I’m pleased to announce that my new book is out:

Hidden on the Mountain:
Stories of Children Sheltered from the Nazis in Le Chambon.

Co-written with Deborah Durland DeSaix & published by Holiday House, the book is 304 pages, with over 100 black & white photos, time line, maps, bibliography, glossary and index, for ages 10 and up.

For more information, please visit my website:
www.hiddenonthemountain.com

New York Life Insurance Company today announced that Christopher O. Blunt is appointed senior vice president and chief operating officer for its Life and Annuity operations, the company’s largest revenue generator. Mr. Blunt was previously executive vice president of New York Life Investment Management, a company subsidiary, where he was in charge of Retail Investments, Marketing and Information Technology.

Chris Blunt joined New York Life Investment Management in 2004 to head its MainStay Investments group. His responsibilities were later expanded to executive vice president for Retail Investments, Marketing and Information Technology. He holds an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan. His professional experience includes serving as a managing director with Goldman Sachs, as chief marketing officer with Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, and as CEO of GivingCapital Inc., a wealth management solutions provider that helped individuals to balance philanthropic interests with their estate planning needs.

SmithGroup, Inc. (www.smithgroup.com), the nation’s 7th largest architecture and engineering firm (according to Building Design & Construction, July 2006), has hired graduate structural engineer, Michael John Skalsky at its Office / Workplace Studio in Detroit.

Skalsky is a recent graduate of the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering degree. Skalsky recently served as a staff engineer intern at Ruby + Associates Structural Engineers, Farmington Hills, MI and as a Materials Testing Laboratory Intern at the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) in Jackson, MI.

Skalsky, a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, of Sterling Heights, MI lives with his wife Jennifer, in Grosse Pointe Farms, MI.

Pam Sjo is a Realtor with The Charles Reinahrt Company in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In February 2007 she was awarded a gold and diamond pin for Ten Million Dollars in Sales. Though the market has slowed, Pam has remained busy with clients and enjoys helping people buy and sell homes. Pam’s background in home repair, electronics and customer service made the move to real estate a natural one. During her free time Pam Sjo enjoys long distance road biking, cross country skiing, working on environmental issues, swimming at Pickerel Lake and traveling abroad. Last summer the Sjo family spent two weeks in Finland and Norway visiting many relatives. Pam would love to hear from old friends. You can email her at [email protected]

was named Lyle Center Faculty Fellow for 2006-07.

Dr. Phillips is analyzing resources for sustainable agricultural development in the high desert region of San Bernardino County, California. The unincorporated areas north of the Cajon Pass near Silverwood Lake are experiencing significant urban development pressure. However, alternative uses, such as the promotion of agricultural production may be possible, particularly high-value crop production. High-value crops include certified organic products, which are produced without synthetic fertilizers, synthetic pesticides, genetically modified organisms, sewage sludge, or irradiation. Biodynamic production is another growing trend in high-value crops. Biodynamic agriculture seeks to bring about balance and healing of the environment through integrating crops and livestock, recycling nutrients, and maintaining the soil and the health and wellbeing of crops and animals.

The Fellowship will allow Dr. Phillips to conduct an inventory of resources within the high desert region to assess the feasibility of these types of high-value agricultural production. This work builds on Dr. Phillips’ previous research developing such inventory methods. The study will evaluate agro-ecological resources, labor supply, institutional and physical infrastructure, access to markets and supporting industries, and various forms of capital resources. Special attention will also be paid to the infrastructure for marketing produce locally through roadside stands, farmers’ markets and community supported agriculture, a concept where community members pledge to cover the anticipated costs of the farm operation. In return, they receive shares in the farm’s bounty throughout the growing season, as well as satisfaction gained from reconnecting to the land and supporting local food production.

Dr. Phillips has been a member of the Cal Poly Pomona faculty since 2002. He received his Ph.D. in agricultural economics from Michigan State University. He also received an MBA from Wayne State University, an M.A. in economics from Western Michigan University, and a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is a member of the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, the American Agricultural Economics Association, the Western Agricultural Economics Association, the Food Distribution Research Society, and the Raisin Administrative Committee.

In addition to his professional activities, Dr. Phillips enjoys hiking in the mountains with his wife and son.

Ellen Sapper has been teaching in Ann Arbor Public Schools for 30 glorious years. Her students have become famous in film and literature and she is now teaching the children of her former students. In addition, Ellen has a small therapy practice which educates clients about the ways they repeat self-defeating proclivities which is called Berglarian Analysis. After many years renting Ellen finally bought a condo. Now Ellen is looking forward to seeing old friends in her new house, as soon as she gets some help organizing everything.

I recently accepted a position in Huntsville, AL as Senior Fabrication Process Engineer at MEMS Optical, Inc. after a 12+ year career at NEC Electronics. I live here in Huntsville with my wife Karen and my two young children, Lucy and Jack.

Published in 2003, “Lewiston In The Lumbering Era” is a 101 page book about the beginnings of Lewiston, Michigan and operations of the Michelson and Hanson Lumber Company.

Tom Nanzig recently had his third Civil War title published by the University of Alabama Press. “The Civil War Memoirs of a Virginia Cavalryman: Robert T. Hubard, Jr.”

Nanzig’s first book, “Third Virginia Cavalry” (H.E. Howard Inc., 1989) led him to these unique and insightful memoirs written shortly after the war by a college-educated, junior officer in the same regiment. Considered too long to include in his regimental history, Nanzig returned to the Hubard memoirs after completing his second book “The Badax Tigers: from Shiloh to the Surrender with the 18th Wisconsin Volunteers” (Rowman & Littlefield Pub. Co., 2002).

Writing of the Hubard memoirs, a Charleston, S.C., book reviewer states, “Of the tens of thousands of men who joined the Union and Confederate armies, very few recorded diaries during the war or penned reminiscences afterward. Of the few who recorded their memoirs after the war, even fewer wrote them while their recollections were still crisp. Robert T. Hubard Jr., who completed his “journal” on Dec. 3, 1866, was one of these rare soldiers. Hubard rose from the rank of private to lieutenant and adjutant of the 3rd Virginia Cavalry Regiment. He was well-educated and articulate, and within his reminiscences and letters the reader will find insight into life in mounted service in the Army of Northern Virginia.”

Tom Nanzig lives in Ann Arbor and is the editor for Genealogy and Local History materials and the manager for the Books on Demand program at ProQuest-CSA.