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These pages contain all class notes from the Yale Alumni Magazine from 1957 on. The notes from the July 1957 issue through that of July 2004 appear unchanged from their original publication in the magazine save for the correction of misspellings and other small errors. Starting with the September/October 2004 issue, the notes appear as they were submitted to the Yale Alumni Magazine. The edited notes as published in the magazine can be accessed via https://yalealumnimagazine.com/. The differences are minor. Gaps in coverage result from the absence of Class of 1957 notes in a few issues of the magazine over the years. Also, in keeping with changes in the magazine itself since 1957, the frequency of publication has occasionally changed.
Notes: January/February 2024
Notes: March/April 2024
Notes: May/June 2024
Notes: July/August 2024
Notes: September/October 2024
Notes: November/December 2024
January/February 2024
Our annual class lunch will take place at the Yale Club on Friday, May 17. Inscribe it on your calendars.
In Memoriam: John P. Stockwell died of unstated causes on November 23, 2020, presumably in Berkeley, California. A ranking scholar and magna cum laude graduate, from 1958 to 1960 John served in the Philippines as an interpreter of Vietnamese. Then, after studying political science at the University of Minnesota, he worked for the American Humanist Association, was active in world citizenship and animal rights movements, and taught high school chemistry and earth science in Berkeley. An avid environmentalist who called himself a “world citizen,” he served as president of Whole Earth Scientists, cofounded a journal focused on the ethical treatment of animals, and trekked over the Alps to Rome where, Martin Luther–like, he posted his fellow trekkers’ concerns about animals’ souls on the portal of St. Peter’s.
After gaining an MS in geology in “retirement,” John mentored newly minted science teachers and served as officer, board member, and organizer for the Northern California Geological Society, the Academy of World Studies, the International Cooperation Council, and analogous organizations. Despite his dizzying life, it’s noted that, true to his sex as well as his generation, John had a tendency to swear, “especially when cooking.” He’s survived by Margaret, his wife of 40 years; his children Nicole, Meike, and Loren; and four grandchildren.
In Memoriam: Everett Hedeen died on July 7, 2022, in Shawnee Mission, Kansas. An architecture major, varsity cross-country team captain, and Wolf’s Head member, Ev earned a second architecture BA at the University of Minnesota, then entered professional practice in Northfield, Minnesota, before relocating to Kansas, where he eventually owned his own firm. An architect of commercial buildings, he served on the council of the Kansas City Lutheran Church and the planning commission of Lenexa, Kansas, and acted repeatedly, in perhaps his most important role, as judge of the Great Lenexa Barbecue. Roommate John Strong characterizes Ev as “one of the most disciplined people I’ve ever known” and “very warm and welcoming.” Predeceased by his wife Arlene, Ev is survived by his companion Carolyn Wilson, his daughters Kristen and Marit, two grandchildren, a brother, and others.
In Memoriam: Mitchell C. Kur died of unstated causes in Dedham, Massachusetts, on August 13, 2022. Following military service, Mitch earned a 1965 MBA at Syracuse University and subsequently served as business manager, controller, and in executive positions with GE, Beatrice Foods, and Digital Equipment Corporation. Having taken a keen interest in Judaism, he was deeply engaged in the affairs and institutions of his faith as a member of the board of Temple Beth Am, founder of the Jewish Federation in Framingham, Massachusetts, and a founder and long-term board member of the Rashi School in Dedham. Mitch also owned an art gallery and was a founding contributor to the Danforth Art Museum of Framingham State University as well as a violinist. Predeceased by his wife Carol, Mitch is survived by their daughters Alison Kur, Susan Lees, and Dana Snyder and their children, as well as others. Donations in his memory may be made to Temple Beth Elohim of Wellesley, Temple Israel of Boston, the Danforth Art Museum, or Newbridge on the Charles Senior Living in Dedham.
In Memoriam: Douglas A. Dial died in Ridgewood, New Jersey, on September 3, 2022. A political science major and NROTC participant, after college Doug spent three years on destroyer duty in the western Pacific, then obtained a Harvard MBA. He successively worked with different firms as a security and financial analyst, institutional research specialist, equity research manager, and chief investment officer. Then, from 1987 until his 2001 retirement, Doug served as vice president, then senior managing director, of the College Retirement Equities Fund (CREF), the investment vehicle for the retirement savings of close to two million college, university, and other nonprofit organization employees. At the time of his retirement, CREF, a division of TIAA-CREF, was the world’s largest private pension fund. A convert to index investing, he responded to charges that it was boring by saying that “if people want excitement, they should go to the racetrack or play the lottery.” He attributed his switch from investment analysis to portfolio management to the fact that “somewhere along the line I decided that, rather than casting pearls before swine, I’d become one of the swine.”
In Wycoff, New Jersey, where he resided, Doug served on many town boards as well as on the township committee, three years as mayor. In our 25th reunion book, he wrote that “thanks to Yale, I have learned the meaning of life, mastered the mysteries of the universe, and unraveled the riddles of time. Still, one question torments me: ‘Did Moneymaker really do it?’” (NB: Only ’57ers will understand this.) In addition to his wife Trudi, Doug is survived by their sons Robert and James, their families, and a brother. Contributions in his memory should be directed to Yale’s William F. Buckley Jr. Program or to the Yale Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps.
In Memoriam: William B. Carter died in Hockessin, Delaware, of unstated causes on September 6, 2022. A chemical engineering major, Bill pursued a career mostly with Conoco, after gaining an MA in the subject from Berkeley. The holder of at least ten patents, he ended up on the business side of petrochemical operations. When Conoco merged with DuPont, he became vice president of human resources in the merged corporation and finally head of Dupont’s computer operations. Later in life he turned to the finance and planning side of nonprofit organizations. Bill’s aim in retirement, he wrote, was “to have fun and see that others have fun.” He’s survived by Louise Ann, his wife of 64 years; their son Greg and daughter Lyn; five grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; and two sisters.
In Memoriam: John F. Ross died of unstated causes on December 27, 2022, presumably in or near Medford, Oregon. A civil engineering major, John joined the Standard Oil Company of California (now Chevron) in California, where he resided most of the rest of his life. Beginning in the company’s engineering department, he held many management positions before retiring 36 years later as vice president of international product marketing. Along the way, in 1972 he gained an MBA from Golden Gate University. In his various California locations, John was active in church and community affairs and served on many boards and committees. He was also a golfer, sailor, landscaper, model railroader, and genealogical researcher, as well as an active Victorian house restorer. John’s roommate Jim Herlan writes that John that “was one of the most positive people I knew on campus, usually smiling and cheerful, . . . a serious student [with] a caring presence.” John is survived by his wife Diane as well as their two adopted children, Gary Reeves Ross and Jill Carole Kirby; seven grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.
JMB
March/April 2024
A reminder: Our annual class lunch will take place at the Yale Club in Manhattan on Friday, May 17th. Also, a strong request: That you submit good news for these columns to offset the bad.
Kurt Bloch writes from Lyndhurst, Ohio, east of his native Cleveland, that, a widower, he married Myrna Arlen, herself a widow, in 2006, blended six children, twelve grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren together, and now spends time volunteering and trying to keep fit.
In Memoriam: John H. Chequer died of unstated causes on September 12, 2022, in Schenectady, New York. A native of Lake Pleasant in the Adirondacks, John served four years as a SeaBees naval officer before gaining an MBA from Harvard. He spent his career in finance positions with various businesses: First National Bank of Boston, executive vice president for finance of oil shale company TOSCO (merged into ConocoPhillips), then an executive with Frontier Oil. Retiring in 1987, John returned to Lake Pleasant (summers) and Schenectady (winters). Having played the trumpet with Eli’s Chosen Six, he remained a life-long jazz and classical music instrumentalist. He’s survived by his wife, Elizabeth Taft; daughters Elizabeth Hendee, Anne Chequer, and Laura Chequer and their families, and his first wife, Nan Chequer Schwartz. Donations in John's memory may be made to the Lake Pleasant Public Library, Speculator, New York.
In Memoriam: William B. Marshuetz died on October 11, 2022 in Arlington, Virginia, after recurring battles against cancer. Entering Yale with '57, Bill withdrew to join the Marines, in which he served in Asia until returning to graduate with ‘61 and obtain a 1963 Harvard MBA. He then joined the finance office of Philco, Ford’s aerospace and communications arm. Having conducted business for the firm throughout the world, as chief financial officer of its space missions group Bill led 1990 negotiations that resulted in the sale of Ford Aerospace to the Loral Corporation. Retiring soon after, he advised aerospace research groups about their finances and served as senior officer for a number of small technology forms. On the side, he skied, played the piano and banjo, and enjoyed fast cars. He was also a transport volunteer for Siamese Rescue while claiming to speak fluent feline Siamese. Bill is survived by his wife Kathryn as well as by his brother Dick and family.
In Memoriam: John M. Spender died peacefully in Sydney, Australia, on October 13, 2022 from pulmonary complications. The son of Australia's ambassador to the United States in the 1950s, John majored in political science, then studied law at Gray's Inn before returning home in 1961 to practice as a barrister. Entering politics in the 1960s as a member of Australia’s center-right Liberal Party, by 1980 he’d gained a seat in the Australian House of Representatives where he became widely recognized as one of its most principled members until defeated in 1990. When his party lost its majority in 1983, he joined John Howard’s shadow ministry with responsibility for defense and aviation and by 1985 was shadow attorney-general. After Howard became Prime Minister in 1996, John served as Australia's ambassador to France while simultaneously special envoy to Cyprus and non-resident ambassador to Portugal and Morocco. For his service in France, he was received the Légion d'Honneur. Phil Levine writes that John “wore his measure of political fame modestly” and was “that increasingly rare breed: a politician who radiated integrity." Allan Wendt recalls him as "a generous, thoughtful classmate and companion." John is survived by his wife Catherine and daughters Allegra and Bianca.
In Memoriam: R.K. Kennon Jones, Sr., died In Ocala, Florida, on October 21, 2022 from the complications of Covid. Ken majored in economics, played on the varsity football and track teams, then served in the Army's Special Forces Reserves as a parachutist until retiring at the rank of captain. With a 1960 LLB from the University of Virginia, he specialized in corporate and venture capital law. At six foot three, Ken stood out standing still; as a gridiron tackle, he was an inexhaustible opponent. During Yale's celebrated 1955 upset victory over Army, he served, Scott Nichols reports, all sixty minutes. Don Griffith writes of Ken's "enthusiasm and sheer enjoyment of the game." Subsequently turning down a bid to try out for the Green Bay Packers, Ken said that he "didn't go to Yale so that he could spend his days being crushed on a football field." He is survived by his wife Helen, children Kirk, Pam Upton, and Andrew from a previous marriage, their spouses, two granddaughters, and others.
In Memoriam: We lost Richard C. Munn to unstated causes in New London, Connecticut, on November 29, 2022. An industrial administration major and member of the varsity track and cross-country teams, Dick served as a U.S. Navy intelligence officer in the Bay Area and the Pacific. Upon mustering out, he earned a Harvard MBA. In subsequent decades, he specialized in marketing for IBM, Xerox, Itek, and Digital Equipment before founding two companies that specialized in market research, both eventually absorbed into other firms. Trading in his running shoes, Dick became an avid golfer and cross-country skier as well as devout churchgoer. One of our sunniest classmates, Dick adopted John Denver’s words to characterize his life as "a good time, all in all." Roommate Ralph Lilore writes that Dick had a "stabilizing effect" on others and was "generally quiet and soft-spoken" and of "gentle demeanor." He's survived by his second wife, Holley Eaton, children Tracy, Julie Hale, and David, two stepchildren, their families, and a brother. Donations in Dick's memory should go to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, New London, New Hampshire, or the Lake Sunapee Region VNA Hospice.
In Memoriam: Robert Kirschner died on April 1, 2023, presumably in Manhattan, from the complications of dementia. A psychology major known as "the Greyhound" for his speed on the varsity track team, Bob took a medical degree at Tuoro’s New York Medical College, served his residency at Montefiore Medical Center, and held a fellowship in nephrology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital. After service as chief of renal service at Travis Air Force Base Hospital, by the mid-1970s he was department chief of medicine at New York’s Horton Hospital, which closed in 2011. By our 25th reunion, Bob was living in Middletown, New York where until roughly 2007 he was president and medical director of the town's dialysis center before returning to Manhattan. A sailor, motor-boater, pilot, skier, crossword puzzler, and connoisseur of puns, he’s reported to have rarely let a day pass without a pre-dinner scotch. He's survived by Sylvia, his wife of over 63 years, their children Natalie Tallis, Leslie Kirschner, Kimberly Felty, and Marc as well as their families. Donations in his memory may be directed to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America.
JMB
May/June 2024
Ron Savin, a retired New Haven–based private practice and clinical research dermatologist, is “winding down” and spending time between Pine Orchard and West Palm Beach. Bruce Schragger has learned that his American studies honors paper is on file in Yale’s library—yours, too?—but suspiciously doesn’t reveal its grade. George Reisner writes that he and Pat have left the Philadelphia area after 50 years for a log cabin “secluded among beautiful woods and fields with deer, turkeys, and (occasionally) black bears” in rural Bedford County, Pennsylvania.
The Eugene O’Neill Theater has honored its founder and longtime president George White with its 2022 Monte Cristo Award to “a prominent individual whose work has had an extraordinary impact on American theatre.” Alan H. McGowan is the recent author of The Political Activism of Anthropologist Franz Boas, Citizen Scientist (Cambridge Scholars Publishing).
Readers frustrated by the long gap between these abbreviated obituaries and the longer one distributed via email are reminded that the latter appear in full on the class website, now a possession in perpetuity of the Yale University Archives by virtue of a formal deed of gift executed in 2017 between the archives and the Class of 1957.
In Memoriam: John E. Hearst died in Berkeley, California, on October 25, 2022, of multiple cancers. A collegiate chemical engineering major, John completed a 1961 chemistry PhD at Cal Tech, then pursued a career in chemistry and molecular biology at Berkeley. He was known especially for his work on chromosomes and DNA modeling, one of his thesis advisees being Thomas Cech, winner of the 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In the 1970s, John codeveloped a photochemical method of inactivating pathogens, which evolved in 1991 into the medical equipment maker Cerus Corporation, of which he was a founder and director. He also held supervisory capacities of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and was executive editor of the journal Nucleic Acids Research, president of the American Society for Photobiology, and elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Royal Society of Chemistry. Roommate Ralph Lilore describes him as “the rock-star equivalent of a super scientist.” Predeceased by a son, John is survived by his wife Jean and presumably by their children David and Leslie.
In Memoriam: Roger H. Samet died peacefully on January 6, 2023, of unstated causes. An English major, Roger followed college with a 1960 Yale law degree. The remaining facts about this ever-genial, soft-spoken, attention-shunning man comes from Al Boasberg. Roger started his work life by rolling TVs into hospital rooms himself, an idea he hatched in college. President by 1967 of the Hospital Television Corporation, Roger had brought television sets into most hospital rooms, something everyone now takes for granted. Eventually, Roger and his business partner sold their company to ITT. By 1985, after successfully making videos of surgeries for instructional purposes, he turned to being a venture capitalist. He also became an arts patron, most notably in support of Young Concert Artists and as a founder of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Concert Series; Len Katz reporting that he sponsored many piano students in New York City. In addition to his daughter Chang Ge, Roger is survived by her husband Paul Aaronson, as well as a sister and cousin. Contributions in his memory should go to Pianofest in the Hamptons, Young Concert Artists, or Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
In Memoriam: Peter B. Grose died on December 31, 2022, in Minneapolis from the complications of a stroke. An intensive history major and winner of the White Prize in history, Peter was also a ranking scholar who graduated Phi Beta Kappa. After securing an MA in politics, philosophy, and economics from Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1959 he became a foreign correspondent for the Associated Press in the Congo and West Africa, then in 1962 shifted to the New York Times. With that paper he reported from Paris, Saigon (chief correspondent), Moscow (bureau chief), Washington (diplomatic correspondent), Jerusalem (bureau chief), and New York (editorial board member and UN correspondent). Reporting from Vietnam and quickly disillusioned with the war, he was classed with David Halberstam and Neil Sheehan among the conflict’s most searching, old-style, on-the-scene analysts. In 1977, he accepted the position of deputy director of the state department policy planning staff under Cyrus Vance for what he called “a “modest and unmemorable” 12 months. He was also the author of six books, the most influential being Gentleman Spy: The Life of Allen Dulles (1994). Accompanying Peter’s keen, tough-minded, and perceptive intelligence was a lightness of touch, a wry wit, a convivial nature, and an ever-playful spirit. Predeceased in 2021 by his wife Claudia, he’s survived by their two daughters, Kim G. Moore and Carolyn Grose, as well as three grandchildren.
In Memoriam: Albert L. Williams Jr. died in Key West, Florida, on December 11, 2022. While Lynn hid knowledge about himself from public view, it’s clear that after US Army service, he entered graduate study at Columbia on an Asia Foundation fellowship without completing a degree. He then gained employment as an expert in financial operations research for J. P. Morgan before founding two financial service firms of his own. Successful enough as a “quant” and private trader and expert in the modeling of markets, he retired from others’ employment at 32 after developing his own trading system. With proceeds from his hedge-fund investing, Lynn founded the Albert L. Williams Foundation, whose gifts endowed eponymous professorships in Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and the Duke Medical Center and two in the Yale School of Medicine. A man of neither modest statement nor ego, this proud, prickly man characterized the last of these gifts to Yale as “disrupting the Yale bureaucracy” by requiring all its earnings to support faculty members’ research, not administrative costs. For his generosity to Yale, Lynn served for ten years on the Dean’s Council of the Yale School of Management and in 2017 was named a Sterling Fellow, the only one, he later stated, “ever to graduate at the bottom of my class.” A polymath who enjoyed telling stories about himself in private, he once stated that he appreciated the work of the influential French historian Fernand Braudel because his work “doesn’t have people.” Contributions in Lynn’s memory should go to Chapters Health Services or the Anchors Aweigh Club, both in Key West.
In Memoriam: Ronald L. Coleman died sometime shortly before January 18, 2024, in or around Cleveland, Ohio. A history major, Ron was a ranking scholar, winner of the White Prize in history, a magna cum laude graduate Phi Beta Kappa, and an officer of the Political Union and Young Democrats. After attaining a Yale law degree, he spent his career as an attorney with the Cleveland firm of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey. It can be inferred that Ron was married to Mary, with whom he raised three surviving children: Mary Beth, Mark, and Michael. He is also survived by Kenneth Methven, his companion of 54 years and husband of ten. Contributions in Ron’s memory can go to the Hospice of the Western Reserve or the Alzheimer’s Association.
JMB
July/August 2024
The editor’s column in the YAM March-April 2024 issue conveyed not only a run-down of Sam Chauncey’s life and career but also news of another alumnus’s generous creation of two fellowships in Sam’s name. Honoring a man who knows more about Yale’s last 70 years than anyone on earth, they’ll be awarded annually to two undergraduates for a year’s support of their art and community service.
In Memoriam: We lost David B. Lawrence on February 9, 2022, to unstated causes in or near Georgetown, Texas. A mechanical engineering major and WYBC’s chief engineer and technical director, after graduation Dave gained an MA from MIT's Sloan School of Industrial Management, then became a securities analyst and investment counselor with the Colonial Management Group before spending the rest of his work life with the Millipore Corporation, now a biosciences arm of the Merck Group. An avid sailor on Buzzards Bay and along the coasts of Maine and the Maritime Provinces, in retirement Dave returned to his native state where he sang in a chorale that performed at Carnegie Hall and—this beyond most of us—provided mentoring in robot competitions. In addition to his wife Joan, Dave is survived by their daughter Suzanne Cain, sons Edward and William, and their families.
In Memoriam: David A. Johnson died of unstated causes, presumably in Ashville, North Carolina, on November 29, 2022. An architecture major with a Yale MArch and Cornell PhD in regional planning, Dave devoted his career to city planning and the design of large, open, urban spaces worldwide. He served on the staffs of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the National Capital Planning Commission, and the Regional Plan Association; taught at three universities; and wrote at least two books. Twice a Senior Fulbright Scholar, one of them as the first American planner to teach in the Soviet Union, he served as president of the Fulbright Association of the US and was part of the design team that prepared the award-winning master plan for the State Capitol and Bicentennial Mall in Nashville. Yale’s School of Architecture honored Dave in 1995 with its William Parsons Memorial Medal. Those who knew him encountered a serious, good-humored man who could mix grave matters with affable sociability. Roommate Syd Ball remarks gratuitously that Dave was "someone who did not waste time." He’s survived by his wife Eleanor and their daughters Elizabeth Kostova ('88), Jessica Honigberg ('89), and Victoria Johnson ('91) and their families.
In Memoriam: William H. Cuddy died of unstated causes in Branford, Connecticut, on January 6, 2023. Entrering Yale with ‘56, withdrawing, then re-entering with '57, Bill was a history major and ranking scholar. After earning a 1961Yale JD, he took up law practice with today’s Hartford firm of Day Pitney, where, a specialist in mergers and acquisitions, corporate law, and securities regulation, he remained for 42 years, six of them as managing partner. There, he became, as fellow Hartfordian Bern Kosto calls him, a "pillar of the Hartford legal community." A traveler and outdoor adventurer, Bill was deeply involved in community activities and board service. A tall, loose-boned, sunny dispositioned, soft-voiced man, he hid his sharp mind behind disarming modesty. In addition to his wife Vivien, he’s survived by his daughters Amy, Laurie, and Kacy, stepchildren, a brother, and others.
In Memoriam: Andrew V. Stout III died on January 22, 2023, at home in Lincoln, Massachusetts. Andy entered Yale with ‘58 following Pacific destroyer service during the Korean War. After transferring to ‘57, he majored in American studies and was a member of Fence Club and Book and Snake. On graduating, he joined Dominick & Dominick, the merchant banking firm of which he became senior vice-president. After 14 years there, he veered into a different life. An ardent fly fisher on the rivers of eastern North America, Britain, and Ireland, Andy devoted himself to the restoration of Atlantic salmon, then threatened with extinction. He helped map miles of salmon pools, spawning habitat, and fishing sites on the Connecticut River, served as project director for Restoration of Atlantic Salmon in America, directed U.S. operations for the Atlantic Salmon Federation, founded and ran the New England Salmon Association, and, as a Vermont legislator, wrote a law protecting that state’s rivers. In recognition of his contributions, he received the 2011 Lee Wulff Salmon Conservation Award of the Atlantic Salmon Federation, its top honor, for "outstanding long-term contributions on a regional or national level toward Atlantic salmon conservation." Lou DeLuca writes that, a bit of "an enigma," Andy nevertheless “was gregarious, a smart person, and fun to be with." Ron Ragen concurs, writing that although he was older and more mature than most ‘57ers, “from time to time we lowered him to our level, and the result was great fun and comradeship.” Andy is survived by his wife Josephine; five children by his first wife Carol, and many others.
In Memoriam: Our distinctive classmate James Shelby Tucker died on February 24, 2023, in Oxford, England, where he had lived since 1955. A native of Tennessee and a precollegiate graduate of Andover, at Yale Shelby made himself known for merchandising Hong Kong-tailored suits at cut-rate prices, noting in our 25th reunion book that he "retained the fondest recollections of the many aggrieved people who purchased suits from Shelby Tucker Imported Fabrics." After two years in New Haven, this restless man absconded for the University of Oxford to complete his studies. After obtaining a Tulane law degree, he practiced with a number of firms around the world and was Kashmir sales director for Overseas Investment Services, whose founder’s corruption Shelby captured in a satirical novel. Then commenced his dizzying peregrinations—“a monomania for the open road" he called it—that defined him as a high-wired sparrow rather than a drifting butterfly. Outdoing Herodotus in the number of miles he walked and hitchhiked, starting at age 17 he thumbed rides around the American West, then Western Europe, from Moscow through Siberia to Peking. Then came Egypt, India, a freighter to New Zealand, travels in austral and southeast Asia and Japan, Alaska, North Africa, the Near East, and Turkey, and South America—all without serious incident. Sixteen visits to sub-Saharan Africa followed, part of them a-camel. His most dangerous adventure took him in 1989 across eastern Burma with the insurgent Karen National Liberation Army. That resulted in his arrest, imprisonment, and release only after interventions by his wife Carole, Bob Pelletreau, Ray Lamontagne, and US government officials. Other books followed. Then came a trans-Atlantic crossing by sail and, at the age of 75, a repeat, again with his thumb out, of his 1960 turn through the Middle East and Indian subcontinent, this time, however, with a cane. Shelby always brought delight to the world. He was, writes Reed Rubin, "as charismatic as he was provocative;" in Bob Pelletreau's words, "one of those rare people who walk their own path;” in Ray Lamontagne’s "while sometimes bellicose, abrasive, and uncompromising, a man of passion and tenaciousness, able to withstand the pressures of society to conform.” In addition to his wife, Shelby is survived by granddaughters Tally and Rebecca.
JMB
September/October 2024
Chuck Debrovner, recently retired from his second career as Medical Coordinator in the New York States Office of Medical Conduct after 48 years as a specialist in gynecology and infertility, reports optimistically that he's "ready for a third career." May he beat us all, as well as the gods, in achieving it!
From Len Katz: He and a colleague have begun a writing program in Chautauqua County, New York, in which students are invited to submit essays that answer this question: "How does what you have learned about the Holocaust impact your understanding of our world today?" Six winners are awarded cash prizes—six for the six million killed in the Holocaust—as they were this past June.
In Memoriam: William H. Barutio died on February 27, 2023, of unstated causes, presumably in or near his home in Salem, South Carolina. An American studies major, Bill graduated with an NROTC officer's commission and served three years in the Marines, in the end as a captain. Sometime later, he earned an MA in human resources at Pepperdine University. Bill's varied career took him to the South where he participated in the demographics business, pursued real estate, took ownership of the John Wesley Hotel/Nancy Hanks Restaurant in Savannah, Georgia, and then went into merchandising with the General Store & Cafe in Trust, North Carolina, a hamlet between Ashville and Knoxville. He founded the store, he wrote, because he wanted a market closer than the nearest option 25 miles away over mountain roads. He took the initiative again, this time to build a private K-12 school in town, after the local school board consolidated Trust's local school into another one requiring a 90-minute drive. Bill served as chairman of the Fulton County (Georgia) Democratic Party and worked with President Jimmy Carter and Andrew Young in preparing a Democratic Party national convention. He was also associated with the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., and Congressman John Lewis. In 1991, while mayor of Trust, he built, on property that he and his wife Beverly owned, a tiny, cedar-shingled place of worship, St. Jude's Chapel of Hope, a distinctive roadside structure, which Bill referred to as a "small travelers' chapel." It was constructed, he wrote, in "thanks for Beverly's eight-year remission from cancer," to which she succumbed ten years later. Those who knew Bill at college encountered the gentle, upbeat, modest man he remained. He's survived by Nancy, whom he married after Beverly's death, children and step-children Michele Stephens, Michael Barutio, Joan Houck, Peter Labarbera, John Labarbera, David Labarbara, Suzanne McCalla, Michael McGarrigle, David McGarrigle, Danny McGarrigle, and their families. He was predeceased by son Zane and others. Donations in Bill's memory should go to the Michael J. Fox Parkinson's Research Foundation or to a charity of choice.
In Memoriam: Junius R. Clark III, one of the class's four original winners (in 1962) of the AYA Class of 1957 Awards for Distinguished Service as well as class secretary between 1977 and 1982, died of unstated causes in Sarasota, Florida, on March 7, 2023. After graduating from Yale with an American studies major, Sandy began a long advertising/marketing career in the circulation department of Life Magazine. Then, after serving as advertising vice president of the Fidler Group, he founded his own agency, Clark Direct Marketing. His specialty was what he proudly referred to as "junk mail," his success in that activity earning him the 1992 Silver Apple Award of the Marketing Club of New York. A long-time resident of Darien, Connecticut, Sandy was a community activist in its representative town meeting, president of its local PTA and of the town's Little League, an officer of its Junior Football League, and active in its St. Thomas More Church. Once retired, Sandy found what his family says was "his favorite job ever"--serving as usher during spring training games of the Cincinnati Reds and Baltimore Orioles. A sunny, light-spirited man, Sandy was also a loyalist of the institutions of which he had been part. He repeatedly wrote of the importance of the friendships begun at Yale and his commitment to the communities in which he'd been active. In 1997, he characterized life as "being full of curious things. So I keep unpeeling the onion every day." Predeceased in 2017 by his wife, Marcia, Sandy is survived by their children, Jennifer, Junius R. IV, Margaret S., and Cyrus, their families, and two brothers. Memorial donations should be made to the Dravet Syndrome Foundation or the American Red Cross.
In Memoriam: We lost George G. Atkeson on April 21, 2023 to the complications of a brain tumor at his home in Essex, Connecticut. In college, Tip majored in the distinctive subject of political and economic institutions. An admiral’s son, after naval command training at Officers Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island, he spent three years on destroyer duty in the Atlantic. With a Wharton School MBA in hand, Tip rose through various positions at General Foods, then became vice president of marketing of L’Oreal's American subsidiary, vice president of both product marketing and marketing operations world-wide of Avon Products, and, from Antwerp, marketing director of the Belgian division of General Foods. Subsequently, he shifted into the world of executive search to become a partner and managing director of Ward Howell International before retiring in 1997. Tip was long active in civic affairs in Greenwich, Connecticut, on whose representative town government he served as he did on the board of directors of the Greenwich Land Trust and as co-president of the Greenwich branch of the English-Speaking Union. He was also a member of the men and boys choir of Christ Church Greenwich, which gave him, a strong anglophile, the opportunity to sing in English cathedrals and with his wife Janice to spend time in their Cotswolds cottage in Chipping Campden. In Essex, he became a member of the board of directors of the town's local concert series as well as executive director of the Southeast Connecticut Committee on Foreign Relations. Tip was also a skilled, award-winning photographer whose works hang on many classmates' walls. Though a shrewd, serious business practitioner, Tip was born with a sunny disposition and went about the world with an easy, frequent, infectious, puckish smile. Predeceased in 1993 by his first wife Mary, he is survived by his second wife Janice, his children Meade, Jamie, and Elizabeth Saunders, their spouses and families, and ten grandchildren.
JMB
November/December 2024
A classmate wishes to contact Alan “Tommy” Thompson but cannot reach him. Yrs. truly asks that if you have information about him, you let me know.
Happy miscellany: I caught up with John Francis in Philadelphia in July. A lively youth like the rest of us, he keeps himself in shape reading the works of authors/thinkers as various as Carlo Rovelli, Meghan O’Gieblyn, and William Egginton, with all of whom of course you’re acquainted. Gerry Jonas has taken to writing Haiku-like poetry for WhoWhatWhy, “a nonprofit, reader-supported news organization” of which he is a senior editor. Those drawn to the taut lines of twentieth-century poetry will find Gerry’s exemplary.
Department of modern medical miracles: Bill Mallender suffered a brain bleed in late June, underwent successful surgery, then had to relearn to walk. It’s “a hard task at our age,” he writes. “Though I’m now doing well with my walker, the experience has been a challenge.”
In Memoriam: Bill C. Mobley died on October 22, 2022, in Amarillo, Texas. An English major and ranking scholar, Bill spent his career as a landman in the oil and gas business, negotiating contracts and leases for the exploration, development, and extraction of oil and related natural products, and retired as vice president of Pioneer Production Corporation. Then, as he had long wished, he became a teacher of economics and English as a Second Language at his hometown’s Palo Duro High School until he was 80. Active in community affairs, he also coached team sports, taught bridge, supported budding musicians, and led Sunday school classes. Roommate Todd Kendrick recalls Bill as studious and a Texas booster. Franz Gimmler characterizes him as “an unassuming man who always wore a smile and was likeable the minute you met him . . . traits always accompanied with warmth.” Predeceased by his wife Windene and their daughters Pamela and Nancy Jackson, Bill is survived by their son Michael C., a son-in-law, seven grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and special friend Patricia Latham. Contributions in his memory should go to the Pamela S. Mobley Memorial Suzuki Scholarship at Amarillo College.
In Memoriam: Charles H. Frey died of unstated causes on February 15, 2023, presumably in or near Seattle. Not listed in the 1957 Yale Banner, Charlie’s college commitments cannot be ascertained. After securing a 1960 Harvard law degree, serving briefly in the National Guard, and practicing law with a Philadelphia firm for six years, he put legal work behind him to complete a 1971 Yale PhD in English literature. He then spent the next 35 years in the English department of the University of Washington. Charlie’s specialty was Shakespeare, about whose works he wrote four books and many articles. He also coauthored a textbook anthology of children’s literature (which saw six editions) and wrote published poetry. Among his non-academic interests were theater and film, sports, and microscopes and telescopes. A piano player and singer (in college with the Society of Orpheus and Bacchus), it’s said that he had a “marvelous bass voice.” Charlie is survived by his second wife, Roxanne Bartlett, and three daughters—Emily, Madeleine, and Elinor—as well as by three siblings.
>In Memoriam: William H. Fleming died in Bennington, Nebraska, of unstated causes on April 12, 2023. An intensive human culture and behavior major and All-American varsity breast-stroke swimmer at Yale, Bill gained his MD degree from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons and, following residencies at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, he served in the US Army at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital and Long Binh Hospital in Vietnam, for his service there earning a Bronze Star for surgery and efforts to identify and treat the river-borne infectious disease melioidosis. After five years as chief of thoracic surgery at Atlanta’s VA Medical Center and a surgeon at Emory University School of Medicine, in 1976 Bill became chief of thoracic surgery at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Nebraska’s first and, at the time, only surgeon dedicated to treating children with congenital heart defects. He later cofounded a regional heart program at the Children’s Hospital and Medical Center of Omaha. For having saved so many lives, in 2009 he was named a Pediatric Legend for his work at the center and that same year established the William H. Fleming MD ’57 Professorship of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry in the Yale Center for RNA Science and Medicine. A worldwide traveler and sailor, he often cruised on windjammers and jetskied. Jerry Jones writes that Bill was “brilliant” and amassed his sterling academic record “while rarely cracking a book.” He is survived by his wife Pamela; his children Alice F. Guzick, William S., Edgar H. ’88, April Brizendine, and Krystal Talha, and their families. Gifts in his memory should go to the Cardiology and Heart Program at Children’s Hospital and Medical Center, Omaha, or to the Nebraska Humane Society.
In Memoriam: David S. Armstrong died of unstated causes on April 28, 2023, apparently in or near Voorhees, New Jersey. At Yale, David majored in philosophy and, a 4x400 freestyle swimmer, with his Yale team members broke three world records, which earned him a berth on the 1955 US National Team and a number of All-American awards. Following service as an Army officer, David spent his career in the financial industry with Fitch Investment Service (now Fitch Ratings) and the Firemark Group. An avid gardener, he and his second wife Marilyn received designations as master gardeners and served as volunteers with the Cornell Cooperative Extension program. David also took up woodworking and furniture restoration. Ray Ellison writes of his swimming teammate that David “set about any task before him with determination, but without any fanfare. He was the guy you wanted with you whenever something had to be done. He commanded respect from all who knew him.” Predeceased by Marilyn as well as by two brothers, David is survived by children Sydney, David, Emily, and Malcolm; two stepchildren; and others. Donations in his memory should go to the Allen Devoe Bird Club and local bird sanctuary, the Cornell Cooperative Extension, or Samaritan NJ Hospice.
In Memoriam: Arnold C. Shoop Jr. died on May 10, 2023, of unstated causes, presumably in or near his longtime Cincinnati residence. A history major, Tom served in the US Army before spending his career in the United States and abroad in Procter & Gamble’s marketing and advertising division. A sports fan loyal to his hometown teams, Tom was a skier, runner, and golfer—he called himself a “golf hacker” in our 35th reunion book—traveler, and reader of history. From what Tom wrote in our 50th reunion book, he was a hopeful conservative, a loyal Yale alumnus, and someone aware of his fortune in life. He’s survived by his wife Judith, their son Charles, daughter-in-law Rhea, and four grandchildren. He was preceded in death by son Steven and a sister. Memorial tributes in Tom’s name should go to the St. Xavier High School Steven A. Shoop Scholarship Fund of the Catholic Inner-City Schools Education Foundation of Cincinnati or to the Hospice of Cincinnati.
JMB
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