David's childhood had not resembled the life financial magazines liked to describe. His mother, Evelyn Williams, worked at a public school and sometimes cleaned office buildings on weekends when money was tight. His father repaired city buses, came home smelling of diesel and soap, and insisted that every tool be returned to its proper place even when the work had been frustrating. They lived on the South Side in a two-bedroom apartment with windows that rattled during winter storms. David remembered the warmth of the kitchen more clearly than the narrowness of the rooms, and he remembered how carefully his parents treated people who had less than they did.
When David was twelve, his mother took him into a bank to open his first savings account. He had earned the money delivering newspapers and helping an elderly neighbor carry groceries, and he held the folded bills as if they were fragile. The teller spoke to his mother in a voice that was unnecessarily slow, then asked whether the deposit belonged to her employer. Evelyn answered politely, but David noticed her hand tightening around the strap of her purse. Outside, she told him that a person's assumptions belonged to that person, not to the person being judged.
"Shouldn't you have said something?" he had asked as they waited for a bus in the cold. Evelyn looked down at him, adjusting the collar of his coat with fingers stiff from the wind. "Sometimes I do," she said, "and sometimes I save my strength for the part that will actually change something." She had paused before adding that silence should never be confused with agreement. David was young enough to want a simpler answer, but old enough to remember hers for the rest of his life.
He eventually studied mathematics, worked in financial technology, and helped build a small investment company into Williams Capital Group. The company invested in transportation, technology, commercial property, and community lending institutions, sometimes succeeding and sometimes learning expensive lessons. First National Bank entered the portfolio when it needed new capital and a credible long-term owner willing to rebuild its lending operations. Through the group's holding structure, Williams Capital controlled a seventy-three percent ownership stake, with David serving as chairman of the bank's board. That arrangement made him influential, but it did not make him immune to mistakes, embarrassment, or the small indignities of ordinary public life.
He was especially aware of the danger of thinking money answered every question. His father had died before seeing the company's greatest successes, and Evelyn still lived in the neighborhood she loved despite her son's persistent offers to buy her a larger home. She accepted rides when the weather was bad and complained when he sent flowers that were too expensive. On Sundays they ate together whenever he was in town, and she asked first whether his employees were being treated well. The question was more difficult to answer honestly than any quarterly revenue target.