Alan Marcus (right) with RAND's founder and President, Stephen Varone, says farewell after a memorable 22-year career at RAND.
I recently had the good fortune to enjoy a heartfelt retirement dinner with my RAND colleagues after nearly 22 years at the company. Looking back, it’s been quite a ride.
When I started at RAND in 1991, I was one of 12 employees, and our office occupied half of the 12th floor in the building RAND is still in. (RAND now has 85 employees on three floors in the building.)
Of course, we did some things a lot different back then. For example, those of us in the field took photos (with film cameras, of course) only for FISP inspections, which were called Local Law 10/80 inspections. We would drop off the film for developing at a photo processing store around the corner on 7th Avenue, and after picking up the photos, we mounted them in the reports with glue sticks.
For my first eight years at RAND our executive secretary, Faye Varone, typed up all of our hand-written reports—and every report was written in longhand—on one of the three computers in the office. Faye would give the typed reports back to us for proofreading, and we would give them back to her with our corrections, and sometimes we’d go through several more rounds of corrections on our corrections, until it was ready for final formatting. Faye must have typed hundreds (if not a thousand or more) of my reports and letters this way, and they always came out right. How she maintained her patience through it all, I’ll never know. Her only complaint about my report writing was “Write bigger!”
Among the many things I will miss at RAND: Our Monday morning staff meetings. Our holiday parties, which started out as glorified lunches and over the years became spectacular dinner and show events. The stacks of paper in my home and at the office (even in this so-called paperless society). The interesting and unusual clients and jobs, several I could write a book about. The many contractors, building managers, and apartment residents I met, some of whom I became very friendly with during long construction jobs.
And yes, there are also things I won’t miss: Climbing 40-foot ladders. Climbing out of bathroom windows. Climbing onto steep roofs. Riding 20-plus stories up on an electric scaffold. Walking up and down rusted and deteriorated fire escapes. But most of the memories are good, and that’s how it should be.
Over the years I worked with many RAND employees with whom I enjoyed wonderful relationships, too many to mention here by name. But I would be remiss not to single out RAND’s founder and President, Stephen Varone. In addition to giving me the opportunity to work for such a wonderful company, Stephen was always there to talk to and to help when I needed it. In particular, I greatly appreciated his understanding during times when my family members and loved ones suffered through long illnesses and death. They were difficult times, and the support Stephen provided helped me get through them.
Although I’ll miss the many faces I’m used to seeing, I’m looking forward to retirement and doing more traveling and reading, and seeing more Broadway shows, as well as continuing to see my extended RAND family at company parties and outings. RAND has been, and will always be, an important part of my life.
