1981

1981

CLASS NOTES

After our July-August column about ’81 classmates in show business, Peter Smith, an adopted member of the class of ’35 and emeritus director of the Hopkins Center, wrote from the United Kingdom requesting that we thank everyone whose name was in boldface. Here for an encore are Vaughn Halyard, Stephen Godchaux, Dan Gilroy, John Gilroy, Pamela Mason Wagner, Sharon Washington, Mark Hansson, Chris Meledandri, Nancy Green Oey, Mark Frawley, Mark Lotito, or “some fellow cast members in Cyrano De Bergerac—one a freshman adviseesome shining in Working (what a beehive the Hop was in those years)!” Smith went on, “Please add that Justin Monjo, working upside down, had a recent success with Storm Boy. It’s well worth checking out. It would be invidious of me to try to assign the ‘Most Talented Class’ award, but 1981 is surely one of the strongest possible claimants.” Indeed. He also said he would love to hear from any of us at ps22@columbia.edu.

Speaking of talent, The Boston Globe just announced that our own Bob Higgins, surgeonin-chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital and director of surgery at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, has been tapped by Mass General Brigham to be president of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and charged with “pushing two of the country’s top medical centers into becoming a more unified hospital system.” Way to go, Bob!

We also received news that David B. Edelson, senior vice president and chief financial officer of Loews Corp., is the chair-elect ofthe board of governors of the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion, whose mission is to prepare Jewish leaders for the 21st century. Congratulations, David!

Speaking of the 21st century, your class communications officers are contemplating how we can highlight the many ways we have all changed—and ideally, grown—since the last century: our steady progress and successes, as rousingly exemplified by Bob and David, yes, but also our pivots, whether into a new industry or retirement into full-time golf.

Some ’81s have embraced this idea with more energy and boldness than others. Jennifer Hoadley had a noteworthy career in advertising at Grey and Dancer Fitzgerald Sample and then in publishing at The Atlantic, Harper’s, and Forbes. In 2010 she started prerequisites for nursing school. “After losing my parents in the 2000s, I decided I really wanted to take care of others. I graduated from an accelerated B.S.N. program (11 months) at Pace in 2013 and I’ve worked in hospitals and practices in obstetrics and gynecology since. It’s a really fun specialty; I love all the babies!”

Let us know what you’ve been up to as we all take inspiration from and pride in our pivots and steady-ons. If anyone is willing to share a hardleft turn or even a crash and burn, that would be awesome. It’s those that lead to true growth. Wishing you and yours very happy holidays! —Ann Jacobus Kordahl, P.O. Box 470443, San Francisco, CA, 94147; ajkordahl@gmail.com; Emil Miskovsky, P.O. Box 2162, North Conway, NH, 03860; emilmiskovsky@gmail.com

Ann Jacobus Kordahl