by
Barrie
Rich
On May 7 Joel Smilow was presented with the
Herbert Hoover Humanitarian Award by the Boys and Girls Club of America
Movement. This is their highest honor given in recognition of his
providing leadership funding for new clubhouses being created by Boys
and Girls Clubs of America organizations in various parts of the
country. Congratulations, Joel.
John Franciscus writes about his family's joint
effort with our class matching program, which set up a summer fellowship
in entrepreneurship. This year's recipient was Julia Huang '08, who
spent her summer in central
Asia
working to establish an internship exchange network under the auspices
of AIESEC, a global exchange program founded over 50 years ago. Ms.
Huang visited
Turkey
,
Kazakhstan
, and
Kyrgyzstan
among other countries, and met with various leaders of AIESEC, which led
to the creation of a formal strategic partnership among them.
Dick Hiers informs of how much he and Jane
enjoyed the mini-reunion in
Washington
. They are both looking forward to the
Princeton
football weekend. He also reports that he wrote an article on academic
freedom, published recently in the
Hamline
University
Law Review. Hamline is in
St. Paul
,
Minnesota
.
Bob Hoffman writes from
Israel
with sadness that his wife
Lorraine
recently died there of cancer. After serving in the Navy, Bob returned
to Yale where he attended graduate school and was an instructor in the
Department of Civil Engineering. After a short stint in
Bloomfield
,
Connecticut
, they decided to move to
Israel
in 1972, where he was hired by the City of
Jerusalem
's Department of Engineering. Then in 1979 they moved to Kibbutz
Schluchot, where Bob continues to reside.
A very nice note from John Adams reports that his
wife Rita died of Alzheimer's in September last year. They were married
June 6, 1954, the day before our graduation. Since they met in
New Haven
in 1951, he always felt that she was part of his wonderful Yale
experience.
Dick Suisman reports that the team that so
successfully organized our
Washington
mini-reunion had such a good time working together that they want to
formally start a Class of 1954 group to get together regularly. At his
request
New Haven
has sent out names and contact details for all classmates in the area.
Anyone who has not been contacted and who is interested is urged to call
Dick at (202) 462-7576.
The 55th reunion is less than a year away. With Irving
Jensen as chair of the 55th reunion gift committee and Paul Pesek
continuing in his role as chair of agents for the Alumni Fund, 1954 is
bound to have another terrific reunion gift effort! You'll be hearing
from them soon.
As might be expected, the saddest part of composing
these notes is receiving the ever-increasing number of obituaries. On
the other side of the coin is being able to learn of the significant
achievements our classmates have made. One of these was Elmer W.
Johnson who was managing partner of the
Chicago
law firm of
Kirkland
and Ellis from 1971 to 1993. For five years in the 1980s he was a top
attorney and executive at General Motors and at one point was being
groomed to take over as the automaker's chairman. While at GM he became
acutely aware of the effect of the automobile on our society, both
positive and negative. This led him in 1993 to write Avoiding the
Collision of Cities and Cars, which stressed the need to wean
America
off the primacy of cars in getting around. Following Yale he earned a JD
degree and then joined
Kirkland
and Ellis in 1957. He served as a director of numerous local nonprofits,
including the
United Way
of Metropolitan Chicago, the Economic Club of Chicago, and the
University
of
Chicago
. From 1999 to 2002 Elmer was president of the Aspen Institute, a forum
for some of the nation's top business, civic, and governmental leaders.
Elmer is survived by his wife, Constance, a son, and two daughters.
Contact:
Barrie
Rich
4522 Woodmere Rd.
Tampa, FL 33609
gaiusiv@aol.com
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by
Barrie
Rich
As recorded previously, our 55th class reunion will be
held in
New Haven
the weekend of June 4-7 in 2009. In anticipation of that event our
reunion chair, Carlton Loucks, and your secretary attended the
1953 class reunion in early June to see what went well and what we might
improve upon. Their venue was
Pierson
College
and some 200 classmates attended plus about 60 wives. Our goal will be
300 classmates. The weather was perfect and everyone seemed to have
enjoyed the event. There was one sad aspect in that their classmate, Ed
Crossman, who had organized numerous previous reunions, was unable to
arrange this one due to throat cancer's making him, among other things,
unable to talk. The high point of the reunion clearly was at the Friday
luncheon when Ed's brother and our classmate, Patrick Crossman,
wheeled Ed in to wave and smile at everyone there. Patrick had driven Ed
to the reunion and while he only stayed a short time his presence was a
thrilling moment for all of those attending.
This year our last home football game will be with
Princeton
on Saturday, November 15. We will have the usual breakfast skybox with
lunch and cocktails after the game. Application forms will be mailed in
due course. Thanks to Gaddis Smith, our speaker at breakfast will
be Jeff Brenzel, former AYA head and now dean of admissions for
Yale
College
. As many know, Gaddis retired from teaching some years ago to write his
book on Yale in the twentieth century. But he was quickly called back to
the classroom and with Barclay has led at least one AYA educational tour
every year. He says he has been teaching politics, history, and oceans.
This spring he has retired for good and given up trips to finish the
book. He has every intention of completing it by the end of this year,
with publication hopefully in 2009.
Bruce Meacham has been actively keeping our class
Whiffs alive, recruiting new voices as others drop out. In April they
spent an enjoyable four days in
Puerto Rico
as the guests of Virena and John Franciscus. Along with beach
time and parties they actually gave a concert. Following rehearsals at
the home of Russell Reynolds in
Greenwich
,
Connecticut
, they will definitely sing for us at the gathering after the
Princeton
game. However, due to the AYA assembly and Gold Medal awards, there will
be no Friday night dinner at Mory's.
Joel Smilow went on an extended safari trip, with
two daughters and three grandchildren, to
South Africa
in July. It sounded like an exciting venture. In the meantime,
construction of the new
Smilow
Cancer
Center
in
New Haven
is progressing on schedule. Completion is planned for 2009 and the
ribbon cutting in 2010. A lot of us should be there for that grand
occasion. Thank you so much, Joel!
Jim Monde reports that he and Nancy had a great
trip to Europe covering
Amsterdam
and the
Rhine
Valley
. But Bob Martin and Johanna seem to top the list for traveling,
with two trips to Europe, two to Philadelphia, a cruise up to Seattle
and back, and soon a visit to Williamsburg before the Princeton game.
When in
California
he still conducts weekly tours of Fioli house and gardens.
At our
Washington
mini-reunion it came out that a number of our classmates as kids had
attended a boys camp in the Adirondacks called
Camp
Dudley
, which is the oldest camp in the country. It specialized in all kinds
of activities, but especially baseball, basketball, tennis, and hiking.
Classmates known to have attended are Obbie Clifford, Tom
Shutt, Jay Greer, Jim Monde, and Barrie Rich.
If any other classmates attended, please let us know for inclusion in
the final count.
This is the initial installment of my final year as
class secretary, and for the first time there have been no written notes
of doings. All class news has had to be obtained by telephone. But
happily, for the first time no death notices have been received either.
If only this record could continue for a while. Please send in some news
for the next issue.
Contact:
Barrie
Rich
4522 Woodmere Rd.
Tampa, FL 33609
gaiusiv@aol.com
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Class
Notes