What a Life!

Herb Kelleher, 87, was the founder of Southwest Airlines. He died January 4, 2019.

Quotable Quotes:

"Your people come first, and if you treat them right, they'll treat the customers right."

"You don't hire for skills, you hire for attitude. You can always teach skills."

"If you don't treat your own people well, they won't treat other people well."

One piece of advice that always stuck in my mind is that people should be respected and trusted as people, not because of their position or title.

Arnold Fulton, 91, was an umbrella manufacturer in the United Kingdom. He died October 6, 2022.

Quotable Quotes:

"There were six people who risked their lives to save mine, including one priest who was shot by the communists in 1969 because he was too outspoken."

"I hold no grudge against the German people."

"I knew if I could develop a colorful range [of umbrellas] with superior quality I would have my niche."

"I can be quite impulsive, and I think in business you must seize opportunities."

"I wouldn't say I was the best businessman in the world. I seem to have just been very lucky."

Don Christopher, 88, was best known as the "Garlic King." He died December 12, 2022.

Quotable Quotes:

"We've made garlic fun. You've got garlic festivals everywhere. And all those health considerations. It's always in the news."

'The last thing we would ever have thought of doing was to make an odorless garlic. We say: 'Brush your teeth. Use mouthwash. Eat a lemon. But get rid of the odor altogether? Never.''

Robert L. May, 71, was a copywriter for the Montgomery Ward Department Store, and best known for writing, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." He died August 11, 1976.

Quotable Quotes:

"I was heavily in debt at age 35, still grinding out catalogue copy. Instead of writing the great American novel, as I'd always hoped, I was describing men's white shirts."

"I needed Rudolph more than ever. Gradually, I buried myself in the writing."

"Nobody wanted him (Rudolph), not with 6 million copies already distributed. Finally, I found a publisher, a little guy with a big nose, who said he knew what it was like for Rudolph and was willing to take a chance on a printing."

Franco Harris, 72, was an NFL Hall of Fame running back with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He died December 21, 2022.

Quotable Quotes:

"How you look at a situation is very important, for how you think about a problem may defeat you before you do anything about it."

"When you get discouraged or depressed, try changing your attitude from negative to positive and see how life can change for you."

"Remember, your attitude toward a situation can help you to change it. You create the very atmosphere for defeat or victory."

"It's not a thing of how many carries, but were you effective when you did carry."

Stanley Drucker, 93, was the principal clarinetist with the New York Philharmonic, where he served for 60 years. He died Monday December 19, 2022.

Quotable Quotes:

"You absorb the personality and talent of whoever's up on the podium."

"You learn all of this stuff. And after a point, somebody has to tell you, 'Forget it all, just go out and play.'"

"You give and take; you don't only take. It's a chamber music situation. You play to enhance. [You need to know] what you have inside, what your sensitivity is."

Jay H. Leve, 66, was the founder of SurveyUSA. He died on December 5, 2022.

Quotable Quotes: "We could do for pennies what they were doing for dollars, and we could do in hours what they were doing in days."

"I revolutionized the public opinion polling business by eliminating the single largest cost of conducting research; by shortening turnaround time; by changing how survey research is priced; by changing how questions are asked; and by re-thinking how best to collect data."

"Unbounded creativity combined with an ability to synthesize, write and edit is what made me successful."

Frank Shakespeare, 97, was a television executive whose sharp relationship and communication skills helped change history. He died on December 14, 2022.

Quotable Quotes:

"When people everywhere can see, read, and hear everything that happens—at the time it happens—there will be little incentive to absorb officially distributed material, except in closed societies."

"I know of no effective substitute for the exchanges of exhibits, concerts, theater productions, and other cultural events or face‐to‐face meetings with opinion‐makers, artists, scientists, and tourists."

"I am hopeful that with the massive development of communications we shall be able to live in a world where free access to the minds of people everywhere will enable us to achieve our goals through competition in thoughts and ideas rather than in armaments and power pressures."

Over 180,000 people die every day around the world. That's over 2 deaths per second. Of course, most of them we'll never meet or know anything about – but everyone single one of them meant the world to somebody.

Quotable Quotes:

"The value of life is not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them; a man may live long yet very little." - Michel de Montaigne

"If you truly believe in the value of life, you care about all of the weakest and most vulnerable members of society." - Joni Eareckson Tada "To add value to others, one must first value others." - John C. Maxwell

Walt Disney, 65, was an animator, film maker and theme park pioneer. He died December 15, 1965.

Quotable Quotes:

"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them."

"I'd say it's been my biggest problem all my life. It's money. It takes a lot of money to make these dreams come true."

"Of all of our inventions for mass communication, pictures still speak the most universally understood language."

"The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing."