Class Notes Archive 1931-2014
Class Notes are searchable back to our spring 2000 issue. You can browse the notes by decade (click on a decade to view its class notes):
Class notes from the 1970s
| 1979Marco Zecchin’s book of photography, The Spirit of Northern Italy, was published in December. He has been a professional photographer for more than 25 years and lives in the Bay Area. Zecchin’s work is on permanent display at museums in Oakland and Monterey. (appeared in the Fall 2004 issue) • Michael Allen, M.F.A., received an outstanding teaching award in September at Adrian College in Michigan, where he is a theatre professor. (appeared in the Winter 2005 issue) • Margo van Staaveren, promoted last year to head winemaker at Chateau St. Jean in Sonoma County, was featured in a lengthy profile titled “Welcome to Chateau Margo” in the San Francisco Chronicle in August. She was part of a team, which also included her husband, Don, and Steve Reeder ’79, that developed a 1996 Cinq Cépages red blend named 1999 Wine of the Year by Wine Spectator. Reeder is now winemaker at Simi Winery. The van Staaverens have two children, Coby and Leiska. (appeared in the Winter 2005 issue) • Paul Newitt has written A Beginner’s Guide to Creative Effects for Your Model Railroad, published by Just Trains, a basic reference for budding model-railroad enthusiasts. (appeared in the Spring 2005 issue) • Lynn Rolston became the first female chief executive officer in the 135-year history of the California Pharmacists Association. She has over 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including heading two consulting companies of her own. (appeared in the Spring 2005 issue) • Carolyn Shelton, interpretive supervisor for Utah’s Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, was awarded the Bureau of Land Management’s award for Excellence in Interpretation of Environmental Education. (appeared in the Spring 2005 issue) • Luca Vassalli, M.D. ’83, practices otolaryngology in Orange County. He lives with his wife and three children in Santa Ana. (appeared in the Spring 2005 issue) • Sandra (Grady) Duncan was recently elected to the board of trustees for the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles. She is currently a freelance writer based in San Jose and an active volunteer in the museum’s educational outreach program. Previously she was a marketing manager at Intel Corp. (appeared in the Summer 2005 issue) • Robyn Parnell’s first children’s picture book, My Closet Threw a Party, was released in March by Sterling Publishers. Parnell lives and writes in Hillsboro, Ore. (appeared in the Summer 2005 issue) • A board-certified criminal law specialist, Ray Aragon, J.D., serves on the State Bar of California board of governors. He practices in San Diego. (appeared in the Fall 2005 issue) • Jeffrey Reed, M.S. ’80, Ph.D. ’87, a Virginia Tech professor of electrical and computer engineering, is the new recipient of the Willis G. Worcester Professorship of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Internationally known for his research on software and software-defined radios, he is the author of the first book on software radios. (appeared in the Fall 2005 issue) • David Elliot III was killed in July 2005 in a solo-vehicle accident in Lodi at age 48. A fifth-generation Delta farmer, the father of three had worked in the family business, David J. Elliot and Sons, for years. Based in Courtland, the company packs and ships pears, cherries and kiwis. Mr. Elliot was also active in state fruit-growing associations and recently worked with Prudential Real Estate in Lodi, focusing on agricultural land sales. (appeared in the Fall 2005 issue) • Bill Fitzgerald writes that each year on the weekend after Father’s Day he and John Hoffman ’80 (married to Jana Gingerich ’84), Steve Fessler ’79, Tom Greenleaf ’78, Bill Tanem ’79 (married to Abby Seiderman ’79), Tom Tealdi ’79, Steve Eggert ’80, Bob Ryan ’79, Tim Nisson ’79, Bob Nisson ’81, Jim Stanwood ’79 and Steve Littman ’79 reunite on a camping trip in the Sierra with their children. To celebrate 30 years of friendship, they are planning a fishing trip to Alaska this summer and invite other friends from college. Fitzgerald can be contacted at william.fitzgerald@zurichna.com. (appeared in the Winter 2006 issue) • Nik Raja Abdullah is the vice chancellor of Universiti Putra Malaysia, where he hopes to help the school reach its goal of becoming one of the top 20 universities in Asia by 2010. Raja Abdullah, who studied agriculture at UPM before coming to UC Davis in the ’70s, also headed UPM’s Faculty of Economics and Management in 1999–2004. (appeared in the Spring 2006 issue) • Pat Fry is president and chief executive officer of Sutter Health, a nonprofit health-care organization operating throughout Northern California. He and his wife, Renate, have four sons and live in Davis. (appeared in the Spring 2006 issue) • Brett Hobde has been promoted to vice president of performance improvement at St. Mary Medical Center in Walla Walla, Wash. Previously, Hobde was manager of clinical quality improvement for the UC Davis Health System. (appeared in the Spring 2006 issue) • Mary Marchant, M.A. ’82, Ph.D. ’89, was named associate dean and director of academic programs at Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Marchant, who worked previously at the University of Kentucky, is a past recipient of the American Agricultural Economics Association’s Distinguished Teaching Award and the Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Agricultural Economics in Italy. (appeared in the Summer 2006 issue) • William Whittier, D.V.M., has received the 2006 Extension Service Award from the Virginia Agribusiness Council for his public service work in cattle health. Whittier is a professor and Extension specialist in Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences. (appeared in the Fall 2006 issue) • Ray Aragon, J.D., has been appointed to the California Judicial Council, the policymaking body of the California courts, and will serve a three-year term. Aragon, a public defender, has served as vice president of the State Bar Board of Governors and the San Diego County Bar Association board of directors, and is a past president of San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association. (appeared in the Winter 2007 issue) • Steven Lanum retired as chief regulatory compliance counsel at Charles Schwab & Co. in San Francisco. He writes that, having asked himself the same question “What do I want to be when I grow up?” for 40 years, he now has more time to ponder the answer. (appeared in the Winter 2007 issue) |