Scenes from an Interview:
Philanthropist
Skip Sack
by Gus Mollasis
It’s all about service and work to this man nicknamed Skip. Service and work have dominated his way of life. It matters not if it is in the Marine Corps, the restaurant business, or the numerous philanthropic endeavors he becomes attached to, he serves them all well. To Burton M. “Skip” Sack, service comes with a smile no matter what job he has performed over his rich and diverse career. A tune came to mind while I interviewed this fascinating man - “Whistle While You Work.” Heck you can almost hear it as you picture him washing dishes at Howard Johnson’s as a teenager or giving a speech as president of the National Restaurant Association to his respected colleagues many years later. For Skip, service and work are the things that keep him happy, focused, and grateful. His positive attitude is as strong today as ever and it enables him to start every day with the “go get ‘em” drive of his youth; while the fruits of his labor provide him with the means to give back so much to so many, even as the locks on his head have changed from chestnut brown to the white of a fresh New England snowfall. Recently, Skip Sack did me the service of sitting down to take a look at some of the scenes from an interview of his life. Where were you born? Melrose, Massachusetts. Paint me a picture of your childhood growing up. Perfectly middle class. My dad was a fur salesman. We lived in Brookline outside of Boston. I had a normal childhood but I was always anxious to go to work. I was also very uneasy about being lazy and not doing anything. I always had to keep busy. I remember when my mother and dad rented a place on the beach in Cape Cod for two weeks when I was about twelve years old. I spent one day on the beach and I was bored to tears. So the second day, I started walking around picking up bottles on the beach, which in those days you could redeem for two cents. I think I made 14 cents that day. On the third day, I was still bored, so I went into town and saw a sign on a little snack bar on Main Street that said, “Dishwasher Wanted.” I applied and told them I was 14 years old because I was big for my age. They gave me the job and I washed dishes for two weeks and I loved it. I absolutely loved the restaurant business from that time, the pace of it, and the people that I was working with. I was washing dishes by hand, but I absolutely loved it. When I went back after the summer, there was a Howard Johnson’s Restaurant that was opening in my hometown of Brookline. I had just turned 13 and I got a job there as a dishwasher because I had experience. That’s how I got started in the restaurant business. What is the greatest thing that your parents taught you? Integrity and to be ethical, and above all, to be honest. scenesarasota.com
Did you have a favorite place to hang out when you were a kid? I started working for Howard Johnson’s in 1951. I worked full time in the summers and I worked after school. I got out of school at 2:10 and at 2:30 I went to work until 7:30 at night, not because I had to, but because I wanted to and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Basically I didn’t play sports. I went to work and I loved it. Where did you attend college? I received my Bachelor’s degree from Cornell. Then I was sent to the Harvard Business School for their 16-week PMD (Program for Management Development) program. There’s an interesting story about how I got into Cornell. I literally quit high school in my senior year, which was during the Korean crisis. In those days we had a military obligation of at least two years. I decided that I was going to join the Marine Corps for three years because I wanted the regimentation and the discipline. After getting out of the Corps, my plan was to work for Howard Johnson’s and hopefully one day manage one if its restaurants. I got my high school degree while in the service. I was stationed at Camp Upshur where all the second lieutenants who were college graduates attended. Even with their gold bars of graduation, they still had to go to officer’s boot camp. I was stationed at the officer’s boot camp as an enlisted person and saw them living two to a room while I was in a squad bay with 65 guys. I was eating at picnic tables for 12 and they were December 2013
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