Class Notes March-April 2025
Pat Pinnell and his wife, retired Trinity College professor of art and architecture history Kathleen Curran, have moved from Connecticut down to historic New Castle, Delaware, where they're in process of building a new house (rumor has it that they know a very good architect!). In late November, Pat spoke at the Yale Club of New York City, updating a talk he had previously given for the centennial celebration of the Club's building in 1916. The building’s architect was James Gamble Rogers, whom we all know as designer of many Yale buildings. This time around Pat tried to make deeper points about the basic character of Club and campus by comparing and contrasting Rogers' work with that of Frank Lloyd Wright, his exact contemporary. The two knew each other well, starting when both were members of an architects' dinner club in Chicago in the 1890s.
Walt Mintkeski’s annual holiday letter for 2024 reported another good year, including numerous visits that he and Vicki were able to enjoy with children and grandchildren, continued volunteer work for the Nature Conservancy, the Oregon League of Conservation Voters, and for Citizens’ Climate Lobby, and regularly (“almost weekly”) racing his Laser sailboat. 2024 “was also the year of Yale ’71 visitors.” Walt’s college roommate and sailing buddy, Derick Gates and his wife, Susan, came in late July, and Walt gave them the classic “Through the Columbia Gorge and Around Mt. Hood” tour. In September, David Ostrander and wife Liz stopped by for lunch on their way back home to San Diego from sailing in the San Juan Islands of Washington State. Walt stayed with Fletcher Chamberlin and wife Linda Johnson in Bend, Oregon, while there for an Oregon League of Conservation Voters conference in September, and he had lunch with Joe Cone and his wife, Leslie, when they came to Portland for an art exhibit.
Nathan Hecht retired as Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court on December 31, 2024. Nathan was the longest-serving member of the Supreme Court in Texas history, and at the time of his retirement was the longest tenured Texas judge in active service. Appointed to the district court in 1981 and then elected to the Court of Appeals in 1986, Nathan was first elected to the Supreme Court in 1988 and subsequently re-elected in 1994, 2000, 2006, and 2012. In 2013, he was appointed Chief Justice by Governor Rick Perry and was re-elected to this position in 2014 and 2020. Nathan is a past president of the national Conference of Chief Justices, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Life Member of the American Law Institute and a member of Council, and a member of the Texas Philosophical Society. Testimonials note that “[t]hroughout his tenure, Chief Justice Hecht has been a steadfast advocate for judicial efficiency, transparency, and accessibility. He was instrumental in promoting access to justice initiatives, working to ensure that legal services are available to all Texans regardless of economic status. The Chief Justice often reminded attorneys, jurists, legislators, and others that ‘Justice for only those who can afford it is neither justice for all nor justice at all.’”
Preston Athey, a close friend of Nathan from our undergraduate years, sent me this link to a State Bar of Texas interview with Nathan last December in which Nathan talks about his time on the bench, some of the internal dynamics of the Court, and his observations regarding the legal profession and its practitioners: legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/state-bar-texas/2024/12/ajustices-legacy-a-conversation-with-chief-justice-nathan-hecht/. In his correspondence with me, Preston noted that another member of their Silliman group, John J. L. Hunter, was also a jurist, serving as a Justice of the Court of Appeal in British Columbia (their highest court) from 20172024.
Calhoun roommates Elaine Orfanos David, Jessie Sayre Maeck, Polly Plimpton, Kathy Cochrane Murphy and Mary Elizabeth Creigh Pfeil gathered at the home of Mary Elizabeth in Philadelphia in early January to celebrate (belatedly) their 75 th birthdays. Activities included a visit to the National Constitution Center, mini-golf at PuttShack, stopping by the “Portal”, serious jigsaw “puzzling” and lots of conversation. We have posted a picture of the group taken outside (in the frigid weather) at the National Constitution Center to our class webpage [at right].
On a sad note, I’ve received word that Nathaniel (Nate) Hoffman died in May 2023. Nate graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 1975, practiced redevelopment law in Sacramento for three years, and then undertook a spiritual quest to Israel, returning to Brooklyn in 1980, where he met his wife, Sara, and spent a couple of years with the City’s Public Development Corporation. He and Sara then relocated to Milwaukee, WI, to raise their family (two sons and two daughters) and where he practiced real estate law (specializing in commercial leasing) for the balance of his career. As Nate wrote in our 50 th Reunion Class Book, he retired in 2017 after almost 45 years of lawyering “to embrace life: to learn Torah, to enhance my relationship with my wife of 40 years and to travel to explore the world of birds.” Published obituaries and remembrances note Nate’s passions: cherishing people, embracing nature, and pursuing education. His dedication to intellectual and spiritual enrichment were exemplified by his leadership in Milwaukee’s Jewish schools and his long service as president and board member of the Torah Academy of Milwaukee. As a living tribute to Nate, and to preserve and perpetuate his legacy (including his passion for nature and birdwatching), the Torah Academy of Milwaukee has established on its campus the Nathaniel Hoffman Legacy Garden. We send our condolences to Sara and their children and grandchildren.
Thanks to the many classmates who have already made their annual class dues contributions for this fiscal year. If you have not yet done so, contributions may be made online at https://alumni.yale.edu/classdues. As we begin our planning for our upcoming 55 th Reunion (a little more than a year away), maintaining our Class Treasury is important.
Don’t forget our monthly class Zoom sessions (Noon ET on the third Thursday of each month) and our monthly live luncheons at the Yale Club of NYC (typically on the first Thursday of each month, with adjustments in the meeting date from time to time to accommodate holiday schedules). If you would like to be added to the invitation lists for either, please let me know at andrew.kaufman@maine.edu. I am aware that in addition to our class-wide programming, some of you already participate in regular residential college or other affinity group related Zoom sessions. If you would like me to announce the scheduling of these smaller session, please let me know that, as well.
Finally, please don’t forget the Class’ support of the Calvin Hill Day Care Center. Contributions may be sent to the Center at 150 Highland St., New Haven, CT 06511, or made online at www.calvinhilldaycare.org.
Cheers, AMK 1-13-25
Class notes January-February 2025
As we roll into 2025, I have generally happy and upbeat news to report regarding our classmates. Many of you will remember John (JT) Toth, who died in 2008. As an undergraduate, JT was heavily involved in WYBC, as both Andy Wiesenthal and Tim Powell remarked in their memorials to JT in our 50th Reunion Book. JT’s son, Bill Toth (MC '11) and Bill’s wife, Sarah Lux, have asked me to notify our class that their son, Jacob Tobias Toth, was born last spring and is named for his grandfather.
Jay Gitlin has been collaborating with noted visual artist and Yale faculty member Adam Van Doren in a series of talks on cartoonists and the reflection of social history that their work presents. Van Doren, who commutes to New Haven to teach painting at Yale, has produced documentaries on James Thurber and The New Yorker founder Harold Ross. Jay and Adam held the third in their lecture series at the Yale Club of New York City on October 16 (incidentally, Jay’s 75th birthday), and their topic for the evening was “women cartoonists of the New Yorker.” They focused particularly on Helen Hokinson, a cartoonist for the New Yorker from the mid-1920s until her death in a plane crash in 1949. Roz Chast, a contemporary cartoonist who has published more than 1000 cartoons for the New Yorker since 1978, joined them for the lecture. Jay’s Yale roommates Jim Babst (and wife Cindy) and Max Addison came up from New Orleans and Houston for the occasion, which Jay called “pretty amazing and special. Friends!!!!” Jay’s wife Ginny, their son Basie (’10), and Garry Trudeau (’70, and a cartoonist well known to all of us from our undergraduate days) also attended. After the lecture, Jay and the entourage celebrated Jay’s birthday at the Century Club. “Best birthday party ever,” says Jay. “Roz and I talked about our favorite delis, and Garry and I both thought Gray's Papaya had the best hot dogs in NY. More heady topics also ensued. Adam made special place cards for the occasion. By the way, the day before, Jimmy and Cindy and Ginny and I went to the Met and saw the exhibit on architect Paul Rudolph. It brought back memories of snagging my tweed jacket on his brutalist (apt name) A & A building.”
Bil (a/k/a “Snake”) Johnson reports that the monthly Morse College Zoom group, which started before our 50th +1 Reunion, is still going strong, and Bil encourages more Morse members to participate. Bill also alerted me that the mayor of Carrboro, North Carolina, has recently proclaimed Jay Bryan a “2024 Carrboro Community Treasure” in recognition of his more than 50 years of service to the Chapel Hill-Carrboro community. The mayor’s official proclamation notes the many roles that Jay has undertaken over the years, including “attorney, poet, husband, elected official, neighborhood activist, father and judge,” with the “thread tying his varied roles together [being] one of sustainable community.” More specifically, Jay was responsible for organizing a community group to influence local planning decisions, and he served on the Carrboro Board of Alderman for 10 years. In addition, he secured funding for a struggling ArtsCenter, he supported granting employee benefits to members of the LGBTQ community, he collaborated in establishing an annual Carrboro Day, he organized a gun regulation committee, he created the position of Carrboro Poet Laureate and held that post for two years, and from 2012 until 2020 he served as a district court judge, “incorporating a community-based justice approach into his work.” The proclamation notes that “[s]ince retiring from the bench, Jay has been coaching women in recovery, including women in prison, through UNC’s Horizons program.” Congratulations, Jay.
After dutifully climbing the local Yale Club officer ranks for the last few years, Steve Sorett has been officially ensconced as president of the Yale Club of Southwest Florida (including Naples, Ft. Myers, and the surrounding area). Steve recently gave a presentation on climate change to one of the resident groups in his community, and notes that “down here with three category 3 hurricanes in six weeks, even the most conservative folks are concerned.” Steve encourages classmates who may be living or visiting in Southwest Florida to get in touch with him and join in some of the Yale Club events that he and his leadership team are planning. On the professional front, Steve was awarded an “Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award” in 2024 in recognition of his long and distinguished career as a leading lawyer in the field of government contracts, grants, and public/private partnership. Well done, Steve!
Continuing in the vein of professional and peer recognition, I (Andy Kaufman) am proud to report that last October I was awarded the 2024 James J. Fuld Award by the Working Group on Legal Opinions Foundation (WGLO), a national organization whose members include approximately 110 of the largest law firms and some 50 national, state and local bar organizations and practice affinity groups and whose work focuses on education, practice and procedure in the context of legal opinions in corporate, commercial and other business transactions. I served as national president of WGLO from 2014-2021. The award recognizes practitioners who have made “significant contributions to the field of business transactions.” I was particularly pleased that the award was presented to me at the Fall 2024 WGLO program by our classmate and my close friend Steve Weise, who himself received the award in 2016.
Chris Conty has a couple of new hobbies, including open water swimming in Walden Pond from May to October and a passion for 19 th century chamber music. Commenting that news of classmates who have died reinforces for him the importance of staying in touch while we still can, Chris has sent me personal recollections that he wanted to share regarding two of our recently deceased classmates. Chris recalls that as Freshmen working bursary jobs in the Morse/Stiles dining hall, he and Wayne Schmittberger (died in 2024) were responsible for pouring glasses of juice for breakfast, almost all orange juice. As an April Fool’s Day stunt, they “mixed up all sorts of yellow-orange juices they had, to the students’ consternation.” Chris and Larry Robinson (died in 2022) were grade school classmates at P.S. 122, Marble Hill, in the Bronx, and Chris remembers their playing together, sometimes at Larry’s apartment in Fordham Hill. Larry went to a private school for junior high and high school, and Chris and he lost touch until they both found themselves again as classmates at Yale. Chris’ most vivid memory of their friendship is from the fourth grade, when Larry played the First Lord of the Admiralty (“ruler of the Queen’s Navee”) and Chris played Dick Deadeye in a school production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore.
George Guernsey reports that the post-COVID resurgence of our live monthly luncheons at the Yale Club of New York City continues to build momentum. Recent participants have included George, Pam Begley, Charlie Belson, Bill Bierce, Alice Cunningham, Jim Kaplan, Tim Powell, Bill Primps, Jen Roberts, and Linda Smith-Shearer. The luncheons are typically held on the first Thursday of each month, with adjustments in the meeting date from time to time to accommodate holiday schedules. If you would like to be included on George’s regular invitation list for these luncheons, please let me know.
And as we progress through 2025, we will continue to host our popular monthly class Zoom sessions (3rd Thursday of each month at Noon ET). Additional classmates continue to join in the sessions. If you would like to be added to the invitation list, please send me an email to that effect.
Cheers,
AMK 11-15-24
Class notes November-December 2024
Martin Klotz has retired from the practice of law. He still lives in Brooklyn, as do his children and five grandchildren. As a retirement project, he is writing books on American history. His book Robert Rogers, Ranger: The Rise and Fall of an American Icon was just released, and he is now working on a book on the Mexican War of 1846-1848.
Another classmate turned author in retirement, Wes Wesley, reports that his novel "The Well" was named The American Fiction Award 2024 Winner for Adventure and also a Finalist in the Thriller category. In addition, "The Well" was named a Finalist by The International Book Award for Visionary Fiction. Congratulations, Wes! Although he is still practicing cardiology part-time, he notes that “writing has become my thing under the pen name, R. Chapman Wesley.”
Kudos to Tom Jaffe, who was featured in a recent Yale News article describing the Yale Peabody Museum’s new Hall of the Pacific. The Hall of the Pacific is the latest in a series of new attractions at the Peabody and “prompts visitors to contemplate the diversity of cultures that have developed over vast stretches of the Pacific Ocean.” The article reports that “most of the [254] objects on view came to the Peabody thanks to generous donations” from Tom. Tom became interested in the Pacific regions and their diverse cultures as a child, and he has been collecting objects from the Pacific regions for many years. The article quotes Tom’s “hope . . . that those who visit this gallery will be turned on to the Pacific’s incredible cultures for generations to come.”
Susan Yecies has donated a number of products to the Madsonian Museum of Industrial Design in Waitsfield, VT. Susan reports that the museum, founded in 2011, “focuses on industrial design and collects everything from classic cars, tables and chairs, bicycles, rugs, blenders, coffee pots, eating utensils to kid's toys. If you have something or several things you would like to donate, please contact Dave Sellers at dave@sellersandcompany.net or call 802496-2787. It is a pleasure to see items not used anymore go to a great cause and a very interesting museum.”
Steve Sidney retired last year after more than 40 years as a research scientist and cardiovascular epidemiologist at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, CA. He now has an appointment as Adjunct Professor of Neurology for the Medical University of South Carolina and is teaching an online course on grant-writing this fall. He continues to author scientific papers and volunteer for two cardiovascular disease prevention advocacy groups. Steve reports that he is still running regularly (in his self-described “old man” style), reading, watching a little bit of TV/Netflix, struggling to learn to play mandolin, and meeting by Zoom with anywhere from 6-10 of his Saybrook friends every other week. He plans to start working next year on a book about a long-term study that spanned his research career, interviewing and telling the story of people who have been study participants for almost 40 years. When not at home in Piedmont, he and his wife Carrie, who is maintaining a part-time addiction medicine practice, often stay at their coastal home in The Sea Ranch, a few hours north of San Francisco. He and Carrie have been together for more than 47 years. Their two oldest children live with them and have full-time jobs; their youngest son lives in rural southeastern West Virginia and is an attorney with the Climate Defense Project, providing legal support for climate justice and antiextractive campaigns, as well as community-led initiatives related to these efforts.
Steve Sidney sent me word that Steve Nelson died on July 18th, 2024, after a lengthy struggle with multiple myeloma. Known as Nels to his college friends, Steve attended Hahnemann Medical School and spent more than 40 years as an infectious disease physician at Crozer Chester Medical Center in Chester, PA. He was beloved by patients and hospital staff. Steve’s first priority was his devotion to family. He gave his love, time, and attention to his wife Gail and children in all aspects of life. Not long after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, he became part of a group of about 10 Saybrook classmates and contemporaries who met every other week by Zoom and were able to experience the ups and downs of his disease with him. Steve Sidney commented that Nels “gave us a lesson on how to live by maintaining optimism and a sense of humor throughout his illness and living life to the fullest by traveling with Gail on several trips both within the U.S. and internationally.” A memorial service was attended by classmates Bert Fields, Dave Monthie, Steve Anderson, Debby Tedford, Steve Sidney, and Tom Peacock. A video of the memorial service is available at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/live/GRLLhqjGqyw.
David Holahan died June 11, 2024, after a battle with cancer. Just six months ago I included in this column a report from David discussing his family’s history and their long Yale connections. David was a seasoned writer, commentator and reporter. In 1974, he co-founded The Gazette, an Old Lyme weekly newspaper, which survived into the late 1980s. He also copublished The Compass, a newspaper in Mystic. The Gazette was named the best newspaper in New England for its size. An annual April Fool's Day article kept readers on their toes. The spoof caught the attention of The New York Times and is enshrined in the Museum of Hoaxes in San Diego, Calif. Dave wrote and freelanced articles for newspapers and magazines, great and small nationwide, among them The New York Times, The Hartford Courant, Newsweek, and the San Francisco Chronicle. In recent years he served as editor of the East Haddam News and wrote its nature column, "Wild Things," to the last. David’s published obituary included the following quote from him: "I thank my steadfast friends, colleagues, and family members near and far who made life in rural East Haddam so pleasant and purposeful."
The “In memoriam” columns in the last two Yale Alumni Magazines have listed the passing of Lawrence Robinson in 2022 and Robert Sharp in 2023. I have not been able to locate their obituaries for mention in the Class Notes. If you have information about either of them that would be interesting to share with classmates, please send that to me.
George Guernsey and Jim Kaplan continue to host monthly live luncheons at the Yale Club of New York City, and we encourage classmates who live in or are traveling to the TriState Region to attend. Generally, they are held on the first Thursday of each month, with adjustments from time to time to avoid conflicts with holidays. Please let us know if you would like to be included in the monthly reminders. Some teasers from the September luncheon: Charlie Belson reported good turnout for local book signing events for his new book, Reflections, An Architect’s Memoir; Jim Kaplan has added to his leadership role in the Lower Manhattan Historical Society by joining efforts to relocate the historic SS United States to the Hudson River, where it will join the USS Intrepid; Tim Powell begs our indulgence for the Class website’s recent outage, caused by a faulty upgrade by a software supplier; and Bill Primps, serving his last year as president of the Ivy Football Association, announced that this year's annual dinner will honor Dick Jauron '73.
Best wishes for the holiday season, AMK 9-16-24
Martin Klotz authors 'must-read' history
ROBERT ROGERS, RANGER: THE RISE AND FALL OF AN AMERICAN ICONBy Martin Klotz
Robert Rogers, commander of Rogers’ Rangers during the French and Indian War, was, at age 29 in 1760, one of the two or three most famous Americans alive. Today he is almost completely forgotten. A self-made product of the frontier, he was a rare American war hero in a conflict dominated by an aristocratic British officer class. Despite his quintessentially American character and personality, however, Rogers fought as a Loyalist in the Revolutionary War, was abandoned by his American family, friends, and associates, and died in obscurity, debt, and poverty in London in 1795.
The book explores the bases for Rogers’ meteoric rise to fame and the causes of his subsequent long and steady decline. Brave, bold, and physically imposing, Rogers lacked the judgment and organizational skills to be a truly effective leader. His relentless self-promotion played to the desire of the colonial press for American heroes but irritated his colleagues and superiors. Reckless spending ruined his finances, while progressively worsening alcoholism dominated the second half of his life. Despite his modest frontier roots, Rogers was in awe of the British aristocracy. He longed for a knighthood and cultivated aristocratic patrons in London and the colonies. When the British cause in America failed, Rogers found himself an anathema on both sides of the Atlantic.
Publication Date: October 25, 2024
Publisher: Westholme Publishing, LLC
ISBN: 978-1-59416-429-3
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 256
ADVANCE PRAISE
“The author convincingly portrays Rogers as an altogether fascinating figure who practically leaps off the page. Fans of colonial and military history will find this a must-read addition to their bookshelves."
John Oller, author of The Swamp Fox: How Francis Marion Saved the American Revolution
Class Notes for September-October 2024
From Jennifer Tolbert Roberts: “Since my husband's death last year I have made a point of reconnecting with my Yale classmates, few of whom knew me while I was at Yale since I was living at home with my previous husband and our toddler. It has been lovely to start getting acquainted with you both through in-person lunches at the Yale Club in New York and via our monthly zoom lunches. This past May marked the appearance of my book Out of One, Many: Ancient Greek Ways of Thought and Culture and my return to Princeton University Press, which published my Athens on Trial: The Antidemocratic Tradition in Western Thought in 1994. I spent the intervening years in the Oxford stable, where I was co-author on many editions of a Greek history textbook; Oxford also published my book The Plague of War: Athens, Sparta, and the Struggle for Ancient Greece in 2017. I'm still teaching at City College of New York and the CUNY Graduate Center. I also volunteer for the Alzheimer's Association, with which I connected during my husband's illness. The adjustment to widowhood after 30 years of happy marriage has been difficult, but friends and family have been wonderful, and I look forward to acquiring still more friends from the Class of '71.”
Liz (Keating) Schroeder reports that during Covid her Trumbull roommate, Lindy Blauvelt Wells, moved to her beautiful corner of the Rhode Island coastline, facilitating their many walks on local beaches together the last few years. Liz notes that “Lindy took the years of downtime to resurrect some wonderful photos she began taking on a summer internship in Acadia while in grad school at Yale. Most had never been printed! The work is exceptional, and a book was published by Stanley Barker Books and launched at ParisPhoto in November. It has been getting attention by virtue of a Canadian museum exhibit, coverage on CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company) and a photo gallery in The Guardian recounting the time she spent in Brantville and her recent reconnection with the people and the area. So nice to know good things came from Covid, and exciting for me to watch the process unfold! The book, Brantville, is wonderful and I recommend it to everyone. Lindy's website is melindablauvelt.com . Life is good with 3 great kids and spouses, and 6 wonderful, active grandkids. Approaching my 75th birthday and 50th anniversary with trepidation. Good health means everything! Cheers to all!”
Glenn and Kathy Murphy were privileged to attend the ribbon cutting for the reopening of the Linonia & Brothers In Unity reading room at Sterling Library after a 4-year, $10 million renovation. They send kudos to University Librarian Barbara Rockenbach for understanding how special that space is to generations of students. Glenn took a hard-hat tour last Fall with the University Library Council when the walls were all opened, and he notes that “the sophistication of the design and quality of execution are truly first rate. No detail was overlooked, and the place looks just as it should —but with modern windows, HVAC and lighting! The iconic green leather armchairs have been restored and are open for business. L&B denizens of our era will find a very different collection on the shelves…but still curated for ‘pleasurable reading.’ Naps, yes. Smoking, no.”
Bill Primps and Jim Bullock attended the Washington DC Yale football reception on June 13, an annual event where Head Coach Tony Reno reports to area alums about the recently ended recruiting season and Yale’s prospects for the upcoming season. Bill reports that Tony was enthusiastic about both. Tony was introduced by Calvin Hill ‘69, whom we made an honorary member of our Class a few years ago. Calvin mentioned his role in recruiting both Bill and Kurt Schmoke, as well as Dick Jauron, ‘73.
Howard Dean retired from one of his many jobs in May of this year. He spent ten years teaching as a Senior Fellow at what is now the Jackson School of Global Affairs, Yale’s newest graduate school. Before that he taught a college seminar with classmate David Berg for four years. Howard wrote: “Despite whatever grousing us old folks have, I think Yale is in great shape. Terrifically smart undergraduates (far smarter than we were) and remarkable grad students from all over the world. The campus is far more diverse than it ever was when we were the first class to graduate women. College bureaucracy is always bureaucracy, but I think ours has functioned better than most. I’m very excited for the new President. I’ll still be around campus for a couple of more years on the Jackson Advisory Board, but I must thank the Yale community. It’s been rejuvenating and gives me great hopes for the future of the University and for the country, despite the pending disaster threatening the national government. My special thanks to the Jackson Community and particularly to the staff, and to John and Susan Jackson whose generosity and patience have made a huge contribution to Yale, the Nation, and because of the high number of international students, to the world as a whole.”
I am sorry to report the recent passing of two classmates. Matthew (Matt) Maltzman died June 4, 2024, after a nine-year battle with Primary Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Lobe Dementia. After Yale, Bob worked as a software engineer at Computer Corporation of America and other Boston companies. Norm Zamcheck (’70) wrote me that “[Matt] was also a gifted classical and folk guitarist. He valued foremost helping others as well as the life of the mind, which he was always indebted to Yale for fostering; and his chief passions were mathematics, science, and his loyal and loving partner of twenty-seven years, Ann Ree.” Jennifer Roberts commented that “It’s difficult to say what was most engaging about Matt: his insatiable curiosity about the world, his childlike fascination with things that defied his understanding, or his unflagging loyalty as a friend. The last years of Matt’s illness coincided with my husband’s dementia, and during our many conversations he was at least as concerned about my well-being as Bob’s caregiver as he was about his own tragic imprisonment in a body that was betraying him at every turn.”
Tom (William T.) Bell died June 6, 2024, in Stockholm, Sweden, after a long battle with prostate cancer. After Yale, Tom worked in DC with the National Geographic Society for a year or two. Not liking corporate life, he soon moved to the Outer Banks of North Carolina (Ocracoke) where he started a land development company. He also bought his first sailboat and began doing charters to the Bahamas where he met his wife, a Swedish woman named Charlotta. They had five children together and moved to Stockholm around 1990, and Tom lived there for the rest of his life. Tom and Charlotta divorced about 10 years ago, and he spent his remaining years with his partner, Karin Netzell. Several classmates wrote lengthy notes reminiscing about adventures and experiences they had with Tom over the years, including road trips and political campaigns during college, visits with Tom and his family in Sweden, and regular sailing excursions on Tom’s 42’ ketch throughout the Baltics. Bill Primps credited Tom with “pretty much anything I know about economics—as his Davenport roommate, I listened to his accounts of classes with faculty bigshots such as James Tobin and Henry Wallach, always very entertaining.” Michael Cummings remarked that “Tom was an incredible sea captain and taught me quite a bit about sailing the treacherous waters that far north. Fog, squalls, tankers, container ships and the occasional submarine mixed with the cold water and granite coast. At night, we would cook up a storm, drink a bit of wine and discuss politics, economic theory and art.” Tom Gadsden wrote that in recent correspondence Tom acknowledged that his prostate cancer had worsened, but said he had “no complaints” and was “trying to maximize quality time and forget about quantity time.” I have posted the full notes that I received from Bill, Michael, Tom, and Bill Porter to our Class Website. [Editor's Note: We're awaiting these.]
Led by a generous challenge gift from Andy Dwyer, Dick Muzzy, Kurt Schmoke and the late Bob Shapiro’s wife Connie, and coordinated once again by Bill Porter, some 50 classmates made donations to the Calvin Hill Day Care Center totaling approximately $31,000 in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2024. This challenge gift inspired our largest donor participation and third largest gift ever. Thank you for your support for the Center.
And many thanks to the more than 220 classmates who made contributions to the Class Treasury this last year. Your contributions are important in keeping us in a strong fiscal position as we begin to plan for our 55 th Reunion (coming in 2026).
Don’t forget our in-person luncheons at the Yale Club of NYC (usually the first Thursday of each month) and our Class Zoom sessions (third Thursday of each month). Let me know if you would like to be added to the invitation lists for them.
Stay well and send news.
Cheers, AMK
We’re back…better than ever.
Yale71.org has been restored after a major outage that lasted for three weeks in September. In the process of squashing the bugs, we’ve also implemented a number of small improvements.
Over Labor Day weekend, an alert classmate brought it to our attention that certain features of this site were not working as anticipated. Upon looking into it, we discovered that a recent legitimate, authorized ‘auto-upgrade’ of our software had compromised key functions of the site. None of our rigorous security safeguards were compromised, and none of our data were lost.
Three weeks later, thanks to the expert help of our developer Simon de la Salle, the site came back to life. We used the opportunity to perform some under-the-hood maintenance and tweaks that render the site’s appearance cleaner, and its performance faster.
In the process, we disabled certain features that were not being used. For example, the Connection feature, which enabled private messaging with other classmates, was turned off. You can still communicate with a ‘profiled’ classmate by sending a public message, which would be visible to the entire community.
The Discussion Group feature is still not being widely used. But we’ve left it on in the hope that you’ll contribute your thoughts on the topics listed — and/or propose new topics.
Thanks to the more than 600 of you who have registered to use the site, and especially to those 350 of you who have gone the extra mile in posting your personal profile in the Community section. Please add a current headshot if you’ve not yet done so.
Class Notes for July-August 2024
Pam Fairley sent me the sad news that her husband, Kent Foster, suffered a massive heart attack and died suddenly on April 15, 2024, while they were snorkeling together with friends in the waters off Belize. After Yale, Kent attended Boalt Hall School of Law at UCBerkeley, where he and Pam (a fellow student) met. They married soon after graduating from law school and moved to San Diego, where they raised their two children and pursued their respective legal careers. Kent’s practice focused on representing contractors and water districts. Those of you who knew Kent at Yale will recall his passion for racing sailboats, and he continued to sail and race competitively throughout his life, winning repeated championships at his club in San Diego in his Lido 14 dinghy. Kent suffered a major stroke almost 20 years ago which affected his speech and forced an early retirement from the practice of law. Nevertheless, Kent was able to maintain an active life, including black diamond ski runs and white water kayaking in addition to his sailboat racing. He and Pam enjoyed sailing trips to Greece and French Polynesia, canal trips in France, safaris in Africa, and time at their family cabin in the Michigan Upper Peninsula. Pam told me that the day before he died Kent had a wonderful day sailing and that they had kayaked together the morning of his death. We send our condolences to Pam, their children, and his extended family.
The Yale School of Architecture has announced that a full scholarship has been established in honor of Billie Tsien. After graduating from Yale with a B.A. in Fine Arts, Billie continued her studies in architecture at UCLA, earning her M.Arch degree in 1977. She and Tod Williams opened their firm, Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, in 1986. The Billie Tsien Scholarship Fund reflects Billie’s commitment to increasing diversity in the architecture profession by making the study of architecture more accessible. Billie’s projects include the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, and the American Embassy in Mexico City. She received the National Medal of the Arts from President Obama in 2013. In addition to her practice, Billie teaches as a visiting professor at the Yale School of Architecture.
Bill Bierce is incoming Co-Chair of the Europe Committee of the American Bar Association’s International Law Section. Active in French-American circles and author of a “Smarter Business Exits” book, he champions design thinking for stakeholders across a business’s life cycle. His corporate and commercial legal practice includes tech, privacy, governance of people and AI, outsourcing and collaborative “business divorce.” An experienced mediator, he volunteers as a facilitator in NY mediation trainings. He also enjoys family, pickleball, rowing and non-profit board service.
Tim Powell and Mitch Kapor were featured speakers in a Yale Radio Alumni Group Zoom session in May discussing WYBC in the late 1960s and early 1970s (the “underground years”) and the role the station played in both celebrating and driving the dramatic social changes of the era. Information on upcoming sessions – which are held several times a year, and open to all -- will be posted on Yale71.org under the banner news item. Elaine David and Ken Christian have also been involved in guiding this group.
Matt Gold is leading efforts within the American Medical Association to consolidate various initiatives focusing on the use of generative artificial intelligence in the medical field, including research, administration, management of the doctor/patient relationship, and the delivery of medical care. Matt’s focus includes the impact of generative AI on “prior authorizations” and the influence of bias inherent in the data bases upon which generative AI is built.
Don Tansey had the pleasure of joining Scott Staniar (‘85) CEO of New HYTES, Alex Dorato (Yale Varsity Tennis Coach 1986- 2019) and other Yale Tennis Alumni at the Yale Club NYC in May for a very enlightening discussion of New HYTES, a remarkable organization providing after school tennis, academic mentorship, and life skills training (with assistance from Yale SOM) to New Haven’s economically disadvantaged youth. Well worth a visit to newhytes.org for a very refreshing reminder of Yale’s commitment to community service generally and New Haven in particular.
That’s all I have for this edition. I hope that you have a happy and healthy summer. Please send news to share with your classmates.
Cheers,
AMK 5-17-24
Kaplan Co-Hosts Walking Tour of South Street Seaport (NYC) Museum Area
SOUTH STREET SEAPORT IN THE TIME OF LAFAYETTE'S VISIT
At the time Lafayette visited New York in 1824 and 1825, the South Street Seaport had become the center of Maritime Commerce in New York and where New York entrepreneurs, business men, and political leaders created some of the most important technological and economic innovations in the history of New York and America. This unique walking tour will describe and show the sites where:
- Robert Fulton (namesake of Fulton Street) and Robert Livingston revolutionized international transportation by running the first commercially successful steamboat in the world,
- the promoters of the Black Ball Line from South Street to Liverpool created the leading international communication network to Europe, and
- perhaps most importantly, former New York City Mayor and Governor DeWitt Clinton convinced the people of New York City and State to undertake one of the most significant entrepreneurial gambles in American history to build the 362 mile Erie Canal from Albany to Buffalo, which Made New York City the largest and most important seaport and City in America.
Learn more at a 90-minute walking tour on behalf of the New York Lafayette Bicentennial committee at 10:30am on Saturday, August 17, 2024.
Jim Kaplan handout
Tour Leaders:
James S. Kaplan, long-time Manhattan walking tour historian, Chairman of the Board and Co-founder of the Lower Manhattan Historical Association, historical writer for the New York Almanack, and New York City correspondent for Bob Cudmore's historians podcast, and recent ardent advocate for the project to save the South Street Seaport Museum.
Jonathan Kruk, Master Story teller; historical reenactor known as the best story teller in the Hudson Valley. However, having performed for the Lower Manhattan Historical Association (“LMHA”) at its July 4 events, the LMHA leadership considers him the best historical story teller in New York City as well.
Live Class Lunches -- Yale Club of New York City
Our live lunches are back! You do not need to be a Yale Club member to attend. NYC luncheons are currently scheduled for April 3 and May 8, 2025.
We had six classmates attend the live June luncheon, and the feedback was very positive. George Guernsey will again be in New York City to host the luncheon, and he reports that he has already received RSVPs from several classmates who plan to attend. With the support of the class secretaries of '72, '73 and '73, we are also inviting members of those classes to join us. In addition, George is spearheading an initiative to offer mentorship to younger graduates, in particular those from the classes of '21, '22, '23 and '24, and we are including New York area graduates from those classes in our outreach for these luncheons. If you would like to attend the live luncheon in NYC, please contact George at georgeguernsey@aol.com so he has time to coordinate with the Club.
Cheers,
George Guernsey and Jim Kaplan -- Luncheon Co-Chairs
Class Notes for May-June 2024
First, a correction. In the March-April column, I misstated the days on which we hold our monthly in-person luncheons at the NYC Yale Club and Zoom sessions. The in-person luncheons are held on the first THURSDAY of each month and the Zoom sessions are held on the third THURSDAY of each month, NOT Tuesdays. [Editor's note: This correction has been made to the online version of that column.]
Hugh Scott moved permanently back to St. Louis from Florida last summer. Hugh hailed from St. Louis and has children and grandchildren in St. Louis and nearby in Kansas City, as well as lots of family: “[w]hile I loved living in Florida for most of 30 years and half of my business was there, I will always regard St. Louis as my home.”
Harry Klebanoff retired from his psychology practice at the end of 2023: “I’m not at all happy (to say the least!) with the way people are treating people, or nature, in our world. I want to invest time and energy trying to improve things. I’ve organized local groups in our Marshfield, MA area to protect the coastal wetlands from development. When not writing or speaking on these subjects, I’m chasing grandchildren – eight total, ranging from 4 months to 14 years. Linda and I are fortunate and continue to exercise despite the various ‘surprises’ associated with aging. My best to all.”
After I included Vic Machcinski’s “first ever” submission to the Class Notes in last January’s column (and – mea culpa -- misspelled his name in the process), Vic sent me a followup note that as a result of the column he and Don Tansey had reconnected after many years.
David Holahan has just published a family history that traces its lineage in this country back to the early 1800s, including many connections with Yale. He reports: “Our father, Richard V. Holahan, class of 1933, and three of his brothers were Eli grads (Edward, James, and Michael), as were all of his and my mother Pamela Crawford Holahan’s five sons: Michael (1961), Thomas (1963), Richard (1964), Stephen (1969) and me (1971). An American Amalgam documents a baker’s dozen of Blue Holahans, among them: Tim, class of 1992, and my parents’ grandson; my first cousins Edward, class of 1958, and Dennis, class of 1965, and my first cousin once removed Amy Woolever, class of 1995. My niece Elsa Holahan, class of 2027, is the most recent Eli. She is my parents’ great granddaughter. Wait, there’s more! Jack R. Crawford, my paternal grandfather, was a distinguished professor of English at Yale for 37 years, beginning in 1909 (He is a Princeton grad, but it didn’t take). His wife, Dorothy Crawford, worked for decades, into her 80s, at Sterling Memorial Library, curating the Crawford Collection of Modern Drama. They produced plays at the Lincoln Theater in New Haven, an enterprise that eventually gave way to the Yale Dramat. Their daughter, Elizabeth Knight, earned a Ph.D. in German Literature from Yale in 1938, and my mother took graduate courses at Yale as well. My father and his brothers were not typical Yale applicants of their era. They all benefited from scholarships from the New York New Haven and Hartford Railroad. Their father, a staunch Democrat and telegrapher’s union member, was a switchman on the line in Darien. Yale could not tell me how notable our Blue wave is. I have been informed, however, that my class dues are overdue. I am a semi-retired journalist living in East Haddam, freelancing articles here and there.” In his exchange with me, David also noted that he is a “a former weekly newspaper publisher/owner and beer league hockey player, semi-retired, married to Kyn Tolson, with a son and grandson on the West Coast.” He also “captured the Blue Ribbon at the 2004 Hadlyme Pumpkin Derby for a 525-pounder.”
Sadly, I must close this column with news of the passing of three classmates. George Adams died on May 6, 2023. After Yale, George graduated from Boston University Law School in 1975 and spent 40 years practicing real estate and probate law. He was a partner at Harlow, Adams & Friedman, P.C., in Milford, CT, retiring in 2016. He was active with non-profit work, including Lawyers for Lawyers, and served on the board of the Friends of Boothe Park and the Milford Arts Council. His obituary notes that he was “known for his neat and natty style, sharp mind and quick-witted quips, he enjoyed travel, skiing, scuba diving, playing the piano, the music of Cole Porter and loved the occasional daredevil adventure – like paragliding or sky diving.” George’s survivors include his wife Sandra, his daughter, granddaughter, mother, siblings, and their families.
Rick Merkt sent word that Wayne Schmittberger died on February 19, 2024, in Pennsylvania. Wayne and Rick roomed together in TD during our undergraduate years. After Yale, Wayne went to law school at NYU and spent his career pursuing his passion: creating games and puzzles. His obituary notes that he was “the decades-long Editor-in-Chief of Games Magazine, invented the board game Orient Express, and authored several books, including the logic puzzle series Montague Island Mysteries.” Rick recalls that Wayne was also “a brilliant chess player.” Wayne leaves two adult daughters, Kim and Bonnie, plus grandchildren.
Finally, Dwight Raiford died suddenly on February 24, 2024, while on an annual golf trip with friends in Tampa, Florida. As an undergraduate, Dwight was one of the principal organizers of the Black Student Alliance at Yale and was heavily involved in the creation of the Afro-American Studies program, serving as one of four students who, along with four faculty members, developed the interdisciplinary proposal for Black Studies. After Yale, Dwight taught math through the Opportunities Industrialization job training program and a course he designed in black intellectual thought at Green Haven Correctional Facility in upstate New York. He then earned his MBA at Harvard and embarked on a long and successful career in finance, investment banking and financial planning in New York City, working over the years at Manufacturers Hanover Trust, Citibank, Price Waterhouse Cooper, and MetLife. In 2015, Dwight and his wife Iris retired to Atlanta to be nearer to family and friends, including their son, who is in the entertainment industry. Several of our classmates who were close to Dwight sent me news of his passing, including Kurt Schmoke, Don Roman, Lupi Robinson, Bill Porter, Bill Primps and Doug Smith. Kurt and Dwight were roommates for two of our undergraduate years, along with Doug Smith and Jim Rohrbaugh, and the four of them have remained close friends over the years. Kurt wrote that “[o]ne thing that some of our classmates may not know about Dwight was that he was the former Chairman of Little League International Board of Directors. He achieved that position because of his outstanding work in developing the Harlem Little League, a league that required solid academic performance as a prerequisite to athletic participation. He and Iris worked together on that project, which has benefited countless number of children and families in Harlem.” Dwight and Iris’ daughter, who received her PhD in African American Studies from Yale in 2003, is a professor of history at UC Berkeley, and their granddaughter is a recent graduate from Yale College (’21). Don Roman noted that shortly before he died, “Dwight had just been appointed a Trustee at Ebenezer Baptist Church, replicating the longtime role he played at Convent Avenue Baptist Church in Harlem. I’m sure he was quite proud of this accomplishment.” A Celebration of Life service for Dwight was held at Ebenezer, with Rev. /US Senator Raphael Warnock presiding. Doug Smith served as one of the pallbearers, and Jim Rohrbaugh was one of the speakers. Kurt reports that a significant number of Yale alumni living in the Atlanta area also attended. We send our condolences to the families of each of George, Wayne, and Dwight. We have posted copies of their obituaries to our class website, Yale71.org. In Dwight’s case, this includes a copy of the lovely memorial booklet (with many photographs) that his daughter prepared for his Celebration of Life service.
Be well.
AMK 3-16-24