MIT Class of 1963 Class Notes

MAY/JUNE, 1996

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW CLASS OF 1963 NOTES  MAY/JUNE, 1996 ISSUE (Sent February 20, 1996)
 
     Lots of alumnews to bring you up to speed on. I know it's been a long while and I apologize. Don't ask... *Dave Johnson, VI, now married about 36 years, has four children through college and, at last count, four grandchildren... *Jim Champy, I, continues as chairman and president of the CSC consulting group as well as corporate vice-president of Computer Sciences Corporation... *Alan M. Schindler, VIII, is a pediatrician/pediatric endocrinologist in Philadelphia. He also teaches at two medical schools. He has written a book, "Too Tall? Too Short? Too Fat? Too Thin?" about children's growth. He has developed a computer program for monitoring lead poisoning in children... *Daniel J. Gross, XV, has completed his first year as president of Enhance Financial Services, a company he helped found in 1986. In 1992 he was ranked a National Master by the U.S. Chess Federation. I wonder what he thinks about the Kasparov-Deep Blue match.
 
     *John H. Wasserlein, II, left Boise Cascade in Idaho and moved to Connecticut to join the American company, Fraser Paper, Ltd., as president and director. He is also a director of the Canadian company, Fraser, Inc. By the time you read this, one daughter should just have finished high school and the other have graduated Tech in mechanical engineering, making his family a "Tech Tribe," my new designation. I preferred the alliteration over "Tech Family" and probably better taste, but if anyone has strong feelings one way or the other, let me know...*Steven W. Miller's, VI, family is another Tech Tribe. Their son Scott is a grad student at MIT in ocean engineering, working on the Robotuna project (a venture jointly funded by Starkist and Orion Pictures?). Steve's fourth book, "Cardiac Radiology: The Requisites," was published in March. Last year he was awarded a Harvard-Macy Scholarship for Physician-Educators to develop multimedia for medical students at Harvard Med...*Tony Geisler, XV, a self-described "raisin broker" (really food ingredients), loves working out of his home and living near Walnut Creek, in the San Francisco Bay area. His wife, Dee, is a resource specialist in the local schools and also is active in the community. They are really a Tech Tribe. Rebecca, their elder daughter, graduated MIT in '93 and is finishing her last year at UCLA Law School. Daughter Wendy is engaged to Rob Fong, MIT class of '92, who works for Rockwell at NASA in Houston. Wendy graduated University of Texas and also works at NASA, Houston, at Krue Labs... *Pat Morzilli, V, almost made Tech Tribe. She writes that she is in shock that her daughter, who was accepted at MIT, decided to take one of her two full scholarships elsewhere. Kids!
 
     *Steve Fisher, XVIII, recently finished a three year term as chair of the Department of Mathematics at Northwestern University. He had been associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Let us know what you will do now, Steve... *Alan T. Marty, VII, has a private practice in cardiovascular surgery. In 1994 he was honored with the Alfred Soffer Award for Editorial Excellence by the American College of Chest Surgeons. He is on the editorial board of  several medical journals and has published close to 400 articles and book reviews... *Phil Marcus, VI, our past secretary, still interviews undergraduate candidates for MIT. President of the Maryland chapter of the American Society for Training and Development, Phil has his own PC consulting business, specializing in database programs; Windows 95 is his forte.
 
     *Shingo Nishikawa is representing AT&T in its efforts to set up a fiber optics cable in Pune, India. He met classmate *Kirit Sheth, VI, in Bombay. Kirit, he says, is in great shape because he meditates, has managed a great high tech company for 20 years, Hakotronix, and has a great family. Kirit's wife works for the company and their daughter is hoping to come to the US for her MBA. Kirit says real estate is out of sight in Bombay, higher than Tokyo and Hong Kong, but Shingo thinks the Bombay bubble will burst as it did in the other two. Kirit says that *Minoo Shroff, VI, has retired in St. Augustine, Florida. Shingo makes an interesting observation, namely that the India he had dreamed of as a student is to be found in the countryside, not in the cities. He says, "I am an easy captive to the irresistible charm and hypnotic power of the rural towns and the surrounding sceneries."...Another classmate associated with AT&T is *Mike Maul, VI. He E-mailed to say that he has left AT&T Bell Labs after 27 years and will work for Texas Instruments in Houston, Texas. It will be a change from New Jersey, but Mike grew up in Kansas, so it's back to the central states. He will be head of north american design centers for digital signal processing, a position similar to his post at AT&T where he was head of all international design centers for the applications-specific integrated circuit area. He still enjoys taking his horse on long distance and endurance rides 50 to 100 miles per day (but does his horse enjoy it?). I can see it in Texas, but not in Bayonne.
 
     Also with Bell Labs, *Marty Eisenberg, VIA, E-mailed to say he and wife Esther had been to California and had seen *Bjorn Conrad, XVI, and *Ted Cohn, VI (both AEPi fraternity brother of ours), whom he had not seen in 30 years. Bjorn, described as still energetic and fun loving, married Kirby 10 years ago. He is the proud father of five children, the youngest of whom is three. He (Bjorn, not the three year old) has a transportation consulting firm which he formed after leaving Stanford Research Institute. Ted is a professor of vision sciences at Berkeley. His wife Barbara is a medical researcher at Berkeley. They have three children Marty described as "remarkable." Marty himself is a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff at Bell Laboratories where he has worked since 1967. He is a pioneer of a branch of queuing theory called "polling systems" (systems of queues with a single cyclic server) and is responsible for a significant breakthrough in that field which he presented in a paper in Boca Raton. He and Esther have two daughters. One has an MBA from Columbia and works for Merrill Lynch in Manhattan, and the other, after living in Paris for a couple of years, returned to the US to work for Fidelity Investments. Marty, who played squash as an undergraduate, still plays three to four times a week...Another AEPi fraternity brother, *Richard W. Weiner, XIVB, was named executive vice-president at the Connector Set Toy Company. He headed the original legal team which set up the company which makes K'NEX toys. Rich graduated the University of Pennsylvania Law School after Tech and was president of the Philadelphia Bar Foundation and treasurer and member of the board of governors of the Philadelphia Bar Association. As chief counsel of the Pennsylvania Securities Commission, he was principal draftsman of the Pennsylvania Securities Act. I don't remember him taking drafting....*Elliott Bird,XXIB, yet another AEPi brother writes that aside from his hernia operation (he doesn't recommend it), he and his wife, Toby, who is an English professor at Nassau Community College, are living the good life. They spend Christmas in Maui, July in France, and they weekend at their apartment in Manhattan, doing theater and opera. Their son, Eric, is a Kennedy Fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School. He may take a course at Tech.
 
     Another XXIB graduate, *Alan Meyer writes that he is teaching at Arizona State University-West Campus. After being "sponsor in nomine" for his brother-in-law's wedding in the Philippines, he and his wife, Nancy Felipe Russo, traveled to Talgu, South Korea where she gave a guest lecture at the Women's University on psychology and women's issues...*Roy Komack, VIA, E-mails that he would like to hear from us and accordingly has sent his changed internet address which is now royk@komack.com. He is a certified financial planner in practice as Komack Management Services, Inc. in Natick, Massachusetts.
 
     Regarding the Class of '63 Scholarships, Sumer Johal's scholarship was renewed and he graduated in electrical engineering and computer sciences. He is currently in an MBA program. Jonor J. Jones also had her scholarship renewed and is expected to graduate this year in materials sciences and engineering. A new recipient is Hector Padilla from El Paso, Texas, who is a junior this year and majors in mechanical engineering, but ultimately will pursue medicine. He is an active member of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and LUCHA (La Union Chicana por Aztlan)...*Richard Merrill, II, E-mailed that he is working on font software at the AGFA division of Bayer Corp. in Wilmington, Massachusetts. He has twin daughters, one working at DEC and the other at MathSoft. His other children have been exploring the globe. His son hiked through Europe and his daughter worked for a short time in the Dominican Republic. Speaking of the Dominican, I have had an apartment and part ownership in a hotel in Puerto Plata since 1981. If anyone is planning to travel there and would like some information, give me a shout, or its electronic equivalent...Still on the international front, *Laurence Beckreck, XVIII, writes that he has been teaching math in a Derby, England "high school" for the past eight years. He and his partner of the past seven years, Fiona Aitkin, moved in together about a year ago. She is an Anglo-Scottish therapist. Her children, Ben, 18, and Freya, 15, live with them. Larry's older son, Seth, is now 28 and works for British Rail as an electrical engineer. Joshua is now 26 and is completing a four year teacher training course and would like to go to Harvard.  Larry encourages E-mail at LBeckreck@arcade.demon.co.uk. and visitors (prior notice please) to their home in Nottingham (yes, you know the one). They entertained *Tony and Dee Geisler (above) and *Frank Model's, V, wife, Sue, who was on a research project in England.
 
 
     *James H. Lattimer II, XVIII, says his daughter, Veronique, has rowed with the Vassar Varsity Women's Four for the past two years and reminds him of his days on the MIT crew (yes, but who's team was better looking?). Jim says she will graduate in '97...*Woods Bowman, XIVB and VIII, wrote that he and Michele Thompson have celebrated their tenth anniversary. Woody left county government in Evanston, Illinois, where he had been chief financial officer, and after a short stint as interim president of Goodwill Industries he joined the faculty of DePaul University in the public service management graduate program...*John E. Graham, III, II, wrote that his son Michael finished his second year of medical school at Temple University in Philadelphia and his son Peter finished his freshman year at the University of California at San Diego...*Maury Lanman, VI, writes that after 15 years of management for several small, mostly now defunct, technology companies, he has gone back to doing something he really likes. As a technical staff member at Alcatel Network Systems in Richardson, Texas for the past year, he is back to technical work and finds that he still has the "MIT edge" (and how many times have we all felt that and been damn glad to have it!)...*Jim Hallock's wife, Georgie, wrote to say that he was selected by NASA to be on a special seven member commission to investigate any space shuttle mishaps. They view launches differently now. He works for the Department of Transportation. Their sons have a wide variety of interests.  Ted is graduating high school this year and AJ will graduate Brandeis next year with a bachelor's and a master's degree in chemistry...*Jack Solomon, V, is now a director of technology planning for PRAXAIR, an industrial gas company. He presented a paper on technology planning last January. He is involved in the MIT Club of Westchester, New York, and MIT's Educational Council. His wife, Jan, is resuming her quest for a Ph.D...*Roger A. Hinrichs, VIII, recently became chair of the physics department at SUNY-Oswego. His textbook, "Energy and our Environment," was just released in its second edition. Roger was a Fulbright Scholar in the Sultanate of Oman in 1993...*John R. Brach, I, is busy directing engineering designs for the transit authority in Atlanta in preparation for the Summer Olympics. A new heavy rail system will be activated, a CNG bus facility completed, and an Intelligent Transportation System inaugurated. Says John, "Come to Atlanta and experience the fun this summer!"
 
     Besides keeping you up to date on all these satisfying pathmarks in our lives, it is also my sad task to report the passing of those of us whose paths have already ended. These are people with whom our experience revives vivid memories and emotions, at the same time coming at a point in our own lives when we have to face our vulnerability and mortality...*Reinhold Frederick Hollendar, Jr., XIVB, died June 30, 1992. He had been living in Minneapolis. No further information is available...*Harold Reed Gregg, X, died in California on April 13, 1993. He had been vice-president-auditing for Transamerica Corp...*Charles Albert Bridges, III, VIII, died January 21, 1995 in Urbana, Illinois. He had a wide range of interests. After graduating Tech, he took a master's degree in physics at University of Illinois with an emphasis in both elementary particle physics and astronomy.  As a systems analyst and senior scientific programer, he assisted in the operation of the solar telescope at Peak Solar Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico and since 1980 was assistant specialist at the Computer-based Educational Research Laboratory at University of Illinois. Interested in the natural sciences and a leader in computer cataloging, he produced in 25 years of independent work seven catalogs of butterflies, moths, and dragonflies. He was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon. His obituary ends with the delightful note, "He danced at the Regent Ballroom in Savoy."
 
     Keep the alumnews coming! Try to get it to Tech or me by the first of the month. You can reach me by snail mail: Shoel M. Cohen, Ph.D., Dept. of Psychology, Nassau Community College, Garden City, NY 11530 or E-mail: 71271.2627@compuserve.com. You can also call me at home at (516) 286-6453. It would be great to talk to you personally.
 
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