David D. Gleason – 50th Reunion Essay

David D. Gleason

3125 Guadalupe Drive

Punta Gorda, FL 33950

ddgle1@ix.netcom.com

339-364-0992

Spouse(s): Joyce (Laquidara) Gleason (1969)

Child(ren): Andrew (1975)

Education: Yale BA, 1969, Harvard MBA, 1972

College: Calhoun (Hopper)

My parents, who lived through the Depression, had only one house their entire married life—a 700-square-foot Cape Cod–style home, with one small bathroom, that housed them, my brother and myself until we left for college. Consequently, I had no problem with our ancient rooms in Lawrance Hall on the Old Campus or the well-used, walnut paneled suite in Calhoun. (I have no problem with the name change to Grace Hopper College, but it was Calhoun while I was there, so that’s how I remember it.) I wonder how much of the increased cost of education today is due to the students’ need for “luxury.”

In summer during all four years at Yale, I worked at a small manufacturer of heavy waterworks equipment, eventually doing engineering drawings, production management, and even creating their first catalog. I loved every minute of it, so when I attended Harvard Business School I hoped to learn how to run a manufacturing business. (I have, as it turns out, the same educational pedigree as a former president of the United States, although I believe I got better grades.) Unlike the business school or my classmates, I didn’t recognize that manufacturing was not to be the future of the US. So I went back to that small company after graduation and subsequently found similar fulfillment mostly with start-ups (although I did have two short stints at Fortune 500 firms). Most of my compatriots from Yale and particularly Harvard may have earned more money, but no one could have had a better life.

A major part of that better life was with a start-up founded by one of my Calhoun classmates, David Friend. Dave and I reconnected quite by accident in the early ’80s and because I had some relevant experience, he invited me to join his founding team for a software company. For the next 11 years that company gave me wonderful learning experiences, plus the opportunity to participate in the creation of new products. When Dave sold the company to Dun & Bradstreet in 1994, it also eliminated any further worries I might have had about money. Dave, of course, has had enormous success as a “serial entrepreneur” in the Boston area, and has been a significant benefactor of Yale.

My friends from Calhoun will remember that I dated one Mount Holyoke girl from junior year on. I married her six months after graduation, and Joyce and I will celebrate our 50th anniversary in October 2019. We have one child, and he and his wife live in Maine, where he is a manager in the compliance department of TD Bank, and she is a project manager with a veterinary equipment firm.

I cannot believe how fortunate I have been: in getting into Yale, finding the love of my life, being able to do what I wanted all those years, and now spending retirement between our homes in Florida and Cape Cod. Some guys just have all the luck.