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Thursday, June 5, 2008
Woodruff Center passes corporate campaign goal
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Woodruff Arts Center received some last minute donations, which enabled the corporate campaign to surpass its record $8.7 million by $175,000.
Beauchamp Carr, the center’s executive vice president who organizes the annual campaign, couldn’t have been more pleased. This was a particularly trying year because they only had 10 months rather than 12 to raise the money.
As Carr emailed me: “God bless the challenge fund raised by Tommy Holder and Veronica Biggins.” The challenge fund matches any new dollars that donors give to the campaign.
• Read last week’s original campaign story
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Could there be a ‘Run Johnny Run’ campaign?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A few weeks back, U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia) let it be known rather definitively that he would not be running for governor the next time around.
Up until that moment, he had been viewed as the top choice of many Georgians, particularly those in metro Atlanta’s business community.
So when Isakson declared his intent to run for re-election for the U.S. Senate, that news disappointed many.
But could Isakson change his mind? After all, the next gubernatorial election will be more than two years from now.
We were on the phone Wednesday, and I told Isakson that I had heard there was a chance he might change his mind.
Here is his answer, word for word.
“It was a tough decision,” Isakson said. “The Senate is a great place to be. For right now, I’m happy doing what I’m doing.”
Do the words: “for right now” show a crack in the door?
You tell me.
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Manheim turns black water to clear water as part of green initiative
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
At its plant in south Fulton County, Manheim publicly unveiled this morning its state-of-the-art system to clean and conserve the water it uses in cleaning the used cars it sells at auctions.
The evidence was crystal clear. One vial was filled with water that was nearly black, full of dirt, grease, fluids discharged from cars during the cleaning process. That is the water that Manheim used to discharge into the public sewer system.
Next to that vial was one of nearly clear water with a slight yellowish tone. That’s what Manheim now releases into county’s water and sewer system. And then there’s a third vial with water that’s as clear as tap water. That vial is filled with the water that Manheim is now able to recycle in its car-cleaning operation.
The new “Water Conservation Center,” a four-step process complete with microbes that clean the water, was co-developed by Ashland Water Technologies and Manheim Auctions, a division of Cox Enterprises, which also owns The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The program is part of a company-wide Cox Conserves initiative to reduce its carbon footprint by 20 percent in the next 10 years, according to Jim Kennedy, CEO of Cox Enterprises.
Kennedy said he began thinking about what kind of legacy he could leave at Cox when he was about to turn 60 and become a grand-father. That’s when he and other Cox executives decided to launch an extensive conservation effort.
The new Water Conservation Center is treated 15,000 gallons of waste water a day and produces up to 9,000 gallons of reusable water for its vehicle operations. Manheim estimates that it will extract 24 tons of contaminants from wastewater each year.
Company officials said the facility will reduce water demand at the plant by 60 percent and will return pretreated water to Fulton County’s sewer system.
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Funding fashion led to priceless friendship
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The always gracious J. Mack Robinson let me come by his Brookhaven office on Tuesday to dine on sandwiches so I could listen to him reminisce about his unique business partnership with fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent.
Robinson got the news on Sunday that Saint Laurent had passed away. “I was not expecting it, but his health has not been good for a while,” said Robinson, who has had his own health issues.
Both Robinson and his wife, Nita, have been in the hospital twice in the past two months — both suffering from heart problems. Because of the health issues, Robinson says that he won’t be able to attend Saint Laurent’s service later this week.
“It’ll be the first time I’ve ever been invited by Yves to a special event that I didn’t attend,” Robinson said. “I was just afraid to go out of town.”
Despite not feeling well, Robinson was in his office on Tuesday. At 85, Robinson still comes in to work every day and spends at least four to five hours overseeing the operations of the multiple companies he owns.
He has lost count of all the companies he’s owned over the years, saying it’s at least 100. “I had about 20 banks at one time.”
And he can barely remember all the industries he’s been in: carpet, lumber, banking, insurance, billboards, newspapers, television stations, perfumes, automobiles, horse-racing and printing, to name a few. Until recently, he was the largest individual shareholder in Wachovia. (But that’s another story.)
Of all the companies Robinson owned, none had quite the flair of owning the Yves Saint Laurent fashion house.
Back in 1962, Robinson owned a small insurance company in Switzerland. That firm was approached to invest in a new, young French designer — Yves Saint Laurent. Because he thought the investment was too risky for the insurance company, Robinson decided he would personally buy the fashion house.
Here was a self-made man from Atlanta (who got his start working in circulation for The Atlanta Journal and selling used cars) rubbing shoulders with the most famous people in the world — Elizabeth Taylor, Princess Grace Kelly and Catherine Deneuve, to name a few.
“I enjoyed every minute of it, even when it was losing money, because it was very interesting,” Robinson said. “It was a struggle. I had to get money wired every week to cover the payroll. I got embarrassed going to the bank. I think the bankers thought I was crazy.”
There also was hostility toward him in France, a fiercely proud country that didn’t really like one of its premier fashion houses being owned by a foreigner. In fact, then-President Charles de Gaulle made a speech criticizing American ownership of French enterprises, and he specifically mentioned Yves Saint Laurent.
Robinson owned the YSL fashion house until 1966, when he sold his 80 percent interest to a business partner for $1 million (nearly the amount he had invested in the enterprise). At that point, it was the top fashion house in the world.
“I practically gave it away,” said Robinson. (The fashion house sold for nearly $1 billion in 1999.)
There were reasons Robinson sold it. His two daughters were young, and the traveling was taking its toll.
“The whole time I owned the company, I didn’t ever miss a show on opening day,” he said. That meant he was flying back and forth at least twice a year. “Then we didn’t have jet planes. We had to stop to refuel. It was a long trip.”
Still, he admits that he regrets having sold the fashion house, especially for so little. But the memories are fresh.
“Yves always had [health] problems since the first day I met him,” Robinson said. “I insured him every year. When he would do a collection, I would drop a flat million dollars if the collection didn’t come out on time.”
Saint Laurent wanted to get into the perfume business, and he wanted to call the new scent “Opium.” Robinson refused to let him name a perfume after a narcotic. Then, the moment Robinson sold his investment, Saint Laurent unveiled Opium, which became one of the top-selling perfumes in the world.
Despite their differences, Robinson said: “We never had an argument. I thought the world of him.”
Robinson was particularly touched that Saint Laurent always included him in special events, long after he no longer had a financial interest in the house.
About three years ago, Saint Laurent put on a private dinner at the Ritz in Paris for about “20 old-timers” who had helped the designer throughout his career.
“They always put the spotlight on me,” Robinson said of Saint Laurent. “His favorite expression was: ‘If it wasn’t for this man, we wouldn’t be here tonight.’ ”
Of all the memories, the one that moved him most was when his daughter, Robin, got married. She really wanted her wedding dress to be designed by Yves Saint Laurent.
So Robinson, his wife and his daughter made several trips to Paris. At one point, Saint Laurent told Nita: “You need a dress, too.”
So after several trans-Atlantic trips for fittings and the dresses were complete, Robinson went to pay. “Yves said, ‘You don’t owe me a dime.’ ” Sitting back in his chair, Robinson remembers Saint Laurent with quiet emotion.
“He has had health problems for many years,” he said. “I’m really surprised he lived this long. He was a good friend.”
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