Perrenial AMA

 

The Saint Louis Chapter of the American Marketing Association agreed to celebrate our shared committment to the study and practice of Marketing at Perrennial on Lockwood in Webster Groves this year. This was a small but mighty collection of individuals.  

Brandon Towl is a principal at Words Have Impact (WHI) and he enjoys the challenge of taking technical topics and making them more interesting. Brandon has a PhD in Neuroscience and a Washington University professor. He finds himself enjoying appetizers with American Marketing Association Chapter President Nick Niehaus and Webster University Marketing professor Eric Rhiney and Ben Muehleisen from AMA Board. The dialog ranging from course evaluations, 360 assessment of educators, and the unique challenges of engaging students from China (in person or via Zoom). Jim Varney is a lifelong resident of Webster Groves and printing expert who reflects on a career of marketing communications with Dave Cox of Sandbox Creative over appetizers and a craft brew at my table. Mark Denk describes his career evolution from ad-man to Insurance broker with New York Life.                              
Our group is treated to the eclectic sounds of the three member Benbow City Shuffle of which our AMA chapter treasurer, Dave Shogren, is a member. He and band mates Rich and Al treated us to music selections from seasonal to classic holiday tunes. Jingle Bells, Silent Night, Thelonius Monk and more. Dave is on base and his wife Linda looks on as treasurer Dave provides vocals to Deep Ellum Blues.

If you go down to Deep Ellum, put your money in your shoes
The women in Deep Ellem, they give you the Deep Ellum blues
Oh, sweet mama, your daddy's got them Deep Ellum blues

The gathering was a pleasant holiday social event and a perfect way to consider the coming new year 2022 as I reflected on my own perrenial membership in this association for more than 25 years.

Thelonious Sphere Monk (1917-1982) - American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire. A quote from Monk was posted on my door when I was an account manager at an advertising firm in Raleigh, NC. "The only cats worth anything are the cats who take chances."  

Bless Us Oh Lord and These Thy Gifts

Dave and Joyce were kind enough to have me as a guest in their home for Thanksgiving this year. (Lynn can’t resist a chance to take some time to visit her family in New Jersey and I’m fine with staying put in Saint Louis.) It is a rare pleasure to see the Cox girls (Sammy, Dannie and Nicole) together. Dave often brags on his daughters chronologically with Samantha working as event marketing specialist based in Ann Arbor, MI; Dannie prospering in digital marketing in Saint Louis; Nicole as a budding broadcast producer at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Clearly, they are on their way in the world with business acumen and finesse inherited from the founder of Sandbox Creative. Dave never misses an opportunity to boast about his girls. (He always does it in a diplomatic way that spreads kudos evenly). He recognizes the effort each invests into their endeavors.

One only needs to examine the three pre-stretched canvases hanging adjacent to the family television viewing area to note they are different individuals. They indulged their father who asked that each create a painting with decorator palette sure to complement the room. Nicole signs with a boldness in gold that is the mark of a confident Drake University freshman. Dannie goes for a geometric abstraction and Sammy’s composition features three circular elements that suggest unlimited possibilities in the universe.

Dave’s mom and mother-in-law (Marilyn) are delightful people to talk to. Uncle Mike (Dave’s brother) and Aunt Heather arrive with crock pot of mashed potatoes. (I showed up with two cans of Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce.) Already the young generation includes cellular technology exchanges with Robbie Cox (an animator/artist) in LA; A quick portrait of the sisters three (with Danny’s boyfriend Adam photobombing in the background); and Mike and Heather’s daughter and Robbie's sister, Emilee marveling at her “cuteness” (while her boyfriend Jared patiently endures before they split to be a part of friends' wedding planning prior to a weekend ceremony).

Well I know Dave and Joyce are Thankful. I am too. Bless us Oh Lord and these Thy Gifts…   

College Students Thinking about Marketing

 

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Marketing Study and Marketing Students 2021

I am honored to have an opportunity to speak to marketing students at the University of Missouri Saint Louis (UMSL) and Saint Louis University (SLU) this week. My ongoing affiliation with the American Marketing Association/Saint Louis Chapter (for 24+ years) and the Marketing Advisory Panel at UMSL (8+ years) and my genuine interest in the study and practice of the profession of Marketing add up to a number of recurring themes. My commitments this week are for  Wednesday November 17, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. and Anheuser-Busch Hall at UMSL College of Business Administration and Thursday night at 6:00 at the Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business room DSH 274.

The UMSL event is the latest edition of Speed Networking that allows a relatively small group of students an opportunity to test drive their elevator speeches and get comfortable being uncomfortable in interview situations. I expect to repeat a brushed up version of my advice to anyone looking to get started on their career quest. In the speed networking format the advice needs to be consumable, relevant and compelling.

1.      Think about how you will answer the open-ended question “So, what to you want to do?”

2.      Seek courtesy interviews with individuals and/or companies you admire.

3.      Establish your own “board” of advisors who can help guide your journey.

4.      Follow up and set yourself apart from the crowd.

The SLU event is a more formal classroom sort of presentation hosted by the school’s Marketing Club. These students are also interested in learning a bit about the benefits of membership in the American Marketing Association. They want to know how to get in to advertising or marketing as a career.  

In both cases, I hope the marketing students will rally around the notion of bonding at collegiate chapters of the AMA and be among the 300+ active chapters in the United States. In all cases, I wish the best for future marketers.

Thank You FSK from MO S&T

 

Wayne Zimmerman (wmz1942@gmail.com)To:you + 5 more Details

 

On Fri, Oct 8, 2021, 10:21 AM Wayne Zimmerman <wmz@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

I thought you might be interested in this article.

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

 

----- Forwarded Message -----Dedicated students, distinguished colleagues and dear friends,

Happy Friday – and Happy Homecoming Weekend to Miners everywhere!

“Elevate Missouri S&T, Establish Broad STEM Outreach, and Ensure Economic Impact.”

Tomorrow marks the first anniversary of the transformational gift that Fred and June Kummer bestowed on S&T. At about 3 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 9, 2020, from his kitchen table, in presence of June Kummer, Joe Lehrer and myself, and with all other members of the Kummer Institute Foundation board on Zoom, Fred called his accountants and bestowed the largest gift in the history of the state of Missouri to S&T.

To put things in perspective, consider that according to The Chronicle of Higher Education, 146 charitable gifts exceeding $100 million have been given to benefit higher education worldwide since the Chronicle began keeping record in 1967. Of those, 117 benefit a single university in the U.S. Fred and June Kummer’s gift of $300 million to S&T in 2020 is not only the largest in Missouri history, it also is the fifth-largest gift to a public university in the history of charitable gifts in the U.S. Missouri S&T is one of only 15 unique universities to receive a gift of $300 million or more. Today the monetary value of the gift is above $400 million, thanks to the generosity of many of our alumni who were inspired by Fred and June and who have contributed to our ambitious plans, which will cost significantly more than the total. We are well on our way to achieving our North Star goals of growing enrollment to 12,000, attaining Carnegie R-1 research university status and becoming a top 100 doctoral-granting university as ranked by U.S. News & World Report.

I met Fred shortly after joining S&T. I met with him weekly, with June frequently joining us, and over the course of the next 14 months, we hammered out a “Kummer Plan” to build on our foundation of academic excellence to have an even greater impact on S&T and beyond. And on Oct. 9, 2020, the Kummer mandate was established: Elevate S&T, Establish Broad STEM Outreach and Ensure Economic Impact.

We have made significant progress in each of these areas over the past 12 months. Tomorrow morning, we will gather in Leach Theatre to celebrate the Kummer gift and the progress we’ve made.

About 460 freshmen on our campus this fall are Kummer Vanguard Scholars. These students benefit from scholarships and programming to help them become the tech-savvy innovators our country needs. In addition, 100 Ph.D. students (10 are already enrolled) will enroll as Kummer Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E) Doctoral Fellows, each of them focused on innovation and entrepreneurship in their studies. You’ll hear from some of these Vanguard Scholars and I&E Fellows during tomorrow’s event. In addition, we will have 20 endowed chairs and professors who will advance our research and technology development functions.

We are broadening STEM outreach through our new Kummer Center for STEM Education, which is creating opportunities for educators to learn more about teaching science, technology, engineering and mathematics topics to elementary, middle school and high school students throughout our state.

We are elevating S&T through our new Kummer College of Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Development, which our provost, Dr. Colin Potts, describes as “the business school for the mid-21st century.” It is much more than a business school, however, as its emphasis will be true to our enduring legacy of discovery and innovation.

Through their generosity, the Kummers inspired many others to step forward with significant donations to S&T. They include donors like Anthony Steinmeyer and Rosemary Kilker, who were inspired by the Kummer gift to contribute to our cause in the form of an endowed chair position in economics and scholarships for chemical, mechanical and aerospace engineering students; Bipin and Linda Doshi, who endowed the Doshi Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering shortly before the Kummers announced their gift; and several donors to our Arrival District, including Tim and Kay Bradley, Mike and Joyce Bytnar, Gary and Judy Havener, Jeff and Pat Sheets, Steve and Betty Suellentrop, and Tom and Carol Voss. In addition, Gary and Judy Havener donated funds to establish an endowed chair in Gary’s home department of mathematics. We are grateful to all of these generous and dedicated alumni, and to countless others who have contributed small and large amounts or have supported us in many non-monetary ways.

As many of our alumni and friends return to campus this weekend to connect with our students and re-connect with each other, I’m once again reminded of how important these connections are. Fred Kummer was a stellar example of the importance of these connections, and I’m looking forward to celebrating the impact he and June have made on our university during our first Kummer Day celebration tomorrow morning, when I will read the very first Chancellor’s Letter to Fred and June. Kummer Day will become an annual event, as will the reading of the Kummer Letter. Our first letter will be placed in our sesquicentennial time capsule to be opened in the year 2071, when many of our first cohort of Kummer Vanguard Scholars and Kummer I&E Fellows will be at hand as senior alums to speak about this first celebration event. I encourage all of you to attend this event, in person if possible or virtually. Please join us to get “the rest of the story,” as radio commentator Paul Harvey used to say.

I hope to “see” you tomorrow at the inaugural Kummer Day celebration!

Have a great homecoming weekend.

-Mo.

BTW, check out the latest, coolest headlines:

·        S&T honors distinguished alumni, faculty during Homecoming 2021

·        S&T sends two teams to ROTC Ranger Challenge

·        Dr. Nancy Stone elected fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society

·        Dr. Henry Pernicka named Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor

Mohammad Dehghani, PhD
Chancellor
mo@mst.edu | 573-341-4116
Message archive: chancellor.mst.edu/emails
Share your thoughts: chancellor.mst.edu/emails/feedback

206 Parker Hall, 300 West 13th Street, Rolla, MO 65409-0910
chancellor.mst.edu | Unsubscribe

 

HBE Memorial Alumni Golf 2021

October 2 is the first Saturday in October 2021. It is the traditional window of opportunity for the annual celebration that started as a way to memorialize Ted Brown a year after his passing in 2009. We gather as a random collection of former HBE employees. Anyone who has done time in the Big House on Olive Boulevard is welcome. As other colleagues passed (Jack Kennedy, Greg Beck, Ed Regelen, George Ryll, Clarence Steele, Glenn Seitz, Harolds Allen, Doug Adrian and John Paulaskis to name just a few) we began to rethink the annual event a bit. Yes, it is to be a memorial, but more importantly it is a way for alumni to gather and reflect. This year, our fearless leader, Fred S. Kummer passed away at age 92. I am certain his passing caught many by surprise since he always seemed invincible. The great man passes and he is memorialized each week in a unique celebration of HBE league golf on Thursday nights from May until the snow flies. Certainly, the Maestro is a part of conversations and reminiscences even now. (And often with smiles and laughter of recognition about circumstances and recollections.)

  

 

Alan Friedman, Paul Tchoukaleff, Jim Resnick, Jeff Boock, Jerry Ornellas, Greg Miles, Pete Conant, Mitch Miller (busy helping his son relocate in Saint Augustine, Florida for a new job at Flagler Hospital), Jerry Petry (vacation at Gulf Shores Alabama), Don Pickens, Bill Wagner, Tony Augustine Jim Moore, Suki Majesky (working at Shaeffer’s), Scott Florini (driving back from Ohio business trip), Steve Hunter, Kerry Deacon (family gathering in Chesterfield) and Bob Coleman were among those who might have shown up had the weather not seemed threatening or because of a schedule conflict.

Nevertheless several die-hard golfers enjoyed box lunches and waited for the skies to clear up and the rain to subside. Wes Morgan, Charlie Lee, George Robin, Fred Scott, Joe Voss and his brother Andy, Darryl Vandever, Dave Cox. A couple of special guests appeared as we were loitering around the clubhouse deck. Scott Menkes and Dave Gilroy (who was watching his son on the ice tending the goal). Frank Cipolla was on the phone from his place in Florida (The tradition continues).

 

Parker is Back

Parker Millsap has earned a reputation as a priritually-minded, if not outright spiritual singer/songwriter. His new album Be Here Instead includes some curiously relevant messages consistent with the past couple of years of global pandemic and self reflection. 

It's always fun to see Parker and it is always amazing to see him perform. His return to the Off Broadway stage in Saint Louis last night was no exception. You really feel the notion of be here instead (a kind of mindfulness). Now with new bandmates on keyboards and guitar and drums the sound is bigger. Some highlights for me: Parker showing his vocal range (again) with you got to be vulnerable; the band belting out the message It's in your eyes; the emphatic Other Arrangements; the power and almost psychodelic feeling of The Very Last Day; and a sweet dedication to "wife Meg" It was you.

“Stop looking ahead/be here instead/this is the prayer,” Millsap sings in the hypnotic album track “Now, Here,” a song he wrote before the pandemic. When he revisited the lyrics during pre-production for Be Here Instead, it revealed a new meaning. “Why is that jumping out at me?” Millsap says. “And then I realized, ‘Oh, quarantine!’ Be here instead — instead of going to work, instead of going on vacation, or whatever it was you’re going to do. You’re going to be here now for a while.

Violinist Dan Foulks spent a bit of pre show time with us outside the venue at the fire pit area in the cool air of the first days of Fall in our town. He admits that life on the road is a change from his more recent efforts at gentleman farmer in Tennessee. But he is also happy to revisit this part of his life and livelihood. Next stop: Louisville.

Above: Parker Millsap, Wes Morgan and Daniel Foulks in front of LEMP mural at Off Broadway in Saint Louis, MO about an hour before the band went on stage this early Fall evening.

A little bit about the historic neighborhood:

The Lemp brewery and the historic Lemp mansion (rumored to be haunted) and the cemetery grounds that reside nearby: An 1859 St. Louis Directory lists "Baptist Cemetery, Lemp avenue, between Cherokee and Utah. William J. Lemp succeeded his father as the head of the brewery and he soon built it into an industrial giant. In 1864 a new plant was erected at Cherokee Street and Carondolet Avenue. The size of the brewery grew with the demand for its product and it soon covered five city blocks. In 1870 Lemp was by far the largest brewery in St. Louis and the Lemp family symbolized the city's wealth and power. All within a few blocks of Off Broadway.

Dave and Joyce Cox - Sorry you were not able to see my set of elephant jokes and witty banter. I went on stage at midnight. (Ha)

Parker in STL:

Off Broadway September 23, 2021

Off Broadway August 15, 2019

Old Rock House September 26, 2018

The Pageant November 23, 2016

Off Broadway May 13, 2016

Old Rock House April 2, 2014

 

Bellefontaine Cemetery and Arboretum Mausoleum Tour

 

Veteran tour guide Joe Shields (with assist from guide in training, Amber) were at the entrance of the magnificent grounds of the Bellefontaine Cemetery and Arboretum at 4947 West Florissant Avenue (Saint Louis, MO 63115) when I pulled in to join a scheduled tour for 10:30 a.m. on Saturday August 28. We were a group of 16 (including myself and the two guides). Poised to take in the sights and history of this remarkable place, Joe advised us that we would be visiting a select group of mausoleums over the next two hours. We came to appreciate the history of this place that dates back to the early 19^th century and the rural cemetery movement. Like other rural American cemeteries that preceded it, Bellefontaine’s 1949 rules of incorporations planned for the grounds to be beyond the borders of the city’s residential population.

The heat index this day was approaching 100 degrees but we were thrilled to gain access inside several structures honoring some of the families and individuals that are part of the history of Saint Louis. Over 80,000 are laid to rest here (some dating back to the Civil War and before). The most prominent mark our town’s heritage in oil, beer, shoes, grain, show business and more. Our master guide calls the study of this place a sort of confluence of coincidence that reflects some of the amazing success stories of our region.

A few highlights:

• In 1891, St. Louis millionaire and brewer Ellis Wainwright commissioned architect Louis Sullivan to design a tomb for his wife who had died suddenly of peritonitis. Sullivan had recently completed the Wainwright Building in St. Louis, which is considered to be the beginning of modern skyscraper design. The mausoleum is a domed cube with simple carved decorations in Sullivan’s signature stylized plant patterns. The mausoleum’s double doors are bronze grills framed by delicate stone carvings. Sullivan’s draftsman for the project was Frank Lloyd Wright, who became one of America’s most illustrious architects. The unique tomb was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.
• This Egyptian Revival mausoleum, designed by Eames and Young, was built in 1907 by Frank N. Tate, who at the time controlled most of the theater property in St. Louis. He also owned theaters in Chicago and Buffalo, New York. In 1921, Mr. and Mrs. Tate erected the Lee H. Tate Hall at the University of Missouri as a memorial to their son , Lee Harry Tate, who was killed in an automobile accident that year. The mausoleum has an entry flanked by columns with palm capitals. An Egyptian winged disc is flanked by serpents above the entry, and a pair of granite sphinxes guard the front.
• George Warren Brown made his fortune as a manufacturer of shoes. His hexagonal mausoleum was designed in 1928 by St. Louis architects Mauran, Russell, and Crowell. Nearby is the circular mausoleum of George’s brother, Alanson Brown, who was an early president of Hamilton-Brown Shoe Company. His Romanesque Revival style tomb was designed in 1910 by St. Louis architect Isaac Taylor.
• In 1904 – the year that St. Louis hosted its own World’s Fair – Bellefontaine erected what would be its most visited memorial to date, an obelisk and bust commemorating General William Clark (1770 – 1838) of Lewis & Clark fame. 

The story of Bellefontaine Cemetery began in the early nineteenth century as Saint Louis flourished. Today, this beautiful place is a touchpoint for history, a source of natural beauty, art and architecture.  

RIP FSK

 

It’s about me after all,

Said a great man about to fall.

Along the way kernels of wisdom are bestowed;

What made him tick, we’ll never know.

That vision - value without compromise;

You could almost see it - in his eyes.

At heart, an enlightened leader first;

An equal-opportunity hater (at worst).

Mining the best in human capital;

He saw the potentials in us all;

The great man demanded our best;

And for this we are truly blest.

Ironically a model of equity;

Justice in a merit-based autocracy;

He was benevolent, never ambivalent;

There will never be an equivalent;

Tower of Babel or fall of Rome;

No one inherits this man’s thrown.

The Maestro goes on to an orchestra beyond;

With reflection and affection our memories are so very fond.

Thank You FSK

RIP Fred S. Kummer (4/23/1929 – 4/30/2021) 

A visitation was held from 4:00-8:00pm at Bopp Chapel on Wednesday May 5, 2021 and a funeral service at the Village Lutheran church at 9237 Clayton Road in Ladue, MO 63124 - May his memory be a blessing to you. Mrs. June Kummer, Dave and  Melanie Brewer, Fritz Kummer and Tess, Caroline and Tom Croswell. 8 grandchildren. Family and friends. 

Here is how it was reported in the Saint Louis Post Dispatch:

Fred Kummer, founder of HBE Corp. and Adam’s Mark hotels, dies at 92 

Steph Kukuljan , Blythe Bernhard

ST. LOUIS — To know Fred Kummer, a hospital builder and founder of the Adam’s Mark hotel chain, was to admire and loathe him — sometimes at the same time.

Kummer earned a reputation of being ironhanded with clients and employees alike; though those who knew him said he always wanted people to rise to their potential.

“He was pretty transparent. It was not a secret: You knew where you stood with him at any time,” said Wes Morgan, a former vice president of marketing for Kummer’s hospital development company HBE Corp.

Mr. Kummer died Friday. He was 92.

Born Frederick Strange Kummer Jr. in New York to a hotel engineer father and a homemaker mother, he grew up in the Hotel Wellington, four blocks from Central Park. He wanted to be an engineer like his father and studied at what is now Missouri University of Science and Technology.

Mr. Kummer worked for several construction companies before forming Kummer Construction Co. in the basement of his Crestwood home. By the 1960s, he started designing and building hospitals and nursing homes and changed the company name to Hospital Building and Equipment Corp., or HBE. He grew profits from $5,460.72 his first year in business to over $600 million in revenue, becoming one of the largest developers in the country.

Mr. Kummer also had a whimsical side and wore comic suspenders for a laugh. His philanthropy included donations to the NAACP, Urban League and Habitat for Humanity.

Morgan, who said he had the “unique experience” of being fired by Mr. Kummer twice, said his former boss had high expectations — “an equal-opportunity hater” — but was also a CEO who surrounded himself with smart people. Morgan last saw Mr. Kummer on April 25 when Kummer asked Morgan to come to his house to talk about his grandson’s business.

“I used to say HBE was an organization full of dysfunctional people. But Fred knew the potential of people and leveraged that,” Morgan said.

In 1972, Mr. Kummer bought his first hotel in Charlotte, North Carolina, which became the Adam’s Mark hotel chain, named after Adam Mountain in Colorado and the Marker, a restaurant in the Charlotte hotel. The downtown St. Louis location opened in March 1986. Kummer sold the hotel chain beginning in 2003.

The chain of 24 properties was rocked by claims of racism starting in the 1990s that led to a $5 million award to two former hotel managers in St. Louis. A federal jury agreed they had been victims of discrimination. The amount was reduced on appeal, but testimony in the trial indicated unfair treatment toward Black guests and employees.

In 2001, the company agreed to pay out $1.1 million to settle allegations that the Adam’s Mark in Daytona Beach, Florida, discriminated against Black guests.

At the time, Mr. Kummer acknowledged discrimination and vowed to “work on it every day.”

“I respect people for what they are,” he said during a 2001 Post-Dispatch interview. “There’s no question about it, America is fundamentally unfair. The system is stacked against minorities. I don’t know how any thinking person could not think so.”

Mr. Kummer continued to stay interested in business and development after stepping down as chief executive from HBE in 2013.

In 2019, he acquired a half-acre of real estate in downtown Clayton from the Gershman family and affiliated entities where he unveiled a $270 million project with luxury condominiums and a high-end hotel. The project was meant to be his last hurrah.

“He knew he was near the end of a storied career but he was determined to cut the ribbon on the (Clayton) project,” said Chris Fox, president and CEO of Gershman Commercial Real Estate, which represented the Gershman family in its sale with Kummer.

But by 2020, Mr. Kummer dropped the project and started talks with St. Louis commercial real estate firm Balke Brown Transwestern to sell the property.

“He was very open about the urgency of his situation,” Fox said. “He told me several times that he no longer buys green bananas.”

Last fall, the business titan and his wife, June, donated $300 million to his alma mater, Missouri S&T — the largest single gift to a university in Missouri history.

The university plans to use the “transformative” funds for a new school of innovation and entrepreneurship, research activities and scholarships for students, according to Mo Dehghani, Missouri S&T chancellor.

Kummer, a 1955 graduate in civil engineering, has said he owed much of his success to his education there.

“My Rolla experience taught me how to think, how to work hard and how to manage my own career,” Mr. Kummer said in an October statement.

In addition to his wife, survivors include a son, Fred S. Kummer III; two daughters, Caroline Crosswell and Melanie Brewer; a sister, Gloria Shedler, and sister-in-law Arleen Roettger; eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

A visitation will be held from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Bopp Chapel in Kirkwood.

NOTE:

June Marie Kummer born June 1930 - died January 8, 2024