This past week, I met with some people from my past who came back into my life.
I met old friend Shep Scheinberg for breakfast and he brought Frank Borges, his fellow graduate of Trinity College.
Impressively, Frank along with his siblings, just donated $10 million to their mutual beloved college and Shep wanted me to meet him to share his extraordinary life.
Frank shared how he grew up on Cape Verde, a tiny island off the coast of Africa, and came to America when he was 8 years old, living in New Haven, Connecticut, with working class parents who were devoted to giving their children a great education.
His beloved, passionate mom pushed him and his siblings to go to college and he earned a scholarship to Trinity, where he worked to become a lawyer. He would go on to serve as Connecticut State Treasurer from 1987 to 1993 and then became chair and managing partner of Landmark Partners, living now in Old Palm in Palm Beach Gardens.
He and his siblings believe in “sharing their blessings” with students, and their donation will allow young people the opportunity to get scholarships and enhance their lives.
What an inspirational story!
Then, I had dinner with Ruby Teich.
Her parents Julie and Hy Teich helped me to create Life’s WORC in the 1970s. We marched, picketed and raised funds and had hopes of helping their multi-handicapped son Larry.
I can still remember the day that 6-year-old Larry, came to Life’s WORC’s Geraldo Rivera Group Home in Little Neck, Queens, with his parents’ simple hope of having their son learn how to feed himself.
I’m happy to report that within weeks of Larry’s being at the group home, he was indeed feeding himself.
His family was eternally grateful.
Both Julie and Hy have since passed, but Larry’s sister Ruby and I are reuniting. She lives in Wellington, Florida, giving us an opportunity to walk down memory lane together over dinner in Palm Beach.
To cap off a week of reunions, I had a visit from Gail and Robb Seiden. Gail’s beloved dad Nat Bassen was my beloved, too. We were engaged to be married, but two weeks before the wedding, he suffered a fatal heart attack.
Gail and I loved each other, but had only brief moments over the decades since we lost Nat.
When she was in Florida and learned I was launching Dan’s Papers Palm Beach, she reached out and we met and talked for hours.
It gave me such pleasure that her son Aidan is studying journalism and is now interning at one of our media outlets, amNewYork Metro.
Interestingly, Robb, Gail’s attorney husband, has become an expert on cryptocurrency and the world of law built around it. I stepped into that world as he explained its use and deep belief of it being a currency that will grow and become part of our everyday life. Time will tell!
But my time with them was precious and my heart ached with joy at seeing them both so happy together.
Who says you can’t go back in time?
Sunday with Ted Vassilev on his yacht
