The Wisdom Of George Subira Part 1

FOR A MAN who spent his life in the often frustrating struggle to win justice for African-Americans, George Russell Trower-Subira embodied the meaning of the Swahili word that he added to his given name. "Subira" means "patience" in Swahili. And that was one of the main characteristics of George's character. "He had incredible patience with people," said his brother, Len Trower. "Even people who did unjust things to him, he would forgive them. He would try to rationalize why they did it. George Russell Trower-Subira, who grew up in Philadelphia as George Trower and wrote numerous books of self-help advice for African-Americans as George Subira, collapsed and died of a heart attack Sunday while jogging on the track at Penn Wood High School, in East Lansdowne. He was 66 and lived in East Lansdowne. He was a major influence on the subject of black entrepreneurship through his writings and speeches. His book, "Black Folks Guide to Making Big Money in America," published in 1980, was the first to tell blacks that what was missing from their drive for equality was success in the economic arena. "That book set off a ton of other authors writing about that topic," his brother said. "It was the first book to really address that issue." In 1988, George published what is considered the only sales-training book for African-Americans, "Getting Black Folks to Sell." Other books were "Black Folks Guide to Business Success" and "Money Issues in Black Male/Female Relationships." Always active in developing programs to benefit blacks, especially young people, George was working on a mentoring program for black youths and former prisoners when he died. His aim was to stop what he saw as the revolving door of incarceration for African-American men.