Born at St. Francis Hospital in Miami Beach, FL, I grew up in one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse neighborhoods I have ever seen. Families from Eastern, Western, and Southern Europe, the Caribbean, Asia, and South America shared their histories and cultures with their friends and neighbors, allowing us all to experience the broadest of life perspectives within a two block radius from our front doors.
My family worked in the hospitality businesses – restaurants and hotels – and my sister, brother, and I followed our parents into service businesses. I began working in hotel restaurants in my early teens, including my junior year in High School through their work experience program. I entered the United States Air Force at the age of 17 as the Vietnam Era was closing. As a Command and Control Specialist for the Armament Development and Test Center at Eglin AFB, FL, I was privileged to be surrounded by some of the finest people this country has produced. Assigned duties during that time included the position of Hurricane Control NCO and primary coordination functions within the center command post for preparations to receive, feed, provide care for, and house up to 25,000 refugees from Vietnam at the end of the war. The difficulties in providing these services after hurricanes Andrew – I lived in S FL at that time -and Katrina left me in tears as I watched and was no longer involved in directly assisting those in such desperate need.
After separating from the Air Force, I returned to hotels and restaurants for a time in roles as a runner, doorman, bellman, and desk clerk. I worked my way into a position as a night auditor preparing the daily accounts for the comptroller and ensuring appropriate distribution of credits and posting of charges to each account at the end of each day.
Needing a change, I began a foray into the construction industry and spent almost 15 years in commercial and residential construction as a form and frame carpenter and layout foreman.
Ever the late bloomer, I met and married my wife while I was in my middle 30s. We have been blessed with two magnificent children who value honor and integrity more than popularity. They both seek justice, fairness, and generosity toward others in all they do and have won the respect and high regard of teachers, neighbors, professors, rabbis, and supervisors through their seemingly tireless efforts to succeed in all they do.
An opportunity presented itself after my wife and I married to enter a field that had long held interest for me but which had not been accessible before. When we married, my wife was completing her nursing education and with her support and guidance I was finally able to attend a complete the LPN program at a local vocational school. After almost six years practicing as a LPN, I graduated from Barry University in Miami Shores, FL with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and licensure as a Registered Nurse.
My clinical experience includes Medical/Cardiac critical (intensive) care, emergency department, home health, and nursing education. I have worked in a major county hospital in South Florida as the facility began its intensivist program and benefited from experiencing a change in fundamental approach from “the way things have always been done” with the newer model of intensivists providing primary care in a critical care setting. Leaving that facility to relocate to North Carolina was both heart-breaking and inspiring. In Raleigh I found an opportunity to work in a community hospital, leaving behind the high-tech focus of South Florida for a setting that allowed me much more patient interaction. The chance to learn from my patients and their families, as well as provide health education and information to those families and patients in probably the most rewarding experience I have had as a nurse. As an adjunct clinical instructor and later a nursing preceptor I had the pleasure of meeting and sharing with potential and new nurses as they began their journey. That privilege fed my lifelong joy of learning and allowed me to learn as much from my students as I hope they did from me.
Changing focus for what I expect will be the last time, I have graduated from Meredith College’s ABA Approved Paralegal Studies Program. Coming of age during a rather tumultuous time, where societal norms were frequently challenged and questioned; it was almost natural to have an interest in the law and how it affects all our lives.
I apply this diverse life experience and native curiosity to all research services and investigations to ensure the most thorough and in-depth review available.
A full resume is available for review here.