I was born in 1949 to Russell & Veronica Connor in Queens, New York City. We lived in Brooklyn, New York until I was seven years old. We then moved to Hempstead, Long Island. I went to Hempstead High School and worked part-time after school for spending money as my parents had 5 boys and not much money.
I went to college at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York to study Electrical Engineering. While in college, I joined the Delta Sigma Chi fraternity and then met my future bride Marge. I graduated in the spring of 1972. In 1970, the country held its first draft lottery and my number called was 10, so it was very difficult to find a job.
I went to work as a Management Trainee for Cramer Electronics in Newton, Mass and worked my way up to National Distribution Manager. In 1974, we had a son, Bret.
In 1979, I accepted a Distribution Manager position with Frito-Lay and we moved to Topeka, Kansas. After a major expansion of the Topeka plant in 1986, I decided to start my own business with a whirlpool bath distributorship, expanding into countertops, then custom cabinets, and then building swimming pools. In 1988, we built a new home in Lake Sherwood area and installed an inground pool shortly after. The first project I had when I retired was to install hardwood floors throughout the 1st floor (all by myself).
In 1996, I accepted a Business Consultant position with IPA in Chicago and traveled all over the country helping small businesses address their profitability issues. While traveling, I self-taught myself database development and was then asked by IPA management to develop new corporate database systems. Upon successful completion, I was named Corporate Director of IT and was responsible for all database development, payroll generation, computer systems and help desk, telephone systems, corporate programming, and call center programming. I retired in December 2012.
I now dabble in website and database programming, play golf, bowl in senior leagues, and look forward to seeing my son, Bret (previously the COO of Athena Health in Boston, now the CEO of Model N), my daughter-in-law, Anu (previously a Director with Bristol-Squibbs Meyer, now VP at Ipsen Pharma), and our lovely granddaughter, Serena.