Interview with Lynne Federman

Interview with Lynne Federman

Federman, Lynne ; Gashurov, Irene

Harpur College – Seventies alumni; Harpur College – Alumni in the law; Harpur College – Alumni in banking regulation; Harpur College – Alumni at WHRW; Harpur College – Alumni living in Boston

For 30 years, Lynn successfully guided institutions under regulatory enforcement actions and helped create and implement anti-money laundering programs. At Harpur, she managed the student-run radio station, WHRW.

2018-04-04

In Copyright

Lynne Federman.mp3

2018-04-04

Oral Histories from 60's Binghamton Alumni

48:26 minutes

Alumni Interviews
Interview with: Lynne Federman
Interviewed by: Irene Gashurov
Transcriber: Oral History Lab
Date of interview: 4 April 2018
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(Start of Interview)

IG: 00:01
Okay, hello. This is Lynne Federman.

LF: 00:06
Hi. My name is Lynn Fetterman. We are sitting here in South Boston, Massachusetts, and I am going to talk about my time at SUNY Binghamton. I am 64 years old. I graduated in 1974 I started in September 1970.

IG: 00:29
Thank you, so, Lynn, maybe we can begin by your telling us where you grew up and who your parents were.

LF: 00:41
I grew up in Brooklyn, New York. My parents were Anne and Murray Fetterman. We lived in Brooklyn my whole life, until we moved to Clifton, New Jersey, where I went to high school. But we had a house in upstate New York, so I was very familiar with upstate New York, and I wanted to go to Binghamton because I knew it was a great university and It was reasonably priced.

IG: 01:16
Before we before we discuss your college years, tell us, give us a little bit of background about your family, what they did, where they were from, whether they encouraged your education.

LF: 01:34
So my dad was he had his own little business. My mom stayed at home until we were in high school, when she went to work for Peugeot. Their parents, all four of my grandparents, emigrated from Poland, came through Ellis Island. My mom and dad both grew- well my mom grew up in the Lower East Side, and my dad grew up in Brooklyn. And education was greatly encouraged, though it is true that although they encouraged me to go to the best college I could go to, the money was really for the boys my younger brothers. So it was really understood that if there was money for an Ivy League college, that would be for the boys.

IG: 02:31
Did they go through an Ivy League college?

LF: 02:32
Um, let us see, yeah, my next brother went to Rochester, and my brother after that, I think, went to Hobart for a short time. I think. I do not know. I did apply to Cornell, maybe for scholarship. I did not get in to Cornell undergrad. So I do not know what would have happened if I had gotten in, because I know there was not money to go there, and Binghamton was so reasonably priced, and because we had the house upstate, I got the in-state tuition.

IG: 03:03
Did you get a regent scholarship? Do you remember?

LF: 03:05
I think I did. I do not remember exactly.

IG: 03:09
So did you have a clear idea of what you wanted to study, or were you just attracted by the liberal arts?

LF: 03:18
I like the liberal arts in general, but I distinctly remember not really knowing what I wanted to do, but thinking my choices were limited to law or medicine, for some reason, that was my choice for my family, and I did not really like medicine. So I remember distinctly standing in front of the post office boxes in Binghamton, where the student had their post, opening it up and getting my LSAT scores, and knowing that I could go to a good law school. And they did end up going to Cornell Law so I drove from Binghamton to Ithaca that summer to go to Cornell Law School.

IG: 03:59
What-what-what are some memorable courses that you took at Harpur College? It was-

LF: 04:07
Yeah, I went to Harpur College. I would say my coursework was not as memorable as my extracurricular activities, but I did love my psychology courses.

IG: 04:18
Do you remember-

LF: 04:19
I do not remember the professor's name, but I did some research for him with mice. That is what I remember, and that was a lot of fun.

IG: 04:27
Do you remember what the research?

LF: 04:29
I do not remember what we were looking at, but I felt like I was doing some kind of more advanced research for an undergrad. He was doing a lot with graduate students, but he let me do some work as an undergrad, but I really spent more time most of my career at Binghamton, in my memory, was at the radio station, WHRW, so I had a show, and it was a it was a soft rock show, folk rock and. I remember distinctly broadcasting, practicing in front of the mic, picking songs with albums. You had to play the albums like a DJ. I was a DJ, and then becoming more and more involved with the radio station, meeting my husband there, dating the guy who was the-the general manager before me, who is Eric Logan, felt he was the general manager. And then he graduated, I think, after my freshman year. But I started at Binghamton. I was 16, so that was young. I was very-very, young. And what I really remember is orientation, pre orientation, we went camping, which I do not think I had ever gone camping nearby, like maybe on the campus we had, we had pre orientation, camp out.

IG: 05:54
Overnight camp ?

LF: 05:56
Overnight, yeah, but in my memory, it was near-near the dormitories. Was it Hingham? Hingham? What is the name of the dorms up there?

IG: 06:09
So what was, do you remember? What was the point of this-

LF: 06:14
Orientation?

IG: 06:15
Orientation, well, together and understand, but, but doing it outdoors?

LF: 06:20
I think so you can make friends.

IG: 06:22
I see, I see. And you did?

LF: 06:24
And I did. I made friends. I made got met my first boyfriend there. So that was nice. So then I had a boyfriend, and I had my first roommate, who was so different from me, and you know, she was from the Midwest, she-she was from a military family and we are still friends today. Yeah, I am going to go see her in California.

IG: 06:45
Oh, that is lovely. That is lovely. So it was, you know, a broadening kind of experience.

LF: 06:55
It was completely different from anything I had ever experienced, but I was extremely diligent. I do not think I missed a class, and my view was, and still is, with my children, if you are paying for it, you might as well take all the classes. So I know I do not think I skipped a class the whole time I was there. Maybe I did, if I was really sick, and I was sick at one point, I was in the infirmary for a month with pneumonia, Yeah. But that, I think, is the only time I miss class. What?

IG: 07:25
What was the campus like those days? Was it pretty rural, you know-

LF: 07:33
In my mind it was rural. Yeah, I have not been back in quite a number of years, but I remember the last time I was up. I do not remember it. Possibly it was 30 years ago, when my son was little. We brought him back, we took him to the radio station, and he was a little baby. And I thought it was built up then, 30 years ago. So I cannot imagine what it is like. I am trying to get up there this spring. So it is much more built up. Yeah, I would say there was Woods everywhere surrounding the whole campus.

IG: 08:07
There still are there. It is a very wooded area. They are peripheral campuses. So you know, what were your- how did you stumble into the radio station, not having had prior experience.

LF: 08:23
I am trying to remember how I got there. I think I literally stumbled in looking for some activity to do. And, you know, hanging out at the Student Center was fun. And then I think I stumbled upon, I do not know, the first time I entered the radio station, but then it was my life, and I remember when I was running for general manager. I just remember, like, just roaming around various dormitories, trying not to pay attention while people were voting, and then someone, I guess we did not have cell phones, but somehow, I called in and I found out that I had become the general manager, and that was a big experience, really.

IG: 09:06
How old were you? But what-what-

LF: 09:08
It was my senior year. So I started when I was 16. [inaudible] so I was between 19 and 20.

IG: 09:16
Very young. And how large was the radio staff?

LF: 09:20
Dozens, in my recollection, were dozens of people.

IG: 09:23
What kind of-

LF: 09:23
And they were much more professional type of DJs, radio people at that time. But I think I was the only one who wanted to handle the business end and, you know, get the money work on the budget, deal with the people. But that really gave me a grounding in, you know, the huge budgets I handled later in my life and the amount of people I managed that, that was the grounding there.

IG: 09:50
That is very much [inaudible] so, you know, it is, it is, it is actually very remarkable that you were attracted to that. End of the radio enterprise, right? Because most people want to be DJs.

LF: 10:06
Yeah. I also had a little show, but it was very terrifying being on the air for me. So I did not, you know, I loved it, and I was scared of it. Yeah, some people are natural. They just love to talk on the radio. But that was not my was not my main thing.

IG: 10:21
What is it then?

LF: 10:23
Like now, I like the socializing.

IG: 10:26
So what was your little show? You said-

LF: 10:29
it was a folk it was folk rock. I am trying to remember the name of it, but my theme song, I think, was Brown Eyed Girl. I think that that was the theme song, and it was fun. But, you know, I was really into having people do the news and special projects and, you know, we did have a lot of classical programming. But again, I have not been back. You know, I stay in touch with some of the people, but have not been able to go to any of the reunions. Maybe I will go now.

IG: 11:04
We hope you do. What was tell us a little bit about the programming and what, what role you played in deciding-

LF: 11:14
Oh, we had meetings. We wanted to have public broadcast programming. We could bring in shows real and you know, NPR shows, right that time, we could import them and use them, but we tried to have our own reporting, if possible, campus reporting, local reporting, but it was hard, because she had to get kids who to be reporters, right? Well, mostly it was music.

IG: 11:37
It was much music-

LF: 11:38
Jazz, classical, rock.

IG: 11:41
What kind of what kind of reporting did you do? It was so it was Binghamton,

LF: 11:47
Yes, local campus.

IG: 11:49
Campus. Do you remember stories? [crosstalk] Do you remember stories? [crosstalk] Do you think that what was-

LF: 11:57
I think it lost Because we did not record any of it.

IG: 12:00
You did not record any of it?

LF: 12:01
Yeah, I do not think it occurred to us. Or if we did, I would have no idea where they are. No idea. Do you know the name Ron Drumm? Excuse me, Ron Drumm.

IG: 12:11
No, that I have not encountered the name.

LF: 12:13
Yeah, he, he was around for years in in my recollection, he possibly was- had graduated while I was there, and then stuck around for a long time in Binghamton. And I think they let him stay on the radio. Ron drum, D, R, U, M, M. I could try to find him for you.

IG: 12:35
What were some of the issues in that you were talking about? What was in the air, politically, culturally. I mean, you were playing music, which is so much a part of the-

LF: 12:46
Yeah, I think [crosstalk] focus, right, a huge focus. I do not remember being, you know, politically active in terms of any wars, or where we were in terms of overseas actions or the Vietnam War. I mean, in high school, I remember protesting the Vietnam War. I do not remember doing anything in Binghamton, trying to remember when it was over. When was the war over?

IG: 13:16
In the early-

LF: 13:18
In the (19)60s?

IG: 13:19
No in the-

LF: 13:20
(19)70s.

IG: 13:20
No, the (19)70s.

LF: 13:21
So we must have been doing some of that, but I really do not have a recollection. I remember working for McCarthy, but that was high school.

IG: 13:31
Working for?

LF: 13:32
McCarthy.

IG: 13:33
The 20-

LF: 13:35
No, when he was running for president, Gene McCarthy was running for President.

IG: 13:40
That would make sense.

LF: 13:41
Yeah, that is the political stuff. But I do not remember political we were a bit removed up there in Binghamton. I think we all felt it. It was such a-

IG: 13:50
But you were New York City kids.

LF: 13:52
All New York City kids, you know-

IG: 13:54
With the exception of your roommate from the Midwest.

LF: 13:57
Right-right. But these were New York City born and bred, kids.

IG: 14:03
So, you know, you were kind of more in touch-

LF: 14:06
And she, and she might have been, most recently from Long Island.

IG: 14:09
I see. I see.

LF: 14:10
That is my roommate.

IG: 14:12
You know, you were in touch and, and I am just, I am just trying to get a-an understanding of the climate, of the cultural climate, what, you know, you were playing this music, and did you have any-

LF: 14:28
We were, I think we were, we went to we went to class. I think there was a fair amount of marijuana. You know, I smoked a little bit, not a lot, but we were post Woodstock, right, just after Woodstock, so it was kind of, I think it was still kind of Hippieish.

IG: 14:49
Yeah, you were caught up by that fervor of the late (19)60s. You know, the you were the tail end of that (19)60s generation. And all that it represented. Did you buy into it?

LF: 15:03
Absolutely.

IG: 15:04
So what-what-

LF: 15:04
Absolutely.

IG: 15:05
What did it represent to you?

LF: 15:09
Really, a feeling of optimism that we could accomplish a lot if we just wanted to, and we could have fun at the same time. But for me, I felt like I had to work hard. We all felt we had to work hard. Pretty much everyone I knew got real jobs, good jobs, corporate, academic, teaching, medicine, law, these were the jobs we got. You know, I feel like the generation now, my kids, 50-50, you know, friends, you know, some of them really want good jobs. Some want to work off the grid now, but I felt like we all felt like we had to get real jobs with real paychecks.

IG: 15:56
I think that is more true of Binghamton students, rather than the interim generation. And do you think that in some sense, you know you said that you were optimistic and-and was your kind of youth culture bound up in music? Was, was that your way expressing [crosstalk]

LF: 16:20
I think [crosstalk] to find the music.

IG: 16:22
Rebelliousness as well?

LF: 16:24
Yeah, I think it was defined by music. Maybe start for me, starting with Woodstock, because I was so young at Woodstock.

IG: 16:30
And we would love to hear about your experience at Woodstock.

LF: 16:35
So that summer, the summer of (19)69 I was a rising senior in high school, and when I was a junior in high school, I was accepted to Cornell's summer program, and I took organic chemistry, which I passed, but it pretty much told me I was not going to medicine, but I remember being in Ithaca and hearing that the site of Woodstock had changed from Woodstock, New York, to White Lake, New York to Max Yasgur's farm. And my house, my parents’ house upstate, was right next to White Lake, and I knew Max Yasgur's farm. And I said, “There is no way I heard it on the radio, thinking, oh man, there is nothing there. It is a cow pasture. They cannot have a rock concert, and there is no access. And I said, “But good for me, I can go, because I can walk from my house to Woodstock.” And that is, that is what we did at the end of the summer, when I left Ithaca, I went to-to near Monticello, which is White Lake. And Small Wood was the name of the town right next to White Lake where our house was since I was a little girl, and we probably had 25 people sleeping on our property, camping out friends and friends of friends, and that road that you see in the in the movie 17 B was just jammed, but all of the local residents worked together to support the crowd in terms of water and food. And it was, it was an it was like an invasion. And I think my father prohibited me from going, but I went anyway, and I had my girlfriend was with me, but we did it in a very nice way, because we could go in the morning, listen to the music all day, and then go home and not have to sleep in the mud, slept in my bed, ate my mother's food, and that was a lot a lot of fun. But my brothers also went. My little brother, I think was if I was 15, maybe he was 11, and he went with my brother, who was maybe 13, unsupervised. So he has written something about that, which is hysterical.

IG: 18:55
I would love to see it, actually.

LF: 18:56
Yeah, let me see if I can get it for you. I have not seen it in a long time, but I do not know if he is publishing it, but he cannot believe that our parents let him go at 11 to Woodstock.

IG: 19:07
And then there was no and there was no prohibition of your younger brothers going. But yet your father had [crosstalk]

LF: 19:15
Right. He must have changed his mind because, because I was going no matter.

IG: 19:21
And he had no way of anticipating what, what was going to happen, what it would be. So, what did you see?

LF: 19:27
[crosstalk] I saw all of, you know, all of the acts I saw, Joe Cocker, I do not remember a lot of the actual songs, and I was very happy I did not have to sleep there. It was kind of yucky and rainy and muddy.

IG: 19:41
Did you like the music?

LF: 19:43
I love them. I love that. I still love them. You know, I am not the kind of aficionado that you know my friends are. I still, I still love it.

IG: 19:54
So you saw Joe Cocker. Do you remember who- which other singers you saw?

LF: 19:58
I do not remember, you know, when I watched the movie, I remember, you know, I did not prep for this interview, but it was really, really fun. I mean, generally-

IG: 20:09
1000s of-of young people.

LF: 20:12
Hundreds of 1000s, hundreds of 1000s.

IG: 20:16
Hundreds of hundreds.

LF: 20:17
I mean, have you ever, did you ever seen the movie?

IG: 20:19
Oh, yes, yeah.

LF: 20:20
So I think so it is half a million strong.

IG: 20:22
Half a million strong. This- that is remarkable. And was this,

LF: 20:26
And it was all very- [crosstalk]

IG: 20:27
True. Well, I mean, you are from New York City, so you have seen crowds before. You did not shy away from a crowd.

LF: 20:32
Yes, this was unbelievable. It was literally Unbelievable. How many people there were and-

IG: 20:39
And they were all young.

LF: 20:41
Everybody was young. There was no in my-my recollection, there was nobody old.

IG: 20:45
Did was that a life changing experience to be amidst so many young people, and they all stood for something, even if it was-

LF: 20:53
It was love of rock and roll

IG: 20:55
Articulated.

LF: 20:56
Yeah, but it was something else, but it was positive. There was no, there was none of this kind of negativity that we have now in public discourse.

IG: 21:06
Right, which is dark and-

LF: 21:08
Dark and horrible. [crosstalk] Yeah. So in my mind, it was much, much more positive.

IG: 21:13
Was there an idea that music maybe could change the world to a better place?

LF: 21:17
Yeah, yeah, because it was so positive and fun, and really, really fun. I mean, that is what I am remembering, is that we just had so much fun, and I went back for the second day. I am trying to remember exactly who I heard, but I cannot. But, you know, I think that also set me on a course of wanting to see rock and roll the rest of my life. You know, so that I did not do as much as I could, because I had the kids, right, but I always wanted to, and then when the kids were older, you know, I went to see the Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen, of course. But no, I can distinctly remember seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan that I have a clear memory of in the (19)60s in my parents’ bedroom and just being mesmerized.

IG: 22:09
Yes.

LF: 22:09
Why? I have no idea of a completely mesmerized.

IG: 22:12
What was the reaction that your parents had to them?

LF: 22:15
They were fine about it. I mean, we were very I think in (19)64, I was 11, so they were not worried, or concerned.

IG: 22:23
They were not worried or concerned as well.

LF: 22:26
They were concerned about Woodstock, just in terms of fearing panic and stampede, because there were so many people knowing. And here is I have also a distinct memory of standing with my mother. My mother was very friendly with the doctor in White Lake. And I remember she and I were standing in the-the parking lot of the school in White Lake, the middle school, I think it was and waving down helicopters who were medevacking people out. You know, people have been sick or overdosed or-

IG: 23:00
Overdosed, yeah.

LF: 23:01
So I know she was working closely with the doctor at the time, just thinking in terms of Woodstock.

IG: 23:08
But that did not happen-

LF: 23:10
During-

IG: 23:11
-on the first day.

LF: 23:12
No-no, it was like the second or the third-

IG: 23:14
And then they-they probably did not let you return on the third day, or-

LF: 23:19
No, I remember going two days, not-

IG: 23:20
Two days maybe not the third day.

LF: 23:23
But it was, I know it was not scary for me. It was a lot of fun. Now, maybe I would be scared to go into a big, big, big crowd.

IG: 23:33
You know, you-you could not have anticipated-

LF: 23:34
I should go to the Women's March.

IG: 23:36
What-what was that like?

LF: 23:38
The Women's March here in Boston?

IG: 23:40
Oh, this is just recently.

LF: 23:41
Yeah, no, the Woman's March in January after Trump was elected. And every time I am in a big crowd like that, which is not often, I will think, "Oh, this is reminds me of Woodstock" Absolutely, especially if it has a positive energy to it.

IG: 23:57
Good for you. And so feminism was, you know, an incipient kind of movement in the early (19)70s that I know. What was that- did that affect you directly? Do you feel during those years?

LF: 24:15
Did I benefit from it? Absolutely.

IG: 24:17
Yeah.

LF: 24:17
Absolutely.

IG: 24:19
But were you [crosstalk]

LF: 24:20
But I never, yes, I was aware of feminism, but I also felt, maybe from my parents, you know, except for the money issue and the money, you know, goes through the boys, otherwise, I could do anything I wanted, you know. And I felt I could do anything I wanted. And I did, you know, with my career, I just kind of cut through a lot of the crap, and-

IG: 24:42
Well tell us about that, and especially how you cut through the crap, because I think that-

LF: 24:48
I ended up going to law school from the time in front of the box off the post office boxes in Binghamton, and seeing that I had a good LSAT score, which with my good enough grades would get me into law school. And I did get into Cornell Law. I said, I remember opening. I am going, "Oh, I can be a lawyer." I had no huge interest in being a lawyer, but then I got it, I grew the interest. So then I yeah, and I went to, I must have worked that summer in Binghamton. What did I do? I stayed in Binghamton the summer after senior year. So I must have done something.

IG: 25:28
Were you working?

LF: 25:29
I must have been working, maybe for a professor. I cannot remember exactly, because I remember packing my stuff. I did not go back to Jersey, packing up, driving the hour from Binghamton to Ithaca.

IG: 25:44
Was it a world of difference taking [crosstalk]

LF: 25:48
[crosstalk] an Ivy League school? Yeah-yeah. It was. It had a different vibe to it, completely different. But it was also law school, so it was much more serious. You know, I do not remember classes being a focus in Binghamton. I know I went to all of them, but, you know, can I really remember them? Not that much. If I went back, would I, you know, I, you know, youth is wasted on the young. You have heard that. So I wish I can go to Binghamton now, take courses there now when I would appreciate them more. But when I went to Cornell Law School, it was so tough, you know, then I just worked all the time. I did not do any extracurricular stuff the first year. The second year was a little better, and I worked. I remember, I got a job at Willard Straight Hall, which is the Student Center, and I was the manager of the student center. So I could, you know, student manager at night, so I could study, and I was in charge of all the undergraduates who were working there. So that was fun.

IG: 26:56
So you, you enjoyed this managerial you got the taste of managing, from-

LF: 27:03
From being a manager in Binghamton, [crosstalk] But also, I could study, and it was very quiet at the Student Center.

IG: 27:09
That is what appealed to you.

LF: 27:10
Yeah. And there were undergrads actually staffing the desks and rooms and the various activities. And I would just wander around every once in a while, and I was there if there was a crisis, an emergency, but mostly I could stay in the office and study for law school, which was so much work and so much reading, a lot of reading.

IG: 27:28
Yeah, I could imagine I have friends who come to law school. So you were there for three years and

LF: 27:38
And then I went right to New York.

IG: 27:40
You went right- and tell us a little bit about this trajectory of your career, but also with a view to maybe mentioning the instances where you cut through the bullshit and how you did that, because that is informative.

LF: 27:56
Well, in terms of feminism or just being, you know, just-

IG: 28:00
I think it-

LF: 28:01
-doing-

IG: 28:01
-it goes hand in hand, right? Feminism and,

LF: 28:04
Yeah-yeah, I did not feel maybe just because I was in the perfect year when they were opening up, you know, the law school for women, and then law firms were looking for women.

IG: 28:15
Cornell opened its law school for women.

LF: 28:18
No opening up the classes. More and more women were, I was not the first woman at Cornell.

IG: 28:23
Of course.

LF: 28:25
But I was there. I do not think there were 50 percent women in my class by any means. I think they are up to 50 percent now.

IG: 28:32
And at that time they had, maybe-

LF: 28:35
I would have [crosstalk]s it was more than a handful. [crosstalk] was not 50 percent but there were a number of women, but I did not feel like I was owed the woman. There were other-other girls there. I had a great roommate, also from New York, upstate New York. I am still friends with her, but we were very-very different.

IG: 28:55
What part of the law that you studied?

LF: 28:57
I just studied everything.

IG: 28:58
Everything.

LF: 28:59
The general [crosstalk] and then I wanted to do litigation, and I got a job coming out of law school, with the help of my law professors, I could not- I do not think I could maybe get a job all by myself. I got a summer job with the help of my professor--came down to New York, lived in New Jersey with my parents. One summer, I stayed in Ithaca, and I did research with a law professor on gambling that was fun and esoteric. So, you know, I have pretty strong views on gambling, which is, you know, attacks on the poor, big tax, especially casinos and lotteries, just rips off poor people. Really. It is horrible.

IG: 29:42
I would love to hear about that. I never thought I would never and I do not gamble, but, you know, it is but

LF: 29:50
Especially underprivileged, poor people will take their last dollar and buy a lottery ticket.

IG: 29:54
I see, I see, in that way.

LF: 29:55
-in the hope-

IG: 29:56
Yes, in the hope.

LF: 29:57
Hit it big.

IG: 29:57
Of course, of course.

LF: 29:58
About my view about gambling, and maybe I learned this from my professors, that you should take the dollar, put it in the toilet, have some fun while it swirls around. Have fun watching it go down the toilet, because that is the same as buying a lottery ticket. Chances of winning. And, you know, casinos just suck money out of people. So he was pretty anti-gambling, but he was working on gambling laws, and that was a lot of fun. And then I got a really good job, because I went to Cornell Law School, not because I was that smart, and also, with the help of my law professors, and I went to be a litigator. That was (19)77 and I did a couple of law firm jobs, (19)77 to (19)81.

IG: 30:44
Where were they?

LF: 30:46
Yeah, I was with a firm called Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, which is very white shoe, waspy and had a lot of fun there. Learned a lot about big litigations. But, you know, I was a kid. I was a tiny little kid still friendly with those people. And then I went to a very small firm because I knew I would not be a partner there called Hertzog, Calamari and Gleason; I was there for a couple years. That was also a lot of fun, but a lot of work. And then I knew I want to get married and have children, so it would be better to be in a bigger firm which had better policies for that. So around (19)81 I got married and went to a big law firm, and then had my first kid in (19)8-

IG: 31:32
What was the big law firm?

LF: 31:35
I am sorry, I went in house. I was at a big law firm first, then a little law firm, and then I went in house. That is what I meant in house counsel, meaning I worked for Chase, Manhattan Bank.

IG: 31:45
Oh wow.

LF: 31:46
So I was in the legal department of Chase, and I remember my grandmother up near Woodstock right when I told her I was thinking about taking this big job in you know, would not be as much money, but it would be an in a big corporation as a junior person in the litigation area, and she said, it is good to hitch your wagon to a big horse.

IG: 32:12
That is, I have heard variations [inaudible]

LF: 32:14
It is good to hitch your wagon to a big horse. So then-

IG: 32:18
That is a great expression.

LF: 32:19
Yeah. So then I was at Chase Manhattan Bank, which became JP Morgan Chase, and I was there 24 years and three months,

IG: 32:27
That is my bank.

LF: 32:28
That is your bank. That is a good bank.

IG: 32:29
It is a very good bank.

LF: 32:31
And I went from being the junior-junior person in litigation, and then I had a team, and we did nothing but subpoena compliance, which means the bank would get subpoenas, we would have to supply the records and the witnesses. So I did that for years, and then I started to get interest interested in money laundering, and I described it as I was doing the main work I was given. But on the side of my desk, I was helping the bank with money laundering problems, and I was studying the money laundering laws on my own because they were so interesting. And then there reached a point in time, you know, I started doing that in the (19)80s and the (19)90s, and then the late (19)90s, I went to the general counsel before September 11. September 11 is definitely a sticking point. You know, it is a mark, it is a demarcation. It is before and after. But before September 11, I went to General Counsel and said, "We do not have anyone who does anti-money laundering compliance all the other banks do. Why do not we?" And he said, I said, "Let us go to Washington. Let us hire like the head of the SEC and he can become the head of money laundering here." And he looked at me and he said, "I want you to do it." I had no interest or thought that I would do it zero. But he looked at me and said, "I want you to do it." I said, "I do not want to do it," because at that time, there was a big difference between being a lawyer, which had prestige and money being a compliance officer. You needed a law degree to be a lawyer. You needed a BA to be a compliance officer. You could be a lawyer, but you could be a compliance officer with a law degree, but you could not be a lawyer without a law degree. I said, "I do not want to do it." He said, "I want you to think about it." I thought about it. I said, "Well, if he wants me to do it, maybe I should do it." I came back and I said, "I want a big raise. I want." And he was very strict. His name is Bill McDavid. I said, "I want a big raise. I want a big title, and I want a big bonus." He said, "No-no-no, but do it for a year, and then we will talk," yeah, so I trusted him.

IG: 34:42
Yes.

LF: 34:42
I did it. I never looked back. And I became the head of it is called AML, anti-money laundering and terrorist financing in around 2000 and then we had September 11, and I was at my at my office on September 11, and I-I was an initial user of the Blackberry. Do you remember the Blackberry?

IG: 35:05
Yes.

LF: 35:05
So I was what was called a beta user because of my ex-husband’s business. So I was running from the towers and typing messages to my husband at the time, and that is published in the New York Times. You can look it up if you Google me, portions of my transcript were published in the time, so we can look it up now. I can actually send you the full transcript.

IG: 35:28
Yeah, I would love to see it.

LF: 35:29
Yeah. Do you want to take a little tiny break? Because I do not do it now. I will forget but have never looked at. Can I send it to you privately?

IG: 35:39
Yes.

LF: 35:41
Okay. [crosstalk]

IG: 35:44
We were at 9/11/(2001).

LF: 35:49
Running-running and typing.

IG: 35:50
But prior to that, you were a compliance officer for your bank.

LF: 35:56
So I was a compliance officer, and that is what I have been since then. So I was very lucky in my career that I had a good mentor who told me to do it. I did it because I trusted him. And I worked at Chase until another bank was in trouble for money laundering violations, and then I went there to the other bank, which was ABN AMRO Dutch Bank, and they were in so much trouble, and I helped them. And because they wanted me to leave Chase after 24 years and three months, just short of a pension, they gave me a significant incentive so that I could retire. After I worked there for three years, that was my first retirement. Then then then I retired and traveled, and then I got bored, then I went back to work, then I retired, then I got bored, and I went back to work, and that is how I ended up in Boston.

IG: 36:49
What-what are, you know, the most important, you know, abilities to become a compliance officer for big banks. What-what has served you in doing this work?

LF: 37:07
Being able to pay attention to detail and

IG: 37:10
To financial detail?

LF: 37:12
Not even well, detail of all kinds. I am not so great. I am, you know, people think I know how- about bank accounts--I know a little bit. I do not know that much about money, but I do know about managing people. You know, it is really important to be a good manager once you rise up in these levels. And I was quite senior, not just by age. And, you know, I think I did learn a lot of that in Binghamton. I have to say. It is a direct line.

IG: 37:40
It was a direct line, and it was your first exposure to being-

LF: 37:41
To being a manager, being responsible for a budget, creating a budget, implementing a budget, creating a plan, implementing a plan, a work plan, you know to do it before. You know now it is far more complex with many programs that are supposed to help you, but you know, we really had to learn from the ground up. We did back then. And now, you know that I was doing it for several big banks. It became easier and easier

IG: 38:16
Well, and the people skills, I think, remain the same, or they become more refined, of course, over time.

LF: 38:24
I do think you need people skills, and that brings a lot of people down if they because they do not have people skills. And it is just dealing with people, you know, I used to call them my day family and my night family, and I think I was kind of the same with everybody. I tried to always be true to my basic self, and same with my kids, husband, workers, bosses, judges, lawyers, everybody, try to be the same.

IG: 38:51
Well, you must have had a very strong sense of self.

LF: 38:55
You know such a strong sense of self, but a good sense of maybe right and wrong and how you should be, . I think, I do not know. I think so. And now I retired again. I think it is third or fourth time in May, and I am just doing volunteer work now for José Mateo Ballet Theatre, which is something I wanted to talk about that, because at the ballet. We say everyone has a dance story. And my dance story started in Binghamton. So my first roommate in 1970 when I started was Linda Berry. Still friendly with Linda. I am going to go see her in the spring, and later in the spring, in California, where she lives, she might be a good person to talk to. also. She has had a pretty interesting career. She went, you know, West, but when we were kids in Binghamton, she was a dancer, and she was part of the first dance troupe with Bill T. Jones. Do you know Bill T. Jones?

IG: 40:00
Yes, he is a graduate, is not he?

LF: 40:03
He is a graduate, and he is, of course, extremely famous, and he is a MacArthur Genius. But in the beginning it was Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane, his partner--Arnie, has passed away many years ago, but his company is still call Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane and Linda and another woman whose name I forgot, they recently had a reunion in Binghamton, but it was kept very quiet because they did not want a lot of press. And I think Bill did show up, but again, it was quiet because if Bill shows up, then there is a lot of press, because he is quite famous, and if you have ever seen him dance, it is amazing. And his company, you know, he is older now, so I do not think he I do not know if he dances. I saw him, spoke to him recently at a performance, but that really started my love of dance. And watching them dance was so amazing, just amazing. So then I became, you know, consumer of dance. I would go to dance performances in New York, and again, not so much when the kids were little, but then I could really indulge my desire. And a year and a half ago, I met Jose Matteo, who is the choreograph choreographer for Jose Matteo Ballet Theater in Boston. But that was just random. I was not looking for him. I met him at a party. He graduated from Princeton in (19)74 like I graduated from Binghamton in (19)74 and I said, I am going to retire again. I want to work with you. So I am on the board, and I do a lot of work, and that is where I have to go today, because we are getting ready. I am putting together a big fundraiser for him. And so now I go to a lot of dance. I went to 27--I worked for Jose 27 Nutcracker performances during the Christmas season. I took a day off, and I know this sounds crazy, I went to see the Nutcracker at the Boston Ballet. So the Boston Ballet is our main ballet company in Boston, kind of like American Ballet Theater, and it has, it has much greater budget, and it is a much higher level than Jose, but Jose really provides accessible, inclusive ballet, which I love, really, really love. So that is, that is how I am spending a lot of my time. And I have a big party coming up Thursday, but tonight, Boston Ballet, that is tomorrow. I wonder what I am going to and also, so I do tend to overdo dance right now. Alvin Ailey was just here. You know Alvin Ailey?

IG: 42:41
Yes, of course.

LF: 42:42
So I run. I realized he comes to Boston and I have to go to New York. I go at least two times when he is here. Instead of having a season like a New York season, he has a week along.

IG: 42:53
I see and-and your role is in fundraising. For them, you have parties, you have-

LF: 42:58
Fundraising and behind the scenes and [inaudible] performances.

IG: 43:01
How interesting. How interesting. So did this-

LF: 43:03
It is fun.

IG: 43:04
It is fun. So I know that we are running out of time. Are there any-

LF: 43:10
I am happy to talk more [inaudible] with you.

IG: 43:15
But for now, do you have any- you know what-what are some of the most important lessons that you have learned from your college years at Binghamton that you can share with our listeners who are most likely to be students that would help them in their careers?

LF: 43:42
I would say, maintain optimism, kindness, right, being kind to people. I really, really try to be kind. And when I taught my kids, I know it sounds silly, it is nice to be nice. It was a pretty basic theme growing up, and I felt it in Binghamton also, you know, be nice to people. You want them to be nice to you. Be nice to them. It does not always work, but I think people, if you are steady, they see it and act accordingly, not always. You know, there is always going to be somebody at work that is horrible. But I was actually talking to a young person I met yesterday at a party, they are having a hard time at work, and the people are horrible. I said, "Well, try to let them just go over your head. Do not engage, right? Like water off a duck's back." Try to do that. Try to see their point of view. It is not always easy. I think I learned a lot of that being again, yeah, a lot of fun. And the other thing I want to tell you before we stop is that I spent a lot of time with Andy Plump. I do not know where Andy is now, but he was the editor of the pipe dream, and he was my boyfriend when I was at the radio station. So we had the radio station, and then his roommate was Michael Feigenheimer. Do you know that name?

IG: 45:02
Yeah.

LF: 45:04
Mike might have changed his name, but he was Mike Feigenheimer when he was in Binghamton, and he was the president of the student body. So between the president of student body, the head of pipe dream, and the head of we like controlled the media and the student body, but we all laughed about it, because there was no real any, no real power or control. There is no real anything.

IG: 45:23
I think it is best to be president of body that has no control.

LF: 45:30
And I also remember, I remember talking with who was the president at that time. He was really nice to me, the president of Binghamton.

IG: 45:38
I think I know the name.

LF: 45:39
Dean somebody, no, there was, I would have to come up [inaudible].

IG: 45:45
So there was a culture of niceness, you know. Not-

LF: 45:48
My recollection-

IG: 45:48
Not only intellectual-

LF: 45:50
And generosity, sharing and all of that stuff, you know. And was it because we were all kind of hippies? I do not know.

IG: 46:00
It might have been part of the (19)60s culture.

LF: 46:04
I should ask my ex-husband, who was, you know, in Binghamton also with me. His name is Joe Korb, K-O-R-B but I can reach out to him and see if he wants to participate.

IG: 46:17
No, I do not know.

LF: 46:17
I am just throwing out these names-

IG: 46:17
Right-right.

IG: 46:17
Yes.

LF: 46:17
I have no idea he does. He has also a very good memory of those years. And he graduated a year before me, I think, or a semester before me. So, you know, we started dating then, and we were together about 40 years, and we divorced, so we are still courteous. It was, it was a good period, you know it set the foundation for the rest of life. Maybe I will go back. Do you know Mike Needles?

LF: 46:40
Now, Mike is, he was not, he is younger, a little bit younger. He was not there during that period. But I think he was on some-some committees. He was he was asking me to come up and visit. So maybe I will do that.

IG: 47:00
Okay, I certainly will look up. So do we have any concluding remarks? Or do you think that we are done for now?

LF: 47:07
Concluding remarks in terms of the influence of the (19)60s?

IG: 47:12
In terms of the influence of Harpur College, you any words of advice, any life lessons that you would like to share you already spoke about-

LF: 47:21
[crosstalk] great, but it was a nurturing, inclusive environment, and that set the tone for now. Living in the dorm was amazing. I had never lived away from home. Well, I have been away for some summer things, but not much, and then all of a sudden, you are totally free. You can do whatever you want. There was not, I do not remember storm restrictions. Felt like anybody could sleep with anybody or do anything they wanted.

IG: 47:49
That that is a very different Harpur College than the one described by-

LF: 47:54
The earlier (19)60s.

IG: 47:55
The earlier (19)60s.

LF: 47:56
By the time I got there in (19)70 things were changed. Maybe I am remembering wrong, but that is my recollection.

IG: 48:03
That certainly is very different from the (19)60s graduates.

LF: 48:07
Because they remember the-

IG: 48:09
They were restricted, restrictive environment. Exactly

LF: 48:12
No, I think I was just there at a good time. Really good time. So thank you.

IG: 48:18
Well, thank you very much.

LF: 48:19
Happy to talk more and-

IG: 48:21
Okay.

LF: 48:22
I will try to send you the World Trade Center document.

IG: 48:26
I would love them.

(End of Interview)

2018-04-04

Irene Gashurov

1974

Lynne Federman

For 30 years, Lynn successfully guided institutions under regulatory enforcement actions and helped create and implement anti-money laundering programs. At Harpur, she managed the student-run radio station, WHRW.

Audio

Harpur College – Seventies alumni; Harpur College – Alumni in the law; Harpur College – Alumni in banking regulation; Harpur College – Alumni at WHRW; Harpur College – Alumni living in Boston

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Harpur College – Seventies alumni; Harpur College – Alumni in the law; Harpur College – Alumni in banking regulation; Harpur College – Alumni at WHRW; Harpur College – Alumni living in Boston