The Rochester Review,
University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
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Bloch, of San Diego, Calif., is the 1996-97 president of the Trustees' Council, the governing board of the Alumni Association. He has also served the University as co-chair of the West Coast Regional Campaign, which was part of the recently concluded Campaign for the '90s, and made a generous gift of $30,000 for undergraduate programs and medical research.
Here's a look at one of the University's strong supporters.
Graduate school: Wharton, M.B.A.
Vocation: Vice chairman and CFO, TransWestern Publishing, the largest independent yellow-pages publisher in the country. "My partner and I focus on leveraged-buyout transactions of media-information and publishing properties. Four years ago, we put together a leveraged buyout of TransWestern Publishing from USWest. At the time the company published 90 different publications. Since then, we've grown the business in all dimensions and today we publish more than 140 directories."
At Rochester: Majored in political science and played on the squash team for three years
Most memorable professor: William Bluhm in political science. "I took 'Classical Political Thought' with him--and got an F on the midterm. After Thanksgiving vacation, I had to present a paper to the class comparing Reinhold Niebuhr to St. Augustine on the topics of freedom, love, and reason. I remember panicking about making this presentation after failing the midterm. The night before the presentation was due, I stayed up really late at the library and, all of a sudden, the whole thing just clicked. I understood the concepts, I understood the midterm, I understood what I was trying to do, and I got an A. On the final exam, we had to assess Gerald Ford's qualifications to be president from an Aristotelian frame of reference and talk about the current impeachment crisis from a Thucydidean frame of reference. I got an A in the class. He taught me how to think."
Why he gives his time and money to Rochester: "About five years ago, my dad began medical treatment for a muscular disease. His doctor is Birch Griggs [Robert Griggs '71M (Res), professor of neurology]--a wonderful man. As a result of this disorder, my dad became connected with the University and provided an opportunity for me to reconnect.
"And now that I have kids, I really believe in the importance of education for the next generation. In your 40s, you look back and realize that other people made it possible for the University to help you. In order for the University to be great, it depends on inter-generational support. I feel a strong sense of responsibility."
Copyright 1996, University of Rochester