Hundred Year Association Board Member Eric Modell was appointed president of jewelry pawnbrokers Modell Financial, the company announced Feb. 10.

Founded in 1893, the company currently has ten locations in New York City.

Current president Gerald Modell will assume the role of chairman.

After working as a management consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Eric Modell joined Modell Financial ten years ago.  He currently serves as a director of the National Pawnbrokers Association. In 2010, he was elected president of the Collateral Loanbrokers Association of New York.

The Marine Society of the City of New York has announced that Captain Richard Phillips, ex-Master of the MAERSK ALABAMA, has accepted membership in the Society.  Captain Phillips will be in attendance at this year’s annual dinner to receive his membership certificate.

A categorical soccer shop in a Better Modell’s store.

The Modell family of Modell’s Sporting Goods has learned one thing is for certain in their 120 year history: always listen to the customers.  This is especially true in tough economics times, when you’re not only battling your competition, but also your customers’ disposal income (or lack of it). Read the rest of this entry »

GETTING TANKED: Andy Rosenwach’s 115-year-old firm builds and installs the water tanks that top NYC buildings. Photo credit: Christian Johnston

When the Smithsonian Institution’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage undertook its New York City Project some years ago, work was a prominent item on the agenda. As part of the mission to document urban culture in the five boroughs, interviewers sought out people engaged in iconic city trades, from lox smoking to graffiti artistry, and asked them about their jobs.

Now that research has yielded a book, Lox, Stocks, and Backstage Broadway: Iconic Trades of New York City by Nancy Groce. With chapters on Broadway’s backstage artisans, Wall Street traders, subway workers and others, the book celebrates those whose jobs “create, maintain and nurture the very heart of Gotham.”

Our longtime member, Rosenwach Tank, was profiled in the book. Read the rest of this entry »

In January of 1889, five innovative women – barred from full participation in the male-dominated National Academy of Design and The Society of American Artists – founded what was then known as the Women’s Art Club.  The National Association of Women Artists celebrated its 120^th anniversary in 2009.  It joined The Hundred Year Association in 2010. Read the rest of this entry »