Deceased July 24, 2012
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In Memory
Mike was born in the Bronx and raised by his mother in Jersey City, N.J. The family was not well off financially; Mike worked part-time jobs from an early age. He worked summers in the Catskills, before and after matriculating, definitely contributing greatly to Mike’s expression of humor. We remember him as the Gordon Linen Service representative for all four years at Amherst, and he worked at Valentine, becoming probably the class’s first “grey coat.” Mike had been thinking pre-med. Until Physics 22, that is! Both of us bombed the first exam. Dean Wilson called each of us to his office; I was told improve the grade or lose my scholarship. Mike was told that he “must be working too many outside jobs” and had his scholarship increased!
Mike went to Columbia Law School and on completion clerked for a New Jersey Superior Court judge. Then he joined Okin and Pressler, ultimately becoming a named partner. He left that firm to start his own, took a partner, and in 1983, Scherby and Atkins merged with Contant, Contant, Schuber and Meehan. Mike retired to Florida in 2000.
Mike was quietly very proud of his accomplishments. Rick Robinson ’58 remembers a time in the swimming pool at Mike’s Florida house, and Mike musing to him: “Not bad for a kid from Jersey City!”
Michael A. Saltman ’58