Skip site navigation

Winter 2014

Class Notes

News on Friends and Classmates

See all Class Notes from this issue

80s

Douglas Pinckney ’86

Pinckney Hugo Group, a marketing communications firm based in Syracuse, N.Y. whose president and founding partner is Douglas Pinckney ’86, has been named one of the 60 Best Companies to Work For in New York State for 2014. It is the second year in a row…

90s

David Rensin ’94

David Rensin ’94 has joined the Novitas Group as senior vice president for products. He comes from Amazon Web Services, where he was working to bring public cloud infrastructure to the U.S. intelligence community and was named “Most Valuable Amazonian” in…

90s

Suzanne Greenberg M.F.A. ’91

Suzanne Greenberg M.F.A. ’91 has a new novel, “Lesson Plans,” coming out in May 2014. It’s centered around the lives of five families, each of which has selected homeschooling for different reasons, revealing the sometimes humorous and sometimes grim…

70s

John Graves ’77

John Graves ’77, owner of the software company NetComm Inc. in Rockville, Md., and married grandfather of five, has signed up for a coveted flight into space on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo later this year. “After meeting (Virgin founder) Richard…

Passings

David J. Yanssens ’66

David J. Yanssens ’66, of Ellwood City, Pa., died Jan. 6 in the University of Pittsburgh Presbyterian Hospital. He was 70. A graduate of Beaver Falls High School in Beaver Falls, Pa., he served with the Army Reserve during the 1960s. Yanssens worked at…

70s

J. Donald deBethizy ’72

J. Donald deBethizy ’72 is the new president and chief executive officer for Santaris Pharma A/S, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. Previously, he co-founded Targacept Inc. and served as its president and CEO for 15 years.

Passings

James Patrick Leer ’76

James Patrick Leer ’76, a disc jockey, road manager for touring bands and volunteer, died Nov. 12 at his Mechanicsburg, Pa., home. He was 62. Leer was employed by Bristol Sounds Co. as a radio disc jockey for a popular station in the D.C. metro area for…

00s

Sarah Thomas ’08 and Kyle Weber ’08

Sarah Thomas ’08 and Kyle Weber ’08 were married at Whitehall Manor in Bluemont, Va., on Oct. 26, 2012. Homecoming 2013 fell on their anniversary, so they made sure to return to campus for the festivities.