William J. Bowman 1951-2010

Bill Bowman

Bill Bowman entered Deerfield as a sophomore where he excelled in both the classroom and in a variety of demanding extracurricular activities. Most prominently, he was on the Editorial Board of both The Scroll and Pocumtuck for all three years and was Chairman of the yearbook senior year. Bill was also a member of the debating team for two years which undoubtedly served him well in his professional career as a distinguished litigator.  He graduated cum laude from both Deerfield and Harvard College.

Following graduation from Georgetown University Law Center in 1976, Bill served as a law clerk to The Honorable Thomas A Flannery of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. From 1973 to 1983 he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, handling an active criminal trial and appellate practice and serving for two and one-half years.  From 1977 to 1983, he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, handling an active criminal trial and appellate practice and serving for two and a half years as Chief of the Career Criminal Unit.  He then spent a year as Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Juvenile Justice.

In 1984 Bill joined Hogan & Hartson in Washington, DC where he specialized in commercial, insurance coverage, environmental, antitrust, contract, trade regulation, and product liability litigation. He practiced actively in federal and state courts and the District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland and many other parts of the country.

Survivors include his wife of 25 years and two sons.

Fall Term Report Card - 2011

To the Great Class of 1969:

News of the Academy

A month after the start of its 213rd year, the Academy kicked off the long anticipated “Imagine Deerfield” capital campaign with a gala dinner organized by Mimi Morsman for 800 attendees under a 94’ blue whale suspended from the ceiling of the Museum of Natural History in New York.  Coach Smith (1960-1996) delivered grace, a role now performed before sit-down meals by Mr. Morsman, who also joined the faculty in 1960.  Frank Henry, who contributed to Voices from the Valley, a newly published collection of essays by past and present Deerfield teachers, was seated prominently.

Deerfield’s last capital campaign centered on the Bicentennial and defied skeptics by setting a lofty goal of $125 million before exceeding it by $25 million.  Perhaps reflecting the S&P's flatline since then and the consequent temperate mood, the campaign goal has been set at $200 million.  Half of that amount is targeted for the endowment, 30% will go toward new facilities (including a new dorm) and 20% will support current use projects.  Although the broad-based solicitation is just beginning, $85 million already has been committed.

Deerfield hosted Choate on November 12th in the 93rd annual matchup and streamed the Varsity Football game for the first time.  Jim Smith Field looked remarkably good following the freak snowfall two weeks earlier.  The 41-7 pasting by the Wild Boars could not easily be explained away by anything as simple as this year's curb on cheering.  With its third successive win, Choate has narrowed Deerfield’s cumulative lead in the football rivalry to a single game.

 

Class News

As everyone knows, candidates for the Republican Presidential nomination have been barnstorming the country the past few months.  What you may not know is that two indelible meetings have occurred in venues where Classmates work.  Most famously, Gov. Perry’s “Oops” moment occurred earlier this month at Oakland University in Michigan where Brian Connery has taught since 1989.  Herman Cain had a similarly [un]forgettable encounter last week with the Editorial Board of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.  If you listen carefully to the replay, you will hear Marty Kaiser off camera patiently asking a series of questions beginning at 2:51 of the interview.

Since 1978 Van Scott has owned Savage’s, a scratch bakery in Homewood, AL that I first wrote about four years ago.  Here’s a review of Van’s place, including a photo of him putting the finishing flourish on one of his cakes.  Van is in the process of developing an online mail order business for selected items.  Stay tuned.

Christopher Beach opened the 43rd season of the La Jolla Music Society earlier this month with Havana’s Kings of Salsa, a spirited music-and-dance performance of mambo, rumba and cha, cha, cha moves.  The entertainment will continue throughout the season with performances from three major symphony orchestras, chamber music ensembles, pianists, modern dance groups, and a premier selection of pop, classical, cabaret and salsa music artists.

Christian Liipfert, after retiring from BP, has established his own eponymous consulting firm.  In August, he delivered the keynote address at The Masters Series for Legal Professionals in Houston.  Christian consults on information governance, knowledge management, e-discovery, crisis management, and compliance and ethics training.

Douglas Arnstein also has formed his own consulting firm, dubbed "Orgchange3P Consulting, Inc.", which is focused on helping companies deliver critical initiatives through program, project, and process effectiveness. This is at least Douglas's second stint as an entrepreneur who previously served as President of Absolute Consulting which was engaged in providing project management consulting.

The annual New York dinner was scaled back this year on account of scheduling conflicts, however, Rusty Young, John Lacey, Todd Stone and I had a chance to swap stories for a few hours earlier this month.  Rusty's new venture, which I mentioned in my Summer Post Card, has just lined up its first event for January.  Lacey, an amateur sports reporter in his spare time, can cite from memory the collegiate split times in the pool of either of his daughters and always delights in recounting Amherst's latest thrashing of Williams. Todd hopes to relocate his studio to nearby space where he can continue recording the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site before year end when the employees who actually occupy Wall Street move in to 7 WTC.

  

Thanks to the reach of Google, David Perednia, the Class Treasurer, and John Marchiano, the Captain of the Varsity football team, have been added to our distribution list, which now totals 115 members of the Class, half of whom are featured in our OnlineYearbook.  If you would prefer a different or more flattering photo, please e-mail one to me.  A portrait shot with a camera that has a 5 MP or better resolution and a height of 640 pixels or more will work best, according to Tim Truby.

Our social networking experiment remains a work in process.  We currently have 38 Classmates on our Facebook page and a fraction of that on Google+.  There are links to each on the right side of the blog if you’d like to join.

Happy Thanksgiving and best wishes to all.

DWS 

Paul J. Galuszka 1951-2011

Paul J. Galuszka

Paul Galuszka entered Deerfield as a sophomore and, for all three years, was a member of the Varsity Swimming Team.  Paul was also an All American swimmer and, together with Herndon, Liipfert, Walbridge, Allen, Calder, Louis and Spitznagel, was a member of Mr. Boyle’s undefeated team our senior year. 

Following graduation, Paul enrolled at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania.  Upon graduation from Lafayette, he ventured south to Loyola University in New Orleans where he received a law degree in 1976.  Paul settled in Louisiana where he practiced law for the next 35 years, specializing in personal injury and workers compensation as well as criminal defense.  In his spare time, Paul continued to swim in competitions for his age group and enjoyed salt water fishing in the Gulf Coast areas of Louisiana and Alabama. Paul passed away unexpectedly while at home on February 26, one day short of his 60th birthday. Paul is survived by his brother Peter ’72, his mother, his wife, two sons and numerous relatives.

Summer Postcard - 2011

To the Great Class of 1969:

Main Street

As you can see from the photo, courtesy of John Knight '83, this past week was a reminder that New England is not immune to the effects of hurricanes at this time of year. While the Lower Level was flooded to the top of the goalposts, the campus was otherwise spared. The Deerfield Inn was less fortunate, and is closed until further notice.

As for the Academy, it will open its doors next week for the start of its 213^th year. According to the fact sheet on the school’s website, this year's students will come from 39 states and 31 foreign countries. Of the 2,355 applicants, 13% were admitted, and 65% of those admitted had the good sense to accept. Parents of boarding students will be asked to pay $47,470 in tuition and fees this year which, I would note for the curious, represents a 10% discount to the cost of attending Harvard ($52,650).

Class News

Todd Stone

With the 10^th anniversary of 9/11 only days away, it is timely to recognize Todd Stone who, as any reader of this blog knows, has dedicated his life’s work since then to creating an enduring visual record of lower Manhattan through his paintings. Todd has lived downtown for many years in a loft which, until two years ago, had a view of the World Trade Center site. When that view was lost as a result of construction, Todd found space for his studio on the vacant 48^th Floor of the newly constructed 7 World Trade Center where he has been able to continue painting the rebuilding of the former site of the Twin Towers. Over the course of the summer, Todd has shared his work in seven separate showings aimed at distinct constituencies. Rusty Young and Peter Bernstein (the latter freshly back from China) were able to attend the opening on July 27^th, and I followed up on a perfect evening two weeks later at a reception for downtown residents. Rusty was effusive in his description of Todd’s work and the event in an e-mail to me following the opening likening Todd to a rock star. The Huffington Post described the venue as “the City’s most amazing art studio” and included a video clip of an interview with Todd. Bloomberg Radio also interviewed Todd.

As some of you with longer memories may recall, I mentioned in March 2007 that Howie Carr had written a New York Times bestseller entitled The Brothers Bulger: How They Terrorized and Corrupted Boston for a Quarter Century. With the capture in June of Whitey Bulger, #1 on the FBI’s Most Wanted List after the killing of OBL, sales of Howie’s book fortuitously jumped 26% on Amazon within 24 hours, producing an unexpected windfall. Howie was interviewed on a number of programs, including ABC’s “Good Morning America”. Here’s a link to the clip.

Five years following the sale of the National Stock Exchange which he headed, David Colker appears to have found a new gig that will enable him to pursue his musical interests. The Grace Music Theater, a 520 seat, two story building in Evanston, is being developed by David and was approved by the local zoning board in August. David said the new theater would provide a "state-of-the-art music performance space" and would be a "dramatic addition to public life downtown.”

Another entrepreneurial classmate who recently launched a new venture is Rusty Young. After rubbing shoulders with entertainers for the past five years as CEO of The Count Basie Foundation, Rusty has co-founded MusicWorks Entertainment which will be in the business of promoting and presenting benefit shows for both national and local non-profits.

One addition to the blog I hope will be of interest is a link on the right to YouTube videos of various classmates. Besides some clips mentioned in previous posts, you will find a humorous recounting of the origin of the Blarney Stone by Brian Connery.

Best wishes to all.

DWS

Deerfield Crew Wins Bronze!

The show! Wow! I’ve never seen Melton Lake so crowded for ANY event. Granted, I’ve been here for less than 2 years, but I come to the lake 5-6 times a month (I live 8 miles away) and love to walk the shores and watch the events. This was the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen – over 200 boats. Traffic and roadside parking thick as molasses for the 1.5 miles along the lakeside event site.  Incredible. The launch site traffic alone looked like a hundred different drill-teams all vying for the same space. Speedos & sunglasses, binoculars & baseball caps and for this weekend, there was no other place to be – no other sport – no other game in town for this group of folks. If rowing has a “Daytona 500” this is as close as it comes before the Olympic or Collegiate finals.

Caught the nail-biter finish right at the line – the UT/Battelle “Tower”.  Sunny, bright and 93 degrees Fahrenheit (as usual) and the 4th day in a row for an “air-quality alert”. Water calm and smooth (also, as usual) – no sign of the rumored Lane 2-through-Lane 5 surge/chop that (some) rowers say moves down the lanes (underwater) from about 1100 yards past the finish. That wasn’t a factor in this finish.

Deerfield showed that they can and DO compete at the National level and finished only about 2 strokes (about 6.5 seconds) from the nose of the Oakland Strokes boat (yes, all you 60’s and 70’s music fans will recognize the reference to the Bay area’s (still) most distinctive “power-funk” band, the Tower of Power).

From the finish line it looked like all the boats were “shifting gears” in the last 200-300 yards. The Deerfield boat showed smooth-power that was totally deceptive when you watched how they moved through the water – they made it look “easy”. The kind of smooth that you like to look at - until you realize they just blew by you and you’re “off-the pace” by about 10-15% and are going to be licking your wounds all the way back to Palooka-ville. The kind of grace that gives you just the briefest flash of a side view - and then all you see is “stern”.

On the other hand, in Lane 1, the Oakland crew looked older and more physical – and I mean  “2 hours of gym every morning for a year” more physical. They were digging hard and then harder as they smelled the finish line. The only two teams that I heard anyone in the “peanut gallery” talking about for this race were Oakland and Deerfield.

I was happy to see a truly fine bunch of young men and women out there. Excellent conditioning – great style – 3 days of grinding out the heats with the “best of the best” that the US has to offer. No doubt about it, this is a BIG TIME event with all the pressure, craziness, great performances and soul-numbing deflation as team after team comes face-to-face with their real individual and team level of performance. As Frank Zappa used to say, “One, two, three ……. BURN!!!!!!” You either have the chops or you don’t. And you have to have the ability to “bring” it not just one, two, three, or four times - but every time at this level.

Deerfield’s team showed that they have every right to be at the top of the heap. It’s no fluke that they delivered the goods – this was discipline, coaching, conditioning, teamwork and “heart” – and a really distinctive competitive style.

Way to GO, GREEN!!!

Taylor (‘Tee’) Johnson, ‘69

Knoxville, Tennessee

Lakeside at Melton Lake, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Spring Term Report Card - 2011

To the Great Class of 1969:

News of the Academy

The 212th class will graduate from Deerfield this Sunday.  Following the graduation ceremonies, the underclassmen will need to hit the books for finals next week.  As for the Great Class of 2011, the most popular colleges proved to be Middlebury (12) and Georgetown (10).  Collectively, the Ivies will take 34 members of the graduating class, with Dartmouth (8) attracting the most.

Boys Lacrosse finished 15-0 for its first undefeated season since 2007.  Over the last five years, the Boys Varsity team has compiled a near perfect record of 76-3.  According to LaxPower, this year’s team ranked 1st in New England and 10th nationally.

Although the upcoming capital campaign will be focused on increasing the endowment, it will not be without a bricks and mortar component.  This week’s Scroll announced that Ashley House, the oldest of Deerfield’s dormitories, will be razed to make way for a new dormitory (naming possibility available for anyone so inclined) that will house 30 students, a net pick up of 20.  A modular dorm, to be called Chapin Hall, will be constructed this summer to provide temporary housing while the new dormitory is constructed on the current Ashley site.

Class News

Hank Wetzel, a native Californian, travelled to Texas in March where he auctioned off for charity a case of his AVV CYRUS, a cabernet. The winning bidder paid $210,000 for the unopened case, or $17,500 per bottle. After this stunning result, Hank said, “We believe in supporting the communities that have made Alexander Valley Vineyards successful over the years. Tonight, Texas has elevated CYRUS to a new level.” The Wetzel Family’s Alexander Valley Vineyard is located on the original Cyrus Alexander homestead in Sonoma's Alexander Valley.

Christopher Beach, a California transplant as well as the president and artistic director of the La Jolla Music Society, scored another coup last month with the announcement that three of America’s “Big Five” orchestras — Chicago, New York and Cleveland — would be performing with their music directors in San Diego next year. Christopher, who lured the Vienna Philharmonic to San Diego this year, was quoted in the local paper as saying, "The orchestra series is the star in our crown”.

For those of you who may wonder what ever happened to Rick Swig after returning to California to attend Stanford, the short answer is that he founded RSBA & Associates 25 years ago after working in the family hotel business. RSBA provides strategic advisory services to hotel owners, hotel management companies and chains.  Here's a clip I came across of a recent interview he gave.

As exhilarated as I was to hear about OBL's fatal encounter with the Navy SEALs, the event was a reminder of how much life has changed in the past ten years.  One classmate who was particularly affected and has devoted his life’s work since then so that we will never forget has been Todd Stone.  If you are in New York between July 27th and September 1st, you will want to see an exhibition of his work. Here’s a recent video featuring Todd in his office overlooking Ground Zero.

 
Michael Buerger, a faculty member at Bowling Green State University and former police officer, will participate on a panel at the World Future Society conference in July aimed at highlighting "current and future trends that are and should be impacting the vision of policing in the future".  I am hoping that Michael will be able to share his ability to divine the future at our 45th.

Marty Kaiser continues his successful career overseeing the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel where he has worked in various capacities over the past 14 years.  Last month, the newspaper was awarded its third Pulitzer Prize in the past four years, in this case, for a story describing how doctors at Children’s Hospital and the Medical College of Wisconsin used DNA sequencing to uncover the cause of a young boy’s mysterious disease.

Following my last report, I learned that Ken McWilliams, a stranger to any diligent reader of this blog, had given up being an independent consultant to communities in Vermont and New Hampshire after five years in favor of becoming the town planner for Alton, NH.  If you are curious about what that might entail, I found that being a town planner involves, among other things, opining on the relative safety of roundabouts, traditional intersections and traffic circles, subjects I doubt were part of the Dartmouth curriculum.

In case you didn’t draw the connection in the Winter 2011 issue of Deerfield Magazine, Will Colwell’s son Hamilton ’97 was featured for having started Healthy Mom, a company that sells fortified yoghurt under the name of Maia, a named derived from the Goddess of Spring and Rebirth for anyone who hasn’t brushed up recently on his Greek mythology.

In closing, I want to remind those of you for whom Deerfield is on your list of charitable causes that June 30th is the end of the Academy’s fiscal year.  As one who benefited from your generosity during my tenure as Class Agent, I can tell you that simply participating will make a difference.  Please take a moment to make a gift online if you haven’t done so already.

Best wishes to all as you fire up the barbeque this weekend for the traditional start of summer.

DWS

Winter Term Report Card 2010-2011

To the Great Class of 1969:

News of the Academy

School is now out for Spring Break after a nasty winter.  Probably no one was more relieved to see the term end than members of the Admissions Office which mailed decisions to 2,200 applicants, another record number, on Thursday. 

The addition of ten international squash courts overlooking the Lower Level in 2008 succeeded in attracting a better crop of squash players than would have been possible and is paying big dividends on the distaff side.  The Girls Varsity team won the New England Championships this year as might be expected after finishing second in the country earlier this term.  Boys Swimming, another standout, suffered its only loss to Andover before winning the Western New England Championships.  Boys and Girls Alpine Skiing finished first in every event this winter.  The more traditional sports (Basketball, Hockey and Wrestling) had disappointing results which may say more about the perceived recruiting needs of college admissions offices than anything. 

Class News

The news this term is that I took the plunge and became the 500 millionth member of Facebook, long after the Academy set up its own page.  Since I registered, another 100 million have joined, and six Facebook shareholders have been added to the Forbes 400.  If you've seen the Social Network, you have a sense for the history of the Facebook phenomenon.  To date, we have 36 members of the Class on our Facebook site and, if you would like to join us, please let me know.  Judging solely by the quantum of friends, Hank Louis is far and away Mr. Popularity in the Class with 550 friends at last count.  Rounding out the top three are Brogan Thomsen and Peter Bernstein.  For those disinclined to join Facebook, I set up an alternate site on Google called, of all things, Albany Road Redux.  All you need to do in order to access the site is to e-mail me and set up a Gmail address.  The purpose of the Google site is to address privacy concerns that some have with Facebook and to serve as a repository of information about the Class. 

As any reader knows, Christian Liipfert retired from BP a year ago.  What you don't know is that he has been back at BP doing some consulting in the "information governance space" which comprises records management, document management, enterprise content management, knowledge management, e-discovery management/preparedness and similar M words, all tracking back to how/why corporations need to manage their proprietary information as an asset.  On a personal note, he and his wife Pam went to Hong Kong over Thanksgiving week to visit their daughter.

Marty Kaiser, the editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel as well as a converted cheesehead from Winnetka, heralded the Packers' return to the Super Bowl last month with a "Packers Blitz" which included special sections, columns, merchandising, and special offers to capitalize on the Green Bay Packers NFC win and Super Bowl appearance.  Marty was quoted as saying, “The Journal Sentinel is renowned and beloved for our Packers coverage. Packer fans worldwide will find everything they need to know about all aspects of the game.”

In late January, the Count Basie Theatre celebrated the completion of a $2 million restoration to its historic façade at a reception attended by 75 supporters of the theatre. Rusty Young, CEO of the Count Basie Theatre Foundation, spoke at the event and acknowledged major donors to the theatre’s restoration fund.

King Carter continues to oppose the construction of a wind farm in Maine, although it seems at times he is tilting at windmills.  The company behind the project recently made an aesthetic concession to reduce the visual impact of the windmills on the Appalachian Trail and the Bigelow Preserve but, from what I've read, not enough to appease King.

Jack Spitznagel has surfaced after a period away and is now in medical affairs at a regenerative medicine biotech company.  When last spotted, Jack was on the faculty at York College of Pennsylvania in the Biology Department.

Best wishes to all.

DWS