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Gordon Dunfee: The life of a Receiver is one that is Crafted, Not Destined By Phelps, Kathy Bazoian* Becoming a receiver was not something I dreamed of as a youth in the small coastal town of Toms River, New Jersey, like kids who hoped they would become fire fighters, astronauts or professional athletes. In fact, if I am perfectly honest, I still do not know what I want to be when I grow up. For the time being, acting as an agent of the court as a receiver is my perfect fit. It was anything but a straight shot to the ever changing and unpredictable world of receiverships. For me, high school was fun, but life really began in college. I began skiing at a very young age, so the choice to attend University of Vermont was not a particularly hard decision. While eventually getting a degree in marketing and accounting, it was the rock climbing, hiking, white water canoeing, ski racing and ski teaching (Sugarbush and Glen Ellen) that placed me in high heaven. My favorite experience there was the springtime tradition to climb Mt Washington and ski the Headwall. Summers were spent lifeguarding on the ocean at Bay Head, NJ. I am still very close friends with my lifeguard buddies. After graduating, I took a few years off, moved to Colorado, and taught skiing at Vail as a Stage 2 certified ski instructor. There I skied with comedian Don Adams and former President Gerald Ford. I fell in love with the incredibly light Rocky Mountain powder, explored back country skiing, survived a major avalanche in an area now called China Bowl, and continued ski racing. My best ski discipline was downhill, which culminated in the highpoint of my alpine career winning the Galliano Cup at Vail in 1974. Summers during this wonderfully fun period were spent surfing in the Hawaiian Islands. One year after returning from Hawaii and before starting back at Vail, I hitch-hiked across the country. Someday, I will write a travelogue of that adventure. From Colorado, I packed the proverbial bags and headed to San Diego, where I was accepted to attend USD School of Law. I needed to attend night school because there were no scholarships or trust funds available, which mandated the day job. Working days for the 3M Company selling magazine advertising was a challenge but immensely rewarding career-wise. I made 40-50 “cold calls” a week and learned priceless business selling skills that I use to this day. Even with a full time job and night school three nights a week, I managed to get an article published in the San Diego Law Review (“Territorial Status of Deep Water Ports”, vol. 15, No.3). After law school I took a different path and worked as a commercial real estate broker for Coldwell Banker in San Diego. From that platform, I was drafted to manage a $600 million real estate development and investment portfolio of the San Diego Division of the Lusk Company. I left to develop my own deals consisting of office buildings, a shopping center and a medical build-to-suit. These pursuits brought some fun accolades including a key the City of San Diego, presented by Mayor Maureen O’Connor and a Gold Nugget “Best in the West” Award from Pacific Coast Builders Conference. This story does lead somewhere, so follow me. My development activities came to an abrupt halt in the early 1990’s with that time period’s banking crisis (RTC ring a bell?). At that point in time, real estate development skills were similar to that of the blacksmith after the invention of the automobile. Believe it or not, and without a great deal of choices, I actually hung out my law “shingle” and practiced law litigating business melt downs, medical malpractice, personal injury, commercial loan work-outs and real property transactions. Quite interestingly, at this time I read an article in the Los Angeles Times about a receivership case. This caused a little stir in the dark recesses of my memories of a USD remedies class. A quick reference to Black’s Law Dictionary gave me the academic jump start wherein I believed that I could do this craft. In a New York minute I was on the phone, making appointments with banks, selling my abilities to handle receiverships. Before long, Home Savings of America gave me strings of cases, mostly apartments, to handle as their receiver. The receivership appointments started to fall off towards Y2K and, as we all know, our computers did not crash. From that point forward, all the new work for receivers was across the country mandating constant travel. At that time I had a young family and did not want to be away from home all week. For the next five years (until the next recession), I dove into exciting and rewarding work as a land developer for urban infill redevelopment. Most of you know me now as a long time San Diego receiver, past President and current Member of the Board of Directors, and Co-Chair of the Educational Committee of the San Diego Receiver’s Forum, as well as the current Treasurer and Member of the State CRF Board of Directors. I have worked on numerous rents and profits and equity cases throughout California and Arizona. I thoroughly enjoy the constant and changing world of receiverships, the challenges it brings, the rewards that accompany a successful case, and the new people you meet almost daily. I find my time spent working on CRF projects extremely rewarding whether it is trying to improve our receivership craft through educational programs or raising money for great charities like The Monarch School. On a personal basis, I start everyday with a dawn patrol surf session at the La Jolla reefs depending on the tide and swell direction. As past president of the WindanSea Surf Club, I usually end up enjoying daybreak at this spectacular point. Through the years I have been lucky to ride the waves of Ireland, Morocco, Peru, Mainland Mexico, Baja, Fiji, Hawaii, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, and the East Coast from Maine to Florida. A couple of other fun factoids are a recent successful summit of Mt. Whitney and an incredible trip to the Isle of Guadalupe off the coast of Baja to dive with Great White Sharks. Both trips were accomplished hand-in-hand with my amazing wife Maureen (we all call her Mo). Mo has an award winning hat company that specializes in custom made “fascinators,” made famous by last year’s Royal Wedding. If you have been to Opening Day at Del Mar Race Track, you have seen her colorful creations. A few years ago, I discovered a son I
never knew I had, from a relationship over thirty years ago. He is
married, has three sons and lives in Maui. It has been an enriching
addition to what we call Team Dunfee. I am blessed to have a big family
with (now) seven children and five grandkids. Better yet, all of our
children are healthy, working, and living happy lives on their own. Their
varied careers include a commercial photographer, a plastic surgery
technician, a computer medical programmer, a personal trainer, a teacher,
an accountant and a big wave professional surfer. I am especially proud of
the productive young people they have become. All that being said, one of
life’s magical moments for me and one of my favorite things in the world
is a surf session with my grandchildren. *Kathy Bazoian Phelps, Esq. is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Diamond McCarthy LLP. She has special expertise in all areas of bankruptcy and receivership law and in representing trustees and receivers in large-scale litigation involving fraudulent and Ponzi schemes. She is a Board Member of the Los Angeles/Orange County Chapter of the California Receivers Forum. |