Brandeis Magazine

In July 2025, Betsy Diamant-Cohen presented a World Literacy Summit/ Sun Books webinar titled “The Importance of Family Engagement in Early Childhood Literacy.”

Janet Domenitz and Jennifer Edson — who first met in 1971 in junior high school in New Rochelle, New York — got together in August 2025 in the Boston area.

Matthew Gordon has lived outside Philadelphia, with wife Karen Leander and son Noah Gordon-Leander, for 30 years. Matthew works in environmental remediation at infrastructure consulting firm AECOM. Karen and Noah both work at Merck, as a biologist and a chemical engineer, respectively. Matthew’s band, Matthew Gordon & Silvershade Scenery, performed at the Philadelphia Folk Festival last summer.

Roger Herzog has retired from the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation, where he worked for 26 years, 17 of them as executive director. Last summer, he spent time in the Czech Republic, his maternal homeland, studying the Czech language and culture. Roger’s grandson Raphael turned 6 months old on Juneteenth 2025.

Elaine Matlow Tal-El is the founder of AVIsrael, an NGO that teaches children with deafness to listen, speak and live as equals in the hearing world through an approach called auditory-verbal therapy. In May 2025, she was recognized as an honorary citizen of Jerusalem (Yakirat Yerushalayim).

Barbra Rabson, president and CEO at Massachusetts Health Quality Partners, was given the Primary Care Community Leadership Award by the Primary Care Collaborative in June 2025. The award honors leadership that helps ensure primary care is foundational to community or state health-care reform efforts.

Mark Sack has retired from a 36-year career in high-school education. He is now the director for southern Ohio at the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, focusing on the communities of Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati.

Sol W. Bernstein, P’15, and wife Risa welcomed their first grandchild, Nora Sage, on Oct. 14, 2024.

Michele Chabin, a longtime journalist who lives in Jerusalem, received a First-Place Award from the Catholic Media Association in the category Best Coverage — Disaster or Crises for a story titled “War Rages in the Middle East,” published in the National Catholic Register.

Jeff Rubin, who has retired from his position at a Washington think tank, serves on two county human-rights commissions and is a certified yoga instructor. He and wife Deborah have two granddaughters, ages 4 and 2.

Brian Caplan is a partner in the New York City-based law firm Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt, representing such performers as Kendrick Lamar, Shaboozey and the Lumineers in his entertainment litigation practice.

Mark Ferriero, a clinical professor at the Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, holds a fellowship, a mastership, and three Lifelong Learning and Service Recognition awards from the Academy of General Dentistry. He is also a fellow of both the International and the American Colleges of Dentistry.

Nelson Handel and wife Elicia are extending their stay in Spain for another year. Their travels have included visits to Morocco, Finland, Sri Lanka and Mexico. Nelson writes a culture and travel newsletter (www.retiremoon.me).

David Bunis, P’16, is senior counsel at Cloherty & Steinberg, a boutique litigation firm in Boston.

Susan Chapman Hantman and Barry Hantman ’84 report their son, Noam, was awarded a PhD in biochemistry and biophysics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in May 2025.

Ellen Coppola and husband Peter recently enjoyed a five-month pole-to-pole cruise. It was their third multi-month cruise. The first two (in 2019 and 2023) circumnavigated the Earth going east to west.

Iris Kliman has retired after 11 years as a chemist at Polaroid, and 26 years at Draper and Raytheon. She celebrated this milestone with a two-week trip to Europe with family.

Rosemary Rodriguez directed the final episodes of Season 1 of “It’s Not Like That,” an Amazon Prime series.

Dennis Kelleher is celebrating the 15th anniversary of his co-founding Better Markets, a nonprofit that advocates for the public interest in economic and financial policymaking. And for the fifth year in a row, Washingtonian magazine recognized him as one of Washington’s 500 Most Influential People in Banking and Finance. Dennis says his highlight of 2025 was hosting Zack Albert, an assistant professor of politics at Brandeis, at his house for a Faculty in the Field event that discussed political parties and democracy.

Frances Langum and husband Bill McMahon are the producers of the podcast “The Professional Left,” which recently reached 7.5 million downloads.

Amy Mager and husband Dan Garfield ’84, both P’21, celebrated two happy occasions: Their eldest son, Rashi, married Emily Ward in September 2024, and eldest daughter Emunah married Neal Strauss the following November. Amy is the federal advocacy chair of the American Society of Acupuncturists and a member of the NCCAOM State Relations Task Force.

Gary Massey welcomed a new granddaughter, Margo, born to Ben and Ilana Massey in Chicago.

Samuel Ramer is general counsel and acting chief of staff at the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Laurie Solomon reports she enjoyed a mini-reunion in New Jersey with a few cherished Brandeis friends, thanks to the generous hospitality of Risa Glaser Grimaldi.

Stuart Carroll, P’29, reports daughter Sara ’29 is “following her father’s ancient footsteps” as a Brandeis first-year. Based in El Segundo, California, Stuart practices law as an outside general counsel to creative studios.

Michael Resnick is on the wealth management team at Infinity Strategic Partners in Northbrook, Illinois. He focuses on planning for retirement and managing the swings of the financial markets for clients.

Daniel Gordon writes, “In the same year I turned 60 years young, I have officially retired. I am taking it easy — traveling, diving with friends and family, and enjoying smelling the roses.”

Alan Halperin practices commercial bankruptcy law at his firm, Halperin Battaglia Benzija. His twins are now first-years at different colleges. “This is the first time we have none of our kids at home in almost 29 years,” he reports.

Alison Kibler is a professor of American studies, and women’s, gender and sexuality studies at Franklin & Marshall College, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She created a multimedia public-history project, Lancaster Vice, which documents the city during the early 20th century, when it was infamous for turning a blind eye to gambling, commercial sex and drinking. The project includes a podcast, a blog and a walking tour.

Work by Daniel Lockwood was published — for the sixth year in a row — by Writers Without Margins.

Lisa Poller, P’27, has a startup venture called Brain Explained Products, which provides an interactive platform that helps adult learners and workers enhance their confidence, and supercharge productivity and performance. She also runs Agile Fundraising and Strategy Consulting, which helps social-impact organizations maximize their innovation and agility. Son Seth Haycock-Poller ’27 is majoring in computer science and jazz at Brandeis.

Gill Schor’s award-winning Sports History Magazine has been rolled into Gill’s new Substack magazine, “Rmag,” which includes columns on sports, culture and lifestyle.

Mitchell Bard is a professor at Iona University, where he chairs the media and strategic communication department.

Ari Kiirikki says his son, Ari, has graduated from Holy Cross: “We had a proud parenting moment when Ari played the flute to accompany a fellow student who sang the national anthem at the graduation ceremony in the DCU Center. While big Ari is cramming for retirement, little Ari will be cramming for the Medical College Admission Test.”

Timothy Wedeen, P’29, says daughter Tierney ’29 received Early Decision admission to Brandeis.

Hildy Zevin-Silverman is a senior digital marketing manager at a medical device manufacturer, writes and edits fiction professionally, and participates as a panelist or moderator at East Coast genre-fiction conventions. For more information about Hildy’s fiction projects, visit hildysilverman.com.

Andrea Soloway, P’20, writes she enjoyed traveling to Kenya with fellow Brandeisians on a Brandeis Travelers expedition. She has a 2-yearold granddaughter, Millie, and, at the time of her note, was expecting another grandchild in October 2025.

Kurt Tandan reports that when David Lown ’88 paid him a visit in Portland, Oregon, they enjoyed a Nine Inch Nails concert, placed 8th and 9th out of 200 in a mud run, and sang themselves hoarse at karaoke.