The Peripheral Sur

by Bart Key

  But by far the most effective selling point was that donors could select the specific project or projects to which their donations would be directed. Every July, the foundation would publicize the projects scheduled for the following year. For its first year, the hunger division would have three projects, one for distributing food within a designated area of West Africa, another for distributing food to a designated flood-ravaged area in Laos and a third for the funding of a Stanford University research project on how to grow more sustainable crops within a designated area of upper central Africa. The health division would have six projects, each one for a grant to a named institution for research on curing or treating a specific type of children’s cancer. The peace division would have two projects, each to fund a relief agency established in a named country caught up in the throes of civil war and unrest.

  Not to anyone’s surprise, a disproportionate share of contributions during the first several years was directed to various projects of the hunger division. Within a very short space of time, the division was able to give actual and verifiable statistics on reduction of hunger within two of the areas where it had distributed food.

  Later, the health division was able to cite a couple of successes from its funding of research projects. One was the development of a better treatment method for one type kind of children’s cancer and another for development of a vaccine for another type of children’s cancer.

  Peace division successes by definition had to be measured on a collective basis. Under one its earlier programs, experts were sent into inviting third world countries to assist their governments in accurately tracking their incomes and costs. As permitted, CHOW would release for publication the final accounts to the local media. The goal was that a government with more fiscal responsibility and openness would become more respected by its people.

  Within several years, CHOW would begin to surpass other global charitable organizations in attracting contributions. Whenever one of its programs discovered some new advancement, cure or technical break-through, its policy was to share it with the rest of the world at no cost.

  At the first board meeting, Ward was unanimously approved as the foundation’s chief security officer. I would miss his being around more than I can possibly describe. To his credit, once he came to accept that his days of being my surrogate were almost over, he began looking forward to assuming his new position. In some respects, his job was more important than Betty’s. He would be the foundation’s gate keeper and take on the responsibility for establishing strict procedures to protect donors’ identities. It also would be his job to make sure that the intended recipients of donated goods actually received them. This would not always be easy as there had been many instances in the past when charity food and other necessities had been siphoned off by corrupt government officials or other criminals. Knowing Ward, if standard means of preventing such thievery failed to resolve the problem, he might choose to employ less traditional methods in order to assure success.

  In order have ready capital on hand to cover my promised large pledges to CHOW, David began disposing of my various assets starting with the sale of my Austrian gaming company and two other European companies I now owned. Next would be the sale of my ferry company, my Costa Rican assets, the Jade Palace, my mineral assets and my ranches. Ever since I the day I started investing in the stock market after moving to Ventura, I had never withdraw a penny from my portfolio. Over time it became the centerpiece of my wealth and exceeded the value of all my other assets many times over. For years to come, David would be quite busy selling off its holdings and passing on the net proceeds to CHOW.

  As some of my companies were sold, I was delighted that their new owners turned out to be members of what I called my extended family. David together with Pierre and other members of his family acquired the Austrian gaming company. My ferry company was purchased by Chen and his family. Paco headed up a limited liability partnership which purchased all my Costa Rican assets. Miguel became one of his limited partners. When the Jade Palace was put on the block, Li told me it was considered one of the most valuable privately owned single assets in Asia. It too was sold to a limited liability partnership which Li headed. Among the limited partners were Chen, Lan and various members of their respective families. When the ranches were sold, Luke cleverly arranged it so that over time he and his family would acquire full ownership.

  Chapter 27

  The Chair

  When I stepped down as the head of my company, I began a new phase of my life which involved my supporting various causes to protect the environment. As members of the press corps kept close tabs on me, I was always asked whether I still owned the company, which I did, and whether I still participated in its management, which I did as the board’s chair.

  My grandfather had started the business and when he died my dad took it over. My parents in turn groomed my older brother to take over the management of the business one day but that didn’t play out like they hoped. He chose to study philosophy and theology at Yale and, following his graduation, entered medical school. Once he became a qualified physician, he moved to Africa and intended to spend the rest of his life there caring for the sick and poor. My disappointed parents accepted his decision and before I knew it, they turned to me as being the heir-apparent of the family business. This came as quite a shock to me. Though I had excelled in college just like my brother, I was pretty wild in college and loved to have a good time. Then came that horrible day when one of the local newspapers printed an account of my latest dalliance with an older man who happened to be a young married Congressman.

  The ensuing scandal hurt my parents deeply but after graduating and spending a year studying at Oxford, my dad prevailed upon me to join the family business as a vice president. When he passed away some years later, I became the company’s CEO and, when my mother died a few after years that, I inherited the company. Fortunately, I had always been a quick study and within a very short time after taking over, became comfortable as the boss. I was never bashful about making hard decisions and demanding excellence. Over the next twenty-five years my company grew to be many times its former size and was extremely profitable. Not only did I expand its traditional businesses of purchasing, trading and distributing agricultural commodities, but I also expanded into new sectors like banking and oil pipelines.

  Because of my earlier notoriety, the press continued to haunt me. Though my social life continued to be fairly active, I went to great extremes in protecting my privacy. My son, who was born out of wedlock when I was in my late twenties, grew up knowing all about the scandal with the Congressman which had occurred before he was born and knew that I had never been married to his father, whom he rarely ever saw. In spite of the skeletons in our closet, the two of us were always extremely close. He adored me and I him. To this day I have not stopped grieving over his early demise to cancer when he was just fourteen. My life now is mostly directed toward supporting causes protecting the environment so that I can lend a hand in preventing cancer deaths attributable to human caused conditions like contaminated air and water. One of the main reasons I accepted the job as chairman of Sur’s foundation was because it gave me an opportunity to pursue my causes on a more global scale. Not long after moving to Geneva, I was pleasantly surprised when I realized that the paparazzi problem had all but disappeared. Nobody in Europe gave a damn about my past and in America enough time had gone by now that I was no longer a person of much interest. I lived a quiet life in a secluded and private estate within a guarded enclave in Geneva and began my new leadership position with great hopes that one day Sur’s foundation would become the success he dreamed it would.

  The day I called David and accepted the chair’s position, he had revealed to me in confidence that Sur was CHOW’s creator and benefactor. He noted that Sur had met me once during a gathering at Elizabeth’s home on the Bar 7 ranch. That caused to think back to that occasion. I usually retained little
memory of the many persons I met at such functions but at that event I did recall an exception. I met a man, whom I realized now was Sur, who was pleasantly handsome but somewhat shy. When he greeted me and shook my hand, he made me think I was special and that he really was pleased to meet me. He didn’t look around when I spoke to him but looked me straight in the eyes hanging on my every word. He smiled while I talked and I got the impression he was fascinated listening to me. It made me feel good. That’s rare when a person affects you that way. Of course I had no idea at the time that he was one of the world’s wealthiest persons.

  Right after my call with David, he and Sur flew to Minneapolis for a visit. Sur looked to me like he had hardly aged from the time I met him. He was excited knowing I would be his foundation’s leader and promised to be available anytime I needed to converse with him for any reason.

  Not long after moving to Geneva, I asked Ward one day to tell me about his connection to Sur as it was clear they were very close. He told me all about their having served together in Vietnam and generally how Sur had been a player in developing plans to bring about an end to the hostilities even though he was just a lowly lieutenant in his mid-twenties. Ward apologized he could not be more specific about the details which I kind of figured meant that they were classified. He did note that it was during that period when he observed first-hand Sur’s genius at work. He watched in awe as Sur single-handedly managed and controlled the planning meetings even though he was not its chair and was the lowest ranking officer in the room. Ward swore it was almost like Sur knew what others were thinking or when someone’s position could be swayed. Simply by asking questions, he could tease out solutions to many of the knotty issues under discussion. Ward remembered one instance when a colonel ended up making a fool of himself when he laughed at a suggestion made by Sur for employing a specified type of airpower. After discussion, the suggestion was incorporated as part of the larger plan and the general who chaired the committee was later seen chewing out the colonel for being so dismissive. When the final plan was implemented to great success, Ward watched in amazement as Sur refused to take any credit. Instead, he would quickly pass on the credit and accolades to other committee members. When Ward eventually decided to resign his commission, his principle reason for doing so was that he hoped to find a way to become close to Sur again.

  Everything Ward told me seemed to make sense. In just the short time I had come to know Sur better, my feelings toward him weren’t all that dissimilar from Ward’s. While at a young age I had a tendency perhaps to become overly attracted sexually to males, my attraction to Sur was wholly platonic. I just felt fort of fulfilled being in his presence and he was always so happy to see me.

  To say that I was impressed when I learned the identities of my fellow board members would be an understatement. Each was extremely talented and successful, all, of course, having some connection to Sur. The only one I knew personally was Elizabeth. I had read all her novels which were now popular all over the world and had been printed in several languages. From her writings, you could just feel how much she loved ranch life and wouldn’t trade it for anything. And like me, she was a strong supporter of environmental causes. After I became chair, she and I traveled together occasionally in the Western States soliciting support for CHOW. I thought I was pretty good at shaking funds loose but she was the champion in obtaining pledges from upper middle-class women. Her husband Luke was always willing to assist her in raising funds within the ranching community but he always tried to stay in the background. I learned that he was Sur’s youngest lieutenant.

  David, who was Sur’s senior lieutenant, managed one of the world’s most prestigious investment houses and, once I got to know him, I knew I would miss him when his two-year term was over. He told me that the only purpose of his being on the board was so that he could assist in establishing the foundation’s financial structure in a way that Sur’s assets could be efficiently and expeditiously transferred to it over an extended period of time. I was relieved to learn that David’s life partner, Pierre, would be serving a full six year term. Like David, he was a very private person too. But having been a career banker, I guessed he would be somewhat more comfortable in public settings. Between the two of them, they no doubt had many acquaintances and contacts within the investment and banking communities of Europe. From the outset, the two enjoyed great success in procuring substantial pledges. They loved entertaining small groups at their chateau and would always spread the good word about CHOW. More than once I had the pleasure of being their guest. They treated me like royalty and were both so much fun.

  Sur had chosen San Francisco as the headquarters city for our health division principally because there were many universities and medical institutions in the area. During my regular visits there, I got to know Randy and Mei who were a charming couple and worked diligently in raising contributions on the West Coast especially within the Asian community.

  Within Asia itself, Chen was the champion fund raiser with lots of help from his friend Li who Ward told me was yet another of Sur’s lieutenants. Each year in Hong Kong and again in Singapore, Chen and Li together with their wives, Ting and Lan, would host huge galas to raise funds from their acquaintances within the elite Chinese aristocracy. Ward and I would always try to be present when we could. On his own, Li was successful in procuring hefty pledges from several of Macau’s large casinos but, like David, he strived to stay under the radar and refused any recognition for his efforts.

  Sherry, nationally respected for her work in treating children’s cancers, was incredibly adept at obtaining pledges within the medical crowd and Ryan the same at procuring pledges within the oil and gas community.

  And of course there was Miguel, my favorite, who was spectacular at securing significant pledges wherever he went. Although he now lead a quiet and private life in Guanacaste, he was very comfortable when out in public and used his considerable talents and charm to praise the foundation’s various causes. Still idolized all over Central and South America, he could open almost any door. He was hugely popular in the United States as well particularly among the Hollywood crowd in California. Every year some famous celebrity would host an event to benefit the foundation with Miguel being named as a special guest of honor. Naturally, he was always called upon to sit down at the piano and sing two or three of his famous love songs. The women attending were only too pleased to pull out their check books.

  From the outset, Ward and I knew that the foundation would have to deal with security issues of varying kinds. Within days after the foundation opened its doors, he was busy interviewing and hiring candidates for other top security positions in our Geneva office and division offices. At least once a week, he would brief me on current security concerns. Occasionally he didn’t provide much in the way of details on a given issue and I would ask for them. That was when I learned some details are better left unheard.

  During that first year of our working together, I learned that Ward had talents far beyond those concerning security. Among others, he had a keen analytical mind and was an astute judge of people. In time, we decided it was more expedient to travel together when visiting the division offices. Not only did we become good friends and colleagues but we began enjoying being together outside the office and then came the day when we became lovers.

  Chapter 28

  Last Assignment

  When I visited Geneva to rent office space and find land upon which the foundation’s future headquarters could be built, I had a sneaking suspicion that my life was about to change again pretty significantly. After finishing up my business and returning to Guanacaste, I decided to hang out on my boat. One day Sur invited me to lunch and asked what I thought about moving to Geneva and becoming the foundation’s security manager.

  By then, my special assignments were near zero as Sur had turned over complete management of his businesses to his four lieutenants. It was pretty clear also that he had no intenti
on of starting any new ones. I had to admit that the position sounded intriguing and challenging. Moving to Geneva no doubt meant it would become my new home base. After all these years, I would no longer need to be close should Sur have an assignment waiting.

  He assured me that if I would prefer to retire and live in Guanacaste or on the Bar 7, that was perfectly okay with him. He wanted me to know though that it would give him great comfort if he knew that I was, in effect, the guardian of his new foundation. Once again I was honored by his trust and assuming the foundation’s board offered me the position, I would accept it.

  Shortly after moving into our Geneva offices, Betty and I began getting used to our new positions. In high school and college she had learned to speak fluent French and German with little accent. Although I could still speak pretty good French, my German needed some work and I hired a tutor to bring me up to speed. Whenever Betty had some free time, she would immerse herself into the cultural life of Geneva and was ecstatic when she realized that no reporters were lurking around. Occasionally, she would invite me to join her at one event or another. I always accepted as she was so much fun to be with.

  Betty was enamored with Sur like most people are and wanted to know more about him. Before leaving to begin my new position in Geneva, Sur made a point of telling me that I should feel free to answer any questions Betty might have about him. So I began by describing my association with Sur in Vietnam and about his later move to Ventura where he would start up his first company. I related how he expanded his business empire over time and about his mania for privacy.