Signs of the Times - February 2014 - (Page 104)

Ed it o r i a lly S p e aki n g By Wade Swormstedt Weinel's Why Not Wade Swormstedt is the publisher/editor of Signs of the Times magazine, celebrating his 30th year on staff. The octogenarian isn't slowing down. I was privileged to be at the United States Sign Council's recent Sign World show in Atlantic City, December 5-7. On that first night, at the Beer Bash, USSC presented its customary annual award to a supplier, Andy Wolf, Diversified Display Products, Hillside, NJ, and its less-than-annual, newly renamed, Andrew B. Bertucci Award to Randy Wright, the former owner of Wright Sign Co. (Montoursville, PA), and, more importantly, a 25-year member of the National Electrical Code committee, primarily as USSC's representative for more than a decade. I don't know Andy Wolf, but I was very happy to see Randy honored, as I've respected him for quite awhile. But the highlight was a "first" in USSC's more than quarter century as an independent sign association. It awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award to Jim Weinel, who founded Gemini, Inc. (Cannon Falls, MN) 50 years ago last year, and turned 80 in December. My admiration for Jim could be construed as selfserving, seeing as he and his wife, Sharon, have been the primary benefactors of the American Sign Museum (ASM), which is run by my brother, Tod. However, my admiration predates that aspect of Jim's astonishing benevolence. I can't think of Jim without thinking about John Lamb, the late owner of Cincinnati Sign Supplies. They are/were both cut from rarefied cloth. In my lengthy conversations with both over the past 30 years, they virtually never spoke about their individual businesses. They only spoke about "the industry." What they could do to promote, preserve and protect it. Through them, I've experienced the Greatest Generation. Jim and Sharon were honored with the Intl. Sign Assn.'s (ISA) highest honor, the Kirk L. Brimley Distinguished Service Award, in 2010 (the only time in its 48 years that two people were simultaneously recognized), and Mr. Lamb was similarly honored in 1977. (Even posthumously, I can't call him by just his first name.) Jim's had a vision for a long time. He's acted upon it with his time and financial resources. He's endowed two chairs at the University of Cincinnati (UC), in order to present current and future students with accurate sign information. With a gift of $2 million in 2007, Jim established the James S. Womack / Gemini Chair of Signage and Visual Marketing at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. James Kellaris, who heads the marketing department in UC's Carl H. Lindner 104 SIGNS OF THE TIMES February 2014 College of Business, fills that chair. Kellaris has contributed three years running to the National Signage Research & Education Conferences (NSREC) at UC. Jim followed that by endowing a second chair - the Terence M. Fruth/Gemini Chair of Signage Design and Community Planning - in UC's revered College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP). It's currently filled on an interim basis by UC Professor Craig Vogel. And Jim still hopes to establish a third chair in UC's law school. In a handwritten note, Jim told me, "It's a three-legged stool. The needs of the sign industry aren't one-dimensional. We want to endow a chair in the law school to help with First Amendment issues. We can't seem to gain credibility with city planners." Jim has always had the drive. Literally. Like John Madden, he doesn't fly. He and Sharon drove to the USSC show from Minnesota. He started Gemini with $150 and 400 sq. ft. of rented space. His unmatched generosity acknowledges his gratitude to the sign industry for the success of his business. As for the American Sign Museum (ASM), only recently did Jim allow it to be known (although most people could guess) that only his $900,000 donation allowed the ASM to make the move in June 2012 from leased space to a permanent building. This on top of the more than $600,000 he'd already donated. And yes, it's all part of Jim's grand vision: "It seems the stars are aligned for Cincinnati to become the 'sign center for learning' in the U.S." He sees the "realigned" (hasn't happened) ISA and USSC being housed in the ASM building (half of which is undeveloped and currently used for storage). "The cost of operating in Cincinnati is half of what it is in Washington, DC," he estimates. He sees UC taking over the ASM to ensure its future, and the plans are for it to include ongoing research and futuristic endeavors, while maintaining its current historical component. (Tod is now 60, but I doubt he'd understand the concept of retirement.) Without Jim Weinel, there would be no NSREC (at least in its current form), no permanent ASM and probably minimal UC interest in signage. And there's not a shred of personal gain (aside from self actualization, perhaps) in any of these endeavors. n

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Signs of the Times - February 2014

Signs of the Times - February 2014
Contents
ST Update
Technology Update
Welcome to the 21st Century
Vinyl Apps
Strictly Electric
LED Update
Software Update
Technology Review: Cyrious online
Technology Review: Sign and Printmakers Guild
Sign Museum News
New Products
Walls of Fame
A Designer’s View of Health-care Signage
Health-care Signage: Care Required
Health-care Signage Trends
Estimating Software
Dynamic Digital Signage Made Simple, Part 2
Industry News
Advertising index
Editorially speaking

Signs of the Times - February 2014