Announcing the 2010 List of Distinguished Scarsdale Alumni

Since 2005, the Scarsdale Alumni Association, in a joint effort with the Scarsdale High School, has honored 68 Distinguished Alumni. On Saturday, October 30th everyone is invited to attend a ceremony to honor the 2010 Distinguished Alumni. The event will take place in the Brewster Road lobby of Scarsdale High School at 10:30 AM.

Refreshments will be served at an informal party in the High School cafeteria. All guests are invited to stay and meet the Distinguished Alumni.

The 2010 Distinguished Alumni honorees are:

Dan Biederman, ’71 Urban Management Pioneer: Dan Biederman is this generation's Frederick Law Olmsted. Perhaps more than any other New Yorker, Biederman has changed the face of Manhattan. A magna cum laude graduate of Princeton University and an MBA with distinction from Harvard, Biederman took on the seemingly impossible task of erasing graffiti, ending crime, and bringing New Yorkers and New York visitors back to the parks. He co-founded Bryant Park Corporation in 1980. His efforts there reversed the decay that marred New York City in the 1970's. Today the Bryant Park Corporation is the largest effort in the United States to provide private management with public funds for its parks.

Elissa Brown ’86 – Psychologist, Treating Traumatized Children: Dr. Brown is a psychology professor and licensed clinical psychologist who currently teaches at St. John's College of Arts and Sciences. Previously she was on the faculty of Mount Sinai School of Medicine and New York University School of Medicine. Outside of the classroom, she has studied the treatment of traumatized children and published widely on that subject. Elissa is the founder of the Bereavement Project, which she created following the tragic attack on the United States on 9/11.

Steve Durst ’61, Galaxy Exploration and Development: While most of us are just starting to adjust the idea of the twenty-first century, Steve Durst is light years ahead of us, sponsoring global conferences to raise Galaxy Consciousness. Durst's International Lunar Observatory Association in Hawaii is the headquarters for his pioneering work which includes an association with Stanford University to promote a "Stanford lunar presence in the coming years."

Matthew Kahn ’84, Scholar in Environmental Economics: Matt is one of America's leading environmental economists. He is a professor at the UCLA Institute of the Environment, the author of over 75 papers and a number of books including Green Cities: Urban Growth and the Environment and Heroes and Cowards :the Social Face of War. The Christian Science Monitor publishes his blog entries.

James Reiffel ’61, Physician: Jim Reiffel is a professor of Clinical Medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons where, since 1999, he has been the Director of the Electrocardiography Laboratory. In addition he has written widely on his field including papers on the impact of new antiarrhythmic drugs on physician's practice, new weapons in the war against stroke, and the challenges of managing older patients with atrial fibrillation.

Howard Bloch ’61 French Scholar: A Sterling Professorship is the highest academic rank at Yale University. It is awarded to a tenured faculty member considered one of the best in his or her field. Howard Bloch professor of French holds that honor. He has written scholarly works on the Bayeux Tapestry and recently was honored by the French Government for his efforts to deepen American/French relations.

Professor Bloch has also performed his share of administrative duties, serving as Director, Division of the Humanities at Yale. Finally he has edited a number of journals in his field including publications of the Modern Language Association.

Henry Fountain ’72 – Science Editor, New York Times: You might recognize Henry's important writing on the terrible oil spill this past summer. That writing is one part of an ongoing effort to inform the readers of the New York Times about the intersection of science and everyday life. Since 1995, Henry has been an editor on the national desk of the Times and has written a weekly column, the Observatory, about recent scientific findings. Among the varied topics he has addressed are arthritic cane toads, worm grunting, and poison ivy and climate change.

Alan Schwarz ’88, Sports Journalist, New York Times: In high school, Alan Schwarz borrowed a short quotation from Chief Justice Earl Warren for his Bandy quote. "The sports page records people’s accomplishments. The front page, nothing but their failures."

In college at the University of Pennsylvania, Schwarz majored in mathematics and covered sports for the Red and the Black.

Today, with Alan Schwarz leading the way, sports writers are finding their articles on the front page. Take Schwarz's rich and important series of articles on concussions for example. In addition to leading kid football to take a closer look at injuries, his writing has come to the aid of professional football players, and not just the super stars.

He has already been announced as the winner of a sports journalism prize and has been nominated for a Pulitzer Price.

Andrew Ross Sorkin ’95, Journalist, Financial Analyst, TV Star: If only Andrew Ross Sorkin had written Too Big to Fail before the financial crash. Of course that is asking a little much of a New York Times financial journalist. Instead, his readers can judge for themselves, listening to him on the Charlie Rose Show or on his appearances on CNBC.

Today, Sorkin still looks like a wunderkind. Andrew is the founder and editor of DealBook, a financial news service, published by The Times.

Timothy Seymour ’84, International Finance: In a class with an extraordinary number of talented young men and women involved in international finance, Tim Seymour stands out. After graduation from Georgetown University and an MBA in international finance from Fordham University, Seymour moved to Moscow in 1998 where he founded Troika Dialog USA. At the time he left that company, it was the largest Russian brokerage operating in the United States in a number of areas.

Convinced that emerging and developing economies will continue to outpace the growth of developing economies, Seymour continued to operate successfully in the financial world, first as a Managing Partner of Red Star Asset Management, and most recently as the founder of Seygem Asset Management.

Seymour also contributes his wit and understanding to CNBC.