Page 51 - 914INC - Q1 - 2013

Business Development and Marketing Erin Griffin Loosen describes as a “storybook marriage." They also had a suc- cessful business partnership and collaborative relationship. Now, there would be no more collaboration. “We talked about everything, and maybe we’d go back and forth. Now I have to make this decision, and I’m stuck with it,” Renee says. “There’s nobody else to help. It is scary sometimes. But I had to put on my big-girl pants, because there are a lot of people depending upon me. It made me grow up a little bit more.”
point, but it was something I could give back as a morale boost,” Renee says.
Loosen says Renee has exhibited incredible leadership under pressure. “I worked directly for Charlie, and I couldn’t get out of bed some days afterwards,” she says. “I asked Renee how she does it, and she said, ‘You have to have a smile on your face.’ We’ve watched Renee and learned from her strength. She chooses every day to live and honor Charlie.”
One way Renee has honored Charlie’s legacy is by setting up a fund at Charlie’s alma mater, Westchester Community
The business has continued to flourish, and Renee thinks of how excited Charlie would be during every success—such as a relationship with Columbia University C.W. Brown worked two- and-a-half years to get. “For a second, you think, ‘I wish I could tell him,’ but he’s not there to share a big win,” Renee says.
When asked if there have been changes, both Renee and Loosen, who sat in on the interview, burst into laughter and say in unison: “Jeans on Friday!” Charlie wore a suit and tie every day and expected his staff to also wear business attire. “It was a detail he was hung up on from a professional stand-
College, to expand a mentorship program there. In lieu of flow- ers, she asked the hundreds who mourned Charlie’s death to donate to the program, and $60,000 has been raised so far.
Renee is sometimes angry and sad she won’t be able to ful- fill the plans and dreams she and Charlie wanted. But, Renee says, “At the end of the day, there’s nothing I can do about it. It happened in an instant. It wasn’t anybody’s fault. I can wal- low in it, or I can move forward. I needed to be an example for my girls and show them that it’s okay to be happy. I had to choose to live.”
westchestermagazine.com
49