The Spring of 1969 was a tense time for a variety of reasons. The oldest of seven children in a military family in Norfolk, Virginia, the Vietnam War was a dominant factor for Aaron. The high school experience had been a blur. His parents always pushed getting into college, but as neither had attended college, they could do little to prepare him. They were also in no position to provide financial support.
The good news was that his strong grades and academic activities had landed him offers of admission with a scholarship to Duke University and the University of Pennsylvania. The fact that Penn was part of the Ivy League, and a location where his mother’s family still lived, helped to seal the deal for Penn. Still not sure how to proceed through the summer before classes started, Aaron’s mother received a fateful call early in May from her sister. A friend of his aunt in suburban Philadelphia offered a full-time summer position at a stock brokerage, Dean Witter. The only problem was that he had to report nearly immediately, and school had almost a month left. The next day, he spoke with his high school’s principal. He learned that due to his grades, he was able to opt out of all of his final exams. All of his teachers then signed-off on his leaving school at the end of the week. Finishing second in his large high school class, he did agree to return to be one of the graduation speakers.
That weekend, he took a bus to Philadelphia, where his Uncle John met him at the bus station. His aunt and uncle had agreed to host him for the summer at their suburban home, despite having two young children and expecting a third. In return, he would help with household chores, babysit his cousins from time to time, and contribute a small amount of his weekly income to the family food budget. The position required that he dress in conservative business attire. So, his uncle took him to a discount clothing outlet and loaned Aaron the funds to buy a simple gray suit and a coordinating sport coat and slacks. Aaron paid him back out of his first two paychecks. Little did Aaron know how much use he would get from those clothes while in college.
In another amazing match, one of the neighbors commuted to downtown Philadelphia daily, parking just a short distance from the financial district and the offices of Dean Witter. Aaron would contribute a small amount for fuel each week to the driver. On his first day at Dean Witter, he was introduced to Frank, his supervisor. The position was simply called “runner.” He would help sort mail, make copies and do other tasks in the office. His key responsibility was to carry important papers and securities to other brokerages and nearby banks, as the need arose. On some days, he would carry over one million dollars in negotiable securities to other offices and get receipts. The idea was to look quiet and unassuming.
By the end of the summer, despite his overhead, Aaron had stocked away a small amount of money in a bank near the Dean Witter offices. He also made friends with Ruth, who was a Temple University junior and working there for the summer. His only regret was that he had learned very little about the investment business.