A couple of things first. While it sounds like the LHS 77 grads that are living in the affected SoCal area seem to be ok (as of this writing), my thoughts are with you and your friends, family and neighbors, especially those that have been displaced or lost their homes and belongings as a result of the fires. Second, I just wanted to say how impressed I am that Michael has organized the LHS 77 class website and created a forum for us to stay in touch, passively if not actively. I’ve also been very impressed by the Classmate Spotlights published to date – not just glossy summaries but real-life accounts of accomplishments and challenges over the nearly 48 years since we graduated.

Like many of you, as much as I appreciated that Livingston was a great community to grow up in and LHS an excellent high school to attend, I was ready to move on and expand my horizons after graduation. I attended the University of Virginia, initially focusing on a major in Chemistry (given the inspiration I got from Mr. Walker’s AP chemistry class at LHS) but after two years of very challenging academics and pounding headaches from extended chemistry lab sessions, I switched to an Environmental Science major. I was attracted as much by the applied nature of the science courses as the opportunity to qualify for a co-op program doing environmental research with the Army Corps of Engineers at a research facility in Vicksburg, Mississippi. I was able to get my hands dirty (literally and figuratively) doing applied science, while learning an awful lot about Vicksburg’s role in the Civil War and getting plenty of exposure to the life and culture in the deep South.

It was around this time that I also started to develop my interest in playing music. I had played instruments in elementary and junior high school (trumpet, baritone) and learned to play piano at an early age but wanted to move beyond sheet music and to the kind of rock music that I loved listening to during our high school and college years. I always connected with the rhythm, so picked up a used bass and bought an amp (at the Peavey factory store in Meridian MS) and just started hacking away, learning the basics on my own, using my ear to replicate bass lines from recordings, and jamming with friends. I also recall being impressed and inspired by Lee Howard’s performance of Free Bird at a backyard post-graduation party, realizing that it’s not a remote thing that just my rock band idols can do but that it might be possible to have fun and entertain friends by picking up a guitar and playing music. I will revisit this thread later.

I graduated from UVa in January 1982 and rather than return to Vicksburg and the Corps of Engineers I took my chances, moved to NYC and started looking for work. As many of you may recall, that was an extremely challenging period in the economy with very high unemployment and limited opportunities for recent grads, especially in my major field. I had to hustle, even selling bootleg designer sweaters on the street to make ends meet (fortunately just for a brief period of time). I ended up working for 3 years for a couple of different engineering firms doing building design and transit consulting work. But my heart wasn’t in it and I was encouraged by a mentor at my company to consider going to business school. Going full time wasn’t an option, but I was able to get into the NYU graduate school of business going part-time, which started a 6-year odyssey to complete an MBA (usually a 2-year full time degree). I say odyssey because a lot of changes happened during that period of time on both a personal and professional level that sometimes made it difficult to carry the usual course load. As they say, life got in the way – but all in a very good way. I met my bride-to-be, changed careers, then got married, bought a rowhouse in Jersey City (followed by a gut renovation as it was barely habitable), and had our first child over that timeframe.

With the help of a good friend, I leveraged my MBA coursework into a position in bank credit training program. This got me started in banking, along the way focusing on a then newly developing market called asset-backed securities, where I ended up spending the majority of a nearly 40-year career in the industry, working for a number of US and international banks, ultimately spending the last 21 years at a French bank, from which I retired this past October. There were a lot of long hours, stress and travel, but it was never boring.

As rewarding and, at times, all-consuming as the professional career was, the notable milestones have been personal. I am grateful to have met my wife, the former Myung Kim, shortly after moving to NYC. She has been a terrific partner for me – thoughtful, personable and engaging, with a positive can-do attitude to life that has resulted in many accomplishments of which we are both proud of.  She had a career in fashion, managed our household and largely raised our kids, with only part-time help from yours truly. We moved from Jersey City to Summit NJ in 1993 and have lived there since. Our two children, Tamara and Ben, are both in their mid-30s and well on their way with their own lives and careers. Tamara is in hospital/healthcare administration in NJ, and Ben is chasing his dream as an electronic music composer and performer, currently living in Berlin. And we’re still waiting for grandchildren… For the past 15 years we’ve had two dogs at a time in the house, who are in their own way substitute children, but they help to keep us active with lots of hikes in the woods.

Myung was also responsible for helping me renew my interest in playing music – she and some friends were comparing notes on what their husbands liked to do, and several revealed that they were closet musicians. So in the spirit of “live life while you can” in the months following 9/11/2001, they encouraged 4 of us to get together and play music. We had a shared love of rock, and after months of pulling together a starting playlist began performing for friends and parties. We were pretty rough at first but realized that with some effort we could do this (after all it was only rock and roll). We called ourselves Lenox Underground (referring to the basement of the street where our drummer lived) and have for the past 20+ years been playing parties, benefits and bar gigs in NJ and NYC. We also started a not-for-profit Foundation through which we run our performance money, from which we make needs-based music education grants in Summit and the wider area. While our website is in need of an update, you can check us out on Facebook (FB Lenox Underground) and Instagram (IG Lenox Underground).

As painful as the pandemic years were, they opened my eyes to another lifestyle as I could take a break from the daily commute to NYC. This, combined with dealing with my parents’ declining health and passing in 2022 and 2024, as well as turning 65 in May last year, brought me to the realization that a change was needed; I made the decision to leave the corporate treadmill and am now enjoying (while still figuring out) my new-found retirement. I am able to spend more time on things that interest me, focusing on my health and fitness, music, cycling and motorcycling, reading, being a more involved partner with my wife, and starting to get involved with organizations in our community. We are also fortunate to have a house on the coast of Maine, where we can truly relax and enjoy outdoor activities like hiking, biking and kayaking. We greatly appreciate all the natural beauty and quiet, and plan to start spending more time there as well.  

If you’ve made it this far into my story, thanks for sticking with it. To quote Joe Walsh “life’s been good to me so far”.