Class Notes

May/June 2017

Note: Classmates' names in gold font are links to a pre-addressed email form (if your browser is properly configured). Other links (underlined) take you to more information about the topic. A shorter version of these Notes is published in the Yale Alumni Magazine.

The New Year began with a lot of Class events: some that have already taken place and others in the planning stages. Your Class Council met in New Haven on February 18th for its annual meeting. There was an excellent turnout of 24 Council members, and several guests attended as well. Details will be reported on our Class Website. Highlights included:

Plans for mini-reunions
Support for Urban Resources Initiative and Squash Haven
Selection of 55th Reunion Chairs
Panel with Yale Muslim Student Association

On February 11, eight classmates had lunch with Pat Caviness in San Francisco where he is undergoing treatments for prostate cancer through March. Frederique Deleage posted: “San Francisco Ruth’s Chris. A great lunch for Patrick with his Yale classmates.” By sheer coincidence, that same day, Yale announced the results of the renaming of Calhoun College, and Len Baker (one of three alumni on the Renaming Committee) was with us. So we had one of the guys “in the room where it happened.” The discussion extended our luncheon from 1:00 to 4:00 pm! Attendance at the monthly lunches at The Yale Club of NYC, organized by Pete Putzel, was strong, and discussion was lively in both January and February.

There are a number of Class events in the planning stage: Chris Getman reports that there will be a “passing of the leash” at the Cornell football game on September 23rd where Sherman (Handsome Dan XVII) will be remembered and Chris and Toddie will pass the leash for Walter (Handsome Dan XVIII) to six Yale captains. Neil Hoffmann is organizing the Fall golf outing on the Yale Course for May 18-19. The new residential colleges will be opening this Fall with a university-wide celebration. Terry Holcombe is looking at dates later in the year for classmates to gather to commemorate the Class of 1964 Gateway in Benjamin Franklin College. John Evans and Robert Whitby are organizing a trip in July 2018 through Seattle, Vancouver and the Canadian Rockies by train. Looking further out on the calendar, your Class Council elected Jon McBride and Tony Lee as co-chairs of our 55th Class Reunion in May 2019.

In Class News on our Class website, you will find a number of new articles. Bob Musil appeared in a PBS program in January about Rachel Carson. Tom Lovejoy was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Conference and Global Forum on Science. Sam Francis commented: “I wish I had been there to hear Toms’s advice about how scientists should respond to fact-denying.” Jim Rogers was interviewed by The New York Times in March about the "bumpy road to North Korea." Jock Reynolds (honorary 1964 classmate) announced his retirement from the Yale Art Gallery. Jock emailed: “I wear my Class of 1964 vest almost daily and love being an honorary member of your Class along with my pal David Swensen.” Ward Wickwire, our chairman of agents for the Yale Alumni Fund, reported that halfway through the fiscal year, our Class is at 88% of our dollar goal and at 80% of our participation goal. Please consider a gift.

Chuck Mokriski was recognized for the J. Frederick Mokriski Scholarship Fund that supports a student in Jonathan Edwards College. Joe Wishcamper (on his way to the Seychelles for two weeks of fly fishing) emailed: “I want to report that the scholarship at SF&ES named for Bob Kuehn continues to support outstanding students.” John More wrote in December: “Jon McBride and I attended the 70th Anniversary Rachel Carson Celebration put on by Bob Musil and the Rachel Carson Council. It was memorable for its analysis of the environmental disasters facing the world.”

Jim Burdick and Dan Berman shared their email exchange about single-payer legislation in California. Dick Berk and Pat Caviness exchanged emails about their rugby-playing (injury-riddled) experiences after graduation. That exchange expanded to questioning the training and conditioning of today’s Yale football players … with views shared by Ian Robertson ’63. Tom Morrison emailed: “There’s no escaping the entrepreneurial bug. My current company, Derivatas, has launched a new cloud-based software platform to help venture-capital and private-equity firms manage their portfolios.” Tony Lee’s holiday greetings summarized his vigorous outdoor adventures in 2016: snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, windsurfing, and mountain biking.

At the Class Council meeting, Mac Deford circulated an interesting article in The Washington Post, “To understand today’s politics, look at Yale in the 1960s.” It’s our fault! At one of the NYC lunches, David Plimpton shared a piece he wrote, "Waypoints to Heaven," about a burial at sea he officiated on his boat out of Brooklyn. It’s a poignant story that I’ve asked him to post on our website. In March, Pat Caviness had dinner with Mike Mazer in San Francisco at a restaurant where Mike’s son is the chef.

Curt Mosso sent a newspaper review from Santa Barbara about Frank Hotchkiss’ novel, Playing with Fire. Frank is a Councilman in Santa Barbara. Blogger extraordinaire, Jim Rogers, posted, “Forget China, buy Russia.” John Wylie posted in his blog series Why We Became Human: “Republican, Democrats, and Human Nature.” Sam Low posted “As Hokule’a voyages around the world to help save our planet, can we learn from ancient societies the risk that we are facing?” In 1993, Sam produced a film, “The Collapse,” part of a series, “Out of the Past.” Bill Gould writes Campaign Blog “to oppose the view that politics is something primary.” Instead he argues that “truth is primary.” Stay tuned for Gerry Shea’s soon-to-be published book, The Language of Light: A History of Silent Voices.

The deaths of six classmates were reported since the previous column. Stephen Kahn died in December and asked that contributions be made to Yale SF&ES. Angus Macbeth, a distinguished environmental lawyer, died in January. Ed Benjamin, a diplomate and cabinet minister, died in January. Bob Reum, Chairman of Waste Management, died in February. Dan Pollack and John Nathan attended Bob’s memorial service in Chicago. Geoffrey Best, an international lawyer until an accident cut short his career, died in February. Joe Shuman, died in March. Obituaries and remembrances of these men are posted on our Class website.