Cornell Alumni Magazine
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c1-c4CAMja12_c1-c1CAMMA05 6/18/12 2:20 PM Page c1 July | August 2012 $6.00 Corne Alumni Magazine In his new book, Frank Rhodes says the planet will survive—but we may not Habitat for Humanity? cornellalumnimagazine.com c1-c4CAMja12_c1-c1CAMMA05 6/12/12 2:09 PM Page c2 01-01CAMja12toc_000-000CAMJF07currents 6/18/12 12:26 PM Page 1 July / August 2012 Volume 115 Number 1 In This Issue Corne Alumni Magazine 2 From David Skorton Generosity of spirit 4 The Big Picture Big Red return 6 Correspondence Technion, pro and con 5 10 10 From the Hill Graduation celebration 14 Sports Diamond jubilee 18 Authors Dear Diary 36 Wines of the Finger Lakes Hermann J. Wiemer 2010 Dry Riesling Reserve 52 Classifieds & Cornellians in Business 35 42 53 Alma Matters 56 Class Notes 38 Home Planet 93 Alumni Deaths FRANK H. T. RHODES 96 Cornelliana Who is Narby Krimsnatch? The Cornell president emeritus and geologist admits that the subject of his new book Legacies is “ridiculously comprehensive.” In Earth: A Tenant’s Manual, published in June by To see the Legacies listing for under - Cornell University Press, Rhodes offers a primer on the planet’s natural history, con- graduates who entered the University in fall templates the challenges facing it—both man-made and otherwise—and suggests pos- 2011, go to cornellalumnimagazine.com. sible “policies for sustenance.” As Rhodes writes: “It is not Earth’s sustainability that is in question. It is ours.” Currents 42 Money Matters BILL STERNBERG ’78 20 Teachable Moments First at the Treasury Department and now the White House, ILR grad Alan Krueger A “near-peer” year ’83 has been at the center of the Obama Administration’s response to the biggest finan- Flesh Is Weak cial crisis since the Great Depression. CAM sat down with the head of the Council of Veggie veteran Julie Jordan ’71 Economic Advisers to talk about such issues as job growth, “rockonomics,” the fal- Taking the Stand lacy of comparing governmental borrowing to household debt, and why President Secrets of a medical expert witness Obama may have it worse than FDR did. The Cocktail Hour 46 Let the Games Begin Meet the mixologist Laugh Riot BRAD HERZOG ’90 Bill Maher ’78 is still ruffling feathers As you enjoy the spectacle of the London Olympics on your wide-screen TV, spare a Clean & Green thought for Bucky Gunts ’72. The veteran NBC director will be hard at work behind Building better fiberboard the scenes at his tenth Olympics, overseeing more than 2,000 hours of coverage across Leading Las Vegas multiple networks. But he tries not to think about how many people—some 215 mil- Alum heads Sin City resort lion Americans—will be watching. “I think,” he says, “it might freak me out.” Plus | Speak, Memory Theatre as therapy Website Birds of a Feather cornellalumnimagazine.com Cover: NASA Raptor conservation 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. July | August 2012 1 02-03CAMja12skorton_000-000CAMJF07currents 6/12/12 1:49 PM Page 2 From David Skorton Charles F. Feeney: ‘Giving While Living’ s our newest graduates and their fam- ilies and friends gathered in Schoell - kopf Stadium for Cornell’s 144th ACommencement, a special guest—Charles F. Feeney ’56—was watching the ceremony from the Tanner Terrace. Unbeknownst to most of the graduates until I recognized him during my address, Chuck had pro- foundly influenced their Cornell experiences through his extraordinary philanthropy. Over the last three decades, through the Atlantic Phi- lanthropies, the foundation he created to put his wealth to use during his lifetime, Chuck has provided massive and mind-boggling support to Cornell. Among other initia- tives, Chuck and Atlantic contributed to the support of almost 5,000 students while fostering their commitment President Skorton with to work and service through the Cornell Tradition Pro- Chuck Feeney at the Olin gram. They also provided critical faculty support that has Lecture in June 2011 allowed the University to move into important new aca- demic fields and build on strengths in such areas as the life JASON KOSKI / UP sciences, social sciences, and humanities. And their gifts have changed the student experience at Cornell: through the Res- million toward the new Mission Bay medical campus of the Uni- idential Initiative, which has resulted in new residence halls and versity of California, San Francisco—helping combat cancer and programs that bring together living and learning on West and cardiovascular disease through research and clinical care, inspir- North campuses; in athletics, greatly improving our facilities and ing other donors to invest in the project, and bringing jobs and the competitiveness of our teams; and in the School of Hotel economic development to revitalize the Mission Bay neighborhood. Administration, which has meant so much to Chuck. Atlantic’s gift for CornellNYC Tech promises to be equally Chuck has given more to his alma mater than any individual transformative for Cornell and the Technion. It will extend our in Cornell’s history—nearly $1 billion to date—including, most capabilities for graduate education, applied research, and entre- recently, a transformational gift of $350 million for CornellNYC preneurship. It has already attracted support from many of New Tech, the applied sciences campus that we are building, in part- York’s and the nation’s leading technology companies—such as nership with Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, on Roo- Google Inc., which is donating space for CornellNYC Tech in its sevelt Island in New York City. building in Chelsea for the next five years. And it will help make Chuck was a first-generation college student of modest the city an even more effective environment for technological means, but he had fresh ideas and a knack for thinking big. innovation and a magnet for world-class researchers, young While at the Hotel school, he made sandwiches and sold them entrepreneurs, and business incubators. to students late at night to augment his $110-a-month GI Bill Chuck is known for saying, “I had one idea that never changed scholarship. He went on to make his fortune by pioneering the in my mind—that you should use your wealth to help people.” concept of duty-free shopping. Then, while still a relatively young With the worldwide scope of his philanthropy and his commit- man, he began to give his fortune away. To date, his foundation ment to “giving while living,” he is a model for our graduates, who has given away more than $6 billion and plans to distribute its gave him an emotional standing ovation during this year’s Com- remaining endowment by 2016 and close its doors by 2020. mencement ceremony, and for us all. Thank you, Chuck! Because of Chuck’s deep concern for disadvantaged children, — President David Skorton the elderly, and the marginalized, Atlantic has funded schools [email protected] and hospitals in Vietnam, ameliorated poverty in South Africa, and built capacity for biomedical research in Australia. Using his This column, like most of my speeches and essays, owes an enormous own funds, he played a significant role in the peace process in amount to someone who has been crafting the communications of Northern Ireland during the Nineties, and, through Atlantic, pro- Cornell presidents for more than thirty years. Connie Kintner would vided significant support to expand higher education in both much prefer to go unrecognized, but I want to let Cornell alumni Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. know of this superb colleague. Chuck’s philanthropy has had a transformative impact not Connie came to work at Cornell in 1974 as a writer with the News Bureau, and in the late Seventies began developing speeches only on individuals and institutions, but on entire regions. And for President Frank Rhodes, who had been at Cornell only a year or time and again—from Australia to Ireland and within the U.S.— two. She did the job so brilliantly that soon she was helping with all Atlantic’s funding has leveraged additional support to accom- his speeches and continued to do so for the rest of his eighteen-year plish multiple goals. For example, believing that Ireland’s pros- presidency. perity depended upon its ability to generate new knowledge, Along with superb writing skills, she brings to her job a vast Chuck convinced the Irish government to partner with Atlantic knowledge of Cornell, resourceful creativity, and exquisite tact. Like others before me, I trust her good judgment on the right content and to fund high-quality basic research. Atlantic’s investment of tone for countless speeches, essays, and other communications. Her $247.5 million was the catalyst for more than $1.5 billion in gov- contributions to Cornell are no less essential for being largely behind ernment funding that resulted in significant economic benefits the scenes. It’s a pleasure to say it in the pages of Cornell Alumni across the length and breadth of Ireland. Magazine for everyone to read: Thank you, Connie! More recently, Chuck encouraged Atlantic’s board to give $270 2 Cornell Alumni Magazine | cornellalumnimagazine.com 02-03CAMja12skorton_000-000CAMJF07currents 6/12/12 1:49 PM Page 3 04-05CAMja12bigpic_000-000CAMJF07currents 6/12/12 1:50 PM Page 4 The Big Picture 4 Cornell Alumni Magazine | cornellalumnimagazine.com 04-05CAMja12bigpic_000-000CAMJF07currents 6/12/12 1:50 PM Page 5 LINDSAY MADSEN FRANCE MADSEN LINDSAY LISA BANLAKI FRANK BANLAKI LISA FRANK Imagine that: Jay Walker ’77 (left) kicks off Reunion 2012 with a Thursday evening talk in Milstein Hall; Kroch Library is hosting an exhibit drawn from his Library of the History of Human Imagination.