My father grew up without a dad. He wasn’t abandoned. His dad wasn’t in jail or unknown, he just couldn’t be there to teach him to be a man. His father died suddenly when he was just eight years old. From that point on, he had to define manhood for himself.

Poor, undereducated, fatherless and living in the segregated South, it’s not clear how that little boy found the courage to make his way to NY on his own, survived hunger and homelessness to graduate with a degree in computer science from NYU. I’m not sure how he knew how to take on the role of a husband and father to three children but he did. And, he gave us a vastly different life than had. He taught us all the meaning of commitment, self-reliance, perseverance, education and charity. Here he is wearing a Real Men Cook apron; it’s one of the various charities he’s volunteered at to help you kids with childhoods similar to his own.

Happy Father’s Day to my favorite self made man.