Jon was very gifted in his work. He brought great intelligence, creativity, and knowledge to his work. That’s why I wanted him to work with me and I was very fortunate that he agreed to join my team. Jon brought all of the things that I have mentioned and more to his job. Jon had the ability to take complex data and simplify it so that Executives could better understand issues and act. Countless times I would sit down with him, tell him what was needed and then leave. A few hours or days later – depending on the difficulty of the tasks – he would return with the product. Quite often, it was something much better than I had asked for. The research completed — He’d provide a graph, a chart, a presentation, a story (we all know how Jon loved stories) — he had something to make the point — the story ready to drive the business forward.

Sometimes when the work had really been impactful, I would return to him to congratulate his efforts or thank him. He quickly turned the focus to his team be it Ed, Steve, Paul, or Earl or to someone else in our department, the Plants, Purchasing or Finance, to let me know he hadn’t done it by himself and recognition needed to be shared. He understood teamwork. He cared about his colleagues. He also had very little patience for incompetent people — so he let me know if someone wasn’t pulling their fair share too. They “dropped us in a bucket” was one of his favorite sayings. Jon believed in sharing information and keeping a strong network around our Company. He had friends and contacts in New York, Japan, Asia, Australia, Europe, Charlotte, Louisville and in about every plant and department in Richmond. He was on a first name basis with Machine Operations, Senior Executives, and even the President of our Company.

You could count on Jon for some humor every day. Whether it was his spontaneous wit, a prepared joke, or a Dilbert comic that he delivered to you — he knew to enjoy life every day — and I believe he did. He could laugh at himself and he could laugh at you. However, he was very serious about doing a good job and wanted to always be adding value. He just enjoyed the present and kept everything in perspective (family, work, having some fun).