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Creative Leisure News
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Insights on business -- and life. A Tribute to David Cunningham Wise words for a remarkable man. by Bill Skinner (February 2, 2009) At the recent CHA show, the association posthumously awarded Dave Cunningham, founder of Cunningham Art Products and Plaid Enterprises, the Industry Achievement award, along with Bill Mangelsen. Bill's acceptance speech: Good evening. It is not often a person gets the opportunity to publicly acknowledge one of his heroes. Tonight I have that privilege. I knew Dave Cunningham for 40 years. He was my boss, my mentor, my golf partner, and my friend. For the last 19 years of his life, I had the honor to be able to call him my father-in-law. During the entire time I knew him, he was consistently creative and supportive, often manic, and always generous, almost to a fault. Dave was the consummate entrepreneur and had the best product sense of anyone I have ever met. During the course of his career in the craft industry he started from scratch, three multi-million dollar companies. These companies were the training ground for many of the people in this room tonight. Dave loved this industry and the people in it. He knew it was something far greater than just some gigantic ROI calculation. He believed it was truly driven by inspiration and creativity and not just by 40% off coupons. Few people can claim to have helped launch an entire industry. Dave, our co- honoree, Bill Manglesen, and a handful of other pioneers, can legitimately receive such recognition. (Note: To read previous Kate's Collage entries, click on the titles in the right-hand column.) xxx |
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