1980s
1980s
80 Public Service
We are pleased to report that Jenny Durkan has been elected mayor of Seattle. Jenny earned 61 percent of the vote to defeat Cary Moon in the race. The last time the city elected a woman as mayor was 1926, as reported in the Seattle Times. After a year of teaching, writing and being carpool dad, Paul Lewis has gone to the private sector after 37 years with the government. He is the director for ethics and business conduct for BAE Systems INC. Paul is also writing a book on GITMO (Guantanamo Bay). New grandfather, Mike Karas, announced the arrival of granddaughter, Ann Marie, daughter of Jill and Don Joyce ’09. See our class Facebook page at facebook.com/groups/notredame80/ for a great picture of baby Ann Marie sporting her mom’s and dad’s ND class rings. If you have not yet made an annual donation to our Class Fund, please consider doing so. Go to giving.nd.edu/ways-to-give/ click on “Online Gift,” click on “Giving Societies and more,” select “Other” at the bottom of the drop-down list. Enter: “Class of 1980 Operating Fund” in the comments section. Susan Barry is looking forward to seeing Susan Sebold Geraghty in San Francisco. They’re planning a hike and chat before the Super Bowl. The last time Susan was in San Francisco, she reconnected with Beth Schweitzer. Beth and Susan never met at Notre Dame, but served as Peace Corps volunteers in Togo, West Africa, and became friends there. ND’80 and Togo ’80 to’83 has to be one of the more exclusive clubs. Susan enjoyed lunch recently with Nick Zagotta, sharing notes on careers, kids, and admiring his adorable grandchildren. Susan and husband (Gary Kohn) get to see Sheli and Peter Sullivan regularly. The Sullivan’s daughter Claire is a sophomore Lewis Hall Chick. Sue and Gary also spend time with Karen and Joe Behles ’81Arch. And another architect, Pete Noone, is a partner with Sue’s husband at Solomon Cordwell Buenz. Pete is in their San Francisco office. Maureen “Mo” Pekosh has been invited by the Mayo Clinic to be one of about 60 women from across the country to train to become a WomenHeart Champion. She will work with other women living with heart disease to make the journey easier through sharing. She wants to encourage any woman living with heart disease to contact her or to go to the WomenHeart website as this is no disease to face alone. Our class family mourns the losses of John Foley, father of Jack Foley, Dolores (nee Wentzek) Merten, mother of Dean Merten and Rosemary Muldoon, mother of John Muldoon. — Mary Ellen Woods; mew.1980@alumni.nd.edu
80MBA Double Blessing
Judy and Doug Cooper celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in January and welcomed their first grandchild on the same day. That’s called timing, and a double blessing for the Coopers. Congratulations, Doug, although you have some catching up to do if you want to match Scott Stratman, who will be welcoming his third and fourth grandchildren in April and wrote that he will be attending many weddings this year of nieces and nephews. It’s always enjoyable to get the annual Christmas card and updates from Joe Bowers. Joe writes that his wife Lane is retired in name only and spends plenty of time as emergency babysitter for their four grandchildren. Joe still works in financial services, and he categorizes golf as a financial related endeavor. Joe was my roommate for the NC State game last fall and as a testament to our respective ages and relative fitness, we still were able to share just a bathroom. What a success. It seems like yesterday when I brought my niece Anna Chang ’18 to the USC game back in 2013 but she will be graduating soon. The big news for our family is that my eldest son, Patrick, will be getting married in the fall, so 2018 is bound to be eventful. I hope everyone had a happy new year and I look forward to hearing from everyone when you have a chance to drop a line with your news. Go Irish. — Joe Kearney; 203-364-0346; jos.w.kearney@gmail.com
80JD Fly Eagles Fly
Our Philadelphia area classmates loved the Super Bowl win. There was lots of happiness in the homes of Tina Walsh McLaughlin, Lucille Del Tufo Davy and Carolyn Short, although Carolyn is Minnesota born and bred and still loves the Vikings. Tom Jennings had divided loyalties. Hailing from New England and now living near Philly, he cheered nonetheless. It was a great game. Dennis Allen doing tax work with Sutherland in Washington DC, now known as Eversheds Sutherland. Lots of classmates have their own law firms. Russ Alba is his own boss at Black Swan Legal Counsel in Tampa/St. Pete. He is happily eating great food at Mise en Place, owned by his favorite person, Maryann. Tim Aluise has been going strong since 1991 with his own DC law firm, Hessel, Aluise and Neun. Sheryl Anderson is a founding member of the women-owned firm of Wells, Anderson & Race in Denver since 1995. Al Avila is the founding member of Avila, Rodriguez, Hernandez, Mena & Ferri in Coral Gables. “Buffalo Bob” Bandeen has his own firm, Allaben & Bandeen in Ada MI. Steve Barclay has Barclay Legal in Phoenix doing lawyering and lobbying. Diane Wolf Bender is a solo practitioner doing estate work in Evansville IN. It’s always fun to see Zenon Bidzinski in Chicago when he’s in town from Rockford, where he practices solo. Ruth Beyer is senior VP and general counsel at Precision Castparts Corp. in the Portland OR area. And, where are you Gracia Berg? On another front, our 40th Reunion is two years away. Since everyone is busy, please mark your calendars now for the first weekend in June 2020 for fun and frolic. The Law School hosts a minireunion at one of the home football games. Stay tuned for the 2018 schedule for that gathering. Please support the Law School and students. The Order of St. Thomas More is an easy way to do that. Thanks for all you do for Notre Dame. Love to all. — Sheila O’Brien; sobrien368@aol.com
81 Connections and Updates
Save the date for the Class of ’81 football tailgater and game Sept. 15, the Vanderbilt game. We have 50 tickets together for sale and, if last year’s tailgater is any indication, the pre-game festivities will be memorable. Thankfully, Notre Dame Magazine does not include photos in these notes. Details will follow on our Facebook page and via email. Gaelynn (DeMartino) McGavick of New Canaan CT hosted a Navy tailgater last fall, as she has a son who is a junior at ND and another son who is a first-year plebe at the Naval Academy. Gates and her husband Mike won either way, and fortunately the luck of the Irish prevailed. Kevin Campion reports that a group of ND lacrosse alumni participated again in the annual Florida Lacrosse Classic in Weston FL In January. The ND 50-and-over team, the HouNDs, featured three still-handsome-if-no-longer-athletically-gifted classmates: Kevin Campion, Jack Murphy and Bob Durgin. That description was Kevin’s, not mine. They were joined by former teammates from the classes of ’80, ’82, ’83 and ’84. Sean Heffernan lives in Chicago with his wife Nancy and four children. His eldest, Mary Therese, works in social services at Central Baptist Village. Edward has just submitted his thesis to film festivals, while freelancing in acting, writing and filmmaking. Matt graduated from the U of Illinois and began medical school at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine in August. Their youngest, Caroline, is a senior at Loyola Academy in Chicago while applying to colleges. Belinda and Joe Loehle live in Gainesville VA. They celebrated daughter Kristen’s graduation from Notre Dame last spring. Kristen accepted a job with Cardinal Health in Dublin OH. Their son, Karl, is living in Virginia and working for Merrill Lynch. Their son Eric is living in Charlotte and working in logistics. Lisa (McNelis) Roselli lives with her husband Rick and their five children in Boca Raton FL. Lisa and Rick are attorneys, and the kids are finishing college. Maggie ’84SMC and RJ Gerth celebrated the marriage of their daughter Colleen ’12 this summer. Their daughters Mary ’16SMC, Elizabeth and Kathleen were in the wedding party. Tami (Tavis) and Tom Lange live in Tampa but spend a lot of time in Chicago with their beautiful grandkids. Kathleen (McManus) and Steve deGroot live in Atlanta. Their daughter Tricia and son Steve have two beautiful baby girls who live in Chicago. I am sorry to report that Veronica (Crosson) Flynn passed away last September. Veronica leaves behind her brothers Chris ’80 and Ben ’85, two sisters, two sons, and a slew of ND friends from her time in Lyons Hall and Anger, France, and in the years since. You might have had her father, Prof. Fred Crosson, in philosophy studies. Veronica and I were inseparable in high school, so this loss is particularly keen. Please keep her family in your prayers. Please join us on the Class of 1981 Facebook page where classmates share their version of wit and wisdom. Please email updates about you and your classmates before our May 1 deadline. You are important and loved members of the Class of 1981 and we want to know how you are doing. And apologies for not submitting Class Notes in time for the last issue. Life got in the way. — Mary Murphy; marymurphy81@alumni.nd.edu
81MBA Class Secretary — E.J. Fleming;
600 Hall Hill Road, Somers CT 06071; 860-749-7621; flemingiv@aol.com
81JD London Program Celebration
Nancy M. Borders, general counsel, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, tells us that in October, the Law School will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the London Program. She and husband Mike Borders tentatively plan on attending the festivities in London and encourage other London alums to join them. Brian M. Donough indicates that on Jan. 8 he hosted the 14th annual Give Kids A Chance charity weekend event. GKAC was created in 2004 to provide scholarships for low-income high school seniors to attend college. Since its inception, it has raised approximately $1.75 million and has helped almost 350 high school seniors attend college. Give Kids A Chance is administered by The Miami Foundation, an organization that handles all the administrative work associated with donor funds such as GKAC for a nominal cost. For more information, please visit gkac.org. Jeanne and Dan Smith are busy with their new foundation, Rafiki Wa Bukoba, which raises funds to help with medical and education needs in northwest Tanzania where they visited in 2011. They have a Facebook page and welcome contributions. In January, Bob Allen and his firm, Bob Allen Law, opened their fourth office in the Town of Palm Beach FL. God bless. Go Irish. — Michael Palumbo; 3799 E. Peachtree Drive, Chandler AZ 85249; res 480-284-4004; bus 602-262-5931; mpalumbo@jsslaw.com
82 Congratulations
George Santos was inducted into the Harris County Medical Society this year. HCMS is the largest medical society in the United States with membership of more than 11,500 physicians and medical students. George has been a practicing physician, psychiatrist, and healthcare legislative advocate in Houston since graduating from our alma mater. He is the second psychiatrist ever elected to head this prestigious organization. Wedding bells are ringing for Jason Tullai of Southern California. Jason married Gaelle Mediem, a Cameroon, Paris native. Jason is a senior account manager for Evoqua Water Technologies, an adjunct professor, and works in entertainment security. His daughter Sydney is a freshman at USC where she is majoring in psychology and running cross country and track. Congratulations to the newlyweds.
David Lewis, Michael Lynch, Mark Farino, Rob Cozzie, Brett Jackson ’80, Kevin Campion ’81, Jack Murphy ’81, Dan Pace ’83, Al Pinado ’83, Tom Grote ’86, Dave Kidder ’88, and Tony Rettino ’86 decided to dust off their cleats and play lacrosse in an over-55 tournament in January. The former teammates played in the Florida Lacrosse Classic in Ft. Lauderdale. The boys played for the HouNDs and had a ball. Some of the players have been attending this tournament for years. There were no major injuries, but lots of Icy Hot, ice and refreshments were available. It was a blast cheering in the sidelines. I am not sure all are receiving the new completely digital publication, weare.nd.edu. Our daughter, Jennifer Lewis ’16 is featured in the first edition. Jennifer spent a year in Ecuador working with the Red Cross. She says it was a life-changing experience. She is following her passion to become a doctor and to help these impoverished areas of the world. We are beyond proud. Linda Wiessler-Hughes and her husband, Michael, hosted a DC area gathering last fall. They have graciously offered to host a second one on April 20. Save the date for this great reunion, details to follow. Linda (a former fencer) and Michael are parents to Anders Bjork who is playing for the Providence Bruins and is a prospect for the NHL. Anders played for ND and had 38 total career goals for the Irish. He was drafted in May 2017 and scored his first NHL goal against the Arizona Coyotes. Congrats and let’s keep an eye on this rising star. We have received our allotment of tickets for the upcoming football season. Our class will have a block of tickets for the Vanderbilt game on Sept. 15, at 2:30 p.m. Please see our Facebook page for details on purchasing tickets. If you are not receiving The Shamrock, please contact Rose Carroll at rosecarroll@alumni.nd.edu to update your information. — Dave and Tess Lewis; 30 Battle Ridge Road, Morris Plains NJ 07950;
cell 973-219-4050; tess@lewislegal.com or dave@lewislegal.com
82MBA Class Secretary — Renée (Amirkanian) Cooper;
reneemsr@aol.com
82JD Win over the Wolfpack
Several of our classmates were on campus for the Irish victory over North Carolina State in October. Pam and Chuck Gallagher were pulling double duty; Chuck is a member of the Saint Mary’s College Parents’ Council, which met that weekend. Anita and Tom Veldman hosted a wonderful dinner at their home after the game attended by Kathy and Tom Brickley, Rev. Dexter Brewer, CSC, Laura and Jon Ehlinger, Betsy (Wolf) and Brad Friestedt, Mary and Ken Ripple, Madonna and Mark Spitler, and Carol and me. Dexter said a Mass for the group at the Veldman house on Sunday morning after the game. Tim Abeska (via video), Tim Nickels and John Smith taught a trial ad class on campus in October. Tim Nickels also taught at the Intensive Trial Ad program in January. I saw Bill Raby and Greg Kruzel in Phoenix in October. Bill is on the board of directors of the Arizona Federal Tax Institute and invited me to speak at the group’s annual conference. I saw Tim Rooney and Sheila and Perry Vieth at the Law School Advisory Council meetings the weekend of the Wake Forest game. Please send me news. — Frank Julian; ndlaw82@gmail.com
83 Reunion is Coming
First and foremost, our 35th Reunion is fast approaching. It will be held on campus from May 31 to June 3. Let’s make it the biggest and best attended for the Class of ’83. Watch your email for registration information. Drs. Jacqueline Herrfeldt Riely, Laura Larkner-Ozga and Sheila Roesler were in Haiti to offer their services to the people of Haiti in need of medical care. Christopher Temple Davis is working on the fifth draft of his novel and anticipates further revisions before submitting it to agents. Keep a watch on the Class Facebook page as Chris will occasionally ask for feedback. Patty Geiger was recently in New Orleans where she met up with Pierre Miller and Dave Milla. Patty says that Dave needs to join the Class Facebook page. Congratulations to TJ Conley on being sworn in as a district judge in Minnesota. Chris Temple Davis reports that TJ gave a wonderful speech and that he also ran into Greg Barth and his wife. Chris will also be leading a group of volunteers for Habitat for Humanity in the coffee region of Colombia. The group will work on homes and a community project in Colombia. Contact Chris if you are interested in helping. Susie Travis Vincent has been active in relief efforts in Puerto Rico since the devastating hurricanes hit last autumn. She is working with a group to help Centro Francisco rebuild a health clinic, four classrooms and a library. Contact Susie if you are interested in helping. Jean Collier is working at the U of Denver as an advancement leader in the Daniels College of Business. She has been there for about a year. She and her husband are living in Littleton CO between the Chatfield and Roxborough state parks. They are keeping their home in Connecticut, even though they’ve fallen in love with the school and Colorado. John Leonard got together for some holiday cheer and reminiscing with classmate and fellow Howard Hall alumnus Frank Coyle. Congratulations to Diane and Russ Wyborski on the engagement of their son, Drew, to his fiancée, Jenna. On a serious note, Amy Spatz has posted a reminder on the Class Facebook page of a New Year’s resolution for all of us since we are now of a certain age. If you have not done so, schedule your appointment for a colonoscopy. This could save your life. Be sure to join the Class Facebook page if you haven’t done so already. You’ll be able to reconnect with class members, get even more information on what everyone is doing and a sneak peek of this column. Membership on the Class Facebook page is still growing. Search for Notre Dame Class of 1983 and click “join.” Thank you to everyone who has reached out to provide updates about our classmates. Feel free to drop me a line with any news you’d like to share. — Louis J. (Chip) Denkovic; 520 West 43 St., No. 32G, New York NY 10036; cell 917-399-8784; bus 212-762-6674; ldenkovic@gmail.com
83MBA Class Secretary — John Hilbrich;
630-677-2725; john.hilbrich@gmail.com
83JD Class Secretary — Ann E. Merchlewitz;
Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, 700 Terrace Heights No. 30, Winona MN 55987; res 507-454-4774; bus 507-457-1587; amerchle@smumn.edu
84 Wow, What a Class
Beautiful music because of our classmate? Yes. Many thanks to Brenda (Persson) and Mark Michuda ’83 and other members of the Michuda family for donating the Michuda Family Rehearsal Hall in O’Neill Hall. Brenda hopes the gift helps create beautiful music for many, many years. Tom Schreier is back on campus as the founding director of a new initiative called Inspired Leadership. It’s for people who have finished their traditional career and are looking for the next steps. Best wishes to Peggy Carrico Nelson who was married at ND in the fall. As her sons walked her down the aisle, Annie and Tom Merriman, Phil Manz, Maureen (Houk) and Kevin Gorman, and Judy and Jeff Good looked on. Congrats to Greg Bell on winning the Harvey Foster Award. I hope you had a chance to read the great article on Dr. Eleanor Walker in the Alumni Association’s Echoes e-newsletter. Eleanor fights cancer with medicine and her strong belief in the power of prayer, which she tries to convey to her patients. Dan Tortorelli won the ND College of Engineering Award for 2017, which recognizes an alum with a distinguished career in academics, industry or government service. Dan spent 25 years on the faculty in the Department of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering at U of Illinois. Sadly, two of our classmates passed away recently. Please keep in your prayers the family and friends of Tom Geagan and Randy Hill. — Martha Avery; mayoravery@comcast.net
84MBA Class Secretary — Tom Phillips;
bus 407-629-4420; fax 407-629-4480; mobile 407-580-8757; taprealtor@earthlink.net
84JD Class Secretary — Matthew J. Dunn;
773-294-6851; mdunn19834@gmail.com
85 Minireunion Report
My fellow Observer alum Vittorio Sciulli enjoyed a minireunion with friends at the NC state game in October. Vittorio stayed with friend Kirk Kimler and Kirk’s wife Karla Keim ’84 at their Eddy Street Commons apartment. Karla and Kirk live in The Woodlands TX and have four children, including two sons who went to Notre Dame. Also attending was Mark Worscheh (another Observerite) who travelled from Houston. Mark and Sue have three daughters. The eldest, Hannah, is at Yale and Sofie is at NYU. Vittorio reports that the highlight of game day was the tailgater hosted by Todd Lillie and Lisa LaFratta. “Lisa and Todd go all out with an amazing spread of food highlighted by the famously delicious McLillie sandwich,” Vitorrio reports. Lisa and Todd have a home not far from where Lisa played tennis at Notre Dame. Lisa and Todd have five children. Their eldest daughter, Elizabeth, is a Vanderbilt graduate. Their two sons, Christopher and Daniel, are Notre Dame alumni and their twin sons, Scott and Matt, are juniors at Notre Dame. Ken Frysztak drove from Chicago for the game. He brought along son Daniel and daughter Ellie and they enjoyed the game in the warmth of one of the luxury boxes. After the game, the group met at Todd and Lisa’s home. They were joined by Bob O’Brien (sense of humor very much intact) and wife Kathy Bonomo. Kathy and Bob live in Strongsville OH and have four children. Vittorio says that he had a fun visit to the Observer office in the basement of South Dining Hall. He had the chance to meet three of the editors, including one who said he had been mentored at the South Bend Tribune by our Observer friend Margaret Fosmoe. Vittorio lives in San Francisco with his partner David and their chocolate Labrador retriever, Ruby. For nine years, Vittorio has been technology manager at Kaiser Permanente in Pleasanton CA. Vittorio writes, “Going back to ND and spending time with the friends I was so close to is always very special for me. I am simply in awe, struck by the beauty and presence of the campus, and I am grateful for the opportunity to have studied there.” Unfortunately, I have some sad news to report as well. Our classmate, Tom Comer, passed in November. I hope to hear from you soon. — Kathleen Doyle Yaninek; yanzlaw@comcast.net
85MBA Class Secretary — Dom Yocius;
dyocius@ameritech.net
85JD Definitely Doing Stuff
Matt Barrett is far too modest to share this news himself, but sharp-eyed Karen Kiley Toohill forwarded an article from the winter 2018 ND Accountancy Alumni Newsletter that profiled Matt as the Accountancy Alumnus of the Year, a well-deserved honor. In his acceptance speech, Matt spoke about the writings of Luca Pacioli, a Franciscan friar who helped to create the field of accounting, and who stressed the need for honesty in business dealings and urged his readers to integrate their professional and spiritual lives, 16th century advice that is timeless. Classmates from Minnesota checked in just before the Super Bowl to report that February marked the 20th and final reunion of Laura Hanson, Neal Buethe and Margaret Arola Ford for an annual dinner and Moot Court extravaganza. In addition to his career at Briggs and Morgan, Neal has taught the Moot Court program at U of Minnesota since 1998. Laura and Margaret have judged the oral argument portion each February, and Margaret noted that “It feels good to be on the other side of the bench.” Kudos to Prof. Buethe, Laura and Margaret, for their dedicated work training the next generation of trial lawyers. After nearly 14 years as a circuit court judge on the Berrien County bench in St. Joseph MI, classmate John M. Donahue announced his retirement, effective June 29. John looks to spend more time walking the beaches in St. Joseph in the summer and fall, and those in Costa Rica in the winter. Joseph Shannon’s daughter Evangeline Maureen is a freshman at ND, where she is on the tennis team. Barb and Dave Scheper, along with their sons Dan and Tom, enjoyed the vacation of a lifetime with Denise and Walter Brown and their daughters Hannah and Sophie. The intrepid octet started their journey in Chicago visiting Sue and John Gibbons before traveling to Tanzania and Rwanda. Coincidentally, John, Sue, and their children Connor, Grace, Griffin, and Delaney also went on safari in December, with the two trips almost overlapping. In other exciting news from Dave Scheper: Tom Scheper was admitted to our beloved Law School in early action and will commence his studies in South Bend in August. His mother forgives him for choosing to go to Davidson for his undergraduate work. Tom will just miss Walter’s daughter Sophie, who will graduate from ND in May and has accepted a job at Deloitte in Chicago, doing management consulting in the advisory business. Tom Lupo and Mike Seghetti ’86JD watched the Miami football game together with their daughters, Grace and Gina, respectively, in a Champaign IL bar during the dad’s weekend at U of Illinois. Grace and Gina are seniors at U of I and were close friends and sorority sisters before realizing their dads’ connection. Tom and Paul Coletti often sit together at Notre Dame home football games with Paul’s kids Paul Jr. ’16 and Laura ’14 and variously Tom’s daughters Adelaide (Wake Forest), Claire ’15 and Grace, U of I. It is great fun to hear from so many classmates. Please continue to send your news. — Kelly Kiernan Largey; largey@fr.com
86 Sportscasters, Traveling Docs
More good news from Pete Pranica as he was named the Tennessee Sportscaster of the Year for the first time, after five years as a finalist. Fellow Domer Pete Weber of the Nashville Predators was the other finalist. The award is presented by the National Sports Media Association and awarded to Pete in Winston-Salem this June. Martha Sommers’ time in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was cut short when violence broke out in the Kasai region, where she was working, and she had to be evacuated. She writes that thousands were killed, and more than a million people were displaced. She relocated to work in Madagascar for nine months with hopes of returning to the DRC. With the violence continuing, she instead returned to Malawi in February to train local doctors and medical students. She was back in the states in the fall and got to meet up with Mary O'Meara Brenzel and her husband Allen Brenzel ’84 at the USC game. They were there with their son and daughter-in-law who are recent graduates. She was able to be coauthor of an article in Scientific American in response to the CDC being pressured to ban seven words. We learned that Werner “Rip” Graf took a VP position as global head of consumer products at Mindtree, a digital IT company based in Bangalore and New Jersey. He made the opening keynote presentation recently at the consumer products technology conference in Orlando and was featured Jan. 3 on New Jersey’s RVN Rain Maker Roundup, interviewed by internet personality Mark Iorio. He was also featured in a Heritage Foundation article which went national in their Daily Caller publication opposing his local school district’s transgender locker room policy, which was followed by radio interviews on Philadelphia’s Dom Giordano show among others. Teresa Donovan had the honor and delight of seeing former ND philosophy and Great Books Prof. Janet E. Smith when she spoke in Cincinnati at the annual banquet of Pregnancy Center West. They reminisced briefly about the launch of the Women’s Care Center in South Bend in the 1980s, and fellow ND pro-life club leader of those days, Bill Ryder, as well as pal Jim (Aloysius) Hogan. She also noted that The Women’s Care Center was the brainchild of Dr. Smith and other great folks, and it is engaged in lifesaving ministry to this day. We have not picked a game for the 33th annual minireunion but will email everyone when we finalize plans. What’s going on out there, folks? Fire in an update and let us know. Also, if you need a candle lit at the Grotto for a special need let me know. Take care and God bless. — John Spatz; 201-264-2459; john@jjscb.com
86MBA Class Secretary — Maureen Decker;
21855 Town Gate, Macomb MI 48044; res 586-468-7713; bus 586-741-4305; cell 586-817-1317; maureen.decker@mclaren.org
86JD Class Secretary — Don Passenger;
180 Ottawa Ave., Suite 1200, Grand Rapids MI 49503; 616-632-5704; dpasseng@gmail.com
87 A Sad Goodbye
It is with great sadness that I report that Andrew Linbeck passed away in November. Andrew was one of the first people the Lyons’ gals met freshman year at the Lyons-Morrissey mixer and his big personality stood out right away. It is no surprise that Andrew was the one who organized reunions with his ND classmates and friends to golf, bond and catch up on each other’s lives. Andrew is survived by his wife, Shanna, and their daughters Savanna, Miranda and Danielle. Bill Nolan, Mark Peabody, Joe Iacoponi, Fritz Duda and Pat McCauley attended Andrew’s funeral. Andrew’s friends are going to commemorate his life by placing a bench in his name in front of Morrissey Hall. In addition, they plan to celebrate his spirit with a barbecue in his honor at the Michigan game Sept. 1. If you would like to contribute to the cost of Andrew's bench, you can send a check, made payable to the Andrew Linbeck Memorial Fund, to William Mitchell, Office of Gift Planning, University of Notre Dame, Eddy Street Commons at Notre Dame, 1251 N. Eddy Street, Suite 300, South Bend, IN 46617. You can also give on the ND website (giving.nd.edu); please enter Andrew Linbeck Memorial Fund in the Additional Details space online. Excess funds will go to the ACE Program at ND, which was a very dear cause for Andrew's family. Congratulations to Allison (Fahrenkopf) Brigati on her recent appointment by President Trump as the deputy administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA). Maura Mandyck wrote to say that the Lewis Hall girls have been getting together every February, and had their 2018 gathering on Dauphin Island near Maura’s home in Mobile AL. The group includes Mary (Heilmann) Becker, Pat Clark, Colleen (McGinniss) Collard, Mary Beth (Bailey) Fahrney, Beth (Thompson) Perry, Susan Valocchi, and Lisa (Connor) Williams. — Katherine Bull; 406 E. 50th St., Lower Unit, Savannah GA 31405; kmbull47@gmail.com
87MBA Olympic Events
Hello, everyone. 2018 is an Olympic year, and you may recall, I always wore the maple leaf on my heart. Well, get ready: I am happy to announce that I have been elected chair of the Canadian Olympic Foundation. By the time this column is published, I will have returned from PyeongChang, South Korea, for the Winter Games. I will have cheered loud for all Olympians, including of course, the Americans and the Canadians. Many of our classmates met during the football season. The regulars were in attendance including Mark Brostowski, Chris Murphy, Connie O’Brien, Jake Frego, Mayling Clements (now a regular), Bernardo Norena (loving the cold), Ellen Crowley, Rick Hans and of course yours truly. A blast from the past came in from Richard Stefan (rjstefan8@gmail.com). Ann and Rich live in Barrington IL. They have three sons; their eldest is a senior business student at Creighton U, and they have two sons at Notre Dame, a sophomore engineering student and a freshman in Mendoza. Rich works as an independent consultant in healthcare revenue cycle operations for Salvum Group. He also serves as a board member for St. Joseph Services in Chicago. He attends several football games and promises to attend one of the MBA tailgates this season. Keep the information flowing. We look forward to hearing from you. Go Irish. — Perry N. Dellelce; Wildeboer Dellelce LLP, Suite 800, Wildeboer Dellelce Place, 365 Bay St., Toronto, Ontario M5H 2V1; 416-361-5899 fax 416-361-1790; perry@wildlaw.ca
88 Register for 30th Reunion
You can register online through May 25 (reunion.nd.edu) or on campus from May 31 to June 2. Come with your “regulars,” reconnect with classmates you haven’t seen in eons and make new friends. I have to say, as I interact with classmates throughout the year, my overwhelming observation is that our class is a phenomenal cast of characters. It’s never too late to meet and make amazing friends from within our ranks. Apropos of reunion-speak, Patti Tripathi wrote that it’s hard to believe that it’s been 30 years when you still feel 30 sometimes. I hope you can concur with that observation from time to time. Savor those moments when you have them. Patti has jig-jagged around the country and the world as a reporter and news anchor (becoming the first woman of Indian origin to anchor national news), media trainer, speaker and strategist. In 2004, while mourning the premature loss of her mom, she put her chin up and left Atlanta for a fellowship at the RH Smith School of Business at the U of Maryland. In ’12, she launched Saris to Suits, an organization promoting women’s empowerment, cultural diversity awareness and girls’ education. She noted that, by helping other women at one of the most trying periods of her life, she wound up helping herself. Her business, TriPath Media, took her to Tunisia in ’14 on a UN mission to train women who were running for political office following the Arab Spring and gave her the opportunity to do media outreach for Nelson Mandela’s family just before his passing. Hailing from the Philadelphia area, Kate (Hyder) and Pete Lindstrom witnessed the graduation of their eldest son from ND last May. With another son in the Class of ’19, they still have just cause for visiting campus. In April ’17, Margo Kirchner’s job as a career federal-court law clerk ended. (Her judge retired.) She took time off to travel to Iceland and to hike in Yosemite and Sequoia national parks. She then took on a position as development director and general counsel for a nonprofit, the Wisconsin Justice Initiative, focused on helping litigants to navigate and find fairness in the Wisconsin court system. Margo also gave props to several fellow Badinites: Michelle (Bradley) Melland for being featured in the Kansas City Star (kansascity.com/news/local/article146772619.html); Allison Macor for publishing her second book, Rewrite Man, in May ’17 and Susan Pusek for pursuing a PhD at USC while working fulltime in Chapel Hill NC. Coming off an undefeated 2016 season that culminated in his school’s first trip to a football state championship, Al Martin recently celebrated his 200th win as head football coach at Cuyahoga Heights, a high school near Cleveland. He also serves as the head girls’ basketball coach and has racked up 200 victories with that program too, with daughter Alexis starting at point guard. Al has been married to Kathy (Kronenberger) for 27 years and has two sons in college. Finally, as many of you know, Mike Diegel passed away just after Thanksgiving. Of the stories and tributes that were shared in his memory, the one that most readily comes to mind involves Stonehenge, the one of the North Quad variety. Upon returning to ND his sophomore year, Mike, having noticed a rendering for the future statue in the Observer, led a late-night band of merry tricksters in constructing a cardboard version on the site. May such memories bring comfort and smiles to Roxane Vittori, Mike’s wife for 31 years. — Laurine Megna; PO Box 6847, Avon CO 81620; 970-390-9742; magnet@vail.net
88MBA Navy Minireunion
The Navy game in November provided an opportunity for a minireunion with several ’88MBA classmates gathering at Mario Zepponi’s home near campus. Joining Mario were Glenn Schroeder, Meg Lyons, Kevin Lechner, Jim Hart, and Sarita and Tracy Harcourt. I understand they also reached out via email and phone to Dave Piotrowski, Lance Stevenson, Todd Crow and Rick Walgreen. This is just the momentum we need as we prepare to celebrate our 30th reunion year this spring and fall. That same weekend, my wife Anne ’89 and I also had the opportunity to catch up with Meg, her brother Ed Lyons and his son Jack who were in from Connecticut visiting campus. Meg shared that she has been very involved in the Order of Malta, a lay religious order that is devoted to serving the sick and poor and defending the Catholic faith. She served on the American Association board for six years as treasurer. With this group, she makes two pilgrimages to Lourdes, France, every year. On the May pilgrimage, they bring people who are sick and their caregivers and in August they go with young adults who serve in the domain. Many Notre Dame students, alumni and parents participate in both trips. Nicholas Musicco, who will start in the ACE program in January, was on both trips, and Peter Klein ’20, a sophomore at ND, was on the August trip. It was wonderful to hear from John Wolak who shared some updates. After graduating from ND, John joined Continental Bank in Chicago and spent seven years between Chicago and New York working across leveraged finance and corporate finance. In 1995, he joined DuPont Capital Management to start up a private equity program for the firm’s pension trust. In 2002, he was recruited by Morgan Stanley to be a founding partner in Alternative Investment Partners (AIP), a division of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, which invests across private equity, venture capital, private credit and other illiquid asset classes. Today John’s group manages approximately $11 billion on behalf of institutional and high net worth clients and has offices in Philadelphia, New York, London, and Hong Kong. John works out of the Philly office and took over as managing partner of the business four years ago. He and his wife Nancy live Montchanin DE. They have three children: Brad, 24, Cara, 22, Meredith, 18, and a golden retriever, Janey. John and Nancy spent a week this Christmas break with Cindy ’89MBA and Mike Rondini in the Cayman Islands. They had a fantastic trip and are already scheming to get together for our 30th reunion later this year. John and Nancy welcomed Nicole and Mike Andres to their beach home in Avalon NJ last summer for some road biking and down-time at the beach. Keep the updates coming and hopefully we will have a date set for our 2018 fall football reunion weekend soon. If you plan to attend the official reunion May 31 to June 3, please be in touch. — Ron Linczer; 1251 N. Eddy St., Suite 300, South Bend, IN 46617; mobile 574-302-2832; bus 574-631-3591; rlinczer@nd.edu
88JD Class Secretary — Lisa Marie Visingardi;
3389 12th St., Riverside CA 92501; bus 951-248-0315; res 789-6272; lisa.visingardi@jud.ca.gov
89 Class Secretary — Noel DiNome;
noel.d.dinome@live.com
89MBA Class Secretary — Maggie DeVoe;
612-845-9662; maggiedevoe@yahoo.com
89JD Class Secretary — Jenny O’Leary Smith;
701 Big Sky Trail, Cary IL 60013; 312-504-2298; jennyoleary@comcast.net