Dwight D. Guilfoil Jr.

Dwight D. Guilfoil Jr. (November 19, 1922 — March 4, 1989) was an American businessman and advocate for workers with disabilities.

Early life and education

Guilfoil was born in Chicago, Illinois. His father was an engineer and a veteran of World War I.[1] The younger Dwight graduated from Lane Technical High School in Chicago in 1940. He attended the Art Institute of Chicago and worked as a commercial artist before he enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1942. He was training to be an aerial reconnaissance photographer in Texas when he contracted both poliomyelitis and spinal meningitis. Guilfoil was discharged from the Army in 1945 after several years in a military hospital in Arkansas.[2]

Career

After the war, Guilfoil and other disabled veterans founded Paraplegics Manufacturing Inc., or PAMCO, an electronics assembly plant in Bensenville, Illinois[3] which employed up to a hundred physically-disabled workers at its peak.[4] "We decided from the start that we were not going to weave rugs or make baskets, or indulge in any of the usual workshop enterprises," Guilfoil recalled.[5] Guilfoil was the company's president and public face, frequently giving talks or writing articles advocating for disabled workers.[6] PAMCO's customers were often government agencies, and Guilfoil made a point of mentioning the factory's contributions to the space program. "Our workers so far have contributed parts for most of the space probes and we expect to do more."[7] His essay "Let's Stop 'Handicapping' Americans" was widely syndicated in 1960.[8]

Guilfoil served on the President's Committee on Employment of the Handicapped, and on the Illinois State Commission on Employment of the Handicapped.[9] He was also national president of the Paralyzed Veterans of America in 1959,[10] and of the National Paraplegia Foundation in 1963. For his work, Guilfoil was recognized as one of the "Ten Outstanding Young Men of the United States" by the Junior Chamber of Commerce in 1957, and he won the President's Trophy for "Handicapped American of the Year" in 1960.[11] He chaired a Chicago-area chapter of Easter Seals in 1961.[12]

Guilfoil is also credited to being the first man to provide the idea of Handicapped Parking spaces to President Richard Nixon, who also started a close working relationship thereafter with Guilfoil.

Personal life

Guilfoil was married to Margaret Cullerton in 1940, and was the father of eight children. He was named "Chicago Father of the Year" in 1953, and "Mr. Illinois" that same year.[13] He was active in his local community, as commander of his local American Legion post, and a member of his local Rotary Club.[14]

Guilfoil was widowed in July 1988,[15] and died in March 1989, at a nursing home in Arlington Heights, Illinois. He was 66 years old.[16]

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References
  1. Sir Humphry Davy, "Members of A. E. F. Favor Better Roads Movement in America," in The Collected Works of Sir Humphry Davy (Smith, Elder, and Company 1919): 239. ISBN 1293681512
  2. Frank Hermes, "Guilfoil on Committee for Manpower Training," Daily Herald (August 26, 1965): 144. via Newspapers.com
  3. "Paraplegics Firm Occupies New Site," Daily Herald (November 17, 1960): 38. via Newspapers.com
  4. Harold Areen, "Slow but Sure is Paraplegic Factory's Way," Chicago Tribune (August 5, 1951): 1.
  5. "Handicapped War Veteran Honored for Creating Jobs," Daily Telegram (March 2, 1960): 1. via Newspapers.com
  6. George Schreiber, "Boss in Wheel Chair Inspires His 100 Handicapped Employes," Chicago Tribune (March 6, 1960): 22.
  7. James Keating, "Where Workers Ride Wheelchairs," The Rotarian (November 1965): 42-44.
  8. Dwight Guilfoil Jr. as told to Joseph N. Bell, "Let's Stop 'Handicapping' Americans," Gadsden Times (November 20, 1960).
  9. "Appointed to Handicapped State Board," Daily Herald (October 9, 1958): 37. via Newspapers.com
  10. "D. Guilfoil Named Prexy," Daily Herald (August 20, 1959): 30. via Newspapers.com
  11. "Ike Cites Dad, 37, as 'Top Handicapped,'" Arlington Heights Herald (March 3, 1960): 30. via Newspapers.com
  12. "Guilfoil to Head Easter Seal Fund," Daily Herald (January 12, 1961): 13. via Newspapers.com
  13. Judith Morris, "Guilfoil Runs His Job from a Wheelchair," Elk Grove Herald (August 7, 1969): 4. via Newspapers.com
  14. "Guilfoil Installed as District Legion Officer," Arlington Heights Herald (September 2, 1954): 14. via Newspapers.com
  15. Kenan Heise, "Margaret Guilfoil; Aided Vets," Chicago Tribune (July 30, 1988).
  16. Gary Marx, "Dwight Guilfoil, 66, Manufacturing Exec," Chicago Tribune (March 6, 1989).
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