21 NOTABLE SAGINAW ROTARIANS CONTRIBUTING TO NATION, STATE, COUNTY OR CITY

 

FRANK ANDERSEN

Owner of Andersen Sand and Gravel. Rotarian for 83 years. Saginaw benefactor who was responsible for, among other things, Andersen Pool, Andersen Enrichment Center, Andersen Hall nurses dormitory, Andersen Water Park, the Emergency Room at Covenant Hospital and the Frank Andersen Foundation.

 

ARNOLD BOUTELL

Father of Saginaw’s council/manager form of government. Served on Saginaw City Council for 11 years. An organizer of the Welfare League (Community Chest later), WWI and WWII Saginaw County War Board Director, on Board of Works and Water, played major role in achieving Lake Huron pipeline with Midland, and largely responsible for establishing TriCity Airport (now MBS). Established the Arnold and Gertrude Boutell Memorial Fund for Saginaw public good and community betterment.

 

WILBUR M. BRUCKER

Michigan Attorney General 1928; Governor of the State of Michigan 1930-1932; appointed Secretary of the Army by President Eisenhower in 1955.

 

WILLIAM J. BRYDGES

Saginaw Mayor 1941-1943.

 

ARTHUR D. EDDY

Established the C.K. Eddy Memorial Trust for everlasting benefit of Saginaw educational and charitable work. Organized the Saginaw War Board in WWI and later transferred its leadership to what was known as the Saginaw Welfare League, the ancestor of the United Way of Saginaw.

 

JOSEPH W. FORDNEY

Former lumber tycoon who was elected to the House of Representative for 8th district in 1900. Served for 25 years. Was head of House Ways and Means Committee.

 

R. JAMES HARVEY

Saginaw Mayor 1957-1959. Elected to the 8th district House of Representatives. Resigned to serve as federal judge for eastern district of Michigan.

 

MAX P. HEAVENRICH SR.

President of Heavenrich Bros. & Co., mercantile department store. His firm established the first Saginaw Scholarship in 1891 and he took a leading role in the later development of the program. Charter member of the United Advisory Scholarship Committee. President of Saginaw Community Chest and several terms as treasurer. The Max P. Heavenrich School, named in his honor, was dedicated in 1961.

 

GEORGE HUMPREY

Secretary of Treasury 1953-1957 under President Eisenhower.

 

WARREN LIGHT

Elected member of Saginaw City Council in 1962. Saginaw Mayor 1971-1973

 

CHESTER F. MILLER

Saginaw Public Schools Superintendent for 28 years. Consolidated east and west side school districts. During his tenure, 10 public schools were built, including Saginaw High and Arthur Hill, Eddy Junior High, Longstreet, Rouse, Handley, Morley, Fuerbringer, Potter and Loomis. Appointed to Sate Planning Commission, Michigan Constitutional Commission and the Michigan Public Education Commission by Michigan governors.

 

GEORGE B. MORLEY

Banker. President of Second National Bank 1901-1929. Among those who helped found the sugar beet industry in Saginaw County. President Michigan Bankers Assn., director of the Detroit branch of the Federal Reserve Bank. Chairman of the Michigan Sugar board of directors.

 

ARTHUR C. NEUMANN

Charter member and first Executive Secretary of Trout Unlimited. Member of the Catskill Museum of Fly Fishing’s Hall of Fame. Owner and founder of Wanigas Rod Co.

 

MARY PRINCING

Owner/CEO Princing and Ewend. First Saginaw Rotarian businesswoman. Many civic awards including: R.H. Albert Community Achievement Award, Junior Achievement Entrepreneur of the Year, Boys and Girls Club Delphi Youth Leadership Award, Leadership Saginaw Award and Woman of Distinction – Mitten Bay Girl Scouts.

 

ALBERT RIEDEL

Organizer of the Producers Elevator Co., which became Michigan Bean Company. Became President and General Manager in 1937. Designed waterproof shipping bags in WWII. Designer of the “Bean Bunny” which helped make the JackRabbit brand famous worldwide. Headed up a task force to go to 10 European countries to create trade and to export surplus crops in 1961. In 1967 he went to Singapore to establish a grain terminal under supervision of the International Executive Service Corp.

 

R. PERRY SHORTS

Recipient of Horatio Alger Award by American Schools and Colleges Association in 1963 recognizing his rags to riches life story. President of Second National Bank. Director of Michigan Bell Telephone Co., National Bank of Detroit, Michigan Sugar Co, Michigan Bean Co. and the Green Bay Press Gazette. Helped found Saginaw Community Chest and United Health and Welfare Fund of Michigan. Central Michigan University football stadium named after him.

 

WALLIS CRAIG SMITH

Civic leader. As president of West Side Board of Education, led consolidation of east and west side school districts. Fostered Rotary’s interest in Boy Scouts. President of Saginaw Red Cross. President of Saginaw Development Co., explorers for oil and gas, which in 1912 struck oil in Saginaw. Director of the Saginaw Band and Orchestra Association.

 

HAROLD STENGLEIN

Saginaw Mayor 1971-1973. First two-term mayor. Owner of Spic and Span, which sponsored radio program “Search for Tomorrow” that reportedly inspired people to refer to daytime radio dramas as “soap operas.”

 

MARTIN W. TANNER

Founded Price, Hedrick & Tanner, the first advertising agency in Saginaw. Boat maker, sculptor, automotive engineer, race car driver and bridge champion (Life Master, he and partner Sam Ellis beat team of Helen Sobel and Charles Goren). Has artwork in the Saginaw Art Museum and the Detroit Institute of Arts, won the 1958 national Class H Modified Race Car competition of the Sports Car Club of America. Designed and built own racing cars.

 

PAUL WENDLER

Saginaw Pro-tem mayor 1969, Saginaw Mayor 1971-1973. Chairman of the committee to build Saginaw Civic Center (now The Dow Event Center). Member of Michigan Department of Natural Resources commission appointed by Gov. William Milliken. Credited with bringing hockey to Saginaw.

 

GEORGE B. WILLCOX

Founder and first president of Saginaw Rotary Club. Patent attorney and professional engineer. Responsible, through invention of special machinery, for revitalizing the salt industry here in the early 1900s. Saginaw School Board President 1921-1926. Long time chairman of the Saginaw Public Library Commission.