Well, I did indeed get an E-mail from Marvin Singer after
writing about him in the last class notes column. It's his first
communication with Tech Review since we graduated, and Marvin
sent a message full of news. He and his wife Karen live in Reston,
VA. Marvin is Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Department of
Energy, and Karen is Foreign Language Chair and a French teacher
at Langley HS in Fairfax County, VA. The Singers' oldest son,
Jonathan, graduated from MIT in course VI-A with BS and MS degrees
in 1996. Jonathan and his wife Tanya were married in 1998 and
they live in Redwood Shores, CA. Jonathan designs chips in Silicon
Valley. The Singers' younger son will graduate this year from
the University of Michigan after majoring in trumpet performance.
Marvin writes that he recently had lunch with Jack Solomon.
Jack works for Praxair, in Tarrytown, NY, and he had an interest
in some membrane separation research that the Energy Department
in sponsoring. Our kids might call that networking, but we call
it having lunch.
Congratulations to Bruce Eisenstein. Bruce was elected
president of the IEEE last fall, and, I believe started his term
of service this past Jan 1. Bruce has been chairman of the Electrical
Engineering and Computer Science Department at Drexel University
in Philadelphia. Bruce's wife, Toby, continues to be busy with
research and teaching at Temple University in microbiology. The
Eisenstein's daughter, Lana, is in school in the Boston area,
studying at Harvard.
Alan Marty has retired from cardiovascular surgery, but
is still writing for medical journals, and has developed an interest
in "natural medicines." He recently reviewed "The
Complete German Commission E Monographs: Therapeutic Guide to
Herbal Medicines" for the Journal of the AMA. Alan if you
found any "magic bullets" for the creaks and squeaks
we are all feeling as we age please share your findings with your
classmates.
Robert Turtz writes that after 30 years of legal practice
in large law firms he has struck out on his own. He says it's
more work, but a lot of fun. His wife, Susan, does customer service
work for United Jewish Appeal at their national headquarters in
NY. Robert and Susan have three sons and one grandson.
Stephen Hester is the Executive Vice President of Mitsubishi
Electric America, and is also running a subsidiary silicon startup
for Mitsubishi called "VSIS". Stephen lives in San Francisco
when he's not on an airplane.
Joe Nathanson was elected president of the Baltimore chapter
of Lambda Alpha International, the land economics honorary society.
He remains busy as Director of Economic Research and Information
Systems for the Baltimore Metropolitan Council, and with occasional
independent consulting.
Kenneth Klein writes that he is living in Los Angeles and
working for Univision, the Spanish language TV station. For recreation
he rows for the Long Beach Rowing Association. Ken, you'll have
to come to the next reunion and row on our crew team in the interclass
challenge races.
One sad note. Carol (Gustafson) Van Aken, MIT '65, the wife of
Peter Van Aken, passed away in January after being ill
with bone cancer. Barbara and I knew Carol since 1962 when she
and Peter began "keeping company." We have many fond
memories of good times together, from Boothbay Harbor to our stays
at Grove Street, of trips to the Cape for class reunions, and
good camaraderie on our visits to Boston. Carol we miss you, and
we will remember you with great affection. Our condolences to
Peter, and to Christie and David.
One of the things I have found interesting in writing these columns
recently, and during my earlier tenure from 1973 to 1983, is the
breadth of activities we alumni of MIT are engaged in. I remember
during the 50's and early 60's there was concern at MIT about
educating the "whole person." The Institute wanted us
to come out "well rounded." Whatever fears they might
have had were unfounded. We turned out to be not only engineers
and scientists, but attorneys and economists, energy policy makers,
administrators and managers. Not only do we work for universities
and in private companies in electronics, chemicals, rare gases,
and membranes, but we are in the media, the government, and in
private practice. Even in our late fifties we continue to strike
out in new directions. We seem, as a class, to be pretty vital.
Must have something to do with that proverbial "drink from
the fire hose" we had when we were young men and women in
Cambridge.
Class secretarial thanks to those who wrote, even if it was only
on alumni fund envelope flaps. There are about 820 "active"
members of the Class of 1963 (I think that's an MIT euphemism
for "living".) If only 4 of you wrote or E-mailed me
each month (less than 0.5% of the class), I'd have materials for
102 columns, and you'd only have to update me once every 17 years.
Think about that. But do write more often if you're so inclined.
Best regards to you all. You can reach me at: Mike Bertin,
22 Gillman St, Irvine, CA 92612. E-mail:
MCB1@aol.com. If you
want to schmooze, call me at (949) 786-9450.
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