Alum Notes
We take pride in celebrating the good news of our fellow alumni. Where has life taken you since graduation? Tell the Tech alumni community about career changes, achievements, family news, awards, and more by submitting an alum note using the form below.
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Class of 1947
Irwin Shapiro
May 30, 2024
Yale University Press published a book by Irwin Shapiro, entitled, The Unity of Science: Exploring Our Universe, from the Big Bang to the Twenty-First Century (October 31, 2023), based on a Harvard University undergraduate course for nonscientists that Prof. Shapiro invented and has taught each spring for the past 15 years. The book provides a broad and entertaining survey of major scientific discoveries that have changed our views of nature and, in turn, spawned further questions. Irwin is now 94 and still going strong.
Class of 1965
Ron Brandt
May 21, 2024
I earned a Master’s degree in Jewish History from Touro University. I am a lifelong student.
Class of June,1950
Charles McCarthy
May 10, 2024
I was a Structural Major. I worked as a draftsman after graduation and enlisted in the Army in 1952. I enrolled at Cooper Union (night school) and graduated with an ME degree in 1963. My career in sales engineering and marketing started and was both rewarding and fascinating. In all 35 years, I never had two days alike. BTHS laid the groundwork and I took every advantage that it gave me. Are there any 1950 grads out there other than me? If so I would love to hear from them.
Class of 1987
Randolph B. Houston, Jr. (Randy)
March 8, 2024
In March 2024, I became General Counsel and Corporate Secretary to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, Inc.), one of the most significant cultural and performing arts institutions in New York City and the world. After graduating from Brooklyn Tech in 1987, I went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree from The Pennsylvania State University and a Juris Doctor degree from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I have three decades of experience as an entertainment, intellectual property, litigation, labor and employment, and business lawyer, including work with major international law firms, my own boutique law firm, and media conglomerates NBCUniversal and BuzzFeed Media Enterprises. I have served on and lead the boards of several performing arts, education, and human services organizations, and am a past President of The Penn State Alumni Association and a past Trustee of The Pennsylvania State University. I have always had a personal passion for the arts, and have been a musician, composer, librettist, actor, and creative for more than four decades, working in nearly every genre of music, and writing book, music, and lyrics for two full-length musicals.
Class of 1982
Stephen Blanchette
February 28, 2024
I’ve been elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Class of 2024. AIAA confers Fellow upon individuals in recognition of their notable and valuable contributions to the arts, sciences or technology of aeronautics and astronautics. Since the inception of this honor, only 2,064 persons have been elected as an AIAA Fellow.
Class of 1951
Nathan Streitman, Ret. AIA, AICP
January 4, 2024
Before retirement, I worked as an architect and city planner for many major rapid transit station projects and modernizations for Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH), Los Angeles Metro Red Line, and the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA). For the Greater London Council (GLC), I worked on road improvements for four major squares, and for the City of Orange, NJ, I worked on master planning. All of this began after a great start from Brooklyn Tech’s super-advanced Architecture Program. Now enjoying my 90s along with my beautiful wife, Ellen.
Class of 1948
Jack Kinstlinger
December 1, 2023
I’m forever grateful to Tech for the wonderful education I received and the many friends I made there. Among my friends at Tech is Joseph Weber who became my roommate in our freshman year at RPI and with whom I Zoom every Friday morning.
Following graduation at Tech I went on to RPI and MIT for my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Civil Engineering, respectively. After completing Naval Officer Candidate School, I earned a commission as a lieutenant in the Civil Engineer Corps of the U.S. Navy. During the next three years, I was stationed at several overseas bases, overseeing the construction of military facilities. I then spent 11 years with Tippetts, Abbett, McCarthy, Stratton at the firm’s New York headquarters and as manager of the company’s New England office. During that time I rose to the position of associate and directed many engineering and planning projects, including the Fall River Area and Southeastern Massachusetts Regional Transportation and Arterial Studies, planning for seaports at Barbers Point, Oahu, Gulfport, MS and the Port of Philadelphia and urban renewal studies in Binghamton, NY, Flatlands, Brooklyn, and Alexandria, VA.
I later served as Deputy Secretary for Planning for the Pennsylvania Department of Highways, which in 1970 became the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. In this position I was responsible for all long-range planning, capital programming, budgetary and intergovernmental coordination for transportation improvements. In 1975, I was appointed Executive Director for the Colorado State Department of Highways. As director, I was responsible for the on-time and on-budget completion of the $120 million second bore of the Eisenhower Tunnel, the award-winning Vail Pass section of I-70 through the Rockies, as well as the planning and start of construction of the $500 million Glenwood Canyon section of I-70 and of the C470 Beltway around southwest Denver. Beginning in 1984, I served in several capacities at KCI Technologies, including president, CEO, and chairman of the board. KCI is an employee-owned engineering consulting firm headquartered in Sparks, Maryland, with offices throughout the U.S. I helped found the company in 1988. Currently, I serves as chairman emeritus for KCI. I also have served as vice chairman of the American Road and Transportation Builders Association and director of the Maryland Association of Non Profit Organizations and Health Care for the Homeless.
Currently, I reside in a retirement community in Towson, Maryland. My wonderful wife Marilyn died in 2020. My two sons and 4 grandchildren thankfully all reside close by in the Baltimore area.
Class of 1963
John V. Mustaro
December 1, 2023
I graduated from Tech in the Electrical Program, then went on to Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. However this is not about me but a classmate I never met. William Henry Bauer graduated with us and also went to Brooklyn Poly (Chemical Engineering). After graduation he was drafted into the Armed Services and was killed on May 1, 1969 in Tay Ninh, Vietnam.
I looked up his picture in the ’63 BluePrint and even though he was a complete stranger, my heart ached. He was just a kid like the rest of us.
Class of 1968
Steven Satin
December 1, 2023
I have great memories of my four years at Tech and absolutely no regrets about choosing to attend a (then) all-boys high school. My best memories were of my classmates; too many to list and my Math teachers, like Ms. Berlin, whom I actually spoke to during my career in education. After graduation, I was part of the first class that spent four years at Lehman College, formerly Hunter in the Bronx. I started teaching in New York City public schools immediately upon graduation in 1972. I taught at several schools, including DeWitt Clinton High School, Eli Whitney Vocational High School, and Fort Hamilton High School. I then had the privilege to apply for and get the position of Assistant Principal of Organization at one of the new schools created in 1993: the High School for Economics and Finance. That led to a parallel move that I could not turn down when I applied for and was chosen for Assistant Principal for Organization in 1996 at Tech rival Stuyvesant High School. I was there on Sept. 11, 2001 and the memories of that day have stayed with me since. Stuyvesant spent about a month sharing space at Tech while lower Manhattan was cleaned. Some teachers I ran into then at Tech actually remembered me all those years later. I can only guess why. My final move was applying for and being chosen as Principal at Norman Thomas High School in 2002, from which I retired in 2009. Thirty-seven years serving the students of New York City was extremely rewarding and it is great to keep in touch with so many former teachers and students now. I left Brooklyn a few years after retirement and now live in Port St. Lucie, Florida, with my wonderful wife Lenora. We enjoy family, golf, playing basketball in our pool and cruising around the world. I will always be grateful to my teachers and fellow students at Tech for setting me on my life’s path.
Class of 1978
Albert Diaz
November 11, 2023
On July 8, 2023, I assumed duties as Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. I’ve served on the court for 13 years, which sits in Richmond, VA and hears appeals of federal cases originating in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
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