Some years ago I had the occasion to interview then city manager of Los Alamitos Henry Taboada. A no nonsense administrator, fiscally conservative, brutally honest in his assessments of local government, he told me in that interview Los Alamitos is in the precarious financial position of having to rely on perhaps four or five anchor businesses in town that provide the majority of commercial tax base for the city, any one or two of which, if lost, would result in the immediate loss of services to the city. No, the hospital, for all the commercially viable property it overlays, was not one of them, but he said Gemini Forest products was.
Gemini Forest Products? A grass roots Los Alamitos born and bred wholesale lumber company initiated in 1981 by Ted Pollard and then partner Dale Bacon has grown into a giant wholesale commercial/industrial operation servicing our own local Ganahl retail lumber company as well as many major construction and transportation projects around the Southland like LA’s MetroLink build outs. And it is to this day a substantial commercial success story here in town that few outside of the city and selected nonprofits are even aware of.
That low profile as a steady and consistently growing business and anchor asset to the city is also consistent with the temperament and leadership of its cofounder and president of Gemini Forest Products for the last 44 years, Ted Pollard. I am saddened to report that Ted passed away at 86 this past January.
Over the years here in town as a local reporter for the ENE and broadcaster for Los Al TV I have had the pleasure of interviewing Ted for some fundraiser or another he was actively involved with. On each occasion he was generous with his time and always more interested in casting a positive light and a supportive pitch for the cause of the day rather than on himself or the promotion of his business. His outside community interests ranged from support of Casa Youth Shelter to local little league baseball, and was known to have generously opened his checkbook to many a nonprofit in between.
The only times I ever saw Ted Pollard come even close to self-promotion was when his son Todd was present. Invariably, in the course of the interview he would call Todd over to join the interview or into the frame of the camera to represent on behalf of the business. I could see that he was preparing his son for the leadership position he would eventually hand off.
And so it came about that Todd Pollard did eventually transition into the role as president of Gemini, a seamless transition engineered by his father who apparently, according to long time front office manager Judy Grinder, began when Todd was just a boy growing up under his father’s tutelage. “Ted insisted that Todd come up through the ranks of the business from the ground up,” Judy remembers. “Even when we were just three employees Todd had to start at the bottom to learn every aspect of the business.”
In every way Ted Pollard represented, and presented himself, in his business and in his personal life as a self-effacing yet reliable anchor to those around him, building his business and his ties to the community with a steady hand and an unwavering “give back” philosophy. Yes, it’s true Ted did front a 2015 City of Los Alamitos parade in a vintage vehicle waving to a crowd along Bloomfield Avenue who probably did not know who he was. But even on that occasion when I engaged him for an interview alongside his parade car, he could only say complimentary things about his wife of many years, and sidekick on that day, Myrna.
Ever self-effacing, always holding up those around him to praise. That was the Ted Pollard I remember from my brief but impressionable encounters with a man of true leadership qualities that has now slipped from our sight. He has left behind a legacy of personal commitment and business acumen that will carry on in son Todd who now runs Gemini, his daughter Stacy, a local educator, and a highly successful business that has benefited many of our nonprofits and the city itself for many years.
For himself, Ted once told me he ranks his greatest achievements in order of priority to be his marriage to Myrna, his two children next, of course his “third child Gemini Forest Products”, and lastly his momentus hole in one on the infamous 17th island green at Florida’s Sawgrass Golf Course. But I think I can speak for the few in this town who did know Ted over the years, that as a community we all landed a hole in one when Ted Pollard set up shop here in 1981.
For those who wish to pay their respects to Ted Pollard there will be a Celebration of Life in his name to occur on March 23rd 11:am at the Old Ranch Country Club, 3991 Lampson Avenue, Seal Beach.