瘾君子亿万富翁签署赠与誓言
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今年9月份，在沃伦•巴菲特和比尔•盖茨夫妇创立的“赠与誓言”上签字的富豪人数又增加了11人，总数增至92人。这可真是了不起——92位亿万富翁都承诺至少捐出个人财富的一半用于慈善事业（其中一些人还是和配偶共同签约的承诺）。 但抛开这些单纯的数字，最让人感兴趣的是其中一位新成员：现年78岁的彼得•本杰明•路易斯，总部位于克利夫兰的汽车保险公司前进保险（Progressive）的董事长。这位新成员堪称是这群极富有的慈善家中最离经叛道的一位。找出能与之匹敌的对手？别费神了：没人能赶得上路易斯。 各位从路易斯在“赠与宣言”网站上刊登的公开信中呼吁大麻合法化一事，便可略见一斑。“赠与宣言”公开信通常都以教育、健康和环境为主题，路易斯的开场白可谓破天荒头一遭。 但这就是彼得•路易斯，他的这种放纵、不受约束的生活和《财富》杂志（Fortune）1995年刊登的题为《性、大麻？和汽车保险》（Sex. Reefer? and Auto Insurance）的文章中所描写的一模一样。光是从这篇文章的标题就能大致了解路易斯的人生观。文章的第二、第三段记录的一段轶事更是清晰地展现了这一点，这里摘录如下： 一位投资者非常看好前进保险的业绩表现，认为路易斯是公司不可或缺的灵魂人物，因此在即将购买该股票时给路易斯打了一个电话。这位投资者开宗明义地问到了他最担忧的一个问题：“您的健康状况如何？” 当时61岁的路易斯用他特有的和蔼但直接的方式回答道：“哦，我真的说不好，因为我不相信医生。但首先，我感觉良好。其次，我每天游一英里。再次，我单身，因此随时可以跟人上床。” 但路易斯信奉的这种生活方式并不能让他完全避免健康问题。1998年，由于先天性血管问题，他不得不接受了左小腿部分截肢。这场手术也是这个故事的一部分，因为术后路易斯的痛苦管理策略就是依赖药用大麻。 他也直接了当地承认了这一事实，以及他长期以来将大麻用于消遣。但有一项改变：1995年，当《财富》杂志刊登上述文章时，他还没有准备好完全披露这件事。 我们知道这个事情，因为《财富》杂志听说了他那时使用大麻的传言。他的一个朋友告诉本文作者说，“他是一名正常工作的瘾君子”，因此我必须问他真相是什么。毕竟，那时他是一家汽车保险公司的首席执行官，各种各样的上瘾（像毒品）当然是个问题。 以下是我当年打电话给路易斯时问的问题。我干记者这一行几十年，还是第一次提出这样的问题。我说：“我们听说你在吸大麻？是真的吗？” 路易斯回答说：“我无可奉告。”后来，他又打电话回来提醒我们：“不评论”不表示确认。 |
In September, the number of signers of the Giving Pledge (founded by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates) grew by 11, to a new total of 92. That's impressive—92 billionaires each promising (some co-signing with their spouse) to give away at least half of their fortune to charity. But forget about the raw numbers. The most interesting thing about the expanded list is one of its new members: With the addition of Peter Benjamin Lewis, the 78-year-old chairman of Cleveland auto-insurer Progressive (PGR), this assembly of very rich and philanthropic souls got its most eccentric participant. Don't even think of proposing rivals: Nobody could touch Lewis. Partial proof of that comes with the fact that Lewis' Giving Pledge letter, posted on the campaign's website, calls for the legalization of marijuana. That's a first for the Giving Pledge, which normally mainstreams on education, health and the environment. But then this is the same Peter Lewis whose riotously uninhibited life Fortune described fully in a 1995 article called "Sex. Reefer? and Auto Insurance." While that title may offer a broad hint as to how Lewis faces the world, the subject gets absolutely pinned down by an anecdote in the article's second and third paragraphs, which we repeat. An investor admiring Progressive's financial success and just about ready to buy its stock pays a call on Lewis, suspecting him to be indispensable to the company. Getting immediately to his core concern, the investor says, "How's your health?" Lewis, then 61, answered in his amiable, straightforward way: "Well, I really don't know because I don't believe in doctors. But No. 1, I feel fine. No. 2, I swim a mile every day. And No. 3, I'm single, so I get laid all the time." This regimen—however ardently it was thereafter pursued—did not keep Lewis from having health problems. In 1998, he had to have part of his lower left leg amputated because of a congenital vascular problem. But that unhappy event becomes part of this story as well, because his pain management strategy in the wake of his operation was to rely on medical marijuana. He has since forthrightly acknowledged both that fact and his long-time recreational use of marijuana besides. But that was a change: In 1995, when Fortune did its article, he was not yet ready for full disclosure. We know that because Fortune heard rumors then of his marijuana use—"He is a functioning pothead," said a friend of his to this writer—and had to ask him straight out what the truth was. He was, after all, the CEO of an auto insurance company, for which various forms of addiction—like drugs—are certainly issues. Here's what I said on the phone to Lewis, employing this particular question for the first time in my decades of reporting, "We have heard you are a user of marijuana? Is that correct?" Lewis answered, "I'm not going to comment." Later he called back to remind us that a "no comment" is not an affirmation. |
