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Heeding one of his own favorite pieces of advice, REAL Services Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Lester Fox hasn't worked for 36 years.
"Find a job you love, and you never work another day in your life," says Fox. It turns out that's what he did when he was hired in 1966 to help found what would later become known as REAL Services.
"Father Royster was the Episcopal Dean for St. James Cathedral (South Bend) and he had a real passion to create an agency to serve the elderly ... Agencies didn't really exist to address senior issues. And most the elderly were uncomfortable not only with existing social service agencies but also with the idea of asking for help in the first place," explained Fox.
With passage of the Older Americans Act in the mid-'60s, an avenue of funding was created to better serve the aging, and Fox was tapped to lead the way.
"Father knew me from my work in the community ... When I was hired we didn't even have a name. A working name of 'ALP' for Adult Living Programs was revised by taking the best brains of two or three people and coming up with 'REAL' standing for' Resources for Enriching Adult Living,'" recalled Fox.
Fox's previous work with Project ABLE (Ability Based on Long Experience) was invaluable experience for his role at REAL Services. He had assisted workers with life transitions resulting from Studebaker Corp.'s closing and, having worked at Studebaker for 20 years himself, Fox was no stranger to the issues and standing up for workers' rights.
"I started out as a clerk and also loaded autos in a boxcar ... that was...