Occupation: I’m a lawyer, but I’m retired now. I did a lot of litigation. My practice started in Bridgeport, and then I had an office in Stamford. For 27 years, I worked as a cowboy in Arizona, between trials. That was my vacation. I was in practice by myself, so I couldn’t really get away for a vacation. I was never a rider, until I went to Arizona. I learned to rope cattle and do branding. I loved it!

Family: I have a daughter, Susan Beth. She travels a lot and is currently living in Hong Kong. I have a niece, Tabitha, whom I’ve raised as a daughter. She lives in New Haven and has a son. We’re all very close. I have a sister in Virginia, and another sister in Illinois.

How long have you lived in Newtown? I’ve been here about three years. I have become my daughter’s permanent house sitter, I guess.

What do you like to do in your free time? For the last three years, I’ve been involved in writing my autobiography. Friends urged me to so over several years. A Journey Worth Taking — An Unpredictable Adventure: Reflections on Living in America During the Years 1933-2011 came out two months ago. It’s available on amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and Xlibris.com. I’ve lived a very interesting life. I was born and raised in Greenwich. I’m black, and my parents migrated there from Virginia. They wanted to be somewhere their kids could get a good education and they wanted to escape the racism of the south. They came here in the 1930s. I went to Virginia Union University, and then the vice president of the University convinced me to go to law school. I was the first black graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law. My daughter also went there, and became the first child of a black graduate to receive her law degree there.

Mostly, I do what retired people do. I used to golf, and I became the result of a nationwide search for a member of the executive committee of the United States Golf Association (USGA). It’s an elitist group responsible over the years for equipment and rules of the game of golf. I was the first black executive committee member. I’m still working to deal with exclusion through my golf contacts. In 2010, I was inducted into the National Black Golf Hall of Fame. In 1987 I was invited to be the keynote speaker at the first ever black alumni reunion at the University of Virginia. I challenged the black alumni to create a fund, where black alumni contributed to help future black students at the University of Virginia. Now it has $5 million dollars in it, and has given out close to $1 million in aid. I delivered the graduation speech, unbeknownst to her, at my daughter’s graduation from law school. That’s how I measure progress: I didn’t even want to go to my own graduation there. I collect western art. One of my favorite artists is Howard Terpning. I read. If you don’t read, you don’t know anything. What someone reads, what they say, how they say it, says a lot about a person.

What are you reading now? I’m reading a book, fiction, by Nelson DeMille, another work of fiction by Tom Clancy, and a book about Obama’s coming election. I became interested in the blacks of the American West when I was a cowboy. Two books are the “Bible” of that: The Black West by William Katz, and In Search of the Racial Frontier, by Quintard Taylor. I have developed and taught a history course on blacks in the American West at Virginia Union University.

What is the best thing about Newtown? Its interest in retaining its small town, New England traditions. There is something to be said about creating a town that offers health, space, tradition, reasonably good education, and is a nice place to raise a family. I think that’s impressive.

Who has been the greatest influence in your life? My parents and the vice president of Virginia Union. Neither of my parents went beyond sixth grade. My father had wisdom, though, and he taught me to think. He taught me to be able to explain why I believe something. My mother was wonderful. She worked as a domestic every day, and still did everything a mother does. I marvel about it, to this day.

Do you have a personal philosophy? A few: The Golden Rule; and Rudyard Kipling’s “IF — If you can keep your head when all about you/ Are losing theirs and blaming it on you…” I was brought up in the Baptist Church in Christian ethic, and that’s important to me.

What makes you happiest? My daughters, and my friends.