Brooklyn Friends School -> Alumni -> Alum Profiles

Darrick Hamilton is an economics professor at the New School University Milano School for Management and Urban Policy, but he's also an outspoken social scholar focused on race, wealth and poverty, testifying earlier this year before the Congressional Black Caucus (pictured; photo via newschool.edu). A member of the Brooklyn Friends School Board of Trustees, he was also the recipient of the 2011 George Fox Distinguished Alum Award and gave the keynote address at graduation this past June.

	Alum Profile: Ellen Chaitin '66
	Ellen Chaitin's childhood "argument skills," combined with a social conscience groomed in part at BFS, set her on the path to becoming a judge in the California Superior Court.

	Alum Profile: Curtis Nystrom '02
	Curtis Nystrom '02 took the rare step, for a BFS student, of heading south after graduation for sunny Miami and an unexpected route to the music industry. After some major successes this rebellious rocker has returned home to Manhattan to work for an unusual music-related nonprofit.

	Alum Profile: Stephen Wermiel '68
	He started out writing about the Supreme Court for BFS' former student newspaper The Life. It spawned a decades-long career covering the court up close for the Boston Globe and the Wall Street Journal, and his co-authorship of the acclaimed book Justice Brennan: Liberal Champion.

	Alum Profile: Camilla Church Greene '60
	An anti-racism public school reformer speaks frankly about being BFS' first African-American K-12 student, and of a lifetime spent bucking tradition.

	Alum Profile: Adam Distenfeld '81
	Adam Distenfeld '81, an acclaimed sculptor, is as direct and outspoken as much of his stone work, including his newest piece commissioned by The American University.

	Alum Profile: Dena Douglas '83
	Kings County Civil Court judge and former Federal prosecutor Dena Douglas received this year's George Fox Distinguished Alumna Award for exemplary service to the community and to the school.

	Alum Profile: Ian Phillips '78
	In the Easy Rider era Ian Phillips felt lucky to be known as the kid who got to come to school on a motorcycle. Today he's an environmental expert working to solve contamination crises on a daily basis.

	Alum Profile: Peter Laughter '89
	A member of the Board of Trustees and a practicing Quaker actively involved with the Brooklyn Meeting, Peter Laughter has come a long way from his rough and tumble days in Alphabet City.

	Alum Profile: Richard Frost '47
	Dick Frost lives in Hamilton, New York and winters with his wife in Santa Fe, but this accomplished historian still tenderly recalls his days as a young man about town in Brooklyn.

	Alum Profile: Yolanda Pierce '90
	She grew up in Clinton Hill--pre-gentrification, that is--and by age 30 she had earned a doctorate and become a tenured faculty at Princeton. At the 2009 BFS Commencement, where she was presented with the George Fox Distinguished Alumna Award, Dr. Pierce spoke of BFS' continuing impact on her life, specifically attending Quaker Meeting for all those years.

	Alum Profile: Robert Audi '59
	In Lower School he learned the importance of mutual respect, understanding and academic seriousness. Today Robert Audi is a noted philosopher, author and Ethics Chair at Notre Dame.

	Alumni Profile: Robert MacCrate '39
	He's had a distinguished career in law and government, yet some of Robert MacCrate's fondest memories take him back to Brooklyn and Friends School.

	Alumni Profile: Ife Vanable '99
	Encouragement at BFS and a summer program at Cornell for high school juniors set Ife Venable on a career path that combines architecture with service.

	Alumni Profile: Peter Trachtenberg '70
	Author of the critically acclaimed The Book of Calamities, Peter Trachtenberg began writing seriously at BFS and never stopped.

	Alumni Profile: Julian Palmer '78
	Julian Palmer learned about social activism as a BFS student in the 1960s and 70s and carried that commitment into his professional life.

	2008 April — Tom Dougherty

	2008 February — John H. Leo ’92

	2007 December — Beth Burns Punzi ’82

	2007 October — Marjorie McKinley Bhavnani ’57