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In Memoriam - Paul Tiegs
PORTLAND, OREGON
Ed. Note: Paul Tiegs, Owner and President of OMNI Test Labs, passed away last week. His friend, Walter Moberg, has written the following remembrance.
Remembering Paul Tiegs
By Walter Moberg, President, Moberg Fireplaces
 It seems unreal when someone you know well dies - one moment you're planning to have lunch with them, and the next they're gone. It was Paul's turn to get back to me for our next lunch date, but now it's just a reminder that we can't wait to connect with important people in our lives. So, with his passing, I must now at least share with folks in the fireplace industry a side of Paul Tiegs that apparently only a few of us knew.
Paul was a very compassionate and caring man, dedicated to his family and the principles that guided his life. I'm proud to have been his friend.
My first recollection of Paul stretches back over 30 years. My friend, Michael Sciacca, was the technical director for the Wood Heating Alliance; he had come to Portland to work with Paul and negotiate with the state of Oregon's DEQ.
Ironically, I had hired Michael in the mid-seventies to work with me on a non-fireplace project in New Mexico. Now our lives had converged independently to focus on wood-burning stoves, and he had reason to be in Portland. In a sense, Paul had brought us back together - scientists, engineers and ingenuity all wrapped up in the pursuit of particulates (or lack thereof).
While I had stepped off the professional ladder for a while, and onto real ladders installing chimneys, I felt quite at home in Paul's "sophisticated" laboratory. It was real pioneering in the West, circa 1980, and Paul was leading the wagon train. This spirit drove Paul until his death; he was a lifetime entrepreneur with a penchant for physics, and a love of research.
Earlier in his life, Paul had also developed a love for the wild places, and I was lucky enough to join him rafting on our famous Deschutes River. Also inspired by Paul, one of his sons went on to become a guide on the Colorado River. We repeated our river experience again on the Russian border with our Finnish colleagues from Tulikivi and our mutual friend Erkki Jarvinen.
I suspect that much of Paul's love of the earth came from his earlier years flying with the Air Force in Alaska. I remember his tale of how they had to land on small runways in the mountains where the landing was uphill and the take-off downhill because the runways were so short!
That was my kind of adventure as well, as Alaska drew me into its wildness many times. So it was natural for both of us to be fascinated with the miracles of nature, and Paul loved unraveling that mystery.
Paul was capable of storing a great deal of technical information in his mind, and he was always tuned to the intricacies that formulas and regulations would play in our business. No technical meeting would take place without his interpretation of the facts and a sharing of his approach to solutions. That predilection won him both friends and enemies in the industry, but I will remember him best for his integrity and forthrightness - standing behind what he believed to be true.
In that role, he was a great champion for the little-big world of masonry heaters. Sure, he had contracts with EPA to create industry-wide standards, and with the largest fireplace companies in the world to develop and certify their products. However, he was a fan and a champion for heaters in North America.
When I was a distributor for Tulikivi, we collaborated on designing a soapstone oven for his new home. The company later built this huge stove in his house out of simple gratitude for his efforts and a respect for him as a gentleman. The current credible stature of that small industry in this country owes so much to Paul Tiegs, and we're all lucky to have had his loyalty and dedication for three decades. That torch will be more difficult to carry in the coming years without him.
Perhaps the part of Paul's life that I shared uniquely with him was the challenge and difficulties of running a small company. Like him, I have always been better at my craft than at the administration of a company. Fortunately, he married well later in life.
Beth and he had a bushel of kids (six), both adopted and their own, and she came with great accounting skills to help him as he grew and as he suffered. Our lunches would frequently focus on our frustrations with certain employees, the ridiculous costs of insurance and the hassle of negotiating leases, but it was often just commiserating over our own limitations.
As a result, we both spent a lifetime working extremely hard with limited financial rewards. Paul was as persevering in his business as he was in working on his home in the woods, so the time was all well-spent (as were the dollars !).
Although he was always available for fun and games at industry meetings, and enjoyed Sambuca with coffee beans, he had a playful side that very few got to see. I remember dancing at his wedding, and watching him cut quite a rug. Later we planned to rendezvous, couples with a common interest, but busy lives and business life interfered. Now this is just another reminder to make time for play while we still can - thank you, Paul.
In recent years, the challenges of his health and the demands of the recession tempered the frequency of our lunches, but the business relationship that started many years ago endured and flourished. Paul had methodically built an infrastructure of knowledge and systems with which we can carry on his legacy, as well as an internationally recognized laboratory with a wealth of experience. I'm lucky to have the support of OMNI as I traipse around the world, still with a spark in my eyes. Paul's fires still burn (cleanly and efficiently) in our hearts and shops, but I will forever miss our lunches and his smiles. We should dedicate a place of honor for this man of honor, and forever chase the proverbial particulate in his footsteps.
Salute to you, Paul Tiegs, my mentor and my friend.
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