[caption id="attachment_7009" align="aligncenter" width="280"] MCAA Chairman Mark Kemp presents the Leadman Award to John Smith Jr.[/caption]
On Thursday, Feb. 5, the MCAA presented the 2015 C. DeWitt Brown Leadman Award to John Smith Jr. of John J. Smith Masonry in St. Louis during the Annual Meeting. Smith has provided exemplary leadership in advancing the masonry industry. He also has demonstrated a tireless dedication to our industry through years of volunteer support and hard work. Smith has helped to ensure that the masonry industry remains vital for the nearly 500,000 people employed through masonry.
MCAA Chairman Mark Kemp presented the award to Smith, who is a third-generation bricklayer and a second-generation mason contractor. He has been involved with all aspects of the industry on both a local and national level. His leadership, enthusiasm, commitment and relentless dedication to the industry have made John J. Smith Masonry a dominant mason contractor as well as an expert in the industry for architects, engineers and general contractors to seek advice.
Smith was a key part of the wall-bracing policy developed by the MCAA, now a nationally recognized safety standard. He has served as the Region E VP, Marketing Committee chairman, treasurer, secretary and VP, and chairman of the MCAA. |
[caption id="attachment_7010" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Bill Dentinger (center) is surrounded by his family after induction into the Masonry Hall of Fame.[/caption]
During the MCAA Closing Banquet on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015, Bill Dentinger was inducted into the Masonry Hall of Fame by MCAA Chairman Mark Kemp. The Masonry Hall of Fame was created to recognize and award those individuals who have dedicated their lives to the masonry industry. Each year, nominations are accepted to recognize individuals who have had a major impact on the masonry industry, not necessarily with just the MCAA, and have been in the industry for a minimum of 25 years. All inductees are nominated by their peers and carefully reviewed by a panel of judges. Nominees must receive six of eight eligible votes in order to be accepted into the Hall of Fame.
Dentinger chose masonry as a career while he was still in high school. He later handled the front office business for his uncle, a master bricklayer. In 1957 he joined the United States Navy and told his uncle, “I’ll see you in four years.” For four years, every month or so, he wrote his uncle, reminding him that he wanted to join him in the business and help run things. His uncle, Rich Kemp, had not forgotten the plan. He and Superior Masonry Builders were waiting for him, and this was the beginning of his 50-year career of working in, and serving, the masonry industry.
Superior Masonry grew to become one of two or three significant masonry operations in the Milwaukee area. Their specialties changed from residential to commercial, industrial and institutional masonry work, building schools and churches.
Superior Masonry Builders joined the Mason Contractors Association of Milwaukee in the early-1960s. Dentinger became active and was mentored by people like Gregor Pichler and Bob Tubesing, both of whom were charter members of the MCAA. By 1966 he was president of MCA-Milwaukee. He also active in the Allied Construction Employer’s Association, and was a management trustee of the Building Trades United Pension Trust Fund for Milwaukee and Vicinity. Dentinger served on the Board of the AC of Greater Milwaukee as the sub-contractor liaison.
In 1975 Dentinger left Superior Masonry to make room for Rich Kemp’s two sons. He and his wife started their own masonry business, Bill Dentinger Inc. For several decades he was active in the MCAA, serving on and acting as chair of many committees. He was MCAA president in the mid-1980s. He also served as the co-chairman of the International Masonry Institute.
Visit www.masoncontractors.org/hall-of-fame for additional information and a full list of Masonry Hall of Fame members. |