Class Note 1949

On October 27 Jay Urstadt, the “baby” of our class, celebrated his 90th birthday with a festive luncheon at his local golf club in Bronxville, New York, where he lives. Tommy Swartz, Joel Berson, and I were happy to share the occasion with Ellie and about 100 of his family and friends. Jay still actively chairs his eponymous NYSE real estate company, which owns 83 shopping centers in the Northeast. Mention was made of his two 70-plus-age group world championship swimming titles. Slade Gorton is perhaps the only other member of our class still drawing a regular paycheck in his “of counsel” role with law firm K&L Gates. He travels from Seattle to D.C. twice a month. Slade, Jay, Tommy, Joel, and I are all planning to enjoy our 70th reunion September 27-29. We hope to see many of you there. It’s only five months away, so put it on your calendars.

Warren George Povey died nine years ago on April 3, 2010, probably in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where he was a clinical professor in the department of global health at the University of British Columbia. Warren was supposed to be my second-term freshman roommate in July 1945, but went into the service and never returned. He graduated from the University of Washington and received his M.D. from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland.

With news and obituaries (fortunately) scarce at the moment, here’s a nugget (for ’49ers!) from the autobiography of Chauncey Depew, a 19th-century American politician whom I researched in connection with my forthcoming biography of political cartoonist Thomas Nast. Depew met Queen Victoria on occasion, and hobnobbed with her son, the future King Edward VII. In the 1890s Victoria entertained Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii at Windsor Castle. At dinner, the visitor said: “Your majesty, I am a blood relative of yours. “How so?” asked the astonished Victoria. “Why,” said Liliuokalani, “my grandfather ate your Captain Cook.” (Note for non-historians: Captain James Cook was killed in Hawaii in 1779.)

—John Adler, 1623 Pelican Cove Road, BA123, Sarasota, FL 34231; (203) 622-9069; (941) 966-2943 (fax)