HONORABLE LEADERS GUIDE CHAMBER
By Sarah Bradshaw

Poughkeepsie Journal, NY
Feb 18 2007

It’s hard to think of the Poughkeepsie Area Chamber of Commerce
without thinking about Charles North, but there a few other chamber
leaders that deserve an honorable mention first.

According to chamber research, one of the founding members of the
chamber was a woman.

Grace Kimball, who died at 87 in 1942 at her Poughkeepsie home,
was decades ahead of her time. In 1882 she traveled to Armenia, to
take charge of a girls boarding school, but saw a greater need to
study medicine. In 1888, she returned to the United States to study
medicine at the Women’s Medical College of New York, then returned to
Armenia as a medical missionary. When peace was restored, she worked
at Vassar College as an assistant resident physician, and then set up
her own practice in Poughkeepsie, said Tammy Cilione, communications
director of the chamber. According to a Journal report, she was also
president of the YWCA.

Gaius Bolin joined shortly after Kimball, Cilione said. He was the
first black member of the chamber and the first black attorney in
Poughkeepsie.

According to a Journal report published in 2002, based on letters
>>From Bolin’s daughter, Jane, the first black judge in the United
States, Bolin was born here in 1864 and graduated from Poughkeepsie
High School. He attended Williams College and was the school’s first
black graduate. In 1899, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Bolin
to the Board of Managers of the Pan American Exposition.

The chamber plans to highlight these leaders, as well as others at
upcoming events.

The chamber also honored its president, Charles North, at its
February gala.

Before joining the chamber, North worked as vice president and business
development officer of Norstar Bank and as vice president of public
relations at a radio station. In 1992, he was appointed president of
the chamber. In 1995, North returned to banking as the vice president
of marketing, public relations and business development at Riverside
Bank. However, in 2000, he returned to lead the chamber once again.

North said the chamber will continue to make New York a better place
to do business.

North plans to guide the chamber in these efforts, joking that as long
as his son plans to go to college next year, he’s "mandated to work."

"But I tell you what," he said. "I couldn’t have a better job."

What will become of the greater Poughkeepsie area? According to North,
in 15 years it will be "The center of everything, where it’s all at."

"I used to kid about it. But I believe it," he said.

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress