Prologue. As I noted after law school, my cousin Bill Patty, managing partner of the New York law firm Sherman and Sterling, suggested I should not be a lawyer, but that I should be an entrepreneur and join my grandfather in Florida. Best advice ever. After quitting my Parkwood job at American Security, on my year off, I began the quite frustrating quest of a business. Following our summary of these many failed attempts. At least I learned an awful lot about both finance, different types of businesses, and most of all the game. Again, so many people so helpful.

I)Newton Johnson. New from Toledo Ohio was granddad’s Coppock’s insurance and financial advisor. Good family friend; very well connected in Ohio.

B).Newt arranged for me to make an offer for one of his clients companies. It was The Distributor for Pepsi-Cola and Squirt for the state of Iowa. I visited twice but could not make a deal.

C).He also introduced me to Hickory Farms of Ohio, one of his clients. He knew secretly that it was for sale. Unique national company mail order company in Toledo; it shipped boxes of cheese food goods etc. He helped me negotiate a purchase.After one month of trying, lost to New York firm.

II).Darold Greek. Mr. Greek, my boss Columbus law firm, and dad’s close friend,continued to try to help the find a business after I left the law firm.

A). He informed me of a regional company in Sarasota Florida that made roofing materials. It was large. He knew the owner. Two trips to Sarasota, no deal.

B). Trucking companies. The law firm, Mr. George, also dad's classmate, represented more large national trucking companies in any law firm in the Midwest. Mr. Greek and Mr. George provided a number of opportunities two of which were interesting possibilities. I visited both but could not make either deal. (One was trucking goods into New York City. I became convinced it had Mafia ties).

C). Best Opportunity Missed. Mr. Greek's client from Columbus Ohio owned the major distributorship for Strohs beer, Miller beer, and two other minor brands. (Strohs, at that time was the largest selling beer in central Ohio.). I worked on the deal for months. I secured financing. John Sweeterman, my father and I met in Detroit with the president Peter Strohs. We made a deal and had signed contract. The seller, changed his mind, but had no way to get out of the contract. Then, mysteriously, the seller’s longtime friend, Peter Strohs, had his VP, call me to say that I did not meet their qualifications for the distributorship. I lost the deal. (Ironically, Peter Strohs had preceded me by 10 years at Princeton and had been a member of the Ivy club.). I was destroyed.

III). Second Best Opportunity- Missed. I discovered from banking friend that the Hutch Sporting Goods company of Cincinnati was for sale. It was a nationwide leading manufacturer of low- cost sports equipment. Baseball bats, lacrosse sticks footballs basketballs. It was a secondary line that sold in Sears and other major outlets. The president was the son-in-law in the family. (The family members worked in the factory or in sales.). We made a deal where we would, as 50-50 partners, buy the company and eliminate the rest of the family. One of my close friends at Morgan Guaranty Bank in New York was certain he could arrange financing. At the last moment a major national company entered the picture and I was eliminated. Came so close. (Fortunately, I didn't buy, because it's market "evaporated".

IV). Other Attempts.

A). Washington, DC Parking Lot buildings ownership. Sweeterman family friends, Otts Dezendorf’s widow owned and managed six large parking lot buildings in Washington DC. I worked for months with friends at Alex Brown, had the deal financed but then she backed out.
B). West Virginia, Small town Newspaper. Mr. Sweetman became aware of a newspaper in a small mountain town. It went down and looked at it for a couple weeks, but decided not to make a bid
C). Springfield Ohio Generator company. (Crazy but fun attempt).In the late 1800s Springfield Ohio was an industrial center. One company built electrical generators to be installed in dams and water flows around the world. It was still owned by the same family. In a large factory, only a few employees. Was still selling replacement generators companies in South America and Africa. Spent months trying to figure out what to do with it. My banker who was there banker and wanted me to buy. I couldn’t see how to make it work. Years later it was purchased by a Swiss company, they made it work. Much fun!

D). Many other small attempts.