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Learn more about our Upcoming Class Dinner on May 1, 2009!
Letter from the Class President
February 10, 2009
To the Members of the Class of 1950:
Your Class Officers and Executive Council met in Philadelphia on February
7, 2009,
in conjunction with the CACO (Cornell Association of Class Officers)
meeting which
was occurring there.
1. Appointments. One action which was taken was to appoint Jo Kessel
Buyske as Reunion Chair Emeritus. Jo has done a marvelous job for our
Class over the decades and thoroughly deserves this recognition.
At the same time we appointed Jane Wigsten McGonigal as Reunion Co-Chair
(with Stan Rodwin). Jane, who has assisted our Class in many ways,
has the added
advantage for Reunion planning of living in Ithaca.
In addition, Nels Schaenen was appointed to join Jim Brandt, Jim Hazzard,
John Laibe
and Pat Carry Stewart as members of our Major Gifts Committee.
2. 60th Reunion! Our main attention was given to the realization that
we need to begin
planning for our Class Reunion on June 10-13, 2010. This will be the
60th anniversary
of our graduation from Cornell!
Stirring our competitive Class juices is the opportunity to break several
60th Reunion
records – for example, the record of 126 Class members showing up for
the Reunion
(a record held by the Class of 1944); we feel that this record is easily
within range.
We already hold three Reunion records – most number of Donors in the
40th and 50th
Reunion years (756 in 1990, and 683 in 2000), and the most dollars
raised in the 55th
Reunion year ($9,603,675 in 2005).
We plan to stimulate interest in participation in the Reunion through
our Regional
Council over the course of the next 15 months or so. If you would like
to
participate in our Reunion planning, please so advise Stan Rodwin (585-889-3180;
rodpkg@frontiernet.net), Jane McGonigal (607-272-4065; jwm7@cornell.edu),
or me (216-586-7300; rwpogue@jonesday.com).
3. Class Website. Stan Rodwin reported on behalf of Jane
McGonigal that the Class of 1950 website is functioning well. The website
address
is http://classof50.alumni.cornell.edu.
4. Dues Payers. We received
some good news from Susan Doney, our Alumni Affairs liaison: for the Fiscal
Year ending 6/30/08, 477 members of
our Class paid their Class dues. Thus we surpassed our “goal” of
470 dues payers, for a 101% attainment rate.
Hooray for us!
Incidentally, we were very pleased to note that 82 of our 477 dues payers
voluntarily contributed $100 each
(on the form, the regular dues are $35 per year, and there is an option
to contribute at the higher level). This
seems to us to reflect strong support for our Alma Mater!
5. Donors. In terms of donations,
the Alumni Office gave us an update on total contributions to Cornell
by our Class from the time of our graduation until 8/8/08: the figure
is an amazing $110,773,667! That
is the second highest of any Class in Cornell history (trailing only
Sandy Weill’s Class of 1955). (Of
course we were helped materially along the way by substantial gifts
from the late Sam Johnson and Barrie
Sommerfield.)
At the meeting Jim Brandt reported on the status of scholarships and
programs our Class has funded (please see the mailing that went out
recently).
6. Statistics. At the present time our Class has 1,012 “mailable living
alumni,” 185 alumni “on bad
address,” and 632 deceased alumni.
Unhappily, we have had some departures from our Class rolls this past
year – altogether we lost 25
members of our Class between January 31, 2008 and January 21, 2009.
7. Annual Book Project. Once again Cornell has selected a major book
for review and discussion this
Spring and Summer; this year the selection is “Grapes of Wrath” by
John Steinbeck. We have decided to
follow the same practice as last year: we will send a free copy to
every dues paying member of our Class
who affirmatively requests a copy; enclosed is a form for making such
a request.
8. February 6 Philadelphia Dinner. On
Friday evening, February 6, 18 from our Class met with a few
other alumni from the Classes of 1951, 1952, and 1953 at the Union
League in Philadelphia. We were
fortunate to have, once again, Dave Dingle at the piano after dinner.
9. New York 5/1/09. We hope
to see many of you at our Annual Class Dinner at the Cornell Club
in New York City – 6 p.m. on Friday, May 1, 2009. Our speaker
will be Michael Morisy, a former Managing Editor
of the Cornell Daily Sun, who is currently a journalist covering
telecom and other high-end technology
industries for Tech Target, based in Needham, MA. Click here for more
details about the event.
We are proud of our status as Cornell alumni, and of our great Class – “the
Class of the [immediately prior!]
Century.” Please remember, as always, to send any news you believe might be of
interest to the Class to either of
our redoubtable Class Correspondents – Marion Steinmann at cjoiner@ix.netcom.com or Paul Joslin at phjoslin@aol.com.
Thank you for your continuing support of Cornell and of the Class of
1950!
Sincerely yours,
Richard W. Pogue
President, Cornell Class of 1950