1980s

1980

David Price ’80 (GAP) and John Henry ’76 (GAP) again traveled together in November 2012 on a third adventure with their wives, this time visiting Greece, Egypt, Israel, Cyprus and Turkey. The two met in 1973 in the graduate program of the School of Printing. Both have recently renewed contact with Joseph Noga, their former RIT professor. Henry is research and development and technical manager of Metalcraft in Mason City, Iowa, and Price is an Apple Certified Support Professional with TekBasics in Dunstable, Mass.

Thomas Grotta ’78, ’80 (GAP) and his wife, Rhonda Brown, celebrated the 25th anniversary of their contemporary art business, browngrotta arts (http://browngrotta.com). They represent more than 100 artists worldwide and have placed work at places such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Galaxy Macau Casino, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line and private collections around the world.

Brian Wells ’80 (CAST) was promoted to associate vice president, Health Technology and Academic Computing at Penn Medicine in Philadelphia, Pa. “I am now fortunate to be responsible for implementing the biomedical informatics systems that will enable the Penn Medicine clinicians and researchers to achieve the promises of personalized medicine.”

1981

Mercedes O’Connor Case ’81 (CAST) was awarded the Harry Denman Award for Evangelism at the 2012 Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church in May. She is the senior pastor of the New London United Methodist Church in New London, Pa.

1982

Owen Kassimir ’81, ’82 (GAP), owner of Owen Photography in Syosset, N.Y., has been the president of the Professional Photographers Society of New York State (www.ppsnys.com) since May 2012, following in the footsteps of the late Henry W. Leichtner, who was one of Kassimir’s professors in 1981. He is also involved in Photo North East (www.photonortheast.org), an organization that puts on a convention for professional photographers in the spring.

Gary Sutto ’82 (GAP) is a corporate/industrial photographer for the Department of Defense at the Bremerton Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash. He provides photographic service and products for the shipyard, forces afloat, contractors and other government agencies and commands.

1983

Timothy Thompson ’81 (SCB), ’83 (CAST) accepted a position at Jakks Pacific Inc. in Santa Monica, Calif., as vice president of new business development. Jakks is one of the world’s largest toy companies.

John Letteney ’83 (CLA) accepted a position at the Town of Apex in Apex, N.C., as chief of police. He was employed at Town of Southern Pines as chief of police.

Michael Unger ’83 (KGCOE) has been working on embedded systems firmware for most of the 29 years since he graduated from RIT. “I have five children from 11 to 26... they keep me young... sort of. They are all great kids.”

David Jankowsky ’83 published a new book in September. Order it online at www.createspace.com/3991598.

James Power ’83 (KGCOE) has been serving as director of breakthrough platforms for Covidien, a maker of medical devices, in Shanghai, China, since August 2011. He lives there with his wife, Joan Tarasevich ’82 (GAP), daughter Kyra and son Cullen.

1984

John Villard ’84 (CAST) and Kathleen Villard are proud to announce the birth of a baby boy, John Robert Paul. He was born on Nov. 28, 2012, in Canandaigua, N.Y.

Gregory Fiorito ’82, ’84 (GAP) was promoted to Midwest regional vice president from regional production director at Gannett Publishing Services in Appleton, Wis.

Linda White-McKelvie ’83, ’84, ’98 (SCB) accepted a position at Xerox Corp. in Webster, N.Y., as senior project manager. She was employed at Xerox Corp. as senior business systems analyst.

1985

Jill Weiner ’85 (FAA) has launched Inky Dinky Artworks with Deborah DePasquale. They create hand-drawn “pen and ink” pet characters on greeting cards, gift items and custom pet caricatures. For details, go to www.InkyDinkyArtworks.com. They have been accepted to exhibit at the 2013 National Stationary Show in New York City.

1986

Rhonda Cox ’84, ’86 (GAP) accepted a position at Nickelodeon in New York City as supervising producer/Bubble Guppies. She was employed at MTV as supervising producer/Beavis and Butt-Head.

Jeffrey Mullen ’84, ’84, ’86 (CAST) is putting the finishing touches on a short story that will soon be available on amazon.com as a Kindle file.

Steven Morse ’86 (SCB) is the recipient of the Rochester School for the Deaf Perkins Founder’s Award in recognition of 13 years of volunteer service on the school’s board of directors, including two years as president.

Carin (Peter) Calano ’85, ’87 (FAA) accepted a position in Westchester, N.Y., as a spinning instructor. She was certified through Madd Dogg Athletics Inc.

1987

Bonnie Hammer ’87 (FAA) is a computer instructor, teaching artist, adjunct professor and social media guru. She teaches computer classes at Adult Community Enrichment at Sarasota County’s Technical Institute and at Ringling College of Art & Design in Sarasota, Fla.

Tracey (Schipp) Graney ’85, ’87 (COS) and Martin Graney ’88 (GAP) are happy to announce their marriage on Dec. 14, 2012. They live in Rochester.

Barbara Grunbaum ’87 (GAP) was awarded an Emmy for the documentary, Life in a War Zone: Montgomery County during the Civil War in June 2012. Produced for Heritage Montgomery, the nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting heritage tourism in Montgomery County, Md., the hour-long video explores how the Civil War impacted the residents of Montgomery County. She was producer, writer and director.

1988

Kevin Vining ’86, ’88 (SCB) writes that the Tech Valley global Business Network has selected Vine Street Marketing as the Trade Partner Globie Award winner. The Globies recognize individuals or organizations that have demonstrated excellence in international trade. Vine Street Marketing is a sales and marketing company that is responsible for the exports of consumer branded products.

Marc Raco ’86, ’88 (GAP) has been hosting and producing the podcast show Monkey Radio with Marc at www.monkeyradio.info. He also has been directing animated shorts for the program and starring in the Off-Broadway musical A Mermaid’s Tale. He appeared in an episode of NBC’s Law and Order: SVU and was proclaimed an honorable Kentucky Colonel by the governor of Kentucky.

Lynn Sullivan ’88 (SCB) accepted a position at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Rochester as chief financial officer.

Thomas Taber ’88 (CCE) designed the lighting for the recently completed Hurst Convention Center in Hurst, Texas. He is now designing the lighting for the city’s new courts building. Taber is a lighting representative with The Lighting Alliance in Dallas.

Bruce Bennett ’88 (GAP) started a new job as a human resources programs and benefits manager at Responsys, based in San Bruno, Calif.

1989

Paul Maples ’89 (GAP) finished work on The Hobbit in July, after spending seven months in New Zealand. He was given the task of on-set, real-time scaling of Gandalf, the dwarves and Bilbo, as well as others. A description of the work is in Popular Mechanics, http://bit.ly/Uad83S.


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