CLASS NOTES | SUMMER 2023 | 53 and conduct research as a visiting professor. Usually, the appointment is for a semester, but one visiting professorship lasted four years. Most recently, I spent the fall 2022 semester at Kwansei Daigaku University in Nishinomiya, Japan, where I taught innovation management and new product development as well as entrepreneurship and small business management. During that time, I completed a project on management accounting in Chinese small enterprises and improved my Japanese language skills. “At the moment, I am enjoying life at home in the foothills of Germany’s Harz Mountains, while teaching research methods and statistics to doctoral students in Münster. In April, I’ll begin a visiting professorship at Uniwersytet Lodski’s School of Management in Lodz, Poland. My courses there are auditing financial statements and risk management and insurance. My research topic in Poland will deal with 10K disclosures of exchange-listed U.S. firms continuing to do business in Russia. “For the fall 2023 semester, I have accepted an appointment at the University of Györ, Hungary, to teach research methods and statistics to doctoral students and management accounting to MBA students. My research in Györ will concern automobile companies’ sustainability reporting. “Various papers I have authored or co-authored also have been accepted for presentation at conferences in Zagreb, Croatia, in September; Kalmar, Sweden, in October; and Cracow, Poland, in December. “I hope to keep going in this fashion until the wheels come off.” Jim Findley wrote about his global adventures as a member of the Foreign Service, but you’ll have to read my next column for that. Eric Hamilton pens the final comments for this column. “It’s difficult to retire! So, I have recently taken a position at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico — mountainous like the Lehigh Valley, but oh, so different. Our altitude starts at 7,320 feet, and we build atomic weapons.” ’68 George Klacik, 27 Oak Forest Lane, Summit, NJ 07901, gklacikjr@ aol.com, (908) 273-7850. We had our 55th reunion in June. I hope it was a great event. My deadline fell before the event, so I have no idea how great a time we had in June! No one sent me an email or got in touch since the last Bulletin, so I had to make stuff up. Only kidding about the latter. I called Dan Grimes. He has been retired for 11 years and is still living outside of Boston. When he turned 65, he “closed the door at work and did not look back.” He and his wife have two daughters who live nearby, so they spend time taking care of their 18-monthold granddaughter and are “grandpaws” to two goldens. Dan sucks at golf (his assessment) but plays as it pairs well with a lunch afterward. He is having his knee replaced and thinks his shoulder also needs repair. Perhaps, his golf game will improve when he gets his new body. Del Bloem was on the reunion committee for the 50th and is a glutton for punishment. He is chairing the 55th committee. Thanks to Zoom calls, he has been able to do this even though he lives in the Chicago area. Dick Gibbs and I are also returning members. Dick chaired the 50th. Don Peterson signed up for this reunion committee since he has not been involved with our reunions in the past. He has been working hard catching up with classmates, including Sigma Nu brothers Paul Calnan, Jim Duchynski, Stu Lifson, Jeff Lowe, Walt Polifka and John Stocks. Don reported he has a few more to track down. I saw that John Batzer posted on Facebook that he celebrated his birthday at the Flaming Grill & Supreme Buffet in southern New Jersey with his wife, Brenda Villano. I tried to catch up with John to learn more about what he has been up to but was not able to connect with him. Finally, a little contest: Win five Asa Packer “attaboys” if you send me an email identifying the product that uses this quote — “If your grandfather hadn’t worn it, you wouldn’t exist.” If you don’t know, send me an email and I will tell you the answer. Better yet, send me an email telling me what you have been up to so we have something for the winter LU Bulletin. MMXIII ’69 A. Raymond Schmalz, 325 Lowell Ave., Mill Valley, CA 94941-3845. (415) 388-3263 (H), (415) 317-0923 (C); rayschmalz@aol.com. ’70 Denny Diehl, 28 Chancery Court, Millville, NJ 08332. (610) 6987136; dennydiehl@aol.com Curt Adams reported: “Sigma Phis had 100% success, as all seven members returned for our 50th in ’22, some for the first time in eons: Glenn Brown from Sedona, Ariz.; Ron Dankowski, Tucson, Ariz.; Jim Ferketic, Pittsburgh; Bill Hamilton, Clearwater, Fla., CC Ryder all the way from Schnecksville, Pa., Wayne Sabin from Portage, Ind. I had the shortest trip, living in Breinigsville, Pa., for 42 years. Brown continues consulting work with McLean Brown. Dankowski teaches clinical mental health counseling part time at University of Phoenix. Ferketic is retired. Bill Hamilton teaches law part time at University of Florida. CC is retired from Sigma Financial (but still on the board). Sabin continues as principal and partner at JV Crane, and I’m still consulting. A resounding success, our new email directory of alumni will encourage future Lehigh visits.” Chuck Lieb gets antsy between football tailgates, so he helped gather a dozen diehards at Molly’s Irish Grille and Sports Pub before the Arizona State wrestling meet. Included with Chuck from our great class were Stewart Davis and Mike Holva and Sam Gelfo ’71. Craig Hofford has moved to the Poconos from Oklahoma and is still teaching for the University of Oklahoma via Zoom. Ron Kovatis is director of the Sea Isle City (N.J.) history museum. In summers, he teaches ‘hands-on’ beach tours to young’uns, where they learn facts about sea life, geography and history. The caring tours are renowned, his style the subject of legend and he gets to work with people his own height. Mike Holva is retired in Bethlehem, incredibly agile in finding local breaking sports news. Bob Fonte had one knee replaced in January and scheduled the other on Valentine’s Day. He wants to “rock” at the Canton (Ohio) Hall of Fame ball. From Mike Ford (mef470@ lehigh.edu): “With apologies to the skiers and snowboarders, I’ve enjoyed mild and almost snowless winters here in SE PA. I didn’t miss shoveling at all; my second career as Lehigh visiting research associate continues to go well. A new grad student has started, and I’m helping him to get oriented in his project. Meanwhile, two chapters that two postdocs and I co-authored on aspects of catalyst characterization will appear in a research monograph this June.” Mark Friedman: “Sales of my book ‘Trying Hard Is Not Good Enough: How to produce measurable improvements for customers and communities’ reached 75,000 last year, used by the government and
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTA0OTQ5OA==