MANY PATHS

McEver’s memoir chronicles an extraordinary life.

The author—an Eagle Scout, U.S. Navy officer, investment banker, entrepreneur, cancer survivor, world traveler, philanthropist, and poet with graduate degrees from Harvard’s business and divinity schools—details what has been, by any measure, a remarkable personal history. The narrative opens dramatically with the sudden death of the author’s beloved first wife, Georgia, a talented singer, on Christmas Day. McEver’s appetite for achievement, interest in investing, and lifelong love of nature, reading, and travel all took root early. His early career in investment banking provided the experience and connections he needed to launch his own successful firm. Along the way, he began keeping a journal, exploring spirituality, and writing poetry. Stepping back from his day-to-day involvement in the firm after his wife’s death allowed him to further pursue these interests. He also earned a second graduate degree in theology, created a foundation to promote religious literacy, and forged new relationships with women. More than 40 of the author’s published poems (or excerpts from them) are featured in the text, on themes as diverse as air travel, prayer flags, and pelicans. In both his poetry and his prose, McEver mixes the mundane—stopping for fast food at “a white square building, as welcoming as an ice cube”—with the sublime, such as the spiritual epiphany in the title poem: “and something unnamable / says again, then again: / There are many paths.” He provides excessive detail in some areas (summaries of one banking deal after another will appeal only to Wall Street insiders) while glossing over key moments in important relationships. Still, this candid account of an interesting man leading a multifaceted, eventful life touches on timeless and universal questions and offers many teachable moments.

An eventful autobiography of a financier turned poet.