• Class Notes, Nov-Dec 2025

    ByDaniel Seiver

    …
    On a happier note, we just received notice that Lloyd Suttle will be honored by Yale for over 50 years of dedicated service to the University. This well-deserved award will be presented the night before The Game. You can read the full citation of his many accomplishments here:    https://yalebulldogs.com/news/2025/7/25/general-blue-leadership-ball-returns-november-21-celebrating-six-distinguished-honorees.aspx. Lloyd has never written in to the Class Notes, so he qualifies as a “hidden gem.”

    Your scribe uncovered another hidden gem in our class by assiduously studying all the posts on our new class “Everyone” listserv. (The many posts about our Vietnam-era experiences may be turned into a published work.) One poster was a complete unknown to me: Djelal Kadir.  

    When I contacted him, he compared the initial contact to Captain Cook vis-a-vis the Pacific Islanders whom he “discovered.” With help from Djelal and the redoubtable Wayne Willis, I have compiled a short list of his accomplishments below, extracted from an updated version of his Wikipedia entry:

  • Blue Power: The Remarkable Story Of Our Football Team

    ByWayne Willis

    Secretly, we all knew that we witnessed, in real time, the making of an incredible sports-based legend during those tumultuous years.  Now, there’s a book that focuses exclusively on that story.

    A freelance journalist with a Yale legacy past, Reg Lansberry (bio below), has written an affectionate biography of the Yale football team that went undefeated in the Fall of 1968.  He interviewed Brian, Calvin, and many, many other members of the team and has delivered a compelling narrative of the men, the coaches, Yale itself and the times, Blue Power: Brian Dowling, Calvin Hill, and Greatness at Yale.  Here is a summary:

  • Subtitling your life

    ByWayne Willis

    A number of our classmates have been dealing with hearing loss … some the gradual kind more commonly encountered, some quite sudden and complete.  David Howorth has shared parts of his story before, but was recently profiled in The New Yorker:
    ———-
    Hearing aids and cochlear implants have been getting better for years, but a new type of device—eyeglasses that display real-time speech transcription on their lenses—are a game-changing breakthrough.

    A little over thirty years ago, when he was in his mid-forties, my friend David Howorth lost all hearing in his left ear, a calamity known as single-sided deafness.  “It happened literally overnight,” he said.  “My doctor told me, ‘We really don’t understand …

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    When I brought Maharishi to Yale

    ByDavid Katz

    In November 1966, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, later famed as the Beatles’ guru, spoke at Yale’s Woolsey Hall. I arranged the lecture, which introduced hundreds of students and faculty to Transcendental Meditation. Within a year, TM became Yale’s largest student organization on campus.

    I went on to study at Maharishi’s ashram in India and help found Maharishi International University, later becoming a serial entrepreneur and, after that, founder of the Kauai Writers Conference.

    Nearly sixty years later, I still meditate daily—and I’m inviting all classmates to share their journeys with each other in an informal Zoom conference on Monday, September 8th at 3 PM Eastern.

    Just register here, and you’ll be sent the link.

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    Solitude: Apocryphal Posts From Distant Archives

    ByWayne Willis

    This book differs from Djelal Kadir’s earlier academic works, originating instead from his recent personal experiences and insights gained while mourning the loss of his wife of 50 years. Drawing on judgment and skills developed over decades of teaching comparative literature, Djelal explored “the stillness at the heart of the chaos, rather than escaping to the swirling edges.” He examined the historical, scientific, and mythical archives, finding examples of profound solitude.

    He spent the next five years researching the lives of figures deeply immersed in, and contemplating, solitude, enabling him to assume their voices through 39 letters attributed to each one.  

  • Steve Dunwell’s Textile Worker Portraits Return to New England

    ByAdmin

    This Labor Day, the Museum of Work and Culture in Woonsocket, RI will open With These Hands: Textile Worker Portraits by Steve Dunwell. The exhibit features 21 striking black-and-white images of New England textile workers from the 1970s, part of Dunwell’s larger archive of over 140 photographs.

    On September 1, Dunwell will present a slideshow and discussion of his work, followed by a screening of the documentary Slatersville: America’s First Mill Village. The exhibit runs through October 24, offering visitors a rare chance to reflect on the human stories behind New England’s once-dominant textile industry.

  • Class Notes, Sep-Oct 2025

    ByDaniel Seiver

    From Frank Aronson: “I retired from law practice in mid-2019. I now do a lot of serious road bike riding, and tutor a fourth-grader in reading. Paula and I are coming up on wedding anniversary #55, and now have six grandchildren.”

    Richard Seltzer reports he has just published three (!) novels:  Shakespeare’s Twin Sister, The Bulatovich Saga: The Name Hero, and  Let the Women Have Their Say. Your scribe, who like many classmates, has produced in his lifetime, three fewer than this, can only marvel at this level of productivity.

    From David Katz: “You may remember me as the guy who brought Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to Woolsey Hall in our sophomore year. I’ve practiced transcendental meditation ever since then and still love doing it. The transformations it’s brought about in my life are profound.

  • Robert Edward Arras, Jr., July 9, 2025

    ByAdmin

    Dick Livingston and Henry Fuller passed on the news that Robert Arras died peacefully at his home in Heredia, Costa Rica (a suburb of San Jose, Costa Rica) in early July.  Dick added: Rob graduated from Phillips Academy Andover in 1965.  He played soccer for Yale and was the varsity lacrosse goalie.  A resident of Pierson College and a member of DKE fraternity, Rob was a gregarious, fun-loving and very humorous individual, always with a…

  • Judge Myron H. Thompson – A Lifetime of Distinguished Service

    ByFred Morris

    Our classmate Myron H. Thompson, longtime federal judge in Alabama, was honored at a Supreme Court dinner hosted by Justices Barrett, Jackson, and Sotomayor, with a performance by Jon Batiste.

    His five-decade career has spanned landmark rulings on civil rights, prison reform, voting rights, and reproductive freedom, alongside national recognition from Yale, Harvard, Stanford, and the National Bar Association.

    Soon, the historic Frank M. Johnson Courtroom will be renamed in his honor, cementing his role as a defender of “Equal Justice Under the Law.” A remarkable journey for one of our own.

  • Lloyd Suttle To Be Honored at The Game

    ByAdmin

    The Blue Leadership Ball returns this fall to celebrate Yale’s legacy of leadership on the eve of the 141st playing of The Game. As part of this marquee biennial celebration, the Yale Athletic Department will bestow its highest honor, the George H.W. Bush ’48 Lifetime of Leadership Award, on five outstanding individuals and one Special Award recipient.

    The 2025 honorees are standouts in athletics, academics, and their professional fields. They are Keith Flaherty ’93 B.S.; Wendell Mottley ’64 B.A.; Lorraine Pratte Lewis ’78 B.A.; Margot Putukian ’84 B.S.; Victor Staffieri ’77 B.A.; and J. Lloyd Suttle ’69 B.S., ’73 M.Phil., ’75 Ph.D.

  • Class Notes, Jul-Aug, 2025

    ByDaniel Seiver

    Lives well-lived: Tom Stanko, who was in our class right up until final exams senior year, died April 7, 2025, from an extremely rare set of cancers. His son reports that he stayed active until the end, skiing with his sons in March, 2025.

    Although Tom did not keep in touch with 1969 classmates (he actually graduated with, and was affiliated with, the class of 1970) a number of us did know him during our undergraduate years, especially wrestlers. From John Weber:

    “He was in TD and frequently played bridge with Dave Bannard, another TD undergrad.  His drinking exploits were unparalleled – when he and I (and others) pledged Beta, Tom won the martini drinking contest at somewhere between 22 and 26 …

  • “Blue Notes” Reunion Musicians Reunite

    ByHarry Wise

    “The Blue Notes,” a pop-up musical group of classmates that entertained at the class dinner at the 55th reunion had their own mini-reunion on a Saturday in March. Planning began last fall, spearheaded by the indefatigable Eliot Norman. 

    If you click through and look at the full article, you’ll see pictures of the event, video recordings of some of the music we played, the full set list, and observations and reports from Eliot Norman, Tom Guterbock, Jay Castelli, Mat Kastner, John Adams, Norm Zamcheck, Dick Williams, Terry Benson and me.

  • Karlis Peter Ameriks, April 28, 2025

    ByDaniel Seiver

    Karl Ameriks was the Emeritus McMahon-Hank Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. Born in Munich, Karl graduated summa cum laude from Yale—A.B. (1969), Ph.D. (1973)—and wrote his thesis under the guidance of Karsten Harries.

    He joined the faculty at Notre Dame in 1973 and taught there for over forty years.  He was regarded as one of the leading scholars of Immanuel Kant’s philosophy and has written extensively on the history of late modern and Continental philosophy.  Ameriks co-edited the series Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy.  He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009.

  • Class Notes, May-Jun 2025

    ByDaniel Seiver

    Two more deaths to report – George Priest and Subrata Chakravarthy. See details in their In Memoriam posts — George Priest and Subrata Chakravarthy.]

    George was a long-time professor at Yale Law School. Included below are tributes from YLS Dean Heather K. Gerken and a remembrance from Alan Boles.

    Also, see more about Subrata from Walker Knight, and some “happier news” from Tom Carey and Bob Horvitz.

  • The New Listserv Gets Rolled Out

    ByWayne Willis

    As noted last month, we sought your input about our new Listserv.  (See “We Need A New Listserv. Your Input Needed.”)  Thanks for all the comments and inputs.  After trying a few commercial packages, we made a choice. See below for the rollout plan.

    We have also created a permanent “Listserv Summary” page that is linked in the masthead menu. It explains how and when to use the listserv. Please check that out for more detail, too.

  • Thomas G. Stanko, April 7, 2025

    ByWayne Willis

    Tom technically is affiliated with the Class of ’70, but he was in our class, in TD, until the spring semester of our senior year. He missed our graduation because while on spring break in Bermuda, he broke his leg when he crashed his motor bike into a stone wall. According to his son, Johnnie, Tom passed away peacefully at Johnnie’s home owing to complications of a constellation of cancers called BPDCN. Johnnie reported that…