A Grand Plan in Action

Dublin-born Rob O’Connor came to New York after college to see the world. He met Diane on a blind date in 1965, and they married soon thereafter, making their home in a tiny rented flat over Gleason’s Bar in lower Manhattan.

With a merchandising degree from the renowned Fashion Institute of Technology, Diane was working as an assistant buyer for Sears, while Rob began to make his way up the ladder in corporate America. Diane became pregnant with their first child, and Rob got a job with a Chicago company, where they lived for the next 17 years.