Pomfret '62 Class Secretary

[Toby Condliffe]

To all Classmates,

Howie Mallory has asked me to partner with him, taking on the role of Class Secretary allowing him to focus on the role of Class Agent.  I have agreed and look forward to renewing friendships with all of you.  First, I must thank our previous Secretaries:  Sam Tilton, Dave Watkins and Howie Mallory.  I will try to keep up your good work.

I am sending this email via GoogleGroups.  All members of our class for whom Pomfret has an email are in our group less one classmate who asked not to be included.  If you reply to this email, or if you write to Pomf...@GoogleGroups.com, your email will go to everyone on the list.

Since I will be asking each of you to share with us your news and your thoughts about our years at Pomfret, I feel I should lead by example.  Following college (Yale) and military service (Navy), I worked for two years as Legislative Assistant to US Congressman Jonathan Bingham, a liberal Democrat opposed to the Vietnam War.  While on a ski vacation in 1971 at Burke Mountain, Vermont, I met a Canadian doctor, Nancy McKee who three years later, became my wife.  After leaving Washington, I traveled and then, in 1972, took a job working as Business Manager on the Vineyard Gazette on Martha's Vineyard.  The Gazette's owner, NY Times columnist James Reston, promised me a good job at the Times if I turned his paper around which had been losing money.  I did that but moved to Toronto in 1974 to marry Nancy.

I spent four years at The Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper, but moved in 1978 to Wood Gundy, one of Canada's top investment dealers.  I spent the next twenty years in the investment business including a stint as a Governor of the Toronto Stock Exchange.  I am now retired although Nancy still carries on as a Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto and a hand surgeon at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital.  There were, of course, ups and downs in my career but my proudest achievement is Nancy and my forty year marriage, our three children (all now doctors) and our three (so far) grandchildren.

Pomfret had for me both happy moments and a few not so happy moments.  I made a life long close friend.  I acquired writing skills, a facility in math, and an interest in history.  I particularly enjoyed singing and wrestling.  As I reflect on Pomfret while we were there, I am struck by the extraordinary quality of the faculty David Twichell had assembled.  At least five were chosen to be headmasters at other schools (Garfield, Lazear, Joline, McClure, Flood).  Other teachers important to me include Messrs Campbell, Geisinger, and Ranhoff, to name just three.

I will close by asking you to share with the rest of us thoughts about your life and about your time at Pomfret.  You can reply to this email or send news for the Pomfret Alumni Magazine to me (to...@condliffe.net).

Best regards to all,

Toby

Toby Condliffe

to...@condliffe.net

416-931-5000 (mobile phone)