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Making News in the Big Apple

While members of the New York Association of Wabash men gathered at the Amsterdam Whitney Gallery, owned by Alton Amsterdam III ’71 and his wife, other Wabash alumni were making news in the Big Apple.

Wabash Trustee Fred Wilson ’69 took a new turn in his distinguished 30-year career in retailing, moving from his position as president and CEO of Donna Karan to become president and CEO of Saks Fifth Avenue.

Bill Wheeler ’83 was named the chief financial officer of MetLife, one of the world’s largest providers of insurance and financial services.

And filmmaker Ted Steeg ’52 made the New York Times, lauded as "the Steven Speilberg of Civic Duty" for his documentary that is seen by more than a million prospective jurors a year in New York courtrooms. Your Turn, completed in 1997, is narrated by television personalities Diane Sawyer and Ed Bradley and "jumps from re-enactments of ancient practices to mock courtroom scenes, all designed to explain the historical importance of the jury system while laying out the rules of the game."

The film was so successful that Ted was asked to make a sequel for grand jury members.