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CLASS NOTES
COLUMBIA COLLEGE TODAY
COLUMBIA COLLEGE TODAY
CLASS NOTES
extremely interesting conversation
with Al Broadwin, from an
engineering perspective, on some
of the engineering problems connected
with the battery failure of the
recent Boeing 787. Al runs his own
engineering consulting firm and has
been involved in efficacy management
problems of various products.
We were all impressed with his
knowledge and comments.
On February 7, I, Vic Levin and
his wife, Fran, attended the annual
Dean’s Scholarship Reception in
support of our Class of ’56 scholarship
students. We currently support
14 students (three of whom just
graduated with the Class of 2013)
through two scholarships. The students
hail from places ranging from
the metropolitan area to as far away
as Turkey and include the Southeast,
Midwest and Southwest areas
of the United States. We even have a
member of the Quapaw Indian tribe
of Oklahoma [see “Senior Snapshots”
in this issue], which shows
the diversity of our student body.
All of our scholarship students are
bright and motivated, with most of
them indicating their desire to go
on to further education and careers
in areas such as law, journalism and
social services. Spending just two
hours one evening with some of our
scholarship students has impressed
upon me the high standards that
our admissions department has
(6.9 percent acceptance rate for the
Class of 2017). I encourage any class
member who is interested to mark
their calendars for next February;
it is always a stimulating evening.
If you are interested in receiving
biographies of our students, please
contact Saskia De Caires, director,
donor relations: sdd2128@columbia.
edu or 212-851-9719.
Also in attendance was Socrates
Nicholas, who was hosting his two
scholarship recipients.
If any class member is interested
in setting up a named scholarship,
please contact either me or Sydney
Maisel, assistant director, class
giving: sm3694@columbia.edu or
212-851-7492.
I plan to invite at least one of our
scholarship students to our monthly
campus luncheons to share their
view of current Columbia goingson.
So that’s another reason for our
metropolitan alums to attend! Please
contact me at tball8000@earthlink.net
if you need more information.
On February 25, Ed Botwinick
’58E hosted our annual Florida gettogether.
This is an event that the
late Alan Miller ’57E, ’58 Business
inaugurated a number of years ago.
It seems to grow in stature every
year. Ed hosted this year’s event
at his Stuart, Fla., home (approximately
an hour north of the Fort
Lauderdale area). The organization
of the event was helped by Lou
Hemmerdinger in addition to Ed
and Ed’s wife, Vicki. In attendance
were Dan Link and his wife, Elinor;
Mike Spett and his wife, Lisa; Lou
and his wife, Anita; Bob Siroty and
his wife, Margo; Lee Seidler and
his wife, Gene; Howard Hansen
’52 and his wife, Dianne; Gershon
Vincow and his wife, Dina; Stan
Manne and his wife, Fern; Dan
Kazimir; Murray Eskenazi; Eric
Donath and his wife, Mariel; Marty
Mayer and his wife, Susan; and me.
In addition, Ed had invited the
then-acting dean of the Engineering
School, Don Goldfarb, to fill us
in on the expansion plans at Columbia,
including the development
of the Manhattanville campus. One
of the things that impressed me
is how active and integrated the
Engineering School has become
with the College, so that engineering
students can take many of the
Columbia liberal arts courses while
getting their engineering education;
likewise, interested College
students can take engineering
courses to see if they have talent
in that area. By the way, from my
College, Engineering and Business
School contacts, I am informed that
the greatest current demand is for
engineering graduates.
This kind of get-together reminds
me of the every-five-year class
get-together that is our College
reunion. It is not too early to remind
everyone that our 60th anniversary
will take place in June 2016, a mere
three years away. I encourage every
class member who’s interested in
having a part in planning the event
to contact me at tball8000@earthlink.
net to share their views.
Gershon Vincow has been
studying, writing and teaching for
many years with Joan Burstyn,
whom he terms his “study buddy.”
They recently published Searching
for God: Study Partners Explore
Contemporary Jewish Texts. Gershon,
who along with a number of our
class members, graduated from
Lincoln H.S. in Brooklyn, became
a respected teacher and eventually
vice chancellor for academic affairs
at Syracuse; he retired in 2009.
Ron Kapon, our peripatetic
oenophile, gave a three-hour lecture
to senior citizens in Greenwich,
Conn., “Confessions of a Wine Non-
Snob.” Ron has a video of his lecture
(interesting and entertaining) at
vimeo.com/59696001. This lecture
was set up by his good friend Fred
Brooks. Kudos to Fred for letting
Ron loose on Greenwich’s senior
citizens.
Len Wolfe reports that his book,
Easy Economics: A Visual Guide to
What You Need to Know, has now
been published in Chinese. Based
upon my recent visit to China and
Bob Lauterborn’s experience in
educating our Chinese brethren on
American know-how in marketing,
Len’s book will be a welcome
addition to simplifying some of the
misunderstandings of our economic
system.
Another condition of our aging
(not old) class members is downsizing.
In the last two years, I know
that at least two of our class members,
Lou Hemmerdinger and my
brother, Maurice Easton, have
moved out of their residences of
many years. Lou moved to a senior
community, while Maurice moved
to a smaller residence in the same
area he’s been living in Birmingham,
Mich. For those of you in
North Carolina, Maurice will be
spending more time in that area,
too, as his son lives and works in
Charlotte. Both Lou and Maurice
related that the worst part of
downsizing was getting rid of all
their accumulated “stuff.”
As a Class Agent for the Columbia
College Fund, I again encourage
each of you, our Columbia family
members, to consider making a
contribution to the Columbia
College Fund for the current fiscal
year, which ends on Sunday, June
30, or to get a head start on next
year’s contribution. I assure you
that all donations, large or small, are
accepted and put to good use by the
College. You can give by credit card
at college.columbia.edu/giveonline
up until midnight EST on June 30.
You also may call the Alumni Office
at 212-851-7488 during business
hours, or mail a check, payable
to Columbia College Fund, to
Columbia College Fund, Columbia
Alumni Center, 622 W. 113th St.,
MC 4530, 3rd Fl., New York, NY
10025. If mailing a check be sure to
allow several days for it to arrive by
June 30 if you wish to receive credit
for this fiscal year.
If you are interested in any sort
of “legacy” contribution to Columbia,
please contact me at tball8000@
earthlink.net.
Please let me or Lou Hemmerdinger
(lhemmer@aol.com) know
of any news that you would like to
share in Class Notes. Also, if you
have changed your email or mailing
address recently, please inform
either one of us as well as the CCT
staff (college.columbia.edu/cct/
contactus). This is a part of our mission
to connect all class members
with our activities.
As we celebrate the Class of 2013,
we can reflect on our own Columbia
experiences.
57
Herman Levy
7322 Rockford Dr.
Falls Church, VA 22043
hdlleditor@aol.com
Carlos Muñoz writes, “I had the
pleasure of experiencing a rare ‘’57
double’ during the winter holidays,
attending two class lunches
separated by six days and 3,000
miles. The first was organized on a
beautiful Sunday afternoon by Stan
Barnett and Martin Brothers and
hosted by Haig Bohigian and his
wife, Valerie, at their lovely home
in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., overlooking
the Hudson River. Also attending
were Larry Boes, Joe Feldschuh,
Bob Flescher, Sal Franchino, Steve
Fybish, Dave Kinne, Mark Stanton
and John Wellington.
“I subsequently left for California
to spend Christmas with my son
and his family in Orange County,
and I was fortunate to be included
the following Saturday in a class
lunch organized by John Taussig
and Gene Wagner, which included
John Ahouse, Ken Bodenstein,
Mike Gold, Lewis Schainuck
and Gerry Werksman, in bright
and sunny Long Beach, this time
overlooking the Queen Mary and
the Pacific Ocean. The California
contingent also included five wives
(albeit at a remote table).
“Both lunches were delightful
occasions with much good fellowship
and reminiscing, and I heartily
recommend these opportunities
to all classmates who are able to
participate.”
More reporting from the Long
Beach lunch comes from Gene
Wagner: “Our final luncheon for
2012 was held on December 22, at
Parker’s Lighthouse in Long Beach,
Calif. We have a great nucleus of
guys who enjoy the camaraderie
of old friendships, good food and
meaningful conversation.
“We even have a group of wives
who join us but sit a distance away
from the ‘Old Lions.’ If there are
any classmates who plan to be in
Southern California this year, we
could be flexible about changing
our luncheon dates to accommodate
them.”
Elliott Schwartz, the Robert K.
Beck Professor of Music Emeritus at
Bowdoin, writes, “In October I was
the guest composer at the University
of Maryland, Baltimore annual
Livewire New Music Festival and
Symposium. My music was also
performed at Tufts (November)
and at the cell in NYC (December).
For the NYC performance, the ensemble
mise-en featured a work of
mine for chamber orchestra, Texture,
composed almost 50 years ago.
“A new CD of my music has
been released on the Metier label
(United Kingdom). It features the
London-based Kreutzer Quartet
and also includes live performances
of my music at the Library of
Congress in Washington, D.C. (my
70th birthday concert in 2006).”
Elliott’s wife, Dorothy (“Deedee”),
had an exhibition of about 40 of
her prints covering half a century,
“Evolution of a Printmaker,” at
the Maine Jewish Museum in
Portland, Maine, from January
10–February 25. It was curated by
Bruce Brown and held in memory
of David Gamper and David
Becker, who were former students
of Elliott’s at Bowdoin. The Portland
Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram
covered Deedee’s show on January
6 (preview) and January 20.
Deedee began her significant
printmaking in 1957, while a student
at Smith, with a woodcut, “Daedalus
and Icarus.” Her works show a political
message; she was influenced
by her reading as a teenager of
Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young
Girl, the civil and women’s rights
movements, and later by “images
of cruelty and suffering around the
globe.”
From 1984–2006, Deedee was
director of the Maine Humanities
Council and is a longtime member
of the Portland-based Peregrine
Press.
While in NYC February 7–11,
yours truly met Kathleen and Dave
Kinne for dinner. I also paid a visit
to campus, where I called on Alex
Sachare ’71, Lisa Palladino, Alexis
Tonti ’11 Arts and Elena Hecht ’09
Barnard of CCT and on Nick Mider,
formerly of Alumni Affairs. In
the spirit of the Core Curriculum,
I also visited two of my favorite
haunts, the Metropolitan Museum
of Art and the American Museum
of Natural History, and attended
a concert of the New Amsterdam
Symphony Orchestra at Symphony
Space in which a friend played the
cello.
58
Barry Dickman
25 Main St.
Court Plaza North, Ste 104
Hackensack, NJ 07601
bdickmanesq@gmail.com
Bernie Nussbaum was the co-honoree
at Columbia/Barnard Hillel’s
2013 Seixas Award Dinner, held in
Low Library in May. His co-honoree
was the Hon. Judith S. Kaye ’58 Barnard,
the former chief judge of the
New York Court of Appeals. This is
far from their first joint effort; when
Bernie was editor-in-chief of Spectator,
he coordinated some journalistic
projects with Judge Kaye (then Judy
Smith), who occupied the same post
with the Barnard Bulletin. Readers of
this column may recall that a couple
of years ago Bernie was hired by the
judge to sue the state in an effort to
increase judicial salaries.
A report on our 55th reunion
will appear in the next issue of
CCT. If you attended, please share
your thoughts and stories with me
for this column. The class photo,
however, may be found on the CCT
website (college.columbia.edu/
cct) as part of this issue’s reunion
follow-up article.
The Class Lunch is held on the
second Wednesday of every month,
in the Grill Room of the Columbia
University Club of New York, 15 W.
43rd St. The cost is $31 per person.
Email Art Radin if you plan to attend,
up to the day before: aradin@
radinglass.com.
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
Norman Gelfand
c/o CCT
Columbia Alumni Center
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530
New York, NY 10025
nmgc59@gmail.com
59
John (Jack) Kauderer shares some
memories of one of his instructors.
“In my first semester at Columbia,
in fall 1955, I took Humanities A.
My instructor was Louis Simpson
[’49 GS, ’59 GSAS], a demanding
and excellent teacher. His obituary
appeared in The New York Times
and other papers upon his death
at 89 on September 14, 2012. He
won the Pulitzer Prize in poetry in
1964 and published many books
of poetry and literary criticism. He
later taught at UC Berkeley and
SUNY Stony Brook. I assume some
of my classmates also encountered
him as an instructor and might be
interested in his great accomplishments
as a contemporary poet. In
retirement, I have had the time
to explore poetry, which premed
studies did not leave room for. I
stumbled on his poetry just this
past fall.”
Richard Lacoss ’60E writes, “I
stayed on for another year after CC
graduation and obtained a B.S. from
the Engineering School. After that
I was off to UC Berkeley, where I
earned a Ph.D. in electrical engineering.
Then back to my home state of
Massachusetts to work on nuclear
test monitoring at the MIT Lincoln
Laboratory. I’ve been there ever
since, 40 years up until retirement,
and part-time for the last several
years. I may be the last person in the
world to spend his entire career at
one organization. But it has been fun,
with a chance to work on and direct
many diverse projects ranging from
seismology, sonar and aeroacoustic
surveillance to artificial intelligence,
computer architecture and image
understanding.
“My home base now is Cambridge,
Mass., where I live with my
wife of 30 years, Cynthia Oldham,
Bernard W. Nussbaum ’58 and The Hon. Judith S. Kaye ’58 Barnard
were honored at Columbia/Barnard Hillel and The Kraft Center for
Jewish Student Life’s 2013 Seixas Award Dinner on May 2 in Low
Rotunda. Nussbaum is a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
and served as White House Counsel to President Clinton, while
Kaye is of counsel at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and is a
former chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals.
PHOTO: MAX W. ORENSTEIN
who is retired from a career teaching
immigrant children in the Cambridge
public school system. We
have a son and a daughter who
are both seniors in college and will
graduate this spring on the same day
from Smith and Boston University.
This means that, much to our disappointment,
we could not both attend
both graduations. We planned to
split up, with one parent at each.
“For the past several years, the
four of us have taken a vacation together.
It is always a special time for
us. Last year it was a trip to China
that included Beijing, Shanghai,
Chengdu, Xi’an, Hong Kong and
the Li River valley. Exhausting. This
year it will be a safari in Tanzania. I
hope that this tradition can continue
as the children become more independent,
but we will have to wait
and see. We also have a summer
home on the Maine coast where we
spend time together.
“Finally, we are at the age when
health issues tend to become more
important. I am happy to say that I
am quite well, although I have new
hips that slow down my passage
through airport security and, apparently,
I had a silent heart attack
and now sport a blocked artery. I
say ‘apparently,’ because I don’t
know when it happened, but the
cardiologist assures me that it did.
All in all, though, everything is
working fine.”
Frank Gatti writes, “I am a child
psychiatrist. I participate in the
care of children and their families,
avoiding the insurance-generated,
15-minute medication check that
threatens to undercut any quality in
child psychiatry work. I am on the
faculty and teach at the University
of Massachusetts Medical School
in Worcester. I live in Amherst with
my wife, Eleanor (Ellie). We are a
blended family with six children
and five grandchildren. I am one
of those elected to Amherst town
meeting. I was involved years back
in the Civil Rights struggle, including
in Mississippi, and have served
on the Amherst Human Rights
Commission. Ellie and I are part of
a group of five who have a regular
current affairs radio show, Focus,
which airs on the UMass-Amherst
radio station, WMUA 91.1 FM, Sundays
from noon–1 p.m. I have been
a Quaker most of my adult life.”
From Norman Bernstein we
hear, “In December, I won a landmark
environmental case in the
United States Court of Appeals for
the Seventh Circuit. It held that a
superfund remediation trust (of
which I am one of the trustees) can
bring a direct action against the
owner and its insurer of an Indiana
superfund site to compel it to pay
for the environmental cleanup
that the trust is conducting. The
owner and its carrier wanted (and
got from the lower court) a ‘free
ride.’ The trust, according to the
Seventh Circuit, which reversed the
lower federal court, is not confined
to a ‘contribution action,’ which
arguably has a shorter statute of
limitations and other procedural
restrictions.
“On a separate note, fine art photographs
that I took in Spain last
summer while traveling with my
wife, Michele, and our daughter,
Sarah-Judith (15), were displayed at
a reception on March 9 at the Vintology
Wine & Spirits shop and gallery
in Scarsdale, N.Y. Fifty percent of
the proceeds went to the Performing
Arts Center in Purchase, N.Y.
SUMMER 2013
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SUMMER 2013
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