CLASS NOTES

KC Serota '04, photo by Karl Rabe

What an incredible time to be Bard alumni/ae! The George Soros endowment challenge and the accompanying campaign are mapping a path forward that puts the future of the College in its most secure position ever. I couldn’t be prouder. The community has worked hard for this moment and we have many people to thank for that— especially the trustees of the College, alumni/ae, and faculty and staff donors. I hope you will consider joining us to help complete the endowment challenge and include Bard in your legacy. More information on this can be found in the article on page 2. Over the last 40 years, Bard’s reputation has grown and now exceeds that of many of its peer institutions. We only need to look at our efforts in the past year to know how true this is. From Annandale and around the world, Bard is making a major impact on individual lives, communities, and national education policy. The challenges of this global endeavor have become harder than ever: the campus of Bard partner Al-Quds University in East Jerusalem was attacked, the Bard–St. Petersburg University partnership was abruptly ended by the hostile Russian government, and efforts to bring Afghan students and scholars to Bard have been difficult, to say the least. Still, Bard continues to educate underserved populations and provide resources and aid for all Bard students.

Bardian and Proud, KC Serota ’04, President Bard College Alumni/ae Association

PS. As you can see, my letter now opens the Class Notes section of the Bardian. Please consider sending in a class note and keep your friends up to date on paper. I always turn to Class Notes first. I look forward to reading YOURS.

2020

UK-based record label Trapped Animal released Emma Houton’s Senior Project in music, a vocal album titled The Bath, on May 21. Emma originally wrote The Bath as a piece for eight voices to be performed live. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they ended up recording all eight parts alone in their childhood bedroom, mixing and producing it with the help of their Senior Project adviser, Matt Sargent, visiting assistant professor of music.

Marcel Rudin ’17 and Cyril Kuhns ’16 married on October 10, 2020, in a small, outdoor wedding near Austin, Texas. The couple, who met at the Root Cellar six years ago, will host an East Coast reception when it is safe to gather. Fraiser Kansteiner was among the Bard alumni/ae in attendance and recited “Having a Coke with You” by Frank O’Hara during the ceremony.

2018

Hasani J. Gunn has been actively supporting the City of Chicago’s COVID-19 mass vaccination operations. He worked with the mayor’s office to develop two large-scale, sector-specific vaccine distribution and equity plans to guide the city’s mass vaccination efforts, serving as the vaccination operation center point of contact and lead planner for the manufacturing and food and agriculture industries. Hasani organized and coordinated vaccine administration for more than 2,000 individual businesses, through city pointsof-dispensing sites, community-based and thirdparty mobile strike team units, and partnering with local pharmacies. Following his disaster-response work with the city of Chicago, Hasani accepted an offer from Harvard University to pursue his master of public policy. As part of his graduate studies at Harvard, Hasani will serve as a public policy and international affairs fellow for the Kennedy School of Government.

Ashley Sheppard-Quince was featured in the Hollywood Reporter on March 4 for being part of a new Black Hollywood executive entertainment pipeline program.

2013

Grayson Morley is now a digital content editor in the Office of Communications at Bard College. He lives in the Hudson Valley with his wife, Jade Jones, and their dog, Fraya. Simone Salvo graduates this spring with a master of professional studies from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU Tisch (alongside two other Bard alumnae, Lizzy Chiappini ’16 and Pippa Kelmenson ’17). Simone is celebrating seven years at the Magnum Foundation, where she works as head of creative communications. She is a 2021 Women Photograph mentor and is also proud to be serving on the newly expanded BGIA Alumni/ae Board!

2012

Zach Israel was elected advisory neighborhood commissioner (ANC) for Single Member District 4D04 in Washington, DC, on November 3, 2020, with 71.2% of the vote, and was sworn in for his two-year term on January 2, 2021. In his role as ANC, he will represent roughly 2,000 residents in the Petworth and Brightwood Park neighborhoods within Ward 4 and serve as part of his neighborhood’s official voice in advising the district government (and federal agencies) on things that affect the neighborhood, including traffic, parking, recreation, street improvements, liquor licenses, zoning, economic development, police protection, sanitation and trash collection, and the district’s annual budget.

2010

Emily DeMartino completed their doctor of nursing practice at Thomas Jefferson University College of Nursing in 2020. Emily’s doctoral research, “Centering Trans and Gender Diverse Individuals in Assessment of LGBTQ+ Embedded Primary Care,” surveyed trans and genderdiverse patients at the University of Pennsylvania’s largest primary-care practice, evaluating characteristics of the patientcentered medical home. Emily works as a full-scope primarycare provider at Penn’s Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, where they provide primary care for individuals across the lifespan, with expertise in genderaffirming hormone therapy. Emily codirects the department’s LGBTQIA++ healthcare work, precepts family medicine residents in the LGBTQ+ clinic, and consults for the health system in development of equitable and patient-centered practices around care for trans and gender-diverse individuals. Emily facilitates a monthly discussion group for providers of trans-affirming care in Philadelphia that centers queer and trans health advocates, trainees, and providers across disciplines.

Reginald “Reggie” Raye cofounded TOMO, a 3D printing studio focused on the design of affordable art and technology. Reggie says, “It’s been an exciting year: I got a job at MIT Sloan and started Instant, a pop-culture Tshirt company, which has done so well that I’ve quit my day job.” Check out tomo.love and InstantTees.com.

Abhinanda Bhattacharyya '13

Last year, Abhinanda Bhattacharyya '13, a journalist with a background in technology, math, and education, was one of 10 people selected from a record pool of 220 applicants for the two-year Hearst Journalism Fellowship. She started her fellowship at the San Francisco Chronicle, and was recently brought on full-time at the paper. Today, she continues to build data-driven interactive projects for the Chronicle and for other newspapers owned by Hearst.

2007

Howard Megdal has signed a contract to publish a second edition of The Baseball Talmud, in the spring of 2022. Howard is the founder and editor of The Next, a women’s basketball newsroom, and The IX, a six-day-a-week newsletter dedicated to women’s sports. He’s also covering baseball at Baseball Prospectus and numerous other outlets.

Major Alex Weinstein is serving as a communications officer in the Marine Corps Reserve and works as a manager at an international consulting firm in the DC area.

2005

Natalie Franz is assistant director of the Texas Freedom Colonies Project, a historic preservation and social justice digital humanities project to document and protect Texas historic Black settlements, at Texas A&M University. For the previous decade she had been a planner for the Midwest Region of the National Park Service based in Omaha and Denver.

Alexander Klebanoff is working as an actor, producer, and writer and living in West Hollywood, California. He recently executiveproduced and starred in a crime-thriller movie, The Decipio. The plot is about undercover agents infiltrating an organized crime ring run by women. The film was selected to be screened by the Marina del Rey Film Festival. In addition to acting, Alex has also been playing guitar for more than 25 years, and while at Bard he played in several alternative rock bands. He recently founded his own business called the Kleb Guitar Experience, which provides virtual guitar lessons to beginners of all ages. He encourages Bardians to visit his website, alexanderklebanoff.com, or if they want to learn guitar to visit klebguitarexperience.com.

2001

Sasha Wallinger was named chief marketing officer at Nest. She joins Meghan Black ’11 at the New York City–based organization that endeavors to connect craftspeople, brands, and consumers in a circular, humancentered value chain.

2000

Artist Julia Christensen’s Upgrade Available documents an ongoing investigation into the perceived notion that we need to constantly upgrade our electronics to remain relevant, and how that fundamentally impacts our experience of time. In a personal narrative interspersed with related interdisciplinary artwork and conversations with experts from different fields (other artists, archivists, and academics), Julia takes readers along a path from the international e-waste industry to institutional archives, eventually leading her to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Her yearslong investigation into upgrade culture leads to design concepts that potentially transcend technological obsolescence altogether.

George Smith ’82

George Smith ’82 is proud to report that as of April 1, 2021, he will be both a Minisink town justice and a village justice for Unionville. Both communities are in New York.

1999

Susan Broyles Sookram lives in Austin, Texas, where she’s been since 1997 (except for one year in Nashville). She’s a research associate with the Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault and the Bureau for Business Research at the University of Texas at Austin. She graduated from UT Austin with her PhD in human development, culture, and learning sciences in 2019. She married her husband, Brian, in 2011 (Stephanie Schneider was there) and their twins were born in 2016.

Ellen Adams ’78

Ellen Adams ’78 recently retired from the community agency where she provided mental health and substance-abuse treatment for 16 years. She is now preparing to open a private telehealth practice, River Oaks Counseling and Wellness, in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, where she raised her three marvelous children and lived for more than 30 years. Ellen is a practicing witch in the Reclaiming Tradition, which connects her to social justice and earth-based practices. She lives on the ancestral land of the Manahoac and is honored to be a steward to their land that was taken from them many years ago. She loves bird watching, nature photography, and exploring the trees in the region.

1998

After 22 years in Florida, Patricia Moussatche moved to California with her family in December 2020 and started at Stanford University’s School of Medicine as the quality assurance/quality control program manager for its clinical and translational science award hub (Spectrum). She is very excited about this new phase in her life.

Archana Sridhar is delighted to let fellow Bardians know that her debut chapbook, Renderings, has been published by Temz Review. Renderings focuses on themes of midlife and feminism, woven together with stories and images of ancestors and South Asian culture. Archana lives in Ontario, where she is assistant provost at the University of Toronto.

Pierre Joris ’69, Photo by ©Nicole Peyrafitte

Pierre Joris ’69 has won the 2021 PEN/Manheim Award for Translation, which is bestowed every three years by a subcommittee of the PEN America Translation Committee to a translator whose body of work demonstrates a commitment to excellence. Joris’s most recent translation, Memory Rose into Threshold Speech: The Collected Earlier Poetry, gathers the poet Paul Celan’s first four books, written between 1952 and 1963, which established his reputation as the major post–World War II German-language poet. With its publication, Joris has now translated Celan’s entire oeuvre.

Photo: Louise Fitzhugh ’51 posing for Fred Segal ’49. Bard College Archives

“To Yourself You Must Always Tell the Truth.”

In 1964, Harper & Row published Harriet the Spy, written and illustrated by Louise Fitzhugh ’51. In a revealing new biography, Sometimes You Have to Lie, Leslie Brody—who adapted the classic children’s novel for the stage in 1988—“assembles the clues to the personal history that shaped Fitzhugh’s conscience and creative convictions,” as Liesl Schillinger writes in the New York Times. The great poet James Merrill was Fitzhugh’s faculty adviser, and they remained friends to the end of her life. (Though they were both gay, they attempted a love affair that, predictably, did not last.) Their correspondence was a rich source for Brody’s book; Fitzhugh did not like writing letters, but made an exception for Merrill. Though he did not attend Fitzhugh’s memorial, Merrill sent an elegy to be read aloud.

Never would there be a heaven or hell, We once agreed, like those of youth. Louise, if you’ve learned otherwise, don’t tell. Just stick to your own story, Humorous and heartrending and uncouth. Its little tomboy damozel Became the figure in our repertory Who stood for truth. Farewell.

1997

Rachel Saunders is proud to tell fellow Bardians she is running for election as Dutchess County Family Court Judge. After Bard she got her JD from Howard University’s School of Law and devoted more than two decades to representing vulnerable populations, including victims of domestic violence, people diagnosed with a chronic mental illness, veterans, and elderly residents. For the last five years, she’s been Dutchess County’s attorney-in-charge at Legal Services of the Hudson Valley, advocating on behalf of the county’s most at-risk residents. She lives in Beacon with her partner and two children and would love to hear from Bardians interested in her work, her campaign, or public advocacy law. rachelforfamilycourt.com or @RachelForFamilyCourt.

1993

Jonathan Walley’s Cinema Expanded: Avant-Garde Film in the Age of Intermedia was published by Oxford University Press last summer. Jonathan teaches in the Department of Cinema at Denison University and lives in Columbus, Ohio, with his wife, Jane Greene, and his dogs, Asta, Mr. Smith, and Blue.

1980

Linda Jämsén’s first book, Odyssey of Love: A Memoir of Seeking and Finding (Tulipan Press), was published June 1. The memoir, which recounts Linda’s search across Europe for a “tall man with glasses,” was an Amazon Hot New Release. For the last 17 years, Linda has lived in Helsinki, Finland, where she sings with various choruses. She has also performed in Hungary, the UK, and Israel. She continues to fundraise for organizations close to her heart, including one that provides musical instruments for talented refugees. lindajamsen.com

1972

Billy Steinberg greatly enjoys staying in touch with Bard friends. He recently bought artworks by classmates Hetty Baiz and Rick Klauber and says, “They do beautiful work and I derive extra pleasure living with it because of the Bard connection.”

August was a big month for photographer Julie Gelfand. She published Hello to My Imperfect World: The Stories of Jaffe and Martha (julie-gelfand.myshopify.com) and attended Jimmie Dale Gilmore’s Advanced Songwriting workshop at Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York, with her husband, Steve Piper. Zoe Peterschild-Ford ’20, Julie, and workshop crony Noah Shapiro wrote and performed an original composition (a video of which has been leaked to the Bard College 1970s Facebook group). The song is, spoiler alert, sick!

1970

In March, Charles Johnson III was honored at the ACLU’s Dare to Create a More Perfect Union benefit in Georgia, which was in support of free and fair elections. Charles, a seasoned trial lawyer, is now vice president for external affairs and general counsel at Tuskegee University, a Bard Open Society University Network (OSUN) partner. He was also the 2021 recipient of the Bard Medal, the Bard Alumni/ae Association’s highest honor. He serves on the Board of Trustees of Bard College.

1964

Of Rikki Ducornet’s new novel, Trafik, Kirkus writes: “This slender book captivates with its ferocious curiosity, quick wit, and ultimately tender generosity. Carried along by the bumptious rollick of its language, this tale is full of sound and fury, signifying literally everything.” Trafik is Rikki’s 10th novel and first sci-fi. A glimpse of her newest fiction, “The Plotinus,” appeared in Conjunctions 75: Dispatches from Solitude.

IN MEMORIAM

1946

Richard Maris Loving, 97, died March 27, 2021. Richard graduated from Ethical Culture Fieldston School, and after Bard he attended the New School for Social Research and the Art Students League, sometimes bribing his way into New York City morgues to study anatomy by drawing partially dissected bodies. He taught drawing, painting, and anatomy at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1971 to 2004. His work was exhibited in many solo and group shows and is represented in many major collections. He is survived by daughters Julia and Katharine and his companion of many years, Katherine R. Bateman.

1948

Edwina Kuhn Scharff, 95, died September 16, 2020. After Bard, Edwina attended the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, graduating as a physical therapist in 1949. Throughout the Second World War, she was active in the war effort, volunteering with Bundles for Britain and knitting socks for sailors. Edwina was married for more than 70 years to the late Monroe “Monty” B. Scharff ’48. She is survived by her children, Stuart and Peter.

1949

Rosemarie Becchetti Vacca, 94, died August 29, 2020. A lifelong resident of Poughkeepsie, New York, Rosemarie studied voice at Juilliard after Bard. She sang with the Hudson Valley Opera Theatre and was a song leader and director of the choir at Holy Trinity Church. She taught voice to many students privately at her home and was a member of the New York Singing Teachers Association. Her husband, Rocky Vacca ’52, died in 2016.

1950

Inge Schneier Hoffmann, 92, died May 16, 2021. She and her parents emigrated to the United States in 1938, after Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria. Inge was a Schepp Foundation Scholar at Bard and spent her junior year at the University of Zürich and then at the University of Geneva with Jean Piaget. In 1953 she earned an MA in international affairs with a specialty in psychology from Harvard University and later completed postgraduate studies in Paris at the Sorbonne with psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan and social theorist Herbert Marcuse. For five decades, she was a licensed psychologist, specializing in helping creative individuals. Her passion was the study of how creative individuals use inner conflicts, traumas, and other life challenges as sources of strength and inspiration. She also played piano, was an accomplished soprano who sang Schubert Lieder, did freelance design in Paris for Nina Ricci and loved to wear clothes with stunning color combinations and exotic fabrics, and was the recipient of a painting fellowship from the Museum of Modern Art. Her husband of more than 50 years, Stanley Hoffmann, a founder of the Center for European Studies at Harvard University, died in 2015.

1951

Ned Adams, 93, died March 6, 2021. Ned was a machine gunner in the Army during WWII in the First Cavalry Division in the Philippines and Japan and worked for Hartford Insurance Co. for 30 years. He is survived by his sons, Henry and William, and daughter Victoria P. Kirby.

Renée Karol Weiss, 97, died April 28, 2021. Renée and her husband, the poet Theodore Weiss, edited the legendary Quarterly Review of Literature (QRL) from 1943 to 2003. Renée was a respected writer in her own right, and in their last years together she and Ted wrote poems together. Renée was a gifted gardener, modern dancer, and violinist, and performed frequently with local orchestras and chamber groups wherever she and Ted were in residence. She is survived by her sister, Roz Karol Ablow.

1952

Barbara Schamberg Strauss Cowan Herst, 91, died April 6, 2021. After Bard, Barbara attended the Illinois Institute of Technology to study interior design and went on to practice professionally for many years. A loyal Bardian who stayed in touch with the College, Barbara is survived by her children, John and Patricia, and three stepchildren, Bruce, Jan, and Judy.

Jonathan Oseas, 91, died April 17, 2021. Born in New York City, Jonathan was a longtime resident of Hurley, New York. He met his wife, Iris Lipskar Oseas ’52, at Bard, and they returned to campus often over the years. Jonathan was an electronic engineer at RCA and was involved with the computer that monitored the presence of Russian missiles in Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis. In addition to Iris, Jonathan is survived by his daughters, Leah and Miriam, and son, David.

1954

Judith Ann Heimann, 87, died August 23, 2020. Judy was a ballet and modern dancer, and had a keen interest in painting and sculpture. She is survived by her brother, David Zinman.

1955

Ezra Shahn, 88, died February 7, 2021. After Bard, Ezra received a PhD in molecular biology from the University of Pennsylvania and went on to teach math and science for 46 years at Hunter College. At 80, he reunited with fellow Bardian Rona Kay Shahn ’58, who came back into his life after his friend Kit Ellenbogen ’52 (a fellow resident of Medford Leas in New Jersey) urged him to contact her. Ezra and Rona were married in 2013!

1956

Skip Sigler, 85, died April 10, 2021. He was the proprietor of the iconic Seagull Inn Bed & Breakfast in Marblehead, Massachusetts, for 27 years. Skip was born in Red Hook, New York, and at age nine he was an honor guard at Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s funeral. Skip is survived by his wife of 61 years, Ruth, and three sons: Bill, Randy, and Eric.

1959

Tennant Glenn Davitian, 83, died May 20, 2020. At Bard, she found her tribe of fellow actors, musicians, and artists, helping organize the 1958 Bard Jazz Festival with Ran Blake ’59 and performing in it along with Jonathan Tunick ’58, Jeanne Lee ’60, and Blake. Tenny was a prolific artist; ran galleries in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Montpelier, Vermont; and had a clothing shop in Maine. She was predeceased by her parents, Bob and Bea; older brother, Sturgen; former husband, Sam Davitian; and longtime partner, Jo-Ann Golden. She is survived by her daughter, Lauren-Glenn, cofounder and executive director of CCTV Center for Media and Democracy, Channel 17, in Burlington, Vermont.

Erwin “Erv” Machol, 89, died November 5, 2020. Erv was born in Berlin in 1931; his family managed to escape from Germany in 1939 on one of the last ships to make it safely to the United States before the war. He attended Stuyvesant High School, and after graduating from Bard went on to a career in engineering.

1960

Antonia Meltzoff, 81, died August 20, 2020. After Bard, Antonia studied literature in Italy on a Fulbright scholarship and, in 1977, earned a PhD in clinical psychology from New York University. After divorcing her first husband, poet Mark Strand, she married Dr. Julian Meltzoff. The couple lived in New York City, and Florence, Italy, before settling in La Jolla, California, in 1978, where she had a private clinical practice for almost 40 years. Survivors include her daughter, Jessica, and her brother, Alexander.

1961

Al Ellenberg, a legendary newspaper editor, died March 4, 2020. He was 84. Born in the Bronx, Al attended New York City public schools, won the National Scholastic Magazine Poetry Award in grade school, and graduated from De Witt Clinton High School. Al led reporting teams that uncovered the cause of the space shuttle Challenger disaster and exposed Leona Helmsley’s tax fraud. He is survived by his wife, Nora Sheehan, and sons, Sholom and Luke.

1962

Susan Playfair, 80, died February 7, 2021. Susan was known to many at Bard for her work on the Board of Governors and her regular visits to campus at Reunion and Alumni/ae Weekend with her classmates and friends, especially Penny Axelrod ’63, Jack Blum ’62, and Ann Ho ’62. After working on Wall Street and then as an investment executive for Goodbody & Company in Boston for several years, Susan opened The Sunspot in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where she sold clothes designed from imported fabric printed with woodblocks. She then became a fashion designer, selling her resort wear under the Playfair name to Bergdorf Goodman and other outlets. In the 1980s, Susan’s career shifted from fashion design to contract interior design, and she established Interaction, which provided interior design to commercial clients around New England. Susan’s interests came together in her final career as an author; she published books about the changing nature of New England industries tied to the land and the sea. She spent many happy years sailing on Buzzards Bay with her late husband, Richard J. O’Connell, and her daughter, Lily, on their Alden yawl Whisper, and she traveled around the world exploring coral reefs in Fiji, bird-watching in Patagonia, and learning more about nature everywhere from Martinique to Hawaii. In addition to Lily, she is survived by her sisters, Marsha and Holly. Donations can be given in her memory to Manomet at manomet.org or to Bard College at annandaleonline.org/bcf.

1963

Harold Donohue died February 18, 2021. Harold described himself with a smile as a “political hack,” by which he simply meant an activist working diligently, and at times single-mindedly, on local causes in which he believed. He was involved in tenant issues, was a past president of the Independence Plaza Tenants Association, and worked on the staff of Assemblyman William Passanante for many years.

Melissa Shook, 81, died August 27, 2020. A documentary photographer, artist, and educator, Melissa taught at MIT’s Creative Photography Lab and, from 1979 to 2005, at UMass Boston. Boston’s homeless people and those of the back side of Suffolk Downs were among the many subjects close to her heart. A devoted single mother, she documented her biracial daughter’s life from the age of 1 to 18. Images from this series were acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and the Fotografiska Museet in Stockholm, Sweden.

1964

Judith Anne Drum, 80, died April 16, 2021. Judy lived and studied in Egypt, Beirut, and Brazil in her formative years. She is survived by her son, Buddy, twin sister, Kimberlee, and brother, Geoffrey.

1967

Elizabeth Lisa Moore Karrick, 76, died March 25, 2021. Lisa was an artist, ballet dancer, writer, and healer. She is survived by her brother, David, and her daughters, Jennifer and Sarah.

1968

Roderick Bromley, 74, died September 11, 2020. When he wasn’t “Captain Roderigo” the airline pilot, flying passengers across Africa or Europe, he was immersed in his love of art, music, and history. He is survived by his wife, Shaunagh, and his children, Toby, Siobhán, and Gordon. Lincoln D. Hard, 77, died May 13, 2020. Lincoln served in the U.S. Navy from 1960 to 1964 and then worked for the military as a standard labs technician in Vietnam and the Philippines. He worked for many years as an adult care worker with Rhinebeck Country School, Devereaux, and for the State of New York. He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Franciska Kish, and children Nathan, Bethany, Lisa, and Naomi.

Robert David Judd, 76, died March 14, 2021. After 15 years working in hospital administration, Robert took a year off to read, think, hike, and refocus his professional life toward human services and community engagement; he also met his wife, Linda, and a shared passion for wilderness and nature was the origin and continuing focus of their life together. In addition to Linda, he is survived by his siblings, Nancy and Russell, and three stepdaughters, Caroline, Christin, and Lisa.

Peter Joseph Levy, 77, died February 15, 2021. Peter had a rich and varied career in business, photography, and real estate, but his passion was helping others through hands-on healing. He earned his chiropractic degree from Cleveland College of Los Angeles in 1984, was frequently invited to teach anatomy to UCLA premed students, and practiced for 36 years in the Santa Barbara community. He is survived by his wife, Guylaine Therrien (Ghee), and daughters Sonya, Julia, Kira, and Marissa.

1969

Marie Gangemi, 73, died April 12, 2021. The focus of Marie’s career was helping others grow. She was an avid scholar, constantly eager to share her knowledge. Her passion for history led her to do research for the New York City Landmarks Commission, and her love for music led her to sing with the Oratorio Society of New York for decades. Marie is survived by her daughter, Bernadine, and her two brothers, Robert and Daniel D’Ambrosio.

1971

Dery Dyer, 72, died September 25, 2020, in Costa Rica. Dery was the former owner, publisher, and editor of The Tico Times, a newspaper known as a champion of free and independent journalism. She oversaw English-language coverage of some of the biggest stories in an era that saw Central America immersed in war and Costa Rica taking center stage in the peace process. The newspaper made a specialty of environmental reporting, chronicling the rise of Costa Rica as a global leader in habitat protection and resource conservation. Her book, The Return of Collective Intelligence: Ancient Wisdom for a World Out of Balance, was published earlier this year. She is survived by her husband, Jim Molloy.

1973

Sanford “Sandy” Page Mayshark, 69, died April 5, 2021. A true renaissance man, Sandy had a lifelong passion for building and carpentry as well as baking and cooking. A skilled craftsman, talented musician and singer, and beloved friend to the community, Sandy is survived by his sons, Duncan and Graham; brother, Joseph; and sister, Cassandra.

Joseph Palombo, 69, died December 2, 2020. He was a gay activist, theater and opera enthusiast, committed patron of the arts, and supporter of human rights. He is survived by his sisters, Kathleen and Lisa, and was predeceased by his partner, Kenny St. Onge.

1974

Ellen Judith Tabachnick, 68, died March 24, 2021. Ellen believed wholeheartedly in civil liberties, justice, and a level playing field. In 1973, she organized volunteers to teach in Matteawan, a prison for incarcerated people with mental illness in Beacon, New York. She went on to earn her JD. Ellen championed the Hmong community’s right to communicate with government agencies in their own language. She spent her final years as a pro bono advocate for undocumented persons, including minors threatened with deportation.

1980

Janet Sapadin, 61, died March 25, 2021. After earning her BA in studio arts at Bard, she studied calculus, chemistry, and physics at Lehman College and then attended Columbia University, where she earned a master of public health degree in 1990. Janet had a superb contralto singing voice and was an excellent improvisational chef. She was diagnosed with ALS in 2007, and as her mobility declined she stayed intellectually engaged through the internet and by listening to books on CD and watching movies. Janet is survived by her husband, John Ruston, daughters Anya and Eliza, and older brothers Michael and Randy.

Charles Arthur Wagner, 63, died December 30, 2020. His Senior Project on the Italian Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci was consistent with his lifelong and ardent leftism. After graduation, Charles volunteered for the Peace Corps and served in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). After leaving the Peace Corps, he taught English as a Second Language in Japan. After he moved back to the United States he worked primarily as a writer. He is survived by his wife, Mary Anne (Mopsey), and his sister, Sarah Lynn Wagner-Ranes.

1990

Amy Heil, 51, died January 13, 2021. She studied political science at Bard and at Reed College before joining the US Air Force in 1991. Amy’s eight-year career as a medical technician took her to Texas, Mississippi, California, and Japan. As a Quaker, Amy worked passionately for peace, volunteering for the Friends Committee on National Legislation as well as Veterans for Peace, and attending rallies, protests, and marches. She is survived by her husband, John Worsley; daughter, Brooklyn Williams; and father, Chuck.

1991

Carol L. (Klase) Kessler, 86, died December 2, 2020. Carol took great pride in having returned to college later in life to earn her degree from Bard through the Continuing Education Program. She is survived by her daughters, JoEllen and Tammy, and her son, Michael.

1992

Grace Markham (MFA), 67, died February 26, 2021. Her art, which has been featured in many exhibits in New York City and upstate, was like her—full of vivid color, movement, and energy. Grace was awarded artist residencies at Yaddo, Blue Mountain Center, and Byrdcliffe Artist Colony. She taught for the Nature Conservancy on Shelter Island for more than 25 years, connecting children to nature and encouraging them to be creative and imaginative.

1993

F. Peter Rose (MS), 88, died March 20, 2020. A philanthropist and nature lover, Peter received his undergraduate degree from the University of Vermont and nearly 40 years later earned a master’s degree in environmental studies from Bard and began devoting his life to environmental affairs, especially to the conservation of sea turtles.

1996

Charles Taylor, 55, died January 18, 2021. Charles was born in Virginia, grew up in Tennessee, and spent most of his adult life in New York and Connecticut before moving to Savannah, Georgia, in 2013. He started his business career as showroom designer for Milliken and Company in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and later was the production and operation manager for visual merchandising and store design for Macy’s Herald Square. In New York City and Connecticut, he owned and managed an interior design firm and event-planning company. He was a supporter of many arts and social organizations and cared deeply for his community. He is survived by his husband, Samir Nikocevic; parents, Millard and Patsy; sisters, April and Hope; and brother, Bryan.

1997

Robert Fenz, 51, died August 8, 2020. He was a world-renowned lyrical filmmaker, intellectual, and humanist. Robert left home at 16 and at 18 moved to San Francisco. He then went east to Bard, where he made his kinetic film Vertical Air (1996). It was also at Bard that he met the great trumpeter and composer Wadada Leo Smith and filmmaker Peter Hutton. As a senior, he collaborated with professor Peggy Ahwesh on her film Nocturn. Robert’s films are personal and poetic portraits of people and places he encountered during his travels in countries such as Cuba, Mexico, Brazil, and India. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2004 and a DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program scholarship in 2006. His work can be found in the permanent collections of many of the world’s top museums. He is survived by his mother, Karin; siblings, Erik, Ingrid, John, and Heidi; and wife, Virginia.

William Harnish, 47, died August 23, 2020. William had a long career in libraries, holding positions at Pennsylvania State University, Towson State University, and North Carolina State University, where he received the Provost Unit’s Award for Excellence in 2019.

1999

Heather Jane McCormick (MA), 53, died September 27, 2020. Heather was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, graduated from Dalhousie University, and earned her BFA at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. She was one of the first students to enroll at the Bard Graduate Center (BGC) and wrote her master’s thesis on Ernst Plassmann, one of New York City’s great sculptors and carvers. She went on to earn her MPhil from BGC in 2009. Heather was instrumental in the publication of the BGC textbook History of Design: Decorative Arts and Material Culture, 1400–2000. She is survived by her mother, Joanne, husband, Ian, and brother, James.

2006

Gwendolyn Torsky, 36, died May 29, 2020. Gwen graduated from Voorhees High School in Hunterdon County, New Jersey; earned a dual degree in dance and history from Bard; and worked as an art restorer and in development at American Ballet Theatre. She was a passionate and outspoken advocate for women’s reproductive rights and gender equality, and through her writing and one-on-one support used her experience with breast cancer to help other young women dealing with the disease. Gwen is survived by her parents, Ron and Judi, husband, Max, and siblings, Lara and Travis.

2016

Ryan Fabian, 38, died April 6, 2021. He was an alumnus of the Bard Prison Initiative who excelled in math and computer science courses, and he had ambitions for a career in tech.

2021

Bryan T. Callaghan, 48, died March 19, 2021. Bryan was a student of the Bard Prison Initiative. A math major, he was working on his Senior Project, which addressed the impact of road salinization on the waterways of the Adirondacks. Bryan’s degree was conferred posthumously. He is survived by his daughter, Cassidy; mother, Brenda; stepfather, Greg; and sister, Bridget.

2022

Ashley Figueroa, 26, died October 24, 2020. She was a student of Bard Microcollege Holyoke, a Bard College degree program developed in partnership with The Care Center of Holyoke, Massachusetts.

Faculty

Malcolm Cecil, 84, died March 28, 2021. He was a Grammy Award–winning musician, audio engineer, record producer, and pioneer in the development of synthesizers. For the last decade, Malcolm contributed greatly to Bard’s Electronic Music program and was a mentor to many. He taught masterclasses, gave lessons and performances, and even aided in the repair of sensitive electronic music equipment. Malcolm was originally from London, England, where he played in the BBC Orchestra as a young man and learned about the circuitry that would later inform his work developing electronic instruments while in the Royal Air Force. He was the chief technical engineer at Mediasound studios, and was famous for his work with Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Minnie Riperton, and many others. Malcolm will be remembered as the genius who designed TONTO (The Original New Timbral Orchestra), the world’s first and largest multitimbral, polyphonic analog audio synthesizer. He made remarkable contributions to the creation of pop music and experimental sound, and Bard was fortunate he chose to make his home nearby in Ulster County. His creative and original mind and his generosity as a collaborator and teacher will not be forgotten.

Terence Francis “Terry” Dewsnap, 87, died September 24, 2020. Terry received his AB in math and MA in English literature from Boston College, where he edited the student literary magazine and sang with the glee club, and earned his PhD in modern British literature from the University of Wisconsin. While in class at Boston College, as a result of alphabetical seating, he met Catherine Margaret Desmond. Together they raised five children—Terence F. “Ted” Dewsnap Jr. ’82, Ellen Dewsnap, Ann Cwiklinski, Desmond Paul Dewsnap, and Molly Meinhardt. Terry’s teaching career began at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York. In 1963, he started teaching at Bard College, where he remained for 53 years, until his retirement in 2016, chairing the Division of Languages and Literature, directing the Irish and Celtic Studies Program, helping found the Victorian Studies Program, serving as faculty representative to the American

Association of University Professors, and teaching countless students to love Victorian detective stories and novels—and a few to love Finnegan’s Wake. His essays and reviews on subjects and authors including Christopher Isherwood, Richard Murphy, Flann O’Brien, the Irish Big House, and Watergate autobiographies have appeared in several journals. While a graduate student, he wrote booklets on W. H. Auden, William Golding, and Thomas Wolfe for the Monarch Notes series. In 2008, he published Island of Daemons: The Lough Derg Pilgrimage and the Poets Patrick Kavanaugh, Denis Devlin, and Seamus Heaney. He had recently completed a manuscript on James Joyce’s Catholicism. Terry is survived by Ted, Ellen, Ann, and Molly; his sister, Marilyn Buckley, and brother Paul. His brother Donald died in childhood. The family suggests that donations in Terry’s memory be made to scholarships for students with financial need in the Bard Higher Education Opportuniy Program. For more information, call 845-758-7405.

Staff

Brian T. Moore, 61, died January 13, 2021. A familiar face in Shipping and Receiving at Bard, Brian was also well known in Red Hook, New York, where he grew up, and was often seen at sporting events with his camera. He launched Northerndutchesssports.com in 2009 to keep his passion for Red Hook sports thriving.

Richard Murphy, 74, died August 18, 2020. The Physics Program lab technician, Richard came to Bard in 2016 after 41 years as an engineer for IBM, putting his wealth of practical knowledge toward helping members of the community build, make, or repair almost anything. He is survived by his wife, Kate, and daughter, Coleen Ann Kern.

Tim Thompson, 58, died January 20, 2021. Tim worked for more than 20 years in the College’s dining services. He was so beloved by students that he was once nominated as Senior Class staff speaker at the annual Senior Dinner. Tim is survived by his wife, Christine; daughters, Alyssa and Olivia; a son, Zack; his mother, Marsha; and sisters, Laura and Jennifer. The College has extended tuition remission benefits to Tim’s grandchildren, and is creating a memorial fund to be used in a manner consistent with his family’s wishes.

Friends

Shirley Young, 85, died December 26, 2020. A groundbreaking marketing executive, first at Grey Advertising and then at General Motors, Shirley was a valued supporter of the Bard College Conservatory of Music, a member of the Conservatory Advisory Board, and a dear friend of the US-China Music Institute, where she served on the Artistic Counsel. She stood out professionally as one of the few women and one of the few Asian Americans in her field and for her success bringing quantitative research into marketing, but her true passion was music, and she will be greatly missed for her generous advice, activism on behalf of young musicians, and deep commitment to the arts and culture. She is survived by her sons, David, William, and Douglas.

For additional tributes to alumni/ae, including Edison J. Nuñez Jr. ’47, Patricia Goodheart ’61, Louis Proyect ’65, Lisa Morris ’81, T. J. Ozorio ’85, Kevin Begos ’88, and faculty and staff, including Floyd M. Burgher Sr., Kim Ellison, April Freely, Catherine Moore, William T. Mottoshiski, and Teresa Vilardi, see the next issue of the Bardian.