Princeton University

Class of 1969

September 2015

Dear Classmates,

Greetings from the Best Old Place of All. The arrival of this letter should closely mark the 50^th anniversary of our matriculation at Princeton. As we move toward the 50^th anniversary of our graduation, your class leadership will provide numerous chances for us to get together in various locations across the country. Some of the most fun occurs at what we now call micro-reunions – usually regional half-day events followed by a dinner. We can never have enough of these, and they aren’t a lot of trouble to put together compared to a full-scale mini-reunion. Please let me know if you would like to organize one near your home.

UPCOMING EVENTS

The events we have lined up for this coming academic year are listed below. For more complete information as it becomes available and to register, please continue to look right here on our website, princeton1969.org.

• September 13—Pre-rade for the Class of 2019. On Campus. As the grandparent class of 2019, we will be part of the procession.

• October 2-3—Class of 1968 Seminar on the Environment. In Princeton. Complete information posted on the website. Some spots may still be available when you receive this letter. Please email me if you're interested.

• October 8-11—Class Mini Reunion in Virginia’s Historic Triangle headquartered in Williamsburg, VA organized by Clay and Pinky McEldowney. Complete information posted on the website. Some spots may still be available when you receive this letter. Please sign up on the website. We'd love to have you join us.

• November 14—Yale Football Game Festivities: Class Meeting, Tailgate and Dinner where we’ll celebrate Randy Shepard’s 50-year streak of attending those contests. On Campus.

• February 20, 2016—Princeton's 101^st Alumni Day. On Campus.

• May 26-29, 2016—Our 47^th Reunion. On Campus.

BRIEF REVIEW of 2014-15

The year opened with three back-to-back events.

Some of us participated in the Class of 1968 Seminar on Foreign Policy held here in Princeton, mostly on the campus of the Princeton Theological Seminary.

Shortly thereafter, many of us attended Princeton in Africa’s Annual Gala (in New York City), which honored our own Jim Floyd and George Hritz (pictured left, along with Frank Strasburger '67 and Jim Robinson '72) with the Princeton in Africa Inaugural Founders’ Medal.

Then we had our annual festivities in conjunction with the Harvard football game and at our Class Dinner, we were treated to a talk by Pulin Sanghvi who took us through his exciting vision for the re-invention of Career Services as its new Director.

In February, Grainger Bowman carried the class carnation for us at the University’s Service of Remembrance, and around 30 of us braved severely inclement conditions to attend our dinner at the Nassau Club where Ron McCoy, the University Architect, gave us a view in some depth of the Arts and Transit Campus, currently under construction.  Pictured at right are Anne Charrier and Bob Herbst at our Alumni Day dinner.

At our 46th Reunion, we were treated to unusually fine weather arranged by our hard-working Reunion Chair Dan Harman (left), and our Reunion was highlighted by Tom Fleming’s receipt of the Alumni Council’s highest honor, the Award for Service to Princeton (pictured at right with Ryan Ruskin '90, Chair of the Committee on Awards for Service to Princeton).

For news about what classmates have been up to recently, please see Paul Sittenfeld’s annual summer newsletter. We are fortunate to have him as our Secretary.

CLASS FINANCES

Thanks to the stewardship of Treasurer Chuck Fryer and the prudent fiscal management of our events by Reunions Chair Dan Harman, our bank balance is up nearly 25% over what it was last year at this time, driven mostly by stronger dues collections. Thanks to all who contributed. We believe this improvement reflects how much classmates enjoyedthe 45^th Reunion, and are looking forward to the 50^th. Members of the Class also generously donated almost $6,000 to the Class Scholarship Fund, and almost $20,000 to our Class Legacy Program, PICS, through dues check-offs. Classmates also contributed an additional $96,000 directly to PICS.

PRINCETON INTERNSHIPS IN CIVIC SERVICE

Speaking of PICS, Chuck Freyer, the Chair of PICS, reports that this summer, PICS fielded 115 interns, an increase of 50% over what it offered just two years ago, and expects to have close to 150 internships in 2016, the 20^th anniversary of its founding. These interns were selected from over 450 student applicants.

The number of Princeton students that PICS has placed in paid community service or civic engagement internships in the US and abroad now approaches 1,000, and PICS interns have served in more than 565 different internships at 172 public service organizations. Many of them have proved to be life-changing formative experiences that have led to alterations in career plans, but all have exposed the students to the rewards that can come from committing time and energy to the non-profit sector, regardless of what careers they may ultimately pursue.

In 2015, the student stipends paid to PICS interns will exceed $500,000 and on its current growth trajectory, they will exceed $600,000 in 2016. This money comes in part from the organizations which host the interns, but much of it, as well as all funds necessary to pay staff and operational costs, is raised by PICS from generous Princeton alumni, especially members of the Class of 1969; no internship funding comes from Princeton University. PICS has developed new funding relationships with the Classes of 1963 and 1972, in addition to those already existing with 1975 and 1977, and discussions with a number of other Princeton Classes are underway.

To accommodate the extra work that this growth will require, PICS has added a new part-time staff person to work with its outstanding Executive Director, Jeri Schaefer. The new hire, Ronica Sethi, holds an MBA from NYU and had a career at JP Morgan and other investment banks before coming to PICS. With both of them, PICS is truly blessed. If you encounter Jeri and Ronica, you’ll understand why.

Pictured below are PICS intern gatherings at Bill and Anne Charrier's home in the DC area and Steve Houck and Toni Lichstein's home in Brooklyn.

ANNUAL GIVING

After a big success in Annual Giving at our 45th, the Class followed up with a very strong performance this year. We raised $252,523 from 432 of us in support of Princeton’s programs and students. Many thanks to all who participated and helped make a difference. For those of you who missed out, please join us for next year’s Annual Giving campaign. And finally a big ’69 locomotive for the Class of 1969 AG Team who made the phone calls, sent the emails and gave both their time and treasure to our class. Our Class Agent Bruce Freeman has told me he can use more help, so if you are interested please contact him anytime. His contact information is on the letterhead. Thanks to Bruce for all of his work for us and the University.

ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS AND COMMUNICATIONS

As you may know, the Class and the University operate on a July-June fiscal year, and this letter is our first request for this year’s class dues. Our dues pay for the PAW subscription for all classmates and underwrite the costs of communications, both electronic (including our really great website) and by mail. A dues card is enclosed in this letter, and we would greatly appreciate your prompt response either via the website or by check in the envelope provided. You can certainly help to reduce the communications you receive by contributing early in the cycle. Please also consider the leadership category if you can. 108 classmates helped out this way last year. The better our fiscal situation, the more we can accomplish. You will hear from our Class Agent, Bruce Freeman, separately for our AG campaign.

PICS is on a slightly different (October-September) fiscal year tied in to its annual spending pattern (most of its expenses occur over the summer). While PICS conducts a separate fundraising campaign, you can also contribute to it through the dues check-off on the attached card (or on the website). This is the legacy program of our Class to the University. You can also use the dues check-off to contribute to our Class Scholarship Fund.

Dan Harman has asked me to note that our 50^th Reunion is going to be a major undertaking, and we will need a lot of help to put it together. If you have any ideas for the 50^th or, better yet, would like to work on our 50th Reunions Team, please contact Dan. You can find his contact information on our letterhead.

Finally, I suspect that many of those who have read this far are our loyal spouses. My sense is that sometimes my classmates do not keep you as up to date on our activities as they should. To remedy that situation, our webmaster extraordinaire, Jeff Kaplan, has offered to include you in our website database. This will enable you to log in on your own and to receive e-mails directly from us regarding class events. If you would like to take advantage of this opportunity, please contact Jeff. It will require you to establish your own credentials on the website, but that’s a pretty painless process, and Jeff can help. Jeff’s contact information is on the letterhead. We truly welcome your participation.

All the best to everyone for the coming Class year,