Prior to entering Amherst, I attended University School in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Following graduation from Amherst, I entered the Anny and received an officer's commission in the Army Ordinance Department. I was in Italy with the 12th Air Force-346th Fighter Squadron for the last year of the war, principally in Pisa. We were in the Panama Canal en route to Manila for reassignment when V-J Day occurred, and we were diverted to New York and were among the first to arrive home.
I took a year of graduate work in Boston at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, administered jointly by Harvard and Tufts Universities, and received an M.A. in 1947.
On August 30, 1948, Martha Beiler and I were married in Cincinnati. She had graduated from Wellesley College and had completed two years of medical school at Case-Western University in Cleveland. She received her M.D. in 1950, did her internship in Pediatrics and went on to work pan-time with the County Health Departments both in Cleveland and Pittsburgh.
We have four children: Charles-Union College; Elizabeth-Wellesley College; James-Amherst; Martha-Denison University, and now have seven grandchildren.
My first job was with Cleveland Steel Illuminating, and I was with them until1960 when I joined Crucible Steel in Pittsburgh in their Personnel and Executive Staff Department. Three years later, I joined Allegheny Ludlum Steel Corporation as Personnel Director, and was there until 1971 when I founded Ambassador Travel Service. The latter has grown steadily for the past 20 years, and it is now under the capable management of our oldest son, Charles. The travel industry is in a constant state of change. It requires a lot of work but it also affords the opportunity to take many fine trips. There is virtually no major area in the world of touristic interest that Marty and I have not visited. We had done a good bit of traveling before we opened Ambassador, so we really converted a hobby into a business.
I am a past member of the Pittsburgh Personnel Association and the Pitts burgh Press Club. At present, I am on the Corporate Board of Passavant Hospital and a member of Shannopin Country Club.
In addition to travel, Marty and I enjoy music, gardening and golf. We have a 72-acre farm about 15 miles from our home, and this provides lots of work opportunities to keep the waist line static. We also enjoy two weeks each year in February on Sanibel Island, Florida when most of our kids and their families come down for a winter break.