Alumni Class Notes

The Alumni Office is delighted to publish the following news items and updates from HM graduates all over the world. If you are celebrating a milestone, making a career change, or enjoying a new hobby, we want to know all about it! Please drop us a line at alumni@horacemann.org.

Paul Silverstone ’49, who moved from New York to West Vancouver in May 2020 after living in New York for 80 years, is just completing a new book called The Navy of the 21st Century, which will be Volume 6 of his series, The US Navy Warship Series, published by Routledge. Paul enjoyed seeing classmates at an HM lunch in 2022 and earlier this year attended his 70th Reunion of the Yale Class of 1953. Paul can be reached at paulh2@rcn.com.

 

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At 24 years old, Dick Traum ’58 – who had been a decorated high school athlete and college wrestler – lost his right leg above the knee in a car accident. He went on to found Achilles International in 1983, the organization that empowers athletes of all ages and abilities to compete in sporting events. Dick is in the process of writing a book entitled Addiction to Achievement about his life experiences. He shared an excerpt of his memories as a student at Horace Mann: “One eighth grade experience concerned my friend Jim Backlar electioneering to become elected a class officer. He was pretty aggressive and even electioneered at the steps leading to the 242^nd Street subway entrance. It was beside a hotdog/restaurant stand. Yes, he bought franks for anyone who agreed to vote for him.  Asked why he would not buy a frank for me.  Response, ‘Dick, you will vote for me anyway.’. That’s politics.”

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The Class of 1960 enjoyed a mini-reunion on September 9^th at the Museum of Natural History. Attendees included Steve Avedon ’60, Steve Bloom ’60, Ron Randall ’60 and his wife Anne, Bruce Schneider ’60 and his wife Susan, Ted Weinreich ’60, and Sandy Wurmfeld ’60. The group explored the Insectarium, Butterfly Vivarium, and Invisible Worlds exhibit. A highlight was the World Beyond Earth presentation at the Hayden Planetarium. At midday, the group enjoyed lunch in the Gilder Center. Ted Weinreich ’60, who organized the get-together, even designed a photo collage to commemorate the occasion! What’s more, an administrator from the American Museum of Natural History penned a personal thank you note to Ted. It read, “It was indeed a pleasure to host alongside you, Ted, this past weekend. I will be crafting an email to address the entire group properly and share some of the pictures I took of you and your classmates and their respective spouses throughout your visit. You and your classmates are such warm, funny, and conscientious individuals. Your bonds are clearly as strong as they ever were. Your families should be very proud. I am delighted to have played a small role in making your HM mini reunion at AMNH a success. Here’s to the HM Class of 1960!” – Brandon Bryant, Office of Institutional Advancement, AMNH

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Robert Brookshire ’65 wrote in with the news that his daughter, Devon Brookshire, is still enjoying a successful career in professional basketball. This season, she is playing for the Saarlouis Royals based in Saarlouis, Germany. Prior to joining the Saarlouis Royals, Devon played for the Nunawading Spectres in Melbourne, Australia, and Hogsbo based in Gothenburg, Sweden.

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Franklin Lowe ’70 proudly shared that his oldest grandchild, Leo Lowe, started this fall at Horace Mann in the three’s nursery program. Leo is a third generation Lowe family member to attend the school.

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David Gross ’72, Michael Pack ’72 and Mark Penn ’72, together with their spouses, spent a weekend together in

September visiting Maryland’s Eastern Shore. A highlight was an outing on Mark’s boat.

 

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Bret Parker ’86, Executive Director of the New York City Bar Association, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease at age 38. Since then, he has raised more than $1 million for the Michael J. Fox Foundation and the search for a cure. In September, he completed the 4x4x48 challenge – running four miles every four hours for 48 hours – which resulted in another $163,000 in donations. His commitment to “doing epic sh*t” – including skydiving, a triathlon, and running seven marathons in seven days on seven continents – is featured in an Apple podcast entitled, “The Hearing:  A Legal Podcast.” You can tune in here:  https://rb.gy/69xf8  To learn more about Bret's story and how you can support Parkinson's research, visit:  https://give.michaeljfox.org/4448

 

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In September, Chris Scholz ’01 started a new position as Director of Engineering at HelloFresh, the largest meal kit delivery provider in the U.S.

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HM alumni in the Boston area can treat themselves to the premier of a new music-theater/opera piece by Stephanie Chou ’05. TamáleDumpling is a one-act opera commissioned by White Snake Projects for Let’s Celebrate! 2, an annual holiday series drawing on diverse cultural traditions. It was inspired by Stephanie’s family’s Thanksgiving traditions and celebrates a multicultural melding of Mexican and Chinese cultures: “A young Chinese woman brings home her Mexican fiancé at Thanksgiving to the great consternation of her traditional Asian family.” There will be two performances on Saturday, November 18^th at 2:00 pm and 7:30 pm. Click here for tickets:

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Blake Halperin ’06 has been promoted to partner in the Private Funds Group of Proskauer Rose’s Boca Raton, FL, office. He primarily focuses his practice on representing buyers and sellers, as well as private fund sponsors, in connection with complex secondary transactions, including traditional sales and purchases of fund interests as well as GP-Led transactions, including but not limited to, single asset spin-out arrangements, fund recapitalizations, preferred financings and “stapled” secondary transactions. 

 

 

 

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Sam Sonenshine ’10 started a new position as a consultant at Bain & Company.

 

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Diva Gattani ’13 has joined the board at Summer on the Hill (SOH), SOH’s mission is “to enrich the education of promising, low-income public school students in the Bronx, Washington Heights, and Harlem; prepare them for selective schools and programs; and offer guidance to their parents. SOH is a year-round, supplemental enrichment program that has served 1,300 promising students since 1994.” (LinkedIn) Learn more about Summer on the Hill at summeronthehill.org.

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Ananya Kumar-Banerjee ’17 is a New Yorker living in London. Their writing has appeared in Bon Appetit, Autostraddle, and Hyphen Mag, among other places. They are a finalist for the 2023 American Literary Review Fiction Contest. Until recently, they were a communications and campaign officer with Detention Action.

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Former grandparents Judy and Jim Roth shared some news about their grandchildren Mason Roth ’17 and Julia Roth ’19. Mason graduated cum laude from the University of Alabama in 2021 and Julia graduated from the University of North Carolina in May 2023, first in her class of journalism and media.