Richard Warren Seltzer, Jr. – 50th Reunion Essay

Richard Warren Seltzer, Jr.

146 High St. #406

Milford, CT 06460

seltzer@seltzerbooks.com

(617) 529-2552

Spouse(s): Barbara Hartley Seltzer 1973–2012, deceased

Child(ren): Bob 1975 (Yale/Calhoun 1997), Heather 1977, Michael 1980, Timothy 1989

Grandchild(ren): Adela Seltzer (2007), Lila Seltzer (2010)

Education: Yale BA English 1969, Yale grad school Comparative Literature attended 1969–1970 no degree, U. of Mass. (Amherst) MA Comparative Literature 1972

National Service: US Army Reserves, Army Security Agency spec 5, Russian specialist 1969–1975

Career: Benwill Publishing 1973–1979 editor Electronics Test Magazine, Circuits Manufacturing Magzine; Digital Equipment 1979–191998, editor of DECWORLD magazine, then Internet Evangelist

Avocations: chess, Russia, Greece

College: Calhoun (Hopper)

From my days at Yale, I remember the heated discussions in dining hall and dorm room about the interconnectedness of life, the universe, and everything. I remember reading omnivorously, and having moments when I thought I could find answers to fundamental questions; and the high when inspiration struck hours before a paper was due and pulling an all-nighter to finish it and deliver it under the professor’s door at the buzzer.

After college, I was lucky to find and marry Barb, without realizing how truly wonderful she was. Then I found jobs that had nothing to do with the literature and languages I had studied in college, and learned what I needed on the job. As editor of magazines like Circuits Manufacturing and Electronics Test, I leveraged my ignorance and my curiosity to prompt experts to clearly explain their innovations. The world morphed, and I wound up working in the computer industry, which had been in its infancy when I was at Yale. Lucky to be at the right place at the right time, I became Digital Equipment’s “Internet Evangelist” in the 1990s, speaking at forums around the world to wake up business people to the opportunities opening on the Web. Between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m., I’d use the portal, where time is limitless, to read voraciously, to write children’s stories, novels, and plays, as well as articles and books about business on the Internet, and to build the website for our online business B&R Samizdat Express (B=Barbara, R=Richard, Samizdat = self-published in Russian).

Over those years we had four wonderful kids and we focused on their interests and the practical matters needed to support them and open opportunities for them. They grew up, moved out, and went on with their lives. Digital got swallowed and went away. And the world morphed some more as computers led to ebooks, and I became an ebook publisher, long before Amazon went into the business. I published classics that I had read in college and other classics that I hadn’t had time to read before. Once again, I learned what I needed on the job, without technical training.

Then Barb died suddenly, unexpectedly, and I found myself alone and much older.

Now in my writing and my reading, I’m once again concerned about the fundamental questions that were so important to me in college days, that were abstractions to me then, but that now loom large, as immediate reality.

On the one hand, I feel that my life has come full circle, that where I am now has its roots in the dining hall discussions at Yale 50 years ago. On the other hand, I feel my life is just starting, and I intend to savor every minute of it.