Class Notes, May-Jun 2024
Bruce Bolnick passed away on November 19, 2023. Edited excerpts from his obituary: “Bruce was a high school champion gymnast before Yale. At Yale, he obtained his PhD in economics only 3 years after his B.A. The Yale experiences that Bruce most loved to recount included his role in pressuring the administration to open Yale to women, his captaining the gymnastics team, and captaining the Yale Cheer team. Most importantly, while at Yale he met his life-long love Doreen Joyce Ouelette at a mixer dance. They married December 20, 1970 in a small ceremony at Yale.
After Yale, Bruce took a job teaching economics at the University of Nairobi, Kenya It was during this sojourn in Kenya that Bruce became a keen bird-watcher and naturalist, a passion he pursued throughout his life. Returning from Kenya to the U.S. in 1974, Bruce and Doreen moved to Durham, North Carolina, where Bruce was an Assistant Professor of Economics at Duke. Five years later they moved to Jakarta Indonesia, where he worked for the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID) project as an advisor to the Bank of Indonesia.
Bruce and his family then moved to Reading, MA, and Bruce joined the faculty at Northeastern, where he specialized in teaching about the macroeconomics of development in lower income countries. During their years in Reading, Bruce and his family continued to be active hikers, completing ascents of the 48 highest peaks in the White Mountains, NH. Needing a new project, Bruce and Doreen decided to write a hiking guidebook, “Waterfalls of the White Mountains: 30 hikes to 100 waterfalls.” The book is in its third edition, published by Countryman Press.
Bruce then did economic consulting work for a number of countries in Africa. He was fundamentally an enthusiast of life, a scholar, and an educator. He found solace and wonder in nature, in the “Church of the Great Outdoors”, which he enjoyed both as an athlete and naturalist. But he also found wonder in the workings of human economies; a fascination with how people survive and thrive and make decisions. He read history voraciously, as well as nature guidebooks. And he loved to share this knowledge with others. Whether it was teaching people about bird-watching, or about macroeconomic policy, or tax preparation, he reveled in helping others share his appreciation for the world.” Bruce’s full obituary appears on the class website at yale1969.org. Your scribe was also an Econ major, and was always in awe of Bruce’s energy, smarts, and dedication to improving the lives of the least fortunate. His life is a testament to the power of an individual to make the world a better place. He will be sorely missed.
Jeff Horton writes:
“My 33 year old son died in 2022 and his two children came to live with me in Palmdale CA north of Los Angeles. (Their mother is not able to care for them.) So at 76, I take care of Anastasia, 7, and Dante, 5. This is not what I had expected in my retirement, but still worth doing of course. As you all can imagine, it is exhausting, but it is also invigorating. Both of my sons, my late partner Larry, and my grandchildren are African American. Anyway, I may be tired but I am also motivated and gratified to be caring for these precious children. I’d love to hear from any other grandparents acting as parents from our class.”
From Kenneth Loveday: “I retired from Biogen in 2023, and then formed my own consulting company as a pre-clinical expert in biopharmaceutical development.”
The Council of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) has voted to award Eugene Linden the Louis J. Battan Author’s Award for his 11th book, Fire and Flood: A People’s History of Climate Change, from 1979 to the Present.
Report on the Class of 1969 Scholarship Fund: Historic Book Value as of June 30, 2023: $523,894; Fund Market Value as of June 30, 2023: $805,478; Annual Spending Distribution for 2023–2024: $36,008; New Gifts Since June 30, 2023: $27,000.
55th Reunion Update: ’69 Turns 55: Looking Forward with Wisdom: Plans for our 55th reunion on May 30-June 2 are coming together. Don’t miss this opportunity to renew and create valued friendships and to learn from each other and Yale professors. If you haven’t done so already, please register so we can get an accurate headcount.
As the Class of 1969 reaches the 55th anniversary of graduation, we will be looking forward with the wisdom we have gathered. Our reunion co-chairs, Bill Newman and Derry Allen, and a hearty band of classmates have been organizing a series of special events, class discussions and entertainment that should appeal to classmates and their guests. (By popular demand, we will not have any loud bands this time, but we will have fun music by classmates.)
By now you should have received the information from the Yale Alumni Association (YAA) about making hotel reservations. For further information about the reunion, registration and to see who is coming, please watch your email from YAA, our YAA reunion web page (https://alumni.yale.edu/reunions/class-1969), and our own class newsletter and website (https://yale1969.org/). If you have ideas and/or questions, please email Reunion@Yale1969.org.