Class News
Ed Massey '64 on video describing Telluride Promise
Ed Massey '64 published his first book in June 2009, a novel entitled Telluride Promise based on a true story of a Depression-era banker. The book can be bought on Amazon by clicking here.
See a video in which Ed describes the book. Then read on.
For those of you who were too distracted by the interviewer to listen to a word that Ed said, here's a description of the novel's plot, followed by an excerpt from a review in the Providence (RI) Journal.
First, the plot ... A little man in a small mining town did the right
thing for people who trusted him with their money
and went to jail for it. A banker, Charles C.
("Buck") Wain, foresaw the depression. Six weeks
before the crash, C.C. set in motion his plan to
protect his depositors by arranging for a "loan"
from New York banks.
Pursued by the ambitious, rich, and powerful, brought to trial on charges that were not actually for the crime he committed, he pled guilty partly to protect his family and friends from further harassment, but mostly because it didn't seem right just to beat the system. ("I took that money. That was the only way I could get it to pay out my depositors.")
Six years later — three months before FDR made
his crime the law of the land by signing the
National Banking Act — he was released from prison.
He tells his story from the vantage point of his
last days as an obscure Fuller Brush man of 83.
Now, the review ... In an editorial on 7/26/09
commenting the mixed blessing of recent strong
corporate earnings in the banking sector, the
Providence Journal included the following
afterthought. "For a more inspiring tale of
bankerdom, we recommend a new novel called
Telluride Promise by our occasional contributor
Edward Massey, a long-time financial adviser
himself. You can get it on Amazon.
"Based on a true story, Telluride Promise is
the exciting story of a small-town Colorado banker
who does the right thing for his depositors by
getting a loan from big New York banks (them again!)
and goes to jail for it during the Depression.
"This evocative book is one of the best we've read
about the financial system at ground level,
dramatizing the ethical dilemmas faced by bankers
and other businesspeople back in the '30s — and
today — and their effects on their families and
others around them. The protagonist, C.C. Wain, may
be heroic, but he is also a flawed character, very
much in the round, operating with . . . alternating
clarity and doubt. But then, he does rob Peter to
pay Paul .
"You won't forget him or some of the other
characters. We also can't refrain from saying it
would make a terrific movie."
Ed is currently the owner of Next Generation Companies, a firm based in Greenwich CT that provides strategic financial advice to high-net-worth families. His 40-year career has included senior positions at U.S. HomeCare Corporation, Ropart Group, and McKinsey & Company.