Gardner may be:

Towns in the United States[link]

• Gardner, Colorado
• Gardner, Illinois
• Gardner, Kansas
• Gardner, Massachusetts
• Gardner, North Dakota
• Gardner, Wisconsin
• Glen Gardner, New Jersey

Geographical features[link]

• Gardner (crater) on the Moon
• Gardner Canal in British Columbia, Canada
• Gardner Inlet in Antarctica
• Gardner Pinnacles in Hawaii, USA
• Gardner River in Yellowstone National Park, United States
• Nikumaroro or Gardner Island, Kiribati

Institutions[link]

• Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina, USA
• Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts, USA
• L Gardner and Sons Ltd, Patricroft, Manchester, England - a builder of diesel engines
• Gardner (automobile), a car maker based in St. Louis, Missouri, between 1920 and 1931

People[link]

Animals[link]

• Gardner snake, any species of North American snake within the genus Thamnophis, more properly called garter snakes

Weapons[link]

• Gardner gun, an early machine gun

Medicine[link]

• Gardner's syndrome

See also[link]

• Gardener
• Gardiner (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

The Tallest Man on Earth
Background information
Birth name	Kristian Matsson
Born	(1983-04-30) 30 April 1983 (age 29)
Origin	Leksand, Dalarna, Sweden
Genres	Folk, Indie
Years active	2006 – present
Labels	Gravitation, Dead Oceans
Associated acts	Montezumas
Website	tallestmanonearth.com

Kristian Matsson (born April 30, 1983) is a singer-songwriter from Dalarna, Sweden. Since 2006, he has released three full-length albums and two EPs. He performs under the moniker The Tallest Man on Earth. He is known for recording and producing his own records in whichever home he is currently living and states that the connection between his voice and guitar is so strong, he rarely records them as separately tracked performances. ^[1]He is also known both by critics and his fans for his charismatic stage presence.^[2][3] Matsson is married to fellow Swedish singer-songwriter Amanda Bergman, who performs under the moniker Idiot Wind. The couple have toured extensively together, often performing songs together on stage. He has toured with Bon Iver.^[4] Matsson also fronted the band Montezumas.

Critics have compared The Tallest Man on Earth to Bob Dylan both in terms of songwriting ability and vocal style.^[5][6][7] When asked about his lyrical style, The Tallest Man on Earth explains that he began listening to Bob Dylan at fifteen, and upon hearing Dylan's cover material, he "tried to figure out where those songs came from" and became slowly exposed to early American folk, such as Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. But he is careful to qualify this, say "I don't consider my work to be a part of any tradition. This is how I play. This is how I write songs"^[8]

With regards to his guitar technique, Matsson uses a variety of open tunings, and to a lesser degree standard tuning. He had classical guitar training in his youth, but says he "never really focuses on it" and that by the end of high school he "got bored playing guitar because it was like math"^[9], until he then discovered open tunings while listening to Nick Drake in his early twenties. He was drawn to this style of playing because it allowed him to focus on singing while still performing intricate music. ^[10]

Discography[link]

Studio Albums[link]

• Shallow Grave (2008)
• The Wild Hunt (2010) UK chart peak: #180^[11]
• There's No Leaving Now (2012)^[12]

EPs[link]

• The Tallest Man on Earth (2006)
• Sometimes the Blues Is Just a Passing Bird (2010)

Singles[link]

• The Gardener
• The King of Spain; The Wild Hunt
• Pistol Dreams
• The Dreamer
• Weather of a Killing Kind
• 1904

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: The Tallest Man on Earth

• Official website
• Artist page for The Tallest Man on Earth at NPR Music.

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Howard Earl Gardner (born July 11, 1943 in Scranton, Pennsylvania) is an American developmental psychologist who is a professor of Cognition and Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education at Harvard University, Senior Director of Harvard Project Zero and author of over twenty books translated into thirty languages. He is the son of Ralph Gardner and Hilde Weilheimer (Hilde Gardner since her marriage to Ralph Gardner). Since 1995, he has been the co-director of the GoodWork Project. He is best known for his theory of multiple intelligences. He received the Prince of Asturias Award 2011 in Social Sciences for the development of this theory.^[2]

Multiple intelligences[link]

Gardner's Theory of multiple intelligences states not only do human beings have several different ways of learning and processing information, but these methods are relatively independent of one another: leading to multiple "intelligences" as opposed to a general intelligence factor among correlated abilities. Since 1999, Gardner has identified eight intelligences: linguistic, logic-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic. Gardner is still considering a ninth, or existential intelligence (the intelligence of "big questions"), but has not, as yet, added it. He thinks it will have something to do with seeing what you're working with.^[3][4]

Career[link]

Most of Gardner's post secondary education has taken place at Harvard University. He was inspired by his readings of Jean Piaget to be trained in developmental psychology; he also studied neuropsychology. Gardner has also worked closely with the psycholinguist Roger Brown and during his undergraduate years worked with renowned psychoanalyst Erik Erikson. In an effort to synthesize his two lines of work, one dealing with cognitive and symbol using capacities of normal and gifted children and the other dealing with brain damage in adults, he developed and introduced his theory of multiple intelligences in his 1983 book Frames of Mind. He began teaching at Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1986. While he is widely traveled and has conducted research in China throughout the 1980s, his entire adult career has been spent in Cambridge. The focus of his work for the past fifteen years has been in the Good Work Project. Gardner's work is often described as "an effort to understand and explicate the broadest and highest reaches of human thought, with a particular focus on the development and breakdown of intellectual capacities, broadly construed."^[1] By choice, Gardner has not undertaken any major editorial or professional roles. He sees himself as an independent scholar and a public intellectual.^[1]

Personal life[link]

Gardner is married to Ellen Winner. They have one child, Benjamin, born in 1985. Gardner has three children from an earlier marriage: Kerith (1969), Jay (1971) and Andrew (1976) and one grandchild, Oscar, born 2005.^[5] Gardner described himself as "a studious child who gained much pleasure from playing the piano".^[5]

Furthering education[link]

Howard Gardner has been heavily involved in school reform efforts in the United States since 1980s. His theory of multiple intelligences has not been readily accepted within academic psychology but has been highly influential in education. Traditionally, schools have focused on the development of logical and linguistic intelligences. These intelligences are also focused on through standard Intelligence Quotient, aka the IQ Test. According to Gardner, these standardized tests that are used in the current American education system do not measure all of his multiple intelligences, which vary from person to person and thus determine the ways in which each person learns most effectively. Gardner's theory argues that students will be better served by a broader vision of education, wherein teachers use different methodologies, exercises and activities to reach all students, not just those who excel at linguistic and logical intelligence.^[6]

In 1967, Professor Nelson Goodman started an educational program called Project Zero through Harvard University which began in the area of arts education but now does a variety of work in developing education. Howard Gardner and David Perkins were founding Research Assistants and Gardner and Perkins later Co-Directed Project Zero from 1972-2000. Project Zero's mission is to understand and enhance learning, thinking, and creativity in the arts, as well as humanistic and scientific disciplines at the individual and institutional levels.^[7]

Achievements and Awards[link]

Gardner was the recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship in 1981 and in 1990 he became the first American to receive the University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Education. In 2000 he received a fellowship from the John S. Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Four years later he was named an Honorary Professor at East China Normal University in Shanghai. He was selected by Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines as one of the top 100 most influential public intellectuals in the world in the years 2005 and 2008. In 2011 he won the Prince of Asturias Award in Social Sciences.^[8] He has received honorary degrees in twenty-eight colleges and universities, including institutions in Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, and South Korea.^[9]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Kincheloe, Joe L., ed. (2004). Multiple Intelligences Reconsidered. Counterpoints v. 278. New York: Peter Lang. ISBN 978-0-8204-7098-6. ISSN 1058-1634. Lay summary (4 September 2010). 
• Howard Gardner (2006). Schaler, Jeffrey A.. ed. "A Blessing of Influences" in Howard Gardner Under Fire. Illinois: Open Court. ISBN 978-0-8126-9604-2. 
• Howard Gardner (1989). To Open Minds: Chinese Clues to the Dilemma of American Education. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-08629-0. 
• M. Kornhaber (2001). Palmer, Joy. ed. "Howard Gardner" in Fifty Modern Thinkers in Education. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-22408. 
• Gordon, L. M. (2006). Howard Gardner. "The encyclopedia of human development." Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2, 552-553.
• Gardner, Howard (2011). Truth, beauty, and goodness reframed: Educating for the virtues in the 21st century. New York: Basic Books. 

External links[link]

• The GoodWork Project
• Booknotes interview with Gardner on Extraordinary Minds, October 5, 1997.

Devin Gardner

Michigan Wolverines — No. 7
Quarterback	Sophomore
Date of birth: December 14, 1991
Height: 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	Weight: 220 lb (100 kg)
Career history
High school: Detroit Jesuit High School/Inkster High School
College(s): University of Michigan (2010–present)
Career highlights and awards
Stats at ESPN.com

Devin Gardner (born December 14, 1991) is an American football quarterback for the Michigan Wolverines football team. During the fall of 2009, he was rated as the No. 1 high school quarterback in the United States by Rivals.com and the No. 5 quarterback by ESPNU. He verbally committed to Michigan's 2010 recruiting class in the spring of 2009 and enrolled at the University of Michigan in January 2010.

Detroit Jesuit High School[link]

As a sophomore in 2007, Gardner played football for the University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy. He missed five games during his sophomore year because of disciplinary issues, but returned for the final four games of the season. Gardner described the problems he experienced in his sophomore year as a turning point: "I had never sat out before, and that hurt a lot. It was a bad feeling, and I did a lot of growing up. I just knew I had to get better."^[1]

Inkster High School[link]

After his sophomore year, Gardner transferred to Inkster High School in Inkster, Michigan. He was Inkster's starting quarterback under head Coach Greg Carter, who led Detroit's Saint Martin de Porres High School to three state championships.^[1]

As a junior in 2008, Gardner led Inkster to a state title game and was responsible for 48 touchdowns, 26 passing and 22 rushing. He also compiled 3,287 yards of total offense with 1,886 passing yards and 1,401 rushing yards.^[2] He also helped lead Inkster's basketball team to the state semifinals in March 2009.^[3]

As a senior in 2009, Gardner again led Inkster to the state finals game. In the second game of the season, Gardner compiled 340 yards passing and 101 yards rushing against East Kentwood High School.^[4] The highlight of Gardner's senior season came in Inkster’s final regular season game against Steubenville High School in Steubenville, Ohio. Inkster needed a win to advance to the playoffs, and Steubenville had a 60-game home winning streak. Steubenville led 29-28 with 1:19 left in the game. With 39 seconds left, Gardner threw a 63-yard touchdown pass for the win.^[5] Gardner described the game-winning drive against Steubenville as follows:

"First I threw an out and we got out of bounds. (Receiver) Jonathan Taylor got hurt and so he had to come out. Another receiver came in and we did just a regular ol' route. We didn't do nothing special, but they all jumped the out route and left the fly on the outside wide open. I just threw it to (Vorheese Zanders) in between the safety and corner and he made a big play. He made one guy miss, another guy fell down, and he scored."^[6]

Gardner accounted for 330 yards (275 yards passing, 55 rushing) and five touchdowns (four passing) in the win over Steubenville.^[5][7]

After the win over Steubenville, Gardner led Inkster to four straight wins in the playoffs, including a 51-19 win over Edsel Ford High School (Dearborn, Michigan), a 50-28 win over Thurston High School (Redford, Michigan), and a 35-7 win over Southgate Anderson High School.^[8] Gardner led Inkster to its second straight state finals game.^[4] Inkster averaged 31 points per game in the 12 games before the final, but lost 27-6 against Lowell High School in the Division 2 title game. Gardner compiled only 134 passing yards in the title game and minus-26 rushing yards after being sacked three times.^[4]

In an interview with ESPN in the fall of 2009, Gardner described his passion for the quarterback position: "With me, you better prepare for everything you think could happen because anything can happen when I've got the ball in my hands. I've got the ball in my hands every play, and it's my show."^[1]

Combines and rankings[link]

After compiling impressive statistics as a junior, Gardner was invited to a number of combines and camps in the Summer of 2009. In June 2009, Gardner participated in the Nike camp in Champaign, Illinois.^[9] In July 2009, Gardner participated in the Elite 11 quarterback camp at Soka University in Aliso Viejo, California, as one of the 12 invited quarterbacks.^[10] Gardner earned counselor awards for best footwork and work in the classroom at the Elite 11 camp.^[9] After watching Gardner perform at the Elite 11, JC Shurburtt wrote for ESPN.com that, "Gardner has also surprised many. His hustle, leadership and athleticism add up to a tremendous maturity that will help him compete early for playing time in Ann Arbor."^[10] Barry Every, national analyst for Rivals.com, ranked Gardner as the top overall quarterback at the Elite 11 camp based on long-term potential and the ability to win football games,^[9] and added, "He may not be as big or fast as current Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor, but he is a close second."^[10]

In September 2009, Gardner was ranked at the top quarterback prospect in the United States by Rivals.com.^[4][11] He was ranked as the No. 4 quarterback nationally by Scout.com and the No. 5 quarterback in the ESPNU 150.^[1][6] In November 2009, Allen Trieu of Scout.com said of Gardner:

"He is considered one of the top handful of quarterbacks in the country and is firmly entrenched as a five-star prospect. As far as upside goes, I don't see many quarterbacks that have his potential. He has improved as a passer, but I think what is overlooked is that he has gotten faster and has broken longer runs. We've also seen several times where he has put this team on his shoulders and pulled out victories in tough situations."^[6]

Many recruiting experts have compared Gardner to Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor. The two have similarities, like size and running style.

Commitment to Michigan[link]

On September 1, 2008, before playing his first game for Inkster, Gardner announced that he found out he had a younger cousin called Detric Gardner who is the fullback for the Waller Bulldogs. He announced that Dertric Gardner would be playing very soon for the Michigan Wolverines and would be bringing 5 star recruit wide receiver Esteban Escudero and Waller Bulldog Linebacker Munad Agha!...They soon hope to be playing for Michigan very soon, as they have led the Waller Bulldogs to 4 state championships, staying undefeated in all they're time received a scholarship offer from the University of Michigan.^[3] In the spring of 2009, Gardner gave an early verbal commitment to Michigan. His high school football coach, Greg Carter, noted, "He told us that he was going to commit to Michigan. He's versatile and he fits that offense perfectly. He can throw the ball and he also can run the football. So I think it's a good choice for him."^[3] Gardner explained his choice as follows: “I feel great, like there was no other place that I would be able to be as comfortable as I am now at a different school. It was just the only decision that I could think of. When I go up there it’s like a family atmosphere. Sometimes at other schools it seems sort of fake if you will but at this school I felt like they were real. The big thing was that I was their first choice. They wanted other guys but expressed to me I was their top guy and that’s the biggest factor.”^[12] Despite the early verbal commitment, other schools continued to pursue Gardner – particularly as his ratings increased in the Summer of 2009. Gardner received offers from more than 15 colleges, including Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Nebraska, Oregon, West Virginia, Cincinnati, Wisconsin, Iowa, Florida and LSU.^[2][3] Questions about his commitment were raised after Michigan’s freshman quarterback Tate Forcier had a solid season in the fall of 2009, but Gardner remained committed to Michigan. He reported that his second choice was Florida and his third was LSU.^[12]

The Detroit Free Press wrote in September 2009 that Gardner’s “dual-threat abilities make him an ideal candidate to run Rich Rodriguez’s version of the spread offense.^[11] Inkster coach Greg Carter expected Gardner to thrive at Michigan: “We definitely have a similar offense. A lot of the things they do may be what made them think he could do well there. We run the spread, have four receivers at times, sometimes three receivers and two backs. So we play similar. … There was nothing we put in that he couldn’t handle.”^[13]

Under Armour All-America Game[link]

At end of his senior year in high school, Gardner played in the Under Armour All-America Game in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The game is an all-star contest for high school seniors. Gardner threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to help the White team win the contest. On the touchdown pass, Gardner rolled right and found Darius White (a Texas Longhorns commitment) on a third-and-goal play in the fourth quarter. Gardner shared quarterback duties for the White team with Nick Montana (son of Joe Montana) and Phillip Sims (an Alabama commitment).^[14] After his appearance in the All-America Game, Gardner said, "It was the greatest experience of my life. Even greater than the Steubenville win that (Inkster) had (during the regular season) -- which was a monumental for the city of Inkster and the state of Michigan, even. This is just another monumental event."^[15]

Former NFL head coach Sam Wyche coached the opposing Black team and praised Gardner after the game. Wyche said, "Devin is going to be a big-time player at Michigan. He and Phillip Sims are guys to me that are going to come quickly to the scene. Devin has a great smile. He is going to sell a lot of product for somebody. He's got a great personality. He's smart -- you can change directions with him and it doesn't bother him at all. He is ready to go."^[15]

Freshman year at Michigan[link]

Gardner was one of seven members of Michigan’s 2010 recruiting class to enroll early in January 2010, along with Stephen Hopkins, Austin White, Christian Pace, Jerald Robinson, Ricardo Miller, and Jeremy Jackson.^{[16][17][18][19]}

In December 2009, Tom Luginbill, national recruiting director of ESPN Scouts Inc., said he believed Gardner would compete for Michigan's starting quarterback job in 2010. Luginbill said, "There's no doubt he's got the physical tools to do so."^[20] When the Detroit Free Press asked Gardner in December 2009 whether he saw himself starting as a freshman, Gardner said, “Of course I see myself doing that.” Asked about Michigan’s 2009 starting quarterback, Tate Forcier, Gardner said, “A great player, a tough player and a funny guy. I think he’s going to be great competition for next year.”^[12] In January 2010, Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez noted, "In order for Devin to play -- and I don't even want to discount him because Devin's a very competitive guy -- but you're going to assume that Tate and Denard don't take a step forward."^[21] In February 2010, Rodriguez added, "We want guys who want competition, and we're going to foster that. Devin will give some competition to those other guys."^[22]

Gardner played in two games his Freshman season. He ended up completing seven of ten passes for a total of 85 yards and one touchdown. Gardner also rushed for a total of 21 yards on seven rushing attempts, and finished with one rushing touchdown.

Sophmore year at Michigan[link]

In Gardner's second season at Michigan he appeared in eight of thirteen games completing 11 of 23 passes for one touchdown, and rushing for a total of 53 yards with a total of one rushing touchdown. Devin Gardner played as a backup behind starting quarterback Denard Robinson, for a second straight year. Gardner was featured mostly in offensive coordinator Al Borge's "deuce formation" featuring Denard Robinson in either the slot receiver position, or at running back, and with Devin Gardner at the quarterback position. Garner also played in games where he wasn't in the deuce formation. He played against Northwestern, Michigan State, and Illinois due to an injury to Robinson, and he played against Nebraska, and Minnesota due to a large margin of score (won against Minnesota 58-0, and against Nebraska 45-17.) Gardner is most noted for his touchdown pass to Martavious Odoms in Michigan's game against Illinois, because the touchdown pass was what sealed a victory for the Wolverines.

Despite Devin Gardner playing very little snaps compared to Denard Robinson, Devin said on Thursday, January 13, that he has no plans to transfer. "I'm going to be back next year...I'm always happy to be a Michigan Man. I want to get my degree at Michigan and be a part of the Michigan family."

References[link]

• Mark Snyder http://www.freep.com/article/20120113/SPORTS06/201130410/Michigan-backup-QB-Devin-Gardner-not-thinking-about-transferring

Chris Gardner
Gardner in September 2011
Born	(1954-02-09) February 9, 1954 (age 58) Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Occupation	Founder & CEO of Gardner Rich & Co

Christopher Paul Gardner (born February 9, 1954 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an American entrepreneur, investor, stock broker, motivational speaker, author, and philanthropist who, during the early 1980s, struggled with homelessness while raising his toddler son, Christopher, Jr.^[1] Gardner's book of memoirs, The Pursuit of Happyness, was published in May 2006.^[2]

As of 2006, he is CEO of his own stockbrokerage firm, Gardner Rich & Co, based in Chicago, Illinois, where he resides when he is not living in Toronto. Gardner credits his tenacity and success to the "spiritual genetics" handed down to him by his mother, Bettye Jean Triplett, born Gardner,^[2][3][4] and to the high expectations placed on him by his children, son Chris Jr. (born 1981) and daughter Jacintha (born 1985).^[1] Gardner's personal struggle of establishing himself as a stockbroker while managing fatherhood and homelessness is portrayed in the 2006 motion picture The Pursuit of Happyness, directed by Gabriele Muccino, starring Will Smith.^[4][5]

Early years[link]

Gardner was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Thomas Turner and Bettye Jean Gardner. He was the second child born to Bettye Jean. His older half-sister, Ophelia, is from a previous union. His younger siblings, Sharon and Kimberly, are children from his mother's marriage to Freddie Triplett.

Gardner did not have many positive male role models as a child, as his father was living in Louisiana during his birth, and his stepfather was physically abusive to his mother and his siblings. Triplett's rages made Gardner and his sisters constantly afraid.^[3] In one incident, Bettye Jean was falsely imprisoned when Triplett reported her to the authorities for welfare fraud; the children were placed in foster care. When Gardner was eight years old, he and his sisters returned to foster care a second time when their mother, unbeknownst to them, was convicted of trying to kill Triplett by burning down the house while he was inside.^[3][6]

While in foster care, Gardner first became acquainted with his three maternal uncles: Archibald, Willie, and Henry. Of the three, Henry had the most profound influence on him, entering Gardner's world at a time when he most needed a father figure. However, Henry drowned in the Mississippi River when Chris was nine years old.^[2] The children learned that their mother had been imprisoned when she arrived at Henry's funeral escorted by a prison guard.^[6]

Despite her unhappy marriage and her periods of absence, Bettye Jean was a source of inspiration and strength to her son Chris. She encouraged Gardner to believe in himself and sowed the seeds of self-reliance in him. Gardner quotes her as saying, "You can only depend on yourself. The cavalry ain't coming."^[7] Gardner also determined from his early experiences that alcoholism, domestic abuse, child abuse, illiteracy, fear and powerlessness were all things he wanted to avoid in the future.^[3]

Early adulthood[link]

The late 1960s and early 1970s was a time of political and musical awakening for Gardner. He developed a deep sense of black pride, as he became familiar with the works of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and Eldridge Cleaver. His world view expanded beyond the African American experience; he learned of historical events such as the Sharpeville massacre, and as a result became increasingly aware of apartheid in South Africa and international racial issues.^[2] Gardner learned to play the trumpet and he enjoyed listening to music by Sly Stone, Buddy Miles, James Brown and his all-time favorite, Miles Davis.

Inspired by his Uncle Henry's worldwide adventures in the U.S. Navy, Gardner decided to enlist when he finished secondary schooling. He was stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina for four years, where he was assigned as a corpsman. He became acquainted with a decorated San Francisco cardiac surgeon, Dr. Robert Ellis, who offered Gardner a position assisting him with innovative clinical research at the University of California Medical Center and Veterans Administration Hospital in San Francisco, California. Gardner accepted the position, and moved to San Francisco upon his discharge from the Navy in 1974. Over the course of two years, he learned how to manage a laboratory and to perform various surgical techniques. By 1976, he had been given full responsibility for a laboratory and had co-authored several articles with Dr. Ellis that were published in medical journals.^[2]

Marriage and troubles[link]

On June 18, 1977, Chris Gardner married Sherry Dyson, a Virginia native and an educational expert in mathematics. With his knowledge, experience and contacts within the medical field, it appeared Gardner had his medical career plans laid out before him. However, with ten years of medical training ahead of him and with the changes in health care just on the horizon, he realized that the medical profession would be vastly different by the time he could practice medicine. Gardner was advised to consider more lucrative career options; a few days before his 26th birthday, he informed his wife, Sherry, of his plans to abandon his dreams of becoming a doctor.^[2]

His relationship with Sherry was detached, in part because of his decision to abandon a medical career and also due to differences in their behavior. While still living with Sherry, he began an affair with a dental student named Jackie Medina, and she became pregnant with his child only a few months into the affair. After three years of marriage to Sherry, he left her to move in with Jackie and to prepare for fatherhood. Nine years elapsed before he and Sherry were legally divorced in 1986.^[2]

Their son, Christopher Jarrett Medina Gardner Jr., was born on January 28, 1981. Gardner worked as a research lab assistant at UCSF and at the Veterans' Hospital after leaving the service. His position as a research lab assistant paid only about $8,000 a year which was not enough for him to support a live-in girlfriend and a child. After four years, he quit these jobs and doubled his salary by taking a job as a medical equipment salesman.^[8]

Prompted by his son's inquiries about his own father, Gardner had previously been able to track down his biological father via telephone. With a higher income from his new job, Gardner was able to save enough money to travel to Monroe, Louisiana, where he and his son met Turner for the first time.^[2]

Gardner returned to San Francisco determined to succeed at business. A pivotal moment in his life occurred, after a sales call to a San Francisco General Hospital, when he encountered an impeccably-dressed man in a red Ferrari. Curious, Gardner asked the man about his career. The man told him he was a stock broker and, from that moment on, Gardner's career path was decided.^[7] Eventually, Gardner bought a Ferrari of his own from the famous basketball player, Michael Jordan.^[3] The Illinois license plate of Gardner's black Ferrari reads "NOT MJ".

The stockbroker in the red Ferrari was a man named Bob Bridges. He met with Gardner and gave him an introduction to the world of finance. Bridges organized meetings between Gardner and branch managers at the major stock brokerage firms that offered training programs—such as Merrill Lynch, Paine Webber, E.F. Hutton, Dean Witter Reynolds and Smith Barney. For the following two months, Gardner cancelled or postponed his sales appointments and his car amassed parking tickets while he met with managers.^[2]

It appeared that Gardner got his "break" when he was accepted into a training program at E.F. Hutton. He subsequently quit his sales job so that he could dedicate his time exclusively to training as a stock broker. Then he appeared at the office ready to work, only to discover that his hiring manager had been fired the week before. To make matters worse, Gardner's relationship with Jackie was falling apart. She accused him of beating her—an accusation that Gardner denies to this day—and left him, taking their son with her to the East Coast. He was taken to jail and a judge ordered that he stay there, for ten days, as punishment for being unable to pay $1,200 in parking tickets.^[4]

Gardner returned home from jail to find his apartment empty. His girlfriend and his son, along with all of his possessions (including his suits, shoes and business apparel), had disappeared. With no experience, no college education, virtually no connections, and with the same casual outfit he had been wearing on the day he was taken into custody, Gardner gained a position in Dean Witter Reynolds’ stock brokerage training program. However, with a monthly stipend of $1,000 (which is equal to $2333 in present day value), and no savings, he was unable to meet his living expenses.^[7]

Fatherhood amidst homelessness[link]

Gardner worked to become a top trainee at Dean Witter Reynolds. He arrived at the office early and stayed late each day, persistently making calls to prospective clients with his goal being 200 calls/day. His perseverance paid off when, in 1982, Gardner passed his licensing exam on the first try and became a full employee of the firm. Eventually, Gardner was recruited by Bear Stearns & Company in San Francisco.

About four months after Jackie disappeared with their son, she returned and left him with Gardner. By then, he was able to afford a small rent and was rooming in a flophouse. He willingly accepted sole custody of his child; however, the rooming house where he lived did not allow children. Although he was gainfully employed, Gardner and his son secretly struggled with homelessness while he saved money for a rental house in Berkeley, California.

Meanwhile, none of Gardner's co-workers knew that he and his son were homeless in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco for nearly a year. Gardner often scrambled to place his child in daycare, stood in soup lines and slept wherever he and his son could find safety—in his office after hours, at flophouses, at parks and even in a locked bathroom at a Bay Area Rapid Transit station.^[1]

Concerned for Chris Jr.’s well-being, Gardner asked Reverend Cecil Williams to allow them to stay at the Glide Memorial United Methodist Church’s shelter for homeless women, now known as The Cecil Williams Glide Community House. Williams agreed without hesitation.^[2] Today, when asked what he remembers about being homeless, Christopher Gardner, Jr. recalls "I couldn't tell you that we were homeless, I just knew that we were always having to go. So, if anything, I remember us just moving, always moving."

Career as a stockbroker and entrepreneur[link]

In 1987, Chris Gardner established the brokerage firm, Gardner Rich & Co, in Chicago, Illinois, an "institutional brokerage firm specializing in the execution of debt, equity and derivative products transactions for some of the nation’s largest institutions, public pension plans and unions."^[4] His new company was started in his small Presidential Towers apartment, with start-up capital of $10,000 and a single piece of furniture: a wooden desk that doubled as the family dinner table.^[9] Gardner reportedly owns 75 percent of his stock brokerage firm with the rest owned by a hedge fund.^{[citation needed]} He chose the name "Gardner Rich" for the company because he considers Marc Rich, the commodities trader pardoned by former president Bill Clinton in 2001, "one of the most successful futures traders in the world."^[7]

After Gardner sold his small stake in Gardner Rich in a multi-million dollar deal in 2006, he became CEO and founder of Christopher Gardner International Holdings, with offices in New York, Chicago and San Francisco.^[4] During a visit to South Africa to observe elections around the time of the 10th anniversary of the end of apartheid, Gardner met with Nelson Mandela to discuss possible investment in South African emerging markets as indicated in his 2006 autobiography. Gardner is reportedly developing an investment venture with South Africa that will create hundreds of jobs and introduce millions in foreign currency into the nation. Gardner has declined to disclose details of the project citing securities laws.^[10]

Philanthropic initiatives[link]

Gardner is a philanthropist who sponsors many charitable organizations, primarily the Cara Program and the Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco, where he and his son received desperately needed shelter.^[4] He has helped fund a $50 million project in San Francisco that creates low-income housing and opportunities for employment in the area of the city where he was once homeless.^[1] As well as offering monetary support, Gardner donates clothing and shoes. He makes himself available for permanent job placement assistance, career counselling and comprehensive job training for the homeless population and at-risk communities in Chicago.^[4]

Dedicated to the well-being of children through positive paternal involvement, Gardner serves on the board of the National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI).^[4] He is also a board member of the National Education Foundation and sponsors two annual education awards: the National Education Association's National Educational Support Personnel Award and the American Federation of Teachers' Paraprofessionals and School-Related Personnel Award.^[4]

In 2002, Gardner received the Father of the Year Award from the NFI. Since then, Gardner also had the honor of receiving the 25th Annual Humanitarian Award and the 2006 Friends of Africa Award, presented by the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women (LACAAW) and by the Continental Africa Chamber of Commerce, respectively.^[4]

In 2008, he spoke at his daughter's graduation from Hampton University.

In popular culture[link]

[edit] The Pursuit of Happyness

Gardner speaking in August 2007

Gardner realized his story had Hollywood potential after an overwhelming national response to an interview he did with 20/20 in January 2002.^[11] He published his autobiography on May 23, 2006, before becoming an associate producer of the major motion picture The Pursuit of Happyness, directed by Gabriele Muccino and released by Columbia Pictures on December 15, 2006.^[4] The unusual spelling of the film's title comes from a sign Gardner saw when he was homeless. In the film, "happiness" is misspelled (as "happyness") outside the daycare facility Gardner's son attends.

The movie, starring Will Smith, Thandie Newton and Smith's son Jaden Smith, focused on Gardner's nearly one-year struggle with homelessness. The movie grossed $163 million domestically at the box office and over $300 million worldwide making it one of Will Smith's consecutive $100 million blockbusters. The movie took some liberties with Gardner's true life story. Certain details and events that actually took place over the span of several years were compressed into a relatively short time and although eight-year-old Jaden portrayed Chris Jr. as a five year-old, Gardner's son was just a toddler at the time. Chris Gardner reportedly thought Smith—an actor best known for his performances in action movies—was miscast to play him. However, he said his daughter Jacintha "set him straight" by saying, "If Smith can play Muhammad Ali, he can play you!"^[12] Gardner makes a cameo appearance in the film, walking past Will and Jaden in the final scene. Gardner and Will acknowledge each other; Will then looks back at Gardner walking away as his son proceeds to tell him knock knock jokes.

In the hope Gardner's story would inspire the down-trodden citizens of Chattanooga, Tennessee to achieve financial independence and to take greater responsibility for the welfare of their families, the mayor of Chattanooga organized a viewing of the film for the city's homeless.^[13] Gardner himself felt that it was imperative to share his story for the sake of its widespread social issues. "When I talk about alcoholism in the household, domestic violence, child abuse, illiteracy, and all of those issues—those are universal issues; those are not just confined to ZIP codes," he said.^[1]

Gardner was noticeably absent from the movie's premiere on December 15, 2006. He chose, instead, to be the guest inspirational speaker at a Christmas party for JHT Holdings, Inc., in Kenosha, Wisconsin.^[14]

Other appearances[link]

Gardner was featured in the Canadian documentary Come on Down: Searching for the American Dream (2004),^[15] where he spoke about the American Dream at his office in downtown Chicago. The documentary also featured Bob Barker and Hunter S. Thompson.

Gardner was a keynote speaker at National Agents Alliance NAA Leadership Conference in 2011.^[16][17]

Gardner also made a cameo appearance in the 2008 comedy film The Promotion, where he played a community leader.^[18]

See also[link]

Biography portal

• Rags to riches

References[link]

External links[link]

• Chris Gardner official website
• Biographical article about Chris Gardner
• Chris Gardner Interview
• Gardner Rich Official Website
• Interview with Chris on The Businessmakers Radio Show
• Official Publisher Web Site
• The Pursuit of Happyness Motion Picture Official Website
• Lessons from the Chris Gardner story