Most of my recollections begin when I was ten or eleven years old. I grew up in west Philadelphia until I was seven years old. I grew up in a Jewish middle class family. My father was a pharmacist, but there was no money in it, so later on he began selling automotive accessories.

My grandfather was a big wheel back in those days and actually started with the Pep Boys. They offered him a partnership, but he didn’t think it would work.

My mother grew up in a very wealthy household; they had a butler and servants.

But both my mother and my father went to public school. My grandfather always believed in public school. So the kids, even though they came from a wealthy family, went to public schools.

I’m not sure my parents are told me how they met. We moved to the suburbs outside of west Philadelphia when I was about seven or eight years old. When I look back on my life, I start recalling from those years forward.

We were a typical American baby – boomer family. We belonged to a swim club, and the biggest thing back then was that I was a swimmer and a diver. We would spend every summer at the swim club. Sometimes we go down to the jersey shore near Atlantic City.