WHAT HISTORICAL EVENT HAD THE BIGGEST IMPACT ON YOUR LIFE AND WHY?

My parents were divorced when I was five years old. Back in the 50’s, this was much less common of an event than it is today. I remember my best friend’s mother saying, “He can’t play with you anymore since I learned that your parents were divorced.” Since I did not live with or near my Dad, I only got to see him every other weekend. I remember it was tough not having a father figure around my house to help me “figure life out”. Fortunately for me, my grandfather stepped up and became a very important role model in my life. In addition, my Little League coach became a very influential person in my life. He taught me the fundamentals of the game of baseball and told me I was going to be “alright”. Later on in my life, I found it very rewarding to coach Little League and teach young boys about the wonderful game of baseball which helped encourage me at a time when I needed it the most. I was always on the lookout for the kids who were living with a single mother and who were in need of a word of encouragement.

HOW DO YOU BALANCE YOUR LIFE EACH DAY?

I think we find balance in our lives in three ways.

The first is to find your purpose in life. We each have strengths and weaknesses. We also each have gifts and talents. To find our purpose we must first determine what our gifts and talents are and then we can, from a position of strength, begin to find our purpose.

The second is to have goals in our lives. I feel that goals are an important part of the lives of most every successful person. I don’t think anyone who has ever been successful did so by mistake or by chance. I believe they set targeted goals which helped them make decisions along the way towards their achievements.

And the third is to set priorities for your life. If you fail to set priorities for your own life, you become susceptible to the priorities of others and you may mistakenly end up somewhere you did not intend to be.

I have found that by finding my purpose, setting goals and having priorities in my life, I am able to help keep my life in balance.

Also, I would be remiss if I did not mention the fact that my faith is an important part of my life. It provides me with balance by recognizing that a higher power is in control and not me [thankfully]. The bible says it best, “Man determines his path, but God directs his path” [ Proverbs 16:9 ]

IF YOU HAD A CHANCE TO START ALL OVER AGAIN, WOULD YOU?

If the question is, would I start in the hotel business all over again, my answer would be absolutely yes. I have thoroughly enjoyed the business and can’t see myself doing anything else. I have had the opportunity to meet all different types of people that I would not have otherwise met. No two days have ever been exactly alike and it has not been boring. I have been afforded the opportunity to grow and utilize my gifts and talents in a manner which has hopefully been of help to others. Someone once said that the key to success and happiness in life is to find something that you enjoy doing and then to find someone who is willing to pay you to do it. In that, I have been both happy and successful.

IF YOU COULD HAVE WORKED NEXT TO ANY GREAT LEADER WHO WOULD THAT LEADER BE?

The one leader I would have liked to have spent time with is Ronald Reagan. All politics aside, he was one person of influence whose leadership has positively impacted more people of this generation than any other living person. His “take down this wall” speech freed hundreds of thousands of people from the suppression of Communism. Additionally, I recently spoke to an Air Force Major who was commander in charge of the squadron which flew in support of Air Force One. He said Reagan would take time to be with the junior officers and enlisted military personnel and was always asking relevant questions about their well being and the well being of their families. He lived out the truism that “people don’t care about how much you know until they know how much you care”.

WHEN YOU WERE GROWING UP, WHAT DID YOU WANT TO DO AS AN ADULT?

While growing up as a young boy my first love was baseball. I dreamt regularly of one day playing for the Boston Red Sox. Although I did get to play two years of semi-professional baseball upon graduating from high school, I soon recognized that my slowness of foot was not going to allow me to be a major leaguer.During high school and also during my first two years of college, I thought I wanted to be a Pharmacist. During that stretch of time, I worked in a drug store in the town I grew up in which was Westwood which is located 25 miles outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Mid-way through my second year of college, the powers-to-be increased the curriculum requirement for Pharmacy school from four years to five. It was then that I determined that I would leave school to fulfill my military obligation by joining the Marine Corps. Upon returning from boot camp at Parris Island, SC. and Camp Lejuene, NC and while awaiting my reserve unit’s orders to be shipped out to Vietnam, I began looking for a job. It was then that I began my hotel career at the Sheraton Boston as a Mail and Information Clerk. The Sheraton Boston was at that time one of the largest hotels in the country at 1012 rooms.