It was a drizzling Monday morning that Craig agreed to meet me in a café called Reverie. He enters and greets the barista by name as she makes his cappuccino. He extends a warm hello to the mother behind him and her baby in a stroller. He nods a glance of recognition to the dog owners while their dogs wait to be unleashed from the pole outside the café. Craig sits down and writes himself a note to replenish his supply of dog treats so he can administer a little bit of sweetness later in the day. He tells me one dog in particular, Billie, gets excited when she sees Craig, and he’s fearful when Billie runs across the street without looking.

We share the Garden State as our place of birth, and San Francisco, the city we both call home today.

As a third grader in Morristown, New Jersey, Craig Newmark was fascinated with dinosaurs and thought he might be a Paleontologist. His blue eyes are clear and direct,

“I was growing into my Nerdhood then.”

By junior high, Craig’s fertile mind gravitated to Physics and he considered becoming a Physicist.

Forty years ago, Morristown High School acquired an old IBM computer. Craig began to learn computer programming, a novel undertaking in 1969.

After high school, Craig headed to Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio.

Of his freshmen year of College he said,

“I realized Physics wasn’t a promising career path. I was interested in Artificial Intelligence and I was already good with computers, so I switched to Computer Systems Programming.”

He received both a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Computer Science from Case Western University.

For seventeen years, Craig worked for IBM: ten years in Detroit, six in Boca Raton and a year in Pittsburgh.

In 1993, he headed west, where he became a System Security Architect for Charles Schwab.

In 1995, in his living room, Craigslist started as an internet site for his friends to find jobs and apartments. Today it is a global service providing primarily free listings for services, events, and a forum for free expression. He is earnest when he says,

“Craigslist focused on trying to help job and home seekers.”

I wouldn’t have the apartment I live in today without Craigslist and my sister.

Craig maintains that Craigslist is based on feedback and suggestions. It was suggested that babysitting services were needed and that suggestion became a category.

That very sense of democracy guides Craig’s business and personal decisions.

This past week, Craig was in Washington. He was invited to make suggestions to Obama’s team. It is the hope that our country can move into the 21^st Century and utilize technology. The goal is for innovation and citizen participation to be an integral component in this time of change.

I’m curious if Craig has a spiritual connection or mentor. He claims he has a spiritual connection,

“But I can’t articulate it to myself.”

It’s apparent that Craig has a moral compass and I wonder about that guidepost.

“That’s a matter of upbringing.”

He has a younger brother and mother who still reside in New Jersey. Craig’s father passed away from lung cancer when Craig was thirteen.

He returns to the matter of upbringing which he says is reinforced by the Craigslist community and “Rabbi Cohen.”

“In the last few years Leonard Cohen has been an increasing influence. He reminds me of my own values-to focus on something that really means something.”

“Anthem” and “Democracy” are two Leonard Cohen’s songs that resonate for Craig.

He also likes the music of Tori Amos, Lou Reed, Fiona Apple, Warren Zevon, Sarah McLaughlin and Sophie B. Hawkins. Most of these musicians incorporate a sense of poetry, conviction and a visceral message into their lyrics.

When I asked Craig how many hours a day he spends on the computer, he chuckles and says,

“I don’t know.”

He typically works from 8 a.m.-11 p.m. but says that’s intermittent as he takes breaks throughout the day, to spend time with his girlfriend, watch The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, meet with friends, catch up with Battlestar Galactica, and Lost.

“Lost is making my brain hurt.”

Inner strength and a sense of hope are prominent threads that weave through both of these programs.

I wondered what Craig’s mother thinks of her son’s success.

“Mom’s very proud of me, and why don’t I call more?”

Her son has changed the world.

I am going to leave you with a quote from one of Craig’s favorite Sophie B. Hawkins songs, We Are One Body. I think it embodies Craig’s and my wish for our world.

“There’s nothing more persistent than the planet of our hearts."

NEXT WEEK: MEET PAUL CHANG, OWNER, SUNSET SEWING & VACUUM.