1983

Can you believe that it’s been a year since our reunion? To me, it feels like it was a very long time ago—I’m ready to do it again! One great thing about being class secretary is that I get to be in touch with classmates I haven’t spoken to in years. Some I never knew while we were at Dartmouth, and now they live within five minutes of me! (More on those people next column!) Last fall I got in touch with Michael DeFilice. He was going to send me some info for this column, but I never heard from him and instead gave him a little bit of grief for not responding to my e-mail. Well, we all know that technology isn’t perfect, and Mike had responded. I just never received it. So now, the long awaited update on the life and times of Mike DeFilice: He has been married for almost nine years to Babette Reyes, Columbia ’99. They have two kids, Michael (5) and Gabriela (4). “We moved to New Canaan, Connecticut, from N.Y.C. two and a half years ago to give the kids some room to run. Great decision. After 15-plus years I left investment banking in the summer of 2007 to start my own renewable energy development company, Stonegate Advisors, LLC/Stonegate Energy LLC. We have mostly commercial-scale solar energy projects under development now in the northeast and southwest United States and are working on some small-scale wind, biomass cogeneration and a utility-scale geothermal project. We mainly partner with commercial real estate owners/operators, schools and municipalities.” Mike was appointed to the Thayer School of Engineering board of overseers in June 2008 and was also appointed to the University of Chicago Law School alumni visiting committee in September 2008. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Madison Square Boys and Girls Club in New York.

One of Mike’s fraternity brothers was in the news: Andy Davidoff. Dr. Davidoff has been named the chair of the St. Jude department of surgery. He was previously director of surgical research and division chief of general pediatric surgery at St. Jude. And another classmate made big news: Michael Behn. Michael represented two former employees of Leo Burnett in a whistle-blower lawsuit that centered on Burnett’s overbilling the U.S. government for an Army ad campaign. The Justice Department announced that Burnett would pay the U.S. government $15.5 million to resolve a fraud lawsuit alleging Burnett overbilled the Army for work during the course of the multiyear, $360 million contract awarded in 2000. Maybe Tim Geithner can put that money to good use somewhere. (I’m suggesting education!) Jean Hans Korelitz has written a novel that was out in April. Titled Admission, it is set mainly in the admissions office at Princeton (where she worked part time for two years and where she has been a faculty spouse for, believe it or not, two decades) but there’s plenty of Dartmouth in the book, including several chapters that take place at Dartmouth in the mid-1980s. Jean finally caved in and got a Web site (her publisher made her) so there’s more information about Admission and her other novels there (www.jeanhanffkorelitz.com). When not writing she enjoys hanging out with her two kids and serving as groupie in chief for her husband’s band, Rackett. A big round of snaps to Russ Morra, who has volunteered to be our class Webmaster. Look for an updated site soon, with the correct class officers. (Sorry, Webby, your time is up!) Send me your stories about interesting Dartmouth connections and I’ll feature them in my next column. Forever green!

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