An Evening with Mortimer Zuckerman

Mortimer Zuckerman’s crisp sense of humor was very much on display during our April field trip to Washington, D.C. Just as noticeable was his sense of gratitude and humility. Right from the start of our conversation with him, he candidly acknowledged the role that luck has played in shaping his fortune. As a young professional, he took a position in a real estate development firm. Even though he did not know much about real estate finance at first, he learned quickly. Within a few months, the firm offered him and a colleague of his an equity share in the company. The colleague, insulted because he wanted a higher percentage, left the company. Zuckerman, who approached his work with humility rather than arrogance, ended up with a double share.

Instincts and fearlessness have led to some memorable moments for Zuckerman. He was at the Lincoln Memorial in August, 1963, as Dr. Martin Luther King was about to deliver his historic “I have a dream” speech. Zuckerman was walking from the Memorial towards the stage and inadvertently joined a cohort of Hollywood stars escorted by the police. They, too, were headed for the stage, and seats right behind Dr. King. A less brave soul would have stepped aside, but Zuckerman put on his sunglasses and ended up next to Harry Belafonte. As he put it: “I did not ask what business he was in, and he didn’t ask me!” And so Zuckerman found himself in a front-row seat for this seminal moment in American civil rights history.

“But you know what I would do differently if I could go back?” he said later in the evening. “I would have five kids! I have a daughter and I love her, but I wish I had more.” It was very moving to see someone of his caliber and success share so a personal wish so candidly.

Zuckerman’s vision for the Fellows is that we would give back to the world “with a multiplier effect.” As I commence a new chapter of my life, I am ever more committed to manifesting his vision with full integrity, an open heart, and a good dose of guts and humor—the very characteristics he himself has demonstrated in his own journey.

—Christiana V. Fragola