Sharon Lorenzo reviews her husband’s book.

As the wife of Frank Lorenzo for 52 years, I am taking the bold step to review his new book after a successful launch in New York City this September. It was a long arduous project that began 20 years ago with interviews with his mother, who is no longer with us. While publishing is a very valid business today, it is truly, in my view, a labor of love for your subject matter, as it produces long searches in your basement for photos, sleepless nights about the interviews, and a great deal of editing to make a perfect product.

I met Frank in New York City when I was working on my Masters at Columbia University after graduating from Mount Holyoke College with a major is art history.

Before we were married and our first child was born, Frank mentioned he had bought control of the company which he and a classmate from Harvard Business School, Bob Carney, had been hired to control and run, and we would get an apartment in Houston, Texas.

Needless to say, we are still Texas residents, and this book chronicles how he managed to make this effort into one of the greatest tales of how American business expertise can produce major companies with profitable participation in the commerce of the country today. When asked how he had such good fortune to move from controlling and running a small regional airline, Texas International Airlines, to his position as Chairman and CEO of Continental Airlines, I can only say with true honesty, that he called it a long winding road! One of the great talents that I think he employed with skill was building a management team who worked together on every acquisition and government debate over how private enterprise could evolved with regulatory change. We had annual employee picnics and hosted the husbands and wives of management and the board of directors for many gatherings to build community and friendship along the way.

As we raised four children in Houston and I went to graduate school again for both a J.D. and M.B.A., we both knew this would not have happened in a NYC apartment. Local Houston political leadership such as Mayors Louie Welsh and Jim McConn from Texas were a huge part of the airline successes in those years. With directors from Austin, Texas to Melbourne, Australia, Frank had support that was strong, competent, and ready to go all the time to help his management team.

The media enjoyed hearing how Frank went from his parents’ beauty parlor in New York City to Columbia College while he drove a Coca-Cola truck to fund part of his tuition. His parents had immigrated from Spain and met through their families in New York. We found in his mother’s files a document showing that she went to school part- time in the evenings and received her bachelor’s degree from Queens College at age 65. It was this kind of determination that carried Frank, in my opinion, through the many labor strikes, pickets and even bodyguards during some of the complex times amidst the corporate mergers.

Convincing members of the United States Congress to pass legislation enabling the airline business to be less regulated was a difficult and complex journey. Frank’s team finally won the ability to introduce lower fares on many routes, and thus Peanut Fares were invented and promoted thanks to his brilliant marketing team. When one of our children was born, I sent out a notice that “Our Peanut has arrived!” We are blessed now with four children and seven grandchildren who have weathered all the tough deals and steep bargains that Frank enumerates in this book. It tells the story of how “A Revolution in the Skies “came about with the help of many gifted employees, external helpers, and dear friends.