Michael K. Schonbrun – 50th Reunion Essay

Michael K. Schonbrun

10200 Niwot Road

Longmont, CO 80504

mks@balfourcare.com

303-921-4948

Spouse(s): Michelle Fredson (1971–1998) Susan Juroe (2001–present)

Child(ren): Ethan (1978), Adam (2003), Theodore (2003)

Grandchild(ren): Asher (2011), Gilead (2014), Avi (2017)

Education: University of Pennsylvania (JD 1973), VISTA Volunteer (1969–1970)

Career: Deputy Director of Colorado Department of Health (1976–1979); President, National Jewish Hospital (1981–1991); Chairman of the Denver Metropolitan Air Pollution Council (1985–1989); Founder & CEO, Balfour Senior Living (1997–Present)

Avocations: Travel, Tennis, Reading

College: Calhoun (Hopper)

Fitzgerald was wrong about there not being any second acts in American lives.

In the 25 years since the last big reunion, I have divorced, remarried, become the father of twin boys, and started a new career. After the divorce, I took a sabbatical, living in Palo Alto and Miami Beach as well as countless hotels throughout the former communist countries of eastern Europe, exploring potential health care investments for a venture capital firm.

In 1996, I returned to Boulder and started Balfour Senior Living, a company focused on creating vibrant, caring, and beautiful communities for seniors. After an exhaustive search for the right brand name, I settled on that of my summer camp in the Adirondacks—a place where my father, uncle, and cousins had gone. It conjured up intergenerational living as I hoped my retirement communities would be places where aging parents could be close to, but not under the same roof as, their adult children, an important idea especially in a place like Colorado where more than half the adult population has come from elsewhere.

Balfour will have 10 operating communities, including our first outside of Colorado in Ann Arbor. Revenues will be approximately $60 million with nearly 1,000 employees. It’s gratifying work, which has fulfilled the goal of both doing good and doing well. No plans to retire as I love what I do, enjoy the benefits of heading a successful company (status, cash flow, miscellaneous perks), and have few hobbies that could amuse me for very long.

Susan Juroe, my wife of nearly 20 years, and I have a true mixed marriage—Baptist and Jew, Republican and Democrat, frugal mid-Westerner and profligate Easterner. Who knows how this all works? However, it does, probably because we have committed ourselves to making our marriage work. In fact, when we were required to undergo pre-marriage counseling in order to have our wedding in a beautiful chapel in Upperville, Virginia, the counselor said he had never seen two more incompatible people and strongly suggested we forego the nuptials. Needless to say, his advice was ignored. However, when she has Fox News on the television in one room, I manage to find a pressing household chore requiring my presence elsewhere.

As to the effects of a Yale degree 50 years later, I can report that it bolstered my confidence post-graduation whether in dealing with the draft board, lobbying hostile state legislators in Ohio and Colorado, seeking admission to the Young Presidents Organization, or wooing members of the Forbes 400 Wealthiest Americans during my fundraising days at National Jewish Hospital. It also provided me with instant credibility when applying for positions in government and the business when my actual credentials were rather thin. In addition, my classes with Vincent Scully gave me an appreciation of great architecture that has been essential as we develop state-of-the-art senior housing communities, but also imbuing me with the importance of having our projects “in dialogue with” the older buildings in the neighborhoods where we place them.