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

CLAss NOTEs Columbia CollEgE Today
Judy Vale ’04 and Mike Rubin ’04 hosted a Columbia reunion at their July
4 wedding in Garrison, N.Y. Partying with the couple were (top row, left
to right) Rae Neugarten ’04, Zoe Marcus ’04, Jon Steiner ’04E, Joe Gaynor
’04, Mark Franczyk ’04, Tom Biegeleisen ’04, Zach Rosner ’04 and Kentaro
Kaji ’04; and (bottom row, left to right) Sara Topek Spronz ’04 Barnard,
Marisa Cohn ’02 Barnard, Mary Amasia ’04E, Kimberly Ong ’04, the bride,
the groom, Neil Vaishnav ’04, Eric Chang ’04 and Rajesh Banik ’04E.
brave souls have written in with
news.
aaron greco ’04 Business: “I
recently founded a tech company
that allows students and parents
to customize pages that get added
in their school yearbooks. We’re
doing everything we can to get
the word out about our product,
and I thought CC alumni might be
interested in hearing what we’re
up to. I encourage you to check out
our website if you’re interested:
treering.com.”
The most devoted and scrupulous
contributor to this column,
Kristina Kaufman, wrote to say,
“I visited Erika (Moravec) Jaeggli
and Nelson Jaeggli ’97 in Austin,
Texas, for five days during Labor
Day weekend. They’re doing well,
raising two cute and hilarious kids
named August and Raina. Erika’s
painting as much as she can and
has a studio space in East Austin
with other artists. We had a great
time going to the botanical gardens
and the pool, and of course eating
at least our weight in Tex Mex and
BBQ. I learned that things really
are bigger in Texas (bugs, cars, etc.)
and that it’s acceptable to bring
your own beer cozy to a cookout.
I almost got stuck there because of
Hurricane Ermine and experienced
my first tornado warnings! But I
made it back in one piece. Erika
and I also realized that it had been
exactly 15 years since we met during
our first weeks at Columbia. We
felt old!”
In August, I drove out to the
West Coast for a long-overdue
consultation with my favorite psychiatrist,
Dr. Jenya Kaufman, who
is lovely and insightful as ever.
On my way back east, I stopped
in Chicago and stayed with Ethan
fischer and his sweetheart, Robyn,
who courageously put up with
both me and my 150-lb. mastiff,
Bear. We cruised around town and
visited Jenn and her darling baby
and happy husband. Jenn noticed
Ebon Moss-bachrach on Damages,
and shared that susie lee reads
this column, that pete Younkin
got hitched and that she got a
Rosh Hashanah card from Ethan
davidson.
Later, we all had dinner with Esther
chak, who revealed, after 1½
glasses of wine, that she’d recently
seen Mike Erman, but he told her
not to tell me. (Mike, why?) Esther
also told me that Sofia Perenyi has
opened a yoga studio in Paris, that
chris hardin stopped in Chicago
en route to San Francisco via train
for his birthday, that Julia bloch
is a video editor and hangs out in
Brooklyn with Matt Miller ’00E
and Maggie Pouncey ’00, and that
interactive designer Mira alibek
was in Odessa at some point but is
now back in Brooklyn. Esther and
Jenn both see David Meshoulam
’00 often. He lives in Evanston
with his wife and their daughters
(1 and 3).
This flurry of boldface names is
what happens when people actually
give up the goods.
Finally, in case you were still
curious about george demos’ run
for Congress (I was), I pulled this
from his website:
“Thank you to all of you who
worked so hard for our campaign
and for our cause of true conservative
values. We have fought the
good fight for conservative principles,
exceeded all expectations,
but come a little bit short tonight.
“Moments ago, I called Randy
Altschuler and congratulated him
on winning the Republican nomination
for U.S. Congress. It is imperative
that we stop the Obama-Pelosi-
Bishop agenda of reckless spending
and higher taxes. To do that, we
must win back our Congress. I
will do everything in my power
to ensure that Randy Altschuler is
our next Congressman because the
future of our nation is at stake. I also
congratulate Chris Cox for a vigorous
campaign.
“Thank you to the Republican
party chairman, John LaValle,
for opening the primary process
so that we could participate and
spread our message.
“I have met thousands of people
across Long Island, and they all
agree that our spending is out of
control and our taxes are too high.
We must change course in this nation
or our future is at risk.
“I am so honored at the tremendous
support we received from
so many leaders including Rush
Limbaugh. I will continue to fight
for our principles and our values.
I believed in them yesterday, I
believe in them today and I will
believe in them tomorrow.
“May God bless you and always
continue to bless the United States
of America.”
That’s all for now. Bye!
00
NOvEMBER/DECEMBER 2010
66
prisca bae
344 W. 17th St., Apt. 3B
New York, NY 10011
pb134@columbia.edu
I recently attended the inaugural
benefit and silent auction at Cipriani
42nd Street for New York Needs
You (newyorkneedsyou.org), a nonprofit
that provides high-potential
first-generation college students
with the most intensive career
mentorship program in New York
City. Hundreds of the city’s most
prominent and philanthropic individuals
were in attendance. NYNY
honored Howard Marks, founder
and chairman of Oaktree Capital
Management, and Cory A. Booker,
mayor of the City of Newark, N.J.,
for their support and commitment
towards NYNY’s crucial mission.
As a first-generation college grad, I
found the entire evening to be very
moving.
The organization, founded by
robert reffkin, leverages 200
highly accomplished professionals
who volunteer more than
10,000 hours of mentorship. It is
the only nonprofit organization
in New York City that focuses
exclusively on first-generation
college students. The foundation
was launched after Rob, who also
is president, uncovered significant
empirical data indicating that the
education level of parents, family
structure and socio-economic
conditions have a significant influence
on the economic mobility of
youth. The primary components
of the NYNY curriculum are life
planning, career development and
community leadership projects.
When not founding nonprofit organizations
or running marathons
for charity (runningtosupport
youngdreams.com), Rob is a v.p.
in the Principal Investment Area
of Goldman Sachs. Several other
alums were in attendance to support
Rob and NYNY, including
John Rowan ’01, Andrew Pyo ’01,
Jeremy Falk ’02, Cindy Helen Brea
’99E and Marissa Ballan ’01 Barnard.
It was wonderful to catch up
with everyone and celebrate Rob’s
tremendous accomplishments.
REUNION JUNE 2–JUNE 5
ALUMNI OFFICE CONTACTS
ALuMNI AFFAIRs Mia Gonsalves Wright
gm2156@columbia.edu
212-851-7977
DEVELOPMENT Eleanor L. Coufos ’03
elc19@columbia.edu
212-851-7483
01
Jonathan gordin
3030 N. Beachwood Dr.
Los Angeles, CA 90068
jrg53@columbia.edu
Hi everyone. Hope things are going
well and everyone is gearing
up for the holiday season.
It’s not always easy to fill this column.
Sometimes a cursory glance
at the Sunday New York Times gives
me lots of great material, though.
Jonathan vogel and Jacqueline
Bell Lance were married on August
14 at the Princeton University Chapel.
The couple met at Princeton,
from which the bride graduated
and Jonathan earned a Ph.D. in
economics.
The bride is a manager in the
mergers and acquisitions group at
Capital One in McLean, Va. Jonathan
is an associate professor of
economics at Columbia. Congratulations
to Jonathan and Jacqueline!
Jennifer shalant and Luke
Groskin were featured in the Vows
section on September 5, which
documented their wedding celebration
at the Prospect Park Zoo.
Jennifer is a managing web editor
for the Wildlife Conservation
Society, which runs the Bronx Zoo.
Her husband is a videographer for
the society. The couple met while
working at the zoo. Luke would
send her previews of his video
clips about the new animals at the
zoo. Jennifer was then responsible
for writing the captions for the
videos. Congratulations to Jennifer
and Luke!
Now, some people actually do
write in with exciting news, and
I encourage all of you to do the
same. I know your classmates
would love to hear from you.
A hearty mazel tov to lauren
silvers (née Goldstein) and her
husband, Dan, on the birth of