FLORENCE—On Thursday, June 4, 2015, at the Marriott Shoals Conference Center,Mayor Mickey Haddock, the Florence City Council, and the City of Florence hosted the dedication ceremony for the 2014 Walk of Honor Inductees.
The Walk of Honor, located in the beautiful River Heritage Park, recognizes individuals of Florence and Lauderdale County who have achieved national or international acclaim.
This is a means to give honor and perpetuate the name and achievement of deserving individuals, either current or former citizens, through a form of civic recognition. Areas of national or international accomplishment include, but not limited to: agriculture, art, athletics, business, education, government, humanities, literature, medical, military, music, public service, religion, or science and technology.
The inductees for 2014 are three very different individuals but all carry the thread of world renown achievements. The inductees are Natalie Chanin, Michael “Nick” Nichols and Amit Roy.
The 2014 Inductees and their achievements are as follows:
NATALIE CHANIN
Natalie Chanin
Bio:
To visit the website, www.alabamachanin.com, is to explore a world that is defined by such terms as “organic,” “sustainability,” and “zero waste.” The site is almost multi-sensory itself even though, like all websites, it’s primarily a series of pictures and words; thus, it succeeds in letting the viewer know the many facets of the person that the world has come to know as Florence’s Natalie Chanin.
Known locally, nationally and internationally as a fashion designer, Natalie has earned a reputation for her attention to the most minute detail while preserving the revered needlework of generations of seamstresses. Through her dedicated — yet innovative — work and her determination to bring her sense of style to the forefront, she has earned acclaim from Coast to Coast and beyond.
Natalie was invited to participate in the triennial at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York City and was chosen as a finalist for the prestigious Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award. Also, she was selected as a top 10 finalist for the coveted CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund prize and, as a result, was prominently featured in Vogue magazine.
Another huge honor came Natalie’s way in 2009 when she was selected to design and create the skirt for the base of the Christmas tree in the Blue Room at the White House in Washington, D.C. She created 13 pie-shaped sections to represent the original 13 colonies; then she added bugle beads and edged the skirt in Navy blue. It now hangs in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington.
MICHAEL “NICK” NICHOLS
Bio :
Born in Florence, Alabama, in 1952, a graduate of the University of North Alabama, and currently residing in Sugar Hollow, Virginia (when not on photographic journeys or assignments), Nick Nichols is recognized worldwide as the quintessential nature photographer.
Through an innovative rigging technique, he broke new ground in photography by creating an 84-image composite of a 300-foot-tall, 1500-year-old redwood tree. In a series of National Geographic magazine stories in 2001, Nick’s photographs of a 2,000-mile trek from Congo’s rainforest to the Atlantic Coast of Gabon are preserved for future generations to enjoy. And these are just two examples of many!
Nick became a staff photographer for National Geographic magazine in 1996 and was named Editor-at-Large for Photography in 2008. In this capacity, he broke new ground yet again in 2013 in his photographic story of Serengeti lions using cameras embedded in their natural habitat over a period of time. Footage from the resulting videos and large-scale still photographs from this project were featured for several weeks in the Court Street Market building at 218 North Court Street in downtown Florence.
Awards that have come to Nick over the years are understandably numerous. For example, he has won first prize four times for nature and environmental storied in the World Press Photo competition. Other awards include: Photographer of the Year and Pictures of the Year. The Overseas Press Club of America awarded him a prize for reporting “above and beyond the call of duty,” an honor usually reserved for combat photographers.
DR. AMIT ROY
DR. AMIT ROY
Bio:
Named President of the International Fertilizer Development Center in 1992, Dr. Amit Roy distinguished himself as leader of a team to create sustainable agricultural productivity worldwide, alleviating hunger and ensuring food security.
Bio Summary for Media:
Dr. Amit Roy has been the president and chief executive officer of the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) in Muscle Shoals, Alabama since 1992. Under his leadership, IFDC’s programs have broadened to help create sustainable agricultural productivity around the world, alleviating hunger and poverty and ensuring global food security, environmental protection and economic growth.
Roy joined IFDC in 1978 as a chemical engineer and special projects engineer. He contributed to IFDC’s successful efforts to reinvigorate Bangladesh’s agricultural sector and to prevent a humanitarian crisis in that country. Under his leadership, IFDC developed a working and vibrant market for agricultural supplies and products in Albania where none existed previously. Earlier in his career at IFDC, Roy was involved in research and development of new and modified fertilizer materials, as well as processes using indigenous fertilizer raw materials, particularly phosphate rock.
Roy was instrumental in organizing the Africa Fertilizer Summit in Abuja, Nigeria, in 2006. The Summit brought together heads of state and governments of more than 40 African nations and more than 1,100 international policymakers and agricultural experts to address Africa’s soil fertility crisis. In 2008, Roy spoke before the Hunger Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives about the
role agro-inputs such as fertilizers and seeds have in providing long-term solutions to global food
security. Roy founded the Virtual Fertilizer Research Center in 2010 to facilitate the development of the next generation of fertilizers and production technologies. In 2012, he was appointed to the Steering Committee of the Global Nutrient Management Project of the United Nations Environment Programme. He co-leads the Global TraPs project with Fraunhofer Gesellschaft of Germany. Roy regularly meets with donors, government officials and development organizations. He has been published extensively and presented papers and keynote addresses at numerous international events and meetings.
Roy is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology, where he received his B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. from the Georgia Institute of Technology
