Paul W. 'Skip' Ungrodt Jr. 1930–2003

Paul W. "Skip" Ungrodt Jr., chairman and president of Ideation Inc., Ann Arbor, MI, died on Sunday, January 12, 2003, after a prolonged illness. Ungrodt, a native of Ypsilanti, MI, was a 40-years-plus veteran of the gift industry, having opened his first gift store in 1960. He eventually owned as many as five Crown House of Gifts retail stores. In 1965, he and two partners began Ideation, a wholesale catalog business aimed at retailers like himself. He bought out his partners in 1980, and Ideation now publishes 14 million pieces annually. "We treat our customers as fellow retailers because we're also retailers who just happen to publish a catalog," he told Gifts & Decorative Accessories in a 1997 interview. Ungrodt was also involved in many community projects, including museums in Washburn, WI, and Ypsilanti. He was an important fundraiser for his alma mater, Albion College, in Albion, MI, and he served as president of the Gift Association of America and the Michigan Gift Association. A good friend of Gift for Life, the gift industry's organization that raises funds for AIDS research, Skip was presented with the 2002 Chuck Yancy Lifetime Achievement Award. Skip Ungrodt is survived by his son, Tom, Ideation's vice president of sales; his daughters, Susan Mills and Sarah Eichhorn; his children's spouses; seven grandchildren; and brothers Robert and Bernard.