Hall Of Fame Inductees

 

The individuals nominated should have made a significant impact or positive influence that assures the future of our industry in the lives of generations to come.

 

Once nominated, an individual’s biography and photo are updated on the site, and he or she is placed in the polls for voting. At the end of the year the committee takes into consideration the votes and decides which candidates are inducted.

 

Those with a star (*) next to their name below were either inducted posthumously or have passed away since being inducted.

 

Nomination Qualifications

  • Person with integrity and passion
  • Minimum 20 years in industry
  • Someone who has developed  or invented  new technology
  • Has made contributions that resulted in change
  • Contributed to mankind’s needs in his field
  • Provided education and encouragement  with self-sacrifice
  • Changed the industry

Ray York *

A lifetime supporter of the Green Industry, Raymon A. York serves as President of Landscape Products, a manufacturer of professional-grade landscape and irrigation products serving the landscape, agricultural and industrial industries.

Ray served as Chief Executive Officer of Ewing Irrigation Products, Inc., for nearly 40 years before appointing sons Douglas W. York as President and Richard A. York as Executive Vice President in 2002, establishing a third generation of Ewing/York family leadership.

An industrial engineering graduate of Stanford University (‘59), Ray began his career assisting with the operations of his father’s meat packing company. In 1963, Ray and his wife, Sue, moved to San Francisco and assumed day-to-day operations of Ewing Irrigation Products—a wholesale distribution company founded by Sue’s father serving the landscape, golf and industrial industries, King Ewing. Ray also continued to explore other business ventures, including a heavy equipment dealership and an irrigation installation company specializing in irrigating vineyards.

In 1975, Ray shifted his focus solely to distribution, and aimed to establish Ewing as the leading provider of goods and services in the Green Industry. Ray’s long-range vision and focus on business strategy thrust Ewing into an evolutionary phase of growth and progress as a full-line irrigation supply distributor. Under his leadership, Ewing grew from just two locations in 1963 to more than 115 locations in 2002. Today, Ewing offers contracting professionals 195 locations in 21 states and is the nation’s largest family-owned supplier of landscape, irrigation, golf and industrial products.

Ray founded Landscape Products as a plastic paver manufacturing company in 1978, and expanded the company’s product offering over the years to include drip/micro irrigation, valves, sprinklers and landscape accessories. He left Ewing in 2002 to pursue manufacturing full time. Ray developed and now oversees two of the most advanced injection molding and extrusion plants in the United States, with facilities in Tolleson, Ariz. and Kissimmee, Fla. Landscape Products uses advanced engineering and 100 percent of the highest-grade resin available for its polyethylene tubing, fittings and components, resulting in reliable products with consistent performance.

Ray is a longstanding member and past Chairman of the National Association of Wholesale Distributors (NAW). He is an active member and past president of the Irrigation Association (1986) and recipient of the California Landscape Contractors Association (CLCA) Lifetime Achievement Award (2007).

Ray enjoys spending time with Sue, his wife of 48 years; sons David, Douglas and Richard; and six grandchildren. An avid traveler, he has explored many locations on all seven continents, with extensive travel in Asia, Africa, Antarctica and the South Pacific.