Frank Aronson – 50th Reunion Essay

Frank Aronson

21 Woodchester Dr

Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467

faronson@pbl.com

Spouse(s): Paula (1969)

Child(ren): Elyssa (1973); Jessica (1976); Emily (1981)

Grandchild(ren): Hallie (age 13); Gabriel (age 12); Eyan (age 8)

Education: Yale, Juris Doctor from Columbia Law, Harlan Fisk Stone Scholar

Career: Partner, Posternak Blankstein & Lund LLP for 17 years

College: Jonathan Edwards

Reflecting back on these 50 years brings out so starkly the rapid passage of time; the years have passed so quickly, and that passage is accelerating.

Professionally, I have been since 1972 an attorney in transactional business/corporate practice, mostly in commercial real estate, with only two law firms, the first for 29 years and the second thereafter, from which I expect to retire by the end of 2019.

Having majored in American studies, and seeing a need back then (militarily…) to stay in school following our graduation, law school became the fallback. I am certainly not sorry I wound up in law; I can count on the fingers of my hands the number of days I have awakened in the morning and felt that I did not want to go to work.

I remember my first few days at Yale being marked by some trepidation, and even a touch of loneliness (with my father having died a couple years earlier). I became acclimated, and since graduating have over the years developed a fierce loyalty for and love of the place and of my classmates. I have served on the national board of the Alumni Fund for a number of years now, and am one of three chairs of agents for our class, and I follow Yale sports assiduously.

I have found a profound sense of happiness and comfort in life, from both my family (for which I am so grateful), and from my connection with and devotion to the Jewish community. I cannot say that the latter is my faith; I am, like many practicing Jews, I suspect, technically agnostic: I do not know whether there is a God. And while the words I mouth certainly are words that nominally worship God, saying them almost exclusively in Hebrew lets the emotional affect touch me deeply, while the meaning of the words I need not dwell on. My community, lay and clergy, is a treasure.

It is often said that college is wasted on the young. The older I get the more I see some truth in that aphorism. “Waste” may be too strong a word, but a love of learning inculcated in me starting with Yale, but not brought to the fore until years later, has made me relish acquiring new knowledge, understanding and insight as an adult (even if one does not learn quite as easily as one gets older). One of the things I am most looking forward to doing once I retire from active law practice is to do some serious study, in two areas, i.e., music (where after a pretty weak showing with Mr. Bailey studying mostly Wagnerian opera at Yale, I have become something of an opera lover, with an even more profound love, and knowledge, of the instrumental music of some of the greatest classical composers, e.g., Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, etc.), and Judaic studies. I am reminded when it comes to Judaic studies of a class I took at Yale in American religious history with Sidney Ahlstrom; I can still visualize the class, and can even “hear” Professor Ahlstrom’s voice, and I recall reading, and writing, about the growth and development of the American Jewish Community.

In the final analysis, the hope is that each of us will leave the small corner of this world which we have inhabited or through we have passed a little better for our having been there, that that small corner will likewise make each of us a little better, and that the name we leave for our progeny will be a good one. On to our 55th….