In the summer 2020 Sigma News, we memorialized the passing of Tom Paddrik ’77, one of the “Jamestown 5”: five high school friends from Jamestown, New York, who all went to Cornell’s engineering school as freshmen members of the class of 1977 and who all joined Sigma Nu and stayed in close touch after graduation. Unfortunately, we must report we have lost another member of the Jamestown 5 when brother Rich Shaffer ’77 lost his 18-month battle with abdominal cancer on March 30, 2021.
Gamma Theta extends condolences to his wife, Natalka Bukalo Shaffer, the entire Shaffer family, and his many friends in and out of Sigma Nu. Memories of “Shafes” shared here are from his wife of 41 years, Natalka, and one of the brothers who knew him best, another member of the Jamestown 5, Tom Swanson ’77.
Rich and I (Tom) were literally connected from birth. We were born on the same day, May 3, 1955, in the same hospital in Jamestown, New York, about an hour apart. We did not formally meet until a few years later, in the seventh grade at Lincoln Jr. High School. Our paths intertwined ever since as junior-high-school, high-school, and then college classmates; brothers at Sigma Nu; and lifelong friends as part of the Jamestown 5 (Tom Paddrik ’77, Rich Shaffer ’77, Rick Turner ’77, Russ Cusimano ’77, and me). We did not plan on attending Cornell as a group, but we all applied and got accepted, and it just worked out that way. Rich’s uncle was the Cornell baseball coach at the time, and he did a good job of talking up the school. Neither did we plan on all joining Sigma Nu, but during rush season in 1973, Tom Paddrik got the idea we would rush as a “block,” and Sigma Nu was either smart or too naive to take us all; not sure which. We all lived in the house for three years, where Shafes served as steward and social chairman. Four of the five graduated from the engineering school, while Rich figured out sophomore year engineering was not his calling and transferred to the ag school and concentrated on business and the money end of things.
After graduating from Cornell in 1977, Rich and fellow Sigma Nu brother Steve Vaccaro ’77 moved to northern New Jersey as roommates to begin careers in banking. Rich Rich Shaffer ’77 worked for First National Bank and, after completing the management training program, became a commercial loan officer. Rich met his wife, Natalka Bukalo (from the Ukraine), at the First National Bank management training program in 1978, and they were married in April 1980. In 1979, Rich joined Barclays Bank in New York, where he was an officer in investment banking for their energy lending group. While at Barclays, he worked in the UK while attending the bank’s executive development program and was also sent to the Darden School at University of Virginia for an executive management program. Rich also became a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), which began his shift from banking into investment consulting. In 1994, Rich and Natalka cofounded Chartwell Consulting, an investment consulting firm working with retirement plans, endowments and foundations, and family offices. This experience would later profoundly help the Gamma Theta Chapter.
Rich loved what he did, but he did not just live to work; he worked and lived a full life. Rich participated in sports growing up. He was our high-school quarterback, and while the sports changed over the years, his passion for sports did not. He loved golf. Rich and I spent many hours together on the Cornell course. He later participated in golf leagues and tournaments. A highlight for him was participating in the Franklin Templeton “Shootout,” a pro-amateur event in 2002, where he was paired with golf pros Steve Elkington and Lee Janzen. Rich was introduced to sailing and skiing (as were we all) by Rick Turner. Sailing vacations in the Greek Isles and Belize followed, as did ski trips to Austria, Colorado, Utah, and Canada. Rich also combined his love of good food and wine with traveling. Over the years, he attended four cooking schools in France, Italy, and Spain. He “amortized” the cost of those programs by hosting many themed-dinner parties over the years! In 1998, Rich purchased a second home in Colorado Springs, where he was looking forward to retiring. He spent two to three months a year there, enjoying old passions like golf but developing new interests in fly fishing, bird shooting, and deer hunting.
Rich’s expertise with Chartwell Consulting was tapped by the Gamma Theta Property Association in 2017 as part of the GT capital campaign to develop a tax-deductible contribution pathway. Thus, the 501(c)(3) Fall Creek Leadership Foundation was formed and approved in May of 2018. His work proved fortuitous during the subsequent suspension, helping to sustain the GTPA until reconstitution of the chapter this year.
Rich loved a cigar during golf and poker games and in the evenings. At Sigma Nu, he was a regular at the all-night poker table in the library.
The Jamestown 5 is now the Jamestown 3, but the comradery, friendship, and brotherhood will never end. Believe in the life of love, walk in the way of honor, serve in the light of truth. Always.
PS: In the memorial to Tom Paddrik, it was said he was an avid shortwave radio fan and held multiple conversations with Saddam Hussein. Not so. It should have said King Hussein of Jordan, two entirely different people.
Brothers interested in connecting with Tom Swanson ’77 can email him at tgswanson@cox.net.