My Father's Legacy: Life Lessons That Continue to Inspire Me

Each Father's Day prompts me to think about the impact my dad had on me, despite his passing over a decade ago. His approach to life has shaped me, and it's never too late to adopt his vibrant, hopeful outlook on the future. Here are some key lessons:

To be an artist is a most worthy profession. He always encouraged me to make stuff. Even when I was at the height of my fashion design career, he questioned when I would "get back to my art". As a kid, my birthday presents were always lavish collections of paints and magic markers. When I had my own gallery in later years, he set up his paints downstairs in the open garage and hung his work at the street level, where passersby engaged in lovely conversations with him about art and life.

It's never too late. At 98 he was still lively, cheerful and hopeful about the future...joking that he was still trying to figure out what to be when he grew up. He kept a sunny attitude, even when he knew his time was slipping away. In his eighties, after a long career as a newsreel cameraman, he proudly taught film lighting at NYU, and then married his college sweetheart at 89. It was his fourth marriage..the only one that did not produce offspring. :-)

Friendship is the key to living well. He struck up conversations everywhere he went--bars, boatyards, art galleries--eagerly, without judgment...his interest and enthusiasm about everyone was completely inclusive and open-minded.

Travel is the best education. As a child of immigrant parents from Denmark and Russia, he was bold and adventurous...always eager to discover new places. Foreign languages seemed to come to him easily--he had a fair working knowledge of Spanish, Italian, French, Russian, German and even a little Mandarin. People fascinated him and he knew that the world was made richer by exposure to different cultures, art, music, books and film. I don't think I fully appreciated the influence these travels had on my evolution until I was much older.

Integrity and honor are essential. At Yale, he majored in international diplomacy and upon graduation, he joined the Navy, where he served as Lt. Commander in Europe (where he met my mother) and in Hawaii (where this photo was taken). He survived the infamous Pearl Harbor attack, serving on the USS Nevada--the only boat that got underway. He was both proud and devastated by that experience. It was his favorite topic--"telling war stories". I think of him often with a tender heart, now that our democracy is at stake--he would be so angry to sense any evidence of fascism in this country that he loved so much and fought so hard for.

Laughter is truly the best medicine. His laugh was my favorite sound. He bellowed. It was loud and frequent and he didn't hold back. We should all seek out laughter and humor. We'd be a much happier society!

Wishing everyone a Happy Father's Day--inviting all to embrace the fatherly spirit that guides and teaches with compassion and wisdom. I know I was lucky; I never take the love and support I got growing up for granted. I know it isn't so easy for those whose lives were not so positively impacted, but I do encourage you to welcome inspiration, wherever it can be found.