In Hicksville High Also Known As (AKA): John
Spouse/Partner: Ex-wife, Anne Caryl died in 2003. Girlfriend now, Meg Battle
Were you classmates at HHS? No. Ex-wife grew up/graduated from Plainview High School
Where did you meet? How long ago? I met my future wife at a democratic party fund raiser in 1973.
Married How Long? Date Married: We got married on August 30, 1975 and it last over 25 years.
Children/Grandchildren: I have four grown children and two granddaughters. My 2nd oldest daughter (Laura) is the youngster master sommelier in the world and only the 18th woman out of 170 master sommeliers worldwide.
Where do you currently live? I live in Oakland Gardens , New York (part of Bayside, Northeast Queens County , NYC
Favorite Subject in High School: History and English
Name of my Favorite Teacher: Paul Benyei
Favorite Place to meet Friends Outside of School: Sweet Shop or Broadway Shopping Plaza
Favorite Non-Academic School Club or Activity: golf
Occupation/Trade/Profession: retired high school social studies teacher. Currently, still a licensed real estate associate broker
Education Beyond High School: Nassau Community College, State University College at Oneonta (B.A. degree), New York & New York University (MPA degree)
Military Service: none
Hobbies/Pastimes: 54 years playing golf; dance lessons (still two left feet)
One thing that no one knows about me is: strong Christian beliefs makes me extremely conscious of how I try to deal with everyone I do business with.
Now the hard one. Tell us what we need to know...50 years in the space below: I taught junior high school history at Selden JHS in Centereach, Long Island from 1968 to 1972. I left teaching then to become the first Executive Director of Hicksville Against Drugs, Inc. (H.A.D., Inc.) aka Help-Aid-Direction, Inc. from 1972 to 1978. From 1983 to 1986, I ran first a senior citizen center in Ridgewood, Queens and a social service program in Maspeth, Queens . Returned to teaching in 1986 and finished my teaching at Benjamin Cardozo High School in Bayside, Queens in July 2004. I have also been continuously licensed in NYS first as a real estate salesperson, associate broker and for 6 years even had my own independent real estate firm. Today, I'm an associate real estate broker with Long Island's largest real estate firm, Charles Rutenberg Realty, Inc. I'm also an entrepreneur with a great health, wellness, and green product company based in Idaho and am excited with that residual income opportunity.
I have four grown children. Elina is 37 years old; Laura is 35 ; Katrina is 33 and Michael is 31. My oldest daughter has two daughters (my granddaughters) Mia who is almost two years old and Isabel who is just recently turned one years old. They live in Chicago so I don't see them very often.
Finally, if you had to do it all over again, I would... have taken golf lessons earlier than 30 years after starting golf at the age of 13 years old.
