Lee William Bachman

11477 Cedar Pass

Minnetonka, MN 55305

lee4yale@aol.com

612-804-8990

Spouse(s): Silvia Bachman (2014), Bonnie W. (1969-1985)

Child(ren): Mark (1972), Andrew (1975), Jonathan (1978)

Grandchild(ren): Cristina (2000), Brian (2004), Brandon (2009), Julie (2002), Will (2005), Michael (2008), David (2008), Harvey (2008)

Education: Yale BA 1969; University of Minnesota, MBA, 1976

Career: Univac Systems programmer, 1969-1974; Bachman’s Inc, VP Finance, Treasurer 1975-2009

Avocations: Golf, Travel, Photography

College: Jonathan Edwards

Little did I know 50 years ago that after Yale I would be married and divorced, father three sons, and have five grandchildren. After recently retiring from our family retail floral, garden, and nursery business, I found happiness again with a new wife and her three children ages eight, fourteen, and seventeen. Our oldest daughter was accepted at Drake University, another school with blue and white colors and a bulldog mascot. She wants to be involved with immigration law, a hot topic these days. Our two boys are in private schools here in Minnetonka, Minnesota.

Going through the college application process with our daughter brought me back to my first impressions of Yale back in 1965. Of course, things have changed at Yale since then with women now on campus, the Internet, computer-based course work, and no war-time draft to worry about.

Our problems in the late 1960s (the Vietnam war, racial unrest, drugs, and the hippie movement) seem almost quaint compared to today’s problems of political polarization, economic inequality, and damage to the environment due to climate change and pollution. After some 30 years of work, Al Gore helped to orchestrate the 2015 Paris agreement on climate change and solutions involving over 150 countries only to have our newly-elected American president choose to withdraw from these accords. Where are our values and our concerns for future generations? Or did Yale only teach us how to look out for ourselves at the expense of others? What good is achieving economic success and status if what we leave behind is societal unrest and an unhealthy planet?

Minnesota has produced some good political leaders over the years: Hubert Humphrey, Eugene McCarthy, Ted Mondale, our classmate Governor Mark Dayton, Senators Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar, columnist and author Tom Friedman and, yes, even humorist and author Garrison Keillor. While most of these are of the liberal and Democratic persuasion, they at least share the ability to discuss issues rationally and to look at society as a whole to do what is best for the most people.

Our slogan for the 21st Century should not be “America First” but instead should be “People and Planet First.” I have a feeling at age 70 that the older we get, the less we will be concerned about money and status and the more we will need to consider our legacy and prudence in what we will leave behind for the next generation. The Boy Scout motto says it best. We need to be physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.

Rather than pontificating on these points, perhaps it’s time for some of us to go “back to school” and involve ourselves in discussions of what just might save this planet, bring peace to opposing political factions, and preserve the best of our freedoms to explore new ideas and technologies and have civil discussions on subjects where we disagree.

I value my Yale experience, my roommates Oz, Randy, and Terry and my diploma, which led to further studies and an MBA from the University of Minnesota. But it is what we will do in the next 15–20 years, God willing, that will count the most. The past is behind us. Let’s get started on the future!