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ALUMNIFall 2015/Winter 2016 THE

MAGAZINE OF BARUCH COLLEGE

RAY RANKIS REMEMBERS THREE DECADES OF SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS

GAME CHANGERHow Baruch’s Evening MBA Program Transforms Lives

MessageFromThePresident

F all 2015 marks the beginning of my sixth year as president of Baruch College. Throughout

my tenure, I have greatly enjoyed sharing my perspectives on what makes our college, and your alma mater, so special.

Nothing supports my confidence and optimism for the College’s future more than the dedication of our

faculty and staff. Their commitment creates an environment in which students grow and thrive. So I am very pleased that this issue of Baruch College Alumni Magazine showcases two exemplary colleagues. One is Ray Rankis, who joined the College staff in 1982 as men’s basketball coach and retires at the end of this year as the director of athletics. Ray graces the cover of this issue and shares his favorite sports memories in the feature “True Blue” (see pages 6-8). For decades to come, he will figure prominently in favorite sports stories that alumni tell of their college years.

Also leaving her mark on this institution and on the hearts and minds of thousands of alumni is Professor of Journalism Roslyn Bernstein, who retires in June after 42 years of service (see page 3). Roz will be remembered for her pioneering role in the student magazine Dollars & Sense and her leadership of the Sidney Harman Writer-in-Residence Program, both of which she founded, among many other initiatives.

This issue also reports on milestone anniversaries for the School of Public Affairs (20 years), the Executives on Campus program (15 years), and the Feit Interdisciplinary Seminar Program (30 years). What rich, storied legacies these anniversaries mark! It’s no wonder that with such a talented faculty and staff and amazing, longstanding programs, Baruch is consistently so successful in preparing students to be leaders and professionals.

In fact, our success continues to be reflected in national, regional, and discipline-specific rankings. Washington Monthly proclaimed Baruch #1 for providing the “Best Bang for the Buck” in the entire Northeast region. U.S. News & World Report listed Baruch #1 among regional universities in the North for graduates with the least debt, #2 for high selectivity, #4 for ethnic diversity,

The Bernard Baruch Bench maquette—a miniature version of the life-sized statue in the Newman Vertical Campus lobby—is awarded to members of the Baruch family whose character and actions embody the personal and professional qualities that the College seeks to instill and inspire. In 2015 this handsome symbol of our thanks was presented to Hedwig Feit, Amy Hagedorn (’58), the late Martin Kaplan (’59), Narendra Paul Loomba, and Phyllis Milton.

#6 for top public schools, and #32 best overall. The Princeton Review included Baruch on its unnumbered list of “The Best 380 Colleges”—for the eighth consecutive year. Not unexpectedly, the full-time MBA program of the Zicklin School of Business received high marks from Forbes, which ranked it #3 in New York City and #55 nationally for return on investment. Kudos also came from various external sources for Baruch’s programs in accountancy, healthcare, financial engineering, and psychology. Of course, rankings simply emphasize what Baruchians already know—namely, that Baruch offers deserving students a high-quality, professionally oriented education at a reasonable expense.

The advantages of a Baruch degree—in this case, the Zicklin School MBA degree—are the focus of “Busy Lives, Fulfilling Dreams” (page 9). In that article, you’ll meet three individuals—one current student and two alumni—who embody the well-known perseverance, focus, and flexibility that Baruch alumni demonstrate. You may even recognize your story in theirs.

Our alumni continue to be among our greatest partners. I am especially inspired by the leadership shown by the Baruch College Fund (BCF) Board of Trustees. Joel J. Cohen (’59), outgoing BCF president, served with distinction and continues as a trustee. In June, Max Berger (’68) assumed the presidency of the board. Max is the senior founding partner at Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossman LLP and, for many years, a loyal and generous donor. Under his leadership, we will continue to have more and more to celebrate—good news that I look forward to sharing with you.

Finally, on behalf of the entire Baruch community, I offer my deepest thanks to the more than 5,200 alumni, parents, and friends who donated more than $10 million to the College in the last academic year. Your faith and demonstrated support motivates us to continue leading the way in public higher education!

Sincerely,MITCHEL B. WALLERSTEINPresident, Baruch College

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IN THIS ISSUE

Baruch College Alumni MagazineEDITOR IN CHIEF: Diane Harrigan

SENIOR EDITORS: Sally Fay, Gregory M. Leporati

GRAPHIC DESIGN: Tom Dolle Design

OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS, MARKETING & PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Cheryl de Jong–Lambert, Director of Communications

Christina Latouf, Vice President for Communications, External Relations & Economic Development

OFFICE OF ALUMNI RELATIONS

Janet B. Rossbach, Director of Alumni Relations and Volunteer Engagement

David Shanton, Vice President of College Advancement

Baruch College Alumni Magazine © 2015 by Baruch College The City University of New York

Please address all editorial correspondence to:

Baruch College Alumni Magazine Office of Communications, Marketing & Public Affairs One Bernard Baruch Way, Box A-1503 New York, NY 10010-5585 e-mail: [email protected]

Please send all inquiries about The Baruch College Fund, as well as address changes, to:

The Baruch College Fund Office of College Advancement One Bernard Baruch Way, Box A-1603 New York, NY 10010-5585 phone: 646-660-6060 e-mail: [email protected]

For information about alumni programs and activities, please contact:

Baruch College Office of Alumni Relations One Bernard Baruch Way, Box A-1603 New York, NY 10010-5585 phone: 646-660-6097 e-mail: [email protected] online: alumni.baruch.cuny.edu

Baruch College Alumni Magazine online baruch.cuny.edu/bcam

Fall 2015/Winter 2016

ON THE COVER: Photo by Jerry Speier.

Simply put, retiring Athletics Director Ray Rankis has been the Athletics Department’s MVP for the last 32 years—and not only because of championships in many sports, with both men’s and women’s teams. More important to Rankis than winning has been the chance to be a positive influence, a friend, and a father figure to hundreds of student-athletes. Says Professor of Student Development and Counseling Ron Aaron, “Ray’s the guy who is always there for others, listening, counseling, and supporting.”

FALL 2015/WINTER 2016 1

6 COVER STORY

Ray Rankis on Three Decades of Sports HighlightsFor more than 30 years, Athletics Director Ray Rankis—best known to legions of Baruchians as the coach of men’s basketball—has been a jock of all trades, the go-to guy in the College’s Athletics Department. Mining a varied and humorous history, Rankis shares 11 of his favorite Baruch sports moments. Read how he and decades of Baruch scholar-athletes overcame obstacles to succeed both on and off the court. Plus: Don’t miss fun, did-you-know facts about the retiring coach in “The Rankis File.”

ALSO INSIDE

12 CLASS NOTESDr. Michael J. Freeman (MBA ’70) has many claims to fame, includ-ing inventing the world’s first smart toy, 2-XL, in the 1970s.

3 NEWS & NOTESRetiring Journalism Professor Roslyn Bernstein, who joined the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences faculty in 1974, leaves an impressive legacy.

9 PROGRAM HIGHLIGHT

BUSY LIVES, FULFILLING DREAMS: Evening MBA Delivers ResultsFor Lavinia Preda (MBA ’16), Allen Schaefer (MBA ’14), and Marilyn Calister (MBA ’90), the top-ranking Zicklin School of Business Evening MBA fit their graduate program criteria perfectly, offering quality, flexibility, and outstanding career development. Their inspiring stories demonstrate that hard work and perseverance pay off.

15 ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT

For the People: Diana C. Richardson (MPA ’10)Diana Richardson long aspired to a career in public service, but elected office wasn’t on her radar until one of her School of Public Affairs professors urged her to run for office. “It was one of the most inspirational moments of my life,” recalls the alumna, who represents Brooklyn’s 43rd District in the New York State Assembly.

2 BARUCH COLLEGE ALUMNI MAGAZINE baruch.cuny.edu/bcam

News&Notes

With more than 580 alumni, faculty, staff, and students in attendance, Baruch College’s School of Public Affairs (SPA) celebrated its 20th anniver-sary in grand style at the New Yorker Hotel in May 2015.

Addressing the enthusiastic crowd, SPA Dean David Birdsell highlighted the school’s incredible growth. “We opened up 20 years ago with 230 students, all of them MPA students,” he recalled. “Today, we are one of the three largest schools of public affairs in the United States. We have not 230 but 1,230 students.”

The night was as much a celebration of the guests as it was of the school. Baruch President Mitchel B. Wallerstein noted that everyone in attendance had played a role in the school’s remarkable success: “The collective achievements and visibil-ity of faculty, students, and alumni have grown SPA’s reputation and the value and prestige of SPA’s degrees.” He added his congratulations to the assemblage “for all that you’ve achieved and all that you make possible in the many communities you serve: government, education, health-care, and nonprofits.”

Among the event’s individual honorees were Lorenzo Brown (MPA ’02), Nathaniel Cruz (MSEd ’95), Michelle DePass (MPA ’99), Linda Fasulo (MPA ’77), Fernando Ferrer (MPA ’04), Jonathan Justice (MPA ’94), Gary Lanigan (MPA ’80), Joseph Merlino (MPA ’92), William Ramos (MPA

’06), and Fatima Shama (EMPA ’08), who took home Distinguished Alumni Awards. And Amy Hagedorn (’58), one of the school’s most significant benefactors, received a special honor for her generosity.

“We owe support to the next generation of scholars

and civic innovators now studying at the School of Public Affairs,” Hagedorn maintained. “The world seems so full of bad news these days, but we can all take heart in knowing that these young people, and many others to follow at Baruch, will be the source of future good news in so many ways.” —GREGORY M. LEPORATI

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SPA Honors: Dean David Birdsell (left) and Baruch President Mitchel B. Wallerstein (right) honored Amy Hagedorn (’58) and 10 other alumni at the School of Public Affairs 20th anni-versary celebration in May 2015.

School of Public Affairs Celebrates 20 YE ARS OF IMPACT

LIGHTS•CAMERA•ACTIONFilming at BaruchOn Sept. 4, Baruch’s Field Building at 17 Lexington Avenue became the back-drop for two scenes in the new CBS drama Limitless, which debuted this fall. The series, based on the 2011 feature film of the same name, follows main character Brian Finch, who discovers the brain-boosting power of a mysterious drug and is then coerced by the FBI into helping solve their most complex cases.

The Limitless production company’s designers and set dressers transformed two spaces: 17 Lex’s sixth-floor gym became an FBI training room and the ninth floor, a hospital corridor. The Baruch-based scenes appeared in the fifth episode of the series.

Over the years, Baruchians have got-ten used to having film crews on campus. In 2013 Mason Hall served as the set for a Super Bowl commercial, and in 2010 the exterior of the Newman Vertical Campus was a set for the Showtime series Nurse Jackie.

Odds are you won’t recognize the ninth floor of Baruch’s 17 Lex building, here transformed into a hospital corridor for the CBS series Limitless. “The ninth floor hallway was pure chaos as they were shooting,” remembers Baruch’s film site coordinator Rita McGonagle.

News&Notes

baruch.cuny.edu/bcam FALL 2015/WINTER 2016 3

WIDE WORLD OF ALUMNI

F rom coast to coast, hemisphere to hemisphere, Baruch alumni are pursuing careers in the world’s most exciting locations. In fact alumni currently reside in 96-plus countries outside of the U.S. Baruch’s Office of Alumni Relations is

enhancing its efforts to reconnect with these graduates.In 2015 Alumni Relations hosted events internationally in London, Istanbul, Tokyo,

Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, Singapore, Sydney, and São Paulo. In the U.S., Alumni Relations connected with Baruchians in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Tampa, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, Chicago, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C.

Coming Up: The Office of Alumni Relations will be hosting events in Tampa, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and more!

To find out how you can get involved regionally, contact the Office of Alumni Relations at [email protected] or 646-660-6097.

Professor of Journalism Roslyn (“Roz”) Bernstein has taught, mentored, and inspired thousands

of students since joining Baruch’s journal-ism program in 1974 and, as important, has helped shape the intellectual life of the College. “She’s a force for good in the Weissman School and Baruch at large,” says Joshua Mills, professor and chair of the Department

of Journalism and the Writing Professions, adding, “It’s hard to imagine life at Baruch without her.” Bernstein retires at the end of this academic year.

The incomparable professor’s contribu-tions are almost too many to list: She’s advised student journalists at The Ticker, Baruch’s undergraduate student newspaper, and Dollars & Sense, the student-produced business review/magazine she created. In 1998 she founded and directed the Sidney

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AN INDELIBLE MARK Journalism’s Roz Bernstein Retires After 42 Years

Harman Writer-in-Residence Program, a unique literary salon that brings a different distinguished writer to campus each semes-ter. Says friend and longtime colleague Professor of Psychology Susan Locke, “Roz represents that rare trifecta of scholarship,

service, and teaching.” Bernstein’s honors include Presidential Excellence Awards for Distinguished Teaching and Service and the Baruch College Alumni Association’s Faculty Service Award.

But perhaps Bernstein’s great-est legacy is reflected in the fierce loyalty and affection shown to her

by the alumni whose lives and hearts she has touched. And that feeling is mutual. “Baruch was to be a five-year stint, but I never left,” says Bernstein with a smile. “Why? Baruch was perfect for me: bold new endeavors and classrooms filled with scrappy, smart students. So five years became 10, and 10 became 20, and 20 became 42.”

Bernstein’s contributions over those years will continue to inspire. Says Weissman School of Arts and Sciences Interim Dean Alison Griffiths, “Roz Bernstein has built a lasting legacy at Baruch College and will be sorely missed.”—DIANE HARRIGAN

Go online to share your tribute to Professor Bernstein at alumni.baruch.cuny.edu/bernstein. The College will host a career celebration for Roz on Dec. 8.

Bernstein (right) consults with a student in the Dollars & Sense office circa 1985. Inset: The profes-sor honored in Fall 2013.

News&Notes


T he students attending “From Baruch to the Boardroom,” the Sept. 29 lunch-and-learn with alumnus Joseph A. Ripp (MBA

’81), CEO of Time Inc., hoped to take away advice for their own success, and they weren’t disappointed.

Ripp, who runs one of the biggest media companies in the world, offered insights for all career stages, from the entry-level interview to the C-suite. Memorable among his recommen-dations: “Approach your career as a learning experience. You’ll have a much better career than those who approach it as a job.”

The Baruch event was co-sponsored by the Zicklin Graduate Accounting Society, the largest and most active graduate society on campus; the Baruch chapter of Beta Alpha Psi; and the Robert Zicklin Center for Corporate Integrity.

Newman Library Showcases CreativityTHE COLLEGE’S NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED, award-winning William and Anita Newman Library is a student resource and oasis. And since 2013, it has offered a new, thought-provoking dimen-sion, four attention-grabbing mini-exhibition spaces collectively known as the New Media Artspaces. Occupying renovated pay-phone booths and curated by Baruch’s Department of Fine and Performing Arts, these alcoves provide a mixed media–capable setting for experimental artworks that incorporate video, anima-tion, sculpture, and photography.

Among the most popular exhibitions was Missing Connections, which ran from May through September 2015 and showcased new works by eight Baruch undergraduates. The students—all completing the require-ments for a fine and performing arts minor—created artworks addressing how individuals

interact with, change, and are changed by their surroundings.

Popular with library-goers, the New Media Artspaces raise the profile of the arts at Baruch.

Alumni with an Alumni ID card can experience these innovative artworks in Baruch’s Information and Technology Building at 151 East 25th Street. Find out how to get your ID at baruch.cuny.edu/IDcard.

TIME Inc. CEO Joseph Ripp Shares Insights

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MENTOR MILESTONE

Share Your EOC Story: We’ll be featuring the Executives on Campus program in our next issue of BCAM, and we’d love to hear from former mentors and students. To share your EOC story, contact the Office of Alumni Relations at [email protected] or 646-660-6097.

@15

SINCE ITS CREATION 15 years ago, Baruch’s Executives on Campus (EOC) pro-gram has grown into one of the College’s signature initiatives. The brainchild of five enterprising alumni from the Class of 1955—Norman Brust, Paul Koren, Richard Merians, Allen Schwartz, and Joel Zweibel—EOC today is a multifaceted program with over 500 active mentors helping approxi-mately 2,000 undergraduate and graduate students each year gain networking, interviewing, and other essential skills.

Says EOC mentor Frances Murphy (MBA ’97) (shown top with her mentee, Eva Law [’16, MS ’17]), “Baruch has a huge alumni network, but it’s hard to real-ize just how big it is until you get involved in EOC.” She adds, “It’s really phenomenal to think of how many alumni want to give back in such a special way.”

Artspace exhibitions feature experimental work (above detail from a Missing Connections video).

JOB INTERVIEWING ADVICE AT “FROM BARUCH TO THE BOARDROOM”: “I want you to look me in the face. You connect with me as a human being, and I’ll remember you.” —Time Inc. CEO Joseph Ripp (MBA ’81)

News&Notes


F or three decades, the Feit Interdisciplinary Seminar Program has enriched the Baruch under-

graduate experience. Endowed by the late Charles Feit (’48), the seminar-style courses bring together a select group of students—no more than 20 per class—and two or more faculty members from dif-ferent departments to explore important themes and issues not ordinarily covered in the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences curriculum.

Beloved by students—an estimated 1,500 have taken them—the seminars are forums for creativity and intellectual dar-ing. (Example: The Spring 2016 lineup is “Outlaw Nation: Pirates, Slaves, Witches and Others in the Revolutionary Atlantic” and “Jazz: Cultural Touchstone of the 20th Century.”) For Professor of English Michael E. Staub, the third director in the program’s history (the two prior were Professors Myrna Chase and Paula Berggren), “The intimate and intense intellectual envi-ronment that the Feit Seminars provide represents an especially precious and valu-

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Weissman School Program Celebrates 30 Years

In her own right: Go online to read more about the remarkable Hedwig Feit, who holds a special place in the heart of Baruchians.

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able opportunity not only for our students but also for our faculty.”

On Oct. 15, the College celebrated this program and honored Mrs. Hedwig (Hedy) Feit, who has faithfully and generously continued her husband’s legacy since his unexpected death in 1993. Speaking for the entire community, Staub says, “I know and respect Hedy immensely and am deeply appreciative of all the wonderful and coura-geous work she has done on behalf of our undergraduates.”

Not an alumna, Mrs. Feit has also established her own legacies at Baruch: In honor of her son, she created the Paul André Feit Fund, which sponsors Latin American-, Latino-, and Caribbean-focused lectures, field trips, and students events; and, for almost a decade, she has taught at Baruch as an adjunct professor. Mrs. Feit characterizes her attachment to Baruch as “a relationship forever.” —DIANE HARRIGANMrs. Hedwig (Hedy) Feit preserves her beloved

husband’s legacy by continuing to support the Feit Interdisciplinary Seminars, which have been offered every semester for the past 30 years. Of the anniver-sary celebration, she modestly says, “This is not my celebration really. It is the celebration of Charles’s love for Baruch.”

THE GOOD FEIT

IN ITS ANNUAL RANKINGS OF BEST COLLEGES, U.S. News & World Report listed Baruch as #1 among universities in the North for graduating students with the least debt, #2 for high selectivity, and #6 for both top public school and freshman retention. (Baruch also ranked #75 for high selectivity nationally.) These accolades, released in September, capped off a particularly impressive university rankings cycle for Baruch.

Earlier, in its September/October 2015 issue, Washington Monthly listed Baruch #1 for providing the “Best Bang for the Buck” in the Northeast, describing the College memorably as an “urban gem.” Baruch also excelled in Forbes magazine’s biannual ranking of full-time MBA programs with the best return on investment: #3 in New York City, #6 in New York State, and #30 among public colleges nationally. And for the eighth consecutive year, The Princeton Review included Baruch on its unnumbered list of “The Best 380 Colleges” and ranked

the College #9 on its list of institutions offering top undergraduate entrepreneurial programs, up from #25 last year.

“It is wonderful to have the work of our dedicated faculty and academic leaders recognized by cred-ible, external sources,” says David P. Christy, Baruch’s provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. “Their collective vision, dedication, and creativity have fostered an environment of oppor-tunity and intellectual challenge. A degree earned at Baruch is widely recognized for quality.”

“URBAN GEM”: Baruch Shines in Recent Rankings


Ray Rankis Remembers Three Decades of Sports Highlights

BY JOHN NEVES

IT HASN’T ALWAYS BEEN A SLAM DUNK FOR RAY RANKIS.

For more than 30 years, Rankis—best known to legions of Baruchians

as the coach of men’s basketball—has been a jock of all trades, the go-to guy in the College’s Athletics Department. In addi-tion to coaching men’s basketball, women’s tennis, and women’s cross country (a team he created), he’s served as facilities manager, recreation and intramurals director, sports information director, assistant athletics direc-tor, associate athletics director, and, most recently, director of athletics. He’s also been an integral member of Baruch’s Division of Continuing and Professional Studies (CAPS), where until his retirement this year he oversaw upward of 20 classes per semester and grew the CAPS roster with such popular classes as Fitness for Older Adults and Women’s Bodybuilding & Conditioning.

No doubt, Rankis has been a key player in the steady transformation of Athletics at Baruch. Not only has he seen the depart-

ment grow from a three-man operation in the early 1980s to today’s seven-person team, he’s witnessed a metamorphosis of the College’s sports and recreation facilities that has been nothing short of miraculous. For decades, Athletics struggled with inad-equate facilities, including an undersized 78'-by-46' basketball court on the sixth floor of Baruch’s historic 17 Lexington Avenue building.

But since Fall 2001, with the opening of Baruch’s almost-city-block-long William

and Anita Newman Vertical Campus (NVC) on 24th Street, Athletics has had a spacious, three-floor, state-of-the-art home: the Athletic & Recreation Complex (aka the ARC). The move is one of the high-lights of Ray’s professional life. “Thanks to the ARC, the teams have won many championships,” he says.

Rankis has been on the front line of many of those championships. But more important to him than winning has been the chance to be a positive influence, a friend, and a father figure to hundreds of student-athletes since he started at Baruch in 1983. “I have known Ray for many years,” says his colleague Ron Aaron, a professor of student development and counseling and a devoted Baruch Bearcats fan. “Ray should never be thought of in terms of wins or losses. He’s the guy who is always there for others, listening, counsel-ing, and supporting. His players love him, and his colleagues feel no differently.”

“Ray is the guy who is always there for others, listening, counseling, and supporting,”says Ron Aaron, professor of student development and counseling.

HANDS DOWN: RAY’S 11 FAVORITE BARUCH SPORTS MEMORIES

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#1In 2000 our first CUNY Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) Men’s Basketball

Championship. I remember this win so clearly: We defeated York College/CUNY at the College of Staten Island. After each of the playoff games, I had the privilege of driving our volunteer basketball statisti-cian, Burt Beagle (’56), and our backup point guard, Trevor Brookins (’00), home to the Bronx. It was on my way; I live in Westchester County. While driving with them after the championship game, I looked over at Burt and realized just how important this win was to him. Burt was involved with Baruch Athletics since the mid-1950s, when he was an evening-college

student. To me, Burt epitomized everything good about Baruch and Baruch College Athletics. We three basked in the glow of finally winning the Dutch Shoe (the

basketball trophy). It is a long ride from Staten Island to the Bronx, but it didn’t seem a long ride that night.

#2The men’s soccer team’s post-hurricane CUNYAC Championship. Our team

clinched the 2012 championship in an exciting 3-2 comeback win against Brooklyn College on Randall’s Island. We had so many fans supporting us. When you take into account that earlier that week our region was devastated by Hurricane Sandy, it was impressive and moving to see so many people travel to the champi-onship game. I think we all welcomed the distraction, and we were rewarded as the

team won, despite initially trailing 2-0. It was a very cold night at Randall’s Island, but the championship warmed us up.

#3My first game as men’s basketball coach in November 1983. We were

matched against York College of Pennsylvania and losing by 20 at halftime. It was a tough game, but I found myself distracted in the second half by statistics

legend and alumnus Burt Beagle (left), who was keeping all the stats by himself. This was before Stat Crew software was invented, and it was like watch-

ing a magician at work. Burt had a way of remembering numbers, and I felt privi-leged to watch him work. Not many people can do what he did by himself at a basketball game. These days, it takes three people to keep all the basketball stats.

#4Baruch’s second men’s

basketball CUNYAC championship in 2015. That game was one of the most exciting I have ever seen: Baruch won in double overtime against Brooklyn

College in front of a large, supportive crowd at City College’s Nat Holman Gymnasium, and it was broadcast nationally on ESPN3. It was a shining moment for the entire Athletics Department and my last as Baruch athletics director. It felt good to go out on a winning note.

#5Any men’s basketball game Baruch hosted at Xavier High School on 16th Street.

I remember our equipment manager, Ralph Sirianni, pushing his equipment cart from Baruch to each game at Xavier, where we rented their gym for our “home” games from 1984 to 2001. Those were certainly different times for Athletics. I remember how excited we were when Xavier gave us a cabinet to store our basketball equipment in the recesses of their basement. This meant we didn’t have

to transport a dozen basketballs from Baruch for each game. In those days, the little things made a difference.

#6Opening night at the new Athletic & Recreation Complex (ARC) in 2002.

Men’s basket-ball played SUNY New Paltz in the first-ever athletics event in Baruch’s


HANDS DOWN: RAY’S 11 FAVORITE BARUCH SPORTS MEMORIES

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#9Winning Baruch’s first CUNYAC baseball champi-onship at Old Yankee

Stadium (2001). To beat the College of Staten Island in a one-game playoff with

the backdrop of that historic location—what a moment. My other favorite Baruch baseball memory: our CUNYAC championship in

2009. We were not a very good baseball team in 2008 but came back strong the following year to win, thanks to the leadership of current coach and good friend Jose Torres.

#10Baruch’s first CUNYAC women’s softball championship (2010).

Due to the weather, Baruch was forced to play and win three games in one day. The women worked so hard to pull off the improbable win against the College of Staten Island, recognized as one of the best teams in our region. And to boot, we had to win these games at CSI’s softball field. There was no stopping the Bearcats: we steamrolled past the competition on their home field. That win reinforced how far Baruch Athletics had come.

#11Baruch’s capacity for excellence against the odds. We have no soccer

fields, no baseball field, no softball field, and no tennis courts. With all that, we have found a way not only to persevere but to excel.

new building, the Newman Vertical Campus. I was so happy that we didn’t have to walk crosstown to Xavier to play a game. Now, we just had to go down one flight of stairs to our gym. Good times! We won that night, which made it even more special, seeing how far we had come.

#7Forming alumni family connections: During the annual Men’s Alumni

Basketball Game this January, Tony Siano, the father of one of our current assistant coaches, Gary Siano, said to me, “Look at all these people here today. That is you. You’ve created this family atmosphere—everyone coming back and being comfortable with one another.” That night

I was so proud of our ‘basketball family’: so many former players and assistant coaches back at Baruch after so many years. Knowing that their connections go beyond the court—many former players help current players get jobs and intern-ships, for example—is among my happiest, warmest realizations.

#8Playing NYU men’s basket-ball (1999). The NYU team arrived on a charter bus to

travel half a mile. Meanwhile, we walked as a team from Baruch to Xavier High. This memory’s significance is twofold: (1) It reminds me that for years Baruch played colleges and universities that had so many more resources than we had; and (2) It’s an even stronger reminder that I loved what I was doing.

RAY GREW UP IN THE SOUTH BRONX, where he played “stickball, football, punchball, softball, basketball, and any other

games we could create in a schoolyard or on the streets,” he remembers. “We’d massage the rules and the games to the venue and number of players.”

RAY EARNED HIS UNDERGRADUATE degree at Lehman College/CUNY in 1975. A communications major, he played on their basketball team.

BEFORE STARTING HIS COACHING CAREER, Ray worked an entry-level job at a radio station in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

HIS COACHING “BREAK” CAME when John Jay College’s new head coach, a former assistant coach at Lehman, recruited him. “Bob Fox saw something in me I didn’t see,” Rankis says.

TO MAKE ENDS MEET while an assistant coach, Ray moonlighted as a doorman at a building on East 57th Street.

THE LONGEST-SERVING HEAD COACH in Baruch and CUNYAC men’s basketball

history (29 years), Ray was three times awarded CUNYAC Coach of the Year honors and was New York State Division III Men’s Basketball Coach of the Year in 2000.

HE’S A MEMBER of the Lehman College Sports Hall of Fame and the Latvian-American Sports Hall of Fame.

THE RANKIS FILE

TRUE BLUE: RAY RANKIS REMEMBERS continued

ON BEHALF OF BCAM AND BARUCH COLLEGE, WE WISH RAY A HAPPY, HEALTHY RETIREMENT.

About the author: John Neves is Baruch’s director of sports information.

Rankis has organized an alumni basketball game since 1999. Above from 2009.


FOR LAVINIA PREDA, a mother of two who works as a translator with the Romanian consulate in New York City, life was certainly busy enough. But then, in January 2013, she decided to take on even more: to pursue an evening MBA in accounting at Baruch’s Zicklin School of Business.

“I had done a lot of research into vari-ous programs offered at the elite schools in New York,” explains Preda (MBA ’16). “Program quality and flexibility were both vital, as were strong career develop-ment support, professional mentors, and networking opportunities.” Baruch’s Zicklin School fit her criteria perfectly. At Zicklin, Preda nurtured her inner leader, becoming president of the Zicklin Women

in Business club in January 2015 after holding other executive roles. Over the summer, she also undertook a full-time internship in external audit at Deloitte.

Of her full schedule, Preda says, “No one day is like another, but that’s the way I like it. I always end up doing or prioritiz-ing a lot of things that I hadn’t planned.”

The Evening MBA program offers classes year-round, so most students can complete their degree in three to four years. “Many promising business lead-ers don’t have the option of pursuing a

degree full time,” explains Fenwick Huss, Zicklin’s Willem Kooyker Dean. “The eve-ning program allows them to keep up with their busy lives while still working toward their dreams.”

Like Preda, Allen Schaefer (MBA ’14) found himself fully immersed in the busi-ness school culture despite working full time—as an auditor in New York City’s Department of Finance—and going to school part time. “I liked my job, and I didn’t want to take on any debt to get ahead,” Schaefer recalls. “I did a simple discounted cash flow analysis to determine ROI, and Baruch was the easy winner.”

For 30 months, his days began at 7:30 am and ended at 10 pm and included work, classes, and meetings with the Real Estate Club, the Seminars and Conference Committee, and the Financial Statement Analysis and Securities Valuation Association, of which he served as presi-dent. In 2014 Schaefer received the Frances and Edward Murphy MBA Award for outstanding academic achievement and leadership at Zicklin. At work he was also promoted to the role of group chief within a year of graduation and is currently study-ing for the CPA exams.

Marilyn Calister, an MBA alumna of the class of 1990 and a founding member and managing director at Andersen Tax LLC, also recounts her MBA journey: three years’ worth of days that began at 6 am and ended at 11 pm. “I had financial obligations, including a mortgage, so part time was the only way. I worked full time for one company and did the books and

records for three small companies to make extra money,” she says. “Because I was ven-turing into a second career, I did not have any time to waste.”

Having made that career change so successfully, Calister offers this advice: “A master’s program in accounting must live up to the standard of excellence in the industry, and Baruch’s Evening MBA program does that and more.” —CHERYL DE JONG-LAMBERT

For more information about the Zicklin School’s MBA programs, visit http://baruch.edu/ZicklinMBA.

Busy Lives, Fulfilling DreamsEVENING MBA DELIVERS RESULTS

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The Zicklin Evening MBA was ranked #58 nationally in U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Part-Time MBA Programs 2016.” Additional top USN&WR graduate-level business rankings include Top 100 honors for the Zicklin School’s Full-Time MBA (#77) and MBA in healthcare management (#29).

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ClassNotes

30s Last summer Jewish Currents magazine published a short memoir by Henry Foner (’39). “From the Bandstand: The Odyssey of a Catskills Resort Musician” chronicles his experience as a saxophonist in the 1930s and ’40s. Foner

is emeritus president of the Joint Board of Fur, Leather and Machine Workers Union and a lifelong labor activist.

50s Emil DiPaola Jr. (’55) is retired from Smith Barney, where

he worked for 46 years and attained

the position of vice president. A resident of Amityville, N.Y., DiPaola is a longtime member of the American Legion. Frederick Harrison (’55) just authored his seventh novel, November Station,

the latest in his Intelligence Community Series. Edward A. Dreyfus (’58) authored his third novel, the psychological thriller The Midnight Shrink (2015). Dreyfus has been a practicing psy-chologist in Santa Monica, Calif., for more than 50 years.

60s The National Bank of

Arizona and the Phoenix Suns honored Paula Giangreco Cullison (’65) with a 2015 AmAZing Woman Award. Cullison is president and founder of the Arizona Women’s Partnership, Inc., an all-volunteer nonprofit that awards grants to charities for underserved women and children. Austin Marxe (’65) became a trustee of the Baruch College Fund in April; he is the founder of Special Situations Funds. Longtime Baruch College Fund Trustee Max W. Berger (’68) assumed the BCF presidency in July.

Berger (right in photo, with outgoing BCF president Joel J. Cohen [’59]) is senior founding partner at the

law firm of Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP.

70s Dennis Hickey (’70) became a trustee of the Baruch College

Fund in July; he serves as CFO of Colgate-Palmolive Company. Lance H. Wallach (’71) was cited as an expert source in the Forbes article “Tax Court Drops the Hammer on Employee Welfare Plan,” which ran in July. The Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty appointed Alan P. Schoor (MBA ’73) its executive director and CEO. With 35 years of experience, Schoor most recently served as senior VP for operations at Touro College. Hannah Atterman (’75) joined Smolin, Lupin & Co.—a financial services firm—as a forensic accountant. Arthur S. Kirsch (MBA ’75) was appointed to the

board of directors at Immunomedics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharma-ceutical company. After holding the position for 15 years, Matthew C. Blank (MBA ’76) (left) will

step down as CEO of Showtime

AN INDEPENDENT WOMAN: RUTH PRINTZ O’HARA (’52)

Of her star turn as Queen of the Senior Prom at City College Downtown (today’s Baruch), Ruth Printz O’Hara (’52) is

dismissive. “I was good-looking,” she states matter-of-factly. “The role didn’t require much.”

O’Hara had enrolled not to gain a tiara or—like many of her contemporaries—a husband, but to earn a degree. “I wanted respect. Education was a way to get respect,” she says. O’Hara chose Baruch, specifically, for practical reasons. The College was a short bus ride from her family’s Lower East Side apartment and offered easy access to a variety of part-time, after-school office jobs.

For the hardworking O’Hara, a summer waitress-ing job in New York’s Catskill Mountains proved serendipitous, launching her career in the world of art. Herman Wechsler, director of Far Gallery on Madison Avenue between 64th and 65th Streets, was among the “Borscht Belt” vacationers she happened to meet. And Wechsler offered her a job.

The genteel, progressive art gallery world—“the men were pretty respectful, and my boss was the sweetest, nicest boss in the whole world”—turned out to be a perfect fit. Eventually O’Hara became an art dealer and gallery owner of the eponymously named Ruth O’Hara Art in Midtown Manhattan, working

and traveling for clients on four continents.

Along the way, the indepen-dent alumna did marry, at 25. Her late husband had talents in another creative medium, rising to director of publishing at Dell Magazines.

The ardent business-woman is also a philan-thropist. Passionate about her Polish-Jewish heritage, she has made a $1 million

estate gift to endow the Ruth Printz O’Hara Professorship in Holocaust Studies. O’Hara’s parents came to the U.S. from Poland, her father as a child and her mother when they married in 1925. “My mother always regretted leaving Poland,” recalls O’Hara. “She lost her entire family in the war.” —DIANE HARRIGAN

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MORE ONLINE For year-by-year Class Notes, please read our online magazine at www.baruch.cuny.edu/bcam.


WE WELCOME YOUR SUBMISSIONS! Contact: Office of Alumni Relations, Baruch College/CUNY, One Bernard Baruch Way, Box A-1603, New York, NY 10010-5585. Or e-mail [email protected].

Networks on Jan. 1, 2016. Blank, who has been with Showtime since 1988, will continue to serve the company as chairman. Harry A. Hamill (’76) was appointed to the board of directors of Unilife Corporation. Prior to this, he held several senior finance positions at Wyeth, including VP of finance for global manufacturing operations.

80s University of Texas at Austin Professor of Accounting Michael

B. Clement (’80) was inducted into the PhD Project Hall of Fame. Clement’s research explores the activities of analysts whose predictions drive Wall Street. Richard M. Levychin (’82) is one of the founding part-ners of the New York City–based CPA and advisory firm KBL, LLP. In May Levychin published an article in Business Insider prais-

ing his former Baruch professor Diane Gold. The Dignity & Respect Campaign honored Inez Colon (’84) for her commitment to “creating a more diverse workplace.” Colon is the director of employment and development at the Port Authority of Allegheny County. In June Donna Jones (MPA ’84) received the Founders Award from the State Bar of Wisconsin for her leadership of nonresident

members and her many years of service. BCF Trustee Daniel Clivner (’85) joined Sidley Austin LLP as co–managing partner of its Los Angeles

office. In this capacity, he is a key member of the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity practices. Jane B. Ransom (MPA ’86) was appointed executive director

A REFOCUSED LIFEWhen Robert Weingarten (’62) was a

boy, he was fascinated by city news-stands and their ever-changing montage of front-page images. But instead of pursuing a photography career, he chose to study finance at Baruch. Was it the right decision? “Absolutely,” says the businessman–fine art

photographer whose works have been fea-tured in 92 exhibitions worldwide and grace the permanent collections of 30 museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institution.

“It was important to establish a career and make some money,” says the alumnus, who only later understood that business suc-cess ensured artistic freedom. “I don’t have to worry about being commercial; I do what I want to do artistically and flow from there.”

That maverick streak was also evident in Weingarten’s more-than-40-year business career, which included such successes as founding and building First Capital Holdings Corp., which he led as chairman and CEO and which, when sold to American Express, did $3 billion of business annually.

So what’s next for the California-based alum, whose photography runs the gamut from traditional black-and-white prints to digital mash-ups? “I don’t usually talk about new works before I start on them,” he says modestly. —DIANE HARRIGAN

Stan Ross (’56) on Leadership

“L eadership has changed dramatically over my career,” says distinguished alumnus Stan Ross, one of the nation’s most influential real estate accoun-tants and chairman of the Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of

Southern California. Ross built a successful career as vice chairman of Ernst & Young and managing partner of E&Y Kenneth Leventhal Real Estate Group by recognizing the importance of merging tried-and-true leadership skills with new approaches that respond to business change and innovation.

The changes: Whereas leadership used to be represented by “very fixed and rigid organizational charts,” Ross sees yesteryear’s

silos replaced by more open, collaborative work environments. This new paradigm results in better teamwork but makes lead-ership more important than ever. “You have to have a clear

understanding of roles and responsibilities,” he advises. “That gives people the freedom to work together.”

The constants: What hasn’t changed is a leader’s need to look ahead. “For every key job, I had the next two successors planned, so those people could be nurtured and trained toward that posi-tion,” Ross says.

In addition to being a business leader, Ross is a noted philanthropist. He’s the Stan Ross behind the Zicklin School’s Stan Ross Department of Accountancy.

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“There are two parts of my brain: the economics side and the art side,” explains businessman-turned-artist Robert Weingarten, shown here with large work Guernica (64” x 143”), part of his Pentimento series, and exhibited at NYC’s Marlboro Gallery in January.


ClassNotes

of the American Brain Foundation. Artist Ellen Gordon (MBA ’87) had her work

showcased in a retrospec-tive at the Government Center in Stamford, Conn. Included

in the exhibition were figurative collages, drawings, and landscapes (above left, Gordon’s painting Roads and Bridges, 2014). Columbia Bank named John Shepherd (EMBA ’87) its VP, wealth advisor for the Oregon market. The Alliance for Downtown New York’s board of directors unanimously elected Dennis Friedrich (’88) its new chairman. Friedrich is president and CEO of Brookfield Properties. The

Asian American Business Development Center named King Y. Look (MBA ’88) one of the 50 Outstanding Asian Americans in Business. Look has worked in engineering, operations, and planning at Con Edison for more than 30 years. Australian retail firm FXTG appointed Elias Morales (’89) as its CEO. Morales previously worked for BNP Paribas, CMC Markets, and GFT.

90s Florida State University named Jennifer

Broomfield (’91) its Title IX director. Tribeca Enterprises CFO Sandy O’Hearen (’91) (right) was the guest speaker at the Baruch Young Alumni Network (BYAN) cocktails-and-conversation event in

September. In May FPL Associates named Anthony Saitta (’91) senior managing director. He previously served as co-head of FTI Consulting’s executive compensation practice. Lara Abrash (MBA ’94) became a trustee of the Baruch College Fund in April; she is COO at Deloitte & Touche LLP. Emmanuel Clarke (MBA ’94) was appointed president of PartnerRe Ltd. He has worked for the company in a variety of capacities since 1997. In July Andrew Simmonds (EMBA ’94) began a two-year Peace Corps assignment in Cambodia to improve local healthcare systems and help meet community development needs. Simmonds, who previously worked as a physical therapist, has participated in humanitarian efforts in Haiti and South

MAKING LEARNING FUNINVENTOR-INNOVATOR MICHAEL J. FREEMAN

Baruch alumnus Michael J. Freeman (MBA ’70, CUNY PhD ’77) has many claims to fame. An inventor,

entrepreneur, educator (he was assistant professor of computer information systems at Baruch from 1968 to 1978), and author, Freeman holds 42 patents, including those for such groundbreaking technologies as touch-tone telephony (i.e., voicemail) and interactive TV. But his most fondly remem-bered invention—at least, among an entire generation of kids—may be the popular, twice-released educational toy robot 2-XL.

The interactive 2-XL (pronounced: “to excel”), released in 1978 and marketed through the early eighties by Mego Corporation and upgraded and re-introduced in the nineties by Tiger Electronics, sold in the millions worldwide and is widely regarded as the first smart toy, a harbinger of learning tools and technologies in the digital age. Plaything Magazine—a ‘bible’ in the toy industry— recognized 2-XL’s importance immediately and featured it on the cover as one of the top 10 most significant toys ever.

Freeman showed his genius early on. At 13 he won first prize in the Westinghouse Science Talent Search with 3-foot-high mechanical robot Rudy, who demonstrated rudimentary computer memory. A dozen years later, his 6-foot-high robot Leachim showed that computers could replicate speech. Next came 2-XL, which Freeman invented and patented in 1975, a small toy robot that simulated, with a smart-alecky

twist, teacher-student interactivity. Equally successful and award-winning toys Electronic Talk ’n Play and Kasey the Kinderbot followed. Underlying all this creativity was Freeman’s belief—vision, really—that technology would lead learning in the future.

But just in case this all sounds like fun and games, Freeman cautions, “Being an inventor is not easy; even the simplest—and best—ideas often cannot get traction. Success is much less about the idea than about getting traction for the idea.” 2-XL and his host of other successful, marketable creations show Freeman also has a genius for the business of invention. —DIANE HARRIGAN

The 1990s version of popular educational toy 2-XL, which was invented and patented by alumnus Dr. Michael J. Freeman.

Underlying all this creativity was Freeman's belief--vision, really--that technology would lead learning in the future.

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ClassNotes

Sudan. Crain’s New York Business named the Hon. Melissa Mark-Viverito (’95) (left) one of the 50 most powerful women of 2015.

The City Council speaker ranked #12 on the list. Haxhire (Jera) Redzovic (’96) is a senior instructor at Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow (OBT) in Brooklyn, N.Y. Aviation Technical Services—one of the nation’s largest repair, maintenance, and overhaul organizations—named Brian K. Hirshman (MBA ’98) its president. Last summer Dorothy Lewandowski (’98) (right), Queens borough parks commis-sioner, was profiled by the Queens Gazette and discussed a variety of topics, including the borough parks’ free programming and future challenges. In April Ilan Daskal (EMS ’99) became the executive VP and CFO of Cepheid, a molecular diagnostics company. He was also appointed chair of the audit commit-tee at Ixia, a leading provider of applica-tion performance and security resilience solutions.

00s Edward N. Jimenez (MBA ’00) was named CEO of the

University of Florida Health Shands Hospital system. In September Diane Arneth (EMPA ’01)—president and CEO of Community Health Action of Staten Island—was honored at a New York Women’s Foundation dinner for her support of local Staten Island neighborhoods. Ernie Cappello (’01) (below) is CEO of Window-Fix, Inc., the largest doors-and-windows company in the tristate area. As a Bearcat,

Cappello helped lead men’s basket-ball to two ECAC Metro Region Tournament appearances as point guard.

WEDDING ALBUM

Barry Eisenberg (MBA ’08) and Rebecca Levine were married on Aug. 8, 2015, in Brooklyn. The alumnus is a founding partner in BE Global Advisors, a firm that advises investment banks on regulatory and compliance matters; his wife teaches English at the High School for Fashion Industries in Manhattan.

Alumni: Please share your wedding and anniversary news with us.

“40 Under 40” Fame for Double Alum Luis Rivera

In little more than a decade, Luis Rivera (’01, MBA ’06) has risen from an entry-level hospital office job to a CFO position at insurance industry giant Aetna, where he oversees finances and budgeting for the area’s third-largest insurer, with 2 million

members. (Nationally Aetna had $58 billion in revenue in 2014.) The secret to Rivera’s success? “Most positions I’ve pursued involved bigger shoes than the ones I was wear-ing,” he reveals. “I’ve always sought challenges that stretch me to new limits.”

Rivera’s meteoric rise and industry reputation recently won him accolades from Crain’s New York Business, which included him on its 2015 “40 Under 40” list of young New York City professionals, recognized as the most talented, driven, and dynamic in their fields. Rivera calls the recognition “a great honor, especially when I realized it encompassed all sectors and amaz-ing people from all different backgrounds.”

Rivera fell into the healthcare industry after being referred by his sister-in-law for a position at Mount Sinai Health System, where his business degree and financial aptitude soon had him on the management track. “I built a reputation as someone who could translate financial information for non-finance folks, giving them the data they needed to drive operational change,” Rivera says. Progressive management roles and knowledge gained via his Baruch MBA in healthcare administration culminated in positions with C-suite responsibilities at Sinai, at a privately held medical group, and at North Shore–LIJ Health System. Now, he is excited to embrace the challenges of the insurance side as Aetna’s NY local-market CFO, a position he’s held since 2014.

The native New Yorker also enjoys pushing his boundaries in his active personal life. An avid mountain-bike racer and Ironman triathlete, Rivera recently began tak-ing salsa dance lessons! “People think of finance types as squares who manage behind an Excel spreadsheet, but I enjoy firing off some right-brain synapses as well,” notes the well-rounded CFO. —SALLY FAY

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DID YOU KNOW . . . Of all colleges nationwide, Baruch is the #1 supplier of talent to Morgan Stanley? Or that more than 1,300 grads work for Big Four accounting firms?

From banking to accounting, insurance to education, Baruch alumni are succeeding in today’s most exciting industries. And they’re doing it for companies that are—quite simply—household names.

Here’s the list of Top 15 employers of Baruch alumni and the number of alumni (in parentheses) in their ranks:

Camille (Gonzalez) Kennedy (’01) (left) of Menlo Park, Calif., is executive director of Random Acts of Flowers (RAF) Silicon Valley,

a nonprofit that recycles, repurposes, and donates flowers to healthcare facili-ties. John Quinones (MSILR ’01) is VP of recruitment for Major League Baseball. Kalvakuntla T. Ramarao (MBA ’01) is the IT minister for the Indian state of Telangana. Theresa Von Klug (MS ’02) joined Berkeley Repertory Theatre as general manager. Kibwe Williams (’02) became a United States citizen in June. Williams came to the U.S. from Guyana 13 years ago to study at Baruch. Enrique Vivas (’04) is the owner/director of Boho Mexica restau-rant and lounge in London. Jenny V. Brito (MBA ’05) was recognized as a “Hispanic Corporate Achiever” at ASPIRA of New York’s 2015 annual Circle of Latino Achievers Gala. A Con Edison employee for 16 years, Brito currently serves as section manager in the company’s gas conversion group. Jewish Week included Adam Dayan (’05) (above) on its “36 Under 36” list. Dayan heads his own law firm focused on special education law and guides special needs families through the process of securing educational programs and services. Liao Pin Tsung (EMS ’05) is CFO and executive director of China Hanking, an integrated international mining company. Network Journal named Nneka Norville (MPA ’06) one of its “40 Under Forty Achievers.” A senior manager at BET Networks, Norville has utilized social media to spread BET’s message of social responsi-bility to a broader audience. Peter Shafer (MBA ’06) and his brother own and oper-ate Nanticoke Gardens, the Binghamton, N.Y. area’s premier grower of high-quality bedding plants and poinsettias. Francesca Sterlacci-Purvin (MSEd ’06) is the founder and CEO of University of Fashion, Inc., a

website that produces instructional videos designed for fashion students, teachers, and industry profession-als. Angela Mendolaro (MPA ’09) (right) is VP of development at Orlando Science Center in Florida.

10s Queens Library appointed Jonathan Chung (MPA ’10)

director of government affairs. Previously he served as chief of staff to council mem-bers Peter F. Vallone, Jr., and Peter Koo. Caitlin Hannon (’10) received an Education Entrepreneur Fellowship from the Mind Trust to develop and launch Enroll Indy, a new nonprofit that will unify information and enrollment systems for Indianapolis’s public schools. Bahia Ramos-Synnott (MPA ’10) was named arts program director at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. With an extensive background in the nonprofit sector, Ramos-Synnott previ-ously worked at Brooklyn Botanic Garden and Brooklyn Children’s Museum. After serving as an assistant editor at Rolling Stone

YOU’RE HIRED!

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JPMorgan Chase & Co. (536)

Ernst & Young LLP (419)

Morgan Stanley (367)

KPMG, LLP (366)

Citigroup Inc. (362)

PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP (340)

NYC Department of Education (333)

Bank of America Merrill Lynch (332)

Deloitte & Touche LLP (231)

Credit Suisse (215)

Goldman Sachs & Co. (206)

BNY Mellon (174)

New York Life (152)

Baruch College/City University of New York (139)

Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. (122)

Need to update your professional information for our records? Contact the Office of Alumni Relations at [email protected] or call 646-660-6097.

BEARCAT GENERATIONSNicole T. Souza-Siudzinski (EMPA ’14) and her husband, Michael, welcomed a son, Ewan Michael, on May 5, 2015. Note: That’s not just any onesie Ewan is modeling. He’s already a proud Baruch kid. Watch out, class of 2037!

Please share news of your Bearcat kids and grandkids with BCAM.


ClassNotes

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Class Notes are provided to our readers on an “AS IS” basis. Baruch College/The City University of New York does not make any warranties, express or implied, regarding the items included and disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for the content thereof and any direct, indirect, or consequential damages related to, or arising from, the use of the information.

Diana C. Richardson (MPA ’10) had long aspired to a career in public service, but elected

office wasn’t on her radar—that is, until she received a one-word message on a graded

assignment for one of her Baruch master’s degree program classes: RUN.

The assignment? “Each student had to write a platform for a hypothetical political cam-paign,” she recalls, revealing that “not only had I gotten a high grade, but the only comment on the front of the paper was ‘RUN!’”

The comment was not to be taken lightly: It came from political veteran and School of Public Affairs Professor Ned Regan, former New York State comptroller and president of Baruch College from 2000 to 2004. “It was the first time I had considered running for office, and it was one of the most inspirational moments of my life,” says Richardson, who acted on Regan’s advice this past spring, winning a vacated seat on the New York State Assembly in a special election held in May. She represents Brooklyn’s 43rd Assembly District, an area in which she has lived her whole life.

Richardson ran as a candidate of the Working Families Party, whose platform includes access to affordable housing, corrections reform, economic

development, access to quality education, and the provision of jobs with wages that enable entry into the middle class. “I take a holistic view of policies and the ways they intertwine and affect the lives of my con-stituents,” she explains. “We need to create policies at the state level that affect all these areas in order to offer real solutions.”

Armed with her Baruch degree and prior experience working in the state legislature (she was previously director of constituent affairs for State Senator Kevin Parker [D-Brooklyn]), Richardson is enthusiastic about the differ-ence she hopes to make in the quality of life of her constituents. “I get a tremendous sense of personal satisfaction in knowing that the needs of the people I represent are met,” she says. —ERIC LUGO (MA ’14)

FOR THE PEOPLE ASSEMBLY MEMBER DIANA C. RICHARDSON

magazine, Lauren Musacchio (’11) joined TerraCRG as a leasing associate on its retail team. Mickey Abbatiello (’12) is co-founder of Balitello, a subscription-based men’s perfor-mance dress sock company (sample socks right). At Baruch Abbatiello played guard for men’s basketball from 2008 to 2012. Jared Reichbaum (’12) crossed a major item off his bucket list: walking across the U.S. From April to September, Reichbaum walked from New Jersey to San Francisco, raising awareness about bone marrow transplants. Sameson Louis (MPA ’13) is the president and founder of Economic Development for Cap-Haïtien (EDCH), which aims to increase community aware-ness of environmental, social, and economic conditions in Haiti’s second-largest city. Edward Probst (MBA ’13) is senior VP, regulatory reporting and risk, at AxiomSL. Rabbi Jeremy D. Stern (MPA ’13) serves as the executive director of the Organization for the Resolution of Agunot, an inter-national nonprofit group that advocates against the abuse of the get (Jewish divorce) process. The Town of North Hempstead unanimously approved the appointment of Averil Smith (MS ’14) as town comptrol-ler. Richard Tam (’14) opened 10Below Ice Cream in Chinatown in July. Tam’s parlor

specializes in Thai-inspired ice cream rolls, a made-to-order treat with fresh fruit. Salihe Redzovic (’15) (left), an endowments and foundations ana-

lyst at JP Morgan, has been named to the Baruch College Fund’s Board of Trustees.

“I take a holistic view of policies and the ways they intertwine and affect the lives of my constituents. We need to create policies at the state level that...offer real solutions.”


ClassNotes

IN MEMORIAM

Please consider including Baruch College in your estate planning. Your support secures the Baruch experience for future generations of students and creates lasting opportunities at your alma mater.

To learn how to use creative giving to achieve your own financial goals, please contact David Shanton at 646-660-6065 or [email protected].

Leave a Legacy

BARUCH MEANS THE G IFT OF A L I FET IME

The Baruch community was deeply saddened by the passing of Martin Kaplan (’59) on Aug. 16, 2015. Kaplan came from humble beginnings to rise to distinc-tion on Wall Street. His over-half-century career included 29 years at Merrill Lynch,

where he attained the position of managing director and head of Equity Trading, and 25 years at KR Capital Advisors, Inc., an asset management firm, where he was president

and partner. Kaplan was 78 years old.Kaplan’s and his wife’s exemplary generosity to Baruch

included the naming of two classrooms as well as the Martin and Laurie Kaplan Computing and Technology Center. He also gave of his time, talents, and business acumen to his alma mater as a trustee of the Baruch College Fund (BCF) since 2001, chair of the Investment Committee, and vice chair of the Baruch Means Business

Campaign, among other roles. Honored with the College’s Alumni Allegiance Award in 2009, Kaplan—Marty to his friends—was universally respected and liked.

Joel J. Cohen (’59) recalled their student days and the smart, driven side of Kaplan: “After classes he would always go to the office of the brokerage firm near Baruch and trade stocks, which he had been doing since high school.”

Lawrence Zicklin (’57, LHD [Hon.] ’99) said of their years at Merrill Lynch in the 1960s, “I can still hear his booming laugh in the open office we all called home. He could laugh at a story as well as tell one.” Zicklin added that his modest colleague “was never shy about recounting his own failures or errors, minimizing his suc-cesses while learning from the failures.”

Both Dov C. Schlein (’70) and Bernard Laterman (’52) met Kaplan on the BCF Board. Schlein described him “an extraordinary man, first to contribute to a scholar-ship or cause and helpful in urging others to join him.” Laterman concurred: “Marty gave with a full heart, and all who knew him responded in kind. Every one of us is better for having known him, having laughed and enjoyed special moments together.”

Marty’s many friends and admirers have established a scholarship fund in his memory. To contribute, please contact David Shanton at 646-660-6065 or [email protected].

Sidney C. Fried ’36

Irwin Katz ’38

Alfred W. Berthold ’39

Francis C. Dykeman ’39

*Harry A. Gilbert ’39

Bernard A. Silver ’41

Burt Tierstein ’41

William A. Betke ’42

George J. Jonides ’42

Nathan Bolinsky ’43

Albert Berg ’44

Daniel Eth ’45

*Miriam Feldman ’46

*Albert Friedman ’46

Sidney J. Albert ’47

Leon J. Berg ’47

Lewis M. Weston ’47

Sidney Cooper ’48

*Raymond J. Fields ’48

Leon Lebensbaum ’48

Nicholas Dalfino ’49

Concetta (Nazzaro) DeLauro ’49

Harry Kamesar ’49

Paul A. Pari ’49

Paul Rubenstein ’49

Richard Barasch ’50

Myra Glogover-Trachtenberg ’50

Henry Magid ’50

Aaron W. Warshauer ’50

Charles F. Ernst ’51

Milton Mann ’51, MBA ’54

Norman J. Mast ’51

Ira Sarinsky ’51

Howard G. Kicherer ’52

Walter J. Salmon ’52

Ira N. Anes ’53

Harold Falkowsky ’53

Louis Nuñez ’53

Melvin Goldman ’54

John O. Welton ’54

Jiro Murase ’55

Howard L. Jacobs ’56

Sidney Stuchin ’56

Donald E. Whitehouse ’57

George M. Blumenthal ’58

George H. Liesenberg ’58

William Frank Lipton ’58

Steven Becker ’59

Kyrie C. Kallas ’59, MBA ’65

Burton S. Kaliski ’60

Samuel DeVeaux ’61, MPA ’71, MBA ’75

Kenneth I. Rosenblum ’62

Tony Marvits ’63

James B. Meehan MPA ’63

Lee S. Brandeis ’64

Daniel A. Kane ’64

Donato Havdala ’65

Herbert G. Mueller ’65

Ray A. Olisa ’65

Peter T. Coe MBA ’66

George E. Casavant ’67

Albert C. Nussenbaum ’68

Thomas Keller MBA ’69

Stephen Greenberger ’71

Han K. Lee MBA ’72

William Defeo ’73

Joseph LaScala ’74

John P. Buschhorn ’76

Stephen E. Dowd ’76

Sherman O. Ferguson ’76

Patrick C. Gatins ’76

Steven E. Holub ’78

Carlos Tait ’78

Dennis J. Chessen ’80

John Esposito ’80

Robert J. Conroy MPA ’81

Andrea (Carmichael) Blencowe ’89

Michael V. Dimarco MBA ’89, MBA ’97

Leighton Watson ’91

Prosper K. Adabla ’97

Robert J. Allan MBA ’05

Rayman Mustafa EMS ’12

Timothy M. Richman MS ’15

*Benchmark Society member

Make a contribution now. Call 646-660-6132 or go online: baruch.cuny.edu/donate

Thank you!

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