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28 THE DAVEY BULLETIN | July/August 2021 BILL GINN A LEGACY OF LEADERSHIP MEMORIAL William D. Ginn passed away June 12, 2021, at the age of 97. Ginn was a longtime member of the Davey Tree Board of Directors, serving from 1973 to 2001. An attorney with the legal firm Thompson Hine & Flory of Cleveland, Ginn started serving Davey in the 1950s, first handling legal matters for the Davey family and later helping develop residential properties north of Kent with Martin L. Davey, Jr. Being familiar with both the Davey business and the Davey family, Ginn was brought in to represent the employees during negotiations between the employees and the family during the employee acquisition process in 1978. At the time there was concern that the employees would not have enough capital to purchase the company on their own. Using his legal connections with banks in Cleveland, Ginn arranged for a meeting between Davey managers and a bank in New York City that was willing to help finance a portion of the employee acquisition. Under Ginn's legal advising, company managers presented the family with an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). Ultimately, the Davey family agreed to their proposal, and in March 1979 the sale of the Davey Company to the employees was completed. "Bill was very passionate about the Davey Company and very passionate about employee ownership," said David Adante, retired chief financial officer, executive vice president and secretary. "He was instrumental in the Davey ESOP and became the patron saint of employee ownership. As an outsider working behind the scenes, Bill helped management see what the company could become. He truly believed in what we did as a company and challenged us to do better." Ginn was born in Pennsylvania in 1923. He was an Eagle Scout. In 1940 he received a full scholarship to Bates College, but his education was interrupted by service in the U.S. Army in North Africa and Italy during WWII. During his service, Ginn met Alene, his wife of 58 years, who died in 2003. Ginn earned his law degree in 1950 from Yale Law School, where he served as editor of the Yale Law Journal. Shortly after, Ginn moved to Ohio and joined the then-small firm of Thompson Hine. He represented thousands of clients during his 60-year career in corporate law, including litigating cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Bill Ginn, a longtime member of the Davey board of directors, had also served as personal lawyer to members of the Davey family dating to the 1950s. Ginn is credited with developing the idea of Davey becoming employee-owned. Ginn died in June at the age of 97. During his lifetime he served on more than 100 nonprofit boards and committees. His leadership in civic organizations included conservation-focused groups, such as the Western Reserve Land Conservancy, The Davey Foundation, the Great Lakes Science Center, The Nature Conservancy of Ohio, and the Chagrin River Land Conservancy. "In addition to being long-time counsel to Davey, a champion for employee ownership, and a former director, Bill was a tireless and faithful supporter of the environment," said Karen Wise, vice president, Davey Resource Group (DRG), Environmental Consulting. "His care for the natural resources in Northeast Ohio ran deep and he put his personal money at risk at times to protect it." "It was his love for the environment and stewardship of it that naturally made him a fit to take DRG under his wing," Wise said. "He was on the early and unofficial steering committee for DRG and consequently served as a friend, mentor and networker. He would send me clippings from the paper about some cause he was championing and would 'direct' DRG to get involved and help out. He was a kind and humble man, generous with his time and advice and always interested in knowing me personally as well as professionally. He'll be dearly missed." Among his many achievements were his initiatives with the Geauga Park District to acquire, fund and create The West Woods, now a 902-acre park in Northeast Ohio. The entrance to the park is dedicated as the William Ginn Parkway. In 2003, Ginn was honored by the Ohio Chapter of The Nature Conservancy for his leadership of the Ohio Campaign for Conservation. The five-year campaign raised $25 million in private capital to protect natural ecosystems in Ohio. Ginn's son, William J. Ginn, was elected to the Davey Board of Directors in 2005.

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