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New medical office and surgical center breaks ground in Utica
UTICA, N.Y. — Local physician group Central Utica Building (CUB) held a groundbreaking on Dec. 17 to celebrate the start of construction on its medical office building and ambulatory-surgery center. Located on the corner of State and Columbia streets in Utica, just across from Wynn Hospital, the three-story building will house CNY Cardiology in 28,000 […]
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UTICA, N.Y. — Local physician group Central Utica Building (CUB) held a groundbreaking on Dec. 17 to celebrate the start of construction on its medical office building and ambulatory-surgery center.
Located on the corner of State and Columbia streets in Utica, just across from Wynn Hospital, the three-story building will house CNY Cardiology in 28,000 of its 94,000 square feet. Mohawk Valley Health System (MVHS) will occupy 40,000 square feet, while the remainder of the space will be available for additional rentals.
MVHS will offer ambulatory surgery, radiology, lab services, and the myRx employee pharmacy in the space. MVHS physician practices that require access to the hospital, including advanced endoscopy, the comprehensive stroke and neuro-endovascular, general surgery, and cardiothoracic surgery, will also be located in the new building.
“We are so pleased to officially kick off construction on the future medical office building that will not only provide state-of-the-art care in an outpatient setting, but will support the Wynn Hospital located across the street,” Michael Kelberman, MD, and CUB board chairman, said in a press release. “This is a great example of what can happen when organizations work together to create progress for our region.”
He added that the combination of the Wynn Hospital and the medical office building/surgery center will help recruit new physicians and allow for the use of new technology and procedures not previously available in the area.
“This means fewer people will need to travel to larger cities for advanced care,” he said.
MVHS expects the Wynn Hospital, along with the new medical and surgical building, will bring between 30,000 and 40,000 patients annually to the new medical campus, making it the place to go for medical care, according to Darlene Stromstad, president and CEO of MVHS.
“Additionally, the proximity of the building to the Wynn Hospital provides a convenient medical campus for patients, providers, and staff along with almost immediate access for providers to see and/or treat one of their patients in the hospital,” she said. “This is a wonderful addition to the Wynn Hospital medical campus.”
Foit-Albert Associates designed the building and the cardiology suite. Dwyer Associates designed the ambulatory-surgery center, radiology suite, and subtenant fit-outs for MVHS. CHA provided right-to-build and civil-engineering services and acted as CUB’s representative and project manager. Hueber-Breuer Construction Co., Inc. serves as construction manager.
“Together with the Wynn Hospital, this new medical office building and ambulatory-surgery center will raise the bar for healthcare in Oneida County and across the region,” Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente, Jr. said.
After 111 years, Beak & Skiff is now a lot more than apples
LAFAYETTE — Eddie Brennan likes to think of himself as a steward and that is an apt characterization. The 40-year-old, who became president of Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards in 2016, leads the fifth generation of family ownership for the LaFayette–based business, which despite the name, has a lot more than just apples in its
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LAFAYETTE — Eddie Brennan likes to think of himself as a steward and that is an apt characterization. The 40-year-old, who became president of Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards in 2016, leads the fifth generation of family ownership for the LaFayette–based business, which despite the name, has a lot more than just apples in its basket.
More than 111 years since George Skiff and Andrew Beak joined forces to enter Central New York’s burgeoning commercial apple business, Skiff’s great-great-grandson watches over a vastly diversified business. It has grown to include an award-winning, destination apple orchard, a four-pronged manufacturing enterprise, a concert venue that hosts national touring acts, and a recent move into the emerging field of cannabis.
Vision and innovation are at the core of the Beak & Skiff success story and those principles have guided the company since its founding. In 1910, Andrew Beak, the son of an English immigrant, was living in the town of Onondaga with his wife, Maud, and their four children. The 42-year-old was operating a small and successful dairy farm. Living as he did near the numerous apple orchards just down the road in LaFayette, Beak recognized the incredible potential in the state’s bountiful annual apple crop. That year alone, for instance, an estimated 7 million barrels were harvested. The business was ripe with opportunity.
At the same time, George Skiff, a 48-year-old onion and dairy farmer was living in Salina on the old Cicero Plank Road with his wife, Helen, and their 18-year-old son, Seymour. The Skiff family was one of the pioneer families in that area, with roots going back to the 1820s. As the story goes, the two men met at the old farmer’s market on Syracuse’s Northside and developed a friendship that evolved into a business partnership.
In 1911, the new partners planted their first apple trees on land they acquired just south of Beak’s farm, near Route 20 in LaFayette on Lords Hill Road. Considering his proximity to it, Beak managed the farm, while both families worked the land. In these early years, the business plan was rather straightforward: plant trees, harvest apples, sell apples, buy more land, repeat.
By the mid-1920s, their strategy proved a success and Beak & Skiff moved into the wholesale apple business. Joined by their sons, Charles, Jr. and Ralph Beak, and Seymour Skiff, the partners were able to fill larger and larger orders for what seemed to be an ever-increasing local market. Their wholesale customers included local grocery stores like Victory and A&P Stores, in addition to a host of other smaller area grocers. They also supplied apples to Syracuse’s Merrell-Soule, the makers of the world-famous None Such Mincemeat. Having built a thriving business, which now included over 300 acres, Andrew and George ceded management of the orchard to their sons by the end of the 1920s, though the founders never really left.
As the enterprise embarked on its third decade in business, its solid foundation saved it from collapse amidst a host of external disasters. The Great Depression hit the agricultural sector of the economy in a particularly pernicious way, as the economic distress was coupled with a series of ecological challenges as well. For Beak & Skiff, this meant two devastating fires. On Oct. 13, 1931, a massive fire destroyed four barns, several large washing and grading machines, and more than 5,000 barrels of apples. In all, the damage was $75,000 — a serious loss considering the times. Then, in April 1937, Andrew Beak’s farmhouse caught fire and burned to the ground. That same year saw a drought so bad that nearly every tree on the 315-acre farm lost its leaves, which led to enormous losses. Yet, through all of these challenges, the firm, which now included the third generation of Beaks and Skiffs, kept moving forward with an eye on the future.
Amid the catastrophes, Beak & Skiff found inspiration that spurred innovation. After a total loss in 1945, caused by a late-spring freeze that wiped out the entire crop, Richard Beak and his brothers, Ron and Ralph, along with Seymour Skiff, began experimenting with the use of smudge pots. The oil-burning torches were placed in the orchard to counteract the frosts. By 1949, they had mastered their implementation. To this day, Beak & Skiff has not lost an entire crop due to frost.
The use of smudge pots was just one of the innovative techniques Beak & Skiff employed to boost yields and expand the business. In the 1950s, the partners invested heavily in a brand-new irrigation system. In 1956, Beak & Skiff became the first apple orchard in the Northeast to utilize wind machines to move cold air away from the apple blossoms. By the end of the decade, the business employed nearly 60 people to care for and harvest the orchard, which had grown to 475 acres. The capital investments and innovation led to record harvests. On average, Beak & Skiff produced about 62,000 bushels (a bushel weighs about 45 pounds) annually through the mid-1960s.
By the late 60s, the third generation of the families had taken over the business. Ron and Dick Beak and Marshall Skiff continued to forge ahead and amass more land. By 1975, the farm had grown to 700 acres in LaFayette, with a breathtaking view of Onondaga Valley. Expansion allowed Beak & Skiff to more than double its output, harvesting nearly 130,000 bushels, on average. To help preserve and store its crop, the orchard built a series of huge climate-controlled warehouses, which keep the apples at 32 degrees all the time.
That same year, Beak & Skiff took another major leap in the evolution of the business when it opened the orchard to the public for the first time. It was among the first “pick your own” apple orchards in the Northeast. Beak & Skiff’s wholesale business was thriving, and the partners saw this as an area with major growth potential. The new pick-your-own business was opened on what became known as Apple Hill and it was an immediate success. In 1979, Beak & Skiff converted an old dairy barn into the Apple Hill Country Store where it sold pies and other assorted baked goods. That same year, Beak & Skiff made another critical decision when the firm decided to go into the apple-cider business. Ever the innovators, Beak & Skiff’s cider mill was the first in the nation to “flash pasteurize” its fresh cider, greatly extending its shelf life.
By 1990, Beak & Skiff’s sprawling acreage was being overseen by the fourth generation, as Marshall Skiff’s son-in-law, Mark Fleckenstein became orchard manager. This era also saw the orchard make a concerted effort to move away from the use of chemical pesticides whenever possible.
As the fourth and fifth generations of Andrew Beak and George Skiff’s descendants brought their family business into the 21st century, they made yet another innovative decision when they produced their first hard cider in 2001. Branded as “1911 Hard Cider,” an homage to the company’s birth year, it was made with Beak & Skiff’s fresh cider, a practice that continues to this day. According to Brennan, this practice sets Beak & Skiff apart from many of its competitors who use cider concentrate. This adds a certain level of difficulty to the process but makes for a much more delicious end product. The results speak for themselves.
In 2022, the Cider House on Lord’s Hill Road produced nearly 2 million gallons of 1911 Hard Cider in an ever-expanding line of varieties. Much of this success is due to the relationships built personally by Brennan and his team, which include a partnership with Wegman’s dating back to 2017. According to Brennan, 1911 Hard Cider is a top 10 alcohol brand for the Central New York based grocery chain.
As the company was on the verge of celebrating a century in business, Beak & Skiff continued to push forward. In 2010, the business expanded its alcoholic offerings, introducing 1911 Spirits vodka and gin, which it distills on-site. Spurred by a disastrous harvest in 2012, where nearly 85 percent of the crop was lost, Beak & Skiff leadership decided to double down on the hard-cider business. In 2013, the Apple Hill Campus was expanded to include a massive new tasting room, a retail shop, and a full-service café.
Other investments included an expanded bottling line and the purchase of more acreage, which now totals 1,000 — 400 of which are planted with 350,000 apple trees. In 2015, USA Today named Beak & Skiff the number-one apple orchard in America (a title it has won several times) and it consistently ranks in the top five annually.
Today, under the stewardship of the fifth generation of family ownership, Beak & Skiff is thriving like it never has before. Constantly innovating, evolving, and diversifying, this 111-year-old business stands poised at the forefront of another booming agricultural product with its foray into marijuana cultivation, and retail sales under the auspices of a new company, Gen V Labs, and a new brand, Ayrloom (a play on heirloom apples).
Through fires, droughts, frosts, and freezes, Beak & Skiff has endured. This legendary Central New York family business has become a family tradition for many and, with its growth and success, an ambassador for the entire region.
Robert J. Searing is curator of history at the Onondaga Historical Association (OHA) (www.cnyhistory.org), located at 321 Montgomery St. in Syracuse.
Beak & Skiff works to further diversify offerings in 2023
LAFAYETTE — Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards has a busy year planned for 2023 with a new lineup of artists for its summer concert series and a focus on its cannabis venture as the company owners work to continue to further diversify the business beyond apples. “It was a great year for us,” Eddie Brennan,
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LAFAYETTE — Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards has a busy year planned for 2023 with a new lineup of artists for its summer concert series and a focus on its cannabis venture as the company owners work to continue to further diversify the business beyond apples.
“It was a great year for us,” Eddie Brennan, Beak & Skiff co-owner and president, says. The orchard hosted 18 national acts at concerts from May through August, with about 60,000 people attending.
“We’re really transitioning our summer experience to have Beak & Skiff as a national concert venue,” Brennan says. The orchard has already announced three acts coming to the stage in 2023 with more announcements to come.
Fall remains the core and busiest season at the apple orchard with about 300,000 people visiting within the six- to eight-week season, Brennan says. And while the orchard and all the fall festiveness that goes with it will never go away, diversification continues to be the key to success at Beak & Skiff.
Along with the 2 million gallons of sweet apple cider it presses annually, Beak & Skiff also offers its 1911 brand of hard cider, which is now available in 30 states.
“We’re trying to be leaders in the innovation side of hard cider,” Brennan says. He credits 1911 with saving the family farm and keeping Beak & Skiff in business.
In addition to producing hard cider, Beak & Skiff is one of the largest producers of cold brew coffee, which it primarily makes for private-label grocery brands. Along with the concerts at the orchard, cold brew has proven to be a good summer business, Brennan says, and helps establish Beak & Skiff as a premier beverage company.
A huge focus in 2023 will be Beak & Skiff’s cannabis venture, which began three years ago with an acre of hemp. Currently, Beak & Skiff Research, the cannabis arm of the business, grows 15 acres of hemp, is one of the first businesses licensed to grow marijuana, and one of the first licensed cannabis-processing facilities, Brennan says. It also produces THC beverages.
Brennan expects the coming year to be busy as dispensaries start coming online. “We’re excited to be on the front edge of that,” he says, adding that cannabis will further diversify the business to help keep it viable. “We never want to be 100-percent reliant on one commodity,” he notes.
Beak & Skiff, located at 2709 Lords Hill Road in LaFayette, employs 120 people full time and grows to about 350 employees during the peak fall season.
Bond, Schoeneck & King: 125 Years of Service
Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC is a law firm that has been very familiar to many Central New York residents for the last 125 years. George Hopkins Bond founded the firm in 1897 soon after graduating from Syracuse University College of Law at age 24. Born in Syracuse in 1873, George was locally educated and
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Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC is a law firm that has been very familiar to many Central New York residents for the last 125 years. George Hopkins Bond founded the firm in 1897 soon after graduating from Syracuse University College of Law at age 24.
Born in Syracuse in 1873, George was locally educated and then attended Syracuse University. He was the captain of the football team for two years and football head coach for one season. George graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in philosophy in 1894. He was a member of the first full-time class at the two-year-old law college and received his law degree in 1897.
George Bond partnered with Ernest Ingersoll White, who was three years older than George and received an undergraduate degree from Cornell University in 1893. Two years later, White graduated from Columbia Law School and was admitted to the state bar. White came from a distinguished family. His brother, Horace White, was a New York State governor and his uncle, Andrew Dickson White, was president of Cornell University and an ambassador to Germany and Russia.
Edward Schoeneck joined Bond and White in 1908. He was the fifth of eight children. Schoeneck’s father, Henry, was a Civil War veteran and a blacksmith. As a boy, Schoeneck worked with his father and brothers at the family forge. Schoeneck was elected to the Onondaga County Board of Supervisors in 1901 at age 26. He graduated from the Syracuse University College of Law two years later. While studying the law, Schoeneck clerked for Ernest White. White and Bond partnered with Schoeneck once he was admitted to the bar in 1903. The law firm then became White, Bond and Schoeneck, and was located in the White Memorial Building on East Washington Street in Syracuse.
In addition to their law careers, George Bond and Edward Schoeneck also had political aspirations. Bond became Onondaga County district attorney in 1908. Schoeneck was elected Syracuse mayor in 1910 and then New York State lieutenant governor in 1915. When the U.S. entered World War I, Schoeneck served as a major of artillery at Camp Taylor in Kentucky. After the war, he did not return to political office. However, Schoeneck did serve for many years with the New York State Liquor Authority.
Meanwhile, White was quite active in business. Along with his legal career, he was also president of two local businesses: the Costswold Comfortable Company, a bedding business, and the Mack Miller Candle Company. White also was an enthusiastic horseman who owned horses and raced trotters in the U.S., Canada, and England.
When Schoeneck was elected mayor of Syracuse in 1910, White announced that the firm of White, Bond & Schoeneck would dissolve. White also announced that he would partner with Harry Barber who had been his financial clerk for many years. Bond and Schoeneck, while serving as mayor and district attorney, respectively, formed a new partnership, known as Bond & Schoeneck. They opened a new office in Room 431 at the Union Building, located at 435-447 South Salina St. in Syracuse. Opened in 1909, the Union Building boasted the latest in modern conveniences for the time, including hot and cold water, a vacuum cleaner, and compressed air in every office.
Clarence Roderick King was born in Auburn in August 1889. However, his father died before Clarence was born and his mother moved to Syracuse with her two young children, and found work there as a seamstress. King worked hard as a child, and after graduating from high school, he attended Syracuse University, graduating from the College of Law in 1912. He received his law degree while simultaneously working as a clerk at Syracuse Chilled Plow Company. King credited Carleton Chase, Syracuse banker and manufacturer, for assisting with his education. He also never forgot his mother’s sacrifice and frequently mentioned his devotion to her.
King was admitted to the bar in 1913 and joined Bond & Schoeneck that year. He became a partner in the law firm in 1920, which was then renamed Bond, Schoeneck & King. Like his two business partners, King also had political aspirations. He served as the chairman of the Onondaga County Republican Committee, beginning in 1923, and then, the chairman of the executive committee of the Republican State Committee. King was widely respected by his Republican Party colleagues who regularly consulted him on policy issues. He wielded enormous power in local and state politics; his moniker was Onondaga’s Little Giant.
For the first 25 years, the Bond, Schoeneck & King law firm was just those three men. It was not until 1922 that the firm hired another lawyer, Edward L. Robertson. From that point forward, however, the business continually grew. By the end of 1927, the Bond firm employed 14 attorneys and support staff.
To accommodate a growing legal and support staff, Bond, Schoeneck & King moved from the Union Building on South Salina Street to the 14th floor of the new State Tower Building, located at 109 South Warren St., soon after the building opened in 1927. The firm stayed at the State Tower Building until the early 1970s.
In 1927, the law firm added Chester Rifenbary, described as an excellent trial lawyer similar to the three founding members. With Bond, Schoeneck, and King spending many hours fulfilling their political roles, Rifenbary also managed the inner workings of the office.
Two years later, Howard Cannon, also hired in 1927, conducted most of the legal work to organize Lincoln National Bank & Trust Company of Syracuse, with oversight from Edward Schoeneck. Schoeneck and King developed the idea of starting a new bank in Syracuse and gathered a list of men who supported the idea, including Anthony Henninger (New Process Gear plant manager & Syracuse mayor), Leo Eagan (prominent real-estate developer), and Melvin King (renowned architect). Lincoln National Bank & Trust Company opened on Jan. 2, 1930 with capital of $2.1 million. From there, the bank grew rapidly and became one of Bond’s mainstay clients. In 1959, the bank changed its name to Lincoln National Bank & Trust of Central New York. Eight years later, the bank became a division of Lincoln First Group, and in 1984, it merged with Chase Manhattan Bank.
At the height of the Great Depression, Bond, Schoeneck & King had more than 20 insurance-company clients, including Utica Mutual Insurance Company, first listed as a client in 1931. This company, now known as Utica Mutual Insurance Group, is still an important Bond client today.
Clarence King’s devotion to hard work as both a gifted trial attorney and political luminary would prematurely kill him at the age of 47. Lingering kidney and heart ailments, exacerbated by his rigorous campaigning for Republican candidates during the 1936 elections, proved deadly. Shortly after the November elections, King was overcome by his weakened health and died on Dec. 30, 1936. He left behind his wife, Alberta, and his three-year-old daughter, Mary. He was fondly remembered by many, and he left an enormous void in the local and state Republican Party.
Unfortunately, Chester Rifenbary also died in 1936, younger than Clarence King, at age 44. Rifenbary had suffered from heart issues for many years.
George H. Bond, Jr. (George H. Bond’s son) and Charles A. Schoeneck (Edward Schoeneck’s nephew), joined the firm in 1936. Chester H. King, Jr. (no relation to Clarence R. King) also joined the following year.
Bond, Schoeneck & King became embroiled in the Remington-Rand labor strike in 1936, at a time when labor unions and company management fought, sometimes literally, against each other over fair wages, labor practices, and workplace safety. The Remington-Rand strike occurred at typewriter plants in New York, Connecticut, and Ohio. In March 1934, Remington-Rand employees organized a labor union, but the company refused to recognize its legitimacy. That May, 6,400 workers struck in order to compel Remington-Rand officials to recognize the union and sign a collective-bargaining agreement. The company recognized the union that June and signed an agreement. However, company management often violated the agreement, angering union officials and workers. The workers struck again in July, set up picket lines, with both sides engaging in violence. In Ohio and Syracuse that July, striking workers threw homemade bombs at the typewriter plants, causing minor physical damage, but injuring a policeman. In August, Syracuse police fired upon striking workers at the Gifford Street plant, injuring two of them. A Remington-Rand attorney from Buffalo met with George Bond and other Bond attorneys to encourage the firm to apply for an injunction against the labor union’s strike in Syracuse. The firm applied for the injunction, arguing on behalf of Remington-Rand management that the striking workers had used violence during the strike. The judge, a former attorney with Bond, Schoeneck & King, issued the injunction against the Syracuse union, stating that the size of the picket line should be greatly decreased and prohibited violence at and near the plant. The union filed an appeal and hearings ensued before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), a recently organized federal agency that enforces labor law as it relates to collective bargaining and fair labor practices. At the NLRB hearings, Remington-Rand was represented by Bond, Schoeneck & King; several labor unions were represented by a Joint Collective Board. The NLRB determined that Remington-Rand was guilty of unfair labor practices outlined in a 120-page document. The NLRB ordered Remington-Rand to reinstate the striking workers and recognize the labor union. After more than a year, striking workers approved an agreement with Remington-Rand Company and went back to work. Bond’s involvement in the strike injunction and the NLRB hearings strengthened the firm’s growing reputation in the field of labor law. Today, several labor-law categories remain a vital practice at Bond, Schoeneck & King.
During World War II, several Bond attorneys fulfilled their patriotic duty by serving in the military. Chester King, Jr. served as a captain with the 101st Anti-Tank Battalion in North Africa and Italy. Charles Schoeneck served as a lieutenant with the 37th Infantry Division in the Northern Solomon and Luzon campaigns and was awarded the Combat Infantry Badge with Bronze Star. George Bond, Jr. served as an Air Combat Intelligence Officer on staff of the Southwest Pacific Forces in Australia. Tracy Ferguson joined the Navy, was commissioned as a lieutenant, and served as a liaison officer with the ship-building commission of the War Labor Board. The law firm hired additional attorneys to fill the void left by those serving in the military.
General Electric (GE) became a major home-front client during World War II. GE produced heavy defense equipment in Syracuse as part of the company’s $1 billion in federal government wartime contracts. George Bond, Sr. knew GE’s chairman of the board, Owen Young, and most likely these two men created the business relationship between GE and Bond. With Bond’s real estate and other legal assistance to GE, the company announced the development of Electronics Park in the Liverpool area in 1944. Groundbreaking occurred the following year, with the transmitter division opening there in 1947.
After World War II, Bond partners elevated several other lawyers to partner status, establishing a total of eight partner attorneys, and provided them with a share of company-wide profits along with their own salaries. By 1949, the firm employed 18 attorneys working on the 13th and 14th floors of the State Tower Building.
Bond, Schoeneck & King lost two of its founding members in the 1950s: Edward Schoeneck in 1951 at age 75, and George H. Bond, Sr. in 1954 at age 80.
During this decade, the Bond firm represented the milk cooperative, Dairylea, lobbying for legislation against oleo margarine. Bond also represented Greyhound Bus Company in its unsuccessful attempt to lobby New York State for double-decker buses. Unity Life and Accident Insurance Association, now known as Unity Mutual Life Insurance Company, was Bond’s third lobbying client in the 1950s. Bond lobbied on the insurance company’s behalf to convert its status from a fraternity benefit society to a mutual insurance company. The legislation passed and Unity converted to a mutual insurance company.
Bond’s labor relations legal work also began to expand under attorney Tracy Ferguson who had been with the firm since the 1930s. Labor strife in the 1950s caused strikes at General Electric and Allied Chemical Company, which purchased Solvay Process Company back in 1920s. Similar to the 1930s strikes, these strikes produced picket lines and some violence.
By mid-decade, 29 attorneys worked at the Bond law firm.
Bond, Schoeneck & King was beginning to experience fundamental changes by transforming from a local law firm into a full-service, regional, and ultimately, national law firm by 1960. The firm continued to add attorneys, and quarters became cramped at the State Tower Building, even as the firm occupied two additional floors.
As a full-service law firm, Bond expanded its client list to include a wide variety of businesses, including Onondaga Pottery Company, A.E. Nettleton Company, Marsellus Casket Company, Syracuse University, and the Syracuse Newspapers. Up to this point in time, most of the attorneys had a local connection to Syracuse and Onondaga County. However, in the 1960s, the Bond firm started hiring attorneys who had no local connection to the area, and by the mid-decade, Bond had grown to 50 attorneys.
The 1960s was a decade of great changes in American culture including clothing styles. At one of the partners’ meetings, the conservative male partners deliberated which clothing styles should be permitted in Bond’s office settings. The subject of women wearing pantsuits arose, and after considerable reflection, the partners decided to relax their dress code just a bit to allow women to wear pantsuits.
Bond, Schoeneck & King also represented the Oneida Nation of New York and Wisconsin in land claims brought against New York State during the 1960s and 1970s. The firm had never handled a Native American land claim, and this lawsuit was conceivably the most important legal case in Bond’s history. The land-claim case began in April 1965 with Oneida Nation member, Jake Thompson, introducing potential evidence via several treaties made between the Oneida Nation and New York State between 1780 and 1840. After Bond attorneys reviewed the treaties, they determined that the Oneida Nation was eligible to make land claims that comprised about 5 million to 6 million acres. However, prior court decisions in New York State had declared that no Native American nation or individuals could sue the state.
Rather than sue New York State, Bond decided to sue Madison and Oneida Counties, the location of the disputed land. The original claim of 5 million to 6 million acres was pared down to 100,000 acres located within both counties. Bond made it clear to the Oneida Nation that it would not sue individual landowners. The case was introduced in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York in 1970. Both the U.S. and New York State opposed the Oneida Nation’s land claim. However, Bond lawyers appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and the court ruled that federal courts have jurisdiction over Native American land claims, thus, making the federal court in New York liable to hear the case. In 1975, a federal judge in Auburn sided with the Oneida Nation and declared that New York State had acquired the land without complying with the Nonintercourse Act that set the boundaries of Native American reservations. However, at this point, individual land owners were drawn into the land claim, so Bond decided to withdraw further involvement based upon its prior commitment to not sue individual land owners. The case continued throughout the 1980s, the 1990s, and into the 21st century. Then, on May 16, 2013, the Oneida Nation, New York State, Madison County, and Oneida County signed a historic agreement officially ending the land claim. The Oneida Nation was then granted exclusive gaming rights in 10 Central New York counties. The Nation agreed to contribute 25 percent of its slot machine net profits to New York State and the surrounding counties.
Bond, Schoeneck & King opened its first satellite office in Albany in 1971. Albany made sense to the many attorneys who routinely traveled there for their own political responsibilities as well as to represent the interests of their high-profile clients. An office in Albany also attracted business from eastern New York state and the New England states. Bond opened its second and third satellite offices in Boca Raton and Naples, Florida in 1976.
After occupying several upper floors of the landmark State Tower Building, Bond moved to the new One Lincoln Center AT 110 West Fayette St. in downtown Syracuse, in 1973. Along with Bond, the new $20 million, 305,500 square foot building also included Lincoln Bank and E.W. Edwards Department Store. Bond’s main office remains at One Lincoln Center today and is considered one of the building’s anchor businesses, along with Bousquet Holstein PLLC and Grossman St. Amour CPAs, PLLC.
As the 1970s segued to the 1980s, Bond, Schoeneck & King, along with other sizable law firms in Syracuse, faced economic challenges in the midst of a stubborn recession. Vying for large clients, Bond found itself adhering to stricter financial business practices in order to compete with other large legal firms. The firm hired a law administrator in the 1970s, who performed the function of auditor, office manager, personnel chief, computer wizard, and comptroller, so Bond stayed economically solvent and competitive. In 1983, Bond employed 89 attorneys, and about 160 support staff, working both day and night shifts.
In 1986, M. Catherine Richardson was the first woman elected to the firm’s membership. The 1977 graduate of Syracuse University’s School of Law specialized in the firm’s health-care practice and retired in 2003. She became the first female president of the Onondaga County Bar Association in 1987 and the second female president of the New York State Bar Association in 1996. She presided over the New York State Bar’s Foundation from 2009-2012, and served on the Board of Governors of the American Bar Association from 2003-2006. In recognition of her leadership in diversity and inclusion, the firm created the M. Catherine Richardson Clerkship Program to expand opportunities for students from historically excluded communities who desire experience in the legal profession.
Bond, Schoeneck & King continued expanding into new communities in the 1980s and 90s, opening a satellite office in Oswego in 1988 and Overland Park, Kansas in 1991 to expand its legal business into the collegiate sports world. The firm’s new office opened within one mile of NCAA headquarters at the time, and hired Michael Glazier, a Kansas attorney who was more knowledgeable about sports law. This expansion was precipitated by the NCAA’s investigation into rules violations against Syracuse University’s men’s basketball program in 1990 and 1991. Today, Bond’s collegiate-sports practice group employs six attorneys in Kansas and provides legal counsel to more than 200 colleges and universities.
In the late 1990s, the Bond firm opened two more satellite offices in Buffalo and Saratoga Springs. As the 20th century became the 21st, Bond continued to expand into new geographic areas and legal practices. The firm is now present in several cities in New York state, as well as New Jersey, Massachusetts, Kansas, and Florida. The impetus for these geographic and business expansions was through mergers with or acquisitions of other law firms. Bond now employs 275 legal professionals, along with numerous support staff, with experience in 35 different legal practices.
Bond, Schoeneck & King continues to celebrate its continuation and success as one of the largest law firms in the U.S. with its 125th anniversary in 2022. With 15 offices in five states, Bond will continue to impact the American legal system well into the 21st century.
Thomas Hunter is curator of collections at the Onondaga Historical Association (OHA) (www.cnyhistory.org), located at 321 Montgomery St. in Syracuse.
2022 Bond law firm highlights include downstate expansion, COO
SYRACUSE — Business activity for the law firm Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC in 2022 included additional downstate expansion, a new COO, and the addition of a new litigation attorney. The Syracuse–based firm in early May announced it would be combining with a smaller Long Island firm. Effective June 1, Lazer, Aptheker, Rosella & Yedid
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SYRACUSE — Business activity for the law firm Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC in 2022 included additional downstate expansion, a new COO, and the addition of a new litigation attorney.
The Syracuse–based firm in early May announced it would be combining with a smaller Long Island firm.
Effective June 1, Lazer, Aptheker, Rosella & Yedid — which is based in Melville, New York and also has an office in South Florida — joined Bond, bringing 23 lawyers.
The combination boosted Bond’s Long Island presence to about 40 attorneys — the firm already had an office in Garden City — and continued its downstate expansion. In 2021, Bond combined with New York City–based Putney, Twombly, Hall & Hirson, adding 15 lawyers.
“For a long time now, we’ve been looking to make our downstate practice, in particular our Long Island practice, full service. Currently in our Garden City office, we represent a lot of public-sector clients, we do a lot of litigation work, and labor and employment in particular. But we’ve always had a strategic plan to expand and diversify the practice,” Kevin Bernstein, chair of the Bond, Schoeneck & King management committee, told CNYBJ in an April 20 interview. “[Lazer] provided us exactly what we’re looking for, and that is they are a commercial business and litigation firm. They do a lot of things, and basically, they would turn our practice downstate into a full-service location.”
Prior to the combination announcement, Bond, Schoeneck & King in mid-February appointed Bryan J. Donohue as COO, assuming administrative leadership of the 250-attorney law firm.
Donohue, formerly the COO with the Buffalo–based accounting firm of Freed Maxick, works alongside firm management on strategic initiatives to continue the firm’s growth. Donohue works from the firm’s Buffalo office.
Bernstein said Donohue brought the Bond law firm “proven leadership in professional services operations, with an emphasis on financial oversight. In addition to his financial background, his experience in [information technology], marketing, facilities and firm management will be integral to our continued growth.”
Among other personnel highlights, Bond, Schoeneck & King in late May announced that Timothy McMahon had recently joined the law firm’s litigation practice in its Syracuse office as senior counsel. McMahon has litigated commercial and personal-injury cases before all state and federal courts on contract disputes, insurance-coverage disputes, products and premises liability, motor-vehicle law, and construction-law matters.
For the past 12 years, prior to joining Bond, McMahon was principal law clerk to Judge Joseph E. Lamendola, Onondaga County Supreme Court, and to Judge Brian F. DeJoseph, Onondaga County Supreme Court and New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division, Fourth Department.
The Raymond Corporation: vital to the global supply chain
While the term “supply chain” has become part of the vernacular, it is still safe to assume that typical consumers are probably not thinking about the steps that it takes to get the item from their Amazon shopping cart to their front door. The incredibly intricate and interconnected global world of storage, distribution, and material
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While the term “supply chain” has become part of the vernacular, it is still safe to assume that typical consumers are probably not thinking about the steps that it takes to get the item from their Amazon shopping cart to their front door. The incredibly intricate and interconnected global world of storage, distribution, and material handling is, like so many things in this modern world, taken for granted.
In many respects, our collective apathy is a testament to the incredible success of the Raymond Corporation — a company that generated more than $800 million in revenue in 2021 that many people have never heard of, yet rely on every day. For the last 100 years, the ingenuity and innovation of George Raymond, Sr. and the company he founded has made Raymond, a Toyota Industries Corp. company, a leading global provider of material-handling products and intelligent intralogistics solutions.
From its headquarters in the Chenango County town of Greene, which has a population of about 6,000 people, Raymond’s employees design, maintain, and manufacture products and warehouse-solutions systems that are essential to the global supply chain. And believe it or not, it all started with a wood pallet and a barber chair.
The roots of Raymond Corp. can be traced back to the Lyon Iron Works, which was founded in Greene in 1840. It was a small machine shop that specialized in making iron that was then cast into agricultural implements. As the population of the Empire State continued to climb through the 19th century, the Lyon Iron Works remained a small but successful firm, supplying the local market with the tools it needed. By 1922, the Lyon Iron Works was primarily producing sawmills for the area’s once thriving timber market and wrought-iron fencing. However, the business was not doing well. Enter George Raymond, Sr. That year, he made the fateful decision to move his family from their home in Brooklyn to Greene — a town that was named after Revolutionary War General Nathanael Greene — where Raymond had purchased a controlling share in the Lyon Iron Works for $6,000.
In leaving Brooklyn, Raymond was actually returning to his roots in Central New York. Born in Owego, he graduated from nearby Cornell University with a degree in engineering. Ever an innovative problem solver, Raymond threw himself into turning the business around. At first, he re-focused the foundry on servicing the local agricultural sector in rural New York and over the border in Pennsylvania. More importantly, he began to manufacture custom machines and products that could help customers handle materials in warehouses and on shop floors, using cast iron and hard wood. By the end of the decade, this new line of equipment comprised about 75 percent of the company’s sales. In 1929, Raymond received his first patent for his “basket truck,” which like so many Raymond Corp. products are ubiquitous in the industry.
Around this same time, George Raymond, Sr. made another critical decision that would have major ramifications on his business and the broader material-handling industry it helped define. Raymond hired an eager young jobseeker, William House, who shared his affinity for machines, design, and engineering. House would stay with the company for 41 years, playing an integral role in its growth and success. Nowhere was this more evident than in the development of the two inventions that altered the course of the Lyon Iron Works and the material-handling industry forever — the double-faced wooden pallet and its partner, the hydraulic hand pallet truck.
As the story was relayed to me by Steve Raymond (George’s grandson), George, Sr. was getting his haircut at his usual barbershop in the local Sherwood Hotel. Having been fascinated with hydraulics for several years and struck by a thunderbolt of inspiration, Raymond asked the barber if he could buy his extra barber chair. The barber would not sell him the chair, but he did “rent” it to Raymond for $10; so, he took the chair back to the shop on Foundry Street. With Bill House, he proceeded to take it apart and reverse engineer it. This was the birth of the first hydraulic lift truck, and it was designed to be used in tandem with the skid “platform” Raymond patented in 1931. Eight years later, after much testing and design alterations, Raymond and House patented, sequentially, the double-faced wooden pallet and the hydraulic hand-pallet truck, both improvements on their earlier work. Over 80 years later, these two revolutionary inventions are ubiquitous and essential to the global marketplace.
However, the severity of the Great Depression almost extinguished the fires of innovation being stoked in Greene before they had a chance to spread. The Depression hit Lyon Iron Works’ biggest customer bases the hardest, as the agricultural and manufacturing sectors were decimated. By the end of 1931, Raymond, House, and a part-time secretary were the only employees left from the 78 in 1929. But Raymond managed to survive. Spurred by the incredible demand brought about by the war effort, sales reached $250,000 ($5 million adjusted for inflation) in 1941. That year, George, Sr. changed the name of the company to Lyon-Raymond Corporation. In 1943, George hired the company’s first professional engineer, Chris Gibson.
The post-war era saw Lyon-Raymond grow exponentially as it continued to drive innovation. Another watershed moment in the company’s history was a fateful meeting between Raymond, House, Gibson, and a grocery industry consultant, Harry Messerole in 1947. Messerole’s idea was a simple one: why not shrink the size of the aisles in the warehouses, thereby saving his customers millions in wasted storage space? Could Lyon-Raymond build a lift truck to these new, smaller specifications? A few years later, the team at Lyon-Raymond patented the first electric narrow-aisle lift truck, another Raymond invention that changed the industry forever.
With the unparalleled economic growth of the 1950s, Lyon-Raymond’s business was booming. In 1950, annual sales exceeded $1 million for the first time, and the Lyon-Raymond Corporation became The Raymond Corporation. By 1955, total sales reached $5 million. That same year, George Raymond, Jr., was elected president of the company his father purchased when George, Jr. was just an infant. It was an incredibly proud day for the Raymond family.
To maintain the growth of an increasingly complex and expanding product line, Raymond Corp. began construction on a brand-new manufacturing facility in Greene in 1956. In order to raise the requisite funds, George, Sr. made the difficult decision to take Raymond Corp. public on the NASDAQ market. Three years later, George Raymond, Jr. became CEO. George, Jr. had implemented Raymond Corp.’s authorized-independent-dealer strategy in the 1950s, and that move helped tremendously with the company’s expansion over the ensuing decades. As its market share increased, Raymond expanded internationally, opening a massive new $300,000 manufacturing facility in Brantford, Ontario in 1965. Two years later, George Raymond, Sr. passed away, having turned his $6,000 investment into an internationally known, publicly traded company employing 600 people with revenues near $50 million annually.
During the 1970s and 80s, Raymond Corp. continued its legacy of innovation, investing heavily in automated lift trucks and a host of other leading-edge solutions. In 1979, the company opened a new parts distribution center in East Syracuse to better serve its network of intendent dealers across the country. By 1980, Raymond Corp. had sales of $113 million and reached its peak employment of 1,800.
Over the next two decades, Raymond Corp. looked to integrate computer technology into its industry-leading product lines, as a way to maintain a competitive advantage amid a changing economic landscape marked by deindustrialization and downsizing. George, Jr. retired as CEO in 1987, though he stayed on as chairman of the board. Ross Colquhoun became president and CEO. Colquhoun continued to push Raymond towards the future. A few years later, the company produced the industry’s first computer-operated truck. Under Colquhoun’s leadership, Raymond expanded its network of international partners in Sweden, Germany, Australia, Singapore, and into Central America and South America. In 1996, Raymond Corp. reported sales of $308 million.
The next year marked the end of an era when Sweden’s BT Industries AB acquired Raymond. In 2000, Japan–based Toyota Industries Corp. purchased BT Industries.
Today, a century after George Raymond, Sr. uprooted his young family from Brooklyn to chase his dream in the town of Greene, The Raymond Corporation is a global leader in the industry it pioneered. Raymond’s visionary contributions to the field are still being lauded.
Robert J. Searing is curator of history at the Onondaga Historical Association (OHA) (www.cnyhistory.org), located at 321 Montgomery St. in Syracuse.
Raymond Corp. plans continued product innovations in 2023
GREENE — After a year filled with celebrating the company’s 100th anniversary, The Raymond Corporation is looking ahead to a year of innovation and helping its customers. The company kicked off 2022 with the introduction of several new products and innovations including its iWAREHOUSE Field Sense proximity-notification system, High Capacity Orderpicker that picks a full
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GREENE — After a year filled with celebrating the company’s 100th anniversary, The Raymond Corporation is looking ahead to a year of innovation and helping its customers.
The company kicked off 2022 with the introduction of several new products and innovations including its iWAREHOUSE Field Sense proximity-notification system, High Capacity Orderpicker that picks a full rack higher than most models, and its next-generation Virtual Reality Simulator scalable teaching tool that helps customers bring new hires up to speed more quickly.
Over the summer, Raymond held a celebration in honor of the company’s 100th year that included a historical exhibition of the firm’s history.
In November, the company’s founder, George Raymond, Sr. was posthumously inducted into the Logistics Hall of Fame for his invention of the first double-faced wooden pallet.
“I think one of the very special things we experienced and heard at the hall of fame induction was that this double-sided pallet has spawned an industry,” Raymond President/CEO Michael Field says. Raymond has continued to lead the way in innovations from early warehouses to today’s “just-in-time” warehouses.
The company’s role, he says, is to help customers understand, and overcome, challenges using data and real process solutions. While many businesses struggled through the pandemic, Raymond’s products were more in demand than ever, Field notes. E-commerce increased as much as 30 percent during the pandemic as people stayed home and ordered goods online.
“It really changed the way that people expected to receive goods,” he says. “That really has continued to grow our business to the point where we have a lot of backlog.”
Raymond has to step up its game to help its customers move goods quickly and efficiently, he contends.
In 2023 and beyond, Raymond continues to look for opportunities in automation and innovation. From forklifts with microprocessors enabling a customer to track its entire fleet of forklifts to its Raymond lean-management system, it’s all about helping customers optimize and, where appropriate, automate.
“Maybe that travel path for a particular forklift is not value added,” Field says. That may be an opportunity for automation with a self-driving forklift.
New for the company for the coming year is a new set of automated products that help people lift heavier items to higher heights, Field adds.
It all goes back to Raymond’s three main tenets — innovation, quality, and service — and that double-sided pallet developed in the 1930s by George Raymond, Sr. and his colleague William House. Soon after the patent was awarded, Raymond donated it back to the industry.
Today, Raymond employs more than 2,000 people at its Greene headquarters and its locations in Syracuse and Iowa and is currently hiring. Raymond also employs more than 7,000 people at its solution and support centers around the world.
Jake’s Place: The Story of United Radio Service
United Radio Service’s founder, Jacob Hyman Rubenstein, was born in Antopol, Russia in 1903, the oldest of eight children. At the age of eight, he left the Russian Empire with his mother, Freida, two sisters, Belle and Gertrude, and brother, Levi, to join their father, David, in the United States. David had emigrated from Russia
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United Radio Service’s founder, Jacob Hyman Rubenstein, was born in Antopol, Russia in 1903, the oldest of eight children. At the age of eight, he left the Russian Empire with his mother, Freida, two sisters, Belle and Gertrude, and brother, Levi, to join their father, David, in the United States. David had emigrated from Russia a few years earlier to escape Jewish persecution in the Russian Empire under Czar Nicholas II. The Rubenstein family was among some 2 million Jews who fled Russian persecution between 1880 and 1920, the majority coming to the U.S. Jacob (or Jake, as he was later called), did not speak much about his early life in Russia, but on at least one occasion spoke about periodic pograms, large-scale anti-Semitic riots that often killed many Jews and destroyed their property. A series of pogroms in 1905 targeted and killed Jews throughout the Russian Empire and destroyed millions of dollars in Jewish property. Frieda and her children landed at the Ellis Island immigration station in New York City in February 1911, and then reunited with David in Syracuse, where he had established a new home and was working as a shoe repairer.
By 1921, the Rubenstein family was residing at 512 Irving Ave. in Syracuse. In the home’s attic, Jake dabbled with radio sets and soon learned much about this nascent communications industry. Beginning in about 1920, radio developed into an electronic medium that broadcast news, music, sports, drama, and variety shows, and dominated the airwaves until television supplanted it after World War II. Jake Rubenstein positioned himself to take advantage of the radio market and quickly became an expert.
He began to assemble radio kits purchased by customers at local stores at his home. That progressed in 1923, to Jake selling, assembling, and repairing radios within the National Outlet, a store located at 115 West Jefferson St. in Syracuse that sold surplus military clothing, civilian clothing, shoes, and interestingly, radio parts, including rheostats, condensers, and transformers.
When the National Outlet went bankrupt in 1925, Jake Rubenstein took advantage of the rapid upsurge in radios to venture out on his own in March 1925 and establish The Radio Shop at 425 South Clinton St. in Syracuse. An advertisement in the Syracuse Herald newspaper later that year announced, “Radio Service Under Supervision of Jacob Rubenstein.” Jake’s newspaper advertisements also publicized that his shop sold radio sets and parts and employed skilled men to repair radios. Recognized as a local radio expert, the Syracuse Herald enticed Jake to write a weekly newspaper column.
Jake Rubenstein also was an ardent student of electronics and an inventor. Between 1929 and 1963, he received 11 patents — one for a wireless transmission system in 1932, one for a quick- breaking thermal relay in 1942, one for an electromagnetic alarm device in 1944, and one for a starter and a circuit for an electric discharge device in 1963. Jake also invented a record player that could play either side of a record, as well as a parking meter that removed the available parking time when the car pulled away, ensuring that the next vehicle to park did not get free parking time.
Jake married Dorothy Lefkowitz in 1929, often recounting that the money he received from his first patent that year allowed him to ask for Dorothy’s hand. The following July, Jake and Dorothy welcomed their first child, a son they named Milton, to honor Jake’s younger brother who had died from an infection in February 1930. Jake and Dorothy’s family eventually expanded to include another son, Arnold, who was born in May 1939.
Jake moved The Radio Shop from 425 South Clinton St. to 1026 South Salina St., and during the following year, renamed the business United Radio Service. By 1936, United Radio Service would move two more times, first to 526 Harrison St., then to 420 Harrison St. By 1939, United Radio Service had a total of six employees, including Jake and Dorothy’s father, Henry.
Jake Rubenstein constructed a new building for his growing business in the spring of 1941 at 711 South State St., using bricks from the former Temple Adath Yeshurun, which occupied that site, but had relocated to Harrison Street.
During World War II, since Jake was responsible for his wife and two sons, he was given a low draft number, and therefore, was not called for direct military service. However, his patriotic commitment led him to take a job at H. & A. Manufacturing in Buffalo, to conduct research on magnetic navigational equipment. While Jake and his family resided in Buffalo, United Radio Service continued to operate. Once the war ended, Jake and his family moved back to Syracuse to resume his management role in the business.
Jake and Dorothy’s son, Milton, first began to work at the family business at age 16 during the summer months in 1946. After graduating from Nottingham High School in 1948, Milton attended Syracuse University and graduated with an electrical engineering degree in 1955. Jake’s younger son, Arnold, began working at United Radio Service in 1953 at age 14. As with many youngsters just entering the working world, one of Arnold’s first jobs was to sweep the floor. Arnold graduated from Nottingham High School in 1957 and then from Syracuse University in 1969 with an electrical engineering degree. Arnold married Libby Rosenbloom in 1961 and they would have two children, Phillip, born in 1966, and Mara, born in 1968.
The 1950s was a decade of considerable business growth for United Radio Service. In 1954, the company purchased the Bendix car radio and parts franchise, and became the parts distributor for the Delco Radio Division of General Motors. As business expanded that year, the company required additional space and leased the building next door. The second building had a basement and a second floor, substantially increasing the available work and storage space.
Also in 1954, United Radio Service established its Communications Division, at first repairing Motorola equipment, but eventually growing to more than 40 employees who serviced communications equipment throughout Central New York. That same year, Milton Rubenstein established a separate business for pagers, incorporated as General Communications, Inc., first named Syracuse Radio Call Service, and later, Beepcall, while he simultaneously remained committed to his responsibilities at United Radio Service.
By the end of the 1950s, United Radio Service was the authorized repair center for all consumer products produced by General Electric, including household radios and television sets, some made at Electronics Park in Liverpool, New York.
In 1961, the City of Syracuse purchased United Radio Service’s property at 711 South State St., to make room for the Everson Museum of Art. Jake bought property on Erie Boulevard East and built a new 8,000-square-foot edifice, larger than the State Street property. The new United Radio Service opened at 2949 Erie Boulevard E. in November 1963.
Due to health concerns, Jake retired in 1963 and transferred ownership of the business to his sons, Milton and Arnold, each receiving 50 percent of the company. Milton became company president, directly managing the communications division, and Arnold became VP, overseeing the consumer division. At this time, United Radio Service comprised three divisions: communications, automotive, and consumer.
Within the consumer division, the company maintained three departments for repairing television sets, radios, and tape recorders. It was during this decade that consumer products made with transistor circuitry became more prevalent than products made with tube circuitry. Transistors needed fewer repairs, and United Radio Service needed to adapt again in order to maintain the volume of its consumer-product repair service. Arnold and his staff worked with sales representatives at the consumer products stores to have the representatives send their customers to United Radio Service for repairs, especially the difficult repairs. The company quickly earned the reputation as “the service center that could repair the tough ones.”
On Nov. 4, 1968, Jacob H. Rubenstein, founder of United Radio Service, passed away at his home in Syracuse at age 65. Along with being the company’s founder and owner, Jake also was a ham radio operator with the call letters W2NCK. He was an active member of Temple Adath Yeshurun, and the B’nai B’rith & Zionist organizations. He was the first Eagle Scout in Boy Scout Troop 40, as well as its former scoutmaster. Jake was buried in Adath Yeshurun Cemetery.
United Radio Service maintained and strengthened its automotive and communications repair services in the 1970s, as well as expanded its consumer division repair service. The expanded consumer repair service included repairing home audio and stereo equipment and guitar amplifiers. For several years, United Radio Service had repaired expensive reel-to-reel video-tape recorders (VTR). With the introduction of the more affordable video-cassette recorder (VCR), United Radio Service’s versatile technicians began to repair these machines as well. United Radio Service also developed a long-distance repair service, fixing equipment that was shipped to Syracuse from other geographic locations, and thus, greatly enlarging the company’s consumer division.
United Radio Service expanded another 4,000 square feet at its Erie Boulevard East location to create a 12,000-square-foot facility in 1979.
As the 1980s began, the company’s consumer division was conducting warranty service for 51 manufacturers and was one of the largest and most successful repair- service centers in the U.S. The consumer division also began to service the Atari video-game system that was first introduced in 1982. Arnold’s son, Phillip, began working in the division that year at age 16, and developed his skills in repairing Atari game systems.
With assistance from a group of financial investors, Milton Rubenstein became the founding director of a new company, Syracuse Telephone Company, in order to request a license from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to organize and manage a cell phone company. The FCC awarded the license, and the company’s new cell-phone switch was installed at United Radio Service. United Radio Service expanded its physical presence on Erie Boulevard East by another 3,000 square feet to accommodate the new cell-phone service
Sadly, on March 25, 1986, at age 55, Milton Rubenstein suddenly died from a brain aneurysm after attending a party with his wife, Elaine, along with his brother, Arnold and his wife, Libby. The family was devastated, and Arnold recognized that Milton’s death left “a big void at United Radio.”
Upon Milton’s death, his son Jeffrey became an equal partner in the company with a 50 percent share. Arnold became company president and Jeffrey became VP. Milton’s wife, Elaine, took on the management of Beepcall, the pager-service company. Personal and corporate life slowly and steadily moved forward while keeping Milton’s memory alive.
In 1987, Arnold developed the United Radio Customer Care Course, a two-week training program for employees to learn about and improve their customer-care skills. Customer care had always been an integral part of United Radio Service’s business plan, dating back to Jake’s first days, and it was still critical to the company’s management team to establish and maintain excellent customer relations.
At the end of the 1980s, United Radio Service’s automotive division was growing (and on the move) again. The company received a contract from GM Delco to repair its Control Data Module — an automotive computer device that controlled sound characteristics in cars. United Radio Service needed more space to conduct the repair service and satisfy GM Delco’s contract requirements. The company purchased a 4.5-acre property on Enterprise Parkway in DeWitt to construct a facility that would house the automotive division. Syracuse–based Hueber-Breuer Construction Co., Inc. constructed the 27,000-square-foot structure, which was completed in the spring of 1990, just in time to meet General Motors’ (GM) contract deadline.
After graduating from the University of Rochester in 1988 and working as the senior recording engineer at the Eastman School in Rochester, Arnold’s son, Phillip, returned to United Radio Service to assume responsibility for the newly created Home Office Division to repair computers and printers. The computer and printer repair entity were not as successful as the other divisions and closed in 1998.
In June 1992, Milton’s family contributed a $400,000 naming gift for the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science and Technology (MOST). Located in the former New York State Armory at 500 South Franklin St., the museum formally opened on Oct. 27, 1992. The gift recognized Milton’s life-long dedication to science, invention, and engineering. Jeffrey Rubenstein, who was president of the museum’s board of trustees in 1992, said of his father, “He never got excited about any type of opportunities for fame or glory; we’re not doing it for that reason. But one of the things he was interested in was helping people, especially young people, to understand and appreciate science in their lives.” Jeffrey also said that his father taught him how to build electrical circuits and make fuses out of aluminum foil in the family’s basement, fondly recalling how father and son worked together on school science projects and wired the family’s house in Cazenovia. Today, the MOST is a hands-on science and technology museum for people of all ages, celebrating its 30th anniversary in its current location.
Also, in 1992, Mara Rubenstein returned to Syracuse from Las Vegas, where she had been working in the human resources department at the Mirage Hotel and Casino. She began to work full time, alongside her father, Arnold, brother, Phillip, and cousin, Jeffrey, as United Radio Service’s director of the human resources department. Mara — who graduated from Boston University in 1990 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, with a minor in business administration, and MBA from Babson College in 1997 — has grown the United Radio human resources department from one person in 1992 to a department of seven today.
Southwestern Bell Corp. purchased Syracuse Telephone Co. in April 1994. The sale was part of Southwestern Bell’s plan to expand its fast-growing wireless-telephone business. The acquisition made Southwestern Bell the largest cellular operator in upstate New York at the time by acquiring wireless communications companies in Syracuse, Utica, Albany, Rochester, and Buffalo. That same year, Elaine Rubenstein sold Beepcall, the paging company Milton had founded in 1954.
GM discontinued its entire business relationship in 1999, 50 years after United Radio began servicing automotive radios. GM was by far United Radio Service’s largest automotive-repair client and the lost contract astonished and distressed company management. After losing the GM repair business, some United Radio Service employees were left without any work. For the first time in the company’s 76-year history, it laid off 21 employees in the automotive division. However, the pain of losing all the GM repair contracts did not last too long. By 2003, thanks to new repair contracts formed with Panasonic, United Radio Service rebuilt, and even exceeded, the volume of automotive repair services that were lost from the GM contracts.
As the 20th century ended, significant personnel changes occurred at United Radio Service. Company president, Arnold Rubenstein, retired in 2000, and Jeffrey Rubenstein became company president. Arnold’s son, Phillip, became VP, and daughter, Mara, became corporate secretary. Elaine Rubenstein also retired that year. Arnold’s wife, Libby, previously retired at the end of 1999.
Jeffrey Rubenstein expressed an interest in selling his business share of United Radio Service in 2000, and Phillip and Mara were equally interested in purchasing it. The buyout by Phillip and Mara occurred during the last days of 2000. Arnold’s children then asked their father to temporarily come out of retirement and return as company president for the next three years. He gladly agreed as he could not completely leave the company he had served for almost 50 years.
United Radio Service adapted to technological changes in the 21st century. In 2002, the company created Satellite Radios Direct to sell XM satellite radios across the U.S. The company bought $1 million worth of satellite radios to sell — promoting both United Radio Service and the new technology at national trade shows. The plan came to fruition after several years of trying to convince car owners that satellite radio was the future in radio entertainment.
Motorola asked United Radio Service to sell and install the new 911 emergency system to be used by Onondaga County in 2003. United Radio Service sold and installed the complete package to Onondaga County — not only the emergency system equipment, but also furniture, carpeting, and lighting.
United Radio Service experienced another momentous year in 2005. The company purchased the building that neighbored the automotive division headquarters at 5703 Enterprise Parkway to create a larger facility for the corporate offices and the communications division. After adding sizeable garage space to accommodate large service vehicles, the building was well-suited for the company’s needs.
Also, that year, Phillip and Mara purchased their father’s 50 percent company ownership to become the third generation of Rubenstein family members to own United Radio Service. The siblings consolidated all United Radio Service divisions on Enterprise Parkway in DeWitt to create a United Radio Service campus totaling 200,000 square feet.
During May 2005, Arnold Rubenstein retired for the second time as president of United Radio Service. In 2013, he wrote a book about the history of the company, titled, Jake’s Place. In the back of the book, Arnold recorded a long list of worthwhile concepts. Here are just three: 1) We do not earn our pay by repairing things. We earn our pay by satisfying the customer. 2) Whatever we do in business, it should bring dignity to our industry, our company, and to ourselves. 3) People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Arnold is active in the Longhouse Council of the Boy Scouts of America, as well the Finger Lakes Chapter of the Antique and Classic Boat Society of Central New York. Arnold and Phillip also raced power boats as a team for about 25 years in the historic Division of the American Power Boat Association. Although officially retired, he still visits United Radio Service each day.
United Radio will celebrate its 100th year in business in 2023. It is still going strong in the first quarter of the 21st century, and now provides services for almost all forms of automotive and consumer electronics, and two-way radio communications. The company now offers repair services to customers in Georgia and Utah. Its motto, “Dedicated. Inspired. United,” reflects its global reputation for quality service and customer care. United Radio is easily positioned to succeed for the next 100 years.
Thomas Hunter is curator of collections at the Onondaga Historical Association (OHA) (www.cnyhistory.org), located at 321 Montgomery St. in Syracuse.
**Article updated on Tuesday 12/27/2022 at 4pm
United Radio offers program focusing on employee leadership
DeWITT — United Radio has started a leadership-development program, which the company says works at “developing leaders for the next century at United Radio.” “We started examining our talent-development process and decided that we weren’t being intentional enough with identifying and training people [on] what it means to be a leader at United Radio,” Mark
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DeWITT — United Radio has started a leadership-development program, which the company says works at “developing leaders for the next century at United Radio.”
“We started examining our talent-development process and decided that we weren’t being intentional enough with identifying and training people [on] what it means to be a leader at United Radio,” Mark Fuller, CFO of United Radio, tells CNYBJ in an interview.
The two-year leadership-development program, which launched in 2022, has five pillars based on United Radio’s core values. They include recruiting, training, mentoring, career planning, and succession planning.
The key questions answered by the recruiting pillar of the initiative include: “How do we identify exceptional candidates and then how do we onboard them and welcome them into the company,” says Fuller.
The firm’s principals developed the leadership-development program’s parameters and content during 2021 and the first group of employees became involved earlier this year, he says.
The second group of employees, chosen in November, will begin in the program in January.
“We’re entering year two of the first cohort and year one of the second cohort,” Fuller says, noting a cohort has 10 employees.
United Radio has a total employee count of about 600 between its locations in DeWitt; Peachtree, Georgia; and Salt Lake City, Utah. Besides local employees, two participants each from the offices in Georgia and Utah will participate in the program, and they’ll take part both in person and in a hybrid format.
The leadership-development program includes 11 retreat days annually along with a review class once a month. United Radio doesn’t hold retreat days in December because the month is busy already. The company has held the retreats at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse and plans to do so again in 2023, Fuller notes.
Interested employees at United Radio can apply for the leadership-development program in August and company officials start reviewing applications after Labor Day. The company makes its employees aware of the development program between May and June before the opening of the application period.
About 40 employees submitted applications for the group that will start the program next year, according to Fuller.
“Everybody that was interviewed that was not admitted to the program had an individual meeting with a member of the [firm’s] advisory committee to discuss what they might do next year or over the course of the year to be successful in the next application window,” he adds.
Once employees complete the two-year leadership-development program, Fuller says they will be “positioned for growth at United Radio.”
For example, technicians who want to eventually lead a manufacturing line will be better positioned for such a role if they have been through the program.
“If you’ve been engaged and you incorporated the lessons in your leadership practice, you will be ready for the next assignment,” says Fuller.
Micron to provide YMCA $500K for childcare, early childhood programs
SYRACUSE — Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) says it will make an initial $500,000 investment in the YMCA of Central New York “in support of childcare and early childhood readiness programs.” This investment aims to expand access to high-quality childcare and early learning for underserved communities in the region. Boise, Idaho–based Micron announced the investment
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SYRACUSE — Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) says it will make an initial $500,000 investment in the YMCA of Central New York “in support of childcare and early childhood readiness programs.”
This investment aims to expand access to high-quality childcare and early learning for underserved communities in the region.
Boise, Idaho–based Micron announced the investment in an Oct. 27 news release from the office of Gov. Kathy Hochul that welcomed U.S. President Joseph Biden in his visit to Onondaga Community College. In it, Hochul’s office said Micron “prioritizes investing in and enriching the communities where its team members live and work.”
Micron on Oct. 4 announced plans to invest up to $100 billion over the next 20-plus years on a semiconductor manufacturing campus at the White Pine Commerce Park in the town of Clay.
Micron’s funding for the YMCA of Central New York will allow the organization to deliver “innovative” programs and services in an increased number of off-site youth-development programs in more communities in the area, the YMCA of Central New York told CNYBJ in a Dec. 12 email message.
Along with expanded universal pre-K, preschool, and programming in school districts, the YMCA will also be developing mobile community center services (“Y on the Fly”) to further expand services to underserved communities and include STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) curriculum in partnership with Micron.
“This investment by Micron will continue to remove barriers to Y programming for more kids and families in Central New York,” per the YMCA.
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