It’s incredible to believe it’s been 50 years! Reading the posted bios of our class, it’s truly impressive to see the many accomplishments the Class of ’76 has achieved. Bravo to all!
Looking back, I was fortunate to grow up in a relatively bucolic Blauvelt. My greatest memories include playing in the woods at the end of my street; fishing, swimming, and ice skating on the Hackensack River; and riding my bike to “the deli”, Van Houten Farm, and Neil’s swimming hole. We had so much freedom to roam, explore, discover, and escape.
After graduating TZ, I went to Bryant College, earning a BS in Marketing. Regrettably, both high school and college were somewhat perfunctory stages in my life, with minimal purpose or accomplishment. However, all that changed once I started working.
Through fate, kismet, or whatever you want to call it, I ended up beginning my career in prestige fragrance marketing. I was extremely lucky: the first company I worked for gave me enormous creative latitude and a broad range of responsibilities, including design, product development, engineering, manufacturing, advertising, marketing, and sales promotion. Much of fragrance marketing revolves around developing promotional programs—everything from luggage, watches, umbrellas, and gift accessories—most of
which were sourced in Asia and Europe. That meant extensive travel, which gave me the opportunity to meet wonderful people and immerse myself in numerous cultures.
After twenty or so years of marketing for companies such as Benetton and Revlon, I felt the need to branch out on my own. With the skills and contacts I’d acquired, I started a consulting company offering a range of creative and business services to the fragrance and cosmetic industry, on both the brand and supply sides. That venture eventually evolved (a very long story!) into a company specializing in scent advertising and marketing. Over twenty-two years the company grew from a small distributor of scented
microencapsulation products into a manufacturer of a broad range of scent sampling and marketing products. Our clients included P&G, SC Johnson, Unilever, L’Oréal, J&J, Victoria’s Secret, Yankee Candle, and Reckitt Benckiser to name a few. A few years ago, I was fortunate to have sold the company and am now happily retired.
On the personal side, I’m proud to be celebrating my 40th wedding anniversary this coming June with my lovely wife, Mindy. We’ve raised two amazing children and have lived in Pleasantville, NY, for the past 36 years. We’re also blessed with four grandchildren who bring us so much joy. My wife and I, along with our pup CC, spend much of our time at a house we have upstate on the Hudson River near Lake Luzerne.
We love to kayak, golf, hike, cruise the river on our boat, and entertain friends and family. My passion is still skiing, and I enjoy taking annual trips with my ski buddies out West, Austria, and locally at Gore Mountain. And we’re very excited to be heading to Tucson at the end of this month to celebrate my mother’s 95th birthday!!
At this point in life, I truly have much to be thankful for—and much to look forward to, including catching up with all of you at the reunion!!!