Love from: Peter & Sharon Labovitz

What a pleasure it is to remember the first time Peter met Lauren. Who would have thought all these years later we would still be bi-coastal buddies? In what must have been the mid-1970’s, Peter walked into the Arthur D. Little office in Washington, D.C. There sitting with Harry Broley in his office was a very dapper young man. He looked like he might still be in college. Harry introduced him. “This is Lauren Walters. I have just hired him as a consultant on my case.” Peter was a little surprised, but Broley said he was OK. In fact: brilliant. And so he was.

Soon thereafter, Sharon met Lauren on Martha’s Vineyard. We had a whole consulting team staying with us in the house we rented each summer from the Sagalyns. The only way we could go to the Vineyard for 6 weeks was by taking the work and the team with us.  For the summer, we all lived together-Peter Epstein, John Sanger, and other Harvard Planning School and Harvard Law graduates who weren’t ready for a real job-who Sharon called the “Merry Men.” When Lauren showed up, always the youngest by far, he fit right in.

After that, we always enjoyed seeing Lauren from time to time when he would come to DC.

And then, years later, we got a call from him to come for a visit to their house on the Vineyard. There we met Karen and it was love at first sight.  What friends we have become. (Whenever we can, we paint rocks.) Great times. We have met so many of their fantastic friends. Lauren is, of course, the ultimate renaissance man and the go-to guy on just about any subject. Besides, he loves cool stuff, like we do.

As a real estate developer and investor, we have marveled at how bold he has been and what a fantastic design team he and Karen are. We have never known anyone with so many homes—and each a real architectural and design innovation. He brought the same boldness and commitment (along with Karen) to his other business and investment ventures.

Lauren is constantly checking on us, aware we are somewhat doddering. He is always insistent that we take life-affirming steps. His help has been invaluable, from representing Sharon in a difficult negotiation with the Inn at Little Washington to finding exactly the right doctors for Peter’s back issues. If you’ve got a problem, Lauren has a solution-or several solutions.

We are continuing to follow Lauren and Karen with awe, through all their adventures.

While they are welcome here anytime, we hope that before too long we can visit them in their own floating habitat.

Happy Birthday, Lauren.

We send our great admiration and love,

Sharon and Peter