June 2012 - 66

Mohan

Bennett

Palmer

Mancuso

Life Master
Bridge professional John Mohan, who lives in Huixquilucan MX, has passed the 25,000 MP mark. Mohan has won
16 NABC titles, including five Vanderbilts, one Spingold, the
Kaplan Blue Ribbon Pairs and the Nail LM Pairs. He was the
ACBL Player of the Year in 1999. He is a WBF World Life
Master and Senior Life Master with two gold medals, one
silver and one bronze. Mohan has been a financial consultant and precious metals trading adviser for 35 years. He
studied Argentine tango in Buenos Aires and Los Angeles,
then both taught and danced professionally.
Hamish Bennett of Menlo Park CA has collected his
25,000th point. Although Bennett wasn't really "into" bridge
at the time, he was the captain of the Oxford bridge team
coached by Alan Truscott that beat Cambridge in 1955. Because the event was so well orchestrated, it made bridge an
important part of his future. Bennett is a WBF World Senior
Life Master who won the World Senior Pairs in 1994. He has
two NABC titles - he twice won the Truscott/USPC Senior
Swiss, in 2000 and in 2004 - and five second-place finishes. Bennett has written columns for The Forum (Western
Conference) and the San Mateo Times. Bennett is a retired
financial executive.
Beth Palmer of Chevy Chase MD has advanced past
15,000 masterpoints. Palmer has won 24 NABC titles, including the Wagar Women's Knockout Teams seven times, the
Machlin Women's Swiss Teams four times and the Marsha
May Sternberg Board-a-Match four times. She is a six-time
World Champion. Palmer has served in numerous administrative positions with the WBF, the USBF, the ACBL, and the
Washington Bridge League. Palmer has been an Administrative Judge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for 24 years.
Renee Mancuso of Los Angeles CA finished in the overalls of the Spring NABC Norman Kay Platinum Pairs; the
34-point masterpoint award made her a Grand Life Master
with 1.92 points to spare. Mancuso won her first North Amer66 Bridge Bulletin June 2012

Lall

milestones

ican championship 22 years ago in the Lebhar IMP Pairs.
Since then, she has added five NABC titles to her bridge resume. Mancuso is a WBF World Life Master with seven topten finishes in international team play. She is a CPA who has
primarily worked in the entertainment industry.
With his win in the Norman Kay Platinum Pairs at the
Spring NABC in Memphis, 25-year old Justin Lall of Henderson NV became the ACBL's new youngest Grand Life
Master. Lall has two previous NABC titles: the Grand National Teams Championship Flight in 2006 and the Nail Life
Master Pairs in 2011. On the international front, he was on
the second-place Bermuda Bowl team last year in the Netherlands. He also won the World Youth Championships in
2005 and 2006. Starting with the Summer NABC in Philadelphia, he will be playing with longtime mentor, Bob Hamman.
Thomas Weik, Wyomissing PA, has reached the rank
of Grand Life Master. Weik won the Truscott/USPC Senior
Swiss Teams in 2010. He placed second in the von Zedtwitz
Life Master Pairs in 1974, and he's especially proud of his
team's third-place finish in the 1980 Reisinger Board-aMatch Teams. He finished fourth in the Senior Teams at the
2010 World Championships in Philadelphia. Weik has been
elected president of District 4 and will take office later this
year. He is president and chief investment officer of an investment advisory firm he founded.
Sheila T. Gabay of Newton MA won the Rockwell Mixed
Pairs at the Memphis NABC and with the win, changed her
bridge status to Grand Life Master. Gabay came close to
the GLM promised land several times before, with secondplace finishes in the 2007 Freeman Mixed Board-a-Match
Teams, the 2008 Grand National Team Championship Flight
and the 2010 Truscott/USPC Senior Swiss Teams. Gabay
won the Helen Shanbrom Ace of Clubs award for players
with 5000 to 7500 masterpoints four consecutive years -
2000-2004. She again won the race in 2005 for the Platinum
Life Master category.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of June 2012