What year did you graduate from Severn? 1964

 

What is/was your profession? When I left Severn, I went to Iowa State University where I earned a BS in Chemistry. Then I went on to UC Berkeley and got a PhD in Chemistry. I did my post-doctoral work at Stanford University. I was fortunate enough to find a job in the Bay Area in the area of semi-conductor manufacturing.  I worked for companies that made integrated circuits and then sold them to companies like Intel, Samsung, and IBM, and they used them to make microprocessors, microcomputers, memory chips etc. When I came out here to California, I simply fell in love with the area — the weather in particular. I’ve worked at several firms over the years — when I first started my career, if you were on the east coast you tended to stay at one company for your entire career. But here in the Bay Area at that time, there was greater mobility. If you left a company for a new opportunity, that was not uncommon. I was with 2-3 firms and ended up at Novellus, a company that developed, manufactured, and sold semiconductor equipment. I retired in 2008.

 

What are you passionate about in your personal life?  My passion other than chemistry and my profession, is sailing. I started sailing as a graduate student in the Bay Area. I fell in love with it and started racing, and then I simply couldn’t get enough of it over the next 30 years. When I retired, I bought a 46-foot cruising boat and my wife Linda and I sailed around the world for almost nine years. We covered 56, 000 miles, and Linda was my first mate. When you travel around the world like that you end up spending a lot of time in some pretty interesting places. You almost become a member of the communities in which you travel. We spent two hurricane seasons in New Zealand, and if they would let me live there, I’d move there tomorrow! When you are sailing you have your home with you, so you have the opportunity to become one with the local community. It’s a very unique and immersive experience, and there is an entire community of other cruisers out there doing the same thing. There are probably 150 boats per year doing circumnavigation. We’d run into them more than once as we were on the same pathway.  

We have been back in Mountain View since the end of September. I’m considering writing a book about our experience now that I’m home.  

What influence did Severn have on your career path? Severn School offered strong support to me in my areas of interest. For me it was chemistry — I received a lot of support from my chemistry teacher —above and beyond what one would normally expect. The academics at Severn were very good. Especially in chemistry, physics, and math. When I went to Iowa State you had to take a math test to enter to see what your level was; I managed to score high enough that they gave me 15 units of college credit as a freshman! 

What are your favorite things to do in your free time? Along with sailing, for the last 15 years I have enjoyed swimming as part of the Mountain View Masters swim team. I’ve done the swim to Alcatraz, and did open water swim circuit for 3-4 years — it is a very interesting community of people. I also came back out to Maryland and did the Chesapeake Bay Swim! 

If you could give advice to the Class of 2018, what would it be? Pursue academic excellence in whatever your passion is--then the rest will fall into place. If you follow your passions — and you may have more than one—you will likely arrive at one in which you can make a living.  And don’t be afraid to experiment along the way.

What teacher(s) had the most influence on you at Severn? My chemistry teacher: Commander John W. Seager. Many of the teachers at Severn at that time were ex-military officers, and this was a second career for them. Other excellent teachers were Mr. Lindsay and Mr. Divenuto.

What is one of your favorite Severn memories? I remember getting demerits for throwing a snowball and ending up in demerit class on Saturday. I was not alone in my mischief!

What is the most valuable asset you believe you inherited from your Severn
education? One of the best things was perhaps focus — Severn had a good academic curriculum and you could certainly focus on your studies. There weren’t a lot of distractions, or disciplinary problems, because everyone who was at Severn wanted to be there.  It was a very stable environment.

What are 3 words you'd use to describe Severn School? Academics, focus, opportunity. The opportunity is there for you at Severn School, take advantage of it.