News From Fort Schuyler

February 9, 2009 - Volume 9, No. 5

GET WELL WISHES - The Provost/VPAA at Fort Schuyler, Dr. JOSEPH C. HOFFMAN 75, is recovering from shoulder surgery. He is expected to return to campus in mid-February. Best wishes for speedy recuperation.

WHAT'S NEW IN SHIPPING - Not only does Staten Island Chuck bite (ask Mayor Bloomberg) but he apparently also has other cutting edges. On February 2 SUNY Maritime's Fourth Annual Groundhog Day Event (aka Conference on Cutting Edge Issues in Shipping) took place under the auspices of the college's Global Business & Transportation Department. The event attracted record attendance from business, academics, and the student body. Speakers with Fort Schuyler connections included JENNIFER KOU MS 2009, who described the Mexican Landbridge project, Dr. LARRY HOWARD (GBAT Chair) and CAPT JOE AHLSTROM 82, who spoke on the public/private security exercise, Trojan Horse, which was developed at Fort Schuyler, and Prof. JEFFREY WEISS 78, "..who ended the day with a topical discussion on how the rash of piracy is impacting international shipping and chartering and creating a new revenue avenue for marine insurance firms." (For a complete rundown on the conference go to www.sunymaritime.edu)

YO HO HO - Several alumni, including HARRY KESSLER 54 and RICK BAGSHAW 62, gave NFFS a headsup on a recent AP wire service story that appeared in the Washington Times, "U.S. Trains for Pirate Watch'. It described increased training emphasis about anti-piracy techniques at Mass Maritime and California Maritime. The article noted that piracy hot spots include East Africa, Southeast Asia, South America and the Caribbean. Rick also wonders "...what is Schuyler doing in this regard?" (www.washingtontimes.com)

POISON PILLS - The recent news coverage of the FBI's decision to review the 1982 Tylenol poisoning case following the death of a suspect in the case, prompted RICK BAGSHAW to recall that 27 years ago: "This was a big event in my career, as I was VP of Operations for the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary that manufactured and marketed Tylenol. In that role I was responsible for: 1.) Destroying all potentially adulterated product; 2.) QUICKLY replacing the withdrawn product; 3.) Developing a triple evident barrier to lessen the likelihood of a repeat incident." [The rest is history and triple-sealed packaging has become the rule for many products.}

WHO DOES WHAT- The district science department head at Scotia-Glenville Schools near Schenectady is RANDY JENKINS 82. Father JIM HUVANE, whose two brothers are Maritime College graduates, was a member of the Class of 1964 "...until the middle of my 2nd Class year at which time I left Fort Schuyler to join the Maryknoll Fathers. Was ordained a priest in 1970 and assigned to our missions in Hong Kong. Have spent the last 38+ years either in HK or doing promotion work for Maryknoll in the States. My brothers Stephen and Brian are both still involved in shipping and I think we would agree that those years at Schuyler were among the most important, formative and enjoyable of our lives. Thank you again for keeping these memories vital.

ERNEST HEGI 63 writes that: "Since graduating from the Fort I have had a very interesting career, being the only alumnus that managed one of the largest ski resorts." [Where? My skis are ready and my bag is packed.]

ANOTHER UNIQUE ALUMNUS - "... he is no doubt the only ballet dancer in history with a degree in marine transportation' writes ballet critic, Joan Acocella, in a review appearing in the February 9/16 issue of the New Yorker magazine, entitled "Local Hero - Edward Villella's Miami City Ballet comes to Manhattan." This is yet another encomium to ED VILLELLA '59. Writing of his years as a principal dancer with the New York Cit ballet she writes, "Outsiders are always saying that ballet is undemocratic - it's foreign, it's snooty, it's passe. The people who do it are tall and thin, not like us regular folk. And here was Villella, a short American guy, performing it as no one had ever seen it. Nor was there anything snooty about his background. He was an Italian-American working-class kid from Queens. The only reason he got into a dance class was that his mother took his sister to the local ballet school, with Eddie tagging along, and the teacher said, 'How about the little boy, too?' Villella's father, who drove a truck in New York's garment district, did not welcome this development. He wanted his son to get ahead in the world, and ballet did not seem to him a likely means to his end....so he insisted that the boy go to college.." which happened to be SUNY Maritime College, right across the East River from Bayside. Ed returned to ballet after graduation and the rest is history. He was to become "America's first great homegrown male ballet dancer... whom many New Yorkers regard with an old, possessive love." (Thanks to former Humanities Department professor, DR RICHARD HARRIS for this heads up. Richard is the John J. McMullen Professor of Humanities at Webb Institute.)

EBB TIDE - Distinguished orthopedic surgeon and national leader in the field, DENNIS COUGHLIN '47, died at the age of 81 on 1 February, 2009. "Doc", a lifelong resident of Knoxville, returned there after he finished at Fort Schuyler. He graduated from the University of Tennessee Medical School in 1953. Following his internship, he served for 2 years as a Lt. Orthopedic Surgeon at the Corona Naval Hospital in California where he met his wife, Ruth Cathcart, whom he married in 1958. After a 3-year residency at the Mayo Clinic he returned home and practiced as an orthopedic surgeon for the next 40 years as partner in the East Tennessee Orthopedic Clinic. Doc, an avid skier, made his second home in Breckenridge, Colorado, the site of several Class of 1947 mini-reunions. He is survived by his wife, 5 children and 6 grandchildren. Donations in his memory may be made to The Legacy Brain Foundation, 1325 Pennsylvania Ave - Suite 120, Fort Worth, TX 76104. (Knoxville News Sentinel - www.knoxnews.com)

His classmate, JACK HAYES, attended Doc's funeral on 5 February and reported that "...the eulogy was an extension of the Dennis sense of humor...some stories we had never heard. His partner sawbones gave it, and here's part of it [worthy of Yogi Berra].... "You know, Bill, if you don't go to other people's funerals, they won't come to yours."