Citation: “New B-W Trustees Profiled,” Exponent (Berea, OH), October 22, 1976, p. 3.
Mrs. J. Ellsworth Kalas is a native of Kenosha, Wisconsin. She holds a B.S. degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Mrs. Kalas has been a member of the United Methodist Church Women's Speakers Bureau since 1953, and has been an active member of United Church Women since 1950.
She has served as a secretary of the Federation of Women's Clubs, as president of the AAUW, and as a member of the League of Women Voters.
She and her husband. Dr. J. Ellsworth Kalas, a minister, are the parents of two children, Deborah and David. Their home is at 2510 Arlington Road, Cleveland Heights.
Citation: “Dr. Kamm' s Investment Book is “Best Seller",” Baldwin-Wallace College News Letter 26, no. 3 (1959): p. 3.
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JUST off the World Publishing Co. presses and available at $3.50 is a revised and enlarged edition of "Making Profits in the Stock Market," a 185-page guide to investing by a Baldwin-Wallace College trustee, Dr. Jacob 0. Kamm, '40.
Originally issued in 1952, the book was a nonfiction best seller hailed by reviewers as "one of the best primers yet written on successful investment for the amateur and beginner."
Dr. Kamm, '40
Concerned not only with theory but with practice as well, Dr. Kamm's book outlines the history and investment policies of the now-famous B-W investment class fund which he initiated in 1947 when he chaired the economics department.
Magna Cum Laude Graduate
After returning from Ohio State University with his Ph.D. in 1948, Dr. Kamm was advanced to head of the school of commerce in 1949 and continued to guide the investment class until his resignation from the College in May 1953.
For the six years that he piloted the fund, annual returns from dividend income and capital gains ranged from 11.01 % to 21.78% and averaged out to 15% per annum.
Graduated magna cum laude in business administration, Dr. Kamm was the first recipient of the Milton T. Baldwin Senior Scholarship prize and the first male student to receive straight "A" at B-W.
At 41, he is the youngest man ever to head the Cleveland Quarries Co., and a director of eight other companies as well.
Citation: James D. Harvey, ed., Pursuit 8, no. 3 (November 1975): 2.
When Jacob O. Kamm was professor of economics and director of the commerce division at B-W during the late Forties, he initiated an investment fund with $100 of his own money to be administered by his students. In 1974 the fund had grown to $200,000 and provided the initial funding for the new business and mathematics building which will be named in his honor.
Recognized as one of the nation's foremost economists and corporate management experts, Jake Kamm '40 attended B-W on a scholarship and graduated with a straight "A" average for his four years, majoring in business administration.
After receiving a master's degree in economics from Brown University in 1942, Jacob Kamm returned to B-W as an instructor. He received his Ph.D. from The Ohio State University six years later.
Dr. Kamm left the College in 1953 to become vice president of Cleveland Quarries Company. He was named executive vice president later the same year, president in 1955 and became chairman of the Board of Directors and chief executive officer in 196 7.
Additionally, Dr. Kamm served as executive vice president and treasurer and then as president of The American Ship Building Company during 1967-69. He was president and chairman of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors again from 1973 to 1974.
A member of the B-W Board of Trustees since 1953, he has served on the Executive Committee for 20 years and has been a member of the Investment Committee since 1957, serving as chairman for the past several years. The Committee has achieved an excellent record, ranking first for the last two years among leading colleges and universities in endowment performance over 10-year periods.
Citation: Frances F. Mills, ed., “In Memoriam,” Baldwin-Wallace Alumnus 13, no. 2 (1935): pp. 8-9.
The death of Dr. Charles Ober Kepler, occurred at his home, 49 Englewood Avenue, Brookline, Mass. on November 1, 1934 after several years of invalidism. Dr. Kepler was born at Burbank, Ohio in 1868, son of Dr. William and Anna (Ober) Kepler, the former of whom was associated for a number of years, 1881- 1886 as professor of natural sciences in Baldwin University. Charles Kepler attended Baldwin-Wallace and was graduated in 1887. He received his M. D. degree from Harvard Medical School and in 1906 he studied in Vienna. He began his professional practice in Boston in 1900 and became widely known as a specialist. He belonged to numerous professional groups.
During the war he was commissioned captain of the Medical Officers Reserve Corps, and was assigned to the base hospital at Camp Devens.
For many years he was a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, was a member of St. John's Lodge and Coeur de Lion Commandery of the Masons, and was a thirty-second degree member of the fraternity.
His widow (nee Effie Alene Sweet, of Buda, Ill.) and two daughters are residing in Brookline and one daughter is professionally employed in New York City.
Citation: “Faculty Appointments,” Baldwin-Wallace College News Letter 8, no. 6 (1942): p. 2.
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The Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory of Music has announced the appointment of Clyde H. Keutzer of Chapel Hill, N. Carolina, as an instructor in voice. He w i l l become the acting head of this department, succeeding Mr. Allen Schirmer who is leaving Baldwin-Wallace. Mr. Keutzer is an experienced teacher of great ability and fine training and has for the past two years been the acting head of the voice department at the University of North Carolina. He holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago and a Master's degree from Teachers' College, Columbia University. Mr. Keutzer is also a singer of some note, possessing a lyric-dramatic voice and should be a fine addition to the Conservatory faculty.
Citation: “B-W Presidency Accepted By Dr. John L. Knight,” Baldwin-Wallace Alumnus 27, no. 1 (1949): p. 1.
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Dr. John Lowden Knight, dynamic chancellor of Nebraska Wesleyan University, will become president of Baldwin-Wallace College in June.
Announcement of the unanimous election of the 33-year-old educator was made by George W. Ritter, president of the board of trustees, shortly before the opening of the New Year. An inauguration date has not yet been set.
Dr. Knight will succeed Dr. Louis C. Wright to the B-W presidency, filling the position which has been vacant since Dr. Wright's retirement last July. Dr. Albert Riemenschneider, director emeritus of the Conservatory of Music, will continue as acting president until Dr. Knight's arrival.
Taking his place as one of the youngest directors of a major campus, Dr. Knight himself was a college student barely nine years ago.
A native of New Jersey, the president-elect earned his A. B. degree from Brothers College at Drew University, Madison, N. J. He holds a bachelor of sacred theology and a master of arts degree from Boston University, as well as an additional master's in arts from Vanderbilt University.
In 1947 Dr. Knight was awarded the honorary doctor of divinity degree by Kansas Wesleyan University.
Chancellor of the Nebraska institution for three years, Dr. Knight previously was professor and assistant to the president of Willamette· University, Salem, Oregon. The young administrator also has served as minister of the Lake Shore Methodist church, Lynn, Mass., and as pastor of the Belleview, Tenn., Methodist church. One summer he was visiting professor at Iliff School of Theology in Denver.
Married to the former Alice Kingston, a graduate of Pierce School in Philadelphia, Dr. Knight has two young daughters-Merrie Elizabeth, three, and Wendy Leigh, born late in October.
Saturday, Jan. 15, Dr. Knight made his,first visit to the campus since his election to the presidency. Exhibiting his own great variety of interests, he spent the half-day conferring with college officials, watching a varsity wrestling match against the University of Akron, and meeting faculty and administrative officers at a dinner and reception.
The six foot-three inch educator stopped in Berea on his way to Nebraska from New York where he was a speaker at the annual conference of the Association of American Colleges.
Dr. Knight feels strongly that the administrative head of a church-related school like B-W should work closely with the church, serving as a connecting link between the two institutions.
"It is in its role as a Christian college that the church-related college finds its primary reason for being and its unique avenue of contribution," Dr. Knight has said. "It stands in a succession of historic Christian schools devoted not merely to education, but to Christian education."
Dr. Knight believes just as firmly in the place of the liberal arts college among educational institutions.
"The modern tendency in education to departmentalize and to specialize is not compatible with the high liberal arts purpose," he said in his acceptance speech at Nebraska in 1946. "True, we must accord our students the highest type of training, and the best pre-professional preparation; but we must insist upon the type of educational experience which develops the whole man."
Citation: Marion Cole, ed., “At Home With 8-W's First Family,” Baldwin-Wallace Alumnus 27, no. 4 (1949): pp. 6-7.
In the gloomiest days of the depression a tall, friendly boy just out of high school struggled each week to save his shipping clerk's wages so he could date his favorite girl, a pretty red-head two years his junior who lived in his hometown of Beverly, New Jersey.
Courting was confined to weekends in the years that followed, as the young man attended college and the girl studied at business school, preparing to help support her widowed mother.
Today, scarcely eight years after their marriage, John and Alice Knight and their two small daughters occupy the spacious Georgian style President's Home at Baldwin-Wallace College.
The Knights haven't always had a 10-room, six-bedroom home, however. In the two years before he entered Drew University in 1935 the President worked in a Philadelphia wallpaper factory. Later came jobs in an iron foundry, waiting on tables in the college dining hall and in a Boston restaurant, and eventually the post of counselor at the Goodwill Inn· for boys in Boston.
After graduation- as class president- with honors from Drew, where he was elected by the all-male student body as the most outstanding man, John Knight entered the theological seminary at Boston University. It was during his second year there that he served his first church, in near-by Lynn, Mass. And in August of that same year, 1941, he married the red-haired girl he had courted since their days together in New Jersey.
Next came a fellowship to study at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. The newly-weds lived at a tiny country parsonage in the home which they now fondly remember as the only place since their marriage where they had time to have fun together, free from constant outside activities.
Continuing their westward journey, the Knights moved in 1943 to Salem, Oregon, where the young minister became assistant to the president at Willamette University. There Mrs. Knight continued to work - as she had done since their marriage- and this time was with the Oregon highway department. She previously had used her business training for a Boston engineering firm and the Methodist Board of Education at Nashville.
From the West Coast university the Knights once again migrated, this time to Lincoln, Nebraska, where for the first time "President" was affixed to John Knight's name professionally. Honorary doctorates from Kansas Wesleyan and Willamette were awarded to the President during his subsequent three years as head of Nebraska Wesleyan University, and in July of 1949 John and Alice Knight made one more move, shipping their possessions from the Spanish-type bungalow in Nebraska to the two-story colonial home at 337 Beech Street, Berea.
Mrs. Knight attributes her husband's comparatively rapid advancement to the fact that he always has known exactly what he wanted to do. "Jack has kept plugging for years to be where he is now," she says, "and he always has kept a definite goal in mind."
President Knight is the lone man in his family, which now numbers four. The nation helped Merrie Elizabeth celebrate her fourth birthday on the Fourth of July, the week the family arrived in Berea, and Wendy Leigh blew out her first birthday candle last month. Dr. Knight himself passed his 34th birthday this month, on November 2.
The President has the final word in most decisions at home as well as at the college, but matters like the hour of awakening in the morning depend entirely on baby Wendy. Like most busy people the Knights are inclined to stay up late evenings, while if at home the President catches up on professional reading and his wife follows homemaking and child-rearing material, as well as historical novels when time remains. She also enjoys sewing and needlepoint; pieces throughout the house are evidence of her work.
In their leisure time attention also often turns to athletics as they watch college or professional teams perform. The Knights themselves are enthusiastic about tennis and dancing. While at Drew the six-foot, three-inch President found time to participate in nearly every varsity sport; he still bears battle scars from a collegiate ankle injury and from a baseball which hit him just above the eye.
Although Mrs. Knight delights in doing all her own cooking, meals are rather hectic affairs at the Beech Street household. Dr. Knight rarely is home for more than two or three evening meals a week, although he usually does manage to be home at noon. Sweet desserts are the 240- pound President's favorite, and one of his wife's pies usually climaxes the family "Sunday dinner"- which nearly always necessarily comes Saturday night!
Evenings and Sundays, as well as regular office hours, are filled with conferences, lectures, sermons and official representation of the college at academic and church affairs. Mrs. Knight, too, is busy with social activities, and maintains a keen interest in the national P. E. 0. Sisterhood which she joined three years ago in Nebraska.
In decorating their new home the Knights are using their own furniture downstairs and in five of the six bedrooms. The spacious living room with its pair of matched lounges on each side of the fireplace is generally deserted by the family for the more cosy atmosphere of the adjoining study, with its wood paneling and built-in bookcases. Furnishings all are colonial in style, with exception of the master bedroom, which is modern blond oak. The guest room is furnished by the college.
Hobbies and collections have their place in the Knight household. With the President it's goldfish, which hold equal fascination for the two youngsters, and Mrs. Knight has a number of delicate demitasse cups, antique glass and a collection of bells. She also has unusually-decorated plates, including several with scenes from each of the cities where the family has made its home.
The Knights find their tastes in home furnishings as well as clothing are very similar. Mrs. Knight leaves the selection of wallpaper to her husband, remembering his early working experiences, but she does occasionally buy him a tie-which he invariably likes. Mrs. Knight is particularly proud of her diamond engagement ring, which the President designed and had made when he couldn't find exactly what he wanted from Eastern jewelers.
When the Knights are at home they frequently have guests, who come from every occupation and every region of the country. In addition to members of their respective families, house guests this Fall have included President and Mrs. Arthur Flemming of Ohio Wesleyan University. One of the largest gatherings in the home on the northernmost edge of the campus was the informal faculty reception on Founders Day, October 12. The affair was planned by the Knights for that date as the beginning of a traditional faculty activity.
To the Knights the city in which they live is the most important in the world, and their active participation in Berea's academic, social and civic affairs is evidence of this belief. The only point of dissatisfaction in this family's busy schedule seems to me the mutual feeling expressed by young Merrie: "I wish you didn't have to do one thing right after another."
Citation: Frances F. Mills, ed., “Mr. E. J. Kulas Hailed as Genius,” Baldwin-Wallace Alumnus 26, no. 3 (1948): p. 12.
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A May issue of the Cleveland Plain Dealer carried an interesting feature article about Mr. E. J. Kulas, benefactor of Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music, and a member of the board of trustees of the college, under the caption, "E. J. Kulas Hailed as Genius at Healing Sick Companies."
It seems that back in 1923, Mr. Kulas had retired from active business and he and Mrs. Kulas were travelling in Africa. While playing golf at Casablanca, as the story goes, he received a cable from the late John Sherwin, asking him to return to Cleveland to take over the faltering Parish and Bingham Co., and "doctor it back to health."
Upon his return, for he immediately came back, he prescribed a merger of the Cleveland concern with two in Detroit, forming what was called the Midland Steel Products Co., which has now passed its 25th year of operation. Looking back, this energetic president of Midland recalls saying in his first staff conference: "Forget about yesterday. It's dead. Keep your eyes on tomorrow and let's make for it the things that are needed." Midland, now recognized as the world's largest producer of automobile frames, had net assets at the end of 1923 of $3,219,000. Its latest figure is quoted as $11,733,800. The number of its employees has more than tripled as has also the floor space in its plants.
The story of the apparently magic touch of Mr. Kulas upon other companies continues until it is suggested that a good insight into the Kulas approach was provided by a statement he made early in the depression. "Too much golf is one of the main things wrong with business" he said, as · he stuffed his clubs into a locker. He hasn't played since.
At a recent party in his honor, his close associates gave Mr. Kulas a scroll expressing their esteem for him. In it was noted, besides his genius above described, his clear judgment and firm will tempered with fairness; and his ability to grow in character and to encourage growth of character in those working with him.
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