Friday, November 4, 2011

Morrey Weiss, CEO of American Greetings

On Monday, November 14th at 7:40PM Wiggins Place is proud to welcome Morry Weiss, CEO of American Greetings.  Mr. Weiss will be speaking to our tenants about his lifelong work as well as his involvement in the Jewish Community.  We look forward to Mr. Weiss' visit and we hope to see you there too!

Mr. Morry Weiss

Morry Weiss is the Chairman of American Greetings, the largest publicly owned creator, manufacturer and distributor of greeting card products in the world. He has been a dynamic force within American Greetings for nearly 50 years, serving in positions that also include president, chief executive officer, and chief operating officer.

Under his leadership, Mr. Weiss strengthened the company’s commitment to innovation and leadership, developing the American Greetings creative studio into one of the largest in the world. The company revolutionized the greeting card industry with the creation of Strawberry Shortcake and the Care Bears – properties that ultimately were retail blockbusters as licensed characters on thousands of consumer products. Mr. Weiss also recognized the potential of mass retail stores from their beginning and led the company’s commitment to this market to help achieve record sales and growth for American Greetings. By 1996, the company had doubled its size in less than a decade and reached $2 billion in total revenues.

Mr. Weiss has won wide recognition for his dedicated service to the community. In particular, his deep sense of commitment to greater Cleveland has led him to contribute in many ways to the richness of the city and its future success. He serves on the board of directors for The Cleveland Clinic, American Greetings, and Dots. In the past, he has served on the boards for National City Bank, the Cleveland Orchestra, Cleveland Tomorrow, United Way, Syrateck, McDonald, Ohio Savings and Malrite.

His faith plays an important role in Mr. Weiss’ life and his name has become synonymous with Jewish support and activism. He serves on the board of directors for Bar-Ilan University, and the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland. From 2004 to 2009, Mr. Weiss was Chairman of the Board for Yeshiva University and currently he serves on their board. He was president of Bet Sefer Mizrachi, and is a National Officer with the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America. He also is on the National Campaign Board for the Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Born in Czechoslovakia and raised in Detroit, Michigan; Mr. Weiss attended Wayne State University and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Liberal Arts from Case Western Reserve University. He is married to Judy Weiss who is a Certified Public Accountant and serves as a board member on numerous business, community and national organizations.

Mr. and Mrs. Weiss have four sons and 13 grandchildren.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Wine Tasting at Wiggins Place with Tony Carlucci


Tony Carlucci instructs the Wiggins Place tenants in the fine art of wine tasting



Fay Kadis (l) and Evelyn Tiktinksy (r) listen intently to Tony while enjoying cheese and wine


Ida Kaufman is enjoying the evening

Marty Golob (l), Jean Sokol (c) and Ida Kaufman (r) offer their opinions on the evening's selections.

Sam Weingard (l) and Sylvia Wiener (r) are wine
connoisseurs and were very impressed

The evening's taste testing selections