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CLASS NOTES
George Koplinka Thanks for all the Holiday Greetings, both cards and e-mail. Dick Bowe and his lovely wife Alice had courage to send a photo! It included Peggy and Bob Flynn, and the whole group was not lacking in Christmas cheer. In late October, the '51 Fiftieth Reunion Steering Committee met in New York in the law offices of Mark Kaplan. Once again, Mark has agreed to chair the class special gift committee. John Cervieri and Arthur O. Sulzberger are active members, and they have already sent out a mailing alerting classmates that our 50th reunion goal is an unrestricted gift of $225,000 to the College. Ted Bihuniac indicated his early participation. Let's all keep the ball rolling! Forty-three classmates nationwide have volunteered to be on the reunion committee. There is room for more. Please contact your class notes editor if you can serve. In addition to class officers, Bob Snyder, Sam Haines, George Koplinka, Ron Young and Mark Kaplan, the following committee members attended the October meeting: Dave Berman, Scott Bonds, Phil Bruno, Joe Buda, Bob Flynn, Nis Petersen, Andy Siff, Elliot Wales, Paul Wallace and Dave Zinman. Needless to say there were some spirited exchanges, expected whenever you get this kind of group together! As a result of Columbia's professional option program, a significant number of College attendees received degrees from the Engineering School. Engineering people will be joining the 50th reunion, led by Ted Borri '51E, and an enthusiastic entourage of slide-rule aficionados. With the help of members of the alumni office, the committee reached agreements on most reunion details. We will keep you posted. Suggestion: stick a few bucks away in your reunion weekend piggy bank. This event is a three-day, two-night affair involving a visit to both the campus and Arden House. Deluxe accommodations, all breakfasts, luncheons, receptions, cocktail parties and dinners will be included in the price. Based upon previous class reunions at Arden House, the weekend package will cost somewhere around $400 per person, double occupancy. The exact figure will be confirmed soon, and single event prices will be available for classmates not able to attend the full weekend. Meanwhile, don't forget to send in your reply form indicating whether you plan to attend the reunion weekend and if you are willing to work on the committee. Final note: We received late word that George Zimbel will be having his outstanding photography on display in Low Library Rotunda during our reunion weekend. Keep in touch. Send e-mail if you need information or have something to say.
Robert Kandel Two issues ago, a misprint garbled the name of Frank Dux, which came out as Frank Flux. Unfortunately the error was not discovered in time to meet the deadline of the subsequent issue. The 50th anniversary of our graduation is approaching, now less than 18 months away. The reunion committee already has started work on the plans and you will be given more details as time goes on. Arlene and Jim Hoebel recently returned from a three-week tour of China. Although Jim fell victim to a stomach bug the last couple of days while in Hong Kong, they didn't let it dampen their spirits too much. Coincidentally, Jim had a similar experience the last time he was in Hong Kong some 20 years ago. When he is not traveling for pleasure, Jim still manages to fit in some consulting work regarding fire and product safety. Evelyn and I had hoped to be on that tour with Arlene and Jim, but that particular group was fully booked, so we had to be satisfied by going on the same tour one day earlier. We crossed paths with Jim and Arlene a few times and were very glad to have made the journey. We were amazed at the people and the country and learned a great deal. Getting back to our 50th reunion, don't you think your classmates would like to know where you are and what you are doing? Why not send in a note, via e-mail or "snail mail?"
Lew Robins Joel Dolin: Sadly, Allan Jackman writes that his fraternity brother, Joel Dolin, passed away on May 4. I talked by phone with his wife, Sharon, who told me that Joel was just about ready to close his computer leasing company, Target Leasing, when he fell from a ladder while trying to replace a light bulb in their family room. The fall caused extensive brain damage and he died a week later. Sharon reports that through all the years, Joel had remained an avid fan of the Columbia football team. Joel left two daughters, Jennifer, who is working in San Francisco, and Claudia, who is attending graduate school. He'll be missed. Joshua Darsa: Josh passed away in July after a successful career in public broadcasting. According to an article that appeared in the Washington Post, Josh helped develop the McNeil-Lehrer News Hour, Frontline, and a 13-part series on the history of the civil rights movement. In years past, Josh had been a radio reporter, a television anchorman in California and an editor for the Reuters news service in London. In 1978, he won a Peabody Award for a documentary, Dialogues on a Tightrope: An Italian Mosaic. We'll all miss his deep, resonant, warm, reassuring and colorful voice.
Howard Falberg I'm sure that if you are online you have received jokes and funny verses from time to time. Since November 2000 is a month that will go down in history for an extraordinary election, Bob Weber lightened my day by sending updated commentaries in verse by a number of well-known authors and poets, including some Columbia alumni. Joyce Kilmer '08, who must have been a closet media analyst, could have said..."l thought that I would never see the networks all so up a tree." Then there is Clement Clarke Moore (Class of 1798), who updated his holiday theme with, "'Twas the month before Christmas, when all though the courts, all the plaintiffs made stirring bad ballot reports." Etc. etc. etc. November was also a month during which a couple of our classmates traveled abroad. Ed Cowan and his wife, Ann Louise, spent two weeks visiting Berlin, Dresden and Prague. Ed wrote a fabulous report on this trip, and if you are contemplating a visit to these locales you might want to obtain it from him. You can reach him by e-mail at edcowan@worldnet.att.net. Carol and I went to Australia for sightseeing and to judge at some dog shows. It was a long trip but definitely worthwhile. The high praise for Aussie hospitality is well deserved. George Goldstein "checked in" with good reports about his life with his wife of 43+ years, the former Shirley Roher. George remembers fondly the time when with Ed Raab, Larry Kobrin and John Wilcke, they put out The Columbian "a couple of years after Roone Arledge '52 taught us how!" George couldn't make it to our 45th "but with Lord willing, will make it to the 50th." Leonard Moche is having the time of his life. His favorite hobbies are cooking, reading and strolling the Internet. Last year he led a seminar group at Manhattanville College on Phillip Roth's novels and in the spring will lead the same group in Harold Pinter's plays focusing on Betrayal. Len's lovely wife, Mary Anne, Barnard '56, takes good care of him and the grandchildren but not necessarily in that order. George Goldstein wrote, "A recent issue of CCT with other classmates' stories impelled me to 'check in' also." I hope that many others in our class will follow George's lead. Please let us hear from you.
Gerald Sherwin The Columbia campus glows like a winter wonderland during the holiday season. Adding to the festive atmosphere is the tree lighting on College Walk (with chestnuts, hot chocolate, and student groups singing), followed by the famous Yule Log ceremony in John Jay Lounge. Hundreds of people gather, as they did this past December-students, alumni, school administrators, and those from the neighboring community. Exciting good news to report: Admissions applications continue their upward trend. SAT scores for applicants are also on the rise. (Let's not get too blasé.) The major renovation work at Career Services has been completed. Companies that are recruiting students have been taking advantage of the new facilities at the East Campus venue. New interview rooms will translate into more companies in many different fields coming on campus to talk to Columbia students, who are very valuable commodities. As mentioned in the previous Class Notes column, Hamilton Hall classrooms are being renovated in phases, with six to be completed in the summer of 2001. I'm sure we all remember those old wooden chairs, which did wonders for our backs. Big plans are afoot for the 250th anniversary of the University. Committees have been formed or are in the stage of being put together. Everything will come to a climax in 2004, the year before our 50th reunion. Lots of exhibits, events, dinners and good times are planned. Many functions have been occurring over the last several months, some on campus, some off campus, including the Alexander Hamilton Award Dinner, Campaign for Columbia event, Great Teachers Award and Homecoming parties at Baker Field and at Lerner Hall (the most heavily used facility at Columbia). Our class, as usual, was well represented. In fact, we had the largest turnout of any class at these events. We saw some regular and some new (irregular) faces: engineering grads Bob Pearlman and Jack Freeman; Columbia Presbyterian's Allen Hyman; Manhattanites Jim Phelan (who has been doing a lot of traveling to Eastern Europe), Donn Coffee (getting ready to leave for his sojourn in California), Don Laufer and Bob Brown; Tom Chrystie (in from Wyoming); Hal Rosenthal and Larry Balfus from Long Island; and Jerseyites Al Martz and Jack Armstrong. We caught up with Al Lerner, in town for a Board of Trustees meeting. The conversation didn't linger too long on Al's favorite pro football team-the Cleveland Browns. Other news to report: Bob Dillingham, who has retired from the advertising game, is trying to get back in playing shape by running the beaches of Bradenton, Fla. Steve Bernstein recently visited Lee Rodgers in Los Angeles and Harvey Solomon in Colorado. Neither classmate is close to retiring. Westchester's Bob Kushner can't wait for the next class survey in 2005. We'll make the questions harder next time, Bob. In the "setting the record straight department," Stu Kaback was a member of the Columbia Glee Club, not the Kingsmen (as reported in the last issue of CCT). Aaron Preiser and Marv Winell also were part of this illustrious group. Our class awarded its scholarship this year to Stephanie Lee '01, who will be graduating in May. Stephanie has won the scholarship the last two years. You should all know that many of our classmates are involved with the donation of scholarships to worthy students, including Bob Bernot, Jim Berick, Stan Lubman and Anthony Viscusi. Others are the previously mentioned Messrs. Coffee, Balfus and Pearlman. A scholarship reception is held every year in Low Library where the awardees have a chance to meet their awarders - a pretty neat get-together. We want to alert our Southern California brethren about a series of events to be held on the West Coast shortly. Details are on the way from the Alumni Office. Hopefully we'll see Lew Sternfels, who will be ready with his camera; Charlie Sergis, doing a lot of traveling in his retirement years; Arthur Rosett, teaching at UCLA Law School; Bill Kronick, a former member of the Columbia Players; Elizabeth, N.J.'s own Ed Sacks; Bob Friedheim, still teaching at USC; and other '55ers: Malcolm Barbour, Harold Seider and Corpus Christi's own Sid Sheinberg. Alumni activities in other corners of the land will be picking up. Your faithful correspondent will keep everyone up to date on the happenings. For those who wanted to know where they are: Dick Waissar is living and working in Golden, Colo., Gerry Wehmer is in the Detroit area; and engineering grad Henry Wolf is in Falls Church, Va. Gentle souls of the Class of '55: Cover your head when you go outside. Walk facing the traffic. Don't talk to strangers. Most of all, however, as the song goes: Forget your troubles, come on get happy, smile all your blues away. (Don't worry, guys, the fever is going down.) Love to all!!! Everywhere!!!
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