| Don't Tell Me I Can't, by Robert Samuels |
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Robert J. Samuels retired in 1992 as Vice President of the Global Financial Institutions Group, a division of Manufactures Hanover's Corporate Banking and International Sector (JPMorganChase). A native of Philadelphia, Mr. Samuels attended the American Institute of Banking and New York Institute of Credit. He also graduated from Rutgers University's Stonier Graduate School of Banking.
An expansive banking career began in 1964 at First Pennsylvania Bank and in 1969, Mr. Samuels moved to New York City and joined Manufacturers Hanover Bank's Commercial Lending Training Program where he was promoted to Vice President in 1975. A dedicated community activist, Mr. Samuels is listed in "Who's Who in Black America". As one of the founders of the Harlem YMCA's Black Achievers in Industry Program, he helped establish the United Negro College Fund's Corporate Matching Gifts Program, and as a result of working with the United Negro College Fund, he was awarded the "UNCF's Outstanding Citizen's Award." Mr. Samuels was the founding president of both the National Association of Urban Bankers and the New York City Urban Bankers Coalition. In 1984, the National Association of Urban Bankers honored him by renaming the "Outstanding Banker of the Year Award" to the "Robert J. Samuels Founder's Award". In 1998 the Urban Bankers further honored him by placing his likeness in the Baltimore Great Blacks in Wax Museum. In December of that year he was also inducted into the Black Hall of Fame in Philadelphia. For more than twenty years Mr. Samuels served as a visiting professor for the National Urban League's Black Executive Exchange Program and lectured at colleges around the country. In 1987 he received NAACP's "Roy Wilkins Humanitarian Award" for many years of service to the NAACP. In 1986, he was appointed by New York Governor Cuomo to serve on the Board of Trustees of New York State Higher Education Services Corporation. After moving to Tampa in 1992, Mr. Samuels founded the Tampa Bay Men's Cancer Task Force. In 1996 he served as the Founding Chairman for the National Prostate Cancer Coalition and the following year was appointed to the National Cancer Institute's Prostate Cancer Progress Review Group. During 1998, he served as a member of the U.S. Army's Prostate Cancer Research Panel and was appointed to the Florida Prostate Cancer Task Force. During this period he also founded the Florida Prostate Cancer Network (FPCN). Today FPCN serves as a model prostate cancer state coalition recognized by a number of agencies including the Florida Legislature, the Florida Department of Health and the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration. Devoted to Prostate Cancer awareness, Mr. Samuels facilitated a meeting between Moffitt Cancer Center and Florida A & M University (FAMU), which resulted in FAMU receiving a $1 million grant from the Department of Defense to establish the Minority Prostate Cancer Training and Research Center at FAMU. After years of lobbying efforts for prostate cancer legislation in Florida, he was instrumental in the passage Florida Prostate Cancer Awareness Act which was signed into law by Governor Bush March 12, 2004. Currently Mr. Samuels serves on the boards USF Health Science Advisory Committee, Hillsborough Community College Foundation, the Hillsborough County Code Enforcement Board, and the Hillsborough County Affordable Housing Task Force. He has previously served on the boards of the Florida Aquarium, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa Chamber of Commerce and the Tampa Bay Community Foundation and was a member of the Board of Directors of H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center for over ten years. Mr. Samuels now resides in Tampa, Florida with his loving wife. Don't Tell Me I Can't is one African American man's story of a rise from poverty to success in the traditional white man's world of business. With detailed accounts of his personal struggles and triumphs, Mr. Samuels will inspire you with his strength, perseverance and fortitude. |