But then he was gone. How could his wife Karen raise their sons to be as fine a man as he was. N.J. - The Gladwells' annual family reunion is some shindig.
Polish sausages sizzle on the grill, and a dozen kids splash in the swimming pool.
This year, Gladwell kin flew in from as far as California. The Sumski brothers came from Long Island, and Karen Taylor, their sister, drive up from Virginia with her two sons. He was a great guy. He played music, he told bad jokes, and he had a certain way of doing things that made everybody happy. Despite a successful career in Washington and scholarly credentials, Alex's father, Jeff Taylor, is remembered at these reunions as a regular guy, humble and nice, a model parent, and the life of the party who loved to jump on stage singing his own silly songs and strumming a guitar.