RETAILOBSERVER.COM MAY 2020
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I N M E M O R I U M
K
evin was born in Illinois, but his family quickly re-settled in Los Angeles,
the city he loved, where he remained throughout most of his life.
Kevin spent his school years in Winnetka, California, graduating from
Canoga High School in 1971, and began studying Graphic Arts at Pierce
College while working as a logo and brand designer for a large advertising
firm. He was a natural artist, designing and hand-drawing original corporate
logos and signets to perfection in the days before Photoshop and templates.
Kevin had a keen understanding of what the individual logo was meant to
communicate on behalf of the brand, and how the message would be
perceived by its intended clientele.
Before long, however, Kevin was compelled to enlist in the U.S. Navy during
the Vietnam War. While serving for six years he married his first wife, Nancy,
and had two children.
After leaving the service in 1977, Kevin began his career in residential
design, working as a residential designer while continuing to study Graphic
Arts at CSUN. Even as he was recognized as a talented artist and designer
with unfailing aesthetic taste, Kevin was frequently drawn into the "bigger
picture" of international marketing by industry associates who sought his
clarity on all things branding.
Kevin was uniquely able to bring together key players across the globe and
inspire them to buy-in on a common goal. He loved nothing more than being
at the center of an exciting start-up, where the potential for a beautiful product
could only be realized by honing its corporate brand, identity, and culture, and
presenting it to exactly the right market niche in just the right way. He thought
of himself, as he liked to say, as a "rainmaker."
Kevin created some of his best work in opening the U.S. market to European
product lines such as Rational and SieMatic in the 1980s, Snaidero and
Poliform in the 1990s, and most recently, Noblessa. It was at SieMatic that
Kevin met his second wife, Geri, with whom he shared 30 years of marriage
and two children. His family remain proud of his many accomplishments and
the passion and ethic with which he approached his life's work. He is greatly
missed by all.
KEVIN M. HENRY
August 20, 1952 – March 27, 2020
RO
