Dick Wiest, west coast art material pioneer and long time MacPherson’s account manager, passed away on Sept 1st. He was 87 and had long battled heart disease. He is survived by his wife Edna and sons Karl and Kris. A proud and loyal Marine, the family feels Dick would have been grateful for any support of the Wounded Warrior Project.
At MacPherson’s our hearts goes out to our customers in Puerto Rico as they deal with the aftereffects of Hurricane Maria. Massive power outages have lead to terrible food and water shortages. Clean up will take years. We have heard from a few of our customers and, while they are ok physically, long-term survival is the immediate challenge.
The recent hurricanes have devastated many parts of the U.S., and victims’ needs are huge. A group of us at MacPherson’s spontaneously came together with a plan for how to help. Our team members chipped in $3,635 of their own money, with a matching pledge from MacPherson’s. These funds will go to various organizations in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico.
Our clothing drive collected garments which will be sent to the affected areas. We also heard that shelters in Houston, TX asked for supplies to keep children and adults occupied in the shelters while getting back on their feet. We identified two shelter organizations in Houston and, working with our Inventory leader Tammy Kyle, are sending thousands of dollars of coloring books, canvas, coloring pencils and paints in response to their request.
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One shelter is run by the City of Houston for displaced citizens.
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The second shelter is run by the 7th Day Adventist Church.
With great sadness we report the passing of George Ebert, co-founder of what became one of the leading Northwest retailers in Medford Oregon, Central Art. He was 87 years old. In 1967 George and his wife at the time opened a store called la Petite Gallery. With the help of his wife Winnie and, later, his son Dan and daughter-in-law Ann, George evolved and transformed the store into one of the leading art materials seller in the Northwest. Read the obituary for George Ebert here.
The world-class United Kingdom-based art retailer Cass Art is on a mission to “fill the towns with artists”. Mark Cass, Cass Art’s owner, caught the attention of the Daily Telegraph newspaper. The recently-opened Glasgow, Scotland location brings the group’s store count to 12. Read the whole inspiring story.
Chartpak has entered into an agreement to buy the specialty paper converter called W.G. Fry, a private label manufacturer of specialty notebooks, sketchbooks and boutique papers located in West Springfield, MA.