John Barrett Beinecke – 50th Reunion Essay

John Barrett Beinecke

99 Park Avenue

Suite 2200

New York, NY 10016-1601

jbeinecke@antaeus-ent.com

917-509-8849

Spouse(s): Gaily Beinecke, 31 years (as of 2018)

Child(ren): Barrett (1988)

Career: Since 1983 – Senior management at family office

Avocations: Golf, theater, travel, cooking

College: Berkeley

I found preparing this personal essay not an easy task. First off, I cannot think of many things that would be of interest to anyone else. So, I went back to my profile in the 25th reunion book to see what I said then and what might have happened in the 25 years since.

For the most part, my life has continued along the trajectory that it was on 25 years ago. I have the same job, have not retired (although taking much more time away and traveling more often), continue to live in the same apartment in New York City, and pursue most of the same recreational pastimes that I did back then. I still have one son and remain happily married to Gaily, my wife of 31 years.

One thing I do find interesting about this era in my life is the numerous corrective procedures that were required to get me here. I have received two heart stents along the way. I have more recently added two new knees, so I can continue to play golf which means that I no longer play squash. I rely heavily on hearing aids and keep trying to find better ones. And I depend on the assistance of a personal trainer twice a week to keep everything in good order or, at least, still working.

If there has been a theme to the last 25 years, it has been working for my family (which in a way has been working for myself) running our family office with my brother Rick ’66. I am very happy with what I do but find it about the least interesting thing to speak about with others. Some people are interested in family offices, but I can never figure out why unless they are in the business of selling services and then it’s obvious and I am even less interested in a dialogue.

But the advantage of working for oneself is that it can provide significant time to commit to other activities and organizations. I have enjoyed active involvement with numerous theater organizations from Lincoln Center Theater where I served almost 30 years on the board and eight years as chairman to the Advisory Board of the Yale School of Drama where I currently serve as Chair. And now also as a Board member of a small theater organization, Page 73, started 20 years ago in New York City by two recent grads of Yale College that concentrates on developing new playwrights and mounting first New York productions for them. And I am more than interested in speaking about the theater, theater management and developing playwrights.