News Article

Claude Weir: Reaching Out to Underprivileged Students at FSW

May 12, 2015

When Claude Weir considers the significant causes he has been a part of in his lifetime, the most fulfilling is speaking to young people.

The part-time Bonita Springs resident spoke to Florida SouthWestern State College students in February about the challenges he overcame as a child growing up in the New York City housing projects. While a lack of opportunity forced some of his friends into a life of crime to survive, Weir graduated Magna Cum Laude from Dartmouth College and earned a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Harvard Law School.

In his mid-20s he was asked by a friend to speak to a group of high school students in Brooklyn about attending law school and he discovered his passion for connecting with young people.

“I thought I was some hot shot lawyer and it was clear they weren’t interested in what I had to say,” said Weir, changing course in the middle of his presentation. “Until I stripped off all of the accouterments and they saw I was exactly like them.”

Rather than continuing to discuss his experiences as an Ivy League student or working as an attorney in New York City, Weir shared about growing up in poverty in the city housing projects and witnessing domestic violence in the home. He wanted them to know he came from the same place and that they could transcend the cycle if they worked hard and made the right decisions. 

“That’s how I realized that my calling was to encourage young people to do well,” he said. “I wanted to show them that they don’t have to be born privileged.”

Word of Weir’s successful presentation to the students spread across the New York City Public School System and soon he was being inundated with phone calls to speak to other classes and groups. Over the years he spoke at both public schools and colleges and it wasn’t uncommon to have two or more presentations a month plus working full time.    

Early in his career he worked as a homicide prosecutor for the Richmond County District Attorney’s Office in New York State, and later took a job at JPMorgan Chase & Co., where he was considered a national expert on human resources issues like sexual harassment. He retired from JPMorgan in 2004 after 26 years of service, having served as Executive Vice President and Senior Managing Director of its Investment Bank.

Weir continued speaking to young people after moving to Bonita Springs with his wife Yvette, including repeat engagements at North Fort Myers High School, church groups, and the Neighborhood Health Clinic in Naples. The couple also established a family foundation dedicated to helping with issues related to domestic violence, people with special needs, and the working poor.

His lecture at FSW, “Life Lessons Learned From: A Motown Group; A Danish Reformer; A British Prime Minister and a Boy from Brooklyn,” demonstrated to students how a variety of vastly different people and experiences had congealed into his own personal doctrine on life. The Q&A portion of his lecture went longer than any of the administrators had expected and some students even shook his hand at the front of the room afterwards.

Individuals he has met at past speaking engagements have reached out to him for advice over the years.

“I would give my card to somebody at the end of the speech and they would contact me later on and ask a few questions, or if they were faced with certain challenges they may call me and ask for specific advice,” he said.

Most of the young people he addresses are underprivileged and don’t possess the sort of “soft skills” needed for success in the job market, he explained. Down the road he would like the opportunity to teach them about those unwritten rules of the office.   

“There are certain rules in a business environment that they don’t learn in business programs, like office politics, that you wouldn’t necessarily know unless you grew up privileged,” he said. 

Weir’s presentation was part of the FSW’s Critical Thinking in Careers Lecture Series. Students enrolled in the Cornerstone Experience, a course designed to teach critical thinking skills for academics, are exposed to a number of fascinating speakers from the Southwest Florida community. Working with the FSW Foundation, the lecture series has helped students understand the application of critical thinking beyond the classroom.

For more information on the FSW Foundation, visit www.fsw.edu/foundation.

Last Updated: May 12, 2015