Thomas Powell remains calm as he carriesone of hundreds of designs for George W.Bush's inauguration, one of severalpresidential inaugurations he coordinated forSAF.

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You are here: Home Top News Top News Thomas Powell, AAF, AIFD: 1933 to 2010 December 22, 2010

Thomas Powell, AAF, AIFD: 1933 to 2010 ( Public )

Any attempt to sum up the accomplishments of Thomas Powell, AAF, AIFD, with a list of impressive titles held, awards won,presidential inaugurations coordinated, high-powered customers wowed, students taught, money raised and designers leftslack-jawed by his work would still be missing what many argue was the true magic of working with him: his grace,kindness and sense of humor. For as many big-deal, big-picture efforts he spearheaded at the American Institute of FloralDesigners and SAF, Powell was just as powerful on the personal level: making others feel like part of that big picture.

Powell died June 21 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s. His death at age 77 leaves the industry without one of its finestdesigners, event leaders and champions of education, and Washington, D.C., without a successful business owner who

worked alongside his partner, David Hope, AAF, AIFD, for four decades (and more recently alongside their dogs, Tulip and Jonquil) at TheFlower Gallery.

“Once you met him, you just gravitated toward him,” said Laurie Lemek, AIFD, PFCI, of Delaware Valley Wholesale Florist. Lemek met Powellat an SAF convention 30 years ago and immediately saw the makings of a perfect mentor. They became colleagues when Lemek joinedAIFD, and the friendship deepened. “He was as an amazing designer, an amazing dancer and just an incredibly sweet man who believed inpaying it forward through education and friendship to young designers.”

Rich Salvaggio, AAF, AIFD, PFCI, was one such young designer “decades ago,” he said, when Powell asked him to help with some sympathydesigns at an AIFD event. “I said to him in astonishment, ‘You want me to help you?’ And he said, in just the warmest way, ‘C’mere kid, I’veseen the work you do and I like it.’”

Now the vice president of industry relations and floral publications for Teleflora, Salvaggio considers that moment his true welcome to theindustry. “I don’t think I’d be where I am today without having him as a mentor. He worked tirelessly to promote education and I think ofhis goals when I set my own.”

Hope knows all about that magnetic pull Powell had, having watched him inspire andinstruct hundreds of students and designers all over the world— and having felt it himselfwhen he first walked through the doors of The Flower Gallery in 1969 with his roommate atAmerican University. The roommate asked Powell if he was hiring, and soon both collegestudents were working there. A few months later, Hope said Powell and he and Powell "fellin love over Mother’s Day”— a true testament to their chemistry, given the less-than-romantic, tense mood in most shops around the busy holiday.

Their relationship was put on hold, when Hope took off for a planned, extendedbackpacking trip around Europe with his roommate. The trip was meandering and Hopestayed in Zurich longer than planned. Sitting in a youth hostel there, he recalled, he heardhis named called over the intercom for a phone call. He was certain the authorities hadtracked him down to deliver bad news, since “no one, not even I, expected me to still be inZurich that day.” It was Powell.

“Tom never let me forget that my first words ‘Oh, it’s you.’” The two talked for a fewminutes, as Hope grew increasingly curious about Powell’s international-tracking skills.Then Powell asked, “ Can you meet me downtown for a drink?” Powell had come to Zurich— and Hope would never leave The Flower Gallery again.

“Working alongside him was like working with your best friend who trusted you to do yourbest work, without ever hovering,” Hope said. Of course, Powell was often on the road. Hecreated the FTD exhibit at the 1984 Interfloral World Congress in Hamburg, Germany. In1989, he became the first designer for the U.S. to compete behind the Iron Curtain at aninternational flower competition in Estonia. And while he delivered flowers to Kennedyswhile they were in the White House and taught classes from Indonesia to Brazil toAustralia, Powell was always proud of his "Lickskillet 3 Miles” road sign that he kepthanging in the kitchen to remind him of his hometown in North Carolina. That small-townfriendliness stayed with Powell and seemed to help him seek out those who felt lost in the“big city” of official floral events.

Lynn Lary McLean, AIFD, PFCI, remembers feeling like the “the new kid on the block,”somewhat intimidated by the seasoned designers surrounding her on a panel at a designevent in Texas. “Tom met me each and every morning with kind words and his gentlesmile,” she said. Soon after that meeting, Powell invited her to be on the design team forRonald Reagan's inauguration, for which he was the chairman.

“A young designer never forgets a moment like that or the person who extended an invitation and opened a door,” she said. “Tom Powellopened those doors for so many like me … and always with a joyous heart, a creative spirit, and a smile that brightened your day. He willbe missed.”

That sentiment is echoed by Tina Stoecker, AIFD, PFCI.

Stoecker, now president of AIFD, remembers feeling a “bit out of place at her first symposium, until she met Powell and Hope.“It is amazingpeople like Tom and David who encourage designers to reach for their personal goals,” she said. “Tom leaves a legacy of floral artistry,kindness and a life well lived.”

Powell’s reaching out to pull others into the profession was a defining trait, and one key to his involvement in helping co-found the AIFDFoundation in 1985, the year after he’d served as AIFD president. It also made him an effective and calm design chair at two SAFconventions and SAF’s coordinator of floral decorations at four presidential inaugurations in the 80s and 90s. Salvaggio recalls his ability atthe Clinton inauguration to get “a bunch of people who don’t like being told what to do” to create massive amounts of streamlined designswithout turning the process into an assembly line. “He just had this magical way of painting a picture, without dictating every step, and thenwalking away and leaving it in our hands to do it right,” Salvaggio said.

“Tom’s sense of humor prevailed during the inaugurations,” said SAF’s chief operating officer Drew Gruenburg. “The hours were long andthe pace was pretty intense, but Tom was always ready with a laugh and a smile to diffuse the tension.”

For those efforts and more, Powell was the recipient of many industry awards.

In 1993, AIFD presented him with its Distinguished Award for Service. He was honored with SAF’s Paul Ecke, Jr. Award in 2003. He servedon the board of the American Horticultural Society, coordinated a gala there and received the group’s Frances Jones Poetker Award in 1999.

Those awards, among others, capture the official contributions of Powell, but many don’t have to look to plaques and certifications to knowhow the florist and friend changed their lives.

Dwight Larimer, AAF, sees evidence of Powell’s wisdom daily, but not just in his work at Design Master color tool. Back when he and his wife, Dawn, were dating and going through a rough patch, Powell asked him about his girlfriend. During a conversation that last until 2a.m., Powell “coached and encouraged me to take a deep breath and let my heart prevail and blow past the little stuff that had wrecked ourdating relationship,” Larimer said about the man who would do his wedding flowers just a year later.

“I am not afraid to share that story,” Larimer said, “because that was the man and person that Tom Powell was, deep, caring, understandingand loving.”

His memorial service will be at 2 p.m., Tuesday, June 29, at the Chapel of the Presidents at the National Presbyterian Church, 4101Nebraska Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. 20016. Contributions may be made to the AIFD Foundation, c/o Lona Christoffers, 7960 E. KiowaCircle, Mesa, AZ 85209.

Amanda Longalong@safnow.org

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