Alumni Spotlight
Tom and Sandy (Miller) Reece
Vicksburg High School Class of 1960
After meeting in the 7th grade in Vicksburg Tom and Sandy have known each other for over fifty years and have been married for almost 45 years. Although they have lived in Detroit, Tulsa, and now New York City their roots are deep in southwestern Michigan, where Sandy's parents and a significant number of their extended family members live, including daughter Heather and four grandchildren.
 After graduating from Western Michigan University both Tom and Sandy entered the teaching world and Sandy has enjoyed working with children in one capacity or another ever since. She is currently a volunteer for The Booker T. Washington Learning Center in East Harlem which is an afterschool and community educational enhancement program in one of the neediest neighborhoods in New York City.
Tom left teaching, in the traditional sense, after one year in the classroom at Vicksburg High School. In July 1965 he went to work for Ronningen-Petter Company, a manufacturer of liquid filtration equipment, which he had worked for part-time while attending Western. It was a very small company offering a very diverse range of business experiences that would serve him well, since he had no formal business education, throughout the next nearly 40 years spent in the manufacturing world.
A couple of years after Tom joined Ronningen-Petter the company was acquired by Dover Corporation, a New York Stock Exchange traded company. Although lamenting the potential loss of the "family" atmosphere, with tremendous support from Sandy, Tom enjoyed his work and stayed on after the company was acquired.
In early 1971, at a very young age, Tom was offered the opportunity to become President of Ronningen-Petter which launched him on a life-long career of running something or other in Dover Corporation, including being President and then CEO from 1993 until he retired at the end of 2004.
Dover was a very unusual corporation made up of a number of highly autonomous operating manufacturing companies all of which occupied leading market share positions in the niche markets they served. Dover expected its company presidents to run their businesses as if they owned them and to do it with the utmost of integrity. It was a corporate culture built on trust and, although often requiring extensive travel, valued family. That suited Tom and Sandy very well as he could pursue his interests in the manufacturing world while Sandy could focus on raising daughters Leslie and Heather and continue teaching other children.
After living in the Detroit area for almost five years Tom and Sandy moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1983 and their daughters completed their schooling there including both graduating from Oklahoma State University.
In 1993 Tom and Sandy were asked to move to New York City for Tom to become President of Dover Corporation. They were not too enthusiastic about the prospect of living in "The Big Apple" but the chance to ultimately become the Chief Executive Officer of Dover, which he did in 1994, was too compelling to pass up.
Tom and Sandy's attitude toward New York City changed over time as they came to enjoy and appreciate the diversity of "The Capital of the World" as Rudy liked to call it . They continue to live in and enjoy the city, especially Central Park, which is a national treasure. They regularly entertain family and friends and particularly enjoy showing their seven grandchildren, who live in Oklahoma City and Kalamazoo, around the city.
By staying tuned in, and staying in tune, Tom and Sandy have enjoyed, and continue to enjoy, a very fulfilling life that has been filled with the same joys, sorrows, achievements, and set-backs as everyone who has had the good fortune to live for over 65 years.
They look forward to many, many more interesting, enjoyable, and healthy years to come.
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