Masonry Magazine May 1961 Page. 18
LEAD
MAN...
PORTRAIT OF AN EXECUTIVE
Possibly no other one man has contributed more to the advancement of the concrete block phase of masonry construction than Jesse H. Besser, president of the Besser Co. and pioneer manufacturer of concrete block machinery.
As this is written, the 79-year-old pioneering executive is visiting Australia and New Zealand on what might be termed a good-will tour. Reports indicate those "down under" have spread the red carpet for Jesse Besser, who is well known there and in every major country of the free world, where Besser block machines have become commonplace.
Born in Buffalo, N. Y. May 21, 1882, he migrated to the northwoods area near Alpena, Mich. As a youth he attended a one-room country school and later completed his formal education in the public schools of Alpena.
At 16 he began his working career in a shingle and stave mill operated by his father. His introduction to concrete block machinery manufacturing came in 1904 when the company introduced its first block machine, a crude, hand-operated mechanism capable of turning out 200 blocks per 10-hour day with the service of a three-man crew.
Through the succeeding years, concrete block machinery has advanced in enormous strides until today the full automatic Besser unit produces 8000 units each 8-hour day. Jesse Besser personally pioneered those improvements, and today, more than half-century later, he is still the guiding hand of the great business enterprise founded by his father, Herman Besser.
The truth of a man, it is said, lies with his personal life. And here Jesse Besser stands tall.
Through the Besser Foundation, substantial aid in the form of land grants and monies have made possible such advancements in Alpena as the Catholic Central High School, First Congregational Church, Presbyterian Church, Baptist Church, Community College, Bay Shopping Center, Alpena General Hospital, Alpena Boy's Club and the local Chamber of Commerce.
He is one of the few Michigan citizens to receive the Wolverine Frontiersman Award, an award made each year to a citizen of Michigan in recognition of the part the recipient has played in opening up new frontiers to fellow men by advanced ideas or progressive accomplishments in science, art and literature, business, industry, education, agriculture and other fields.
Jesse Besser was selected to receive the award because of his wholehearted contribution to the building industry and his achievements in opening up new frontiers in that field throughout the world.
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MASONRY-MAY, 1