An Alumnus and His Parents Move Forward
Kevin White, MBA’10, and his parents were enjoying the day at the Boston Marathon last April when bombs exploded and 264 people were severely injured—some fatally. All three Whites were injured and hospitalized. Kevin’s father, 72-year-old Bill White, ended up losing his right leg. In the days to come, they experienced media attention, interviews, and a visit from President Barack Obama.
While they are still adjusting to challenges, they are positive about their future. Before the bombing Kevin worked for a Chicago equity firm. Feeling the need for a change, he’d left the firm in late 2012 and returned to Massachusetts, where he grew up, and had been doing private equity consulting.
Kevin sustained damage to his arms and legs. Ligaments in his hips were torn, and he still has pieces of metal in his system that will work their way out over time. His mother, Mary Jo, broke a wrist and rib and sustained damage to her legs, but her main injuries have healed.
As for his father, Kevin says, “he’s walking around pretty good right now” with a new prosthetic leg. “His progress is pretty astounding, in terms of getting comfortable with it.”
Kevin won’t say much about media coverage of the event or the bombers, stating only that his family is focused on the future and the other survivors. Of all the well wishes and donations, Kevin was particularly floored by the response from those connected to the Owen Graduate School of Management and his time there.
“One of the things Owen really fosters is a sense of community,” he says. “While that phrase can sometimes be a cliché, I can be a testament to its reality. The outreach from my class, the class above me, the class below me, and from people connected to Owen and Vanderbilt I’d never even met was remarkable.”