Samuel Parker Moss

FAVORITE MEMORIES OF WILLIAMS

Frances Oakley, Terry Perlin, Winter Study The New York Times

WILLIAMS CLUBS / ACTIVITIES

Freshman basketball, crew team (freshman and sophomore), house president

CURRENT INTERESTS, PASSIONS, AND ORGANIZATIONS

Social Enterprise at Goizueta (Emory University), New American Pathways, Planned Parenthood, Focused Community Strategies, the East Lake Foundation, WABE, GPB, Georgia Social Impact Collaborative

LIFE SINCE GRADUATION

“A carrot dog? You mean a hot dog constructed from a carrot? Has each of you on the lending team visited Kemi’s pop-up and tried it? And you want to make her a $10,000 loan for a food truck?”

So began a not untypical credit committee meeting of the Emory undergraduate business loan fund in Atlanta, on which I serve. Another board member, the professor who started the social enterprise program, and I decided that it was time for a field trip to Carrot Dog in southwest Atlanta. It was delicious. Marinated in 19 herbs and spices, it tasted exactly like a hot dog without any lingering regret of “Why did I just eat a hot dog?” Kemi is a charismatic, experienced vegan chef with a passion for improving people’s diets. I once again learned from the students.

Isabelle has said that I have failed at retirement three times. My continuing work with several foundations on mixed-income and affordable housing in Atlanta supports her assessment. Through the Georgia Social Impact Collaborative (GSIC) I also spend time educating and advocating for impact investing (investments with high social impact and a financial return), encouraging foundations, corporations, and others to use part of their investment portfolios in more creative and impactful ways.

In 2004, I transitioned from 30+ years in banking, which had taken me from New York to North Carolina, Switzerland, and Atlanta, and joined a family office focused on the then nascent idea of private capital investing in and stimulating the creation of indigenous funds, which would be physically closer to the micro-finance institutions they supported. This work for seven years introduced me to the Emory B School professor focused on social enterprise and providing market access to micro-entrepreneurs in low-income communities. Thinking that I was on a short-term project for another family office, I stumbled into full-time responsibility for their mixed income housing redevelopment in East Atlanta. Knowing nothing of multi-family housing and especially not the government-supported affordable side, I fell back on my liberal arts training at Williams to learn as much as I could. It also provided a glimpse at the seamier side of local politics.

In 1978, Isabelle forgave my false history of being descended from reindeer herders in Lapland (and the least romantic proposal ever) and married me in NYC. Bo was born in 1979, followed by Lauren in 1982. We visit Bo, his wife, Allison, Parker (11), and James (8) as often as permitted in Covid but enough to even have grandchildren eye-roll at my feeble jokes. Lauren died in September 2021. Her unceasing commitment to social justice continues to guide us away from ambivalence and ambiguity. Her teasing relationship with several of our friends is an enduring legacy. Our fleet of cars was battle-tested by Lauren; the local tow truck drivers knew directions to our house before GPS became prevalent. At age 20 in 2002, Lauren called me at work. “Dad, I just dropped my friend at the airport and I got four flat tires.” “Lauren, how could you get four flat tires? Do you have AAA’s number?” “April Fools, Dad!” We desperately miss Lauren but are better for having her in our lives for 38 years.