Güner Görgün Çilesiz ACG 50

Güner (Görgün) Çilesiz ACG 50 passed away peacefully at home on January 17, 2026.  Following ACG, Güner studied English philology at Istanbul University and eventually taught English to international relations majors there for many years.  After raising two daughters with her husband Ayhan and retiring, traveling all over the world with him and socializing with her friends, including her ACG classmates, became her main hobbies. 

Güner was a determined, talented woman who excelled at whatever she put her mind to.  Observant, resourceful, and fiercely loyal to her friends and family, she rushed to their aid whenever needed.  She treated everyone with respect and had little tolerance for arrogance.  Even as she was robbed of her memory in recent years, she remained adept at logical thinking, considerate of those around her, and appreciative of their support.  She was true to her core until the end.

Rest in peace, Mom.  You will live in my heart forever.

Yeşim Çilesiz Richardson RC 84

Engin Övet Çağlan RA 61

Our dearest classmate Engin Övet (the unforgettable Yeşilçam Celebrity Film Star Engin Çağlar) was sadly separated from his beloved wife Filiz (former F. Vural, Turkish Beauty Queen of 1970 and Miss Europe of 1971) and two sons Çağlan Övet Jr. and Eser Övet, after a tragic road accident.

He was a very good sportsman, a good swimmer and a good footballer. He played football in the RA Varsity Team and later in the Galatasaray Junior Team. After he left RA he finished his high school education at Şişli Terakki, then studied Interior Architecture in Germany.

During his military service in the Navy, he had plenty of time to wish his dreams to be an actor and enter the movie world, to become true. He participated in the “SES” magazine’s film star competition and became second. Thus, the Turkish cinema gained a new very handsome star.

Çağlan’s father Sadık Bey had a printing press, in which they published school books and maps. After his father’s death, Çağlan took over the business and ran it for long years.

We will miss him very much and he will always live in our memories.

Contributed by Classmates Demir Toros and Faruk Dölay  

Taylan Özdemir Aydın RC 21 Secures Funding For Startup

Flyway Health Does AI- Based Data Analysis The seed of Flyway Health was planted when Aydın and his co-founder and college roommate Andre Biehl realized the magnitude of the data analytics gap between what was being done and what was actually possible in the phatmaceutical space with agentic applications. Success followed after hard work, and their company secured a one-million dollar investment before they even graduated. A seed round of three million dollars followed within the same year. Aydın offers a strategic perspective to RC students tempted to leave school early for the startup world: “One reason to stay is that college can function as an informal startup incubator. It’s a place where you can build and fail dozens of times before finding something that naturally sticks, without the full pressure of the outside world. At the very least, you might meet a friend and a future cofounder, just as I did. Enjoy your high school, college years, and keep building!” Reflecting on his foundation at Robert College, Aydın credits both sides of the RC curriculum for his success: “When it comes to technical problem-solving, I owe my intellectual rigor to the mathematics and science teachers at RC,” he explains. “But when it comes to understanding people—interpreting what a client truly needs beyond what is explicitly said—I owe that to the breadth of my social sciences education. From literature to philosophy, my teachers encouraged open discussion, questioning, and nuance in how we  approached ideas and people.”

Author Hikmet Hükümenoğlu RC 89 Forays Into Theater and Film

And has a new novel out!

Award-winning author Hikmet Hükümenoğlu wrote his very first play, Fora, which premiered in IKSV Theater Festival in November 2025. Hükümenoğlu’s interest in theater harks back to his RC days. He wrote and directed his first play for the Turkish Drama Club in his senior year: “That’s when I really caught the bug,” he recalls, “or as we say in Turkish, sahne tozu.”

After writing fiction, what motivated him to turn to playwriting was his long-standing love for the medium: “I’ve always loved theatre and wanted to explore its unique ability to connect directly with an audience. As for the subject matter of Fora—dysfunctional families have more or less become my niche by now. It still feels endlessly rich and relevant to me.”

The play’s premiere at İKSV Theater Festival was attended by a large group of RC alumni, and Hükümenoğlu describes the event as one of the most exciting ones of his life: “It was a great honor. As a teenager, I used to wait in ticket queues for hours just to attend the festival, so being part of it now felt both surreal and deeply meaningful.”

2025 brought another excitement into Hükümenoğlu’s life: Hükümenoğlu’s first procedural crime novel, Sonra Gözler Görür, (Eyes See Later, İthaki Yayınları), had created quite a stir, and it was adapted into a series to be streamed on Netflix. Hükümenoğlu says the possibility of the novel turning into a series had crossed his mind, as he was writing it: “I certainly wasn’t expecting it to happen so quickly. My main focus was writing an engaging and compelling procedural novel. The series feels like the icing on the cake.”

A frequent guest of the RC Turkish Literature Department, Hükümenoğlu says he is always struck by RC students’ self-confidence, maturity, and intelligence: “Even the students nodding off in the back rows somehow look like they’re deeply engaged with what I’m saying—which I choose to take as a compliment.” With his latest novel, Bu Dünyada Yaşamak (Living in This World), released in January 2026 , there are plenty of reasons for the author to visit the campus once again.

Güvenç Özel RC 98 Exhibits Neuroflux in Istanbul

The installation creates a shared space between human and algorithm.

Güvenç Özel is an award-winning architect, artist, technology expert, and academic. He is widely recognized as a leading figure in the use of Extended Reality (XR) in architecture, as well as in interactive robotics and machine learning. Özel was in Istanbul for the 20th Contemporary Istanbul Art Fair that took place in September 24-28, with his work Neuroflux.

Özel explains that this piece is a conceptual evolution of a previous work, Holoflux, which he exhibited at Coachella in 2023: “While Holoflux focused on creating a spatially immersive environment, Neuroflux turned that exploration inward—toward the relationship between human cognition and machine intelligence. For this iteration, I used my own hand sketches and collages as the training material for the algorithm, embedding my visual sensibility into its generative logic. The process became a feedback loop—each machine-generated output informed a new round of manual drawings and digital manipulation. This continuous exchange blurred authorship, creating a shared creative space between human and algorithm. The title Neuroflux captures that neurological entanglement: the merging of human thought and computational flow into a single evolving aesthetic system.”

Özel credits RC for shaping his ability to think across disciplines: “RC instilled a form of intellectual curiosity that was both analytical and imaginative. That foundation made it natural for me to move between architecture, technology, and art—fields that now converge in my work. RC encourages independent inquiry, which is essential for anyone exploring a multidisciplinary path.”

For RC students looking to study interdisciplinary art or who are interested in the intersection of algorithms and art, Özel offers this advice: “I’d emphasize learning both the logic of systems and the nuance of human expression. Study code and computation, but also philosophy, literature, and visual culture. The most transformative ideas arise not from technical mastery alone, but from the ability to translate between intuition and computation. Interdisciplinary art today is about shaping new forms of intelligence—where creativity itself becomes a shared act between culture and technology.”

Duygu Nahum RC 08 Appointed to Key Leadership Position at Kurtsan

Duygu is now the general manager responsible for commercial operations.

As of October 2025, Duygu Nahum has stepped into the role of  general manager responsible for commercial operations at Kurtsan.  A 70-year-old institution, Kurtsan continues to play a pioneering role in Turkey’s consumer health sector. Nahum values her role deeply, joining a distinguished line of  family members and professionals who have contributed to Kurtsan with dedication and rigor.

Nahum finds her role both meaningful and energizing, as it revolves around supporting people’s health every day.  Through brands like Otacı and Roll, she focuses on providing holistic solutions across individuals’ lifelong health journeys—science-led, nature-inspired, and technology-backed.

Nahum credits her time at RC as a significant asset to her professional life: “Beyond its reputation and esteem, the discipline and resilience I gained at RC have shaped my sense of responsibility, perseverance, and leadership—values that continue to guide my professional journey.”

Demir Karamancı RC 48

Demir Karamancı, one of Turkey’s most distinguished industrialists and the founder and honorary chairman of Karamancı Holding, passed away at the age of 97.

After graduating from Istanbul Robert College, Karamancı moved to the United States in 1948, where he pursued his studies at the University of Texas and later earned a master’s degree in Business Administration from Temple University. Upon returning to Turkey, he established Karamancı Holding and transformed it into one of the country’s leading industrial and export groups, with operations spanning textiles, pipes, roofing materials, energy, ready-to-wear apparel, and agricultural production. The group includes Orta Anadolu Tekstil, a long-established Kayseri-based company and one of Turkey’s prominent denim producers.

Widely known for his philanthropic commitment, Demir Karamancı was actively involved in numerous social initiatives and charitable causes. He was among the founders of several prominent institutions, including TÜSİAD, TEMA Foundation, Turkish Kidney Foundation, and the Yıldız Palace Foundation.

The Robert College community remembers him with respect and gratitude.

Ali Başak Karatay RC 61

We learned with sadness of the passing of Ali Başak Karatay on 24 November 2025.

A distinguished logician, philosopher, and educator, Ali Başak Karatay played an important role—together with Teo Grünberg—in introducing modern approaches to logic in Turkey. Born in Istanbul in 1941, he studied law at Istanbul University, where his growing interest in logic led him to Grünberg, who became a key intellectual influence. Despite having no formal training in philosophy or logic at the time, Karatay was admitted to the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned MAs in both philosophy and mathematics in 1971. He later joined the Algebra and Foundations of Mathematics program at UC Berkeley, then led by Alfred Tarski, before returning to Turkey for mandatory military service.

Between 1974 and 1987, Karatay taught mathematics and philosophy at Middle East Technical University and Boğaziçi University. He subsequently completed his PhD in Philosophy at Syracuse University in 1999 and joined the Philosophy Department at Boğaziçi University, where he continued to teach and mentor students even after his retirement in 2008.

Ali Başak Karatay was widely respected for his intellectual rigor, humility, and dedication to teaching. He is survived by his wife, Professor Canan Karatay, MD, and his son, Mehmet Karatay.

This notice was prepared with the contributions of colleagues and friends.
(Alp Eden RC ’76; Gürol Irzık RC ’73)

With condolences from the Robert College community.

Vilma Yüzbaşıyan Gürkan RC 74

We share with sadness the passing of Dr. Vilma Yüzbaşıyan Gürkan RC 74, who died in April 2025 due to medical complications following treatment for a recently discovered cancer. Her loss marks the departure of a distinguished scientist, a dedicated educator, and a beloved presence within the many communities she enriched throughout her life.

After graduating from Robert College in 1974, Vilma continued her studies in biochemistry and later moved to the United States, where she built a remarkable academic career. At Michigan State University, she served as a Professor in the Departments of Microbiology, Genetics & Immunology and Small Animal Clinical Sciences. Her pioneering research on zinc–copper interactions helped establish the standard treatment for copper toxicosis and played an important role in the early development of the Canine Genome Project. Her work provided foundational insights into the genetic basis of cancer, advancing both veterinary and human medicine.

Vilma’s contributions extended far beyond her research. She was a thoughtful and committed mentor who guided generations of graduate students with clarity, patience, and warmth. As Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies and long-time director of MSU’s Comparative Medicine and Integrative Biology Program, she was known for her leadership, integrity, and her ability to create supportive academic environments where students and colleagues alike could thrive. Those who worked with her often recalled her combination of intellectual rigor, compassion, humor, and her remarkable ability to make others feel genuinely valued.

Vilma is survived by her husband, Suat, and her son, Jonathan. She leaves behind a legacy of scientific achievement, mentorship, and humanity that will continue to inspire everyone who had the privilege of knowing her. Her absence will be deeply felt.

Robert College joins her family, friends, colleagues, and former students in honoring her memory with respect and gratitude.

Christopher Wadsworth, Head of School (1993-2001)

Christopher “Chris” Wadsworth, 85, passed away peacefully on Saturday, November 22 at his home in Lexington, MA, after a long struggle with Parkinson’s Disease. He leaves behind a legacy of accomplishment, generosity, humor, and unwavering love for his family. Born in Boston on June 18, 1940 and raised in Winchester, MA by Phillip and Elizabeth Wadsworth, Chris grew up alongside his older sister, Virginia.

After attending Philips Andover Academy, Chris was accepted to Harvard University where he studied American History, played on the JV tennis team, sang with the Harvard Krokodiloes, and developed friendships that would last a lifetime.

Following graduation from Harvard, Chris spent a year as a teaching fellow in history at Philips Andover and then returned to Harvard for six years, first in the Office of Admissions and later as an assistant dean in the Freshman Dean’s Office. During this time, he also obtained master’s degrees in history and education.

As a youthful 29 year old, Chris took on his first leadership role in education, becoming Head of School at Nichols School in Buffalo, New York, where he served from 1969-1979. Following his tenure at Nichols, he returned to the Boston area with his young family to take over as Head of School at Belmont Hill School from 1979–1993.

A six month sabbatical from Belmont Hill spent backpacking around the world spurred an interest in international education, and Chris left Belmont Hill to become the Head of School at Robert College in Istanbul, Turkey from 1993-2001, and eventually became the first Executive Director of the International Boys’ School Coalition from 2001-2006. In his retirement, Chris served on several nonprofit boards, including Cape Cod Academy, the International School of Boston, the Dennis Conservation Land Trust, Cape Cod Museum of Art and the Mashantum Tennis Club.

Chris married the love of his life, Lori, with whom he shared a devoted and joyful partnership for sixty-two years. Together, they raised two children, Benjamin (Benj) and Thomas (Tim) each of whom he supported with enthusiasm, guidance, and unconditional love. To his family and friends, Chris was a source of wisdom, humor, quiet strength, and genuine warmth. He was the person people turned to for steady advice, thoughtful conversation, or a good laugh.

An avid athlete, outdoorsman and musician, Chris excelled at tennis and squash throughout his adult life; indulged his passion for fly fishing with annual trips to Montana and Idaho, and countless days on his beloved Cape Cod Bay, not far from the house he built in Dennis; and pursued his love of Dixieland Jazz as a banjo player with the Dixie Diehards, performing throughout the Boston area well into his later years.

Chris is remembered for his honesty, his discipline, his kindness, and the respect he showed every person he met. Above all, he is remembered for the love he gave to his wife, his children, and all those fortunate enough to know him. He lived a life of purpose, integrity and generosity, and those who loved him will forever carry the gifts of his example.

Chris is survived by his sister, Virginia Wadsworth Pomeroy, his wife Lori Dingman Wadsworth, his son Benjamin Wadsworth and long-time partner Kimberly Shavender, his son Tim Wadsworth, and his daughter-in-law Lenore Kitani. He is deeply loved and will be profoundly missed.

A celebration of life is planned for March 8, 2026 at 2:00 at the Belmont Hill School at 350 Prospect St in Belmont MA. In lieu of flowers, please consider donations in Chris’s memory to the Dennis Conservation Land Trust (dennisconservationlandtrust.org) or Belmont Hill School (belmonthill.org).