Kyle Smith Takes the Helm in Levien Gym - Columbia College ...

Columbia CollEgE Today CLAss NOTEs
— an artist, writer and cultural
programmer — who in addition to
her own art practice has consulted
with the Queens Council on the
Arts and Miami Art Basel, among
others. She is the editor of a great
online magazine: cultureserve.
net. Herby works hard in the tech
industry and plays hard at his
newfound love of salsa dancing.
His volunteer work includes teaching
fencing to inner-city kids and
DJ’ing! Jennifer anglade dahlberg
is back in Sweden working
on her second novel and hanging
out with her husband, Christian,
and kids, Yazmin and James. Erin
dracos scott and paul scott live
a wonderful life in Berkeley with
their two kids and are about to
embark on a one-year around-theworld
adventure, spending most
of their time in the South Pacific
and East Asia. Evonne Gallardo
’96 is executive director of Self
Help Graphics and Art in East Los
Angeles, a legendary 30-year old
Chicano/Mexican visual arts cultural
center that works to advance
Latino arts both locally and nationally.
She also is a board member of
Pasadena Heritage, which works
to preserve the cultural history of
Pasadena, and she has been a longstanding
member of the National
Association of Latino Arts and Culture.
And last, I heard that angela
hernandez was working at a think
tank in Washington, D.C.”
I also heard from Elizabeth
weeks leonard, who last spring
was promoted to full professor at
the University of Kansas School of
Law, where she teaches health law
and torts. Elizabeth is spending
the fall semester in her hometown
of Athens, Ga., teaching at her law
school alma mater, the University
of Georgia School of Law. Her husband,
Thom Leonard, is an artisan
baker and heirloom grain consultant
who will spend the semester
learning about hominy, peaches
and other Southern delicacies.
94
leyla Kokmen
440 Thomas Ave. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55405
lak6@columbia.edu
Thanks to a tip from shawn landres
(more on him later), I learned that
russell sacks was married in March
to Lauren Tobe. Shawn attended the
wedding, and Russell filled me in on
the slew of Columbians who came to
celebrate: negar nabavinejad and
her husband, Mehran Azar; sarah
sheffer; James bradley; pablo
garcia; heather sutton walsh ’94E;
Ron Meyers ’92; Noah Rosenthal ’96;
and Terence Woolf ’99, ’02L. Also
in attendance were Russell’s sister,
Robin Sacks Silverman ’97, as well
as his brother, Roni Sacks ’04, and
Roni’s girlfriend, Christy Pomeranz
’04. In addition to his happy wedding
news, Russell also shared that
in January he became a partner at
Shearman & Sterling, an international
law firm, where he is a financial
institutions regulatory lawyer.
In addition to sharing Russell’s
news, Shawn had some news of his
own: He, his wife Zuzana, and their
daughter, Abby, welcomed Natalia
Miriam Riemer Landres on July 3.
Many Columbians attended her
baby naming, which was officiated
by Rabbi Sharon Brous ’95.
In other baby news, ayanna
(parish) thompson, her husband,
Derek, and their son, Dashiell, announced
the birth of their daughter/sister,
Thaisa Rose, on June 8.
Congratulations to everyone.
Look forward to hearing more news!
95
Janet lorin
127 W. 96th St., #2GH
New York, NY 10025
jrf10@columbia.edu
This update revolves around summer
babies, who might be the Class
of 2032 if they attend the College,
and meeting up with friends from
Lit Hum.
First up: david webber and his
wife, Irit Tau-Webber ’02L, welcomed
Noam Zev Tau on August 15.
He joins brother Boaz in the family’s
adventure in Boston, where David
teaches law at Boston University.
On the other coast, hilton romanski
and his wife, Emily Meyer,
welcomed Georgia James on June
16, a day after Emily turned 40.
She joins Clement (2). The family
moved back to Palo Alto from San
Francisco just in time for Emily to
give birth a month later to Georgia.
Emily’s entrepreneurial venture
(teacollection.com) continues to be
the top brand in the country for
children’s luxury clothes. Hilton has
been working for Cisco for 10 years
and recently moved from v.p. of
corporate development leading the
M&A and investments globally to
helping to lead its service provider
business.
thad tracy; his wife, Michele
Haberland ’04 SIPA; and their twins,
Sacha and Tobin, live in Morningside
Heights, Hilton writes. Thad recently
accepted a key role as the general
counsel of a private equity fund. (I
caught up with Thad this spring for
lunch, and we ran into Russell Sacks
’94 at a diner in midtown.)
Hilton moved to Palo Alto and
found a classmate next door: gene
Mazo, who lives with his wife,
Gwen Parker, and their son, Max (3).
“Gene and I were in Wallace
Gray’s Lit Hum class freshman year
and have been catching up over
wine and impromptu dinners with
our two families all summer,” Hil-
NOvEMBER/DECEMBER 2010
63
ton writes. “Small, small world.”
Gwen bumped into their new
neighbors and invited them over
for a barbecue.
“The family came over and when
I saw the husband, I couldn’t believe
my eyes. It was hilton romanski
from my freshman Lit Hum class,”
Gene writes.
Their sons go to the same preschool
and play together at home.
“We can hear them over the fence,
and our families hang out together
all the time,” Gene writes. “Hilton
turns out to be a great cook, and
we couldn’t have asked for a better
set of friends or neighbors.”
Gene is a lawyer. He met his wife
at Stanford Law, and he had been
in academia for a long time, having
completed a Ph.D. in politics at
Oxford.
I have my own baby news, too.
My husband, Scott, our son, Ike, and
I welcomed our daughter, Charlize
“Charlie” Sarah, on August 7, 15
days early. She had the good sense
not to intrude on her brother’s
second birthday of August 8.
Like Ike, Charlie was delivered
by the fabulous rebecca amaru.
The morning after Charlie was born,
Rebecca had her own daughter! Orli
Maayan Waitman joins sisters Jolie,
Lyla and Isabel.
Rebecca practices with Shari
Brasner and Isabel Blumberg in
Manhattan.
Two months before Charlie was
born, my husband and I took a
week-long trip to London, where
I saw a familiar face on our flight
to and from England. Sitting in
the row in front of us was owen
grover; his wife, Erin Gilbert ’95
Barnard, ’99 GSAS, and their son,
Devon (8). Owen was in my Lit
Hum class with Jim Lewis.
The couple celebrated their 10th
wedding anniversary on July 1 and
are happily ensconced in the Windsor
Terrace section of Brooklyn.
Owen has been working for five
years at Clear Channel, where he
runs programming and marketing
for the company’s digital unit.
Erin finished her dermatology
residency at SUNY Downstate and
recently joined Gramercy Park
Dermatology Associates, where
she’s eager to treat fellow alumni.
Finally, I didn’t get to include a
reunion update from Mark filstrup,
who ventured up to 116th after
living south of 8th Street for the last
15 years.
“I was impressed with the showing
from Architecture (sara Moss
and Vivien Chung ’01 Arch.), the
Varsity Show (Chad Levinson ’97,
rebecca gottesman and Laura Pietropinto
’00) and Carman (amanda
Kahn-Kirby, Maria celis Jeanseaume
and Janet lorin),” he writes.
“It was also fun to see adlar garcía,
roosevelt Montás and winifred
teng at the event at 230 Fifth.”
While he did not see any Kingsmen
all weekend, he has stayed in
touch with a few. “I met baby Wyatt
Yang when Welly Yang ’94 and his
wife, Dina, brought him to town
this spring,” Mark writes.
Thanks for these great updates,
and keep the news coming.
REUNION JUNE 2–JUNE 5
ALUMNI OFFICE CONTACTS
ALuMNI AFFAIRs Taruna sadhoo
tds2110@columbia.edu
212-851-7849
DEVELOPMENT Rachel Towers
rt2339@columbia.edu
212-851-7833
96
ana s. salper
24 Monroe Pl., Apt. MA
Brooklyn, NY 11201
asalper@yahoo.com
Greetings, classmates. This is my
first of many appeals to you to
come back to Morningside Heights
for our 15th reunion! Yes, our 15th.
Those of you who attended our fifth
and 10th reunions know how much
fun it can be to, well, reunite. So
please come. We would love to see
you there and relive the glory days.
After almost 10 years with Nike,
anastasia thanopoulos (née
Yatrakis) left to join her family’s
real estate/property management
company. She focuses on sales and
rentals in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
She and her husband, Billy ’95,
have two children, George (3) and
Nicholas (5). sarah robbins lives
in Washington, D.C., with her son,
Miles (1), and husband, Nathan
Thompson. She works at the BBC
as the planning producer for BBC
World News America, the international
news-focused evening program
broadcast anchored in D.C.
Sarah has been working with the
BBC for 10 years, first based in Los
Angeles, then for a bit in London
and now D.C.
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