John Cytron – 50th Reunion Essay

John Cytron

348 N. Oak

Hinsdale, IL 60521

rgsjohnny@sbcglobal.net

630-235-7368

Child(ren): None, but 3 nephews and 5 grand nephews and grand nieces, all of whom I consider my children

Education: Yale, BA 1969 summa cum laude; Harvard Law School 1972, cum laude

Career: Tax and corporate law at Berger, Newark & Fenchel 37 years

Avocations: See personal essay

College: Davenport

I remember the day I left Yale. I could not stay for graduation as my father had fallen ill from a recurrence of cancer and I had to help out with the family business. As I got into that extended Chrysler “limousine” (you know the ones with the four or five doors on each side which would take you to one of the three New York airports), I looked back at the Old Campus and tears came to my eyes and pretty much stayed for the first third of the hour-and-a-half trip to LaGuardia.

I felt I had missed so much and I would never have a chance again to experience such a great university.

Well, law school came next and Harvard… well, it is Harvard and no one really has to speak at length about that institution. Why should we? Anyone who claims a tie is a victory really suffers from very low self-esteem while thinking the world revolves around them. I found the same attitude in a lot of the law professors and students regardless of where they went to college. I suffered some continuing painful injuries to my back during a horseback riding trip during law school and have lived with some serious pain since. But I persevered and after graduation I wended my way and found a firm at which I felt comfortable. I really liked working in tax and corporate law and helping small family-owned firms grow. No, my career was not Wall Street and multibillion dollar corporations, just the type of businesses which constitute the bulk of American business, jobs and help make America great. (Whoops, I hope I have not offended any of the liberals out there—not.)

OK, so I burned out of the legal profession after 40 years, but I stayed because the firm and clients said they needed me. It is nice to be needed. But I am semiretired now. I am in the office maybe only two days a week and that feels about right.

I spend my off-work days in hobbies building models of the Colorado railroads and the mountain environment through which those trains travelled—a great hobby for someone who likes carpentry, building stuff, electronics and so forth. I enjoy reading about the science subjects that always interested me like quantum mechanics and cosmology. Maybe I should have stayed with my science interests, but too late now. I enjoy planning for my vacations. I have been to most of the western U.S. National Parks, hiked long day and a few overnight trips. It was amazing to me that wearing a large back pack applied enough pressure to my lower back to counteract the back pain I have suffered from since law school. And there is nothing like the sight of eagles soaring against the azure blue sky, tall conifer forests, and rocks and mountains exhibiting most of the colors of the rainbow. The trips I experienced gave me the peace of mind I so much needed. I had hiked rim to rim in the Grand Canyon (25 miles and 11,550-foot elevation gain and loss), been over much of Yosemite, felt like I was both Wiley Coyote and Road Runner among the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon and so on. Unfortunately, age has begun to catch up so I have had to reduce the hiking trips.

Among it all the memory of that wonderful place in New Haven has stayed with me along with the thoughts of missed experiences. Oh well… life goes on, doesn’t it?