Businessman Set Sights High
By LINDA COMINS Arts & Living EditorArticle Photos
(Editor's note: The Wheeling Hall of Fame will induct six new members on Sunday, Nov. 30, at WesBanco Arena. Each week until the dinner, the Sunday News-Register will profile inductees and their contributions to the community in their chosen fields as well as the selection process. This is the fourth profile. The Wheeling Hall of Fame committee selects new inductees every two years.)
WHEELING - A man who built a one-shop operation into a company with 84 locations in 16 states has been elected to the Wheeling Hall of Fame.
Gary E. West, born in Wheeling in 1937, will be inducted into the hall at a banquet at WesBanco Arena Sunday, Nov. 30. A reception will begin at 5:30 p.m., with dinner served at 6:30 p.m.
He is the inductee in the Business, Industry and Professions category. West; Harold G. "Hal" O'Leary, the Music and Fine Arts inductee; J. William Grimes and Stuart F. Bloch, Sports and Athletics inductees, are among six overall honorees, Hall of Fame chairman Dick Dlesk said.
West is former president and chairman of Valley National Gases Inc., a company listed on the American Stock Exchange since 1997. In 1970, Valley was a one-location industrial gas and welding supply company with sales of $500,000 that grew to 84 locations in 16 states with annual sales of more than $220 million. Valley employs more than 800 people with corporate headquarters in Wheeling.
He also is president of West Rental Inc. and GEW Real Estate in Naples, Fla. In addition, he has served as president of Plymouth Holding and president and secretary of Acetylene Products Corp., a commercial real estate company in Wheeling. He has been involved in the Ohio Valley Construction Employees Council and is a former director of First National Bank and WesBanco.
His community service includes United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley, West Liberty State College Foundation and past president of the Wheeling Rotary Club. A member of Who's Who in West Virginia Business, he was inducted into the West Liberty State College Alumni Wall of Honor in 1993, was named West Virginia Wholesale Distribution Entrepreneur of the Year in 1995 and was inducted into the West Virginia Business Hall of Fame in 2006.
West holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from West Liberty State College. The 1958 graduate has invested considerable personal and financial assets in his alma mater, college officials have said. He and his wife, "Flip," established the Guy H. and Mary Ann West School of Business Scholarship Endowment and he was chair of the college's capital campaign.
G. Randolph Worls, president and chief executive officer of the Oglebay Foundation, said West "has made extremely generous gifts to West Liberty and the Oglebay Foundation and a multitude of other organizations." Most recently, West and his wife made a large contribution for the West Spa at Oglebay's Wilson Lodge.
Gaston Caperton, a former governor of West Virginia, has called West "a model for business people of the future." Robert S. Kiss, former speaker of the West Virginia House of Delegates, commented in 2005, "In his many successful ventures, Gary has never strayed from his West Virginia roots."
From 1958 to 1970, West was the region manager for industrial rubber products and tires with Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. In 1970, he moved his family back to Wheeling and purchased Valley Welding Supply Co., a single operating business at that time.
During West's tenure as president and chief executive officer from 1970-97, Valley Welding grew to have annual sales in excess of $85 million, with 29 locations in six states. From 1997 to 2007, he served as chairman of the company, later known as Valley National Gases Inc. He sold the company in 2007.
Tickets for the Hall of Fame banquet will be available until Friday, Nov. 21, at WesBanco Arena or from any of the 18 Hall of Fame committee members including chairman Dlesk or by calling banquet coordinator Laura Carter at 304-232-5978.
Other committee members are James Haranzo, Don Atkinson, Kate Crosbie, Linda Comins, Robert DeFrancis, Sue Seibert Farnsworth, Jeanne Finstein, William J. Ihlenfeld, James Kepner, Jim Squibb, Sister Joanne Gonter, Patricia Pockl, Kate Quinn, William Nutting, Richard L. Coury and Doug Huff.
