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The Family Curse
Oh my God, they’re trying to sell the Steelers! Growing up in Pittsburgh I lived in the suburb of Mt. Lebanon and one of our neighbors was none other than Art Rooney, the late, great owner of the team. It was routine to see Terry Bradshaw, Lynn Swann, Franco Harris, and the long list of other stars of the team in those days parade through our neighborhood. I loved the team then and I still do now. I am one of the legions of fans of the “Stillers” as we say in genuine Pittsburgh-ese. No matter that I also lived in Miami during the perfect season. Those guys were pansies compared to my boys in black and gold. To this day if the Steelers aren’t in the Super Bowl, I just don’t give a damn.
But sad as it is I am not surprised at seeing the grandkids fighting over the team’s ownership. Actually, I am surprised that it took this long. It is a credit to Art’s son Dan that it held together this long. Usually family businesses detonate right after the passing of the founder, especially if the enterprise is successful. The Steelers are worth by some estimates $800 million but I have seen and lived through some family fights over a lot less than that.
In my own family, Pasekoff & Son Produce also of Pittsburgh, PA started fighting among the surviving children before my maternal grandfather was even cold in the ground. He died in the early 1960s and only one of the five children are still alive and she still carries a grudge over it! Half of the family didn’t talk to the other half right into all of their graves and when the grandchildren led by my brave Cousin Marty tried several times over the years to heal the rift among this generation it was met by rebuff as the fight carried on. Next year I am going to the wedding of my niece by marriage Jenny coincidentally in Pittsburgh and I am debating whether I should endure the heartache and contact the remaining family there. At this moment, though I could really care less about the old fight, I don’t think I need the stress.
The point of all of this is that planning to have a business endure from one generation to the next is, at best, a Hail Mary pass to coin a sports metaphor. When thinking about what is going to happen to your company when you are gone there are lots of financial planners and lawyers who will be more than happy to draw up elaborate succession plans and fund it with life insurance and draw up all kinds of agreements, but for whatever it is worth, here is my advice. Sell the company before you die, hopefully long before so that you can blow as much of the money as possible on fun before you do pass on, and then divide it equally among your children which is much easier to do with cash than interests in a closely held business. Then let them make their own way in the world.
There will be, I promise you, a lot more love and a lot less fighting.
Posted by Herb Kay on Thursday, July 10, 2008
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