My Grand Parents and parents were born in Austria. They fled the German invasion around 1938. My Parents immigrated to Kenya, while the rest of the family moved to New York State.
I was born in Kenya in 1940. There were no schools for white boys in Kenya therefore my mother sent me to the US when I was 9 years old to live with my grandmother and attend schools in US...
I lived with my grandmother for a few years and when she was diagnosed with cancer we moved into my Uncle’s home. I attended Brooklyn Technical High School then Union Collage, Schenectady, NY and I met my wife Genevieve in my sophomore year and we married in 1962.
I began my career at Western Electric which was part of AT&T. While there I also attended Stevens Institute of Technology and received a Master’s Degree. By this time we had two sons and we moved to Houston TX, where I joined Texas Instruments as a manufacturing engineer.
One of the most challenging positions was in 1980 when I became the General Manager in the oil business manufacturing geophones. I took over the position employing 150 employees in two plants. Oil exploration boomed and we grew to 5 locations with over 1,000 employees within two years. The price of oil dropped. We reduced our manpower by 800 employees within a few months. The market turned around and we started hiring but the market changed again and we shrunk to 125 employees. My boss consolidated four businesses into one that he would manage, my position was eliminated.
For the second time in my carrier I was unemployed.
I joined Motorola in Arizona as president for one of their new businesses. The business grew but Motorola decided to sell it. I stayed with Motorola and transitioned into becoming a consultant within Motorola University. I retired from Motorola in 2000 but continued consulting on my own until 2005.
After moving to Sun Lakes, I joined the US manufacturer Melaleuca as a Marketing Executive which serves 18 countries with over 400 natural products. And in October 2012 I became a member of the Sun Lakes Rotary Club. In June 2013, I become the Club Membership Chair with a committee of five and a goal of improving our net membership which we achieved. I enjoy this most important committee in our effort to grow our club. Most of my local friends are Rotarians and I couldn’t be more proud to be a member of Rotary and this club.
