The University of Chicago Magazine

August 1997

1970s

What's the news? We are always eager to receive yournews at the Magazine, care of the Class News Editor, Universityof Chicago Magazine, 1313 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637, or by E-mail:uchicago-magazine@uchicago.edu.

To write us with your news directly, click here forour e-mail form: uchicago-magazine@uchicago.edu.

No engagements, please. Items may be edited for space.As news is published in the order in which it arrives, it may not appearimmediately.

Please specify the year under which you would likeyour news to appear. Otherwise, we will list: (1) all former undergraduates(including those who later received graduate degrees) by the year of theirundergraduate degree, and (2) all former students who received only graduatedegrees by the year of their final degree.

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Ashok R. Bendre, MBA'70, is founder and presidentof Shakti, Inc., which helps nationally and internationally located clientsto design, engineer, and market new chemical and biological technologies.Current projects range from a New York-based startup trying to mitigatethe effects of hazardous waste, to a Malaysian company that manufactureschemicals derived from oils and fats; and the company has developed a technologyfor using biowaste to produce fuel for electric power. Bendre's wife, Seema,works for the Fertility Centers of Illinois in Glenview, where she managesthe lab and works with patients. Their daughter, Rupali, is a graduatestudent in education, and their son, Anup, has completed his second yearof medical school, both at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Havingretired from the Senior Foreign Service, Peter Benedict, AM'64,PhD'70, is now corporate director for international affairs at Family HealthInternational, a nonprofit organization that works to improve reproductivehealth worldwide. Seth Masia, AB'70, left Times-Mirror Magazinesto join Microsoft's Denver Sidewalk as sports and recreation producer.Masia's colleague William R. St. John, AM'77, AM'80, PhD'83, producesthe restaurant segment. John A. McLees, AB'70, MBA'73, JD'74, joinedthe Chicago office of Baker & McKenzie as a partner in the firm's LatinAmerica practice group. Earlier this year, in a poll of corporate tax directorsconducted by the International Tax Review of London, McLees was rankedas a leading adviser on Latin American tax matters.

71

Daniel I. Booker, JD'71, a trial lawyer and themanaging partner of the firm Reed Smith Shaw &McClay, was listed inthe 1997-1998 edition of The Best Lawyers in America for excellence inboth business litigation and corporate law. J. Virginia Stevens Peiser,AB'71, opened her own law office in Walnut Creek, CA, focusing on "taxation,estate planning, real property, and general business matters." A certifiedspecialist in taxation law, she has received an AV rating from the Martindale-HubbellLaw Directory. She speaks and writes about taxation and estate planningissues and is a director of the taxation section of the Contra Costa CountyBar Association, having served two one-year terms as chair of taxation.Peiser lives in Orinda, CA, with her husband, Michael, and their two children,Jason, 12, and Erica, 10.

72

The Roanoke College Dean's Council recently presentedits 1997 awards to Robert D. Denham, AM'64, PhD'72, the John P.Fishwick professor of English, for exemplary professional achievement,and to Ned P. Wisnefske, PhD'87, an associate professor of philosophyand religion, for exemplary teaching. College alumni, please send yournews to your class correspondent: Dorthea H. Juul, AB'72, PhD'89 1115 SouthPlymouth Court, #302 Chicago, IL 60605 Phone: 847/374-4204 (w) Fax: 847/236-4304E-mail: djuul@abpn.com

73

The 25th class reunion will be held June 5-7, 1998. InMarch, Jerry W. Carlson, AM'73, received congratulations from PierreBuhler, the director of cultural affairs for the French Embassy in theU.S., on being named a Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiquesin 1996. Carlson, a professor at CUNY and a producer for City UniversityTelevision, has produced and hosted more than 50 episodes of televisionprogramming about the history of French cinema, including the series 100Years of French Cinema. He was honored for his services to French culture.Richard M. Kuntz, X'73, joined the Chicago law firm Bollinger, Ruberry& Garvey. He also co-moderates the environmental-law forum on the on-lineservice Counsel Connect and writes environmental columns for the ChicagoDaily Law Bulletin. In May Ruth Z. Sweetser, AM'73, was one among250 women invited from around the world to participate in the First InternationalWomen's Leadership Conference at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy Schoolof Government.

74

Mark A. Aronchick, JD'74, a founding shareholderand executive for the law firm Hangley Aronchik Segal & Pudlin, wasappointed by Pennsylvania's supreme court to serve a three-year term onits disciplinary board. In its April 17 issue, the Washington UniversityRecord profiled trauma surgeon Timothy G. Buchman, SB'74, SM'74,PhD'78, MD'80, a professor of surgery, anesthesiology, and medicine there,as well as chief of the surgery department's burn, trauma, and critical-caresection at the Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Walter H. Meservey, AB'74,MBA'77, spent Memorial Day weekend climbing to the top of Mt. Shasta, thenskiing down-something that has been "on the agenda for the past 16years or so," he writes. He describes the trip up the mountain's 14,151feet: "At about 7,300 feet, we put on skis and climbing skins and`skinned' up to 10,000 feet, where we excavated a platform, used the snowblocks to build a wall, and put up the tents." The next day, "Weused crampons and ice axes to make it to the summit, taking about six hoursto do so." He and his party spent about a half-hour on top, then camedown on skis. The final day, Meservey and his party broke camp and skieddown to the snow line, which was "not exactly easy on rotten snow,through the trees, with a 40-plus-pound pack!" Meservey would liketo hear from other alumni about their outdoor adventures. Kasem Watanachai,CLA'74, see 1968, Burin Kantabutra.

75

D. Brian Heller, AM'64, PhD'75, see 1987, StevenG. Auerbach.

76

Edward T. Cotham, Jr., AM'76, president of TerryPetroleum Company, and his wife, Candy, announce the April 22 birth oftheir son, Erich Terrel. John W. Estey, MBA'76, president and COOof S&C Electric Company, was promoted to the position of CEO, retainingthe title of president. Richard A. Flom, AB'76, reports, "Insteadof a typical midlife crisis, like getting a divorce and buying a sportscar, I and my wife, Lynn Kronzek, had our first child, Robert, after 14years of marriage." Flom left his corporate and intellectual-propertylaw practice to enter the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the Universityof Judaism in Los Angeles, where "if all goes well," he and classmateNeal J. Loevinger, AB'88, will be "in the first graduatingclass to receive ordination from the Ziegler School, in May 1999."Both men received master of Hebrew letters degrees in May. "The transitionhas not been all that difficult," writes Flom. "Even though theBabylonian Talmud is in two languages, which I am still learning, it'seasier to understand than most recent Supreme Court decisions." TheodoreH. Leibman, AB'76, and his wife, Nora, have two children, Alayna andLia. Arvind Singh, MBA'76, president of Delhi Capital Management,teaches international finance at the University of Arizona. Singh alsoconsults, writes articles for financial magazines, and instructs executives.He can be reached at arvind@rtd.com.Andrew L. Stone, AB'76, AM'76, a natural historian of virus diseasesof plants, works for the Agricultural Research Service, a branch of theUSDA. He and his new wife, Cathleen Renée Terrace, plan to livein Long Corner, MD, in a "lil' pre-fab home of our own!"

77

In April, Gary C. DeFotis, PhD'77, the Garrett-Robb-Guyprofessor of chemistry at the College of William & Mary, received theAmerican Chemical Society's award for research at an undergraduate institution.Mary Jean Craig Lynch, AM'77, an associate professor of psychologyand associate academic dean at North Central College in Naperville, IL,received the Clarence F. Dissinger memorial award for distinguished teachingby a senior faculty member. Lynch also directs the school's advising centerand its freshman orientation program, and she leads North Central in itsstrategic planning. Ruthann E. Saenger, AM'77, of Alexandria, VA,was named the 1996 communicator of achievement by Capital Press Women (CPW),a Washington, DC, affiliate of the National Federation of Press Women.Saenger is CPW's literacy director. College alumni, please send your newsto your class correspondent: Tony P. Mayo, AB'77, MBA'78 10915 ThanletLane Reston, VA 20190-3922 Phone: 703/742-0845 (h) E-mail: themayos@erols.com

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The 20th class reunion will be held June 5-7, 1998. ThomasP. Burnet, MBA'78, was appointed president of advancing markets forBrown-Forman Beverages Worldwide. Robert P. Chitwood, AB'78, ispsychological-services director at South Florida Evaluation and TreatmentCenter, a state forensic hospital in Miami, FL. He also maintains privatepractices, providing both neuropsychological assessments and psychotherapy.In his free time, Chitwood enjoys "the music, art, and culture ofSouth Florida," he writes. Rita McClure Cunningham-Heller,AM'78, see 1987, Steven G. Auerbach. Brian Fluck, MBA'78, and hiswife, Trudy, have moved to Orlando, FL, where Fluck is COO of CNL FinancialServices, a privately held real-estate finance firm.

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Frederick J. Antczak, AM'76, PhD'79, received a1997 teaching award from the University of Iowa's liberal-arts college,where he has taught rhetoric for the past 10 years. Antczak recalls thatwhile teaching at the University of Virginia, where he won an earlier teachingaward, he benefitted from the support of Hugh M. Davidson, AB'38,PhD'46. "He took time for me even though I was in another department,"Antczak writes. "I still remember, and still appreciate it."He counts Wayne C. Booth, AM'47, PhD'50, the George M. Pullman distinguishedservice professor emeritus of English, and Robert Streeter, the EdwardL. Ryerson distinguished service professor emeritus of English, among Chicagoteachers who continue to serve him as role models. "The legacy ofChicago, where teaching mattered so much, still has me in its grasp,"he writes. Michael J. Delaney, AM'79, the economic section chiefin Helsinki for the U.S. Department of State, received the Department'sCharles E. Cobb, Jr. award for initiative and success in trade development.Elizabeth R. ("Libby") Morse, AB'79, and Jeffrey J.Makos, AB'81, AM'82, announce the November 14 birth of their daughter,Vivien Reda. Makos, a staff writer at the U of C's news office, explainedthe announcement's delay: "We were working with Vivie on her fastball and spending time with our 3-year-old son, Isaac, and his huge collectionof trucks and trains." Cynthia Thompson Ward, MBA'79, is managerof business development for the Washington, DC, office of Lee Hecht Harrison,an international career-transition and -management firm.

Within Class News:

August 1997

• 1920s
• 1930s
• 1940s
• 1950s
• 1960s
• 1970s
• 1980s
• 1990s
• DEATHS
• BOOKS BY ALUMNI
• IN THE CLUBS

Go to:

• INVESTIGATIONS
• CHICAGO JOURNAL
• LETTERS
• CHICAGOPHILE
  
• Feature story: "Clean-uphitter"
• Feature story: "Wavingthe Chicago flag"
• Feature story: "Betweentwo worlds"
• Feature story: "Bloomin review"
  
• CLASS NEWS, includingALUMNI AWARDS
• DEATHS
• BOOKS BY ALUMNI
• IN THE CLUBS

Return to August 1997 Tableof Contents