Class Notes

1965 Joe Koplin (see ’66).

1966 Harrington (Kit) Crissey presented a concert in memory of Joe Koplin ’65 at the chapel of Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia last November. As Kit wrote in Class Notes following Joe’s death in March 2015, he and Joe enjoyed a 50-year friendship, during which Joe offered Kit “encouragement, advice, and other help, including unsolicited donations in support of my concert presentations.”

1967 Andrew Gould and Joanne Orth met by chance in the lounge of a Viking Cruise riverboat in France; they send a photo and this joint account of their meeting: “We discovered we’d been in the same class year at the River Campus, graduating with majors in physics (Andrew) and biology (Joanne). We’re both originally from New York and shared many common memories, even though we didn’t really know each other at Rochester. But we had several friends in common back then and spent lots of time on the river cruise reminiscing about the good old days. Now retired from long careers, neither of us could make the 50th reunion in October, but this chance meeting in Europe helped fill the gap and brought back lots of good memories. Goes to show, it really is a small world.”

1969 Lawrence (Larry) Lipman writes of the death of Arnold (Arnie) Wolfe. Arnie, who had been ill with cancer, died in January 2017. “Arnie was a Phi Ep and lead singer and percussionist for the Six Pack and later, the New York Tymes, a campus band that played fraternity parties, Dorm Storm, and other events from early 1966 to late 1968,” Larry writes. “I was the bassist for the band. We reorganized to play two gigs at the Deke house during our 30th anniversary reunion in the summer of 1999. Arnie was a professor at Illinois State for most of his working career, specializing in the popular music of the ’60s. Neither surprisingly nor coincidentally, this was the music he loved to play. RIP, Arnie, one sweet and funny guy.” . . . John Lyddane has joined Dorf & Nelson as a partner, and will head up the firm’s Medical Malpractice Defense Group in New York. John is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and is consistently ranked among the top attorneys by his peers, with an AV Preeminent rating by Martindale-Hubbell and inclusion in the “Best Lawyers in America.” Before joining Dorf & Nelson, John was with Martin Clearwater & Bell.

1974 Stephen Pohlig died in April 2017 after a yearlong struggle with cancer. After receiving his PhD in engineering from Stanford University, he spent his career working at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, where he was well respected as an electrical engineer. In the engineering community, he was well known for developing the Pohlig-Hellman algorithm, which was used for computing logarithms and which was significant in the early days of internet cryptography and security.

1977 Jon Chernak ’78S (MBA) writes, “I donated the $25 that helped the micro-finance company Kiva reach $1 billion in loans to entrepreneurs who are making a difference across the world.” As Jon explained to a writer on the social journalism platform Medium, he was inspired to donate to Kiva by his daughter, Laura, who helps review and edit loan applications for the organization, and by the organization’s focus on providing credit access in very remote areas—“in parts of the world where people never would’ve had a chance.” Jon invites classmates to read a full story on the project he supported at Medium.com. Search for “How a toilet brought together 4 people on 3 continents with a special connection.”

1978 Stephen Ross sends a photo from his annual Rochester minireunion, most recently in Las Vegas. Ross writes, “We have remained close friends since freshman year and regularly gather in great locations for sporting events and golf, gambling, light beveraging, and bad jokes.” Pictured from left to right are Glenn Locke, Art Matin, Stephen, and Gordon Kapes.

1979 Robert Bly writes, “Entrepreneur Press will publish my 95th book, The Digital Marketing Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Websites That Sell, in April.” . . . Earl and Tamara Schanwald Norman ’80 send a photo from a combination minireunion and 60th birthday celebration held in New York City last November. Pictured from left to right are Bob Pais, Larry Burg, Halee Day Burg, Tamara, Earl, Dave Fraenkel, Dave Hammond, and Carl Blahut. Tamara writes that she is “not yet 60!”

1980 Tamara Schanwald Norman (see ’79).

1983 Sharilyn Rediess published Things We Leave Unsaid: A Memoir Told in 300 Years (Cabin 27 Press) about her ancestors’ westward migration from 1640 to 1940.

1984 Scott Evans published Foxavier Loves Plinka (CreateSpace), the second edition of his debut novel, “the quirky story of a man battling OCD, going through a series of counseling programs, encountering zany characters, and eventually meeting the love of his life.” . . . Immanuel Ho ’88M (MD) sends a career update. He’s a clinical professor of medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and director of interventional endoscopy at Pennsylvania Hospital, the first hospital in the United States. He serves as faculty for the UPenn Division of Gastroenterology and teaches therapeutic gastrointestinal endoscopy to GI fellows in the advanced endoscopy program. He’s also a trustee of the American College of Gastroenterology.

1986 Glenn Stambo writes that his study, “Response rates of hepatocellular carcinoma and hepatic colorectal cancer metastases to drug eluting bead regional liver therapy,” appeared in 2017 in the journal Hepatoma Research. He’s a practicing vascular and interventional radiologist in Tampa, Florida.

1987 Kristopher Thibodeau (see ’14).

1988 Kathi Lyford Thibodeau (see ’14).

1990 Doug and Jodi Rubtchinsky Smith write that they were spotted late last year in Disney’s Magic Kingdom by Jody Asbury ’94W (EdD). The former dean of students noticed Doug’s Rochester regalia.

1991 Gary Karton recently published The Rock of Sarraka (Brattle Publishing Group), the second book in his Brody Boondoggle fantasy trilogy for middle-grade students. You can follow the adventure with Gary on Twitter @garykarton. . . . Lee Wichman, a psychotherapist and actor in Chicago, writes that he founded a group called the Chicago Actors’ Call to Action. The group has held several events in support of various social justice causes and organizations. Lee adds that he’s done multiple radio interviews about his civic and political work, which he has posted to his therapist website, Leewichman.com, and his actor website, Lee-wichman.com.

1992 Joseph Santandrea writes, “I am honored to have two of my works of art selected for the 2018 People’s Gallery Exhibition at Austin City Hall. Stop in if you pass through Austin!” Glimpses of Joseph’s work can be seen at Austintexas.gov/peoplesgallery and at Travelzealot.com. Joseph adds that he continues to work in marketing for Dell.

1993 Gregory Kaminsky writes, “In November 2017 I graduated from Harvard University Extension School with a master of liberal arts degree in medieval studies. Pursuing my studies and this degree has been a passion for several years, culminating in the completion of my thesis, ‘Celestial Intelligences: The Syncretic Angelology of Renaissance Philosopher Giovanni Pico della Mirandola.’”

1994 Doris Santoro, chair of the education department at Bowdoin College, published Demoralized: Why Teachers Leave the Profession They Love and How They Can Stay (Harvard Education Press) in February. Doris writes, “My path into this career was paved when given the opportunity to take graduate classes at the Warner School as an undergrad. I earned my initial teaching certification in secondary English in my senior year.” She lives in Portland, Maine, with her family.

2003 Jonathan Durfey and his wife, Caitlin, welcomed a son, Alexander William, last September.

2008 Christopher Bell ’10M (MS), ’15S (MBA) was honored last November as one of Rochester Business Journal‘s “Forty under 40.” Christopher is the executive director of the Monroe County Medical Society.

2009 Gemma Sole, COO and cofounder of the online fashion shopping site Nineteenth Amendment, was honored by the National Retail Federation as an influencer on its 2018 “List of People Shaping Retail’s Future.” Nineteenth Amendment sells clothing manufactured in the United States and designed by independent designers worldwide.

2010 Brandon Isobe writes that he and his father have created an iPhone app called App MyEar. Brandon’s father, a financial analyst in Honolulu, is deaf. “He was tired of lipreading, which is only 20 percent accurate, and wanted to have another option available,” Brandon writes. The app, released in the Apple App Store, transcribes voice to text in real time with 95 percent accuracy. In addition to English, it supports Korean, Spanish, and Japanese. . . . Sandhya Ramsook married Michael Gonzalez in Miami, Florida, in September. Pictured with the couple are Ankita Agarwal ’15M (MD), Andrew Karim, and Reeti Kumar ’11. Sandhya and Michael live in Philadelphia.

2012 Colin Desrosiers ’14S (MBA) (see ’13).

2013 Margaret Schoeniger ’18M (MD) and Colin Desrosiers ’12, ’14S (MBA) send a photo from their September 2017 wedding at the Inns of Aurora overlooking Cayuga Lake in Aurora, New York. Pictured, front row, left to right, are Michael Dulen ’15S (MBA), Alaina Wayland, Hannah Sherry, Elizabeth Riedman, Michelle Desrosiers Heckman ’09, ’13W (MS), Emma Caldwell, Caroline Jacobs Butler ’09, and Annalise Baird; back row (standing), Tyler French ’15S (MBA), John Dawson ’18M (MD), Alexandra Glover, Justin Grischkan ’18M (MD), Claudio Espejo Araneda ’14, John Schoeniger ’12, Margaret, Colin, Christian Vu, Dennis Nave ’11, David Weissman, Thomas Schoeniger ’16, David Toomey, Evan Tandy ’14, and Kevin Ewer ’11.

2014 Corey Robinson ’15S (MS) and Joe Thibodeau ’15 were married last November in Boston with many alumni present. Pictured (see photo, page 58) from left to right are Jake Gusman ’16, Hayden Ford ’13, ’14 (T5), David Keener ’15, Matthew Watman ’12, Noah Berg ’12, Lily Kamalyan ’15, Ben Icenogle ’16, Joshua McGough ’17, Cody Civiletto ’15, ’16 (KEY), Eliza Barnes ’15, Kristopher Thibodeau ’87, Evalyn Gleason ’13, Scott Lamm ’16, Elizabeth Prezioso ’16, ’17N, Jared Suresky ’12, Diana Barlaam ’16, Joe, Amanda Page ’13, Kevin Layden ’13, Gregory Corrado ’15 (T5), Corey, Aaron Michalko, Andrew Tomich ’16, Lindsay Forbes ’13, Keiko Keegan ’92, Kathi Lyford Thibodeau ’88, Charles Aldrich ’19, Lindsey Randall, Eric Quesada ’15, Kathryn Flaschner ’17S (MBA), Alyssa Flaschner ’18, and Justin Maldonado ’18.

2015 Joe Thibodeau (see ’14).