REPORTER March 13, 2018 DAVID FURMAN 29 th Annual Excellence In Leadership Award Recipient Mac McCarley introduced our program presenting the 29 th Excellence in Leadership Award presented by the Charlotte Chamber, the Charlotte Business Journal and the Rotary Club of Charlotte. Mac mentioned that past winners have included Pat McCrory, Pamela Davies, Michael Tarwater, Tom Belk, Michael Marsicano, Billy Wireman, John Belk, Bill Lee, Hugh McColl and Ed Crutchfield. Mac noted that five of our club members have won the award Luther Fincher, Tony Zeiss, Jerry Orr, Jim Woodward, and Byron Bullard. According to Mac, two qualities stand out with our recipient today visionary leadership and community involvement. Mac introduced Frank Martin who introduced David Furman, the 2018 winner of the Excellence in Leadership Award. David grew up in Charlotte and received his architectural degree from NC State. In 1979, he started his own architectural firm. In the 1980 s, his projects twice won Builder Magazine s Project of the Year. In 1994, he was chosen as a fellow in the American Institute of Architecture. In 2005, he was inducted into Builder Magazine s Hall of Fame. In the 1990 s, David branched into development, with an emphasis on Charlotte and its center city. He played a key role in the re-development of First Ward and his Courtside Condominium was Charlotte s first center city residential midrise. His interests extend beyond architecture. A 2015 Charlotte magazine article cited him as one of that year s Charlotteans of the Year for his pro bono work. 30 years ago, when David was in his 30 s, he designed a building pro bono for the first time. Reading a newspaper article on the planned consolidation of Crisis Assistance Ministry, the Food Bank and Clothing Ministry, he called one of the staff and said he would like to create the building free of charge. Since then, he has done the same thing for McCreesh Place and Moore Place, housing communities for the homeless. He s also worked with his wife, Marilyn, to turn an old apartment building in East Charlotte into a program for homeless addicts through the CentroBono Foundation. While David takes his professional work quite seriously, he doesn t take himself seriously at all. David regularly submits photos and write ups to national design
competitions. He s won more than his share but he certainly doesn t win them all. As a result, he delights in describing himself as a national award losing architect. David said he was insecure and immature enough to appreciate awards. David said that he has never received a leadership award because no one follows him. When he started his company, he had three goals do excellent work, have fun and make some money. Now his three goals are to get up every morning and be excited to make something, do something that needs to happen and not lose money. David thinks Charlotte is a spectacular place; he had a wonderful mentor, Reg Narmour and a special wife, Marilyn, who supported him in any endeavor he pursued which freed him to do what he wanted to do. When he began to offer to do some work in the nonprofit community for free, it was amazing how much work he received. David has been able to use his skill set to do the work he does in the community. He was able to do work in the area of single room occupancy that had been considered illegal until he helped to rewrite the zoning laws. Currently he is working with the Men s Shelter of Charlotte to add dignity to density through a significant capital project As a member of a panel a couple weeks ago, he was asked what building was his favorite. David proceeded to show us pictures of multiple beautiful buildings because he has many favorites. David said he has many ideas that were not done or built but he has always tried new ideas and will keep on trying new ideas. What he is ultimately trying to do is build a better city and help make Charlotte a more vibrant place for all people to live. David thanked us. We thank him.
Speaker Write-Up: Jim Kelley; Head Table: Bob Morgan, Katie Tyler, Mac McCarley, Frank Martin: Invocation: Charlie Bones; Visitors & Guests: Charlie Bones; Photos: Bert Voswinkel; AV: Jessica Dupree CLUB NEWS 5 th annual tree planting will take place March 17 at Community House Middle School, 9AM-Noon. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! Phil Volponi is your point of contact and can be reached at volponipc@gmail.com. A few Rotary anniversaries to celebrate Bob Finley 13 years, Roger Sarow 20 years, and Chris Thomas & Jerry Walters 15 years. To the twenty that made a commitment to schedule a platelet donation, committee chair John zumbrunnen reminds you that you have two weeks to get it done. Total donations stand at 89 $5000 is slipping through the cracks if the goal of reaching 100 donations is not met at the end of March. As President Katie put it, Lee Tabor stepped up to demonstrate what Rotary is all about. Lee wanted to recognize and thank her friend Cheryl Banks for all she does. Cheryl supports Rotary by bringing visitors to meetings, sponsoring a new member, and she volunteers for everything. Lee then presented Cheryl with her Level One Rotary Foundation pin. The Rotaract Turns 50 celebration will be held at UNCC this evening. Rotaract is Rotary for 18 to 30 year olds and was started by Charlotte North Rotary, with the first club meeting held at UNCC on March 13, 1968. One of the first projects of the newly formed club was to build a float for the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Stay tuned for more details on
the conference planned for early June. Queen City Honor Flight was created as a way to honor veterans for their service and sacrifice. On May 26, 2018, 180 people will make the flight to Washington, DC to see the memorials. Applications are being accepted from WWII, Korean, or Vietnam veterans. Veterans will fill 100 of the seats and there is an urgent need for Guardians. The fee is $400 and the application cut off is April 1, 2018. Visit Queen City Honor Flight for additional information/application. MEMBERSHIP 07/01/2017 309 03/13/2018 295 Net Increase: -14 New Members: Neal Triompo, Rohan Paul Resignations: Patricia Zoder Visitors 19 Club Members 137 Total 156 (55.6%) Visitors & Guests: Nick Linville, Beth Handford, John Elliot, Bob Morrill, Christy Majors, Jack Gill, Frank Bragg, Jim Cecere, Matt Smith, Penny Bones, Russ Ferguson, Michael Smith, Chuck Dahlgren, Susan Griffiths, Colleen Garrett, Steve Barton, Matt Majors, Erica Shaver, Bob Morgan, Marilyn Furman UPCOMING BIRTHDAYS (03/22/18 03/28/18) 03/23 Jon Hannan 03/24 Matt Joyner 03/26 Mike Crum, Brian Huber 03/28 Alan Simonini UPCOMING ANNIVERSARIES (03/22/18 03/28/18) 03/24 Adrienne & Eric Davis, Amy & Mark Norman 03/26 Kit & Peirce Ward UPCOMING PROGRAMS 03/20 Paul Cozza, Executive Director, NC Ports 03/27 Matt Olin, Founder, Creative Mornings Charlotte Photos from our luncheons and other events can be found on Flickr Click here
charlotterotary.org 704.375.6816 1850 East 3 rd Street Suite 220 Charlotte, NC 28204 USA Rotary Club of Charlotte