I am both an economist (three year M.A., Univ. of Chicago, 1968, in economics PhD program) and a lawyer (J.D., Univ. of Chicago, 1971). I had a Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship in economics and the good fortune to study at Chicago under seven Nobel Laureates in economics (received before or after -- Milton Friedman, Robert Mundell, Theodore Schultz, George Stigler, Ronald Coase, Robert Fogel and Gary Becker). I only left economics and the PhD program after finshing the course work and core prelims and contrary to the wishes and advice of Milton Friedman, because having decent grades out of a top law school had much more remunerative prospects then than being an economist. I wanted to return later at some point and ...More finish up, but the opportunity cost was too high.

I practiced law, mostly in a large firm, doing large scale jury litigation all over the country in a broad range of areas for notable and not so notable clients. I also handled appeals. I carefully kept out of politics because my observation has been good trial lawyers make poor politicians, and politicians who return to law are usually not good lawyers -- good lobbyists and influence peddlers perhaps -- but never good trial lawyers. Their concepts of honesty and truth have been debased along with their work ethic.

I believe seriously in economics and have somewhat kept track of the field, although I do not believe all I read. I do not seriously believe in law, although I practiced it quite successfully for thirty years and created significant new law, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. I have been investing since the early sixties when gains on airline bonds substantially helped put me through college. I have appeared in past volumes of Marquis, Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, Who’s Who in Finance and Industry and others.

I retired early and have been circumnavigating the world on my own sailboat for the last several years. I survived the tsunami in Pago Pago, American Samoa where my boat suffered minor damage and 112 people died within two miles of me including some friends and left there for New Zealand for repairs but then my electronic autopilot failed in route and I had to hand steer to Neiafu, Vava'u, Tonga. In Tonga then I was directly hit by Cyclone Rene (= hurricane in northern hemisphere) with 95 knot sustained winds and 115 knot gusts, but I was prepared and sustained no damage. I was sheltered in the harbor bay from bad seas but not the winds. I stayed in Tonga for the cyclone season in the South Pacific last year and will spend this cyclone season in American Samoa. I am busily engaged in boat improvements/repairs, basking in the sun, sightseeing on bicycle, writing a bit and I am enjoying photography, too.