Family Tradition “Rings” Deep: 2018 Distinguished Alumni Jame R. Verdin
![James R. Verdin, President and CEO of the Verdin Company, watches as the World Peace Bell is installed in Newport. [PHOTO BY THE VERDIN COMPANY]](https://mhsblueprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/80a2a3dd-8a2b-45ea-94d9-0f08ae397563-verdin_at_peace_bell.jpg)
James R. Verdin, President and CEO of the Verdin Company, watches as the World Peace Bell is installed in Newport. [PHOTO BY THE VERDIN COMPANY]
November 14, 2018
BY ASHLEY GRIMMER
The need to tell time has been a necessity since the dawn of civilization, and for the past 175 years, The Verdin Company has been at the forefront of this market. Producing bells, clocks, carillons, organs, and towers, The Verdin Company history spans the roots of six generations.
James R. Verdin, the former President and CEO of The Verdin Company, was honored as a 2018 Mariemont Distinguished Alumni following his death at 82. Mr. Verdin graduated from Mariemont in 1955 and has been working for The Verdin Company ever since.
In an interview after the Distinguished Alumni luncheon with Suzanne Sizer, marketing manager of The Verdin Company, she touched on the importance of the company being a family business.
“I think it was about family,” said Sizer when asked about what the company meant to Mr. Verdin. “It was about family and it was about keeping the company alive. They relied on one another.”
The Verdin family immigrated to the United States from France in 1835, bringing along their iron-forging and clock making skills. By 1842 The Verdin Company was founded and has been producing bells, clocks and so much more for the past 176 years.
In this time, The Verdin Company has expanded to reach more markets including bell and clock repair, towers, and even golf course clocks. Guided by Verdin’s innovative leadership, according to Sizer, the company has continued to prosper.
“People loved him,” said Sizer. “He was interested in all aspects of the business. He would visit the factory, he would find out what people were doing, how they were doing it, he was always involved in the business.”
Despite Verdin’s recent passing in August, Sizer firmly believes that the company will continue to thrive in the future and that there are many more markets to tap into.
“I think there is lots to do at The Verdin Company,” said Sizer. “He left large shoes to fill but I do think that everyone there, the sixth generation, is well trained to do what is to come in the future.”
