Snapshot

Ali Center presser

10:40 a.m., the Muhammad Ali Center. CEO Donald Lassere is visible on a TV cameraman’s video monitor as he tells a press conference the UPS Foundation has donated $500,000 to the museum honoring the Louisville native.

The gift will fund the center’s education initiatives, including UCrew, Generation Ali, its Character Education Program “Creating Our Future,” and the Muhammad Ali Center Council of Students. More about the Ali Center.

The UPS Foundation is the charitable arm of the shipping giant, which has 22,000 workers in Louisville — the city’s single-biggest employer. More about UPS and about its foundation.

Mayor Greg Fischer was there, too. But one of the most important people present — maybe the most important — wasn’t publicly acknowledged at all: Brown-Forman heiress Ina Brown Bond, one of the Ali Center’s main movers.

Philanthropy

Ali Center to disclose ‘significant’ gift this morning

Muhammad Ali Center logoThe 10-year-old museum downtown said the contribution will “continue the special legacy of the late, great Muhammad Ali.”

The Muhammad Ali Center will announce the gift and introduce the donor at a 10:30 a.m. press conference at the 144 N. Sixth St. museum. CEO Donald Lassere and Mayor Greg Fischer will be there.

The Louisville native, prize fighter and humanitarian died June 3 in Phoenix, his primary home, after battling Parkinson’s disease for decades. He was 74. Ali was buried in Cave Hill Cemetery a week later amid a celebrity-studded memorial service.

The $80 million Ali museum has struggled at times, with frequent top staff changes, occasional budget issues, and facility setbacks that included long delays in opening an adjoining plaza and a pedway connection to the Riverfront Plaza/Belvedere, The Courier-Journal said in advance of the center’s 10th anniversary in November.

Media and Marketing

Long-time CJ columnist Kay, who pioneered cutting-edge features and loved lavender, is dead at 87

Joan Wood Kay’s “Speaking of People” column helped turn the traditional society and women’s pages into an “issue-oriented features section that was nationally admired,” said retired Courier-Journal editorial page editor Keith Runyon. Kay worked for the paper for 34 years, ending in 1987. She died Sunday at 87, the CJ said this morning.

Speaking of People ad
Kay at her typewriter in 1969.

In a 1969 advertisement, the paper told readers Kay’s column was the “up-to-the-minute and very much ‘with it’ successor” to the paper’s old social notes stories — like this one from Aug. 5, 1917:

“Little Miss Virginia Gray Montgomery was honored with a party Wednesday afternoon when her grandmother, Mrs. James W. Montgomery, asked the future belles and beaux to an al fresco affair which she gave at her home on Shelby Street. The children presented a lovely sight in their dainty white dresses  with varicolored ribbons on bobbed heads. . . . The large galleries were festooned with ropings of red, white and blue, and flags were hung in the pergola. Toy balloons and baskets of candies were the favors given.”

Writing this morning about Kay, another long-time CJ correspondent, Sheldon S. Shafer, said: “Kay had a keen appreciation of art, especially impressionist and modern, and she was an avid reader of mysteries and newspapers. She was skilled at needlepoint and knitting, and was a world traveler who wrote humorous poems and limericks for friends. She also acquired a vast collection of teddy bears. She spoke Italian and French and was always fashionably dressed — often in her favorite color, lavender.”

Herman Meyer & Son Funeral Home is handling final arrangements.

Latest Headlines

Yum! Brands wins trademark case in Philippines!!!; Kindred attorney bolts for a competitor, and a KFC beanie promo on Twitter captivates New Zealand

A news summary, focused on 10 big employers; updated 2:39 p.m.

Jolibee YumYumYUM has won a trademark case in the Philippines brought by fast-food chain Jollibee, which sought to block the Louisville company from using its business name in the country. The government’s trademark office said the word “yum” is a commonly-used interjection, and the chain’s “Yum!” logo employs an exclamation point and a different font — in caps-and-lower case — that distinguish the mark from Jollibee’s (Interaksyon). The Philippines is a potentially big market: its population is nearly 100 million.

HUMANA CEO Bruce Broussard knew his personal and work lives were out of whack after his mother died in a car accident. “I regretted the time I was not able to spend with family members. I also regretted that I defined life success as career success,” Broussard told Georgetown University graduates at their Saturday commencement ceremonies. The school gave him an honorary doctorate in humane sciences (The Hoya). Brossard, CEO since 2013, attended Texas A&M and the University of Houston.

David Pearce
Pearce

KINDRED: David Pearce, chief counsel for Kindred’s home division for 11 years, has been named senior vice president and chief compliance officer at home health provider Amedisys of Baton Rouge, La. (Home Health Care News).

KFC: It was the competition that captivated a nation on Twitter, according to Spinoff magazine: The busy working world of New Zealand ground to a halt last week as one tweet from a KFC New Zealand social media person — featuring three, identical, crimson beanies — got 6,800 retweets and a 16-piece bucket full of favorites. “This is the oral history of the greatest online giveaway in New Zealand history, as told by key players” (Spinoff).

PAPA JOHN’S: In the Seattle area, Continue reading “Yum! Brands wins trademark case in Philippines!!!; Kindred attorney bolts for a competitor, and a KFC beanie promo on Twitter captivates New Zealand” →

Sporting Scene

Town & Country has just thrown down the opera-length gauntlet before every Derby hat fan

The magazine says the Devon Horse Show and Country Fair celebrated its 120th year earlier this month, an annual event on Pennsylvania’s Main Line that draws equestrians and fans from across the country. Well and good, until the editors make the fatal mistake of gushing over the “marvelous millinery” during the annual Ladies Day Hat Contest — as if any of that could compare to what we enjoyed less than two months ago here in Louisville.

Which reminds us: There are now only 320 days, 10 hours, and 21 minutes until next year’s first Saturday in May, according to Boulevard’s exclusive 2017 Derby Countdown Clock™.

Photo, top: That’s Town & Country’s May issue, featuring top model Carolyn Murphy, wearing a Prada dress with appliqué and earrings by the same designer. Below: A guest at the iconic Churchill Downs track on May 7.
Embed from Getty Images

Latest Headlines

Chinese company said beating Amazon to be first delivering by drone; and Ford wins at Le Mans

A news summary, focused on 10 big employers; updated 1:06 p.m.

AMAZON: A Chinese company has reportedly beaten Amazon in the race to deliver online goods by unmanned drone, carrying loads of up to 33 lbs. with a top speed of 34 miles per hour. E-commerce giant Jingling has been deploying them in rural areas, with smaller populations and less demand for goods that would strain the fledgling service. Amazon is planning to introduce a similar service called Prime Air, but not until 2017 or 2018 (Mirror). At a minimum, Amazon says it must win regulatory approval from the FAA. In the meantime, it’s released an amusing video, top, about Prime Air (Amazon). The FAA on June 3 released an FAQ on the process for getting permission. Six myths about Prime Air.

FORD‘s No. 68 GT won the GTE Pro class at Le Mans today, beating long-time rival Ferrari in Ford’s first victory at the French endurance race since 1980. The No. 69 Ford GT finished third, and the No. 66 GT finished fourth (Detroit News and Motor Trend). The winning car is based on the $400,000 2017 GT supercar the company unveiled in January. Ford has received more than 7,000 applications from fans hoping to buy one, with just 500 planned for production. It’s been more than a decade since Ford last launched such a pricey vehicle. In Louisville, the automaker employs nearly 10,000 at its auto and truck factories.

TACO BELL: No injuries were reported when a pickup crashed into the front doors of a Taco Bell restaurant in Marion, Ind., yesterday afternoon; employees and several patrons reportedly were inside (Marion Star).