Train served in the U.S. Army.[2] After working in Wall Street, he founded the New York investment counsel firm now known as Train, Babcock Advisors. During this period, he became the principal owner of Château Malescasse, a Cru Bourgeois wine producer in Lamarque, Gironde in France. He was chairman of the Montrose Group, investment advisers and tax accountants, and was a director of a major emerging markets mutual fund. He was the founder-chairman of the Train Foundation, which since 2000 has annually awarded the Civil Courage Prize for "steadfast resistance to evil at great personal risk." The Prize was inspired by the career of Aleksander Solzhenitsyn, with whom Train once worked closely. Asked whether he would prefer to receive the prize, or have it named after him, or be a judge, Solzhenitsyn chose the last, which he did to the end of his life. The trustees and directors of the Civil Courage Prize include five ambassadors: American, English and South African. He was an overseer of the Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University (affiliated with the United Nations), and was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the International Institute of Strategic Studies (London). [citation needed]
Presidential appointments
Train received part-time appointments from Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton as a director of government agencies and entities dealing with Africa, Asia, and Central Europe, respectively.[citation needed]
Train married Maria Teresa Cini di Pianzano; they had two daughters and later divorced.[1] In 1977, he married Francie Cheston. and had two more daughters.[1][2] One of his children became an active member of his firm. Another daughter was married to Paul Klebnikov, a journalist murdered in Russia.[4]
Train wrote several hundred columns in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, London's Financial Times, and other publications. Also, about 25 books, translated into many languages, including:
Investing and Managing Trusts Under the New Prudent Investor Rule: A Guide for Trustees, Investment Advisors, & Lawyers (Harvard, ISBN978-0-87584-861-7)
He has also written several humorous books, including John Train's Most Remarkable Names (which produced two sequels),[1]Most Remarkable Occurrences, Wit: The Best Things Ever Said, Love, and others (mostly HarperCollins), all in the same format.