My wife, Laura, and I moved to Rowayton a little over two and a half years ago from Healdsburg, California. We left Healdsburg, located in the Sonoma Country wine country, because the fires they were having there were beginning to look like annual events. We moved here to be closer to our only grandchild, grandson Sam, and his mother, Alison, who live in Chappaqua, NY. We have another daughter, Amy, who will soon be moving back to the States from Belgium with her husband, A J, who is retiring from the Air Force as an intelligence officer who was on loan to NATO.
I was born in Oakland, California in 1941 but grew up on a 12 acre property near Walnut Creek, CA on which we had 250 walnut trees. I graduated from the University of the Pacific, located in Stockton, CA in 1962 with a degree in international relations. It is at Pacific where I met Laura, my wonderful wife of 60 years.
After receiving my MBA from the University of California, Berkeley in 1967 we moved to Chicago where I began my career in venture capital at The First National Bank of Chicago. We moved back to California in 1972 when I joined Bank of America’s venture capital subsidiary. From there I became a partner at WestVen which was co-founded by Weiss, Peck& Greer and BankAmerica Corporation. I joined Hambrecht & Quist in 1981 where I and three partners ran its venture capital operation. In 1985, one of my H&Q partners, Grant Inman, and I co- founded Inman & Bowman which we successfully ran until 1998. After retiring, I made a number of private investments and participated in a number of volunteer activities including the Board of Regents at the University of the Pacific and board member of the Healdsburg Education Foundation.
Over the years, I have enjoyed golf in many places around the world, but I don’t play much any more. Being an avid golfer and a good golfer are two separate things, and I would describe my golf game as “30 years of beginning golf.” My wife and I started taking bridge lessons at the DCA shortly after moving here and are enjoying bridge very much. However, it is beginning to have that feeling of ” 30 years of beginning bridge.” We also enjoy travel, and reading is another of our common interests .
