Sometimes things come together as they should. They recently have for international businessman, lawyer and philanthropist Emile E. Gouiran ; within a week of the announcement of the anniversary of his award for services to orphans and underprivileged children, he was recognized in Geneva for his worldwide successes in funding desperately needed assistance to children worldwide, an activity which already threatened to lionize this very energetic and very private sexagenarian, but it was clear at the prize-giving that the pleasures of recognition do something to render tolerable the passing inconveniences of fame. They do something too, to make up for decades of unremitting endeavor, for early years of poverty and for numbers of activities undertaken in the blind - that is, without the comforting assurance of any welcoming recipients. It has been a long haul for the very controversial Emile Gouiran.
Ill-health and parental death, resulted in a peripatetic orphan's childhood, while an education that unusually combined rigor and breadth fed the autodidact in him. Fluency in French found him useful employment in the US Marine Corp, where in Vietnam he performed heroically "in the likes and dos of a 5'8 John Wayne" as reported in the Daily News, though Emile remains firmly discreet on the subject. This also led to his marriage to Donna, in 1968 at age 20. After his return from the war, they settled in Brooklyn, then Staten Island (New York City). It was easier to be poor, in proximity to Donna's family. Her grandmother, Margaret Jackson was one of Emile's first financiers, the second was Donna herself who handed him the entirety of her wealth - $ 265 in US Savings Bonds she had obtained from gifts over the years.
There was never any question for Gouiran that he should - must - achieve economic success, and never any wavering or compromise in Donna's and their progeny essential support. In 1969 their first son was born, E. David IV, Alan followed in 1975 and Steven in 1977. Small business enterprises, undertakings that none others would perform all mark those early years outstanding amongst which were real estate and lending operations, set in Brooklyn and New Jersey, Gouiran's entities and associates prospered, even if during New York's economic hard times, Gouiran earned the moniker "The bank of last resort". A young man of 20 he thrived, but just ahead of the wolf at the door. Luck helped. A banker named John Fogerty, with the then Security Federal Savings & Loan Association took a liking to the young man appearing in shorts and sneakers seeking loan after loan. Gouiran made many influential friends, trouble shooters and problem solvers, but he sailed past the lot with ambitious and insatiable desires to make a difference, to do when others wouldn't.
Gradually, by word of mouth, astute accomplishments, merit and dare one say, focused service, a rare tidal wave of recognition and commercial successes surrounded Emile and his activities which grew to untold millions operating in 19 countries. Biographical rights, the rights to his papers and the creation in Staten Island of the Gouiran Study Center, are only the most recent events which follow the naming of libraries, and even of a ship and dining club in the Cayman Isles. An association and newsletter was recently formed by the mothers of the hundreds of children assisted by Gouiran charities, notably the Vindication Trust, whose object is to finance the defense of underprivileged youth targeted by over-zealous prosecutors. It is no wonder that Gouiran also bears the mark "The Human Investor". His admirers are found in total diversified domains of the arts, the law, business, and of course philanthropies.
Emile Gouiran has been described enduringly and endearingly, as beefy, cheerful and generous, a fool in social graces and a genius in everything else, he is said to be moody, subtle, brilliant and a passionate naturalist, these contradictions united by sympathy, respect, acknowledgement of human differences, a sense of fairness and justice and affection. All of this suggests more about the man, in the spaces between the words than expressed directly, except when considered in light of Gouiran's sense for loyalty and betrayal, love and mutability, interest and humor.
Gouiran meanders amongst his global activities with a credibility you can trust absolutely, he is equally at home with irony, humor and moral toughness, and shows by reflection upon his past what it is for orphan children to be alive now, and how they should be cared for, and provided opportunities which Emile achieves by a simultaneous dislocation and bridging, which is the essence of his talent and what distinguishes this process from everything else.
Emile E. Gouiran was recognized for a lifetime's contribution to the welfare and education of orphan and disadvantaged youth. His work has held up over untold controversy, and the viciousness of troubled governments and authorities reacting to his incessant drive and challenges. Gouiran received his award amidst the bucolic elegance of a large mixed crowd. The sun shone, the bands played cheerfully, the literati were littered about and the glitterati glittered - though not as brightly as the chains adorning the assembled dignitaries. And the local dogs proved that if you're handsome enough you can scrounge any number of free lunches and at the end a lady danced extempore upon a table.
