Class Correspondent

40th Reunion
June 3-5, 2016

Liane Kupferberg Carter’s first book, “Ketchup Is My Favorite Vegetable: A Family Grows Up With Autism,” has been published. It’s a memoir that grew out of a series of essays she wrote for The New York Times’ parenting blog, Motherlode. Dana Cohen and his wife, Ginny, celebrated their 39th wedding anniversary on Aug. 29. They live in Gloucester, Mass., and have two daughters: Rachel, an attorney, lives nearby in Reading, and has two daughters; and Laura lives in Baltimore and is the director of the community-arts program at Baltimore Clayworks. Dana continues to operate two Medford Optical stores, with a specialty in pediatric eyewear. He plays trombone with the Cape Ann Big Band and a classic-rock band called Garfish. Elfie Harris is a sculptor and photographer who owns an artists’ studio building in Germantown, Pa. Margie (Merlin) Holzer, P’02, and her husband, Aaron, have relocated to Jacksonville, Fla. Her son is the cantor at the Jacksonville Jewish Center. Her daughter, Morgan ’02, has just moved to San Francisco to work at a computer company. Margie paints and draws portraits of people and animals. You can see her work at www.mhcreativestudios.com. Elayne Kesselman, P’19, has been practicing matrimonial law in New York City for the past 31 years. She lives on Manhattan’s Upper West Side with her twins and their two cats. Daughter Kate ’19 is a freshman at Brandeis, and son Matthew is a freshman at the University of Virginia. Elayne writes, “I hadn’t been on campus since 1981, so it was an experience touring Brandeis with my daughter. The new buildings look wonderful, and, happily, the old ones look the same. I am very excited for both of my children.” After 15 enriching years in the classroom, Marc Kornblatt has retired from teaching elementary school to devote himself to filmmaking. Over the past five years — rising before dawn and devoting weekends, holidays and summer vacations to work — he has made more than 40 films, from music videos, to short narratives, to full-length documentaries. His most recent documentary, “Dostoevsky Behind Bars,” was named a finalist for a 2015 Media for a Just Society Award by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency. For more information, visit www.refugefilms.net. Roberta Lipson continues to live in Beijing with her husband, Ted Plafker. Their three sons, now in their early 20s, are all busy exploring the world. She writes, “I continue to derive great satisfaction as CEO of Chindex International/United Family Healthcare, a newly privatized company, with six hospitals — going on 10 — plus 14 clinics and a home-health service. Although this keeps me very busy, I love to meet up with fellow Brandeis alumni sojourning in China.” Artist Joel Moskowitz, P’05, exhibited his work in a two-person show, “Traditions in Translation,” at Fountain Street Fine Art, in Framingham, Mass. Joel created drawings that blend a Hebrew letter with its corresponding Arabic letter, expressing a yearning for brotherly coexistence. David Perlin was appointed to the advisory board of Matinas BioPharma Holdings, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on identifying and developing safe, effective antifungal and antibacterial therapeutics for the treatment of serious and life-threatening infections. He serves as executive director of the Public Health Research Institute and the Rutgers Regional Biocontainment Laboratory of New Jersey Medical School. He is also a professor of microbiology, biochemistry and molecular genetics at the school. Brandeis received a $50,000 planning grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to expand the reach of The HistoryMakers, an organization founded by Julieanna Richardson, so it can be used as a resource at the university level. The HistoryMakers has created the nation’s largest African-American video oral-history archive of stories from both the well-known and the unsung. Bobby Sager and business partner Jeffrey Hecktman acquired Blipfoto, a Scotland-based online photo journal and social networking service. Blipfoto is available across all mobile devices, with free apps for Android and iPhone, and can also be accessed via a Web portal. As co-investors and collaborators, Bobby and Hecktman have been involved in reinvigorating dozens of recognized brands, including Polaroid. Birat Simha has happily retired in his native Nepal after 29 years with the United Nations. He is working with a nonprofit organization advocating for improved mental-health care. He writes that his 1-year-old granddaughter “is a joy to behold and play with.” David Yoffie and collaborator Renee Kim won Best Case at the 2015 Case Centre awards, the “Oscars” of the business-school publishing world. Their case examines the 100-year rivalry between Coca-Cola and Pepsi. David and co-author Penelope Rossano also won in the strategy and general-management category for their 2012 study of Apple. President Barack Obama nominated Robert Zimmerman to serve on the National Council on the Humanities. Robert is a partner at Zimmerman/Edelson, a Long Island-based public relations firm, and a member of the board of directors of New York City’s Center for an Urban Future.

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