Chapter 11 - We Kept the Project and Removed the Man Who Promised ItThe board spent six weeks deciding what to do with Lakeshore.
Canceling would protect us from a commitment Christopher had no authority to finalize.
It could also damage a project serving thousands of people who had nothing to do with our marriage.
Approving automatically would reward bad process.
The answer had to be separated from Christopher.
Independent due diligence began from zero.
Financial model.
Governance.
Community need.
Partners.
Construction risk.
Operating sustainability.
We hired outside evaluators.
The result annoyed everybody.
Lakeshore was a good project.
Not perfect.
Not ready for twelve million.
But good.
The board approved an initial $4 million commitment across three years, with later funding contingent on measurable milestones and independent review.
Christopher called me after the announcement.
“You cut it.”
“The board approved what the evidence supported.”
“You’re still punishing me.”
“You no longer work there.”
“It was my project.”
“No.”
I paused.
“It was a project you helped create.”
He hated the distinction.
I understood why.
But charitable projects do not belong to executives.
That principle was the thing Christopher could never emotionally accept.
Rosalie received no leadership role.
A respected public-health executive from Chicago became project director through an open search.
Several ideas from Rosalie’s strategy documents were used.
She received attribution where contractually appropriate.
Accountability did not require pretending her work had no value.
The foundation recovered.
Slowly.
The paused healthcare partner returned.
One donor never did.
Another increased her pledge after we adopted new governance reforms.
The board approved term limits.
I would serve no more than three additional years as chair.
That decision frightened me.
It also felt clean.
Christopher had been right about succession.
He had been wrong about everything he did to force it.
The divorce proceeded.
He wanted to keep the Lake Forest house.
I did not.
He bought out part of my interest using his separate assets and financing.
The prenup protected most of my inherited wealth.
Marital assets were divided under negotiated terms.
No one left penniless.
Rosalie and Christopher did not remain together.
I learned that from him, not gossip.
“She left.”
I said nothing.
“She thinks I lied to her.”
“You did.”
“I know.”
He looked tired.
“Did that feel good?”
“No.”
And it didn’t.
The fantasy collapsed because the structure supporting it collapsed.
No foundation office.
No promised title.
No secret transition.
No shared institutional future.
Christopher and Rosalie were left with only their relationship.
Apparently that was not enough.
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That fact did not make me feel victorious.
It made the affair look even smaller compared with the damage done around it.
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