Can a Rich Family Stay Rich?

Judging from this item from yesterday's New York Times, not every rich family goes from shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations:

Herbert Gowen, 52, of Belmont, Mass., is part of a family whose fortune began with a steamship company in the 1800s. Although family members now number more than 90 and are dispersed around the country, the family still wants to retain its hallmark values of “prudent financial conservatism, entrepreneurial creativity and philanthropy,” Mr. Gowen says. He says his siblings and cousins work hard to impart these values to their children, who are nicknamed “generation fivers” because they are of the fifth generation, beginning with the man who started their fortune.

The Gowens must have had some good trust officers over the years. Either that, or they are the last New England clan to remember The Secret of Perpetual Wealth.