BIR World Mirror on Non Ferrous Metals - January/February 2014

A mix of sad and happier news

The last part of December and the first days of January brought news of two of our long-time Non-Ferrous Metals Division board members.

Along with my fellow board members and those with whom he worked for so many years, I was surprised and saddened by the sudden passing of our Past President Larry Sax. I don’t ever recall not knowing Larry from my earliest days in the metals business because you couldn’t help knowing him. He was a leader amongst us -whether it dated back to his days as a Vice-President of NARI, one of the two trade associations that joined to form ISRI, where he served as a founding Vice-President, or his tremendous efforts with the Non-Ferrous Metals Division of our association, serving as President for eight years.

Larry got things done - not in a forceful way, but in a way that made us all feel good about the objectives at hand, always managing to impart a sense of humor into discussions and to call things as he saw them, with little fanfare and in a pragmatic, sensible way. It was Larry who invited me to sit on his board many years ago, and I have always been most grateful for that. And while we’ve not seen him at our board meetings for a few years, his participation and input have been and are a valuable part of how we operate today. Larry was a valued friend, and we shall miss seeing his smile at our meetings.

On a much brighter and happier note, I was extremely pleased to read that Robert Voss, a member of our Non-Ferrous Metals Division board for many years, was on the New Year’s Honours List and receives the coveted title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire. The award was bestowed on Robert “for services to British industry and for voluntary service in the UK”. As a board and as an organization, we take pride in the fact that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II sees in Robert the attributes about which we have known for years!

I wish each of you the very best for 2014 and hope that our businesses thrive.

Robert Stein
Alter Trading (USA)
President of the BIR Non-Ferrous Metals Division
16 January 2014

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