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| House in Beacon, NY where I lived from ages 18 months through seven years, as photographed in 1994. My parent rented the right side of this house which had been converted into a duplex. |
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| My boyhood home outside of Poughkeepsie as photographed in 1994. |
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| I was born on March 5, 1956 in St. Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie, NY, just a short distance from the Culinary Institute of America and the Roosevelt Estate in Hyde Park. My parents were Charles J. Feldman and Doris Sobel Feldman. My father was a Russian Jew and was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was a microbiologist by profession, and worked for a veterans hospital, Castle Point, near Beacon, NY. My mother was of Hungarian Jewish descent and was a native of Poughkeepsie. She was trained as a teacher and held a number of jobs prior to her marriage, including a several year stint at IBM, but was a homemaker after I was born. My parents married late in life and I was their only child. I grew up in Beacon, NY until I was seven. At that time, my parents bought a small house in an unincorporated area outside Poughkeepsie. I attended elementary and middle schools in the Beacon and Wappingers school districts, and went to Roy C. Ketcham high school where I graduated in 1974 as salutatorian of my class. I also received religious education at Vassar Temple (Reform) in Poughkeepsie. My father died of cancer at age 59 in 1967. My mother stayed in the house until 1976, at which time she moved to Bloomfield, CT, where she lived until her death at age 70 in 1988. I studied mathematics at MIT in Cambridge, MA, graduating in 1978 with a BS. I came out of the closet while I was a junior in college. In 1978, I left the East to attend graduate school at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, again studying math. During my time there, I decided not to pursue a career in mathematics and left in 1980 with an MS. I then got a job as an actuarial trainee with CNA Insurance in Chicago, and moved to that city. In Chicago, I met my first partner, Terry, in 1981 and stayed together with him for 13 years. I gradually became a programmer analyst and later a systems analyst with CNA. 1988 saw the death of my mother and a move from a small condo to larger quarters. I also left CNA and got a job as a technology manager at IRI, a leading market research firm in the loop. 1993 through 1995 were eventful years for me. My relationship with Terry deteriorated and I met Jay, a cub 18 years younger than me. I was living in a townhome in Lincoln Park at the time. I left IRI voluntarily in 1994 to pursue other interests and Terry and I broke up the same year. After some time off deciding whether or not to make a career change, I concluded that I wished to stay in the same field, though not necessarily as a manager. I took a position with CCH, Inc. , a large specialty publishing company, in early 1995, where I remain currently. Later that year I sold my townhome and bought my first and current home in North Mayfair, one block from the lovely Gompers Park. It is only one and a half miles from my job, a great advantage. In early 1997, Jay left me for another bear. I met my third partner, Rick, in 1998 and he moved in with me in 1999. Unfortunately the relationship was not satisfactory from my point of view and I asked him to leave in 2002. In 2002, my home was certified a historic Chicago bungalow. In September of 2003 I met Paul, who is now my partner. Paul has moved in with me as of January, 2004. |