William Barker-Barzel:  

A very exciting life. After high school, went to New York to study music where I fell in love with a fabulous pianist who helped me define my political outlook based strongly on the philosophy of Ayn Rand that I carried with my throughout my life. I learned the hard way not to apply Rand's philosophy to a personal relationship - there are a lot of feelings and interactions that cannot be rationalized. But reading Ayn Rand opened a world to great philosophers and economists such as Hayak, Friedman, and Burke. This wonderful person and I shared many hair-raising adventures, and after traveling together through Europe and the Middle East, we wound up in Israel where I finished my BA (liberal arts). Some years later, I was able to complete my MA in Liberal Arts and had the opportunity to become a senior executive fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. After college, we returned to the States but then both returned to Israel (separately this time). In Israel, I eventually married Regina, an artist who had recently defected from the Soviet Union, and she and I have been together over 36 years. Regina and I moved first to Ireland, where I tried (unsuccessfully) to open a vitamin manufacturing business, and then came back to the States, where I pursued an intense and facinating career in the Dept of the Navy that provided many challenging assignments and the opportunity to t...Expand for more