del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Google
Facebook
What's this?
Bond, 77, owned the New Kimbell Building, home of the concourse at 85 Main St. with his family for many years before selling it to Scarafoni Associates in 2001. He was known throughout the county for his leadership and civic commitments, including his tireless fundraising for the Northern Berkshire United Way. He was actively campaigning for the non-profit agency up until a few months ago.
Besides owning the Kimbell block on Main St., Bond and his wife, Gabriella Mancini Bond, also owned the Twin Sisters Inn, now Jae's Inn on Curran Highway. The former bed and breakfast had once been his family's home and had once served as a barn housing livery horses for the Kimbell family business. The family home was converted into an inn after he and Robert W. Collins, former president of Coakley, Pierpan, Dolan and Collins developed an 18-acre parcel along the old Mohawk Trail. Both Collins and Bond built homes in the subdivision, which has since become Orchard
Born in North Adams to Frank A. Bond and Margaret Wheeler Bond, Bond was educated at the city's elementary schools and graduated from Deerfield Academy. He earned a bachelor's degree at Cornell University before graduating with a master's in business administration from Harvard Business School in 1962.
"He was a true advocate for North Adams," his daughter, Constance "Connie" Bond said. "He never wanted to live anywhere else."
Bond immediately began volunteering his time and working in the community after graduation.
"He was as involved as his dad," Gabriella Bond said. "His father had started the United Way, back when it was called the War and Community Chest. They were helping World War II families at the time."
During his long and distinguished career, Bond was a member and chairman of the Berkshire County Industrial Development Commi-ssion, president and director of the Northern Berkshire Development Corp., director of the Northern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce, chairman of the board of investment of the North Adams Hoosac Savings Bank, director of the Berkshire Bank and Trust Company and the Conifer group, a director of the Berkshire Gas Co., and trustee of North Adams Regional Hospital. He also founded Downtown Development Inc. and was a founding partner of Kimbell Financial Services, the first financial investment company of its kind in the area.
"It's an end of an era with his passing," Mayor John Barrett III said Thursday. "He was very civic minded, and I have nothing but the highest respect for him. It was Jack Bond who brought about the changes to the downtown -- the period lighting and the sidewalk accents. About 12 years ago, the city needed to hire a consultant, and it was Jack who went out and raised an enormous amount of money for the report (the Hyatt-Palma report) that resulted in those changes. He was always a gentleman, too -- even when he and I weren't on the same page."
He said Bond also gave credibility to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art during its infancy.
"He raised a lot of money in the early years because he understood its importance to the future of North Adams," Barrett said.
"He was a supporter of Mass MoCA from the beginning," his daughter, Constance "Connie" Bond, agreed. "He realized that the city needed to undergo a transformation. When the industry and jobs left this area, he knew that if the city didn't change and refocus, that it wouldn't survive. Very early on, when he was working with Hoosuck Community Resources, he realized that this would be a great artists' town."
While an effort to jump-start the artist's community with the Windsor Mill crafts complex did not succeed during his term with Hoosuck Community Resources, Gabriella Bond said their home was often opened to visiting artists.
"We entertained many artists," she said. "We became very good friends with the Cummings, who eventually located Cummings Studio here."
"Jack was a pillar of the community, and those are hard to come by," John "Jack" Dempsey, former president of Downtown Development, said. "We were close friends. He was involved in so much and did a lot for the community. He tried to keep abreast of everything that was going on and did a good job. I've tried to emulate him myself. He's going to be missed. You can't replace someone like that."
Bond's son, David Bond, said that his father was deeply involved in the community by his 20s. At 26, Bond was named to the board of the Northern Berkshire Development Corp.
"He always used to be the youngest man on the board," Gab-riella Bond remembered. "It got to the point where one day he said to me, 'I used to be the youngest man on the board, now I'm the oldest.'"
"He walked in his father's footsteps," David Bond said. "I know that his involvement locally has afforded me the opportunities to be involved on several boards that others at the age of 33 wouldn't be asked to join."
In 1970, Bond was the second recipient of the Francis H. Hayden Memorial Award.
City Council President Alan L. Marden, friend and Hayden award nominee that same year, remembered Bond as someone who shied away from awards and acknowledgment.
"He received a lot of accolades over the years and he deserved it, but it wasn't the reason he did it," Marden said. "He was a giant -- not in stature but in what he did. He was always involved in economic development, and he provided great leadership."
David Carver, managing partner of Scarafoni Associates, said the business community would miss the longtime developer, bank president and civic leader.
"We had a long business and personal relationship," Carver said. "When I first met Jack, I was a very young and very green businessman, and over the years he imparted to me a great deal of knowledge and wisdom about the real estate business and other subjects. We eventually became business colleagues, then business partners and always good friends. Our family will miss him very much."
Bond also accepted an appointment to the state Board of Education, serving from 1976 until 1987. He later served on the National State Board of Education, and at one point during his service represented the country during a trip to Japan to study its educational system.
"My father always said to be open to opportunity because you never know when it's going to show up and that you'd meet some amazing people," Connie Bond said. "It's no secret that one of the things my father did well was raise money. He was chairman of several building fund campaigns for the Northern Berkshire YMCA and raised money to build the current hospital. But the United Way was his biggest passion."
Robert Barton, former executive director of the Northern Berkshire United Way, said his recent resignation from the non-profit was partially due to the fact that Bond had to pull back from his involvement about a year ago.
"It was about a year ago that Jack told me he was going to unwind from his volunteer work, that he wasn't physically able to keep up with it," Barton said. "He was one of my good friends and probably one of my best United Way pals. The thing I think of most frequently is Jack and me either making a date for coffee or lunch, or just him dropping by the office. It was never more than two weeks between his visits or calls in the last nine years. He always had to know how things were going."
He continued, "Even though he was only in the office a few hours at a time, he would retain everything I had told him during a previous visit and ask very detailed questions. He had a wonderful way of always nudging my sights higher. He had a way of simultaneously patting you on the back and nudging you on."
David Bond said that his father was also very involved with the First Congregational Church, where he served on many boards and was a member of the choir.
"He was a member of the choir for many years," he said. "He might not have had the best voice, but he was devoted."
Despite all of his community and civic responsibilities, he always found time for his family, Gabriella Bond said.
"He loved his family and he loved the outdoors," she said. The couple
has four adult children - Connie, Frank, David and Oli -- along with three grandchildren.
"I think everyone would say that if you needed advice, go see Jack," Connie Bond said. "That's going to be the thing I think I'm going to miss the most about my dad -- that I won't be able to call him up and get advice from him anymore."
