Interview with Mr. Arthur Stark
On behalf of Volunteer for Seniors (VFS) Easton, Massachusetts, I (Neil Dutta) got the opportunity to interview Mr. Arthur Stark on February 21st 2024.
Mr. Stark currently resides in Pompano Beach, Florida. Mr. Stark is now 87 years old and is suffering from several health challenges including respiratory problems with limited lung function due to COPD, diabetes and related health challenges. He had also survived Covid recently. However, in spite of these severe health issues, he has a very positive outlook toward life and he has beaten all odds & expectation of medical community to stay alive. I learned about Mr. Stark from his daughter Michelle who runs a non-profit organization & making difference in the life of countess under-privileged children in Kenya. I learned from her that Mr. Stark was a source of motivation for his daughter Michelle and many other individuals. I got to know that when Mr. Stark slightly feels better (during good health days), then he appreciates his independence and try to be mobile without his wheelchair. During our zoom interview Mr. Stark provided me a great life lesson that life gives us choices and it is up to us which path we choose. He himself choose the path to be very optimistic in life and giving back to others & support his community. Mr. Stark met his wife, of 67 years, Mrs. Andrea Stark when he was very young in a summer camp, they got married in November 1957 and together they raised three children. He values family ties. Mr. Stark initially wanted to be lawyer similar to his father and even got admitted in the law school. However, he later joined family business owned by his father-in-law. There he made significant contribution and provided the company new directions with his excellent work ethic, led the business with honesty and integrity even during difficult times.
Q: Could you tell us about your childhood and where you grew up?
Mr. Stark: “I grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. My family was a middle-class family. My father was an attorney and my mother stayed home to take care of the kids. In my day and age, we walked to school by ourselves in all kinds of weather. We played outside. We knew all of our neighbors and never locked the door. It was a wonderful way to grow up!”.
Q: Can you share more about your family & friends? How did you meet Mrs. Stark, your wife?
Mr. Stark: “When I was 10 years old, my parents sent me to a day camp which was an overnight camp for 8 weeks. My wife’s parents also sent her and her siblings to the same camp. That is where we met. My friends were typical friends of young kids and were people, I played balls with on the street. I was very active with sports at that time. I didn’t really get to know my wife until I was 12. When I was 15, I adventured out and took her on a date. We went in my Philly car into town and saw a movie, and came back. Then, I did not see much of her again until we were in college. We both attended Penn State University and I met her when she first came up. And it has been like that ever since, 69 or 70 years ago”.
Q: Could you share some special memories from your childhood, youth, or life in general?
Mr. Stark: “My childhood at that time was involved mostly about being involved in sports with my friends. I went to school because I had to and I was not a great student. I was a good problem-solver. But, life for me at that time was literally a big game. I was not as serious as some might be or some might have liked me to be. But that was my personality”.
Q: If you are comfortable, could you please tell us about your career or professional life, as well as your adult life.
Mr. Stark: “After I graduated college, I had been accepted into Temple University Law School. But before I started there, my father-in-law, since we had been married just before that, offered me a job at his business which was a steel fabricating business (where they manufactured structural steel tubing). And I went to work for him thinking it was a good opportunity for me to move forward in life and provide well for my wife and future children. I enjoyed the work but didn’t enjoy the relationship that developed between my father-in-law and myself. And that only progressed year after year. While my wife and I all talked about my leaving the business and doing something else, we both know that if I did, my father-in-law probably would not speak to us again. So, I stayed in preservation for the family ties. I was extremely instrumental in developing many cost saving projects in the company as well as structurally redefining how we inventoried the product and handled it for shipping purposes. At the same time as a result of all those changes, we more than doubled the available space on the floor by the fact that the changes made this possible because of the way we were handling the material. Eventually, I was promoted to the Vice President of Sales and Marketing where I spent a great deal of time visiting major manufacturers and steel service centers to improve the relationship, we had with them. When I left the Philadelphia, planned to take a decision in our Chicago operation, our annual sales were about 6 million dollars a year. When I left the Chicago operation, our annual sales were 86 million dollars a year. So, I would like to think that I had something to do with that success. It is not all one person like any good company or athletics team, it takes a team to make things work. We were very lucky the people who were our representatives out in the field across the country took me to visit the key personnel in all of these places and we developed relationships over the years that at the time, were unique. We went through steel strikes and steel shortages, implementing regulations on the public that drastically affected people. The relationships were so unique that I still have letters today from some of the people we sold to who said all factories be equal or even close, we were to receive 100% of their orders during the steel shortages. That has never been done. So, I guess, somebody was looking down at me and held my hand through all this so that we did the right thing, and that has always been a driving force in the way that I lived meaning that you have to develop relationships, deal with honesty, integrity, and when you give your word, keep it”.
Q: I learned that you have visited different places, and that experience helped you to support your community and people in need. It would be great if you tell us which places you travelled to and how it changed your prospective?
Mr. Stark: “Oh wow. We also owned several travel agencies. As a result of that, we were frequently enroute to different world destinations which taught me that travel is the best educator of all. You learn from different people, different cultures, different environments, and how it reflects on us and the way we live. I became particularly enthralled with Africa where we took Michelle on my 70thbirthday and where she started Matanya’s Hope. The other bright spot in my life was working very closely with Israel and many of the top officials in government for many many years”.
Q: Additionally, how have you supported different great causes in the past and currently?
Mr. Stark: “With my mouth. By speaking to others. By not being afraid of telling the truth. Often in this day and age, there are a lot of people who threw misconception or flat out lying who wanted to sell their conspiracy theories and their own ideas about how life should be. And we fought against it. We championed our way of life and championed giving back to others. By helping others get back on their feet and do for themselves. More than just a charitable thing, it was an ongoing thrive that allowed us to promote, help, and support others so that they could be on their own and eventually, do the same thing”.
Q: You have COPD and other health serious complications. In spite of that you have kept very positive outlook. What keeps you going each day? Do you have any message for fellow senior including my grandfather who is of your age (age 87 years)?
Mr. Stark: “Well, you got two choices in life. You can live or you can die. You can be complaining about your illnesses or you can just keep moving forward and enjoy all that you have. When you reach a certain point in your life, a certain age, a certain time, you body begins to tell you, you are not in charge anymore. You can deal with illness and infirmity either by complaining all the time or you can keep moving forward and treating each day as a treasure. I choose the latter. Complaining is a waste of time and energy”.
Q: What message you have for our generation (Gen Z) and what can we learn from your experiences in life?
Mr. Stark: “Well, I am not sure what you can learn from my experiences from life. Because you have to be the judge of what you do. You have to feel the need to do it. But I will tell you, from my 87 years, it is much more gratifying to give than to receive. And as a result, you will receive far more than you ever envisioned. So just keep at it and keep doing what you think is right. Don’t be afraid to speak out!”
Prior to the interview and towards the end of interview, he asked about me and my high school. Mr. Stark also reminds me about my grandfather and both are of similar age. When I told him about my grandfather and he mentioned to me that he will love to host me and our family when we visit him in Florida someday. Ms. Michelle Stark also mentioned how her father was a source of light and inspiration to her. Mr. Arthur Stark during the interview mentioned that he has travelled a lot which was excellent learning tool for him and I am also experiencing the same as I to different countries.
I am extremely grateful to Mr. Stark for their time, honoring my request to interview him during my school vacation week, and provided me valuable life lessons even though he was not feeling great from health perspective. I feel, I am very fortunate to know him and Ms. Michelle Stark. May God bless their family!