I was born on August 13, 1961. This was the day that construction of the Berlin Wall began. It was a symbol of the Cold War. It cast a shadow upon the first 28 years of my life, as prime-time news images were burned into my memory of daring escapes, and of East German citizens tragically gunned down by East German soldiers.

My mentor was Dr. Walter Bradley, a giant of a man, who rose from humble beginnings, completed medical school, earned an MBA, and became an emergency-room director locally for many years. Before my first interview with Walter, my wife and I had decided that the Quad Cites was too far from our families in Chicago and that the interview was merely practice after so many years of medical school and residency. But then I met Walter.