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Jim Dangel Calls for Support of Tiger Rugby - 7/20/08.

The club sports have finally found their place in the sun! As part of the 10-year Campus Plan, the administration has promised to include a game field with lights and stands, a practice field, locker room, trainer's area and "friends" lounge for the club sports program, of which rugby is one of the oldest and most exciting. More than 20 of our classmates participated in this demanding sport, but not without its risks. One's career was terminated when he fractured his cheekbones and endured several weeks with pins protruding from both sides of his face. Our captain in the '60-'61 season, Jerry Shattuck, spent more time on injured reserve than he did on the playing field.

These facilities will be dependent on available funds. One class, which won the Ivy League title in 1979, has already contributed over $1 million to this project. Our team, spearheaded by members of 1961, was the winner of the '60 Eastern Rugby Union, vanquishing several teams including Harvard, Yale and Dartmouth. As a result, we participated in the prestigious two-week northern California spring championship, the Monterey Tournament.

We are attempting to locate all the '61 ruggers and encourage them to contribute to this project. This appeal is for class pride and recognition. A Prince article in 1961 stated that the team was the best Princeton had fielded since the sport was introduced to the university in the 1930's.

Several of our classmates have already answered the call. We invite others who feel that rugby should be recognized, and '61 should be included in the pantheon of classes which secured Princeton Rugby's reputation, to step up now.  [Write to Jim at jcdangel@comcast.net ]

Click here to view Princeton Rugby Newsletter 12/07.   (requires Adobe reader)

John Waterbury, Doctor of Laws

Our classmate was granted an honorary degree at the 2008 commencement.

Since 1998, John Waterbury has led the American University of Beirut (AUB) as its first president since 1984 to reside in Beirut. This academic year is his last as AUB's 14th president. During his tenure, Waterbury has sought to restore the university, which was chartered in 1863, to its long-standing reputation as an institution of higher learning with the highest international standards. Among many achievements under his leadership, AUB has completed a campus master plan as well as a five-year fundraising campaign, and has deepened and expanded academic opportunities. During his tenure, AUB reinstituted programs that had been interrupted during the Lebanese civil war, launched seven new doctoral programs and added several new academic and medical research institutes.

Before joining AUB, Waterbury was, for nearly 20 years, on the faculty at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, becoming the William Stewart Tod Professor of Politics and International Affairs in 1985. He is an expert on the political economy of developing countries with a special focus on the Middle East and the author of many books. While at Princeton, he was also director of the Center for International Studies and editor of the academic journal World Politics from 1992 to 1998. He is a member of Princeton's class of 1961.

Scholar, professor and lifetime student of the Middle East, he graced the classrooms of Princeton University, served as president of the American University of Beirut and provided insight into the political economy of developing nations during a career spanning 40 years. Braving the upheavals of a country in turmoil, defying the opponents of peace by living in Lebanon and continuing the scholarship for which he is world-renowned, he led his university to new heights of academic excellence and restored it to sound financial footing. Through his scholarship and his personal example, he has been an eloquent advocate for improved understanding between the Middle East and the West, helping each to recognize shared aspirations and a common humanity.

Parsons Weds

Nancy Werner Hunt and Jay Parsons of Old Lyme, CT were married privately April 19, 2008 in Old Lyme by the Rev. David St. George. Mrs. Parsons was a lifelong resident of Scarsdale, NY until 1992. Jay lived in Bernardsville, NJ for 34 years until last June. Both have summer homes on Fishers Island, NY.

Nancy has two children, Tanis Hunt Meakin of Marblehead, MA, and Robert Edmonds Hunt of Denver, CO. Jay has four children, Emily Parsons of Bainbridge Island, WA, Joseph L. Parsons of Stonington, CT, James Sahler Parsons of Tucson, AZ, and Charles Parsons of Charlotte, VT, and seven grandchildren.

Following her graduation from Smith College, Nancy attended New York University on a National Science Foundation grant and was awarded an M. A. T. in Mathematics in 1968. 

Jay received his AB in Philosophy. An ROTC member, he was commissioned in the Army Reserve as a distinguished military graduate. He later obtained degrees from the Law School of Harvard University, New York University Law School and Fairleigh Dickinson University, and  practiced law in New York City and New Jersey until his retirement. .

Jay served as our class agent in the 1960's, was an early webmaster of this web site, and has been reunion registrar and treasurer for our last five major reunions. We look forward to having him apply all this experience by serving the class again for our 50th!

Both Nancy and Jay have been active in their communities and have served on and in many charitable boards and offices.

[To the Class Secretary on July 22, 2007:]

Dear George,
It is with great sadness that I have to report the death of our classmate:

DIMITRI COTOMATAS '61 

Dimitri Cotomatas died peacefully on June 20, 2007 after a brief illness.

Dimitri was born in Athens, Greece. He was struck with polio at the very young age of five, and he came with his family to the US for treatment. He stayed on, graduating from Snyder High School in Jersey City, where he was active in student government and publications. Classmates may recall a Vespa, and after our freshman year, a blue Studebaker, parked outside Edwards Hall. Dimitri was allowed to drive around campus because of his disability.

Dimitri majored in Philosophy, writing his senior thesis on "Indeterminism in Micro Physics". Dimitri was among a pioneering group of juniors establishing and joining Wilson Lodge. He roomed at Edwards for his first three years and at "the suite" at Gauss Hall during his senior year. His roommates included classmates Athanassiades, Hunter, Peluso, Pinto, and Wheeler.

Dimitri joined TWA after graduation as a programming trainee, rising to Director- Systems and Programming after being a major contributor in creating a major reservations system. In the early '70s, Dimitri left TWA and established his own company - Systems and Programming International (SPI) in Tenafly, NJ, where he also made his residence. SPI (software development and systems/programming personnel placement) was run very successfully until Dimitri's retirement.

Post-polio effects had a detrimental effect on Dimitri as he got older. Despite this, he enjoyed life to its fullest with a busy business schedule and frequent entertaining with family and friends. He traveled extensively while at TWA; he was an avid reader, enjoyed music, and loved to discuss social and political issues. He was an eternal optimist full of energy and enthusiasm and set an example for many of us to enjoy life to its fullest. He will be missed dearly.

He is survived by his wife Mary, a 1962 graduate of Notre Dame College, and his sister Joanne Lakis and her family. The Class of '61 extends its sympathy to them and to Dimitri's many friends.

Regards, Ted Athanassiades

Al Oestreich was quoted in an article in the 7/15/07 NY Times about the dangers of children's toys containing magnets.  The magnets are so strong that if more than one is swallowed, they do not pass through a child’s digestive system. Instead, they rip through tissue as the magnetic forces draw them together in an tight clump.

“They are neat, inviting and look like candy,” said Alan E. Oestreich, pediatric radiologist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and one of the first physicians to recognize the ills associated with ingesting magnets. “If the products were taken off the market then the danger would go away,” he said. “But these are educational toys, and I’m not ready to say the answer is to take them off the market. Still, the recalls that have been announced have not been followed very strenuously by sellers and manufacturers, until recently.”

“Many patients are older than toddlers — they swallow them on dares,” Dr. Oestreich, the Cincinnati pediatric radiologist, said. “Several of the older children who have swallowed the magnets were autistic and had difficulty alerting parents.”

Click here to read the entire article (which requires the Adobe Acrobat Reader.).

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