Class Correspondent

With the arrival of spring, we come out of our various forms of hibernation to enjoy the beautiful changes in nature. How about making this the season to reconnect and renew friendships with your Brandeis classmates? Please make sure the Office of Alumni Relations has your current contact info so it can help you and others make those connections and keep the personal and professional news about one another flowing.

Stephen Lippman writes, “I completed five comedy-writing courses at the People’s Improv Theater in New York over the past two years. Too bad there’s no MA in comedy writing! The courses challenged my imagination, creativity, writing skills, courage and time-management skills. They were also fun.” Tracy (Harris) Lustig and Steven Lustig ’90 were married on March 11, 2012, in New York City. They reside in Alexandria, Va. Writes Tracy, “We never met (or heard of) each other at Brandeis; instead, we met 22 years later in Washington, D.C.” Brandeisians at the ceremony included Melissa (Feldman) Shalit ’90, Dean Shalit ’90, Abbe (Ferber) Kruger, Erik Kruger and Mike Kanovitz ’90. Julian Zelizer and Meg Jacobs were married in New York City on Sept. 2, 2012. Rabbi Gerald Zelizer, Julian’s father, performed the ceremony. Susan Lewis and James Gage are engaged and planning a wedding in the fall. They met on eHarmony. She writes, “When we are married, I will also gain a stepson named Michael.” The Los Angeles Times profiled actress Robin Weigert, who recently played Brooke Wyeth, a fragile, leftist, Ivy League-educated writer, in Jon Robin Baitz’s “Other Desert Cities” at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. Robin told the newspaper that she hails “from a long line of therapists.” Her grandmother Edith Weigert was one of the earliest psychoanalysts — she knew Freud and Jung — and her father was a psychoanalyst, too. “You know how people grow up Catholic?” Robin asked her interviewer. “Well, I feel like I grew up psychoanalyst.” Kenneth Wong, interim director of Virginia Tech University’s Northern Virginia Center, was elected to the board of directors of Virginia Bio. The statewide trade association works to bring new biotechnology discoveries to the marketplace and the clinic to improve health and patient care and create jobs in Virginia. Neil Rothstein was named vice president of marketing at 23andMe, a leading personal genetics company. He is responsible for its marketing, branding and customer acquisition activities. 23andMe helps individuals understand their own genetic information through DNA analysis technologies and web-based interactive tools. Prior to joining the firm, he worked at Netflix for 11 years. Neil has also had roles with RateItAll, ESPN and the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games.

President Fred and Kathy Lawrence joined U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro ’91 and his wife, Julie Fisher ’90, at their residence in Herzliya on Nov. 21, 2012.

HISTORIC MOMENT. President Fred and Kathy Lawrence
joined U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro ’91 and
his wife, Julie Fisher ’90, at their residence in Herzliya on
Nov. 21, 2012, just as a cease-fire between Israel and
Hamas was being announced. Shapiro had canceled all
of the week’s events at the residence — except for the
Alumni Club of Israel get-together — to focus on reaching
the accord. More than 200 alumni, parents and friends
gathered to hear the president’s campus update and
learn of the many connections between Brandeis and Israel.

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