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A Conversation With NYU Law's New Board Chair
New York Law Journal
October 15, 2008
New York University School of Law
Anthony Welters rose from a hard-knock life in Harlem to business success, philanthropy and board chairmanship of his alma mater, New York University School of Law.
[On Oct. 3], you became chairman of the board of trustees at NYU Law, where you earned your J.D. in 1977. In less than 20 years after graduation, you built up a $38 billion health maintenance organization eventually acquired by UnitedHealth Group of Washington, D.C. A large part of your own good fortune has been given to others -- some $29 million in gifts and scholarships to your alma mater. What inspired your philanthropy?
I didn't wake up one morning with a brainstorm about it. I'm the product of a lot of people who helped me before I ever helped someone else -- people like my seventh-grade school librarian, who I'm still in touch with. I've taken all their teachings to heart.
In the late 1990s, you and your wife, Beatrice, established the AnBryce Foundation and the AnBryce Scholarship program at NYU Law. What do you look for in choosing beneficiaries of these programs?
I look for young people from humble beginnings, where they've seen adversity and managed to navigate it. I look for young men and women who are the first from their families to go to law school.
In other words, someone like you?
Well, we had one room in Harlem with a curtain divider when I was growing up. My mother passed when I was 8, and my father had to raise us, three boys and a girl.
My father was a quiet man. He never complained. When he had something to say, you listened. He never graduated from high school, but he knew the value of education; he knew it was the great equalizer.
So now I say, if you want to complain or fight about something, fight for access to education.
Was your father one of those people who taught you about generosity?
I'm very conscious of how people ought to be treated. My parents would expect this of me. As poor as we were, we always had food for other people. My father said you should always try to help people get the two things they need in life -- a good education and good health.
How did your mother die?
She was allergic to penicillin. One day she was taken to the hospital. The doctor gave her penicillin, and she died instantly. If we weren't poor, I don't think that would have happened.
How did you get over such a crushing loss?
Even as a kid, I remember I tried to focus on things I could impact. I figured, if you can't move things then move around them. People say I'm an optimist and a dreamer. I suppose so.
I'm 53 years old now. I've done some things in life; I've had some successes. But honestly, I still haven't figured out my limits. And I'm trying to convince others of that same thing, that there are probably no limits to success.
How do you define success?
On my 50th birthday, my seventh-grade librarian gave me a gift, which was actually the return of a gift I'd given her, a picture of me in the seventh grade. You see, she'd kept a special folder with pictures of the kids she said she "just knew" would succeed.
The point being, she told me that she hadn't wasted her time by spending it on me.
As a homeowner in a wealthy suburb of Washington, D.C., you're a long way from that Harlem tenement. So, what's the importance of material success in your life?
I live in McLean, Va. I haven't got any complaints. Things are nice, and I've got some nice things. But things ebb and flow.
I've had a lot of occasion to talk to old people at the end part of their lives. They never speak of material possessions. They talk about good times, family and friends.
Now, when I'm not here anymore, what will people think about me?
There's a sorry adage about generosity: No good deed goes unpunished. What are the difficulties of being a philanthropist?
You must temper your expectations. It's very easy for people to believe [a philanthropist is] arrogant, embarrassed about where he came from, that he doesn't really care.
You must carry yourself in a way that doesn't show disrespect for anybody. You must appreciate that people struggle. You must be conscious of the messages you send.
If you can say you helped give someone an opportunity, that's what it's all about -- even if someone fails to live up to your expectations. If they succeed, though, they bring a whole generation forward.
You need a sense of when you can help and when you should back off. It's knowing when people are ready for a message. You can give advice until you're blue in the face. But unless a person is ready for it, he won't hear you.
