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CLASS NOTES
Kevin Fay My urgent appeal for class notes generated long responses from
several classmates (Joe Wagner, George Ochoa and
Bill Zimmerman). Due to the nature of this column, I must
selectively edit (being an econ major, this is not an easy
task!). Joe is now a Texan, residing outside Dallas with his wife,
Michele, and two daughters, Joelle and Alena. Joe works for
Kentucky Fried Chicken as director of field marketing for the
western U.S. Prior to this position, he had been with Coors and
Guinness. He has lived in six states since graduation and visited
all but one (Alaska). Joe, I am no stranger to fried chicken and
beer, although since reaching 40, I have introduced bran cereal and
skim milk to my diet. Joe keeps in touch with many of our
classmates, such as football legends Sean Cannon, Bob
Haskins, Gregg Wilamowski and Bill Epling ’81E. You can
reach Joe at joewagner@coserv.net. George sat next to me in Professor Steele’s Latin class,
and I remember him consistently outperforming me (and the class,
for that matter!). George and his wife, Melinda, have operated a
writing and editing business for the past 14 years (Corey and
Ochoa). They have written or contributed to 57 reference books on
almost every subject (Latin was just a warm-up for this guy),
including history, science, literature, the arts, religion,
philosophy, movies and model trains. They have an 8-year-old
daughter, Martha Adeline, and reside in pristine Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.
George extends best wishes to all our classmates, and can be
reached at corey-ochoa@worldnet.att.net. We received a tremendous letter from Bill, which I will attempt
to highlight in the next few sentences. Bill has been married for
21 years to Karen, and has three great children (Kristen, a
sophomore at UConn, and sons Eric (16) and Michael (13)). All of
the children participate in various sports (volleyball, football,
basketball), and judging from Bill’s comments, we might see
several on television soon. Bill is a financial consultant with
Salomon Smith Barney in Hartford, Conn., but has also had long
stints with Merrill Lynch and Mobil Oil. He is involved with
coaching local sports (football, basketball, softball and
baseball). Local politics (Republican party) have not escaped his
interests, as he has worked on Governor John Rowland’s
campaign staff. He also twice ran for elected office. When not busy
with work, family or politics, Bill likes to play basketball in the
over-30 league, ride his 1,500cc motorcycle and participate in the
local, Doric chapter of Masonic temple activities. Bill has led,
and is leading, an active and varied life and feels quite blessed
by his family, good friends and health. He can be reached at
bz9717@msn.com. Finally, I had the chance to meet up with two classmates during
recent business trips. Brian Krisberg and I had a few
cocktails after a conference in NYC. Brian knows everything
that’s going on at Columbia (and who is doing what), as he
has been involved with the University since graduation and is
secretary of the CC Alumni Association. Also, while in California I
spent the night at the home of Bill Bensing ’81E, and we had
a great time golfing the next day (what I play bears some
resemblance to golf). Looking forward to many more updates. If you are in NYC, take
time to visit the campus.
Robert W. Passloff
In my 20 years as class correspondent for CCT, this may have
been the most difficult column for me to write. I am very sorry to
report that my good friend and our former class president, Bob
Kemp, has had to take extensive time off from his successful
intellectual property law practice to recover from a serious
illness. The only good news is that he survived a risky surgery and
is being greatly helped in his continuing treatment and recovery by
his wife, Susan, also a lawyer. Bob told me that he still has
“a warm place in my heart for Columbia.” Even in the
midst of his poor health, Bob asked me for class news and told me
that he is proud of the achievements of the class. He is the most
dependable, determined person I know, and on behalf of the class, I
wish Bob a successful, speedy recovery. Another Sapphire Society member, Rudy Slintak, reports that recent events have prompted him to maintain closer ties to college friends. He and his wife, Stacey, were married in 1995 and have three girls, Julia (5), Lauren (3) and Andrea (11 months). Rudy was a commodities trader after college, but changed careers and now works for United Airlines, where he is head of the Cargo Revenue Management group at the corporate headquarters in Elk Grove Village, Ill. John J. Cifu visited NYC for a week last summer with his
wife, Annmarie, and two children, Amanda (10) and James (9). They
went to the WTC and thus were emotionally affected by its collapse.
On a more pleasant note, John went back to the Columbia campus for
the first time since 1983 and thought it looked great. He notes
that his economics degree helped him in obtaining his CMA. The Cifu
family resides in Palm Harbor, Fla., where John is an accounting
manager at Morgan Tire & Auto, Inc., also known as Tires
Plus.
Roy Pomerantz Jon Zimmerman directs the History of Education Program at
NYU, where he teaches and writes about cultural conflict in
American public schools. His book, Whose America? The Culture
Wars in American Education, will be published by Harvard
University Press in September. Jon also writes op-ed pieces for
newspapers and magazines. He is married to Susan Coffin, a
pediatrician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. They
live in the Philly suburbs and have two children, Sarah (8) and
Rebecca (5). Mark Momjian ’83 ’86L is a partner in the
Philadelphia-based law firm of Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis,
LLP. In addition to his full-time law practice, Mark is an adjunct
associate professor of psychiatry at the MCP Hahnemann University
School of Medicine. For the past 10 years, he has served as chair
of the Alumni Representative Committee of Philadelphia for the
College and SEAS. He also is an officer of the Columbia Law School
Association. He is married to the former Melineh Vartany SIPA
’86. They have two sons, David (9) and Gregory (7). Frank Messina is a doctor at Indiana University School of
Medicine in the departments of internal and emergency medicine.
Frank was a fellow member of 14 Jay (he remembers Mark
Licht). He also writes that he remembers me unicyclying down
the hall while juggling. Frank requests that other floormates of
ours write to Class Notes. Andrew Botti married Lesa Stramondo on September 15,
2001, at the Chatham Bars Inn, Chatham, Mass. The wedding was
attended by Dr. Peter Fumo and his wife, Susan. Andrew and
Lesa are attorneys who work in Boston and live in Andover,
Mass. Tai Park was at the U.S. Attorney’s office in the
Southern District of New York for close to 10 years before leaving
to join Shearman & Sterling in September 1999 as a litigator.
He was elected partner this past January. In November 1999, Tai
married Jenny, a public school teacher in the South Bronx. Tai
notes, “Our lives are busy, getting busier.” Teddy Weinberger writes from Israel that “the
November issue never made it to me. If you have the Class Notes on
your computer, could you forward them to me?” All Columbia
class notes can be accessed at www.college.columbia.edu/alumni/classpages.
Teddy, it is great, as always, to hear from you! Kevin Chapman, who resides in Princeton, invited my wife
and me to the Columbia/Princeton basketball game. Maybe we can get
a group together to join Kevin and Sharon, ’83 Barnard, at
next year’s game? Kevin remarks, “Wild to read about
Wayne Root’s success as a sports gambler. Certainly the dream
of many of our classmates, and despite success on Wall Street or in
law or medicine, many of us would gladly switch places with him,
eh?” Ed Barbini has been working at IBM for eight years, most
recently as vice president, corporate public relations. Ed states,
“It’s a great industry, and IBM is an exciting place to
be.” Ed is married with two kids, and spends most of his free
time with them. However, he still finds time to listen to Columbia
football games on WKCR. Many of us remember Ed’s outstanding
broadcasts on WKCR during the early ’80s. Marcus Brauchli reports: “Saw your note wondering
what happened to me. Still out here. CCT doesn’t find me so
easily, because our offices were in the WFC, across from the WTC.
I’m national editor of The Wall Street Journal. Spent 15
years abroad, mostly in Asia. Married, two daughters, all
well.” Marcus, it is great you continued to pursue your
passion for journalism after graduation. As students, we loved
reading your articles in Spectator. Jonathan Green writes, “How are things going with
our class these days? To catch up on 20 years, I returned to
Chicago and went to law school at Chicago-Kent/IIT, then worked in
Washington on a fellowship in international law at the American
Society of International Law and then in Brussels at a European law
firm. I returned to Chicago in ’90 to work in the Illinois
state legislature (legal staff to the Speaker of the House) and
then at Illinois attorney general’s office until May
’97, when I went into private practice. I also took a leave
of absence from the A.G.’s office and got an L.L.M. in
international and comparative law at Georgetown Law Center in
’94. “I am of counsel to Rock, Fusco & Garvey, Ltd., in
Chicago, where I have a practice in international law, corporate
law and civil litigation. I chair the trade and business
subcommittee of the Chicago-Paris Sister Cities Committee, and work
with a number of clients in France. I also am active with the ABA
section of international law and practice. Enough with bio stuff.
You can check my Web site for that: www.jcgreenlaw.com. “I got married on October 14, 2000, to Monica DeBartolo
here in Chicago. One of our first dates was in New York, when I was
at a conference at the Bar of the City of New York and she was at a
trade show in Manhattan for the Merchandise Mart. I would like to
get in touch with people and try to make the upcoming 20th reunion,
assuming there will be one. Any dates yet?” The reunion will be May 29–June 1, 2003. We are now
forming a 20th reunion committee, and Jonathan has agreed to
participate. He writes, “I guess it would be like a
continuation of my old class committee activities. It would
probably be good having someone from the Midwest on the committee.
I can easily contact Jim Palos here in town (I see him every
once in a while). I also went to Reid Hall in Paris during junior
year. I could try finding the ’83 classmates that were on
that program, too.” Thanks for your support, Jonathan. Any
other classmates who want to participate on the reunion committee
should please send me an e-mail. Kevin Cronin notes that his Carman roommate, Barry
Rashkover (’86 Cornell Law), a lawyer with the Securities
& Exchange Commission, was very close to the 9/11 tragedy.
Kevin states, “The SEC was in one of the non-tower buildings
in the World Trade Center complex that collapsed during the fires.
Barry had a long walk home to the Upper West Side before he could
offer a reassuring hug and kiss to his wife, Jennifer Traham, and
child, Ted, but is otherwise well.” Kevin adds, “After
a decade working for Congress, I moved back home to Cleveland to
set up a new nonprofit, dedicated to improving computer access,
education and training. While in D.C., I worked for Senators Dick
Durbin and Dianne Feinstein, around a stint as a counsel for a
House Committee, where I helped write budget laws (including the
first line item veto/rescission bill ever to pass the House). When
the House went from majority Democrat to majority Republican,
committee staff was reduced by a third, and, coincidently, all the
dismissed staffers were on the Democrat side. I wear my dismissal
by Newt Gingrich as a badge of honor. “While working for Feinstein, I worked on budget, tax and
economic issues, helping her represent the interests of the seventh
largest economy on earth. I worked closely with technology
companies, and it made sense to return to Cleveland to help
strengthen the tech sector of the NE Ohio. When I left
Feinstein’s office, we agreed that all economies could use a
little bit of California in them, and that’s what I’m
doing. I regret that I have nothing new on the personal front in
terms of a wife and kids, but recently added a dog, Lucy, named to
note a book on the lyrics of John Lennon that she chewed up. I also
serve as a managing director for Bodwin Theatre Company, a small
professional theater company. Visitors welcome — we can go
from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum to the Cleveland
Orchestra, with a stop off at the Cleveland Museum of Art. All the
best.” We have not heard in a while from Richard Welch, Phil
Wolinsky, Kasbek Tambi, Drew Velting, Ted
Storey, James Stringfellow, Joseph Sullivan,
Nicholas Smirensky, Matthew Stedman, Daniel
Schainholz and Mark Sharp. Please send an
e-mail!
Dennis Klainberg We start off with my first-year Carman Hall suitemate, Ronald
E. Thompson III, who reports “nothing besides the
craziness of life when you are chasing a 2-year-old around.”
Ronald is director of product delivery for govONE
Solutions. Monsieur et Madame Cary Pfeffer announced the birth of
their first child, Samantha Greta, in Paris. In May, the famille
Pfeffer bids adieu to the City of Lights and relocates to Boston
where Cary becomes the v.p. of medical affairs for Biogen. Naches emerges as classmate Jeff Rashba advises that
“despite all the difficulties and tensions associated with
living (and practicing law) in Jerusalem these days, we were
blessed with the arrival of our fourth daughter (Aviya Sapir
Rashba) one month ago.” And a hearty Mazel Tov to Harry Chefitz and his wife,
Dalya, on the birth of their daughter, Nava, who joins siblings
Leora (12) and Ezra (8). Harry reports that “for the past
eight years, I have been a stay-at-home dad, a career change that
was a result of a cavernous malformation, a bleed in my brainstem,
and subsequent brain surgery (at Columbia, no
less!).” Dr. Joe Bernstein and his wife, Kirsten, report the birth
of their third child, Jeb. The Bernsteins live in Pennsylvania,
where Joe is in his 12th year at Penn Med as a junior faculty
member. He writes: “My department of orthopedic surgery ...
is home to three other Columbians: Rich Davidson, David Horn
(‘72 and ‘82, I think) and Zachary Burt Friedenberg
’36. Friedenberg still practices and is an active and popular
teacher in the medical school.” Bernstein stays in touch by e-mail with classmates David
Kahan, who had his fourth child and first daughter, Halle, and
David Rier, who is a professor of medical sociology in Israel (and
mobilized in the Reserves). Finally, he noted with sadness the
death of Professor Wallace Gray and asked if fellow Lit Hum
classmates Doug Gleason ’83, Jon White ’85 and Ric Wolf
’86 would contact him: orthodoc@uphs.upenn.edu. Veering off the baby track, we crash into classmate Daniel
Davis, a v.p. with JP Morgan Chase, who is trading high-grade
corporate bonds and has been living in Hong Kong for more than a
year. He invites any ’84 or ’91B-school classmates to
touch base when in China at: daniel.davis@jpmorgan.com. Also living substantially west of the Hudson is Peter S.
Field. As a member of the department of history at the
University of Canterbury in New Zealand, he beckons us to run to
the bookstore to buy his latest tome: Ralph Waldo Emerson: The
Making of a Democratic Intellectual (Rowman and Littlefield,
2002). Congrats to P. Langham Gleason, who remarried on January
19 to lovely Shelley Rolfe, a nurse anesthetist. Says Langham,
“I am adopting her 4-year-old daughter, Suzanna. Practicing
neurosurgery in Santa Fe continues to go well, and I should be here
for decades to come.” In Israel, Marc Friedman finds strength through his
children and the future they represent. He writes: “My
10-year-old son, Zalman, is about to finish learning all 24 books
of the Bible and knowing them or their content by heart. And my
6-year-old daughter, Ashira, has just mastered learning to read and
received her first siddur (prayer book) at a large celebration with
singing and dancing. My 5-year-old, Alexander, also received his
first prayer book, and my 2-year-old daughter, Talia, is as cute as
a button, whatever that means.” Finally, we hear from our class’ pop poet, Adam
Belanoff — of Varsity Show fame — and now, the guru
of the TV sitcom. After a recent stint in Chicago working on What
About Joan?, Adam has returned to warmer climes, once again living
in Malibu and “plotting” his next move, or, as he puts
it, “continu(ing) to toil and make a life in and around the
television mines.” He notes that classmate Steve Gee
finished up a stint in Eastern Europe with the Peace Corps, took
his State Department exams, and is stationed at the American
Embassy in Moscow. Thanks to everyone above for heeding my last-minute request for
info. So, all you other guys, don’t be strangers! E-mail us
anytime.
Kevin G. Kelly Arthur Martella M.D. writes: “It was nice to read
about old friends in our Class Notes. I was roommates with Tom
Wheeler and Glenn Alper in our senior year. After leaving Columbia
(reluctantly), I finished medical school, general surgery residency
and cardiothoracic surgery residency. I am practicing
cardiothoracic surgery in Bryn Mawr, Pa. With my wife, Donna, I
have one son and look forward to an occasional weekend in New York
City.”
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