About Me

I was born in the Netherlands on June 10, 1953, the third of six children. When I was three years old, my family immigrated to the United States after my parents, who had worked for the Allied forces during the occupation of the Netherlands during World War II, decided to build a new life in America.

I attended parochial school in California until high school, when my family moved to Washington State. Throughout high school and college, I worked on a Japanese-owned vegetable farm in a small rural community. Those years shaped who I became. Farm work taught me the value of discipline, perseverance, and working through discomfort. It also gave me a lifelong appreciation for manual labor and the dignity of honest work.

Over the years I have worked as a janitor, house painter, ship painter, construction worker, and longshoreman. Those experiences helped me understand people from many different walks of life and reinforced my belief that every form of honest work deserves respect.

I earned a degree in Cellular Biology with a pre-med emphasis from the University of Washington and later completed a degree in Computer Science at Western Washington University. Although I originally intended to become a physician, I realized that my poor memory would make medicine difficult. My strengths were in understanding systems, patterns, and engineering, so I chose a different path.

My professional career was in computer animation, where I participated in three successful startup companies. Their success allowed me to retire at the age of 45. Rather than view retirement as the end of my working life, I saw it as the beginning of a new one. Since then, I have considered myself a full-time volunteer.

Over the past decades I have been fortunate to contribute to many organizations and causes. I helped build a tall wooden ship for a disadvantaged youth sailing program, served as a mediator for the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office and later for a juvenile diversion program, volunteered with elementary school reading programs, helped build raised garden beds for the Los Angeles Unified School District, and continue to serve as a Garden Ranger at Hollyglen Elementary School. I have also had the privilege of mentoring three young boys.

Growing up as an immigrant in a socially isolated family left me with very little understanding of healthy child development. Wanting to do better, I returned to school to study child development. I also immersed myself in Nonviolent Communication, developed by Dr. Marshall Rosenberg, because I wanted to better understand how children, and ultimately all people, can be treated with empathy, dignity, and respect.

At age 71, I developed severe sciatica that left me unable to stand for more than five minutes. Medications including gabapentin and Lyrica significantly worsened my already weak memory and eventually led me to seek psychiatric care. Receiving a TOPS spinal implant from Premia Spine gave me my mobility back and allowed me to return to many of the activities I love, including dancing, hiking, bicycling, and rollerblading.

Around the same time, a comprehensive brain evaluation at the Amen Clinics led to diagnoses of autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and major depression. Looking back, these diagnoses explained many lifelong challenges that had never made sense to me. Ketamine therapy successfully treated the depression that had accompanied me for much of my life. Understanding my autism and ADHD also allowed me to become part of a community where I finally felt understood and accepted.

Today, my life is richer and more fulfilling than I ever imagined possible.

NotBoxedIn.org is the next chapter of that journey.

I have been fortunate to achieve financial independence through disciplined long-term investing, careful analysis, and emotional self-control. I do not believe that wealth should simply accumulate without purpose. I believe resources can accomplish far more when they are used to improve lives, strengthen communities, and create opportunities for others.

My political philosophy is broadly socialist in the sense that I believe every person deserves dignity, opportunity, and a strong community. While reasonable people can disagree about how best to achieve those goals, I believe philanthropy is one practical way to help build the kind of society I hope to see.

NotBoxedIn.org exists because I have received far more than I ever expected from life. This foundation is my way of giving back: supporting people, organizations, and ideas that help others live healthier, freer, kinder, and more connected lives.

If my story has taught me anything, it is that none of us fit neatly into a box. We all have struggles, strengths, and the capacity to make a difference. My hope is that NotBoxedIn.org will help more people discover that potential, in themselves and in others.