Brandeis Magazine

The fall 2011 Brandeis Magazine included the results of my request for relevant information classmates would like to see in Class Notes. There was a really good response, and we had one of the longest entries in the magazine’s notes section. That was amazing, given the fact that we are among the smallest and oldest classes — which means, of course, that we have fewer births, bar/bat mitzvahs, engagements, weddings (though there have been a few new senior weddings) and graduations than the later classes. There are, of course, the extraordinary exploits and achievements of grandchildren and even great-grandchildren. And we have endured!

I was saddened to receive a note from Ken Eisenberg saying that his father, Bob, had passed away. I also heard from retired math professor Herb Gross (just a bit too late for the last issue), who wrote, “It is a wonderful feeling to know that the video math programs that I developed over 40 years ago are now teaching a whole new generation of online learners, many of whom were not yet born when the program was developed. And the fact that mathematics doesn’t change through the generations means that my website(s) should be helpful to learners for many generations to come. It is a rather macabre situation (one that I am not in a big rush to have happen), but it appears that I will now be able to teach mathematics posthumously.” Marshall Sterman, who regularly emails me his intermittent blog (containing his thoughts while walking on the beach or reading The New York Times), has sent me the following personal news: “I have just started a new business as chairman-CEO. It’s called Relevant Data. I have attached an exec summary and am trying to raise money from ‘sophisticated investors.’ If any classmates want more info, I’m happy to supply it.” His new venture has been written up in the Boston Business Journal with the headline “From incorporation to IPO in a year? That’s the plan at Relevant Data.” Herbert Lewis let us know that he serves as president of the Association of Senior Anthropologists, a section of the American Anthropological Association. The Rev. Alfred Zadig, affectionately known as “Father Al” to parishioners at Grace Episcopal Church in Oxford, Mass., was honored Nov. 5–6, 2011, in celebration of his 50th anniversary as a priest and his 80th birthday. Al shared the story of his conversion to Christianity with a reporter from the Telegram & Gazette in Worcester. He entered Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati for pre-rabbinical studies before transferring to Brandeis, where he became interested in Christianity. “I became convinced of the truth of Christian faith, which only added to my Jewish faith,” he told the newspaper. He was baptized on Easter Sunday in 1952 and started studying to be an Episcopal priest rather than a rabbi.