Winter/Spring 2014
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WINTER/SPRING 2014 BEXLEY HIGH SCHOOL Alumni Association Newsletter (This article, reprinted with permission, featuring Gordon Zacks, class of 1951, appeared in The Columbus Dispatch on February 3, 2014) What would Compassionate businessman you like to was friend to Israel see in this By Collin Binkley told The Dispatch in 1995. newsletter? His strength, he later The small company that learned, would be in If there is something you would Gordon Zacks inherited organization –– he could like to see included in this newsletter, in 1965 had become a shape an atmosphere where please submit your suggestion(s) to the titan in the footwear others thrived creatively. editor, using any of the contact means industry before he left He went on to become a listed at the bottom of this page. Better its daily management in sought-after speaker on yet, if you’d like to write an article for 2004. the qualities of leadership consideration in the newsletter, send it Zacks, the longtime at universities around the along as well. president and CEO of world. Pickerington-based At R.G. Barry, Zacks led R.G. Barry, maker of the company to enormous Dearfoams slippers, died growth. Sales topped $116 in his Bexley home on million in 1994, driven by Saturday. He was 80. Gordon Zacks | 1933-2014: the company’s core slipper LOOKING He had been a major sales. But by 2004, sales had proponent of U.S.-Israeli dropped, spurring Zacks to for Class relations and an adviser to the White House. turn the top job over to Greg Tunney. Zacks Notes But his compassion and humanitarianism remained chairman of the board of directors outside boardrooms made its mark, too, until his death. family members said. “Gordon lived an amazing life and faced They recalled a visit to New York City each day and every challenge with a passion Many of our alumni have written, when Zacks met a man who was begging and joy that infected all those around him,” saying they would like to see more on the streets, trying to return to his Ohio Tunney said in a statement. “He was a news submitted by their classmates. hometown. Zacks bought him a Greyhound sharing mentor to many, including me.” Won’t you consider sending us news of bus ticket home. Zacks was a vocal supporter of Israel, and what’s going on in your lives? Born in Indiana but raised in Bexley, his political activism took him to the Middle You may use either the “We want to Zacks was 32 when his father died, leaving East more than 100 times. He worked with hear from you!” form found elsewhere him at the helm of the company that his three U.S. presidents and five Israeli prime in this newsletter, or the Bio Form mother founded in the 1940s. ministers, and was an adviser to President link on the home page of the alumni Zacks had worked at R.G. Barry for George H.W. Bush, who became his close website. Remember, however, that we a decade when he took over, joining the friend. will not be able to publish your news, company after graduation from Ohio In a tribute yesterday, the Jewish either in our newsletter or on the State University. But his experience hadn’t Federations of North America said Zacks website, if your dues are not paid and prepared him to head a business that at the was an ardent Zionist who helped finance current. time totaled $10 million in annual sales, he Businessman - con’t.on page 3 Bexley High School Alumni Association • P.O. Box 457 • Lithopolis, Ohio 43136-0457 Voice Mail: 614.920.4937 • Email: [email protected] • Website: http://www.bexleyalumni.org 1 Winter/Spring 2014 • Bexley High School Alumni Association (This article, reprinted with permission featuring R. L. (Bob) Stine, class of 1961, appeared in The Columbus Dispatch on December 9, 2013) MESSAGE R.L. Stine still scaring from the up kids’ stories CO-CHAIR The Bexley Education Foundation Dear fellow alumni and friends of Bexley High School, hosted a discussion and book-signing with R.L. Stine on December 13 in Bexley As I write these words, I am excitedly looking forward to my own high school class reunion (has it really been 30 High School’s Schottenstein Theatre. years!?) which is scheduled (in traditional Bexley fashion) for the Fourth of July weekend this summer. It is appropriate, R.L. Stine is not resting on his I think, to step back and reflect for a moment not just on frighteningly impressive laurels. our own personal journeys, but also on how far our beloved The Bexley native, 70, has school has come over the years. written more than 300 books The facilities -- while retaining their classic appearance, and sold more than 350 million have been updated and improved. The teachers and copies. But the author of the administrators -- while many faces have changed, have kept tween and teen horror series up their commitment to the students and the integrity and “Goosebumps” and “Fear high standards of the educational process at Bexley. The Street” is looking ahead. curriculum -- of course there is still reading, writing and In June, the TV series he arithmetic, but now there are computer labs, smart boards created, The Haunting Hour and Wi-Fi access throughout the school building. (on the Hub network), won Yes, friends, there have been many changes over the years. three Daytime Emmy awards. And today I share with you one more significant change that He keeps cranking out new is coming. I am happy to announce that recently your Bexley “Goosebumps” books; the first High School Alumni Association (BHSAA) Board of Trustees one was published in 1986 and R.L. Stine voted unanimously to move forward with a formal affiliation the most recent, the 176th, in with the Bexley Education Foundation (BEF). For those September. And, in 2014, the can’t change, can it? There’s no who may not know, the BEF exists to promote and enhance “Fear Street” series will resume way for it to expand. excellence in the Bexley City Schools. The BEF makes grants after a 19-year hiatus. It looks much smaller than to support initiatives that create new learning opportunities Stine will return to his roots when I was a kid, but it’s kind of for students throughout the district -- projects that would not this weekend. On Friday, he will nice to have a place that hasn’t be possible within the regular school budget. For years, the speak to Bexley elementary- changed. The little stone library BHSAA and BEF have operated in parallel, with common school students and then will is still there, and Rubino’s Pizza connections to our school and to the community. These take part in a discussion and on Main Street. Even my old connections have grown stronger over time and we believe book-signing for the Bexley house on N. Columbia (Avenue) that our groups will be better together, marshaling financial Education Foundation’s 30th is still there. and personnel resources, with a shared passion to make the anniversary celebration. combined organization the preeminent private education and On Saturday, he will give Q: What are your memories of alumni foundation in the country. Stay tuned, as our work the autumn commencement Bexley? has just begun. And so, just like my upcoming class reunion, address at Ohio State University, A: We lived in a tiny house, let’s remember the good times from the past, celebrate where his alma mater. three doors down from the we are today and look forward with great anticipation to what Stine (everyone calls him railroad tracks. Bexley is a very the future holds for the BHSAA. “Bob”) recently spoke by phone wealthy community, but we Thanks again to all of our board members for their hard with The Dispatch from New were very poor. So I think I work in moving forward this proposed affiliation with the York. grew up feeling like an outsider BEF. Until next time . Go Lions! and not really belonging that Q: How has central Ohio much. Larry Pliskin changed since you grew up? That’s one reason I stayed in Co-chair, Bexley High School Alumni Association A: Columbus is a lot bigger, a lot my room typing stories. I was a BHS Class of 1984 livelier and a lot nicer-looking. very weird kid. But Bexley hasn’t changed — it Stine - con’t.on page 7 2 Bexley High School Alumni Association • Winter/Spring 2014 (This article, reprinted with permission and featuring future alumni, appeared in Bexley News on February 4, 2014) Future alumni in the news Simon Horn, a senior at Bexley High School, has been named as one of more than 3,000 candidates in the 2014 Presidential Scholars Program. Scholars are selected on the basis of superior academic and artistic achievements, leadership qualities and involvement in community and school activities. The Commission on Presidential Scholars will select one man and one woman from each state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and from U.S. students living abroad for recognition as Presidential Scholars, along with 15 students at large and up to 20 students from the creative and performing arts. The official announcement of scholars will take place in May. Addison Torrence, a freshman at Bexley High School, was elected co-president of Children’s International Summer Village of Columbus’ Junior Board on Jan. 12. Quebec 2014, playing teams from North Bexley High School International For more information on CISV go to America and around the world.