Deceased December 8, 1996
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In Memory
On Dec. 8, 1996, the Class of 1974 lost one of its brightest spiritual lights when Jeff Mondschein passed away after a 15-month bout with cancer. At the time of his death, Jeff (or “Mondo” as many of us fondly called him) was the chief financial officer at the Bahaí'í World Center in Haifa, Israel.
Jeff accomplished much in his all too short life. His accomplishments, along with his unforgettable personality and his strength of character, leave a legacy to all those who knew, competed, laughed or worked with him. As the son of a New York City lawyer father and a compassionate Bahaí'í nurse-educator mother, Jeff possessed a rare blend of wit, competitiveness, irascibility (at times), integrity, gentleness, empathy and conscience and an unconquerable willpower.
During his college years, Jeff’s force of personality and charm made an immediate impact at our Fairest College, as well as at the campuses in Northampton and South Hadley. Jeff also was a gifted athlete with a hard-driving competitive attitude, which served him well as a member of the varsity baseball and basketball teams. In sports, as in life, Jeff always played within the rules, but he also played to win. He would not hesitate to take you hard to the hoop or put his shoulder down and draw a bead on the poor catcher trying to protect home plate.
Beneath this Ty Cobbian will to win, however, flowed the deeper, still water of his strong belief and commitment to the Bahaí'í religion, which stress the essential worth of all world religions. With the typical maturity of college students, some of his friends would tease Jeff, but we all realized Jeff took his beliefs very seriously and there were some of us who came to recognize and envy the value of a deep-rooted sense of religious principles, especially when faced with the “calamitous” disappointments that would occasionally and inevitably arise to buffet even the most assured 20 year old.
As a Bahaí'í, Jeff was not allowed to drink alcohol, a rule which he steadfastly followed. This was pretty amazing when you consider that he was a loyal member of TD and could be found in its bar partying on many a weekend night. Jeff would simply practice mind over matter and get “high on life.” He would then proceed to out-dance everyone and was the envy of many of us when we awoke foggy-headed the next morning.
His roommates developed a special brotherly relationship, complete with full-blown sibling rivalry. Jeff was usually right in the middle of the excitement, as he dished out at least as much as he took. He might be the first one to lose his temper, but he was also generally the first one to calm down, and he was always the quickest to laugh—whether it was at us or at himself. Jeff was often the glue that helped keep us together when the centripetal force of events around us threatened to send us off spinning wildly in all directions. In many ways, Jeff became our moral compass, pulling us back on point if we began to compromise our integrity or fail to live up to our responsibility.
If Jeff had an Achilles heel, it was his body’s need to get eight hours of uninterrupted sleep per night and his misfortune of having roommates who would not permit it. Unfortunately, in his junior and senior years, Jeff had several roommates who were inveterate night owls and who were not about to let him enjoy a peaceful, uninterrupted sleep while the rest of us were playing backgammon, drinking Dewar’s or debating whether the whole world was a microscopic speck on the end of Snoopy’s nose. Jeff was a light sleeper and had a bit of a temper. For example, one night at about 2 a.m., one roommate was buttering a piece of toast when suddenly Jeff’s door burst open and out he walked clad in his nightshirt. He grabbed the offending toast, crumbled it into little pieces and retreated back into his chamber without ever uttering a word.
After graduation, Jeff remained at Amherst for one year to work in the athletic department. Subsequently, he attended NYU business school and received his MBA in 1977. He began his finance career in the international treasury department of the Continental Group. Four years later he became a currency trader, first with Wells Fargo Bank, and eventually held positions of increased responsibility with Merrill Lynch and Continental Bank of Illinois. During his 10 years in the currency trading business, Jeff was often quoted in the Wall Street Journal and other business publications. Jeff was also a director of Mottahedeh & Company, an international renowned porcelain manufacturer and distributor.
Throughout his life, Jeff remained a loyal supporter of Amherst, steadfast friend, father and husband. In 1992, at the age of 40, Jeff chose to give up his lucrative career in the financial world and to move to Israel to take a non-paying position as chief financial officer at the Bahaí'í World Center. He made this career change because of his religious commitment and also his desire to spend more time with his family which he so deeply loved. In this position, he rapidly reorganized and modernized the Bahaí'í financial and investment systems. In addition, he traveled the world helping to spread the Bahaí'í tenets and raised funds for development projects at its world center in Israel. In spite of his hectic schedule and remote location, Jeff always found time to stay in touch with his college friends. When he called, he always had one or two new jokes to pass on to each of us. Fortunately, some of us were able to be with Jeff and his family this past summer to reminisce and provide support and comfort.
Jeff was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in September 1995 and thereafter battled his cancer in the same way that he lived his life—with humor, gritty determination and optimism tempered by a philosophy of living each day to the fullest. In the face of each new setback (or “disease of the week club” as he called it), he simply redoubled his efforts, tried to reassure those around him and directly confronted the situation at hand.
In a fitting tribute, Jeff was mourned by hundreds of people at his funeral and by countless others who cabled, wrote, called, faxed or emailed condolences from various places throughout the world. Jeff is survived not only by a worldwide community of people who knew him well but by his immediate family members, including his pillar-of-strength wife, Pam; two wonderful children, Sabrina (13) and Jared (10); loving father, Mort; and his best friend and older brother, Rick, who resides with his family in Haifa and works at the Bahaí'í World Center.
Mondo, we will miss you!
David Douglass ’74, Jeff Goodman ’74 and Andy Gordon ’74