Less than 24 hours after a drenching nor’easter rolled up the East Coast, 50 Colorado Academy alumni gathered for a mid-October reception in New York City. The event was hosted by Head of School Dr. Mike Davis and CA alumnus Paul Raether ’64 at the Manhattan offices of KKR.
Raether and former classmate Tom Wynbrandt ’65 had a hearty reunion; they had not seen one another in decades. The class years of graduates in attendance spanned more than half a century. Will Bomgaars ’18, now a Sophomore at New York University, was happy to see CA friends, including Charlie Wallace ’18, who is now a Freshman at Columbia after his gap year studying in both Beijing and Shanghai, China.
This was the second New York City reception hosted by Raether, whose name is well known at CA for the Raether Library. The library anchors the south side of Stamper Commons and serves both Middle and Upper School students. After attending CA, Raether obtained a BA from Trinity College and an MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth. He also served as an officer in the United States Navy and then launched his professional career in corporate finance. He joined KKR in 1980. Today, KKR is a leading global investment firm.
Dr. Davis thanked Raether for his hospitality and the alumni in attendance for their ongoing support of CA. He also gave a brief presentation about the state of the school and CA’s new mission statement, as well as updates on current capital projects and programmatic innovations.
New York resident Tom Cowperthwaite ’81 says he hasn’t been back to campus in some time, while Connecticut resident Roger Freeman ’86 says he is at CA at least once a year while visiting his nearby in-laws, the parents of his wife, CA alumna Mi-Sun Cho-Freeman ‘88. No matter how often these alumni return to campus, many talked about the lifelong connections they formed at CA.
