1961

Our fall mini-reunion is October 16-18, Dartmouth Night weekend, according to Dave Prewitt, our mini-reunion chair. Here are the highlights. Hotel: the Sheraton North Country Inn in West Lebanon. Registration deadline is September 16. PreYale-game cookout: patio of the Fayerweather Dorm Cluster Social Center, where we've had picnics for several years, ever since die class became the cluster's alumni sponsors. Dave is promising low-cholesterol items as well as the more standard fare. Dinner: Saturday night at the DOC House on Occom Pond, a place where we've enjoyed dinner many times before. You'll be getting registration forms for both of these, and you will need to return them before the weekend.

Friday we'll march in the Dartmouth Night parade, beginning at 7 p.m. Plan on a latenight get-together following the rally and bonfire at 8 p.m. We're planning a class meeting at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, probably to review the agenda for the L.A. Reunion.

There's a College agenda for the weekend too, including an opportunity to quiz President Freedman at Saturday breakfast, and other games besides football. The men's varsity soccer game with Yale will be at the same time as the football game on Chase Field. Got questions? Call Prewitt at (215) 569-0300.

Mike Ackerman, a former CIA agent whose Miami firm assists corporations in hostage negotiations, is becoming a "source" for such prestigious publications as the Wall Street Journal. In a long yarn about the kidnapping and rescue of Charles Geschke, president of Adobe Systems, the Journal asked Ackerman what would have happened elsewhere. "If this had been in Latin America, and there was a six or eight-hour delay, the kidnappers would have killed the hostage and disappeared." From my own years in the newspaper business, I'd say it's a safe bet that he'll be getting more media calls.

John F.Beckert has been named executive vice president and chief financial officer of Farmers & Mechanics Bank of Middletown, Conn. Beckert, a banker for 26 years, had been founding president and chief executive officer of Advest Bank. In his new job, he will head Farmer and Mechanics' financial division.

Terry O'Neil, who gave large chunks of time to the service of our class over the years, died last November in Jupiter Island, Fla., of bone cancer. (The formal obituary may appear in this or a subsequent issue.) Many of us have lots of pleasant memories about Terry, who served as reunion chairman in 1966, as head agent in the late seventies, and on the Alumni Council.

Quite typical of his approach to life was his entry in our 25th reunion book, including the following paragraphs: "I decided to start my own business when I realized I was too old to take orders from all those young hot shots (like I used to be) climbing their way to the top. (I wanted to be chairman of the board once, too.)

"Life's too short for that. Now I am chairman of the board (of a two-person company). My wife, Mary, and I started O'Neil Securities (clever name) two years ago [in 1985]. (Actually, I'm not the chairman, she is.) Office is one half mile from home—both 300 yards from the ocean. No snow, no big organization, no crap. Dead Solid Perfect."

Bob Conn, Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1015

Former CIA agent Mike Ackerman's firm assists corporations in hostage negotiations. BOB CONN '61