Lee Mundell died on June 26, 2023, after a brief illness. From Legacy.com: His wife and children were with him. He served in the United States Air Force where he was a pilot and flew in Vietnam. He then graduated from Golden Gate University (MBA 1974), and the University of Georgia School of Law (1977). While in law school, he was a teaching assistant in the university’s Terry School of Business, became a Notes Editor…
From online sources: “James Vincent Minor III of Wilton, CT died unexpectedly on April 1, 2023 in Norwalk Hospital at the age of 75. Jim was born to Betty and Dr. James Vincent Minor II in Norwalk, CT. He is survived by his wife Andrea Byrne Minor, his three children, James Vincent Minor IV, Sister Mary Hannah (Emily), Andrew Minor, and his beloved granddaughters Zoe and Holly. An accomplished academic, he studied at Portsmouth Abbey,…
Bill Sacco writes: My book, Caribbean Coral Reefs: A Record of an Ecosystem Under Threat, was just released in April by Taylor and Francis Group, Routledge Press. [See Caribbean Coral Reef Book Published.] I spent the summers of 1968 and 1969 as a field assistant to a marine biologist working in Curaçao and Columbia, learned to photograph underwater, and spent all of my vacation time for the next eight years visiting marine scientists in the Caribbean and…
From the Erie (PA) Times-News: “The Rev. John Randolph Elliott (“Randy”) was an extraordinary, ordinary man. Randy will be long remembered as a man of prayer with deep faith, warm spirit, unwavering integrity, rigorous self-discipline, large intellect, and contagious laughter most often heard with a big family that he loved and gave him great joy—a family eternally grateful for his presence in their lives. Indeed, he lived with eternity in his heart, and entered his…
David Click died on May 18, 2021. An edited report from nolo.com: “After Yale he received a J.D. from Yale Law in 1973, and a Master’s in Economics from Yale in 1974. David taught at the law schools of Western New England, Indiana University, and the University of Maryland, including property, trusts and estates, law and economics, constitutional law, jurisprudence, legal research and writing, and appellate advocacy. He returned home to Florida in 1984 with…
Your scribe has been stunned by the arrival of three obituaries of classmates who died within a nine-day period in September 2022. I have collected below their memorials gleaned from newspaper reports, which I have edited to meet my stringent space requirements. Much more, including pictures and more remembrances of classmates who knew them, can be found on our class website. Excerpts from the New Haven Register: “William Wickwire, of North Haven, passed away peacefully…
Joe Green passed away on August 17, 2022 at 74 from pancreatic cancer. Excerpts from his Boston Globe obituary: “An accomplished attorney and tennis player, Joe was known for his integrity and agility, both in court and on the court. Born in 1947 in New York City, Joe attended Horace Mann School… followed by Yale University, where he majored in American studies. Upon graduation in 1969, he completed one year at Harvard Law School. He…
Your scribe has two deaths to report. Jim Nippes died suddenly on May 16th, 2022. From the Jackson, Mississippi Clarion Ledger: He graduated from the Hopkins School in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1965; from Yale University in 1969 with a double major in Physics and History; and from the University of Mississippi Law School in 1973. After receiving an LLM Degree in Tax Law from the University of Miami in 1974, he moved to Jackson…
Ned Culver reports sad news: “Classmate, roommate, and old friend Scott Herstin died of a heart attack April 14th in Naples Florida, following a period of declining health, including a failed kidney for which he had received a transplant. He is survived by two daughters and five grandchildren. He is also survived by his former wife and close friend Marilynn Core, of Fort Myers. At Yale, he was an American Studies major, a resident of…
The good news: the mailbag is empty, so no bad news to report. The bad news: there is no good news to report. Your scribe has therefore raided the class website to report on the activities of Bruce Bolnick, who has written about his “second act” in tax preparation. A worthy undertaking, Bruce! Quoting Bruce: “Want an excellent mental challenge to hold off cerebral atrophy? Here’s one you might want to consider. First, a bit of…
Yale’s team fought to the end, but Harvard won. Your scribe will be in Cambridge next year, and will be happy to meet classmates there, virus willing, and the creek don’t rise.
Howard Newman directed me to this story: “George Chopivsky, a long-time Ukrainian-American business and philanthropic leader, was one of the recipients of
Your scribe is saddened to report that Bobby Haas passed away in September. I discovered his aerial photography long after Yale; my copy of Through the Eyes of the Vikings (National Geographic, 2010) has had a prominent place in our living room for a decade. The photographs are truly stunning. (National Geo reminds readers that “All of the royalties from his photographic work go to nonprofit foundations and wildlife conservation organizations throughout the world.”) Classmates…
News from Bruce Mazo, Brad Gascoigne, Felice Pace, Chris Hoffman, and Richard Seltzer and comments from your Class Scribe.
Lou Casagrande died on May 27th, 2021, from complications of pancreatic cancer. The following paragraphs are lightly-edited excerpts from his obituary in the Boston Globe. More information, and pictures, are available on the class website at yale1969.org. From the Globe: An anthropologist at heart, whether in Boston or on the road throughout the country, Lou Casagrande knew what he wanted to do when he arrived to become head of the Boston Children’s Museum. In his…
Guy Cooper writes, in what may be his first submission to the Class Notes, that “just wondering if any other member of the class of 1969 has survived a tornado? My wife Molly and I were at home on the night of October 20, 2019, half-asleep and half-watching the Dallas Cowboys on a Sunday night, when an E3 tornado zeroed in on our block. We have rebuilt the house and moved back in this month…
Cynthia Mariani of Yale has reported to us on Andrew Yang, the current recipient of the Class of 1969 Memorial Scholarship Fund. Andrew, a first-year student, says: “I am excited to meet people who are passionate for learning and making the world a better place.” Your scribe bets that he will, and if you want to contribute to the fund, please contact Don Galligan at djgalligan@msn.com. Cynthia also writes: “It is clear that Yale’s mission…
