John was born in Boston to restless parents who relocated frequently during his childhood and adolescence.  He is happy to find himself back in New England, but values the significant portion of his upbringing spent in the Midwest.   Formal milestones in John’s personal and professional development include a BA from Hamilton College, and advanced degrees in architecture from the University of Pennsylvania (where one day he spent several minutes in the same studio as Louis Kahn) and in real estate from MIT.

In his first previous life he was employed by architecture firms and concentrated on large scale commercial and infrastructure projects.  In his second previous life he worked in corporate real estate.  It was during this period that he became an autodidact demographer, developing analytic techniques to assist large corporations with their global site selection and real estate portfolio optimization strategies.

Convinced that there must be something more he could do, but not sure exactly what, John has entered a still evolving third phase.   He currently apportions his time among providing care and companionship to various family members, some of whom are not human; managing the inanimate aspects of his household including buildings, grounds, equipment, rolling stock, general ledger, and chip containing devices; and performing liaison with federal, state and local governments.
 
Like many in his age cohort, John has a bucket list.  His includes activities aimed at putting him in closer contact with the joys of unfamiliar places, foreign languages, art and design, science, mathematics and history.  Some of these interests are made manifest in this website.