Chapter 5 - AMELIA’S INVENTIONBefore she died, Amelia was not simply my wife.
She was a biomedical engineer.
Brilliant.
Funny.
Terrible driver.
She developed a compact sensor used in surgical robotics to detect micro-pressure changes in delicate tissue.
Mercer Adaptive Systems licensed the technology.
Amelia retained a royalty interest personally.
After her death, most of that economic interest passed into the Amelia Hart Cole Royalty Trust for Rose.
I received some rights too.
But Rose’s share was independent.
Professional trustee.
No access to principal by me.
No automatic access by any future spouse.
The technology became far more valuable after Amelia died.
Licensing expanded internationally.
What had once been expected to produce a few million dollars might now generate tens of millions.
Evan managed corporate relationships with licensees.
He did not control Rose’s trust.
That frustrated him.
Why?
Because one new acquisition depended on consolidating royalty streams.
A European medical-device company offered Mercer Adaptive Systems an enormous deal—
if we could guarantee cleaner long-term rights.
Rose’s independent trust complicated that.
Not prevented.
Complicated.
The trustee wanted protections.
Price reviews.
Audit rights.
Restrictions on sublicensing.
Reasonable.
Evan hated delays.
He called the trustee:
May you like
“A babysitter holding up a grown-up transaction.”
Apparently he meant that literally.
