Peter Bulkeley of Sequim, Wash., was named Secretary/Treasurer of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) for 1998. Last August he was elected by SME for induction into the 1998 College of Fellows at the Society's Fall Board of Directors Meeting in Houston, TX. He has been a visionary in the introduction and application of distance learning and is recognized by many for his pioneering work in the application of video-conferencing techniques for the manufacturing engineering community.
He was professor emeritus at Boston University where he developed the nation's first weekend Executive Master of science program in Manufacturing Engineering for working engineers. He also delivered the departmental Master of Science programs to a vatiety of industrial sites around the Atlantic seaboard via teleconferencing. These initiatives have served as a role model for numerous institutions around the world.
I regret to report that James Freeman, Jr. of Spartanburg, SC died 11 August 1997. He was manager of the Freeman Gas Co. He is survived by his wife Elaine Freeman.
Crosby Milliman also passed away 12 February 1998. Crosby was from Gardiner ME and is survived by his his wife Karen Milliman.
May/June 1999
Clark Weissman is actively running his own consulting company advising on computer security. He spent last fall semester as a visiting Professor in Computer Science at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA.
Samuel Friedman is a partner in the law firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP in New York City, specializing in corporate law, mergers and acquisitions and securities. Sam has been married to Maxine for 38 wonderful years. The have a married daughter and two grandchildren living in Minneapolis. Sam recently returned from a trip to Europe, Israel, Alaska and French Polynesia.
D. Bruce Montgomery was elected to the National Academy of Engineering Class of 1998. He retired from MIT in 1996 and is now President of Engineering Services Co.
Fred Bialek sits on three Boards of Directors, incuding Cypress Semiconductor Co. and two private companies. He also does consulting work on mergers and acquisitions.
Irwin Gross lives in mid town Manhattan. He retired five years ago from McGraw hill, Inc.
George Mayer recently met Garry Quinn and his wife in Seattle, WA. George also met Art Frank at a party in Maryland. Art is a physician in Washington, D.C. George and his wife Jane plan to move to the Seattle area where he plans to dor research and teach at the University of Washington.
John Sirmalis is receiving the 1998 Distinguished Executive Service Award for his visionary leadership and technical direction for the Navy in undersea warfare. He is the Technical Director of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, RI.
July/August 1999
Oscar Manley of Gaithersburg, MD has been awarded by ASME a Congressional Science/Engineering Fellowship. Oscar reports that illness prevents him from exercising this Fellowship this year. We hope for a speedy recovery for Oscar.
Peter Bulkeley of Sequim, WA was named second vice president of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) for 1999. he is also a member of SME's Board of Directors, the governing body for the 65,000 member international Society. He is currently engaged in strategic issues related to implementation of new rapid tooling concepts and is the SME representative on the National Engineers Week Steering Committee. He is professor emeritus in manufacturing engineering Boston University where he introduced the nation's first weekend Executive Master of Science Program in Manufacturing Engineering for working engineers. He led the development of a new production technology laboratory in partnership with Grmany's Fraunhofer Gesellschaft. He is a pioneer in he use of interactive videoconferencing to deliver graduate education to engineering professionals and is co-founder of the Collaboration for Interactive Visual distance Learning (CIVDL), a consortium of universities in this field.
I am sorry to report the passing of Matthias Clark Calta of Redondo Beach. CA February 1999.
September/October 1999
Donald Brusch sent a note to say that at 70 he is working and still enjoying it. He is employed by Veridian Engineering Inc. at Pax River, MD and is involved with Naval Aircraft Systems.
LTC William Mann Randolph served 22 years in the Army and is now retired.
Ed Zoolalian reports that he was ready to retire on January 1, 1999, but his company convinced him to stay on working half-time. Ed is enjoying the new schedule and finds it a good adjustment after 32 years with Neff Instrument Corporation of Monrovia, CA.
The following classmates have passed on:
Robert D. Herbert III, President of R.D. Herbert & Sons, Nashville, TN died 9 July 1998.
Dr. Belden A. Idelson, Associate Professor of Medicine, Boston University Medical Center, Boston, MA died 14 August 1998. He is survived by his wife Roberta K. Idelson.
Jose M. Reyes, of Canada was Chairman Reyes & Lim Co., Inc.Makati, Philippines. He died 16 September 1998.
Dr. Charles H. Stapper, Jr. Senior Engineer at IBM in Essex Junction, VT died 25 October 1998. He had retired from IBM in September 1993 and was practicing as an industrial consultant. He received six invention awards and an IBM Fellowship Award for PHD Studies. He was the co-inventor of seven patents, including the 16Mb memory chip with error correcting codes. He was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers in recognition of his pioneering work in "The Science of Defects and Fault Tolerance in VLSI Circuits". He is survived by his wife of 40 years, the former Ellen Beek of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
November/December 1999
Reverend Jerry P. Hankins and his wife Liz are retiring to Northfield, MN after serving as the Minister of The Federated Church in Morris, MN for the past 25 years. Just before leaving Jerry gave the commencement address at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
The recipients of funding from the Class of 1956 Scholarship Fund for the 1998/99 acedemic year are:
Jin Kim is a senior from Laurel, MD majoring in chemistry who graduated in February 1999. She was a member of the Muses. a Capella singing group and served as treasurer for three years. She served as Vice President of the Order of Omega Greek Honor Society. Jin was her living group's coordinator for MEDLINKS and served as senior editor of VISIONS, an international health review and was a radiology volunteer at Massachusetts General Hospital. Jin plans to obtain an M.D. degree.
Carla Meza of Brownsville, TX just completed her sophomore year majoring in Mechanical Engineering. She is a member of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and performed community service work over the summer. Carla plans a career in business.
Jason Woolever is from Erin, NY and completed his junior year in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He plays intramural sports, including tennis, basketball, volleyball and table tennis. Jason is a writer for Counterpoint (an MIT-Wellesley student magazine). He spent last summer as an intern with Aspen Technology developing computer software and expects to make that his career field.
January/February 2000
For the New Year please incorporate in your advance planning the dates for our 45th Reunion June 5 to June 9, 2001. Plans are being arranged for two days in Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard and a gala evening at the Harvard Club on Commonwealth Avenue, Boston.We are looking forward to a large, happy group with many Year 2000 stories. Bill Grinker (grinker@americomleas.com), Bill Leitch and John Stelling are 45th Reunion Co-Chairs.
Francis Paul Cardaci died 10 Oct. 1998. He was a Course 15 graduate and lived in Hastings Hudson, NY.
March/April 2000
Fred B. Bialek of Redwood City, CA is doing merger and acquisition consulting. He is a Director of three companies. One company Cypress Semiconductor is public, the other two companies are private.
Donald E. Block of Sun City West, AZ is enjoying semi-retirement. He took his entire family (19 people) to Disneyland for Christmas 1998. The six grandchildren had the best time of all. Donald is consulting to the utility industry on the impact of deregulation on customer services and automation.
Paul E. Brown of Chandler, AZ retired from his position as Vice President of Kinetx, Inc., in the fall of 1998. Since then he and his wife have made trips to Portugal and China, visited his children in California and Texas, and have toured other parts of the country. Paul is the President of the MIT Club of Phoenix and has been very active in that capacity.
Dr. McIver W. Edwards, Jr. of Swarthmore, PA is planning his retirement from his medical practice in July of 2000.
John M. Funderburg moved to Austin, TX from Lakewood, NY in the spring of 1999.
Ward D. Halverson of Cambridge, MA started a three day work week in the summer of 1999 in a transition toward retirement.
Jerry P. Hankins of Northfield, MN retired from the Federated Church of Morris in June 1999 after 25 years. He also delivered the commencement address at the University of Minnesota Morris. He is now living in Northfield, MN.
James O. Stenborg has moved to Texas from Sarasota, FL. He is an avid golfer.
Edward Zoolalian of Monrovia, CA worked part time during 1999 and will retire the end of 1999 after 32 years with Neff Instrument Corp.
May/June 2000
Irwin Gross sends greetings from Pensacola, FLA where he and his wife have been enjoying retirement for the past five years.
Our Class President Ted Korelitz was honored with a retirement party on January 6, 2000 by the MIT Office of Corporate Relations. Many attended to thank Ted for his service to MIT and to wish him well on his retirement.
Klaus Kubierschky was elected President of the Massachusetts Moderator's Association on November 5, 1999. The Moderator is the presiding officer at town meetings. Klaus has been the Moderator in North Reading, MA for the past 15 years. The Association Presidency is a one year term. Other MIT Alumni who have been presidents of this Association recently are Joe Harrington III, 1961, and Harry Terkanian, 1970.
Emmanuel Papadakis, President of Quality Systems Concepts, Inc. of New Holland, PA has edited a two-volume set of books on the progress made in bringing results of research to market. This particular study is on ultrasonic research. The write-up has been issued under the titles "Ultrasonic Instruments and Devices I and II," by Academic Press. These two books treat successful commercialization of expensive research. They discuss how successful commercialization is performed and why it is so difficult.
Richard E. Quinn is the Associate Chairman, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Ralph Kohl, your co-secretary, is happy to report the arrival of my second grandchild Anna Elizabeth to my proud daughter and son-in-law Laura and Ethan Brecher of Greenwich, CT.
Our two Class of 1956 Scholars for 1999-2000 are Jason Woolever '00 and Carla Meza '01.
Jason, of Erin, NY,is a computer science major. He held a term-time job helping develop lab studies for an electrical engineering course. He also has been involved in a research project for three terms in the Department of Mathematics. Over the summer he worked as a software developer for Microsoft Corporation. He plans to pursue a career in software development.
Carla Meza of Brownsville, TX is majoring in mechanical engineering. She is a member of the National Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and several other professional societies. She now serves as President of New House and is very involved with community activities. She has a term-time job in the Tutorial Services Room. She plans to pursue a career in business.
I am sorry to inform you that Von Allen Sowers of Seattle , WA died July 12, 1999 while hiking in the mountains. Von worked at Boeing as a Systems Analyst for over 30 years. He was active in the Hilakers Hiking and Fishing Club as well as the Overlake and Northwest Fly Fishing Club. He is survived by his wife Lynne and married children.
July/August 2000
Cosimo Cataldi reports that after his retirement in 1994 he has been busy traveling, playing duplicate bridge and managing investment portfolios for family, friends and himself. Cusimo is living in Rolling Hills, CA.
Louis Divone retired at the end of last year after a long career with CalTech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy. Most recently he was the Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Industrial Technologies. He was previously the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Buildings and for Transportation Technologies. Louis served on the MIT Energy Laboratory Advisory Board. He intends to write a companion volume to Wings of History the Air Museums of Europe, covering Eastern Europe and fly his antique airplane. Louis resides in Oakton, VA.
I am sorry to report on the death of Robert A. Laudise. His wife Joyce Laudise has notified MIT that Robert was posthumously honored by induction into the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame.
September/October 2000
Dr. John F. Pierce has had a very exciting career. After earning three degrees at MIT and one degree at Harvard, he worked for 10 years at IBM and taught at MIT. He then started a company named MDDC in Cincinati, Ohio. MDDC is a software company which solves stock problems in the pulp and paper industry. After selling the MDDC Company in 1983, John started another company called CARS which is software for many aspects of colleges(admissions, finances, etc.) He retired in March 2000 after selling CARS to New Media Investors. John and his wife Lois currently enjoy condo living in Naples, Florida and Mason, Ohio.
The Class of 1956 Career Development Professorship appointment has been made to Professor Earl Miller for a three year term beginning July 1, 1999. Professor Miller received his B.A. in Psychology from Kent State University and his M.A. and Ph.D in Psychology and Neuroscience from Princeton University. Professor Miller's research focuses on the neural basis of high-level cognitive functions, including the mechanisms of attention, learning and memory needed for intelligent behavior. He studies the activity of neurons in the prefrontal cortex, the brain region most highly developed in primates and most closely associated with complex thought. We will have the opportunity of meeting Professor Miller at our reunion.
November/December 2000
Martin H. (Mickey) Reiss has been elected to a one year term as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). The announcement was made at the 2000 World Fire Safety Congress & Exposition in Denver, CO on 15 May, 2000. Mickey is the former first vice chair of its Board of Directors. With more than 30 years of leadership experience in the fire protection industry, Mickey is currently the president and chief executive officer of Rolf Jensen & Associates, Inc., fire protection engineering consultants. He is a member of various NFPA technical committees and a trustee of The Fire Protection Research Foundation. Mickey is also a member of the China Fire Protection Association, as well as a Fellow of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers, and Chairman of the Fire Safety Board of Advisors at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI).
A luncheon was held for Professor Earl K. Miller, Class of 1956 Career Development Professor Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences on June 12, 2000 at the Stellar room, 7-338A. Many of the Class attended to welcome Professor Miller.