Carl B. Lazarus – 50th Reunion Essay

Carl B. Lazarus

130 Berkeley Street

West Newton, MA 2465

carllazarus@comcast.net

781-697-5570

Spouse(s): Joyce Block Lazarus (1978)

Child(ren): Suzanne (1979); Michael (1982)

Grandchild(ren): Nora (2010); Ari (2013)

Education: Graduate Study in Biochemistry, Brandeis; Special graduate student in Computer Science, MIT

Career: Information Technology, 1970-2010: Developed software, managed software development, VP of Operations at two startups, one of which had a successful IPO, the second acquired by Iron Mountain. VP of Operations at Iron Mountain’s Digital Division. VP of Networks at Iron Mountain after sale of Digital Division.

Avocations: Previous president and current board member, Folk Arts Center of New England. Avid international folk dancer. Previous president and current board member of a small Jewish congregation. Student, instructor, and Curriculum Committee vice chair at Brandeis-Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Since 2015 an organizer of an annual Balkan music and dance festival in Concord MA. I have a strong current interest in the challenges of alleviating greenhouse gas buildup. Enjoy hiking and international travel. Have been taking piano lessons since retirement. And, of course, love getting together with children and grandkids in Virginia and New York.

College: Davenport

Looking at my bio from the 25th reunion, I see that my life has not changed drastically since then.

I am still very happily married to my wonderful wife Joyce, and we recently celebrated our 40th anniversary—we married late, though not by current standards. We have lived in Newton, MA almost all that time. Joyce is now retired after a career as a professor of French language and literature. We have a married daughter in Virginia who works in the field of international development and a son (Yale ’04), engaged to be married, who runs a research lab at the Mt. Sinai Medical School in New York. Through our daughter we have two delightful grandchildren.

At Yale I majored in chemistry and subsequently entered a PhD program in biochemistry. Alas, once I spent most of my time in the laboratory I discovered that I did not enjoy lab work (Ironically, my son later took up the field that I had dropped). I left graduate school and began working in another area that interested me: information technology. At Yale I had taken some computer courses and did some programming for the physics department in my bursary job. During the early years of my IT career while working full time I took graduate computer science courses at MIT as a special graduate student, doing enough course work for a master’s degree, though chose not to do the 6 months full time residency requirement.

I worked four years at Massachusetts General Hospital, developing computer systems for the laboratories and for radiology, then twenty-two years at start-up IDX Systems Corp, a company that provided software and cloud computing for medical billing and administration, and sixteen years at start-up Connected Corporation and its acquirer, Iron Mountain. Over the years I led software development and later ran various online services. IDX went public while I was there, which made me financially comfortable, though not wildly rich.

Joyce retired at the end of 2011 and I at the end of 2012. Although she feared that as a former workaholic my retirement might be difficult, in fact it has been quite pleasant and productive.

Joyce and I had met at an international folk dancing series at MIT. We still do vigorous folk dancing regularly, twice a week. Combining this with our love of travel, we have danced with locals in Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, and Turkey; Armenia and Georgia (the country) to follow in 2018. I have been president of the Folk Arts Center of New England and am still on its board of directors, and I am an organizer of the annual Balkan Music (and dance) Night in Concord, Massachusetts.

Another retirement activity has been taking and teaching courses at the Brandeis-Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Like other Osher programs around the country, this offers a variety of non-credit courses to a partially or completely retired population. Many courses are peer-taught, by people who have expertise from their previous career or through a hobby. I have taught the history of digital computing, the origins and workings of the Internet, and the challenges and possibilities of transitioning from fossil fuels. Our classmate Ken Brown gave a guest presentation at my energy course, about his company Safe Hydrogen. I attend seminars in the MIT Energy Initiative program, and read extensively about the subject.

Although at Yale and for ten years afterwards I had only occasional religious involvement, I later became more active. I have twice served as president of a small Jewish congregation in Newton, and occasionally lead services, in Hebrew with some English.

I also have taken up piano (again) since retirement, go around visiting Frank Lloyd Wright buildings, and am working with Joyce through our travel bucket list even when not dancing: India, Nepal, Patagonia, Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia. Also, occasional volunteering at a food pantry—though I need to do more to increase the good in the world.