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CLASS NOTES
Jim Shaw Phil Bartolf wrote, "After all the sad news I've had to report, I'm pleased to say something good. My daughter, Julia, was accepted to the College and has decided to attend! She's the third generation of our family to attend the College. So we're busy making plans to fly to New York in August to check her in. A new era begins!" The list of first-year (I nearly said "freshmen") students who are children of alumni in our class (father in parentheses) also includes: Jeffrey Chubak (Gary Chubak), Meredith Fuhrman (Dick Fuhrman) Joshua Karp (Hillel Karp), Nathaniel Kogan (Terry Kogan), Rachel Kolster (Charles Kolster), William Langer (Dennis Langer), Joseph Nord (Philip Nord), Jason Parsont (Larry Parsont) and Kelly Rolf (James Fenton). Terry Chorba writes that he is "an internist who has been working for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for 17 years. I currently live with my wife and three children in Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and direct Projet RETRO-CI (Retrovirus-Cote d'Ivoire). [Projet is the French word for Project.] Projet RETRO-CI is CDC's largest activity outside of the United States and serves as CDC's primary research center for the study of HIV infections in Africa. The Projet is an epidemiologic, laboratory and clinical research collaboration among CDC, Cote d'Ivoire's Ministry of Health (MOH), and the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium. The work of the Projet is focused on preventing HIV in uninfected persons; preventing HIV disease in persons already infected with HIV; assisting the MOH in monitoring the HIV/AIDS epidemic through surveillance; assessing various aspects of the epidemic in relation to mother-child transmission, sexually transmitted diseases, and tuberculosis; and studying the association between HIV and opportunistic illnesses. It is based in the infectious diseases ward of the Centre Hospitalier de Treichville, the largest public hospital in Abidjan. A staff of 140 currently works full-time at the Projet, and the principal language of the Projet is French." Terry adds that "My children (Eugene, 12; Genevieve, 10; and Pasha, 6) have also been learning French. My wife, Lindy, is a nurse practitioner working in the U.S. Embassy's medical unit in Abidjan. Should other aging Lions venture into West Africa, I would be glad to meet them and reminisce about old times." Can't believe that our '71 reunion will be upon us in only a few months. Can't wait to see you there.
Paul S.
Appelbaum I am delighted to see how much easier e-mail has made it for people to send in their notes, including some first-timers. John (Jack) Kelly, for example, sent in the not particularly surprising claim that more writers of best-sellers have come from Columbia than any other school. Jack's latest effort to further this distinction is Line of Sight, a "steamy neo-noir thriller." Of previous Kelly novels, the N.Y. Daily News said, "Writes like a man ready for a rumble." You may have noticed his cover article recently in American Heritage on the history of the Mafia. Curiosity piqued? Check out www.JackKellyBooks.com for more juicy copy. Chris Garvey '73 recently read his poetry at a Borders near his home on Long Island. When not imitating the Bard, he practices patent and other forms of intellectual property law at Collard & Roe in Roslyn. In 1994, Chris was the Libertarian candidate who ran against Rick Lazio for Congress, and four years later became that party's candidate for governor of New York. During the latter campaign, a reporter was fired from an anti-libertarian publication for writing a complimentary article that described Chris as a "renaissance man." Doug Weiner was recently promoted to full professor of history at Arizona. His second book, published last year, is A Little Corner of Freedom: Russian Nature Protection From Stalin to Gorbachev. Doug organized the 1999 convention of the American Society for Environmental History, and served as co-chair of Arizona's program on lesbian, gay, and bisexual studies. Also in the professorial ranks is Shep Hurwitz, S. Ward Cascells Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Virginia. Shep and his wife, Greta, recently adopted a daughter, Zoe, from Wuhan, China. He consults at NIH, spent many years in the Army Reserve Medical Corps, and "may be the only life member of the NRA in our class." If that doesn't get all of our other NRA life members writing in, I don't know what will. Steve Meshnick is another new father, wife Mary McKinney having recently given birth to a daughter, Laura. She joins Maggie, age 5, and the 3-year-old twins, Leah and Ellie. Steve is professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health at Michigan, working on AIDS and malaria, and traveling to Africa and Thailand to conduct his research. At the other end of the child-rearing curve, Peter Darrow, reports that his daughter, Meredith, a graduate of Lawrenceville, started Columbia this fall. Peter continues to run the Latin American law practice of Mayer, Brown, & Platt, while his wife, Leni, is active in the N.Y. Foundation for the Arts and Arts Horizons. Armen Donelian recently released a three-volume set of solo jazz piano CD recordings. Seen in the media: Jerry Groopman had an op-ed piece in The New York Times discussing the interplay between genetics and environment in the causation of cancer, and Steve Hirschfeld, medical officer at the FDA's Center for Drug Research and Evaluation, was quoted in the Times about the ethical issues in research on new medications for children. Some late-breaking stuff courtesy of my class notes colleague Jim Shaw '71: A profile of Steve Horn (and reference to Columbia) appeared on page 29 of the Oct. 2 issue of Sports Illustrated. Steve, who is employed by both Fox (Baseball Game of the Week, NFL Sunday, and so forth) and directly by Bob Costas, is officially described as an editorial consultant, but in reality is the "ultimate" fact gatherer and feeder to big-name broadcasters who swear by him. Law professor Gerard Lynch was quoted in the Spectator on the subject of the University's sexual misconduct policy. Lynch observed that much had been given up in terms of due process, adding, "It surprises me that it was given up so readily." Shaw noted that Lynch was a classmate of his at the Law School ("and if I am correct, first in his class at both College and Law, though he'd never be one to mention it") and always had "not just brilliance but used it to cut through the fog and state things simply and directly." For more on the sexual misconduct policy.
Barry Etra November generated no notes; no matter how tedious you think your life is, there is someone reading this publication who presumes differently. Write! (or e-mail to barryetc@earthlink.net). William (Bill) Schmidt has been immersed in government and politics since graduation. In the '70s he worked on a number of political campaigns and served on the staff of Congressman Edward Markey, D-Mass. In the '80s he was chief of staff for a county sheriff and also served as a county commissioner. In the '90s he worked in the private sector before returning to public life as a senior manager with the state public health department. He kicked off the '00s by getting his master of public administration from Harvard in June; his plan is to work in the non-profit sector in the health and human services area. It's not hoops in the gym, but hey, what is? Later, guys.
Fred Bremer I was innocently out for the annual sojourn to Michigan to visit the mother-in-law when, desperate for any reading matter, I grabbed the inevitable Reader's Digest. Soon I had worked my way to "Quotable Quotes," and saw the lead quote was from Anna Quindlen, Barnard '74 and wife of Gerry Krovatin. It said, "If your success is not on your own terms, if it looks good to the world but does not feel good in your heart, it is not success at all." Judging by recent career changes among classmates, Anna may by onto something. As previously reported, Gerry left a law partnership to form his own firm last December. (He also recently told me that their eldest son, Quinn, spent a week in Furnald at a yearbook editor's conference.) The same thought must also have crossed the mind of Ted Gregory, who I reported in the last column to be at Nationsbanc doing commercial lending. I soon received an e-mail form Ted saying he has joined the executive search firm of Heidrick & Struggles in Charlotte, N.C., focusing on the fields of financial services and real estate. Let's hope they both find "success on their own terms." Some slightly less dramatic transitions occurred in the careers of two other classmates. When some of his former law partners left to join a larger firm, Asher Miller and several other partners formed Cooperman Lester Miller, a law firm with offices in Manhasset and Manhattan. And the Legal Services Corporation has appointed Vic Fortuno vice president for legal affairs. He will now be wearing many hats - he will hold this position as well as general counsel and corporate secretary. Talk about multi-tasking! After a long hiatus, Stewart Levy sent in the following note: "Time flies - my oldest child is a junior in high school and is starting to look at colleges. I am a partner in a boutique law firm. I specialize in entertainment law. This summer look for the Tattoo the Earth Rock 'n Roll Festival - that's me!" If you (or others in the class that you stay in touch with) have found "success on your own terms," drop me a note or e-mail.
Randy Nichols The year is winding down, but to me it seems like it's been years since our 25th reunion in June. Reunions are fun! I renewed acquaintances with a number of classmates, and e-mail from some of them appears almost every week. In addition to hearing from people who attended the reunion, I also continue to hear from people who did not. Frederic M. Levy didn't attend the reunion because he was on a business trip to Israel. Fred is a partner with McKenna & Cuneo in Washington, D.C. Children Michele and Nathaniel both attend the Chares E. Smith Jewish Day School. Following the reunion, Ira Malin wrote that he wants to "fill the steps of Low Library" for our class picture at the next reunion. I received an e-mail reporting that Marcus Mayer was a contestant on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Was it the Core that helped you answer the qualifying questions before your competitors? Marc, if you read this, Robert Siegfried '76 is looking for you! Westley Reeves recently moved to Gainesville, Fla., where he is the Marcia Whiteny Schott Professor of Medicine at Florida. Westley and his wife, Frances, have two sons, Lawrence and Thomas. He says he was just too busy following the move and settling into his new position to attend reunion, but hopes to do so in the future. Robert Schneider and his wife, Rebecca, recently brought their son, James, to Philadelphia to settle him in at the University of Pennsylvania. (Not Columbia, but a good Ivy League school, nonetheless!) James is one of 200 frosh in the new "Pilot" program, which sounds a lot like the "Core" at Columbia. He read Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls and some of Proust's Swann's Way in translation as a start. Their younger son, John, attended (and loved) the Columbia Summer Program for High School Students. Joshua J. Wiener was sorry he could not be with us at reunion, but writes, "Come see me next time you're in Mississippi." He still has strong ties to Columbia: daughter Julie '03 and nephew Isaac '02. (Will sons Henry and/or Jonathan continue the Columbia tradition?) As a class, we can be proud of our accomplishments, and one of them is our continued support of the College. In our 25th reunion year, we exceeded our class fund-raising goal of $300,000 with over 30 percent class participation. The final figures will be contained in the Annual Report. As a person who could not have attended Columbia without the scholarship dollars I received, I appreciate what a class gift of this size means. I hope that we can continue to find it in our hearts (and checkbooks!) to continue this level of giving, and I would also find it very gratifying to see the numbers (both dollars and participation) increase in future years.
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