Mystery Classmate 073

Congratulations to Leslie Rush Cuda, Staci Blagovich, Coleman Brennan, Adam Neilly, Maureen Mahoney, Amy Baer Davie, Kelly O’Connor, Angharad Grimes Stock, Ron Ways, and Chad Calabria, all of whom correctly identified Mike Killen ('82) as Mystery Classmate #73 and are listed in the order that their responses were received.

In case you were wondering, Mike is the co-founder of Animal, a Pittsburgh-based creative agency specializing in broadcast post-production, visual effects, editing, and talking animals. After graduating from Carnegie Mellon, Mike moved to New York and became Design Director for the MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour. A fellowship with the American Film Institute took Mike to Hollywood, where he spent several years as a designer and animator, developing a diverse portfolio of visual effects that appeared in commercials, film, and television. Mike’s most widely seen work to date is the memorable Taco Bell talking Chihuahua, voted by TV Guide readers as one of the top ten commercials of all time.

Many classmates had fond memories of Mike. Ron Ways had a particularly nice story. Ron wrote, “His family and mine were best of friends on Sharon Drive when he was young. A quick Mike story.... When he was young, he hit his head very hard on a Jeep door and split his head open. Instead of complaining of pain, he slicked back his hair with his blood and said "Look!......I'm David Bowie" His dad was not impressed and Mike spent the next two hours in the hospital getting stitches. Great guy, great family. Tremendous burper.”

Maureen Mahoney noted that Mike seems to appear in the local papers almost as often as Burton Morris.

Greg Markantone guessed Brian Killen. Leslie Rush Cuda couldn’t decide between Mike and Ray Killen, but I cut her a break.

John Lees guessed Jimmy “Wrong Way” Fossick. Leann Impavido Mendenhall guessed Jack Bender. Donna Andreas guessed Craig Davis.

Milton Koutavas guessed Ronald Lippock. Jerry Koutavas guessed Frank Comunale.

Carrie Schadle wrote, “i have no idea who that is (as usual), but i found it interesting that last week's mystery classmate (i do remember kevin, but joel not so much) lives in austin and works at oracle, as i live in austin, and my best friend's boyfriend (now that sounds like high school) works at oracle here. i guess it is not that interesting, but it has been so long since i knew anyone, i thought i'd better get my two cents in, plus i have a question directed at my friends from high school (you know who you are) who might remember if we decided to define a passel as a number divisible by five, or if there is some actual authority for that somewhere. i have been arguing with some friends down here (they use words like passel with a straight face here in texas) and can't find anything that actually says a passel has to be divisible by five.”