Obituary: Blase, 81, 'made our Goodwill one of the best in the country'

Web Posted Express News: 04/16/2006 12:00 AM CDT

Carmina Danini
Express-News Staff Writer

Arno J. "Bob" Blase, who guided Goodwill Industries during a period when it experienced the greatest growth in its 60 years in San Antonio, died of cancer at his home early Friday morning. He was 81.

The longest-serving president and chief executive officer of Goodwill Industries of San Antonio, Blase headed the organization for 36 years.

Goodwill, which prides itself on providing the disadvantaged and the disabled "a hand up, not a hand out," offers education, training and career services so people can find and keep a job.

Blase joined in 1959 and retired twice — in 1991, but returned a short time later, and finally in 1995.

For many years, he was the organization, said Charles O. Kilpatrick, former publisher and editor of the San Antonio Express-News and former chairman of the board of Goodwill Industries.

"Bob was a very talented man and he could have been a successful businessman but he was with Goodwill because he liked the humanitarian aspect of helping other people," Kilpatrick said.

William R. "Bill" Sinkin, a co-founder of the local Goodwill, said Blase gave the agency an image and acceptance it previously hadn't had.

"What he did is one of the greatest contributions of any citizen in this city," Sinkin said. "He built the base and made our Goodwill one of the best in the country. It's a remarkable achievement and his legacy."

When Blase started with Goodwill, the offices were in a former chicken hatchery and annual revenues hovered at nearly $200,000.

By 1990, the agency had grown from one program: the used goods and sheltered employment program with an annual budget of $197,000, to one of the city's largest providers of vocational rehabilitation services with an operating budget of $9million.

Thousands of clients were being served and new avenues of employment were opening to those previously overlooked in the workplace.

Today, it serves more than 26,000 people and has revenues of $38 million.

During Blase's tenure, Goodwill became the first organization to obtain a federal contract refinishing office furniture for area military bases under a new program that provided jobs for employees with severe disabilities.

Clients just want to work and be productive, Blase said in a 1978 interview with the Express-News.

"We do nuisance jobs for businesses, jobs that won't last forever," he said. "It may be a nuisance for the company who has to set it up, but it's bread and butter and training to us."

Once, asked for his contribution to Goodwill, Blase answered, "People say I made a difference in some people's lives, yes. But I didn't make the difference. I made it possible for them to make the difference."

His commitment to people with disabilities earned Blase one of Goodwill's most prestigious awards, the J.D. Robins Jr. Distinguished Career Award, in 1997.

In 2002, he was inducted into the Goodwill Industries International Hall of Fame.

A Korean War veteran, the Rosenberg-born Blase served as a communications specialist at 4th Army — now 5th Army — headquarters at Fort Sam Houston.

He was program director at a Belo-owned television station before switching careers to the nonprofit sector.

Blase was a member of Goodwill's national board of directors and chairman of the Goodwill Council of Executives for Goodwill Industries of America.

His wife, Marianna, a legend on community theater stages, died in 2002.

Blase is survived by two daughters, Emily Blase of San Antonio and Julie Blase of Alton, Ill.; a son, David Blase, also of San Antonio; and three grandchildren.

A memorial service is scheduled for May 13 at 2 p.m. at the SAMMinistries Community Center at 5254 Blanco Road.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to Goodwill Industries of San Antonio, 406 W. Commerce St., San Antonio, 78207-3102, or to the San Pedro Playhouse Bob Blase Fund, P.O. Box 12356, San Antonio, 78218.

cdanini @ express-news.net