Jim Hawes’s Charles River Rescue
The following is Jim Hawes’s first-person account
It was a Friday afternoon on a weekend when no "WAC" (Written Analysis of Cases) was due in the deposit slot by midnight Saturday, so a number of us were preparing to go skiing. I was with sectionmate Fred Marshall, when we noticed a small crowd gathered on the Storrow Drive side of the Charles River. The people were watching a German shepherd dog out in the water, in a hole in the ice, struggling to get some traction to get up onto solid ice. Fred and I continued on our way to I cannot recall where, and when we returned it was evident that the dog was just about exhausted and that its increasingly desperate efforts to pull itself up over the lip of the solid ice would be futile.
Fred and I watched a short time longer, along with the now larger crowd, hoping the dog would somehow get lucky, until I said to Fred something like "that dog is not going to make it. I better go in and get it." Fred held my wallet and I walked out onto the ice which gave way immediately. I did a sort of butterfly stroke to break the ice to the dog. I don't, and did not then, speak "dog", but I can tell you that I distinctly recall the very strong sense of encouragement that the animal was communicating to me as I approached it through my path in the ice.
As a Navy Seal officer (and Vietnam vet prior to HBS), this was not my first ice-water swim. I was well aware of the amount of time a body can spend in ice water before conditions get perilous and I estimated that the dog was within that range. When I reached the animal, I grabbed his collar and he started swimming over me and past me (just like a drowning human) to shore through the path that I had made through the ice. As we got closer, someone in the crowd accurately threw a line to grab, and that thankfully, accelerated our return to shore. After we got onto dry land, I was a bit numb and I started to jog over to the other side of the river to take a warm shower. The dog stayed right at my side until I got to my apartment, where we parted.
A photographer happened by during this activity and took the picture reprinted in the Alumni Bulletin. Apparently, nothing else happened that weekend anywhere in the world, because the photo went around the globe. From everywhere, I received clippings and letters; marriage proposals, fathers wanting to introduce me to daughters; anti-vivisectionists; etc., etc. Dean Fouraker called me in to receive a plaque from the Humane Society, and to tell me that Harvard paid out quite a lot, at 25 cents per clipping from around the world, to its clipping services. Dean Fouraker was funny and very nice.
The most interesting piece of correspondence I received I will never forget: It was from Mr. Toby Klein, postmarked Tubuai, French West Polynesia. Toby wrote, "Several years ago I told the world to go to hell and moved to Tubuai, French West Polynesia, where I fish in the sea, eat fruit that grows all around me, and live in the proverbial grass hut. Every couple of months, a ship arrives with mail and newspapers. I saw your picture in the International Herald Tribune saving that dog and I just wanted to tell you I thought that was a really good thing you did and I hope anytime you are in the area (Tubuai, French West Polynesia, remember) that you will drop in to see me...." Thirty plus years later, whenever I want a chuckle, I recall Toby Klein's invitation.
I still get recognized for this event, especially by German shepherd dog lovers like sectionmate Alan Horn. Several years ago I was enjoying Alan's warm, splendid hospitality at his home, when Alan's good friend, the famous producer Norman Lear, dropped in. Alan proceeded to tell Norman about the dog rescue, because Alan genuinely appreciated the act. Later, I said something like, "Alan, I have been doing other things for the last 25 years and all you can describe is the dog rescue?”
For most of the thirty-plus years since HBS, I have been in Asia, residing in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Jakarta. Lewis Rutherfurd (MBA '71) and I were the only two individuals from our class who went to Asia to make a career. I started developing real estate in Hong Kong (Sheraton Hong Kong) and Indonesia (offices and industrial). Concurrently, Lewis and I, plus several others, formed the first U.S.-style venture fund in Asia, in Hong Kong, with Lewis as the working M.D., to do startup/early stage investments — usually the transfer of proven success models from North America and Europe to Asia, in a joint venture format. We have offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Singapore. Our successes have included bringing to Asia in a joint venture: McDonald's (Hong Kong, Singapore, South China), IKEA, Stanford Dialysis clinics in eight Asian countries, etc. Failures we don't discuss here. I have been full-time in Inter-Asia, since its third consecutive fund commenced in 1992. We are currently raising a fourth fund which includes some HBS classmates (all others are welcome!!!). I have two daughters, ages 30 and 28, respectively, and a son, age 1, by my wonderful wife of five years, Donna, R.N., DDS.
If HBS Endowment, or anyone else, wants to make a really good fund investment, my Austin, Texas mobile phone is (512) 633-8500.
Cheers!
Jim Hawes
