Editor: Keith Davis Writers: Dave Maley Publisher: Office of Public Information Volume 22, No.18  July 10, 2000

Alumni Association Honors Five during Reunion Weekend The Ithaca College Alumni Association recognized four distinguished graduates and a former longtime administrator at the association’s annual Reunion banquet on June 3. Honored for their contributions to the institution were the late Ben Light ’36, M.S. ’47; Fred Seither ’50, M.S. ’51; Jonathan Hazman ’90; Paul Baum ’90; and Robert Deming. From left to right: Graham Stewart, Office of Alumni Relations director; Fred Seither; Jonathan Hazman; Laverne Light; David Fleisher, Ithaca College Alumni Association president; Ithaca College president Peggy R. Williams; and Robert Deming. Not pictured: Paul Baum. Light received the Distinguished Alumni Award, which recognizes loyalty and long-standing service to the College. A standout player in football, baseball, and basketball as a student, Light was hired as a faculty member and coach after he graduated in 1936. He left to serve a tour of duty in the U. S. Coast Guard during World War II and returned to the campus in 1945 as an assistant professor of physical education. In 1952 he was appointed to the newly created position of director of admissions and placement, and seven years later he was named secretary of the College. In this role he became one of the key figures in the move from the original downtown location to the present South Hill campus, and his work with board members, fellow administrators, architects, contractors, and state and federal loan agencies was instrumental in expediting the building program. In 1968 Light was appointed the College’s first vice president for development. Also that year the College’s main gymnasium was named in his honor. He was inducted into the Ithaca College Athletic Hall of Fame a year later. He died in 1971 at age 59. Seither was given the Lifetime Achievement Award, which is presented to graduates who have performed with distinction at the highest levels of their professions. Now a resident of Union Springs, Seither served the Saugerties, New York, school district for 27 years. He started as a teacher and coach at Saugerties High School in 1957, and in 1964 he was appointed athletic director, a position he held until his retirement 20 years later. He coached varsity wrestling and football, and in the early 1960s he led the Saugerties football squad to three consecutive undefeated seasons. He also assisted in coaching varsity track and was the junior varsity baseball and basketball coach. During his tenure as athletic director he added boys’ tennis, golf, and soccer as well as girls’ volleyball, basketball, softball, and track to the Saugerties sports program. A group of his former athletes established a scholarship in his name, and the annual Seither Charitable Golf Tournament in Saugerties is named in his honor. Seither is a member of the Saugerties Sports Hall of Fame as well as the Ithaca College Athletic Hall of Fame. Baum and Hazman were honored with the Outstanding Young Alumni Award, which is presented to graduates who have achieved exceptional professional success and who have graduated in the past 2 to 10 years. Baum is the president and founder of Rumarson Technologies, a computer-recycling concern in New Jersey; Hazman is the president of White Marsh Dialysis Center in Baltimore. Baum, a management major, started his business in 1992 in a one-bedroom apartment in Hoboken. His idea was to buy old computers from major corporations and refurbish them for resale. Five years later Inc. magazine ranked Rumarson Technologies as one of the fastest growing companies in the United States, with a net worth in the millions. Located in Kenilworth, New Jersey, Baum’s company employs some 35 people in a 105,000-square-foot facility. Hazman, a sociology major, started White Marsh Dialysis Center in Baltimore in 1997 to provide kidney dialysis patients with more personalized treatment than the kind offered at some of the larger franchise facilities. Before that he had been involved in the administration of two other businesses — a company that silk-screened T-shirts, which he started while still an Ithaca College student, and George’s National Beef Company, his family’s concern. In 1998 Hazman was named young entrepreneur of the year by the U.S. Small Business Administration’s district office in Baltimore. Deming received the James J. Whalen Meritorious Service Award, which recognizes distinguished achievements and contributions to the College by nongraduates. Deming, who has a bachelor’s degree from Colgate and a master’s degree from the University of Houston, had served in various coaching and administrative positions at other institutions before being named athletic director at Ithaca College in 1980. At that time Ithaca teams had won a total of two national championships. During Deming’s 17-year tenure, Ithaca went on to win national team titles in baseball (1988), field hockey (1982), football (1988, 1991), women’s soccer (1990, 1991), and wrestling (1989, 1990, 1994). During that time the College produced 505 all-Americans. In addition to his administrative duties, Deming also held numerous leadership positions in professional organizations, including president of the Eastern College Athletic Conference and chair of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Division III Football Committee. He also served two terms as president of the Independent College Athletic Conference. He retired from the College in 1997 and currently lives in Hamilton, New York.

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