Health is a huge aspect of everyone’s life, and so are finances. In 1971, when I was fourteen, my dad lost his job. He was the CEO of a public com - pany that he founded. He was 47, with four kids ready for college, a medic in WWII with post trau - matic stress, and no income. But he was the first of his family to graduate college with a degree in Marketing and he was married to an eternal opti - mist — my mom. A year later, we moved to Florida. He said that if he had to start over he could just as well do it in Florida. We moved, and he floundered until he bought a small telephone-answering service busi - ness. I finished high school and went to college. Those were tough times for him. I was 15 and clueless. We ‘jokingly’ moved to a suburb of New York, which happened to be in Hollywood, Florida, and I switched from studying science to art. As I be - came more interested in art, my dad said, “You
13 During those 30 years, we built that answering service with 10 employees into a modern call cen - ter that peaked at about 3,000 agents before it was sold in 2019. Along the way, my entire family joined the company. I was in charge of technolo - gy. I did not want to buy equipment off the shelf; I wanted to build it myself. And that is exactly what 11 can’t be an artist for your career.” Michaelangelo’s father said the same. To appease him, I minored in Architecture. My claim to fame was being the only art student to take Calculus; I got an A in that class. Upon graduation, I was accepted for a Master’s of Architecture, at Ohio State. As the day ap - proached, my dad asked me to stay home and help grow the business. I stayed, and we had lunch together for the next 30-plus years. That was a master’s class in business and leadership. Towards the end of his career, he won The 2012 Sun-Sentinel Businessman of the Year Award . He was 89. I was 55.
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