Obituaries
Ken Faig, director of education at IFI
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Soon after graduating from high school in
1936, Faig enrolled in the power laundry program under Donald
Tuttle at the Ohio Mechanics Institute (now the College of
Applied Sciences in the University of Cincinnati). He received
an associate degree in power laundry in 1938 and earned an
operating engineer’s license from the State of Ohio.
He went to work for American Laundry
Machinery Co. in Cincinnati in 1938 and moved into plant
operation as president and general manager of the Walnut Hills
Laundry Co. in Cincinnati.
During World War II he served as a
Quartermaster Corps laundry officer. After the war he returned
to Walnut Hills Laundry where his operations expanded and he
became manager of Model Service Laundry and Walnut Hills
Service Laundry. In 1965, he became manager for National
Industrial Laundries.
He joined the American Institute of
Laundering (AIL) in Joliet, IL, in 1969 as general manager of
the laundry and drycleaning plant. Under his leadership, the
plant diversified into all types of laundry and drycleaning.
He relocated to Silver Spring, MD, to
become director of education at AIL and the National Institute
of Drycleaners (NID) as the staff continued to consolidate into
one headquarters (the two organizations merged in 1972 and
became the International Fabricare Institute).
Faig officially retired from IFI in 1992
but continued to work there on a volunteer basis for ten years.
IFI named its classroom auditorium after him in honor of his
countless contributions to the IFI curricula. During his years
at IFI, he wrote many technical articles and was widely known
for his knowledge of fabrics and the technology and economics
of the fabric care business. He freely shared his knowledge
with anyone who asked.
Faig is survived by two children, two
grandchildren, two nephews, one niece and his very dear friend,
Alice Kessler of Rockville, MD. He was buried in Vine Street
Hill Cemetery in Cincinnati next to his late wife, Edith.
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Bill Bogus, advocate for small cleaners
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He was born in Keystone, PA of Polish
immigrant parents. Serving in the Third Infantry Army Division
during World War II, he fought at the battles of Anzio, Monte
Cassino and the North Africa campaign, earning a Bronze Star
for valor. He also participated in the liberation of France and
of the Dachau concentration camp.
In articles he wrote for National
Clothesline in recent years, he expressed strong support for
the “mom and pop” drycleaner and for the
International Fabricare Institute, but he also feared that many
“mom and pop” cleaners endangered their own
existence by failing to make the most of educational
opportunities offered by IFI.
In one recent article, he wrote:
“Not long ago, and still fresh in my memory, drycleaners
hungered for knowledge like a bear hungers for honey. Many
drycleaners at that time were members of IFI and they would
send the spotter or spotter-to-be to study and learn
drycleaning with emphasis on spot removal. General Course
classes were big then with many students attending. Drycleaners
had good relations with customers and business was
thriving.”
But many cleaners today fail to educate
themselves on the technical side of the business, instead using
ever-lower prices to try to entice customers. That, he
believed, can not work.
“Drycleaners who cannot afford to
cut prices are cutting prices with a vengeance. They are like
swarming grasshoppers, driving the industry into mediocrity,
making the service less desirable and more
disappointing,” he wrote in one article.
Still, he believed the small cleaner had
an advantage that, when combined with good cleaning skills,
would assure their continuation.
“Is the friendly hard-working
mom-and-pop concept of drycleaning disappearing? No, it is
not,” he wrote. “Mom and Pop take good care of
cleaning customers’ clothes, and customers take care of
Mom and Pop by being loyal customers. It’s like a family
built on appreciation and trust. Mom and Pop provide a
personalized service that giant-sized drycleaners cannot match.
Although they both know the clothes they clean belong to
somebody, Mom and Pop know who that somebody is. And that makes
a big difference.”
Bogus was always encouraging cleaners to
support IFI, something he practiced as well as preached.
Jon Meijer, IFI’s vice president of
membership, recalled that Bogus’s plant was always open
to IFI for any reason.
“We did research in his back area.
We held spotting seminars there. We were over there quite a
bit. Bill believed that no stain was impossible to remove. He
was very big into spotting. He once told me a story about how
he went to someone’s office to get a stain out of a
shirt. He would do anything for his customers, and he loved the
industry.”
“He was funny, too,” Meijer
added. “I remember the first time I met him. I was sent
to do some work on one of his machines and he yelled at me,
‘Who are you! What are you doing here! Get out of my
store!’ I started to leave, but then he broke up
laughing, and said, ‘I know who you are. It’s okay.
Welcome to my store.’ ”
Bogus is survived by his wife, Anna Mae;
his daughter, Joanne Bulter, and her husband, Larry; his son,
William, and his wife, Kristin; two grandsons, William and
Blake; sisters Loretta Martin and Bernadine Daugerdas and
brother Leonard Bobshosky.
A Funeral Mass was held September 9 at St.
John the Baptist Catholic Church. In lieu of flowers, memorial
donations may be made to the St. John Community Fund, 12319 New
Hampshire Ave., Silver Spring, MD, 20904.
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