To
the Great Class of 1969:
News of the Academy
 |
| Albany Road |
The Winter Term has now ended, however, not
without two reminders of our common past. The first of these was the
announcement in December that Jay and Mimi Morsman would be retiring at the end
of the school year. Mr. Morsman joined the faculty in 1960 and is the last remaining
faculty member from our era following Mr. Brush’s retirement in 2009. In recent
years he has served as Director of Dining Services, following in the footsteps
of Mr. Sullivan. Mimi has worked tirelessly as Director of Alumni Relations for
a number of years. Both will be sorely
missed.
This weekend, applicants to Deerfield and its peer
schools learned whether they had been admitted or not. This year marked the last for Pat Gimbel
(sister of Gil Lamphere ’70). Pat, who
has worked for three heads of school over the course of the past 23 years,
announced her retirement earlier this year.
Her successor, an alumna of Ethel Walker, spent the past twelve years at
Concord Academy and was at Northfield Mount Hermon before that. For the 2012-2013 school year, the Academy
received nearly 2,400 applications for 200 spots.
As for sports this term, the Division I New
England Prep School Swimming and Diving Championships concluded March 2 at
Deerfield where thirteen schools and over three hundred athletes competed. The Boys team edged out Suffield by a point
to finish first, recalling the greatness of the undefeated 1968-1969 team under
Mr. Boyle. Girls Squash concluded
another unblemished season in which they steamrolled every opponent, in most
cases by a shutout.
Class
News
Congratulations to Charlie Bishop, CEO of Cytochroma, a clinical stage specialty
pharmaceutical company focused on chronic kidney disease. Cytochroma agreed to
be acquired in January by OPKO Health, a NYSE-listed biopharmaceutical and
diagnostics company, for $100 million in stock and up to $190 million in
contingent consideration. Charlie is an authority on developing and
commercializing successful new vitamin D therapies who previously served as
President and CEO of Bone Care International, a public company, from 1996-2001.
Rusty Young has booked Judy Collins for a benefit performance in Stuart, FL for March 13th if any of you are wintering nearby and have time next week. Rusty reports that sales for the event have been robust. AC Starkey, who discovered the good life wintering in St. Barts and Palm Beach, got together with Rusty for dinner last week in FL. In other news, Rusty booked The Fab Faux, a top Beatles tribute band that he has worked with over the years, for a benefit concert in Chicago earlier this year.
Hank Wetzel,
when he isn’t running Alexander Valley Vineyards, keeps busy with hobbies that
include raising nearly 1,000 free range chickens for their eggs, saving
honeybees and growing fruits such as loquats, yellow-green plums and figs for
sale in the local farmers market.
Bob Ashton, President of Ragged Mountain Resort in New Hampshire, has
proposed a significant expansion designed to turn the resort into a year round
destination. The owners of Ragged Mountain are in the process of seeking
approvals and obtaining financing.
Tee Johnson
checked in from Knoxville recently where he has been involved in a variety of
endeavors the past few years, including managing by long distance his
microphone manufacturing business in Argentina.
Tee wrote, “I am working out how to get my studio and lab back into the
US – under one roof – and then I want to work with different Fine Arts programs
(teaching programs) and do my own experiments in spatial localization,
psychoacoustics and ‘sound healing’.” Psychoacoustics, in case you’re wondering
as I was, is the study of sound perception.
The first reminder of our 45th Reunion arrived this week. Mark your calendars for June 6-8, 2014. I hope to see you on Albany Road.
Best wishes.
DWS
