As we approach retirement age I’d like to feature one or two classmates in each column who have recently retired or are about to retire, briefly recounting their careers. I just received the following from my old roommate Pete Ruegger: “I retired from the law firm of Simpson, Thacher and Bartlett on June 15, after 39 years with the firm. I continue on as of counsel. For the past nine years I was head of the firm (chairman of the executive committee). During those 39 years Simpson Thacher grew from about 160 lawyers to approximately 850 lawyers with 11 offices around the world. New York City continues to be the largest office, with almost two-thirds of our attorneys there. It has been a very satisfying career. In May I received the Legal Aid Society’s 2013 Servant of Justice Award at a dinner at the Waldorf Astoria.” I’m informed that more than $3.2 million was raised for the Legal Aid Society in Pete’s honor by the 1,000 attendees at the dinner. Pete’s lovely wife, Becky, was there, along with classmates John Ryzewic and wife Susan, Mike Furey with wife Nancy, Curt Welling and wife Kathy, along with Peter Fahey ’68 and wife Helen and Sandy McWilliams ’70 and wife Cindy.
The fourth Saturday in June saw a wonderful gathering at the home of Allen Larson and his wife, Gloria, in Waltham, Massachusetts, to pay tribute to classmate Charlie Collier. Gloria is president of Bentley University, and the president’s home and lovely grounds were the backdrop for a delicious chicken, steak and swordfish barbecue. The class presented Charlie with a beautiful Simon Pearce engraved glass ice bucket. Present were organizer extraordinaire Michael Maynard, Chuck Bent, Craig Bentley, Michael Fay, Bob Cordy, Louis Crozier, Chris Perry ’70, Dave Graves ’70, Andrew Hodgdon, Malcolm Jones, Tom Lovell, Bob Mustard, Richard Paris, Peter Pratt, Janet Rosa (’71a) from the College, John Shanahan, Pete Webster and Steve Zrike.
Class president Peter Prattsent the following after attending a mini-reunion dinner in Denver in May organized by Randy Wise: “Everybody was uniformly delighted to be together. A bit amazing that nobody knew more than one or two of the others, despite the class tie and the fact that most of them have lived in Denver ‘forever.’ ” At the dinner were Tom Loucks, Lon Gregg with wife Janet, Steve Johnson, Dave Merritt, Jim Jenkins and Doug Best.
I’m impressed that our class prez manages to make just about every gathering of ’71s anywhere in the country, very often accompanied by his lovely wife, Marsha. Earlier in May we had our annual class dinner at the Yale Club, very well attended by some 25 classmates. Photos and those attending are posted on the class website (www.dartmouth71.org). Under President Pratt we have greatly increased the number of these mini-reunions and dinners around the country, with strong enthusiasm from those attending. Check our website for all of the upcoming class events, the big Homecoming in Hanover, Yellowstone Park in February and a 65th class birthday celebration in April hosted by Jim Rager in Naples, Florida.
—Pete Webster, 17 Woodbridge St., South Hadley, MA 01075; weebs71@gmail.com
