Paul "Red" Fay Jr.
An Abundance of Knowledge;
A Legacy of Friendship
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By Ben Forrest
Retirement Capital Group is honored and delighted to recognize Paul
“Red” Fay Jr., a member of Retirement Capital Group’s
Board of Directors.
Paul Fay is an individual with a wealth of knowledge and experience
in the area of financial regulation. An alumni of Stanford University,
with a degree in economics, Paul is currently President and CEO
of The Fay Improvement Company. Based in San Francisco, The Fay
Improvement Company specializes in creating a dialogue between institutional
money managers and prominent federal government officials. Recent
conferences have included discussions with Richard Cheney, the Secretary
of Defense, and James Watkins, Secretary of Energy, as well as with
a wide variety of fiscal and monetary authorities.
Paul Fay’s financial experience and counsel is widely sought
after. Paul currently serves on the board of directors of First
American Financial Corporation, Optimum Bank, Underground Solutions,
and Vestaur Securities, Inc. Paul has been an invaluable addition
to RCG. His keen governmental and financial expertise has helped
RCG tremendously, particularly by keeping the firm well informed
of proposed government regulations.
Paul Fay is respected not only for his financial knowledge and expertice,
but also for his individual character. On a personal note, Paul
is known for his ability to brighten up just about any situation
and for his friendly disposition; one of Paul’s closest friends
was John F. Kennedy. Recently a guest speaker on CNN, Paul was introduced
by Larry King as “’Red’ Fay – there he is
– one of JFK’s closest friends…”
Fay and Kennedy met in 1942 in Melville, Rhode Island, where Paul
was stationed for torpedo-boat training. Paul was in the middle
of a game of touch football with some of his buddies when “a
skinny kid” came up to the group and asked if he could play.
Paul didn’t think much of it, but was thoroughly surprised
and disappointed when “the skinny kid” quickly became
the star player of the oposing team. After the first play, Paul
huddled his team up and said “I’ll take that skinny
kid from now on.” Paul remarks, “In the plays tht followed,
I saw nothing but elbows, shoulders, and knees, and acquired a colletion
of bumps and bruises.” After a rough game, the following day
Paul reported for training and found his instructor to be that “skinny
kid”, Lt. John F. Kennedy. Fay and Kennedy would play many
more games of touch football and become close friends as they served
together on active duty in the Pacific during World War II. To Fay,
the future President of the United States was simply his pal, “Jack”,
and John F. Kennedy, came to refer to his dear friend as “Old
Grand Lovable”.
After the Navy, “Old Grand Lovable” and “Jack”
worked side by side in preparation of Kennedy’s first political
campaign in Boston. Years and many political successes later, Paul
continued to work with President Kennedy and served as U.S. Under
Secretary of the Navy from 1961 to 1965. Paul's close relationship
with Kennedy inspired him to write The Pleasure of His Company,
a popular biography of the former President.
Paul has never broken his naval ties, as illustrated by his service
as Trustee Emeritus of the Naval War College Foundation in Newport,
Rhode Island. He is also a Trustee of the Robert S. and Helen P.
Odell Foundation and the Mount St. Joseph-St. Elizabeth Hospital
in San Francisco. Paul is an avid tennis player and is President
Emeritus of the Youth Tennis Foundation of Northern California.
Paul has three children and seven grandchildren. He currently resides
in San Francisco with Anita, his wife of fifty-four years. We at
RCG are proud to have Paul “Red” Fay serving on our
Board of Directors.
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