Jeffrey Uher

I am 67 years old and presently live in the Finger Lakes area of NYS. I grew up mainly in this area with an older brother and sister. My owned restaurants and businesses, as well as my father worked in both recreation and education, while my mother was a voice major and professional singer. Growing up in restaurants I've been a chef since 16 years old and at one point in my career journey worked for Burger King Corporation working in various positions culminating with overseeing the operations of almost 140 restaurants. As a result, I've lived in 12 states.

My original path in college was to be a heart surgeon and at a point I couldn't see myself doing that for 40+ years and walked away. After leaving Burger King I ended up in Arkansas where my parents had retired. My brother and I owned several restaurants there including one that was considered one of the best in the state. Growing up my family traveled a lot, and with my work I did also. I have a soft spot for fostering/rescuing dogs along with my sister. Together we have rescued over 150.

In 2018 I was diagnosed with prostate cancer at 59 while on a health reset where I lost 130lbs. Along this I adopted a "Blue Zones" lifestyle, leaning heavily on Mediterranean attributes. It fit well with my many travels and having an aunt who worked for the UN and lived in Rome, Italy for many years. I'm not one to stay in one place long, enjoy exploring, learning and just meeting people from all over the world.

My father lived with me his final 12-13 years and I wouldn't trade that for anything. It was during this time I realized how much I was like him, both mentally and health wise. He kept journals all his life and at 50 when I had the "Big" physical, all the doctors were his except my primary care. They pointed out that at that point I had been diagnosed with every condition my father had within 3-5 years of the age my father was at diagnosis. Another notation is that it takes a lot to get me mad as it did my father. We both just take life in stride. Prostate cancer is strong in his side with his mother passing from ovarian cancer at age 42 (my father was 12), and both his older brother and my father lived to 90 with prostate cancer.

I still work part-time doing some Gig work and bartending for my cousin's bar in a large college town, which offers me time to talk with younger people and see what they are thinking. My philosophy in life is my father's, "You learn from yesterday to live today and write tomorrow plans in sand. It may need to change."

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