1941
After getting off to a fairly promising start last month with a couple of pieces of bona fide correspondence, it was a little disappointing to receive only one brief note in the mailbag this month.
The note was from Dr. Walt Winchester, and while it contained no news of Walt, there was enclosed a fine article from the April 22nd issue of "Modern Medicine" which was a lengthy biography of Dr. GeneStollerman. The article is too long to reproduce here in full, but contains some interesting items as follows:
"...'Because of my medical research, in the style of Damon Runyon, I would be called Streptococcus Stollerman,' muses the chairman of the department of medicine at the University of Tennessee in Memphis. 'But here I am also a leader of a growing medical center, an extensive educational endeavor, and am practicing and teaching internal medicine. However, I hope that I can still speak authoritatively on streptococci.'
"... Few colleagues would dispute Dr. Stollerman's knowledge of streptococcal diseases. The 47-year-old physician was one of the chief contributors to the proof that streptococcal disease causes rheumatic fever. This was partially accomplished by demonstrating that through prophylactic means, the prevention of strep infections also prevents recurrent rheumatic fever. But, furthermore, Dr. Stollerman was able to show by streptococcal antibody studies - including the long-chain antibody test, which he developed - that every case of rheumatic fever is an aftermath of streptococcal infection.
"...After his stint in the service, Dr. Stollerman finished his chief residency at Mount Sinai and then was awarded a fellowship by the Dazian Foundation in the department of microbiology at New York University under Dr. Colin Macleod. Intensive work was already being done there on streptococcal enzymes by Dr. Alan Bernheimer, with whom Dr. Stollerman studied the streptolysins.
"Not long afterward he was offered the directorship of Irvington House, a rheumatic fever research center for New York University. It was here that he addressed himself for the next four years to attempting to wipe out recurrent rheumatic fiver. His efforts were rewarding, and armed with the new antibiotic benzathine penicillin G. he conducted the Irvington House study which set much of the groundwork for current policies in the chemotherapeutic treatment and prevention of rheumatic fever. It was also during this time that he developed new methods for measuring antibodies and other blood factors important in body defenses against strep.
"...By the time Dr. Stollerman was appointed chairman of the department of medicine at the University of Tennessee in 1965, he was well versed in the intricacies of administration. He had organized numerous research projects in cooperation with the government and various health agencies, as well as serving as director of training programs at Northwestern University, with the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, and the Arthritis Foundation. While in Chicago he served as consultant to studies on prevention of rheumatic fever at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center which helped in the virtual eradication of this disease from the Armed Forces. For this, he received a citation from the Surgeon General of the Navy in 1964."
A March press release from the Buffalo Savings Bank announced the election of Ed Marlette as a trustee of that institution. Ed is president of Marlette Plating Co. in Buffalo. In addition to his newly announced post he is on the Board of Trustees of Nichols School, a director of Millard Fillmore Hospital, a past president and director of the National Association of Metal Finishers, president and director of Frontier Galvanizing Corporation, secretary and director of Buffalo Bumper Exchange Company. and vice president and director of Pittsburgh Bumper Corporation.
Clint Reynolds was named a vice-president - Investment of the Paul Revere Life Insurance Company last March. Clint has been associated with the Paul Revere organization since 1948. In addition to his new Paul Revere Life post, he will serve The Paul Revere Variable Annuity Insurance Co. in a similar capacity as well as serving The Paul Revere Corp. as clerk and assistant treasurer.
George Guest has accepted a new position as sales representative specializing in hardwoods for Lawrence R. McCoy & Co., Inc. of Worcester, Mass. George will cover the New England states, Canada, and New York hardwood markets, as well as selected accounts in Pennsylvania. His new address is listed at the foot of this column.
The New York Times recently highlighted the work of Dr. Bob Feller in the field of art preservation and restoration. The article in part read as follows:
"... As a senior fellow of the National Gallery of Art Research Project in Artists' Materials, Dr. Feller, a 48-year-old softspoken man, has become one of the leading authorities on varnish for painting and the effect of light on art objects.... 'He has done more than anyone else to alert museums to the great danger in too much light falling on museum objects and in working out formulas for their protection,' Joseph V. Noble, vice director for administration of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, said.
"... His book, 'On Picture Varnishes and Their Solvents,' written with Dr. Nathan Stolow and Elizabeth Jones in 1959, is considered the definitive work in the field."
A recent issue of Dun's Review had a feature article on Hooker Chemical Corporation and its president, Tom Willers. Highlights of the article follow:
"Since Mr. Willers took over the presidency of the company five years ago this month. Hooker has been doing things new, innovating change, and racing ahead of some of its larger rivals in the business world. As an undergraduate at Dartmouth he enjoyed going down hills — on skis - but in the business world he appears to enjoy climbing hills and mountains. The growth of the Hooker company during his presidency has been close to phenomenal.
"... Robert Levy, writing in Dun's Review, says: 'Long a fairly straitlaced chemical producer whose basic products (caustic soda, chlorine, hydrogen) derive mainly from nothing more exotic than salt brine, Hooker has lately become something of a happening in the chemical industry.' 'In recent months it has become a major factor in the metal-treating business via its $34 million purchase of Udylite Corp. And, beating the Dows and the DuPonts to the punch, it has even announced a 'revolutionary' line of Hooker-made synthetic fabrics that breathe.'
"... The breathing fabric, at present without a name, is produced by Hooker's Ruco division, which gets its name from the Rubber Corp. of America acquired three years ago. A new $10 million plant has been constructed in New Jersey for manufacture of the fabric, and Hooker officials generally appear optimistic about sales and profits from it.
"... During the past 10 years - Mr. Willers has headed the company during the past five - the company has more than doubled annual sales and profits, to $300 million and $25 million respectively, according to the magazine, which quotes Mr. Willers as saying the 1968 outlook is 'excellent.' The company's present growth rate is 12 per cent compared to the chemical industry's average of 7 per cent."
The interim statement of April 29 on the Alumni Fund was most disappointing. 1941 is running dead last in its Green Derby. As of that date, there had been only 105 contributions, 81 less than 1942 which is leading the Derby; and these 105 contributors had given only $9,970, or 23.4% of the Class objective as compared with '42's total of $28,268 which was 47.3% of their objective. We have been slow starters before, but this is ridiculous! Let's all unlimber the purse strings and see if we can't give BobThomas and his boys a bit of a boost. This will be the last reminder in this column, since we don't publish again until Fall, so DO IT NOW!
Address changes for the month follow: Norman C. Brandt, 3040 Aloma Ave., C-8, Winter Park, Fla. 32789; Downey M. Gray Jr., 5629 Holly Springs Dr., Houston, Texas 77027; George A. Guest, Orford, N.H. 03777; A. Fredric Leopold, Youngman, Hungate & Leopold, 1901 Building, Suite 1530, Century City, Los Angeles, Calif. 90067; CDR Robert W. Sherwin, USN 223458, Apt. 603-C, 425 Ena Rd., Honolulu, Hawaii 96815; Edwin A. Walten Jr., 4119 Roland Ave., Baltimore, Md. 21211.
Secretary, 9 Oak Drive Bedford, N.H. 03102
Class Agent, 942 Woodcrest Rd., Abington, Pa. 19001
