Download this issue as a PDF - Columbia College - Columbia ...

CLASS NOTES
COLUMBIA COLLEGE TODAY
COLUMBIA COLLEGE TODAY
CLASS NOTES
in the March 5 primary and led his
closest challenger, Los Angeles City
Controller Wendy Greuel, by almost
4 percentage points. Because no
candidate earned at least one vote
more than 50 percent of the votes,
Eric faced a runoff against Greuel
on May 21.
Gary Klein reports that after decades
of living on the Upper West
Side, minutes away from campus,
his family (wife, Courtney, and
children, Madelyn and Owen) are
moving to Montclair, N.J.
Christopher Mount wrote from
Los Angeles: “I will curate an exhibition
devoted to the prolific and
often radical architecture designed
in Southern California during the
last 25 years. The exhibition, ‘A
New Sculpturalism: Contemporary
Architecture from Southern
California,’ has been in the works
for more than a year and is part of
the Getty Foundation’s 2013 initiative
focusing on architecture in Los
Angeles. To take place in the main
space of The Geffen Contemporary
at MOCA, the exhibition will
focus on the most expressive and
experimental architecture built by
architects and firms such as Frank
Gehry, Hodgetts & Fung, Franklin
D. Israel ’71 Arch., Thom Mayne,
Michael Rotondi, Eric Owen Moss,
Coy Howard & Company, Daly
Genik Architects, Cosia Day, Patrick
Tighe, LOHA, Michele Saee,
Greg Lynn, Ball-Nogues, Neil Denari,
Hagy Belzberg and Michael
Maltzan among others.
“The exhibition commences
with work built in the mid-’80s
as postmodernism was waning
and examines the reasons that Los
Angeles became the birthplace
of a new way of practicing and
thinking about building, ultimately,
a more formalist and less unifyingly
coherent form of architecture
than elsewhere. The show follows
this trajectory until the present,
when the city has arguably become
the creative heart of American
architecture. This exhibition will
discuss the geographic, political and
socio-economic conditions for this
development as well as highlight
how the early work of Gehry, Israel,
Mayne and Rotondi allowed for an
‘expanding of possibilities’ for form.
“First acknowledged by Charles
Jencks as the ‘LA School’ in the
early ’90s, this ‘movement’ has
transformed into a larger ‘galaxy’
encouraged by the many theoretical
and practical aspects of the Los Angeles
environment. These include
an inherent willingness to explore
and to manufacture by hand; an
affection for improvisation; the use
of inexpensive building techniques
and materials; the impermanent
nature of the city as a whole; its
variety of industries and clients; the
benign weather; and the confluence
of premier academic institutions in
one place. This liberalized view toward
ideas includes the profession’s
and academia’s early embrace of
digital technologies and its current
exploration by many of the newer
firms. In the construction of five to
six full-scale pavilions, we hope to
highlight the near future of architecture
as well as look at innovative
formal solutions in addition to
exploring new building techniques.
The exhibition runs from early June
to early September.”
We extend our condolences to
the family of Nicola Tanelli, an
attorney from North Caldwell, N.J.,
who passed away on January 4,
2013.
A quick note: Please make sure
to update your email addresses
with the College (college.columbia.
edu/cct/update_contact_info) and
with me. As I send email reminders
prior to my submission, my
lack of your current email address
will preclude your receiving a request
to submit your information.
Too many emails bounce routinely,
so thanks for keeping your information
current.
86
Everett Weinberger
50 W. 70th St., Apt. 3B
New York, NY 10023
everett6@gmail.com
We have no news to report this issue.
Please send your updates on your
family, work and personal lives to
me at the email address above or via
CCT’s easy-to-use webform: college.
columbia.edu/cct/submit_class_
note. You know that you always
check this column, so please help
make it more interesting — we all
want to hear about our classmates’
doings. Don’t be shy! And in the
meantime, have a great summer!
87
Sarah A. Kass
PO Box 300808
Brooklyn, NY 11230
ssk43@columbia.edu
It’s hard to believe that a year has
passed since we gathered for our
25th reunion. It does really seem
like yesterday, except for the fact
that our classmates have all been
quite busy!
Esther K. Chung, a professor
of pediatrics at Jefferson Medical
College at TJU in Philadelphia, is
beginning work on the third edition
of Visual Diagnosis and Treatment
in Pediatrics, for which she is
editor-in-chief. If you have photos
of pediatric conditions that you’d
like to contribute to the book she
asks that you please contact her at
ekc16@columbia.edu.
Irene Tucker, my former Spec
colleague who is a professor in the
English department at UC Irvine,
has published a new book, The
Moment of Racial Sight: A History.
Irene says the book brings together
race studies, philosophy, history
of medicine and literary criticism,
and engages work ranging from
the writing of Immanuel Kant,
Wilkie Collins, John Stuart Mill
and Charles Darwin to the HBO
television series The Wire. It seeks
to locate the most familiar critical
understanding of race — the idea
that it is “socially constructed” —
within a longer historical trajectory.
What might we learn about the
social, political and epistemological
functions of race, the book asks,
by noticing that it is only at the
end of the 18th century that skin in
particular came to be privileged as
the primary designation of race
Our classmates are not just
producing books, however. Sandy
Asirvatham has been working on
a project, MOBTOWNmoon.com,
which has been described as “The
Dark Side of the Moon like you’ve
never heard it. More than 40 musicians,
all from Baltimore. Classic
Pink Floyd, thoroughly reimagined.”
Sandy says, “It’s a dream come
true for me. I’m very excited and
proud.”
Thomas Duval reports on a
career change. “After producing
Westborough, Mass., singer-songwriter
Luanne Crosby’s new CD,
Ceremonies and Celebrations; Songs for
the Rituals of Life, I left my day job
with Nuance Communications in
March 2009 and accepted an invitation
to join the U.S. Foreign Service.
I completed my training with the
State Department and have been
at my first assignment for the past
year as a vice consul in Vancouver,
B.C. I was fortunate enough to
work there during the 2010 Winter
Olympic Games (and unfortunate
enough to be present during the
2011 Stanley Cup final riots).
“Now, following a year of language
training in Washington, D.C.,
I took up my current assignment in
Tokyo, where we’ll be until 2014. My
wife, Carole, and daughter, Kate (9),
are enjoying the adventure so far.
“I’m still working in dribs and
drabs on music, mostly producing
and playing on recordings for
friends using the Internet to transfer
things back and forth. I’m also
digitally recovering things from
tapes I have, including the song I
did with Todd Sheaffer ’86 for the
Blockade (‘You Can’t Hide Me’),
and the first gig of our band, The
Dogs (which later became Sheaffer’s
band From Good Homes), at
Ferris Booth Hall in 1987.”
And with Tom creating the
unlikely link between the worlds
of music and government, we can
easily transition to great news from
Sharon Block: She was renominated
by President Barack Obama
’83 to serve as a member of the
National Labor Relations Board.
Sharon had been serving a recess
appointment to the NLRB since
January 2012. This nomination is for
a full term.
And last, but certainly not least,
a hearty congratulations to Jim
McKnight, who along with his
wife, Betsy, welcomed their second
child, Thomas James, on Thanksgiving
Day. Little Thomas joins his
sister, Katherine (2). Jim says that
both kids are “keeping us very busy
(and happy).”
88
Eric Fusfield
1945 South George
Mason Dr.
Arlington, VA 22204
ericfusfield@bigfoot.com
It would be hard to find a more
professionally diverse cross-section
of Columbia alums than the classmates
who wrote this month. The
Class of ’88’s very own Hollywood
screenwriter, Andrew W. Marlowe,
offered this update on his latest
project: “The TV show I created,
Castle (which airs on ABC, Mondays
at 10 p.m.), recently finished filming
its 100th episode. I am creator/
executive producer and head writer.
We are in our fifth season. If you’re
not familiar, the show follows the
exploits of the ruggedly handsome
mystery writer Richard Castle as he
consults on New York’s strangest
homicides.
“As a fun addition to the TV
series, our fictional writer Castle
has released four very real mystery
novels through Hyperion Books,
each of which has become a New
York Times bestseller, with the third
in the series, Naked Heat, debuting
at No. 1.”
Closer to Morningside Heights,
Steve Cohen and his wife have
established themselves in the New
York legal community. He writes,
“I am married and the very proud
father of two beautiful children,
Nina (5) and Leo (3). We live on
the Upper West Side, not far from
Columbia, and have watched the
changes in the neighborhood with
interest and joy. It is a whole new
world up here. I am a partner at
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz,
doing mergers and acquisitions; I
love it and work hard. My lovely
wife is English and a lawyer; she
does cross-border M&A. I am
pleased to report that our kids
are not old enough to know what
corporate lawyers do.”
Another Manhattan attorney,
David Stoll, also weighed in: “I live
in the Carnegie Hill section of Manhattan
and am a trusts and estates
partner at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley
& McCloy. This past semester I
taught a course on estate planning
at Yale Law. It was my first time
back in an academic setting since
graduating from law school in 1991,
and it was a real pleasure.”
Blake Allen wrote, “This Ivy
League-educated molecular biologist
is still working in real estate. I
am sole proprietor of Allen Realty
and somehow I have survived
the economic crisis, at least so far!
I got my license in the summer
between freshman and sophomore
year at Columbia and I still use it
every day. My primary focus is on
exchanging (essentially trading)
any real property anywhere for
other real property. I live and work
in Colorado Springs but do some
business in Denver as well. I do just
about every kind of real estate, from
houses to commercial property to
property management. We are in a
strong market and I would love to
help any fellow alumni make some
good yields or buy that Colorado
property of their dreams.”
Blake represented Columbia in
the fall at “the inauguration of the
president of Colorado College, here
in the Springs. Those who know
me well, including how I took a
nap rather than walk at graduation,
will be happy to know that I
finally donned the Columbia blue
for this event. It was a pleasure and
I encourage anyone to represent
Columbia whenever possible. No
tradition is stronger than ours! Of
course I may be biased. My pride in
the University seems to grow year
after year.”
The Fall column will have a full
report on Alumni Reunion Weekend.
In the meantime, this issue
has a follow-up feature with photos,
plus you can see our class photo in
the online edition at college.colum
bia.edu/cct.
Keep the updates coming! I
look forward to your emails. I also
encourage everyone to join the
Columbia College Class of 1988
Facebook page; it’s a convenient
way to stay in touch with classmates
(facebook.com/#!/groups/
415004051893008/fref=ts).
REUNION WEEKEND
MAY 29–JUNE 1, 2014
ALUMNI OFFICE CONTACTS
ALUMNI AFFAIRS Vanessa Scott
vs2470@columbia.edu
212-851-9148
DEVELOPMENT Esfir Shamilova
es3233@columbia.edu
212-851-7833
Emily Miles Terry
45 Clarence St.
Brookline, MA 02446
emilymilesterry@me.com
89
I ran into Bill Walsh and his brother,
Larry Walsh ’86, at the Columbia/
Harvard men’s basketball pre-game
reception last winter. We commiserated
about how none of my children,
nor theirs, have witnessed a Columbia
sports “win” in their lifetime and
are beginning to lose hope. We were
as optimistic that night as Lions fans
can be but, alas, the long-awaited
victory proved elusive yet again.
Still, we cheered for the Lions, who
really did look like the better basketball
team.
A few weeks after the game, Bill
wrote with this update: “It’s hard
to believe, but it’s already been 15
years since I left Lehman Brothers
and New York to come up to
Boston to work at State Street. Although
it’s a painful reality that my
children, Pete (14) and Matt (12),
are tried-and-true Boston sports
fans, I have managed to get them
to occasionally root for Columbia
teams. Even though we lost that
basketball game, it was one of the
best teams I have seen since the
Matt Shannon and John Dwyer ’86
era. My brother, Larry ’86, and his
son, Patrick (12), also were at the
game. Larry has two other boys as
well, Joe (10) and Stephen (7).
“As Larry and I both played on
the club squash team at Columbia,
I’ll put a plug in for the new varsity
squash program that started last
year. I took my son Matt to watch
the Columbia/Harvard match,
and coach Jacques Swanepoel and
his team were appreciative of our
support; we saw some excellent
matches, especially the rematch of
last year’s individual championship
match between Ramit Tandon
’15 and the Harvard No. 1.
“As three of my siblings also
went to Columbia (Larry along
with Jon ’93 and Fiona ’00), I get a
lot of alumni updates from them.
My black sheep brother, Eamon,
played football at Cornell. I keep in
touch with Paul Childers and get
my West Coast updates occasionally
from Matt Sodl ’88. Larry and
I hoped to return to the victory podium
at the Columbia football golf
outing this spring, assuming Chris
Della Pietra and John Alex don’t
sandbag their scores too much.”
If you have had the good fortune
to dine at Taste at the Palisades in
Southern California, you’ve seen
the interior design of Kirk Pereira
’90, who started with our class.
Kirk’s company, Kirk Pereira Design,
does commercial, residential
and even set design. Perhaps there
is an aesthetic gene for fine design,
as Kirk’s grandfather is the famous
architect William Pereira, whose
firm, William L. Pereira and Associates,
designed San Francisco’s
Transamerica Pyramid building as
well as the master plan for the city
where I grew up, Irvine, Calif.
Of his work Kirk says, “My
most recent restaurant design
project, of which I also am one of
In January, Sam Bloom ’88 (right) traveled to China to visit Michael
Langer ’88, then based in Beijing for his work with Cross-Border
Communications. Bloom teaches at Barnard and FIT. The two are
seen here on a side trip to the Forbidden City.
the owners, is Tortilla Republic, a
modern Mexican grill and tequila
bar on Robertson Boulevard in
West Hollywood (tortillarepublic.
com). We have been open a little
more than a year and have become
a favorite for celebrities. It is a
modern take on Mexican cuisine
and this is our second location.
The first opened two years ago in
Poipu, Kauai (Hawaii). We are in
the planning stages of taking the
concept international, with the first
to be in London. I wish I had this
when we were all students in NYC.
Back then all we had was Lucy’s.”
Personally, Kirk also has a lot to
celebrate. He writes, “Ray Munoz
and I will soon celebrate our 10-
year anniversary. We are one of the
1,800 same-sex couples who were
legally married in California before
the decision got reversed with Prop
8. We are grandfathered!”
You can find Kirk on Facebook
or, for more information, go to kirk
pereiradesign.com.
90
Rachel Cowan Jacobs
313 Lexington Dr.
Silver Spring, MD 20901
youngrache@
hotmail.com
Hold onto your hats and have a
seat — this column is long!
In December, Dave Hunt proudly
informed me that his son, Andy,
was admitted early decision to …
Princeton. Folks, this is no easy feat,
so even though it’s not Columbia,
I’m sure you all join me in congratulating
Andy (and his parents).
According to Michael Kinstlick’s
tally, he is in good CC ’90
company in the Bay Area, where he
frequently sees fellow transplants
Luis Andrade; Theo Hartman ’92
and his wife, Anne Hayes Hartman;
Ethan Rafferty ’92; and Gabe
Kra. Michael reports: “After working
mostly in insurance and finance,
I took the entrepreneurial plunge in
2011 and started Coppersea Distilling,
a craft distillery based near
New Paltz in the Hudson Valley. It
has been a challenging project but
well worth the effort. We’re distilling
spirits, focusing on whiskies
and eau de vies (or eaux de vie for the
Francophiles out there). We’d love
to see folks for a visit.”
Wayne Stoltenberg has an
update, too. “After a 15-year career
in investment banking with Credit
Suisse and Bear Stearns, focused
on the domestic energy sector, I
became the s.v.p. and CFO of Cinco
Resources, a private, U.S.-focused
independent exploration and production
company. Cinco’s financial
backers include Yorktown Partners
and affiliates of KKR. Cinco engages
in hydraulic fracture stimulation
of its wells, a process highlighted
and horribly misrepresented by the
film Gasland. I am happy to report
that Cinco has safely fracture-stimulated
dozens of wells, adding to the
industry’s total of more than one
million wells completed this way
without incident.
“I am active with the Columbia
golf program’s alumni committee
and [at this writing was to] help
host the men’s team on its spring
trip to the Dallas-Ft. Worth area.
I am married with two children,
Cassie (12) and Blake (10), and
reside in Westlake, Texas, which
is in the DFW area and in close
proximity to active gas well development.”
Sara Wasserman and her
husband, Eric Fuller, also have two
children (9 and 11), boys they adopted
in 2006 after becoming their
foster parents in 2003. The family
has lived in Eugene, Ore., since
1999. Sara works part-time as a database
specialist for Lane Council
of Governments, and Eric works
for the University of Oregon.
SUMMER 2013
98
SUMMER 2013
99