graduate news
because of his love of travel, his curiosity and his gift for establishing instant and long-lasting bonds with people. He worked as a news reporter and producer in Duluth, Jacksonville and Raleigh before landing at Channel 7 in his hometown of Boston. But Ned’s curiosity was global. In 1992, he became the first Fulbright Scholar posted to Albania, where he codesigned and taught a journalism curriculum at the University of Tirana. Then he and a friend started a freelance news production company, through which they spent four years covering the Balkan War to the BBC, the CBC, NBC, NPR and the Christian Science Monitor. This was the first of many conflicts Ned would cover. During the bulk of Ned’s career, from 1996 to 2008, he worked as a foreign correspondent for NBC News, using the power of broadcast journalism to bring attention to people suffering around the world. Based in Beijing, Hong Kong and London, he covered wars, revolutions and natural disasters in more than 25 countries, including East Timor’s struggle for independence, the fall of Indonesian president Suharto, the tsunami in Sri Lanka and the earthquake in Kashmir. He was also able to draw on his interest in the environment by reporting on efforts to preserve orangutan habitats in Borneo and panda habitats in China. Much of his time was spent covering the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, often under difficult or hazardous conditions. In 2004, while covering the uprising in Fallujah, Ned and his TV crew were kidnapped and held for three days by Iraqi insurgents, a situation in which Ned’s grace
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under pressure served him and his colleagues well. In 2009, Ned left NBC and became an adjunct professor of journalism at Boston University. Wanting to learn how to provide more direct help to the people on whom he had reported for so many years, Ned went back to school, earning a master’s degree in public administration at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, from which he graduated with honors. He then worked as a communications officer for the International Rescue Committee, based in Islamabad and Amman. At the time of his death, Ned was based in Erbil, Iraq, working for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, trying to bring the world’s attention to the humanitarian crisis caused by the conflicts in Iraq and Syria. Though Ned spent much of his career abroad, he always looked forward to returning to the place he considered his true home: Naushon Island, off Cape Cod, where he was able to spend time with his beloved family and friends and express his lifelong love of the sea. There, he masterminded the design and construction of a shared vacation home, and used his carpenter’s tools to help build it. Whenever he visited, Ned was the champion quahog digger, the most avid snorkeler, the most persistent lobsterman and the most dogged bushwhacker. He was the guiding force behind the annual work week at the island’s arboretum, where he and his friends pruned shrubs, cut away catbriar, and planted saplings before cooking good food, drinking good beer, and laughing and talking long into the night. In 1997, Ned met his future
wife, Cathy Robinson, a Canadian news producer and writer who shared not only his interest in humanitarian work but also his love of travel and adventure—and increased his happiness by a factor of a thousand. Ned had to cancel their second date because, as he explained, “I’ve got to cover Mother Teresa’s funeral” (a line, though perfectly true, that could be used only once). He and Cathy helped fund the college tuition of a young Afghan man he had met on assignment in Kabul. During the 18 years Ned and Cathy spent together, they scuba dived the Great Barrier Reef, skied Val d’Isère, and bungee-jumped in New Zealand. They celebrated Ned’s 50th birthday by swimming with great white sharks in South Africa and Cathy’s 50th by swimming with whale sharks in the Philippines. Two weeks before his death, Ned and Cathy swam with manatees in Florida. Ned was predeceased by his father, Henry F. Colt Jr. He is survived by his wife, Cathy; his mother, Lisa, of Easthampton, Mass.; his brother Harry and sister-in-law Sandy Bell Colt, of Belgrade, Maine; his brother George and sister-in-law Anne Fadiman, of Whately, Mass.; his brother Mark, of Medway, Mass; his nephews, Ian and Henry; his nieces, Maya and Susannah; many much-loved cousins; and numerous friends from around the world. All of us will remember Ned for, among other things, his humility, his idealism, his mischievousness, his stubbornness, his devotion to friends and family, his rich baritone voice, his capacity to make even a walk to the dock seem like an adventure,
his ability to make us laugh so hard we couldn’t breathe and his deep generosity: a quality apparent even during his final hours. A celebration of Ned’s life will be held in the spring. Devin Adanma Nwanagu ’05 passed away on Dec. 14, 2014. She was a beloved member of the class of 2005 and was actively involved in many different aspects of the school, but Devin’s true passion was the girls varsity soccer team. As a three-year starter, she helped Nobles rack up two ISL titles and one New England Championship. She was an integral member of those teams on the defensive side, even though she was an exceptional goal scorer (which she would happily explain without prompting). Devin continued her soccer career at Trinity, where she was a four-year starter. In her first two years, she was the team’s leading scorer and liked to joke years later that Nobles coach Steve Ginsberg “never used me right! I would have been in the Hall of Fame!” She was a two-time All-NESCAC midfielder, but, in typical Devin fashion, moved to defense during her junior year based on a team need. While she sacrificed the notoriety of being the team’s top goal-scorer, her team recognized this selfless act by electing her captain during her senior year. Most recently, she worked as a member of the Nobles Development Office, focusing primarily on the BeNoblesBold campaign and the Annual Nobles Fund. A fierce supporter of the school, she constantly looked for other areas to which she could lend her
skills. She was the driving force behind the Graduates of Color Committee and the annual Carey Classic women’s soccer game; these two important school efforts will carry on because of her hard work and determination in laying the groundwork. She served on the Young Graduates Committee and the Hall of Fame Committee, and was a member of the dorm faculty this past year. Her passion for Nobles and soccer made her an important member of the varsity girls soccer coaching staff, winning two ISL and two New England Championships during her tenure. Outside of Nobles, she coached youth soccer for NEFC girls-under-15 and -13 teams. Beyond her accomplishments, Devin will be remembered for the ways that she touched each of us who had the privilege of knowing her. Her passing has left a massive void in the Nobles community, but we are buoyed by the light that she shone on us all and are inspired to keep working on the things that were important to her. As such, her family, classmates and friends have established the Devin Nwanagu ’05 Scholarship Fund, which will be awarded with preference given to female students of color, who, like Devin, bring dedication, motivation and sportsmanship to the Nobles classrooms and playing fields. Devin is survived by her parents, Carol and Ernest Nwanagu; brother E. Amadi Nwanagu; grandparents Evelyn N. Young and Ernestine Nwanagu; aunts and uncles Anne Young-Berkeley, Clinton I. Young Jr., Mary L. and Eric Graves, Seth Nwanagu, David and Carolyn Nwanagu, and Jonathan and Johanna Nwanagu.
Front row: Heather Partridge Kolva ’88, Paul Avery (former faculty), Peter Partridge ’54, Heather Markey Zink ’86, Wendy Wheeler MacDonald ’85, Rin Carroll Jackson ’86, Bill Heald ’86, Andrew Partridge ’86 and Haley Partridge. Back row: Dick Reiber ’60, Andrew McCabe ’86, Tim Partridge ’90, Zan Partridge ’93. Present at the wedding but missing from the photo: Tripp Woodland ’92 and Kate Ramsdell (current faculty)
Left to right: Scott VanBroekhoven ’97, Kristina Vanstrom, Ignacio Morillas, Sandra Seru ’97, James Carter, Timothy Mah ’97, Serena Mah ’94, Phil Seel, Priya Garg, Scott Lee ’97, Kim Ching ’97 and Joe Blois at the wedding of Tim and James.
announcements Engagements
Marriages
Lydia Paine ’06 to Henrik Hagtvedt on June 5, 2015. The wedding will take place in Waltham, Mass. Katie Paniszyn and Ben Dawson, both ’07, will be married in June. Derick Beresford ’09 is engaged to Tamar Charles.
Andrew Partridge ’86 wed Haley Messenger in Cataumet in October 2014. Former faculty member Brian Jones married his partner of 25 years, Michael Rocha, in Nahant. Tim Mah ’97 married James Carter in Cape Town, South Africa, in February 2014.
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