Cornell Alumni Magazine
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c1-c4CAMso11 8/11/11 12:00 PM Page c1 September | October 2011 $6.00 Alumni Magazine Call of Duty After his firefighter father died on September 11, Chris Ganci ’99 finished his MBA—and joined the FDNY cornellalumnimagazine.com c1-c4CAMso11 8/11/11 12:00 PM Page c2 c1-c4CAMso11 8/11/11 12:01 PM Page 1 02-03CAMso11toc 8/11/11 11:59 AM Page 2 September / October 2011 Volume 114 Number 2 In This Issue Alumni Magazine 48 Corne 4 From David Skorton In praise of Peter Meinig ’61, BME ’62 6 The Big Picture At home plate 8 Correspondence David Skorton, paparazzo 12 From the Hill Reunion roundup 16 Sports Roaring success 20 Authors Lit crit 40 Wines of the Finger Lakes Beloved chef remembered 12 54 58 Classifieds & 42 Company Man Cornellians in Business BRAD HERZOG ’90 59 Alma Matters 62 Class Notes Peter Ganci Jr. was the highest-ranking uniformed member of the New York City Fire Department to perish on 9/11—prompting son Chris Ganci ’99 to forego a business 101 Alumni Deaths career and join the FDNY. Having graduated first in his class at the Fire Academy, 104 Cornelliana Ganci works out of a well-regarded firehouse in Brooklyn, where life is a remarkable House beautiful mixture of down time, boyish pranks, and acts of raw courage. “My father always ended the graduation speech with the same line,” Ganci said at his own academy cer- emony. “By taking this job, you will never, ever be rich, but you will always be happy.” Currents 48 Observe and Report BRAD HERZOG ’90 22 In Memoriam Stephen Colbert has become a TV star—not to mention a cultural phenomenon— Overseeing the 9/11 memorial thanks to his combination of deft political satire, erudite comedy, and tongue-in-cheek High and Mighty egomania. Among the creative minds behind his award-winning show are two Delta Top jobs at Vertical Access Gamma sorority sisters: staff writer Meredith Scardino ’98 and producer Liz Levin ’98. A visit backstage to “The Colbert Report,” as Scardino and Levin talk about working No Place Like Home for America’s favorite (and self-described) “well-intentioned, poorly informed, high- In her seventies, a new mom status idiot.” Life Span 54 Starve the Beast? Hoover Dam bridge is a career topper Hot Topic ROBERT FRANK Professor Robert Howarth on fracking Antigovernment crusaders have a point, admits Cornell economist Robert Frank: there Plus | is waste in government. But as Frank writes in his new book, The Darwin Economy: Leaping Lemurs Liberty, Competition, and the Common Good, the more interesting question is what Furry forest friends to do about it. In an excerpt, he ponders the libertarian notion of “starving the beast”— and challenges the idea that cutting government spending is always a good thing. The Great Red Way Cornell Theatre Night Hot-Footing It Website Firewalking lessons cornellalumnimagazine.com Cover photograph: John Abbott Cornell Alumni Magazine (ISSN 1548-8810; USPS 006-902) is published six times a year, in January, March, May, July, September, and November, by the Cornell Alumni Association, 401 East State Street, Suite 301, Ithaca, NY 14850. Subscriptions cost $30 a year. Periodical postage paid at Ithaca, NY, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Cornell Alumni Magazine, c/o Public Affairs Records, 130 East Seneca St., Suite 400, Ithaca, NY 14850-4353. 2 Cornell Alumni Magazine | cornellalumnimagazine.com 02-03CAMso11toc 8/11/11 11:59 AM Page 3 04-05CAMso11skorton 8/11/11 12:02 PM Page 4 From David Skorton Changing the Guard: Toward the Future s we begin the 2011–12 academic year, we wel- come the sesquicentennial class, which will graduate Aat the University’s 150th birthday in 2015. We are also preparing for the transition in leadership of our Board of Trustees from the extraordinarily capable Peter Meinig ’61, BME ’62, to the equally capable Robert Har- rison ’76, who will become chair on January 1, 2012. Cornell has been fortunate since its found- ing to have had excellent leadership on and by its Board of Trustees, including emeritus chairs Austin Kiplinger ’39 and Harold Tanner ’52, who remain inspirations for their service and contributions to Cornell. I have no doubt that Pete Meinig will also take his place in history as one of our great board chairs. A trustee for two decades and board chair since 2002, Pete has guided Cornell with great vision, discipline, and wisdom through unprecedented challenges, including Peter Meinig ’61, the Great Recession and its fallout. Before BME ’62 being elected board chair, Pete served as chair of the Executive Committee—and he helped UP move Cornell into the world of online education as a founding ous committees, most recently as chair of the Executive Commit- member and former chair of eCornell’s board of directors. tee. Bob is a lawyer, a former Rhodes Scholar, and a retired man- Pete and his wife, Nancy, a 1962 graduate of the College of aging director of the Goldman Sachs Group. He currently is chief Human Ecology, revitalized the Parents Fund back in the Eight- executive officer of the Clinton Global Initiative, established by ies, during their years as Cornell parents, and Pete co-chaired the former President Bill Clinton in 2005 to devise innovative solu- scholarship campaign that concluded in December 1999. They tions to some of the world’s most intractable challenges. He is an continue to be involved with students through their support of enormously capable leader—with deep knowledge of business, the Meinig Family National Scholar Program, which they the law, the public sector, and Cornell. endowed in 1999 and which helps selected Cornell students Working closely with Bob as chair of the Executive Com- develop their potential as leaders through executive mentoring, mittee of the Board of Trustees will be Jan Rock Zubrow ’77, a support for internships and experiential learning, financial aid, longtime trustee who served as co-chair of the university-wide and other benefits. fundraising campaign from 2006 until her appointment to head Devoted alumni leaders and wonderful mentors, guides, and the Executive Committee. Under their leadership, our university dear friends, Pete and Nancy have taught Robin and me about will continue to be in very good hands. the traditions of Cornell. Those of you who attended the State Alfred North Whitehead, the British mathematician and of the University Address during Reunion 2011 heard me talk philosopher, once observed: “The art of progress is to preserve about my vision for Cornell in four key areas that have charac- order amid change and to preserve change amid order.” As we terized the University in past years and that are the keys to our prepare for our sesquicentennial, I look forward to a smooth future: access, globalization, public engagement, and faculty transition from the Meinig era to the Harrison era of board lead- renewal. Part of the way we are honoring our heritage as we ership as we implement the changes necessary to create an even approach Cornell’s sesquicentennial is by making these four better future for the University while enhancing the distinctive enduring characteristics priorities for the future. characteristics—access, globalization, public engagement, and There is no doubt that we are a better, stronger university faculty renewal—that are central to our Cornell. because of Pete and Nancy Meinig, and we are very grateful that In my next column, I will reflect on some of the issues that I they have agreed to serve as co-chairs of the sesquicentennial, expect to be on the board’s agenda as we head into the new year working with the committee that will plan and coordinate Cor- under Bob Harrison’s leadership. I invite you to keep abreast of nell’s 150th birthday. the changes in board leadership and to take part in the future of Like Pete, Bob Harrison has a distinguished history of involve- Cornell. ment as a Cornell trustee. A student trustee as an undergraduate, — President David Skorton Bob rejoined the board in 2002 and has since served on numer- [email protected] 4 Cornell Alumni Magazine | cornellalumnimagazine.com 04-05CAMso11skorton 8/11/11 12:02 PM Page 5 06-07CAMso11bigpic 8/11/11 12:09 PM Page 6 The Big Picture Play Ball! Bob “Tiger” Foltin ’60, BChemE ’61 (right), gets in the umpire’s face at the alumni baseball game during Reunion Weekend. For more Reunion photos, see page 12. LINDSAY FRANCE / UPHOTO 6 Cornell Alumni Magazine | cornellalumnimagazine.com 06-07CAMso11bigpic 8/11/11 12:09 PM Page 7 08-11CAMso11corresp 8/11/11 4:23 PM Page 8 Correspondence Hoopla and More Alumni old and young share reunion moments When my roommate, Margaret Mon- Net Gain teith Edelman ’46, BA ’45, and I attended our 65th Reunion with our As a friend of a classmate who committed husbands, Arnold Edelman and suicide while a student at Cornell (not on Richard Davis, we never suspected the bridges but in his home, hanging him- that the kindly man offering to take a self in the basement), I have to say that the photo of the four of us in front of the plan to fence the bridges is a knee-jerk Statler was David Skorton! Not until reaction to a one-time increase in problems we attended the State of the Univer- (From the Hill, July/August 2011). I can’t sity Address in Bailey Hall and recog- believe that Cornell would believe that the nized the man on the stage did we bridges are responsible for the increase in realize that our photographer was the suicides.