Two recent books from JHU alumni.

Soon after Taylor Hanex started playing the family’s Baldwin piano, it became clear that she had the talent, fortitude, and mind to become a professional musician. Those gifts (and her parents’ dedication) carried the pre-teen to the Peabody Preparatory, and later, to receive her bachelor’s from the Peabody Conservatory in 1975 and her master’s in piano performance in 1978.

The procession up the stone stairs of the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s headquarters building in Alexandria, Virginia, was steady and sure, owing as much to accomplishment as to age. At the front was Zalman Shapiro, age 89, who had come for a ceremony to formally award him his 15th U.S. patent.

Like most college seniors, Nirosha Mahendraratnam, A&S ’09, spent her last year at Homewood thinking about the future. But she wasn’t pondering her next step. Instead, as co-chair of the Senior Class Gift, she focused on what her class could do for the next generation of Blue Jays.

Frances and Lenox Baker, both A&S ’63, Med ’66, felt compelled to take a stand that at Johns Hopkins, the pursuit of research and academics–in collaboration with patient care–would remain a driving force of the institution.

Back from the war in 1946, Bill Ginder, Bus ’54, spent his days lifting tinplate for the American Can Company and his nights studying for a bachelor’s degree in business at Johns Hopkins. The schedule was challenging, but those night school classes led to success during the day–and a stellar 40-year career.

Updates from the classes of 1939 through 2009.

Notes of Johns Hopkins alumni who have passed on.