For those that know (or those that don't know) Gary Anderson, the erstwhile editor of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America's Star Magazine, retired in mid-2020 after a 69 issue tenure spanning more than a decade. As an editor, he brought out the best in his contributors and consistently raised the bar for club publications to an exceedingly high standard--so high, that over the years The Star won so many awards (including many in which respected commercial publications such as Automobile were competing) that at times
just carrying the awards was beyond my capability. (N.B. they were often given in awards ceremonies held in my former home of Detroit). There are actually only a small number (I know of just three others) of magazines devoted to the marque and this is as good as it gets.
Sadly the MBCA didn't properly recognize these amazing contributions beyond a couple of pages late last year noting his retirement. So, a number of us--his closest associates and collaborators, contributors and the like--decided that we should recognize him in a special way. We ruled out sending a fruit basket, a 24% lead crystal trophy, and an ersatz walnut and brass plaque; as he had moved and downsized his home, these things seemed trite. The idea we came up with was a memory book.
Concept, design and layout began last summer, and was completed in February. Production began in March. The book, a one-off example made just for Gary, was presented to him last night by me in a surprise Zoom meeting. Somehow we had managed to keep this a secret from Gary over all these months. He was truly astounded and surprised.
So while you cannot have a book, you can see the final result: (flip book format)
https://tinyurl.com/nms2jke8Enjoy! If you go through the book, you'll note a number of covers that have Pagodas on them!
