Class Notes
The 1950s and ’60s featured a Winter Weekend hosted by the junior class, which included all sorts of winter fun.
1954
Gerald H. Brody says that Marvin Menzin’s letter triggered some memories. “Before COVID, Marvin and Peggy used to host a gathering at his cape house for a few of his RPI/AEPI schoolmates and wives. Attendees included Jerry Olderman (’58), Ken Lissak (’54), Stan Shaffran (‘57), and myself. One year, a contingent (with wives) from New York/New Jersey drove up to join us, including Bob Meyers (’54), Murray Boden, Jerry Alderman, and Sheldon Kozlowski. In recent years, we have lunched annually with Marvin and Jerry Olderman. I retired from Raytheon in 1994 after 40 years of design and program management assignments, half on commercial projects and half on government contracts, mostly Navy. They included two years of overseas airport cutovers involving reservation and boarding activities for multiple airlines. My last assignment was deputy program manager for NESP, a $500 million-plus contract for the Navy’s portion of the Milstar program. We designed, developed, and manufactured ground terminals for ships, submarines, shore stations, and a transportable system used in Desert Storm to provide secure communications between the Pentagon and commanders in theater.”
Posted 2024-01-10
Bill Neuberg says that at RPI, he studied things he was interested in, but didn’t care about marks and graduated next to last in the class. He went into the Navy flight training program and was the first in the class to graduate. He did active duty as a flight instructor, flew in three reserve squadrons, and went back in for the Cuban Missile Crisis in the ferry squadron. That got him involved with the flight information system called NOTAMs, where he made a significant contribution. He then got out of the Navy and developed a process to make Cream of Tartar with his father. He next got involved with printing ink, where he developed micronized wax and later the use of micronized PTFE, better known as Teflon. This was just prior to 1970. Since then, he developed the five-man company into one of 250 people with worldwide sales and manufacturing. “I met my wife, Ricki, 60 years ago. She taught school and had the riding club. We now live on a horse farm in New Jersey. I go to work in Newark three days a week and still play with chemistry and horse around. I hope to be last in the class to retire.”
Posted 2024-01-10
Bob Meyers writes: A group of stalwarts celebrated our 65th Reunion on campus at the end of September. Unfortunately, at the last minute, I was unable to attend. Those who made it included Glenn Brown, our former Grand Marshal, Gus Albern, Henry Rosenblatt, Bob Thieringer, Bob Meade, and Jim Shildneck, the starting defenseman on the 1954 NCAA championship hockey team, and their guests.
Posted 2020-05-14
On March 17, RPI alumni from Alpha Epsilon Pi, representing classes from 1954 to 1962, met for their annual reunion at BallenIsles Country Club in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Present were 20 alumni and an equal number of wives, significant others, and widows. You might call them brothers and sisters-in-law.
Representing the Class of 1954 were your reporter (Bob Meyers), Henry Rosenblatt, and Zev Rosen. After a sumptuous brunch, the program included a rendition of the alma mater, an old cheer (e to the x, dy/dx), a report on the state of the Institute, a discussion of fraternity-related issues, all sorts of fun and games, and telling of old stories by old alums. All present are looking toward next year’s get-together. Posted 2019-10-10
Representing the Class of 1954 were your reporter (Bob Meyers), Henry Rosenblatt, and Zev Rosen. After a sumptuous brunch, the program included a rendition of the alma mater, an old cheer (e to the x, dy/dx), a report on the state of the Institute, a discussion of fraternity-related issues, all sorts of fun and games, and telling of old stories by old alums. All present are looking toward next year’s get-together. Posted 2019-10-10
I got a long letter from Gus Albern, who, with his wife, Lee, is living in a retirement community in Middlebury, Vt., after having spent 10 years in Kinderhook, N.Y., and many more years in Wilmington, Del. They have an active retirement life — walking, gardening, and enjoying the benefits of living in a college town. They have five grandchildren, one of whom is on the ski patrol at Middlebury. Gus has survived a few medical issues and is doing pretty well for an old geezer — as we all are in the Class of ’54.
Posted 2019-10-10
Also got a note from Miki Fedun ’81, son of our classmate Basil Fedun, who passed away about two years ago.
And, I learned from his wife, Ann, that Dan Kiely passed away last September. Dan got master’s and doctoral degrees from Yale after his graduation from RPI (in mechanical engineering), taught at Yale for several years, and became a research associate at the Penn State Applied Research Lab, retiring as chief scientist in 2012. He received numerous awards for his contributions to the science of closed-cycle propulsion systems for underwater vehicles, including the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award. He was a brother of Phi Mu Delta, and was a regular at alumni reunions. Posted 2019-10-10
And, I learned from his wife, Ann, that Dan Kiely passed away last September. Dan got master’s and doctoral degrees from Yale after his graduation from RPI (in mechanical engineering), taught at Yale for several years, and became a research associate at the Penn State Applied Research Lab, retiring as chief scientist in 2012. He received numerous awards for his contributions to the science of closed-cycle propulsion systems for underwater vehicles, including the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award. He was a brother of Phi Mu Delta, and was a regular at alumni reunions. Posted 2019-10-10
We received another of our periodic updates from Andy Pouring, who is still active with the company he co-founded, Sonex Research. He writes: “I presented a PowerPoint overview on 40 years in the development of Sonex Controlled Auto Ignition (SCAI) in October 2018 at Engine Expo in Novi, Mich., titled ‘Saving the IC Engine through SCAI.’ The most important point in my presentation of our ultra-lean flameless radical ignition combustion process is it reduces emissions within the cylinder to minimal CO2, water, traces of NOx and hydrocarbons with no systems added to a normal direct injected diesel or gasoline engine. Moreover, gasoline consumption is reduced by 25%. Too bad it is so disruptive no one cares. Also in October I added a Chinese counterpart to my U.S. patent for 2-stroke natural gas engines, granted in 2017. Check out our URL: sonex research.com for more.”
In June, Andy and his wife celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary with their four children and 12 grandchildren. Posted 2019-10-10
In June, Andy and his wife celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary with their four children and 12 grandchildren. Posted 2019-10-10
Miki Fedun ’81 sent word that his father, Basil Fedun, passed away in August. Basil was a retired hydrodynamicist and torpedo control specialist who worked at Gould/Westinghouse/Northrop Grumman. Miki says his dad was an eternal optimist, always at the door with a smile, a warm embrace, and a Slavic kiss on the cheeks.
Posted 2019-10-10
Bob Meyers writes: Back in Florida for the winter season, I have lunched with Zev Rosen ’54 and Phil Gross ’62, and have been playing bridge with Martin Rogers ’56 and with Mel Hirsch ’57, and regularly conversing with my son, Ross Meyers ’84. I was still awaiting the arrival of Jerry Schneider ’59, and looking forward to a visit from Henry Rosenblatt ’54, who keeps me informed of exploits of the RPI football team, which has now won five times as many games as the team won in our entire four years—but then again, RPI won national championships in lacrosse and hockey during those same four years.
— Bob Meyers ’54; bnpmeyers@aol.com
Posted 2019-03-10
Architecture
In February, the New York Times had a detailed obit on Lee Pomeroy, who passed away Feb. 19. Long before Lee became a famous architect he was editor in chief of the Poly, and was elected to Phalanx. I was privileged to be a features writer on the Poly staff, where I first met Lee. Over the years he brought many honors and plaudits to himself and to RPI, and he will be sorely missed.
Posted 2018-10-10
Miki Fedun ’81 sent word that his father, Basil Fedun, passed away in August. Basil was a retired hydrodynamicist and torpedo control specialist who worked at Gould/Westinghouse/Northrop Grumman. In his note, Miki said that his dad was an eternal optimist, and was always at the door with a smile, a warm embrace, and a Slavic kiss on the cheeks.
Posted 2018-03-15
