Walter (’79) and Jocelyn Levi (’80) Barandiara

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Our love story began with an election ruse.

I first laid eyes on my future wife as she walked past me in an economics lecture at Baruch. From that moment, I knew I had to meet her. I found out she was Jocelyn Levi, the attractive, popular, and rumored candidate for student government president.

I was head of Baruch’s public speaking and debate club, and—in a stroke of good luck—was in charge of arranging a candidates’ debate. I quickly set up a meeting with Jocelyn under the guise of discussing the debate format. The truth is, I really just wanted to see her; she was the only candidate I tried to meet with. It turns out Jocelyn decided not to run for president but nevertheless agreed to meet with me at the student center at 17 Lex. From then on, we were inseparable. It seemed an unlikely match—me, a Catholic boy from Lima, Peru; she, a nice Jewish girl from Brooklyn.

I proposed during Jocelyn’s first year at Stanford Law School and actually mailed her an engagement ring from New York. We were married during the summer of 1981, and she finished law school at Columbia. She worked as a corporate attorney for many years before deciding to stay home full time with our daughter, Isabella Nina, now 5 years old; and I am a managing partner of the Argentum Group, a private equity firm in Manhattan.

Our Baruch election tale has a twist: I decided to run for president of student government that year. I lost the election by only 28 votes, but won something much more important. I am very fond of Baruch for many reasons, but having found my wife there has made all the difference in my life.