Life Style: Offspring of the righ and famous

If fame and fortune are what you seek, look no further. You have come to the right place. The University is a veritable powerhouse of achievement -- from Wall Street to Hollywood to Capitol Hill, University alumni have staked out a substantial claim for themselves among the high-powered and successful. Approximately 2,200 University alumni have an entry in the publication called Who's Who. Some possess instant name recognition, such as Candice Bergen, who is known for her TV portrayal of the savvy news journalist Murphy Brown. But, alumni are not the only ones who have a claim on fame or fortune. Many students are themselves the sons or daughters of influential people. And some of those University students spoke this week about their experiences as the children of famous people. Many moms and dads of current University students are making waves on everything from baseball to international peace treaties. Take College sophomore Pam Beecroft, for example. Her father is presently involved in negotiations with Bosnia, and played a part in the 1988 Strategic Arms Limitation Talks with the former Soviet Union. As the political advisor to the American ambassador at the U.S. Mission to NATO, he helped to organize President Bill Clinton's recent trip to Belgium. Due to his high-powered position, the elder Beecroft must relocate every three to four years, changing jobs along the way. This summer, the family is moving to Jordan, where he will take on the position of Chief Mission to the American Embassy in Amman. Beecroft admits her migratory lifestyle used to take its toll, but said that has since changed. "It used to bother me when I was younger, but now it's a really cool thing," she said. "I've been to 28 countries in 18 years. That's a real gift and a big opportunity." Home, Beecroft says, is difficult to put a finger on. "It's wherever I am at the time," she said. "My brother and I were trying to come up with a definition once, and we decided it was wherever he left his comic books," she quipped. College senior Bill Gray has also grown up in the shadow of a political celebrity. His father, William Gray IV, represented the second district of Pennsylvania -- the district in which the University sits -- in the U.S. Congress. And, Gray was majority whip before he stepped into his current position as president of the United Negro College Fund. Gray's son, who is named after him, said the glare of the spotlight accelerates childhood development, because it forces the child prematurely into the adult domain. "I was exposed to more things that other people were not exposed to, both positive and negative," he said. "You get to see that, hey, this is the type of behavior that grown-up people have to deal with." Although he said he does not plan to follow his father's footsteps into the political arena, he said he is bringing with him valuable teachings from his father's experience. "He's always been a person that's excelled," he added. "To me, that's the aspect of him that I'm taking with me. I still believe that he taught me that you take what you have, and you make what you can." On the sports front, the University is home to College freshman Kevin O'Malley, whose father owns the L.A. Dodgers. O'Malley denied images of crazed fans pleading with him for tickets and friends bribing him for seat upgrades. According to O'Malley, "Oh, your dad owns the L.A. Dodgers" is a typical response when other students find out what the freshman's father does for a living. He admitted, however, that his dad's occupation is not something he publicizes. O'Malley's roommate and baseball teammate, College Freshman Mike Greenwood, has grown accustomed to the fact that he is one step closer to getting a handshake from Darryl Strawberry. "I guess I was sort of surprised at first, naturally," Greenwood said. "It's not as big of a deal as I thought it would be." Another descendent of a sports world legend, George Kalmar, whose father won a bronze medal in fencing for Hungary at the 1968 Olympics, is currently a student at the University. Kalmar, a member of the University's men's fencing team, cites his dad as the driving force behind his own sports career. "He wanted to teach me something that he knew," he explained. "He's really good, and he thought that I should be as well." But a father's dreams for his son's success can sometimes get in the way of a positive parent-child relationship, Kalmar said. "He always expected a lot. It bothers me at times, but in the long run it's beneficial," he said. He added that if not for his father's influence, he probably would not have seriously competed in the sport. "No way. Absolutely not," said Kalmar. The halls of Wharton boast picture after picture of graduates of the business school who have made it big in the world of finance, among them Ron Perelman. Perelman is Chairman and CEO of MacAndrews and Forbes Holdings, which is a parent company for other companies, including the corporate giant Revlon. Perelman's portrait even hangs on the walls of Steinberg-Dietrich hall in honor of his accomplishment in the business world. But Perelman's daughter, Hope, who is now a student at the University said she thinks of the business legend as simply her father. "The funny thing is, I never knew it was there until a friend showed it to me," she said. Perelman paints a picture of a father who is notable for his diligence. "When he was a Penn student, he really studied," she said. "My father always says you can't take the easy way out, because it may not get you anywhere." "You can't just get from point A to point C without going through point B," she added. Having successful parents does not necessarily lead to easy street, Perelman said, and the "rich kid" stereotype is by no means represented universally. "It was a give and take relationship," she said. "We always earned things. We weren't just given things." "Sometimes people are just given things. If you're taught that you have to fight for things, it builds character in a person," Perelman added. "When you go to school, it doesn't matter who you are, you have to do the work." College senior Jill Heitler has a legal eagle for a mom. In November, Sherry Klein Heitler was elected to a judgeship in Manhattan's Fourth District Civil Court. The younger Heitler said her mother's accomplishment has made her proud and spurred her to strive for her own goals. She said she aided her mother in her quest for the judicial bench. "I helped her a lot during the election," she explained. "I think she has inspired me." She added, "[The campaign] was a very positive impact." Heitler admitted, however, that the campaign trail was not without its hardships. "[The opponent] would insult my mother, my father and my sister," she said. Despite opponents attempts to disparage her family and discourage her assistance, Heitler worked to propel her mothers campaign throughout the process. "I brought in a lot of friends from Penn," she said. "And [the opponent] said that we would win because we had young kids on the street." Heitler has a very bright future if the family trend holds true because her grandfather is a retired New York Supreme Court Judge. Like Perelman's father, the University has a long history of producing famous and talented alumni. Looking solely at actors and actresses, the following can be included among those Hollywood types who sport a University baseball hat -- Ken Olin of thirtysomething, Bruce Dern, Alan Rachins of L.A. Law and Ned Wertimer, who played Ralph, the doorman, on The Jeffersons. Maybe students should not be surprised Furness was selected as the location of the law library for the recent Oscar-nominee, Philadelphia. Perhaps Tri-Star Pictures executives were suffering from nostalgia and felt like returning to the old home ground. After all, of the 10 senior executives at this movie giant, five are University alumni, including Tri-Star President Mike Platt. If the fame list is extended to business leaders, the numbers increase almost exponentially. Consider William Paley, Columbia Broadcasting System founder and chairperson, or Alan Hassenfel, president of Hasbro, Inc., the world's largest toy company. And a University alumnus is or has been the principal owner or CEO of the following sports teams: The N.Y. Knicks, N.Y. Yankees, N.Y. Nets, Philadelphia Flyers, Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bears, L.A. Rams, and L.A. Dodgers, among others. The Red and the Blue has excelled not only off the field, but all the way to home plate. Former N.Y. Yankees pitcher Steve Adkins is not the first baseball player to have strolled down Locust Walk. He is the twenty-first University alum to reach the major leagues. A visit to Washington, D.C. would no doubt put a University student in good company, as alumni have performed instrumental roles in everything from foreign relations to Supreme Court decisions. Former Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, Jr. was a member of the Wharton class of 1928. And alumni serve or have served as ambassadors to over 12 countries including Greece, Switzerland, Great Britain, Austria, Morocco, Pakistan and the People's Republic of China. Would you ever believe that your lab partner Mary could become the next Miss America, or that Bob, your freshman-year roommate, could go on to operate the largest hot dog stand in the world? Don't laugh. It's happened. Indeed, Evelyn Ay Sempier, Miss America of 1954, probably once did her make-up in front of a Hill House mirror. And Murray Handwerker, President of Nathan's Famous of Coney Island, which sells more than 15 million hot dogs a year, used to eat at Dining Services.