Capitol Theatre Auditorium Named in Honour of Robert Fox
Chatham – As part of the Chatham-Kent Celebration last Saturday evening to close the RBC Opening Festival at the Chatham Capitol Theatre, Kevin McMillan, President of the Chatham Capitol Theatre Association announced that the main auditorium at the newly reopened venue would be called “The Robert and Lynn Fox Family Auditorium.” The name was chosen by the Board of Directors to recognize Bob Fox’s incredible contribution of both time and money to the project.
In making the announcement, Mr. McMillan recognized Bob Fox as the project’s single largest donor with a conservative estimate topping $1 million. Over the years, “Bob managed to donate back to the Capitol every penny of salary he had been paid, and when even that wasn’t enough, he continued to work for no remuneration, and continued to support financially that which was otherwise unsupportable out of his own pocket,” he said.
In addition, McMillan cited his extraordinary commitment of time. “Bob brought an air of professionalism to the operation of the Capitol Theatre Project. His method in achieving this professionalism was through enormous commitments of time and energy. His wife, Lynne, and his family can well attest to the fact that it became normal for me to expect Bob would answer his phone at his Capitol desk seven days a week. It became normal for me to expect him to lavish care on the wording of every letter that went out the door and to see that the last penny of each audited financial statement was accounted for.”
Robert Fox is ending his association with the Chatham Capitol Theatre so that he can accept a position as Principle of a new school in Qingdao, China. He expects to leave for China later this month.
realitycheck
October 2, 2010 at 11:13 am
Nice!
After all the abuse this man has taken from the misinformed!
Lyle Lanley
October 2, 2010 at 7:35 pm
You did a good job, Mr Fox, but I only wish you could have worked a little faster.
Marlee
October 2, 2010 at 10:26 pm
What a well deserved tribute to someone who believed in this project from the start. I have never heard him complain about the naysayers although some of the personal attacks over the years must have been hurtful.
The quote from anthropologist Margaret Mead “Never underestimate the power of a small group of citizens to change the world” can be amended to “never underestimate the power of one man to change Chatham-Kent”. Bob Fox is such a man and many will be delighted at the naming of the auditorium after him.
Well done Bob and congratulations. Lucky China to get so courageous a man for awhile.
Zipper
October 3, 2010 at 6:32 am
To those who are against Mr Fox you must remember, that without council approval this project would not have progressed. All blame for the theater has to be laid at the feet of council not Mr Fox.
Although I do feel that the majority of taxpayers in CK are against CK ownership and could care less if it was in private hands.
I sure would like to see a vote if you are for or against the theater being owned by CK instead of private.
Congratulations Mr Fox on the naming, you worked hard on that project and it is well deserving.
Dan
October 3, 2010 at 8:25 am
So after almost 15 years and 21 million, you now have a capital theatre,were are all the jobs for the unemployed
watching
October 3, 2010 at 10:04 am
If Dan has been reading the press reports he should have seen that over 300 unemployed people were hired, trained in new skills and that over 70% of them have now gone on to full time employment elsewhere.
I do not know how many people work full and/or part time at the Capitol but those are all new jobs – and not just executives – there are cleaners, security, printers for programs, technicians, etc.
And spin off jobs include increased trade in local restaurants, hotels, B&Bs and shops as people come to Chatham for performances. And of course the performers all need to stay somewhere and eat somewhere.
Jobs for the unemployed? – as you can see, there are lots of them and the more people support the Capitol the more secure these jobs will be and the more additional jobs will become available.
Dan
October 3, 2010 at 6:05 pm
300 hundred jobs…I must have missed that press report seeing I’ve been to busy looking for work the last 2 years
Dan
October 3, 2010 at 6:09 pm
I can see 300 hundred jobs being produced over 15 years of rebuilding the theatre, if those people went on to full time employment then I’d like ot know were they are today, not sure what you do for work but jobs from Windsor to London are hard to find especially within this municipality
Rocket
October 3, 2010 at 10:57 pm
Dan … if you knew even a little bit about how the whole JCP process works you would know that most of them now have full time jobs with companies in Chatham-Kent and beyond. Just becuase you can’t find work doesn’t mean the rest of Chatham-Kent has that problem. I will agree finding a job in CK isn’t easy, but they are out there and if your willing to work they are out there. The job market out there right now is an employers dream as their are many skilled people out of work, therefor they can pick and choose who they want, not just the best of 3 highschool students who apply!
***Hi Rocket, you can’t call names here, so you got a slight edit. Thanks, Rob
Rocket
October 4, 2010 at 5:32 pm
Re: watching
There are very few people who are actually paid to work there. The Cleaners Security people Program writers and approx 95% of the production techys not to mention ticket staff ushers bar operators among pretty much everyone else you see in that place is volunteer. All those people I’ve seen in white shirts with black vests are all volunteer. I asked one of the ushers one night when she walked me to my seat she said pretty much everyone is volunteer who runs this place.
watching
October 5, 2010 at 12:21 am
I agree that the ushers and bar staff mostly are volunteers – who of course get to watch the shows for free which is not a bad “payment”.
Cleaners and security are however paid. And of course programs are printed by local companies – jobs. Staff at local restaurants, shops and hotels are paid – jobs. Gas stations who fuel cars to get to the theatre are paid – jobs. Even journalists who cover stories are paid (usually) – jobs.
And remember, each local person who gets paid, spends their money on food, rent, clothing, other entertainment.
A pebble has been dropped in the job market called the Capitol Theatre and the ripples are spreading out across our municipality.
I bet there are Capitol Theatre dollars in YOUR pocket.
Rocket
October 5, 2010 at 11:09 am
RE: watching
I can tell you are not a volunteer there because I now am. We the volunteers do not get to watch the show for free because we are usually busy with other things. Security personal is not paid they are all volunteers from a local law class they do have 1 janitor on staff who is paid the rest are volunteer. There are no capitol theatre dollars in my pocket however I am hoping to see this place succeed before my time is up on this earth which is why I am help there once in a while. Ok so restaurants shops and hotels might get a small boost but you really need to get all the facts before you start saying stuff you know nothing about.
Wallace Burger
October 3, 2010 at 8:55 pm
Lets not forget Mr Fox was also responsible for the renaming of the Chatham Chamber of Commerce, which was a direct infringement on the 4 other chambers in Chatham-Kent, but who really cares about that! By the way, they were wrong and the name did not get approval. The Chatham-Kent Chambers still have a voice and strong representation! Chatham will hopefully be joining them.
carrie
October 3, 2010 at 9:09 pm
Dan, maybe your attitude is preventing you from getting employment. I know several people who worked at the theatre developing new skills and have gone on to get jobs with thier new skills. I am sure they did not realize they had to let you know that they worked there.
CONGRATULATIONS Bob Fox!
Howie Mandel
October 3, 2010 at 11:00 pm
I think everyone should get over the fact that this theatre cost as much and took as long as it did. FACT… It’s here, It’s done. You can’t turn back time. Accept it and support it is all you can do – thats what I will do and thats what I have done!
Zipper
October 4, 2010 at 5:54 am
And don’t even think of coming back for more taxpayers money.
FactSeeker
October 4, 2010 at 11:28 am
I would like this community to know once and for all…Bob Fox made NO profit from the Capitol Theatre. He donated his family’s personal money to make sure this project was complete because he is an intelligent man with vision. People still slander his name because they cannot BELIEVE that anyone would do that. Well, believe it. I know because I worked on the development of the theatre for the past 10 years and was paid directly by Mr. Fox! Yes, his own money! Please stop revelling in the misinformation and outright lies that flourish out there. We had a great man…one of a kind…at the helm of this project. We now have a fantastic facility in the middle of our community that will only improve our economy. Get the facts!! Bob Fox and his wife, Lynn, deserve MORE than the naming of the theatre, but at least this is something…and about time!
Dan
October 5, 2010 at 1:37 pm
People’s memories tend to be short, and sometimes I’m no better, but i seem to remember news articles way back where Mr.Fox only donated that million dollars worth of salary back to the theatre after a huge public outrage once it became public knowledge about how much he’d been paid..given that was about the same as the municipal taxpayer’s gift back then. I could be wrong about this..but at least he did give the money back, and he did do a great deal of work on this project..I’m just not sure it was a million dollars worth…congratulations to him anyway
Wrong
October 5, 2010 at 6:12 pm
Time to get the facts straight. I can outright guarantee you Mr. Fox was not paid out $1,000,000 or anywhere close to that for his work for the Theatre. If that were the case, the project would have been bankrupt long, long, long ago. The over one million Kevin McMillan thanked him for was an out of pocket expense for Mr. Fox, one that without, the project wouldn’t have continued. Fact. This town has a solid history of nay-saying this project and it’s news sources a solid history of putting in print that which they do not know. No offense CKDP.
Dan
October 6, 2010 at 2:04 pm
I am posting this so Wrong and Factseeker will have all the facts:
Actually Mr Fox was paid almost $1 Million dollars by the Capitol Theatre Association, well, his ‘consulting’ company that he started after retiring from being a teacher/principal was..$960,500 to be exact…and he ‘forgave’ a further $89000+ in billed invoices after the public uproar.
This was published information and can be found here: http://www.chathamdailynews.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=1077674
As you can see, Mr Fox was not a volunteer from 1999 thru 2006 on this project. His consultant fees were being paid from the proceeds of both the municipal donation and the many donations from the community. He did pay a significant portion of his ‘fees’ as costs which benefitted the project, but he was also making a pretty handsome profit at the time also.
I do give the man credit for returning all that profit, and probably then some, back to the theatre where it belonged in the first place. I mean, its a bit of a shell game, but he was really only donating back money that had already been donated in the first place by others.
That being said, he did do the right thing, when he could probably very easily have walked away. By doing so, it means that all the hours, all the years that he put into this project to make it a success…are volunteer for the most part.
I think the means by which he bacame the single largest contributor to the project are a little shifty..Im just trying to set the record straight here..but he did do the right thing in the end, and he was a large part of the project for a long time. I do believe he wanted with all his heart for the project to succeed…so i say once again, Congratulations to him
twoguest
October 7, 2010 at 8:01 am
The man had a contract and was paid accordingly. He gave that money(and more)back to the project. What is “shifty” about that?
I don’t believe anyone felt Fox was a “volunteer” but he and his family certainly are deserving of the naming honour.
Wrong
October 9, 2010 at 8:12 pm
The $960,000 million dollars that archived article from the Chatham Daily News quotes was paid out to his consulting company, not him! It clearly states in the article that this amount of money was shared between he, and a partner. So, thank you, but i’ll stay with my facts.
Truth
October 7, 2010 at 3:22 pm
I worked for the Capitol through the JCP program for one year and loved every minute of it. Bob Fox was wonderful to work with. His passion and determination should be an inspiration to all. I learned a lot during my time at the theatre. I was able to secure full time employment elsewhere due to the new skills I learned during my JCP term. I wish Bob Fox lots of luck in China. You will be missed! Thank you for giving me the opportunity to get to know you! Not enough people know what a caring man you are. There are so many terrible rumors out there due to ignorance. The theatre is done and it’s beautiful. I’ve been to two amazing shows there already and plan on seeing many more in the near future. Chatham-Kent should be proud of this project and quit with all the negativity.
Gulliver
October 7, 2010 at 5:18 pm
Has anyone noticed – that Mr Fox – with his own $$ and getting no mileage has attended more community events than probably anyone posting here? He has been a constant booster of the arts – pretty good for an old football lineman- I have seen him at so many w’burg events- as well as any other area i have been in – the first to support a cause, buy the 50/50 ticket etc – if you are going to criticize someone – try the people people that sit home and complain and then only go to Detroit, london or toronto for their entertainment
Todd
December 29, 2010 at 7:02 pm
Chatham kent has gotten what it asked for. This Theatre which is driven by promotors and travelling companies coming to chatham and sucking large $ out of the economy. A 25 million dollar building, which depreciates at $500,000 a yr, is built to rent to profit making promoters to take Chatham kent dollars out of our local economy. I am sorry, this is the worst economic forsight in history.