As Good As It Gets
Author’s note: When I heard the news last week of Ron Menaker’s death, I was shocked and saddened. While I knew in my head he was in declining health, because I considered him to be such a force, in my heart I believed he would be around forever. I wrote this tribute to him in 2019, when his tenure as AKC BOD member and its chairman came to an end. I am grateful to Dog News for giving me this opportunity to share once again what Ron meant to me.
I attended the funeral of a friend recently. He was a Congressman, and I had never been to a dignitary’s funeral. I didn’t know what to expect, but feared it would be some cold, formal, official proceeding. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised that the entire event was touching and personal, and reflected the full measure of the man that I knew. The eulogies, each given by people connected to the Congressman through broadly diverse circumstances, presented a picture, not of a politician, or an elected official, or a member of a particular party, but of my friend as I knew him: someone who lived his life to serve God and to serve people. It also reinforced my belief that there are lots of good people who may never do great things, but the people who do great things are almost always good people.
Ron Menaker is one of those good people who has done great things.
As his tenure as an AKC Board member and its longest-serving chairman of the board comes to an end on March 12, Ron Menaker will likely be the subject of many tributes touting his various accomplishments in those roles. Jim Crowley wrote an incredible article for D, The Dog News Magazine Annual that is a must-read, and his summary of all that Ron has done as a board member, and particularly chairman of the AKC board, is breathtaking. Even though I was familiar with most of the accomplishments that Jim shared, it was still stunning to see it all recited in paragraph after paragraph.
I can anticipate there will also be some sort of tribute at the AKC delegates’ meeting on March 12, the last over which Ron will preside. The AKC staff is at its best when it creates these sorts of commemorative occasions, and I have no doubt that Ron will be given a fitting send-off that will well- document his tenure as chairman, and all the strides made by the organization under his leadership. I just hope whatever is done, whatever is said, whatever is written in the coming days will reflect the full measure of the man that is Ron Menaker.
Ron likes to tell the story that he got his first purebred at a department store back in the day when dogs were sold there. That’s an interesting fact in a world where pedigree to some is as much about how many generations you’ve been in dogs as about the dogs themselves. Perhaps because of those humble beginnings, Ron seems to never lose sight of the need to connect breeders and new puppy owners and to encourage the enthusiasm of beginners in the sport.
When my stepson and daughter-in-law were newly married, they made the decision to add a dog to their family. Because my daughter-in-law had a Bedlington growing up, she wanted another Bedlington. Ron was the only person I knew connected to Bedlingtons, and while I was somewhat reluctant to trouble him with such a request, having no other options, I mentioned to him their quest for a Bedlington and asked for suggestions. Not only did he recommend breeders, he made calls, and then introductions, and within no time, my kids welcomed “Peep” into their home and hearts, where she still lives today.
A few years later, after my kids had their first child, my first grandchild, Ron approached me during a break at a delegates’ meeting in Newark, and asked me to follow him back to his hotel room. He said he had something to give me. Once there, he handed me a bag that contained a stuffed toy Bedlington. Ron said that Mr. Rockefeller had FAO Schwarz make stuffed-toy likenesses of his Bedlington, Ch. Rock Ridge Night Rocket, and that he had given Ron this “Night Rocket” as a gift when Ron was president of the Bedlington Terrier Club. Ron said that, in getting rid of some things, he had run across it, and felt like none of his kids would appreciate it, and, knowing my children, and eventually, my grandchild would, he wanted me to have it. My granddaughter is now old enough to appreciate “Toy Rocket,” and he will always be a treasured heirloom in our family, representing the Bedlington connection to, and reminding us of the kindness of, the man who brought us together with Peep.
I know there are many others who have similar, and even more compelling, stories about Ron than those two. I know employees for whom Ron interceded and helped obtain consultations with top health-care providers. I know employees on whose behalf Ron reached out and made a call in order to help them obtain a job. I even know one woman who came to AKC as the head of compliance, and after only a few months, ended up with the opportunity to be its general counsel following a brief conversation with him at a conference table at a hotel in Newark.
I don’t know whether Ron intentionally set out to do great things in the world of purebred dogs and at the AKC, but I suspect that for the most part, he just followed his conscience and his heart. In simply striving to do the good and right thing, he ended up doing great things. For the AKC, for the sport, for all of us.