Mary Partheniadou Yuvanidis ACG 63

Mary passed away on October 23, 2025 in Athens,  after a year of struggle with illness.  As a very  beloved member of ACG 63, Mary was a trustworthy, kind, and affectionate person valuing everyone around her. She was always ready to help her friends with their problems and share their  sorrows. After graduating from ACG, she completed Bosphorus University (Public Administration) and started to work  firstly with Singer, and a year later with Fako, a pharmaceutical company, as the executive secretary of the chairman. In 1983 she retired and three years later she left İstanbul and moved to Athens where she longed for her homeland Turkey until her death.  From 2000 to 2008, she read the news broadcasted by the radio Voice of Greece in Turkish. Her classmates of ACG 63 saw her for the last time in June 2017 when she came to İstanbul to attend the  50 th Reunion of her university class 67. At that last meeting, she was so cheerful and full of life  inspiring her classmates to be happy and at peace with life. As her daughter says, “she was the best mother and the best grandmother of all”. 

Mary is survived by his husband Koço Yuvanidis (former turkish national table tennis player), her daughter  Evdoxia and her grandchildren Anastasia and Stamatis. 

Contributed by Lale Arat Sirmen

Nüket Alevli Ersoy ACG 50

Nüket Alevli Ersoy, a member of the ACG Class of 1950, passed away in November 2025.

Born as the daughter of one of Gaziantep’s distinguished and prominent industrialists, Nüket Alevli Ersoy completed her primary education in her hometown. At the age of eleven, she came to ACG as a boarding student. After nine years of boarding education, she graduated in 1950 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and returned to her birthplace. She united her life with Celalettin Ersoy, himself an RC graduate who had completed his education in the United States. In her early years, she assumed senior roles in civil society organizations such as the Yardımseverler Derneği and the Lions Club, achieving notable successes.

As the daughter of a successful entrepreneur and industrialist who had received his education in Europe in the first quarter of the 20th century and was deeply devoted to the principles of Atatürk and the Republic, and with the support of a spouse raised with universal values—together with the momentum provided by the education she received at ACG—she herself embraced “education” as a philosophy of life and put it into practice.

At the Gaziantep Kolej Vakfı, which was established as an association in 1963 and gained foundation status in 1973, she served actively as Chair of the Board of Trustees from 1976 until her passing. This private school, which has long surpassed its 50th anniversary, has played a significant role in the economy of the city, the region, and the country through its hundreds of graduates. Today, the school continues to shine as a source of pride for the Gazi city. She herself will continue to live on in hearts as a venerable figure who left a lasting mark on the educational, social, and cultural history of the city where she was born and raised.

While at ACG, Nüket Alevli Ersoy was a calm, disciplined, and diligent student, as well as a loving and devoted friend. On national holidays, she stood out with her enthusiasm and deep love for Atatürk. During the 1980s, her classmates would gather once a month for tea at the Hilton Hotel in Istanbul, and Nüket would often join them, flying in from Gaziantep. With her determined, perfectionist, and results-oriented character, and her lifelong dedication to education, she led an exemplary life and became a model—difficult to emulate—within Turkish education. 

May she rest in eternal light.

Dilek Özmen Gündoğ ACG 71 

with contributions from Belma Uluman Baskett ACG 50

Yıldız Geyer Belger ACG 63

Yıldız Geyer Belger passed away in October 2025.

Some names highly befit the person carrying that name and the person integrates with the name. Just like my dear friend Yıldız.  She was one of the most diligent students of not only our class, but also of our school. She kept this diligency in life as well. In addition to being a good wife, mother and an individual, her diligence, honest and trustworthy personality made her the apple of the eye of the the NGOs. Who knows how many woman and children she has touched with her projects, of which Mevlana Houses was one? Our friendship continued in Izmir after school. Taking our driver’s licences when we were very young, our bazaar trips, the funny incidents we experienced at her own boutique “Ödül”, and our class trips. They all stayed in our memory and we will keep you alive among us with these memories. We wish that the light you have radiated into our milieu while you were with us, will also illuminate you at the place you are now, dear Yııldız.  Fatoş Berkay Oktav

Our dear Yıldız, when you went away and left us behind, it was as if it became all empty around here. You were very beautiful, very diligent, very intelligent. You had the disposition of a leader. How can we ever forget? You are in our hearts. Sevin Okyay

I first met Yıldız in Special 1, at Miss Bixler’s section. She was the one who always drew the Christmas pictures that stayed for one year in Miss Becky’s class. She was clever. The world was a much nicer place with her. Her absence is unbelievable. Nur Bilimer

Our dear Yıldız, with your brooches on all our chests, exhilirated arm-in-arm photographs from our trips, all those shared moments, our fashion show on the Van train, the gifts you have prepared for us on our 40th, 50th years… they’re all with us and you are always with us. Seres Başak Ener

Her husband Uğur Belger (RC ENG 61) passed away just 2 months after. They are survived by their loving children Sumru Belger Krody and Seymen Belger and grandchildren Alara Belger and Papatya Belger Krody

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.