1980

I first laid eyes on the Dartmouth campus exactly 40 years ago when I was six weeks shy of 10 years old. It was late June 1968 and my family had stopped in Hanover for lunch. While seated at a table on the patio of the Hanover Inn my father gestured toward the Green and said, "You're looking at one of the finest schools in the country." To which I responded, "Which building?" I was on my way to summer camp in nearby Lyme, the first of three seasons I spent there. Sadly, the camp went out of business many years ago, the land since parceled into residential properties. The dense brush in the woods surrounding the new homes has swallowed up what remains of the old camp buildings. Impossible as it may seem, fellow camper Bill Mitchell '79 has aged more gracefully than the cabins we once slept in.

Where was Dan Zenkel when my old summer camp needed him? Dan is the founder and CEO of New York-based Camp Group, the largest for-profit camp owner in the nation and a leader in the trend toward consolidated camp ownership. Shortly after reaching out to Dan for advice on choosing a summer camp for my daughter, I stumbled across a news article that described Camp Group's plans to renovate and reopen a 93-year-old camp property in Vermont that his company recently acquired. I think that I speak for many of us when I say, "Dan, thank you for watching our children this summer. Without companies like yours, my wife and I could not spend two peaceful weeks in Provence together, celebrating my 50th birthday."

While roaming the aisles of my neighborhood supermarket I ran into Dave Broil, who looked as lean and athletic as he did during his days on the Dartmouth basketball court and fully at ease among the preservative treated fruits and salads. Since I decided to make a home along Philadelphia's Main Line nearly five years ago people in town have routinely mentioned Dave: Surely I must know him? He has been here all along. Dave, his wife and two teenage children live in the town where Dave grew up and Dave works nearby as a partner in a financial services company.

As a final note I thought that I might mention my socially active and frequently newsworthy friend Hans Morris, not so much for any particular recent accomplishment (i.e., Visa's record-setting $19 billion initial public offering and subsequent advancement) but to further my agenda of eventually replacing Stacy Phillips with Hans as the person most often referenced in this class column.

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