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1986

Anne Chorske Stuzin
akstuzin@comcast.net

Undeterred by the miserable weather at our 20th reunion, a record-breaking group of classmates had fun reconnecting, both on campus and downtown at the old haunts. What fun to act like we were 20 again, spending late nights at Desperate Annie’s.

Jane Zoidis Quinn and I enjoyed working with our wonderful planning committee. Our thanks to Liz Cole Bemiss, Ellen Hermann, Eve Mulholland Antonez, Steve Cress, Lukas Horn, Diane
Bigotte Kendall, Aimee Ventura O’Brien, Jim Friedland, and Stan Francois. I think we all miss
the conference calls and constant e-mailing!

Speaking of Jane Zoidis, she moved to Tokyo with her family in August. She reports they are all settling in, adding “the Japanese are incredibly gracious and kind.” Jane finds Tokyo much like NYC, with great restaurants, culture, and fashion, not to mention great schools with creative learning techniques “that would make most American schools blush.” However, she admits she can’t understand a word they say! So there is a lot of smiling and creative sign language. Jane is also proud to report that she is very tall in Tokyo.

Also overseas now is Steve Cress, who recently moved his family from Summit, NJ, to London. He is managing a global hedge fund for Morgan Stanley. He says London’s parks are wonderful and very horse-friendly, so he has started riding again. The highlight of his summer was, of course, Reunion; “great to see the old gang,” he says. Recently Steve hosted a booth for Skidmore as an alumni admissions correspondent for high-school students from London and the greater UK.

Ben Finkle works at RGA Recruiting in NYC, specializing in senior creative positions for
interactive advertising agencies and digital branding companies. During Reunion he was often seen strolling the streets of Saratoga with his baby daughter Eva. Ben and his wife, Maria, live
in Manhattan, but are pondering a move that will afford them more living space.

Bill Greenleaf lives in Richmond, VA. He changed careers in 2005, leaving the banking world to join William McDonough and Partners, an architectural firm that specializes in the sustainable design of commercial buildings. Bill is their chief operating officer. He also started
a land conservation nonprofit.

Jennifer Cohen was honored in 2005 by the Zimmer Children’s Museum in Los Angeles for her work there over the past 15 years. She and husband Curtis live in Beverly Hills with their five children: Shoshana, 12, Coby, 11, Sorelle, 11, Avia, 9, and Liam, 6.

Jackie Sherman loved being at Reunion, joining us from California. Over the course of the weekend, she told Bob Ericson, Jeff Goldstein, Stan Francois, Jackie Abramoff, and Ellen Hermann about a funny photo she found of all of them taken during a third-floor Wilmarth party freshman year. Promising she’d send it, she returned home only to find it is lost somewhere in her garage! As she searches, she continues to come across lots of photos from Oktoberfest, Spring Fling, and a performance of Snow Removal.

Linda Weiss-King had a great time at Reunion, although she says “it’s always bittersweet to see so many old friends and relive great memories, while acting 21 again without any responsibilities! Then we go back to the reality of paying bills and worrying about pension plans.” Linda
was married in 2004 to Michael King, a Seattleite, who works for the NBA in NYC. Roxanne Felton Rubell was in their wedding. Linda was in Roxanne’s wedding last summer, when she married David Rubell, a master chef, out in Los Angeles. Linda has been a special-ed teacher and learning specialist in the NYC schools for the past 17 years and is currently at a public school on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. One of the founders of the school’s track program, she coaches the spring track team of 60 kids, grades five through eight. In the past eight years, she has also been an adjunct professor in the special-ed graduate program at Bank Street College of Education in NYC. She enjoys the opportunity to get together with Roxanne and Tammy Lupton Valentine when they can get to NYC.

Mike Ross survived Hurricane Katrina and is still teaching history at Loyola University in New Orleans. At Reunion he enjoyed checking out rateyourprofessors.com—“is that really what college students think about their professors?”

Andreas Schneider was sidetracked by sickness the day before Reunion. He was able to live vicariously through Leslie Rose’s photos of the event and e-mails from Steve Cress. During the summer Andreas traveled to Korea, Germany, and Canada. In November his firm was completing construction of a new building in Texas, his first commercial real-estate partnership. Andreas
calls his children “his motivation to get up in the morning” and do all the travel that he does. “Otherwise I would retire, rent surfboards in Hawaii, and offer business classes at a local college.”

Stan Francois married Sherri Brown in Santa Monica, CA, on September 1. In attendance were Dana Mayo, Brand Livingstone, Dave Silveira, Ellen Hermann, Ron Levene, and Beth Demas Anderson. The newlyweds live in their new home in Valhalla, NY, with their three-year-old Boston terrier. They would love to meet fellow alums in the area, so get in touch with Stan at stan.francois@citigroup.com. Stan is still with Citigroup, running philanthropic services for Smith Barney. Sherri is a producer at MTV (remember, she put together our class CD shown at Reunion!).

Aimee Ventura O’Brien spent most of her summer out in Amagansett with her family. She bumped into Dan Aronson ’87, whose children were at the same camp as hers. Aimee has also been in touch with Adam Skolnik ’87 and Steve Malasky ’88 via e-mail.

Congratulations to Herb Eidt on receiving his board certification in orthopedic surgery last summer. Herb and wife Denise are still in Savannah, where their children are very active in local youth sports.

Stuart Snyder lives in Newton Highlands, MA, with his wife, Abby Cohen, daughters Isabel, 10, and Celia, 7, and new puppy Jazzie. Stuart is an attorney specializing in residential real estate. He also coaches his daughter’s soccer team.

Fred Clifford had a great time at Reunion, adding that “even without the sun, it was good to see everyone again and pick up where we left off in May 1986.” Fred and wife Donna Barker ’87 had their fourth son, Samuel, in July.

Wendy Harper and Glenn Lois went to Fred Solomon’s wedding on September 9 and report “there was magic and fireworks in the air. Fred was beaming, from the mock cell phone call at the altar, through the ‘it’s a go’ signal for the fireworks, and the rest. It was an evening as unique as we all remember Fred to be.”

Lorraine Todisco sent news for Scope for the first time, having “thoroughly enjoyed reading about everyone else over the years.” She has lived in a variety of places and worked in many industries over the past 20 years, searching for her “true calling.” She lives on Long Island, NY, and is the e-information coordinator in the marketing and communications department at New York Institute of Technology. She is also pursuing a second master’s degree. You can reach her at ltodisco@nyit.edu.

George Phear sends a hello to classmates and asks anyone interested in reconnecting to write to him in Somerville, MA.

A constant presence at DA’s during Reunion, Dave Silveira was part of Stan Francois’s bachelor party in Puerto Morelos, Mexico, this past summer. He called the trip a great success, highlighted by Stan landing a five-foot sailfish as well as some Mexican tuna. Also in attendance were Dana Mayo and Brand Livingstone. Dave also told me he is “going on the record now, personally taking responsibility to get live music for our 25th reunion.”

To make us all feel extremely old, Jon D’Agostino and wife Jade Koplow wanted us to know they are going through the “surreal” experience of having their 18-year-old son, a state-ranked tennis player, consider attending Skidmore! Jon and Jade also have 15- and 6-year-old daughters. Jon is running his own law firm, and has taken his songwriting hobby to the next level: he just released his fourth CD and is “shopping his songs” in Nashville. Check them out at www.dagsongs.com.

Adam and Licia Baldwin Brown live in Charlotte, VT, where they are successful entrepreneurs. They recently purchased an abandoned factory and converted it into an indoor sports and wellness facility with two all-purpose turf fields, a health club, day spa, Pilates studio (which Licia runs), and physical therapist. As part of the project they built 14 affordable-housing units and put 30
acres of land into conservancy.

Outside, the Browns also built three sports fields for the town, where an active sports league
thrives for residents from ages eight to adult. The Browns’ two boys, Kyle, 15, and Henry, 12, are both great students who love sports. The whole family enjoys all Vermont has to offer. Adam and Licia made it to Saratoga for the Friday-night festivities during Reunion weekend.

Phil Theoharides loved being at Reunion, enjoying “quality family time” with Clai Marshall, Pam Duca Marshall, and Titus Peterson. All of them stayed together at the Gideon Putnam, highlighted by a big family dinner Saturday night, then a redo of their yearbook picture of 20 years ago, one with families and one without. Phil is “happy to say my two roommates have not changed much.” Back home in Wilton, CT, Phil started his own business to start a new strategy absolute fund in
the CDO/ABS (structured credit products) area. He and his partner are now backed by Kohlberg and Co.’s asset-management group, Katonah Debt Advisors. Phil and wife Kacky have three children: August, 5, Christian, 4, and Owen, 1. Phil anticipates a “banner year” on the slopes and aims to ski at least 20 days this season.

I ran my first marathon in Baltimore in October, qualifying for the Boston Marathon, a nice surprise. I actually started training the Sunday of Reunion weekend, running from downtown,
up Broadway, and around the Skidmore campus a few times. A great start! Along the way, I appreciated lots of good advice from Stan Francois and Craig Poler ’84, both of whom have run
“the Olympic distance!” I spent the fall as an assistant JV field-hockey coach at the Bryn Mawr School while continuing to manage the ever-expanding matrix of my children’s activities, not to mention the shenanigans of our Airedale terrier, Cannon.