William Arthur Newman – 50th Reunion Essay

William Arthur Newman

40 East 83rd Street, Apt 5E

New York, NY 10028

wnewman@bartonesq.com

9177486139

Spouse(s): Pamela J. Newman, 1974–1993; Michele Gotlib Newman (1995 to present)

Child(ren): Romy S. Newman (1975), Theodore Ross Newman (1982), Jared A Newman (1996), Dorothea Blake Newman (2001)

Grandchild(ren): Zachary Ian Cosmaciuc (2011) Gabrielle Rose Cosmaciuc (2014)

Education: Yale University, BA, 1969 University of Michigan Law School, JD, 1973

Career: Private law practice in corporate and business law since 1973 with several New York City law firms, ranging from Big Law to small boutique practices

Avocations: Children; grandchildren; reading, especially spy and detective fiction; walking in the outdoors

College: Jonathan Edwards

Whack! He slammed the long wooden pointer against the screen at the front of the huge classroom in Harkness. His voice boomed with enthusiasm, “The orientation of the temple with Mount Olympus—10 miles distant—was an intentional choice by that ancient architect not only to align his structure with the gods but to make himself one of them.” The lantern slide on the screen was vivid—mountainsides covered with green forests, the bluest of skies, and ground that screamed warmth from the pale yellow of the gravel. Surely, I was in the presence of gods.

Four weeks earlier my authentically proud parents had said good-bye and traveled back to Dupont, Pennsylvania, my home for my first 17 years and 11 months. For those who don’t know (and that’s likely every member of the Class of ’65 other than Bill Scranton, because his eponymous hometown is a mere nine miles north of Dupont, although it had, in those golden days, a population of 70,000, 20 times that of Dupont), mine was a coal town that by 1965 had yet to send any of its sons to Yale.

In that classroom, Vincent Scully ripped open my eyes and prompted me ever since to follow wherever my curiosity led me. I may look and sound like a seasoned corporate lawyer in private practice, but my path to this place has been filled with events unimaginable but for the impetus that Yale gave me. In some ways it was a riff on “From those to whom much is given, much is expected,” in that given the opportunity to learn about the world beyond my hometown, I was going to discover as much as I absolutely could and not follow a preordained path through my life.

Fortuity (and no doubt Inslee Clark’s version of geographic diversity) had brought me to Yale. That having worked, I would rely on fortuity to guide me through the remainder of my life. Fortuity led me in 1969 to a fantastic job working for the newly created DHUD in its Chicago regional office, from there to Ann Arbor for a job in 1970, from there to law school at the University of Michigan, from there to New York in 1973, and since then to several NYC law firms at which, also guided by fortuity up through this very day, I teamed up with stimulating clients to confront their arduous challenges.

It turns out that I have some good skills for solving problems in the business world using legal tools. These skills allow me to continue to meet new people and to serve in an intense mode with the conviction that what I do matters to others. I can also earn a living for me and my family.

Launched from Yale’s catapult, my taken road, with its fortuitous twists and turns, uphill climbs, and downward glides, brings me to where I am—an optimistic soul, a loving mate to my wife Michele, and a valued participant in my wonderful growing family.