At the IES Street and Area Lighting Conference, Zach Gibler was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award. It was received by his wife Mary. Below is the transcript:
John Bono: It is a personal honor for me to present the next Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously to Zach Gibler.
I had the pleasure of working directly for and with Zach Gibler. On January 3rd of this year, one of the brightest stars of the Lighting Industry was suddenly taken away from us.
Zach was a unique individual that was at ease talking with our factory employees as he was with heads of state and captains of industry. A true visionary, Zach had significant impact wherever he went including Holophane, Acuity Brands and Lighting Science. Zach was the Chairman of the Street and Area Lighting Committee in 2004. He was also a champion of our group and understood the important niche that SALC provided to the industry and was a great ambassador of the SALC. I am sure there are a number of people in this hall today that are employed all over the industry that either were introduced to SALC by Zach or were brought to SALC under Zach’s mentorship.
I originally met Zach years ago in a committee meeting and soon after he visited me with his partner in crime, Charles Darnell in Philadelphia and talked me into joining his quest. He had that effect on people… life changing. I have a million funny stories of our lives together on the road but what touched me the most was his charisma.
Charisma is defined as a compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others. He just had a knack of building bridges and relationships with his special spark that touched every one he met.
Zach was not cheated, he lived every day to the fullest. Maya Angelou has a quote that “life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away”.
Zach took my breath away.
His vision and his infectious charisma will be sorely missed.
It is with great pride that I ask his lovely wife Mary to come to the podium to accept the Street and Area Committee’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Zach Gibler.
———————————————————————————————————————
Read the EdisonReport article celebrating Zach’s life.