News From Fort Schuyler

October 12, 2009 - Volume 9, No. 37

HOMECOMING HIGHLIGHT - Long-time naval architecture professor ROBERT ZUBALY was inducted into Maritime College Heritage Hall, located on the first floor of Vander Clute Hall, at the Homecoming festivities on October 10th. According to the Chairman of the Engineering Department, RICHARD BURKE '72:

"Professor Zubaly devoted his entire working career to the education of young men and women in naval architecture. Over the course of his 53 year career as an educator and naval architect, Bob Zubaly touched the lives of well over 7,000 students." Prof. Zubaly, a Fellow of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) is the author of the standard textbook in the field, "Applied Naval Architecture," published by Cornell Maritime Press in 1996. A graduate of Webb Institute and Columbia University, he retired from full-time teaching in 1998, but still teaches on a part-time basis. (For the full details go to www.sunymaritime.edu)

MAKE THAT TWO IN A ROW - The football team carried the day on Saturday with a 58-20 Homecoming win over Castleton State College at Reinhard Field, bringing them to a 4-2 record for the season. The hero of the day was TRAVIS SCOTT 4/C who ran for three touchdowns as he rushed for 149 yards. SUNY Maritime is a new member of the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference and this was their first ECFC win. (For full details go to www.sunymaritime.edu)

ONWARD AND UPWARD - According to BRIDGET MEENAGHAN '96, the new CO of the USS NEW YORK will be LLOYD LUKE REINHOLD '94. She writes, the "... USS NEW YORK was named in honor of the 9/11 victims and 7.5 tons of steel from the WTC rubble were used in her construction, causing the shipyard workers in LA to treat her with reverence. We are proud to have an alumnus in charge."

EARL BAIM '80 notes a Fort Schuyler connection with the USS NEW YORK's namesake, writing: "....the big (largest kedge type) anchor outside Vander Clute Hall is reputed to be from the original USS NEW YORK... that was launched circa 1895." (More details at www.en.wikipedia.org)

TOWING THE LINE - The 9th Annual SUNY Maritime Towing Forum takes place on campus Wednesday, October 21 from 0800 - 1330 at McMurray Hall. Registration is $40, including continental breakfast and lunch.

Conference head, CAPT ERIC JOHANSSON of the Department of Professional and Training, writes: "This is an event that professional mariners cannot afford to miss." Topics include Owner Liability/Responsibility - Bridging program - Towing Foreign - Mariner Credential update. The keynote speaker, with a waterfront update, will be the NYC Councilman from Brooklyn, Michael Nelson. (Schedule and registration are at www.sunymaritime.edu )

STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION - The NFFS mailing list is already peeking above the ashes of the recent hard disk melt-down. Thanks for the response to last week's appeal for e-mail address updates. If you have not already done so, however, please forward this NFFS issue to your classmates and ask them to get back to rcorson@nyc.rr.com with their name, e-mail address and class year if they wish to receive future newsletters. http://www.sunymaritime.edu/NROTC/Command%20Information/XOBiography.aspx

EXTRA HARBOR TOUR - If you are in New York City on Sunday afternoon, October 18th, there is going to be a season-finale Hidden Harbor Tour aboard the excursion vessel ZEPHYR. The 2-hour tour, which departs from South Street Seaport at 15:30, will be co-narrated by CAPT. JAMES McNAMARA '64, president of both the Marine Society of the City of New York and the National Cargo Bureau. The tour will include the Brooklyn piers, Buttermilk Channel, Erie Basin, Upper New York Harbor, Kill Van Kull, Port Newark and Port Elizabeth, Military Ocean Terminal, Global Marine Terminal, ending at the Statue of Liberty and the tip of Manhattan. Tickets, which include a free drink, are $29, $21 for seniors. (For more information and to order tickets go to www.WorkingHarbor.org)

EBB TIDE

LEONARD "LUKE" SUTTER '53, died at his home in Alexandria, VA on September 21, 2009 from pancreatic cancer at the age of 79. Len is survived by his wife, Anne, two daughters and three granddaughters

After graduating from Fort Schuyler Len served in the U.S. Navy for three years. He then worked as a labor relations manager for Gulf Oil in New York and Pittsburgh while earning a law degree from Columbia University. In 1967 he went to Washington, where he was counsel to the U.S. Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee. He joined MARAD in 1961 and was widely respected as one of the nation's leading maritime law experts. Until his June, 2009 retirement, Len was responsible for editing MARAD's annual "Compilation of Maritime Laws", published by its Office of Chief Counsel.

Len always arrived early in his office at the Maritime Administration. On Monday mornings, around 7:30, Len would invariably send a thank-you note to the editor of NFFS for the latest issue - often with a pithy comment. In 2002 he commented on the EBB TIDE section: "It is nice to receive some personal information about peers who die. We are just not a name and we are part of the fabric of Fort Schuyler, and our passing deserves more than a date and cause of death."

In recent years Len self-published several volumes of memoirs, including "The New York Years" (2004) and "The Washington Years" (2005). At the time of his death he was writing a history of the U.S. maritime industry in the 20th century.

Last year Len wrote that he still enjoyed working in his field "...as the oldest lawyer in the Maritime Administration."He continued: "...it was my good fortune to attend The Fort. It made a man out of me, and the maritime field has given me a good living. At this point, life owes me nothing, and there are times that I am overwhelmed with gratitude for what I have been given."

(www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/26/AR2009092602513.html)