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Stored Memories: Friendship and Software

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AUTHOR: steve abramowitz on 7/23/2024

“I’m giving up on your cousin Bernie, Fay.”

“Bill, grow up already and stop acting like a wounded bird. Be a good husband and give him another year.“

“Another year?  It’s already been three years and he told me two. Good-bye to our $20,000. I told you it wouldn’t be so easy to go from men’s clothing to shoes. Your family’s in la la land.”

The business lesson. My father looked up from his lamb chop and poked his fork at me. “Stevie, this is a good lesson for you. No loans and no partners. Loans are a crap shoot and a partner means you lose control. I know you think you’re a big deal college student and you’re about to graduate. There are a lot of shysters out there just looking for guys like you. So don’t be a jerk and fall for some cockamamie story.”

Escapades. “Hey, Dennis, stop shooting, please stop shooting. It’s important.” I was in extreme panic mode running from the fraternity house to the basketball court.

“What’s up Steve?”

“Somebody stole my car. I can’t find it. I went up and down all the side streets. It’s not there. A new car. Dennis, you know my father. Wild Bill is going to kill me.”

“Calm down man, calm down. Your car isn’t stolen. He laughed at my absentmindedness. Don’t you remember what happened this morning? Larry talked you into letting him borrow the Corvette.”

“Well, he’s sure taking it for a long test drive.”

“Abe, I went to high school with Larry. I know him better than you do. He never had any intention of bringing it right back. You’ll have it by the end of the day.” That night I got the car back.

A few months later Larry was with me on the way to see The Graduate. “Steve, Jeannie is leaving in a few months. The last thing she needs is a cocker spaniel. This isn’t a good-bye present at all. It’s retaliation. You just want her to think you’re the most sensitive guy in the world and show her what she’s losing. You’re angry her parents transferred her to that Christian school to get away from a guy with your last name.”

          “Hey, Larry, if you’re so darn clever, why didn’t you ever graduate?”

          “For the same reason you don’t go to class. It’s boring and we can’t sit for so long. If I were you, I’d return the puppy. You’re making a fool of yourself.”

          “Larry, you can’t just return a dog. It’s not like one of your V-neck sweaters.”

          A few months later, college life would come to a close. Dennis, Larry and I were going our separate ways, Dennis to law school and me to graduate school. Larry’s career direction was unclear.  He seemed a little lost.

The reunion. Nine years later, in 1976, we got together with my wife Alberta for a reunion over an Italian dinner at Vanessi’s in San Francisco. The atmosphere was giddy and we launched into the kind of good-natured ribbing that substitutes for expressions of affection among young guys. But as the evening drew to a close, the anticipatory grief of lost intimacy turned the camaraderie into hostile barbs. Larry’s wisecracks really stung.

He had to leave early, allowing the three of us to share a sorbet sampler. Sitting across from me, Dennis leaned over and spoke in earnest. “Steve, sounds like Larry has become a real computer jock, kicking around all those software ideas. Did you check him out? I mean the threads and that Rolex? I can tell he’s doing very well. He may need more seed money and would probably love to get a small infusion from you. He’d be really be appreciative. You could get your foot in the door to all this computer mania. It’s bigger than television.”

The old family tape began to play: No loans, Stevie, and no partners. Don’t fall for some cockamamie story.”

Imbued with my own early success as a psychology researcher and still competing with my college friend, I bristled. “I’ve had it with Larry. I don’t need his ridicule anymore. He never understood what it meant to lose Jeannie. He can fiddle around with his electronic toys all he wants. I’m getting into stock options and I’m publishing like crazy. I don’t need Larry or my father.”

On the drive back home, Alberta said softly, “Steve, you’re just hurt and being defensive. Someday you’re going to realize how special what you guys had was. You’re really going to miss Dennis and Larry, too.”

That was 1976, the year before Larry Ellison founded and became CEO of Oracle. Of course, I have followed my flamboyant sidekick’s meteoric and controversial rise to stardom with unbridled interest, awe and more than a snippet of envy.

The invitation. Fast forward 43 years to 2019.  I was sorting through humdrum mail–a water bill, a catalogue from a cruise line and a realtor’s glossy photo of a house she just sold in my neighborhood. The last was a small square yellow envelope. The card inside was handmade and embossed with images of Japanese figurines.

It was from Oracle. The writing was in gold italics:

“You are cordially invited to attend Larry Ellison’s annual cherry blossom party in Woodside.”

I was incredulous and ashamed to have banished him from my life. Freed of the wounds inflicted by youthful banter, I could marvel at the accomplishment of a friend who achieved remarkable success and celebrity despite a broken family, no money and no college.  For me, he’s not just Larry. He’ll always be, “Hey, Ellison.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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John Yeigh
6 months ago

I once shared drinks with Mr. Ellison and his professional sailboat racing team after completing the 800-mile Montego Bay Race in the mid 1990’s. He was the center of everyone’s attention, despite this being a decade before his more famous America’s Cup forays. Our Humble Sailor team’s highlight of this post-race event was meeting the most gracious billionaire in the room, Roy Disney.

Dan Smith
6 months ago

I once worked with a guy who claims to have sat next to a young Michael Dell on an airplane. Dell suggested investing in his company, which my coworker of course did not do. I believe Dell stock doubled every year for the next 10 or so years.

Jonathan Clements
Admin
6 months ago

So, Steve, did you go to Ellison’s party?

Ken Cutler
6 months ago

Come on, Steve. You’re among friends here at HumbleDollar. You can tell us!

OldITGuy
6 months ago

Well then, I guess it would have been a Musk-stake if you hadn’t gone

OldITGuy
6 months ago

Thanks for sharing. I certainly never knew him nor moved in his circles, but I worked with a guy once who had been one of his early hires at Oracle. He related a story about him that I found interesting. He said Ellison (allegedly) told him that when hiring people, some are smart and some are dumb. Similarly, some are hardworking and some are lazy. His first choice was hardworking and smart. Next, he’d choose lazy and smart because while they might not do much, what they did was good. And here’s the punchline: if he had to hire a dumb person he wanted them to be lazy as a hardworking dumb person did negative work someone else had to fix. Through the rest of my career, I often found this to be true.

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