David Friend – 50th Reunion Essay

David Friend

40 Commonwealth Ave

Boston, MA 2116

david@davidfriend.name

617-230-5446

Spouse(s): Margaret Shepherd

Child(ren): Zoe, Jasper, Zack, Lily

College: Calhoun (Hopper)

I’ve had a great time as a serial entrepreneur in the tech space, and in fact I’m still at it as CEO of a cloud storage start-up called Wasabi. You can google it if you’re interested in cloud storage! We’re competing directly with Amazon, Google, and Microsoft—I know it sounds crazy but I love competing with the big guys. This is my sixth start-up since college. The one that is most widely known is called Carbonite and it is one of the leading computer backup companies in the US, traded on the NASDAQ.

I have four kids. When Margaret and I first moved up to Boston in 1970, we lived in an idyllic little farmhouse in the suburbs. When it came time to start a family, we argued for a few months over who was going to spend the next 20 years driving kids around. We finally moved into the city (Boston) and sold the car. That worked out well and we live in a beautiful old neighborhood right next to the Public Garden. We still walk or bike everywhere.

A few years ago I decided to donate the new David Friend Hall to the Peabody Museum at Yale. I’ve been a mineral and crystal collector since the age of eight, and the new mineral hall at the Peabody is now one of the most spectacular collections of gems and minerals in the world. The designers at the Peabody who worked with me to create this new mineral museum were super­talented and fun to collaborate with. When you’re back on campus, you should go to the Peabody and check it out. Here’s a link to a little movie tour of the gallery: tinyurl.com/y786ntn3. My daughter Zoe, pictured here with me at a silver mine in Mexico, is also a collector and brought her artistic sensibilities to the new mineral hall at Yale.

The construction of the new mineral hall took me down to New Haven regularly over the last few years, so I was able visit my old haunts, like the Elizabethan Club. I still get goose bumps when I can hold a first edition of Hamlet or Julius Caesar in the Lizzy’s vault.

My other daughter, Lily, is an outdoors person and picked up my love of hiking, only she’s amped it up somewhat. A few years ago she hiked the Appalachian Trail from George to Maine averaging 27 miles per day. Here we are in North Carolina with her trusty Beagle, Abigail. Aroooo!

My wife, Margaret, went to Sarah Lawrence and is a brainy artistic type. She’s written about 20 books, mostly on the subject of calligraphy. If you know anyone who does calligraphy for a hobby, it’s likely they learned from Margaret’s books. Her brother, Gordon, is still a professor at Yale. Our first date was at the Elizabethan Club. She still works seven days a week and a body of calligraphic work covering the Song of Solomon (Old Testament) will go on display at the Yale Divinity School next year, and then on to Union Theological in New York and so on. A book will be coming out next year. Here she is when she was in her 20s, pictured here with Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin at our house in the burbs (I was in the music business right after Yale). She’s still beautiful and brainy.

My routine is still pretty much as it has been: morning cereal, cup of Lizzy tea, and New York Times, usually being pestered by some feline.