Thanks to these brothers for responding to our recent alumni email survey! If you’d like to submit an update of your own for publication in an upcoming e-letter or a future edition of our alumni newsletter, email us your updates and photos at alumninews@affinityconnection.com or submit an update here!

Stewart Brown ‘62

Favorite Place in Gambier? Large leather chairs in the upstairs reading room of the library. Quiet, easy to read and absorb the text, BUT easy to nod off for a nap!

Favorite Event at Kenyon? Homecoming. Each fraternity built a display for the lawn in front of their portion of the dorm. We were not builders. Instead we "borrowed" an abandoned out-house from an abandoned farm across the river from the railroad bridge, put it in the trunk of someone's car (mine?), and set it up outside West Wing. The sign said "Dump Oberlin" or some such rival team. We won the top prize!!!

Most Valuable Benefit from Lambda DKE? Learning how to lead and manage a group of peers. Our pledge class was 21 freshmen. There were maybe 10 seniors and 10 middle classmen active chapter members. Our class dominated voting and managed chapter affairs. Our pledge class was not filled with high-grade point people, but they were all very unique personalities, backgrounds, geographically diverse, fun guys. 4 of us ran the fraternity for 3 years. I was 1 of the 4. The other 3 have all passed away. I think there are now only 3 surviving members of this class - myself, Jerry Goldberg ‘62 in the Philadelphia area, and Chip Cunningham ‘62 in NY.

Life Update: Happily retired in Hilton Head SC, active in the community, and chasing 14 grands and 4 great grands in VA, KS, TX, MN, NE, KY with one wonderful wife and 55 years of marriage.

Calvin Frost ‘63

Favorite Event at Kenyon? I didn't have a lot of money and spent my first two years working like crazy, selling shoes in Mount Vernon, and cleaning the floors of the dining room every evening. I loved Fall and Spring dance weekends. West Wing was party central, and I was certainly part of that. The Lambda Alumni, particularly Doc Drake and Roger Houston, took pity on my financial situation and gave me jobs working on the lodge, which in those days was a mess. I somehow painted the building and roof. Not sure how because the roof has a very steep incline. Probably hung on a rope.

Most Valuable Benefit from Lambda DKE? Understanding the value of friendships that will last a lifetime. Relationships that grow and mature. I have many Kenyon friends, one is even on our Board. My freshman year was the start of 1959. Kenyon was all men. It was a completely different environment than exists today.

Life Update: The most exciting thing in the way of Gambier is that there are 3 Kenyon grads working in our company: myself; my daughter, Cindy; and my son-in-law, Rich Hoffman. Our grandson, Alex Hoffman, just graduated and was a Lambda DKE!!!

Denis Pierce ‘66

Favorite Place in Gambier? The library–I studied a lot there. And the Deke lounge–always a fun place to hang out.

Favorite Event at Kenyon? Fall and spring dance weekend–lots of fun.

Most Valuable Benefit from Lambda DKE? Long term friends that I still stay in touch with. I see some Deke classmates throughout the year, primarily in Florida in the winter.

Life Update: I retired 4 years ago and now devote time and resources to NGOs, primarily dealing with the homelessness issues in Chicago. The Pierce Family Foundation is very active in Chicago with a staff of 4 people.

Edward Gaines ‘68

Favorite Place in Gambier? My favorite place to go in Gambier was a space in Peirce Hall where myself and five other members of Kenyon's first rock band "Gangreen," practiced before we went to perform as a band at various college locations in Ohio for paying venues.

Favorite Event at Kenyon? My favorite event was varsity wrestling all four years I attended Kenyon. I was a co-captain in 1966-67. 

Most Valuable Benefit from Lambda DKE? As a Lamda DKE, I enjoy Kenyon DKE reunions and keeping up with former classmates.  

Life Update: I am a former career federal prosecutor of 30+ years. After I "retired" I engaged in private practice (primarily federal defense) from 2006-2019. At age 74, I decided to retire this year after the COVID Pandemic lingered unabated after many months. I keep in touch with two of my former classmates in the class of 1968 by phone about four times per year.

Jeff Leisa Zoller ‘69

Favorite Place in Gambier? Middle Path during any season, Pierce Hall, Church of Holy Spirit, West Wing.

Favorite Event at Kenyon? Returning to school in the Fall.

Most Valuable Benefit from Lambda DKE? The benefits of fellowship with a group of quality individuals diverse in background.

Life Update: Had a good career in business but have greatly enjoyed retiring early.

Jim Irwin ‘69

Favorite Place in Gambier? Hayes Grocery. It was friendly, old-fashioned, and not tightly regulated.

Favorite Event at Kenyon? The DKE fraternity gatherings at West Wing are the most memorable, especially when my parents would come down from Cleveland for Parents’ Weekend.

Share a flashback photo? Attached is a photograph that was taken in 1968-1969. We were allowed to live off-campus, and just a short drive away was a summer camp called Camp Kokosing. We rented the building that was for the girls at that summer camp. There was a separate building for the boys. The one for the girls had better facilities, and that’s why we rented it. It was about the best facility, not about “toxic masculinity.” Note also the second hand, beat up and cheap Ford Falcon that I had. Back then not everybody drove BMW’s on campus. That’s easy, making friends of a lifetime. I note for the record that at our 50th Reunion, Lambda DKE had the largest turnout of any Kenyon fraternity.

Life Update: I retired in December 2018, and I’m very much enjoying the freedoms and more time with Stephanie, family, and friends. I was a trial lawyer for 45 years and enjoyed the practice, but it was stressful at times, and that I do not miss. My third son graduated Magna Cum Laude in Physics from Kenyon in 2019. He, too, became a Deke. He loved his fraternity, the faculty, and his physics professors.

Gregg DeSilvio ’74

Favorite Place in Gambier? The Grundy Room. It was the location where my father and I drank Bourbon together and celebrated that I was the first in my family to attend college.

Favorite Event at Kenyon? Rushing prospective members. I found out I was very good at it, leading me into a career that began in Sales.

Most Valuable Benefit from Lambda DKE? The entire breadth of the experience.

Peter Bianchi ‘78

Favorite Place in Gambier? In nice weather would go down to the Kokosing River to enjoy some liquid refreshments and our mutual company and hang out. Some would call it tailgating, except there was no sports event. 

Favorite Event at Kenyon? Lodge meetings were always a momentous occasion. In addition to the business at hand which we took seriously, just to be surrounded by so many years of DKE history was a notable event. We also had the annual traditional all-campus event, Spring Riot. With a 90-member strong Chapter, we had some excellent logistical advisors such as AJ House, Tom Bulkeley, Jeff Spear, and others (you know who you are) who understood the physics of speed and the impact of water.

Most Valuable Benefit from Lambda DKE? Our tradition of DKE Brotherhood, "Friends from the Heart Forever" really rings true as I am in close touch with many of my brothers on a weekly or monthly basis, sometimes daily. These are truly strong bonds of friendship honed over 45 years of friendship. In pre-pandemic days I would often travel on business and I was lucky enough to see many brothers on a regular basis, including my little brother, Dave Hooker ‘81, Jim Pierce ‘78, Bishop Jim Logan ‘78, and others. Any flimsy excuse to get together is all we need. A.J. House's Mom lived five minutes away until recently, so I would see him frequently as well as John Merritt when he is in his Northern home.

Life Update: My wife Jennifer (we were introduced by A.J. House 27 years ago or so) and I live in Lake Forest, IL. Jennifer manages commercial properties. Our daughter Lilly graduated from St. Lawrence University this year and is now an academic intern at The North Country School in Lake Placid, NY. I am still in the field of media sales, currently working for Crain Communications. Prior to that, I spent a combined 35 years at The New York Times, Newsweek, and The Economist.

Bruce Cummins ‘84

Favorite Place in Gambier? Pirate's Cove.

Favorite Event at Kenyon? Reggae Party at Robinson's Farm.

Most Valuable Benefit from Lambda DKE? Strong, long ago forged friendships.