FYI For more information about the Boulder County Business Hall of Fame, visit the Web site http://halloffamebiz.com.

Locals might think of Boulder County Business Hall of Fame inductees as people who have earned a decent amount of money - and they'd be correct.

But the Hall of Fame held its induction ceremony for six members of the Class of 2008 Thursday at the Radisson Hotel and Conference Center in Longmont, and attendees heard stories about the inductees that included other one-word attributes.

Volunteerism. Integrity. Joy. Gratitude.

Jerry Lewis, former publisher of the Boulder County Business Report (BCBR), added "simplicity" to his introductory remarks about the late inductee Harlow C. Platts. Lewis said that with all the technology available in today's business world - cell phones, wireless laptops, etc. -Platts made his mark with the simple pocket knife.

According to a BCBR biography, Platts graduated from CU with a degree in engineering, and entered the family business Western States Cutlery, a Boulder-based firm that made sheath and pocket knives. Lewis said Western products are highly prized as collectibles, and said the U.S. military used Western sheath knives in World War II.

Platts also served on the City of Boulder's Planning Board from 1930 until 1960, and has a city park named after him.

Bill Platts, Harlow's grandson, spoke at the awards ceremony and said he learned several valuable lessons from his grandfather - a love of nature, an objective of keeping his life in balance, and integrity.

"His handshake was better than any written contract," said Platts.

Boulder's Virginia Patterson, a 1995 Hall inductee, also recalled Platts as a "dear neighbor on Mapleton Hill for many, many years," but she was there to introduce inductee Joan Brett, owner/director of the Culinary School of the Rockies (CSR).

Patterson said Brett has obviously helped thousands of people learn how to prepare fine meals, but said Brett has also served with "innumerable" local nonprofits and worked with the Boulder Valley School District to move more fresh fruits and vegetables into the district's menu.

Brett said she practiced family law before opening CSR, but found that she was dealing with conflict on a daily basis. She quipped that the conflict made her blood pressure rise, and found that working with food was more about love and building "central pleasure."

She said she was proud of CSR's innovation, including a program in which the students will spend time on a farm to learn the connection between culinary arts and agriculture.

Hall inductee Edwin Kanemoto has been vice president and co-owner of Longmont's largest real estate company, Prudential Rocky Mountain Realtors. He has also served on many commercial and nonprofit boards, according to the BCBR, including the Colorado Association of Realtors and the Longmont United Hospital and Hospital Foundation Board.

He thanked his parents and his wife Jan for helping him become a product of a positive environment.

"Family honor was critical," said Kanemoto. "Forget the Hall of Fame -we wanted to avoid the Hall of Shame."

Stephen Tebo, a Boulder commercial real estate developer and past Hall inductee, introduced 2008 inductee David Wyatt, owner of Wyatt Construction Company.

Tebo read off a long list of Wyatt's accomplishments, including his work as a contractor on hundreds of commercial and residential projects, his service with organizations such as Boulder Community Hospital and Thistle Community Housing, and his talents as a pilot and as a fly-fisherman.

But Wyatt thanked his partners, co-workers and friends after taking the microphone. He said his company often receives the credit for a project that is well done, but said Wyatt Construction certainly works with planners and architects, among others, who deserve a share of the recognition.

"I'm just one small part of it," said Wyatt.

Susan M. Pratt, Thursday's event sponsor through the Susan M. Pratt Foundation and a 2001 Hall inductee, introduced 2008 inductee John Fenstermaker. She said Fenstermaker is a "twice-retired" man who continues to serve on business and nonprofit boards, and a person who works to improve Longmont's quality of life -which helps attract companies to the area.

"John is a man who has made, and continues to make, a difference," said Pratt.

Fenstermaker is a former IBM engineer, but he said he wasn't in 1958 when he was drawing unemployment in Duluth, Minn. He said the employment office called him to let him know that IBM was hiring.

"I said, 'So?'" said Fenstermaker. "They said, 'If you don't go in for an interview, you're cut off."

He decided to make the visit to IBM, got hired, and eventually transferred from North Dakota to the Boulder IBM campus. He spent 32 years with IBM, according to BCBR, as well as eight years with Staodyn, Inc.

Juan Rodriguez, co-founder of CU's Deming School for Entrepreneurship and a 2000 Hall inductee, introduced 2008 inductee Peter Behrendt. Rodriguez also co-founded the high-tech firm Exabyte, and said the former IBM employee Behrendt impressed him immediately - so he hired him and watched Exabyte's revenue skyrocket.

Behrendt and his mother escaped from East Germany in 1955, according to BCBR, and Rodriguez said the two men had several things in common -including coming to the U.S. as teens before launching successful careers.

Behrendt has also taught entrepreneurship at CU, and said the university and its Leeds School of Business are "undervalued" assets to the community. He also recalled participating in a CU Conference on World Affairs panel regarding the "orgy of corporate greed," and said three of the four panelists and "probably two-thirds of the audience" had negative opinions about greed in the business world.

But Behrendt also said he wished the CWA audience could have been at the Hall presentation, to witness stories about businessmen and women creating good jobs and giving back to the community.

And at the end of Thursday's event, CU's Dean of the Leeds School of Business Dennis Ahlburg thanked the Hall of Fame for granting scholarships to possible business leaders of the future - Leeds students Lisa Mallen and Evan Austin.

Contact Richard Valenty about this story at (303) 443-6272 ext. 126, or at valenty@coloradodaily.com.