Springboro OH
5-15-2023 6:25pm

Springboro Business Owner Recognized By The Pennsylvania Society

Submitted photo of S. Dale High

SPRINGBORO, OH -- S. Dale High, Chair Emeritus of High Industries and High Real Estate Group is one of only five people in the history of The Pennsylvania Society to receive the Society’s Distinguished Citizen of the Commonwealth Award for his ..."many contributions to the economic progress of Pennsylvania and for his commitment to his community through unique and innovative philanthropy."

"Unlike our Gold Medal for Distinguished Achievement, which is presented every year, the Society’s Distinguished Citizen honor is only bestowed when the Society’s Council has identified a worthy recipient,” said Elizabeth Preate Havey, president of The Pennsylvania Society. “We certainly have found that person in S. Dale High, Chair Emeritus of High Industries and High Real Estate Group."

(Submitted Photo) Elizabeth Havey of the Pennsylvania Society with S.Dale High

So how does this Pennsylvania Society's award winner S. Dale High connect with Warren County?

First, let's meet S.Dale High, Chair Emeritus of High Industries Inc. and High Real Estate Group LLC.

After graduating from Elizabethtown College in 1963, S. Dale High, the third and youngest son of Sanford High, joined the family business, which his father had started back in 1931. Originally the company was High Welding Company in Lancaster, PA.

However, in 1955, his father and elder brother Calvin incorporated the company to High Industries Inc., which was the company Dale began his career. In the same year that Dale came to work at High Industries Inc., the company branched out to form High Realty Company.

By 1977, Dale was named Chairman, President and CEO of High Industries. It was also the same year that High Industries purchased Kurtz Precast, which became High Concrete Structures. This was just the beginning of the company's expansion into other businesses. 

During Dale's leadership, the family business grew to include:

  • High Steel Service Center (1978) - full-line value-added metal processor and distributor
  • High Construction Company (1978)
  • High Associates (1980) - formed to sell, lease, and manage commercial, industrial, and residential real estate
  • High Foundation (1980) - a philanthropic, non-profit organization with the mission to make a significant difference in the lives of those most in need in our community
  • High Hotels Ltd. was formed (1988)
  • High formed Greenfield Architects (1990) - provides architecture, adaptive reuse, interior design, and planning

Then, in 1993, The S. Dale High Family assumed full ownership of High Industries Inc. and its affiliates.

High Industries Connection to Springboro, Ohio

In 2004, High Concrete Group acquired an architectural precast concrete plant which is in Warren County's Springboro, Ohio.

Located east of Historic Downtown Springboro on Mound Street sits one of only two High Concrete Group operational plants. (The other is located in Denver, PA.) According to Highconcrete.com, having its site in Springboro allows High Industries to have regional coverage in the midwest states of Michigan, Illinois, Indian, Kentucky and of course Ohio.

S. Dale High, the Philanthropist and Entrepreneur

Along with running a successful company, in 1980, Dale created High Foundation — a philanthropic, non-profit organization. Its mission: to make a significant difference in the lives of those most in need in our community... and according to the High Foundation "our" community stands for communities where High Industries has businesses.

"Under the High Foundation that he created, profits will be invested into the Lancaster community, and other communities where High provides economic investment and employment, by providing co-workers a direct line to create more thriving, vibrant communities where they live and work," noted the PASociety.com March 13, 2023 News Release.

S. Dale High's Announcement in 2022

"Dale transferred his ownership stake to the High Foundation, emboldening the Foundation through an extraordinary act of business leadership and philanthropic vision that will benefit communities for generations to come. Pennsylvania has been fortunate to call him a citizen, and we look forward to presenting Dale with this unique honor," explained Havey when the news came out that he was to receive the award.

On April 27, 2023, during the 125th Annual Meeting of the Society in Lancaster, S. Dale High received one of the highest honors bestowed by a historically prominent organization in the Commonwealth of PA, explained Nell McCormack Abom of the PA Society.

Among the previous recipients of the Society’s Distinguished Citizen of the Commonwealth Award are Rachel Carson (1999); Louis Appell (2005); Patrick Solano (2016); and C. Alan Walker (2022).

About The Pennsylvania Society

The Pennsylvania Society is a non-profit, charitable organization with over two thousand members around the Commonwealth, the United States and the world. It is not affiliated with any particular political party, business or profession. Its purpose is to honor achievement, to reward excellence, to promote good will and understanding and to celebrate service to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and to humanity in general. Thriving and still growing in its third century of existence, the Society is the longest-lived organization of its kind in the country. Learn more at www.PASociety.com.

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