Summer 2024 Class Notes Preview: 1980s

1980

Michael C. Brown
mcbcu80@yahoo.com

“There’s nothing in the street

“Looks any different to me

“And the slogans are effaced, by-the-bye

“And the parting on the left

“Is now the parting on the right

“And the beards have all grown
longer overnight ...

[insert the iconic Roger Daltrey
primal scream]

“Meet the new boss

“Same as the old boss ...”

— The Who, “We Won’t Get
Fooled Again,” 1971

We had wonderful time in Tokyo with Jay Kutlow and his wife, Diana Wood Kutlow BC’80, where we were both visiting family and friends. After a long and distinguished career in the field of sports production, Jay is teaching a sports media production class at the University of San Diego. In addition, he is the creator of the Sports Rivals podcast, which pits rivals against each other while reliving some of the most memorable moments in sports history.

I wonder if we can get the Harvard guys from the team we beat in ’78!

It was great catching up on Columbia athletics and life in general.

Speaking of sports, congratulations to the women’s basketball team for its bid into the NCAA Tournament. Coach Megan Griffith ’07 has built a powerful program and team for the future. They are fun to watch and show a game at the highest levels.

We had a great turnout for the football golf outing this year. The Lions’ head coach, Jon Poppe, brings a new level of enthusiasm and grit to the program. The team is experienced with returning seniors and fifth-year players, so I expect big things from these guys.

As far as golf, our team — Scott Ahern, Eric Blattman, Joe Ciulla, Shawn FitzGerald and me — out-birdied Team Robertson ’81 once again!

Congratulations to Shawn on this year’s Varsity C Alumni Award, given for his dedication to and support of Athletics. Fitz has been there since 1976 as a football and baseball player, teammate and dear friend. He is now the voice of Lions football and can be heard on the radio for all our games.

Congratulations also go to Coach Brett Boretti on becoming the all-time winningest coach in the baseball program’s history. I was fortunate to be on the committee, with Eric Blattman and Coach Paul Fernandes (who held the record), 25 years ago that hired Brett. We knew then we had a special person to lead the program and were so glad he joined the family.

Drop me a line at mcbcu80@yahoo.com.

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1981

Dan Albohn, Kevin Costa
and Rich Gentile
daniel.albohn@gmail.com
kevinyc@icloud.com
r.gentile@snet.net

We are taking a sabbatical this time but will be back better than ever in the next issue.

In the meantime, we’ve been tossing around several subjects that we hope will pique your memories:

Remember the ubiquitous ads (in Spec and across campus) in which “Miss Dee” would offer to type your papers? Did you ever engage her? What do you recall?

How about the tunnels under our dorms? Any experiences or escapades to relate from down under, beyond the trek to the miserable laundry rooms?

The Broadway and Amsterdam corridors offered a cornucopia of eating and drinking choices. Most now live only in memory — including ours. Where and what do you remember eating during our Morningside years? Were you in the Tom’s camp or the College Inn camp? What was your favorite Mama Joy’s or Ta-Kome sandwich? Did you enjoy big beef and fries leading you by the fruit stands to Happy Burger?

Recall for us the good, the bad and the ugly, and we’ll publish a roundup of the results.

Drop us a line on these topics, or anything else that comes to mind.

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1982

Joseph A. Cabrera
joseph.cabrera@cbre.com

On behalf of classmates, I thank Andrew Weisman for his 16 years of service as class correspondent — Andrew, you have been fantastic!

As your new class correspondent, I look forward to hearing news and updates from our amazing Class of 1982.

I attended a few Columbia woman’s basketball games with Mike Schmidtberger LAW’85; his wife, Margie Sung; and their daughters, Calee SEAS’22 and Mollie ’24. We watched this incredible group of women become Ivy League co-champions and earn their first berth to the NCAA Tournament!

Mike is chair of Sidley’s Executive Committee, vice-chair of the Columbia College Board of Visitors and a trustee of Phillips Exeter Academy, and has been on the United Way of New York City’s Board of Directors for more than 10 years (co-chair, July 2016–June 2023).

Mike, on behalf of classmates and friends, we congratulate you on all your achievements and all you do for the College and our community!

On March 6 I attended the 2024 John Jay Awards Dinner at Cipriani 42nd Street, where the College honored Victor Lopez-Balboa, along with four other alumni. Victor has been with Goldman Sachs since 1986 and was named managing director in 1996 and a partner in 2002. Two of his children are also College alumni: Andrew ’14 and William ’19. Victor is a member emeritus of the Columbia College Board of Visitors. His brother Frank Lopez-Balboa was a John Jay Award honoree in 2010.

Tom Nevitt sends his best to the class. All three of his daughters graduated from the College. As I write this, Tom and his wife, Maria, are expecting a grandchild shortly.

We wish Randy Mickens all the best in dealing with some health issues he has been facing. Our friend #55 would love to hear from you (randymickens@gmail.com).

Life is good for David Filosa. He recently celebrated his 10th work anniversary at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, where he is partners with Peter Ross ’87, BUS’94. David also is the president of the Society of Columbia Graduates.

If you attended Class Day or Columbia Reunion 2024, write to me about what you did and who you saw.

Our 45th class reunion is just a few years away; we will start planning in early 2025. Please email me if you are interested in getting involved with the Reunion Committee.

I also encourage you to send me updates by email or by using the Class Notes webform, college.columbia.edu/cct/submit_class_note.

Look forward to hearing from you!

---

1983

Roy Pomerantz
bkroy@msn.com

My family and I attended several Columbia women’s basketball games in their magical season as co-winners of the Ivy Championship and NCAA participants.

I participated in a Columbia virtual discussion with Gerrard P. Bushell GSAS’04, who offered an inside look into the reimaging and development of JFK International Airport’s The New Terminal One. Gerrard is the executive chair of The New Terminal One.

Dante Alencastre: “Columbia Pride invited me to screen my latest documentary, AIDS Diva: The Legend of Connie Norman, at Lincoln Center on May 9.”

Luis Rueda GSAPP’93: “It has been two years since my wife and I moved out of Brooklyn and settled around the village of Woodstock in the Catskill Mountains. Post-pandemic, a search for more space and fresh air led us there. Recently, we hosted Steven Greenfield and his fiancée, Melissa. Steven honored us by wearing a shirt rather than his customary T-shirt. Steven and Melissa have been together for many years and make a terrific couple. Our son, Beckett, is in his third year of a Ph.D. program in political philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. He will teach a class independently for the first time next fall. I continue to consult on design matters, both in architecture and brand management, and have for the last year been on the Board of Directors of the Ulster Literacy Association, helping a talented team to combat illiteracy in the county. My wife makes bespoke coats and jackets while holding a full-time, remote job as part of the digital communications team for a PR agency in NYC.”

Paschal Scotti: “After I graduated from Columbia I joined a Benedictine monastery in Rhode Island, Portsmouth Abbey, which runs a boarding high school (and has day students, too). I was ordained a priest in 1989 and have taught there ever since, mostly teaching history and theology and at every level. Aside from articles and dictionary entries, I have published two books: in 2007 on an Edwardian British editor and author, Wilfrid Ward (Out of Due Time: Wilfrid Ward and The Dublin Review), and in 2017 on Galileo (Galileo Revisited: The Galileo Affair in Context). I have very fine memories of Columbia (the teaching and the libraries are superb) and I have been back a number of times to see one of my professors, Robert Somerville, an expert in medieval canon law, and even gave a University Seminar in 2019 at Columbia on my Galileo book. Columbia played an important part in my life (my younger brother Tom ’85, BUS’88 is also an alum) and I pray for its success daily.”

Gardner Semet BUS’91: “I am now a grandfather. My grandson, Cameron, was born last year. Cameron, his parents and their dog, Romeo, are with us until work is completed on their house in Montclair, N.J. Their house is only 15 miles from where we live in Pompton Lakes.”

Allen Shelton: “I am in my 23rd year as a pastor serving a congregation in Northern New Jersey. I also founded Good Success Academy, which helps youth get into college and also enter the workforce. My favorite memories are the many times I enjoyed Mama Joy’s delicatessen. Sadly, it’s gone now.”

James Lo: “I’m astonished to report that the Foundation for Contemporary Arts has selected me to receive its inaugural Alvin Lucier Award for Music. It’s an incredible honor for which I owe thanks to many in the New York downtown contemporary dance community.”

Wayne Allyn Root: “Nationally syndicated radio host Wayne Allyn Root, known as ‘the Bad Boy of Conservative Talk,’ announces he’s expanding his TV presence to seven days a week on Real America’s Voice TV network. Root hosts a popular weekend show on the network, America’s Top Ten Countdown with Wayne Allyn Root. Root now joins Steve Bannon, Charlie Kirk and Grant Stinchfield with a one-hour weeknight show. The Root Reaction will air weeknights starting April 1 at 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. Pacific. Root says his show will be an ‘America First, MAGA, in-your-face, heart-pounding, pedal-to-the-medal, balls-to-the-walls, 180 MPH race through the biggest news stories of the day’... with Root adding his one-of-a-kind, big-mouthed, fiery, raw, high-octane, often-controversial reaction to each story. Root, a friend of President Trump, has been the opening speaker many times for Trump, and Trump has been a guest on Root’s radio and TV shows 14 times.”

Love to all! Everywhere!

---

1984

Dennis Klainberg
dennis@berklay.com

Ninth floor Carman, freshman year, one TV in a lounge that could only fit maybe five guys at a time, mostly watching Ugly George on public access. In the suite next door, however, there was one guy who bucked the trend and brought his own TV (albeit, black and white I think, and mighty bad reception). If memory serves, that guy was ... Dr. Steve Saunders!

He writes, “My oldest son, Brian, a graduate of Northwestern, is presently living in Miami, Fla., and is a data engineer for Blackstone. My younger son, Andrew, is a chemical engineer and graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, working for Unilever in research and development with responsibility for well-known products such as Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise, and Knorr and Lipton soup products.

“I am still in solo private practice, primary care, general internal medicine, in Milford, Conn., and teach medical students at Yale and Quinnipiac. I am in my second year as president of the New Haven County Medical Association. My wife, Michelle, remains active in various charitable organizations in our community, and we like to travel around the world as much as possible; presently in Mediterranean in Dubrovnik. Hard to believe how fast years pass.”

Although I did not know or meet him during our time at Ol’ Blue, this member of Columbia royalty graced our class and continues in his family’s footsteps as a noted author, artist, academic and university professor. Welcome back to our column, Adam Van Doren GSAPP’89.

Adam writes, “I am still teaching art at Yale in the humanities department, and I recently published a book, In the Founders’ Footsteps: Landmarks of the American Revolution (with an introduction by Nathaniel Philbrick), which includes my essays and paintings of these landmarks. I included Alexander Hamilton CC 1778’s house in Upper Manhattan. The book received the 2022 Distinguished Book Award from The Society of Colonial Wars, and I have been enjoying giving talks about it at a variety of venues, including the Museum of the American Revolution in Philly (a museum worthy of a trip to that city), The New York Society Library, the Harvard Bookstore, The University Club of New York and Fraunces Tavern Museum, among others.

“In researching the book, it was fun to track down so many sites in the five boroughs with ties to the Revolution, including the Morris-Jumel Mansion (one of the oldest existing houses in the city and where Washington had headquarters for several months during the war), and the Billop House on Staten Island, where British general William Howe met with three delegates of the Continental Congress — John Adams, Edward Rutledge and Benjamin Franklin — in 1776, shortly after the Battle of Brooklyn. The three men rowed over from Perth Amboy and refused an olive branch proposal to surrender. Great patriots they were.”

Of all the coffee-table books I’ve collected, one of my favorites, a gift from the author, highlights the magnificent manses of Richard Manion.

Richard says, “It’s hard, nay impossible, to believe that we graduated 40 years ago. Time marches on or is this the ‘tyranny of time’? While my architectural practice is as busy as ever, and architecture has always been my greatest passion and will continue to be so, I wanted to mention a new business venture with which I’ve become involved, and quite passionately at that. My family has had a few members’ lives destroyed by alcoholism. I’ve watched the slow rise of non-alcoholic beverages offer an alternative to alcohol, providing a welcome option to enjoy on any occasion. Nowhere has this product been more successful than in the beer industry. However, I’ve found that most products greatly lack the depth of flavor, craft and soul of the real deal. A good friend recently created a line of nonalcoholic beers that really resonated with me on many levels and that I wanted to share with fellow Columbians. DrinkSip brews craft-inspired nonalcoholic beers in small batches with deep and rich flavors, the taste and aroma of hops, and a small number of natural ingredients. I was so impressed by the product that I became an investor. It’s a great ‘beer’ for any occasion, especially when that glass of water with lemon or iced tea has overstayed its welcome and something more fun and festive calls. I planned to toast our 40th with DrinkSip’s Hazy IPA and hope classmates will give it a try!”

Blast from the past, the King of Queens! Ladies and gentlemen, our esteemed salutatorian, Dr. Cary G. Pfeffer.

Cary shares, “I continue to build new biotech companies at Third Rock Ventures, in my 17th year there; I have been there since we started the firm in 2007. Our companies have developed more than 20 drugs in areas such as oncology, neurological disorders and sickle cell disease. The pace of innovation science and medicine is truly astounding. Things continue to go well even with some rocky financing markets during the last few years.

“My youngest [recently finished freshman year] at GWU in D.C. after taking a gap year, and my oldest was to graduate with a major in media and communications, with a minor in business, from Muhlenberg College this past May. Having not had a real high school graduation due to Covid-19, she was excited to have a real graduation, and we were excited for her.

“My wife, Ruth, continues to do well, working with clients in leadership development and doing lots of yoga. We have been in Lexington, Mass., for more than 20 years and will be moving to nearby Weston in a couple of years, as we are now building a house there — a little more in the woods, where we like it. We are also looking forward to traveling a bit more (planned to be off to Greece in May to celebrate my daughter’s graduation) during the next few years as we work a little bit less.

“On another note, in December we had a great event here in Boston where we brought together a bunch of life science alums and deans and faculty at a small dinner event. It was organized by the Alumni Office with my coaxing, and it turned out to be loads of fun. We all agreed we need to do more of this sort of thing, and we will. Join us for the next one.”

And last, but not least, I’ve been waiting a long time to channel my inner Costello and say, “HEY ... ABBOOOOOOTTTTTT” to Jon Abbott: “We’ve (Shari Malyn and I) happily moved to Los Angeles, our fifth city together, after I stepped down from 15 years as CEO at WGBH. We love our new city, much like we loved our time in NYC. Our daughter, Ellison (‘Ellie’), was married to Patrick Firth in Toronto in January. What a milestone!”

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1985

Jonathan White
jw@whitecoffee.com

Thanks to so many of you for your usual prompt responses for updates for our class. As our 40th reunion approaches, next spring, I hope to get more and more updates, and hope to build some momentum for our biggest gathering in some time.

Kevin Townley: “We are celebrating this year’s Homecoming football game as the 40th anniversary since our final season, fall 1984. A group of us have gone to almost every HC game since graduation, including Paul Myers, Evan Morgan, Steve Quackenbush, Dan Upperco, Mike Novotnak, Dan Foote, Dave Ortiz ’86 and Pat Conroy ’84. After retiring from the Connecticut Air National Guard, I am in the 18-month training program for Metro-North Railroad to become a locomotive engineer. My daughter Olivia will start Trumbull H.S. in September.”

John Phelan moved to Old Lyme, Conn., in 2022, happy to be back in nature. “Living with my lovely partner, Cibel Castillo, and her equally talented daughter Naomi Kurne. Now retired, enjoying vegetable gardening, sailing, golf, tennis and paddle. Our dogs love it! I was fortunate to be accepted into Yale Camerata, part of Yale’s Institute of Sacred Music, enjoying what I so enjoyed at Columbia as a Glee Club member. Many of my friends have been made singing in choirs all over the world. I count Jon White as one of them. Hope to see many of you at our 40th reunion next spring. Until then ... .”

Nikolas Tsakos, founder, president and CEO of Tsakos Energy Navigation Limited, received the 2024 Capital Link Greek Shipping Leadership Award for his outstanding contribution to Greek and global shipping.

During Covid-19, Jonathan Reich SEAS’86, a practicing cardiologist for 25 years as well as an aerospace engineer (having earned both a master’s in engineering, and an M.D. from the University of Miami), became interested in Charles Lindbergh. After reading Lindbergh’s biography Jon chose to investigate his wartime legacy, which led to a new book, A Convenient Villain: Charles A. Lindbergh’s remarkable and controversial legacy preparing the U.S. for war. Jon’s book sheds light on this maligned aviator, scientific innovator and WWII spy and has uncovered surprising insight into the intelligence and engineering contributions of Lindbergh that allowed the United States to win WWII.

Mike Hadley, who has a video production company, was involved periodically with the Columbia Alumni Association’s Columbia University Club of New Jersey, especially during the pandemic. “All the events were virtual at the time (as was so much of life) and I would edit them” to help out the process, he says.

And Andrew Hayes is practicing law but also incubating a business to install smart, secure, street-level e-bike storage and safe battery charging; looking to start by the fall. “Also, saw my son Liam SEAS’23, ’24 graduate — a special five-year B.S. and B.A. program that requires completion of all of the Engineering Core, plus all of the College Core. Why pay four years of tuition when you can pay for five?”

As for yours truly, the first half of the year was a medical roller coaster for us. My wife, Allison BC’86, was scheduled to have back surgery in late January, and the pre-op tests discovered a tumor in her lung. Beyond fortunately, the tumor had not spread and was removed easily. Shortly after her lung surgery, I had cataract surgery in my eyes, following up from last year’s detached retina. The initial results are promising; it is so easy to take one’s vision for granted. And after I recovered, Allison returned for the delayed back surgery. We are looking forward to a quiet and I hope healthy summer.

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1986

Everett Weinberger
everett6@gmail.com

Sam Abrams TC’18 is back in New York from Finland, having completed a one-year Fulbright appointment. He’s again at Columbia, running a research center at Teachers College and teaching courses there in education policy, as well as a section of CC across the street (this past spring they discussed Nietzsche’s On the Genealogy of Morals).

Congrats to Bill Teichner on the 25th anniversary of the small-cap value stock strategy that he co-manages and co-founded at Frontier Capital Management in Boston. Bill gets a longevity award for working at Frontier since 1992, shortly after earning a Harvard M.B.A.

Drop me a line if anyone in our class has worked at the same company longer than Bill.

We have two sad updates.

Howie Oster’s son Amichai died while serving in the Israeli Army. Howie writes: “Amichai fell in battle in Gaza on Jan. 1, 2024. He was traveling in the United States on his post-army trek, and heard the call to serve on Simchat Torah. He got back as soon as he could.”

Amichai was a sergeant in the Army Reserves. He moved to Israel from Cleveland with his family when he was 1. He planned to complete the Israel National Trail, a 683-mile route that traverses the country from north to south. After the war, he also planned to return to the U.S. and continue his travels before starting university.

Our condolences to Howie; his wife, Marcy; their daughters, Sarah, Emunah and Tova; and their son Jonathan.

I heard the sad news from Sam Abrams that Jon Margolis passed away from pancreatic cancer in December 2023. Sam was a close friend of Jon, and even signed the ketubah at Jon’s wedding. “After graduating from Columbia with a major in history, Jon went to NYU Law and then practiced corporate law at Reid & Priest (now Thelen) for several years before working solo as a legal researcher. He loved visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art and spent countless hours in the library there studying art history. Most of all, he relished taking long walks with friends in Central Park, which he knew as well as anyone.”

Our condolences to Jon’s family and friends.

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1987

Sarah A. Kass
sarahann29uk@gmail.com

I start this issue’s column with a wonderfully inspiring story from Nancy Rabinowitz Friedman: “In May 2020, during the lockdown, I started volunteering with an as-yet unnamed group of 15 people (not even really an organization yet), helping to recruit poll workers for the 2020 federal election. (It was during Covid-19, and since most poll workers are older, they understandably didn’t want to go work the polls.) By November, I was supervising a group of 250 volunteers. Together, we recruited 2,500 poll workers across three states, enabling hundreds of polling sites to open that year.

“Fast forward to 2022, we were back at it, working to elect Democrats to State Legislatures in Michigan, Arizona and Pennsylvania. Out of the 17 candidates we played a part in helping, 16 won!

“Now, for 2024, we’ve started a whole new initiative, DJs at the Polls, a national, non-partisan get-out-the-vote initiative that turns Election Day into a celebration. In November, we’ll have DJs entertaining and energizing voters at more than 10,000 polling sites around the country. And I’m no longer a volunteer! As deputy director of the program, I’m responsible for national partnerships, celebrity relations, media and communications. I’m proud to be a part of the work of reminding people that democracy is something to celebrate. And I want to point out that even at ‘this stage’ of life, it’s not impossible to reinvent yourself. Until I started volunteering in 2020, I’d never done any political work. Now I’m overseeing the deployment of thousands of DJs to states across the country. There’s still hope for the country ... and for us all!”

All I can say is, “Wow!”

In other news, Diane Hilal-Campo, whom you might recall launched the first ophthalmologist-owned-and-formulated eye makeup line, Twenty/Twenty Beauty, in August 2021, wrote: “My lash and brow serum, Get Growing, won Vogue’s 2024 award for Best Lengthening Lash Serum. The eyebrow gel won New Beauty’s 2024 award for best Eyebrow Tinted Brow Gel. The mascara won Good Housekeeping’s 2024 Best Mascara for Sensitive, Dry Eyes and was one of Oprah’s favorite things for summer last summer.

“I have spoken at the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Women in Ophthalmology twice. It has been exciting and rewarding to get emails from people who are so grateful because they cannot tolerate other eye makeup brands but can tolerate mine. We are sold DTC on our website and Amazon, and as a new distribution model for eye makeup we are being sold out of eye doctors’ offices. Currently, 700 eye doctors’ offices in the United States and Canada sell the products. I have loved my career as an eye surgeon, and this has been a fun passion project for me.”

Diane’s products are eye safe, vegan and cruelty free, as she says the current commercially available eye beauty products have chemicals that are damaging women’s eyes, and causing and exacerbating dry eyes. “This is a huge problem right now, and I made this line as a healthier alternative,” she said.

Leah Karliner ’88 and Descartes Li, a professor and vice-chair for education at the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, met in Lit Hum in 1985 and recently went on a five-day kayaking trip together to Baja.

Charles Blass sent greetings from Switzerland, where he is actively co-evolving nao.is (networked autonomous organism) in collaboration with weco.io (wecollective), www.csensemakers.com (common sensemakers), perma.earth (permaculture colab), kernel.community, collaborative.tech (collaborative technology alliance), co-intelligence.institute and more; this is driving an ecosystemic convergence of groups and projects, tools and toolkits for interoperability and wise collaboration. He also still works at the radio station lora.ch 97.5FM Zurich.

Lloyd Lim is teaching a short course on movie westerns in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute run locally at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa.

I recently learned to like Westerns and now understand their place in American culture. I, for one, would love to see Lloyd’s syllabus! He added that he has been nursing a shin splint for months, so he has been practicing piano entirely without the damper pedal. He says it “actually has very beneficial effects.”

Ara Kouchakdjian wrote: “I have been busy raising four teenagers. Each is unique and a blessing in their own way. My best half, Lisa, is vice-chair of the Select Board in our town. After being a part of one more acquisition (was this number 3 or number 4?), I run product development for Securitas Healthcare, the leader in the hospital and senior living safety/security solutions. I’ve spent many years running product management and product strategy, and now I’ve added engineering to my portfolio. I am having fun with all the new challenges! In my limited free time, I run a group for fathers of kids with special needs.”

Steve Abrahamson has a new role: “Since November I have been VP of membership and advocacy at the National Audubon Society. Still based in our New York City headquarters office at Varick and Houston streets, I oversee our supporter engagement, advocacy and campaigns team in addition to membership fundraising for the organization. This year we will focus on Get Out the Vote efforts as well as launch campaigns in support of the climate policy and conservation goals in our new strategic plan.”

And of course, another of Steve’s claims to fame is being married to my dear, dear Hunter College H.S. friend Maritza Guzman SIPA’90!

Thomas Jacoby moved his dental practice from 501 Madison Ave., where he’d been for 27 years, to 37 E. 28th St. He says, “It’s an amazing neighborhood, and our patients really love it! Lots of affordable restaurants and stores, and a great, international, urban vibe. We couldn’t be happier!”

And finally, a note from the amazing Judy Kim, who is back in New York City: “I am now at BBVA (Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria), in global markets, where I am enjoying my return to the trading floor! Feel like it is 1987 ... .”

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1988

Eric Fusfield
eric@fusfield.com

Our talented and creative class has added to its noteworthy and varied accomplishments recently. Jim Bernfield SOA’01 has “produced and directed a documentary, Me to Play, which started its festival run at the Slamdance Film Festival, won awards at festivals around the world and is now in wide digital release on iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV+, Fandor, Tubi, Roku and likely anywhere else people stream video. The film, shot in part in Columbia’s Miller Theatre, follows two actors with Parkinson’s disease as they mount an Off-Broadway production of Samuel Beckett’s comedic masterpiece, Endgame, which Beckett wrote, in part, as a metaphor for life with Parkinson’s after caring for his mother, who died from the disease. While it sounds a little grim, the film proves Beckett’s point that ‘There’s nothing funnier than unhappiness.’”

Adrienne Brodeur has made her own creative contribution with Little Monsters, her latest novel. The book was a New York Times Editor’s Choice and a Vogue Best Book of the Year (2023).

Thomas Cornfield is “enjoying travel, playing guitar, doing artwork — and a financial planner with MassMutual.”

Bittersweet news from Laurence Holzman LAW’92 in Westchester, who indicated that he and Felicia Needleman Levinson co-wrote the book and lyrics for The Jerusalem Syndrome, a musical comedy that ran Off-Broadway last fall at The Theatre at St. Jeans. “The show is about a real psychological condition that causes seemingly ‘normal’ tourists in Jerusalem to experience a mental breakdown and come to believe they are Jesus or Moses or some other character from the Bible,” Laurence said. “There are approximately 200 documented cases of this syndrome every year, and it doesn’t happen in any other city in the world! Learn more at thejerusalemsyndrome.com.

“Laurence and Felicia met in ‘Modern Drama’ class at Columbia and wrote together for 35 years until last July, when Felicia passed away after a battle with metastatic breast cancer.” I learned from Rachel Stoll ’92 that her brother David Stoll also passed away recently. I didn’t know David well, although I remember living on his floor in Furnald senior year. [Editor’s note: See “Obituaries,” online on July 11, at college.columbia.edu/cct, for more on Felicia and David.]

My subsequent email correspondence with Rachel touched not only on her brother’s life but also on lessons about how we can all best live our own lives. I’m spending so much of my time at B’nai B’rith International consumed with anti-Semitism these days that my wife is concerned it is affecting my mental health.

Rachel shared with me her beautiful wisdom for the middle-aged soul: “Get outside as much as you can. This year will kill us all if we are not careful, just too much to bear, FAR too much anxiety. Time among trees and birds is not just a cliche — it can really help. I’m off to the woods right now, in part to scope out maple trees for my son and me to tap soon (my brother and I lived very different lives!). Just please walk outside as much as you can. Your wife is right! We are not helpful to anyone if we fall to pieces or cannot sleep properly, if we are easy to anger and blood pressure rising. Take care! I mean it, mister! Also, beyond the outdoors, I am finding listening to good klezmer music helps. It’s all there.”

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1989

Emily Miles Terry
emilymilesterry@me.com

In the aftermath of the terrorist attack by Hamas, I have received notes from classmates who are troubled and struggling with their relationship with Columbia due to anti-Semitism, among other things on campus. Most of the notes I’ve received are too private to publish in this column. I mention this because our class has always been unusually collegial, supportive and friendly, and most of us are trying to find ways to be supportive by reaching out to friends. If I can help connect you with someone you have lost contact with, please email me. I’d be more than happy to help. Also, our Facebook group continues to be a great place to connect with classmates and find support. It’s called “Columbia University Class of 1989 Undergraduates,” but if you can’t find it, email me and I will send you the link. Or you can message Jared Goldstein through Facebook.

In March, George Guida published a novel, his 10th, The Uniform. Its opening chapter is set at Columbia during the 1968 student uprising. Kirkus Reviews calls it “A powerful story of personal failure and reinvention.” George writes that the novel is about difficult love, ambition, race, law, disappointment, redemption and the tension between obligation and freedom. George lives in Western New York, where he and his wife “run an arts series in our cafe, but we have an apartment in the New York area because we’re both CUNY professors.”

I heard from Samantha Jouin, who works at Johnson & Johnson focusing on leading operations relating to emerging government policy. Samantha wrote in about a bike trip she and her husband, Francois, did through Puglia, Italy. “On weekends, we like to go on more local outings, i.e., hiking, checking out local craft fairs, going to museums and restaurants in Philly, or going to see our son in Pittsburgh or our daughter in Brooklyn. Once we retire or shift to more part-time work, we look forward to spending several months a year in France, where I lived for 10 years after graduating from CC.”

Galen Sorrells wrote in from the Bay Area, “I have 8-year-old identical twins and spend most of my time managing their schedules. For fun, I spend time with friends and family and identifying opportunities to travel now that we are getting past the impact of Covid-19.” Galen was looking forward to seeing everyone at reunion.

John Kim lives in Midtown East with his spouse, Wynne, and kids, Audrey, Curran and Violet. John writes that they travel often “but always return home believing that New York is the best city.” Last fall John ran the NYC Marathon, his third marathon since 2019. Of the race John says, “Training in Central Park is such a pleasure. I took up running after years of club and league Ultimate Frisbee. I finally came to accept that I was too old and too slow to compete with 20- and 30-year-olds.”

Tim Kelly is still the mayor of Chattanooga, of which he writes, “It is both a great honor and a great challenge.” Aside from mayoring, Tim loves to play soccer when he can: “I did not play soccer at Columbia, but starting playing in adult leagues (always a goalkeeper) soon after coming back to Chattanooga from NYC. That led me to co-founding Chattanooga FC, which has become a prolific independent team in American soccer (and is now led by Alton Byrd ’79!). It is a true community club and was the first American sports team to offer fans ownership through the equity crowdfunding rules in Obama’s Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act.”

Last fall Tim’s team played for a national championship. He writes, “If we don’t win, I’ll still be on a field on Sundays playing ‘pub soccer’ until I just can’t do it anymore ... .”

Peter Saint-Andre writes, “After 25 years working on internet technologies (my final gig was on the Mozilla Firefox team), I retired early in 2022. These days I’m advising a few startup founders, teaching English as a second language to Ukrainian refugees, raising a therapy dog and writing a book about Aristotle’s conception of human flourishing. It’s a big change from my very active career, and I’m loving it!”

Peter lives on five acres about 20 miles outside of Denver and says, “Having grown up in Maine, I don’t miss those snowy New England winters.”

Though this column is for CC’89, one of the best things about going to Columbia for many of us was the opportunity to study and socialize with students at GS, BC and SEAS. As a Columbia student I met Lisa Rosen Metsch GS’90 through Kappa Alpha Theta and have followed her success and scholarship since. Back then Lisa was engaged in research around the AIDS epidemic. Today, in addition to being the first alumna dean of GS, Lisa is a medical sociologist and an internationally recognized scholar. Her work has focused on the social determinants of health with special attention on access to care for persons living with HIV and substance use disorders. As dean, Lisa co-teaches undergraduates, has significantly increased fundraising for financial aid scholarships, created and launched international dual-degree programs and created initiatives focused on social justice and women student veterans. I am so thrilled to have had the opportunity in May to attend an event honoring Lisa’s work and scholarship at Columbia/Barnard Hillel.