They also had good professional relationships with many firms against whom they competed for business (and occasionally worked with on joint projects).
Of the thousands of families who depended on livelihoods related to his firm and/or its market area (as clients, contract workers, employees, competitors), all but a few are now broke, insolvent, bankrupt...or on life support.
For those of us who actually live in the real world, we know the economy is not getting better.