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CLASS NOTES
Alan N. Miller
Dear Gentlemen (loosely used) of that wonderous Columbia Class of 1956. This is to report that we had our best reunion yet in early June. The 45 classmates who came took part in a most spirited occasion. Those who didn't, and we received many communications from classmates who wanted to come but had other business or family events to attend, we really missed you and you missed a 3 12-day event with tremendous positive feeling. We went to the theater, had champagne at Sardi's, visited Kykuit (which was a Rockefeller phenomenon), ate, drank and sang Columbia songs. We enjoyed two marvelous lectures with questions by professors Ken Jackson and Jim Mirollo, danced in Low, etc., etc. Please put aside time for the 50th as you don't know what you are missing. In fact, we enjoyed singing so much we requested it again at dinner Saturday evening. Thanks to all the Sigma Chi brothers and Vic Levin, a fellow Glee Club member, who came up front to sing with me. Kudos to Mike Spett, Larry Gitten and Phil Liebson who worked extraordinarily hard to put out a superb yearbook you all should have received by now. (You don't find me in a tux very often.) Bob Siroty and Lou Hemmerdinger did a remarkable job at lunchtime Saturday, separately presenting Columbia nostalgia trips. Frank Thomas suggested on Friday evening that we get together more often, as with Medicare cards in hand, five years is too long to wait. I and others heartily concur and your loyal, hard-working and hard-playing committee will get together shortly and suffer over 2nd Avenue Deli sandwiches while planning future intra-reunion events. Any suggestions, please forward to me by any modern or Luddite means to the info provided at the top of this column. Suggestions so far, and there is room for improvement, include a dinner-dance, dinner and theater, basketball game, events planned around Homecoming or Dean's Day, etc. Do not hesitate for a moment about contacting me. You can call me at (212) 712-2369 or write to me at the address above. Columbia men were never known for their passivity. So guys (and dolls), here's wishing you all health, wealth, happiness, great children, extraordinary grandchildren and anything and everything else. Love and keep in touch.
Herman Levy A group of our class met at the home of Ed Weinstein on June 13 to continue planning our 45th reunion. Alvin Kass chaired the meeting, which included Ed, Carlos Muñoz, Marty Fisher, Saul Cohen and Steve Fybish. Heather Applewhite of the Alumni Office assisted. The group established committees for communications and marketing (Carlos), program (Bob Lipsyte), and fund raising (Saul). The group mostly discussed the program; it will follow the format used this year, with theater events on Thursday evening beginning the extended weekend. A special newsletter Carlos is preparing will include more information. Marty has lined up class representatives in five regions around the country to drum up enthusiasm for the reunion. The regions are Miami/South Florida, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles. His largest and most active regional group is in L.A., headed by Dave Kassoy. Gene Wagner, also of L.A., has suggested a black tie dinner as part of our reunion celebration to add a note of distinctiveness; we wonder how others feel about this. You may express yourself to Alvin at miryomal@aol.com. Ken Bodenstein and Diane will be attending our 45th reunion. Saul Cohen continues his securities law practice, as busy as ever. Marty Fisher retired from IBM in 1994 and has been teaching social studies on the high school level and computer science and networking on the graduate school level. His main interest, however, is auditing college courses to finish the books he never could complete in humanities and contemporary civilization. He tries to get to as many football and basketball games as he can. Last football season he saw the Lions score more than 120 points in three home games. He and Doris saw our basketball team beat Princeton and Penn on successive nights. He looks forward to our 45th reunion. The Gesher Jewish Day School of Northern Virginia honored Liz and Paul Frommer at its annual Guardian of the Bridge Dinner Dance, Mother's Day, Sunday, May 13, 2001. Steve Fybish continues with his weather studies and has been interviewed and served as an "expert" on the subject in both newspapers and radio recently. Bob Lipsyte has completed several articles in The New York Times on stock car racing, its safety, sense of family and religion under the checkered flag, and popularity. In one, Bob drew attention to Dale Earnhardt and his "current beatification... as a man's man who sacrificed himself to shepherd his flock to the finish line, a hero who in death evoked both John Wayne and Jesus." Bob quoted Professor William J. Baker, who finds a similarity between "evangelical Christianity and big-time sport." The professor sees both as "win-loss mentalities. In evangelical Christianity, you are either saved or lost. You've gone to heaven or you've gone to hell, you win or you lose and that's what sport is all about." Bob noted that "[s]tock car racing, born on the red clay of the bible belt, may be the major sport that institutionally most encourages religious practice." Rabbi Alvin Kass read Bob's article and focused on Professor Baker's comments. Alvin published his own viewpoint on the subject in the East Midwood Jewish Center newsletter. His position is that it's not whether you win or lose that counts, but how you play the game. "Sports was supposed to be a training ground for the attributes essential to a civil and civilized community: discipline, teamwork, playing by the rules and respect for talent," he writes. Professor Baker's emphasis on the similarity between winning-losing on one hand and saved-damned on the other reminded Alvin of John Calvin's theology of predestination; R.H. Tawney and Max Weber regarded this doctrine as the basis of modern capitalism. Calvin's followers regarded success in business and amassing great wealth as indicators of being one of God's elect. Alvin contrasted this tying of worldly success to heavenly success to the Jewish belief in "modest, unassuming human beings who live decent, moral lives... [as] the real heroes of the world... [and] the criteria employed by the Heavenly tribunal." Alvin then dismissed the idea "that God takes sides in athletic competitions," saying he finds it "hard to believe that God is a Yankee fan rather than a Mets supporter!" In addition, Alvin has received an invitation from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (AFT) to deliver the invocation at a national awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. Carlos Muñoz and Mark Stanton were Ed Weinstein's guests at his club for golf on June 8. The day was muggy, the golf was fair, but the company was excellent. Mark continues in law practice in New Jersey, although he admitted that he no longer has the stamina for litigation. Carlos is enjoying his second retirement (from Dime Bank). Alan Rainess became a Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association at its annual convocation in New Orleans in May 2001. He will be reducing his hours so he can devote more time to two of his interests, piano and French literature. Alan notes that we "senior citizens [may] audit certain Columbia College courses if we are able to stagger up the stairs of Hamilton Hall to the classrooms." Last year I audited a course in introductory Latin. The class consisted of 25 aspiring young Latinists and one elderly gentleman. On the first day we filled out attendance cards indicating the year of graduation. I wrote "57" and the teacher stopped and asked, "Who is going to graduate in 2057?" Elliott Schwartz has been guest composer and lecturer at the Museum of Modern Art (Strasbourg, France), Reykjavik Conservatory (Iceland), Longy School (Boston), the University of Miami Festival and the Royal Academy of Music (London). A recording of his Bellagio Variations by the Kreutzer Quartet has been released on the UK Metier label. Sandra and Ed Weinstein celebrated their wedding anniversary in an unusual manner on Friday, June 29. They visited their newly born twin granddaughters at New York University Hospital. What an anniversary present!! It's courtesy of their son, Jim Weinstein '87, and daughter-in-law Alicia. Ed, in his capacity as chairman of the College Fund, traveled with Dean Quigley to Los Angeles on March 13 –14. The Dean visited with three groups of alumni and Ed went along to show the connection of the entire Columbia community and to support the Dean. Ed had dinner with Herb Sturman and Bill Friedman in Los Angeles on March 12. Both look great and are as active as ever. Herb has been practicing tax law and Bill has been senior associate dean for academic affairs at UCLA School of Medicine. Bill has just received the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award from SUNY Downstate School of Medicine, and is about to receive the Outstanding Achievement in Cardiovascular Medicine Award from the American Heart Association. Herb enjoys taking on work for clients pro bono and beating arrogant taxing authorities. Bill is a member of the California Air Resources Board and drives a state-supplied electric car. The Los Angeles Times (Sunday, March 18) quoted him on the responsibility of our auto industry to produce emission-free cars. Ed also lunched with Tony Barber on March 9 at Postrio in San Francisco. Tony continues in the money management field, spending most of his time working out of his ranch in the Sonoma Valley. His optimism and joie de vivre are irrepressible. Ed and the following classmates attended Dean's Day in New York: Al Anton and his wife, Sarah; Al Fierro and his son, Mark; David Kinne and his wife, Kathleen; and Neil McLellan.
Barry Dickman Congratulations to Peter Cohn on his election to the presidency of the New York State chapter of the American College of Cardiology, and on the marriage of his son, Alan '93, to Becky Levin. Pete celebrated his 20th year as chief of cardiology at the SUNY Health Sciences Center at Stony Brook by bringing out the fourth edition of his text, Silent Myocardial Ischemia and Infarction, published by Marcel Dekker. A belated welcome to Meadow Soprano '04. Although her first year had its rocky moments, we hope her experience at the College will ultimately be satisfying enough that her father will augment his already generous contributions by endowing the Bada Bing Chair of Psychotherapy. Al Braverman brought us up to date on his busy life since graduation. He has been a professor of medicine at SUNY Downstate Health Science Center in Brooklyn for the last 25 years, specializing in hematology and oncology. His research interests have moved from hemoglobin diseases to breast cancer. Al and his wife, Daisy, celebrated their 30th anniversary last year. They have two children: Alice, a medical student at Downstate, and Michael, who has abandoned Web site construction for a job with the NYC Parks Dept. — the millennium in a nutshell! In the '60s, Al and Larry Nachman (who just retired as professor of political theory at CUNY) collaborated on three articles on Thomas Mann that were published in the Columbia-based Germanic Review, two of which were anthologized in collections of criticism edited by Harold Bloom. More recently, Al published an article on Melville's Billy Budd. He does literary research in Butler Library, and says the stacks are much the same as when he spent desperate hours studying there as an undergraduate! Keith Perry has retired after 30 years as computer systems manager with Mutual Benefit Life; he and his wife, Roslynn, are now enjoying his retirement, much of which is spent gardening and traveling. He is also serving his third term as president of the Columbia Club of Kansas City. Keith had a recent visit from Karen and Steve Klatsky, who live in Switzerland. Harold Wittner's accounting practice in Culver City, Calif., is now entitled Harold Wittner, Inc., CPA. The Class of '58 was well represented at the 40th reunion of the Harvard Law School Class of '61. Classmates and their wives who attended included Dotty and Don Gonson; Linda and Ted Lynn; Toby and Bernie Nussbaum; Judy and Shelly Raab; Linda and Sid Rosdeitcher; Asher Rubin; Joan and Mark Weiss; and Carol and Barry Dickman. Don Gonson has become "of counsel" to Hale & Dorr, the large Boston law firm where he has long been a partner. In addition to teaching international law at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University and completing his term as chair of the international law section of the Boston Bar Association, Don plans to accept some board and advisory positions, but he loves not filling out time sheets. Linda and Ted Lynn's daughter, Jessica, left a large NYC law firm to become a Manhattan assistant district attorney. Their son, Douglas, is the director of Camp Eisner in Great Barrington, Mass. "No regrets," said Bernie Nussbaum in a New York Times follow-up story on Bernie's term as President Clinton's counsel. Despite the controversy that accompanied part of his service, he calls it a "great adventure." But at the same time, Bernie seems quite content to have returned to the world of mergers and acquisitions. His daughter, Emily, a frequent contributor to The New York Times Magazine and The New York Times Book Review, is the editor of Nerve, an on-line magazine about sex. Sid Rosdeitcher has spent 40 years as a litigator with the New York firm of Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison, concentrating on antitrust. He is also a member of the executive committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and of the board of directors of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights. Sid and Linda's first grandchild, Catherine, was recently born to his daughter, Elizabeth, who works for the Indiana U. Foundation, and her husband, Alain Barker, the director of the Bloomington Early Music Festival. Their daughter, Emily, went from being a litigator at a NYC law firm to a student at the NYU Graduate Film School (another protypical contemporary drama?), and their son, David, travels the country as an entertainer. Judy and Shelly Raab's younger son, Andrew, has graduated from the Stanford School of Business. Two classmates who didn't make reunion were Morris Amitay, who was leading a group of recently retired U.S. Flag and General officers to Israel; and Maurice Katz, who has cut back on his law practice to concentrate on art. He and his wife, Marjorie, are significant collectors of American Modernist (Stieglitz circle) work. Maurie is on the boards of the Huntington Museum in San Marino, the University Art Museum of Cal State, Long Beach and the UCLA Gruenwald Art Center, and is a former director of the USC School of Fine Arts. He is also chairman of the American Art Council at the L.A. Museum of Art and a former member of the board of trustees of the archives of American art, a division of the Smithsonian Institution. Remember the class lunch Scott Shukat hosts on the second Tuesday of every month, in the Grill Room of the Princeton/Columbia Club, 15 W. 43rd Street ($31 per person). You can let Scott know if you plan to attend up to the day before, by phone (212) 582-7614; by fax (212) 315-3752; or by e-mail at scott@shukat.com.
Ed Mendrzycki Shelby Brewer has been elected chairman, president, and CEO of Commodore Applied Technology, Inc., an environmental remediation, engineering and financial services company headquartered in New York and Alexandria, Va. Shelby, who has a nuclear engineering background and spent the early part of his career in Admiral Rickover's nuclear Navy, was the top nuclear official in the Reagan Administration (1981-84) and chairman and CEO of ABB Combustion Engineering (1985-95) before taking on his new job. Ben Miller recently founded a development firm that has a new approach to processing high-level nuclear waste. The company is now moving into the demonstration stage of development with the launching of a $50 million project that is scheduled to go into operation in about 18 months. Congratulations to John Corigliano for being awarded the 2001 Pulitzer Prize in Music for his Symphony No. 2. Last year, John won an Oscar for his film score for The Red Violin. Mike Cohen is still practicing maritime law and teaching an admiralty law course at Columbia Law School, while increasing his participation in projects of the American Law Institute. His wife, Bette, recently retired after serving 17 years as the cantor of Temple Emanu-El of Long Beach, N.Y. where she has become cantor emeritus. Harris Schwartz has recently concluded his 36th year working at Columbia, during which he has helped transform the undergraduate experience. Harris is the executive director of Lerner Hall, the bustling student center. He invites classmates to stop by, say hello, and see one of Columbia's newest and most exciting additions. To continue a tradition, his daughter, Jennifer, will soon become a member of the Class of '05, following her brothers, Jason '92 and Jon '97. Our man in Washington, Steve Trachtenberg, president of the George Washington University, continues to earn the admiration of the capital city. Steve was recently selected as one of the 100 most influential people in D.C. by one of the city's major magazines. Ed Mendrzycki, your class correspondent, has retired as a partner of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and become "of counsel" to the firm. Ed is continuing to consult for a client on a part-time basis, and recently was appointed to a three-year term on the American Bar Association standing committee on professional liability. Ed will serve as chair of the committee during 2001-02. Beside the new job mentioned above, Ben Miller has volunteered to become a cub reporter for our class and he has promised to beat the bushes for news of our classmates. Ben and Ed would like to hear what's going on in your lives, so take a moment and pass a note along to Ed at the above address or to ben.miller@erols.com. Look forward to hearing from you.
J. David Farmer This will be the last time my name appears in this space, or rather at the top of this space. More on that below, but first the news. I am especially pleased to receive art notes, so I welcomed the card announcing Ivan Koota's exhibition of paintings at the Erpf Gallery of the Catskill Center in Arkville, N.Y. The postcard reproduces a jolly and nostalgic scene titled Downtown Brooklyn, dominated by a red trolley car and some signage that will probably take classmates of Brooklyn origin back to earlier times. Ivan has a Web site: www.brooklynplaces.com. One of our Mayor's more interesting initiatives has been the formation of a panel that would recommend decency standards for art in New York City museums. The 20-member panel includes Herbert London, John M. Olin Professor of The Humanities at NYU and president, Hudson Institute. Herb is also on the editorial advisory board of the American Arts Quarterly, published by the Newington Cropsey Foundation, and the latest issue of that journal includes his discussion of art funding controversies in NYC that have motivated our Mayor's actions. If you haven't guessed, it's the non-New York Times point of view. And there is always some architectural news from Robert A. M. Stern. As the new dorm at Columbia takes its place on Broadway, I read that he has been commissioned to design a dormitory for Brooklyn Law School. The story in the Times identifies Bob as a Brooklyn native (does he remember the red trolleys?) and notes that he already had designed an 11-story addition there in 1994. And now, the changing of the colors. I am very pleased — no, delighted — to report that Robert Machleder will be your new class correspondent beginning with the next issue. It came upon me one day recently that I had been doing the notes for enough years that I couldn't remember when I started. It seemed time for someone else to have the fun I have had, and Bob volunteered. I see Bob regularly at the first Thursday lunches at the Columbia Club (to which I have invited all classmates many times), and he has graciously stepped into the batter's box. Thank you, Bob, and I also thank classmates for sending me information over the years. It's allowed me to keep in touch with more of you than I might otherwise talk to or see. Sometimes things get a bit slow, so I invite or even urge you to drop Bob a line or an e-mail: 124 W. 60th Street, Apt. 34-M, New York, NY 10023, or Rmachleder@aol.com. All the best. [Editor's note: CCT wishes to publicly acknowledge and thank David for his many years as class correspondent, providing an invaluable service to the magazine, his classmates and the College.]
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