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Enclosed is your class newsletter 1970s • Spring 2011
Friends University Issue 32 Spring 2011
Campus Connection
1970s
From Your Class Agent Rick Fitzgerald cfitz1@cox.net
The search continues for a new president for Friends University. Board of Trustees chair, Rod Pitts, G’82, conducted off-site interviews with candidates in December. The four finalists were then brought to the Wichita campus in January. The new president should be announced by the end of March. What is “The Better Way?” The Better Way is a street ministry and mission work founded in 1986 by Pastor Steve Campbell, G’73, and his wife, Wanda. For the last 23 years, The Better Way has stood as a place of hope to the homeless and poor in the “Short North” district, located in the inner city of Columbus, Ohio. Since 1986, over 400,000 people have come through their doors seeking physical and spiritual assistance. Thank you Steve and Wanda for a terrific ministry and a job well done!’ The headline from the Kansas City Star read “Rare domino liver transplant in KC area saves two lives.” It was no surprise to Richard Gross, G’71. The doctors at the University of Kansas Hospital were taking out his diseased liver. After all, it was killing him. What was a surprise, however, was that they turned around in a 13-hour procedure and put it into another fellow! Together, the two strangers teamed up for Kansas City’s first “domino” liver transplant. Though still rare, the first domino liver transplant was performed 15 years ago in Portugal. The procedure is used primarily in cases of familial amyloidosis, a genetic disease in which the liver produces an abnormal protein the body cannot
process. It causes nerve damage that eventually leads to paralysis and then death. The transplants work because the liver otherwise works as it should and a recipient does not develop symptoms for the disease for 30 or 40 years. About a week after the transplants, Richard was able to leave the hospital feeling good about the part he had played in the process. Congratulations to both recipients and we wish them continued good health and happiness. Roger Brown, G’73, was recently elected by the Community Bankers Association of Kansas as chairman-elect. He is employed by Citizens State Bank. Dr. Bradley Nassif, G’77, was recently tenured at North Park University in Chicago as professor of biblical and theological studies. He is currently editing a book titled “The Philokalia: Exploring a Classic Text of Orthodox Spirituality” and writing a devotional book titled “The Desert Fathers and Mothers.” That’s it for this edition of our class newsletter. Drop me a line and let me know what you have been up to and I will pass it along.
Rick Ritzgerald, G’70