1960

156 Overleigh Road Barnardsville, NJ 07924

Jeff Fine may be a dinosaur who is clever enough to survive the onslaught of advertising mega-mergers. After spending all of his career with large agencies in New York, Jeff was offered the opportunity to run the small, nimble, and creative Bloom, New York agency. After two-and-a-half years, the agency's billings have grown two-anda-half times. So, he must be doing something right. He feels the merger trend is good for him, but probably bad for the clients of large agencies due to potential and real product conflicts. Nevertheless, as clients have become disaffected with bigness, his agency has been able to attract several who felt they were getting lost in the shuffle, including Pentax cameras and Ex-Lax. Meanwhile, Jeff is thoroughly enjoying the atmosphere of a small, creative group.

Dick Griggs, who has sold more life insurance to our classmates than the rest of the industry combined, told me that SteveCarroll was alive and well in Bay town, Tex. Steve is a refinery engineer with Exxon. His son is a freshman at where, shortly after his arrival, he looked up crew coach Pete Holland. Now, Bruce Ducker was Steve's roommate at Psi U, so I called him only to learn that he expects Steve and wife for some skiing in Aspen. Bruce also told me he had completed his third novel and was in the process of looking for an agent and publisher. It's interesting how the Dartmouth ties still intertwine.

When I called his office, I learned that Jake Crouthamel has two offices at Syracuse University. One is for where the athletic director is supposed to be, the other for where he wants to be—in the Carrier Dome nearer the athletes. But he manages the multimillion-dollar sports program extremely well, practicing the only work ethic he has ever used, long days and six-or seven-day work weeks. Vacation is anathema to Jake. He lives for what he is doing, and few have ever done it better. When I commented on the football team's success and the basketball team's current national ranking, Jake's response dealt with the problems of success. In this case, the pressures brought to bear by fans—be they politicians, university officials, or alumni—to get better seats are getting his goat. When I asked if he was happy, he chuckled and said, "I guess so." "But are you happy as much as Jake Crouthamel can be happy?" I asked. Then he actually laughed and said, "I guess that's about the best way to put it." On a sad note, I learned recently that our classmate Richard A. Bossie died a couple of years ago. And that's all I or the College know. If anyone has additional information, please contact me.