Following graduation, I signed up for both U.S. Navy and Harvard Business School. I was accepted in both, on condition I take Harvard's one-year Industrial Administrator program, followed by Supply Corps training for the Navy. On completion, I was assigned as Disbursing and Supply Corps Officer to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron No. 31, being commissioned in New Orleans. Booked for the South Pacific, we more or less trailed the war from Panama, Solomons, New Guinea, Peleliu, Leyte, and finally Okinawa. P.T. boats, at least in the Pacific, were superseded by vessels with more fire power and by aircraft, and we returned home in the Fall of 1945 without having seen much action.
I was accepted by Harvard Law School on letter request while overseas (far cry from admission procedures today), and Mary (sister of Jim Chapman), whom I had married on January 23, 1943, and I moved to Lexington, Mass., to attend law school. We began raising a family and had five children- Edith, James (Amherst '70), Laura, Harriet and Miner ('75)- in the next eight years.
In 1949 we moved to Long Island and I became associated with Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosie, an international New York City law firm with which I have been practicing since. I started in litigation, branched into the corporate area, particularly department store counseling, and for the last 30 years have been specializing in personal planning and estate work, and in the non-profit field.
Since 1959, I have served as Trustee and counsel for The American University in Cairo, the Board of which meets in both New York and Cairo. In the 1960s, I was active in the formation of the Central School District in Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, where all of our children attended school. I was also active on the Executive Committee of the Alumni Council of Amherst College from 1961 to 1968.
Other non-profit activities included being a member of the Board of Heckscher Art Museum in Huntington, Long Island, from 1968 (Chairman 1972 - 1985); Trustee of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown from 197 4; Trustee of the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation in New York City from 1972.
Our five children are all married and, with spouses, have the following careers in process: Edith and Ed Howe, lawyer and architect; Jim and Janelle, placement guidance and banker; Laura and Tim Hall, both professors of Human Resources; Harriet and Carlos Rivera, dance therapist and radiologist; Miner and Helen, investment manager and teacher. We have eight grandchildren. Mary, after raising our family (nurturing, educating, and each year cooking them 4,200 meals), obtained Master degrees in philosophy. She has also guided various service organizations on Long Island, including the Family Service League, Huntington Hospital, St. Johnland Nursing Home, and C. W. Post Hutton House Lectures.