Class Notes

Linda Fisher Thornton (Col ’83 CM) was awarded the Itzkowitz Family Distinguished Adjunct Faculty award by The University of Richmond School of Professional and Continuing Studies, and was the faculty speaker at the 2022 SPCS Commencement. 

Daniel J. Hoffheimer (Law ’76 CM) had the privilege of commissioning a new work by renowned American composer and violist, Nokuthula Ngwenyama. Her Piano Quartet for violin, viola, cello, and piano received its world premiere at Linton Chamber Music in Cincinnati on April 3, 2022. The composition, entitled “Elegy,” in twelve minutes tells the story of African-Americans from their first arrival as slaves in 1619, through slavery, Civil War, emancipation, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Movement, and into the present backlash against Critical Race Studies. Dan is board chair of Linton Chamber Music, now in its 41st season. He practices law in Cincinnati.

Suzannah Evans Comfort (Col ’03 CM) was promoted to associate professor in the Journalism unit of the Media School at Indiana University.

J. Dapray Muir (Law ’64) has more than 35 years of experience in corporate and securities law. His practice included counseling a wide range of commercial enterprises with respect to securities law, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, investment transactions, contracts and litigation. He has served as lead counsel in numerous public and private offerings of securities.

Mr. Muir served one year as law clerk to a federal trial judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and two years as Assistant Legal Adviser for Economic and Business Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. From 1981 to 1985, he was chairman of the D.C. Securities Advisory Committee. He was a member of the American Arbitration Association’s Panel of Commercial Arbitrators from 1995 to 2015, serving as sole arbitrator or panel member in more than 40 proceedings.

John G. Wilder (Col ’62 CM) published Wagons, Gold and Conflict, a chronicle of the adventures of Captain Alfred Davenport in the Trans-Mississippi West from the 1840s through the 1860s. The book will appeal to lovers of history, travel and adventure, especially those interested in California from 1846 to 1861 and the western theater of the American Civil War.

Paola A. Castillo (Com ’13 CM) and Matthew T. Gregus (Com ’13, ’14) celebrated their one year wedding anniversary on May 21, 2022. They were married at St. Dominic’s Catholic Church in Washington D.C. The couple will be moving to Tampa, Florida with their one-year-old pug, Gnocchi, and continue to work for the federal Risk and Financial Advisory practice of Deloitte & Touche LLP. 

Kevin C. Kelley (Col ’73 CM) retired on May 1 from his position as Managing Director and Associate General Counsel after 39 years with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. and its predecessors.  Kevin’s practice as an insolvency attorney with JPMorgan included working on most of the major corporate insolvency matters over that time in the financial, automotive, retail, oil and gas and real estate industries to which JPMorgan was a lender.  

Kendall Jones (Col ’89 CM) has been named the General Counsel of California Pizza Kitchen, Inc., and all of its affiliated companies.

Marc Heisel (Engr ’07) and Brianne (King) Heisel (Engr ’13 CM) welcomed a son, Aiden, in May 2021. The family lives in Charlottesville where Marc is an engineering and quality manager, and Brianne is a senior program manager.

Wilson Weber (Engr ’13 CM) and his wife Ani McDowell celebrated their Feb 2020 California wedding with a belated East Coast reception at Charlottesville’s The Space Downtown on Oct 16, 2021. Fellow Wahoos in attendance included John Weber (Com ’84 CM), Joey Murphy (Engr ’12 CM), Kyle Brew (Engr ’13 CM), Kylene Brew (Engr ’13 CM), Patrick Brown (Engr ’13), Chris Curtin (Com ’13), Chris Millisits (Col ’13 CM), Andrew Noh (Engr ’13 CM), Jared Arrington (Col ’14 CM), Heidi Trott (Col ’14 CM), Will Vieth (Engr ’14, Law ’19 CM), Carter King (Engr ’15 CM), Taylor Chamness (Col ’17 CM), Zoe Grippo (Col ’18 CM), Jake Weber (Engr ’18 CM), Eileen Cowdery (Darden ’19) and Hank Weber (Engr ’20 CM). Will and Ani reside in Denver, Colorado, where Ani is a senior product manager at Split and Will is a consulting and engineering lead at Google.

Dr. Lealani Mae “Leah” Acosta (Med ’07, Res ’11) was recently promoted to Associate Professor of Neurology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where she serves as the behavioral neurology fellowship director. She also was awarded the distinction of Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology for contributions to the field, including serving as an editor for the Humanities section of the journal Neurology.

On Apr. 19, 2022, UVA Air Force ROTC alumni from the classes of 1973, 1974 and 1976, along with one of their professors from that time, met on Grounds for a reunion and to speak to current Air Force ROTC cadets from both UVA and James Madison University. Major J. David Carroll, USAF, Ret. (Col ’73, Darden ’85, Law ’85), Lt. General David A. Deptula, USAF, Ret. (Col ’74, Engr ’76 CM), Colonel Richard T. Kingman, USAF, Ret. (Col ’74 CM), Bruce L. Webster (Engr ’74 CM), Michael W. Skojec (Col ’76 CM) and Lt. Colonel John E. Valliere, USAF, Ret. (Engr ’76 CM) participated in this reunion along with their UVA Air Force ROTC Air Science Professor, Colonel James A. Ball, USAF, Ret. They met for lunch in the historic Varsity Hall before being escorted by officers and cadets of the current Air Force ROTC unit to O’Hill Forum, where they spoke to some 100 cadets of the James Wing of the current Air Force ROTC Detachment 890.

Shannon (Casey) Donohue (Arch ’12 CM) and husband Kevin Donohue welcomed their first child, Madeline Grace, on Mar. 15, 2022. The couple resides in Alexandria, Virginia, where Shannon works in fundraising at George Mason University and Kevin is in cybersecurity with Amazon Web Services. They are excited to show their daughter around Charlottesville and the UVA campus this fall.

Dr. Dan Vick (Col ’84 CM) assumed the role of Chief Medical Officer of MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta, Maine, effective Mar. 28, 2022. MaineGeneral Medical Center is a 198-bed community hospital with 4,000 employees and over 600 medical staff members. Most recently, Dr. Vick was on the Graduate Teaching Faculty in the Master of Health Administration program at Central Michigan University.

Robert Burton Scearce II (Engr ’13 CM) was recently promoted to Plant Manager of Monogram Foods in Martinsville, Virginia.

Sharon Kressel (Col ’05, Med ’12 CM) and her husband Jason welcomed their daughter Nora Irene in October 2021. Nora joins her older brothers, Aaron and Max. The family resides in Bethesda, Maryland.