Mystery Classmate 111

Congratulations to Coleman Brennan, who correctly identified David Kotler (’86) as Mystery Classmate #111 (well, not really, but more on that later).

In case you were wondering, it was originally believed that David is an attorney with Dechert LLP, based in Princeton, New Jersey. He was thought to be a partner in Dechert's financial services and securities litigation group, advising and representing clients in a wide range of complex corporate and commercial litigation matters involving the financial markets, contracts and business torts. It was claimed that he represented a number of clients in class actions arising from the purchase/sale of securities and in derivative actions.

David was thought to be a member of the Bars of New York and New Jersey and admitted to practice before the United States District Courts for the District of New Jersey and the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York; the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Second, Third, and Federal Circuits; and the Supreme Court of the United States. He was believed to be a member of the American Bar Association, Section of Litigation, Trial Evidence Subcommittee (Case Columnist).

Finally, it was believed that David holds a B.S. from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations and a J.D. from the New York University School of Law, where he was Staff Editor of the Annual Survey of American Law.

Coleman Brennan considered Bob Bender before deciding on David Kotler. Greg Markantone guessed Stanley Kuznicki. Bill Stout guessed Ken Shriber.

Paul Rodgers guessed Len Rinchiuso. Scott Silverman guessed Alan Checca. Debbie Faskow Feller guessed Ed Roeder.

Amy Gongaware Senkow guessed Brad Drago. Donna Andreas Copley guessed Ken “Mr. 300” Fetsick. Jerry Koutavas could not decide between Craig “Faygo” Prentice, Scott Rosenfeld, Ross “Ducky” Finestone, and Jim Davliakos, whom Jerry noted is of Greek descent.

Dave Weidenhamer considered Monte Moreschi, and then decided it was Rosario Colucci. Finally, after several mojitos, Dave amended his guess to Hank Azaria.

One week later, after the identity of Mystery Classmate #111 was revealed, Steve Landay wrote, “Who told you this was Dave Kotler? Were there TWO David Kotlers in our school? Because the ONLY one I knew sat right in front of me in Home Room and I'm still friends with him today. Who the HELL is this guy??? HAHAHAHAHA”

I sent Steve a link to the website where I found the David Kotler pictured, and added, “You might have been able to convince me that it's not Kotler, except that Coleman guessed him, and as I remember that is what he looked like. At least the David Kotler I knew. Maybe there are two? In hopes of resolving this I am ccing Coleman AND David Kotler on this email. Why not forward to the other Kotler, if there is one, and we all can debate it.”

We never heard back from Coleman, or from the attorney David Kotler, but after a few more rounds of email, I received the following:

“Hi everyone, this is (David) Kotler, Churchill Class of '85. I have two sister Kotlers who also went to Churchill ('83 and '81), but as far as I know, I am the one and only David A. Kotler who went there. (The originally pictured) Kotler, the successful attorney from New Jersey, is obviously taking advantage of our name, similar good looks, and age to make people believe he is me. This is quite understandable given my current part-time employment status as operations manager for the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh!

”Coleman, I'm flattered you attributed such success to me, but...

”I will send a recent picture soon to show the resemblance (despite my current long hair and goatee)!”

The second photo is the real Kotler.

In a related development, Tabitha Husted Riggio wrote, “David Kotler was a very nice guy - from my bus stop. It is nice to see that he is successful.”