1961

The Spring 2003 Alumni Council meeting concluded with an excellent 90-minute open-mike dialogue between council members and President Jim Wright along with the six senior administrators of the College (including our own Mike Gazzaniga, dean of the faculty). Apparently this degree of open communication has been unprecedented through the decades and as far back as anyone could remember. One of the issues covered was the increased number of applicants and the increasingly successful admissions process over the past several years, so that the quality and breadth of both well-rounded and specialized students being admitted to the College has been improving at an increasingly steady rate, not that the quality has ever been weak. Now where on the quality ladder does this put the class of '61?

On another "meeting" front, the West Coast ADs held a non-reunion meeting of their own on June 14-15 to commemorate the 25 th anniversary of the movie AnimalHouse. Attendees included several classmates who were the inspiration for several of the major characters portrayed in the movie, including lawyer and writer Bob "Otter" Anderson and minister and artist Duane "Doberman" Cox. Otter hosted the reunion at his home in Redwood Valley, California. The ADs attending were also interviewed for an upcoming TV special to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Animal House. Now this is well-rounded! Todays applicants may be talented and bright, but can they top this?

Also in the news recently, Gerry "K" Kaminsky and his two sons appeared as the focus of a major article, including their picture, in the June 9 issue of the prestigious Barron's financial weekly. The title of the highly favorable article was "Family Values" with the subtitle, "The Kaminsky clan, a unit within Neuberger Berman, thrives on eclecticism." According to the article, the Kaminsky clan manages nearly $2.5 billion.That appears to be a lot of money! According to the famous former U.S. senator, now deceased, Everett Dirkson, who was quoted when discussing the passage of the federal budget one year in the late 1960s or early 19705: "A billion (dollars) here, a billion (dollars) there; after a while it becomes real money."

On another front, Steve Grossberg, professor of cognitive and neural systems at Boston University and chairman of the university's department of cognitive and neural systems, has been selected by the International Neural Network Society to receive its 2003 Helmholtz Award for Distinguished Research on Visual Perception. The award recognizes Steves groundbreaking work that describes computational theories of how the brain sees and was presented in July 2003 at the society's annual meeting in Portland, Oregon. Apparently, Steve is a pioneer in the modern scientific movement to develop a model for how the mind and brain work. Frankly, this advanced science is over my head, but it appears to be very important and highly intellectual.

With respect to another classmate (me), Vic Rich recently was elected co-managing partner of the CPA firm McGladrey & Pullen, LLP for the area encompassing most of New York State (excluding Buffalo), Connecticut and New Jersey. In addition, he was appointed co-senior managing director in charge of the same region for RSM McGladrey. Vic's new regional responsibility includes four offices and nearly 500 personnel. In addition, Vic has been appointed to the joint 15-person management committee for the two firms, encompassing about 5,000 personnel and 100 offices throughout the United States.

5 Red Ground Road, Old Westbury,NY 11568; victor_rich@rsmi.com