The Snowball_ Warren Buffett and the Business of Life - Alice Schroeder [382]
Buffett now had to do some mental backflips, however, to reconcile all the statements he had made over the years—denunciations of the evils of the “divine right of the womb,” dynastic wealth, and advantages based on parentage rather than merit—with his decision to make his relatively untested son the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway after he was gone. And it was not clear how Howie’s role would complement that of the next CEO of Berkshire. That may have been the point. Every sign now indicated that Buffett would see to it that power would not be concentrated in any one individual after his death. This might inhibit Berkshire’s potential or it might not, but it would fend off the grisly menace of the Institutional Imperative, which he viewed as the greatest danger that Berkshire faced. Buffett wanted a degree of control from beyond the grave, and this was his first step in getting it.
In a second step, he had put Susie Jr., then Peter, on the board of the Buffett Foundation, with the understanding that Susie Jr. would run the foundation after her mother died. This, by the assumption of all concerned, would not occur until after Warren himself was gone. Buffett’s view of the foundation, as of so many other things, was that “Big Susie will take care of it.” Susie Jr.’s shouldering of foundation responsibilities was presumably many years in the future; in the meantime he was coming to rely on her in other areas. A philanthropist in training, she played an active role in her father’s civic and social life in Omaha. She had searched far and wide that year to find a hail-damaged car cheap enough to suit her father. She was helping him organize volunteers for the first Omaha Classic, a charity golf tournament he had started that would be attended mostly by his fellow CEOs but also by some celebrities.29 As her father’s fame increased, Susie Jr. was becoming his most frequent elephant-bumping escort, now that Kay Graham, in her seventies, was not getting out as much. Astrid, who only occasionally attended events with him, did volunteer work at the zoo and had no interest in serving on committees or chairing events. Her life was less changed than almost anyone’s by Buffett’s newfound fame, interrupted only by the occasional gawker in the driveway.
Peter, too, kept his feet on the ground as his father’s celebrity soared over him like a speeding hawk. He had moved to Milwaukee, headquarters of his record label, where he and Mary had bought a showy house, partly to use as a recording studio. The mansion that belonged to Warren Buffett’s son made the papers, so now Peter was the family member who had transgressed and embarrassed his father by appearing ostentatious. After a stressful marriage, he had separated from Mary in May 1991, just before the Salomon affair started, and ever since had been going through a messy divorce. His father, long experienced as an observer of difficult divorces among his friends and family, was understanding of this. After the divorce, Peter formally adopted his twin stepdaughters, Erica and Nicole. While Big Susie had always embraced them as her granddaughters, Warren was more reserved. Later—with hindsight—it would become clear that he viewed the adoption as a new postmarital link forged between Peter and his ex-wife—a link that Warren did not feel bound by himself.
Introspective by nature, Peter found the end of his marriage catalytic and revelatory; he was doing inner work to create a solid identity after so many years of being overshadowed and submerged by others. Even during this traumatic period in his personal life, his career had progressed. He had already released several