“It is with a great deal of sadness that I inform you of the passing today (9/26/2019) of our good friend and classmate, Eric Prosnitz. I just learned this from his long-time girlfriend, Kathi Willis.
As you know, Eric was being treated for cancer, but he was very upbeat about the prognosis (I spoke with him last in August). Apparently, he developed a fast-moving blood infection and there was nothing they could do. I have no more details than this, but I thought you would all want to know. I do know that both of Eric’s daughters were at his side in Tucson…
We were roommates at Yale our senior year and managed to see each other fairly frequently over the years, once he moved to Tucson in 1982, since that is only a short plane ride from my home in the SF Bay Area. I got to know his daughters Debra and Beth well from a rafting trip Eric and I, along with my younger daughter, Christina, took on the Colorado River and into Lake Powell in 2000.
Most important, however, is that Eric was the first person outside the immediate family I called when my older daughter, Larissa, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis in 1988, and he was the first person other than immediate family whom I called when Larissa received her lung transplant in 2018. He was my support away from home, and I know he was in tears when I told him the good news about Larissa’s lung transplant. That is true friendship. He also attended both of my daughters’ weddings, the most recent of which was in 2017. I attended Debra’s wedding in 2015. So we go way back. I’ll miss him dearly, as will his family and all who knew him.”
Tom Reed adds:
“Eric and I were good friends during our Yale years. As others have commented, he was a kind and good man and a caring friend. Eric and I kept in touch over the years. I know he was looking forward to our reunion and would have liked to attend. I will miss him. I encourage fellow classmates to read Eric’s entry in our Class Book to get a flavor of his well-lived life and kind personality.”
We reported in our last issue on the death of Martin Hoffmeister. Greg Montes has submitted these memories about Martin:
“In Morse in 1966-69, I sometimes ate meals with Martin Hoffmeister, from Czechoslovakia. Martin and I had a common interest in history and art history. Once, Martin corrected me on my pronunciation of the Mala Strana section of Prague with many Baroque buildings. On a warm spring night, Martin invited me to a drive in his large convertible, along Long Island Sound, and noted how land-locked Czechs yearn to see oceans. Tom Doremus, a Yale Architecture School 1969-72 classmate of Martin and me, worked with Martin and other students on renovation/construction of two buildings at Mayhew Island Camp, New Hampshire.”
Gene M. Moore has written to us for the first time since graduation:
“As a resident of the Netherlands over the years, I have learned that whether in the cities or the countryside, the best way to appreciate Holland is from the water. Luckily this pleasure can be shared with my fellow classmates, since this spring Yale Educational Travel is offering a nine-day tour of the waterways of Holland and Belgium on a typical Dutch riverboat that has been converted into a luxurious mini-hotel and restaurant. May is a great month for tulips, and bike tours and museum visits are also on the agenda. Further information is available here: https://ivy.yale.edu/yet/programs/10452. I’ll be along as a lecturer and guide, and it would be great to meet up with some classmates after these many years. Unfortunately my dear wife and our baby daughter won’t be able to join us this time, but we’ll keep in close touch with the help of Skype.”
Your scribe encouraged Gene to tell us his life story since Yale (a second 50th reunion essay) and you can read it online at the Class of 1969 website. For those who do not use the website, I will publish it in full in the next issue, since I have a strict word limit for this column. It is worth waiting for. Gene is yet another classmate I wish I had known at Yale.
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
“As a resident of the Netherlands over the years, I have learned that whether in the cities or the countryside, the best way to appreciate Holland is from the water. Luckily this pleasure can be shared with my fellow classmates, since this spring Yale Educational Travel is offering a nine-day tour of the waterways of Holland and Belgium on a typical Dutch riverboat that has been converted into a luxurious mini-hotel and restaurant. May is a great month for tulips, and bike tours and museum visits are also on the agenda. Further information is available here: https://ivy.yale.edu/yet/programs/10452. I’ll be along as a lecturer and guide, and it would be great to meet up with some classmates after these many years. Unfortunately my dear wife and our baby daughter won’t be able to join us this time, but we’ll keep in close touch with the help of Skype.”