CLASS OF 1953 WHO'S WHO & WHERE - The City College Fund

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Herb Isaacs: My mother called me Herbert, so that is probably whatappears in the yearbook for 1953, but I prefer Herb. I was a Brooklynkid so I usually dated girls in the Bronx and Manhattan. If it had not beenfor the essentially free tuition at City College of New York, it would havebeen very difficult for me to get a higher education. I had graduated fromBrooklyn Technical High School and thought I wanted to be an engineer.I graduated CCNY with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, but duringmy time at the College I began to realize that there were other paths alongwhich I could travel in my life.I was very active in House Plan, and spent many of my leisure hours therewhere I met most of the friends I was close to during my 4 years at City.There also were some pianos in that facility and it was there that I beganto teach myself how to play. I was already a musician, playing the mandolin and the bass fiddle, but Istarted learning piano by ear. I was also a singer in those days, and performed from time to time oncampus, both with a wonderful young lady named Judy and with a great mixed racial quartet. Wecalled ourselves The Lavender Four. At one point, two guys named Zanolli and Kirschner (spelling?)wrote and produced an original musical comedy for the Dramatic Society. There was a cameo role fora quartet and they asked us to perform. The song was called, “There’s Nothing in the Universe aWoman Can’t Do!”, pretty advanced thinking for 1951. That was my first experience on a stage and itwas to have a profound influence on one aspect of my life, to this day. More about that later. Alongwith some of my close friends, we wrote and I directed the Senior Show. It was a wonderful experiencefor all of us.During this time, however, I was getting a pretty good education. One of my favorite professors inMechanical Engineering was Harold Rothbart. He instilled in me a sense of independent thinking andproblem solving. I remember a great quote: “You’re the engineer, you decide.” That idea has stayedwith me all these years.I graduated in June 1953 but did not attend the ceremonies. I had been offered a job in Los Angeleswith a division of North American Aviation that later became known as Rocketdyne. We designed andbuilt rocket engines for missiles and space. I took 3 final exams on a Friday, took the first airplaneride of my life on Saturday, and Monday morning I was working in California. I was very fortunateto be selected to work with a brilliant rocket scientist, George Sutton, in the advanced design group ofRocketdyne. I learned by doing and soon became a part of the sales engineering function in makingpresentations on our work to the Navy and the Air Force.Eventually I decided to move on and joined System Development Corporation, a company that hadbeen spun off by the RAND Corporation. Although I initially had been brought over for my engineeringbackground, it turned out that SDC was really in the business of programming computers for the AirForce. Once again, I learned by doing and soon had my own group developing applications of ourtechnology to nonmilitary functions. We did some groundbreaking work for the Los Angeles PoliceDepartment and the City of Los Angeles. In 1966 I formed my own company and specialized in computerapplication software for local government. In 1972 I merged my consulting business into ArthurYoung & Company, and became a partner there in 1975. In 1984, I became an independent consultantagain, had a few short term company connections along the way, and am still practicing as an independenttoday. A major focus of my practice has been as an expert witness and consultant in major
technology litigation. I have stayed current in my knowledge of technology so I have not yet gonethe way of the dinosaur. I continued my education at UCLA including a Masters degree in engineeringadministration, and advanced graduate studies in political science and philosophy.But that represents only my left brain activities. Throughout my entire career, the early focus onmusic and theater has stayed with me. In Los Angeles, I have acted on stage, hosted some cabletalk shows, performed in musical theater and as a folk singer, and in the last 20 years have directedlocal stage productions including two world premiere original musicals. I have also served as theartistic director of a small theater company and experienced the difficulties of producing stage playson a bare-bones budget. I’m still involved and active today in the theater community in Los Angeles.My website, www.herbisaacs.com, has some examples of what I have been doing.This biography would not be complete without a discussion of my wonderful family life. I marriedMarcia in 1958 and, unlike some others, we are still together to this day. We live in a house in thehills of Studio City that we built in 1960. We have 2 wonderful adult children and 4 brilliant (ofcourse) grandchildren ranging from 9 to 12 years of age. They live in San Francisco and Princeton,New Jersey, so we do a lot of traveling. Our health continues to be pretty good, though my bodyparts and I disagree on how old I am.“CCNY Uptown Center Day” Class of 1953
Page 3 and 4: I think of the Main Building in ear
Page 5 and 6: HAROLD ADELSON, Ph.D.Liberal Arts &
Page 7 and 8: Alfred Baker: majored in mechanical
Page 9 and 10: public school career, was: “It do
Page 11 and 12: and especially to those who taught
Page 13 and 14: Judge Herman Cahn, B.A., J.D.: was
Page 15 and 16: the BSS degree. I sat in Dean Gotts
Page 17 and 18: shook hands on the appointment, but
Page 19 and 20: Elaine M. David, M.S.Ed.: studied E
Page 21 and 22: William G. Drinnan, B.C.E., P.E.: I
Page 23 and 24: Meanwhile, I was active in communit
Page 25 and 26: Arthur Freed, B.C.E., P.E., F.N.SPE
Page 27 and 28: Bernard Jack Gershen, B.E.E., M.S.E
Page 30 and 31: Norah and I have two daughters and
Page 32 and 33: Harvey Philip Greenspan, B.S., M.S.
Page 34 and 35: Ramon Held, B.A., L.L.D.: was a law
Page 36 and 37: Herbert Hershfang, B.A.: My most vi
Page 38 and 39: graduate of CCNY. After 56 years, w
Page 42 and 43: David M. Jacobowitz, B.S., M.S., Ph
Page 44 and 45: I am a Past-President and long-time
Page 46 and 47: Jerry N. Koral, B.S., Ph.D.: Jerry
Page 48 and 49: -drolysis pilot plants and built tw
Page 50 and 51: Fred Lipschitz, Ph.D.: I received m
Page 52: At Jackson and Tull in Maryland, th
Page 57 and 58: -sition he held for seven years and
Page 59 and 60: Paul M. Parker: I was born in 1928
Page 61 and 62: I was employed as an engineer at th
Page 63 and 64: Edward S. Plotkin, B.E., M.B.A., P.
Page 65 and 66: proposed the design of communicatio
Page 67 and 68: labs in New York City. He said “N
Page 69 and 70: ›son), Brigadoon (Charley Dalrymp
Page 71 and 72: A moment at City stands out in Bern
Page 73 and 74: -gram, as I couldn’t take the sam
Page 75 and 76: Eugene Sklar: I was born and raised
Page 77 and 78: Jerry Somerdin, B.S., M.A: was a ma
Page 79 and 80: Dr. Herbert Weissbach: I graduated
Page 82 and 83: Professor Stanley A. Wolpert, B.A.,

CLASS OF 1953 WHO'S WHO & WHERE - The City College Fund

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