A crowd of more than 550 gathered at the Holland Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, April 14, to honor the newest inductees into the Omaha Business Hall of Fame and applaud their lasting contributions to Greater Omaha. That included 78 year old Mary Maxwell, “the Queen of the Omaha Business Hall of Fame” and “Omaha’s First Lady of Humor.” As is tradition, she helped kick off the evening by sharing her unique take on each of the honorees.
William “Bill” A. Cutler
Funeral Director, Heafey-Hoffmann-Dworak & Cutler Mortuaries and Crematory, Cutler-O’Neill-Meyer-Woodring Funeral Home, Walnut Hill Cemeteries
“Bill Cutler lays to rest more than our loved ones. He lays to rest our fears and our nerves. He said to me tonight, ‘I thought you might call me to have your hair done.’ I said, ‘I’ve seen your work.’ … One little caveat about him, if you get flowers from Bill, you might want to check the card.”
John S. “Sid” Dinsdale
Chairman, Pinnacle Bancorp Inc.
“Sid hails from that amazing Pinnacle Bank family from Palmer, Neb. To my horror, I heard one of my younger grandchildren refer to the bank as the ‘pinochle’ bank a few days ago. I can assure you that most of their depositors pronounce that name correctly.”
Stanley “Stan” Olsen (1921-2012)
President and CEO, Stan Olsen Auto
“I am happy to say I was one of a legion of customers of the late Stan Olsen. He wasn’t ‘Stan, Stan the Pontiac Man,’ by that time. He was, for me, the ‘Guru who leased you a Subaru.”
Robert “Bob” A. Reed
Chairman-elect, Physicians Mutual Insurance Company
“Bob led Physicians Mutual for Decades. Remember, this is one of the last, very few companies that was able to conclude a deal with Enron without regret, bankruptcy or civil suits.”
Lee H. Sapp
President, Lee Sapp Enterprise
William D. Sapp
Chairman, Sapp Bros. Inc.
“Is there any one of who hasn’t driven home from all points west and heaved a sigh of relief when that coffee pot came into view – and caused us to thank God that we hadn’t tried to leave the children behind at that last rest area.”
Maxwell concluded, “I want to thank each Hall of Famer tonight for attributing his success to deep faith in God and to the miraculous good fortune that led him to the woman he married – which saves me the trouble of having to point that out.”
Hosted by the Greater Omaha Chamber Foundation, the Business Hall of Fame Gala began with a 6 p.m. hors d’oeuvres dinner and mingling followed by the induction ceremony at 7:30 p.m. The Omaha Business Hall of Fame was initiated in 1993 in celebration of the Chamber’s centennial anniversary. Proceeds from the Omaha Business Hall of Fame Gala will continue to support the permanent Omaha Business Hall of Fame exhibit at The Durham Museum and the annual Young Professionals Summit, a project of the Chamber’s Greater Omaha Young Professionals.
Thank you to our 2015 Omaha Business Hall of Fame Gala sponsors: Fraser Stryker PC LLO, KPMG LLP and U.S. Bank.