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 […]
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
You have heard the song, and you’ve probably even done the dance. Yet, despite the frivolity of its eponymous disco classic, the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) has been doing serious work, providing a myriad of services in this community for nearly 165 years. Organized in London in 1844, the YMCA was dedicated to providing moral
You have heard the song, and you’ve probably even done the dance. Yet, despite the frivolity of its eponymous disco classic, the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) has been doing serious work, providing a myriad of services in this community for nearly 165 years.
Organized in London in 1844, the YMCA was dedicated to providing moral strength and positive fellowship through bible study and social activities to the growing number of single male laborers during the industrial revolution. The first American YMCA was formed in Boston in 1851. As it was in England, this was a period of increased manufacturing and urbanization in American cities. Soon, other U.S. cities followed, including Syracuse, with representatives from several of the city’s Protestant churches holding organizational meetings in September 1858.
For the first quarter century, the Syracuse YMCA rented rooms in various locations. Programs in the 1860s centered on operating “mission” Sunday Schools at some of the poorer churches. The missions served the city’s growing immigrant population of Germans, its sole African American congregation, and the local orphan asylum, among others. In the 1870s, the YMCA’s welfare activities shifted more toward men at the penitentiary, the county Poor House, and increasing numbers of railroad employees
Men from all walks of life were recruited to join the YMCA, at its first permanent home in the Pike Block on South Salina Street. By the mid-1870s, it maintained a well-stocked one. The YMCA organized social gatherings and a public-lecture series. The primary goal of all these activities was to provide a positive Christian influence on young men and boys who might stray into lives of crime or vice. The Syracuse YMCA had 806 members by 1879 and served hundreds more. But its leaders believed its work was hampered by the physical limitations of its rented facilities. It yearned for a building of its own. While maintaining programs of topical lectures and Christian-based study, the YMCA increasingly realized that attracting members and guests required more than religious and intellectual offerings. YMCA leaders recognized that they needed better social facilities and spaces for physical recreation to continue to attract more male members. Leading businessmen and members were tapped to support a building project. In 1884, land was purchased in downtown Syracuse on Warren Street. In January 1886, the YMCA opened its new Warren Street building.
Having its own gymnasium marked a turning point for the YMCA. It now added athletics as a tool for building character in young men. This started with gymnastics and track activities. The rapid spread of basketball, a popular game invented in 1892 at the Springfield, Massachusetts YMCA, attracted new audiences to the Syracuse “Y”. America also became fascinated in the 1890s with bicycling of all types, including competitive racing. Athletics created a strong new identity for the YMCA that has continued to this day in its philosophy of building mind, spirit, and body.
The Syracuse YMCA began summer camping experiments in 1897 with 50 boys at a site called Oak Orchard along the Oneida River in the town of Clay. This would be expanded in 1901 when wealthy Syracusan Benjamin Tousey offered part of his Oneida Lake summer property for YMCA camps. Locations would change over time, but rustic youth camping became firmly associated with the YMCA for decades.
From its beginning, the Y was concerned about safe housing for single men seeking employment. It maintained a reference service for approved boarding houses. In the late 1890s, it renovated space in its Warren Street building for short-term rental apartments. Thus, began a residential program that continues to this day in the downtown branch on Montgomery Street.
The Warren Street building revitalized the YMCA but also brought financial challenges. The organization met those challenges through fundraising by board president Levi Chapman, who worked closely with the new general secretary, Stephen Groner, after 1900. Both envisioned an expanded facility. Chapman, a member of the neighboring Baptist Church, approached another church supporter, wealthy businessman Benjamin Tousey, who contributed $117,500 toward a new YMCA building, an amount worth well over $2 million today. Tousey’s generosity was commemorated in the naming of the various YMCA camp locations after him, until that program ended in 1990.
Syracuse’s population soared past 125,000 by 1905, and the YMCA outgrew the Warren Street building. A new structure opened on Montgomery Street in 1907 and the Warren Street building was converted to a boy’s wing. In addition to the traditional gymnasium, lounge, reading room, and auditorium, the new building added a swimming pool, cafeteria, pistol range, billiard room, barber shop, a Turkish-bath facility with masseur, and dozens of permanent dormitory rooms.
During World War I, thousands of young men faced new social challenges and moral stresses. Nationally, the YMCA recruited thousands of volunteers (men and women), including some from Syracuse to staff canteens, leave centers, and hospitals — providing spiritual support and social comfort. The Syracuse YMCA also served these needs locally. Hundreds of soldiers from the Army camp at the State Fairgrounds used the recreational facilities at the downtown Y.
The Syracuse YMCA was a multi-purpose organization by 1920, filling a variety of needs and serving different levels of society. Its recreational and social facilities were a primary attraction, but it never abandoned its social-welfare activities and offered educational classes in business and trade skills, plus outreach programs conducted in area factories.
The Great Depression hit Syracuse hard, and many local industrial plants closed or cut back. Between 1929 and 1933, Syracuse lost almost 50 percent of its industrial jobs, impacting 13,000 workers and increasing the numbers of unemployed men.
Despite facing its own financial pressures, the Syracuse YMCA created an “Industrial Club” in 1932 to offer productive alternatives for this idle time. The club featured low fees that allowed its members use of recreational facilities in the old Warren Street building. Employment counseling was also offered. More than 4,500 men joined it during the 1930s.
During the 1920s and 1930s, the YMCA expanded its outreach to youth. The grand Assembly Hall in the 1907 building, once used for services of religious interest, was converted into a new boy’s gymnasium in 1932. The growth of church facilities throughout Syracuse reduced the need for structured Christian programming at the Y.
In 1934, the Y added a Camp Iroquois, for younger boys in 1934 at Evergreen Lake in Manlius, on lands provided by Solvay Process Company. In 2021, the co-ed day camp was renamed Camp Evergreen. Camp Adventure, a second day camp that used facilities at Green Lakes State Park and the downtown Y, started in 1937.
Nationally, the YMCA had provided aid to servicemen since the Civil War. When the U.S. entered World War II in 1941, the Y was one of six civilian agencies that organized the USO, to help provide social comforts to GIs during the war. Syracuse, like many other U.S. cities, saw hundreds of soldiers and sailors passing through on a daily basis. They were traveling to camps, training facilities, going on furlough, or heading overseas. The downtown Syracuse Y opened its facilities to these men for recreation, socializing, refreshments, and even overnight sleeping quarters.
Following the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, the YMCA prioritized reaching impoverished urban areas and minority populations. The Syracuse Y developed an Urban Action Department in 1971 and a youth center on the city’s South Side. Downtown building renovations in 1981 and 1995 created new options for low-income senior citizens and for disadvantaged men. At the same time, a growing suburban population sought expanded recreational centers outside the city.
Lifestyle changes in the 1970s and 1980s created other opportunities. The women’s movement advocated equal access to traditionally male institutions. More working mothers meant increased day care needs. The emphasis on healthier living expanded audiences for exercise facilities and fitness classes. These factors led the YMCA to redirect its focus toward serving the entire family, from preschoolers to grandparents. Girls were enrolled in the Youth Division and Camp Tousey for the first time in 1971. Downtown recreational facilities were opened to women in 1976. New suburban “Family YMCA” facilities were built in 1979 and 2004.
The Syracuse YMCA faced a creeping financial problem that reached a crisis in 1991. The annual budget passed $3 million but its accumulated deficit was more than $600,000. Members complained that the downtown facility was deteriorating. National dues went unpaid. Memberships were dropping. Changes had to come.
A new executive director, Hal Welsh, arrived in 1993. Programs were reduced or restructured, and some layoffs occurred. There was fear that the downtown Y might have to close. But slowly, maintenance, membership levels, and finances improved. Suburban facilities boosted interest and support. By the beginning of the 21st century, the Syracuse YMCA had entered a new era of growth and success, with plans to improve facilities.
The new millennium brought significant changes and growth, as well as the challenge of COVID-19. The Y opened new branches at OCC (Southwest YMCA) in 2012 and in Lysander (Northwest Family YMCA) in 2015. The Fayetteville Y was renamed the Hal Welsh East Area Family YMCA in 2018.
In 2018, the Downtown YMCA began a $6.8 million renovation project on the Men’s Residence. The Y underwent a complete rebranding, to become the YMCA of Central New York to reflect its expanded footprint.
The COVID-19 pandemic provided another opportunity for the YMCA of Central New York to serve the community by providing childcare for essential workers, housing for seniors and male residents in transition.
In early 2021, Bertram L. Lawson II was named president and CEO of the YMCA of Central New York, making history as the first Black leader of the organization. Lawson previously served as the chief operating officer for Mastery Charter Schools Network (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Camden, New Jersey), a $250 million nonprofit organization, overseeing all aspects of non-instructional school operations, school budgets, sports/extra-curricular programming, and student enrollment for 24 campuses. Prior to this role, the Y in Central Maryland recruited him to serve as its senior VP of operations providing leadership to three health/wellness centers, 20 camping (day & resident) locations, youth development, 20 community schools and mentoring programs while supervising two VPs and a district executive director. Lawson also served the Y for more than 21 years, including in Philadelphia, with significant operational, membership, grant delivery, partnership, fundraising and program experience.
The YMCA of Central New York continues to act as an anchor for philanthropy, assistance, and community service, never closing its doors to those in need.
Robert J. Searing is curator of history at the Onondaga Historical Association (OHA) (www.cnyhistory.org), located at 321 Montgomery St. in Syracuse.
Congressman-elect Marc Molinaro recently announced his senior staff for the 118th Congress. These staffers will be set to serve New York’s 19th Congressional District upon Molinaro’s swearing in on Jan. 3. JEFF BISHOP has been named chief of staff. He will oversee all operations and staff members in Molinaro’s district and Washington, D.C. offices. Bishop
Congressman-elect Marc Molinaro recently announced his senior staff for the 118th Congress. These staffers will be set to serve New York’s 19th Congressional District upon Molinaro’s swearing in on Jan. 3. JEFF BISHOP has been named chief of staff. He will oversee all operations and staff members in Molinaro’s district and Washington, D.C. offices. Bishop most recently served as deputy chief of staff & legislative director for Congressman Pete Stauber of Minnesota. He also previously was the campaign manager for Congressman John Katko, of New York’s 24th Congressional District and as a top legislative aide for Congressman John Faso (NY-19) and Congressman Chris Gibson (NY-19). Bishop is a graduate of the Catholic University of America.
NICK JOSEPH has been appointed deputy chief of staff & legislative director. He will oversee Molinaro’s legislative portfolio and staff. Joseph joins Molinaro’s Congressional office after serving in the Dutchess County Legislature’s Office. Joseph previously worked on legislation in the New York State Senate. He is a graduate of Liberty University and received an MBA from Marist College.
CAITLIN GILLIGAN DALY was named district director. Daly will lead Molinaro’s district offices and oversee constituent services and outreach efforts. She joins Molinaro’s Congressional office after serving with him in the Dutchess County Executive’s Office. Daly previously worked for the Empire Center for Public Policy and in the New York State Senate. She is a Colgate University graduate.
DAN KRANZ has been appointed communications director. Kranz will serve as Molinaro’s spokesman and work to educate and inform the residents of New York’s 19th Congressional District. Kranz previously served in the same role for Congressman Katko (NY-24) and is a graduate of Le Moyne College. Congressman-elect Marc Molinaro was elected on Nov. 8 to represent New York’s 19th Congressional District, which includes Broome, Chenango, Columbia, Cortland, Delaware, Greene, Sullivan, Tioga, Tompkins, and parts of Otsego and Ulster County. He previously served as Dutchess County Executive and as a New York State Assemblyman.
Coughlin & Gerhart, LLP has named KEEGAN COUGHLIN and NICHOLAS CORTESE as partners in the law firm, effective Jan. 1, 2023. Coughlin, who grew up in Johnson City, joined the firm as an associate in 2016. Prior to that, he worked as a law clerk at Binghamton City Court while attending law school and as
Coughlin & Gerhart, LLP has named KEEGAN COUGHLIN and NICHOLAS CORTESE as partners in the law firm, effective Jan. 1, 2023. Coughlin, who grew up in Johnson City, joined the firm as an associate in 2016. Prior to that, he worked as a law clerk at Binghamton City Court while attending law school and as student judicial law clerk to Judge Thomas J. McAvoy of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York. His practice focuses on estate planning, trust and estate administration, and municipal and public-sector law.
Cortese began his legal career as an appellate court attorney for the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department. From there, he became senior law clerk to the Third Department Justice Robert S. Rose before entering private practice with Costello, Cooney and Fearon, PLLC in Syracuse, according to his LinkedIn profile. In 2017, the Binghamton native joined Coughlin & Gerhart, where he primarily practices in the firm’s public law group. He represents municipalities, school districts, fire districts, and emergency-services providers on a wide range of legal issues. Cortese also focuses on appellate special proceedings and real-property tax litigation, as well as administrative hearings and investigations.
CONOR ROCKHILL has been promoted to economic-development specialist at the Downtown Committee of Syracuse, after having served as an economic-development coordinator. He will focus on real estate and market-trends analysis and reporting, interface with commercial prospects, and expand upon the organization’s grants management and business support. Rockhill started his career providing research, data analysis, and
CONOR ROCKHILL has been promoted to economic-development specialist at the Downtown Committee of Syracuse, after having served as an economic-development coordinator. He will focus on real estate and market-trends analysis and reporting, interface with commercial prospects, and expand upon the organization’s grants management and business support. Rockhill started his career providing research, data analysis, and graphic-design support for nonprofit projects before joining the Downtown Committee in August 2021. Rockhill holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Michigan and made the move to Syracuse from the Chicago area.
HEATHER SCHROEDER is director of economic development at the Downtown Committee of Syracuse and has been promoted to include a deputy-director role with the organization as well. In this role, Schroeder will participate in current and long-term strategic planning, oversee public space and placemaking initiatives, assist in resource development and budgeting, and program administration. Schroeder’s background includes affordable-housing finance and development with a focus on urban infill and historic preservation. She has almost two decades of real-estate development and professional experience. Schroeder holds degrees from Cornell University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and returned to the Syracuse area 10 years ago after working in the Boston area.
The Downtown Committee also recently hired VANESSA SZWEJBKA as its communications associate. Szwejbka will be responsible for a broad range of duties related to content and messaging, including development and support of all internal and external communications and play a key role in cultivating the stories of the community, helping to promote the variety of downtown experiences available, and the revitalization activity underway in downtown Syracuse. Szwejbka brings 15 years of experience working in the broadcast, communications, journalism industry. Her background includes working with complex information and creating engaging content for broadcast, web, and social-media platforms, following industry trends, and producing content relevant for a variety of audiences. Szwejbka holds a bachelor’s degree in meteorology and is a native of the Central New York region.
VIRGIE TOWNSEND has been appointed director of public relations at Strategic Communications, a Syracuse–based public-relations agency that Crystal DeStefano has owned since 2014. Townsend has more than a decade of experience as a communications professional in agencies, nonprofits, and businesses. Most recently, she led her own strategic marketing and communications consulting practice, focusing on the
VIRGIE TOWNSEND has been appointed director of public relations at Strategic Communications, a Syracuse–based public-relations agency that Crystal DeStefano has owned since 2014. Townsend has more than a decade of experience as a communications professional in agencies, nonprofits, and businesses. Most recently, she led her own strategic marketing and communications consulting practice, focusing on the education and life-sciences sectors. Townsend has been with Strategic Communications since May 2022 and takes over the director of PR position from company president DeStefano as the business enters a new phase of growth. In her new expanded role, Townsend will oversee an increasing number of Strategic Communications clients, as well as provide public-relations direction and oversight to other members of the Strategic Communications team. She will also represent Strategic Communications within the local business community and lead new client opportunities and initiatives. Townsend received her bachelor’s degree in newspaper journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and her law degree from the Syracuse University College of Law.
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