Jack Downing

jackdowning@comcast.net

Yet Another Biography

Starring : Jack Downing

After the great dispersion of '56, I spent the next year speculating on just what it was that the real world expected of an adult. Then I went on to college—Hofstra,to be precise. Fortunately, I was able to avail myself of a scholarship and academically prospered, increasingly into Mathematics. Then, in the second half of my last year, I had the first of those brilliant epiphanies that seem to have characterized my career -- I decided to join the army (don’t ask! Even today I haven’t a clue---except possibly something to do with the draft and not going to Korea.)

Shortly thereafter I found myself in the middle of the 3rd Armored Div. in Germany and, when not sleeping in the snow, spent the better part of the next couple of years pondering what the hell it was that George Patton ever saw in tanks anyway. I got there a week after the Berlin wall went up and was there during the Cuba missile crisis. And if memory serves, I almost got sent to India with an advance party when China invaded Tibet—luckily that never happened.

The great news from my olive drab period was that I met Mary Schwieder of Virginia who, like many gals, had taken one of the government jobs overseas to see Europe after graduation. We married, and year later, our son Jack was born in Frankfurt. We loved Germany, saw a lot of it, and have been back a number of times since. Parenthetically, I managed to see Ford Prime as well, who at that time was with the 24th Inf. in Munich ---I still have a photo of Ford, hand on the doorknob and with a goofy look on his face, as he reacted to my surprise flash---Dave Smith was also in the 24th at the time, but I didn’t know it.

Returning home (Mary and the baby by air and me on a seasick troopship), I was discharged in Jan ’64, just in time to say goodbye to the rest of my rotation outfit, which was shipped to Vietnam a week later. Realizing belatedly that finishing college was probably (duh!) a good strategy and flush with my new knowledge of all things military, I returned to Hofstra and finished my degree in ’65. Now, what to do?

Fortune smiled, and I was offered a NASA fellowship in the Math. Dept. at Brooklyn Poly. Completing the masters in ’67, I stayed on for the doctorate in pure math. But in ’68, having completed the course work (but not the degree), I had…….an epiphany! Now in possession not only of a wife and kid, but of a house, I would get……a JOB! Mary raised her eyebrows. I was 30.

Thus began my Brooks Bros. Period. While not having actually studied any business, I was nonetheless familiar with key names like Horatio Alger, key titles like Tom Swift and his Electric Grandmother, and the key business principles of pluck and luck. Armed with a new briefcase, I charged Manhattan aboard the LIRR.

The next five years were spent in two corps.—Sperry & Hutchinson and CBS—in project management jobs in Operations Research. At that time OR was the new management hula hoop, usually installed in a company just after the CEO attended a management seminar ; it was cool, even if he didn’t understand it. Essentially, the field consisted of running around with a bag of sophisticated mathematical models, while an accomplice colleague and/or befuddled line executives tried to fit the real world of business to the models. Nonetheless, we actually did save these companies some significant money, mostly in the areas of physical distribution, inventory control, and simulation work.

Then while riding home on the train one day in ’73, I had……an epiphany! I realized three things:

In a flash of brilliantly flawed insight, the path was clear: I would become……a GENERALIST!

Gathering my troops, I cleverly skirted L.I. Sound, bypassed the residential fortress of Westchester, and in a brilliant forced march penetrated darkest Connecticut to establish a base camp at Stamford, from which I began the 8+ year siege of American Can. During this period, I had a number of roles, including customer consulting, systems, aide-de-camp, yada yada. Being a generalist seemed to work, since position and compensation were significantly up; the only problem was that it may have worked too well---I seemed to know less at the end than I did when I started. By this time, our son Jack was poised on the threshold of Georgetown U, apparently threatening to enter. What to do…?

Fortune smiled….An envoy of the satraps of Newmont Mining invited me to join their ranks as a mercenary. Back on the train to Manhattan. The next 7-8 years were the most satisfying I had in the corporate world. There were only 30 executives at HQ—the rest were at admin offices and mine sites around the world. Department heads (I had information systems) had a lot of authority, and could actually get significant things done easily. Corporate senior management were all internationally acknowledged experts in the industry. I was proud of what my group got done in this fascinating basic industry. There was a lot of travel—mostly North America, with some Europe, South Africa, and Namibia. The Aussies kind of did their own thing.

Then – around ’88—our newly anointed CEO opted to move corporate HQ to Denver, retaining gold while divesting copper, coal, and lithium --- not to mention a good chunk of my network. I chose to stay in the east, to avoid cowboy boots and six guns. The company was generous. What to do……?

At this time Unisys, from which we had bought a ton of hardware, must have felt guilty, since they offered me a job—VP of Software Alliances. Essentially, I was involved in software technology acquisition, inter-company deals, and was introduced to working with those princes of the IPO—venture capitalists. Since I wasn’t sure of where the company was going (or me, for that matter), I chose to keep the house (and wife) in Stamford, and got an apartment in Blue Bell (PA) near HQ. I was destined to see neither very often. There was a lot of travel---mostly, it seemed, between London and Silicon Valley. I remember often flying over my house on the way from one to the other. The silliest trip I ever did was—in 6 days—from Philly to New York to Paris to Geneva to Rio De Janeiro to New York (this really happened). Meanwhile, Jack had finished Georgetown in ’85, had married Ada—a Georgetown girl—and proceeded to annex DC and the entire state of Maryland as his turf …… so Jack was in DC, Mary was in Stamford, and I was at sea.

Finally, one Sunday morning in ’91, at home in Stamford over breakfast, with the Times spread out and our three collies lined up next to Mary with their noses touching the table, a question was posed …….”Tell me” she said, smiling through the steam of an upraised coffee cup—“do you like what you do?”…..a pause……six collie eyes, muzzles unmoving, rolled to her then snapped back to me. Their noses moved forward, encroaching on the Times (this is dog for…”well….?”).

Geez! I hate it when she’s right! I had……another epiphany. I entered my blue jeans period.

A few months later we sold the house and moved to southern Maryland, about 25 miles south of Annapolis, and an hour out of DC. We’re still here. When we came here in ’92, I went into business with my son building custom high-end computers on the beltway, mostly for DOD. Jack went on to better things about ’97(probably after an epiphany), but I kept the business, happily going to work in jeans with my dog. In early ’01, thinking about all the books I’ve never read and the tools I’ve never picked up, I closed the business and retired. It’s fun. The kids live nearby.

From all of this, I have extracted the following insights:

Mary thinks this is far too long……..Geez! I hate it when she’s right!
Jack
9325 Baker St.
Owings,MD. 20736
410.257.1495

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