Minding Your Business; 335; Honoree Show

You Minding your business is provided by support from Seal Levitino of Emeric Realtors, proud to be associated with the quality programs and community service projects of PBS and K-R-WG-TV.

By Camino Real Builders, a committed partner with K-R-WG Broadcasting, providing educational, informative and entertaining programs to our region, and by the New Mexico Humanities Council, working with local groups to bring programs about culture and the human experience to all communities in New Mexico. K-R-WG-TV presents Minding Your Business A look at the people, places, events, and issues that impact the business and economy of Southwest New Mexico, with your host, Charles Comer. Hello and welcome to Minding Your Business, a show where we explore business, politics and issues that impact our region. This week on Minding Your Business, we're going to break from the normal interview format

of the show to spotlight two people who are very special to New Mexico State University. Paulina Solopak and the late Mike J. Maloof. Both just received honorary doctorates at last week's NMSU commencement ceremonies, and it's a privilege to bring to you their stories today on the show. We'll start the show with Paulina Solopak. There's no doubt her name is synonymous with business and agriculture here in Southern New Mexico, but the Solopak family has also created an educational legacy at NMSU. And the Solopak has created two endowments, one to support scholarships for agricultural economics and the other to fund professional faculty development for the College of Business at NMSU. As you'll find from her profile, the list of her accomplishments goes on and on. New Mexico State University awards honorary degrees to individuals who turn the challenges that life gives them into opportunities to achieve higher goals. Paulina Yut Solopak is such a person.

I've never been a believer that work that work will kill you. I don't believe that. I think it keeps your mind active, your body active, so I don't have a problem with work. Paulina's grandfather came to the United States from Germany. He met and married her grandmother in Iowa. And from there, they homesteaded in North Dakota. He was a great trader and he would have property and then he'd trade for other property. And how my dad ended up in West Virginia is, my grandfather had traded something for this store building in West Virginia. So my dad went there to take care of the store and they set up a grocery store and that's where he met my mother. Like many children of her era, Paulina grew up working in the family's grocery store. Oh yes, from the time I was able to suck potatoes, we used to get potatoes in a hundred pound

bag. And so then we'd put them in other paper sacks that were approximately five to ten pounds. So I got to do that job. I learned to work with cash register, I learned to stock shelves, I used to deliver groceries. Following a series of family changes, Paulina followed her siblings to New Mexico in the early 1950s. My brother went to school at Highlands. He was living in Louisville, Kentucky and going to the University of Louisville and his son had so many bronchial problems that the doctor told him said, if you don't get him to a drier climate, you're going to lose him. So they ended up at Highlands, which much drier climate. And then my sister came out here to help them out with their children and ended up meeting the man that she married. And then he was going to school at New Mexico State, which was New Mexico A&M.

And so my mother was afraid that she would get very home sick, so she sent me with her. And I never left. I had only been back to West Virginia twice since then. Paulina entered New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts as a sophomore in the College of Business. Like many other Aggie students, she combined her studies with a job at PSL to pay her college expenses. She also joined Kyle Megas' sorority. I had taken some accounting classes or bookkeeping classes we call them then in high school. And I ended up being pretty good at it. In fact, they used to have tests in Ohio. And I think I was 7th or 8th in the state of Ohio. So when I came here, I did take some accounting classes, but I didn't know if I was going to go much beyond the first year because Mr. Hate was pretty tough to deal with. And I'm sure everyone's heard about that, but you know what?

I still know accounting. I still do the books. Like as I said, all the books up here for the farm. In the fall of her senior year, she met David Salopec, the man who would become her husband. We had two classes together the first semester. And he never asked me out. He used to give me a ride to the Kyle Megas, but he never asked me out. And then the second semester he asked me for a date, and our first date was January of the 15th, 1955, and we were married in October of the 15th, 1955. David went to work with his father and the family farming operations. They were beginning to transition from growing cotton and other produce to planting pecan trees, hoping to find a crop that would have less market volatility. These planted pecans in 1956, and we had all of our land over next to Highway 28, planted, and then the drought was just awful, and the availability of water just wasn't there.

And we didn't have all the wells that we have at this time. So the following year, they pulled them out and left five acres in. And then went into a lot of produce and all that. And then in 1962, I believe it was, he and my brother-in-law John planted the orchard in Burino. They did that over a three-year period. And then we started planting trees on this farm in 1970. But I'll tell you, when you plant pecan trees, it's really tough, too, because there isn't any income for quite a few years. Except for reconciling the monthly bank statements, Paulina had left the details about the farming business for David to handle. She focused her attention on caring for the family, which soon included three children. That changed dramatically when David died in December of 1979.

I didn't know much about the farm. I knew our quits ground was ours. I didn't know how to order irrigation water, didn't know about fertilizer, didn't know any of that. Paulina and David had always talked about passing the farm onto their son, David. Paulina knew that somehow she had to keep things together. She wasn't afraid to learn new things. She immersed herself in pecan publications and sought help from others in the industry, the extension service, and New Mexico State University. Her neighboring pecan grower, Bill Stamen, proved to be a very helpful mentor, sending his foreman to work with her son, as he assumed more responsibility for the operations. And I never read a novel. I don't think for five years, because I was reading every piece of every farm magazine that came. I was really trying to gain knowledge.

We went to a pecan short course at Texas A&M, and it was informative, but I didn't know enough if I asked any questions. As she became more comfortable in her role of manager of the pecan farm, Paulina began to take a more active role in other organizations and boards as well. From Farm Bureau to Rotary and several pecan growers associations, she has either been treasurer or president, as others recognized her leadership skills. She was the first woman to head both the Western pecan growers and the federated pecan growers of the United States, and received a presidential appointment to serve as chair of the National Pecan Marketing Board. My daughter Vivian was in Rotary, and I thought, well, it's a good opportunity for me to get to have lunch with her at least once a week that I could see her. And I think I'm pretty good with books, that's a reason I end up being treasurer. Paulina is a great believer in the value of education.

All three children are college graduates, and her grandchildren are learning that education will open doors for them down the road. I just think you need to know what's going on. I mean, I can't believe just shutting your mind off or setting and letting the television tell you everything is happening in the world. I like to know what's going on, so maybe I'm just noticing. I call it curious, but whichever it is, I was invited to be on the advisory board. I think it's what they called it, and so I did, and hopefully I gave some input, positive input, but I think it's wonderful that the students are having the opportunity to meet with other business people. And I've always, when they have their annual hall of fame bank, but I always like to make sure there's room for more students, so I always make that contribution to do that because

I think it's important for the students to be there to see what is possible. Paulina's leadership was recognized by the NMSU College of Business in 1999 when they inducted her into the college hall of fame. In 2002, she received the Philip J. Lyon Decker Agriculturalist of Distinction Award from the College of Agriculture and Home Economics. I'm a firm believer that family comes first, and then everything else is second. I would not have made it through the early 80s without the tremendous support of my daughter. They were very, very supportive of me. Although not a New Mexico native, Paulina, Lycurpicontries, has roots that go deep into the soil of the Messia Valley. Through scholarship endowments in the colleges of Agriculture and Business and support for other programs, she is sharing the bounty of the harvest with current and future students

at New Mexico State University. I believe in education. I am thrilled, thrilled when I hear ones that are going on to college. Because this is the land of opportunity. I think you have to go where the opportunities are. Don't be afraid of work, it really is healthy, it's not unhealthy. Do things with enthusiasm, with enthusiasm, put some passion into it. Have strong family ties, have strong family ties because that's your support system. If you don't have that support system, it's really, really tough. I feel very fortunate. You know, I have all my children here, all my grandchildren are here, and I feel fortunate. And he said, you're blessed, and I said, I like that, I'll take it. I don't think it is.

If you're just tuning in, we're in the middle of a very special mining your business, where we're spotlighting recent recipients of honorary doctorates at New Mexico State University. Our next honoree is the late Mike J. Maloof, a name almost everyone in the food and beverage industry in southern New Mexico has heard. Maloof made his name running a distribution company for beer, wine, and spirits, but as you'll find out from his profile, he was involved in a lot more than that. Mike Maloof began his business education at a very young age.

Coming up in Las Vegas, New Mexico, the family's general store was his second home. His father, Joseph, had only a third grade education, but his work ethic and integrity contributed to his ability to build solid relationships with his customers. Mike watched and learned from his dad. He had a lot of integrity people trusted him, they loved him, customers from the country, you know, would come in, and they'd come in their horse and buggy. And then my dad figured, well, maybe I better put up a, that was our first venture into the motel business. They would buy their provisions per month, you know. And then the night before they'd give my dad all their money and they'd say, here, we're going to go out on the town tonight, so just let me have a few bucks and I'll see you in the morning. So they'd go out on the town and the next morning they'd come in and buy all their groceries. The Maloof family had emigrated from Lebanon and made their way from Ellis Island to Wagon

Mound and on to Las Vegas. Like his older brothers, Mike attended the New Mexico Military Institute. But when his father became ill, he returned to Las Vegas and finished his high school education there. I went to university in New Mexico and, you know, all my life I'd been so involved in in the business and so interested in the business and I couldn't concentrate on my work, you know, my college work. So I figured, maybe I better get out of town and try that. So I did. I moved to Las Cruces and went to New Mexico state and that was the best thing I could have done. In addition to his studies in the College of Business, Mike was a member of the SAE fraternity and the university tenacity. In his junior year, he decided to run for student body president. Barrowing a successful campaign slogan of the 1950s, Maloof's I Like Mike theme, along with his usual hard work, resulted in his upset win.

I learned a lot in the business college. I've had some great leadership there. Dean Guthrie was a sponsor of ours as a member of the SAE fraternity and he was a sponsor and so I got to know him pretty well and he was a class act. I think it's a great institution, it's some great programs, great teachers and you can build a good foundation on what you learn in New Mexico state. With a college degree in hand, Mike returned to Albuquerque to make his mark in the family's beer distribution business. Mike's sister and I were our best friends and from the moment we met each other, I didn't want to date anybody else, I guess he didn't either so it was just, I don't love it first side or just what it was that we just hadn't meant to be together and we were married on Easter Sunday which was very special April of 56. We were married 50 years and raised five beautiful children and we had good times together.

Mike had two priorities in his life, his family and the business. His family remembers that he successfully combined the two in many ways. My dad taught us, through example, lots of values that I think I've incorporated in my own life. I have lots of very happy memories from my childhood with my dad, probably what sticks out most in my mind is the summer that we would spend in Sapio, New Mexico. He would go and work for two weeks in Vegas at the warehouse when the manager would go on vacation and take us up to the mountains and we always rent a cabin every year from Tito Martina who was from Sapio and we have a lot of wonderful memories there having picnics in the meadow.

He was a great dynamic salesman, he loved to sell and it made him so happy when he could take a young man starting out as a truck driver, then becoming a salesman and then becoming a supervisor to him that was the best thing ever because he would nurture these men into improving themselves and improving their families. He was family to him, he had a wonderful way of making a relationship with his employees, they were family, his customer was family, his supplier was family, definitely his philosophy was the customer was the king and that was one of his roads to success. Mike's business success grew out of lessons learned from his family and MSU. The Dale Carnegie program and his inherent sense of how to treat people. During his long career he received many awards from the suppliers he represented.

New Mexico State named him a distinguished alumnus in 1975 and inducted him into the college's Hall of Fame in 1999. How important it was to my dad that he had a good relationship with employees, customers, suppliers, all of his business associates. This was always a very big part of our family and it really was who my dad was. He had a warmth and a way about him that really was inviting and just comforting. I started in 1981 and I've been with the business 24 years and my dad was my teacher and he pretty much gave me all my titles and all my job descriptions and actually he's the only person I've ever worked for. I love working for my dad. He was just so positive and so enthusiastic. Mike believed it was important to serve the community in which the business was located.

His civic leadership included being a member of Kwanis for more than 25 years, working with them at the Avacurky Balloon Fiesta and other events each year. He served proudly as the president of the Great Southwest Council of the Boy Scouts. He was never a boy scout but he lived the principles of scouting. He was given a silver beaver which is a very high award in the order of the arrow and he was president of Keapno, Mexico beautiful. Mike and I started the State's birthday party and every year at the Capitol and we're still doing that. My father was in New Mexico and through and through and Chile was the staple of his diet for breakfast, lunch and dinner and he loved both red and green. My father always believed in being a good example. So he really lived his life by his words, work hard, be honest, have a positive attitude,

be persistent, never quit on anything ever. He was a great person when he got ill, he remained very kind and he was never bitter. The nurses and doctors loved him, he'd make everybody laugh, he was a very just a wonderful human being. His family, friends and business associates mourned Mike's passing in March 2006. The love and lessons he shared with the people who knew him now inspired them to work to preserve Mike's legacy. Mike was so special because he always made time for those who needed him, whether it was family, friends, customers or organizations like the Boy Scouts. We were friends since the 50s, we were both in school there in the early 50s so we knew

each other and kept up with each other since then and Mike was really my very best friend. I think he would tell them, number one, be honest and to of course be loyal and positive and everything you do, work hard doesn't come easy, work hard and strive to be the best person you could be with your background of New Mexico State and you'll be successful. It's time again for our weekly

piece here on Mining Your Business that showcases some of the hardworking entrepreneurs and business people in our area. We call it the Greater Los Cruces Chamber of Commerce, Local Business Feature. I came to Los Cruces via the United States Army, I was stationed at White Sands Missile Range from 1982 to 1984 and met several of the dentists here in Los Cruces and decided

there was a place for me to settle. February 1985, I count as my official start date. The building itself has a Frank Lloyd Wright influence. One of the things that I've always taken pride in is that we've also collected a lot of art from New Mexican artists and we keep them represented on our walls. Dave Sudamack is the other dentists that's represented in our office. We offer a full range of dental procedures from your basics, of extractions and routine fillings. We do crowns, bridges, parcels, dentures. We do implants. We're actually venturing into some of the sleep apnea devices. You know, you can't beat the weather, you can't beat the people, you can't beat the food and it's been a very fortunately, it's been a good place to do business. Well that just about does it for this week. If you have a question or comment about the show, you can call the mind in your business hotline at 646-730 or email me at Charles Comer at Yahoo.com.

I'd like to thank Tom Lee Turner and everyone who helped her at NMSU's University Communications and Marketing Department for producing the video profiles of Paulina Salopeck and Mike Maloof. I'd also like to congratulate Mrs. Salopeck and the family of Mr. Maloof. And as always, thank you so much for watching, I'm Charles Comer, here's hoping you have a great one. Minding your business is provided by support from Seal Levitino of Emerick Realtors, proud to be associated with the quality programs and community service projects of PBS and

KRWG TV. By Camino Real Builders, a committed partner with KRWG Broadcasting, providing educational, informative and entertaining programs to our region. And by the New Mexico Humanities Council, working with local groups to bring programs about culture and the human experience to all communities in New Mexico.