Class Notes

Catch up on classmates, housemates, faculty, and friends.

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Marking career and personal achievements, special milestones and the birth of future Queen's alumni - Class Notes helps you stay in touch with former classmates, housemates, and faculty.

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  • 2000s

    Angie Vanderwees

    鈥 Artsci鈥09

    Winter 2023

    Angie is the author of Fostering Resilience: Anecdotes and Affirmations from a Therapist and Fellow Human. Angie is now a local registered psychotherapist, yet she has always aspired to be a writer, beginning as an English major at Queen's. Angie is a former creative writing student of Dr. Carolyn Smart. In Fostering Resilience, Angie reflects back over her life to recount personal struggles, noteworthy experiences, and remarkable adventures, while embarking on a new journey to become a psychotherapist. Valuable lessons from training and practice 鈥 including quotes from various other works 鈥 and healing strategies from her own personal therapy are shared in this inspirational piece. The book includes eight positive affirmations that are expanded on through strategies based in acceptance and commitment therapy and positive psychology, which can easily be adopted by the reader in a self-help format.

  • 1970s

    Simon Leibovitz

    鈥 Artsci/Ed鈥79

    Winter 2023

    After a 44-year career, mostly in education, Simon has recently retired from RTOERO, the provider of exemplary insurance plans, advocacy, social networking, and communications for retired members of the educational community in Canada. Simon retired on Dec. 15 as the Chief Administrative Officer at RTOERO, after a 22-year career with the 55-year old organization. He and his "new" wife Mary 鈥 they were married July 2022 鈥 are looking forward to travelling and spending more quality time together. Simon will also have more time to spend with his father and stepmother and his twin adult sons.

  • 1990s

    Scott Reeder

    鈥 Sc鈥91

    Winter 2023

    Scott Reeder, MD, PhD, is a physician-scientist in the Department of Radiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he has been on faculty since 2005. He joined UW after completing his residency training at Stanford, and medical and graduate school at Johns Hopkins. In addition to his clinical and administrative duties, Scott leads the UW Liver Imaging Research Program, an NIH-funded group developing and translating advanced imaging methods, particularly quantitative MRI biomarkers of diffuse liver disease, into clinical practice. In January 2024, Scott was appointed the John H. Juhl Professor and Chair of Radiology at UW, and is excited to take on this new challenge.

  • 1990s

    George Jeffrey

    鈥 Artsci//Ed鈥92, MBA鈥03

    Winter 2023

    George Jeffrey is the new CEO of Canadian Orthodontic Partners. He has been in this post since September.

    鈥淕eorge is a gifted leader with a remarkable track record who has thoroughly impressed us since day one,鈥 said Brian Chambers, COP Board Chair. 鈥淚t鈥檚 no overstatement to say he鈥檚 given us reason for great big smiles since joining our passionate and talented team. We鈥檙e delighted to have him on board and act as a founding co-chair of our Doctor Advisory Council.鈥

    Experienced in scaling up businesses and fostering strong cultures of performance, purpose and team spirit, George recently helped launch Laser Clinics Canada, part of the world鈥檚 largest network of advanced medical aesthetic clinics. Before that he was Senior Vice President at McKesson Canada, where he oversaw the growth and development of a network of more than 2,600 pharmacies 鈥 a $3.8+ billion business unit. Prior to entering the healthcare sector, he played similar roles at leading international brands in retail foodservice and food processing industries.

    鈥淚 could not be happier,鈥 said Jeffrey. 鈥淚 have always focused on delivering smiles inside and outside of the organizations for which I鈥檝e worked. The only difference is that now it鈥檚 official 鈥 I鈥檓 joining a team that builds self-esteem, one beautiful smile at a time. I鈥檓 wholly aligned with our purpose, values, and our mission and see clearly that docbraces is blessed with a strong team of doctors, clinic, and administrative teams, who share a common passion for the field of orthodontics, service experience, and innovation.鈥

    The creation of a Doctor Advisory Council, the brainchild of both Jeffrey and Dr. Robert  Hatheway, serves the purpose of reinforcing the company鈥檚 mission and its nature as a patient centric, doctor partnered operating network. 

  • STEPHEN BRODSKY, CLASS NOTE

    1960s

    Dr. G.W. Stephen Brodsky

    鈥 Arts鈥69

    Winter 2023

    Steve Brodsky, CD, MA, Victoria; DPhil (Litt.) York (U.K.) savoured condolences from his loving and beloved spouse Kit and family for passing his 90th birthday in November 2023. Following his military and pedagogical academic careers, he has continued to write and publish in his areas of specialty (ample online entries). He has recently embarked on a nonagenarian project: a last book, Intimations of Joseph Conrad, in which 鈥渟ightings鈥 of Conrad鈥檚 presences attest to his preeminent place in Eastern Europe鈥檚 political conscience and in the broadened literary canon. The book explores Conrad鈥檚 abiding modernist influence internationally on 20th century and current postmodern novelists, as well as on screenwriters, playwrights and craftspersons in marine, manual, and plastic arts. Nearing completion, Intimations will be a coda to a creative life, which truly began 60 years ago when the gates of academia at Queen鈥檚 opened for a soldier who knew only of 鈥渋gnorant armies that clashed by night.鈥   

  • 1980s

    Rolf Boon

    鈥 Mus鈥80

    Winter 2023

    After 34 years as a post-secondary educator, as a composer with national and international performances, and as an administrator, Rolf has retired.

    He has composed over 80 works in the instrumental, choral, jazz, film, orchestral, computer, and electroacoustic mediums. Additionally, he composed, performed, and produced all the music for the 1995 Canada Winter Games. Rolf has also composed the score for eight short films and served as music editor on three feature films and 11 documentaries. Several works of his are featured on five CDs, and he has received over 18 grants and awards in the areas of research and recording.

    Rolf has served as Chair for three different departments in two different institutions and was instrumental in the development of two nationally and internationally recognized programs 鈥 the Interactive Digital Design program at Northwestern Polytechnic and the Digital Audio Arts program, co-developed with Dr. Arlan Schultz, at the University of Lethbridge (U. of L.)

    Additionally, throughout his career, he has been active on numerous boards and industry-related national boards (CMC) and juries (i.e., Junos and ACTRAs). His abilities and passion for teaching were recognized by the Alberta Colleges鈥 Faculty Association鈥榮 Provincial Teaching Excellence Award. He also served as a Teaching Fellow at the U. of L.

    At Queen鈥檚, he studied with Dr. Clifford Crawley (composition), Dr. Bruce Pennycook, and Dr. Ireneus Zuk (piano) for his bachelor鈥檚 in music degree. Rolf is grateful for their mentorships, which no doubt contributed greatly to his many academic and artistic successes.