1982

I’m writing this the day after the terrible terrorist attack here in New York City. People’s notes, of course, were written beforehand. Living in Manhattan, I’m sure that I know people who have been hurt or killed, but I haven’t heard of anyone I know yet. Most of my work and life is in Midtown and Uptown, which is a distinctly different neighborhood from Downtown Manhattan, where the World Trade Center was. I do hope that none of our classmates and members of other classes were among the fatalities. I nearly decided not to submit any class notes for this issue; it didn’t seem important compared with the magnitude of this tragedy. It occurred to me, however, that connections between old friends and classmates are pretty important, so I am collecting my notes and sending them to be published.

Mitch Cohen writes that he got married in June and honeymooned in Italy. Venice was the nicest place they visited; Florence and the Cinque Terre were also great. Mitch has been living in Berkeley since 1987. Back in the summer of 1997, he flew to Seattle and bicycled from Seattle to NYC. Then he stayed in NYC on an extended “sabbatical” to help care for his parents. Mitch’s dad died from multiple sclerosis complications last year. While in NYC, Mitch met his bride, who has since moved to Berkeley.

Mitch works for an HMO, mostly doing computer programming and data analysis for marketing and accounting applications. He reports that the work is fairly boring. However, he has a bicycle commute each day, which allows him 10 great half-hour workouts per week.

Thomas D. Williamson updates us on his professional achievements, saying he is a certified insolvency and restructuring adviser and a partner at Deloitte Consulting, LP in Chicago.

Three years ago, Peter Cobb co-founded eBags.com, the largest online retailer of luggage and handbags. They were fortunate to get substantial VC funding and have negotiated through the Internet downturn fairly well. They have 50 employees, count more than three million visitors to the site every month, and have sold over one million bags. Despite the wild ride, Peter reports that he enjoys the challenge, and he gets to live in Denver. If you want to contact Peter, his e-mail address is peter@ebags.com and his phone number is 303.967.2202

Since 1996, Gary Blakely has worked for the John Buck Co., a Chicago real-estate developer. As a senior vice president, he focuses on acquisitions, dispositions and recapitalization strategies. Gary enjoys golf and weekend drives with Debbie in his Honda S2000 two-seater. With one college-age son already back from his two-year church mission to the Dominican Republic, another preparing to leave on a mission, and a daughter in high school, he and Debbie are having to confront the notion of being empty-nesters. Gary would love to hear from classmates at gblakely@tjbc.com.

Caryn Ryan writes that she is living and working for BP and was just promoted to commercial director for BP’s trading operations. Her husband, Rob Pedelty, teaches high school math at the American School of London, which their two children, Andrew,15, and Kathryn, 10, attend. Caryn says that she would love to catch up with Lillian Camio Deering and Barbara Rehmus Epperson ’84, and if they read this they should contact her. Caryn’s e-mail is RyanCS@bp.com.

Pam Sharar-Stoppel is senior vice president at American National Bank. She’s been married to Jim for 23 years and has two children: Morgan, 15 and Trent, 12.

Vicki Mayfield reports that the independent consulting business is still fun and challenging even after eight years. Her assignments have taken her all over the United States, around the dot-com’s and even internationally. While the hours are erratic, her level of interest is always high and she’s never bored. She can be reached at 312.902.3005.