August 3, 2023 • 9 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, because of his parent's love... Donald Sturm's extraordinary American Dreamers story
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is our American Stories, and one of our favorite
regular segments is our American Dreamer series, and today Alex
Cortez brings us the voice of an American classic.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
When I grew up the word depression and to my
vocabulary and my consciousness, and little did I know, I
lived through it, but I didn't know it was going
on because I was well taken care of by loving
parents and a family environment.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
We're listening to Donald Stern, whose parents were German immigrants
that settled in Brooklyn, New York.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
My father had some securities, owned some real estate and
sheep said bay Brooklyn, wherever it is, and lost everything
and never recovered financially and wound up getting jobs in
the restaurant business, no longer as a manager because those
(01:14):
jobs became few and far between, and wound up being
a waiter for the rest of his life. He worked
hard to bring home money so that he could take
care of his family, and he did so in a
very heroic way. I never heard him complain. He didn't
(01:35):
achieve much financially speaking, but he had a great family
and he was a great father. Grew up in a
very dense neighborhood in the sense that there was lots
of people. Nobody had much money. There were five of
(01:58):
us in building. We lived on the I think the
third or fourth floor is a walk up. There was
no elevator. We had one bedroom. I shared the room
with my two sisters. They slept on the bed together.
I slept on a cop so last one in the
(02:19):
first one out in order for people to move about.
My parents had the bedroom. We had one bath, and
you had to get along with everybody to get your
turn in a reasonable time.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Later in life, Donald wouldn't have such considerations achieving financial
success that his dad probably could have never dreamed for him.
Donald's helped lead the billion dollar conglomerate Qwit, went on
to own many banks and made several appearances on the
Forbes four hundred list. And yet he's never forgotten what
life can be like for first generation immigrants like his dad.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
In about nineteen eighty nine nineteen ninety, when I'm still
in Omaha, it became a parent that they were very
educated foreigners that came to this country, and they were
licensed educated doctors, dentists, lawyers. In a foreign country. When
(03:20):
they come here, they're nothing because they don't have the license.
They don't even have the proficiency with the language, so
they can't even sit for a test, but they don't
know the English language at that point in time. So
that came to my attention in Omaha. So Sue and
(03:40):
I decided that we were going to help a goodly
number of these people. They will say, like one hundred,
I'm not sure, I never really counted. So we started
a English as a second language program so that we
got these people somewhat proficient in the English language. And
(04:05):
it worked, so people a doctor for instant it was
sweeping the floor in the jewelry store could take the
qualifying exam in Nebraska to get his doctor's license. The
same thing with lawyers and engineers and whatever they were.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
It was a very successful program to help people help
themselves and give them the tools to do that and
succeed in life.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
We really felt good about it, but it was very
small compared to what we did here in Denver. So
after we moved here in nineteen ninety one, we decided
that we were going to try and do that in
a much more systematic way. We signed up with the
(04:54):
University of Denver to do that in a bigger way.
So we provided money, We provided computers, We combided whatever
we needed to provide because I had the money to
do that. People were so thankful, so gracious about expressing
(05:14):
themselves because we helped them get started in a new country,
in a new way in their old professions. There was
a lot of motivation. So he thought that it's always
with me that my father never had that opportunity. He
came over here at a very very young age, was
left with his aunt, and that's how we grew up
(05:36):
and never had the chance of going to school.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
At the time of our interview, Donald was eighty nine
years old and he's still coming to the office each
day for a full day of work.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
I don't want to retire because I don't want to
feel like I have nothing left in my life. I
got a lot going in my life now. Mentally, I
feel like i'm forty. I know physically that I'm no
longer forty. I know that there is a termination along
the way here, and I'm not going to live forever.
(06:10):
In other words, but I want to use my brain
and take medication with whatever I need to stay alive
and stay vible to continue to see my kids grow.
I don't mean grow physically. I'm talking about intellectually business wise.
I need to spend time mentoring. It is so boring
(06:36):
to be contained in your apartment and people like me.
I'm not supposed to go to the office. You're supposed
to stay home and do what. I don't know, so
I want to continue to do what I'm doing. My
doctors tell me I'm chronologically a lot younger than my age.
My physical big is good. I was dying in the
fact I have to take pills, so I have a
(06:59):
lot to look forward to. I have a little gym
in my apartment across the street. There. I work out
every morning. Every morning, I'm on the floor for at
least thirty minutes exercising, stretching and whatever, at least four
and maybe five times a week, and the afternoons on
(07:22):
the weekends during the morning, I work out. I have
a bike, recumbent bike, and I have weights, and I
do all kinds of things like that. That takes probably
an hour and a half. So I try and keep
myself in reasonably good shape. At this age, I can't
go as far. And the other thing you need to
(07:44):
do is reconcile with yourself what your new limits are.
And adjust to them, adjusting to things that happen or
your environment is so important, and not be pissed off
at it because you can't. I can't dunkle basketball anymore.
I used to, so I can't be. I use that
(08:07):
as an extreame example. By the way, So you want
to continue, I want to continue to do what I
used to do to the extent I can. I still
want to figure out how I can get out of
the house earlier in the morning. How do I am
I wasting steps? When I was five years old, I
(08:29):
was always concerned about how do I do things better
and quicker. I still have that way. The other thing
that I do is that I think. And when I'm
sleeping I still do that. I still get up in
a million ni and my mind is running. When unless
I have to have to have to have to make
(08:49):
a decision on something that's important, I won't because I
know that if I I don't want to say buddle
through because it's not bubbling. But if I think about something,
whether or something thinking about it, most of it is
I just I chested without thinking about it. I don't
(09:09):
know if you know what I mean by that. Maybe
everybody does I'm not sure I come up with a
better answer.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
And you're listening to Donald Sterm and what a unique
voice and memory, Well it runs deep and he remembers, oh,
what his own father went through and his own parents
went through coming to this country. I do it wasn't
my parents, but it was my grandparents. I saw what
a language barrier did to my own grandparents, and they
insisted that not happen to their own kids. A great
(09:39):
American dreamer's voice and in the end of Great American
dreamers story and always so many of our American dreamers,
grateful and always generous. Donald Stern's story here on our
American stories
This is our American Stories, and one of our favorite
regular segments is our American Dreamer series, and today Alex
Cortez brings us the voice of an American classic.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
When I grew up the word depression and to my
vocabulary and my consciousness, and little did I know, I
lived through it, but I didn't know it was going
on because I was well taken care of by loving
parents and a family environment.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
We're listening to Donald Stern, whose parents were German immigrants
that settled in Brooklyn, New York.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
My father had some securities, owned some real estate and
sheep said bay Brooklyn, wherever it is, and lost everything
and never recovered financially and wound up getting jobs in
the restaurant business, no longer as a manager because those
(01:14):
jobs became few and far between, and wound up being
a waiter for the rest of his life. He worked
hard to bring home money so that he could take
care of his family, and he did so in a
very heroic way. I never heard him complain. He didn't
(01:35):
achieve much financially speaking, but he had a great family
and he was a great father. Grew up in a
very dense neighborhood in the sense that there was lots
of people. Nobody had much money. There were five of
(01:58):
us in building. We lived on the I think the
third or fourth floor is a walk up. There was
no elevator. We had one bedroom. I shared the room
with my two sisters. They slept on the bed together.
I slept on a cop so last one in the
(02:19):
first one out in order for people to move about.
My parents had the bedroom. We had one bath, and
you had to get along with everybody to get your
turn in a reasonable time.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Later in life, Donald wouldn't have such considerations achieving financial
success that his dad probably could have never dreamed for him.
Donald's helped lead the billion dollar conglomerate Qwit, went on
to own many banks and made several appearances on the
Forbes four hundred list. And yet he's never forgotten what
life can be like for first generation immigrants like his dad.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
In about nineteen eighty nine nineteen ninety, when I'm still
in Omaha, it became a parent that they were very
educated foreigners that came to this country, and they were
licensed educated doctors, dentists, lawyers. In a foreign country. When
(03:20):
they come here, they're nothing because they don't have the license.
They don't even have the proficiency with the language, so
they can't even sit for a test, but they don't
know the English language at that point in time. So
that came to my attention in Omaha. So Sue and
(03:40):
I decided that we were going to help a goodly
number of these people. They will say, like one hundred,
I'm not sure, I never really counted. So we started
a English as a second language program so that we
got these people somewhat proficient in the English language. And
(04:05):
it worked, so people a doctor for instant it was
sweeping the floor in the jewelry store could take the
qualifying exam in Nebraska to get his doctor's license. The
same thing with lawyers and engineers and whatever they were.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
It was a very successful program to help people help
themselves and give them the tools to do that and
succeed in life.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
We really felt good about it, but it was very
small compared to what we did here in Denver. So
after we moved here in nineteen ninety one, we decided
that we were going to try and do that in
a much more systematic way. We signed up with the
(04:54):
University of Denver to do that in a bigger way.
So we provided money, We provided computers, We combided whatever
we needed to provide because I had the money to
do that. People were so thankful, so gracious about expressing
(05:14):
themselves because we helped them get started in a new country,
in a new way in their old professions. There was
a lot of motivation. So he thought that it's always
with me that my father never had that opportunity. He
came over here at a very very young age, was
left with his aunt, and that's how we grew up
(05:36):
and never had the chance of going to school.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
At the time of our interview, Donald was eighty nine
years old and he's still coming to the office each
day for a full day of work.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
I don't want to retire because I don't want to
feel like I have nothing left in my life. I
got a lot going in my life now. Mentally, I
feel like i'm forty. I know physically that I'm no
longer forty. I know that there is a termination along
the way here, and I'm not going to live forever.
(06:10):
In other words, but I want to use my brain
and take medication with whatever I need to stay alive
and stay vible to continue to see my kids grow.
I don't mean grow physically. I'm talking about intellectually business wise.
I need to spend time mentoring. It is so boring
(06:36):
to be contained in your apartment and people like me.
I'm not supposed to go to the office. You're supposed
to stay home and do what. I don't know, so
I want to continue to do what I'm doing. My
doctors tell me I'm chronologically a lot younger than my age.
My physical big is good. I was dying in the
fact I have to take pills, so I have a
(06:59):
lot to look forward to. I have a little gym
in my apartment across the street. There. I work out
every morning. Every morning, I'm on the floor for at
least thirty minutes exercising, stretching and whatever, at least four
and maybe five times a week, and the afternoons on
(07:22):
the weekends during the morning, I work out. I have
a bike, recumbent bike, and I have weights, and I
do all kinds of things like that. That takes probably
an hour and a half. So I try and keep
myself in reasonably good shape. At this age, I can't
go as far. And the other thing you need to
(07:44):
do is reconcile with yourself what your new limits are.
And adjust to them, adjusting to things that happen or
your environment is so important, and not be pissed off
at it because you can't. I can't dunkle basketball anymore.
I used to, so I can't be. I use that
(08:07):
as an extreame example. By the way, So you want
to continue, I want to continue to do what I
used to do to the extent I can. I still
want to figure out how I can get out of
the house earlier in the morning. How do I am
I wasting steps? When I was five years old, I
(08:29):
was always concerned about how do I do things better
and quicker. I still have that way. The other thing
that I do is that I think. And when I'm
sleeping I still do that. I still get up in
a million ni and my mind is running. When unless
I have to have to have to have to make
(08:49):
a decision on something that's important, I won't because I
know that if I I don't want to say buddle
through because it's not bubbling. But if I think about something,
whether or something thinking about it, most of it is
I just I chested without thinking about it. I don't
(09:09):
know if you know what I mean by that. Maybe
everybody does I'm not sure I come up with a
better answer.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
And you're listening to Donald Sterm and what a unique
voice and memory, Well it runs deep and he remembers, oh,
what his own father went through and his own parents
went through coming to this country. I do it wasn't
my parents, but it was my grandparents. I saw what
a language barrier did to my own grandparents, and they
insisted that not happen to their own kids. A great
(09:39):
American dreamer's voice and in the end of Great American
dreamers story and always so many of our American dreamers,
grateful and always generous. Donald Stern's story here on our
American stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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