90 A Heartfelt Goodbye
I received a shocking message over the Fourth of July weekend and the news spread quickly through our Class, leaving many tears in itswake.John Meagher, who was affectionately known as “Beef” to his friends from ND, passed away suddenly at his home in Tampa FL. Having many friends in Dillon, I heard many tales of Beef’s exploits during our freshman year, but I hadn’t yet made John’s acquaintance. The break after freshman year, I road-tripped to ND to see Joe Fredrick during summer school, and Beef was sleeping on Joe’s floor that summer. We had a great time that weekend and Beef became a friend for life. John had a way of making everyone feel like they were one of his best friends as he was great at staying in touch and he would always go out of his way to meet up and grab a beer with his buddies. I bumped into John at the Ohio State game last season and the first words out of this mouth were, “Train, I was looking for you….” I smile thinking of all the laughs we shared but am incredibly saddened knowing that there will be no more. He truly was a legend. Chris Clark, Beef’s freshman roommate in Dillon Hall, reached out and said: “Beef was universally loved. He quickly became a Dillon Hall legend and big man on campus with his larger-than-life personality. His house on Hastings, affectionately known as ‘Beef’s House,’ single-handedly kept South Bend taxis in business. It was not unusual for a group of on-campus students to call for a ride to ‘Beef’s House,’ no address needed. One football weekend in ’95, Beef jumped into a taxi for his hotel after leaving the ’Backer. When it came time to pay the fare, Beef realized he had lost his wallet. He said to the driver, ‘I’m sorry, I seem to have lost my wallet and have no cash.’ The cab driver turned around and said, ‘This one’s on me, Beef. I made a lot of money driving students to your house back in the day. Great to see you back on campus.’” Gone but never forgotten. Rest in peace, my friend. Planning is underway for our 35-year Reunion in 2025. Please save the dates from May 29 to June 1. We are grateful for our Reunion Planning Committee and welcome new and returning members. We are once again planning to host our own tent. We are also planning a tasting event, featuring products and beverages produced by our classmates; if you know of a classmate who should be included, please send them our way. Please keep track of us on Facebook at Notre Dame Irish Class of 1990 and find Reunion updates on 1990.undclass.org and reunion.nd.edu. Go Irish! — Marty Falkenberg; 23 Casselton Road, Raymond ME 04071; 847-323-4717; martin.falkenberg@yahoo.com
90MBA Looking Forward to 35th
As I write, football season is just around the corner and we are one year away from our 35th Reunion in 2025. Many of us talked about getting together for another football game and tailgate party in the fall of 2025 — please email me and let me know your thoughts, if you plan to join and what you’ve been doing so we can include you in the next Class update. Here are updates from a couple of people who meant a lot to many of us during our time at ND. Moira (Devlin) Clarkin writes that, after 11 years as director of operations for a nonprofit, she recently moved to a position with the Diocese of Paterson (NJ) and is working on a master’s in church management through Villanova. Moira is the proud mom of three kids — Tess (Loyola MD ’18), senior crops coordinator, Stone Barns for Food and Agriculture, Pocantico Hills NY; Matt (Villanova ’21), senior legislative assistant, Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, Washington DC; and Will (Villanova ’24), ensign, US Navy, Norfolk VA. Moira is doing well and, now that we’ve reconnected, I’m going to guilt her into joining her friends next year for our reunion. Joyce Manthay ’80, ’91MBA was both a friend, student and part of the MBA administration during our time at ND. For many of us, Joyce was an important and very meaningful part of our Class — so I wanted to give her friends an update on what she’s been doing since we left ND. Joyce is currently president of Premier Business Solutions (PBS), a marketing company she started with her business partner in 2001. PBS works with leading brands to build channel incentive loyalty programs and assist agencies and other companies with promotion management and prize fulfillment out of their warehouse close to the South Bend airport. Before starting her company, Joyce lived in Chicago holding sales and marketing roles for Sara Lee Bakery and Bristol Myers Squibb. Joyce had the honor of being a caregiver for several members of her family over the past four years and says that life is now back to normal. She is looking forward to traveling and hopefully running into her undergraduate and MBA classmates, especially with ND roommates and friends in town for football season. Don’t worry, Joyce, we’ll be stopping by next year to reminisce when we have another Class football weekend reunion. Send me your update and have a safe and healthy year. Go Irish!— Jim Rogers; 1825 SouthPointe Dr., Morganton NC 28655; 336-413-2569; domer8490@gmail.com
90JD Class Secretary— Cathy (Pollock) Gregory;
cagregory.home@gmail.com
91 O’side: It Even Sounds Irish
Outlined against a blue-gray February sky, a brigade of Keenan Knights, classmates and family gathered in Oceanside CA for a weekend reunion fit for the Four Horsemen. Organized by the Alaska duo Maria and Brian Davis, the august assembly included JoAnn and Ken Cheung, Bob Mallon, Mimi and Craig Egan, Michelle (year) and Bill Mordan, Nell and Matt Novak, Bill O’Rourke, Julie (Herel) ’91SMC and Brian Helenbrook, Will Clark, Katie McNeill and family, and a trio from SMC ’91: Doyle, AM, Barb. Over three delightful days and many delicious beverages, we reminisced, caught up — and vowed to do something like this again soon. Tim Sullivan attended an Alumni Hall reunion in Montauk NY, hosted by Doug Fleming. Guests from nine different states included Mark MacAndrew, Pat Lanigan, Jim Mercurio, Mike (Woofit) Hennessey, Tim Stephens (honorary Dawg), John Neiers, Neil Higgins, Mike Bailey, Rob Tonetti, Bill Schaffler, Mike Rhattigan and Dr. John Costello. Everyone doing well and very thankful for a lifetime of ND friendship. Keara (Irvine) Meyercord wrote in: “ND hosted an awesome grad weekend for the Class of 2024! It was very special to celebrate alongside our good friends Beverly Pert Shaw and Dave Shaw. The last four years have been a blast, meeting up with our families to visit our daughters. For our students that started in the throes of the pandemic, they ended on a high note, highlighted with a special performance by The High Kings. You will still find us tailgating with the Shaws at many games behind Legends —we hope to see more of you, Class of ’91!” Bart Richards shared an update: “Our son Josh graduated in May with a major in music. It was great to relive my ND experience through him. My wife (Shelley) and I enjoyed the orchestra and band performances throughout the four years. Josh plays the French horn. He also took pre-med classes and is focused on becoming a physician assistant in the future. In other news, I am active in supporting rowing at ND. The men’s rowing team won the 2024 National Championship beating UVA and UCLA (second and third). We are very proud of our Boys in the Boat.” Eamon McAnaney is looking forward to making more frequent trips to South Bend over the next four years with his son Declan starting as a freshman in the fall and living in Baumer Hall. Jeanne Lewanski Langen and her husband, Michael, are proud that their youngest son, Nick Langen, will be attending Colorado Mesa U in the fall to study sports management.— Suzi (Criqui) Mueller; suzi@cbglobalsearch.com
91MBA Wedding Bells
Susan Melidosian’s daughter Lauren, who has enjoyed a very special relationship with her Aunt Carlyn (Moore) since she was a little girl, was married June 7 in Rockford IL. It was a small gathering and Lauren was honored to have her Aunt Carlyn fly in from Los Angeles. Lauren is in her fourth year of medical school at the U of Illinois at Chicago and her husband, Taylor, works in the pharmaceutical industry. Susan is thrilled to welcome Taylor to the family. Lauren will start applying soon to psychiatry residency programs across the country. Maybe Lauren and Taylor will land in Los Angeles near her Aunt Carlyn! Patty and Bill Lynch and Regina and John Berardino got together in June for breakfast at Patty’s parents’ home in Point Pleasant NJ. It was great fun catching up with good friends and reminiscing about our time at Notre Dame and the Linebacker. Send updates. — Patty (Spiekermann) Lynch; pattylynch05@gmail.com
91JD Well Done
Congratulations to Todd Edwards who retired from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in May. Todd joined the DEA in 1991, left the agency in 1994 to become a prosecutor, and rejoined in 1997. He described his work with the federal agency in Baltimore as “interesting, to say the least.” Since his retirement, he has been relaxing and enjoying himself. In March, the Senate confirmed Edward Sun Kiel to the US District Court for the District of NJ. Judge Kiel is the first Asian American Law School alumnus to serve on the federal bench. He is also NJ’s first Korean American US District Court judge. Judge John Foradora sent a note that he, Mary Margaret (Bleyer) and their son, James, are doing well in PA. John has served as a judge on the Jefferson County Court of Common Pleas for 23 years and loves his job. He even opened the courthouse on Dec. 26, 2023, to swear in Julian Gregorio ’23JD. That way, Julian’s family was able to attend. Like I said, well done. I would love to hear what is going on in your world. Until next time, act justly, love tenderly, and walk humbly with your God. — Martha (Boesen) Trout; 12823 Clark St., Clive IA 50325; 515-249-9235; marthatrout@gmail.com
92 Celebrations, Congrats, Condolences
Our Class showed up at Week 2 of the ND Family Volunteer Camp. Pat Brennan and his daughter Cecilia traveled from Panama to participate along with fellow classmates Katie (Creedon) May and her daughter Brigid; Steve Petros, with wife Julie, daughters Elena and Adilyn, as well as Cynthia Safford and Scott Mulcahy with their daughter Margot. Congrats to Sarah Bender ’24, daughter of Amy (Adomonis) and Jeff Bender. She was awarded a Fulbright scholarship. Sarah will teach English in Slovakia. She is the first ND athlete to earn a Fulbright. Lacrosse love: Tom Conaghan’s oldest daughter Chloe graduated from Yale in May after a historic season with the women’s LAX team as Ivy League Champs and NCAA tourney Elite 8. Tom’s daughter Caroline played LAX for Tufts and made the NCAA Elite 8. She is a senior with the Lady Jumbos. His third daughter, Caileigh, plays high school lacrosse for Stone Ridge, also champions (ISL). Baby booties! Mallory and Paul Waldmiller Jr. welcomed their fourth child, Cornelius “Eli” Waldmiller, in June. You read it correctly…. Paul had to update his estimates for ND tuition for 2042-46. Prior to Eli’s arrival, Paul graduated in May from U of Nebraska with an MBA in finance and a Master of Science in business analytics. Frank Augustyniewicz and his family moved to Huntsville AL. They also welcomed their first grandchild (a granddaughter) in January. Frank’s oldest son flies for Delta Airlines and USAF; his middle son is a police officer in KS; and daughter is a sophomore at U of AL. Wedding anniversaries: Betsy (Paulsen) and Wally Crapps celebrated their 30th in Ireland. Lori ’92SMC and Scott Hazen celebrated their 30th with family in Capri, Italy. Campus connections: Erik Milito ran into Mike Potter on campus in July when Erik’s daughter, Helen, attended soccer camp. They saw her favorite teacher, Capt. Joe Eldred. Joe retired from the Navy and teaches history and civics at Episcopal HS in Alexandria VA. Erik also ran into Jody (Yelovich) Sadler who works on campus as deputy athletics director of competitive excellence. John Slankas shared that about 45 former residents of Pangborn Hall held a “wake” and “celebration of life” Mass. John and his roomies, Brian Hagerty and Chris Temple, joined the group that started at O’Rourke’s, processed to the dorm led by a bagpiper, then attended a dorm Mass and dinner at Rocco’s. Pangborn Hall was torn down this summer for a new dorm on campus. The plaque hung in Pangborn in remembrance to Jeff Englemeier, who passed away prior to our senior year, will be relocated to a new TBD location. Jennifer (Nesbella) and Ken Ceonzo ’91 have a daughter on campus, Natalie, who is a sophomore living in Walsh Hall. Katie (Smith) Lembas’ daughter Gaby is also a sophomore in Walsh and plays the clarinet in the band. Kevin Bailie’s son Kevin joins the Class of ’28 and lives in Morrissey. Back to work! After a long stint as a stay-at-home mom, Colleen (Danaher) Contreras started a new job as counsel for the Chicago Park District in February. The Badin girls said it took 25 years but they finally met up in April for a mini-reunion in Charleston SC. Marianne (Melnyk) Gerber, Beth (Christenson) Bone, Ann (Fleming) Schulz, Jen (Schimpf) Kelleher, Jen (Hardgrove) Streicker, Kelli (Campbell) Marti, and Deb (Skahan) Gaillard made the trip. Condolences to the family and friends of Gloria (Wells) Cotton. She passed away July 12 after an eight-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Check out my.nd.edu to update your contact info. God Bless and Go Irish! — Jill-Beth (JB) Hayes; ndclassof92@gmail.com
92MBA Class Secretary — Julie Pendell;
pendell.julie@gmail.com
92JD Class Secretary — Paul A. Drey;
6701 Westown Parkway, Suite 100, West Des Moines IA 50266; bus 515-271-1765;paul.drey@brickgentrylaw.com
93 Class Secretary — Anne Marie (Krauza) Yuhas;
623-606-7000; yuhas93@gmail.com
93MBA A Who’s Who
Olivier Lemaignen was selected for inclusion in Marquis Who’s Who. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process. Olivier has nearly 30 years of experience in consulting services. He serves as the co-founder, chief marketing officer and chief revenue officer at Three Digits, a consulting firm that seeks to aid clients in debt resolution and issues resulting from fraud. Olivier is also the founder of HOP Coach LLC, a professional training, coaching and marketing consulting practice that he has maintained since 2015. Congratulations, Olivier!! Our daughter was married at the Basilica on ND’s campus in June followed by the reception at Downes Club ballroom, which overlooks the football stadium. We made a weekend out of it with campus tours, a picnic and golf at Warren. Notre Dame never gets old. Our youngest graduated in May from ND. The atmosphere that weekend was magical. My next deadline is Oct. 20. I would love to hear football game stories if you would like to share. — Tricia Hug Schorr; 317-987-5000; thugschorr@yahoo.com
93JD Another Judicial Appointment
Congratulations to Dave Gardey, who was sworn in as an immigration judge in August 2023. At the time of his appointment, Dave was serving as an assistant US attorney in the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of MI, where he worked in various capacities since 2005, and where he was joined by Rosemary (Wummel) Gardey after her time spent serving as a career law clerk in the Eastern District of MI. Dave will be sitting in the Annandale VA immigration court. Dave and Rosemary have four children, one of whom, Ellie (Gardey) Holmes ’21, has had an exciting three years — she got married, visited the Pope in Rome, ascended from reporter to reporter and associate editor at The American Spectator, and published a book, Newsom Unleashed: The Progressive Lust For Unbridled Power, containing a foreword by Newt Gingrich. We wish all of the Gardeys well in their endeavors. There appears to be no other news of any kind (whether or not the New York Times would find it fit to print) that has made it my way in the last quarter, so hopefully some will follow as summer ends and football season comes upon us. Should anyone be traveling to the NY metropolitan area for either of the games that will be played there, please reach out, share your stories, and we’ll plan a mini-Class reunion in or around the Big Apple. And, even if you’re not coming to my area, please provide me with an update, as full columns are good columns. Stay well, God bless and Go Irish! — Joe DiRienzo; DiRienzo & DiRienzo, 116 Saint Paul St., Westfield NJ 07090; res 908-812-2765; bus 908-233-6700; jd1@dirienzo-law.com
94 Reunion Recap
As we shared in our last update, Reunion 2024 was a great time to catch up with classmates who traveled near and far and reconnect with those we hadn’t seen in a while — maybe in 30 years! In fact, we had classmates return from as far as AK and the Netherlands. Many thanks to the Alumni Association for organizing a wonderful weekend. There were many fun and heartfelt memories made including at our Class Mass led by Rev. Bill Dailey, CSC, and Fr. Chris. Tim O’Neill and Matt Talarico shared their musical talents with us at Mass. There was also a screening of Christine Swanson’s film Albany Road. Christine’s producer husband, Michael ’93, joined her. For those on Facebook, check out the pictures that were shared on our Class page. We’re counting down the months until our next Reunion in May 2029 (mark your calendars!). Tony DelGallo and his wife, Bridget Coleman ’01, celebrated their 15th anniversary in Chicago in June. After 15 years at Rand McNally and another dozen in various tech startups, Tony is now earning his master’s in marriage and family counseling at NEIU as a career pivot to serve their local parish and community. For the third time, Rose (Dilenschneider) and Mike Rozembajgier missed ND Reunion Weekend due to a child’s graduation. This time it was their son, Joe, who is following in his sister’s footsteps as he started his freshman year this past August (go Siegfried Ramblers)! Grace ’23 works for Deloitte in Chicago and Mary ’24, ’26 is an ACE teacher, also in Chicago. Now, as empty nesters, Mike and Rose decided to fill their time taking on the role as co-presidents of the Notre Dame Club of Indianapolis. This brings them to their two very sincere plugs — 1) if you see their “Rozembajgier” flag flying this fall in Stadium Lot, please stop by, and 2) get involved in your local ND Club … it’s great fun and a wonderful way to stay connected. They’ll see you at the 35th! Mike Schmiedeler is the producer, co-writer and co-director of the documentary Don’t Turn Your Back On Friday Night about musician Ike Reilly. The film is being distributed by Gravitas Ventures and premiered nationally on TVOD platforms Aug. 27. Mike showed it on campus in 2023 at Browning Cinema as a sneak peek and to get a test audience reaction. As of this publication, the film won awards in seven film festivals. In personal news, Wendy and Mike had their second oldest son, Tom, begin his first year at Notre Dame in August. Tom will live in O’Neill Family Hall. According to Mike, it’s no Stanford Hall, but it does have air conditioning. Keep the updates coming to ndclass1994@yahoo.com! — Elizabeth Macor Groupp; elizabethgroupp@gmail.com; Matt Cannizzo; mcannizz@nd.edu
94MBA 30th Getting Closer
I will start this latest column with another apology, mainly to Pierre Nona and Shannon (Davis) Pezolt, that I failed to submit a column last quarter. No excuses … but my excuse is that I forgot. Sorry, Shannon and Nonster! As I write this latest column, it’s the middle of summer and we are only two months away from our mini-MBA reunion at the Miami (OH) game. I know we have a good crew going, including Angela (Stavropoulos) Laurite and me, Elizabeth (Ix) and Tom Buccellato, Megan (Lee) and Dave Hilal, J. Matt Carr, Jenner Davis, Diana (Stratbucker) Cook, Scott Steiger and Mark Mildenberger, plus many others like Carroll Rockey, Phil Neri, Charles Oliva, Mark Lambert, Tom Reyes, Cam Johnson, Jeff Urban, Howie Kozole, Jon Langenfeld and Dan Renouard. Hopefully there will be many more and I can fill up the next column! We will be having a party Friday night at the Compton Ice Arena, and of course a tailgate led by Bucce on Saturday morning. A bunch of us will also be at the Louisville game the following weekend, including Mike D. Mulligan with his lovely wife, Katherine; Dave “Walbags” Pasquale and his family; Kathy (Hardiek) and Kevin “Dook” Dougherty; Pierre, Amy and Matt Kavanaugh; and Dan “Zolt” Pezolt, plus hopefully M. Scott Aubry, Esq. as well as Julie (Snook) and Chris Ohlmeyer. Will we also get a surprise visit again via LandJet from Scott Woodpile Frigon and his beautiful wife, Ann? What about M. Sean O’Neill and Christopher “Zubags” Zulanas? Several of this same group will be descending upon Atlanta in mid-October for the Georgia Tech game. Hopefully Shannon and Dan are ready to host some of them, and I’m hoping they still have some of my pickles left over to share with the gang. Steiger, Bucce and Ix will also be meeting up with us in NJ for the Navy game the following weekend. A bunch of us — Dave, Megan, Tom, Elizabeth — traveled to Rochester NY in April for Jenner’s birthday, but also for the eclipse, since Rochester was in the path of totality. It was an incredibly fun trip and Jenner and Papa were of course great hosts, but we never did see the eclipse since the clouds blocked it from view. Thanks, Jenner. Finally, thank you Elizabeth, Tom, Charles and now Jenner for their help planning our Reunion at the Miami game. Please let Angela and me know how you’re doing! I need more info to fill out this column. — Rodger Laurite; 678-644-0422; rodgerlaurite@hotmail.com
94JD Class Secretary — Doug Duncan;
pdouglasduncanjr@yahoo.com
95 Looking Forward to 30th
Will be celebrating our 30th Reunion on May 29 - June 1, 2025! Planning is underway and it would be wonderful to have many classmates back on campus. Please visit reunion.nd.edu or our class website 1995.undclass.org for more details. I am saddened to share that Irene Kowalczyk Lindow passed away May18. Please keep her family, especially husband Brad and children Lucia and Miles, in your prayers. Her career was marked by her unwavering commitment to justice and public service. She loved her family, animals and gardening, and was a devout Catholic. Irene’s faith was a cornerstone of who she was, guiding her actions and decisions throughout her life. Beth Krappman Marra and Gerard Marra shared that they relocated to South Bend in 2020 after over 18 years in Pasadena CA. Gerard took a data analytics position with Gurley Leep. Shortly after moving, their 9-year-old son was diagnosed with cancer. They are grateful to report that he has been in remission for over three years now and we hope and pray it stays that way. They have been adopted into a regular tailgate squad, and are typically at the stadium before every home game. Their daughter graduated from St. Joe HS in May. They have had a chance to reconnect with old friends who pass through town. Two of Ryan Kerrigan’s children are currently ND students, and consequently they see them more often now than they did when both were in Southern CA. Ed Hahnenberg Ph.D. passed through town recently, and was signing his book Theodore Hesburgh: Bridge Builder. Ed is the Breen Chair in Catholic Theology and Chair of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at John Carroll U. Dana Paris Kane was in town multiple times while her eldest daughter was at ND. Beth finally reconnected in person with Kendra Combe Raymond, who lives outside Boston. Kendra was one of Beth’s first dishline friends — SDH rules! Theresa Boone and Hugo Guevara are still in Azerbaijan where Hugo is the deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in Baku. Their oldest son, Elias, is a freshman at Northwestern; son Xavier and daughter Anna are enjoying being high school students on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Christopher Raffo writes that Erin ’97 and John Christoforetti moved to MD. John joined Chris in orthopedic surgery private practice in MD at the Centers for Advanced Orthopedics and brings his expertise on the hip to the DC metro area. Jennifer and Fred Weniger live in Bluffton/Hilton Head SC, where he is a plastic surgeon. They have three children, Paige (19), Lauren (17), and Freddie (15), and recently celebrated 21 years of marriage. Paige is a freshman at Notre Dame in Welsh Family Hall and Lauren was accepted for next year. They are trying to convince her to go! Dejka Araujo was pleased to share that her son Johnathan made his Confirmation on Feb. 24. Katy Cooper Verduzco and Steve Verduzco live in Kalamazoo MI. Katy is a homemaker and fitness instructor. Dr. Michael Stewart is the assistant superintendent of human resources for the Washington Elementary School District in Phoenix. His wife, Dr. Kelly Stewart, is an associate professor and department chair for the Ph.D. ed program at the U of Arizona Global Campus. Their oldest, Auggie, is a junior at the U of St. Thomas in St. Paul MN, and Avery, their youngest, attended the Summer Scholars Film Production Program at Notre Dame and is a junior at Xavier College Prep in Phoenix. Mary Clare “Molly” Eagen Frabutt ’95SMC and Jim Frabutt have a son, Jacob ’24, who graduated from Notre Dame in May. Joshua is a junior ND architecture major who is studying in Rome. Their oldest son, Matthew, graduated from the U of Dayton in 2022. He is getting married in October, and resides in Durham NC. Daughter Isabella is a sophomore at St. Joseph High School in South Bend. Jim is senior assistant provost at Notre Dame and a faculty member in the Institute for Educational Initiatives (home of ACE). Molly teaches kindergarten at St. Pius X Catholic School in Granger. Amy and Rob Naticchia reside in Haddonfield NJ and both work in healthcare. They have three daughters — Natalie graduated from Davidson College in 2023, Sarah is a senior at Harvard and Audrey a freshman at Davidson College. Thank you for sharing all the wonderful updates. Go Irish! — Molly Donius Boscarino; 745 LeBrun Road, Amherst NY 14226; 412-304-8469; mdboscarino@alumni.nd.edu
95MBA Class Secretary — Renee Werner;
134 Willow Blvd., Willow Springs IL 60480; 773-528-3929; renee.werner@alumni.nd.edu
95JD Class Secretary — Julia Meister;
meister@taftlaw.com
96 Milestones
Many of us are reaching milestone birthdays this year. Molly (Henry) Malloy writes that she joined several other ’96ers June 1 for Kelly Cornelis’s fabulous Studio 54-themed 50th birthday party. Other attendees were fellow Badinites Vaishali Agarwala, who is an endodontist in Cincinnati, and Theresa (Richards) Corona, who is an attorney in Minneapolis. They had a great time catching up with Molly (Lajoie) and Ryan Plutnicki, who flew in for the bash from the Phoenix area, as well as with Jonathan Patrick who is a cardiologist in Washington DC. Kelly and her husband, Ryan Smolek ’03, live in Elmhurst IL with their two kids. Kelly is a senior adviser at LaSalle Capital investment group. Mike O’Malley is the executive director and interim faculty director of the Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate (FIRE) at Notre Dame. Larissa Herczeg is the founder and executive director of 1 Seed Partners, a real estate investment group. Mike Chiaravalloti is counsel and chief compliance officer at Redbird Capital Partners. On Sept. 10, Laura (Merritt) Bird will celebrate the launch of her second middle-grade novel, Marvelous Jackson, which can be purchased or ordered anywhere books are sold. Marvelous Jackson is a standalone companion to her first book, Crossing the Pressure Line. It celebrates the power of humor, friendship and sweet treats to make any situation better, even a broken heart. Finally, for those of you headed to the Army game at Yankee Stadium in November, our classmate and head Army basketball coach invites you to watch Army play Manhattan College the night before — he’d love to see the Class of ’96 there! Thanks so much to all of you who sent updates and please keep in touch! — Kate Crisham; catherine.crisham@usdoj.gov
96MBA Class Secretary— Maureen Maher;
ndmba96news@hotmail.com
96JD Appointments, Books and Pizza
Rosi Lozada was appointed to serve on the FL bar’s Mental Health and Wellness Committee for a three-year term. Ed Perdue’s nonfiction work, The Little Green Book: A Leadership Manual for Professionals, is now available online in both e-book and audiobook format. Scott Hardy recently attended a conference at Notre Dame Law School. While in town, he met up with Jodi and Chris Spataro for some great pizza at Rocco’s! If you have any personal or professional updates to share for our next issue, please contact me. — Chris Spataro; 57027 Wedgefield Court, Elkhart IN 46516; chrisjspataro@gmail.com
97 Busy Busy Busy
The Class of ’97 must be so busy living their best lives they cannot slow down to even send me an update. Boohoo! The only thing I can report is that Rob and I were able to catch up with Bridget and Will Noonan DeRiso, Michelle and Pat Barthel, and Loni and Greg Wiercinski at the Men’s Lacrosse NCAA championship game in Philadelphia in May. Great way to bring in the summer. I’m hoping to get more updates for the winter issue. Please stay safe and healthy. — Kate (Fisher) Murray; 1840 Huntingdon Road, Huntingdon Valley PA 19006; kmurraynd@yahoo.com
97MBA Even More in 24
JJ Evans informed me that he was very busy working on an important new case, and wouldn’t have time to send in an update, although he does appreciate all the hard work I put into the Class Notes column every quarter, and it is his favorite part of the Notre Dame Magazine. Joy Gaffud-Vaze emailed to tell me that summer was going fast. Joy was in Seoul, South Korea, with a group of college friends for what she referred to as a “girls’ trip,” which included a lot of shopping, eating exotic food and self-care. Apparently now that Simon Properties has closed many of their malls across the country, South Korea is where people are going to hang out. Joy’s son, 12, has been to campus several times, and informed his mother that he’d like to attend Notre Dame! Tim Coff connected with Oscar Villalobos on LinkedIn. Oscar and his family are all doing well. Oscar also informed Tim that his LinkedIn photo was “too serious.” Tim and wife Katie are heading up to White Bear Lake MN to catch up with Katie (Wolfsfeld) Moll and her husband, conveniently also named Tim. Two Katies and two Tims. Sounds like a great time. Tim’s planning on heading to the Louisville game, the Navy game and hopefully a CFP Playoff Game. “Lakshi” Lakshmanan reported from St. Louis MO and tells me he’s a great admirer of the Class Notes. Lakshi has been busy traveling and attending weddings and visiting friends and family. His travel has included India, Dubai, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Austin, the Bay Area, Portland OR and NJ, to name a few. He’s also participated in several music events by singing and playing mridangam (a South Indian percussion instrument). Lakshi is active in the Interfaith Partnership of St. Louis in educational and community service activities. And when he has time, he provides strategy and operations advice and guidance to many bank clients and private equity firms. Lakshi is grateful for all he has been blessed with. Here’s some exciting news. After about 20 years, Bob Messana sent in an update! Bob reminisced about the great times we had at ND. Bob fondly remembers the friendships made, statistics class, the “Rock” and the Linebacker! Bob and family are in Marietta GA, all doing well. Bob’s oldest just graduated UGA, his middle child is trying to get into GA Tech and his youngest is still in high school. Bob claimed he doesn’t have anything exciting to share, but he’s keeping busy with his job in finance/operations, and he’s been traveling around the country with his son’s soccer team. Sounds exciting to me. After we both graduated from ND, Bob and I both worked in NYC for a while, and we would run into each other on the streets of NY. That’s probably the last time we saw each other. Bob assures me that he will try to reach out more often than every 20 years. Only time will tell. Want to connect with Bob? You can still reach him at the same Hotmail email address he’s had since those days in South Bend. Text, email or dial me up. Find me on LinkedIn as Paul Anthony; my cell: 646-584-7340, or email at paulanthonymba@gmail.com. Thanks to all the MBAs that helped make this column possible. It is always great to hear from you all. Stay well and let’s keep in touch! Your faithful Class Secretary, — Paul Anthony Mongelluzzo; 646-584-7340; paulanthonymba@gmail.com
97JD Class Secretary — Julie Vales;
cell 973-727-5767; juliemvales@gmail.com;john.vales@dentons.com
98 Autumn Anecdotes
Cassie (Orban) Hrtanek was recently promoted to chief operating officer at Inland Real Estate Group in Oak Brook IL. Cassie will be overseeing Inland’s human resources, information technology, risk management, communications, marketing and purchasing groups. Congrats, Cassie! Former Class officers Matt Griffin and Pete Moriarty bumped into each other while on a flight from San Francisco to Palm Springs over the summer. Matt was sitting in the row right in front of Pete. Enjoy fall, and hopefully you were able to make it back to campus for a game. Go Irish! — Bob Flannery; rflannery98@gmail.com
98MBA News from Laura and Beth
Laura Puente attended the seventh ND Alumni Association Leadership Conference in April after finishing her term as IL regional director and managing director for the NDAA Diversity Council. She moved to Boulder CO in June continuing her role as the AVP of marketing/ advertising at The Community Solution Education System. As an empty nester she’s excited about the new home base with mountains at her doorstep and a great airport for all the adventures beyond. Beth Jones moved back to OH in 2020 after spending 19 years in South FL. The one direct marketing class she took paid off as she’s been in a database/direct marketing-related role since 1998, currently in the clinical research space as a Salesforce admin. She’s active with a few community service organizations including the ND Club of Greater Cincinnati, so look her up if you’re in those parts. If this arrives in time, join the MBA ’98 crew at MetLife Stadium in NJ on Oct. 26 as the Irish take on Navy. Contact Katelyn Dyer for deets! And let me know your own updates to share. — Mark Holloway; mholloway@alumni.nd.edu
98JD Class Secretary — Chris Putt;
mobile 574-514-3703; crputt@gmail.com
99 Class Secretary — Ryan D. Costantini;
414 S. Notre Dame Ave., South Bend IN 46617; mobile: 574-339-8050; ryan.costantini@gmail.com
99MBA 25 Years
It’s hard to believe our Class graduated 25 years ago! Ardo Fuentes is organizing a gathering of our classmates at the ND-Army game in NY on Nov. 23. Hopefully, many of you are able to meet up there. Sean King was on campus in September 2023 to recap recent Taiwan elections in Dr. Michel Hockx’s Approaching Asia class. Jeremy Fine has transitioned to higher education as the CFO for the Illinois Institute of Technology. Jeremy’s wife, Michelle, is a new professor at Dominican U, and their 4-year-old son, Van, loves superheroes. Heather and Mark Haak are living in AZ. Their youngest son followed in the family footsteps of his dad and two older siblings and is in his second year at ND. He is majoring in finance in the Mendoza College of Business. If you are back on campus for a game, the Haak family can usually be found at Pole 20 tailgating in the Stadium Lot — just look for the AZ state flag. Go Irish! — Christy (Hayes) King; christyking@alumni.nd.edu
99JD Class Secretary— Steve Boettinger;
boettinger@alumni.nd.edu
