Santa Barbara County District Attorney Thomas W. Sneddon
Jr. '63 is the prosecutor who filed child molestation
charges against pop singer Michael Jackson. . . . Brian
Grunert '92 won a Grammy in the category of Best Recording
Package for his design work on Ani DiFranco's compact disc Evolve.
. . . Eric Baumgartner '88, '93Ph.D. is lead
test and operations engineer for the robotic arm component of
the NASA Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity. He works at NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory. . . . Trustee William
F. Reilly '59 won a date with actress Uma Thurman
(Kill Bill Vol. 1, The Truth About Dogs & Cats)
with a bid of $60,000 at a New York City auction to benefit the
charity Room to Grow. The group helps needy mothers with small
children. Reilly is reportedly a Thurman family friend. . . .
Pat Collins '86, assistant U.S. district attorney
in Chicago, has served as lead prosecutor in the corruption case
against former Illinois Governor George Ryan. . . . An article
in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin examined the role Joseph
A. Power Jr. '74 played in the Ryan scandal coming to
light. In 1999 Power negotiated a $100 million settlement in a
wrongful-death lawsuit. The suit was brought by a couple whose
children had died in a traffic accident involving a part that
came off a truck. Years before the accident Ryan had been secretary
of state, and his employees were responsible for issuing commercial
driver's licenses. The Law Bulletin article said the
accident led to a highly publicized investigation of licensing
practices and eventually to charges being filed against more than
60 people. Power contended that the truck's driver had received
his commercial license in 1992 in exchange for a bribe. . . .
Dan McElroy '70 went from Minnesota's finance
commissioner to chief of staff for Governor Tim Pawlenty. . .
. Dan Hynes '90, comptroller of the State of
Illinois, is seeking the Democratic Party nomination for Senate
while Andrew McKenna Jr. '79, president and chief
operating officer of Schwarz Paper Company, seeks the Republican
nomination. . . . Jerry Pappert '88J.D., former
judge of the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals, is the new attorney
general of Pennsylvania. . . . In January the remains of
Michael McCormick '68 were laid to rest in Arlington
National Cemetery, 30 years after he was shot down and lost in
Vietnam. His remains were located last summer. He was lost just
weeks before the war ended. . . . Marine ecologist Kathleen
Sullivan Sealey '78, associate professor of biology at
the University of Miami, was named Principal Investigator of the
Year by Earthwatch Institute for her study of the coastal ecology
of the Bahamas. . . . In what is believed to have been a first,
Bill Herp '84 and a co-pilot visited every paved
airport in Massachusetts in a single day last December. Their
purpose was to honor the 100th anniversary of the Wright
Brothers' first flight at Kitty Hawk and to raise money for a
homeless shelter in Boston. The pair landed their four-seat Cessna
172SP Skyhawk at 35 of the 40 paved airports in the state that
were open to the public. They flew over the other five, where
weather conditions or military protocol prevented their landing.
. . . John James Kelly '56 was elected chairman
of the board of directors of Pan-American Life Insurance Company.
. . . Molly P. Rozum '87, an assistant professor
of history at Doane College in Nebraska, won the Thomas O. Enders
Award from the Association for Canadian Studies in the United
States. She is the younger sister of long-time Alumni Hall rector
Father George Rozum, CSC, '61, '80MSA. . . . Venus (Quejada)
Day '92 won the Worldwide Pageant title of Mrs. Worldwide
2004. Worldwide Pageants competitions aim to identify individuals
internationally with "true beauty, that which comes from within."
Day often appears in a mermaid costume to raise money and supplies
for women and children in need. She was profiled in the summer
2003 issue of this magazine. . . . Kurt Sanford '80 is
the new president and chief executive officer of corporate and
federal markets for the news and business information services
supplier LexisNexis. He had been CEO of LexisNexis Asia Pacific.
. . . The Chicago Tribune described the daunting rebuilding
challenges in Iraq facing civil affairs soldiers including reservist
Major Bob Caffrey '81, normally a trial lawyer
in Manchester, Connecticut. . . . Samuel J. Hazo '49 won
the prestigious Maurice English Poetry Award from the Maurice
English Foundation for Poetry. . . . Francis X. Taylor
'70, '74M.A., who spoke on campus in February about the
war on terrorism, is assistant secretary of state for diplomatic
security and director of the Office of Foreign Missions. He directs
law enforcement for the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and oversees
State Department programs to protect U.S. government employees,
facilities and classified information abroad. He also ensures
the equitable treatment of U.S. diplomatic and consular missions
and their personnel and regulates the activities of foreign missions
in the United States. . . . Deborah Berecz '93J.D. was
elected chair of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Section of
the State Bar of Michigan . . . . Architect Kelly
Ann Gleason '98 won one of four Dr. Nancy Foster Scholarships
awarded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
She's pursuing a doctorate in coastal resource management at East
Carolina University. The scholarship provides an annual stipend
of $20,000 for four years and up to $12,000 annually for tuition
. . . . Gregg S. Behr '95 is founding director
of the Content of Our Character Project, a national organization
that promotes social consciousness among young people. He's also
managing director of the Copeland Fund, a nonprofit organization
in Pittsburgh. . . . Former federal prosecutor Walt Brown
'85J.D., a specialist in white-collar crime, joined the
San Francisco office of the international law firm Orrick, Herrington,
& Sutcliffe LLP. . . . Steve Linehan '82 was
named treasurer of Capital One, a subsidiary of Capital One Financial
Corporation. . . . Daniel J. Connors '81 was
named to the newly created position of executive vice president
and chief administrative officer at Kinko's Inc. . . . St.
Petersburg (Florida) Times business reporter Jeff
Harrington '84 and another reporter on the paper shared
a 2003 Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial
Journalism. The award recognized their investigation into ties
between a high-tech company in Clearwater, Florida, and the Church
of Scientology. . . . The New Mexico Business Journal
profiled David H. Kelsey '59, '61J.D., who in
1973 became the first lawyer in the state to devote his practice
entirely to family law. . . . Joseph O'Neill '53,
senior partner in the Saint Paul, Minnesota, law firm O'Neill,
Grills & O'Neill, received the Saint Paul Area Chamber of
Commerce's 2004 Legacy of Leadership Award for community and public
service. . . . Robert Stock '50, a popular reporter
and editor at The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer for
30 years before retiring in 1996, died last December at age 70.
***
(April 2004)
