The Pingry Review - Winter 2025-26

Middle School students at the Pottersville Campus for an overnight event to celebrate Lunar New Year

Nothing was certain in 1926 except for good intentions, but Pingry is now celebrating the centennial of a system that has guided the development of students’ values. Take a look at milestones and events along the way.

“What Values Do You Hold Dearly?”

Mark Chen ’96 returned to Pingry to pose this question. He does not think most people know their answers, but he offers guidance to figure them out. And figuring them out, he says, is crucial for when questions arise with no clear right or wrong answer.

ON THE COVER:

Mac Guest ’29, Arjun Shekdar ’29, and other students at Convocation in September 2025, the official opening of the school year when the community reaffirms its commitment to the Honor Code

The Pingry Review is The Pingry School’s official magazine. Contact the editor with comments and story ideas: gwaxberg@pingry.org 908-647-5555, ext. 1296

The Pingry School 131 Martinsville Road Basking Ridge, NJ 07920

THINGS YOU’LL LEARN IN THIS ISSUE

pingry.org/review

Historic Veterans Day Tributes

Two incredibly meaningful events took place at Pingry on the same day in November: the dedication of Pingry’s new Veterans Wall with retired U.S. army four-star General Stanley McChrystal in attendance, and the Veterans Day Assembly with Gen. McChrystal speaking about character.

EDITOR

Greg Waxberg ’96 Assistant Director of Communications, Writer/Editor

EDITORIAL STAFF

Peter Blasevick P’24 Archivist

Emily Cooke P’36, ’38 Chief Communications and Marketing Officer

Sara Courtney Communications Writer

David M. Fahey ’99, P’33, ’34, ’38 Chief Advancement Officer

Jane Hoffman ’94, P’26, ’27, ’28 Director of Development

Maureen Maher Associate Director of Communications, Writer

Alex Nanfara P’33, ’36 Assistant Director of Communications, Social Media Strategy and Athletics

Taylor Noonan Director of Alumni Relations

DESIGN AND LAYOUT

Josephine Bergin josephinebergin.com

COVER PHOTO FROM CONVOCATION BY REENA ROSE SIBAYAN POTTERSVILLE/LUNAR NEW YEAR PHOTO BY NATALIE GONZALEZ HEAD OF SCHOOL PHOTO BY REBECCA NOWALSKI

GAMES •

THAT INSPIRED ONE GRADUATE’S “ENDURING ENTHUSIASM FOR THE ARTS” • THE GRADUATE WHO HAS BEEN VOTED A WASHINGTONIAN “TOP DOC” THROUGH WASHINGTONIAN MAGAZINE ANNUALLY SINCE 2016 • THE PHRASE IN THE HONOR CODE THAT RESONATES THE MOST WITH DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS AND STUDENT SUCCESS CARTER ABBOTT • THE TEACHER WHO DESCRIBES HIS ROLE AS “SORT OF LIKE A SWISS ARMY KNIFE” • THE GRADUATE WHO WAS INDUCTED INTO THE NEW YORK JETS FAN HALL OF FAME

Head of School

Dear Members of the Pingry Community,

Our celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Honor Code would be incomplete without paying tribute to a Pingry legend: the late John Hanly, who served as Head of School during my days as a student. An Oxford-educated scholar with a commanding presence, Mr. Hanly was the living embodiment of the Honor Code. He placed the highest value on character, integrity, community, and respect for others. He challenged students to be morally conscious, and as a supremely gifted writer and storyteller he captivated us with lessons and anecdotes relating to the Honor Code. Upon his retirement, the yearbook dedication described him as “the central light of our school” who could “find a clear solution for everything and anything.” Mr. Hanly’s 13-year tenure as Head of School (1987–2000) appropriately made him the adult equivalent of a Pingry lifer, and he remains so highly respected within our community that his name continues to be spoken in revered, almost mythical tones.

Mr. Hanly taught us the importance of accepting responsibility for our actions. Yet because he believed the Honor Code should guide our behavior both before and after making mistakes, he made it clear that failure was not final. Instead, we have the capacity to move past our lapses in judgment. Doing so requires effort and humility, but conducting ourselves in a “moral and decent manner” is how we build character as well as community. Mr. Hanly placed a premium on elevating the importance of character, and as he often said, “one of our most important goals at Pingry is to produce students who can make wise, ethical, and informed decisions…But equally important is the second half of that goal: that we must help them develop the strength of character to stand by those decisions. And that is the difficult part.”

During the recent John Hanly Lecture on Ethics and Morality, Mark Chen ’96 reminded students that most ethical decisions of right vs. wrong are not outright situations of legal vs. illegal, an

ambiguity only heightened in the age of AI. For that reason, he believes it’s crucial for each of us to discern, define, and document the personal values which serve as the basis for our opinions. The process of literally writing down our values — an analog approach we can’t outsource or automate — ensures we’ll be better prepared to handle difficult ethical decisions. As Mark told our students, the goal is to “look back on your life knowing that you knew what you stood for, and lived accordingly.”

Dr. Robert Fullilove ’62 has certainly lived up to that standard — and the one set by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who believed “intelligence plus character, that is the goal of a true education.”

Speaking at our annual MLK Day assembly about his lifelong dedication to public health, justice, education, and service, Dr. Fullilove was another powerful example of working for the common good. And like Mark Chen, he told students that it is indeed possible to pursue careers that are values-aligned. Ones which increase our sense of purpose while also reinforcing the principles of family, community, and friends that give our lives meaning.

Mr. Hanly would have enjoyed those assemblies and the many smaller, community-wide conversations about character we’re having this year. And he would be proud that the “Learning and Living with Honor” component of our Strategic Plan exists because the Honor Code remains the soul of Pingry. It’s an enduring symbol of the values we’ve embraced since 1861 and are re-emphasizing in 2026: the development of character, the pursuit of excellence, and the importance of working for the common good. In this issue of the magazine and in the coming months, Pingry is deliberately looking back — to our proud history, our time-tested Honor Code, and our shared commitment to others — as we chart our way forward. David Brooks has written that “life is a series of daring explorations from a secure base.” And as we each reflect upon (and write down) what our own list of values might look like, my hope is that the Honor Code will forever anchor our secure base, inspiring us to be and become our best selves.

ONE PINGRY

CONVOCATION, AND HOW TO ENGAGE WITH AI

Convocation has taken place annually since 1987 as the official beginning of the school year, and the collecting of Middle and Upper School students’ Honor Code pledges was initiated in 2007 by then–Student Body President Jessica Westerman ’08. Separately from Convocation, the Board of Trustees and all faculty and staff also sign the Honor Code every year.

Head of School Tim Lear began his remarks, about engaging with AI, by quoting then–New York Times Opinion Columnist David Brooks on AI: “it offers a malevolent seduction: excellence without effort . . . but that’s not possible.” To illustrate, Mr. Lear spoke about tackling a Tough Mudder in 2014, with family members, and the mistake he made at the time. “I had become so reliant on shortcuts and extra help that I had stopped thinking for myself. With the rise of AI, these shortcuts have become more available to all of us than ever before . . . it’s hard to imagine an alternative to either fully embracing it or fully rejecting it. But we must carefully choose how, not whether, we’re going to engage with it.”

pledges

Alex

Steinberg, Curriculum and Instruction Specialist GETTING

TO KNOW...

GRADE 6 EXPERIENTIAL TRIP

By Harvey Shao ’32

Nearly 100 sixth-grade students spent the night at Pingry’s Pottersville Campus on September 18–19 for an overnight Experiential Education trip organized by Nicole Cabral, Middle School Math Teacher and Grade 6 Team Leader, and the sixth-grade advisors. Students enjoyed activities such as the ropes course with its challenging obstacles and a climbing wall, creating mosaics using tiles and grout, participating in a campus-wide scavenger hunt, and playing Mega V-Ball. Created by Director of Middle School Athletics Gerry Vanasse after he noticed that students didn’t join in on dodgeball, Mega V-Ball is an energetic dodgeball variant featuring bonus hoops that allow players to revive their teammates. Its name comes from a student’s words: “That was mega, Mr. Vanasse!”

Mrs. Cabral, who has led the trip for several years, says, “We design these days to help students build friendships and start the year with a sense of community. I enjoy planning activities that engage sixth graders. Seeing those ideas come to life and watching the students form new bonds is exciting. Their feedback helps make the trip better every year.” That spirit of community was clear at night, as students bonded in their dorms and enjoyed spending time with classmates. By the time they returned to the Basking Ridge Campus, students had gained much more than just fun experiences. The field trip provided opportunities for adventure, group problem-solving, and an overnight stay with friends in a setting outside the classroom. These shared experiences helped lay the foundation for a connected sixth-grade community that will continue to grow throughout the year.

Favorite musicians? The Velvet Underground is probably my favorite band. But my favorite contemporary artists are Perfume Genius, Amen Dunes, Big Thief, and Sharon Van Etten.

Favorite book? Two of my most recent favorites are The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow, and North Woods by Daniel Mason.

Favorite TV show? The X Files

If you could study any field aside from your own, what would it be, and why? I never learned to paint properly, so I’d like to study painting. My mom was an art teacher and made sure my sister and I were well versed in art history, but I never actually painted outside of a few art classes.

A fun fact about you is that you play in a band. Please tell us about it. I started playing in bands when I was a teenager and loved punk rock. After playing drums in a jam band and then in an indiepop band, I made a group of friends in Maplewood and we started a punk band. I play guitar.

What does it mean that you are Curriculum and Instruction Specialist? I’m sort of like a Swiss Army Knife. I work with faculty to help integrate technology in the classroom, and develop projects, lessons, and course materials. I help faculty through the curriculum design grant process every year and have a broad view of the School’s curriculum as a result. With the Academics Department, I help plan and deliver professional development. Alongside [Director of Research and Academic Innovation] Danielle Mirliss, I lead the AI Working Group whose work this year is focused on continuing to document, refine, research, and build Pingry’s approach to AI. I have taught Media Literacy in the Middle School and I currently teach American Society and Culture (my undergraduate degrees are in History and Political Science). Ultimately, my goal is to help Pingry provide the best education we can, and I try to do that in a variety of ways: introducing and supporting new instructional practices, helping align and organize course curricula, researching and evaluating new resources, helping the community learn to use our digital platforms . . . I wear a lot of hats.

ONE PINGRY

CARVER LECTURE OFFERS THE MESSAGE OF

“DON’T CARRY IT ALONE”

HONORED FOR VALUES

Ian Griffith ’32 and Tristan Schmidt ’31 of the FLL (FIRST® LEGO® League) Challenge program’s interscholastic team, which the Middle School introduced this school year, won the prestigious Core Values Award at the FLL Challenge Robotics Qualifier on November 23. Pingry’s team, “Bearly Wired”, with two members, was the smallest team at the event as they competed against 24 teams from New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

This award is presented to the team that has shown the greatest enthusiasm, the best sporting spirit, the most extraordinary respect for its own team members, and the most support for other teams in the tournament. “I was so proud of our students because they had such a great demeanor and demonstrated such enthusiasm, even as they faced challenges and setbacks in the competition,” says Middle School Librarian and coach Felicia Ballard. “It felt directly

For this fall’s lecture, Pingry welcomed Kristen H. from Minding Your Mind, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending mental health stigma through education. She shared her story of needing help after her mother’s suicide in 2009, when she felt like she needed to “get through it on my own” and was struggling with depression and anxiety, which led to negative coping skills. Ultimately, she got help at a treatment center. This past February marked 10 years of Kristen being clean and sober, and even though depression and anxiety are still part of her life, she told students, “I talk about it, I write about it, I speak that into existence so I don’t need to carry it alone.”

The Gilbert H. Carver ’79 Memorial Lecture was established in memory of Gilbert Carver, Class of 1979,by his father Calvin and stepmother June Carver, his sister Marcey Carver, his brother Chip Carver, Jr., Class of 1977, and Chip’s wife Anne DeLaney, Class of 1979. This lecture series supports open dialogue on self-esteem and acceptance. pingry.org/extras: Read the full story about Kristen’s lecture.

GETTING

TO KNOW...

Erin Boccher, Deputy Director of Athletics

Favorite musicians? I have an eclectic taste in music. At the gym, I lean into early 2000s hip hop, especially Nelly, Ludacris, and 50 Cent. You also can hear pop country on my playlists, and the occasional Dave Matthews Band song.

Favorite TV shows? Seinfeld—I can re-watch it infinitely. Also up there is The Office, and one of my guilty pleasures is The Challenge

As an undergraduate at Rutgers University, you were a student manager for legendary Hall of Fame women’s basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer. What did you learn from her? My time learning from Coach Stringer has defined so much of

who I am both professionally and personally. Besides her work ethic, accountability, and attention to detail, it was so apparent how much she led with love and care for her players.

What does it mean that you are Deputy Director of Athletics? I strive to positively impact our studentathletes’ experience. I help to manage all of the athletics operations, meaning my team of people, including [Assistant Director of Athletics for Operations] Keith Karsen and [Assistant Director of Athletics – Equipment and Operations] Zack Berkowitz, plays a big part in the “behind the scenes” work that goes into all of our programs’ practice and game day experience. We work with the Operations Department to make sure all of our athletic venues are safe, playable, and held to a high standard.

Cipriano Squash Court Dedication

NEARLY 25 YEARS LATER , their commitment continues . . . Guy Cipriano ’74, P’06, ’08 and his family, who helped introduce the squash program to Pingry in 2002, returned to the Basking Ridge Campus in January— specifically, the Miller A. Bugliari ’52 Athletics Center, which has housed eight squash courts since the building opened in 2017—to celebrate the dedication of the Cipriano Family Court. This gift is their most recent commitment to Pingry and to Pingry squash; together with the O’Toole family, who also helped bring the squash program to Pingry, “their generosity has been instrumental in providing world-class, on-campus facilities,” said Head of School Tim Lear. “Most recent” because among the Cipriano family’s gifts to Pingry over the decades, they supported the construction of the Bugliari Athletics Center, and in December 2024, they dedicated the

Cipriano Family Library on the Short Hills Campus. “The Cipriano Family Library and Cipriano Family Court are especially unique,” Mr. Lear explained, “because they bridge the full K–12 experience on both the Short Hills and Basking Ridge Campuses.”

Boys’ Varsity Squash Head Coach Ramsay Vehslage Jr., whose passion for squash runs in his family, detailed the history and expansion of squash at Pingry, from the fall of 2002 when he “jumped at the chance” to coach an Upper School team, to the program’s elevation from a club team with 11 students (2002-03) to varsity status (200304), to squash courts being built on campus in the Bugliari Athletics Center, to the fact that Pingry also offers Middle School and JV teams, with nearly 70 students playing squash at one of the three levels. Through it all, he said, “Guy has been a stalwart

supporter of Pingry squash and a reliable sounding board for me.”

Along with thanking Mr. Lear and Mr. Bugliari for their leadership and impact, Mr. Cipriano recognized the people who have played a role in the squash program at Pingry: the late Bob Pyle ’56, P’91 (in June 2002, he co-wrote a letter to then-President of Drew University Thomas H. Kean to request that Pingry be able to rent courts at Drew), Polly and Terry O’Toole P’05, ’08, former Director of Athletics Jo Ann DeMartini, Coach Ramsay Vehslage Jr. (“a tremendous leader and squash royalty”), Director of Squash and Girls’ Varsity Squash Head Coach Francis Odeh (“an individual of the highest quality as a player and as a coach”), and former Director of Squash Tina Rix-Stout.

Passionate about squash, Mr. Cipriano also spoke about his love for the game and its benefits for fitness, not the college search.

“Squash is not about getting into college,” he said. “I first played squash in 1977—I was already in college. I realized that this is a great game to stay fit, work on your reflexes, and work on your fitness . . . squash is a lifelong game.” His son Peter Cipriano ’06 played squash at Pingry and said his favorite memories came from playing sports at Pingry; he has since become a racquets champion.

Mr. Cipriano even pointed out how easy it can be to play squash. “You just need one or three people to play! Make it part of your life. It’s going to make you physically strong, it’s going to make you mentally strong, it’s going to keep you healthy, and it’s going to make you happy.”

ABOVE: Dana Betts P’36, ’38, Special Assistant to the Head of School Miller Bugliari ’52, P’86, ’90, ’97, GP’20, ’24, Head of School Tim Lear, Boys’ Varsity Squash Head Coach Ramsay Vehslage Jr., Guy Cipriano ’74, P’06, ’08, Debbie Cipriano, Peter Cipriano ’06, P’36, ’38, and Director of Squash and Girls’ Varsity Squash Head Coach Francis Odeh

Students from all three divisions gathered on the Basking Ridge Campus in December for the All-School Festival (freshmen and their advisors watched the concert via livestream from Macrae Theater).

ONE PINGRY Scenes from Homecoming

GETTING

TO KNOW...

Kendall Davies, Kindergarten Teacher

Favorite musicians? I have a playlist for every mood! My favorite artists are Gracie Abrams, Noah Kahan, and Olivia Dean.

Favorite book? Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I’ve read it three times.

Favorite TV shows? I love unwinding after school by watching reality TV. I watch basically everything on Bravo! My favorites are Summer House, Southern Charm, and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. I also love a mystery or thriller. I recently watched All Her Fault on Netflix.

Any hobbies, or favorite way to spend free time? I love to try new restaurants. I get the best recommendations from the Pingry community.

If you could study any field aside from your own, what would it be, and why? I have always been interested in interior design. I love helping my friends design their living spaces.

Any misconception about teaching Kindergarten that you would love to clear up? Not necessarily a misconception, but Kindergarten is truly a magical year. Students come to us at the beginning of the year in so many different places, and seeing how much they learn and grow is my absolute favorite part of my job. Me and my fellow teachers often joke that the Kindergarten wing is the happiest place on earth, and I feel so lucky to work here every day!

MLK Speaker Dr. Robert Fullilove ’62 Showed Up for Civil Rights

One of the first three African American students to attend Pingry, having started in 1957, Dr. Robert Fullilove ’62 visited Pingry in January to speak for the assembly honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

As timing would have it, this was his second MLK Day event in two days, with the first one also involving an educational setting. As Senior Advisor to the Public Health Program of the Bard College Prison Initiative (BPI), whose mission is to provide higher education for incarcerated individuals, he visited one of its campuses, Fishkill Correctional Facility, a mediumsecurity prison in upstate New York. BPI tries to hold a graduation ceremony on MLK Day because, as Dr. Fullilove explained to Pingry students, Dr. King valued education and believed that, in a society that struggles with racism, ignorance, and bigotry, those problems are based on a lack of education. “To hear three graduates talk about what it meant to get an education, on the day we celebrate Dr. King’s birthday, was critically important,” he said.

called “one of the most significant challenges I’ve ever faced.”

Freedom Summer in 1964, when civil rights activist Bob Moses had the idea for 1,000 college students from the north to come to Mississippi to spearhead voter registration drives.

“Who actually showed up?” Dr. Fullilove asked the audience. “Ninety percent were from colleges and universities largely in the north.” The message from the Civil Rights Movement: “This is your moment; this is your time to make an impact.” That violent summer was filled with arrests, beatings of summer volunteers, church bombings, Black homes or businesses being bombed or set on fire, civil rights workers killed.

A native of New Orleans and worried that the United States is forgetting about its past, Dr. Fullilove spent most of his remarks talking about his participation in the Civil Rights Movement from 1964–1967, which he

He recalled being part of Freedom Spring Break, an initiative that involved college students traveling to nine cities in the south where voter registration campaigns were being mounted. A sophomore at Colgate University at the time, he was chosen to go to Atlanta, where he worked in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference offices—Dr. King’s headquarters. Although Dr. Fullilove considered meeting Dr. King “one of the more interesting parts of my time in the south,” he says he never thought of it as being “a big deal until recently” when he realized that people who were active in civil rights 60 years ago are no longer alive and many civil rights leaders’ names have been forgotten. “It is something of an honor to speak their names because they had such a dramatic influence on my life,” he said.

Dr. Fullilove was also part of Mississippi

U.S. Presidential Scholar

“In 1964, I was just one of a thousand,” Dr. Fullilove said. “I never thought of myself as being that remarkable . . . what made me remarkable isn’t that I was a leader of the Civil Rights Movement . . . my life has shown me that the world belongs to those who show up. So much of life is, ‘Did you show up or not?’ What was called upon us to do was nothing much more than simply showing up.”

Dr. Fullilove is Associate Dean for Community and Minority Affairs, Professor of Clinical Sociomedical Sciences, and Co-Director of the Cities Research Group at Columbia University. He has been awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia. He is also a powerful voice in public health, serving on numerous committees, authoring numerous articles in the area of minority health, and working on HIV/AIDS prevention.

ABOVE: Dr. Robert Fullilove ’62 with his story on the Pingry People Through the Years wall outside Hauser Auditorium

Ziv Shah ’25 is one of 161 outstanding American high school graduates who demonstrated outstanding academic achievement, artistic excellence, technical expertise, leadership, citizenship, service, and contribution to school and community. At Pingry, he was a member of student government and served as Student Body President his senior year; was a three-sport athlete (cross country, swimming, track and field) and represented Team USA in the 2024 World Triathlon Championship Finals; participated in an Independent Research Team for science; participated in Model UN (Model United Nations); performed in the Jazz Ensemble; and received one of the highest student honors, The Class of 1902 Emblem, for showing “the greatest amount of school spirit”. Ziv is attending Yale University.

ONE PINGRY Summer Fellowships

COMPARING MATH AT PINGRY AND IN GERMANY

Interested in learning more about the German education system, specifically math, Upper School Math Teacher Alex Joujan P’28 traveled to Germany to understand how math is taught differently in German schools compared with American schools. He visited three schools to speak with teachers and administrators and found that, while teachers typically start lessons at a level all students can understand and then guide students toward more complexity, the instructional style is largely teacher led, without much group work.

“It made me feel good about how we’re teaching here,” he says. “We’re open to innovative ideas, and we have the flexibility to test and adopt new methods quickly.” Mr. Joujan also learned that the German schools have

pre-determined tracks for math courses, and students typically get placed in those tracks in elementary school. “They want to put a student where they fit well, but what are the limitations when they make that decision so early?”

His major takeaway is that “a lot of what I’m doing works well for students . . . It feels good that I have freedom to teach the way I do. Pingry is such a great place to be a teacher. Colleagues share with each other. Teachers are more independent in Germany, due to the structure of their daily schedule and the work environment, so I appreciate the interaction that is built into the school day here. Teachers in Germany often use their homes as their office. Here at Pingry, our math teachers share a common office space, which creates a naturally collaborative environment.”

RETURNING TO CHINA FOR CULTURAL EXPLORATION

Because she grew up within the Han majority, Middle School Chinese Teacher Yifan Xu’s exposure to China’s 55 ethnic minority groups (Bai, Mongols, and Tibetans, for example) and their rich cultural heritages has been limited, so as a teacher, she wanted to learn more about her country’s culture. “Each ethnic group has their own rituals. The saddest thing is that it’s hard to maintain them. Many dialects have been disappearing” because of the dominance of Mandarin, she says. “Minority languages are not promoted. Very few people know Tibetan texts because they’re not learned in schools. China is realizing the importance of promoting ethnic minority groups for economics and other reasons, but during my childhood, I received very little exposure.”

To increase her exposure, Ms. Xu traveled to Xi’an and Shanghai. Among the highlights in Xi’an were the Qin Terracotta Army Museum (housing thousands of life-sized warriors and horses), Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, and Muslim Street, and in Shanghai she saw an exhibit about her idol, world-renowned

Chinese American architect I. M. Pei. Overall, the trip gave her resources to better design student-centered, culturally immersive trips for Middle School students, and her insights and experiences will help her combat stereotypes and misconceptions about Asian cultures in the U.S. Ms. Xu also plans to make

her lessons more engaging, and in January, she was excited to host the Lunar New Year Celebration with more than 30 Middle School students at Pottersville, an overnight experience that included dumpling making, fan painting, calligraphy, and watching the Chinese film Our Shining Days

JIN XIONG WELLNESS GARDEN AND OUTDOOR LEARNING COMMONS

At first, the Lowe r School had its K–2 Big Blue Garden. Now, it also has the Jin Xiong Wellness Garden and Outdoor Learning Commons for Grades 3–5 to continue their outdoor-based learning, and Pingry dedicated this colorful, collaborative space on October 1. “This new wellness garden and outdoor learning commons reflects Pingry’s enduring embrace of joy and wonder in learning, connection to community, and the importance of literally planting the seeds necessary for others to succeed,” said Head of School Tim Lear.

Lower School Director Dr. Alyssa Johns P’36, ’38 recognized the “incredible work of our internal team, whose dedication transformed an idea into this multidisciplinary outdoor classroom. Heather Smith (K–5 Outdoor Coordinator), Lindsay Baydin (K–5 Art Coordinator), and Tyler Amelio (K–5 Sustainability Coordinator) dreamed up this garden, designed the space, prepared the beds, planted, and integrated the garden into our curriculum. They’ve spent countless hours after school and on weekends sourcing the right materials and plants to make sure every detail was just right.” Dr. Johns also thanked the Facilities Team for their work to build the garden.

GETTING TO KNOW...

Husband and Wife: Joe Kinney P’15, ’18, College Athletics Recruiting Coordinator, College Counselor, and Sue Kinney P’15, ’18, Co-Director of College Counseling

Mr. Kinney

Favorite musicians? Journey and The Doors

Favorite books? Non-fiction, particularly military history. A recent book of interest was A Frozen Hell by William Trotter on the Russo-Finnish War in 1939–1940.

Favorite TV shows? Anything crime drama–related, Blue Bloods for example

Favorite movies? Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns, particularly For a Few Dollars More

Any hobbies, or favorite way to spend free time?

Golf, skiing, hanging out with friends and family, and for the past three years, volunteering at the Pottersville Volunteer Fire Department

If you could study any field aside from your own, what would it be, and why? Meteorology or aeronautical engineering. I’m fascinated with the weather, particularly in my role as a baseball coach. Weather is always an important issue. For aeronautical engineering, I harbored a dream as a little kid to be an astronaut.

If you could have dinner with one person, living or from the past, who would it be, and why?

Ulysses S. Grant because he rose from nowhere, and he had a vision that he was uncompromising in achieving.

How did you come to love baseball? It started with my grandfather, a longtime amateur player in New York City. My father loved baseball, so my brother and I became baseball fans at an early age. When we were growing up in the ’70s, baseball had tremendous media coverage, particularly in the newspapers. I was drawn to that.

What does it mean that you are the College Athletics Recruiting Coordinator? If younger student-athletes who aren’t assigned a college counselor yet have questions, I field those questions. I consider myself a college counselor like everyone else in the department.

Mrs. Kinney

Favorite musician? Taylor Swift. I’m obsessed.

Favorite book? Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

Favorite TV show? Modern Family

Favorite movie? The Princess Bride

Any hobbies, or favorite way to spend free time? Reading, working out, and hanging out with friends and family

If you could study any field aside from your own, what would it be, and why? Oceanography or veterinary medicine. I love the ocean and it has unlimited mysteries, and I love animals.

If you could have dinner with one person, living or from the past, who would it be, and why? The Marquis de Lafayette because he gave up so much to come fight for a country—for an ideal—that wasn’t his own.

Why did you transition from teaching history to college admissions and then college counseling? I was always intrigued by admissions. Then, [Pingry’s Assistant Head of School at the time] Jon Leef [saw my résumé through a recruitment firm and] reached out in 2007 to ask if I wanted to be a college counselor, which is a great combination of being at a high school, working with students, and college admissions. It’s the best of all worlds.

Collectively

You both work in College Counseling and both were history teachers (Mr. Kinney taught U.S. History and American Government in the late 1990s in Maryland). In what other ways are you similar, and in what ways are you opposites? We are similar in that we really care about kids and their well-being, and we are invested in Pottersville and invested at Pingry. We are opposites in that we approach life differently. Mr. Kinney is more organized. Mrs. Kinney has more empathy and compassion. Mr. Kinney is black-and-white [in his thinking] while Mrs. Kinney is more gray. But we both have moved more toward each other.

Our Progress on the Strategic Plan

As The Pingry Plan comes to life, the School is excited to share the stories of progress—real projects and initiatives that reflect the mission in action. These stories highlight the ways that faculty, staff, and students are turning strategy into impact, shaping the Pingry experience for years to come. Read the full stories at whatsnext.pingry.org/our-progress.

Upper School Advisory Gets a Refresh

An email from Upper School Director Dr. Reid Cottingham in December 2023 set the wheels in motion. It announced that Pingry was creating a position that would be responsible for strengthening the Upper School advisory program and Peer Leadership program. The individual would start in July 2024, but while the position is new, the concept is not.

• DEVELOPING TRANSFORMATIVE RELATIONSHIPS

• CREATING SPACE FOR CONNECTION

The Honor Code: From Annual Votes to Its 100-Year Anniversary

The timing is exceptional, and perfectly appropriate, that Pingry’s Honor Code, which has guided countless students to develop honorable behavior, character, and good decision-making, and work for the common good, is celebrating its 100th anniversary at the same time that the School has made “Learning and Living with Honor” one of the priorities of its new strategic plan.

• LEARNING AND LIVING WITH HONOR

Responsive Classroom: Students Respond to Each Other, and Teachers Respond to Student Needs

A major shift has taken place first thing in the morning at the Lower School. Students are arriving earlier so they can be settled in their homerooms for Morning Meeting, a newly added way to start their day—just one aspect of the newly adopted Responsive Classroom, a more intentional approach of adding social-emotional learning, student well-being, and character development to the school day.

• DEVELOPING TRANSFORMATIVE RELATIONSHIPS

• CREATING SPACE FOR CONNECTION

The Intern Gets an Intern When Anthony Truncale ’26 arrived on campus at Pingry as a freshman, it was as a budding lawyer. A well-organized, highly driven, three-sport athlete, he split his time freshman year between soccer, wrestling, and lacrosse. You could be forgiven for thinking you had this intensely driven would-be attorney all figured out, because that’s how he presented himself, except, occasionally, when he would sheepishly mention his interest in film.

• CREATING SPACE FOR CONNECTION

Pottersville’s Open Doors

What happens when the perks of an educator’s job include a front porch, a friendly neighbor, and a vibrant community? Pingry decided to find out just that by taking a groundbreaking approach to employee housing with their Pottersville Campus. With its cozy buildings and rolling hills, Pottersville is not simply acquired real estate. It is fast becoming a community that redefines and revitalizes connections, touching every corner of the School.

• CULTIVATING AN OUTSTANDING COMMUNITY OF EDUCATORS

• CREATING SPACE FOR CONNECTION

Reimagining Time: Pingry’s Bold Leap Into the Future

At most schools, the daily schedule is treated as a fixed blueprint, becoming so deeply embedded in tradition that it’s rarely questioned, let alone reimagined. Pingry, of course, is not like most schools. And so the problem of time itself has come under scrutiny. Redesigning the schedule requires the community to alter the way time is structured across its classrooms and campuses. It’s an ambitious and foundational challenge, one that Head of School Tim Lear is certain is achievable.

• CREATING SPACE FOR CONNECTIONS

• STRENGTHENING WELL-BEING

Pingry Partners with Oxford to Strengthen Character and Leadership

There is an expression, “May you live in interesting times.” Optimists see it as a challenge, no doubt an opportunity to do better; pessimists, on the other hand, consider it a curse. If interesting times means, at the very least, uncertainty, then the best response calls for a steady approach. It’s one that seems an increasing rarity nowadays, and it has educators asking themselves how best to prepare their students to become ethical leaders of tomorrow. It is this question that prompted Pingry to take a bold step forward by partnering with the Oxford Character Project.

• LEARNING AND LIVING WITH HONOR • STRENGTHENING WELL-BEING

• MANAGING SUCCESS AND DISAPPOINTMENT

Summer Academics Expand, for Preparation and Advancement

Pingry Summer started something new in 2025, namely the first dedicated focus on summer academics featuring Pingry teachers. “We significantly expanded summer offerings of courses taught by Pingry teachers so that Pingry students can advance their coursework [for the upcoming school year] and make fuller use of all of Pingry’s curricular offerings,” says Dean of Summer Academics, Upper School History Teacher, and Enrollment Counselor Matt Horesta. With these new offerings—co-curriculars outside of the traditional academic day—students have more opportunities to pursue their passions.

• MANAGING SUCCESS AND DISAPPOINTMENT

Listen: It’s the Stanley H. King Institute

Listen. This is the key concept from the week-long Stanley H. King Institute, which Pingry hosted this summer on its Pottersville Campus. A professional development conference for administrators, faculty, and staff from independent schools, the Institute focuses on deep listening in support of students, as well as tapping into one’s empathy, and asks educators to consider these questions, among others: How do we support what students need? How do we listen more deeply? How do we promote open communication?

• CULTIVATING AN OUTSTANDING COMMUNITY OF EDUCATORS

Never Stop Moving: Spark Grants Inspire Innovation, Turning Ideas Into Reality

The idea for a Spark Grant was the brainchild of Head of School Tim Lear, who was hoping to encourage a culture of innovation and creativity within the Pingry community. By providing funds for Spark Grants to faculty and staff to partner with their colleagues from across different departments and divisions on a project, colleagues would engage in meaningful collaboration with their peers.

• MANAGING SUCCESS AND DISAPPOINTMENT

• CULTIVATING AN OUTSTANDING COMMUNITY OF EDUCATORS

Expect the Unexpected: Upper School Students Inspire the Next Generation at Pingry

It’s not every day that a fifth-grade student gets to hear from a high school senior who talks passionately about volunteering with a nonprofit in Africa, or a fourth-grade student enjoys a visit from a rocking student band with hits on Spotify. Yet those are exactly the kind of moments the Cultural Ambassador Series is designed to create. Conceived and led by Upper School English Teacher Alisha Davlin, the Cultural Ambassador Series flips the script on traditional mentoring. Instead of adults giving younger students advice from the top down, this program brings smart, passionate, and unexpected Upper School voices directly to the Lower and Middle School students. The goal? To spark curiosity, challenge assumptions, and plant seeds of inspiration.

• LEARNING AND LIVING WITH HONOR

Pingry Announces New Trustees

MICHELLE (CHANG)

COMSTOCK ’98, P’29, ’33, President of The Pingry School Parents’ Association (PSPA) for the 2025-26 academic year, has volunteered extensively during her time as a Pingry parent, serving as First Vice President, Middle School Representative, Lower School Volunteer Coordinator, and various other PSPA volunteer roles. She was previously a Vice President at Citigroup working in Global Markets, trading equity derivatives on behalf of institutional clients including hedge funds, pension funds, and retail clients. She earned a B.S.E. in Operations Research and Financial Engineering at Princeton University and an M.B.A. at the New York University Stern School of Business, where she was awarded a Forte Fellowship and Dean Scholarship.

MICHAEL GONNELLA P’32, ’34, ’36 has been Chief Financial Officer of the investment company Pershing Square Capital Management since 2017, and prior to that position, he served as Senior Controller since joining the firm in 2005. Mr. Gonnella also serves as Chief Financial Officer of Pershing Square SPARC Holdings, a specialpurpose acquisition rights company, and previously served as Chief Financial Officer of Pershing Square Tontine Holdings. Mr. Gonnella is a certified public accountant and received his Bachelor of Science from Seton Hall University in 2002 and his Master of Accountancy in Taxation from Rutgers Business School.

JOCELYN GRAHAME P’32, ’34 works as a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, where she also leads McKinsey’s New Jersey office. She works with both private and public organizations on issues including strategy, performance improvement, organizational excellence, and large-scale transformational change. She earned a B.A. at the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. at Harvard Business School. The Grahames are known for their philanthropic endeavors, prioritizing giving back to their community and supporting educational institutions.

DR. RANDY LIZARDO ’95 is an OB/GYN who specializes in minimally invasive, robotic, and advanced laparoscopic surgery. He is a partner at Capital Women’s Care and an Assistant Clinical Professor at The George Washington University. He has been voted a Washingtonian “Top Doc” through Washingtonian Magazine annually since 2016. Dr. Lizardo is a master surgeon of gynecologic surgery with a focus on fibroids, endometriosis, and pelvic pain. He earned a B.A. at The George Washington University and an M.D. at The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. He and his sister, Dr. Therese Lizardo-Escaño ’98, have established the Dr. Loreto Lizardo Tuition Assistance Endowment in honor of their mother, Loreto Lizardo.

MIKE SANTOMASSIMO P’24, ’26, ’29 is Chief Financial Officer at Wells Fargo. With more than 25 years of experience in banking, he is responsible for Wells Fargo’s financial management functions including accounting and control, financial planning and analysis, line of business finance functions, asset-liability management, treasury, and tax, plus the company’s investment portfolios, corporate development, and investor relations. Mr. Santomassimo earned a B.S. at The American University and an Executive M.B.A. at New York University. He also formerly served as a trustee at The Peck School.

Pingry thanks retired trustees Janeene Balmir P’27, ’28, Allen Kim P’29, and Steve Lipper ’79, P’09, ’12, ’14 for their service to the School. Mr. Lipper, who served on the Board for nine years, received The Cyril and Beatrice Baldwin Pingry Family Citizen of the Year Award at Commencement (read more in the Summer 2025 issue).

2025-26

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

FRONT ROW: Grace Park P’23, ’26, Jonathan Wilf ’02, P’33, ’34, ’37, Twinkle Morgan P’23, ’26, ’27, Melissa (Weiss) Moriarty ’87, P’23, ’27, Josh Kalafer P’27, ’29, Jocelyn Grahame P’32, ’34, Chair Ian Shrank ’71, Lori Halivopoulos ’78, P’23, Laura Overdeck P’21, ’23, ’26, Lincoln Germain P’26, Dr. Anju Thomas P’19, ’22, PSPA President Michelle (Chang) Comstock ’98, P’29, ’33, and Tyler Reeder P’27, ’29 BACK ROW: Jiayi Chen P’32, ’35, Adam Plotkin ’94, Margaret Santana P’22, ’24, Prashanth Reddy P’28, PAA President Kathy (Iacuzzo) Sartorius ’92, P’22, ’25, ’29, Professor Michael Nitabach ’84, Douglas Bookbinder ’98, David Greig ’98, Dr. Randy Lizardo ’95, Katie Procter P’22, ’26, Stuart Lederman ’78, Cookie Mason P’21, ’24, Souren Ouzounian P’23, ’27, ’27, Michael Gonnella P’32, ’34, ’36, Kevin Eng P’24, ’26, ’31, Mike Santomassimo P’24, ’26, ’29, and Maggie O’Toole ’05

Faculty and Staff News

Pingry Welcomes New Faculty and Staff

KENYA BARBER, Grade 2 Teacher, has a teaching career that includes tenures at the Barnard College Toddler Center, Bank Street College of Education, Dwight-Englewood School, and Moorestown Friends School. As a dedicated educator committed to equity and global perspectives, she has served on DEIB committees and presented at national professional development conferences focused on inclusion. She previously completed a summer sabbatical in Morocco to research educational systems and gender equity. In the classroom, she is known for project-based learning, having successfully led interdisciplinary units on indigenous history. She earned a B.A. in Sociology, with a minor in Criminal Justice, at Hampton University and an M.S.Ed. at the Bank Street College of Education.

ZACK BERKOWITZ, Assistant Director of Athletics – Equipment and Operations, oversees uniforms, gear, and logistics for more than 90 Middle and Upper School teams. Prior to Pingry, he was Coordinator of Athletic Event Operations and Equipment Manager at Rider University, and prior to Rider, an Operations Coordinator and Head Equipment Manager at Southern New Hampshire University. Mr. Berkowitz also served as Graduate Assistant Football Coach and Equipment Manager at The University of West Florida and was a member of the 2017 Division II Football National Championship Runner Up. He is a certified member of the Athletic Equipment Managers Association. Mr. Berkowitz earned a B.A. in History at Bryant University and a master’s in Education at the University of West Florida.

JESS BISHOP, Middle School English Teacher, most recently taught Grade 6 Social Studies at Eric S. Smith Middle School. She has also taught Grades 7 and 8 History at Sidwell Friends School, Grade 7 History at The Savannah Country Day School, Grades 6 and 8 History at Montclair Kimberley Academy, and Grades 6–8 Social Studies, English, and Religion at St. Peter’s Elementary School. Ms. Bishop earned a B.A. in American Studies, with a minor in History, at Franklin & Marshall College, Certificates of Eligibility with Advanced Standing in K–5 Elementary and 6–12 Social Studies at Caldwell University, and an M.A. in History at Seton Hall University.

AVINASH CHANDAN, Upper School History Teacher, previously worked for the Jersey City Public Schools and St. Peter’s Prep and is proud to have helped students who were previously disinterested in history learn to love it. He earned a B.A. in History, an M.Ed. in Social Studies Education, and an M.A. in History at Rutgers University.

ANDY CORWIN, Physics Teacher and Robotics Coach, has taught science at The Winchendon School, Northfield Mount Hermon, and Ranney School, having launched or enhanced Engineering initiatives at all three. He earned a B.S. in Engineering Physics at The Ohio State University.

GREGORY FEATHERMAN joins Pingry as Pottersville Facilities Technician.

LIZ GAYNOR, Lower School Counselor, spent 25 years with the School District of the Chathams, where she established a new position as the Elementary School Counselor and served in that role for six years before joining the Child Study Team as a school psychologist. Mrs. Gaynor earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology at Seton Hall University, and a master’s degree and Specialist Certificate in School Psychology at the University of Delaware. She also has training in crisis intervention and threat assessment.

RAMIRO GOMEZ, Basking Ridge Mechanical Technician, spent 29 years as Facilities Manager at Zufall Health Center, helping Zufall expand from one location to 10 full-service facilities. He is a licensed dental assistant who likes to keep things working behind the scenes.

SOPHIE HAYES, Basking Ridge Reception and Operations Supervisor, has spent over a decade working in hospitality sales and operations. No stranger to the front desk, she has held management roles with Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt, and previously served as Director of Sales and Marketing overseeing properties in New York and New Jersey. She enjoys building strong relationships and helping operations run seamlessly behind the scenes. She earned an A.A.S. in Hospitality Management from County College of Morris and a B.S. in Business Administration, with a concentration in Management, from Montclair State University.

DANIEL HERTZBERG, Upper School Visual Arts Teacher, joined Pingry part time in 2024 and is now a full-time member of the faculty. Prior to teaching at Pingry, he was self-employed while teaching at several colleges (Montclair State University, The School of Visual Arts, St. John’s University, and the University of the Arts). He has also been a graphic designer at the Jewish Community Center Association, a wood shop instructor at Parsons School of Design, and a production artist at Workman Publishing. He is proud to have

illustrated a cover of National Geographic magazine. Mr. Hertzberg earned a B.F.A. in Illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design.

THOM JOHNSON, Physics Teacher, taught physics for 30 years at Paul D. Schreiber High School, and two years at North Middlesex High School, and was a Peace Corps teacher for two years at the Swaneng Hill School in Botswana. He earned a B.S. in Physics at The Evergreen State College and an Ed.M. at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Mr. Johnson also spent three summers at the Institute for Physics Education at the University of Washington.

JENNY LEE, Chemistry Teacher, has worked as an Upper School Science Teacher at Princeton Day School and St. Luke’s School. Ms. Lee earned a B.S. in Chemistry at Duke University.

JEFF MAGER joins Pingry as a Groundskeeper.

ELAINE NEUMANN, Upper School History Teacher, came to Pingry in 2024 as Head Coach of the Varsity and JV Water Polo Teams and now joins the faculty. She previously worked at Pequannock Township High School, where she developed the AP World Curriculum for eight years. Mrs. Neumann earned a B.A., with a double major in History and Art History, and an M.A. in Education, both at Villanova University.

KATELIN O’HARE, Middle and Upper School Visual Arts Teacher, worked for 12 years as a visual arts teacher at The School at Columbia University, developing a K–8 scope and sequence that incorporated a wide variety of mediums and techniques while promoting innovative critical-thinking skills and exploration. Over her 12 years there, she also worked closely with eighth-grade students to design and build sets for the annual musical, coordinated the School’s associate teacher program, served as a grade-level and yearbook coordinator, and led Project Week, among many other initiatives. Ms. O’Hare

earned a B.F.A. in Photography from Lesley University, an M.A.T. in Visual Art Education from the School of Visual Arts, and an Ed.M. in Educational Leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University.

ANNIE OATMAN ’20, Experiential Programs Coordinator, previously worked at Camp Dudley & Kiniya in various roles, including as a Division Head. While there, she received the Pat Peavy Award that recognizes the leader who best exemplifies kindness, integrity, and selflessness in service to others. She earned a B.A. in Product Design, with minors in Entrepreneurship and Psychology, at Lehigh University. Other members of Ms. Oatman’s family have attended or are attending Pingry, including her sister, brothers, mother, aunts, uncle, and cousins.

EMILY RANKOWITZ, Grade 2 Teacher, has been teaching for about a decade. For the past three years, she taught Kindergarten at an independent school in Englewood, Colorado. Before that, she spent six years teaching Grade 2 in both public and independent schools in Chicago while earning a Learning Behavior Specialist Endorsement at Roosevelt University (balancing graduate-level coursework with the daily demands of the classroom pushed her to grow as an educator). Mrs. Rankowitz earned a B.S. in Early Childhood Education at Miami University.

Co-Teachers in Grades 1 and 2

The Lower School introduced a co-teaching model in Grades 1 and 2 this fall to further strengthen the student experience and academic program. These younger students often require more teacher time, and this structure will better meet those needs. The need also exists to provide consistency and a sense of routine during times of transition. Two current faculty members helped build this program, and a national search resulted in adding new full-time teachers to the Lower School team.

BARRY ROSS, Short Hills Facilities Technician, previously worked for the North Arlington Board of Education.

STEPHANIE ROSSER, Grade 3 Teacher, previously worked as Learning Specialist for JK (Junior Kindergarten)–2 at St. Luke’s School, Co-Teacher for K–2 and Learning Specialist for K–2 at the Quad Preparatory School, and an Associate Grade 2 Teacher at the American School in London. Mrs. Rosser earned a B.A. in Psychology at Marist College and an M.A. in Special and Inclusive Education at the Institute of Education at University College London.

L.J. SCURFIELD, Dean of Residential Life on the Pottersville Campus, is a strong believer in the power of immersive learning and place-based learning. He worked at Westtown School since 2012, mainly as a Middle and Upper School Latin Teacher, dorm parent, and golf coach; he spent 11 years working in a dorm. He earned a B.A. in Classical Languages at Hamilton College and a Master’s in Classics at the University of Kentucky.

HARRISON SHI, Middle School English and Substitute Teacher, has worked as an English Language Arts ACT/SAT tutor at Breakaway Prep. He earned a B.S. in Business Administration at Fordham University and a Master of Education with Certification in English Language Arts Education at Rutgers University.

MATT TRAYNOR, Groundskeeper, worked for Buildings and Grounds at Voorhees High School. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Sports Management at the University of Delaware.

DR. LARA TUCKER, Middle and Upper School Spanish Teacher, has been a Visiting Instructor and Teaching Fellow at Columbia University, as well as a Spanish Teacher at the Windward School, Portledge School, and Ranney School, where she also served as World Languages Department Chair. Dr. Tucker earned a B.A. in Spanish at Bard College, and an M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in Latin American and Iberian Cultures at Columbia University.

IZZY VASILE, Campaign Assistant, previously worked in a variety of marketing and e-commerce roles, most recently serving as an eCommerce Lead at Cybex. Before that, she worked at Amazon. Through those experiences, she discovered how much she values building strong relationships, a passion that led her to pursue a career in education. Miss Vasile earned a Bachelor of Science in Marketing at Texas Christian University.

JEN VIGNOLINI, Biology Teacher, previously taught AP biology, biology, chemistry, and microbiology at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School. She also taught at The Potomac School and Charlotte Country Day School. Mrs. Vignolini earned a B.S. in Microbiology at Pennsylvania State University and an M.S. in Microbiology at the University of Michigan.

MARGARET VON DER LINDEN P’24, Assistant Director of Development, Annual Giving and Parent Engagement, has worked as Director of Educational Programs and Services at Learning Alliances, where she partnered with school districts across the country to provide Professional Development and Family Engagement Programs to teachers, parents, and school administrators. She has also worked at Children’s Literacy Initiative to collaborate with teachers to improve literacy skills in classrooms, and taught Grade 5 Language Arts and Social Studies at Kent Place School. Ms. von der Linden earned an Ed.M. in Education Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Faculty and Staff in Leadership Positions

EMILY COOKE P’36, ’38, Director of Strategic Communications and Marketing since 2021, is now Chief Communications and Marketing Officer

DR. BRANDYN FISHER P’32, ’34, an AP Psychology Teacher and Mental Performance Coach since 2017, is now Director of Student-Athlete Mental Performance. In this role, which replaces the Center for Performance and Leadership, he is continuing and expanding the same work that supports the development of student-athletes’ skills in mental performance and leadership. In particular, he is meeting individually with more Upper School students (several hundred during the school year) who choose to sign up for the meetings, and he is expanding his work in the Middle School by teaching the enrichment course “Performance Ready: Mental Skills Training for Student-Athletes”.

DR. GILLIAN JOHNSON, Upper School Spanish Teacher since 2018, is Director of Global Engagement

CHRISTY WELBORNE, who joined Pingry in 2022 and was previously Associate Director, then Interim Director, of Enrollment Management, is now Director of Enrollment Management

Farewell to an Administrator

ANDREW WILLIAMS, Assistant Lower School Director of Academics, departs Pingry after a year-and-a-half to become the next Head of School at The Masters Academy International. During his time at Pingry, Mr. Williams has been a thoughtful partner to faculty and a steady contributor to the Lower School’s academic life, including his work on scheduling, and he was a member of the K–12 Accreditation Steering Committee.

VIEW FROM

Basking Ridge

Pottersville

Short Hills

Friday Night Lights

Friday Night Lights in 2025 featured two games on back-to-back nights—the Varsity Field Hockey Team on The John Taylor Babbitt ’07 Memorial Field on Thursday, October 16 and the Varsity Football Team on Parsons Field on Friday, October 17

CELEBRATING

100

YEARS OF THE

Honor Code

By Greg Waxberg ’96

STANDING ROOM ONLY . Upper School students, faculty, and staff filled one side of the C.B. Newton Library on the Basking Ridge Campus on a Thursday morning in January. History Department Chair Matt Honohan and Upper School English Teacher Dr. Barrett Ward were leading a seminar on the Honor Code’s application to the political landscape, part of the School’s first Honor Code Week, and the two teachers presented different approaches for people to think about, based on courses they teach. But a message clearly emerged: be aware of your values.

A week earlier, this audience heard the same message in the John Hanly Lecture on Ethics and Morality: know your values.

For 100 years, the core of a Pingry education has been the Honor Code developing students’ values: their sense of right and wrong, how to make difficult decisions, acting for the common good, what to do when nobody is looking, their sense of decency. In fact, as then–Head of School John Hanly once told a prospective parent who asked about Pingry’s core curriculum, “Pingry teaches character above everything else.” It was Mr. Hanly who introduced Convocation in 1987 for the student body to reaffirm its commitment to the Honor Code, when administrators and student leaders share messages about honorable behavior. And honor is a focus of the School’s newest strategic plan—Learning and Living with Honor is the first priority.

During this centennial year, the School formed a Focus Group that is discussing ways to amplify and celebrate the Honor Code. Chaired by faculty members Ahmad Boyd, Assistant Director of Athletics for Student-Athlete Success, and Julia Dunbar, Form V/VI Dean of Student Life and Honor Board Co-Advisor, the Focus Group includes the Student Body President; Honor Board Chair; Honor Board Cultural Coordinator; Presidents of the Pingry Alumni Association and Pingry School Parents’ Association; Community Well-Being Director; representatives from the Magistri, Alumni Relations, and Communications; and faculty from all three divisions. The fruits of those conversations will be covered in upcoming issues. This issue reflects on how the Honor Code has been part of school life for a century.

100 Years of the Honor Code

At First, No Guarantees—Only Votes

Even though the Honor Code and Honor System have long been at the core of school life, their beginnings may not be common knowledge. The Head of School of their origin, C.B. Newton, was a graduate of Princeton University, which had established its own Honor System, one of the few on American college campuses. Believing strongly in the system’s values, Mr. Newton promoted the idea of an Honor System at Pingry, but did not impose it, because he wanted to make sure that most of the students would support it. Ultimately, the Class of 1926 took the initiative to create Pingry’s version, which was formulated by Codman Hislop ’27.

In the fall of 1925, the Middle and Upper Schools voted overwhelmingly to institute the Honor System, so the plan was signed by all members of the Class of 1926 and the Student Council. Under the plan, no faculty supervision was required for written tests and exams and, if a student cheated, either the cheating needed to be reported to the Student Council or the student in question would have to voluntarily confess. A key aspect of the original plan was that it required the student body to vote at the beginning of each school year whether to continue the Honor System, a vote that required a nine-tenths majority; the system was explained to new students prior to the vote.

The student body voted to continue the Honor System every year, beginning in the late fall of 1926. In 1939, knowing that the system had become an intrinsic part of school culture, the students voted to make the Honor System permanent. Then, in 1949, to acknowledge that the values of the Honor System truly extended to all aspects of a student’s life, the Pingry faculty expanded the system to include the Honor Code, calling for an ideal of behavior that a person of honor followed voluntarily at all times and in all places, out of both self-respect and a sense of responsibility toward others. Thus, the Honor System continued to apply to tests, homework, and a respect for personal property, while the Honor Code guided the ideals of gentlemanly behavior. In 1988, the wording of the Honor Code was revised to apply to both men and women.

Jen Lee Koss ’96 served as Co-Chair of the Honor Board Committee that researched Honor Boards at other schools, and served as Honor Board Chair when the Honor Board was introduced in 1995. The Honor Board added a student voice to mediation for non-academic decisions.

From the Winter 1996 issue of The Pingry Review: “We heard about the Honor System and the Honor Code, but we weren’t immediately involved. By forming the Honor Board, we hope to bring certain responsibility back to the students, to the people who should be upholding this tradition. We want to rekindle that spirit and the attitude it represents. We want to help students understand that honesty, personal integrity, and the other standards the Code stands for underlie all we do here at school and in our lives beyond Pingry.”

“The Honor Code was and has been the foundational thing in my life. It’s a standard that I’ve held myself to. Maybe that’s my religion.”

Then–Head of School John Hanly created and taught The Ethical Dilemma, an English elective that was introduced in the 1997-98 school year. The reading featured writers portraying ethical people searching for guidelines in an unethical world, with texts such as Albert Camus’ The Stranger, E.M. Forster’s Passage to India, Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome, and Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse. After Mr. Hanly retired, Upper School English and Art History Teacher Nigel Paton P’09 taught the course and, according to a Pingry Review story from Summer 2004, observed the class for a semester to prepare. He found that Mr. Hanly presented “different choices and never preached.” Upper School English Teacher Tom Keating P’27, ’29, who also taught the course for many years beginning in 2007, loved the debates that topics would spark and even formulated his own list of 100 hypothetical ethical dilemmas for students to consider. Also continuing the legacy for about five years, Tim Lear taught the class before he was appointed Head of School in 2022.

Not every question in life has a right or wrong answer, just as not every decision can be classified as right or wrong. Often, the thought process leading to a decision is as important as or more important than the decision itself. To expose students to the “gray area” types of issues they will face during their lives, The John Hanly Lecture Series on Ethics and Morality was established in 1999 to honor then–Head of School John Hanly, who would retire in 2000, and his unwavering commitment to making life’s decisions within an ethical framework.

Among the speakers: Mr. Hanly; then-President of Morgan Stanley Steve Newhouse ’65, P’95, ’97, ’99; then–60 Minutes Producer and journalist David Gelber ’59; Lisa See, author of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan; Egyptian American documentary filmmaker Jehane Noujaim; John Quiñones, host of ABC-TV’s What Would You Do?; Melanie Nakagawa ’98; Jessica Westerman ’08; Daniel Pincus ’96; former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman; Andrew Goldstein ’92; former Drama Department Chair Al Romano (speaking about Mr. Hanly); and Mark Chen ’96.

100 Years of the Honor Code

CATCHING UP WITH FORMER HONOR BOARD CHAIR

Orianne Dutka ’98

The four years I spent at Pingry left a lasting impact on me in three significant ways. The school nurtured in me a lifelong love of learning, enabled me to forge meaningful relationships I still share with a number of my classmates and teachers, and gave me the opportunity to develop a deep reverence for the school’s Honor Code.

JESSICA WESTERMAN ’08 , who served on the Honor Board and was Student Body President in 2007-08, created the Honor Code ceremony during Convocation, when advisory group representatives submit signed pledges to the Student Body President and Honor Board Chair. She wrote in The Pingry Record while running for Student Body President: “We need to instill honor before its absence even becomes a problem. My solution: an all-school signing of our Honor Code pledges at Convocation . . . the entire campus would gain a deeper feeling of ownership and respect for the Honor Code.” She viewed her victory as testament to the student body’s belief in the possibility of change.

ABOVE: Then–Student Body President Jessica Westerman ’08, right, with then–Honor Board Chair Abby Machernis ’08, middle, collecting signed Honor Code pledges at Convocation in 2007—the first time the Honor Code ceremony took place INSET: Student signatures, pledging to uphold the standards of the Honor Code

In 1759, in The Theory of Moral Sentiments, the Scottish economist and philosopher Adam Smith discussed a concept he proclaimed “the man within the breast,” an internal conscience and code of ethics that guides us even when others are not watching. Two-and-a-half centuries later, Pingry’s Honor Code lay the foundation of “the man within the breast” for me. Through my time at the school and by serving on the Honor Board, I came to appreciate the Honor Code’s call for decency, integrity, genuine concern for others, and moral behavior, not only while at Pingry, but throughout life.

During Honor Board hearings, I saw the role the Honor Code played for students facing potential disciplinary action. It is human to make mistakes, and one key element of every hearing was to determine how to best help each student learn, grow, and remain a contributing member of the community. The Honor Code supported everyone at Pingry, including those

In the years since I graduated, I have seen how rare it is that people get the chance to correct, make amends, and remain in a community with moral commitment like Pingry. At the beginning of my professional career, I worked as a lawyer investigating international allegations of corruption and bribery. Later, I switched to writing fiction and explored themes such as discrimination against women, military abuses, and human trafficking. As an adult, I have a more nuanced sense of ethics than when I was a teenager, but my core values remain those that I first espoused at Pingry. Now, as a parent, I am grateful to pass on the spirit of the Honor Code to my children.

I have seen how rare it is that people get the chance to correct, make amends, and remain in a community with moral commitment like

Honor Board Refocuses on Community Outreach

From the time of its inception over 30 years ago, to restore stewardship of the Honor Code to students by giving the student body a direct voice in the application, interpretation, and enforcement of the Honor Code, the image of the Honor Board in many people’s minds was that of a punitive entity—a behind-the-scenes group of students involved in deciding consequences. At one time, it served with the Academic Integrity Committee and Disciplinary Committee. But now, the Honor Board is working to be more relational and aspirational, a force for good. “In recent years, the Honor Board has changed how it interacts with the community. It’s no longer clandestine, only dealing with disciplinary problems, but is a student-facing organization,” said Alex Wong ’25 during an Honor Board meet-and-greet with alumni during last year’s Reunion.

Today, the Honor Board has a discipline side and a culture side. On the discipline side are the Honor Board hearings, and as of the 2024-25 school year, the consequences that are potential outcomes of Honor Code violations were revamped to provide more options for flexible and supportive responses to a case. Form III/IV Dean of Student Life and Honor Board Co-Advisor Robert Hoepfl P’37, ’38 explains that the Honor Board was using a “linear system” of escalation based on a student’s grade, number of violations, and the situation, but now, “it’s more à la carte with more partnership” (such as with CAST, the Counseling and Academic Support Team) so that, yes, there are still consequences for Honor Code violations, but the School’s support system helps stu-

dents learn from their mistakes. “We’ve switched to the ‘best outcome for a situation’ instead of the ‘next step’,” Mr. Hoepfl says.

On the culture side, coordinated by Upper School English Teacher Alisha Davlin P’32, ’36, is outreach and promoting the values of the Honor Code throughout the community, notably with visits to the Lower and Middle Schools. “We’ve changed ‘talking to’ to ‘talking with’,” Alex Wong said. “It’s one thing to talk about the Honor Code, but it’s another thing to try to foster community.” During those visits with the youngest students, Honor Board members have discussed how Lower School students’ actions are reflected in the CARES framework (the Lower School’s Code of Honor), played “Telephone” to warn against the spreading of rumors or things that aren’t true, used “This or That” to emphasize the importance of listening to other perspectives and keeping an open mind, and presented role-playing scenarios that prompted discussions of honesty and respecting other cultures. They have also interviewed Lower School students on camera about the Honor Code.

Presented during occasional Upper School Morning Meetings for many years, the Honor Board Speaker Series highlights the ideas and experiences of students, faculty, staff, and alumni who share their perspectives on honor with the student body. Notably, about five years ago, Town Halls and a survey about the Honor Code led to students deciding not to update the wording. After nearly 100 years, it was standing the test of time.

Board of Trustees Chair

Ian Shrank ’71 has a direct connection to the Honor Code. He applied to Pingry because Charlie Jones, a neighbor of his parents who was the President of the Class of 1926, recommended to Mr. Shrank’s parents that he apply. Mr. Jones was the first signature under the original Honor System.

100 Years of the Honor Code

A VISIBLE REPRESENTATION of the Honor Code during the year, the Pingry People Through the Years wall, located outside Hauser Auditorium on the Basking Ridge Campus, is sharing the stories of community members with a connection to the Honor Code. Those featured on the wall include

• the Class of 1926

• former Head of School John Hanly (made ethics a focal point of his tenure)

• former administrator Lydia Geacintov (chaired a year-long review of the Honor Code)

• former administrator Donna Stone (spent four years leading community service and introduced the 10-hour requirement)

• Andrew Goldstein ’92 (attorney, author, and Hanly Lecture speaker)

• The Honorable Harold Fullilove ’63

• Bill Gusmer ’52 (made honesty and ethics a central tenet of his family business)

• Odell Guyton ’73 (has focused his career on compliance and ethics)

• Dr. Elizabeth Simmons ’81 (first female recipient of the Letter-In-Life Award)

• Carl Van Duyne ’64 (demonstrated integrity in the Olympics when nobody was watching)

“How is the Honor Code infused in every division and every activity? . . . The Honor Code has rarely been altered, so it is time tested. It has survived world wars, economic crises, and political and social upheaval.”

HEAD OF SCHOOL TIM LEAR, SPEAKING ABOUT THE HONOR CODE AS PART OF WHAT’S NEXT , THE NEW STRATEGIC PLAN

CATCHING

UP WITH FORMER HONOR BOARD CHAIR

Ally Pyne ’18

Serving as Chair of the Honor Board remains one of the most formative experiences of my time at Pingry. It was the first time I truly appreciated how integrity, accountability, and empathy can coexist in moments of real consequence. I’ve always been inspired by Pingry’s reliance on “attitudes and spirit,” rather than “rules and regulations.”

Since Pingry, I’ve carried those lessons forward in ways both large and small—most often when working as part of a team.

I was reminded of my Honor Board experience during a gap year before college, when I spent about 90 days backpacking with seven others through the Western U.S. and Patagonia. Over the course of that trip, we each had moments when exhaustion or frustration got the better of us. In those times, we made a pact—not unlike the Honor Code—to hold one another accountable while still extending grace. That understanding helped us rely on each other through every challenge, from hailing conditions as we climbed up mountains to long days in the unforgiving desert.

Today, as a Manager of internal strategy consultants at Capital One, I find myself enacting similar principles of accountability and empathy. My teams rotate every few months, but the ethical code I bring to each remains consistent. I’m deeply grateful to Pingry for giving me that foundation. The Honor Code continues to serve as a compass that guides not only my actions, but also the kind of culture I strive to build in the teams I lead.

“We made a pact—not unlike the Honor Code— to hold one another accountable while still extending grace.”

At the Lower School, Simplicity of “I will . . .” in the Code of Honor

Since 1994, Lower School students have abided by an age-appropriate version of the Honor Code, first with the Code of Conduct and then, as of about three years ago, the Code of Honor. Both systems include more specific actions and simpler language than the Honor Code, beginning with “I will . . .”

The change from Code of Conduct to Code of Honor—both the title and content—resulted from the work of a Lower School committee that was tasked with revisiting and revising the Code of Conduct. The group recommended changing “Conduct” to “Honor” to better reflect Pingry’s values. At the time, the committee believed that the word “conduct” was restrictive in its interpretation (to behave in a particular way). Changing the word to “honor” would be inclusive and expansive and reflective of the integrity that Pingry wants to foster in students’ values and actions. The content was revised to better reflect the developmental needs of the age group, and the language is more accessible.

Code of Honor = CARES

Community (example: “I will help take care of the school building . . .”)

Aspire as a Team (example: “I will contribute for the good of the group.”)

Responsibility (example: “I will do the right thing even when no one is watching.”)

Empathy (example: “I will strive to learn about the feelings of others.”)

Self-Awareness (example: “I will be responsible for what I say and how I say it to others.”)

CARES

100 Years of the Honor Code

Honor Code Week

For the first time, Pingry, and specifically the Honor Board, hosted Honor Code Week, which fortuitously coincided with the School’s celebrations of the Honor Code’s 100th anniversary. The event is thanks to Honor Board Chair Chloe Huang ’26, who pitched the idea during her interview to be Honor Board Chair. “We take the time to celebrate various identities, but we should also celebrate the Honor Code because we all identify with it,” she says. Chloe wanted the week to be fun and relatable and hopes it becomes an annual tradition.

The week consisted mainly of podcasts and seminars. Five Upper School podcasts, with members of the Honor Board interviewing students, teachers, and former Honor Board Chair Divya Subramanian ’24, were released daily on Spotify. Examples of the conversations included Upper School History Teacher Lisa Longo Johnston talking about her great-uncle John Longo who stood up to political corruption and voter fraud in Jersey City in the 1930s and 1940s, Upper School Performing Arts Teacher Alan Van Antwerp talking about the Honor Code in theater, and Divya offering advice to current students.

Then, Upper School students attended one of three faculty-led seminars on the Honor Code as it relates to the political landscape (History Department Chair Matt Honohan and Upper School English Teacher Dr. Barrett Ward), athletics (Coaches Robert Hoepfl and Marquis Ormond), and AI in the arts (Visual Arts Department Chair Andrew Sullivan and Visual Arts Teacher Nan Ring).

“Do something that you’ll look back in five years or 10 years and not regret it. Be very conscious about how you behave—would you want to be surrounded by kids in college who acted that way in high school?”

FORMER HONOR BOARD CHAIR DIVYA SUBRAMANIAN ’24 DURING AN HONOR CODE WEEK PODCAST

Two other events were scheduled, but cancelled because of snow days: Miller Bugliari ’52 speaking to Upper School students during Morning Meeting, and Honor Board students greeting the Lower School carline.

CATCHING UP WITH FORMER HONOR BOARD CHAIR JJ Jacobs ’01

During my time at Pingry, serving on the Honor Board—including as its Chair—was my first real immersion in a system grounded in trust, accountability, and principled decision-making. That experience introduced me to foundational concepts that have guided me ever since: weighing facts against clear standards, listening with empathy, and appreciating both the spirit and the letter of a shared code. I later continued this work at Haverford College as a representative to its Honor Council, deepening my understanding of self-governance and the importance of thoughtful, principled review of one’s peers. I chose to run for Haverford’s Honor Council because I wanted to give back to a community that, like Pingry, entrusted its students with extraordinary responsibility and relied on their integrity to sustain a culture of trust and respect. Today, I serve as a Vice President in the Employee Relations group at a large bank, where I investigate the firm’s most sensitive workplace matters and help ensure a culture rooted in fairness, ethics, and accountability. I often face ethical dilemmas that test both judgment and empathy. I am acutely aware that I rarely meet people on their best day; I may have to recommend actions that could lead to someone losing a job and, with it,

their ability to support a family. At other times, I must advocate for employees whose political or personal views differ sharply from my own, ensuring that fairness is never compromised by disagreement. I have also had to push back when asked to treat an employee differently because of seniority or status, reminding others—and myself—that integrity means applying the same principles equally, regardless of hierarchy or circumstance.

Prior to my work in the private sector, I spent more than a decade in public-sector investigative and legal roles—including with the New York City School District and the New York City Business Integrity Commission—where I oversaw complex misconduct investigations. The Honor Code did not simply push me toward a legal career; instead, it gave me a durable method for approaching complex situations with clarity and fairness. It taught me that integrity requires resolve, that impartiality is a discipline, and that accountability and corrective steps can—and should—coexist. Those lessons continue to guide my work, particularly when navigating sensitive situations involving colleagues or leaders, where discretion, consistency, and a commitment to doing what is right are essential.

I carry forward the understanding that ethical codes are not static rules, but living commitments to a stronger community. Pingry helped plant that idea early, and it remains central to how I lead, investigate, and communicate.

“Integrity means applying the same principles equally, regardless of hierarchy or circumstance.”

Laura Yorke Kulkarni ’98 on the Honor Code Through the Generations

My grandfather, Edward Thomas Yorke, Class of 1926 and Secretary of the Student Council, was one of the founding students who created Pingry’s Honor Code in December 1925. But the fact that he attended Pingry at all was far from inevitable.

In the fall of 1921, his mother, Mary, put him on a roundtrip train to Elizabeth to attend Pingry. She stood on the platform and watched him go, trusting that this journey—this risk—would give her son something lasting. At the time, Mary and Edward had been abandoned by his father. Mary stepped into her husband’s role as Head of the Carteret News just as women earned the right to vote. A single mother and divorced woman, she became a successful businesswoman who had the imagination, foresight, and resolve to invest in her son’s education, believing that character mattered as much as intellect.

Mary could not have known the full consequences of that decision. She sent her son to Pingry with nothing more than hope and belief in the power of a values-based education. Yet four years later, Edward would help shape something that would define the School for generations. As part of the Class of 1926, he helped create and sign the Honor Code—a simple but powerful statement of responsibility and trust that became the moral backbone of Pingry for the next century.

Four generations later, we are still living with the impact of that single act of faith. The Honor Code that came to me through Pingry, and through my family, continues to serve as a north star, guiding us personally and professionally. What began as a student-led commitment has become a shared inheritance.

This year, that inheritance felt especially present at the AllSchool Festival, when our daughter Séraphine was honored with the responsibility to light the candle. As a fourth-generation Pingry

Sean and Laura Yorke Kulkarni ’98 with their children Anjali Kulkarni ’36, Laxmi Kulkarni ’33, Séraphine Kulkarni ’38, Padma Kara Kulkarni ’35, and Alleluia Kulkarni. Ms. Kulkarni’s grandfather, Edward T. Yorke, Class of 1926, was a creator of the original Honor System.

student—and a descendant of one of the original signers of the Honor Code—she carried more than a tradition in that moment. We witnessed the quiet passing of a torch, and the acceptance of the responsibility to carry the Honor Code forward.

Today, my great-grandmother’s same spirit continues through me, as Sean and I make our own sacrifices and take our own risks so that our daughters can attend Pingry and grow within a culture rooted in honor. Different generations, different challenges—but the same belief that seeking deeper meaning requires courage and commitment, and that those choices can shape lives far beyond our own.

As I look to the future, I hope the next generation will see what is needed in the world, imagine something better, and step forward to build it. I hope they will do what the Class of 1926 did—recognize responsibility and act. As we honor the past, our task is simple: to ensure that the spirit of the Honor Code continues to define Pingry for the next hundred years.

“What began as a student-led commitment has become a shared inheritance.”

“What Values Do You Hold Dearly?”

How

do you make

difficult decisions when

there’s no

good answer?

When you’re not facing a question of right or wrong, what do you believe in?

By Greg Waxberg ’96

ENTREPRENEUR AND TECHNOLOGY EXECUTIVE Mark Chen ’96 posed these questions when he returned to Pingry in January to deliver the John Hanly Lecture on Ethics and Morality, named for Pingry’s Head of School from 1987–2000, who made ethics a central tenet of his tenure. As the founder of two mission-driven organizations who has worked at the intersection of climate, technology, and business innovation, Mr. Chen has faced numerous situations when he needed to make difficult decisions that forced him to choose between furthering a mission or exhibiting his personal values.

With a background in math and physics at Pingry, he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, then spent the first seven years of his career in what he admits was an unfulfilling role in strategy consulting. He pivoted to join Abound Solar as Senior Director of Marketing, a job that combined his personal beliefs with work he liked in a supportive environment—but the company went bankrupt three years later.

Enter mission-driven organization number one: in 2011, a college friend asked Mr. Chen to help him start a business (Rev Freelance) whose mission was to give people “good work-from-home jobs”. For context, as Mr. Chen noted, working from home was not “a thing” 15 years ago. Millions of people in the U.S. could have been working, but weren’t—those with disabilities and stay-at-home parents, for example.

Mr. Chen pointed out in his lecture that Rev’s operations raised questions such as, “What does it mean to be ‘good’? What does it mean to ‘create jobs’? We wanted to pay folks more, but that might come at the cost of creating more jobs for other folks.” Or, if jobs are scarce, how does the company decide who gets a project—someone who has been doing good work for years, or someone who needs the experience?

He ended up leaving Rev after 10 years because of—appropriate for this lecture—a disagreement over values, so what came next? Well, his family was living in San Francisco when his son, who was in Grade 7 in the fall of 2020, took a picture of the sky that was orange from wildfires. Wanting to have a positive impact on the atmosphere and having learned about carbon credits while studying climate change in school, his son asked his relatives for carbon credits* instead of physical gifts. And that inspired Mr. Chen to co-found, in 2022, mission-driven organization number two: CNaught.

CNaught’s mission is to reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere by helping companies decarbonize. In its pursuit of high-integrity carbon credits, CNaught developed rigorous standards that include a seven-step process—only about 15% of projects in the market meet the company’s standards.

After starting the company, Mr. Chen discovered ethical challenges and questions that are driving the inaction of decarbonization in

“Look to the people around you—don’t just observe their behavior and say ‘I like that’ or ‘I don’t like that’, but why?”

the first place. He provided two examples: Southern Cardamom National Park in Cambodia and coal mining. In the first example, the park, which was created as a carbon credit project, consists of over 1 million acres and is home to more than 60 threatened animal species. The problem? The park overlaps with existing communities of Indigenous populations who had been cutting down trees and hunting some of the endangered species. From the project developer’s perspective, they are protecting the area from illegal logging and illegal poaching. The Indigenous populations, however, said they weren’t consulted and claimed the government had no right to give their land to the project developers. CNaught ultimately decided not to buy the credits because, Mr. Chen said, “the right for self-determination on the part of the villagers was not outweighed by the environmental benefits.”

In the second example, with the background that mining coal is bad for the environment because it releases methane, CNaught needed to decide whether to buy carbon credits to support coal mine companies who choose to capture methane to treat it before releasing it into the atmosphere—treatment that neutralizes the greenhouse gas effect. On one hand, buying the credits would help keep methane out of the atmosphere. On the other hand, buying the credits would ensure more profit for coal miners and possibly contribute to the

building of more mines. CNaught faced the choice of favoring an immediate impact or thinking long term. Mr. Chen said the company did buy the credits because of the strong environmental benefits. “Increased profits would have little impact on the amount of coal being dug up.”

Mr. Chen used these two stories as examples of why everyone should take the time to define their values. “I would argue that most folks don’t know what their values are. A lot of people are happy to share their opinions, but folks don’t always probe the values they hold dearly that are driving those opinions.” He recommends looking at values through three lenses: internal (what do you care about, particularly when it comes to controversial topics?), external (for people you respect, why, and for people you don’t respect, why not?), and long-held traditions that could be religious, cultural, or philosophical. “Look to the people around you—don’t just observe their behavior and say ‘I like that’ or ‘I don’t like that’, but why?”

For its part, CNaught operates with three core values: make a real impact, stay hungry (constantly strive to learn and improve), and win as a team (working collaboratively and with transparency).

“You will face challenges and questions that will draw on the values you hold dear,” Mr. Chen said. “Mr. Hanly understood this. He knew that character is about having a framework for life.”

historic veterans day tributes

November 7, 2025 was a historic day at Pingry—and a profoundly moving day in two parts

By Greg Waxberg ’96

“Heather and I are strongly convinced of the key role of the military in a free society, and of the salutary effects of military service by members of the Pingry community committed to the Honor Code. We also both have family members and friends who have answered the call to serve, including some who have perished in combat. We were thus very pleased to be able to support creation of the Pingry Veterans Wall.”

PROF. MICHAEL NITABACH ’84

PREVIOUS PAGE: General Stanley McChrystal, Head of School Tim Lear, and Prof. Michael Nitabach ’84 with his wife Heather Cruz

PHOTO BY NATALIE GONZALEZ

Veterans Wall

TAKING PLACE FIRST, IN AN UPPER SCHOOL WING by the History Department, was “one of the most important dedication ceremonies that’s ever taken place on a Pingry campus,” said Head of School Tim Lear, as the School dedicated the new Veterans Wall that currently memorializes 1,051 members of the Pingry community, including faculty and staff, who answered the call of military service. The list is organized by class, and alphabetical within each class. Names embossed in gold are those who were killed in action. The oldest known veteran is from the Class of 1876; the youngest is from the Class of 2019. And the list will keep growing, as the School is notified about others’ service and as more students pursue military service.

Among the approximately 50 guests at the ceremony: retired U.S. Army four-star General Stanley McChrystal, a 1976 graduate of West Point with 34 years of distinguished service to the nation. He served as Commander of the Joint Special Operations Command, and as Commander of U.S. Forces Afghanistan, responsible in the latter role for 150,000 troops from 45 allied countries. General McChrystal received some of the country’s highest military honors and more recently is author of two books, Risk: A User’s Guide and On Character: Choices that Define a Life. His wife Annie attended the ceremony as well, a reminder of and a tribute to the sacrifices of military spouses and military families. As Mr. Lear noted, there is “a family behind every name on the wall.”

What is also notable about the ceremony’s date and General McChrystal’s visit is that it was exactly 80 years to the day, November 7, 1945, since Admiral “Bull” Halsey, Class of 1900, visited Pingry’s Parker Road Campus during Halsey Day in Elizabeth.

In conjunction with this year’s 100th anniversary of the Honor Code, Mr. Lear said, “It should be especially meaningful to all of us that this Veterans Wall is now an enduring symbol of what Pingry has stood for since 1861: the pursuit of excellence, the development of character, and a commitment to making a difference for others.”

Another connection exists between this Veterans Wall and the Honor Code: both exist because of students. The Honor Code was written by students, and the names on the wall were researched during the ISP (Independent Senior Project) of four members of the Class of 2022: Jack Martin (who co-founded Pingry’s Veteran Affairs Club in 2020-21), Logan Bartels, Sean O’Keefe, and Julia Saksena, along with assistance from their classmate Ben Strasser. Their ISP research found more than 700 of the names on the wall, and they chose June 6, the anniversary of D-Day, to give the list to Pingry.

Upper School English Teacher Dr. Barrett Ward, a U.S. Army Officer for nearly 14 years who mentored the ISP, also spoke at the ceremony. He related how, in 2020, Special Assistant to the Head of School Miller Bugliari ’52, upon learning that Dr. Ward is a veteran, told him that he wanted the School to create a plaque or wall to honor every single one of Pingry’s veterans. “Having only recently left the military, [I knew that] when the senior-most faculty member at Pingry gives you a task, you say, ‘Yes, Sir.’” Thus began a collaboration of Development, Operations, Facilities, Archives, and these students who compiled the master list because, Dr. Ward said, “they have a deep respect and love for our nation and its veterans.”

Dr. Ward also shared the story of Major James T. Egan ’60, USMC, whose remains have never been recovered from Vietnam. He was likely taken into captivity by the enemy and was reportedly seen by other prisoners of war as he moved between POW camps, but he “ultimately was never seen again. His mother went to Vietnam three times to try to find him.” She never stopped searching and even wrote to him weekly, but none of the letters were answered. His mother became a leader of the New Jersey chapter of the National League of Families of Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia (known today as the National League of POW/MIA Families) and, in 1971, met with the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, George H.W. Bush, to present a petition calling for better treatment of prisoners.

Dr. Ward then introduced another veteran, Mr. Bugliari, who was a Middle School student at Pingry on Halsey Day. “The list before you is impressive—not just in size, but in history,” he said of the Veterans Wall, which includes his brother Joe Bugliari ’49. It includes “seniors who were drafted before they had a chance to graduate. We honor those who never returned home, such as Jim Egan and Bill Little.” An emotional Mr. Bugliari expressed his gratitude to those who made the wall a reality.

Along with the five students, others are to be credited and thanked for the Veterans Wall coming into existence: Dr. Barrett Ward, Miller Bugliari ’52, Honorary Trustee Steve Newhouse ’65, Trustee Maggie O’Toole ’05, Archivist Peter Blasevick, Director of Facilities Mike Waelz and the Facilities Team, and the generosity of Trustee Michael Nitabach ’84 and his wife Heather Cruz.

The four students who devoted their 2022 ISP to the list of veterans, mentored by Dr. Barrett Ward, have either a connection to or desire for military service. Julia Saksena is the niece of Bill Little ’64, who served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam and was killed in action. He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation’s second-highest award for valor in combat. The other students are on their journey to become officers in the Army (Jack Martin) and Marine Corps (Logan Bartels and Sean O’Keefe). Ben Strasser, who assisted with the ISP, is an Army ROTC Cadet.

“We wanted an ISP that was bigger than ourselves, worthy of our time, and needed more recognition—we found it in improving Pingry’s recognition of its veterans,” Mr. O’Keefe says. The students had several ideas for the ISP, but the master list “was the one that we felt was most feasible yet had the biggest impact. We couldn’t exactly do anything as students when it comes to making displays, but we could give the School the resources needed to do so.”

Read more on page 84 about how the Archives enabled the students’ research.

Veterans Day Assembly: Character

TAKING PLACE SECOND WAS THE VETERANS DAY

Assembly featuring General McChrystal speaking about the importance of character. “This assembly is an important moment of reflection—an opportunity for us as a community and as individuals to pause and think more deeply about who we are and who we want to be, to think about the choices we make and about the consequences our actions have on others,” Mr. Lear said in his opening remarks.

Introducing General McChrystal was Anna Butrico Conti ’14, his former speechwriter, then his co-author (specifically, his first female co-author) of Risk: A User’s Guide. She calls him “one of the most influential people in my life.”

Ms. Conti noted the significance of this moment for her and for Pingry. “Pingry shaped my character . . . to do the right and honorable thing always, to never sacrifice my values for a chance at an easier road . . . I thank Pingry for showing me I could take on a project as big and challenging and amazing as a book. Both Pingry and General McChrystal have shaped my life and character in innumerable ways, so it is a true honor to bring them both together today.”

General McChrystal’s wide-ranging presentation touched on many topics and stories to emphasize character, starting with a story that changed his life. That’s because a 2010 Rolling Stone article titled “The Runaway General” would end his military career after 34 years. He didn’t think it was a fair or accurate story, but it didn’t matter because it put then-President Barack Obama in a difficult position because it

looked like a general and his staff weren’t behaving properly. General McChrystal resigned.

“In an instant, I’m not a soldier. My life pivots,” he recalled. But he had a new beginning, and he and his wife decided to focus on the future. “I was going to try to conduct myself in a way that anyone who had never known me before, but had read that article, when they met me would say ‘that doesn’t seem like that person’. And anyone who had known me before and believed in me, would be reassured.”

That attitude was based on his belief that “character—who we are—is what we do. It’s our fate—it defines us. When we are gone, the wake behind us will be the character we represented, and how it affected other people.”

His presentation included September 11, 2001—“you can think of the steel structure in the World Trade Center buildings like the character of a person or a nation”—and recent stories in the news about political violence. “There are days when I don’t feel like the character of our nation is what I hoped it would be, and what I believed it sometimes had been . . . We see the erosion of character, erosion of civility, erosion of trust. Discourse in America doesn’t reflect the kind of character that I wish it would.” He showed a photograph of a 70-foot-wide, Depression-era mural at West Point, depicting 20 instances of military history and leaders. “It’s easy for a cadet to think that this is history and inspiration and ‘maybe I might be on a mural like that someday.’ The reality is that you’re likely to be in Arlington Cemetery. To me, that

would be just as much of an honor, to be lying next to people whose service and character I admire.”

What is his definition of “character”? It is a formula born from his engineer’s mind. “It’s the product of our convictions our deeply held, pressure-tested beliefs—and the discipline to live up to them.” If we don’t adhere, true character is revealed. “Anything times zero is zero,” he said. “Often, we forget that the discipline is critical.”

“Character—who we are—is what we do. It’s our fate.”

GENERAL STANLEY M C CHRYSTAL

He shared the story of a graduate from The Citadel who was on a January 1982 flight that took off from Washington, D.C. in the middle of winter. But the plane wasn’t properly deiced and couldn’t get altitude. It hit a bridge and killed six commuters, then went into the freezing river. Six people from the original 79 on board survived the initial crash and clung to the aircraft’s tail. A rescue helicopter dropped a cable, allowing one passenger at a time to climb up until five people had been saved. But the sixth passenger, Arland Williams of The Citadel, disappeared after helping the other five escape. His mother said he was “average.” General McChrystal said, “When it counted, he showed character.”

He shared the U.S. Army Rangers six-stanza creed, which every Ranger recites every morning. “It’s a promise that every Ranger makes to every other Ranger every day,” General McChrystal explained. One of the tenets: If you’re down, I will come get you. “It’s not whether you’re going to do it—it’s how you’re going to do it, and how quickly . . . I think this creed makes each Ranger stronger and braver because they don’t want to let anyone down.” At this, he compared the creed to the power of Pingry’s Honor Code: “You have made a promise.”

General McChrystal ended on big-picture topics, namely participating in democracy (only 65% of the population voted in the last presidential election), the strength of a nation, and the strength of a society. “The strength of a society is not defined by whether things get knocked down,” he said while showing a time-lapse video of the construction of One World Trade Center. “It’s defined by whether you can build them back up.”

And what to do about character, which he has seen lacking? “We need a national conversation on character—in schools, in churches, on teams, around dinner tables. And then we need to make a decision about character: what we want for ourselves, and for each other.”

Veterans Make an Impact at Pingry

By Harvey Shao ’32

Upper School English Teacher Dr. Barrett Ward has started each class with full energy the same way since joining Pingry in 2020. Students might not realize that his routine is a result of 13 years of service in the United States Army as a former paratrooper and a company commander in the 14th MI Battalion in Iraq. During his time in the military, Dr. Ward held important roles both at home and abroad, which helped shape his character and values. Dr. Ward is organized, calm, and fair, which helps students know what to expect and feel respected. His teaching style keeps students focused and responsible, and it sets a good example for the entire Pingry community.

Growing up in Dallas, Texas, Dr. Ward had an “epic” childhood, being the ringleader of a group of boys on his block. He could always imagine his life in the military since his family had a history of service. It felt like his sense of duty, so he decided to join the Army and stayed in service for 13 years. As time went by, Dr. Ward found a new passion: teaching. After teaching at West Point for a bit, he realized that he enjoyed teaching because he loves seeing students grow and learn, a mission that continues today at Pingry.

Dr. Ward isn’t alone in making an impact at Pingry. Bruce Morrison ’64, an athletics photographer, reflects on the values he carried from his own military service. Mr. Morrison explained that his service shaped his emphasis on discipline, respect, and courtesy when working with students and athletes. He also pointed out that the Army’s values and Pingry’s values “complement each other really well,” a connection he has observed over nearly 20 years at Pingry through students, parents, and the broader community.

“Military service teaches me to respect other people and learn discipline while dealing with stress,” said Miller Bugliari ’52, Special Assistant to the Head of School. This is one way his service influences his relationships with students and colleagues at Pingry. He believes there is no question that the values of the Army and Pingry align in terms of respect for others. Mr. Bugliari also noted, “I am very glad that Pingry celebrates students and faculty who go into service,” referencing the wall honoring those who have served.

Dr. Ward, Mr. Morrison, and Mr. Bugliari are among many veterans in the Pingry community. The Veterans Wall, with 1,051 names listed, was created to honor alumni and faculty who have served in the armed forces. It showcases the long tradition of military service at Pingry and highlights the values that veterans bring, such as discipline, respect, resilience, and responsibility. The veterans, through their example, help shape the school tradition and set a standard for students to follow. The wall and the veterans it honors set a reminder for students to carry their values into everyday life.

Built Together: Middle School Girls Squash Wins National Championship

By Alex Nanfara P’33, ’36

It was the final day of the tournament, and the crowd pressed close to the glass courts at the Arlen Spector U.S. Squash Center in Philadelphia. The sounds of a squash ball being thwacked every couple of seconds echoed through the space as teammates, coaches, families, and alumni from Pingry and seven-time defending champion Greenwich Academy leaned forward in anticipation.

One match remained, and it would decide the 2026 U.S. Squash Middle School National Championship.

Inside the court stood seventh-grade student-athlete Savannah Wen, who entered this match thinking her team was ahead, and it was likely that the result of the match would be irrelevant as Pingry was seemingly about to wrap up the title on another court. Savannah quickly won the first game in a best-of-five series. However, the scenario suddenly changed, because during her break, she was informed that her team had fallen behind and was not in position to win anymore. The news seemed to disrupt Savannah’s momentum, and her opponent from Greenwich Academy took the next two games to push Pingry to the brink of defeat. Savannah needed to come back and win two consecutive games or else Pingry would go home with a runner-up label, as they did a year ago.

Middle School Co–Head Coach Francis Odeh, in a limbo between nervousness and hope, told Savannah, “You’ve worked really hard for this. If she’s going to beat you, she’s going to have to work harder than you right now. Work harder than her and you’ll be fine.”

Savannah took Coach Odeh’s advice back to the court, along with the sights and sounds of her supportive Pingry teammates, which included the Middle School boys team, who had just secured a Top 10 finish themselves with a series of thrilling upsets. Also cheering for Savannah were Pingry Squash alumna Sasha Bauhs ’25 (currently competing on UPenn’s Women’s Squash Team), Middle School Director of Athletics Gerry Vanasse P’14, ’20, and Middle School Assistant Dean of Students Julia Martinez, among other community members who were drawn to the weekend event.

Carrying not only the weight of the moment, but also the hopes of a program that had spent almost a decade building toward this opportunity, Savannah dominated the remaining two games, winning the National Championship–clinching game by the score of 11–2. At one point, Savannah was leading 8–0, which had coincidentally been printed on the tee shirt of an opposing fan who was publicly predicting that Greenwich Academy would be winning their eighth straight national championship. Instead, Pingry Middle School Girls Squash captured their first-ever national title.

When asked what was going through her mind during the final match, Savannah shares, “My peers’ belief in me reminded

me to trust my training and play my game. And so, for the last two games, only adrenaline and confidence remained. I stopped worrying and started relaxing, my mind clearing out everything that bothered me. That mindset carried me to the last point and to a national championship.”

When the final point fell in Pingry’s favor, the celebration that followed was about more than just a shiny trophy. It marked a milestone in the evolution of a program rooted in community and the belief that individual excellence grows strongest within a team. “To go from basically nothing to having a national championship team in less than 10 years is pretty impressive. It’s about building something together,” shares Ramsay Vehslage Jr., Co–Head Coach and founding faculty member of Pingry Squash. “We’re running the program from Middle School all the way through high school . . . it’s all one big program. The expectations are consistent, and the team culture is consistent.”

Before the opening of the Miller A. Bugliari ’52 Athletics Center, Middle School Squash existed primarily as a club, with interested students gathering early on Saturday mornings at Drew University, where Pingry rented courts. It was driven all by enthusiasm rather than structure or recognition. “It wasn’t even an official winter sport yet,” Coach Vehslage recalls. Despite the lack of facilities and official team status, he took the initiative to register four boys and a girl in the 2013 middle school national tournament as a coed entry, and they ended up winning the championship.

That collective passion and team success laid the groundwork for even more growth. Coach Vehslage, an accomplished former Division I squash student-athlete at Connecticut College, developed a culture emphasizing effort and connection, and the program flourished once the BAC opened its doors and officially brought Middle School squash to the Basking Ridge Campus. “We’re playing an individual sport as a team sport,” he explains. “And that changes everything.”

Coach Odeh, a former professional who was part of Team Nigeria, shares, “When you represent a team, you learn responsibility. You learn to support others and to fight not just for yourself, but for the group.”

Despite insanely impressive individual accomplishments, such as top player Kaylee Li ’31 winning the U.S. Junior Open twice (GU11 in 2023 and GU13 in 2025) as the best player in her age group in America, while also securing the #5 World Ranking at the British Junior Open earlier this year, the “team” vibe of Pingry Squash is undeniable.

Kaylee is well aware of the impact that team spirit has had on her success, stating, “Even though squash is played one-on-one, being a good teammate is really important. Like Coach Vehslage and Coach Odeh always tell us, team events are more fun and meaningful

because you know your teammates are always cheering for you and supporting you. That support makes you feel more confident and less alone on the court, and it really makes a big difference.”

Teammates watch closely, offering encouragement and insight between games. Players celebrate each other’s successes and absorb setbacks together. The result is an environment in which individual performance feels connected to something larger.

That spirit was visible throughout the championship weekend, as players rallied around one another during moments of pressure.

Former wrestling coach Joe Forte has been inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, New Jersey Chapter, for “Lifetime Service to Wrestling”. The induction ceremony on September 28 noted that wrestling runs in his family, because his brothers also wrestled and coached the sport, and highlighted that he coached a state champion at Middlesex High School, coached Bruce Baumgartner who became an Olympic champion, and coached Dr. Mark McLaughlin ’83, a high school All-American and two-time college All-American. Coach Forte said he is fortunate that his wife Sharon has the same mentality about and understanding of sports, and is key in listening to him and giving him advice. Congratulations, Coach Forte!

And as the team lifted the championship trophy, it became clear that Pingry squash had reached a new chapter—one defined not only by national success, but also by the shared journey that made it possible.

After the Middle School program was rewarded for its almostdecade-long effort to be the best team in the nation, Coach Vehslage proudly states, “Watching players grow, watching the community grow—that’s the real reward.”

ATHLETICS

Carter Abbott Named NFHS Girls Lacrosse Coach of the Year

On the heels of Pingry’s first-ever Girls Lacrosse Non-Public A State Championship, the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS), in conjunction with the New Jersey Scholastic Coaches Association (NJSCA), have recognized Director of Athletics and Student Success and Girls’ Varsity Lacrosse Head Coach Carter Abbott as New Jersey Girls Lacrosse Coach of the Year! Ms. Abbott and her fellow honorees, one from each sport in New Jersey, gathered for a ceremony at the Pines Manor in Edison, New Jersey on January 11.

Last spring, Girls Varsity Lacrosse enjoyed a historic season, finishing with a 23–2 record including seven playoff victories as they captured a trio of trophies from the Skyland Conference Championship, Somerset County Championship, and NJSIAA NonPublic State Championship. After being awarded the NFHS State Girls Lacrosse Coach of the Year honor, and looking back on what is, perhaps, the greatest season in program history, Ms. Abbott says, “To be recognized by the NFHS in a historic year for Pingry Lacrosse was really special. All credit goes to the girls on the field who got it done and won Pingry’s first girls lacrosse state championship!”

REDEDICATION

Vice Admiral); and Finn Cavanaugh ’26

Football Coach Joe Passaro at the 2025 Army-Navy Game

The Cavanaugh family invited Varsity Football Head Coach Joe Passaro to the Army-Navy Game. “It was a great opportunity to show our appreciation for his dedication and support,” says Tom Cavanaugh P’23, ’26. “It was truly inspiring to be in the company of such distinguished military leaders . . . We were truly among heroes. I also want to highlight that we have a fantastic football coach who is dedicated to building character in our student-athletes.”

WITH RECONSTRUCTION OF THE WORLD CUP Soccer Field complete, Pingry rededicated the complex, continuing a tradition that began in 1971 when that year’s varsity soccer team petitioned for all varsity soccer fields at Pingry to be named for Coach Miller Bugliari ’52.

The field has a storied history: in 1993, when Charlie Stillitano Jr. ’77 helped Pingry secure the chance to host the Italian National Team in the following year’s World Cup, the World Cup Field was built on the Basking Ridge Campus and dedicated to the memory of Mr. Stillitano’s father; in 2013, the field needed to be replaced, so a new field was rededicated to the memory of Kim Kimber IV ’07. Now, looking ahead to the 2026 World Cup, Pingry is preparing to host one of the tournament finalists, “an extraordinary goal that requires not one, but two fields. In short, it requires extraordinary commitment,” said Boys’ Varsity Soccer Associate Head Coach David Fahey ’99.

“Iconic teams like Manchester United and Paris SaintGermain have trained right here, and when they do, the world

turns its attention to Pingry. A spotlight shines on our school, on our community, and on these soccer programs. That kind of visibility is rare,” Mr. Fahey said, adding that the field was being rededicated “not just with pride in our past, but with confidence in our future.”

Jeremy Goldstein ’91, one of the donors who supported this project, explained that Coach Bugliari inspired him with excellence. “He taught me that he would invest in me merely because I demonstrated a willingness to work hard . . . He teaches us the importance of humility and discipline, the importance of each other and our shared community.”

Coach Bugliari thanks the following for their generations of generosity to Pingry soccer: members of the 1971 Boys’ Varsity Soccer Team, Charlie Stillitano Jr. ’77, and the Casey, Jacob, Kimber, Mullett, Egginton, Ellsworth, Ferraro, Goldstein, Gonnella, Jha, Marturano, and Robustelli Families.

ATHLETICS

56 Ways to Call a Pass

By Sara Courtney Excerpted from the original story on pingry.org

It was October 4, and the Boys’ Varsity Soccer Team was playing a tight game against Watchung Hills. Among the parents and fans in the stands was Andrew Hefner ’28, broadcasting the game, and his friend Ryan Kaufman ’28, providing color commentary. With the help of Assistant Director of Communications, Social Media Strategy & Athletics Alex Nanfara P’33, ’36, they had a table setup with computers, mixers, and headsets, allowing them to call the game over the livestream on Hudl.

Andrew was ready. He had done his research, familiarizing himself with the rosters and backstory to all the players and the programs. Key among his prep was a 23-page document he found that they could periodically refer to, filled with synonyms and phrases for calling different moments in a soccer game. Andrew drew Ryan’s attention to the two pages under Passing, which listed 56 colorful ways to call a pass (Nice passing movement—beautifully done this) or (You can see what the idea was). It would come in particularly handy during a soccer game.

Andrew Hefner is a throwback. He doesn’t want to be the star athlete on the field. He wants to be the announcer calling the play. He watches games differently from most people. Not only is he studying the players and plays on the field, he’s studying the announcers and the way they call the game. He first realized he wanted to be a broadcaster at the age of nine when he listened to the Yankees on radio before going to bed, and just a few years later, when he was in Grade 5, he attended his first sports broadcasting camp. “I was one of the youngest,” he recalls.

Back then, he used to listen to the WFAN radio announcer Keith McPherson. “I listened to him for so many years as I would go to sleep,” Andrew says. “He’s been a big inspiration to me.”

He’s still working on developing his own catchphrase. “I think the problem is so many of them are taken already and you risk sounding

cliché when you’re trying to go for one,” he admits. “Once I do more research and figure out one that really hasn’t been too popularized yet…I gotta figure out how it could be a play on Pingry or Big Blue.”

Andrew and Ryan were the broadcasters for Friday Night Lights and have called the play by play for soccer (where they also interviewed varsity soccer player Ryan Dicks ’28, who was injured, during the game), boys’ varsity ice hockey, and boys’ and girls’ varsity basketball. The guidance received along the way from Mr. Nanfara has been instrumental in making it all come together.

Andrew has no doubt that broadcasting will remain a vital part of the sports viewing experience. “Every single sports moment that you can think of, that you have a memory of, there’s been a voice calling it and making it more special for you and enhancing that experience,” he says passionately. “All of those memories have someone there that worked hard to prepare for that moment and had their saying at the end.” For Andrew, it’s not just about calling the play. It’s about capturing the heart of the moment, being the iconic voice that narrates a moment that becomes part of our collective memory.

“It’s showing you what the human emotion of that moment was,” he says thoughtfully. “And for hockey or football, when the players are wearing their helmets and pads, you can’t see what they’re thinking, but you know there is this one person in the stadium who is meant to convey that emotion, who is able to do that for you.”

“Every single sports moment that you can think of, that you have a memory of, there’s been a voice calling it and making it more special for you and enhancing that experience.”

College Athletes

For possible publication of news about alumni competing in athletics after Pingry, please contact Alex Nanfara P’33, ’36, Assistant Director of Communications, Social Media Strategy and Athletics, at ananfara@pingry.org.

NIKKI VANASSE ’20 (women’s cross country, Villanova University) led the team to a berth at the NCAA Championships during the 2025 season and earned All–Big East First Team and Mid-Atlantic AllRegion accolades.

DANIEL ITTYCHERIA ’22 (men’s soccer/Princeton University) completed a historic career this fall, earning Ivy League Most Outstanding Offensive Player honors and unanimous All-Ivy First Team recognition. He helped lead the Tigers to an undefeated Ivy League regular season, an Ivy League Tournament championship, and a #3 national ranking, while finishing 9th all-time in goals in program history. Drafted after his junior year, he is now playing professionally with the Vancouver Whitecaps.

Brothers DANIEL YANEZ ’22 and THOMAS YANEZ ’24 (men’s soccer, Tufts University) won a national championship together, capturing the Division III title. They also won the NESCAC Championship while compiling the Jumbos’ 20–1–3 record. Daniel was honored to be chosen as team Captain and also was named to the Academic All-America Team.

JAKE FRANCIS ’23 (baseball, Villanova University) has played a key role in the pitching rotation, striking out 34 batters last season over 12 starts.

BELLA GOODWIN ’23 (women’s lacrosse, Duke University) was named to the 2026 watch list for The Tewaaraton Award, which annually honors the top male and female college lacrosse players in the United States.

NICK LORENZO ’23 (baseball, Franklin & Marshall College) started all 40 games at third base in 2025, batting .285 and leading the team with 27 walks.

LEON MA ’23 (men’s soccer, Williams College) played a prominent role on the defense, averaging 60 minutes per game.

SYDNEY PUNTUS ’23 (women’s lacrosse, Williams College) started 10 of the 13 games she played in and totaled 13 points on 6 goals and 7 assists.

JASON WEAVER ’23 (football, Macalester College) recorded 53 tackles and an interception in his junior season at Macalester College. He earned MIAC Defensive Player of the Week and d3football.com Team of the Week honors in late October for a sack, a forced fumble, an interception, and five tackles in one game.

ABBY BAIRD ’24 (sailing, Stanford University) enjoyed a fantastic fall season, helping the Cardinals capture 10 wins. Abby and crew have carried that momentum into the early spring season, taking first place in their first two regattas in February 2026.

MCKENNA DWYER ’24 (women’s lacrosse, Williams College) started 12 games and scored 12 points, helping the Ephs earn a Top 25 ranking.

MARTIN FIELDS ’24 (men’s soccer, Stevens Institute of Technology) started 16 games in his sophomore season, playing lock-down defense and adding a goal on October 11 against Misericordia.

OLIVIA MURRAY ’24 (cross country, Columbia University) earned All–Ivy League Second Team last fall.

GRETA PEW ’24 (women’s soccer, Williams College) started 15 of 17 games she played in as a midfielder, averaging 70 minutes per game. That team was ranked #10 in Division III last fall and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

GRAHAM STEVENS ’24 (men’s lacrosse, Harvard University) started all 15 games in 2025, made the most saves by a first-year goalkeeper in program history (170), and earned All–Ivy League Tournament Team honors.

ALEXIS GLASOFER ’25 (field hockey, Hamilton College) and her team hosted an NCAA tournament game for the first time in school history after finishing the regular season ranked #12 in the Top 25 coaches poll. The Continentals collected five wins against ranked opponents in 2025.

Scenes from the Upper School Fall Play: The Grapes of Wrath

The great American novel was reimagined for the Macrae stage in a stirring production of Frank Galati’s award-winning adaptation of the John Steinbeck masterpiece. The Fall Play was directed by Stephanie Romankow and featured the talents of 40 Pingry students onstage and behind the scenes. An original score and songs helped tell the story in Pingry’s original production. PHOTOS BY

Art Faculty Exhibition: Currents

This year’s exhibition featured work in a wide range of media by the studio art faculty, offering a look at the creative practices that inspire Pingry’s classrooms every day. Participating artists included Xiomara Babilonia P’25, ’31, Melody Boone, Andrew Sullivan P’36, Rebecca Sullivan P’36, Russell Christian, Lindsay Baydin P’26, ’29, Daniel Hertzberg, Seth Goodwin P’29, Katelin O’Hare, and Nan Ring.

OPPOSITE PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:

Andrew Sullivan: Dipped in Magic, gelatin silver print, 2018

Katelin O’Hare: Día de los Muertos Burial, silver gelatin print, 2005

Seth Goodwin: Platters, stoneware, 2024–2026

Xiomara Babilonia: Here Lies . . ., poorly washed student paint brushes, hot glue, student-painted cardboard box, 2026

Lindsay Baydin: Poppy, acrylic ink on paper, 2025

THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:

Rebecca Sullivan: Glacial Forest, charcoal on board, 2018

Swimmer, oil on canvas, Copyright Nan Ring (2025)

Daniel Hertzberg: Various covers and spreads for magazines, 2010–2023

Russell Christian: Cornered, acrylic on canvas (4 panels), 2025

Melody Boone: Girl with doll, digital print, watercolor, and ink, 2022

ON THE ARTS MUSIC

More Moments from the All-School Festival

Balladeers, Buttondowns, and Jazz Ensemble at the Lower School

Thank you for making Ring the Bell 2025 a Record-Breaking Success!

On October 22 and 23, the entire Pingry community came together in an extraordinary way to celebrate Ring the Bell. Over a thousand alumni, parents, faculty, staff, grandparents, students, and friends raised an astonishing $2,680,649 for The Pingry Fund.

From volunteers sending over a thousand emails to cheering on the Lower School students at car line with Big Blue, seniors writing thank-you notes to donors, and faculty and staff gathering for celebratory breakfasts, the magic of Ring the Bell went beyond the dollars raised. We are truly grateful to our vibrant community for showing their Pingry pride and for every gift in support of students and faculty.

Did you miss your chance to give during Ring the Bell but still want to support The Pingry Fund? Make your gift online at pingry.org/give before The Pingry Fund closes on June 30, 2026!

Questions? Contact Jessica St. Marie, Director of Annual Giving, at jstmarie@pingry.org.

$2,680,649

493 parents and 398 alumni made gifts raised for The Pingry Fund

The Class of 1999 had the most donors

57% of parents participated in Ring the Bell

60 donors gave over $1M in challenge fund

Go Big Blue! pingry.org/give

10 Grades had over 50% parent participation

115 volunteers sent over 1,000 emails

45 seniors made a gift during Ring the Bell

Kindergarten had the highest parent participation:

232 (67%!)

Faculty and Staff participated in Ring the Bell 87%!

Donors represented 30 states and 5 countries!

TRUE BLUE SPOTLIGHT

Q&A WITH MEMBERS OF PINGRY’S TRUE BLUE SOCIETY

Ashley (Marsh) Pertsemlidis ’89, P’25

What is your fondest Pingry memory?

Barbara Berlin’s AP Art History class. I took the class my junior year at my mother’s suggestion, so I really had no idea what to expect. It turns out that her class inspired an enduring enthusiasm for the arts. Mrs. Berlin introduced me to a new world and taught me how to understand, appreciate, analyze, and write about it. I majored in Art History in college, and when I am awestruck by a work of art today, I thank Mrs. Berlin.

Can you tell us about your experience swimming at Pingry and your relationship with Judy Lee?

Judy Lee was one of my biggest supporters at Pingry, both in and out of the classroom. She taught—and tutored—me in math and coached me on the girls and co-ed swim teams. While at Pingry, I was also a club swimmer, and Judy helped me do it all. Swimming for the Pingry teams was fun because of the dual meet format; I had the opportunity to race (and beat) the boys, and the experience enabled me to contribute to the community while training elsewhere.

Why did you and your family establish the swimming award for the girls’ swim team?

Pingry and swimming played significant roles in my formative years, and my family wanted to continue to support the Pingry community. Endowing an award for girls swimming seemed the natural way to achieve that objective.

Are you in touch with Pingry’s current swim coaches?

Yes . . . several times a week! Deirdre O’Mara and I have known each other since we swam together as kids. We were maybe 11 years old when we met. And, we have been swimming together since I moved back to New Jersey in 2009. Megan Bull joined the group when she graduated from college and now works as one of our coaches. We are part of an amazing group of New Jersey Masters swimmers (that also includes Judy Lee and Bill Reichle) who both challenge and support one another in and out of the pool.

What has motivated you to support Pingry every year since you graduated?

Education is a core value for my family and my husband’s family, and it is important to give back to the institutions and people who have helped us along the way. We know that schools like Pingry cannot provide the fantastic education they do with tuition dollars alone, so I have made it a habit to contribute consistently.

What inspires you about Pingry today?

Our son, Will, is a member of the Class of 2025, so I had the privilege of experiencing Pingry as a parent as well as a student. The two things that inspire me about Pingry today are the same two things that inspired me in the late 1980s: the faculty and the energy. The Pingry faculty are outstanding. They have deep expertise, are committed to the intellectual and personal development of the students, innovate consistently, and develop relationships that shape students well beyond the classroom. You can’t help but feel the genuine sense of positive energy when you set foot on Pingry’s campus. There is always something happening in the building—plays, concerts, sporting events, science experiments, parents’ gatherings, guest speakers, alumni events, ceremonies, robotics competitions, student-teacher meetings—and when you walk through the halls, you feel the curiosity, enthusiasm, potential, collaboration, and encouragement.

or more consecutive years

Jeffrey N. Edwards ’78 Receives Letter-In-Life Award

The Letter-In-Life Award is the most prestigious honor that the Pingry Alumni Association bestows upon a graduate. It honors those who, in gaining distinction for themselves, have also brought honor to the School. Mr. Edwards’ citation was presented at Convocation.

Jeffrey N. Edwards has spent his entire career in finance and is Partner and Vice Chairman of investment advisor New Vernon Capital. Yet, he originally pursued Physics because of Pingry. He credits his senior-year AP Physics Teacher, Gordon Rode ’68, with bringing energy and dedication to a complicated subject and inspiring him to major in Physics in college. Also during his senior year, he served as Secretary/Treasurer of the Senior Class, which helped him realize that he wanted to continue serving in leadership roles that would allow him to make an impact. He cites the importance of Pingry’s English teachers, especially Peter Cowen ’66, for teaching him how to think and write with precision, Math Teacher Frank Romano for masterful explanations of calculus, and his general Pingry education for instilling in him a lifelong love of learning and sense of curiosity. Mr. Edwards was inducted into The Cum Laude Society, won a National Merit Scholarship, and received two awards from Pingry in 1978: the Whitlock Prize for Math and Bausch Lomb Science Award. In addition, he won the Gold Medallion in the 1978 New Jersey State Science Day competition, which ranked students based on their knowledge of a scientific subject.

Mr. Edwards went on to earn a B.S. in Physics, with honors, at Haverford College, where he served on the Student Council and co-chaired Haverford’s freshman orientation program. Although accepted into two Ivy League Ph.D. programs, he reconsidered his future late in his senior year, thinking that career options in physics, especially his area of interest in particle physics, might be limited. So, he took his cue from an economics course for which he had written a paper about the banking industry, a project that piqued his interest in finance because he met with bankers in New York and learned a lot about the industry’s structure and potential evolution. Given the importance of banking to the economy and what he perceived as the dynamism of the industry, Mr. Edwards thought that banking would be a good place to start his career. He went to work at Chase Manhattan Bank, first as a Credit Trainee, then as a Credit Auditor before being promoted to Team Manager. After three years, he left to earn an M.B.A. at Harvard Business School.

His career continued at Merrill Lynch, progressing over 22 years from investment banking to executive positions including Co-Head of Global Equities; Head of Global Capital Markets; Head of Origination, Americas (in charge of investment banking and capital markets for North and South America); Chief Financial Officer; and Vice Chairman. In 2009, he joined New Vernon Capital, working as Chief Operating Officer for 15 years, and as Vice Chairman since 2024.

Mr. Edwards has also contributed his financial expertise to five corporate Boards of Directors, two of which are included in the S&P 500, and several non-profit Boards. He currently serves on the Boards of Raymond James, a financial services company where he serves as Lead Independent Director; American Water, the largest publicly traded U.S. water and wastewater utility company; and AAR, a leading provider of services to the global aviation and aerospace industry, and he previously served on the Boards of NASDAQ Stockmarket and Medusind, a private IT company based in India. His past non-profit Boards include Student Sponsor Partners and Cancer Institute of New Jersey Foundation, and he currently serves as Maitre of the Commanderie de Bordeaux New York, leading the largest and oldest chapter of this organization in the United States, which is dedicated to advancing knowledge of the wines of Bordeaux.

The Board to which Mr. Edwards has devoted the most time is Pingry’s Board of Trustees. He served as a trustee for 18 years, from 2004 to 2022, including seven years as Chair of the Board from 2014 to 2021. His eventful years as Chair included overseeing the public phase of Pingry’s successful Blueprint for the Future capital campaign; modernization of the Basking Ridge and Short Hills Campuses, including construction of the Miller A. Bugliari ’52 Athletics Center; the search for a Head of School; Pingry’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic; and convincing the Board of the strategic reasons that Pingry should purchase what is now its third campus in Pottersville.

He has also chaired The Pingry Fund, spoken at Career Day, hosted Reunion Class Parties, and moderated the “Pingry on Wall Street” networking event for alumni. In 2021, after stepping down as Board Chair, Mr. Edwards received The Cyril and Beatrice Baldwin Pingry Family Citizen of the Year Award, which recognizes individuals whose outstanding and meritorious contributions have enriched the Pingry community. In 2022, the Board appointed him an Honorary Trustee, recognizing his service to Pingry, and he remains involved with Pingry and the Board of Trustees. Throughout his career, he has prioritized acting honorably, working transparently to build trust, and keeping his teams focused on doing the right thing amid financial challenges.

Through his achievements as a financial executive and dedication to Pingry, Jeffrey N. Edwards has earned distinction. Through this distinction, he has brought honor to The Pingry School. Proudly presented this fifth day of September 2025.

“Thank you to Pingry for giving me the most important educational experience of my whole life. Sharing my first impressions of the School from the fall of 1974—I wasn’t sure I wanted to be here. To say that I have come to love and revere Pingry still fails to capture how much I have come to value this school. Why? For one, friendships. I also cannot thank enough the faculty who make classes so exhilarating. Lastly, the Honor Code. Life is full of ethical dilemmas . . . starting with the conviction that you are bound by honor will serve you particularly well . . . and surrounding yourself in life with people who share that commitment is also very important.”

Jeffrey N. Edwards ’78

Convocation

“Here are a few of the qualities that make him an exceptional leader and a highly respected member of the community: intellect, calming presence—his steady leadership has resulted in countless crises averted and successes won for the school—kindness, dedication, [and] admiration for his teachers.”

Head of School Tim Lear

Letter-In-Life Award Luncheon

“Jeff is an incredible listener, and that’s allowed him to lead this school at some very interesting times, and to lead the Board during some very interesting times, and also to become a friend to so many . . . thank you for your leadership— your quiet leadership, often—your compassion, and teaching us that listening is as important as talking.”

Trustee Stuart Lederman ’78

Letter-In-Life Award Luncheon

OPPOSITE PAGE: Pingry Alumni Association President Kathy (Iacuzzo) Sartorius ’92, P’22, ’25, ’29 presenting Honorary Trustee Jeffrey N. Edwards ’78, P’12, ’14, ’18 with his Letter-In-Life Award citation during Convocation

THIS PAGE: Classmates: Trustee Stuart Lederman ’78, Ken Quaas ’78, Honorary Trustee Jeffrey N. Edwards ’78, P’12, ’14, ’18, Trustee Lori Halivopoulos ’78, P’23, and Nick King ’78

BY REENA ROSE SIBAYAN

Pingry Athletics Hall of Fame Inductions

2025 inductees: Nic Fink ’11, 1996-97 Girls’ Swimming Team, 1997-98 Girls’ Swimming Team, 2009-10 Boys’ Swimming Team, and 2011-12 Boys’ Swimming Team

A celebration of Pingry swimming: the first induction class featuring one sport, and the first girls’ swimming teams inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame NIC FINK, DEIRDRE O’MARA,

FOR

Nic Fink ’11

Future Olympic medalist led Pingry to multiple championships

In his signature race (100 breaststroke), Nic Fink broke numerous records at conference, county, and state championship meets—as well as at the Meet of Champions—and was also a key member of multiple winning relays and championship teams during his Pingry career. He already stood out as a freshman with the team’s only individual title in the Prep Championship—a come-frombehind win—and by winning the 200 individual medley in the Non-Public State Championship.

Records for the 100 breaststroke began to fall his sophomore year when Nic broke the conference and county meet records. He then broke his own county record as a junior, when he finished the season with state and national records. His senior year included breaking his own record in the 100 breaststroke at the Meet of Champions.

Nic was an 11-time All-American, three-time All-State 1st Team selection, and two-time Star-Ledger and two-time Courier News Boys Swimmer of the Year; won four Non-Public B titles and 12 Prep titles; won nine gold medals at the Meet of Champions; swam on seven state championship teams (Prep and Non-Public); and set conference and county records in the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke. He swam at the University of Georgia, setting more school records and becoming a 19-time All-American and two-time Academic All-American.

A 13-time world champion and 8-time member of the USA World Championship Team, Nic holds several world records and competed in the Tokyo 2021 and Paris 2024 Summer Olympics. In Paris, he was a captain of the U.S. Olympic Swimming Team and won three medals: gold in the 4x100 mixed medley relay, a world-record and Olympic-record time; silver in the 100 breaststroke; and silver in the 4x100 medley relay.

Speaking About Nic Fink

“In November 2007, Nic showed up for practice as a slender athlete. But over the course of the next few years, due to his incredible work ethic in the pool and an amazing growth spurt, he was able to transform himself into an exceptional athlete. Nic is a swimmer of the highest degree, as evidenced by his Olympic results.” FORMER COACH BILL REICHLE P’00

“I want to thank my family: my parents for all of their sacrifices and everything they did to help me become the person I am today—not just the athlete, but the engineer, the father, the friend, the teammate. My sister is the reason I got into swimming. Following her has been a common theme in my life. And I want to thank my Pingry family and the Hall of Fame Committee.” NIC FINK ’11

Accomplishments include: University of Georgia—set 100 and 200 breaststroke records; SEC Championships—1st in 100 breaststroke four times, and in 200 breaststroke three times; World Championships (short and long courses)—25 medals over several years, including 13 gold medals

CITATION FOR

1996-97 Girls’ Swimming Team

Finishing 14–1 and setting 13 school records, the team won the program’s first NJSIAA Dual Meet Non-Public Championship, the Prep State and Parochial B State Championships, and the Pope John Invitational. They finished second in both the Counties and the Pirate Invitational. The team ranked No. 2 in the Courier News All Area Top 10 and No. 10 in The Star-Ledger Top 20.

Speaking about the team:

“The 1996-97 team set the tone for many years to follow. Of the 30 girls on that team, only six were year-round swimmers. Many of the teams we swam against had many more year-round swimmers, but our girls trained hard to maintain that competitive edge, and we won all of those meets against those teams. After coming in third two years in a row at the NJSIAA championships, we won our first one, beating Red Bank Catholic 92–78.”

FORMER COACH JUDY LEE

1997-98 Girls’ Swimming Team

“With the club swimmers and individual swimmers, we felt like one unified team because of the Pad of Pain [Coach Lee’s notebook containing the team’s workouts]—incredibly tough workouts that brought us together—and you see that in the results. And we had a lot of fun.”

MELANIE NAKAGAWA ’98, CAPTAIN FOR THREE YEARS

The team finished 13–2, ranked No. 13 in The Star-Ledger and No. 3 in the Courier News All Area. They set 12 records, repeated the program’s Prep State and Parochial B State Championships, won the NJSIAA Dual Meet Non-Public Championship, won the Pope John Invitational, and placed second in the Somerset County Championships, missing the title by one point.

Speaking about the team:

“It’s really difficult to repeat as a champion in any sport—rosters change, schedules change. We had graduated four very strong swimmers, but 17 girls returned, and we welcomed three strong freshmen. Once again, we had a schedule that still included some of the highest-ranked public-school programs in the state. The girls rose to the occasion, securing wins over those schools with teams much larger than ours. And we did repeat as state champions, again beating Red Bank Catholic by an even more convincing score of 115–55.”

MELANIE NAKAGAWA ’98 CITATION FOR

FORMER COACH JUDY LEE

“We, the seniors, knew we had big shoes to fill. We had graduated some phenomenal swimmers, so that meant more practices, harder work. The workouts were grueling, but managed to teach us grit, resilience, and—because we practiced a lot—time management. Thank you to the committee for choosing the first-ever women’s teams.”

“Although competition is a lot of one-on-one racing, in high school swimming, everyone matters . . . in fact, you can outscore your competition in an individual event and not even win the event because second, third, and fourth places add up to more points* . . . So, swimming really is a team sport. Everyone matters.” FORMER COACH JUDY LEE

2009-10 Boys’ Swimming Team

Competing in the highly competitive Skyland Conference, the boys captured the Conference Championship, Somerset County Championship, Prep A State Championship, and their third consecutive NJSIAA Non-Public B State Championship, the latter featuring 10 firstplace finishes out of 11 events. They also dominated the NJSIAA Meet of Champions, sweeping all three relays for the first time. The team finished 15–0, The Star-Ledger ranked them No. 2 and named them Team of the Year, and they were ranked No. 1 in the Courier News.

2011-12 Boys’ Swimming Team

The team compiled an undefeated dual meet record of 13–0 and won the Skyland Conference Championship (sweeping all three relays), Somerset County Championship (sweeping all three relays), Prep A State Championship (third year in a row), and NJSIAA Non-Public B State Championship (fifth year in a row). The team continued its success at the NJSIAA Meet of Champions, sweeping all three relays for the third consecutive year and setting a meet record by winning 10 relays in four years.

Speaking about the team:

“The team did something very special. Members of the relay team, swimming at the Meet of Champions—Nic Fink, Calvin Jones, Brandon Moy, James Ross, and Nick Gilligan—came in early, before classes, to work on the relay exchanges, and that paid off. They won all three relays for only the fourth time in the history of swimming in New Jersey. They set two team records and one state record. That continued for several years—coming in early to work on the exchanges, and they continued to sweep the relays.”

FORMER COACH BILL REICHLE P’00

“Everyone was a leader on this team, not just the captains. This was a particularly fun team. I think of the training trips, the relay exchange practices, the voluntary/ involuntary haircuts . . . so much about this team didn’t revolve around results, and yet I think that’s the reason we were so successful.” NIC FINK ’11

Speaking about the team:

“At the graduation of Nic Fink, everyone had to step up to replace his presence. Some notable swimmers: Alex Mango, Somerset County Swimmer of the Year; James Ross, Prep School Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet; Will LaCosta; Jason Ring; Sebastian Lutz; Jamie Finnegan; Silas Taylor; Ned Christensen; Dorian Allen; Kamau Holston; Alex Tung; Brian Yan; Ryan Storms; Jason Jin; Jeff Dong; Alex Wolfson; Matt Barickman; Paul Ludwig; Anthony Wang. This team finished 11th in the country.”

FORMER COACH BILL REICHLE P’00

“Thank you to our coaches for pushing us to be the best athletes we could be, as well as the best students we could be. The work ethic and discipline has carried with us, and we’re certainly better people because of it.” JASON RING ’12

“I vividly remember at the end of the season, Coach Reichle told us to save the date for the Hall of Fame . . . those undefeated seasons taught each and every one of us to never settle for anything but perfection.”

DAVID SUKHIN ’12

Girls’ Varsity Swimming Head Coach Deirdre O’Mara P’17, ’19, ’21 paid tribute to 100 years of Pingry swimming—the program, one of the School’s longest and most successful, began in 1925. Highlights have included the tenures of Hall of Fame coaches Judy Lee and Bill Reichle P’00, with the tradition continued by Coaches O’Mara and Megan Bull; coed teams in the 1970s; the first girls’ team in 1981 (coached by Kevin Rooney P’94 and Peter Cowen); and a community effort that included Bill Beinecke ’31, P’61, ’64 to donate money to build a pool on the Basking Ridge Campus (no pool was originally planned).

Coach O’Mara also mentioned longstanding records, such as the 50 free record held by Vic Pfeiffer ’67 for nearly 40 years (until 2004). Records still held:

Kristen Peters ’00 (200-meter free and 500-yard free)

Alexa Gale ’99 (100-meter back)

James Ross, Will LaCosta, Alex Mango, and Nic Fink (400-yard free relay)

James Ross, Jason Ring, Will LaCosta, and Alex Mango (200-meter free relay)

Sebastian Lutz, Kamau Holston, Will Zhang, and Jamie Finnegan (200-yard free relay)

Ted Li was honored for 50 years of coaching fencing at Pingry. He started coaching in 1975 at the request of then–Director of Athletics George Christow, and Pingry’s fencing program flourished under his leadership. Also a rule interpreter, tournament organizer, referee, and acclaimed armorer (ensuring the safety and functionality of equipment) for national and international teams, he was inducted into the USA Fencing Hall of Fame in 2016.

“The phrase [in the Honor Code] that resonates the most with me, with athletics, is doing things ‘for the common good.’ In athletics, more than any other aspect of student life, our athletes are often called upon to put the needs of the team above their own personal goals . . . we’re asking them to work for the common good of the team.”

DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS

PINGRY IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

Nantucket Reception July 23

Hosted by Cate and Gregg Edell P’26, ’28

Attendees include Emma (Carver) Akins ’09, Linda and Sandy Alderson GP’26, ’28, Toni and Honorary Trustee Jack Brescher ’65, P’99, Jessie and John Brescher III ’99, former trustee Anne DeLaney ’79 and Softball Head Coach Chip Carver Jr. ’77, P’09, ’11, ’14, ’14, Chloe Carver ’11, Cate and Gregg Edell P’26, ’28, Morgan Edell ’26, Blake Edell ’28, Chief Advancement Officer David M. Fahey ’99, P’33, ’34, ’38, Sarah and Trustee David Greig ’98, Elie and Head of School Tim Lear, Hyla Lear ’25, Tighe Lear ’30, former trustee Greg Mankiw ’76, Ann and Dennis Marvin P’14, ’17, Judy and Honorary Trustee Steve Newhouse ’65, P’95, ’97, ’99, Board Chair Ian Shrank ’71, and Hannah Wallace P’88, ’91

Alumni Pickleball Event Canoe Brook Country Club, September 7 Hosted by PAA President Kathy (Iacuzzo) Sartorius ’92 Scott Sartorius P’22, ’25, ’29, Andrew Slater, Stephanie (Swanicke) Slater ’03, Rosie Bruno, J.B. Bruno ’03, Annie Oatman ’20, Gretchen (Weiss) Oatman ’89, P’20, ’20, ’23, ’23, Lauren Salz ’06, Head of School Tim Lear, Tom Oatman P’20, ’20, ’23, ’23, Priscilla (Stack) Elms ’92, Kathy (Iacuzzo) Sartorius ’92, P’22, ’25, ’29, Talia Mandelbaum P’25, ’26, ’29, Julie (Johnson) Roberts ’05, Will Stearns ’20, Jeff Mandelbaum ’94, P’25, ’26, ’29, Trustee Lori Halivopoulos ’78, P’23, Chris Ulz ’93, P’28, ’32, ’32, Sam Partridge ’92, P’29, Melissa (Katz) Goldberg ’86, P’21, ’24, Lewis Goldberg P’21, ’24, Alex Baydin ’93, P’26, ’29, Hilary (Sunyak) Ulz ’96, P’28, ’32, ’32, Brian Szepkouski P’23, Simone Gurren ’95, John Flack ’95, and Amy Flack

Alumni Soccer Game Miller A. Bugliari ’52 World Cup Soccer Field, September 27

Amadi Thiam ’03, Boys’ Varsity Soccer Head Coach Miller Bugliari ’52, P’86, ’90, ’97, GP’20, ’24, John Wight Jr. ’62, P’03, Boys’ Varsity Soccer Associate Head Coach David M. Fahey ’99, P’33, ’34, 38, Don West ’60, Skot Koenig ’77, Vineil Reddy ’18, Jim Gensch ’83, P’13, Pranav Jha ’20, Alexy Alin-Hvidsten ’18, Josh Gradwohl ’80, Matt Agudelo ’20, John Robertson ’20, Mitchell Flugstad-Clarke ’18, Henry Flugstad-Clarke ’13, Yanni Angelides ’16, Eric Hynes ’08, Dr. Jeff Zimering ’07, Will Stamatis ’09, Roberto De Almeida ’15, Joey Padula ’15, Matt Mangini ’14, Max Helfman ’14, Christian Fechter ’13, Nick Sarro-Waite ’99, and Matt Fechter ’09

Reception at the home of Edie (McLaughlin) Nussbaumer ’84, featuring the work of artist Sarah Kurz ’99 September 30 Sponsored by the Achievement in the Arts Award Committee

FIRST ROW: John McLaughlin ’78, Trustee Maggie O’Toole ’05, and Trustee Lori Halivopoulos ’78, P’23 SECOND ROW: Sarah Kurz ’99, Paul Simon ’84, and Joanne Steinhardt ’84, P’15 THIRD ROW: Former Visual Arts Department Chair Miles Boyd, Dylan Boyd, Lauren Salz ’06, Sofia Lombardo ’20, Caroline Schuessler ’20, Zala Bhan ’23, Nerissa (Nonato) Aschoff ’87, Zara Jacob ’21, Matthew Dispenza ’20, and Upper School Visual Arts Teacher and Director of the Pottersville Campus Rebecca Sullivan P’36 FOURTH ROW: Andrew Cowen ’19, Alice Berndt ’18, Christine (Layng) Aschwald ’02, Liz (Wight) Seigel ’03, John Roll ’73, Co-Director of College Counseling Sue Kinney P’15, ’18, Edie (McLaughlin) Nussbaumer ’84, P’18, ’21, Annual Giving and Community Engagement Associate Stacy Schuessler P’18, ’20, Arielle Kogut ’09, Roger Micone, Jonathan Younghans ’20, and Anthony Rubino II ’20

FIFTH ROW: Lucas Vazquez ’19, Mary Kovacs ’19, Achievement in the Arts Award Committee Chair Scott Loikits ’90, Visual Arts Department Chair Andrew Sullivan P’36, Trustee Douglas Bookbinder ’98, former PAA President Kevin Schmidt ’98, Jason Kurz ’03, and Peter Allen ’78, P’10

Sarah Kurz ’99, Visual Arts Department Chair Andrew

Sullivan and Upper School

Visual Arts Teacher Rebecca

Sullivan P’36, and former Visual Arts Department Chair Miles Boyd

PINGRY IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

November

Alumni Squash Event Miller A. Bugliari ’52 Athletics Center, November 28

FRONT ROW: Girls’ Varsity Squash Assistant Coach Megan DeGraff, Erika Qin ’28, Aaron Simon ’24, Leon Zhou ’24, Kiran Chokshi ’16, Julia Masch ’17, Diana Masch ’15, and Alisa Chokshi ’19 BACK ROW: Hansen Zhang ’24, Brian Chin ’24, Ben Tran ’24, Waleed Nisar ’20, Evan Wen ’23, Director of Squash and Girls’ Varsity Squash Head Coach Francis Odeh, Aashiya Jaggi ’19, Avi Bhavnani ’11, Boys’ Varsity Squash Head Coach Ramsay Vehslage Jr., and Sasha Bauhs ’25

College Dinner in Philadelphia December 3

Sasha Bauhs ’25, Isabelle Chen ’25, Ananya Sanyal ’24, Avery Santomassimo ’24, Anna Stowe ’22, Alexandra de Asla ’22, Michelle Lee ’22, James Houghton ’22, and Ava Grunstra ’25

PINGRY IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

New York City Reception New York City Yacht Club, December 12 NEW

Back-from-College Lunch Basking Ridge Campus, December 18

Football Alumni Dinner Washington House Restaurant, December 18

The 2025 Football Team captured Pingry Football’s first-ever MIFL (Metropolitan Independent Football League) Championship after defeating defending champs Poly Prep by a score of 27–15.

PINGRY IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

Alumni Swimming Event Beinecke Pool, December 22

FRONT ROW: Grace O’Mara ’19, Mia Cuiffo ’25, Lauren Kim ’23, Lily Arrom ’21, Diane Dubovy Benke ’90, Darlene Fung ’19, Jason Kurz ’03, and former Boys’ and Girls’ Varsity Swimming Head Coaches Bill Reichle P’00 and Judy Lee BACK ROW: Daniela Karnaugh ’24, Melinda Xu ’25, Mirika Jambudi ’23, Jingjing Luo ’25, and Ian Konops ’25

Upcoming Events

Pingry at the Red Sox

April 23

Reunion Weekend & Celebrate Pingry!

May 8–9

Including 50-Year Club Luncheon, Hillside Campus Tour, Honor Board Meet & Greet, Alumni Baseball Event, Alumni Lacrosse Game, Class Parties

PAA’s Annual Meeting of the Alumni featuring a panel of Faculty Members & Student

Leadership

May 28

Young Alumni Happy Hour

June

Jersey Shore Regional Reception

July 11

Nantucket Regional Reception

July 23

Martha’s Vineyard Reception

July

PINGRY CREATES

Alumni

RICHARD MEYERS ’63 wrote The Half-FullGlass User’s Manual: Enjoy It All Even When You Don’t Have it All, which he describes as “a non-fiction book focused on a device that never existed. It’s a self-help book with no sort of program or rules to follow. It’s a book that looks at some serious issues of the human condition, using words of frivolity and scenarios of absurdity as the vehicles of inspection. It’s not a book about doing; it’s rather a book about seeing.”

SCOTT RUSSELL ’76 wrote the book A Beginner’s Guide to Electricity (billectric), “the kind of book I needed to read, in which an electric boy runs away from home in search of a glow-in-the-dark girl.”

According to Amazon, “A modern psychedelic Tom Sawyer–type named Radkin runs away from home to seek his muse by writing a book just like he would build a fireplace, a sturdy structure in which to conjure a flickering warmth to enchant a lady.”

JENNY GORELICK ’10 wrote her first book, an illustrated humor book, The Book of Red Flags: Dating Signs They Aren’t It, with illustrator Margalit Cutler (Rizzoli New York). According to the publisher, she “details absurd anecdotes and all-too-real jokes about the messy dating trends everyone seems to experience.”

Students

ANTHONY TRUNCALE ’26 created a marketing video for the School called Surprise Yourself, and it won two awards: Platinum in the MarCom Awards, and Bronze in the InspirED School Marketers Brilliance Awards, the only international competition that honors excellence in marketing and communications for private and independent schools. Watch the video at pingry.org/extras or by scanning the QR Code.

Faculty

DR. BRIDGET LOONEY, Lower School Extended Care Lead and an Adjunct Professor and Researcher at Montclair State University who has been working in education for over 25 years, wrote the book Maker Pedagogy: A Paradigm for Teaching, Learning, and Leading in the Modern School (Emerald Publishing).

Students and Faculty

THE LOWER SCHOOL has its own Friday morning news program. Big Blue News debuted in the 2023-24 school year as weekly videos to promote Dress Down Days, then morphed into a news program that captures life around campus. It is shown only in classrooms so that students are more motivated to participate—the reason that Big Blue News is known as “for the students, featuring the students”. It is filmed, edited, and produced by faculty, and Big Blue News Crew is offered as an enrichment course for students in Grades 4–5 to create and edit an episode.

The faculty production team includes Erin Strong (Lower School Performing Arts Teacher and Lower School Performing Arts Coordinator; co-producer), Mary Anne Sacco (Assistant Lower School Director of Student Life; co-producer), and Alana Zussman (Lower School Technology and Innovation Coordinator; editor), and the “content gathering” team includes Denise Lionetti ’85 (Lower School Spanish Teacher), Austin Applegate (Grade 5 Math Teacher; announcer), Kerry MacIntosh (Grade 3 Teacher), and Vinod Sahani (Lower School Systems Administrator).

“Students look forward to it. It brings them joy,” Ms. Strong says. “They cheer for each other, and even if no one in their homeroom is featured, they are cheering for other grades. It’s building community in the best way that technology can build community.”

RING, the debut novel by MICHELLE LERNER ’89 (Winter 2024-25 issue), “was, shockingly, longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize, one of the biggest literary awards in the country, one specifically for influential fiction addressing vital contemporary issues,” Ms. Lerner writes. “I say ‘shockingly’ because the book was published by a small press and has sold fewer than 1,000 copies, while the other 14 longlisted books include the winner and finalists for the National Book Award, several New York Times bestsellers, Oprah and Reese Witherspoon Book Club picks, and more—almost entirely Big 5 publishing house books and none from a micro-press like my publisher (Bancroft). For someone who moved to writing so late in life, this is an amazing turn of events and one that I hope can inspire other middle-aged alumni.”

OFF TO COLLEGE

On the Map

Middlebury College (2)

University of Vermont (1)

Colgate University (2)

Cornell University (5)

Hamilton College (1)

Hobart and William Smith Colleges (1)

Hofstra University (1)

Syracuse University (1)

University of Rochester (1)

Michigan State University (1)

University of Michigan (2)

Northwestern University (3)

The University of Chicago (3)

University of Notre Dame (3)

Kenyon College (1)

Indiana University Bloomington (2)

Washington University in St. Louis (3)

University of South Carolina (1)

Southern Methodist University (2)

Baylor University (1)

The University of Texas at Austin (2)

Rice University (1)

Belmont University (1)

Vanderbilt University (1)

Columbia University (2)

Fordham University (2)

New York University (5)

University of Richmond (1)

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (1)

University of South Carolina (1)

University of Georgia (1)

Emory University (4)

Georgia Institute of Technology (1)

Oxford College at Emory University (1) Spelman College (1)

Dartmouth College (3)

Colby College (1)

England University of Kent (1)

Babson College (1)

Boston College (5)

Boston University (1)

College of the Holy Cross (2)

Harvard University (1)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2)

Northeastern University (3)

Tufts University (2)

Brown University (3)

University of Connecticut (1)

Yale University (4)

Drew University (1)

Princeton University (2)

Rutgers University—Camden (1)

Rutgers University—New Brunswick (1)

Stevens Institute of Technology (2)

Johns Hopkins University (1) Loyola University Maryland (3)

Georgetown University (2)

William & Mary (1)

Duke University (4)

Elon University (1)

High Point University (1)

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1)

Wake Forest University (6)

Tulane University (5)

California California Institute of Technology (1)

Stanford University (1)

University of California, Los Angeles (1)

University of Southern California (1)

University of Miami (2)

CLASS NOTES

share your news

Submit your Class Note at pingry.org/classnotes, or mail it to Greg Waxberg ’96, Editor of The Pingry Review, The Pingry School, 131 Martinsville Road, Basking Ridge, NJ, 07920

1952

MILLER BUGLIARI P’86, ’90, ’97, GP’20, ’24 was profiled in New Jersey Monthly (September 3) in a story titled “Meet NJ’s History-Making, 90-Year-Old High School Soccer Coach”. Also, during the All-School Festival in December, he participated in the candle lighting for the first time.

1956

PETER SCHWEITZER writes, “Still in motion on The World with my wife Annie McBride.”

1957

RAYMOND LONDA P’88, ’91 was inducted into the New York Jets Fan Hall of Fame presented by Ticketmaster on January 5, 2025 at MetLife Stadium. The Jets Fan Hall of Fame was established in 2017 to honor and celebrate fans who have made a significant impact in the community and supporting the team. Ray and his three fellow inductees were selected from thousands of entries, and each received a Fan Hall of Fame letterman jacket, among other gifts. According to a press release, he “is a unique Jets fan who has been loyal to the franchise for nearly 60 years. He became a fan in the team’s first season, 1960, and after graduating from law school in 1965 used his first paycheck to buy a season ticket. Londa has attended games at Shea Stadium, Giants Stadium and MetLife Stadium, sharing the experience with his entire family—

children, grandchildren, and friends. He wears a 40-year-old beaver fur coat in honor of Hall of Fame QB Joe Namath and listens to games on his vintage RadioShack headset . . . Londa, 86, has built lasting relationships with the Jets community and particularly with the fans that sit in the same section as he does. He still travels to away games and loves to share his decades worth of stories about the Green & White with fans he meets.”

1958

STEWART BROWN writes, “It’s been a surprising and difficult [almost two years]. We moved from Hilton Head after 25 years in April 2024. Three weeks later, Judy fell on a neighborhood street while walking our daughter’s BIG dog. Judy suffered a broken sternum, three broken left ribs, collapsed left lung, mild slurred speech, and a significant stroke that immobilized her left arm and hand, and left leg. After 21 weeks of rehab, she reached the limits of her brain power to make further physical progress. Unfortunately, the effects of the brain injury and aging dementia took their toll [last] spring despite 24-hour in-home care with an outstanding group of caregivers. Judy passed in the predawn of Friday, July 4. Funeral and internment [took place] in early August at The Church of the Cross in Bluffton, South Carolina where we attended for over 20 years. Life goes on after 60 years of marriage and a wonderful life.”

1960

DAVID SPENO writes, “Lynn and I moved to Roanoke, Virginia three years ago. This

is our last stop. We have a town home in the city and a mountain/creek place 40 minutes away. Our town home is located in Old Southwest, the first neighborhood in the City of Roanoke. Most of the homes were built between 1890–1915 with a couple of older places in the mix. We are actively involved with Second Presbyterian Church, an in-town 100-plus-year-old congregation. I have been retired since 2010, and Lynn retired from the State of Georgia historic preservation division in 2017. We are very happy to be living in the Roanoke Valley, which is part of the greater Blue Ridge region. Our abode is 10 minutes off I-81 and the Blue Ridge Parkway. We would love to have any classmates visit if you are traveling through our area, one of the more beautiful places in the Blue Ridge mountains. Here’s wishing you good health, blessings, and peace in a turbulent world.”

1962

DR. ROBERT FULLILOVE visited Pingry in January for the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Assembly. Read more on page 7.

Head of School Tim Lear and Special Assistant to the Head of School Miller Bugliari ’52, P’86, ’90, ’97, GP’20, ’24 took a tour of old Elizabeth in November with Dave Rogers ’61 and Henry English ’60. They are shown in front of Dr. John Pingry’s former house, which is also pictured in Dr. Herbert Hahn’s book, The Beginning of Wisdom.

1963

DICK MEYERS has written a book. Read more on page 65.

1964

JUDGE JOHN D. BATES, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is the 2025 recipient of the Edward J. Devitt Distinguished Service to Justice Award. He received the award in an October 16 ceremony presided over by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. at the U.S. Supreme Court, and attended by five Associate Justices. For 41 years, the Devitt Award has honored an Article III judge (a federal judge appointed to a court established under Article III of the Constitution) who has had a distinguished career and made significant contributions to the administration of justice, the advancement of the rule of law, and the improvement of society as a whole. As Chief Justice Roberts noted, it “has long been considered the most prestigious honor in our branch of government.” Recipients are chosen by a committee of federal judges.

CLASS NOTES

1966

BRUCE SCHUNDLER writes, “As many of you know, we sold The Schundler Company in 2025, Sara and I then worked as seasonal Park Rangers for the National Park Service for six summers, and then for eight years as tour guides/expedition leaders for Orbridge LLC (orbridge.com)—a company that specializes in alumni association tours. We loved our ‘post-retirement jobs’, and we loved the challenges of working as Park Rangers and ‘professional’ tour guides . . . but last summer, we decided it was time to finally retire, and so we did. Nevertheless, before heading up to our lake house for the summer, in June we did take our grandson on a tour to seven national parks (Colorado National Monument, Arches, Canyonlands, Capital Reef, Bryce, Zion, and the north and south rims of the Grand Canyon). In fact, after seeing our two-week itinerary, our daughter, Becky, and her husband, Bola, decided to join us, and it was great!”

1967

BILL ENGEL was profiled in the Fall/Winter 2025 issue of Matheny Matters magazine to highlight his expertise in philanthropy and foundations.

VIC PFEIFFER writes, “‘100 years of Pingry Swimming’ was celebrated in September at the Athletics Hall of Fame ceremony. I couldn’t miss that. The current girls swim coach was very nice to recognize me in the audience. I had a good catch-up dinner with Bill Engel (aka Mr. Pingry) and Rob Klopman before. Really good to catch up. Both as vibrant as ever. The return to Pingry, for me, brought out fond memories of our years

together there and how many years have passed. Stay well, classmates.”

1969

DOUG GOODKIN writes, “54 years since we last met, it was a grand pleasure to connect with classmate Mike Spirito in his hometown of Lexington, Kentucky. Mike is a highly successful horse veterinarian and we had great fun remembering our 1969 trip to Woodstock together and other unmentionable escapades. Though officially retired after teaching music to kids at The San Francisco School for 45 years, I continue to train teachers worldwide—this last year in Brazil, England, Austria, Ghana, China, Tennessee, and California. Besides teaching, I’m keeping busy with a podcast (The ABC’s of Education on Spotify), a blog, performing jazz piano, playing music at Senior Living Centers, and soon to publish my new book (my 11th) titled The Humanitarian Musician. The movie The Secret Song about my last year of teaching at the school is still streaming on Apple TV, Amazon Prime, and PBS.”

1972

PAUL CISZAK has been named and elected to the Board of the Greater Toluca Lake Neighborhood Council of the city of Los Angeles, California. These councils serve local area citizens as a liaison group to local and state officials to address issues of concern at the neighborhood level. “I am honored to be asked and selected for the Council, and look forward to causing ‘good trouble’ if needed!”

1973

CHUCK CUTTIC writes, “After a rewarding 41-year career as cardiothoracic surgical physician assistant, and turning the big 7-0 in June, it was time to hang up the stethoscope and scalpel! Over those many years, in being part of several amazing teams of surgeons, other PAs, nurses, and respiratory and physical therapists, it was getting to know and care for all those many patients whose paths I crossed that gave me the most pleasure. From participating in all types of cases, including many heart transplants, it always gave me great satisfaction to help heal. Truly blessed!! Now it’s time for more travel, gardening, golf, and family!!”

1.

2.

3. Peter Mindnich ’71

4.

5.

6.

1975

PETE HISCANO writes, “Three longtime friends and I celebrated another biennial ‘Bachelor Weekend’ during which we mutually agree to part with our wives to journey to one of the guys’ vacation houses to once again reminisce. (During the weekend of July 25, it was at my family place in Sussex

County, New Jersey. We enjoyed a weekend of swimming, Jeep rides, pickleball, cliff jumping [no kidding!], hiking, and barbecuing.) To complete the weekend, on Sunday, July 27, we joined Miller and Mrs. Bugliari for lunch at one of their favorite spots, the Tewksbury Inn.”

1976

SCOTT RUSSELL has written a book. Read more on page 65.

1978

JEFF EDWARDS P’12, ’14, ’18 received Pingry’s Letter-In-Life Award in September. Read more on page 52.

1980

JOSH GRADWOHL writes, “A few years ago, my wife Lynn and I purchased a 1930 Model A Ford Deluxe Coupe. This replaced a 1928 Model A Ford Tudor Sedan I had purchased in 1978 and sold in 1992 with years of regrets afterward. A Model A Ford only has 40 horsepower and a comfortable top speed of 40–45 mph. Our dream was to find an older pickup truck we could use to tow the Model A long distances so we could drive the A locally once we got to our destination. After a long search, on December 8, 2025, we found and purchased this 1946 Ford F1 pickup. In car terms, it is a restomod (yes, this is spelled correctly). The truck has been modified with a Chevy 350 ci HO V8 engine and a 3-speed automatic transmission, hydraulic breaks, and power steering and AC to name a few of the modifications. It is quite capable of towing the Model A and traveling at modern highway speeds. Lynn and I look forward to having fun driving our ‘new’ truck and will look into adding a tow hitch to possibly complete the dream of taking both of our antique vehicles on long road trips at the same time. To fellow classmate Mark Diamond, I challenge you to get your older vehicle on the road before our 50th Reunion in 2030 so we can both

CLASS NOTES

show off our wheels to our classmates during Reunion Weekend.”

1982

JONATHAN KARP, CEO of Simon & Schuster since 2020, announced in August that he is stepping down from the position. According to an article in The New York Times, he said, “I am an editor and publisher at heart” and will remain with the company to launch a new imprint called Simon Six, which will publish “six carefully curated books a year.”

1984

JOSEPH BLOCH recently released his 30th roleplaying game book. Suitable for use with the first edition of Dungeons & Dragons, Joseph’s games and adventures are enjoyed by gamers all over the world, and he is a special guest at gaming conventions around the country.

AVERY CHAPMAN, ESQ., a practicing trial lawyer for 34 years, after two terms as Chair of the Electronic Discovery and Digital Evidence Committee of the Business Law Section of the Florida Bar, is now a Vice Chair of the Rules Committee, as well as Co-Chair of the Palm Beach County Barn Association Business Litigation Committee. He has and continues to present continuing legal education and speak and publish on related topics. When not in court this past year, Avery has been mountaineering in Chamonix, France and Jungfraujoch, Switzerland, and cycling the Stelvio and Gavia in Bormio, Italy. Last May,

at Edie Nussbaumer’s lovely residence in Tudor City, Avery attended the 40th Class Reunion. It was great to see everyone!

1987

JULIE KAUFMAN BETANCUR, a former HR executive with a specialty in recruitment, and the Founder of Talent Right Partners, led an “Introduction to Networking Workshop” for Upper School students at Pingry in December. She described her own zigzag of a career path and the importance of following your passion even if it seems challenging (originally wanting to be a psychologist, she ultimately realized during interviews with hospitals that she didn’t want to do that and had to do a hard pivot), then spoke about skills that employers are looking for, how students can develop those skills in high school, and the importance of networking and how to get after it.

1988

DR. ANGELICA DIAZ-MARTINEZ P’25, ’26 has been appointed Associate Vice Provost to support the transition of the Division of Continuing Studies at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. She is providing leadership to the Division—which formerly reported to the Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs—while also guiding its integration into the Rutgers–New Brunswick Chancellor’s organization. Angelica is continuing as a Teaching Professor of Clinical Psychology in the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology.

1989

JONATHAN GOLDSTEIN writes, “In April 2025, I was elected to the board of the National Rifle Association where I am now chair of the Finance Committee. In the fall, I was asked to teach a course on 2nd Amendment law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.”

MICHELLE LERNER writes, “My debut novel, Ring, published in January 2025, was longlisted for the 2026 Aspen Words Literary Prize, a major national award ‘for a work of fiction that illuminates a vital contemporary issue.’ My second book, a humorous memoir titled A Series of Opinionated Animals, is due out in October and just became available for pre-order. I finished it at Pingry’s first arts residency at the Pottersville Campus, an opportunity I’m deeply grateful for. I’m currently working, on and off, on a historical novel about the Shakers. In May, I helped with a project and event honoring Mr.

Grant’s career coaching Girls’ Track, along with other alumnae including Angie D’Costa. It was a lot of fun and got me to start running a little again for a few months, though I’m still living with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and my peak accomplishment was jogging a mile—which used to be our warmup before stretching during Pingry track season!”

1990

DIANE DUBOVY BENKE competed in the Swimrun World Championship this past summer. She writes, “We finished in just over 13 hours. You compete in teams of two. I met my teammate doing these races in the U.S. He’s from Tulsa, OK! The Stockholm Archipelago is where the sport originated. Ötillö is a Swedish word that translates to ‘island to island’, which is literally what the sport is about—swimming to an island, running across it, and then swimming to the next island. Partners are tethered together, especially on the swims for safety. It’s very much a team sport—especially with the

endurance aspect (as each partner will have highs and lows at different points over 13 hours of racing!). It’s a sport still in its infancy in the U.S., but growing—with a very welcoming and supportive community. It’s incredible to participate because you get to experience nature in a way that you could never do by just trail running or swimming alone—and the same course will be different every time (depending on currents, tides, weather, etc.). The whims of nature make it quite the adventure! You have to qualify for the World Championship race by accruing points in other swimrun races. For the world championship, teams swim between 24 islands and run over them. The total distance is 70 km (9 km of open-water swimming and 61 km of trail-running). You also have to brave the cold temperatures of the Baltic Sea, which was around 60 degrees for this race (we do wear a swimrun-specific wetsuit that zips in the front). The running terrain is varied—from slick rock to dirt trail, gravel roads, and even a rope climb to one swim entrance. This was my second attempt at the World Championship

in Sweden. I also qualified in 2024, but missed the second time cut-off by only a few minutes. I credit doing the longer distance races on the Pingry swim team for laying the foundation for a lifelong swimming passion—especially open-water endurance swimming!”

1993

JEN (ALESSANDRA) LUCAS currently resides near Austin, Texas with her husband, youngest son, and four Labrador Retrievers.

She’s the EVP, Chief People Officer of a private equity–backed software company, Tricentis.

Jen became certified as a Nutrition Coach with NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine) and in January 2025, founded Healthspan Nutrition, LLC. Healthspan is focused on educating and emphasizing proactive, healthy habits that lengthen the number of active, productive, and enjoyable years of a person’s life. The company provides coaching and partners with LivePURE for nutrition supplementation. Reach out to jlucas.healthspan@gmail.com if you want to connect!

1995

Trustee DR. RANDY LIZARDO is the Executive Producer of Faith Healers, a historic documentary about Filipino physicians who came to America as part of The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. It explores the obstacles they faced and the accomplishments

CLASS NOTES

they made, and highlights how they continue to give back to their native homeland. In October, they had their tri-state area debut at the SOHO International Film Festival where they won the Audience Choice Award. They had their New Jersey premiere at The First Night Morris Festival in Morristown, New Jersey on New Year’s Eve. In 2025, Dr. Lizardo also started a private practice minimally invasive gyn surgical fellowship through Capital Women’s Care where he is a managing partner. In May, he hosted his classmates for an after party at his parents’ house in Watchung, New Jersey during Reunion Weekend. In typical fashion, his parents were out of town for the event.

1996

MARK CHEN visited Pingry in January to deliver the John Hanly Lecture on Ethics and Morality. Read more on page 30.

DANIEL PINCUS and his family were honored by AJC New Jersey on November 18 for their longstanding involvement with the organization and their work supporting global humanitarian and interfaith initiatives. At the event, Daniel spoke about assisting writer and analyst Dalia Ziada in safely leaving Egypt following public commentary she made about regional events. Also in attendance was Mohammed Al Samawi, whom Daniel previously helped evacuate from Yemen and who joined him at Pingry in 2017 for the John Hanly Lecture on Ethics and Morality. Reflecting on Daniel’s commitment to helping others in crisis, Dalia shared, “Whenever somebody says ‘help me,’ he has always been there.”

1997

BOBBY CORVINO, Chief Operating Officer of AVP (Association of Volleyball Professionals) Pro Beach Volleyball, and Upper School Math Teacher Josh Lyons P’30, ’32 attended AVP League Week 6 at Wollman Rink in Central Park in July. It featured top-tier players, including multiple Olympians, competing in a leagueplay format. Mr. Lyons was connected with Bobby through Upper School History Teacher Teddy Corvino ’94 earlier in 2025 for his Spring Intensive, From Sand to Service, which examines how small communities can create meaningful impact and outreach in shared public spaces. Bobby visited Pingry during the course to discuss his current role, and the importance of rebranding this organization.

CHRIS PARSONS writes, “I’m an admittedly nerdy baseball card collector, and this summer I contacted a fellow collector on Instagram about a card of his that was for sale. We got to talking and were shocked to learn we’re both Pingry alums! I was talking to Jacob Kreeger, Class of 2007! We even had teachers in common. It’s funny how quickly you trust someone when you find out they also went to Pingry. We talked for a couple days about high school and then made a deal for a beautiful Shohei Ohtani card. I remember we had a Baseball Card Club with Mr. Corvino back in 5th grade (Short Hills Campus), and I’d like to think he’d be proud that some of us adults are still in the hobby!”

1998

GIDEON LEWIS-KRAUS wrote “The End of Children”, about declining birth rates around the world, for The New Yorker (published in March 2025), and it was named one of the Top 25 New Yorker stories of 2025.

1999

DR. ADAM SCHAYOWITZ has been appointed Acting Chief Development Officer of Zymeworks, a global clinicalstage biotechnology company committed to the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel, multifunctional biotherapeutics. The mission is to make a meaningful difference in the lives of people impacted by difficult-to-treat conditions such as cancer, inflammation, and autoimmune disease. The role is part time, so he will

continue to serve as an Operating Partner at EcoR1 Capital, a biotech-focused investment advisory firm that invests in companies at all stages of research and development.

2000

PAUL W. DOWNS’ television show Hacks, now in Season 5, was included in Variety’s “Comedy Impact Report” for 2025.

2001

LAUREN (ANDERSON) HOLLAND visited Pingry in January for the Honor Board Speaker Series and shared three stories. First, during her freshman year at Amherst College, a classmate asked to look at her essay. Lauren knew she wasn’t supposed to share her work, but thought, “This is college. It’s one person. What’s the harm?” The harm ended up being that her work was ultimately shared with 15 other people, and she realized that “my reputation is going to be built on one decision at a time.” In the second story, Lauren shared how a minor accident in a crowded parking lot became a test of integrity, and how she chose accountability over convenience by finding the car’s owner. In the third example, Lauren was asked to lead a competitive bid for a major new client at her company. The deal was worth $150

million and the client set clear rules for the bidding. Lauren found out that her competitors were ignoring the rules, so her choice was either to break the rules to level the playing field, or respect the process and accept the risk of losing. She chose to follow the rules because she wanted her team to know that integrity isn’t situational, and values don’t disappear when the stakes are high. Lauren’s company won the business and she was promoted. In summary, she said, “Honor is how you act when no one is watching, it often costs you something, and it almost always comes with a very good excuse not to do it . . . the Honor Code prepares you for the moments when the easy choice and the right choice are not the same, and if there’s one thing that Pingry teaches you, it’s this: who you are when it’s inconvenient is who you really are.”

2002

EVAN SHORE P’36 joined CINQCARE as Chief Innovation Officer. The company provides healthcare to underserved, highneeds populations in urban and rural communities. In his role, Evan leads the development of new solutions that support family members, caregivers, and the broader ecosystem of providers who help people receive care where they live.

CLASS NOTES

2007

DR. BENJAMIN OAKES, Co-Founder, President, and CEO of the molecular engineering company Scribe Therapeutics, was named to BioSpace’s inaugural 40 Under 40 list, which honors “exemplary biotech and pharma professionals who have distinguished themselves in their companies and their field. The young leaders demonstrate innovation, business impact, and commitment to improving outcomes for patients.” Ben and his team recently presented their work on cholesterol lowering at the American Heart Association meeting and are planning on advancing Epigenome therapeutics for ASCVD (Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease) into humans in 2026.

2010

JENNY GORELICK has written a book. Read more on page 65.

2011

NIC FINK was inducted into Pingry’s Athletics Hall of Fame in September. Read more on page 54.

2014

SAM KORN, a talent agent at WME, was included in Variety’s “Comedy Impact Report” for 2025. Her client list includes Saturday Night Live stars of past and present as well as actors and creators that she sees as the comedy tastemakers of tomorrow.

2018

LTJG DYLAN CHENG (Villanova 2022 / U.S. Navy) earned his Naval Flight Officer Wings of Gold in a ceremony at NAS Pensacola on March 28, 2025. Dylan was selected to fly in the P-8A Poseidon and completed his P8 training at NAS Jacksonville in late 2025. Wings of Gold are earned by successfully completing primary, intermediate, and advanced naval flight training.

2020

ALISON LEE, who graduated from Princeton University with a major in Computer Science and minors in Entrepreneurship and Tech

Class of 2013 Graduates Cara Hayes and Adam Fraites married on August 2, 2025 in Beaver Creek, Colorado! FRONT ROW: Jessica McGregor ’13, Lisa Ulker ’13, Stephanie Wilf Kahn ’13, Jennifer Shahar ’13, Ayesha (Saksena) Director ’13, Hanna (Beattie) Petrick ’13, Adam Fraites ’13, Cara (Hayes) Fraites ’13, Katherine (Thomas) Meier ’13, Christian Fechter ’13, and Lisa Fraites-Dworkin ’81 BACK ROW: Akshay Rao ’14, Drew (Topor) FlugstadClarke ’14, Rahul Rahkit ’13, Henry Flugstad-Clarke ’13, Mike Patrizio ’13, John Dugan ’13, and Charles Fraites ’09

and Society, has been selected to join the 11th cohort, the Class of 2026-27, of one of the world’s most prestigious graduate fellowships: Schwarzman Scholars. The first scholarship of its kind to address the complex geopolitical landscape of the 21st century, Schwarzman Scholars is designed to prepare the next generation of global leaders. Alison was selected from a record competitive global pool of over 5,800 applicants and has the opportunity to attend a one-year, fully funded master’s degree program in Global Affairs at Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University in Beijing. Her mission is to empower and connect female entrepreneurs around the world, and at Princeton, she created FemaleFounded, an undergraduate conference. Alison also strengthened international dialogue by leading Business Today, an organization that connects undergraduate students globally with influential business leaders. As an associate at Boston Consulting Group, she has explored the technology and private equity sectors.

2024

DAMI SHOTE was named to the fall Dean’s List at Muhlenberg College.

ROHAN VARIANKAVAL writes, “I wanted to share just how much the Pingry alumni network has meant to me since graduating. This past summer, I had the chance to work at a pharmaceutical company for my first internship,

a role I never would have found without the Pingry network. I reached out to an alum on LinkedIn, Scott Hirsch, and he not only took the time to speak with me, but also opened the door to an opportunity that gave me a real window into the industry. It struck me how generous alumni were with their time and how quickly that shared Pingry connection built a sense of trust. It made me realize that our network isn’t just a list of names, it’s a community of people who genuinely want to help each other succeed. I’ve also felt that sense of community on a smaller, more personal scale here at Hopkins. During my freshman year of college, a few of us Pingry alums took part in a Pingry-sponsored get-together on campus, and it was such a great reminder of how the school brings people together even after we’ve all moved on to different places. Sharing stories and catching up with people who’ve walked the same halls and formed relationships with the same community gave me that feeling of belonging that I had back in Basking Ridge. These experiences have shown me that the Pingry network is more than just large. It’s active, caring, and supportive in ways that really matter. I’m incredibly grateful to continue engaging with the community and forging new connections and friendships through it.”

2025

ZIV SHAH was named a U.S. Presidential Scholar. Read more on page 7.

and

employees

8 at the Pottersville Campus. FRONT ROW: Evelyn Kastl, Dennis Pearlstein, Barbara (DeAngelo) Stockhoff, Dr. Susan Dineen, Elaine Krusch, Dr. Joan Pearlman, Dr. Trish Lowery, Jeanine Carr, Connie Fayen, and Connie Allan BACK ROW: Judy Baker, Ann D’Innocenzo, Eileen Hymas, Sheila Ramirez, Judy Previti, Homa Watts, Miles Boyd, Pat Lionetti, Barbara Conroy, Bill Bourne, Elaine Ochab, Susan Conklin, Ted Li, Chuck Coe, Dr. Michele Parvensky, Nancy Wojnar, Pat Vergalito, Special Assistant to the Head of School Miller Bugliari ’52, P’86, ’90, ’97, GP’20, ’24, Head of School Tim Lear, Dean of Residential Life L.J. Scurfield, Director of the Pottersville Campus Rebecca Sullivan, and Associate Head of School Dr. Jessica Flaxman

Connie Allan P’75, ’77, ’79, ’83, Grade 1, 1979–2003

Judy Baker P’01, GP’27, ’28, Assistant Director of Athletics, 1991–2022

Bill Bourne P’08, Physics, 1984–2025

Miles Boyd, Visual Arts Department Chair, 1994–2024

Jeanine Carr, World Languages, 1982–2011

Chuck Coe, Physics, 1984–2025

Susan Conklin, Academic Support Coordinator and Learning Specialist, 2017–2020

Barbara Conroy, Music Department Administrative Assistant, 1986–2018

Dr. Susan Dineen, English/Justin Society/ The Pingry Record, 1990–2018

Ann D’Innocenzo, Lower School Librarian, 1997–2023

Connie Fayen P’90, ’02, Lower School Library/Admission, 1988–2013

Eileen Hymas, C.B. Newton Library Director, 2001–2020

Evelyn Kastl, Computers/English, 1969–2016

Elaine Krusch, Typing/Computers/Study Skills, 1977–2007

Ted Li, English/Fencing, 1973–2015

Pat Lionetti P’85, ’88, ’89, English/ Psychology/School Counselor/Peer Leadership, The Pingry Record, 1977–2013

Dr. Trish Lowery, Science, 2000–2017

Elaine Ochab, Receptionist, 1992–2020

Dr. Michele Parvensky, Chemistry/Native American Club, 1985–2016

Dr. Joan Pearlman P’89, ’92, ’96, Grade 5 English and Language Arts/Grade 6 Study Skills, 1983–2021

Dennis Pearlstein, English, 2007–2020

Judy Previti, Kindergarten, 2004–2023

Sheila Ramirez P’01, ’04, ’07, Director of Lower School Admission, 1996–2022

Barbara (DeAngelo) Stockhoff, Administrative Assistant to the Head of School, 1986–2014

Pat Vergalito, Benefits Coordinator, 1985–2012

Homa Watts, Kindergarten/Grade 1/Grade 2, 2006–2021

Nancy Wojnar, Transportation Coordinator/ Bookstore Manager, 1982–2006

LETTER FROM FORMER MUSIC TEACHER TOM BERDOS

Dear Pingry alumni,

Today, the Summer 2025 Pingry Review arrived in my mailbox. I put down what I was doing and immediately went to the back of the issue, where I always start. I love to see what you are all doing, and The Pingry Review does a fine job of keeping us updated.

I smiled when I saw the names of my former 5th-grade students. I remember the days you ran through the halls (but only “walking quickly” past Mr. Corvino’s office, of course) to stomp up the stairs and get to the music room. The three-note sax solos in “Reindeer on the Roof”, with all the other shenanigans we threw into that piece. The singing of “Don Giovanni” in the hallways. And so on. Great times.

And now, look at you. Running your own businesses. Working in the heartbeat of the American economy. Achieving with excellence. Reaching higher and higher, and bringing all you have to offer to so many that benefit. I’m especially proud that you bring it back to Pingry to inspire current students.

I’m sure my fellow faculty members, like me, also smile when we read about you. We knew you back in the day—and we are so very happy to see how far you have come.

Congratulations to you as you continued the Pingry spirit of excellence into your careers. We are all still cheering for you!

Mr. Berdos

IN MEMORIAM

Trustees

CYNTHIA FERGUSON CAMPBELL

August 14, 2025, age 89, New Providence, NJ n Mrs. Campbell served as President of the Pingry Mothers’ Association from 1980–1981. She attended Wells College and worked for Tek Hughes before moving to Elizabeth, New Jersey and becoming an active volunteer, including as a member of the Junior League and a member and past president of the Elizabeth Garden Club. Perhaps Mrs. Campbell’s most notable achievement was helping to establish the Jefferson Park Day Care Center (1969)—a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing quality day care for children of working parents. The Jefferson Park Day Care Center continues to serve the community today. She was predeceased by her husband Andy Campbell ’49 in 2007; he served as President of the Pingry Alumni Association (1966–1968) and a Pingry trustee (1971–1991). Survivors include her four children: Andrew Campbell Jr. ’81 (Julie), James Campbell ’85 (Sarah), Katharine Outcalt ’87 (David), and Margaret O’Donnell ’90 (Matt); sister Nancy Chapman; and 11 grandchildren: Walker, Meg, Andrew, Lachlan, Anna, Molly, Evie, Ashley, Kate, Grayson, and Sadie.

ROGER BARNARD PARSONS ’55

January 23, 2026, age 89, Charlotte, NC n Mr. Parsons served as a Pingry trustee from 1982–1995. At Pingry, he excelled at varsity football, swimming, and baseball. He was a member of his Senior Class Council and Commodore of the Navigation Club. After high school, he spent two years in the U.S. Army, where his experience as a skilled lifeguard got him stationed in Panama and kept him where he wanted to be—on the ocean. He received a B.A. from Parsons College and worked on Wall Street. Mr. Parsons was always

active in the community, volunteering his time with charities, coaching, and umpiring Summit Junior Baseball games and coaching many years of youth soccer. He was especially proud of his decades of work at The Hyde Watson Foundation and Historic Deerfield, and his years as President of the Summit YMCA. He was named the 1998 recipient of the Summit (NJ) YMCA’s most prestigious Shuart Reed Award granted to an outstanding member of the community. His father was former trustee and honorary alumnus Robert W. Parsons, to whom Pingry’s football field is dedicated, and he was preceded in death by his parents and his two brothers, Robert Wade Parsons Jr. ’51 and Stanley Gordon Parsons. Survivors include his wife of 51 years, Meredith Welsh Parsons; four children, Douglas Campbell, Jeffrey Parsons, Jennifer (Parsons) Hedlund ’94, and Christopher Parsons ’97; six grandchildren, Paithan, Brie, Emma, Lorin, Samuel, and Jacob; and two greatgrandchildren, Emmett and Charlie.

ROBERT CHARLES “BOB” ROOKE

SR. ’43 July 10, 2025, age 100, Harding Township, NJ n Mr. Rooke served as a Pingry trustee from 1970–1973, established the Rooke Endowment Fund in 1998, and supported construction of the Miller A. Bugliari ’52 Athletics Center, among other gifts to the School. He graduated from Culver Military Academy, was soon drafted into the Army, and during World War II, served principally in southern Italy as an infantryman until he was Honorably Discharged in 1946. He matriculated at Dartmouth College, graduating with the Class of 1949, and earned a master’s degree at Dartmouth’s Amos Tuck School of Business Administration.

After working as a securities analyst for Merrill Lynch Pierce, Fenner, and Beane for eight years, Mr. Rooke opted to enter the world of finance on his own and formed the Rooke Company with his brother William, opening an office in Morristown, New Jersey. He developed his own charting system, and learned that reading the “footnotes” in the back of a corporate annual report was often more important than reading the “glossy text”. Staying true to his trading strategies and philosophies

allowed him to earn a successful living in the world of private investment, a business he practiced until two weeks before his death. Mr. Rooke’s other passion was collecting and restoring classic automobiles. He became an active member of the Classic Car Club of America, and eventually was elected Director and served as Treasurer. He was awarded their Distinguished Service Award and the Classic Spirit Award. Over the years, a strong attachment developed for Bucknell University, his father’s alma mater. As a result, he was elected to their Board of Trustees and faithfully served the school for 22 years. In honor of his tireless devotion to the school, Mr. Rooke received the Steven W. Taylor Medal, and in 2010, was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters. He was predeceased by his wife of 74 years, Natalie; daughter Marianne; son Christopher; and brother William. Survivors include two children, Robert Jr. ’70 (Anne) and Thomas ’74 (former trustee Alice P’02, ’04); son-in-law Martin; daughter-in-law Cynthia; eight grandchildren, including Thomas ’02 and Matthew ’04; nine greatgrandchildren; and sister Dorothy.

WILLIAM “BILL”

TAGGART

August 15, 2025, age 88, New Canaan, CT n Mr. Taggart served as a Pingry trustee from 1972–1974. He attended Harvard University, M.I.T., and Harvard Business School, and his career in wealth management spanned decades, with positions at J.P. Morgan and BNY Mellon, where his wisdom and integrity were hallmarks of his work. Service and generosity were central to Mr. Taggart’s life. He served as President and on the Board of Directors for the Pegasus Foundation, sat on the Board of Directors for Personto-Person, and was a dedicated member of the vestry at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Darien. His commitment extended further to the New Canaan Historical Society and Museum and the New Canaan Community Foundation. He shared 48 wonderful years of marriage with his beloved wife Elizabeth Hammett Taggart. Survivors also include his children William Jr. ’79 (Theresa), Gordon ’82, Nancy ’83, Michael, Chris, and Hilary.

Alumni

JOHN WEEKS “JACK” COOPER ’48

August 19, 2025, age 95, Summit, NJ n Mr. Cooper attended Bowdoin College and earned a law degree at Columbia Law School. He had an accomplished career as a trust and estates lawyer for 60 years, predominantly in Summit at Moser, Griffin, Kerby & Cooper, then Kerby, Cooper, Schaul, English & Garvin, until retiring in 2015 from Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper. Mr. Cooper was a founding member of the Summit First Aid Squad, was committed to the board of Oak Knoll School, and took particular pride in his time leading the Summit Area Foundation. Survivors include his wife of 63 years, Millie; daughter Sarah and husband Scott; and son Edward “Ned” and wife Judy. His grandchildren include Elisabeth, Nathaniel, and Zachary.

Paulette; son Geoffrey (Jodi); daughters Rena (Darrin) and Sassy (Brian); and grandchildren Rankin (Elizabeth), Grayson, Turner, Hayes, May May (Cantey), and Camille.

LYNN STANLEY GORDON ’49

October 28, 2024, age 92, Ossining, NY n Mr. Gordon graduated with a degree in Accounting from Bucknell University. He served in the U.S. Army in Paris in 1955, then spent his career at IBM, eventually retiring to Westchester. He was predeceased by his son, Glenn. Survivors include Yukie, his beloved wife of 45 years; his daughters Linda and Julie; seven grandchildren, and four greatgrandchildren.

HAROLD DUANE ST. JOHN ’50

He graduated from Washington and Lee University and worked for his father’s business, H.W. St. John & Co., a foreign freight forwarder and customhouse broker in lower Manhattan. Several years later, he joined Apperson Business Forms to develop an international trade forms division and open and manage a New York sales office, and later worked as a vice president in the company’s Los Angeles headquarters. In 1974, he joined Form Systems Inc. of St. Louis where he developed a computerized system to manage printing and office supplies for multibranch national customers. Later, he served 16 years on the board, two as Chairman, of Enviropak, a St. Louis–based maker of custom-designed protective packaging from recycled paper waste. Mr. St. John served as Vice Chair of the Okaloosa Walton (Florida) Homeless Continuum of Care and, as a life member of the Marine Corps League, he guided the establishment of an endowed scholarship at Northwest Florida State College. He was also an active volunteer in the Marine Corps Reserve’s Toys for Tots program.

JOSEPH ARTHUR “JOE/RED”

CARRAGHER JR. ’49

January 29, 2025, age 93, Pawleys Island, SC n Mr. Carragher participated in numerous Pingry activities, including Class President (twice), Student Council, Head Cheerleader, Associate Editor of The Pingry Record, football, baseball, and several clubs. He was known for his “effervescent humor and friendliness” and, in senior year, was voted “Most Popular” by his classmates. True friendship was of great importance to him, and he was delighted to have maintained lifelong relationships with Howard J. Kramer ’49 and Dr. Warren J. Radcliffe ’49, GP’16. Mr. Carragher attended Princeton University, where he earned an A.B., majoring in English. He went on to attend Seton Hall Law School. He moved to Atlanta, Georgia, working in real estate and law. Survivors include his wife of 63 years,

July 24, 2025, age 94, Atlantic Beach, FL n Mr. St. John enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserve at age 17, with his parents’ permission. Within a month of his Pingry graduation, his reserve unit was called to active duty in the Korean War. In the epic Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, his battalion was ordered to rescue the beleaguered Fox Company and defend the Toktong Pass. Exhausted from minus-50degree temperatures and marching seven miles in waist-deep snow through enemy territory and 4,000-foot mountains, the “Ridgerunners” accomplished their mission. Wounded by gunfire, Mr. St. John then walked 14 more miles under constant attack to Hagaru-Ri, where he was airlifted to safety in a Turkish aircraft. For his service, he was honored with a Purple Heart and a Presidential Unit Citation, among other decorations. After 10 months at St. Albans Naval Hospital, he was medically retired from military service.

Mr. St. John was profiled for his military service in the Spring 2005 issue of The Pingry Review, was honored to be the Keynote Speaker at the U.S. Marine Corps’ 238th Birthday Ball in 2013, and is the author of A Gift of Time: A Memoir. “You owe it to your family to write a memoir,” he told The Pingry Review in 2014. “Otherwise, how will anyone know about your life and understand what made you the person you are? You can keep thousands of pictures on discs, but they don’t really ‘tell’ your story. Keep notes for later, to put a story together.” His love for Pingry was profoundly shaped by the Honor Code, master teachers including Albie Booth, and the School’s guidance for his life. In 2015, he received Pingry’s Letter-In-Life Award, and he made multiple gifts to the School, including a charitable gift annuity after his 60th Reunion in 2010 and a planned gift in 2015, to establish a scholarship fund for financial aid. “The way I see it, I should have been dead at 18,” he told Pingry in 2015. “I would like to use my ‘gift of time’ to be a part of Pingry’s future.”

He was predeceased by his wife Nancy earlier in 2025. Survivors include his sons David and William, daughter-in-law Lena (“Lingling”), and grandsons Charles and Henry.

IN MEMORIAM

DR. JOSEPH HANAWAY ’51

July 7, 2025, age 92, St. Louis, MO n Dr. Hanaway attended Pingry from 1945–1951, where he played football and wrestled. Looking for a large university that was highly rated for science courses and operated under the English academic system, he was the first Pingry graduate to go to McGill University in Montreal, Canada, where he earned a B.A. in English and M.D.C.M. in Medicine (he wrote about McGill/Canada in the June and October 1954 issues of The Pingry Review). At McGill, he joined the Redmen Football Team as a kicker and earned the moniker “Joe the Toe”. He switched to the rugby team that became the 1955 Dominion National Rugby Champions of Canada. Eventually, he did a neurology residency at the Montreal General Hospital and Montreal Neurological Institute.

After moving to Charlottesville, Virginia, he taught neuroanatomy at the University of Virginia School of Medicine from 1964–1970, where he wrote the original Atlas of the Human Brain in Section textbook, which he continued to revise and update until the last publication in 2017. His first brain atlas convinced the Massachusetts General Hospital to create an extra spot for him to become a resident in the Neurology Department in 1970. Working with the elite neurologists and neuroanatomists at that time shaped him and his career. In 1973, Dr. Hanaway took a position at Washington University School of Medicine and remained in St. Louis for the rest of his life. An associate professor at the University of Missouri School of Medicine, he eventually established a private neurology practice, which he had for years and formally retired in 2008. Also the longstanding team physician for St. Louis Country Day School Varsity Football Team, he helped develop a concussion protocol for the Missouri State Athletic Association.

Coordinating the restoration of McGill’s iconic Roddick Gates clocks and bell tower in 2010, Dr. Hanaway co-authored a series of books on the history of McGill University and The Montreal General Hospital. He

published at least 70 articles in his lifetime. His numerous editions of The Brain Atlas have been published around the world in many languages and is in many medical schools and neurology offices. Dr. Hanaway was honored by McGill University with the endowed Dr. Joseph Hanaway McGill Rugby Gentleman’s Award, given to a male McGill rugby player who demonstrates gentlemanliness, integrity, and respectfulness in his conduct both on and off the field over the course of a minimum of two playing seasons. He was inducted into Pingry’s Athletics Hall of Fame as a member of the undefeated 1950 Football Team.

Passionate about rugby and football, the history of those sports, Pingry history, and the history of Pingry football, he wrote five articles for The Pingry Review: “Pingry Football, 1950 Style” (May 2015), “Lessons from Morning Chapel and Other Events in the Parker Road Gym” (Fall 2015), “Daily Life at The Pingry School on Parker Road” (Part I, Winter 2015-16; Part II, Summer 2016), “A Brief Early History of John Pingry and the Development of The Pingry School in Elizabeth” (Part I, Winter 2016-17; Part II, Summer 2017), and “Football at Pingry, 1874–1960” (Part I, Winter 2018-19; Part II, Summer 2019).

Survivors include his wife of 63 years, Nancy; children Christopher (Catherine), Elizabeth (Phillip), and Katherine (Glen); and grandchildren Martin, Helen, Lucy, John, Jack, and Eli.

FREDERICK J. “FRED/DUFF” DUFFY ’53

June 27, 2025, age 90, Manahawkin, NJ n Mr. Duffy graduated from Seton Hall University, and his collegiate career included serving as Class President for three years, varsity soccer, Men’s Glee Club, and ROTC. He spent most of his career in real estate, beginning as Sales Manager for Sunset Harbor Realty. Only a year later, he founded Duffy Realty and established three offices on Long Beach Island. After selling his company in 1984, his real estate work would continue as he joined Schott Realtors, and ultimately, The Van Dyk Group, where he served as Manager of the Commercial Sales Division and was responsible for starting their Adult Community Division. Throughout his long

career in real estate, Mr. Duffy was proud of his national realtor designations and the offices he held in various state and local associations in conjunction with them. Among other roles, he served as Chairman of the Southern Regional Intergenerational Council, and was a member of both the Stafford Township Planning Board and the Barnegat Chamber of Commerce. He was voted “Man of the Year” (1999) by the Southern Ocean Development Council for his leadership in the business community. Mr. Duffy was predeceased by his beloved wife Marcia in 2008 and adored daughter Cathy in 2016. His loving family includes Mary Jeanne, Fred and Wendy, Mark and Mary Ann, and Brian and Tara; 12 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. His life was enriched by his longtime girlfriend Terry Steuer and son-in-law Jeff Rudman.

BENJAMIN GIMBERT GARRETT JR. ’54

October 17, 2025, age 89, Virginia Beach, VA n Mr. Garrett attended his beloved University of Virginia and graduated with a B.S. in Engineering and a master’s degree in Business. He worked as a key account executive with several advertising companies in New York City. Survivors include his loving wife Margie, sister Pamela (James), three children from his first marriage, and grandchildren.

DR. DONALD LESLIE KINLEY ’55

December 30, 2025, age 88, Brattleboro, VT n Dr. Kinley attended Brown University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry. He went on to McGill University in Montreal and received a Doctor of Medicine. His residencies in orthopedic surgery included Upstate Medical Center in New York and the Cleveland Clinic. He also served in the U.S. Air Force, spending three years in Japan, where he attained the rank of Major and practiced orthopedic medicine at Tachikawa Air Force Base in Tokyo. In 1973, with Dr. John Chard, he co-founded Orthopedic Associates of

Brattleboro, which they ran together for nearly 40 years. Among his many accomplishments were competing three times in a 100-mile cross-country ski race in Canada, bicycling through Europe, being a 14-gallon blood donor, refereeing for the Brattleboro Hockey Association youth program for 27 years, and coaching youth soccer and hockey. Dr. Kinley passed away after a brief battle with cancer. He was predeceased by his wife Judith and sister Aleta. Survivors include his children: Heather (Craig), Bonnie (David), John (Heidi), Anne (Kelsey), and Arthur; twin siblings Robert (Desi) and Elaine; 11 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

RICHARD H. “DICK” FISCHER ’55

firm was a leader in executive searches for Chief Information Officers for many national corporations. Mr. Davis was predeceased by his wife of 55 years, Mary Lou, and brothers Thomas and Paul. Survivors include his children Elizabeth (David), John Jr. (Erin), James (Kerry), and Meghan (Peter); sister Angela; and grandchildren Elizabeth, Jack, Mary Louise, Molly, Riley, Shane, and Courtney.

DR. SYLVANUS “VAN” ARNOLD ZIMMERMAN IV ’62

WILLIAM “RANDY” DURAND EPPLER ’71

July 25, 2025, age 88, Basking Ridge, NJ n Mr. Fischer earned a Bachelor of Science in Commerce and Finance at Bucknell University, and spent his entire business career with Merrill Lynch. In 1959, he became a security analyst following the railroad and trucking industries. He retired in 1988 as a first vice president and senior industry specialist in capital markets. Mr. Fischer was predeceased by his older sister Suzanne and daughter Susan, who passed away in 2024. Survivors include his wife of 63 years, Jenny; daughter Mary; brother-in-law Jonathan; sons-in-law Chris and Pete; and grandchildren Zach, Garrett, and Carlie.

JOHN JOSEPH DAVIS ’58

May 4, 2025, age 85, Sea Girt, NJ n Mr. Davis pursued a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Notre Dame and went on to receive graduate degrees from Stanford University and the Stern School of Business at New York University. In 1977, he started John J. Davis & Associates, a retained executive search organization. For the next five decades, the

December 3, 2025, age 81, Walnutport, PA n Dr. Zimmerman graduated from Blair Academy and earned an undergraduate degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Turin. He was the owner and veterinarian of the Bedminster Animal Hospital in Far Hills, New Jersey. Survivors include his wife Carolyn; son Sylvanus V; brother Todd; and sister Sally.

EDWARD TURNEY “EDDIE” SAVAGE ’64

August 26, 2025, age 79, formerly of Westfield, NJ and New York, NY n Mr. Savage attended Amherst College, was a dedicated Navy Officer in Vietnam, and earned a J.D. at Harvard Law School. He worked as a contract lawyer for Reed Smith up until his retirement in 2015, and often offered pro bono services to those in need. Additionally, he was an active member of the Amherst Alumni Association up until his passing. He was inducted into Pingry’s Athletics Hall of Fame as a member of the 1962 Football Team, and he supported the Class of 1964 William F. Little III Memorial Vietnam History Room in Pingry’s Upper School. Survivors include his sisters Sharon and Katrine, and nieces and nephews with whom he was exceedingly close.

The editorial staff makes every effort to publish an obituary for and pay tribute to trustees, alumni, and employees who have passed away, based on information available as of press time. If family members, classmates, or friends would like to submit tributes, please contact Greg Waxberg ’96 at gwaxberg@pingry.org.

February 27, 2024, age 70, Denver, CO n Mr. Eppler attended Middlebury College, majoring in Religion and Geography. A summer working as a roughneck on an oil rig in Wyoming led to a decades-long career in finance for the mine industry. He and his wife Jean Scandlyn moved to Golden, Colorado, where he purszued a Masters in Mineral Economics, writing a thesis on Solar Energy. His career took them from New York to San Francisco, Jakarta, Indonesia, back to New York, and finally, to Denver. He was active in the Society of Mineral Engineers, co-authoring a book on project finance. In his work for Chemical Bank, he developed strong business relationships leading to a position in corporate development for Newmont Corporation, followed by 15 years as a consultant to mining companies and decades of service as a director for Golden Minerals and Vista Gold. Mr. Eppler’s love for and understanding of the earth, especially rocks, brought him to all corners of the earth. Survivors include his wife Jean; sons Andrew and Alex; older brother Steven; sisters Margaret and Elizabeth; and younger brother Edward. Mr. Eppler died after a long battle with esophageal cancer.

ROBERT A. “BOB” HOUGH ’77

March 22, 2024, age 64, Neptune, NJ n Mr. Hough went to Lafayette College, where he studied Civil Engineering, and earned an M.B.A. at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Throughout his 42-year career as a civil engineer, he worked in both private industry and municipal government. He loved to coach his two sons in youth sports and was active with Howell South Little League baseball and St. Rose of Lima Elementary School in Freehold. For Pingry, he spoke at Career Day and was a member of several PAA committees.

IN MEMORIAM

He was inducted into Pingry’s Athletics Hall of Fame as a member of the 1976-77 Basketball Team. Survivors include his beloved wife Marianthony “Mary” and sons Brian and Matt.

EDWARD HAROLD “ED” MROZEK ’78

Age 64, Stuart, FL

n Mr. Mrozek attended Christian Brothers Academy before continuing his studies at Miami University. He married Michelle Mrozek in 1988, sharing over 20 years together before her passing. A true waterman, he found joy and purpose on the water— boating, fishing, and exploring the beauty of the Florida Keys. Survivors include his brother Christopher Li and sister-in-law Jordan Li, and longtime girlfriend Debra Chant.

LESLIE CARNO-HARF ’79

and Zachary; sister Ellen (Neil); and brothers Paul (Jane) and David ’83 (Sophia).

MAUREEN ELIZABETH (KELLY) MCLAUGHLIN ’80

September 3, 2025, age 63, Cleveland, OH n Ms. Carno-Harf earned a bachelor’s degree in Communications at Boston University and a master’s degree in Education at Boston College. She devoted her career to helping people find meaningful opportunities. As Recruiting Manager at Corporate Search Consultants, Inc., she specialized in the fields of transactions and high finance, working closely with investment banks, private equity firms, family offices, and holding companies. She was admired by colleagues for her integrity, determination, and the thoughtful care she brought to every search. Ms. Carno-Harf’s greatest commitments were to service and Jewish life. She served as President of the Greater Cleveland Chapter of Hadassah in 2007, advancing healthcare, education, and youth initiatives that touched lives both locally and abroad. For more than 16 years, she lived courageously with ovarian cancer. She participated in clinical trials that helped pave the way for new treatments and served as an advocate and speaker with the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance (OCRA), sharing her experiences with nurses to better prepare them for supporting patients. She was inducted into Pingry’s Athletics Hall of Fame as a member of the 1977 Softball Team. Survivors include her beloved husband Steven; children Joshua (Elizabeth), Mikayla,

September 15, 2025, age 63, Basking Ridge, NJ n Maureen started at Pingry when the School became co-ed, and was an accomplished three-sport athlete in soccer, basketball, and softball. The 1977 Softball Team won the New Jersey State Prep championship and was inducted into the Pingry Athletics Hall of Fame. She continued her softball career for one year at Lafayette College, where she earned a B.A. in Business & Economics. She later earned an M.A. in Educational Administration at Villanova University. She built a distinguished 40-year career in the pharmaceutical services industry, rising from sales representative to senior executive leadership. Maureen began at Marion Labs (now Marion Merrell Dow) with her territory in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and then joined IMS Health (now IQVIA), advancing from Account Manager to Vice President. After roles with Clinmark and Solucient (later Truven Health Analytics), she spent eight years at GfK, ultimately serving as Chief Marketing Officer & Global Head of Healthcare Innovation. For the past 12 years, she returned to IQVIA to lead Client Service & Delivery and later became Senior Vice President & General Manager of Information Solutions.

Service was Maureen’s natural extension of leadership. She volunteered for years with the Somerset Hills Soccer Club, serving on the board and as President, as well as on the Pingry Alumni Board. For 35 years, she devoted herself to Kappa Kappa Gamma through a variety of roles: Province Director of Chapters, Regional Director of Chapters, and alumna advisor to Lafayette’s Zeta Beta Chapter (many roles, including Standards Advisor and Advisory Board Chairman). Whether on campus or on Zoom, she mentored undergraduate women with candor, care, and practical career guidance. Stepping back in early 2025 to focus on her health was difficult precisely because she drew inspiration from helping others shine.

On her office wall in the early days of her career hung a framed Wall Street Journal piece titled “Aim So High You’ll Never Be Bored.” Part of the piece reads, “The greatest waste of our individual resources is the number of people who never achieve their potential… Aim low: boring. Aim high: soaring.” She aimed high in family life, work, and service to others, lifting those around her to do the same. Maureen passed away after a courageous nine-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Her late mother-in-law Mary Jean McLaughlin P’78, ’80, ’83, ’84, GP’12, ’15, ’18, ’21 taught Grade 4 at the Lower School. Survivors include Maureen’s husband of 36 years, Michael ’80; children Connor ’12 (Victoria) and Lauren ’15; mother Marie; brother James (Rose); brothers-in-law John ’78 (Elizabeth) and Mark ’83 (Julie); and sister-in-law Edie Nussbaumer ’84, P’18, ’21.

Faculty

FRANK JOHN ANTONELLI

July 19, 2025, age 80, West Charleston, VT n Mr. Antonelli worked at Pingry from 1984–1990, serving as Athletics Director, teaching P.E., and coaching softball and wrestling.

During his tenure, as he explained in a Fall 1985 Pingry Review article, Pingry joined the New Jersey State Interscholastic Association (NJSIA) and New Jersey Prep League, and introduced a new system of awards consisting of letters, pins, and plaques to encourage students to participate for four years and all three seasons. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Education at Wagner College, where he played football, and a Master of Arts in Administration and Supervision at Kean College. His teaching career also included Roselle Park High School, McDonogh School in Owings Mills, Maryland, and Rye Country Day School in Rye, New York. He served as President of the Fairchester Athletic Association, served as President of the New Jersey Independent Athletic Association, and served on the Board of Trustees of the Teachers Credit Union. Mr. Antonelli was inducted into

the New Jersey Wrestling Hall of Fame and the Roselle Park Hall of Fame, and received the Maryland Governor’s Citation for his commitment to the youth of Maryland. Survivors include his brother Paul; sister Donna; wife of 58 years, Susan (who taught Upper School math at Pingry from 1981–1990); sons Jay ’88 (Ingrid) and Brian ’92 (Susie); grandchildren Kate, Frank, Samantha, Nikolas, Christopher, Emma, Michael, and Leo; and sister-in law Lynn. Mr. Antonelli lost a valiant battle from complications of Lewy Body Dementia.

DR. ROUBEN CHOLAKIAN

September 24, 2025

and Cultural Studies (which included sociology, anthropology, and psychology). In his words, the Cultural Studies class “morphed” into Psychology, which he taught from 1984–2012. Also in 1984, Dr. Richardson co-founded the Peer Leadership Program and mentored the program for nearly three decades. He also started the AP Psychology class and even served as Acting Head of the Middle School in 1981-82.

longtime colleague, former counselor Pat Lionetti P’85, ’88, ’89.

He graduated from Norwich University and received a master’s in Asian Studies from Seton Hall University, a master’s in Psychology from Kean University, a Professional Diploma in School Psychology from Kean University, and a Doctorate in Psychology from Rutgers University.

n Dr. Cholakian taught French at Pingry from 1957–1960. He was most recently Burgess Professor of Romance Languages and Literature Emeritus at Hamilton College, having taught in the French Department at the college from 1963–1996. He also directed Hamilton’s Junior Year in France program seven times, which inspired his novel Murder on the Junior Year in France. Prior to Hamilton, he taught at the University of Virginia. Dr. Cholakian also published The Bayeux Tapestry and the Ethos of War and The Troubadour Lyric: A Psychocritical Reading, and authored, edited, and translated a number of other publications. He attended Bates College and earned a master’s degree and Ph.D. at Columbia University. Survivors include his wife Patricia and daughter Kathryn.

DR. MICHAEL C. “MIKE” RICHARDSON

In the fall of 1974, during the early stages of what would become the Visual Arts Department, Dr. Richardson became Pingry’s first pottery teacher. Explaining his interest in the program, The Pingry Record wrote in the October 15, 1974 issue, “[he uses] a potter’s wheel at home. When he heard about the mini-courses, he offered to teach pottery.” Ever since taking a pottery course in graduate school, Dr. Richardson felt pottery was good for relaxation, and he taught it at Pingry through the 1976-77 school year. Students built their own wheels from plywood and bricks.

Notably, Dr. Richardson founded the girls’ soccer program (serving as the first head coach from 1976–1990), for which he was inducted into Pingry’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2020. Under his guidance, Pingry girls’ soccer posted an overall record of 130–81–15, won two county tournaments, reached the Prep Finals nine times, and took home the championship trophy four times. Dr. Richardson also coached a number of other teams: soccer (he alternated Form II, freshman, and JV from 1969–1975), JV lacrosse (1971), spring track (1972 and 1973), varsity winter track (1982-83), Middle School track (1982–1985), and JV softball (1987).

Dr. Richardson passed away after a lengthy battle with congestive heart failure. Survivors include his wife Valerie; daughter Leah ’86 and son-in-law David; son Jacob ’91 and his wife Emilie, and their children James and Eleanore; sister Valerie and her son Patrick and his wife Jenn, and their children Emma and Sam; and brother Brian and his wife Chrigi.

ROBERT P. “BOBBY” WULFF

November 23, 2025, age 80, Lebanon, NJ n A member of the Magistri, Dr. Richardson (“Dr. Rich”) worked at Pingry for 43 years, from 1969–2012. Best known as the School’s psychologist and counselor, he began his multifaceted career as a history teacher, and his courses included Asian History, African History and Culture,

Pingry honored him twice: the Albert W. Booth Chair for Master Teachers in 2010, and The Cyril and Beatrice Baldwin Pingry Family Citizen of the Year Award in 2012. After retiring from Pingry, he focused on his own Clinical Psychology practice and continued to practice until a few weeks before he passed because he wanted to help people as long as possible. He also remained a familiar presence at Pingry and most recently attended the celebrations in May 2025 for 50 Years of Coeducation. “Mike was a valued friend, colleague, and resource for so many of us in the Pingry community, adults and students alike. He was smart, funny, creative, and humble. Above all else, he was infinitely patient and kind,” says his

February 1, 2026, age 60, Washington, NJ n Mr. Wulff was a member of Pingry’s Facilities Team for 15 years, starting in 2011 on the Basking Ridge Campus and transitioning to the Short Hills Campus in 2013, where he became Building Trades Supervisor and a beloved member of the Short Hills community, ensuring that Pingry’s youngest students were greeted by an exceptional facility every day. His skill and craftsmanship were also evident in projects that benefited the entire school, including the completion of the baseball and World Cup soccer complex on the Basking Ridge Campus. In the spring of 2023, a year-and-a-half after being diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, Mr. Wulff became the first staff member to receive the Stifel Award, praised for his dignity and courage and for remaining “completely present in the Lower School.” For the past 20 years, he also generously gave his time to the community by coaching youth baseball in the Washington area, leaving a lasting impact on countless young athletes. Mr. Wulff passed away after a courageous battle with cancer. Survivors include his loving wife, Heather Wulff; their four children: Justin, Kyle and his wife Gina, Nicholas, and Max; and five siblings.

A VISIT TO THE ARCHIVES

THE LIST OF NAMES on the new Veterans Wall was made possible in large part by Archivist Peter Blasevick making numerous print materials available to the four students in the Class of 2022 for their Independent Senior Project: they pored over countless editions of the Blue Book, The Pingry Review, and The Pingry Record, as well as newspaper articles, books, obituaries, and various lists.

Mr. Blasevick also gave the students instructions on proper archival techniques and provided the necessary tools the group needed to digitally preserve their discovered sources.

The Veterans Wall will be continually updated as the School learns of names that should be added. Please contact Mr. Blasevick with information at pblasevick@pingry.org or 908647-5555, ext. 1254.

Dale Christensen ’63 donated this 1962 letter sweater, a particularly exciting addition because the Archives did not have a sweater from this era.

Mr. Christensen generously passed it along, ensuring that this piece of Pingry history will be preserved for future generations.

OLYMPIAN AND 2025 ATHLETICS HALL OF FAME inductee Nic Fink ’11 is now included in the Distinguished Alumni in Athletics display in the Miller A. Bugliari ’52 Athletics Center, and this summer, items that Mr. Fink loaned to Pingry will be added to the case (his warm-up suit, goggles, and swim caps). Although many of these alumni were exceptional athletes during their time at Pingry, they are recognized as “Distinguished Alumni” not for their Pingry achievements, but for their accomplishments in athletics after graduating, thereby bringing honor and distinction to Pingry:

• tennis player Dean Mathey, Class of 1908

• racecar driver Mark Donohue Jr. ’55

• sailor and Olympian Carl Van Duyne ’64

• amateur golfer Paul Simson ’69

• fencer and Olympian C. Lee Shelley ’74

• soccer executive Charlie Stillitano Jr. ’77

• ice hockey player and Olympian Rachel Alice Rochat ’91

• golfer and golf coach Mary Moan Swanson ’93

• fencer and Olympian Dan Kellner ’94

• baseball player and Cleveland Guardians General Manager Michael Chernoff ’99

• squash player Mary Margaret “Maggie” O’Toole ’05

The Archives recently heard from Jim Salisbury, who taught Middle and Lower School science at Pingry from 1964–1972. After many years of running a publishing business with his wife, Mr. Salisbury contacted Pingry to donate several pieces of Pingry history. Among the highlights is The Creatures Nobody Loves (1991), written by Junior School Math and English Teacher and administrator Everett “Bud” Newcomb Jr. ’40 and published by the Salisbury press. The donation also includes two other Salisbury publications— Smart Self-Publishing (2003) and the lighthearted cookbook Roadkill Roundup (2016)—along with a 1971 guide for the annual Geology Club field trip and a 1970 Grade 7 science lab manual.

Do you know why this boat was on the Basking Ridge Campus or when this happened? If you do, please contact us with the details!

A VISIT TO THE ARCHIVES

In Pingry History

10 YEARS AGO

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speechwriter Clarence B. Jones visits Pingry on Dr. King’s birthday, a special opportunity for the Pingry community because he doesn’t usually speak on that day. He agrees to visit because of his connection with the Mason family and shares vivid memories of Dr. King’s involvement in the Civil Rights Movement.

20 YEARS AGO

John Taylor Babbitt ’07 collapses from an undiagnosed heart condition (HCM, Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy) while playing basketball in a church gym. In his memory, Pingry’s varsity baseball team retires his No. 8, his family establishes the John Taylor Babbitt Foundation to prevent sudden cardiac death, his classmates establish the annual Walk with Heart Walk-a-Thon to benefit the Foundation, Pingry dedicates its first synthetic turf field as The John Taylor Babbitt ’07 Memorial Field, and the annual John Taylor Babbitt ’07 Memorial Award is given to a senior boy or girl who most embodies the qualities that exemplified John’s life: fun-loving, confident, faithful, compassionate, reliable, and devoted to friends and

30 YEARS AGO

Upper School History Teacher and Coach Joe LaValley talks about his life and career with The Pingry Record after being diagnosed with cancer. (The Boys Basketball Award is named for him.)

40 YEARS AGO

The Balladeers, Buttondowns, and Brass are invited to perform at the lighting of the national Christmas tree. As a result of that appearance, the Balladeers and Buttondowns appear on CBS Morning News on Christmas Day.

50 YEARS AGO

Dr. Herbert Hahn had retired but says he will rejoin the faculty for the coming school year.

60 YEARS AGO

The newly expanded organ is played by John Low Baldwin (conductor of The University Glee Club of New York) during a performance that is part of the Allen F. Myers Humanities Series, a program named in honor of Allen F. Myers, Class of 1898. The organ is also dedicated to Casmir France, in appreciation of his support of the arts and music while he taught at Pingry.

70 YEARS AGO

Edward Myers ’33, President of the Saltwater Farm in Maine, talks about his lobster business. His presentation includes two live lobsters.

80 YEARS AGO

During Halsey Day in Elizabeth, Fleet Admiral William F. “Bull” Halsey Jr., Class of 1900, returns to Pingry after nearly 50 years. Head of School Larry Springer presents him with a commemorative scroll.

90 YEARS AGO

The community celebrates Pingry’s 75th anniversary.

100 YEARS AGO

The Honor System is established, the precursor to the Honor Code. iStock.com/ruksutakarn

pingry.org (Forever Blue section): Visit the monthly blog Pingry Flashes Back for more stories from the Pingry Archives.

A FINAL LOOK In Memory of Dr. Mike Richardson

OPPOSITE PAGE, TOP: With the 1988 Girls’ Varsity Soccer Team

OPPOSITE PAGE, BOTTOM: With members of the 1988 Girls’ Varsity Soccer Team at the team’s induction into Pingry’s Athletics Hall of Fame, 2009; the team finished with a record of 17–3–1 and won the State Prep School and Somerset County Championships.

THIS PAGE, TOP: Induction into Pingry’s Athletics Hall of Fame, 2022 (he was a 2020 inductee, but the ceremony was delayed for two years)

THIS PAGE, BOTTOM: Receiving The Cyril and Beatrice Baldwin Pingry Family Citizen of the Year Award at Commencement, 2012

The Pingry School

Basking Ridge Campus, Middle & Upper Schools

Short Hills Campus, Lower School

Pottersville Campus, K-12 Experiential Education

131 Martinsville Road

Basking Ridge, NJ 07920

Every year, as part of their trip to Washington, D.C., Grade 8 students visit The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. The four students who present the wreath have submitted an essay stating what it would mean for them to represent Pingry.