Junior Achievement Alaska Business Monthly Hall of Fame Laureate: Vern McCorkle.

• Author: Stomierowski, Peg
• Position: JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT 2010 SPECIAL SECTION

Alaska Business Monthly Publisher Vern C. McCorkle was a friend to free enterprise in The Last Frontier. He had a big hand in organizing the Junior Achievement Hall of Fame recognition, which this month passes to him posthumously.

Each month he had shared stories of the state's development in the publication's colorful pages. The magazine he helped start celebrated its 25th anniversary as Alaska observed 50 years of statehood. Meanwhile, McCorkle kept on contributing what he could as he fought for his life against pancreatic cancer.

When death came calling last January, the empty chair at his desk left colleagues in the business to ponder again how much of the real content of a life lived large--the long days and hours spent in the public eye or in quiet reflection--can't ever really tell the whole story of his loss.

"Vern always had a glint in his eye and a grin on his face," reflected Steve Lindbeck of Alaska Public Telecommunications Inc. (APTI). In a light-handed way, Lindbeck and others observed, McCorkle inspired colleagues toward excellence.

McCorkle was a guest commentator on "Anchorage Edition" and was a familiar face on screen during public television fundraising drives at KAKM.

"You could not leave a business meeting with Vern without feeling a deeper commitment to service and quality," Lindbeck added.

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"He exuded those qualities, and he brought out the best in the people around him. At APTI, he was a volunteer who gave us good counsel on our community advisory board. More than that, he was a friend who constantly reminded us why good service is always good business."

Jim Martin, general manager of Alaska Business Monthly and McCorkle's business partner for 18 years, agreed that McCorlde, despite a touch of sarcasm--his trade ran in his blood from the time he was a boy--was quick to see the good in things. Despite different management styles, the men got on well, Martin said: "He had a hand on the left rudder, and I had a hand on the right rudder."

That commitment to revealing the stories of Alaska business people--from big corporations to sole proprietors--at work navigating the shoals of survival and growth is part of his legacy.

The magazine prints 12,000 copies of each issue and boasts more than 100,000 readers. To this day, Era Aviation carries these issues in its seatbacks, exposing passengers excited about seeing Alaska to what's happening in business here.

Too journalistic to be unaware of problems...