Remember to Live Just A Little, or a Lot, This Holiday Season

I have been fortunate to have certain experiences in my life that were truly game-changing. Growing up in the Bronx, I was lucky to be admitted to Horace Mann which was, and still is, one of the most respected prep schools in New York. While at Horace Mann, I was fortunate to meet many exceptional kids and families, and have a great art history teacher, Don Yates, who helped me see things in art that many people don’t. I was invited to attend camp in New Hampshire at Camp Moosilauke where I learned to sail – among other things – which has become my true lifelong passion.

Sophisticated Living St. Louis Publisher Craig Kaminer.

I attended the University of Michigan as a pre-med student but discovered that I liked art history and architecture more than I liked sick people, and as a result, met and befriended the director of the University of Michigan Museum of Art, Evan Maurer, who went on to become the CEO of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. During this time, I worked with many great artists, collectors and gallerists who changed the way I viewed the world, and I even returned to Ann Arbor after graduation to work with Evan on an exhibition and book in partnership with the Smithsonian. I recently saw Evan in Santa Monica while visiting my mom a couple of towns over, and after 40 years, I was reminded that time is both a friend and a foe as he is battling multiple diseases which will surely take his life.

During my time in Ann Arbor, I produced legendary jazz concerts including Miles Davis, Oscar Peterson and Dizzy Gillespie, with buddies from high school and today I am still very involved in the jazz scene in St. Louis with Jazz St. Louis. I also took Latin and Italian to fulfill my language requirement, and that with my love of art history, beckoned me to spend my senior year studying in Florence, Italy where I met my future wife, Debbie. While I thought I would become a restoration architect (in Italy), I fell in love, which ultimately brought me to St. Louis with a stop in New York where I was one of the publicists in North America for the Italian government.

Like you, I have always wondered how one great thing in my life led to another, but I suppose my luck was the residue of hard work, good timing, and passion. For those who know me well, you know that I have had my share of failures, health challenges, and disappointments, but when I look back on my life, I am very grateful for each and every opportunity and the people who invested so much time and belief in me.

From my camp experience sailing, I always dreamed of having a sailboat and sailing long distances. And I have. Twelve thousand miles in fact, up and down the East Coast from Maine to Key West, from Tampa Bay to Cuba, and from West Palm Beach to the Exumas before heading back to our home port of Newport, RI with many adventures and hot spots along the way. I learned to captain a 52-foot sailboat, named Va Bene (Italian for “all is well”), received numerous Coast Guard certifications, and can now fix virtually anything on board. I had no desire to become a mechanic, but I became one as my on-the-job training to keep the adventure going. And it did. It lasted from 2016-2020 when we returned back to St. Louis to attend to our many other responsibilities.

While some people never get the chance to pursue their bucket list, I have and will continue to. This isn’t because I am independently wealthy — far from it –— but it is a priority to really live. As I write this publisher’s letter, for a magazine which focuses on the art of living, I am on the verge of spending a month in Italy where I first met Debbie in 1985, and where we celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary and our 60th birthdays. We will be joined by our children and their loves, three of our au pairs who will journey from Denmark and Sweden (and who helped us raise our kids), and many of our friends.

As someone who lives with coronary artery disease and diabetes, has had two heart attacks, six stents, and four-way bypass surgery, I am acutely aware that I won't be around forever. In fact, that’s why I try to live to the max. At my funeral, no one will say I was the richest guy, but they will be hard-pressed to find someone who has lived more.

Follow me, through the pages of the magazine as I write features in the coming issues about returning to Italy. Or follow me on your own journey. See the world, make it your oyster, and never look back.

“We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the life that is waiting for us.” Joseph Campbell

Enjoy your family at Thanksgiving, celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, or whatever you celebrate, and get ready for a new year, filled with opportunities and challenges, joy and disappointment — but you know that already. Remember to just live a little. Or a lot.

Craig Kaminer, Publisher

craig@slmag.net