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| The Reunion Committee is eternally grateful to Rev. Gomes. Thank you for your long and distinquished service to the Class of 1977.
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Rev. Gomes Memorial Address
25th Reunion- June 2002
I sent you off to the world with blessings, with prayers, bright hopes for your futures. I was then thirty-five years old. I am now a good deal older than that, and so too are you...
You entered as one great lumpen body of potential in the fall of 1973. I remember that as well. I greeted many of you on that occasion. Who would have thought how you would have turned out? God is not finished with you, or with miracles, and it is an occasion of some significance that, at the twenty-fifth reunion, we remember the whole class.
When these names are read out, as shortly they shall be, memories will come to many of you; but one of the reasons that these names are read out, and the bells sound a toll, is so that, when it comes your time to be remembered, there will be somebody here who will call out your name, there will be somebody there to remember it, and together you and this class will be re-united once again until there is no one left to do the remembering. That day is the ultimate reunion...
We forever honor and cherish the memories of our deceased classmates
In Memoriam
* Indicates reported deceased since 25th Reunion
* David P. Acorn
Giulio V. Blanc
Theodore S. Block, Jr.
Stephen B. Boutwell
Eric M. Breindel
Steven D. Brown
Albert Butkins
* Fred C. Byers, Jr.
Emory E. Clark
Mark B. Clements
* Timothy S. Corcoran
Robert A. Detrick
Phillip H. Feuer
Jenny Franchot
Lawrence D. Gaynor
Francis J. G. Gledhill
Douglas C. Gordon
Samuel Lincoln Gordon
Donald Joseph Hopper
Stanislaw Kadziewicz
Carol Bulkeley Kalish
* Seth Adam Kaplan
Michael E. Lambert
* Allan D. Lipton
Douglas Dean Lorenz
* Robert F. Luongo
Stephen D. MacDiarmid
George Edward Magulac
Monica Donice McClendon
F. Brian McConville
Robert Michael McDermott
Patrick C. Melendez
Douglas R. Miller
* John P. Moxley
Craig V. Musser
* Allen R. Myerson
Alexandra Norton Adams
* Francis Nyirjesy
Eric T. Olsen
Levi V. Perry, Jr.
Rodney Stewart Perry
Michael C. Pescatore
Leslie J. Pierce
Larry F. Pressl
Andrew Paul Puopolo, Jr.
Alice Ravenhall
* Philip C. Ritari
Carl J. Rosoff
Orlando H. Salinas
* Mary Scanlon Albers
David E. Sears
* Richard A. Shatten
Edward F. Sullivan
Mark S. Teter
Joseph Francis Walsh III
Alden W. Watson
Joel R. Weisberg
Paul B. Williamson, Jr.
Lenora L. Wilson
Oh the fifth reunion- I remember yours; I have just finished another. Then there is the tenth- that is the one I urge everyone to attend because it is the last time you will look as you did. And we must pledge, as best we can, that we will meet one another on the occasion of your fiftieth reunion- here in this church by whatever means, fair or foul.
A reunion, at its heart, ought not to be a sad or tragic thing. I fear the younger classes think that the memorial service sort of “rains on their parade” and that is why they avoid it for as long as possible until the twenty-fifth. But you know better because, in recalling these deaths, you recall these lives. You do not remember them at the moment of their dying, and thank God that you don’t; you remember them in the prime of their living, what they said and what they did, what they hoped for and what they achieved, what they meant to each of you. And so it is a joy to recall the lives of the dead for they made your lives complete and whole. And that process, ultimately, is one of thanksgiving and not one of melancholy nor sorrow.
But sadness does attend because it means that this fellowship of yours, this unique association, has been interrupted. And interruptions are never welcome or delightful. So I recognize the bundle of mixed emotions, the raw nerves, the tender feelings, that surround this hour and this occasion.
Death is not unnatural. It is, alas, all together too natural. One must come to terms with that, and one does. The longer one lives, the older one gets. This significant turnout of your class is that I believe, at least, you are coming to terms with these realities, coming to terms with mortality, and coming to terms with the precious fragility of life.
The point is to share your lives, to discover what can be learned from that sharing, and, by the class reports and all the other archival data, to contribute to the ongoing life and knowledge of this lively and lovely place.
I will take just a small exception with, I hope, a facetious claim in the beginning of your class report that you are coming back to a place to which you really can’t come back. That is not entirely the case. You have never left; you have never left our affections, or our consciousness. You have joined the many ghosts which, since 1642, never leave. Once arrived, always here. You were lent to the world; that is where you come from and to which you will very shortly return. You were lent to the world, but you belong to us. No where else on earth are you thus recorded, thus preserved, or thus loved. You should know that you can always come home. For here is where you were once whole, you were once formed, and here is where the platform, the “launching pad”, if you will, of these interesting, remarkably curious, and thoroughly overanalyzed lives began.
When I am not here, someone else will be to welcome you, and when that person is no longer here, someone else will be here to welcome your children and your children’s children.
So at the heart of all of this is reunion - remembering, putting back together, being made whole. Few places permit this, few places encourage this. But this is one of those places. Where what you were, in some remarkable sense, you shall always be. Welcome home. Rejoice. “Reune”. Be connected once again; the living and the dead have the claim of this hour... God bless you all and have a very merry reunion.
Class of 1977 Obituaries
Seth A. Kaplan of Larchmont died suddenly on August 1, 2009. He was the devoted husband of Barbara Lewis Kaplan, loving father of Julia and Ben, beloved son of Ruth and Irving of Hackensack, NJ, dear brother of Elizabeth and Jack (Gabriela), brother-in-law of Bonnie and Michael Rodney, uncle of Elizabeth, Emily and Leo. A native of Teaneck, NJ, Seth was a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy, Harvard College '77 and Rutgers Law School. He was a distinguished partner for 22 years at Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz. After retiring from the firm, he became a board member of Energy East Corporation and taught Mergers and Acquisitions Law at Rutgers Law School. Seth was currently co-president of the Emelin Theater in Mamaroneck, NY and member of the Board of Trustees of Larchmont Temple. Seth started his career as a newspaper reporter at the Bergen Record. He loved reading, golf, yoga, music, especially Bob Dylan, politics, the Yankees and life. We mourn the loss of a brilliant, beautiful person who gave so much to his family, friends and community. Donations can be made to the Emelin Theater in Mamaroneck. Published in The New York Times on August 3, 2009
David P. Acorn on August 2, 2006, in Bedford Hills, New York. Born on September 3, 1954, he was prepared at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut. At Harvard, he lived in Winthrop House and was active in soccer. He was granted his A.B. cum laude. Early in his career, he specialized in brand management at Proctor & Gamble, then in 1980 joined McKinsey and Company. There Mr. Acorn was instrumental in guiding the firm’s marketing and strategy practices, and in focusing attention on information technology; he was elected principal in 1986 and director in 1993. Five years later he retired to pursue other interests, including investing in and managing early-stage technology companies. He was survived by his sister, Cathy.
Fred Custer “Twig” Byers, Jr. died on July 28, 2006, in New York City. He was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on March 3, 1955, to Joyce (Morrison) Byers and the late Fred C. Byers, Sr. He was prepared at the Pembroke Country Day School in Kansas City. At the College, he lived in Mather House and was president of the Harvard Independent news magazine from 1976 to 1977. After graduating cum laude, he attended the University of Virginia Law School, where he took his juris doctorate. His first position as attorney was with the New York City firm of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Leiby and MacRae, and he later joined the corporate department of Orrick Herrington and Sutcliffe, where he concentrated on corporate finance. In 1995 he married Charlotte (Tweedie) Byers, also a lawyer, and over the years they had a daughter, Grace Margaret, and a son, James. Outside of his profession, Mr. Byers was a member of Saint James’s Church and had a variety of interests, including antique toy cars, Kansas City sports teams, and all things related to his hometown. He leaves his wife; their daughter and son; his mother, Joyce; and his sister, Grace (Byers) Freidin.
Timothy Steven Corcoran of Cambridge, Massachusetts, died on July 14, 2003. Born on August 30, 1954, he was the son of Eleanor (McGinn) and James R. Corcoran, Jr. During his time at the College, he lived in Kirkland House and participated in the Fly Club. He was survived by his wife, Susan (McDonald) Corcoran; their two children, Rory Ann and Finn Xavier; a brother, James R. Corcoran III; and a sister, Natasha Corcoran. The Class has no further information regarding him at this time.
Allan David Lipton of Wilmette, Illinois, died in August 2002. He was born on May 17, 1956, to Geraldine (Sholder) and the late Gerald Lipton. At Harvard, where he resided in Adams House, he took part in the Undergraduate Department of Biology Academic and Preprofessional Group and in Hillel. He received his undergraduate degree cum laude. He leaves his mother and a brother, Richard Lipton. The Class has no further information regarding him at this time.
Robert Francis Luongo died March 17, 2004, in Boynton Beach, Florida. He was born in Belleville, New Jersey, on January 17, 1955, to Michael and Angelina Luongo. He graduated from Belleville High School, where he was a member of the National Honor Society and recognized as an outstanding football player. At the College, he lived in Lowell House and was a member of Saint Paul’s Church. He took his bachelor’s degree, cum laude, in social anthropology. Self-employed in sales and marketing at the time of his death, he had been living in Florida for eighteen years after moving there from his home state. Surviving him were his wife, Debra, their daughter, Dominique; his parents; and two brothers, Leonard and Michael.
John Patrick Moxley died on October 12, 2003, in Watertown, Massachusetts. He was born in Boston on June 8, 1952, son of Michael John and Bridget Ann (Dignan) Moxley (both now deceased). He graduated from Watertown High School. He took his A.B. at the College, where he lived in Adams House. Mr. Moxley worked as a computer systems analyst at the Boston Housing Authority, and, as a lifelong resident of Watertown, was at one time a member of that city’s planning board, and of its housing authority as well. He was an enthusiastic photographer, at one time owning a photography studio in Watertown, and was a regular columnist for the Watertown Tab & Press and for the Watertown Sun (now defunct). Among his avocations were tennis and, as a director of the Shamrock Running Club, coordinating Watertown’s annual Shamrock Road Race. He was predeceased by his parents and his four siblings.
Allen Reuben Myerson died on August 22, 2002, in New York City, where he had been born on April 13, 1955. He graduated from New Rochelle High School in New Rochelle, New York. At Harvard, where he resided in Lowell House, he was an editor of the Harvard Independent weekly newspaper and a member of Hillel, the Hasty Pudding Club, Phillips Brooks House, and the Lowell House committee, as well as playing the trombone in the marching band. After receiving his A.B. cum laude, he accepted a position as reporter at the Globe-Times newspaper in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he stayed for three years. Afterward he spent several months with nationally known columnist Jack Anderson in Washington, DC, before moving on to the Lexington Herald in Kentucky, followed by the Morning News in Dallas, Texas. During those several years he wrote primarily on politics for daily papers. His next job was as a staff writer for the monthly Georgia Trend, a business magazine based in Atlanta. While in Georgia he married another journalist, Carol Marie Cropper, in 1987. From Atlanta, they soon moved to Mr. Myerson’s city of birth, and he joined the editorial staff (occasionally writing, as well) for the business desk at the New York Times. However, the Times relocated Mr. Myerson back to Dallas as the paper’s business correspondent, covering predominantly business in the Southwest, and U.S.–Mexico relations. After five years in Texas, they returned to New York in 1999, with Mr. Myerson as assistant business and financial editor, and periodically as writer. He leaves his wife, Carol; his son, Ian Cropper-Myerson, and daughter, Katherine “Katie” Cropper-Myerson, born posthumously on March 17, 2003. Mr. Myerson also leaves his mother, Natalie Myerson; and his sisters, Jean and Merle Myerson.
Francis Nyirjesy died on April 9, 2004, in Washington, DC, where he was visiting his parents and attending business meetings. At the time of his death, he and his family lived in Enosburg Falls, Vermont. The son of Istvan and Michelle Nyirjesy, Mr. Nyirjesy was born on March 20, 1957, and was prepared at Saint Anselm’s Abbey School in the District of Columbia. At the College, he resided in Quincy House and was a member of Saint Paul’s Church. He started his career in Africa with the Rockefeller Foundation, working as a research associate, and then became vice president of the International Trust Company of Liberia. From 1984 to 1991 he was employed by Equator Bank, engaged in banking, trading, and advisory projects in sub-Saharan Africa. Thereafter he served in an advisory capacity to the International Finance Corporation, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and various governments and corporate clientele. His job involved helping to improve policy conditions for private investment and development of new businesses and financial institutions, with a concentration on banking, energy and telecommunications concerns, venture capital, and agricultural business. In his final years, he was chief financial and legal officer for the Modern Africa Fund Managers LLC. His survivors include his parents; his wife, Lucie; their children, Letitia and Nicolas; and two siblings, Paul Nyirjesy and Christine Bragale.
Philip Charles Ritari of Salem, Massachusetts, died on February 12, 2004. He was born in Painesville, Ohio, on August 10, 1955. At the College, he lived in Mather House and belonged to the Dramatics Club and Friends of Hillel; he graduated magna cum laude. His career spanned a broad spectrum: From working in the Widener Library he made a transition to producing Judaic art, then became a software engineer. In the last-mentioned enterprise, he worked at Texet Corporation, then joined a research and development group at a division of Price Waterhouse. Along the way, in 1979 he married Stephanie Loo, with whom he had a son, Jacob Nathan, in 1987. A few years later he was a principal software engineer at Lotus Development Corporation in Cambridge, and from there went on to be a senior software engineer at Pageflex, Inc., also located in Cambridge. Throughout, he maintained his interests in art and writing, and latterly took up digital photography. Other favorite activities included rock ’n’ roll and several outdoor sports, among them running, cycling, skiing, and sailing. The Class currently has no information on his survivors.
Mary Scanlon Albers, known professionally as Dr. Mary Scanlon, of Atlanta, Georgia, died on February 1, 2004, in Atlanta, Georgia. Daughter of John Joseph Scanlon and Virginia Rose (Boyle) Scanlon (both now deceased), Ms. Scanlon was born on September 26, 1955, in Lynn, Massachusetts, where she also spent her youth. She attended the Tower School in Marblehead and the Winsor School in Boston before matriculating to Harvard. At the College she resided in Eliot House, and engaged in activities with the Undergraduate Department of Biology Academic and Preprofessional Group, as well as with Phillips Brooks House and Saint Paul’s Church. After receiving her undergraduate degree cum laude, she attended the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences for a year, then went on to take an M.S. from Boston University and a Ph.D. in physiology from the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester. She married H. Elliott Albers in 1987, and had their son, Maxwell, in 1993. Dr. Scanlon was assistant professor in the Department of Physiology at the Morehouse College School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, and was also director of the school’s image analysis core facility, as well as teaching periodic courses in renal physiology. Her research specialization was in parasites, and she made significant breakthroughs in studying the cellular mechanisms of host–parasite relationships in microsporidia, a class of microscopic parasites to which AIDS patients are especially vulnerable. Outside of work, Ms. Scanlon Albers was an avid reader, but she loved the outdoors: A lifelong skier, she also ventured into a broad range of outdoor sports, such as surfing, whitewater rafting, and mountain biking. She was survived by her husband, Elliott Albers; their son, Max; and two siblings, Ann and John Scanlon.
Richard Allen Shatten of Cleveland, Ohio, died on February 13, 2002. Born on September 5, 1955, in Mayfield, Ohio, he was a graduate of Mayfield High School. At the College, he was a resident of Lowell House and was involved in a number of student activities: the Republican Club; the Institute of Politics/Kennedy School of Government Academic and Preprofessional Group; Friends of Hillel; band; Phillips Brooks House; Room 13 counseling; and the Crimson Key Society. After graduating cum laude in his field, he worked briefly in environmental consulting and as an assistant to the president of a small company, then entered the Harvard Business School, receiving his M.B.A. in 1980. The next year, he returned to Cleveland and worked at McKinsey and Company, a management consulting firm, where a study that he performed resulted in the creation of a nonprofit organization comprised of chief executives from large companies. The organizational goal was the revitalization of Cleveland, thus it was dubbed Cleveland Tomorrow. Mr. Shatten left McKinsey in 1982 to become one of Cleveland Tomorrow’s first staff members, and from 1985 to 1994 he served as executive director of the group. By coordinating the efforts of civic and business leaders, the group effected economic development projects such as the Cleveland Advanced Manufacturing Program, the renovation of Playhouse Square, and the “Gateway,” which was responsible for Jacobs Field and the Gund Arena. Mr. Shatten also taught and was a research mentor at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management, where he was director of the Center for Regional Economic Issues and Ameritech Professor of Regional Economics. Surviving him were his wife, Jeanne (Rosenbluth) Shatten; their three daughters, Rachel, Julia, and Loren; his mother, Shirley; and two of his three brothers, William and Robert. His brother Thomas ’74 predeceased him.
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