Wednesday, September 5, 2007

DAN ZERFAS SHARES HIS BIOGRAPHY WITH THE CLASS OF 1957




















Dan Zerfas arrived at Notre Dame High School from Detroit in the middle of his sophomore year. In 1957, the year of his graduation, he entered the Brothers of Holy Cross with ten of his classmates. After spending a year in the novitiate, he spent a year at St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas and then entered the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. After three years, which Dan refers to as "the spiritual equivalent of Quantico," he left the Brotherhood and graduated from California State University Northridge where he earned a Bachelors degree in English in 1962.
After a year at the Rocketdyne Corporation, as an engineering planner, he "fled to UCLA law school" Dan served on the Board of Editors of the UCLA Law Review, was president of his class, and was awarded the Order of the Coif. He earned his Juris Doctor degree in 1966.
From 1966 to 1971 Dan was in private practice with the law firm of O'Melveny and Myers in Los Angeles, California. In 1971 until 1973, he served as Special Assistant to the Assistant Attorney General, William H. Rehnquist, and as Special Assistant to the Deputy Attorney General, Ralph E. Erickson in the United States Department of Justice.
From 1973 to 1981, Dan was a partner in the law firm of Erickson, Zerfas and Adams in Los Gatos, California and in London, England. He was also the Executive Vice president of AVM, Ltd., an investment-banking firm based in London and Jeddah. During that period, Dan represented several Middle Eastern governments and institutions, particularly in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Sudan. Based on those experiences, he published a fictional memoir, The Middleman.
In 1981, Dan founded TSC Development Company, which develops and manages commercial, resort and hotel properties in the western United States.
In 2007, Dan Zerfas lives in Pacific Palisades with his wife Marilyn. His eldest, Dana, is married, has two young boys. She lives in Fairhope, Alabama and works for the United States Attorney in Mobile. She has worked for the Justice Department since graduating from George Washington University. Barton lives in Washington, D.C. and works for the Land Trust Alliance. He graduated from Washington State University and later received his Masters degree in Environmental Policy from the University of Adelaide in Australia. Dan's youngest son, Quinlan, graduated from the University of California Santa Cruz with a degree in Economics in 2006, and works at presented for an accounting and wealth management firm in Santa Monica, California.
Dan Zerfas says, "Retirement is an unwelcome option."

Editor's note: Dan's son Quinn sent a great photo that I'll inlcude here when I figure out how to get it into my Photoshop - Jerry

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Dan, you surely have had an impressive run, and I agree, retirment is an unwelcome option!
See you in a few weeks!
Rich Marrone