Photographs by

Joe Putrock,
Times Union.
At right (left to
right): U Club members Jim Davies, Colleen Ryan and Michael
Conti; Below: John Andersen, Aaron Cameron, Rich
Nagengast
Above left to right: Club member Ursula
MacAffer with guests Joan Spain, Joe Erkes,
Rosemary Eberlein, Ian Wiltshire, Marie Erkes
Immediate Left (left to right): Stephen Ramos,
Richard O'Connor, Shauna Collins

Right: University Club

member Christina Ryba
with her husband Joel
and her son Graham;
Center: University
Club
member
Richard Conti
with Bonnie
Mariano

Coleen Ryan & husband Eric Hoppel

lead the procession to hear the band
Far left (left to right):
University Club Treasurer Tim Varney, Rich
Nagengast, 2015 Mardi
Gras King and Queen
Meredith Helgerson &
Geoffrey Hoderath.
Immediate left: 2016
King & Queen Club
members Michael Conti
and Ann Pfau
Photos by Colleen Ryan

Midnight in Berlin
Dinner, Book Talk
& Signing with
James MacManus
Friday, April 22
5:30 ~ 8:00 p.m.
British author James MacManus,
Managing director of The Times Literary Supplement, will discuss and
sign his latest historic novel, Midnight in Berlin which is set in Germany in the spring of 1939. Hitler is
preparing for war. Colonel Noel
Macrae, a British diplomat, plans the
ultimate sacrifice to stop him. The
West's appeasement policies have
failed. There is only one alternative:
assassination. The Gestapo, aware of
Macrae's hostility, seeks to compromise him in their infamous brothel.
There Macrae meets and falls in love
with Sara, a Jewish woman blackmailed into becoming a Nazi courtesan.
The meet the author reception with
cash/sign bar begins at 5:30 p.m.;
dinner at 6:00 followed by the program and book signing at 7:00. The
cost for the reception and dinner is
$30. Books will be available for $24
courtesy of The Book House of
Stuyvesant Plaza.
Reservations are necessary. Call 518
-414-3555 (new RSVP number for
Foundation events); email Ellen at
Ellen@universityclubalbany.com; or
visit uclubevents.blogspot.com.
The event is sponsored by the University Club Foundation and cohosted by the Albany branch of the
English-Speaking Union of the United States, a non-profit, non-political
membership organization whose
mission is to promote scholarship
and the advancement of knowledge
through the effective use of English
in an expanding global community.

On Tuesday, April
19th 6-8 p.m. author and winemaker J. Stephen
Casscles will discuss and sign his
book Grapes of
the Hudson Valley
and Other Cool
Climate Regions
of the United States and Canada.
Casscles, who has been the winemaker at Hudson-Chatham Winery
since 2008, will share his first-hand
knowledge both in the vineyard and
in the cellar to appeal to vineyardists
and wine drinkers everywhere who
enjoy the cold-weather grape varietals that are gaining popularity today.
GRAPES OF THE HUDSON VALLEY presents information on winter
hardiness, vigor, fruit productivity,
and wine quality, and is a valuable
companion for budding vineyardists,
seasoned growers, and wine makers
who share cool climates and short
growing seasons.
A meet the author reception and
wine tasting presented by HudsonChatham Winery will begin at 6 pm
followed by the presentation at 7
p.m. and a book signing. Books
available for $25.
Presented by the University Club
Foundation. There is no cost for the
program but reservations are required and may be made by calling
the University Club Foundation at
518-414-3555; by sending an email
to ellen@universityclubalbany.com
or by visiting the Clubs website at
www.universityclubalbany.com.
We hope you will make plans to join
us for dinner afterward.
Please let us know if you will be
staying and how many will be in
your party for dinner when making
reservations.
2

Flight Paths
Book Discussion
and Signing with
Darryl McGrath
Tuesday, May 3
6:00 p.m.
In the late 1970s, the bald eagle and
peregrine falcon were heading toward
extinction, victims of the combined
threats of DDT, habitat loss, and lax
regulation. Flight Paths tells the story
of how a small group of New York
biologists raced against natures clock
to bring these two birds back from the
brink in record-setting numbers.
In a narrative that reads like a suspense tale, Darryl McGrath documents both rescue projects in neverbefore-published detail. At Cornell
University, a team of scientists
worked to crack the problem of how
to breed peregrine falcons in captivity
and then restore them to the wild.
Meanwhile, two young, untested biologists tackled the overwhelming assignment of rebuilding the bald eagle
population from the states last nesting pair, one of whom was sterile.
In Flight Paths, Darryl McGrath tells
the story of New Yorks legacy as a
national and international innovator in
modern bird conservation. The pioneering work described in this welltold tale give some hope that when
courageous and innovative scientists
simply refuse to take no for an answer, seemingly intractable problems
will yield. Kenneth P. Able
No charge for the program, which is
sponsored by the U. Club Foundation,
Reservations are required. Register by
calling the Foundation at 518-4143555, or by sending an email to Ellen
at ellen@universityclubalbany.com.

Join us for dinner afterwards. Let us

know the number of people in your
party when making your reservations.

OTR IS BACK!
Friday May 5
8-10 PM
Futurist trio, and self-described rock
n roll lounge band, Off the Record,
returns with their signature mix of
vintage 60s hits and modern tunes
with a retro flair. The performance is
free courtesy of the University Club
Foundation.
Ala carte dinner available from 5-9
p.m. Reservations required. Call the
club at 518-463-1151. Dont miss it!
Albany Torch Club
Dinner Speaker
April 4th - 6 p.m.
Why we should Remember Martin
Van Buren, Dan Dattallio, Formerly
Superintendent of Martin Van Buren
Historic Site.
$30 includes dinner. For reservations
email Pat Fishbough from the Torch
Club at sewdance81@gmail.com.

As you can imagine, the job of maintaining a century-old building and its many
systems is never really done. Over the past month the clubhouse experienced a
number of unexpected, and rather, expensive problems, including one that
filled the Grille Room with more than 300 gallons of water requiring water
removal, mitigation of drain issues and the installation of a sump pump and
drain restrictors. All told, the cost was just over $6,000.
And...we recently began a fundraising campaign to replace the Clubs 30+-year
-old phone system. It has been failing for a number of years and patches and
work-arounds are no longer doing the trick. Having a functioning phone system is essential both to the business of the Club and the Foundation. We were
off to a good start raising just shy of half of the $15,000 needed. Unfortunately,
recent events have depleted our funds for that project and we are in desperate
need of new donations to help cover those costs.
We sincerely appreciate your support in the past and hope that you will be able
to continue to assist us in our mission to keep the University Club building a
warm, welcoming home away from home for generations to come.
Its easy to make a donation. Send a check made out to the University Club
Foundation to 141 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12210, or drop it off at
the club. Visit the Clubs website at: http://www.universityclubalbany.com/uclub-foundation.html, click the DONATE button and follow the instructions or
call Ellen at 518-463-1151 to make a donation via credit card over the phone.
As always, thank you for your support and generosity,
Vito Grasso, President

Albany Roundtable
Lunch Speaker
Wednesday, April 13th - noon
When Adirondack Architectural Heritage - also known as AARCH - took
a tour group to Cuba in early 2016, it
built a 1,500-mile-long bridge between the Adirondacks and the island, which has been closed off to
Americans for 60 years.
AARCH's executive director Steven
Engelhart will explore what the
group learned about Cuba's history,
culture, and preservation efforts, and
what it taught them about our own
history and preservation challenges.
$20- hot & cold buffet. Reservations
are required by Monday, 04/11. Call
the Capital Region Chamber at 518431-1400, send an email to albanyroundtable@yahoo.com, or prepay at
albanyroundtable.blogspot.com.

The Membership Committee would like to take this opportunity to welcome

the following new members to the University Club Family:
Hilary Claggett
Georgia and Dan Kelly
Robert Little
Cheryle Webber
Hilary Claggett is Senior Editor , Business, Economics & Finance for ABC
-CLIO. She is a 1984 graduate of UCSC and a 1986 graduate of Columbia
University. She was sponsored by Teresa Casey and Nate Maloney.
Georgia Kelly is a Syr acuse Univer sity gr aduate and Vice Pr esident, Senior Financial Advisor, Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor for Merrill
Lynch. Her husband Dan joins as a joint member. They were sponsored by
Colleen Ryan and Teresa Casey.
Cheryle Webber is an Envir onmental Engineer for NYS Envir onmental
Facilities Corporation. She received her B.S. in 1995 and her M.S. in 1998,
both from RPI. Her sponsors Jay Harold Jakovic and Jillian Altenberg.

Robert Little is Dir ector of Sales Planning and Development for BeechNut Nutrition and a 1997 graduate of William Patterson University and of Pace
University in 2002. His sponsors were Teresa Casey & Nate Maloney.
3

Officers: Nate Maloney, President

Amy Hines-Kramer, Vice President
Tim Varney, Treasurer
Secretary, Robert Crudden
Colleen Ryan, Past President

SUNDAY
3

MONDAY

TUESDAY
Lunch & Dinner

Directors: Mark Brogna

Teresa Casey
Jim Davies
Jeffrey Hill
David Hochfelder

WEDNESDAY

Club Closed

4 Lunch & Dinner

Torch Club 6 p.m.
Yoga @ noon
Bowling 7 pm

Lunch

10

11 Lunch & Dinner

12

Club Closed

Yoga @ noon
Bowling @ 7 pm

Yoga @ 4 pm

Albany Roundtable
Lunch speaker noon

17

18 Lunch & Dinner

19

20 Lunch

Club closed

Yoga @ noon
Bowling @ 7 pm

Grapes of the Hudson

Valley Reception &
book signing 6 pm
Yoga @ 4 pm

24

25 Lunch & Dinner

26 Lunch & Dinner

Club Closed

Yoga @ noon
Bowling @ 7 pm

Yoga @ 4 pm

MAY 1

2 Lunch & Dinner

Club Closed

Yoga @ noon
Bowling @ 7 pm

3 Lunch & Dinner

Flight Paths Author
reception, book talk
& signing 6 pm
Yoga @ 4 pm

THURSDAY
7

Lunch

FRIDAY
8

Lunch & Dinner

Yoga @ 4 pm

Lunch & Dinner

Lunch & Dinner

13 Lunch

27 Lunch

14 Lunch

15 Lunch & Dinner

Geoffrey Hoderath
Ken McCauley
Frank Nemeth
Chuck Seifert

SATURDAY
9
Private Party
Club Closed

16

Club Closed

21 Lunch

28 Lunch

22 Lunch & Dinner

23

Midnight in Berlin
Author Reception &
Book signing 6 p.m.

Club Closed

29 Lunch & Dinner

30
Club Closed

4 Lunch

5 Lunch

6 Lunch

Off the Record

In Grille 8-10 p.m.

7 Club Closed
Mothers Day is
May 8th- did you
make your reservations?