Ed Reich, Irv Sager, Marv Rauch and yours truly all agree that we live in a plutocracy and not a democracy. Further, as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of a small mind.” It seems as if that is what is shaping the thinking of this country. I am sure that there are many fine institutions, exemplified by Dartmouth, that continue to teach how to learn and how to think so that students’ minds expand to all the opportunities that life has to offer.


I enjoy frequent lunches with my close friend Howard Jelinek ’60, Th’61, a man of all seasons and a brilliant mind, with whom, would you believe, I see eye to eye on almost everything.


In 1931 I chose to enroll at Dartmouth because it was a liberal arts institution offering me an opportunity to expand my knowledge as well as allowing me a chance to be part of the great outdoors, which I love. 


History and political science, my major, was my great love and I still study it almost every day. It was not my career, however. The science and math classes I took enabled me to be a pioneer in the plastics industry and an innovator in centrifugal casting. My love of Dartmouth and my continuing association with many old and new alums is a continuing joy.


I attended Dartmouth during the depths of the Great Depression and what I lived with is seared into my bones, as I saw so many less fortunate than me decline into abject poverty. I became and still am, I am proud to say, a bleeding heart liberal, as were many of my schoolmates.


As for the present, the Dartmouth Club of Orange County had its wonderful brunch at the fabulous Bluewater Grill in Newport Beach, California, owned by Jim Ulcickas ’83, who set up great accommodations, enabling the 34 attending to have the usual best of times. Best of all, the great class of ’35 staggers on.


—Edward Gerson, 2400 Mariposa West 3A, Laguna Woods, CA 92653; (949) 829-8400; ejgerson@webtv.net