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Announcements: 200912/17/09 -- Classmate Geoffrey Lines Tickner died on November 26, 2009. Click here for his obituary on the Memorials Page. 1/9/09 -- Art Christensen's report on the memorial service for John McGillicuddy, including the names of the ten from the class who were present, has been added to the Memorials Page. Harold John Henry Arensmeyer (1930-2009) A memoir I met Hal when we both were high school seniors who had applied to Princeton—members of a Princeton alumni group in St. Louis entertained us and a bunch of other fellows from the area. They were recruiting us for Princeton! Four of us roomed together in Lockhart freshman year. Both Hal and I worked as waiters in Commons. Institutional living among young people often seems to invite complaint about the food and a number of other things. Hal was not a complainer and did not join in such exchanges. He would bring from his classes some anecdote to smile over—maybe what Mme. Turkevitch had said in Russian class (we all learned a few phrases of Russian from him; he loved to pronounce them). He was a talker, friendly, but never in your face. He liked girls—whenever we saw any—and went with us to Sweet Briar or Vassar or…. He was liked, of course, by them for his cheer and North European good looks. He went out for 150# football and suffered on lean rations before a weigh-in. In no way fat, but muscled. He
was quietly serious about his studies, regularly disappearing from
distractions of the dorm to work at the library—and not only before
exams. About his family he spoke most affectionately of his sister,
Jane, and of a spinster aunt whom he relished for her high spirits. In sophomore year our class was the first in Princeton history to guarantee a bid from an eating club for any of the class who wanted one. One optional aspect of this was the creation of the "iron-bound”, an agreement between several students to be considered and taken together. Hal and I and two others formed one and got a bid from Key and Seal. It was a happy place where the members were helped and looked over by avuncular black men in a Club uniform. A fair amount of the good cheer on weekends was alcohol-encouraged. I dropped off in the middle of junior year to go to Annapolis, but I think Hal had already formed a friendship with a rather tall blonde Smithie. Elliott, I think her name was. John P.D. Moore ‘52 Greenwich September 27, 2009 52's "Lone Ranger" Rides Again This year (2009) in Botswana by: J.C. ("Chips") Chester '52 The Context Beginning in 1994, three '52 classmates, namely Arthur Collins, Bob Jiranek, and the undersigned, embarked on a series of annual international horseback rides-- sponsored and arranged mostly by Equitours Inc., which is based in Dubois, Wyoming. During the decade and a half that followed, we managed, to ride in distant Mongolia and New Zealand in the Far East and in selected countries in Europe, Eastern Europe, southern Africa, and South America. This year, alas, the late Art Collins is no longer with us, and Bob Jiranek had an unbreakable family conflict. That left me as '52's lone equestrian representative. I was, however, accompanied by my 16-year-old granddaughter, Kyra Paul, her riding instructor, Heather Sanders, my nephew from Milwaukee, Ross Read, and his wife, Mary. This was my 12th ride worldwide and my 2nd in southern Africa. Botswana- The Okavango Delta Botswana, the former British protectorate of Bechuanaland, is now an independent country. Unlike many of its neighbors, it is a stable and democratically governed land, with an economy based largely on diamonds and tourism. It has approximately 1.6 million inhabitants and considerably more wild animals. In the Okavango Delta, moreover, there are some 900 species of birds. The Okavango Delta, where we rode exclusively last July, is the largest inland delta in the world. As an official guidebook explains: "The Okavango is a river of considerable size rising in the highlands of distant Angola (and Passing through Namibia), but in Botswana its waters fan out into an immense delta and eventually evaporate or sink in the sand. With the exception of the border rivers and the Okavango, there is no standing water anywhere in the country: There are no lakes, no rivers and no streams." However, during the totally dry season (including July and August), when there is not a cloud in the sky, the delta can be flooded by water from Angola. This means that over half the time on the Okavango ride, you will be wading through moderate to deep water. In fact a second "fly" (temporary) camp was located on a large island which can only be reached by horses that swim or by boat. Most of our party rode swimming horses, holding onto their manes until they reached the shore. The Okavango Delta contains just about every specie of animal life you might want to see-~ and a few you don't want to get close to. The lions and hippos fall into the latter category. For instance, a lion cannot always distinguish between a horse and a zebra--the lions' natural prey. (On one Delta safari, not ours, a lion attacked a horse and rider and had to be shot-- together with the horse) Consequently, looking out constantly for lions was a major preoccupation. We saw no lions on our ride, but they occasionally penetrated the camp at night, along with hippos, and had to be driven off. The horses are guarded on a 24-hour basis. Among the many animals we did see-- and were able to approach fairly closely-- were: elephants, giraffes, impalas, various species of antelope including the lechwe (they like to hang out in water) and tsessibe (they only drink the water, but are the fastest of the antelope family); water buffalo, wildebeest, zebra, monkeys and baboons- to cite just a sampling. Elephants could be dangerous if they feel challenged, but were quite nonchalant if allowed to approach the riders. Needless to say, an experienced guide is a necessity. There is clearly no better way to view the above sights than on horseback. A jeep or van would not suffice in the Delta. If you are 80 years old-- or pushing that figure-- you will be treated royally by all of the safari staff. Aside from their good nature, they probably are anxious to keep you from expiring on their "watch". Old age, believe it or not, has a few (if not many) benefits. And so I now wish all classmates an equally happy and rewarding retirement. A pay-go option for health-care reform By John Geyman M.D. '52Special to The Times AS Congress recessed for the July Fourth holiday, the debate over health-care reform was reaching a fever pitch. Now the top domestic issue for the Obama administration, the biggest questions are how much a reform bill will cost and how to pay for it, quite aside from how effective a "reform package" will be. Skyrocketing costs that are out of control are the hallmark of our present system. Yet legislators have already acceded to pressures and dollars from stakeholders in the present system (within which costs are revenue) and are only considering options that "build on the present system." After months of work, legislative committees in Congress have brought forth drafts of proposals that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is starting to score in terms of cost and effectiveness. As expected, the costs of these incremental proposals are high — the first number of $1.6 trillion over 10 years (while still leaving 36 million Americans uninsured) sent these committees back to the drawing board. At the moment, leading Senate Democrats are hailing $1 trillion over 10 years as potentially doable. After presiding over huge deficits during their eight years in power, Republicans are now demanding "pay as you go" (pay-go) policies. Together with Blue Dog Democrats, they are threatening to act as spoilers of any health-care-reform bill on its price tag alone. Given the dimensions of these difficult economic times — including a $1.8 trillion deficit for 2009, $5 trillion in new federal debt over this year and next, and rising unemployment — pay-go makes good sense. And the president is making the case that his health-care plan must pay for itself. Conventional "wisdom" (as generated by the mainstream corporate media) says that any health-care reform will cost a lot, and that there is no pay-go option. But there is. Single-payer financing (public financing coupled with a private delivery system, a reformed "Medicare for All"), as embodied in Rep. John Conyers' bill (HR 676 in the House) with its 83 co-sponsors, will yield savings of some $400 billion a year. That's enough to assure universal coverage for all Americans while eliminating all co-pays and deductibles — the ultimate pay-go. Single-payer will give us far more efficient, affordable, effective and reliable health care than our present multipayer system. Health insurers have known for years that they can't compete on a level playing field with single-payer, and have only been surviving by favorable tax policies and other subsidies from the government. This recent testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation by Wendell Potter, former head of corporate communications at Cigna, says it all: "I know from personal experience that members of Congress and the public have good reason to question the honesty and trustworthiness of the insurance industry. Insurers make promises they have no intention of keeping, they flout regulations designed to protect consumers, and they make it nearly impossible to understand — or even to obtain — information we need." Many studies over the past two decades, including those by the CBO, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute, have concluded that single-payer can assure universal coverage and still save money. HR 676 needs to be brought out of the closet and put on the table for CBO scoring against other options being considered in Congress, all of which cost much more and fail to provide universal coverage. President Obama has brought forward the concept of audacity of hope. Is it too audacious now to hope that the legislators we elect to Congress can see beyond their campaign contributions and the lobbying efforts by corporate stakeholders to require that single-payer be scored? Dr. John Geyman is professor emeritus of Family Medicine at the University of Washington, past president of Physicians for a National Health Program, and a member of the Institute of Medicine. A note about Hank Sherk received June 12, 2009 Your classmate Dr. Henry Sherk was the Keynote Speaker at the Seton Hall University School of Health and Medical Sciences, Division of Medical Residency and Fellowship Programs. He delivered an impassioned oration that inspired both the graduates and Faculty. Respectfully submitted by, Jill Kraft Butler, Class of 1986, Spouse of *92,94, 01 Jill Butler, MD FACP Assistant Professor of Medicine Seton Hall University School of Graduate Medical Education Here is the text of Hank's remarks. "INSPIRATIONAL REMARKS” As Invited by Dr. Vincent McInerney About a month ago Dr. McInerney invited me to make what he called a few inspirational remarks at this ceremony. At first, I thought that he was mostly interested in some congratulatory comments ending with a generic charge to you to "do your best”, and "make your teachers proud”. Upon reflection, however, I realized that Vince McInerney is far too subtle and too thoughtful for this and what he really wanted was for me to think hard about what I myself would need to hear from a speaker under these circumstances. I have decided, therefore, to open with a question, and it is: what do you look forward to as your reward for the years you have invested in your education? Beyond that, what do you think your chances are of realizing these expectations? To address these questions I decided to forgo theoretical discussions of ethical conundrums and instead look at what happened to real people, in other words people like yourselves who went to school, spent their time and their money on their educations and hoped for a pay-off of some sort to justify all their effort and investment and their delayed reward. Take, for example, several historical figures, people a little remote from our time but real people who stand out to a degree because they did something unusual, or who in fact achieved something epochal even something of sublime importance. For starters, please consider the life of William G.T. Morton. Dr. Morton was a Boston dentist. He is credited with introducing ether anesthesia during surgery to the modern world. He had developed the technique by himself and was invited to demonstrate it at the Massachusetts General Hospital in April 1846. As he had done many times in his dental practice he poured the volatile liquid ether onto a cloth and held the cloth under the patient’s face. He asked the patient to take a few deep breaths. The patient became sleepy and then unconscious. Dr. Warren, the surgeon then incised the patient’s mandible to drain and clean out an abscess. When the patient awoke after the surgery, he did not remember experiencing any pain. The assembled crowd of onlookers went wild with the realization that they had witnessed the dawn of a new era in medicine and surgery. Two months later the Boston surgeons published their great article on inhalational anesthesia in surgery and they took over the discovery completely. What happened to Dr. Morton? What was his reward for his research, his risk in being the discoverer of this property of ether and its applicability in clinical practice? The answer is virtually nothing except bitterness, law suits, and rejection. He spent the rest of his life trying to patent his discovery and achieve recognition for what he had done. He even went to the Congress of the United States for a "letter of appreciation” all to no avail. He died a poor and angry man scorned for what was perceived to be his relentless self-promotion. How about Konrad Roentgen? Dr. Roentgen was an academic German scientist who did research at the University of Munich. In the mid-1890’s he did experiments upon the effect of large charges of electricity passed through a vacuum tube, a device that had been designed by an Englishman named William Crooke. Using the Crooke tube, Roentgen produced a unique invisible ray that caused phosphorescence of a platinocyanide compound. When Professor Roentgen applied the compound to a sheet of cardboard, the ray caused the cardboard to glow and when he held a metal object such as a key in the path of the ray the key and the bones in his hand cast a shadow image on the cardboard. Dr. Roentgen realized that he had found a way to visualize the interior of the human body using this unknown ray, or as he called it the x-ray. When he demonstrated it at a meeting of German scientists they clapped and cheered and demanded that this ray would henceforth be called the Roentgen ray. Within two months after the demonstration the ray was in use in Europe and America for the diagnosis of fractures and the location of retained foreign bodies. Within the year, lawyers had used it in court in medical malpractice cases. Roentgen refused to patent his discovery leaving it for the benefit of all human kind. He thought that his comfortable pension for his years of service at the University would support him for the rest of his life. However, the value of the pension collapsed to zero in the inflation of the Weimar Republic and Dr. Roentgen could not afford fuel for warmth or food for his personal sustenance. He virtually starved to death. He had the reward of personal recognition during his lifetime but his virtuous behavior and his rejection of the great wealth he could have realized from his discovery gave him nothing. It was for others to reap that reward. One wonders how he felt about it at the end. There are others. Madame Curie, the discoverer of radium died from leukemia almost certainly caused by the radioactivity to which she was exposed during her lifetime of research, and perhaps the saddest of all is Clara Maass, R.N., the Army nurse who volunteered to participate in the investigation carried out by Dr. Walter Reed on the mechanism of transmission of Yellow Fever. The participants in the study had to allow themselves to be bitten by mosquitoes which a short time previously had bitten a patient suffering from that disease. Clara Maass developed a full blown case and died. She had no reward in her life for her sacrifice but she is to a degree revered for helping to prove how a fatal disease is transmitted. Also there is a hospital in Newark which changed its name from the Newark German Hospital and Dispensary to the Clara Maass Memorial Hospital. All of the people I have mentioned made contributions of great importance to human kind and so will all of you; perhaps not contributions of such seminal importance but contributions nonetheless. Sadly but inevitably you will also suffer, not to the same degree one hopes, but somewhere and somehow you will be hurt and disappointed and feel abandoned and neglected. A patient you treat will not do well, despite your best efforts. He or she may even die. Many of you will endure a lawsuit, a bitter experience if ever there was one. So how do you rationalize this? How do you go forward in a high risk profession in which you have invested everything including even a major portion of your youth? You can pay down the student loans but those years are gone forever. Again, think of some examples. Examine the lives of people you know who lived skillfully. How did they do it? It is almost certainly not that they continuously from moment to moment thought about specific virtues and vices or that they merely obeyed the law or practiced an inhuman evidenced based medicine strictly by the numbers. What is or was their secret? How did they find success and happiness in their lives? Certainly you can find examples among your mentors, particularly those you have come to respect and admire during your training here. Consider how they reacted not only to stressful situations, but also how they dealt with the more mundane daily events of their lives. Think especially about the choices they made while you were with them because in our daily lives we constantly have to choose and decide and that is what makes or breaks us as we strive to live not well but skillfully. And, always remember the difference. Living well implies lots of money, fancy cars, expensive vacations, and maybe membership in an exclusive country club. Living skillfully is more difficult to define but to me it is peace in one’s life, comfort with one’s choices, and a calm acceptance of one’s self regardless of life’s successes or failures. The reward for your years of study, your many nights on call, and your years of work is not necessarily the chance to live well. The reward the healing profession will give you is an unparalleled opportunity to live skillfully. You will have many, many choices to make in your careers, and you have to make them wisely to end up with the calmness of a life lived skillfully. I am sure that every one of your teachers here is an excellent model that you can study and consider. Going further afield, however, all of you as New Jersey physicians and healthcare givers should know about the example set by a Newark surgeon, now long gone, who in his time was the exemplar of what I have been talking about. Many of you have never heard of him but let me introduce him to you. His name was Edward Ill, an odd name for a doctor but derived from the German "Uhl” which when distorted by American English became "Ill”. The Ill’s arrived here from Germany in the mid- nineteenth century. The father had a heavy accent and spoke English poorly. The family lived in a poor section and Edward had to struggle to make it through the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. He decided to pursue a career in the practice of surgery in Newark and the surrounding part of northern New Jersey and he began his practice at about the time that surgeons in America were learning about the importance of antisepsis. With assiduous attention to the details of Lord Lister’s new techniques Dr. Ill became able to perform hysterectomies, bowel resections and anastomoses and many other procedures which up until that time could not be done because of the threat of infection and mortality. Dr. Ill became enormously successful and developed a huge practice. He became in effect the dean of surgeons in New Jersey and he served as a mentor and model for several generations of surgeons and gynecologists in this state. Late in his career he made an important choice. One of his young competitors lost his privileges to practice at a well-known hospital in a Newark suburb. The stated reason was that the physician had too many poor patients. The Board of Trustees at the hospital would not allow the young doctor to remain on the staff and they ostentatiously withdrew their permission for him to admit patients there. Dr. Ill did not loudly protest that decision. That would have called too much attention to himself. What he did do was to promptly and permanently resign from the staff of the institution in question choosing to withdraw from his alliance with the hospital and to sever his relationship with the trustees. The decision to do so would have been more difficult than it seems. Dr Ill would have known the trustees personally and it was probably hurtful for him to relinquish their friendship and support. If he had wanted only to live well, he would have kept his mouth shut and remained on the staff of that hospital to continue to enjoy the prestige, income, and profitable social interaction. His choice was the right one, however, and Dr. Ill never regretted it. So- to you graduates, now that you have all this knowledge and skill, my advice is think about the choices you make and grasp the opportunity to live skillfully in a way that will make Dr. McInerney and his colleagues proud that you learned your profession on their watch. That is your reward and it is yours for the taking. Prepared by Henry H. Sherk, M.D., May 20, 2009 ****************************************************** Classmate Bruce Coe's memorial service was held on April 18, 2009 at the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville, N J. Hal Saunders gave the first of fifteen reminiscences and musical performances by friends and family, citing Bruce as an example of "Princeton in the Nation's (in this case, New Jersey's) Service" (Hal's text is below). The service was attended by eleven classmates ( George Aman, Joe Bolster, Put Brodsky, John Clutz, Al Ellis, Barry Loper, Don Malehorn, Roger McLean, George Newlin, Steve Rogers and Hal Saunders ), six wives and two associates.
Sherrerd
Hall, named for our classmate Jay Sherrerd, was dedicated on April 4,
2009. The dedication was attended by classmates Joe Bolster, John
Clutz, Chuck DeVoe, George Hambleton, Bob Jiranek, Jack Joyce, Bob
Lamperti, Rudy Lehnert, Bob Lovell, Roger McLean, Eric Merrifield, Bill
Murdoch, Don Oberdorfer and Steve Rogers and honorary classmates Mary
Murdoch, Anne Sherrerd *87 and Shirley Tilghman. All wore '52's reunion
jackets whose color scheme enlivened the invitations, programs and even
the cookies served. Click here for an article on the dedication from News at Princeton. Click here for photos of the dedication including the '52 table at lunch from Aspire. **************************************************************** Following is the text of the eulogy that Dick Kazmaier delivered at the service for John McGillicuddy on January 6, 2009 Monsignor O’Donnell, I hope to bear witness to John’s positive effect on other people. Also, I am privileged and honored to be here with Sean and want Conna and the family to know how appreciative I am of this opportunity to remember John.
John and I met 60 years ago on the freshman football field – along with some 120 outstanding high school players from all over the country. John was a highly recruited prospect from HarrisonHigh School – just this morning I learned that they burned him in effigy here in Rye! But neither one of us was particularly noteworthy in our first year as collegians. As we advanced to the varsity the next season, my first glimpse of the strength of character of my great and good friend began to unfold.
Since we didn’t start rooming together until our junior year, in 1949 I was not aware until the end of the season that John was the only player who dressed for every game who did not have even one minute of playing time. He was devastated – obviously but his response was to work harder in spring practice and as a junior he was a backup defensive halfback and he earned a letter. In our last year he was a starter at defensive halfback and contributed mightily to our second undefeated season.
That year, 1951, our wingback was our punt return specialist – at least until a Penn end laid him low in our 3rd game. After that John was the designated punt returner where he went on to set a season record for number of catches – that was not all glory because there was no fair catch rule that season which meant he had to field each punt and the opponent’s could find him "fair game”. As a side note, from those 120 freshman in 1948 our class ended up with only 11 lettermen our senior year.
Throughout his life he was a college football enthusiast –in large part because of his personal experiences. His support for Princeton athletics of all kinds has been continuous and substantial – as has his service to the University including as a Charter Trustee. No matter what the issue or challenge he supported those activities that followed from his own background and personal involvement – and that included especially his friends and teammates. When someone from his undergraduate past turned to him for help, he responded with whatever was appropriate and within his ability to offer.
As I proceed beyond John the athlete who personified the combined benefits of athletics and the finest of educational opportunities, a moment of truth arrived in the 1980’s. John’s mother who was living in Harrison at the time saw a picture of John and myself in the local newspaper. The caption read "John McGillicuddy, Princeton All American". His mother promptly called and told him to tell the editor immediately to correct that mistake. Upon reflection, I guess it wouldn’t be hard for a reporter to assume John was a football All-American, because he was in so many other ways!
As most of you know golf was his dominant sport interest. Have you seen anyone with a collection of golf club memberships as extensive and prestigious as John? A sidelight on his golf game is that at one time when we were younger golfers, I had the lower handicap and would usually win our match. When he was advancing at such a rapid pace up the ladder at Manufacturers Hanover, it seemed his golf game got better and his handicap lower! He was hard to beat with all that success going for him!
When John was appointed President of the bank in 1971 he was listed as 40 years old. Actually, when the announcement was made he was only 39 but the then Chairman of the bank thought 40 would sound better with his birthday coming a few weeks later. The other phenomenon I observed was how then, and thereafter, those men that he leapfrogged carried no animosity, rather they were and remained respectful and supportive. Obviously, they realized what his friends already knew about his personal capabilities.
The obituaries I have seen from The Journal News and New York Times offer wonderful and fairly complete rundowns of John’s outstanding business career and accomplishments – as well as his charitable and civic contributions, which were many and most valuable. When he retired from the bank, I admired how readily he moved into meaningful positions with the New YorkHospital and the Boy Scouts of America. The last time I visited with him was a few weeks ago at the hospital where Sean showed me his portrait that is displayed with the other three men who were instrumental in guiding the merger of the New York Hospital with the Presbyterian Hospital. John was an outstanding banker and businessman – and an outstanding citizen and contributor to society – because he was a man who understood what ingredients in life, and in his associates, were most important to whatever the endeavor.
Over the years I had opportunities to observe others in his presence. No matter what station in life – and particularly with those that made things happen at the most basic level – he was considered a kindly associate and a friend. Obviously, with a man as able and vital as he was there are legions of work efforts, organizations, projects and human understanding that could be brought forth and noted by all who knew him. In a way, it is overwhelming - just what I have observed or shared with him. It is hard to imagine how much more there is to relate.
John was devoted to Conna, she truly was the love of his life. She supported him faithfully through their 50 plus years. While his banking and personal activities were abundant and most visible, his wife and his children were central to his being and his beliefs. Sean represents them well. I know John must be proud of them all.
I can see him now smiling down from above on his wonderful family – and getting ready to lead some heavenly band in a project God has outlined for him. |
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