Welcome To the New Class Council

ByArthur Segal

Normally, on the Sunday morning of Reunion Weekend, classmates interested in guiding our Class activities for the next 5 years determine membership on our “Class Council.”  That Council then selects the leaders for the upcoming year(s).

Last summer that did not happen.  So, in September, Ken Brown and I called for volunteers to step forward to serve on a Class Council.   We wrote,

“Such a Council would be the core driver of Class of 1969 activities and would encourage, promote, oversee, and co-manage Class events. They would also choose Class officers (Secretary/ies and Treasurer) Reunion Chairs, Corresponding Secretary, YAA representatives, and Mini-Reunion and event organizers.”

Remembering Our Past, Planning Our Future

I believe that the past year has been extraordinary.  It helped us re-connect with old friends and reconsider all the things that create that magical bond that Richard Tedlow talked about in his reunion talk.  For those that missed it, he asked, “If, in some business or civic setting, you discovered that another member of the group was a Yalie of about our age, would you feel connected?  Without knowing him, would you expect your relationship to be different, special?  If so, why?”  The ensuing discussion surfaced the many sources of connection that we would likely discover and feel.

He concluded with a question many of us have had, one posed by Ulysses in the eponymous poem by Tennyson:

Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;
Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.  (emphasis added)

Lang Wheeler struck the same note in his remarks, noting that, actuarially, we may be looking at 20 more years of life expectancy.

As we enter this post-50th twilight, whether we help each other do some worthwhile work, noble or not, or spend time making sense of our lives so far, I believe that the special bonds we have as Yalies — especially those from our era — can significantly enrich our lives.

Accordingly, I’m delighted to announce that the following people have volunteered to serve on the Class Council and the following officers installed by acclamation.  As your Class Secretary, I will solicit their help (and take their guidance) with events and communications to strengthen and extend those special bonds we celebrated last year.

Class Council members:

Officers:

Please feel free to reach out to these members, work with them to build an evening, a speaker, concert, dinner, or a holiday celebration.  Consider a weekend mini-reunion, built around a theme, or a regional activity.  Germinate an idea, reach out and we’ll work to support the concept and to provide guidelines, organizational and financial support, working often with the YAA to bring form to your function.

Germinate an idea and we’ll help you organize an event.  This is one of the easiest ways we can carry the banner forward, build interest, create and sustain dialogue, and further enhance the strong identity of the Class of 1969.

Art

Erratum:  Recently, our class representative to the YAA, Ken Brown, succeeded Harold Mancusi-Ungaro, who served as our YAA representative for the past several years.  An earlier version of this article incorrectly listed Harold as our YAA rep.   Our apologies to Ken and Harold for the error.

Editor’s Postscript re: Class Council:
Prior to becoming the “webmaster” for Yale1969.org in 2017, I’d heard references to a Class Council but never really remembered anything being said or done about it.  So, I asked the AYA and the Reunion Committee what they knew … which wasn’t too much.
Like any good Yalie, I did some research.  The 1969 Banner mentions a few people as being on a “Class Council,” namely, Fred Morris, Robert Schlachter, Arthur Segal, David Martin, John Mackey, Robert Levin, Thomas Knutsen, Robert Struse, J. Scott Cunningham, and Michael Yahng. If any of you remember anything about it, please add your recollections in the “Comments” section below.
The first mention of a Class Council in the Class Notes was in August 1998, where our Class Secretary, Will Bogaty, reported on an organizational meeting in New York where George Chopivsky was selected as Chair; Tom Emmons took over as Treasurer; Walt Cummins and Woody Collins were anointed as Thirtieth Reunion Chairmen; Bruce Weinstein and Guy Cooper were our AYA Reps; John Gazzoli, Mike Schonbrun and Lang Wheeler were to lead some non-reunion events; and the following folks became “members” of the Class Council; Howard Newman, Reed Hundt, Art Klebanoff, Tom McCaughey, George McNamee, Keith Nelson and Mac Thompson.  Again, if any of you can illuminate that chapter in our history, please use the “comments” field below.

Although there are mentions of “Class Council” in Class Notes from 1998-2008, nothing very structured or formal appears.  In the September 2008 issue of Class Notes, Corresponding Secretary Dan Seiver and Treasurer Tom Emmons reported that, after a class dinner in NYC, “The next morning, George Chopivsky, Class Secretary, held a class council meeting (membership includes all interested classmates).”  [The emphasis is mine.]And following the reunion in 2009, the Class Notes report “On Sunday morning our class council (open to all) elected by acclamation Art Segal and Lang Wheeler as co-class secretaries.”  [The emphasis is again mine.]

I have not been active in Class affairs until the Reunion Committee asked me to be webmaster, at which point I asked about the structure of class governance.  AYA gave me two lists — one with 69ers who were current and former class officers, officers of local Yale clubs or involved on Gift Committees for reunions; that proved to be valueless.

The other list was titled “Class Council, 2014-2015” and contained the following names:

NamePosition
Arthur Segal Secretary
Daniel Seiver Corr. Sec’y
Kenneth Brown Secretary
Thomas Emmons Treasurer
Harold Mancusi-Ungaro AYA Delegate
Arthur Klebanoff Council Member
Atwood Collins Council Member
Bruce Weinstein Council Member
David Tufaro Council Member
Jared Sprole Council Member
George Chopivsky Council Member
George McNamee Council Member
Guy Cooper Council Member
Howard Newman Council Member
J. Lloyd Suttle Council Member
James Schweitzer Council Member
Jeffrey Rosen
 Council Member
John Beinecke Council Member
John Gazzoli Council Member
John Nelson Council Member
John Yarmuth Council Member
Keith Nelson Council Member
Lamar Smith Council Member
Langdon Wheeler Council Member
Michael G Pfeifer Council Member
Michael Schonbrun Council Member
Peter Cherry Council Member
Reed Hundt Council Member
Richard Lannamann Council Member
Stephen Schwarzman Council Member
Steven Dixon Council Member
Thomas McCaughey Council Member
W. McIlwaine Thompson Council Member

Obviously, something happened between 2014 and 2017 when I arrived, because all I saw was the Reunion Committee and the very active participation of officers Art Segal and Dan Seiver.  No one talked about a Class Council.

As I think about supporting Class activities (in my role as webmaster) between now and 2024 (our 55th!), I’m delighted that we have a rejuvenated Class Council, and I look forward to working with each member to enrich our personal and collective lives.

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2 Comments

  1. Hi Wayne,

    I hope you and all of our fellow classmates are well. I was just curious—is 1970’s 50th being cancelled? May is not far off and my guess is that, in an abundance of prudence, all reunions this spring will be cancelled. Do you or anyone else know?