Q. How did you first become involved with the Federation in Atlanta?

A. One of my clients was the one who first exposed me to Federation. Peter Mallen is a dear friend and he asked me to accompany him on the Washington trip about 10 years ago. Today, I'm on the Board of Trustees at Federation and an officer on the Executive Committee.

Q. Has Judaism always played a large role in shaping your philanthropic values?

A. My mother and I lived with an aunt and my uncle who were Orthodox when I was growing up. Even though they were of very meager means, charity was a very important thing. We always had that blue and white box near our refrigerator. When I moved here, I immediately became a member of a synagogue. But I have to honestly say that for the first 20 years, I was not actively involved in the Jewish community like I am today. I was busy trying to build a practice.

We always have a Seder at our home on the first night of Passover and this year will be no different. One of my daughter's close friends is studying for the priesthood and he's an annual guest at our table. It makes for interesting conversation and discussion about the holiday.

Q. How do you educate others about the value of giving to charity?

A. I started to get involved in charitable giving and estate planning for my clients. About 10 years ago, Jack Balser had just taken over the endowment fund at the Federation and asked if I would help him and become active and I was very interested in that. That's how I first got involved. I've been involved in every aspect of endowment. Ultimately, I chaired the endowment board. I had been a donor to Federation ever since I came here. But when I got involved with Jack, he came up with the idea of the Silver Circle for people who had been giving for 25 years, which I had. Jack wanted me to co-chair a mission to Israel and I had never been there before. That mission was a very significant experience. I co-chaired another mission four or five years later. I gained an understanding at that time about what Federation really meant, not just in Israel, but for our community here.

Q. What is the biggest misperception about the Federation's Endowment?

A. The community at large thinks that the Federation comes to see you once a year to solicit a donation from you. There's such a small percentage of our Jewish community that understands that there are 14 agencies and all the work that they do. If you think about it, Federation talks about needing to have a campaign that raises $25 million. If we had a $500 million endowment, five percent of that is $25 million and we wouldn't have to worry about that. When I think about having come to Atlanta in 1960 – the total metropolitan population was 750,000 people, which consisted primarily of four counties. Today we have 14 counties and 4.3 million people. To me, the long-term answer over the next 15 to 20 years is to build the endowment to take care of the community's needs so we aren't relying solely on the annual campaign. We are going to have the largest transfer of wealth in the history of this nation over the next 30 years – approximately $40 billion of wealth that will transfer from one generation to the next. So, we have an opportunity.

Q. With the economic climate the way it has been lately, how do you continue to motivate would-be philanthropists to give money away when there is a more limited amount of disposable income from which to draw from?

A. I start with the concept that I am not going to try to make someone charitable. Endowment is a long-term relationship. A lot of people don't understand this. You need to be sensitive to opportunities to be charitable. Once you see that there is an opportunity to be charitable, you try to think of innovative ways for that to occur. I never ask someone to give something. I say, ‘There's an opportunity here for you to do something because of your situation. Would you like to discuss it?' In 90 percent of the cases, they will. It may not be something that they do right after our conversation. In eight out of 10 cases they end up doing something and they are very grateful for having it brought to their attention. I think what happens with a lot of people is that they are inhibited from raising the issue because they think they are soliciting a contribution. I don't view it as soliciting anything. The thing about so many of your opportunities in Endowment is that it's a win-win situation. The government subsidizes this. You have a choice, you can either pay it in taxes and let the government give it away, or you can retain control of those funds and decide what happens. And it's not just you deciding, it's your children and their children.

Q. What kind of legacy would you like to leave?

A. I'd like people to say, ‘He made a difference and it was good.' And I'd love to see a $500 million unrestricted endowment.

Q. Is significant wealth necessary to establish an Endowment Fund?

A. You don't have to be wealthy because there are all sorts of opportunities during the course of your lifetime to help endowment. You might be really successful as a young person and sell your business and have the opportunity to do something then. You may have an opportunity in your later years after you've accumulated some wealth and you have an opportunity when you pass on. There are all sorts of opportunities. It's a way of doing something that's going to leave a mark after you are long gone. Endowment benefits our community at large both Jewish and non-Jewish. If I have a philanthropic fund, I can use that for all sorts of charitable giving. Last year, Federation's Endowment dispensed $37 million from our philanthropic funds.

Q. What are your future goals for the Federation's Endowment?

A. One of the most important things that we need to do is to increase the size of our unrestricted fund. We created a professional advisory committee for Endowment. Today we have a committee of really blue ribbon professionals that we've created that functions very well. These are professionals who are the gatekeepers to a lot of wealth and can make things happen for the Endowment.

Q. What other organizations are you involved with in Atlanta?

A. I was a founding member of Temple Sinai. Today we're members of The Temple. I serve on the professional advisory board of Kennesaw State University. Our firm is a founding sponsor of the Kennesaw State University Business Forum. The firm is also actively involved with Camp Twin Lakes. I also serve on the advisory board of the Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta. I've been involved in planned giving with all the major universities in Georgia and others in the South. The bulk of my time is spent with the Jewish Federation's Endowment.

Q. How does your firm provide philanthropic motivation?

A. We try to instill in people the idea that if you've been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to be rewarded by the work you do, you have an obligation to give back. I spent a good deal of my time building a firm and I was fortunate enough to be successful at it. I reached a point where I needed to make a decision about how I could give something back to the people who allowed me to be successful and having considered that, the best thing that I can do is to use my skills to show other people who are charitable, better ways to manage their charitable giving. That's probably the best thing I can do and that's what I'm doing and will continue to do in the future.

Q. What was significant about your two trips to Israel?

A. I was deeply impressed by Israel. I've seen every part of Israel, from the North to the South. One of the things that impressed me so much is that I felt totally safe while I was there. It just felt comfortable wherever I was. I had the privilege of visiting the Supreme Court and the Knesset and for me with my background it was very meaningful.

Q. What is it about Atlanta that you found so attractive?

A. I had been accepted to University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1960. Having been reared in the northeast, all the universities I had been to were city universities. My father-in-law wanted me to go out to the Emory campus and think about going to school there. You've got to understand, this was June and I was entering law school that fall. So this was the 12th hour. Emory's campus was beautiful. The lifestyle here in Atlanta was great. The people were so nice and it was a slower lifestyle. When I got out of law school, I had the opportunity to form the firm that exists today. We just celebrated our 40th anniversary.