Lifetime Achievement Awards 2007
AKC Honors Recipients of the 2007 Lifetime Achievement Awards

The American Kennel Club (AKC®) honored the recipients of the 2007 AKC Lifetime Achievement Awards at the December 5 Delegates Meeting in Long Beach, California, in conjunction with the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship. The winners received an engraved Tiffany and Co. sterling silver bowl. A larger Tiffany and Co. bowl, engraved with the names of all recipients past and present, is on permanent display at the AKC Headquarters in New York City.

The AKC Lifetime Achievement Awards were created to honor those individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the sport of purebred dogs on a national level. The recipients were selected by votes cast by AKC member clubs for nominees in each of the following categories: Conformation, Companion Events and Performance.

Left to Right:   Hon. David C. Merriam (AKC Vice Chairman of the Board)   Bill Speck (Vice President of AKC Performance Events)   John Lyons (AKC Chief Operating Officer)   Kenneth A. Marden   Jane Kamp Forsyth   Marian Mason Hodesson   Ronald H. Menaker (AKC Chairman of the Board)   Dennis Sprung (AKC President and Chief Executive Officer)   Curt Curtis (Assistant Vice President of AKC Companion Events)

The 2007 recipients are:

Conformation: Jane Kamp Forsyth
Jane grew up in the show ring. Her mother was a breeder/exhibitor of Boxers and Airedales, and young Jane handled her first homebred Airedale to Best in Obedience at Boston sixty-four years ago. In her teens she managed and handled dogs for Elblac Kennels (Doberman Pinschers), Grafmar Kennels (German Shepherd Dogs) and Dorick Kennels (Boxers). She became a professional handler and went into partnership with George Pusey. Together, they bred and exhibited Boxers for three years.

She later joined forces with Robert S. Forsyth, and they soon became dogdom's most famous husband-and-wife team of handlers. Jane and Bob handled Best in Show winners at Westminster, the only married couple to do so.

Mrs. Forsyth was named the Kennel Review Handler of the Year three times, earning her a place in the Hall of Fame. She has won three Gaines Awards, including Woman of the Year, and was inducted into the American Boxer Club Hall of Fame in 2001.

In 1981, after forty-three years, Mrs. Forsyth retired from handling. She is approved for all AKC and FCI breeds, and has judged in England, Finland, Sweden, South America, Puerto Rico, Canada, Italy, and Mexico. Mrs. Forsyth judged four AKC/Eukanuba National Championships including Best in Show in January 2006.

Companion Events: Marian Mason Hodesson
Marian was born in the north of England and emigrated with her family to the United States in 1928, along with the family Collie. They settled in Monrovia, California, establishing the Wilpshire Kennel in the early thirties. First drawn to Obedience, Marian trained and showed Collies, Shetland Sheepdogs, and Miniature Poodles, finishing several dogs in those early years in both Conformation and Obedience.

She became an Obedience judge in the 1940s and applied for her first breed in 1963. She is presently licensed to judge the Sporting, Working, Non-Sporting, and Herding Groups. She has judged throughout the United States and Canada, as well as in Mexico, New Zealand and Australia.

A charter member of the Canada del Oro Kennel Club, Marian has been a member of the Collie Club of America and Tucson Kennel Club for over 53 and 35 years respectively, serving as Chair in a variety of capacities.

Marian worked with her husband, a veterinarian, for 23 years. Longtime contributors to the Veterinary School Library at the Ohio State University, Marian and her late husband had been working towards an endowment. Marian experienced the thrill of a lifetime when she recently found out that their goal had been achieved.

Performance: Kenneth A. Marden
Ken has owned, trained, and bred German Shorthaired Pointers since 1961. Successfully competing under his Crossing Creek banner in field trials, hunting tests, as well as Conformation and Obedience, Ken has finished 12 Champions, all amateur handled. A Field trial judge since 1966, he has judged more than 100 pointing breed Field trials.

Ken served as the AKC Delegate for the German Shorthaired Pointer Club of America since 1974 and has been a Director on the AKC Board from 1986 to 2006. He served several terms as president of the Eastern German Shorthaired Pointer Club, and as vice president of the German Shorthaired Pointer Club of America.

In 1987, he was elected president of The American Kennel Club and established the Performance Events department. Under his leadership the department expanded to include Herding Agility, Lure Coursing, Earthdog, and Coonhound trials as AKC events.

Following his three-years as President, Ken continued to serve as a Director on the AKC Board where his experience and knowledge of Performance events provided an invaluable resource. For the last thirteen years, he has held the position of Chairman of the AKC Gun Dog Championships Association, which supervises the annual AKC Pointing Breed Gun Dog Championships.