by Ceylon Barclay
Ceylon Barclay (author of The Taxol Thief), once a globe-trotting executive, looks back over his life in this memoir, A Late Summer Ode. Barclay reflects on his life’s journey learning philosophy and music, and becoming a corporate executive. His entertaining series of anecdotes begin with life on a farm near the pulp-paper-making industry that employed his father.
With little education and a military kickstart to his young adult life, he traveled through the U.S.A., working at Ford Motor Company under Lee Iacocca, and journeyed overseas. He became President of Worldwide Marketing for Chinese Taxol extractor, Great Wall Pharmaceutical Company. He advanced economic projects around the world, including the Citizen’s Democracy Corps in Russia; and served as President of Friends of the Upper Volga Institute with Mikhail Gorbachev.
As the sun sets and his vision veils, he returns to gardening, painting, and reflecting on 83 years of entertaining yesterdays.
