Alumni in the News
A Book by Its Cover
Courtesy Harlequin
Packaging and branding fantasy as though it were detergent, one-time self-described Procter & Gamble “soap salesman” Larry Heisey (MBA ’54) “turned Harlequin from a niche purveyor of romance novels into a global giant, reinventing the publishing business in the process,” the Toronto Star declared (May 29, 2009). Named president of Toronto-based Harlequin in 1971, Heisey, who passed away in May, moved the books into supermarkets and drugstores and expanded into the United States and overseas. Using focus groups to track the changing tastes of its readers and offering several series to accommodate different preferences, the company employed a stable of writers, hundreds of whom today crank out 130 million books a year in 29 languages.
A prominent backer of the fine arts, Heisey was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1994 in recognition of his philanthropy and business success.
When asked about critics who derided the genre and Harlequin’s production-line approach to literature, Heisey told the Bulletin in 1994, “Let them slander away. We’re happy, and we make people happy.”
Keys to the Kingdom
RHEA, WITH FRIENDS: Bringing financial skills from the private sector to public housing.
Photo by Pete Mikoleski/Nycha
Who’s the Big Apple’s biggest landlord? That would be John Rhea (MBA ’92), who oversees 178,000 apartments in 2,600 buildings at 340 complexes, according to the New York Times (May 14, 2009). This sprawling domain became Rhea’s literally overnight last May, when he was appointed chairman of the New York City Housing Authority by Mayor Michael Bloomberg (MBA ’66). Critics noted that Rhea, who was previously an executive at JPMorgan Chase and Lehman Brothers, has no experience in affordable-housing management. But Bloomberg defended the appointment, saying that Rhea brings much-needed financial skills and expertise to the job. Said Rhea, “I’m keenly aware of the challenges facing public housing today and the need to ensure that this vital resource, each and every unit, remains available for New Yorkers in the future.”
Added Rhea, who grew up in Detroit and attended its public schools, “I know what it’s like to be from a place where both parents are working hard to help give their children a better life and access to quality education. I’m not some detached guy who’s sitting in an ivory tower” (New York Times, May 17, 2009).
Once a Fulbright…
Ruth Owades (MBA ’75), founder and former CEO of Calyx & Corolla, the pathbreaking online flower company, was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Medal from the Fulbright Association in May. Her Fulbright year in France, where she studied with the late playwright Eugène Ionesco, was, Owades said, “a dream come true for a young girl who learned early to listen to my instincts — to pursue the seemingly impossible.” Active on several boards and a frequent speaker on corporate governance, Owades, who also founded Gardener’s Eden (later sold to Williams-Sonoma), was honored along with three other former Fulbrights: composer Philip Glass, poet Rita Dove, and educator and civil-rights activist John Maguire.
Home Sweet Home
TERWILLIGER: Workforce-housing shortages can hurt urban economies.
Photo Courtesy Habitat for Humanity
In June, Ron Terwilliger (MBA ’70) was named Housing Person of the Year by the nonpartisan National Housing Conference. With almost forty years in the housing business, Terwilliger was involved in the development of Hilton Head, South Carolina, before moving on to a long and successful career at Trammell Crow. In May, he announced a gift of $100 million to Habitat for Humanity International, whose board he chairs. The largest individual gift in Habitat’s history, it has the potential to help 60,000 families worldwide, according to the Hilton Head Island Packet (June 6, 2009).
Terwilliger is also an advocate for, and generous supporter of, affordable housing in the United States. He is concerned that housing in too many cities and towns is beyond the means of the workers employed in those communities. “This is not just a matter of social equity,” Terwilliger stated. “The shortage of workforce housing is compromising the economic well-being of our cities.”
And for the residents of exclusive areas such as Hilton Head, where he began his career, he said, “Give some thought to the living conditions of the people who fix your house, mow your lawn, teach your children, and are the first responders in an emergency. Ask how they can have the same quality of life that you do.”
Robert McNamara Dies at 93
One of Harvard Business School’s most prominent graduates, Robert McNamara (MBA ’39), passed away in July.
McNamara once told the Bulletin that he had intended to lead a quiet academic life as an HBS professor (see McNamara profile at www.alumni.hbs.edu/bulletin/2004/september/oneonone_mcnamara.html). Instead, after graduating from HBS, he joined the Ford Motor Company as a“whiz kid,” eventually becoming its president briefly before the Kennedy administration tapped him to be Secretary of Defense. He became known as the architect of the Vietnam War, a conflict that marked him forever.
“After leaving the Pentagon on the verge of a nervous breakdown,” the New York Times wrote (July 6, 2009), “McNamara became president of the World Bank and devoted evangelical energies to the belief that improving life in rural communities in developing countries was a more promising path to peace than the buildup of arms and armies.”
Don’t Mess with His Texas
WATERS: Betting the ranch on posterity.
Photo by John Davenport/San Antonio Express-News
Lost Maples State Natural Area in the Hill Country of Texas is noted for its beautiful limestone canyons and native bigtooth maple trees. The park recently grew by 700 acres thanks to Lou Waters (MBA ’66), who, for a bargain price, transferred a portion of his ranch land to the state so that it will be protected forever, the San Antonio Express-News reported (June 8, 2009). “You see it, and you just want to take care of it,” said Waters.
A Texas native, Waters worked on Wall Street before becoming founding chairman of Houston-based BFI Waste Management. Over the years, he began to purchase Hill Country land. Eventually, he gave up hunting and started to manage his property as a preserve for endangered species. “As you age, your values change,” Waters observed. “I think I love plants now more than animals.”
