Stephen
I spent most of my father’s funeral shaking hands with people who knew Samuel Case better as a businessman than as a man.
Former board members told me he had changed the industry. Investors spoke about his instincts. Men who had spent half their careers trying to beat him suddenly stood beside his casket talking about loyalty and friendship as though they had spent every Sunday afternoon at his dinner table.
I thanked all of them.
I nodded when I was supposed to nod.
I accepted condolences.
I stood beside my mother while Evelyn held herself together with the same rigid control she had used her entire life, and I did exactly what I had been taught to do.
I performed.
That was the Case way.
You didn’t fall apart in public. You didn’t let people see weakness. You kept your sh
