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c1-c4CAMMA07 2/12/07 2:38 PM Page c1 March/April 2007 $6.00 alumni magazine Is Keith Olbermann ’79 a blast from the past or the voice of the future? c1-c4CAMMA07 2/12/07 2:38 PM Page c2 001-001CAMMA07toc 2/13/07 3:03 PM Page 1 Contents MARCH / APRIL 2007 VOLUME 109 NUMBER 5 alumni magazine 2 From David Skorton Indian Winter Features 4 Correspondence 200 candles for Ezra 10 From the Hill CU costs hit $46,000. Plus:The last U-Halls fall, Cornell gets a B-minus for sustainability,freshmen read The Pickup, and Whitney Balliett ’49 remembered. 14 Sports Joe Nieuwendyk ’88 skates off into retirement 18 Authors More letters from E. B.White ’21 35 Camps 54 42 Wines of the Finger Lakes 44 Smart Bomb 2005 Standing Stone Vineyards DAVID DUDLEY Chardonnay As the host of “Countdown,” former sportscasting star Keith 60 Classifieds & Cornellians Olbermann ’79 is one of the few left-wing voices amid the chorus of in Business conservative TV pundits. Olbermann recalls his early days at WVBR, his stormy exit from ESPN, and the burden of always being right. 63 Alma Matters 50 Food for Thought 66 Class Notes 50 SUSAN KELLEY 110 Alumni Deaths With his book Mindless Eating on bestseller lists—and his research all over the media—food psychologist Brian Wansink has people 112 Cornelliana thinking about why and what they eat.And The coffee’s hot at AA&P’s don’t kid yourself: it’s not because you’re Green Dragon hungry. 54 The Real Thing 22 Currents BRAD HERZOG ’90 BY THE BOOK | Minnie Empson guards academia’s gates As the author of a phony Howard Hughes MANATEE MAN | Protecting the endangered sea cow “autobiography,” Clifford Irving ’51 gained HIGHER CALLING Community service maven Adam literary infamy.Now Richard Gere is star- | Hollier ’07 ring in the movie version of his story—but Irving says Hollywood is playing fast and HAPPY ENDING | A novel buried—and resurrected loose with the facts. MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE | How Steven Shearing ’56 revolutionized cataract treatment Plus | A sundial’s overhaul and a kazoo champ Cover photograph by John Abbott Cornell Alumni Magazine (ISSN 1070-2733; USPS 006-902) is published six times a year, in January, March, May, July, September, and November, by the Cornell Alumni Federation, 401 East State Street, Suite 301, Ithaca, NY 14850. Subscriptions cost $30 a year. Periodical postage paid at Ithaca, NY, and additional mailing offices. POSTMAS- TER: Send address changes to Cornell Alumni Magazine, c/o Public Affairs Records, 130 East Seneca St., Suite 400, Ithaca, NY 14850-4353. MARCH / APRIL 2007 1 002-003CAMMA07skorton 2/12/07 2:45 PM Page 2 From David Skorton A Cornell Visit to India ORNELL UNIVERSITY IS WIDELY had direct and fruitful conversations recognized as an institution with university and government lead- c whose scope is global in every ers in education and the sciences, as sense of the word. Each year we enroll well as with the president and prime more than 3,000 international students, minister of India. The preeminence of who come to Ithaca from some 120 our hosts offered eloquent confirma- countries. A significant segment of our tion of the importance India attaches faculty is involved in research, educa- to the work Cornell has done there in tion, and extension around the world, concert with our colleagues and part- and on campus the Mario Einaudi Cen- ners. The quality of each meeting ter for International Studies serves as an bespoke a genuine interest in expand- umbrella for more than twenty interdis- ing collaboration with our faculty. ciplinary programs that have an inter- During the trip, we visited with national focus. alumni in Delhi and Mumbai and Cornell operates programs in several were honored to be present at the ROBERT BARKER / UP international locations. These include birth of a new Cornell Alumni Club Doha, Qatar, where Weill Cornell Medical College became the in Bangalore. Our alumni in India, as elsewhere, are a superb first U.S. medical school to offer its MD degree overseas; Singa- source of guidance and good counsel in future interactions with pore, where the Hotel school offers a joint master of management their country, and they act as enormously effective ambassadors in hospitality program; Rome, which has been the site of an for Cornell University and its students, faculty, and staff. Architecture, Art, and Planning program for many years; and As former President Jeffrey Lehman ’77 put it, in a particu- China, where, among other initiatives, study at Peking (Beida) larly effective formulation, Cornell is a transnational university. University and internships in Beijing provide exceptional educa- Our future success depends on continued focus in the interna- tional experiences to undergraduates in the China and Asia Pacific tional arena—in India, China, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Studies major. And, as I have discovered in my travels this year, Latin America, and other venues where Cornell’s faculty, staff, and Cornell alumni are vitally interested in the University and com- students can conduct research, build relationships, and learn more mitted to its future no matter where they live. about the world in which we live. We can also provide resources Why, then, did I choose India for my first international trip and expertise, in partnership with local colleagues, to reduce the on Cornell’s behalf? (I was there from December 29 to January world’s burdens while addressing our common challenges, even 8.) I wanted to build on Cornell’s half-century of partnership with as we expand knowledge and teach our students to solve real- Indian colleagues and institutions. These partnerships, largely world problems. Whether discussing study abroad opportunities, through the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, have helped working side by side with colleagues from other nations to solve India feed its one billion people, and they continue to be impor- significant problems in our societies, or welcoming international tant in a country where more than 50 percent of the workforce is students to the ranks of our undergraduate, graduate, and pro- in agriculture. The trip had four goals: fessional student bodies, a continued focus on internationaliza- • Build mutually beneficial partnerships with educational and tion is appropriate and necessary. research institutions in India; What of our future in India? Because the most meaningful • Explore how the research and outreach of Cornell faculty, exchanges and partnerships occur not at the level of university staff, and students may be of service to the people of India and presidents but at the level of faculty, I viewed my role on this trip thereby build stronger bridges between the two nations’ cultures; as exploratory and representative of the interests of our profes- • Make Cornell’s presence more visible in India to government sors and their students. In the coming months, I will be sharing agencies, alumni, other universities, non-governmental organiza- detailed impressions of opportunities for Cornell in India with tions, and leaders involved in specific areas such as agriculture, Provost Biddy Martin, the deans, and other academic leaders and biotechnology, and global health; and faculty. Our continued partnerships as well as potential new col- • Reinvigorate alumni affairs and development activities in laborations suggest a bright future for Cornell in India. India. — President David Skorton Guided by Trustees Ratan Tata ’62 and Narayana Murthy, we [email protected] 2 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE 002-003CAMMA07skorton 2/12/07 2:45 PM Page 3 004-007CAMMA07corr 2/12/07 3:25 PM Page 4 Correspondence Once Upon a Hill REMEMBERING EZRA,THEN AND NOW I WAS DELIGHTED WITH THE BICEN- stops on the tour. Thank you, Phil! tennial birthday issue (January/February Mark Rust ’78 2007). In 1946 Walt Witcover ’44, BA ’46, Woodstock, New York MA ’47, and I co-authored and co- directed a musical history called “Once War Victim Upon a Hill, or What Happened to Mr. IN “LIFE DURING WARTIME,”YOU Cornell’s Cow Pasture?” We even inter- published an account of the harrow- viewed a lady who had attended the laying ing experience of a Cornell student of the cornerstone in 1865 when she was during the Israeli bombing of Beirut a little girl. (Currents, November/December Priscilla Okie Alexander ’45, BA ’44, 2006). I think it was written fairly MA ’48 from the point of view of a tourist in New Haven, Connecticut Beirut. The student, Ethan Hawkes ’07, pointed out that the bombing Folk Wisdom was in response to the Hezbollah THANK YOU FOR HIGHLIGHTING THE rocket attacks on northern Israel. In efforts of Phil Shapiro, MA ’69, and his that same issue, tucked away at the live radio program, “Bound for Glory” bottom of page 15, there was an obit- (“Just Plain Folk,” Currents, January/ uary of David Lelchook ’78, who was February 2007). Phil and his show are an killed by a rocket attack while tend- important part of Ithaca’s cultural land- ing to his kibbutz orchard. I point scape. We owe him a debt of gratitude for this out because the average Ameri- continuing all these years, sometimes can reader, Cornell graduate or not, might took Insects and Man—entomology for with little help. “Bound for Glory” has not understand that those Katyusha rock- non-entomologists—with the late Ed Raf- always been an unaccredited Cornell ets were lethal and directed at civilians. fensperger during my time on the Hill. classroom where students can immerse Beverly Amerman Lewin ’58 Ed’s passion for “bugs” and teaching made themselves in America’s rich musical her- Ramat Hasharon, Israel this course a real treat (no pun intended), itage and even try it out for themselves.