No. 8
October 4, 2005
Welcome to the eight issue of the Columbia College Class of 1963 eNewsletter.
You may have noticed that I skipped our September issue, apologies,
but my schedule was happily very busy, and your news was a little
sparse. To be honest, we've had such a nice Indian Summer in
the North East, and I have been spending far too much time at
the Jersey Shore.
The big news this month is Homecoming Weekend, which I hope will be especially
well attended by the Class of 1963. We've moved the class lunch
at the Columbia Club to Friday, October 14 at 12:30, so that
any out-of-towners coming in early for the weekend have an opportunity
to attend. Look for the Class of 1963 table in the Big Tent
at Baker Field on Saturday morning (11 AM). We hope to have
a good crowd. If you would like to sit together at the Game
(Penn), and you don't have tickets yet, let me know right away.
I'll try to get a block of seats.
Since our last eNewsletter we have followed the news of the
terrible destruction in New Orleans and entire Gulf Coast. First
Katrina and then Rita. I hope that all of you in the path of
these storms are safe. I was in the region several weeks before,
and see that just about all the towns I visited and the roads
I traveled while on my business trip to the Stennis Space Center
have been totally wiped out. Very disturbing. Bob Heller was
unable to attend our last luncheon as the group he heads, the
Union for Reform Judaism, was in the middle of organizing part
of the relief effort. He was kind enough to fill me in on their
efforts, which you will find below in the class notes.
At the request of many of you, I've added a link to an archives
page, which in turn, will link you to the past
issues of the Class of 1963 eNewsletters. There may be some
broken links in the earlier issues, which I will fix when I
find them. If you have any difficulties reaching any of these
pages, let me know.
I hope that you are finding this eNewsletter interesting, I
have had a great time hearing from all of you. Judging from
the number of people who have been asking me to put them in
touch with old friends mentioned here, I think that many of
you share my desire to reconnect with old friends. I have heard
from close to a hundred of the you since I started as your class
correspondent a year ago. The class luncheon in New York has
been attended by over 25 of you, and many of you have become
regulars. I hope many more of you will attend. Keep those notes
coming, and share with us your memories and your recent news.
Lost Classmates
You have emailed me to let me know that the following classmates are
lost:
Scott M. Blue
Christian (Chris) Rieger
Bill Sprague
Robert Vargas
I know that there must be many more who have lost contact with
Columbia. Again, if you know how to contact any of these classmates,
please let me know. And send me the names of your lost friends,
and we will try to find them.
Table of Contents:
Special Date for Lunch (this month only) Friday,
October 14, 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Columbia College Club - 15 West 43rd Street, NYC
Please join your classmates for an informal lunch
at the Columbia Club every second Thursday of the month (this
month this falls on a Friday). It is our hope that these gatherings
will renew old friendships and foster improved relationship
with our class and the College. Because of the Homecoming Weekend,
the next lunch will be on Friday, October 14, 2005.
September Lunch Attended By Five Fabulous 63ers
The eighth Second Saturday Class of 1963 lunch was
held on September 8. It was a wonderful, warm, post-Labor Day
Thursday as you can judge from the shirtsleeves of the five
regulars in attendance. We were seated next to six members of
the Class of 1964 (I recognized Norman Olch and Nick Rudd),
who will regularly be meeting on the same schedule (second Thursday),
and five from the Class of 1960, who had postponed their monthly
lunch from the previous Tuesday (because of Labor Day). Several
of them including my old fraternity brother and crew coach,
Art Delmhorst, came over to visit.
Here is our fine group, and also some of our friends
from '60.
(From left to right) Paul Neshamkin, Larry Newman,
Tom O'Connor, Phil Satow and Bill Goebel
Several old-timers from the Class of 1960 (Bob Berne
on the left, Art Delmhorst in the middle, and Robert Machleder
on the right) come to visit the Class of 1963
I hope you can all join us (please encourage your
friends to come with you) at the next lunch on Friday,
October 14. Let me know if you will attend so that
we can reserve a big enough table; RSVP to Paul Neshamkin (pauln@helpauthors.com).
Lunch Archives
If you like to see our previous lunches, click on
the dates below:
December
9, 2004
January 13, 2005
February 10, 2005
March 10. 2005
April
14, 2005
May
12, 2005
June
9, 2005
July
14, 2005
For information
and inquiries call Paul Neshamkin at 201-714-4881 or email at
pauln@helpauthors.com.
Very little news this issue, I hope that now that
you are all back from vacation, you will write. Here is a selection
of the unedited (and unexpurgated) notes and news that you have
sent in the last month.
Bob Heller
wrote in response to my email, "You asked about
the disaster relief work my organization, the Union for Reform
Judaism, is doing in the aftermath of Katrina and Rita. The
Union is the congregational arm of the Reform Jewish Movement
in North America with some 900 congregations and 1.5 million
people. The
report below is a recent summary of our relief work. Apart
from providing an opportunity for those wanting to write checks,
which led to an overwhelming outpouring, we were invited by
the Mayor of Utica, Mississippi, where we operate a summer camp,
to run a local distribution center. Utica, itself a low income
area, has seen its population nearly double with evacuees from
Mississippi and New Orleans in need of food, shelter and services.
Virtually overnight, our staff with strong lay support, put
together the Jacobs Ladder project. It involves our operating
a warehouse in Utica, Mississippi and distributing goods --
collected primarily by our congregations across North America
and shipped in to Utica -- through a network of local churches
in what is a remarkable interreligious effort. The project has
captured the imagination of our congregations and engaged many
in hands on work. The staff and volunteers who went down there
to create and run the distribution business until the relevant
service providers step in, which we hope will [be] by the end
of October, have been deeply moved by the experience. As the
report and internal links describe, two of our camps in the
region also served as evacuation centers. It has been an inspiring
response."
Union
Hurricane Disaster Relief Fund Tops $2.6 million
Bob, that's terrific. I hope that many of you will
also lend a hand, either by contributing to Bob's organization,
or other agencies such as the Red Cross. It is going to take
a huge effort to return New Orleans and the Gulf Coast to any
semblance of what was once a beautiful part of our country.
The suffering and loss is immense.
Edward Greer
writes, "I’m currently retired & working on 2
books (paternal custody & intergenerational transmission
of left political culture)." He has been married to Judy
Lieberman (Professor at Harvard Medical School doing immunological
& AIDS research) for 34 years. And has two sons, both Ph.D.
students in molecular biology (Paul at Harvard, Eric at Stanford).
"After Yale Law School my career encompassed teaching in
liberal arts & law schools, practicing law, writing scholarly
books and articles, and considerable radical activities in sundry
arenas. Overall, a very good life."
Elliott Greher
writes, "After Columbia College I was married and am still
married 42 years later. Then I spent two years in the doctoral
program (Inorganic Chemistry) at MIT. But chemical research
was not my forte. So I joined Shell Chemical Company's plastics
and adhesives business as an "industrial" market research
analyst. I continued in this kind of work with Citgo Petroleum's
chemical and plastic division, Allied Welding, and General Electric's
computer business. I also pursued an MBA at City University
night school. The General Electric assignment brought me to
the Washington DC area, where I have been ever since. I worked
for 2 small consulting firms, the last one as a senior partner.
Then I joined the Federal Government. First I worked for the
Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration, fostering
industrial/commercial growth in areas of the nation that were
suffering economic failure (i.e., Appalachia, New England manufacturing,
etc.). Then I joined the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission's Regulatory
Operations staff. This later became the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission. I spend 29 years at this agency, retiring in June
2002. I was involved in policy development, economic and budgeting
analysis, productivity analysis, computerization and computer
system development and use, license fees and a myriad of other
activities. I also served on various advisory committees working
on equal opportunity, labor-management relations, and "employee
differences of professional opinion" (comparable to whistleblowing).
I served in the offices of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, Inspection
and Enforcement, and in the Commissioner's Policy Evaluation
staff.
During this time I raised 4 children (who have between them
15 grandchildren) who now live in the Washington area, New York
area, and in Jerusalem, Israel. [My three daughters each have
master's degrees and one received both her degrees in electrical
engineering at Columbia University.] I served on the boards
of several religious schools, and became very active in local
groups involved in disabled persons support (my last child,
a 26 year old son, has Downs Syndrome), and a few Montgomery
County, Maryland commissions.
Since retirement I have not enough time to do all the things
I want to do. I traveled, throughout my work period and into
retirement, in Europe, the U.S. and the Middle East until last
year, but such travel has become difficult. I avidly collect
books in 10 different disciplines/areas. I also collect objects
in glass, silver and wood. I love going to museums, parks, concerts,
and plays. I love reading, watching movies via my vcr/dvd, and
searching for interesting things on the internet. I am very
involved with communicating and being with my children and grandchildren.
Life is pretty good, particularly in retirement, and we are
quite financially secure, even though it is primarily from government-based
pensions."
Phil Friedman
Writes, "I have very much enjoyed reading about my former
Columbia classmates the last few months. As for myself I have
been a practicing clinical psychologist and psychotherapist
for 37 years in Philadelphia and Plymouth Meeting, Pa. since
receiving my Ph.D. from the Univ of Wisconsin in 1968. I met
my wife Teresa, in Wisconsin and have been married almost 40
years with one son, Matt, who is a TV anchor and soon to be
university teacher in Bangor, Maine.
I had been on the Jefferson and Hahnemahn Medical School faculties
in Philadelphia for over 25 years and now am an adjunct faculty
member of the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology in Palo
Alto, Cal. (though I live in Plymouth Meeting, Pa. a suburb
of Philadelphia) I have published about 30 articles and chapters
in various journals and books and am the author of a book "Creating
Well-Being: the Healing Path to Love, Peace, Self-Esteem and
Happiness" and the" Integrative Healing Manual"
plus the "Friedman Assessment Scales: (see www.integrativehelp.com).
I recently published 2 chapters on "Integrative Energy
and Spiritual Therapy and Healing. "and currently am co-writing
a chapter on "Spirituality, Religiosity and Quality of
Life" for the upcoming International Encyclopedia of Quality
of Life and working on some research articles on "Forgiveness,
Gratitude and Well-Being, Quality of Life and Life Satisfaction"
All 3 of these topics are strong, current interests of mine.
The main person I have kept in occasional contact with from
Columbia has been my roommate, Jack McMullen,
He has been a very successful and now semi-retired, I believe,
businessman, who recently ran for Senator of Vermont.
Two of the main influences on me at Columbia were Dr Fred Keller,
a very well-known psychologist at the time, who in addition
to his large introductory psych class ran a small senior seminar
(2 students I recall) in his tiny but intimate office, on teaching
machines. Keller was a very warm, open, enthusiastic and supportive
white haired professor who spent most of the semester regaling
us with stories from his recent sabbatical year in Buenos Aires,
Argentina, where he helped them set up a behaviorally oriented
psych lab. The other major influence was Professor Caplovitz
in the sociology department who ran a small class (6 students
or so) on personality and the socialization process. It was
very intellectually stimulating and superbly taught. Unfortunately
he was a non-tenured assistant professor and was not rehired
the next year, in part I am told because of the small enrollment
of our class. I was quite saddened and slightly shocked at the
time I remember. Looking back I greatly appreciate both their
contributions to my life."
Gil Zicklin
writes in response to my request for news, "I'll write
something one day. How do you sum up forty plus years since
Columbia? People do it and I suppose I can too." Great!
we eagerly await to learn more.
Bruce Miller
responded to my request with the following: "You can get
a quick idea of where I'm at from my web page.
http://personal.tcu.edu/~bmiller
Hope we meet up one of these days."
When you send your notes in, please indicate if you would like
to share your email address(or web site) with your classmates,
I've been inundated with requests to pass this information on.
Always great to hear from you all.
Share your news and views with your classmates. Contact your
Class Correspondent, and let him know what you would like posted
here or in Columbia College Today (CCT).
For information
and inquiries call Paul Neshamkin at 201-714-4881 or email at
pauln@helpauthors.com.
.
Mini-reunion Still Planned for Homecoming Weekend
The regular Class luncheon at the Columbia Club has been moved
to Friday, October 14, in case any of you are
planning to return to New York for the Homecoming Game. On Saturday,
October 15, I invite any classmates to join me at the
Homecoming tent in the morning at Baker Field, and then watch
Columbia beat Penn at the Homecoming game that afternoon. Let
me know if you plan on attending and need tickets as soon as
possible, and I will try to get a block of tickets reserved
so we can sit together. But other than that, I will not plan
on any other "reunion" events unless there is a sudden
show of enthusiasm. Please let me know.
Maybe next year, we'll be able to organize a larger, more meaningful
mini-reunion. As I asked before, anyone want to volunteer to
help me out?
For information
and inquiries call Paul Neshamkin at 201-714-4881 or email at
pauln@helpauthors.com.
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