RE Log Fall 2018

4 Ransom Everglades LOG )$// From the Pagoda As this issue was about to go to press, we received the heartbreaking news of the death of Dan Leslie Bowden, who changed the course of students’ lives and inspired all who had the privilege and pleasure of knowing him during his 63 years at Ransom Everglades. At the time of Dan’s passing, I had already written a letter for these pages, and it was focused on the word that graces the cover of this magazine: Gratitude . As I absorbed the news about my dear friend and mentor, it occurred to me that that word – gratitude – remains apropos. When I think of what Dan has meant to our students, our faculty, this school DQG LWV YHU\ UHSXWDWLRQ DQG KLVWRU\ JUDWLWXGH RYHUÀRZV Please see the letter I sent to the RE community at the front of this magazine on the day of Dan’s passing, which is also the date I am penning this letter. Please also see Dan’s obituary on page 87. By the time this magazine arrives to your mailbox, we hope to have set a date for a joyous Celebration of Life of Dan Leslie Bowden. Please check our special web page ( https://www.ransomeverglades.org/page/dan- leslie-bowden-1929-2018) for more details. 'DQ ZRXOG KDYH LQVLVWHG WKDW WKH QHZV RI KLV GHDWK QRW VHW XV Rɣ stride. He was grateful for Ransom Everglades School, and the army of friends he had built here. He would have wanted us to honor those who loved the school as much as he did. And so we do in this magazine. Gratitude is a wonderful motivator, and it represents a common theme among those featured in these pages. The most admirable people are often the most genuinely grateful. When we recognize that are privileged, we seek ways to give, and especially to give back. There is no better example than Katherine Swenson Kahan ’61 , an irrepressibly joyful and profoundly kind woman who for decades has lived out the essence of an Everglades School for Girls education. She has devoted her life to helping the less fortunate in New York City, particularly underserved children, through her advocacy. What makes her story so poignant is that the Everglades School was founded, quite literally, on her behalf: her parents were Ed and Marie Swenson, and they wanted to ensure that she and other girls in Miami received an education equal to that RɣHUHG DW WKH 5DQVRP 6FKRRO IRU ER\V DQG ERDUGLQJ VFKRROV LQ WKH Northeast. Katherine, whose story is told beginning on page seven, remains deeply grateful for the opportunity her parents and the Everglades School for Girls provided. We couldn’t think of a better way to honor her than by asking Timothy Greenfield-Sanders ’70 , the extraordinary portrait artist and Ransom School alumnus who was featured in the fall 2017 issue of this magazine, to take the cover photo. A perfect tribute! Stephen Sawitz ’75 learned the restaurant business – and gratitude – from his mother, Jo Ann Weiss Sawitz Bass. The fourth generation in his family to run the iconic Joe’s Stone Crab restaurant on Miami Beach, Steve brought talent, respect for tradition, innovation, thoughtfulness and deep gratitude to the helm of Joe’s. The family tradition of taking care of people, whether customers or employees, predates the restaurant’s reputation for stone crabs, extending to the founding of Joe’s by Steve’s great-grandparents in 1913. (Story page Everlasting Gratitude “Gratitude is a wonderful motivator, and it represents a common theme among those featured in these pages.”