Class Note 1980
My wife sent a text message from a Phillies game: “This group I’m with includes a classmate of yours, Tony Taliaferro.” Months later a teacher approached me and said, “I work with a volunteer who went to Dartmouth. His name is Tony Taliaferro.” And just yesterday a student mentioned an exceptionally helpful and kind man she had met as an intern at Independence Blue Cross: once again, the ubiquitous Tony Taliaferro. Tony is deputy general counsel for IBC and, among other things, works as a classroom volunteer for the Philadelphia Bar Association’s advancing civics education program. Our paths had never crossed before but are intertwined now.
After serving 30 years with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (most recently as vice president and airport manager at Dulles International), Chris Browne has retired and is starting a new career as deputy director at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Who would trade responsibility for 21 million passengers, 300,000 flights and nonstop construction for the relative bliss of operating a museum full of historic flying machines? Brownie did. And at this stage of life, who wouldn’t?
Hans Morris might not. A January Wall Street Journal article titled, “LendingClub Chairman Launches Fintech VC Fund,” prompted a flurry of email communication among friends. Was Hans the first of us to warrant a dedicated article in the Journal? Did anyone foresee that his skill with chipping up kegs would translate so smoothly into venture capital? And why didn’t the print version include one of those classic stipple/pin dot portraits? Alas, no portrait this time. But Rick Gemberling provided a link to a 2007 Journal article that presented Hans’ face in its full illustrated glory.
In a column last fall we asked, “What do Ty Burr, Greg Clinton, Sabrina King, Emily Wheeler, Mike Morton, Josiah Stevenson, George Wallace and Mike Bush have in common?” Their last names are shared with U.S. vice presidents! So what is the common thread that ties this next group of classmates together: Scot Everhart, Jeff Baker, Doug Sacks, Chris LaRocca? Here’s a hint: Like more than a hundred other classmates, these four are Dartmouth parents, but they share an extra connection. The first reader to guess correctly wins a gift certificate.
How does our country move forward in an era of polarization and counterproductive dialogue? Perhaps we should turn to Bill Isaacs. Bill is a senior lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, the founder and president of a leadership consulting firm and published expert on achieving progress and profound change by raising the level of speaking and listening. One of Bill’s essays helped me resolve a conflict. Let’s send him to Washington!
We will close with a tribute to “The Dartmouth We Knew,” presented in limerick form. Feel free to mumble this verse as you plan your summer visit to Nantucket, Massachusetts.
With its sprawl to the north, Baker-Berry
Encroached upon Dragon and Gerry.
Bunker-style brick tomb.
Blue-green tiles: bathroom?
Are we sad for these buildings? Not very!
—Frank Fesnak, 242 River Road, Gladwyne, PA 19035; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@gmail.com; Wade Herring,1 Verdell Drive, Savannah, GA 31406; (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com; Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 300-7954; robdaisley@me.com
