ZILDJIAN GOES FROM EXILE TO BUSINESS HALL OF FAME
By Glenna Hanley
Daily Gleaner
icle/829667
Oct 20 2009
Canada
MEDUCTIC – When someone is born into a family that’s been in the same
business for more than 400 years, you would think that would put him
or her on easy street.
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Submitted photoBob Zildjian holds a cymbal made by his company,
SABIAN. Zildjian will be inducted into the Junior Achievement New
Brunswick Business Hall of Fame tonight. Submitted photoBob Zildjian
poses with his wife Willi, centre, and SABIAN vice-president of
marketing Stacey Montgomery-Clark. That wasn’t the case for Bob
Zildjian.
He belongs to the world-renowned Zildjian cymbals family. The Armenian
family immigrated to the United States from Turkey, where they had
been making cymbals for 400 years.
Zildjian grew up in the Boston area and at 14 started his
apprenticeship in cymbal production. In the Armenian tradition, the
oldest son inherits the business. So when Zildjian’s father died in
1977, older brother Armand got the company and tossed his younger
brother out.
"That was all right because I grabbed the AZCO company (later SABIAN)
on the way out the door," said Zildjian.
At the age of 56, he started over with a plant in Meductic.
"It was a small branch, but it had some of the best craftsmen,"
said Zildjian.
He ignored those who said he could never compete with his brother’s
company. He set out to produce the highest-quality cymbals, to market
them to musicians around the world and to become his brother’s worst
nightmare.
Zildjian will be inducted into the Junior Achievement New Brunswick
Business Hall of Fame tonight, along with two other businessmen: Glenn
Cooke, co-founder and CEO of Cooke Aquaculture; and the late Claude F.
Savoie, former president of Acadian Construction and business leader
in the Acadian community.
In the quiet village of Meductic, just south of Woodstock, the SABIAN
plant, by far the largest structure in the village, is also quiet.
It’s a Friday and the production staff is off work.
Zildjian, however, is there and he isn’t quiet.
"We had to cut back here so, to avoid laying off employees, we opted
for a 10-hour, four-day workweek," Zildjian said in his open and
frank manner.
In the spacious and attractive head office, Zildjian is friendly,
chatty and welcoming. With his wife Willi and vice-president of
marketing, Stacey Montgomery-Clark, he talks about the honour
from Junior Achievement, his family history, his love of music and
musicians, and his pride in his cymbals.
At 86, he’s bright and spritely. During the interview he jumps up to
take a phone call. He rushes back to say it was his sales agent in
Shanghai and a customer from the Philippines who wanted to talk to
the man who makes the cymbals.
Not surprisingly Zildjian, who plays several instruments, is well
educated in decades of music and in all genres of music. He stayed
in tune with what was occurring in the music world.
"I got no use for them," Zildjian said of the Beatles, but he credits
the band with boosting company sales.
"When the Beatles and Elvis (Presley) got into this thing, our business
just broke open because everyone wanted to play drums and the garage
bands started."
The company responded to the trend by making a cheaper brand of cymbal
that young musicians could afford.
Zildjian can drop some big names, from Count Basie to Phil Collins,
people he has met. Many professionals are intimately involved in the
making of their instruments and have come to Meductic to work with
SABIAN craftsmen to get the cymbals they want.
Collins is one.
"He wanted a cymbal built specifically to his taste and we called it
the Phil Collins cymbal," said Zildjian.
He turned that into a fundraising venture, with $10 from every cymbal
sold going to fund music lessons for older, college-age musicians
and youngster in financial need.
The company gives to numerous organizations – the NB Youth Symphony,
the Canadian National Youth Symphony, the Greater Boston Youth
Symphony, an international high school marching band, a school
instruments program – and has three of its scholarships for music
study.
Montgomery-Clark said Zildjian nurtures his staff and is a great role
model for youth.
"What Bob does is he continually pushes you; he wants you to take
risks. He doesn’t want you to fear, but to continue to push the
envelope," said Montgomery-Clark.
His entrepreneurial spirit is spread throughout the company, she said.
As the business has grown, Zildjian has had to learn to delegate. His
son Andy is president and mainly runs the business and oversees
130 employees.
"You have to delegate unless you want to stay small," said Zildjian.
A colleague said Zildjian is one of only a handful of business people
who has put a New Brunswick product in the worldwide marketplace.
"This success has nothing to do with government initiatives. It’s
the culmination of years of commitment, effort and deep belief,"
said Stephen Thornton of Woodstock.
Connie Woodside, president and CEO of Junior Achievement New Brunswick,
said business leaders such as the three inductees this year demonstrate
to young people that you can live in New Brunswick and still be
competitive on the world stage.
"It is not only rock ‘n’ roll but every genre of music. It is pretty
amazing that they are crafted and created right here in New Brunswick,"
said Woodside.
Junior Achievement and its partner Revolution Strategy will hold the
gala induction ceremony tonight in Moncton.