David Katz

President
Elite Landscaping
Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

Education

Mahopac High School
Mahopac, N.Y.
Class of 1977

SUNY Cobleskill
Nursery management and landscape design
Cobleskill, N.Y.
1977-1979

SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry Landscape
Architecture
1979-1980

“I work between 4:30-5:30 every morning. I go into work somewhere between 6:00-6:45 a.m. And I leave my office between 6:00-8:00 p.m. I love what I do. I love solving problems.”

Did you know?

Katz met his wife, Debbie, in high school and has stood by her as she battles metastatic, stage 4 cancer. “Every moment I get to be by my wife’s side is a vacation for me,” Katz says. “My wife is a remarkable woman. I don’t spend any time away from my wife. I didn’t marry her to get away from her.” They have a 29-year-old daughter, Shelley, and a 27-year-old son, Mitch, who serves as general manager at Elite Landscape.

Words of wisdom on peer groups:

“The common theme is misery loves company, and everybody needs support. The reality is, unless you own your own business, it’s very difficult to understand the intensity.”

“Absolutely any kind of continued education is invaluable. You can get educated on the Internet, in the library, professional classes or training. All of those things are just invaluable. There is nothing you can’t learn, and there’s no reason you can’t learn it unless you don’t try.”

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