Columbia College | Columbia University in the City of New York
Summer 2024 Class Notes Preview: 1990s
1990
Rachel Cowan Jacobs
youngrache@hotmail.com
Greetings to all, and let the countdown begin to our 35th reunion, less than a year away! Kudos to everyone who attended our 30th on Zoom (does Covid-19 feel like a long time ago?) and let’s make a concerted effort to attend in person in 2025.
Nuptial news first: Melissa Steinman married her “love of eight years, Mihnea Stan, in June 2023 at the District Winery in Washington, D.C. A small contingent of my Columbia besties were there, including Chris Alexander, Liz Lubow Poston, Amy Zalman and Laura Schiele Robinson, and while a few others (Claudine Wolas Shiva, Bob Giannasca, Steve Descoteaux) could not make it on the big day, we caught up with them on our travels last spring and summer. We also had Columbia in the wedding party — my oldest son, Charlie Steinman, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in medieval history at Columbia; and my sister, Lori Landau Dyer, who did a post-baccalaureate year at GS in 1994 and conducted research at VPS. A good time was had by all.
“After two weeks in Hawai’i, it was back to work as a partner at the Venable law firm, where I have spent the last 30 years (!) counseling clients on a mix of advertising, promotions, sweepstakes, gaming, consumer protection, e-commerce, intellectual property and consumer product safety issues. It’s never boring!”
Vera Scanlon married Martin Walsh in December at St. Boniface Parish in Brooklyn, N.Y., with a reception at The Sanctuary, on Roosevelt Island. (See “Just Married!” on July 11 for a photo!) In the professional news department, since 2012 Vera has been a magistrate judge in Brooklyn for the Eastern District of New York. She is active in civic education efforts, including leading an arts and the judiciary project with high school and middle school students.
Next category: empty nesters. Laura Marks SIPA’96 writes: “Rachel Cowan married my beloved cousin Mike Jacobs many moons ago, so I had the great pleasure of celebrating their daughter’s bat mitzvah in October with family and friends! It’s hard to believe that Jeremy Buchman ’91 and I celebrated our 21st anniversary this spring, and that he’s been teaching political science at LIU/Post for even longer. (OK, maybe that part does feel like that long.) Our older son recently finished his sophomore year at Pitzer College, where he’s majoring in critical global studies and art, and spent the spring semester in Nepal. Our younger son recently graduated from high school and heads to Vassar College in the fall. In November 2023, I became executive director of the Coalition to Cure CHD2, a patient-advocacy organization aiming to accelerate research to find a cure for CHD2-related disorders. The chromodomain helicase DNA binding protein 2 (CHD2) gene was identified 10 years ago and is associated with intractable epilepsy, intellectual disability and autism, among other things.
“I’ve spent most of my career working for international human rights organizations, including the last 15 years focusing on Afghanistan, but I was drawn to CCC because of my close family connection to epilepsy: My older sister was diagnosed in early childhood with epilepsy and an intellectual disability, and our younger son developed seizures when he was 3, soon after being diagnosed with tuberous sclerosis complex, a genetic neurocutaneous disease that is also associated with epilepsy, intellectual disability and autism. I am deeply humbled and grateful for our son’s relatively good health, and for all of the outstanding medical care and support he’s had through the years, and I’m glad to have the opportunity to give back in this way. And if there are any researchers out there looking for an exciting gene to study, please reach out!”
John Vincenti reports he and his wife, Robyn, are “about to become empty nesters when younger son Andrew ’28 joins his brother Alexander ’26 at Columbia College in the fall (gasp!). We are very happy for Andrew, and plan to celebrate by taking many long exotic vacations without our children. Additional good news: Volunteering on the Columbia College Alumni Association Board of Directors means I get to see a lot of CC’90 alums, including Sherri Pancer Wolf, Ben Cosgrove, Margaret Flynn Robison, James Stone and of course, my Carman 8 floormate Judy Shampanier.”
Alicia Katz Shems and her husband, Nessy, “are approaching our 30th wedding anniversary and plan to celebrate by going on a hiking tour in the Dolomites in July. Our children, Matthew (27) and Leah (24), have flown the coop, and live in Denver and NYC, respectively. Luckily, we like both cities, and I get to relive my youth and college years visiting Leah. Both Ness and I work from home now after Covid-19, which is rather nice, though I had celebrated the end of making lunches when the kids went to college, and now I’m back doing it!
“Although I still love creating mixed media art, I haven’t had much time to show my work the past few years, as I have been working full time as a content manager at a fintech startup and enjoying the teamwork and frenetic pace. I’ve kept in touch with a few friends from Columbia and keep meaning to go to a reunion one day to catch up with others, but it’s always on the weekend of my mom’s birthday. Anyway, the last 34 years has a telescopic feeling — depending on the view, it seems really far away since our college days on the quad or just like last week. Hope everyone from the Class of 1990 is healthy and thriving!”
Sean Ryan closes out the column. “My wife and I recently moved back to NYC (the Village) after 30-plus years on the West Coast, primarily to be closer to my brothers and father, as well as to Barcelona, where we live part of the year. I have a gaming startup, and my wife helps lead a nonprofit ed tech, Talking Points. It’s been great to reconnect with classmates, and I look forward to being more involved in the Columbia community now that I’m back in the city.”
Yoo-hoo, Reunion Committee, I think I have a lead on a new member.
1991
Heather E.G. Brownlie
heatherhj@yahoo.com
As I write this, spring has sprung, the weather is improving and views from campus show a return to the Steps and the many abundant green spaces on campus. It has been so wonderful to hear from so many of you!
Yours truly, Heather Brownlie, welcomed a sixth grandchild, granddaughter Quinn Niamh Smith, on Feb. 25.
Chapin Clark checked in with this “important milestone: I recently made my final alimony payment! After 10 years of ruinous monthly checks, I’m done. Life is short? Not when it comes to alimony. In the immortal words of Jeb Bush, ‘please clap.’ In other life news, this year I celebrate my 23rd anniversary at the same advertising agency where I have been a copywriter and creative director since 2001. In case you are unaware, advertising is only slightly more forgiving of aging than the society depicted in Logan’s Run. Once you turn 30, they don’t kill you, but you’d better be thinking about your next move. So just to have a job is a small miracle. Life is good!”
Virginia Cornish, the Helena Rubinstein Chair in the Department of Chemistry and a founding member of the Department of Systems Biology at Columbia, participated in a Jan. 17 program, “Women at the Podium: Synthetic Biology: A New Therapeutic Platform,” sponsored by the Columbia College Alumni Association. Mila Tuttle ’96, SIPA’05 was the moderator; the program discussed Virginia’s research engineering living yeast as biosensors and therapeutics. Her laboratory continues its pioneering research in yeast synthetic biology on the 12th floor of the Northwest Corner Building on campus. They currently are writing for publication two new applications of their living yeast biosensor technology. They also are writing their first application of a living yeast therapeutic. In addition to her research, Virginia taught “Organic Chemistry” and “Chemical Biology” courses last fall.
Marc Eisenberg VPS’95 continues to practice cardiology in New York City. His latest book, Am I Dying?!: A Complete Guide to Your Symptoms — and What to Do Next, has been translated into 16 languages.
Noah Elkin shared, “In August I relocated to Atlanta after a lifetime of living in the Northeast. My wife, Barbara Krauthamer, started a job as dean of Emory College. Soon after the move, I reconnected with Mark Ellingson, whom I hadn’t seen since the year after graduation. By chance, it turned out we live in the same neighborhood! Mark is a runner like me, and he graciously invited me to join a running group that meets locally a couple of mornings each week.
“Professionally, I’m entering my ninth year at Gartner, having spent six years as an analyst in the marketing practice, including a stint as the chief of research, and two years managing an analyst team in the sales practice. In March, I started a job as a managing VP in the human resources practice, leading a team of analysts focused on HR technologies. My job at Gartner has always been remote, so that part of the move was easy at least!”
Noah would love to hear from classmates or other fellow Columbians in the greater Atlanta area: ncelkin@gmail.com.
Seth Goldsamt LAW’95 provided this update: “I attended the Law School with several fellow Columbians, including Josh Saltman LAW’94; Erin Zyko Hussein ’92, LAW’95; Tracy Cole ’90, LAW’95; and Benjamin Lawsky ’92, LAW’95. I am a partner at McGuireWoods, an international law firm. I work out of its New York office on mergers and acquisitions and other transactional matters. A number of my clients are in the technology, media and telecommunications industry. I recently saw Stephen Jansen at a presentation about a film project under development with which I am involved.
“My wife, Nina, and I have been married almost 25 years. She is from Denmark, and we met while waiting for a bus at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, not often considered a romantic spot! After many years in Manhattan, we now live in Larchmont, N.Y. (just north of NYC). We have two children, Anna and Mathias, both of whom attend Mamaroneck H.S., where Anna just finished her senior year. Our family’s big news is that Anna will be part of the Class of ’28!”
Our congratulations to the Goldsamt family on this accomplishment, and welcome Anna!
Attending the “CCW at OMCA After Dark” event on Feb. 29 at the Oakland Museum of California were, left to right: Lindsay Lyu ’13; Kenyatta Monroe- Sinkler ’91; Mary Ann Bonet Guardia ’10, OMCA’s senior director of learning, experience and programming, and the tour guide for the event; Angela Eaton ’91; Tova Ricardo ’21; and Divya Singh ’87.
The WKCR Latín Department had a gathering on Feb. 11. Joining were, left to right: Frankie Melendez, Sadys Rodrigo Espitia ’91, Jose Calderon and German Santana ’97.
Reminder to all that if you participated in Class Day or Columbia Reunion 2024, please take a moment to send me your latest news and updates, and I’ll share them in a future issue. Write to me at the email at the top of the column, or use the Class Notes webform: college.columbia.edu/cct/submit_class_note. Photos that feature at least two CC alumni should be sent directly to CCT using the Class Notes photo webform: college.columbia.edu/cct/submit_class_note_photo.
Looking forward to receiving more news and notes and your amazing photos for a future issue!
1992
Olivier Knox
olivier.knox@gmail.com
Hello, classmates!
Peter Hatch wrote in about the sold-out 2024 John Jay Awards Dinner, at which Dane Holmes was one of the honorees.
“Wah Chen helped organize a table so a group of ’92ers could cheer him on together. Seated with Dane and his wife, Barbara, were Wah, Jared Clark, Karl Cole-Frieman and his wife, Wanda Cole-Frieman BC’94, John Marciano, Eddie Rodriguez, Farnaz Vossoughian and me,” Peter said.
“Also repping ’92 that night were Joan Campion, who recently had her second child (congratulations again!), and Chris McGowan, who serves with me on the College’s Board of Visitors,” he added.
Congrats, Joan!
And I got a wonderful note from Cary Hall, who has recently become a full-time attorney in the Montgomery County Public Defender office after two decades as a solo attorney. (That’s Montgomery County, Pa., not Md. It’s the third most populous county in the state after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh/Allegheny Counties.)
“Folks have offered me congratulations, but to keep a ‘normal’ work schedule now and have a boss again?! But I was obviously ready for a change, and a surprising slew of veteran attorneys have made their way to that office — now including me. Steady paycheck and benefits? It’s admittedly a perk I’ll learn to endure, heh, and I’ll continue to keep my solo practice on the side,” Cary wrote.
He is also active in the Montgomery Bar Association as a director and as co-chair of the Solo/Small Firm Committee.
“It’s a living, and I occasionally even make a difference, so there,” he said.
Cary is also pursuing his quest to visit every Pennsylvania State Park, “which began during Covid-19 to maintain a vestige of sanity.”
He’s checked off 83 of the 124 parks!
“I’m especially lucky to live in an area where a hike’s thirst can be quenched at a local brewery wherever you find yourself. In theory, the caloric input/output of such days should be a wash, but the input has been gaining traction as of late, ugh,” Cary said, relatably.
“Did I mention I still also play guitar in local classic rock bands? Even grew the locks long again years ago to complete the circle that began while a Columbia undergrad. Fight the power, and never grow old, kids.”
That’s all for now!
1993
Neil Turitz
lovematza@aol.com
Greetings, all. I hope everyone has been well since the last update. Before we get started, I want to address something that many, many of you have mentioned to me offline: concern about events on campus. I cannot, unfortunately, get into it at all in this space, but suffice to say that I also have grave concerns, and in fact, resigned my fundraising position over it. If anyone wants to discuss further, please contact me at the listed email address and I will be happy to talk about it.
Now, on to your updates, and there are a lot of them! Many from old friends.
Frequent flyer Rebecca Boston SIPA’94 earned a small promotion and department change in November, and is now doing HR work for the property management division of local government in Baltimore and is planning her first trip to France for the fall. “Paris only,” she says, “so if anyone has any secret must-sees or must-dos, happy to have them shared.”
New old friend Jennifer Anglade Dahlberg, who was kind of the star of last year’s reunion, said she loved meeting classmates at reunion and is adjusting to not being a current Columbia parent since her daughter Yasmine ’23 graduated. The English version of her Swedish novel, A Norn in Bloom, was released last summer. She is keeping busy writing the sequel, which is good because I picked up a copy and am excited to read it. Jennifer will connect with Alan Freeman and his family on their trip to Stockholm this summer, saying, “Our reunion created that connection!”
Sophomore-year roommate Marc Braveman wrote to brag that he can now do a helicopter on skis, which is admittedly impressive, while Yumi Koh wrote that she joined Merrill Private Wealth Management last year after five years at J.P. Morgan Private Bank in Atlanta. “Ironically,” she said, “I began my career after graduating from Columbia in the investment banking division of JPMorgan Chase in NYC and am grateful for my eight years at the firm.”
Adrian Bordoni TC’98, aka The Perfesser, is celebrating 20 years teaching at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice as an adjunct, and 14 years at Queensborough Community College as a criminal justice lecturer. Adrian has developed the international program Global Connections with CETYS University, a private Mexican University with locations in Tijuana, Ensenada and Mexicali.
First-year suitemate Peter Viola and I connected for the first time since graduation, which was a lovely surprise. Pete lives in Cleveland and has been an educator, coach and academic adviser for three decades. He’s now transitioning into the field of teen/success coaching through his GRIND programming (gratitude, respect, integrity, never-quit and discipline). This year he has published three books, Hip Hop History: The Narrative of United States History through Rap and Spoken Word; Woken Words: Thoughts from the Laundry Room; and Preparing for the “GRIND”: Real Talk for those Considering a Career in Teaching.
Varsity Show vet, and former drinking buddy, John Mathews wrote to talk about his new “happy addiction”: community theater. “In February, I auditioned on a whim for The 39 Steps by Patrick Barlow, and got the part!” he said of the resurrection of his acting career. He has now performed in four shows, including The Play That Goes Wrong; Murder on the Orient Express; and Noises Off. “Suffice to say I have an incredibly fun new hobby, and I love every minute of it!”
Another old friend, Andy Schmeltz, sent a photo of himself with his annual New Year’s Eve crew and AEPi brothers, Andrew Ceresney, David Lerner and Adam Towvim ’92. The four of them and their families have spent almost every NYE together for the last 30 years. Collectively, their families have many Columbia ties, including Andy’s son Jacob ’24. Each of the gentlemen sent in updates, too.
Schmeltz left Pfizer last May after 20 years to become EVP of CSL Behring, an Australian biopharmaceutical company focused on plasma-derived therapies for rare diseases. He still lives in Montclair, N.J., but travels to Australia several times a year.
Ceresney was exceedingly proud that his oldest son, Ethan, graduated from Tulane in May and is now working in Dallas at an aviation software company doing marketing. “Not only are Rachel [née Levine BC’92] and I empty nesters (our younger son, Jonah, is a sophomore at BU) but now one of our sons is self-supporting (for the most part). Doesn’t get much better than that!”
Lerner wrote from Lexington, Mass., where he has been the rabbi of Temple Emunah for the last 20 years. “The rabbinate has its challenges and long hours, but it is also incredibly meaningful work, and I am grateful to serve such a warm and welcoming community,” he said. He also mentioned daughter Talya BC’23 and sons Ari, who finished his first year at WashU in St. Louis, and Matan, a junior in high school, as well as his wife, Sharon Levin BC’93, SW’95, who has a psychotherapy practice in town. He added, “I feel blessed to have these friendships for 35 years!”
Jenn Broekman and her husband, Blair Seidler SEAS’91 (Ph.D. Rutgers ’23), are both teaching high school. They now have two grandchildren (!), thanks to Kat Denney ’18 (née Broekman, Ph.D. Stony Brook ’23). Jenn said, “I’m thinking about going back to grad school, but I’ll probably wait until our younger child, Elizabeth (Hampshire ’22) graduates from the Syracuse Library and Information Science grad program.”
Ken Ehrenberg GSAS’05 and his two older daughters (10 and 7) became U.K. citizens this past winter, joining his youngest (5), who already was a citizen, as Ken and his family were granted permanent residency last year. “I’m professor of jurisprudence and philosophy at the University of Surrey, where I am also co-director of the Surrey Centre for Law and Philosophy, the largest research center in the world devoted to issues in philosophy of law. We live in Golders Green in northwest London.”
And, finally, there is Ezra Kenigsberg, who sent in a lengthy update, most of which is too much for this space (sorry, kid!), but here’s the important stuff: He, his wife and his daughter live in Austin. He recently started a job at Canva and loves it so far. He’s taken up running and has done a couple half-marathons and has joined the board of his local synagogue. Daughter Lila will have her bat mitzvah next February.
Ezra also sent in updates about my sophomore suitemate Adam Fels, who went skydiving with his daughter Sasha when she turned 18 recently, and Dave Kardon, who lives in San Francisco, has become a vegan and apparently still shoots a mean game of pocket billiards.
See? An action-packed update! So many stories from so many people! Are you inspired to reach out for the next issue? You should be! Don’t make me fabricate stuff about you! Because I totally will!
1994
Kathryn Hudacek Harlow
kathryn@columbiacollege1994.com
Our 30th reunion was held May 30–June 1, and this milestone brought us back to the texts that bond our class, and all classes that have had the privilege of the Core Curriculum. Alright. Maybe you’ve you forgotten our intensive study of Western culture? Really, how often do you consider Aeschylus’ dramas when paying taxes? (“Inferno” comes faster during tax season.) This season, messages from classmates referred to our days speed reading and note taking, and our sophomoric attempts to rationalize our most important courses while we were on campus decades ago.
Marc Samir Sharifi is surrounded by great tomes, as he manages the preservation and renovation of the historic library and Long Room at Trinity College, Dublin, established in the 17th century as a theological repository, especially for the Protestant Reformation. Marc spends time among antique volumes of Core readings like Confessions by St. Augustine and Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas. In the 19th century the library collections gradually became more secular. He writes, “You’d find familiar philosophical texts by Nietzsche and Wittgenstein and also early printed editions by Jane Austen, Fyodor Dostoevsky and of course all the seminal Irish writers like Wilde, Beckett and Joyce.” Aside from the wealth of knowledge Marc has access to, he describes Trinity as “a stunning building on a gorgeous campus, so I hope people get the chance to visit it.” He has been living in Dublin for six years and is returning home to New York City this summer. He looks forward to catching up with classmates.
Richard R. Waterfield recognizes that “the Core did much to inspire my love of learning, and my high regard for education in general. I credit Columbia for much of my success, and plan to support the school as much as I am able, as all Columbia graduates should.” As such, Richard recently funded, and will continue to fund, Columbia’s Waterfield Family Core Faculty Endowment to Advance the Core Curriculum at Columbia, “a brilliant program I feel heavily indebted to intellectually.” Hold on to your hat: Richard’s successes and activities are abundant. He is chair and CEO of Waterfield Enterprises, a global investment and technology organization he founded in 1998. Richard promotes learning by sitting on the board of Canterbury School in Northern Indiana and the board of Culver Summer Schools & Camps, first as co-chair of the Diversity Committee, with a special emphasis on American Indian heritage, and then as chair of the board. Further, he founded YPO Northern Indiana, a 501(c)(3) focused on CEO learning that now has 35 active Northern Indiana CEO members. For the last decade he has been coaching a group of seven young, up-and-coming CEOs. “Coaching brings me energy and joy,” he says.
Richard also finds joy and imaginably a lot of schlepping around because his son, Indy, is one of the players on The Canterbury Football Club — travel soccer — focused on the Artist-Athlete-Scholar gold standard. As if that were not enough, Richard is restoring Roanoke, Ind., America’s quintessential small town.
Similarly running uptown and down is Kim Yao, living in lower Manhattan with her husband, Paul. “We have a daughter (17) who starts college in the fall, and a son (14) at Beacon H.S. Both are travel-soccer players. I have become a car-driving, enthusiastic soccer mom,” Kim writes. Kim continued to a master’s in architecture from Princeton. Then, “returned immediately to NYC and have lived and practiced here ever since. My husband is also an architect, although we each have our own firms.” After finishing graduate school, Kim joined Architecture Research Office, and in 2011 became a partner there. In addition to her practice, she became adjunct faculty in 2001 at various institutions including Barnard (which now runs the Department of Architecture that both Barnard and Columbia students attend) and GSAPP. She also is a lecturer at MIT in the architecture department. Kim’s firm recently completed the Center for the Study of Childhood Development at Barnard and has completed planning work for GSAPP. As if that were not enough accomplishment, Kim is on the executive committee and board of the Center for Architecture, and is a past president of AIA New York, NYC’s professional organization for architects. These roles, among other service, mentoring and advocacy positions, “have been both demanding and rewarding. Ultimately, they enable connections with a larger pool of professionals, or most importantly the broader public, relative to architecture and the built environment,” she notes.
If you keep up with the cultural, literary or late-’90s Chinese-television environment, you have likely seen the work of Rachel DeWoskin, who is a writer “thanks in large part to so many primary texts at Columbia! I recently published a collection of poetry (absolute animal), so have been on a book tour the last few months, which means seeing friends from all over, reading in glorious book shops and getting to be in conversation with writers I admire.”
Rachel is finishing a novel about murder and incarceration and working on a film adaptation of her most recent novel, Banshee, with Ally Sheedy. “I have two daughters, Dalin (19), an artist, and Light (16), a journalist. My husband, playwright Zayd Dorhn, and I spend a ton of time reading, writing, teaching and traveling with our girls. We are headed to Greece for a joint teaching gig this summer and working on an agitprop theater project with my favorite organization, Writers for Democratic Action, for which I sit on the Steering Committee.”
Rachel has an impressive bibliography that can be found on her eponymous website and has appeared on various podcasts sharing her unique insight in writing and the arts.
1995
Janet Lorin
janet.lorin@gmail.com
Susan Philip ’95 (bottom row, left) and her partner, Timothy Tuttle, hosted a dinner party for classmates on Jan. 20 at their home in San Francisco. Joining were (clockwise from middle left) Percival Cueva ’95, Mike Cabotaje ’95, John Tang LAW’96, Emily Hu ’95, Mohit Daswani ’95 and Sejal Patel Daswani ’95.
Timothy Tuttle
Emily writes from San Francisco. She lives there with her husband, John Tang LAW’96, a securities litigation attorney at Jones Day, whom she met while a senior living in Furnald, and their boys, Derek (13) and Morgan (11).
“I am in year 20 of private practice in ob/gyn, which has been fulfilling and joyful,” Emily wrote. “It’s a busy life but always interesting and fresh.”
Emily also is medical director in a menopause care startup, Evernow, and teaches UCSF medical students as a member of clinical faculty.
“There are so many Lions on the West Coast, and we are always so happy to find and spend time with each other!” she writes.
Susan, who also lives in San Francisco with her partner, Timothy Tuttle, an MIT alumnus, hosted the gathering. She moved to the West Coast after earning an M.P.P. at Georgetown and has spent her career in health policy.
Susan was appointed in 2021 by Gov. Gavin Newsom as deputy director for health care delivery systems at California’s Department of Health Care Services, the state’s Medicaid agency. She oversees the Medi-Cal Managed Care program, home and community-based waiver programs and several initiatives under California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal, the state’s major Medicaid transformation initiative. She also sits on the board of San Francisco Safehouse and is part of the USTA tennis league in the Bay Area.
Susan comes back to New York regularly to spend time with her parents; brother, John Philip ’93; sister-in-law, Ashita Solanki BC’95; and nephews. She and Tim look forward to our 30th reunion.
Sejal Patel Daswani SIPA ’96 and Mohit Daswani have lived in the Bay Area for almost 19 years. They now live in Los Altos with their children (Naiya, 17; Siddhartha, 15; and Nysa, 8) and Labradoodles. Sejal is chief people officer at an HR-tech SaaS company, and Mohit is chief financial officer at an AI-data company. “We are active in the Columbia College Fund’s Fund Development Council and are enjoying helping to build the Columbia community here on the West Coast,” they wrote. “Look forward to seeing everyone at our 30th reunion!”
Mike Cabotaje writes about himself and Percival Cueva: “Percival and I have been together since our Columbia College days, and we managed to stick it through together through law school and medical school (me at UC Berkeley for law school and Percival at UC Davis for med school), and then through moves between San Francisco and Los Angeles in the couple of decades since then.”
Mike and Percival have been in San Francisco for about 20 years. Mike has been an administrative law judge for the Social Security Administration since 2016, and before that he spent much of his career as a federal attorney at SSA and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Percival is a longtime infectious disease physician with Kaiser. They have two girls, Kelsey (15) and Mary (6). “Our little family is just enjoying life in the Bay Area,” they write.
Congratulations to Sharon Brous GSAS’01 on her new book, The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend Our Broken Hearts and World. She is the founding and senior rabbi of IKAR, a Jewish community based in Los Angeles, and wife of David Light SOA’02. Sharon penned an op-ed in The New York Times in January.
1996
Ana Salper
ana.salper@nyumc.org
Happy summer, classmates! I have exciting news to report: Julie Satow SIPA’01, an award-winning journalist and author of The Plaza: The Secret Life of America’s Most Famous Hotel, recently published When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion. I pre-ordered my copy months ago and can’t wait to read it; it’s about the golden age of American department stores and the three visionary women who led them. Go get it and read it!
Congratulations, Julie!
I recently ran into Anastasia Thanopoulos (née Yatrakis) in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, near our respective homes. It was great to catch up! Anastasia works in real estate/property management, and her husband, Billy Thanopoulos ’95, owns a restaurant, two8two Bar & Burger, in Boerum Hill. Anastasia and Billy have three sons: George ’27 (19), who completed his first year at the College (yay!); Niko (16); and Teddy (12). I am a big fan of two8two Bar & Burger, so I highly recommend it ... and Anastasia would love any fellow CC’96ers in Brooklyn to visit it!
Lastly, I extend a public apology to Jia Son, whose name, school and graduation year were all printed incorrectly in the last CCT as a result of an editing error. It is the first time in my almost 30 years of writing these Class Notes that this has happened, and it is important for me to assure Jia and anyone who knows her and noticed the error that it will not happen again.
Alas, that is all I have this time around ... I need more notes from everyone, please! Send me news of your lives! I leave you with this:
“An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself.”
— Albert Camus
1997
Kerensa Harrell
kvh1@columbia.edu
Dear classmates, I hope that you are all enjoying a wonderful summer. It is my pleasure to present the following updates from our class.
Dorraine Burrell (née Hemchand) is happy to share that she and her husband, Dwight Burrell, whom she met at Columbia, recently celebrated 18 years of marriage. Their sons, Elijah and Lucas, are 14 and 11, respectively. Lucas was accepted to Newark Academy in Livingston, N.J., and will join his brother there in the fall. Elijah finished his freshman year in high school and did well in French honors and algebra/trig honors. Dorraine trained for the Brooklyn Half, which took place on May 18. She is in her second year as sales director with Cboe Global Markets, risk and market analytics, and in her fourth year as a member of the Board of Directors of an NGO, HealthRight International, which increases health equity globally. She also shares that she is a cancer survivor.
Mike Pignatello is returning to Taipei this summer, along with his husband and their twin boys, for his next assignment with the Department of State.
Endre Tvinnereim is a professor of political science at the University of Bergen. Last fall he rejoined the Bergen Cathedral Choir.
Rachel Yoskowitz writes: “I was flooded with so many memories last August when I had the honor to move my son into his dorm for the start of his journey at Columbia College. Although it was a tumultuous first year, he thoroughly enjoyed the Core Curriculum and all of his classes and professors. I’ve learned that the Core has some new additions, like Frontiers of Science. He won’t be able to frequent Ollie’s, The West End or Abbey Pub but he has visited The Hungarian Pastry Shop and enjoyed the coffee while discussing Lit Hum assignments. Truly the best campus in the world.”
As for me, Kerensa Harrell, as I sit here wrapping up this column, it is late March and I have been enjoying our town’s annual Easter festivities alongside my 7-year-old daughter. Here in Celebration, Fla., we always love to see our annual Easter parade, which features a caravan of decorated golf carts with the Easter Bunny riding in one of them. One week prior to Easter, the parade loops all around town and if the Easter Bunny passes by some kids and notices that they are cheering for him with particular enthusiasm, then he will stop the parade and step out to give them hugs and Easter eggs. Our town’s golf club, which is a short walking distance from our home, also puts on a lovely Easter egg hunt in its flowery gazebo garden for the neighborhood children, and we enjoyed that as well. And then our Girl Scout troop arranged for a professional manicurist to come to our meeting and paint all the girls’ nails in an Easter Bunny theme. Last year, on the day before Easter, a helicopter came (in which the Easter Bunny was riding) and dropped thousands of candy-filled eggs onto our town’s soccer fields for the waiting children to collect. Once my daughter outgrows such things, I plan to take her to NYC for us to stroll in Fifth Avenue’s Easter Hat Parade, which I always participated in when I was living in NYC! How I miss those zany hats.
So let me cue the Irving Berlin song “Easter Parade” as I sign off ... I hope you are all doing well, and please write to us with your updates. We would love to hear from you, even if it is just to say hello!
In lumine Tuo videbimus lumen.
1998
Sandie Angulo Chen
sandie.chen@gmail.com
Congratulations to Lisette Camilo, who was featured in City & State New York’s list “The 2024 Above & Beyond: Women,” honorees who are transforming New York. Lisette’s profile lauded her work as chief administrative officer at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. In particular, the article highlighted how Lisette has spearheaded connections between the MTA and CUNY to recruit a new generation of NYC government workers.
Thanks to Lisette’s good friend Alejandra Montenegro Almonte for alerting us to the good news!
Congratulations are also in order for Anand Gandhi, who is a first-time father! Anand and his wife, Soniya, had a boy, Deven, last November.
Congrats to the Gandhis, who live in Manhattan, on baby Dev!
Podcast lovers, take a moment to subscribe to The Unshakeables, a new podcast hosted by Tanya Nebo and Chase for Business CEO Ben Walter. They highlight CEOs and resilient small-business owners. Tanya, who runs her own law firm, is also a nationally renowned business consultant.
As Anand starts his parenting journey, I give a shoutout to classmates on the other side of parenting — those who are celebrating their children’s high school and even college graduations! Keri and Andy Topkins, Kathy Zucker ’97 and Noah Zucker, etc., you did it!
1999
Lauren Gershell
lauren@gershell.com
Hello, Class of ’99! It has now been 25 years since graduation, a number that seems impossibly large. It was wonderful to see so many of you at reunion, and I would love to hear more about your lives for my next column! In the meantime, I am thrilled to share the following:
Natasha C. Fatheree BUS’09 got married on St. Nicholas Day, Dec. 6, 2023, to her German sweetheart, Andreas Neumann. The two celebrated their union in the San Francisco courthouse with Natasha’s family before flying to Oberhausan, Germany, to celebrate with Andreas’ relatives. Natasha and Andreas live in Oakland, Calif., where Natasha is a finance leader within the payments industry and Andreas is a software architect within a “big data” startup.
Adrienne Buckley (née Lehman) emailed to share that “2023 was a great year for my family! Because of the actors’ and writers’ strike, my husband, Mike, was home for six months. We were fortunate and thankful to have the cushion to weather it, and for the first time ever enjoyed family dinners every night for months on end. It was really blissful, and it also allowed me the freedom to dip my toe back into the nursing pool a bit — strictly on my own terms, which was marvelous! Our youngest keeps hoping for the next strike! I think it might give us both a bit of a twitch when she says that, especially since Mike’s union, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, is up for renegotiation this year. I am still homeschooling our crew and thrilled to have this privilege. Our children are thriving under an approach loosely based on the Sudbury Valley School, founded by former Columbia professor of physics and history Daniel Greenberg. Sending a big hello to everyone in the class!”
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Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530, 4th Fl.
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ccalumni@columbia.edu