It is great to hear from many of you. And yes, I still wear blue shades occasionally (chuckle, chuckle). As you may know I married Toni Robinson -- had two beautiful girls. However, we were too young for the responsibilities of matrimony, so we divorced. I got and raised the girls (Stacey and Dannielle) from when they were 9 months and almost 2 years. They are now grown and I have two grandsons. I went to Wilmington College in Ohio but didn't finish there; I finished at Antioch College, Washington, DC campus. Started working in the finance/investment banking industry. I became interested in financial cooperatives and worked to promote them in and out of the USA. I took some management seminars at Yale School of Management. In 1978 I worked with a team to charter the National Consumer Cooperative Bank now known as NCB. I went on staff there for a number of years. In 1984 I was loaned by the bank to the District of Columbia to bring private sector banking experience to the city. I stayed the full two years of the commitment. I was then recruited by Independence FSB to help reorganize their Residential/Commercial lending. Being a family owned bank, I realized they were not going to make me president, so I decided it was time to hang out my own shingle. So, I formed Banneker Corp., an Investment/Mortgage Banking Firm. We provide a number of financial services and are licensed mortgage bankers in many states. I have structured, developed and/or funded many commercial and residential mortgages and projects.
In 1995 I was nominated by Mayor Sharon Pratt-Kelly as Chairman of the District of Columbia Board of Real Property Assessments Appeals. This was ratified by a unanimous vote of the City Council. This board heard and decided legal appeals on over $80 billion in real property assessments. After serving my two year term (limited by law) which overlapped into Mayor Berry's administration, I went back to running Banneker. So that's the quick summary of GC.
I had been in touch with Pete McCabe via phone for a number of years an was devastated when he told me he had had a stroke. He had married and had one child. He did not want a lot of people to know about his condition. I tried to keep in touch with as many classmates as possible. Kenny (Dreyfus) used to stop at my home in DC while in route to NY. He was running a photo store in Atlanta prior to his passing. Judy Handleman-Murphy is living in Mich. with her husband and is very happy. Diane Grossman is in Portland, OR and owns a bagel shop. Jo Anne is still in NY. I talked to Bruce Goller's wife and was told he passed away from cancer last July, 97. Jerry Kreppel and I talk a lot. He is an attorney in NY. Al Cohen is here in DC. I lost track of Monica Dever-Holander, she may be in Fla. This could get long :-) so I'll stop here. I have forwarded the names I had to Stuart; please do the same.
I travel a lot and my tel#s are on the class roster. Look forward to talking to you or e-mail me. GC