Class Correspondent

Judith Lowitz Adler, P’99, retired from her position as head of the mergers and acquisitions group at Robert Bosch after 32 years of practicing law. Plans: More traveling, moving back to NYC and sleeping in. She is also awaiting her second grandchild, courtesy of Esther Adler ’99 and Esther’s husband, Gary Kessler. Arjun Appadurai and his wife, Gabika Bockaj, are the proud parents of Kabir Armaan, born on June 27, 2014. Arjun is the Goddard Professor of Media, Culture and Communication at New York University and the author of “The Future as Cultural Fact: Essays on the Global Condition.” He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Erasmus University. Albert Chao was appointed to the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ Houston branch. In his role, he provides input into regional economic conditions as part of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy functions. The president, chief executive officer and director of Westlake Chemical Corp., Albert has more than 35 years of experience in the petrochemical, plastics and building products industry. Edward David, who serves as assistant superintendent for business at the Greenburgh-Graham school district in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., hopes to retire in summer 2016. His wife, Susan, just retired after 14 years as principal at Walter Panas High School. The couple met on JDate. Chuck and Diane Wheaton Eisenberg write, “We have become bicoastal parents, with one son in San Francisco and the other here in Boston. We also have three delightful granddaughters (on this coast). Diane is enjoying her retirement while Chuck focuses on affordable housing and renewable energy developments.” Claudia Fine, P’09, a pioneer in geriatric-care management, received the President’s Award from Women in Health Management at the organization’s annual leadership event in New York City. The award recognizes the achievements of women executives in the health-care field. She serves as chief of professional services for Humana at Home. Michael Gerver, P’99, is a patent agent at Ehrlich & Fenster, in Ramat Gan, Israel. He writes and prosecutes patent applications, mostly dealing with biomedical instrumentation, for some of the many companies working in that field in Israel. Three of his four children live in New York, and one is in grad school in London. Carol Kline Kempner retired after a satisfying 42-year career as a high-school English teacher in three different schools in the metro Washington, D.C., area. She writes, “I have been enjoying my time off and will need many months to purge all my teaching materials, clean my house and just calm down. What I’ll do after that, who knows?” Sara Levinsky Rigler published her fourth book, “God Winked: Tales and Lessons From My Spiritual Adventures.” The book tells of her year in India while a junior at Brandeis; her 15 years as a monastic member of an ashram; and her move to Jerusalem, where she has lived for the past 29 years as a Torah-observant Jew. Sara also conducts a weekly webinar for married Jewish women, which has participants from six continents, and a weekly webinar for single Jewish women. Check out her website, www.sararigler.com. Nikki Petroff Strandskov and her husband, Henrik, have lived in Brunswick, Maine, since 2005 and are semi­retired. Nikki works for H&R Block during tax season, and Henrik works at TD Bank. Their younger daughter, Elinor, attends the University of Southern Maine. Their older daughter, Cordelia, is a United Church of Christ minister and the adoptive mom to Beatrix, now 2. Their son and daughter-in-law live in Minneapolis and are active in radical politics. Nikki writes, “I didn’t manage to persuade any of our kids to go to Brandeis, but I think a lot of what I learned there has influenced them.” Marsha Weinraub, P’14, continues as chair of the psychology department at Temple University, in Philadelphia. She and her husband, Stuart, are the proud parents of Jeremy Schmidt ’14. Until 2011, Steven Weiss taught sculpture, drawing and anatomy at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He now works full time in his sculpture studio. A selection of his work can be viewed at www.stevenweissart.com. He writes, “Another of my children got married last spring, and a third is engaged. One more to go. No grandchildren yet, but we are looking forward to the prospect.” Beth Wright stepped down after serving as dean of the University of Texas at Arlington’s College of Liberal Arts for more than a decade. A distinguished art historian, she is taking a year of leave and will return to her position as a professor in the Department of Art and Art History in 2016.
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