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CLASS NOTES
Robert Hardt Jr.
Jeremy Feinberg Hello everyone. A nice mix of old and new correspondents over the past few months gives me plenty to write about. So here goes. Chris Watanabe temporarily returned to his old employer, The Japan Foundation, at its Los Angeles office. Chris wrote "temporarily" because he was accepted to the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at UCSD, where he has since started. Chris described this course of study as similar to SIPA at Columbia, with more an M.B.A. theme, and a stronger focus on Asia-Pacific. Louise Dubin sent an e-mail update on both herself and Jordan Davis. Since graduation, Louise had been working as a freelance cellist in New York City, sometimes playing with the New Jersey Symphony. Recently, Louise moved to Bloomington, Ind., where she is studying with master Janos Starket and working towards a doctoral degree. Louise said she'd be particularly pleased to hear from any Columbia alums living in Indiana. Jordan is still in New York City, living with his wife Anna, Barnard '92, in Washington Heights. Since graduation, Jordan has worked for a downtown non-profit organization called Teachers & Writers, where he was recently promoted to the position of editor. Jordan is the author of Poem on a Train (Barque, 1998) and his poems have appeared in a variety of anthologies. For those looking for Jordan's work on the Internet, Louise says that two of his books can be downloaded at www.mightywords.com. Jessy Randall reported on her May 27 wedding to Ross Gresham in Martha's Vineyard. Kris Kanthak and Amanda Newman, Barnard '89, were attendants. She and her husband now live in Colorado Springs, Colo. Leila Gotoff (who has adopted the name Leila Charles Leigh professionally) is acting in the Los Angeles area. She has been doing a lot of theater, a few television shows and some independent films. She is also writing with a partner and working at getting a small romantic comedy produced. In addition, she is writing for a show on the Oxygen Network that profiles classic actresses from the 1930s and 1940s. Leila recently got engaged to her boyfriend of eight years, who, like her, is in the entertainment industry. David Derro was awarded his Ph.D. in condensed matter physics from the University of Texas in May. Thereafter, he "road-tripped" out to California, stopping in New Mexico to catch up with Kevin Sanbonmatsu, who is living in Santa Fe and working at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Once in Los Angeles, David spent time with his brother Brian Derro '91 and Lara Bernini, who he said will be working with Citibank. He also saw Andrew Katz '90, SEAS '91, who is working at McKinsey & Co. Upon leaving Los Angeles, David traveled extensively to a number of locations in Japan, as well as throughout California, including the Bay Area, Death Valley and Yosemite. When he returned to Austin, David spent a month working for a small startup company called Xidex and helping to develop new techniques in microscopy. David has now started a small post-doc position at International SEMATECH in Austin - an international semiconductor consortium influencing manufacturing technology. Roberta Bassett's husband Derek Bouchard-Hall was selected to the U.S. Olympic track cycling team. Indeed, Roberta's e-mail came just a day before she traveled to Sydney, Australia to watch him compete. Derek and his teammates finished 10th in the qualifying round of the team pursuit event. Roberta said that before leaving for Sydney, she and Derek completed a cross-country trek from Palo Alto to Boston, where she will be beginning a Ph.D program in international higher education at Boston College. She will also be a part-time residence director at Simmons College. Happily, I have some births to report. Michael Fisher and his wife, Lynn, welcomed Zoe Rachel Fisher (a.k.a. "Little Z") on May 20. At a fit 8 pounds, 11 ounces and 21 inches in length, Zoe promises to be an excellent starting center for a WNBA team in about 20-25 years. I also got an exciting e-mail from one of my favorite CC '92 couples: Aaron Lebovitz and Donna Myers. Donna and Aaron are enjoying their time with their new daughter, Madeleine Myers Lebovitz, who joined the world on July 10. Madeleine has decided to allow mom to return to work as director of foundation and corporate relations at Lincoln Park Zoo in October, and to help dad finish writing his dissertation in finance at the University of Chicago. A number of my correspondents this month asked me to post some news about myself this issue. Okay - you asked for it. I am a litigation associate at Proskauer Rose in New York, where I work on general commercial matters as well as high-profile sports-industry cases. I recently had the opportunity to return to campus and help teach the "Profession of Law" course to third-year students at Columbia Law School. The experience was particularly rewarding; not only was it fun and meaningful to teach about ethics and professional responsibility, but I had the pleasure of watching a large number of College first-years attend their very first lecture in Lit. Hum. right next door to my classroom. Like many of you, I'm sure, I miss Morningside Heights. 'Til next time.
Elena Cabral Call it the "pushing 30 and completely in denial about that 401K'' nite box, starring plenty of good folks who officially ought to know better by now. Two friends and excellent people, Orlando Campos and Rick Luna '92, are working together at the Economic Development Council in Brownsville, Texas. As marketing director, Orlando helps recruit manufacturing companies to the Brownsville area. Rick is the council's community development director in charge of all legislative, communications, and research for the organization. Rick, who is married, has a beautiful, vivacious one-year-old daughter, Sofia Isabel. Nassir Azimi is finishing a residency in internal medicine in Colorado and will begin a cardiology fellowship at Yale next year. Jamie Cesaretti and Juliette Park, two medical school graduates, welcomed their first child, Hannah Nicole Cesaretti, this year. Michele Smith joined the Cincinnati law firm of Vorys, Sater, Semour and Pease, one of the 100 largest law firms in the United States. Smith earned her law degree from Harvard in 1998. Miguel Batista wrote that Clive Andrews '94E and Laphillia Lockhart were married on July 1 in the Bahamas. Fellow '93ers in attendance were Miguel's wife Suzette, Karla Lema, Marlaina Balaban and Luis Barcelo. Also there were Michael Madrid '89, Ayanna Gordon '94, Nailah Byrd '95, Adreme Shubrick '95, Nerissa Balkarran Barnard '95, Shondelle Solomon '96 and Ron Miles '96. Miguel reports that Clive was not his usual quiet, soft-spoken self during his vows, which he proclaimed with "volume and authority.'' Also that weekend, Luis proposed to his girlfriend, Tricia McNab, on a beach in Harbor Island in true storybook fashion. Some of the guests caught a glimpse of the couple from a distance as Luis got on bended knee, and they knew for sure that something was up when Clive, who apparently served as the location consultant, yelled, "She said Yes!!" All the best to both couples.
Leyla Kokmen How pleasantly surprised I was to open up my mailbox and find a letter-an actual paper letter, who knew such things still existed?-from MassI Wyatt in Waco, Texas. MassI writes that he was married June 4 in Bora Bora. He met his wife, Paige, while she was doing an internship as an art therapist in Brooklyn. The couple has moved to Waco, where MassI is pursuing a doctor of psychology at Baylor. Currently a lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserves, MassI says he hopes to do his internship next year at Trippler Army Hospital in Honolulu. MassI also passed on news from some other Columbians. Rodney Ramcharan has married his high school sweetheart, Anu, and after earning a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia, is working for the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. MassI also reports that Min Kyung (Dorothy) King is at Downstate Medical School in Brooklyn. Other classmates-turned-doctors, writes MassI, include Stephen Fischer, a physician in the Navy, and Priti Patel SEAS '94, who was married in 1998. MassI recently ran into James Bradley, who was getting his Ph.D. in clinical neuropsychology at Nova Southeastern in Ft. Lauderdale. Sanjiv Jhaveri is doing a new show called Rice Boy with Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven. Seema Balwani also e-mailed to tell me she's working on her master's in marine affairs at the University of Washington and absolutely loves Seattle. That's all for now. Keep that info coming, by e-mail, U.S. mail, or whatever means might be available. Even carrier pigeons will be accepted.
Janet Frankston Almost nine years to the day that Brian Frank and Laura Margolis met on the first day of college, they got married.
Their courtship started during Freshman Week, when Brian (who came from Coral Springs, Fla. and had much longer hair) and Laura (who grew up in suburban Chicago) saw each other from across the hall on Carman 13. Brian asked Laura if she was going to the Circle Line tour around Manhattan, and she said no because she didn't have a ticket. And so Brian's friend, Alex Liss (who Brian met the summer before at a program at Barnard), gave up his ticket. And as they say, the rest is history. Their wedding took place at an old farm in the Berkshires on a perfect late summer evening over Labor Day weekend. Laura, looking elegant, floated up to a knoll where Brian waited for her under a black cherry tree. Three out of the four chuppah holders were classmates, Alex Liss, Jon Goldblatt and Mike Fein. There was truly a Columbia presence. In addition to six classmates - Jon, Mike, Alex, Andy Wein (one of three best men), Mary McCarthy and I - who attended, the class of '97 was represented by Carrie Frank, Brian's sister. And even the man who married them went to Columbia. Brian's longtime rabbi, Jerrold Levy '63, was a classmate of Brian's late father, Dr. Richard Frank '63. After a beautiful wedding, the Franks returned to Los Angeles, where they moved last fall. Brian now works for soundbreak.com as director of business development. The company broadcasts live 24/7 audio and video music programming. Laura, an actress, starred in Nexus Theater Company's One Act Festival at the Santa Monica Playhouse. She was on strike all summer with her fellow members of the Screen Actors Guild. Brian and Laura weren't the only classmates to get married over Labor Day. According to The New York Times, Jon Berkun married fellow rabbinical student Lauren Eichler. The couple met as students at the Jewish Theological Seminary. According to the Times, they are rabbinical interns; Lauren is at the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership in New York, and Jon is at the Aventura-Turnberry Jewish Center in Aventura, Fla. Lauren graduated from Princeton. Maria Celis also exchanged vows that weekend with Vincent Jeanseaume of La Ciotat, France. Maria, who received her law degree from Yeshiva University, is an associate at the Manhattan law firm of Neville, Peterson & Williams. According to the Times, her husband is a business manager and salesman at Paris Images, an art and frames gallery in Manhattan. Classmate Malik Ducard made the Sunday "Vows" section of the Times this summer with the tale of his engagement to Althea Beaton. It's a lovely story-check it out at www.nytimes.com/library/style/weekend/082000vows.html. Diana Holm married Sanford Bingham '85 on August 26 in San Francisco. Julia Caldwell and Jessica Yood Barnard '95 were in attendance. The couple is continuing to grow their software business, fileopen.com. They live in the Inwood section of Manhattan, two blocks from Baker Field. Lynette Pineda married Charles Gura, an attorney with Jones, Hirsch, Connors & Bull, in January. They honeymooned for a month in Spain and Italy. After the honeymoon and a trip home to the Dominican Republic, Lynette started a new job at TIAA-CREF, the largest private pension fund in the world. She works as an investment analyst in the mortgage and real estate division. Previously, she worked for Continental Grain as a financial contact for subsidiaries/ agents in various Latin American countries. She also earned an M.B.A. from NYU's Stern School of Business last January. Here's a long update from Dan Petroski, who's a few months into his job as business manager at Time magazine. Brian Bassett moved to London to work in capital markets with Deutsche Bank; Steve Choe took a job in real estate finance with Deutsche Bank in New York; and Mark Calveric has been at Elipze.com for a few months now and is keeping many websites up and running smoothly. Sarah Lorge is a special projects writer at Sports Illustrated; Rich Weindel is cooling off after revamping Butler Library's electrical and air conditioning systems. Eric Susek is living in Wisconsin. Steve Miller (#1) is the vice president of MBNA's Travel Services up in Maine and just bought a house in "the prettiest town in America," Camden. Steve Miller #2 is working at Flatiron Partners; Jamie Schwalbe is working at Goldman Sachs in Chicago. Jim Hudnall, who is still living with Mike Nevitt in New York, commutes to work in Connecticut. Matt Everts is an elementary school teacher out in Spokane, Wash. W. Jerome Polansky was running for State Assembly. He won the primary by eight votes and was gearing up for the general election in November. Brian Flynn is living in Hoboken and working in finance in Jersey City; Cathy Schuneman is working for a small start-up investment firm in Manhattan; Karen Schwartz is working for Mullen Advertising in Boston; and Owen Hill is a lawyer for Akin, Gump in Texas and got married this summer. More lawyer news: John Collins graduated from Yale Law in '98. He moved to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he clerked for the Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. He returned to Manhattan to clerk for a federal district judge, and began a job with the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan this fall. After graduating from the Law School, Dan Cooper moved west. He's been living in Beverly Hills for the past two years, practicing entertainment-related litigation at Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp in Los Angeles. Lately, he's been involved in the big Napster case, representing the recording industry. Also in L.A. is Amy Ellenbogen '96, who graduated from the School of Social Work in May, is providing therapy and emergency services to women in poverty and is still with James Luria. They moved from New York in June, and James is working as a vice president of development at Fox. Amy also reports that Kathy Kao is in medical school at USC. The international buzz: Gene Mazo reports that he and Rajen Parekh spent the summer working in Tbilisi, Georgia, for the United Nations office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Catherine Hovaguimian lives in London and works for the Bank of England. She received a master's in international relations at Oxford, and will pursue a master's at the London School of Economics.
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