Jack Johnson

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Gloria Johnson called … sadly Jack died this morning. She noted he had been hospitalized the past several days for pneumonia.

Jack was a dear friend to many of us and a highly respected colleague by all that worked with him.

If memory serves he joined KSA in 1953 and retired 30+ years later in the mid 80’s. He was a key pillar of the firm, served as a KSA VP for many years and led many important initiatives.

Subsequently Jack and Gloria moved from Atlanta to settle into retirement in their beloved Auburn, Alabama.

Both were proud graduates of AU. Jack as I recall had been editor of the school newspaper in his college days.

This is a loss for everyone that was fortunate enough to know JAJ. Certainly for me, as he recruited me into KSA in 1965 and was a dear friend for the 50+ years since.

Jack was a man of intellect, integrity, keen wit, warm personality and an infectious spirit.

Gloria says that Jack had clearly specified he did not want a Memorial Service held and she plans to honor that wish.

His obituary will be in the Auburn newspaper within a couple of days.

She will receive visitors and cards/letters at the assisted living facility in which they lived in recent years.

Robyn and I had prior plans to visit with Jack and Gloria two weeks from tomorrow. We will go and spend time with Gloria reminiscing on wonderful memories of Jack.

Dave

David A. Cole

 

Here is a note from Jack’s son Andy.

Jack A. Johnson former Vice President of KSA died Sunday February 26th in Auburn, Alabama after a brief illness. He was 86 years old. Having rejoined KSA after military service, he supervised several assignments across the U.S., Canada, the Caribbean, and South and Central America. Jack was preceded in death by one of his three sons, David Newman Johnson in 2010. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Gloria Johnson of Auburn, Alabama and two sons Jeff Johnson of Plano, Texas and Andy Johnson of Marietta, Georgia. Jack preferred not to have a memorial, but instead encourages anyone who wishes make a donation to The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Those close to Jack and Gloria may also send flowers to Gloria at Morningside of Auburn, 871 Twin Forks Ave. #112 Auburn, AL 36830. Gloria loves flowers and would love hearing from all KSA’ers that she has known throughout the years.

Thank You,
Andy Johnson

 

And a note from resident Historian John Champion:

Andy,

Thanks for the note letting us know. Jack and Gloria both were a delight to be around. I have been reviewing a lot of our old photo and story archives over the past two months and have thought a lot about Jack and all the others of his era who built the foundation for KSA to become a great company. Jack was recruited to the firm in 1953 and here is a picture from his retirement in 1984. The beaming Jack is how we will always recall him. [Click on the images to view a more readable copy.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also did a profile on Jack in June 1979.

2017 Alumni Dinner Followup

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Our 2017 dinner weekend is in the history books. It was good to see friends and catch up on their activities since last year.

The weekend was full of activities.

  • Bridge competition at Josh and Jeanne’s on Friday was fierce as usual.   Players included Elaine Moore, Kline Reed, John Caldwell, guests Jerry and Gudi Noonan, and Josh. Kline and Elaine were the top scorers.
  • The Financial Braggarts Breakfast Club gathered Saturday morning in Roswell to celebrate Bill Beckemeyer’s 2016 winning investment portfolio and kick off their 20th year of congenial competition and breakfast conversation.
  • Our dinner gathering at Dunwoody Country Club Saturday night was good. We missed a few of our regulars, but welcomed new faces from the Atlanta Office. I won’t repeat program details here as you can see the powerpoint slides used for the program by clicking here. Speakers included Bill Beckemeyer, Dave Cole, and Kline Reed (remembrances of those we have lost); Mike Gregory (KS – Accenture Transition); and John Champion (History Project).

Thanks to Libby for her behind-the-scenes work that keeps the event running smoothly, to Butch Price for enabling us to use Dunwoody Country Club, and to all who had suggestions for and supported our program.

2018 Alumni Dinner

Our 2018 Alumni dinner is scheduled for the fourth Saturday in 2018 – January 27th, 2018  first Saturday in February – February 3rd, 2018 – at Dunwoody Country Club in Atlanta. Put it in your calendar now. We look forward to seeing you there.

History Project

Here is a quick overview of the History Project for those of you who did not get to hear John Champion’s comments at the dinner.

Collecting copies of memorable documents from KS offices has been a topic of conversation for some time. A project actually began shortly after the 2016 alumni dinner with an inventory of photos and documents available in the Atlanta office, and a survey of resources available to capture and display the project’s output. Calls to this group for photos and documents yielded some fruit, such as a nearly complete collection of KSA Observers sent by Hal Wilson. Project activities continued at a leisurely pace until Accenture’s acquisition of KS was announced in the fall, then kicked into high gear as John and his team learned of plans to relocate KS AO staff to Accenture’s offices early in 2017.

The rest of the story is documented on our web site at www.kurtsalumni.com. Click on “History” in the menu and settle in for a delightful walk through our history. The collection is divided into photos and PDFs for technical reasons, and there are lots of photos throughout the PDF section. The “Group” PDF section is noteworthy as it includes some group pictures and our comprehensive set of individual pictures in the 1988 Family Album.

Be aware that many of the PDFs are quite large (25 – 30MB) so be cautious about opening them if you have a slow internet collection.

Also be aware that the “search” link in the site’s menu bar takes you to a page that gives you the ability to search photo titles, file names, and captions for specified content. Handy if you are looking for photos of “dean” or “ken”.

If you have photos or documents not included in our history collection, please send them to John or Bill.

As you go through the year, if you become aware of news relevant to the Alumni community, please email it to Bill. We will add it to the web site and, if appropriate, distribute it to those on our mailing list.

Best regards,

Bill & the Alumni Dinner Team

Louis Mitchell

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Louis Mitchell (1934 – 2016). Louis was Managing Director of the KSA U.K. Practice from the late 60s until he left KSA in 1974.

Peter Alderslade reports more bad news about KSA U.K. people. He learned today, in a call with Shirley, the wife of Louis, who lives near him at Chester, that Louis died in a hospital in November ’16. Louis suffered from Parkinson’s for many years. He was born in August of 1934.

Alan believes Louis joined KSA around 1962. He was Managing Director of the U.K. Practice from the late 60’s until he left KSA in 1974.

Louis Mitchell and John Beddows both had a great influence on Peter Alderslade’s early career. It was Louis who when he left KSA and joined Tillie and Henderson in Chester, head-hunted Peter to engineer their major plant in Leigh Lancs and subsequently appointed him to the board. It was after that Peter joined KSA.

Alan Braithwaite commented that Louis interviewed and hired him [into KSA U.K.] in 1969. And then Louis was a client when he ran Lawtex.

RIP Louis.

Lynn Senior

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Thanks to Jan Hanson for reminding us to add Lynn Senior to our remembrance list. Lynn was our LA Office Manager from 1991 until shortly before she died in 2011.

Jan’s message also let us know that she just started a new role in San Francisco as CFO for a pet gear company. She closed on a house in Berkeley just before Christmas, and they are busy getting moved in. She reports that she is loving the job and the weather in the east bay.

John Beddows

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John Beddows (1937 – 2016). John was was the first manager of our practice in Ireland, was managing director of the U.K. business for many years and served on the board of KSA.

John Beddows passed away on 29th January after a short illness. John joined KSA in the mid 1960’s and for over 30 years was major influence on our consumer products practice. He was the first manager of our practice in Ireland, was managing director of the U.K. business for many years and served on the board of KSA. Many colleagues will remember him as a fine colleague, a mentor and a gentleman. He was pre deceased by wife Connie and survived by daughters Sarah and Emma and two grandchildren. He was 79.

The funeral is at 1:15pm on Friday 27th January at Darlington Crematorium followed by a wake at Dinsdale Golf Club which is nearby. Please let Sarah Aunger know by text if you plan to attend (07941 873619).

Emma is writing the eulogy and welcomes any anecdotes or thoughts on her father’s time at KSA. You can send them to Alan at alan_braith@yahoo.co.uk.

Click here to visit Alan’s Facebook posting.

2017 Alumni Dinner

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Please mark your calendar with the date of our 2017 Alumni gathering: Saturday, January 28th at 6:00pm at Dunwoody Country Club in Atlanta.

We hope you can join us. The event should be lively given recent changes at Kurt Salmon. Join us to learn more about them and our history project … and to enjoy the always good food and company.

If you are in our mailing list, you should have received an invitation. If you did not receive one, click here to go to our mailing list sign-up page and add yourself to the list. Then contact Bill or Libby and we will see that you receive a copy of the invitation. Also, if you know of KS Alumni who are not in the invitation guest list, please contact them and ask them to join our mailing list … or email their contact information to Bill or Libby and we will see that they are added and receive an invitation.

Please RSVP and send your check to Libby by January 14th!

Bridge players — join us Friday at Heritage Place (Josh’s residence) between 10am and 5pm for bridge. Cocktails at 5pm. Dinner afterward at Watershed Restaurant, 1820 Peachtree Street. For more information, click here to send Josh an email.

Even if you cannot join us for our 2017 dinner, alumni appreciate seeing photos of you and your family activities. Consider sending a few photos with suggested captions to bcobb10b@gmail.com. We will add them to the Gallery here and include them in our 2017 dinner slide show.

Kurt Salmon Joins Accenture

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Kurt Salmon has entered into an agreement to join the Retail team of Accenture Strategy. The agreement has been announced publicly to the markets and will be communicated to our clients by each respective account leader shortly.

Accenture Strategy is a new business for Accenture, having launched about three years ago to allow the firm to establish a broader trusted-advisor relationship with the entire C-suite and board.

Obviously, this is one of the biggest events in Kurt Salmon’s history, and we are very excited about the power of the combination of these two leadership consultancies.

In getting to this point, Madison Riley indicated that Kurt Salmon followed a structured and professional process. Kurt Salmon was supported by an investment bank with strong professional services experience and whose culture is quite similar to that of Kurt Salmon. The leadership team was unanimous in the decision to select Accenture Strategy as their future home. Madison is also pleased to say that 100% of the Partners agreed before the deal was announced.

Congratulations to Kurt Salmon and its leadership team for making this bold move.

We will add a brief overview of the agreement and the status of its implementation to the 2017 Alumni Dinner agenda. The dinner will take place on Saturday, January 28, 2017 at 6:00pm at Dunwoody Country Club in Atlanta.

Don Richter

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Don Richter

Thanks to Cullen McClure for informing us of Don Richter’s death today. Per Cullen, Don battled cardiac related issues for years but he found out after his last heart attack in 2014 that he had cancer as well.

Don played a pivotal role in Department T for many years, and will be missed by all who were fortunate to know him. Madison does a great job of expressing our sentiments about Don in his heartfelt note which is included below.

Rest in peace Don.

Here is information about Don’s funeral service.

Don’s service will be this Friday, September 2nd at 10:00am in the Lutheran Church of the Messiah in Decatur.

The church is located at 465 Clairemont Ave, Decatur, GA 30030 (Map)

In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made to either the American Cancer Society or The American Heart Association.

Best regards, Cullen

Memories of Don Richter

by Madison Riley

I’m saddened to inform you that our friend and colleague, Don Richter, passed away early this morning. Don was our Corporate Systems Manager in the IT department.

I realize that many of you didn’t know Don; for others, he may have been some mystic name that you would hear from time to time in the context of our Accounting and Financial systems. This is just the way Don liked it, the venerable wizard behind the curtain. For those of you who did know him or have had the great opportunity to work with him directly, you know we’ve lost a powerhouse of a man who brought so much more to the table than his deep understanding of our systems.

Don started at the firm January 1st, 1980 which made him one of our most tenured employees. He started with Kurt Salmon as a college intern and would later join the firm full time in 1980 after graduating with a law degree from Emory. Don possessed an incredibly rich, detailed, and analytical mind. In fact, his skill and creativity were the driving force behind our highly customized legacy accounting systems (aka the DG system) that served us well for over 25 years. More recently, Don was an important component in the implementation effort of our current Financial system. Don spent months of his time working in Europe when we transitioned to PeopleSoft during the 2000’s. He worked tirelessly side by side the accounting staff solving issues and easing the transition, often times bending the rigid, unforgiving system to his will.

Having joined Kurt Salmon 4 years after Don, he was senior to me; and I remember so many times when I needed help with billing for my clients or for project accounting, going to down to “Department T” (what we called finance at the time) and seeking his help. He was always patient and would always solve whatever challenge I presented. He was a man of intelligence, integrity, good-natured warmth, humor and love for working at Kurt Salmon.

What many of us didn’t know is that Don had a deep appreciation for history and the arts. He was an accomplished photographer and gourmand, a “foodie” before the word existed. Don suffered from health related issues for several years but that didn’t hold him back from his love of cooking and fine food. He’d just use his creativity to come up with healthy ways to enjoy one of his many loves. Our colleagues in IT were continually challenged by his wit, his knowledge, his intellect and his seemingly unending supply of memory.

For many of us, we lost a great friend and mentor today. For all of us, we lost an important part of the Kurt Salmon family and legacy. Our collective thoughts and prayers go out to his wife Pam, his daughter Jennifer, and the rest of his extended family. He will be missed.

Madison Riley
Chief Operating Officer &
Managing Partner – Asia Pacific

Bill Schenke

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Bill in 2011

We regret to announce that Bill Schenke passed away August 1st, 2016.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Schenke family. We will miss Bill. According to Bill Beckemeyer, he was born 17 August 1924, so was only two weeks short of 92 grand years.

Bill Beckemeyer received the note below from Bill’s daughter, Jeannie Schenke Warth. We will post additional information here as it becomes available.

Dear Bill,

Dad passed away yesterday morning.

It is a blessing and a relief. The last weeks were so stressful and difficult for him. His dementia had increased and physical condition deteriorated so quickly.

I would say congestive heart failure was the major cause, but lots of other issues were at hand.

Dad’s obituary will be in the Washington Post on Sunday, if you would like to pass it on to the KSA group.

Thanks, Jeannie

Bill’s obituary was published in the Washington Post. Click here to view the Washington Post obituary and sign their guest book. If the Post obituary is no longer available, see the copy below.
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2016 Alumni Dinner Followup

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KS alumni at the 2016 dinner

Below is the content of a followup email sent to those on our mailing list after our January 2016 dinner:

I think that this year’s Alumni Dinner was one of the best yet. It reminded me how much I — and assumedly all of our participants — enjoy the annual visiting with our good KS friends and being reminded of the company and leaders that fostered a culture that supported our careers and families.

Evelyn Ullman and her family were special guests this year. She was joined by Mark Ullman, Susan Lipstein, Nancy and Tom Miller, and Bryan and Nicole Bernier (Nancy’s children). Ev, thank you for coming and bringing them. They were a great addition to our group.

Attendees who traveled the farthest distance were Fran and Joe Fowler (2,736 miles), and Denys and Nicole Williamson (1,224 miles). Other first time attendees included Rob and Anne Brown, and Howard and Mary Cooley. It was good to see them all after a long absence! You will recognize the other attendees from photos of the evening available in the Gallery.

Our programs were excellent. John Champion spoke to the group for a few minutes about the current state of Kurt Salmon and then turned the microphone over to Dave Cole for comments about Jack Ullman’s history with Ev, his family, and his Kurt Salmon family. After Dave’s discussion, we opened the microphone to anyone who had a story about Jack. Stories were many and thoughtful, bringing out a good mix of laughter and tears as we relived our history with Jack. One story highlighted his wartime job as a bomber navigator in the Pacific, and this recalled many memories of his navigational challenges in an automobile.

Photos of the evening are available in the Gallery.

If you didn’t receive the email, click here to jump to our mailing list page and subscribe to the list.