Longevity Central, aka Baruch College

 

I am grateful for my Baruch education. That background has allowed me to do so much. During my lifetime, I have often taken on the role of a pro bono marketeer and have founded and helped expand programs for families and individuals at all of life’s stages.

A member of the first Baruch/City College class that admitted women, I received my BBA in 1934. I followed that with an MS in Education, whereupon I became a vocational education teacher. At one stage, I was a founder of the Santa Barbara Scholarship Foundation, which is still operating to fund any local individual seeking further education or training. Currently, I am active in the community, serving with others on the District of Columbia Commission on Aging.

Today at age 98, I live in a retirement residence in the D.C. metro area, where life continues to be busy, happy, and rewarding. And another Baruch graduate is my tablemate. So hail to Baruch!

—Ruth (Rosoff) Nadel (’34)

 

My time at 23rd Street and Lexington Avenue had a major impact on my life, mostly through the connections I made and the lifelong friendships I formed. A few come to mind.

While attending “City Downtown,” I was friendly with Len Braverman (’40), class president, and Russell Knapp (’40). At College, I knew Eli Mason (’40), who became a very successful CPA and Baruch philanthropist.

Probably the most important of the friendships was with William Gips (MBA ’39). I met Bill in my first few days at the College; we both lived in Manhattan, near Broadway and 86th. Bill graduated a year before I did and went to work for Warshaw & Clarke in lower Manhattan. A few weeks before I graduated, he called to inform me that Warshaw & Clarke were reviewing recent graduates for a job opening at the firm. Bill suggested I go for an interview. The hitch: I was not interested in going to work immediately after graduation; I had planned to vacation in Florida with Samuel Schmerler, also class of ’40. I did want the experience of the interview, however. I was interviewed by Jack Clarke, who told me the job was mine if I wanted it. I told him I needed to discuss the offer with my father, who was returning home in a few days from his vacation in Florida. My father advised me to take the job. “You can go south next year,” he said.

I took the job and soon after was drafted into the army for service in World War II. Once again, Bill Gips preceded me: Several weeks before, he was assigned to the army’s Finance Office in Fort Bragg, N.C. I, too, was sent to Fort Bragg, where I was put in the machine gun company. Bill arranged for me to be transferred to the Finance Office. Bill exited WWII as a major; Buchbinder, a technical sergeant.

—Norman Buchbinder (’40)

 

Baruch College—then City College Downtown—was the dominant school of business in New York City when I was college age. To get accepted was a thrill! No other school of business was as highly regarded.

My Baruch degree had an immediate impact on my postcollege life. When I graduated, I went directly into the army (it was the beginning of the U.S.’s engagement in World War II). The army sent me for additional training at Clemson College, and I was assigned to work in the Finance Division during the war. When I completed my army service, I applied to and was accepted into NYU Law School. But, when I had the chance, I returned to Baruch to attend lectures by my favorite professor, Dean Manny Saxe. He was fantastic!

—Samuel Dyckman (’41)

Dyckman taught accounting and taxation at Baruch College for over 35 years. During that time, he received the College’s Presidential Excellence Award in Teaching. Upon his retirement in 1992, he was named a professor emeritus. Currently he travels around the country lecturing for the National Tax Institute, the Accountants Continuing Education Society, and other private professional organizations on the ever-changing tax laws.

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