John Dubinsky

after jbs i attended university of michigan.........became overstressed and in midst of sophmore year transferred to washington university where i majored in political science and earned a BA in 1965........then went onto graduate business school at washington university and earned an mba in 1967......had major kidney surgery along the way which kept me out of vietnam...........

went to work in 1967 for a start up bank which became a grand success.............i became ceo in 1986.......we sold the bank in 1997 and i became coo of acquirer which we sold in 1999 to usbank.............have been in bank consulting, investing, and corporate director work since then...........spend alot of time with a regional stock brokerage firm, a regional bank, and industrial piping company among others...........along the way i also got very involved with a number of large not for profits including barnes-jewish hospital [been a director there for over 34 years!!!!!!!], washington unviversity, national public radio, st louis public library among others

was married in 1972.......40th anniversary coming up........we live 7 months a year in st louis and 5 months a year on the beach in truro ma [cape cod].........we do alot of travelling........most interesting places by far we have been to are cuba, china and south africa..........also.go on an almost annual bike trip to europe........been biking in spain 2 times, france 2 times, italy 2 times, denmark among others

today i am busier than ever...............no interest in the R word.......... very involved in both my for profit and not for profit activities......my newest not for profit interests are being vice chairman of the board of st louis public library system [and chairman of its foundation] and being head of the board of wellfleet harbor actors theatre in wellfleet ma

what about life has surprised me?.............how much there is to do in such a short time frame..........how fond i am of so many people i met along the way...........how fortunate i have been in my life experiences

what is on my bucket list?............good question..........i would love more grandchildren..........i would love to see my two unattached children find soulmates........i am trying to live a healthier life than perhaps i did in midcareer

keith and marcia shahan live in same apartment building as we do [we sold our big house 12 years ago]..............hard to get away from jbs memories with keith and marcia under the same roof

not too many funny recollections of jbs.......other than in retrospect finding it humorous i got kicked out of school for 3 days for [with others] trying to saw down the metal country day goal posts right after they moved to new school................

must say i think we went to jbs at its low point........lesson learned is that the head of an organization can stay too long.........as we approach our senior citizen status i believe we should be mentoring young people to take our place and then we need to get out of the way

it is amazing how much the world has changed since 1961 and i must say i am curious about the journey each of you have been on since then........would love to hear more and have enjoyed the sharing of others so far

in a strange way i must say i do not look back on my years at jbs with total fondness.........but i somehow miss each and every one of you and wonder about your journey since 1961

in retrospect many of the profiles reflect a sense something was missing at jbs and in our class.......i wonder what it was...........an aging administration, aging teachers who did not understand the baby boomers, an outside world changing too rapidly for the school, a class mix that just didn't work, too many hormones or maybe too few hormones, too little diversity [you can say that one for sure], a cocoon mentality, depression era parents who "had made it", too many spoiled kids with too little worldly knowledge, too much football and hockey and not enough intellectual challenge, too little appreciation for our differences, ?????????


would love to know more

update as of nov 15, 2013............

now married 46 plus years...........still doing my thing in both the corporate and not for profit worlds...........spending alot of time in cape cod and new york......Yvette and i will be moving to Cambridge Ma for a year starting in January......i have accepted a fellowship at Harvard in public policy issues......we are looking forward to this change of pace in our lives.......sort of like a sabbatical for us.........

have now been at Harvard since january......experience of a lifetime........great fellow fellows [!] and a wonderful place to explore ideas........have taken a number of courses on leadership in nonprofit arena plus 3 regular courses.......one on the american economy with martin feldstein and larry summers, one on american presidents and their use of power, and one on world infrastructure................will take off for the summer and then back for one more semester in fall.........hard to know what i will do in 2015 but that is another story for another time

Oct, 2018
In light of all the above, I am very proud to have been selected JBS Alumnus of the Year. I think award given in light of my many efforts to make St Louis better. I have worked very hard on diversity, job creation, increasing taxes for the city, and gathering together like minded folks at Cortex, BJC, and Arch to Park. In retrospect I am so indebted to special teachers Eiseman, McConnell, Montgomery, and Fieselman who taught me to think, ask WHY, fight for my beliefs, and never give up.