1963

1963

Fair warning, there are lots of holes in this story. Dick Friedman, Bostonbased developer, and two partners, one a Red Sox owner, the other a restaurateur, purchased Martha’s Vineyard Gourmet Cafe and Bakery, a.k.a. Back Door Doughnuts, which, says one source, is a “hallowed institution” in the village of Oak Bluffs on the island off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where people take their pastry seriously. Up to 250 are said to assemble onsite by 9 p.m. every night. “Literally the back door opens and the doughnuts go flying out the door,” commented John Merrow, a summer resident, who, when he’s not chasing crullers, is taking on the U.S. public education establishment as he did for years at the Public Broadcasting System. According to The Martha’s Vineyard Times, which first broke the story in February, Dick also owns the Charles Hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has hosted Bill Clinton at his waterfront estate in Edgartown, Massachusetts, and is developing the $125-million Edition hotel in Reykjavik, Iceland. As for the doughnuts, one woman at atown meeting demanded Dick and his partners continue to serve the apple fritters. “That’s how serious it is,” says Merrow.

Three classmates who could not make our 55th in June provided updates.

Pete Wells of Castle Rock, Colorado, who created limited partnerships in retail and office buildings in the Denver area for more than 30 years, retired recently. A record-holding distance runner who served in the intelligence corps in Panama, Pete helps to raise financing for his community’s senior center and recreational facility. Wife Cecilia volunteers at a career education college where she served for 16 years as secretary to the principal. Son Jonathan owns a homecare assistance company and daughter Deborah teaches at a Graded international school in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Don Sauer from Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston, is retired from the marketing field now for a decade. He first served the military in Germany, then moved onto sales with “the old” American Can Co. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, relocating for them to Des Moines, Iowa, and eventually Puerto Rico. He went on to earn an M.B.A. from University of Wisconsin that got him to Quaker Oats in Chicago and to Texas for Riviana Foods and Coca-Cola Foods before eventually leaving to do consulting. Don and Mimi, a retired teacher, have son A. J. and daughter Amy, both of whom played soccer at Stanford and, like their dad, are in the business world.

Bob and Virginia Baxley of Birmingham, Alabama, should be en route to Seattle and then to the Canadian Rockies, from where they plan to visit Alaska and the Yukon. Bob retired in 2001 from Monsanto, where he was an industrial engineer since 1973. He began at Eli Lilly & Co. in 1964. The couple has two daughters, Julia and Frances ’99, and four grandchildren, two in the Birmingham area and two in Winnetka, Illinois, where the B axleys have a condo.

I regret to report the deaths of Bill Bottger, Buck Applegate, Pete Dudley, and Jim Cappio.

—Harry Zlokower, 190 Amity St., Brooklyn, NY 11201; (917) 541-8162; harry@zlokower.com