From left: Esther, Joyce, Ray, Jean & raymond

Ray, Jean, Joyce: 1939

Esther & Raymond: 1944

grandma & Auntie 1940

Warren, jean, murray: Merger

Completed 1986

August Kaltwasser (on left) owner of Kaltwasser Pharmacy in 1890s

ST. Louis, MO

After three generations of intrigue in a family company, the author was instrumental in reclaiming her family’s stake in the century-old St. Louis metal stamping company that still felt the steel grip of its long-dead patriarch. Intimate Tyranny tells of this arduous struggle, interweaving it and memories of childhood with her authoritarian father whose emotional instability caused chaos, family breakdown and obstacles to a fair and orderly sale of the company many years later.