The Rochester I Know; 402; Thomas Golisano

(music) (narrator)When he was born Pearl Harbor was just three weeks away. When he was growing up baseball was the central part of a life in Irondequoit that also included bikes and beaches. When he graduated he left behind a high school world that balanced skill on the diamond and prejudice in the hallways. And when he entered the world of business he found that a little research and a lot of hours could make a good idea into a billion dollar company. With that success has come the time to take on other challenges, notably the fights against drug abuse and teenage pregnancy, and for a third political party. Now

Tom Golisano talks with Bill Pearce about the Rochester he knows. (host)Hi I'm Bill Pearce welcome to Rochester I Know Tom Golisano great to have you here. Read about you all the time hear about the important things you're doing in this community but ah, today we're going to talk a little bit about your background where you come from and something about your family. In the opening it said you grew up in Irondequoit no Were your parents born in Irondequoit? Where did they come from? (guest)My mother was born right here in Rochester and lived in Geneva and Le Roy but mainly her and her parents settled right here in town. My father was born in a town in Sicily and migrated to this country with along with his mother in 1905. He was 7 years old. Sort of an interesting story around that. My father was the youngest of six, and the eldest was his sister. Of course, a daughter and she married a merchant here in Rochester. (host) She came over earlier. (guest) She came over first because she had gotten to know this merchant this business

person here. (host) Who was commuting between here and Sicily? (guest) That's correct. And ah, (host) married him, (guest) married him and then one by one they were able to bring the elder brothers over thru bribeing custom immigration officials. And of course they came through Ellis Island. And my father being the youngest. They came over last, he came over last with his mother when he was seven years old. His had father died in a sulfur mine accident before he was born in Sicily. (host) In Sicily?(guest) and so I had never known my grandfather on that side. (host)So you're dad. And that would be your grandmother because your father's mother came over together. (guest)Right (host)And they came here as a result of bribing customs officials. (Guest) immigration officials you know that's I mean that's how you expedited the process back in those days. (host)You could get over eventually but if you what you it was it was money I presume you had to pay them something. (guest)Ya They paid them a stipend to expedite the process to get them over and get them over in a fairly timely manner. And of course then my father met my mother here in Ro- right here in Rochester My father was about seven or eight years older than she was. And they got married settled down in the in the Clinton Avenue

Joseph Avenue neighborhood near the railroad bridge. OK and then eventually when I was a youngster like. (host)Now that was it. that was - it was an Italian area. (guest)Oh yeah. A very Italian area - you know a lot of the business conducted was in the form of retail food grocery stores and garment shops and all that type of thing. And my father worked at Kodak for a while and at Hawkeye and had some other sales jobs he eventually became a heating contractor and in the 40s after the war in early 50s that was a time all the furnaces in homes were coal and somebody had developed these gas and oil conversions. (host)How well we remember shoveling coal. (guest)Oh ya, and there was a big business converting those things to gas an oil furnaces. (host)Your dad was in that business. (guest)He did that for quite a few years, ah and said during the time we moved out to Irondequoit and myself and my sister, older sister and older brother are (host)now Irondequoit is what, just a couple miles further? What about Clinton or (guest)We just moved basically three or four miles North towards the lake across Ridge Road and we. (host)Now this is where? This is in the 50s?

(guest)Now this would be in the late 40s or late 50s (host)Now what was Irondequoit like then? (guest)Irondequoit was much a country town. I mean my parents were able to find lots to build two different homes as owners. So there was a lot of open land back in Irondequoit in those days it was just starting to flourish. I think the principal commissary was Titus and Cooper's still, and they built the old high school and then the new high school in that area. But it was very much ah Irondequoit was considered the country back in those days and I guess, ah, as a matter of accomplishment it was a, it was a big deal to be able to move North the Ridge Road and close the lake. And consequently I spent a lot of time. (host)So you were a successful family. (guest)Well, I'd say our family was fairly successful but we did have a couple incidences happened in our lives and our family life that kind of changed things around. I had a brother that was killed in Korea, during that war, and it seemed to have a very profound effect on my father. (host)An older brother obviously. (guest)Yeah, He was 11 years older his name was Charles. (host)Was that your dad's name Charles?

(guest)My father's name was Samuel. My mother's name is Hannah. Yeah. And (host)Was he in the Army or Marines? (guest)Army, Army, he was 21 years old and during that Korean conflict of course they were drafting people. And uh he got involved in that and he was only over there about 11 months. (host)He was an older brother? (guest)10 years older. (host)10 years older. so obviously someone your dad loved. (guest)Yeah my father was very close to him you know and like most families I mean losing a son or a daughter is a very traumatic experience. And my brother and my father were extremely close and after that happened I think my father's life changed dramatically and even his relationship with my mother changed. And you know things became financially very difficult. And ah you know to the point where you know they came and got the car and we were in danger of losing the house at one time. Now this was when I was a sophomore junior and senior in high school. It's a fairly traumatic experience for me. (host)And you're old enough to sense what's going on and it is a little tough what with your high school days like?(guest) Ah High school for me was, I was one

of those students I guess I was a B plus A type of student doing C work. High School to me was more of an activity where I can center around you know going out and playing baseball in and meeting people and all those types of things. So I stayed straight narrow thou, but I just wasn't a dedicated devoted student. (host)So what, now what did you do when you're a high school student in Irondequoit we're talking 50s now you're interested in baseball. Do you go to Silver stadium to watch baseball? (guest)Oh Absolutely, it was called Red Wing stadium back then in fact what I used to do is to ride my bike up to Red Wing Stadium. I used to sit behind the right field fence and wait for one of the players did a home run. And if I could capture that ball before anybody else did they let us into the game. (host)Did you ever get it. (guest)Oh sure I get it any times and sometimes I kept it just to play catch with. If we didn't get a home run ball we were able to go in at the end of the seventh inning the ushers all got to know us. So I kind of lived around Red Wing Stadium. In fact one of my biggest thrills in life was playing a high school championship game. When I was playing for Irondequoit high school in 1959. (host)Now

what did you play. (guest)I played the outfield. (host)Your in the outfield, center field, left field right field without a (guest)left and right left, (host)left and right (guest)and a much better kid from Irondequoit played center. In fact we still play ball together up until two years ago and I still play more (host)Ball players never die. (guest)Yah we just can't get out of our blood I mean obviously our reflexes are the same and we don't have as much ground. (host)Yah we're going to on to that in a minute but I don't want to leave Irondequoit because we skipped over you know elementary school that was in the city and in Irondequoit? (guest)No I went to elementary school Hosea Rogers which is right off Seneca Avenue and it was walking distance or you rode your bicycle. It was K through six and then in those days a Irondequoit High School had a had the seventh and eighth grade housed right in it. So a seventh grader went to basically school with high school people to right through the senior year so it was a. A little bit of luck but it was a very I would say close knit warm community. (host)Now any of the any of the people you went to school with any of your classmates in high

school or elementary school still around still people you know and work with? (guest) Well quite frankly about three or four of them ended up being equity partners or franchisees of Paychex. One of them moved to Denver, Colorado one moved to Atlanta, Georgia another one moved to Cincinnati, Gene Polisseni involved in, and some of them are still very much involved in Paychex. It's funny my two or three closest friends in high school are my two or three closest friends now, which (host) [stutters] Was there a gulf in between I mean do they No you just keep in touch. (guest) We just stayed together all these years and, ah I'll tell ya, I think it's one been one of the pluses in my life because I think too many people don't have those close associations for so many years. (host)Well now that there's so much transition in schools but sure when you when you went to school you start probably started in elementary school went right through high school was very very much the same people. (guest)Exactly right so you actually build up those friendships last a lifetime. It was a far less transient society back then that it is today.

(host)Well now we're getting in towards moving toward the treasured society. You're in a chant you're playing in a championship team in Irondequoit high school you're playing in a Red Wing stadium now. Does your career in there. (guest)Well right after that I was invited to a training camp by the Cleveland Indians and I went to it. (host)Where was that? (guest)They held it Batavia where they have a farm team, or had a farm team at the time, they they put me up against the right field fence and they had a long fly balls to me to see if I could throw at a whole in third base and I could do that OK. And then they lined us up in a straight line and we had to run the 40 yard dash, it is how quick we were in the 40 yard dash and I was in the top 5 or 10 percent of that room. But then it got us up to bat could be hit with power and that's where I fell apart and that's when I decided that baseball has been a lot of fun and I should make it strictly recreational. And I better get on with other serious things. (host)It had to be power it didn't it didn't make a difference if you just get in it's a nice clean singles. (guest)They were likely green for hitting with power. Their looking for.

(guest)Yeah I think if you get hit with power at that level then maybe you could be a good singles hitter at that at the upper level. (host)Well it had to be a great thrill for you to be. (guest)Oh It was a good (host)scouted by the Cleveland Indians and actually try out probably every kid's dream whether they make it or not that. (guest)Oh Absolutely big league. (host)An being part of a team that won a county championship was also a very big thrill. (guest)It was without a question. (host)well you have become part of many teams since then. now we are out your baseball career is over. Except it isn't i guess, still throwing the ball around. You go on to college. (guest)Well there was sort of a gap because I was sort of a nondescript student in high school when I got out of high school you know I kind of looked around I didn't even take my S.A.T. score test and so I just kind of settled in around the house for a couple weeks and I went on applied for a few jobs and of course back in those days if you could apply and get accepted to Kodak I mean it was cradle to grave security and there was every parent's dream back in those days. Well they didn't accept me In fact I don't even think they interviewed me. So I sat around the house for a couple weeks. (host)That was their loss. (guest)Well I don't know about that.

I don't know how well I would have fit into that, but anyway I've sat around the house for a couple weeks and I went to my father one day and I said what do I do now. Well he said I better help you find a job and I said Yeah I think that's a good idea. So he knew somebody a vice president of operations at. Lincoln Rochester Trust Company at the time and now Chase Lincoln of course and he got me an interview and I went up and then they hired me in my first job was down in the vault in the lower level no windows. (host)which is a vault with a big, (guest) a vault with a big steel doors this was a little ante room off the side and the department stores Sears Edwards McCurdy's, Sibley's would all bring in their cash deposits. It was my job to take a rapper fill of bills was singles fives tens or twenties and there always be 50 in the rapper. Take the wrapper off make sure there were 50 bills in it put the wrapper back and put my stamp on and then do the next package and that's what I did for about three months and I said to myself something's wrong with this. Especially at forty seven dollars a week (host)And you're counting out probably billions of dollars. (guest) I was probably cutting out coming in about 100 to 200 thousand dollars a

day. It was a lot of money in those days. And I said Something's wrong with this picture and not the kind of overused phrase so I decided maybe I better go to college and have a couple friends that have gone over to act they seem to like it so I went down there and applied and they said yeah well we'll take you in Golisano, but we want you to wait till the following September. So back to the vault I went counting that money in that one day Bill I guess I just I couldn't do it anymore and I picked up my personal things that walked up to my supervisor and I said look it I'm crying and I said I just can't go back to their room anymore I've got to do something different. So he was nice enough to say go home for a couple days and I'll call you up and he called me up in a couple days and he said come on in and we will make you a teller at the downtown location which was you know quite a quite a promotion at the time and even they did that even knowing I was going to college and so (host)Get out of the vault you could get up where you could see daylight. (guest)Ya Ya My most unusual experience in that in that being a teller rich at Lincoln at the time

was having Judge Andy Shelly and I don't know if you know judge Selly (host)yes, yes remember Yes yes (guest)Walk in with a counterfeit twenty dollar bill and I caught it. (laughter) I don't know where he got it I never asked him but I remember that (host)Was he a little startled Would you confirm that (guest)Yeah he was a little a little startled and surprised. (host)Judge Shelley was a well-known figure really for a long long time and well respected to be caught with a counterfeit bill that was something. Now you go on from your teller be obvious that banking experience must have helped you somewhat (guest)You know I think it did help I first of all I met a lot of nice interesting people and it gave me at least one perspective on what goes on in the business world and and I think just the exposure to the different types of management styles and supervisory styles was very very helpful but I went on to college down at Alfred Tech down the southern tier of New York State, took business. First year was a very dedicated student I was a little nervous that I was going to be successful. And so I worked very hard and became a dean's list. I mean they didn't believe that back in Irondequoit High School. (host)So you were a C student in Irondequoit but became dean's list at Alfred (host)A late bloomer (guest)A late bloomer or somebody just decided to get serious

and graduated after two years considered going to Albany state, fact I applied to get it to become a teacher because the head of the accounting department at Alfred did me the honor of asking me and says if you go on to Albany graduate and come back we'll hire you. And I'll be back. I thought, boy that was quite a. (host)Now you would go to Albany, what for graduate work? (guest)For two or three years yah. (guest)Ah and um and he would be willing to hire me back I used to work for him part time. He had a part time accounting practice and I used to do bank reconciliations for him on Saturday mornings. (host Uh ha. (guest)I was always my desire to catch him in a mistake I could never do it, the guy was great. (host)That was a little college money (guest)It was a little college money. (host)Walking around money with his probably desperately need it. (guest)It was survival money quite frankly. (host)So now you're you're you're at Alford but your family still in Irondequoit are you back and forth quite a bit. (guest)I was a weekend student. I came home almost every weekend and I don't know why I think it was probably had some of the I preferred dating working girls rather than all (host)college girls (guest)I didn't know why (host)I think it was mama's cooking (guest)and laundry facilities

probably. The thing that was so unique and I talked to my step boys about this all the time is I used to hitchhike back and forth to school college and even sometimes in high school. And I tell about that experience they look at me and say hitchhike What's that. And it was a very traditional nod to transportation back in those days. But it's not anymore (host)I think we all remember hitchhiking which I want to check to cross this country because it's a great (guest)exactly are great way to travel, (host)absolutely no fears whatsoever (guest)and it was Cheep (host)never. I'll say it was cheap. It was zero expenses and that was a marvelous experience. You're out of college. They want to get you to paychecks you want to find out how to develop. (guest)There were a couple steps in between I went to work for Monroe savings bank. I was there for a couple years as a teller. Well I had a little more responsibility that I had what was known as a desk on the platform I used to take mortgage applications I sell sold savings bank life insurance. I was in charge of the tellers and I used to go out to some of the branches when the managers are on vacation. In fact the reason they hired me. I started the goodman Plaza office which is a north Goodman Street near

Main and it was a predominately an Italian neighborhood then and they hired me because I could at least communicate somewhat with with their some of their Italian customers. But eventually they moved me downtown. Ah one day. My wife's brother who was going to RIT came into my house one day and said Tommy says I need your advice with something and his name was(unintelegible name) now he was younger than me and he says Tom he just got offered this co-op job. It's ciber incorporation and I'm going to be doing this this and this he said My question is that they're going to pay me one hundred ten dollars a week. Now I had a co-op job means what he's in schools or school or time and part time Ciberion exactly. Now I have a wife with a child and one more child on the way. And I've been working for two years and he says to me he's going to make a hundred ten dollars a week and I look at my paycheck and I make it ninety seven and that was a fairly dramatic day and changed my life and that that because the following Monday I resigned from the bank and decided I'm going to get into

a sales position. Because I thought the future would be better and I ended up working for Burroughs Corporation. Not the old Tod division that produced forms but the the group that (unintelligible) (host)been on University Avenue? (guest)Ya that used to be the group that uh printed forms sold them throughout the country. I went to work for the equipment division. All they had here was a branch office and I sold accounting machines that did payroll and general ledger an inventory. (host)That was the forerunner of PCs. (guest)Yeah exactly right. And when people talk about doing parallel PCs we're doing that back in the 60s they just called them accounting machines (host)On these big boroughs machines which would have about 3 million buttons on them (guest)They were big heavy and ugly and complicated but that's that's what we sold in those days and ah that's when I got introduced. (host)You sold those machines now did you sell them just area wide or country wide (guest)Sold them all over the country I had a territory which was basically the northwest part of the city and Brock out to Brockport and it was a very interesting experience too (host)You learned a lot of small businesses like yourself (guest)You got it.

Exactly. (host)Beginning to see now it all begin to fit beginning to fit together. (guest)The experience of Burroughs was very important because it exposed me to a lot of small business people. I got to be able to make assessments and what made them successful or what made them not so successful, what type of workout things they had. Ah You know just general characteristics. And I was I was making a living of course but the real thing I was really doing was trying to absorb as much of this as I could because I think I was head in the back of my mind and want to start my own business. And actually it's a little known fact but after my birth experience I did start another business it was called the bidder's Guide b i d d guide. (host)Who would the bidders be? (guest)Ah well, in New York State as in most states any municipality or school district that purchases anything over a thousand dollars or twenty five hundred dollars whatever it may be now has to advertize for bids in a newspaper publication. (host)Yes? (guest)So I get this idea of subscribing to every newspaper in New York State. (host)So and these bids are in what all these.

Weekly (guest)Local and daily, daily and weekly daily newspapers Ah there were 53 weeklys and 53 dailies and 375 weeklys and they all came to a post office box. (host)And how did you find this out? (guest)Well when I was selling for Burroughs, I sold a machine to the village of Churchville to do water billing. And when I had made the sale but I didn't have a signed order and I came back to the branch office my manager said where are they going to advertise for bids on this machine and I said what? He says will they have to advertise for bids in the newspaper he said encourage them to advertize in the Churchville paper and they said. (host)Where no one will see it. (guest)Right where no one will see it and I said gee that's a great idea and then my mind started moving and I said I wonder how many times the competition does that to us. So I got this idea, and I eventually left Burroughs and started this company called Bidders Guide, spent two years travelling around New York state selling subscriptions to that. (host)This is a this is a weekly or a (guest)3 times a week (host)3 times a week. And it's a newspaper or a magazine? (guest)It was a mimeographed, stapled

pieces of paper. But companies at the time were paying you know anywhere from 90 to 180 to 200 dollars a year for the service because it was a real you know sales aide or management tool. (host)And all the bids were put together in your paper and that was the first time that was ever done? (guest)As far as I know (host)Is anyone doing it now? Well about a year ago I found out the bidders guide is still going because I sold it to start Paychecks. (host)That's where you got this. The start up money now between boroughs and paychecks we've got to get the paychecks they will never get there. You work for one other company. (guest)I went to work for electronic accounting systems. (host)Which is exactly the same kind of thing that paychecks is right? (guest)E.A.S. was a payroll processing firm. They were very much targeted their services towards larger companies like 15 to 500 employees and it was working for them as a sales person and sales management person that I got the idea for paychecks. Most of the payroll processors back then were targeting their services at larger

size companies. And the mentality was the larger the company the more revenue the better off the payroll processor was concerned it was going to be. But when you travel down main street anywhere in America most businesses have less than 50 employees. In fact literally the statistic is 93 percent have less than 50 employees. And you did the research to find this out. I went to the library the high school librarian to probably roll over in her grave if the if she knew the information. (host)Is amazing how much information is in libraries that we don't capitalize on it. (guest)Absolutely. (host)You start your own company with the money you got from selling out the Bidders Guide. (guest)Absolutely. (host)Which was paychecks was started with how much. (guest)Well by the time I paid off all the debt I had incurred starting Bidders Guide and and all I had left for the formation of paychecks was $3000. (host)So paychecks will form with $3000 and did you have a partner? Well no I didn't I started it myself I tried to have a partner one of the people that I was very close to in high school who still is is now involved with Paychex was a fellow by the name of Gene Polacini and he

grew up in Irondequoit. Gene was running a or managing a tire store in Webster and I went out to see Gene and I said Gene you know what I do for EAS. And so there's a whole new market place here for smaller type companies. I've got $3000. You come up with $3000 and come in with me. And quite frankly Gene kind of looked at me and said I don't think it will work. Ah five years later Gene became a franchisee of paychecks, moved to Cincinnati Ohio and obviously was very successful. (host)If he wanted to get into paychecks today what would it cost? Everything is company owned Today everything is coupled to it. (host)We will go back to paychecks in a minute but we're getting close to the end and I and I want to bring up a couple of other things Tom Golisano you're one of the many people that I admire in this community but one of the things I admire most is the your your willingness to to as a CEO of a major emerging company to just stand up on and be outspoken on local issues that you know affect all of our lives and I know how much work you've done on the substance abuse and I think your leadership there has been really important I don't know

where you think it's going today and how you feel about it. (guest)Well there are two areas I've been very concerned with substance abuse obviously is one of the teenage pregnancy back to substance abuse. We have put a tremendous amount of effort into fighting substance abuse and you know it's been called a war as a as sort of an accident. We're not winning it. As a matter of fact I think we're losing it. Ah The numbers that continue to perpetuate themselves for substance abuse and addiction are extremely high. And it's not limited to just my feelings are not just limited to illegal drugs but also the drugs of alcohol and cigarettes. (host)So what are we going to do about it. (guest)Well I have some theories, that you know a lot of people disagree with me but I think if you want to cut down on consumption and addiction that you have to cut down or create an environment where the marketing systems and sale systems don't work as well. I mean the alcohol industry spends four billion dollars a year and the average 21 year old in New York state sees 100000 beer commercials by the time they're 21.

Now should we be surprised that there's this pent up demand. And the thing that bothers me most about it is if they sold beverageing. Instead of drugging my drug and changing your emotional state in your mental state I would feel better about it. But actually they're they're advertising very targeted at young people and they're not selling beverageing their selling druging. You know. I wish we could do something about them. (host)Tom Golisano you've done a marvelous job in this community not only in bringing about a company that's very important to this community but also your willingness to step out on local community issues like substance abuse and teenage pregnancy and I wish we had more time to talk about some of these things we would get to but your stories about growing up in Rochester and your experiences are just marvelous and hope you come back again so we could get to some some out of some of the other areas because you're wonderful to talk to. I'm Bill Pearce. This is the Rochester I

know. Our guest today has been Tom Golisano founder president CEO paychecks company. And we're very happy to have you here Tom. See you next time on the Rochester I know. So long for now. (music0 (music). (music)