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Michael
Hausig Ed McCreedy has been reappointed trustee of the New Jersey State Bar Association. The organization, incorporated in 1899, is dedicated to the continuing education of lawyers and the public, to reforming and improving the legal system and aiding in the administration of justice. Ed and his wife, Linda, live in Colts Neck. Their son, Jim, is a partner in the firm of Wiley, Malehorn & Sirota; daughter-in-law, Maureen Pavely, is an associate with Pitney, Hardin, Kipp & Szuch; and son, Matthew, is a specialist trading assistant on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Bob Salman, with the assistance of his daughter, wrote an article entitled "Litigation Prevention: Some things you can do at the Drafting and Negotiating Stages." The article appeared in the September 1999 issue of The Practical Lawyer and summarizes his firm's basic advice on fundamental steps for avoiding litigation. Bob is a senior partner at the law firm of Phillips, Salman & Stein. His daughter is an associate at the firm. I had a delightful dinner and visit recently with Bob McGarry when he was in San Antonio for an insurance convention. Bob is vice president of Jardine Sayer and Company, which specializes in the reinsurance market. Bob, his wife Rose, their children and grandchildren live in the Dallas area. Dave Blicker has completed his Peace Corps training and is now in Kenya in the village of Machakos, without indoor plumbing and where the water is not safe without boiling. Dave has written of several interesting experiences and notes, "Kenyans have wonderful memories when they choose to exercise them. They are great forgetters, too, but always with an excuse of some sort. There is a real market here for excuses since it is a preferred form to offer an excuse-good, bad or ugly-for any failure to perform or to get out of an obligation. Hardly ever will the truth do; best at least to clothe it in an excuse. No one ever challenges your excuse; it is always accepted in polite conversation. And rarely will anyone ever say 'BS'. So, coming up with excuses is an art form here and good excuses are highly prized." Dave's e-mail address is blicker@ paradigm.africaonline.com. Our daughter, Sterling, became engaged in November to Christopher Gill. The wedding is set for April here in San Antonio during "fiesta."
Ed
Pressman Glad to be back in business. I met Bob Umans at the Harvard game up in Cambridge. Bob has a new position at Boston University. He is the director of the biochemistry laboratories, and is in the process of writing a textbook, General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry in Context. He is very happy at his new position and we wish him well. Crawford Kilian is still teaching at Capilano College in North Vancouver, B.C. Crawford continues to publish. Since the fall of 1998 he has written two books, Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy and Writing for the Web. Both are published by International Self-Counsel Press. He has also just completed a work on the past decade in computer science education. In addition he has written three novels, under consideration by a literary agent in New York. Crawford also is an alumni recruiter for Columbia prospects in the Vancouver area, which he finds "illuminating and chastening." He states that "these kids are so bright and so poised, I'm really glad I didn't have to compete against them." Crawford has his own web page www.capcollege.bcca/magic/cmns/ cfofpers.html. Larry Wittner is a professor of history at SUNY-Albany. He has recently published the second volume of his award-winning trilogy, Struggle Against the Bomb (Stanford University Press). He also sings with the Solidarity Singers. The group performs at union gatherings and other "social justice" events in and around Albany. Congratulations on his recent marriage to Dorothy Tristman, who is a social worker and a former graduate student at Columbia. The Wall Street Journal reports that Bill Campbell will temporarily take over as Intuit Corporation's CEO. Bill's history includes a stint at Apple Computer, which purchased the company he had started and managed, Claris Corporation. Bill will now run day-to-day operations at Intuit, where he was CEO once before. As we all know, Bill coached Columbia football in the '70s, and continues to be a major force in the support of the Columbia football program. A highlight of every Homecoming Saturday is the breakfast he sponsors in the Field House. Please send me material on your recent successes and accomplishments.
Sidney P.
Kadish The new century has begun, and if you are reading this, the Y2K problem is now history. We are almost 37 years from graduation and 41 years from entry into the College. We have accrued the knowledge of books and professional skills, as well as the wisdom of extensive life experience. Some of us are concerned with retirement, grandchildren, even the concern of waning powers. But cheer up, dear classmates, and consider this. We have lived in the time of great prosperity, and we have many years before us to enjoy. As we contemplate retirement, we can anticipate more time in which to read, master computer skills, and in general enjoy an unhurried life. Each of us will have a unique way in which to enjoy the fruits of our labors. Michael Labell's daughter, Karina, completed her first year at the College, running varsity track, making Dean's List, and majoring in economics. Michael has been appointed chair of the physics department at CCNY. As he continues as director of public affairs of the American Physics Society, he splits his time between Washington and metropolitan New York (Westport, Conn.). I invite you all to write and tell a millennial story. There is now an alumni class bulletin board available on the alumni website. Truthfully, I still prefer a letter.
Norman
Olch A milestone. Our class has reached a new century. Did any of us even think of such an event 36 years ago? An appropriate beginning is to note those who have children in the freshman Class of 2003; John Langbein (daughter Julia), and Dan Maclean (son James). The usual suspects showed up for Homecoming: Bill Davis, Howard Jacobson, Steve Singer, and Ivan Weissman. A new face: Ed Leavy came up from Washington, D.C. where he practices immigration law. He is "thrilled" that his son is in the Class of 2002. Three musical works by Dan Paget have been released on a CD entitled Dreamscape (Koch International Classics label). The Opera News gave it an enthusiastic review. Dan teaches at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, and is music director of the Westchester Chorale, which participated in "The Millennium Concert of the Nations" at Lincoln Center in New York. Michael Gunter is professor of political science at Tennessee Tech University. Last year he published his fifth book, The Kurdish Predicament in Iraq (St. Martin's Press) and received the Services to the Kurds Award from the Kurdish Human Rights Watch in Washington, D.C. With sadness I record the passing of Howard Fraser, a professor of Spanish and Portuguese at the College of William and Mary in Virginia. The College Alumni Office has set up a website where you can post your e-mail address for classmates. The address is www.columbia.edu/cu/college/alumni/address.html.
Leonard B.
Pack Plans for our class's 35th reunion on June 2-4, 2000, are proceeding nicely. The organizing committee is putting together a terrific program of activities, and you will be receiving detailed information in the mail. Your correspondent and the other members of the committee hope to see as many of you as possible at Columbia in June. David Lionel (formerly David Klorfine) is enjoying life living between downtown Los Angeles and Hollywood. He works developing television programming covering important events, including the recent meeting of the World Trade Organization in Seattle and the protests that took place there. Michael Schaul founded a new company, KG Funding, in January 1995. The company turns future income streams into immediate lump sums of cash. Mike was inducted into the American Cash Flow Association's Million Dollar Club at its Washington, D.C. convention in May 1999. "This business provides the immediate satisfaction that I have met someone's needs at the time he or she gets the money," Mike writes. Ever a sucker for celebrity, your correspondent was delighted to see articles by two classmates in The New York Times of Sunday, December 5, 1999. Niles Eldredge wrote "A Field Guide to the Sixth Extinction" for The New York Times Magazine. That issue is to be included in the Times's time capsule which, if guarded and maintained by its caretakers, will be opened in the year 3000, so Niles's article will be one of the artifacts of our time transmitted to the next millennium. Niles highlights a short list of species likely to be victims of extinction in the current wave of species depletion now sweeping the globe, including potential victims of over-harvesting, habitat destruction, invading species and global warming. "It would be wonderful if these predictions proved inaccurate," notes Niles. "By confronting what we are doing to the species and ecosystems of our planet, we can perhaps change our consumption patterns and conserve what remains of our ecosystems and species. If not, however, this field guide of the soon-to-be dead will give the inhabitants of the year 3000 some sense of what they're missing." Meanwhile, Richard Taruskin had a profile of Thomas Ades, the young English composer, on the front page of the Arts and Leisure section. Entitled "Surrealist Composer Comes to the Rescue of Modernism," Richard raves about the 28-year-old composer's Asyla stating that the eclectic nature of this and other young composers' works provides "reason, at this time of millennial stock-taking and auguries of doom, for renewed hope."
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