Class Note 1960
Issue
November-December 2025
Class Note 1960. For 30 years BobKenerson was liaison to our sponsored class scholars. In late July Matthew Ippolito ’02, our fifth scholar, contacted me to ask about Bob, which prompted me to call him. Despite serious medical issues, Bob regaled me with Dartmouth-related tales and spoke of some friends. (Sadly, we later received news from his eldest daughter, Andrea, that Bob passed away September 6. Our sympathies to his family.)
Here are recollections from a few friends. FrankVirnelli shares: “Bob and I met when we were freshmen, and this has been my longest significant friendship. He introduced me to whitewater canoeing and through the years we have hiked, climbed mountains, and camped with family and friends. When I finished my training, Winchester Hospital was actively seeking a plastic surgeon. Bob was living nearby while teaching and practicing psychiatry in Boston. Our families grew up together, attending the same schools, and our wives became best friends. We both have daughters who graduated from Dartmouth. Bob has been very active in class activities, and I have served on the board of the Medical School’s Center for Global Health Equity and taken bilingual medical students to Guatemala to work as interpreters on volunteer plastic surgery projects.”
EricSailer writes: “While in medical school, Bob and I shared a common interest in skiing. We took some great trips together, including spending one Christmas sleeping in his station wagon in the parking lot at Mad River Glen and surviving on a turkey carcass and a box of apples. Other ski trips took us to Mount Tremblant in the ‘bull wagon,’ where we could eat, sleep, and ski for $10 a day, including beer. We have continued our friendship all these years, and I consider him one of my best friends.”
JoeOkimoto writes: “I have appreciated Bob Kenerson’s friendship especially during my days in Hanover. I was unprepared academically and socially for the rigors of Dartmouth, and his friendship was a vital support in my efforts to survive.
SolRockenmacher recalls: “A special ‘thank you, Bob’ memory occurred in 1968. We were both in medical fellowships in Boston. Bob tracked me down. In his fellowship class was Sheldon Roth, a neighbor, friend, and classmate from my growing up in Brooklyn. We had since lost touch until Bob got us together. Sheldon went on to become clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard.”
—Sid Goldman, 78575 Avenida Ultimo, La Quinta, CA 92253; (305) 849-0475; sidgoldman@gmail.com
Here are recollections from a few friends. FrankVirnelli shares: “Bob and I met when we were freshmen, and this has been my longest significant friendship. He introduced me to whitewater canoeing and through the years we have hiked, climbed mountains, and camped with family and friends. When I finished my training, Winchester Hospital was actively seeking a plastic surgeon. Bob was living nearby while teaching and practicing psychiatry in Boston. Our families grew up together, attending the same schools, and our wives became best friends. We both have daughters who graduated from Dartmouth. Bob has been very active in class activities, and I have served on the board of the Medical School’s Center for Global Health Equity and taken bilingual medical students to Guatemala to work as interpreters on volunteer plastic surgery projects.”
EricSailer writes: “While in medical school, Bob and I shared a common interest in skiing. We took some great trips together, including spending one Christmas sleeping in his station wagon in the parking lot at Mad River Glen and surviving on a turkey carcass and a box of apples. Other ski trips took us to Mount Tremblant in the ‘bull wagon,’ where we could eat, sleep, and ski for $10 a day, including beer. We have continued our friendship all these years, and I consider him one of my best friends.”
JoeOkimoto writes: “I have appreciated Bob Kenerson’s friendship especially during my days in Hanover. I was unprepared academically and socially for the rigors of Dartmouth, and his friendship was a vital support in my efforts to survive.
SolRockenmacher recalls: “A special ‘thank you, Bob’ memory occurred in 1968. We were both in medical fellowships in Boston. Bob tracked me down. In his fellowship class was Sheldon Roth, a neighbor, friend, and classmate from my growing up in Brooklyn. We had since lost touch until Bob got us together. Sheldon went on to become clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard.”
—Sid Goldman, 78575 Avenida Ultimo, La Quinta, CA 92253; (305) 849-0475; sidgoldman@gmail.com