Steve Benjamin

Engineering

Saratoga, CA

Steve@Stromiga.com

Please provide a tweet-sized synopsis of your life after Cornell:
Got my MEng and MBA.  Worked in Air Freight, then a PR firm with my wife, Sheri. Sold it in '99, now a RE developer. 2 kids, 27 (CU '10) 25

In what year did you last set foot on the Ithaca campus, and what was the purpose of your visit?
2014.  Member of Cornell Council, frequent guest lecturer (former Entrepreneur in Residence).  Also celebrated the "Double Nickle" with Fiji

Provide your favorite memory of your time at Cornell.
Playing Rugby, "The Stairs" at Fiji, Going to Lynah Rink.

Tell us about the most interesting things you’ve done since 1980.
Started a PR firm with my wife. Sold it in '99.  Since then redeveloped shopping centers in Saskatchewan. Being EIR when Megan attended '10.

What advice would you give to a member of the Class of 2018?
Learn about the breadth of Cornell.  Make friends with kids in other Cornell Colleges.

Myra Boenke

Engineering

Williston, VT

myra1@cal.berkeley.edu

Please provide a tweet-sized synopsis of your life after Cornell:
BellLabs optical cable; Princeton; divorce; UCBerkeley; IBM GaAs lasers; married; 2 sons; IBM Foundry RF Silicon, soon to be GlobalFoundries

Provide your favorite memory of your time at Cornell.
Sliding down the rocks and jumping off the cliff in the gorge.  Walking across a frozen Beebe Lake. Wandering the Herb Garden and Arboretum

Which piece of advice or information acquired at Cornell turned out to be completely WRONG?
If you don't go straight to grad school you will never go back.

What advice would you give to a member of the Class of 2018?
Get involved in on-campus groups and/or research projects.

What are you looking forward to at our 35th reunion in June, 2015?
Fellowship receptions and exploring outdoors

Eric J Levy

Hotel Administration

Singapore

eric@tsi.sg

Please provide a tweet-sized synopsis of your life after Cornell:
Non-stop travel, assimilate into various cultures, 2 kids, two dogs, only one wife, learn and educate within the narrow field of hospitality

List your favorite class(es) while at Cornell.
Entrepreneurship, Astronomy, Food Chem

Please provide some items from your Bucket List.
Go to Italy and Cuba. Go to final brackets of NCAA Bball

What advice would you give to a member of the Class of 2018?
Socialize with classmates and stay in touch

William Scheffer

Engineering

Schenectady, NY

schef8@nycap.rr.com

 

Please provide a tweet-sized synopsis of your life after Cornell:
1st job New Orleans, then Schenectady with SI Group, Inc.  Ch Engineering....now VP Operational Excellence. Married 30 years, 3 grown kids

In what year did you last set foot on the Ithaca campus, and what was the purpose of your visit?
I visited in 2004 when my son was considering Cornell.

List your favorite class(es) while at Cornell.
Astronomy, Fluids, Technical Writing

Which piece of information or advice did you pick up while a student at Cornell that has been useful in the past 35 years?
Write well.

Donna J Runner

Ag & Life Sciences

Belgrave, VIC  Australia

djrunner58@gmail.com

 

Please provide a tweet-sized synopsis of your life after Cornell:
Peace Corps in Thailand, grad school, 4 years in Turkey, migrated to Australia in 1989 - successful career there. university libraries

In what year did you last set foot on the Ithaca campus, and what was the purpose of your visit?
2003 - visit libraries and meet with staff about open access initiatives

Provide your favorite memory of your time at Cornell.
Watching classic Star Trek reruns after dinner at Balch Hall.

Tell us about the most interesting things you’ve done since 1980.
Lived and worked as a local in Thailand and Turkey; migrated to Australia in 1989.  Adventures for a small-town upstate New Yorker!

Please provide some items from your Bucket List.
Complete 5 hand-sewn patchwork quilts. Complete a book of family history.
Design and complete a beautiful garden.

Nancy Medford

Cornell Name - Nancy Dobkins

Ag & Life Sciences

Morristown, NJ

nfdm@aol.com

Please provide a tweet-sized synopsis of your life after Cornell:
Married another Cornell grad, 3 great kids, fantastic like in gorgeous part of Northern New Jersey. First grandchild about to be a year old.

Which piece of information or advice did you pick up while a student at Cornell that has been useful in the past 35 years?
Teaching something to another person is a great way to shore it up for yourself.  If you get up and go out you might meet your future mate

Do you have a favorite memory from a Class of 1980 reunion?
The year 2000 was my father-in-law's 50th and the 20th for my husband and me. The whole family came and it was great!

Please provide some items from your Bucket List.
Traveling to Australia & New Zealand, doing one of the Cornell summer classes, taking my parents on Safari

Tell us about the most interesting things you’ve done since 1980.
Married and had three GREAT kids, traveling to Asia, Africa, South America. Collecting art using Cornell contact to validate authenticity.

Jill Leichter

Cornell Name: Jill Holtzman

Ag & Life Sciences

Dunedin,, New Zealand

Please provide a tweet-sized synopsis of your life after Cornell:
A bit of wandering. Worked in publishing/design/art/editing. Returning to Ithaca after 11 years in New Zealand. 2 children, a full life.

In what year did you last set foot on the Ithaca campus, and what was the purpose of your visit?
2014. Many changes. Will be returning (from New Zealand) to live in Ithaca in a few weeks.

Share any random or surprising encounters with Cornell or Cornellians since you left.
Reunited with an old friend after 25 years in a barn in Lansing when we coincidentally signed our children up to the same riding lesson.

What advice would you give to a member of the Class of 2018?
A Cornell University education opens doors, so stick it out and get through it.

What are you looking forward to at our 35th reunion in June, 2015?
Seeing old friends from Sperry Hall.

Douglas Bates

Ag & Life Sciences

La Jolla, CA

dbatesmd@gmail.com

Please provide a tweet-sized synopsis of your life after Cornell:
1 wife, 2 boys in NorCal and a dog.  Still thinking outside the box and looking to make the world a little better.

In what year did you last set foot on the Ithaca campus, and what was the purpose of your visit?
Like a salmon, I make annual visits to Ithaca and Trumansburg to visit good friends.

Which piece of advice or information acquired at Cornell turned out to be completely WRONG?
"No one will want to play that stupid 'Adventure' game."

Share any random or surprising encounters with Cornell or Cornellians since you left.
Last year at CES I learned of another Doug Bates Cornell alum.  He DJ'd at WVBR.  That was a confusing conversation for quite a while....

Bruce Howard

Ag & Life Sciences

Spokane, WA

bfh5@cornell.edu

Please provide a tweet-sized synopsis of your life after Cornell:
Environmental and business development work, moving to the Northwest and raising a family, time just goes by too fast!

List your favorite class(es) while at Cornell.
Tropical Crop Production, Madison Wright; Dave Pimentel's Ag, Ethics & the Env.; Archie Ammon's poetry-writing class, and Botany, H. Banks

Provide your favorite memory of your time at Cornell.
Steaming-hot cinnamon-raisin bagel at Collegetown bagels. They cost a quarter.

Share any random or surprising encounters with Cornell or Cornellians since you left.
Two neighbors, both professors at Gonzaga, who are Cornell grads.  Also 2 attorneys I am in the middle of litigation with (same side!).

Tell us about the most interesting things you’ve done since 1980.
worked with draft horses, lived in Sweden doing woodworking, taught 5th-grade env. ed., working in range of enviro/business roles, 2 kids

Manny Schecter

Engineering

Ridgefield, CT

schecter3@comcast.net

Please provide a tweet-sized synopsis of your life after Cornell:
Career IBMer, attended GW Law School, now IBM Chief Patent Counsel, married, son attends Cornell Engineering School

In what year did you last set foot on the Ithaca campus, and what was the purpose of your visit?
I just visited my son a few times this semester!  He is a junior in the Engineering School.

Provide your favorite memory of your time at Cornell.
Ice hockey games, particularly against Harvard, and Zinck's

Martha L. Raimon

Arts & Sciences 

Maplewood, NJ

mraimon@gmail.com

Please provide a tweet-sized synopsis of your life after Cornell:
Graduated from Cornell Law School in 1985. Am now a Senior Associate at the Center for the Study of Social Policy in NYC.

List your favorite class(es) while at Cornell.
Dominic LaCapra's classes

Which piece of information or advice did you pick up while a student at Cornell that has been useful in the past 35 years?
Ask questions.

Tell us about the most interesting things you’ve done since 1980.
I am an editor of Interrupted Life: the Experience of Women in Prison in the United States.

Dik Saalfeld

Arts & Sciences

Washington, DC

rfs25@cornell.edu

Please provide a tweet-sized synopsis of your life after Cornell:
Having adventures with my kind, energetic, and lovely wife all over the planet. She's helping me become a better person.

Which piece of information or advice did you pick up while a student at Cornell that has been useful in the past 35 years?
"Don't touch that! You don't know where it's been."

Which piece of advice or information acquired at Cornell turned out to be completely WRONG?
"It's a phase - you'll grow out of it."

What advice would you give to a member of the Class of 2018?
Don't take yourself - or anybody else, for that matter -  too seriously.

Brian Joondeph

Arts & Sciences

Cherry Hills, CO

joonbug@mac.com

Please provide a tweet-sized synopsis of your life after Cornell:
Lots more school, raised a family, lived in New Zealand, working hard and enjoying Colorado

In what year did you last set foot on the Ithaca campus, and what was the purpose of your visit?
Late October 6 years ago with my middle son to look at Northeast colleges. It snowed in Ithaca. He chose to go to college in Southern Calif.

Provide your favorite memory of your time at Cornell.
My four years rowing - teammates, coaches, camaraderie

Share any random or surprise encounters with Cornell or Cornellians since you left.
Met a classmate who I didn't know at Cornell while working out at Red Rocks. Betsy Tournier.