Crimson & Gold
With California in his sights, Gene Adcock posed outside the original Kendall College building, the home of David Wolcott Kendall. |
When asked his age, Gene Adcock (K’55) playfully replies, “How old would you be if you didn’t know your age?” That answer says a lot about the multitalented businessman and artist. Despite a childhood marred by tragedy and uncertainty, Adcock steadfastly retains his joy and wonder of the world. It is a view of life that has allowed him to be a partner in a successful design firm, see changes in American cuisine as an investment opportunity, cook, sculpt, travel and support younger artists.
Younger by exactly what measure is another question.
LOOKING WESTWARD
Adcock relaxes outside his Colorado home with 2007-08 Adcock Scholarship recipient Matthew Gubancsik and KCAD President Oliver Evans. |
At the encouragement of his aunt (who recently turned 100 in his care), Adcock went to accounting school although he aspired to pursue interior design not a popular idea for men in the 1950s, especially a young man like Adcock who dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player before injuring his back. After graduation he spent a year in a Detroit accounting firm until his passion pushed him out and into Kendall College of Art and Design to pursue his dream.
Adcock graduated in 1955 with a certificate in Interior Design from KCAD, married his first wife, Sylvia, and headed for California.
ALL THE TOPPINGS
In Los Angeles, Adcock spent four years working for an office furniture design firm before striking out on his own. With borrowed money he bought half interest in a design firm, naming it Designers Adcock & Stock. The firm specialized in commercial and business interiors, and within five years employed a staff of 23. The firm counted many major corporations among its clients, including ABC-TV and NBC-TV corporate offices, First National Bank of Chicago, Citicorp Los Angeles, and the offices of Sherry Lansing at Paramount Studios, and Madine Larson at 20th Century Fox. As Adcock’s reputation grew, so did the number of celebrities who admired his work and hired his firm to design their homes, including Joe Namath, Steve McQueen, Wilt Chamberlain and Neil Diamond.
Among the firm’s business clients, California Pizza Kitchen selected Designers Adcock & Stock to design the interiors for their restaurants. The first California Pizza Kitchen opened on March 27, 1985, in Beverly Hills, serving such California-style creations as BBQ Chicken Pizza, Thai Chicken Pizza and Jamaican Jerk Pizza. Today there are 215 California Pizza Kitchen restaurants. In addition to shaping the company’s look, Adcock also invested, becoming one of the original owners. When the company went public and offered franchises, his investment paid off — so much so that Adcock was able to eventually leave the firm he’d headed for 35 years to pursue his other creative passions.
Getting thrown from a bar’s mechanical bull does not always lead to self-discovery. However, when Adcock found himself laid up for six weeks after exactly that kind of mishap, he made a list of things he wanted to do with his life one of which was to take cooking lessons. Not content to study only through community education classes, Adcock traveled the world to study with famous chefs (including Wolfgang Puck, Julia Child and Jacques Pepin) in China and Italy as well as in the U.S. In Carbondale, Colo., where Adcock moved in the late 1980s, he is known for his many skills. The Aspen Afi Museum auctions his culinary skills off twice a year in a fundraiser, with the winning bidder enjoying a six-course dinner for eight people, prepared by Adcock in his artful and art-filled home.
A PASSIONATE LIFE
Adcock’s sculpture “A Flower for Jeanie.” |
Adcock acquired his love of sculpting from his friend and mentor, the painter, sculptor and writer Leon Saulter. Even though Adcock didn’t start sculpting himself until after his friend died in 1987, Saulter greatly influenced Adcock, particularly in his whimsical bronzes of full-figured women.
It was through his interest in sculpture that Adcock met the woman he describes as the “love of his life,” the sculptor Jeanie Renchard. After the two married they moved to Colorado where they purchased a secluded riverfront home. In 1989, the couple traveled to Italy and spent a season working in marble. They continued their yearly pilgrimage together until 2000, when Jeanie succumbed to cancer. Adcock continues to travel to Pietrasantaa to sculpt in tribute to her.
It is at his garden party where Adcock presents The Gene Adcock Scholarship Award, which he established to recognize an outstanding full-time Kendall student entering his or her senior year. Recognizing how one artistic passion can lead to another, Adcock chose not to restrict the scholarship to a specific discipline.
One passion leading to another that has been a common theme in Adcock’s life. In an age of narrow specialization, niche marketing and demographic segmentation, Adcock embodies the ideal of a different time the renaissance man who is equally at home in the kitchen or studio, boardroom or ballroom, home or abroad.