Online Registration for this event will open in July
The Spirit of Marin Award recognizes the achievements and volunteer spirit of local businesses and business people as chosen by the twelve participating Marin County-based Chambers of Commerce.
The Spirit Behind the Spirit of Marin Award
The Spirit of Marin Award was inspired by Dr. Jim Dawson, an orthodontist by profession and an inspiration by example. During his lifetime, Dr. Jim was a member of almost every Board of Directors in Marin County in addition to being an organizer and director of Bank of Marin. His philosophy of life can best be explained by George Bernard Shaw's "A Splendid Torch", a poem which Jim kept on a piece of paper in his wallet.
"I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatsoever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake, Life is no "brief candle" for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to the future generations."
The award itself is a work of art created by San Rafael glass artist Latchezar Boyadjiev. The clearly defined objective of his art is to "create an illusion of a world inside the glass piece, to refract the light into a rainbow effect and emphasize the dynamism of the shape." By using his technique of grinding and polishing the highest quality of glass giving each piece a luminescent quality, he captured the essence of the torch in the glass in an almost mystical way.
