Kamp Kohut in Oxford, Maine

Kamp Kohut Alumni Page

Welcome to those of you searching for Kamp Kohut.  Lately, more people have been looking for this page.  Maybe you were inspired by the recent 100th Birthday Reunion that took place in August 2006 on the shores of Thompson Lake.

Here you will find information that was originally gathered for the "Kamp Kohut Alumni Page" that was hosted on the servers of George Washington University during 1997 to 1999. The bulk of this information was gathered in 1997 and 1998, and between 1999 and November 2004, it was not available on the Internet. Now it's back. It is current as of February 2, 2009. If you'd like it updated, click on the "comments" link at the bottom of the page, or send an e-mail using the link at the upper right of the page. 

A Brief History of Kamp Kohut
(through 1998)

Kamp Kohut was founded in 1907 by G.A. Kohut on Lake Sebago, in Maine. In 1911, Kamp Kohut moved to its current location on the shores of Thompson Lake in Oxford, Maine. Kamp Kohut became a successful boys summer camp. In 1931, G.A. Kohut died. When World War II began, Kohut served as a training camp of some sort. Also, as we remember from the plaque in the dining hall, at some point in the 1930s it was "herewith recorded that a hail storm of unusual destructive force caused much damage and alarm."

We're not clear on what happened to camp after G.A. Kohut's death, but in the 1940s and 50s, Kohut was owned by Harry Reeder and Harry Kugel. Then, around 1956, the camp was sold to Benny Friedman, who was once an all-American college football player. The end-of-the-summer tradition of College Days had already been begun at this point.

In 1968, Benny sold Kohut to Ed Trenner. Ed and his wife Noreen were beloved, and Kohut prospered under their leadership.

In 1978, a tall, bald man named Malcolm Itkin, who had previously been the waterfront director at Camp Takajo, came on board as co-director and began to buy the camp from Ed on an installment basis. Eventually, Malcolm became the sole director. 

Following the controversial summer of 1982, European car stereo tycoon Jay Bauer bought Kohut as a Bar Mitzvah present for their son Sasha (who subsequently changed his name to Stephen). Malcolm remained director.  (We know the most about this time, because that's when we were at camp.)

Jay Bauer put a lot of his resources into Kohut. New tennis courts were built, the baseball diamond was redone, the lodge was renovated, and the exterior of the theater was redone. Also, all the staff got light blue sweaters, polo shirts, and new watches. Alas, it was not to continue for long.

In 1985, Bauer sold his son's present to the infamous Fred Greenberg, owner of many camps in the mid-Atlantic region which were rumored to be poorly run. Greenberg also owned Camp Mataponi, a nearby girls camp which became Kohut's sister camp. Greenberg left Malcolm in command. Enrollment soared while resources declined. In 1986, enrollment peaked at 180 and it rained almost all the time. By 1987, enrollment was down to a more reasonable 150.

At the end of the summer of 1989, Malcolm announced his resignation as "head counselor," a title he had kept for himself while he was director. Joe Long and Jeff Clowes were to be the new head counselors. For reasons that remain unknown to us, during the summers of 1991 and 1992, everything collapsed. It seemed that at the end of the summer of 1992, Kohut was closing for good. If you can explain what happened to us, please e-mail or comment.

Fortunately, however, during the subsequent winter, Kohut was purchased by Lisa Tripler, the daughter of Trip Tripler who had been waterfront head under Ed. Lisa, a former head counselor at nearby Camp Fernwood, made Kohut a co-ed camp. We spoke to Lisa at that time, and she struck us as very friendly and enthusiastic.

In 1998, a camper found an earlier version of this site and gave us the following information:

Today Kohut remains a co-ed camp, although all activities are non-coed. Boys and girls only interact at dances, theater productions, and mealtimes. Naturally, romances develop under the Thompson Lake sunsets, but this is discourage it Last summer there were 130 campers, 95 of whom stayed for all eight weeks. Girls live on the Fairfield-Noble side of the camp, and boys are on the Andover-Exeter side. Senior area is still open for boys. College Days continues, though now there are only two teams each summer. Each team has three captains, two girls and a boy or two boys and a girl. College Days still "breaks" in spectacular ways. Several years ago, the "break" occurred when the captains emerged from a sea plane. In 1997, the Oxford fire department hosed the whole camp down with soapy bubbles. Joe and Jeff are the head counsellors at Kohut today. Everyone at camp wears uniforms (even Joe).

We recently received several e-mails from current Kohut campers assuring us that they still have the time of their lives at camp. We're glad. It seems that Lisa has done a great job of rescuing Kohut from the oblivion it faced in 1992.

In 2006, Kohut celebrated its Centential.  It remains a co-ed camp with four-week sessions (though we hope one day to send our children for eight!)

If you have any new information, please e-mail, and we'll post it.

Kamp Kohut Alumni News

Adam Brownstein graduated from Georgetown University and George Washington University Law School. He practices law in Philadelphia, where is lives with his lovely wife Erica.

David Lee graduated from Dartmouth College. He helped run Dick Swett's almost-successful campaign for U.S. Senate in New Hampshire and then worked for U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Cal.). He got his MBA from Dartmouth and new works in Washington.

Rob Lenner lives in Boca Raton, Florida. He ran an up-and-coming summer teen tour company.

Cliff Enten left New Orleans and moved out to Colorado. He's now one of Denver's most successful workmen's compensation attorneys. If you're injured on the job, call him. Also, he'd love to ski with you if you're out West.

We e-mailed Joe Long in 1998, and we were thrilled he responded. Joe still works at Kohut; when he wrote to us, he was "off to KK in two weeks time -- once more with feeling." He tells us that Mike Ward has been at Kohut for the past few summers. Josh Smiles, Elihu Selter, and Jon Greenberg have all dropped by in recent years. And, get this, Ira Platt is teaching riflery during the summer of 1998. Joe lives in Ireland.

Mike Nadel graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and George Washington University Law School. He practices constitutional law at McDermott Will & Emery LLP in Washington, D.C., where he is a partner.

Neal Cohen graduated from Swarthmore College. Sources told us that he was in Israel and was apparently considering becoming a rabbi. But now we hear he is a lawyer.

Jason Newmark graduated from Union College and went on to get his Masters in Health Administration from Washington University. Jason is now in Houston working as an administrative fellow at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. In 1998, Jason sent us news about a number of Kohut alumni. Doug Brown lives in Winter Park Colorado, where he works for the ski area. According to Jason, he has grown 8 inches and gained 30 pounds since we last saw him. Jared Selter also graduated from Union College, and he is now in medical school in New York City. Randy Pellish is in medical school at the University of Massachusetts. Jason is also in touch with Andy Gitelson, who says hello. Jason traveled to Europe with Andy Schneider, and they ran into Brian Schmier at a Dave Matthews concert. Jason Epstein also went to Union, and he now lives in California and has his own computer company.

Brian Newmark, Jason's brother, went to Penn State, which happens to be Malcolm Itkin's alma-mater. He is "loving school and is 100% different than when you last saw him . . . about 5'11" and 175 lbs." Brian is in charge of a huge fundraiser at Penn State called Dance Marathon.

In late 1997, We had dinner with Drew Zimmerman and his lovely then-fiance Patti Holtry. Drew lives in Caldwell, New Jersey. He was working as a night dispatcher at a trucking company while he studied at Caldwell College to be a social studies teacher.

Josh Greene graduated from Harvard. In 1997 he began working towards his Ph.D. in philosophy at Princeton, which he has since completed. "I get to contemplate 'The Good' and have assorted deep thoughts," he wrote.

Danny Greene goes by "Dan" now, but he'll always be "Danny" to us. He went to Columbia University, where he majors in Urban Studies. In early 1998, he got together with Josh Zemel and Eli Cohen. They had a great time reminiscing about Kohut memories. Josh went to Dartmouth. He visited Kohut during the summer of 1997 on his way back from seeing Phish in northern Maine. Eli went to Colby College. He was thinking of becoming an English teacher.

Dan Barash graduated from the University of Rochester. He went to law school and became a public defender. Tragically, Dan passed away in 2004.  He loved Kohut and even earned a five year jacket.

Dave Barash lives in Rockville, Maryland, with his wife Shari, and his two young children Seth and Leah.  He earned an MBA from George Washington University and works for the federal government writing compensation policies on pay and leave. 

February 1998 brought e-mail from Brian London, who was at Kohut from 1986-1991. In May 1998, Brian graduated from the University of Miami, where he majored in broadcasting and political science and minored in philosophy. His hoped to get into sports broadcasting. Brian wrote: "When I was a second year senior, we realized that the Kamp in its then present form wasn't going to be there much longer. We -- along with David Peterson -- buried a time capsule under a big tree root in senior area.....I would love to see if it is still there." Brian would love to hear from Scott Rubin, Sean Elias, Stuart Greenfield, David Sawyer, Mike Zarren, and Ira Platt. We remember all of them and would love to hear from them too.

Dave Weights returned to the east coast in 1998 after spending six years in California. He thinks of his three summers at Kohut often.

Adam Budnick graduated from Penn. He got his MBA from Columbia. On May 10, 1998, he married Heather Fava. They own a home in Belmont, Massachusetts.

"Leo Canoe" Wertin remembers "rocketing across the country in the old '51 Chevy" to enjoy "the fabulous summer of '68 when [he] held forth on the waterfront." After Kohut, Leo served in Vietnam. He remembers Stewart Rosenthal and Billy Weiner.

Grant Epstein recalls that in the 1960s recalls membership in "the Kohut Pines. It was an elite membership of campers. One would be 'tapped' into it: someone would tap another of the shoulder if they were chosen for membership." He lives in Miami Beach, where he is in real estate.

Back in the 1950s, Jim Golanty spent several years at Kohut. Today he lives with his wife in Denver, where he works at Norwest Bank. Jim remembers that the staff back then included Mac McCormack, Bill Nigel, Leon Sherkur, Frank Musinsky. His bunkmates included Ken Luchs, Brad Schwartz, Don Hootstein, Mike Sherman, Ozzie Jacobson, Richard Rosenthal, Micky Slotkin, and Bob Shaye. He adds, "I guess I'll never forget Boris Zigelbaum from Caracas." He fondly recalls dances at Tripp Lake, golf at Poland Springs, bus trips to Bar Harbour and something called "The House of Lords."

Aaron Finkle, whose brothers Steven Finkle and Richard Finkle also went to Kohut, lives in New York City with his new bride. He is the managing editor of Telecom Financing Week. He is still in touch with Kohut alumni David Faber and Eric Schaffer, and he writes, "I also took a Tango class with Danny Trenner's partner and hear Ed is doing great.

John McDonald, who was a counselor and administrator from 1973 to 1982, lives in Lawrenceville, Georgia, with his wife Cindy, his dog Bonnie, and his "enormous black-and-white cat named Kuhkuh." He is a highschool German teacher, and he is active in community theater.

Jeff Kuskin graduated from Dartmouth and then got his Ph.D. in electrical engineering at Stanford. He now works for Silicon Graphics designing high-end computer systems. He visited Kohut in October 1996 and found it pretty much as he'd left it fifteen years earlier. He writes, "I'd be pleased to hear from other Kohut folks."

Andrew Turner found our site. He worked at Kohut for four summers back in the 1970s. He still e-mails with Lenny Cole, who is teaching in Maine. He also gets Christmas cards from Ed & Noreen Trenner. (How come we don't?) Andrew is hoping to track down Alan Henderson, a "mad Scotsman who was a legend in his years at Kohut."

Jon Fink lives in Boston where he works as a designer and representative for a contract furniture company. He writes, "I would love to hear from any staff or campers from the early 70's especially Jeff Poritzsky, Danny Cahn, Gary Simon, Gary Tover, Scott Tripler, Mike Blank (Canadian) etc."

John Lucker attended the University of Rochester. He is now an insurance executive. He lives in Simsbury, Connecticut, with his wife and his three boys. He sent us a great e-mail recounting many Kohut memories, including waterskiing on Thompson Lake, golfing at Poland Springs, hiking and canoeing around Maine, College Days (he was captain of the 1976 Oklahoma Sooners), and a tornado which he says destroyed part of the camp. He also tells us that Scott Tripler (Trip's son, Lisa's brother) attended college and medical school at the University of Rochester and is now a practicing physician.

We recently received e-mail from Carol Fleischer of New Zealand. Her father Henry Fleischer and his brothers George Fleischer and Richard Fleischer were at Kohut back in the 1920s. All three brothers have now passed away, but Carol is trying to research their personal histories.

Richard Neuman graduated from high school and college, and he in 1998 he lived and worked in Aspen, Colorado, where he rooms with David Martino.  His brother Marc Neuman married Beth Kallet in October 2004.  Her mother went to college with ours!

Jeff Clowes worked at Kohut in 1998. To our knowledge, Jeff lives in England with his wife Julie Archer-Clowes and their children Ben and Jessica. Sources tell us that Ben was a globally ranked tennis player.

According to the Martindale-Hubbell legal directory, Manfred Sternberg is CEO of an information technology company.

We also learned from Martindale-Hubbell that Geoff Harrison graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. He went on to the University of Chicago Law School, where he was an editor on Law Review. He is a partner with a law firm in Houston. We're impressed -- but not surprised.

Ken Levy is a physician in Philadelphia. Jon Levy lives in Los Vegas. We've heard he is involved in stadium construction. Both are married.

Dave Peterson lives and teaches in Maine. During the summer he works at hockey camp.

Ron Winot sent us Christmas cards every year, and one of our bunkmates sent him one every year.  In 2005 it was returned by his parents with the terrible news that he had passed away.

Malcolm Itkin lives in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, with Sue and their children. Is he plotting his comeback?

Comments

[Seella]

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[honda-radio]

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[steven rubella]

ah, memories, we all have them.

[Brian London]

Man
Just happened to be googleing away on the computer and I find this. I remember sending in that email 10 years ago..wow..has it been that long. Update: I am a sports update anchor, sports talk show host down in Miami on WQAM- AM..I also am a broadcaster on the University of Miami Radio Network, serving as sideline reporter for football (with out the Erin Andrews looks), studio host for basketball and play by play for baseball. I'm married to the former Alison Wolinetz and we have a 5 month old son Zachary Seth who I am convinced will end up at Kamp Kohut. Last I heard my bunkmate Mike Zarren was working for the Boston Celtics and I think I read that David Sawyer was a comic, or something like that. It seems odd that we were all at camp more than 20 years ago. Also good to see there's a Kamp Kohut page on facebook.com ...saw Stuart Greenfield on there. I'm just happy I was in it long enough to get my 5 year jacket.

[Doug Grater]

Doug "Dougay" Grater here....Stumbled on this site and noticed many names that I remember...I was a camper i think 79-83...wittnised the Ed to Malcolm transition gone bad years...Kind of caught the tail end of the true "golden era" and entered the down years. Names I remember....Scotty Fatcher, Michael Cohen, Levy bros, Astrachans, Goldscmidt, Big Stan our baseball coach and his brother steve,Mitch Brainson my boy, and many nameless others. Loved playn Baseball there....beating Takajo and Samoset was the best!!!! We drove home so excited I'll never forget the feeling getting cokes after the big wins! I now live in good ole Brooklyn owning and operating 3 hip denim clothing shops.Anyone who remembers me please feel free to drop me an email anytime....love the memories of my time there.....douglasgrater@yahoo.com

[Martin Berlin]

Just stumbled on the KK site while looking for info on Kohut School (which I also attended).
Went to Kamp Kohut 1944-1951, so Dean Gitter's post brings back MEMORIES!I remember they used to cut blocks of ice out of the lake in the winter, and use it all summer long, storing it in the ice house. And Mr. Frederick sweeping the tennis courts with birch branches tied to the back of his 1937 Ford. My name is somewhere on the boards in the rec hall.

[alan mace]

Hi My name is Alan Mace. I was at Kohut in 72, 73, 74 .75 and 77. I was involved with Stuart Jardine in running the tennis dept. Do you remember the Fenton brothers? In 1972 I was in Milford with a large group of 12 year olds! Please pass on my good wishes to all Kohut alumni. I remember Scott Tripler, Rich Pickard, Alan Henderson, kyle & Todd Permut...... so many faces but so hard to recall the names. I believe Callum Kennedy now runs Camp America.

Does this link still function?

[Aspen Parrott]

My name is Aspen Parrott and I was a camper for 4 years I think...It was the greatest experience of my life...just wanted to say hi to everyone...miss u all!!!

[Sylvia Parkhurst]

Do you have any information of a Bertie Parkhurst who was living (working at Kamp Kohut in August 1914.

I found a postcard that was sent to him from his brother. addressed:

Mr. B. Parkhurst
c/o Kamp Kohut
Oxford, Maine.

Thanks

Sylvia

[A Facebook User]

Hi- Steve Miller here. Kamp Kohut 1945-1958.
Kenny Kuchs and I are looking for ex Kohut Kampers living or wintering in the Palm Beach Area who would be interested in a "reunion" in the warmth of Florida. Please contact me.

[Steve Miller]

Steve Miller here - I was a camper from 1945 through 1958. I was barely past my 6th birthday that first summer. My counselors were Jack Bobka and Murry Pearlstein ( who was called to active service during the summer of 45). Some of bunk mates were Sandy Reder, Harry Sisson, and Dicky Press. My close friends were Kenny Luchs, Mike Diamond, Jimmy Eichberg, Dicky Goldstein, and Teddy Rubin. I am still in touch with many former campers in the Boston area: Donny Hootstein, Harvey Allen, Bobby Rubin, Jerry Sack, Bruce Swerling, and Mark Harmon.

[Bob Rinehart]

Hi....looking for Caddick or Joe ("Too ra loo ra loo ra") Long, or even Dick ("oink, oink, it's breakfast!") Meltzer. From the infamous early 80s. Cheers, Bob Rinehart.