Signs of the Times - March 2013 - (Page 112)

EDITORIALLY SPEAKING By Wade Swormstedt “My Dad interpreted the term ‘family business’ to encompass the families of all emploees, not just the ones with the common surname.” A Legacy of Integrity Dave Swormstedt (1929-2013) I used this exact same headline when I wrote an editorial about my Dad’s impending retirement for our June 1991 issue. It still fits. My Dad’s principles were rock solid. My Dad was third generation and, according to traditional family-business chronologies, it’s the one that’s supposed to screw things up. The second generation typically works directly with the first-generation visionary, and assimilates the same convictions that caused the company to succeed. However, the third generation, prone to taking success for granted, often rides the coattails of past performance. My Dad bucked that trend. I really love the prevalence of multigenerational companies in the sign industry. I like publishing articles about sign-company centennials and 50-year anniversaries because they accentuate the industry’s credibility. Current sign-company CEOs, who swept the floors of their Dads’ signshops as 10-year-olds, are more the rule than the exception. And they absolutely recall Dad and/or Grampa slinging paint with a brush. I’m sure many of you, who knew your father both as “Dad” and “Boss,” feel the same way about your Dad as I feel about mine. How many of you, in family-run sign companies, stalwartly remained independent, instead of being bought out by a larger entity (not that there’s anything wrong with the latter)? As for our publishing company, which has remained independent for more than a century, as small as we are, we’re as rare as a brewery that wasn’t swallowed up by a national brand. My Dad had plenty of opportunities to sell our company, but I think he was afraid it would no longer function like a family business. He figured it would become a corporate entity (and maybe fire his youngest son?) and lose its personal touch. My Dad was a benevolent man. He interpreted the term “family business” to encompass the families of all employees, not just the ones with the common surname. My Mom tells me he loaned personal money to a few long-time, loyal employees so they could buy houses. I recall him lobbying our stockholders (who included relatives who worked here and some who didn’t) for more money for employee bonuses. My Dad dismissed an insurance company that suggested we could get much better rates if we’d fire an employee with a handicapped daughter. 112 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / MARCH 2013 / www.signweb.com My Mom told me about social gatherings with friends who were surprised when my Dad wouldn’t put charges into a company expense report. He wasn’t really taking a stand. It simply never occurred to him. Neither would he “cook the books” come tax time. My Dad put his heart and soul into this company, but work didn’t define him. His father, Dave, Sr. (which is why my Dad went by “Reid”, his middle name, in the industry) never retired, although he did vacation frequently with his wife, Helen. My grandfather died in 1978 at age 74. By the way, Dave Sr. was instrumental in founding the National Electric Sign Assn. (now the Intl. Sign Assn.) in 1943, as well as the Screen Process Printing Assn. Intl. (now the Specialty Graphics Imaging Assn.) in 1948. SGIA’s award for the best research submission each year is named after my grandfather. My Dad said that wouldn’t happen to him. He planned to retire, and he did. So he had more than two decades to spend with my Mom, we kids and his grandkids. He had a place on Hilton Head Island, SC, where he could observe nature’s beauty and, as an amateur ornithologist, add to his bird count, which ended up in the 400s. Neither he nor my Mom sought the trappings of affluence. Any trip was essentially a nature walk: birds, coastal waters and/or his other animal interest: snakes. My Dad kept probably a hundred or more snakes over the years as a staunch member of the Cincinnati Herpetological Society, a pastime he shared with his younger brother, Jerry (who succeeded him as president of our company). My Dad was 99% substance and maybe 1% style. He never did anything to create an impression; posturing was an alien concept. He didn’t care about expensive clothes, fancy food or pursuing friendships for business purposes. He never did CEO stuff. I don’t think he ever picked up a golf club or selected a bottle of wine. He was his own man. And not once, through all the phases a boy/adolescent/man goes through, was my Dad NOT my hero. ■ http://www.signweb.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Signs of the Times - March 2013

Signs of the Times - March 2013
Contents
ST Update
Smart Inking
Technology Update
Vinyl Apps
Strictly Electric
Lighting Techniques
The Moving Message
Technology Review
Technology Review
Design Matters
New Products
ADA: One Year Later
The Supergraphic Connection
ISA Sign Expo 2013 Preview
Compensability and Valuation of Billboards in Condemnation
Industry News
Advertising Index
Editorially Speaking

Signs of the Times - March 2013