Notes from the Cornell Class of 1991 - 2003 January/February

Class Notes, 2003 January/February

January/February 2003

Happy New Year, Cornellians! 2002 was a big year for many Class of '91 alumni who celebrated marriages, births, and career achievements. Congratulations to all! Andrew Sung celebrated a June wedding with bride Jennifer Liu; the happy couple currently resides in New York City. Fellow Manhattanite Neil Einhorn also was recently married and chronicled his subsequent move in an amusing anecdote in the New York Times Metro section. His article maintains that while none of his collectibles from his former bachelor life survived the merger, he was able to find new homes for his artifacts with the help of some passersby and an impromptu "sidewalk sale." Sarah Dentan was married to David Leitner last July in Berkeley, CA. where Sarah works as a librarian at the Berkeley Public Library. Shortly after finishing her psychiatry residency in June, Kim Gottlieb, MD '97, married classmate Kevin Klipstein last September, traveling all the way from their home in San Francisco to Kevin's hometown of Rochester, NY, for the nuptials. Several other '91 alumni were in Kim and Kevin's wedding party, including John Mao, Seth Briskin, Larry Ireland, Mary Dontzin, Laura Wolner, and Melissa Singer. (Matt Munich '89 was also a groomsman.) Judy Zuidema recently moved to Italy to work as a design manager for Diesel's US retail stores, and shortly afterward she married fiance Marco Milan in October.

Dustin Moskowitz had much to celebrate in 2002. Prior to their first anniversary on September 15, he and his new wife Linda moved into their new house in May--just in time to welcome their first child, Jonathan, in July! Due to the stream of new developments in their lives, Dustin had not been able to update Class Notes about his wedding until now. However, he wanted to thank the many Cornell alumni who were able to attend the wedding despite the emotional and logistical hardships following Sept. 11, '01 . Attending Dustin and Linda's wedding were Scott Davis and wife Arlene Rivera Finkelstein '92, Drs. Tony and Mary Ciotoli Dirubbo, Gary Hurta and wife Amy Richardson-Hurta '92, and Will Kim. Other Cornellians in attendance were Jeff Anbinder '94, Matt Kall '93, Anne Dunning '92, and Alex Nussbaum '92. Of special note. Allan Rousselle '90 and wife Paulette (Dwen) '89, MS Ag '96, were unable to fly out of their home in Seattle as planned, so two days before the wedding they decided to embark on a cross-country road trip and picked up Matt Kall from Cleveland enroute. Their timing was impeccable as they arrived at the ceremony with ten minutes to spare! Dustin reports that a joyous time was had by all and was quite welcome in an otherwise heartbreaking week.

Many other Cornellians expanded their families last year. Martin Schmelkin and wife Jennifer welcomed their second child, Jeremy, in April. Martin is working in NYC at Goldman, Sachs & Co. as an employment attorney. Also in Manhattan, Scott Berniker's wife Michelle gave birth to their first child, Sasha, in May. Jennifer Gray Moss resides in Houston with husband Brian and first baby William, who joined their family last June. Also born in June was Lori Giuffre's baby son Matthew. Lori is a small animal veterinarian and lives in Maryland with her husband Rob. She often visits with other Cornellians living in the greater DC area, including CNN/Capitol Hill correspondent Kate Snow, U. of Maryland professor Rebecca Warme Hamilton, and attorneys Christina Guerola Sarchio, Anjali Chaturvedi '90, and Debbie Goldstock Ringel '90.

Jackie Zar Varona and husband Hector, currently living in Chicago, happily announced the birth of their first child, Isabella, in July. Shortly after her birth, Isabella received visits from alumni Beth Gilmartin '92, Dana Aron Weiner '92, and grandmother Lois Bertrand Zar '76. Finally, Liza Cohen Tillinghast announced the July birth of her son Justin. Liza is currently a VP at Citigroup and lives in Manhattan with her son and husband Bill.

More notes on the career front include news from Marine Corps Major Benjamin Watson. Upon completion of two months of training exercises and humanitarian missions in the East African nation of Djibouti while assigned to the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, he joined more than 10,000 Atlantic Fleet sailors and Marines aboard the ships of the USS John F. Kennedy Carrier Battle Group and USS Wasp Amphibious Ready Group. He will soon finish a six-month deployment to the Mediterranean Sea and Arabian Gulf. Jill Cohen-Garcia writes that she was recently promoted to senior VP of finance for TracFone Wireless Inc. in Miami. She and husband Rick celebrated their son Ryan's second birthday in September.

Meghan Walsh Heister finished her graduate study at Xavier U. in Cincinnati and currently works with Procter & Gamble as a human resources career system analyst. Sabine Vinck, ME EP '93, has been living in London, England, for the past year where she works as a risk manager for State Street Bank. Finally, we find that reunions aren't the only occasions that draw Cornell alumni high above Cayuga's waters. Amy Wefer Faucher spent part of last summer visiting campus and participating in Adult University (CAU) as she honed her culinary skills as a student in the Now You're Cooking Culinary Workshop.

As you can see, 2002 was a big year for many. We hope 2003 will continue to bring peace, joy, and prosperity into the homes of the Class of '91. Cheers. *Corinne Kuchling, kuccori@hotmail.com; Nina Rosen Peek, nsr5@cornell.edu; Dave Smith, docds30@yahoo.com.