Alumni Spotlight: Nick van der Kloot ’83 and Angeline van der Kloot ’83
Sakura Sweethearts Nick and Angeline van der Kloot’s story began, as many I-House stories do, with a simple everyday moment. They first met while standing in the serving line in the Dining Hall. Nick struck up a conversation and, as Angeline recalls with a smile, began flirting right away. He asked to sit at her table, then asked for her phone number, which she said she initially refused because “he was very handsome and already being admired by many others.” Not long after, Nick invited Angeline to attend a Russian Emigré Society ball at the Waldorf Astoria, and she agreed to go with him. That evening proved to be a turning point. “I think at the party, I got to know [him] a little bit,” Angeline shared. “I almost fell in love right there.”
Their bond deepened through the rhythm of daily life at I-House, where living among residents from nearly 100 countries shaped both their relationship and worldview. Nick came to New York from the Netherlands for an internship with Coopers & Lybrand, a global accounting and professional services firm. Angeline, whose family is originally from Korea, grew up across several countries due to her father’s diplomatic career, living in Thailand and Germany before attending boarding school in the United States. She later came to New York as a master’s student in communications at Columbia. For Nick and Angeline, I-House felt less like a residence and more like home.
Angeline served as a Program Fellow and was deeply involved in the social life of the House. Nick valued the culture of the House, which fostered authentic and lasting friendships, even alongside the demands of residents’ full academic and professional schedules.
After leaving I-House, Nick built a long career at Coopers & Lybrand, which later became PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he became a partner and led the International Tax Department before retiring in 2015. Angeline pursued a creative career in fashion and design, studied textile design at FIT, and founded her own handbag business. She later devoted herself to raising their two children.
Over the years, Nick and Angeline remained active alumni, often returning to I-House for dinners and gatherings, where they were familiar and welcome faces on the dance floor. Today, the van der Kloots live in Vermont. Nick stays active through cycling, skiing, skating, and book clubs. Angeline continues to nurture her love of languages, photography, and cooking, and finds deep meaning in mentoring Congolese refugees, using her French to build connections across cultures.
Their advice to current residents is simple. “Be open. Be curious. And perhaps most important in today’s world: Use your time while at I-House to seek out people who are different from you.” More than forty years after that first encounter in the Dining Hall, Angeline and Nick credit their time at I-House with shaping not only how they see the world, but also the life they have built together, rooted in cultural openness. Their story stands as a testament to the power of I-House.