Marvin A. Pomerantz*

Marvin Pomerantz was the eighth of nine children born into a Polish immigrant family that settled in Iowa in 1912. Eventually, the family moved to Des Moines, where Pomerantz was born in 1930. His father was a peddler who walked from farm to farm selling brooms. As soon as he it was able, his father bought a truck and sold his wares to rural Iowa farm communities, then purchased their scrap iron for a return load on his truck.

The Pomerantz family immigrated to the United States to escape the oppression faced by Jews in Russian-occupied Warsaw. Pomerantz's father made sure his children valued the opportunities available to everyone in their new land and instilled in them a love of freedom and democracy. "My father always told us education was a priceless commodity, something that could never be taken away from you," said Pomerantz. "He told me I would go to college, but at the time I didn't see how that would happen."

The year before Pomerantz was born, his father started a reconditioning bag business. All the children were recruited to help with the fledgling enterprise. Pomerantz was one of the youngest, but he was no exception to the work rule, nor did he want to be. He remembered when he was four and calling on a grocery store with his father to purchase their empty sacks. "I asked the grocer if he had any used sacks to sell," recalled Pomerantz. "Even though my father was a few steps behind me when I asked about the bags, the grocer asked me what I was paying. I told him three cents a bag. He said it was a deal, and we bought the bags. That's my first recollection of a commercial transaction in my career."

When Pomerantz was 10, his mother died from a kidney ailment. Her death was a tremendous loss to the family, but Pomerantz took solace in the love of his father and siblings. He continued to work alongside his brothers and sisters, driving a large truck occasionally at age 11 and then consistently at age 14. Pomerantz said his father was a mentor who taught him about business and life. He said, "My father had only had a junior high education, but he taught me to believe in something and stay with it. He taught me to never compromise my values and to always stand up for my beliefs."

By the time Pomerantz was in high school, education started to take on more importance. He attended the University of Iowa, majoring in commerce. Because he was involved in the family business throughout his college years, he felt a need to complete school as quickly as possible. He attended school during summers and finished in less than four years.

Pomerantz worked hard to expand product lines in the family business, which proved profitable. In 1958, however, his father died, and Pomerantz and his brothers decided to break up the company. In 1961, he took his share and used it to start his own enterprise, Great Plains Bag Corporation, which manufactured multiwall as well as plastic bags. A sister corporation, Mid-America Group, was also founded to develop industrial buildings and office parks. Ten years later, he sold Great Plains to Continental Can Company, Inc., but remained president and general manager until 1976.

When International Harvester was having difficulties in the early 1980s, Pomerantz was hired as a consultant. Months later, he became president of the company's Diversified Group and a year later was promoted to executive vice president. In 1986, Pomerantz formed Gaylord Container Corporation, which is among the country's top 10 containerboard producers. He was Gaylord's chairman and CEO until 2002.

Pomerantz devoted much of his life to improving education in his native Iowa. From 1987 to 1993 and from 1995 to 1996, he was president of the Iowa Board of Regents, and oversaw the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and the University of Northern Iowa. He also served for 21 years as a member of the University of Iowa Foundation Board. In 1997, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad appointed Pomerantz to head Iowa's Commission on Educational Excellence for the 21st Century.

Pomerantz was honored by his Horatio Alger Award and took particular interest in the scholarship program. "One thing I know for sure," he said, "is that no one can succeed without support and assistance from others. That was certainly true for me. There were many people in my life who significantly influenced me and shaped my thinking, my parents, my wife and children, my brothers and sisters, and several teachers and mentors."