Head of School Audrius Barzdukas P’20 sits down at the Poly Table for a lively chat with “Poly’s Ambassador” Eustace Greaves P’12 and Director of Annual Giving Lori Redell P’10, ’11.
4 Strength, Resiliency, and the Power of Gratitude Learn how Sean Biesty ’99 struggled back from a devastating car crash to become an inspiring assistant JV basketball coach at Poly.
10 Poly’s Web of Inspiration Who inspired you at Poly? Read the intertwined responses from alumni, faculty, and staff and how they have formed our community.
18 Four Sacred Mountains: A Story from the Navajo Nation An Upper School history teacher leads 14 students on a five-day transformative exploration of the Navajo Nation in Arizona.
24 History in Our Hands Middle School students shared photos and the stories about artifacts from their personal family history in response to a visit to the Tenement Museum in Manhattan.
32 Speaking Up, Acting Out, and Living Our Democratic Traditions at Poly At Poly, students are encouraged to speak up and act out in the democratic tradition for what they believe is just.
34 How to Make a Scientist From Lower School through Upper School, Poly students are ecologists, design and build rockets, and explore three-year research projects.
At the Poly Table
Eustace Greaves P’12, known as “Poly’s Ambassador,” joined Head of School
Audrius Barzdukas P’20 and Director of Annual Giving Lori Redell P’10, ’11, who acted as moderator, for a conversation about community at Poly.
LORI REDELL: Eustace, you’re a parent of an alum. You started your relationship with Poly in what year?
EUSTACE GREAVES: Ashley came to Poly in 2006.
LR: You’re still very involved at Poly Prep. What keeps you coming back now that Ashley has graduated from Poly and Yale?
EG: There’s an old saying: “To whom much is given, much is required.” When I think about teachers in Ashley’s life, educational experiences, her Prep for Prep year, and especially her years at Poly, we got a lot here. You develop friendships. Just because the child has graduated doesn’t mean the relationship should end.
How do you continue that relationship?
Admissions Open Houses, alumni reunions, Homecoming, things like that.
You were also a big volunteer for our Annual Giving campaigns.
EG: Yes. And during Ashley’s senior year, I was part of the committee to raise money for her class. I’ll never forget, I was talking with one of the senior parents whose son was on the football team. I said, “Every time I come to a game, I bought your program. Hot dogs, Burgers. You can’t give me some money toward the
after me for money.”
AUDRIUS BARZDUKAS: I think Eustace lives the ideal that there’s no such thing as a stranger, just a friend I haven’t met yet. Part of the glue that is the Poly community are those welcoming, open arms. Community is really defined by those informal bonds that bind us together.
LR: What defines the unique qualities of the Poly community?
AB: At Poly, we are more comfortable with difference than with similarity. We come together around this core that’s Poly, but we come from our different places, different neighborhoods, different backgrounds, different cultures.
LR: Eustace, as a volunteer in Admissions, you are the face of our community when people first visit our school. What is important for these families to recognize about our community?
EG: Well, number one is my role as a black father. Normally you go to school functions, and who do you see? Moms. It’s important for me to be here.
I can’t tell you the number of times during and after Open Houses that families came to me to ask questions about different aspects of Poly. Black families came to me and said, “Listen, is this place for real? It sounds too good to be true.” I said, “Am
I standing here? Yeah. Am I on payroll? No. Could I be somewhere else? Yes.” I said, “So it’s for real.”
LR: Audrius, you came into the community two years ago. When did you feel part of this community of Poly Prep?
AB: From day one, we were stunned by how welcome we were made to feel with open arms, hearts, and lots of food. This is a community that seeks to bring people in.
LR: Ashley went through the Prep for Prep program, so she was part of a very strong community before she came here. What about the transition for you and Ashley to Poly?
EG: I think I told you the story of how we drove onto campus the first time. “This is where I’m going to school,” Ashley said. And she had not claimed anything since her mom died. Time went by, and she was admitted to Poly. That summer prior, I came home one day and the phone rings. It was Miss Dougherty’s daughter from Poly. I gave Ashley the phone. Boom. Right off the bat, she had a buddy. You had systems in place that made the kid feel welcome. And by the third day, she had 25 buddies.
LR: Audrius, were there any challenges for you or for Rimas when this transition happened?
AB: Brooklyn is different than Southern California. In Brooklyn, people are beautifully forthright about what they think and feel. That was part of our cultural adjustment, being in a place where people would explain things to us, like, “I’m walking here.”
EG: I love it, I love it.
LR: About 125 to 150 new families come into the Poly community every year. Any advice for a new family on how to become involved in this community?
EG: Volunteer to take tickets at the shows. Volunteer for Admissions tours. Just walk in and say, “Look, can I volunteer? Is there something I can do at Homecoming?” Just get involved.
AB: What you find is, the deeper you dive in, the more you get out, because commitment leads to engagement, which means you start shaping places. You start being part of the conversation about what a place is all about.
EG: This is very true. When I was coming up to be involved, I was sort of looked at like, “You want to be co-president of the PTA? Why? You’re a dad.” We can change that culture to a great degree here, too, by dads getting involved.
LR: We have over 30 school buses that criss-cross New York City, reaching neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs, bringing all kinds of families into our community. How does that diversity impact the experience for all students here?
This is a community that seeks to bring people in. It’s a place that wants to bring you in from its first encounter with you, and I thought that was really a unique feeling
AB: I think, as much as any aspect of our school, it is important to prepare our kids to thrive in the 21st century. The world is getting smaller, and the challenges, the opportunities, the places for growth in the future, are going to require us to work together to deal with transnational issues, like climate change, resource allocation, inequality. Our diversity is building empathy. It’s building an understanding that difference actually can enhance how you seek opportunity or address a challenge. LR: What would you say you feel gratitude for here at Poly?
EG: I’m grateful for the educational leaders in this school who saw to it that my child had an education that was unparalleled. I’m grateful for the great lunches that I didn’t have to make anymore. I was grateful for knowing that when I put her on that bus, her day began, and when I heard that bus turn that corner and drop her off outside the office, she was there safe. For me, I’m really most grateful because I had the opportunity to be involved. To give back.
LR: Eustace, we are so grateful for everything that you’ve given to Poly of yourself, your family, your heart, and your soul. It is incredible. AB: I’m grateful for every day here because this is a place of incredible intellectual vitality, where the creative spirit is nurtured, where you can discover who you are, and discover what it is that you want to be. A place where we trust each other enough to speak truth to each other, where when you walk in our hallways, you hear laughter— loud and often. I’m grateful to be part of a real, authentic community. That doesn’t mean we’re perfect, but it means we’re all trying to go in the same direction, and we’re going to work it out together. Eustace is a great example of what so many people here are like. b
Head of School
Audrius Barzdukas P’20 (above) spoke with Director of Annual Giving Lori Redell P’10, ’11 (left) and Eustace Greaves P’12 (left, top).
EUSTACE GREAVES P’12
STRENGTH, RESILIENCY AND THE POWER OF GRATITUDE
A PROFILE OF SEAN BIESTY ’99
As Boys’ Junior Varsity Basketball Assistant Coach Sean Biesty ’99 sits courtside during the Poly Prep home game against Fieldston on December 12, 2018, he is a picture of steadfast concentration. His gaze shifts quickly with each pass, fast break, lay-up, free throw, turnover, and foul. It’s almost as if you can imagine his brain as a computer processing each move on the court and then translating those moves into strategies for the team. He erupts with colorful commentary at a ref’s call and a play that lacks proper execution, but he always offers a quick, encouraging fist bump as players pass him on the way back to the bench. The court is where Sean’s technical acumen for the game of basketball, his empathy for its players, and his passion for the sport come alive.
BY LAURA GRIMM
I KNEW LITTLE ABOUT SEAN BEFORE
I MET HIM
THAT EVENING ON THE POLY COURT
except for hearing general anecdotes about his incredible story of resilience in the face of an unimaginable, lifechanging event—a head-on car crash at the age of 21 and near-fatal complications that left him unable to walk, speak, or use his hands. As I watched him position himself in one of the seats set up on the sideline for the team, he was accompanied by his health aide, Carmen Torres, and Liz Keating, a longtime friend and advocate who, along with her husband, Poly’s Special Events Coordinator, Dennis Keating, stepped up to help after Sean’s accident. Sean needs some help with his balance and walking, and he takes extra effort to make his speech understandable, but like most things, he never lets these challenges stop him from reaching toward his goals.
The next time we meet, he’s fastidiously dressed and ready to talk. Sean’s personality exudes a mixture of quick wit, charm, and compassion, with a dash of contagious confidence. He’s open and forthright. As a coach, he describes his role as cultivating young players and instilling in them not only a thirst for competition, but a work ethic on the court that will serve them when they advance to the varsity level. He helps lay the groundwork for varsity athletics.
Born in 1981 in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, Sean grew up with his sisters and brother in a tight-knit family. Basketball and sports had a big presence in their lives and provided the Biesty children an outlet for teenage energy and competitiveness, a sense of discipline, and an unwavering mantra of “don’t give up.” Both his parents were coaches;
his mother, Maureen, coached Girls’ JV basketball at Poly Prep for 10 years. His sister Bridget has Down syndrome and the two share a strong bond. Sean’s other siblings were also Poly athletes: His sister Catherine ’02 and brother, Liam ’04, who maintains a reputation as one of the school’s best basketball players. While Sean speaks proudly about Liam, whom he called a “naturally” gifted athlete, he described himself as a team player: “I was a mediocre athlete and worked very hard to be the best I could be.” Sean’s days on the court have inspired an empathy for the student athletes he coaches. “I’ve been in their shoes,” he told me.
Erika Freeman P’24, ’26, ’28, ’32, his former biology teacher, described teenage Sean as a sharp, charismatic student with an inquisitive mind. When he was a student in her class, she recalled he was “a fun, big, bright redhead who enjoyed school and appreciated Poly. He liked being here.”
In a note as part of his mid-year narrative in 1997, Erika wrote of Sean, “The quality and dedication you have towards your work is outstanding. The effort I have seen you make in biology this year is tremendous; keep it up. You show a genuine desire to learn the material and this is reflected in all that you do. As a new teacher, it is a pleasure to know there are students such as yourself who have goals set for themselves so early in their high school career. I have seen your attitude towards challenges both in and outside of the classroom, and the determination is the same regardless. You excel in soccer, basketball, and biology, and I know this holds true for anything you set your mind to. Continue on this trend and you will be extremely successful in whatever you choose.”
Reflecting on Sean now, she added, “He is the man this young boy was …”
Sean graduated from Poly in 1999. He worked a couple of jobs while attending college and had just begun to set his professional sights on a career in coaching when a car accident on November 17, 2002, permanently changed the trajectory of his life. Against all odds, 21-year-old Sean survived the head-on crash. Then, after emergency surgery, he experienced near-fatal complications in the operating room. A critical mistake had been made, which resulted in a lack of oxygen to his brain and left him with brain damage. He was then placed in a medically induced coma for approximately three
weeks, and after he woke up, he remained hospitalized in the ICU for nearly two more months. His cognitive brain function was intact, but the damage done left him unable to walk, speak, or use his hands. Thus began his long road of recovery.
Numerous Poly faculty and friends rallied to his bedside and helped in any way they could. Some visited him in the hospital, and during the course of his recovery, others worked with him in the gym on and off campus, and still others became part of a network that would shuttle Sean to rehabilitation and physical therapy appointments. Sean recalled, “The Poly family was very gracious to my family, offering tremendous support.”
In the year after the accident, football games were dedicated to him (his brother was a placekicker), and on December 12, 2003, Coach Bill McNally organized a “Sean Biesty Night” during which Sean returned to Poly in a wheelchair to the gym where he once played.
“What I remember feeling was a deep sense of gratitude and an even greater sense of resolve,” he said. “Someday, I was determined to respond in kind … Poly believed in me at a time when not many did.”
For nearly two years following the accident, Sean wasn’t able to talk or eat without assistance. It took him more than five years to walk again. But he defied the odds again, and after numerous medical procedures and daily exercises, he regained his mobility and partial use of his one hand. He cares deeply about maintaining his mobility, trains regularly to keep up his strength and reinforce muscle memory, and eats a healthy diet. But it wasn’t an easy road. He told me, “Setbacks happen, but they shouldn’t impact your willingness to try.”
Thanks to his sheer determination and a network of support, he is able to live independently in his own apartment.
In the years since, Sean’s unfettered drive to live his best life and achieve his goals grew despite numerous setbacks along the way. It took 18 years of stops and starts, but he earned his college degree as a finance major from SUNY’s Empire State College.
“I have been telling people for years that what I learned at Poly helped save my life,” he said. “While I cannot account for the tremendous good fortune I’ve had in the 16-plus years since my accident, I can tell you that what I learned about hard work, repetition, and pushing yourself served me well then and continues to serve me now.”
Despite how much his life changed that November night, Sean doesn’t bear any ill will or
He shows up every day with
A POSITIVE ATTITUDE AND IS DEDICATED TO HELPING OTHERS ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS.
It was an absolute privilege to play for Coach Biesty.
JOSHUA BROWNRIDGE ’16
BELOW: From left, Sean Biesty ’99, Catherine Biesty ’02, and Liam Biesty ’04
RIGHT: Assistant JV Basketball Coach
Sean Biesty with Alyssa Alaimo, athletic trainer.
ABOVE: From left, Head Boys’ Varsity Lacrosse Coach Lou Candel, Sean Biesty ’99, and Sports Information Director Bill McNally.
bitterness. He is the first one to tell you that those kinds of resentful thoughts can “eat you up... My energy is better spent on making me better. I’m not going to get shut out.”
There were times after the accident, however, when even watching basketball left him depressed. But his love of the game returned swiftly in 2010, when Poly’s then coach for JV, Glenn McCartney, asked if he might want to return and be the JV Assistant Coach. Sean, who had thought his path to a coaching career had derailed, realized it was still possible at Poly. The bonus: He could stay connected to the school and students he loved.
“Coaching at Poly has been the opportunity of a lifetime. I get to teach the fundamentals of the game I grew up playing,” Sean told me.
Today, Coaches Lou Candel and Bill McNally are emphatic when they say Sean’s technical and tactical knowledge is a tremendous asset to Poly’s sports program. Whether watching films or scouting peer schools, he’s a real student of the game. He works around his physical challenges and does what’s required to get the job done. “Sean has a talent and a God-given ability for working with young people and a great basketball mind,” Bill McNally said. “Sharing his gifts with his Poly students has been a terrific win-win situation.”
During his tenure at Poly, Sean developed his role into one that emphasizes these strengths.
“I have always had a good eye for evaluating performance and talent and can determine what groups of kids will play best with each other,” he said. “I also believe in making sure our guys are prepared—it’s in our [school’s] name!—so strategy is a big part of what we do.”
Indeed, as of this publication date, Sean secured his 103rd career win at Poly as a coach.
“I love winning—it’s what I learned at Poly,” he told
me. His philosophy is straightforward: “I want my kids to know that if you want something in life, you should work hard enough so that you give yourself the best opportunity to achieve a goal.
Respect and appreciate where you are —Poly —and the people who helped get you here.”
And Sean isn’t just teaching Poly students on the basketball court. Back in Erika’s biology classroom, students are also learning from Sean’s story when they cover the topic of cell regeneration.
“Sean sat in my 9th grade class just like you,” Erika explained to her students. “But his head went through a car windshield and those brain cells and neurons don’t grow back easily. I saw him in the hospital. He’s had to relearn how to do everything —walk and talk. He’s come back and taught his body how to do so much.”
I asked Sean what he’d like people to take away most from his story. “I want people to know that your life isn’t over because something tragic happens,” he explains. “It’s going to be very difficult at first and then it’s going to be hard for a while, but it’s still livable. I’ll use myself as an example: If you told me when I left Poly back in 1999 that I would have gone through this terrible ordeal, I wouldn’t have believed you. Nobody knows what they are truly capable of, the depths of their perseverance until they are put to the test. Many people have it; they just never need to use it!”
What’s next for Sean? He’s preparing to take the LSATs in June. During our conversations, he told me how important it was for him to be informed, to learn and be able to understand complex financial concepts and how they intersect with the law. His quest is to always be an active participant in how his life unfolds—and to do that, he must resume his education. “Nothing will stand between me and my quality of life,” he told me.
I have a feeling he’s going to continue to break through any obstacle that comes his way. Beating the odds and defying expectations seem to be among Sean’s greatest strengths, and an enduring inspiration for the Poly community. b
Laura Grimm joined Poly in 2017 as a senior manager in Engagement & Communications. She loves to meet people and discover their stories. Prior to Poly, she was the senior director of content strategy at biography.com. She has two cats, Fredo and Frieda, who are slowing taking over her Instagram account.
He’s
one of the hardest-working individuals I’ve ever met.
HE’S TOUGH, HE’S MOTIVATING, AND HE HAS A TRUE KNACK FOR THE GAME OF BASKETBALL.
In
fact, he’s one of the main reasons I didn’t quit the basketball team at times. He’s also one of the main reasons why basketball is still such
a big part of my life even five years after graduating Poly.
FERRAN BROWN ’14
We asked members of the Poly community a simple, but rich question: Who inspired you most at Poly? What they shared is a beautifully intertwined web of memories: of strong bonds cultivated —and maintained—over the years and a lasting impact on each others’ lives.
INSPIRATION POLYˇS WEB of
Diahann Billings_Burford ~90,
P~20
Paul Raso ``aka RAZ~~ RETIRED UPPER SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHER
“Funny enough, if I had to pick a single person at Poly who inspired me, it would be Raz,” said Diahann Billings-Burford ’90, P’20. “I love that story about the dance, and I was able to speak with then-Headmaster Bill Williams confidently in part because of the leadership development that I received from and because of Raz. It was Raz who pushed me to do things that scared me like kayak and hike mountains He pushed (in his quiet and persistent manner) this already outspoken young woman to know that I was capable of so much more than I or others thought. I still wonder how he got me to do all of those things or go to a leadership development program in Maine where I was sure I was going to be the only Black person (and I am pretty sure that I was!). He works magic. Raz epitomized what an educator at a school that believes that they are developing character, as well as intellect, should look like. I was never a star science student, but I was always welcome in the science office (Raz’s office). There, I studied, socialized, interacted with adults, had them question my ideas and beliefs, etc. Raz, Anita DeRuiter, and Susan Beiles required that I remain an outspoken and opinionated leader and not simply a loudmouth. Raz treated me like he treated all student leaders, regardless of race, gender, etc. I appreciate him beyond words.”
At Special Reunion, former science teacher Paul Raso (aka Raz) met up with the boys who were in his first Poly class in 1973. They would have been juniors at the time. Raso said he really had the opportunity to get to know the students outside the classroom as a track coach and in a production of “1776,” in which he played John Hancock. Raso also served as an advisor to Student Government for 12 years. One of the students who inspired Raso was Diahann Billings-Burford, the second girl to serve as president of Poly’s student government. Diahann was a force of nature, Raso recalled. On one occasion, student government was planning a dance on an October evening when a pretty bad Nor’easter was threatening. When Diahann heard that the Headmaster was planning to cancel the dance, she marched into his office. She returned shortly to her student government colleagues and announced, “The dance is on!” Diahann went on to a career that has included New York City government as Chief Service Officer in the Mayor’s Office during the Bloomberg Administration. She is currently Executive Director, Cultural Investments, for Time Warner, Inc.
Jay Plum ~82
Jay Plum ’82 recalls a trip with Paul Raso and other students to a National Student Government Conference.
“The trip was a transformative event,” Jay said. “It was very special...Way back when, in 1982, I won the Poly Cup just before the end of the school year. I am sure it is corny for folks to think I reflect on that day as incredibly special, and I am still humbled that I won it and view it as a fantastic day. As I read the alumni magazine and think back across the years and I see the current winners, I know how they felt and I know how their families felt and it is...wonderful. I can remember Paul’s smile at the time—almost as clearly as I can remember my mom’s. I am still not sure I was worthy of the honor and the recognition, but it was just plain great. It is one of my biggest disappointments that my daughters did not get a chance to go to Poly and experience all those things—they did okay in Ohio, but there is no place like Poly. My oldest is living in Manhattan and trying to make her way on Broadway. I always hope that she runs into some Poly grads and that she can talk about how her dad still talks about...that tall white tower...nothing would make me happier.”
Jabari Brisport ~05
``HE WAS AN OPERA CRITIC, TOO, AND TAUGHT ME HOW TO WRITE CRITIQUES OF THEATER, FILM, AND CLASSICAL MUSIC. WHEREVER YOU ARE, DR. K., THANKS. ~~
“When I came to Poly as a 7th grader in 1999, Javaid Khan taught my English class. He had us do a quick journal at the beginning of every period: Respond to his prompt (usually a quote), or just free write. I decorated my notebook with one of my favorite Pokemon cards, and I loved journaling every class. Unfortunately, Mr. Khan wasn’t at Poly for most of my time there, but he was one of my favorite teachers. In 2011, I’d graduated from NYU, had a weekly political comedy show running, and reached out to Poly administration about bringing it for Community and Diversity Day. They directed me toward Javaid, who had returned (like Gandalf!) as the Director of Diversity. When I met up with him to chat in person, guess who handed me my notebook? I’d forgotten to pick it up from him at the end of 7th grade, and thought it was gone forever. He’d held onto it for 12 years. I love that man.”
Sonya Baehr P~00
RETIRED PERFORMING ARTS TEACHER
“I first came to Poly because my husband, Thomas W. Jones was working here as the Head of Performing and Visual Arts,” recalls Sonya Baehr. “I was inspired by his continual quest for excellence and his insistence that if kids are held to high standards, they will rise to meet them. I also loved the fact that he was equally at home with all ages of students. He enjoyed being playful with the younger kids and made up original music with them in the Performing Arts Camp we started together. Yet, he was also able to command the respect of over a hundred high school choral students as he trained them to perform at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. As Head of the Arts, he worked with other administrators to form the schedule so that our students could participate in the arts core electives they wanted. His knowledge of scheduling, hiring, creating, and evaluating curriculum made him a success at Poly and beyond. He left in 1997 to administer arts programs in large school districts on Long Island. I took over his position as Head of the Arts Department that year and tried to apply everything I had learned from him.”
Dr. Stuart Fischer ~68
“My greatest inspiration at Poly was our senior year English teacher, Dr. Miles Kastendieck,” recalled Dr. Stuart Fischer ’68, who returned to Poly for his 50th Reunion in 2018. “His classes were extremely challenging—we had to write an essay almost every day; excellent preparation for life...and Yale University. He was an opera critic, too, and taught me how to write critiques of theater, film, and classical music. Wherever you are, Dr. K., thanks.”
Sabina Laricchia_ Moroney P~21 MIDDLE SCHOOL MATH TEACHER
“Bart Moroney I have learned to become a better teacher by watching him interact with his students and/or athletes. His sense of humor, fairness, and honesty are some of the qualities that make him an amazing educator. He would go the extra mile in helping others. I love hearing the stories from the alumni when they had Bart as their teacher and/or coach. They would tell me that they appreciated all that he did for them to help them become a better person.”
`` WAS INSPIRED BY HIS CONTINUAL QUEST FOR EXCELLENCE AND HIS INSISTENCE THAT IF KIDS ARE HELD TO HIGH STANDARDS, THEY WILL RISE TO MEET THEM. ~~
Paul Raso
Sonya Baehr
Marie Corkhill
MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHER
“So many people—students, parents, and colleagues —have inspired me in so many ways during my many years at Poly. If I have to name one person, it would be Paul Raso. He told me about a job opening at Poly and was my mentor when I started here. As a role model, there was no one better. Through him I learned the importance of getting involved in the community, as it helps to build relationships and strengthen our bonds. When those bonds are strong, all sorts of learning can take place and wonderful things begin to happen.”
Liane Dougherty P~06, P~12
MIDDLE SCHOOL HISTORY TEACHER
``[ LIANE ] IS ONE OF THE MOST GENEROUS PEOPLE KNOW, BOTH IN MIND AND SPIRIT. ~~
Alex Maresca Azara ~00, P~33 PRESIDENT OF POLY~S ALUMNI BOARD OF GOVERNORS
Marie Corkhill inspired me from the moment I met her. I have told the story many times. While I was waiting to meet with the headmaster, Bill Williams, Marie was carrying around a locked container with moon rocks. She had borrowed them from NASA to share with her students, and she had to keep them with her or in a safe at all times. I knew I wanted to work in a school with a teacher with such dedication and ingenuity. Tom Fazio inspired me after I became the seventh grade History teacher and we worked on the same team. He saw all Poly students as individuals with special talents, abilities, and personalities. He worked hard to reach each student at their level and get the best from each and every one of them. He had a kind and generous spirit with his students.
Pamela Pollock
DANCE TEACHER
“I have always been, and continue to be, inspired by Liane Dougherty; she is one of the most generous people I know, both in mind and spirit. There’s a reason her room is always full; it’s filled with students spending extra time on index cards or mounting a bulletin board, colleagues stopping by for a quick chat, canned goods for a food pantry, candy for troops abroad, toys for disadvantaged youth, and the list goes on and on. She inspires me to be the best version of myself that I can be, personally and professionally. She sets the standard for being a good human being.”
“My fifth and sixth grade teachers—Marie Corkhill, Gail Karpf, Liane Dougherty and Annie Nakos were forces to be reckoned with and really set the tone for my learning journey at Poly. Whether we were bringing outer space to the classroom with Starlab, finding ‘Missing Persons’ in literature, or designing togas for the Greek Festival, their creativity and passion for teaching were unparalleled. If I could, I would do it all over again!”
Ann McCartney ~94, P~32 MIDDLE SCHOOL HISTORY TEACHER
“When asked who at Poly has inspired me, I immediately thought of many of those who taught me from 1986 to 1991. Then I thought of all of my colleagues who have inspired me over the last 18 years teaching here, and a few stand out. As a young teacher, Marie Corkhill, Gail Karpf, and Kate Flahive let me sit in their classrooms and watch them teach, gave me advice on grading and classroom management, and most of all showed by example to never stop learning, be passionate about what you teach, and laugh every day. They taught me how to teach more than any coursework or degree ever could. Over the past seven years, I have had the pleasure and honor of working alongside Patti Tycenski deaning Grades 5 and 6. Patti was a mentor extraordinaire. She taught me how to be firm, but always fair and kind; how to plan, plan, plan, and plan some more; how to have tough conversations with both students and parents; and how to form a strong community and team of teachers and students. We have been lucky enough to work with many talented teachers on teams 5 and 6 and oversee hundreds of students— in their own ways they have each inspired me on a daily basis to strive to be a better teacher, better dean, and better person.”
``MARIE HAS BEEN TEACHING AT POLY FOR OVER 40 YEARS, BUT HER CREATIVE APPROACH IS AS FRESH AND EXCITING AS WHEN SHE FIRST STARTED. ~~
Frederic Wills ~15
“It’s hard to nail down just one person from the Poly community that has helped shape the individual I am today. From former Head of Upper School Bud Cox to Javaid Khan, who I got the chance to work with through the Senior Leaders program, my development and maturity was definitely a community effort. But when I reflect on my eight years at Poly, I can’t help but smile fondly when I think of my experiences in the dance department and working with Ms. Pamela Pollock! As my dance teacher for all eight years, she literally watched me grow as a student, dancer, and person. I like to say that her guidance singlehandedly cultivated my passion for the art form and gave me a chance to create lasting memories. As a second semester senior at Wesleyan preparing to graduate, I have spent a lot of time reminiscing and reflecting, and for both my time at Poly and Wes, my memories dancing in various shows and events are some of my strongest. I couldn’t imagine doing either without having dance to help me through it. So thank you, Ms. Pollock, for all you have given me!”
Dana Catharine RETIRED CLASSICS TEACHER
“My constant inspiration is Marie Corkhill!” Dana Catharine said, “Marie has been teaching at Poly for over 40 years, but her creative approach is as fresh and exciting as when she first started. She is always thinking of something new for the students, most recently the Billion Oyster Project. What is wonderful is that her passion for science reaches beyond the classroom, so her friends benefit from her new ideas as well. She is not only a teacher, but a student too, truly a lifelong learner, as can be witnessed in her summer experiences. Marie has spent summers traveling to far-off places such as Thailand—and in preparation, she studied Thai! A fan of folk music, last summer she studied with a luthier and made her own dulcimer. These experiences are then shared with the entire Middle School in Chapel. Of course, Marie is teaching her students way more than science; she is teaching them to be interested and involved in life, just like she is!”
Michael S. Robinson HEAD OF ARTS
One of the great influences on my early teaching was Lower School Nursery teacher Irwin Tawil. In the mid-'90s, there was a time when my teaching responsibilities included joining Irwin's Nursery class for lunchtime with threeyear-old students while Linda Peluso, his teaching assistant, was on break. Irwin was an incredible role model for me and provided examples of how to be a caring, supportive male teacher with young children. During many of those years we were the only two male teachers, and I'm glad to see how that has changed. My current role includes supervising arts classes from Nursery through Grade 12, and I often recall what I learned about child-centered learning working together in the 'threes' program.
``... Marie Corkhill, Gail Karpf P~06, and Kate Flahive P~04, ~06 ... taught me how to teach more than any coursework or degree ever could.~~
ANN MCCARTNEY ~ 94, P~32
Marie Corkhill
Gail Karpf
``...spending time with Bud [Cox], I felt like maybe I could become who I imagined myself to be.~~
WILLIAM HOCHMAN ~ 10
Tara Muoio ~13
“My answer is definitely Mr. Dan Doughty. Mr. Doughty works incredibly hard, and you can truly see his love of music through his teaching. He cares so much about his students and is very passionate about their learning. He inspired me to continue pursuing music in a way that most interests me, and for that I’m grateful!”
Dan Doughty PERFORMING ARTS DEPARTMENT CHAIR
“When I started at Poly in 2006, Monica Flory was the Middle School drama teacher. Her teaching style helped me to become a better teacher and still inspires me a decade later. In addition to being a supportive friend, she reminded me of the value of using humor in the classroom, how to better understand middle school students’ needs, how to creatively address students of concern, and that, sometimes, it is okay to relinquish a little bit of control.”
Guy Devyatkin P~00
MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHER
Patti Tycenski
MIDDLE SCHOOL HEALTH TEACHER
“I started at Poly in the summer of 1995. One of the first people I met was Eddie Ruck. I quickly learned that he was like the mayor of Poly Prep. He knew everyone, was the nicest man, and quickly became a close friend and mentor to me. He was never too busy to stop, listen, and advise when I had questions. And he always did it with a smile on his face. I know he has inspired so many Poly alumni both in PE and on the teams he coached. If I can inspire students even half as well as he did for me, I will be content.”
William Hochman ~10
“By the end of senior year, I’d walk into [former Head of Upper School] Bud Cox’s office just to talk with him. Bud’s room was quiet and booklined and I’d sometimes find him sitting, legs deeply crossed, looking through the window, lost in thought. I had taken his film study course in the fall, and then, after being thoroughly inspired by the class and his teaching style (and glad that he let me eat Everything Bagel Chicken Ridics at my desk), signed up again in the spring. Bud was a mentor. He was dedicated, it seemed to me, to things courageous and true. He quoted poetry, often Emily Dickinson. He liked basketball. I was moved by all of it. I didn’t tell anyone, but I wanted to write stories myself and to write poems, too, and maybe most of all to be an actor. I couldn’t share that though, not yet at least. I was too insecure, too afraid. But spending time with Bud, I felt like maybe I could become who I imagined myself to be.
Emily Gardiner P~24, P~27 UPPER SCHOOL DEAN
Sonja Lindberg ~16
“I first met Emily Gardiner in sophomore year at Poly. During the first week of class, I worked more and harder than I ever had in my previous English classes. I was initially exasperated by the frequency of and effort required in our writing assignments. After a few quick weeks, I came to love it. Emily (it still feels weird to be on a first-name basis) was a brilliant teacher, an energetic proponent of the hunt for meaning and beauty in the written word. In and out of the classroom, Emily was an awesome mentor. Whenever I walked by her office, she was always hard at work but would always schedule time with me to review a paper or talk about an idea. When I had a rough college interview, she was a shoulder to cry on. When I come back to Poly, I’m always excited to catch up and get her advice. Emily is inspiring in her drive, her work ethic, her compassion, and her daring. Post-grad she started in the finance world, and after a very interesting foray into film production, she found that her true passion was in education. She is not afraid to be uncertain, to explore, and to challenge herself and those around her. I hope to grow these qualities within myself, and I am always thankful to have met Emily Gardiner.”
“Quite a few people at Poly have been inspirational for me, but an individual that comes to mind is David Winder, an elegant, old-style gentleman, a long-time teacher of English and Latin, and director of several plays. David had been in the army in Europe during World War II as a medic, and he related his experiences with a clear humanitarian perspective. David loved Poly and remembered many stories about teachers and students over the years. Once, when I told him that I sometimes thought I should be working in a public school, David told me two helpful things. He said it was a very different job, and that our students also needed me. Early on, I realized that if David thought Poly was a fine place to spend several decades, then I, too, might be happy and fulfilled there. David had a great sense of humor, even if sometimes a bit irreverent, and we remained good friends after his retirement, until the end of his life.”
In Bud’s class, I analyzed scenes from movies and got to write poems for homework and even once performed a monologue for a school competition.
I saw a glimpse of a possible future that, until then, had only been unspoken fantasy. Six years after taking his course and two years after graduating from Colby College with a degree in economics, in the fall of 2016, I performed in the off-Broadway adaptation of Dead Poets Society at Classic Stage Company. My life as a professional actor finally began. One night, in a post-show audience Q&A, the cast was asked if we had any teachers who had left a lasting impact. (Imagine Robin Williams whispering, “Carpe diem, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.” Or, for our show, Jason Sudeikis. It was quite the experience.) I didn’t hesitate. I remembered a day years before when my film class teacher showed to a group of bagel-eating students a scene from a movie that I had never seen, a movie called Dead Poets Society I asked for the microphone and talked about Bud.”
Bud Cox will always inspire me. I will never forget the way he spoke with and engaged students, whether one-on-one in his always-open office, before a classroom of seniors, or most often in front of a packed Chapel hanging on his every word. His patience, humanity, high ethical standards, and curiosity about the world made everyone around him be their best selves. The most amazing part was how effortless his mentorship seemed. Julian McBride ’16 offered a spoken-word poem for Bud in the year-end Chapel where students give tributes to departing faculty. Julian (who also inspired me enormously) had a line in his poem about the handwritten notes from Bud that he always keeps and will never throw away. I felt so moved, thinking of my own stash of those notes—and, looking around the theater at the whole community smiling and nodding, I thought to myself that those notes alone must have taken hours out of every week. Bud wrote them so authentically and sincerely, and hundreds of us had received them. It was truly astounding. In my first year at Poly, I was paired up with an experienced faculty partner for advisory. After just a few months, I came to understand the luck I’d been blessed with in my partner: Javaid Khan. Then Poly’s Director of Diversity, he was also an English teacher, and in every way modeled for me how to advise and teach—with love, persistence, and intelligence. Javaid projected jubilance and positivity; he helped students and teachers feel happy and hopeful in his presence. But he didn’t offer mindless bromides in response to problems. He knew there are rarely easy answers and encouraged thoughtful, complex debate about issues. He helped foster so many dedicated student leaders—when I see them at alumni events or on social media, seeking to do good work and make a difference, I am full of joy imagining his influence spreading further and further. They remind me of my own resolution to earn the great privilege of having worked with him.
Bud Cox
FORMER HEAD OF UPPER SCHOOL
“Throughout my 15 years at Poly, each day I was inspired in different ways by the many students who were involved in all aspects of community life. Whether in my classroom, in Chapel, wandering the halls, going into classrooms, or watching the many athletic, arts, and performing arts events, I found myself continually stunned, even amazed, by the sheer creativity, initiative, and moral integrity of the student body, what became for me the defining meaning of my over 40 years of teaching.” b
`` [ EMILY ] IS NOT AFRAID TO BE UNCERTAIN, TO EXPLORE, AND TO CHALLENGE HERSELF AND THOSE AROUND HER. ~~ `` DAVID HAD BEEN IN THE ARMY IN EUROPE DURING WORLD WAR II AS A MEDIC, AND HE RELATED HIS EXPERIENCES WITH A CLEAR HUMANITARIAN PERSPECTIVE. ~~
Bud Cox PATTI ANDJAVAID
Dan Doughty
FOUR SACRED MOUNTAINS
By Tyler Miller upper school
Tyler Miller taught Grades 9 and 10 history, as well as Grade 12 electives in Migration and Indigenous Histories of the Americas at Poly. Miller, who grew up in Michigan, attended Spring Arbor University and is doing post-graduate work at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His doctoral research focuses on the history of refugees in the United States, particularly Somalis in Minnesota. Miller’s travels to Venezuela and Egypt inspired his love of history. He is an avid hiker and has explored New York City and its history.
IN MARCH 2018, 14 POLY STUDENTS AND THREE TEACHERS SPENT FIVE DAYS IN THE NAVAJO NATION , an inaugural trip to the largest Native American reservation in the United States. Navajo teachers and a service learning organization called Amizade welcomed Poly students to enter Navajo sacred landscapes and engage in cross-cultural dialogue. In preparation for departure, students studied Navajo history and considered what “fair trade” service might look like. During their time on the reservation, students worked alongside Navajo community members and teachers on a series of construction and ranch projects, including digging trenches, painting a house, and clearing fields for planting.
Students described their experiences on the reservation and surrounding lands as “transformative” and “eye-opening.” Participants returned to Brooklyn with a deep appreciation of Navajo life and society, humbled by the generosity of their hosts and eager to return to the reservation again. It is the hope of the organizers that the Navajo Nation becomes a regular destination for Poly students.
A Story from the Navajo Nation
history
Photography by Alexandra Nava-Baltimore ’20
On a breezy Sunday afternoon in March, I’m standing before a space that tells me secrets in whispers and echoes. I’m alone for the first time in four days, on a red rock mesa soaring 60 feet above the green valley floor. To the north, a dusty natural corridor meanders from the San Francisco Peaks of Northern Arizona all the way to the Grand Canyon. The First People—predecessors and ancestors of the Navajo, Apache, and Hopi—walked this corridor for a thousand years before the arrival of Europeans. As they carried natural salt on their backs along the 70-mile journey, they left messages for other travelers—relations, friends, enemies—in the form of petroglyphs, sacred pictorial etchings, at a site called Newspaper Rock. Sun spirals, wild animals, human figures, and cosmic symbols—some meanings lost to time and to knowing—are engraved into the baked red clay, a testament to the path’s antiquity. Newspaper Rock is a place full of meaning,
memory, and mourning. Running fingers over grainy ancient lines, the artists’ voices are lost to time. But the scars endure.
To the south, I can see Lauren Clifford ’19 standing alone in the vineyard, piling the mangled vines of last year’s fruit into feed for the sheep herd penned up across the valley. A few hundred yards away, Tayo Ilunga-Reed ’20 and Cole Marciano ’22 are splitting logs for the evening’s fire under the watchful eye of Lawrence Kaibetoney, our host and the patriarch of the ranch. A little to the west— alongside the irrigation ditches that bring water to grapes, apricot trees, maize, and pumpkins—a group of Poly students are bending and twisting branches into a dome, forming the skeleton of a traditional Navajo sweat lodge. Alexandra NavaBaltimore ’20 and Maddie Draper ’18 lash the branches together with twine, as Noa Dallimore ’20 and Madison Malerba ’20 work post-hole diggers to anchor the lodge poles to the ground. Just beyond the mud hogan (a traditional Navajo dwelling), Nathan Ben-Ur ’22 and Mary Kinnane ’22 coddle small pups, the progeny of a dog that calls the Kaibetoney ranch home.
The land between the four sacred mountains, the Diné Bikéyah is colorful in the extreme. Violent reds, warm lavenders, twilight golds, and glassy turquoises wash across the silent expanse. The Navajo reservation is composed of more than 25,000 square miles across a space intersecting four U.S. states (Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah). It is the homeland of the Navajo people, who call themselves the Diné. They are the largest Native American community in the United States, with more than 250,000 members living both on the reservation and beyond its boundaries. And as immense as the land appears, I’m reminded that it is only a fraction of what was once a multicontinental network of indigenous nations. But that world is no more. The Navajo Nation, like all reservations in this hemisphere, is an island in a sea of colonial conquest and “nation-building.”
In March 2018, 14 Poly Prep students from the Middle and Upper Schools traveled to Navajo land for five days of service and learning. With the gentle support of their chaperones, English teacher Sarah Whalen, history teacher Melissa Hibbard, and me, students faced intellectual and physical challenges, confronting some of the complex social realities of reservation life. Lauren Clifford described the “rez” as a “juxtaposition of landscape and poverty, of hope and abuse.” Her contrast of physical beauty and economic deprivation is apt. Few dwellings are built on concrete foundations; many homes lack running water or electricity.
Tayo Ilunga-Reed wondered why the Navajo people “didn’t simply pack their bags for bigger cities on more fertile land.” But in the course of the trip, he concluded that the “Navajo dream”
is not material prosperity but “a strong sense of community” characterized by “peace with one’s surroundings.” As Tayo’s insight suggests, time on the reservation can leave New Yorkers with feelings of dislocation, pondering the questions of where and what “home” is. For the Navajos, the answer to this question is uncomplicated. “Home” is here, in this place, among the four sacred mountains, where all Navajo people emerged from the void of previous spirit worlds. In the four corners region of Northern Arizona, this is the Navajo genesis.
ABOVE: Students explored sacred pictorial etchings and artifacts and learned about Navajo traditions.
BELOW: Students bend branches into a dome, forming the skeleton of a Navajo sweat lodge.
For the Poly group, entering this sacred landscape proved mystifying and enchanting, if not emotionally unsettling. On the drive from Flagstaff to Tuba City, the tranquil beauty of the high desert is punctuated with subtle reminders that Navajos live on the margins of “American society.” Dilapidated houses, stray dogs, boarded-up trading posts, and inoperable vehicles can be seen from the road, inconvenient reminders that people live where others vacation. For some, the questions “What is an American?” and “What is America?” remained omnipresent throughout the trip. During an evening reflection, Clara Sanchez-Vela ’18 observed there was something inappropriate about ascribing the name of a fifteenth-century Italian cartographer (Amerigo Vespucci) to the Dinée Bikéyah. Navajo land has a way of confronting visitors with some uncomfortable truths, that the American dream is a nation built on Native American land without Native Americans.
But this declension narrative is insufficient to capture what the Poly group experienced. Whether it was Tucker Prisant ’21 riding a painted horse on a dusty mesa above Tuba City, or Preston Schoenberg ’20 bounding goat-like across fields of boulders and cold lava, or Claudia LeDuc ’22 donning the traditional dress of a Navajo girl’s coming-ofage ceremony (called the “Kinaaldá”), or Rasmus Dey-Meyer ’21 navigating the narrow passageways of ancient Puebloan ruins, our time in Navajo country was a transformative experience. We returned mindful of our smallness in the world, thankful to have spent a few short days in another’s. And so here, from the top of the mesa, Navajo land tells long stories of resistance and resilience, of fear and courage, of loss and renewal. There may come a time when the state of Arizona or the whole United States is swept into the dustbin of history. But the Navajos will still be here, tending their flocks, cleansing their bodies in the sweat lodge, telling their jokes, and calling the Dinée Bikéyah home. b
RIGHT: Poly students and history teacher
Tyler Miller during their exploration of the Navajo land among the four sacred mountains.
HISTORY IN OUR HANDS
At the end of their Migration & Identity unit in Grade 8, the Class of 2022 chose physical objects that helped them contemplate the ways migration has informed their personal family story and identity. It also made them think about the way material objects are used to tell a story. These pieces are part of the Tenement Museum’s Your Story, Our Story online exhibition.
My grandmother’s grandmother lived in Germany in the late 1800’s. Her name was Augusta Hermele. In the 1880’s my great great grandmother Augusta left Germany to come to America. She didn’t bring many things with her, because it was hard to bring a lot when traveling on a steamship, filled with many other immigrants.
One of the things she brought with her was a gold and green porcelain chocolate pot. This item was incredibly important to Augusta because it reminded her of home. After Augusta died, the pot was passed to my grandmother’s aunt and then eventually to my grandmother, because Augusta died when my grandmother was just a child. Not only is this pot very important to my family, but it is also a beautiful antique. To me this pot represents Augusta, my grandmother and the connection between them. Additionally it reminds me of how much my family enjoys drinking hot chocolate in the winter time. Augusta’s history was lost when she passed away. She was completely forgotten by everyone except her children and her friends. After they passed away, it was as if she had never existed. There is only one physical connection left to her, in the world today, that is the chocolate pot.
My object is a newspaper article from 1960 featuring my grandmother. She came to America from Annascaul, Ireland in 1951 when she was 20 years old. She was chosen as the New York Rose for the 1960 Rose of Tralee Festival, which is why she had her picture published in an Irish newspaper. The Rose of Tralee Festival is an annual competition in Ireland where a group of women are nominated to represent certain parts of the world—for instance, cities in America or counties in Ireland. They then try to be chosen as one of the Rose of Tralee, or the winner. It is still going on today and has great significance in Irish history and culture. This article represents the way she helped to make history, because she was in one of the very first Rose of Tralee Festivals (the first one was in 1959). It also shows how she brought Ireland and America together—she united the two cultures by representing New York in an Irish competition. That’s why this article is so crucial to my family. It connects us to our Irish heritage and shows how my grandmother was a part of the cultural history of her country. It also shows that, even when she moved to America, she didn’t abandon the traditions of her home country. Rather, she was able to combine it with the traditions of her new home.
My object is a ravioli cutter. It has been used by my family to make pasta for many generations. This piece of my family’s history was purchased either in Italy or New York sometime during 1910s or 1920s. My great-grandparents and other ancestors on my father’s side are from Abruzzo, Italy. After coming to the United States in the 1920s, my great-grandparents continued to make their own pasta. The pasta cutter is important to my family because it allows us to remember the past as we become more American and less Italian. Although my item may not be a religious artifact, whenever I see it, I ask myself what it was like to live in the mountains of Abruzzo and how different life was back then compared to now. At times I feel a sort of disconnect from my roots because of how much time has passed. wish there was a way for me to experience the past besides the stories my grandma tells. Nowadays, my family continues this tradition, and we make our own type of bread on holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving. We also make pasta at times, but we never use the ravioli cutter because it is so old. Artifacts like the ravioli cutter help my family remember the past. This is why they are so important to us.
My object is part of a sterling silver serving set that my ancestors brought with them when they immigrated in the 1700s from Ireland when Protestants were being persecuted in England. When they first arrived, they settled in Virginia. After the Revolutionary War, they moved down to South Carolina, and then years later ended up in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Through all of those moves, all of the silver in the set was lost except for a ladle. This ladle is the object I have chosen for this project. While looking at the photos, you will notice that it is cracked. During the “Siege of Vicksburg” of the Civil War (when the Union Army invaded Vicksburg), my ancestors buried some of their favored possessions so that the Yankees could not find or take them. The sterling silver set was one of the things that they buried. At the end of the war, while they were digging up their possessions, the shovel hit this ladle, causing it to crack. This object is special to me because it has been in my family for centuries and is a reminder of how hard my ancestors have worked and what they have lived through. It is also a symbol of my heritage and Irish culture.
My object is a Moser crystal vase, rimmed with 18 karat gold. It was made in Czechoslovakia. The vase was bought by my great grandfather when he was in his thirties and later passed on to my grandmother. The vase was a decorative piece in my great grandfather’s apartment in Vienna, Austria during the 1930s. My great grandfather and his family were Jewish and had to flee during the Nazi Occupation to Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia during the 1950s, had a communist government under the rule of Josip Broz Tito. Tito imprisoned my great grandfather along with other men for being a capitalist. He stayed in prison for three grueling years until he was released and they left to settle in Israel for a couple years. They finally arrived at their ultimate destination, America after leaving Israel. Nine months later my great grandfather sadly passed away from the effects of his hardships throughout his hiding during World War II and his imprisonment in Yugoslavia. The vase at the time cost a lot of money which shows the prosperity my family once had before WWII. Now in America, it represents to my grandmother my family’s roots, who they once were, and how they appreciated beautiful artworks. Today the vase represents to me and my family a reminder of how fragile the future of our existence was during the war but with fortitude, respect and determination any object can survive even over thousands of miles.
Watching family members admire and use the beautiful china set displayed at the table on holiday dinners, I always wondered where these beautiful pieces of delicate ceramic plates, forks, knives, bowls, and a gravy boat had come from. It had never crossed my mind how much history these items have gone through, specifically the gravy boat. When my great grandmother was around the age of three in 1919, she had migrated from Russia to the United States. The china set and silverware that my great grandmother brought with her was from her parents and had passed through many generations. Yet every piece of the set remained intact. My great grandmother had passed it down to her son, who passed it down to my mother, and has been used at family dinners for a countless amount of years, and has survived generations of holiday dinners. The gravy boat in particular was used in all of our traditional holiday dinners and was always in the center of the table. The china set and gravy boat not only serve as a reminder of cherished family members of previous generations and my grandmother’s journey to the United States, but it also represents my family coming together for traditional Jewish holiday dinners. The gravy boat has witnessed countless joyous memories of many generations of my family from Russia to the United States.
By Margaret Moslander and Liat
“TO BE PART OF THE DEMOCRATIC TRADITION IS TO BE A PRISONER OF HOPE….TO ENGAGE IN THAT STRUGGLE MEANS THAT ONE IS ALWAYS WILLING TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THERE IS NO
TRIUMPH
AROUND THE CORNER, BUT THAT YOU PERSIST BECAUSE YOU BELIEVE IT IS RIGHT AND JUST AND MORAL.”
As I read these words, from philosopher Cornel West’s essay “The Moral Obligations of Living in a Democratic Society,” to the seniors in my American Constitutional Law course on our final day of class, I couldn’t help thinking about how these students, and their peers in the Class of 2018, led Poly’s student body in choosing to be a part of that “democratic tradition.” This year, activism at Poly took many different forms: students led community forums, they walked out in protest of gun violence in schools, and they wrote articles in The Polygon exploring “How We Talk When We Talk About Race.” For Poly student activists, this school year was one defined by hope, fear, frustration, and the acknowledgment that while the work is never finished, their choice to speak up and act out held a moral significance that could not be easily ignored.
I. DELIBERATIVE DISCUSSIONS The community forum is a hallmark of student activism at Poly. At its best, it provides an opportunity for students, faculty, and administrators to come together for a respectful exchange of ideas on complex, often divisive issues. The previous school year began with a community forum, led by Upper School Student Government president Shakaa Chaiban ’18, on the issue of football players kneeling in protest during the national anthem. Students considered Chaiban’s point that the flag is a “symbol of a network of oppressive structures” for many, especially people of color. But they also acknowledged Buddy Dzina’s ’18 argument that “kneeling before the flag is a divisive symbol restricting the possibility to work together to achieve desired results.”
Students again called for a community forum in the wake of the February 2018 school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Students and faculty discussed their own feelings about the prevalence of school shootings and how to push back against the feeling of numbness that can set in after continued acts of violence. Michael Licata ’19 reflected, “I was ashamed of how quickly I flicked away the news alert about the shooting on my phone, like it was any other piece of news. I don’t want to feel numb anymore.” Licata’s expression of his feelings in the forum, and the subsequent head nods he received by many others in the room laid the groundwork for students to reject that numbness by turning to activism defined by action rather than speech.
II. WALKING OUT On March 14, 2018, Poly students, faculty and administrators participated in a schoolsanctioned, 17-minute walkout organized by the student
government. While it featured student speakers who offered reflections on gun violence and commemorated the lives lost in Parkland, many students felt that it did not fully capture their passion and frustration over the issue of gun violence in schools. Nina Ryan ’21 remarked that she felt that it seemed more like a memorial service than a walkout and that Poly had co-opted student activism in order to signal the school’s support for a nationwide outcry against gun violence.
In response, a number of Poly students decided to participate in another nationwide student walkout on April 20, 2018, 19 years after the deadly school shooting in Columbine, Colorado. In a letter to students and families, Dean of Students Harold Bernieri made it clear that any student who walked out could not participate in any Poly activities for the rest of the day, and would be asked to write a brief essay reflecting on the experience. “In my United States History class,” Bernieri wrote, “I teach my students about the challenges of civil disobedience, including ramifications of choosing to be civilly disobedient — this protest is no different.” Many Poly students chose to accept the challenge, and the mood among student activists as they walked out on the morning of April 20 was simultaneously hopeful, anxious, and defiant.
III. WRITING TO RAISE CONSCIOUSNESS
Finally, Poly students showed the community that not all activism looks like mass gatherings or protests. Polygon student editors Maddie Winter ’18, Lily Ray Darling ’18, Liat Weinstein ’18, Esme Graham ’18, and Sophie Marx ’18 chose to raise awareness through journalism, producing a meticulously researched article entitled “How We Talk When We Talk About Race.” The article raised difficult questions about how well Poly welcomes and supports students of color, the often unseen challenges students and faculty of color face, and how the community addresses incidents involving racist words and actions. In an editorial appended to the piece, the students wrote, “Poly serves as a microcosm of the world surrounding it–this does not mean that we are forced to play out the mistakes of the political and social leaders we see on the TV every day. This means we are where change begins. Change not just in hollow words, but in action. In understanding one another and finding empathy for the peers we are surrounded by through honest conversation, we can begin.”
This past year, Poly students showed that they are, in fact, where change begins. They used words, actions, and homemade signs to demonstrate their commitment to achieving a better Poly and a better country. In her speech at Poly Commencement,
THIS PAST YEAR, POLY STUDENTS SHOWED THAT THEY ARE, IN FACT, WHERE CHANGE BEGINS.
Kayla Williams ’18 exhorted her classmates, “Let us all go off to our respective colleges and universities in search of the right way to love our country. Let us learn to love this country and each other the way that my mother loved me, with a pat on the back and an ever-growing expectation of more.” If this year is any indication, Poly students demonstrated that they have already begun the long, difficult process of understanding what it means to love their school, their country and each other; they have learned that to love someone or something means holding them accountable and that the activism required to do so can be difficult, frustrating, and carry unpleasant consequences. The benefit, though, is getting to take part in a democratic tradition that may have no discernable “triumph” in sight, but is still ultimately bigger than themselves.
IV. SITTING IN “Seniors
Jeovanna deShongConnor and Talisha Ward, leaders of Umoja, the black student affinity group, organized the Martin Luther King, Jr. Assembly on Friday, January 18. They took the opportunity to respond to a recent incident where a racist video involving current students was spread among the wider student body. They read aloud a letter to the administration. Head of School Audrius Barzdukas responded to the letter saying, “I support them and applaud the courage of their convictions and the action they are taking on those convictions. I want to engage them in a dialogue about their letter and plan to make myself available to all students on Wednesday at 2:00 in the library. I believe we all want the same thing: a more just, inclusive, supportive, and healthy environment for every student, especially those students who have felt hurt and disenfranchised.”
After the letter was read, deShong-Connor and Ward invited the student body, most dressed in all black, to move into the hallways and participate in a sit-in. During the sit-in, students stapled post-its to bulletin boards along the walls, naming the changes they want to see in the school.
When asked why she organized this protest, deShong-Connor said, “I’ve spent thirteen years here. I don’t want any of y’all to have to question whether or not this is your school or if you have a home here. Some people haven’t been here long enough to have that experience. Younger people are blind to that sort of thing, and I wanted to open their minds.”
Evangeline Bilger and Emily Weinstein, Online Managing Editors, The Polygon b
Maggie Moslander, who started at Poly in 2017, teaches U.S. History to juniors, and two senior electives: Political Philosophy and American Constitutional Law. She has an undergraduate degree from Middlebury College and an MA in Government from the University of Texas at Austin. She is interested in how laws shape society and how diverse political communities can design laws and institutions in inclusive ways.
Liat Weinstein ’18 is attending the University of Michigan and is on the Michigan Daily news staff. She was Online Managing Editor of The Polygon.
BY LINDA BUSETTI
HOW TO
SCIEN TIS T MAKE A
“Science is a story about who we are and where we live,” explained Todd Samet, Poly’s new Science Department Chair. “The Science Department at Poly hopes to develop in our students a deep understanding of that story—its details, the relationships among details, and, importantly, how scientists and engineers work to uncover those details and relationships.”
At Poly, children become scientists—they study ecology and build bridges in Lower School; design, build, and launch rockets in Middle School; and have the opportunity to investigate a project of their choice in a three-year Science Research course in Upper School.
Youngest Scientists Explore Their World
What would so inspire third graders that they would give up their lunchtime recess?
For the cause of sustainability, Poly’s Lower School Ecology Action Team (EAT) rolled up their sleeves to sand and prime a 55-gallon barrel donated by Barrels by the Bay, which invests in environmental education. When the white barrel was ready, the kids collaborated on decorating it. Of course, they added PP in a rainbow of colors and then painted their names and a tree in bloom on the side.
The finished barrel was installed in the play yard and hooked up to the rain gutter. Under the guidance of science teacher Juliette Guarino Berg, Grade 2 planted garlic, spinach, radishes, and lettuce in two raised beds in the yard. Nursery A planted young fig trees in pots alongside the fence.
The recycled rainwater collected in the barrel is used to sustain the garden.
In the Science Lab, under Berg’s guidance, second graders designed and built bridges using popsicle sticks, construction paper, and paper tubes. The team who built the Starfire Bridge explained their design as “a mix of a truss bridge, a suspension bridge, and an arch bridge.”
In Nursery, students use science tools, such as hand lenses. They plant seeds, observe plant growth, and care for the plants and red worm compost bin in the classroom.
Right across the street in Prospect Park, they observe seasonal changes, learn about the trees, and explore
nature. A large project focuses on birds in the New York area.
“First-grade engineers designed and built model skydiver suits based on the anatomy of the Australian sugar glider [a small, nocturnal marsupial],” Berg reported. In an article describing the project, Berg wrote, “‘The Gliding Mammal Challenge,’ an activity introduced by the New York Hall of Science’s Design-Make-Play Institute and adapted and implemented by the Poly Prep Lower School, fuses life science and engineering concepts to create passionate first-grade biological engineers.” Berg explained that the children considered the problem of how an animal might glide, yet still have a soft landing. Working in teams, students sketched designs for their gliders and used popsicle sticks, foam deli trays, string, foam tubes, tape, and plastic bags for the construction. Berg provided guidance, but allowed the students to learn for themselves through the testing process. Finally, the children launched their finished gliders down the Lower School’s magnificent wooden staircase.
“The highlight of this past academic year for me,” Berg said, “was working alongside science faculty in the Middle and Upper Schools to plan our cross-divisional ‘STEM Afternoon’ for fourth, fifth, and sixth graders in May. It was a great way to make connections between what we are doing in Lower School science and how they build upon that knowledge in the upper grades.”
Hands-On Science Includes Dissecting Oysters
and
Launching Rockets
In Middle School , sixth graders in Linda Aponte’s and Marie Corkhill’s science classes help hoist oyster cages out of New York Harbor off Brooklyn Bridge Park as part of the Billion Oyster Project (BOP), which Poly has been part of since 2015. According to their website, BOP is an ecosystem restoration and education project “aimed at restoring one billion live oysters to New York Harbor and engaging hundreds of thousands of school children through restoration based STEM education programs.”
Students follow a number of protocols, recording site conditions, oyster measurements, trap data, sessile organisms, and water quality before returning the cages to the water. In the classroom, they draw a diagram of an oyster (from Whole Foods!) and dissect the mollusks, locating vital organs such as stomach and digestive system. For years, the Middle School science program has been capped off with veteran teacher Guy
Devyatkin’s highly anticipated eighth-grade physical science class. After studying the physics of motion, students worked in teams to design and build rockets, adding contoured fins and nose cones to two-liter soda bottles. “We learned about friction in class,” explained Mary Kinnane ’22. “Then, we had a mini-lesson on how to build the rockets, with Mr. D. showing us the different materials we could use, and how they affected the flight of the rocket.”
On a spring afternoon, Devyatkin and his young aerospace engineers eagerly carried their air-/water-propelled projectiles, which they named, out to the backfields. Each team took a turn, with one member using a hand pump to force liftoff. It is a point of pride to see whose rocket travels the highest and farthest. “You could see which rockets did better based on design choice and the weight of the rockets and other variables,” Kinnane said afterward.
BELOW: In sixth grade, students study the anatomy and dissect oysters and eighth graders design, build, and launch rockets as an end-of-year project.
Working Side by Side with Professional Engineers and Researchers
ABOVE: Nyla Welch ’20, above, displayed her research on Plant Tissue Regeneration, part of the three-year Science Research Course, at the annual Science Symposium in 2018.
Six years ago, several Upper School girls and their female science teachers founded Women in Science and Engineering (W.I.S.E.), a popular daylong symposium at which women engineers present hands-on workshops for middle and high school girls. The interest of girls from all over the city has grown so rapidly that registration for W.I.S.E. fills up overnight.
During the day at W.I.S.E., girls build gliders in a flight simulation workshop and test them in the science building hallways; they learn to create an app or how augmented reality works; young engineers build bridges and buildings that they test with applied forces of weight; others code a website, learn to use Scratch, and much more. Poly alumnae, such as Emily Giurleo ’13, a graduate of MIT and one of the founders of W.I.S.E., and Laura Wacker ’09, have returned to teach workshops on coding, and Nicole Karpf de Castillo ’06 has taught a session on the modeling tool Rhinoceros.
Throughout the year, Poly’s Upper School students also do 21st-century science in engineering, epidemiology, physics, chemistry, and a multitude of AP science classes every day. Poly students have a unique opportunity to
conduct scientific research while still in Upper School. In the spring of freshman year, they may apply for admission to the three-year Science Research course. During their study, they reach out to mentors in their field. A recent alum, who studied the detection of prostate cancer, had a researcher at Brown University as her mentor. At the close of the 2017–18 academic year, 18 students in the course presented their research to date in a symposium for faculty, parents, and friends in the Joseph Dana Allen Library. Nyla Welch ’20, who was beginning her research, described her study of Plant Tissue Regeneration, focusing on “how the differentiation of callus cells grown in an artificial environment can be facilitated.” Other research topics included “The Correlation Between Mindfulness Meditation and ADHD,” “Implicit Bias and Microaggressions,” “The Effects of Semantic Prosody on Political Headlines,” and “Microbial Fuel Cells.” In their senior year, the students will submit their research to local and national competitions such as the New York City Science and Engineering Fair and the Intel contest. Who knows what they will discover along the way! b
The First Christmas Eve After San Quentin
BY LILY RAY DARLING ’18
The house sits on the hill like an old man might. Stoops and groans about the weight of itself against its knobby backbone. When the couple arrives, dressed in black, the woman cupping her rounded stomach in the passenger seat, it sighs as the wind moves through it.
The house sits like an old man on the hill because it has a history to it. Eleven families before the dawn of 1964, the yawning maws of its scratched glass windows framing countless dinners and holidays and celebrations. In 1894 it watched as Mr. Robinson returned from the war and fell into bed and never got back up. The next year his daughter gave birth to a girl with his wispy black hair and green eyes and she read her a poem by the fire. The oak spine of the house remembers these moments, it is what keeps it from giving into the earth completely.
When the couple arrives, their stooped shoulders match that of the house. The man climbs out of the car and stays there a while, his pants wrinkled from the long drive up the forest-lined highway. It smells like sap, up here. The air is kinder on the lungs.
He stares at the house on the hill, where the pine trees frame the two of them and their car and that house like creations of some other god. A far less cruel god, who finds beauty in the way the uppermost branches barely kiss the fog that is beginning to settle over this small universe.
And he thinks about this, this history of the ground beneath his feet and the woman still sitting in the car behind him.
CYANOTYPE BY DEVAN KODALI ’22
For him, this history was prison, then a funeral, then prison again. And now he is here, dressed in a suit, standing on the lawn of a place that has more history than he ever will after another funeral where there should have been a celebration.
Lily Ray Darling ’18 was selected as a finalist for High School Prose in the Brooklyn Public Library’s 2018 Teen Writing Contest for “The First Christmas Eve After San Quentin” and was included in the 2018 Teen Writing Journal. She is attending Brandeis University.
In the trunk of the car they have everything they own; maybe ten days’ worth of clothes and some of her family photographs and a stack of books. One of them is a collection of poetry. One of them contains a love letter from San Quentin and a photograph of herself, four years younger with shorter hair and a small smile. A photo he took of her, when his hands were softer. When the weight of this world didn’t weigh on their shoulders so heavy.
The woman climbs out of the car, and he rushes to her side and cups her back as she blows a sigh of exertion through puffed cheeks; she cradles the bottom of her swollen belly with a thin hand.
“Oh Robert,” she says as she leans into him. He plants a kiss at the crown of her tawny head and draws her slight frame closer. They stand before the house as two pines, leaning into one another. All sappy grief and prickling hope. “Oh Robert.” b
CULTURE
FRANCESCA HADLEY ’20: Jennie
Melamed’s first novel, Gather the Daughters, was recommended to me by a friend when I was looking for books to read on a long train ride. It was a quick read for me because I absolutely could not put it down. The novel tells the story of a secular island society, its rules, and what happens when the cracks in the system begin to show. It follows the story of four girls as they navigate their adolescence in a society where patriarchy is embedded in every law and action. As they learn more about their community, they uncover the secret of how it is kept so “perfect” and removed from the outside world. Melamed’s writing is gorgeous, and her description of adolescence is familiar, but it’s made very foreign by the extreme conditions in which these girls live. The novel is engaging, terrifying, dynamic, and should be an immediate addition to your “must-read” list.
MAITE IRACHETA P’16 (WORLD LANGUAGES FACULTY) : Hail to the Thief (2003) is one of my favorite albums of all time, one of five that I’d take to a desert island. The opening track, “2 + 2 = 5,” is guided by Thom Yorke’s silky moan descending into a roar of spirals against the falsehood of its title. The chorus of the spirals come in groups of four; they wink for the equation’s right answer, demanding an act of teacherly function: paying attention.
CHRISTY HUTCHCRAFT (UPPER SCHOOL
ENGLISH FACULTY): Ingrid Bergman is a current cinematic fascination of mine. Who could forget that famous parting with Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca? Her eyes are misty on the tarmac as she joins Victor Lazlo, her husband, whose political activism against the Third Reich has placed both of their lives in danger. Bergman is controlled in her final scene of the film, but we know that it is probably taking up all her character’s strength to uphold that austere exterior in the name of duty, country, and love. I bring up Bergman here because she captures, at least for me, the feminine form in all of its force and vulnerability, and rewatching Casablanca has a particular resonance these days. You’ll see what I mean when they start playing the French national anthem in Rick’s Café Américain. I’ll also encourage a viewing of Bergman’s starring role in Stromboli where she plays the lead Karin, a migrant who hastily marries an Italian fisherman in order to take refuge on his small, native island. The landscape is punishing, desolate, and alienating — a volcano menacingly hiccups fumes as Bergman tries to ward off the judgmental stares of the locals. Her character is spoiled, stubborn, fierce, desperate, and completely intoxicating.
Radiohead took the title of this song from George Orwell’s 1984 as the fraudulent dogma that one is required to believe in a state ruled by the manipulation of the truth. Furthermore, the subtitle of the song is “The Lukewarm,” which is a reference to Canto Three in Dante’s Inferno where the cowardly souls and the neutrals are destined to a life in hell for evading civic engagement or critical thinking. The tune echoes Audrius Barzdukas’ call to the senior class at our recent Commencement. Radiohead’s rock muscle threatens to move the apathetic, the unconcerned — a dangerous song for the current zeitgeist.
TAREK BISHARA ’94 (has acted under the name of Thom Bishops): A favorite show was Berlin Station Admittedly, I have a thing for international espionage TV shows, so I watch the BBC pretty regularly, but Berlin Station has top-notch actors and writing, and reflects the time we are in. I also recently enjoyed Marcella on Netflix, Patrick Melrose on Showtime, and Killing Eve on the BBC. As far as music goes, I have been listening to Beck’s album Morning Phase a bunch. I also listen to a lot of Kendrick Lamar when I run, mixed in with some remixed Nina Simone and classic rock, as always.
LAURA COPPOLA ’95 (VISUAL ARTS CHAIR): A minimal, yet powerful, exhibition at Pioneer Works in Red Hook displayed the work of R.I.S.E. (Radical Indigenous Survivance & Empowerment), an indigenous artist and activist initiative founded by Demian DinéYazhi’. Through printed matter like posters and other mechanically reproducible artworks, A Nation Is a Massacre activated its viewers to engage with the violent history and unjust treatment of indigenous and other marginalized cultures. Text-based works that read like protest art, Soviet agitprop of the early 20th century, or artworks like those by feminist artist Barbara Kruger call to mind the political power of manifestos and the juxtaposition of word and image. They state the desires and demands of indigenous peoples in the face of punitive and repressive governments and religions that have imposed their own will on those who have always been rooted in this land.
Exemplary of R.I.S.E.’s social activism, one work consisted of a stack of paper set on the gallery floor with red-printed typewriter text that states, “…We don’t want the continued exploitation of Indigenous, Brown, & Black labour. We don’t want a white savior. We want to die of natural causes and hold our loved ones knowing that heteropatriarchy has lost its own war against itself. We want to create on our own terms, in bodies of our own choosing. We want to restore our relationship with the cosmos/earth and move beyond the concept of Western “truth.” We want to be fearless….”
Certainly, as a viewer of the exhibition, one was moved to be fearless, to act in the face of injustice, and to use even the most accessible of means, like words on paper, to provoke change.
NICHOLAS PEREZ ’20: The Latin American Boom was a literary movement that took place in the 20th century and yielded some of the most globally lauded works by various Latin American authors. Among brilliant writers such as Jorge Luis Borges and Gabriel García Márquez, Julio Cortázar is one of the key contributors to this literary movement. In his short story, “The Night Face Up,” Cortázar explores the idea of having a dream feel so real that one asks, “What is reality? Can there be more than one version of it?” The story follows a young man who gets into a dangerous motorcycle accident and is taken to a hospital. Within the hospital, he falls in and out of consciousness during surgeries. In his unconscious state, the protagonist finds himself in a nightmare, having to flee from Aztecs who need him as a sacrifice. Split between two places, it isn’t until the culmination of the story that the “true” plane of reality becomes clear. A classic and heralded work dealing with the theme of internal duality and the nature of reality, “The Night Face Up” is a spectacular work well worth the read.
OF NOTE
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
Esme Graham ’18 won a Gold Key in the Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards for a short story and moved into the Scholastic national competition. She also received several honorable mentions for other pieces. Esme also won a Gold Key in 2017.
Arman Kermanshah ’18 and Shania Smith ‘19 were winners of The Nathan & Estelle Feldman Sustainability Prize, named for the parents of Ira Feldman ’75, as part of The Nathan & Estelle Feldman Sustainability Education Initiative.
Sam Henriquez ’19, a member of Poly’s Blue Devils Jazz Band, attended Skidmore College’s 2018 Summer Jazz Institute, where students work closely with faculty in daily combo rehearsals, private lessons, and improvisational and special classes.
Three students were selected as recipients of college book awards: Emma Samstein ’19 George Washington University Book Award; Janelle Cheung ’19 Dartmouth College Book Award; and Bella (Billie) Koffman ’19: Wellesley College Book Award.
Poly’s Girls’ Indoor Track & Field won the 2018 NYSAIS Championships; Girls’ Outdoor Track & Field were the 2018 Ivy League Champions; Girls’ Outdoor Track & Field won the NYSAIS Championships.
Nick DeVito ’18 won the 47th Annual Tournament of Champions in Congressional Debate at the University of Kentucky in April. At the National Speech and Debate Association Tournament in June, DeVito was the 2018 NSDA National Champion in
Congressional Debate. This is the fourth National Championship title for Poly Prep Debate in five years. At the 44th Annual Harvard National Forensics Tournament, DeVito was the champion in Congressional Debate out of more than 440 entries. Daniel Fernandez ’19 and Nick Stratigakis ’18 were quarterfinalists finishing in fifth place in Public Forum Debate.
Outstanding vocalists, Otaniyuwa Ehue ’19, Elena Diaz ’19, Georgianna Zanotto ’19, Yana Popilevsky ’20, Seamus Signorelli ’20, and Ansel Ng ’21 participated in the annual New York State School Music
Association (NYSSMA) Solo and Ensemble Festival. Each student prepared a solo vocal selection from NYSSMA’s manual of approved, rated repertoire. Students also had to perform a short piece of music on the spot to test their sight-reading ability. The sophomore and junior students prepared Level VI (highest possible level) pieces and received either an A (93–96) or A+ (97–100) rating. Freshman Ansel Ng prepared a Level IV piece and received a perfect score!
Congratulations to Wickham Bermingham ’19 and Claire Henderson ’20 on their Best Actor and Best Actress nominations for the Roger Rees Awards for their brilliant performances in the Upper School musical, “Urinetown!”
The Roger Rees Awards for Excellence in Student Performance is currently the only student award in the New York metro area that recognizes distinction in student performance and outstanding achievement in high school musical theatre programs.
Lily Ray Darling Anderson’s ’18 poem “you caught your father crying,” was selected as an Honorable Mention Winner for High School Poetry in Brooklyn Public Library’s 2018 Teen Writing Contest. Her poem will be included in their 2018 Teen Writing Journal She was also a finalist for High School Prose and “The First Christmas Eve After San Quentin” will also be included in the journal.
In January 2018, Poly’s Middle School Debate Team competed in a middle school speech tournament in Brooklyn. Poly and other schools came together to form a local league to offer competitions for middle school speech students. Sixth-grader Bella Donovan ’24 won 4th place in the Interpretation category. This is the first time in Poly history that a Middle School student has placed at a tournament in speech. Also in January, eight 7th and 8th graders competed in Public Forum Debate at a New York City Urban Debate League tournament with 314 other middle school students. In Varsity Public Forum, the powerhouse 8thgrade team of Middle School Debate Captain Claudia LeDuc ’22 and Max Feigelson ’22 not only went undefeated and came in first place, but they also tied in individual speaker points for Top Speaker of the entire tournament. Also winning speaker awards were 7th grader Jonah Ash ’23, who won 13th speaker and Emma Spring ’22, who won 7th.
Thirty members of Poly’s Concert Choir participated in
a music festival at Carnegie Hall along with their director, Performing Arts Department Chair Dan Doughty.
Alice Cutter ’20 and Shania Smith ’19 did a fantastic job presenting and leading a workshop on how to conduct an effective waste audit at a Sustainability Through Student Voices Conference at The Town School. It was a wonderful experience for Cutter, Smith, Nick Perez ’20, Katie Kenny ’19, Justin Kaye ’19, and Harry Sankey ’20 and Poly science teachers, Juliette Berg, Lisa Osherow, Debbie Van Ryn, and Brian Filiatraut.
secondary schools worldwide that offer AP courses, Poly is one of only 685 that have achieved this important result. This honor acknowledges the amazing work Poly and in particular teacher Jean Belford P’24 are doing to engage more female students in computer science.
Poly Prep’s AP Computer Science Principles class won a College Board Female Diversity Award. The award is for attaining female student representation in AP CSP for 2018. Poly was in the top 4% of schools worldwide. Among the more than 18,000
Poly’s Varsity Wrestling team won the Independent School’s Mayor’s Cup in 2019.
Hockey celebrated a fine season and honored seniors: Sebastian Jalowayski ’18, Jesse Gorham ’18, Elias Cohen ’18, and Richard “Buddy” Dzina III ’18 at their banquet, where Buddy received the prestigious David Harman Award that the former headmaster presented as a surprise via Skype.
Sam Lefkowitz ’18 worked in Dr. Barry Coller’s Allen & Frances Adler Laboratory of Blood and Vascular Biology at the Rockefeller University’s Summer Science Research Program.
Kayla Williams ’18 interned at the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office as part of Poly’s Internship Program, which helps students in Grades 10-12 explore fields related to their interests, from science and performing arts to architecture and human rights.
Track & Field athletes were invited to represent Poly in the Private Schools 4x400m Relay at the NYRR Millrose Games, the world’s longest-running and most prestigious indoor track & field competition, in February 2018.
Girls 4x400m. Relay — Claudia Iannelli ’18, Madison Stephenson ’20, Sadé Greenidge ’20, Lauren Kauppila ’20, Katherine Kenny ’19 (1st alternate), Shania Smith ’19 (2nd alternate). Boys’ 4x400m. Relay — Derrick Simmons ’18, Daniel Wallace ’19, Peyton Lane ’18, Gabriel Cannavo ’19,
ABOVE: Lily Ray Darling Anderson ’18
ABOVE: Wickham Bermingham ’19 and Claire Henderson ’20 in “Urinetown!”
ABOVE: Poly students and teachers participated in a Summer Service for Sustainability Institute in Brooklyn.
Ian Weinman ’19 (1st alternate), Isadore Axinn ’21 (2nd alternate).
In January 2018, Poly wrestlers David Berkovich ’19 and Victor Marzano ’18 dominated their way to first place as Champions in the “Best in the City” Mayor’s Cup 2018 tournament. Liam Harvey ’18 and Dove BonjeanAlpart ’20 took 2nd Place titles.
Poly vocalist Olivia Knutsen ’18 had the great honor of being the soloist to sing the National Anthem at the annual 9/11 ceremony at the WTC Memorial.
We have watched them on the baseball diamond, fighting off the opposition on the lacrosse and soccer fields, and competing on the wrestling mats. In November 2018, five scholarathletes signed letters of intent to play in college: Christopher Klein ’19 (West Virginia/Baseball), Devon Olive ’19 (Penn State/Soccer), Charles Barry ’19 (U North Carolina/ Wrestling), Maggie Fort ’19 (Fairfield U./Lacrosse), and David Berkovich ’19
(Columbia/Wrestling).
Sydney Urban ’20 was named an Allstate All-American in Girls’ Soccer. Alum A.J. Ciccone ’03 an Allstate insurance agent, presented the award. Sydney was part of our Girls’ Varsity Soccer team, coached by Kristin Cannon, who won the NYSAIS Championship last fall.
Student photographer Alexandra Nava-Baltimore ’20 had her photos of coverage of various acts of hesed (kindness) performed in response to the tragic shooting in Squirrel Hill,
PA. published in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle and Image magazine. Alexandra is also Editor in Chief of our yearbook, the Polyglot.
Poly students raised more than $15,000 to benefit Special Olympics by taking a plunge into the frigid Atlantic in the 12th Annual Polar Plunge off Staten Island in early December. Poly was the top team in the event, which raised more than $94,000.
There was much to cheer about on Poly’s fields and courts during the 2018-19 academic
year, especially for our girls’ Varsity teams. Girls’ Volleyball, Girls’ Squash, Softball, Girls Indoor Track and Field, Girls’ Outdoor Track and Field, Girls’ Cross Country, and Varsity Baseball all won Ivy League championships. Girls’ Volleyball (undefeated), Girls’ Cross Country, Girls’ Soccer, Girls’ Indoor Track and Field, Girls’ Outdoor Track and Field, and Softball all were NYSAIS champions! This was the firstever NYSAIS state championship for Girls’ Soccer at Poly. Our Softball team, coached by Mildred Piscopo, clinched their 11th NYSAIS Championship –more than any other team in NYSAIS softball history! Varsity Wrestling won the Independent School Mayor’s Cup.
Congratulations to Daniel Fernandez ’19 and Noah Kaye ’19, the 2019 Barclay Forum Emory University Public Forum Debate Champions. The tournament is one of the most prestigious during the regular season! In February 2019, Fernandez and Kaye won the 2019 Harvard Invitational. In the finals, Poly Prep defeated Bronx HS of Science on a unanimous decision. Poly last won the Harvard Invitational in 2016.
Gabe Cannavo ’19 was named to the 2018 New York State Cross Country Class C team. Cannavo earned third at the NYSAIS Championship with a time of 16:26.72.
ABOVE: Nick DeVito ʼ18 was the 2018 NSDA National Champion in Congressional Debate.
LEFT: Christopher Klein ʼ19, Devon Olive ʼ19, Charles Barry ʼ19, Maggie Fort ʼ19, and David Berkovich ʼ19 signed letters of intent to play in college.
Congratulations to Poly’s Girls’ Indoor Track and Field Team and their coaches who captured the Ivy Prep League Championship at the world famous Armory in February 2019! The Boys’ Indoor Track & Field Team finished in 4th place.
Poly’s Girls’ Varsity Squash team clinched the Ivy League title in February 2019, after defeating Riverdale. This is the first year that girls’ squash has been in the Ivy League (four schools must have squash teams in the league and this was the first year Horace Mann fielded a team, so it was Poly, Riverdale, Hackley, and Horace Mann).
Coach Meredeth Quick says the team had a great season outside of the league as well, with an 11 and 2 record, coming in 30th overall at Nationals.
David Berkovich ’19 was voted the Most Outstanding Wrestler for the upperweights at the 34th annual Dave Ironman Wrestling Invitational, held at Monsignor Farrell High School in Oakwood in January 2019.
FACULTY ACHIEVEMENT
Jose Oliveras (World Languages): The College Board will be including 10 of Señor Oliveras’ sonnets in their anthology Voces de la hispanidad en Estados Unidos: una antología literaria.
Kim Davis (Lower School, Kindergarten A) was awarded a fellowship to attend the 2018 Klingenstein Summer Institute for early career teachers at Columbia University. The Klingenstein Center at Columbia is the oldest program in the country dedicated to independent school education. During the program she explored teaching styles, educational philosophies, and education issues surrounding compelling topics such as diversity, cognitive science, and many others.
Assistant Head of School John Rankin delivered the 34th
Annual Miles M. Kastendieck Lecture in the Humanities, “Probable Prevarications: Hannah Arendt, James Baldwin, Donald Trump, and the Politics of Lying,” in the Joseph Dana Allen Library.
Elisabeth Mansfield (World Languages Department Chair) presented her Kastendieck Lecture, “There’s a World Outside of Paris! Linguistic Insecurity and Negative Attitudes Towards Quebecois French.”
Congratulations to Ron Sarcos (Spanish, Psychology) who presented his Livingston Lecture, “The Lonely Road to Manhood,” about the challenges men face in finding friendships with other men.
Mike Junsch ’71, P’94, ’95 (Girls’ Basketball Coach, Athletics) was inducted into the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame in Glens Falls, NY, in March 2018.
Fellowship, which included a five-day interactive summer course at the CDC in Atlanta and a one-year distance-based professional development opportunity.
Dana Catharine (Service Learning) wrote two middle school books: A Time to Remember, about the Day of the Dead, and Speak Up! a memoir of her godmother, author Madeleine L’Engle. She also illustrated the memoir Eating with Peter by Susan Buckley.
Carolyn Licata (Upper School, Math) presented her Livingston Lecture in the Natural Sciences on “Fractal Geometry and Some Applications” in the Gazzani Terrace Conference Room in April 2018. She said, “In the popular imagination, computergenerated fractal images are fascinating. There is a solid mathematical background to fractals and, increasingly, more applications of fractal images in science, engineering, and architecture.”
Dr. Peter Rice (Upper School, Science) was selected as a recipient of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Science Ambassador
Varsity Baseball Coach Matt Roventini ’92, P’21, ’25 was named an American Baseball Coaches Association regional coach of the year for Region I. The ABCA is the primary professional organization for baseball coaches at the amateur level.
Olugbala Williams’ (Lower School, Pre-K A) essay, “Slavery’s Archetypes Affect White Women Teachers,” was included in the book The Guide for White Women Who Teach Black Boys, by Eddie Moore and Ali Michael.
LEFT: Alum A.J. Ciccone ’03 presented an award to Sydney Urban ’20 honoring her as Allstate All-American in Girls’ Soccer, as coach Kristin Cannon, looked on.
Marie Corkhill
Middle School science teacher Marie Corkhill has watched the children she taught in fifth grade during the early years of her 42-year career at Poly grow up to become colleagues here and then she has taught their children, as well. Imagine walking into your fifth grade classroom and finding a STARLAB dome covering the room, creating an interactive planetarium. Although she had used the dome since the 1980s, Marie still got excited to see students’ faces when they first entered the dome for class under the stars. “It was magical—and it is no less so now,” recalled Francesca Leibowitz ’95, P’29.” Over the years, Marie took part in Northrop Grumman’s Weightless Flights of Discovery for Teachers; presented a Livingston Lecture on Climate Change; and advised Middle School Senate. She ran an annual Middle School “Ikidarod” race, co-advised Middle School Science Olympiad, and co-led the 6th Grade Billion Oyster Project. “She was and still is, always so warm and welcoming,” said Alex Maresca Azara ‘00, President of Poly’s Alumni Board of Governors. “She greeted us with a smile each morning and encouraged us to be curious in class.”
“Marie Corkhill led me to a series of firsts in my academic career,” said longtime colleague and former student Harry Bernieri ’85, P’15, ’19, “and because of her I was transformed in only one year. When I was in her fifth grade class it was the first time I was eager to be in school and interested in learning. She was kind, caring, nurturing, supportive and, when need be, tough; all qualities a great teacher needs to possess. When I entered the teaching profession, she was the first person after which I thought I should model myself.”
Sonya Baehr
Not only has Sonya Baehr P’00 been a beloved drama and speech teacher and director of Upper School theater productions for 25 years, but, as vice president of the International Drama/Theatre and Education Association, she also advocates for performing arts education for all children at conferences around the world.
Sonya came to Poly in 1990 to create and run the Performing Arts Summer Program with her husband, Thomas W. Jones, then Head of the Arts Department. She joined the faculty with a mandate to develop a Middle School drama curriculum. Creating this new series of classes was a wonderful opportunity for an arts educator. Sonya went on to teach in the Upper School and served as Head of the Arts Department herself for five years. Sonya taught students that the process of preparing a production is just as important as the final product. She remembers Poly parents such as Meryl Streep P’04, ’09 and John Turturro P’08, who were so supportive of the theater program. Sonya was responsible for giving students the opportunity to learn from theater professionals such as actress Audra McDonald, who gave a master class to the cast of Ragtime, and Tony Kushner, who worked with the cast of Mother Courage
Her colleague David Higham P’07 said, “To me the quality that makes Sonya stand out and makes her who she is—is the passion she has for what is important in her life. Those passions include her love of theater, her love and dedication to teaching, and, most importantly, her love for her family and friends. Sonya has been instrumental in the high quality and growth of the theater program at Poly for the last 25 years. It won’t be the same without her, and she leaves an exceptional legacy for others to build on. She will be greatly missed.”
Robert Falotico
Upper School math teacher Robert Falotico P’03 retired after 21 years at Poly and 20 years teaching for the New York City Department of Education.
Robert, who grew up in Brooklyn, attributes his love of math to three high school math teachers who were excited about their subject and made teaching appealing.
At any Poly alumni event, you will probably see Robert, who values the connections he has made with students and colleagues. He enjoys seeing the adults his students have become and, after 21 years, even meeting their children. He kept his promise to his junior math class and returned for their Commencement in 2019.
“I enjoyed the energy that young people bring to the classroom,” he said. “It motivates me and keeps me young.” He added, “I will also miss my colleagues in the Math Department who have given me great support and inspired me to be a better teacher.”
Math Department Chair Maria DiCarlo said, “Robert has dedicated himself to helping students appreciate math while showing genuine concern for their emotional well-being. It has been such a pleasure working with him but also having the privilege to call him my friend. I will always remember how he made a difference in students’ lives, how he always knew the best restaurants for any of our department dinners, how he could find concert tickets online more quickly than anyone, and how I could always count on him to listen with an attentive ear.”
Robert was also the advisor to Poly’s very successful New York State Math League team for 15 years.
In retirement, Robert will learn to play the bass guitar (the same instrument his son, Michael ’03, plays) and try his hand at some specialty cooking. He will also have more time with his three grandchildren, who live in Massachusetts.
Dana Catharine
Dana Catharine’s association with Poly began early in life. Her father was a member of the Class of 1937, and her baby book includes a letter from her namesake, Headmaster Joseph Dana Allen.
Dana taught at Poly for 16 years in the Classics and World Languages departments and as co-coordinator of the Service Learning Program. Dana took students abroad to Rome, France, Mexico, and Spain “not as tourists, but to learn about the place and to use the language.”
A highlight of Dana’s time at Poly was having so many interesting opportunities and colleagues. Poly enabled her to go to a monarch butterfly sanctuary in Mexico to prepare a science/Spanish program. She presented the 2007 Kastendieck Lecture on Spanish feminist author María de Zayas y Sotomayor and Mexican writer Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. She was also director of the SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) program to create greater diversity of faculty and staff.
In retirement, Dana will continue to pursue her many talents, including illustration, as seen in the book Eating with Peter
Dana will miss the community and lunchtime talks in Commons. Colleague Sean Mullin said, “For several memorable years, Dana Catharine served as Poly’s gracious host teacher by welcoming students and colleagues to oral lore’s hearth; thus, her legacy will ignite each fall when torchbearers light candles at the Día de los Muertos altar she established in the Joseph Dana Allen Library, where weary travelers honor their forebears above the dormant fireplace.”
Artwork by Deirdra Hazeley
CLASS OF
2019
FACULTY RETIREMENTS ALUMNI HONOREES CLASS NOTES
Each year, Poly Prep’s Board of Governors honors alumni on Reunion Day to recognize outstanding graduates for their professional accomplishments and contributions to Poly. Congratulations to our 2019 Alumni Award honorees!
DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
DR. MORTON LEVITT ’64 Professor of Pathology, Florida Atlantic University
Dr. Morton H. Levitt is professor of pathology at the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL. He earned his BSE in Engineering from Princeton and his medical degree from Duke, followed by a pathology residency.
Dr. Levitt served as Chair of the largest clinical department at the school; as Faculty Scholar in Pathology at Florida State University College of Medicine, where he was Director for the Pathology Curriculum; and as Associate Clinical Professor of Pathology, University of Louisville School of Medicine.
Dr. Levitt was a Public Health Service Research Associate at the National Cancer Institute, performing research in experimental pancreatic carcinogenesis, as well as serving as Acting Director, Gastrointestinal Tract/Prostate Cancer Program. He spent six years in the Carcinogenesis Testing Program overseeing the evaluation of environmental carcinogenic hazards for the FDA and other agencies. He was the Senior Air Force Officer at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, where he earned the Distinguished Services Award. Dr. Levitt, was a Colonel in the Medical Corps; Assistant Chief of the Hospital Medical Staff, Malcolm Grow Medical Center, Andrews Air Force Base, MD; and Staff Pathologist and Chairperson in their Department of Pathology. He was deployed during Operation Desert Storm.
He obtained his Master’s in Health Administration from Duke. Dr. Levitt is board certified in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology; was a former Governor of the College of American Pathologists; and is the President of the Florida Society of Pathologists.
Dr. Levitt lives in Boca Raton, FL, with his
DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
TIMOTHY HOLLISTER ‘74
Attorney and Advocate for Safer Teen Driving
Tim Hollister is a land use and environmental attorney in Connecticut, ranked among the Best Lawyers in America, but since 2007, his public service avocation is advocating for safer teen driving. Hollister lost his 17-yearold son, Reid, in a car crash in 2006. After Reid’s passing, Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rill appointed Tim to a statewide task force that helped transform Connecticut teen driver laws to among the most stringent and effective in the nation, reducing fatalities by 70% between 2008 and 2014. In 2009, Tim launched his blog, “From Reid’s Dad,” and began speaking nationally about avoiding predictable situations that lead to teen driver crashes. For his advocacy, Tim received the nation’s highest civilian award for traffic safety in 2010 from the U.S. Department of Transportation. In 2013, Tim published Not So Fast: Parenting Your Teen Through the Dangers of Driving (Chicago Review Press), for which he has received national awards from the Governors Highway Safety Association and the National Safety Council. In 2015, Tim published the candid story, His Father Still: A Parenting Memoir, a cautionary tale about the challenge of balancing freedom and protection. This book was an Oprah Summer Reading selection in 2016. Tim is widely known among traffic safety professionals for P-A-C-T-S, an easy way to remember the five biggest dangers in teen driving: Passengers; Alcohol and drugs; Curfews (night driving); Texting and electronic devices; and Seat Belts.
DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
GIGI GEORGES ’84
Adjunct Faculty Member, Boston College
Gigi Georges has had an extensive career in politics, public service, and academia, and has contributed significantly to the fields of social and education policy. For the past six years, she has taught political science at Boston College.
Georges was previously Program Director for the Harvard Kennedy School’s Innovation Strategies Initiative and Managing Director of the Glover Park Group, a leading national strategic communications consulting firm, whose New York office she co-founded and ran. Georges has also served as Communications Director for the New York City Department of Education under Mayor Michael Bloomberg; a Special Assistant to the President in the Clinton White House; and former NY Senator Hillary Clinton’s State Director. She has been a senior aide and advisor for numerous high-profile campaigns.
In 2008, Georges was a Kennedy School Research Fellow and a contributing author to Stephen Goldsmith’s The Power of Social Innovation: How Civic Entrepreneurs Ignite Community Networks for Good. She has co-authored and edited two guides for college and prep school admissions. She is currently working on a book about girls growing up in rural Maine.
Georges holds a B.A. (Phi Beta Kappa) from Wellesley College, an M.P.A from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, and a Ph.D. in public administration from NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service. She lives in Bedford, NH with her husband, Jeff Oxman, and daughter, Margaux.
401949 Jeff Rose received the Legends Award from the Southern California Sports Broadcasters at their 27th Annual Awards. Jeff graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where he played tennis and soccer. He attended Cornell Law School. He joined the CBS Television Network in New York and worked in production, publicity, sports, and news.
50
1950 Joe DePaola is sad to report the passing of his wife, Joan. They had been together for 63 years. He is now fully retired from his career in flight simulation and as an aviation consultant, and he is living in Euless, TX, with his son and family nearby. ❱❱ George Di Raimondo retired and is active with family, friends, and home projects.
1952 Peter Goetz is still practicing law with Goetz Fitzpatrick, the law firm he started 51 years ago. Peter combined his engineering education (RPI) with his legal training. They have about 30 attorneys and specialize in construction law. He goes to the office about once or twice a week and he spends the rest of his time in Cold Spring, NY. He recently started raising designer chickens as pets. His next project is miniature donkeys! He still plays tennis twice a week. Peter, whose wife is also a pilot, continues to fly his plane every weekend, but his last big trip was to Buenos Aires about seven years ago.
1953 Arthur Bellinzoni published his tenth book, The Building Blocks of the Earliest Gospel: A Road Map to Early Christian Biography in February 2018.
❱❱ Robert Kirschner has moved back to NYC in retirement.
1954 Thomas Bond and his wife, Laura Jean Hageman, escaped the wildfires that destroyed over 5,000 homes in the Santa Rosa area.
1956 George Marks sends his best to his Poly friends. His travels have included Canada, Russia, Poland, Croatia, and Prague “and we drive Santa around Seaport Village, San Diego in our Corvette every Thanksgiving.”
1957 Victor Rich says he and Patti regularly have dinner with George Malin and Elaine Malin, usually once every 4–6 weeks. While in Florida for the winter, he had lunch with Cliff Lazzaro and Tony Montalbano at a multi-class Poly mini-reunion arranged by Poly. All three classmates look and feel great.
1958 Jeffrey Marlin has 21 e-book/ paperback titles currently available on Amazon. Jeff says, “Members of the Leisure Class of ’58 (and others) are invited to buy, read, and review.”
Artwork by
Jared Donnelly ʼ21
1959 Dave Tartikoff is comfortably settled and retired in La Jolla, CA. His daughter and two grandsons are close by. Dave says, “God has favored me with health, family, and a few bucks to enjoy life with in sunny southern California.”
1960 Richard Berg, who has published almost 200 video games, reported he had video war games coming out in China and Europe, having “pretty much ‘gamed’ the entire pre-modern world.” One of his games was featured on the TV show The Big Bang Theory in a May 2018 episode.
1962 Roger Freilich (photo) is living in Riviera Beach, FL.
1963 Andrew Avramides reports that he has lived in London since 1975 and has been married for more than 43 years with two lovely daughters. Andrew has been involved in oil trading since graduating from Georgetown. He says, “Since 1979, I have had my own consultancy buying or selling physical crude oil in the North Sea, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa for small producers.”
1965 Dr. Andrew Mogelof (photo) celebrated 40 years in practice. One of his twin sons now owns his practice and has become a superb dentist. His other son is a principal at PIMCO, and Andrew is incredibly proud of them. He says, “I feel so fortunate to have had the Poly experience. I hope all our class have found their lives to be successful and enriching.”
1967 Phil Abrami continues to race his 1988 BMW M3 in vintage races in the U.S. Northeast and Eastern Canada.
Tracks include Mosport, Tremblant, Calabogie, PIRC, and Watkins Glen.
1968 Dr. Rob Jacob received Poly’s Distinguished Alumni Award at Special Reunion on April 28, 2018, which was the Class of 1968’s 50th Reunion. Dr. Jacob is a professor of computer science at Tufts University. ❱❱ Skip Vigorita also attended the 50th Reunion and enjoyed seeing friends “whom you literally grew up with from childhood. I was overwhelmed by the sensitive camaraderie we seemed to share after half a century.”
1969 Howard Levine (photo) says that after a 44-year career in public accounting, including 15 of those years working in the gaming industry, he sold his accounting practice and retired last November. His wife, Susan, is also retired and they are settling into new daily routines without the rigors of work. He says, “Every day’s a weekend now!”
❱❱ Howard Levy released a new CD, From the Vaults Vol. I: Harmonica Jazz This is the re-release of a 1987 album on Tall Thin Records. It is the first jazz album ever recorded by a diatonic harmonica player.
❱❱ Jon Oliver (photo) shared a photo of himself with his hero since Poly, Dick Van Dyke, holding up Jon’s book, Lesson One The ABCs of Life (Simon and Schuster) His nonprofit emphasizes helping prevent violence and promoting social and academic success, which is now more timely than ever. For more info, visit lessonone.org.
❱❱ Joel Pfister, Olin Professor of English and American Studies at Wesleyan University, is serving as Visiting
Professor of the Humanities at the Università degli Studi di Macerata in Spring 2019, and is residing with his wife, Lisa Wyant, in Rome. He is teaching a graduate seminar and writing his book on American movies. Next year he will be Director of the Center for the Americas at Wesleyan. Joel will be unable to attend his 50th Reunion as he will be teaching in Rome.
1972 Henry Warshaw has been married to Susan for more than 36 years. They have two children, Ellie and Jake. Henry was elected as a trustee of Washington University in St. Louis and to the Board of Barnes Jewish Hospital Foundation.
1973 Class Agent Jim Oussani reports that “a large contingent of members of the Class of ’73 traveled from across the country to celebrate our landmark 45th Anniversary for the daytime events and tours on campus. Together with CoChairs George Brown and P.J. Iracane, a welcome reception was held in Manhattan the Friday night before, and a dinner was held at Tomasso Restaurant after the reunion on Saturday. For some, it was the first time back to Poly, and many of us have not seen each other since graduation, although we try to keep in touch and get together. As we become grandparents and start to retire, we hope to find more time to share experiences, travel, and keep in better contact.
1974 Dr. Robert Rogers, who was appointed to the National Association of Healthcare Advocacy (NAHAC) Board and elected to the Management Committee of the anesthesia partnership, still lives and works in private practice in Los Angeles, CA. He is a clinical professor as well as a member of the American Medical Association, California Medical Association, Los Angeles County Medical Association, American College of Physicians, and the Society of Hospital Medicine.
1975 Kenneth Simurro shared that he was called to a congregation in Schoharie County in Upstate New York, and he was appointed dean (staff of bishop) of the conference of Lutheran congregations in five counties. He and his wife have become comfortable in the rural life after about 1 1/2 years outside NYC. ❱❱ Will Stevens was named president of the UnityPoint Health Foundation. Will’s book, God’s Givers: Seven Old Testament Stories of Fearless Giving, was ranked #1 on Amazon’s best seller list in two categories: stewardship and pastoral ministry.
1977 Cory Cuneo reports that after several years as the director of security for the NYC Administration for Children’s Services, he is now at the Intrepid Museum as the director of security.
1979 Jeffrey Bamonte says, “Marissa graduated from the College of Charleston in May 2018 with a BS in international business, and Lauren will be entering her sophomore year at Vanderbilt University.” He works at Novocure, a medical device company, where he is vice president of sales.
1980 David Schuman met up with Chris Davenport ’91 at Politics & Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C., for the signing of Chris’ book, The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos. David is an attorney at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
1983 Steven Saporito (photo) is still at his law practice in Bay Ridge. He says, “My one and only 7-year-old has been going to Poly Camp during summers (when he’s not riding ATVs). It’s been nice...therapeutic, to see and talk with old friends and mentors. Shoutout to my coaches, classmates, and teammates. Y’all have been the truest during this long, strange trip.”
1984 Wendy Haft is presently the director of athletics and physical education at Rye Country Day School and lives in Rye with her three children: Reece, Madison, and Cole
1985 Jill Sigman discussed how the arts and sustainability are intertwined, as seen in her book Ten Huts, which “explores the ability of art to engage us to re-envision our environment,” at a forum on sustainability at Poly. She returned to Poly in the spring of 2019 to work with students and create a hut on campus.
1987 Dr. Armin Tehrany (photo) continues to mentor Poly and NYU students and alumni through his pre-medical internship program. He was inducted as an honorary orthopedic surgeon for the NYPD. His recent film, Killerman, for which he was executive producer, is scheduled for a 2019 theatrical release.
1988 Erika B. Farrell received Poly’s School Service Award at Special Reunion in 2018. She is a Poly Class Agent and served on the Alumni Board of Governors from 1992 to 2006. ❱❱ Jeanine Smartt Liburd P’21, ’24 received Poly’s Distinguished Alumni Award at Special Reunion in, 2018. Liburd is the chief marketing & communications officer for BET Networks.
Jon Oliver ’69 with Dick Van Dyke
Dr. Andrew Mogelof ’65 and sons
Roger Freilich ’62
Howard Levine ’69
Dr. Armin Tehrany ’87
1990 Orlando Bishop wrote and directed the love story “Dinner for Two,” presented on TV One.
1991 Chris Davenport traveled to NYC on a tour to promote his book, The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos Chris is a reporter for The Washington Post
1992 Alison DeGregorio and her family of five moved from Seattle, WA, to Lake Forest Park, WA. She and Kevin welcomed their third child, Caroline, in October 2016. Alison is a lawyer with her own practice, focusing on technology transactions, advertising, and commercial contracts.
1994 Angelique Banks-Stewart (photo) graduated from Emory University Goizueta Business School with an MBA. She accepted a position as director of client success with Zipari Inc. While she still lives in Atlanta, she is in NY regularly for work. She says, “Marlon, Amaya, and I will be spending two weeks in Europe for some much needed fun!”
❱❱ Corinne Tuccillo King (photo) was named principal of the Lutheran Elementary School of Bay Ridge. She says, “How lucky am I to get to work with classmates Samantha Perez and Nadia Mastromichalis?”
1995 Liz Feldman, already a successful comedic screenwriter (2 Broke Girls), had her 10-episode series, Dead to Me, picked up by Netflix. ❱❱ Mark Lakin was hired alongside legendary photographer Gilles Ben Simone to be the new house photographers for the overhauled Maxim magazine. He was also appointed to Travel + Leisure’s Travel Advisory Board, an elite group of 16 owners and operators of the country’s most important travel agencies employing over 8,000 travel designers and responsible for over $14 billion in travel bookings a year. Mark was also named a Travel + Leisure’s Top Travel Specialist for the third year in a row. He continues as chairman of the board of Yamba Malawi, a non-profit that uses donor dollars to start small businesses in rural Malawi.
1997 Claudine Tomlinson is living in Durham, NC.
1998 Courtney Archer-Buckmire returned to Poly to take on the new role of Director of Major Gifts. ❱❱ James Valentino became a partner with the law firm of Clayman & Rosenberg, LLP, in February 2018.
1999 Laura Terruso, who co-wrote the feature-length comedy, Hello, My Name Is Doris was the writer and director of a teen comedy, Good Girls Get High
002000 Alex Azara and other members of the Class of 2000 had a mini-reunion at Michael & Ping’s Chinese restaurant in Park Slope, which is owned by classmate Michael Bruno.
2001 Artemy Kalinovsky, who teaches at the University of Amsterdam, presented a lecture at Columbia University about his recent book, Laboratory of Socialist Development: Cold War Politics and Decolonization in Soviet Tajikistan (Cornell University Press, 2018). The book investigates the Soviet effort to make promises of decolonization a reality by looking at the politics and practices of economic development in Central Asia between World War II and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
2002 Danny Green returned to Poly for the annual Athletics Awards Assembly in May 2018 to present the first Josh Cooper ’01 Sports Broadcasting Award. Alex Aboutaam ’20, Hope Brennan ’21, and Caitlin Lam ’21 were honored for their roles in Poly’s new Blue Devils outreach via social media. Danny welcomed his first child, Daniel Aiden Green Jr., this past year. ❱❱ Tiffani Hooper Bromberg and her husband, Dr. Eli Bromberg, are proud to announce the birth of their daughter, Zora Lewis Bromberg, on March 29. Eli just completed his doctorate in English/American Studies, and Tiffani was just promoted to senior associate director of college counseling at the United Nations International School. ❱❱ Dr. Christian Zaino is excited to share that he joined the Orthope-
dic Institute of New Jersey. He says, “I have sub-specialized training in hand, upper extremity, and microscopic surgery and treat both children and adults. My office is in greater Morristown. Prior to this, I was doing a traveling fellowship in New Zealand. It is such an exceptional place.”
2003 Jared Banner was hired by the New York Mets as farm director. Previously, he was the VP of player personnel for the Red Sox and had spent 10 years at the organization. He had served as director, player personnel since 2016. Jared first joined the club in 2007 as a fellow in the baseball operations department. He then worked as assistant, player development (2008–09); assistant, amateur scouting (2009–10); and coordinator, amateur scouting (2010–12). While at Amherst College, Jared played four seasons of varsity baseball as an outfielder (2004–07), and he served as team captain in 2007.
2004 Bobby Underwood performed in Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish at the Museum of Jewish Heritage.
2005 Lt. Adrienne Rolle was the speaker at Poly Prep’s Veterans Day Chapel in November. ❱❱ Akili Tommasino was appointed associate curator, modern and contemporary art, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA). Akili joined the MFA in October 2018 from the Museum of Modern Art, NY (MoMA), where he had been a curatorial assistant since 2014. Notably, he curated the 2017 MoMA exhibition Projects 107: Lone Wolf Recital Corps
2006 Eva Lipiec is still in the D.C. area and works for the Congressional Research Service as an oceans and coastal research analyst for Congress. Eva is always looking to befriend Poly alums in the area, so feel free to reach out!
2007 Daniel Hochman was named one of Forbes 30 under 30 in Finance 2019. At Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, Daniel is a leading environment, social, and governance researcher and played a critical role in some of the firm’s most important research projects, including those on the Chinese and Japanese economies, and interest rates. ❱❱ Kevin Hubbard has “retired” from his day job on Capitol Hill to focus all his energy on growing his activewear clothing brand: Rhoback. Known for its fun instagram, @Rhoback, the brand specializes in performance polos, activewear T-shirts, Q-Zips, and hats, and it was featured this past year in Golf Digest and Town & Country magazines.
2008 Sam Hasty, a Fulbright Scholar, has helped build LITE (Let’s Innovate Through Education) while serving in the corps of Teach for America in Memphis, TN. Sam spent a year as a Fulbright Scholar in Poland, researching entrepreneurship and financing structures for new businesses in a country that, he says, spends less on education than the U.S. does but gets better results.
2009 Monika Lay graduated from the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine, earning her MD, and started her residency in general surgery in June, training at SUNY Downstate. She says, “Back to Brooklyn!”
DAVID WILLNER ’02 and his wife, Charlotte, broke Facebook’s fundraising record when their campaign to help one immigrant family went viral and topped $20 million. The California couple was inspired by images of children and parents being searched and separated at the U.S. border. Their campaign began with the goal of raising $1,500 to reunite an immigrant parent with their child through the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), the largest provider of immigration legal services in Texas. In less than four days last June, they raised more than $6 million on Facebook and quickly topped $20 million, breaking Facebook’s fundraising record. RAICES combines expertise in the practice of immigration law with a commitment to advocacy. Its staff provides consultations and direct legal services to immigrant families through assistance with residency and citizenship issues, DACA renewals, asylum seekers, children’s programs, and family detention and reunification, at no cost to the clients.
Angelique Banks-Stewart ’94
David Willner ’02
Samantha Perez ’94, Nadia Mastromichalis ’94 and Corinne Tuccillo King ’94
CONGRATULATIONS TO MAX ROSE ’04
, who became the first Poly alum to be elected to the U.S. Congress with his November 2018 victory to represent NY District 11 in the U.S. House of Representatives. Max is the son of alum Hal Rose ’74 and sister of Maya Rose ’09.
Max attended Wesleyan University and the London School of Economics, where he earned a master’s degree in philosophy and public policy. After college, he joined the U.S. Army and is a combat veteran of the Afghanistan war, in which he was wounded. Max was always a leader at Poly. He was part of a service and exchange trip led by Elijah Sivin to Ukraine in 2002.
“I think Max was deeply touched by the generosity of the families that we met and by the dysfunction we saw in Ukrainian government and civil society,” Sivin recalls. “I think he was also profoundly impressed by the professionalism and selflessness of the Peace Corps volunteers who were working in the little Ukrainian town of Kalush, where we spent two weeks. I have wondered whether they were part of what inspired him to pursue public service.”
2010 Alana Lawson Althans (photo) married Arthur John “Trace” Althans III on November 10, 2018 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in NYC. The wedding party included fellow Poly alums Megan (Anise) Smolinsky ’10, Katherine Greissman ’10 and Phillip Lawson ’13. The couple met at Kenyon College, from which they both graduated, and they currently reside in Gramercy Park. Alana is a search analyst at On-Ramps, an executive recruiting and consulting firm for nonprofit groups and companies with social missions.
❱❱ Dr. Nicole Maldari graduated from Drexel University College of Medicine and reported she was set to complete her residency in anesthesiology. ❱❱ Will Hochman acted opposite Mary-Louise Parker in Adam Rapp’s new two-person play, The Sound Inside, at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in June.
2011 Samuel Alter recently completed his master’s in geology at Arizona State University and will return to NYC to look for jobs and plan his next move.
2012 Rolanda Evelyn is a product marketing manager at YouTube. She is the fashion blogger
Wrestling coach Konstantin Avdeev remembers that Max was captain of the varsity wrestling team and “a natural leader, diligent, a hard worker, and passionate.”
Max also shone in the “iconic role as Tweedledum” in a Middle School drama production, recalls Michael Robinson, Head of Arts. “He was a fantastic arts/athlete Poly student, managing to be in productions, especially in Middle School. Max was funny and personable and a really great guy, wonderful to have in the cast! His friendship with Julian Warshaw, playing Tweedledee in the play, is a long-lasting Poly friendship, and their connection was a delightful component of their acting together in the production.”
He’s pictured above with sister Maya Rose ’09, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, his wife Leigh Byrne, and friend Daniel Ricciardi ’04.
behind www.leavealittlesparkle.org, where she has collaborated with brands like SF Goodwill, Le Tote, and Banana Republic. She co-founded Other (www. forothercards.com), an inclusive greeting card company celebrating moments often ignored by the mainstream.
2013 Jesse Bongiovi’s and his father’s wine, Hampton Water, which debuted in 2018, was named the Best Rosé of 2018 by Wine Spectator and was also among its Top 100 Wines. The wine is described as a “fresh and lively rosé, with distinctive minerality.”
Khail Bryant celebrated the premiere of the film
My BFF in which she played one of the lead characters, Gemma Brown.
❱❱ Blossom Parris was awarded the Edwin Foster Kingsbury Prize for Physics from the Physics & Astronomy Department at Colgate University’s annual Academic Awards Convocation.
❱❱ Cadet Daniel Reich, 4/C, who is attending SUNY Maritime College, spent 50 days at sea on SUNY Maritime’s training ship, the Empire State VI. He completed a three-day repeating rotation of classes (such as navigation and firefighting), watch standing, and work. The ship traveled from the Bronx to Puerto Rico; Mallorca, Spain; and Glasgow, Scotland. He says, “Summer Sea Term brought class into the real world and let me build some great friendships.”
2018 Maggie White was elected president of her freshman class at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, PA.
1930s
Joseph J. Loughlin, Jr. ’32, who was known as “Bus,” passed away peacefully in Newton, MA, on July 23, 2018, at age 105. Born in Brooklyn, NY, Bus was educated at Poly Prep and Williams College, class of 1936. He was the oldest living Poly alum at the time of his death. As one of the oldest WWII veterans, Bus proudly served his country with honor, valor, and distinction. In addition to his successful career as an insurance broker, Bus was active in many community groups and organizations. He served as president of the Brooklyn Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick, The Montauk Club in Brooklyn, and Panther Valley Golf Club, among others. In addition to his family, Bus’ greatest passion was the golf he played for an astounding 90 years. Known as “The Legend,” Bus exemplified the very best in the golfing community and played skillfully from age 12 to 102. Bus was predeceased by his parents, six siblings, wives Margaret (née Hayes) and Kathryn (née Nick) and son Joseph J. (Jay) Loughlin Ill. Bus is survived by his two loving daughters, Mary Ann Shanahan of Stamford, CT, and Suzanne Loughlin of Newton, MA; two sons-in-law, Edward Yeats and Carl Shanahan; five grandchildren, Johanna Hynes (Jonathan),
Elizabeth Hynes (Thomas), Thomas Hynes (Veronica), and Dylan and Andrew Yeats; and three great-grandchildren, Jack, Luke, and Constance Sweet.
Arthur Beverley Gnaedinger ’37 died on January 8, 2019. He grew up in Brooklyn, where he met his beloved wife of 69 years, Barbara, née Maynard, who died in 2015. Her father, Edwin P. Maynard Jr., and uncle, Richard S. Maynard, were both Poly alumni. Arthur is survived by his devoted daughter Sarah Miles Williams. At Poly, Arthur (aka “Ned”) was a member of the Cum Laude Society, Oasis senior honor society, Assistant Editor of the Polyglot, special writer, Polygon and on the Championship Rifle Team. Arthur earned a degree in History and Literature from Harvard College in 1941, specializing in 19th century France and Germany. He later earned an MBA degree with distinction at NYU. During World War II he was a division and turret officer on the battleship USS Arkansas, serving in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters, when she gave gunfire support to the landings at Normandy, Southern France, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. Married in 1945, Arthur and Barbara lived in Brooklyn until business opportunities took them to the western suburbs of
Chicago and later to Minneapolis, where their daughter was born. Returning to NY in 1962, they resided in Pelham Manor for nearly 40 years. Arthur retired from business in 1990 as Manager of Corporate Marketing Research of Westvaco Corporation (now WestRock). Throughout his life, Arthur continued to read history, and avidly followed current affairs in historical context. He also deeply appreciated music and art. He was a Deacon of Huguenot Memorial Church and taught Sunday School. He loved the sea, spending summers as a boy on Long Beach, and after 1945, sailing, beach-walking and swimming on the East End of Long Island.
Wilton G. “Bill” Fritz, md ’38 died in Melbourne, FL at 97 on January 24, 2019. He graduated from Duke University through an accelerated six-year program (undergraduate and professional degree) with a MD in 1944. Bill served as a captain in the US Army on the domestic front during WWII. After a distinguished career as an OB/GYN in Brooklyn, NY, he retired to the Space Coast with his second wife, Mae. His third wife, Anne, predeceased him, as did first wife, Mabel, mother of his children. His was a Poly family. Bill’s son, John D. Fritz, graduated Poly Prep in 1971. His nephew, Albert Robert Fritz III, also graduated Poly, as did his great-nephews, Todd and Glenn Prager. Bill is survived by his children, Lora M. (G. O.) Gomez, Carol A. Fritz, and John D. (Barbara) Fritz, six grandchildren, and two greatgrandchildren, as well as many friends and relatives.
Stanley Hirsch ’39 passed away on February 18, 2018. He was born on July 13, 1922, and graduated from Poly Prep and Yale. Stan served in the Navy during World War II, rising to the rank of lieutenant. At the age of 23, he was the captain of a sub-chaser in the Pacific. Stan enjoyed a long and happy life with Barbara, his wife of 67 years; children, Robin (David), Jill (Stephen), and Peter (Roberta); and
Alanna Lawson Althans ’10
Maya Rose ’09, Speaker of the House
Nancy Pelosi, Leigh Byrne, Max Rose ’04 and friend Daniel Ricciardi ’04.
Artwork by Alexa Nanfro P’21
grandchildren, Liz, Amanda, Max, Sam, Kate, Adam, and James. Stan and Barbara worked hand-in-hand running Camp Androscoggin. After family and camp, Stan’s great passions were skiing and golf. He was generous and loving and said every day, “I’m a lucky man with the family I have.”
1940s
Henry B. Bobrow ’41 passed away on August 8, 2017, at the age of 93 in Longwood, FL. He was born in Brooklyn on March 31, 1924, to Jacob Bobrow and Sadie Molinsky.
Herbert A. Boley ’41 of Monmouth Beach, NJ, passed away on August 23, 2018, at age 93. Born in Brooklyn in 1924, he was the eldest son of the late Dr. Henry B. Boley, MD, and Reta Bassell Boley. Herbert graduated from Poly Prep in 1941 and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1947. He was a World War II veteran. Herbert was a respected stockbroker, antiquarian, and genealogist.
Survivors include his beloved longtime best friend of over 45 years, Michael A. Sbarbari; devoted brothers, Dr. Scott J. Boley, MD (Sandra Nathan), and Benjamin W. Boley (Sue Hoffman); and nieces and nephews, Jeffrey (Julia), Kenneth (Laura), Todd, and Elena (David Leviss).
William H. Hagendorn ’41, a resident of Bronxville, NY, passed away in April 2018. He graduated from Princeton in the class of 1945, but he entered the U.S. Army in 1944 to serve in WWII. He was honorably discharged in 1946.
Alan T. Bruce ’42 died on August 26, 2017, in Juno Beach, FL. He was born in Brooklyn on January 8, 1924, to Frederick and Katharine Tracy Bruce. He attended Poly Prep and joined the Navy during World War II. He served four years on an LST in the Pacific. When the war ended, he returned to Brooklyn and attended classes at St. John’s University, earning his degree in business while working full time. Alan moved to Miami to work for West India
Shipping Company, where he served for many years as vice president and traffic manager, moving with the company when it relocated to the Port of Palm Beach. Alan served as a commissioner in Jupiter Inlet Colony and as a president of the Rotary Club of Riviera Beach. He is survived by his wife, Nancy; his son, Fred of Atlanta; his daughter, Tracy (Thomas Hale) of Jupiter; his niece, Laura Bruce of Jupiter; and five grandchildren, whom he adored. He was predeceased by his siblings, Gordon, Donald, Teddy, and Katharine.
Charles K. (“Charlie”) Gravenhorst ’42 died on May 17, 2018, at age 93 in Sebastopol, CA. Charlie was a decorated World War II veteran, graduate of Princeton University, former advertising vice president specializing in international airline travel, husband of more than 65 years to Ellen Slatt Gravenhorst, and devoted father. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he attended Poly Prep and went on to graduate magna cum laude with the Princeton University Class of 1946, majoring in history. Enlisting in 1943 and serving as Cannon Company Sergeant in the 407th Infantry Regiment, 102nd Infantry Division (“Ozarks”) of the U.S. Army, he was awarded numerous decorations for action in World War II including the Bronze Star for heroic achievement during the Battle of the Bulge. With a background in photography, he had an accomplished career of over 30 years in print, radio, and television advertising in New York City—beginning as an account executive with Benton & Bowles, Inc., and then as vice president with Gaynor & Ducas; Gordon & Shortt, Inc.; and Bozell & Jacobs. Married in 1952, he and Ellen raised four children on Long Island before retirement in Rohnert Park, CA, to be near family. In addition to his wife, Charlie is survived by his son, Charles Andrew Gravenhorst of Belmont, NH; daughters, Diana Louise Gravenhorst Jelenic of Novato, CA, and Priscilla Anne Gravenhorst Butler of NYC, and grandchildren, Claire Louise Gravenhorst Garrett, Elijah Charles William Gravenhorst, and Amelia K. Butler. Charles was predeceased by his son, Dwight Allen Gravenhorst.
Donald Danley MacLaren ‘42, died peacefully at his home in Seattle on April 19, 2019 at age 94. Born in 1924 in Brooklyn NY, Don and older brother, Anson, were raised by parents Dr. Walter A. and Helen (Keeler) MacLaren who managed a busy medical practice from their home between 1908 and 1954. In 1942, at Pratt Institute, School of Science and Technology, he enlisted in the US Navy, V-12 Naval College Training Program in Annapolis, MD. After retiring from active duty in 1945, he served as a Lieutenant in the Naval Reserves until 1960. Don graduated from Columbia University with a BS (‘45) and Master’s (‘48) in Chemical Engineering, elected to Honorary Societies for Research and Chemistry. Married to Jean DeSanto of Manhattan, NY in 1948, they embarked on his 35-year career with Exxon, engaged in R&D/Process Engineering, with 30 patents; heading global market development for a new steel industry process; and vetting/ managing venture capital investments, as the VP of Special Projects. Retiring Exxon in 1983, they relocated to Seattle for his second career with Office Lease Tenant Representatives for the next 25 years. Don and Jean celebrated 54 years of marriage before Jean’s death in 2002. He is survived by his partner of 15 years, Lorraine Novack; daughter Aileen with husband Larry and step-grandson Lucas Loranger of Lake Forest Park, WA; son, Scott with wife Dawn of Lyons, CO.; nephews, Donald C. MacLaren of Kirkland, WA, Bruce A. MacLaren of Taos, NM and niece Lynne MacLaren Sandhaus of Palisades, NY, their spouses, children and grandchildren.
Paul Gardner ’43 passed away on January 13, 2019, at 91. Paul was a certified public accountant and lawyer. A graduate of Poly and Syracuse University, he was a member of Beach Point Club, Mamaroneck, NY, for over 58 years and a past president. Paul was a lifelong athlete and former champion tennis player, occasionally bringing a “ringer” to the memberguest tournament. He was predeceased by his first wife, Elinor W. Gardner. He is survived by his wife, Arline; children, Peter (Lisa) and Ken (Jane); grandchildren, Kate (Graham), Tom (Ashley), Jim (Meghan), Stephen (Emma), and Alison (Chris); and
seven great-grandchildren. He is also survived by his sister, Dorothy G. Leibner; his stepchildren, Margo and Peter (Donna); and step-grandchildren, Marshall, Madeline, Natalie, and Nathan.
arthur harvey jensen ’44 died on November 24, 2017, at Hampton Ridge Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Toms River, NJ, at age 91. Born and raised in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, NY, he lived in Smithtown, NY, and Holmdel, NJ, before moving to Sonata Bay in Bayville, NJ, in 1993. Arthur, known as Harvey, served in the Navy and was a proud graduate of Poly Prep, Princeton University, and Pace University. He was a mechanical engineer, specializing in plastics, and owned his own company, Verly Plastics, in Long Island. He worked in management in a number of plastics firms in New Jersey and did some consulting work, as well. Upon retirement, he got his real estate license and enjoyed doing part-time real estate. Harvey was a devoted Brooklyn Dodgers fan, an avid reader, an exceptional swimmer, and a devoted husband and father. Harvey was predeceased by his beloved wife, Beverly, in 2007. Surviving are his twin daughters, Linda and Nancy Jensen, who will miss their daily phone calls and Sunday visits with him dearly.
Edgerton Grant North ’44 of Hastings-on-Hudson died on December 23, 2018. He was 92. Edgerton was born to Edgerton Grant North Sr. and Marjorie Hadlow North in Brooklyn. He was a proud graduate of Poly Prep and Williams College in Massachusetts. He worked for many years as a banker at JP Morgan and Co., retiring as an executive vice president and managing director. He later served on the board of directors of Phelps Hospital in Sleepy Hollow. His first wife, Mary Elizabeth Swift, predeceased him. His wife, Joan Springler Streit, died in 2005. Edgerton is survived by a stepdaughter, Jennifer Streit Ervin; a stepson, James Streit, and his children, David and Eleanor; and a niece, Kimberly North Hoffman, and her children, Victoria and Benjamin.
George Gondelman ’45 passed away on August 22, 2018, in Quogue, NY, at age 90. He was born in Brooklyn and graduated from Poly in 1945 and received a BA and law degree from The College of William and Mary. He was on his college’s NCAA championship tennis team in 1947 and 1948 and played until he was in his 70s. George served in the U.S. Navy for two years before beginning a career on Wall Street. He married Patricia Davis Matthews in 1985 and is survived by five children and 10 grandchildren.
Howard J. Aibel ’46, lawyer, conservationist, philanthropist, and passionate arts advocate, died March 9, 2018. He was 88.
A first-generation American, he was born in 1929 in Brooklyn, to the late David and Anna Aibel. Howard attended Poly Prep, Harvard College (Class of 1950), and Harvard Law School (Juris Doctor, cum laude, 1951). He worked for nearly 30 years as executive vice president and chief legal officer of International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation. Prior to joining ITT in 1964, he was antitrust litigation counsel for General Electric and an attorney with White & Case. While at ITT, he developed a deep commitment to alternative dispute resolution (ADR) as a way of reducing the costs of litigation to parties and to society. He continued specializing in this area, as a partner at Dewey & LeBoeuf law firm, and also with the American Arbitration Association, where he served as the chairman of the executive committee and the board of directors from 1992 to 1998. He served as vice chair of the Westport Country Playhouse, which renamed its campus after him, a past board member of the Westport Arts Center, and a member of the Westport Rotary Club. He also served as president of the Harvard Law Association of New York, vice president of the Bar Association of New York, member of the American Law Institute, trustee of the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights, trustee at Sacred Heart University, and on the Dean’s Advisory Board of Harvard Law School. He and his wife, Katherine Webster Aibel, were major donors to many organizations. He was passionate about the arts, music of all kinds, and live theater. He was
predeceased by his wife and is survived by children, David, Daniel, and Jonathan; their spouses, Laura Aibel, David Pittman, and Julie Rohwein; and his grandson, Lucien Aibel.
Thomas Xavier Giaccone ’46, an artist and longtime resident of Wainscott, NY, died on January 8, 2019. He was 90. Thomas was born in Brooklyn and attended Poly, Colgate University (1949), and Columbia University Teachers College, from which he graduated with a master’s in fine arts. He was a veteran of the Korean War. After the war, he became the owner of his own design firm, Giaccone Graphics, in New York City. Subsequently, he took a full-time teaching position at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Thomas is survived by Mary, his wife of 30 years. After finishing the restoration of his original schoolhouse home in Laurel Hollow, NY, they built their dream home together in Wainscott, where he spent his days painting in his home studio. He is also survived by his stepchildren, grandchildren, nephews, and cousins.
Donald H. Greenfield ’46 passed away on August 3, 2018, at the age of 89 at his home in Novato, CA. Don and his sister Ann, were raised in Brooklyn by their parents, Phyllis and Henry Greenfield. Don attended Poly Prep, where he met his lifelong friend, Howard Aibel. Don attended the University of Michigan, graduating in 1951 and later received an MBA from New York University. After college, Don served as a navigator aboard the U.S.S. Shelton during the Korean War and was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy as a Lt. Commander in 1954. Don’s professional life included time with the Atomic Energy Commission, Electric Boat (PerkinElmer), and Bechtel. He spent 25 years with Bechtel, overseeing construction projects around the world and retiring in 1999 as a vice president. From 1980 to 1986, Don worked out of Bechtel’s London office, where he frequently traveled to Asia and the Middle East. Don and his first wife, Nancy, had three children, Lisa, Laurel, and Edward. Don and Nancy moved to Marin in 1974 and enjoyed summers camping throughout California
and winters skiing in Squaw Valley. In 1980, the family moved to London and enjoyed many years of travel in Europe and beyond. Don and Alison married in 2001 and moved to southwest Colorado, building a home along the Pine River. They moved back to Marin in 2006. Don is survived by his wife, Alison; children, Lisa, Laurel, and Edward; stepdaughter, Nicole; six grandchildren; and his sister, Ann.
Henry E. Hadad Jr. ’46 known professionally as Hank Hunter, died on November 4, 2017, in New Jersey at 88. Hank was born in Brooklyn on January 7, 1929, the second of four siblings born to Henry and Werda Hadad. Following his graduations from Poly Prep and New York University, he joined his father’s business. But in the mid-1950s, Hank decided to become a songwriter after listening to music on the radio and deciding “he could write songs better than that.” Along with co-writers, he composed over 200 songs during his career, including the hits “Vacation,” “I’m Gonna Be Warm This Winter,” and “Second Hand Love” (Connie Francis); “Ginger Bread” (Frankie Avalon); “My Empty Arms” (Jackie Wilson); “Tears and Roses” (Al Martino); “Footsteps” (Steve Lawrence); “Just for Old Time’s Sake” (McGuire Sisters); and “One Way Ticket to the Blues” (Neil Sedaka). In 1964, he married the former Claudette Jabara and they had two children. While Hank’s musical activities decreased after the mid-1960s, he continued to enjoy periodic success from new versions of his songs, as well as their use in movies and commercials. Surviving are his wife, Claudette; daughter, Suzanne; son, Henry; daughter-in-law, Lara; and four grandchildren, Chris, Rob, Jack, and Olivia Hadad of Berkeley Heights, NJ. He is also survived by his brother, Fred Hadad and family of Florham Park, NJ; sister, Louise Hamwi and family of Red Bank, NJ; and the family of his sister, the late Gloria Samara of Dallas, TX.
Robert J. Sessa ’46 passed away on September 14, 2017. Bob was born in Brooklyn on August 2, 1928, and worked over 25 years for Fresno County (CA) Environmental Health before retiring. He
was preceded in death by his parents and his brother. He is survived by his wife, Donna; their children and spouses, Lisa, Paul and Debbie, Serna and Rich, and Steve and Kim; and six grandchildren.
Richard Morris ’48, a pioneering developer of SoHo properties in Manhattan, passed away on September 26, 2017, at age 87. He was born in Brooklyn on May 11, 1930, to Leon Morris and the former Miriam Arkin. Richard attended Poly Prep, where he played football. He received a degree in textile engineering from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, where he and his wife, the former Anne Elizabeth Davis, met.
His love of Montauk began on camping trips to Hither Hills State Park and the campground at Ditch Plains. His family said his days in Montauk were filled with swimming and sailing, body surfing, biking, hikes, bonfires, and festive lobster dinners on the family’s deck. He and his wife and their six children kept a horse at Montauk’s Deep Hollow Ranch. After their marriage, the couple moved to Rockville Centre, and Richard went to work in the family textile business, Denemark and Morris, a company for which he had been trained. He eventually transformed the company into a real estate investment firm. He is survived by his children, Deborah Lee Morris, Richard Lee Morris Jr., and Alison Elizabeth Morris of Atlanta, Lee Anne Lightfoot of Houston, Scott Morris of Albany, and Eric Morris of East Hampton; 12 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
Lawrence M. Saphire ’48 passed away on January 10, 2018, at 86. A graduate of Yale and the Sorbonne in Paris, he was a noted art scholar, poet, author, art dealer, and gifted raconteur. Larry is well known as the author of Catalogue Raisonnes on the prints of Fernand Léger and André Masson. His essays were widely published by the Musée Beaubourg and other institutions. He is survived by his wife, Tricia; three sons, Frank, Eric, and Ezra; a daughter, Rachel; a daughter-in-law, Lynn; two grandchildren, Craig and Kathryn; and his sister, Phyllis.
Martin L. Coyne ‘49 died in April 2019. Martin was born in Brooklyn in 1931 and served in the army and then worked in commodities where he was one of the top people in his field as Senior Vice President at J. Aron & Co. and then a partner at Goldman Sachs, Following his early retirement, Martin devoted his time to philanthropic and charitable causes, volunteering for Hospice-by-the-Sea, Jewish Federation, the Mizner Festival for the Arts, and as Chairman of the Florida Philharmonic. He founded The Coyne Family Foundation, established AMORE to provide free financial advice to the elderly, and was a co-founder of the Boca Raton Symphony. He is survived by his children, Melissa, Russell, and Serena; grandchild, Skye; and brother, Herbert.
Daniel Oehler Reich ’49 passed away on February 14, 2018. The son of Therese (Teddy) and Stanley Reich, Dan was born in Bay Ridge on Christmas Day 1931. He spent his formative years in Bay Ridge and graduated from Poly Prep in 1949. He attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, ME. Following his graduation in 1953, Dan proudly served two years in the U.S. Marine Corps. He launched Daniel O. Reich, Incorporated, now known as Reich Paper, in 1958. He is also remembered as chairman of the board of the former Brooklyn Federal Savings Bank, the first president of the North Ferry Corporation of Shelter Island, the President of the New York Paper Club, and a member of the New York Yacht Club, the Off Soundings Club, as well as Gardiner’s Bay Country Club. Dan was an avid, self-taught sailor who enjoyed the thrill of racing. He fondly leveraged the Bowdoin polar bear mascot in naming the family’s boats. When not sailing his beloved Stuart Knockabout, Ol’ Bear, Dan could be seen cruising as far north as Maine in the family’s Lord Nelson tugboat, Teddy Bear. The Reich family joined the Shelter Island Yacht Club in 1967, where Dan rose through the ranks to serve as commodore in 1976-7. Dan and his wife of 61 years, Olive (Buerk), have homes in Bay Ridge and Shelter Island, NY, and in St. Pete’s Beach, FL. Dan is survived by his sons, Peter (Loren) and Duke (Lisa); daughter, Robin (David); three
grandchildren, Melissa, Daniel, and Luke; and two nieces, Susan and Holly.
Dr. Martin S. Weseley ’49, age 85, passed away on July 19, 2017, in Naples, FL. Born June 15, 1932, in Brooklyn, Martin remained in the area and became a lauded orthopedic surgeon, and pioneer in arthroscopic surgery. For over 50 years, he helped thousands of patients at area hospitals such as Victory Memorial, Maimonides, and Downstate. Martin was preceded in death by his wife, Lenora. Martin is survived by his two daughters, Laura Weseley and Victoria Weseley; Victoria’s husband, Jim Kovarik, and son, Weseley Kovarik; his twin brother, Alan Weseley, and wife Sandra; and extended family.
1950s
Edgar B. Brown ’50 passed away on March 8, 2018, in Jacksonville, FL. He graduated from Duke University in 1954 and worked as a stockbroker and money manager for several Wall Street firms. He is survived by his children, Robert and Carole; and grandchildren, Brett, Rebecca, Lauren, and Hanna.
Pierre Guesnon ’50 passed away on December 27, 2018, at age 85. He studied mechanical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, NY, graduating in 1954. At RPI, Pierre was very active in student life and served as the editor of the yearbook, VP of the Student Body Executive Committee, and historian of Phalanx Senior Honor Society, and he was a member of Theta Chi fraternity. During his long and successful engineering career, Pierre designed air flow systems for commercial buildings in Boston, including the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and the Museum of Fine Arts. He served two terms as president of the Boston Acoustical Society. Pierre loved to travel and took a five-year hiatus in the middle of his career to visit and live in countries all over the world. It was during this trip, in London, that he met his wife, Margaret, from Sydney, Australia. They were married in Sydney in 1967. With Margaret, Pierre continued to travel ex-
tensively for the rest of his life and visited over 150 countries. Pierre is survived by his wife of 51 years, Margaret, and his two daughters and five grandchildren: Roxanne Guesnon (Daniel Suggit) and children Renée, Nicolas, and Julian; and Monique Kandel (Kristopher Kandel) and children Athena and Alexander.
Joel J. Spector ’52 died on January 9, 2018, at the age of 83. Joel was a graduate of Yale in 1956 and NYU Law School in 1959, and he was a member of the bar association for many years. He was the loving husband of Sunny for over 61 years and devoted father to Gary (Debbie) and Lori Rosenfield (Steven), as well as cherished grandfather of Ryan, Trevor, Marley, and Allie, and uncle to Monica, Brian, and Emily.
Jerome Sussman ’52 died on May 8, 2018. Born in Brooklyn, Jerry attended Poly Prep, Princeton, and Harvard Law School. Jerry practiced law in New York City and Los Angeles, mostly in the entertainment field. He married Sally 55 years ago on May 12. They had two daughters, Ann and Julie, who married wonderful men, David and Dan, and gave Poppa five amazing grandchildren.
James L. Crawford ’53, of Little Compton, RI and Vero Beach, FL died on February 23, 2019, in Vero, surrounded by his wife, Betsy, and daughters, Leslie Dunlevy and Liz Van Duyne and daughter-in-law, Lisa Babb Crawford. Their son, Jim, Jr. died in the World Trade Center on 9/11. Jim grew up in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn, NY and was the son of Dr. J. Hamilton Crawford and Isabelle Cruickshank Crawford and brother of the late J. Hamilton Crawford, Jr., Esq. He graduated from Poly in 1953, Princeton University in 1957, and attained his MBA at Harvard in 1959. Jim was an outstanding runner, both in track and football, at Poly. He spent the next 62 years raising his family in Summit, NJ and conquering many golf courses from Buck Hill Falls, where he spent the summers of his youth, to Dornoch in Scotland. Jim’s career in Investment Management began at Reynolds & Co and culminated at J. & W. Seligman &
Co. where he managed the Tri Continental Mutual Fund. Jim volunteered for decades at the University Cottage Club where he was on the undergraduate board and later served as Chairman of the Board of Governors. Until this year, Jim chaired the 1886 Cottage Club Foundation, that managed their endowment, as well as served on the investment committee of the St. Andrew’s Society of the State of New York. Jim is also survived by his sons-in-law, Bill Dunlevy and Peter Van Duyne, and grandchildren: Kallen, Hannah, Ben, Reilly, Isabelle, and Kate, all of whom he adored.
Bradley R. Thayer ’54, 81, of Dalton, NH, and Palm City, FL, and for many years, Madison, NJ, passed away on February 17, 2018, in Hanover, NH. Brad was born on June 14, 1936, the son of Hollis and Florence Thayer. He was raised in Brooklyn, attending Packer Institute and Poly Prep. He graduated from Williams College in 1958 with a BA in English. Brad received an MBA with a major in finance from Columbia University Business School in 1960. He became a chartered financial analyst (CFA). In June 1960, he entered the Marine Corps, serving one year on active duty in the air wing as an air traffic controller. Brad married his beloved wife of 55 years, Mildred Newman Thayer, in 1963, and they lived in Madison, NJ. His career in investment management spanned four decades. He worked in the Investment Department (bonds and equities) of Prudential Insurance Company in Newark, NJ, from 1961 to 1971. He then joined Scudder, Stevens and Clark Investment Management, an investment counseling and mutual fund business in New York City, where he became managing director. He was passionate about researching new companies and business innovations, following the markets, and providing client services. After retirement in 2000, Brad and Bee moved to Dalton, NH, in 2001. He is survived by his wife and his children: daughter Emily Thayer Benson and her husband, Peter Benson, and their children, Hannah and Pearse Jacob; son William Thayer and his wife, Luisa, and their children, Kaitlyn and Bradley; son Christopher Thayer and his wife, Wendy, and their children, Tucker and Riley.
Dr. Myles M. Behrens ’55 a worldrenowned neuro-ophthalmologist and co-chief of the neuro-ophthalmology clinic at the Harkness Eye Institute at New York Presbyterian Hospital until his retirement in 2011, died April 5, 2019 in Boca Raton, Florida. He was 80 years old and had been a longtime resident of Jericho, Long Island until several years ago. He received the prestigious Heed Ophthalmic Foundation Award in 1986 for his leadership and teaching excellence as well as his significant clinical and research contributions to the field of neuroophthalmology. He had himself been an honored Heed Fellow in 1970. Dr. Behrens graduated magna cum laude from Yale University where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. The Department of Ophthalmology at Columbia University lauded Behrens as a brilliant clinician and outstanding educator. He taught generations of fellows, residents, and medical students who benefited from his wisdom and curiosity. He had a deep devotion to his patients and will be remembered for his encyclopedic mind, gentle guidance, and generosity. He is survived by his wife of 37 years, Mrs. Marsha Behrens of Boca Raton, Florida; his son Dr. Adam Behrens and his wife, Elle; a daughter, Michelle Heller and her husband Michael; and two step-sons, Dr. Cary Siegel and his wife Emily and Dean Garret Siegel and his wife, Alexandra. He had nine grandchildren—Cooper, Katie, Brooke, Sarah, Zachary, Ben, Jake, Grant and Shepard—all of whom he dearly loved.
Dr. Maurice Rudolph “Rudy” Brody ’55 passed away peacefully on January 6, 2019. He was 80 years old. His father died when Rudy was only six years old, but he had a close and loving family that included his mother, Tinnie, and sisters Doris and Bea. After graduating from Poly, Rudy excelled at Columbia University and the New York University School of Medicine. He then ventured to the West Coast for a pediatric internship at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles, but he returned to New York for his residency at Bellevue Hospital. It was there that he met and fell in love with a young occupational therapist, Jill,
and they were married in March 1966. Two years in Southern California while Rudy was a physician in the Navy was enough to convince Rudy and Jill to settle in California permanently. Rudy accepted a position with Kaiser Permanente. Over the course of his nearly 50-year career at Kaiser, Rudy was a caring pediatrician to thousands of children. He was also deeply committed to teaching. He founded the Southern California Permanente Medical Group’s pediatric residency program in 1970, served as its program director for two decades, and spent nearly 10 years as the regional coordinator for all of Kaiser’s Southern California residency programs. After he retired from the full-time practice of medicine, Rudy continued to teach, working past his 80th birthday as a clinical instructor in pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine at USC, where he was a favorite of the students. They saw in Rudy what his colleagues and patients similarly observed for his entire career: a love and infectious enthusiasm for his work as a doctor and a genuine kindness for all.
Rudy is survived by Jill, his wife of almost 53 years; son, Steve, and his wife, Melanie; son, Jon, and his wife, Holly; and three grandchildren, Anna, Milo, and Nate.
Robert “Bob” S. Field ’55, passed away on March 9, 2018. He is survived by his wife Harriet who shared that “he loved his years at Poly Prep and always talked about his positive experiences and the wonderful friends he made while attending the school.” Bob grew up in Brooklyn, NY. He went to a local elementary school and continued on at Poly Prep through graduation. Bob spent his college years at Tufts University and then headed to NYU Law School. He passed the New York Bar and worked at his father’s prestigious law firm. A few years later, he moved his family to New Jersey and practiced family, estate, and trust law, and also represented many corporate clients.
Bob would tell everyone about his wonderful memories at Poly Prep and continued to keep in touch with his classmates and looked forward to attending reunions on campus. Bob lived in Essex County, New Jersey with his wife and three children. He then moved to Morris County
and established his own law firm. After his wife passed away, he remarried, continued practicing law, enjoyed playing golf and spending time with his children and grandchildren. Bob practiced law until he passed away two months before his 80th birthday. He was a very special, loving, compassionate, and well-respected man who will be missed. Bob leaves those who loved him with a memorable legacy.
Charles Kaufman ’56, passed away on January 13, 2019 in Florida at the age of 80. Chuck was a 1956 graduate of Poly and a lifelong supporter of the school, serving as a member of the Board of Trustees from 1975 until May of 1998. Chuck was the best high school athlete in the city in 1955-56. He was All City in football, basketball, and baseball and captain of the basketball team. He held all-time basketball scoring records and a .510 batting average as a junior. Chuck was a vital member of Dartmouth College’s Ivy League champion teams in 1958 and 1959, the last time the school won the conference title. He was first team All-Ivy League at Dartmouth in basketball and baseball. After graduation, he declined a $25,000 bonus offer, substantial in 1960, from the Washington Senators in 1960. After college, Chuck joined the family business, Dairy Test.
After retiring, Chuck and his wife, Diane, moved to Boynton Beach, FL. Chuck’s athletic prowess notwithstanding, he was unassuming, a loyal friend, and a dedicated alumnus, who will be greatly missed. He is survived by his wife, Diane; children, Elaine Kaufman Rubin, Lynn Kaufman Mitchell, and David Kaufman; and six grandchildren, Amanda, Matthew, Michael, Benjamin, Adam, and Justin.
Dr. Charles Tolk ’57, 77, died on March 21, 2018. He was a psychiatrist, and he was a member and director of the Institute for Psychoanalytic Education. He also sang with the Oratorio Society of NY. He is survived by his wife, Terry; children, Peter and Alexandra; son-in-law, Andrew Leitch; and grandson, Tobias.
Sebastian J. Scialabba ’58, age 77, of Brooklyn passed away on May 26, 2017. Sebastian was born February 29, 1940, in Brooklyn. He is the son of the late Joseph and the late Concetta (Tricoma) Scialabba. Sebastian enjoyed spending time on his boat and had quite the artistic hand in creating art from wire hangers. He was the beloved companion of Nancy M. Radford for 40 years. He is also survived by his sister, Sarah J. Turner, and nieces, Joelle and Mariel.
Richard “Dick” T. Nassberg ’59 of Williamsport, PA, passed away while traveling in Egypt on January 8, 2018, at age 75. Born in New York in 1942, he was a son of the late Jules and Rhea (Steinglass) Nassberg. Dick graduated from the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania in 1963. In 1968, he received his JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he served as an editor of the Penn Law Review. Dick practiced corporate banking law with major firms in New York, Philadelphia, and Houston. He was inducted as a life member of the American Law Institute, where he edited 19 resource books on commercial lending law. In 1986, he authored The Lender’s Handbook, which became a frequently cited source of banking expertise. From 1993 to 1997, Dick and his family took a sabbatical in France. During that time, they traveled extensively, and he became fluent in a third language. From 2000 to 2008, Dick served as a commissioner for Lycoming County. As a reserve military veteran, he was particularly sensitive to veteran issues, and accordingly, he was responsible for the establishment of the VA clinic on Warren Avenue, which he considered his greatest achievement in office. Dick was a gifted artist whose portfolio of black and white photography spanned decades and was shown multiple times at the Houston Fotofest. In the 1980s, he was invited by Arkansas State University to be a visiting artist. Surviving is his wife of 36 years, Kathryn S. (Tabby) Nassberg (née Schultz); daughter Kathryn C. (Katy) Nassberg and her husband, Isak Sidenbladh, of Cambridge, MA; daughter Schuyler M. Heuser and husband, Craig, of Louisville,
KY; two grandchildren; a brother-in-law, Dr. Herbert Marton, of Tenafly, NJ; and several nieces and nephews.
1960s
Major USAF Ret. Robert F. Engler ’60 passed away at home surrounded by his family on March 17, 2019. He was born on June 13, 1942 in Brooklyn, NY. He is survived by his wife of 56 years Diane Engler; son Scott Engler; daughter Lisa Hodge; grandsons Tyler Hodge and Zachary Engler; sisters Jene Romeo and Ann Marie Schare and their families.
Daniel Marlin ’62, poet, artist, and peace activist, died at his home in Berkeley, CA on August 7, 2017, at age 72. Born in Brooklyn and raised in Rockaway, NY, Dan was the son of George Marlin and Lebe Goldin Marlin. He graduated from Poly Prep in 1962. He attended UC Berkeley but dropped out after realizing the university was not for him. He began lifelong adventures as a world traveler, poet, artist, translator, and social activist, with Berkeley as his home base for over 50 years. Dan supported his lifestyle as an artist with a variety of part-time jobs. In Berkeley in 2007, Daniel collaborated with Fred Kellogg, QuikBooks publisher, to produce his art book Heart of Ardor, which includes over 300 images drawn from four decades of his watercolors, sketches, and collages, combined with written reflections on his work. In 2011, again in collaboration with Kellogg, Dan produced his Amagasaki Sketchbook, watercolors of the Japanese landscape and sketches of passengers on trains in Japan. Dan’s poetic works include Isaiah at the Wall: Palestine Poems (QuikBooks, 2009), which is based on a trip to Palestine and Israel in 2008 with the Middle East Children’s Alliance of Berkeley. Dan’s chapbook, Jerusalem & the Boardwalk which included vivid poems of his childhood and adolescence in Rockaway and his own art, was published in 1982. With Ralph Dranow and Mitch Zeftel, Dan co-founded an East Bay writing group, which has endured for almost 40 years. Survivors include his
wife, Toshiko Watanabe of Berkeley and Amagasaki, Japan; brother, Jeffrey Marlin and wife Joan Kraus of Rockaway, NY; nephew, Jacob Marlin; cousins, Pamela Ericson and Richard Marlin.
Randolph K. Pace ’63 passed away on February 3, 2018. Randy was married to Judy for 43 years and was the loving father to Meredith Pace Eichner (Stewart), Kimberly Pace Messina (David), and Allison Pace Weinstock (Adam). He was the adored Papa to Hailey, Emily, Ruby, Weston, and Kira.
William Salamy ’63, age 71, of Palm City, FL, passed away on September 13, 2017. He was born in Brooklyn, son of the late Simon and Ethel Salamy. Bill graduated from Poly Prep in 1963 and Franklin and Marshall College in 1967, and he remained very active with the alumni associations of both schools. He was a veteran of the U.S. Army, having served during the Vietnam War. Bill lived and worked in New York until 1986, when he relocated to Columbus. He retired as an executive with Alliance Data System, where he worked for 25 years. He relocated to Palm City in 2013. He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Virginia McGrath Salamy, of Palm City, FL; daughters, Suzanne “Suzy” Salamy, of Brooklyn, NY, and Elizabeth “Liz” Salamy and her husband, Phil Chahine, of Bexley, OH; and three grandchildren, Leila, Alexander, and Ava. He is also survived by two sisters, Miriam Zahka of NY and June Krisch of CT and many other relatives.
1970s
Joseph Owen ’70 passed away on June 10, 2018. He was captain of Poly’s Varsity Football team. He graduated from Colgate University in 1974 and Columbia University with an MBA. Joe had a lifelong successful career in the real estate business in Brooklyn Heights.
James Roberts ’75 passed away on October 11, 2017.
Glen Roven ’75 passed away on July 25, 2018. Glen was a brilliant two-time Emmy Award-winning composer, lyricist, conductor, and producer who co-created and was artistic director of Roven Records. In 2005, Glen received Poly’s Distinguished Achievement Award. He generously served as a mentor to Poly students through internships at Roven Records. His recent projects included a world premiere performance of his Second Symphony at Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center in April 2018, a new song cycle at Carnegie Hall in May, and the release of SPECTRUM, a collection of his music composed over the last 10 years. He had an all-star CD, Hopes and Dreams, released and co-produced with Carnegie, hit # 1 on the classical and the pop charts. Glen was working on a musical with Dolly Parton for Netflix. Over the course of his career, Glen conducted, produced, and wrote songs for Julie Andrews, Aretha Franklin, Kenny G., Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Kermit the Frog, Patti LaBelle, Liza Minnelli, Diana Ross, and many others. He won his first Emmy for Outstanding Music Direction of the Tony Awards Show in 1986 and the second for Outstanding Music Direction of “Sinatra: 80 Years My Way” in 1996.
Sanford “Sandy” M. Saunders ’76 a trial lawyer, passed away on December 31, 2017, in Florida at age 59. A resident of McLean, VA, and native of Brooklyn. Sandy received his BA with honors from Johns Hopkins University in 1980 and his JD, cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center in 1983. Sandy was passionate about his work representing clients in court. He spent the past 16 years of private legal practice in the Washington, D.C., office of global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP, where he was a shareholder in the White Collar Defense & Special Investigations Practice Group. He had served as co-managing shareholder of the office from 2010 to 2016. For more than 30 years, Sandy served tirelessly as an international trial and white collar criminal defense lawyer. In addition to practicing law, Sandy served as a visiting fellow at the George Mason University Center on Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption. He
was involved in several legal and community organizations, including serving as vice-chair for the advisory board of the Northern Virginia Republican Business Forum, as a member of the Jack Kemp Foundation Legacy Circle, and as a board member for the Jerusalem Leaders Summit. He is survived by his wife of nearly 22 years, Beth Saunders.
Dr. Tristram Smith ’79, whose research on behavioral interventions changed the landscape of care for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), died of a heart attack on August 6, 2018. He was 57. Tris earned his doctorate in clinical psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He worked at Washington State University, Drake University, and UCLA. His research in the late ’80s and early ’90s, conducted alongside the late O. Ivar Lovaas, Ph.D., showed that many children with ASD could be successfully treated with behaviorbased interventions, which allowed some to catch up to their peers in school. A prolific researcher, he published hundreds of papers on ASD and spent his spare time pushing for policy changes that would allow effective treatments to become available to more patients. At the time of his death, Tris was serving as the Haggerty-Friedman Professor in Developmental/Behavioral Pediatric Research at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC), where he had worked since joining faculty in 2000. He is survived by his wife, Jennifer Katz; children, Jonah Smith and Madeleine Katz; sisters, Lisa Smith Trollbäck and Rebecca Smith Waddell; and nieces and nephews.
1980s
Richard James “Rick” Byrne ’81, of Murfreesboro, TN, passed away on June 26, 2018, at age 54. Rick was born and raised in Brooklyn and attended the University of Michigan, graduating in 1985. He lived in Michigan for 22 years, working as a journalist, and was editor-in-chief of an award-winning newspaper in the Detroit suburbs. He moved to Tennessee in 2004 to begin work as a market analyst for a healthcare company until 2010,
when he started his own company, Middle Tennessee Services, which performed commercial property inspections for banks and insurance companies. In his spare time, he liked to work on cars, and he worked on the pit crew of racing teams in the ARCA and NASCAR Truck series. Rick was currently the youth director at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. He is survived by his wife, Ca’Tricia Robinson; mother, Joan Durkin Byrne; mother-in-law, Joani Beckwith; sister-in-law, Jessica Beckwith (Colter Richardson); and sister-in-law, Kristy Zgol (Greg).
Grace Makla Sawyer P’82, known by those close to her as “Mosie,” passed away on June 10, 2019 in New York. She served on the Poly Prep Board of Trustees for 40 years and lately held the title of Trustee Emeritus. Grace had a positive, energetic spirit that was also wonderfully gracious and generous. Always adhering to a higher standard, Grace was an inspiration to all. Her special sparkle toward life will be greatly missed. Born in Brooklyn in 1928, she graduated from Boston University’s Sergeant College. Her affinity for physical education and sports drew her to a coaching career rare for her generation of women. From field hockey at Shipley to tennis at Poly Prep, she believed in instilling the uplifting nature of sport in the youth she coached. She volunteered in the medical tent of the New York City Marathon for 10 years. She had a special love for horses and dogs and supported many animal causes. She was predeceased by her beloved husband, Philip, and is survived by her children, Peggy, Elizabeth, Susan, and Philip ‘82, and eight grandchildren.
Christina Petropole Maiorano ’87 passed away on October 1, 2017. She was the daughter of Thomas and Ellen Petropole. She is survived by her husband, Rod Maiorano; daughter, Evangeline Maiorano; and sisters, Andrea and Sia.
