For me, writing is therapeutic; hence, even if nobody reads this, I’m feeling better already!!!

I have been fortunate to have numerous mentors in my life, which has taken me further than I could have possibly taken myself! 

Starting with my parents, then my first sales manager in the insurance business, Charles Sperrazza Jr., when I was fresh out of Lehigh University.  This led me to Buffalo as a manager for Prudential, then to Manhattan for years, where a great man named Irwin Smiley took me under his wing and taught me about estate planning! 

Irwin, a legend in our business, once led 3 insurance companies in production in the same year! For example, he handled Ralph Lauren’s (born Ralph Lifshitz) life insurance and estate planning.  Irwin Smiley 1/16/1928-3/20/2001 was suffering from glaucoma, was losing his eyesight and Irwin was depressed about his extensive stock market losses.  Ironically, Irwin committed suicide on my birthday by jumping out of his upper east side condo window.   

On Thursday August 13th, a mentor of mine, The Honorable Charles J. Thomas, passed away at age 92.  A prominent figure, his funeral was at Schwartz Brothers-Jeffers Memorial Chapels in Forest Hills on Friday 8/14.

Judge Thomas presided over the Article 81 Guardianship court for many years.  I knew he was sick when his son Daniel reached out to me last year to help the Judge with his long-term care insurance claim. 

This all hit me last Friday when responding to an email from Rosalia who suggested perhaps a guest blog, so here we are!!! 

In late 2008, I was hired by a law firm as an insurance expert in a case in front of Judge Thomas in the Queens Supreme Guardianship Article 81 Court!  We were third out of 3 long cases that afternoon. 

After our hearing, I was called into the judge’s chambers (by myself).  Thinking perhaps I did something wrong, my heart was pumping! It went a little like this:

“You did really well in there kid!” 

Thank you, your honor. 

“Better than most attorneys in front of me.” 

Thanks, as my parents always wanted me to be an attorney. 

“We need your skillset here in Guardianship.   Did you see the case in front of yours with the poor young Chinese girl who was butchered by the surgeon and is now disabled for life?” 

Yes sir. 

“I’m giving you that case. You can handle it and help them!” 

But sir, I’m not an attorney. 

“Exactly!  You will take and pass the Guardianship course, and I will add you to the list for Guardianship and anything else you are interested in.” 

Uh, ok your honor.

From that case, I learned how to read and write legal motions, orders, petitions and create annual accountings.  I also served as a court evaluator for years.  This gave me confidence for problem-solving and specializing in insurance-based solutions for law firms and law firm clients as well as handling structured settlement planning on accident and malpractice cases!

Mentors have been invaluable to me throughout my life!  I hired a personal trainer in 2025, which is really in my mind a fitness coach/mentor. This has led to more fitness gains than on my own.

The Gotham Networking community is no different.  My brother Ross was a member many years ago; however, I was urged to join (The Community) by my long-time client and friend, Amparo Connors, roughly five years ago. 

When I heard there was a person named Brad Scherer in charge of Gotham mentoring, I immediately got to know him (a special person) and vice versa.  We had discussions, he suggested Fred Klein and the rest is history.

This brings me to the blog title, Mentor’s Matter, I suggest asking for one…