Karl Barth

Current Home City: Drexel Hill, PA (soon to be Sitges, Spain)

Your College: Arts and Sciences

Tell us what you’re doing with your life:
I stayed in Ithaca for a few years working for a local IT company. 35 years later I was done with IT and have been working with my brother on his seat filling company, SeatStir. I’ve lived in North Carolina, California, New Hampshire, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. My wife is retiring this spring and we are moving to Spain, where we will see the sun 300 days a year.

In what year did you last set foot on the Ithaca campus, and what was the purpose of your visit?
My youngest son and I were with fellow Ultimate Frisbee alum Jim (EHAA) Gaarder ’79, just a couple of years ago. We saw a lacrosse game (beat Yale) and a women’s hockey game (lost to St. Lawrence, I think). We went into the Straight library and found a picture of me in ’77. Ugh!

List your favorite class(es) while at Cornell.
Number one has to be Sagan’s astronomy class. My younger brother came up a couple of times and sat in on the lectures. I also really enjoyed Prof. Holcomb’s physics class on energy. He was the father of a fraternity brother and a great teacher.

Which piece of information or advice did you pick up while a student at Cornell that has been useful in the past 40 years?
My first day on campus as a freshman, there were students outside the Straight handing out flyers with calling card numbers – to make long distance calls and charge them to government agencies like the Defense Dept. That’s when I knew I wasn’t in Los Angeles any more.

Which piece of advice or information turned out to be completely WRONG?
My dad spent a couple of years at CU as a Hotelie in the 50’s and he said WVBR played classical music during exam week. Um, no. Not in 1973, anyway.

Provide your favorite memory of your time at Cornell.
Road trips. Some were to Boston for hockey playoffs. I am very glad to be a founding member of the Buds, Cornell’s ultimate frisbee team. Our road trips were almost insanely thrown together with chewing gum and baling wire, but we pulled them off. I still have friends from those days and enjoyed all of the adventures in the early days of college ultimate.

Tell us about the most interesting things you’ve done since 1977.
I was lucky to do some great business travel in the 80’s and 90’s. I went to England, France, Holland, and Australia, as well as many parts of the US. I met my wife on a business trip, in fact. We have 4 great kids and two fun grandkids. We’re moving to a beautiful part of Spain this summer and we’re not particularly fluent in Spanish.

Share any random or surprising encounters with Cornell or Cornellians since you left.
We had a fabulous reunion for all members of the men’s and women’s ultimate frisbee teams in honor of the 40th anniversary of ultimate at CU. It was outstanding to see so many wonderful men and women who’ve worn Cornell uniforms over the years. It was a treat to chitchat with so many teammates from back then!

What advice would you give to a member of the Class of 2019?
Now is the time to try new stuff. If you want to learn German or go to Mongolia or run a 5k backwards, do it. Oh yeah, and if you need funds or university signoff on something, go ask for it. You never know – they might let you play ping-pong in your dorm for gym credit like they did for mine.

Do you have a favorite memory from a Class of 1977 reunion?
I’ve only been to one – it was 20 and it was fun. Joe Reina wasn’t married. Bill Nye was Bill. Corky was Corky.

What are you looking forward to at our 40th reunion in June, 2017?
Seeing some friends. Walking around campus in nice weather. As a student, I used to work at the reunions – it’s more fun to attend them!