“One of the greatest honors of my life” noted Aventura’s former Vice Mayor Billy Joel when asked to be the keynote speaker for the Florida International University’s commencement ceremony.
With thousands of students and their families and FIU leaders such as President Dr. Mark Rosenberg, Provost Dr. Kenneth and Biscayne Bay Vice Provost Dr. Steve Moll in attendance, Joel’s wife Sandra and their children, Lisa and Eric Mannis, Donna and Jeffrey Eichman and their children, and their son Jay flew in from the Northeast to surprise him. Billy Joel held the audience captive as he told the story of his upbringing, and opening his first business at age 12. “I was working selling peanuts, and I soon realized that I could open my own peanut-selling company…but ah….MY peanuts were sold warm because I placed an electric bulb in the machine!” As a young man, he worked for a trucking company, and after he increased their sales substantially, he asked for a piece of the business, but was refused. And of course, you can probably figure out the rest of the story…..he bought a truck and opened his own trucking company, delivering items for the large department stores. Today, that trucking business is extremely large, employing over 500 people, and run by Joel’s son, Jay.
“Sure…there were mistakes along the way …I tried to start other businesses and failed. But I kept on going” said Joel.
Joel was invited by FIU Vice Provost Steve Moll to sit on his Executive Council, where he created the Golden Gift Scholarship program which provides $5,000 scholarships to first-generation students. “This year, we will have given out $750,000 of scholarships,” said Joel proudly. “This year, we will complete our promise of $1 million in scholarships by next year.”
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