WELCOME
Meet the Challenge!
Hello, classmates!
With our reunion only a few months away, we have an exciting new challenge presented to us that would leave a lasting legacy to the future of Colgate.
A group of class members have offered to make a generous gift of $550,000 to Colgate when:
- 75% of our Class of 1975 (284 classmates) makes a gift of any amount to any campus program, and
- 26 classmates join the Willow Society by reunion weekend.
See our stats below for how many more classmates we need to meet this challenge. For more information, visit our Class Gift page.
Class Participation Rate: 48% (183 donors)
The class has set an ambitious giving participation goal of 75% (284 donors). This includes outright gifts in any amount, to any designation made in this fiscal year (July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025). Please note that pledges and planned gifts are not included for participation purposes.
Presidents’ Circle Members: 28
The Presidents’ Circle provides philanthropic leadership and vital support for Colgate. We hope to reach 55 new members from our class. To be eligible each year, members of the class of 1975 would give at the leadership level of $2,500 or more.
To learn more about our 50th Reunion Class Gift and how you can help us achieve our goals, please visit the Class Gift page.
Current Willow Society Members: 14
The Willow Society recognizes hundreds of loyal alumni, parents, and friends who have made estate plans, life-income arrangements, and life insurance and IRA beneficiary designations for Colgate. We hope to reach 26 new members from our class.
If you have included Colgate in your plans, they will count for the 50th reunion gift, and we encourage you to let the Planned Giving team know by emailing plannedgiving@colgate.edu.
How to Make a Gift to Colgate
Online
colgate.edu/makeagift
Phone
1-800-668-4428
Mail
Colgate University
P.O. Box 313
Canajoharie, NY 13317-0313
For more information
Visit www.colgate.edu/give/ways-give or contact Jen Stone, Class of 1975 Staff Fundraising Liaison, at jstone@colgate.edu.
We’ve been waiting 50 years to say this:
REGISTRATION for our 50th Reunion IS OPEN!
See our Events page for more details.
Questions about registration? Contact Colgate at alumni@colgate.edu.
Stories from Our Past
Read how Colgate’s ski team “The Suicide Five” earned their name.
If you have a story to share that is not in our Reunion Book, send it our way!
Our Class of 1975 Reunion Book is Here!
Our Reunion Yearbook commemorating 50 years since our graduation is now available online. We are excited to share this digital version with you, and a printed version will follow in the mail later this spring. You received an email from Colgate on March 1 with the password. Please save the password so that you can read the book at your leisure. No changes can be made to the book as it has gone to print.
We enjoyed putting our book together and hearing from so many of you via profile submissions, photos, and in memoriam reflections. We hope you enjoy reminiscing while discovering what our classmates have been up to throughout these years, and that the memories will encourage you to come to Hamilton to renew acquaintances.
We look forward to reuniting with all of you under the tents on May 29 to June 1, 2025.
Warm regards,
The Class of 1975 Reunion Yearbook Committee:
Bill Conley, Scott Dittman, Janice McSherry, and Bob Orenstein
Picture this
Photo Gallery
- All Photos
- Campus
- Colgate Days
- Graduation
- Misc
- Post-Colgate Days
- Reunions
25th Reunion Chip McAteer, Jim Bilbo, Al Bombard, Rita Everts Chamberlain
Cynthia McDonnell, Penny Rabinokoff, and me at 20th Reunion 1995 from Janice McSherry
Buttons NYPIRG-Hunger-Intl Women's Year from Bob Orenstein
Save Old Bio pin, from Bob Orenstein
Colgate 1975 commencement valedictory Ron Marshall
Ray Andrews & Larry Alpert, from Larry Alpert, visiting players and a coach of the New York Mets (1973). Ed…
Visit the Photos page to view the full photo gallery.
Got photos to share?
Upload them on the photo submission page.
Reunion Radio
13 Songs You May Have Heard on WRCU, Vol.4
These songs bring us back to our days when we were transitioning from our role as the most experienced high school students to novice college freshmen embarking on an unknown experience ahead.
For the playlists and instructions on how to listen to them, visit the Playlist page.
If you have any suggestions for our 50th Reunion or would like to volunteer on the committee, please write to us at 50threunion@colgate1975.org.