Columbia Love Stories 2015
“Linda and I met in the introductory core sessions of the master's program at the now defunct School of Library Service. It was not exactly love at first site. The first time we talked we argued about the value of the Chrysler Building (I said something charming like "How could something that ugly ever be built?" - who knew that it was her favorite building?) Somehow over many pre-class cups of bad cafeteria coffee, we were able to come to some rapprochement. We have now been sharing books and coffee together for close to 40 years. To complete our Columbia love story, our daughter Emma met her husband Andrew the first week of their master's program in Occupational Therapy at Columbia.”
“Marvin (‘49CC, ‘54P&S) and Naomi ‘51BC, ‘52GradFacs), shown here when Marvin was awarded a University Alumni Gold Medal a few years ago. Both of us have taught at our alma maters, and both of us have been presidents of our classes and continue to be active alums. And two of our four children have Columbia degrees--two each, in fact.”
“My husband John, years after his graduation (class of 2000), once ran into former Dean Lisa Anderson from the School of International and Public Affairs and she asked him what had he taken away from SIPA. “That’s easy,” he replied. “A wife… talk about a School of International Affairs.”
I (Silvia) had started SIPA in 1997, coming from Mexico and was living in Columbia Housing in Riverside Dr. and 109. I had a Chinese roommate, Samantha, who transfer one semester later to SIPA and became good friends with John. In January 1998, she celebrated the Chinese New Year in our dorm and she invited her new class mates. That was the first time I met John, a good looking and refined man. (Although till this day he does not remember meeting me that time and we still debate our first encounter since he only remembers when I came to a party he organized).
John and I started dating at SIPA, trying to maintain our relationship secret… with no success. Sometimes we would sneak a kiss in the elevator of the main library of Columbia, or in the SIPA library. Before dating, we ran into each other in the Asian library where he preferred to study, or in the always crowded coffee shop in the lobby of the SIPA building, We also had one class together where we had a rule not to look at each other if we were presenting in front of the class....
But the footprint of our love story is that he actually proposed right at the Alma Matter statue in the middle of Columbia University in May 2000. Today against all the odds of religion, despite cultural differences and countries, languages and more, we have been happily married for almost 14 years.
We have now three children, Daniel Joseph (11), Gabriel (9) and Amalia (5).
John still works in International Development at the Synergos Institute since he graduated and Silvia balances her life between motherhood, international communications for philanthropy, poetry and flamenco dancing.”
“Soroosh and I met at Columbia during finals week of his Senior year CC '00, my Sophomore year CC '02. We were crammed into the West End basement to blow off steam from a tough week and he and his buddies were singing Pearl Jam on stage and I just knew that this guy had that special something. It could have also been the fact that our roommates were dating at the time and it was highly convenient, but I couldn't resist his mysterious charm and standoffish "I'm too cool for school attitude." I told my roommate that I thought he was cute and from that point on, we talked all night and everyday thereafter. We realized that we shared a lot - our passion for soccer (both captains of the soccer team at Columbia), we both wore the #9 growing up, we both loved to travel excessively, and we also knew that we could be teammates for life. We fell quickly and ridiculously in love, like two young kids do, and even stayed together for 2.5 years in a long distance relationship until I graduated and moved down to Texas to be with him. We were married on September 20th, 2003. We currently live in Austin, TX and are blessed with two boys who share our love of physical adventure and sports.”
“Rabbi Richard Louis and Rena met at Columbia at the tender ages of 21 and 18 respectively. They will be celebrating 18 wonderful years of marriage this coming June.
Rena first noticed Richard when he performed, "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye To Yesterday" by Boyz II Men for the Barnard first year orientation in Macintosh as part of the Cleffhangers. Richard first noticed Rena in her attractive Columbia equestrian team black leather boots and tight yellow spandex pants at the Barnard Kosher Meal Plan. Richard and Rena met during an EMT course where they were paired together as partners practicing the Heimlich Maneuver after which they rode on CAVA together. They started going out when Richard performed a love song for her at an AEPi fraternity semi-formal. They got engaged under the gazebo in front of John Jay Hall in '97.
They have 4 children: Cyrus age 8, Jesse age 10, Maxwell age 12, and Deanna age 14 who recently toured the Columbia campus this winter with aspirations to attend her mother's alma mater. They live in Monsey, New York where Richard is Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Cornell Medical College/New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Medical Director of the Bikur Cholim of Rockland County, and Rena assists him in the private practice. They both hold black belts in Taekwondo and Rena enjoys running marathons, yoga, spinning, gymnastics, cross-fit, weight lifting, trapezing, and repelling (while Richard watches in awe).
Thanks Columbia for making our special love story possible.”
Fom the New York Times:
“Sylvia Joan Lavietes and Harri Vitali Taranto were married Saturday by Rabbi Jeffrey J. Sirkman at Wave Hill, a public garden and cultural center in the Bronx.
Ms. Lavietes, 64, is keeping her name. She is a licensed clinical social worker in pediatric diabetes and an assistant clinical professor of pediatrics at Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven. She graduated from Elmira College and received a master’s degree in social work from Columbia. She is the daughter of the late Ruth Sweedler Lavietes and the late Paul H. Lavietes, who lived in New Haven.
Mr. Taranto, 60, is a founder of Symphony Capital, an investment firm in Manhattan. He graduated from Yale and received an M.B.A. from Columbia. He is the son of the late Raymonde Taranto and the late Dario Taranto, who lived in Lisbon.
In 2003, Ms. Lavietes was driving on a parkway near Greenwich, Conn., when she spotted a blue Saab with a license plate that read: Mdlfcrss (Midlife crisis). She rolled her eyes and let it pass, but not before catching a glimpse of the driver, a man who appeared to be deep in thought.
In February 2009, Ms. Lavietes received a message from JDate, the Jewish singles website, matching her with a man whose screen name was Vita Brevis (“Life is short” in Latin). She was touched by Mr. Taranto’s profile.
“He had the sweetest eyes,” Ms. Lavietes said. “He wrote something that was so modest, and clearly he reeked of intelligence, but he didn’t brag.”
Ms. Lavietes had divorced in 2001 after a 22-year marriage. Mr. Taranto, who was born in Turkey and grew up in Europe and South America, was married at the time, although he had separated from his wife of 30 years in 2003. She sent him a message, and Mr. Taranto, whose divorce was not final until January 2010, recalled being taken by her looks — specifically her red glasses and salt-and-pepper hair — and replied. After a brief exchange, they made plans to meet for lunch in Manhattan the next day, which happened to be Valentine’s Day.
The attraction was immediate, and lunch extended into dinner. He drove back to his home in Larchmont, N.Y. The next day, he returned to Manhattan to drive Ms. Lavietes, who had spent the night at her brother’s apartment in the city, to New Haven.
On the way, he stopped at his house. As they approached the driveway, Ms. Lavietes noticed a blue Saab in the driveway. The license plate read Mdlfcrss.
“You’re that jerk!” she said. They laughed as Ms. Lavietes told him how she had seen him on the parkway so many years before.
Mr. Taranto still has the blue Saab, but his plates now say Vitabrev.”
“It involves a Valentine's Day party in River, a balloon, and the NYPD. Also, we celebrated our eleventh wedding anniversary this past June. He's now a professor at Cornell, and I'm a novelist. But the met-at-Columbia story appears via the link below.
http://www.nytimes.com/.../weddings-celebrations...”
“Ames and I met at the traditional Friday afternoon cocktail party at Bard Hall /medical center campus. He asked me out at the Medical School Library, we bonded at Tom & Sal's after hours and we've been together ever since. We celebrate our 36th anniversary this August. So far, it's been a great life!”
“My wife (Michelle) and I met at Columbia through Date My School (we were the first to get married as a result of the website). I was at SIPA and she was at the School of Nursing working on her masters to become a Nurse Practitioner.
We met on 17 February 2011 and were married on 29 April 2011. When you know, you know. This Friday, our daughter (Eva) will celebrate her first birthday.
I've attached two photos, both from this weekend. One is from a gala event we just attended, and the other is of Eva at lunch with me on Monday before our Daddy-Daughter day at the Denver zoo."
“Here's a ‘love story’ that appeared in our local newspaper (Greenfield Recorder) a couple of years ago. Lynn now in her 91st year and I'm 89 in 2015....we live EVERY day!”
“IT WAS NEVER A QUESTION OF WHAT I WAS GOING TO BE WHEN I GROW UP! I HAD TO FOLLOW 3 OF MY UNCLES’ PATHS AND SINCE I LOVED CHEMISTRY, I DECIDED IT WOULD BE FINE TO PURSUE PHARMACY! AS I SAID AT OUR 50TH CUCP REUNION, ONE OF THESE UNCLES KEPT CUCP FINANCIALLY ALIVE FOR ANOTHER FEW YEARS AFTER OUR GRADUATIONS!
ALONG THE WAY, PROF. SAMUEL LIEBERMAN SUGGESTED I QUIT SCHOOL AND SELL PENCILS ON 42ND STREET- MAYBE NOT A BAD THING! I LOVED PHARMACY AND I VISITED MANY SCHOOLS TO GET THROUGH- EVEN HAD AN INCREDIBLY INTERESTING SUMMER OF 1963 IN OXFORD, MISSISSIPPI WITH MY DEAR BUDDY TED THIRO! LOTS OF STORIES THERE. IT WAS THE MIDDLE OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS DAYS AND WE SAW FIRST HAND HOW PEOPLE WERE BEING PERSECUTED!
IN THE SUMMER OF ‘61 (1961) I MET MY BESHERTA (WIFE) ESTHER. WE MET ON NEUTRAL TERRITORY- SHE BEING FROM THE BRONX, AND ME HAILING FROM BROOKLYN- IT WAS DIRTY DANCING BEFORE IT BECAME A MOVIE- IN THE GOOD OLE CATSKILLS!
WE RAISED 3 CHILDREN- WE ARE THE PROUD GRANDPARENTS OF 7- ALL LIVING VERY CLOSE BY; THANK G-D SINCE WE DO NOT HAVE TIME TO TRAVEL OR THE MEANS YET TO RETIRE! I OWNED MY OWN STORE FOR 12 YEARS AND HAVE BEEN HAPPILY EMPLOYED BY OTHERS SINCE 1989!
IT WAS GREAT ATTENDING CUCP WHEN IT WAS THE TOP PHARMACY COLLEGE! WE MADE LONG-LASTING FRIENDSHIPS THERE AND STILL ARE IN TOUCH. OUR CLOSE CORE OF FRIENDS ARE ALWAYS THERE FOR US- WE LOST SOME DEAR ONES ALONG THE WAY AND WE MISS THEM VERY MUCH. THE OTHERS WE TREASURE!
I ENCLOSED SOME PICS FOR YOU TO ENJOY!"
“My husband Tyler and I are both Columbia grads. I started my masters program at Columbia and then successfully convinced Tyler to get his masters from Columbia too (MBA)! In 2012 we actually crossed over and were both in our Columbia programs at the same time and boy that was one busy year; both working, getting our Columbia degrees, and having a new baby at the same time! So naturally when we both walked in graduation in May of 2014, we dressed our baby son in Columbia blue too! Graduation week was one of the most fun moments of our lives, not only because we survived, but because it was such a wonderful memory to have made as a family.”
“I am class of l961 at P&S and my wife is class of l958 at Columbia nursing. We met on a blind date in the hospital coffee shop a little after 12midnight. Emily was working the 4 to 12 shift, hence the late hour. The coffee shop was jumping.
This photo was taken in a "foto booth" at the New Jersey shore on our honeymoon 56 years ago.”
“Jeff and I met during our freshman year at Columbia. Although I didn't know him well when we first met, something about Jeff made me think we would get along well. We started going out in the second half of the spring semester. I was proven right as we fell in love and became inseparable from each other while navigating through a vibrant campus life over the next three years.
After graduating from Columbia in 2007, Jeff moved across the country to work as an electrical engineer in Seattle. I began my PhD study in chemical engineering at Princeton. Thankfully, Jeff returned to New York in 2009 when he started law school. In 2011, he proposed in Central Park. We both graduated from our post-graduate programs in 2012 and we got married in the fall that year in St. Paul's Chapel at Columbia with many Columbia friends in attendance. Since then, we have been living in New York.”
“I met my husband Derek (BUS '08) when I was a 4th year medical student at the College of Physicians & Surgeons. We had circles of friends in common but had never met each other before. A Columbia network opportunity brought us together a few weeks after I returned to New York City from a 2 month global health elective in Uganda. He asked me out to brunch and I thought to myself "Yes, brunch! I've *missed* brunch!" and promptly agreed. Our first date we had great conversation, and afterward he accompanied me to buy some pie from the fabulous Brooklyn pie shop Four and Twenty Blackbirds. Although he was not a big fan of sweet desserts, he took a bite of my lavender pie and smiled at me. I was totally charmed and the rest is history!”
“It was Valentine's Day, 1995 and I was having a pretty miserable evening studying yet another night for physics. However, my evening quickly turned for the better when my best friend informed me about a meeting taking place at Earl Hall. Excited to hear a speaker discuss the political situation in El Salvador, I decided to put the studying on hold and attend the meeting. After over an hour of waiting for the guest speaker, and feeling guilty for wasting so much time, I decided that it was time to give up and go back to studying. However, as I was walking out of Earl Hall, my husband-to -be and I, after being at Columbia together for three years, finally crossed paths. I took a second look as I saw him walking out of Earl Hall and whispered to my best friend, "he's gorgeous." To which she responded, Who? Billy? He's ok." I made the best decision of my life that night, when I decided to go back to that meeting. I was in awe of the handsome boy that translated for the guest speaker and spoke better Spanish than I did. 20 years (this Valentine’s Day), and two kids later, he still impresses me with his Spanish.”
“Bill and Mary Jeanne met near the Columbia campus in September of 1958. On their first date, they watched Columbia win over Brown and the romance was on. They married in August of 1960, have four children and now make their home in Reno, Nevada.”
“I was in the CC class of '84, Chemistry Major. I met my wife Carolyn, Barnard class of '84, Columbia MA '86, Columbia Law School '89, at an Earl Hall Function in my second year.
Wasn't love at first sight, however, we figured it out and got married in 1985.
From a family perspective, my daughter, Michal, Barnard 2014, got married last year. My son Shimshon, was just accepted to Columbia College.”
“We met in college long before we started dating, at a mixer of Marc's fraternity and Beth's sorority in Rochester, NY. Beth noticed the handsome blue-eyed boy teaching everyone the fraternity songs, and Marc recalls meeting a beautiful blonde who was out of his league. Despite mutual romantic interest we were each too shy to approach the other. Throughout college we remained friends as we dated other people.
Fate brought us together again when we both entered graduate programs at Columbia in 2009. After several failed attempts to meet, we set a lunch date at Grant's Tomb (where Beth's lunch of a chocolate cupcake appropriately informed Marc of her sweet tooth). We spoke for two hours and the conversation wasn't over! For the rest of the semester -- seventeen weeks in total -- we met nearly every Tuesday for lunch. We both looked forward to the lunches with great anticipation, much more than the other person knew.
The tension built until just before New Year's Eve. After our very first dinner date we walked around Morningside campus, where we finally confessed our true feelings. We've been together ever since. And we're engaged!
"We met in Contemporary Civilization in sophomore year and argued a lot with each other during class discussions. We started dating after Neil transferred out of the class; our first "date" was at Famiglia's (with a beloved friend who was the third wheel). We've been together since and have been married for 2.5 years now!"
“We began dating towards the end of fall semester 2010, when Gabe was a senior and Nina was in her first year. We ran in the same social circles, and eventually Gabe got the guts to ask Nina out on a date. Our first date was on the final Sunday of the semester at Cafe Nana in the Kraft Center (Hillel building), and 4 days later Nina saved Gabe a seat at Midnight Breakfast. Columbia played a very significant role in our romance. We attended 4 List College (JTS undergraduate) Formals and 8 Midnight Breakfasts together (where after that first time, Nina always waited with Gabe until Columbia was allowed in). It was also special that we were at both of each other's respective class days and university commencements (as seen from the pictures). We were relatively inseparable, and Nina even chose to do her study abroad at the Sorbonne in Paris over the summer so Gabe could come along.
Gabe proposed in February 2013 outside the Schwarzman Building of the New York Public Library where we went to an exhibit on one of first dates in January 2011. We were married in June 2014 and had many Columbia and Barnard friends in attendance, including in both the bride and groom's parties. Although we left Manhattan after we got married, we make frequent pilgrimages back to Morningside Heights where it all began.”
“I started dental school in August of 2003 and was assigned to live in Bard Hall with the other first year students on the health sciences campus. The first Sunday morning I was casually doing laundry while occupying all 3 washing machines. A tall, handsome, athletic first year medical student showed up and gave me a hard time for monopolizing the laundry room. I was a non-confrontational Oregonian, and I was not familiar with his New York style of straight-talk. I found him very intriguing.
During our first year, we became very close, after all we lived on the same floor of the coed dorm with community showers and bathrooms. We studied for the same exams and frequented the same dives on the UWS. By our second year, we realized it was true love, and it hit us like a ton of bricks. We made it official in the middle of second year and after two years of great times and academic challenges, we were engaged to be married. We spent a year in Ann Arbor for internship and then 4 years in Boston for residency and fellowship before moving home to Portland, Oregon. We are now blessed with 2 beautiful children, Selma 3 and Otis 2, and great jobs. Matt even does most of the laundry now.
We are very thankful for many of the experiences that we had at Columbia, but most of all for the opportunity to find each other.”
“We met at the Columbia School of Social Work in 1995, sharing our foundations class first semester (I noticed his hands, beautiful). We shared a passion for activism and helped organize a student/client trip to Albany to protest the Contract on America, Newt Gingrich's pet project at the time. A year later, we bumped into each other frequently outside McVickar hall on 113th Street, where the Social Work School was housed at the time. One evening, he asked for my phone number as I used the resource computers in the Social Work library. I wrote it on a scrap of paper with one of the golf pencils provided. Our first date was at the Whitney; we took a break from art to enjoy cheeseburger deluxes at a diner near by.
By April we knew we didn't want to part, and started to plan a cross-country move to California, where I was born and raised.
We were married in November 2001 and have two daughters, Rose (10) and Ava (7)."
"On November 19, 2010 Andrew and Vickie met at an event hosted by the HELLAS organization on campus. From that night on, the two of us have been inseparable. Andrew moved to California to attend Berkley for graduate school and Vickie moved to Boston to attend Tufts. Regardless of distance, we stayed together through everything. When we were at Columbia, we spent every day together whether it was in EC doing homework, grabbing food at the Diana, or just sitting on the steps. Columbia holds a special place for us as a couple because of all the memories we have especially saying "I love you" for the first time in front of Alma Mater. We're finally both back in New York together and wouldn't have it any other way!"
“Maheen and I (Sameer) met in 2010-11 while we were both studying at Columbia. We got married in October 2012!”
"It was the summer of 1969. I was cramming in twelve credits of education in six weeks at Teachers College to qualify for a license from the New York City Board of Ed. The Student Forum, a Columbia College student organization I worked with that brought speakers to campus, was running a series of programs called “The Black and Latin Experience in New York City.” My friend Mike, who was coordinating the series, needed someone to man the Student Forum office, type, run off copies on the mimeograph, help out at the programs and pass out fliers on College Walk. He called a friend from high school, Sande, and told her if she could get together the plane fare, he would get her a job at Columbia. Sande waited tables at a restaurant in a Boise strip mall until she had enough money and took off to New York.
After my Psychology of Education class, I walked over to the Law School to attend the first program in the series. It was Herbert Aptheker speaking about Nat Turner. I remember some of what Dr. Aptheker had to say, but I remember better the young woman with the long dark hair and mini-skirt, who handed me a program and sat in the back taking notes. I continued to attend the lectures and movies in the series and talking to the smart brown-eyed beauty. After one program she and I walked out onto the Law School bridge and sat on the Henry Moore sculpture. As we watched the traffic on Amsterdam Avenue, we enjoyed our first kiss.
We saw a lot of each other that summer – Shakespeare in the park, movies at the Thalia, Broadway and off-Broadway shows, and weekend trips to the suburbs. In September, Sande went back to Idaho to finish school. We wrote dozens of letters and ran up my phone bill (in those days before unlimited long distance). I went out to Boise over Christmas and met her family. Sande came back to New York with me. We stopped into a jewelry store at LaGuardia and bought an engagement ring. We got married in Boise in June two days after graduation.
Now, forty-four years later, the Thalia is gone, our joints ache if we sit on line on the grass for tickets to Shakespeare in Central Park, and Broadway seats cost a lot more than the $5.00 we paid to see James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander in “The Great White Hope.” But there are now two successful grownups who call us Mom and Dad and two beautiful children who call us Grandma and Grandpa – all from a romance that began on 116th Street.
Our picture: We didn’t carry camera phones (or any phones) then. Sande took some pictures around the Student Forum office, which was in the building that stood next to the School of International Affairs construction site. Our only “selfie” was taken in a photo booth in the subway station."