Someone You Should Know: Career-Switching Motorcycle Mechanic, 79
(CBS) – He's nearly 80 years old, but he's thriving in a second career that may surprise you.
CBS 2's Harry Porterfield says Seymour Goldberg is someone you should know.
In 2000, he retired from his white-collar job of nearly four decades. With each passing year, it has becomes increasingly clear to Goldberg that he made the right choice in becoming a motorcycle mechanic.
"I've always liked to fix things. It's a hobby, it's a labor of love," he says. "I have to be occupied."
There are no quick fixes. The average motorcycle repair takes up to four weeks.
"It may seem long but we're used to taking our car in and picking it up at five o clock. But bikes are different," he says.
Goldberg recently celebrated his 79th birthday. Six days a week you can find him at his shop, Seymour's BMW, at 3510 N. Elston, where he starts work at 5 a.m.
Before he opened his shop, he was an architect who was a principal in his own design firm. He went to IIT under famed architect Mies Van Der Rohe.
One of the buildings Goldberg designed is a four-story nursing home at 7618 N. Sheridan. It was put up in 1970.
"Being an architect is very stressful," he says. "Motorcycles are fun because you can ride them."
Goldberg also is a rider with a BMW award for compiling 200,000 miles on a bike.
"There's physical labor here, which I think is good for me, and being occupied, having my mind occupied, is very good at my age," he says.
