Ward B. Hinkle – 50th Reunion Essay

Ward B. Hinkle

15 Fir Top Drive

Orchard Park, NY 14127

hinklewb@gmail.com

716-662-1609

Spouse(s): Cynthia Ann Foote (1973)

Child(ren): Charlotte Foote Hinkle (1982); Amanda Foote Hinkle (1985)

Grandchild(ren): Felicity C. Meiklejohn (“CC”) (2017)

Education: Phillips Academy, 1965; Yale University, BA (1969); Univ. of Pennsylvania Law School, JD (1975)

National Service: Lt., US Army, 69-72

Career: Securities Law, Assoc., Beekman & Bogue (NYC), 2 years; Securities Law, Partner, Hodgson Russ LLP (Buffalo, NY), 35 Years

College: Pierson

Over the half century after Yale, the most important part of my life, and the aspect of which I am most proud, has been my family: my wife, the multitalented Cynthia Foote (whose résumé would be longer than my own); daughter Charlotte, who is a lawyer in the Office of Counsel of the FDA; daughter Amanda, who is in the Foreign Service and currently an attaché to the US Embassy in Seoul, South Korea; and granddaughter Felicity (“CC”) Meiklejohn, now 9 months old, who is mastering crawling and standing up.

As to my own journey, as soon as I graduated from Yale, my draft board advised me that they had my number, that it was 50, and that I should report for a preinduction physical. As did many of my classmates, I viewed the Vietnam War as deeply problematic. Since I was healthy and not religious, the alternatives were exile or service. Unable to face abandoning the country, I signed on for OCS. They sent me to infantry OCS, but on completion of the course at Ft. Benning, Georgia, I was able to choose a Signal Corps commission, and I did so in the hope of not being directly involved in the war. As the American military role wound down, the US became more involved in a support role, so I ended up serving a tour in 1971–1972 in Vietnam as a signal officer for the Qui Nhon Sub Area Command

When I returned, I entered the University of Pennsylvania Law School and graduated with a J.D. in 1975. I then spent two years working at the Beekman & Bogue law firm in New York City, where I practiced federal securities law registering public offerings of securities with the SEC. In 1977, I joined Hodgson Russ LLP, a Buffalo, New York, firm, where I became a partner. I practiced in the area of securities law, primarily with respect to public and private securities offerings, until about 2006, when I branched out into providing counsel to Canadian financial firms concerning federal and state laws relating to the provision of cross-border investment management services from Canada into the US I have been retired since the end of 2012.

Is life about process or outcomes? I spent 10 years writing a historical novel about the dawn of democracy in Athens and the social upheaval caused by the Greco-Persian war of 482–480 BCE. Someday, I am going to make a serious effort to get it published. I have a digital piano that I plunk away at late at night. Over the years I have burned through dedication to a series of physical activities including tennis, paddle tennis, skiing, running, fly fishing, kayaking, biking, and hiking the mountains of Vermont. As my body has become creaky, I have dialed the intensity back, and for the past few years my obsession has been long daily walks. There are about 10,000 books that I want to read; currently, I am into historical biographies and astrophysics. Life has its moments.