Class Notes

1956 Arthur Miller was awarded the Brandeis Medal by the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law in Louisville, Kentucky, as well as the Robert H. Jackson Award from Pepperdine School of Law in Los Angeles. The Brandeis Medal was presented to Arthur at a celebration last April that included a reception, dinner, and panel discussion on issues in contemporary privacy law, which Arthur led. Brandeis, a U.S. Supreme Court justice from 1916 to 1939, coauthored “The Right to Privacy,” which was published in the Harvard Law Review in 1890 and became the foundation of an emerging privacy law. Arthur’s 1971 book, The Assault on Privacy: Computers, Data Banks, and Dossiers, marked him as one of the first legal scholars to recognize the threat to privacy posed by modern computer technology. The Jackson Award recognized Arthur’s “extraordinary contributions to the fields of media and law.” Arthur is the former host of Miller’s Court, which aired from 1979 to 1987 and is often cited as the first television show to introduce legal issues to the general public. He has served as a legal commentator for a variety of media outlets, and was legal editor for ABC’s Good Morning America for 20 years. He holds the positions of University Professor at New York University’s law school, associate dean of NYU’s School of Professional Studies, director of the Tisch Institute for Sports Management, Media, and Business, and chair of NYU’s Sports and Society program. In 2008, he received an honorary doctor of laws degree from Rochester.

1959 Ray Aronson writes that he lives with his wife, Linda, “year around in snow-free Florida,” and has “four children and four grandchildren so far.” He keeps busy as a litigation consultant and expert witness in broker-dealer, supervision, clearing, prime brokerage, and hedge fund cases.

1962 Alan Borthwick sends a picture of himself with Mark Rochkind. Alan and Mark reconnected at the University’s “Meliora on the Road” event last April in New York City. . . . Dalia Uzemis Woodliff writes that she’s revised her mystery trilogy, Lair of the Jade, into an e-book. “Most of the thrilling action is set in the Rush Rhees Library tower and Rochester suburbs,” she writes. Although a work of fiction, the book borrows from her father’s memoirs, recounting the family’s emigration from Lithuania during World War II.

1963 Richard Feinman, professor of cell biology at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, has published a book, The World Turned Upside Down: The Second Low-Carbohydrate Revolution (NMS Press). . . . Susan Towle ’63N has published Old Is Not a Four-Letter Word: A Guidebook for the Journey through Old (Ward Street Press).

1964 Susan Tucker Davis has published her third book for children in middle grades. One Step from Normal (North Country Books) is a historical novel set during the Boston polio epidemic of the 1950s.

1965 Harrington (Kit) Crissey ’66 writes that Joe Koplin died in March. “I first met Joe halfway through the 1964–65 academic year. He was completing his bachelor’s degree in music on the River Campus after an enlistment in the U.S. Army Band in Washington, D.C. He was one of my best, most faithful friends during the ensuing 50 years, and I will always be grateful for his encouragement, advice, and other help, including unsolicited donations in support of my concert presentations. Joe was one of a marvelous succession of highly accomplished musicians who were on the River Campus in the 1950s and into the 1960s. He and they stand as shining examples of what is best in the history of UR student talent.”

1966 Harrington (Kit) Crissey (see ’65).

1968 Dale Dapkins has written a new novel, Ebola (Whiz Bang Publishers). He writes: “Ebola is a scientifically accurate and frightening ‘what if’ mystery novel written after listening to the Centers for Disease Control’s broadcast to all American doctors in 2014.

1973 Interior designer Penny Drue Baird has published her third book, Dreamhouse (Monacelli Press).

1975 David Edmunds was featured in Buffalo Business First last January in the article “Dedicated to Diversity: Progress Seen in Buffalo-area Legal Profession.” Now the deputy commissioner in Buffalo for the New York State Liquor Authority, David joined the state bar association’s committee on minorities in 1989, while he was an attorney at Damon Morey. While on the committee, he helped form an American Bar Association task force that led to a program for law firms and governments to recruit, hire, and retain minority attorneys.

1976 The three children of Elizabeth (Lisl) Roth Thaler ’78 (MS), who died in 2013, had a dogwood tree planted in Lisl’s memory near the Crittenden Boulevard entrance to Strong Hospital’s emergency department. Rick Thaler, David Thaler, and Ruth Thaler-Carter had the tree planted next to a similar tree planted by several students in memory of their father, Otto Thaler ’49M (MD), ’55M (Res), a professor of psychiatry at the School of Medicine and Dentistry, who died in 1996. Ruth writes: “Our father always said that he could not have accomplished everything he did as a physician and a teacher without our mother. She was a true partner in his professional and personal life, and an inspiration to us and so many friends over the years.” Pictured from left to right are Peggy Martin, psychiatry department development officer; June Rogoff, widow of Stanley Rogoff ’46M (MD), past chair of the radiology department; Eric Caine, chair of the psychiatry department; Mildred Gittleman Ness ’68W (EdD); Ruth; Rita Gollin, a former English department faculty member and the wife of Richard Gollin, professor emeritus of English and film; and James Guido.

1978 Kerry Barnett has been named CEO of SAIF Corp., a workers’ compensation insurance provider in Oregon. . . . Janet Linder has written a children’s picture book, A Winning Ticket on Queens Boulevard (Blurb). The story takes place in Depression-era Queens and includes illustrations by Eli Portman.

1979 Andy Fornarola ’85S (MBA) has been named executive vice president and director of community banking at Flagstar Bank in Troy, New York. . . . Catherine O’Clay Spratt has been named regional vice president for patient care services at MidHudson Regional Hospital of Westchester Medical Center.

1980 Bethany Panzirer Gilboard writes: “I just became the CEO of the Innovative Health Alliance of New York in March. I have spent more than 25 years as a health care executive in Massachusetts and have recently joined this organization in Albany.”

1984 Doug Criscitello ’86 (MS) has been named the first executive director of MIT Sloan School of Management’s new Center for Finance and Policy. Previously, Doug was chief financial officer at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. . . . Arden Strasser has been named the pastor at St. David’s Lutheran Church in Massapequa Park, New York. Arden has spent the last eight years in Zambia working as a missionary.

1985 Michael Gallo has been named partner at the Newark, New Jersey, office of the Philadelphia-based law firm White and Williams. . . . Nancy Mertzel and Keith Kupferschmid ’87 testified together before the House Judiciary Committee last February. The hearing was entitled “The U.S. Copyright Office: Its Functions and Resources.” Nancy is a partner at the New York City law firm Schoeman Updike Kaufman & Stern, and testified on behalf of the American Intellectual Property Law Association. Keith is general counsel for the Software & Information Industry Association.

1987 Keith Kupferschmid (see ’85). . . . Liz Breyton Warmerdam was named interim city manager of Alameda, California, in March, by a unanimous vote of the city council. Liz began her municipal career in 1997 as a management analyst, and has been assistant city manager of Alameda for the past two years.

1989 Gary Ciarleglio has been named business development executive for the Quinnipiac Chamber of Commerce in Wallingford, Connecticut. . . . Wayne France ’94S (MBA) has joined the Honeoye Falls, New York, firm College Assistance Plus as a regional sales manager. Previously, Wayne was general manager of MicroMod Automation and Controls.

1990 Pelin Aylangan ’98S (MBA) writes that she’s accepted a new position as leader of global customer solutions, transformation, and operations at Dun & Bradstreet in Reston, Virginia. . . . Todd DellaCamera has been promoted to senior vice president at the Waterbury, Connecticut–based Webster Bank. He has more than 20 years of experience in risk management and treasury functions at global banks.

1992 Jeremy Kriegel writes that he’s been appointed prosecution practice manager at the Chicago intellectual property law firm Marshall, Gerstein & Borun. Jeremy oversees the firm’s mechanical, electrical, biotechnology, chemical, trademark, and transactions practice groups. . . . Jeff Reznick writes that he received the 2015 Archivists and Librarians in the History of the Health Sciences best article award for “Embracing the Future as Stewards of the Past: Charting a Course Forward for Historical Medical Libraries and Archives.” The article appeared in the fall 2014 issue of RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage. Jeff is chief of the history of medicine division of the National Library of Medicine.

1993 Michael O’Reilly was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in January to a new, five-year term as one of the five commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission. Michael was nominated by President Barack Obama to join the FCC in 2013 to complete the term of a previous commissioner who resigned to resume private law practice. Before joining the FCC, Michael was a policy advisor in the Office of the Senate Republican Whip.

1994 Hideaki Hirai writes that he conducted his inaugural concert as music director of the New York Festival Orchestra in March at Merkin Concert Hall. . . . Philip Kusnetz was named a 2015 Top Legal Eagle by Long Island Pulse Magazine. Philip practices matrimonial and family law.

1997 Bart Chacchia leads the business law practice in the Rochester office of Bond, Schoeneck & King. He joined the firm in April. . . . Jeff Goater ’00M (MS), ’01S (MBA), ’04M (MS) has been promoted to senior vice president of finance and business development at the Cambridge, Massachusetts, gene therapy company Voyager Therapeutics. . . . Jenelle La Chuisa has launched her own law firm, La Chuisa Law, in Miami, Florida. She writes that she “specializes in resolving international and domestic business disputes on behalf of small to medium-sized companies and individuals, in litigation and arbitration.” . . . Caurie Miner Putnam ’98W (MS) writes: “I’m sending along news of my recent marriage to Eric Ferguson at the historic Morgan Manning House in Brockport, New York. My lovely sister, Stephanie Miner Dana ’02, ’03W (MS), was my attendant. I’ve attached a photo of Stephanie and me from the day.” Also in attendance were Aaron ’06 and Nicole Oleska Hilger ’96, Joe Huss ’98, and Sean Dana ’09. Caurie adds: “Eric and I live in a log home in Brockport with our two boys. He is a police officer and I am a columnist for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. I also freelance report for Reuters on news of international interest from western New York and blog for the Huffington Post.

1998 Judith Currano writes: “My book, Chemical Information for Chemists: A Primer, was published by the Royal Society of Chemistry at the beginning of 2014. Later that year, I was appointed to the board of trustees of the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre, a small nonprofit organization based in Cambridge, UK, dealing with the archiving and distribution of crystal structure data. In November 2014, the Currano/Allen family (Peter Allen ’00, Teddy, and I), welcomed a new member, William John Currano Allen. Bill and Teddy have already begun having excellent adventures.” . . . Ben Judkins, a political scientist and martial arts expert, has written The Creation of Wing Chun: A Social History of the Southern Chinese Martial Arts (SUNY Press).

1999 Josh Boxer writes that he’s joined the University of Miami as an assistant general counsel. His focus is health care law. . . . Jennifer Farmer writes that she delivered a TEDx talk on strategic communications last April in Raleigh, North Carolina. Jennifer’s talk is posted on YouTube at Youtube.com/watch?v=0J94-2FNx_o. . . . John Kingston has contributed a chapter to the textbook Vision and the Brain: Understanding Cerebral Visual Impairment in Children (AFB Press). He writes that the chapter “presents rehabilitation considerations and two case studies from my experience at the Western Blind Rehabilitation Center in Palo Alto, California, working with brain-based vision dysfunction in veterans and active duty service members in the U.S. military.”

2000 Peter Allen (see ’98).

2001 Travis ’04, ’05 (MS) and Michelle Cataldo Hebden welcomed their third child, Jasper, last November. Michelle writes: “Jasper is pictured with his two older sisters, Isadora and Arianna. We live in Beaverton, Oregon. Travis is a senior processing engineer at Intel and I’m a substitute teacher in the Beaverton school district.” . . . Kate Navarra Thibodeau has published a photographic history of Washington state’s Lake Sammamish. The book, Lake Sammamish Through Time (Arcadia Publishing), explores a century of history of the lake that once played an important role in the Pacific Northwest logging industry and is now a recreational hotspot.

2002 Stephanie Miner Dana ’03W (MS) (see ’97). . . . Jessica Steele Lambert has been named counsel in the wealth management group at the Boston law firm Choate, Hall & Stewart.

2004 Travis Hebden ’05 (MS) (see ’01).

2006 Ryan Aures ’07 (MS) has been named the 2015 Young Technologist of the Year by the Technology Alliance of Central New York. Ryan is a lead systems engineer at SRC Inc., a defense, intelligence, and environmental nonprofit research and development company chartered by New York State. His work concerns electronic warfare threat simulation.

2007 Jason Buitrago ’14W (MS) writes: “My husband, Chris Buitrago (née Stroud), and I married in March at the Interfaith Chapel. Various University alums, friends, staff, and faculty were in attendance. Undoubtedly made UR my permanent home away from home.” Jason is assistant director of IT and operations at the Simon Business School and is pursuing a doctorate at the Warner School.

2008 Joshua Hatcher ’09 (KEY) has released his second album, Another Thing (Self-published). He writes: “Having moved from my hometown of Ithaca, New York, to New York City the year prior to the album’s release, the subject matter draws heavily from feelings of solitude and loss that accompany significant life changes.” Joshua sings and plays guitar and all keyboards on the recording.

2010 Hilarie Henry has joined the Buffalo law firm of Burden, Gulisano & Hansen as an associate. She specializes in personal injury defense, premises liability, and municipal law.

2011 Caitlin Cavanagh has won a Michael Sullivan Diversity Scholarship to support her final year of research in the doctoral program in developmental psychology at the University of California, Irvine. Caitlin was one of two winners of the national award offered by the Ohio Psychological Association to support research, training, and community projects related to diversity. Her research concerns the overrepresentation of Latino youth in the juvenile justice system.

2013 Justin (Skat) Lukoff is a policy analyst and recycling program manager for the town of Brookline, Massachusetts, outside Boston.