No. 41
October, 2008

Fall is here, and your Columbia College 1963 classmates have started to mark off yet another school year (even though we've off campus for 45 years, it still feels like the start of another academic year). Starting in September, the monthly class lunches commenced at the Columbia Club Grill Room, the football season has gotten off to a poor start, but the Homecoming Game on October 4 turned out to be a thriller. On this beautiful, warm Saturday, many of your classmates arrived early to celebrate in the Homecoming Tent on Baker Field. Among those were Henry and Benita Black, Alice and Rich Gochman, Don Margolis, Phil Satow, Larry Neuman and Ruth and Paul Neshamkin. Tom O'Connor came over to join us for awhile, he was at an especially large group of former football captains at the Football Alumni tent. I also saw Lee Lowenfish and Steve and Bettye Barcan in the stands, and I'm sure there were others there who I sadly missed. Here's a group photo of some of them:

(From left to right) Henry Black, Alice and Rich Gochman, Phil Satow, Don Margolis, Paul Neshamkin, Larry Neuman

Benita and Henry Black, Don Margolis

Tom O'Connor and Henry Black

Tom, Henry and Don

Steve and Bettye Barcan joined Ruth and me in the stands along with Larry Neuman and his son, Andreas, class of 1998. We all stayed to the bitter end.

Larry and Andreas Neuman (before Princeton intercepted the ball on their own 30 yard line with 2 1/2 minutes remaining).

If this is your first visit here, I've added a link to an archives page, which in turn, will link you to the past issues of the Class of 1963 eNewsletter. If you haven't seen any of the earlier newsletters, take a look -- there's a lot more news, pictures, and interesting articles than I have been able to include in Columbia College Today.

Next Lunches - Thursday, October 16 and November 13

Every Second Thursday of the Month, 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. It is our hope that these gatherings will renew old friendships and foster improved relationship with our class and the College. I hope you can all join us at the next lunches on Thursday, November 13 and Thursday, December 11. Let me know if you will attend so that we can reserve a big enough table; RSVP to Paul Neshamkin (pauln@helpauthors.com).

September lunch attended by eight '63ers

To start off our fall series of lunches, we had another great turnout on September 11th with eight classmates attended. Among the regulars attending were Steve Barcan, Henry Black, Doron Gopstein, Bruce Kaplan, Don Margolis, Paul Neshamkin, Tom O'Connor, and Barry Reiss.

(Seated from left to right) Paul Neshamkin, Don Margolis, Doron Gopstein, and Tom O'Connor. (Missing from the picture - Henry Black, Steven Barcan, Bruce Kaplan, and Barry Reiss who left early.)

October lunch attended by five '63ers

Five of our regular lunch gang showed up on October 16. Jerry Dwyer, Doron Gopstein, Don Margolis, Paul Neshamkin, and Tom O'Connor enjoyed the company of the two lonely Class of '64ers, Norman Olch and Fred Kantor.

(Seated from left to right) Jerry Dwyer, Paul Neshamkin, Doron Gopstein, Fred Kantor, '64, Don Margolis, Tom O'Connor, and Norman Olch, '64.

Lunch Archives

If you like to see our previous lunches, click on the dates below:

December 9, 2004	January 12, 2006	January 11, 2007	May 8, 2008
January 13, 2005	February 9, 2006	February 8, 2007	June 12, 2008
February 10, 2005	March 9, 2006	March 8, 2007	July 10, 2008
March 10. 2005	April 20, 2006	April 12, 2007
April 14, 2005	May 11, 2006	May 10, 2007
May 12, 2005	June 8, 2006	June 14, 2007
June 9, 2005	July 13, 2006	July 12, 2007
July 14, 2005	September 14, 2006	September 20, 2007
September 8, 2005	October 12, 2006	November 8, 2007
October 14, 2005	November 9, 2006	February 14, 2008
November 9, 2005	December 14, 2006	March 13, 2008
December 12, 2005		April 10, 2008

For information and inquiries call Paul Neshamkin at 201-714-4881 or email at pauln@helpauthors.com.

Latest News from the Class of 63

I received a good, long note from Rich Juro, which reads, "Wasn't able to make it to the last '63 Reunion so I thought I'd finally update you.

After CC, married Fran in 1964. We started traveling to distant places immediately after I graduated from Columbia Law '66 by doing Europe on $5/day from Tangier to Scandinavia to Yugoslavia, plus 12 days in the good old USSR. Then we moved out to Omaha, Fran's home, pending a draft notice. I never was called up, primarily because our son Kevin, was born soon after (we think he was conceived on the overnight train from Helsinki to Moscow).

Rather than practice law, I was doing the next best thing: running grocery stores. In 1980, we started No Frills Supermarkets, the first price-impact warehouse style stores in this area. After spending 42 years in the business, and growing it to 16 supermarkets, we recently sold the company to our senior management team, thus keeping it independent and locally owned. Business honors have included being on the Board of Directors of the National Grocers Association, Chairman of the Nebraska Grocery Industry Association, and a recent Lifetime Achievement Award from the latter.

Fran and I have 3 kids: son Kevin, CC'89, an itinerant pediatrician who lives in New Orleans and works at Habitat for Humanity in between jobs, and daughters Kimara and Keri, both of whom still work at No Frills, plus 3 grandchildren, 8 year old twins Jackson and Cooper, and 4 year old Kennedy Brooklyn (yes, my daughter and son-in-law thought it would be nice to honor my birthplace with the middle name).

Long time personal interests have included chess, tennis, a backyard full of Shona (Zimbabwe) stone sculptures, and travel, especially to less-developed areas. We’ve been fortunate to visit many places, including countries like Haiti, Zimbabwe, and northern Pakistan that now are probably not advisable. Among the most interesting have been Ethiopia, Armenia, Easter Island and New Guinea; the most beautiful include New Zealand, Namibia, and Antarctica. We are thinking about joining next summer’s Columbia “Global Warming” expedition to Wrangel Island on the Arctic Odyssey.

As to community activities, I am on the executive boards of the Omaha Community Playhouse (the nation’s largest community playhouse) and the Great Plains Region of the Anti-Defamation League. I’m somewhat proud of being the only person active with both the NebraskaACLU and the Omaha Police Foundation Board. And I was the community representative to the University of Nebraska-Omaha Faculty-Athletic Committee. (Incidentally, Jim Johnson ‘63CC has long been Professor of Political Science at UNO.)

Michael Bumagin writes, "The monthly meeting of the CC'63 Tarrant county alumni lacked Bob Whelan, who couldn't escape work. Bruce Miller, Michael Bumagin and Arnie Barkman made it for bagels at Einstein's near TCU (Texas Christian University-- where Bruce and Arnie are professors of physics and accounting, respectively). Michael, still in scrubs had just returned from 'enhancing' the local scenery. We all regret missing the 45th reunion, but are serious about attending the 50th!" And here they are:

Let us know what you are up to, how you’re doing, and what’s next.

When you send your notes in, please indicate if you would like to share your email address(or web site) with your classmates.

Always great to hear from you all.