CLASS OF ’57 NOTES FOR NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2001 TECH REVIEW

From Alan M. May

Recently I had lunch with Stan Kroder in Dallas. After 30 years with IBM Stan took early retirement and began a new career teaching telecommunications at the University of Dallas. Stan is leading its Graduate School of Management's effort to develop college courses for delivery on the Internet. They now offer 50 courses over the Internet, have over 1,000 enrolled as students on the Internet, and it represents 30% of the school's revenue.

Tempus fugit. Our 45th reunion is next June. Of our 40th reunion Stan Kroder wrote: "Ten DU's, members of the Class of 57 attended the 40th reunion. In addition to participating in the normal reunion activities, we met at the DU house to catch up on each other's lives. In some cases, this was the first time since graduation that we had seen each other. In others cases, it has been years. Of this group, six lived in Massachusetts although none did when they first entered MIT. The four others were spread from coast to coast. (California, Connecticut, Florida, Texas). None had lived in those states when they started MIT. Of this group, 5 had earned PhD's and two MBA's. Seven were in business and three in academia. Aside from the normal wear and tear from forty years of living, it did not take long to make the connection and see the same personality as was evident at the DU house during the middle 1950s. I hope that many can return for the 45th next year."

Stan added that of the ten, Mike Allik, worked in a consulting and ownership role in manufacturing, lived in Vero Beach, FL; Don Corrigan, worked in executive positions in metallurgy, lives in Middlebury, CT; John Day, owner, consulting company, lived in Los Altos, C, worked in real estate, lived in Wellesley, MA; Stan Kroder, worked as a professor, lives in Dallas, TX; Ken Jones, worked as an engineer, lived in Fitchburg, MA; Leon Van Speybroeck, worked as an astrophysicist, lived in Natick, MA; John White, Engineer at Mitre, lives in Lexington, MA; Marty Zombeck, worked as a physicist, lived in Winchester, MA."

Tom Ahrens writes that after MIT he picked up a masters degree at Caltech and a PhD at RPI. After a post-Korea stint in the army, Tom worked for the Stanford Research Institute from 1962 to 1967 and then joined the faculty of Caltech where Tom has remained. Tom is currently the W.M. Keck Professor of Earth Sciences at Caltech. Married since 1958, he and Earleen have three children. The oldest, Earl is an M.E. in industrial filters. Their son Eric is an Asst Professor in Biology at Carnegie-Mellon and their daughter Dawn is a publicist for Universal Studios. Tom sails skis and scuba dives in LA.

Peter Sinz writes that the Institute of Mechanical Engineering from his college in Puerto Rico has named Peter its Distinguished Engineer for the year 2000. Peter says it took a long time for "fire protection" to make it.

George Moy writes from Damascus MD that he is enjoying tennis daily and volunteer work for seniors, church and high school.

As I write these notes (July 2001), I believe that our 45th reunion will most likely closely resemble the 40th, that it will be held in Cambridge starting with Tech Night at the Pops, a class dinner the next evening, and the balance of the weekend an optional get-together at some not too distant resort. I believe that Tech Night is Thursday June 6th, 2002; thus, the Class dinner would be Friday June 7th, and the off-site get-together would be Saturday June 8th. Hopefully you will have heard from the reunion committee by the time these notes appear.

At our superlative Class of 1957 website http://alumweb.mit.edu/classes/1957/ you will find a plethora of information about your classmates including the last four years of these columns---Alan M. May, secretary, 3601 Turtle Creek Blvd., Dallas, TX 75219; (w) tel: 214-521-8533; (h) tel: 214-528-8812; (w) fax: 214-521-8544; my e-mail address is: ammay@jump.net