Class of '79 honors 25 distinguished classmates during reunion forum

Members of the Cornell Class of '79 will celebrate their 25th reunion in unprecedented style by honoring 25 distinguished classmates during a forum Friday, June 11, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. in Ives 305 (PepsiCo Auditorium). No tickets are required for the event.

Forum speakers include Class of '79 members Angeles Echols, Martin Fisher, Jim Hofher and Todd Krasnow. Glenn Altschuler, dean of Cornell's School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions and professor of American studies, will provide opening comments and introduce a narrated slide show about the book 100 Most Notable Cornellians, which he co-authored with Isaac Kramnick, Cornell vice provost and professor of government, and Laurence Moore, professor of history and academic director of the American Studies Program.

In the spirit of the 100 Most Notables Cornellians, the Class of '79 assembled a list of its own exceptional members. Led by class president Jeff Berg, class officers sought nominations of classmates with standout careers to be included in a special "Distinguished Alumni" booklet. Organizers winnowed nearly 100 notables from the class down to 25 (class officers were excluded from consideration). Among the well-known class members included are: Jeff Hawkins, co-founder of Palm and Handspring and "the father of handheld computing"; Keith Olbermann, anchor of MSNBC's "Countdown"; and Fisk Johnson, chairman of S.C. Johnson.

Berg, who was the driving force behind the booklet and the weekend's event, said he hopes it will become a tradition for the Class of '79 and also be adopted by other alumni classes.

The four Class of '79 speakers at the Reunion forum, who are featured in the booklet, represent a range of fields and career interests. Echols is the founder and CEO of Educating Young Minds, a program that works with at-risk youth and their families in Los Angeles. Fisher co-founded ApproTEC, a much-honored, non-profit social enterprise that develops and promotes low cost capital equipment for poor entrepreneurs in Africa. To date, Fisher said, more than 36,000 new micro-enterprises have been started in East Africa using ApproTEC equipment. Hofher, head coach of the Cornell football team from 1990 to 1997, is now head football coach at the University of Buffalo. While at Cornell, he set a coaching record of 33 Ivy League victories. Krasnow was a member of the original management team of Staples, where he helped launch the world's first office supply superstore. He currently is with Orchid Partners, a venture capital firm he helped found.

Following the slide show, Echols, Fisher, Hofher and Krasnow will discuss their careers and the role Cornell has played in their lives.

The Class of '79 Distinguished Alumni booklet will be available at the forum.