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Man Meets His Mum 57 Years After His Father Claimed She Was Dead

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4 years ago

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At age 60, Ed Hajim was trying by means of a suitcase of yellowed letters belonging to his deceased father when he stumbled throughout a secret so large, so darkish that it utterly upended his life.

“It was horrendous,” Hajim, now 84, told The Publish. “I should have sat there for half an hour.”

The letter Hajim discovered revealed that his mom, who his father had told him died when he was a child, was, actually, nonetheless alive. And his father had stolen him from her.

The kidnapping was simply the beginning of Hajim’s childhood troubles, which might rise to near-Dickensian ranges. However he managed to beat his tough begin, construct a contented household of his personal and make hundreds of thousands on Wall Avenue.

His story is told within the new memoir “On the Road Less Traveled: An Unlikely Journey from the Orphanage to the Boardroom” (Skyhorse Publishing).

“I had numerous bother writing it,” Hajim says. “I acquired welled up. When I was 18 and went to varsity, I determined I would take my [childhood] and bury it and never deliver it again.”

The excavation of his youth begins along with his mother and father: Jack, a Syrian Jew who grew up in Bensonhurst, and Sophie, a younger girl from St. Louis.

They lived in Los Angeles, the place Ed was born in 1936. Quickly, nevertheless, the couple break up, and Sophie took Hajim again to St. Louis.

In 1939, Jack arrived for one among his routine visits. However as an alternative of returning Hajim to his mom later within the day, he saved driving — straight again to LA — telling his son his mom had died. The occasion would launch a childhood of instability and heartache for the younger boy.

In 1942, Jack was drafted into the US Service provider Marine and was compelled to go away Hajim behind. The boy cycled by means of 5 foster properties. He was sad, suffering from nightmares and abdomen issues.

Ed employed a PI to seek out his mom after discovering paperwork in an outdated suitcase proving she was alive.
He didn’t see his father once more for 4 and half years.

“Daddy, I hope you’ll be able to come for my birthday,” Hajim wrote his father. “It appears so lengthy since I’ve seen you.”

Finally, his father reclaimed him and the 2 moved to New York Metropolis, at first residing within the thirty fourth Avenue YMCA earlier than taking a room in a Coney Island lodge.

When Jack, who had bother discovering regular work, landed a job on a ship, he left 11-year-old Hajim behind within the lodge alone for weeks.

“I discovered so much about playing cards and cube, the video games being performed in entrance of the lodge,” Hajim writes.

In 1947, along with his father nonetheless absent, Hajim was compelled to enter a Far Rockaway orphanage.

He’d see his father often when he was in port, however at one level, the outdated man failed to point out up for a go to and disappeared for 3 years.

At age 15, Hajim moved to the Hebrew Nationwide Orphan Residence in Yonkers and commenced thriving. He performed sports activities and took facet jobs.

His adversity had “sparked his ambition and work ethic,” he writes. He grew to become decided to make one thing of himself.

“In some respects, disadvantages change into benefits,” the writer says. “They had been the present that carry on giving. Resilience and adaptableness are issues you’ll be able to get except you undergo it.”

Hajim finally graduated from the College of Rochester and Harvard Enterprise College earlier than getting into the monetary world.

He labored high-powered jobs at brokerages together with Lehman Brothers. He married, finally had three youngsters and lived a contented life in Connecticut.

Then in 1971, his father died — and whereas cleansing out his belongings, Hajim found the outdated suitcase stuffed with letters. He put the suitcase apart, discovering it too painful to revisit his childhood.

And he left it apart for 25 years till 1996, when he lastly opened it and browse the letters inside.

It was then that he found his mom had not died. Hajim employed a personal detective to trace her down,. The PI finally discovered her utilizing marriage information.

It turned out Hajim’s mom was 81 years outdated and residing alone in St. Louis. She had gotten remarried, although her husband had died just a few years earlier. That they had one son.

In 1997, Hajim traveled to St. Louis and stood outdoors his mom’s house for a number of minutes, anxious to ring the bell. Lastly he did.

“When my mom answered and I was a foot away from her, it was overwhelming,” he writes.

The bodily resemblance hit Hajim instantly. Seeing her was like “an out-of-body expertise.”

“It’s your son, 57 years late!” Hajim joked.

There was no crying or hugging — no drama in any respect. She invited him in, and he accepted. “It was a direct connection. It was nearly like there was no time there,” Hajim says.

He was desirous to learn about his mom’s life, her relationship along with his father and why she by no means seemed for him. “My mom told me . . . that she wasn’t truly indignant about my father taking me as a result of in her coronary heart, she felt I was in all probability higher off with him,” he writes.

Hajim acquired to spend greater than a decade attending to know his mom earlier than she died in 2008 at age 93.

The writer now says he hopes readers take from his rags-to-riches story “one thing that makes their journey slightly simpler.”

And Hajim says there’s one different present his tough childhood gave him.

“You get gratitude,” the writer says. “You’re grateful for the nice occasions, even when they’re not so terrific. You search for someday and say, ‘Wow, I made it.’ ”

New York Post

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Senator Ifeanyi Ubah dies at 52

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5 months ago

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July 27, 2024 12:58 pm

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The Senator representing Anambra South in the National Assembly, Ifeanyi Ubah, is dead.

Ubah, who was the Chief Executive Officer of Capital Oil, was said to have died in a hotel in London, the United Kingdom, on Saturday.

He would have been 53 on September 3.

Senate spokesperson, Yemi Adaramodu, confirmed Ubah’s death to our correspondent on Saturday.

He said, “It’s confirmed, but I am sending an official statement soon.”

Ubah, who was re-elected into the 10th Senate under the Young Peoples Party, had last year defected to the All Progressive Congress.

In September 2022, Ubah escaped assassination when he was attacked by gunmen on his way to Nnewi in Enugwu-Ukwu in Anambra State.

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JUST IN: Edo state Assembly impeaches Deputy Governor Shaibu

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April 8, 2024 10:48 am

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The Edo State House of Assembly, on Monday, impeached the state’s Deputy governor, Comrade Philip Shaibu.

The impeachment followed the adoption of the report of the seven-man investigative panel set up by the Assembly to probe allegations of misconduct against Shaibu.

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JUST IN: Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Lekan Balogun joins ancestors at 81

Published

9 months ago

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March 15, 2024 3:56 am

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The Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Lekan Balogun has joined his ancestors after a brief illness.

He joined his ancestors at the age of 81.

It was gathered that the late monarch was taken to the hospital Wednesday morning having stayed indoor throughout Tuesday on account of slight malaria fever, though, he was hail and hearty on Monday during which he personally received few guests that paid him congratulatory visits on his second year anniversary on that day.

Making this announcement was the Baba-Kekere Olubadan and his younger brother, Dr Kola Balogun in a statement by the Personal Assistant (Media) to the late monarch, Oladele Ogunsola.

According to the statement, Dr. Balogun disclosed that Oba Balogun would be buried at his Aliiwo ancestral home by 4.00pm on Friday according to Islamic rites just as he said that the State Governor Seyi Makinde, though already verbally informed, would be formally notified early in the morning.

The late Olubadan was the first most educated to have emerged as Ibadan monarch, a British trained P.hd holder, a former university lecturer, former member of management staff of Shell British Petroleum, former gubernatorial candidate of the defunct Nigeria People’s Party, NPP, former Senator and a successful business man.

His last official outing was the Olubadan Advisory Council’s meeting which he presided over last Saturday where the decision to derobed Mogaji Akinsola, Olawale Oladoja was taken.

He however, on Tuesday instructed the Ekerin Olubadan, Oba Hamidu Ajibade to midwife a small committee to deliberate on last Friday’s decision on what should be the position of Ibadan Zone in the proposed newly reconstituted Oyo State Council of Obas and Chiefs.

The decision of the small committee was earlier on Thursday ratified by the Olubadan Advisory Council at a meeting presided over by Otun Olubadan and the former governor of Oyo State, High Chief Rashidi Ladoja and was to be taken to the late Oba Balogun for his signature Friday morning so as to meet the deadline for submission to the state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters later in the day.

The late Olubadan is survived by wives, children and grandchildren.

Announcing the passage of the monarch, Governor Makinde, in a statement, stated that Olubadan, who joined his ancestors late Thursday evening at the University College Hospital, UCH, Ibadan, described him as an epitome of royal excellence and a great achiever, who made great marks on Ibadanland in just a little over two years of his reign.

He expressed his condolences to the Olubadan-in-Council, the Oyo State Traditional Council and the people of Ibadanland and Oyo State, praying to God to grant repose to the soul of the deceased monarch.

Makinde said: “With total submission to the will of God, I announce the passing unto glory of our father, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Dr. Mohood Lekan Balogun, Alli Okunmade II, the 42nd Olubadan of Ibadanland.

“A mighty Iroko has fallen; Oba Dr. Balogun has joined the ancestors.

“In Kabiyesi, Ibadanland had a cosmopolitan and well-experienced Olubadan, who made indelible marks on the sands of history and achieved greatly within a short while.

“On behalf of the Government and good People of Oyo State, I condole with the immediate family of the Oba Dr. Balogun, the Olubadan-in-Council, the Oyo State Traditional Council and the people of Ibadanland.

“It is my prayer that God grants repose to the soul of our late monarch.”

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