Notes from the Cornell Class of 1991 - 2012 March/April

Class Notes, 2012 March/April

March/April 2012

Greetings, fellow Class of '91ers! Tom Greenberg here, writing my first Class Notes column from New York City, where I live with my wife, Daphne Liu '93, and our son and potential future Cornellian, Dylan, 5. On a professional note, I work as a partner at the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, specializing in mergers and acquisitions. Daphne works as an assistant medical director at GE. It was great seeing so many of you at Reunion last June. Staying in Mary Donlon Hall 20 years after graduation was quite an experience!

Many of our classmates have written us about their work or travel in exciting locations around the world. Thatcher Brown writes that after three years in Dubai and six years with Jumeirah Group, he has accepted a position with a division of Carnival Corp. called Costa Crociere, based in Genoa, Italy. Dubai has provided him with great opportunities to travel to Africa, India, and Asia, as well as the surrounding Gulf countries during peaceful times. Once settled in Genoa, he hopes to start Italian language studies. Kate Pierson Lundin, who moved to Beijing, China, this past summer with husband Steve and sons Gunnar, 5, and Axel, 3, left her job with Boston Consulting Group in New York and so far is really enjoying the opportunity to be a stay-at-home mom for the first time! They are all trying to learn Mandarin and having a great time exploring the city and making new friends.

Laura North Pippitt also traveled in China recently. She started the Cultural Society of East Bay (which offers Chinese language and cultural programs) in Barrington, RI. She was invited by the Confucius Inst. to go to Dalian U. of Foreign Languages to experience Chinese language, culture, and cuisine first hand. Her favorite dish was the local delicacy--sea cucumber! She is studying Mandarin with husband Tom, son Robby, 7, and daughter Ashley, 5. Joseph Suh traveled extensively in 2011 to meet with Brazilian investment managers. He is a partner at the law firm Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP. Given the enormous amount of attention that Brazilian investments are attracting, he is trying to build an investment fund practice catering to Brazilian managers that want to offer their funds to US investors and US managers who want to set up a Brazilian investment management business.

Closer to home, Scott LaGreca writes that he has landed a great new job as curator of Cornell's Plant Pathology Herbarium, with a world-renowned collection of 400,000 dried fungus specimens, photographs, and reprints. He's in the middle of a grant-funded project to database and digitize 25 percent of their holdings. Scott tells us that it's a bit of a time warp being back on the Hill, but after living in many other places around the world, he feels like he is finally home again. He married Keith Babuszczak two years ago in Massachusetts and they recently adopted their first pet, Tina the cat. Robyn Lipsky Weintraub (wife of Jeff, MD '95, our '91 reunion chair) has been making crossword puzzles! She's had puzzles published in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times (with more to come). She also makes personalized puzzles, including a Cornell-themed one that the Class of '71 handed out to their classmates at their 40th Reunion last June.

A number of our classmates have been busy with occupations in medical or health-related fields. Ken-Ryu Han, who is married with four children, has worked as a urologist in Glendale, AZ (near Phoenix), since 2004. Becky "the MechE" Levine Leibowitz has been working for 13 years as a product development engineer at Ethicon (a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary), designing new tools for surgery. She lives in Scotch Plains, NJ, with husband Marc and sons Jonah, 8, and Sam, 6. Katrina Schreiber Firlik has transitioned from neurosurgeon to startup entrepreneur. She cofounded HealthPrize Technologies in 2009 and serves as its chief medical officer. HealthPrize is an online and mobile-based software company that has developed a platform that encourages people to stick with their prescription medications and rewards them for doing so, leveraging gaming dynamics and insights from behavioral economics. Katrina lives in Darien, CT, with husband Andrew '90, MD '93, and their daughter Annika.

Stephen Schwartz is an associate professor of clinical ophthalmology at the U. of Miami School of Medicine and medical director at Bascom Palmer Eye Inst. at Naples. He lives with his wife, Melanie (Rebak) '90, and their children Jessica, Reid, and Oliver, in Naples, FL. Melanie serves on the board of directors of the Cornell Alumni Association of Southwest Florida and has served as the Zinck's Night chairperson for the past five years. Joel Freundlich, ME '92, is happily focused on the life and times of M. tuberculosis as assistant professor at UMDNJ Medical School in the departments of pharmacology and physiology and medicine. When he's not at work or training for another marathon, he is happily chasing after his three children.

Many thanks to those of you who responded to our e-mail solicitation for news. If we missed you this time, we'll be sure to get you in a future edition. Please keep the updates coming! *Tom Greenberg, twg22@cornell.edu; Wendy Coburn, wmilkscoburn@me.com; and Charles Wu, ccwu@ mac.com.