News Briefs concerning classmates and more, including an update on Roman Weil, Lew Spratlan, Sam Waterston, the sinking of the Moskva, Duncan Spencer, Yale Admissions, Yale resources on the war in Ukraine, Bob Lefevre, our 60th Reunion Team, Bill Stork, Bill Stott, Dixie Carroll, John Stewart and many, many more. READ THE LATEST… In Memoriam
![]() May 2, 2022 Obituary to be posted Obituaries Index
In Memoriam
![]() Dec. 10, 2019 Obituary is posted Obituaries Index
Tip: Select any of the Obituaries Index links above to view all of the obituaries of our ’62 classmates we currently have on our site. |
6/21/22 Our 60th Reunion Materials – Sneak Preview! ![]() We have a lot of materials gathered but not yet ready to present to you. In the meantime, we do have the videos ready for you. Click here to view them. 6/06/22 Comments? Please make them here. 6/06/22 [Ed. Note: Former Town Supervisor of Pulteney, NY, Bill has been involved in civic activities there for many years. His Memorial Day speech is his latest service to the town.] Welcome to the Town of Pulteney’s Memorial Day celebration. We are here today to honor the fallen soldiers of America’s wars and conflicts. On this day in 1868, General John Logan issued a proclamation commemorating the sacrifices of the soldiers and sailors of the Civil War. He called it Decoration Day, later to be termed Memorial Day. Over 600,000 men died in the battles and I am sad to say the United States has lost over 1 million men and women soldiers to date in a variety of wars and conflicts. The Town of Pulteney has contributed brave men and women to virtually all the conflicts and suffered loss… READ BILL’S COMPLETE ADDRESS HERE 6/03/22 This is a report from the firing line, reflecting on yesterday’s experiences of being a nonessential participant in the ancient ritual, the Big Decade Reunion (for ancient alums). My wife, Marcy Crary, is a member of the Radcliffe/Harvard Class of 1972, was on the Reunion Planning Committee and chaired one of their class panels. So, she was a central member of the class gathering – and I was anything but. And this distance provided some useful… READ TIM’S COMPLETE ESSAY HERE 6/03/22 Last month, Y62 Communications Team member Bill Weber sat down with classmate Art Mann to chat about the remarkable community development initiative in which Art’s been involved for well over two decades. Please enjoy the interview. Comments? Please make them here. 6/03/22 ![]() YRC in Russia, 2019 At the height of the cold war in the ’50s, a club began at Yale, to understand and learn more about Russia and the Soviet Union. Denis Mickewicz, studying in the Dept of Slavic Languages and the Yale School of Music, was invited to lead some Russian songs, and in a short time by virtue of his great charisma, musical and compositional gifts, and knowledge of sacred and secular Slavic choral literature, had attracted good enough voices to perform really challenging… READ JOHN’S COMPLETE ARTICLE HERE 6/03/22 Register for Reunion Here!
What’s the Program and the Schedule? Who’s Coming? Yale’s Updated COVID guidelines 5/25/22 On Friday, May 20, Y62 Class Secretary and Communications Team member John Stewart sat down with classmate and performer par excellence Phil Proctor for a fun chat covering several topics, including aging with humor and the joys of a performer’s life. We laughed a lot, and commiserated on some parts, too. Phil says, “I forgot to mention my talented classmate friends, Bill Weeden and David Finkle, who should definitely receive mention, as well,” and so we have mentioned Bill and David on Phil’s behalf. Please enjoy the interview. Comments? Please make them here. 5/17/22 (Ed. Note: Bill and Whit did this interview late last week, but we wanted to post this as quickly as we could because the Crypto situation is changing so dramatically hour by hour and now has become a major part of the concern about the investment economy and the losses of both small and large investors. That is true even though, as Whit said well, Crypto is a tiny part of the investment world valuation.) Comments? Please make them here. 5/17/22 While we’re on the topic of investments and speculation, it’s a fortunate coincidence that Intelligence Squared US, classmate Bob Rosenkranz’s civil debate initiative, focused last Friday on the topic of small vs. large investors. Here’s their lead-in: In a modern-day battle of David and Goliath on Wall Street, thousands of amateur retail investors banded together to bid up stocks in a handful of failing companies, most notably the nostalgic video game hub known as GameStop. Within days, the renegade traders sent stocks soaring and dealt heavy blows to hedge funds and other traditional professional investors who had bet against the companies. The “meme stock” phenomenon was born. But where does “revolution” stand a year later? Did the amateurs—trading mostly on the Robinhood platform—change the world of finance? Should more “ordinary” investors get into the game? Or will that benefit Wall Street at the little guy’s expense? Enjoy the replay! The Intelligence Squared US website is here. Comments? Please make them here. 5/17/22 Gentlemen: Our 60th Reunion team wanted to update you on our upcoming reunion and encourage you to still attend. Among many events, we’ll have an exciting panel of classmates (including Sam Waterston) on working in our 80s, in addition to hearing from Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Blight on the Civil War era. Due to updates to Yale’s COVID policies for visitors, we will be able to skip the new Central Registration and go directly to our reunion’s residential college, Timothy Dwight, to check in and receive registration materials. Classmates will not be required to check in at Central Registration at the St. Thomas More Golden Center as had been previously noted. If you will be using the reunion shuttle when you arrive, please let its driver know that you’re headed to Timothy Dwight College. Close to 100 have already signed up, including some of our widows, and there will be a reception at the Yale Art Gallery as well as a performance by the indomitable Joe Holmes band. We will recognize publicly classmates who have been an asset to the Class over time and will hear from hockey coach Keith Allain. Some have elected to come for a portion of the Reunion, and for that choice, Friday and Saturday are the prime days, although there will be speakers starting Thursday late afternoon. Ultimately, the reason to attend is to interact to each other, to catch up with those classmates we see infrequently and, yes, even get to know those we have not yet had the privilege of meeting at all. Look forward to seeing you there! Dan Koenigsberg, MD
5/11/22 Last week’s leak of Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion on abortion rights was a media bombshell. It reignited the long and intense debate over “choice” vs. “life” while triggering a new debate over how and why the leak happened. Here are takes on the latter question from two members of our class who served as Supreme Court law clerks… READ THIS ESSAY IN FULL 5/09/22 For those of you who would like to see what happened at our May 5th Coffee Hour, the event’s recording is posted above. If you have any comments you’d like to make on it, please make them here. Thanks! 5/06/22 And the link to register is on the program page, to the left. Still plenty of time to sign on!
5/03/22 Just as we did with classmate Jim Wechsler last week (found farther down on this page), Communications Team member Dick Riseling sat down on Earth Day to get to know geophysicist classmate Doug Bingham, who lives in Edmonton, Alberta. These talks aren’t to introduce the topic we’ll address on Thursday, but to get to know the speakers a little bit, beforehand. We hope you enjoy this conversation between two engaging people. 5/03/22 We have run this statement previously, but as lead-up to the May 5th Coffee Hour, we wanted to show you this again. The following statement was adopted by the American Association of Geographers as developed and co-authored by an ad hoc group of senior colleagues around the U.S. that I assembled this past spring. After graduating from Yale and spending a couple of years on a Navy icebreaker, I entered the University of Chicago Law… READ RUD’S BRIEF INTRODUCTION AND THE STATEMENT 5/03/22 This year’s Yale Day of Service is Saturday, May 7th. Bill says, “I would encourage classmates to reach out to their nearest Yale Clubs to see how they can be involved in this wonderful positive venture!” 4/29/22 Recently, Class Secretary and Communications Team member John Stewart sat down with Eli Newberger via Zoom, to engage in a far-reaching, engrossing interview and chat between longtime friends. From graduation to now, we learn what’s kept Eli busy and how he’s helped to make the world a better place. We hope you enjoy the interview. Click here or on the image below to view the interview and for more, including a wonderful invitation and some fabulous music! 4/29/22 We thought it a good idea to provide classmates with some background info prior to our Coffee Hour on worldwide efforts to minimize and adapt to climate change. Today, we feature not a classmate interview, but a recording of the speech given by Secretary General Antònio Guterres in early April, at the WGIII AR6 press conference. If you prefer to read it, the full text of his speech is here. Your comments will be welcome at the Coffee Hour next week. Please plan to attend this rousing, important discussion on Thursday, May 3. The first email invitations went out yesterday, and reminders will be sent next week. 4/25/22 SEE ALL OF THE INFO WE CURRENTLY HAVE, RIGHT HERE 4/25/22 Our May Coffee Hour will be a deep dive into Climate and Environmental Concerns. We’ve invited speaker classmates who have investigated this issue for some time, and who have impactful information to share with us. In this 11-minute interview, Y62 Communication Team member Dick Riseling speaks with biophysics major Jim Wechsler, whose career in microbiology has helped to shape his point of view on this topic. This interview introduces Jim to classmates who perhaps didn’t know him as an undergraduate. Enjoy this brief chat! 4/11/22 Our April ‘First Thursday’ Coffee Hour was devoted to the experiences of some of our RPCVs (returned Peace Corps volunteers). It was a fascinating 90 minutes as we heard from 6 classmates who traveled to distant parts of the world, as volunteers in the program. We finished up with a quick update about our 60th reunion, coming right up June 9-12. Please enjoy the recording. Comments? Please make them here. 4/11/22 Sit in on our annual Class Council meeting and see what your council has been doing! Comments? Please make them here. 4/07/22 4/04/22 By Al Chambers
This is the first time in more than 40 years, which is when the Chambers family returned from 11 years living abroad, that we now depend on just one vehicle. It was 1978 when we first became suburbanites. So far, so good, after about ten days. It will be a new opportunity for good planning and communications for Alice and me and also a chance to rent Zipcars when needed. Let me ‘fess up at the start that we… READ AL’S COMPLETE ESSAY HERE
4/04/22 By Tony Giamei
First, recognize that traditional reporting is becoming a lost art, and newspapers are struggling due to weak conditions for small businesses. Your community may no longer be adequately served by a reliable local newspaper. Many people no longer start the day by reading a paper along with a cup of coffee. They also do not watch the evening news on a regular basis. Starting a news entity has several facets:
3/25/22 with updated info 4/11/22 On March 24, Communication Team member Bill Weber sat down with classmate Tom Noonan, for a chat about Tom’s change of plans following our graduation, how he came to spend some time announcing NFL games, and much more. Please enjoy this fun interview! Tom has expanded his explanation of his football announcing experience here. You can leave comments, too. Please read the update, and add your comments. 3/25/22 By Whitman Knapp There is no joy to be found in any corner of the Russian invasion of the Ukraine. One unintended beneficiary, however, might be crypto. However, this raises the crucial question, will crypto win the battle but lose… READ WHIT’S ESSAY HERE 3/25/22 SEE THE LATEST PROPOSED SCHEDULE HERE 3/25/22 We have recently welcomed three new members to the Y62 Communications Team: Lee Bolman, Tim Hall and John (“Jay”) Hatch. Hailing from the Boston area, Tim says, “I decided to join the Communication Team, after sitting in on a couple of meetings, because I have really been enjoying this way of getting to know more of my classmates, as well as to deepen my connections to those I already know. And the Team made me feel very welcome!” Lee says, “I enjoy working with my classmates in this way.” For John’s part, he says, “I joined because I had become an active reader of our website and participant in our Coffee Hour, had some reduced committee commitments time, and thought it might be a way to contribute where there was a need.” 3/17/22 St. Patrick’s Day, 1959. Classmates Tony Giamei, Jack Merrick and Y62 Communications Team member Bill Weber talk about what they recall from that eventful week. Do you have your own recollections of that time during your freshman year? Please share them with us here! 3/17/22 By Bill Stork I receive a number of e-newsletters, from SCMP, CNN, CNBC, WaPo, NYT, Reuters, BBC, the Guardian and others. As I distract myself from the current ravages of Covid here in Hong Kong, I enjoy the post-breakfast task of reading then ridding what has arrived… READ BILL’S RECOLLECTIONS HERE 3/11/22 By John Stewart Yale ’62 Reunion Team “Yakking” Reunion team members “yakked” about the upcoming reunion, which we’re pretty sure will be live and in person. All the reunion news we have, to date. Please click here to read it. 3/11/22 ![]() David Youtz, Cynthia Sung, WS, Adam Click, with 115th birthday cake By Bill Stork When I was living in Singapore I met and made friends with Frank Yung. The Yale-China Association (YCA) was celebrating its 115th anniversary. Myself, Cynthia Sung, and Adam Click, leaders of the Yale Society of Singapore, decided upon hearing that David Youtz, YCA president, was coming to Singapore to hold a gala event. Adam had connections with the Grand Hyatt Singapore, and was able to reserve its elegant and luxurious Collections Room for the occasion. Cynthia, spouse of the rector (college master) of residential Cendana College… READ BILL’S FULL ESSAY – PLUS FIND AN INVITATION – HERE
3/04/22 On Thursday, March 3, we met to discuss the current crisis in Ukraine. The recording of our event is above. Comments? Please make them here. 3/04/22 ![]() Elderly waiting on gurneys in the rain and cold for hospital admission By William Stork President Xi Jinping was equally alarmed at how his Hong Kong was being presented in the world press, especially as he is trying to consolidate his position before the upcoming October Chinese Party Congress plenum where he is looking to get a historic third term. He remembers the ineptitude of Carrie Lam… READ BILL’S FULL REPORT HERE 2/25/22 (Ed. Note: Steve served as a Foreign Service Officer from 1963 to 2002. He served at U.S. diplomatic posts in 8 Arab countries, including Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM), Baghdad, Iraq, 1986-88, (DCM) Muscat Oman, 1979-83, Consul General, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 1996-1999, and was the Office Director for North Africa, 1992-1995. He has also served as a Professor at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, National Defense University.) (Regarding the ‘First Thursday’ Y62 Coffee Hour we will host next week on March 3rd) When Tim Hall asked me to speak on the Ukraine crisis I immediately deferred, saying my field was the Middle East/Arab world, not Ukraine and eastern Europe. Then I remembered my senior thesis, on the German hyper inflation and its consequences. The German middle class, many on fixed pensions, were wiped out. They wanted revenge, and Hitler was the answer. Now we have Putin recounting that during the siege of Leningrad, his mother was almost put into a mass grave, his father suffered injuries that affected him for his whole life… READ STEVE’S FULL REMARKS HERE 2/25/22 When omicron swept into Hong Kong several weeks ago I began to notice something in the daily figures reported nightly by Hong Kong’s Center for Health Protection (CHP). Hong Kong’s zero-covid policy was under threat, for after nearly 3months of zero local covid cases followed by a few weeks of single-digit reports… READ BILL’S FULL REPORT HERE 2/11/22 In our second article on this topic, classmate Whit Knapp continues to inform us on this new development in the world of finance. The new year has not been kind to the cryptocurrency world. In January 2022, bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies lost 50% of their value from the market high of $2.3 trillion in… READ WHIT’S COMPLETE ESSAY HERE with an update 2/14/22! 2/11/22 Intelligence Squared US, brainchild of Bob Rosenkranz, has cast its amorous gaze at the heart-focused February celebration of love. We’ve missed the live debate, which took place on Feb. 4, but the podcast recording of the debate is below. New Y62 Communications Team member John Hatch contacted classmate Rosenkranz for comment regarding the highly unusual choice of a “soft,” even perhaps sentimental topic for an IQ2 debate. Bob responded with the following: “As I suspect we have all learned by now, the course of love is probably unpredictable and certainly debatable.” Comments? Please make them here. 2/01/22 Jim Stein makes note of many lucky instances in his life in a friendly, brisk-paced chat with Communications Team member Bill Weber. Comments? Please make them here. 2/01/22 By Bill Stork Longtime Hong Kong resident Bill Stork takes us through the traditions of the joyous Chinese New Year. READ BILL’S FULL ARTICLE HERE 2/01/22 By Roman Weil In the three-week lull between football games in December, which I described in my two separate reports to classmates (here and here), I did some basic shopping at my local Costco. Before continuing, I remind you that those games had good outcomes for my Bama team… READ ROMAN’S FULL ESSAY HERE 1/13/22 The practice of medicine and the art of creative writing don’t usually go together, but there have been exceptions. Burton Rouché’s Eleven Blue Men (1963) and Oliver Sacks’ The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat (1985) were collections of short stories about medical mysteries. I knew that I would never have caseloads like theirs to write about, but I did know that… READ ED’S FULL ESSAY HERE 1/13/22 What connection can there be between the Class of ’62 Council Meeting, 1988, and the College Football Championship Game, January 10, 2022? Herein you’ll read the answer. Shortly after our 25th Reunion in 1987, the senior leadership of our class realized that the Class of ’63 had overshadowed us with its US Senator and the Class of ’61 had overshadowed us with its frequent mini-reunions. We needed to do more. So the leadership convened a meeting of the Class Council in the summer of 1988 at Vic Miller’s house in Milford to discuss these matters. I think it was Host Miller who suggested that if we should have… READ ROMAN’S FULL ACCOUNT HERE The Listing of Front Page Stories for the Past Year or So Continues Here…
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