Don Ross Weigandt – 50th Reunion Essay

Don Ross Weigandt

9674 Bella Citta Street

Las Vegas, NV 89178

drw@ix.netcom.com

mobile 213-703-7777

Spouse(s): Carolyn (Betsy) Weigandt (45th wedding anniversary in 2019)

Child(ren): Russell (1981; unmarried) and Thomas (1985; married to Samantha)

Education: Yale University, BA in Economics 1969; Columbia Law School, JD 1974

National Service: US Army 1971–’73

Career: Tax attorney – private practice in New York and Los Angeles (1974–’98); with JPMorgan Private Bank (1998 to retirement in 2015); adjunct professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles (2010–present)

Avocations: Reading, travel and golf

College: Calhoun (Hopper)

Before Yale, I had never traveled more than 200 miles in any direction from Memphis. But I really yearned to join the world outside. Memphis was part of “The South” of course, a place where Jim Crow laws remained in full force during my youth. I grew up knowing white and “colored” bathrooms, lines in buses dividing white and black sections, and of course completely segregated schools. The Confederate flag was revered almost as much as the Stars and Stripes. By default, my part of that world was the white part, and of course just about everyone both sides of the divide was Protestant.

When I entered Yale, I knew I would come out a changed man—without doubt that was my goal. How my life would change was a mystery, but my time at Yale would solve it. I hoped that I would be ushered into a new world and indeed I was. Meeting diverse people from all over the country, learning their cultures, soaking up their stories and engaging them in mine were tremendous blessings. Soon, my world became a wonderful mosaic, in contrast to the limited world of my youth.

Early on, Yale was a serious challenge for me. Although I had graduated first in my high school class and had pretty good SAT scores, nearly everyone seemed better prepared. Thankfully, by the end of my first year, I had caught up and truly felt that I belonged. It was a humbling experience for sure, but I gained a thirst for knowledge and an ambition to succeed.

After Yale, law school quickly followed, but it was interrupted by a stint in army at the “invitation” of Richard Nixon. The confluence of my law school and army experiences, however, contributed in many and varied ways to my life’s journey, including the chance meeting of the love of my life. Betsy continues to sustain me after 43 years of marriage. Oddly, those experiences also led me to my specialty in taxation, where I have worked enthusiastically for more than 40 years, of late as a professor.

Through it all, my Yale experience was there—urging me to accept challenges, move forward, learn, enjoy life and others, meet new people, try new things, be curious but skeptical, be honest but considerate, be positive, and absorb what the world offered. It is funny looking back now, seeing all the breakpoints in my life and wondering how it would have been different had I chosen a different path. But it is only an amusing thought experiment. I seriously doubt that I would take a different path even if I had the choice.

Yale was a transforming experience for me in the most fundamental of ways. It brought me into a new world of endless possibilities and opportunities. I came out of Yale as a different person with a different attitude and a stronger set of values. But most of all, Yale prepared me for what would come next, whatever that was.