Chris Gardner

Chris Gardner
File:Christopher-Gardner.jpg
Born	(1954-02-09) February 9, 1954 Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Occupation	CEO of Gardner Rich & Co

Christopher Paul Gardner (born February 9, 1954 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is a self-made millionaire, entrepreneur, motivational speaker and philanthropist who, during the early 1980s, struggled with homelessness while raising his toddler son, Christopher. Gardner's book of memoirs sharing the same title was published in May 2006 by Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

After enduring abuse in his childhood at the hands of his mother's husband, Freddie Triplett, Gardner resolved he would someday become a loving and dedicated father to his own children. Inspired by his uncles, Chris Gardner enlisted in the navy shortly after high school. His experience as a medic in the Navy led to work in the fields of medical research and then supply sales in San Francisco, California. After the birth of his son, Gardner made a career shift and decided that his future lay as a stockbroker. Despite homelessness, he passed his licensing exam, gained employment, established custody of his son, and eventually rented an apartment.

As of 2006, he is CEO of his own stockbrokerage firm, Gardner Rich, based in Chicago, Illinois where he resides when he is not living in New York City. Gardner credits his tenacity and success to his "spiritual genetics" handed down to him by his mother, Bettye Jean Triplett, nee Gardner, and to the high expectations placed on him by his children, Chris Jr. (born 1981) and his daughter, Jacintha (born 1985). Gardner's personal struggle of establishing himself as a stockbroker while managing fatherhood and homelessness is portrayed in the 2006 major motion picture The Pursuit of Happyness, starring actor Will Smith.

Early years

Chris Gardner was born on February 9, 1954 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He had few positive male role models, since his absentee father, Thomas Turner, was living in Louisiana and his stepfather, Freddie Triplett, was a violent man. Despite her unhappy marriage, Gardner's mother, Bettye Jean Triplett, was a source of inspiration and strength. She encouraged Gardner to believe in himself and sowed the seeds of self-reliance in him. Gardner quotes her as saying, "You can only depend on yourself. The cavalry ain't coming. Gardner was Bettye Jean's second child. He had three sisters: Ophelia (the eldest half-sister from a previous union), Sharon, and Kim (his younger half-sisters from Bettye Jean's marriage to Freddie Tripplett).

Freddie Triplett's violent outbursts often left Bettye Jean beaten and near fatally injured. Those rages left Gardner and his three sisters constantly afraid. Bettye Jean was imprisoned when Triplett reported her to the authorities for working while collecting welfare. As a result, her children were raised in foster care during her incarceration. They were put into foster homes once again when Gardner's mother re-entered incarceration for attempting to burn down the house with Triplett inside. From those experiences, Gardner determined that alcoholism, domestic abuse, child abuse, illiteracy, fear, and powerlessness were all things he wanted to avoid in the future.

Sense of direction

Gardner re-entered foster care for the second time when he was eight years old. During this period he became acquainted with his mother's three brothers: Archie, Willie and Henry. Of the three, his uncle Henry had the most profound influence, entering Gardner's world at a time when he most needed a father figure. Tragically, Uncle Henry drowned in the Mississippi River shortly before his mother was released from prison.

The late 1960s and early 1970s were a time of political and musical awakening for Gardner. He developed a deep sense of Black Pride as he became familiar with the works of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X, and Eldridge Cleaver. During that time Gardner's worldview expanded beyond the African American experience. He learned of historical events such as the Sharpeville Massacre and as a result, became increasingly aware of apartheid in South Africa and international racial issues. Gardner learned to play the trumpet and he enjoyed listening to music by Sly Stone, Buddy Miles, the Reverend James Brown and his all-time favorite, Miles Davis.

Inspired by his Uncle Henry's worldwide adventures in the Navy, Gardner decided to enlist shortly after graduating high school. There, he became a medic and became acquainted with a top San Francisco cardiac surgeon by the name of Dr. Robert Ellis. He offered Gardner a position assisting him with innovative clinical research at the University of California Medical Center and Veterans Administration Hospital in San Francisco, California. Gardner accepted the job and moved to San Francisco upon his discharge from the Navy in 1974. Over the next two years, he learned how to manage a laboratory and to perform various surgical techniques. By 1976, he had full responsibilities in a laboratory and had co-authored with Dr. Ellis various articles published in medical journals.

Marriage and fatherhood

On June 18, 1977, Chris Gardner married Sherry Dyson, an educational expert in mathematics, from Virginia. With his knowledge, experience and contacts within the medical field, it appeared Gardner had his medical career plans laid out before him. However, with ten years of medical training ahead of him and with the emergence of nationalized and socialized medicine (such as HMOs) just on the horizon, he realized that the medical profession would be vastly different by the time he could practice medicine. Gardner was advised to consider other more lucrative career options; just before Gardner's 26th birthday, he informed his wife, Sherry, of his plans to abandon his dreams of becoming a doctor.

His relationship with Sherry was strained, in part because of his decision to forego a medical career and also due to differences in their attitudes. He met a dentistry student named Jackie Medina and she soon became pregnant with his child. After three years of marriage to Sherry, he left her to move in with Jackie and to prepare for fatherhood. Nine years elapsed before he and Sherry were legally divorced.

Gardner's son, Christopher Jarrett Medina Gardner was born on January 28, 1981. During the first year of his son's life, Gardner struggled to make ends meet by working at the VA hospital and supplementing his income with other jobs. He was hired as a sales representative for CMS, a medical equipment and supply company that offered him a yearly income of less than $30,000. Soon thereafter, Gardner left CMS to work at a more lucrative sales position at Van Waters and Rogers, a more established medical supply company.

Prompted by his child's inquiries about Gardner's father, he had previously been able to track down his biological father, Thomas Turner, over the telephone. With the higher income that he was earning at his new job, Gardner was able to save enough money to travel to Monroe, Louisiana. There, he and his son met Gardner's father for the first time.

Gardner returned to San Francisco determined to succeed at business. A pivotal moment in his life occurred, after a sales call to a San Francisco General Hospital, when he encountered an impeccably-dressed man in a red Ferrari. Curious, Gardner asked the man what he did for a living. The man told him he was a stock broker and, from that moment on, Gardner's career path was decided. Eventually, Gardner bought a Ferrari of his own from the famous basketball player, Michael Jordan.

The stockbroker in the red Ferrari was a man by the name of Bob Bridges. He met with Gardner and gave him an introduction to the world of finance. Bridges set up meetings between Gardner and branch managers at the major stock brokerage firms that offered training programs--such as Merrill Lynch, Paine Webber, E.F. Hutton, Dean Witter, and Smith Barney; for the next two months, Gardner cancelled or postponed his sales appointments and his car amassed parking tickets while he met with managers.

It appeared that Gardner got his "break" when he was accepted into a training program at E.F. Hutton. He subsequently quit his sales job so that he could dedicate his time exclusively to training as a stock broker. Then he appeared at the office ready to work, only to discover that his hiring manager had been fired the week before. To make matters worse, Gardner's relationship with Jackie was falling apart. She accused him of beating her--an accusation that Gardner denies to this day--and left him, taking their son with her to the east coast. He was taken to jail and a judge ordered that he stay there, for ten days, as punishment for being unable to pay $1,200 in parking tickets.

Gardner returned home from jail to find his apartment empty. All his possessions had disappeared with his girlfriend and their son--including his suits, shoes and business apparel. With no experience, no college education, virtually no connections, and with the same casual outfit he had been wearing on the day he was taken into custody, Gardner gained a position in Dean Witter Reynolds’ stock brokerage training program. However, on a meager monthly stipend of $1,000, he was barely able to pay his rent and living expenses.

Fatherhood amidst homelessness

Gardner worked to become a top trainee at Dean Witter Reynolds. He arrived at the office early and stayed late each day, persistently making calls to prospective clients. His perseverance paid off when, in 1982, Gardner passed his licensing exam on the first try and he became the sole trainee in his program to attain permanent employment at Dean Witter Reynolds.

About four months after Jackie disappeared with their son, she returned, and left him with Gardner. By then, he was able to afford a small rent and was rooming in a flophouse. He willingly accepted sole custody of his child; however, the rooming house where he lived did not allow children. Although he was gainfully employed, Gardner and his son secretly struggled with homelessness while he saved money for a rental house in Berkeley, California.

Meanwhile, none of Gardner's coworkers knew that he and his son were homeless in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco for nearly a year. Gardner often scrambled to place his child in daycare, stood on soup lines and slept wherever he and his son could find safety —- in his office after hours, at flophouses, at parks, and even in a locked bathroom at the Bay Area Rapid Transit station.

Concerned for Chris Jr.’s well-being, Gardner asked Reverend Cecil Williams to allow them to stay at the Glide Memorial United Methodist Church’s shelter for homeless women, now known as The Cecil Williams Glide Community House.The reverend agreed without hesitation. Today, when asked what he remembers about being homeless, Christopher Gardner, Jr. recalls "I couldn't tell you that we were homeless, I just knew that we were always having to go. So, if anything, I remember us just moving, always moving."

Business ventures

In 1987, Chris Gardner made the ambitious decision to establish the brokerage firm, Gardner Rich & Co, in Chicago, Illinois, an "institutional brokerage firm specializing in the execution of debt, equity and derivative products transactions for some of the nation’s largest institutions, public pension plans and unions." His new company was started in his small Presidential Towers apartment, with start-up capital of US$10,000 and a single piece of furniture, a wooden desk that doubled as the family dinner table. Gardner reportedly owns 75% of his stock brokerage firm, the rest owned by a hedge fund. He chose the name "Gardner Rich" for the company because he considers Marc Rich, the commodities trader pardoned by President Clinton in 2001, "one of the most successful futures traders in the world.

19 years later, after Gardner sold his small stake in Gardner Rich in a multi-million dollar deal in 2006, he became CEO and founder of Christopher Gardner International Holdings, with offices in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. Gardner is currently working on an investment venture with South Africa that will create hundreds of jobs and introduce millions in foreign currency into the nation. Gardner himself has not been entitled to describe the project in detail because of security laws.

Philanthropic initiatives

Chris Gardner is a committed philanthropist who sponsors charitable organizations, primarily the Cara Program and the Glide United Methodist Church in San Francisco, where he and his son received desperately-needed shelter. He has helped fund a US$50 million project in San Francisco that creates low-income housing and opportunities for employment in the area of the city where he was once homeless.As well as offering monetary support, Gardner donates clothing and shoes. He makes himself available for permanent job placement assistance, career counseling and comprehensive job training for the homeless population and at-risk communities in Chicago.

Dedicated to the well-being of children through positive paternal involvement, Gardner serves on the board of the National Fatherhood Initiative. He is also a board member of the National Education Foundation and sponsors two annual education awards: the National Education Association's National Educational Support Personnel Award and the American Federation of Teachers' Paraprofessionals and School-Related Personnel Award.

In 2002 Gardner received the Father of the Year Award from the NFI, Since then, Gardner also had the honor of receiving the 25th Annual Humanitarian Award and the 2006 Friends of Africa Award, presented by the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women (LACAAW) and by the Continental Africa Chamber of Commerce, respectively.

Book and motion picture

Gardner realized his story had Hollywood potential after an overwhelming national response to an interview he did with 20/20 in January 2002. He published his autobiography on May 23, 2006, before becoming an associate producer of the major motion picture The Pursuit of Happyness (Rated PG-13), directed by Gabriele Muccino and released by Columbia Pictures on December 15, 2006. The unusual spelling of the film's title comes from a sign Gardner saw when he was homeless. In the film, "happyness" is misspelled on the daycare facility where Gardner's son attends. The two discuss the misspelling and thus the name is purposely misspelled in the title of the movie.

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Gardner published a book of his memoirs in 2006 titled The Pursuit of Happyness.

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Will Smith starred as Gardner in the 2006 Hollywood movie The Pursuit of Happyness.

The movie, starring Will Smith, Thandie Newton, and Will's son Jaden Christopher Syre Smith, focused on Gardner's nearly one-year struggle with homelessness. The movie took some liberties with Gardner's true life-story. Certain details and events that actually took place over the span of several years were compressed into a relatively short time and although eight-year-old Jaden portrayed Chris Jr. as a five year-old, Gardner's son was just a toddler at the time. Chris Gardner reportedly thought Will Smith -— an actor best known for his performances in action movies -- was mis-cast to play him. However, he said, his daughter Jacintha set him straight by saying "if [Smith] can play Muhammad Ali, he can play you!" Gardner actually makes a cameo appearance in the film. In the last scene he walks past Will and Jaden. Gardner and Will acknowledge each other; Will then looks back at Gardner walking away as his son proceeds to tell him knock knock jokes.

In the hope Gardner's story would inspire the down-trodden citizens of Chattanooga, Tennessee to achieve financial independence and to take greater responsibility for the welfare of their families, the mayor of Chattanooga organized a viewing of the film for the city's homeless. Gardner himself felt that it was imperative to share his story for the sake of its widespread social issues. "When I talk about alcoholism in the household, domestic violence, child abuse, illiteracy, and all of those issues—those are universal issues; those are not just confined to ZIP codes," he said.

Chris Gardner was noticeably absent from the movie's premiere on December 15, 2006. He chose, instead, to be the guest inspirational speaker at a Christmas party for JHT Holdings, Inc., in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

See also

• List of personalities associated with Wall Street

External links

• Biographical article about Chris Gardner