Stephan Pastis was working as a lawyer before created Pearls Before Swine, a successful (and pretty good) newspaper comic strip.
lost as in “deceased”, or lost as in “fired their physician (or were fired by their physician) over disagreements about vaccination”?
Lost as in deceased.
A friend of mine placed advertising on bus stop benches, delivered pizza, tried and failed to get a job at a video rental store, then IT manager of a casino, installer of self check-out systems, and finally maintenance manager of a golf course. This was all starting at about 30 years old. Never went to college, never met a bridge he couldn’t burn.
My son graduated with a degree in music composition and production, was a gopher for an orchestra, then managed an art gallery and is now shipping manager for an auction house.
My first wife was an artist, bookkeeper, computer programmer and ended up doing boat maintenance, which she loved.
I met a young women at uni, she had already graduated from law school, had a career at a big firm in the closest giant city. Ended up hating it. Described spending a month fighting some corporation about a front end loader.
She couldn’t take it, quit to return to uni and get a music degree. Playing the flute!
One episode of Dirty Jobs was about a honeywagon driver. The subject of the episode mentioned that he had once been a clinical psychologist. Mike Rowe asked him why he switched. “I got tired of dealing with other people’s crap.”
A friend was a bank underwriter for many years, evaluating nursing homes. He did a lot of driving and talked about rock formations and road cuts he passed by.
He quit abruptly and went back to school for a geology degree. He’s much happier now looking at rocks full time.
A friend of mine was a 1st sergeant in the army when he had a bad accident and got discharged as a result. He returned to college, went to med school, and is now a highly regarded psychiatrist.
Several years ago, a member of the deathcore band Chelsea Grin left, because he was accepted to medical school.
A former member of the late 1970s prog band Starcastle, which had middling success, also went to medical school and last I heard was still a family practitioner in the Chicago suburbs.
I used to work with a woman whose (now ex-) husband was a professional photographer, specializing in weddings, for many years. He left that job for one as a guard at the county jail - and guess which job he said was less stressful, and actually less dangerous? Bridezillas can be brutal!
Thanks for the reminder.
A former early member of REO Speedwagon now works as a chemistry professor at a nearby 4-year state college. He lived in the condo complex I was Prez of. He had a much nicer boat than a state college prof can afford.
Other than liking his music very loud, he seemed like the very antithesis of a rocker. Overall a nice guy.
The original singer for REO Speedwagon, Terry Luttrell, was also the main singer for Starcastle (keep in mind that this was a sextet that did 5-part harmonies). He left REO because he didn’t get along with Gary Richrath (apparently this was quite common; RIP, Gary, anyway) and he was literally tossed out of a van late one night, and hitchhiked home and another band member dropped off his duffel bag a couple days later. At some point after he left the music business in the mid 1980s, he became a born-again Christian, and while he doesn’t do Christian music, he did say, “God knew exactly what He was doing when He tossed me out of REO Speedwagon, because there’s no way I could have coped with being a megastar.” (Paraphrasing) However, he co-wrote, among other songs, “Ridin’ the Storm Out”, and the money from that enabled him to perform a lot longer than he otherwise would have.
I wouldn’t recommend checking out his Facebook page, however, because he’s into a lot of conspiracy theories.
Ex-members of Foreigner have also pursued alternate careers; original bassist Ed Gagliardi (1952-2014) later worked in the office of an auto dealership on Long Island, and original drummer Dennis Elliott is well-known in a niche of higher-end woodworking.
Once you don’t need to work to feed yourself, you can pursue whatever vocation(s) or avocation(s) interest you regardless of how long it takes, how many false paths you pursue along the way, or how mediocre you end up at it.
All that matters is your own satisfaction. Nice work if you can get it.
Robocop, Peter Weller, actor and History Lector.
R.E.M. drummer emeritus Bill Berry had an operating hay farm even when he was still in the band.
There’s a comedian stage-named Har Mar Superstar whom I had never heard of until I read that he was working as a temporary mail carrier at the height of the COVID outbreak.
Also, Jesse Ventura went from professional wrestler, to Minnesota governor, to a commentator on RT, the propaganda network where old reporters go to die.
It’s not really a career change, I guess, but I spent seven years at Ivy-league schools getting undergraduate and graduate degrees in Physical Anthropology. My major area of study was primatology.
I became an electrical contractor. Not an Electrical Engineer (EE) or an architect, but a licensed electrical contractor. You know…drill a hole and pull wires. I’m not aware of any other person graduating from my alma maters who holds an electrical contractor’s license in my state. Made the change over 45 years ago and still hold and use my license.
And, no, it’s not that I own or run an electrical business.
Sam Williams, a member of the Flying Karamazov Brothers juggling troupe, later died of a heart attack while driving a city bus in Seattle. I did a web search to check my facts before posting, and Wikipedia says he left the troupe to care for his family after his wife died.
Another early member, Randy Nelson, left for a career in computer programming and education, and later worked for Pixar.
Ed Wyatt, went from being a cast member of a sketch comedy show in Seattle, to a sportscaster in Australia.
Terry Chimes, the original drummer for The Clash, became a chiropractor. So did Art Tripp, who played drums for Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart.
Cannibal Corpse guitarist Bob Rusay is now a golf instructor.
You left out that before all that he was a a US Navy UDT dude during Viet Nam. UDT being the predecessor organization to the current SEALs.