October 24, 2006

Howard Schultz

Howard Schultz's grandparents were born in Europe, and his parents were part of the family that came to the United States. He grew up in Paterson, New Jersey in a two-family house during the Depression, a time when, as he recalled, everyone was poor and no one felt disadvantaged. His father contracted a virus at a young age and was unable to work, so his mother became the family's chief supporter through work in retail. Howard had an older sister and a younger sister, four years his junior, who later lived in Birmingham, Alabama. He remembered fond childhood days of stickball and playing in the streets and parks.

Jewish life was an important part of Howard's upbringing. Although his father was not observant due to illness, his mother made sure he attended Hebrew school and synagogue, part of a still-vibrant conservative congregation. His neighborhood had a significant Jewish population, and public schools even closed for the Jewish holidays. He was active in Jewish youth groups and the YMHA, and above all discovered a love of music. In his high school years he played in a big band during the era of Harry James, Benny Goodman, and Artie Shaw, an experience he treasured and continued into his military service, when he played in a military band in Denver, Colorado.

After graduating high school in Paterson in 1945, Howard attended Cornell University on an accelerated wartime program, later serving in the Army and Air Force from 1946 to 1948, and returning to complete a double major in mathematics and economics. He worked briefly on Wall Street before finding his calling in retail, joining a training program and spending some thirteen years, from 1951 to 1964, working in cities across the country. In Kansas City he met Leslie, introduced through his mother, and they married shortly after. After business reversals and moves through Minneapolis and Saint Paul, the couple came to Dallas in the mid 1960s, where he worked for a drug company and started a new life.

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