Class Notes

River Campus Undergraduate: 1970s

1970

Gerald Itkin sends a photo and an update. He writes: “I regret that I am unable to attend the 40th reunion weekend this fall, but I do have a good excuse. I will be at the World Senior Games defending the silver medal in slow pitch softball. A shot from last year shows me playing third base.” . . . Elliot Richman ’75 (PhD) writes that he has completed his eighth year of teaching chemistry and physics at Ramapo High School in Franklin Lakes, N.J., and has been honored with the 2010 Edward J. Merrill Award for outstanding teaching of high school chemistry. The award is given by the North Jersey section of the American Chemical Society and cosponsored by the New Jersey Science Teachers Association. Elliot adds that in May he was the music director and conductor for Ramapo High’s spring musical production of My Fair Lady. Playing trombone in the pit orchestra was his son, Daniel Richman ’08, who arrived from Baltimore, where he is a graduate student in the department of physics and astronomy at Johns Hopkins University.

1971

Anders Henriksson, a professor of history at Shepherd University in West Virginia, writes that he has published two books. Vassals and Citizens: The Baltic Germans in Constitutional Russia, 1905–1914 (Verlag Herder-Institut) examines the development of civil society in late Imperial Russia through the lens of an ethnic minority’s experience. College in a Nutskull (Workman) is the second compilation of bloopers and malapropisms that Anders has gathered together from college student exam papers. The first was Non Campus Mentis, published in 2001. . . . Harry Melkonian writes that he was awarded a doctorate in law from Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, in April. The title of his thesis was Free Speech and the Opportunity for Convergence of English and American Defamation Law. Harry adds that he continues to teach and practice media law in Sydney.

1972

Jean Rietschel, a Seattle Municipal Court judge since 1996, has been appointed to the King County Superior Court in Seattle by the governor of Washington. . . . Stuart Schneider writes that his 20th book, Ghosts in the Cemetery II: Farther Afield, was released over the summer. After graduating with a degree in psychology, he went to law school and practiced law in New Jersey. He adds: “My first book was self-published in 1980. I have had a publisher for everything thereafter. My Web site, www.wordcraft.net, contains photos and descriptions of all of my books and unusual interests.”

1973

Sam Ciurca writes that he has written a book on prehistoric animals, Eurypterids Illustrated: The Search for Prehistoric Sea Scorpions (self-published). It consists of 32 pages of photos of eurypterid fossils, along with brief commentary about each fossil. The fossils belonged to his personal collection before he donated most of them to the Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven, Conn.

1974

Sheila Dambrosio writes: “In 2008, I retired after 18 years as a staff attorney at the California Supreme Court in San Francisco and am now practicing law at Kennedy & Han, a plaintiffs’ civil rights and general litigation firm in Albuquerque, N.M. It is a very active retirement.” . . . Linda Langdon Wightman (see ’05).

1975

Porter Wightman (see ’05).

1977

Peter Friedenberg, an attorney at the Boston firm Sherin and Lodgen and chair of its real estate division, has been inducted into the American College of Real Estate Lawyers. Each year the 1,000-member organization invites new members based on professional distinction. Peter was the only Massachusetts attorney inducted this year.

1978

Laura Carstensen has been inducted into the Brighton High School Alumni Hall of Fame. An author and research psychologist who specializes in aging, Laura founded and directs Stanford University’s Center on Longevity. . . . Jane Dubin ’79 (MS) writes that she is a producer of The 39 Steps, a two-time Tony Award-winning comedy adaptation of the Alfred Hitchcock film by the same name. She adds that she would love to host any University alumni at the show, which plays at New World Stages in Manhattan. She can be contacted at her production company, DoublePlayConnections@att.net.

1979

Peter Blanck has been named an honorary professor at the Centre for Disability Law and Policy at the National University of Ireland in Galway. Peter is the chair of the Burton Blatt Institute, an organization based at Syracuse University devoted to increasing the economic and social participation of people with disabilities globally.

University of Rochester

Class Notes

River Campus Undergraduate: 1970s