Vibrant Nation

my bio

I was raised in New Orleans by very strong women. My grandmother, Gladys Reily, was a substantial civic figure. In 1949, when she was 56, she was among the first women ever to win the Times-Picayune Loving Cup, an annual award from the local newspaper for the city’s most dedicated citizens. She helped reform electoral politics, started schools, launched public television, battled litter, and volunteered in her beloved New Orleans well into her 80s. She was always interested in what lay ahead and maintained friendships with many younger people as she grew older.

My mother, now 77, was widowed at 57. Since that time, she has gutted and renovated a house in the French Quarter, helped reform the corrupt state mental hospitals of Louisiana, nursed patients at a local AIDS hospice, and to this day feeds post-Katrina relief workers. She travels the world, sometimes with the men she dates; her best friend is a gay man her age; and she never forgets the birthday of one of her five children, three stepchildren, or 24 grandchildren. She is the woman most younger women hope to be when they get older.

Once you recognize the strength of individual women at this stage of life, you recognize the strength of all women at this stage of life. I’ve always known women over 50 could do anything, which is why I started Vibrant Nation.

my VN interview

• How did you get to where you are now?

  I graduated from Yale College, summa cum laude, and from Stanford Law School, after which I clerked for Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court. I live in Louisville, Kentucky, with my wife and three children.

a postcard to my younger self

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my role models

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