I was born in Augsburg, Germany on June 25, 1948, the only child of Sam and Clara Wasserstrum, who lost virtually their entire families in the holocaust. My parents came to the United States in 1949 and settled in New York, where my father was fortunate enough to obtain an excellent job opportunity, working for a leather bag manufacturer.

In the early 1950's, my mother's only sister, Esther, and her husband, Solomon, bought a chicken farm in Vineland. My father, believing that my mother certainly wanted to be as close to Esther as possible, decided to leave New York. Knowing how much my mother loved surprises, my father (knowing nothing about chickens) decided to buy a chicken farm in Vineland. Imagine my mother's surprise when my father told her that the family would be leaving the big city, where they had made so many friends, for the opportunity to work with lovely fowl, in modern 50's style chicken coops, where the manure smelled like perfume. Actually, at this point I believe my father really thought that the chickens would be doing all of the work.

Vineland welcomed our family in 1953, and I received a terrific education, graduating second in my high school class in 1966. I had to give the salutatorian speech in front of about 2000 people, and although I was scared to death, I pulled it off, pretty much flawlessly, and even surprised myself at how well it went.

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