William Beslow – 50th Reunion Essay

William Beslow

82 Franklin Street

New York, NY 10013

wbeslow@gmail.com

917 797-6494

Spouse(s): Aimee M. Maddalena (June 29, 2003)

Child(ren): Lauren Allegra Beslow (12/26/76) (Yale BS 1999; Stanford University School of Medicine JD 2003); Jonathan Doan Beslow (3/13/80; Yale BA 2002); Charlotte Maddalena Beslow (04/02/04); Beatrice Grace Beslow (01/30/11)

Grandchild(ren): Jonah (05/04)

Education: Yale College (BA 1969); Columbia University School of Law (JD 1972); New York University School of Law (LL.M. in Taxation 1977)

National Service: Drafted in November 1969, but rejected for military service (for medicall reasons – and not by reason of heel spurs!)

Career: Davis Polk & Wardwell (July 5, 1972 through December 31, 1979) (trusts and estates); Private practice, January 1, 1980 to present (matrimonial and family law)

Avocations: Classical piano; weight training

College: Saybrook

During my initial meeting with my faculty advisor in early September 1965, I learned that Yale had accepted me as an “experiment” to measure the performance capability and level of academic achievement of an undereducated graduate from Bayonne (New Jersey) high school, from which Yale had not accepted a student in more than 30 years. That comment shook my self-confidence, which plummeted further when each of my Bingham Hall roommates told me that he had been valedictorian of his high school class. The nadir of my introduction to Yale came when I attended a lecture by C. Vann Woodward, whose The Strange Career of Jim Crow had been published earlier in the year. Professor Vann Woodward gave a boring lecture and spoke with a s-l-o-w Southern drawl. At first, I did not understand a strange, hissing sound I heard from the back of the hall. But when I saw fellow freshmen stand up as they hissed and then leave the hall during the lecture, I realized that they had a feeling of self-confidence or arrogance which was foreign to me. The thought of disrespecting a world-famous historian was mind-boggling to me. Yet, many did so—seemingly without regard for the feelings of Professor Vann Woodward, who continued to speak laboriously as they passed the stage on their way out.

My Yale experience proved to be a four-year test for me. In hindsight, I devoted myself to my academic work more slavishly than most classmates and, no doubt, more than I should have.

After law school, I worked for a large law firm in New York City, concentrating my practice in the area of trusts and estates. After seven years, I felt unfulfilled professionally. My thoughts went back to the fall of 1965, when I had started to give advice to some friends (and “referrals”) on how to cultivate dating relationships with women whom they had met at “mixers” —culminating in Frank Aronson’s putting up a small sign on the hallway door to my room at Bingham Hall: “William S. Beslow, Professor of Women, Office Hours: 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.” That memory resulted in my leaving the firm and starting my own practice in the areas of matrimonial and family law—a practice I continue and enjoy thoroughly to this day. It has given me the opportunity to develop an active litigation practice, to help clients (their children and, often, their spouses), and to interface with individuals whose lives, personalities, and careers are of enormous interest.

My oldest daughter, Lauren, graduated from Yale in 1999 and my son, Jonathan, graduated from Yale in 2002. My wife, Aimee (whom I married on June 29, 2003), and I have two children, Charlotte (born on April 2, 2004) and Beatrice (born on January 30, 2011). Like their parents, each attends public school (in New York City).

Three years ago, my Yale experience played yet another role in my life. After getting bashed mercilessly by a professor on faculty at Yale Music School during a piano lesson in 1968, I abandoned piano lessons. Thus, from 1968 through 2015, I played the same three pieces—and not particularly well! In 2015, however, I revisited my Yale experience. I decided to return to the interest which had been dominant during the early years of my life. I identified a concert pianist who would give lessons to me, and I have worked with him for the past three years. My wife is hosting a 70th birthday party for me on June 9, and I am going to give a program (including three Beethoven bagatelles, Chopin Nocturne Opus 27 No. 1, Chopin Mazurka Opus 14 No. 2, Brahms Intermezzo Opus 18 No. 2, and Clair de Lune) in which the concert violinist Jennifer Koh, a friend and former client, will join me in the Mozart Sonata for Violin and Piano in G Major. (Jennifer is brave!)

So, as our 50th reunion approaches, I am still active in all phases of life and hope to continue on my path indefinitely, aided by the self-confidence that has come about as a result of my four years at Yale.