In Memoriam – Ira Haber
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” —John Quincy Adams
Almost thirty years ago I was doing marketing for an online start-up when I met one of our customers who liked our marketing and wanted to talk to me about undertaking the marketing for his chain of optical shops. We had a meeting downstairs in the conference room of his in-house lens finishing lab and he proceeded to share his story and his vision for growth in the years ahead. He also shared his particular likes and dislikes, often with a few choice eff words thrown in. I made mention of a particular radio talk show host who I had great success with doing live radio commercials with and was greeted by a huge pushback with more cusswords about the politics of said host and how he would never spend an effing dime to support said talk show host. This was my introduction to Ira Haber of Europtics. We finished our meeting and he said he would let me know his decision over the weekend.
Ira called a few days later as I was running out the door to a sales call. I asked our receptionist to take a message and let him know I would return his call when I returned. What I didn’t know for many years afterward, was that when he called that morning, he wasn’t going to hire me, and instead planned to continue to use another advertising agency, an acquaintance of mine. When I returned to the office that afternoon and called Ira back, he asked me to come back down to his basement office where we made a deal. Between the morning call and the afternoon meeting, he had received an invoice in the mail from the other agency for additional work which set off his legendary temper. It was that supplemental invoice that started what has become an amazing adventure in optical. That journey was started by and encouraged along the way by Ira Haber, the founder of Europtics in Denver.
Ira Haber passed away this week, at age 83. While I am used to writing about my experiences in optical from trade shows to factory tours, I have never written a memorial, but in this case, I feel compelled to share my feelings and my experiences with this industry legend.
As a Denver, Colorado, native, I knew of Europtics. Europtics was and remains a legend in Colorado. Ira Haber was one of the first in the country to bring in independent brands from Europe and around the world to sell alongside well-known brands, back in the 80’s. Europtics was the eyeglass store the rich and powerful of Denver shopped at and a name that to this day means something special in this industry. Europtics is still a name that many brands I speak to around the world want to showcase their products first.
While Ira and his staff earned the respect and patronage of Colorado’s who’s who, he never had those same caviar tastes, I remember him traveling to Vision Expo in New York overnight on a red-eye, because it saved him money on the airfare and a night’s hotel stay. When I first started traveling internationally, he chided me on booking premium economy and why I would waste money not traveling in the cheapest coach seat. Yet, Ira was one of the most generous men I ever had the honor to know.
While traveling to trade shows, we might travel cheaply, but we ate like kings and queens. Ira always loved to entertain over a meal. When a sales rep or manager came to town, Ira would insist on taking him or her and his managers out to dinner. Almost every day, he would invite one or two of his employees out for lunch to get to know them better and share his enthusiasm and knowledge.
While Ira was known for driving 5 miles out of his way to save 2 cents a gallon on gasoline, he donated generously to so many local charities. He not only donated to a wide variety of causes, but when he believed in something, he moved mountains. I remember being in a meeting with him in that messy conference room he used as an office when one of his opticians came downstairs looking for a particular tray of frames. Ira asked the optician how he was as he did to all of his employees. The optician said a customer upstairs had just called him a pejorative term for his sexual preference and Ira immediately stood up and told the optician to tell the customer to get the “F#&k out of the store and never return”. Mind you, this was long before being outwardly gay was anywhere near as accepted in mainstream America as it is today. Ira didn’t care what you were so long as you were a great optician.
Ira considered his employees as family. We were all terrible employees, but if anyone but Ira said one thing negative about any of his people, Ira would give them what for and chase them out of the store. Ira fired us all….some of us multiple times. You knew you finally arrived once you had been fired and rehired. Ira knew every employee’s family and asked about their spouses and children regularly.
Ira was a believer in constant education and formal education. If you had a college degree, that meant something to Ira, no matter what the degree was in. He encouraged all his employees to pursue and continue their education. Ira felt the more people knew, the more they could help themselves and help Europtics. He was constantly bringing in industry professionals to speak to his staff and help them become better opticians. He wanted every one of his staff to be ABO certified, and this is in a state that doesn’t have licensure.
Ira also shared. He would happily share a ride with an employee whose car was in the shop. He would share a hotel room or a meal. He would share a great idea or even just a good one. As I proved myself to him and Europtics, he introduced me to his friends in the optical business. Over time, I was doing marketing for optics practices from coast to coast and even in Canada. Ira was always willing to share and helped me to share.
Ira encouraged me to write about marketing and share my knowledge with the industry and so I did. I got to know some of the legends in optical trade magazines, like James Spina, Marge Axelrod, Cathy Ives, Shirley Platzer-Stocks, Erinn Morgan, Frank Giammanco, and more through Ira. It was through these connections that I eventually ended up purchasing and merging two of the oldest optical; blogs in the US into what you are reading now, The Optical Journal. All along the way, it was Ira Haber who encouraged me and challenged me at the same time.
I owe a lot to Ira Haber. He started me on this optical journey and he was always happy to hear about my optical adventures around the world.
Thank you for all you did and all you were, Ira. You will be missed not only by me, but by the thousands of people you touched with your wit, your humor, your intelligence, your dedication, and your drive for excellence.
Ira is survived by his two daughters, Judy and Beth, who share their father’s drive and devotion to optical excellence.
Original link:https://www.opticaljournal.com/in-memoriam-ira-haber/