December 1, 2023 • 43 mins
Have you ever considered what it means to live each day to the fullest? Our latest podcast episode features an insightful conversation with Bruce Greenwald, who shares his touching story about moving forward after losing his wife. Bruce's vulnerability and strength are palpable, as he discusses how this life-altering event affected himself and his sons. He also stresses the importance of seeking support during such challenging times, which resonates with anyone navigating the rough seas of grief and loss.
His journey does not just define Bruce’s life, but also deeply intertwined with his family’s fascinating history. With the expansive family estate in Baltimore, his ancestors being among the first Jews in Frederick, and a grandfather instrumental in rewriting the Maryland Constitution, Bruce's narrative is a captivating exploration of his rich lineage. He also attributes much of his success to his parents' values and guidance, a legacy he is proud to continue with his own sons.
Check out the show on any of your favorite platforms and give us a like and follow if you like our content!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Gentleman Project Podcast.
I'm Corey Moore and I'm Kirk.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Chug.
Bruce Greenwald is in thestudio with us today.
We've known each other for 10or 11 years.
He moved here from Cleveland,plugged into a networking group
that I was a part of, and he'sbeen a client and a friend of
mine ever since.
We've known each other longenough to know some of each
other's history.
We keep track of each other andhe's been a great friend and a
(00:26):
great client for a good decadenow, so he's got a great story
You're going to be reallyintrigued by today.
Cool family history, wonderful,wonderful family that I've had
the pleasure of meeting and totell his story today.
Bruce Greenwald, welcome.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
I'm so happy to be here.
You have no idea.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Well, Bruce, tell us a little bit about your family
and a little bit about your kidsand who I've had the pleasure
of meeting and making someclothing for.
That was fun.
Tell us a little bit about themand tell people who are
listening who you are.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Well, first of all, I forgot that you made my son's I
think wedding suit.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Yeah, it was wedding suits.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
That's amazing.
You know how long ago that was.
That was right after we movedhere, which was in 2012.
Yeah, and he was that's myoldest son, who was married in
2012,.
Jeff and I have a younger onewho got married last year.
His name is Eric and I movedhere from Cleveland in 2012.
(01:39):
My late wife and I built ahouse in Park City.
We got lucky enough to comehere in 2010 and kind of look at
the real estate landscape and Iwould say more we came here for
the skiing than it was anythingelse.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
What brought you to Utah originally?
Was it coming out here for aski trip and going?
Well, I really like this here.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
We actually did In 2010,.
We came out on a ski trip.
My wife and I had been to ParkCity a number of times and we
had clients actually of mine wholived out here in a place
called Promontory, and we wentto Promontory to visit them and
(02:30):
I guess the rest is history.
We fell in love with Promontoryand bought a lot site unseen,
which is very unusual and I cameout here the following summer
to go on a biking trip inBryson's Zion and came up to
Park City and saw what we bought.
(02:51):
And my mom, who grew up in themountains, actually in Western
Maryland she always wanted me tolive in the mountains and I was
very happy to be able tofulfill her wishes.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
It's a beautiful, beautiful place.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Yeah, so it should grow up in Frederick, maryland,
which is in Western Maryland,right along the Appalachian
Trail.
That's a whole other story.
Beautiful area too.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Which we'll get to about my family history.
So today's a special day foryou.
It is.
Would you share why?
And we didn't plan this thisway, it just turned out this way
.
But tell us why today's specialto you.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Well, today is, unfortunately, I lost my late
wife three years ago today.
She had been seriously ill forsix years with her variant
cancer and fought very, veryhard and we were married for 38
years.
And you know, she was just, shewas a trooper.
(03:59):
My wife was very involved priorto her sickness in the
pancreatic cancer network.
In fact she went around tolobby all of the state senators
and congressmen here in here inUtah when we first came out
because she had lost a cousin topancreatic cancer.
And little did she know.
(04:21):
When she went to visit HuntsmanCancer Center the first time,
did she know that she would endup there getting chemotherapy
for about five years?
She fought really hard and wehad some great times even while
she was ill and we traveled alot.
But she was an amazing woman,such a trooper.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
So how did that experience change you and how
did it change your sons?
Speaker 3 (04:52):
You know, you live every day.
I think we all have to realizethat, because we never know when
it's when it's going to end.
I'll never forget, in August of15, when we first got the, when
we got the first diagnosis ofher you know, having stage 3C,
which is a pretty advancedcancer, which is not unusual for
(05:16):
a variant cancer.
And you know what my wife and Itried to do from that day and I
would say probably most of ourmarriage was we tried to live
kind of every day.
And I think you know if that'sthe message that comes out of
here today, that's great.
And you know I wrote my bio andwe can get to this is that you
(05:40):
know that's the way I've reallykind of taken on my career too
is kind of, you know, take somerisk, live every day.
And there's a lot of people inthis world who don't do that and
I think it speaks to thesuccess not only that I had in
my marriage, that I had with mykids, but also in my career so
(06:02):
far.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
So how did that affect your sons losing their
mom?
Do you know?
Speaker 3 (06:10):
can you speak to that personally?
Sure, you know, I think they'restill figuring it out.
You know they're good boys andthey're great professionals.
They're both very successfulprofessionally and my oldest son
has been married for 10 years.
I have two beautifulgrandchildren from my oldest son
(06:33):
, and my younger son just gotmarried last October and it's
been really difficult for themand it's been difficult for our
relationship, I will say that,and they're still, I think,
still grieving their mom.
But you know, and I think theyshould think of their mom every
(06:57):
day, there's nothing I can do.
They have to go through theprocess themselves.
I have spoken to a lot ofpeople.
I've spoken to a lot ofreligious leaders who have
helped me.
A lot of therapy also helps andyou know, again, they have to
(07:19):
kind of come to peace with theirmom being gone.
It changes the dynamics of afamily, there's no doubt about
it.
Life goes on and none of usreally know kind of how life is
going to proceed from the daythat you lose somebody.
I wasn't planning about talkingabout this today.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
I think it's nice, it is valuable if you're willing
to share it.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
I'm kind of thinking about this as we go along and
it's it really is.
I don't think, first of all,none of us plan for bad things
to happen in our lives, and Ithink dealing with the
consequences of not only hersickness but also dealing with
(08:09):
the consequences of her Passing,it wasn't something that I
really thought about from day today.
It was kind of like I took everyday as it came and you had to
deal with the circumstances ofnot only her sickness, okay, but
also the circumstances of kindof what am I gonna do after she
(08:31):
passes?
And I'll give you guys a greatexample, and one of them being
that, like when she passed away,it was the middle of COVID, it
was August of 2020, and InAugust of 2020 we we were only
allowed to have 10 people max ather funeral, because that's
(08:54):
what they would allow inside,and so we had 10 people, but we
also had 200 screens from aroundthe world attending her, her
funeral, and which was anamazing tribute to her.
But you know, that was that wasprobably the first thing that
(09:16):
we kind of had to deal with,because people in August of 2020
remember, there were novaccines or anything.
It was kind of the beginning ofCOVID and you know, at the
beginning of COVID we did.
None of us knew how to kind ofdeal with these things and and
and so, from an emotional pointof view, my sons and I are
(09:39):
putting together this funeralDuring this COVID era, when
Nobody knew how to behave or dothings or whatever.
And it was, it was a beautifulceremony and you know that we
had all these people throughvideo and and everything was
(10:00):
just amazing.
I Don't know how we got on thattopic.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
We asked no, no, I'm talking about the whole thing.
It had to be, hard though.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
I know what I was saying.
What I was talking about wastrying, you know, you have to
deal with things as as they comeand we had to deal with COVID
at the time that that she passedaway.
So taking that to the next step, you know, I went away for a
couple weeks after that to kindof get my head together.
(10:33):
I went down to Kila.
I wanted to play golf which wasamazing and visit my sister who
lives in Buford and Thought alot, had to think a lot, and I
came, I talked to a lot offriends of mine and I came back
to Park City in the middle ofOctober and and I said, what am
(10:56):
I going to do with my life?
Because I really hadn't thoughtKind of forward, because when
we're I don't know whether youguys have ever lost like a
Significant other or somethingor something, but you know you
just don't think about it in themoment and I think that's just
human nature.
You know, in what I do I seethat I mean.
(11:18):
You know I try and tell peopleyou know you got to think
forward if, god forbid,something happens what None of
us want to do that at the end ofthe day in In October, the
middle of October, I'm in thisbig house.
It's a middle of COVID.
I'm like, okay, what am I goingto do with the rest of my life?
And I said you know what?
(11:40):
My wife had been ill for aboutsix years.
And I said I'm gonna call Allof my best friends around the
country and tell them you know,I'm ready to kind of move on
with my life.
And what did that mean?
It meant that I was ready tokind of start Maybe meeting
(12:04):
another person, maybe dating.
Remember, again, I keep onsaying middle of COVID.
I mean we didn't know what wasgoing to happen.
It could have been two years,it could have been.
I mean we didn't know at thetime.
I get a call back about fivedays later and my friend, my
(12:27):
best friend in Cleveland, calledme and they introduced me to
this woman who is now my wife,my, my second wife.
We were married a year ago.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
So she's one of our yeah, we never.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Who would have thought about that at the end of
the day, right?
So?
Speaker 1 (12:47):
anyway so what do you think?
Speaker 3 (12:48):
That's a long.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Answer no.
I it's nice to see you happy.
Oh yeah, when I'm with you andNatalie, you guys seem very,
very happy, so I'm glad thatthat that story has Taken the
turn that it did.
Everyone deals with grief intheir own way and sometimes it
(13:11):
takes a long, long time.
And sometimes to get over it,you know you find, you find
someone that that builds you andlifts you up, so I'm glad that
that's happened to you.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
I Was very lucky.
I think it's really hard at myage I'm 65.
I just turned 65 and and Ithink it's very Difficult to
find somebody that you're Reallya companion with.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Tell us a little bit about your family history, too,
because you've told me somestories about you.
Know what makes you who you are.
Bruce is a wealth manager andAdvises people with financial
stuff, legal stuff.
He's kind of a wizard in thatindustry.
Has been very successful doingthat, but he's got some really
(14:09):
cool family history stories.
So talk to some of thosestories that are relevant, that
make you who you are today andthe person with the values that
you have.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Yeah, my family history is really interesting.
My new family office is calledRosehaven family office and it's
actually it's actually namedafter the Name of my
grandparents estate in Frederick, maryland.
My grandparents lived on a 64acre estate that I used to visit
(14:48):
all the time.
We used to go up there on theweekends.
We lived in Baltimore.
It was about a 45 minute driveand I spent summers there and it
was.
It was kind of like I Wastrying to think today, this
morning, before the this Podcast, that I'm trying to think of
(15:11):
the TV show, to equate it to,but my, my parents had like a
farm, a farm hand who would takeus fishing.
It was almost like the I don'tknow, you guys are too young to
probably remember this the AndyGriffith show.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Yeah, I remember I could whistle that whole, that
whole theme song.
When I was a kid it was.
I risked rush from school towatch that one and they.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
We would literally go fishing with sticks in our
hands on my, on my grandparentsestate.
But the history is is reallyinteresting.
There is a picture in theSmithsonian from Frederick
(15:57):
during the Civil War and it's ofmy great-great-grandfather's
store, general Store Rosenstock,as was the last name, and they
were some of the first Jews whomoved to Frederick back in the
mid-1800s, and so theConfederate army was marching
(16:24):
into Frederick and there's apicture of the Confederate army
and my great-great-grandfather'sstore was there.
So that's how far back myfamily goes in Maryland.
It's interesting because mygrandmother her last name was
(16:46):
Khan C-A-H-N and mygrandfather's name was
Rosenstock, and my grandfatherwas a famous lawyer in Frederick
and actually helped rewrite theMaryland Constitution back in
the mid-1970s.
But on my grandmother's sideshe grew up in New York.
Like Great Gatsby, she grew upon Park Avenue.
(17:10):
My great-grandfather was afamous currency trader, which I
happened to do for 20 years, andI did not know this when I
started trading currencies.
So his firm was bought out byCharlie Merrill of Merrill Lynch
(17:31):
, and my family goes back withCharlie Merrill to the mid-1920s
.
My great-grandfather thenstarted a bank called Mercantile
Bank in Delaware, and so wewere in the banking business for
(17:53):
a long time too.
My grandfather was on the boardof a bank in Frederick,
maryland, called Farmers andMechanics, and I have to tell
you I talked to my nephew theother day and what's important
about this is that my nephew isa chip off the old block of my
(18:13):
great-grandfather.
He's been at Merrill Lynch nowfor 20 years.
He's 42 years old and he runsnow one of the largest
businesses at Merrill Lynch andI'm just so proud of him.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
It sounds like the family history of
great-great-grandpa has trickleddown through the generations
and I mean you're doing a lot ofthe same things.
Does that feel good to you?
Do you feel like that's part ofyour family history?
Do you feel like you know himbetter through that?
Or did that play into yourdecision to do what you do for a
living?
Speaker 3 (18:50):
I don't think it's anything we all plan about.
I think it's in our genetics,but I don't think it's something
we plan for.
I always had an interest intrading and finance for some
reason.
I mean, my father was a greatsalesman.
He was in the spice business.
(19:11):
On my father's side they werealways in the food business.
So I didn't really know thatmuch about my grandfather's
history or, I'm sorry, mygreat-grandfather's history
before I started my career.
(19:31):
Pretty cool old history.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Yeah, it's super cool , your sons they in the business
, that same kind of business.
They're not really.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Now my sons are much smarter than I am, so Went a
little bit different direction.
Yeah, so my oldest son worksfor Apple and he's done very
well for himself.
He's been there five years andbefore that was with Capital One
.
He was actually in the financebusiness, but not in the same
(20:03):
way I was.
My younger son is verysuccessful with Salesforce, so
they're both kind of in thetechnology area, but still very
good at math.
Let me put it that way.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Which is great.
Wish I was better at math.
So how about mentors in yourlife?
So you talked about your family.
Are there some mentors, ormaybe books, that have majorly
influenced you, that have helpedyou become who you are today?
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Mentors in my life were definitely my father.
My father.
He was a great guy andunfortunately he passed away too
early of dementia.
It was just too early.
I didn't know him for the lasttwo years of his life.
But it's funny.
When I was kind of thinkingabout this podcast and who were
(21:05):
the mentors in my life and Iwould also say my mother was my
mentor as well I wouldn't say Ihave anybody professionally that
would be my mentor, although Iwould say my nephew is now my
mentor, so because he's been sosuccessful in the business that
(21:31):
we both do.
But my father was just a reallynice man and he was super
motivated and my mother was a.
(21:54):
I wrote this morning about herinvolvement in politics.
She really did want to changethe world and that was her kind
of mantra.
But my father I would saywatching him work hard.
He was there on the weekends tocoach our little league teams
(22:19):
or take a skating.
Hard to believe we won skatingin Baltimore, but we did when
the weather was a lot different.
But I had a pretty good familyupbringing, I have to say.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
What would you say are some of those values that
stick out to you the most, thatyour parents passed on to you?
Speaker 3 (22:46):
My parents were, as I said, especially my dad, were
hardworking.
My mom was always there for us.
It was a different time forkids.
We used to go out and we'd comehome from school and we'd take
our bikes and we'd go out and wewouldn't come home till 6
(23:08):
o'clock or 7 o'clock, when thestreet lights came on.
When the street lights came on,exactly.
But my mom was.
I kind of had like an Ozzie andHarriet kind of upbringing.
My mom didn't work so she washome.
When we got home it was adifferent life in that we would
(23:32):
come home from school and shewould put out cookies and milk
and kind of stupid stuff likethat where you just don't see
that today.
And I think I'm kind of changingthe subject here.
But I think that things likethat where we don't see that
today is that I think it allowsus as people to kind of grow
(23:57):
differently than kind of be inthis kind of mindset of you have
to go from soccer practice topiano practice to, you know,
doing your homework andeverything.
I think kids today are muchmore what do I want to say?
(24:22):
Over-scheduled, regimented,than it was when I was growing
up and I'm sure you know, if youtalk to my father at the same
age I was, you know he wouldprobably say something different
about his childhood and how hegrew up.
But my parents and I would saymy grandparents, were also my
(24:49):
mentors.
I know that's kind of crazy, butthere's so many things I
remember about my grandmotherand grandfather, especially on
my mother's side.
This is the ones that lived inFrederick.
But I remember spending summerswith them and just you know
(25:12):
whether it was going to workwith my grandfather going to get
the mail, I mean, and mygrandfather owned this.
I'll never forget this Tornado.
You probably wouldn't evenremember what a Tornado was, I
think it was.
It was kind of like theCadillac of that time, you know,
(25:33):
back in the 60s.
I don't even remember the makeof it, but I just remember my
grandfather being just like oneof those guys you just kind of
look up to and say, wow, youknow.
And my grandmother, on theother hand, was just one of
these people that you could talkto about anything.
(25:55):
My grandmother lived until shewas 94.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Okay, and lived through the depression, right.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
She did.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Yeah, that changes people.
I think it did anyway.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
So yeah, there I would say you know my parents
and my and my grandparents, andI have a sister and brother also
, who I think would probably saythe same thing.
In fact, I was talking to mysister yesterday.
My sister's three years olderand my sister was always called
(26:28):
the princess, and I think, myparents favored her a little bit
, but that's okay and but I'mreally close with her and we
were talking about she's goingback to Maryland, to Frederick,
and they had a fair in FrederickCounty Fair, which was always
mid September, and we used toalways go as kids and you know,
(26:52):
my grandmother, who lived thereshe was actually my grandma was
a very good artist.
She did a lot of oil paintingand won a lot of awards for
doing and she always displayedat the Frederick Fair and so we
used to go every year and and askids.
And it's amazing what youremember as kids, right?
(27:13):
I mean you guys remember stuffas kids.
I mean just crazy stuff, right,anyway.
So my sister's going back tothe Frederick Fair for the first
time, probably in 40 years.
This this awesome September so.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
I love that.
I love the family history partof your story, like that your
parents and your grandparentswere your mentors and that you
can remember all of thoselessons that they taught you and
that you know your siblingswould say the same thing.
How have you taken those thingsthat have been taught to you
and pass them on to the nextgeneration in your sons?
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Great question.
So my kids knew their greatgrandparents, right, my
grandparents, they knew, theyknew them, which I think
especially my older son and theyalso had a very close
(28:14):
relationship with their, with myparents and and with my late
wife's parents as well.
But I think they probably spentmore time with with my parents
and I think the same values thatmy parents instilled in me they
also instilled in my two boysand that's why there is very
(28:42):
little divorce in our family,very, in fact.
If you go and you look at mygrandparents and you look at
between my aunt and my mother,they had seven kids.
Every marriage is stilltogether and six of them were
(29:04):
married.
And then if you look at thegrand grandchildren, every
marriage is still together.
What are the odds of that?
Not super common these days,yeah, you know I mean.
And there think about thegrandchildren.
Every marriage is stilltogether and that's crazy.
There's.
There's got to be somethingbehind that.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
What do you think that is?
Do you think it's like conflictresolution or being able to
talk about differences oracceptance of differences, or
what value was that that thathas trickled down through those
generations that make thosegenerations that make those
marriages strong?
Because I think that'ssomething that a listener could
(29:45):
say.
That's something I'm going tomake sure happens in my family.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
Well, it's interesting I have to correct
myself my, my aunt, my mother'stwin sister, did get divorced,
okay, but then she got remarried.
But other than that, when youlook at the grandkids, every,
every grandchild has has been inlong marriages and I don't know
(30:08):
what the answer is to that.
I think it comes back to mygrandparents again, because they
all, we all, kind of grew up onthis kind of state and this
estate was like you can't makeit up.
It was like this country estatein the middle of nowhere and
and you just had freedom there.
(30:31):
And I think that that type offreedom and values that my
grandparents had was instilledin every one of the
grandchildren that are stillmarried and I would still be
married today that I not lost mywife.
But you know, I look at mysister and my brother and you
(30:54):
know all my cousins.
I mean that's crazy, right thateverybody and I'm talking 30,
40 years, what, what is thatvalue?
I guess it's probably listeningto your spouse.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
I mean well, communication, I think right.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
I mean, we can go down this road if you want to.
Marriage is not easy.
Yeah, it's a partnership, right?
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Yeah, they must have created some kind of a basis of
what a good marriage looks like,right, they must have created
some kind of a culture in yourfamily that that they everyone
said well, this is what it looks, this is what a good marriage
looks like.
And we believe I think sometimesit's a like if you grew up and
(31:47):
it was rough, well, and that'swhat your culturally, that's how
you feel a marriage looks like,right, the estate, the good
marriage there was like thisvision of what it could be that
seems to have cascaded in yourfamily, right, and I'm just I'm
just kind of thinking out loudwhat's the why, based on what
you told us?
(32:07):
You know, that's what it feelslike to me is that, like there
was this vision of what it couldlook like, and that's great.
I think anyone wants theirfamily to have like this vision
of this is, culturally, this ishow it feels, this is what it
looks like, and if you can getthat embedded in your family
culture, I think one of ourother guests talked about
telling family stories being areally important part of culture
(32:33):
in a family.
If you can tell these stories,yeah, positive stories about
this is who we are.
Our family is this way.
Let me tell you a story aboutit, and it seems like you have
that in your, in your family andyour lineage.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
That's also part of what we try and do at our family
office is to talk to othergenerations about have one
generation talk to anothergeneration to kind of give them
more history about what's goingon.
I'm not saying financially, butmore so the values go down from
(33:09):
generation to generation.
It was one thing that we havefound as a difference maker in
in trying to pass down wealth tofrom one generation to another,
and that's one of the moredifficult things that I find in
my generation that they have atough time kind of talking about
(33:35):
you know values and if you lookat successful families and and
how they passed kind ofgenerational whether it's
generational wealth orgenerational values or whatever
that is that's what we feel isis is one of the most important
(33:59):
things.
That being said, let me say oneother thing about that I I need
to say about my family, andit's really interesting because
not only do my grandparents ownthe state in Frederick Maryland
but they also owned four workingfarms and I have no idea how
(34:19):
many thousands of acres theyowned in Frederick Maryland and
on these four working farms thatwe used to go visit and I mean
we used to take cheaps out andtake them around the property
and like it was crazy.
It was kind of like, probablyhere in Utah, you where you go
(34:40):
and you know if you have a ranchor something like that, you
just go on for miles, kirk, youhave a ranch right.
You just go on for miles, right.
And so so that being said, wehad all of this land, or my
grandparents did, on both sidesof the family and in Frederick,
(35:02):
and eventually it all got sold,unfortunately at the wrong time,
because Frederick blew up in inthe 1980s as a suburb to
Washington DC and the landvalues went from basically
nothing to God knows what theyare today.
I think values are reallyimportant and I do think I mean
(35:29):
we could, we could get on tothis, but I don't think it's.
It's appropriate for thispodcast about.
You know the financial side ofyou.
Know why financial decisionsare made in many families,
especially for generationalwealth.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
Yeah, you have a really well-rounded worldview
because you've traveled a lotand you've also lived in a lot
of different places.
Talk to us about how living indifferent places around the
world has shaped your worldviewof humanity and the type of
person that you've chosen to be.
Speaker 3 (36:05):
So not only do I have the the fortune of having a an
amazing family history, but I'vealso been able to kind of make
my own history over time.
I started in the bankingbusiness in 1980 in Cleveland
(36:26):
but went into the tradingbusiness.
I traded currencies, as I saidearlier, and I was lucky enough
at a young age to age 28.
My wife and I and my young, myolder son, who was a year and a
half at the time, we were movedto Sydney, australia, and we
(36:49):
were able to be in Australia,probably well before Australia
got on the map as a reallysignificant player in the world
today, and so we lived there.
And then in 1990, that was in1985, so I was 28, and we lived
(37:15):
there for about a year came back.
We lived in New York.
So we lived in New York for acouple years and then I was
asked to come back to Clevelandto run a trading room for
British Petroleum and BP wasobviously a British based
company and in 1992, they tappedme on the on the shoulder and
(37:37):
said we want you to move toLondon.
I was like, okay, my kids wereseven and four at the time and
it was a great experience forthem, so they were able to get
the experience of being inLondon and they still remember
and it's hard to believe thateven my younger son, who was
four years old at the time,still remembers going to
(37:58):
Montessori School there.
So we lived in Kensington inLondon and traveled all over
Europe.
Actually for the year we werethere and then we came back and
we were in Cleveland for quite along time, although I used to
travel to Europe all the timewith BP and they also used to
(38:22):
send me to Australia because wehad a big trading arm down in
Melbourne.
So I was pretty familiar bothwith London, europe and
Australia.
I always say I was very luckyto be able to be in those
different places of the worldand kind of see, as a young
(38:46):
person at that time, to see allof these different opportunities
and places.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
I think when you see the world, it changes who you
are and how you see things andthe way you act, and it's just
opened your eyes.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
It's good for kids too.
I don't know if you rememberDavid Gilliland was taking his
kids to Brazil.
Well, I spoke at one of hisconferences last week and I
asked him how it was and he'sjust like an amazing experience.
We had to get there and findshelter, find food, those types
(39:26):
of experiences of taking yourkids down to Australia and
London and these things haveprobably shaped them into the
men that they are today becauseof those experiences.
So I think, if you're listeningto the podcast and what can I
take away from this I'd say giveyourself an opportunity, give
(39:47):
your kids the opportunity to seethings outside the bubble that
they might live in, so that theycan develop a worldview that's
diverse and that they can knowhow other people live and
understand other cultures.
I think that's a reallyimportant part of being a good
world citizen.
So well, we're out of time.
(40:07):
Corey, you want to ask ourguest of honor the question of
the day?
Speaker 1 (40:14):
It's a good question and he very much looks like a
gentleman today.
By the way, he looks verydapper.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
I'm dressed in Kirk Chug clothes.
Of course, the Haberdasher.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
And when you said you were 65, I was surprised
because I thought 55 maybe lookvery good for your age.
Thank you very much.
Yeah, I don't know what you do,but I'm going to have to write
it down after the podcast.
It's called short hair.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
It's called no hair.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
His barbers been busy .
Speaker 1 (40:46):
So, sir, what does it mean to you to be a gentleman?
Speaker 3 (40:52):
I think being a gentleman is just being a good
person.
I think it's doing the rightthing always.
I think there's so many peoplein this world I don't understand
.
My wife and I shake our headsabout it all.
My wife, natalie, and I shakeour heads about it all the time.
(41:12):
It's just that there are somany good people in this world
but there's so many people thatyou kind of question about how
they got to where they are.
So I think being a good person,I think always doing the right
(41:33):
thing, is really our mantra.
Do the right thing.
You have to have a philosophy ofhaving a goal, of where you
want to kind of be in life, andI always say you do what you
(41:54):
have to do To survive in life.
You do what you have to do.
And what people may take awayfrom this podcast today is that,
hey, this guy's had a greatlife but he's also had adversity
and he's been able to getthrough the adversity.
The reason I've gotten throughthe adversity is, as I started
(42:18):
out on the podcast today, is youlive every day all right, you
do what you have to do and you'dbe a good person.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
Well, thank you.
Thank you, Perce.
You're welcome.
Speaker 3 (42:32):
We appreciate you coming in today.
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
Thank you for joining us on the Gentleman Project
podcast today.
If you heard something todaythat Bruce said that impacted
you, that you might pass on tosomeone else.
It might help them.
Please do so.
Act on each good thought.
I'm Kirk Chug.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
I'm Corey Moore.
Thanks for joining us.
Welcome to the Gentleman Project Podcast.
I'm Corey Moore and I'm Kirk.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Chug.
Bruce Greenwald is in thestudio with us today.
We've known each other for 10or 11 years.
He moved here from Cleveland,plugged into a networking group
that I was a part of, and he'sbeen a client and a friend of
mine ever since.
We've known each other longenough to know some of each
other's history.
We keep track of each other andhe's been a great friend and a
(00:26):
great client for a good decadenow, so he's got a great story
You're going to be reallyintrigued by today.
Cool family history, wonderful,wonderful family that I've had
the pleasure of meeting and totell his story today.
Bruce Greenwald, welcome.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
I'm so happy to be here.
You have no idea.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Well, Bruce, tell us a little bit about your family
and a little bit about your kidsand who I've had the pleasure
of meeting and making someclothing for.
That was fun.
Tell us a little bit about themand tell people who are
listening who you are.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Well, first of all, I forgot that you made my son's I
think wedding suit.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Yeah, it was wedding suits.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
That's amazing.
You know how long ago that was.
That was right after we movedhere, which was in 2012.
Yeah, and he was that's myoldest son, who was married in
2012,.
Jeff and I have a younger onewho got married last year.
His name is Eric and I movedhere from Cleveland in 2012.
(01:39):
My late wife and I built ahouse in Park City.
We got lucky enough to comehere in 2010 and kind of look at
the real estate landscape and Iwould say more we came here for
the skiing than it was anythingelse.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
What brought you to Utah originally?
Was it coming out here for aski trip and going?
Well, I really like this here.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
We actually did In 2010,.
We came out on a ski trip.
My wife and I had been to ParkCity a number of times and we
had clients actually of mine wholived out here in a place
called Promontory, and we wentto Promontory to visit them and
(02:30):
I guess the rest is history.
We fell in love with Promontoryand bought a lot site unseen,
which is very unusual and I cameout here the following summer
to go on a biking trip inBryson's Zion and came up to
Park City and saw what we bought.
(02:51):
And my mom, who grew up in themountains, actually in Western
Maryland she always wanted me tolive in the mountains and I was
very happy to be able tofulfill her wishes.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
It's a beautiful, beautiful place.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Yeah, so it should grow up in Frederick, maryland,
which is in Western Maryland,right along the Appalachian
Trail.
That's a whole other story.
Beautiful area too.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Which we'll get to about my family history.
So today's a special day foryou.
It is.
Would you share why?
And we didn't plan this thisway, it just turned out this way
.
But tell us why today's specialto you.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Well, today is, unfortunately, I lost my late
wife three years ago today.
She had been seriously ill forsix years with her variant
cancer and fought very, veryhard and we were married for 38
years.
And you know, she was just, shewas a trooper.
(03:59):
My wife was very involved priorto her sickness in the
pancreatic cancer network.
In fact she went around tolobby all of the state senators
and congressmen here in here inUtah when we first came out
because she had lost a cousin topancreatic cancer.
And little did she know.
(04:21):
When she went to visit HuntsmanCancer Center the first time,
did she know that she would endup there getting chemotherapy
for about five years?
She fought really hard and wehad some great times even while
she was ill and we traveled alot.
But she was an amazing woman,such a trooper.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
So how did that experience change you and how
did it change your sons?
Speaker 3 (04:52):
You know, you live every day.
I think we all have to realizethat, because we never know when
it's when it's going to end.
I'll never forget, in August of15, when we first got the, when
we got the first diagnosis ofher you know, having stage 3C,
which is a pretty advancedcancer, which is not unusual for
(05:16):
a variant cancer.
And you know what my wife and Itried to do from that day and I
would say probably most of ourmarriage was we tried to live
kind of every day.
And I think you know if that'sthe message that comes out of
here today, that's great.
And you know I wrote my bio andwe can get to this is that you
(05:40):
know that's the way I've reallykind of taken on my career too
is kind of, you know, take somerisk, live every day.
And there's a lot of people inthis world who don't do that and
I think it speaks to thesuccess not only that I had in
my marriage, that I had with mykids, but also in my career so
(06:02):
far.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
So how did that affect your sons losing their
mom?
Do you know?
Speaker 3 (06:10):
can you speak to that personally?
Sure, you know, I think they'restill figuring it out.
You know they're good boys andthey're great professionals.
They're both very successfulprofessionally and my oldest son
has been married for 10 years.
I have two beautifulgrandchildren from my oldest son
(06:33):
, and my younger son just gotmarried last October and it's
been really difficult for themand it's been difficult for our
relationship, I will say that,and they're still, I think,
still grieving their mom.
But you know, and I think theyshould think of their mom every
(06:57):
day, there's nothing I can do.
They have to go through theprocess themselves.
I have spoken to a lot ofpeople.
I've spoken to a lot ofreligious leaders who have
helped me.
A lot of therapy also helps andyou know, again, they have to
(07:19):
kind of come to peace with theirmom being gone.
It changes the dynamics of afamily, there's no doubt about
it.
Life goes on and none of usreally know kind of how life is
going to proceed from the daythat you lose somebody.
I wasn't planning about talkingabout this today.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
I think it's nice, it is valuable if you're willing
to share it.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
I'm kind of thinking about this as we go along and
it's it really is.
I don't think, first of all,none of us plan for bad things
to happen in our lives, and Ithink dealing with the
consequences of not only hersickness but also dealing with
(08:09):
the consequences of her Passing,it wasn't something that I
really thought about from day today.
It was kind of like I took everyday as it came and you had to
deal with the circumstances ofnot only her sickness, okay, but
also the circumstances of kindof what am I gonna do after she
(08:31):
passes?
And I'll give you guys a greatexample, and one of them being
that, like when she passed away,it was the middle of COVID, it
was August of 2020, and InAugust of 2020 we we were only
allowed to have 10 people max ather funeral, because that's
(08:54):
what they would allow inside,and so we had 10 people, but we
also had 200 screens from aroundthe world attending her, her
funeral, and which was anamazing tribute to her.
But you know, that was that wasprobably the first thing that
(09:16):
we kind of had to deal with,because people in August of 2020
remember, there were novaccines or anything.
It was kind of the beginning ofCOVID and you know, at the
beginning of COVID we did.
None of us knew how to kind ofdeal with these things and and
and so, from an emotional pointof view, my sons and I are
(09:39):
putting together this funeralDuring this COVID era, when
Nobody knew how to behave or dothings or whatever.
And it was, it was a beautifulceremony and you know that we
had all these people throughvideo and and everything was
(10:00):
just amazing.
I Don't know how we got on thattopic.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
We asked no, no, I'm talking about the whole thing.
It had to be, hard though.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
I know what I was saying.
What I was talking about wastrying, you know, you have to
deal with things as as they comeand we had to deal with COVID
at the time that that she passedaway.
So taking that to the next step, you know, I went away for a
couple weeks after that to kindof get my head together.
(10:33):
I went down to Kila.
I wanted to play golf which wasamazing and visit my sister who
lives in Buford and Thought alot, had to think a lot, and I
came, I talked to a lot offriends of mine and I came back
to Park City in the middle ofOctober and and I said, what am
(10:56):
I going to do with my life?
Because I really hadn't thoughtKind of forward, because when
we're I don't know whether youguys have ever lost like a
Significant other or somethingor something, but you know you
just don't think about it in themoment and I think that's just
human nature.
You know, in what I do I seethat I mean.
(11:18):
You know I try and tell peopleyou know you got to think
forward if, god forbid,something happens what None of
us want to do that at the end ofthe day in In October, the
middle of October, I'm in thisbig house.
It's a middle of COVID.
I'm like, okay, what am I goingto do with the rest of my life?
And I said you know what?
(11:40):
My wife had been ill for aboutsix years.
And I said I'm gonna call Allof my best friends around the
country and tell them you know,I'm ready to kind of move on
with my life.
And what did that mean?
It meant that I was ready tokind of start Maybe meeting
(12:04):
another person, maybe dating.
Remember, again, I keep onsaying middle of COVID.
I mean we didn't know what wasgoing to happen.
It could have been two years,it could have been.
I mean we didn't know at thetime.
I get a call back about fivedays later and my friend, my
(12:27):
best friend in Cleveland, calledme and they introduced me to
this woman who is now my wife,my, my second wife.
We were married a year ago.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
So she's one of our yeah, we never.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Who would have thought about that at the end of
the day, right?
So?
Speaker 1 (12:47):
anyway so what do you think?
Speaker 3 (12:48):
That's a long.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Answer no.
I it's nice to see you happy.
Oh yeah, when I'm with you andNatalie, you guys seem very,
very happy, so I'm glad thatthat that story has Taken the
turn that it did.
Everyone deals with grief intheir own way and sometimes it
(13:11):
takes a long, long time.
And sometimes to get over it,you know you find, you find
someone that that builds you andlifts you up, so I'm glad that
that's happened to you.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
I Was very lucky.
I think it's really hard at myage I'm 65.
I just turned 65 and and Ithink it's very Difficult to
find somebody that you're Reallya companion with.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Tell us a little bit about your family history, too,
because you've told me somestories about you.
Know what makes you who you are.
Bruce is a wealth manager andAdvises people with financial
stuff, legal stuff.
He's kind of a wizard in thatindustry.
Has been very successful doingthat, but he's got some really
(14:09):
cool family history stories.
So talk to some of thosestories that are relevant, that
make you who you are today andthe person with the values that
you have.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Yeah, my family history is really interesting.
My new family office is calledRosehaven family office and it's
actually it's actually namedafter the Name of my
grandparents estate in Frederick, maryland.
My grandparents lived on a 64acre estate that I used to visit
(14:48):
all the time.
We used to go up there on theweekends.
We lived in Baltimore.
It was about a 45 minute driveand I spent summers there and it
was.
It was kind of like I Wastrying to think today, this
morning, before the this Podcast, that I'm trying to think of
(15:11):
the TV show, to equate it to,but my, my parents had like a
farm, a farm hand who would takeus fishing.
It was almost like the I don'tknow, you guys are too young to
probably remember this the AndyGriffith show.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Yeah, I remember I could whistle that whole, that
whole theme song.
When I was a kid it was.
I risked rush from school towatch that one and they.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
We would literally go fishing with sticks in our
hands on my, on my grandparentsestate.
But the history is is reallyinteresting.
There is a picture in theSmithsonian from Frederick
(15:57):
during the Civil War and it's ofmy great-great-grandfather's
store, general Store Rosenstock,as was the last name, and they
were some of the first Jews whomoved to Frederick back in the
mid-1800s, and so theConfederate army was marching
(16:24):
into Frederick and there's apicture of the Confederate army
and my great-great-grandfather'sstore was there.
So that's how far back myfamily goes in Maryland.
It's interesting because mygrandmother her last name was
(16:46):
Khan C-A-H-N and mygrandfather's name was
Rosenstock, and my grandfatherwas a famous lawyer in Frederick
and actually helped rewrite theMaryland Constitution back in
the mid-1970s.
But on my grandmother's sideshe grew up in New York.
Like Great Gatsby, she grew upon Park Avenue.
(17:10):
My great-grandfather was afamous currency trader, which I
happened to do for 20 years, andI did not know this when I
started trading currencies.
So his firm was bought out byCharlie Merrill of Merrill Lynch
(17:31):
, and my family goes back withCharlie Merrill to the mid-1920s
.
My great-grandfather thenstarted a bank called Mercantile
Bank in Delaware, and so wewere in the banking business for
(17:53):
a long time too.
My grandfather was on the boardof a bank in Frederick,
maryland, called Farmers andMechanics, and I have to tell
you I talked to my nephew theother day and what's important
about this is that my nephew isa chip off the old block of my
(18:13):
great-grandfather.
He's been at Merrill Lynch nowfor 20 years.
He's 42 years old and he runsnow one of the largest
businesses at Merrill Lynch andI'm just so proud of him.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
It sounds like the family history of
great-great-grandpa has trickleddown through the generations
and I mean you're doing a lot ofthe same things.
Does that feel good to you?
Do you feel like that's part ofyour family history?
Do you feel like you know himbetter through that?
Or did that play into yourdecision to do what you do for a
living?
Speaker 3 (18:50):
I don't think it's anything we all plan about.
I think it's in our genetics,but I don't think it's something
we plan for.
I always had an interest intrading and finance for some
reason.
I mean, my father was a greatsalesman.
He was in the spice business.
(19:11):
On my father's side they werealways in the food business.
So I didn't really know thatmuch about my grandfather's
history or, I'm sorry, mygreat-grandfather's history
before I started my career.
(19:31):
Pretty cool old history.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Yeah, it's super cool , your sons they in the business
, that same kind of business.
They're not really.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Now my sons are much smarter than I am, so Went a
little bit different direction.
Yeah, so my oldest son worksfor Apple and he's done very
well for himself.
He's been there five years andbefore that was with Capital One
.
He was actually in the financebusiness, but not in the same
(20:03):
way I was.
My younger son is verysuccessful with Salesforce, so
they're both kind of in thetechnology area, but still very
good at math.
Let me put it that way.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Which is great.
Wish I was better at math.
So how about mentors in yourlife?
So you talked about your family.
Are there some mentors, ormaybe books, that have majorly
influenced you, that have helpedyou become who you are today?
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Mentors in my life were definitely my father.
My father.
He was a great guy andunfortunately he passed away too
early of dementia.
It was just too early.
I didn't know him for the lasttwo years of his life.
But it's funny.
When I was kind of thinkingabout this podcast and who were
(21:05):
the mentors in my life and Iwould also say my mother was my
mentor as well I wouldn't say Ihave anybody professionally that
would be my mentor, although Iwould say my nephew is now my
mentor, so because he's been sosuccessful in the business that
(21:31):
we both do.
But my father was just a reallynice man and he was super
motivated and my mother was a.
(21:54):
I wrote this morning about herinvolvement in politics.
She really did want to changethe world and that was her kind
of mantra.
But my father I would saywatching him work hard.
He was there on the weekends tocoach our little league teams
(22:19):
or take a skating.
Hard to believe we won skatingin Baltimore, but we did when
the weather was a lot different.
But I had a pretty good familyupbringing, I have to say.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
What would you say are some of those values that
stick out to you the most, thatyour parents passed on to you?
Speaker 3 (22:46):
My parents were, as I said, especially my dad, were
hardworking.
My mom was always there for us.
It was a different time forkids.
We used to go out and we'd comehome from school and we'd take
our bikes and we'd go out and wewouldn't come home till 6
(23:08):
o'clock or 7 o'clock, when thestreet lights came on.
When the street lights came on,exactly.
But my mom was.
I kind of had like an Ozzie andHarriet kind of upbringing.
My mom didn't work so she washome.
When we got home it was adifferent life in that we would
(23:32):
come home from school and shewould put out cookies and milk
and kind of stupid stuff likethat where you just don't see
that today.
And I think I'm kind of changingthe subject here.
But I think that things likethat where we don't see that
today is that I think it allowsus as people to kind of grow
(23:57):
differently than kind of be inthis kind of mindset of you have
to go from soccer practice topiano practice to, you know,
doing your homework andeverything.
I think kids today are muchmore what do I want to say?
(24:22):
Over-scheduled, regimented,than it was when I was growing
up and I'm sure you know, if youtalk to my father at the same
age I was, you know he wouldprobably say something different
about his childhood and how hegrew up.
But my parents and I would saymy grandparents, were also my
(24:49):
mentors.
I know that's kind of crazy, butthere's so many things I
remember about my grandmotherand grandfather, especially on
my mother's side.
This is the ones that lived inFrederick.
But I remember spending summerswith them and just you know
(25:12):
whether it was going to workwith my grandfather going to get
the mail, I mean, and mygrandfather owned this.
I'll never forget this Tornado.
You probably wouldn't evenremember what a Tornado was, I
think it was.
It was kind of like theCadillac of that time, you know,
(25:33):
back in the 60s.
I don't even remember the makeof it, but I just remember my
grandfather being just like oneof those guys you just kind of
look up to and say, wow, youknow.
And my grandmother, on theother hand, was just one of
these people that you could talkto about anything.
(25:55):
My grandmother lived until shewas 94.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Okay, and lived through the depression, right.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
She did.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Yeah, that changes people.
I think it did anyway.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
So yeah, there I would say you know my parents
and my and my grandparents, andI have a sister and brother also
, who I think would probably saythe same thing.
In fact, I was talking to mysister yesterday.
My sister's three years olderand my sister was always called
(26:28):
the princess, and I think, myparents favored her a little bit
, but that's okay and but I'mreally close with her and we
were talking about she's goingback to Maryland, to Frederick,
and they had a fair in FrederickCounty Fair, which was always
mid September, and we used toalways go as kids and you know,
(26:52):
my grandmother, who lived thereshe was actually my grandma was
a very good artist.
She did a lot of oil paintingand won a lot of awards for
doing and she always displayedat the Frederick Fair and so we
used to go every year and and askids.
And it's amazing what youremember as kids, right?
(27:13):
I mean you guys remember stuffas kids.
I mean just crazy stuff, right,anyway.
So my sister's going back tothe Frederick Fair for the first
time, probably in 40 years.
This this awesome September so.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
I love that.
I love the family history partof your story, like that your
parents and your grandparentswere your mentors and that you
can remember all of thoselessons that they taught you and
that you know your siblingswould say the same thing.
How have you taken those thingsthat have been taught to you
and pass them on to the nextgeneration in your sons?
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Great question.
So my kids knew their greatgrandparents, right, my
grandparents, they knew, theyknew them, which I think
especially my older son and theyalso had a very close
(28:14):
relationship with their, with myparents and and with my late
wife's parents as well.
But I think they probably spentmore time with with my parents
and I think the same values thatmy parents instilled in me they
also instilled in my two boysand that's why there is very
(28:42):
little divorce in our family,very, in fact.
If you go and you look at mygrandparents and you look at
between my aunt and my mother,they had seven kids.
Every marriage is stilltogether and six of them were
(29:04):
married.
And then if you look at thegrand grandchildren, every
marriage is still together.
What are the odds of that?
Not super common these days,yeah, you know I mean.
And there think about thegrandchildren.
Every marriage is stilltogether and that's crazy.
There's.
There's got to be somethingbehind that.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
What do you think that is?
Do you think it's like conflictresolution or being able to
talk about differences oracceptance of differences, or
what value was that that thathas trickled down through those
generations that make thosegenerations that make those
marriages strong?
Because I think that'ssomething that a listener could
(29:45):
say.
That's something I'm going tomake sure happens in my family.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
Well, it's interesting I have to correct
myself my, my aunt, my mother'stwin sister, did get divorced,
okay, but then she got remarried.
But other than that, when youlook at the grandkids, every,
every grandchild has has been inlong marriages and I don't know
(30:08):
what the answer is to that.
I think it comes back to mygrandparents again, because they
all, we all, kind of grew up onthis kind of state and this
estate was like you can't makeit up.
It was like this country estatein the middle of nowhere and
and you just had freedom there.
(30:31):
And I think that that type offreedom and values that my
grandparents had was instilledin every one of the
grandchildren that are stillmarried and I would still be
married today that I not lost mywife.
But you know, I look at mysister and my brother and you
(30:54):
know all my cousins.
I mean that's crazy, right thateverybody and I'm talking 30,
40 years, what, what is thatvalue?
I guess it's probably listeningto your spouse.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
I mean well, communication, I think right.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
I mean, we can go down this road if you want to.
Marriage is not easy.
Yeah, it's a partnership, right?
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Yeah, they must have created some kind of a basis of
what a good marriage looks like,right, they must have created
some kind of a culture in yourfamily that that they everyone
said well, this is what it looks, this is what a good marriage
looks like.
And we believe I think sometimesit's a like if you grew up and
(31:47):
it was rough, well, and that'swhat your culturally, that's how
you feel a marriage looks like,right, the estate, the good
marriage there was like thisvision of what it could be that
seems to have cascaded in yourfamily, right, and I'm just I'm
just kind of thinking out loudwhat's the why, based on what
you told us?
(32:07):
You know, that's what it feelslike to me is that, like there
was this vision of what it couldlook like, and that's great.
I think anyone wants theirfamily to have like this vision
of this is, culturally, this ishow it feels, this is what it
looks like, and if you can getthat embedded in your family
culture, I think one of ourother guests talked about
telling family stories being areally important part of culture
(32:33):
in a family.
If you can tell these stories,yeah, positive stories about
this is who we are.
Our family is this way.
Let me tell you a story aboutit, and it seems like you have
that in your, in your family andyour lineage.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
That's also part of what we try and do at our family
office is to talk to othergenerations about have one
generation talk to anothergeneration to kind of give them
more history about what's goingon.
I'm not saying financially, butmore so the values go down from
(33:09):
generation to generation.
It was one thing that we havefound as a difference maker in
in trying to pass down wealth tofrom one generation to another,
and that's one of the moredifficult things that I find in
my generation that they have atough time kind of talking about
(33:35):
you know values and if you lookat successful families and and
how they passed kind ofgenerational whether it's
generational wealth orgenerational values or whatever
that is that's what we feel isis is one of the most important
(33:59):
things.
That being said, let me say oneother thing about that I I need
to say about my family, andit's really interesting because
not only do my grandparents ownthe state in Frederick Maryland
but they also owned four workingfarms and I have no idea how
(34:19):
many thousands of acres theyowned in Frederick Maryland and
on these four working farms thatwe used to go visit and I mean
we used to take cheaps out andtake them around the property
and like it was crazy.
It was kind of like, probablyhere in Utah, you where you go
(34:40):
and you know if you have a ranchor something like that, you
just go on for miles, kirk, youhave a ranch right.
You just go on for miles, right.
And so so that being said, wehad all of this land, or my
grandparents did, on both sidesof the family and in Frederick,
(35:02):
and eventually it all got sold,unfortunately at the wrong time,
because Frederick blew up in inthe 1980s as a suburb to
Washington DC and the landvalues went from basically
nothing to God knows what theyare today.
I think values are reallyimportant and I do think I mean
(35:29):
we could, we could get on tothis, but I don't think it's.
It's appropriate for thispodcast about.
You know the financial side ofyou.
Know why financial decisionsare made in many families,
especially for generationalwealth.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
Yeah, you have a really well-rounded worldview
because you've traveled a lotand you've also lived in a lot
of different places.
Talk to us about how living indifferent places around the
world has shaped your worldviewof humanity and the type of
person that you've chosen to be.
Speaker 3 (36:05):
So not only do I have the the fortune of having a an
amazing family history, but I'vealso been able to kind of make
my own history over time.
I started in the bankingbusiness in 1980 in Cleveland
(36:26):
but went into the tradingbusiness.
I traded currencies, as I saidearlier, and I was lucky enough
at a young age to age 28.
My wife and I and my young, myolder son, who was a year and a
half at the time, we were movedto Sydney, australia, and we
(36:49):
were able to be in Australia,probably well before Australia
got on the map as a reallysignificant player in the world
today, and so we lived there.
And then in 1990, that was in1985, so I was 28, and we lived
(37:15):
there for about a year came back.
We lived in New York.
So we lived in New York for acouple years and then I was
asked to come back to Clevelandto run a trading room for
British Petroleum and BP wasobviously a British based
company and in 1992, they tappedme on the on the shoulder and
(37:37):
said we want you to move toLondon.
I was like, okay, my kids wereseven and four at the time and
it was a great experience forthem, so they were able to get
the experience of being inLondon and they still remember
and it's hard to believe thateven my younger son, who was
four years old at the time,still remembers going to
(37:58):
Montessori School there.
So we lived in Kensington inLondon and traveled all over
Europe.
Actually for the year we werethere and then we came back and
we were in Cleveland for quite along time, although I used to
travel to Europe all the timewith BP and they also used to
(38:22):
send me to Australia because wehad a big trading arm down in
Melbourne.
So I was pretty familiar bothwith London, europe and
Australia.
I always say I was very luckyto be able to be in those
different places of the worldand kind of see, as a young
(38:46):
person at that time, to see allof these different opportunities
and places.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
I think when you see the world, it changes who you
are and how you see things andthe way you act, and it's just
opened your eyes.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
It's good for kids too.
I don't know if you rememberDavid Gilliland was taking his
kids to Brazil.
Well, I spoke at one of hisconferences last week and I
asked him how it was and he'sjust like an amazing experience.
We had to get there and findshelter, find food, those types
(39:26):
of experiences of taking yourkids down to Australia and
London and these things haveprobably shaped them into the
men that they are today becauseof those experiences.
So I think, if you're listeningto the podcast and what can I
take away from this I'd say giveyourself an opportunity, give
(39:47):
your kids the opportunity to seethings outside the bubble that
they might live in, so that theycan develop a worldview that's
diverse and that they can knowhow other people live and
understand other cultures.
I think that's a reallyimportant part of being a good
world citizen.
So well, we're out of time.
(40:07):
Corey, you want to ask ourguest of honor the question of
the day?
Speaker 1 (40:14):
It's a good question and he very much looks like a
gentleman today.
By the way, he looks verydapper.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
I'm dressed in Kirk Chug clothes.
Of course, the Haberdasher.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
And when you said you were 65, I was surprised
because I thought 55 maybe lookvery good for your age.
Thank you very much.
Yeah, I don't know what you do,but I'm going to have to write
it down after the podcast.
It's called short hair.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
It's called no hair.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
His barbers been busy .
Speaker 1 (40:46):
So, sir, what does it mean to you to be a gentleman?
Speaker 3 (40:52):
I think being a gentleman is just being a good
person.
I think it's doing the rightthing always.
I think there's so many peoplein this world I don't understand
.
My wife and I shake our headsabout it all.
My wife, natalie, and I shakeour heads about it all the time.
(41:12):
It's just that there are somany good people in this world
but there's so many people thatyou kind of question about how
they got to where they are.
So I think being a good person,I think always doing the right
(41:33):
thing, is really our mantra.
Do the right thing.
You have to have a philosophy ofhaving a goal, of where you
want to kind of be in life, andI always say you do what you
(41:54):
have to do To survive in life.
You do what you have to do.
And what people may take awayfrom this podcast today is that,
hey, this guy's had a greatlife but he's also had adversity
and he's been able to getthrough the adversity.
The reason I've gotten throughthe adversity is, as I started
(42:18):
out on the podcast today, is youlive every day all right, you
do what you have to do and you'dbe a good person.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
Well, thank you.
Thank you, Perce.
You're welcome.
Speaker 3 (42:32):
We appreciate you coming in today.
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
Thank you for joining us on the Gentleman Project
podcast today.
If you heard something todaythat Bruce said that impacted
you, that you might pass on tosomeone else.
It might help them.
Please do so.
Act on each good thought.
I'm Kirk Chug.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
I'm Corey Moore.
Thanks for joining us.
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