207 

eschellin07@gmail.com 

robert M. berk remains active in 

the medical profession along with 

his wife. He is known as a consummate 

homebody — in his words, “I 

have traveled not at all.” He is proud 

of that achievement. He has two children 

and a couple of grandchildren 

and says that he is very happy. 

arthur E. bradley also still is in 

the medical profession. He continues 

to be involved in chemistry and 

consults in the field of nutrition. 

Arthur says that there is an empha- 

sis these days on polyphenols (antioxidants), 

agricultural and food pro- 

cessing wastes. He is quite active in 

the field and still performs experiments. 

He discovered that if one 

washes pecan fragments and leaves 

the fragments overnight in a concentrated 

ammonium hydroxide 

solution, the liquid turns black. It 

will be interesting trying to figure 

out what is happening there. 

charles d. cole retired in 2007. 

He has moved to his present location, 

Bristol Village (bristolvillage. 

org), and now has an on-site doctor’s 

office in a medical building. Charles 

is a counselor-labor relations and is a 

member of the America Newspaper 

Publishers Association. Bristol Village 

has a modern activity center 

with walking track, pool, library, 

café, fitness center, woodshop and 

more. 

frank i. Marcus is yet another 

person in the medical field who 

should receive our congratulations, 

having been chosen to receive the 

prestigious Heart Rhythm Society’s 

Pioneer in Cardiac Pacing and 

Electrophysiology Award. 

angelo diMartino remembers 

well that he got a very good educa- 

tion at Columbia. In fact, the tradition 

has continued, as his son also 

went to Columbia. His son also had 

Professor Charles Dawson 26 years 

after his father. Professor Dawson 

was able to retrieve his father’s 

grades in his class. Angelo did not 

stray far from New York. He spent 

most of his life after Columbia in 

Nassau County at the end of a canal 

that empties into Great South Bay. 

paul r. homer remembers well 

the ROTC and V-12 programs being 

active on campus. He recalls that 

the student body consisted of both 

a military and a civilian body. He 

served in the military so was delayed 

in getting back to Columbia, 

which resulted in him becoming 

a part of the Class of 1948 instead 

of 1947. Happily, he considers the 

school a great institution, which, 

according to him, is getting greater 

each year. He remembers fondly 

Professor William C. Casey and 

Professor Dwight Miner ’26, ’40 

GSAS and enjoyed classes with 

both of them, especially Casey and 

his famous course, which became 

known as “Caseyology.” 

Dr. george dermksian, after 

graduating from medical school, 

joined St. Luke’s Hospital and 

became professor chairman of its 

archives. He has two sons and has 

been to a number of Dean’s Days. 

This fact calls this writer’s attention 

to the fact that get-togethers 

such as Dean’s Day and reunions 

are sparsely attended by members 

of the Class of 1948. The combination 

of a military segment and a civilian 

segment at that time resulted 

in poorly attended class functions, 

something we can change. This 

year’s Dean’s Day will be held on 

Saturday, June 4 (college.columbia. 

edu/alumni/events/deansday). 

49 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

45 

John weaver 

2639 E. 11th St. 

Brooklyn, NY 11235 

wudchpr@gmail.com 

Writing in the extreme cold of a 

winter’s day, the sun gives promise 

of the warm spring to come. Reading 

this, we hope it has arrived for 

you all. 

First, allow me a personal note: 

My brother Bertram Sussman ’47, 

who was his class’ correspondent for 

two years, has withdrawn. I must 

admit to being jealous of the extraordinary 

success he had in attracting 

submissions from his classmates. 

Our class is just as happy to hear 

What could be more fun than a 

week in Mexico? A week in Mexico 

with an old college buddy. In 

February, Irving Kushner ’50 (left) 

headed south of the border to 

spend time with Ted Reid ’50. 

from you as was his. So, let’s hear 

from you all to fill these columns. 

I must, however, raise a glass, 

shout a cheer, sound the trumpets 

(make your own choice of celebratory 

noise) in recognition of the mail 

I received from howard beldock! 

I opened the envelope, which contained 

a note along with a printed 

notice regarding his practice as a 

mediator/arbitrator. This is work 

for which Howie has attained considerable 

status and recognition. 

Not being a lawyer, let me dwell 

on the personal note, the content 

gerald weissmann ’50 is director of the biotechnology 

study center and research professor of medicine at 

nYu. 

of which might be summed up as, 

“I’m still here and doing great!” But 

it is stated in the warmest terms and 

brought a smile to my face. Nevertheless, 

the visual, which I can 

only describe here, remains most 

vividly in my mind. Howie has the 

most extraordinary “hand,” with 

flourishes and style that we associate 

with historical documents. The 

visual impact of his written page 

adds emotion to the content and 

makes the decline of cursive writing 

a loss that younger generations 

cannot understand. 

Thanks, Howie. 

Hope to see as many of you as 

can make it at Dean’s Day on Saturday, 

June 4 (college.columbia.edu/ 

alumni/events/deansday). It is 

always a meaningful occasion and 

worth getting up early to make it in 

time for breakfast with classmates! 

50 

Mario palmieri 

33 Lakeview Ave. W. 

Cortlandt Manor, NY 10567 

mapal@bestweb.net 

irving Kushner retired from 

academic medicine and now is


professor emeritus at Case Western 

Reserve University. Irv continues, 

though, to participate in the academic 

activities of the Division of 

Rheumatology at Case’s hospital, 

where he engages in conferences 

and journal clubs and helps his 

younger colleagues write papers. 

Irv says that he has had “an attack 

of late life productivity” and has 

had six papers published after his 

81st birthday dealing variously 

with medicine, science and medical 

history. And speaking of history, as 

this was being written, Irv was preparing 

a lecture on the history of 

the four humors, the theory of the 

human body that guided ancient 

Greek and Roman physicians. 

gerald weissmann, whose 

medical career has been in basic 

biomedical research on inflammation, 

continues as director of the 

Biotechnology Study Center and 

research professor of medicine 

at the NYU School of Medicine. 

Gerry’s science-related activities 

extend beyond academic halls; he 

is editor-in-chief of the FASEB Journal, 

which is the official publication 

of the Federation of American 

Societies of Experimental Biology, 

now the most-cited journal 

of biology worldwide. Gerry has 

contributed many articles to the 

Journal through the years, and 

these articles are the basis for his 

10th book of essays, Epigenetics in 

the Age of Twitter: Pop Culture and 

Modern Science, to be published this 

year. He has served for four years 

as chairman of the prize jury for 

Prix Galien USA, an international 

group that annually grants its pro 

bono award for humanitarian 

services to underserved populations 

worldwide. Gerry extends his 

interest to sea life as well and for 

18 years has been a trustee of the 

Marine Biological Laboratory at 

Woods Hole, Mass., and has been 

appointed to its board of overseers. 

Sadly, we report three deaths. 

Joachim (Joe) adamczyk of Madison, 

N.J., died in January. george 

c. finch of New Bern, N.C., died 

in November. John E. silverberg 

of Long Island City, N.Y., died in 

December. 





2128517438 



2128517494 

george Koplinka 

75 Chelsea Rd. 

White Plains, NY 10603 

desiah@verizon.net 

51 

Alumni Reunion Weekend is less 

than a month away, Thursday, June 

2–Sunday, June 5! There will be a 

great mix of cultural happenings 

throughout New York City as well 

as class-specific events where we 

will have a chance to renew old 

friendships. Thursday night, there 

will be a chance to take in a show in 

Manhattan. Friday offers mini-Core 

courses, tours and discussions, and 

a class reception. Saturday is Dean’s 

Day, with great lectures, including 

a talk by Dean Michele Moody- 

Adams, followed in the evening by 

the all-class Wine Tasting, a dinner 

with the Class of 1946, and sweets, 

champagne, music and dancing 

on Low Plaza at the Starlight Recep- 

tion. In between, there will be plenty 

of other happenings to keep us 

entertained. Don’t miss it. It’s not 

too late to register. You can even do 

so online: alumni.college.columbia. 

edu/reunion. 

Without generous philanthropists, 

our country’s great centers of learning 

would cease to exist. Consider 

for example the contributions of the 

Sulzberger family. In late February, at 

the death of Judith Sulzberger, sister 

of arthur ochs sulzberger, The New 

York Times published an inspirational 

story about the family and its close 

relationship to Columbia. Judith 

graduated from P&S in 1949 and 

financially supported alma mater’s 

Genome Center. In 1991, together 

with her siblings, Judith gave a 

generous contribution to Barnard 

in honor of their mother, Iphigene. 

In 2005, Judith and her sisters Ruth 

and Marian presented the Journalism 

School with major gifts for new 

management training programs for 

news executives, as well as internships 

and scholarships, to honor 

Arthur, the chairman emeritus and 

former publisher of the Times. 

All of the above is not the end 

of the story about Judith and little 

brother Arthur. The Times let the 

“cat out of the bag.” When Arthur 

was born, his father, who enjoyed 

writing light verse, prepared an 

illustrated book describing the 

boy as having “come to play the 

Punch to Judy’s endless show.” So 

“Punch” became Arthur’s lifelong 

nickname. 

Nearly 40 years after prominent 

colleges such as Columbia and Harvard 

expelled the Naval Reserve 

Officers Training Corps from their 

campuses, some colleges are reconsidering 

what might have been a 

too-hasty action during the Vietnam 

conflict. At the time of this writing, 

Harvard announced that it would 

officially recognize NROTC. Dur- 

ing WWII, Columbia’s unit trained 

more than 23,000 officers for naval 

service. While our class attended 

Columbia, the Corps consisted of 

220 midshipmen, about 10 percent 

of the College’s enrollment. Encouraged 

by b. James lowe and leonard 

a. stoehr, along with continuing 

publicity in The Wounded Lion 

to bring back the Navy, Columbia’s 

administration may yet agree with 

Harvard’s President Drew Gilpin 

Faust that Harvard’s “renewed 

relationship (with NROTC) affirms 

the vital role that members of our 

Armed Forces play in serving the 

nation and securing our freedoms, 

while also affirming inclusion and 

opportunity as powerful American 

ideals.” 

Congratulations to ralph lowenstein 

’52J, formerly dean of the 

College of Journalism and Commu- 

ralph lowenstein ’51 received the 2011 Emma 

lazarus statue of liberty award, the american 

Jewish historical society’s highest honor. 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

46 

nications at the University of Florida. 

Ralph received the 2011 Emma 

Lazarus Statue of Liberty Award, the 

American Jewish Historical Society’s 

highest honor, presented to an 

individual “who has demonstrated 

outstanding leadership and commitment 

to strengthening the American 

Jewish Community.” Previous 

awardees include George P. Shultz, 

Edward Koch and Elie Wiesel. Last 

year, Ralph had the idea to create 

a Gainesville Holocaust Memorial. 

He became the fundraiser, project 

coordinator and memorial designer. 

Some 340 individuals and families 

contributed the $36,000 cost of the 

memorial, which was unveiled 

before a large gathering and much 

local publicity on September 12. 

paul Miller lives in Tarpon 

Springs, Fla. He was one of our 

classmates who returned from 

WWII active duty with the Army 

to continue his college education. 

Paul began his career with Curtis- 

Wright, aircraft engine manufacturers 

in New Jersey before embarking 

on long careers with Bell and General 

Telephone. Before retiring in 

1989, Paul participated in a brokerage 

business. He can be reached at 

727-937-0560. 

Mary Jo Kloezeman advised us 

that her father, robert archer, died 

on September 4. Robert earned a 

Ph.D. from GSAS in 1954 and had a 

long career with Hewlett-Packard. 

howard n. ross died on November 

16. In college, he was an editor 

of the Pre-Medical Journal, a member 

of Sawbones and secretary of the 

Pre-Med Society. He earned a Ph.D. 

from GSAS in 1964 and for many 

years was a professor of econom- 

ics at Baruch. In December, John 

b. Morris died in the Atlanta area. 

Active with the Canterbury Club at 

Columbia, he subsequently graduated 

from the Virginia Theological 

Seminary before embarking upon a 

career in the ministry. 

A couple of 60th reunion notes to 

conclude this column. Please don’t 

overlook the letter you received 

from Reunion Committee members 

willard block, Mark Kaplan and 

harvey Krueger. Their suggestion 

is for every class member to reexamine 

his assets and make as large 

as possible a reunion class gift to 

the Columbia College Fund. You 

can give online (college.columbia. 

edu/giveonline) or mail a check to 

Columbia College Fund, Columbia 

Alumni Center, 622 W. 113th St., 

MC 4530, 3rd Fl., New York NY 

10025. Of equal importance is the 

committee’s suggestion to register 

now for reunion festivities. Again, 

you can do this online (alumni.col 

lege.columbia.edu/reunion) or use 

the registration packet you received 

in the mail. Contact Jennifer Freely, 

assistant director, alumni affairs 

(jf2261@columbia.edu or 212-851- 

7438), for the latest details or more 

information. 

52 

sidney prager 

20 Como Ct. 

Manchester, NJ 08759 

sidmax9@aol.com 

The men and women who serve in 

our military forces and protect our 

country are to be admired and res- 

pected, especially during times of 

war, when a young life can be snuf- 

fed out in a split second. Many of us 

have served and feel proud of our 

small or large contribution. Our 

country called and we answered. 

When General Studies student 

and former Army Staff Sgt. 

Anthony Maschek was heckled 

during a school forum discussing 

ROTC on campus, it struck a 

nerve with New York Assemblyman 

Robert J. Castelli. Castelli, a 

Vietnam War veteran, was angry 

that a young man who was shot 11 

times in a firefight in northern Iraq 

in February 2008 was shown a lack 

of respect by some of his fellow 

students. 

A college professor, Castelli 

wrote a letter to President Lee C. 

Bollinger and cc’d, among others, 

American Legion Department of 

New York Commander V. James 

Troiola. The letter was shared with 

National Commander Jimmie L. 

Foster, who praised Castelli “for 

standing up for former Army Staff 

Sgt. Anthony Maschek and all veterans 

currently enrolled in colleges 

throughout the country. Our veterans 

deserve to be treated, at the 

very least, with the same respect as


any of their fellow students.” 

Castelli's letter to Bollinger read, 

in part: “As a champion of diversity, 

I would expect that you could convey 

to your students the fact that 

they do not need to honor the war 

to respect and honor our warriors. 

The treatment of this young veteran 

who was wounded 11 times in the 

service of his country is abhorrent, 

to say the least ... (M)embers of our 

military who served their country 

and risked their lives on all our 

behalf should be treated with the 

same dignity and respect that your 

institution demands for any diverse 

member of our population.” 

armen haig wrote, after we 

chatted by phone: “I am still doing 

orthopedic surgery, now with my 

son, who is managing the practice in 

Bronxville, N.Y., with part-time clinical 

academic interest at NewYork- 

Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia 

University Medical Center. 

“I had been department director 

at Lawrence Hospital Center and 

then chief of staff before moving on 

to senior staff. My previous academic 

activity had been a full-time 

academic appointment at Albert 

Einstein Medical Center as deputy 

director, where I had a wonderful 

time managing the residency training 

program from 1964–69, when I 

moved to Westchester. 

“My Columbia friends included 

Frank Durkan ’51, who passed 

away recently, just before a reunion 

we had planned. We kept putting it 

off, but we talked by phone about 

his clients (he was a lawyer). Lesson 

learned: Do not squander opportunities 

to hold old (or new) friendships. 

You don’t always get a second 

chance. Thanks for listening.” 

From irwin herman: “Most of 

the names that appear in this col- 

umn, I do not recognize. Whether 

this is due to time or age, I can’t 

say. My wife has buried the 1952 

yearbook in the depths of an antique 

steamer trunk, and I don’t dare open 

it to check the pictures lest I release 

evil. This is sad because during 

1948–52, we knew almost everyone 

in the College by name or by sight. 

“My name will probably suffer 

the same lack of recognition, but 

because it’s almost 60 years (60 

years!) since graduation, I will take 

an old man’s liberty of providing a 

brief biography. Maybe some survivors 

out there in graduation land 

will find this interesting. 

“After graduation, I returned 

to Cincinnati, where I started my 

career in journalism, running copy 

for the Cincinnati Enquirer until the 

Army called. After two years at 

Fort Belvoir in public information, 

where I saw Mal schechter pass 

through the engineering school 

and Max frankel while on an official 

visit to the Pentagon, I ended 

up as a reporter (in fact, the only 

reporter) at a daily paper in Frankfort, 

Ky. I decided to move on, and 

while heading to North Carolina 

with a fellowship in sociology and 

a job stringing for the Durham Sun, 

got sidetracked. I ended up working 

for a daily labor paper out of 

Charleston, W.Va. I was unhappy 

there, so I moved back to Cincinnati, 

where I remained unemployed 

and rejected by every major paper 

I queried. At a crossroad, I decided 

to use the G.I. Bill. Remembering 

how happy and unstressed the premeds 

were at Columbia, I decided 

to go to medical school. Unfortunately, 

I had none of the science 

requirements. So in two years and 

working full-time, I got the credits 

and got admitted to University of 

Cincinnati College of Medicine. After 

a year of internship, three years 

of internal medicine residency and 

a year of fellowship, I established 

practice in Oakland, Calif. 

“I married an attractive, talented 

young lady from Iowa named 

Virginia, whom I met while she 

was a physical therapist at the 

V.A. hospital in Cincinnati. She 

has had the fortitude to tolerate 

my years of residency and me. We 

have three boys. The oldest, David, 

is a captain in the Navy, married 

to a pathologist, and has realized 

his dream of being a skipper of 

an attack submarine. He has two 

boys. Middle son, Tom, after getting 

his master’s in biotech and 

working in research, switched to 

more remunerative biotech sales. 

He married a schoolteacher, continued 

the family tradition having 

two boys, and lives in idyllic 

Coronado, Calif. Our youngest, 

Charlie, went to Berkeley, was Phi 

Beta Kappa and by an unusual set 

of circumstances acted as factotum 

for David Brinkley during the 50th 

D-Day commemoration in France. 

This led to a job at ABC News, 

where he advanced to business 

and economics producer. This past 

year he moved to a similar position 

at WNYC in NYC. 

“The chaos of insurance and the 

government led me to leave practice 

in 1994, and I joined the enemy as 

a medical consultant for the state of 

California, where I work full-time. 

“This has been a long bio written 

at the request of our esteemed 

’52 column editor, Sidney. However, 

I will announce now that this 

is not an invitation for solicitations. 

With the wisdom of age, I have 

gone from yellow dog Democrat to 

conservative independent.” 

Citing what he perceives as “the 

pervasive radical and anti-Israeli 

bias of the University,” Irwin closes 

by saying he has “moved my wallet 

from my left to right hip pocket.” 

This next about anthony (a. 

James) gregor: Anthony Gimigliano, 

born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on April 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

47 

2, 1929, proceeded to earn his Ph.D. 

(1961) in social and political philosophy 

as an Irwin Edman Scholar 

in the philosophy department of 

Columbia. He commenced his career 

as an educator by working in the 

philosophy departments of the universities 

of Hawaii, Kentucky and 

Texas, before being invited, in 1967, 

to join the faculty of the political science 

department at UC Berkeley. He 

retired from his teaching obligations 

in 2009, and continues his research 

and publication, primarily in the 

history of revolutionary thought. He 

has published 26 volumes, the most 

recent of which include Marxism, 

Fascism, and Totalitarianism: Chapters 

in the Intellectual History of Radicalism; 

The Search for Neofascism: The Use and 

Abuse of Social Science; Mussolini’s 

Intellectuals: Fascist Social and Political 

Thought; and Faces of Janus: Marxism 

and Fascism in the Twentieth Century. 

Collateral with his studies in 

revolutionary ideologies, Anthony 

has published widely in professional 

journals dealing with security 

and national defense issues. In 

that capacity, he has held the Oppenheimer 

Chair of Warfighting 

Strategy at the United States Marine 

Corps University (1996–97) 

as well as been an adjunct lecturer 

for the Professional School, Department 

of State, and occasional 

lecturer for the National Defense 

University and the United States 

Marine Corps University. He 

has served as expert witness in 

regional security matters for both 

houses of Congress and on the 

editorial boards of the Journal of 

Strategic Studies and Comparative 

Strategy. Anthony has participated 

in lectures and conferences in 

most of the major cities of the 

United States, and in Europe, as 

well as Mexico City, Buenos Aires 

and Montevideo in Latin America. 

Similar obligations took him to 

Tokyo, Beijing, Pyongyang, Taipei, 

Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Manila, 

New Delhi and Calcutta in Asia. 

As a lecturer for the United State 

Information Agency, Anthony 

spoke at institutions in Jerusalem, 

Cairo and Pretoria. In 1972, 

he was awarded a Guggenheim 

Fellowship. In 1974, he was 

commemorative speaker at the 

Giovanni Gentile Commemorative 

Ceremony of the Enciclopedia 

Italiana, Rome. He was a fellow of 

the Center for Advanced Study in 

the Social Sciences at the Hebrew 

University, Jerusalem (1980–81). In 

2004, the government of the Republic 

of Italy awarded Anthony 

membership (as cavaliere) in the 

Order of Merit. He lives in Berkeley, 

Calif., with his wife, Professor 

Maria Hsia Chang. 

Your reporter thanks you all 

for your contributions and wishes 

good health and happiness to all. 

53 

lew robins 

1221 Stratfield Rd. 

Fairfield, CT 06825 

lewrobins@aol.com 

The unusual achievement of our 

innovative classmate herman 

winick is truly amazing. In 1997, 

Herman was associated with 

the SLAC National Accelerator 

Laboratory at Stanford when he 

learned that the Bonn government 

in Germany was planning to shut 

down its existing synchotron and 

replace it with a newer, more powerful 

model. The Germans planned 

to cut up their old synchotron and 

sell its metal as scrap. 

In simple terms, a synchotron 

produces super intense X-rays that 

enable scientists to see the detailed 

arrangements of atoms inside complex 

molecules such as proteins. 

For example, the synchotron makes 

it possible to analyze the atomic 

structure of defective hemoglobin 

in order to create a medicine to help 

patients with sickle cell anemia. 

Hearing that the Bonn government 

was about to sell the existing 

synchotron, Herman came up with 

an imaginative idea. Instead of 

selling it as scrap, would the Bonn 

government be willing to donate 

the equipment to a scientific group 

in the Middle East? 

Working diligently, Herman 

was able to secure an enthusiastic 

response from the scientific community 

and UNESCO. As a result, 

nine Middle Eastern countries (Bahrain, 

Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian 

Authority, Cypress, Jordan, Turkey, 

Iran and Pakistan) agreed to construct 

the Middle East’s first major 

cooperative international scientific 

research center. Jordan successfully 

competed with seven countries to 

become the site for the new center. 

Talking to Herman on the phone, 

I learned that he is especially ex- 

cited that this cooperative venture 

of scientists from nine countries will 

convince bright young students in 

the area to work together on peaceful 

projects that will have enormous 

medical and other benefits for 

people in their countries and for 

the entire world. Detailed information 

about the project is available at 

www.sesame.org.jo. 

Keep up the great work, Herman! 

Your classmates are proud of your 

determined efforts over many years 

to bring this project to fruition. 

Talking to stan Maratos by 

phone, I learned that last summer 

he was inducted into the Hellenic 

Athletic Hall of Fame at a ceremony 

in Montreal. His achievements 

were cited at a dinner attended by 

300 people where Stan received a 

huge plaque and a glass globe on 

a pedestal. Interestingly enough, 

Stan is one of a small number of our 

classmates who married as under-


graduates. He and Amaryllis were 

married during their senior year 

and celebrated their 59th wedding 

anniversary. Stan also told me about 

a celebration every two years in 

Florida known as The Last Roundup. 

It seems our Columbia jocks 

from the early ’50s get together to 

party and talk about the good old 

days. If you were a jock and would 

like to participate, please telephone 

Stan in Treasure Island, Fla. 

Stan was a member of the 1950– 

51 men’s basketball team that went 

undefeated during the regular season 

and won the Eastern Intercollegiate 

Basketball League (forerunner 

of the Ivy League) championship 

before bowing to Illinois 79–71 in 

the NCAA tournament. That team 

has been inducted to the Columbia 

University Athletics Hall of Fame. 

Congratulations, Stan, on your 

Hellenic Athletic Hall of Fame 

award. 

Elliot weser still is active, vigorous 

and enthusiastic. For example, 

in 2010 he was elected to the city 

council of Alamo Heights, Texas. 

During the course of our telephone 

conversation, he told me that he’s 

enjoying every minute of being on 

the council and finds that the key 

to being politically productive is to 

make sure to maintain a sense of 

humor. After 32 years of flying his 

four-passenger plane to all parts 

of the United States, two years ago 

Elliot and his wife, Marcia, decided 

to stop flying. 

Elliot’s working years have been 

enormously productive. For 44 

years, he was professor of medicine 

at the University of Texas Health Science 

Center at San Antonio, where 

he founded and became the chief of 

the gastroenterology department. 

For 20 years, Elliot was the chief of 

medicine at the Veterans Hospital in 

San Antonio. He is emeritus professor 

of medicine at the University of 

Texas Health Science Center. 

Six years ago, gene winograd 

retired as professor of psychology 

at Emory, where he specialized in 

experimental research on memory. 

Gene published more than 75 papers 

and wrote a couple of books. On the 

phone, Gene reported that he finds it 

very pleasant to be retired. He finds 

it especially rewarding to do a lot of 

reading and piano playing. He and 

Judy are celebrating their 50th wedding 

anniversary. 

During our undergraduate years, 

rolon reed was one of our most 

dynamic and capable class leaders. 

To mention a few of his many 

activities, he was the managing 

editor of Spectator, the president of 

Phi Gamma Delta and the recording 

secretary of the Pamphratria 

Council. Talking to Rolon, I learned 

that after suffering two broken hips 

and having terrible trouble with 

his lungs after 60 years of smoking, 

he has to use a wheelchair to get 

around. Nevertheless, he still retains 

his delightful sense of humor 

and powerful intellect. When asked 

what he thought of Barack Obama 

’83’s election, Rolon told me, “Hell 

of a hoot.” All of his classmates and 

fraternity brothers are praying for 

Rolon’s recovery and return to good 

health. 

54 

howard falberg 

13710 Paseo Bonita 

Poway, CA 92064 

westmontgr@aol.com 

While it is always great hearing from 

classmates on a regular basis, every 

so often I hear from members of our 

class whom I have not heard from 

for some time. I was delighted to 

hear from Ed raab recently. He has 

been happily married to Rosanne 

for 52 years, and they have three fine 

children, two admirable in-law children 

and four super grandchildren. 

Ed writes, “Rosanne and I travel a 

great deal, and she has accompanied 

me on teaching missions in China, 

India and Uzbekistan. We play 

tennis year-round, and I am still in 

active ophthalmology practice and 

teaching at Mount Sinai School of 

Medicine.” 

peter Ehrenhaft is a truly loyal 

“roving reporter.” Peter met roy 

schotland at a dinner party recently. 

Roy teaches at Georgetown Law 

School. Peter and Roy clerked at the 

Supreme Court in the same term 

during 1961, Roy for Justice William 

Brennan and Peter for Chief Justice 

Warren. Roy’s wife, Sara, recently 

retired as a partner at the law firm 

of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton 

and now competes with Roy as 

a lecturer on a variety of themes at 

law schools around the world. 

Ed cowan and his bride, Ann 

Louise, continue their pilgrimage, 

aka baseball odyssey, and are planning 

to be in Denver in May. The 

Colorado Rockies will mark the 

30th major league stadium visit for 

them. While there, a lovely reunion 

will take place between the Cowans 

and herb wittow and his wife, 

Sandra. I know, and my wife, Debby, 

can say from experience, that 

Herb and Sandra are absolutely 

wonderful hosts. Herb tells me that 

he is finally sincerely considering 

retirement. 

Speaking of travel, Debby and 

I recently went to China, where I 

judged at dog shows and we visited 

several cities. 

For those of our classmates whom 

we have not heard from recently, 

please drop me a note or an e-mail, 

or call. Hope to hear from many of 

you soon. 

55 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

48 

gerald sherwin 

181 E. 73rd St., Apt. 6A 


gs481@juno.com 

The hottest news on Morningside 

Heights currently is the issue of 

bringing back ROTC to campus. 

It is being discussed passionately 

in the University Senate, and by 

faculty, students and alumni. Remember 

the good old days when 

NROTC and AFROTC were joined 

by a good many undergraduates? 

The question should be resolved 

shortly, perhaps before this magazine 

reaches your hands. 

Alumni weekend recently was 

held for basketball and baseball 

(including an alumni game for 

hoopsters — none of our class 

played). We saw Jack freeman, 

richard ascher, bob pearlman 

and many other alums socializing 

and reliving the past. Some of the 

guys who couldn’t make it were 

ron Mcphee, tom brennan, tony 

palladino and John naley. There’s 

always next year, fellows. 

In early April, the annual Columbia 

Community Outreach was 

held. More than 1,000 students, 

alumni, faculty and the rest of the 

Columbia community went into 

New York City neighborhoods and 

areas around the globe, participating 

in a day of service. This event 

has been going on for 15 years and 

was started by two College students 

in the 1990s. 

Faculty have become an integral 

part in bringing the classroom to 

allen hyman ’55 was honored by columbia’s Kraft 

family center for Jewish student life at its 10th 

anniversary celebration. 

alumni in Manhattan and around 

the world. Everyone knows about 

the lectures at PicNic, a restaurant 

at West 103rd Street and Broadway, 

where every Monday evening 

professors talk about various Core 

subjects to a multitude of attendees. 

The Columbia University Club will 

be hosting a series of lectures by key 

Columbia professors in the spring 

and throughout the rest of the year. 

On the worldwide front, there will 

be travel study abroad programs 

later on this year: a Black Sea voyage 

including Yalta, other parts of 

Russia, Romania, Turkey (study 

leaders: professors John Gaddis and 

Charles King); River Life Cruise 

— Rhine, Main, Mosel — another 

Travel Study featuring guest lecturers; 

and Crossroads of Cultures 

in the Mediterranean — a voyage 

from Seville to Venice. Myron 

liptzin went with a group on one 

of these cruises a short while ago. 

The sixth annual Howl event was 

held in the early spring. Key speakers 

were Professor Ann Douglas, 

composer David Amram, writer 

Joyce Johnson and a cast of all-stars 

who helped Columbia honor its 

Beat prodigal sons, Allen Ginsberg 

’48 and football coach Lou Little’s 

favorite, Jack Kerouac ’44. 

Another major achievement in 

the admissions area: Columbia 

received a record number of applications 

for the Class of 2015, 34,587, 

a more than 32 percent increase 

from last year. 

The Kraft Family Center for Jewish 

Student Life is holding its 10th 

anniversary celebration in which 

allen hyman is being honored, 

among others. In addition to participating 

in events at the Kraft Center, 

Allen is active with our class, attending 

monthly class dinners, sporting 

events, scholarship functions and 

more. 

Two affinity groups will be gathering 

at Alumni Reunion Weekend 

in early June. One is varsity athletes 

— will we see neil opdyke, bob 

Mercier, dick carr, peter chase, 

bob dillingham, peter Martin, 

barry pariser, willy storz and barry 

sullivan? Due to the success of last 

year’s gathering, all singing groups 

(Glee Club, et al.) will be invited 

to give another concert at reunion. 

Details will follow. We mentioned 

that WKCR had its 70th anniversary 

party a couple of months ago. No, 

it was not held in the old studios in 

Hamilton Annex. Didn’t see dave 

sweet (“Voice of the Roaring Lion”). 

Everyone should know that the 

Class of 1955 Scholarship Fund 

recipient is Dominique Nieves ’12, 

who is majoring in dance and a 

pre-med track of study. She teaches 

high school students at NewYork- 

Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia 

University Medical Center. Dominique 

is smart and is a wonderful 

person as well. 

We received an invitation from 

george raitt to have coffee at 

“Chock Full o’Nuts” or “Prexy’s, the 

Hamburger with a College Education.” 

In case we have trouble finding 

these places, there is always The 

West End (or a variation thereof). 

The class monthly dinners have expanded 

to boroughs outside of Manhattan. 

(We haven’t made it to the 

Bronx or Staten Island, yet.) Looking 

forward to seeing stan Zinberg, berish 

strauch, aaron hamburger and 

robert Kushner, and from Long Island, 

John nelson, Jules rosenberg, 

bob loring and Milt Merritt. ben 

Kaplan was in touch trying to find 

out the whereabouts of don Kresge.


Ben still is in the insurance business 

in Midtown. 

We learned of the passing of two 

classmates — don grillo and Jay 

novins. Our sympathies go out to 

their family and friends. They will 

be missed. 

Benevolent Class of 1955, time is 

moving quite rapidly as we head 

toward another milestone, our 60th. 

Keep your spirits up. Keep your 

cholesterol down. Enjoy yourself to 

the fullest. Love to all, everywhere! 



ALuMNI AFFAIRS Kimberly Peterson 

knp2106@columbia.edu 

2128517872 



2128517494 

stephen K. Easton 

56 

6 Hidden Ledge Rd. 

Englewood, NJ 07631 

tball8000@earthlink.net 

I went to Ft. Lauderdale in early 

March to visit danny link for four 

days that included our Florida 

Class of ’56 Luncheon. The luncheon 

was held on March 8 at the 

Ibis Country Club in Palm Beach 

Gardens and was hosted by don 

roth and attended by Anita and 

lou hemmerdinger, Lisa and 

Mike spett, Jackie and don roth, 

Elinor Baller and danny link, 

Fern and stan Manne, don Kazimir, 

Janet and John garnjost, and 

myself and my wife, Elke. John 

brought his mother-in-law, whose 

company we enjoyed, as well as 

enjoying the fact that we had at 

least one older person attending. 

Everyone enjoyed the food and 

good company, and we already are 

talking about next year’s Florida 

luncheon. 

I believe that the winter weather 

that we suffered here in the New 

York City area has finally ended. So 

let’s start thinking summer, the Class 

of 2011 graduation and our 55th 

reunion, Thursday, June 2–Sunday, 

June 5. See details later in this 

column. 

On January 15, a number of our 

class members were in attendance 

to see the Columbia basketball team 

kick off its Ivy League season against 

Cornell. It was good to share the 

winning experience with Maurice 

Klein and his wife, Judy, and Jordan 

richin, who came as my guests, and 

to run into paul taormina and charlie 

brown, who are regulars at many 

of the games. It also was nice to see 

the names of a number of our class 

members honored in the program 

as receiving their basketball letters 

during our four years in college. The 

night brought back some very good 

memories. 

On the evening of February 3, 

al franco ’56E and I were privileged 

to attend the Dean’s Scholarship 

Reception, where we get to 

meet many of our class’ scholarship 

recipients. Our class currently 

has four permanent scholarships 

(set up at our 50th reunion) and six 

current-use scholarships. It is truly 

a joy to listen to the students. They 

are bright, ambitious, directed and 

very appreciative of the scholarships 

that have enabled them to 

attend Columbia. Interestingly, the 

scholarship program now covers 

living expenses during the summer 

so students can take internships in 

their chosen fields without worrying 

about finances. It also was nice 

to hear that they were interested in 

our experiences some 55 years ago. 

I am trying to get our two graduating 

class scholarship students to 

attend one of our reunion events 

(probably our June 3 dinner). 

Our last class luncheon was held 

at the Columbia Alumni Center, 

home to the Alumni Office. We 

have elected to hold our lunches at 

the Center until we have completed 

our 55th reunion planning. It has 

worked really well. In attendance 

at a recent lunch, held on February 

6, were bob siroty, peter Klein, 

stan soren, buzz paaswell, Jerry 

fine and me. We have completed 

most of the planning, so now the 

rest is up to you, our class members 

who would like to attend. We will 

be moving our bimonthly lunches, 

after the summer, back to campus 

(at Faculty House, or some new, interesting 

restaurants near campus), 

or the Columbia University Club 

for our midtown class alums. 

Our 55th reunion is less than a 

month away. It’s not too late to reg- 

ister online: alumni.college.colum 

bia.edu/reunion. There will be a 


throughout New York City and 

class-specific events where we will 

have a chance to renew friendships. 

On Thursday night, there will be a 

chance to take in a show in Manhattan. 

Friday offers mini-Core courses 

and a class wine tasting and buffet 

dinner. Saturday is Dean’s Day, 

with great lectures, including a talk 

by Dean Michele Moody-Adams 

and a class luncheon at Casa Italiana, 

followed in the evening by our 

class cocktail and dinner party, with 

a lively discussion with Professor 

Peter Pazzaglini ’77 GSAS. For those 

who still want to party, there is the 

Starlight Reception, which features 

sweets, champagne and dancing 

on Low Plaza. In between, there 

will be plenty of other happenings 

to keep us entertained. Don’t miss 

it. The committee has worked hard 

to keep the cost reasonable and the 

program lively and interesting. For 

more detailed information, check 

your reunion package or online 

at alumni.college.columbia.edu/ 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

49 

reunion. 

Class news: Elliott urdang, a 

Brooklyn boy living in Rhode Island 

for the last 40-plus years, has had 

multiple careers. As he writes, “After 

working as a child psychiatrist for 

25 years, I have been working for 20 

years as a freelance translator from 

Russian (as well as medical materials 

from Spanish and French in the 

past five years).” Elliott’s interest in 

foreign languages led him to get an 

M.A. in Russian, which led to his 

second career in translation, which 

he loves. He is a co-translator of two 

books by Romanian poet Ion Caraion: 

Ion Caraion: Poems, co-translated 

with Marguerite Dorian, bilingual 

Romanian-English edition; and The 

Error of Being (Greşeala de a fi), poems 

of Ion Caraion, co-translated from 

Romanian with Marguerite Dorian, 

bilingual Romanian-English edition. 

Elliott’s wife, Ester, also is an 

author and is writing a textbook on 

human behavior in the social environment. 

So they both get added 

to our class’ list of authors. Elliott 

is friendly with Eddie smith and 

his wife, and still is nostalgic for 

Columbia. 

Elliott, I would love to see you 

at our 55th reunion. 

don roth, host of our Florida 

luncheon, also has had multiple 

careers. After lawyering with Fried 

Frank, Wachtell and Lipton in 

Washington, D.C., he moved on to 

an executive position at Ocean Data 

Systems, a high-tech company, from 

which he retired when it was sold. 

Not satisfied to be retired, Don 

returned to get an M.B.A. from 

Wharton about the same time my 

son got his M.B.A. The only difference 

is that Don was about 30 years 

older than his classmates. This has 

led to Don being a co-founder and 

officer of an Internet startup, Optimal 

Effect. 

Good luck to Don in this exciting 

new challenge. 

leo glass, practicing law in Monticello, 

N.Y., writes that he misses 

Columbia and had a claim of being 

the youngest in our class. Sorry Leo, 

buzz paaswell has you beat by 

about nine months. We would both 

like to see you at our 55th reunion to 

share other remembrances. 

On a sad note, herbert baumgarten 

passed away in January. 

Herb was a member of our winning 

fencing team and had a successful 

career with Unilever. I send our 

class condolences to his widow, Jessica, 

and his three children. 

len wolf, our class historian, 

has written his following observations 

on our years at Columbia. Do 

any of you remember that: 

As sophomores during the 

Soph-Frosh Rush, we were the 

second class to lose to the freshmen, 

who managed to climb the greased 

pole and capture the prized beanie 

perched atop? Does anyone remember 

the first class to lose? 

During our freshman year, 

gordon butler was bundled up in 

bandages mummy-style and put 

on a plane to Chicago by a group of 

sophomores who had kidnapped 

him? They explained to the airline 

that he had been horribly burned 

and was bandaged so heavily in 

order to prevent him from speaking 

or touching his badly burned body. 

When the hoax was discovered, it 

got national press coverage, adding 

immeasurably to the considerable 

image of maturity that Columbia 

students were about to display in the 

years ahead. 

During the Cold War, in a Radio 

Moscow broadcast, Valentin Zorin, 

a Soviet and Russian commentator, 

suggested that Dwight D. Eisenhower 

had tried to turn Columbia 

into a barracks during his time as 

Columbia’s president? Zorin had 

obviously stayed at, or seen, the 

rooms at John Jay Hall at some time 

or another. 

In May 1953, a mob of Columbia 

students attempted a panty raid at 

both Barnard and Johnson Hall? 

The event was covered by all the 

New York newspapers, with the 

New York Post calling the undergraduates 

“cavemen who garnered 

trophies in furious assaults on the 

trembling women students in three 

dorms.” 

During Columbia’s bicentennial 

celebration in 1954, more than 7,000 

invited guests from 37 countries assembled 

in the Cathedral Church of 

St. John the Divine? They included 

Germany’s Konrad Adenauer, Supreme 

Court Chief Justice Earl Warren 

and 1952 Presidential candidate 

Adlai Stevenson. 

Graduating seniors could expect 

to earn starting salaries of from 

$75–$90 a week, according to Columbia’s 

Placement Bureau? 

Despite a vote where 91 percent 

of dorm students voiced approval 

of a system that would permit female 

students to visit dorm rooms, 

the Residential Dormitory Council 

elected not to allow such visits? 

The small-scale riot during our 

senior class beer party in John Jay 

Hall resulted in the destruction of 

furniture and chandeliers, with one 

classmate being sent to St. Luke’s 

Hospital for eight stitches? 

It may seem hard to believe that 

in some cases these events happened 

close to 60 years ago, and even more 

so that they still burn bright in the 

memories that so many of us still 

have. 

College fundraising: We have set 

a class goal of $150,000 donated to 

the Columbia College Fund by the 

end of this fiscal year (Thursday, 

June 30). If we meet this goal, the 

Scholarships 101 Challenge, generously 

funded by the late John W.


Kluge ’37, will release the $150,000, 

allowing us to fund a class scholarship, 

which we would like to name 

the alan M. Miller Scholarship 

Matching Fund. It is urgent, if you 

are so inclined, to both honor Alan’s 

memory and add to our class’ 

support of Columbia scholarships, 

that you make the largest contribution 

you can for this worthwhile 

program. You can mail a check to 



MC 4530, 3rd Fl., New York, NY 

10025, or give online at college. 

columbia.edu/giveonline. I thank 

you for your participation. 

I am again asking all class members 

who want to keep in touch to 

update their e-mail addresses by 

contacting lou hemmerdinger, our 

class correspondent: lhemmer@aol. 

com. This seems to be the best way 

to stay in touch with the majority of 

our class members. Please keep in 

contact with Columbia in whatever 

ways you feel appropriate, as I 

believe that it has been a force and 

power in our lives. 

If you have news to share, please 

e-mail me at tball8000@earthlink. 

net, and I will make sure it gets in a 

future Class Notes. 

Wishing that the next few months 

are as exciting in your lives as they 

are to the graduating Class of 2011. 

57 

herman levy 

7322 Rockford Dr. 

Falls Church, VA 22043 

hdlleditor@aol.com 

John “sparky” breeskin: “I have 

good news to pass along to you. 

roy wolff is out of the hospital 

(see November/December) and 

slowly recovering at home. Because 

we have the kind of relationship 

that we do, I asked him how his 

perspective has changed as a result 

of his stroke. He quickly replied 

that now he appreciates being out 

of the rehab hospital and being able 

to sit in the sun in his own house 

with his angelic partner, Monique, 

by his side. 

“I hasten to add that what has 

happened to him has not impaired 

his colorful speech.” 

Sparky then provided some reminisces 

of his days at alma mater: “I 

find that after more than two score 

and 10 years, certain impressions 

are indelibly imprinted into my 

memory, and I would like to share 

them with you as one person’s perception 

of an experience we all have 

in common. 

“First, among the faculty, how can 

I go wrong by nominating Dustin 

Rice (‘C- Rice’) at the head of the 

queue? James Shenton ’49, of course, 

follows, with Ralph Hefferline and 

the inestimable Fred Keller among 

this company. This list could never 

be complete without Lou Little, who 

will always be ‘my coach.’ 

“alan gottdenker and roy 

wolff stand at the front of the line. 

Their deep and abiding love for 

me is something that is always 

with me. 

“In somewhat alphabetical order, 

pasquale caputo shared his 

great love of opera with me. charlie 

catania was my always helpful 

rat lab partner. claude benham 

struck me with the noble way he 

carried himself. roy altman’s 

charming smile will always shine 

in my memory. ted dwyer was 

my roommate during our freshman 

year, and I had the great pleasure 

of introducing him to some of 

my favorite places in NYC. 

“dick Eberl inspired me with his 

courage. billy friedman delighted 

me with his creative mischief. sherril 

fischer was a rewarding part 

of my AFROTC experience, and 

stan luftschein was grace under 

pressure. harry Marks and I were 

not close, but I always admired 

the quiet way in which he carried 

himself. I will always remember 

Murray May’s infectious laugh. I 

am proud to call John wellington 

my friend; we dressed for football 

in adjoining lockers and that is all 

that it took for us to find each other. 

I looked up to art wilson for his 

values, and I totally understand 

why he was chosen as captain of 

our football team. 

“Now the inescapable question 

is, what do all of these classmates 

have in common? I will call the 

entity a ‘largeness of spirit.’ The 

demonstrated details are, of course, 

completely idiosyncratic, but to me, 

the similarities are compelling.” 

Mac gimse: “Thank you for 

your thoughtful mail containing 

the article on Mr. Chris Sharp (The 

Washington Post, January 16) and 

his project to cast 19 statues of Dr. 

Martin Luther King Jr. I am happy 

to see a sculptor devoted to such 

a worthy cause and admire his 

commitment to the Civil Rights 

Movement. 

“I have written about Dr. King 

and cast a sculpture to honor his 

work, although it is a very different 

style, showing the brutality of racism. 

It has been called, ‘Not suitable 

for children to view,’ and I agree. 

Mr. Sharp’s project is a focus on 

King and his cause. I appreciate his 

work.” 

Mac continues from the previous 

CCT on his New York exhibit 

(November) at KGB Gallery: 

“Joe diamond appeared later, 

and it was the occasion for the only 

photo of the day. We are looking at 

Bearing The Burden Of Peace, created 

for David Trimble and John Hume 

of Northern Ireland, co-laureates 

for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998. 

The bronze sculpture was pre- 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

50 

sented to them in March 2000 at St. 

Olaf College in Minnesota. 

“It was inspiring to bridge the 

years with ’57 classmates to our 

time of passing between Butler 

Library and Hamilton Hall. Our 

discourse moved from current 

events to great issues in philosophy 

and history with the help of 

impromptu lectures by Professor 

Bernard Wishy ’48, ’58 GSAS, class 

valedictorian. We had Erich gruen 

and a host of bright and willing 

young minds ready to debate any 

issue. It was somewhere on the 

quad that I lost my intellectual 

innocence. The magic of Columbia 

was to bring everything into question. 

I am grateful.” 

carlos Muñoz: “Just received 

CCT, and it reminded me that, 

while I was in California preparing 

to take our grandchildren on 

a cruise, I missed the regular ’57 

lunch by two days. I had lunch with 

John taussig. gene wagner was 

to join us, but the horrendous rains 

in December blocked roads and 

prevented his trip. We survived the 

rains and had a delightful cruise to 

Mexico with our family group of 12, 

including six grandchildren. 

“The cruise left from the Port of 

Los Angeles December 26, comprising 

eight days to Cabo San Lucas, 

Mazatlán and Puerto Vallarta. 

The ship included a full basketball 

and soccer court for the four teenage 

boys (who almost beat the 

ship’s crew team in soccer), an ice 

skating rink and a climbing wall, 

and the kids kayaked in Cabo, 

parasailed in Mazatlan and swam 

with dolphins in Puerto Vallarta.” 

Martin brothers: “At this first 

classmates’ conversation of its 

kind, held at the Columbia Alumni 

Center on March 3, 14 of us were 

present (including our Alumni 

Office liaison, Paul Staller, director 

of class giving): bob lipsyte, 

sal franchino, stanley barnett, 

paul Zola, art Meyerson, Martin 

brothers, Joseph diamond, carlos 

Muñoz, robert Klipstein, Mark 

stanton, al fierro, david Kinne 

and Joseph feldschuh. 

“Twelve others would have attended 

if they were not out of town 

or obliged to attend to compelling 

personal matters: alvin Kass, alan 

rosen, Jonathan lubin, steve 

ronai, phil olick, Edward weinstein, 

Marty fisher, alan brown, 

Mike lipper, bob flescher, larry 

boes and Ken bodenstein. 

“The conference room at the 

Center was commodious enough to 

seat 22 on comfortable leather chairs 

around a substantial oblong conference 

table equipped with audiovisual 

adaptors, with an adjoining 

kitchen where coffee had been 

prepared by the staff and a refrigerator 

where we chilled wine that 

was served over lunch delivered 

by Nussbaum & Wu, a nearby deli. 

Although not on the level of the 

culinary or ambient splendor of The 

University Club, the situation was 

cozy, informal and made for easy 

communication among all present. 

“bob lipsyte moderated the 

conversation, which went on for 

about two hours and might have 

lasted longer. Not only was he engaging 

but also he was interesting, 

amusing, candid, controversial and 

personable, and everyone present 

had something to say that all others 

heard and found interesting. He 

had stories to tell and anecdotes 

that were at times surprising and 

moving, regarding his own life and 

the lives of celebrities, mentors and 

others who had impressed him. 

“I hope he’ll return for an 

encore. Here’s an idea for you, 

Bob. Why not collar some athlete 

or journalist you’ve known and 

interview him or her on or off 

the record, where we could ask 

questions and make comments 

during or after your interview? 

It wouldn’t have to be someone 

famous: say, a boxer or a baseball 

or football or tennis player. Surely, 

Pete Rose would be interesting, but 

a lesser known or even unknown 

player with a story of interest 

might do as well or better. Please 

give this some thought. 

“The prospect of organizing a 

similar luncheon is one that any one 

or more of you can do, either individually 

or as a team, whether the 

luncheon centers around a theme, 

topic or moderator, or you aim at a 

get-together without more, a causerie, 

chat or symposium. Any format 

of interest might work, and the 

resources of the University in the 

City of New York offer too many 

possibilities to list here. 

“I’d be happy for your input on 

the luncheon we had and would 

organize another if enough of you 

wish, but would be just as pleased 

(if not more pleased) to defer to or 

assist anyone else who has an idea 

for a project. 

“My impression is that at our 

age the collective knowledge, experience 

and wisdom around the 

table was remarkable if not daunting 

and should make for many 

more interesting conversations 

where we can feel connected and 

involved in the event. 

“Listen, there were guys there 

who have a great deal they could 

say to engage us for hours. Frankly, 

any one of us could, if we wanted, 

delve into our own lives for material 

that might interest others. Quick 

examples: art Meyerson (psychiatry), 

paul Zola (psychology), david 

Kinne (medicine) and stan barnett 

(scientist, engineer), among others, 

all others in fact. 

“So, if this was something that 

you enjoyed, let us all know and


suggest anything you think would 

be of interest, and if you would like 

to organize or produce the event 

by yourself or selves, or want assistance, 

just say so and move ahead 

with it at some mutually convenient 

date that does not conflict with any 

University or College event. 

“Wishing all the best, and thanking 

all who attended and expressed 

interest and support.” 

58 

barry dickman 

25 Main St. 

Court Plaza North, Ste 104 

Hackensack, NJ 07601 

bdickmanesq@gmail.com 

Congratulations to steve Jonas on 

his marriage to Chezna Newman. 

Steve and Chezna “were very happily 

married with a rabbi, a reception 

and a honeymoon in Sweden. 

We really rushed into it; we’ve been 

together only 12 years. Our class 

was represented at the wedding by 

my dear friend Joe dorinson.” 

Not exactly breaking news, but 

better any old time than never. Your 

reporter noticed an obit in The New 

York Times headlined, “Jack Oliver 

[’45, ’53 GSAS], Who Proved Continental 

Drift, Dies at 87,” and read 

on. Although the theory had been 

put forth in 1912, it had generally 

been regarded as a crackpot idea 

until the 1960s, when Oliver, who 

was working at Columbia’s Lamont 

Geological Observatory, together 

with his former graduate student 

bryan isacks found proof of the 

theory. In 1968 they published a paper 

making a convincing case that 

what had become known as plate 

tectonics was real (and important; 

it’s now the basis for offshore oil 

exploration, among other things). 

Bryan has retired as the William 

and Katherine Snell Professor of 

Geological Sciences at Cornell. 

Here’s a letter from barry lutender: 

“Your column in the January/ 

February Columbia College Today 

was appreciated and very meaningful 

to me. I was saddened to 

learn that asher rubin had passed 

away but was pleased you clearly 

remembered him well, as I have. 

“Asher and al shine were good 

friends of David Davis ’56E and 

mine during those wonderful years 

at Columbia in Livingston Hall. 

Asher was literally one of a kind. His 

sense of humor is unforgettable, and 

his close friendship with Al was very 

similar to mine with David. 

“Thanks for rekindling the wonderful 

memories of Asher. Please 

keep up the good work with the 

magazine.” 

Barry, we appreciate your kind 

words. 

Barry retired from teaching math 

in the Framingham, Mass., school 

system. As many of you will remem- 

ber, Dave died not long after graduation. 

According to the Amherst alumni 

magazine, Mort halperin’s youngest 

son, Gary, was voted by readers 

of Natural Awakenings magazine as a 

2010 Natural Choice Award winner 

for “favorite yoga instructor in Sarasota, 

Fla.” The note added, “Gary 

remains a stay-at-home dad to three 

girls under 7; 17,000 diapers changed 

and counting.” And why, you may 

be asking, is your reporter reading 

the Amherst alumni magazine? 

Because his daughter, Sue Dickman, 

was Gary’s classmate at Amherst. 

The class lunch is held on the 

second Wednesday of every month, 

in the Grill Room of the Princeton/ 

Columbia University Club, 15 W. 

43rd St. ($31 per person). E-mail art 

radin if you plan to attend, up to 

the day before: aradin@radinglass. 

com. 

59 

norman gelfand 

c/o CCT 


622 W. 113th St., MC 4530 


nmgc59@gmail.com 

Thanks to all of you who have submitted 

your doings to Class Notes. 

I encourage those members of the 

class who have not done so recently 

to please do so. This is the only way 

some of us can keep in touch. 

I am sorry to report that stephen 

M. remen, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, 

of New York City, died 

on January 20, and federal judge 

david g. trager, of Brooklyn, N.Y., 

died on January 5. [Editor’s note: 

Obituaries will appear in a future 

issue.] 

bernie pucker writes, “During 

the past three years, our son Jon 

has been working alongside us in 

our gallery in an effort to continue 

the commitments of the gallery 

that go back to 1967. It is reassuring 

to all who visit the gallery — 

clients, friends and artists — that 

there will be a sense of continuity 

in what we have begun. 

“I am recently back from an 

extraordinary trip to Germany, 

where I met with Jan Kollwitz, the 

great-grandson of Kathe Kollwitz. 

Jan is a potter who studied in 

Japan 25 years ago and has been 

creating pots in the Japanese tradition 

for the past 20 years. We are in 

the process of preparing to exhibit 

his work here in Boston. 

“Additionally, I came across a 

Korean potter, Young-Jae Lee, and 

at the same time, I have added the 

works of another Japanese potter, 

Yoshinori Hagiwara, to our collection 

based upon our May 2010 

journey to Japan. 

“I must say that the universe 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

51 

continues to broaden and also 

get smaller. Many old Columbia 

friends continue to wander in. It 

is a joy and delight remaining in 

touch with them through art.” 

From arthur M. louis: “I recently 

published a book of mostly 

journalistic memoirs, Journalism 

and Other Atrocities: An Irreverent 

Memoir. I spent more than 40 

years as a professional journalist, 

about half of that as a writer on the 

staff of Fortune. There also is a fair 

amount in the book about Columbia 

College, the Journalism School 

and Spectator, where I was editorials 

editor in my senior year. 

“If anyone wants to buy the 

book (hint, hint), the easiest way 

is to go to the following link: createspace.com/3483153. 

Another 

way is to go to Amazon.com.” 

From alvin halpern we hear, 

“My wife and I have moved to 

sunny San Diego. We love and 

miss New York, but the weather, 

and our two grandchildren living 

close by, proved irresistible. We 

moved in August, and it has taken 

months of hectic activity to fully 

settle into our new condo. While 

not New York, San Diego is filled 

with museums, theaters and good 

restaurants that keep us busy and 

entertained.” 

pat Mullins has been busy of 

late. The last issue of CCT contained 

news of his wife Jackie’s death. He 

continues his report, “Fortunately, 

16 months previously, I had been 

asked to run for the position of 

chairman of the Republican Party 

of Virginia, a position that I had not 

sought nor really wanted. 

“After several conversations 

with our Republican Governor 

nominee, Bob McDonnell, and my 

congressman (now House Majority 

Leader) Eric Cantor, I agreed to 

have my named placed in nomination. 

Looking back, I am certainly 

glad that Jackie and I made this 

decision, as the position has kept 

me campaigning nonstop for our 

candidates throughout Virginia 

and given me something to occupy 

my time following her loss. 

“Six months after I was elected 

party chair at a May 2009 convention 

attended by 12,000 Virginia 

Republicans, Republicans swept the 

Virginia governor, lieutenant governor 

and attorney general races by 20 

percent, only the second time in our 

Commonwealth’s history that we 

have held all three of the top positions. 

We also picked up eight seats 

in the Virginia House of Delegates. I 

was given major credit for the victories, 

for reuniting and reenergizing 

the party and for reaching out and 

bringing home the business community 

and our conservative base 

after eight years of defeats, accolades 

which I felt were undeserved 

but ones I humbly accepted. 

“Then this past November we 

followed up those victories by taking 

back three Democrat congressional 

seats. 

“During this period, I visited 

and spoke in more than 60 Virginia 

counties and cities and had a driver 

who took me on these campaign 

trips. 

“The week before the November 

elections, I joined with Rep. Cantor 

on a five-city swing with rallies 

throughout his congressional district; 

spent a day in Virginia Beach 

with our congressional candidate 

there who picked up a Democrat 

seat; and was driven on a four-day, 

1,500-mile swing for rallies and 

Columbia School designations 

In Class Notes, these designations indicate Columbia 

degrees from schools other than the College. 

Arch. School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation 

Arts School of the Arts 

Barnard Barnard College 

Business Graduate School of Business 

CE School of Continuing Education 

dental College of Dental Medicine 

E The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and 

Applied Science 

gS School of General Studies 

gSAS Graduate School of Arts and Sciences 

J Graduate School of Journalism 

L School of Law 

Nursing School of Nursing 

P&S College of Physicians and Surgeons 

Ph Mailman School of Public Health 

SIPA School of International and Public Affairs 

Sw School of Social Work 

TC Teachers College


speaking engagements in southern 

and southwest Virginia, where 

both our GOP candidates took 

back Democrat seats. 

“The final two days before the 

election, I did an eight-city, twoday 

fly around Virginia with Gov. 

McDonnell, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling 

and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, 

who incidentally filed the 

first lawsuit to have Obamacare 

ruled unconstitutional and has 

prevailed in the initial decision in 

the lower court. 

“The crowds were large and 

enthusiastic. This was the second 

time I had joined our party leaders 

in a Virginia fly-around with airport 

rallies, and it is an unforgettable 

experience. 

“Frankly, I had not realized the 

prominence and prestige that a 

state party chairman in Virginia 

has, and it’s still a novelty to me 

to have a driver and scheduler, to 

be featured at fundraising events, 

to have folks wanting to pose for 

pictures with me, and at large 

meetings someone is always walking 

with me. In many cases, I have 

been told I was the first party chair 

to ever visit that particular county. 

“I served on our 50th reunion 

planning committee and was set to 

attend and renew acquaintances, but 

my new duties as party chair prevented 

me from leaving Virginia. 

“I look forward to seeing everyone 

at our 55th reunion.” 

Eric Jakobsson clearly is very 

busy: “The most exciting scientific 

thing in my life is a new project on 

genetically specific antimicrobial 

therapy. I have come to have a great 

appreciation for the ability of antisense 

RNA to shape cell function 

and have, through the Nanomedicine 

Center I directed for five years, 

developed a collaboration with a 

wonderful nanoscientist whose 

group has engineered delivery 

vehicles that can target specific cells 

and deliver RNA to the interior. We 

have teamed up with a microbial 

geneticist to submit a grant proposal 

to NIH for developing genetically 

specific antimicrobial therapy 

via antisense RNA that would be 

specific to the pathogen genome. In 

this fashion, we hope to overcome 

the problems with broad spectrum 

antibiotics of acquired antibiotic 

resistance and side effects on commensal 

microbes. So far this is only 

a concept supported by preliminary 

data and computations, but if we 

get some grant money, it promises 

to be by far the most important 

thing I have done scientifically, so I 

am quite excited. 

“In recent years my research has 

become interdisciplinary, publishing 

in journals as diverse as Journal 

of Computational and Theoretical 

Chemistry, Journal of Physical Chemistry 

B, Biophysical Journal, BMC Struc- 

tural Biology, Channels and so on. 

“I have become drawn to the 

concept of interdisciplinary science 

and have a paper in press, “The 

Interdisciplinary Scientist of the 

21st Century,” in which I argue 

that with modern technology for 

bringing knowledge and analysis 

and modeling tools to our fingertips, 

instead of having to access 

remote library shelves and mainframe 

computers, there is no barrier 

to individuals acquiring deep 

knowledge in multiple scientific 

disciplines, and that in fact training 

individuals to be multidisciplinary 

is essential to solving many of the 

most important scientific problems 

today. 

“I took this message to a workshop 

on e-learning in Costa Rica, 

with the result that the Costa Rica 

Institute of Technology has decided 

to build a Ph.D. program on these 

principles, and I am consulting with 

them on the details of the plan. I 

wake up every day excited about 

this. It seems that this is what I 

have been pointing to intellectually 

with the earlier part of my life. 

I am hoping to come back to our 

administration at the University of 

Illinois and convince them that this 

is a direction we should go in as 

well. We have many very powerful 

departments, but in my mind there 

is growing evidence that the rigidity 

of the departments is getting in the 

way of tackling some of the most 

important research questions and of 

training our students to tackle those 

questions. 

“Also, it is great to travel in 

Costa Rica because of the natural 

beauty of the country, in addition 

to it being a very progressive society. 

In December, I went zip-lining 

through the rain forest canopy, 

which is about as big a thrill as I 

can take anymore. 

“My wife, Naomi, was campaign- 

ing last fall for re-election to the Illin- 

ois state legislature. I am very proud 

of her in many ways, but one way 

is that she is running a completely 

positive campaign on her record, 

in contrast to the horrible negative 

stuff that is so common. Naomi won 

her re-election to the Illinois House 

last November against a Tea Partier, 

and Democrats held control of the 

legislature and the governorship. 

We are amused at the chaos across 

the border in Wisconsin and grateful 

to them for making us look good 

by comparison. 

“I also have taken a fling in politics. 

I agreed to be appointed to a 

vacant city council seat in Urbana 

and ran for election in my own 

right in the Democratic primary in 

my ward on February 22. My opponent 

decided to endorse me, but 

I still campaigned until the end. 

Can you imagine how embarrassing 

it would be to lose an election 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

52 

after the opponent had endorsed 

you? That would be worse than 

losing to a dead guy! 

“Still keeping busy being a patriarch 

of my clan of eight grown 

children (two by birth and six 

adopted) and 11 grandchildren. 

The grandchildren are growing up. 

One looks as though she might be 

a scientist, as she is in her junior 

year at the Illinois Mathematics 

and Science Academy (Illinois’ answer 

to Bronx Science). Others are 

doing many good things, mainly 

just being and becoming beautiful 

people. 

“As you can imagine, in a group 

of young people this size, there is 

always something to celebrate and 

something to be concerned about. 

Next year, my oldest grandchild 

enters college. Time flies when one 

is having fun.” 

clive chajet reports, “My hair 

is grayer, my weight is about the 

same, my memory for names and 

faces is getting worse, and we have 

moved in Manhattan to an ideal 

size apartment for my wife of 45 

years and me. My granddaughters 

are becoming more and more 

divine. I receive some very funny 

e-mails from classmates regularly 

and am somewhat busy as a branding 

consultant. The book I wrote 

some 25 years ago, Image by Design: 

From Corporate Vision to Business 

Reality, still sells. I get at least $75 

a year in royalty payments, and 

my attitude toward Columbia gets 

more and more positive because of 

our schoolmate Barack Obama ’83 

and the continued attractiveness of 

living and working in Manhattan.” 

The Health Coverage Foundation, 

founded by Marlys and Mike 

bromberg, announced that it has 

awarded a one-year, $100,000 grant 

to the American Cancer Society to 

help provide insurance premium 

assistance to high risk individuals. 

The grant will be used to build 

upon the Health Insurance and 

Financial Assistance Service, a 

program already in place at the 

American Cancer Society. This is 

a free service that connects cancer 

patients with health insurance 

specialists through the ACS National 

Cancer Information Center’s 

toll-free number (800-227-2345). A 

new insurance premium assistance 

program will be added to the 

Health Insurance Assistance Service 

through the use of the grant 

funds. Health insurance specialists 

will identify uninsured callers who 

are at the highest risk, inform them 

about their options to gain coverage 

and help connect them with 

local resources. 

Mike is chairman of Capitol 

Health Group, a Washington, D.C.based 

health care lobbying firm representing 

health care organizations. 

Our space in CCT filled, I am 

holding contributions from steve 

tractenberg, lou lucaccini, bill 

berberich, benjamin Jerry cohen, 

Jerome charyn, Jay neugeboren, 

alvin goldman and peter rosenfeld 

for the next issue. 

60 

robert a. Machleder 

69-37 Fleet St. 

Forest Hills, NY 11375 

rmachleder@aol.com 

From his home in Taiwan, syd 

goldsmith sends family reflections 

on the year just passed, the Year of 

the Tiger, and greetings to all on the 

recently arrived Year of the Rabbit. 

“It has,” he writes, “been a colorful 

year for all of us.” All of us being 

Syd, his wife, Ann, son Harrison 

(17) and daughter Jessica (12). “The 

Taipei Goldmiths,” as Syd refers to 

them. 

“Ann has created more new art 

than our walls will hold and has 

participated in exhibitions on both 

sides of the Pacific. Now she is collaborating 

with her two artist sisters 

in a recently opened gallery. Ann 

also translated for self-growth workshops 

in China and Bali, and she 

has become a superbly imaginative 

gourmet cook. 

“Harrison walked into drama 

class late; the teacher pointed at 

him and said, ‘You’re dead,’ leading 

him to being murdered twice 

in the Taipei American School’s 

production of Animal Farm. He’s an 

avid movie critic, and his rock guitar 

easily out-decibels all the other 

instruments in the house. 

“Jessica is marching toward teendom 

with flying colors; purple, red, 

green and blond, all on display at 

various times of the year. When she 

isn’t dying her shoulder-length hair, 

she plays classical guitar and piano, 

enjoys having many friends and 

has been known to pay attention in 

class ... sometimes.” 

And as for Syd, his second novel, 

Two Musicians and the Wife Who Isn’t, 

is “with a well-known literary agent, 

looking for a home in a publishing 

industry rocked by tumultuous 

change. Lifelong passion for the flute 

leads to intense practice. I’m working 

toward recording several CDs 

as evidence that I really did play it 

my way.” 

Karl donfried was unable to 

attend the 50th reunion last year. 

Duty called. He was obliged to be 

in southeastern Turkey at that time 

to complete a project. Karl promises 

that when time permits, he’ll 

share with us the highlights of his 

investigation of the ancient biblical 

sites that compelled his attention. 

A gala event on February 24, the 

celebration of the 70th anniversary 

of the first broadcast of Columbia’s 

radio station, brought four members 

of the class back to Morning-


side Heights. Joining 180 other 

WKCR alumni were paul feldman 

of the classical music department; 

tom hamilton, news department; 

John pegram, engineering department; 

and bill seegraber, popular 

music department. Beverly Arm- 

strong ’60 Barnard was among the 

celebrants. The event was held in 

the Roone Arledge Auditorium 

and at the WKCR station. 

Not all of bill tanenbaum’s 

time is spent atop the 14,000-foot 

peaks in Colorado, though it may 

seem that way. In fact, Bill loves to 

travel and does so widely. He also 

makes it a practice to stay in touch 

with members of the class. 

Soon after our reunion, Bill sojourned 

in California, meeting twice 

with bob levine and dick dorazio. 

In July, he met with ira Jaffrey 

in Glenwood Springs, Colo. All 

three are in the medical profession 

with different specialties. 

In December, Bill traveled through 

Israel for 16 days. Three of those 

days were spent with Joel levine 

and Joel’s wife, Zehavit. “The first 

two nights were in Elkana, Samaria, 

across the green line,” writes Bill. 

“The last night was spent in Kinneret. 

They drove us through the 

Golan Heights and around the Sea 

of Galilee, ending with a delicious 

dinner in Tiberias. We enjoyed each 

other’s company and got to know 

each other better. Joel is semiretired 

and enjoys traveling.” 

Bill’s conquests of the 14’ers of 

Colorado have been chronicled in 

prior Class Notes, and those adventures 

prompted an e-mail from 

dick caldwell: “I just read through 

the January/February issue, and it 

brought back fond memories. It’s 

been a long time since my wife, 

Ellen, and I have touched base with 

Bill. The last time was shortly after 

Reina’s [Bill’s beloved wife] untimely 

passing. We would really like 

to reconnect with him. Ellen and I 

will be making at least two trips to 

or through Colorado this year. Our 

son Rick has lived there for five 

years, and we have been frequent 

Colorado visitors. If we could meet 

in Colorado with Bill in 2011, that 

would be really special.” 

Dick provided these details of 

his own life: “Retirement for the 

past seven years has been great — 

golf, travel and so on. I hope Ellen 

and I will continue to be blessed 

with good health, mobility and 

an active lifestyle for many more 

years. I changed careers in my 

early 50s, from the apparel industry 

to insurance and investments. 

Fortunately I had many successful 

years in both careers, while Ellen 

was busy as owner/operator of her 

own retail operation, and, after we 

moved in 2000 from northern New 

Jersey to Maryland, eventually 

managed another retail operation 

here until finally packing it in a few 

months ago. To this point at least, 

we have been able to enjoy the 

fruits of my/our labors. We have 

three middle-aged adult children, 

none of whom has yet elected marriage, 

so no grandkids yet. Since 

Ellen turned 68 in February, and I 

hit 73 in March, they’d better hurry 

up before it’s too late.” 

stephen scheiber has been 

elected president of the Lifers organization 

of the American Psychiatric 

Association, and writes, “In June 

2010, I completed two years as 

president of The Isaac Ray Center, a 

nonprofit that provided psychiatric 

services to the Cook County Jail, 

which houses more than 8,000 detainees 

of whom roughly 15 percent 

receive psychiatric care at any one 

time. Hence it is the largest psychiatric 

facility in the state of Illinois. 

The Juvenile Temporary Detention 

Center, with approximately 400 residents 

at any one time, was the other 

correctional organization in Chicago 

that received mental services from 

The Isaac Ray Center. I continue to 

teach psychiatric residents in the 

Northwestern University Feinstein 

School of Medicine.” 

Another blow to the class: Jerry 

cantor died on December 15, apparently 

having suffered a heart attack 

while jogging. Jerry was in private 

practice as a psychologist and simultaneously 

a financial adviser to 

a select group of investors. He had 

majored in philosophy at the College 

but his lifelong interest and passion 

was economics. Jerry’s family 

published a trade magazine that he 

joined upon graduation. When the 

business was sold soon thereafter, 

Jerry earned a doctorate in clinical 

psychology at NYU and embarked 

on his dual careers in counseling and 

finance. He was a voracious reader 

of financial news and reports, national 

and global, and his keen grasp 

of macroeconomic trends and influences 

enabled him to achieve great 

success in managing his personal 

portfolio and the portfolios of those 

to whom he was an adviser. Upon 

his sudden, unexpected death, many 

who were counseled by Jerry in his 

practice as a psychologist called his 

sister Gail to express the esteem in 

which he was held and how significant 

he had been in their lives. He 

was married but briefly and did not 

have children, but was a devoted 

uncle to Gail’s son and filled an 

important role as mentor to him. I 

thank Henry Kurtz ’58, who brought 

the news of Jerry’s death to my attention, 

and Gail, who provided 

details of her brother’s life. Henry 

and Jerry were fraternity brothers at 

Beta Sigma Rho and remained lifelong 

friends. 

andy feuerstein remembers 

Jerry’s intelligence and “unique 

sense of humor.” 

lenny fuchs recalls Jerry as 

“decent, quirky and very interested 

in the great philosophers.” 

Andy’s and Lenny’s recollections 

precisely coincide with my own. 

A dry wit and a mordant sense of 

humor were characteristics that 

immediately sprang to mind as 

memories of Jerry returned when I 

learned of his death. 

The class sends its deepest 

condolences to Jerry’s family and 

friends. 





2128517438 



2128517494 

Michael hausig 

19418 Encino Summit 

San Antonio, TX 78259 

mhausig@yahoo.com 

61 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

53 

Our 50th Alumni Reunion Weekend 

is less than a month away, Wednes- 

day, June 1–Sunday, June 5. It’s not 

too late to register for what prom- 

ises to be a fantastic long weekend 

(alumni.college.columbia.edu/ 

reunion). In addition to great cul- 

tural events and lectures during 

Dean’s Day on Saturday, June 4, 

there are numerous class-specific 

events where we will have a chance 

to catch up. Wednesday has a special 

evening gathering just for our class, 

followed on Thursday by great 

events on campus and throughout 

the city, including Broadway theatre 

and the New York Philharmonic. On 

Friday, there will be a class medical 

panel, a class lunch in Low Library 

and a class dinner hosted by tom 

gochberg and his wife, Lettie, at 

their home. Saturday offers a financial 

panel for our class. The day will 

end with the all-class Wine Tasting, 

our class dinner and the Starlight 

Reception, with champagne and 

dancing on Low Plaza. And if you 

aren’t completely exhausted after 

that party, there will be a brunch on 

Sunday morning. Don’t miss it! 

In celebration of our 50 years 

since our graduation, we will be 

conducting an e-mail survey this 

spring and will present the findings, 

as well as those from last 

year’s survey, at Alumni Reunion 

Weekend. The survey will focus on 

alumni accomplishments and alumni 

perspectives on major issues. If 

you suspect that we might not have 

your e-mail address, please send it 

to tony adler: awadler@sparta 

commercial.com. We urge your 

participation in the survey, as we 

would like as accurate a representation 

of our class as possible. herman 

Kane will compile the data. 

allan J. schwartz has contrib- 

Friends and part-time neighbors 

at the Painted Desert Community 

in Las Vegas gerry Brodeur ’61 

(left) and Jack Kirik ’61 kicked 

back after a round of golf in February. 

PhOTO: JOhN BROdEuR 

uted the lead chapter to the soonto-be-published 

book Understanding 

and Preventing College Student 

Suicide. His most recent scholarly 

paper on this topic, “Rate, Relative 

Risk and Method of Suicide 

Among Students at Four-Year 

Colleges and Universities in the 

United States: 2004–05 Through 

2008–09,” soon will appear in the 

journal Suicide and Life-Threatening 

Behavior. Allan has shown that it is 

the dramatically lower availability 

of firearms to students on these 

campuses that is responsible for 

the suicide rate among these students 

being half that of the general 

population. Suicide, he notes, is 

the second leading cause of death 

among students at these campuses. 

Michael schachter writes that 

his love during the past 35 years 

has been nutritional and integrative 

medicine, although he is a 

board-certified psychiatrist. At his 

center (schachtercenter.com), they 

see patients with all kinds of health 

challenges. Michael’s book, What 

Your Doctor May Not Tell You About 

Depression: The Breakthrough Integrative 

Approach for Effective Treatment, 

offers depressed patients alternatives 

to the usual prescription of 

anti-depressant drugs. His recently 

published article, “Integrative Oncology 

for Clinicians and Cancer 

Patients,” is available as a PDF 

file for anyone who is interested 

by just contacting his office (see 

website above) and requesting it. 

Michael has six children from three 

marriages with an age range of 

15–40. He has two grandchildren 

(3 months and 5). Michael and his 

wife, Lisa, hope to make our reunion 

dinner. 

arnold Klipstein has entered 

his 40th year in the practice of 

gastroenterology in Manchester, 

Conn. He received a reward from 

his hospital for 40 years of service 

and for the second consecutive 

year has been recognized by the 

Consumers’ Research Council of 

America as one of “America’s Top


Melvin i. urofsky ’61 Sets the Bar for Studying Brandeis 

For Melvin I. urofsky ’61, 

’68 GSAS, Louis D. Brandeis 

is like the man who 

came to dinner — and 

never left. 

Urofsky, a historian, has devoted 

decades to the legal lion 

of Louisville who ascended to 

the U.S. Supreme Court under 

Woodrow Wilson and, after 

serving on the high bench for 

23 years, left an enduring mark 

on jurisprudence and political 

thought. 

The culmination of a lifetime 

of scholarship was Urofsky’s definitive 

biography, published by 

Pantheon Books in 2009 to critical 

acclaim. Louis D. Brandeis: A 

Life, a doorstopper at 953 pages, 

came on the heels of seven 

volumes of Brandeis correspondence 

that Urofsky collected, 

co-edited and published with 

David Levy, a history professor at 

the University of Oklahoma. 

How long did it take Urofsky 

to write the Brandeis biography? 

“It took 45 years,” he says, 

laughing. 

To serious students of the 

Supreme Court, Urofsky’s work 

is no joke. 

“Mel Urofsky is the gold 

standard for Brandeis scholars,” 

says Jeffrey Rosen, legal affairs 

editor of The New Republic and 

a law professor at The George 

Washington University. Urofsky, 

he adds, “has written a Brandeis 

biography for our time.” 

David Pride, executive direc- 

tor of The Supreme Court Hist- 

orical Society, which awarded 

Urofsky its Distinguished Gris- 

wold Prize for the biography in 

2010, calls Urofsky “the foremost 

Brandeis scholar in the 

country.” 

All told, the Urofsky oeuvre 

encompasses 52 books he either 

wrote or edited. His American 

Zionism from Herzl to the Holo- 

caust, published in 1975, won 

the Jewish Book Council’s Morris 

J. Kaplun Award in 1976, and 

his Brandeis biography won the 

University of Louisville Louis D. 

Brandeis School of Law’s 2010 

Brandeis Medal. Urofsky appears 

in a 2007 documentary, Justice 

Louis D. Brandeis: The People’s 

Attorney, produced to mark the 

sesquicentennial of the justice’s 

birth, and he has lectured at 

venues around the world for the 

State Department. 

Not bad for a kid from Liberty, 

N.Y., a small town in the Catskills 

where, Urofsky remembers, he 

Melvin I. urofsky ’61 says his definitive biography of former Supreme 

Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis is the product of 45 years of work. 

PhOTO: JEFF wATTS, COuRTESY OF AMERICAN uNIVERSITY 

B y eu G e n e L. me y e r ’64 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

54 

literally knew everyone he encountered 

on a stroll down Main 

Street. 

His family roots, however, 

were on the Lower East Side. 

Urofsky’s grandfather, a barber, 

“summered” in the Catskills, 

cutting the hair of resort-goers, 

then moved the family to Liberty 

and opened his own shop. 

Urofsky’s father was a bookkeeper, 

killed in a WWII training 

incident in Texas; his mother 

was a telephone operator. 

Urofsky was valedictorian of 

his high school class of 75, in 

a school that had 12 grades in 

one building. 

A local Columbia alumnus, Dr. 

Harry Golembe ’17, ’19 P&S, encouraged 

him to apply, and a full 

tuition scholarship sealed the 

deal. He lived in Livingston (now 

Wallach) Hall, entering as an 

engineering student but switching 

to history after higher level 

calculus and chemistry courses 

confounded him. Peter B. Kenen 

’54, the great economist, was 

Urofsky’s adviser, and Bernard 

W. Wishey ’48, ’58 GSAS, Henry 

Steele Commager and Walter P. 

Metzger ’46 GSAS were among 

his teachers. “This was a history 

department of stars in those 

years,” Urofsky recalls. 

It was in Metzger’s 20thcentury 

American history class 

that “a light bulb went off — I 

could do that,” Urofsky says. So 

he went to GSAS, with the notion 

that he, too, could teach. 

He earned a Ph.D. in 1968 in 

history. 

Urofsky “fell in love” with an 

American history course covering 

1877–1920 that was taught 

by William Leuchtenburg. This 

led to a doctoral thesis proposal 

on Brandeis’ role in shaping 

Wilson’s progressive platform 

for a “New Freedom.” But after 

spending “a very happy day” immersed 

in the Brandeis papers 

in Louisville, Urofsky concluded 

the documents did not justify a 

thesis, which then became his 

1969 book, Big Steel and the 

Wilson Administration: A Study 

in Business-Government Re- 

lations. 

By then, Urofsky was an 

instructor at The Ohio State 

University, where he began a 

collaboration with a colleague, 

Levy, that resulted in the eventual 

publication of seven volumes 

of Brandeis letters. “We 

got a National Endowment for 

the Humanities grant in 1967 

[followed by several renewals], 

went to Louisville together and 

Xeroxed papers,” Levy says. 

“We brought the papers back 

to Columbus and laid them out 

on the floor of his house. We 

both had the feeling his wife 

was chagrined.” 

They were right. “Louis and 

the papers were very often 

under my feet,” says Susan 

Urofsky. “They were sorting the 

letters into multiple volumes. 

There were just mountains of 

paper around.” 

Five books of edited and 

annotated letters were completed 

by 1978 and two more 

were published in the 1990s, 

after the two Brandeis scholars 

obtained access to the papers 

of Supreme Court Justice Felix 

Frankfurter and the letters 

Brandeis wrote to his family. 

Meanwhile, Urofsky had 

carved out a career at Virginia 

Commonwealth University, in 

Richmond, where he chaired 

the history department from 

1974–81. His Brandeis work


inspired him, at 40, to enter 

law school at the University 

of Virginia, in Charlottesville, 

while still teaching at VCU. “I 

had a predictable mid-career 

crisis,” Urofsky recalls. “I got 

contacts, which I still wear, 

and a sports car, and I went 

to law school. I had a good 

time there. I knew how to 

read a case, so I didn’t spend 

four hours obsessing over 

what a sentence meant.” 

After graduating from law 

school in 1983, Urofsky began 

teaching constitutional law almost 

exclusively and became 

an adjunct at several law 

schools. Currently, he teaches 

at American in Washington, 

D.C., and also an occasional 

course or seminar at VCU. 

Work on the Brandeis biography 

accelerated after his 

2003 retirement from VCU. 

The original manuscript was 

1,200 pages. Urofsky says he 

told his editor, “It’s going to 

be a big book, and she said, 

‘He was a big person.’ ” 

The book is dedicated to 

Urofsky’s wife. When he show- 

ed her the finished product, 

he says, “Her comment was, 

‘Can Louie leave the house 

now?’ ” 

The book has won several 

prizes, and its author seems 

to be on a perpetual tour promoting 

it and talking about 

the subject. Brandeis also fig- 

ures in Urofsky’s next book, 

which is about dissent on the 

Supreme Court. “He was the 

great dissenter,” Urofsky says, 

“always writing to educate 

and persuade.” 

Thus his answer to his 

wife’s plaintive question: “No, 

Louie has not left the house.” 

Eugene L. Meyer ’64 is a 

former longtime Washington 

Post staff writer and editor of 

B’nai B’rith Magazine. He has 

freelanced for several publications, 

including The New 

York Times and U.S. News & 

World Report. 

Gastroenterologists.” 

Arnold writes, “I remember as 

a child the older generation would 

not be happy with changes and felt 

our society would go downhill with 

the changes. Now I am the older 

generation and have problems with 

some changes. The explosion in the 

computer industry and electronics 

is wonderful, but are people going 

to be able to communicate in person 

as well as they have in the past? 

Texting is a new way to communicate 

and has brought on a new language 

and quicker communication, 

but it has contributed to more automobile 

accidents. We are in difficult 

economic times and must look for 

ways to cut costs. Obamacare has 

really changed the way medicine 

is practiced. Care will be restricted, 

especially for senior citizens. At 

least in my community, and I am 

sure in many others, your primary 

care doctor is not allowed to manage 

your care if you are admitted 

to the hospital. Hospitalists assume 

the care. I feel that your ‘family doctor’ 

can best manage your care in 

and out of the hospital and to leave 

the family doctor out of the loop is a 

grave error. 

“Despite all the changes, I am 

optimistic that life will go on, the 

debt will slowly be corrected despite 

tough times for many of us 

and our offspring will continue to 

have a pretty good life.” 

gene Milone is completing the 

proof markups for the new photometry 

volume commented on 

in the November/December 2010 

column. At the end of February, 

Gene and his wife, Helen, went 

to Hawaii to attend a meeting on 

telescopes on the big island, where 

he gave a talk on the infrared passbands 

he helped to develop. After 

that, they took the circum-islands 

cruise with a Norwegian Cruise 

Lines ship. In December, they 

cruised to the Panama Canal via 

Aruba and Curacao, watching a 

lunar eclipse en route. 

As a reminder to everyone, sev- 

eral years ago, tony adler and 

philippe de la chapelle organized 

a “Resource Council” for classmates 

and their immediate family members 

under which approximately 80 

of us offered to provide pro bono 

advice/assistance on questions 

concerning the various professional 

disciplines each of us has expertise 

in, i.e., medicine, law, banking, architecture, 

business, finance and so 

on. Classmates should not hesitate 

to call on each other as necessary in 

order to accomplish the council’s 

mission, which is to support each 

other, particularly during these difficult 

times. 

Tony (awadler@spartacommer 

cial.com) and Philippe (pxdlc@ 

yahoo.com) would be pleased to 

provide information on the council. 

62 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

55 

John freidin 

1020 Town Line Rd. 

Charlotte, VT 05445 

jf@bicyclevt.com 

Retired rabbi don splansky (don 

splan@aol.com) and his wife, Greta 

Lee, live in Framingham, Mass., 

where his congregation is located. 

They celebrated Don’s 70th birthday 

by taking their three children and 

seven grandchildren on vacation in 

the Florida Keys. Don now teaches 

religion at the St. Marks School in 

Southborough, Mass. Greta Lee 

is the operations manager of the 

Framingham Heart Study, which, 

Don writes, “all our classmates 

who went into medicine will know 

because they studied its statistics in 

medical schools.” 

To help celebrate their milestone 

birthdays, Joan (60) and John von 

leesen (70) (jcvl40@gmail.com) 

chose to visit the antiquities of Petra, 

Jordan. John writes, “The architectural 

facade of the ‘Treasury,’ 

which is carved out of red sandstone, 

is well-preserved and spectacular. 

We experienced the hustle, 

bustle and smog of Cairo, explored 

the ancient pyramids of Giza and 

toured the world’s oldest Christian 

monastery of St. Catherine located 

at the foot of Mount Sinai in the 

Sinai Desert. Then, pretending 

to ride with Lawrence of Arabia, 

we traversed the dramatic desert 

landscape of Wadi Rum. Finally, 

we traveled to Luxor’s Valley of 

the Kings, where many of Egypt’s 

pharaohs were laid to rest amidst 

troves of statues, gold jewelry and 

other precious artifacts. Here we 

also discovered Hatshepsut, Egypt’s 

most powerful female ruler.” 

Back home in Chicago and 

inspired by their time with the 

pharaohs, mummies and other 

antiquities of (pre-revolution) 

Egypt, the von Leesens hosted an 

“Evening in Shangri La” at a local 

Asian-themed art gallery. Friends 

and family gathered (some in chic 

Himalayan attire), sipped “Tibetan 

Twilight” cocktails and sampled 

beautiful cuisine. “Our theme for 

the evening,” John writes, “was 

taken from James Hilton’s 1933 

novel in which the residents of a 

fictional Tibetan lamastery were 

perpetually happy and forever 

young. Seems like a nice concept 

for us old-timers, don’t you think?” 

From New York’s Upper West 

Side, alex firestone (alexfirest@ 

aol.com) reports that he retired as 

a professor of physics at Iowa State 

University in Ames. Currently, he 

is a program officer in elementary 

particle physics within the National 

Science Foundation. Although 

NSF is headquartered in Arlington, 

Va., Alex can work mostly from 

home thanks to modern telecommunications. 

The musical creativity of charlie 

Morrow (cm@cmorrow.com) was 

celebrated in New York City for 

four days in October and featured 

in an article in the March 2010 issue 

of the magazine The Wire: Adventures 

in Modern Music. The article 

said: “From decoding the language 

of fish to conceiving harbour symphonies 

and public events involving 

thousands of players, chemist 

turned musician and sound artist 

Charlie Morrow is creating a holistic 

Earth catalogue aimed at redressing 

the damage mankind has done 

to the planet.” One piece, “Land 

Sea Air,” an audiovisual installation 

using his own sophisticated system 

for 3-D sound playback, spans 400 

million years. Charlie explains, 

“That’s the time when life crawled 

out of the sea onto land, and vocal 

cords and ears formed. I’ve worked 

with scientists and we came up 

with sounds appropriate to the 

time: thunder, fire, reptiles hissing.” 

Two other soundscapes within the 

installation focus on New York’s 

Central Park. Charlie drew on material 

from the recording archive at 

Cornell’s Ornithological Institute 

to make short montages featuring 

bird species living in the park when 

it was built in the mid-19th century 

and now. I encourage you to read 

the full article in The Wire. Charlie 

currently is working in Helsinki on 

projects with Marimekko. 

From Connecticut, anthony 

Valerio (avalerio@wesleyan.edu) 

writes, “I really can’t say how I like 

to spend the day right now, only 

to say it happens a lot when I’m in 

the tropical heat of the Bahamas, 

so I go as often as I can. This past 

year and next are the busiest of my 

career, as I have one book in the 

hopper, two coming out in translation 

and am going to Italy to tour 

this year. The irony is sometimes 

we have to live long enough to see 

certain things happen that could 

not have happened when we were 

young. I wish I could tell all my 

mates to buy a copy of Anita (Gallucci 

editore) but only if they read 

Italian or know and like someone 

who does. Wishing all my classmates 

a lot of happiness and fun 

in 2011.” 

Looking forward to our 50th 

reunion, david wallack (david 

wallack@comcast.net) decided to 

summarize his activities during the 

past 50 years. Following medical 

school in Buffalo, David’s postgraduate 

training was interrupted 

by a tour in the Army that included 

12 months as a flight surgeon 

in Vietnam. He then completed his 

medical training in internal medicine 

in Colorado in 1972. He and 

his wife, Bonnie, settled there and 

reared three daughters. All of them 

attended college out of state, and 

all earned advanced degrees. Two


of them are married (each with two 

children); the third is a fellow in 

gastroenterology. 

Meanwhile, for 34 years, David 

practiced internal medicine south 

of Denver. “In 2006,” he writes, “I 

joined a group that provides medical 

services at a senior health center 

in West Denver. This is what I now 

do three days a week; I feel reenergized 

and have happily extended 

my medical career. Bonnie and I 

remain active with tennis, golf, hiking 

and downhill skiing. We’d love 

to meet any of you who come this 

way to try our slopes.” Other interests 

include traveling, art history, 

serving as a voluntary instuctor for 

a few semesters at the Academy of 

Lifelong Learning and competitive 

trivia (especially sports). David 

says that his 15-minute claim-tofame 

is being in the Trivia Hall of 

Fame. 

David and Bonnie celebrated 

their 40th anniversary last spring 

with a two-week tour/cruise to 

Alaska. Then in the fall they traveled 

to Peru as part of a medical 

mission that provided care to a 

group of primitive Indian villages 

along the Amazon River. Finally, 

as a reward they visited the Sacred 

Valley and Machu Picchu. ”I’m 

looking forward to the reunion and 

hope to reconnect (and perhaps 

connect for the first time) with 

classmates,” he said. 

richard toder (rtoder@morgan 

lewis.com) also sent an update. 

While he practices bankruptcy law 

at Morgan Lewis in New York City, 

he and his wife, Joan, made time 

to take a three-week trip to Australia 

and New Zealand. Richard 

acknowledges that “it is an endless 

flight and seems to take forever to 

readjust one’s internal clock upon 

return, but it is more than worth it. 

The people are uniformly friendlier 

than any you will meet in the 

States (except perhaps NYC) and 

the scenery, especially on the South 

Island of New Zealand (think Lord 

of the Rings) is simply spectacular. 

The mountain chain is called the 

Southern Alps for good reason.” 

Last year Richard and Joan purchased 

a home in Naples, Fla. 

Though they have not been able 

to spend much time there, Richard 

predicts that will change. He, too, 

is “looking forward to getting together 

for our 50th reunion.” 

carl Jakobsson (cjakobsson@ 

comcast.net) wrote, “I’m living at 

the same old stand in Bremerton, 

Wash. Probably my most time- 

consuming activity is my math 

tutoring, and my second most 

time-consuming activity is my 

NAACP activity. I tutor in math 

at my church after school twice a 

week. I have six regular students: 

one prekindergartener, one kindergartener, 

one second-grader, two 

third-graders and a fourth-grader. 

They’re all doing OK, and I almost 

always enjoy working with them.” 

Once again Carl was hard 

at work on the annual Mission 

Outreach Day, which took place 

in Bremertown on March 11. This 

year’s event had a dual theme: 

2011 is the 25th anniversary of the 

People Power Revolution in the 

Philippines and also the 25th anniversary 

of the first civil, diplomatic 

contact between the U.S. State Department 

and the African National 

Congress. That meeting took place 

at the ANC headquarters-in-exile 

John boatner ’62 composes and performs choral 

music as well as directs a children’s choir program 

in corodova, a suburb of Memphis. 

at Lusaka, Zambia, in May 1986, 

against a backdrop of heavy-handed 

repression by the apartheid 

regime that was then ruling over 

South Africa. 

That beginning of businesslike 

diplomatic meetings between 

the ANC and the United States 

marked a sharp departure from 

previous practice. It was a few 

years after those meetings that an 

ANC representative at an antiapartheid 

meeting in Los Angeles 

remarked that when the ANC 

started having positive contact 

with the State Department, they 

were concerned that the Americans 

were not feeling well. It turned out 

that the Americans were in fact 

feeling fine. Those initial diplomatic 

contacts marked the beginning 

of the development of a rational, 

coherent American policy toward 

South Africa. 

Carl writes: “I hope somebody 

will pick up on what we are doing 

here with Mission Outreach Day 

and do a better job than we are. It 

deserves to be a big event: to keep 

alive the historical recollection of 

the last years of apartheid in South 

Africa and of the revolution that 

finally brought an end to apartheid 

and a beginning of democracy.” 

In Tennessee, John boatner (jbb 

music@comcast.net) continues his 

composition and performance of 

choral music. Most recently, he 

founded, and currently directs, a 

children’s choir program at St. Fran- 

cis of Assisi Catholic Church in 

Corodova, a suburb of Memphis. 

During the past several months, the 

children have performed several of 

John’s compositions for children’s 

choir. He plans to ask them to sing 

more of his work. 

crawford Kilian (crof@shaw.ca) 

sent an e-mail in mid-January with 

the sad news that Christopher 

Trumbo ’64 died on January 8 in 

Ojai, Calif., of complications from 

renal cancer. He was 70. Crawford 

wrote, “Chris entered with the Class 

of ’62 but took time off to be an 

assistant director on the film Exodus. 

Thereafter, he worked in film and 

TV, usually as a writer. Chris’ credits 

ranged from a John Wayne crime 

drama, Brannigan, to many scripts 

for the Ironside television series. In 

recent years, Chris developed a 

stage play based on the letters of 

his father, blacklisted screenwriter 

Dalton Trumbo. This eventually 

became the documentary Trumbo, 

which appeared in 2007 to excellent 

reviews. Chris also became a 

historian of the Hollywood blacklist 

and was working on a book about it 

when he died. Chris leaves his wife, 

Nancy Escher, and sisters, Nikola 

and Mitzi Trumbo.” 

Crawford has created a blog to 

commemorate Chris’ remarkable 

life: crofsblogs.typepad.com/chris 

topher. I urge you to look at it. 

I recently watched Trumbo; it is 

fascinating and superb — a powerful 

documentary about fear, intimidation 

and courage during the years 

when we attended elementary and 

high school. 

63 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

56 

paul neshamkin 

1015 Washington St., Apt. 50 

Hoboken, NJ 07030 

pauln@helpauthors.com 

robert whelan wrote in response 

to my request of memories of the 

late Bill Shannon, “I was saddened 

when I read of Bill’s tragic death. 

After a Columbia-Penn baseball 

game in Philadelphia, Bill persuaded 

me to go to a Cubs-Phillies game 

that evening. Bill already was working 

for the CUAA. He had a press 

pass of some kind, and we sat in the 

auxiliary press box by ourselves. We 

spent several innings pretending to 

do a play-by-play broadcast. Bill’s 

knowledge of baseball was phenomenal. 

He would say things that 

required far more than the usual 

knowledge, such as ‘The Cubs starting 

pitcher, Bob Anderson, hails 

from Hammond, Ind.’ Bill loved 

and knew baseball, and he was a 

genuinely nice guy.” 

bill goebel also wrote. “I have 

very fond memories of Bill, having 

interacted with him when I was 

basketball manager and Bill was a 

member of the Sports Information 

Department. Subsequently, when 

Columbia beat St. John’s in the 1968 

Holiday Festival, I mentioned to Bill 

that I thought Heyward Dotson ’70, 

’76L should get the M.V.P. for his 

play in that game. He told me that 

the New York sports media was 

pushing for Jim McMillian ’70 to get 

it, which he did. Jim subsequently 

got the Haggerty Award for three 

years running and, of course, 

starred in the NBA for many years. 

Bill was a fine gentleman whom I 

know is sorely missed by all those 

who knew him.” 

frank partel writes, “My wife, 

Mary Ellen, and I celebrated our 

10th anniversary in Bourges during 

a trip to Brittany and Burgundy last 

fall. I am pleased to say she is now 

healthy, and we are very grateful 

to an excellent team of doctors. 

My second novel, The Chess Players, 

A Novel of the Cold War at Sea, 

was officially published on March 

1. The novel is a naval story and a 

love story set in 1967 just before and 

just after the Six Day War/Arab- 

Israeli War. I certainly didn’t want 

to disappoint Lionel Trilling ’25, ’38 

GSAS, whose class I took, who once 

said that every time some writer 

wants to locate a young character in 

New York, he or she is a Columbia 

University student. Several scenes 

pertain to the Columbia area, and 

the main characters, ENS Cannon 

and Laetitia, are indeed associated 

with Columbia. There are cameo 

appearances by LCDR Boris Neshamkin 

and Lt. Max Gorrin. A minor 

character, Professor John Meaney, is 

to a small degree modeled on Herbert 

A. Deane ’42, ’53 GSAS. Here 

is virtually a direct quote about 

Eisenhower, when he was president 

of Columbia, from the former professor 

of government, contributor 

to our CC curriculum readings and 

University provost, page 83: 

“Again Meaney drew a very long 

puff from his cigarette and peered 

out momentarily from the window 

of his office across the campus to the 

dome of Low Library. He exhaled 

very slowly and seemed to use the 

time to review his comments before 

proceeding to his next point. ‘Ike had 

the right idea.’ Parenthetically, ‘You 

know, we didn’t think much of him 

when he was president here. The 

books in his office, as I recall, were 

mostly army field manuals and technical 

manuals, but he was our shield 

against McCarthy.’ 

“ ‘Columbia did not have people 

fleeing to Europe in the middle 

of the night. Good God! Isn’t that 

a tragic irony? Professors fleeing 

America for freedom in Europe.’ He 

paused as he contemplated his own 

words. ‘Anyway, Ike low-keyed the 

activity in Vietnam with 150 to 200 

military advisors — just enough to 

satisfy some of our critical allies and 

assure them that we would come to 

their aid in the Pacific region ...’ ” 

Elliott greher writes, “I collect 

books on a variety of subjects, with 

emphasis on synagogue architec-


ture and history, Jewish communities 

throughout America and the 

world, Hagadahs in various languages 

and the work of book illustrators 

(primarily for English language 

books). I add about 10 books 

each month to a collection that 

now numbers 2,000 volumes. But 

I also de-acquisition books, having 

given away about 700 books 

in 1996 and about 90 books a year 

since then. I recently added 11 feet 

of bookcases to the 23 linear feet I 

had (and my wife’s 10 linear feet of 

bookcases). It is fun to search out 

books to be acquired.” 

david alpern writes, “Since my 

last update (January/February), 

the Carnegie Corporation of New 

York awarded a $25,000 ‘challenge 

grant’ to the newly renamed For 

Your Ears Only program on radio 

stations and the Internet (formerly 

Newsweek On Air), but I need to 

match it to get it. Positive indications 

from the Nathan Cummings 

Foundation in New York, but I 

won’t know for sure until after its 

May board meeting, as my current 

funding runs out. 

“I would appreciate any advice 

or contacts at other foundations or 

corporations interested in preserving 

truly ‘fair and balanced’ presentation 

of important issues and 

developments in all fields for the 

increasingly strident and slanted 

world of commercial radio — and 

getting grateful on-air credit. Also 

on the Pentagon’s American Forces 

Radio Network and our weekly 

podcast. 

“All gifts and grants are taxdeductible 

under our new status as 

a production of 501(c)(3) Gatewave, 

Inc., a 24/7, volunteer radio-reading 

service for people with disabilities. 

You can reach me at david.ears.only 

@gmail.com for more information. 

And check out the show anytime at 

radioamerica.org/PRG_yourears. 

htm, or gatewave.org/fyeo/home 

or podcastbunker.com/podcast/ 

podcast_picks/for_your_ears_ 

only.” 

Lee Lowenfish is having a busy 

spring speaking on baseball, espec- 

ially on Branch Rickey, at New 

York’s Union League Club, the local 

NYC Bar Association chapter 

and the University of Wisconsin- 

Lacrosse campus. In early June, he 

will discuss his new project on base- 

ball scouting at the annual Cooperstown 

Symposium of Baseball and 

American Culture. More details 

available at leelowenfish.com. 

steve stollman has put in a bid 

for a citywide bike-share system in 

NYC. I’ve posted his proposal on 

our website, cc63ers.com. 

Good luck, Steve! 

bob Kraft remains in the news. 

I received word that he and his 

wife, Myra, have given $20 million 

to Partners HealthCare, which will 

help launch a program to attract 

doctors and nurses to Massachusetts 

community health centers. 

The Boston Globe reported, “The 

gift will be used to pay off up to 

$50,000 of the medical school loans 

of physicians and nurse practitioners, 

as well as to finance fellowships 

in targeted specialties and for 

master’s degrees. In return, caregivers 

must work for two to three 

years in a health center or other 

community-based setting to care 

for needy patients. ‘We wanted to 

do something to support everyone 

getting the kind of health care my 

family gets,’ said Kraft, during an 

interview at Partners’ headquarters 

in the Prudential Tower last week. 

‘What I worry about in this country 

are the people who are hurting 

the most.’ Over the next five years, 

Partners chief executive Dr. Gary 

Gottlieb estimates, the Kraft donation 

will support more than 100 

physicians, nurse practitioners, and 

other providers caring for about 

200,000 patients.” 

Bob recently addressed the Boston 

LGBT business community, making 

it the first time a local team owner 

headlined a major event for a gay 

audience. 

bob heller missed the February 

lunch, but he had a good excuse. 

He writes, “I will be in Mexico on 

the beach. I’m in Los Angeles right 

now and seeing Gail and gary 

rachelefsky for dinner tonight. 

Retirement is pretty good so far.” 

OK, how many of us are now retired? 

Let me know how it is going. 

Also, for those of you who have 

decided to keep working, please 

write and tell me why (I figure that 

I might be able to afford retirement 

when I’m 90). 

Our regular second-Thursday 

lunches continue to be a wonderful 

place to reconnect. If you’re in NYC, 

try to make a Class of ’63 lunch, 

scheduled for May 12, June 9 and 

July 14. It’s always the second Thursday. 

Check cc63ers.com for details. 

In the meantime, let us know 

what you are up to, how you’re 

doing, and what’s next. 

norman olch 

233 Broadway 


norman@nolch.com 

Some of our classmates have been 

deeply involved with the Columbia 

administration. For many years, 

Jonathan cole ’69 GSAS was 

provost and dean of faculties, and 

howard Jacobson ’67L is deputy 

general counsel. At the end of 

June, steve case ’68L will retire 

after 14 years as a trustee. Steve is 

a regular at our informal monthly 

class lunches in New York, and I 

always look forward to his candid, 

insider news of developments at the 

College and the University. He has 

been involved in the myriad issues 

of running a great university, and he 

brings them to life at our lunches. 

The class salutes him on his outstanding 

service to Columbia. 

allen tobias reports on a 

serendipitous encounter with his 

freshman roommate: “I recently 

returned from what I believe, so 

far, to be successful spinal surgery 

performed at the Hospital for 

Special Surgery in Manhattan. My 

freshman roommate, Dr. robert 

schneider, was there, too! 

“Robert is a radiologist. While 

a radiologist is one who expertly 

reads X-rays, myelograms and all 

kinds of scans, I mistakenly thought 

that he is involved with radiation 

while treating cancer patients. It 

never dawned on me that Robert 

would be in on my case. But having 

read my ‘films,’ he confirmed the 

the connecticut Martin luther King Jr. holiday 

commission presented a “dream Maker” award 

to Justice flemming norcott Jr. ’65. 

64 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

57 

seriousness of my condition, and 

visited almost daily (sometimes 

twice daily). 

“Had I understood what Robert 

did for a career, I might well have 

consulted with him and saved 

myself the times of increasing difficulty 

leading to the operating table: 

The radiating pain of multiple serious 

lumbar stenosis is no joke. 

“I woke up with Robert in the 

recovery room. Very pleased. I continue 

to believe that in some purely 

magical way, Robert’s continued 

protective presence provided a way 

to my stay of a fourth day of recovery 

in my lovely river-view room.” 

It was a rough winter in New 

York. As usual, Marty isserlis 

escaped to Naples, Fla., but dan 

schechter reported that at his 

home 100 miles north of New York 

City, there was 60 inches of snow! 

Marty weinstein retired after 

39 years as a professor of political 

science at William Paterson University 

in New Jersey. Marty is a 

Latin American specialist and one 

of the world’s foremost experts on 

Uruguay. We wish him well. 

As the deadline for this column 

approaches, I often get desperate 

for news. Help me out. Send a note 

or an e-mail. Your classmates want 

to hear from you. 

65 

leonard b. pack 

924 West End Ave. 


packlb@aol.com 

As I mentioned in my last column, 

we have resumed our practice of 

having a monthly lunch for classmates 

who live, work or otherwise 

find themselves in New York City. 

Our lunches are being hosted, 

generously, by Mike cook and are 

scheduled for the last Friday of each 

month. The first lunch took place on 

January 28. For information about 

future dates, please contact Mike at 

michael.cook@srz.com. The January 

28 lunch was attended by allen 

brill, dan carlinsky, neil farber, 

andrew fisher, Joe geneve, 

stephen hoffman, paul hyman, 

anthony leitner, barry levine, 

leonard pack, david sarlin, Michael 

schlanger, stephen steinig, 

larry strenger, derek wittner, bob 

Yunich and John Zeisel. 

The New Haven Independent reported 

that the Connecticut Martin 

Luther King Jr. Holiday Commission 

on January 15 awarded one of 

its three “Dream Maker” Awards to 

Connecticut Supreme Court Justice 

flemming norcott Jr. Flemming 

shared the awards with Rep. Rosa 

DeLauro (D-Conn.) and the recently 

elected Sen. Richard Blumenthal 

(D-Conn.). 

A memorial service was held at 

Columbia’s St. Paul’s Chapel on 

January 20 for garland E. wood, 

who died on November 15. Attendees 

included allen brill, Michael 

cook, andy fisher, harrison fitch, 

paul hyman, steve hoffman, Ken 

Mcculloch, flemming norcott Jr. 

and Michael schlanger. Although 

he was born in New York City, 

Garland was raised from the age of 

5 in Prairie View, Texas. There, according 

to the memorial program, 

Garland learned the value of hard 

work by laboring at such chores as 

harvesting watermelons, potatoes 

and corn in the hot Texas sun. He 

was valedictorian of his class at 

Prairie View H.S., and in his senior 

year, won Texas state championship 

titles in tennis and basketball. At the 

College, Garland played basketball 

and ran track. He earned a B.A. in 

economics and an M.B.A. from the 

Business School in 1972. 

Upon graduation, Garland joined 

Goldman Sachs and began his rise 

through the ranks in a career that 

spanned more than two decades, 

becoming the first black partner at 

the firm and one of the first in the financial 

services industry. During his 

years at Goldman Sachs, he became 

renowned as a leader and innovator 

in public finance, particularly in the 

field of municipal bonds. 

A Boy Scout throughout his 

youth, Garland was a longtime 

supporter of the Boy Scouts Council


of Greater New York. The Garland 

E. Wood Foundation also supported 

numerous local educational and 

cultural organizations, and for nearly 

a decade, a scholarship in Garland’s 

name has been awarded at the Business 

School. He also served on the 

College’s Board of Visitors and was 

one of three alumni who established 

the Black Alumni Council. 

Michael schlanger shared his 

impressions of the memorial service, 

which he found “remarkably touching 

and inspiring in many ways.” 

Garland’s sisters and brothers recounted 

Garland’s growing up “in 

a large, loving, close-knit family in 

a sleepy, peaceful, southern college 

town ... but what a remarkable little 

college town. It was 100 percent 

black, the home of Prairie View 

A&M. Texas, being fully segregated 

in those days, parked all its black 

students at Prairie View. Although 

Garland was one of only four black 

students in our College class of 700 

and had never so much as sat in a 

classroom with white children, he 

came to Columbia grounded, sol- 

emn and serene. At the service, 

former UN Ambassador Andrew 

Young, recalling his eight years 

as mayor of Atlanta, movingly 

recounted how Garland pioneered 

the modern science of public finance 

and helped build the Atlanta area up 

from a sleepy Southern region of 1.5 

million to the 6 million-strong colossus 

of the New South. And how Garland 

traversed mainland America 

(and beyond), enabling countless 

towns to finance the infrastructures 

that turned them into robust, thriving 

cities. All with money Garland 

raised in the private capital markets 

with his brilliance, his tenacity and 

his charisma as a Goldman Sachs 

partner.” 

I am sorry that I could not be at 

the service. 



ALuMNI AFFAIRS Mia gonsalves wright 

gm2156@columbia.edu 

2128517977 

dEVELOPMENT heather hunte 

hh15@columbia.edu 

2128517957 

stuart berkman 

66 Rua Mello Franco, 580 

Teresópolis, Rio de Janeiro 

25960-531 Brasil 

smb102@columbia.edu 


month away, Thursday, June 2– 

Sunday, June 5. It’s not too late to 

register: alumni.college.columbia. 

edu/reunion. There will be a great 

mix of cultural happenings throughout 

New York City and class-specific 


to renew old friendships. Thursday 

night, there will be an opportunity to 

take in a show in Manhattan. Friday 

offers a class tour and lecture, mini- 

Core courses and a class dinner. 

Saturday is Dean’s Day, with great 

lectures, including one by Dean 

Michele Moody-Adams, followed 

in the evening by the all-class Wine 

Tasting, our formal class dinner and 

then champagne, music and dancing 

on Low Plaza at the Starlight 

Reception. In between, there will be 

plenty of other happenings to keep 

us entertained. Don’t miss it. 

Carnival comes unusually late 

this year, which means that the 

agony of all the noise and confusion 

in Rio de Janeiro is lasting 

longer than normal. Fortunately, 

your correspondent is escaping all 

this and is writing from the relative 

quiet and calm of his home 

in Teresópolis, in the mountains 

about 100 km from Rio. We seem 

to go into “hiding” every year until 

Carnival has passed. My wife and 

I recently spent a pleasant week 

in Buenos Aires, celebrating our 

35th anniversary. I know that some 

of our classmates have been happily 

wed for longer than that, and 

perhaps you may wish to send an 

e-mail to let everyone know just 

how long you have been married 

(to the same wife, of course). 

To all classmates (at least, those 

with an e-mail address that they 

wish to share with others), the following 

was sent in early February 

by Michael garrett, Mark amsterdam 

and dan gardner: 

“In this, our 45th reunion year, 

we had a great opportunity to get 

together about four months prior 

to Alumni Reunion Weekend, on 

February 11, before and at the 

Columbia versus Princeton men’s 

basketball game. At the game, we 

peered through the mist of time to 

try to compare the team and its staff 

with coach Jack Rohan ’53 and players 

stan felsinger, Dave Newmark 

’69, Ken benoit et al. of our era.” 

Mike reported, “A dozen classmates 

showed up for the reception 

and game. Many of us had not been 

to The West End since it was taken 

over by Havana Central, so there 

was much talk of the old, larger 

bar that served anyone who had 

completed toilet-training and the 

hygienically challenged steam table 

that once lurked in the left front 

corner. Being at the game continued 

the nostalgia with many comparisons 

between the gym and the old 

space and between the current team 

and our memories of a much more 

eccentric and colorful squad.” 

67 

albert Zonana 

425 Arundel Rd. 

Goleta, CA 93117 

az164@columbia.edu 

At least four of our classmates 

were moved by the absence of 

news from our class and wrote. 

david galinsky: “I’m ending the 

string of no entries from the Class of 

’67. After working nonstop for the 

last 40 years and achieving some 

local fame as a geriatrician, I’m 

ready to consider what I really want 

to do when I grow up. Volunteering, 

going back to school, changing 

careers and writing poetry are possibilities. 

My goal is to gradually cut 

back and then quit my practice on 

July 1, 2016, so I have time to plan 

my future. I’d like to hear what my 

cleverest classmates are thinking 

about or already doing as they pass 

Medicare age. And I don’t want to 

hear about golf or taking cruises.” 

David lives in Merion Station, Pa. 

steve schwartzman ’67 combined his interest in 

linguistics, spanish and English by starting a blog: 

wordconnections.wordpress.com. 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

58 

steve schwartzman: “Though 

I’ve never been a contributor to 

Class Notes, I noticed the forlorn 

space set aside for ’67 in the January/February 

issue and thought I 

should give you a little something 

to fill at least a column inch or two. 

I took my first general linguistics 

course at Columbia with Professor 

William Labov ’64 GSAS. Upon 

graduation as a French major, I 

joined the Peace Corps and went 

to Honduras, where I taught math 

in Spanish. Jump ahead more than 

four decades, and you’ll find that I 

recently combined my longstanding 

interest in linguistics, Spanish and 

English by starting a blog about 

the many connections between 

the words in those two languages. 

Anyone with a similar bent is welcome 

to look at wordconnections. 

wordpress.com. For the past decade 

I’ve been pursuing another interest, 

the photography of native plants 

in central Texas, of which samples 

can be found at flickr.com/photos/ 

schwartzman.” 

peter h. shaw wrote, “I saw 

your mention in the January/ 

February CCT that your mailbox 

has been empty lately. At the end 

of December 2010, I retired from 

the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

after 42 years as an economist and 

water resources planner. At my 

retirement, I was the senior economist 

at its Southwestern Division 

office in Dallas with technical and 

policy oversight for economic 

analyses in Corps planning studies 

in the southcentral United States. 

(Actually, I still am: I’m continuing 

temporarily with the Corps as a 

‘reemployed annuitant’ to assist 

with the transition until they can 

fill my position and then mentor 

my replacement ... but really, how 

easy could it be to replace a Columbia 

grad?) 

“After getting my B.A. in economics 

and completing my first year 

of graduate school at NYU, I got a 

summer job with the Corps in Washington, 

D.C., in 1968. It turned out 

that I liked the people and the work, 

and I stayed with the Corps in New 

York City while I continued graduate 

school. And during the following 

few years, I acquired an M.A. from 

NYU and an M.Phil. from GSAS, 

both in economics, and I’d decided 

to make the Corps my career. Since 

then, I’ve worked in Corps offices in 

New York City, Albuquerque, Fort 

Worth and Dallas. 

“Four weeks after I started with 

the Corps of Engineers in 1968, I 

married Phyllis, and in 1983 we 

adopted our son, Jonathan. Spending 

more time with them is what 

I’m looking forward to the most in 

retirement. Well, that and painting! 

“Not as exciting or distinguished 

a story as some of our classmates 

could tell, no doubt, but it’s been a 

good one for me.” 

And finally, Jack harris writes, 

“The article about Gemma Tarlach 

’90 in the January/February CCT 

(college.columbia.edu/cct/jan_feb11) 

provoked me to write to report that 

the Cleverest Class also is represented 

on the ice. I recently spent a field 

season as part of a team installing 

the first benthic microscope. Why? 

Well, because near-shore Antarctica, 

with 15 feet of ice above, mimics the 

dark, cold abyssal benthos and that 

part of the biosphere we know very 

little about. 

“I am professor of biology and 

Distinguished University Professor 

at The Sage Colleges in Troy, 

N.Y. I also direct the college honors 

program and the college orchestra. 

I plan to retire this May and move 

to NYC, where my grandchildren 

live. Anyone have an apartment 

for rent?” 

Don’t be shy. Your classmates really 

do want to know what you’re 

up to. 

68 

arthur spector 

271 Central Park West 


abszzzz@aol.com 

While there was about 15 inches of 

new snow at my place in Saratoga 

during the last few days before 

writing this, spring is in the air in 

the city … about time. I continue to 

enjoy the Metropolitan Opera and 

saw the production of Rossini’s 

Armida with Renée Fleming; it was


great fun and great singing even 

though it premiered in Naples in 

1817. (And of course to digress, I 

believe neil anderson and gregg 

winn live in Naples, Fla.) I looked 

around for bill henrich, who used 

to be seen there once in a while. 

Bill, when are you going to be 

there again? 

paul de bary skipped a Columbia 

basketball game for the Met a 

few weeks ago, but I saw him at the 

Columbia-Penn basketball game 

with his dad, Ted de Bary ’41, ’53 

GSAS, the John Mitchell Mason 

Professor Emeritus, provost emeritus 

and Special Service Professor in 

East Asian Language and Culture, 

as the Lions mauled the Quakers for 

a great win. buzz Zucker was there, 

too, and told me he had seen three 

great plays recently. 

Buzz, you should write a piece 

for the Class Notes about the last 

100 plays you have seen on- and 

Off-Broadway in the last year or so. 

I received a great letter from Jay 

Mitchell, and so here it is, titled, 

“Much Ado About Me.” Jay writes: 

“OK, OK, so you got roger 

berkley to say nice things about 

me (he called me ‘one of the funniest 

people’ he’s ever known) in 

a recent CCT column to flush me 

out. Consider me flushed. 

“After many years as a consultant 

to the radio industry, my wife, 

Sharon, and I moved to lovely Fairfield, 

Iowa, in the mid-’80s, part of 

the grand, ongoing experiment on 

the effects of large groups practicing 

the transcendental meditation 

program. After a couple of years 

there, we were offered the opportunity 

to purchase the local radio 

stations for cheap, whereupon I 

became an owner for the first time. 

Success ensued, and we built a tiny 

group by adding an AM and FM in 

nearby Ottumwa. 

“At about the same time, we 

decided that we’d had enough 

of Midwest weather, exacerbated 

by a particularly nasty ice storm 

wherein Sharon slid into one of the 

deep roadside trenches for which 

Iowa is famous. She did not suffer 

any damage, and the car only 

slight damage, but it stiffened our 

resolve to get out of there. 

“After a lengthy nationwide site 

study, we decided upon Orange 

County, Calif., as our new home. We 

moved there a year or so after the 

big Y2K non-event, but I still spent 

nearly all my time in Iowa keeping 

the radio stations afloat. We sold the 

stations, more or less advantageously, 

in 2008, whereupon I embarked 

on the life of the semi-retired, only 

without the income part. 

“Now I am operating several 

endeavors simultaneously: a 

newsletter for broadcasters, a 

consulting practice, a radio station 

web development business, an ap- 

preciation marketing business and 

most recently, Daily Radio Deals, 

a Groupon-ish website marketed 

through radio advertising. 

“In the ‘life happens’ department, 

about three years ago I was 

diagnosed with a neurological 

disorder that affects the right side 

of my body and makes physical 

movement a little more challenging. 

It hasn’t gotten in my way too 

much, although it takes me a bit 

longer to do certain things; I simply 

allow for it and life goes on. 

“Sharon and I celebrated our 

43rd wedding anniversary in November. 

We have managed successfully 

to avoid children all these 

years, but we are devoted to our 

‘kid,’ a 5-lb. Maltese named Issa. 

“There is a tiny coterie of alumni 

with whom I keep in touch sporadically: 

Roger, who is now my best 

friend in the whole world because 

of his unexpected compliment, and 

derek Vanderlinde, who recently 

shed his old life and embarked on 

a new one as a business consultant. 

Maybe if I call him ‘one of the funniest 

people I have ever known,’ 

you’ll hear from him, too.” 

Jay, great to hear from you. I have 

been to Iowa, when my brother 

was a professor at the University of 

Iowa. Orange County does sound 

warmer, for sure. 

I decided to break with my tradition 

of avoiding politics. bob brandt, 

my wonderful roommate one summer 

and a great fellow, wrote a letter 

to a Spectator reporter who seemed 

to treat lightly the behavior of some 

students towards an Iraq War veteran 

who had lost a leg and now 

is a Columbia student. Bob copied 

President Lee C. Bollinger: 

“Dear Mr. Roth [the Spec reporter], 

“I spent seven years on Morningside 

Heights, first as a Columbia 

College student (’68), and then 

as a Columbia Law School student 

(’71). I was on campus during the 

tumultuous Spring of 1968 and 

when ROTC was booted off campus. 

I read your recent article and 

want you to know that Columbia 

has a serious public relations 

problem that it needs to address. 

Columbia is a great institution, and 

great institutions should stand for 

and protect freedom of expression 

and freedom of choice, including 

a student’s choice to enroll in an 

ROTC program on campus. It 

tarnishes the school’s reputation 

for ROTC not to be allowed on 

campus and creates an impression 

that the school is controlled by a 

liberal elite hostile to the military, 

which I hope is not the case. The 

fact that no senior University official, 

at least to my knowledge, has 

spoken out publicly to denounce 

the disgraceful behavior of the 

students who heckled the student 

war veteran at the ROTC hearing 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

59 

is very troubling. It doesn’t really 

matter which news outlets covered 

the story. Those same news outlets 

would cover with equal prominence 

a statement made by Lee 

Bollinger denouncing the behavior, 

but sadly none has been forthcoming.” 

Bob, in a separate note to me, 

added: 

“I really don’t know Bollinger at 

all, even though we were classmates 

at Columbia Law, but I was very 

disappointed with how he handled 

the Iranian leader’s visit, and at his 

failure thus far to denounce the conduct 

of the students who heckled 

the soldier. I agree about ROTC. Its 

return to campus is way past due. 

Alexander Hamilton [Class of 1778] 

distinguished himself as an officer 

during the Revolutionary War. He 

would be appalled at how disrespectful 

the University has been 

toward our military. I know how 

hard you’ve worked for Columbia, 

and you must have some influence 

at our alma mater. I hope that you 

use it, and feel free to mention my 

displeasure. I’ve supported the University 

financially every year since 

1971, in part due to my pride as an 

alumnus. Sadly, my pride turned to 

shame this week.” 

Bob, I have no influence at the 

University, but I, too, was disgusted 

by the reporting about the student 

treatment of the veteran and have 

heard from others who were as 

well. At the same time, Columbia, 

which received approximately 

35,000 applications for the Class of 

2015, is getting a diverse group of 

students, and I believe is politically 

more diverse as well. The Admissions 

Office is doing a great job. 

Columbia admissions data for the 

College and Engineering may well 

be second only to Harvard, though 

I suspect for the College alone our 

admit stats may be the best in the 

Ivies. 

reid feldman, in Paris with his 

law firm Kramer Levin Natfalis 

& Frankel, is handling multiple 

European deals and litigation, with 

short breaks in Méribel, where the 

snow has been great this year. He 

has mastered the art of BlackBerry 

uphill, powder downhill. 

Reid, Have you seen bill Mcdavid 

in Paris? And Bill, have you 

called Reid? 

I received a wondrous, long note 

from david shapiro (editing it may 

be beyond my skills). He is writing, 

teaching, doing poetry readings and 

so much more with his art. 

David, I have some of your art. 

Maybe it is time to frame it if Jasper 

Johns is framing it now. 

bill Joseph wrote: “I recently 

returned from visiting a granddaughter 

and grandson in Portland, 

Ore. Earlier, I visited three 

other granddaughters in Scotts- 

dale. I’m working hard advocating 

at the state and federal level for the 

arts, public radio and television, 

social service, and educational 

organizations. Most recently, I’ve 

been trying to raise public funds 

for a $300 million capital project at 

the Cleveland Museum of Art and 

the construction of a cultural center 

for Case Western Reserve University 

as well as for the construction 

of new buildings for the Museum 

of Contemporary Art Cleveland 

and The Cleveland Institute of 

Art. I recently received the ORT 

America Cleveland Region Man of 

the Year award, ‘… for his many 

accomplishments and his dedication 

to non-profit advocacy with 

the Jewish Community and the 

community at large.’ ” 

Congratulations, Bill. I look 

forward to seeing you. 

I am probably going to be in hot 

water for publishing the first paragraph 

I received from Jon Kotch. 

Jon wrote: “You know, Art, your 

daughter, [Hannah ’06], was the star 

of the department [at UNC’s renowned 

school of public health] this 

past week. She delivered a dynamite 

seminar on health services for LGBT. 

The room was packed. She has really 

done so much since she has been 

here, taken advantage of every opportunity 

to advance her education 

and making a lasting contribution 

to the department at the same time. 

You should be proud. And you 

probably already know that Shoshana 

Goldberg [’08], daughter of 

ira goldberg, is in our department 

as well, one year behind Hannah. 

More classmates should send their 

offspring if they don’t mind.” 

I am quite proud of Hannah’s 

deep interest in maternal health and 

children and public health issues 

across the planet. 

Jon also noted, “On a recent week- 

end, we were at our vacation home 

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in the North Carolina mountains, 

where it should have been cold, 

but it wasn’t. When we returned to 

Durham, we learned that we had 

missed temperatures that reached 

79 degrees! 

“So what about me? You could 

say (because it is true) that my research 

is taking a more biomedical 

twist as I explore the changes in 

brain structure and function among 

the children (now young adults) I 

have been following for 25 years 

who experienced child abuse or 

neglect. Like the pilgrim looking 

for an honest man, I am looking for 

grant funds to continue MRI studies 

on as many as consent to participate. 

As we look at the prospect of 

cuts in health and social services for 

low-income children and families, 

documenting the permanent functional 

and anatomical changes that 

growing up in abusive households 

may lead to might move some 

stony hearts.” 

I received a brief note from henry 

welt. I am overdue in tracking 

Henry down for lunch or dinner 

some night. Henry wrote: “I resumed 

practicing law last spring and 

am having a great time. Somehow, it 

seems to give me more pleasure as I 

get older — maybe just a better perspective 

— and it is challenging and 

fun. At the same time, I’ve expanded 

my art licensing and brand management 

business, WeltAdvisors, and 

now work with several artist clients. 

Also, I had a great time taking an 

alumni mini-Core course on Contemporary 

Civilization. It made me 

feel like I was back on campus. All in 

all, life is good.” 

It is hard to believe that this 

summer I will turn 65, and I guess 

others in the class will do so too. I 

suspect our class will have lots to 

report for three more decades or 

so. Do send in a note. My sentence 

for this job may be commuted at 

some point before then. I hope all 

of you are enjoying each day. And 

if you can, go to a football game 

this fall. I predict a great season. 

69 

Michael oberman 

Kramer Levin Naftalis & 

Frankel 

1177 Avenue of the 

Americas 


moberman@ 

kramerlevin.com 

I was paging through the State Bar 

News for New York one recent night 

and found on its back cover a photo 

of John Marwell in an ad for the 

Bar Association. I promptly asked 

him for the “back story” and for 

some news; John replied: “Michael 

— no cover boy back story — I 

was as surprised as anyone when I 

opened the State Bar News and was 

confronted with that larger-than-life 

photo. 

“I feel that we are at the age at 

which we recognize and appreciate 

our good fortune and the progress 

of our children. Jeremy (Yale, Cambridge 

and NYU Law) completed 

his clerkship this summer with 

Justice Sonia Sotomayor on the 

Supreme Court, a great privilege 

and an immensely rewarding experience. 

He now is with Vinson & 

Elkins in its Washington, D.C., office 

in a small group doing appellate 

and regulatory practice. He married 

the wonderful Jillian Lawrence, 

who is an attorney with Pepco. 

Jonathan (Bates College) is enjoying 

life as a bachelor commercial 

real estate broker in Westchester, 

and Julie (Cornell and St. George’s 

University School of Medicine) is 

in her third year of medical school 

doing her clinical rotations at New 

York Methodist Hospital in Park 

Slope. Gloria and I celebrated our 

25th anniversary this summer with 

Judge Nicholas Garaufis generously 

and graciously conducting 

our vow renewal ceremony in the 

Adirondacks. 

“I practice law in Mount Kisco 

when not engaged in bar association 

activities. Gloria continues to 

push forward as a real estate broker 

in Westchester and Fairfield counties 

and has become a cowgirl, as 

she has taken up riding cutting 

horses as a hobby (yes, like in City 

Slickers) and is competing in shows 

in Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania 

and New York. Some of her 

shows are on YouTube.” 

steve conway ’71 GSAS was 

kind enough to e-mail me about the 

January/February column, so I, of 

course, asked him for some news. 

From Steve: “I exited Columbia 

College and GSAS with liberal arts 

degrees and no career in mind. 

Since then I’ve had more than 30 

jobs in university teaching and administration, 

and then in business, 

that I’ve almost always enjoyed. At 

61, I joined Boston-based industry 

analyst firm IDC as research v.p. 

for the supercomputer market. This 

might be my last paid gig. A big 

pleasure in the past couple of years 

was reconnecting and then staying 

connected with my CC roommates 

pesach slabosky, a celebrated artist 

living in Jerusalem; rick altabef, 

one of the top legal eagles at CBS; 

and Jim llana, recently named 

associate provost of institutional 

effectiveness at the City University 

of New York. To you and everyone 

in our class and their kith and kin, 

I mainly wish good health. We all 

used to wonder at aging relatives 

who seemed obsessed with health 

talk, and now we’re learning more 

what that’s all about. The last exercise 

people of my parents’ generation 

seemed to get was reaching out 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

60 

for their diplomas. Our generation, 

at least those who could, continued 

exercising and that might help us in 

the long run. End of sermonette.” 

Since he became a U.S. District 

Court judge for the Eastern District 

of New York (sitting in Brooklyn), 

Nick Garaufis’ decisions have become 

a frequent subject for articles 

in the New York Law Journal, and are 

occasionally in the news pages and 

even are in the editorial pages of 

the city’s daily newspapers. Still, I 

was surprised to see in the New York 

Post of March 6 a story titled “Judge 

Garaufis’ mob ties.” Turns out Nick 

is presiding over a murder trial of 

an individual convicted of a prior 

murder, and the defendant somehow 

had not been provided with 

a tie to wear during jury selection. 

Nick solved the problem by loaning 

a Brooks Brothers tie to the defendant, 

prompting the Post to craft a 

Post-like headline. 

I sent out a blast e-mail to those 

who had served on our 40th 

Reunion Committee, inviting comments 

on how the Core courses 

continue to influence us, and for 

news. Jim weitzman responded: 

“I was elated to get an e-mail from 

a fellow alumnus announcing 

WKCR’s 70th Anniversary Dinner 

on February 24 in Roone Arledge 

Auditorium. Without even looking 

at what was already in the calendar, 

I immediately made a reservation. 

On campus, I spent almost as much 

time at KCR as I did sitting in class. 

The highlight of my tenure was 

having the privilege of producing 

a live weekly broadcast from 

Greenwich Village’s Cafe Feenjon 

every Saturday night at midnight. 

It exposed this Wisconsin kid to a 

variety of Mediterranean cultures 

and people. I could say that WKCR 

and the Feenjon ultimately formed 

the basis of my second career: 

owning and operating a group of 

radio stations featuring primarily 

multicultural/multilingual programming. 

I’ve recently finished a 

grueling couple of years in the planning, 

financing, zoning, permitting 

and construction of the latest one, a 

50,000-watt station near Washington’s 

Dulles Airport that took to the 

air in March. I’m forever grateful 

for the Columbia education that 

opened my mind to embrace the 

diversity that provided the foundation 

for this line of work.” 

Joe Materna wrote: “My wife, 

Dolores, and I recently celebrated 

our 35th anniversary by taking an 

extensive tour of Russia, Poland 

and the Scandinavian countries 

of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, 

Finland and Tallin, Estonia. It was 

a beautiful trip. My favorites were 

the State Hermitage Museum and 

the Catherine Palace, both located 

in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Tivoli 

Gardens (which is like Walt Disney 

World but built in 1843) in Copenhagen. 

However, having a drink 

at the ‘Ice Bar’ in Copenhagen was 

also quite an experience and a lot 

of fun. I recommend it highly! On 

a professional note, I am pleased 

to announce that in the January 

Avenue Magazine, I was named to 

the Avenue’s Legal Elite list of New 

York City’s top trusts and estates 

attorneys. I also recently was honored 

by Martindale-Hubbell with 

its Peer Review Rated for Legal 

Ability and Ethical Standards 

Award for being an attorney having 

a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent 

Rating for more than 20 

continuous years. I am honored to 

have received both awards. 

“After 37 years as a Law Schooltrained 

practicing attorney, I still 

love my job. I enjoy doing premier 

trusts and estates work at my Wall 

Street law firm in Manhattan, where 

I continue to be the ‘confidant’ 

and ‘personal trusted family adviser’ 

who is attentive, supportive, 

sympathetic and responsive to the 

needs of my many affluent clients 

in both New York and Florida. 

Meeting with my clients, becoming 

well-acquainted with them and 

their families, knowing their history, 

hearing their stories, earning their 

trust, and legally and skillfully protecting 

their wealth and estate assets 

for them and their families for 

years to come are the most rewarding 

aspects of my work. Getting 

to know the client as a person, not 

only as a file, is extremely important 

and satisfying to me as a T&E attorney. 

Above all, however, is the fact 

that I always will be thankful to Columbia 

College for giving me that 

solid foundation that has helped to 

make all of my past, present and 

future accomplishments possible. 

My Columbia daughters, Jodi ’99, 

Jennifer ’02 and Janine ’05, also are 

doing well. I am pleased and proud 

to report that all three of them are 

active in their respective classes.” 

I received a number of comments 

about the Core courses. From dave 

sokal: “I remember reading David 

Hume — or maybe John Locke — 

and gaining an understanding of a 

quote that I can’t now recall exactly 

about how we often don’t appreciate 

the influence of dead philosophers 

on today’s conventional 

wisdom.” 

From dave rosedahl: “Don 

Quixote. Fantasies are fun … sometimes 

become real. Who’d have 

believed the Germans would own 

the NYSE? Pursue your dreams.” 

And Mark webber, who has an 

amazing recall of our college days 

(with specific dates), reminded 

me of an escapade the two of us 

engaged in when the pages began 

to fall from our copies of the Rabelais 

book in freshman year. We 

wrote to Penguin Press in the style


of Rabelais, but a bit cruder; Mark 

tells me it went something like 

this: “Gentlemen: We are students 

at Columbia College of Columbia 

University and are taking a course 

in humanities. Generally speaking, 

we have enjoyed reading the 

Penguin Books Limited versions 

of the various texts. Unhappily, in 

the case of Rabelais’ Gargantua and 

Pantagruel, for those persons who 

read the books, the bindings came 

apart and thus we were unable to 

benefit from the erudition because 

the pages refused to remain in any 

logical order. We suggest that you 

train your bindings more effectively, 

or in the future, no school will 

wish to purchase copies of books 

that in Rabelaisian terms have the 

runs.” 

Mark adds that Penguin Books 

thanked us for our letter and sent 

us two new copies of the books — 

which also fell apart. Those of you 

who recall the reading assignment 

will know that Mark and I saw a 

perfect use for the pages that fell 

out of the book, since we did not 

have “a well downed goose.” (The 

answer, for those who need a hint, 

appears in Chapter 13 of Book 

One, Gargantua). By the way, some 

might not know that Lit Hum 

courses no longer include the written 

quizzes that challenged us. 

Thanks to Dan Carlinsky ’65 

for calling my attention to the 

interview/profile of author Siri 

Hustvedt in Scanorama Portfolio, 

the in-flight magazine of SAS — I 

likely would have missed the piece 

without Dan’s e-mail; the article 

calls Hustvedt and her husband, 

paul auster, “Brooklyn’s — and 

America’s — best known literary 

couple.” We learn from the article 

that Paul always has the beef bourguignon 

when dining at Sweet 

Melissa Patisserie around the corner 

from the couple’s home. You 

can tell I am in need of class news 

when I start reporting on what a 

classmate eats. 

This issue appears as the Columbia 

College Fund’s 2011 fiscal 

year draws to a close (Thursday, 

June 30). Reading CCT leads most 

classmates to recall their days at the 

College and what is special about 

them: the readings, the teachers, the 

activities, the friendships, the time 

of growth, the campus and more. If 

reflecting makes you feel like part 

of the Columbia community, show 

your active connection by supporting 

the College. We really would 

like to increase the participation rate 

for the Fund. Any amount from a 

new donor would be greatly appreciated. 

But, of course, the more our 

classmates give, the more that can 

be of immediate help to the current 

student body. Send your donation 

to Columbia College Fund, 

Columbia Alumni Center, 622 W. 

A dozen members of the Class of 1971 gathered with spouses and guests 

at Fuleen Seafood Restaurant in NYC’s Chinatown on March 13 for a prereunion 

Year of the Rabbit Banquet organized by Richard hsia ’71. Pictured 

(left to right) are Dr. Lew Preschel ’71, Bernie Falk ’71, Ray gaspard ’71, 

dick Fuhrman ’71, Hsia, greg wyatt ’71, Jim Shaw ’71, Ken Lehn ’71, Irwin 

warren ’71, Larry weiss ’71, Mat Thall ’71 and Joe Boorstein ’71. 

PhOTO: hEAThER huNTE 

113th St., 3rd Fl., New York, NY 

10025, or give at college.columbia. 

edu/giveonline. Make a note that 

your contribution was prompted by 

reading CCT. 

70 

leo g. Kailas 

Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt 

885 Third Ave, 20th Fl. 


lkailas@reitlerlaw.com 

Just prior to my recent five-week 

trial in beautiful Greenbelt, Md., I 

got a note from dennis graham 

bragging about phil russotti: “Good 

luck with your trial, counselor. 

And if you need to sharpen up 

any of your aggressive courtroom 

techniques, please consult Kailasproclaimed 

football bad luck charm, 

phil ‘double barrel’ russotti, 

the sharp shooting trial attorney 

of Wingate, Russotti & Shapiro. 

He’s lost only two of 97 cases … or 

something like that.” 

Phil’s “sharp shooting” must 

have rubbed off on me, as the jury 

came back in two hours with a 

verdict in favor of my client. 

Mike passow recently completed 

his presidency of the National Earth 

Science Teachers Association. In 

August, Mike organized a teacher’s 

workshop for the American Geo- 

physical Union Meeting of the 

Americas in Iguassu Falls, Brazil. 

Every month, research scientists 

from Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty 

Earth Observatory provide information 

about cutting-edge investigations 

for classroom teachers and 

students in the Earth2Class Saturday 

Workshops for Educators that Mike 

has organized for more than a decade. 

Mike, now in his 41st year in 

the classroom, teaches at Dwight 

Morrow H.S. in his hometown of 

Englewood, N.J. 

roger crossland reports: “I 

finished 2010 with participation in 

the Moloka’i Hoe 2010, the world’s 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

61 

premier outrigger competition. Our 

crew raced a distance of 41 miles 

across the Kaiwi Channel between 

the islands of Moloka’I and O’ahu 

alongside 120 other outrigger canoes. 

See article, video and photos 

at fairfieldcitizenonline.com/de 

fault/article/Fairfielder-braves-thehigh-seas-in-premier-816073.php. 

“I’m a trial lawyer in Connecticut. 

In 2005, I retired from the Navy 

after 35 years of service, active and 

reserve (one cold war and two hot 

ones).” 



ALuMNI AFFAIRS Ken Catandella 

kmc103@columbia.edu 

2128517430 

dEVELOPMENT heather hunte 

hh15@columbia.edu 

2128517957 

Jim shaw 

139 North 22nd St. 


jes200@columbia.edu 

71 


month away, Thursday, June 2–Sunday, 

June 5. There will be a great mix 

of cultural happenings throughout 

New York City and class-specific 


to renew old friendships. Thursday 

night, there will be a chance to take 

in a show in Manhattan. Friday offers 

mini-Core courses and a class 

dinner. Saturday is Dean’s Day, with 

great lectures, including a talk by 

Dean Michele Moody-Adams, followed 

in the evening by the all-class 

Wine Tasting, a class dinner and 

then the Starlight Reception with 

sweets, champagne and dancing on 

Low Plaza. In between, there will be 


us entertained. Don’t miss it. It’s not 

too late to register: alumni.college. 

columbia.edu/reunion. 

lawrence thomases passed 

away on December 10. He was a 

translator, interpreter and immigrant 

rights advocate. 

art Engoron: “The Chief Administrative 

Judge of the State of New 

York has elevated me from Civil 

Court Judge to the position of Acting 

Supreme Court Justice. The Supreme 

Court is the state’s basic trial court, 

with original, unlimited jurisdiction. 

“Meanwhile, I sold my Upper 

West Side co-op after 29 years 

there, and I now live in an apartment 

on Worth Street, downtown, 

near the courts.” 

lew preschel: “Since I retired 

from the active practice of orthopedic 

surgery in 2004, I have earned a 

master’s in library and information 

science from Rutgers. I did this with 

the intent of working part-time or in 

a library associated with pharma- 

ceuticals or medically related 

products. However, in the interim, 

writing has caught my interest. I 

have written a murder mystery 

novel, with a main protagonist, Dr. 

Madison Muttnick. He is a mash-up 

of Philip Marlowe and ‘Trapper’ 

John McIntyre. I am trying to find 

literary representation for the first 

in a series of manuscripts. I also 

started a blog that is co-authored 

by both my ego and my alter-ego, 

madisonmuttnickmd.blogspot.com. 

If you drop by or have a friend drop 

by, you might like it. If you do, drop 

me a note and let me know. The 

least that could happen is that you 

can link to some fine jazz as selected 

from old time stuff on YouTube. 

“Where have the good ol’ days 

gone?” 

Lew, they were good ol’ days, 

and I find them again at reunion. 

sam higginbottom ’74L: “I hope 

that my wife, Cyndi, and I will be 

able to attend reunion. I am a lawyer 

with the Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission. I have more than 35 

years of federal service. Cyndi and 

I are the parents of seven children. 

The oldest is 35 and the youngest is 

15. I am the grandfather of five, who 

range in age from four weeks to 11. 

None of my children have attended 

CC, but my youngest daughter, 15, 

claims that her near-term goal is to 

attend Columbia. 

“I have many family members 

who also are Columbia grads. My 

dad, Sam Higginbottom ’43E, is 

alive and well in Miami. Others 

are my dad’s brother, James Higginbottom 

’53; my maternal grandfather, 

Richard Steinschneider ’19; 

his brother, William Steinschneider 

(Class of 1910E), two of my mother’s 

brothers, Dick Steinschneider 

’43 and Eugene Rowan Steinschneider 

’49; and a cousin, Pat 

Steinschneider ’73, ’76 Arch. One of 

my sisters, Rowan Higginbottom 

Maclaren ’87E, earned a master’s 

in computer engineering. 

“Life has been good, and I believe 

it has been good in part due


to the skills learned at Columbia 

College and the Law School.” 

Conceptual artist John borek’s 

work, A Window on the Carrageenan, 

was performed in December at the 

Multi-use Community Cultural 

Center in Rochester, N.Y. His website, 

theprofessorofrap.com, discusses 

it: “In A Window on the Carrageenan, 

I attempted to recreate the chaos 

of commercial theater by crafting 

an epic disaster. In a way, I was 

paying tribute to Arthur Bicknell’s 

Moose Murders: A Mystery Farce in 

Two Acts, trending Marx Brothers. 

[In my play, the] producer has neglected 

to get rights clearance, the 

actors leave the production before 

the curtain even rises, the set disappears, 

appropriated by a Holiday 

on Ice show, a tripartite injunction 

is served against performance, the 

stage lights fail, the director has a 

breakdown and the producer is 

eventually arrested by the FBI. New 

actors are recruited from the environs 

of the theater: a prostitute, a 

paraplegic, an itinerant street singer, 

a gormless lass walking by. The 

translator who has translated the 

play from Gaelic into Hungarian 

into English is pressed into service, 

playing a 7-year-old girl. 

“The producer buys time with 

the audience by delivering a lecture 

on thatched cottages, and the 

street singer finds inspiration in the 

play’s subject of Nazis of the Reich 

attending college in Ireland during 

WWII. His song, Nazis Don’t Get 

Swing, becomes a huge hit. The 

play’s original title, A Window on 

the Carrageen, is modified to food 

additive-friendly A Window on the 

Carrageenan to technically thwart 

the injunction. 

“In order to orchestrate chaos, 

[post-capitalist] playwright Spencer 

Christiano writing as Maeve 

Gomorra, actually wrote a two-act 

play modeled after Sean O’Casey’s 

oeuvre. Two Nazis, one bad, one 

good, are billeted as detainees in 

neutral Ireland early in WWII. 

Based on true historical detail, they 

are permitted to attend university 

where one of them falls in love 

with an Irish girl. The ensuing clash 

of cultures and politics resembles 

nothing so much as an Irish/Nazi 

version of West Side Story. The play 

has production merits of its own 

and can be performed as a separate 

vehicle, but as I found out in this 

production, when you give actors 

perfect freedom, the play is seldom 

the thing. In the 80 minutes of this 

production, only one full page of 

the original play was performed. 

“Instead, as the improvising 

actors discovered, they spent almost 

all of their time keeping their 

interpersonal relationships afloat. 

The prostitute tries to make a buck 

by attempting to score with members 

of the audience; she finally 

succeeds, loudly, with the director 

in the balcony. The gormless girl, 

who has never been on a stage, 

works hard at understanding the 

relationship between the actor and 

the audience. The street musician 

is only interested in the promotion 

of his music and the paraplegic is 

only interested in the stability of 

his wheelchair on a stage full of 

running, jumping narcissists. The 

producer is worried about not being 

able to pay his BlackBerry bill, 

thereby losing his contact list, and 

the director finds that his reputation 

is no longer at risk — it has 

been vaporized. Of course, the 

playwright-within-a play, Maeve 

Gomorra, shows up to experience 

the joy of her first produced effort. 

The show’s end is announced by a 

real pizza delivery boy announcing 

his delivery on stage. 

“No one, but no one, cared 

about presenting the play in this 

improvised performance. Not even 

Christiano, who played the director 

and wrote the damned thing. 

“This was perhaps the most entertaining 

of all the Post-Cap presentations. 

No audience members 

left, and it is important to note that 

the audience included theatergoers 

who believed they were there to 

see a real Irish play. It was the antithesis 

of a Neil Simon play. There 

was no roadmap. Everything was 

placed on the backs of the actors 

who had no idea what crisis they 

would have to avert next at any 

given time. Yet the laughs were 

what I would call warm laughs. 

People liked the characters on 

stage even though these characters 

were being invented as they were 

being presented. 

“My thanks to the generous 

talents and wonderful good humor 

of not only Spencer Christiano, but 

of Michael Arve, Cassandra Kelly, 

Kimberly Niles, Declan Ryan and 

Patrick Stefano. It takes a lot of 

Irish moxie to push on while the 

arts collapse around you.” 

Folks, in the Class of ’71 eNews, 

I include not only a preview of the 

Class Notes but also some items 

exclusive to the eNews. In the issue 

I sent on February 26, I included 

this: 

Ed King: “I’m trying to remember 

a book we were assigned as summer 

reading in 1967. There were three 

books. One was The Greeks by H.D.F. 

Kitto, and the second was Economic 

and Social History of Medieval Europe 

by Henri Pirenne. What was the 

third book? I know it was on the 

history of science, and I think it had 

a green cover. Someone must know 

the title of this book. Thanks.” 

To me, one of the many great 

things about Columbia was that 

we had shared reading and not 

academic segregation. Lit Hum 

and Contemporary Civ discussions 

could include everyone, regardless 

of major, and so therefore also 

could the 3 a.m. bull sessions, discussing 

those subjects and everything 

else academic or otherwise. 

(For anyone not from our class 

reading this column, the books 

that Ed King refers to were those 

assigned to the incoming freshman 

class to read prior to arrival. For 

the reference to Summer of Love, 

below, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ 

Summer_of_Love.) 

Within about 36 hours of sending 

conceptual artist John borek ’71’s work, A Window 

on the Carrageenan, was performed at the Multi-use 

community cultural center in rochester, n.Y. 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

62 

out the eNews, I had eight replies. 

Seeing as how the question had 

struck a memory, I am including it in 

the Class Notes after all. In chronological 

order, the BUtterfield 8 are 

david Menke, lawrence goldberg, 

bill christophersen, art Engoron, 

andrew dunn, terry chorba, 

steve boss and Julio rivera. (For 

the reference, see en.wikipedia.org/ 

wiki/BUtterfield_8. And, no, these 

classmates do not meet in Yankee 

Stadium.) 

As bill christophersen explained: 

“The third book we were 

required to read was Herbert 

Butterfield’s The Origins of Modern 

Science. One reason it was 

interesting is that it examined the 

‘also-ran’ theories that were in play 

before the important theories of 

optics, gravitation, planetary motion, 

diseases and so on got nailed 

down and took on the aura of 

inevitability. My experience of the 

Summer of Love was spoiled by 

appendicitis, but as a booby prize, I 

had plenty of time to read all three 

books. I became a lit major, but I 

found Butterfield’s the most interesting. 

Only last year, I found a 

copy on sale by a street vendor and 

snatched it up.” 

And terry chorba added this: 

“Please tell Edward King that the 

third book that we had to read was 

Herbert Butterfield’s The Origins of 

Modern Science. It was a small contributor 

to the heavy nudge that 

Columbia gave me into a career 

in science. I am thriving as chief 

of the branch that oversees the 

domestic field activities of the Division 

of TB Elimination at the Centers 

for Disease Control, and I hope 

to keep working in public health 

for at least another decade.” 

The class has had several prereunion 

events. On February 11, 

there was Burgers and Basketball, 

with dinner at Havana Central at 

The West End (in what we knew as 

The West End) followed by basketball 

at Francis S. Levien Gym. Here 

is part of richard hsia’s report: 

“... cheered on throughout by 

Dean Michele Moody-Adams, the 

Lions never gave in. Nor could 

the game’s direction or outcome 

dampen the enthusiasm and camaraderie 

of our classmates led by 

phil Milstein, greg wyatt, richard 

hsia, Hillary and dick fuhrman, 

Lori and alex sachare, and tim 

debaets, who joined us from the 

sunny West Coast, together with 

Jersey gentle farmers Marina and 

John bleimaier. Still looking like 

he could elevate the Lions’ winning 

prospects on the court, bob gailus 

was there, with daughter Marianna, 

who has grown into a spectacular 

young woman. Pam and chris 

Moriarty came, together with their 

son, James, who is growing into a 

sensational young man. Heather 

Hunte, assistant director, class giving, 

in the Alumni Office, gave us 

welcome support.” 

I was there in spirit only, but here 

in Philadelphia I listened to Penn’s 

radio station the next night as the 

Lions beat the Quakers, which was 

delicious in its own way. 

richard hsia organized a Chinese 

New Year Banquet (think of it 

as CNY in NYC) on March 13 at Fuleen 

Seafood Restaurant in the heart 

of Chinatown. He noted that “Our 

Year of the Rabbit Banquet consisted 

of an array of 10 delectable, as 

well as lucky, dishes (but no rabbit 

and no lion).” [See photo.] 

A fine time was had by Margaret 

and Joe boorstein ’72 GSAS, Vivian 

and bernie falk, Hilary and dick 

fuhrman, ray gaspard, Peggy 

and richard hsia ’74L, Ken lehn 

’74L, Carole and lew preschel, Jim 

shaw, Mat thall (from Boston), Liz 

and irwin warren ’74L, Wendy and 

larry weiss, and Fay and greg wyatt, 

as well as by Ken Catandella, 

senior executive director, University 

events and programs, Office of 

Alumni and Development, and his 

wife, Victoria Augustine Catandella 

’80 Barnard; and Heather Hunte, 

assistant director, Columbia College 

Fund, and her sons, Jonathan and 

Matthew. 

I came in from Philadelphia and 

had the pleasure of meeting up with 

and walking and talking the three 

miles from Penn Station to Chinatown 

with steve boss ’76 SW, ’78 

Business, and back with ron bass, 

each of whom was attending family 

events during the time of the dinner. 

Remember 44 Septembers ago, 

and the feelings we had, including 

of adventure, as we entered Colum-


bia College. We are still connected. 

See ya at reunion! 

72 

paul s. appelbaum 

39 Claremont Ave., #24 


pappel1@aol.com 

neil izenberg has an interesting 

adventure to relate: “At the end of 

January, I was invited to a small 

White House Women’s Online 

Summit. Yes, I know I’m not a 

woman, but KidsHealth.org, which 

I founded and head, is one of the 

web’s most-visited sites reaching 

mothers and families. Along with 

me, a score of executives from sites 

such as Yahoo, WebMD, Oprah.com 

and others heard from a stream of 

senior officials who briefed us on 

what the administration is doing 

in business, health, education and 

other areas that impact women and 

families. Earlier in the day, we had 

an unexpected ‘meet and greet’ in 

the East Wing with Bo (the Obama 

girls’ Portuguese Water Dog), but 

that visit was one-upped by a surprise 

drop-in by President Barack 

Obama ’83 himself, who popped 

in to spend about 30 minutes giving 

us his perspective and meeting 

us individually. In the excitement, 

though, I forgot to tell him we were 

fellow Columbia alums and that an 

invite to next year’s White House 

Seder would not be declined. Oh 

well. Next time, perhaps.” 

Congratulations to al neugut, 

whose son, Zachary, made the list 

for early admission to the Class of 

2015! Al, who stayed on to receive 

an M.D. and a Ph.D. from Columbia, 

is the Myron M. Studner Professor 

of Cancer Research and Professor 

of Medicine and Epidemiology at 

Columbia. 

73 

barry Etra 

1256 Edmund Park Dr. NE 

Atlanta, GA 30306 

betra1@bellsouth.net 

Not so much this time, fellas. Please 

make the effort to send in a missive, 

a thought, a comment. 

fred schneider and his wife, 

Harriet, have lived in Brooklyn 

Heights since 1981, the year he left 

the Kings County D.A. Harriet is 

the director of the Office of Counsel 

for Children in New York’s Second 

Judicial Department and has held 

that position for more than 20 years. 

They have two daughters: Lauren, 

an officer at Bank Leumi USA in 

Manhattan, and Stephanie, who is 

deciding which law school to attend 

in the fall. Fred is a partner at 

Gilman and Schneider, which he 

founded in 1989; the firm specializes 

in family law, matrimonial law, 

divorce, custody, support and so on. 

Fred and Mike byowitz have been 

discussing our 40th reunion, just 

two years away. Fred hopes to see 

many new faces, especially those 

who have not attended reunions. 

bob shea earned an M.B.A. at 

Columbia right out of college (as 

did I), then had two long careers, 

one in advertising and another in 

consulting. He has been back at the 

B-School for the last six years as 

senior associate director of admissions, 

a move he recommends (returning 

to campus) as he has “come 

full circle.” 

christopher Koefoed spent 32 

years in Los Angeles, in the film biz, 

editing such films as Menace II Society 

and Gridlock’d, as well as teaching 

film production at the Art Center of 

College Design and screenwriting 

at UCLA Extension. He also wrote 

a “teleplay” for BET, Playing with 

Fire. In 2006, Christopher moved to 

Washington, D.C., to work with his 

brother Erik in the family business, 

The Palisades Pizzeria & Clam 

Bar (palisadespizzeria.com), right 

outside of Georgetown. It serves 

thin-crust, New York style-pizza 

(they’re from the Bronx). 

Tragically, in February 2009, 

Christopher’s only child, Gabriella, 

was killed by a speeding motorist 

in Baltimore. She was 22 and was 

due to graduate from Maryland 

Institute College of Art that year. 

He has been working on projects to 

honor and remember her; the best 

one so far has been the Gabriella 

Milagro Koefoed Endowed Scholarship 

Fund at Howard University. 

If anyone wants to contribute, it’s 

coas.howard.edu/development. 

html. 

Christopher, we all feel your pain. 

Anyone wishing to reach out to 

Christopher can do so at gabriella4 

ever@verizon.net. 

fred bremer 

532 W. 111th St. 


f.bremer@ml.com 

Maybe fate destined our class to be 

surrounded by revolutionary amniotic 

fluid where the status quo 

was constantly challenged! After 

our quaint post-Eisenhower “Ozzie 

and Harriet” upbringing, we came 

of age in high school just as the 

“counterculture” movement was 

in full throw (including “free love,” 

chemical mind expansion and the 

like ... you know, all those things 

you council your kids against!). 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

63 

When we came to the College, it 

was the time when fierce national 

debate erupted over the Vietnam 

War, abortion, feminism, gay rights 

and a whole host of other issues. 

Now I am reminded by the current 

turmoil in the Middle East that 

we were literally born during the 

moment in history when the Egyptian 

Revolution of 1952 abolished 

the constitutional monarchy and, in 

1953, Egypt was declared a republic. 

As Wikipedia says, “The success 

of the revolution inspired numerous 

Arab and African countries to 

remove pro-Western … monarchies 

and potentates.” How could our 

forming DNA resist these powerful 

influences? 

When you think of nominees 

for “class revolutionary,” not a slim 

number of nominations would be 

cast for arthur schwartz. While on 

campus, he was active in all sorts of 

liberal causes, and this has continued 

during the past four decades. More 

on this later, but first we need to 

nominate him for the class “The Dog 

Can Still Hunt” award (also known 

as the classmate with the youngest 

child). Diligent readers of the 

column know that the two youngest 

I know of are Reilly (son of abbe 

lowell) and Eli (son of Jonathan cuneo); 

both fathers are Washington, 

D.C., lawyers. Now comes Arthur 

bob shea ’73 earned an M.b.a. at columbia and 

has been back at the b-school for the last six years 

as senior associate director of admissions. 

74 

wondering if his kids (5 and 7) give 

him the title. Any other challengers 

waiting in the wings? 

Arthur’s note added that, coinci- 

dentally, he needed to call in Abbe’s 

assistance during 2009–10 for work 

involving several criminal investi- 

gations while Arthur was general 

counsel of what he calls “the notorious 

ACORN” (the now-defunct 

Association of Community Organizations 

for Reform Now). Arthur 

said he and Abbe “spent a lot of 

time talking about the old days, 

him as a student representative to 

the University Senate and me disrupting 

the senate. Recent alliance 

worked well: No criminal charges 

filed anywhere.” 

Might as well get the last piece 

of Abbe news on the table: While 

I was surfing the web for updates 

on the Wikileaks circus, up he 

popped, being described as the 

“espionage expert at the law firm 

McDermott Will & Emery.” And I 

always heard Abbe described as a 

“white collar criminal defense lawyer.” 

At any rate, it is good to have 

our own 007 in the class! 

Curious to learn if the economic 

recovery is hitting the heartland, I 

reached out to Mark rantala, v.p. 

and director of retail sales at CB 

Richard Ellis (commercial real estate) 

in Westlake, Ohio. Mark confirmed 

that real estate is starting to 

pick up. However, he seemed more 

caught up in picking colleges for 

his oldest daughter, Shannon. Family 

trumping career, an increasingly 

common occurrence. 

An update came in from richard 

briffault, the Joseph P. Chamberlain 

Professor of Legislation at 

the Law School. You might recall 

that the Senate confirmed his wife, 

Sherry Glied, as assistant secretary 

for planning and evaluation at the 

Department of Health and Human 

Services. That’s the good news. 

But this new career means Sherry 

commutes from New York, going 

to D.C. on Monday morning and 

returning to New York on Friday 

evening. This leaves professor/ 

Mr. Mom Richard “here teaching, 

sluggishly writing a book, doing 

some other projects and taking care 

of the kids (who amazingly have 

reached 15 and 12).” Richard adds 

that this position has included 

taking the kids to various sporting 

events: Olivia to a fencing competition 

in Dallas and Jonathan on 

various hockey trips to New Jersey 

and Westchester. Richard says, 

“Given my total lack of athletic 

ability, I find this unfathomable.” 

The early decision admissions 

for the Class of 2015 (if you can 

believe it) include four children of 

classmates. [Editor’s note: A list of 

alumni legacies for the College and 

Engineering Class of 2015 is scheduled 

for the September/October 

issue.] The following is some brief 

information about the admitted 

kids and their dads. Please note 

that, for the first time in class history, 

all four of the early admit legacies 

were women! 

Rachel Bercovitz will come to 

the College from Baltimore, where 

she attended Beth Tfiloh Community 

H.S. She is the daughter of Dr. 

barry bercovitz, an endocrinolo- 

Submit Your Photo 

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ONLINE by clicking 

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MAIL by sending the 

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caption information to 

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Columbia Alumni Center, 

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New York, NY 10025.


gist at the Johns Hopkins Community 

Physicians group and who 

is affiliated with the Johns Hopkins 

Hospital. Barry’s practice covers 

diabetes, metabolism, endocrinology 

and internal medicine. 

Isabel Genecin is from Larchmont, 

N.Y. (in nearby Westchester), where 

she attended Mamaroneck H.S. Her 

dad, Victor genecin, is of counsel at 

the Midtown Manhattan law firm 

Squire Sanders. 

Brina Seidel attended Bethesda- 

Chevy Chase H.S. in Chevy Chase, 

Md. Father stephen seidel is v.p. 

for policy analysis and general 

counsel at the Pew Center on Global 

Climate Change. He directs the 

analysis of the climate change policy 

initiatives of the legislative and 

executive branches of the federal 

government. Steve formerly was 

the director of the Stratospheric 

Protection Program at the EPA. (To 

Tea Party members, it might sound 

like he was involved in analyzing 

the national debt, but in reality 

Steve was more concerned with 

the ozone.) 

Victoria Van Amson is finishing 

up at the Nightingale-Bamford 

School in Manhattan. Her father, 

george Van amson, is a managing 

director at Morgan Stanley in Midtown 

Manhattan and former twoterm 

Columbia University trustee. 

Congratulations to each of the 

young ladies and their families! 

Looks like another progeny of 

a classmate will have the potential 

to become a neo-“Microsoft Millionaire.” 

First, we learned that rob 

Knapp’s son was at Facebook, and 

now Kevin ward tells us that his eldest, 

Matt ’11, is about to start working 

at Google on the West Coast. 

“Very proud of him,” crows Kevin. 

Kevin himself is spending his preretirement 

years paying college 

tuition bills (“more than $100,000 a 

year”) and attending basketball and 

lacrosse games (“which I love”). His 

second child, Mark, is a sophomore 

at Fordham on a pre-med track. His 

third, Jamie, is off to Holy Cross in 

the fall (recruited to play lacrosse) 

and his “baby,” Brian (15) is the 

starting point guard for Bergen 

Catholic’s freshman basketball 

team. Kevin still plays rock ’n roll 

in a local bar, “but playing two or 

three times a year doesn’t make this 

a likely retirement pursuit!” He also 

recently celebrated his 35th year at 

Merrill Lynch as a financial adviser. 

“I wouldn’t want to do anything 

else,” he says. “Life is good and 

very, very full.” 

Do you realize that two-thirds 

of our life stories have been written 

since we first set foot on Morningside 

Heights? A lot can happen in 

four decades! Consider the “spiritual 

journey” of bryan berry. He writes, 

“I deserted my Christian (Protestant, 

mainly Lutheran) upbringing when 

I went to Columbia (pretty typical!). 

But it was at Columbia that I first 

read St. Augustine’s Confessions and 

Dante’s Inferno. I didn’t return to the 

faith until 1978, when I began going 

to a Lutheran church in Midtown.” 

Bryan later studied the religious 

controversies between Protestants 

and Catholics while he worked on 

his Ph.D. dissertation at Michigan. 

“I became convinced that God has 

unfolded his truth over time in the 

Roman Catholic Church. I joined 

the Catholic Church in 1995; two 

years later, the rest of my family 

joined.” Bryan is taking classes to 

become a member of Opus Dei. 

While at Columbia, Bryan was 

a typical liberal English major. 

During the past decade, he taught 

literature and journalism for several 

years (most recently at the 

University of St. Francis in Joliet, 

Ill.) and for the past three years 

has been a freelance writer and 

journalist, writing for the American 

Metal Market, National Catholic 

Register and other publications. 

He also is writing a book on literature 

and 16th- and 17th-century 

religious controversies. His oldest 

child, Adrienne, is a clarinetist in 

the U.S. Army Field Band (based 

at Fort Meade, Md.). His middle 

child, Joanna, has joined an order 

of Catholic nuns (Servants of the 

Lord). His youngest, John, is about 

to graduate from the University of 

Illinois and will then be commissioned 

as an ensign in the Navy 

the next day. He will attend flight 

school at NAS Pensacola in Florida 

starting in October. 

There you have it. The discovery 

of powerful forces that have made 

our classmates “agents for change.” 

News of great achievements of our 

classmates and their children. And 

the tale of an amazing spiritual 

journey. If you have something to 

share of you or your family with 

your friends of 40 years, please take 

a moment to send an e-mail. As the 

Grateful Dead said, “What a long, 

strange trip it’s been!” 

75 

randy nichols 

734 S. Linwood Ave. 

Baltimore, MD 21224 

rcn16@columbia.edu 

Adding to the list of multi-generational 

Lion families, Julia Selinger 

and Matthew Suozzo are early admits 

for the Class of 2015. Julia is the 

daughter of neil selinger and Rima 

Grad and currently attends Mamaroneck 

H.S. Matthew, who is headed 

for Engineering, is the son of Mark J. 

suozzo and attends Hunter College 

H.S. in New York City. 

“Bring it on,” was randolph 

Mclauglin’s response to the village 

of Port Chester, N.Y.’s plans to 

appeal the village’s current cumula- 

tive voting system. The unusual 

arrangement was allowed under a 

2008 court order. 

As if he isn’t busy enough, bob 

schneider has been elected corporate 

secretary of the University of 

Pennsylvania Club of Long Island. 

Bob is special counsel at Cuddy & 

Feder. Some day, we may open a 

dictionary and see Bob’s picture. 

I’m just not sure whether it will 

be next to dedication, loyalty or 

pride. Bob gives back to both Columbia 

and Penn (his children all 

did undergraduate work at one or 

the other), was devastated when 

his Catholic grammar school was 

slated for closing and is involved 

in other charities and volunteer 

work. You go, Bob! 

Spring seems to be in the air in 

Baltimore. Tax season is winding 

down. I thank the IRS for maintaining 

moving, home interest and other 

itemized deductions, including those 

for charitable giving. I’m proud (as a 

Lion!) to write checks to Columbia, 

and even happier when I deduct 

the donations. When you get that 

call or letter from a classmate, please 

be proud to do the same. You also 

can give online any time: college. 

columbia.edu/giveonline. 



ALuMNI AFFAIRS Taruna Sadhoo 

tds2110@columbia.edu 

2128517849 



2128517494 

clyde Moneyhun 

Boise State University 

Department of English 

200 Liberal Arts Building 

1910 University Dr. 

Boise, ID 83725 

clydemoneyhun@ 

boisestate.edu 

76 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

64 


month away, Thursday, June 2–Sunday, 

June 5. Join your classmates 

and their families for cultural events 

in New York City and mini-Core 

courses as well as class-specific 

dinners, discussions and cocktail 

parties. Saturday is Dean’s Day, with 

lectures from some of Columbia’s 

best, including Dean Michele 

Moody-Adams, followed in the 

evening by the all-class Wine Tasting, 

our class dinner and then the 

Starlight Reception, with sweets and 

champagne plus music and dancing 

on Low Plaza. Don’t miss it. It’s not 

too late to register: reunion.college. 

columbia.edu. 

bruce black reports that since 

his 50-something knees no longer 

can take the stress of running, he 

switched to yoga a few years ago 

and discovered a new passion that 

led to his book, Writing Yoga: a 

Guide to Keeping a Practice Journal, 

available this spring from Rodmell 

Press. Bruce lives in Sarasota, Fla., 

with his wife (a professor at New 

College) and daughter (who recently 

got her driver’s permit), and 

welcomes friends and classmates 

to drop by if they’re ever exploring 

the beauty of Florida’s west coast. 

You can reach him at bruceblack@ 

gmail.com. 

Mark heller passed away in 

Potomac, Md., last October. He was 

married for 27 years to Connie and 

also is survived by his children, 

Danny and Laura. He was an active 

member of Temple Beth Ami in 

Rockport, coaching MSI soccer and 

singing in the choir for 20 years. 

The family welcomes contributions 

to the Fund for Innovation or the 

Tikkun Olan Committee at Temple 

Beth Ami, 14330 Travilah Rd., Rockville, 

MD 20850. 

77 

david gorman 

111 Regal Dr. 

DeKalb, IL 60115 

dgorman@niu.edu 

Some of the notes I get are what I 

call meaning-of-life messages. I 

received a couple of splendid ones 

from artie gold and bill dorsey. 

In August, Artie had his third 

child, Eliza Rose (“I’m slow but 

making up for it”). It was on Christmas 

Eve 2009, as I reconstruct the 

dates, that, as Artie puts it, “it was 

only the combination of being in 

just the right place at just the right 

time (and an on-call cardiovascular 

surgeon with a hot hand) that 

kept me from being referred to in 

the past tense in that other section 

of CCT. And I’ve had one of those 

recoveries that makes the docs 

shake their heads and smile.” Factor 

in Eliza Rose’s arrival about eight 

months later and, if you were Artie, 

you too would say, “Indeed, life is 

good.” 

Meanwhile, Bill, in fall 2009, 

moved to a new position after 19 

years as a social worker and social 

work manager at the Kaiser Permanente 

hospital in Santa Rosa, Calif.; 

he is now a palliative care social 

worker at the outpatient clinic. “I’ve 

been providing counseling to patients 

affected by advanced cancer 

and other illnesses. These chronic 

and often life-shortening conditions 

can impact a person’s physical, 

emotional, social and spiritual coping. 

I work closely with the doctors, 

nurses, chemo pharmacists and 

the rest of the team to help patients 

live with the best quality of life possible. 

I include their family in the 

counseling to help them cope, too. It 

can be challenging and rewarding, 

and I always am impressed with 

the strength, hope and gratitude 

that people can demonstrate in the


toughest of times.” He goes on, “I 

play drums regularly at our church 

and with a couple of jazz bands. 

The artistic and spiritual outlets 

help keep me centered.” 

Bill also wants us to know that 

son Brendan is a freshman at The 

George Washington University, 

while son Brian is a freshman in 

high school, and that Bill is “grateful 

every day for the love and support 

of my wife of 25 years, Lynn.” 

From Florida, we hear that 

charles trippe ’79L has been named 

general counsel in the governor’s 

office. After graduating from the 

Law School, Charles did litigation 

work in New York, Massachusetts 

and Florida. He was general counsel 

for litigation for CSX Transportation, 

and then worked in civil litigation as 

a partner at Moseley, Prichard, Parrish, 

Knight, and Jones in Jacksonville. 

Now he will be handling the 

legal issues of a state, no less. 

Congratulations and more importantly, 

good luck. 

Greetings also come from arto 

becker and Jeffrey allen. Arto 

is a lawyer in Los Angeles who 

describes his life as “simple.” He 

explains that he has been “practicing 

for more than 30 years in the 

same firm,” and has “grown children 

who make me very proud.” 

Jeff describes his “fond memories 

of playing 158-lb. football. It was 

1973, and we hadn’t won a game 

in four years. It was like the Super 

Bowl when we beat Penn.” Injury 

shortened Jeff’s playing career and 

his time at Columbia, but though 

he transferred to a rival institution, 

he notes that “Columbia still considers 

me an alumnus (at least for 

fundraising).” 

Finally, I know that we’ve all been 

thinking about david paterson. Not 

to worry about the Hofstra Law grad 

and former governor. According to 

Newsday, at least for this year, he’ll be 

at NYU, teaching courses on government 

and public policy. Though not 

a tenure-track post, it’s still a job, and 

we wish him well. 

78 

Matthew nemerson 

35 Huntington St. 

New Haven, CT 06511 

mnemerson@snet.net 

Please send me a note to share with 

classmates. 

79 

robert Klapper 

8737 Beverly Blvd., Ste 303 

Los Angeles, CA 90048 

rklappermd@aol.com 

deMoyle howell went to medical 

school at Hahnemann University 

Hospital in Philadelphia and com- 

pleted his residency in internal 

medicine at Bryn Mawr Hospital. He 

spent two years with the National 

Health Service and completed his 

anesthesia residency at Hahnemann. 

He is an anesthesiologist practicing 

in Newport Beach, Calif. 

Vincent sama joined Kaye Scholer 

as partner in the firm’s litigation 

practice and co-chair of the commercial 

litigation department. He 

previously was a partner at Winston 

& Strawn. 

robert c. Klapper: “This issue’s 

topic is vacations. I hope we have 

all achieved in our lives that beautiful 

balance between work and play. 

We are all hopefully at that point in 

our careers where an expertise in 

our field has been achieved. With 

the years of hard work and stress, 

one needs a timeout. Our vacations 

come in one of two varieties: 

either returning to visit a Shangri 

La second home, where you feel so 

comfortable because you know the 

routine, or embarking on a trip to a 

locale where you have never been 

and what awaits you is an adventure 

and newness to delight all your 

senses. I divide my time between 

my work here in Hollywood and 

my second home in Honolulu. So 

to all of you from the Class of ’79, 

I give you an open invitation that 

when you travel with your families 

to either of these locations, please 

feel free to contact me for the locations 

of diners, drive-ins and dives 

that you won’t read about in the 

guidebooks. 

“I am here to remind you, as the 

late great cartoonist Saul Steinberg 

from The New Yorker illustrated in 

his classic magazine cover, that 

there is a whole lot more to life than 

driving on vacation to … New Haven, 

Conn.!” 

80 

Michael c. brown 

London Terrace Towers 

410 W. 24th St., Apt. 18F 


mcbcu80@yahoo.com 

“Take me out to the ball game, 

“Take me out with the crowd. 

“Buy me some peanuts and Cracker 

Jack, 

“I don’t care if I never get back. 

“Let me root, root, root for the 

home team, 

“If they don’t win it’s a shame. 

“For it’s one, two, three strikes, 

you’re out, 

“At the old ball game.” 

There is nothing better than watching 

the baseball team play at the new 

Satow Stadium. Coach Brett Boretti 

has the squad playing some of the 

most competitive games we have 

ever witnessed, and we are glad for 

our coaches’ and players’ success. 

We have had tremendous alumni 

support, as the stands are full of us 

old-timers. At Homecoming last fall, 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

65 

The only thing better than the annual Burgers and Basketball event on 

campus in February is spending it with old friends. Carman roommates 

(left to right) harvey Cotton ’81, Ernie Cicconi ’81 and A.J. Bosco ’81 

enjoyed the pregame ritual with their daughters (left to right) Leah Cotton, 

Samantha Cicconi and Anna Bosco. 

PhOTO: CAThY COTTON ’83 BARNARd 

we dedicated the baseball/soccer 

locker room on behalf of Eric blattman 

and his family. Eric gave a wonderful 

speech between games, and 

his teammates John McGuire ’84, 

ray commisso, larry biondi and 

ray stukes wished him all the best. 

ray commisso is at Thomson 

Reuters, where he is in charge of 

designing many of the fixed income 

applications, such as Terms and 

Conditions pages, New Issues pages 

and calculators that appear on the 

Xtra and Eikon Fixed Income platform. 

Ray’s experience as a fixed 

income trader, portfolio manager 

and former Reuters client was something 

the company needed in building 

its data products, so that the end 

result is user-friendly instead of the 

product of academics and developers 

who do not understand what 

clients need to see and use in the 

workflows of the typical financial 

market participant. 

We ran into Steve Spence ’82 at the 

Ivy football dinner. Steve is building 

a wealth management business with 

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in 

Midtown. 

Congratulations to phil adkins 

and david sherman on their child- 

ren’s early admittance to alma mater, 

Class of 2015. We wish both Nastassia 

Adkins and Adam Sherman the 

best of luck. 

Jim gerkis and I attended the 

annual John Jay Awards Dinner on 

March 2 and want to remind you to 

consider a gift to the Columbia College 

Fund. Give at college.columbia. 

edu/giveonline or mail a check to 



MC 4530, 3rd Fl., New York, NY 

10025. We have come a long way 

in our fundraising efforts, and we 

need your support. 

Please drop me a line at mcbcu80 

@yahoo.com. 



ALuMNI AFFAIRS Kimberly Peterson 

knp2106@columbia.edu 

2128517872 



2128517494 

81 

Jeff pundyk 

20 E. 35th St., Apt. 8D 


jspundyk@gmail.com 

[Editor’s note: CCT thanks Jeff 

pundyk for his six years of service 

as class correspondent and will 

welcome back Kevin fay (kfay@ 

norcapital.com) in the July/August 

issue.] 

A fine time was had by all at the 

February 11 Burgers and Basketball 

night on campus and at Havana 

Central at The West End, if you 

managed to avoid the actual burgers 

and largely disregarded the bball 

part of the evening, that is, and 

maybe if you were able to discount 

some of the more personal healthrelated 

confessions that came 

spilling out around the bar. Still, 

it was great to see classmates and 

reminisce about when we were all 

taller, faster and stronger. On hand 

for the evening were Kevin costa, 

Mark hansen, Erik Jacobs, derek 

Johnson, John luisi, brian Krisberg, 

sergey Kudrin, Jay lee and 

Carman roommates a.J. bosco, 

harvey cotton and Ernie cicconi. 

(See photo.) 

Think of it as a rehearsal for the 

reunion. And, frankly, some of us 

need a little work before the actual 

event, which is scheduled for Thursday, 

June 2–Sunday, June 5. The 

weekend will be great, with plenty 

of cultural activities, Dean’s Day on 

Saturday, mini-Core courses, tours, 

cocktail parties, dinners, the all-class


Wine Tasting and the Starlight Reception, 

which features champagne, 

sweets, and music and dancing on 

Low Plaza. Don’t miss it! It’s not 

too late to register: reunion.college. 

columbia.edu. 

It’s also not too late to edit down 

some of those stories, make the 

necessary adjustments to waistlines 

and hairlines, and hire whatever 

escorts seem appropriate. 

dave cook is doing his part. In 

addition to his food blogging and 

restaurant reviews, Dave has put 

together a blog on Columbia bands 

from our era. Read it and weep for 

our lost youth: columbiabands.com. 

John luisi checks in from the 

outermost of the outer boroughs: 

“I’m the new agency chief contracting 

officer at the NYC Board of Elections, 

so all contracts for goods and 

services will go through my office. 

My staff and I will do our best to 

bring the highest quality goods and 

services to our agency at the most 

competitive prices. There. I said it. 

But more importantly, I’m starting 

the cycling season 20 pounds lighter 

than I did last year. Maybe I’ll finish 

that 13th century ride.” 

Speaking of cycling, daniel 

Monk continues to live in a fantasy 

world, chasing an imaginary peloton 

from his perch on his stationary 

bike. Team Monk keeps a ready 

supply of Cheez Doodles and Bud 

Light on the support vehicle (i.e., 

the couch). 

Our class had its usual fine showing 

among early admissions this 

year for the Class of 2015. Let’s 

give credit to the fine DNA of the 

mothers of the children of hilary 

hanchuk, James Kaufman, Jay lee 

(who is three for three now), Michael 

strauss and ronald strobel. 

richard ruzika, a Goldman 

Sachs executive who runs the firm’s 

special situations group, is retiring. 

And with that, I am retiring, too, 

from this lofty post. I’ll be passing 

the class quill back to Kevin fay 

(kfay@norcapital.com) with the 

sage words he neglected to say 

to me when he passed it to me lo 

those many years ago: “No backsies.” 

See you all in June. 

andrew weisman 

710 Lawrence Ave. 

Westfield, NJ 07090 

weisman@comcast.net 

Greetings gentlemen, I trust all is 

well with all of you. None of you 

slug-a-beds wrote this period. 

Nonetheless, we have some happy 

news. 

First and foremost, frank lopezbalboa 

is undoubtedly bursting 

with pride upon learning that his 

daughter Olivia will attend the College 

in the fall. It’s darn near impossible 

to get into the College these 

days, so major kudos for this! I have 

it on good authority from louis de 

chiara that Olivia is a wonderful 

person and a superb student. 

Closer to home, WR Managed 

Accounts, a privately held provider 

of managed account and 

technology solutions for hedge 

fund investments, announced on 

February 18 a strategic partnership 

with Duff & Phelps, a leading 

financial advisory and investment 

banking services firm, and Harcourt 

Investment Consulting AG, a 

preeminent Zurich-based alterna- 

John luisi ’81 is agency chief contracting officer at 

the nYc board of Elections. 

82 

tive asset management company 

and part of the Vontobel Group, 

an internationally oriented Swiss 

private bank. The partnership will 

enable the firms to develop unique 

technology-based solutions that 

provide transparency for hedge 

funds and their investors. “Why 

should I care?” you ask? I’m the 

CEO of WR. Hey, even a broken 

clock is right twice a day. 

Looking forward to hearing from 

you. I have two free tickets to the 

next Brooklyn Giants home game 

for each of the next six contributors. 

83 

roy pomerantz 

Babyking/Petking 

182-20 Liberty Ave. 

Jamaica, NY 11412 

bkroy@msn.com 

andrew barth ’85 Business was 

presented a 2011 John Jay Award for 

distinguished professional achievement 

on March 2 at the annual John 

Jay Awards Dinner. The citation 

presented to Andy, commemorating 

his achievements, stated, “In today’s 

global economy, leading a multinational 

company is one of the most 

challenging and rewarding jobs. 

Your tenure at the Capital Group 

Companies has been impressive, 

and your 25-year commitment to the 

company has occurred during a period 

of significant expansion. In your 

many roles at the Capital Group, you 

have overseen a global expansion 

while maintaining an active role in 

the investment process. 

“You are a native New Yorker, 

born in Queens, and you majored in 

economics at the College. You graduated 

summa cum laude and Phi 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

66 

Beta Kappa, and were named an 

All-Ivy wrestler. In 1985, you earned 

an M.B.A. from the Business School. 

You continued to live your passion 

for wrestling by competing for the 

New York Athletic Club, achieving 

state, regional and international 

honors in Greco-Roman wrestling. 

You have spent your entire professional 

career at the Capital Group, 

beginning as a financial analyst 

covering automotive and financial 

companies with Capital Guardian 

Research. As a research director 

for 15 years, you oversaw Capital 

Guardian Research’s development 

into a global organization and its 

evolution into Capital International 

Research. You have risen through a 

series of executive and investment 

roles during the past two decades to 

become the chairman of the Capital 

Guardian Trust Company and 

Capital International Limited. You 

have been an important contributor 

to the growth of the Capital Group 

from $25 billion in assets under 

management in 1985 to $1.2 trillion 

today. 

“You are an active member of 

your community and a dedicated 

public servant. You were twice 

elected to the Board of Governors 

of the San Marino Unified School 

District, serving from 1997–2005, 

with three years as president. You 

worked to put in place the foundation 

that has earned San Marino 

the highest Academic Performance 

Index ranking of all unified school 

districts in the State of California 

for seven consecutive years. You 

have been a trustee or overseer of 

The American Ballet Theater, The 

California Science Center Foundation, 

The Center for the Study of the 

Presidency and Congress, Pomona 

College, and The Huntington Museum, 

Library and Gardens, as well 

as the Business School. In 2005, you 

endowed the varsity head wrestling 

coaching position at Columbia, 

now known as the Andrew F. Barth 

Head Coach of Wrestling. At the 

time, you spoke about the impact 

that wrestling had on your life: 

‘Wrestling taught me many valuable 

lessons about life, lessons I use 

every day. Discipline, persistence 

and hard work really do make a 

difference. Some of the best times 

in my life and some of my best 

memories are due to wrestling and 

being a part of this team. Columbia 

was a wonderful experience, and I 

received a great education.’ You are 

a thoughtful and caring husband 

to your wife, Avery, and a loving 

father to your children, Emily, 

Catherine, Andrew Jr. and Avery 

Vivian. In recognition of your work 

as a financier, Columbia College is 

proud to present you a 2011 John 

Jay Award for distinguished professional 

achievement.” 

Andy has been a tremendous 

supporter of the College, and the 

Class of ’83 congratulates him on receiving 

this much-deserved honor. 

Michael Oren ’77 also received a 

John Jay Award that night. Michael 

is the Israeli Ambassador to the 

United States and a former student 

of Professor Karl-Ludwig Selig. 

Michael extended a personal invitation 

to KLS to attend the dinner and 

referred to KLS at the “incomparable 

Karl-Ludwig Selig” during his 

remarks. 

Kevin cronin: “I met barack 

obama in college — there, I said 

it — and it’s time to put to bed the 

mystery of Obama and college life. 

First, let’s talk about misplaced 

arrogance. Lots of people say they 

didn’t know him in school, despite 

common commitment to political 

science and pre-law (gosh, there’s 

a small group for you), yet Obama 

went on to Harvard Law and the 

presidency. Maybe he had better 

things to do? At any rate, it worked 

for him. Here’s my meeting with 

‘the man who would be President.’ 

It was late on a weeknight, probably 

in March or April 1983, and 

I was with a group of students 

editing Sundial newsmagazine. 

The Black Students League, which 

also had an office on the third floor 

of Ferris Booth Hall, was leaving 

from a meeting, and the students 

trickled down the hall to the stairwell. 

One student, the future President, 

walked by our open door 

and recognized one of the editors 

and looked in, shouting a friendly 

greeting as he poked his head in 

the open doorway. The future President, 

realizing there were others 

in the office working, smiled and 

went on down the hallway and 

was gone. That’s it. End of story. 

So what do we conclude? What 

does this one instance establish 

about our President? Not much, 

I’m afraid; perhaps that the future 

President was friendly, gregarious 

and involved during his college 

days. I suppose some things don’t 

change (though it doesn’t necessarily 

help dealing with Republicans 

in Congress). Best wishes. I hope 

you are well.” 

The following are early admit 

legacies to the Class of 2015: Samuel 

Lutzker (Las Lomas H.S., Walnut 

Creek, Calif.), son of stuart g. lutzker, 

and Samuel Stevens (Academy 

for the Advancement of Science and 

Technology, Haworth, N.J.), son of 

peter stevens. 

On March 5, my wife and I hosted 

about 50 Columbia graduates and 

students at our home prior to Colum - 

bia’s final home basketball game of 

the season. It was great to see Dennis 

Klainberg ’84, class correspondent, 

tireless supporter of Columbia 

College, former marching band 

manager and inspirational friend 

to Professor Selig. Kevin chapman


showed me a stunning photo of 

his wife, Sharon ’83 Barnard, who 

competed in the last New York 

City Marathon. Kevin beat my son, 

David, in chess. My wife praised 

Kevin for having the skills necessary 

to beat a 6-year-old. David has been 

invited to compete in the national 

chess tournament in Texas, where 

he will receive a ranking competing 

against adversaries closer to 

his age. My daughter, Rebecca, has 

become an accomplished hula hoop 

artist and performed her repertoire 

of moves for the guests. geoffrey 

Mintz has started a hat company 

and has made several trips to China 

to work on his new line. He and his 

wife live in NYC. Many of you may 

remember Geoff’s father, Norman 

Mintz, a former e.v.p. of Columbia. 

My wife’s Hunter H.S. classmate, 

Emily Glickman Meyerson ’90, and 

her husband, Howard Meyerson 

’85, brought their daughters, Hallie 

and Julia. Steven Greenfield and 

his girlfriend, Melissa, were present. 

Steve has attended dozens of 

CC basketball games this year and 

helped organize the event with me. 

Ken Howitt ’76, a friend for more 

than 30 years and a Nacom, drove 

from New Jersey to be with us. Ken 

organized February’s WKCR alumni 

dinner. Marcia Sells, associate v.p., 

planning and program development 

and initiatives at the School of the 

Arts, as well as associate dean of 

community outreach, also joined 

us. Marcia is the faculty liaison for 

the Senior Society of Nacoms. She 

was joined by several current senior 

Nacoms, including Alex Katz ’11 GS, 

the Batab. Sam Rowan ’96 Barnard, 

who helped organize the event, is 

the managing editor of Real Estate 

Finance & Investment and also a Nacom. 

steve holtje is publishing in 

Culture Clash a response to Anthony 

Tommasini’s top 10 list of classical 

composers. Steve is a former CC 

marching band trombone player and 

lives with his wife in Manhattan. 

Three former CC marching band 

managers showed up: Dan Carlinsky 

’65, Frank Mirer ’66 and Peter 

Janovsky ’68. nick paone is starting 

a band. His bio at White Fleischner 

& Fino states: “Mr. Paone joined 

White Fleischner & Fino in 2003 and 

is a trial attorney with over 20 years 

of experience. Mr. Paone focuses on 

the preparation and trial or arbitration 

of significant cases in New York, 

New Jersey and Pennsylvania. These 

cases run the gamut from medical 

and dental malpractice to professional 

liability, insurance coverage, 

general liability, products, construc- 

tion accidents and defects, property 

damage, employment, business 

disputes, securities litigation, and 

insurance agents and brokers errors 

and omissions.” Ethan Rouen ’04J, 

’11 Business, associate editor of CCT, 

and his wife, Kim Martineau ’97J, 

also participated in the gathering. I 

made sure to invite Ethan, as I am 

always running late on my Class 

Notes submission (including this 

one). Marc Ripp ’80 and his wife, 

Dr. Shari Ripp, attended with their 

daughters, Brandi ’12 and Elena 

’14E. Brandi and Elena are active at 

Columbia and represent the third 

generation of Ripps at the College. 

Mark Simon ’84 and his wife, Melissa, 

brought their children, William, 

Oliver, Annabel and Colette. Mark 

is friendly with andrew barth, and 

Mark attended the John Jay Awards 

Dinner. Overall, it was an eclectic 

gathering of CC graduates and students 

spanning many decades. 

Wishing you all much health, 

prosperity and happiness as many 

of us turn 50 this year. 

84 

dennis Klainberg 

Berklay Cargo Worldwide 

JFK Intl. Airport 

Box 300665 

Jamaica, NY 11430 

dennis@berklay.com 

Welcome back, tom dyja! 

Tom wrote, “Given all the coverage 

of Charles Portis (True Grit), 

you might want to check 1984 back 

issues of the alumni magazine, when 

Matt cooper did a short piece on 

a Portis promotion I’d had a hand 

in starting at the Madison Avenue 

Bookshop. Portis had stalled a little 

after The Dog of the South, and we like 

to think all the attention gave him a 

boost and got him back on the map. 

“I’m working on a cultural history 

of postwar Chicago for Penguin 

Press, due this fall, covering 

everyone from Mies van der Rohe, 

Mahalia Jackson, Hugh Hefner 

and the Second City to Ray Kroc, 

Nelson Algren and Sun Ra. I’ve 

spent more time in Butler the last 

geoffrey Mintz ’83 started a hat company and has 

made several trips to china to work on his new line. 

year than I did all through my four 

years in college.” 

And a great four years they were, 

chronicled by such current day 

multimedia experts as WKCR’s Jon 

abbot and Spec leaders Cooper 

and steven waldman (and even 

a friend or two from across the 

street), which leads me to make the 

provocative move of introducing 

to our all-male (entering) class the 

progress of a Barnard alum! 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

67 

This very special friend, and indeed, 

amazing asset to the Columbia 

community in those days, was, 

and is, Beth Knobel ’84 Barnard. 

(She deserves boldface treatment, 

but that honor is reserved for College 

and Engineering classmates.) 

Beth distinguished herself in 

many leadership roles, most principally 

with Spec, working under 

editor-in-chief steve waldman and 

alongside co-news editor richard 

pollack. 

“It was through Spec that I met a 

few of my closest friends to this day, 

including Jim weinstein, whom I 

met when I interviewed him, and 

Richard Froehlich ’85. I now sit 

on the Spec Board of Trustees and 

recently found one of my favorite 

photos in the office, a front-page 

photo of Jim and the late, great stuart 

garcia, who were both College 

senators, posing a bit like superheroes.” 

Now, as a journalist and professor, 

Beth graces us once more, as 

the author of Heat and Light: Advice 

for the Next Generation of Journalists, 

which she co-wrote with the one 

and only Mike Wallace. 

“Mike and I worked together 

twice when I was the Moscow 

Bureau Chief for CBS News and 

he was still at 60 Minutes, when he 

came to Russia to interview Boris 

Yeltsin and then Vladimir Putin. 

Mike always was incredibly nice 

to me, and when I left CBS to teach 

journalism at Fordham in 2007, he 

accepted my invitation to speak to 

students. Mike had such interesting 

things to say about journalism 

that day that I told him that he 

should write a book about how 

to be a good reporter ... or that we 

should write one together. And we 

did! We took all of our best advice, 

then added the best advice of a 

lot of our friends (including AP 

baseball reporter Ron Blum ’83 and 

Washington Post executive editor 

Marcus Brauchli ’83) and turned 

out an easy-to-read guidebook 

for young journalists. In writing 

the book, I thought a lot about my 

college years working on Spec and 

kept asking myself what I know 

now after 20 years as a journalist 

that I wished I’d known then. The 

book was published by Three Rivers 

Press, part of Random House, 

and I think it is a good read for any 

aspiring journalist.” 

On a personal note, I am most 

happy to see Beth and her son now 

and then at the local JCC where 

we are all members; her son and 

mine have even attended the same 

camp. Small world indeed! 

I can see the letters now: What’s 

next, ’84 Engineering alums? Well, 

why not? While, like Barnard, they 

do have their own magazine, they 

also lived, took courses and dined 

with us, and they were welcome 

to join our 25th reunion dinner. 

So, as far as I’m concerned, they’re 

welcome to stay in touch in this 

column. Let’s hear from craig sultan 

’84E, ’90 Business and carolyn 

strauss-Meckler ’84E, all great class 

leaders, and any of their classmates. 

Fire away! 

85 

Jon white 

16 South Ct. 

Port Washington, NY 11050 

jw@whitecoffee.com 

Well, it’s been a quiet month for 

updates, so please refill the “update 

pipeline” for us. 

The Glee Club is joining other 

singing groups for another concert 

during the upcoming Dean’s Day/ 

Alumni Reunion Weekend (Thursday, 

June 2–Sunday, June 5), so for 

any of you who are in or can get 

to the New York area, plan accordingly. 

There is more info available 

on the Glee Club’s Facebook page. 

I hope to be on campus for this 

and several other Dean’s Day/ 

reunion activities; let me know if 

you are coming so we can catch up 

in person. 

Congratulations to two more of 

our classmates who can add the 

“P” moniker to their Columbia 

credentials: stephen carty and 

Michael romey. Welcome to the 

Columbia Class of 2015, Monica 

Carty and Morgan Romey! We will 

hopefully add to our total “P’15” 

count (now up to three) when the 

final numbers come out. [Editor’s 

note: A list of alumni legacies for 

the College and Engineering Class 

of 2015 is scheduled for the September/October 

issue.] As nearly 

35,000 students applied for admission 

to the College or Engineering, 

acceptance is a terrific accomplishment. 

I have been interviewing 

prospective students for more than 

10 years (a great way to give back 

to the College that doesn’t cost a 

dime; studentaffairs.columbia.edu/ 

admissions/alumni/volunteers.php) 

and have never seen such a strong 

group of potential applicants. 

In early February, I had the pleas- 

what’s Your Story? 

Letting classmates know 

about what’s going on in 

your life is easier than ever. 

Send in your Class Notes! 

ONLINE by clicking 

“Contact us” at 

college.columbia.edu/cct. 

EMAIL to the address at 

the top of your column. 

MAIL to the address at the 

top of your column.


A group of alumni stopped to have their photo taken outside Tom’s 

Diner during their annual Super Bowl celebration in New York City. 

The party included (left to right) Mark Lewis ’86, Ted Munter ’87, Brian 

driscoll ’86, Jeff Monroe ’86E, Jack Catapano, Claude Catapano ’86, 

Lane Vanderslice ’86 and Dave Katz ’86E. 

PhOTO: ChAR SMuLLYAN 

ure of attending the Columbia- 

Princeton basketball game. Although 

not our finest hour on the court (we 

lost by 30 points and were not in the 

game after 10 minutes), my youngest 

son, who would be CC ’20, and I got 

great seats and were named “Family 

of the Game.” We also bumped 

into CCT class correspondent Roy 

Pomerantz ’83, who was there with 

two of his children. When I moved 

into John Jay 30 years ago this fall, 

Roy was the first person who greeted 

me (with his energetic juggling 

act). The enthusiasm and good spirit 

that he had way back then remains 

to this day. 





2128517438 

dEVELOPMENT grace Lee ’02 

sl695@columbia.edu 

2128517492 

Everett weinberger 

50 W. 70th St., Apt. 3B 


everett6@gmail.com 

86 

This is the last column before our 

25th reunion, Thursday, June 2–Sunday, 

June 5. If you haven’t been very 

active with Columbia since graduation, 

that’s OK. It’s not too late! 

Come back to the beautiful, vastly 

improved Columbia campus in early 

June, the best time of year. Remember 

when we had to reluctantly leave 

campus after finals each spring just 

when the weather was starting to be 

amazing? Well, this is your chance to 

return without final exams pressure 

and enjoy great food and drinks and 

the company of old and new friends. 

You also can benchmark yourself 

vis-a-vis your classmates in terms of 

body shape, hairline and material 

success. 

The schedule offers a great mix of 

cultural happenings throughout 

New York City as well as classspecific 

events where we will have a 

chance to renew old friendships. 

Thursday night, there will be a 

chance to take in a show in Manhattan. 

Friday offers mini-Core courses 

and a class dinner. Saturday is 

Dean’s Day, with great lectures, 

including a talk by Dean Michele 

Moody-Adams, followed in the evening 

by the all-class Wine Tasting, 

our class dinner and cocktails, and 

then sweets, champagne and dancing 

on Low Plaza at the Starlight 

Reception. In between, there will be 


us entertained. Don’t miss it. 

It’s not too late to register: alumni. 

college.columbia.edu/reunion. And 

new this year is the ability for us 

to register on a smartphone. The 

Alumni Office has launched the 

free Alumni Reunion Weekend app, 

which features a full and detailed 

listing of events, an up-to-date list 

of registered classmates, answers to 

reunion FAQs and several ways to 

stay connected to Columbia: Twitter 

(twitter.com/Columbia_CCAA) 

and the app’s news module, which 

includes CCT (college.columbia.edu/ 

cct) and Columbia news (news. 

columbia.edu/). 

IPhone, iPod Touch and iPad 

users can search Apple’s App Store 

for “Columbia Reunion” to find our 

class app. BlackBerry, Droid and 

other smartphone users can access 

the app from mobile browsers by 

visiting http://reunion.college. 

columbia.edu/1986mobile. 

Congratulations to dennis chi. 

His daughter Jessica will enter the 

College this fall after graduating 

from Horace Mann School. 

John featherman is running on 

the Republican side in the Philadelphia 

mayoral election this fall. 

He will face incumbent Michael 

Nutter. John, a Philadelphia real 

estate agent, faces an uphill battle 

in a city where most voters are 

Democrats. 

87 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

68 

sarah a. Kass 

PO Box 300808 


sarahkassUK@gmail.com 

With more public tributes to greg 

giraldo hitting the stages and the 

airwaves, we will hold off on our 

promised cumulative tribute for 

one more issue in order to make it 

more comprehensive. Thanks for 

your understanding. 

In the meantime, we have great 

news on the admissions front: three 

— count ’em — three of our classmates 

have children who have been 

John featherman ’86 is running for philadelphia 

mayor this fall on the republican ticket. 

accepted early decision to the Class 

of 2015. Our heartiest congratulations 

go out to Cynthia Campo, 

daughter of Dr. diane hilal-campo 

and Richard P. Campo ’84; Justin 

Goluboff, son of nicole goluboff; 

and Brian McGrattan, son of laura 

ting and Kevin Mcgrattan ’87E. 

Welcome to Columbia! 

I received an e-mail from Eric 

rogers, who has written a new 

novel, Bangkok Vanishing, which he 

describes as “a gritty crime thriller 

about a good family man who goes 

to Thailand and makes terrible 

decisions and is required to battle 

his way back to redemption with 

his family.” 

Eric also wrote, “I miss Columbia, 

living so far from New York in California. 

I live with my dream girl and 

have two spectacular kids. Ethan 

(10) is a stunning soccer player, and 

Lindsay (8) is a guitar-playing country 

singer. I am blessed.” 

In other book news, Keith 

thomson’s Twice a Spy: A Novel, 

hit the shelves in early March. A 

sequel to his Once a Spy: A Novel, 

the book finds his lead character, 

Charlie Clark, having left his life as 

an inveterate gambler far behind 

as he and girlfriend Alice go on the 

lam in Switzerland from Alice’s 

employer, NSA, and a special CIA 

black ops unit known as Cavalry. 

The real star of the group is Charlie’s 

father, Drummond Clark, 

who after a career as a CIA agent 

is sinking into the throes of early 

Alzheimer’s, but who is able, when 

the occasion demands, to revive his 

old skills and save their skins. 

In addition, Spyglass Entertainment 

is developing a feature film 

version of Once a Spy. 

My dear friend and Hunter 

College H.S. classmate Dr. Juanita 

punwaney has started to see dermatology 

patients at Manhattan’s Physician 

Group. She said the group is a 

wonderful multispecialty provider 

with three locations in Manhattan. 

Juanita will be available to see dermatology 

patients at the Upper East 

Side, Midtown and Flatiron offices, 

and the group accepts most major 

insurance plans. 

Please do not forget to join our 

Class of ’87 Facebook group and 

connect with Columbia on LinkedIn! 

The time you put in now in setting 

up your accounts may pay you back 

huge dividends later in the amount 

of networking you can do both with 

other classmates and with connecting 

with current students to give 

them a few minutes of your guidance 

that could help them immensely. 

And that is more than worth the 

few minutes of set-up time. 

88 

Eric Fusfield 

1945 South George 

Mason Dr. 

Arlington, VA 22204 

ericfusfield@bigfoot.com 

Congratulations to the Class of 

1988’s newest legacy parent, Mark 

timoney. The Timoney family will 

be represented on Morningside 

Heights this fall by Mark’s son, 

John Timoney-Gomez, a Bronxville 

(N.Y.) H.S. senior who earned early 

admission to Engineering’s Class 

of 2015. 

Another proud parent, graham 

dodds, writes from Canada with 

perhaps the best argument ever 

offered for moving north of the 

border: “For the past six years, I’ve 

been a political science professor at 

Concordia University in the great 

city of Montreal, trying to explain 

the strange politics of the United 

States to puzzled Canadians. Five 

months ago my wife, Amy Kimball, 

and I had our second child, Julia. 

I’m presently taking advantage of 

Quebec’s generous social welfare 

state by being on a year of paid parental 

leave as a stay-at-home dad, 

but I plan to return to academic 

work in the fall.” 

It was great hearing from my 

former Carman Hall suitemate 

Jonathan Etra ’91L. Jonathan, a 

lifelong New Yorker, moved with 

his wife, Kate Myers, to her native 

Miami in 2003, where they have 

been raising “two fantastic girls,” 

Lilly (6) and Annabelle (1). Once 

a federal prosecutor in New York, 

Jonathan now is a partner at the


Florida law firm of Broad and Cassel, 

where he specializes in complex 

litigation and white collar criminal 

defense. “I have become a happily 

transplanted Floridian, although I 

will always miss New York,” Jonathan 

writes. Does that mean he still 

pulls for his beloved Mets, Giants 

and Knicks? “Absolutely!” 

Please keep your updates coming! 

Feel free to send me an e-mail 

or friend me on Facebook. 

89 

Emily Miles terry 

45 Clarence St. 

Brookline, MA 02446 

eterry32@comcast.net 

I heard from Jill pollack lewis, 

who traveled throughout the tail 

end of 2010 and the beginning of 

this year to Canada to shoot a pilot 

for an HGTV talk show that she 

will host. Traveling back and forth 

between her new home in Connecticut 

and Canada for the show 

has been grueling, but Jill’s husband, 

Jeff, is holding down the fort 

with their young son, Sam, while 

Jill shoots the show. Since the show 

will air in Canada, I’m hoping to see 

Jill strut her stuff via the Internet. 

I caught up with John Macphee 

and donna Macphee in Park City, 

Utah, in January while in town for 

the Sundance Festival and the super 

party Columbia throws for students 

and alumni. John recently retired 

from his position as president of 

Strativa Pharmaceuticals and is 

working on a master’s at the Mailman 

School of Public Health. He 

also has become involved in the 

New York chapter of Bottom Line, 

a nonprofit that my husband, Dave 

Terry ’90, chairs in Boston. Bottom 

Line helps first-generation youths 

get in to and graduate from college. 

John now is Bottom Line’s chairman 

in New York. 

The 2011 Sundance Film Festival 

screened 24 films that collectively 

featured contributions from 38 

alumni, students and faculty who 

represent Columbia and School of 

the Arts. Carol Becker, dean, School 

of the Arts, and Donna, v.p., alumni 

relations, and president, Columbia 

Alumni Association, hosted the 

sixth annual CAA at Sundance 

complimentary reception in Park 

City. Dave and I attended the party 

that honors the work of Columbians 

featured at the festival. There, in 

addition to the many filmmakers, 

we visited with ann-Marie wright 

and her husband, Fred Lampropoulos, 

who, with their children, reside 

in Salt Lake City. 

I also heard from Dan Loflin, 

whom we just missed connecting 

with in Utah, but who has been 

spending a fair amount of time 

there pursuing his new passion, 

fly fishing, when he isn’t working 

hard in San Francisco. 

Since I last caught up with tom 

leder, he and his wife, Mary Ellen, 

and daughter Julia (2) have wel- 

comed another little one, Meg (1). 

The Leders live in northern West- 

chester. Tom writes, “I work for 

MassMutual, out of its White Plains 

office, and with work and fatherhood, 

I have never been busier ... 

or happier.” 

Just as I was about to submit this 

post, I literally ran into Eli neusner 

outside our local bagel shop. 

It was one of those days when I 

hoped to not see anyone I knew, 

for my 4-year-old had insisted on 

wearing pajama bottoms (dinosaur 

pajama bottoms!) to school, and 

it was a typical Monday for us, 

meaning we were looking a bit 

tousled. Eli didn’t seem to notice 

— his kids and wife, Poly, are well. 

It’s always great to see someone 

from the good ol’ Columbia days! 

90 

rachel cowan Jacobs 

313 Lexington Dr. 

Silver Spring, MD 20901 

cowan@jhu.edu 

Yes, Facebook, Jeff sepulveda 

tracked me down. He teaches 

American history, à la James Shenton 

’49, ’54 GSAS (if you weren’t 

a history major, you might not get 

the reference), at the American 

School of Tampico, Mexico. I hope 

the rest of you are doing well and 

might find 30 seconds in your 

lives to send me an update. (Fiftynine 

words. So sad!) 





2128517849 

dEVELOPMENT Eleanor L. Coufos ’03 

elc19@columbia.edu 

2128517483 

Margie Kim 

91 

c/o CCT 


622 W. 113th St., MC 4530 


margiekimkim@ 

hotmail.com 

Our 20th reunion is around the 

corner! Please make plans to join 

the festivities from Thursday, June 

2–Sunday, June 5. There will be a 


throughout New York City and 

class-specific events where we 

will have a chance to renew old 

friendships. Thursday night, there 

will be a chance to take in a show 

in Manhattan. Friday offers mini- 

Core courses and campus tours, 

plus a class reception. Saturday is 

Dean’s Day, with great lectures, 

including a talk by Dean Michele 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

69 

Moody-Adams, followed in the 

evening by the all-Class Wine 

Tasting, a formal class dinner and 

then sweets, champagne, music 

and dancing on Low Plaza at the 

Starlight Reception. Don’t miss it! 

It’s not too late to register. Go 

to reunion.college.columbia.edu, 

or, new this year, register on your 

smartphone. The Alumni Office has 

launched the free Alumni Reunion 

Weekend app, which features a full 

and detailed listing of events, an upto-date 

list of registered classmates, 

answers to reunion FAQs and 

several ways to stay connected to 

Columbia: Twitter (twitter.com/Co- 

lumbia_CCAA) and the app’s news 

module, which includes CCT (college.columbia.edu/cct) 

and Columbia 

news (news.columbia.edu). 









There also is a “Columbia College 

Class of 1991” Facebook group 

if you want to reconnect and get 

more information. 

Football fever swept through 

Dallas in January as Super Bowl 

XLV came to town. My husband 

and I attended our first Super Bowl 

with annie giarratano and her 

husband, Chris Della Pietra ’89, 

who have been to a number of Super 

Bowls. It was great to catch up 

with the Della Pietras and spend 

the weekend with them! 

stephen Jansen is part of our 

Reunion Committee, doing what 

he can from across the ocean. It 

will be a year of change for him, 

as his wife, Jennifer Bender, gave 

birth to their first child, Sabrina Gabriella 

Bender-Jansen, in December. 

Stephen made me laugh when 

he wrote, “First-time parenthood 

on the north side of 40 will be an 

adjustment, to put it mildly.” 

brent bessire sent in this update: 

“sara (schachter) and I live 

in Sonoma County with our boys 

(6, 4 and 2) and two dogs, three 

cats, three goats, two llamas, 10 

chickens, one horse and one rabbit! 

We recently launched our wine 

label, Fogline Vineyards, which is 

producing about 300 cases a year 

of Pinot Noir and Zinfandel. Our 

vineyard is located at about 850 

feet above sea level on the ridge 

of Sonoma Mountain. We have 

been fortunate as a result to have 

reconnected with some local CU 

grads, including britta gooding, 

Dan Loflin ’89, Jeremy Hough ’93 

and David Schach ’99E. Find us on 

Facebook at Fogline Vineyards or 

at foglinevineyards.com. 

“Sara is practicing veterinary 

medicine as a boarded small animal 

internal medicine specialist at 

a practice in Rohnert Park. During 

the brief breaks in her schedule, 

she squeezes in a ride on her horse, 

focusing on dressage. Her horse 

was the runner-up champion two 

of the last three years in his class 

for the state of California.” 

Elisabeth porter won’t be joining 

Married couple brent bessire ’91 and sara schachter 

’91 live in sonoma county and recently launched 

the wine label fogline Vineyards. 

us at reunion, but she did send this: 

“I am a senior program attorney 

for the Guardian ad Litem Program 

in Broward County, Fla. The program 

helps abused and neglected 

children by advocating in their best 

interest. It is hard seeing what these 

children go through every day, but 

it is great to know that there are so 

many dedicated people trying to 

help them. I can only do my best 

and hope that is good enough.” 

Melanie Jacobs and her husband, 

Shane Broyles, welcomed a 

son, Jacob Evan Broyles. Melanie 

and Shane are delighted and exhausted 

first-time parents! 

wayne Jebian is an associate 

professor of English at Lincoln 

College of New England. He lives 

in Connecticut with his wife and 

two children. Wayne’s most recent 

work is a contribution to the collection 

Looking for Lost: Critical Essays 

on the Enigmatic Series. 

And, in the “not the regular 

9-to-5 job” category, sam helfrich 

sent in this update: “In 2000, I received 

my M.F.A. in theater from 

the School of the Arts. Since then, 

I’ve been directing theater and 

opera (mostly opera) around the 

country. Highlights include my 

production of Philip Glass’ Orphée 

at Glimmerglass Opera, which 

continues to be produced at opera 

companies around the country. I 

also directed Amistad for Spoleto 

Festival in Charleston, S.C., and 

Aida at Opera Omaha as its 50th 

anniversary production. I have had 

longstanding associations with 

Opera Boston, Boston Baroque, 

Glimmerglass Opera, Spoleto and 

Pittsburgh Opera, among others. In 

2006, my production of Handel’s 

Agrippina with Boston Baroque 

was named ‘best production of the 

year’ in The Boston Globe. Upcoming 

projects include a fully staged 

production of Handel’s Messiah


with the Pittsburgh Symphony and 

an Off-Broadway production of 

Tape, a play by Stephen Belber. I’ve 

also begun teaching, most recently 

completing my second year as a 

visiting professor at the Yale School 

of Drama, as well as guest residencies 

at Manhattan School of Music 

and Mannes College of Music. I’m 

working on a world premier of a 

new opera, The Secret Agent, based 

on the Conrad story. After premiering 

here in New York, it will travel 

to the Armel Opera Festival in 

Hungary. Much of my work can be 

viewed at samhelfrich.com.” 

Looking forward to seeing everyone 

in June! For those of you who 

can’t make it, I’ll do my best to recap 

it for you. Until next time … cheers! 

92 

Jeremy feinberg 

315 E. 65th St. #3F 


jeremy.feinberg@ 

verizon.net 

News, anyone? 

I thought so. It’s nice to be able 

to give you what you want. 

Let me kick things off with news 

from Karla sanchez. Until recently, 

Karla was a partner at the prestigious 

Patterson Belknap Webb & 

Tyler law firm. But she left to enter 

government service, accepting a 

position with newly elected Attorney 

General Eric Schneiderman’s 

office. She is the executive deputy 

attorney general for economic 

justice, responsible for the Investor 

Protection, Consumer Protection 

and Fraud, Antitrust, Real Estate 

Finance, and Internet bureaus. 

Karla is looking forward to her 

time in the AG’s office and doing 

great things to protect the citizens 

of New York State. 

Karla is not the only one of our 

classmates doing great things in 

government service. I ran into ben 

lawsky at a recent Columbia men’s 

basketball game. He is the chief of 

staff to Governor Andrew Cuomo 

(D-N.Y.). Similarly, peter hatch is 

the state director for Senator Kirsten 

Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). I saw Peter and 

his wife, hilary rubenstein hatch, 

at the annual Dean’s Scholarship 

Reception in February. 

I had lunch with Jake Novak ’92 

GS, who graciously hosted me at 

the offices of News Corp. in Manhattan. 

Jake is the senior producer 

of Varney & Co. on Fox Business 

Network. He also runs a thorough 

blog on all things Columbia football 

at roarlions.blogspot.com. 

Q Vanbenschoten e-mailed to 

pass along some good news: She’s 

been promoted to regional compliance 

officer of Americas for Intertek, 

a FTSE 100 company. As Q describes 

it, “I still spend too much time in 

airports. But I love my new job. I am 

scheduled to speak at the Compliance 

Week Conference in Washington, 

D.C., at the end of May, and I 

get especially psyched about flying 

into Dulles. Usually I have time 

to stop by Five Guys for the best 

cheeseburger in any airport in North 

America, with two shots at it during 

layovers: Terminals A and B.” 

I heard from Kirsten danis, my 

former Spectator editor-in-chief, who 

has taken a new position as deputy 

editor of the Greater New York Section 

of The Wall Street Journal. 

Finally, a little bit of personal 

news: I was deeply honored to be 

asked to serve as the “Honorary 

Coach of the Game” on senior night 

for the men’s basketball team. I 

sat on the bench not only next to 

the current team and coaches (and 

tried to stay out of the way) but also 

next to Jerry Sherwin ’55, who has 

long served as an ambassador for 

the team, as well as the University 

as a whole. I am pleased to report 

that Columbia trounced Brown that 

night, sending off the seniors with a 

win and finishing the season with a 

15–13 record in coach Kyle Smith’s 

first year. (I’ll happily end my 

“coaching” career with a 1–0.) 

On that cheery note, I think 

there’s only one way to end this 

column: Roar, Lions, Roar! Till next 

time. 

betsy gomperz 

41 Day St. 

Newton, MA 02466 

Betsy.Gomperz@ 

gmail.com 

Ask and ye shall receive. In a recent 

column, not only did I ask for those 

of you celebrating birthdays to 

write in, but I also asked for details 

about neil turitz’s 40th birthday 

celebration, and Neil delivered. 

According to Neil, “My birthday 

party was pretty fantastic. Tons of 

people, a great time. I wore a tux 

(as you recall, the invite was ‘black 

tie optional’), and looked pretty 

spectacular. Friends and family 

joined me, there was much alcohol 

consumed, as well as a fair share of 

pigs in blankets and jalapeño poppers, 

of course. I know for a fact that 

Joe saba and his wife, Jen, stephen 

Morfesis, Kevin connolly, axuve 

Espinosa ’93E and addison golladay 

were in attendance, but I had to 

settle for good wishes from friends 

who were not able to make it, like 

you, steve conway, robyn tuerk 

(who was on her honeymoon), patti 

lee, Matt Eddy ’95, alan freeman, 

Eric Zuckerman ’94, Karen Sendler 

’94, Marci Levy ’93 Barnard, Matt 

streem, Joan Campion ’92, Jen 

Beubis ’91 and plenty of others. 

Addison, meanwhile, turned 40 

almost a month later, and the two 

of us have attended each other’s 

shindigs for years. While his was a 

more intimate affair (what with Addison 

being a tad less ... well, let’s 

say ‘flamboyant’ than me), it was 

still delightful. He had a group of 

friends gather at the Russian Vodka 

Room on West 52nd Street, where 

we sampled flavored vodkas (and 

argued to some extent about which 

flavor was which) and chatted in an 

amiable and low-key way.” 

Kirsten danis ’92, former Spectator editor-in-chief, 

is deputy editor of the greater new York section 

of The Wall Street Journal. 

93 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

70 

I also heard from Matt streem, 

who lives “in Solon, Ohio (eastern 

Cleveland suburbs), with my 

wife, Shereen, son, Ryan (6) and 

daughter, Sari (3). Enjoying the 

lowstress levels of the suburbs 

and just spending time with family 

and trying to keep in shape! I 

own a distribution company, Trend 

Evolution, where we sell Burt’s 

Bees, Blistex, Carmex, ChapStick, 

Dial and other impulse products 

to specialty retailers in the United 

States. We also recently developed 

and launched an organizational 

line of office products called Contact 

Keeper (contactkeeper.com) 

that is now available in 1,100 Office 

Depot stores and will be in 

900 FedEx Office stores in March. 

The products solve a common 

problem of keeping business cards 

and notes together, and are great 

for meetings, trade shows, job 

interviews and any business card 

exchange situation. My brother 

Jason Streem ’00 is finishing a residency 

in periodontics at Virginia 

Commonwealth University and is 

planning to start a private practice 

when he moves with his family to 

Cleveland in August. He and his 

wife, Mindy, welcomed a son, Sam, 

in October. I was hoping to see 

chad Moore in California at the 

Natural Products Expo in Anaheim 

in March. I keep in touch with Joel 

cramer, Kevin connolly and neil 

turitz. Otherwise, I’m looking 

forward to a weekend of fun and 

celebration in NYC for my 40th. 

I will definitely check out the old 

stomping grounds!” 

Kwon-Kyun chung recently 

was named v.p. of finance at Soltage, 

a renewable energy provider 

that develops, finances, builds, 

owns and operates solar energy 

systems under a power purchase 

agreement at client facilities across 

the United States. At Soltage, Kwon 

was involved in the financing of 

one of the first merchant power 

plants in the U.S., Sithe Boston 

Generating (1,500 MW), located 

in Boston. Before joining Soltage, 

Kwon worked at Alinda Capital 

Partners for three years, where he 

was responsible for the origination 

of investments in energy and infrastructure 

projects in excess of $2 

billion. He has been with Dresdner 

Kleinwort Wasserstein and WestLB 

AG, where he completed various 

energy project financings in excess 

of $1 billion. Kwon lives in Jersey 

City, N.J. 

As I finish writing this column, 

it is a Sunday evening, and I am 

watching TV. It’s time for my favorite 

Sunday night show, ABC’s 

Brothers & Sisters, and there is cara 

buono appearing as Rose, Tommy 

Walker’s girlfriend. A little Internet 

digging, and I was reminded that 

Cara appeared in Mad Men this 

past fall and also appeared in one 

of my favorites, The Sopranos. 

94 

leyla Kokmen 

440 Thomas Ave. S. 

Minneapolis, MN 55405 

lak6@columbia.edu 

Well, after my sad, newsless column 

in the last issue, I am pleased 

to share an abundance of updates 

this time around. 

suzy shuster Eisen and her husband, 

Rich, welcomed their second 

son, Cooper, in February; he joins 

brother Xander. Megan Mcgowan 

Epstein was there to help celebrate 

his arrival. Suzy is taking some time 

off from sports broadcasting but is 

working with Ron Shelton (who 

directed Bull Durham and Tin Cup) 

on a pilot he wrote based on her 

career as a sideline reporter on ABC. 

Suzy is producing the pilot, which 

has been optioned by NBC. 

david Eisenbach has been 

teaching history, CC and Lit Hum 

at Columbia. In April, Palgrave 

Macmillan is releasing his third 

book, One Nation Under Sex: How 

the Private Lives of Presidents, First 

Ladies and their Lovers Changed the 

Course of American History. David 

co-authored the book with Hustler 

publisher and free speech advocate 

Larry Flynt. 

david dooling lives in Falls 

Church, Va., with his wife, Amy 

Lopez Dooling, and daughter Sofia 

Elena (2). David went to grad school 

for physics then went on to Montreal 

for a post-doc. He spent five years in 

New Mexico before starting work in 

McLean, Va., in 2007. 

Last October, tony ambroza 

moved to Ann Arbor, Mich., and 

joined Carhartt, a 121-year-old 

apparel brand, as v.p. of marketing.


arnold Kim ’96 diagnoses apple on Macrumors.com 

dr. Arnold Kim ’96 had 

two passions from a 

young age: medicine and 

computers. These interests grew 

into dual careers for Kim as a 

physician and founder of Mac 

Rumors.com. In 2008, however, 

with MacRumors attracting 

more than 4 million readers a 

month, he made the decision 

to stop diagnosing kidney problems 

and instead analyze Apple 

news and rumors full-time. 

Since Kim left his medical 

practice to focus on MacRumors, 

the website has continued to 

grow. “Surprisingly enough, the 

recession hasn’t tangibly affec- 

ted us,” Kim says. “Between 

MacRumors and my other web 

projects, we hired four full-time 

employees in 2009.” The additional 

staff has increased the 

site’s ability to cover Apple news 

and rumors, attracting an active 

community of enthusiasts to its 

news, buyer’s guide, discussion 

forums and a separate section 

focused on the iPhone. Advertising 

revenue rose in 2009 and 

2010, and according to Quantcast, 

MacRumors’ number of 

monthly visitors is now more 

than 8 million. 

When it launched in February 

2000, MacRumors was a solo 

enterprise for Kim. “It’s hard to 

even say it was an ‘enterprise’ 

as much as it was a hobby,” he 

explains. “It really required little 

financing. Beyond that it was 

Son Jackson started kindergarten 

and daughter Siena is in preschool. 

“The kids are keeping us busy with 

plenty of activities, and my wife, 

Cheryl, is training for a half-marathon,” 

Tony writes. 

After more than 20 years in New 

York City, rachel phillips flamm 

is moving with her husband and 

two small children to Washington, 

D.C., to join PricewaterhouseCoopers’ 

national office in its international 

tax group. Rachel would 

love to reconnect with classmates 

who are in D.C.; she can be reached 

at rphillips207@yahoo.com. 

dee dee wu is married to Brian 

Golden and is the mother of two 

boys, Jake and Justin. She has been 

practicing rheumatology in Fair 

Lawn, N.J., since she finished her 

just the time I put into it.” That 

time had to be well-managed, 

as Kim earned an M.D. at the 

Medical College of Virginia, 

completed an internal medicine 

residency at UNC Chapel Hill 

and specialized in a nephrology 

fellowship back at MCV. 

MacRumors was started in 

Kim’s last year of medical school. 

Already interested in Apple, Kim 

began tracking news and rumors 

on his blog. After his medical 

fellowship, he joined a private 

nephrology practice in Richmond, 

Va., for two years before 

leaving to devote himself to 

MacRumors full time. “The dec- 

fellowship at the Hospital for Special 

Surgery in New York City. Dee 

Dee lives in Oradell, N.J., and is in 

touch with hetty chung, who lives 

in Manhasset and is an ob/gyn at 

North Shore University Hospital. 

deborah chong sent her first 

Class Notes update. About five 

years ago, she started a nonprofit, 

Medicine in Action, which is dedicated 

to delivering healthcare to 

people in the developing world. 

“We work in Jamaica, Haiti and 

B y La u r a Bu t c h y ’04 ar t s 

Dr. Arnold Kim ’96 works on MacRumors.com in his home office. 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

71 

ision took a long time,” Kim 

says. “I was able to effectively 

juggle my job and MacRumors 

for years, but MacRumors was 

what I enjoyed working on in my 

free time.” 

Kim began spending his free 

time on computers while growing 

up in Newport News, Va., 

when his family got a Commodore 

Vic 20, followed by an 

Apple //c. “For whatever reasons, 

I was drawn to it,” he says. 

“I actually got a modem early. 

At the time, the Internet didn’t 

really exist as it does today, so 

dialing up local bulletin board 

systems was the extent of it.” 

Tanzania,” Deborah writes. “I 

recently returned from Jamaica, 

MIA’s 20th medical mission! I left 

for Tanzania in April.” When she 

is not traveling, Deborah lives and 

works in Oakland, Calif. 

rachel phillips flamm ’94 is moving to washington, 

d.c., to join pricewaterhousecoopers’ national 

office in its international tax group. 

Another first report came from 

Kristine campagna, who lives in 

the Albany area and practices family 

medicine and sports medicine. 

She is married to Bryan Sixberry, 

and they have two boys, Sean (2) 

and Ryan (1). 

Kim followed his sister Nam 

’93 to Columbia. He was premed 

with a concentration in 

computer science, foreshadowing 

his career interests. It was 

only a matter of time, however, 

before two such time-consuming 

occupations led to a choice. 

“In 2007, my wife and I had our 

first child, and that ultimately 

spurred the decision to quit 

medicine,” Kim says. “My available 

free time shrank, and what 

I actually wanted to do with that 

free time also shifted. Spending 

time with our newborn and my 

wife took priority.” 

It is difficult to quantify Kim’s 

working hours. During key times 

when there are a lot of news 

and rumors, he may spend all 

day working, but hiring other 

writers has helped. As blogging 

has grown in popularity over the 

years, the news cycle has accel- 

erated, forcing MacRumors to 

expand coverage. 

“The site has grown considerably 

through the years, but the 

basic format hasn’t changed,” 

Kim says. “The news and rumor 

focus has remained generally 

consistent. In fact, I’ve always 

prided myself on the selectivity 

of the news we choose to report 

on and how seriously we take 

our reporting.” 

Laura Butchy ’04 Arts is a 

teacher, writer and dramaturg 

in New York City. 

Michael cervieri is a co-founder 

of the media production and 

strategy firm ScribeLabs, where 

he’s working on a documentary 

about the future of American news 

media called The Future Journalism 

Project. Columbia has tethered him 

during the past few years. Michael 

taught at the Journalism School 

from 2006–09 and since then has 

taught a course on media and technology 

at SIPA. He lives in Queens 

with dreams of eventually moving 

to warmer, more tropical climates. 

alan berks took the job of director 

of communications for Pillsbury 

House and Pillsbury House Theatre, 

a professional theatre and neighborhood 

center in Minneapolis. “It’s 

a professional theater that actually 

runs a neighborhood center,” he


writes, “so everything we do now 

in the social service area is also 

‘arts-integrated.’ It’s fun.” Alan also 

reports that the Minnesota Jewish 

Theatre produced the area premiere 

of his play, Goats, in March. 

And finally, alicia guevara has 

been named executive director for 

New York at Peace First. Formerly 

known as Peace Games, Peace First 

is a national nonprofit that works 

with schools in Boston, Los Angeles 

and New York to empower 

children, as young as 4, with the 

skills to become peacemakers in 

their schools and communities. Alice 

will be responsible for building, 

growing and sustaining New York 

operations, including securing local 

fundraising, maintaining strong 

school partnerships and ensuring 

excellent program delivery across 

the New York City partner schools. 

Many thanks to everyone who 

wrote! Until next time. 

95 

Janet lorin 

127 W. 96th St., #2GH 


jrf10@columbia.edu 

I can now complete the update 

started in the last issue about Mariecarmelle 

Elie. She and her husband 

are now parents of three boys. Twins 

Noah and Nicholas were born February 

18 at the impressive weights 

of 7 lbs., 10 oz., and 7 lbs., 4 oz. They 

join brother Nathan (3). 

Anyone in Miami, please volunteer 

to give them an hour so they 

can have a break! 

Please keep the updates coming. 





2128517849 

dEVELOPMENT Eleanor L. Coufos ’03 

elc19@columbia.edu 

2128517483 

ana s. salper 

96 24 Monroe Pl., Apt. MA 


asalper@yahoo.com 

Greetings, classmates. Unfortunately, 

I have another paltry column 

for you this time. Where are you? 

We need to hear from you, so send 

in notes, otherwise you will have 

me hounding you for information 

in person at our 15th reunion (see 

how I slipped that in there?) from 

Thursday, June 2–Sunday, June 5. 

It will be a blast, with Mini-Core 

courses, cocktail hours, dinners, the 

all-class Wine Tasting, dancing and 

sweets on Low Plaza and Dean’s 

Day speakers, including Dean Michele 

Moody-Adams. 

It’s not too late to register! Go 









several ways to stay connected to 

Columbia: Twitter (twitter.com/Columbia_CCAA) 

and the app’s news 










visiting http://reunion.college.col 

umbia.edu/1996mobile. 

OK, you’ve heard my piece. On 

to the bit of news I do have for you. 

charles rhyee has been named 

managing director and senior 

research analyst at Cowen Group, a 

New York-based financial services 

firm. Charles will cover health care 

information technology and distribution 

in the health care sector of 

Cowen’s research group. Charles 

recently was a senior research 

analyst for health care distribution 

and information technology 

at Oppenheimer. Prior to this, he 

was an equity research associate at 

Credit Suisse. Charles also has held 

positions at Jefferies & Co., Schwab 

Soundview Capital Markets and 

Smith Barney. 

A hearty congratulations to ger- 

emy Kawaller, who married Ed- 

ward Toll Ackerman in January in 

Greenwich, Conn. Geremy works 

for VelocityShares, a financial services 

company in New Canaan, 

Conn. He sells unsecured debt securities 

and other financial products 

to hedge funds and other financial 

institutions. Geremy earned an 

M.B.A. from NYU. 

And that, my friends, alas, is all. 

What to leave you with this time: 

“A perfection of means, and 

confusion of aims, seems to be our 

main problem.” 

—Albert Einstein 

97 

sarah Katz 

1935 Parrish St. 


srk12@columbia.edu 

Jesse levitt opened a second bar 

in Brooklyn, The Minor Arcana, 

in Prospect Heights. It is inspired 

by tarot cards, carnival sideshows 

and liquor. He invites everyone to 

stop by! 

Michael wachsman happily announces 

the birth of his son, Amitai 

Eitan (aka Adam), born on October 

26. “He is the newest addition to an 

existing trio of siblings and has made 

our son thrilled, for he now finally 

has a brother. About a month after 

the birth of our son, my wife and I 

celebrated (or rather, had; couldn’t 

do too much celebrating with a newborn) 

our 10-year anniversary.” 

Michael enjoys his job doing real 

estate acquisitions and asset management. 

He specializes in multifamily 

real estate investments and 

management in the Connecticut 

market and has had an active few 

months, closing on three deals and 

getting ready to close on a fourth. 

“Anybody having any opportunities 

or wanting to reconnect is wel- 

come to contact me at mwachsman@ 

paredim.com,” he says. 

98 

sandie angulo chen 

10209 Day Ave. 

Silver Spring, MD 20910 

sandie.chen@gmail.com 

For only the second time in nearly 

15 years, I haven’t received any updates. 

I know somewhere, someone 

in our class is moving, getting 

married, transitioning jobs, having 

a baby, something! So I’m hoping 

some of you meet up at Class Day 

on Tuesday, May 17, and will let 

me know, so I can have something 

to write about in a future issue. 

99 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

72 

laurent Vasilescu 

127 W. 81st St., Apt. 4B 


laurent.vasilescu@ 

gmail.com 

A big thank you to lauren becker 

for maintaining our Class Notes 

for the last year. I was handed the 

baton a few months ago, and I hope 

to report on the usual suspects as 

well as some new ones. If you don’t 

remember me by name, I was the 

guy who wore a red ski jacket all 

four years of college. Remember 

how North Face jackets were all the 

rage back then? The last time I submitted 

something to Class Notes, 

brad neuberg and I had the bright 

idea to tell everyone we joined the 

French Foreign Legion to fight communist 

insurgents in Sierra Leone. 

Since then, I graduated from the 

Business School, work in finance 

and plan to get married this summer 

in Brussels, Belgium, to Sophie 

Anderson. Brad has since been honorably 

discharged from the French 

Foreign Legion and worked at 

Google for a number of years. After 

recently watching The Social Network, 

he was inspired to quit Google 

and focus on a start-up in Silicon 

Valley. During last October’s Homecoming, 

sameer shamsi, stacy 

rotner, dominique sasson, scott 

napolitano and Adam Nguyen ’98 

met up at Baker Athletics Complex. 

We plan to round up more people 

this year, on Saturday, October 15, 

so drop us a line if you’re interested 

in joining us for some tailgating. 

I recently met with Martin Mraz, 

who lives in domestic partnership 

with Jenna Johnson right off Smith 

Street in downtown Brooklyn. He 

works in finance during the week 

but spends most of his time building 

a remote cabin somewhere 

upstate. He’s convinced the Dark 

Ages are soon upon us. susan 

Kassin, who obtained her Ph.D. in 

astrophysics at 26, recently taught 

and did research into black holes at 

Oxford. She moved to Washington, 

D.C., in January to continue her 

research for NASA. 

These are all the updates I have, 

so please reach out to me over the 

next few weeks so we can share 

some exciting news with our class. 

I have no problem if you want to 

embellish your achievements. 

00 

prisca bae 

344 W. 17th St., Apt. 3B 


pb134@columbia.edu 

nugi Jakobishvili and his wife, 

Isabelle Levy ’05, welcomed Flora 

Sophia Jakobishvili in December. 

She loves strolling through Riverside 

Park and on College Walk and 

meeting Columbia friends. She is 

an excellent companion as Isabelle 

works on dissertation chapter No. 2. 

Please send me news! Your 

classmates want to hear about you. 





2128517977 

dEVELOPMENT donna d. desilus ’09 

ddd2107@columbia.edu 

2128517941 

Jonathan gordin 

01 3030 N. Beachwood Dr. 

Los Angeles, CA 90068 

jrg53@columbia.edu 

Hi everyone. I hope your spring is 

off to a great start! Hard to believe 

our 10-year reunion is around the 

corner — in fact, only a month 

away, Thursday, June 2–Sunday, 

June 5. Come back to campus for 

Mini-Core courses, cocktail hours, 

dinners, the all-class Wine Tasting, 

dancing and sweets on Low Plaza 

and Dean’s Day speakers, including 

Dean Michele Moody-Adams. 

It’s not too late to register! Go 









several ways to stay connected to


raji Kalra ’97 Finds Fulfillment in Finance for nonprofits 

the stairwell in the construction 

site is pitch 

black. The lights have 

burned out. But Raji Kalra ’97, 

’04 Business wants to go to 

the second floor, where by this 

fall the Museum for African 

Art’s main gallery will be. Her 

cell phone screen isn’t bright 

enough, so she borrows a hotdog-sized 

LED flashlight from a 

construction worker and enters 

the darkness. 

“This is kind of an adventure,” 

she says. 

Kalra is the CFO of the New 

York museum. She manages 

the day-to-day funds and makes 

sure the museum operations 

are sustainable. But since taking 

the position in June 2010, 

the most significant aspect of 

the job has been overseeing 

the capital financing of the museum’s 

first self-owned location 

in its 27 years of existence. In 

previous years, the museum 

occupied rented space, first 

on the Upper East Side, then in 

SoHo and most recently in Long 

Island City, Queens. 

“To say that I was part of 

this groundbreaking event by 

managing the costs is really 

exciting,” Kalra says. 

Scheduled to open this fall, 

the museum will sit off the 

northeast corner of Central 

Park, “where Museum Mile and 

Harlem meet,” Kalra notes. She 

holds in her left arm a stack of 

placards that show renderings 

of what the museum will look 

like. In one image, the main entranceway 

opens to a tall room 

with large, mullioned windows 

on one side and a curving wall 

of light brown African wood on 

the other. 

“We’re not sure if it’s technically 

feasible, but if it is, we’re 

going to do it,” she says of the 

bending wall. 

Kalra is familiar with the 

nuances of overseeing new 

Columbia: Twitter (twitter.com/Columbia_CCAA) 

and the app’s news 




projects. After graduating with 

a double major in economics 

and political science, her plan, 

she says, was to enter private 

industry, retire early and then 

teach. But she also did volunteer 

work, and during the next 

three years, she came to a lifealtering 

conclusion: Working in 

the private sector did not give 

her enough time and energy to 

volunteer. 

“I got a lot of fulfillment and 

pleasure from volunteering and 

I thought, ‘Why can’t I do that 

full time?’ ” Kalra says. 

She decided to return to 

school to better position herself 

for a job in nonprofit finance. 

Kalra spent the next three years 

getting an M.B.A at the Business 

School and a master’s in international 

policy at Johns Hopkins 

through a dual degree program. 

In 2006, Kalra became the 

first director of finance in New 

York City for the Knowledge 

Is Power Program, a national 

network of public schools. 






B y aL B e r t sa m a h a ’11J 

Raji Kalra ’97, CFO of the Museum for African Art, stands at the site 

of the museum’s new East Harlem home, slated to open this fall. 

PhOTO: ALBERT SAMAhA ’11J 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

73 

Then she joined a consulting 

firm that took part in the openings 

of eight schools ranging 

from elementary to high school 

in post-Katrina New Orleans. 

Afterward, she was hired by 

Harlem RBI, a nonprofit youth 

development center in East 

Harlem, as it sought to launch 

its charter school in 2007. All 

in all, 11 new schools opened 

under Kalra’s watch. 

“It takes guts to change careers, 

especially from finance to 

nonprofit. That says a lot about 

Raji’s character. I respect that,” 

says Joy Lin ’97, who was on 

Columbia’s student council with 

Kalra. 

It is a courage that was mold- 

ed during Kalra’s time on campus. 

While she fondly remembers 

favorite classes, such as Professor 

David Downie’s “Economics 

of the Environment” and University 

Professor Jagdish Bhagwati’s 

“International Monetary 

Theory and Policy,” perhaps her 

most rewarding experience took 


visiting http://reunion.college.col 

umbia.edu/2001mobile. 

annie lainer Marquit and 

Jonathan Marquit were married 

place inside the residence halls. 

When Kalra moved onto cam- 

pus at the start of her first year, 

many of her classmates had 

already befriended each other at 

pre-orientation events. The social 

circles had already formed, 

it seemed, and she wasn’t sure 

how she was going to make 

friends. 

“I cried my first two days of college,” 

she admits with a chuckle. 

Kalra’s mother told her to 

knock on every door on her 

dorm’s floor and introduce herself. 

“I definitely was not going 

to do that,” Kalra says. “So I did 

the next best thing.” 

There was a TV in a lounge at 

the end of her hallway. Nearly 

every day for the next two weeks 

she sat by that TV and let the 

friends come to her. It worked. 

She got to know everybody. She 

became class v.p. her freshman 

and sophomore years and class 

president her final two years. 

“Raji is genuinely interested 

in people,” says Lin. “She really 

brings people together. She’s 

always giving.” 

Seventeen years later, it’s 

hard to imagine Kalra anxiously 

sitting by the TV. She glides 

across the cold concrete floor 

of the construction site, toward 

a pair of glass doors that lead to 

a patio area. She tries to push 

one open but it won’t move. 

The doors have been blocked 

by several inches of packed 

snow. She pushes harder, really 

leans into the door and finally 

plows it open. It is freezing, 

raining and slushy outside, but 

Kalra doesn’t seem to notice. 

She walks to the ledge of the 

patio and breathes in the view. 

Albert Samaha ’11J writes 

primarily about social justice. 

His work has been featured in 

publications such as City Limits, 

Examiner.com, Philippine Headlines 

and CollegeFanz.com. 

on January 16 in Los Angeles at 

the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly 

Hills. It was a spectacular wedding, 

and I was fortunate to be 

one of the many Columbians in


Annie Lainer Marquit ’01, ’06L and Jonathan Marquit were married in January at the Four Seasons Hotel in 

Beverly Hills. The multi–Columbia-generational soiree included the bride’s father, Luis Lainer ’65; her sister, 

Jesse Lainer-Vos ’04 SW; brother-in-law, Dani Lainer-Vos ’09 GSAS; Ken Krug ’74; Rabbi Sharon Brous ’95, ’01 

GSAS (who officiated); dina Epstein Levisohn ’01, ’05 TC; Nancy Michaelis (née Perla) ’01; Jamie Rubin ’01 

Barnard; Sarah Rosenbaum Kranson ’01; Donny Kranson ’99E; Billy Kingsland ’01; Susan (née Pereira) wilsey 

’01; Lila Foldes ’01 Barnard; Joyce Chou ’01; Cambria Matlow ’01; dan Laidman ’01; Jonathan gordin ’01; 

david Light ’95, ’02 Arts; and Toby Reifman ’70 SW. 

PhOTO: MIChAEL BRANNIgAN 

attendance, including the bride; 

her father, Luis Lainer ’65; her 

sister, Jesse Lainer-Vos ’04 SW and 

brother-in-law, Dani Lainer-Vos 

’09 GSAS; Ken Krug ’74; Rabbi 

Sharon Brous ’95, ’01 GSAS (who 

officiated); dina Epstein levisohn; 

nancy Michaelis (née Perla); Jamie 

Rubin ’01 Barnard; sarah rosenbaum 

Kranson; Donny Kranson 

’99E; billy Kingsland; susan 

wilsey (née Pereira); Lila Foldes 

’01 Barnard; Joyce chou; cambria 

Matlow; dan laidman; David 

Light ’95, ’02 Arts; and Toby Reifman 

’70 SW. [See photo.] 

Annie and Jonathan are attorneys 

in Los Angeles and reside in 

Santa Monica. 

Marc dunkelman and his wife, 

Kathryn Prael, welcomed Emilia 

Prael Dunkelman on February 

10. Emilia weighed 9 lbs., 7.6 oz. 

My family and I visited Marc and 

Kathryn in Washington, D.C., 

a few months ago as they were 

preparing for Emilia’s arrival. Congratulations 

to Marc and Kathryn! 

Matthew wosnitzer married 

Danielle Rudich ’04 Barnard on October 

3 at Glen Island Harbor Club 

in New Rochelle, N.Y. Matthew’s 

brother, Brian Wosnitzer ’02E, was 

best man, and other Columbians in 

attendance included isaac darko 

and david Epstein. Matthew and 

Danielle live on the Upper West 

Side; Matt is completing his fifth 

year of urology residency at 

NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia 

University Medical Center and 

Danielle is completing her third 

year of ophthalmology residency at 

Mount Sinai Medical Center. 

samantha Earl and Francis 

Manheim recently were married in 

New York City, where they reside. 

Sam is completing a master’s at 

MIT in urban planning and design. 

Francis is an investment banker. 

Many Columbians gathered in 

beautiful Sonoma, Calif., on September 

25 for the wedding of ali Kidd 

and Travis Ritchie. A lovely garden 

overlooking a vineyard provided the 

perfect backdrop, and several ’01ers 

provided the party, including Jenny 

tubridy, Jessie tubridy, Jaime pannone, 

anne-Marie Ebner, becca 

siegel bradley and Emily georgitis 

stanton ’01E. The magical day was 

truly a Columbia affair: The bride’s 

father is Robert Kidd ’70, and the 

party stretched long into the night 

thanks to the entertainment provided 

by James Tubridy ’97. 

Ali is an associate at the San 

Francisco office of Gibson, Dunn, 

and Crutcher, where she practices 

law in the real estate group. Travis 

is an attorney at the Sierra Club. 

Ali and Travis met at UCLA, from 

which they both received law and 

public policy degrees. While at 

UCLA, they also were students of 

former Massachusetts Governor 

Michael Dukakis, who officiated the 

wedding and noted that theirs was 

the first wedding he has officiated 

for two of his former students. 

My family and I recently took a 

road trip to the Bay Area and stayed 

in the beautiful new San Carlos home 

of Michelle nayfack (née Braun) and 

her husband, Aaron Nayfack. Our 

daughter, Julian, had a blast playing 

with their son, Isaac, but we still miss 

having them here in Los Angeles. 

Best wishes to all, and please do 

keep in touch. 

02 

sonia dandona 

hirdaramani 

2 Rolling Dr. 

Old Westbury, NY 11568 

soniah57@gmail.com 

trushna leitz-Jhaveri and her husband 

moved in November to Zurich. 

She writes, “We love our new home 

and are making the most of this little 

country’s beautiful mountains and 

great cheese and chocolate.” 

agnia baranauskaite grigas 

moved back to California after getting 

her Ph.D. at Oxford and completing 

her posting as adviser to 

the foreign minister of Lithuania. 

She is based in Santa Monica with 

her husband, Paulius Grigas, and 

they are launching a technology 

company. Agnia looks to connect 

with old friends and alumni in the 

technology sector. Please contact 

her at agnia@grigas.net. 

03 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

74 

Michael novielli 

World City Apartments 

Attention Michael J. 

Novielli, A608 

Block 10, No 6. Jinhui 

Road, Chaoyang District 

Beijing, 100020, People’s 

Republic of China 

mjn29@columbia.edu 

Well folks, this year marks our 

eighth year as alumni of the College. 

I would be lying if I said that 

it feels natural to start thinking 

about our 10-year reunion, but 

in about a year’s time we’ll need 

to start doing precisely that. I am 

planning to return to New York in 

June 2013 for reunion, and I hope 

that you will as well. In the meantime, 

let’s celebrate the continued 

success of our classmates. 

Katori hall continues to make 

headlines. She was featured in an 

article in the March 2 New York 

Times for winning the Susan Smith 

Blackburn Prize. This award is given 

annually to outstanding women 

playwrights, and Katori earned 

$20,000 and a print by artist Willem 

de Kooning for her play Hurt Village, 

which explores the issues facing 

families in a decaying Memphis 

housing project. 

Michael wolf is graduating in 

May with an M.B.A. from Wharton. 

He “will join a stealth startup based 

in New York City. Stay tuned for 

our launch this spring.” 

nadege fleurimond writes, “I recently 

offered a Groupon for my company, 

Fleurimond Catering, and sold 

more than 800 cooking parties, which 

are weekly cooking classes that I offer 

as a great way to have fun, network 

and meet people. I have even done 

one of my favorite cooking parties 

for CCYA, which was really nice. In 

other news, I started doing some TV 

catering, and I boast BET News and 

The Colbert Report as new clients.” 

Ben Kopit ’02 is getting an 

M.F.A. in screenwriting at UCLA. 

dawn Zimniak is getting married 

on June 25, with about 20 Columbia 

alumni scheduled to attend. 

04 

angela georgopoulos 

200 Water St., Apt. 1711 


aeg90@columbia.edu 

Congratulations to lydia roach, 

who earned a Ph.D. in oceanography 

from the Scripps Institution 

of Oceanography at UC San Diego 

and now is an environmental 

consultant at Dudek in Encinitas, 

Calif. anjlee Khurana graduated 

from Vanderbilt Law in 2008 and 

works at Harris Martin Jones in 

Nashville. Finally, congratulations 

go out to ben falik and his family, 

who welcomed daughter Phoebe 

in February. 

Don’t forget to send me your 

news! Let your friends and fellow 

alumni know what you have been 

up to. 

05 

peter Kang 

205 15th St., Apt. 5 


peter.kang@gmail.com 

CCT should publish an infographic 

that shows a breakdown of intraclass 

marriages since 1983. It’d be


interesting to see where our class 

ranks. Adding to our class total 

are Joanna dee ’11 GSAS and 

Dr. Koushik das ’09 P&S. They 

were married on December 18 in 

Somerset, N.J. Classmates in attendance 

included Jennifer legum 

weber, irene Malatesta, steven 

Esses, Jamie Yoon, ashley walker 

and Marc dyrszka ’10 P&S, along 

with many other Columbians. (See 

photo.) 

Another interesting infographic 

could show marriages between 

members of different classes and 

among the different schools (Engineering, 

Barnard, etc.). John a. Zaro 

and Natalie Leggio ’04 Barnard were 

married October 2 at Saint James 

Roman Catholic Church in Setauket, 

N.Y. Celebrating with the couple 

were travis rettke, sean connor, 

Mike grady, James catrambone, 

brendan Quinn, Jenny Madden 

(née Korecky) and greg Madden, 

and dave buffa. After the wedding, 

John and Natalie traveled to France 

and visited Paris, Mont Saint-Michel 

and the Loire Valley before heading 

south to Antibes, St. Paul de Vence, 

Nice and Monaco. They reside in 

downtown Manhattan. 

rebecca silberberg married Eric 

Levine last March. Rebecca met Eric 

at Harvard Law, and both are lawyers 

in New York. In attendance at 

the wedding were Rebecca’s great 

friends, whom she met on Carman 

5: alexandra seggerman, stephen 

poellet, lindsey May ’05E and 

bridget (geibel) stefanski. 

Congrats to all the newlyweds! 

When Columbians marry, many 

have kids. Jonathan Reich ’04, ’07L 

and suzanne schneider welcomed 

the arrival of twins Sophia Hannah 

and Charlotte Grace in January. 

Susanne is taking the semester off 

from working on her Ph.D. in 

Middle Eastern studies at GSAS 

in order to “master new skills like 

feeding, diapering and maneuvering 

the double stroller.” She will 

resume research in London and 

Jerusalem this summer. 

Nugi Jakobishvili ’00 and isabelle 

levy welcomed Flora Sophia 

Jakobishvili in December. She loves 

strolling through Riverside Park 

and College Walk and meeting 

Columbia friends, and is an excellent 

companion as Isabelle works 

on dissertation chapter No. 2. 

Congrats to our new parents! 

carmen Yuen writes: “I (La Carmina, 

as I’m known professionally) 

have joined the NOH8 team. The 

NOH8 Campaign (NOH8Cam 

paign.org) fights inequality and 

discrimination via a silent photo 

protest. Celeb supporters include 

Paris Hilton, Lady Gaga and Adam 

Lambert. For the first time, we are 

taking the campaign worldwide ... to 

Tokyo! There’s more info at NOH8 

Campaign.org and at lacarmina. 

Joanna dee ’05, ’11 GSAS and Dr. Koushik das ’05, ’09 P&S tied the knot in December in Somerset, N.J. Celebrating 

with them were (left to right) Katie Broad; Jed Bradley ’06; Andrew Brotzman ’03, ’11 Arts; Carey 

Garris Brotzman; Kelly Desantis, Brian hansbury ’03; Monica Valente Harriss; Brett harriss ’03, ’08 Business; 

Brian Overland ’04; the bride; the groom; daniel Byrnes ’03; Kristin Szatkiewicz; Jennifer Legum weber ’05; 

daryl weber ’02; Lauren Fishman Perotti ’02 Barnard; daniel Perotti ’02; Irene Malatesta ’05 Barnard; Josh 

Silverman ’02E; Steven Esses ’05; and Daniella Lichtman Esses ’05 Barnard, ’09L. 

PhOTO: AJIT SINgh PhOTOgRAPhY 

com.” 

nancy Yerkes earned a Ph.D. in 

biochemistry from MIT and started 

her first year of medical school at 

Stanford. 

anna lee graduated from business 

school at UC Berkeley and 

moved back to New York last sum- 

mer. She works at American Express 

in the Membership Rewards New 

Product Development Group. 

In March, brendon-Jeremi Jacobs 

became a proud homeowner as he 

moved in with his partner, Bob Mc- 

Kee, in historic West Germantown, 

Philadelphia. He’ll graduate in May 

with an M.S. in teaching, learning 

and curriculum from Penn Graduate 

School of Education and then leave 

for Georgetown for a graduate constitutional 

seminar with the James 

Madison Fellowship. Brendon- 

Jeremi’s thesis is on how single-sex 

education impacts the social and academic 

development of girls. In June, 

the class that he’s sponsored for the 

past three years also will graduate. 

Former Columbia women’s 

soccer assistant coach Kate lyn 

was named head women’s soccer 

coach at Marist College in January. 

Kate had been an assistant and 

goalkeeping coach under Kevin 

McCarthy ’85, ’91 GS for the last 

four seasons, and was the top assistant 

coach on his staff for the past 

three years. 

bennett cohen is pursuing an 

M.S. in industrial ecology from the 

Universities of Leiden and Delft in 

the Netherlands. anya cherneff 

lives in Leiden, and they are both 

working on the launch of an NGO 

that helps women in Southeast Asia 

who live in marginalized communities 

become successful renewable 

Kate lyn ’05, former columbia women’s soccer 

assistant coach, has been named head women’s 

soccer coach at Marist college. 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

75 

energy microentrepreneurs. The 

NGO is called Empower Generation 

and is set to launch by 2012. 

Please continue to send me your 

updates. Thanks! 





2128517977 

dEVELOPMENT Amanda Kessler 

ak2934@columbia.edu 

2128517883 

Michelle oh sing 

06 

9 N 9th St., Unit 401 


mo2057@columbia.edu 

Writing this issue’s column was 

especially exciting with our fiveyear 

reunion just a month away 

by the time you read it! It’s been a 

pleasure to be able to stay in touch 

with you by way of this column, 

but I’m looking forward to catching 

up with everyone in person! 

If you haven’t already, please 

make plans to attend Alumni Re- 

union Weekend, Thursday, June 2– 

Sunday, June 5. Join your classmates 

for great cultural happenings 

throughout New York City as 

well as plenty of dinners, cocktail 

hours and parties that will provide 

an opportunity to catch up on the 

last five years. Dean’s Day will be 

held Saturday, with a great lineup 

of lectures, including one by Dean 

Michele Moody-Adams, and the 

evening concludes with champagne 

and dancing on Low Plaza. I am 

looking forward to what is sure to 

be a marvelous celebration! 

It’s not too late to register via the 

web (alumni.college.columbia.edu/ 

reunion) or even on a smartphone. 

The Alumni Office has launched the 

free Alumni Reunion Weekend app, 

which features a full and detailed 

listing of events, an up-to-date list 

of registered classmates, answers to 

reunion FAQs and several ways to 

stay connected to Columbia: Twitter 

(twitter.com/Columbia_CCAA) 

and the app’s news module, which 

includes CCT (college.columbia.edu/ 

cct) and Columbia news (news. 

columbia.edu). 









Until then, here are the latest 

updates from our class: 

Jeremy Kotin will screen the first 

of multiple video pieces highlighting 

the amazing work of the Alzheimer’s 

Association, NYC chapter, at 

its annual gala in June. Comprising 

interviews with patients and caregiv-


CCT class correspondent Michelle Oh ’06 and Alan C. Sing were married in January in Rockleigh, N.J., in front of 

enough Columbia alumni to fill a stadium. Cheering the couple were (back row, left to right) Albert Kim ’03E, Timothy 

Kang ’06E, Bernard Lin ’04E, Edward Kim ’08, Paul Yoo ’06E, William Kang ’06E, Spencer Chang ’06, Andrew 

Lichtenberg ’06 and Jukay Hsu; and (front row, left to right) Bori Kang ’06 Barnard, Jamie Yoo ’07 Barnard, Christine 

Kwak ’07, Irene Kwon ’06 Barnard, Joo Lee Song ’07, Jee hae Yoon ’04, Jennifer Kim ’06, the bride, the groom, Jessica 

Lee ’06, Christine Chung ’06, Josephine Kim ’06, Angela Lee ’06 Barnard, Michelle Lee ’06 and Sarah hwang ’07. 

PhOTO: MINNOw PARK 

ers as well as high-impact animation, 

the pieces will spool out online in the 

following months. Jeremy is proud 

that the feature film MONOGAMY, 

which he co-produced and co- 

edited, played in theaters nationwide 

starting in March. Everyone 

put it in your Netflix queue or watch 

it on-demand! 

talibah l. newman completed 

her Kickstarter.com fundraiser 

for her next short film, Busted on 

Brigham Lane, which will shoot in 

May and needs a savvy producer. 

Talibah is in her second year at the 

School of the Arts, aiming to obtain 

an M.F.A. in film directing. She also 

is working on her first children’s 

book, Olayinka’s Beaded Comb. 

Matt smith will graduate in May 

from Duke Law and will begin a 

one-year clerkship with Judge 

Rosemary Barkett of the U.S. Court 

of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit 

in Miami in September. 

andrew stinger is wrapping 

up a year-long stint in Google’s 

Cambridge, Mass., office, where he 

enjoyed working alongside Meredith 

Fuhrman ’05 and running 

into the recently engaged caroline 

guidry ’06E as well as Colleen 

Myers ’07 and Kwame spearman. 

Andrew headed back to the Bay 

Area in April as he moved into 

product development for Google 

TV and Video Ads. 

The following is a nice prelude 

to the following three submissions: 

Victoria baranetsky writes 

from Cambridge, Mass., with her 

bimonthly haiku: “Engagements 

abound / from our dear class of 

’0 - 6 / welcome adulthood.” 

paul fileri and Kinara flagg 

are happy to share that they got 

engaged in November. Right now 

they’re living together in New York 

City as Paul works on his dissertation 

and teaches in the Department 

of Cinema Studies at NYU and 

Kinara finishes her final year at 

the Law School and keeps busy 

as editor-in-chief of the Columbia 

Human Rights Law Review. After 

almost a decade in the city, both are 

moving to New Haven in August, 

where Kinara will begin a two-year 

clerkship with the federal district 

judge Janet Bond Arterton. 

Emily ross started her second 

semester back at Columbia, working 

toward an M.P.A. at SIPA. She 

enjoys being at school again, especially 

seeing all the familiar sights 

on campus and hanging out with 

old friends. Over break, she not only 

got married but also went to Egypt 

on her honeymoon. Emily and her 

husband, Ryan, had an amazing 

time and luckily left just days before 

the protests started. She swears that 

she played no role in their instigation 

... The Democracy Promotion course 

is only offered to SIPA second-year 

students (joking)! Emily will intern 

in Washington, D.C., this summer 

and looks forward to rejoining the 

D.C. alumni group. 

And to close, a happy announcement 

of my own: Michelle oh and 

Alan C. Sing ’05 Dartmouth were 

married on January 8 in Rockleigh, 

N.J. The celebration was made all 

the more memorable by the many 

Columbians in attendance (see 

photo). This month, Michelle will 

graduate from Columbia’s dual 

masters’ program at SIPA and the 

Journalism School and will join 

Alan in Philadelphia, where he is a 

pediatric resident at the Children’s 

Hospital of Pennsylvania. 

07 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

76 

david d. chait 

1255 New Hampshire 

Ave. N.W., Apt. 815 

Washington, DC 20036 

ddc2106@columbia.edu 

As we celebrate four years since 

graduation from Columbia College, 

see below for some exciting CC ’07 

updates! 

Robert Half Legal announced 

that bryan lee is the 2011 Minority 

Corporate Counsel Association 

scholarship winner and the new 

Robert Half Legal scholar. Currently 

a first-year law school student at 

UCLA, Bryan will receive $10,000 to 

use toward tuition. 

leni babb writes, “I love Salt 

Lake City. I’ve skied more than 15 

days already, and it’s only February. 

And law school is going great. 

I recently spoke with Kori gatta, 

and she and her boyfriend, John 

Estrada, are living the dream in 

Manhattan, working hard in the 

hedge fund industry.” 

Katerina Vorotova recently left 

her consulting role at Thomson 

Reuters and now is a strategic and 

financial planning associate at 

Weight Watchers International. She 

also became a board member of 

Columbia College Women (CCW; 

college.columbia.edu/alumni/com 

mittees/ccw), an alumna network 

at the College. 

carolyn braff shares, “I am both 

thrilled and sad to say that I will be 

leaving New York this summer to 

move to Chicago, where I will start 

business school at the University of 

Chicago in the fall. Anyone in the 

Chicago area, or anyone who has 

recommendations for brunch places 

in the Chicago area, please get in 

touch!” 

andrew russeth recently began 

working at Metro Pictures Gallery in 

New York and received a Creative 

Capital/Andy Warhol Foundation 

Arts Writers Grant for his blog 

about contemporary art, 16 Miles of 

String (16miles.com). One weekend 

in February, he had the pleasure of 

dining on Porchetta’s famous pork 

sandwiches with avi Zenilman and 

david chait. Afterward, the trio 

repaired to the apartment Russeth 

shares with Marc tracy. 

siheun song left Ava Luna last 

year and missed her chance to tour 

Europe with the band, which continues 

to record and tour (featured 

as “Indie Band Crush” by Nylon 

Magazine in November). She filled 

the void left by the excitement of her 

rock band days by shifting more of 

her time to CCW, serving as board 

secretary and chair of the membership 

committee. On February 1, 

Siheun was elected the chair-elect 

of CCW, succeeding chair Claire 

Shanley ’92. Siheun’s two-year term 

will begin in September. During the 

day, she is building her four-year-old 

financial practice as a consultant at 

AXA Advisors in Midtown. 

samantha feingold is excited to 

be graduating from Fordham Law 

in May. She won her trial advocacy 

competition sponsored by the A.B.A. 

and as regional champion competed 

at the national competition in Texas 

in April. 

Eric bondarsky and Nina Co- 

bryan lee ’07 is the 2011 Minority corporate counsel 

association scholarship winner and the new 

robert half legal scholar. 

hen ’09 Barnard recently hosted a 

delicious dinner featuring all-stars 

Rebecca Schmutter-Kornecki ’04, 

’07L, Adina Bitton ’08 Barnard and 

Michael Emerson ’09. The intellectual 

discourse ranged from a 

new restaurant in Williamsburg 

to the new profession known as 

“man coach,” or as they coined 

it that evening, “moach.” More 

importantly, more chili than can be 

humanly imagined was consumed 

thanks to Nina’s culinary skills. 

adam brickman writes, “Dur-


ing the Martin Luther King Jr. Day 

weekend, nick dicarlo, christopher 

simi, Marty Moore, christian 

capasso and I were part of a team 

that won the Second Annual Blue 

Chip Farms Snow Bowl. The squad 

defeated a team composed partially 

of Jonathan chanin, noam 

Zerubavel, craig rodwogin, Joshua 

Kace ’07E and david Koretz ’07E. 

“Dominated and demoralized 

are probably more apt terms to 

describe the circumstances of the 

victory. Moore scored the game’s 

first offensive touchdown by dusting 

the opposing team’s secondary 

on an early go route. After a back 

and forth first half, it became apparent 

early in the third quarter 

that all signs of hope had been 

extinguished from the losing team 

(‘the losers’). Simi’s relentless pass 

rush, coupled with Koretz’s inability 

to throw in the direction of 

‘Capasso Island’ limited the losers’ 

offensive options. 

“Mr. DiCarlo was awarded the 

game ball as the team’s M.V.P. ‘It 

was a great win,’ said Nick. ‘I’d say 

we triumphed because of superior 

athleticism, better teamwork and 

a distinct lack of SEAS graduates 

on our squad. Those guys are 

spastic.’ ” 

seth flaxman and Jim Mccormick 

are looking for a good broker 

to help them find an apartment in 

Brooklyn (somewhere around Fort 

Greene). Seth asks, “Any recommendations? 

(Please send referrals 

to P.O. Box We Are On Facebook.)” 

08 

neda navab 

53 Saratoga Dr. 

Jericho, NY 11753 

nn2126@columbia.edu 

While studying at SUNY Downstate 

Medical School, the always impressive 

calvin sun also has helped to 

build a medical clinic in Mexico. “I 

don’t believe any of us fully grasped 

the impact of what we were doing 

until we had left. And even now, 

in the nascent days of our Tijuanawithdrawal, 

I still haven’t fully comprehended 

the obvious, the notion 

that we were in Mexico for only four 

days, transcending a community 

service cliché by creating something 

more than just a building. 

“We returned feeling like we lived 

up, somehow, to the overarching mission 

of helping serve a community of 

1,500 in need, but we also came back 

having taken with us something we 

never really read in the pamphlets 

or heard about in our information 

sessions. Beneath the very obvious 

act of building a clinic, we also unconsciously 

had nurtured a remarkable 

environment of affiliation and acceptance 

among one another. Novices 

and experts, young and elder, artists 

and builders, brains and brawn; 

strangers from all over the country 

boasting vastly diverse and seemingly 

incompatible interests, skills, 

expectations and levels of determination 

somehow were able to quickly 

reconcile incongruities and establish 

something organic in doing one thing 

and that one thing well: to build. 

“There never was a pre-screening, 

and there was not an application 

process. The only red tape we saw 

was used as nametags. All 40 of us 

were instead judged and accepted 

onto the team based solely on our 

willingness to create. Armed with 

the curiosity of what a bunch of 

strangers can do when they share 

the same goal, we came back having 

learned that sometimes wonderful 

things can happen.” 

Being in a snow-covered New 

York is great for a few days, but 

when the opportunity arises to head 

to the Rocky Mountains, where you 

can really make use of the white 

stuff, this crowd couldn’t resist. So 

in January, christopher tortoriello, 

caitlin hodge, carmen ballard, 

Vladimir gorbaty ’08E, sumana 

rao and Jason gordon ’08E, all of 

whom live in New York, reunited 

with their friends rob wu and liz 

gill, who live on the West Coast, 

for a week of skiing/snowboarding 

in Vail, Colo. “It was the best time of 

our lives. Two cracked ribs and one 

missing tooth later, we are all still 

wondering why we got back on the 

plane to JFK,” said Carmen. 

rachel weidenbaum (now 

rachel claire) had the lead role in 

Ansky’s The Dybbuk and various 

ensemble roles in Federico García 

Lorca’s Blood Wedding. Both shows 

were performed with Marvell Repertory 

in its inaugural season at the 

Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex 

on West 36th Street from March 

through April. She was thrilled to 

be working alongside Broadway 

veterans and received her Actors’ 

Equity card! In February, Rachel 

made her TV debut as Sadie in 

Fire at the Triangle on the PBS series 

American Experience. 

09 

alidad damooei 

c/o CCT 


622 W. 113th St., MC 4530 


damooei@gmail.com 

stephanie chou recently released 

her debut recording, which explores 

a new approach to combining jazz, 

traditional Chinese music and 

math. Prime Knot contains a varied 

set of original compositions including 

jazz arrangements of the ancient 

Chinese classic, “Jasmine Flower,” 

tunes inspired by knot theory, 

classical piano and pop. It features 

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s 

Marcus Printup on trumpet and 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

77 

Graduating from college, check. Summiting Mount Kilimanjaro, check. 

What’s next? Friends Samuel Harris, Tomoko Masaki, Stephanie Shieh ’08, 

Amelia Breyre ’08 and Daniel Breyre have plenty of time to figure it out on 

the decent from the Tanzanian mountain, which they climbed in January. 

flugelhorn, fellow Columbians 

Jeremy Siskind ’10 GSAS on piano 

and Joel Gombiner ’11 on tenor 

saxophone, and Israeli musicians 

Daniel Ori on bass and Ronen Itzik 

on drums. Steph plays alto saxophone 

and piano and sings. Audio 

samples can be found at stephchou. 

com. Prime Knot now is available 

in hard copy and digital download 

from CDBaby (cdbaby.com/cd/ 

stephchou), iTunes and Amazon. 

The NYC release concert was on 

April 29 at Drom on Avenue A and 

featured the full band. 

After graduation, Joanna Zuckerman 

bernstein spent a year in 

Mexico City on a Princeton in Latin 

America fellowship. In addition to 

working at a public health organization, 

she spent a month roadtripping 

around the south of Mexico. 

Upon returning to the United States, 

Joanna moved to Chicago, home to 

the second largest Mexican immigrant 

population in the country. She 

is the development coordinator for 

Universidad Popular, a community 

organization that offers ESL classes, 

computer literacy and repair courses, 

Spanish literacy classes, youth afterschool 

programs, dance and exercise, 

and citizenship classes. 

Almost immediately following 

graduation, brett robbins hopped 

on a plane for the first leg of a 

seven-month, round-the-world trip 

that would take him through 21 

countries on six continents (Antarctica 

is next). A few weeks in Europe 

were followed by months in South 

America, Asia and Oceania before 

concluding in Africa. Though he 

did some solo exploring, Brett often 

was accompanied by friends. He 

met up with seth Melnick in Delhi, 

and together they tackled India, 

Nepal, Vietnam and Cambodia. 

Brett returned to the States in 

January 2010 and started working 

for McKinsey. Currently on his sixth 

project, Brett has explored multiple 

business topics in industries that include 

finance and pharmaceuticals. 

He joined the Learning Committee, 

which designs learning programs 

for first- and second-year business 

analysts, and the Columbia recruiting 

team. 

Brett recently was staffed on a 

growth strategy project in China, 

flying to and from Hong Kong and 

Shanghai. Though life on the road 

can be lonely, he has had the opportunity 

to see China through the 

“local” eyes of fellow Columbians 

Tom Hou ’11, allan lau and colin 

felsman, who are involved with 

various projects in China. Brett was 

scheduled to return home for good 

at the end of January. 

colin felsman is halfway through 

his year as a Luce Scholar working 

for a nonprofit incubator in Shanghai. 

This year has given him a 

chance to fully immerse himself in 

the Chinese social enterprise and 

nonprofit space, begin the arduous 

task of learning Mandarin and travel 

like he never has. Colin’s journeys 

so far (both for work and pleasure) 

have included Vietnam, Thailand, 

Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia 

and numerous locations throughout 

China. In addition to more domestic 

excursions, during the coming six 

months Colin will head to Taiwan, 

Mongolia, South Korea, Laos and 

even New Zealand. When not on 

the road, he has grown quite fond 

of Shanghai, which he says is a dynamic 

city of sharp juxtapositions, 

rapid modernization and fascinating 

history. He relates that the city


is undeniably in the midst of a 

pivotal moment, so it’s incredible, if 

sometimes troubling, to witness its 

evolution. 

And last but not least, amanda 

weidman and shana bush are 

having fun. 

10 

Julia feldberg 

4 E. 8th St., Apt. 4F 


juliafeldberg@gmail.com 

Hello everyone! There are a lot of 

great updates to report. 

After spending summer 2010 in 

Rio de Janeiro, innokenty “Kenny” 

pyetranker began his studies 

at Harvard Law, where he is 

involved with the Harvard National 

Security Journal and the Jewish Law 

Students Association. Most importantly, 

Kenny is a member of the 

Columbia Alumni Representative 

Committee and encourages fellow 

alums to do the same. He will 

spend this summer in Washington, 

D.C., as a summer associate at 

Public International Law & Policy 

Group, a global pro bono law firm 

that provides legal assistance to 

states and governments involved 

in conflicts. 

Michael bossetta is enrolled in 

a master’s program for European 

studies at Lund University in Sweden. 

He will work this summer 

at the U.S. embassy in Stockholm 

within the Bureau of European and 

Eurasian Affairs. 

Maria alzuru writes, “After 

completing a 15-week unpaid 

internship (aren’t they all?) at 

The Carter Center in Atlanta last 

semester, I was offered a temporary 

full-time position as assistant 

project coordinator (APC) for the 

Americas Program. Things I’ve 

learned: 1. Getting paid makes 

working 40 hours a week immensely 

easier. 2. Interns get to do 

research and analysis, APCs are 

all administrative and logistical 

tasks. 3. I officially want to go back 

to school. At least now I know for 

sure, right? Also, having a couple 

of CU people around is priceless.” 

lien hoang joined the Sacramento 

bureau of the Associated 

Press in February as a reporter 

covering California legislation. She 

writes, “I’m excited to work with 

journalists and lawmakers in and 

around the state capitol, addressing 

policies and politics with reverberations 

around the country. So far, my 

reporting has appeared in outlets 

such as Bloomberg and the San 

Francisco Chronicle. This also means 

I spend much more time exploring 

the downtown. Yes, you can have a 

lot of fun in Sacramento.” 

natalie gossett, on spring break 

from Villanova Law, visited Emily 

wilson in Marseilles, France. She 

plans to visit campus to see the 

Shakespeare Troupe’s spring show. 

Natalie will be working in something 

law-related in Philadelphia 

this summer. 

Ebele ifedigbo writes, “¡Saludos 

desde Ecuador! I am here working 

with a nonprofit organization that 

focuses on rural development and 

environmental education. I have 

been here about 1½ months as I 

write this, working with youth 

groups, learning Spanish, making 

new personal connections and 

enjoying the fact that I do not have 

to endure the winter this year, 

among other things. I plan to stay 

six months in total.” 

And finally, I will leave you with 

another one of chris Yim’s adventures: 

“There comes a day when 

every boy must become a man. On 

January 13, 2011, that day occurred 

in my life when I was held up at 

the corner of West 168th and Amsterdam 

Avenue. A man and young 

lady tackled me from behind. I 

was in the area visiting an ailing 

friend who needed me to deliver 

soup to him. These hooligans who 

tackled me had no idea what they 

were up against. Up until I was 18, 

I took Tae Kwon Do and earned 

a third-degree black belt. I kicked 

the man and woman in the face 

and knocked them out. I quickly 

ran down the street and as they got 

up to chase me, I found my slingshot 

in my back pocket, which I 

always carry when that far north in 

Manhattan, and hit them with two 

stones I found on the street. I misfired 

the first five times, but when 

they got within point blank range, 

I might have taken an eye out. 

Though it was a traumatic experience, 

I want the Class of 2010 and 

the Columbia College community 

to know that I am a survivor, and I 

survived. Thanks Mom and Dad for 

putting me through Tae Kwon Do, 

even though I hated it! That’s what 

Asian parents are for.” 

11 

colin sullivan 

c/o CCT 


622 W. 113th St., MC 4530 


casullivan@gmail.com 

Hello, Class of 2011! I will be your 

class correspondent when we 

leave the comfort and familiarity 

of Columbia’s gates to venture out 

into the real world. I hope you all 

have enjoyed life in the College as 

much as I have, and in the months 

ahead, I hope you write to me with 

updates of your inevitably exciting 

lives. Congratulations to everyone 

upon graduation, have an amazing 

summer and shoot me a message 

when you can! 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

78 

letters 

(Continued from page 2) 

critical and financial resources, justify 

such work? 

For decades, Columbia has 

failed to act on a simple yet elegant 

solution to the Morningside 

space crunch: Follow through, to 

the extent possible, on McKim, 

Mead & White’s master plan. Five 

McKim buildings, originally conceived 

for the campus, could still 

be erected. They would be placed 

opposite Hartley, Wallach, Furnald, 

Lewisohn and Mathematics, 

completing those quadrangles 

and helping fulfill the University’s 

original architectural vision. 

It is too late to undo the architectural 

damage already wrought. 

But a return to first principles 

could mitigate at least some of the 

harm. In the meantime, I shudder 

to contemplate what is being 

planned for Manhattanville. 

Thomas J. Vinciguerra ’85, ’86J, 

’90 GSAS 

Ga r d e N CitY, N.Y. 

Good Company 

Not to take anything away from 

Claire Shipman ’86, ’94 SIPA and 

Alexandra Wallace Creed ’88, but 

I believe CCT was incorrect when 

it stated that they are the first and 

second women, respectively, to 

speak at Class Day (“Around the 

Quads,” March/April). I recall 

that Marian Wright Edelman, 

founder and president of the Chil- 

alumni Corner 

(Continued from page 80) 

Had the free clinic not existed 

and his daughter not insisted that 

he come, would the cause of his 

death been his heart disease or the 

failures of our health system? 

It was not the spectrum of illness 

I witnessed that was different. 

It was the severity of illness. It was 

not just diabetes; it was uncontrolled 

diabetes with diabetic complications. 

It was not just hypertension; it was 

blood pressures of 190 over 120. 

There were five patients sent 

by EMT ambulance directly to the 

emergency room who may well 

not have seen the next day were 

it not for this clinic. At the end of 

the day, I had spoken to several 

hundred people and heard their 

stories of living in the wealthiest 

country in the world without 

health insurance. 

I was overwhelmed. Every patient’s 

story ended with the haunting 

refrain of the chorus of a Greek 

tragedy: “no insurance, no cash, no 

doctor, no medication.” 

Before leaving, I was asked if I 

dren’s Defense Fund, addressed 

the illustrious Class of 1993. Perhaps 

the distinction you intended 

to draw is that Ms. Edelman did 

not attend the College. Still, that’s 

awfully good company to be in. 

Alan M. Freeman ’93 

Po t o m a C, md. 

Editor’s note: Creed should have been 

identified as the second alumna, not the 

second woman, to speak at Class Day. 

hakoah 

I enjoyed reading Franklin Foer 

’96’s “Columbia Forum” excerpt 

on Hakoah (March/April). A postscript: 

Having played soccer for the 

Swiss Football Club in the Big Ten 

Division of the German American 

League in the early 1950s (while 

incidentally also playing baseball 

and basketball at Columbia), I can 

attest to the “non-mediocre” status 

of the East Coast Hakoah team 

at that time. They played against 

teams in the Big Ten Division and 

held their own. This was some of 

the best soccer in the United States 

at that time and included the German 

Hungarians, who one year 

won the National Challenge Cup 

(which included all professional 

and amateur clubs in the U.S.) as 

well as the National Amateur Cup. 

Andy Biache ’54 

al e x a N d r i a, Va. 

would be at the next clinic in 

Kansas City that was scheduled 

in five weeks. Without hesitating, 

I said yes and that I would travel 

to any clinic organized by the 

NAFC. I have been to Kansas City, 

Hartford, Atlanta, Washington, 

D.C., and New Orleans. My seventh 

and most recent clinic was in 

Charlotte, N.C. 

I have no professional affiliation 

with NAFC. My commitment to it 

is personal. I pay for my travel and 

take time from my private practice 

to do this. 

I thank my years at Columbia 

for fostering my social awareness 

as well as my preparation in the 

basic sciences and American history 

for my career in medicine that 

has continued to bring challenges 

and satisfaction. 

Dr. ralph freidin ’65 has practiced 

internal medicine and primary care in 

Lexington, Mass., for the past 30 years. 

He blogs about health reform at theunseenpatient.blogspot.com.

Classified 

advertising 

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St Croix, V.I.: Luxury Beach Villa. 5BR house, East End. 949-475-4175; 

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Northeast Florida: Luxury Condominium. Beach, golf, tennis, much more. 

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MAY/JUNE 2011 

79 

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2BEdROOM Coop Apartment, newly renovated, immaculate, steps from 

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kezarlakecondos.com or 713-988-2382 

classified ad information 

rEgular classifiEd ratEs: $3 per word for one issue, 

discounts for six consecutive issues. Ten-word minimum. 

Phone (including area code) and PO boxes count as one word. 

Words divided by slashes, hyphens or plus signs are counted 

individually. E-mail and web addresses are priced based on 

length. No charge for Columbia College class years or 

ampersands (&). We boldface the first four words at no charge. 

Additional boldface words are $1 per word. 

Display Classifieds are $100 per inch. 

paYMEnt: Prepayment required on all issues at time of order. 

Check, money order, MasterCard, Visa and 

Diners Club with MasterCard logo only. 

no refunds for canceled ads. 

10% discount for Columbia College alumni, faculty, 

staff, students and parents 

Mail, fax or e-mail orders to: 



622 W. 113th St., MC 4530 


Telephone: 212-851-7951 

Fax: 212-851-1950 

E-mail: cctadvertising@columbia.edu 

Online: college.columbia.edu/cct/advertise_with_us 

deadline for July/august issue: 

tuesday, May 31, 2011

in 1965, Medicare and Medicaid were passed, Martin Luther 

King Jr. marched to Montgomery, Malcolm X was assassinated, 

President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Voting Rights Bill became 

law, more troops went to Vietnam and many were protesting 

the war. This was the social backdrop of our class. 

My years on Morningside Heights were a time of social change 

and student activism. The corner of West 116th Street and Broadway 

was as much a classroom as Hamilton Hall. Although premed, 

I minored in history. The highlight of my four years was Jim 

Shenton ’49’s renowned seminar “United States during the Era 

of Disunion.” 

Professor Shenton wove the milestones of current American 

history into his seminar, leaving me with indelible lessons of the 

tide of American history. 

I left Morningside Heights in June 1965. In September, I drove to 

St. Louis to begin my first year at Washington University Medical 

School. With Medicare and Medicaid promising access to care to 

millions previously excluded, I entered medicine believing that it 

would be a tool for social change. 

Quickly, I learned that the view from Morningside Heights 

was not that from the heartland. Columbia had prepared me well 

for medical school, but not that my profession’s vision of social 

responsibility started and stopped at the hospital’s door. 

Starving for the pulse of social change, I heard the words of my 

Columbia swimming coach, Richard Steadman: “Defeat is not a 

discouragement but a call to be better.” I started thinking of ways 

to get the medical school and hospital to extend its services to the 

inner city three miles from its door. With the support of two young 

faculty members, some of my classmates and members of the 

Pruitt-Igoe Men’s Club, we established a health center in Pruitt- 

Igoe, St. Louis’ largest public housing project. 

For the first 10 years after graduating from medical school, I 

a l u m n i C o R n e R 

MAY/JUNE 2011 

80 


Caring for Those Without Health Insurance 

Dr. Ralph Freidin ’65 examines a patient at a free clinic in Washington, 

D.C., last August. 

PhOTO: ChRIS uShER 

B y dr. ra L P h Freidin ’65 

taught and practiced primary care and internal medicine in municipal 

hospitals. By 1980, I had a family of two young children and 

a wife with her own professional career. The problems of people 

marginalized in our health care system were too taxing for this 

stage of my life. I left inner-city medicine and joined a small private 

practice in Lexington, Mass. 

last summer, I saw a report of a one-day medical clinic in New 

Orleans that had provided free care to almost 1,000 people 

without insurance. The clinic, spread across 102,000 square 

feet of a convention hall, was my small neighborhood health center 

on steroids. 

Believing health care was a right of every American citizen, undoubtedly 

learned in CC, history classes and Professor Shenton’s 

Civil War seminar, I called The National Association of Free Clinics 

(NAFC, freeclinics.us). Two weeks later, I was on a plane to Little 

Rock. I was asked to triage the waiting line, looking for someone 

who needed urgent care. The people began to line up two hours 

before the doors opened at 10 a.m. By the time the first scheduled 

patient was seen, more than 200 patients were waiting. 

More than 80 percent were working but none had health insurance. 

Some were self-employed but could not afford the premiums 

of individual policies. Some had several jobs, none of which 

provided health benefits. Others had been laid off and could not 

afford COBRA. 

Few had seen a physician in the past year. Almost half had not 

seen a physician in the past six years. All had the same reasons for 

having neglected their health. Without insurance, they could not 

afford to pay for a physician visit. Without insurance, they could 

not afford to fill their prescriptions. Without insurance, they could 

not afford any surgical procedure. If they had been sick enough to 

need emergency care, they were then saddled with an enormous 

bill that discouraged them from seeking further care. 

A man with a below-knee amputation was in a wheelchair. He 

hoped the clinic would help him obtain the prosthesis request his 

medical insurance had denied. 

A woman grimacing in pain had cancer treatment two years 

ago but was unable to continue treatment without insurance. 

Another woman was wearing a trench coat to cover her emaciated 

frame. She had had three seizures in the past two weeks. A 

local emergency room where she had sought help told her that 

the level of her seizure medications was “OK” and discharged 

her. No follow up was arranged. During her seizures she had bitten 

the inside of her mouth and tongue. She could not eat. When 

I told her that we would care for her and arrange for further care, 

I could not see an intact tooth in her broad but crooked smile. 

A man with labored breathing and a sweaty brow was slumped 

in a wheelchair. His weak voice told me five days ago he was in the 

intensive care unit of a local hospital for “swollen legs and chest 

heaviness.” At discharge, he was handed a list of unaffordable 

medications that he did not understand. Continuing care was not 

arranged. He had unstable angina. I wheeled him to the front of the 

line and called the EMTs to take him back to the hospital. 

(Continued on page 78)

COLUMBIA COLLEGE FUND 

Support the Columbia College Fund this year. 

Help maintain our tradition of excellence by sending your gift today. 

To make a gift, call 1-866-222-5866 or 

give online at college.columbia.edu/giveonline. 

THANK YOU!

coluMbia collEgE todaY 

columbia university 

622 w. 113th st., Mc 4530 

new York, nY 10025 

change service requested 

�� 

�� 

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�� 

�� 

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�� 

�� 

�� 

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�� 

�� 

Come celebrate Alumni 

Reunion Weekend 2011 

— the reunion that everyone is 

looking forward to!�� 

In addition to class-specific events throughout the weekend, 

you can join all Columbians celebrating their reunions on Friday 

at the “Back on Campus” sessions, including Core Curriculum 

mini-courses, engineering lectures, tours of the Morningside campus 

and its libraries and more. There will also be unique opportunities to engage 

deeply with the city’s arts community with theater, ballet, music and art gallery tours. 

Columbians will be dispersed throughout the Heights and greater Gotham all weekend 

long, but Saturday is everyone’s day on campus. This year’s Saturday programming will 

invite all alumni back to celebrate some of the best aspects of Columbia at the affinity 

receptions, and learn together with some of Columbia’s best known leaders, including 

Dean Michele Moody-Adams, in a series of public intellectual lectures. The day wraps up 

with the reunion classes’ tri-college wine tasting, followed by class dinners and a 

final gathering for champagne, dancing and good times on Low Plaza. 

�� 

Thursday, June 2–Sunday, June 5, 2011 

�� 

For more information or to register online, please visit 

http://reunion.college.columbia.edu. 

Nonprofit Org. 

u.S. Postage 

PAId 

Permit No. 724 

Burl. VT 05401

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