The building in the photo on the right is in the new China
Basin bio-tech park. It is named after
Arthur Rock and his wife. These days it costs roughly $1 million to have a
building named after you. Arthur was
worth tens of millions when I knew him in the early 1970s.
We didn't get along back then. Arthur was on the board of Xerox a prominent hi-tech giant.
My girl friend and Arthur's girl friend were very close. The two woman thought it was a good idea for the four of us to get together in Arthur's Pacific Heights mansion.
I remember the first time we had cocktails together, getting to know each other. I told Arthur that I was leading a campaign to get women and minorities on corporate boards; including the use of pressure by stockholders. I was president of a foundation at the time and manager of a large stock portfolio.
Arthur explained his position on my campaign: 'if you want
to dictate the membership of corporate boards you should get Congress to pass a
law. It is unfair to put a few corporations at a competitive disadvantage with
women and minorities on their board'
We must have looked like two cats hair-on-end, bristling at each other.
The next get together, and the last, was half a year later, for dinner at the Rock home. Arthur was prepared this time. We sat down for dinner and Arthur shook the silver bell to let the hired waiter know we were ready for the first course.
The waiter came in. Arthur said: “Phillips, we are ready.” From there on, for the rest of the evening it was tinkle-tinkle, “Phillips we would like this”, tinkle-tinkle “Phillips we need some of that.”