Babe Ruth is in one in Cooperstown, New York, Mick Jagger is in one in Cleveland, and now the pioneers of our nation’s modern spa industry are being honored with a Spa Hall of Fame. The inaugural “Class of 2015” includes founders, visionaries, and distinguished contributors who will be recognized for lifetime achievement during Washington Spa Alliance’s (WSPA) 5th Annual Symposium on March 17th at the National Press Club.
The Spa Hall of Fame, which will live as an virtual museum at washingtonspaalliance.com, will feature photos and bios of inductees as well as an archive of timelines and history as a way to publicly recognize a select group of leaders and luminaries who have made significant contributions to the development and advancement of the modern spa experience. Future inductees will be chosen and announced at WSPA’s Annual Symposium each spring.
The Spa Hall of Fame is a way to publicly recognize a select group of leaders and luminaries who have made significant contributions to the development and advancement of the modern spa experience.
The first inductees are:
•Deborah Szekely, 1940, Rancho La Puerta (co-founder); 1958, the Golden Door (founder)
•Sheila Cluff, 1977, The Oaks at Ojai (owner and founder)
•Jerrold Cohen, 1979, Canyon Ranch (co-founder)
•Pat and Juanita Corbett, 1982, The Hills Health Ranch (co-founders)
•Professor Mary Huddleston Tabacchi, 1984, First University Course on Spa, Cornell University
•Clodagh, 1984, Clodagh Design (founder)
•Ruth Stricker, 1985, The Marsh, A Center for Balance and Fitness (founder)
•Bernard Burt, 1989, historian & author, Fodor’s Health & Fitness Vacations; 1991, ISPA (co-founder)
“This induction ceremony will represent the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together centered around spa– with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson took the waters alone in Warm Springs, Virginia in 1818,” noted the museum’s pro-bono curator, Mary-Elizabeth Gifford (referencing President Kennedy’s oft-quoted welcome to Nobel Prize winners who were hailed as unmatched in the White House since Jefferson dined there alone).
Registration for the Symposium, whose program will feature the first-ever gathering of the nation’s regional spa leadership, is limited.