Back in the 1970’s, Earl Benson decided to quit his bread truck route and open an office equipment company. Today a thousand people in Macon have good paying jobs, thanks to Earl’s initiative, hard work and tenacity.
Earl sold his highly successful copier company, Acme Business Products, to IKON Office Solutions in 1983. He continued on with IKON, expanding his responsibilities and growing jobs in Macon with corporate-level resources, until retiring just a few years ago. IKON later sold the leasing operation (Bass Rd) to GE Capital, and the sales & service operation (Preston Ct) and back office center (Arkwright Rd) to Ricoh.
On October 24th, Acme held a reunion. Seeing everyone again made me realize how great the good ol’ days in the 1980s and 1990s really were – genuine change and exciting opportunities.
You don’t hear much about Earl, mostly because he shuns the spotlight. But he’s done more for this community than people will ever know.
I moved to Macon in 1984 to work for Earl, and owe him a great deal.
Thanks, EB.
No comments:
Post a Comment