2009 NHBR Business Excellence Hall of Fame Inductees
Each year NHBR selects individuals for its Business Excellence Hall of Fame that have given a lifetime of service to the business community, the state of New Hampshire, and even beyond.
Jack Middleton of McLane Graf Raulerson & Middleton
Jack Middleton has done so much to further the New Hampshire legal profession, the business community – in fact, the entire state — that when you read that he once climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, there’s absolutely no reason to be surprised.
Jack joined what is now the McLane, Graf, Raulerson & Middleton law firm in 1956 and became a partner of the firm in 1962. As a lawyer, his influence spreads far beyond the Granite State – his work has won him a national reputation for his dedication to the legal profession. He was only the second New Hampshire resident ever to serve as an officer of the American Bar Association.
Over the years, he has dedicated himself to a wide variety of nonprofit and business organizations. He has been a director and secretary of the Business and Industry Association and played a long and important role in the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce.
He has served on the board of directors of numerous other organizations, including the United Way, New Hampshire Public Radio, New Hampshire Public Television and the New England Council. He also has a career-long relationship with the Mount Washington Observatory.
And, believe it or not, that only scratches the surface.
Jack Middleton was once quoted as saying, "I feel very strongly that if people enjoy the benefits, it is their duty to the community to participate.”
Throughout his career, Jack Middleton has definitely led by example. And that’s why he is being inducted into NHBR’s Business Excellence Hall of Fame.
The Dunfey Family
What more can you say about The Dunfey Family, one of the most amazing families in the history of New Hampshire?
Each year, NHBR selects individuals for its Business Excellence Hall of Fame that have given a lifetime of service to the business community, the state of New Hampshire and even beyond.
In 1954, a few years after the family opened a clam stand on Hampton Beach, five Dunfey brothers – John, Gerald, Walter, Robert and William — bought Lamie’s Tavern in Hampton. Over the following decades, the brothers built a hotel empire that included Omni Hotels, the Parker House in Boston, hotels in New York, New Orleans — a chain that stretched from Maine to Florida.
The family’s impact on the hospitality business can’t be understated.
As Dan Innis, dean of the Whittemore School at UNH, said in awarding the family the UNH’s 2008 Hoteliers of the Year Award: the Dunfeys are “pioneers” and “leaders in the transformation of the hotel industry … they adopted a Yankee sense of hospitality that became the signature for their inns and hotels. That sense of customer service and care now permeates the hotel industry.”
But the impact of the Dunfey family goes far, far beyond the hospitality business.
As many of you know, for decades, the family played an unparalleled role in New Hampshire and national politics. They were key members of then-Senator John F. Kennedy’s inner circle when he was running for president.
In fact, it was often said that Bill Dunfey was the man who almost single-handedly revived the state’s Democratic Party in the 1960s and 1970s – at a time when there weren’t QUITE as many Democratic officeholders as there are now.
In 1974, they founded the Global Citizens Circle. It is an organization whose goal is to bring concerned people of diverse backgrounds and opinions together to address the critical issues of our time – all with a goal of constructive change “in ourselves, our nation and our world.”
That sounds like a tall order, but as anyone who has followed the Dunfeys over the years knows, there’s probably nothing they can’t succeed at.
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<b> — JEFF FEINGOLD/NEW HAMPSHIRE BUSINESS REVIEW</b>
