EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to reflect the accurate name of the junior high during the time Mr. Padnos was a student there.
HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — Family man, industrialist, philanthropist and Holland business leader Seymour Padnos, 99, die at his Holland home on July 9, 2020.
Services and shiva were limited to family.
His obituary included a list of his loves — family, the outdoors, sailing, skiing, and history were a few.
Mr. Padnos would have been 100 on Oct. 17, 2020. He was the firstborn of Louis and Helen Padnos’ children. The elder Padnoses started a dry goods and scrap recycling business in 1905, according to the company’s history, which documents a literal rags-to-riches story.
Seymour Padnos, with his brother, Stuart, succeeded their parents at the business, which is While Louis Padnos started recycling rags, hides, metals, and furs, eventually adding paper recycling, his sons expanded the company, creating international connections; adding auto recycling and a machine shop to keep equipment working; and bringing on four members of the third generation — and a fouth generation.
Mr. Padnos was the company’s CEO and later Chairman for more than 60 years. Among his national board members was one at the Institute of Scrap Iron & Steel.
He pressed for Holland creating a commercial shipping harbor in the 1940s.
U.S. Rep. Fred Upton said Mr. Padnos made not just West Michigan a better place, “but the world as well,” with his commitment to the environment.
“He was geniuine. Very genuine. He was thoughtful, he looked you in the eye … people could trust him,” Upton said. “His word was his bond.”
While Mr. Padnos donated to Upton’s campaigns, “I knew his split his ticket,” said Upton, a Republican, with a laugh, adding that Mr. Padnos cared more about a person’s character than their party affiliation.
Mr. Padnos attended Holland Junior High School (later renamed for former HPS Superintendent E.E. Fell, the building is now Midtown Village), where he was school president. He graduated from Holland High School in 1939 and went on to gain his BA at Hope College in 1943. Seymour volunteered and served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during WWII.
He was a member and past Commodore of both Macatawa Bay Yacht Club and of the Lake Michigan Yachting Association.
Among many honors: a Lifetime Achievement award from the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries and being inducted into two Halls of Fame, for the Lake Michigan Sail Race Federation and the West Michigan Business.
President Gerald R. Ford, a longtime dear friend, presented Mr. Padnos with the Distinguished Eagle Scout award.
As a first-generation American, Mr. Padnos’ experience living through the Great Depression led to his ongoing philanthropy. As early as the 1950s, he and his brother established the Louis and Helen Padnos Foundation to honor their parents by giving back to the community. Together with his wife, he established the Esther and Seymour Padnos Foundation and was an early supporter of local institutions of higher education – leading to their donation to create the Padnos College of Engineering and Computing and the Padnos Hall of Science at Grand Valley University.
He was a founding member of the Windmill Island Historical Society.
According to his obituary, he’s survived by his beloved wife of 72 years, Esther (Roth), and their four children Mitchell (wife Karen), Shelley (wife Carol Sarosik), Bill (life-partner Margy Kaye), Cindy (husband Jim Redmond) and grandson Louis Padnos.
His family suggested memorials in the form of donations to the Temple Emanuel building maintenance fund, the Michigan Maritime Museum or to the charity of one’s choice.
