CLASS NOTES December 2001 By: Larry Geiger
93 Greenridge Avenue
White Plains, NY 10605
Tel: 914-761-2709
lgeiger@aol.com
1966 Tom Brady says he was “at the right place at the right time”. It also seems he was “the right guy”. And he’s one fella’ who took that sage advise in “The Graduate” seriously.
Here’s the story: After Dartmouth, Tom earned a Ph.D. at Michigan and returned to his hometown of Maumee, Ohio in 1971 to work on plastic bottle development for carbonated beverages with Owens-Illinois. By the mid-1980’s the business was booming, Owens-Illinois was a major producer and Tom was head of plastic technology.
Tom was heavily courted, but decided to set up his own company, Plastic Technologies Inc. to provide the technology required for this business. Today, Plastic Technologies Inc., in Holland, Ohio employs 110 people and designs prototypes, preforms, containers, tooling molds and specialty machinery for plastic manufacturing. And a sister company, Phoenix Technologies, L.P. in Bowling Green, is the largest pelletizer of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (OLT) in the world.
Together the two units have annual sales of $25 million and have rightly made Tom a sought-after public figure in Northwest Ohio – the governor has named Tom to his Technology Action Board and he is also chairman of the Regional Technology Alliance.
Tom’s wife Betsy is as busy as he is. Not only does she manage all the financial, administrative and personnel duties for the Brady enterprises, but she is also Chairman of the Toledo area Chamber of Commerce, is on the new mayor of Toledo’s transition team and serves on the Promedica Health Care System board. Tom and Betsy see daughter Kathy, son-in-law George and granddaughter Caroline frequently. Cindy is closing in on a Masters in International Relations at Tuft’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Rick, a Dennison graduate, just landed a job with Ernst & Young in Toledo.
First Gus Southworth was listed in the 2001-2002 edition of “The Best Lawyers in America”, determined via nomination from lawyers and judges. Then he was included in ConnecticutMagazine’s cover story on top lawyers in the state. Gus, a civil litigator with a 65-person healthcare practice emphasizing defense of catastrophic medical cases, is a partner at Carmody and Torrance LLP in Waterbury.Gus is married to the former Susan Moorman of Hanover, a librarian for the Connecticut State Legislature. Hunter is a senior at Colgate and Taylor a senior at Westover High School.
Three 66’ers participated in the Alumni Council Meeting in late November, including your correspondent representing the Class Secretaries Association. This is a semi-annual, three-day affair in which the 96-person Council, composed of representatives from classes, clubs, affiliated groups and regions, learns about the latest College happenings (like the plan for a big 500-600 dorm complex to be built on the site of the old hospital) and provides feedback to the college on a variety of issues (communications, student life, admissions procedures, etc).
Perhaps most important of all, the Nomination Committee of the Council identifies three candidates for the College Board of Trustees, one of whom is selected by a vote of all alumni. In all, seven of Dartmouth’s 16 trustees are elected by the alumni, seven are selected by the Board itself and two are mandated – the College President and the New Hampshire Governor.
Noel Fidel is president elect of the Alumni Council, which means he took an active leadership role in the sometimes passionate public meetings and leadership caucuses throughout the weekend. Fortunately, Noel has considerable experience dealing with different points of view. He is in his 20th year as a judge in Arizona -- 5 on the trial court and 15 on the court of appeals. Noel is now looking to retire from the court and return to law practice, specializing in mediation and appeals.
Anne, Noel’s French born wife of 25 years, teaches French in high school and took Professor Rassias’s seminar for language teachers last fall. Sons Nathan and Louis are both at Dartmouth and are swim team mates -- Nathan is co-captain. Alexander is 14 and “looking to do something adventurous”. And, oh yes, Noel, a Barbary Coast stalwart in his college days, still plays a mean jazz trumpet.
The irrepressible Chuck Sherman represents the Washington D.C. region on the Council. Chuck currently builds data resources and does policy research for the National Institutes of Health. He has developed websites to help doctors stay current with new medical knowledge and earn continuing credits. Daughter Emily lives nearby in Fairfax, VA.
Chuck, who loves nature, kayaks, growing vegetables and ham radio, has a firm set of deeply felt beliefs – “I have yet to outgrow my love of Dartmouth, my preference for Macintosh computers and my belief that the majestic, native moose is the best choice if a new mascot is ever selected for dear old Dartmouth”. The fact that Chuck wore an antlered hat and carried an Apple laptop throughout the Alumni Council meeting shows he’s a guy who lives his convictions.
Share your thoughts and triumphs with classmates in this new year.