What is the best part of transitioning from being a federal judge to an author?
The liberation of being able to write anything I want in a novel without having a United States Court of Appeals scrutinizing every word.
What is a bit of wisdom you have acquired about getting older now that you are in your seventies?
Realizing that every era in your life should be the best era of your life.
What piece of advice would you give to younger people?
That we are all on our own unique journey and that we should assess things critically for ourselves to avoid getting caught up in what the majority thinks.
How long have you been coming to Naples?
Since 1985. My parents bought a place at Wyndemere Country Club when Naples was just a sleepy little town. My wife and I moved here full-time in September 2020.
What do you think is the greatest education one can have?
Undoubtedly travel. I’ve been to over 65 countries including 10 communist countries. It has opened my mind to how human beings around the world have lived their lives; both now and in the past. I wouldn’t trade those experiences for anything.
What is your most treasured possession?
A lifetime of memories with the people I have loved and my six dogs who have given me more joy than I could have ever found on my own.
What is your greatest achievement?
To be able to think for myself and make decisions based on my own experience and not just what I’ve been told by the mainstream.
What have you always found to be the thing that allows you to grow the most as a person?
Realizing that you have to challenge your own operating assumptions now and then to expand as a person and not become wedded to perspectives you may have held in the past.
What is your greatest fear?
I have no fears. I have been blessed with a wonderful, fulfilling life and when it’s my time to go I know there is something wonderful waiting for me on the other side.
We are all on our own unique journey and that we should assess things critically for ourselves to avoid getting caught up in what the majority thinks.