1973
State Property Manager
Any Ph.D. Degree from Duke impressed one’s employers & working colleagues. I left ollege teaching once it became clear I would be unable to make a decent living as a professor. At that time my salary was less than that of my younger brother, who required seven years to get a college degree. I was then employed by the State of S. C. During the years from 1978 through 1984 I acquired a large portfolio of rental homes. That activity led to my becoming an he State Property Manager for the State of South Carolina, a position I held for the next 18 years. As for shaping my work life the Duke degree had no impact on my life. However, the idea of buying single family homes & renting them would never have occurred if I had not attended Duke. That was where I got the idea of renting homes —many of my friends there rented homes. I generally think that all of one’s ideas arise from experience. Without the Duke experience, I don’t think the idea of becoming a landlord would have occurred.
English Department