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
|
Class
Notes