1. Susie’s parents were friends of Howard and Leila Buffett, but their children attended different schools, so they did not socialize.
2. Interview with Roberta Buffett Bialek. Susie was born June 15, 1932. Bertie was born November 15, 1933.
3. Earl Wilson was the saloon writer for the New York Post. In describing Newsday scribe Jimmy Breslin, Media Life Magazine defined a saloon writer as the purveyor of “a certain style of journalism that’s peculiar to New York, and a bit peculiar in itself, where the writer journeys about the places where ordinary people can be found and writes of their visions of the human condition.”
4. A well-known women-only residence still in operation today (at 419 W. 34th Street in New York City).
5. Vanita, in a Valentine letter to Warren, February 1991, poses the possibility that she “never liked cheese sandwiches and that I just ate them to please.” (In this letter, as at some other times, she spells her middle name “May” instead of “Mae” as in her youth.)
6. This description came from various letters from Vanita, reminiscing about her dates with Warren—January 1, 1991, February 19, 1991, January 1, 1994, many undated; Buffett agrees.
7. Susan Thompson Buffett, as told to Warren Buffett in 2004. He does not remember this but adds that, of course, he wouldn’t.
8. Buffett says that, despite her antics, he was never intimidated by Vanita. “I wouldn’t have had the guts to stick Pudgy in a wastebasket,” he says. “I mean, she’d have beaten the hell out of me.” For her part, Vanita later claimed to Fred Stanback that the incident never happened—although she did have some incentive to downplay the histrionic side of her personality to Fred.
9. As Charlie Munger puts it, Buffett narrowly missed a disastrous marriage when he “escaped the clutches of Vanita.”
10. “A Star Is Born?” Associated Press, Town & Country magazine, September 24, 1977.
11. Information on William Thompson comes from a variety of sources, including interviews with Warren, Roberta, and Doris Buffett and other family members, and “Presbyterian Minister Reviews Thompson Book,” Omaha World-Herald, January 5, 1967; “Old ‘Prof’ Still Feels Optimistic About Younger Generation,” Omaha World-Herald, March 28, 1970; “W. H. Thompson, Educator, Is Dead,” Omaha World-Herald, April 7, 1981; “O.U. Alumni Honor Dean,” Omaha World-Herald, May 15, 1960.
12. As supervisor of the school system’s IQ testing, Doc Thompson had access to and, according to Buffett, knew Warren’s IQ. Indeed, the IQ test results for the three little Buffetts may have intrigued him, given their remarkably high—and remarkably similar—scores.
13. In an interview, Marge Backhus Turtscher, who attended these services, wondered what on earth motivated Thompson to make the long trip each Sunday to preach at this tiny church. Thompson also once published a book, The Fool Has Said God Is Dead. Boston: Christopher Publishing House, 1966.
14. Susan Thompson Buffett told this story to various family members.
15. In many patients, rheumatic fever causes mild to serious heart complications (in Howard Buffett’s case, at least moderate complications), but based on her subsequent health history, Susan Thompson appears to have been among the 20–60% who escape significant carditis, or long-term damage to the heart.
16. Warren, Doris Buffett, Roberta Buffett Bialek, Susie Buffett Jr., and other Buffetts talk of this striking film.
17. Interview with Raquel “Rackie” Newman.
18. Interviews with Charlene Moscrey, Sue James Stewart, Marilyn Kaplan Weisberg.
19. According to some high school classmates who asked not to be identified.
20. Interviews with Donna Miller, Inga Swenson. Swenson, who went on to become a professional actress, played Cornelia Otis Skinner opposite Thompson’s Emily Kimbrough.
21. A composite taken from interviews with Inga Swenson, Donna Miller, Roberta Buffett Bialek, and John Smith, whose brother Dick Smith took Susie dancing.
22. Interviews with Sue James Stewart, Marilyn Kaplan Weisberg. Stewart, who was Sue Brownlee in high school, had access to a car and drove her best friend Susie to Council Bluffs for dates with Brown.
23. Interviews with Roberta Buffett Bialek, Warren Buffett, Doris Buffett, Marilyn Kaplan Weisberg.
24. The Wildcat Council acted as guides for campus visitors and leaders during New Student Week. Members joined by petitioning the council for membership (Northwestern University Student Handbook, 1950–1951).
25. Interview with Milton Brown, who says he would have depledged had the roles been reversed.
26. Interview with Sue James Stewart. Susie, a self-described “personal theist,” flirted with Buddhism, a nontheistic religion, all her life and often referred to Zen or to herself as a “Zen person.” It is fair to say she used the terms “Zen” and “theist” loosely.
27. Interview with Roberta Buffett Bialek.
28. Interviews with Chuck Peterson, Doris Buffett.
29. Interview with Charlie Munger.
30. Interview with Sue James Stewart.
31. “I can see her in those dresses now,” Buffett says, a poignant statement from a man who does not know the color of his own bedroom walls.
32. Warren Buffett letter to Dorothy Stahl, October 6, 1951.
33. Susan Thompson Buffett, as conveyed to Warren Buffett.
34. Interview with Milton Brown.
35. Buffett recalls a literal three-hour lecture. A conversation of such length was almost certainly the result of him working himself up to ask the question while Doc Thompson carried on.