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A fork in the road
Economic factors catalyst for second careers
By David Toth
for Fairfield Business Journal

M

ickey Ross spent 25 years in the tex­tile industry, the last 20 running his own business designing, producing and selling textile to garment manufacturers.
      With the advent of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994, the market was becoming more import-driven and as a supplier to domestic manufacturers, the opportunities for growth were diminished.
      Ross was in his early 40s at the time and he decided to "do something different and fresh and to revitalize." He sold his business and con­sidered his options. Although he did not have a specific direction in mind, he said he was very excited about the opportunity to start anew. "I needed to separate myself from my career and I felt confident that I would be able to take some time, recharge the batteries, refresh and figure out what to do with the rest of my life."      Working for someone else, or investing in other businesses did not seem attractive and it wasn't until his wife suggested he sell vintage posters that something clicked. Collecting Vintage Posters had been hobby and now he saw the opportunity to turn that into a viable business.
      Initially, the Ross Group Inc. had no storefront and the business was primarily promoted through trade shows. Eight years ago, the Ross Group opened up a shop in Westport to "have a face to our business" and since then it expanded the retail store to include custom framing.
     
      For the past 11 years, Deanne Knight worked for a company specializing in mergers and acquisitions in Westport. When the president of the company decided to change the company's focus, Knight decided it was time to get out. She was 60 years old, but rather than quit working altogether, she decided to reinvent herself. Her financial planner encouraged her to take some time off, but she decided to immediately pursue a long-dormant interest in real estate.
      Her primary goals in a new career were more flexibility in her life, less hours and more intellectual challenge. She is now with Van Slyck Associates, a real estate firm focusing on the Rowayton area. Her job utilizes her interpersonal skills and her visual sense in a way that makes for a more challenging work environment. She said she enjoyed the process of "learning something new" and taking her life in a different direction.
      Jere Rowland was planning to retire as national vice president of marketing and sales for a leading provider of supplemental staffing for the health-care industry when a change in top-level management left him without a job. He dropped his sailboat's anchor off of Sheffield Island and considered his next move.
      That self-reflection process led him to start the Homecare Remodeling Co. in Rowayton, a firm, which over the next 15 years would design and perform major makeovers for more than 200 homes in the county.
      He said going from working for a large company to owning his business meant a transition to more control over his life, coupled with total responsibility 24 hours a day. He recently sold the company to his lead carpenter. Now in his 70s, he embraced retirement in the more classic sense that includes fishing, painting and photography.

 

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WTC TRAGEDY CAUSES INTEREST IN PATRIOTIC POSTERS
By Asante Green, Staff Writer
January 12, 2002

WESTPORT - Old posters once seen on the sides of buildings now rest in gilded frames in high-priced art galleries. Since World War I, posters have been used to advertise, spread ideas, sway public opinion or promote causes, said Mickey Ross, president of Vintage Posters in Westport. Since the terrorist attacks Sept. 11, there has been a resurgence of people seeking patriotic images, he said.

"Posters reflected the evolution of events," Ross said. "As it pertains to patriotism, they depicted the spirit of America and served to rally the nation to support the war efforts."

Ross' gallery features several patriotic images, including James Montgomery Flagg's famous "I Want You for the U.S. Army" image of Uncle Sam, which urged men to enlist, and Norman Rockwell's "Four Freedoms," which expressed citizens' right to freedom of speech and worship.

"Posters have always been well-regarded and collected. . . . As it relates specifically with patriotic themes, they have always been popular," Ross said. "We are a nation of proud people, but there has been a particular emphasis in the last few months. People are refocusing their energy and looking at patriotic posters more favorably than normal."

American flags and Old Glory pins were well-received after Sept. 11. Maria Dering, spokeswoman for the International Vintage Poster Dealers Association, said interest in patriotic posters - though not sales - has been overwhelming.

"For a long time, patriotism was not popular. After Sept. 11, there was a huge interest in patriotic themes. The greatest interest in posters done during World War II were of Uncle Sam and Norman Rockwell's (work)," Dering said. "To me, personally, seeing those old images tapped into something very deep."

Other images depict the industrial and artistic history of America, said Gail Chisholm, owner of The Chisholm Gallery in New York City. Chisholm has more than 3,000 turn-of-the-century vintage American publishing posters and war posters. She said she began collecting American publishing posters, because they are "very sophisticated graphically."

"It's a 7-second medium: You see it, you understand it and you remember it," Chisholm said. "Publishers of that era hired the best graphic designers and illustrators of the day to do them. Half of my collection was done by a well-known artist, Edward Penfield, who was the art director for Harper's magazine through most of the 1890s."

Copyright (c) 2002, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.
This article originally appeared at: http://www.norwalkadvocate.com/news/local/scn-vintage.story
Visit the Advocate online at http://www.stamfordadvocate.com

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