It was great speaking with [Ron Pinkus] last Friday and recalling memories of those formative years at Stuyvesant High School which are indelibly etched into my psyche. It’s hard to forget the afternoon and morning sessions which governed our daily schedules and set us apart from other high schools and former companions, the 43 minute train ride from Pelham Parkway in the Bronx to 14th Street with rush hour on the IRT, and the blaring of songs like Eddie Fisher’s Oh My Papa, emanating from 14th Street record shops that ultimately gave way to songs like Fats Domino’s Blueberry Hill and the emergence of Rock n Roll, perhaps the most revolutionary cultural event in our young lives during the 1950’s.

Although in recent years I haven’t been in touch with my Stuyvesant roots much, over the years I have crossed paths with many Stuyvesant alumni, while living in Stony Brook, Long Island, Toronto, Canada, San Francisco and the Bay area, Tampa, and finally Boston, where I now reside with my wife, Tricia. After graduating Stuyvesant in ’57, I attended City College, which, of course, had a large Stuyvesant contingent. Joel Newberger who also graduated in ’57 was a stellar physics student in at least one of my classes, and when I went on to Yale to pursue a Ph.D., Henry Maltz, ’57, matriculated the same year and obtained a Ph.D., and then an M.D. and became a physician. At the Syntex Corporation, where I spent 12 years after leaving a faculty position at Stony Brook University, the company’s power structure was dominated by Paul Freiman (Chairman), John Fried (President), and Neil Flanzraich (Chief in-house Counsel, all distinguished alumni.

I have fond memories of many of my classmates. John Nardi and Ira Schlansky, who have both passed away, and Larry Warshaw who I have lost track of, were good buddies. I was only able to get to the tail end of the 50th Anniversary reunion, but it was nice to see Bob Millman, Joel Newberger, Roger Moses(deceased) and Alan Berkowitz(deceased), among many others at the dinner that followed. I am looking forward to the 60th reunion, especially since my wife and I have recently bought a coop apartment near Lincoln Center and plan to make it something of a primary residence after I retire from a biotech venture in cancer immunology that I am currently pursuing.

Best to all,
Allen Krantz