I grew up in the 50’s in the smog ridden, Los Angeles suburb of Van Nuys. After surviving my high school experience, I went over the hill to UCLA where I obtained my BA in Psychology. Then it was off to the work-a-day world as a Real Estate Appraiser Trainee helping the City of Los Angeles figure out how much to pay people for sawing off their front yards for street widening projects.

That’s when I felt the draft starting to blow down the back of my neck, convincing me to enlist in an OCS program in the U.S. Army. With training finally behind me and with a shiny Lieutenant’s bar on my collar, I served stateside as the head of a training center and then overseas with the First Infantry Division in the Republic of South Vietnam, first as a Platoon Leader and then as a Company Executive Officer. Having, thankfully, survived my military experience, I went back to school, this time at UC Berkeley where I received my MBA.

After graduation, I worked as a land acquisition agent and then homebuilding project manager for a San Francisco Bay Area construction company. Soon, I was out on my own scratching for a living doing real estate appraisals and investment brokerage. That led to brokerage management and the buying, selling and management of apartment properties for my own account, followed by home building and mortgage finance.

In addition to managing a 40 year real estate career, my wife and I have enjoyed the challenge of raising three beautiful daughters and a couple of dogs. During any spare time I could carve out, I managed to enjoy recreational flying, reading about the science and technology that always captivated me and occasionally putting pen to paper crafting short shorts that I enjoyed reading over and again but never sought to publish.

Now in retirement, I work with my wife as CFO of Strategies for Learning, Inc., a learning clinic providing educational therapy for kids and young adults and also do volunteer work for several philanthropic organizations including serving as President of the Board of the Contra Costa Jewish Day School.

And now I’m an author too. Identicality is a terrific read. Watch for it on the best seller lists -- coming soon.