This is one of those rare moments in life when there is good news and good news. After more than a decade penning these columns, a new voice will soon be taking on this yeoman task, none other than our own Steve “Hemingway” Gray. The other good news is that I have been promoted from class secretary to a role I have cherished for a very long time, namely not a class officer. On a serious note, I can report that the class is in a very stable and strong position and the current slate of officers that Steve will be reporting on in his next column will ably carry on the leadership tasks ahead.


Now, some news from reunion. First a confession—I wasn’t there. And now another confession, I stupidly traded my Hanover Inn room to my old pal and a frequent target of this column, Sandy “Baldy” Tierney in exchange for his express agreement to be my chief correspondent at reunion. I’ll let you judge how effective this transaction was from the following email I got from Sandy a week ago: “Dear Jim, my room at the Hanover Inn was great. As to the reunion news, here you go—we all reconnected 39 years after graduation, drank a lot of beer, told stories of how much fun we had while we were at Dartmouth, bored each other to tears and woke up each morning slightly hung over, which progressively got worse as the nights wore on.”


A more complete report will follow in Steve’s next column, but in short more than 100 classmates turned out and despite rain on Thursday, nothing dampened the class’s enthusiasm. Many reported that the classes of 1973 and 1974 that we shared reunion activities with looked much older than we did. Golf on Friday was dry and the dinner Saturday night in Alumni Hall was great. The class held a very moving memorial service for the 50 classmates who we have lost since graduation, led by Mike Caldwell, Pam Brewer Smyth, Lon Cross, Tom Denison and Matt Johnsen. Many thanks to Tom Denison and David Cook for pulling the reunion together and making it so much fun for the class.


From the mailbag, two pieces of news. First, our own Stephen Alpert just joined Stradley Ronon’s New Youk office as counsel. Stephen represents asset-based and commercial lenders in financing transactions, workouts, restructurings and liquidations and he represents some of the largest financial institutions, banks and funds in the country. Next comes news that Bob King, a partner in Dentons US LLP, just launched his debut novel titled Why? A Courtroom Drama of Self-discovery. The book, in part, takes place at Dartmouth. Congratulations, Stephen and Bob!


And now, one last bit of news, this time about me. In late fall I joined Draper Richards Kaplan as their managing partner and will be splitting my time between our Menlo, California, and Boston offices. For me it’s the dream of a lifetime working with an incredible team of partners, funding social entrepreneurs trying to solve some of society’s most complex and intransient problems. If you get a chance, take a look at our website, www.drkfoundation.org. It’s truly an amazing place. And feel free to send over any social enterprises you think we should look at.


Well that’s all the news that’s fit to print. Please send news to Steve at stephendgray@gmail.com. If you don’t, he’ll do what all newly minted class secretary’s do—he’ll start making things up about you.


Do keep in touch. Nanc and I send our very best.


—Jim Bildner, 5 Boardman Ave., Manchester, MA 01944; (617) 495-6513; jim_bildner@harvard.edu