The Alumni Magazine for Worcester Polytechnic Institute. (WPI)
Issue link: http://wpialumnimag.epubxp.com/i/406282
Fall 2014 53 class notes Denny Balog has spent 40 years with Osram Sylvania and is now executive director of engineering. He lives in Roseville, Calif., with his wife, Judy. Frank Caradonna writes, "A career in aerodynamics research has been a load of fun for me. I'm told that having fun is the best way to know you've made the right career choice. But I've had other interests. Early on, I became really interested in the piano. On mustering out of Army active duty, I spent my unused leave money on a Mason-Hamlin grand. In the past 10 years I've become involved in a big band as well as some smaller groups. I'm hoping for a jazz-flled future." Frank is retired from a 43-year career with the Army Labs in Mountain View, Calif. He lives in Los Altos with his wife, Monika. "Cap" Chenoweth started out in the Ocean Science Field Building testing deep diving submersibles and instrumenta- tion. "After a stint at Virginia Institute of Marine Science, I started a 10-year teaching (physics) and coaching career. In summer of '81, I started an alternative energy contracting company, Sunworks Engineering, designing and building advanced heating/cooling/control systems, including solar and geothermal systems. Still doing that as well as teaching one course a year. My activities include ski and lacrosse coaching, Alpine and Nordic skiing and racing, and restoring and racing historic sports cars." Cap and his wife, Ginny, have one daughter. He recalls Professor Ray Scott as "the best pure teacher I ever had, anywhere." Paul Covec and his wife, Joan, have two sons and one grandchild. Ed Curtis writes, "Equipped with a frst-rate education from WPI, I was fortunate to have a very satisfying career as a serial entrepreneur and international energy consultant. Of the most interesting and exciting things I have learned is the great value and process of entrepreneurial pursuit. I have created a lot of jobs indirectly as a result of my work, and I have signifcantly infuenced the development of large-scale natural gas technology, thereby leaving a net positive impact on our economy and our environment." Ed is retired as CEO of E. J. Curtis Assoc., an international business-development consultancy in the energy industry. He lives Bradenton, Fla., with his wife, Carolyn. Peter Dornemann writes, "My career has had three separate phases. In phase one, I was in marketing management with Fortune 500 companies. In phase two, I was in sales management with high-tech companies. Now, in phase three, I am a health insurance broker focusing on individuals and micro-companies. I was a member of one of the frst high-tech delegations to visit China. I have helped hundreds of small business people get cost-effective health insurance coverage. Clients often showed their appreciation with gifts like homemade brownies or wine. Back in my 35 years of corporate sales and marketing, this personalized level of appreciation simply did not happen." His best WPI memory? "A Fiji Island party on Cape Cod. I really should not say anymore." He also fondly recalls professor Ken Scott. "He went the extra mile and somehow got me through Thermo-Dynamics." Pete Fenner sends this recap of his life: "My frst 20 years I worked as real-time Fortran expert. The next 15 years I was a PC network contractor and part-time Inventor/House Husband/Dad. The last 15 years I have been licensing our patents, and I expect to spend the next 10 years fguring out how to retire!" Asked how he's made the world a better place, Pete adds, "After licensing our patents to six major companies in 2006, my whole family set up the Fenner Family Charitable Foundation, which supports many causes close to our family. Our family also gives much personally to those same charities." Pete's favorite college memory involves a bird, a fraternity, and a mechanical clock. "In my second or third year at WPI, the guys in Sig Ep decided to turn the front of 11 Boynton Street into a giant BOKO Clock! I lived in the room that had the window where the KOKO bird went in and out. My roommate and I had to sleep with window open and that mechanical marvel in our room for a week!" He also cherishes a life lesson learned from Professor Romeo Moruzzi. "Senior year, Todd Varnum and I were lab partners in Professor Moruzzi's control systems class. Near the end of course, Moruzzi told us he would not give us a good lab grade because our results were 'too good!' We met with him and showed him our detailed lab notes on how we always chose the same equipment. I learned the importance of details and work notes, and that had served me well for 50 years." Pete and his wife, Suzan, have two children and three grandchildren. Duke Gale writes, "My wife (and high school sweetheart), Jane, and I spend summers in Chatham Mass., and winters in Naples, Fla. We have two daughters, a son-in-law, and two grandkids. After WPI I earned a PhD in economics from Rutgers U. and taught economics at UMass Amherst from 1967 to 1978. Worked at a business-strategy think tank in Cambridge from 1978 to 1990. Started my own consulting company, Customer Value Inc., in 1990—still operating, class notes '58 Bill Rabinovitch writes, "I am dedicating one of my latest images, just completed… thrilled learning Laurie A. Leshin has become the 16th president of WPI and believing my image will create even more positive energy both for her and WPI. The image will be realized in a print edition of 25, signed and numbered. I've announced the news about Laurie on my Facebook page with this image. Some have said my image incredibly seems to combine Pollock, Matisse, and de Kooning into something new and innovative." Bill adds, "Wow! A woman WPI president — exactly what's needed!"