Cy*Burr // spring 2004

The Other Side of Wealth
Thanks to the shrewd investing of his family, 21-year-old Curtis von Tacky never had to worry about getting by. But with his youth came a lesson. Money doesn’t make you happy.

Curtis von Tacky’s family has millions of dollars. Forty-nine percent of dependent Kent State students applying for financial aid have an average household income of less than $60,000 a year.

“I always seemed to get more for Christmas,” von Tacky says. “I would tell my friends about my presents and they seemed shocked, but to me it was normal.”

His great-grandfather Clarence von Tacky owned an oil refinery and invested in Exxon fuel and AT&T—Clarence von Tacky is Curtis’ father’s grandfather. His great-great-grandfather Clinton Rogers kept Kodak from going under—Rogers is Curtis’ great-grandmother’s father. Curtis’ grandparents, Helen Rogers Roby and Richard von Tacky Sr., started an inheritance policy for their three children: Richard Jr., Alice Ross and Edith von Tacky. The dividends from that policy are divided between Alice and Richard Jr.

“I always seemed to get more for Christmas, I would tell my friends about my presents and they seemed shocked, but to me it was normal.”

Edith von Tacky died when Curtis was younger and split her retirement fund between him and his brother, Wesley, and their two cousins, Gary and Daniel Ross. He receives one-fourth of the interest every quarter — about $3,000. When his brother, Wesley, turns 21 years old, the entire policy, which is worth upwards of $1 million, will be split evenly among members of the group.

Von Tacky expects to make about $12,000 in interest every quarter by the time he graduates from college. His investments currently are worth about $25,000, but it was higher before he sold some stock to buy his new Mitsubishi Eclipse.

He grew up in a large Victorian style home on a brick street in Titusville, Penn. His dad, Richard, is a professional golf instructor who gives lessons part-time and spends much of the day golfing for leisure. His mother, Suzanne, is a stay-at-home mom.

“Money does not have much pull in my life,” von Tacky says. “Because my parents don’t work for the income they receive, I don’t have respect for it the way I would if they had hard-working jobs.”

His father remembers von Tacky trying to fit in when he was younger. He never wanted to stand out in any way and desperately tried to conform to his peers by being “average.”

“I would tell him, ‘If you want to blame someone for having money, blame us. It’s not your fault,’” his father says.

Richard von Tacky says he tries to instill in his son the ability to watch and appreciate money. Although his son is given money on a regular basis, he wants him to respect the value of a dollar and try to make it last.

“He’s not a selfish, insensitive brat,” Richard von Tacky adds. “He is a nice, ‘Yes, sir’ or ‘No, sir’ type of young man. It just happens that he was lucky enough to be born into money.”

Jay Shaffer, a sophomore business management major at the University of South Carolina, has been friends with von Tacky for seven years. He says von Tacky never had a strong appreciation for money but is not the type of person who constantly needs the newest things.

“It’s never a struggle for him to get what he wants,” Shaffer adds. “If he wants it; he gets it. He doesn’t appreciate money but neither would anyone else in his place.”

“It’s never a struggle for him to get what he wants. If he wants it; he gets it.”

Von Tacky says people are too quick to judge others just because they have money. When he first meets people, he explains, they automatically assume he thinks he is better than them, or that he feels he is too self-indulgent to socialize with them.

He had his tires slashed by some of the kids in his hometown because he made an unfriendly comment about trucks, von Tacky says. People will sometimes act negatively toward him simply because they are jealous of his money and popularity, he says.

“If you’re nice to me I am going to be nice to you back,” he adds. “People have a thought in their minds about you. They judge you before they even meet you.”

Shaffer's family has money, too, and he remembers kids judging them, especially von Tacky.

“Sometimes kids would push him too far, but for the most part, he was quiet about everything,” Shaffer says. “He was a couple years older than me, so I looked at him and thought, ‘This could be me.’”

Von Tacky says kids at school would think he was spoiled and treated him like an outsider. College made him realize other people’s opinions did not matter if he felt good about himself.

“I can wear whatever I want or say what I want because I know what I think of myself,” von Tacky says.

Von Tacky's father says his son strived to mesh with his friends and peers so he would not draw negative attention. As von Tacky got older, he realized he was lucky to come from money and that this was his life, his father adds.