45th Reunion Info
Y. Stephen Yamamoto
12250 82nd Lane N
West Palm Beach, FL 33412
561.207.7109
Y_S_Y@yahoo.com
Since graduating from UW-Madison with a BS in chemistry and Penn State with a PhD in the same field, I’ve gone on to try just about everything.
I began as a research chemist for Eastman Kodak company, then decided on the ivory towers of academia and went to Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) as an associate professor of chemistry and director of the co-op program for the College of Science.
After a record snowfall hit upstate NY, I moved to Florida as senior editor of Ullmann’s Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, a publication of the German Chemical Society. The job allowed me to travel extensively in Europe as well as enjoy the Florida sunshine. Unfortunately the company didn’t sell enough encyclopedias, so moved the entire operation to Germany. I moved to Delaware and the DuPont Company, where I worked on chemical databases, scientific publications, patents, and eventually the internet.
In 2003 I took early retirement and returned to S. Florida, where I purchased an acre of fruit trees and coconuts in West Palm Beach. I’ve had odd jobs at various tennis clubs managing the pro shops and teaching juniors and also as adjunct professor of chemistry at community colleges in Broward and Palm Beach counties. But mostly I’ve been tending the garden and some investment properties as well as relaxing on the beach and tennis courts.
Last year I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and had surgery at Johns Hopkins in Feb. I have since been considering turning my backyard into a Japanese healing garden and opening it to cancer patients as a place to come for peace and meditation.
My son, Michael, graduated from RIT with a degree in computer networking and has been working in the Boston area.
While in Madison, I played with the Madison Scouts drum & bugle corp, so it’s nice they scheduled a reunion at the same time as the class of ’61.