ALUMNI UPDATES

TJ’s alumni are extraordinary in their achievements. Their life stories are endlessly fascinating. But what really sets them apart is the capacity and confidence they have to embrace, execute, and lead change. They envision possibilities and pursue them. They are, truly, the embodiment of the answer to the question, “Why TJ?”

Submit your update at tjs.org/alumni

PAUL MESSINA ‘61

“During the summer of 2022, I enjoyed reading, and writing a review for, the book A New History of Modern Computing by Thomas Haigh and Paul E. Ceruzzi, MIT Press, September 2021. I first became interested in computers by reading a book about them during the summer of 1963 between sophomore and junior years in college. Reading that book led to adding computing to mathematics in my studies and I spent my entire professional career doing research and development on computer architectures, programming methods, mathematical algorithms, and using computers to tackle problems in the sciences. Consequently, I thought I knew a lot about computing in general. Nevertheless, I learned many things by reading this engaging, scholarly and comprehensive history of computing. The authors describe computers from the ENIAC to today’s computers embedded in our watches, cars, and refrigerators. And to me equally interesting, they trace the evolution of the technologies and how they were and are used. TJ students and faculty might find it interesting. My book review will be published in the September edition of SIAM News, the magazine of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). I was recently asked to write a chapter about my family’s experience living in a banana plantation in Panama. The chapter will be in a book will be published in a few months about people who lived in banana plantations in Central and South America. This came about because my family emigrated from Italy, where I was born, to Guatemala City, Guatemala, when I was almost seven years old. In 1952 we moved to Almirante, Panama, and lived there until the late 1960s. I went to school there through eighth grade (see graduation photo; I am second from left) and then went to TJ in September 1957. We learned about TJ from a physician from Virginia who spent a few months studying tropical diseases from my father who was an expert in that field.”

BILL ROWE ‘63

Bill Rowe ‘63 is now the new President of the St Louis Audubon Society.

RAY SOLOMAN ‘64

An anonymous donor gave a $3.5 million gift – the largest ever received by Rutgers University–Camden – creating the Rayman L. Solomon Scholars program at the Camden location of Rutgers Law School in honor of the school’s former dean. Rayman currently remains on the Rutgers faculty as a University Professor of Law.

KEITH WILLIAMSON ‘70

Keith ’70 is Chairman of the Board of the United Way of Greater St. Louis. He retired from the role of General Counsel but remains busy as president of the Centene Charitable Foundation. BUFFY ROWE ‘88

My son now attends TJ! He will be a sophomore in 2022-23. I am currently working for the Olin Graduate Programs office at Washington University. It is good to be home.

JAMES ASALI ‘89

Living in Philly (since 1996) UPenn undergrad (1993) and George Washington University Law School (1996) Though I’m a lawyer by training and have worked for most of my career as a business attorney - both in private practice and in house with an investment and real estate company - I am doing something new now. In conjunction with a paper packaging company called Ranpak (NYSE: PACK), I am heading the Pack Green Coalition, which is a non-profit that is dedicated to replacing unnecessary plastic in the packaging supply chain with paper, fiber-based materials and other sustainable alternatives. We just started this coalition in 2022 and are working feverishly to get our message out to businesses, NGOs, and policymakers and to grow. (Check out our website - packgreen.org and our Twitter and LinkedIn pages) The book I’m currently reading is After the Fall by Ben Rhodes (former Obama foreign policy advisor), which examines the rise of authoritarianism across the globe over the last few years and America’s role in enabling it and hopefully rolling it back.

Dave Messina’92 and wife Kendra recently moved to San Diego, where they are enjoying the endless summer with their cat Chairman Mao and Great Dane Byrdie.

ARTHUR BAHR ‘93

From MIT News: “Bahr, an associate professor of literature at MIT, is currently completing a book on the Pearl-Manuscript — a rare surviving 14th-century document that includes “Pearl” and three other works, “Patience,” “Cleanness,” and the famous chivalric romance story, “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” (recently adapted into a movie, “The Green Knight.”) All four works are critical to our understanding of the medieval world and literature and two of them, “Pearl” and “Gawain,” are considered masterpieces.

MARTHA FEENEY-PATTEN ‘98

My wife Alison and I welcomed our son Connor on March 4th, joining big sister Audrey, 5. We live in Acton, MA, and I’m the director at the Gleason Public Library in Carlisle, MA.

JIM PESEK ‘99

Jim got married on TJ’s campus (in the Pavilion!) in June of 2020, with Jane Roth ‘91 performing the ceremony and only immediate family in attendance. The wedding reception finally took place two years later in June of 2022. This fall he will be starting his 10th year teaching at TJ.

SANDY (SANG EUN) LEE ‘99

After graduating from UPenn for undergraduate and graduate school, Sandy lives in the Philadelphia suburbs and is busy taking care of her three young children Carina, Arianna, and Sienna while running a Martial Arts School in Princeton with her husband Michael Lee. JAKE SCHNEIDER ‘01

Living in Philly with my wife Deirdre and 2-year-old Oscar, where I get to work from home as a lawyer for startups.

KATE STEPLETON ‘01

Kate and her husband, Andrew Zahler, welcomed their second daughter, Zoe Stepleton Zahler, on August 17, 2021.

BRENDAN DOLAN-GAVITT ‘02

Brendan was honored by the National Science Foundation in January with their CAREER Award for his research in efficient software vulnerability testing. This is the NSF’s most prestigious for junior academics.

DAVID GERMAN ‘04

David had to tell his daughter Jessica (age 3) that even though she is finally vaccinated against COVID-19, she cannot drive the car.

NATE MYERS ‘07

In November 2021, Nate made his screenwriting and directorial debut with the release of his full-length feature film, After We’re Over. The film, set in St. Louis, premiered at the 30th Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival. After graduating from Korea University, having majored in Business Administration, Sung Hoh has worked in Tokyo for PwC Advisory LLC. Sung Ho will be starting his MBA program at Columbia Business School in NYC in the Fall of 2022

DAE JIN KIM ‘09

After completing his Bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins, he has recently received his Doctor of Medicine in Dentistry from Rutgers School of Dental Medicine and has recently completed his General Practice Residency from Jersey City Medical Center.

VANESSA WU’14

Vanessa graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 2018 double majoring in Chemical Engineering and Economics & Strategy, and is currently pursuing her MBA at Harvard Business School.

HARRISON YAN ‘15

I moved to Germany to join Mercedes-Benz shortly after graduating from Vanderbilt University. In 2022, I took up a new challenge to define strategy and partnerships for next-generation in-car software at MBition, Mercedes’ own software innovation hub in Berlin. In addition, I continue to mastermind the best cinematography robots at Motorized Precision as the Chief Mechanical Engineer. In the post-COVID era, I am travelling as much as I can, most recently to Venice and next on the list, Prague. P.S. I am not going to hide that I am very proud of the photo - indeed it is me and the CEO of Mercedes-Benz, Ola Källenius.