Class Notes
The College/Arts, Sciences & Engineering
1942
Donald Hodgman notes the passing of John Kennell ’44, ’46M (MD) last August, which was reported in the New York Times in September. A neonatologist at University Hospital in Cleveland and a professor of pediatric medicine at Case Western Reserve University, John was the coauthor of the book Maternal–Infant Bonding (1976), widely credited with eliminating the then widespread practice in hospitals of separating mothers from their newborn infants for several hours following delivery. Donald writes: “John was a member of Alpha Delta Phi, as was I. In Cambridge, when my two-year-old daughter, Deborah, swallowed a penny, which stuck in her throat, John, then a young resident at Boston Children’s Hospital, removed it.”
1943
John Cranch died in July. His daughter-in-law, Nancy Cranch, writes: “The U of R was a huge part of his life. He was a swimmer and was inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame a few years ago, something he was very proud of. He passed away just six days shy of his 91st birthday, after being at Blossom Road Nursing Home for three years. He donated his body to the School of Medicine and Dentistry, again being a proud alumnus!”
1944
John Kennell ’46M (MD) (see ’42).
1956
Don Schaet sends an update. Since just before his retirement in 2000, he’s been an avid cyclist. In 1999, as part of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Team-in-Training program, he completed the Santa Fe Century 100-mile ride. Now, after having raised almost $200,000 for the organization, he’s training for his 41st and final fundraising ride, a 100-mile ride in the mountains around Lake Tahoe in June. He has a website, http://tinyURL.com/donschaetfor LLS, on which he’s collecting sponsors. He writes that he’s participated in many rides over the years as “part of a personal quest to pedal a 100-mile ride in all 50 states.” His “especially memorable rides” include “Montana along the Yellowstone River, crossing over the Mississippi River into Missouri, dodging flood waters in Nebraska, Lance Armstrong’s Ride for the Roses in Texas, West Virginia (broken pedal at 85 miles), Illinois (nasty dog bite), Indiana on Old Route 66, Utah in February, Colorado’s wind farms, Oregon’s headwinds on a 20-mile incline, Hawaii, where I was stationed for three years as a Marine, and Pennsylvania through the Gettysburg Battlefield. However, Alaska was tops. Most people think of it as the 49th state, but for me it is the 50th. Quest completed!”
1957
Bill Anderson writes: “This year, for our annual minireunion, the ’57 Theta Chi group from U of R spent a week in Williamsburg, Va. The group was smaller this year due to illnesses and traveling difficulties. Our official dinner took place in the King’s Arm Tavern on Duke of Gloucester Street across from the famous Raleigh Tavern seen in the background of our photo. We’ve met annually since our 50th class reunion in 2007.” From left to right are Mark Sharnoff, Garrett Smith, and Bill.
1963
Dorothea de Zafra Atwell has received a Distinguished Worldwide Humanitarian Award from Worldwide Who’s Who. The award recognizes “philanthropic efforts and notable accomplishments.” Dorothea is a retired senior program analyst at the Department of Health and Human Services. She dedicates her time to eldercare advocacy, efforts to change social stereotypes about aging, as well as other civic initiatives.
1967
Patrick Duffeler, founder of Williamsburg Winery near Williamsburg, Va., has retired as chief executive officer. He’ll remain chairman of the board of the winery, which celebrated its 25th harvest in 2012. The new chief executive officer is Patrick’s son, Patrick Duffeler II, who has worked at the winery since he was a student at the College of William and Mary and most recently served as chief operating officer. . . . Larry Gardner writes that his daughter, Julianne, graduated from Rutgers Pharmacy School as valedictorian last May. He adds: “Juli graduated summa cum laude with a BS in biology from West Virginia University in 2009, where she was also inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.”
1968
Chuck Smith writes that his one-act comedy, Polterguest, was produced last summer by three theaters in Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia. In addition, his play The Old Dark Foreclosed House was performed in September in Sterling, Va., as part of a festival devoted to 10-minute, one-act plays.
1971
David Epstein ’72S (MBA) writes: “I’ve been retired from the Naval Reserve and Government Accountability Office for years. My wife, Wendy, and I recently took an even bigger step toward retirement. After 23 years as the owner of a storefront travel agency, we sold the small office building that housed the business, converted our employees to commissioned salespersons, and began operating the travel agency from home. We plan to gradually reduce our work hours, and celebrated this change with a trip to Cuba.” . . . Jerry Newman sends a photo of himself and his daughter, Aurora, Class of 2017, in front of Susan B. Anthony Halls on move-in day, 2013.
1974
Alison Greenspan (see ’09).
1975
Len Milling has been promoted to full professor of psychology at the University of Hartford. Len has been teaching at Hartford since 2000. . . . Ken Novak writes that he’s been named a principal at Sagence, a data and analytics consultancy in Chicago. “I lead a pro bono modeling effort for the City of Chicago in addition to working for Fortune 500 clients. I also occasionally perform marriages as an ethical humanist officiant.”
1977
Lee Greenberger has been named chief scientific officer of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. He’s responsible for planning and executing the society’s research programs, including grant funding programs. Lee was previously an executive at Bristol-Myers Squibb. . . . Carol Needleman-Karr has written a book, As Birds Soar: One Family’s Journey Living with ADHD and Autism Spectrum (Smashwords), under the pen name B. Suzanne. . . . Harold Paz ’82M (MD) has been elected chair of the board of directors of the Association of Academic Health Centers. Harold is the chief executive officer of Penn State’s medical center and health system, the senior vice president for health affairs, and dean of Penn State’s medical school.
1978
Jane Dubin ’79 (MS) writes that she’s producing the Tony Award–winning play Peter and the Starcatcher. Jane is the president of the theatrical production and management company Double Play Connections. . . . Ned Ginsburg writes that he’s been a composer and orchestrator in New York City since 1984. He’s working on several musicals, including Hobberdy Dick and They Chose Me, as well as a film score for Same Difference. He adds: “My wife is the visual artist Jill Slaymaker, and our son, Alex, is attending LaGuardia High School as a freshman in vocal music.” . . . Mark Perlberg has been named chairman of the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations. Mark is the president and chief executive officer of Oasis Outsourcing in West Palm Beach, Fla.
1979
Mark Bergman writes that he’s relocated to Saratoga Springs, N.Y. He’s an associate broker with Select Sotheby’s International Realty, specializing in luxury properties in the Albany and Lake George regions, as well as the southern Adirondacks. He’s also president of the Warren County Multiple Listing Service and Adirondack region vice president of the New York State Association of Realtors. . . . Valerie Ann Leeds, an independent curator, produced Southwestern Allure: The Art of the Santa Fe Colony, a book accompanying the Boca Raton Museum of Art’s fall 2013 exhibit of the same title. The exhibit, on which Leeds consulted, will travel in 2014 to Orlando and to Santa Fe.
1980
David Higgins ’87 (PhD) (see ’80 Eastman).
1982
Paul Koch, dean of physical and biological sciences and professor of earth and planetary sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has been elected as a fellow of the California Academy of Sciences. Paul’s research is focused on the effects of ecology on the evolution of vertebrates, and has consisted of fieldwork in North and South America, Asia, Africa, and Antarctica.
1983
David Duryea has been named commander of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center. Located in Newport, R.I., the center is the major research, development, test, and evaluation site for the Navy’s submarine warfare systems. Prior to his appointment as commander, David, a rear admiral, was the deputy commander for undersea warfare at the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, D.C.
1984
Remy Arteaga, director of the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado’s business school, has coauthored Pivot: How Entrepreneurs Adapt and Change Course to Find Ultimate Success (Wiley).
1985
Hal Johnson has been named chief financial officer of Capstone Financial Group. Hal is a founding partner of the company, based in Irvine, Calif. He’s also the son of Hal Johnson ’52, a life trustee of the University.
1987
Jeffrey Kondziela has been named business development manager of the optical metrology products group at Bristol Instruments, located in Victor, N.Y.
1989
Keary Howard is the winner of the 2013 President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching at SUNY Fredonia. Keary has been teaching mathematics education at the school since 2000.
1992
Jeff Reznick is coauthor of the article “Remains of War: Walt Whitman, Civil War Soldiers, and the Legacy of Medical Collections,” which appeared in the January 2012 issue of Museum History Journal and won the 2013 best article award from Archivists and Librarians in the History of the Health Sciences. Jeff, who is chief of the history of medicine division of the National Institutes of Health’s National Library of Medicine, writes: “ ‘Remains of War’ reveals the discovery of the mortal remains of four American Civil War soldiers among the thousands preserved in the anatomical collections of the National Museum of Health and Medicine, which traces its origins to 1862 and the creation of the U.S. Army Medical Museum. These men were among hundreds cared for by the poet Walt Whitman during his time as a volunteer in the Civil War–era hospitals of Washington, D.C. Uniting the remains of these four men with Whitman’s words that describe his experiences, ‘Remains of War’ yields a new interpretation of medical collections that bears witness to deeply individual histories during a time of unprecedented conflict in American history.”
1993
Jonathan and Judith Gendler Epstein ’94 send an update. They live in Buffalo with their two children, Hailey, 9, and Gabriel, 4, both of whom attend Kadimah School, a Jewish day school from which Judith graduated and Jonathan is board copresident. Jonathan is a business reporter for the Buffalo News and Judith is a grant administrator at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. . . . Andrew Silverstone has received a scholarship from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to study veterinary forensic sciences at the University of Florida. Andrew directs an animal care clinic in Virginia Beach and is president of the Tidewater Veterinary Academy.
1994
Judith Gendler Epstein (see ’93).
1995
James (Randy) and Cavelle Davolio Holbrook celebrated Cavelle’s 40th birthday in New Zealand. They send a photo of themselves with their guest, Rocky.
1996
Vanessa Hurlbut Paniccia has written a children’s book, Princess Bing Bong and the Birthday Party Blunders (Authorhouse). She writes that she’s working on a second book, has three young children, and lives in Rhode Island. . . . Ramón Rivera-Servera writes that his 2012 book, Performing Queer Latinidad: Dance, Sexuality, Politics (University of Michigan Press), has won several awards. They include best book from the Latino Studies Section of the Latin American Studies Association; best book in LGBT studies from the Lambda Literary Foundation; and outstanding publication award from the Congress of Research in Dance. Ramón is an associate professor in the Department of Performance Studies at Northwestern University. . . . Sarah Krupnick Zeldman is a social media marketer based in Ontario, Canada. Through her company, E-Marketing Maven, and website at www.TheEmarketingMaven.com, Sarah provides workshops, seminars, consultations, a variety of free resources, and maintains a blog.
1997
Carrie Cocciole Atkins writes that she and several friends participated in the Set Free 5K at Meridian Park in Rochester, a run to raise awareness of human trafficking and support for the Set Free Movement, a U.S.–based organization working to end human trafficking. . . . Jim Davis ’99W (MS) has written Legendary Locals of Greater Utica (Arcadia Publishing). He teaches social studies at Clinton High School. . . . Malini Roy is visual arts curator at the British Library. She published a book, with curator emeritus J. P. Losty, Mughal India: Art, Culture, and Empire, to accompany the 2013 British Library exhibit of the same name. . . . Tom and Cari Stilwell Wolverton send an update. Tom writes: “I am the high school science teacher at an exciting, experimental STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) high school in Vancouver, Wash., near my hometown. I am also the board president of the Mount St. Helens Institute, a nonprofit organization focused on exploration and climbing, volunteering, and education on and around the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. Cari manages Cotton Babies, a parenting and baby retail store focused on cloth diapering, natural parenting, and new parent education. Cari and I have two wonderful children, Maia and Zev, who are in the fifth and third grade, respectively. Cari’s sister, Kate Stilwell ’08 works as a high school English teacher at Roosevelt High School in nearby Portland, Ore. Kate competes in Ultimate Frisbee tournaments and is a certified yoga instructor.”
1999
Lauren Mangiola Rush writes that she and her husband, Chris, welcomed a daughter, Claire Elizabeth, in August. Claire weighed 5 lbs., 1 oz., and was 18 inches long. They live in New Jersey.
2000
Erika Marabella writes that she and her husband, Todd Lewandowski, welcomed their first son, Jacob Francis, in May. They live in Buffalo.
2002
Kadie Simon Jelenchick has been named one of the 2013 “Philanthropic 5” by the United Way of Greater Milwaukee. As senior counsel at the law firm Foley & Lardner, Kadie volunteers legal services to low-income clients through Legal Action of Wisconsin and helps support research against early-stage breast and prostate cancer as chairperson of Wisconsin Breast Cancer Showhouse for a Cure. . . . Leslye Jones ’03W (MS) writes that she married Matthew Auby in August in Canandaigua, N.Y. Pictured (page 55) are: (bottom row, left to right) Jenna Kane Walsh ’01, Jill Luchner ’01, Jaime Dimmig Sidani ’02, Mariana Witgert Bradshaw ’01, Leslye, Elizabeth Reisinger Walker ’01, Heidi Mergenthaler ’03, Lauren Evancie Nehilla ’01, Barrett Nehilla ’02, Sacheen Dampier ’01, Pooja Sinha ’05, ’06S (MS), ’08S (MBA), K. J. Dziak ’01; (top row, left to right) Mike Richards ’01, Ramzi Sidani ’02, Marika Bergenstock ’02, Peter Miller ’01, Dana Reid Vanas, Matthew Walker ’02, Greg Schmidt ’01, ’09 (PhD), Alexa Zimm Simmons ’01, and Julie Zinner Rubin ’01.
2003
Daniel Haykin writes that he married Talia Davis in Denver last March. “We were accompanied by several Delta Upsilons from Rochester.” Pictured from left to right are Casey Lewis ’04, Daniel Vickery ’04, Talia, Daniel, Geoff Bowser ’05, Daryl Reisfeld, and Adam Beckman. . . . James Paulino has joined the law firm Goldberg Segalla in the business and commercial and global insurance services practice groups in the Rochester office. James was named a 2013 Outstanding Young Lawyer by the young lawyers section of the New York State Bar Association.
2004
Blake Betheil has joined the Florida law firm Broad and Cassell. He joins the estate planning and trusts practice group and works in the firm’s Boca Raton office.
2006
Ben Damsky and Laurie Isaacson ’08N were married in September. Pictured are Elinor McCandless, Steve Brown, Carl Libardoni, Lauren Gottlieb, Laurie, Nicole Cutler ’07, Erin Folkman, and Ben. Also in attendance were Josh Indeck, Chris Babcock ’07, Lindsay Fox, Michael Cabin, Erik Monostory ’08S (MS), ’08S (MBA), David Levi, and Meghan Mitchell Levi.
2007
Jackie Borchardt married Joshua Bickel in Columbus, Ohio, last August. Jackie is a reporter for the Dayton Daily News and Joshua is a photojournalist for the Dispatch Printing Company. Pictured from left to right are Iman Criner ’06 (maid of honor), Jackie, Jessica Badlam, and Monica Reyhani ’05. . . . Mike Gossett married Kate Mattson in June. Pictured from left to right are Craig Matt, Anthony Furstoss, Zack Freed ’10S (MBA), Karen Gromer Freed ’10M (MPH), Mike, Chase Hannon, and Andy Darjany.
2008
Kayleigh Nutting was profiled as a “Woman to Watch” in October in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Kayleigh is the director of special events at Al Sigl Community of Agencies. . . . Kate Stilwell (see ’97).
2009
Kristin Sullivant and Jacob Mainzer were married in October in Columbus, Ohio. Kristin writes: “The wedding was UR themed, and many alumni were in attendance.” Pictured (page 58) from left to right are Colleen Kellenberger, Kimberly Graff, Sara Lim ’08, Katie Reynolds, Danielle Wedde ’11, Kristi Beck, Elizabeth Gabster ’10, Lee Reis, Rebecca Wadsworth ’74N, ’83M (MD), ’86M (Res), Peter McLoone ’10, ’11 (MS), Laura Jones, and Jacob’s parents, Stanley Mainzer ’75 (PhD) and Alison Greenspan ’74.
