Jeff Mahlstedt and Ara Daglian, a Cornell alumnus and sometime sandwich maker for Feeney, were organizing a roast in the Metropolitan Club on Sixtieth Street and Fifth Avenue to celebrate Feeney’s fiftieth birthday, which fell on April 23. They told Feeney the event was to be a surprise party for Bob Beck, given by the Cornell Society of Hoteliers, and it was his responsibility to get Beck to attend. As Feeney settled down at a table with Bob Beck, a curtain was drawn back to reveal a roomful of revelers, including Chuck Rolles and Lee Sterling. A fraternity brother, Tony Cashen, who acted as MC for the roast, gave a performance of the Sandwich Man in action, wearing an army field jacket like the one Feeney used to pocket coins when delivering sandwiches at Cornell. Mahlstedt recalled for the assembly that in 1960 Feeney had a Mercedes in Geneva that he took out for the only time one Saturday and was hit by a car driven by a Japanese tourist—“and he’s been getting repaid by the Japanese ever since.”
What do You think about The Billionaire Who Wasn't?
