What I do: CPA and retired partner of counsel at RubinBrown, which I co-founded in 1952 with Mahlon Rubin and Sidney Gornstein.
Getting started: We wanted to give it a try on our own. It was tough times in the early days, and we worked a lot of hours. We didn’t know if we would be successful. At that time, we were just thinking about getting by and earning enough to raise our families.
Keeping it going: Getting good recruits is the lifeblood of the business, because young people are what it’s all about. When we first started in the ‘50s, accountants were not allowed to advertise, and you weren’t allowed to solicit. We got clients through word-of-mouth, and we had to make sure we stayed close to them and gave them good service. We’ve passed that ideal on to the next generation.
Engagement matters: Your name gets out there when you’re active in your own profession and in the nonprofit community. Mahlon and I were active in the local and state accounting chapters. He also was president of Jewish Center for the Aged, and I was a board member of the Jewish Community Center at about the same time.
Building a network: I went to Wash U., and I met so many people who turned out to be helpful in the business. I met future doctors, lawyers and businessmen, and from that group, I got a lot of clients. My family: My wife, Edith, and I have two children. My daughter is a lawyer in Washington, D.C., and my son is a CPA.
Passing the baton: The company’s founders have had three sons become firm partners. My son worked in Atlanta for three years for a big accounting firm before he came back to St. Louis and got married. He’s now in charge of the tax department at RubinBrown.
Childhood ambition: I hadn’t thought about it until I got to high school. I went to a city school, and I ended up taking a bookkeeping class because my father suggested it. I had a wonderful teacher, and that was a trigger for me that this was something I wanted to do.
First job: I worked in a shoe factory when I was a teenager. I think any job you have as a teenager should be something you can learn from. And in college I worked at a service station, and it was quite an adventure—one that I probably could have done without. But it did help me learn to deal with all kinds of people.
Best advice I’ve ever gotten: Work hard, and it will come to you sooner or later, but you have to keep at it.
Loving St. Louis: I was born here, educated here, and got married here. It’s a wonderful town.
Favorite vacation escape: When the kids were younger, we used to go to Fort Lauderdale. Now my wife and I have a place in Palm Springs. We’ve been going there for 25 years and have made a lot of friends.
