Sporting News

ALUMNI CLASS NEWS

1940s

Franklin Schurz ’48 is a distinguished biographee included in Marquis Who’s Who. Individuals profiled are chosen from among a pool of the most prominent professionals. Schurz excelled in his career for more than 60 years and is retired, having attained the role of chairman emeritus of Schurz Communications, Inc., in 2007. Joining the South Bend Tribune as an executive assistant in 1956, he also held the roles of secretary, director, associate publisher, editor, publisher, executive vice president and president between 1970 and 1982, before the company’s name changed to Schurz Communications. The president and chairman of Schurz Communications from 1982 to 2006, he was also the treasurer from 1983 to 1989 and spent one final year as the chairman from 2006 to 2007 before attaining emeritus status. He served on the CEF Board of Trustees from 2004 through 2017 and has held Emeritus status from 2017 forward. He also served on the Legion Board from 1973–1976 and 2002 to 2004.

1950s

Roger Penske W’50, auto racing legend and chairman of the board and CEO of Penske Corporation, celebrated the crowning achievement of his 82 years: the acquisition of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Nov. 4, 2019 for $300 million from the Hulman family, who had owned it for 74 years. He is the fourth owner of the Speedway in its 110 years.

Stephen Burkman W’52 has sold the remaining 49 percent of Hema Diagnostic Systems (HDS) to Generex Biotechnology Corporation, which is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the company.

1960s

John Baker W’59 ’64, Indiana’s longest serving judge and a 30-year veteran of the Indiana Court of Appeals, will retire effective July 31, 2020. Baker joined the appellate court in 1989 when he was appointed by Gov. Evan Bayh. A former chief judge of the court, Baker is the most prolific appellate jurist in Indiana history, having authored more than 5,000 written opinions.

James Dicke II W’59 ’64 has been elected president of the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc., a nonprofit educational organization honoring the achievements of outstanding individuals and encouraging youth to pursue their dreams through higher education by the board of directors. A 2015 Horatio Alger Award recipient and current vice president of the board, Dicke will assume his new position effective immediately for a two-year term. He is the chairman and CEO of Crown Equipment, an Ohiobased company that today is the fifth largest manufacturer of forklifts in the world.

Walter Smith ’66 retired from his position as CEO and chairman of Thombert, Inc., a Newton, Iowa-based business, after 40 years of service. Founded by his father and uncle as a woodworking operation, it branched out into polyurethane goods like tires and wheels. Today Thombert is the largest manufacturer of urethane tires and wheels for electric fork lift trucks in North America. His daughter, Lara Smith Nicholson ’86, has taken over as chairman of the business and his son, William, has been named executive vice president.

Dr. Mike Bushnell ’68, was on campus last February to serve as a judge for a Ron Rubin School for the Entrepreneur competition and to provide career insights to Rubin School students. He also consulted with members of the Academies Computer Science Department on curriculum matters. Mike is an electrical and computer engineer, who spent 27 years on the Rutgers University faculty. In 2008, he co-founded Spectral Design and Test, Inc., a startup company in Somerville, New Jersey that provides memory chip designs and self-testing methods to the worldwide semiconductor industry, which he now serves as Chief Technological Officer.

Bob Milner ’68 was recognized at his retirement with the first Patriotic Service Award presented by Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, the Army’s Fires Center of Excellence, and the Fires Patriots, an organization of community leaders in Lawton. Bob was recognized for providing leadership that resulted in significant tangible and operational improvements to the Fires Center of Excellence, and for establishing a foundation of joint military and civilian collaboration to achieve long term growth and excellence for both communities.

1970s

Larry W. Adami N’70, owner of Antique Clock Emporium in Sarasota, Florida, has nearly 300 clocks, none of them set to the correct time, producing a new chime every few minutes. Adami, who first struck success in Sarasota with Livingston’s Amusement Center, opened the emporium recently after finding retirement boring. Each of the clocks comes from his collection, which lined his home.

Roscoe Howard, Jr. ’70, a former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, now working in Barnes and Thornburg law firm’s white collar and investigations group, has been serving as managing partner of the firm’s Washington, D.C. office since July 2019.

Eric Hughes ’70 W’65 SC ’67

is the CEO and business analyst for Matriculus, a web development company he founded in 2014. He began his career in technology by designing business data networks and technical training programs for Lockheed Martin, then moving into financial services as a Director at Charles Schwab, and initiating a cross disciplinary group responsible for architecting and implementing one of the largest private TCP/IPbased networks in the U.S. for Wells Fargo. Eric started his own web development company, Simplexity, and manages over 100 clients.

Miles White ’73, Chairman and CEO of Abbott, the health care company he has led for the last 21 years, stepped down on March 31, 2020. He will remain Executive Chairman of the Board. He continues to chair the CEF Board of Trustees, a role he has held since 2010.

Joshua Kaiman ’77 has accepted a new position as a subcontract administrator for L3Harris Corporation, the sixth largest U.S. Defense contractor and primary supplier of electronic systems to the Department of Defense and NASA. Josh will be based in Mason, Ohio.

1980s

Jose Passarelli ’82 of Guatemala City has worked for Suzuki as commercial director in Guatemala since 1997. He has been married for 24 years and has twins who are in college.

Jena P. Wynn-Bellezza ’84 is the Chief Operating Officer for the Indiana Parenting Institute. She is instrumental in developing IPI’s collaborations with funders, schools, youth serving, and faith-based organizations, state and local organizations, and family service agencies and CBOs throughout Indiana who are committed to advancing the well-being of families. Currently, she is actively engaged in developing the IPI brand in South Bend and in Indianapolis. She has co-hosted several radio talk show programs on parenting and urban issues since 2010.

Lara Smith Nicholson ’86

has been named chairman of Thombert, Inc., a Newton, Iowa-based company that is the largest manufacturer of urethane tires and wheels for electric fork lift trucks in North America.