November 2, 2018 Programs Report
By: Teri Muse

Rotarians always look forward to the Craft Talks, since it is a great chance for us to learn more about our fellow Rotarians. Gene Huang’s craft talk didn’t let us down. We all enjoyed learning more about Gene and his interesting life.

Gene was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan to parents that had come to the United States from China seeking a better education. The family moved to Alhambra when Gene was a small child. He attended San Gabriel High School and graduated from UC Irvine with a degree in biological sciences. He went into medical sales, but after 2 years he decided that he it just wasn’t a career for him. He had a friend who had done really well in real estate so he decided to try out real estate mortgages. Gene bought his first house when he was 25 years old (which is now one of his rental properties).

Gene did extremely well in the real estate mortgage business but by 37 years old he was burned out and decided to retire. He golfed every day and played quite a lot of tennis, but has he said, “it’s kind of like having your favorite meal every day—it gets old.” He decided to get back into the mortgage business and is a member of the Guaranteed Rate Infinity group which is the in-house banker for Coldwell Banker. This is how he met our very own Imy Dulake and Mike Ojeda!

Gene is married to Helen who is the pharmacy director at Huntington Hospital. They have 3 children who are multi-talented in the arts and athletics—not surprising—-they play tennis and golf!

Gene is also a fitness nut who has done many triathlons but nowadays mostly cycles with a group of 100+ cyclists who move like a group “locusts” along Huntington Drive. He is a member of the San Gabriel Country Club and the Altadena Town & Country Club. He was a Altadena Rotarian in the 1990’s and is glad to now be part of “The Greatest Rotary Club in the World.”