1963

Dr. Jay Reibel's plunge into the fast-track national business scene has won him a big contract with Equitable Life and a dandy profile in Forbes. Four years ago Jay and his partners, who own the Four Winds Hospital in Katonah, N.Y., came up with an idea to build a business that helps employers cut the costs of mental health benefits. They created Preferred Health Care Corporation, which offers mandatory and continuing second-opinion programs to major corporations. When an employee of one of Preferred's client companies seeks in-patient psychiatric care, the case is first screened by Jay's team, which includes psychiatric social workers, psychiatrists, and other specialists. Equitable was impressed enough with the program to agree to market it to its corporate clients.

Now that Jeff Galper is a certified rolfer in Burlington, Vt., I thought it would be a good idea to learn more about this specialized type of therapy, which is part of the holistic health movement. The system of body education and physical manipulation was developed by Ida Rolf, a biochemist who died in 1979. It emphasizes connective tissue or "fascia," which envelopes our muscles and muscle fiber. According to rolfing theory, gravity is the basic shaper of the body and spreads any deviations in the muscle-bone system throughout the body. What the rolfer seeks is a return of the body construction to its orig- inal blueprint specifications, what Dr. Rolf called "the gospel of Rolfing: when the body is working properly, the force of gravity can flow through it."

Before I twist myself out of shape writing about this, I'll suggest you write to Jeff at 323 Pearl Street, Burlington, VT 05401, or call 802/658-0092 or 802/862-0836, and he'll tell you if there are rolfers in your hometown.

For my part, I'm spending primetime watching Steve Macht hone his craft of television acting, most recently as an alcoholic congressman accused of murder and exonerated by the swift detective work of Angela Lansbury, assisted by Herschel Bernardi, in an episode of the Agatha Christie-inspired "Murder, She Wrote."

Then there is the dizzying career of LouGerstner at American Express, which rated a profile in the business section of The New YorkTimes. One of the top three officers of the financial conglomerate, Lou gained financial and planning authority at the corporate level. According to the Times, Lou joined a policy committee composed also of James D. Robinson III, chairman, and Sanford I. Weill, president. Lou, who is chairman and chief executive of American Express Travel Related Services, the biggest profit center, will also preside over corporate financial functions, reporting to Robinson and Weill. And if that isn't enough, Caterpillar Tractor Company of Peoria, I11., named Lou a corporate director along with the vice chairman of AT&T, thus increasing Caterpillar's board membership to 15.

You might have also seen a photo of PaulBinder in the Times as part of a full-page ad, fund-raising for The Big Apple Circus, which since 1977 has been the focus of Paul's life and work. The ad stated that 30 percent of the circus's $3-million budget is provided by contributions from government, corporations, and individuals. In addition to performing at Lincoln Center and touring the northeast, Paul's circus has created The New York School for Circus Arts, which trains kids, regardless of their ability to pay, and The Ticket Fund, which gives out free tickets to disadvantaged seniors and individuals. For more info, write The Big Apple Circus, P.O. Box 402, New York, NY 10024.

Tom Washing and partners have formed Horsley Keogh and Associates to handle venture capital investments in Rochester, N.Y. One of the largest venture capital funds in the country, Horsley Keogh's clients include the University of Rochester Endowment Fund and the Eastman Kodak Pension Fund.

Ken Lease is superintendent of schools in Tanana, Alaska, and his wife, Sharon, whom he met in the Peace Corps, is assistant administrator for curriculum in the Oklahoma State Department of Education. Both are working on doctorates.

After a stint as general counsel to a Pittsburgh supermarket chain, Errol Miller has joined the law firm of Gondelman, Baxter, McVerry, Smith, Yatch, and Trimm in that city. John Bell has joined the management consulting firm of Temple, Barker, and Sloane in Lexington, Mass., and his brother, Jim Bell, is vice president at Scott Macline Development Company in Walton, N.Y. BillHancock is forming a group practice of ophthalmology in Seattle to perform outpatient cataract surgery. Watch out for 11-year-old Jeffery Hancock, who has won an A. A.U. national gold medal in karate.

Hank Rogers of Springfield, Mass., became a manufacturer's representative after selling his printing business last summer. He reunited with Zeke Ralph, Ford Hutchinson, and Bill Gerstley at their 25th high school reunion in Philadelphia. Jeff Lapic married Gerri Caldarola in California and moved to a larger house to accomodate her daughters and his 14-year-old son. He's a securities lawyer with Bank of America in San Francisco.

Over in New England Bill Wellstead became a vice president with Mass Mutual Companies, and Steve Kurland, in Worcester, Mass., is chief of staff at Harrington Memorial Hospital.

More news next month.

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