1961

Two classmates are secretaries of their classes at Dartmouth Medical School: Ted Tapper for the Med School class of 1962 (for those who spent their senior year at the Medical School) and MikeNorman for the Med School class of 1963, for most of the rest of our classmates who went on to the Medical School at Dartmouth.

They often hear about our classmates before Id their comments are published in DMS Alumni News and Notes. Few of you probably see that publication, but it often contains good class news.

We already told you that Doug Zipes had been elected vice president of the American College of Cardiology, which means he'll be president in 2001. Ted Tapper also reports in his fall column, "Doug went to Moscow in May 1999 to participate in a joint U.S.-Russian symposium on arrhythmias. It's more than a little ironic for Doug to return to Moscow, since he got in big trouble with the Soviet government in 1982 when he acted in behalf of Ida Nudel and the refusenik community. These actions caused him to be denied a visa by the Soviet government in 1985, when he was supposed to have participated in a heart disease symposium in Moscow."

Mike reports that al Rozycki has had a tough time recently. For one, he came down with strep cellulitis of the neck "with Ludwig's angina, requiring a 15-day stay in the ICU with mechanical ventilation and the whole works. You all remember Alan; his kind are made of pretty tough stuff, so I wasn't surprised when he told me he was well on his way to recovery...."

Ted reports Gary Manchester also had a serious illness. "He learned he had factor XI deficiency in October 1997 when he lost over seven units of blood after lithotripsy for a renal pelvic atone. Recovery was slow but complete." Gary is a plastic surgeon in San Diego. He remarried in April 1998, and Ted reports Gary said he "couldn't be happier." Ted also reports that Bill Weintraub stepped down this past July as chair of pediatric surgery at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in philly but he is still actively practicing surgery.

The Alumni Fund drive is under way. Head agent Pete Bleyler reports we have a $175,000 goal, with a secondary goal of 61-percent participation. As of the turn of the century, the last figures available, we were at $51,287 or 29 percent; and we had 25-percent participation.

Class project chair David Birney says we've been making real progress on our campaign for a 1961 legacy to create a Performing Arts Endowment for the Hopkins Center. Leadership gifts have brought in about $180,000; our first general mailing on the endowment will go out shortly. Volunteers are needed to help David make calls, especially to your friends in the class. The Hop has no similar endowment now, so we're filling a real need.

Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC 27157; rconn@wiubmc.edu