Walter K. Falchek was a wonderfully warm man, when I had the privilege to work with him.
It was Monday, July 7, 1997.
I started working at Prudential Securities.
60 Public Square, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average had broken 7,000 a few months before.
It would continue to break 8,000 on July 17th.
More important to my education than law school, a Master’s in business, and whatever else I have picked up along the way…
Was meeting Mr. Falcheck.
His assistant, Sandy McAndrew, refused to call him by his given name.
He was always Mr. Falcheck.
He had started as a chalk boy.
Before the Market crashed in 1929, he would read the ticker tape and run to the large blackboard at the front of the office and chalk the latest prices for all the brokers to share with their clients.
He served in Army Intelligence during the Second World War.
When he worked at Brooks and Company, someone took a picture of him at his desk. He was speaking with one client. The receiver of a second phone was on the desk. Another client was waiting to speak to him. This was call waiting at the time.
He was always generous with his most treasured gifts, his time and his mind.
I miss his guidance.