Class Notes, May-Jun 2025

Two more deaths to report. More details and photos appear on the class website yale1969.org.  [Ed. – See In Memoriam posts for Priest and Chakravarthy.]

From Yale: George L. Priest, the Edward J. Phelps Professor of Law and Economics at Yale Law School, died on Dec. 17, 2024. “Professor Priest was a distinguished scholar, revered teacher, and fierce mentor,” said Dean Heather K. Gerken. “A scholarly pioneer, George left a legion of ideas in his wake. He was also a beloved member of our community, someone who managed to be an intellectual giant with great warmth, humor, and modesty. He made us think, and he made us laugh. And we all mourn his loss.” Priest joined Yale Law School in 1981 and was named the John M. Olin Professor of Law and Economics in 1986. He was a director of the John M. Olin Center for Law, Economics, and Public Policy, which supported the development of the field of law and economics at Yale; the Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization. He co-founded the American Law and Economics Association, an organization that thrives today. Priest was frequently invited to lecture around the world. In 2014, Priest was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, one of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies and an independent research center. In addition to his scholarly work, Priest was known for his generous spirit and legacy of mentorship. He and Kathy, his wife of 57 years, welcomed two generations of Yale Law students to their home for end-of-term events and on countless occasions.

Some memories of George from Alan Boles: After rooming with Tom McEwan his sophomore year, he married Kathy Kiefer, a Vassar student, and moved off campus. However, we interacted frequently at The Yale Daily News, where he became business manager, and I became chairman. Toward the close of senior year, he assumed the role of chauffeur for Norman Mailer in his unsuccessful campaign for mayor of New York City. This job had something to do with an American Studies project that he had committed himself to.

George grew up in Lakewood, Colorado, and despite his residence in New Haven, he and his family slowly gravitated to the upper reaches of the South Platte River in the mountains about 40 miles southwest of Lakewood.  They joined a fishing camp used by President Eisenhower, bought a substantial dwelling nearby, and then purchased over a section of mountain property to help keep it from being converted into an RV park. At this sanctuary they held lively annual summer camps, complete with square dances and jazz concerts, attended by an eclectic mix of family members, friends, neighbors, students, academics from around the world, and captains of industry. 

George had remarkable physical vigor, loved to climb mountains and reveled in the success of his intramural Yale basketball team.  He died too young from bladder cancer.

Walker Knight shared the sad news that Subrata Chakravarty passed away on February 1, 2025. “Juju, as he was known during our bright college years, graduated with honors and immediately enrolled at Harvard Business School, graduating in 1971. Following this, he embarked on a distinguished career as a business journalist, contributing to some of the most esteemed business publications in the world, including Forbes, Bloomberg, Institutional Investor, and the Boston Consulting Group. He was a founding board member of the South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) in 2001 and played a vital role in the professional lives of many journalists, especially at global news organizations. Subrata had a remarkable career at Forbes. From 1991 to 1998, he focused on developing a team of writers who specialized in analyzing large companies. Their articles gained recognition, winning the Overseas Press Club Citation for Excellence in 1993 for a significant story published in 1992 about India’s economic reforms—the first major report on this topic. Before that, Subrata advanced through the ranks at Forbes, beginning as a reporter and eventually becoming a Senior Editor. As a young associate, he co-developed “The Numbers Game,” a column focused on accounting issues that won several awards and was used as a textbook in business courses for several years. He took two sabbaticals from editorial work at Forbes, one as head of corporate planning for Goodyear India Ltd in New Delhi (1976 -1979) and another as a research analyst on multi-industry companies at First Manhattan Co (1986-1987). Subrata through his career did in depth interviews with the likes of futurist Herman Kahn of the Hudson Institute, management thinker Peter Drucker, Edwin Land of Polaroid, and Harold Geneen of ITT.  But most of all he researched everything about companies and predicted the success of many and the downfall of some – with a rather high degree of accuracy.”

In happier news, Tom Carey writes: “I’ve become active in the Yale Club of Boston, including organizing an annual golf tournament. At The Game, I met up with George McNamee, at the Saybrook tent in the tailgate area. He’s in fine form.” (Your scribe also attended that game, and Yale’s third victory in a row over the upstart Crimson squad was a most satisfying conclusion to another successful season.)

Bob Horvitz wrote: “…I had been spending my time drawing, writing for Trebuchet, an art magazine published in London. Is older news still news?  Maybe not, but I’m still very proud of a book I edited that was published by the Central European University Press in 2022:  it’s an English translation of “An Older and More Beautiful Belgrade” a book originally published in Serbian 20 years ago, about the impact Slobodan Milosevic’s dictatorial populism had in the 1990s…”  [Ed.  See “Robert Horvitz’ (Ed.) Book Added to “Best Books of 2023”“]

Yale reports that the Class of 1969 Scholarship Fund has a June 2024 market value of $845,450, and its annual spending distribution for 2024–2025 is $39,651.