Inducted:1998

A fifth generation farmer, Henry Holloway has long been an effective volunteer cooperative leader. It has always been the call of responsibility rather than the promise of position that has drawn him into service. For nearly 15 years he served on the Maryland Farm Bureau Board, representing the farm families of Maryland. In serving these farmers, he emphasized the benefits of cooperation. Similarly, he has always promoted cooperative business principles in his role on the Nationwide Insurance Enterprise Board. He has steadfastly encouraged Nationwide’s leadership, support and involvement in cooperative development and education.

Over the years, Holloway has worked diligently to bring diverse cooperative groups together harmoniously. He believes in cooperative solutions to persistent poverty, as evidenced by his support of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, CARE, the Cooperative Development Foundation and the CLUSA Institute.

Holloway has spent most of his life working with people of common interests to accomplish goals that will benefit many. As a cooperative statesman, he truly exemplifies what “working together cooperatively” is all about.

Gordon E. Lindquist

Inducted:1994

Gordon E. Lindquist has had a great impact on the cooperative movement on the regional, national, international levels. He served as president and CEO of MSI Insurance for eight years, culminating his 35 years with the company. Throughout his tenure, he consistently emphasized MSI’s cooperative roots while successfully expanding its business horizons.

Through his active involvement on numerous cooperative boards, he time and again demonstrates his dedication to cooperatives. He has served as chairman of the National Cooperative Bank, regional chairman on the International Cooperative Banking Association, and as a director of Agricultural Cooperative Development International, the Cooperative Development Foundation, and the National Cooperative Business Association. He is also past chairman of the North American Association of International Cooperative Insurance. Admirably, Lindquist has continued with these efforts even after his retirement from MSI.

In addition, he has generously given his time and energy to help establish and assist cooperatives in areas such as the Middle East, China, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Africa, and Central and South America.

Throughout his life Gordon Lindquist has consistently shown wholehearted support for cooperative aims and purposes. His tireless efforts and innovative leadership have certainly enhanced the cooperative movement.

John E. Fisher

Inducted:1994

John E. Fisher served with distinction within the cooperative movement for more than 42 years. Rising through the ranks of the Nationwide Insurance Enterprise to general chairman and chief executive officer in 1981, Fisher consistently kept cooperative principles on the forefront of his agenda. With Fisher’s leadership, Nationwide committed significant resources to cooperative development, both nationally and internationally. Fisher helped form the Nationwide Board Council of cooperative leaders devoted to sharing cooperative concerns with the Nationwide Board of Directors.

Cooperative education in Ohio also benefitted from Fisher’s commitment and continuous support. Through his involvement and leadership, Fisher helped support the Ohio Council of Cooperatives by promoting the initiative to hire an executive coordinator and in funding a cooperative management program at Ohio State University.

On a personal level, Fisher served on the board of CARE, the National Association of Housing Cooperatives, and Nationwide’s credit union. He was enthusiastically involved with the National Institute on Cooperative Education, the Cooperative Development Foundation, CoBank, the National Cooperative Business Association, and the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation, where his efforts to assist emerging cooperatives have included the formation of cooperative insurance societies in China and the Caribbean. Through the years, Fisher had a remarkable influence on cooperatives. He demonstrated his dedication to cooperative principles in his business dealings, his every day life, and his interaction with others.

Dwight Oberschlake

Inducted:1992

In more than four decades of cooperative service, Dwight Oberschlake’s contributions to cooperative practice touched many lives. His guidance, selfless effort and leadership – given so graciously and unsparingly over many years – played a major role in the success of numerous cooperative endeavors and has made cooperative development truly an integral component in his life’s work. Oberschlake’s early experience in the cooperative sector included leadership in farm-supply and marketing cooperatives in his native Brown County, Ohio. As the longtime owner and operator of a 180-acre dairy farm, he knew first-hand of the challenges farmers encounter in producing and marketing their products.

Broadening his positive influence to the state, national and global levels, Dwight was a trustee of the Ohio Farm Bureau, president of the Ohio Council of Farmer Cooperatives, and in 1971 was elected a director of the National Cooperative Business Association. He became a board member of the Nationwide Insurance Companies in 1972, and board chairman of the parent Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company in 1989.

Frank B. Sollars

Inducted:1998

Frank B. Sollars served humanity worldwide by his devotion to encouraging and promoting the use of cooperatives by all people and all organizations. His outstanding leadership at local, regional, national, and international levels has greatly strengthened and expanded the usefulness of cooperatives. He served as president of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, on the board of directors of his regional cooperative, and as chair of both the Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company and the National Cooperative Business Association. He sparked and led the efforts to establish the National Cooperative Bank, defended it from early attackers and, as its chair for nine years, led it to the important place it holds in the cooperative community. Sollars has always promoted cooperatives in all of his contacts, including those with the International Cooperative Alliance. Hosting cooperators from around the world at his farm in Ohio, Frank has made international cooperation a practical reality.

Roman Eller

Inducted:1985

Roman Eller served as president and chief executive officer of MSI Insurance from 1970-1982, during which time assets, income, and reserves of the company increased fourfold. Eller established the Mutual Service Fund in 1976. This fund awarded annual grants to cooperative development projects and was called by Jerry Voorhis, former National Cooperative Business Association president, ‘one of the most far-reaching philanthropic accomplishments in the country.’ During his 41-year career at MSI, Eller held leadership positions in a number of cooperative organizations including CARE, the National Cooperative Business Association, Interregional Services Corp., and the Agricultural Cooperative Development International. Eller served as a member of the central committee of the International Cooperative Alliance.

Felix F. Rondeau

Inducted:1979

In the 1940s, Felix F. Rondeau played a major role in the consolidation of five cooperative insurance companies, which were to become Mutual Service Insurance Companies. He was general manager of the consolidated insurance program and was the first president of Mutual Services from 1951 until his early retirement in 1970. After retirement from MSI, he became an incorporator and charter board member of a new cooperative leasing organization, and was chosen its first president and general manager. He was active in national and international cooperative work, and for many years represented U.S. co-ops in the Central Committee of the International Cooperative Alliance.

George H. Dunlap

Inducted:1978

At the age of 27, George H. Dunlap was the youngest Ohio Farm Bureau director ever elected. He was active in Farm Bureau affiliates, serving as director of his Harrison County Farm Bureau for 25 years. In addition, he was an incorporator of a farm supply agency commonly known as Landmark, Inc. He was a member of the National Cooperative Business Association board and executive committee, and was prominent in international cooperative affairs as a congress delegate and central committee member for the International Cooperative Alliance. Dunlap was a longtime Nationwide Insurance director, and served from 1969 to 1972 as general chairman and chief executive officer of the Nationwide organization.

Murray D. Lincoln (1892-1966)

Inducted:1976

As president of the National Cooperative Business Association from 1941 to 1965, and as a board member of the International Cooperative Alliance, Murray D. Lincoln was a dynamic spokesman for cooperatives in every sphere. He led in forming economic associations – the Ohio Farm Bureau Cooperative Association, an agricultural credit association, a rural electric association, and what is now the Nationwide Insurance organization. As longtime Nationwide president he moved the organization into many areas of people’s needs. He was also the first president of CARE.