Life in the Fast Lane

Clarendon Insurance

Financial Staffing

Expansions

Name Changes

Leaving Town

Management Moves

Deaths

Memorial Planned

Corrections or additions?

Life in the Fast Lane

These articles by Peter J. Mladineo and Barbara Fox were published

in U.S. 1 Newspaper on January 28, 1998. All rights reserved.

Top Of PageClarendon Insurance

Everybody says it’s hard to make money writing auto

insurance in New Jersey. Now comes news of an insurance company

planning

to make some hay in the Garden State. Its strategy: don’t offer auto

policies, just write commercial property and casualty insurance.

Robert Gage and Steven George have opened the first New Jersey office

of New York-based Clarendon Insurance, and they expect to grow to

12 employees this year. "On January 22 our filings were approved

and we are now open for business," says Gage. "We’re looking

forward to a long association in New Jersey."

When big insurers such as Geico and Safeco wanted to get out of the

private auto market, they had to abandon all their state business.

But when firms enter the state they are not obligated to write any

particular kind of insurance. Clarendon, for instance, will not offer

medical, life, accident, health, or auto. Instead, it will write

commercial

property and casualty insurance including workers compensation,

business

owners insurance, and even commercial automobile insurance if it goes

with the rest of the account.

"We consider this a very viable market," says Gage. Both he

and George came from Highlands Insurance on Lenox Drive in

Lawrenceville,

formerly American Reliance. Gage grew up in Syracuse and went to the

University of Maryland, Class of’65. He worked for insurance services

offices all over the country, moved from San Francisco to join

American

Reliance in 1986, and has been in the New Jersey market ever since.

"To many companies it is a challenging marketplace, but we see

it as a great opportunity," says Gage. "Knowing the

regulations

and statutes and the regulatory scheme — and being close to your

customer and being local — that’s the key to success."

The Clarendon Insurance Group, 133 Franklin Corner

Road, Suite 2E, Lawrenceville 08648. Robert Gage CPCU, vice president.

609-219-9100; fax, 609-219-9101.

Top Of PageFinancial Staffing

Next to computer firms, financial firms are among the

fastest growing in Princeton. Julie Giordano has opened an Olsten

office that focuses on providing workers for accounting and financial

positions, everything from accounting clerks to controllers, from

temporary, to temp to hire, and permanent placement. The next nearest

Olsten office that focuses on the financial area is in Iselin.

A psychology major at Rutgers New Brunswick, Class of 1991, Giordano

had worked on Wall Street for her father, a basketball star at West

Point (Class of 1961). She had also worked in risk analysis at Lehman

Brothers in New York and for another financial placement agency. But

with years of drama training behind her, she was also working as an

actress: she had parts in the Al Pacino movie "Carlito’s Way"

and on the soap opera "All My Children."

How does being an actress help her work? In helping her to find out

about people’s personalities, she suggests, "and even in taking

rejection."

Olsten Financial Staffing, 103 Carnegie Center,

Suite 307, Princeton 08540. Julie S. Giordano, market manager.

609-720-0700;

fax, 609-720-0764.

Top Of PageExpansions

MicroDose Technologies Inc., 4262 Route 1 North,

Monmouth Junction 08852. Amand Gumaste, president and CEO.

732-329-2401;

fax, 732-329-8502.

After changing the name of Advanced Medical Systems to MicroDose

Technologies

Inc., Amand Gumaste moved his three-person firm from 68 Weber Avenue,

Trenton, to 2,600 square feet on Route 1 North.

Gumaste, 45, got an undergraduate degree in India and a Ph.D from

the University of Toronto. He then spent 11 years at PA Consulting,

the former occupant of the award-winning crab-like structure on Route

571 in East Windsor. He was manager of the electronics group there.

MicroDose develops drug delivery technologies for pharmaceutical

companies,

such as inhalers for the treatment of asthma. "It really

represents

the next generation, they are very unlike today’s devices," says

Gumaste. He compares his work to that of Delsys, the nearby Sarnoff

spinoff that makes drug delivery systems using electrostatic powder

(September 19).

Pennington Montessori School, 102 West Franklin

Avenue, The Straube Center, Pennington 08534. 609-737-1331; fax,

609-730-1530.

The school has bought three acres on Route 31 in the Pennington Point

West Development to construct a 10,700 square foot building. Albert

S. Toto Jr. of Commercial Property Network represented both the buyer

and the seller, Pennington Properties. The school celebrates its 20th

anniversary this year and hopes to move in by the end of this year

or early next year.

Citizens for Independent Living, Box 600, Kingston

08528. Linda King, executive director. 732-297-8340.

Linda King has moved the office of this nonprofit from Main Street

in Kingston to temporary quarters; by spring she will have an office

in CIL’s brand-new apartment building, named "CIL Woods."

Located on the new section of Route 522 it will house CIL’s clients

— developmentally disabled adults. The temporary offices (at

Monmouth

Mobile Home) have a new phone; fax is the same as the phone.

The Princeton Institute, 2650 Route 130 North,

Constitution Center, Suite I, Cranbury 08512. John Clay, president.

609-409-0940; fax, 609-409-0941. E-mail: princetoninstitute@erols.com.

The medical education company has expanded from quarters at Princeton

Meadows Office Center to Cranbury. Associated with medical journal

publisher Multimedia Healthcare, the Princeton Institute designs

continuing

education courses for the full spectrum of healthcare professionals,

everything from clinical matters (diagnosis and treatment) to

financial

or administrative concerns (U.S. 1, November 6, 1996).

Top Of PageName Changes

Fox & Roach Inc. Realtors, 25 Route 31 South,

Pennington

Shopping Center, Pennington 08534. Lynn D. Ludecke, manager.

609-737-7900;

fax, 609-737-8004.

All of the Fox & Lazo real estate offices have changed their names

to reflect a merger with Roach Wheeler, a Philadelphia-based firm

with Charles "Chip" Roach at the helm. The Fox firm was

founded

by Fred Fox in 1986, and Bill Fox is co-chairman with Larry Flick

as president. The corporate headquarters has moved from Haddonfield

to Devon.

Gannett Fleming, 227 Wall Street, Research Park,

Princeton 08540. Robert Gan, branch manager. 609-279-9140; fax,

609-279-9436.

Eder Associates, the environmental engineering firm headquartered

in Locust Valley, New York, moved to 2,800 square feet in Research

Park. Two weeks later, it merged with Gannett Fleming, the

1,700-employee

civil engineering firm based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It was

founded

in 1915, and is not related to the newspaper chain.

Eder Associates, founded in 1970, was formerly located at 413

Riverview

Executive Park, Trenton. Its specialities include environmental

consulting

service, environmental remediation, surface water discharge

permitting,

air permitting, and engineering services. It also does system

engineering

design and construction management. Robert Gan, the office manager,

has a degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, (Class of

1991).

Top Of PageLeaving Town

Mettler-Toledo International, 69

Princeton-Hightstown

Road, Box 71, Hightstown 08520-0071. Maurice Knapp, president.

609-448-3000;

fax, 609-586-5451. Home page: http://www.mico.mt.com.

Once 200 strong, the East Windsor outpost of the world’s largest maker

of scales and balances is now down to less than 60 employees, and

those will be gone by the summertime. The firm is building an 80,000

square-foot headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. Fewer than 20 of the

workers

will move to Ohio and the rest are taking a severance package. Founded

in 1954 as the U.S. headquarters of a Swiss firm, it merged with

Toledo

Scale in 1989, was bought by a prestigious private investment firm,

American European Associates, in 1996. It went public in November

and its stock, traded on the New York Stock Exchange (MTI) started

at 14 and now hovers at 16 and 17.

Accu Financial Services, 710 Old Bridge Turnpike,

South River 08882. Haresh C. Sheth, president. 732-238-6765; fax,

732-238-7721.

The financial services firm has moved its office from Deer Park Drive

to South River.

GORCA Systems Inc., 379 Princeton-Hightstown Road,

Building 2, Cranbury 08512. Charles R. Horton, president.

609-273-8200;

fax, 609-448-9155. Home page: http://www.gorca.com.

The aerospace engineering consulting firm closed its five-person

office

at 186 Princeton-Hightstown Road. The office was expanded in March,

1996. Its headquarters is in Cherry Hill.

GASI, the consulting arm of GORCA Systems, opened this office in 1990

to communicate with its client, GE Astro, located across the street.

Originally owned by RCA and now owned by Lockheed Martin, the facility

is due to be closed later this year. GORCA derived its name from the

acronym for "good old RCA."

The Infotec Group, 55 Princeton-Hightstown Road,

Suite 107, Princeton Junction 08550. Vivek Ratna, director.

314-205-0032.

This high-end computer training and consulting firm is working in

St. Louis and does not have a current address in Princeton.

John M. Apicella, 350 Alexander Street, Princeton

08540. 212-803-5102.

The criminal defense lawyer has consolidated and now operates out

of a Brooklyn office.

The Maids, 826 West Trenton Avenue, Morrisville

19067. Ellen Uzialko. 215-428-3533; fax, 215-428-3543.

This franchise of the home cleaning service, formerly owned by Phyllis

Schulman, has been sold and has moved from Princeton Service Center

to Morrisville. The service specializes in removing common allergens

such as dust mites, animal dander, mold, mildew, and insect debris.

Savola Inc., 2137 Route 33, Lexington Square

Commons,

Trenton 08690. Basit Siddiqui, president. 609-584-9590; fax,

609-584-9495.

This olive oil import business has vacated its office and has no local

number.

Princeton Marketing Group, 11 Deer Park Drive,

Suite 113-2, Monmouth Junction 08852. Danute Audenas-Corcoran,

manager.

732-438-1140.

This firm, which marketed environmentally safe products, has

apparently

closed its Route 1 office. The number was disconnected and no further

information was available.

Fronczak & Associates, 100 Canal Pointe Boulevard,

Suite 212, Princeton 08540. Dan Fronczak, president. 609-520-8810;

fax, 609-520-0234.

Dan Fronczak has sold his business insurance firm to the

Parsippany-based

Turner Group; Fronczak’s business concentrated on clients from the

manufacturing, hospitality, and contracting industries. "Our new

larger firm has the resources of 30 insurance carriers, nine offices,

and more than 200 employees," says Louise Gernhardt, an account

executive who has moved to the Turner office at 9 Throckmorton Street,

Freehold, now known as the Turner Group’s Fronczak division. Dan

Fronczak

is remaining with the firm but is on vacation through February.

Top Of PageManagement Moves

Corner House, 369 Witherspoon Street, Princeton

08540. Mitchell Douglas, executive director. 609-924-8018; fax,

609-497-9101.

Mitchell Douglas replaces Linda Meisel as executive director on

February

2. Meisel has resigned to be executive director of Jewish Family and

Children’s Services. Douglas was assistant executive director of a

Staten Island-based agency.

CH Capital Investments, 1 Palmer Square, Suite

305, Princeton 08542. Martin Chooljian. 609-924-7958.

Martin Chooljian has joined the board of trustees at Institute for

Advanced Study. He was formerly the president of Penn Corporation,

which he helped found, and the treasurer of Litton Industries. A

graduate

of Harvard (Class of 1952), Chooljian has had a lifelong interest

in physics.

Top Of PageDeaths

Ruth Hamill, 44, on January 19. She was senior vice

president

of Hase Schannen on Clarksville Road.

Karin Bergwall Stratmeyer, 53, on January 22 from injuries

suffered in an auto accident on Vaughn Drive. She was president of

Princeton Entrepreneurial Resources at 600 Alexander Road (U.S. 1,

April 26, 1995).

Jayne C. Casey, 59, on January 21. She worked at the

Messenger

Press and Calton Homes.

Valerie A. Leveridge, 57, on January 23. She worked at

Peterson’s Guides and was active in Sweet Adelines.

John F. Hoff III, 58, on January 25. He was formerly

president

of First National Bank of Princeton and chairman of United Jersey

Bank. A Mass of Christian Burial will be Saturday, January 31, at

11 a.m. at St. Paul’s Church.

Kevin C. Clancy, 42, on January 26. He was vice president

of private banking at PNC Bank. A Mass of Christian Burial will be

Thursday, January 29, at 10 a.m. at St. Anne’s Church on

Lawrenceville

Road.

Top Of PageMemorial Planned

Storey Memorial. A service will be Saturday, January 31,

at 2 p.m. in the Shepherd Commons Room of Princeton Day School to

commemorate the life of Carl C. Storey, of Princeton Pike-based Quinn

and Storey, who died January 14.

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