View Point

There are people who touch our lives and people who touch our souls. In most professional settings, the former is much more common than the latter. But Norm Ehmann, an iconic figure in the pest management industry for more than five decades, proved to be the exception to that rule.

From the beginning of his remarkable career, Norm Ehmann innately understood that if you invest in relationships business will inevitably follow, not in a cynical sort of way but in a very human sort of way. In my periodic interactions with Ehmann at industry trade shows and educational events, I always felt Norm may not have liked every person he met, but he genuinely cared about every person he met. That’s why upon making Norm’s initial acquaintance, he would inevitably ask you for your birth date, wedding anniversary and children’s birthday. Shortly thereafter, like clockwork, you would receive a card in the mail congratulating you on your special day.

Unfortunately, there will be no more birthday cards and annniversary wishes from Norm Ehmann in the days ahead for last month he passed away at the age of 84 (see related story on page 16). As a final tribute to this kind and generous man, I would like to reprint a brief speech I wrote for Norm in conjunction with a dinner held in his honor in 2002 by the Certified Pest Control Operators of Florida. A hope it captures the essence of what made this man so special to so many in the industry:

"My youngest daughter, Hallie, will be celebrating her 14th birthday tomorrow. And when she arrives home from school, stopping by the mailbox on her way up the driveway, amidst the bills and the grocery store fliers will be a hand-addressed envelope, postmarked from California, waiting for her to open on her special day. It’s a ritual that is repeated hundreds of times across the country every year thanks to Norm Ehmann, a man beloved for his innate goodness as embodied in this simple act of kindness to an adolescent girl living 3,000 miles away in Northeast Ohio.

"Yet Norm Ehmann is much more than ‘that nice man from California’ as Hallie so aptly describes him, who helps us celebrate life’s special moments … a birthday, an anniversary, or some other personal milestone. No, Norm Ehmann is that rare individual who has given us a ‘road map’ to how to lead a life of both personal and professional accomplishment without compromising either. For, at 77, that’s exactly what Norm has done, and he’s done it with a personal grace and professional commitment that is unmatched in the pest control industry. What a remarkable feeling it must be – in the winter of one’s life – to look back with pride on:

Successfully raising five children, all accomplished professionals in their own right;

Training more than 400,000 pest management professionals in a career spanning five decades;

Earning a Master’s Degree in Public Health from the University of Michigan;

Helping build Vopak/Van Waters & Rogers/Univar into the largest distributor serving the structural pest control industry;

And perhaps most significant of all, sharing the ups and downs of his remarkable life with an equally remarkable woman, Fay, his wife of 52 years who sadly passed away in 1999, but lives on through the good works of Norm and their children.

They say that life is a gift from God. What you do with that life is your gift to him. If that’s the case, Norm Ehmann has presented God – and everyone who has had the good fortune to know this special man with a most precious gift – the gift of love as expressed in thousands of simple acts of kindness, like writing a birthday card to a 14-year-old girl he has met only once who lives in Cleveland, Ohio, and a child who is very precious to me.

"Thank you for showing us how to lead a life well lived, Norm. We’ll never be able to repay you."

The author is publisher of PCT magazine.

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There are two opportunities for our readers to honor Norm Ehmann’s memory. First, you can contribute to the Pi Chi Omega Scholarship Fund, an organization he loved, or make a donation to the York School Scholarship Fund, Norm’s favorite charity. (York School, 9501 York Road, Monterey, CA 93940; Pi Chi Omega Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 8149, Wilmington, DE 19803.)