“I was close to my father,. He was a difficult man, but I was close to him. My dad was whip-smart, quick with the humor, and had a social intelligence—he knew people. He was tough and strict, from the old school before the old school. Maybe it's me projecting, but I think he understood that life requires you to have a toughness, and a little bit of grit, and fire in your belly. You don't get that by being coddled. He was tough on us.”