CLASS OF 1959 – January/February 2007
Don ’58 and Dale Rogers Marshall are back in their home in Piedmont,
CA after spending the spring semester
teaching in Russia
on a Fulbright. They were the first Fulbrighters to
teach at Kalmykia State University in Elista, the capital of Kalmykia, a
little-known republic in southern Russia, between the Black and Caspian seas.
“The Kalmyk people came
originally from Mongolia
around 1600 and are Buddhists,” writes Dale.
“The universities are very committed to quality education for their students
and encourage global awareness. Many students speak English and want to improve
their English. Many now also want to learn Chinese. In spite of critical views
of American foreign policy, the faculty and students are very friendly to
Americans and would like to have more opportunities to visit the US.”
Carl Hedden of Hazleton,
PA is partially retired but continues to
help manage a local building contractor. He and his wife Nancy enjoy skiing and
visiting their four children and six grandchildren. Steve
Bosses of Scarsdale, NY retired from the active practice of law at the
beginning of 2006 and launched a new career as a mediator. “It has been an
exciting change and one that is both challenging and extremely satisfying,” he
writes. “To be able to get two or more parties who have been at one another’s
throats to sit down in one room and help them resolve their differences is very
rewarding.”
Ian Maksik of Lauderhill,
FL is a hospitality trainer, lecturer, and
author known as the Professor of Service. He’s the owner and dean of Schools
for the Service Arts, which he is expanding nationwide. At the same time he’s
fine-tuning the First Annual Conference for the Service Arts, scheduled to take
place in 2008. He doesn’t limit teaching “the Maksik
Method” to the US; last year he completed a two-year training tour of 27
Caribbean Islands.
Traveling remains
a popular pastime for classmates. Susan Bates Cottrell,
hospitality director at the Freemark Abbey Winery,
made a pilgrimage to Israel.
Linda Rogers Cohen of Great Neck, NY visited
“very dramatic and very beautiful” Peru.
Bill Fraser of Greensboro,
NC, traveled to Mali
and Burkina Faso.
Travel agent Marge Holeton
Weaver of Naples, FL
sailed on a 19-day portion of the Crystal Cruises World Trip, from Australia
to Mauritius
and Cape Town, then flew to Johannesburg
for a safari in Kruger Park.
Attorney Robert Markovits
of Stockbridge, MA, took a 105-day world cruise. Barbara (NC) and Phil Yarnell enjoyed “an
adventure of a lifetime” as they joined 694 college students during a 100-day
Semester at Sea; they took four courses as senior students and saw some
wonderful ports while circumnavigating the globe from Nassau
to South Africa,
India, China,
Japan, etc. Phil also was among ‘59ers who attended CAU
on-campus programs this past summer. Others included Valerie
Johnson Conner, Ron Demer, Leroy Jewett, Marjory Leshure Marshall, and Beverly Hall Severance.
The '59 Alpha Delt
group and their spouses and special friends convened in Charleston,
SC last May for another mini-reunion, this
one organized by Stan Lomax.
The group cruised out to Fort Sumter, visited one of the nearby plantations, walked
around the city’s famed historic district, enjoyed a carriage ride, and viewed
the last parade of the term at the Citadel—a formal review similar to that at
West Point, although the Citadel’s parade includes bagpipes in addition to the
traditional brass bands. A second trip for Stan
took him to Salzburg and Vienna
in June, to join in the celebrations of Mozart’s 250th birthday. He
traveled as a member of the University
of South Carolina chorus, which
sang “Requiem”—“a far cry from my days as a frosh when I was belting out
slightly more risqué tunes with the Sacrilegious Six,” comments Stan.
Peter Sacerdote of NYC left Goldman Sachs after 41 years
and together with his son Alex started a long/short hedge fund called Whale
Rock Capital Management. Peter told the Harvard
Business School Bulletin: “starting up a new company from scratch has been
a lot of fun and working with my son has been the icing on the cake.” In
October the Wall Street Journal published a feature on Rata Tata, chairman of India’s
Tata Group “and scion of one of India’s
wealthiest and oldest business dynasties. The Journal noted that Rata “was among the first Indian entrepreneurs to see
the potential in making foreign purchases to boost growth.” Today he “controls
everything from Eight O’Clock Coffee Co. in the U.S.
to the ultraluxe Taj Group
of hotels worldwide—which last year took over management of the Pierre landmark
hotel on Central Park in New York City.”
As you consider a
contribution to the Cornell Annual Fund, remember our class scholarship
endowment; on the contribution form simply indicate that your contribution
should go to the Class of ’59 Scholarship fund. * Jenny Tesar, 97A
Chestnut Hill Village, Bethel, CT 06801hedge tel., (203) 792-8237; e-mail, jet24@cornell.edu.
