A 50th reunion cannot be evaluated by the participants, who have no basis for comparison. However, if the yardstick is money raised for the College, then ’64s moved the bar up substantially to almost $15 million. What made the event worthy was meeting old friends and having substantive conversations plus the extraordinary events, including presentations about osteoporosis, aging, pre-Columbus America, Dr. Seuss, cybersecurity, the Vietnam War and the Robert Frost one-man performance. To the organizing committee, thank you.


We look forward to another reunion in five years, with a new team at the helm, headed by Ray Peters president and Harvey Tettlebaum secretary—the two most important members of the executive committee. On behalf of the class, thanks to the outgoing executive committee for hard work during what is the most challenging five years for any class—those leading up to the 50th! Ron Schram, Bill Lewis, Gus Buchtel, Tom Seymour, Sabin Danziger, Karl Winkler, Peter Benzian, Pete Luitwieler, Fritz Corrigan, Alan Woodberry, Ray Neff, Dave Hewitt and Hunt Whitacre all did their best. 


We know much about classmates who wrote essays in the six class-published volumes, including Dartmouth Veterans: Vietnam Perspectives. As yet we know little about Fred Eidlin, who has kept a low profile for good reason: His life story is like that of an aerialist without a balance pole, yet he has only had one noteworthy mishap. 


Fred came from Brighton High School (Rochester, New York). At Dartmouth he participated in the French Club, Germania and the International Relations Club and was on the staff of WDCR. 


Majoring in international relations, he pioneered study abroad at Dartmouth. He spent junior year in Paris and traveled extensively throughout the Soviet bloc. This sparked his interest in totalitarian and authoritarian regimes. It led to a career as a political analyst at Radio Free Europe (RFE), then as professor of political science. 


He earned an M.A. from Indiana University and a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. For 38 years he taught at University of Guelph (Canada). Since retiring, he has been teaching at universities in the Czech Republic, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia and Estonia. 


Fred was in Czechoslovakia during the “Prague Spring” and the 1968 invasion. Though not allowed to visit the Soviet bloc while at RFE, he returned to Czechoslovakia in 1970. Falsely described as a CIA agent by an infiltrator at RFE, he was arrested and spent seven months in prison. 


His modus operandi for understanding other societies is to visit and ask questions. He watched the evolution of the Cold War, being an eyewitness to several historical events, including President Kennedy’s Berlin speech, the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia and the 1991 coup d’état in Moscow. At Guelph, Fred sent more than 400 students to study in Russia and Czech Republic. 


He has two sons and a daughter. When not teaching in Europe, he lives with his Russian wife, Elina Zavgorodny, in Guelph, Ontario.


Class secretaries live on the news you provide; be generous to Harvey.


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—Phil Schaefer, Box 1278, Grantham, NH 03753; (603) 863-1178; philschaefer42@gmail.com