FOUR WOMEN REFLECT ON THE INFLUENTIAL MEN IN THEIR LIVES
STORY BY Karen Nitkin PHOTOGRAPHY BY André Chung
Remember the adage “behind every successful man there is a woman?” It’s way out of date. Successful men – and successful women – don’t always have someone standing behind them, providing support from the shadows. But that doesn’t mean they don’t derive inspiration from a close friend, partner or relative. We spoke to women about the men in their lives – those who have set an example, exhibited leadership by the way they lived their lives. They told stories of spouses, clients, siblings and fathers who showed them the value of hard work, of valuing friends and family, of giving to their communities. One inspiring life leads to another. Nobody stands behind anybody else.
CANDACE DODSON-REED
Candace Dodson-Reed, 41, deputy chief of staff for Howard County government and vice chair of the Democratic Central Committee, is used to making decisions, but she
could not decide which man had exerted a more powerful influence on her life, her father or her brother. “My dad set the bar for us,” she says. “He instilled things in us that make us who we are. And then my brother, even though he’s younger, lives that example and encourages me to live that way as well.”
Dodson-Reed and her brother Christopher grew up in Columbia with dad, Cloyd, an accountant, and mom, Pat, a Howard County schoolteacher. Christopher, 37, is now an orthopedic surgeon and partner at the Rothman Institute, an orthopedic practice. He lives in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
“Education was big for my father,” Dodson-Reed says. “He absolutely believes it’s the great equalizer in our country.” He also advocated a strong work ethic, she says. Her father started working at age 12, and he’s still working. “He taught us that to get anywhere in life, you’ve got to show up and put the work in and work just as hard if not harder than anyone else. My brother and I think about this all the time.”
Cloyd Dodson also made sure his children gave to their communities. He told them they could choose their charity, but admonished, “don’t forget those who are not as fortunate.”He also stressed the importance of family, says his daughter. He reminded his children that they must “always, always, always have each other’s backs.”
And they do.
SUZY MCCULLOUGH SERPICO
Suzy McCullough Serpico, 33, is an elite triathlete and head coach of Rip It, a triathlon training company she co-owns with her husband, Danny Serpico. When she’s preparing for an event, the Hammond Elementary School physical education teacher will start each morning with a grueling bike, run or swim, followed by an equally intense workout at the end of the day. On the weekends she trains even harder.
It seems like she should be the person who is inspiring others, not the one who is being inspired. Yet Serpico says she is inspired to work as hard as she can because of the example set by one of her clients, Sergio Vazquez.
Vazquez, who lives in Columbia, had completed shorter triathlons, but he signed on with Rip It to help prepare for the Iron Man Lake Placid in 2013. There were a few obstacles: He carried more than 300 pounds on his 6’3″ frame, and he didn’t have much free time, since he works full time and has four children, triplets going into second grade and a 2-year-old. One of the triplets has cerebral palsey.
“He really changed my mindset of what a true Iron Man looks like,” Serpico says. Vazquez, 37, a district manager for Pizza Hut, is currently training for the Iron Man Maryland, which will be September 20 in Cambridge. To prep for the 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile run, Serpico has given him a training plan that includes a 100-mile bike ride, followed by a 20-mile run the next day.
Though the regime is exhausting, he’s made time to get his children involved, helping the triplets train for the Tri-Atholton, a triathlon for 5-17-year-olds, sponsored by Columbia’s Atholton Swim Club. “He’s making it a lifestyle thing with his family, which I think is huge,” Serpico says. “It’s almost like, what’s my excuse for not getting up and training?”
RENEE FOOSE
Dr. Renee Foose, superintendent of the Howard County Public Schools System, remains inspired by the ferocious work ethic and devotion to family demonstrated by her father, Raymond Foose, who died 20 years ago. Foose, 47, grew up in Pennsylvania, the youngest of eight children. Her father was a laborer in the iron foundry of a local Ingersoll-Rand factory.
“When you have a family that large, you make sacrifices, and both my parents made incredible sacrifices,” she says. “One of the things they instilled in me is you have to work hard. Failure is a different kind of success, you need to view it that way.”
Raymond and Nancy Foose have six daughters and two sons. All were expected to do chores and begin supporting themselves at young ages. “We were all expected to pull our weight,” Foose says.
Foose got her first job at age 16, waitressing to raise money to attend Northhampton Community College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Her father, she says, “felt you needed to earn a living. One of the best things he did was make me go to work in order to go to school.” She worked as a school bus driver and school system secretary while at community college. She was a state trooper while studying to be a teacher at what was then Towson State University. Those are paths she probably would not have taken without that push from her father, she says.
Raymond Foose, a Navy man who served a tour in Korea, worked six days a week, and socialized with friends and family on Sundays. His easy way with other people has also inspired his daughter. “It’s about relationships, it’s about how you treat people,” she says. “At the end of the day, it’s not about what you have done, it’s about how you have made people feel.”
LINDA SORG OSTOVITZ
Linda Sorg Ostovitz, 58, family law attorney and founding partner of the Silverstein and Ostovitz family law firm in Ellicott City, found inspiration in her husband, Jim Ostovitz, who “took my breath away the first time I laid eyes on him,” she says.
He was a Maryland State Trooper, and she worked in the Howard County State’s Attorney’s Office as the director of the Victim Witness Program. They married in 1985. Her husband’s unwavering confidence in her bolstered Linda when she decided to leave her secure job with the county as a senior assistant state’s attorney in 1987 to start a private practice, and when, two years later, she established a partnership with Fred Howard Silverstein.
Linda may have been more serious than Jim, who was gregarious and put people at ease. He could strike up a conversation with anybody, Ostovitz says. They balanced each other, she says. “Together, we were invincible.” Learning from Jim’s example, Linda improved her socializing and networking skills. This year, she is president of the Business Women’s Network of Howard County and received the organization’s “Woman of Distinction” award last spring.
Jim died July 9, 2013, at the age of 65, from lymphoma. But he still inspires his wife every day. “I walked through the door every single night to my husband, who would greet me with that adoring smile, uttering some term of endearment while wrapping me in his arms of love and security,” Linda recalls. “He’s such a huge, huge part of who I am.” *
Linda Sorg Ostovitz is still inspired by her husband, Jim, who died in 2013.
