After '58 - Rich Gaven

After  my gentle, widowed mother with her degree in Greek from The College  of New Rochelle “reasoned” with Father Carr, he deigned to release  my transcripts to the godless institution of Cornell where I graduated from the School of Hotel Administration. There I met my beautiful and talented wife of 56 years. Lucy was an English Major  at Cornell and a graduate of Kent Place in Summit so you can see I   married a classy broad, and one with a wonderful sense of humor.

Having been in NROTC at Cornell, the  Navy sent me “to Lake” (as opposed to sea) where I was stationed on a ship on Lake Michigan. Really. Our official Navy address was USS Farmington PCE 894, Randolph Street at the Lake, Chicago, IL.

Following my two-year commitment, I went to work for Saga Food service and ran the student dining at Rockhurst College, a fine Jesuit school in Kansas City, MO. In late   1966 we moved back to the Chicago area where I worked for the National Live Stock and Meat Board for seven years, doing education  and promotion in the restaurant industry.

I then went with the National Restaurant Association (the other NRA) staying there for the next 29 years before retiring in 2002. Most of my work focused on The NRA  Show, the largest annual trade show in Chicago. One of the most  enjoyable aspects was developing education programs and social  events, and booking speakers including some rather recognizable names. Nothing quite as much fun as hanging backstage and chatting with Colin Powell, or Barbara Bush, or Ronald Reagan and then as the 30-piece orchestra plays their walk-on music and the curtain parts, saying to them “you’re on.” I have a great collection of photos stashed in my drawer, all set for use around the casket at my wake.

Fifteen years ago we were visiting  Maine where one of our sons was planning to move--and the only one of the 50 states I had not been to--and were fascinated by it. As  loners, we bought a wee woods in the hills of Mid-coast Maine about  15 miles in from the ocean. Typical Maine: the realtor we spoke to said “why would you want to move to Maine?” After we built a road into it, a year later we decided to put in a house. All just to   prove to ourselves we weren’t too old to do dumb things. But we love it when we’re there for a portion of the summer.

Not unlike their parents who wandered away, our four children and their families are scattered to Maine, Virginia, Texas and Zimbabwe. (For those of you who didn’t do   well in Mr. Sedorowitz’s geography class, that last one is in Africa.)
 

Are there any questions? Seeing none - readers dismissed. 

  It has been a busy time since graduation from the PREP where every student is indeed fortunate because each student is provided with a phenomenal academic high school experience.  For anyone who asks, I tell them that the PREP was a great place to study and to learn and it was probably the best place for a Jersey City “ute” like me, to begin the process of becoming an adult.  Four years later, I graduated from St Peter’s College, which in retrospect turned out to be a rather easy chore mainly because of the great foundation I “got” from the Prep.  I went to the “day” school in college, worked most other times and attended class only when it was convenient.   A few years later, I completed a few evening classes at NYU Graduate School but never finished because of my work commitments, my daily commute and my family life.   (I know…. these are all simply excuses!).

My time at the Prep began in Sept of 1954 and one month later, I turned 14 and found an after-school job working in the Loews movie house in Journal Square for most weekday afternoons and of course, for all weekends.  This job was certainly not challenging and allowed me to study while working but more importantly it allowed me to appreciate the value of money at a young age and infused in me an intense drive to accumulate the almighty dollar.   The simple solution was to always put in as many hours as possible which in turn in turn allowed me to accumulate as many dollars as possible.

Two years later at 16, I switched my part-time job for one on Wall Street while in junior year at the Prep, for a new experience filled with daily after school bouts of wrestling with stocks and bonds instead of the candy bars and popcorn at the movie theatre.  This new job also gave me full time employment with plenty of overtime during all summer recesses and the various school holidays. I put in enough hours to pay for tuition in my senior year at Prep and for my entire college tuition.  At this Wall Street firm, I just happened to have a desk sitting within a large bank vault located below street level at 72 Wall Street.   And it was in this basement vault that I meet a young 18-year-old newly hired secretary from Staten Island who I married in Oct 1963 and then moved to Staten Island. 

I started my public accounting career at Deloitte Haskins and Sells - on the very next day after college graduation (didn’t want to waste any time) but I had to do something about my military responsibility so I joined the US Army Reserves and served 6 months of active duty in the summer after graduation, followed by an additional 5 1/2 years of weekend warrior duties.  I was married in Oct of 1963 and have 3 kids, and all also work in the Securities Business.   My daughter is a Managing Director at a major Wall Street firm; while my older son is the US General Manager of a European bank and my younger son is the sole owner of a small Wealth Management firm in NJ - and this same son is my boss (I do work within an office environment every regular business day until about 1pm).  Further, continuing the family’s financial spirit, my oldest grandchild starts his financial services career next month at a significant boutique Investment Banking firm on Park Avenue after graduating from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana U.   Three more grandkids are in college (2 at USC and another at Delaware U).  Finally, the 2 youngest kids attend elementary school in Staten Island.  That’s six grandchildren in total (3 boys and 3 girls) ranging in age from 21 years down to 6 years.

I was “staff reduced” at this Public Accounting firm after two years because of a lack of “assignment activity” ( I was in the ARMY for a good part of the two years but the HR Dept. told me that somehow my ARMY time was not indicated in my personnel file, consequently not enough assignments).  Having no job and a wife and a baby at home to support, really frightened me.  I went to an employment agency, and they quickly found a job for me at American Express.  In those days (summer of 1964) job seekers had to pay the agency a fee and so I paid $360 or $30 per month for a year, to get this new job paying about $7,200 per year.   This firm was simply begging for new young talent to push themselves quickly up the corporate ladder so anyone could take as much responsibility as one could handle.  So, there was always a “go for the gusto” work environment.  I really learned a lot about the travel and credit card businesses plus I was given a limited budget to start a computer area for use only by our Travel Accounting Dept. and most importantly, it was separate from the Corporate Central Computer Group.  These infant computer machines really did help.  This was an educational time.

After a year of OJT, I was assigned to the Amex Cruise Dept to re-engineer its accounting records and to suggest ways to improve its profitability.  As part of a new learning experience I was required to take a 30-day cruise aboard Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth I from NY to the Mediterranean and back.  So, while luxuriously and deliciously dining every evening in Black Tie and having to deal with intermittent stops in Rome, Monaco, Athens and Barcelona, this 25-year-old had a wife at home with our 6-month-old daughter and unbeknownst to me, a baby son on the way.  Then came a 2-month stint in Montreal for their World Expo ’67 and shortly thereafter a 6-month assignment in Waikiki with flights home every other week.   After being assigned to another fix-up situation, this time in Tokyo; I figured that enough was enough, so I quit and went back to Wall Street and my old employer, Walston & Co, which I had left some 7 years earlier.

I was now the new manager of Internal Audit, a small part of a significant securities firm, at probably the busiest time in Wall St history.  So busy, that all market trading was eliminated on Wednesday of each week so the back office could process “the transactional backlog”.   Computers weren’t as powerful or available as they are today and of course there were no PC’s.  After 3 years, our firm was merged with another and the combined entity was sold to Ross Perot.   Since my firm was on the losing side of this transaction, most of my co-workers were laid off and fortunate or not, I became the new “Commodity Operations Head”.  I guess that I got the job because I could spell the word – “COMMODITY” (a wee bit of sarcasm).  A short time after starting in this new area, I tripped upon a major defalcation that was masterminded in our Frankfurt, Germany office.  

So as a reward or maybe a penalty, I was then additionally assigned as securities brokerage liaison to Ross. I was required to “limo ride” with him to the airport on his frequent trips back to Dallas.  I would sit in the back with this newly minted billionaire and his body guard to explain how this theft happened and since he loved to listen and then grill people, he demanded basic and intense but serious discussions about how the Wall St business worked (in much detail and many times in more detail than I knew).  The ride to LaGuardia was normally only 30 to 40 minutes but if there was any traffic, I would have to go on for sometimes in excess of an hour.  This was awful and compounded by the fact I had to cab it back to Manhattan as the limo was unavailable.

After Ross got tired of this crazy business and losses were getting too heavy, the combined firms folded and I turned down a relocation to Dallas with Ross & his firm, EDS.  I joined Bache & Co. to head up their worldwide Commodity Operations since I had now been industry anointed as a commodity expert who discovered a multimillion-dollar fraud at my prior job.  Amongst other duties, and a few years later, I was assigned as liaison to the Hunt Brothers (also of Dallas) who were trying to corner the US Silver Market.   Their plan was simple: buy all the Silver possible at any time or any place.  This stated in 1978 and collapsed in March of 1980.  This “SILVER CRISES” was resolved after 2 or 3 months, and I was then charged with the clean-up of this mess.  I worked on this for at least 80 hours per week for many months.  After six months or so, and with all issues with the Hunts finally tidied up (including the collection of millions of dollars from them); Bache morphed into Prudential Securities while I had to spend weeks in Washington, DC explaining how all of this “SILVER THING” happened.  I testified for many days over 3 weeks in front of varied alphabet groups including: the SEC, the FED, the CFTC, the FBI, the C of C and the DOJ.  My firm dubbed me a mini hero, but overall profits were tight, so all salary increases were frozen even for a mini hero. 

So without a salary increase, I had no choice but to leave the PRU for a new and better opportunity and joined a small Hedge Fund.  Besides the two founding partners, I was employee #1.  Yes, this was a risky move, but it paid off handsomely.  I was able to “gut” this out for about 5 ½ years when a headhunter sent me a note at home (for confidentially) to tell me that he had an offer for me that I could not refuse.  Yes, Hedge Funds make a lot of money; just ask Bernie Madoff whom I met thru his brother when I started a trading interface with his firm.  “No”, we did not lose any money with Bernie and his phony firm but a lot of others did.

In the early fall of 1987, I joined Kemper Insurance Corp. in their securities business.  They were HQ'ed outside of the NY area, but I was assigned to manage their NY Office.  So, after 30 years, my employment situations had moved me from 72 Wall, a short distance, to 110 Wall St.  My new office was just one block down the street from where I began my “professional” career.  Not much movement after almost 30 years of hard work.  But a new job with a stable firm with a chance to build my pension account?  SOUNDS GREAT!  But, only one month later, the stock market CRASHED on the newly named “Black Monday” (Oct 19, 1987). The stock market lost about 25% of its value on this one day.  After nearly a year of client chaos, backpedaling and treading water in the market averages, the stock market finally stabilized and so, I sold my house in Staten Island, closed the Kemper NY office and moved. 

I now lived in a city that vigorously supports Da Bulls, Da Bears and Da Cubbies; plus my new firm had corporate boxes for each of them.  Chicago housed the world headquarters for Kemper and within this goliath was my little division.  However, the bulk of my employees worked in Milwaukee with outposts in NYC, Cleveland, Denver, LA and Houston.  It was only common sense that a year later, I, again along with my Chicago group relocated but this time to Milwaukee, WI.

 I loved it!  A real Midwestern town (Chicago is a mini NY town) with family values and great people.  And, most importantly, the firm’s occupancy costs and payroll expense were significantly cheaper which is great when your bonus is based on the profit center you are managing.  I lived downtown, drove to the office daily with my commute reduced to 60 or 90 seconds depended upon whether I caught the one traffic light along the way.  It was too cold to walk except maybe in July.

I managed two different divisions in Milwaukee:  an operations unit of about 500 people and a technology group comprised of another 500 employees.  Both units mainly serviced the nationwide Kemper operations, but they additionally acted as separate profit centers and provided outside services to other independent banks and securities brokers.

Both separate units were self-contained and independently managed away from Kemper HQ, so it was decided to fully study if we could raise significant cash by selling these two entities (either together or separately) and to pay down some of the outstanding Corporate Debt.  If a sale was done, then I would have to decide whether to stay with Kemper HQ or to stay with one of the two units.  Since I did not want to move back to Chicago, and since the computer unit was more interesting and more innovative, I focused on the technology side of the business and I separately negotiated the sale of the operations group to a major NY bank.  This sale attracted a lot of industry wide attention and quickly forced the computer group into play much earlier than planned. 

Since I remained as the President of the computer group (BETA Systems Inc.), I shortly thereafter oversaw the sale of this group and wound up with a new set of bosses but this time from the international firm of Thomson Reuters headquartered in Toronto but US managed in Stamford, CT.  I signed a multiyear financially rewarding contract and after a few years, I exercised the “out” clause in this contract and retired at the age of 57.

Now mentally exhausted, I took some time to spend a month in Florence, Italy to see how my ancestors lived and to gain some knowledge of Italia including heavy samplings of pasta and vino.  (I rented an in-town apartment and did not stay in rural Tuscany as there is very little to do out in the vineyards after dark).

 When we got back home, I knew that I was still not ready to return to the fray and decided to go back to our favorite vacation – CRUISING.  We easily found a 30-day Princess cruise sailing from Hong Kong to Sydney and off we went.  In hindsight, I think that I was simply trying to make up for all my cancelled or postponed vacations over the prior 35 years. 

And now I am ready to go back to work and I have a polished resume and my networking tentacles are all extended but then fate intervenes.  My youngest son calls and tells me about his situation at UBS (Union Bank of Switzerland).  This was a new job for him, and he feels that while he is reasonably successful; he cannot  handle the needs of all the additional clients that he is adding.   I volunteered to come in one day a week and to help him in these areas where I had been working or managing for the past 40 years.   That call was about 20 years ago, and I have been “helping” ever since.

I never got around to going back to a regular job.  Change is inevitable and about 5 years after I began “helping”, we found it more financially beneficial and certainly less bureaucratic to leave UBS and the daily commute to the Met Life Building in NYC and to simply form our own firm.  Thus, we created and legalized Geremia Financial Services as an independent RIA: a “Registered Investment Advisor” which was physically located at the Raritan Center in Edison, NJ.

Finally, one may ask after reading this, how could I do all this moving both in my personal travels and in my business endeavors?  The answer is simple.  My wife Agnes!   Do you recall the young secretary that I met in the subterranean vault and who I married 56 years ago?  Well, she makes all the family and home life decisions.  She retired in May of 1964 when our first child was born and it was, she, who organized our house moves and it was, she, who controlled our family life especially when I was on the road for my all too many business trips.

We currently do a half dozen cruises a year and we have been to every continent and our individual cruises total in excess of 100.  But the most enjoyable ones are our annual “family” cruises where all the kids and grandkids plus sometimes friends and cousins sail with us for a week or two every August.  This year’s August 3rd trip will be our 21st consecutive family cruise with only one miss when a family pregnancy caused us to skip a cruise vacation and instead drive to Hershey Park in PA. 

So, between the time spent on planning & booking the cruises and other vacations and actually taking these trips (I look for the best price and do all bookings online) and visiting the grandchildren, I go to the office every single business day (for the morning only) right after my daily stop at my local gym.   The office work keeps me up to speed with all current events plus presumably keeps my brain active (if anything remains) and allows me to do a firsthand and onsite visit to see my investments (I call it, “visiting my money” and invite my clients to come in and “visit their money” which of course leads to a luncheon).  Further, it give me the opportunity to frequently chide my personal investment manager (my son) when I think that our financial performance is lacking. 

That’s it!  Except that I apologize for making this BIO too wordy. It has been busy since I left the Prep, and if you just can’t sleep some night, reading this may help with that situation.

 After Prep, I attended NCE for 2 1/2 years, leaving there in late '61. Went to work in a brokerage firm in '62, and in '64 became part of their brand new computer department. Spent the next 42 years in information processing in the financial services industry, retiring from Citibank in 2005.

In the late 90's, I started a web design company and grew the business to about 25 clients. I slowed down when I retired, and stopped taking on new clients, and currently service about a dozen accounts.

I was divorced in '83, and married my wife Stephanie in 2000. I lived in Manhattan for 20 years, and in 2002, we moved to our present home in Cliffside Park. Stephanie was a VP at Citibank, but changed careers in 2008, went to Culinary School, and opened a commercial bakery in Bogota, NJ, specializing in custom cakes for weddings, etc. She also built a wholesale business which provided desserts for a half dozen upscale restaurants in the area. She closed the bakery in August, 2022, and now manages a Baking Blog, dessertswithstephanie.com.

Two daughters from my first marriage have blessed me with 6 grandchildren, who are the loves of my life.

I drifted away from the Prep after the 25th reunion, but in early 2007, calls from John Connors, Dave Connolly and Walt McInerney got me back in the fold. I attended the 55th Reunion, and the rest is history.

We started the Prep '58 Blog in 2014, as a way to organize all the emails that went back and forth between the gang, and to chronicle the Cuppa Club get-togethers, which started in late 2013. In 2020, in response to the Covid pandemic, we started a monthly Zoom Cuppa call, which has been a big success. 

We've been having fun with all this ever since.  Go Prep!

Vince
"Life was great in '58"

Graduating from the Prep in 1958 I went to a Franciscan college seminary in Callicoon, NY. I wanted to join a brotherhood. Little did I know what God wanted and what God had planned for me! I joined the brotherhood founded by St. Francis of Assisi, the Order of Friars Minor, in1960. We are called friars. I was ordained to the priesthood in 1967. And very soon I had the happiness to be the official witness to the wedding of Jimmy and Sue Mack. After finishing theology studies I was sent to the Franciscan mission in Japan in 1967.

After 2 years of Japanese language studies in Tokyo, I served the parish communities in the cities of Maebashi, Ota, and Kiryu, all in Gumma Prefecture. Throughout my time in Japan I was always involved in the formation ministry with our young Japanese friars. In 1977 until 1984 I was assigned to the parish in Kita Urawa where I also ministered in the friars’ novitiate program.

In 1984 I was reassigned to the Franciscan Order’s Africa Project. I spent one year in Rome serving at the Order’s mission office. My ministry in Africa was formation ministry and retreat ministry. My first assignment in Africa was to Malawi 1985-1986. In 1986 I went with the first four Malawian friars in formation to join the post novitiate formation program with the Capuchin and Conventual Franciscan friars in Livingstone, Zambia. We were living in Livingston 30 minutes from Zimbabwe, the Zambezi River and Victoria Falls – beautiful. In 1990 I was assigned to the friars’ pre-novitiate formation house in Mbarara, Uganda. From that time I also engaged in the retreat ministry. I was happy to be invited to join with the Jesuits in Nairobi, Kenya in the retreat ministry they have there. In 1992 I was reassigned to the friars’ mission in Subukia, Kenya. In 1997 I moved to Nairobi, Kenya where I continued the retreat ministry.

Over the years, when back in the States, I got to visit Jimmy Mack. On one occasion long ago, probanly 2000, I visited Bill Wittman in Toronto.

In 1999 I returned from Africa to the States. I ministered at Boston Arch Street and in Providence, Rhode Island and at St. Francis Chapel, Colonie, NY while living with the friars at Siena College. I retired in 2016 and am presently assigned to the friars’ community in Butler, NJ. We are 28 friars here. 10 of us are retired; the others are involved in various ministries.

In my free time now I follow ice dance figure skating. I actually did ice dance during my last six years in Japan. And for the 7 years in Providence, I participated in the Ballroom Dance club at Brown University and in Contra dancing. Since turning 70 in 2010, I gave up the dancing and took up the cello. I enjoy practicing the cello each day.

I am thankful for the gift of a calling to live the life of the Franciscan friars. I am thankful for the opportunity to have lived in so many countries and to have met and lived among the people of those countries. I am especially thankful for the privilege to have ministered with and lived in brotherhood with friars: Japanese, Korean, Sri Lankan, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Polish, Canadian, New Zealander, Australian, Irish, English, Mexican, Brazilian, Croatian, Malawian, Ugandan, Tanzanian, Kenyan, Columbian, Peruvian and El Salvadorian friars (and American!). I believe the Lord called me to a life of brotherhood. I am so lucky that Fr. Shalloe directed me to the Franciscans.

 I have been so blessed.

Soon after graduation, I met the love of my life, Carol Muller. She was introduced to me after Mass at St. Paul’s Church (Greenville, Jersey City) by my cousin, who tried to arrange a ride home (so she said). We kind of fell for each other, and continued to date through my four years of college. We married in ’62, and the rest is history.

I commuted to Stevens Tech in Hoboken for four years, majoring in mechanical engineering. Though I was fascinated with what I was learning, it was a struggle and my grades were mediocre. I also enjoyed playing lacrosse as a freshman, but decided to give it up in hopes of improving my grades. My four years also included Air Force ROTC, and joining Delta Tau Delta Fraternity, which provided a great social outlet for Carol and me, along with very competitive inter-fraternity touch football.

After graduating from Stevens in ’62 and being commissioned as a 2nd Lt. in the US Air Force, I had hoped for a 1-year delayed assignment to let me gain some experience in an engineering job and earn some cash, so Carol and I could marry before I would start my first assignment in the USAF. However, Uncle Sam had other plans. I received orders assigning me to temporary duty at Chanute Air Force Base Tech School in Rantoul, IL in August for four months of aircraft maintenance officer training, followed by permanent duty as a field maintenance officer at Selfridge AFB in Michigan (about 20 miles north of Detroit).

This meant that, if I were to take Carol with me, we would have to push up our wedding plans by about a year. Uncle Sam was kind enough to grant me a 2-week leave after Tech School to accomplish this, meaning that Carol and I had to communicate by mail and phone about wedding plans in NJ. Thanks to heroic efforts by Carol and our families while I was learning all there was to know about aircraft maintenance, we married after Christmas ’62 at the church where we had met. We briefly honeymooned in the Poconos, then drove, undeterred by lots of snow, to Michigan to start our wonderful life adventure together.

My assignment involved maintenance of engines and other mechanical components for F-106 fighter interceptors and other support aircraft – a job I really enjoyed and might have considered as a career. However, Viet Nam was beginning to rear its ugly head and, with a wife and two AF brats (sons), that would have been very imprudent. So, after completing my commitment in ’65, I landed a job as an experimental test engineer at Pratt & Whitney Aircraft in East Hartford, CT, working on testing fixes for the same engines that I had worked with in the AF. That job lasted 10 years, after which I was the victim of a major layoff.

Thanks to Divine Providence, an ad appeared soon after for an Assistant Director of Engineering at nearby Manchester Memorial Hospital (where our two daughters had been born). It involved plant maintenance, and I had enjoyed my maintenance experience in the AF. Long story short, after collecting one unemployment check, I was offered and accepted the job I felt drawn to (despite a significant pay cut). I enjoyed the technical work, and working in a hospital was very fulfilling despite the long hours and being on call. (The administrative part was not my favorite, though.)

I continued at MMH for 21 years, wearing (too) many “hats”. By ’95, between expansion and “making do with less” (Les?), plus a personality clash with my latest boss, I was feeling quite burned out. I was seriously considering a career change, and sensed a very strong calling to patient care. After much research and consultation with co-workers in several disciplines, along with lots of prayer for guidance, respiratory therapy felt l ike the right fit. It involved much needed patient treatment, along with a very satisfying technical aspect. After taking some prerequisite evening classes, I enrolled in a full time respiratory therapy program at a local community college, and took an early retirement from the hospital in ‘96.

I graduated from the 2-year program with an AS degree, and was hired by W.W. Backus Hospital in Norwich, CT in ’98. My new career was very satisfying, much less stressful, and had me working only eight hour shifts with NO administrative responsibilities. It felt incredibly relieving just being a “grunt”! After eight years I retired for good at age 65. Carol and I spent the next few years between relaxing, getting our house ready for sale, and looking at houses and property near our younger daughter in Maine. We eventually found a nice wooded lot in Wayne, ME, a lake resort community, and eventually had our dream house (for aging in place) built on it. Our CT home was eventually sold, and we moved to Maine full time in 2013. We love it here!

Now, still happily married for 55 years, we are still blessed with reasonably good health, are enjoying our retirement together in this lovely state, are getting more involved in our new parish, and look back gratefully on the wonderful life we’ve been sharing with all its blessings (including four grandchildren). 

The Lord has certainly been good to us! .

 I was enrolled in Prep, not by choice, but because my father knew the value of a Jesuit education. (I ended up having 12 years of it.) Only looking back many years later, did I appreciate what he had done for my brother (’50) and I.

From an early age, I wanted to be a dentist like my father. So, after Prep, off to Pre-Dent at SPC. I was an average student at Prep & SPC. But, I got a real scare after my 1st semester biology course. It was Botany and my grade was hovering 69-70. My luck had it that my Jesuit mentor was the professor and was a botany major way back. He sat me down to talk about it and recommended I transfer to the Business School. No way – I told him I wanted to be a dentist and could not understand how trees grew and flowers blossomed had anything with my career path. Big mistake. He went ballistic. After begging, he let me continue conditionally into his 2nd semester course – Zoology. I loved it and easily passed.

Oh – while in college, I became an athlete & lettered 3 years. Varsity Bowling!! (Only college sport where the bar was only 30’ away.)

The day after Prep graduation, I became a roofer. (My father’s best friend was my boss.) They both decided I should have a degree from the School of Hard Knocks. Seven summers, most Saturdays & holidays. If full time, close to 1 ½ years of my life. To this day I acknowledge and appreciate laborers and tradesmen. Made me always enjoy summer over winter. Working shirtless, but with long pants, brought some stares when at the Shore – very tan top, white legs.

During Jr year at SPC, I met my life soulmate. Pat was from the Rumson, Fair Haven Shore area, and was enrolled at Christ Hospital School of Nursing in Jersey City. While rotating through Margaret Hague Maternity Hospital (wonder how many of my classmates were born there) the girls lusted for some male companionship and immediately thought of the horny guys at the College. They held a mixer & I went. Lucky me. ( I wonder if they knew that the Jesuits didn’t let us have puberty yet!) What Pat didn’t know was that I was in need of a short notice date for the Annual Bowling Banquet at the Knights of Columbus in Bayonne. She sat through several hours of boring speeches, awards and non-memorable food. I knew then, that she made my team.

I promised my Dad that I would not get married until I finished Dental School at Georgetown (his alma mater ’26). Only promise I ever broke to him. We got married between Soph/Jr year. Dental school started out with 120 in my Class. After 1 yr, I was 56th. It was very tough. All our classes were taken with the medical students. After Soph yr, I was 32nd. Got married. Entered clinical training. Loved it. After Jr yr, 12th. Graduated 2nd. Was a case of finally doing what you like & liking what you do. My whole career was like that. Anyway, when I handed my diploma to my father, he said he would never doubt my judgment again.

After Georgetown graduation, off to the Air Force for 3 yrs. A one year dental internship in Ft Worth TX and 2 yrs in Myrtle Beach, SC. Visiting a relative in Charlotte, NC, we fell in love with it had a private practice there for 38 yrs.

Soon after getting married, we began our family. First 2 girls, then 2 boys. All in 5 yrs. Wash. DC, Ft Worth TX, Myrtle Beach, SC & Charlotte, NC. We decided we should not move anymore. We have 5 grandchildren, too!!

We have had two 2nd homes, but not at the same time. One was on Kiawah Is. SC for 12 yrs. We left work Thurs pm & returned Sun pm. Lots of driving, but recharged & ready for work Mon am. The other home came just prior to retirement and was on Lake Keowee in far western SC not far from Clemson Univ. We had that for 5 yrs. During those 2nd home years we lived in a small condo a short walk from my office. Finally decided that Charlotte would get all our remaining years.

Once our nest got empty, we began to travel. (Do not leave home with 4 teenagers behind. Been there, done that – once.) We were fortunate to have German best friends who moved from Charlotte back to Germany to raise & educate their 2 boys. We traveled many places in Europe with them over the years, including many hiking trips in the Austrian Alps. Pat’s hobby is Genealogy, so that took us to her ancestral northern Germany and my Lithuania and eastern Slovakia.

We try to get up North every few years. We love NYC in Dec. Even made it to Prep one Dec 8th Holy Day Mass in the gym. Brought back memories seeing those well-behaved young men.

Pat & I are pretty healthy. Briskly walk 4-5 miles most days. Back in late 70’s I ran 4 marathons, including New York & Jersey Shore. Well controlled asthma prevents me from running, but not walking or hiking.

My favorite hobby has always been fishing, esp. salt water. My father and brother passed that on to me & I to my children & grands.

Finally, I envy the bonding so many of you have in living near each other, many having played on Prep teams together etc. And Cuppa!!! Keep it uppa!!

Bottom line: Yes! Prep has and still is making a difference in my life. Sure, the Jesuits are the “Society of Jesus”, but their emphasis on devotion to the Blessed Mother left the most lasting influence upon me.

Rather than just provide the details of my life after the Prep, I thought my story should begin with the circumstances leading to my admission.  My father died when I was two and my mother never remarried.  Money was in short supply and if were not for an aunt, a school teacher, that valued education, mine would have ended with a graduation from Union Hill High in Union City.  I would most certainly never even considered higher education.

Having survived the four years at Grand and Warren, I enrolled in an engineering curriculum at Seton Hall.  About a month before graduation from the Prep, I had an auto accident on the way home from school and thereby lost any means of transportation to Seton Hall.  At the last minute, I enrolled at St. Peter’s College and majored in Physics.  Upon graduation, I took a local job at Isomet Corporation in Palisade Park doing thin film deposition on solid state laser rods and other optical materials. The hours were long and the pay was lower than that received by most of the other Peter’s physics graduates.

In 1963, I enrolled at Stevens Institute of Technology and received an MS in applied physics.  Although Stevens had a top rating for engineering, I was very disappointed in the faculty and course offerings.  I finally graduated five and a half years and three kids later.

In 1963, I married Barbara Underhill and we lived the next 12 years in North Bergen. During that time, we had five children; one of which passed away in the first month.

In 1965, I left Isomet and worked as a “job shopper” on the Apollo Program for Kollsman Instruments in Syosset, Long Island.  Ten months later, I took a more conventional job at Bendix Aerospace in Teterboro, NJ.  This also involved aerospace ; a star tracker used on the lunar excursion module.  Once again, I did not enjoy the large corporate structure and left after three and a half years.  At that time, a position opened at a small company called Crystalab Products in Rochelle Park, NJ.  I was in charge of designing and building electro-optic light modulators and I was finally doing something I enjoyed.  The company later changed its name to Lasermetrics and it was here that I became involved in trade show exhibits and made many personal contacts with a wide range of scientists and engineers in the laser and electo-optical fields. Our large aperture q-switches were used in the laser fusion labs at Lawrence Livermore Labs and at the University of Rochester and I felt the highlight moment of that job was being invited to the dedication of the fusion lab at U of R.

In 1979, a better paying opportunity arose and I became chief operating officer of a small optics manufacturing company, Special Optics, in Little Falls, NJ.  It had been losing $20 K a month on sales of $20K when I began.  My contacts from the Lasermetrics days served me well and with improved equipment and better personnel, the company became profitable and remained that way until my firing ten years later. When I was hired, I became a director and was given 11% ownership in the company where the majority owner was the famous Dr. William H. Crocker and the balance owned by a New York stockbroker to whom I reported.  To this day, the reason for my termination remains undefined but it was happening so here I am at age 50 and without a job.  

Although I had several job offers out of state, I decided I would start my own company; just me and with very limited savings at the time.  Maybe not the smartest thing but I rented 600 square feet of space at a building leased by a friend who owned US Laser Corporation in Wyckoff, NJ and I called the new company Photonic Devices Inc.  

A major reason for the success I achieved was my association with one of the best lens designers in the world, Jan Hoogland.  With his help, I developed a line of precision optical components for lasers that included f-theta scan lenses, beam expanders, focusing objectives and fiber collimators.  In year 2006, I sold the scan lens business to Jenoptik in Germany and in 2019, changed to a limited liability corporation, Photonic Devices NJ.  If anyone is interested, my product line is described on my son’s website, www.dpmphotonics.com.  It  is now a “hobby that pays me” and it has been a pretty good 33 years that allowed me to be comfortable, financially.  

Full retirement???  Maybe when I get old.  On the personal side, my wife, Barbara passed away in 2014.  We were happily married for one week short of 51 years.  I later met my future wife, Freda, at my church’s bereavement meetings and we married in 2017 and currently reside in Woodland Park, NJ.

 I grew up in Hasbrouck Heights and commuted to Prep on the 97 bus to Journal Square, the Erie Railroad and eventually by car pool. Being a commuter, it was difficult for me to get to know my fellow classmates other than those on the 1958 baseball team of which I was a member. This blog and the 60th Reunion has helped to fill some of that void.

In 1958, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik giving our nation a wakeup call. It was clear we were falling behind in science and engineering resulting in a big rush to close the gap. It motivated me to have a desire to attend engineering school and Father Shalloe recommended the University of Detroit. In 1963, I completed a five-year program in Chemical Engineering which included a three-year internship with Ford Motor Company at their Engineering Staff and Research Center in Dearborn, MI. Had it not been for the preparation I had in science and math during my high school years, I would not have lasted more than the first year in engineering school.

While in college, I also joined the Marine Corps Platoon Leaders Class program and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant upon graduation. Upon completion of six months of training at the Officer Basic School in Quantico, VA, I was given a choice of three duty stations. Being a Jersey boy, I thought the Marine Corps Base at 29 Palms really sounded cool. Little did I know, and much to my disappointment, I would be stationed in the Mojave Desert 50 miles from the nearest civilization. Not a great place for a bachelor.

I eventually served a 20 year career which included two tours of duty in Vietnam as well as others at Ft. Bliss, TX, Quantico, VA, Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, CA, Okinawa, Japan and Camp Pendleton, CA. My final assignment was at the Marine Corps Finance Center in Kansas City. While at Ft. Bliss, I met my wife of 47 years and have been blessed with three wonderful children and two grandchildren which are the love of our life.

While stationed in Kansas City, I began working on an MBA degree at Rockhurst University to prepare for life after retirement from the Marine Corps. While still in the program, I was asked to apply for the position of MBA Program Director, was hired, and served in that capacity from 1984 to 1988. In 1988, I was hired by Johnson County Community College, a 20,000 student school in suburban Kansas City, to serve in a variety of administrative positions which culminated in appointment to the position of Assistant Dean for Business, Technology and Computer Instruction.

In 1996, I requested assignment to a faculty position and served in that capacity until my retirement in 2014. During my second career in education, I had the privilege of co-founding the Kansas Academy for Math and Science(KAMS) which is located at Fort Hays State University. Some of Kansas’ best and brightest high school juniors and seniors participate in this resident program where they concurrently complete their last two years of high school and first two years of college in a STEM intensive curriculum. To date, over 250 students, including some from China and South Korea, have graduated.

I am now a full time papa to my grandchildren which is the best job I have ever had. While my entire education from high school to graduate school took place in Jesuit institutions, the most important formative years of my life took place at the Prep for which I am very grateful. If you are ever in the Kansas City area and would like to get together, email me at madgrm8127@gmail.com. 

We have some great barbeque. In the mean time best wishes for good health and happiness until we meet again at our 70th Reunion.

I am going to preface my response to Vince Grillo’s request for my post Prep biography by offering him a sincere thank you for all the caring, creativity and hard work he continues to put in to keep our class of ‘58 informed. Thank you very much, Vince.

In April of our graduating year, 1958, my parish, St. Paul’s of Greenville, announced a date for a scholarship test for entrance to Seton Hall University. The parish had established a full scholarship at the Hall. Along with two dozen other graduating students from St. Paul’s parish I took the test. Fortunately I won a full four year scholarship.

At Seton Hall I was active in many student organizations. I became Associate Editor of the school newspaper, the Setonian. I was a founding member of the TriPhibian Guard, a rival organization to the long established Pershing Rifles within the ROTC program.

While at the Hall I was also a member of the Scholarship Club, whose purpose was to raise money for the school’s general scholarship fund. As part of the club I emceed one of the club’s annual dance and fund raiser. That event featured Connie Francis and a short speech by then Vice Presidential candidate, Henry Cabot Lodge.

My major at Seton Hall was pre-law, chosen to stay within the guidelines given to me by a number of Jesuits whom I truly admired and respected. Their advice was to follow the path of traditional “liberal” education , meaning the pursuit of broad studies that help form the whole man and shape minds and character.

Within two weeks in June 1962 I was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Army, graduated from Seton Hall and was married. I had earned the honor of Distinguished Military Graduate which gave me the option for a regular Army commission. I declined and took the Reserve commission because I truly wanted to serve but did not want to make it a career. The girl I married is still the love of my life. She and I met at a Prep Columbus Day Dance in October, 1956. Pat Faber of Sacred Heart Academy, Hoboken, became my lifelong love and soul mate.

As college graduation neared disappointment raised its ugly head. Way too many firms recruiting on campus put me off and told me to come see them after I finished my two year active duty commitment. Having produced a very attractive college record with a solid GPA and placing in the upper 10% of my graduating class this rejection was very disappointing.

However, as with many other things in my life, the hand of God came into play and Consolidated Edison of New York showed up on campus. I will always have a warm spot in my heart for Con Ed because, not only did they not push me away, they actually welcomed the fact that I was going to serve and considered it a plus.

After several layers of interviews Con Ed offered me a job in their management training program. The salary was above what I had been targeting and the family benefits were superb. Also, upon completion of active duty and return to the company, all the accumulated programmed raises of the past two years were to be granted to me. Warm spot for Con Ed indeed.

Our son Kevin was born while I was on active duty with the 194th Armored Brigade at Fort Ord, California. All three of us happily returned home upon completion of my tour and I gratefully returned to my career at Con Edison. Within Con Ed’s two year Customer Service management training program, there was a six month stint scheduled in the firm’s highly advanced and admired Computer Programming Group. In 1966 computer programming and data processing were beginning to explode in growth. It was where the world was rapidly going.

I was so taken by the challenge and excitement of programming and the potential of a career in such a leading edge enterprise that I chose to leave the Customer Service Group and join the Computer Programming department. This decision wound up leading to the next step in my career. I was studying for my MBA at the Bernard M. Baruch College of Business of the City University of New York at night. One of my professors, an Israeli, was highly regarded as a guide for successful career planning. I spoke with him about opportunities for people with computer skills in the burgeoning consulting arena and other booming areas. He told me he himself needed someone with computer programming and systems design capabilities to write and implement a stock market analysis system for a company he had started and was taking public. He wondered if I could write the program and set up the system.

So, once the company went public and I felt the professor had the money to make a payroll, I joined him. I had his analytical stock models up and running in lightning speed. Thus began my extraordinary venture into Wall Street. After about four years with this little stock analysis company I realized that the professor had no vision for how to grow the company. It was also very difficult to generate substantial commissions for such a specialty stock market product.

Once again, with the hand of God on my shoulder, I approached one of the better contacts I had made on the Street. This group had been intrigued with our little computer model. They were not intrigued enough to pay for it, but intrigued. I interviewed with this firm and they offered me a sales position in December,1971. The firm, William D. Witter Inc. was the big leagues of Wall Street. They were a very highly regarded research boutique and a very sophisticated operation. It was here I began to build my ultimate career of over of thirty years in Wall Street.

I was assigned territories that William D had not yet reached such as Nebraska and Iowa along with the under serviced smaller accounts in cities like Chicago, Minneapolis, Kansas City and Denver. I had a firm with a stellar reputation and product behind me. I was super motivated and rapidly began to build sizable production from these accounts.

In Wall Street terms I was somewhat of an unusual animal as I spent 26 successive years at some version of the same firm. Wall Street professionals tend to change firms frequently always looking for greener pastures. So, 26 years at some version of the same place was unusual.

William D. Witter Inc. was acquired by Drexel Burnham Inc in September 1976. I was one of only three salesmen invited to join Drexel and Michael Milken. Drexel closed in February 1990. The key professionals from Drexel’s Institutional Equity department went as a group to form the core of National Westminster Bank’s U.S. business. That’s my 26 year time line.

At each of these firms I was asked to be a member of the Stock Selection Committee and Investment Policy Committees. At Drexel and Nat West I was able to achieve the “Top Gun” title and trophies as the top producing Institutional salesman several times. I was an officer and senior officer of each firm and served as Deputy Director of Sales at Nat West.

Upon Nat West’s closure, the chief of the institutional effort at Bear Sterns asked me to join him as a managing director mentoring young salespeople and research analysts. I did so and then after a year and a half I semi-retired in 1999 and then completely retired in February 2002.

Throughout my professional career I stayed in contact with the Prep. In 1977 the Prep launched its first major fund raising campaign The money was raised to renovate the Jesuit residence at Shalloe Hall. I supported the campaign and donated the renovation and remodeling of a bedroom in honor of my parents, Arthur and Lucille McCarthy.

To his credit, Prep classmate Willie Wilcynski became a prime mover in organizing group phone calls during the Prep’s “Phonathon” fund raising campaigns. I always enjoyed traveling to the Prep to participate and to visit with my classmates during many sessions in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

In 1995 Fr. Jim Keenan arrived at the Prep as President. To me and many others Fr. Keenan was a Godsend for the Prep. The school had foundered for several years and lost some of its luster. Its enrollment had a noticeable decline. Fr. Jim Keenan righted the ship and turned it all around. Through his leadership the Prep rebounded sharply. It once again began to excel academically and in athletics. The enrollment strengthened considerably. The Prep was on its way back to being the most desirous high school for boys in northern New Jersey.

In 2001 Fr. Keenan asked me to join the Board of Trustees. It was truly an honor to do so. Four of the six years I served on the Board I chaired the Investment Committee. Board membership opened my eyes to the quality and strong character of the entire Prep product. Our fellow alumni from all various classes with whom I served on the Board are truly exemplary men. The experience of serving with this pool of talent reinforced my already swollen Prep pride.

The personal component of my post Prep life is as follows. Pat and I have two children. Each of them has three children, two boys and one girl each. Our children and our grandchildren are our greatest blessings. Our son, Kevin, runs his own hedge fund. Our daughter, Colleen, is a senior executive salesperson at Verizon. Our oldest grandchild, Erin McCarthy, graduated from Michigan and is pursuing a Master’s Degree. Erin’s brother, Keith, is studying at the Dan Patrick College of Sports Broadcasting at Full Sail University of Florida.

Age wise our next grandchild, Peter Campbell, is going to be a senior at the University of Alabama. Peter’s sister, Caitlin, is also at Alabama. Caitlin is on a Presidential Honors scholarship there. John McCarthy is next in line. John is a on a scholarship at TCU and is going to be a junior. Finally our youngest, Craig Campbell, is graduating from Bergen Catholic and will be entering Penn State in the Fall.

Pat and I have been residents of Denville NJ for over 50 years. We are members of St. Mary’s parish where I have taught CCD for 30 years. Pat taught in our neighborhood Denville elementary school for 25 years. She also spent about ten years teaching CCD.

We have been members of Spring Brook Country Club in Morristown for 35 years where I continually try to take the course to its knees to no avail. All in all a biography of someone who is very blessed.

 After graduating from the Prep I worked the next three summers at the Essex and Sussex Hotel in Spring Lake NJ-- "The Irish Riviera" -- first as a houseman and then lifeguard/beach boy.  That set the tone for a number of segments of my life thereafter. 

Like about half of our graduating class, I matriculated up Montgomery Street to St Peter's College and walked there from home the next four years. At St Peter's I majored in Physics, took four years of ROTC, sang in the Glee Club and continued swimming. 

Following our last exams and a week before graduation, my longstanding friendship with Jack Gavin presented me with the blessing of my life. For at Sue and Jack's engagement party, I met Patricia Gavin (Jack's cousin). I still remember how beautiful she looked in her white two-piece suit and red straw hat. At the after-party, Pat and I shared our own table at the Casino in the Park because we arrived late and there was no room for us at the big table with all the others.  From then on we were on the path that eventually led to marriage four years later. Thank you, Jack and Sue!!! 

But first it was off to US Army Signal Corps branch schools at Ft. Gordon, GA, and Radio Officer specialty school at Ft. Monmouth, NJ, followed by one and a half years in the 8th Infantry Division, 8th Signal Battalion in Bad Kreuznach, Germany.  

After getting out of the Army in the summer of 1964, I traveled around Europe in my Karmann Ghia for nearly two months before returning home to Jersey City and beginning graduate school at Fordham University - once again commuting from home. Pat was a senior at the College of St Elizabeth, so we saw each other every weekend spending lots` of time visiting each other's homes and families and studying together. We continued to make plans for our life together and were married in November 1966 at St Cecilia's Church in Englewood, NJ. 

By then Pat had graduated the College of St. Elizabeth as a math teacher and taught in Leonia, NJ; and I had finished my masters degree at Fordham and was working at AVCO Corporation in Wilmington, MA. We moved to Melrose, MA and have been there ever since. 

The path from ROTC to AVCO is connected through my choice of the Signal Corps. As a Radio Officer I was introduced at Fort Monmouth to the use of the ionosphere to propagate high frequency radio signals over thousands of miles to connect subscribers a continent away. In Germany, I was in charge of a 50-man platoon that employed virtually every kind of radio used by the Army to connect all the dispersed units of the 8th Infantry Division, including both ground and airborne units, which allowed me to go to jump school and become airborne qualified.

That Signal Corps experience helped me to both acquire an assistantship at Fordham and a summer job at Fort Monmouth between semesters, which then led to my choice of a thesis subject for my master's degree. During the spring of my final year at Fordham I was recruited by AVCO Corporation to join their Geophysics Section, which studied ionospheric phenomena and utilization to both communicate with and radio-locate ships at sea as well as to detect ballistic missile launches in the Soviet Union. Later on we developed the first successful Over-the-Horizon Backscatter radar to detect and track both aircraft and submarine launched ballistic missiles at ranges over a thousand miles from the radar. 

Although we never planned to permanently leave the familiar haunting grounds of New Jersey, we have now lived in Melrose, MA for almost 54 years. We still return to NJ almost monthly to visit family and to spend several weeks each summer at our vacation house my parents bought in Wall Township. We still gravitate to the beach in front of the Essex and Sussex (which is now condos) and enjoy body surfing in the waves with our kids and grandkids. Our vacation plans last year meshed with the Prep '58 Summer Bash in Belmar, so we (wife Pat, and three grandsons and I) were delighted to see many of you. 

Melrose, Massachusetts, has been very good to us. We have been blessed to share and grow our faith in two Catholic parishes where we taught CCD, ran a Marriage Preparation program for 20 years, lector and participate in a lively and congenial Bible Study which I now host on Zoom during the pandemic every Friday morning. We are fortunate that our moving to Melrose coincided with the peak of the Christian Family Movement (CFM) where we met and still share family activities with our dearest friends of nearly 54 years. In addition, we enjoyed our first Marriage Encounter weekend thereafter learning to deepen our marriage relationship through daily dialog and widening our community of friends. 

We have been blessed beyond measure with three sons who bring joy to our expanding family that now includes three wonderful daughters-in-law and nine grandchildren. Brian, Greg and Dan thrived in our neighborhood public schools, ventured into Boston on the "T" to attend Boston College High School (BC High) where they have become "men for others" in the Jesuit tradition, and then matriculated to colleges in Washington DC, Ithaca, and Cambridge. We continue to share in all their lives, so grateful for their carrying on the values we hold dear. Family gatherings - of any size - are the best! 

Meanwhile, Pat and I pursued careers in math and engineering: Pat taught math at Girls' Catholic HS in Malden until the Cardinal closed it in 1992 and then resumed her private tutoring business. I worked 41 years at AVCO/Textron on a variety of military programs including: Over-the-Horizon Radar, Wake Vortex Detection and Tracking, Autonomous Anti-tank Mines, and Air delivered Smart munitions (CBU-105).  The best part of the AVCO/Textron experience was the people I was fortunate enough to work with every day. The spirit of cooperation and teamwork underpinned all my daily interactions: both sharing and developing ideas on how to solve the technical challenges that made us successful and in the work atmosphere. A special part of every day was the round lunch table in the cafeteria where anyone was welcome and would be accommodated by everyone just sitting back a little further from the table; talking specifically about work was prohibited; so we got to share much of our lives and values. 

That was the most difficult aspect to give up upon retirement, but Textron has a very active Retirees group that meets at least twice a year for lunch; common interest subgroups often meet to explore restaurants, outings and shows. Another benefit of working at Textron was the quick ride opposing commuter traffic. That easy 15-minute commute probably gave me a couple of extra years of non-work hours and allowed me to be home virtually every night (except when traveling) for dinner with the family and evening activities; and even when I had extra work to catch up on, I could come home for dinner and then go back to work for a few hours into the wee hours of the morning.

After retiring, we have continued tutoring math and physics as volunteers at Notre Dame Cristo Rey high school in Lawrence MA, where every single graduate has been accepted to a four-year college. It's so rewarding to see the disadvantaged students excel in this faith-filled, nurturing environment where they also work one day a week in local businesses, gaining valuable confidence and skills. I am also a mentor to a USFIRST high school robotics team, the Melrose iRaiders (2713) where I get to work with enthusiastic young men and women to help them discover the relationship between their math and physics coursework and its practical application in building a successful robot to meet the challenge of the competitive game while maintaining "gracious professionalism": cooperating not only with members of their own team, but also with their competitors.  

We have also had the privilege of worldwide travel not only during and as part of my work at AVCO/Textron, but also on our own, both before and after retirement. Most of these trips have been greatly enhanced by traveling with friends and family. We have had the pleasure of visiting many European and Central American countries, plus Egypt, Turkey, China, and South Africa. We have also experienced much of the US including many of the National Parks. A special treat was sharing the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone with our middle son, daughter-in law and their two sons two years ago. What's next?? 

Life was Great in '58; and Life continues to be awesome!