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CLASS NOTES COLUMBIA COLLEGE TODAY
daughter, Sara, graduated from The
Hartt School, the performing arts
conservatory of the University of
Hartford; she recently left the rain
behind and relocated to Las Vegas,
where she will be dancing in the
show Jubilee! at Bally’s Las Vegas
Hotel & Casino. My wife, Judith,
continues her social work career
at Edenwald residential center,
where she works at placing dually
diagnosed teenagers in adoptive or
foster homes. I am still at the Port
Authority of New York and New
Jersey Law Department, where
I review and edit construction
contracts and related documents. In
my little free time I compose music
and play occasional solo fingerstyle
guitar gigs.”
From Doran Twer: “Everything
I know about football (not
that much) I learned from Jimmy
O’Connor, Ron Tarrington, Marty
Domres et. al., which has stood me
in good stead as my now 19-yearold
son, Aden (yes, I have a kid
that young), has developed into a
standout wide receiver. Although
Columbia showed great interest
in him for the Class of 2014, the
academic hurdle was just a little
too high. However, I am happy to
report that as a sophomore at Gettysburg
College, after three games,
he leads the Centennial Athletic
Conference in receiving with 21
receptions, 430 yards and five
touchdowns, including a 32-yard,
game-winning reception as time
expired versus Ursinus on September
10 (which has gone viral on
YouTube). I am sure my classmates
in the football program would be
surprised that I produced a football
player. I certainly am. Maternal
genes often rule.”
Mark Wattenberg writes: “After
graduating from the Law School
(’73), I began working for a legal
aid office in very rural Western
New York. In one form or another,
I’ve been there ever since. I mostly
handle landlord-tenant, land
contract and mortgage foreclosure
cases. My wife, Elizabeth, works
with volunteer EMS squads. Our
son works at an art gallery in Chelsea.
My favorite activity is chess.”
Mark also shared some recollections
of College life: “Every weekend
in my freshman year, I looked
forward to the bridge games that
took place at the end of my floor. It
was a diverse group that included
a rising academic star, destined for
Oxford, who also belonged to an
elite college senior society, and his
plain-spoken, good-natured, very
loyal half-Hawaiian roommate.
In a nearby room was a classics
scholar from a devout, traditional
Catholic family and one of his suite
roommates, who was from Florida,
very earthy, and had come to the
college thinking about a military
career. Occasionally, students from
other dorms would sit in, including
an African-American student
who spoke dreamily about classical
music. Unfortunately, my roommate
and his buddy from several
doors down did not participate.
They both had plenty of personality,
but they were more interested
in trying to find dates at Barnard or
the other all-women colleges in the
area (usually a doomed effort) than
in playing cards. For some reason,
no one in the running bridge
game picked up that I was Jewish.
Possibly as a result, from time to
time, there would slip out minor
ethnic slurs. Having grown up in
Minnesota, I said nothing. Then
during one game, the player from
Florida made an unusually graphic
remark. Something must have
registered on my face. Everyone
froze. There followed a humble
and heartfelt apology. That put an
end to the ethnic slurs.”
Thanks to Dan Carlinsky ’65
— a longtime friend of CCT — for
alerting me to a concert listing
for Cam Brown, appearing at the
New York Society Library. Cam
performed on bass along with
jazz vocalist Sheila Jordan. The
program announcement tells us
that Cam has appeared on more
than 125 recordings (each one, apparently,
a missed opportunity for
CCT news), and the list of jazz legends
with whom he has performed
is truly remarkable. Cam was the
founder of the Don Pullen/George
Adams Quartet, and he currently
performs with his own group, The
Hear and Now.
As you probably know by now,
CCT is being published on a quarterly
basis instead of bimonthly.
This means, as class correspondent,
I have four deadlines per year
instead of six, which is a positive.
However, it means each column
counts more, putting pressure on
me to use the allocated space so
that our class can stay in touch. For
this column, I sent out individual
emails to almost 50 classmates
soliciting news by my deadline
and, at least, a response to let me
know if news would be sent. I have
a list of our class members, but the
contact information includes email
addresses for less than half the class;
I selected from that part of the class
for which I have email addresses
some 50 classmates who have not
been recently mentioned in the
column. John, Steve, Fredric, Doran
and Mark answered my call and
sent in some news; two other classmates
responded to say they would
not be sending news. But most of
the group did not respond to my
email, making it difficult to produce
a column classmates will enjoy
reading and leaving me to wonder
whether it is worth my time to
chase after classmates. I ask those
who are not receiving emails from
the College to provide me with their
email addresses, and I ask those
who are solicited to send in news or
views on how the College experience
has influenced their lives to at
least respond to my emails. Better
still, readers of the column should
send in news without having to be
individually asked.
Apart from missing email addresses
for many classmates, the
College has no contact information
at all for some two dozen members
of our class. Here is a list; if you
can help us locate any of these
classmates, please send me an
email: David B. Alger, Leslie Barta,
Steven C. Berger, Martin P. Bidmead,
John M.L. Bryan, Hussein
F. Chalabi, Renee Chinquapin,
Joseph J. Delisa, Hugo Fernandez,
Walter R. Gelles, Gary R. Gunas,
Steven W. Hecht, John S. Lenart,
William T. Lewis, Stephen M.
Mark, Frank R. Nelson, Michael
P. Owen, Joel K. Rabkin, James A.
Robins, Louis H. Rowen, Philip
S. Slabosky, Roderick G. Smith,
William T. Taylor, Rene B. Wilson
and Richard L. Wilson.
Finally, I refer classmates to the
Obituaries section of the Fall issue,
which sadly reports the passing
of Joseph Okon and Joel Ouellet.
Full obituaries will follow in a
future issue.
70
WINTER 2011–12
74
Leo G. Kailas
Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt
885 Third Ave, 20th Fl.
New York, NY 10022
lkailas@reitlerlaw.com
First, I am happy to report that
during Columbia’s 2010–11 fiscal
year ending on June 30, our class
contributed $132,979 of unrestricted
money and $220,000 in total
contributions to the Columbia College
Fund. We helped make 2011
a record year for contributions to
the College Fund. Thank you to all
who helped to make this possible,
and keep giving to the College
(college.columbia.edu/giveonline
or call the Alumni Office: 212-851-
7488).
On the news front, Phil Russotti
checked in and we had lunch. He
is proud of his son, who works
with a maritime/shipping firm
in London and apparently will be
marrying well!
Dennis Graham updated me on
the success of former football Lions
Terry Sweeney, Peter Stevens, Bill
Poppe, Bernie Josefsberg, Frank
Furillo, Dick Alexander and Jim
Wascura, who all urge class members
to attend Lions football games.
I attended last year’s Homecoming
game and had a wonderful time.
Dr. Barry Franklin reported on his
son Joshua ’10’s graduation with
honors as a philosophy major.
Joshua now is in his second year at
NYU Law School and is fluent in
Chinese.
The Columbia Alumni Singers,
Columbia’s newest affinity group
(columbiaalumnisingers.org), includes
among its members James
Marsen. The Alumni Singers
performed at this year’s Alumni
Reunion Weekend.
I am proud to report that my
three children all completed college
and all are gainfully employed
in different parts of the country.
Now that my wife, Merle, and I are
empty-nesters, our children feel
compelled to send their friends
and their friends’ families to New
York to stay with us.
Keep the news coming in. Send a
note to me at the email address at the
top of the column, or use CCT’s easyto-use
webform: college.columbia.
edu/cct/submit_class_note. Your
note will come right to me.
71
Jim Shaw
139 North 22nd St.
Philadelphia, PA 19103
jes200@columbia.edu
Brian Hesse M.Phil ’73, Ph.D.
’78 passed away on April 2 at 66
(legacy.com/obituaries/centre
daily/obituary.aspx?n=brian-c-
hesse&pid=149994844). Brian
appears to have entered with the
Class of ’66.
Excerpts: “An anthropological
archaeologist, Dr. Hesse was director
of the Jewish Studies Program
at Penn State’s College of the
Liberal Arts. He was a professor
of Jewish Studies, Classics and
Ancient Mediterranean Studies,
and Anthropology. While at Penn
State, Dr. Hesse chaired the College
of Liberal Arts Committee on
Undergraduate Studies, served on
the Committee on Academic Integrity
and the School of Languages
Outreach Committee, and was a
member of the Faculty Senate. ...
“For more than 35 years, he
participated in extensive field
work in the Middle East and South
America, excavating and analyzing
material from many sites, most notably
in Ganj Dareh in western Iran
and at Ashkelon and Tel Miqne-
Ekron in Israel. Dr. Hesse brought
his compendious knowledge to
the classroom and conveyed his
enthusiasm for the study of animal
bones to hundreds of appreciative
students. A devoted, gifted, and
multi-talented public educator,
Dr. Hesse developed the exhibit,
‘Western Civilization: Origins
and Traditions,’ at the Smithsonian
Institution of Natural History.
Through his research, Dr. Hesse
greatly advanced knowledge