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CLASS NOTES
Stanley H. Gotliffe Ray Robinson, a noted author of books about baseball, has
written another. Pennants &
Pinstripes: The New York Yankees,
1903–2002,
is a heavily illustrated 100-year history of the New York Yankees.
The book’s features include “all-time” Yankees
teams chosen by Yogi Berra, Jim Bouton and Tommy Henrich. Ray has
been named to the honorary board of the Greater New York Chapter of
the ALS Association, which raises money to fight the disease that
killed Lou Gehrig ’25, among others. A newsy letter from John Lyons, who suffered a stroke
some years ago, was forwarded by Arthur Weinstock. John
resides in Florida with his daughter, Susan, and son-in-law, Mike,
and, although still unable to speak, John seems able to write as
well as travel with Sue and Mike. They have made several trips to
Louisiana to visit John’s granddaughter, Colleen, and her
family. John has two great-granddaughters, ages 5 and 10. He
attends local community theater performances as well as area
meetings of FBI retirees. Through the efforts of his loving companion, Judith Sagan, as
well as his two daughters, the Herbert C. Spiselman Memorial
Endowment for Fencing has been created. A ceremony was held in the
Dodge Fencing Room on February 2 that included the unveiling of a
biographical plaque to be installed in the room. The endowment will
help enable the fencing team to travel to international matches,
something that hitherto has been beyond their budget. Attendees at
the ceremony included Mary Louise and Hugh Barber, Fanny and
Ted de Bary, Ann and Jim Dick, Cynthia and Arthur
Friedman, Betty and Arthur Weinstock and Bob
Zucker. The athletics department welcomes additional
contributions, which can be directed to augment this
endowment. Lastly, it is my sad duty to report the passing of Bill
Trenn on April 8, 2001, as the result of serious injuries
sustained in an automobile accident five days earlier. Bill,
formerly of Westfield, N.J., and Rochester, Mich., had retired from
General Motors in 1980, subsequently moving to Palm Harbor, Fla. He
was predeceased by his wife, Betty, but is survived by two
daughters and four grandchildren.
Herbert Mark With a major reunion looming, I have spoken to many classmates
in addition to my regular sources. As a result, I have some fresh
information for you about some old friends. Thanks to Phil Hobel, I was able to reconnect with
Marvin Karp. Marv and I lived in neighboring communities for
years but lost contact. Marv is well and keeps busy in a retirement
community in Peekskill, N.Y. Earlier, he had been a neighbor of
Don Seligman. Phil continues to expand his film activities
and has no thought of retirement. In a long e-mail, Bob Wolf shared some details of his
interesting and productive career in government. Trained in
forestry, Bob worked — after graduation and military service
— in senior positions for several government agencies and
congressional committees, often in concert with such eminent
leaders as Senator Mike Mansfield. He developed, among other
projects, budgets and land use and forestry policies. His is a
fascinating story that deserves telling in depth. Dave
Harrison, editor of the class newsletter, has been
alerted. Another classmate with a long and distinguished career in
government after Columbia and the Army is Frank Schiff, who
was an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank and with the Council
of Economic Advisors and rose to serve as deputy undersecretary of
the Treasury. He is still very much involved with the Council on
Foreign Relations and similar groups. He and his wife, Erika,
divide their time between homes in Alexandria, Va., and Berkeley
Springs, W.Va. Here’s another career for the
newsletter. I thought I would be representing our class at Dave
Harrison’s 80th birthday celebration. It turns out that I
wasn’t alone. Charles West also was there. We enjoyed
a long talk about books and our travels east and west, especially
our time spent in the Far East. Now comes the hard part for you. For me to meet CCT’s more
frequent deadlines for these notes, I need your help and input.
Send me news.
Dr. Donald Henne McLean We heard some good news about two grandchildren of classmates:
Blair Bodine, who is Joe Carty’s granddaughter, and
Michael Ryzewic, a grandson of Gene Remmer (who
unfortunately passed away years ago) received early admittance to
the College. Blair graduated from Deerfield Academy with honors and was
active in extracurricular activities. Among her accomplishments was
her work for different charities, especially for children in
Africa. She produced video and CD recordings that received wide
acclaim. As we all know, Joe was involved in forming the John Jay
Associates and it was his idea to invite the descendants of John
Jay to attend our first dinner. The family sent Margaret Jay, who
made the initial address to the group. Gene graduated at the head of our class, and Michael inherited
his genes. Gene was captain of the crew, and the boathouse is named
for him. Michael won the Yale alumni nook award as well as the
Bausch and Lomb science medal and six academic awards in specific
courses. He also has his pilot’s license. Michael was
intensely courted by the top schools in the country such as
Harvard, MIT, Princeton and Stanford, and it is a real tribute to
Columbia that he selected our school. We must pass along kudos to Eric Furda and his admissions staff
for the terrific job that they are doing. Small wonder that we are
such a hot school! One final note that may be of interest to the Class of
’43: We are the only class in the history of the University
that has had three trustees serve on the 24-member Board of
Trustees at the same time. They are Gene Remmer, Sam
Higginbottom (who also served as chair) and Connie
Maniatty. That is an outstanding accomplishment for our
class! There are two sculptures by Stan Wyatt on the campus: the
Teaching Lion at Butler Library and the bronze bust of John Jay in
the hall of the same name. There also is a bronze relief of the
Columbia Lion at the Columbia Club, 15 W. 43rd St. Enjoy. Lou Gallo has recently become an octogenarian; the good news is that he can still walk without a cane. He refers again to the Core Curriculum (circa 1939–40), which instilled in him “a sense of the perniciousness of a closed mind.”
Walter Wager Dr. Robert McInerney: Sage Pittsfield, Mass., physician
and grandpa of an even dozen is preparing to teach again, with a
fellow M.D. of mature years, at Berkshire Institute. Next class
will deal with immunology. Stylish spouse Gloria of Barnard fame
reports her mate is in tip-top form, as is his new knee, a real
winner in airport metal detectors. Joseph Leff: Soft-spoken philanthropist and CEO of
National Spinning has shifted his title to chairman. When in the
Big Apple area, he’s still at his mid-Manhattan office three
or four days a week. Most of the winter, of course, he’s
sunning in Boca Raton, where he admits to “playing golf under
an assumed name.” Professor Theodore Hoffman: Retired but still cunning
theater savant tanning at his winter hideout in Tucson before
returning in June to the island farm off Canada. Taking a pause in
penning — all right, computer bashing — insightful
recollections of his academic and personal growth, he’s
fascinated by the Army’s renting his dog trainer
daughter’s top student for breeding military
houndware. Walter Wager: In the same month that classmate Gordon
Cotler finished his term on the national board of Mystery
Writers of America, your dawdling class president was elected to
serve on that body. N.B. Creative minds at the Alumni Office have compiled a list of
e-mail addresses, class by class. You might find your mellow old
roommate, best friend or fellow chess wizard. Ping-pong?
Clarence W. Sickles Jack E. Oliver’s autobiography, Shakespeare Got It
Wrong. It’s Not ‘To Be,’ It’s ‘To
Do,’ was published in four issues of The Journal of
Northeaster Geology and Environmental Science during late 2000 and
2001. Jack kindly sent me a copy, which I found fascinating, as he
tells his life story of being enamored with science in high school
and selecting Columbia over Harvard, Cornell and Case because of
Columbia’s emphasis on earth science history, which led Jack
to advanced degrees and international recognition in his field as a
geophysicist. Aside from being an excellent student, Jack’s athletic
ability earned him varsity status in football and basketball at
Columbia. Jack has visited 54 countries or regions and has received
many honors and awards. He and his wife, Gertrude, live in Ithaca,
N.Y., and have two daughters and two granddaughters. You may write
him at 3110 Snee Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 or
e-mail him at jeo8@cornell.edu to learn how to
obtain a copy of his autobiography. Classmates, this is the kind of
interesting information you are hiding; break loose, and
let’s have it for this column. Jack’s emphasis on “doing” leads me to mention
a nonprofit organization I started in the early ’80s, The
Community of Doers. The purpose is based on the biblical words of
James 1:22: “Be ye doers of the word and not hearers
only.” How many people go to religious services and hear
about doing good things but never get beyond that stage of
hearing? COD deals with many basic societal problems. It states that we
depend too much on foreign oil and should strive to develop more
advanced means of public transportation and more efficient cars. We
have gone from an agricultural to an industrial to a service
economy, and I am thinking of technology in the service economy.
But so many jobs have been lost for one reason or another in all
areas of life. Where do we go from here? What do people do for
meaningful work? COD’s objective is to establish a cultural and arts
society where, much in the way of the medieval days of patrons of
the arts, people can be gainfully engaged in drama, poetry,
philosophy, music, mathematics and the like with a restoration of
the old trades like glass-blowing and silversmithing. Funds could
come from concerts and the sale of products with government
support. COD also deals with short-term election campaigns using
television with government funding. COD presents other radical ideas because radical solutions are
needed for radical problems. A person who read my COD statement
told me that I wanted to save the world. Whereupon I replied that
he had read the statement correctly. Jack, is that going too far
beyond your concern with “doing?” If you would like a
copy of the COD program, please write to me. The Columbia College Fund 49th Annual Report for 2000–2001
has 89 names listed for donors in the 263-member Class of ’45
for a 33.84 percentage of participation with a total donation of
$33,198. This amount puts us considerably behind classes similar to
ours in all categories. Can we do better next time? Assignments are being handed out again for personal information
for the next writing of this column. May we hear from or about
Albert S. Beasley, Howard S. Bess, Howard L.
Wilson and Alvin M. Zucker. Thanks in advance for your
anticipated cooperation.
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