Volume 39 2019 Photo: City of of Hills Beverly Photo: City Musical birthday bash for 30 Years After: Remembering BHUSD’s historic teachers strike -- p. 36 Richard Sherman S’45 -- p. 43 Normans make the grade Alumni fl ourish in the arts, math, science and more Photo: Gayne/NBC Photo: Greg Sue Fink ’66 & Angel City Q&A: UCLA Math Prof. John Fung, MD, PhD ’72, Angella Nazarian ’85 Chorale shine on Mason Porter ’95 leader in transplant awarded Ellis Island America’s Got Talent -- p. 42 -- p. 38 medicine -- p. 45 Medal of Honor -- p. 40 Supt. Remem- Michael Bregy bering discusses longtime BHUSD’s new counselor, middle school Vivian and more Saatjian- Normans named to Hall of Fame Green -- p. 5, 49 -- p. 3 -- p. 56 2 Alumni Highlights 2019 On Highlights’ masthead is the phrase “Today Well Inside this Issue Lived.” It is excerpted Hall of Fame Reunion photos from the following poem: pages 4-7 pages 14-18 Salutation of the Dawn Look to this day, For it is the very life of life. Upcoming Class Notes In its brief course lie all the verities and realities of Reunions pages 20-35 your existence; page 5 The glory of action, The bliss of growth, Profi les The splendor of beauty, For yesterday is but a Graduation pages 38-47 dream and pages 8-9 Tomorrow is only a vision; But today well lived makes Alumni Snapshots every yesterday a dream of List of pages 48-51 happiness, And every tomorrow a Contributors vision of hope, Look well, therefore, to this pages 10-13 Obituaries day. pages 52-63 Alumni Highlights Alumni Assoc. Board of Directors Staff Melanie Anderson Editor and Production Manager Josh Gross ’91 Editorial Contributor Joanna Stingray ’78 Editorial Contributor Barbara Lee Kozberg ’53 Proofreader Elizabeth Kuzmich Proofreader Maria Heilpern Class Notes BHHS Alumni Association 241 Moreno Drive Beverly Hills, CA 90212 (310) 551-5100 ext. 8219 [email protected] www.bhhsalumni.org Contributions are deductible Left to right: Noah Furie ’77, Lilly Lewis ’74, Josh Gross ’91, Joanna Stingray ’78, Candace under Sec. 501(c)3 of the Inter- Chen ’87. Not pictured: Elyse Beardsley ’76, Barry Brucker ’75 nal Revenue Code. 2019 Alumni Highlights 3 world. We President’s Message - Josh Gross ’91 need your Hello fellow Normans: end in sight. For those of you signifi cantly since that time. We f i n a n c i a l The big news this year is who lived through the BHHS now mail this Alumni Highlights support as the opening of Beverly Vista construction of 1967–69, send to over 18,500 graduates living we help middle school, coming this us your memories of that time. all over the world. The fi nancial take our August 12. See Superintendent Once again I’ve had the support of graduates like you alma mater Michael Bregy’s interview pleasure of working with has allowed us to become the to even below, which details many of Melanie Anderson on the biggest contributor of alumni h i g h e r the challenges and opportunities production of this edition, scholarships. This year, as in places. So in reconfi guring the district into which was completed before years past, we awarded $18,000 if you enjoy one 6-8 and two K-5 campuses its deadline and under budget. to deserving graduating seniors. r e a d i n g Josh Gross ’91 (El Rodeo will be closed for Melanie previously served This past year we lost y o u r two years for construction). as editor of Beverly Hills longtime head counselor Vivian Alumni Highlights, please I’ve always been a supporter Weekly. As you can see in this Saatjian-Green. We are thankful consider making a contribution of the middle school concept, publication, she does excellent to the many contributors (see and sending in a class note which makes more sense now work. We welcome your photos page 13) who contributed in her today. than ever. I think it’s going to be and submissions for future memory. Until next time my friends, great. editions of Alumni Highlights. In closing, don’t forget Go Normans! Much of the Beverly The Alumni Association was that you graduated from the Josh Gross ’91 High campus remains under founded in December, 1977. most famous high school in President, Alumni Association construction this year, with no Our organization has grown the country—probably the [email protected] Opening this fall: Beverly Vista Middle School was much more in- Reconfiguration transforms BHUSD experience. structionally A major transformation of instructional. When I fi rst got to It was more pronounced at the focused and BHUSD is underway, following the district, I noticed right away on middle school level. [We were so the philo- the Board of Education’s approval my listening tour that the commu- essentially] running four diff erent sophical piece last fall to reconfi gure the district. nity is very supportive and proud middle schools … and there was of this is that This fall, Beverly Vista will open of the schools and yet I noticed this very little time to work in electives. adolescent as a 6-8 middle school. Hawthorne disconnect where people felt like it I noticed that when it came down time is the and Horace Mann will serve grades just wasn’t the same that it used to to staffi ng classes … the opportu- second great- K-5, while El Rodeo will go offl ine be. I think it’s because each school nities students have are driven by Superintendent est growth for construction for two years. was like its own district. It was very what staff we have. The model Michael Bregy, spurt in a Alumni Highlights spoke with clear to me in the fi rst 60 days that needs to be fl ipped because our EdD child’s life Superintendent Michael Bregy, we were a system of schools and staffi ng should be driven by the other than birth. It’s hard to address EdD in early February as he was not a true school system. needs of our students. those needs in a K-8 setting. in the midst of planning this mul- The kids were getting diff erent … Then I learned that [at vari- [How is reconfi guration—which tifaceted reconfi guration. Prior to experiences depending on which ous points in time] the district has includes a dedicated 6-8 middle coming to Beverly Hills in Febru- K-8 school they went to. The high been looking at … reconfi guration school—going to be better for ary 2017, Bregy was superinten- school could sit back and say this to one middle school for the last 20 the school district in the long dent at North Shore School District is a student from El Rodeo be- years. Each superintendent came run?] 112 north of Chicago. Dr. Bregy cause of their math skills or their in and saw it—that’s how glaring … Again, this is not because of has taught at the elementary, mid- language arts. That just created all it was—but the community wasn’t money but it’s because we’re not dle school and high school levels kinds of gaps because there were ready. I think that’s the hardest part utilizing our resources eff ectively. and spent 10 years as a high school strengths in diff erent places. So I about my job is how much change Reconfi guration is not only more principal. did a deeper dive into the elemen- is too much change for a commu- Cont. on p. 6 The following Q&A has been tary and middle schools and the nity? And that’s almost impossible edited and condensed. fi rst thing I found was that at the to measure. Watch Dr. Bregy discuss elementary schools there was very So the fi rst time around, when reconfi guration on Recently on Beverly Hills View, little collaboration time for teach- I fi rst got here, [the reconfi guration Beverly Hills View, hosted you described reconfi guration as ers. There were several teachers proposal] was driven diff erently by Alumni Association a philosophical shift for BHUSD. that were just teaching diff erent and it was more fi nancial. That President Josh Gross ’91 What do you mean by that? things. … Two kids in fi rst grade really was hard to get people on It’s philosophical, but it’s also could have a completely diff erent board. The second time around vimeo.com/311704167 4 Hall of Fame 2019 Beverly Hills High School Hall of Fame Edwin L. Artzt S’47 Betty Hughes Fladager S’41 Laurence Lesser ’56 Will Rogers Jr. W’31 Nicole Avant ’86 Joyce Marcus Flannery ’66 Mel Levine ’60 Jay Sandrich S’49 Robert E. Badham S’47 Michele Flournoy ’79 Stanley W. Levy ’59 Michael Schlesinger ’60 Josh Berger ’84 William F. Fore S’46 Michael Lloyd ’66 Richard M. Sherman S’45 Lili Toren Bosse ’79 Robert L. Fox W’46 E. Ellsworth Lohn S’43 Robert B. Sherman S’43 Lloyd Braun ’76 Bonnie Franklin ’61 Maj. Gen. William Lyon S’41 Richard E. Sherwood S’45 Willie Brien, M.D. ’75 Daniel Fried ’70 Justin T. McCarthy Jr. W’41 Alan Sieroty W’48 Jacqueline Orgell Briskin W’45 Nolan Frizzelle S’39 Frank Mankiewicz S’41 Mona Simpson ’75 Albert Brooks ’65 K. Hiroshi Fujimoto S’39 Alejandro N. Mayorkas ’77 Gerry Curley Somers S’46 Joe L. Brown S’35 Ronald M. George ’57 David Mellinkoff W’32 Lynn Stalmaster S’45 Barry Brucker ’75 Lunda Hoyle Gill S’46 Dr.