It has taken Robert L. Consolini ’53-’56 a while to get on the fast track to wealth.

Doubtless dozens of his Harvard classmates met with fabulous success within years of graduation, but it is only now, with his career in telephone marketing well behind him, that Consolini finds himself on his way to becoming a multi-millionaire.

TrueValue hardware stores are betting on the money-making potential of his invention—a plastic sheath which fits under wooden support posts, preventing them from rotting while in the ground.

Consolini came up with the idea for what he calls the house “shoe” about five years ago.

According to him, “the conservative U.S. market potential” for these is 14 to 28 million, at $27.95 a pop. TrueValue is now in the process of test marketing them, and, if all goes well, will soon be offering them in stores across the U.S.

Though Consolini never planned to embark upon a new career so late, his success with the “shoe” is oddly fitting for a man whose life has been dominated by serendipitous events and unexpected turns.

Although unexpected, his success in all endeavors was never accidental. As his younger brother John F. Consolini puts it “he dedicated himself 110 percent to everything he did.”

A second generation Italian immigrant whose father was a prominent dairy farmer, Consolini certainly never expected to go to Harvard, or to college at all.

But his roller coaster career got its start when, in eighth grade, he forged his father’s signature on an application he secretly filled out for prep school. Eventually, his parents found out and agreed to let him go to the Berkshires School.

Consolini grew up in Canaan, Conn., which he refers to as “the town of 5,000 cows, 2,000 people,” and from which he is the first to have gone to an Ivy League school or prep school.

Harvard, however, was his “first choice, his only choice,” from the start, according to John Consolini.

His brother recounts how, in order to overcome the dyslexia which plagued him, Consolini “memorized the dictionary,” before applying to Harvard.

Despite his drive, Consolini had a tumultuous time once he arrived in Cambridge.

He was put on probation sophomore year for having a woman in his Adams House room after parietal hours—a fact which he recalls with some pride. A few months later he flunked out and went to train for the Korean War during his two years off.

Consolini never saw military action, however, with the armistice declared just days before he was to take off for Korea. He returned to Harvard after his service.