IHFRA to honor Marty Sobel with Rudy Steltemeir Award

Alex Lemonde-Gray -- Furniture Today, February 28, 2012

Marty Sobel

HIGH POINT — The International Home Furnishings Representatives Assn. will present Marty Sobel of the Midwest Furniture Club with its Rudy Steltemeir Award.

The award presentation will take place here at the IHFRA Presidential Gala and Awards Dinner on April 20, the eve of the spring High Point Market. The event starts at 6 p.m. in the International Home Furnishings Center International ballroom.

The Rudy Steltemeir Award recognizes an IHFRA member who has demonstrated the qualities of outstanding service to fellow representatives as exemplified by Steltemeir, a Tennessee-based sales rep for 66 years who died in 1993 at age 92.

Sobel has been an active member of IHFRA for more than four decades. He began his career as a representative in the apparel industry in 1963 and joined the furniture industry in 1965. He has served as president of IHFRA's Midwest Chapter, and was the first member of the chapter to receive the Dean of IHFRA award. He also was honored with the Midwest Presidential Service Award twice.

Sobel founded the Midwest group's Bill Krause Memorial golf outing, which raises funds for a school for the hearing impaired in Illinois. He also started mentoring programs for new sales reps at each factory he has represented.