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Jack Atkin (left) recieves the Cecil Delworth Foundation’s Living Tribute Award from John Valk, who was vice-
president of the foundation in 1998. |
Jack Atkin, an industry pioneer and volunteer who helped flowers become a mass market product, died on May 19, 2008.
Jack spent most of his life in Leamington, Ont. where he carried on the family business, Atkin’s Flowers (it later became known as Yoder-Atkin and eventually Yoder Canada). He advanced the year-round propagation and sale of chrysanthemum cuttings to North American markets and started the direct sales business at Ontario Flower Growers. Jack was one of the founders of the Cecil Delworth Foundation and the Canadian Ornamental Plant Foundation, a strong supporter of Flowers Canada and The Canadian Horticultural Council and served on the Board of the Royal Winter Fair when they introduced the flower show into the annual program. He has been widely recognized by the floral industry and his been given many awards for his contributions.
“Jack was known as a very progressive man and innovator in the flower business,” says Gary Gander, marketing director of Flowers Canada Ontario, who worked with Jack on several organizations. Gander says Jack pushed the concept of flowers in the grocery chains and was instrumental in making flowers a high volume business. “He saw the opportunity to take flowers from being sold at a corner and make it a product with mass appeal.” Gander says Jack was a “high energy person with great ideas” and a “real, one-of-a-kind” individual.
Bill Schwan, a retired sales manager for Yoder Canada, was actually introduced to the floral industry by Jack and worked with him at Yoder Canada for 35 years. “Jack was a real pioneer in the mass marketing of flowers,” he says. At a time when finding flowers in grocery stores was unheard of, Schwan says Jack was one of the first people in North America to see the possibility and recognize what it could do for flowers. “He’s an individual who had great first foresight…his friendship with people was first class and he was welcome and respected everywhere he went. He will leave a definitely hole in the floral industry,” says Schwan.
The family is in the process of setting up a ‘Jack Atkin Memories’ website and welcome those who knew Jack to e-mail any stories or photos to
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