1970s
Carl Henry Reynolds IV '70
Carl Henry Reynolds IV '70, a systems engineer and computer science teacher, was born on February 21, 1948, in Providence, RI. The eldest child of Carl H. III, a data processing manager for IBM, and Mary Ann Rogers Reynolds, he grew up in Chappaqua and Poughkeepsie, NY, and was graduated from Oakwood School in Poughkeepsie. Carl Reynolds entered Hamilton in 1966, but remained on the Hill for only a year. Having decided that a larger institution would be more suited to his needs, he transferred to the State University of New York at Buffalo. There he majored in history and was awarded his B.A. degree in 1970.
Carl Reynolds stayed on at SUNY Buffalo as a graduate student and assistant in the department of educational psychology, and earned an M.Ed. degree in 1973 and a Ph.D. in 1974. That year, he joined the faculty of Boston College, where he taught educational and psychological statistics until 1978. Thereafter he settled permanently in the Rochester, NY, area and went to work in computer systems sales for Hewlett Packard. He remained with that company for a number of years as a systems engineer in programming and data processing. He was later associated with other technological firms, and, most recently, was a visiting professor of computer science at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Carl H. Reynolds IV was residing in Rochester when he died on March 20, 2008. In addition to his mother and his wife, Constance Valk, he is survived by two sons, Carl H. V and David Reynolds, born of his previous marriage to Julie Diez. Also surviving are three brothers and three sisters.
Craig Arthur Mengel '75
Craig Arthur Mengel '75, a business entrepreneur whose religious dedication led him to become an ordained minister late in his life, was born on March 25, 1953, in Binghamton, NY. The elder son of Arthur H., a district sales manager, and Betty Mae Heiple Mengel, he grew up in the Albany area and came to Hamilton in 1971 from Guilderland High School. Craig Mengel, who had been a senior patrol leader in the Boy Scouts and a counselor at YMCA summer camps, was fond of the outdoors and enjoyed hiking and camping. Also active as a youth group coordinator in his church, religion became an important part of his life early on, and he entered the College with thoughts already of a future career in the ministry. It was a goal he would eventually attain by a circuitous route.
Highly personable and reflecting a maturity beyond his years, Craig Mengel had an intellectual curiosity and enthusiasm that endeared him to Hamilton faculty members and classmates alike. He had a wide variety of interests, including athletics, and he played football and ran track on the Hill. In addition, he served on the staff of radio station WHCL and, long interested in filmmaking, created a film in 1974 on religious life at Hamilton and Kirkland. An independent study project, it was entitled Means. A member of Delta Upsilon and a recipient of the Hadley S. Depuy Campus Service Award, he majored in religion and was graduated in 1975.
Craig Mengel went on to the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, where he earned an M.S. degree in radio, television, and film in 1976. The following year, after doing some free-lance filmmaking, he went to work for Consolidated Edison, producing and directing video training programs for that New York utilities company. Married to Claudia Kaufmann, a painter and printmaker, on September 15, 1979, he remained with Consolidated Edison until 1981, when he joined with a Newhouse School classmate, Jeffery J. Silverstein, to found Fusion Media, Inc., a communications firm "specializing in the design and production of interactive videodiscs and computer-based visual information." With its innovative use of technology and drawing upon Craig Mengel's dynamic salesmanship as vice president for marketing and later president, it soon had an impressive roster of major corporate clients for its multimedia advertising presentations.
In 1992, after 15 years in New York City, Craig Mengel moved his business, along with his family, to Westport, CT. He later held an advisory position with Chase Manhattan Bank as vice president for creative services. While commuting to Manhattan, he struck up a friendship with a fellow commuter, Vincent Mullineaux, who in 1996 invited Craig to join him in a new venture. With other principals they launched Millennia III, a firm designed to assist corporations in identifying and solving potential computer problems in connection with the calendar shift to the new millennium (generally known at the time as Y2K). As its vice president for marketing, Craig remained with the highly successful consulting company until its projects were completed at the end of 1999. He then moved on to new entrepreneurial ventures, utilizing his expertise with Internet technology.
Some of the activities, business and otherwise, that Craig Mengel subsequently explored were tied to his church, Norfield Congregational in Westport, where he was head deacon and leader of its Bible-study group. In 2000, he began missionary trips abroad with a summer visit to Ecuador. Through the years he was also highly supportive of Hamilton, lending his expert advice on the College's Internet projects, such as the alumni Website (HOLAC), by chairing the Alumni Council's ad hoc online committee. For his generous support and numerous volunteer activities on Hamilton's behalf, he received the Alumni Council's College Key Award in 2001.
Craig Mengel's engaging personality and contagious enthusiasm for the projects he undertook overlay a profound spiritual commitment as well as love of family that sustained him until the end of his life. Last spring, not long before his death, he was ordained as a United Church of Christ minister. Ill with cancer, he continued to enjoy the company of his host of friends, including college buddies such as members of Steak Nite, the campus band in his day. Only days before his death, they visited the bedridden Craig to play blues and rock for him, as well as tell stories and reminisce about their time on the Hill.
The Rev. Craig A. Mengel, surrounded by his family and a few close friends, died at his home in Westport on May 11, 2008. It marked the end of a long illness, which he bore with great fortitude as part of life's journey. In addition to his wife of 28 years and his parents, he is survived by two daughters, Sarah D. and Rebecca A. Mengel, and a brother and sister.
