Notes from the Cornell Class of 1991 - 1998 May/June

Class Notes, 1998 May/June

May/June 1998

Greetings, Class of 1991, from the Hill! Lots of weddings, new jobs, and excitement this month. Jason Feinsmith writes that he is thrilled to be going back to school, to Stanford's business school, this September. He will be pursuing a dual MBA and MS Eng. Time has gone quickly, as he and wife Elana (Adleman) '89 (Hotel) celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary in Australia in December I997. Jason says that Elana is doing great. She made a career switch from nonprofit management to working as an investment specialist at Charles Schwaab in Menlo Park, CA. Susan Tuttle says she loves living in New York City and spending the summers in the Hamptons at a great summer timeshare. Susan has been at Lehman Brothers in the high yield research department since graduating with an MBA from the U. of Chicago's business school.

We've heard from Valarie Lorson Donnelly, currently living in Yuma, AZ, with husband Scott. Valarie and Scott were married Aug. 31, '96, in a double wedding ceremony shared with Valarie's sister, Dana Lorson Bloom '94. Valarie works for the City of Yuma as a neighborhood conservation specialist. She says that she and her husband have done lots of camping and exploring and have found their new home state to be gorgeous. Amy Shortlidge, an MLS graduate from Southern Connecticut State U., apparently also enjoys hiking; she met husband Aaron Cox while hiking on the Appalachian Trail. Amy and Aaron were married Sept. 13, '97, and reside in Newton, CT. Andrew Sussman and wife Caroline (Misciagna) '90 have been very busy in Pittsburgh, PA. Andrew works at the law firm Buchanan lngersoll, and Caroline is director of client services for Confluence Technologies, a software company.

lt's great to hear from so many classmates currently abroad or just returned to the States. Alex Espinosa, wife Carolyn, and two daughters have written to tell us that they've enjoyed spending the last two years in Europe. Alex spent seven months in 1997 in Bosnia-Herzegovina in support of Operation Joint Venture, as the intelligence officer for an infantry task force. Richard Levy has been assisting with a project to renovate a thermal spa resort in the Pyrenees Mountains while studying abroad at a business school in Barcelona, Spain. Kevin Covert has completed a one-year assignment in Donetsk, Vlaraine, with the World Bank. Kevin has recently taken an assignment in Kyiv (is that Kiev?) with Price Waterhouse. Susan Sidner Carlebach, husband David. and golden retriever Maximilian, have recently returned to New York after spending some time in Munich, Germany. Susan had been working with orphans from the former Yugoslavia. She recently started a graduate program in clinical nutrition at New York U. Susan offered this bit of wisdom: dog ownership is her new-found key to happiness-she highly recommends it!

Simon Atkins provided our most colorful letter this month. Simon has earned his MBA at Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration, Europe's best kept MBA secret! He continues to tell us that he has created a very exciting long-range weather forecasting company called Simon Says Global Weather Forecasting Inc. which forecasts large-scale weather events. (Very cool name for your company, Simon. Does anyone else remember the old Underdog show? Memories of Underdog's arch-enemy, Simon Barsinister, and his Weather Machine-Simon says, snow! have come flooding back into thought!) Simon also offers this bit of wisdom to the Class of '91: It's better to have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy! Good call. Simon.

May 1997 was a very busy month for Cornellian weddings. Garren Craner celebrated his marriage to Carolyn Mehendano in that month. Garren met. Carolyn while he was attending the SUNY College of Optometry in Manhattan. Sighted at Garren's and Carolyn's wedding were Gennifer Craner '96. best man Richard Burger '89. David Ledina, Steve and Laura Kenny Kohls, BS Ag '92. Pia Napolitano. Robert Quinn '90. and Don Senerath '94. We've also received newlywed news from the quaint little upstate New York town of Greene-which happens to be the home town of my husband. Mark Cisz. John Jackson writes that he married Terri Dean, from Afton, NY. Chris Cripps of Greenwich, NY, was married to Diane Bodnar, in the same month Jim Casler was Chris's best man. Eric Michael Ferlito writes that he had loads offun at his wedding to Melaine Brinkley (also a year ago). Cornellians in attendance at their wedding were Dave Berlin, Sevan Terzian, and Bob Carroll. Finally, we've heard that Julie Dugoff married Scott Waxman '90 last May at the New York Botanical Garden. Jackie Flake, Toby Handler, MD '95, Pauline Dominh, and Tina Hernandez were there to share in the couple's special day.

Later last year, Amy Kurzman exchanged vows with Art Buckman, Aug. 23, '97, in New Rochelle, NY. Matron of honor was Amy's sister, Nancy Kurzman Fahey '83, and brother Marc Kurzman '80 was a groomsman. Bridesmaids included Amy Low, and Karyn Ginsberg. Also celebrating with Amy and Art were Robert Kurzman, JD '57, and Carol (Elis) '57, Felicia Grumet, Robin Turner, Sharri Horowitz, David Cynn, Cyndi Freeman, and Laura Wolner. Amy is a partner at Dawson-Samberg Capital Management, an investment firm in NYC. Congratulations and best wishes to all our Class of '91 newlyweds!

New jobs within the past year ... Maryanne Defresco, living in Hoboken. NJ, has been working as an international account coordinator at Ogilvy 8t Mather in New York City. We've heard from Judy Zuidema (Montclair, NJ), who tells us that she has become the manager of retail store design for Tiffany and Company. Ed McComb. BS Eng '92, who resigned his commission in the US Navy after five years in 1997, is working for General Electric, motors and industrial systems, as a field engineer out of Chicago. IL. Gayle Berger has started at Tommy Hilfiger in New York after earning her MBA from Fordham U. Gayle is working as a manager of technical services at the company. She also writes that friend Hilleary Cusack Topercer had a son, William Kevin Topercer, in April 1997. Georg Gerstenfeld married Jeannine Allan last July--they met while he was living in Germany a few years ago. Georg is loving life on the client-side after spending the last five years in advertising. He started with Sprint PCS in beautiful San Francisco this past year. Georg also told us that Dan Herman, ME CS '94, is living in the Bay area, working at Pixar; and Dan Liu is working for a San Francisco consulting firm specializing in telecommunications. Kate Snow, also in attendance at Georg's wedding, writes to tell us that she is working as an anchor/reporter for KOAT TV, an ABC affiliate in Albuquerque, NM.

Jacqueline Forster reminds us that Cornell was a wonderful experience and school. She continues to hold Cornell dear to her heart, as we all do! Jacqueline, a 1995 graduate from the U. of Pennsylvania law school, is working on Wall Street at E.G. Bowman Co. Inc., a commercial brokerage firm, founded by Jacqueline's aunt in 1953.

It has really been great hearing from all of you. Please continue to write or e-mail me all your news, classmate sightings, and words of wisdom! I look forward to hearing from you! *Linda Moerck-Cisz, 264 Carpenter Ave, Sea Cliff, NY 11579; e-mail, cisz _mark@ jpmorgan.com; also, Kevin Lemanowicz, 3 Bryon's Way, Franklin, MA 02038.