William Allen Alper – 50th Reunion Essay

William Allen Alper

112 Inverness Drive

Kendall Park, NJ 08824

w.alper@gmail.com

914-715-1987

Spouse(s): Barbara Black (1976-1991); Kathleen S. Lynn (1995-date)

Child(ren): Daniel Black Alper (1981); Benjamin Black Alper (1984)

Grandchild(ren): Jackson William Alper (2013); John Patrick Alper (2014); Elizabeth Viola Alper (2016)

Education: Yale University, BA (1969); Columbia University, JD (1973)

National Service: Army National Guard (1969-1975)

Career: Litigator, antitrust and other complex business matters and intellectual property suits

Avocations: Travel; Paricipation and Administration of religious organizations, including synagogue president

College: Saybrook

I very much enjoyed my time at Yale, and my Yale friends, but in retrospect, if I had a chance to do it over, I would not have spent those crucial years in an environment that did not include women as classmates. In law school (Columbia) women were only 10 percent of our class, but they were colleagues. We interacted daily, on questions of law and on matters of real importance to all of us in preparing for our professional careers, not just on weekends for entertainment. I came to realize how surreal life in a men-only environment for five days a week had been. After law school a group of classmates, both men and women, studied together in preparation for the bar exam—one of them became my first wife and the mother of my two sons.

In the 1969 Yale Classbook, I stated that my future occupation was to be “Law and Politics,” only half of which turned out to be correct. Practicing law—litigating intellectual property cases—was fascinating, fulfilling and very satisfying and rewarding. Though I had only two semesters of science in college, and no courses in design, it was fun and exciting explaining to judges and juries in understandable terms the significance of the chemical structure of a pharmaceutical compound, or the reasons a 48-inch rag doll did not infringe a copyright in the 20-inch rag doll from which it was derived. Meanwhile, politics became a much less attractive way to spend time and energy, and has now descended into an ugly, frightening activity which I am glad to have avoided. I don’t mean to denigrate our classmates who do or did politics. I admire their fortitude, their willingness to put up with the tensions and pressures, and am grateful for their willingness to do it. But better them than me.

At this stage in life, I’m most grateful for having two wonderful, fun, intelligent, caring sons married to terrific women, who are the parents of my two delightful grandsons and granddaughter, and for having spent the last three decades with my (second) wife (who’d attended a women’s college—irony!), a work colleague who became my best friend, the love of my life, and the caring and beloved stepmother to my sons and “Grandma” to their children.