Who`s Who(50) - City College Fund

The Class of 1963
1
Myrna Susan Cooper Allen
“Many years have gone by since 1963, but memories of the years at City
College (Uptown) have not been forgotten.
Much of my career was spent at John Jay College (about 36 years) in an
academic/humanities department. There I worked with faculty and students
as an administrative assistant. My major field was in classics. Many of
these professors opened up the door into this field of classical civilization
with smaller classes and more student attention.
As a retiree, I now volunteer in a Learning Center in Brooklyn, where I tutor adult students in
preparation for their GED. Many of these students work in the Hospital Workers Union 1199 at
a low salary. I have recently received a certificate honoring my work in this area which is issued
by the Community Service Society.
My recent interests have focused on writing poetry. I have joined “The Stages” writing group
which meets on a weekly basis. Each member writes and shares their work. Several have
published.
One of the turning points in my life has been to travel. Some of the journeys have been Europe
(England, France, Italy, Denmark, Switzerland), Israel, Spain, Greece, Eastern Europe, Russia
and in the Caribbean, Aruba.
Most of my family settled in NYC. My sister, with honors, was a graduate of CUNY. My
husband is a retired professor, from Brooklyn College.
Memories of earlier times at City College provide the foundation for present times; my parents
were instrumental in helping me select City College”
2
Edward I. Altman
Dr. Edward I. Altman is the Max L. Heine Professor of Finance at the Stern
School of Business, New York University. He is the Director of Research in
Credit and Debt Markets at the NYU Salomon Center for the Study of
Financial Institutions. Prior to serving in his present position, Professor
Altman chaired the Stern School's MBA Program for 12 years. He has been a
visiting Professor at the Hautes Etudes Commerciales and Universite de
Paris-Dauphine in France, at the Pontificia Catolica Universidade in Rio de
Janeiro, at the Australian Graduate School of Management and MacQuarie in
Sydney, University of Western Australia in Perth, Luigi Bocconi University
in Milan and CEMFI in Madrid. Dr. Altman was named to the Max L. Heine endowed
professorship at Stern in 1988.
Dr. Altman has an international reputation as an expert on corporate bankruptcy, high yield
bonds, distressed debt and credit risk analysis. He was named Laureate 1984 by the Hautes
Etudes Commerciales Foundation in Paris for his accumulated works on corporate distress
prediction models and procedures for firm financial rehabilitation and awarded the Graham &
Dodd Scroll for 1985 by the Financial Analysts Federation for his work on Default Rates on
High Yield Corporate Debt and was named “Profesor Honorario" by the University of Buenos
Aires in 1996. He was an advisor to the Centrale dei Bilanci in Italy and to several foreign
central banks. Professor Altman is also the Chairman of the Academic Advisory Council of the
Turnaround Management Association. He received his MBA and Ph.D. in Finance from the
University of California, Los Angeles. He was inducted into the Fixed Income Analysts Society
Hall of Fame in 2001, President of the Financial Management Association (2003) and a FMA
Fellow in 2004 and was amongst the inaugural inductees into the Turnaround Management
Association Hall of Fame in 2008. In 2005, Prof. Altman was named one of the “100 Most
Influential People in Finance” by the Treasury & Risk Management magazine. He also received
an Honorary Doctorate from Lund University, Sweden in May 2011.
Professor Altman was one of the founders and an Executive Editor of the international
publication, the Journal of Banking and Finance and Advisory Editor of a publisher series, the
John Wiley Frontiers in Finance Series. He has published or edited two-dozen books and over
150 articles in scholarly finance, accounting and economic journals. He was the editor of the
Handbook of Corporate Finance and the Handbook of Financial Markets and Institutions and the
author of a number of recent books, including his most recent works on Bankruptcy, Credit Risk
and High Yield Junk Bonds (2002), Recovery Risk (2005), Corporate Financial Distress &
Bankruptcy (3rd ed., 2006) and Managing Credit Risk (2nd ed. 2008). His work has appeared in
many languages including French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish.
Dr. Altman's primary areas of research include bankruptcy analysis and prediction, credit and
lending policies, risk management and regulation in banking, corporate finance and capital
markets. He has been a consultant to several government agencies, major financial and
accounting institutions and industrial companies and has lectured to executives in North
3
America, South America, Europe, Australia-New Zealand, Asia and Africa. He has testified
before the U.S. Congress, the New York State Senate and several other government and
regulatory organizations and is a Director and a member of the Advisory Board of a number of
corporate, publishing, academic and financial institutions. He has been Chairman of the
Academic Council of the Turnaround Management Association since 2002.
Dr. Altman is Chairman Emeritus and a member of the Board of Trustees of the InterSchool
Orchestras of New York and a founding member of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of
American Finance.
Stan Altman
Dr. Stan Altman was born in the Bronx, New York in September 11, 1940.
He attended public schools in the Bronx and then Stuyvesant High School.
In 1958, he entered City College and pursued an electrical engineering
degree. He was elected to a number of honor societies and served as the
President of Eta Kappa Nu, the electrical engineering honor society. During
his term, the College was selected as the outstanding college Eta Kappa Nu
chapter in the US. He received his Master’s degree in electrical engineering
from Purdue University and his Ph.D. in systems science from Polytechnic
Institute of Brooklyn.
Stan Altman has extensive experience in higher education administration. He served as the
interim-President of Baruch College from 2009-10 and as Dean of Baruch’s School of Public
Affairs from 1999-2005. He also served as Deputy to the President, SUNY Stony Brook, and
Associate Provost for health Policy, State University of New York. He held faculty positions at
City College, Princeton University and SUNY Stony Brook. He is currently a professor in the
School of Public Affairs and campus director of Baruch’s Nonprofit Leadership Alliance
(formerly American Humanics), that prepares students for careers in the non-profit sector. He is
leading a pioneering partnership between Baruch College and the Rubin Museum of Art, and
exploring innovations in higher education that improve undergraduate experiences and
outcomes. In 2010-2012, he was co-PI of a US State Department funded project on a
professional fellows exchange program focused on climate change.
Trained as an engineer, Dr. Altman’s early career involved early research into the design of
parallel computers, computer based information systems and transportation systems. He was one
of the early vanguard of professionals with strong applied mathematics and engineering
backgrounds who applied their skills to the delivery of public service and in later years to the
study of health systems, Dr. Altman has developed a powerful cross-disciplinary approach to
problem solving.
4
His areas of expertise and interests include leadership development, strategic planning,
improving the productivity of public services, nonprofit management, health policy and social
entrepreneurship. He has served as a consultant to the RAND Corporation, Institute for Defense
Analysis, Citicorp, and numerous New York City and nonprofit agencies. Among his
accomplishment was the development of Project MATCH, a building superintendent training
program for New York City owned housing, and Project SCORECARD, a system for rating the
cleanliness of New York City streets.
Dr. Altman’s career demonstrates his commitment to service through his volunteer work, both in
New York City and in Southern India. He has created a number of for-profit and nonprofit
organizations, including Healing Hearts, a 501(c)3 that raises funds for the Sri Narayani Hospital
and Research Center in the Vellore District of Tamilnadu, India.
Joel Altstein
After graduation I worked for the US Navy in New London Connecticut and
spent a year on and off the oldest operating submarine in the Navy. Got
married went to graduate school in Iowa University received a MSEE in 1966
and went to work for Boeing in Seattle got divorced and went to work for
MIT/Draper Lab on the Deep Sea Rescue Vehicle where I helped design a
Doppler Sonar, in Cambridge Massachusetts where I am now.
I remarried switched careers and became a director of communications for, at
the time, Japans largest semiconductor where I mostly did PR & advertising.
Switched careers again and became a Real Estate developer, specializing in historic renovations,
in Cambridge, MA (www.fargroupinc.com). I have two children and one grandchild; my
daughter is in my wife’s profession…Biostatistics and our son is a chef.
5
David Amerling
Mr. David Amerling holds a Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from City College and an
MBA from Baruch College. From 1993 until his retirement in 2000, he served as vice president
at Kreisler Borg Florman Construction Company, in charge of a branch office in New York City.
Prior to that position, Mr. Amerling served as construction project manager at IBM Real Estate
and Construction Division from 1969 to 1993. He is a Life Member of ASCE.
Fondest CCNY memories: “Surveying in Van Cortland Park.”
Michael Arhangelsky
Mr. Michael Arhangelsky was awarded a BEE degree from City College in
1963. In 1965, he returned to City to take courses towards a Master’s
degree. He went on to have a successful career as a field engineer, retiring
in 1993 from his position as senior field engineer at Unisys Corp. Previous
to that position, Mr Arhangelsky worked at the US Naval Training Device
Center (USNTDC) at Port Washington, NY. He is a member of IEEE and
has travelled all around the world working on submarines—he chased
Russian subs from the coast of Virginia to the Black Sea.
Fondest CCNY memories: “Sitting by Townsend Harris Hall, park outside, and doing
homework; the subway rides from East New York section of Brooklyn to Harlem; great
professors and teachers at CCNY and nicest five years of my life.”
Regina S. Axelrod
Dr. Regina S. Axelrod majored in political science at City College and went
on to pursue a career as a professor, earning her MA degree in political
science from Wayne State University and PhD from CUNY Graduate
School in 1978. From 1990-present, she has served as Chair of the Political
Science Department at Adelphi University. Dr. Axelrod started career as an
assistant professor at Adelphi University in 1978. Dr. Axelrod has
delivered numerous lectures and published several books, book chapters,
articles and papers throughout her career. Some highlights of her work
include:
6
Published books:
Regina S. Axelrod, Stacy D. Vandeveer and David Downie, (eds.) The Global Environment:
Institutions, Law, and Policy, 3rd edition (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly), 2011,
“Democracy and Nuclear Power: The Czexh Case and Global Nuclear Renaissance,” pp 285-310
and Alexrod, Scheurs and Vig, “European Policy Making in the European Union.”
Conflict Between Energy and Urban Environment: Consolidated Edison versus the City of New
York (Washington, D.C.: University Press of America), 1982.
Environment, Energy, Public Policy: Toward a Rational Future (Boston: Lexington Books),
1981, editor and contributing author.
Published Refereed Articles and Book Chapters:
“Reflections on Writings of President Vaclav Klaus,” LISTY, XXXVIII, 3, 2008, 105-107.
“Why Nuclear Energy Is Not the Answer,” International Relations and Security Network, Case
Study Series, www.isn.ethz, March 2007.
“Nuclear Power and the European Union Enlargement: The Case of Temelin,” proceedings of
the conference: “EU Enlargement and Environmental Quality in Central and Eastern Europe &
Beyond,” Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C., March 14,
2002. Revised for Environmental Politics XIII, 1, Spring 2004, 153-172 and Jo Ann Carmin and
Stacy D. VanDeveer, eds., EU Enlargement and the Environment: Institutional Change and
Environmental Policy in Central and Eastern Europe, (New York: Routledge), 2005, 153-171.
Professional Activities at Scholarly and Professional Meetings:
Paper” “Nuclear Energy: The Antidote to Climate Change?” International Studies Association,
New York, February 16, 2009.
Invited Lecture: “The Nuclear Renaissance: Problems and Challenges,” University of
Economics, Prague, October 17, 2008.
Invited Lecture: “The European Union: Arena for Nuclear Power Debate,” Czech Political
Science Association and University of Higher Economics, June 13, 2005, Prague.
Invited Participant: “The EU Enlarged: EU and its Southern Neighbors,” Wilton Park
Conference, March 13-18, 2005, Malta.
Invited Participant: “Energy and Security: Global Challenges—Regional Perspectives,” Security
Studies Institute, Prague, October 19-21, 2004.
7
Activities Outside the University:
Visiting functionnaire, (Civil Servant), European Union,
Directorate-General XI, Economic Analysis Unit, November
1997.
National Science Foundation, Panel on Graduate Fellowships in
Political Science, Washington, D.C., February 4-7, 1991, February
10-12, 1992, and February 7-9, 1994.
Editorial Board, Regulatory Federalism, Natural Resources and
Environmental Management, Michael S. Hamilton, editor,
(Washington, D.C.: American Society for Public Administration)
1990.
Academic Associate, The Atlantic Council, 1985-present.
Member of numerous Professional organizations.
Received numerous grants and wards, including:
Fulbright Senior Specialist, designated October 2005. Grant
awarded for lectures and curriculum development, University of
Economics, Prague, February 2007.
Distinguished Alumni Award, Graduate School, City University
of New York, 2004.
National Science Foundation, “Democracy, Technology and Nuclear Power in the Czech
Republic,” 1997-1998, $15,000.
Soros Foundation (1993), travel award to lecture in Budapest, Hungary.
S & H Foundation Grant (1981), shared with History Department and University College—
funded lecture series: “How Much Government is Enough?” $1,500.
Ford Foundation (1979-1980), funded Adelphi conference, “Energy and the Environment:
Conflict and Resolution.” $10,000.
Department of Energy (1979-1980), funded Adelphi conference “Energy and the Environment:
Conflict and Resolution.” $10,000.
Environmental Protection Agency (1979-1980), funded Adelphi conference “Energy and the
Environment: Conflict and Resolution.” $5,000.
8
Sandra Beauchamp (was Sandra Reinitz)
Born and raised in the Bronx. Attended Taft High School and chose to
continue my education at CCNY for a multitude of reasons: excellence of
the faculty, proximity to home, free higher education…
Unfortunately, I do not remember the exact names of all the professors who
merit to be mentioned. However, certain such as Professor Kenneth B
Clark, psychology Professor Stanley Feingold, political science, Professor
Daitch, Latin as well as my (sans nom) history professor deserve mention.
Graduated with a degree in psychology and enough credits to begin a teaching career in
elementary school. I never thought teaching in the East Bronx and in Red Hook Brooklyn could
be so rewarding. Received a Masters in Special Education from NYU.
Careers, Special Education, Real Estate Broker, Fine Artist Rep /Commercial Artist Rep NYC &
Paris, Teacher English as a second language…
Turning points in my life : my move to France, the founding in 2002 of a biennial photo festival
in the Loire Valley, my present project of creating a senior plus “planet friendly” village
incorporating contemporary arts, organic farming and energy saving homes.
Special interests are contemporary art and photography, ecology, alternative medicine, and
music.
Fond CCNY memories: Working in the reserve room of the library; CCNY “campus” life;
Lincoln’s nose.
Dorothy E. Bender (was Dorothy Katz)
I did not want to go to CCNY. I yearned to go to an “out-of-town” college, but entered City in
the fall of 1959, determined to graduate after three years, taking 17.5 credits each semester and
nine credits during the summer. I managed to do this for two years, but had to drop out for a
semester for health reasons. I had been a math major and was mostly overwhelmed; I was
sustained by my dear CCNY friends, Darlene Bregman, Grace Graupe and Susie Hirsch. After
three years, I left CCNY, 18 units remaining to get my degree. I took four math courses at
George Washington University and American University. I was preparing to become a math
teacher in Arlington, Virginia, but a friend suggested I explore computer programming. Luckily,
I was hired by the National Institutes of Health and discovered my true passion and aptitude for
data analysis and software development and an interest in tool building. I was introduced to sort
algorithms, syntax analysis, precedence grammars and the IBM 360 mainframe computer. In the
9
summer of 1967, Stanford University was looking for Systems Programmers and I finally arrived
at my “out-of-town college”. There I became involved in anti-war movement, the women’s
movement,
the
counterculture,
the
MidPeninsula
Free
University
(see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midpeninsula_Free_University) and the beauty of the Sierra
Foothills, the Santa Cruz Mountains, the Pacific Ocean. I rode a bike everywhere, lived in a
Psychodrama Commune, worked in a Law Commune, had two children and returned to Stanford
in 1977 resuming my work as a Systems Programmer. Over the years, I became involved in
political campaigns and a number of nonprofit organizations. I retired from Stanford in 2008. I
continued to help organize Stanford’s reunion of its anti-war movement (every 10 years). Our
next is scheduled for April, 2019!!
Over the years I have enjoyed biking in places such as Vietnam, Ireland, Canada, Oregon and all
over the state of California.
Lawrence L. Bendik (was Ignacio
Laracuente)
To say that I owe the lifestyle that I, my wife and my 5 children have been
living and enjoying for the last 47 years since I graduated in 1963 from
CCNY’s Baruch College would be an understatement. I was raised in the
South East Bronx Ghetto in a 1 bedroom apartment and my chances of
getting out of there were not very good. I spent most of my time studying in
the Library and was fortunate to pass the entrance exams and attend
Stuyvesant High School. I graduated from Stuyvesant and was automatically
enrolled into CCNY because of my high grades. After a year of Engineering
in the day session and working nights, I switched to nights at the Baruch
School and worked days. If it was not for free tuition at CCNY, I would have had a problem
staying in school. I was supporting a wife and 2 children when I graduated in 1963.”
I started working when I was 11 years old in a neighborhood Dry Goods store after school and
continued working from Junior High School as well as High School. I attended Stuyvesant High
School’s early session. Our school day ended at 12:40 PM and I headed to my first job which
was in the New York Garment District. When I got home late afternoon I would get ready for my
second job in the Dry Goods store. Needless to say I had very little time for extra-curricular
activities. However at Baruch I was Vice President of the Camera Club and I was on the
Reporter Staff. Outside of school I was a member of the Society for the Advancement of
Management.
After I graduated in 1963 I set out to find a Sales Management Career Job. I was lucky to get an
interview with a Blue chip company, Moore Business Forms & Systems, now a part of RR
Donnerlley on Madison Ave. After about 3 or 4 weeks of interviews and tests they agreed to hire
me as a manufacturer’s sales representative. The only problem I had was that my name was
10
Ignacio Laracuente. It would be a difficult name for clients to pronounce and they might be
embarrassed to call me back. The corporation made me an offer that I could not refuse. They
agreed to use their corporate lawyers and pay all costs if I would pick a more marketable name
and agree to legally change my name. All my family and friends called me Larry, so picking
Lawrence was easy. I still have my Laracuente as a middle name which is common in Latin
culture and the Bendik was my stepmother’s name. I advanced to Management in New York
City, to the Caribbean Regional Manager out of San Juan, PR for 5 ½ years, Senior Account
Executive in the Maryland and Washington, DC area, and retired to Florida after over 30 years of
a very enjoyable corporate career.
Jill Sherry Berman
Dr. Jill Sherry Berman majored in history at City College and was involved
with several organizations on campus. She was Treasurer of Sis Remsen
’62, Secretary of the History Society and a member of the Junior Varsity
Women’s Basketball Team. Dr. Berman was also elected to Phi Alpha
Theta, the History Honor Society. In addition to her BA degree, Dr. Berman
holds an MA degree from City College (1966), an M.Ed. degree in
Administration (Program Development and Evaluation) from Teachers
College, Columbia University (1978), and Ed.D. in Administration
(Organizational Management) from Teachers College, Columbia University
(1982). In 2009, Dr. Berman semi-retired from her career as an educator. Before her retirement,
she served in the NYC school system in a number of varied positions (e.g., high school social
studies teacher, program coordinator in the Executive HS Internships Program, Director of the
Curriculum Development Project for the Alternative High Schools and supervisor/ administrator
of an alternative high school). Dr. Berman also served as the Director of Educational Programs
for the Ambassador Academy, a program designed to attract and keep businesses in NYC during
the city’s 1970’s financial crisis. From 2000 to 2006, as an advisor in the Principals Institute at
Bank Street College of Education Dr. Berman facilitated the professional growth of aspiring
school leaders. From 1995 to 2009, she worked as a facilitator/consultant for Bank Street
College’s Leadership Center and provided school-wide and district-wide training and support for
school change efforts leading to systemic change.
Dr. Berman is a member of several professional organization including Phi Delta Kappa,
A.S.C.D., C.S.A., and the New York Academy of Public Education, where she is a Fellow.
From 1992 to 1994, she served as President of the National Council of Administrative Women in
Education and from 1988 to 1990 she was President of the NYC Administrative Women in
Education. In 1988 she became a Fellow in the Institute for Educational Leadership’s
Educational Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP). In 1997, Dr. Berman served as a delegate in the
Citizen Ambassador Program’s Curriculum/Instruction and Educational Policy Delegation to the
People’s Republic of China.
11
In additional to her professional involvement, Dr. Berman is active in her community. She is a
member of New York Women’s Foundation (previously a member of the Allocations
Committee, 1995-1998), Columbia County Land Conservancy, and the Chatham (NY) Real
Food Co-op. From 1997 to 1999, she served as Treasurer of ROSAS (Revitalization of the
Southern Area of the Slope) and in the 1990’s she was Co-President of the 12th Street Block
Association in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
Since 2000, Dr. Berman has been a student in the Diamond Approach and is currently the ViceChair on the Board of Ten Directions, Inc., a not-for-profit which owns and operates a retreat
and conference center called Guest House. The mission of the Guest House is to create
opportunities for transformational work and to provide a nurturing environment for those seeking
to develop human potential and enrich the world.
Dr. Berman has published “The Managerial Behavior of High School Principals” (1982) and
“The Managerial Behavior of Female High School Principals: Implications for Training” (1985)
in Leadership in Education and “Women in Educational Administration: Too Few at the Top—A
Cause for Concern” [Berman, J. and Black, P. (1986)].
Dr. Berman served as a presenter at the National Institute of Education’s National Invitational
Conference in 1982. She was honored with the Outstanding Educational Leadership and
Distinguished Service Award from the NYC Administrative Women in Education in 1990.
Fondest CCNY memories: “I was able to get a first class education for free! Student activism
was expressed on campus—American status quo (racism, sexism) was being challenged. An
exciting intellectual energy was present, and we felt that “The Times They Are A Changin,” and
we were part of that change.”
Robert C. Berman
I grew up in Bayside, New York and attended Bayside High School where I
graduated in 1959. I chose to attend CCNY because of its reputation for
giving an excellent education. While I was at CCNY, I was a member of
Phi Epsilon Pi fraternity. Upon graduation I did one year of cardiovascular
research for Burroughs Welcomb Pharmaceutical Company. In 1964, I
entered Temple University Dental Scholl from which I graduated in 1968
with a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree. I received a number of Basic
Science awards. Upon graduating from Temple, I joined the Navy as a first
lieutenant in 1968 and was assigned as a dentist to the Philadelphia Navy
Yard. I served there for four months before receiving a transfer to the fleet Marine Corps Force
Pacific where I served during the Vietnam War for a period of one year. I was stationed in and
around the city of Da Nag for most of that year taking care of the dental needs first at a logistic
12
command and later caring for two fighter squadrons at the Da Nang Air Base. In 1969, I
returned to the states and served my last eight months at the San Diego Naval Station. Upon
leaving, the Navy I returned to NY and associated with a dentist in Flushing, Queens. After
about six months, I became weary of the NY climate so I loaded my worldly possessions into my
car and drove back to California. I settled in Marina del Rey and started a practice in Cerritos,
California. One year after my return to California, I met my wife Ellen and we have been
together for almost 40 years. I practiced in Cerritos for 30 years and sold my practice in 2001. I
presently am semi-retired, working two-days a week. I am an avid biker and skier. I continue to
take courses at Cal State Long Beach and at the Apple Learning Center. I am a 40 year member
of the American Dental Society and Harbor Dental Society.
Barbara Bertin (was Barbara Bunin)
Before I was 25 I had not been further west than Philadelphia. Born in
Manhattan and growing up on Mosholu Parkway in the northern Bronx, I
attended the Bronx High School of Science. CCNY was the only college I
applied to. As a psychology major I participated in the Psychology Club and
was very active with my house plan, Sis Baron ’63, serving as president.
I have been married for 49 years to Michael Bertin whom I met in my senior
year in high school. He attended MIT and I would take the train each
semester and visit him in Cambridge. We spent the first four years of our
married life at Rutgers where he completed his PhD and then moved to California where we have
lived since 1968. Our daughter Amy, who is an economist in Arlington, Ma, was born in N.J.
and daughter Laura, who teaches marketing at the University of Colorado, Boulder was born in
Northern California. In 1971 we moved to Irvine in Southern California and I went back for my
masters in counseling at UC, Irvine. I began my career at UCI as an administrator in 1974 and
retired in 2008. UCI was founded in 1965 and the opportunity for participating in the growth of
the campus from 7,000 to 25,000 students was immensely rewarding. During my 33 years at
UCI, I wore a wide variety of administrative hats in undergraduate education including
ombudsperson, director of education abroad programs, responsibility for classroom planning and
development of a Washington DC internship program for the campus.
We had our children while we were in our twenties and have had the pleasure of an empty nest
since 1986. Both daughters are married and each has two children. It is hard to believe that we
have four teenage grandchildren. The empty nest provided us the opportunity to travel. We love
the adventure of traveling independently and have visited 70 countries on all 7 continents. We
made two four month trips—one around the world in 1989 and another in 1996 to Antarctica and
South America. In 1988 we bought a very isolated piece of property in the middle of an oak
forest in the San Diego back country two and half hours from our home in Irvine. We sit on our
13
back porch and watch the sunset sipping a glass of wine and as the sky darkens watch the stars
appear. A very far cry from growing up in the Bronx.
These days in addition to traveling and occasionally visiting our daughters and their families in
MA and CO, I keep fit, enjoying our wonderful climate, and have taken up quilting and tutoring
adults in ESL. We have maintained our relationship with Bronx Science and many of our
classmates in New York.
Fondest CCNY memories:
 Standing in line in Shepard Hall for endless hours to register for classes first semester.
 The arrival of warm spring air on south campus lawn.
 Missing a speech final because I turned off the alarm and went back to sleep.
 Managing to be on time for an 8am chemistry lab on cold winter days.
 House Plan Ball – “Raymond the Bagel Man” song.
 Cold day in June listening to Martin Luther King at commencement exercises.
Robert Blackey
As an undergrad at City College, Dr. Robert Blackey majored in history and
was a member of Tau Epsilon Phi, where he served as vice chancellor. He
went on to earn an MA and PhD in history from New York University (1964
& 1968), and pursue a career in academia. He is currently a professor of
history at California State University, San Bernardino, (formerly California
State College (CSC), San Bernardino) position he has held since 1976. He
also served as Chair of the Department of History (1983-1994) and Social
Sciences BA Coordinator (1985-1997 and 2008-2010).
In addition to his educational activities at CSU, San Bernardino, Dr. Blackey has performed the
following responsibilities and roles: member of the Steering Committee to Establish a College
Board National Task Force on the Arts in Education, 2008-10; elected member of the National
Academic Assembly Council of The College Board, 2001-04; elected member to the Regional
Council of The College Board Western Regional Office, 1997-2000; and member of the
American Historical Association World History Task Force (for the UCLA National History
Standards Project), 1992. He is also a member of numerous professional organizations,
including the American Historical Association, where he served as Vice President, Teaching
Division (1991-95). Moreover, since 1970, Blackey has been active with the European History
Advanced Placement Program of the Educational Testing Service and The College Board in the
following capacities:
Reader
Table Leader
1970-72, 85-90,95,97
1973-75, 96, 98, 2001-02, 2005
14
Chief Reader-Designate
1975-76
Chief Reader
1976-80
(As Chief Reader-Designate and Chief Reader I was also a member of the AP-CLEP
Examination and Test Development Committee.)
Test Development Committee, Member 1985-86
Test Development Committee, Chair 1986-89
Dr. Blackey has received the following honors and awards: Wang Family Excellence Award of
the California State University system, 2003; Eugene Asher Distinguished Teaching Award of
the American Historical Association, 2001; Distinguished Service Award of the Western
Regional Assembly of The College Board, 1999; Distinguished Service Award, CSUSB, 1995;
and Outstanding Professor Award, CSUSB, 1983-84.
He has published numerous books, book chapters, articles and other material. The list of his
publications includes the following:
BOOKS:
History: Core Elements for Teaching and Learning. Rockville, MD: Wildside Press, 2011.
History Anew: Innovations in the Teaching of History Today. Long Beach: The
University Press, California State University, Long Beach, 1993. (Note: History Anew
was distributed to all graduate teaching assistants in the History Dept. at Stanford
University because it helped them “understand that when they conceive and organize a
course, they are 'producing' history in ways that are analogous to research” [Richard
Roberts, Dept. of History, Stanford University]. The book was also required reading for
History 698, College Teaching and Lecture Preparation, at Western Michigan
University.)
Revolutions and Revolutionists: A Comprehensive Guide to the Literature. Santa Barbara, CA:
ABC-Clio Books, 1982.
Revolution and the Revolutionary Ideal (co-authored with Clifford T. Paynton). Cambridge, MA:
Schenkman Publishing Company, 1976.
Modern Revolutions and Revolutionists: a Bibliography. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio Books,
1976.
Why Revolution? Theories and Analyses (co-edited with Clifford T. Paynton). Cambridge, MA:
Schenkman Publishing Company, 1971.
15
ARTICLES:
“’We’ll Be Right Back’: Introducing Constructive ‘Breaks’ Into History Lectures,” Teaching
History: A Journal of Methods, 37:2 (Fall 2012): 59-68.
“Early Bird Specials: Some Thoughts On Use Of Class Time Before Class Begins,” Teaching
History: A Journal of Methods, 35:1 (Spring 2010): 3-11.
“So Many Choices, So Little Time: Strategies For Understanding and Taking Multiple-Choice
Exams in History,” The History Teacher 43:1 (November 2009): 54-66.
“To Illuminate History: Making Teaching Picture-Perfect.” Teaching History: A Journal of
Methods, 30:2 (Fall 2005): 59-71.
Advanced Placement European History: An Anatomy of the Essay Examination, 1956-2000.”
The History Teacher, 35:3 (May 2002): 311-42.
“New Wine in Old Bottles: Revitalizing the Traditional History Lecture.” Teaching History: A
Journal of Methods, 22:1 (Spring 1997): 3-25. This article was nominated for the American
Historical Association’s Gilbert Award.
“Words to the Whys: Crafting Critical Book Reviews.” The History Teacher, 27:2 (February
1994): 159-66.
“Unity brings E. Germany into light.” San Bernardino Sun (March 17, 1991), Section D: 1, 4.
“Off the Beaten Track.” ELAN 3:4 (May 1990): 70-71, 92.
“Britain: History Around Every Corner.” ELAN 2:12 (December 1989): 66-69.
“China: Impressions of Another World.” ELAN 2:7 (July 1989): 8-10; 2:8 (August 1989): 64-66.
“Bull's-eye: A Teachers' Guide for Developing Student Skill in Responding to Essay Questions.”
Social Education, 52:6 (October 1988): 464-66. Reprinted in History Anew, edited by R.
Blackey. Long Beach: The University Press, California State University, 1993.
“University Students' Writing.” Crosscut: Writing Across the Disciplines, 6:1 (Winter 1986): 23.
“Writing In the Major: A Novel Approach That Works.” Perspectives, 24:5 (May/June 1986):
10-13. Reprinted in History Anew, edited by R. Blackey. Long Beach: The University Press,
California State University, 1993.
“Will Robots Carry Union Cards?” Business and Society Review, no. 53 (Spring 1985): 33-34.
16
“How Advanced Placement Essay Questions Are Prepared—And How Yours Can Be Too.”
AHA Perspectives, 20:2 (November 1982): 23-25.
“A Guide to the Skill of Essay Construction in History.” Social Education, 45:3 (March 1981):
178-82. Reprinted in History Anew, edited by R. Blackey. Lng Beach: The University Press,
California State University, 1993.
“Free At Last: Portuguese Colonies After Independence” (review article). ASA Review of Books
'79 (African Studies Association), V (1979): 174-76.
“A Politician in Ireland: The Lord Lieutenancy of the Earl of Halifax, 1761-63.” Eire
Ireland, XIV:4 (Winter 1979): 65-82.
”Fanon and Cabral: a Contrast in Theories of Revolution for Africa.” Journal of Modern African
Studies, XII:2 (June 1974): 191-209. Reprinted in Martin Thomas, ed., European
Decolonization. Hampshire, UK: Ashgate, 2007.
“A War of Words: The Significance of the Propaganda Conflict Between English Catholics and
Protestants, 1715-1745.” Catholic Historical Review, LVIII:4 (January 1973): 534-55.
EDITORIAL WORK:
Editor, “Teaching Innovations” column, Perspectives (monthly newsletter of the American
Historical Association), 1982-96/97
Dr. Blackey is married to Dr. Carol Pixton and has two sons from a previous marriage and four
grandchildren. He has traveled fairly widely in Europe, Asia, and a bit in Africa as well.
17
Estelle Bloom (was Estelle Davidowitz)
I graduated from the Bronx High School of Science. I knew I’d be
attending CCNY and never applied to any other school. I was born in the
South Bronx and when I started college I had “moved up” to the projects. I
started working part-time in my senior year of high school and continued
throughout my four years at City. I was then, am now, and will forever be
grateful that I had the opportunity to get the education I did for $15 a term!!
Why did I have some of the best years of my life at City? Here are a few of
the reasons:
Professor Olli (Russian) who was so very understanding about why I was late to every class.
Could it have been because I had to run from the most northern building to the most southern one
on campus?
Professor Bernie Sohmer (Math) who inspired me to continue with my studies and, even when I
told him he had given me credit for an incorrect answer on an exam, let me keep the unearned
grade.
Professor Walter Miller (Chemistry) who became a good friend.
Professor Hoffman (French) who sat us alphabetically and, as a result, I met my husband whose
name began with B. How lucky was I that there was no one with a name that began with C?
I worked for 40 years as a computer programmer starting at Bell Labs and ending up working
remotely for a bank in Wisconsin. I could write a lot more about my career: e.g., how I got my
Masters in Math from Stevens Institute of Technology; how I was instrumental (with about 1000
other people) in creating the first Electronic Switching System; how I saved the world by
working on the Y2K problem for over three years (yes everyone, the world would have fallen
apart if most of us programmers hadn’t dedicated ourselves to fixing it!) but, to paraphrase
Cicero, I’ll skip over all of that.
I’ve been married for almost 47 years to that guy, Joel Bloom, who I met in French class. We
have two children whom we are extremely proud of and three grandchildren whom we love
dearly. We have retired to Upper Bucks County and are enjoying these years of doing whatever
we want to do whenever we want to do it.
18
Joel N. Bloom
Dr. Joel N. Bloom was a pre-med at City College. After CCNY, he attended
Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He earned his MD in 1967 and
worked as a physician/radiologist until his retirement in 2004.
Ralph Blumenthal
Ralph Blumenthal, a Distinguished Lecturer in journalism and public administration at Baruch
College of the City University of New York, and journalism professor at the Summer School of
Phillips Exeter Academy, was a reporter for The New York Times from 1964 to 2009, and has
written four books, and co-written a fifth, based on investigative crime reporting and cultural
history. He took a buyout from the paper in December 2009 to pursue other writing projects and
teach. His article on the mistreatment of rape victims and the scandalous national backlog in
untested rape kits, in the September 2010 issue of Marie Claire, won several national magazine
awards. In 2012, as a New York Times contributor, he co-authored a front-page series on
smuggled antiquities from Cambodia, and continues to periodically update developments.
Most recently he had been on the metro staff where he broke the story of the Ground Zero
mosque and before that served as Southwest Bureau Chief based in Houston. In 2001,
Blumenthal was named a Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to
research the progressive career and penal reforms of Warden Lewis E. Lawes, “the man who
made Sing Sing sing.” The book on Warden Lawes, Miracle at Sing Sing, was published by St.
Martin’s in June, 2004.
19
For more than 45 years, Blumenthal worked at The Times as a national bureau chief (20032008), an arts and culture news reporter (1994-2003), an investigative and crime reporter (19711994), a foreign correspondent (Germany, Vietnam, Cambodia, 1968-1971) and metro and
Westchester correspondent (1964-1968). He began his career as a reporter/columnist for The
Grand Prairie Daily News Texan in 1963.
He earned a Guggenheim Fellowship (April 2001), the Columbia University Graduate School of
Journalism Alumni Award (2001), and the Worth Bingham Prize for distinguished investigative
reporting, 1994. He was inducted into the CCNY Communications Alumni Hall of Fame in 2010
and awarded the CCNY Townsend Harris Medal for notable alumni achievement in 2012. He
taught journalism in the 2010, 2011 and 2012 Summer School of Phillips Exeter Academy in
Exeter, N.H., and in the fall of 2010 joined the faculty of Baruch College as a Distinguished
Lecturer in the Library Department and professor of journalism.
Blumenthal edited his college newspaper, The City College Campus, (BA ’63) went on to the
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism (MS ’64), and joined The New York Times
as a news clerk in June 1964. In 1968 he was assigned to the Bonn Bureau where he covered the
Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, the rise of neo-Nazism and the West German economic
miracle.
The following year he went to Saigon to cover the war and what became the spread of fighting to
Cambodia. Assigned back to New York in 1971, he became an investigative reporter specializing
in stories about foreign and American corruption and organized crime. His series on Nazi war
criminals hiding in America helped pass a Congressional bill to bar persecutors from entering the
country, the Holtzman Amendment
Another series, on corrupt dealings and cocaine use by Brooklyn Representative Fred Richmond,
led to the Congressman's guilty plea and resignation from the House. His articles on questionable
financial dealings by the 1984 Democratic Vice Presidential nominee, Geraldine Ferraro, and her
husband, John Zaccaro, became a factor in the election. In 1987 he led the Times team that
exposed the Tawana Brawley racial hoax and produced the series (and later a book, Outrage)
nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. In 1988, he published his first book, Last Days of the Sicilians,
on the FBI's Pizza Connection drug case.
In 1993, he led the team covering the World Trade Center bombing, which won the paper a
Pulitzer Prize for spot reporting. The following year, he co-authored another series on the fatal
crashes of USAir. It prompted new safety procedures, was nominated for a Pulitzer and won the
Worth Bingham prize for investigative reporting, presented by President Clinton at the White
House Correspondent's dinner.
In 1994, he joined the culture news department as an arts reporter. After Sept. 11, 2001, he
briefly rejoined the investigative team covering terrorism. Meanwhile, he wrote two other nonfiction books: Once Through the Heart, on a police narcotics detective's struggle to rescue his
own daughter from drugs, and Stork Club, a history of the Stork Club, its renegade owner and the
20
nightclub and gangster era in Gotham. The book became the focus of an exhibit, Stork Club, at
the New York Historical Society, which he curated and which ran from May-Oct., 2000. His
fifth book, Miracle at Sing Sing, for which he received the Guggenheim grant, was published in
June, 2004.
In 2003, he went to Texas for The Times as Southwest Bureau Chief where he investigated death
penalty cases, President George W. Bush’s military record, and the polygamist cult. Upon his
return to the Metro staff in 2008, he wrote news features and blogged on city issues. In
December 2009, he collaborated with a student reporter to break the story of the proposed
mosque and Islamic cultural center two blocks from Ground Zero.
He lives in Manhattan with his wife, Deborah, a nutritionist and fellow writer and journalist.
They have two daughters, Anna, a graduate of the University of Delaware and rock guitarist of
her bands, the Recordettes and Party Lights; and Sophie, also a UDel graduate and now a
manager at FoodtoEat, an online ordering and catering startup.
Viola W. Bostic (was Viola Jeanne Williams)
Ms. Viola W. Bostic graduated in 1963 with a BA in history from City
College. In 1965, she earned an MA degree from the School of Education at
City College. She was awarded the Michele Clark Fellowship in Journalism
Studies in 1973 from Columbia University School of Journalism. In 1992,
she earned an MS degree with Distinction (GPA 4.0) in organizational
development from the University of Pennsylvania.
Ms. Bostic’s professional career was focused on marketing
communications in corporate and non-profits. Before her retirement in
2009, she held the following professional positions:
Social Studies Teacher, NYC Schools, 1963-1966
Instructor of Social Science, Morgan State College, Baltimore, MD, 1967-1968
Staff Writer & Columnist, The Courier Post Newspaper, Cherry Hill, NJ, 1973-1974
Public Relations and Marketing Communications positions, Rohm and Haas
Company. Philadelphia, PA, 1974-1993
5. Vice President, Marketing Communications, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America,
Philadelphia, PA, 1994-2001
6. Deputy Executive Director, National Federation of Community Development Credit
Unions, New York, NY 2001-2005
7. Executive Director, The Chapel of Four Chaplains, Philadelphia, PA, 2005-2009
1.
2.
3.
4.
Her past awards and honors include:
21
1978: Outstanding Young Women of America
1983: National Association of Media Women Presidential Award
1998: The Communicator Crystal Award for Excellence in Publicity
1998: The Public Relations Society of America Bronze Anvil Certificate of
Commendation for Logo Branding Campaign
1996-2001: African American Who's Who
Ms. Bostic has two children: Raphael W. Bostic, Former Assistant Secretary of HUD, Professor,
Price School, University of Southern California; and Ebony L. Bostic, Foreign Service Officer,
US Agency for International Development.
Edward Isaac Brody (Ed Brody)
Born in the West Bronx, I graduated from Bronx Science and chose CCNY
as affordable quality. Starting as a math major I switched to Philosophy
getting a BS. I was Co-Manager of the Freshman Basketball team and
President of the Hillel Foundation – a strange combination.
Faced with earning a livelihood, I joined a data processing venture with
friends. The company did not succeed, but I did join BBDO’s new
Management Science Department and remained there, with a brief interlude,
for 30 years eventually becoming a SVP.
During the brief interlude I grew long hair, bought a guitar and met my wife. We have been
married for 34+ years and lived most of them in Hastings-on-Hudson overlooking the river.
I retired in 2000 and became an independent consultant. Additionally I am active as Treasurer of
the Friends of the Old Croton Aqueduct and resumed my interest in guitar and piano.
Professional activities included technical publications on market modeling and new product
forecasting, MBA adjunct teaching at NYU and Columbia, and guest lectures at various
universities.
My main professional involvement was with the Institute for Operations Research and
Management Science where I was Past President of the College on Marketing, interested in
academic-practitioner relations. I am a Life Member of the Market Research Council.
It is hard to single out specific classes and professors since I learned from all of them. Likewise,
most of my memories are vague but fond.
22
Richard Fredrick Brose
I grew up in Ridgewood (Queens) and graduated from P.S 77 in June 1954. I
attended Brooklyn Technical High School, graduating with a Chemical
Technical Diploma in June, 1958.
I entered CCNY in September 1958. During my first two years at CCNY, I
worked the night shift in the analytical laboratories of Charles Pfizer
Pharmaceuticals in Brooklyn. I graduated from CCNY with a B.Ch.E. degree
in June 1963. I was a member of Tau Beta Pi, Omega Chi Epsilon and ROTC.
I was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army and served with the 79th Engineering
Battalion, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Pirmasens, Germany from 1964 to 1966.
I joined the DuPont Company in Wilmington, DE, initially in 1963 and returned after leaving the
military in 1966. I held a variety of technical and management positions with DuPont
Engineering at various locations in the U.S. and Europe. I was appointed Director of Engineering
for the Polymers Group of DuPont in 1982. I took early retirement in 1991 and joined BE&K
Engineering Company as Vice President and General Manager of northeast operations. I
relocated to the Houston, TX area in 1997 and retired as Senior Vice President of BE&K
Engineering in 2007.
I served on the Construction Committee of the Business Roundtable while employed by DuPont
and on the Buildings Committee of Winterthur Museum and Gardens in Wilmington, DE while
employed in Delaware by BE&K.
I met my future wife, Betty-Ann Ottersen in Toronto during the summer of 1962. We were
married in October 1963 and will celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary in October, 2013. We
have two children: Lisa Juliana and Richard Christian. Lisa is a Project Manager with Merck in
Austin TX and Christian is a partner with the law firm of McGuire Woods in Charlotte, NC. We
have four grandchildren: Cole (12) and Ella Jolie (3) by Lisa and Whiteaker (11) and Ann-Marie
(9) by Christian.
My wife and I enjoy traveling. We have traveled extensively in Europe and Asia. We have
particularly enjoyed our several trips in China. We also enjoy gourmet food and fine wines. My
wife is an artist with a focus on abstracts based on nature. My hobbies include golf, snow skiing
and scuba diving.
23
Theodore M. Brown
My four years at City College shaped the rest of my life. I entered in 1959
from Stuyvesant High School intent on a life as a research scientist,
probably, I thought, in biochemistry perhaps attached to a medical school. I
left in 1963 heading to Princeton University for a PhD in the history of
science with a strong desire to expose the ideological and political functions
of science as a scholar, to transmit transformative insights to students as a
professor, and to engage with the world as a writer and advocate with a left
wing perspective. I grew up in a left wing family and already considered
myself a socialist in high school, with Eugene V. Debs as one of my heroes.
But when I graduated from Stuyvesant, academic achievement and success in science dominated
my hopes for the future – until City College. There I discovered wider worlds, my critical voice,
and the challenges of direct political engagement – as a founding member of CCNY’s chapter of
Students for a Democratic Society and as Student Government president elected by a progressive
coalition. I had some great teachers along the way – Aaron Bendich in Chemistry who taught me
the human and pedagogic value of offbeat humor, Lawrence Levine in History who taught me
the excitement of scholarly acuity and charisma in the classroom, and Hans Kohn also in History
who demonstrated how passionate commitment to having students really listen could make them
close their notebooks in which they were scribbling mechanically so they could open their
minds.
Princeton was a dazzling new world, and my seven years there – four as a graduate student and
three as a junior faculty member – were exciting, scary, angering and mind-blowing – all at the
same time. So were my “year out” midway through my PhD work when I went to Cambridge
University in England as a “visiting research student” and my postdoctoral year at Johns Hopkins
where I transitioned from history of science to history of medicine and public health. I came
back from Hopkins to Princeton to teach history of science and medicine, but by 1972 I was
feeling stuck and trapped and in the wrong place. Princeton really wasn’t the place where I
wanted to live or make my career. It struck me as too prissy, bourgeois, and apolitical. So I
accepted an offer to come back to New York City and City College, this time as “academic
assistant” to President Robert Marshak. I did a bit of everything in that job – writing speeches,
negotiating “non-negotiable” demands with student sit-ins, representing the College in
emotionally charged community meetings, and, with greatest satisfaction, being centrally
involved in planning what became the Sophie Davis School for Biomedical Education, especially
its curriculum and field experiences in social and community medicine. We developed a novel
educational pathway in this area, in large measure because of the collaboration we developed
with the Montefiore Medical Center’s Department of Social Medicine. I was also very lucky to
be able to learn something about medical education from Alfred Gellhorn, who had left behind
distinguished careers at Columbia P & S and Penn to become the first director at Sophie Davis.
By 1975, I had the sense that my academic interests in history of medicine and public health and
my political commitments had converged in the field of social medicine, which I was learning in
depth from Montefiore’s experts and from Roberto Belmar, Salvador Allende’s former health
24
minister who had to flee Chile for political asylum in the Bronx and, it turned out, for teaching
commitments at City College.
After five exciting but intense and exhausting years at City, I was ready to move back to a more
academic life. I was lucky to get what seemed the perfect job at the University of Rochester in
upstate New York, where I accepted a joint appointment in a History Department then dominated
by famous left-wing historians Eugene Genovese and Christopher Lasch and in the progressive
Department of Community Medicine in the Medical School. Rochester was just the right fit for
me and I have felt happy and productive there over the last thirty-six years. I teach students at all
levels – undergraduate, graduate, medical school, postdocs – and really enjoy the variety of
interactions. I try my best to channel what I learned from my favorite teachers at City and have
been lucky enough to be successful and rewarded with a variety
of teaching awards and honors over the years. I’ve also helped
build interdisciplinary programs in “Health and Society” and
“Public Health” that were derivatives and developments of what
I had first learned from Dr. Belmar and my Montefiore
colleagues. I have taken on some administrative responsibilities
from time to time, as program director, associate dean, History
Department chair, and the like. I’ve also found the time to do
research and write, and over my years at Rochester have
published a fair number of articles, book chapters, and books,
and still feel excited and energized about my work. One of my
co-authored books focused on Henry E. Sigerist, the influential
professor of medical history at Johns Hopkins in the 1930s and
1940s who was also, though an émigré, a charismatic leader of
the American medical left. A recent co-authored book on the
struggles for meaningful health reform in the United States as
seen in political cartoons was published by the American Public
Health Association, and a new book will be published this
summer by Rutgers University Press with the title Comrades in
Health: U.S. Health Internationalists, Abroad and at Home.
Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, will plug the book on the back cover with this “praise
quote”: “Everybody who cares about health and social justice, internationally and in the U.S.,
should read this book!”
Of course, beyond the public and professional I’ve also had a personal life. It’s been full, rich,
and rewarding. I was married, had two kids, divorced, happily remarried, acquired a step-kid,
and share life now in Rochester with my wonderful wife Corinne and our adored fur-child,
Rosie, our golden retriever. My youngest child, my son David, and his wife Sunny recently had a
child, my first grandchild. Dylan (named either for Bob or Thomas or both) lives with his mom
and dad in Oakland, California, so direct contact is currently limited, but I do get out to the West
Coast to see him and his parents as often as possible, as I do my daughter Elena in New York
City and my step-son Chris in Newport, Rhode Island. Life is good, and I still feel full of piss
and vinegar.
25
Robert Tim Brown
I arrived at City College from a drift though Bronx Science, thinking I’d be
a chemist but not really knowing what that meant, and spent my first two
years learning that I’d never be a good chemist, that I thrived on human
interaction and politics and writing, and that there really was life after
adolescence. City College gave me the freedom to learn how to be a leader
of sorts, and to stand up for what I thought was right, and although I was
still drifting when I left, I had grown up a lot. I switched from science to
English literature with the help of Marvin Magalaner, who did the trick
nicely by telling me to ponder what it would be like to spend the next 30
years doing what I was then doing in chemistry (at that age, probably the thought of 30 years at
anything I was doing then was enough to persuade me to leave it). Professor Magalaner also did
magic in guiding me to an unusual B.S. degree in English literature, saving me a lot of unwanted
coursework.
I was a newspaper writer, editor, and student government officer at City College, and had a
really good time doing that. Professors like Magalaner and John Yohannan taught me how to
read good books, Abraham Edel gifted me with a structured approach to logical thinking, and a
professor named Aaron Bendich inspired me in chemistry (fortunately for the long run, a later,
archaic and deadly boring dye chemist induced me to find the nearest exit).
Our left-inclined newspaper proved to be a magnet for administrative attack and even that was an
education, in how to fight back.
I then got married (that did not last very long), went straight to work for the city, finished the
courses for a Master’s degree in literature, dropped that, and during the same period helped
organize a couple of important, pretty big civil service strikes, When I realized that being a civil
servant was eroding my brain, I took a job as a probation officer (pickpockets, drug dealers,
other felons, and the penal law are much more interesting than welfare recipients) and I began
driving a taxi at night to prepare for law school.
I was admitted to and began law school at NYU, my attendance made possible by a wonderful
policy the law school had of seeing anyone through financially who got in, and between that and
the taxi, I got my degree. I wound up in labor and employment law almost by accident (the
choice was as much a matter of teachers’ personalities and of help from one of my old welfare
strike compatriots as it was of substance), and began my real career working as an attorney for
the then Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union, soon to merge with the Textile Workers. In a
sense I stepped back into my roots, keeping the life-work of my immigrant, one-time communist,
and forever idealist union organizer father going on another level. Sadly, his life ended suddenly
right about when that phase of my life began.
26
I also, at the Union, met my present wife, a wonderful human being and also a great lawyer with
whom I am today. In 1984 we had a daughter who is, all this time later, after traveling the world
and acquiring a Johns Hopkins baccalaureate and two masters degrees, about to begin medical
school. In these last four lines are compressed the best parts of my life, and thankfully it all
continues apace.
I cut my teeth on innumerable arbitrations and contract negotiations all over the country, but,
most memorably for me, litigating against Farah Manufacturing Company and JP Stevens, major
organizing campaigns of the 70’s and 80’s. When Stevens finally cut a deal (not a great one for
the Union but absolute anathema to the company) I had the pleasure of doing the first arbitration
case against them, which (unfortunately rightfully) went against us.
My wife was at the table through the J.P. Stevens first contract bargaining negotiations,
immortalized much later by the film Norma Rae (a film of dubious historical accuracy, but that’s
art, not real life). We are both proud, however, to have had a big piece of the real part of that
history.
I next moved to a law firm in Philadelphia, for which I represented blue collar unions and their
members; teachers; and others in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey. Next, I went to the
Writers Guild in New York City, where I represented screen and television writers employed by
the networks and in public television (the hilarious challenge of trying to keep a circle of six
brilliant Sesame Street comedy writers focused on the business of contract negotiations (put
down the duckie) stands out as a notable memory).
In 1992, I switched sides and went to CBS Broadcasting here in the city, and did all the same
work on the other side, with the exception of what is commonly called “union avoidance,” for
which they did not think I was suited. CBS was a good place for a legacy union guy to represent
management, because the unions were pretty strong, management was benign compared to some,
and the work was fun.
I retired from CBS at the beginning of this still-new century and began a new career as a labor
arbitrator, continuing some private law practice along the way, and also undertaking a four year
foray into court-supervised monitorship of an indicted major law firm. I’ve now presided over
nearly 1000 hearings, and still at it.
It all continues to educate me. I regret that I was never smart enough to get rich without always
working really hard, and never learned how to work hard enough to get rich without being really
smart, but I know a couple of people who had neither of those failings and never got rich –
apparently hanging on to some good principles can also (but not always) get in the way of
becoming wealthy.
And I have a lifetime of good stories, about which, as we often say among our friends, “you
can’t make this stuff up.”
27
Caroline Tracy Charney
Caroline Tracy Charney graduated Cum Laude with a BA in history from City College. As a
CCNY student, she was a member of Gamma Sigma Sigma, Phi Beta Kappa, and the History
Honor Society. After graduation from CCNY, she pursued a professional education in the fields
of audit, trusts, and banking and earned various certifications, the latest being Certified Trust
Auditor. Mrs. Charney retired from her position as audit officer at Corestates Financial in 1998.
She is a current member of FIRMA and past member of BAI.
Fondest CCNY memories: “Obviously, meeting and marrying my husband Martin (class of
1962); Studying with friends in the library; Having teachers of the highest rank, while friends at
other schools had TAs.”
Charles DeLisi
Charles DeLisi is Metcalf Professor of Science and Engineering at Boston
University, and also served as Dean of the College of Engineering from
1990-2000, and as University Senior Associate Provost from 2002-2006.
Prior to moving to BU, he was Professor and Chair of Biomathematical
Sciences and Professor of Molecular Biology at Mount Sinai Medical
School (1987-1999), Director of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Health
and Environmental Research Programs, and Associate Director of Energy
Research (1985-1987), Section Chief at the National Institutes of Health
(NIH) (1975-1985), and Theoretical Division Staff Scientist at Los Alamos
National Laboratory (1972-1975). He was at NYU from 1965-1969, where he obtained his PhD
in physics, and at Yale from 1969-1972 where he studied chemistry. He has enjoyed everywhere
he’s lived, but spent many years of his early adult life thinking of ways to return to New York.
When he was in the Washington suburbs, he discovered he was not alone. Sometime in the early
80s the Sunday Post had a feature article on New York expatriates in the DC area, all waiting for
an opportunity to return to their City. That article reminded him that there was, perhaps, one bit
of wisdom missing from our education: we were never told that if we wanted to live in
Manhattan, we would have to work on Wall Street.
Dr. DeLisi has authored or coauthored more than 300 papers in various areas of science,
including immunology, protein and DNA structure and function, molecular genetics, physical
chemistry, applied mathematics and bioinformatics, a field in which he played a prominent role
as founder. He has given hundreds of invited lectures at national and international conferences,
on every continent. Like all scientists, he also engaged in numerous successful international
collaborations, something he wishes politicians would learn how to do.
28
Dr. DeLisi has served on and chaired dozens
of federal, industrial and university advisory
boards, including the Committee on
Information Technologies, U.S. Congress,
OTA, 1988-1990; the Committee on
Interagency Radiation Research Policy
Coordination, White House Office of Science
and Technology Policy, 1985-1987; Founding
Scientific Advisory Board, Molecular
Vaccines (Medimmune), Inc., 1987-1991; Los
Alamos
National
Laboratory,
Theory
Advisory Committee, 1987-1991, 1995-2001;
Science Advisory Board, Human Genome
Center, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, U.
Cal. Berkeley, 1988-1990; Science and
Technology Steering Committee, Brookhaven
National Laboratory, 1998-2002; Science
Advisory Board, Santa Fe Institute, 19962001, 2002-2005; Merck Research Labs,
2007-2009; NIH Office of the Director, 20072010.
He is recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the 1997 Townsend Harris Medal. He
was made an honorary citizen of Palermo, Italy in 2010, where he also received the tri University
award for contributions to biomedical science. In 1999, he shared the Smithsonian Institution
Platinum Technology Award for Pioneering Leader. In 2000, he received the US DOE
Bicentennial Exceptional Service Award (Secretary Richardson) for “proposing and
initiating…the nation’s human genome program,” and in 2001, he was awarded the Presidential
Citizen’s Medal. In conferring the Presidential Citizen’s Medal, President Clinton described him
as “…a scientist, entrepreneur and teacher…in the truest sense, a humanitarian, a man whose life
work has been life itself.”
Although he travels much less than he used to—now mainly between Boston, Manhattan and
Naples, Florida, where he has condos—he still maintains an active research lab, currently
focused on the genetics of cancer, and remains a Visiting Professor at Capital Medical University
in Beijing.
Dr. DeLisi has said that although he has “led a full and fortunate life, filled with rewarding
experiences, his four years at City remain an undiminished par of who he is. The vividness of
those memories—of the campus, of deep friendships, and of the intellectual awakening that
many of us experienced together—makes it difficult for me to grasp that a half century has
passed (except when I get out of bed in the morning).”
29
Joan Ditzion (was Joan Sheingold)
I am Joan Sheingold Ditzion, a founder of the Boston Women’s Health
Book Collective, now called Our Bodies Ourselves, a co author of all
editions of OBOS including the current 9th, 40th Anniversary edition, a
geriatric social worker and educator and live in Cambridge Mass. I have
been married to my husband Bruce, a retired doctor, for 45 years and have
two sons Rob, 39, married to Ruth, parents of grandson Elijah, 1, and Sam
36, married to Jen parents of grandson Noah, 3. I was a very active caregiver
for my mother in the last 10 years of her life and cherish my relationship
with her. I was born in 1943, into a close extended family in New York. My
close and intense relationships with family members across four generations shaped my
childhood. My parents were both teachers and active in the 30’s. During the social crises (civil
rights and women’s movement) in my adult years my actions were shaped in part by my family
heritage. Of major influence were my mother, grandmother, aunts and grandaunts. This network
of strong nurturing women, who were always present in my childhood, inspired my involvement
in the Women’s Movement and the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective.
I attended the High School of Music and Art (1959), went to Alfred University School of
Ceramic Design and then transferred to City College in 1961 and graduated cum laude in June
1963 majoring in art and secondary education. My father, first of his family to go to College
graduated from CCNY, and I was happy to pick up that legacy. I got a Master’s Degree from the
University of California (1965) in painting with a sub specialization in secondary education. I
married my husband Bruce and moved to Cambridge, Mass and I taught art for a number of
years on high school, junior high school and college settlings (1965-1973). I decided to get a
social work degree, MSW, at Simons School of Social Work (1985) with a focus on geriatric
social work.
I am forever grateful that I came of age during the second wave of the women’s movement and
got involved in the women’s movement. My involvement as a Founder of the Boston Women’s
Health Book Collective and co-author of all 9 editions of Our Bodies Ourselves, Ourselves and
Our Children (1978) and Our Bodies Ourselves: Menopause and involvement in all stages of the
organization’s development has had a tremendous impact on my personal and professional life
for more than 40 years. I literally have grown up with the book working on chapters that
reflected the location of my life at the time. My focus has gradually transitioned to the issues of
aging and older women and families, always combating sexism and ageism and fostering
positive aging and intergenerational connection. For more than four decades I have taken the
core values of the book and applied them to professional and community settings as an author,
speaker, geriatric social worker, educator and workshop facilitator.
30
I have done this in my writing, clinical work, speaking and
adjunct teaching at Lesley University, Simmons College
Continuing Education Program, Cambridge Center for Adult
Education and Brookline Adult and Community Education,
and presentations at Mass Chapter of NASW, The American
Society of Aging, The Massachusetts Council on Aging and
the International Positive Aging Conference and many
community settings. She is a longstanding member of
NASW, The Simmons School of Social Work Alumni
Council, The Life Planning Network, Eastern Mass OWL
(Voice for Midlife and Older Women) Steering Committee,
The Paid Leave Coalition Steering Committee, The
American Society of Aging, and the Gerontological Society
of America
I have recently received two awards for my work. The
Simmons School of Social Work Special Recognition
Award (2012) for my work on Our Bodies Ourselves and
The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Mass Chapter award for Life Time
Achievement (2013).
As I age I have returned to art, watercolor painting which is so gratifying and thoroughly enjoy
grandparenting. I want to cull the wisdom from Our Bodies Ourselves and geriatric social work
and focus on elder hood and the needs of aging adults here and globally.
Elly Dworkin (was Elly Ebner)
As a holocaust survivor, Ms. Elly Ebner Dworkin came to the U.S. in 1954 at
the age of 12. She attended the High School of Music and Art, where she
majored in art and was recipient of the Art Award. She continued her studies
in fine art at City College, earning her BA in 1963 and her MA degree in
1966. At CCNY, she was a member of House Plan. One of her paintings was
chosen for CCNY's permanent collection. From 1963 until her retirement in
1997, Ms. Dworkin was a fine arts teacher at James Monroe High School in
the Bronx. Her students won several citywide and national awards and she
was selected "teacher of the year" many times. Ms. Dworkin also received the
Tractenberg Award from the UFT. She has exhibited her paintings at various places and is a
member of the Columbia County Council of the Arts. Ms. Dworkin has been married to Jay
Dworkin for 51 years and they have two children and four grandchildren. She devotes her free
time to painting and traveling.
31
Darlene Bregman Ehrenberg
I grew up as a first-generation American, in the Bronx, in New York City, in
a family that had been devastated by Russian pogroms and persecution, and
later by the Holocaust, in an environment where it was simply a given that
surviving trauma was the condition of being alive.
One year before I was born, my father’s sisters, their husbands, their
children and infant grandchildren were buried alive by the Nazis in their
town, David Horodok, a “shtetl” six miles from Pinsk in what is now
Belarus and then was Poland, but had been part of Russia when my father
was growing up. The one Jew who had escaped, and who later wrote a book about what
happened (a Yizkor “Remembrance,” book), described how the ground over the mass grave was
still moving three days afterwards. My father told us that there was never a day in his life after
their deaths that he did not wake up thinking about his sisters, who had raised him, and about
their families. (His mother had died when he was two years old). And, I only learned when he
was in his nineties, that until the day he died, a few days before his 97th birthday, he had always
carried in his pocket the last letter he had received from his then twenty year-old niece, Mania.
She had received a scholarship to Oxford before the massacre in which she and virtually the
entire Jewish population of their town were so brutally murdered.
My father, who was from a Hassidic family, came to America at age 20 in l920. He had been an
outstanding student in gymnasium in Russia. (He was interested in mathematics, science, and
literature. He was also interested in poetry, particularly the work of Pushkin and Lermontov).
He also had studied French, German, Russian, Hebrew and Yiddish. In addition, he studied
Talmud and Gemorrah. He was being prepared to become a Rabbi, but then he decided that was
not the path he wanted to follow. When he came to America, following World War I, his
“shtetl” David Horodok had become part of Poland and he came on a Polish passport. In
America he went to work to help support his family in Poland. He learned English quickly at
night school, and then began attending CCNY at night, working during the day, until he became
ill from exhaustion and he had to drop out of school. He continued to help support his family in
Poland until they were murdered.
My mother came to America in 1930, also at age 20, from Yaruga, a “shtetl” between Odessa
and Kiev in Ukraine. She had lived through many pogroms there, never knowing if she would
survive. In one pogrom she saw her uncle being set on fire and dragged to his death through the
streets by a horse while he was burning alive. In another pogrom she hid in a house where
people were quarantined with scarlet fever. She went into bed with them. Risking scarlet fever,
which two of her siblings had died from, saved her life. During many pogroms she and her
family hid in underground caves, for days, without food or water. Her father was able to escape
to America around l921 hoping to bring his family soon after. Each time he tried to do this they
were not allowed to leave. My grandmother remained alone with five young daughters ages 3-11
for the next 9 years living through constant pogroms and often periods of starvation. When they
32
finally were able to escape and reached America in l930, my mother and her family were not
able to write to their relatives in Russia who had helped them to escape because a letter from
those who were living in America might have put the lives of those still in Russia at risk.
Despite their not writing, their relatives were killed anyway.
During their first winter in New York, my mother told me that they put newspapers under their
dresses to keep warm because they did not have winter coats. My mother worked as a
seamstress in a factory during those years, making it possible for her younger sister Reva to go to
high school, and later to Hunter College.
Though I grew up with this history as part of the air I breathed, I did not learn these facts until
long after I had been formed more directly by experiences that needed and had no words. As a
young child I heard my mother wake up screaming almost every night. I had no reason to think
other mothers did not also wake up regularly, screaming from terrifying dreams.
Throughout most of my early childhood my mother also was in and out of hospitals
hemorrhaging from ulcers. Each time she was taken to the hospital, usually at three o’clock in
the morning it seemed, she was unconscious and strapped to a stretcher, which was held
vertically in the elevator because it could not fit horizontally. My father always went with her in
the ambulance. Each time, my brother and I were sent to my Aunt’s house not knowing when, or
if, we would ever see either of our parents again. The longest period she was away was for about
five or six months when I was in kindergarten. I was five years old and my brother was two and
a half years old. She had 50 transfusions during that time and she was so near to death that her
survival was considered a miracle. She told us later that there were points when it would have
been easier to die, but that she was determined to live for us, her children. There were many
other separations from our parents over the years, during other times my mother was
hospitalized.
My family was part of a close network of Yiddish-speaking immigrant families from Russia,
Poland, and Romania and my first language was Yiddish with a mix of English and also some
Russian. I didn't always know which was which. Speaking more than one language allowed me
to realize how much was simply not translatable from one language to another and also how
what could be communicated (or even thought) in one language might not necessarily be able to
be communicated (or even thought) in another. (In high school I was put in special speech
classes to help me get rid of my accent in English. Although I resented this profoundly then, it is
something for which I am now grateful. Later when I was at CCNY and invited to represent
CCNY on some TV program, I was mortified when someone from the CCNY speech department
insisted on helping me then with my accent. I am grateful for that now as well.)
I read Anne Frank’s diary when I was nine years old, and I began keeping my own diary soon
after. I was deeply moved by what she wrote and by the power of her writing. I also understood
that what had happened to her could easily have happened to me. I decided then that I wanted to
be a writer. I wrote poetry and also kept a journal during those years. The writing, which
remains part of my life to this day, helped me to get through the daily crises resulting from the
33
conflict between my wanting to become part of the American culture and the American world
that I was discovering on my own and my parents’ fears about my efforts to move beyond the
limits of their culture and world.
Though my parents were very loving, at times their love could become confining, oppressive,
even tyrannical, laden with anxiety and fear and terrors, based on what they had lived through.
Most problematic for me was that it seemed that every move I made to be independent, or to
become “American” in the ways they saw as frightening, was capable of sending my mother to
the hospital and of being the “death” of her.
Living in multiple families (when she was in the hospital) and in multiple worlds (even when she
was home) I became acutely aware that, no matter where I was standing at any given moment,
there were other ways of thinking about and relating to the world around me. I realized very
early that there were many different ways to do or think about anything, and a person could learn
from everyone.
When my mother was not sick or stressed out, she was very warm and psychologically minded-intuitive and compassionate combined. She knew how to listen past the surface and hear what
was underneath. Much of our relationship did not require words. I learned from her that feelings
could be communicated without any need for words. We could say volumes to each other
without ever talking.
My father and I had long conversations about many things and he always told me not to “follow
the crowd.” He wanted me to “think for myself.” And he felt it was important for me to educate
myself, so that I could do this in a truly informed way, with regard to nutrition, medicine,
intellectual pursuits, life, love, and everything else. He always lived that way himself. (He was
a vegetarian and we had organic food long before that became so common as it is now, and he
was a scholar of nutrition and natural healing). I admired his grit, his breadth of knowledge, and
his ability to stand his ground, as many of his ideas, which are commonly accepted now, were so
radical and ahead of his time. In terms of his wanting me to be “independent,” however, I think
at times he got more than he bargained for, as my own desire to be independent led me to
challenge some of his ideas, particularly his ideas about what I, as a “girl,” was expected to do or
be.
In the social worlds of my cousins and friends in our immigrant community, and of my
neighborhood friends, girls were supposed to be married by about age 18. My brother (who also
went to CCNY as an undergraduate, and then completed a PhD in engineering mechanics also at
CCNY) was the one who was supposed to pursue higher education. Nevertheless, my parents
were very proud of the ways they saw me as being “smart” and of my passion for learning.
My father worried that, because he was “old” when I was born, he might die at any moment. He
wanted me to be able to support myself should this happen, and so I began earning my own
money by the time I was 13. I worked after school, through high school and later through
college, as a mathematics tutor and earned what was a significant wage at the time, $30.00 per
34
hour. I also learned to type ninety words per minute, and I became the only academic student in
my high school to take a course in shorthand (New York public high schools offered both
academic and commercial programs). This enabled me also to work all through high school and
college as a secretary as a “Kelly girl.” (I discovered later, with patients and in meetings, what
an incredible asset it is to be able to take verbatim notes. It is also clear to me now how working
in so many different places as a temp opened my world in ways that would not have occurred
otherwise.)
Going away to college was not an option in my family, even with full scholarships. My mother
was very clear that she could not deal with my leaving home. I went to CCNY, and I lived at
home in the Bronx. The trip, which involved riding three different subway trains, took one hour
each way. Although the distance was not that far, the new environment was a culture shock. I
made many new friends, including a group of friends whose families had escaped on the last
boats from Germany, and I discovered how different the Russian and German Jewish cultures
were. I also became close with children of Italian immigrants and those of other backgrounds
and continued to expand my world. My life became more and more difficult, however, as any
effort I made to move out into the larger world was very threatening to my parents. At times it
seemed we were in constant battle. At times I was so upset I would “leave home.” (I always
took my typewriter with me, assuming that I was never coming back.) Usually I took the
subway to the 42nd Street library in Manhattan, and I remained in the main reading room until it
closed at midnight. Then I went to Bickford’s cafeteria, which was diagonally across the street,
and open 24 hours a day, and joined the other “homeless” people there. Sometimes I went to
friends’ houses and made them promise not to tell where I was. Eventually I cooled off and went
back home. It is hard to describe how difficult those times were for my parents, and for me,
especially because there was also so much love and closeness, despite all of this pain and
conflict.
One summer while I was at CCNY, when I expressed a desire to go to Russia to visit my parents
“shtetls,” my mother became hysterical and said she would commit suicide before she would let
me set foot on Russian soil. I did not go. When I finally did make a move, to go to Harvard
summer school the summer between my junior and senior years at CCNY, against my mother’s
wishes, my mother began hemorrhaging and had to be hospitalized.
I had started college as a math major and achieved minor fame in my first semester by getting the
only A in math 7 which was considered a killer course in Engineering math. I learned later that
it was unheard of for anyone to get an A in that course. The only other woman in that class was
Dorothy Katz Bender. She and I have remained lifelong friends. And through that class I also
met Steve Shepard – another lifelong friend. Steve, who was editor of the engineering magazine
Vector at CCNY, wanted to meet the woman who got an A in math 7. That relationship is
another treasure that resulted from that class.
I was very fortunate my first year at CCNY also to have taken a course on the History of
Civilization (I am not sure about the exact title) with Thomas Goldstein who was a survivor of
the Holocaust. That course had profound impact on me.
35
Though I was excited by mathematics, entranced by its elegance, and seemed to excel in the
subject, I was also struggling to find my way out of the traumas of my personal life and history.
I was fighting for my psychological freedom and survival and, at times, it felt like a matter of
psychological life or death. I was intrigued by the difference between relationships that could
help you grow and expand your life and that were truly transforming in ways that sometimes
seemed incredible, and relationships that felt confining, constricting and oppressive. I wanted
more of, the magical kinds of intimacy I experienced with some people, and I wanted to learn
how to make that kind of connection happen more regularly. I was also struggling with how to
be more resilient in dealing with what was oppressive or problematic. As this was what I was
most passionate about, with some trepidation, I decided to shift academically, and I switched my
major to psychology, with a minor in literature.
I was extremely fortunate to become a psychology major at CCNY in the l960s. Although at that
time most undergraduate psychology programs were focused on learning theory and rat
psychology, the undergraduate psychology department at CCNY had practicing psychoanalysts
on the faculty. There were courses in which it was possible to read a wide range of
psychoanalytic literature starting with Sigmund Freud but opening to include Erich Fromm,
Rollo May and other existentialist analysts, particularly in several exciting undergraduate courses
taught by Murray Staal. There was also a wonderful undergraduate psychology course taught by
Max Hertzman who was a legend at CCNY. In his course, “Motivation,” we read and discussed
great literature. There was also a course on “Thinking” in which Jerome Singer had us set alarm
clocks to all hours of the day and then write down whatever we were thinking whenever an alarm
went off. This experiment shocked us into realizing how much we are usually unaware of.
But my experience of going to CCNY was that it involved more than majoring in anything or
taking courses. The atmosphere there was marked by intellectual openness, honesty, irreverence,
and respect for scholarship. Everything was open to question and sure to be challenged. I also
loved the 12:00-2:00 Thursday lectures – when there were no classes – and when leading
thinkers in all fields were invited to speak on campus. I remember especially lectures about the
new discoveries of DNA and RNA given by those doing the leading research on this. Although it
was certainly possible to miss out on all this while going to CCNY it was there for the taking for
those so inclined. The atmosphere was integral to the conversations in the cafeterias and snack
bars and all the social spaces, not just in the classrooms. For those of us struggling with what
seemed to be life-and-death issues, there were kindred spirits to be found among both students
and faculty. Both groups were largely composed of immigrants and children of immigrants from
all over the world. The environment was unique. I found myself questioning everything I had
ever believed in, across the board. Of course, none of us really understood then how unique this
environment was. We had no idea what other colleges were like and how they might be the
same or different.
While I was still an undergraduate at CCNY, I began volunteering on the in-patient Psychiatric
ward at Jacobi Hospital in the Bronx (this hospital was part of the Albert Einstein College of
Medicine complex). I wanted to see how I would feel working with psychiatric patients. That
proved to be a revelation, because the first patients I met when I entered the ward turned out to
36
be the brother of one friend, the mother of another friend, and the person who had been my
babysitter when I was a child. I realized in that instant that these psychiatric patients, whom I
was coming to meet with such curiosity, were people I had known well and cared about. They
weren’t so different from me. It was humbling.
At graduation from CCNY, to my surprise, I was awarded the Ward Medal (Student most
proficient in psychology). I had no idea this was going to happen. I had no idea there was even
such an award. (I also learned only later that I would have graduated SUMA cum laude but for
the fact I had gotten a C in swimming – a course that terrified me and became an incredible
challenge, as I was told that if I did not pass, I would not be allowed to graduate.)
I had applied to Ph.D. programs in clinical psychology and was accepted in the graduate
programs at Harvard, New York University (NYU), Yale and Michigan (with fellowships that
were crucial for me). By then I was engaged to a medical student at the Albert Einstein College
of Medicine in the Bronx. As I was desperate to leave home where I was still sharing a room
with my brother, after much deliberation, and in a state of some confusion, I decided to go to
Yale. Yale was close to New York, and it offered, along with its Ph.D. program, a chance to
attend outstanding weekly case conferences at Yale Psychiatric Institute --conferences run by
classically trained M.D. psychoanalysts. Once there however, I discovered that in contrast to
the intellectual freedom of CCNY, the only “psychoanalytic” thinking at Yale was classical
Freudian. For someone who was invested in intellectual freedom this stirred deep personal
tensions.
At midyear, during an eight-hour statistics exam that mostly involved calculus (which was not
difficult for me as a former mathematics major), I realized that the courses I was taking were not
what I had come for and that being in an environment where reading outside the Freudian
literature was frowned on was not how I wanted to continue. I went straight from the statistics
exam to a phone and called Bernie Kalinkowitz, head of the NYU program, to ask if I could still
transfer to NYU. He said, “Yes.” It may be of interest that my statistics professor, who then
provided a recommendation for me to NYU, began his otherwise wonderful letter with: “In spite
of the fact she is a woman . . . ..” I note this to emphasize the extent to which this was an issue at
that time. (Yale was still not co-ed, and the only female students on campus were graduate
students).
I got married that June (l964), and that summer at age 21, after my first year at Yale and before
starting at NYU, I became a Carnegie Teaching Fellow in the psychology department at CCNY.
I felt very honored by this. My syllabus included reading Freud and the existentialist literature,
including the existentialist critique of Freud. Not only did I want to help my students learn about
these different perspectives, I also wanted to encourage them to question everything they read
and were taught and to feel free to think critically and independently.
For the next year, I remained enrolled in both the Yale and the NYU programs. I completed a
Master’s degree at Yale during my first year in the doctoral program at NYU. Switching to
NYU proved to be an important decision. There were many trained psychoanalysts on the NYU
37
clinical psychology faculty – and these included both MDs and Ph.D.s. There were classically
oriented analysts as well as interpersonal and existential analysts. In contrast to Yale, at NYU
there was an opportunity to study different analytic perspectives. It was a wonderful
environment for me, and I made many new friends with common interests, and had a chance to
work in supervision and seminars with practicing psychoanalysts of diverse points of view.
During those years, I was a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Fellow at the Research
Center for Mental Health, at NYU. It was exciting to be in this environment where challenging
the limits of traditional theory was valued rather than prohibited, and where leading scholars
with non-traditional perspectives from all over the world were invited to share their ideas.
During those years I was struggling in my marriage and decided I wanted a divorce. This
became a very difficult time for me. My interest in the ways in which relationships could
become oppressive and confining versus fulfilling and a medium for growth only intensified. I
decided then to do my doctoral research on marital interaction. As I studied married couples I
became sensitized to the complexity, power, and subtlety of what can go on in intimate
relationships and to varying kinds of sadomasochistic engagements which seemed to occur
without either partner ever grasping the extent to which this was so. It was chilling to see how
this could play out in silence as well as in words and to see, in process, the forms of violation,
even tyranny, that often went on in intimate relationships.
While I was conducting my doctoral research I also began seeing patients in a private clinic in
New Jersey, and the next summer, I also worked with Head Start in the south Bronx. Later that
year, as I was completing my doctoral research, I became part of the faculty at the Albert
Einstein College of Medicine at Lincoln Hospital, also in the south Bronx. At the time I
continued seeing patients in the private clinic in New Jersey.
Sometime later there was a crisis at the hospital. Members of the local black community said
they did not want white doctors running their hospital and threatened the lives of any white staff
members who would not leave. The situation became extremely tense. Now, as my research was
nearing completion, analytic training was very much on my mind. The crisis at the hospital only
intensified this feeling as I thought that analytic training might provide a way of thinking about
the very complex and challenging issues I now seemed to face and felt so unequipped to deal
with. I decided to apply for analytic training
At the time, the institutes of American Psychoanalytic Association only taught Freudian theory
and only trained M.D.s as analysts. A Ph.D. had to sign a waiver stipulating that that the training
would only be used for research purposes and not for clinical practice. I chose to do my analytic
training at the William Alanson White Institute (WAW) which offered Ph.D.’s equal training
with M.D.’s at that time and did not require a waiver, and which was founded by a group of
iconoclasts and rebels committed to intellectual freedom (including Clara Thompson, Erich
Fromm, and Harry Stack Sullivan). In addition, WAW offered me an NIMH post-doctoral
fellowship that would cover all my expenses. (Bernard Ehrenberg, a fellow candidate, and I
married the following year).
38
Sensitized by my research on marital interaction, early into my analytic training I began to
realize that I was seeing some of the same kinds of interactions between patients and analysts
that I had been studying in the marital “couples.” Even more surprising to me, this was not being
recognized by the analysts. I also began to appreciate that it was simply not realistic for the
analyst to assume that he or she could be “objective” given the complexity of our own
unconscious vulnerabilities. I felt this had profound implications for psychoanalytic thinking. I
also began to realize that though analytic training was helping me to grow tremendously, there
was a way I was engaging with my patients emotionally that seemed to be making a real
difference and that was not like what any one else seemed to be doing. In an effort to clarify
what was involved in working this way, I went home and began to write “The ‘intimate edge’ in
Therapeutic Relatedness.” In that paper, which I finished before I graduated from White in l973
I tried to illustrate how deconstructing the complexities of what transpired between patient and
analyst, including shifts in being able to connect or not in a meaningful emotional way, as it
changed from moment-to- moment, whether in words or silence, and tracking the shifts in each
as they interacted with each other, could open the work in unique ways and also could generate a
unique kind of collaborative and emotionally engaged experience which could have profound
and transforming impact. I gave detailed examples of this kind of clinical process. Though this
was considered radical at that time, it was published in l974 in Contemporary Psychoanalysis
(CP). Art Feiner, the editor of CP, was very encouraging. I believe that my paper was what
prompted him to ask me to join the journal’s editorial board (of which I am still a member).
Before long he asked me to become Assistant Editor and I worked with him in that role until
l994.
In that l974 paper, and in other publications before and after the publication of my book: The
Intimate Edge: Extending the Reach of Psychoanalytic Interaction, by WW Norton in l992 (see
also Ehrenberg, l995, l996, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2010, 2012) I argued that an appreciation of the
power of what goes on unconsciously between patient and analyst requires a radical
reconceptualization of the data of analysis, of the analytic process, and of the analyst’s role in the
process. I considered it crucial to address explicitly, and in an ongoing way, the various forms of
collusion and enactment that occur, verbally and nonverbally, between patient and analyst. This
included addressing the nature of what was in play at any given moment in terms of power, or in
terms of any other issues, including pulls from both sides to see the analyst as an “authority.” In
my view we could not presume to be in a position to make “objective” interpretations if we
ourselves were vulnerable to unconscious collusion and enactment. I also recognized that we
could not presume we were not having an impact by being silent. It was clear to me that though
silence could be respectful and appropriate, it can be sadistic. (D. W. Winnicott had cautioned in
this regard that there are times when the analyst’s silence or non-responsiveness could provoke a
suicide.) Finally, in contrast to the traditional view at that time, I argued that the limits of
analyzability are not in the patient but in our selves as analysts and in our theories. My view
was, and continues to be, that recognizing this allows us to find ways to transcend these limits
and to learn, through the work, how to revise our theory and how to better deal with our own
vulnerability.
39
It has been very moving to me to see how my thinking, which was so controversial then, is now
so widely recognized. Many of my colleagues view me as having been a pioneer in what became
a paradigm shift in the field for so many, even as this still remains controversial for many
traditional analysts.
In reflecting on my own personal development in this complex context, I would say that my
experience at CCNY was pivotal for me. I learned much in both marriages, and also since, and
also from and through my work with my patients. The most transformative experiences of all
have been my experiences as a mother. (My first child was born two years after I completed
analytic training. My second child was born slightly less than three years later.) As I have
grown personally, so has my work, and as I have grown in my work, I have also grown
personally, and this still continues to be true.
In 2002 I taught in St. Petersburg. Although I have taught in many countries (Japan, Norway,
Italy, Chile, Hungary, Canada, Greece, among others, and all over the United States) teaching in
Russia, even as different as it is now, and even in a city very different from the small “shtetls”
my parents grew up in, was personally significant, given my family history. While I was there I
could see and feel the impact of aspects of my parents’ experience growing up in Russia on the
most personal aspects of my own experience of growing up on another continent. This only
intensified my longstanding interest in how much is transmitted inter-generationally and in how
we might be able to find ways to transcend the kinds of limits, and the kinds of pain and
suffering that this intergenerational transmission can perpetuate. This is a topic I am writing
about currently.
I am concerned with what increases personal freedom, agency, creativity, and aliveness in any
context, and with issues of vulnerability and of desire. I am also interested in what makes
relationships alive and life enhancing and in how to maximize this in any context, not just the
analytic one. In addition, I am concerned with the question of prevention. It is not just a matter
of helping victims to transcend and survive trauma but also of understanding what leads to
people becoming perpetrators, wittingly or unwittingly, and how we might be able to have
preventive impact in that regard. I am particularly concerned with how early mother-child
interactions are so critical and so formative, both for good and for ill, and in learning how to best
use our expertise toward maximizing the positive potential and minimizing the negative potential
inherent in these relationships. I worry about the dangers of the kind of “education” that
becomes indoctrination and about the deadening quality of dogma of any kind, including
religious, social, political, intellectual, and psychoanalytic. It seems crucial to me to be attentive
to the impact of the political on the personal, as well as the reverse, including to how we might
be able to make a difference in broader socio-political ways. I believe this is key to facilitating
the most profound kinds of social change. In my view it is also important to recognize that
helping someone work out problems analytically does become preventive to the extent that it
may have impact on future generations and can help to break a potential chain of some form of
intergenerational transmission of pathology, trauma, damage, constriction or negative limitation
of any nature.
40
My writing about how I became a psychoanalyst (see Ehrenberg, 2004 – where I go into much
more detail about my early years in the Bronx, and about the years following, and the evolution
of my thinking) gave me the chance to see in sharp relief how my passion about psychological
and intellectual freedom, and about resisting, transcending, and struggling against all forms of
tyranny and oppression in any context –including the academic context, the analytic context, the
broader social and political contexts, and the context of my most intimate personal relationships - grows so directly out of my own personal experiences and out of the legacy of my family’s
history. In particular, I think of what my parents lived through to find their way to the United
States and how they struggled so hard for so many years after they arrived. In addition to their
legacy of trauma and fear, they also gave me a legacy of strength, hope, courage, resilience, and
the capacity for love.
I ended the 2004 paper by noting: “However daunting the scope of the problems that face us in
our complex and troubled world, I have had the incredible privilege as a psychoanalyst, working
in the particular way I do and defining psychoanalysis as I do, to be able to help others to open or
change their lives in ways that often have seemed nothing less than remarkable. There is a sense
of triumph each time we help someone to grow and change and break free from the grip of the
past to achieve new degrees of agency and psychological and emotional freedom. It is a gift to
be able to engage in such a meaningful, intimate and rewarding endeavor, which not only affects
our patients so profoundly, and the lives of all those whom they may touch, but also, to the
extent it is transformative, is also inevitably transformative for us and adds so much richness to
our own lives.”
I am forever grateful for having had the privilege of studying at CCNY, and for the profound
impact that my experience there continues to have on my life. Darlene Bregman Ehrenberg,
Ph.D., ABPP, is author of “THE INTIMATE EDGE: Extending The Reach Of Psychoanalytic
Interaction” (W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1992). She is in private practice in New York
City, and is a Training and Supervising Analyst, and on the teaching Faculty, at the William
Alanson White Institute, New York City; Supervising analyst and Adjunct Clinical Associate
Professor, at The New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychoanalysis, Faculty,
Mitchell Center for Psychoanalysis, New York; Institue for Contemporary Psychoanalysis, Los
Angeles, as well as other institutes; on the Editorial Board of Contemporary Psychoanalysis,
Associate Editor, Psychoanalytic Dialogues, consulting editor, Psychoanalytic Inquiry. She
lectures widely around the world and is currently working on two new books, one on
intergenerational transmission of trauma, and the other focusing on issues of desire and
therapeutic action.
The article referenced in the biographical remarks above is Ehrenberg, D. B. 2004 – “How I
Became a Psychoanalyst.” Psychoanalytic Inquiry, Volume 24, #4, 2004
List of publications and copies of this and other articles, and of CV available on request.
41
Frances Erenburg (was Frances Cherr)
Frances Cherr Erenburg died on November 28, 2012 after a two year fight
with cancer. She is survived by a cousin, Les Levine of MD; her former
husband, Robert Erenburg; a best friend, Genevieve Vaughn; two unofficial
"daughters,” Cassandra and Eireann Young; and other close friends. She
was a graceful dancer of English country dance, a skilled dancer of English
sword dance, and a strikingly gifted photographer.
Myron Feinstein
Dr. Myron Feinstein earned his BS degree in chemistry from City College in
1963 and his Master’s degree in 1965. While he attended City, he was a
member of the Chemistry Club. In 1967, Dr. Feinstein received a PhD
degree in physical chemistry from the City University of New York and in
1984 he was awarded an MBA degree in management from Chapman
University in Orange, CA. Dr. Feinstein worked as a business executive and
is currently serving as a lecturer at the College of Management & College of
Engineering at North Carolina State University, a position he has held since
2007. From 1968 through 1998, he served as a director of Unilever. In
2004, he had the honor of receiving the Ph.D. Alumni Award from the City University of New
York.
Fondest CCNY memories: “Prof. Malin (mathematics) used to say, ‘you’re an amazing fellow!’
whenever you got a problem terribly wrong. Prof. Perlman (chemistry) was the best humorist at
CCNY.”
42
Suzanne Forsyth
Suzanne Forsyth grew up in Brooklyn, New York in an Irish Catholic family. She attended St.
Anselm’s grade school in Bay Ridge, the same school attended by her mother and uncles. This
straight-A student has fond memories of sitting on the porch listening to the Dodger games and
holds dear her memory of her first visit to Ebbets Field. She took to the streets in 1955 along
with the cheering mobs of teenagers. She maintains a framed photo of Jackie Robinson to this
day.
After graduating from Ft. Hamilton High School, Forsyth was admitted to the Baruch School of
the CCNY, graduating in 1963. Because she worked part time and commuted a long distance,
her engagement in extracurricular activities was non-existent. What she remembers most about
those days was studying in the school library and hanging out with the Newman Club in the
cafeteria. She was a management major with a large dose of psychology. Her most memorable
professor was Dr. Maurice Benowitz, who convinced her to minor in economics. This curriculum
served her well in her field of Human Resources Management. After graduation, she spent a few
years in NYC in private industry. In 1967 she moved to Washington, DC to work at Georgetown
University in Student Affairs and served as Dean of Housing for three years before beginning a
long association with the American Council on Education (ACE).
It was at ACE that she made significant contributions to the field of Human Resources as well as
women’s advocacy. She served as treasurer and president of the National Association of Women
in Education and president of the Human Resources Association of the National Capital Area.
The College and University Personnel Association listed her as one of the ten most outstanding
human resource leaders in higher education. Forsyth has been a frequent writer and speaker on
human resource issues, addressing national audiences. She served on the advisory board of the
Teachers Insurance and Annuity-College Retirement Equity Fund.
In civic life, she served on the board of Martha’s Table, a nonprofit organization that provides
food, clothing and children’s programs for needy residents of the District of Columbia; she
served as lay leader and chair of church council for Foundry United Methodist Church and led
the church through comprehensive strategic planning. She was a charter board member of the
Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Charter School, which has been highly successful
leading its children to good high schools and colleges. She served on the executive committee
for the Community Council for the Homeless at Friendship Place and continues her homeless
ministry preparing food for delivery to citizens of DC living on the street as part of the Salvation
Army Grate Patrol.
After leaving ACE in 1997, Forsyth was vice president at Kaludis Consulting, a higher education
consulting firm, where her clients included Howard, Cleveland State and Drexel universities. In
2000 she opened her own consulting firm, Suzanne Forsyth Associates. Clients included Eastern
Michigan University, Ithaca College, Rollins College, University of Montana, Ohio University,
Texas Christian University, The College of Southern Maryland and many nonprofit
43
organizations.
This work includes strategic planning, compensation strategies, retreat
facilitation, quality of worklife studies, executive search and communications studies.
Suzanne serves on the board of trustees of Goddard College; she is co-chair of the womens’
global task force at the Woman’s National Democratic Club. This work focuses on human
trafficking, asylum and the status of women around the world. She is active in the aging-in-place
initiative in her neighborhood, Palisades Village, and served as a charter member of its board of
directors. She is lay leader at Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church and has assisted
the church with a merger with another church in the District of Columbia.
Always a “wannabe” English major, she sought admission to Georgetown University in 2004 to
purse a degree in Literature and Society, fulfilling a desire to study literature more purposefully.
In 1982 Forsyth adopted the daughter of her best friend from Brooklyn. The friend died when the
child was 8 and the father said he could not manage. Today, that young woman has two degrees
and also works in the nonprofit arena in Washington, DC.
Two things connected with CCNY make Forsyth especially proud: at the inauguration of CCNY
president Yolanda Moses, she walked in the academic procession representing the American
Council on Education. She brought along her mother, who had not been back to campus since
that evening at Lewisohn Stadium, all those years before, when Dr. King stirred the class of
1963. Suzanne is a donor for the New Era Scholars Program and has funded tuition for a woman
who graduated from her alma mater, Ft. Hamilton High School.
Simply put, she says, “I owe my life to CCNY.”
44
Robert L. Fried
I came to CCNY in 1960 after a freshman year at Oberlin College, opting for
a cosmopolitan life in New York to the then socially conservative (though
politically liberal) Oberlin culture. I rented a furnished room on Riverside
Drive from a bawdy old Frenchman and walked to the campus each day,
where I took courses in English lit from some wonderful profs, like Arthur
Zeiger and Arthur Waldhorn. I received a fine education at CCNY and did
Honors work in English Lit, writing about the English Catholic novelist
Graham Greene (a subject of not a little fascination for this Jewish boy from
Queens). I was not a joiner and stayed away from clubs and such, reserving
my energies for such notworthy [sic] pursuits as penning a rousing fight song “Gnaw, Beavers,
gnaw!” as well as an Alma Mater dirge that began, “C is for the ‘C’ in City College, ‘I’ is for the
‘I’ in City College. . .”
After graduation, I took the only job that any BA was guaranteed to get, which was to work for
the NYC Welfare Dep’t., checking up on welfare recipients (who might or might not be hiding
their “paramours” on the fire escape during my visits). I was on the bus to visit a client at the
moment Kennedy was shot.
I applied and was accepted into the Peace Corps, as a rural development agent in the Casamance
region of Senegal, West Africa, and I served there very enjoyably from1964-66, helping farmers
grow market crops on their rice fields after the rice harvest, and learning that the Senegalese
were a very proud and gracious people.
Returning to the States, I entered a Master of Arts program and Teaching Assistantship in
English at the University of New Hampshire, where I loved moving from a class I taught to one I
took, and wrote my Master’s Thesis on “Hamlet,” incidentally solving, for all time, the question
of “Hamlet’s Problem” (it turns out that Shakespeare knew all there was to know about Hamlet’s
Oedipal struggle and portrayed it in his modes of speech, long before the Freudians claimed the
melancholy prince for their own.)
While serving as an Instructor in English at UNH, I helped initiate and direct an experimental
Freshman/Sophomore program called “Life Studies,” that focused on college students “learning
how to learn.” From this, I switched my studies to Education and received my Ed.D. from
Harvard in 1976, writing a thesis on community education in small New Hampshire towns. By
this time, I had married Patricia Wilczynski, who had self-designed a major in Counseling at
UNH. We proceeded to have two sons, Zachary (a computer consultant and environmentalist
living in Brooklyn) and Peter (finishing his Ph.D. in neuroscience at B.U.). Pat is a
psychotherapist and amateur photographer.
A career as a consultant and later professor of education at the University of Hartford and
Northeastern U, was interspersed with publishing The Passionate Teacher (Beacon Press, 1995),
45
The Passionate Learner (Beacon, 2001) and The Game of School: Why We All Play It, How it
Hurts Kids, and What it will Take to Change It” (Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2005), along with an edited
anthology of Seymour Sarason The Skeptical Visionary (Temple U. Press).
My professional work also has included a stint as principal of “Peyton Place” (actually,
Gilmanton Iron Works, NH), as a colleague to Ted Sizer in the Coalition of Essential Schools
and as an independent consultant in school reform. My career in education has concluded with
six years as executive director of the Upper Valley Educators Institute, in Lebanon, NH,
(www.uvei.edu) a competency-based program for certifying teachers and principals, and now,
too, a graduate school offering the Master of Arts in Teaching and Master of Education in School
Leadership.
This has still left time for oystering on Great Bay, for writing fiction and cutting, splitting and
stacking firewood, and practicing my gross motor skills out at our camp—all pursuits I long to
continue as I retire.
My memories of City College are mostly pleasant ones (save the usual pedantries extant at the
time among some of my profs) including of course hearing Martin Luther King, Jr. deliver our
commencement address. I am happy to be contacted by any who might remember me and wish
to correspond, at [email protected]
Barbara Friedman (was Barbara Warsaw)
I grew up in a somewhat diverse community in the Bronx, New York where I
attended Public School 67, Junior High School 44, and Theodore Roosevelt
High School. At Roosevelt High School, I was elected Corresponding
Secretary of Student Council. I graduated 18th in a class of over 500 students
with an academic diploma.
During my senior year, I applied to college. Both City College and Queens
College were of interest to me. I chose City College because the commute
was easier!! – although it still required using the bus and subway. During my
freshman year, I was asked to join a new sorority – Alpha Sigma Rho – which had been formed
by a group of women, most of whom were sophomores. I joined and remained active through
my four years at City College. I served as Pledge Chairman, president and president of Pan
Hellenic Council.
During my years at City, I majored in Education and minored in Mathematics. I graduated with
a BSEd degree. During the summer of 1963, I applied for an elementary teaching position with
the New York City Public Schools. I was offered a second grade teaching position at P.S. 132 in
46
the Bronx, an easy commute from where I was living. I also applied to City University and
began studying towards my Master’s Degree, which I received in June 1966.
I loved my students and remained at P.S. 132 for five and a half years – as a second grade
teacher and also reading specialist. During the summer of 1967, I applied for a position at IBM
Corporation and was offered a programming position after the 1967-68 school began. I declined
the position due to the fact that I did not want to leave my students after the school year began.
In the fall of 1968, there was a teacher strike in New York City. I contacted IBM and was
offered another programming position, which I accepted. I was with IBM from November 1968
until April 1976, when my daughter Melissa was born.
During my years at IBM, I met my husband. We were married on June, 27, 1971 and will
celebrate our 42nd wedding anniversary in 2013. During the first three years of our marriage we
lived in Riverdale (The Bronx), New York. After trying but not succeeding in finding a larger
apartment, we decided to buy our first home in Stamford, Connecticut. We have been in
Stamford since September 1974 and have watched this community grow into a thriving middlesized city.
I stayed home with Melissa and my younger daughter Jocelyn until Jocelyn entered
Kindergarten. During the spring of her Kindergarten year, I decided to look for a part time
teaching position. I found a wonderful position in a private school and worked there for two and
a half years. Once my daughters were in second and fourth grades, I thought I was ready to
accept a full time teaching position and applied to the Stamford Public Schools. I was offered a
position as a third grade teacher during the summer of 1986. I worked for the Stamford Public
Schools for twenty-five years, as teacher, administrative intern, assistant principal and principal.
It was an extremely rewarding career. I retired in June 2011. In the fall of 2011, I accepted a
position as an adjunct professor at Fairfield University, where I supervise student teachers.
During the time I was a classroom teacher, I applied to the graduate school at the University of
Bridgeport where I was accepted and completed a thirty credit program, resulting in a sixth year
degree in Educational Management, which gave me the credentials to apply for a license as a
school administrator in the state of Connecticut.
My fondest memories of City College are of the day to day experiences I had. I liked the classes
I took when studying towards my bachelor’s degree. I enjoyed the daily life at the college and
the friends that I made. I enjoyed helping to build the sorority and the leadership positions it
afforded me. I felt that studying for my masters’ degree immediately after graduation gave me
the opportunity to work with some outstanding educators and helped to make me an excellent
teacher.
Throughout the years, I have had some wonderful opportunities to travel – to places near and far,
including several trips to Europe, Israel and the Caribbean, a trip to the Republic of South Africa
and a trip to the Canadian Rockies and Vancouver. We look forward to a trip to China that we
have planned for September 2013.
47
My greatest joy is my family, husband Stan, daughters Melissa and Jocelyn, their husbands
Richard and Cord, and my seven grandchildren, Melissa and Richie’s children Evan, Karenna,
and Andrew and Jocelyn and Cord’s children Jack, Owen, Clark and Holden. My wish is for
everyone to be healthy and happy and to enjoy their lives.
Ms. Jeanne Friedman
I was born and raised in the heart of the Bronx (a few blocks south of the
Paradise) halfway between the Concourse and Jerome Avenue, and
equidistant from the IND and IRT. Almost every important life support a
family needed was within walking distance.
I grew up on Field Place, a small street between 183rd and 184th Streets that
ran for only a few blocks: two above the Concourse and one or two below.
There was an infamous restaurant on the corner of the Concourse and Field
Place – Ciro’s – said by everyone in the neighborhood to be a gangster
hangout. Field Place was one of the four sides of the block-long original Bronx Science. Our
front entrance was directly across the street from a back door; the entrance to the swimming
pool. Before the polio scare shut it down, the pool was open during the summer for
neighborhood kids.
During hot summer nights, the residents of Field Place brought down kitchen or folding chairs
and placed them alongside the schoolyard fence on the corner of Morris Avenue to catch the
breeze provided by the large open schoolyard. The kids tried to stay as far away from the chair
brigade as possible – which meant retreating to “the pits” in the back of the schoolyard: deep
brick pits surrounding the tall gym windows. Thanks to some loose bricks, we could climb down
into the pits.
My mother worked in a dress factory in Harlem. My father was a glazier for a glass company
(Langstein Brothers) with a store in the south Bronx. They provided him with a red panel truck
with large white script lettering of their name. Since we lived uptown, my father kept the truck,
parking it behind a gas station on Jerome Avenue, two blocks below Fordham Road. There was
only one seat for the driver; the back was crammed with glass-racks and toolboxes. This was our
first car and gave us a way to travel outside the Bronx.
Almost every warm Sunday, we packed a picnic lunch, grabbed a kitchen chair for my mother
and a milk crate for me (placed in the middle just behind the floor-mounted gearshift). Our seats
were not fixed, and the glass and toolboxes provided an ongoing rattle, but we didn’t care. We
had the best time of our lives tooling around Westchester and New Jersey in that truck. My
mother said we went on outings only to get lost, since my father had no sense of direction. But it
48
didn’t matter – we discovered wondrous parks and roadside stops. Since we didn’t have much
money, afternoon trips were my family’s primary recreation.
I went to PS 33 and Elizabeth Barrett Browning JHS. On the rare days when I missed school, I
could look from our 3rd floor apartment windows directly into a Science classroom – a lab, as it
turned out. Apart from seeing students on their trek to the subway and watching them
occasionally shoot some baskets, I didn’t have anything to do with them; once in a while they
might have a nice word for the neighborhood kids.
The Science schoolyards, (Morris Avenue and Creston Avenue each had one) were our
playground. I learned to roller-skate; had my first secret cigarette in its back recesses; even
climbed the tall iron fence once or twice to retrieve a ball. The building had another great feature
– stone slides at the front entrance and on the Creston Avenue side. We didn’t dare slide down
the longer front slides too often – a teacher would invariably shoo us off. But the Creston
Avenue side was usually safe.
Although I went to Science, my dream of walking to school in under two minutes was not to be:
I was sent to the Annex for the first year, and my senior year was the first year of the “new”
building. I had only one wonderful year walking across the street to high school.
At Science, I became friends with a classmate who lived on Tillotson Avenue near Pelham Bay.
To get to the 7th Avenue line by subway, you took the Jerome Avenue train downtown to 149th
Street and changed for the uptown White Plains Road train. Easier to walk down Fordham Road
(all downhill) to the 3rd Avenue El and catch the 7th Avenue White Plains Road line directly.
Coming home, if it was late or I was tired, I could take the Fordham Road bus up to the
Concourse and walk from there.
One evening, I stopped at the pay phone under the El, outside the gates to Fordham University,
to call my parents and let them know I was on my way. I left my wallet in the phone booth. I
must have had enough change for the bus in my pocket, because I got home without knowing my
wallet was gone. I realized it the next day, too late to go back and check. It was a weekend.
Two days later the phone rang. My mother answered. It was the mother of the Fordham
University student who found my wallet. She apologized for not calling sooner; my wallet did
not contain a phone number. But it did have a Bronx Science ID card and a Bronx Library card
(Fordham branch). This determined woman called both and explained the situation. In that
more trusting time, one of those offices gave her our telephone number. She invited us to come
to her home and retrieve the wallet. I was always swamped with schoolwork and declined. But
my parents drove to their home the following Sunday afternoon.
The boy who found my wallet came from an Italian-American family living in the northeast
Bronx. They said the reason they had tried so hard to find me was the two ID cards - Science and
the library. They thought we’d be just like them – a family working hard to give their children a
good education. And like me, their son was the first generation of his family to attend college.
49
They returned the wallet, served coffee and homemade cake, and sent my parents’ home with a
bouquet of roses from their garden. My mother told me she nearly cried.
I was astonished when my parents returned with the wallet and the flowers. As immigrants, my
parents rarely experienced such an act of generosity and thoughtfulness from strangers and they
talked about it for many years. They retained a soft spot in their hearts for Italians, and this
family became their stereotype of Italian-Americans: homeowners, great cooks, and rosegrowers.
The Science High School population was an extraordinary mix of social classes. One friend was
the daughter of a prominent NYU economist; another’s father ran a beer distributorship from their
garage. Many were children of immigrants, some, like me, of factory workers. For me, there was
only one dream of college – City College. I was not interested in any other school, including
Hunter College (with a lovely nearby campus).
City was the “real” college.
During my junior and senior years in high school, I was active in the High School Council for
the United Nations, and was editor of its city-wide newsletter (mimeographed). I spent a good
deal of time at the UN and meeting students from other high schools. I was also Business
Manager of the student newspaper – Science Survey. I knew nothing about the business end of
publication, but truth be told, ads from local merchants were not hard to renew, and being “on
the paper” put me in a special class taught by the great Dr. Leonard Manheim (who taught
evening classes at City College). Dr. Manheim was one of Bronx Science’s Ph.D.s, a former
lawyer, a performer of Gilbert and Sullivan, and a formidable (i.e. terrifying) grammarian.
CCNY was exactly the right place for me at the right time of history. In addition to Science
classmates, there was another old friend at City: Raymond the Bagel Man, whom I knew from
his weekend post outside Alexander’s. (I think he told me his daughter went to City.)
After my first year at City, I was caught by two possible majors – Political Science and English,
with History following close behind. What began as admiration of the most dynamic non-PhD
“professor” at City College, the eminent Mr. Stanley Feingold, became a life-long friendship.
There was a young History Lecturer, working on his Ph.D. at the university down the hill, who
would become a great Presidential scholar. When I called Bob Dallek at UCLA 40+ years after
CCNY, he said: “You were in my class at City College? Who cares if I remember you – come
right over.”
Because tuition was free, I mostly did not work during the school year, getting pocket money
from weekend babysitting and summer jobs. I was free to participate in the rich extra-curricular
life offered by the College – House Plan and student government. In keeping with the campus
presence of the civil rights movement, I joined in picketing at Woolworth’s, and jammed into the
Finlay Hall auditorium for Malcolm X’s annual campus talk. Thanks to daily leafleting and
postings, it was easy to mark world events. When Fidel Castro came to NY to address the UN in
50
1970; I and other CCNY students went down to the Hotel Theresa to show our support. I ate
lunch at many a South Lawn Ban-The-Bomb rally.
Our commencement reflected the centrality of the civil rights movement to our years at City. In an
appropriate honoring of his already momentous leadership, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was our
commencement speaker. It was a considerable honor for our class. He spoke to us on a tragic day
– Medgar Evers had been assassinated in Mississippi that morning. Two months before the March
on Washington, Dr. King told the Class of ‘63 of his hopes for brotherhood.
Political Science having won out as my City College major, I left New York for graduate study
at Stanford in the fall of 1963. I was ill prepared for the bucolic farm that greeted me. Stanford
in 1963 was at the cusp of its Great Leap – during that year, the University over-admitted
“easterners” for graduate studies. Apart from engineering, I think no one from City College had
applied to Stanford in decades. There were still a few horses in the campus stable and I met a
real English prince (13th in line, but still). My best friend, a graduate student in
Communications, was the daughter of a former Maharajah. I thought I’d walked straight into
Oz.
Years later, I learned that a key reason I was admitted as a Ph.D. student at Stanford was the
strong letter written by Allen Ballard. Looking at my College transcript, I see that my grade
from him was a “C”. That says a lot about academic standards at CCNY.
A year later, my Master’s in Political Science finished; I was hired to work on an Arms Control
Project at the Hoover Institution. That fall, the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley exploded and
by the end of 1964, we had formed the Stanford Graduate Coordinating Committee. Starting
with four graduate students, our first leaflet called for “telling the truth about Berkeley.” With
new friends and good political reasons to return to graduate school, I was formally re-admitted as
a doctoral student with a teaching assistantship in the fall of 1965.
From then on, the expanding war in Viet Nam took center stage. We planned all kinds of
campus educational programs, from candlelight vigils and teach-ins to a steady stream of
carpools to Bay area demonstrations. As a Political Science Teaching Assistant, my students
were increasingly drawn into an alternate kind of research: the role of the university itself in
supporting the Southeast Asian wars.
With the exception of teaching, anti-war activities took all my time. I was part of the exploding
counter-culture in alternative education - the Midpeninsula Free University. Identified in the
occupation of a campus building, I was fined and suspended in the spring of 1969 and prohibited
from entering any University building. I taught my sections on the spacious lawns, and the
helpful staff passed my mail through the window. The suspension notwithstanding, I was hired
as a Lecturer for Summer Quarter 1969. I was paid on time and the $75 fine never deducted
from my paychecks.
51
Arrested after a May demonstration, which shut down the Stanford Industrial Park, two codefendants and I went on trial in the early summer. We defended ourselves and lost. (A year
later I served a one-month sentence in the county jail.)
In August of 1969, I moved to southern California as a founding member of the faculty of the
University of Redlands’ new experimental college. Redlands seemed like a political backwater
after the Bay Area; a candlelight Christmas peace vigil led by local clergy required police
protection. Redlands was close to two major air force bases, and I was drawn into the anti-war
GI movement. We opened a draft and military counseling center downtown, established a
network to obtain legal counsel for anti-war GI’s and to maintain their (and our) right to
distribute literature. We became part of the network of GI coffeehouses. I would spend the next
six years working with Viet Nam veterans and active duty GI’s. After the war ended, I worked
to obtain amnesty for draft resisters and to upgrade bad discharges received by anti-war GI’s.
Under pressure from the conservative University of Redlands, Johnston College did not renew
my contract, and in the fall of 1970, I began to teach at a more collegial institution – San Jose
State University. I recovered from southern California first in the hills above Palo Alto, and later
in the heart of San Francisco’s Mission District, joining a group of people who wrote, printed (in
our basement) and disseminated a newspaper aimed at soldiers and sailors stationed or traveling
through the Bay area.
I eventually moved to San Jose, fell in love with a fellow anti-war activist and gave birth to a son
in 1977. Three months before my son was born, President Carter gave limited amnesty to draft
resisters. The fight to upgrade “bad paper” discharges would continue for many years on a caseby-case basis.
It was now clear I was not going to complete my doctoral dissertation. My preferred (and
approved) research topic had been the analysis of race relations in the U.S. military, a research
area that had the critical advantage of being of interest to me and quantifiable – a requirement of
the Stanford Political Science Department. My interest in the issue was what political scientists
called “normative,” based on my personal values and time spent with anti-war GIs and veterans.
(African-American and Hispanic war resisters were disproportionally impacted by less-thanhonorable discharges.)1
I thought I could satisfy my doctoral committee and obtain information that could be useful to GI
organizers. Since the military did its own interviewing, my questions required approval by their
social science research team. But after a favorable initial meeting, my proposed questionnaire
was denied. It was not clear if my proposed questions were offensive (they were not
significantly different than those the military itself asked) or if my anti-war activity convinced
them to jettison me as a partner/analyst.
1
See Gerald Nicosia, “Home To War: A History of the Vietnam Veterans Movement” Crown Publishers, 2001 pp
299-302.
52
With a new baby and no prospect of completing my dissertation and continuing an academic
career, I left college teaching. By the time my son was six months old, I was a single mother
working part-time jobs in San Jose, then San Francisco and Berkeley. By good fortune, when
my son was three years old, I landed an administrative job at the birthplace of the disability
rights movement – the Center For Independent Living. After a few years I was promoted to
bookkeeper, and helped in the spin-off of the legal arm of the movement as a separate entity (the
Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund).
One of our responsibilities was conducting trainings for disabled people and the parents of
disabled children, as to how they could apply the new federal, state and local laws. As federal
funding for the trainings ended, I agreed to “learn” fundraising techniques and embarked upon
what would become my primary career.
Six years at DREDF were followed by one dramatic year at Friends of the Earth – the transition
from its home in San Francisco to Washington D.C. In keeping with my commitment to
conservation, I became Development Director at a redwood land conservancy – creating and
expanding California state parks in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Having reconnected with old
Palo Alto friends, I joined the then-small team at Peninsula Community Foundation (now Silicon
Valley CF; the second largest in the country).
The non-profit community has been my home for both work and community involvement,
providing continuity and keeping old friendships alive. Currently, I serve as Board President of
the Computer Technology Program, a job-training program for disabled people. I work with the
Viet Nam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign, a project of Veterans For Peace
focused on the clean-up of AO hotspots in Viet Nam, and expanding support for victims of
dioxin poisoning in both the U.S. and Viet Nam.
Last year I went to Viet Nam with a delegation of U.S. veterans of that war, visiting centers that
care for disabled children and adults, old battle sites, memorials and many places of great beauty.
Annual trips led by U.S. veterans are planned.
I’d like to think that working in the non-profit community had the additional advantage of being
a good place to raise my son. Whether that’s true or not, he turned out great. As a college
student, he invented a new major: the intersection of sociology and digital technology – in plain
English: how people use technology. Within a few years, UX (User Experience) became a field
of its own. He spent ten years building a research business and last year joined Facebook, a
happy partnership. He’s given me a wonderful grand-dog and more knowledge of technology
than I thought I could absorb.
Looking back, the thread stretching from CCNY to today remains clear and strong. I am
profoundly grateful for the formal education I received, and for the informal and profound
character of the environment and resources provided by the College.
53
Ashok Gangadean
Ashok Gangadean is the Emily Judson and John Marshall Gest Professor of Global Philosophy at
Haverford College (Haverford, PA) where he has taught for the past forty-three years. He
completed his PhD in philosophy at Brandeis University, and his early work focused on logic
(science of thought) and ontology (science of being).
He is also currently Director of Margaret Gest Center for Cross-Cultural Study of Religion at
Haverford, and has participated in numerous professional conferences on inter-religious dialogue
and East-West comparative philosophy.
Throughout his career, Ashok has sought the primal, integral logic at the heart of human reason
and also to elicit the deep dynamics of communication and dialogue between diverse
worldviews. He has emerged as a pioneer of the new frontier of global reason, global ethics and
global wisdom, seeking to clarify and excavate the common ground among widely diverse
worlds, cultures, ideologies and disciplines. His courses range from Philosophy of Logic and
Language, Global Ontology and Global Ethics to Hindu, Buddhist and Zen Thoughts in Global
Context and Global Wisdom.
Active in diverse professional conferences around the globe, Ashok has published numerous
essays and books seeking to demonstrate that human reason is global, holistic, integral, dialogic
and intercultural in scope and power. His book Meditative Reason: Toward Universal Grammar
attempts to open the way to global reason, and a companion volume, Between Worlds: The
Emergence of Global Reason, explores the dialogical common ground between worlds and
disciplines. Meditations of Global First Philosophy: Quest for the Missing Grammar of Logos
seeks to clarify further the fundamental Logos or Universal Grammar underlying all cultures,
religions, philosophies and ideologies. In his forthcoming book, Awakening the Global Mind,
Ashok develops these themes for the general reader, and he discusses the central insights of this
volume in a recently released six-CD set. Ashok has also published extensively on the
deepening of liberal arts education and is now preparing a volume on The Renovation of Liberal
Arts Education.
He is Founder-Director of the Global Dialogue Institution which seeks to embody the dialogical
powers of the global reason in the aspects of cultural life. The Institute has developed a powerful
“Whole Child Education” Pilot Project that has been supported by UNICEF and the Ministry of
education in Indonesia. This integral approach to education and teacher training uses the power
of Deep Dialogue to renovate the teaching and learning ecology of education.
Dr. Gangadean has appeared in television interviews in the Philadelphia region, and appeared in
the national television series Thinking Allowed with Dr. Jeffrey Mishlove. These two interviews
on his forthcoming book the Awakening of the Global Mind continue to air in repeating cycles on
the national scene. More recently he was featured in the forthcoming series—A Parliament of
Minds—produced by Michael Tobias and Patrick Fitzgerald. This series arose from the recent
World Congress of Philosophy in Boston (August 1998) at which Dr. Gangadean helped convene
54
and inaugurate the newly formed World Commission on Global Consciousness and Spirituality.
He appears in a half-hour interview on his work and participated in a one-hour dialogue with
Karen Singh, Robert Muller and Ewart Cousins. He is also Co-Chair of the recently formed
World Wisdom Council. Gangadean became the host of the Emmy Nominated “Philly Live:
Your International Connection” on WYBE TV Public Television (now MindTV, Philadelphia,
Ch 35) which evolved into the prize winning “Global Lens.” This television show seeks to
cultivate global dialogue and gloabal perspective on vital issues of international interest. He
recently launched his independent production of Global Lens now designed for global
broadcasting.
Joel M. Garrelick
Dr. Joel M. Garrelick earned his B.C.E in 1963, his M.E. in 1967, and his
Ph.D. in 1969, all from City College. He pursued a career as a structural
acoustic consultant. From 2002 until his retirement in 2009, he served as
principal scientist at Applied Physical Sciences, Inc. Before that, from 1998
through 2002, Dr. Garrelick held the title of Corporate Scientist at Anteon
Corp. and from 1963 through 1998, he was Principal Scientist and President
of Cambridge Acoustical Association, Inc. He is a member of the Acoustical
Society of America (1969-present) and a former member of the American
Society of Mechanical Engineers (1985-2000). Dr. Garrelick has published
numerous technical articles in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.
Suzanne Gassner (was Suzanne
Weatherford)
It hardly seems possible that it’s almost fifty years since we had the
privilege and honor of listening to Martin Luther King speak at our
graduation ceremony in Lewisohn Stadium. The weather was unseasonably
cold, in the high 50s, and I and everyone around me were shivering until
Rev. King began to speak. I not only remember vividly the speech he gave,
but my astonishment that it was only after he completed his address that I
once again began shaking from the cold. I checked with my fellow
graduates seated on both sides and they too had the same experience of
being so enthralled by MLK’s speech that the cold had disappeared from
their consciousness.
55
I will always be grateful for the opportunity I had to receive an excellent and tuition free
education at CCNY. I had grown up in Staten Island, attended an outstanding high school there,
Curtis High School, and after that graduation, moved to Washington Heights where I enjoyed an
easy commute to CCNY.
I currently live in Sausalito, California with my wonderful
husband and life partner. Gary Weatherford. We both
continue to work full-time because we find our work
highly meaningful, engrossing and educationally
stimulating. We both hope and would like to believe that
we are also continuing to make a contribution to the wellbeing of others.
Gary, an attorney, serves as an
administrative law judge for the California Public Utilities
and I work as a clinical psychologist/psychoanalyst. I
teach at the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis and
help to train psychoanalysts, as well as at U.C./Berkeley
where I work with graduate students in clinical
psychology. I divide my time between teaching, writing
and private practice. It is our good fortune that our grown
son, David continues to live in the Bay Area; we are so
very proud of the young man he is and has become.
My experience at CCNY, most directly influenced the first chapters of my career, during which I
served as a psychology professor at the U. of Mass./Boston. I joined the faculty in 1967 in large
part because of my commitment to affordable public higher education. I wanted to give back. At
that time Massachusetts ranked 50th in the nation in terms of the opportunities it provided for
public higher education. There were no liberal arts college programs available in Boston, and
U.Mass./Boston was a new University, just two years old.
In the heady days of the early 70s, U. Mass./Boston received a Ford Foundation grant to study
the ways that a public institution of higher education could contribute to the well-being of
children in the greater Boston area, and I became the faculty representative to the planning team.
After three years of funding, the faculty unanimously endorsed our plans and assumed financial
responsibility for implementing the new Institute that we had proposed.
Immediately thereafter, I joined a planning team for a new college at U.Mass./Boston, and
became a founding member of The College of Public and Community Service. Our students
entered college as paraprofessionals, and graduated minimally with highly upgraded skills, more
typically with plans to attend law school or graduate school. I worked as the chair of the
Department of Human Growth and Development.
I had never foreseen a career in higher education administration, but I did find it immensely
fulfilling to help make inexpensive higher educational opportunities available to the underserved
56
young adults in the greater Boston area. In large part, this work afforded me the opportunity to
express my gratitude for the gift of free education that CCNY had afforded me.
When I finally took a break to enjoy a sabbatical year, I chose to join the Mt. Zion
Psychotherapy Research Group in San Francisco because I had learned that this group was doing
the most outstanding research in the country on questions concerning how the unconscious mind
works. Eventually this research was published in Scientific American, the only research every
published by that magazine on psychoanalytic hypotheses.
My interest here too, especially in empiricism, was rooted in my early education at CCNY, in an
outstanding psychology department. Of particular note were the rigorous courses in
experimental psychology with Larry Plotkin and my honors project, a research study that
Professor Eugune Hartley supervised. My undergraduate published research was coauthored by
Jerry Gold, the faculty advisor to House Plan (does anyone have contact information for Jerry),
and Alvin Snadowsky, a highly gifted graduate student.
This research investigated how students who participated in the Leadership Training Program
that House Plan sponsored changed in terms of both their self-concepts, and the strength of their
democratic attitudes and values. In retrospect it strikes me as amazing that I had the
extraordinary opportunities to participate in the House Plan research and to receive the
invaluable supervision that Gene Hartley and Jerry Gold provided.
My research interests were reignited during my sabbatical year, and after my soul searching I
eventually I decided to resign from my tenured position at U. Mass. so that I could continue my
participation in the research group, and my career as a psychologist.
I am very grateful for this opportunity to tell you, my classmates about the intervening 50 years,
and I look forward to reading your biographical statements and hopefully, regaining contact with
lost friends and classmates.
Joyce Garber (was Joyce Steinhardt)
Dr. Joyce Garber, a biology/ pre-med major, graduated City College cum
laude. She went on to NYU School of Medicine earning her M.D. in 1967.
In 2001, Dr. Garber retired form her career as a physician, psychiatrist. She
served as past President of the Central NY District Branch of the American
Psychiatric Association from 1978 to 1979; past President of Onondaga
County Medical Society from 2002 to 2003; and Clinical Professor of
Psychiatry at SUNY Upstate Medical University. Dr. Garber was honored
as a Distinguished Life Fellow at the American Psychiatric Association in
2006.
57
Rachelle Ginter (was Rachelle Abraham)
Rachelle Ginter earned her BA degree in education from City College in
1963 and her MA degree in education in 1968. She pursued a career as an
elementary school teacher, retiring in 1996. She also worked as a staff
developer. Mrs. Ginter was a member of the United Federation of teachers.
Howard L. Glass
After in his BS in physics from City College, Dr. Howard L. Glass attended
Rutgers University earning a Ph. D. in physics. He pursued a career in
scientific research & management. Currently, he is serving as director of
Inland Northwest Natural Resources Research Center, Gonzaga University,
a position he has held since 2005. His previous positions included Research
& Development Manager at Honeywell Electronic Materials and Member
Technical Staff at Rockwell International.
Susan Glass (was Susan Smith)
Ms. Susan Glass majored in mathematics and was a member of Gamma
Sigma Sigma National Service Sorority at City College. After graduating
from CCNY, she began her professional career as a computer programmer
and then became a corporate attorney. She earned her JD in 1980 from
Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, CA. Currently self-employed, Ms. Glass
held the title of Associate General Counsel at Allergan, Inc. from 1887
through 1998. Ms. Glass is President of the Orange County Region of the
American Jewish Committee; a Board Member at Chapman Medical Center
Board of Governors; and a Board Member at the Jewish Community
Foundation.
58
Larry Goldhirsch
We define ourselves by what we have done that makes us most proud. I have
always found that within the first two minutes of conversation, people will
tell you, whether you want to know or not, what those things are.
In October, 1957, I was strolling about Carl Shurz Park during Rosh
Hashonah, taking a break from the religious festivities inside the Concourse
Plaza Hotel. Every year, my shul, Young Israel of the Concourse, moved the
services from their Gerard Avenue synagogue to the Concourse Plaza hotel
for the overflow congregants, like me and my father. I was shocked to see on
the cover of someone’s New York Post that Russia had launched Sputnik, the world’s first
artificial satellite. Growing up in the Bronx in the 50’s with half a brain usually meant you were
going to be a lawyer or a doctor. But after Sputnik, all those overachievers, including me, now
wanted to become scientists and engineers. So in September, 1959, I began a 4 year commute
from Jerome Ave. and 165th St. to Shepard Hall’s physics classes. I decided to forego
engineering for physics because I was fascinated by all the books I was reading about Einstein
and I thought it was just as patriotic to study physics as engineering. Had I known that those
were not good reasons to major in physics, I might have ended up an engineer or lawyer…which
I eventually did (both).
But when I think back to those 4 arduous years, my memories turn to basketball. I probably spent
as much time playing the game as attending class. Maybe that’s why I did so poorly in college,
trying to up my average on the court as well as in the math and physics courses that were like
Greek to me. On one test, I think it was Nuclear Physics , I literally didn’t know anything and,
instead of grading it, the professor merely wrote “Pathetic” on top. Fifty years later, I can’t say
that I have any friends from the Physics Department, nor from the “local” fraternity in which I
was a “brother”. But I do have dear friends who, like me, spent 2 hours every afternoon in
Wingate Gymnasium with Jerry Domershick or Dave Polansky, coaches of the Freshman and
Varsity basketball teams from 1959-1963.
I had never played basketball in High School (Taft) but knew I was good enough to try out for
City’s freshman team. I also knew that was where I was headed because my family couldn’t
afford to send me to NYU or Columbia, the only other possibilities for a Bronx kid with an 85
average and good SAT scores.
My earliest remembrance of City is my first visit in the Spring of 1959. I mistakenly took the
wrong subway to 135th St. & St. Niclolas Avenue and had to walk up the stairs through St.
Nicolas Park, as many others have done. As I made my way towards the campus, a blast of
dynamite went off; Steinman Hall, the new Engineering and Architecture building, was being
built on Convent Avenue although it took a few more years for it to be finished.
59
A few months later, I was attempting to understand vectors in Prof. Tiersten’s introductory
physics course (for Physics majors). My first shock arose when, after having gotten straight A’s
in high school science courses, I got a D on his midterm. He suggested I drop the course before
the deadline (a “W”, but I don’t know how that letter was assigned) and start over in the Spring.
I didn’t take kindly to his advice but I should’ve ended my physics career right then and there.
The highlight of that semester for Prof. Tiersten was the birth of his son Shelly, named after the
poet. A few years later I happened to pass through Shepard Hall in search of law school
recommendations and saw Prof. Tiersten leading a 3 or 4 year old tot by the hand. I guess that
was Shelly, who now is around 50.
In those days, there were no classes on Thursdays between 12 and 2. That was when meetings
and “free play” was scheduled. I went to the gym to play basketball and was pulled aside by Nat
Holman who was still teaching Phys Ed. “Son, you had a good year, last year, and I’m looking
forward to having you on the squad this year.” Holman, the legendary coach at City for over 40
years, was known to call everyone “Son”, basically because he couldn’t remember names. As I
had not played in High School and my exploits in the Mirror Park Basketball Tournament
(named after the daily paper so popular in those days) were not widely known, I was wondering
what Coach Holman, was talking about. I, of course, knew of the famous Original Celtic player
who went on to lead the only team ever to win the NCAA and NIT in the same year (1950). For a
few weeks, I was walking on cloud nine, thinking Holman picked me out of all those gym rats
because of my jump shot, not realizing he mixed me up with Bobby Paulson, another 6 foot
redhead with a good shot who had played on the freshman team for Dave Polansky the year
before.
It was a lot harder for me to get playing time on the freshman team than making the team. But it
was a lot more fun playing basketball from 4 PM to 6 PM every day than studying calculus and
physics. The varsity team started out 1959 going 0 for 5 until we finally beat Queens whose star
was Al Hevesi, who eventually became the New York City and State Comptroller. The Freshman
team fared better although the last game of the year matched us against NYU’s unbeaten Frosh
team. At that time NYU was still a perennial NCAA powerhouse as was St. John’s whose coach,
Joe Lapchick, was Holman’s teammate on the Celtics. NYU’s star player was Satch Sanders who
went on to have a great career with the Celtics, winning 8 rings. City’s star was Marty Groveman
who Holman said had the best jump shot in the history of the school. (Marty only recently
stopped playing, deciding to call it quits when he was in his mid- 70’s.) City also had an
outstanding sophomore in 1959, Tor Nilsen, who, after a fine collegiate career, was invited in
1962 to try out for the Knicks. (He didn’t make it.)
But it was my tennis-playing at City that really landed me the job of a lifetime; Coach Harry
Karlin, who also coached the great CCNY soccer teams, got me a job as a tennis teacher (then
we called them Tennis Pros) at the Lake Tarleton hotel in New Hampshire. It was there that I
made tons of money playing tennis and also met my future wife. After 2 summers of teaching
people to watch the ball, I was able to buy a 1957 Plymouth and drive to school. Parking in
1962-63 on Jerome Avenue where I lived and Amsterdam Avenue in back of Baskerville Hall
was no problem. There were no parking meters then so I could park all day. Karlin knew very
60
little about tennis and it was rumored he knew less about soccer, but he was loved by all of his
athletes and fielded very good teams in both. Of course the tennis team didn’t play in the Ivy
league, so we did well against the likes of Hunter, Wagner, Adelphi and Queens. The soccer
team, which played in NCAA Division I, reached the Final Four where it lost to St. Louis, the
eventual national champion.
When 1963 rolled around, getting a job with a CCNY physics degree was easy; I was offered a
position with the Atomic Energy Commission as a Health Physicist going around to detect
radiation seepage at plants across the country. But United Aircraft’s Hamilton Standard Division
had a basketball team in Hartford and they needed some shooters. Jim Sutton, who had played
for City the year before had gotten a job up there and put in a good word for me. That is how I
became the highest paid graduate in the Physics class that year ($7200) despite my poor grades.
Of course, I hated the job and my boss started thinking twice about my abilities in physics, so
when a torn ACL in my first game finished my industrial league career, I was told my
engineering career was in danger. I decided to return to New York City and go to law school.
But my City education enabled me to teach Physics and Math at the Academy of Aeronautics, a
local junior college, while I was getting my law degree at night. I worked part time for a lawyer
who represented Ron Galella, a talented photographer who sued Jackie Onassis for having had
him arrested for taking one too many photos of her and her kids. That was my first case, although
my colleague and I were so far in over our heads we had to retain a former president of the New
York State Trial lawyers to deal with the case. (He lost anyway.)
Soon after being admitted to the Bar, I was able to use my degrees to get a job with a firm trying
product liability cases against manufacturers (which is what I have been doing for over 42 years.)
After 5 years of lawyering, I decided I needed a break and took off to France with my 3 year old
baby and wife for a self-awarded sabbatical. We rented out our apartment in Brooklyn (for
$400) and lived off the profits in a house in a vineyard (for $100). I lectured monthly at the
Dijon law school and on weekends averaged 8 points a game for Club Basket d’Orange, a lovely
town in the south near Vacqueyras, where we lived. If Mme. Anders, a charming French native
and Prof. Hoffman, a stern New Yorker who played us Edith Piaf recordings in class, ever
thought that I would have ended up fluent in French, I am sure they would have keeled over.
Being able to speak French landed me a job on my return in 1976 with an aviation law firm that
was representing the Entebbe hostages. (An Air France plane en route to Paris from Tel Aviv
was hijacked by terrorists and flown to Entebbe. Almost all hostages were freed by the Israeli
Defense Forces several weeks later.) All the hostages were French or Israelis who spoke
English or French, so I was a perfect fit for the job.
After 10 years of aviation litigation, I awarded myself another sabbatical, this time moving to
Cannes and giving lectures at Nice Law School. The lectures culminated with a book on
international aviation accidents, a best seller in law school libraries.
And so it went; basketball begot an engineering job, my physics degree got me into product
liability law, Prof. Karlin got me to Lake Tarleton and my love of France got me to Orange.
61
Today, walking with the class of 2013, I am almost as proud as I was on that warm evening 50
years ago on the dirt of Lewisohn Stadium. I did a lot of things since then but anyone who meets
me knows within the first 2 minutes that I grew up in the Bronx, got a Physics degree from
CCNY and played on their basketball team. No one (until now) knew that I had the lowest
average in the graduating Physics class and the lowest point average on the basketball team.
That matters not in the least to me because I had the highest basketball point average in the
Physics class and the highest Physics average on the basketball team.
Brenda Dixon Gottschild
My personal narrative, beginning as a teenager, has been a journey on “the
road less traveled,” an odyssey that reflects my values and commitment to
an alternative social and artistic vision. Growing up African American,
female, and in Harlem of working poor parents, I learned early that I was
“other,” not in terms of the people on my block and in my neighborhood but
with regard to the kids at the white public schools I attended in Washington
Heights (a predominantly Jewish middle class and ethnic white working
class community in the 1950s, situated directly north of Harlem). I was a
bookworm: shy, tall, skinny, dark-brown-skinned, nerdy, unpopular—not a
good fit with any ethnicity. In hindsight I understand how much this outcast status shaped that
adolescent into a survivor, marching to the beat of a different drum. I found dance: tall and
skinny was revered in my new world! I went on to City College in Manhattan and began to
develop my own dances while continuing academic studies and was probably the first
interdisciplinary major to ever graduate from that institution. Because of my (excellent) grades, I
was allowed to fashion a major from courses in twentieth-century art, philosophy, literature,
political science, and contemporary music, with a concentration in French and Spanish. The
major was called Contemporary Culture. (I graduated in 1963: BA, Phi Beta Kappa; magna cum
laude.) It was at this time that I also engaged in Civil Rights sit-ins and developed an interest in
social issues. The main reason I attended graduation was because Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
was the speaker.
I reach back so far in my development because it was there and then that the seeds of the
artist/author who I am today were sown. I believe I have an intimate understanding of outcast
status, of being “othered,” and that knowledge has driven the way I write and what I write about;
the way I speak and what I speak about; the way I perform, and what I perform. When I address
the Africanist presence in Balanchine’s ballets, or the fact that everyone, white, black, and
brown, now reveres the black dancing body, I am transforming my embodied experience—
gained from practicing, performing, and attending countless performances; and from living in
“black” and “white” worlds in the United States and Europe all my life and embodying the
balancing act of double consciousness and code switching it entails—I am transforming all of
that into my roles as performing artist, public intellectual, talking head, and writer/scholar.
62
Consequently, who I am plays an intimate part in my connection to the communities I work with.
The groups I serve overlap and include dancers, musicians, African Americans, lay readers,
students and scholars. Nevertheless, my work is not targeted for one ethnic, social, or economic
group: I act/speak/write for myself, my family, my ethnicity, my profession, and for my nation—
plagued as we all are by the unresolved issues of race, class, and caste. In search of individual or
group identity, we tend to create “others,” “foreigners,” whom we see as threatening and in need
of repression or oppression. My work aims at contributing to deleting this image of the other and
creating a social climate that eliminates the need for such division. I engage frequently in pre- or
post-performance conversations and/or write program notes for performances, making a bridge
for audiences to understand performers and performance on a more informed level. Besides
developing audience consciousness, this function also serves to develop the performers’
awareness, for the critical third eye that I provide is, in fact, something that performers inside the
performance cannot do for themselves. As insider/outsider, as participant/observer, I am able to
offer a broader context for analysis, understanding, and eventually for change, be it personal,
professional, political, or social.
I currently reside in Philadelphia and am Professor Emerita, Dance Studies, Temple University,
having taught there (1984-1999) after a dance/theater career in New York and Europe (19631973) and subsequently having earned MA and Ph.D. degrees (1976, 1981) from New York
University (Performance Studies). I have authored over 100 scholarly essays and performance
reviews, plus the following books: 1) Digging the Africanist Presence in American Performance:
Dance and Other Contexts (Greenwood, 1996,1998)—winner of the 2001 Congress on Research
in Dance Award for Outstanding Scholarly Dance Publication; 2) Waltzing in the Dark: African
American Vaudeville and Race Politics in the Swing Era (St. Martin’s, 2000, 2002); 3) The Black
Dancing Body-A Geography from Coon to Cool (2003, 2005) —winner of the 2004 de la Torre
Bueno prize for scholarly excellence in dance publication; 4)Joan Myers Brown & The
Audacious Hope of the Black Ballerina- A Biohistory of American Performance (2012); and 5)
co-edited History of the Dance in Art and Education, 3rd. ed. (Prentice Hall, 1991)
I was recently honored by the International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD), the
international service organization for dancers of color, for my professional presence,
commitment and significant impact in the Black dance community.
My daughter by a first marriage, Amel Larrieux—a highly regarded vocalist/composer—is
married and has two teenage daughters. My second husband, Hellmut Fricke-Gottschild, is a
renowned dancer-choreographer with whom I performed (1996-2008) nationwide and abroad in
our collaboratively-created movement theater “discourses.”
Favorite CCNY courses (in my senior year, as Contemporary Culture major): Prof. Edelman,
Philosophy of Ethics, who took me under his wing when I was in existential chaos; Prof. Deri,
Music, and his course on Stravinsky, Bartok, and 12-tone composers; and Prof. Manny Chill’s
course on Marx, Freud, and Nietzsche.
63
Grace Graupe-Pillard
Grace Graupe Pillard has exhibited her artwork throughout the USA with
one-person exhibitions in Hartford, Ct., Jackson, Miss., Chicago, Ill.,
Newark, NJ, in addition to NYC at The Proposition, Donahue/Sosinski Art,
Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Hal Bromm Gallery, Wooster Art Space. She
has also had one-person exhibitions at The Frist Center for The Visual Arts
in Nashville, Tenn., The NJ State Museum and The NJ Center for Visual
Arts. In 2006, she had a one-person exhibit at Carl Hammer Gallery in
Chicago, and in 2008 she had solo shows at Payne Gallery at Moravian
College, and Rupert Ravens Contemporary. In 2010 she had a one-person
exhibition at Rider University, NJ.
Grace Graupe-Pillard has participated in Group Exhibitions at The Noyes Museum, P.S. 1, Bass
Museum, Indianapolis Museum, The Maier Museum, The Aldrich Museum, The Drawing
Center, The Hunterdon Museum, The National Academy Museum, Editions/Artists’ Book Fair,
Hebrew Union College, Puffin Cultural Forum, Art Chicago, Scope London and Kunstpakhuset,
Ikast Denmark.
Graupe-Pillard has been the recipient of many grants, including three from The NJ State Council
on the Arts, and one from The National Endowment for the Arts. She has received public art
commissions from Shearson Lehman American Express, AT&T, Peat Marwick, Wonder Woman
Wall at The Port Authority Bus Terminal in NYC, Robert Wood Johnson Hospital, New
Brunswick, NJ, and“Celebrating Orange” commissioned for the City of Orange, NJ. Public art
projects also include commissions from NJ Transit for their new Hudson Bergen Light Rail
Transit System at Garfield Station in Jersey City,
and 2nd Street Station in Hoboken installed in 2004, as well as an artwork for NJ Transit’s
Aberdeen-Matawan Station in Aberdeen, NJ.
Grace Graupe-Pillard’s work has been written about in The Village Voice, The NY Times, Art
News, The Star Ledger, The New Art Examiner, Newsday, Flash Art, Art Forum, and Art in
America as well as many on-line publications.
From l993-l995, Ms. Graupe-Pillard was appointed a Visual Arts Panelist for The NY State
Council On the Arts jurying grant proposals for non—profit spaces in NY. In l995, she was
chosen to serve on NJ Transit’s Transit Arts Committee developing a “Master Plan” that set forth
guidelines and approaches for the inclusion of art in their new Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Transit
System. She also served as one of the Design Team Leaders for 3 of the stations. In l998, Ms.
Graupe-Pillard was asked to be on the design team for the planning of artwork to be placed in the
Hoboken 2nd St. Station.
Graupe Pillard has also been involved with many on-line projects and showed her photos and
videos at Scope Miami and Scope London, Art Chicago, Art Fem. TV and Cologne OFF, Found
64
Footage, SHOAH, Warsaw Jewish Film Festival and Lars von Trier’s Gesamt (SEE BELOW
FOR LINKS.)
From 2003-2010, Ms. Graupe-Pillard was the Coordinator of The Edwin Austin Abbey Mural
Workshop – a fellowship program at The National Academy Museum and Art School in NYC
preparing selected participants to compete for public art commissions.
WEBSITES LINKS
http://ggp.NeoImages.net
http://www.hammergallery.com/Artists/GraupePillard/graupepillard.htm
Brooklyn Museum: Sackler Center for Feminist Art:
http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/feminist_art_base/gallery/gracegraupepillard.php
VIDEOS AND FESTIVALS
https://vimeo.com/graupepillard
GESAMT – concept Lars Von Trier, “Disaster 501 What Happened to man?”
Directed by Jenle Hallund Copenhagen, Dk 2012
SHOAH Film Collection at Warsaw Jewish Film Festival 2012, curated by WJFF, Warsaw,
Poland
A Virtual Memorial RIGA 2012, cur. Wilfriend Agricola de Cologne, Holocaust Mus., Riga
Latvia
http://riga2012.a-virtual-memorial.org/
Bushwick Open Studios (BOS) Studio 26 - 60 Second Film Festival, NYC, 2012
Cologne Off 2011 - Curator Wilfried Agricola de Cologne, National Center for Contemporary
Art, St. Petersburg, Russia
New Media Fest 2010, [self] imaging, VideoChannel Cologne Germany 2010
SHOAH Film Collection, VideoChannel, Cologne Germany 2010, AND Riga Latvia 2012 curator Wilfried Agricola de Cologne
FFF (Found Footage Film) Collection, Videochannel, Cologne Germany (group) 2009/10
http://videochannel.newmediafest.org/blog/?page_id=667
Videochannel: OMF – Family and Friends - 2009
http://videochannel.newmediafest.org/blog/?page_id=517
65
Cologne Off IV Mothers - 2009
http://vip.newmediafest.org/?page_id=106
Art Fem.TV Art and Feminism
http://www.artfem.tv/exhibition/
ITV,
curated
by
Evelin
Stermitz,
2010
2008 CologneOFF IV – Mother, Cologne Online Film Festival curated by Wilfried Agricola de
Cologne, Cologne Germany
A Knock At The Door LMCC – Anthology Film Archives 2005
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Huffinton Post, “Left Political Art Timeline – Part 6,” Roger Denson (5/12)
66
Mary R. Grayzel (was Mary Renner)
I was born and spent the first few years of my life in the Dominican
Republic . Then we moved to Manhattan where I grew up. I attended Julia
Richman H.S. and then went on to CCNY. Several years after graduation, I
returned to teach at PS 192, on 137 St. and Broadway, a cooperating school
with CCNY, and thus again was connected with CCNY.
After I got married, my husband and I went to live in a village in Mali for a
year, an amazing experience, through living a simple life, without
electricity, and having to learn new survival skills, among bright,
enthusiastic new friends of a different culture. A highlight of my stay was when Professor
Vivian Windley from CCNY, came to visit me in the village.
Several years later we moved to Mauritania, where I founded and was principal of a small
international school. This was truly the creative highlight of my career. Who could have
imagined then, that I could correspond today with former students on the internet?
In years that followed we lived in other countries. I taught at international schools in India and
the Philippines. Thereafter, I returned to the Washington State University to study for a
Master’s in educational administration.
Who would have thought when I was in junior high school that Dr. Ann Peskin, my math
teacher, would later be an instructional advisor to me at CCNY, or that Professor Vivian
Windley of the school of education would later visit me in my village in Mali, or that Prof. Leeds
of sociology would later become a colleague of my husband at a different university?
The joy of my life have been my children, who have brought us great happiness and pride.
For the next phase of our life, my husband and I are moving to upstate New York.
Fondest CCNY memories: As a student at CCNY, I was aware of the high quality education that
I was receiving, as well as the personal interest of the faculty in the students. The students were
enthusiastic, and high spirited. I also enjoyed doing service work at the children’s section of
Knickerbocker Hospital.
The amazing and memorable conclusion to my college education, and reflection of the inspiring
times in which we lived, was to have the great honor to hear Dr. Martin Luther King speak at our
commencement.
67
Jerrold S. Greenberg
Dr. Jerrold S. Greenberg grew up in Brooklyn and attended Wingate High
School, where he played on the varsity basketball team. At City College,
he majored in physical education and was on the basketball team. In 1963,
he was voted the team’s Most Valuable Player.
Following CCNY, Dr. Greenberg attended Syracuse University from 1965
to 1969, earning his ED.D. in health education. He went on to pursue a
career as a professor. From 1979 until his retirement in 2007, he was
Professor at the School of Public Health, University of Maryland. Before
that he was Assistant Professor at Boston University (1969-1971) and Professor at State
University of New York at Buffalo (1971-1979).
Dr. Greenberg was a member of the following professional organizations: American School
Health Association, 1971-2007; American Public Health Association, 1971-2007; Society of
Public Health Education, 1971-2007; American Alliance for Health, Physical Education,
Recreation, and Dance, 1971-2007. He also served as Founder of the Seat Pleasant/University of
Maryland Health Partnership, 1993-2001 and was on the Board of Directors of the Ronald
McDonald House Charities of Greater Washington, DC, 1993-2001
Dr. Greenberg has published over 60 books on various health topics: stress management,
caregiving, sexuality, physical fitness, sexuality education, health education ethics, personal
health, etc. Moreover, he has written over 50 articles in professional journals on health topics.
Dr. Greenberg is the recipient of the following awards and honors: Elected to Fellow.
68
David Mark Greene
David Mark Greene was a political science major at City College and a
member of the Government and Law Society, Modern Jazz Society, Wittes
’63, Big Brother Program, and the House Plan Newspaper. He was also
Secretary and Captain of the Intramural Basketball team, which won the
1962 Championship and Wittes Dynasty Athletic Chairman.
After CCNY, Mr. Greene attended Fordham University School of Law,
graduating in 1966 with a J.D. He pursued a career as an attorney and is still
working. He is a member of the following professional organizations: the
American Bar Association, NYS Bar Association, Kings County Defenders, Brooklyn Bar
Association, and the Brooklyn Women’s Bar Association. He was a member of the Federal Bar
Council from 1975 through 1995. Involved in his community, Mr. Greene is also a member of
the Brooklyn Heights Association and the Rhoda Lake Community, Inc., where he also served as
secretary. He was also President of the Kings County Defenders from 2004 through 2005.
Mr. Greene is the recipient of the NYS Scholar Incentive Award (1963,’64,’65,’66), West
Publishing Company Senior Honors (1966), and CCNY 1995 Alumni Association Service
Award. He was elected CCNY Alumni Association Board of Directors and Vice President of
CCNY Business and Economics Society.
Fondest CCNY memories: “Sitting on the South campus; working in Engineering and Science
Library; Professors Tarter’s and Irani’s philosophy classes and Stanley Feingold’s political
science classes.”
Ruth Grulich (was Ruth Stern)
Ruth Grulich was an active member of the Debating Society during the four
years she attended CCNY. After a year of graduate studies in political
science at Johns Hopkins, she married and moved to Cincinnati and then on
to Hanover, N.H. where her husband was studying for his doctorate in
engineering. She subsequently moved to Newark, DE, Houston, DE, and
Taipai, Taiwan and now again lives in DE. She received her MSW from the
University of Houston in 1981 and worked as a clinical social worker until
her retirement two years ago. During those years she was also active with a
number of community and professional organizations, including LWV,
AAUW, YWCA of DE and NASW, DE. She now remains active in the International Women’s
Club of DE., and the Child Placement Review Board, plays duplicate bridge and travels a lot
given that one son is in the U.S. Foreign Service and the other son lives in Australia with his
fiancé, an Australian foreign service officer.
69
Carole Guttman (was Carole Goldberg)
Carole Goldberg Guttman grew up in the Bronx and has been living in
Connecticut since 1964. At City College, she majored in bio-chemistry and
was a member of House Plan. From 1979 until she retired in 2001, Mrs.
Guttman held the position of comptroller and vice-president of Rockville
Bank. She also worked as an auditor for Rockville Bank. Involved in her
community, Mrs. Guttman has served as Chairman of the Board of
Assessment Appeals and in 2013 she was a Justice of the Peace. She
volunteers at the Rockville Hospital and at a theatre in Hartford.
Carole is married to Richard Guttman ’63 BSEE. They have three children and 11
grandchildren. They love to travel and attend adult education classes.
Fondest CCNY memories: “Lewisohn Stadium concerts, House Plan meetings, and bio labs.”
Richard Guttman
R Richard Guttman grew up in the Bronx and attended the Bronx High
School of Science. At CCNY, he majored in electrical engineering and was
a member of House Plan. He attended the University of Connecticut from
1964 to 1968 for a Master’s degree in electrical engineering and Western
New England College from 1972 to 1974 for a Master’s degree in
accounting. He pursued a career as an engineer financial analyst, working
for the same company for 40 years. He held the position of Engineer
Financial Analyst at Pratt & Whitney Aircraft from 1964 to 2004. Mr.
Guttman has been a member of MENSA Since 1977. Currently, he is
Duplicate Bridge Director at the Manchester Connecticut Senior Center, a Tax Counselor for
AARP and a driving class instructor. In his free time he also enjoys playing softball, doing
puzzles and traveling. Mr. Guttman has been married for 50 years to Carole Goldberg, Class of
’63. They have three children and 11 grandchildren.
Fondest CCNY memories: “Having lunch on Thursdays with my future wife. Buying pretzels
from Raymond on my way between North and South Campus. Attending concerts at Lewisohn
Stadium.”
70
Phyllis Harbus (was Phyllis E. Tish)
I can’t believe it’s been 50 years since graduation. It seems like only
yesterday that I was running from the 125th Street subway station to an
English class in Mott Hall or from the 137th Street station to a biology
lecture in Shepard Hall. And it seems like only yesterday that I was running
from North Campus to South Campus – or South to North – to get to class
on time, always making sure to wave “hi” to Raymond the Bagelman.
I remember the elation I felt when I received my acceptance letter from
CCNY. It was, literally and figuratively, my ticket to college. Much as my
parents would have liked to send me to Barnard or perhaps NYU, that just wasn’t in the cards –
or within their means. Acceptance to CCNY was equivalent to winning a 4-year, all-expensespaid scholarship to what was often referred to as the poor man’s Harvard. It meant I could go to
college full-time, during the day, and receive a top-notch education from the jewel in the City
University’s crown. I wouldn’t, like so many of my (female) high school classmates, be
relegated to taking a job with limited growth potential by day and then battling exhaustion to
attend college classes somewhere in the city at night. I was lucky indeed. The New York State
Regents Scholarship I received was icing on the cake.
I harbored many dreams as a young girl growing up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and
some of them followed me to CCNY: becoming a doctor, or a foreign correspondent, or a
novelist, or an intrepid traveler and observer of life. I split my course work accordingly –
concentrating on English, writing, French, and biology (I was too chicken to tackle chemistry) –
once I decided to combine something that interested me greatly (medicine) with something that I
was told I was very good at (writing). And I pulled it off!
Starting as a freelance stringer for a group of newspapers distributed to physicians in various
specialties – pediatrics, internal medicine, family medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, clinical
psychiatry – I built a career as a medical writer and editor. I’ve worked in print and other media,
written and/or edited hundreds of news and journal articles, monographs, newsletters, etc., on a
broad range of disease states, and been involved in developing symposiums and other continuing
medical educational vehicles for physicians, nurses, and pharmacists. It’s been (and continues to
be) a lot of hard work, requiring a lot of determination and totally crazy hours, but it’s afforded
me the privilege of working with world-renowned leaders in science and medicine (including
Nobel laureates) and the opportunity to travel far and wide to some really wonderful places. One
of my favorite assignments was to cover and prepare a newsletter highlighting selected sessions
at the World Congress of Anesthesiology in Sydney, Australia in the late 1990s. I still refer to
that assignment as being “down under Down Under,” and it still gets a laugh.
Looking back, I’m very proud of the career I built, essentially out of nothing more than drive,
determination, and the good sense to combine an area that fascinated me with my writing skills.
There wasn’t a Medical Writing major back then, or a course of study leading to a certificate.
71
And there wasn’t a whole lot of encouragement either. One or two friends or family members or
teachers would say, “Good idea” or “Go for it.” Mostly they’d look at me as if I had two heads.
That wasn’t very helpful, but it didn’t particularly bother me because I’d always prided myself,
even as a kid, on being just a little bit different.
Before building my career, however, there were some very interesting and wonderful detours.
One was teaching English in junior high school in New York City for 3 years. I hadn’t intended
to teach, but I’m glad I took my mother’s advice to “take some Ed courses so you’ll have
something to fall back on.” To my great surprise, I enjoyed teaching (and in junior high, no less)
far more than I thought I would.
Another detour was motherhood. My son arrived first (an extremely colicky baby), followed
nearly 4 years later by my daughter (so good we didn’t even know there was a baby in the
house). I started freelancing when my son was in the second grade and my daughter was in prekindergarten. It wasn’t easy, given the juggled and re-juggled schedules, the sleep deprivation,
and the insane deadlines, but – again – I pulled it off.
Both children have children of their own now, and I can tell you unequivocally that being a
grandma is a blast. I still accept an occasional freelance assignment (I’ve pushed too many
deadlines to do this very often), but my favorite job these days is being a doting grandma.
Jay R. Hauben
Jay R. Hauben grew up in the Hillside Homes Housing project in the
northeast Bronx and lived in the Amalgamated housing Cooperative since
2006. He attended the Bronx High School of Science and enrolled in City
College because it was a good school and affordable (free). In addition to a
BA in physics from City College, Mr. Hauben earned an MA degree in
physics from Harvard University in 1964. He worked as a science
technician, teacher, and computer administrator. From 1994 until he retired
in 2009, he worked in the libraries of Columbia University, seven years as
an Officer. Before that he also held the titles of Science Instructional
Technician and Adjunct Physics Lecturer at Henry Ford Community College from 1979-1994.
From 1971-1979 he did factory work. He was a Staff Developer at Elementary Science Studies
from 1967-1969. Mr. Hauben is a member of Mercurians, founder of the Amalgamated/Park
Reservoir Co-op History Club, and an editor of the online journal the Amateur Computerist. He
was a member of DSEIU in Dearborn, Michigan from 1979-1994; a member of SSA at
Columbia University from 1994-1997; and a member of Local 25 URW in Cambridge, MA from
1972-1979. He was involved with the anti-Vietnam War movement and is a lifelong fighter for
democracy and against US wars of aggression. He has chapters in two books in Germany, and
articles in Computer Pioneers, The Encyclopedia of Computers and Computer History, and the
72
Amateur Computerist, as well as other on-line publications in the US, China and Germany. He
has presented the results of his various researches at conferences in N. America, Asia, Africa and
Europe. His hobbies and interests include studying the origins and development of the Internet
and the emergence of netizens (net citizens)
Fondest CCNY memories: “Camaraderie among physics majors; progressive and left-leaning
professors.”
Helen Phyllis Hauer (was Helen Phyllis
Schoen)
At City College, Dr. Helen Phyllis Schoen Hauer was a member of the
Baskerville Chemistry Club and recipient of the Baskerville Memorial Prize
for Service in the Chemistry Club. After graduating CCNY, she attended
Purdue University from 1964 through 1969, earning a Ph.D. in organic
chemistry. Dr. Schoen Hauer pursued a career as a chemistry professor,
retiring in 2003. From 1975 until her retirements she was the Department
Chair and Professor at the Chemistry & Biology Department at Delaware
Technical & Community College. She is a member of the American
Chemical Society, and National Science Teachers Association. Dr. Schoen
Hauer was honored with the Tiligman Award for Service to the Delaware Section of the
American Chemical Society.
Shirley Y. Herman
Shirley Y. Herman majored in history at City College and went on to pursue
a career as an accountant/financial planner. Now retired, she is a member of
the Palm Beach County National Organization for Women and the Palm
Beach County Democratic Women’s Club. She is married to Dr. H. Joan
Waitkevicz, who has been her life partner for 40 years.
73
Ira S. Holder
I am a native of Brooklyn, New York. I attended the original Boy’s High School. I graduated
from Boy’s High School with an academic diploma in 1949. In 1950, I enrolled at Baruch as an
evening session student. After one term, I changed my major to Political Science and transferred
Uptown. In 1951, I enlisted in the United States Air Force, and served in Korea. I was honorably
discharged in 1955.
I obtained a job with the U.S. Government, and resumed my studies at CCNY as an evening
session student. After my last class, and the subway ride home to Queens, I arrived home close to
midnight. The highlight of my professional career was promotion to Executive Sales status in a
Fortune 500 company. I retired in 1994.
Logic and Geology classes were very enjoyable. In 1957, I married Gladys McCullough, also a
graduate of CCNY. After 56 years, we are still married. We have one son, Reginald, and one
daughter, Chevette. We are blessed with five grandchildren--three boys and two girls.
I enjoy reading, travel, and public speaking. My fondest CCNY memory was in 1963, when I
graduated with a B.A. degree. Our commencement speaker was Reverend Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr.
Sara Adah Izen (was Sara A. Goldstein)
Ms. Sara Adah Goldstein Izen grew up in the Bronx and graduated from
Walton High School. She attended City College because it was the best
public college in New York City. At CCNY, Ms. Izen majored in biology
and was a member of Hillel. She was greatly influenced by her chemistry and
literature professors.
After a lab accident in 1968, Ms. Izen knew she would not continue to work
in biomedical research. She went on to pursue a career as a public health
educator, earning an MPH (Public Health Education) degree in 1976 from the
University of Hawaii. After working as a public health educator in a number of areas, including
cancer, immunization, preventive mental health and maternal and child health, Ms. Izen left state
service to join the non-profit sector concentrating on the prevention of child abuse and neglect
(CAN) and on community preventive services. She served as executive director of Prevent Child
Abuse Hawaii and Blueprint for Change, both dedicated to the prevention of CAN, but her most
significant positions were in an organization called Parents and Children Together. In that
dynamic and innovative organization, Ms. Izen started as a supervisor for a home visitation
program (the program from which the Healthy Families America initiative was modeled),
74
became director of that program, and then Division Director of Prevention Programs, a position
that oversaw Early Head Start/Head Start, CAN prevention, youth development, economic
development for low income persons, and family center programs. Her career highlights include
helping pass the Cigarette Vending Machine Act and the Rubella Act, and starting the Hawaii
Coalition for Dads. In fact, she received citations from the Hawaii State Legislator for
establishing the Coalition and also an award from the Coalition for her leadership.
Ms. Izen has published two biomedical research articles on calcium transport while she was
working as a researcher at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (19651967).
She is a member of the American Public Health Association. In her community, Ms. Izan
participates in the Windward Choral Society and in Hui O Ko’olaupoko, a local environmental
organization that protects ocean health. She is currently a volunteer docent for this organization
for boat tours of Kaneohe Bay. She is a former Board member of Blueprint for Change, the
Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawaii, and the American Lung Association of
Hawaii.
Ms. Izen has two sons and a stepson. One son is a math analyst in Texas, and the other a sound
mixer in New Orleans. Her stepson is a manager of an engineering firm in Portland, OR. and has
graced the family with three beautiful granddaughters. Her husband is a writer of fiction,
photographer and magician. Her interests include dance, choral singing, hula, the Hawaiian
language, gardening and dogs.
Fondest CCNY memories: “Graduation speech of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.;
conversations in the café over coffee-those were the days of face-to-face discussions;
singing and dancing at Hillel.”
75
Paul Allen Jacobs
Mr. Paul Allen Jacobs was born and grew up in the Bronx. He attended PS
96, Olinville JHS (113), Christopher Columbus High School, Class of 1959.
Entered CCNY in Fall, 1959. Graduated from New York University with an
MS in Meteorology in 1973.
Mr. Jacobs enrolled in ROTC at City College. He also had membership in
the college chapters of the Society of American Military Engineers, and the
American Meteorological Society. He received a Distinguished Military
Graduate award at graduation. He joined the National Weather Service
(former U.S. Weather Bureau) as a Student-Trainee in 1963.
Mr. Jacobs was commissioned in the Army Signal Corps in 1964 and served two years at Ft.
Wainwright (Fairbanks), Alaska, heading one of several Meteorological Teams at Army posts
around the country. After his discharge in 1966, he began a career as an observer-briefer with
the National Weather Service (NWS) in New York City. Mr. Jacobs married in 1968 and
transferred later that year to the National Meteorological Center near Washington DC. In 1973,
he transferred to Aviation Weather Services at NWS HQ in Silver Spring, Maryland, where he
spent the rest of his career. He advanced to Program Manager for Marine Weather Services,
responsible for the provision of NWS warnings and forecasts to commercial and recreational
mariners on the oceans and the Great Lakes. Mr. Jacobs has lived in Columbia, Maryland, until
1985 and in Silver Spring, Maryland, thereafter.
In 1973, Mr. Jacobs revised and updated the section on Clear Air Turbulence in the FAA/NWS
manual, Aviation Weather, required for pilot certification. In 1975, he received an Award of
Merit from the 28th Annual All-Woman Transcontinental Air Race (Powder Puff Derby). In
1981, he testified before the House of Representatives Committee on Merchant Marine and
Fisheries investigating the disappearance of the merchant ship S.S. POET off the east coast. In
1985, Mr. Jacobs developed the NWS Mariner Report (MAREP) program patterned after the
aviation Pilot Report program, to enable reporting of weather conditions at sea by volunteer
mariners to Coast Guard and private marine radio stations for relay to NWS coastal offices;
wrote the MAREP handbook and designed a “True Wind Computer” slide-rule device for
determining wind conditions on a moving vessel (derived from tables in the British Marine
Meteorological Observers’ Handbook). He led the effort with the Coast Guard to expand and
modernize the broadcast of weather charts via radio-facsimile to ships at sea. He also led the
effort with the NWS National Data Buoy Center in the substantial multi-year expansion of
weather observations from offshore buoys and automated coastal stations. In 1995, in
cooperation with the Coast Guard, Mr. Jacobs revised and updated the section on ship masters’
weather information-gathering responsibilities in the international Safety Of Life At Sea
(SOLAS) convention (developed after the TITANIC disaster of 1912).
Upon leaving the military in 1966, Mr. Jacobs was awarded a Certificate of Achievement by the
U.S. Army Electronics Research and Development Activity. He also received the Line
76
Forecaster of the Year award in 1972 as a member of the Aviation Forecast Branch at the
National Meteorological Center; the Department of Commerce Award for Unusually
Outstanding Performance in 1988 as Marine Services Program Manager; and the NWS
Modernization Award for Marine Weather Services in 1996 in connection with the national
NWS Modernization and Restructuring program mandated by the Congress.
Mr. Jacobs has published articles on marine
weather programs were published in the National
Weather Association Digest; Department of
Commerce Mariners Weather Log; NMEA News
(Journal of Marine Electronics); Boat Owners’
Association of the U.S. (BOAT-US); Maritime
Reporter and Engineering News; and Sea
Technology periodicals.
He retired from NWS in 1996 with 33 years of
Federal service. After retirement, he served as an
advisor to FEMA during the 1996-98 hurricane
seasons and was an expert witness in a major
maritime litigation case. Mr. Jacobs has lectured
on several occasions at the Maritime Institute of
Technology and Graduate Studies near Baltimore,
Maryland.
His hobbies and interests include woodworking,
antique cars, and enjoying shows at the many
regional theaters on Long Island. He has a 1941
Oldsmobile Club Sedan and is a member of the
National Antique Oldsmobile Club (has
contributed several articles to its monthly
newsletter); the Antique Automobile Club of
America; and the Vanderbilt Cup Region Auto Club of Long Island, where he serves as editor of
the organization’s newsletter. Mr. Jacobs’ car has been featured in Collectible Automobile
magazine, Classic Car magazine, Hemmings Motor News, and Newsday and has won several
awards at car shows.
In 2006, he and his wife moved from Maryland to Huntington, New York, to be closer to their
offspring and grandchildren. His wife, Gloria (CCNY ’64, MS CCNY ‘68), retired from the
D.C. Public School System where she was a K-6 Science Resource Specialist. Their daughter,
Nina (Barnard ’93, DPT Touro ‘98), a Physical Therapist, lives on Long Island with her
husband, Michael, a business consultant, and their children: Rachel, Dan, Sarah, Ari, and Moe.
Their son, Rob (Maryland ’95, MA Johns Hopkins ‘97), a senior e-commerce project manager at
MICROS Systems, lives in New Jersey with his wife, Lara, a speech therapist, and their children:
Violet and Levi.
77
Erwin D. Jonas
Mr. Erwin D. Jonas was a member of Delta Alpha at City College. After
graduating with a BEE degree from City, he attended Brooklyn Polytech,
earning a Master’s in Electrical Engineering in 1975. He pursued a career
as a radar systems engineer and engineering manager. In 2011 he retired
from his position as manager at Northrop Grumman Ships Self Defense
Systems. Previous to that, from 1981-1989, he held the title of Associate
Vice President at Robotic Visions Systems. In May 10, 2011, Mr. Jonas
was honored by the Hon. Steve Isreal in the US House of Representatives
for his career contributions.
Fondest CCNY memories: “Living at the DA house on 143rd Street; A unique college
experience for CCNY. CCNY provided a ‘world class’ education allowing a rewarding career.”
Brenda Mishell Kamen
The years spent at CCNY were among the most important of my life—for
showing me a broader world than the Bronx, for granting me an excellent
education, for influencing my critical thinking, and for giving me many of
my most lasting, meaningful, and loving friendships.
There was never a doubt that I would attend CCNY after graduation from
Christopher Columbus High School. I was brought up with that goal and am
fortunate that I attained it.
At CCNY I majored in Art, relished my Geology, Philosophy, Political Science, and English
classes, and spent many happy hours as part of the Art staff of Microcosm. In fact, in reviewing
our 100th issue, I smiled upon seeing the art work I created for two of the subject opening spreads
and finding a few photos that featured good friends from the Art Department and the Microcosm
staff.
I am especially grateful for Florian G. Kraner (the G was our big mystery) as a teacher of several
Art classes, a man of talent, empathy, and counsel. Professor Borgata gave me confidence that I
made the right choice in choosing my major. I fondly remember Professor Kindle, Geology, for
his joy in sharing his knowledge of science (which I loved and still have a huge interest in) and
our fantastic field trips, traipsing over the Palisades in our every-day shoes and clothing. I am
indebted to Professor Yohannan, for his class in Oriental Classics. It opened my mind and senses
to exciting and vibrant cultures and customs, an interest I’ve maintained and continue to study,
especially in art and cuisine. Professor Feingold gave me a strong foundation in the workings and
78
understanding of our Constitution and the rights and responsibilities of a citizen. Having been
raised in a socially conscious, politically active family and culture, he gave me valuable tools to
continue the good fight.
After CCNY, I attended Hunter College, studying for an MA in Art History. I was surprised that
my undergraduate courses, for fewer credits, were, on the whole, better designed and more
educationally rigorous than graduate level courses offered by Hunter.
Flying to Europe on the CCNY charter (a prop jet—12 hours to London, 14 hours to Paris) after
my junior year initiated my lifelong love affair with travel. That first trip took me to many
European destinations, west and east, north and south, touring for three months via hitchhiking
and youth hostels, and spending no more than $5 a day. I’ve since been to many other places in
Europe, Turkey, Patagonia and other parts of South America, cruised through the Panama Canal
and visited parts of the US. I hope to continue traveling to see the historic sites, museums, and
art I’ve studied and to relish the various cultures and cuisines of the rest of the world.
I have lived in Manhattan since graduation and though I have never wanted to live elsewhere, an
apartment in Paris (my other favorite city) would be wonderful; it’s still great to dream. By being
in Manhattan, I am able to indulge in my favorite pursuits—visiting art museums and galleries
almost weekly; seeing innovative, intelligent, surprising theater and dance; listening to live
music; walking in Hudson River Park and on the High Line and neighborhood streets. And I can
visit the NYBG or, as we call it, the Bronx Botanical Garden by train. I am interested in
horticulture, gardens, and live with many beautiful plants, some of which actually flower in my
Chelsea apartment.
Having close friends in other parts of the country, I can also indulge my zest for travel by
visiting and seeing their environs; I’ve become a specialist on Kansas, its landscape and its social
strata—quite exotic to a New Yorker.
For more than thirty years, I worked in the publishing industry. My main focus was in
educational (elementary school through college texts and teacher editions) and professional
books, journals, and ancillary products; as designer, art director, studio manager, and sometime
copy editor/proofreader. I experienced the best and the worst of the industry during my time at
Scholastic Book Services, McGraw-Hill, Random House, and various educational design studios.
I was also involved in trying to unionize staff not covered by the Newspaper Guild.
Unfortunately I witnessed the decline of this business as profit became so much more important
than quality and standards.
Currently I am happily engaged in my second career as a Professional Organizer with my
company Find Everything. I am an active member of NAPO, National Association of
Professional Organizers, served on the Board of Directors of NAPO-NY, and volunteer in
several capacities. As an eclectic generalist I focus on and design client-customized solutions to
paper management, effective use of time and limited space, clutter consolidation, and
memorabilia organization. With patience and an understanding of the difficulties encountered in
79
simplifying and decluttering, I help clients recognize that organizing is a process that can reduce
stress and enhance lifestyle. And I relish the hugs my clients give me.
Being able to live in NYC has kept me active, involved, sane, connected, and interested in the
world. I am happily anticipating this reunion, having enjoyed my 50th high school reunion with
several of the same graduates, and having bright and emotional memories of my CCNY 25 th
reunion. I hope, once again, to see how fortunate I was to attend CCNY and receive a first class,
free education, to reconnect with good friends, and to celebrate the new graduating class.
Joel V. Kamer
At City College, Mr. Joel V. Kamer served as president and vice president of
House Plan and was a member of Wittes ’63, Lock and Key, and Pick and
Shovel. He was honored for his student service with the Student Government
Outstanding Service Award.
Following CCNY, Mr. Kamer attended
Pennsylvania State University graduating with an MA in mathematics in
1964. In 1967, Mr. Kamer earned an MS degree in actuarial science from
Northeastern University. He went on to pursue a career as an actuary retiring
in 2002 from his position as Senior Vice President at John Hancock Financial
Services (1964 – 2002). Mr. Kamer is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries
and a former member of the American Academy of Actuaries. He also served as Council
Chairman of the Brandeis University Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and has remained
involved with Institute since 2003.
Mr. Kamer is married to Jane for 45 years. They have two children, Wendy and Allen (and their
spouses Lenny and Stacy respectively), and six grandchildren, Nolan, Bryce (Wendy’s) and
Eliana, Maya, Nadav, and Yoav (Allen’s).
Fondest CCNY memories: “Being a member of Wittes ’63 and the student lounge at Finley.”
80
Gerald W. Kamicka, Jr.
In addition to a BEE degree from City College, Col. Gerald W. Kamicka
holds a Master of Engineering Administration from George Washington
University which he earned in 1973. He pursued a career in the military
(US Army Corps of Engineers), retiring in 1991. Col. Kamicka is a member
of the Society of American Military Engineers and the National Association
of Enrolled Agents. He was awarded two US Army Legion of Merit medals
and two Bronze Stars.
Jane Katz
Dr. Jane Katz was awarded the Federation Internationale de Natation
Amateur (FINA) Certification of merit to honor her “dedication and
contribution to the development” of the sport of swimming, awarded in
Sydney, Australia, during the XXVII Olympiad in 2000.
Dr. Jane Katz has taught thousands of students about the benefits of water
fitness at the City University of New York since 1964. She is a professor at
John Jay College of Criminal Justice in the Department of Health and
Physical Education teaching fitness and swimming to New York City’s
police and firefighters.
Dr. Katz has been recognized for her work as an educator, aquatics innovator and author.
Among many prestigious honors for her work is the Townsend Harris Academic Medal from her
alma mater, CCNY, an award bestowed by fellow alumnus Former Secretary of the State Colin
Powell.
As a member of the 1964 US Synchronized Swimming Performance Team in Tokyo, Dr. Katz
helped pioneer the acceptance of synchronized swimming as an Olympic event. Her
achievements as a Masters competitive, long-distance, synchronized and fin swimmer have
earned her All-American and World Masters Championships.
Dr. Katz earned her bachelor’s degree in physical education at the City College of New York, a
Master’s in Education Administration and Organization from New York University and both a
Master’s degree in Therapeutic Recreation for Aging and her Doctorate of Education degree in
Gerontology from Columbia University.
81
Jane Katz’s aquatics publications include Swimming for Total Fitness, as well as other books,
videos, and numerous articles, such as the Encyclopedia Britannica’s “Take the Plunge:
Swimming for health,” and “Aquatic Exercise.” Her recent publication is Your Water Workout
(Random House/Broadway Books).
Jane Katz is on the Advisory Board of Aquatics International magazine, has been a member of
USA Swimming’s Education and Waterworks Committees and has been a consultant to the
President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports since 1981. In 2002, Dr. Katz was elected as
an advisory member of the Board of Directors of the International Swimming Hall of Fame. She
is also a member of the US Masters Swimming Sports Medicine Committee.
Dr. Katz received an Outstanding Teacher Award for the academic year 1999-2000 at John Jay
College of Criminal Justice of CUNY, and was the 2000 honoree of the New York City PSAL’s
National Girls and Women in Sports Day. In April 2001, the Dr. Jane Katz Natatorium was
dedicated at the Children’s Better Health Institution in Indianapolis, Indiana.
In 2004, for the second time, she was voted Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year of the City
University of New York Division III Athletic Conference. In 2005, she was selected by the
Aquatics International Magazine as one of the 25 most powerful people in the world of aquatics.
Dr. Katz earned US Masters Swimming All American Status from 2004 and won the 2005
USMS Long Distance One Mile Swim Championship. In addition, she was recently inducted
into the Metropolitan Swimming Hall for her lifetime contributions in aquatics.
In August 2009, she competed in the National Senior Games at Stanford University in Palo Alto,
CA, also winning several swimming events. In August of 2010, she won four championships in
the US Masters Nationals in San Juan, PR. In 2011, she was masters Team Captain for the
European Maccabiah Games in Vienna, Austria, also winning a dozen medals.
In 2007, Professor Katz helped create the Kids Aquatic Re-Entry (KARE) Program, in
cooperation with the New York City Department of Juvenile Justice to help troubled youth
learner life’s lessons poolside. In 2008, she was awarded the New York Post Liberty Medal as
Educator of the Year for the Program. In 2010, Dr. Katz was the recipient of the Distinguished
Faculty Award from John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
In March 2011, Dr. Katz was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and
Museum. In June 2011, she was also honored at the United Nations by the International
Marathon Hall of Fame and given the Certificate of Merit Award. This September at the United
States Aquatics Sports Convention in Jacksonville, FL, Dr. Katz received the USMS June
Krauser Communications Award and the Fitness Swimmer of the Year (two separate awards
from two different committees). In the same year, Dr. Katz became the co-chair of the NYC
Swim Council “Swim for Life” program which teaches 2nd grade school children how to swim
here at CCNY.
82
In 2012, the CCNY Alumni Association awarded her the Educator of the year award from her
alma mater in May at the National Art Club in Gramercy Park based on her dedication to aquatic
education for all. In 2013, she was included (with Michael Phelps) among the Power 25 most
influential persons in aquatics for the past 25 years by Aquatics International magazine. Setting
her sights on the future, she is advocating for the revival of swimming competency for college
graduation. This harkens back to ancient times when swimming was considered essential to
becoming an officer or a gentleman. She continues to promote the water as a democratic
equalizer for students at CCNY by volunteering, marking her 50th year as an alumnus.
Judith Kaufman (was Judith Horowitz)
I was born and raised in the Bronx, New York, the elder of two children
born to Dorothy and Nathan Horowitz. My father was a Russian immigrant
and my mother, a first generation American. I attended Christopher
Columbus High School in the Bronx. As the only person to attend college
in my family, City College was the only economic option and I chose to
attend Baruch (downtown City College) to major in advertising! After
attending my first psychology class with Dr. Jon Bauer, the direction of my
life changed. I graduated with a BBA degree in industrial psychology, went
on to obtain an MS ED from City College in clinical school psychology and
a Ph.D. in school psychology from Ferkauf Graduate School, Yeshiva University.
While at Baruch, I was determined to become involved in co-curricular activities and was in
student government (briefly), leadership training, program planning board, but most importantly,
Theatron, where I served many roles, including President for two years. I had the opportunity to
produce and direct several productions as well as rarely appearing on stage. Theatron along with
several amazing professors were significant growth events of which I am still grateful for today.
I also serve as President of the Psychology Club. I first met my husband of 48 years, Sheldon
Kaufman at Baruch where he was a lecturer in the Physics Department. We later discovered that
we lived in the same neighborhood!
I have been a Professor and Director of School Psychology training at Fairleigh Dickinson
University for the past several years having developed the University’s Psy.D. Program. Prior to
that, I was Vice-president of Student Affairs at Fairleigh Dickinson. I was Director of School
Psychology training at Ferkauf Graduate School, faculty at the University of Bridgeport, and was
visiting professor at the University of London, England and the University of Wisconsin,
Madison. All along, I have been involved in consultation to schools and hospitals as well as
providing direct service.
I was honored at Fairleigh Dickinson to receive the outstanding teaching award at the College
and University level as well as receiving the outstanding service to the university award. In my
83
professional organizations (too numerous to mention), I have received the Outstanding Trainer of
the Year award as well as Presidential citations from Trainers of School Psychology. I was also
named a Legend in School Psychology by the New York State Psychology Association.
I have published and presented scholarly work as well as editing books throughout my
professional career and continue to do research in the area of “Emerging Adulthood,’ where I am
currently writing a book with my graduate students.
While we do not have children, we have a very large extended family to share life with. My
husband has been a wonderful supporter and friend throughout my personal and professional life.
In fact, it was he (also a first generation college student with a Ph.D.) who encouraged me to
obtain my doctorate. We enjoy the theater, jazz, taking art classes and traveling together.
Life has been a blessing. I enjoy my work and value what I have learned from students and
colleagues throughout my career. City College, and particularly Baruch, provided the foundation
and inspiration to a productive, successful and joyful life path.
Stanley Kaufman
Dr. Stanley Kaufman majored in physics and was a member of the Alpha
Epsilon Pi fraternity at City College. In 1970, he earned a Ph.D. in chemistry
from Brown University. Dr. Kaufman went on to pursue a career as a scientist
and manager. Since 2001, he has served as President of Cablesafe, Inc.
Before that, he held the position of Environmental, Health and Safety Officer
at Lucent Technologies Optical Fiber Solutions Business Unit.
Dr. Kaufman is a member of the National Fire Protection Association,
American Physical Society, American Chemical Society, Building Industry
Consultants International, and Insulated Cable Engineers Association. He is also a member of
the community organization, the North Atlanta Men’s Club, and a former Boys Scouts volunteer.
Dr. Kaufman is the recipient of the Best Presentation Award for the 21st International Wire and
Cable Symposium (1972). He was also awarded the AKZO Chemie (UK) Prize (1980) for his
paper, “The Behaviour of Fire-Resistant Communications Cables in Large-Scale Fire Tests.”
His many publications and patents include:
1. S. Kaufman, J. M. Steim, J. H. Gibbs, “Nuclear Relaxation in Phospholipids and
Biological Membranes,” Nature, 225, (1970), 743.
2. S. Kaufman, S. J. Bunger, “Use of the Weibull Function for Describing the Shape of the
Free Induction Decay,” Journal of Magnetic Resonance 3, (1970) pp. 218-222.
84
3. S. Kaufman, W. P. Slichter, D. D. Davis, “Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Study of
Rubber-Carbon Black Interactions,” Journal of Polymer Science, A2, 9, pp. 829-839.
4. S. Kaufman, R. Sabia, “Reclamation of Water-Logged Buried PIC Telephone Cable,”
Proceedings of the 21st International Wire and Cable Symposium, 1972, pp. 64-69.
5. N. J. Cogelia, W. J. King, S. Kaufman, R. Sabia, “Water and Flame Resistant Buried
Telephone Service Wire,” Proceedings of the 22nd international Wire and Cable
Symposium, 1973, pp. 221-228.
6. S. Kaufman, R. S. Dedier, “A PVC Jacket Compound with Improved Flame Retardancy
and Superior Physical Properties,” Proceedings of the 23rd International Wire and Cable
Symposium, 1974, pp. 281-289, also published in Wire Technology, 3, No. 4, July/August
1975, pp. 44-50.
7. S. Kaufman, C. A. Landreth, “Development of Improved Flame Resistant Interior Wiring
Cables,” Proceedings of the 24th International Wire and Cable Symposium, 1975, pp. 914.
8. S. Kaufman, M. M. Yocum, “Balancing Flame Retardancy and Low Temperature
Properties in PVC,” FIRE RETARDANTS: Proceedings of the 1975 International
Symposium on Flammability and Fire Retardants, V. M. Bhatnager, Editor, pp. 238-248,
Technomic Press, Westport, Conn.
9. J. R. Beyreis, J. W. Skjordahl, S. Kaufman, M. M. Yocum, “A Test Method for
Measuring and Classifying the Flame Spreading and Smoke Generating Characteristics of
Communications Cable,” Proceedings of the 25th International Wire and Cable
Symposium, 1976, pp. 291-295.
10. S. Kaufman, R. Sabia, J. L. Williams, M. Brauer, T. F. Kroplinski, “The Performance of
Cable Reclamation,” Proceedings of the 26th International Wire and Cable Symposium,
1977, pp. 24-31.
11. S. Kaufman, M. M. Yocum, “Influence of Resin Viscosity on PVC Compound
Properties,” Plastics Compounding, November/December 1978, pp. 44-46.
12. S. Kaufman, M. M. Yocum, “Fire Testing of Communication Cables,” Report of the Task
Force on Flammability, Smoke, Toxicity, and Corrosive Gases of Electric Cable
Materials, Publication NMAB-342 National Academy of Sciences, 1978, Washington,
D.C.
13. S. Kaufman, M. M. Yocum, “The Behaviour of Fire-Resistant Communications Cables in
Large-Scale Fire Tests,” Plastics in Telecommunications 11, p. 8-1. Also published in
Plastics and Rubber: Materials and Applications, 4, No. 4, Nov. 1979, pp. 149-155.
14. S. Kaufman, L. J. Przybyla, E. J. Coffey, M. M. Yocum, J. C. Reed, D. B. Allen, “Low
Smoke and Flame Spread Cables,” Proceedings of 28th International Wire and Cable
Symposium, 1979, pp. 281-291. Also published in Journal of Fire and Flammability, 12,
1981, pp. 177-199.
15. S. Kaufman and J. T. Loadholt, “Development of a Flame Resistant Noncontaminating
PVC Jacket for Coaxial Cable,” Proceedings of the 29th International Wire and Cable
Symposium, 1980, p. 245. Also published in Journal of Vinyl Technology, 4, No. 3,
September 1982, pp. 128-132.
85
16. D. Edelson, V. J. Kuck, R. M. Lum, E. Scalco, W. H. Stames, Jr., S. Kaufman,
“Anomalous Behavior of Molybdenum Oxide as a Fire Retardant for Polyvinyl
Chloride,” Combustion and Flame, 38, 1980, pp. 271-283.
17. E. D. Nelson, S. Kaufman, “Release Rate Calorimetry of PVC Compounds Containing
Antimony Oxide and Iron Oxide,” Proceedings of the International Conference on Fire
Safety, pp. 158-187, and The Journal of Fire and Flammability, 13, April 1982, pp. 79103.
18. S. Kaufman, J. L. Williams, E. E. Smith, L. J. Przybyla, “Large Scale Fire Tests of
Building Riser Cables,” Proceedings of the Thirty-First International Wire and Cable
Symposium, pp. 411-416 and Proceedings of the International Conference on Fire Safety,
pp. 105-117, Journal of Fire Sciences, I, January/February 1983, pp. 54-65.
19. E. D. Nelson, J. L. Williams, S. Kaufman, “The Influence of Applied Heat Flux on the
Combustion of Epoxies,” Fire and Materials, 7, 1983, pp. 216-218.
20. J. L. Williams, S. Kaufman, “A Comparison of Cable Fire Tests,” Proceedings of the
Ninth International Conference on Fire Safety, 1984, pp. 166-181.
21. S. Kaufman, “PVC in Communications Cable,” Proceedings of the Regional Technical
Conference of the Society of Plastics Engineers: Plastics Products Design - Why PVC?,
October, 1984, pp. 59-71, Journal of Vinyl Technology, 7, No. 4, September 1985, pp.
107-111.
22. L. J. Przybyla, T. J. Guida, J. L. Williams, S. Kaufman, “Fire Testing of Riser Cables,”
Proceedings of the 33rd International Wire and Cable Symposium, 1984, pp. 5-13,
Proceedings of the International Conference on Fire Safety, 10, 1985, pp. 120-133,
Journal of Fire Sciences, 3, 1985, pp. 9-25.
23. S. Kaufman, “Fire Tests and Fire-Resistant Telecommunications Cables,” Proceedings of
the Joint Meeting of the Fire Retardant Chemicals Association and the Society of Plastics
Engineers Polymer Modifiers and Additives Division, 1985, pp. 75-84, Fire Journal,
November 1985, pp. 33-38.
24. S. Kaufman, “The 1987 National Electrical Code Requirements for Cable,” Proceedings
of the Thirty-Fifth International Wire and Cable Symposium, 1986, pp. 545-553,
Telephony September 15, 1986, pp. 70-76.
25. S. Kaufman, “Flammability of Polymers: Test Methods,” Encyclopedia of Materials
Science and Engineering, Michael B. Bever, Editor, pp. 1797-1802, Pergamon Press,
Oxford, England, 1986.
26. S. Kaufman, “The 1987 National Electrical Code Requirements for Cable,” IAEI News,
September/October 1987, pp. 21-30.
27. S. Kaufman, “The 1987 National Electrical Code Requirements for 0ptical Fiber Cable,”
Fiber Optics Magazine, Volume 10, Issue 1, January/ February 1988, pp. 27-30.
28. S. Kaufman, J. J. Refi, R. C. Anderson, “Using Combustion Toxicity Data in Cable
Selection,” Proceedings of the Thirty-Seventh International Wire and Cable Symposium,
1988, pp. 636-643.
29. S. Kaufman, “A USA Approach to Combustion Toxicity of Cables,” Fifth International
Conference on Plastics in Telecommunications, p. 38/1, September 1989; and Plastics,
Rubber and Composites Processing and Applications, 15, 1991, pp. 137-143.
86
30. S. Kaufman, “The 1990 National Electrical Code - Its Impact on the Communications
Industry,” Proceedings of the Thirty-Eighth International Wire and Cable Symposium,
1989, pp. 301-305; and IAEI News, January/February 1990, pp. 34-39.
31. S. Kaufman, “Implementing the Canada-United States Free-Trade Agreement:
Harmonizing Fire Requirements for Cables,” Proceedings of the Fire Retardant
Chemicals Association Meeting; October, 1991, pp. 157-165, and Proceedings of the
Forty-First International Wire and Cable Symposium, November 1992, pp. 345-348.
Also published as “Harmonizing US and Canadian Fire Requirements for Cable,”
Cabling Installation & Maintenance, June/July 1993, pp. 41-43.
32. S. Kaufman, “Flammability of Polymers: Test Methods,” Encyclopedia of Advanced
Materials, Davod Bloor, Editor, Pergamon, Oxford, England, 1994, pp. 849-854.
33. M. G. Chan, T. S. Dougherty, K. D. Dye, S. Kaufman, V.J. Kuck, E. D. Nelson,
“Enhancing the Stability of Waterproof Copper Cable,” Plastics in Telecommunications,
September, 1995, pp.205-209.
34. S. Kaufman, “Plenum Cable Requirements, Where they came from and where are they
going” Proceedings of the Fire Risk and Hazard Assessment Research Application
Symposium, June 23-25, 1999, THE FIRE PROTECTION RESEARCH FOUNDATION.
35. S. Kaufman, 2011 National Electrical Code, Changes of Interest to Data/Comm Cabling
Contractors, Users and Code Enforcement Officials, http://www.cccassoc.org/blog/wpcontent/uploads/2010/11/CCCA_2011_NEC_White_Paper_11-04-2010.pdf
36. S. Kaufman, “What the 2011 NEC says about datacom cable and raceways” Cabling
Installation and Maintenance, July 1, 2011.
37. S. Kaufman, “The 2011 National Electrical Code and datacom raceways” Cabling
Installation and Maintenance, August 1, 2011.
38. S. Kaufman, “Data-communications cables in air ducts and plenums” Cabling
Installation and Maintenance, September 1, 2011.
39. S. Kaufman, “Data-communications cables in riser applications” Cabling Installation and
Maintenance, October 1, 2011
40. S. Kaufman, “Cables routing assemblies in the 2011 NEC” Cabling Installation and
Maintenance, November 1, 2011.
41. S. Kaufman, “Data communications cable applications in the 2011 National Electrical
Code” Cabling Installation and Maintenance, December 1, 2011.
42. S. Kaufman, “Data-communications cable installation requirements in the 2011 NEC”
Cabling Installation and Maintenance, January 1, 2012.
43. S. Kaufman, “What the NEC says about data/comm cables in computer rooms” Cabling
Installation and Maintenance, February 1, 2012.
44. S. Kaufman, “Premises-powered broadband communications” Cabling Installation and
Maintenance, March 1, 2012.
45. S. McCluer and S. Kaufman, 2011 National Electrical Code- Major Revisions for
Computer Rooms, BICSI News Magazine, September/October 2011, pp16.
46. S. McCluer and S. Kaufman, “ The 2011 NEC and Information Technology Equipment,
Understanding changes to the 2011 National electrical Code of Information Technology
spaces per Article 645,” Electrical Construction & Maintenance, March 1, 2012.
87
47. S. Kaufman, “Initial developments in the 2014 NEC for data/comm cables” Cabling
Installation and Maintenance, September 1, 2012.
PATENTS:
1. #3,733,426 - "Method and Material for Reclaiming Waterlogged Telephone Cable and
the Like," May 15, 1973.
2. #3,748,606 - "Waveguide Structure Utilizing Complaint Continuous Support," July 24,
1973.
3. #3,944,717 - "Flame-Retardant, Water-Resistant Composition and Coating Transmission
Member Therewith," March 16, 1976.
4. #3,981,947 - "Method for Reclaiming Waterlogged Plastic Insulated Conductor Cable,"
September 21, 1976.
5. #5,270,486 - “Metallic Transmission Medium Disposed In Stabilized Plastic Insulation,”
December 14, 1993.
6. #5,285,513 - "Optical Fiber Cable Provided With Stabilized Waterblocking Material,"
February 8, 1994.
Ann Kelemen (was Ann Gold)
Ann Kelemen was a Physical Education major and treasurer of the
Physical Education Society at City College. After CCNY, she attended
Columbia University, Teachers College, graduating in 1965 with an MA
in Counseling. Ms. Kelemen also earned an MS in Health Science from
Hunter College in 1972.
From 1964 until her retirement in 2008, Ms. Kelemen served as an
Assistant, then an Associate, Professor of Health Education at Bronx
Community College. Her career highlights at Bronx Community College
include writing and introducing the course “Human Sexuality” in 1980; writing and introducing
the course “Health Education for Parenting” in 1995; co-writing and introducing the course
“Health in the Later Years” in 2006; producing a yearly Health Fair, open to the public, from
1992-2002; and serving as the Faculty Advisor for the Gay Integrated Group, a student club on
campus, from 1970-1975.
She is a former member of the Sex Information & Education Council of the US (SIECUS) and
Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) and Planned Parenthood. Ms.
Kelemen published an article entitled “Wellness Promotion: How to Plan a College Health Fair”
in the American Journal of Health Studies Vol.17 No.1 2001.
88
Ms. Kelemen has been married to Marvin Kelemen since October 29, 1970. They met at Hunter
College when each was pursuing a Master’s Degree. They have three children, a daughter Dana,
and twins, Elizabeth and Michael.
Fondest CCNY memory: “Graduation in revered, magnificent Lewisohn Stadium (the outdoor
amphitheater built in 1915 and removed in 1973 in order to expand other campus facilities) and
having Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as the Commencement speaker. This occurred three months
before his ‘I Have A Dream’ speech at The Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.”
Dr. Gerald I. Kent
Jerry grew up in Parkchester in the East Bronx. He moved to Flushing at the
age of 13 and attended Flushing High School. He attended Brooklyn
College for one year and then transferred to CCNY as an engineering
student. Jerry became a brother of AEPi and became interested in
community service. He was CCNY Blood Bank President, IFC
Representative, worked with the Student Government Social Agency and
was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Jerry was
awarded the Student Government Service Award and was inducted into
Pick and Shovel, the service honor society. Later he was be inducted into
the Lock and Key Leadership Society and Chi Epsilon, the Civil Engineering Honor Fraternity.
Jerry stayed on at City with a research assistantship provided by the Civil Engineering
Department. Wanting to work with Professor Norman Jen, he switched his technical focus to
fluid mechanics/plasma physics after doing a Chi Epsilon honors project with the inspiring
Professor James Stevens. Although his Ph.D. is in Engineering Mechanics, half his graduate
credits were taken in the Physics Department. Nevertheless, Jerry’s was the first Ph.D. issued by
the Civil Engineering Department. Jerry married Barbara Pomerantz in 1965 while Barb was
taking her Master’s degree and teaching elementary education.
In 1968, Barb and Jerry relocated to San Diego where Jerry started working on underground
nuclear test containment for Systems, Science and Software, a small, but rapidly growing
technology company. His work landed a new contract that eventually became the company’s
largest. After about 5 years he founded and was President of Pacifica Technology where he
continued doing and managing defense research. In 1987, Pacifica Technology was acquired by
SAIC, a large successful, employee-owned research and systems company that eventually went
public. He held a number of management positions with SAIC and was an officer of the
company. In addition to research and management responsibility, he served on the Corporate
Risk Committee. Jerry retired in 2002, but consulted for two years afterward.
89
Jerry now enjoys spending time with his sons Jonathan and Brian (and daughter-in-law Raquel)
who live in the San Diego area. He keeps busy taking classes at the University of California, San
Diego, singing a cappella music in a competitive chorus and related Board activities, baking
artisan breads, and travel.
Robert E. Killen
Robert E. Killen holds a Bachelor’s in Chemical Engineering from City
College and a Master’s of Engineering Science in Nuclear Science from
Rensselaer Polytechnic. He pursued a career as an aerospace engineer with
General Electric and Pratt and Whitney Aircraft and then became an
investment adviser in 1976. Currently, he is CEO of the Killen Group, Inc.
Anita Kopff
I grew up in College Point, New York and graduated from Flushing High
School. Mr. Pinkus, who taught Accelerated Bookkeeping at Flushing,
taught at Baruch in the evening and recommended Baruch to me.
I became a subway student taking the Flushing IRT to Baruch.
In addition to being inducted into Sigma Alpha (the honorary service
society -“won’t you buy a flower please for Sigma Alpha, cause the chairs
in the Oak Lounge need new alfalfa”) I belonged to Brett ’63 and the
Newman Club.
I have many fond memories of Baruch, including but not limited to “the elevator schedule”, the
Student Center on 22nd Street, learning how to do the Hora and making friends from all over the
5 boroughs. Many of them were first generation Americans like me.
Dr. Joan Gadol was a History Professor whom I admired the most. She brought history to a new
level for me. She, and others like Professor Mirolo who came “downtown” to teach, enriched
my life.
90
I will always remember our graduation ceremony at Lewisohn Stadium when we had the
privilege of hearing Dr. Martin Luther King give the commencement address. That was the first
time I heard the name Medgar Evers.
Accounting firms in 1963 were not hiring many women or blacks, but the CPA firm that Dean
Saxe was associated with did and I joined Apfel & Englander CPAs upon graduation. Stayed
long enough to meet the 3 year experience requirement necessary to become a CPA and passed
the exam in 1966.
Decided to leave Public Accounting to enter corporate life. Held various positions in the CBS
Television Network Finance Department for 12 years. Was part of a women’s group who met
with the president of CBS to voice our concerns over the progress of women in the company.
During that time also earned an MBA at NYU.
After a brief stint in the publishing industry landed at Club Med as Budget Director. Left as
Controller for semi-retirement where I have worked part-time and volunteer at the Adirondack
Museum in upstate New York.
The Adirondack Mountains were always in the background of my life, having first visited there
on a family vacation as a child. How wonderful it has been to retire here. I am able to pursue
my love of outdoor activities and enjoy life in a small cohesive village. I’m involved with many
community activities – the Great Adirondack Moose Festival, Northern Needles (where I get to
share my passion for quilting), and Friends of the Indian Lake Library.
I frequently travel to the Saratoga Springs area where I am part of the Academy for Life Long
Learning (one never stops) and also volunteer at the Grant Cottage near there. City inspired me
to be curious, seek knowledge and get involved.
91
Alan D. Krausz
Alan D. Krausz majored in biology and was a member of Wittes House
Plan at City College. He also was a photographer for CCNY’s yearbook
and Observation Post. Dr. Krausz went on to pursue a career as a doctor
of dental medicine. He earned his DMD degree in 1973 from the
University of Pennsylvania, School of Dental Medicine and an MA in
counseling in 1987 from the University of Santa Monica. Dr. Krausz was a
dentist in a community clinic in lieu of military service (he was Lt. in the
Navy/Public Health). Currently, he is self-employed and serving as
Minister at Universal Brotherhood Movement, Inc. Dr. Krausz has two
daughters, Eva J. Krausz and Meghan S. Stevenson-Krausz, and one granddaughter, Nova S.
Ward. He is a longtime bike rider and has completed six European bike tours between 19902000.
Fondest CCNY memories: “Taking photos of the many college activities and sports; spending
time with fellow students; bio labs; lacrosse J.V.-sophomore year.”
Freda C. Levine (was Freda Crandell)
Freda C. Levine graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School and
attended City College where she majored in biology and joined the Phi Tau
Alpha sorority. She went on to teach biology in New York City, retiring in
1985. She is currently President of Chemplex Chemicals, Inc., a position
she has held since 2002. Ms. Levine is a member of the Society of Cosmetic
Chemists.
Ms. Levine married Steven R. Levine in 1982 and gave birth to their son,
Jonathan in 1983 and her daughter, Laura in 1985. In 2002, Mr. Levine
passed away and Ms. Levine took over his company, Chemplex Chemicals, Inc. The company is
still in business after all these years, and Ms. Levine continues to serve as its president.
Ms. Levine interests are ballroom dancing, hiking, dancing, biking and music.
Fondest CCNY memories: “Since I had very little family life, I loved coming to CCNY and
finding the camaraderie with my fellow classmates. Since my family had very little money,
CCNY gave me a wonderful education, at a very little cost. I didn’t realize this until years later.”
92
Frank J. Logrippo
I grew up in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn (12th Ave & 60th St.) where playing stick
ball became a career for many. I graduated from New Utrecht High School in June of 1957.
Because of my excellent marks, my high school grade advisor encouraged me to go to college. I
chose CCNY and Electrical Engineering because I discovered that I didn't have to take a foreign
language course to graduate and because Electrical Engineering sounded like it might be
interesting. Also, I could still continue to live in my beloved neighborhood! I had no dreams or
desires at that time, nor did I really know what I wanted to end up finally doing. Looking back, I
wound up being the only kid out of about fifty to sixty kids I grew up with that graduated
from college. I must admit, I found CCNY courses very difficult. However, through
perseverance, tons of hours of studying and commuting, and severely cutting back on stickball, I
managed to graduate! I found that Electrical Engineering at CCNY was not for the feinthearted. What it did do was to fully prepare me for the challenges of life.
The professors that greatly influenced me were; Professor K.D. Irani of the Philosophy
Department who taught me how not to worry and totally enjoy a class, and Professor M.
Todorovich of the Physics Department, who could teach such a hard course (for me anyway)
with so much clarity and enthusiasm.
CCNY prepared me well for a most interesting and challenging career in Aerospace and for two
graduate degrees that followed and beyond. The Aerospace portion included work at the M.I.T.
Labs in Cambridge Mass. on the development of advanced missile inertial navigation guidance
systems.
The additional universities attended were: NYU, Graduate School of Engineering and Science,
Major: Computer Information Systems, MSEE 1968; NYU, The Stern Graduate School of
Business and Finance, MBA in Finance, 1973
Turning points in my life were leaving engineering to go to work for General Electric's
Corporate Planning Group that provided economic forecasting for all the divisions. This was
followed by a fifteen year stint with Coopers & Lybrand (a former major eight accounting firm)
in the Research and Development Department and then as the National Director of Financial
Information Systems. Another big change occurred when I moved to California in 1985 to
become President of a company named Total Leasing and Finance. Among the firm's
activities were: Loans, leasing of cars and equipment, ownership of a restaurant and a catering
business, two large party boats, oil wells in Kansas, the Orpheum Theatre in NYC, investments
in Broadway plays, a Broadway ticket agency and a private jet rental business.
I retired in 1996 and now oversee financial matters and investments for some family members.
I married my neighborhood childhood sweetheart, Theresa, who lived two doors from my
apartment house in Brooklyn. We have three children. The oldest is my son Joseph (43), next is
93
my daughter Anne-Marie (36) and finally my daughter Dianne (28). They have families of their
own (except Dianne) and they all live near us in California.
My hobbies and special interests consist of taking walks in the Santa Monica Mountains,
photography and making family videos and picture books. Theresa and I also always look
forward to attending our "60th Street Reunions" where we return to our former Brooklyn
neighborhood every four to five years to reunite with all the kids we grew up with. The last
reunion was in October, 2012 which brought together about sixty five attendees.
My fondest memories of CCNY are the beautiful Gothic style buildings which are set on one of
Manhattan's high points and the wonderful graduation ceremony that was held in Lewisohn
Stadium with Martin Luther King as the commencement speaker
Allen D. Mednick
Allen D. Mednick was a pre-law major and a member of the fraternity, Alpha
Epsilon Pi at City College. He went on to earn a J.D. from The George
Washington University School of Law in 1968. After service in the Naval Air
Reserve, he commenced practice in NYC, first as a municipal bond attorney
from 1968 to 1970 with Wood, King, Dawson; then, from 1970 to 1972, as a
corporate-commercial attorney with Hahn & Hessen, followed by Halperin,
Shivitz, Scholer & Steingut from 1972 to 1974. From 1975 to 1989, he
maintained his own private general-practice in Beverly Hills, CA. In 1989, he
became an environmental prosecutor for the South Coast Air Quality
Management District, the agency responsible for promulgating and enforcing air quality
regulations for the approximately 10,000 sq. mi. area around Los Angeles, CA. In 2007, he
retired as the Principal Deputy District Prosecutor. Mr. Mednick also served as an adjunct
professor of law at Pasadena City College and at Glendale University Law School. He is a
former member of the American Bar Association, Los Angeles County Bar Association and the
Beverly Hills Bar Association.
94
Marvin M. Megibow
A native of the west Bronx, I attended Stuyvesant High. Coming from
modest means, CCNY provided an excellent opportunity to attend a firstrate college/university at low cost. At City, I was a member of Wiley ’63, a
constituent group of House Plan Association. Having an early flirtation
with medicine, I was a member, held various offices and served a term as
president of the Caduceus Society. After graduation with a BS, I spent a
year at SUNY Buffalo, where I found med school not to be my forte. I
returned to CCNY earned an MA in Psychology and subsequently attended
the University of Maryland where I earned a PhD in Experimental
Psychology. I began a rich and rewarding academic career at California State University, Chico
in Fall of 1971 and have only recently retired as Professor Emeritus in Psychology. At CSU
Chico, I served as Department of Psychology Chair for 15 years (5 consecutive terms). In the
late-1970’s , while on sabbatical leave, I was afforded an opportunity to enroll in a respecialization program in clinical psychology at the California School of Professional
Psychology in Berkeley and subsequently sought licensure as a clinical practitioner; licensed in
1986, I have maintained a private clinical psychology practice since. In 1987, I was recruited as
a consultant and helped establish the first hospital-based psychiatric mental health unit in our
region of northern California, which opened in Spring, 1988....the unit will celebrate its 25 th
anniversary this year. I served as the unit’s psychology and education coordinator from 1988 to
1998, chairing a semi-weekly grand rounds program for the mental health community in Butte
County. I have also been a founding member of a chapter of the California Psychological
Association, serving twice as its president. I also presently serve as a member of the Board of
Directors of the California Psychological Association.
In addition to my two-pronged career as an academic psychologist and clinical practitioner, I
have been active in a variety of local and regional community activities. To be brief, I have been
president of our local synagogue and a member and president (1999) of the Chico Area Interfaith
Council, the first member of Jewish community to hold that post. I was also a founding member
and chair for 10 years of the non-profit Human Relations Network of Butte County. I was voted
“peacemaker of the year” in 2003, by the Butte County Mediation Center. I have also been a
founding member and active participant in our area ACLU chapter.
I am married to Bonnie Megibow, my partner in life for nearly 20 years, and have two children, a
son and a daughter (both in their mid- 20’s) from a prior marriage. Both of my kids are
graduates of the CSU system...my son, Carl, from San Diego State and my daughter, Julia, from
San Francisco State. My wife, Bonnie, is a professor at our local community college and is also
a marriage and family counselor. We recently relocated to a house in a neighboring township,
Forest Ranch, which, at an elevation of ~2400 feet and situated on the edge of a canyon, affords
us a wonderful view of the northern Sacramento Valley, the City of Chico, spectacular sunsets,
and it is where we look forward to enjoying our retirement.
95
Leon Mitrani
I was born and raised on the Lower East Side, the only child of immigrant
parents. Unlike complaints about primary school education today, I had
great teachers, excelled in school, and attended an accelerated junior high
school program. I was fortunate to be admitted to Stuyvesant, one of the
elite schools, and chose CCNY because it was the only one I could afford,
as well as for its excellent Engineering School.
Following graduation, I earned a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering
at CCNY, and 20 years later in 1983, an MBA in marketing from NYU’s
Stern School.
The classes I remember and appreciate most fondly were liberal arts courses that enabled me to
learn about government, literature, philosophy and the ancient history of the Greeks and Romans.
I spent my career with AT&T, and its spin-off Lucent Technologies, as an engineer, analyst and
manager, working in multiple locations in New York City and New Jersey before retiring.
I’ve been a member of Toastmaster’s International and the American Association of Individual
Investors.
My fondest memories were the concerts at Lewison Stadium, having Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
as our commencement speaker, and last but not least, Raymond the Bagelman, an institution.
The rigor of the curriculum left little time for outside activities.
I appreciate the opportunity CCNY gave me to overcome my impoverished background, and lead
a successful life so that I can now help today’s students.
My hobbies and special interests include dancing, investing, sports and current events. I
volunteer as a Reading Buddy for first graders, publish a weekly blog/letter about dancing, and
voice my opinions on controversial issues and injustices.
96
William R. Nastasi
I was born Jan. 16, 1930, on 14th Street and 2nd Avenue in Manhattan. I
lived there with my parents and older brother for about two years. We
moved to the Bronx for approximately three years and then moved to
Astoria, Queens, for another four years, before we finally settled in
Flushing Queens, where I spent most of my youthful years. I graduated
from P.S. 120 Elementary School in Flushing in 1944, and graduated from
Flushing High School in Flushing, Queens in 1948. I started my college
career at Queens College soon afterwards, and completed my first semester
satisfactorily, but was forced to take a leave of absence in the middle of my
second semester when my mother became seriously ill. I took a job with an insurance company
to help support my family, and was drafted into the Korean War (police action) in June 1951.
Because of my good scores in the Army Aptitude Test, I was assigned to Headquarters Company
in Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland, and placed in charge of Leadership Training
Company, a pre-requisite to Officers’ Candidate School (OCS). My job was to report the number
of students in the graduating class to the Adjutant General in Washington, D.C. and a short time
later was advised how many graduating students were to be sent to FECOM (Far East
Command), EU Com (European Command) and stateside. I remained in this position for my
entire two years in service. I was discharged in June 1953, and went back to my position with my
insurance company. I resumed my college career by matriculating in the Bernard Baruch School
of Business, an adjunct of CCNY, taking advantage of the GI Bill of Rights. I attended college
for nine years in the evening, majoring in insurance, and received my BBA in 1963. During this
period, I married Annette (nee) Zingales in 1957, and we had our first two of three sons in 1959
and 1961.
My last college instructor was a V.P. of another insurance company in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., a
city approximately 70 miles north of NYC, and he helped me to get a much better position as
Field Representative in his company. My wife and I decided to make this relatively radical move
(for us) to Poughkeepsie, N.Y. since we felt it was vital to my insurance career. I eventually was
promoted to Office Manager in our Yonkers Office and enjoyed this position until the company
closed this office in a consolidating move in 1982. Rather than transfer to our Home Office in
NYC and relocate my family, I took early retirement at age 52.
I felt I wanted to start a new career, and at first tired my skills as an automobile salesman. I
attempted this for two years, and while I made a good living, I found that working 60 or more
hours a week was too exhausting for me.
In the meantime, I had taken a passed a Department of Corrections Civil Service test, and was
interviewed for the position of Counselor Trainee in Sing Sing, N.Y. I was hired in 1986 at the
relatively advanced age of 56, and found that I enjoyed this position very much. I was eventually
transferred to Downstate Correctional Facility, six miles from my hope Fishkill, N.Y., and was
97
promoted to the position of Classification Analyst. Downstate C.F. is the largest reception center
in in NYS, whose principal duties is to receive offenders arrested in NYS and classifying them.
My job was to review the particulars of each case, and using a sophisticated rule book, classified
them Minimum, Medium, or Maximum Securities. These offenders were then transferred to their
appropriate correctional facilities a couple of weeks later. I enjoyed this position until I retired in
2006.
My facility administrator, after failing to dissuade me from retiring, asked if I would be
interested in a part time position in charge of one of the four General Libraries in the facility. I
was delighted at begin given this opportunity which allows me to help the inmates in their
rehabilitation process, while giving me an opportunity to feel useful at my relatively advanced
age of 83. I am still actively employed in this position.
Since I was only able to devote little time to my extracurricular activities in college while
holding a 40 hour full day job, I was restricted in my desire to volunteer for other activities, but
managed to become a member of Sigma Alpha Delta Honor Society.
I have since been a member of various bowling teams, and have been a member of the Italian
Club in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. since 1996.
Dennis R. Newman
I am grateful for the free engineering education I received at CCNY;
without it, college would not have been possible for me. In September
1958, I was a Brooklyn boy out of New Utrecht High School when I started
my 4-hour daily commute between my home and the campus. I got used to
the commute but always regretted that it caused me to miss participating in
extra curricula activities and getting to know my classmates better
1963 was quite a year; I began work as a Junior Electrical Engineer for the
NYC Transit Authority in March, my wife-to-be Rochelle Berenter
graduated Brooklyn College in June, we were married in August two weeks
after I completed my last classwork, and I received my CCNY degree in September at the same
time Shelly began teaching for the NYC Board of Ed. Shelly and I have two sons (Jonathan and
Joshua) and five grandsons (Jon’s Zachary and Jeremy, Josh’s Jacob, Samuel, and Benjamin).
My professional life can be divided into three phases. Phase 1 was with the NYCTA from 1983
to 1985. Over those 22 years I held the titles of Jr Elec Egr, Asst Elec Eng, Elec Eng, Sr Elec
Engr, Dep Div Engr for Signals, Comm, and Line Equipment, and Superintendent of the
Management Division (an in-house consulting group) all in the Rapid Transit Maintenance of
Way Department; and in the Executive Department, the titles of Exec Asst to the Senior Vice
President Rapid Transit and Chief of Staff Rapid Transit. During my tenure at NYCTA, in 1969
98
I received my NYS P. E. License and served as the technical resource for the Authority’s
Committee on Standards for New Lines to establish criteria for the 63rd Street Tunnel, new
transit lines, and new transit vehicles. In the early 1970s I served as Secretary to the American
Public Transportation Association’s START Committee (Safety Technology Applied to Rapid
Transit) and developed the Guidelines for Development of System Safety Program Plans and the
Fail Safe Design Manual among other products that form the basis for safe transit operation. In
the early 1980s, I helped secure funding for and then establish the NYCTA Car Overhaul
Program, including creating and staffing the organization and managing the first year of
operation. The program is still continuing today.
Phase 2 was with the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation from 1985 to 1992. I began with
HHC as Chief Engineer with responsibility for design and construction of over 100 ongoing
projects being done under over 300 contracts at 20 hospitals, long term care facilities, and
neighborhood clinics. Responsibilities also included managing the work of over 100 tradesman
performing minor repair and project work at these facilities. During my tenure, we began work
on four major hospital rebuilding projects with a total cost of nearly $2 billion; and I became
Vice President and Chief Engineer, picking up responsibility for planning, budgeting, and all
other Capital Program functions. I entered HHC with the charge of turning around a failing
program and in doing that rewrote the HHC Construction Management and Construction
Administration Manuals. The Mayor’s Office of Construction subsequently adopted these
Manuals for use as guidelines to be followed by all NYC Agencies.
Phase 3 began in 1992 and is continuing. For almost 20 years now, I have held the position of
Vice President and Chief Engineer with Interactive Elements Incorporated, a NYC based transit
consulting firm. Among other projects, under Federal Transit Administration contracts, I have
overseen dozens of rail projects around the United States. At present, I am working on projects
in Pennsylvania, Maryland (2), Washington D. C. (2), Florida, California (2), Oregon, and
Hawaii. I am also Principal of my own consulting firm, Newman Associates, which does select
non-transit related work
99
Anthony John Patrissi
I was born and raised in the Bronx and attended Dewitt Clinton High
School. I chose CCNY because it had an excellent engineering school and
my father could not afford to send me to a private school. I never regretted
going to a public college and will always be grateful to CCNY for the
education I received.
My father passed away at a young age as I was just completing my second
year at CCNY. This sudden change to my life required me to continue my
education in evening classes as I worked full time to help support my
family. My graduation in 1963 was thus two years later than it would have been in 1961 if I had
continued full time in day classes.
In my first two years at CCNY I was a member of ROTC and also inducted into Chi Epsilon, the
Civil Engineering Honor Fraternity. I would have participated in additional organizations had I
not been working full time and attending evening classes, but was unable to so under the
circumstances.
Upon receiving my BCE in 1963 I began work at Sikorsky Aircraft as an analytical engineer.
The work involved preparation of engineering reports for the Army, Air Force and Navy, who
were the primary clients for which Sikorsky built helicopters.
In 1966 I felt it was time to expand my experience into other areas. I fortunately met someone
who advised me that there was an opening for a CE instructor at CCNY, which led me to teach
two undergraduate Civil Engineering courses.
The teaching experience was invaluable since it led me to my next position as an assistant plan
examiner in the NYC Department of Buildings in 1968. It was there that I learned the
complexities of the NYC Zoning Resolution and Building Code. In 1971 I received my NYS
professional engineering license and was promoted to full plan examiner.
In 1973 I was offered a position and transferred to the NYC Department of City Planning, which
broadened my experience to include urban planning and allowed me to develop some legal
expertise. My initial position in the Zoning Division of the Office of Technical Controls led me
to the Chief Engineer’s Office where I served as an Assistant Chief Engineer. The sudden death
of the Chief Engineer, who had been my primary mentor, resulted in my appointment to Chief
Engineer in 1987. Fate again had intervened unexpectedly.
I served as Chief Engineer until my retirement from City Planning in 1995. The urban planning
and legal expertise I developed enabled me to draft the Waterfront Chapter of the NYC Zoning
Resolution, which regulations guide waterfront development throughout the City. I was honored
to receive the Rita Barrish award from City Planning for my waterfront work.
100
My 1995 retirement did not last long when I became a land use and zoning consultant for a
Manhattan law firm specializing in land use law, with whom I continue to do so. I am fortunate
to be able to do this work both from my home in Florida and in their NY office when I return
north during the summer to my condo in Connecticut.
On a more personal note, I enjoy choral singing and sing with choirs both in Florida and
Connecticut. I have sung with a number of choral groups and participated for 10 years with the
Berkshire Choral Festival in Sheffield, Massachusetts. The BCF allowed me the opportunity to
travel to some of their other venues in Salzburg, Austria; Canterbury, England; and Santa Fe,
New Mexico; thereby seeing some of Europe and other parts of the U.S.
I have CCNY to thank for the opportunities it gave me to engage in work I love and to be able to
maintain my present lifestyle, both on a professional and personal level.
Melvyn Pell
Melvyn Pell, a chemical engineer major, was recipient of the Student Council
Leadership Award at City College. He went on to earn an MBA degree from
Duquesne University and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from CUNY in
1971. From 1982 until his retirement in 2003, he served as a principal
consultant at the Dupont organization. Dr. Pell has authored various articles
on engineering and a book titled, Gas Fluidization. He is an AIChE fellow
and active in his local synagogue.
101
Nadia Perry (was Nadia A. Chernosky)
I grew up in Greenpoint, Brooklyn and attended CCNY because friends of
mine went there and it was just as far for me to get to from Greenpoint as
Brooklyn College. I also had a Manhattan focus because I went to
Washington Irving High School in Manhattan.
I was not active in any clubs or organizations, mainly because I was an
active member of a Ukrainian and Russian folk dance group…off campus,
of course. Some of my fond memories are of hanging out in the North and
South Campus cafeterias and the Great Lawn. I did attend Greek Club
socials, where I met my future husband, Achilles Perry '62, and the Hillel club…they had great
latkes. I also have fond memories of some wonderful professors who challenged me and gave
me some insight into myself and the world around me.
I worked in the Placement Office with some really good and helpful people. Sitting at the
receptionist's desk led to my being asked to participate in an ROTC beauty contest; I became an
honorary Lt. Colonel. The war in Vietnam and the Women's Lib movement made it a conflicted
experience for me, but today I am proud of and enjoy the memory.
I married Achilles Perry '62 soon after graduating and we lived in Flatbush, Brooklyn…a foreign
place for a Greenpoint-girl. I attended Brooklyn and Hunter College taking courses in math and
education because it led to my becoming a math teach at, of all places, Washington Irving High
School, my alma mater. It was an interesting time.
After my second son was born we moved to NJ and I became a suburban housewife, baked apple
pies, learned to play tennis, became president of the PTA, and started acting in our local theater
group, in that order. Life was good.
We moved to Rochester, NY for a few years, and on return to NJ I went to Rutgers Graduate
School of Management and got an MBA in professional accounting and a CPA. I started my
audit career at Deloitte and then decided to merge my audit and training backgrounds to become
a training consultant, developing classroom and online course for auditors at Deloitte, Coopers
and BDO and for financial planners at companies like Prudential, AXA and MONY.
On the home front: Achilles and I have two sons, Achilles M. and Alexander P. They make us
smile and feel so proud because they are two of the best things we've done in our lives. And
they, in turn, have carried on, producing two wonderful grandchildren…one each…who are the
apples of our eye…or the whole orchard, as Achilles likes to say.
So, now that I'm semi-retired what do I do? Take tap dancing classes, go to the gym, go to the
museums or lunch with friends, do bank recs and provide financial advice to certain
organizations, take on interesting projects and have fun with spouse, family and friends. Oh, and
travel. Life is good.
102
Leonora A. Prett
Leonora A. Prett majored in accounting and was a member the Newman
Club, Accounting Society and Education Society at City College. She
earned a BBA degree from CCNY and was awarded a Graduate Scholarship
in 1963. Ms. Prett continued her education at City, earning her M.S. degree
in 1967.
Ms. Prett had a successful 25-year career as a high school business teacher
in the Connetquot School District. Before her retirement in 1997, she held
the following professional positions: Business Teacher at Connetquot High
School (1963-1966 , 1967-1970, 1980-1997); Business Teacher at Peconic JHS (1979-1980);
ACE Instructor-College & Computer Accounting for LI University (1980-1992); business
teacher and school store manager at Great Neck South JHS (1966-1967); and substitute and adult
education teacher (1965-1979). Ms. Prett served as partner & bookkeeper for L&M
Management Co. (1980's-1990).
Ms. Prett is a member of the Suffolk County Business Teachers Association (served as president,
vice-president, secretary, and board member); Long Island Business Education Chairman
(LIBEC); Business Teachers Association (BTA) of NYS; New York State United Teachers
(NYSUT); New York State Education Department (1988 Team member of NYS Ed. Dept.
Bureau of Business; wrote instructional strategies for Accounting I course syllabus). Currently,
Ms. Prett is a member of the Connetquot Retired Teachers Association and NYSUT.
During her career in the Connetquot School district, Ms. Prett was a member of the
Superintendent’s Conference Day Planning Committee; the 25th Reunion Planning Committee;
the Business Department Curricular Handbook Committee; and the Principal Selection
Committee. In addition to these activities, she developed and revised curriculum and served as a
business awards presenter at the annual awards night. She also piloted computerized accounting
programs for McGraw Hill, & Lang Road Associations.
In the Bayport school system, she was a member of the HS weighted grades committee &
subcommittee; the BOE Curriculum Committee; and the Parents Advisory Committee for
Business Education.
Ms. Prett is the author of the article, “A Design for Computerized Accounting,” published in
Data Base magazine by South-Western.
Within her community, Ms. Prett served as Chairlady of Mother’s Club of Boy Scouts of
America (1983-1988); Founder & President of Young Widowers Social Group of Suffolk (19891997); Chapter President and Secretary of Kingdom of the Sun Region of the AACA (19982012). She was also a member of the Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) and the
103
Majestic Oaks Homeowners Association (MOHA) in Ocala, FL (Chairperson of the Welcome
Committee).
Ms. Prett is recipient of the following honors: 1996 Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers;
1993 Suffolk County BTA Business Teacher of the Year; 1989 Recognized by SUNY Fredonia
as exceptional teacher; 1987 Professional Development Scholarship Dowling College; 1963
CCNY Graduate Scholarship (tuition-free 5th year); and 1959 Scholarship Award, OEA, NYC
Chapter of NOMA.
Denis Adams Prince (was Denis Adams)
I was born and raised in Brooklyn, a graduate of Prospect Heights High
School. I moved to Queens on my eighteenth birthday. I left for CCNY from
Brooklyn and returned at the end of my day to Springfield Garden, Queens. I
have lived in the Queens area since that day. I selected CCNY because of its
comprehensive art program.
My first trip to CCNY was to present my portfolio at the School of Art. My
second trip was to register for my first term classes. I climbed the hill from
the 125th Street, 8th Avenue subway station for the third time for the first day
of classes. I entered the gates of South Campus feeling overwhelmed by the size and beauty of
the campus, its buildings, and the number of fellow students. I remember thinking, “What have I
gotten myself into!” The saving grace was my “stomach.” I was hungry and gathered my
courage to ask a passing student where I could get something to eat. The student pointed to the
Finley Student Center mentioning the “Snack Bar.” The Finley Student Center became not only
a place to eat but a place to study (sitting in the window seats) and meet fellow students. My
favorite food choice was the steak sandwich. I still remark that CCNY’s cafeterias and the
Snack Bar had the best “school food.” I made my share of trips from the 145th Street, 8th
Avenue stations for my North Campus classes too.
The sustenance from the Snack Bar’s steak sandwiches, The Pretzel Man’s pretzels, and the bags
of nuts and raisins sent by “Lee’s” (Leanore G. Pomokin Drogin ’63) mother, along with the
expertise and sincere interest of my many professors, exemplified by Mr. Florian Kraner of the
School of Art, fellow students and my family led to my earning a Bachelor of Arts in art. I was
also awarded a fellowship for the 1963-1964 school year.
My years at CCNY provided an excellent education and lifelong friendships. Both have had
major impacts on my life and careers. I had a career as a graphic artist/designer in publishing
and in the Department of Exhibition of the American Museum of Natural History. With the
cooperation of my husband Benjamin, I freelanced while our two children were growing up. I
joined the New York City Department of Education in 1993. My focus became early education,
104
children with special needs. During this period, I earned a Master in Science in literacy from
Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus. I joined my husband in retirement July 2011. I am
looking forward to enjoying new interests, continued travel, our children, grandchildren, families
and friends.
Eugene Prisament
Eugene Prisament majored in geology and was a member of House Plan, the
Paleontology Society, and the Geology Society at City College. After
earning his B.S. degree, he continued his education, earning an M.A. degree
in geology from CCNY in 1965. He also attended New York University
from 1965 through 1967, studying science education. Mr. Prisament
pursued a career as a teacher and school administrator, retiring in 2009.
From 1998 until his retirement, he held the position of Department
Chairperson at Boca Raton Preparatory School. Mr. Prisament is a member
of the National Science Teachers Association, Phi Delta Kappa, National
Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and American Association of Physics Teachers.
Richard F. Purnell
A psychology major, Dr. Richard F. Purnell worked nights at a full-time job while attending day
classes at City College. His education at City actually commenced in 1955 and was postponed by
a four-years stint in the USAF. While not formally an award, Dr. Purnell considers the
opportunity to return to City to resume his studies after a four-year hiatus in the USAF as an
award. He was also offered the opportunity of a scholarship to pursue an MA in parapsychology
upon the completion of his BA in ’63, but he declined and departed to teach math in Texas
instead.
After CCNY, Dr. Purnell received an NDEA Title IV fellowship to study at the University of
Texas (UT) at Austin. He attended UT from 1964 to 1966, graduating with a Ph.D. in
educational psychology.
He pursued a career as a university professor. From 1970 until he retired in 2010, he served as a
professor in the Education Department at URI. Before that, from 1966 to 1969, he was assistant
professor at HGSE in Cambridge, MA, and from 1969 to 1970, he was associate professor at
Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Dr. Purnell was awarded a Fulbright to
study the Sicilian education system in 1977; his 1983-84 sabbatical was at the Appalachia
Educational Laboratory in Charleston, W. Va. to work on School/Home Communications
105
research there with Dr. Edward E. Gotts; and in 1991 he took a sabbatical to go to Berkeley to
study Family Math, a program developed by EQUALS. Dr. Purnell is editor of a book entitled
Adolescents and the American High School and has collaborated on a number of publications
dealing with school/home communications. He is a former member of APA and AERA, and
currently involved with the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School PTO in Providence,
RI.
Fondest CCNY memories: “Spanish is Dr. Jose Maria Chaves’ classes, Vivian Gouravitch’s
statistics class, and experimental psych with Alexander Mintz and Gertrude Schmeidler were
pleasantly memorable experiences. I also have fond memories of Mr. Cartwright’s ed psych
course.”
Stephen B. Quinn
In addition to a BCE degree from City College, Mr. Stephen B. Quinn
earned an MBA degree from Baruch College in 1968. He pursued a career
as a civil engineer. He spent 45 years at HNTB starting as a structural
designer. In 1969, he transferred to the field of Construction Management.
He was responsible for numerous projects such as the Houston Ship Channel
Bridge, Dallas tollway extension, new turnpikes in Oklahoma, route I-405
widening in Seattle, and BART extension to airport in San Francisco, Mr.
Quinn served four years as operations officer for HNTB and from 1984 until
his retirement in 2008, he served as vice president of the company. Mr.
Quinn was an ASCE Fellow and member of NSPE, PTI and ACI. Currently he is serving as
treasurer of his Home Owners Association Board of Directors. He has published numerous
articles in Civil Engineering, Concrete International, and other publications.
106
Ronald I. Ramer
Ronnie grew up in the South Bronx, and attended James Monroe High
School.
At CCNY, he majored in economics and philosophy. Upon
graduation, the Department of Philosophy awarded him the Brittain Prize in
Moral Philosophy. His favorite memories were studying with two other
philosophy majors, Jean Pierre Schacter and Elaine Hoeppner, under the
tutelage of Professors Krikorian, Edel, and Tarter and his friendships with
his fraternity brothers of AEPi. Ronnie stayed on at City for an MA in
philosophy. He completed his PhD in Philosophy at Syracuse University.
Ronnie’s academic career started as instructor of philosophy at University of Tennessee,
Knoxville, followed by adjunct professor of philosophy at SUNY Utica/Rome. Concurrent with
teaching at SUNY, Ronnie served as principal of a Hebrew School (K-7) and principal of a
community Hebrew High School (8-12) in Syracuse, NY. In 1984, his career path changed from
academia to the Jewish Community Center field.
He moved from Syracuse to Chicago to a position
as Director of the Hyde Park Jewish Community
Center, and then Northwest Suburban Jewish
Center, both branches of the Chicago Jewish
Community Centers. His professional experience
as an academic and as Director of Community
Centers provided exactly the right match for
Ronnie’s next job change: he was appointed
Assistant Professor and Director of Continuing
Education at Aurora University, (40 miles west of
Chicago). One highlight of his career was at
Aurora University: it the was creation and
supervision of a new bachelor’s degree completion
program for adults who had some college but no
bachelor’s degree, and building a continuing
education program for the University. A second
highlight was in 2005 when he was awarded the
“Chic Nichol Prize by the Wisconsin Association
of Mediators for the best research essay submitted
to their Journal during that year.
Ronnie retired from Aurora as Professor Emeritus of Education, in 2010. He describes his
retirement as being on a sabbatical to the nth degree. He continues, on a part time basis, as a
divorce mediator in child custody disputes. A new highlight for him is as Torah reader for his
synagogue. He and his wife, Shira reside in Aurora, Illinois. They have two married daughters,
Nicole Yael, attorney in Israel (four children), and Julia Aviva, Web Master in Oregon (two
children).
107
Charles B. Rodman
Mr. Charles B. Rodman majored in chemical engineering and was a member of the Varsity
Wrestling Team at City College. In 1970, Charles earned a Juris Doctor from the American
University Law School and began his career as an intellectual property attorney. Still working,
Charles is an attorney/partner at Rodman & Rodman, LLP. He and his wife Jane have three
daughters and three grandchildren.
Fondest CCNY memories: “The nice people I met and the friendships I established.”
Irene Russin (was Irene Wollens)
Here I am keying this autobiography on my new computer featuring
Windows 8 and Word 2013, a far cry from the manual typewriters we used
at what was then the Baruch School of CCNY, also known as the
“downtown” campus. Little did I know that I would spend the rest of my
life learning how to use new equipment, computers and ever-changing
computer programs so that I could teach them! I chose to attend Baruch
because I wanted to become a business teacher, specifically in secretarial
studies, and what better school to attend? Not only was it one of the best
business schools in the country, tuition was free, and it was a 15-cent trip to
New York City from my home in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn!
I graduated from Eastern District High School in 1959, a relatively small school. It was difficult
to adjust to Baruch with its 16 floors, mandatory swimming for two semesters, a schedule that
extended from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. some days because many classes were filled by the time I
registered (in alphabetical order). In addition, I felt totally stupid and unprepared academically. I
remember deciding to drop out until Dean Eberhardt called me into his office to find out why I
had skipped so many classes. He told me to drop two classes and stick to 12 credits a semester
for my first year, and even gave me some tips on how to prepare for my classes. History was one
of the classes I dropped. There were at least a hundred students in the huge lecture hall. I forgot
the last name of the professor; she was a beautiful blonde woman whose first name was Joan.
She started the first lecture by asking if we thought primitive man had any concept of reality, and
I still don’t know what she meant!
During the summers, I attended CCNY uptown and took six credits each summer, which I also
loved. I had a part-time secretarial job nearby at the Jed X-ray Company.
I was elected a member of Sigma Alpha at Baruch, and we were the class that fundraised and
selected an artist to sculpt the statue of the beaver which was installed in the student center. I
108
wonder if it’s still there. I was also a member of the Freshman Orientation Society, which I wish
was in existence when I was a freshman! I met some of my best friends in Candy ’63.
My favorite professors were Dr. Volpe and Dr. Mirollo, both in the English department. I loved
Music with Dr. Nallin. I used to tease Dr. Arents, my chemistry professor and we became
friends. I convinced him that he needed a girlfriend, and he claims he wouldn’t have had the life
he has if it weren’t for my influence! My husband and I visit him and his wife every few
months. I am still in touch with two women who graduated with me: Anita Kopff and Beverly
Buxbaum Heller.
I did become a business teacher when I graduated. I started my teaching career at Andrew
Jackson High School in Cambria Heights, Queens. Then I taught at what was the Nancy Taylor
Secretarial and Finishing School (later Taylor Institute) on 42nd Street across the street from
Bryant Park. My classes included many college graduates who couldn’t get jobs because they
had no secretarial skills! I took eight years off while I raised my two children in Manalapan,
New Jersey. I returned to teaching in September, 1973 at Middletown Township High School in
Middletown, New Jersey. I also taught in the district’s middle schools, which I enjoyed
immensely. I enjoyed secretarial work and temped during the summers as a legal secretary. I
attended Brookdale Community College in Middletown, NJ and earned an Associate degree in
paralegal technology.
I attended Kean University in Union, New Jersey, earned my master’s degree in reading and
certification as a reading specialist in 1995. That enabled me to teach basic skills reading at my
high school, too. When I retired from teaching, I tutored students privately in reading and
writing for several years.
My husband, Jerry, and I will be married 50 years in August, and we have two children: Jill
Ruitenberg, who is Corporate Director of Standards and Performance for Century 21 Department
Stores, and Robert Russin, who is Materials Manager at T&E Industries in Orange, NJ. We have
two fantastic grandchildren, Sarah and Benjamin Hudes, who are 11 and 9 respectively.
Life, for the most part, has been and is good!
Harleen Ruthen (was Ruth Medesy)
Ms. Harleen Ruthen majored in education and was a member of House Plan,
Sis Witte ’63. After earning her BSEd, sh e continued her education at City
College and graduated in 1965 with an MSEd. Ms. Ruthen is currently
serving as Director, Adult Services at Nassau County of Mental Health,
Chemical Dependency and Developmental Disabilities Services. She has held
her current position since 1988. Before that she was working in psychology at
Mount Sinai Medical Center (1964-1984).
109
Richard Saferstein
Richard Saferstein, Ph.D. is a forensic science consultant. He retired as
Chief Forensic Scientist of the New Jersey State Police Laboratory in 1991
after serving 21 years. He currently acts as a consultant for attorneys and the
media in the area of forensic science. During the O.J. Simpson criminal trial,
Dr. Saferstein provided extensive commentary on forensic aspects of the
case for the Rivera Live Show, the E! Television network, ABC radio, and
various radio talk shows. Dr. Saferstein holds degrees from the City College
of New York and earned his doctorate degree in chemistry in 1970 from the
City University of New York. During his career as a government forensic
scientist and a private consultant, Dr. Saferstein has testified in over 2,000 criminal and civil
cases in nearly 150 courts.
Prior to his coming to the New Jersey
State Police in 1970, he was
employed as a forensic chemist with
the Treasury Department (19641968) and served as an analytical
chemist with Shell Chemical Co.
(1969-1970). Dr. Saferstein is the
author of 45 technical papers
covering a variety of forensic topics.
He has also written three widely used
textbooks on the subject titled
Criminalistics: An Introduction to
Forensic Science – 10th edition
(Prentice-Hall,
2011),
Forensic
Science: An Introduction – 2nd
edition (Prentice-Hall, 2011), and
Forensic Science from the Crime
Scene to the Crime Lab – 2nd edition
(Prentice-Hall, 2011). Dr. Saferstein
has edited leading professional
reference
texts
dealing
with
important forensic science topics:
Forensic
Science
Handbook,
Volumes I, 2nd edition (2002), Forensic Science Handbook, Volumes II, 2nd edition (2005), and
Forensic Science Handbook, Volumes III, 3rd edition (2010).Dr. Saferstein serves on the editorial
board of the Journal of Forensic Identification and has served on the editorial boards of the
Journal of Forensic Sciences and Microchemical Journal.
110
His textbook Criminalistics: An Introduction to Forensic Science – 11th edition is currently used
to teach forensic science in over 700 US colleges. The text Forensic Science: An Introduction –
2nd edition has been adapted by over 600 high schools for the purpose of teaching forensic
science.
He is a member of the American Chemical Society, the American Academy of Forensic Science,
the International Association for Identification, the Canadian Society of Forensic Scientists, the
Northeastern Association of Forensic Scientists, and the Society of Forensic Toxicologists.
Dr. Saferstein is the recipient of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences 2006 Paul L. Kirk
award for distinguished service and contributions to the field of Criminalistics.
Areas of expertise encompass toxicology, pharmacology and analyses of alcohol and drugs of
abuse. Dr. Saferstein has been accepted and testified as an expert witness on a variety of forensic
science issues which include: breath and blood testing for alcohol content, the pharmacological
effects of alcohol, detection and identification of drugs in biological fluids, arson-related
analyses, and the forensic examination of blood, semen, hair, paints, fiber, gunshot residues, and
glass evidence. Expertise includes review and evaluation of forensic DNA evidence.
Jacob Z. Schanker
Jacob Z. Schanker, P.E. majored in electrical engineering at City College
and was a member of AIEE, IRE and Alpha Phi Omega. He went on to
pursue a career in engineering and has extensive experience in industry,
broadcasting, and academia. Currently, he holds the title of Lecturer at the
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). Mr. Schanker has held a number
of leading positions in industry, serving as Director of Agency Compliance
for Adaptive Broadband Corporation, Principal Engineer at Microwave Data
Systems, Metscan Inc., and Harris Corporation RF Communications
Division, and Chief Engineer at Scientific Radio Systems. He has had a
long and continuing association with the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). He currently
serves on the Industrial Advisory Board for Electrical Engineering Technology in RIT’s College
of Applied Science and Technology. Mr. Schanker also indulged his early infatuation with radio
broadcasting, becoming Vice President and Director of Engineering for Community Music
Service, of which he was a major shareholder. Community owned WCMF in Rochester, WIQB
in Ann Arbor, and WNRS in Saline, Michigan.
He is a Life Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE); past
chair of the Rochester Section IEEE; Member and past-president of the Rochester Engineering
Society; past member and Fellow of the Institute of Engineers Australia (until 2012); and past
member of the Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society (until 2011).
111
Mr. Schanker is the author of numerous published papers and articles and also a book entitled
Meteor Burst Communications, published by Artech. He was awarded the IEEE Centennial
Medal (1984) and the IEEE Third Millennium Medal (2000). He has one US and several foreign
patents.
Fondest CCNY memories: “Walking from the subway to North campus with only a slide rule for
protection, or endlessly circling campus in my 1959 Jaguar 3.4L sedan looking for a parking
spot.”
Joan Carol Scherf (was Joan Carol
Hennings)
I grew up in Bellerose Queens, graduating at age 16 from Martin Van Buren
HS and graduating from CCNY at age 20. I taught 3rd grade at Castlewood
School in Queens NY. I remember being part of a House Plan club at
CCNY, attended dances and a few meetings. My most memorable teachers
were Dr Kenneth Clark, Psych Department and Michael Parenti for Political
Science.
Most memorable was the 1 ½ hour commute to college for four years, the
rush to classes from north to south campus, learning to swim in PE classes,
student teaching, attending a lecture given by Fidel Castro, and hearing Martin Luther King, Jr.
speak at my college graduation.
I married my first and only husband in 1964 and we will celebrate a 50th anniversary next year.
My husband was a Naval officer and we moved to Philadelphia, then Norfolk, VA, back to
Philadelphia, to Monterey, CA, then San Diego, CA and left the service in 1973 to buy property
in Dallas OR where we still live.
I attended Oregon College of Education (OCE, now WOU) for graduate work, then was hired to
be a coordinator of the outreach program for Chemeketa Community College in Dallas with the
main campus in Salem, OR.
Through my 27 year career with Chemeketa, I grew the Dallas program to over 3,000 students a
year and hired college professors for transfer credit courses, staffed a Business ED lab, hired
Community Ed instructors and ABE/GED instructional staff. In any one term I hired about 50
instructors as I planned the college program for the Dallas Campus. I retired in 2003 as the
Director of that campus from the job that I loved!
112
I was awarded the statewide Oregon Community Education Association (OCEA) Community
College, Community Educator of the year as well as the Dallas Arts Association award in 2003.
The meetings and committees I participated in during my college administrative career are too
numerous to list. I served on the Dallas Area Chamber of Commerce Board for 2 terms, was
appointed to the State of Oregon Community College Advisory Board, was the treasurer for the
Dallas Arts Association for about 25 years, and chaired Art in the Park for many years.
Family: our older daughter has a degree in Civil Engineering and is the Transportation Director
for the City of Corvallis, OR. Our younger daughter is an RN with a BS in Nursing, working at
the hospital in McMinnville, OR. We have four grandchildren and, of course, they are the very
best and brightest!
My life highlight must be the move to bare property, designing and helping to actually built our
house, then do remodeling of the structure each summer about 20 years later. We raise chickens
for eggs, grow an extensive garden and live on 40 wooded acres.
Through the years I have traveled extensively through the US and to England, Germany, France,
Spain and Italy. In my retirement I learned to quilt, joined the garden club, remained with the
Arts Association, joined two Emeritus groups, and a Red Hat group. I just bought an e-reader so
my reading has moved from paper to this e-device. All is good!
Sharon Selman (was Sharon Jevotovsky)
Sharon Selman went to Hunter College High School and majored in biology
at City College. She graduated cum laude and was a member of Phi Beta
Kappa, Hillel, House Plan, Sis Wiley and Sigma Alpha. She served as a
Wiley Dynasty Council Representative and secretary of Sigma Alpha. In
1967, Dr. Selman earned an MS degree in zoology from Pennsylvania State
University, and in 1997 she received a PhD degree in epidemiology from the
University at Buffalo, where she also served as a research assistant and predoctoral fellow. She pursued a career initially as a biologist, working as a
biology instructor at Tallahassee Community College (1972-1975), Des
Moines Area Community College (1978-1979), and Iowa State University (1984-1986),
followed by a position as a protocol coordinator at New England Deaconess Hospital (19871990) in the area of cancer research. She then pursued a career as an epidemiologist, retiring in
2009 from her position as senior medical analyst at Hayes, Inc. (1998-2009). She is a former
member of the Society for Epidemiological Research (1991-2008) and the American Medical
Writers Association (2007-2009). Dr. Selman has published peer reviewed articles in Proc of the
Pennsylvania Academy of Sciences (1967), Special Libraries (1980), Epidemiology (1993),
American Journal of Epidemiology (1994) and Managed Care (2000). She is listed in Who's
113
Who in Science and Engineering (3rd ed., 1996-1997), Who’s Who of American Women (25th
ed., 2005), and was recipient of the first place prize in the Roswell Park Graduate Research
Forum poster competition (1997) at the completion of her doctoral studies.
Fondest CCNY Memories: “Meeting my future husband, Alan, on April Fools Day, 1960, when I
was an upper freshman and he was a lower junior! We married just after I graduated. Thus, we
are celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary this summer. We have two children, Jeffrey, an
attorney, and Heather (Wargo), a physician, and five grandchildren, twins Sarah and Elana,
Benjamin, Rebecca (Wargo), and Eliza (Wargo).”
Joan Seliger Sidney (was Joan A. Seliger)
In contrast to many CCNY students, I grew up in Flatbush, attended Abraham
Lincoln High School, then, after three uninspired semesters at Brooklyn
College, I lucked out when my family moved to the Bronx and I transferred.
My classmates at City came from more diverse working class backgrounds,
making the campus environment very stimulating and less bourgeois. Junior
year I joined Sigma Alpha, the honor service society, and still see Isabel
Sessler Zupan. Sadly, recently, when googling to try to reconnect with Gene
Frankel, my City boyfriend, for this reunion, I discovered he died 27 years
ago. I wouldn’t be surprised if his old houseplan friends were the ones who
set up the Gene Frankel Award at Bronx High School of Science, their alma mater.
Spring semester of junior year, I began honors work in English, ultimately writing my thesis with
my mentor, Anne Paolucci, who became a life-long friend, even a witness to my marriage to
Stuart Jay Sidney in 1965. I met Stu while at Harvard, spring 1964, studying for my MAT in
English, through my late Cambridge roommate, Sandy Brandmark Fowler, also my Sigma Alpha
pal. Stu’s a mathematics professor, retired from the University of Connecticut. We have four
very accomplished grown children: Dan, married to Naomi, both with Ph.D.s in biomedical
engineering; Ray, a retired (at 35) software engineer turned investor and philanthropist, with a
Ph.D. in mathematics; Larry, a physical and health education teacher and sports coach; and Jen, a
school counselor and free-lance editor, married to Marco, a systems analyst. I also have five
adorable granddaughters (to-date).
Aside from being married to a most amazing man and raising four terrific children, living and
working in the Grenoble, France, area on and off for a total of five years has certainly been the
high point in both my personal and professional lives. As a French minor, I always dreamed of
that, not expecting it to become reality. After giving birth to Larry by the Lamaze Method
during our first French residency—a peak experience Stu filmed on super 8 —I even became a
certified Lamaze Prepared Childbirth Instructor.
114
A lifelong learner, I hold a Ph.D. in education and later, an MFA in writing. I taught at New
Rochelle High School, Southern and Eastern Connecticut State Colleges, University of Hawaii,
Université de Grenoble, and the University of Connecticut (UConn). For many years, I’ve been
Writer-in-Residence and Special Research Associate at UConn’s Center for Judaic Studies and
Contemporary Jewish Life. I also facilitate “Writing for Your Life,” an adult workshop.
Among the awards I’ve received are a
Yale University Visiting Faculty
Fellowship, fellowships from the
Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation
and from the Craig H. Nielsen
Foundation, both to the Vermont Studio
Center (possibly the best artists’ colony
anywhere), and individual poetry grants
from the Connecticut Commission on the
Arts and the Connecticut Commission on
Culture and Tourism.
Body of Diminishing Motion: Poems and
a Memoir (CavanKerry)—available from
Amazon—is my most important
publication so far; less important are the
articles, book chapters, poems and two
out-of-print chapbooks. In this fulllength book, I explore my three
obsessive themes: multiple sclerosis
(MS), the Holocaust—I’m a secondgeneration
survivor—and
family.
Writing helps me discover what I need to know and how to integrate these disparate parts of me.
My next book, Road to Inner Healing: Le Chemin de Guérison Intérieure (awaiting publication)
continues this exploration.
Living well with MS, a chronic-progressive disease, since my first exacerbation six weeks after
getting married, has certainly been my greatest challenge. I’m fortunate to have my batterypowered wheelchair, ramped mini-van with hand controls, and a raised toilet seat with bars to
keep me independent. I lap-swim half a mile at our local community center several days a week,
and go therapeutic horseback riding and adaptive skiing and sailing when opportunity presents.
Though I’d be thrilled if researchers found a cure in time to help me—in my dreams I’m still
walking—the disease has brought me unexpected blessings, including many more intimate
friendships with most of the people I meet. My visible vulnerability encourages us to reach out
to each other.
115
Ronnie Silver (was Ronnie Brenner)
Where have all the years gone…short time passing.” I was born and raised
in Washington Heights. My parents were immigrants from Poland with
little formal education. I attended PS 132 Man, and decided I wanted to
become a teacher when I was in the second grade. I excelled at JHS 115
Man, then entered the select honors program at George Washington High
School. I graduated in 3 ½ years, and along with my friend Helen, entered
CCNY in January 1960.
My father had become disabled when I was in the fifth grade. My brother
and cousin had graduated from CCNY. My attending college was a financial stretch for my
family because I could not contribute to the household income. I received a scholarship from the
Educational Foundation for Jewish Girls which combined with my 10 hours of work at the
CCNY Alumni Association enabled me to pay for my basic college costs including books,
transportation, lunch and personal expenses.
Taking at least 16 credits per semester, and working 10 hours per week did not make for a fun
college experience! My education at CCNY was goal oriented, and a means to an end; the
beginning of a long career as an educator. The classes were challenging, the professors were
demanding, and the homework was substantial.
My early days at CCNY were like a continuation of high school .The curriculum was quite rigid;
students had little control of their schedule or choice of classes. I preferred to major in history
but was required to major in education (36 credits) because I wanted to teach elementary school.
Freshmen were required to take a late afternoon class. As classes opened and closed during
infamous registration in Shepherd Hall, I had no choice but to take a five credit Spanish class at
5pm, although I had an early morning class.
The professors at CCNY were knowledgeable. Many encouraged class discussion; some were
intimidating, and a few were eccentric. I remember Dr. Kenneth Clark and Dr. Worms who
sparked my interest in psychology. Doctors Adelson, Zeichner, Cox and Page taught outstanding
courses in history, Dr. Duchachek taught an excellent course in international relations, and
Dr.Podell presented a thought provoking course in sociology. I also remember Doctors Krupa,
and Mintz for their excellence in teaching science courses to non-science majors. Dr. Roseman’s
Methods Course in English and Social Studies provided the first opportunity for me to teach a
real class. My student teaching experience was an excellent one, and it solidified my desire to
become a teacher.
The CCNY Alumni Association Staff with whom I worked became my campus family. I
remember Skip Noack the office manager, Yetta Ginsburg, Mattie, and Executive Director Sy
Weissman, and John Stark. I also remember Molly, her sister Sarah, and the day Molly accepted
her first date from her math professor who she later married.
116
For many of us, Thursday afternoons between 12 noon and 2pm were the highlight of our college
week. All classes stopped, and we were encouraged to participate in clubs, social activities and
social action programs. Many of us made the trek from north campus to Finley Student Center at
this time; we saw Raymond the bagel man with his occasional brusque remarks. Sometimes,
there were bands of dogs running along Convent Avenue. We saw President Buell Gallagher
speaking to students. The Thursday social hours gave me time for membership and participation
in the Education Society, Hillel, the Big Brother Program, Sis Wiley 63.5, and Sis Harris.
On my most memorable Thursday afternoon in October 1960, I attended dance instructions
sponsored by Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society. There, I met a handsome graduating
senior, Howard Silver, who is now my husband of 50 years. On another memorable Thursday
afternoon, I had the distinct honor of meeting and chatting with Eleanor Roosevelt, as she waited
for her chauffeur.
I completed the BS in Education in 3 1/2 years with a 36 credit major in education, and a 30
credit minor in social studies. Dr. Martin Luther King was the keynote speaker at the 1963
graduation. Ken Schlesinger, student government president, also addressed the graduates. I was
soon to fulfill my childhood dream, and begin my teaching career.
Teaching at PS 132 Manhattan-the very same school I had attended as a child-was the highlight
of my teaching career. Every day was a challenge in classroom management and creativity. The
typical class attendance was 30 children. While at PS 132 Man, I taught all areas of the
curriculum to educationally disadvantaged, culturally deprived, and intellectually gifted students.
Teaching was my passion-not just my job!
My motto was “speak softly but carry a big stick”. To me creating a structured classroom
environment with discipline, structure, caring and respect for each child was the key to reaching
almost every student, and bringing out the best in him or her. I learned to find and encourage the
special abilities and talents of the slowest of children, and they responded, cooperated and
learned. My principal, Rose Risikoff, was an excellent mentor.
Inspired by the excellent work of NYC Special Services Teachers who helped many of my
students learn to read, I began my graduate work in psychology and remedial reading at Teachers
College, Columbia University in the summer of 1967. I studied with many renowned professors
including Doctors Anne Mc Killop, Art Kamermeyer, Ignatius Goldberg, and Robert Thorndike.
The professors and students at Teachers College provided an unforgettable learning atmosphere,
and an outstanding education and clinical experience.
I received an M.A. in Psychology of School Subjects and Remedial Reading from Teachers
College in1969. At the graduation ceremony, I befriended Dr. Harold Solan (an earlier CCNY
graduate) who was an optometrist and professor at SUNY Stonybrook. He invited me to work as
a reading specialist at his Reading Center in Teaneck, NJ. I taught, there, two days per week as
my daughter and son were growing up. While working at the Reading Center, I became very
117
interested in diagnostic-prescriptive teaching. I returned to graduate school at Fairleigh
Dickinson University, and received a M.A. in Learning disabilities in 1984.
With two master degrees and four teaching certificates but no formal course in business, I
ventured out to expand my educational services and philosophy. In 1983, I launched Adelphi
Educational Services-a comprehensive home -tutoring service that tutors Grade k-12 students
in all academic subjects, SAT and ACT Preparation. As president and educational director of a
tutoring service that has helped thousands of students, I hire and train teachers, meet with
families, act as the school liaison, set up all the SAT/ACT programs and best of all tutor
reading, writing, math and study skills. I also, present workshops for parents and educators on
topics such as challenges facing today’s high school students, and homework survival for
parents.
Since I believe that education is a lifelong process, I continue to take post graduate courses and
workshops both at universities and mental health centers. Although I have not submitted it for
publication, I have written an important paper: Understanding Coping, and Helping the Asperger
Child-A Guide for Educators and Parents. I have, also, developed a reading system which has
been highly successful with students who have had moderate to severe difficulty decoding.
I am a member of the International Dyslexia Association, the New Jersey Learning Disabilities
Association, New Jersey Association of Women Business Owners, and the Pascack Hills/Valley
Coalition for Resilient Youth of which I am a Trustee. I am a lifetime member of Women of
Reform Judaism, National Council of Jewish Women and Hadassah. I served as President of the
Temple Beth Or Sisterhood for three non-consecutive terms totaling seven years, and as a
Trustee of the Temple Beth Or Board of Directors in Township of Washington, NJ. I received a
Woman of Valor Award from the Union of Reform Judaism in 1995, and a second such award
from Women of Reform Judaism in 2011.
I am a supporter of many organizations which include the United States Holocaust Museum, the
Ellis Island Foundation, the Hillel foundation, Birthright Israel, the Colonial Williamsburg
Foundation, Helen Hayes Hospital, the Lustgarten Foundation and the Tomorrow’s Children’s
Fund.
My husband, Dr. Howard Silver (CCNY, B.S.E.E.1961) is a Professor of Electrical Engineering
at Fairleigh Dickinson University. We both love the outdoors and have travelled extensively
through the United States and Canada. Howard is an avid runner, sports participant and sports
spectator. I am a people person as reflected in my volunteer work. I enjoy music, poetry,
photography, and design my own cards. We have two children: Sharon Brody of Livingston, NJ
who is an actuary, and Michael Silver of Bethesda, MD who is an attorney. We have three
grandchildren: Scott and Sean Brody and Lila Silver.
My fondest memories of CCNY are attending the concerts in Lewisohn Stadium, sitting around
the table in the Finley Student Center Coffee Shop as we tried to solve the problems of the
world, and my trip to Washington, DC with two CCNY friends: Sandy Citron and Greta Durst.
118
Although my experience at CCNY was not as positive as I would have liked it to be, it enabled
me to launch a life-long career as an educator with a passion that is as strong today as it was the
day I graduated in 1963. For this, I am grateful to CCNY, to the professors who challenged me
intellectually, and to an educational system that made it possible for a financially needy student
to receive a quality education, and pursue her dream.
I would love to communicate with some of my fellow graduates via email or telephoneespecially those in the field of education. If you would like to know more about the educational
service that I founded or read some of my blogs, you can go to my website at
www.adelphitutoring.org.
Bonnie Joyce Silverstein-Gerchick (was
Bonnie J. Silverstein)
Bonnie Joyce Silverstein-Gerchick majored in psychology and was a
member of House Plan at City College. She went on to earn an MS degree
in education and school guidance from City College in 1968 and an MSW
degree in social work counseling from NYU in 1981. Ms. SilversteinGerchick pursued a career as a teacher, guidance counselor, and social
worker, retiring in 2001. She is a member of Professional Womens Council
of Hadassah and a former member of the National Organization for Women.
Ms. Silverstein-Gerchick was awarded a certificate from President Obama
for service at the Group Counseling Center in Boca Raton, FL.
Werner Simon
I was briefly a member of the City College’s Campus newspaper in the late 1950’s. The editor
became President of CBS News, copy editor was Vincent Harding, MLK’s speech writer, also
Marvin Kalb was on staff.
I live in HWD Senior Citizen Housing in Randolph, NJ and this is where I stand
I am extremely grateful for the free extraordinary education I was lucky enough to receive!
119
Charles R. Singler
Charles R. Singler grew up in the Bronx on Eagle Avenue and attended Cardinal Hayes High
School on the Grand Concourse. He enrolled at CCNY in September 1958 and graduated in
January 1963 with a B.S. in geology. As a student at CCNY, he was influenced by Dr. Kurt
Lowe (Chair of Geology Dept.) and Dr. Si Schaffel (Prof of Geology).
Dr. Singler went on to pursue a career as a professor in geology. He earned his Ph.D. and M.S.
in geology from the University of Nebraska (Lincoln) (1969 and 1965) and began teaching at
Youngstown State University in 1969. He is currently Emeritus Professor of Geology in the
Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences at Youngstown State University. His
resume below lists his professional accomplishments including publications, presentations, and
awards he received.
Dr. Singler married Ms. Barbara Withall of Rifton, New York. They have three children: Teri
(mathematics instructor at a Community College), Charles (Superintendent at an Ohio country
club), and Jeff (professional cellist with the Erie, Pa Symphony and with the Ohio Valley
Symphony). They also have eight grandchildren.
Resume
Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences
Emeritus Professor of Geology, Youngstown State University
Education
Ph.D., University of Nebraska (Lincoln), 1969, Geology
M.S., University of Nebraska (Lincoln), 1965, Geology
B.S., City College of New York, 1963, Geology
–Univ. of Utah, 1978-79, Sabbatical, (audited courses)
–Univ. of San Diego, 1993, NSF short course, “Marine Science”
–Univ. of Dayton, 1987, NSF Chatauqua short course, “Evolution, Creationism,
or Both?”
–Hofstra Univ., 1973, NSF short course, “Microscopy”
–Univ. of Nevada, Reno, 1969, NSF short course, “Field Geology of Basin and
Range Province, Nevada”
–Midwest Universities Radon Consortium (Columbus, Ohio), 1994, course and
exam for USEPA Radon Measurement Proficiency Program (#164080T)
–Univ. of Colorado, 1997, correspondence course and exam for continuance of
Radon measurement proficiency (NEHA #100204RT) (NRSB #T922)
–MURC (Columbus, Ohio), 2001 and 2003, course for radon measurement
proficiency (NEHA #100204RT)
120
Experience
Youngstown State University (1969 - present)
Assistant Prof, Associate Prof, Professor (1980)
Assistant to the Dean (1993 - 2000)
Associate Dean (2000 - 01)
Chair, Dept of Geology, (1982 - 87)
Geology Dept Coordinator (Spring 1997)
Acting Chair (July, Aug, 2001),
Chair, Dept of Geological & Environmental Sciences (2001-2005),
Retired (May 2005); Extended Teaching Service (2005-present)
Interim Associate Provost (Aug. 2007 to Dec 2011)
University of Utah - Visiting Associate Prof (1978 - 79)
University of Nebraska (Lincoln), Instructor, (1968 - 69)
John F. Kennedy College, Instructor, (1967 - 68)
University of Nebraska State Museum field geologist (Summer, 1967)
University Service (YSU) (selected)
Academic Standards Comm (chair, 3 years, 1995-1998)
Vice Chair, Academic Senate, and member of Senate Exec Comm (1998-2000)
Academic Senate member, including Charter and Bylaws Comm
A&S Curriculum Comm (chair, 1988-1990 and 1993- 2002)
A&S Waiver Comm (chair, 1993-2001)
A&S Graduate Studies Comm (1993-1999)
Graduate Faculty Member
General Education Goals Comm (co - chair, 1993-1995)
General Education Task Force (member, 1995-1998)
Heritage Award Comm (chair, 2000 -2005)
College and University Scholarship Committees (including Chair of the Wick,
Dykema and Krotzer Scholarship Award Committees [1993-2001])
YSU representative to the Excellence in Education Foundation (Barry Goldwater
Scholarship), Springfield Va. and Chair of the YSU committee (1994-2002)
YSU representative to the SUCCESS Consortium, Cleveland Ohio (2001-2002)
YSU representative to the Ohio Dept. of Education for review of course transfer
guidelines (2003-2004)
Dean’s Search Committee College of Arts & Sciences (2001-2002) (member)
Dean’s Search Committee College of Arts & Sciences (2004-2005) (chair)
Search Committee College of Education Dept. of Teacher Education for position
in Secondary Education Science Pedagogy (2000-2001 and 2001-2002) (member)
Appointed by Dean of College of Education (BCOE) to prepare the science folio
for NCATE and Oh Dept. Educ approval of science programs (2002-2004
(chair)
Appointed by YSU President to chair the classroom assessment comm. (20012003)
Numerous Dept. Comm. (promotion, search, curriculum, Dept. review, etc)
121
Participant in EXCEL Career Mentor program, Boardman H.S. (2000 and 2004)
Faculty Service Award, YSU - OEA, (1982)
Distinguished Professor Award (1980)
Distinguished Professor Award, University Service (2004)
Watson Award (2005) for leadership as department chair
Scholarship (selected)
–NSF - SMET (#9850079); Investigative Approaches in the Natural Sciences,
co-investigator (1998-2002); ($183,579)
–NSF, Amer Meteorological Soc; Water in the Earth System; to Dr Bill Buckler;
invited as participant/mentor (1999- 2002)
–Ohio Dept Health (radon studies in 20 counties in northeast Ohio; co investigator
with Dr. Ikram Khawaja and Prof Everette Abram), 1992 - 1993,($46,653)
–Ohio Air Quality Development Authority (radon and geologic studies in four
counties in northeast Ohio; co-investigator with Ikram Khawaja and Everette
Abram, 1988-1989
–Reviewer of FIPSE grants, March 2003
–Panelist: Earth Day Symposium on Mahoning River; YSU, April 19, 2004
Singler, C R, 2005, Radon and Geology in Northeastern Ohio: Are You Really
Safe?: Presentation to YSU Sigma Xi, April 13, 2005
Singler, C R, 2003, Correlations of Radon to Geology; Northeast Ohio Examples:
Presentation to the Univ Missouri-Columbia, Oct 10, 2003
Beiersdorfer, RE, Valderama, P, and Singler C R, 2003, Teaching General
Education: College Science via The Mars Student Imaging Project: 34th
Lunar & Planetary Science Conference, Houston Tx, March 17-21, 2003,
Abstract #1498
Singler, C R, and Usis, J D, 2002, Radon Research in Teaching General
Education Science: Geological Society of America, Ann Mtg, Denver
Colo Oct 26-30, 2002, Abstract #229-7
Usis, J D, and Singler, C R, 2002, Student Perceptions about Inquiry-Based
Science Laboratory: Geological Society of America, Ann Mtg, Denver
Colo, Oct 26-30, 2002, Abstract #229-8
Usis, J D, and Singler, C R, 2002, Explorations In The Sciences: 13th International
Conference On College Teaching And Learning, Ann Mtg, Jacksonville
Fla, April 9-13, 2002, Abstract & Workshop Presentation
Singler, C R, and Usis, J D, 1998, General Education at YSU; Passages To
Reform: Presentation at the American Association of Higher Education,
Summer Academy, Vail Colo, June 1998
122
Singler, C R, 1993, Measuring Outcomes In Determining Public Health Risks –
Radon Studies In Eastern Ohio: Presentation to the 74th Conference of
Ohio Health Commissioners, Oct 20, 1993
Singler, C R, et al., 1993, A Predictive Model For Determining Indoor Radon
Levels In Northeastern Ohio: 1993 International Radon Conference
(AARST), Sept 20-23, 1993, Denver Colo, Abstract
Singler, C R, et al., 1993, Radon Research Progress Report: Health Risk In
Northeastern Ohio?: Ohio Acad of Oh, Ann Mtg Youngstown Oh, Apr 30-May 2,
1993, Abstract
Singler, C R, et al., 1991, Radon In eastern Ohio - The Geologic Connection:
Geological Society of America, North-Central Mtg, Toledo Oh, Apr 1819, 1991, Abstract
Khawaja, I, et al., 1991, A Design for Indoor Radon Investigations for Regional
Studies, Geological Society of America, North-Central Mtg, Toledo Oh, Apr 1819, 1991, Abstract
Singler, C R, et al., 1990, Indoor Radon in Eastern Ohio: The Role of Rock and
Soil Permeability: Assoc of Engineering Geologists, Ann Mtg, Pittsburgh,
Pa, Oct 1-5, 1990, Abstract
[There are additional publications & presentations prior to 1990]
123
Beverly Claire Sirois (was Beverly Claire
McCravy)
I find it hard to believe that it's been 50 years since my C.C.N.Y. graduation
in 1963 with a B.S. in Education. My degree was put to good use by
teaching in both N.Y.C. and Poughkeepsie schools for over 32 years. After
my retirement, I continued to teach in the day and evening GED programs.
There are many fond memories of my college years but my most memorable
time was the Speech/Debate class with Ms. Parker. She divided us into
groups so we could plan debates and take opposing sides in preparation for
our next class. Ms Parker gave my phone number to a fellow student named
Arthur who called me to plan and prepare for our future debates. And just like a movie script,
that phone call led to a 50 year romance since we married soon after graduation and have been
“debating” happily ever after. We have a son, Brett Gavin and a daughter Angelique Claire.
Most of my time is now happily spent taking care of my adorable and brilliant baby
granddaughter, Aubrey Claire.
I’ve been very fortunate, over these last 50 years, to have a wonderful family, excellent health,
an interesting career, and the ability to travel, dance, garden and, most of all, to enjoy time with
my family.
Barbara Sockloff (was Barbara E. Binder)
Barbara Sockloff grew up in the West Bronx and attended City College,
earning a BSed in 1963 and an MSed in 1967. She pursued a career as an
early childhood educator, retiring in 1998. She lived in New City, New York
and raised two children with her husband of 44 years. She and her husband
now spend the summers in New York City and the winters in sunny Florida.
The have three granddaughters. Mrs. Sockloff enjoys golf, tennis and all
card games.
Fondest CCNY memories: “Great friends; great library; and favorite
professor, Dr. Spitz.”
124
Seymour H. Sohmer
S.H. Sohmer is President & Director of the Botanical Research Institute of
Texas (BRIT), a free-standing, non-profit organization. Its mission is to
conserve our natural heritage by deepening our knowledge of the plant world
and achieving public understanding of the value plants bring to life. BRIT is
a regional organization with global interests, with projects ranging from the
Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Belize, the Peruvian Amazon, Costa Rica
and the United States, particularly Texas. It has one of the largest herbarium
collections in the world as well as one of the best botanical and horticultural
libraries.
BRIT moved into its LEED Platinum building adjacent to the Botanical Garden and completed a
$48 million capital campaign that includes an endowment of $12.5 million. It is a cutting edge
facility that will help put Fort Worth into the top echelon of botanical destinations in
collaboration with our great friends at the Botanical Garden.
Dr. Sohmer joined BRIT in 1993. He has many years of experience as a research botanist,
university professor and federal employee. He was the Senior Biodiversity Advisor for the
Agency for International Development from 1990 to 1993. He also served as Chairman of the
Botany Department of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum in Honolulu from 1980 to 1990 and was,
concurrently, Director of Research from 1985. Dr. Sohmer was with the University of Wisconsin
– La Crosse, Department of Biology before that. During his tenure in Wisconsin he participated,
via leaves of absence, in the Smithsonian Institution’s Flora of Ceylon Project; was a postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Smithsonian; served as Staff Associate in charge of the Tropical
Biology Initiative at the National Science Foundation, and as Forest Botanist with the (then)
Office of Forests, Department of Primary Industry, Papua, New Guinea.
Dr. Sohmer is active in a number of professional societies and has been the Chairman of the
Botany Committee of the Pacific Science Association and is currently Treasurer of the Society
for Economic Botany. He has published or edited over100 articles and books, organized over 20
major symposia and workshops and has given numerous papers and talks.
Dr. Sohmer is married Sara Rose (Harrison) Sohmer; two daughters, Rebecca Rose and Rachel
Adrienne.
Present Position: President and Director, Botanical Research Institute of Texas, Fort Worth,
Texas.
Secondary Education: James Monroe High School, Bronx, New York, 1953-1958.
Undergraduate Education: City College of New York, New York City. Graduated B.S. 1963.
Major area - Biology; minor area - Chemistry.
Graduate Education:
125
1. University of Tennessee. Department of Botany, September, 1963 to 1967. M.S. awarded
March, 1966.
Thesis: Taxonomical and Cytological Studies of Some Cultivars of Manihot esculenta
Crantz.
2. University of San Jose, Costa Rica. Advanced Tropical Botany. Summer, 1964.
(Organization for Tropical Studies).
3. University of Miami. Department of Biology, Summer, 1969. Tropical Botany Seminar
(Organization for Tropical Studies).
4. University of Hawai‘i. Department of Botany, September 1969-December 1971. Ph.D.
awarded 19 December 1971.
Positions Held:
1993President & Director, Botanical Research Institute of Texas, Fort Worth, Texas
(ultimate responsibility for finance/administration, research thrusts, development/PR,
collections management and prinicpal spokesperson for the institute.)
1990-92 Senior Biodiversity Advisor, Agency for International Development,
Washington, D.C. (In charge of managing the Conservation of Biological Diversity
Project in the Office of Environment and Natural Resources, Bureau for Research and
Development).
1985-90 Assistant Director, Research and Scholarly Studies, Bishop Museum with
responsibility for the Library, Press, departments of Anthropology, botany,
anthropology, zoology, and contract archeology. (Appointment was concurrent with
Chairmanship of Botany Department).
1980-90 Chairman, Department of Botany, Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawai‘i.
1979
Research Botanist, Office of Forests, Division of Botany, Lae, Papua New
Guinea (appointment via an NSF grant and leave from University of Wisconsin
System).
1977-78 Staff Associate, Division of Environmental Biology, National Science
Foundation (Appointed to evaluate and coordinate the Division's efforts in Tropical
Biology while on leave from University of Wisconsin System).
1975
Associate Professor, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
(July). Promoted to Assistant Professor while on leave, Wisconsin State
1970
University-La Crosse.
1968
(April). Appointed Director of the Herbarium, Wisconsin State
University, La Crosse, Wisconsin.
1967
Instructor, Department of Biology, Wisconsin State University, La Crosse,
Wisconsin.
1966
Summer Session Instructor, Department of Botany, University of
Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee.
1963
Research assistant to Dr. D.J. Rogers, (then) Curator of Economic Botany, New
York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York.
126
Richard A. Sosis
Richard A. Sosis majored in history and minored in political science at City
College. In addition to a BA Degree, Richard holds a JD Degree from St.
John’s University School of Law, which he earned in 1967.
After
graduating, he attained his certification as a NYC teacher of social studies in
1963 and his NYS teaching certification in 1982. From September 1963
through June 1993, he worked as a social studies teacher in Maspeth, Queens
teaching American history, law, and economics. He also served as an
adjunct assistant professor of social studies at LaGuardia Community
College (1982-1986) and an adjunct professor at SUNY Purchase (19982001). In addition to his career as an educator, Richard was on staff at the law firm Pfister,
Flood & Kramer from 1967 until 1975 at which point he opened his own law practice. He is
currently working as an attorney through his private practice and as partner at Bobrow & Sosis,
Esq. Richard also has professional experience in real estate, working as a real estate broker in
New Rochelle from 1995 to 1995.
Richard is a member of many professional as well as community organizations. He is a member
of the New York Bar Association, the Westchester County Bar Association (1983-present), and
the New Rochelle Bar Association (1983-present), where he is also serving on their Board of
Directors (2000-present). He was on the Board of Directors of the Westchester County Bar
Association (2004-2009) and has served as vice president and president of the New Rochelle Bar
Association (2005-2009). In his community, Richard is District Leader of District 47 of the
New Rochelle Democratic Party (2000-present); president of District 6 Council of Neighborhood
Associations (2003-present); and chair of the New Rochelle Zoning Board of Appeals (he was a
member since 2003 and present from 2010-present). In the past, he served as head coach of the
New Rochelle Girls Softball (1987-1989) and the New Rochelle Little League (1989-1993). He
was also involved with the PTA at the Albert Leonard Middle School (1988-1990) and New
Rochelle High School (1993-1996), and a former member of the Rotary Club of New Rochelle.
Richard was married to Marion McBride from 1971 through 1989. In 1975, their daughter,
Karin Sosis was born. Karin went to New Rochelle public schools, Duke University (BA in
English with Honors), and London School of Economics (MA in international economic
development with high honors). She is currently working in Zambia. In 1978, their son, Andrew
Sosis was born. He died in 2009. In 1991, Richard married Judith Bobrow, a math teacher in
New Rochelle public high schools. The couple has a daughter, Leah Jill Sosis. Born in 1994,
Leah is currently in her senior year at New Rochelle High School.
Richard lists the following as his most notable recent accomplishments:
“As a member and chair of the New Rochelle Board of Appeals on Zoning, reviewed variance
and special permit applications, visited sites city-wide and led Board discussions leading to
decisions regarding land-use and development.
127
As chair of the of the Education
Committee of the New Rochelle Bar
Association, created the “Lawyer-in-theClassroom” partnership between the
New Rochelle bar Association and
schools in New Rochelle, placing local
lawyers in many schools in New
Rochelle for a variety of programs.
As president of the New Rochelle Bar
Association, proposed the creation of a
website for the Bar and supervised its
installation.
Supervised certification of the New
Rochelle Bar Association as a provider
of
Continuing
Legal
Education
programs, and produced about 50 such
programs as the chair of the CLE
Committee of the New Rochelle Bar
Association.
Created the Northwood Homeowner’s
Association to represent the interest of 17 families living in the Northwood Circle.”
His favorite CCNY professors were Dr. K.D. Irani, philosophy; Dr. Reginald Raab, history; Dr.
Marvin Gettleman, political science; and Dr. Hilman Bishop, political science.
Fondest CCNY memories:
“Meeting with Dr. Buell Gallagher. Lincolnesque. A truly decent human being. Inspiring.
Running track at Lewisohn Stadium.
The intellectual curiosity that the school promoted and demanded.
Dear friends and classmates (especially Jose, Fran, Martha and Mary Ellen).
Lunch with friends in the snack bar in Finley Hall on South Campus.
Organizing freedom rides into the South.”
128
Susan Sparago (was Susan Abel)
Before I got to CCNY, my life was centered in the Bronx and I got to go to
Walton High School, which was all girls at the time. My grades weren't that
great, so I had the dubious honor of being in the first June graduating class
of Bronx Community College in 1961. My grades then were good and I
started CCNY in my Junior year. My father had attended the Baruch School
and felt this was the best college around with free tuition and living at home
saved some money. Of course, once I finished I was all excited about getting
a job and living away from my parents on the Upper West Side.
While at CCNY I joined the Microcosm staff helping first on the 1962 yearbook as Faculty
Editor and then as Associate Editor of the 1963 book .My art classes gave me plenty of time
between morning lecture classes and mostly 4 hour afternoon studio classes. One term I had no
morning classes on Wednesday and I worked as a student aide in the Physics Department office
helping Professor Wolff with small clerical jobs. I enjoyed all my art classes, but didn't really do
too much with my major until recently when I started doing my own beaded jewelry designs and
selling them. In my senior year I became a member of Lock and Key.
After graduating, I worked for about 5 years in retail buying offices and manufacturing on
Seventh Ave. After I got married in 1968, I went back to school to take some Ed classes so I
could qualify as a teacher. I completed 15 credits for a Master's at the Ferkauf School of
Education (part of Yeshiva University) but dropped out as the demands of motherhood made it
difficult to keep up with the work. I did some substitute
teaching for a short time.
A few years later, I worked from home as a travel agent, and then got some other part-time jobs
close to home as an administrative assistant in various types of businesses. I became an active
member of my community and temple through this period. The UJA of NY gave my ex-husband
and I a community service award in 1983. Now I am the treasurer for the Long Island Council of
Na'amat USA (formerly Pioneer Women). I am retiring this year as the Program Vice President
of the Friends of the Arts at the Hauppauge Public Library.
FAMILY LIFE
I have three children I had with my first husband, a Holocaust survivor. My one son, Joseph
Bialowitz is now an environmental manager at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, CA.
I was married for the second time in 2001, and my husband and I enjoyed a great trip to the
Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden in 2002. It was a true second honeymoon, the first one in
2001 being to Montreal. I guess you have gathered by now that I love to travel.
129
We also visit my other son, Michael Bialowitz (a certified arborist) quite often in Gilbert,
Arizona, where I now have a grandson and two granddaughters.
In 1989, I lost my only daughter to bone cancer when she was 17 years old. Life certainly acts in
mysterious ways when in the prime of her life she passed away. She never gave up trying to beat
it though, and graduated high school posthumously.
I am now semi-retired; designing and making beaded jewelry from semi-precious stones - email
me for my website address and you will get some great buys. I have come full circle and feel
great to be able to use the creative energy I felt as an Art major and make
some extra money doing something I enjoy.
My fondest memories of CCNY include working on the Yearbook, the ROTC ball, and our
beautiful graduation.
Karen Lois Spencer
I grew up in the Bronx and attended Theodore Roosevelt High School and
was happy to be accepted to City College as an art major. I owe my 40+ year
career as a graphic designer/art director/creative director to the many
wonderful professors in the Art Department, but most importantly to Florian
Kraner, who understood me and nurtured and developed what talent he saw.
Upon graduating with honors, I received a fellowship to the Photography
Department, which allowed me to hone my darkroom skills. My greatest fun
was as Art Director for the 1963 Microcosm yearbook, designing the layout,
format, divider pages, adding our own little "jokes,” and helping to develop
all the photographs.
I am divorced with no children.
After 15 years in New York's publishing and advertising world, I spent five years as Creative
Director at an ad agency in New Orleans and then returned to the N.E. to a Sales Promotion
agency in CT, where I have lived for 30 years, and have joined the CT Alumni Association.
There, I freelanced for many of the Fortune 500 accounts held by CT agencies. For five years, I
was partner in a touring company called Ancestral Tours to Great Britain, where we took family
association groups to visit the towns and villages of their original ancestors.
I spent 18 years in various board positions of the 250-member Entrepreneurial Woman’s
Network based in Westport, CT, where I initiated several programs. For the past four years, I
have spent six months of the year in a village on the shores of Lake Chapala in Mexico, where I
have turned my time and attention to photography and am active in the local Arts Society and
have had or joined in several photography exhibitions. Travel in the last few years has included
130
the Danube, the Baltic countries, and golf trips to Scotland and Ireland. The rest of my time is
occupied by the frustrating game of golf.
I have a website of my photography, which I invite you to check out:
www.karenography.com
Edward Sperber
Edward Sperber grew up in the Inwood section of Manhattan; on Seaman
Avenue and 204th Street. During his last two years of college, he lived on
Riverside Drive and the corner of Payson Avenue. He attended George
Washington High School. At City College, he majored in biology and was a
member of the Biology Club on campus. From 1963 through 1967, he
attended the University of Kentucky, College of Medicine in Lexington,
Kentucky. After earning his MD he interned at Pennsylvania Hospital,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1967 through 1968. He did his residencies
in pathology, neurology and neuropathology (the latter two were overlapping
residencies) at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland from 1968 through 1973.
From 1973 through 1975, Dr. Sperber was on active duty in the United States Navy, serving as a
physician specialist at a major Naval teaching medical center.
Dr. Sperber retired in 2004 from his career as a physician, referral specialist, scientific
investigator, medical school professor, and medical administrator. He was a member of various
specialty professional organizations and was honored with Fellow status in various specialty
colleges and academies. Currently, he is involved with a few local community organizations.
Dr. Sperber has published several basic science experimental studies and clinical scientific
studies in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
Fondest CCNY memories: “College was a grind. I attended school as a full – time day student.
I worked 20 plus hours a week late evenings and
nights. I worked second and third jobs during
semester and summer breaks. The faculty and
advisors were discouraging. My best mentor and
advisor came from outside CCNY. I am grateful to
CCNY for having such comprehensive science and
liberal arts requirements for a science
baccalaureate degree. They proved to be very
useful as I progressed through my further
schooling and future career.”
131
Elizabeth Starcevic (was Elizabeth Deborah
Unger)
I have long roots in Washington Heights, in northern Manhattan as well as in Harlem at City
College. I live in the same apartment I grew up in. I attended P. S. 173, J.H.S. 115 and George
Washington H.S.- all neighborhood public schools. I started at CCNY in 1959. I majored in
Liberal Arts, loved literature and languages. I also loved music and dance and studied voice for a
number of years. My time at City was full of protests and I have fond and proud memories of
anti-war demonstrations on South Campus in the midst of beautiful cherry trees.
I enjoyed English with the provocative Leonard Kriegel, Latin with Prof. Wagreich and after I
did poorly in math, I received and A from Bernard Sohmer. I loved my geology class that took
us on field trips to Fort Tryon Park to learn about Manhattan Schist. The fact that many of my
undergraduate teachers would become my colleagues has allowed me to see teaching and
teachers in a variety of ways.
I majored in Spanish and French and have both a BA and an MA from City College as well as a
Ph.D in Spanish from The City University of New York (CUNY) graduate center.
I taught in George Washington HS and in the former Benjamin Franklin HS in East Harlem. I
began to teach at CCNY in 1969. It is two miles from my home.
It was a wonderful time to begin teaching at City College! The victory of Open Admissions
presented challenges to both students and faculty. But they were wonderful challenges. I was
part of a group of faculty and students that created Black Studies, Puerto Rican Studies and
Women's Studies departments as well as opening a Day Care Center for the children of working
students and CCNY faculty. My daughter, Maia Starcevic attended while I taught. It was
thrilling to work on curricula that would represent those whose contributions to the academic
canon and not been included before. Of course, there were and continue to be disagreements and
disputes about the impact of Open Admissions, but data shows that it has been a success and our
city and our nation is better for the struggles that achieved it.
I have published books and articles on Spanish and Latin American women writers and texts for
native speakers of Spanish. As the president (two times) of the CUNY Council on Teaching
Languages I have written on the importance of working with many colleagues in many places in
order to improve the teaching and learning of languages. I have also helped found and have been
the president of Feministas Unidas, which is a group of teachers of Spanish and Portuguese
within my professional organization, the Modern Language Association, MLA. I have been head
of and held several posts within the CCNY chapter of my union, The Professional Staff Congress
PSC and am presently the president of PEN San Miguel in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. This
is a chapter of International PEN an organization that defends freedom of expression throughout
the world.
132
I have been involved in training language teachers and have traveled to Cuba and to China
representing CCNY.
I have also taken students to the Dominican Republic for Study Abroad courses and have been
on the board of our CUNY exchange program with Puerto Rico.
My commitment to public education has a long, family history as my aunt Lillian Weber, a
professor at City College, was a founder of Open Education in the New York City public
schools. My daughter, Maia Starcevic who has a Master’s in Education from City College is
also a public school teacher.
In 1992, I was on a sabbatical project in Mexico and I learned to weave. Since then, I have
returned every intersession and summer vacation to weave. I have had exhibits of my work in
Vancouver, in Mexico, on several CUNY campuses and in various galleries in New York City.
Now that I am retired, after more than 40 years of teaching at City College, I hope to exhibit
my weavings in more places.
We were free students in a free college. How things have changed!
City College has been my life. As an undergraduate, I relished long conversations about life,
social issues, literature-in the cafeteria of Shepard and on South Campus. I met fascinating
people! During my MA and Ph.D. studies I made many lifelong friends. I have kept my
commitment to the idea of a free, public university and my memories of social involvement
during college anti-war, community control of schools blend with later struggles at CCNY and
CUNY in student takeovers to maintain ethnic and women's studies, against unnecessary tuition
and tuition increases. My memories include my colleagues at City and throughout CUNY and
the wonderful students I have known and how important City College has been for all of us.
When we graduated, Martin Luther King spoke to us in Lewisohn Stadium. Though neither he
nor the stadium are with us, the vision of a free, public education for all must live on. Here's to
CCNY - thanks for everything!
133
Irene Stein (was Irene Hermann)
Irene Stein majored in math education and was secretary of Kappa Delta Pi
at City College. She graduated first from her class at CCNY’s School of
Education and went on to pursue a career as a math teacher. She is currently
an AP Calculus teacher at the Torah Academy of Bergen County. Before
that, from 1977 to 2007, she taught AP Calculus at Fair Lawn High School.
She is a member of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (1980present) and the Association of Teachers of Mathematics New Jersey (1980present). Mrs. Stein published an article titled “Mentoring a Student
Teacher” in the Montclair University Magazine. She has received numerous
professional honors, including the Bergen County Teacher of the Year Award by the Governor’s
Recognition Council in 1998; the Edyth May Sliffe Award for Teaching Mathematics in 1990
and 1993; and awards for excellence in teaching mathematics from the University of
Pennsylvania, Tufts University, the University of Chicago, and Rutgers University.
Fondest CCNY memories: “Winter Carnival—seeing Jane Fonda and marrying my future
husband at the mock marriage booth. Trying to get from a class on North Campus to a class on
South Campus in 10 minutes. Buying pretzels from Raymond the Bagel Man.”
Michael D. Stein
A psychology major at City College, Michael D. Stein served as vicepresident of the Class of ’63. After CCNY, he went on to earn a Ph.D. in
Clinical Psychology from CUNY in 1974 and pursue a career as clinical
psychologist/neuropsychologist. He is currently working as a clinical
psychologist. From 1989 to 2003, he held the position of Director of
Psychology at Lenox Hill Hospital. Dr. Stein is a member of the American
Psychological Association and the International Neuropsychological
Society. He co-authored a book titled Therapies for Adolescents on the
variety of treatment techniques for adolescents. He has been married for 45
years to Cecile, and has two terrific sons.
Fondest CCNY Memories: “Meeting some life-long friends.”
134
Murray Steinfink
Murray Steinfink was on the CCNY freshman and varsity baseball team.
He was awarded MVP of the varsity baseball team in 1960 and best pitcher
of the baseball conference. After graduating from CCNY, he earned an MS
degree in polymeric materials from Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn
in 1969.
Professionally, Mr. Steinfink managed and owned companies. From
1991 until he retired in 2012, he served as CEO of MSI, Inc.
Mr. Steinfink was on the Board of Directors of Meals On Wheels in Rockland County
and is a member of the American Chemical Society from 1963 to the present. He is
proud husband to Susan Wachs Steinfink, father of J aime and Jeremy Steinfink, and
grandfather of Joshua, Jake, Sam, Rebecca, William and Matthew Steinfink.
Fondest CCNY memories:
engineering professors.”
“Fellow students, members of baseball team and chemical
Ronald J. Stern
Education: Bronx High School of Science, 1959; B.S.(Physics) City College
of New York, 1963; Graduate study, Physics, Carnegie Institute of
Technology 1964; J.D. George Washington University, 1969.
Bar Membership: Admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, 1970;
Registered Patent Attorney, USPTO 2008.
Employment:
Expert Witness on patent practice
Primary Patent Examiner, 1964 - 2005 (41 years)
Technical Specialty:
Optics - mostly holography and spatial filtering
Passed Patent Manager Certification Exam 2006
Patent and Trademark Office, Department of Commerce
Patent Public Advisory Committee 2001-2005
Federal Employee Organization Involvement:
Patent Office Professional Association:
President - 1982 to 2005
135
Vice-President and General Counsel - 1977 to 1982
Executive Committee Member - 1967 to 2005
POPA Activities:
Patent Policy: Congressional witness, Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and
Intellectual Property, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of
Representatives 1996-2005; Panel Speaker, National Academy of Sciences
Litigator: ULP=s, Negotiability appeals, grievances, rights and interest arbitrations
Chief Negotiator: Basic, Examiner Performance Appraisals, Space, Ethics, Petition
Attorney appraisals, etc.
Speaker: Several SFLRP Conferences, FEPA Conference, National Archives symposium
Trainer and Supervisor of employee Reps
Newsletter Editor
Columnist: Federal Labor & Employee Relations Update, published by FPMI, Inc.
Member, Department of Commerce Partnership Council
FAIR Coalition, POPA Representative
National Federation of Professional Organizations, Vice-President
Consortium on Federal Pay Reform, Treasurer
Federal Employee Coordinating Committee - Member of Board
Patent Office Federal Credit Union: Board of Directors 1971-1980
President - 1979 and 1980
Personal Stuff
Wife, Jane Rosenberg Stern, is a teacher who rose in her
profession to become President
of the Maryland State Teachers Association, an NEA affiliate,
and is an active Democrat,
who served as a Mondale delegate in the 1984 National
Convention and as a Clinton
delegate in 1992.
Varsity Debate Team, City College.
Delta Theta Phi Law Fraternity, member.
Hobbies include photography, ice skating and walking. Also
home remodeling, used to enhance the value of a rental house.
Feel comfortable replacing the motherboard of a computer.
No children.
136
Anita Phillips Strauss (was Anita Adele
Phillips)
At my 25th reunion from Erasmus Hall High School, in 1984, I received an
award for having the youngest child; I was pregnant with my daughter
Ariele. This highlights the unusual rhythms of my life. She was born four
days after my 43rd birthday.
My husband of 32 years (Doug Strauss), and I enjoy traveling, theater and
musical events. Among my favorite sights are Iguazu Falls (between
Argentina and Brazil), the Panama Canal, and Bryce Canyon National Park
(Utah). I love to line dance, play bridge and canasta, visit and do puzzles.
Ariele
is
an
attorney
who
lives
and
works
in
Manhattan.
The diversity, ideas, opinions, humor and curiosity of my classmates taught me about the world,
as I tried to find out who I was, and wanted to be. (I’m still looking!) My professors helped me
explore that world. I thank CCNY for expanding my horizons and encouraging me to think for
myself.
I spent nearly forty years in the field of education. For more than twenty years I worked for the
NYC Board of Education (now Department of Education) as a teacher and school librarian in
three sites, including Governors Island. When Ariele was born I took five years off, and
continued to work as an adjunct professor at Queensborough Community College, where I taught
for 20 years. I taught one graduate course at CCNY.
In 1989, I returned to work full time. I worked for New Visions for Public Schools (New
Visions), developing and implementing Library Power, a wonderful program that enhanced NYC
elementary school library programs, supported school librarians, teachers and administrators, and
students. Its impact is still being felt. As vice president for New Visions, I directed a grant
program to develop and support collaborations between non-profit organizations and NYC
elementary schools. The most successful partnership of this grant was between the Queens
Community House (formerly The Forest Hills Community House) and PS 86 (then in District
28). My next experience with QCH was when I was invited to direct the 21st Century
Community of Learners project - creating and expanding five afterschool and summer programs
in public schools. The program annually reached 1000 participants and their families in the
Briarwood/Jamaica neighborhoods. I consider QCH a Queens and neighborhood treasure. In
2005, when the three year grant ended (after four years), I retired. I started line dancing, serving
on the board of directors of my coop, and was invited to be on the board of directors of Queens
Community House. Born in Brooklyn, I also lived in Manhattan and have been a Forest Hills
resident since 1974.
137
Education
1954 – 1959
1959 – 1963
1964 – 1968
1967 – 1971
1993 – 1996
Erasmus Hall HS
CCNY - BS in Education
CCNY - MS in Reading
Pratt Institute - MLS
Queens College - Professional Diploma Administration and Supervision
Robert L. Stukalin
I was born in Washington, D.C. and subsequently accompanied my parents
to the Bronx when I was a year old. I spent the majority of my youth in the
Wakefield (North East) section of the Bronx and graduated from Olinville
Junior High and Evander Childs High School. It was at the latter school that
I first considered applying to City College.. It occurred at my first and only
guidance meeting, lasting all of 45 seconds. My guidance counselor handed
me a mimeographed sheet containing a list of all the colleges in the CUNY
system, and I asked him which was the best. He responded, “City
College; fill out the form.” That concluded the guidance session. Actually I
had previously heard many good things about City from my older friends who were studying
there and liked it very much.
To my surprise, I found CCNY to be not only intellectually stimulating, but healthful as well.
Each morning I would take a brisk 20 minute walk to White Plains Rd. and take the number 41
bus to Bedford Park. There I would walk another 10 minutes to the D train and get off at either
145St. or 125 St. I would then hike another 15 minutes to class. In the case of a Monday 8 AM
class in Wagner Hall, CCNY provided additional opportunity for exercise. Along with my
classmates, I might have to climb over the South gate if the Burns Guard had had a good
weekend and forgotten to open it. What other college provides a 47 minute workout even before
class begins? What really convinced me that I had made the right choice was one
morning, while walking along Convent Ave. with a throng of fellow students I saw this tall,
lanky man with a smile on his face, greeting each and every student along the way and the
pleasure they derived in seeing him. I turned to the fellow next to me and asked, “who is that
fellow?” He responded, “Why that’s our President, Buell Gallagher.” Another spontaneous
demonstration of affection occurred around Christmas time when as I entered my German 52
class, I saw that someone had written on the blackboard, “Cool Yule, Buell.”
City College was a great place to be in the late 50’s and early sixties. To begin with, we had a
superb faculty, I remember with great affection and respect Professors Zeiger and Yohanan who
taught comparative literature and American Literature respectively: Professor Friend, whose
Chaucer course was a joy, Professor Merton who made literary criticism come alive and finally
Professor Hamalian who showed us how to make an essay into an art form. It wasn’t just the
138
English faculty who made such an impact on me. There was also Professor Feingold whose
Government class gave me the basis for understanding and evaluating politics and governance to
this day. Professor Rosen of the History Department who taught us what there was between the
lines in the history texts.
Then there were my classmates, bright, socially engaged and committed to making a difference
in the world. The ones I got to know the best were those studying the humanities and social
sciences, my buddies in the ROTC program, but most of all my fraternity brothers in Tau Alpha
Phi. As time went on, I did graduate work, served in the Army and have worked as an
administrator in major medical centers, but in all this time, I’ve never met a group of people
that I felt more at home with. In summary, I liked City College so much that over the next 10
years I stayed around to take two grraduate degrees on a part time basis.
After graduating, I completed the course work for my master’s degree at City and entered the
Army in August 1964. I attended the Medical Service Corps Officers Basic Course at Brooke
Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston Texas. I spent the remainder of my two years of
service at Fort Lee, VA. I was first assigned as Administrative Officer in the Medical Section of
the Second Logistical Command, then was reassigned as Supply Officer to the 22nd Field Army
Support Command, and finally ended up as Administrative Officer, Support Services Dept., U.S.
Army Quartermaster School. Those were a lot of different jobs for just a two year tour, but the
Army was in a state of flux as they were building up forces for Vietnam. They must have liked
what I was doing because upon my discharge, my boss who was a colonel got me an Army
Commendation Medal and gave me a great letter of reference which helped in getting my first
job at a medical center. I learned a lot while I was in the Army which I was later able to apply in
civilian life. For example, working with the logisticians in my first assignment prepared me for
opening a thirty story medical facility 10 years later. I observed different styles of leadership in
different settings and evaluated how effective they were and subsequently incorporated them into
my own management style. The one lesson which perhaps served me the best was learning how
to work with people from different backgrounds, and levels
of education to accomplish an objective.
After discharge from the Army, I taught for a year at Theodore Roosevelt High School in the
Bronx, and then accepted a position as Assistant Director of the Communications Division at
Mount Sinai Hospital. I transferred to the Ambulatory Care Department and was subsequently
promoted to Assistant to the Executive Vice President /Director of the Hospital. In addition to
my regular duties as administrator for quality assurance and compliance, I performed special
assignments and long term projects. One was a four year one involving the phased equipping
and occupancy of the 30 story Annenberg Building. Another was establishing a federally
delegated peer review program. Along the way, I set up and managed two award programs to
recognize and reward outstanding employee performance and suggestions for improvement. It’s
nice to see on my visits there that these projects and programs are still going strong. I enjoyed
my eleven year tenure at Mount Sinai, working alongside some of the country’s best physicians
and health care executives. While at Mount Sinai I became interested in geriatrics and
139
gerontology in general.
So my next move was into the field of long-term care.
I served as Associate Executive Director and then as Executive Director of Daughters of Jacob
Geriatric Center in the Bronx. The facility cared for over a thousand people in Skilled Nursing,
Health Related Facility and Congregate living apartment building. I established a very
popular in-house television program, that was run and operated by the patients. Working with
the local public school, we set up an inter-generational after-school tutoring program for first
graders with the residents of our congregate living facility. It proved to be very successful as
seen by the improved reading scores at the end of the year. Mayor Koch came by to give award
certificates to all the students and their “surrogate grandparents.” Just as important as the
improvements were the relationships formed between the two groups with such differences in
age and background. Building on this, we established a partnership with the Cities in Schools
program involving teenagers doing paid work in the center.
I was subsequently invited to reorganize Florence Nightingale Nursing Home, a thousand bed
skilled nursing facility in Manhattan. They had just failed a NYS inspection and were
being threatened with closure. I brought in new administrative, nursing and medical teams and
after a hard years work, we were deemed to be in compliance having passed not only the State
inspection, but the Federal follow-up one as well. About this time I felt I needed a change of
pace and a return to a medical center setting. I was offered a position as Administrator for
Emergency Services at the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. It involved management of
five very active emergency rooms with the Medical Director. While in that capacity, I
coordinated the establishment of an Advanced Cardiac Life Support program to train first year
medical residents. My experiences at Columbia-Presbyterian were markedly different from those
I had at Mount Sinai. In the first instance, with the recent passage of Medicare and Medicaid
funds were readily available, and there was a great desire to experiment with new patient care
programs and means of delivery. In the second, the HMO’s and insurance companies were
drastically cutting reimbursement and the hospital was having financial difficulties which
entailed a series of lay-offs. The Director of Mount Sinai had once told me that hospitals should
be regulated like utilities. In that way, you could manage sensibly today while planning
successfully for tomorrow. To this I might add, that new and improved methodologies and
techniques could also be implemented more quickly and systematically in all the
hospitals rather than the haphazard way it is done today.
Throughout my career I have benefited greatly from my undergraduate and graduate years at
CCNY and CUNY. I believe they can stand as a model for what a public
university can do for our society and our country.
140
Robert I. Thorner
Robert Thorner grew up in Brooklyn and attended Wingate High School. He
earned his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from City College
and his Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from New York University
in 1968. Mr. Thorner had a successful career as an engineer retiring in 2010
from his position as Program Director at Support Systems Associates, Inc.
He worked for Support Systems Associates from 1978-1990 where he
attained the position of Vice President of Navy Operation, and again from
2000-2010. From 1990-2000, he held the position of Program Director at
RJO Enterprises in Hunt Valley, MD. Mr. Thorner credits his return to
Support Systems Associates as one of the turning points of his life and supporting the US
military as one of the highlights of his career. He is a member of Eta Kappa Nu and IEEE.
Married for 50 years, he has two children (a boy and girl) and two grandchildren. He is an avid
fisherman and golfer.
Sharon Topolsky
I grew up in the Bronx and went to Hunter College High School. I chose CCNY for its
reputation as a good school, and due to finances.
It was quite a culture shock to go from an all girl’s school to a co-ed school, especially my
freshman math class, which had 4 girls at most. The class was intellectually challenging, and Dr.
Kitty Lung, our teacher, was very helpful. Taking Invertebrate Biology made the decision to
major in Biology very easy. Dr. Krupa was an excellent teacher. I loved the field trips in Botany,
and was surprised at how interesting the classes were. I wish I took more writing classes,
especially with Dr. Mirsky.
Student activities included House Plan, Hillel, Yavneh, and Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry. I
was in the Freshman Honors Program, made the Dean’s List all through College, was Phi Beta
Kappa in my Junior year, and received the Ward Medal in Biology and the Merck Index Award
in Chemistry.
Fond memories include hanging out with friends in Shephard Hall, learning new things and
meeting new people, walking around the campus, quiet places to study, and involvement with
student activities.
After CCNY, I attended Albert Einstein College of Medicine, graduating with an MD in 1976. A
residency in Psychiatry and Fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry followed. I have
worked at Long Island Jewish Hospital, Nassau University Medical Center and most recently at
141
Westchester County Department of Community Mental Health. Positions included staff
psychiatrist, Medical Director, Unit Chief, and Associate Director of Division. Through NUMC,
I held a teaching position at SUNY Stony Brook Medical School- Clinical Assistant Professor of
Psychiatry. A poem I wrote was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Memberships include the American Medical Association and American Psychiatric Association.
I guess you could say I’m at a turning point now. The clinics I worked in closed due to budget
problems. I’m at a point where I would like to do something different and am open to
opportunities.
Olivia J. Valentine
Olivia J. Valentine, Esq. earned her BA and MA degrees from the City College of the City
University of New York. She went on to receive her JD from the Fordham, University School of
Law. She was admitted to the Bar in New York State and the Federal Bar, Southern District, and
Eastern District, NY. She is a Certified Arbitrator, American Arbitration Association, and
FINRA; Certified Mediator, United States Postal Service; LA County Superior Court; and
member, Panel of Attorneys for Airline Owners and Pilot Association.
Ms. Valentine has pursued a career as a legislator, attorney and mediator. From 2012-present,
she has served as a council member for the City of Hawthorne, CA.
From 1988 to 2007, she served as General Attorney for the Federal Aviation Administration
(“FAA”) and was responsible for representing the FAA at all stages of enforcement of Federal
Aviation Regulations, including litigation and hearings before the National Transportation Safety
Board, Department of Transportation, Merit Systems Protection Board.
Her work in dispute resolution spans from 1998-present and includes the following activities:
mediator for Los Angeles Superior Court (2000-present); mediator for the United States Postal
Service (2007-present); and Arbitrator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)
,the American Arbitration Association, and Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (2008present).
From 2007-present, Ms. Valentine also worked as an educator. In 2008, 2009, and 2010, as an
Adjunct Professor, she taught “The Legal, Ethical and Regulatory Environment of Business,” a
nine-week course at the LA Metro Campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. In this
nine-week course, graduate students are required to understand how law and ethics affect the
business environment.
142
She also taught the following law classes at California State University, Dominquez Hills,
Department of Public Administration: “Legal Foundation of Justice Administration,” “Criminal
Justice Administration,” and “Administrative Law.”
Ms. Valentine’s professional associations, interest and awards include:
 Councilmember, City of Hawthorne, 2012-2016
 Planning Commissioner, City of Hawthorne, 2006-2009
 Recipient, FAA Office of the Chief Counsel Award, 1992
 1990-2008, Board Member, FAA First Federal Credit Union
 Fordham Law Alumni Association
 Rotary Club, Hawthorne, CA
Fondest CCNY memories: “During the period I was at CCNY—between 1959 and 1967, when I
studied for both my BA in Political Science and MA in History, these were some of the most
intense periods in American history. It seems that everyone had a cause: civil rights, the Vietnam
War, the environment, socialism, communism, and women’s rights. There were raging debates
on campus, and every ethnic group had its own society from the NAACP to the Lithuanian
Society. The professors were as involved as the students in asserting their points of view.
Of course I was very much influenced by the debates of the time. I became Vice-President of the
CCNY chapter of the NAACP from 1961-1962 and President from 1962-1963. This activism
stirred something in me—and I was never again able to be passive concerning issues I believed
in.”
Cynthia Walters (was Cynthia Lasher)
Cynthia Lasher Walters graduated with a BA degree in English from City
College in 1963 and a MA degree in 1975. She also attended Montclair State
University, earning an MA degree in anthropology in 1991 and a certificate
in Educational Media as an Educational Media Specialist (School
Librarian) in 1998. Ms. Walters was a professional school librarian in New
Jersey. She retired in 2010.
Fondest CCNY Memories: “The South Campus Lawn.”
143
Lidia Sicari Watrud (was Lidia Sicari)
Lidia Sicari Watrud majored in biology and was a member of the Newman
Club and Beta Sigma Biological Society at City College. After graduating
from CCNY, she attended Michigan State University, earning her M.S. and
Ph.D. (1965 and 1972) in mycology and genetics. She pursued a career as a
biological researcher in plant and microbial molecular ecology. From 1991
until her retirement in 2012, Dr. Watrud was a senior scientist at the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency where she specialized in biotechnology
risk assessment. Previous to that, she was with the Monsanto Company,
where she worked in Research and Development and Business Development
(1975-1990). She is a member of the American Society of Microbiology, Botanical Society of
America, Ecological Society of America, and Sigma Xi. Dr. Watrud has published numerous
articles in peer-reviewed biological journals and holds three U.S. patents. She was awarded the
Gold Medal for exceptional service by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In her
retirement, Dr. Watrud is enjoying spending more time with her grandkids, hiking, photography,
gardening and volunteering.
Fondest CCNY memories: “Raymond the Bagel Man; Lincoln's shiny nose; Newman Club
Spring Break road trips; MLK as Commencement speaker.”
Peter Gallegos Weiner
Peter Gallegos Weiner majored in electrical engineering at City College and
was a member of Tau Alpha Phi Fraternity. After graduating first in his
engineering class at CCNY, he attended Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute,
earning a Ph.D. in system science in 1967. He went on to pursue a career as
a professor, entrepreneur and attorney. Most recently he has returned to
what he enjoys most: being the student. Still working, Mr. Weiner is
currently Manager and CEO of two limited liability companies: The Plan9
Group and Peter & Others. His former positions include Assistant Professor
at Princeton University (1966-1969); Founding Chairman of the Yale
University Computer Science Department (1969-1973); Head of the Information Sciences
Department at Rand (1973-1977); Founder and CEO of Interactive Systems Corporation (19771982); and Founder and CEO of Segue Software Inc (1988-1990), a company that went public in
1996. Currently, Mr. Weiner is a member of the California State Bar and is on the rolls as a
solicitor of England and Wales. He is the author of Linear Pattern Matching Algorithms, a
seminal paper he published in 1973, ten years after he graduated CCNY. The work, which has
led to efficient computations in DNA strings, among other things, is being celebrated this year
144
(2013) at a special session, informally named Weiner40, of the 24th Annual Symposium of
Combinatorial Pattern Matching in Bad Herrenalb, Germany.
Fondest CCNY memories: “On the first visit to campus, meeting Raymond the Bagel Man.
Being told that ‘being old’ was 10 years older than one’s current age. How true! The lectures of
Egon Brenner.”
Ira M. Weiss
Ira M. Weiss majored in electrical engineering and was a member of IEEE,
House Plan (Dean ’62 & Perry Himmelstein), and Beta Delta Mu at City
College. He was also nominated into the following honor societies and
organizations: Lock And Key, Tau Beta PI, Eta Kappa Nu, and Sigma Xi.
After CCNY, Dr. Weiss attended the University of Southern California for
an MS and PhD in electric engineering (1966 & 1972). He went on to
pursue a career as an engineer. Currently, he is serving as Senior
Engineering Specialist at the Aerospace Corporation, a position he has held
since April 1979. Prior to that, he was Senior Engineer at Autonetics Division of Rockwell
(January 1963 to April 1979).
Dr. Weiss has published technical papers on estimation, simulation, combat systems, and antijam technology communication satellites, radar, and GPS. He is a Rockwell Fellow, Senior
Member of IEEE, and member of the Institution of Navigation, Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu, and
Sigma Xi.
Dr. Weiss is married with three children and seven grandchildren. He is a member of the
Orthodox Jewish Community of Los Angeles and enjoys learning, travel, reading, and biking on
his free time.
Fondest CCNY memories: “Closeness of fellow students. Quality of Professors.”
145
Barbara Ruth Wortman
Barbara Ruth Wortman, a graduate of Julia Richman High School, earned
her BA degree in history from City College in January 1963. She went on to
earn a Master of Library Science degree from Queens College in June 1969
and a Master of Liberal Studies from New York University in June 1978.
Ms. Wortman pursued a career as a secondary school librarian, retiring in
1996. She is a member of the National Arts Club, Amateur Comedy Club,
and Yeats Society. Her interests include reading, traveling, piano, drawing
and tennis.
Mitchell Zimmerman
I was raised in the Hunt’s Point neighborhood of the South Bronx and
attended Morris High School before enrolling at City College. When I
started at City, I was planning to major in Physics, but was immediately
seduced by the people I met in the Debating Society and changed my major
to Political Science. I recall spending most of my time in 209 Finley, the
Debating Society’s miniscule office, though I was also involved with Student
Government. That and hanging around with people more radical than me,
who shocked me by being dead right about the U.S. imperial (attempted)
invasion of Cuba. The Cuban Missile Crisis was a great radicalizing moment
in my life.
I recall many long, happy evenings with a classmate, listening to him playing mandolin at a
Greenwich Village club, and walking, talking, arguing, sympathizing over life’s travails as we
strolled for hours all the way up to 96th Street, from whence I would take a couple of subway
trains back home to the northeast Bronx. And then there was the young woman who woke me
up emotionally toward the end of college . . .
Favorite teachers, who I have to suppose influenced me in various ways, though I can’t recall
just how after 50 years: Stanley Feingold, who I recently saw for the first time since graduation
and still admire; Ivo Duchacek, the Czech expatriate / former parliamentarian who taught
Chinese/Central Asian politics among other things and was my Honors Thesis advisor; Bailey
Diffie, the Latin American/European History professor who was actually something of a stick,
but who I was unaccountably fond of.
After I graduated, I went to Princeton for a Ph.D. program in Politics, but along the way got
involved in the Civil Rights Movement in the South, and couldn’t get my head back around the
academic life. I worked for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Atlanta and
146
spent some time in Mississippi during Freedom Summer 1964, then I spent a year working for
SNCC in eastern Arkansas, in 1965-66. One of the transforming experiences of my life.
During that time and after, I became involved in the anti-Vietnam War movement. I marched
and leafleted; was arrested various times and places; spoke at teach-ins and demos; and coauthored a book called Dr. Spock on Vietnam (Dell 1968, still available at a modest price on the
internet!).
I met my wife Jane around then. We were married in
1968 and immediately moved to San Francisco just for the
hell of it. And we are still here in the Bay Area. I worked
as a pre-school teacher for a while, and was fired for
trying to form a union. The revolution came and went,
and my destiny caught up with me: I became a lawyer
(Stanford ’79), first working for a small public-law type
firm; then with Fenwick & West, a large technology firm
where I have become a fixture over the last 30 years. A
great firm that combines brilliant and innovative
lawyering with humanity.
We have three children and three grandchildren (not
equally distributed). All also involved in law, curiously
(the children that is; our grandchildren’s destinies TBD).
Both daughters are California lawyers, and my son is a
paralegal in Oregon. My wife Jane is a deeply respected
social worker at Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital at
Stanford, where she has been for decades.
Silicon Valley since the 1980s: a terrific time and place to practice law. I have represented
prominent technology clients in a number of ground-breaking cases in copyright law; and I now
counsel start-ups and others on how to plan their business activities when new technologies and
business models crash up against unsettled and unknown law. Though only part-time now; I’m
mostly retired.
Many of my proudest moments as a lawyer have come from a range of pro bono activities. I was
honored by California Lawyer Magazine in 2009 as an Attorney of the Year, for my successful
representation of a condemned inmate – who I got off San Quentin’s death row after a 22 year
struggle.
And for my next life: I have written a gripping as-yet-unpublished novel about Mississippi,
racism, the death penalty, revenge and all that. (Ahem: if any of you are literary agents, contact
me immediately!) I am looking forward to seeing old friends at reunion, and hoping I can
remember some of your names and how the hell I knew you.
147
148