Murray Feiss named ARTS Academy of Achievement Award honoree
Lighting industry leader to be honored during 20th annual gala
-- Home Accents Today, 9/29/2008 12:47:00 PM
Murray Feiss will receive the Academy of Achievement Award at the 20th annual ARTS Awards, the Dallas Market Center and the Accessories Resource Team today announced today.
The Academy of Achievement Award is awarded to an individual who has made significant contributions to the decorative accessories industry. The honor, along with awards for the more than 20 category winners, is presented at a gala event each January during the Dallas Total Home & Gift Market. The ARTS Awards is the premier awards program for the home decorative accessories industry. This year’s gala will take place on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2009, in The Grand Pavilion at the Trade Mart.
“The home decor industry owes a debt of gratitude to Murray Feiss and his legendary achievements,” said Bill Winsor, president and CEO, Dallas Market Center. “Murray’s decades-long leadership has elevated the trade to extraordinary heights, while building an innovative company that is an industry pillar.”
Feiss was born in the Bronx, New York to Rose and David Feiss, who played a significant role in his development as a passionate entrepreneur. He received his degree in Business Administration from New York University after serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II. While at NYU Feiss lent his mother a hand with her small, but growing lampshade business, Stylecraft Lamp Shade Co.
Several years after graduating from NYU Feiss started a new company, Murray Feiss Lamp Co.; that developed into Murray Feiss Import Corp. in Spain and then expanded to Italy, Germany, Holland, Austria and Sweden, where he imported a full range of decorative residential lighting. Because of the rising costs of importing from Europe, he moved his operations to Asia as one of the first to open operations in Taiwan and China. Today, Murray Feiss, a Generation Brands company, has four factories in China with more than 4,000 workers producing lighting and accessories for the North American markets.
As CEO of Murray Feiss Lighting, Feiss believed in organizing a strong group of lighting companies who working together could better service their customers. With this in mind he formed Generation Brands. Generation Brands is a family of companies with a common goal – to inspire customers and service all of their needs in the decorative lighting and ceiling fan business.
Feiss retired from the company in May 2007 but serves as chairman of the board at Generation Brands and continues his impact on the industry.
“Our mission is to help our customers grow, we are influenced by the lessons and successes of our past, but we lead, focused on the future,” Feiss said.
Feiss and his wife, Dorothy, have been married for more than 58 years. He’s the proud father of two daughters, Andrea and June, and their husbands, Bob Greene and Ron Hersh, who were co-presidents of the Murray Feiss enterprises. Feiss has served on numerous industry boards including the American Lighting Association and past president of the Dallas Lighting Board of Governors.
The 20th annual ARTS Awards are sponsored by Home Accents Today, Gifts & Decorative Accessories and other industry publications.
For tickets to the ARTS Awards gala contact Emily Forsythe at 214-655-7635 or eforsythe@dmcmail.com. Ticket prices are $125 for ART members and $150 for non-members. Tables of eight are for ART members are available for $900 and non-members for $1,080.
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