Class Note 1988
Issue
July-August 2026
Class Note 1988. Rachel Dratch playing the Rocky Horror Show Narrator in its Broadway revival “looks like Nobel-level brilliance,” The New York Times crooned in April. But the plaudits just keep coming: As of our column deadline, Rachel had just been announced as Dartmouth’s 2026 Commencement speaker—the first ’88 to hold this honor.
We’ll count these as roses among the inevitable thorns associated with aging: Here’s what happens, kids, if you’re crazy-talented and work like mad for decades to reach the apex of your craft! But as many of you have noted at our class birthday parties, more candles often bring many unexpected joys that we are now wise enough, thank heaven, to cherish.
By our 30th reunion, Alec Casey says, “Everyone was calmer, saying things like, ‘This bad thing happened, but this good thing happened, too.’” At the kickoff birthday bash in New York City—elegantly executed by Regina Glocker and Pauline Garris Brown—Alec described finding ways to pivot and bounce after he was reorganized out of a job at 52, when his boss announced, with import, “We need to go in a new direction.” After a long career in publishing, Alec joined the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine board in 2022, becoming chair in 2026 through the search for a new editor. He golfs and skis with friends and says, “It’s amazing how many 80-year-old men you see still skiing with their buddies. If we can pull that off, that would be living the dream.”
From his new home base in Ireland, entertainment executive, author, and educator Tim O’Hair saysthat his new film, Beast, opened April 10 through Lionsgate. The mixed martial arts drama, starring Russell Crowe, is “an underdog story in the tradition and spirit of Rocky,” he says. This film adds to Tim’s producing credits, which include A Hologram for the King starring Tom Hanks. Tim coauthored the new fourth edition of The Business of Media Distribution: Monetizing Film and TV Content in the AI Era and looks forward to spending more time in Europe with his wife.
Jon Kull steps down in June after 14 years as dean of the Guarini School of Graduate & Advanced Studies. A respected scientist and teacher, Jon helped transform Dartmouth’s office of graduate studies into a full-fledged graduate school in 2016 and has guided its development after it was renamed in 2018 for Frank J. Guarini ’46. A structural biologist and the Rodgers Professor of Chemistry, Jon studies the proteins that allow bacteria to cause disease. One daughter is a junior at Rhode Island School of Design and the other is a ’28 looking forward to Sophomore Summer.
David Duckenfield,chair of the Rockefeller Center board of visitors, is also executive director and founder of Miami Climate 365, a Dartmouth-linked initiative that allies partners across Miami-Dade County to address climate threats. Dave spent decades in public affairs and diplomacy before becoming president of Balsera Communications.
We sadly share news of the death of Angelica Drew. To all who loved her, we send deepest sympathies.
—Sarah Jackson-Han, 6213 Winnebago Road, Bethesda, MD 20816; smjhan2@gmail.com; Bill Bundy, 442 Cedar Lane, New Canaan, CT 06840; bill.bundy@mac.com
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More of 1988 Class Notes
We’ll count these as roses among the inevitable thorns associated with aging: Here’s what happens, kids, if you’re crazy-talented and work like mad for decades to reach the apex of your craft! But as many of you have noted at our class birthday parties, more candles often bring many unexpected joys that we are now wise enough, thank heaven, to cherish.
By our 30th reunion, Alec Casey says, “Everyone was calmer, saying things like, ‘This bad thing happened, but this good thing happened, too.’” At the kickoff birthday bash in New York City—elegantly executed by Regina Glocker and Pauline Garris Brown—Alec described finding ways to pivot and bounce after he was reorganized out of a job at 52, when his boss announced, with import, “We need to go in a new direction.” After a long career in publishing, Alec joined the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine board in 2022, becoming chair in 2026 through the search for a new editor. He golfs and skis with friends and says, “It’s amazing how many 80-year-old men you see still skiing with their buddies. If we can pull that off, that would be living the dream.”
From his new home base in Ireland, entertainment executive, author, and educator Tim O’Hair saysthat his new film, Beast, opened April 10 through Lionsgate. The mixed martial arts drama, starring Russell Crowe, is “an underdog story in the tradition and spirit of Rocky,” he says. This film adds to Tim’s producing credits, which include A Hologram for the King starring Tom Hanks. Tim coauthored the new fourth edition of The Business of Media Distribution: Monetizing Film and TV Content in the AI Era and looks forward to spending more time in Europe with his wife.
Jon Kull steps down in June after 14 years as dean of the Guarini School of Graduate & Advanced Studies. A respected scientist and teacher, Jon helped transform Dartmouth’s office of graduate studies into a full-fledged graduate school in 2016 and has guided its development after it was renamed in 2018 for Frank J. Guarini ’46. A structural biologist and the Rodgers Professor of Chemistry, Jon studies the proteins that allow bacteria to cause disease. One daughter is a junior at Rhode Island School of Design and the other is a ’28 looking forward to Sophomore Summer.
David Duckenfield,chair of the Rockefeller Center board of visitors, is also executive director and founder of Miami Climate 365, a Dartmouth-linked initiative that allies partners across Miami-Dade County to address climate threats. Dave spent decades in public affairs and diplomacy before becoming president of Balsera Communications.
We sadly share news of the death of Angelica Drew. To all who loved her, we send deepest sympathies.
—Sarah Jackson-Han, 6213 Winnebago Road, Bethesda, MD 20816; smjhan2@gmail.com; Bill Bundy, 442 Cedar Lane, New Canaan, CT 06840; bill.bundy@mac.com