Capt. Thomas French ’57: Delta Chi Opened the Door

We recently interviewed Capt. Thomas French ’57 about his time in Delta Chi, and how it impacted the rest of his life. Tom shared stories from his time in the house and provided us with detailed updates about his and his family’s very full lives. Read on to hear what Tom had to say, in his own words.

For more articles about Tom, click here, and here.

“Russell Jack, my first college roommate persuaded me to join the fraternity rush.  When rush was concluded, both of us were asked and agreed to join Delta Chi.  I credit many of the brothers for giving me the confidence to make something of my life.  I would likely not have committed to doing any international work were it not for the urging of brothers like the late Tom Michalski, who was engaged in city planning, but who spent many decades working in Saudi Arabia and eventually a member of the Cambridge faculty in Cambridge, England.

My favorite pastime at the fraternity house was playing bridge in the cardroom after dinner.  I enjoyed our unvarnished discussions about our respective areas of study, the professors, some good and some not so good, and how each of us decided which subjects for a major and why.

This funny story is coming out for the first time.  I was charged with preparing the hors d’ oeuvres for a dance we had at the fraternity house in my junior year.  I was looking for something unique, like whale meat, as an ingredient.  A brand of dog food was principally made up of whale meat.  I served it up on triangular crackers so I could identify it.  I received many compliments about that choice.

I would like to continue the tradition of exchanging sheep skins naming the winner and loser of football games with other Delta Chi chapters in the Big Ten.  

The competition [between fraternities] was not athletic, but a musical competition with other fraternities.  As I recall it, we received second place.”

Life after Michigan

“I graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1961. I applied for and received a commission as a First Lieutenant in the US Airforce, working as an Assistant Staff Judge Advocate, first at Hunter Air Force Base in Savannah, Georgia.  After one year and six months, I was transferred to Wiesbaden, Germany.  I met my future wife, Cecie, who was a translator and interpreter working directly for the base commander.  We got married in Switzerland.

We have two children, Danielle and Tom. Both attended local schools.  Danielle graduated from McGill University in Montreal with a BA in Anthropology.  Tom graduated in philosophy and economics from the University of Wisconsin.  He also spent his junior year abroad at the London School of Economics.

Danielle’s career began as a property manager for an organization that provided property managers for shopping centers throughout Canada.  She became the supervisor of all of the property managers throughout Ontario when she was offered the position of Director of Investor Relations for a German-Canadian real estate investment firm.  Shortly thereafter, her position was transformed into a Vice Presidency. She married the company’s President, and she has one stepdaughter and four daughters. 

Danielle made another major change in her life and became an entrepreneur. Some years before 2008, she and her husband bought a farm in rural Ontario about 80 miles northeast of Toronto.  She decided to make the farm into a destination wedding venue.  She had a small business on the side preparing and selling condiments.  She also had a food column in a Canadian magazine called Harrowsmith.  The wedding venue business turned out very well for her.  She sold it for nine times the asking price and has retired in a townhouse on the local lake in Peterborough, Ontario.

Her stepdaughter and all four of her daughters seem to be having very successful lives. Her stepdaughter, Devon, graduated second in her Harvard Law School on in Class.  After spending four years at a major London (England) law firm, she decided to go into investment banking. 

Her daughter Carlyle has degrees in Sustainable Management and Geographic Information Systems.  She is currently the General Manager for a company that offers a ‘wilderness experience’ to the extremely wealthy on its county-sized tracts of land in Ontario.  Carlyle will be entering a PhD program in Structured Geology this fall.

Her daughter Grace is working for the Royal Bank of Canada to determine how the concepts implicit in artificial intelligence can be applied to the banking industry.  She also has a business which designs women’s undergarments.   

Her daughter Olivia was recruited to a position on the Canadian Women’s Olympic team when she was 16 years old.  She played in the recent Tokyo Olympic Games.  At age 22, she was selected to be the team captain.  Recently at age 23, she was selected for the Rugby 7s ‘dream team,’ which means that she is considered the best player in the world at her position.

Danielle’s daughter Aubrey Rose just graduated from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario with a degree in Global Development.  Aubrey Rose recently won a $40,000 fellowship grant to develop programs to integrate minority and other less privileged students into college programs.  She is also a jewelry designer and has a website in her name. Her plan is to receive a graduate degree in Genomics for Environmental Management. Ultimately, she plans on becoming a Canadian Foreign Ministry Officer. 

Our son, Tom, attended Vermont Law School and graduated in 1993. Tom is now a senior partner at Willkie, Farr & Gallagher, a 500-partner law firm based in New York City.  He manages the 12 lawyers in the Structured Finance Practice Group.  He lives in the Brooklyn Heights section of Brooklyn and manages all the firm’s computer activities.

Our daughter in-law, Jenny, graduated from Bank Street College with a master’s degree, taught reading both in public and private schools, has her own practice, and is presently studying for an advanced degree.

Tom and his wife live in Brooklyn, NY where their two children attended Packer Collegiate, a private grade school and high school. Our granddaughter, Claire, attends Barnard College and is spending a year at Oxford University studying political science and the history of philosophy. Our grandson, Joseph, finished his freshman year at Bowdoin College. He is a member of his college squash team, and coaches at public schools in Brooklyn.”

Professional History

“After I was discharged from the Air Force in December 1965, I entered the private practice of law in Brattleboro, Vermont.  Osmer C. Fitts, an attorney who practiced in Brattleboro, Vermont, two years before, had been Chairman of the House of Delegates, which is the second ranked person at the ABA. 

I opened my own law practice after about 1.5 years later.  I started to develop a law practice which included business development, partnership and corporate formations, family law including divorces, probate law product liability, and negligence cases.  I tried many ski liability cases which are unique to this part of the country. My niche was never criminal law. My general practice expanded to include local office for most European companies. I was given credit by the State Department for opening China to international trade.  My client was the catalyst for the first electronic scoreboards installation in China.

It was unexpected that my practice took a turn into a new field.

I was invited by the State Department to participate in the attempts to reform the legal and economic systems in Russia during the Gorbachev and Yeltsin regimes.  Congress had passed The Freedom for Russia and Emerging Eurasian Democracies and Open Markets Act, called the FREEDOM Act, directing Congress to find ways to institute democratic governments and to introduce the concepts inherent in a free market economy.  One of the first steps in implementing the Freedom Act was to organize a conference of lawyers and economists from throughout both countries to be held at the Kremlin Palace in Moscow in September 1991. The majority of the delegates from both countries were academics, government employees, judges and practicing lawyers.  There were only a few small general practitioners like me.

My initial role was to be the facilitator at a seminar in Constitutional Law sponsored by the US State Department and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This conference took place in Moscow and was entitled ‘Law and Economic Relations at the Kremlin Palace’ in September of 1990. It featured constitutional scholars and economists from major universities, appellate judges, and lawyers from both countries.

The influence of this conference created a desire among the participants to gather information and work positively for the achievement of the goals outlined at that time.

A group of us decided to form a corporation, known as San Francisco World Trade Associates, Inc, (SFWTA) including a not-for-profit subsidiary corporation, called International Humanitarian Services (IHS). This not-for-profit corporation provided food and medicine to many areas of Russia, Kazakhstan, and to the Russian Far East.  

At the age of 80, I decided to retire from my law practice.  I then transferred my law license to pro bono emeritus status. After I learned that veterans have very often do not have legal representation when filing their disability claim, and were inadequately compensated for such claims, I applied for approved attorney status to practice before the VA.”

THE MICHIGANENSIAN SERIES: FEATURING 1982 AND 2006

Article by H. Keith Hellems, M.D. ‘62

During the fundraising campaign, I started to gather pages from Michiganensian publications that had the name of Delta Chi in them. I started in 1897 and went to 2008.  Delta Chi went off campus during the depression in 1933 and came back on campus in 1949. We plan to publish these over the next months, usually 2 or 3 years at a time for your interest. Below is a brief history of the Michiganensian excerpted from Wikipedia:

The Michiganensian, also known as the Ensian, is the official yearbook of the University of Michigan. Its first issue was published in April 1896. The yearbook is editorially and financially independent of the University of Michigan’s administration and other student groups. It is published yearly in late spring by a staff of several dozen students. The book is the second oldest publication on campus, and it contains articles and original photography related to campus life, student activism, university athletics, and current events.

In its earliest form, the Michiganensian served as an illustrated directory, providing information on organizations, fraternities, and athletics. As the publication evolved in the early 1900s, more space was dedicated to writing and photographs, but the publication still focused largely on fraternities and athletics. Now, in its current form, the Michiganensian is composed of photography and stories about campus life, student activism, current events, and athletics. The 125th issue also split with precedent by including limited fraternity and sorority coverage, amid student criticism of secret societies on campus and a nationwide ‘Abolish Greek Life’ movement. 

In this month’s eDelt, we feature the Michigan Delta Chi class of 1982 and 2006.

I included the 2006 page for Delta Chi to show that we were just getting back onto campus with a colony, still a little disorganized, but with the Michiganensian progressing to giving fraternities and sororities less and less space in their publication over the years, and here only listing its name and a picture of the house.

The 1982 Michiganensian
The 2006 Michiganensian

587 straight Michigan football games attended – an article of John Levinson ‘73

Above: John Levinson and Kathy Levinson in 2018 before a game. Image courtesy of John Levinson.

Recently, Deborah Holdship of Michigan Today published an article that featured our very own John Levinson ’73. To read the article on Michigan Today, CLICK HERE. Otherwise, keep reading below!

Article by Deborah Holdship, Michigan Today

“Self-help gurus love to remind us ‘it’s the journey, not the destination’ that brings true joy in life. The journey is where we overcome obstacles, acquire wisdom, and become the heroes of our own stories. The destination, the gurus say, is merely a mirage designed to keep us moving. It doesn’t even exist.

Usually, it takes a life-changing moment to generate such an epiphany, and it’s the rare individual who lives it daily. But spend some time with John Levinson, BBA ’73/MBA ’75, and one will encounter this principle personified. Levinson has attended 587 consecutive U-M football games since 1976. His outrageous streak may have begun as a whimsical numbers game, but early on, he discovered his quest was about so much more than setting any record.

‘I do it because I like it,’ says Levinson, a self-described workaholic and plastics executive who grew up in Birmingham, Mich. ‘It’s good to put your heart into whatever you’re doing. You’ll have a better outcome, a better experience.’

He’s taken that attitude on countless planes, trains, RVs, and buses to every Big-10 stadium and bowl-game venue. He has endured his share of blizzards, downpours, gridlock, and crazy fans.

‘It’s all about the adventure, and some adventures are more complicated than others,’ he says.

Going deep
John Levinson, center, at the CFP National Championship Game on Jan. 8, 2024. He is flanked by brothers Dave Levinson, also a Michigan grad (1975 and 1977), and Rick Levinson, a graduate of Western Michigan. Image courtesy of John Levinson.

Ironically, as he reflects on game number 587, a national championship for his beloved Wolverines, Levinson embarks on the most complicated adventure of his life. Recently diagnosed with ALS, the indomitable sports fan – the one who refuses to watch games on TV, the one who declines to sit in a posh suite – can feel his destination is nigh.

‘It’s my goal to keep going until I can’t,’ he says, noting that the 2024 Ohio State game at Columbus would be his No. 599. ‘I’m not going to give up before I can’t do it, but I won’t know until I get there. I don’t know what limitations I will have, and I need to be cognizant of my support group.’

That group includes his wife of 46 years and fellow alum/super fan Kathy (Kennedy) Levinson, BS’ 75/MBA ’77. He relies on Kathy, his Delta Chi brothers, and the staff at Michigan Stadium to help navigate parking, golf carts, elevators, walking sticks, leg braces, walkers, and, one day, possibly, a wheelchair.

‘Maybe it’s extreme, but it’s allowing me to deal with this stupid disease and my diagnosis,’ Levinson says. ‘Next year, I could be strapped to a bed. If you don’t have a goal, if you don’t have something to strive for, you will just fall off. It’s a blessing to know what you want and to go for it. I’ve had a very charmed life.’

They call it the streak

Levinson traces his love for college football to his first Ann Arbor tailgate on Keech Street. (He can still remember his grandmother’s sandwiches.) Levinson was just 7 at the time, tagging along with his super-fan grandfather, a 1917 alum who held the season tickets Levinson now has. The travel bug hit at age 14 when his grandfather brought him on an alumni excursion to Chicago. And the numbers game began when he decided to emulate Birmingham business owner Hugh Rader Jr., a former director of the Alumni Association and leader of the transportation committee. Rader is memorialized on the Wolverines’ “best lineman” award. In 1980, he ended a streak of 350 consecutive games when he opted to take a trip to Hawaii instead of the Ohio State game in Columbus.

At that point, Levinson was riding his own attendance record and decided: ‘I’m going to beat that guy.’ The last game he missed (other than the COVID lockdown) was the Wolverines’ loss in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 1, 1976, against an Oklahoma defense featuring the Selmon triplets.

But even when he surpassed Rader’s total — Levinson’s 400th game was a brutal loss to Purdue — he could not break the streak. The benefits, he claims, have all been worth it.

‘It’s not for everybody,’ he says. ‘You have to go into it with an open mind.’

Levinson has learned countless lessons along his epic journey. Here are just a few:

WINNING IS GOOD ‘I enjoy being associated with the winner,’ Levinson says of the Michigan fandom. ‘This is an amazing team that should be rewarded for their efforts. Not too many people get to say they are a national champion.’

SHARE WHAT YOU LOVE Levinson was the first-born son and first grandchild on both sides of his family. ‘I got a lot of positive reinforcement, and I could deal with adults better than most teenagers. I watched and admired smart, successful, good people like my grandfather and [Rader]. They exposed me to things and gave me opportunities. It’s important to find something you’re interested in. If you don’t have passion, you’re not going to win.’

TAKE JOY WHERE YOU CAN FIND IT … even as Jim Harbaugh leaves Michigan for the NFL. ‘When you read the blogs, you get the idea that Michigan fans are never happy. Well, if you’re not happy now, jump off the bandwagon because this is not for you. You’re not going to win a national championship every year. If you’re going to bet your life on that, it’s not a very good bet.’

NOTHING COMPARES TO OSU IN 1969 Levinson says, ‘That was the best game. Best game. It has never changed, and I doubt it ever will.’ He sat in the OSU end zone in 1968 to witness the Buckeyes’ blowout victory of 50-14 and knew that Michigan was a huge underdog the following year. ‘As the game got closer, the mood on campus changed and I was telling everybody, ‘We’re gonna win this game.’ I started the ‘Goodbye, Woody’ cheer in the student section. That was the game when I decided, ‘I’m gonna make sure I do this as a hobby.”

PLAY TO YOUR STRENGTHS Levinson played college lacrosse but was never the star. It was all about the team, the team, the team. ‘I did the garbage work and the grad students from Harvard and Yale did all the scoring.’ In 2016, while securing funds to rebuild the Delta Chi fraternity house, he discovered his loan officer was the lacrosse team’s second-string goalie and Michigan grad, Charlie Crone, whom he hadn’t seen in 40 years. Levinson got the loan. ‘I’m living proof of the Michigan connection.’

MARRY WELL ‘Soon after we got married in 1977, one of our first joint purchases was heavy-duty raingear from the Army Surplus store. As a young, married couple, we agreed we should invest early.’

NEGOTIATE YOUR TERMS When he was hired 37 years ago as CFO at the industrial plastics firm RheTech in Whitmore Lake, Levinson made it clear he would be taking no Saturday meetings during the college football season. He’s now in his 17th year as president.

THE END OF THE RAINBOW IS REAL As an MBA grad with an eye on the auto industry, Levinson initially worked for multinational companies with the goal of taking their best practices to grow a small firm. Today, RheTech competes against companies 10 times its size. ‘All I cared about was, ‘Can I take a group that is down here and bring them up with me?’ And we did.’

HE IS A PURIST ‘I am much more about the game experience than the social aspect of it. I don’t want to be interrupted. I don’t want to be in a suite having to talk to this customer or that bigwig. I love being outside. I always said I would be six-feet-under before I sat in a suite, but this mobility issue may get me to where I can’t live up to what I promised. I love the stadium atmosphere, and I’m lucky that the staff at Michigan Stadium looks out for me. They are by far the best. Leaders and best!’

TV IS HIGHLY OVERRATED Levinson prefers to visualize the whole field, the whole game, the whole experience. ‘It’s not just about some streak. It’s an intricate chess match with lots of pieces, and if you’re watching TV, all you see is one camera angle at a time: Where is the quarterback? Where is the ball?’ COVID was his worst nightmare, forcing him to endure the small-screen experience and put an asterisk on his extraordinary attendance record.

IT ALL COMES DOWN TO CULTURE ‘To me, Jim Harbaugh is a much greater coach now than when he came to Michigan. And it’s not because he won a national championship, but because he fixed a culture that wasn’t working,’ Levinson says. ‘He was able to self-correct and get the culture right. Most of us don’t do a really good job of that. But if you’re not going to adapt in life, you’re probably not going to have a very good life.’

ALS DOESN’T COME WITH A TIMELINE ‘I was gifted with will, desire, whatever you want to call it, more than most people. I think maybe the reason that I was chosen to suffer with this particular case is because I need to set a good example for others in similar circumstances. I decided, as a leader, that I’m going to do the best I can possibly do and not fold my tent.'”

Jerry Newport: Michigan Delta Chi’s Most Unique Brother

By Joe Gradisher ‘79

December 2023

Every Michigan Delta Chi Brother who walks in the door of 1705 Hill Street is unique. Every one of us comes from our own unique background. We have our own interests, our own dreams, our own view of life, and our own way of thinking. Yet, we are all Brothers. This is the strength of our Fraternity and our Bond.

Steve Civiletto, Doug Shelton, and Jerry Newport at the 2010 DX Reunion football game

One year ago, in January of 2023, we lost one of our Michigan Delta Chi Brothers, Gerald “Jerry” David Newport, former President of the Chapter (Spring 1968) and a 1970 graduate, who was arguably the most unique of all of us.

Jerry was born on August 19, 1948, and raised in Islip, New York by parents who were teachers. According to his Wikipedia profile, “By age 7, he began showing signs of advanced mathematical ability, which continued to develop during school.”

Jerry was a savant, with the ability to perform difficult mathematical calculations in his head. A savant is a person who has an exceptional aptitude in a particular field, such as music or mathematics, despite having significant impairment in other areas of intellectual or social functioning.

Much later in life, Jerry learned that he had Asperger’s Syndrome, a distinctive form of autism.

Asperger’s Syndrome is a developmental disorder. Young people with Asperger’s Syndrome have a difficult time relating to others socially and their behavior and thinking patterns can be rigid and repetitive.

Asperger’s Syndrome is also a condition on the autism spectrum, with generally higher functioning. People with this condition may be socially awkward and have an all-absorbing interest in specific topics. Communication training and behavioral therapy can help people with the syndrome learn to socialize more successfully.

Approximately one in 10 persons with autism has some savant skills. In the case of intellectual and/or developmental disabilities, as well as brain injuries, savant skills occur at a rate of less than 1%. Thus, not all savants are autistic, and not all people with autism are savants.

Savant syndrome is a rare, but extraordinary, condition in which persons with serious mental disabilities, including autism, have some ‘island of genius’ which stands in marked, incongruous contrast to overall handicap.

In a 1996 interview for the Program “60 Minutes” by correspondent Lesley Stall, Jerry stated that he always knew there was something wrong with him, but as he was growing up, he didn’t know what it was.

As he told Stahl, “The one thing I’ve never had is natural grace. I guess that’s the part of me that I’ve always felt was missing, that everybody around me seemed to have, was this natural sense of when to talk and how,” says Jerry. “What to say and how to say it and do all those other unspoken things.”

Jerry and Delta Chi

Joining a fraternity in the fall of 1966 was a big step for Jerry. In high school, he didn’t have much of a social life, so the opportunity to date and party was a big step for him! College was a very happy period in his life, and he reflected fondly on “keggers that kept him from completing a mid-term exam” and “football games that swept him away by opposing teams.” 

His Delta Chi pledge class was the biggest one to date at that point with eight pledges. Throughout his life, he enjoyed staying in touch with brothers… especially Alec Pridgeon ‘72, Ken Brier ‘72, Frank Morrey ’64 and Mike Novak ’69 (Mike was his Big Brother).

Alec remembers, “Jerry was always agreeable day to day with a great sense of humor and had no enemies in the house. For that reason, he was well-liked and effective as President.”

Alec added, “I was Jerry’s roommate in the room called Grand Central for a semester. As he was studying a math book, I recall him telling me that he could not remember what he had just read on the previous page. It obviously worried him that he could not explain it. It all became clear to him later on when he was formally diagnosed with Asperger’s.”

Frank added these memories:

“Jerry was in the graduating class of 1970 and initially pledged in 1966. He was immediately accepted as a brother and lived in the house, fitting in nicely with the other brothers. The fraternity was very open-minded and accepted individuals with other backgrounds at the time. As we learned later, this unconditional acceptance as (just) another fraternity member meant a lot to him.

What attracted me at first to Jerry was that he had the physique of an endurance athlete, and he ran cross-country track in high school. Being a runner myself I urged him to try out for the Michigan team. I later challenged him to start training so we could run a marathon together, but it never happened.

I visited the house frequently during this time period to advise and counsel the brothers with an occasional card game and drink. It soon became apparent that Jerry had some fascinating and very extraordinary talents. We’d go for a beer at one of the local establishments—Schwaben’s, The Liberty, or The Del Rio. Invariably someone would ask him to multiply a three-digit number by another three-digit number. After one or two heartbeats, he would give an answer. At first no one would believe him, but it soon became apparent that he was never wrong. We did not have calculators then, so it would take me forever to check it by the old method!

Not surprisingly, after too much of this Jerry did not want the attention. He voiced concern that he did not want to be a ‘Freak Show’ — he just wanted to fit in and be liked.

He wanted to be ‘normal’ so much that he realized that humor and telling jokes was a good way to make friends and be well-liked. His jokes were often inappropriate, sexist, and sometimes downright crude. To be well-liked he attended a costume party with a cardboard whale around him as his costume. This whale theme became part of his persona and resulted in the name of his book, ‘Mozart and the Whale’ which was later made into a movie.

Jerry was very dedicated to Delta Chi at Michigan; the house and the actives always supported him.”

Frank also fondly recalls an incident from after their time together at Delta Chi.

Frank said, “On one occasion I happened to mention that I started my job with Western Pacific on Monday, March 5, 1995. He told me I was wrong! March 5, 1995 was on a Sunday that year. He was right of course.”

Jerry and his wife, Mary, in their apartment in April, 2016

Frank also noted that Jerry and his life-long partner Mary did not like California license plates because they have letters and that takes the fun out of it. With a seven-digit number they could play games “factoring” the number.

“I asked him where he got this ability. He said there are people out there who think they know numbers, but they don’t really ‘understand’ numbers.”

Alec recalled, “Following the 2010 reunion, a few of us, including Frank Morrey and Steve Civiletto ‘72, were having lunch in the airport. Jerry asked one of us to pull out a dollar bill and another to open the calculator on a cell phone. Now every bill has an eight-digit serial number. He asked the one holding the phone to get ready to punch in the numbers. After that, he asked the guy holding the bill to read off the number in two groups of four so he could multiply them in his head. He came up with the answer almost as quickly as the calculator. He exhibited similar prowess in a bilingual interview on Kontakto Live TV in Curacao.”

Alumni John Levinson ‘73 recalls that when Jerry was the Fraternity President in 1968, he made a decision that had a huge impact on Delta Chi at Michigan for many years to come.

After representing the House at an Interfraternity Council Meeting, Jerry came home with a name for a possible hire for the open position of Cook. That name was John Henry Russell. Though he never met “JR” in advance of the hire, he made the immediate decision to hire him to prevent any other fraternity from hiring him. JR had been employed as the cook at a fraternity at Michigan State.

JR was the Delta Chi cook from 1968 on through the mid-80s (with a couple year break late in his tenure) and was a tremendous influence on those of us who had the pleasure of knowing him. And he was a fantastic cook!

Levinson also noted that JR was a major factor in his decision to pledge Delta Chi in the Fall of 1969!

Looking back on his days at Delta Chi in a later profile for the eDelt, Jerry stated, “I appreciate Delta Chi now as a lifetime experience — showing loyalty and love from college that is still there. You might not even see it as an undergrad.  When I think about my Delta Chi experience, it makes me even gladder today than I felt back then.”

After Graduation – A Life-Changing Discovery

Jerry had earned a B.A. in Mathematics at Michigan, but after graduation, his life took a different turn.

“I didn’t have any sense of direction,” he says. “I was so socially disoriented… So, I spent most of the next 15 years driving a taxi.”

Again, talking to 60 Minutes and Lesley Stahl in 2004, Jerry said he spent the next 20 years drifting from job to job. He was a taxi driver, a messenger, a clerk, busboy and deliveryman. He failed at work, and he failed at relationships. He even had trouble, and still does, making eye contact.

“I was just Jerry,” he says. “I was just odd, eccentric… just almost normal.”

As Stahl noted, “He got so depressed that he tried to kill himself twice. Without friends, he developed a deep bond with animals. He let his pet cockatiels fly loose in his apartment. And then, just when he felt he would never find his way, (in 1988) he went to the movies. He saw ‘Rain Man,’ which starred Dustin Hoffman as Raymond Babbitt, an autistic man who spent his whole life in an institution.”

As 60 Minutes reported, “Babbitt had some unusual skills, which Jerry discovered he had, too. When a man in the movie (a doctor examining the character) asked Babbitt how much 4,343 times 1,234 was, Jerry knew the answer.”

“The answer was 5,359,262,” says Jerry. “I said it before he [Babbitt] said it. People in front of me in the theater just looked around. And then, I realized, ‘Uh-oh.'”

As Jerry watched Hoffman play Babbitt, he said, “That’s me.”

“I related to the character a lot,” Jerry said. “At the same time, I’d never been institutionalized. I figured that I must be somewhere between normal and a Raymond Babbitt kind of guy.”

So, Jerry set out to learn everything he could about autism and found his way to the department of psychiatry at UCLA. There, he was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, which most experts say is a distinctive form of autism.

And as 60 Minutes further reported, Jerry’s life changed considerably.

“Once Jerry knew what he had, he went looking for others like him. He organized a support group of grownups with autism, and they met on a regular basis.”

When Jerry Met Mary
Jerry and Mary at their wedding

As 60 Minutes reported:

“Mary Meinel is a savant, considered a genius in some ways. Yet as a child, she was labeled difficult, even retarded. One teacher even thought she might be deaf. But Mary was hearing sounds that other humans couldn’t hear. She cried if the piano was out of tune. She played musical instruments with virtually no lessons. She writes music but goes about it like no one you’ve ever heard of.

She can write music from the last page and do it backwards. She says it’s because the music is already written in her brain. In fact, when she was with Stahl, she was writing four parts for a string quartet.

Mary was also an actress, appearing in several episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek Generations playing Bolian background characters. She also appeared on Babylon 5 as a Centauri female.

Like Jerry, Mary has Asperger’s Syndrome. After years of turmoil, including a nervous breakdown and thoughts of suicide, she found her way to Jerry’s support group.

“And then I found out that he had cockatiels, and he kept them loose in his house,” says Mary. “And I’m going, ‘Hey, me, too.'”

These two lost souls had found each other, and seven months after they met, Jerry asked Mary to marry him. They couldn’t believe their good fortune. They lived in an average house in an average neighborhood. And they’re just an average couple – almost, but not quite.

At one point, the Newport household included one rabbit, three iguanas, and 11 birds.

Life as a married couple did have its ups and downs, and while every new marriage takes adjustment, theirs took more than most.

“Jerry will walk in the door, and I’ll go, ‘Hi, honey. How are you?’ Hug. He goes, ‘No! [Don’t touch me],’ says Mary. “It’s like being electrocuted.”

“The kinds of touches that intimidate me are the ones that are a complete surprise,” says Jerry. “But it’s when you want to have sex, and that’s what both of us want to do, that’s a different story, a good story.”

They both say they have saved each other.

“She’s the kite and I’m the anchor. I didn’t know how to hope, and all she could do was hope,” says Jerry. “It’s incredible. I mean, it’s a miracle. I wake up and I feel like I’ve won the lottery, and I didn’t even buy a ticket.”

But their relationship has taken some twists and turns, as Stahl discovered when she visited Jerry and Mary Newport eight years later.

Their divorce in June 1999 came as a shock for everyone who knew them.

“For me, it was a very, very low point in my life,” says Jerry. “Because I really felt like I’d lost the greatest and perhaps the only opportunity I would ever have to have a relationship with somebody who was really a soul mate.”

Mary moved back to her hometown of Tucson. But a year later, after being lonely for her soul mate, she decided to take a big step.

“I made a phone call. I said, ‘Please, come back. I miss you,'” says Mary.

Jerry missed her, too. Eleven months later, on Valentine’s Day 2002, they remarried and held their reception at the local dog track, where a race was named in honor of the occasion.

For Jerry and Mary, life was good once again. Jerry and Mary lived in the Arizona desert, where they doted on their exotic menagerie of pets. Mary no longer wrote music, but she was happy at home, tending to her flock.

A New Career and A Movie

In the years after meeting and marrying, Jerry and Mary were catapulted into the limelight.

In addition to appearing on 60 Minutes (twice), they became authors, advocates, and public speakers.

At one point, they became known as “superstars in the world of autism,” shining examples of two people who refused to give up in the face of their mutual challenges.

In 2001, Jerry wrote and published, Your life is not a label: a guide to living fully with autism and Asperger’s syndrome for parents, professionals, and you!

And together Jerry and Mary wrote self-help books for people with autism and Asperger’s syndrome, including Autism/Aspergers & Sexuality: Puberty and Beyond, which was released on July 1, 2002.

In 2005, their special love story became the basis for a movie.

Mozart and the Whale (released as Crazy in Love in some parts of Europe) is a romantic comedy-drama film directed by Petter Næss and starring Josh Hartnett and Radha Mitchell. The film is loosely based on the lives of Jerry and Mary Newport.

The movie captured the social discomfort that people like Jerry always feel. But at that stage in his real life, Jerry said he came to terms with who he was.

“In my opinion, ‘Mozart and the Whale’ is the best movie yet on autism or Asperger’s,” Jerry said. “It covers far more issues than other movies and treats the people as adults, trying to have lives. It is a good and very important movie for anyone who feels too different to find love.”

(Author’s note: Look closely in the movie: during one scene in the apartment of the character based on Jerry, the camera zooms in on the character’s college degree hanging on the wall… you’ll notice that it is a degree from the University of Michigan!)

In 2007, they wrote of their own version of the story, releasing Mozart and the Whale: An Asperger’s Love Story.

The Final Years

In June 2010 at the age of 62, Jerry competed in the Mental Calculation World Cup in Magdeburg, Germany. He won four of ten events, including a second and a third and the World Cup Trophy for “Most Versatile Calculator.”

Sadly, according to a posting by his brother, Jim, “Jerry suffered a stroke and entered an assisted care facility in Tucson several years before his passing. Shortly after his stroke, Mary passed away and Jerry continued to deteriorate. He passed peacefully on January 24, 2023 at age 74.”

Savant. Author. Advocate. Lecturer. Public Speaker. Husband. Stepfather. Son. Brother. Delta Chi Fraternity Brother.

Jerry Newport’s life was indeed truly unique.

Despite his sometimes-troubled life and eventual diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome, Jerry did find some contentment in life… realizing his condition, finding love with Mary, enjoying college life at Michigan, and finding the joys of brotherhood at Delta Chi.

Perhaps this best sums up his view of his own life: “Rather than being obsessed with trying to be in step with the world, I’ve come to accept the fact that in certain ways I never will be. And I just don’t hate myself for it,” said Jerry. “I think that once I started learning how to love myself as I truly am, it made it easier for other people to love me the same way.”

THE MICHIGANENSIAN SERIES: FEATURING 1980 AND 1996

Article by H. Keith Hellems, M.D. ‘62

During the fundraising campaign, I started to gather pages from Michiganensian publications that had the name of Delta Chi in them. I started in 1897 and went to 2008.  Delta Chi went off campus during the depression in 1933 and came back on campus in 1949. We plan to publish these over the next months, usually 2 or 3 years at a time for your interest. Below is a brief history of the Michiganensian excerpted from Wikipedia:

The Michiganensian, also known as the Ensian, is the official yearbook of the University of Michigan. Its first issue was published in April 1896. The yearbook is editorially and financially independent of the University of Michigan’s administration and other student groups. It is published yearly in late spring by a staff of several dozen students. The book is the second oldest publication on campus, and it contains articles and original photography related to campus life, student activism, university athletics, and current events.

In its earliest form, the Michiganensian served as an illustrated directory, providing information on organizations, fraternities, and athletics. As the publication evolved in the early 1900s, more space was dedicated to writing and photographs, but the publication still focused largely on fraternities and athletics. Now, in its current form, the Michiganensian is composed of photography and stories about campus life, student activism, current events, and athletics. The 125th issue also split with precedent by including limited fraternity and sorority coverage, amid student criticism of secret societies on campus and a nationwide ‘Abolish Greek Life’ movement. 

In this month’s eDelt, we feature the Michigan Delta Chi class of 1980 and 1996.

The page from 1980 highlights that the U. of Michigan Delta Chi chapter held the first international convention in 1894 and was looking forward to hosting the 3rd international convention in 1981. The page from 1996 highlights the many activities that members are involved in across the campus. 

You can’t relive your life, but you can reminisce about it!

 

Send us your Delta Chi Memorabilia

We need Brothers to look through their “stuff” and dig out pictures from their years at Delta Chi. A picture is worth a thousand words. We want to remind the Brothers of their college years, particularly those where Delta Chi was involved, through pictures of serenades, parties, 21st birthday celebrations, homecoming and Michigras floats, meetings, sporting events, brothers goofing off, pledge formals, holiday parties, alumni reunions, etc. Remembering the past is part of the fun of living — nostalgia is good for you. 

As part of the alumni organization, we are trying to ensure that the past brothers and traditions will be remembered. The present plan is to:

   1.  Gather as many of the old group composites that we can find and use those that brothers will donate. If they do not want to lose them for their own use, we will digitize the composite and send the original back to you immediately. We want to cover every year from 1892 to the present. These will be placed throughout the new fraternity house as a reminder of the long tradition that the 2nd chapter of the national Delta Chi has maintained over all these years.

   2.  If you have any paddles that you are willing to part with, we want them.

   3.  If you have any sheepskins from the past, we want them.

   4.  If you have photos from the past, we want them — if you want them for your own collection, we will digitize your copies and send them back to you.

   5.  And most importantly, if you have any old stories that might be of interest to members in YOUR time frame, let us know. We are looking for short and long article material for future eDelts (email news) and Delts (paper news). 

Material should be sent to:

Frank Morrey ‘64 Delta Chi
211 Washburn Street
Colorado Springs, CO 80904
[email protected]  
cell: 719-684-6380 or house phone: 719-535-9616  

OR to:

Dr. H. Keith Hellems ‘62 Delta Chi
3928 Rust Hill Place
Fairfax, VA 22030
[email protected]
cell: 540-878-6661 or house phone: 703-273-1577 

ALUMNI VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

Calling all alumni!

The alumni board loves providing you with a wide variety of articles from the past and present of Delta Chi and Michigan, but we need your help to continue doing so. We are looking for volunteers to help us on two fronts related to content: article editing and picture submission.

While we have published many articles over the years, we need help from those of you who might be good with words and can help us spice up our stories. We hope our articles have been informative, but now we are hoping that volunteers can help us imbue our stories with more dramatic and glorious wording on an as-needed basis.

In addition, we are looking for volunteers who are willing to send us pictures from their time frame or help us solicit them from others in their time frame. We want our content to represent as many brothers across as many decades as possible, and for that we need your help. Brothers with pictures they would like to send in can send them to Keith Hellems, and he will digitize them and return them.

We thank you in advance for your help. Our alumni are at the heart of everything we do, and with your help we can continue to keep our legacy strong.

Please contact Keith Hellems at [email protected] to indicate interest in volunteering, or for more information.

DELTA CHI WINS SHEEPSKIN ON THE HOOF

Submitted by Keith Hellems, ’62

During the fundraising campaign I had the pleasure of talking to Henry Winchester ’51 on multiple occasions.  He entered the fraternity during the early days when they had just come back on campus in 1948.  While talking to him and later when he did his DX biography, he mentioned the delivery of a live lamb to the Michigan DX from the Ohio State DX to pay a wager the two chapters had made on the 1950 football game.  In the 1950’s thru the 1970’s, it was not uncommon to wager a “sheep skin” on the outcome of a football game.  This particular game became one of the more famous in the history of the rivalry. 

From Wikipedia, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan%E2%80%93Ohio_State_football_rivalry) is this short excerpt:

One of the more famous games in the rivalry is the 1950 contest, colloquially known as the Snow Bowl. Eighth-ranked Ohio State, coached by Wes Fesler, was scheduled to host the game on November 25 in Columbus amidst one of the worst blizzards on Ohio record. The Buckeyes, who led the Big Ten, were granted the option to cancel the game against Michigan, which would have, by default, given the Buckeyes the Big Ten title outright. Ohio State refused, and the game was set to be played. Amid howling snow and wind, in a famous example of a “field position” game, the teams exchanged 45 punts, often on first down in hopes that the other team would fumble the ball near or into their own end zone. Ohio State’s Vic Janowicz, who would claim the Heisman Trophy that year, punted 21 times for 685 yards and also kicked a field goal in the first quarter for the Buckeyes’ only points. Michigan capitalized on two blocked punts, booting one out of the back of the end zone for a safety and recovering another one in the end zone for a touchdown just before halftime. Despite failing to gain a single first down or complete a single forward pass, Michigan gained a 9–3 victory, securing the Big Ten title and a Rose Bowl berth. Heavy criticism of Fesler’s play calling led to his resignation and the hiring of Woody Hayes as his successor.

For more detail, go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Bowl_(1950)

Henry sent a copy of the newspaper article about the sheep delivery published in the Ann Arbor paper December 10, 1950.  It is included below for your perusal. 

Henry was a great alumnus, serving as a continued supporter of the chapter.  During the new house campaign, he donated $8,500 over 4 years.  

If anyone has additional information on this article or topics of interest let me know.   We would like to publish items of interest to our Michigan Delta Chi brothers. 

Contact Keith Hellems ’62 OR Frank Morrey at:

Keith Hellems
3928 Rust Hill Place
Fairfax, VA 22030
703-273-1577
[email protected]

Frank Morrey
719-6874-6380
[email protected]

NATIONAL RECOGNIZES JEFF SCHOENNHERR & ANDREW LAMB

We would like to give a shout out to let the members know that the National Delta Chi news bulletin mentioned that Jeff Schoenherr ’91 was one of the recipients of the Delta Chi Educational Foundation Distinguished Service Award which is given to a volunteer or employee of the Foundation who has gone above and beyond to support the organization.  

Also mentioned was the lifetime giving of Andrew R. Lamb ’02, who was the only Michigan member to donate enough to get mentioned, joining the Cornerstone Club.

WILBUR NELSON – DELTA CHI LEADER AND CHAIRMAN, DEPARTMENT OF AERONAUTICAL ENGINERING

Wilbur Nelson ’35

Article by Keith Hellems, M.D.         [email protected]

The Michigan Delta Chi fraternity was formed in 1892 as the 2nd in the national Delta Chi.  It moved in the 1920’s from being a legal fraternity to a social fraternity.  In 1934 during the depression, it went off campus.  The last president in 1934 was Wilbur C. Nelson ’35.  Wilbur who was from Flint, MI did his undergraduate work in aeronautical engineering at The University of Michigan and graduate work both at the California Institute of Technology and The University of Michigan.  During the period from 1935 to 1940 Professor Nelson worked at the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in Burbank, California, the Civil Aeronautics Administration in Washington, D.C., and Engineering Projects, Inc., Dayton, Ohio. He started his teaching career in 1940 at Iowa State College as an assistant professor of aeronautical engineering. In 1942 he was promoted to professor and chairman of the department. He joined the Department of Aeronautical Engineering at The University of Michigan as a professor in 1946 and served as chairman of the department (now called Aerospace Engineering) from 1953-68. It was under Professor Nelson’s leadership that the department experienced its greatest growth.

Invitation to the Installation Banquet February 14, 1948

However, the most important service that Wilbur did for Delta Chi at Michigan was to restore the Chapter on campus in 1948.  He, along with the help of Henry deKoning, a local Ann Arbor builder and Joe Lacchia who was BB at the Michigan State University DX chapter formed a group that found and purchased the old Chapter House at 1705 Hill Street property.  This was the second coming of Delta Chi to the University of Michigan.

1950 Delta Chi members

His early influence on the chapter was reflected by a good number of members who took training in the Aeronautical Department.   These included Henry Winchester ’51, Henry Donald ’58, Paul Wolcott ’58, Fred Jackson ’59, Jim McComb ’61, Lee Brandt ’64, Ed Worth ’65, Ken Majchrzak,’66 and Carl Rohrbach,’67.   He continued to support the chapter through the years.   He was the BB for many years and in 1960 gave a talk on Founder’s Day speaking on the history of DX and also the aims and purposes of the fraternity.    

In 1977 he retired from the department.   The following are excerpts from his remarkable career where the Regents saluted this distinguished educator by naming him Professor Emeritus of Aerospace Engineering.   Professor Nelson’s work in guided missiles and astronauts started in World War II during the time he was on leave at The John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory as a project supervisor. In 1946-47 he served as project engineer in charge of the first U.S. anti-missile defense program, Project WIZARD, at The University of Michigan. He has been a member of the NATO Advisory Group for Aeronautical Research and Development since 1953, and has served as advisor to the Army, Air Force, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He has also been a consultant to many companies and other governmental agencies.  He was said to be proud on being on the inaugural Concorde flight from Dulles to Paris and of having flown at Mach 2 in an F-104. 

Wilbur with students

Six of the Apollo astronauts were graduates of Professor Nelson’s department and he had most of them as students. In recent years he was especially well recognized for his outstanding senior design course on space systems.

In a 1966 article, it was noted that the U of M Aerospace department certainly had a major impact on the American space program. Two early missions flew all-Michigan crews: Gemini 4 (Lt. Col. James A. McDivitt and Lt. Col. Edward H. White II) and Apollo 15 (Air Force Capt. Alfred M. Worden, Air Force Maj. James B. Irwin). In addition, Maj. David Scott was a member of the Gemini 8 team.

On the Gemini 4 mission Ed White became the first American to “walk” in space.  He was scheduled to fly again in Apollo 1, along with Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee, but died with them on January 27, 1967, in the terrible fire on the pad while Apollo I was being tested for next month’s launch. 

Michigan’s next graduate in space was Jack Lousma (BSE, 1959), pilot of Skylab 2, who spent two months in space in 1973. He went on to fly the Space Shuttle Columbia on its third flight in March 1982.

Apollo 15 activity

Jim McComb ’61 recalls: “I attended the University of Michigan from the fall of 1957 through the spring of 1963. My BS Degree is in Aeronautical Engineering while my MS degree is in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering. A department name change occurred somewhere in that time period. Glad to see it was later changed to Aerospace Engineering.

My first semester at Michigan, I took an airplane performance course taught from the book “Airplane Performance Stability and Control” by Perkins & Hage. It was a mandatory course (2 credits) for newly enrolled want-a-be Aeronautical Engineers and it was taught by Wilber C Nelson. The course focused on performance of propeller piston engine powered aircraft. He taught very basic aspects of airplane performance and stressed that once employed in industry, one needed to be proficient in making quick accurate calculations.  

In my mind, a major contribution Wilber C. Nelson made to aeronautical engineering was the book he wrote and got published in 1944. The book is entitled “Airplane Propeller Principals”. It’s a classic and a book I referred to countless times during my 49-year career.”

Ed Worth ’65 recalls, “I had Prof Nelson for the Intro to Aerodynamics, the 1st Aero course for first semester sophomores, and Aerospace Systems Design, my last Aero course. The design course required the entire class to organize themselves into small teams with each team given responsibility for a portion of the project, as in industry. Our topic was to design a system that could make a survivable landing on Mars. At this time, the Apollo program is going full speed, flybys of Mars and Venus had provided a wealth of information, but only impact landings on the moon had been successful. Thus, we learned to search out the latest information and extend that technology to solve new problems. At the end of the course, the class presented the design review of the project to local Aerospace consulting company. In 1975, 10 years later, Viking 1 sent the first image from the Mars surface.”

I had Lee Brandt ’64 review the article and he replied, “Jack Lousma is the only one not credited with his rank. He was a Lt. Col. in the Marines. Also, he was not a part of the Apollo 15 crew.  He was part of the Skylab II (predecessor to the International Space Station) crew and performed a spacewalk, and he was the Space Shuttle pilot for its third (and final test flight.) I may be overly sensitive about his information because he is a close cousin and the main reason I attended UM.”  The two pictures below hang in Lee’s house.

For those seeking more detail about the Gemini and Apollo programs, here are some links you might be interested in. Comments and/or elaborations from those reading the article are always appreciated.

Gemini 4 mission: https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1965-043A

Gem 4 – 50 year follow-up:  https://www.nasa.gov/feature/gemini-iv-learning-to-walk-in-space

Gemini 8 mission: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/geminis-first-docking-turns-to-wild-ride-in-orbit

Gem 8 – 55 year follow-up; https://www.nasa.gov/feature/55-years-ago-gemini-viii-the-first-docking-in-space

Apollo 15 mission:  https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo15.html   

Apollo 15 – 50 year a follow up article in 2021 talking about the 3 astronauts in article: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/50-years-ago-apollo-15-astronauts-post-mission-activities

THE MICHIGANENSIAN SERIES: FEATURING 1933, 1973 AND 1988

Article by H. Keith Hellems, M.D. ‘62

During the fundraising campaign I started to gather pages from Michiganensian publications that had the name of Delta Chi in them.  I started in 1897 and went to 2008.  Delta Chi went off campus during the depression in 1933 and came back on campus in 1949.  We plan to publish these over the next months, usually 2 or 3 years at a time for your interest.  Below is a brief history of the Michiganensian excerpted from Wikipedia.

The Michiganensian, also known as the Ensian, is the official yearbook of the University of Michigan.  Its first issue was published in April 1896, and the yearbook is editorially and financially independent of the University of Michigan’s administration and other student groups. It is published yearly in late spring by a staff of several dozen students. The book is the second oldest publication on campus, and it contains articles and original photography related to campus life, student activism, university athletics, and current events.

In its earliest form, the Michiganensian served as an illustrated directory, providing information on organizations, fraternities, and athletics. As the publication evolved in the early 1900s, more space was dedicated to writing and photographs, but the publication still focused largely on fraternities and athletics. Now, in its current form, the Michiganensian is composed of photography and stories about campus life, student activism, current events, and athletics.  The 125th issue also split with precedent by including limited fraternity and sorority coverage, amid student criticism of secret societies on campus and a nationwide ‘Abolish Greek Life’ movement. 

In this month’s eDelt we feature the Michigan Delta Chi class of 1933, 1973 and 1988.

Delta Chi at Michigan was established in 1892 and then went off campus in 1934 during the depression.  It was re-established through the efforts of Henry DeKoning ’33 and Wilbur Nelson ’34 in 1948.  1933 is included to show you Henry’s picture and also the old house at 733 South State Street.  It looked like quite the large house.  1973 was included to show what a change was occurring in student housing.  From the beginning of the university up through the 1960’s and early 1970’s there was no mixing of the sexes in student dorms.  Curfews to get women back to the dorms were 11 pm during the week and midnight on weekends.  What big changes.  1988 mentions connections to Joe Walsh, former member of the Eagles, Steven Wei one of the co-founders of the drinking game “Delta Dice” and the winter formal being held at the Palmer House Hilton on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago – must have been quite a group!

The Michiganensian, 1933
The Michiganensian, 1973
The Michiganensian, 1988

Delta Chi Alumni and Little Sisters Gather for Michigan vs. Maryland

The Michigan at Maryland game of November 18th brought together a group of Michigan Delta Chi and Chi Delphia (Little Sisters of the White Carnation) alums for a pre-game gathering the night before in Northern Virginia.

Pictured (L-R) are: Brian Durham ’79, Rick Mousseau ’79, Katie (Barrie) Thomas ’84, Brian Barrie ’78, Molly Barrie, Joe Gradisher ’79 and Dave Nehmer ’79. Brother Mark Nehmer ’80 also joined but left before the picture was taken.

Brothers Who Made the New House Happen With Their Donations

Last month we told you the story of why and how the new fraternity house came about. Here are the Brothers who donated $1,000 or more to the effort. Without them, it never would have happened. Here is the large plaque that hangs in the large library room on the first floor of the house honoring them.

White Carnation Society – $100,000 – $249,000

David Falconer ‘62

1892 Society – $50,000 – $99,999

DX Building Corporation

Kimball Club – $25,000 – 49,999

John Broad ’60, Gregory Kaiser ’61, Robert Cole ’62, Keith Hellems ’62, Lane Kendig ’62, Mike Kennedy ’63, Herb Koenig ’63, Howard Gandelot ’64, Jack Holmes ’65, Barry McGuire ’65, Dan Maher ’76, Ronald Scafe ‘77

Knight Errant Club – $10,000 – $24,999

Kenneth Michel ’27,  Robert Stakenas ’55, John Jenkins ’57, William Ament ’58, Howard Wiarda ’61, Barry Wood ’61, Steve Baird ’64, Tim Curtin ’64, Frank Morrey ’64, James Richhart ’64, Al Knaus ’66, Duncan Kretovich ’66, John Eggertsen ’68, Joe Matt ’72, John Levinson ’73, Mike Kozeil ’73, Dan Hughes ’74, John Stinson ’75, Daniel Maher ’76, Paul Majchrzak ’76, Scott Leak ’77,  Kendall Russell ’77, Wayne Nelson ’87, John Schoenherr ’91. Donald Sweeney ’94, Julie Mitchell                                                  

Scimitar Club – $5,000 – $9,999

Henry Winchester ’51, Gordon Cox ’59, Fred Jackson ’59, Robert Sielski ’64, Gary Mervak ’74, Jim Fuger ’82, Scott Walls ’83, Mark Dunning ’84, Robert Areklett ’91, Greg Haft ’94, David Finkbiner ’13,

Leges Club – $2,500 – $4,999

Donald Shaffer ’53, Art Angood ’56, Gary Brasseur ’59, Jim McComb ’61, Lee Wesley ’63, John Brown ’67, Dave Huggett ’64, Charles Esler ’68, John Hasse ’68, Gregory Broad ’70, Alexander Kalymon ’70, James Kirkwood ’70, Stanley Roland ’72, Richard Crane ’73, Jim Fuger ’82, Scott Hillen ’97, Joseph Burak ’98, Chris Bence ’10, Andrew Ehrenberg ’19, David Silverman ‘19

Red & Buff Club – $1,000 – $2,499

Harold Gibbons ’50, Thomas French ’54, Richard Bogg ’56, Thomas Michalski ’56, Marvin Teutsch ’56, Charles Murdock ’58, Barry Fassbender ’59, George Robertson ’59, David Siglin ’64, John Ambrose ’65, Dave Bjorkland ’65, Roger Premo ’65,  Elliott Lum ’66, Warren Taniguchi ’66, John Neil ’67, Linn Petersen ’67, Sheldon Wolberg ’67, Ken Field ’68, Scott Kremer ’69, William Mashinter ’68, Hassen Baghai ’73, Doug Shelton ’70, Steven Hinderer ’74, Robert Nidzgorski ’74, Mark Bertrand ’76, Thomas Haid ’78, Walter Cornwall ’79, Joseph Gradisher ’79,  Greg Clute ’80, Steve Hook ’82, James Slawson ’82, Stuart Popp ’83, Greg Roda ’83, Martin Heger ’85, John Heathfield ’86, George (Ed) Holton ’86, David Gormley ’87, Jonathan Meyer ‘87, Kenneth Radlick ’87, Geoff Thompson ’90, Robert Fogler ’91, Scott Miller ’91, Randall Zaibek ’91, Srikaran Reddy ’95, Ron Virtue ’95, Craig Nastanski ’97, William C. Gorton ’99, Adam Koch ’02, Patrick Forrest ’06, Paul Van Gasse ’06, Matt Williams ’06, Andrew Rolph ’08, Jason Carter ’10, Stephen Curtis ’10, Jordan LaFave ’11, Brandon Breslow ’12, Adam Davis ’12, Patrick Horner ’12, Nate Opaleski ’12, Nelson Worner ’12, David Friedman ’13, Zach Hawkins ’13, Gave Hendin ’13, Trevor Gillstad ’19, Justin Princer ’19, Spencer Stein ’19, Jack Steinberg ‘19                                                         

Dave Siglin ’64 Publishes “Baseball’s Best”

Dave Siglin ’64 (pictured left) ran the music venue The Ark in Ann Arbor for 40 years, retiring in 2008. He is a lifelong baseball fan and, in September of 2020, he published a paperback book entitled Baseball’s Best: Comparing Over 1000 Players In Their Primes, 1893-2019.

A review said, “Dave Siglin has come up with a methodology to compare the best players at each position, across all positions, and across eras, by taking their “peak” seasons. … Dave goes far beyond [other writers], discussing adjustments for the designated hitter, for population size and the number of baseball players available in the talent pool, park factors, as well as all the metrics [commonly used in today’s baseball analysis].

Baseball’s Best is the result of an enormous amount of work and analysis that presents us with a comprehensive list of the best players, the best hitters, pitchers, and fielders in baseball history, in each era, and at each position. It may be enjoyed just as the game of baseball itself is to be viewed — at a leisurely pace.”

This book allows you to compare any player to any other player regardless of when or where they played. Or, as actor/baseball fanatic Jeff Daniels said, “Dave Siglin’s Baseball’s Best should sit nicely next to the work of Bill James. His statistical deep dive is so thoroughly computed you’ll come away believing you know exactly what would happen if Sandy Koufax faced Babe Ruth.”

It answers such burning questions as who was the better player in his prime – Al Kaline or Roberto Clemente? Was Derek Jeter a good fielder or a bad one? Why is the pitcher’s rubber 60’6” from home plate? Who was the best hitter ever? Who was the best pitcher ever? Who was the best fielding DiMaggio brother? And, of course, who was the best player in his prime years ever? The answers to these and similar questions – questions that tear at the very fabric of baseball fans’ psyches everywhere on a daily basis and rob them of needed sleep – will allow the poor bastards to close their eyes at night knowing that, finally, all’s right in the baseball world.

Seriously, though, it’s a great book for those interested, presently at $22.00 from Amazon.
For more information get in touch with Dave Siglin at [email protected] or Keith Hellems ’62 at [email protected].

Help Connect Us to Brothers from Your Decade

We want to keep each of you in touch with your brothers from your decade, but we need your help! We have some brothers who we have lost touch with over the years, and you can help us get back in contact. 

Find which brothers from your decade who we have lost touch with throughout the years by checking out our lost member list. 

See someone you know? It is easy to update us! Just click their name and send us their email and/or mailing address. 

Thank you to those of you who wrote in with contact information when last we asked; we need to bring everyone back to our alumni communications. No brother should be left behind! 

THE MICHIGANENSIAN SERIES: FEATURING 1994 AND 2007

Article by H. Keith Hellems, M.D. ‘62

During the fundraising campaign I started to gather pages from Michiganensian publications that had the name of Delta Chi in them.  I started in 1897 and went to 2008.  Delta Chi went off campus during the depression in 1933 and came back on campus in 1949.  We plan to publish these over the next months, usually 2 or 3 years at a time for your interest.  Below is a brief history of the Michiganensian excerpted from Wikipedia.

The Michiganensian, also known as the Ensian, is the official yearbook of the University of Michigan.  Its first issue was published in April 1896, the yearbook is editorially and financially independent of the University of Michigan’s administration and other student groups.  It is published yearly in late spring by a staff of several dozen students.  The book is the second oldest publication on campus, and it contains articles and original photography related to campus life, student activism, university athletics, and current events.

In its earliest form, the Michiganensian served as an illustrated directory, providing information on organizations, fraternities, and athletics.  As the publication evolved in the early 1900s, more space was dedicated to writing and photographs, but the publication still focused largely on fraternities and athletics.  Now, in its current form, the Michiganensian is composed of photography and stories about campus life, student activism, current events, and athletics.  The 125th issue also split with precedent by including limited fraternity and sorority coverage, amid student criticism of secret societies on campus and a nationwide ‘Abolish Greek Life’ movement. 

In this month’s eDelt, we feature the Michigan Delta Chi class of 1994 and 2007:

IN OCTOBER WE WILL BE CELEBRATING THE 7TH YEAR SINCE THE NEW CHAPTER HOUSE DEDICATION

Article by H. Keith Hellems, M.D. ’62    

[email protected]

This seems like the time to look back and recall how it all started and what it took to get it built.

The Michigan Chapter of Delta Chi honored its ‘60s alumni at its 2009 reunion.  Prior to the reunion Frank Morrey ’64 and David Falconer ’62 played Michigan’s famous Blue Course, followed by a beer and dinner—and autopsies of their respective golf games—at the Jolly Pumpkin Café and Brewery on Main Street in downtown Ann Arbor.  Eventually, the two alums got talking about the disgraceful state of the chapter’s 100-year-old fraternity house, how embarrassed they were to bring their wives into it, and how guilty they felt about asking the actives to live in it.  More seriously, Frank and David were convinced that the current house was unsalvageable and that a new house was necessary for the active chapter to survive and for its alums to remain involved.

David and Frank knew that the project would require a competent leader.  And their thinking settled immediately upon Howard Gandelot ‘64, because he had earlier expressed interest in the new-house project, was a former ‘A’, and had been a great manager while working for Procter & Gamble.  So, Frank and David contacted Howard in the fall of 2012 about spearheading the fundraising effort.  And, not surprisingly, he was fascinated, supportive, and interested in doing the project.  This addition completed the alumni association’s “fundraising triad”.  Meanwhile, Keith Hellems ‘62, also a former ‘A’, had been assembling and distributing pictures and documents about the Michigan chapter, generating much alumni interest, enthusiasm, and communication.  In October 2013 Keith joined the fundraising team.  That brought the team to four members, which in time became known as the “fundraising quartet”.

On May 31, 2013, the fundraising team, together with the chapter’s building corporation, launched a $1M campaign for the construction of a new fraternity house at 1705 Hill Street.  To support the new initiative, the building corporation agreed to provide $60K in upfront money for the fundraising campaign, as well as to retain Affinity Connection for back-office support.  At the advice of Affinity and other professionals, the quartet divided the fundraising campaign into two distinct phases.  The first phase dealt with the so-called High Value Donors (HVDs) and the second the more traditional ones.  Somewhat arbitrarily, a HVD was defined as alum that might pledge $10,000 or more to the new-house campaign.  We identified the HVDs mostly through our personal knowledge of the brother’s professional success and/or apparent financial status.  We also used Internet searches to estimate a brother’s financial strength.  Our goal for the HVD phase of the campaign was to obtain pledges for 50% of the required $1M.

The team’s next—and perhaps most challenging—step was getting the contact list for the chapter’s alums expanded and updated.  Fortunately, Frank Morrey, had remained in direct contact with the active fraternity and personally knew nearly every pledge from 1960 through 1995!  So, his contact list provided an important starting point for the fundraising effort.  A copy of National’s contact list was obtained and merged with Frank’s list.  In addition, numerous Internet searches for “lost alums” using the Intelius website were conducted.  And, in time, eventually the fundraising quartet secured phone numbers, street addresses, and e-mail addresses for approximately 90% of the chapter’s living alumni.

To kick off the HVD campaign, the fundraising team assembled an 8-page color brochure describing our plans for a new chapter house, its anticipated architecture, its estimated cost, and our timeline for financing and building it.  This brochure was used both as an “opening salvo” for the HDV campaign and as a “follow-up” to a telephone contacts with the HVDs.  By February of 2014, the fundraising team had written pledges for 50% of the necessary $1M from the HVDs.  So, the quartet moved to the second phase of the fundraising campaign.

In second phase, the team switched to mass mailings, both postal and electronic.  It also upgraded the 8-page color brochure to a 12-page one.  And these brochures were mailed to the traditional donors.  With the help of Affinity, the fundraising quartet prepared quarterly Michigan Delts, occasional postcards, and bimonthly e-blasts.  The Delts carried information about the fundraising campaign, alumni activities, and the active chapter.  The e-mails usually focused on a particular topic, but also included personal bios prepared by selected alums.  The team members systematically telephoned the traditional donors, asking if they had received the mailings and also asking them for their pledges.  This portion of the campaign continued until May 6, 2016, when the $1M mark in confirmed pledges was reached.

We observed, especially in working the HVDs, that tax deductions were an important consideration for potential donors.  Dan Maher ‘76, tax manager for the Deloitte’s Chrysler account, explored our options as regards making alumni donations tax deductible.  He concluded that working with through Delta Chi Educational Foundation (DCEF) was the best approach, even though a pass-through fee was required by DCEF.  Enough of the new chapter house is considered “educational” in the eyes of the IRS to more than cover the $1M in needed donations.  Nevertheless, to get potential donors to the desired $10K level, we set the minimum donation for the tax break at $10K.  In the end, about 80% of the raised monies qualified for this tax break.

The quartet also established a suite of memorial funds in honor of deceased brothers.  The memorial funds were dedicated to those brothers who had played especially important roles in the chapter’s history, as well as its long-term (1970-1982) cook, John (“JR”) Russell.  For each memorial, we designated a close friend of the deceased brother as leader of the memorial effort.  Likewise, we priced and sold naming rights to specific elements of the new chapter house.  These rights were made available for as low as $5K for a stairwell and as high as $100K for the house’s gigantic (~1450 sq.ft.) Flex Room.  Additionally, each right included an engraved plaque permanently attached to the purchased element.

With the million-dollar goal met, it was time for John Levinson ’74 to take over.  John has been the most actively involved alumnus in Michigan Delta Chi history since the time he was elected to the Alumni Board of Directors in 1976 and initially appointed to handle the property insurance.  He played a major role in the design, building and financing of the new four-million-dollar house.  I asked John to tell us his story which I have included.  It is a story that must be told: 

“The design that was created by Allan Lutes and myself, based upon a combined 75+ years of experience with repairs and maintenance of a fraternity house. 

From the standpoint of exterior design, we needed to have it remind people as much as possible of the old house exterior design – basic style, colors, etc.  We also needed to get approval from the Ann Arbor Planning Commission and the full City Council of Ann Arbor.  Therefore, the design needed to blend into the surrounding neighborhood styles, as well as not enrage the NON-Student neighbors.  There were considerations for filling the chapter house, so size was critical, but we also had to fit in on our lot and meet all of the Ann Arbor rules.  To help assure that we would fill the chapter house, we engaged the Chapter Members over several years on how many brothers they felt they could support in the house and how should we set the living spaces.  This was all done before we began the fund raising.  The major input from the chapter was how the “suite” system was chosen.  We used a lot of their input on the chapter size as well as estimating how much rent was going to be needed to pay for the operating and mortgage costs.  Based upon some Alumni and Chapter Member input, we also tried to add variety in the rooms as much as possible.  Many alumni liked and remembered the variety from the old house.  The current Members indicated that the students wanted was less “shared” spaces for bathroom/sleeping/study (yeah sure we believed that last part) and more private space than the “old” fraternity house or dorm style with sleeping dorms and gang bathrooms.  This choice of the suite system has been met with great appreciation by the current brothers that have lived in the house.

Timing is everything in life – when we finally got the entire city approval process completed (the City Council approved unanimously), we then had to go back and engineer a new process into the budget/plans for handling stormwater.  From the time we started in early 2014, the City passed zoning requirements to “clean and hold” the stormwater that was generated on our lot.  This involved extensive architectural & engineering calculations to meet the requirement.  Essentially, we had to add storage tanks under the parking lot/driveway that would hold and clean storm water coming from the parking lot drains as well as all of the storm drains from the water running off the roof.  This change in the rules led to a cost of $250,000 to comply with this new rule.  That was one of many setbacks financially.  When we estimated our costs, the building processes in Ann Arbor were quite slow and contractors were quite hungry for work.  When we went out for bids, we came back well beyond our contingency of 5% factor for a $2.3 plan.  The final numbers when we completed the project (not including mortgage costs) was approximately $3.5M or ONE MILLION TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS over our budget and financing commitment from the Bank of Ann Arbor.

The story on the financing continues to prove that timing is everything – long story short, going back to the bank for an increase of 50%+ over their commitment took more than a little “finesse”.  It took A LOT OF FINESSE and some luck.  When things were getting very dicey with the bank as the costs mounted and our needs increased, we realized that what we had to sell was a very good equity to value ratio (our skin in the game was still going to be roughly 33%).  The other thing to sell was the design and the fact that rents were continuing to escalate for the dorms and apartments.  The final move was to get the Top Loan Officer out to visit the building site (we were in the framing of the 3rd floor at the time) with Allan Lutes and myself.  This worked for two reasons – first, we had a very good commercial concept and design.  Second – the bank and the Loan Officer were very familiar with and respected Allan Lutes and Alpha Management.  They had done many successful projects with Allan and Alpha/ They felt very comfortable with him being the general contractor and future manager for the property.  Finally, the timing/luck part.

When it came decision time, I went to the Bank of Ann Arbor headquarters in downtown Ann Arbor to meet with the Loan Officer and his boss – the decision maker.  This Boss or Manager was that mysterious person that you never get to meet or see in the auto dealership.  The decision maker wanted to know if I had played Lacrosse for Michigan in the early 70’s?  I asked the Loan Officer how he knew that.  It turns out that the decision maker was the second-string goalie for the Lacrosse team that I had played on for four years at Michigan.  His memory of me convinced him that if I was also involved in the future management of the project that the bank would increase the load commitment for the full amount that we needed to finish the house. 

I had not talked with or seen Charley Krone (the BOSS/Decision Maker) the goalie since my last Michigan Lacrosse game in 1974.  I also found out that they had investigated my business career at RheTech (including that I was local in Whitmore Lake) and determined that I was the person that they were comfortable with as the Alumni boots on the ground for this project.  I had to promise to stay on the Delta Chi Board for the length of the loan (5 years) and they would make the deal as requested.

Both the Loan Officer and Charley Krone have now retired, and we have since renewed the loan with Bank of Ann Arbor for another seven years.  As fate would have it, they were replaced by my old JP Morgan Chase Loan Manager for our RheTech business, so I guess I will have to stay around when our current loan expires in another five years and make sure we renew again.”

The alumni association dedicated the new chapter house on October 1, 2016.  It was by far the largest and most successful reunion in the chapter’s history, with 160 alumni and 31 actives and associates (pledges) in attendance.

David Falconer ’62, Howard Gandelot ’64, Frank Morrey ’64, Keith Hellems’62 preparing the ground for the new DX fraternity house at the groundbreaking ceremony held May 9, 2015.

Alan Lutes, Dean Warner and John Levinson keeps tabs on the builders.

SAVE THE DATE! 2023 Alumni Reunion and Homecoming Event

The Michigan Chapter of Delta Chi will be hosting this year’s annual reunion on the Michigan Homecoming weekend, September 22-23, 2023. Michigan will be facing the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in the Big House, kick-off is at 12 noon.

Friday Night: Alumni, actives and their guests are invited to join us for a pizza party at the new chapter house from 6 PM to 10 PM or later. Pizza and soft drinks will be provided. (Donations are gladly accepted to help defray the cost. Please make your RSVP using the link below). This event will be an informal gathering, a chance to meet the current actives and reconnect with your classmates. These get-togethers have proven popular and well attended in years past.

Saturday Festivities: Coffee and donuts will be provided at the chapter house at 10 AM for those who want to hike or drive the Big House and watch the Wolverines battle the Scarlet Knights. Other alumni, actives and guests are encouraged to enjoy the game on large-screen TVs in the chapter house. Following the game, please return to the chapter house for happy hour (BYOB) and to plan your evening’s activities which may include joining brothers from your era for dinner in Ann Arbor at a local restaurant, for example, Metzger’s or the rejuvenated Pretzel Bell. 

Football Tickets: At the present time the U of M ticket office is offering single game football tickets to donors, unfortunately we do not have the ability to acquire tickets since it is sold out.

Recommended Lodging: We have several rooms available at the Comfort Inn in nearby Chelsea for a very favorable rate of $149 per night (or $159 with in-room spa). These rooms may still be available. Please make your reservations by calling 734-433-8000 and referencing “Delta Chi Fraternity Alumni”.

We look forward to having our fellow brothers and their guests visit the chapter house. The chapter’s alumni association continues to improve the new chapter house for the actives, as well as make it a place for its alums to come back to. We are also creating a Wall of History and Heritage. It’s a collection of composites that will allow you to “see yourself” in YOUR new house whenever you come back to Ann Arbor. More later on this project.

Homecoming is exactly that at Delta Chi. It is a chance to return to 1705 Hill Street and engage again with fellow brothers. Hope to see you there!

Please contact John Stinson at [email protected] to make reservations for the pizza party and more details.

In the Bond,

The Delta Chi Alumni Association

THE MICHIGANENSIAN SERIES: FEATURING 1972 AND 1981

Article by H. Keith Hellems, M.D. ‘62

During the fundraising campaign I started to gather pages from Michiganensian publications that had the name of Delta Chi in them.   I started in 1897 and went to 2008.  Delta Chi went off campus during the depression in 1933 and came back on campus in 1949.   We plan to publish these over the next months, usually 2 or 3 years at a time for your interest.   Below is a brief history of the Michiganensian excerpted from Wikipedia.

The Michiganensian, also known as the Ensian, is the official yearbook of the University of Michigan.  Its first issue was published in April 1896, and the yearbook is editorially and financially independent of the University of Michigan’s administration and other student groups. It is published yearly in late spring by a staff of several dozen students. The book is the second oldest publication on campus and it contains articles and original photography related to campus life, student activism, university athletics, and current events.

In its earliest form, the Michiganensian served as an illustrated directory, providing information on organizations, fraternities, and athletics. As the publication evolved in the early 1900s, more space was dedicated to writing and photographs, but the publication still focused largely on fraternities and athletics. Now, in its current form, the Michiganensian is composed of photography and stories about campus life, student activism, current events, and athletics.  The 125th issue also split with precedent by including limited fraternity and sorority coverage, amid student criticism of secret societies on campus and a nationwide ‘Abolish Greek Life’ movement. 

In this month’s eDelt we feature the Michigan Delta Chi class of 1972 and 1981

Photo: The Michiganensian, 1972
Photo: The Michiganensian, 1981

THE MOVIE “ANIMAL HOUSE” FEATURES DELTA CHI IN ITS HOUSE SONG

Article by Joe Gradisher ‘79 & H. Keith Hellems, M.D. ‘62

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Joseph Gradisher ’79, who is a member of the Michigan Men’s Glee Club Alumni group, takes part in the Washington D.C. Club’s Annual Congressional Breakfast usually held in March.  The Glee Club raises scholarship money on a yearly basis.  Here is a photo highlighting this event (Joe is 2nd on the left):

During discussions with Joe, he enlightened us with the factoid that the fraternity song used in the Animal House movie actually highlights the Delta Chi Fraternity.  The words written by Stephen Bishop are:

“Let me t-t-tell you ‘bout some friends I know,

They’re kinda crazy but you’ll dig the show,

They can party ‘till the break of dawn,

At Delta Chi you can’t go wrong,”

 

“Otter, he’s the ladies’ man,

Every girl falls into his hands,

Boon and Katy playing ‘Cat and Mouse,’

And Mrs. Wormer, she’s the queen of the,

ANIMAL HOUSE,

ANIMAL HOUSE,”

This is just another reason to really love that movie.  Delta Tau Chi was the movie fraternity.

Animal House brothers
1957 Delta Chi brothers

Anyone having stories or interesting vignettes, let us know at [email protected] or [email protected]