Brandeis Magazine

Kathie Abrams, P’16, retired from teaching elementary art in 2019. Her volunteer work includes political letter-writing and the Friends of the South Orange (New Jersey) Public Library. Husband Jeremy Garber is retired from the New York State Attorney Grievance Committee. They have three daughters: Judith Garber, Heller MPP’16, is a senior policy analyst at the Lown Institute, a think tank for health-care justice; Leah is a software engineer at Unite Us, a tech company that connects health and social service providers; and Miriam is a high school math teacher. Michael Goldenkranz was featured in a segment on his local CBS affiliate’s morning news on how the U.S. Congress is turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to gaps for vision and hearing in Medicare coverage. He says he’s excited about becoming a grandpa for the second time, and he was delighted to catch up with Sue Benjamin and her family when they visited Seattle. After selling their architecture firm three years ago, Mitch Goldman and his wife, Lisa, have enjoyed a more relaxed lifestyle. They visited with Mitch’s college roommate Russell Arkin ’73 several months ago. “Russell and I communicate often, maintaining humor and perspective on our younger times, and helping each other gracefully adapt to aging,” Mitch writes. Sharon Hammer Rubin and her husband, Irwin, made the cross-country move to their new house in Redwood City, California, in September. She writes, “Going through 40 years’ worth of possessions and memories in our New York home was both exhilarating and exhausting, and we now plan to live by the adage ‘Less is more.’” She’s looking forward to connecting with California-based classmates. A book co-edited by Kathryn Hellerstein, “China and Ashkenazic Jewry: Transcultural Encounters,” was published by De Gruyter Oldenbourg in April. She is a professor of Yiddish and the director of the Jewish studies program at the University of Pennsylvania. In February, actor Bob Jaffe was a guest star in an episode of the CBS show “FBI,” and in August he played a recurring role in a 10-episode podcast. Bob recently finished a 10-year tenure as board chair at Ensemble Studio Theatre, where he continues to perform as an ensemble artist. Since selling his most recent business, Daniel Kazzaz, GSAS MA’11, is helping Brandeis commercialize products of its faculty and student research — “also known as technology transfer, angel investing, venture capital investing, and alumni networking,” he writes. “Brandeis holds an amazing gold mine of ideas and innovation.” Dan Klein reports he and Shelley now have two grandkids, Raea and Simon, and shares some travel news: “In March/April, we spent three weeks in warm and spectacular Hawaii, and in July it was off to not-so-warm but equally spectacular Alaska.” Dan looks forward to seeing classmates at the 50th Reunion in less than two years. Michael Krasnow organized a COVID-delayed 50th reunion for his Malverne (New York) High School graduating class with longtime friend Glenn Finley. Mark Matthews reports, “I’m living in the one-prairie-dog town of Hysham, Montana — writing, sculpting, and painting.” Tom Phillips composed the score for an “American Experience” documentary titled “The Lie Detectors,” about the invention of the polygraph. The documentary will air on PBS in 2023. Steven Ruby and his wife, Gail, both P’08, live in Delray Beach, Florida, and are looking forward to the birth of their fourth grandchild. Steven, who retired from clinical practice as a vascular surgeon in 2018, currently works for MedSchoolCoach, advising students on how to get into medical school. Beth Slavet shares the sad news that her husband, Arne Gadeberg, died suddenly in October 2021 of cardiac arrest. “It’s been a very difficult year,” she writes. Beth works at the mediation program she created eight years ago within the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Administrative Law Judges. Mindy Milberg, Beth’s roommate during senior year, is a freelance mediator at the program. Beth and Sally Zanger, P’21, her junior- and senior-year roommate, went on a safari in Tanzania and Uganda at the end of the summer. Judith Tolnick Champa is a founder and the president of the Rhode Island nonprofit Providence Biennial for Contemporary Art. Through a new program called Providence Curates, the organization is mentoring three emerging curators who will present concurrent social justice-informed exhibitions next summer. Steve Tradd reports he’s enjoying retirement as a snowbird, living in Orlando, Florida, and on a lake in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Youngest son Derek and his wife Brooke recently welcomed their first child, a son named Hunter. Sylvia Vigliani received a grant to create a table installation in the New York Botanical Garden’s “Around the Table: Stories of the Food We Love.” The exhibition, which ran from June to September, featured 30 artists.