Class Correspondent

As always, it is wonderful hearing from many of you and catching up with your interesting lives. Our older daughter, Tracy, continues to practice law in California, and our younger daughter, Laura, headed off in November for an Australian adventure with a one-way plane ticket and the expectation that she will spend six-plus months exploring the country with almost no plans set in advance. Oh, to be young and fearless! My husband and I spent four days in November at a combination wedding and family reunion, which was wonderful. It’s amazing to see how the babies are now in their 20s and the next generation is becoming teenagers.

Connecticut State Supreme Court Justice Joette Katz stepped down in early January to become commissioner of the long-troubled state Department of Children and Families. Katz, a mentor to four children who live in a foster home, gave up her seat on the high court to run a problem-plagued agency with 3,456 full-time employees and an $810 million annual budget. “I sat back and I said, ‘OK, what do I want to do in the next chapter of my life?’” she told the Hartford Courant. “I’m ready for a new challenge. Where can my energy, my skills and my dreams be best delivered, executed and accomplished?” Katz was appointed to the Superior Court in 1989 and to the state Supreme Court 13 years later, becoming the youngest-ever member of the high court.

Joel Fiedler
is a professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine’s allergy division. He and Steve Bober got together in July 2010 for a one-week reunion with Mike Kusevitsky, Gary Zellerbach and Carl Sealove, as well as David Katzen ’75 and his wife, Bobbi Binder ’76. Along with their spouses, they all rented a house together. Steve writes, “A bunch of dear friends from Brandeis days gathered from all corners of the U.S. to party and reminisce on Flathead Lake in Montana. Among many wonderfully ridiculous things we did, we re-created a photo taken of the eight of us in Waltham back in the ’70s. Physical appearances aside, it feels like we never left!”

In addition to running her ketubah business (preparing artistic marriage certificates suitable for framing), Betsy Platkin Teutsch serves on the board of the Kibera School for Girls in Nairobi, Kenya. She shares this news: “We are providing free primary education to 67 of the poorest girls in this area, known for its squalor and extreme deprivation. We have added a health clinic, biosanitation center and vegetable gardens, tying the value of girls’ education to general family support and uplift. Read more about it at shininghopeforcommunities.org.” Betsy’s son Zach married Becca Rosen in May 2010.

Heidi Ravven, Ph.D.’84,
is in her 28th year on the faculty of the Religious Studies Department at Hamilton College. She writes, “My interests, however, have strayed from the explication of philosophical texts — Spinoza, Maimonides, Hegel — to a study of the moral psychology underlying philosophical notions of moral agency (why people are moral and how they can be induced to act morally). I got hooked on the neuroscience of the emotions since writing on Spinoza’s anticipation of affective neuroscience in the early 2000s.” Her book “Searching for Ethics” is scheduled to be published later this year.

John-Peter Dunn
celebrated his 28th wedding anniversary in August 2010. He is back working at Oracle. His triplets are in their sophomore year of college: Jared ’13, at Brandeis, is on the sailing team; Jessica, at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, is on the softball team; and Mariah, at Olin College of Engineering, is a member of the Olin Conductorless Orchestra.

Robert Epstein spoke at the Women’s Conference, organized by Maria Shriver, in October 2010 in California. A total of 14,000 women from around the world came to hear speakers such as Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Deepak Chopra, Sandra Day O’Connor and Tony Robbins.

Felicia Eth Aron writes that her latest sale as a literary agent was a wonderful book that Caroline Leavitt recommended. Felicia continues to operate her own agency in Palo Alto, Calif., although a move to San Francisco is likely when her younger daughter heads off to college next year.

Margaret (Minx) Fuller is a professor of developmental biology and genetics at the Stanford University School of Medicine, where she conducts basic research and teaches. Her husband of 22 years, Matthew Scott, is also a professor at Stanford. Margaret says, “Next quarter, a group of colleagues and I are teaching ‘Cell and Developmental Biology’ to 270 sophomores. My son is now a sophomore at the University of California at Santa Cruz, so I will think of him as I look out over the sea of students. My daughter is 13. When I think back over what I did at Brandeis that is most useful to me professionally, I often say it is the theater that I was involved in outside of class.”

Mitchell Goldman reports that he is an architect living in Newton, Mass., with two awesome kids, one in college and one just finishing high school. He and his wife, Lisa Reindorf, run a small architecture firm, Goldman Reindorf Architects. The firm is known for its work with higher-education clients, including Brandeis. He writes, “Through LinkedIn, I reconnected with Russell Arkin ’73, one of the coolest dudes from the late ’60s at Brandeis. Any other friends from our days at Brandeis who want to reconnect, find me on LinkedIn (my kids banned me from Facebook).”

Kenny Raskin lives in Needham, Mass., with his wife, Joanna, and their 13-year-old son, Evan. Formerly a professional actor and comedian, Kenny has been using those skills for the past 15 years as a leadership communications coach, helping mid- and upper-level executives from around the world connect more authentically and inspiringly with their clients, colleagues and staff. His wife, a hair and makeup artist, has worked on many films that were shot in the Boston area. Evan, an eighth grader, loves music and snowboarding.

Judith Tolnick Champa
is an independent curator and art writer based in Providence, R.I. She was re-elected Rhode Island state representative to the board of the New England Museum Association. Her exhibition “Extravagant Drawing” is appearing at the Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Program in Long Island City, N.Y., through April 10.

Helen Kadish was named director of development at the New Center for Arts and Culture in Boston. She had led annual and capital fundraising at the Solomon Schechter School of Greater Boston for 25 years. 
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