Foolishly, I start to get involved professionally with Delta Kappa Epsilon

There are a few decades to fill in, and I promise I will get to  them. It is now 1982, I am employed with Butzel Long Gust Klein & Van Zile in Detroit. I have agreed to put together a new tax deductible foundation for my National Fraternity, Delta Kappa Epsilon, which could invest in low interest rate housing on fraternity houses. I successfully do this and get Gerald Ford and Bill Simon to serve as honorary Presidents. I start becoming a money raiser.

Career-wise, in December 1983, I get my MBA from the University of Michigan, and have commenced putting together a number of real estate syndications in Ann Arbor, starting with the first Fraternity Limited Partnership/Tax Shelter in the country. I recruited Ed Frey, who was Jerry Ford's big brother in the DKE house and the fire plug behind his candidacy for Congress from Grand Rapids, for $60,000 and a number of others for between $5,000 and $20,000. I was also able to convince Michigan National bank to lend us $300,000 and we were able to close.

We bought the old Evans Scholars House in Ann Arbor. The thing about Evans Scholars is that they award scholarships to caddies who are expected to have meal jobs. So there was no kitchen in the house and we had not budgeted for them. At the time I was working with Ellis D. Slater, who was Class of '17 and Dwight Eisenhower's old golf partner, and wanted to endow the Michigan DKE house in some matter. I went down to visit him in Palm Beach and discuss the Foundation that I had put together.

I came back with Slats' check for $25 grand which the foundation was able to lend it to the partnership and we had a kitchen!