MIT Class of 1963, Class
Notes for June 2002 issue of Technology Review
Your class secretary
has plenty of news to report this month, not all of it good. But good news first.
*Tony Geisler reports that he's still working as a food ingredients broker, and his
business is hanging in there.
"Recession or no," he says, "people gotta eat!" His wife, Dee, is a resource specialist in
special ed, teaching at a school only 4 minutes drive from their home. Tony's commute is even shorter, since he
works out of his house. "Ah, what
you can do with a telephone, fax, and E-mail." The Geisler's daughter, Wendy, and her husband, Robert Fong, MIT
'92, presented Tony and Dee with a granddaughter, Valerie, in 2001. [Welcome to
the club – wait until the words "Grandpa, I love you," come out of
that little mouth. You'll melt. I know.]
Tony is hoping to make our 40th reunion next year, which will also be
the 10th reunion for his daughter, Rebecca, MIT '92. And he invites any classmates in the area to visit him in Diablo,
in California's Bay Area. Tony played a
role in one of my most embarrassing moments at MIT … but that's a story for
another column.
*John Shuck wrote to say that he retired from Ursinus College in June 2001,after 24
years on the faculty there, and 32 years teaching mathematics. His future plans involve travel, working on
his property, and a lot of relaxing. *Don Dreisbach says he's looking forward to retiring, but since his younger son is only
11 he'll continue working for the foreseeable future. Don teaches philosophy at Northern Michigan University.
As most of you probably know, our classmate, *Bob Johnson, is president of the MIT Alumni Association this year. Along with other Orange County alums, I recently had lunch with Bob and several staff members of the Association on their February visit to Southern California. We heard about all the changes going on in Cambridge. Will we recognize the campus when we return for our 40th reunion? Many of the new buildings, including the new dorm on Vassar Street, the new athletic center, and the futuristic, Frank Gehry designed Stata Center (replacing building 20) will be complete by then. But the Big Dig will probably still be in full swing. There are many changes in the educational programs as well, including smaller, interactive computer assisted physics classes. Would we be competitive with today's MIT students? You bet we would! In the February issue of Technology Review Bob wrote the "What Matters" column. What Matters is a web-only opinion column written by a different alumnus or alumna each month. Bob's column was titled, "Timing is Everything: What's New in Venture Capital." The permanent URL (web address for the uninitiated) for Bob's column is http://alumweb.mit.edu/whatmatters/200202.shtml.
In January I had a very pleasant
visit with *Marvin
Singer.
Marvin is Director of Advanced Research in the Department of Energy's
Office of Fossil Fuels. He was at UC
Irvine that morning to meet the staff of the National Fossil Fuel Center at
UCI, a program that Marvin's office oversees.
Marvin was my roommate at MIT for one night at the end of rush week in
the fall of 1959. I guess the
friendship has lasted a few years.
After Marvin's business was finished Barbara joined us and we had lunch
at the UCI University Club and caught up on what's new in our lives. Marvin's wife Karen recently became foreign
language programs coordinator for the Fairfax, VA public schools. She likes the challenge of working with all
the schools, but misses being in the classroom with a smaller group of
students. Son Jonathan, MIT '96, does
chip design in Redwood City, CA for Sandcraft.
The Singers other son, Robby, is in a masters program in trumpet
performance at Northwestern. In the
summer of 2001 Karen led a trip to southern France for a group of language and
art history students. Marvin tagged
along. One of the highlights was trip
to Cezanne's studio. The docent didn't
speak English and Karen was the main translator. The group arrived at 5:30 PM, and the closing time for the museum
was 6:00. But the docent was so
impressed with the group's language skills and their knowledge of Cezanne's
work that he kept the studio open late for the group, a rare compliment to a
group of American tourists. Marvin
mentioned that he occasionally has lunch with *Steve
Ditmeyer, who works in Washington at the
Department of Transportation.
In a sadder vein I report to you the death of our classmate *Byron Johnston. Byron and his wife Shirley were killed along with 17 others in Belize, in October, 2001, when a dive boat chartered by the Richmond Dive Club capsized during Hurricane Iris. After leaving MIT, Byron got his Ph.D. in chemistry at UC Berkeley, and went to work for Mobil Chemical in Edison, NJ. There he worked on wide variety of projects, including flame retardants for Mobil One oil. While living in New Jersey Byron's two children, Heather, MIT '90, course 18, and Blaine, MIT '91, course 8, were born. In 1986 his part of the company was sold to Albright and Wilson, a part of Tenneco, and Byron and his wife, Shirley, moved to community of Brandemill near Richmond, VA in 1986. He switched to work on pharmaceutical intermediates, producing a wide variety of chemicals that were sold to companies like Colgate, including an anti-plaque chemical and compounds for use in dental fillings. Recently he worked on a project to develop the new AIDS drug, Viread, work his family is very proud of. In 2001 the company was sold again, to the French company, Rhodia, and Byron retired, rather than have to move back to New Jersey. This was a retirement only in name. He continued to work full time for Rhodia on a consulting basis and planned to consult for several different companies beginning in 2002. Shirley was an accomplished painter and photographer. Recently the Johnstons traveled extensively in Europe, the Carribean, and back to their native Montana, where they were high school sweethearts. For more information and a wonderful picture of Byron and Shirley see the obituary on Heather Johnston's web site at http://math.vassar.edu/faculty/johnston/obit.html, and the October 10, 2001 on-line news article in the Virginian-Pilot at http://www.pilotonline.com/news/nw1010div.html. Our condolences to the family.
Best regards to you all. By the time you read this it will be almost summer (unless you read it on our class web page.) When you're writing postcard or E-mails to your friends send one to me too, and let me (and your classmates) know what you're up to. 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.