Brandeis Magazine

Marilyn Becker enjoyed attending Alumni College during Alumni Weekend this spring and wishes other members of the Class of ’59 had been there to share the experience. She is still very active as a cantor/spiritual leader of life-cycle outreach. Shepard Forman writes, “Turning 80 is a milestone in so many ways. I celebrated with 25 close friends and family at home in Rio de Janeiro, where we reside seven to eight months a year.” He laments “the dark sociopolitical days we have aged into, both in the U.S. and Brazil, and around the world” and says he tries to make a positive difference through his work in not-for-profit and public sectors. The president of the LAFF (Life After the Ford Foundation) Society, he is writing “Ethnography of Self: Fieldwork Among the Makassae of East Timor.” Bassist Chuck Israels’ latest CD release is “Concerto Peligroso” on Dot Time Records. In February and March, he will tour with mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato — Chuck worked with her on her “Songplay” album — performing concerts in Seattle, Berkeley, St. Paul, Oberlin, Boston and Princeton. Chuck Kenney lives in Franklin, Massachusetts, with his wife, Myrna. He started a national company, Research Data Inc., in 1971 and retired in 2002 after a successful career in marketing research. Chuck came out of retirement a few years ago to work as a licensed Realtor. Alicia (Suskin) Ostriker’s most recent collection of poems, “Waiting for the Light,” received the 2017 National Jewish Book Award for Poetry. A book of essays about her work, “Everywoman Her Own Theology: On the Poetry of Alicia Suskin Ostriker,” was published by the University of Michigan Press in September. Carol Rabinowitz, G’18, and her husband have returned to living in Newton, Massachusetts, for half the year. She writes she’d love to play more golf; if anyone is interested, email her. Grandson Louis graduated from Brandeis last spring. Carla-Mae (Festa) Richards is living in a continuing-care retirement community in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The former Brandeis fencer retired as technical director of USA Fencing 14 years ago. She still volunteers at national fencing tournaments, which allows her to stay in touch with many fencing friends and with the sport. Gabrielle Rossmer Gropman and daughter Sonya Gropman have been promoting their “German-Jewish Cookbook: Recipes and History of a Cuisine,” published in 2017 by Brandeis University Press as part of the HBI Series on Jewish Women. “Our travels around the country and in Germany have yielded gratifying encounters,” she reports, “even a visit with old pal Manny Schreiber.”