Forty Niner Shop's Gary Adams retires

By Randi Bemiss, On-Line Forty-Niner

Thursday, August 27, 1998

After nearly twenty six years at Cal State Long Beach, Gary B. Adams, former chief executive officer of Forty Niner Shops Inc. and chairman of the criminal justice department, retired in July leaving behind his many additions to the campus.

"The Forty Niner Shops is really a strong believer in customer service and what we prefer to call an attitude actually, not a program. It is something you have to carry on all the time, every day. Adams was instrumental in introducing that," Controller and Interim General Manager Roman Gulon said.

Dr. Judy H. Kaci, interim chairwoman of the criminal justice department, began her career as a full-time faculty member at CSULB around the same time as Adams in August 1972.

"He was real active with junior colleges and developing their [criminal justice] lower division curriculum to mesh with CSULB's," she said.

Adams taught criminal justice from 1972 to 1984 and served as a chairman of the criminal justice department from 1975 to 1983, according to a resume from the Shops. He was elected to the board of directors and became chairman of the Forty Niner Shops in 1980.

Adams continued his ascent up the corporate ladder, becoming the general manager and chief executive officer of the Shops just four years later.

From 1984 until his retirement, he worked diligently at improving the image and scope of services provided by the Shops. He is now spending his time in Idaho, Gulon said.

"Adams built the corporation up to its present level; he was responsible for all of the remodeling of food and dining services, concession areas and The Pyramid concessions." he said.

This included The Outpost, The University Dining Plaza and the new snack shop at the University Library.

Adams also spearheaded the expansion of and the addition to the University Bookstore.

The corporation is now searching for a replacement to continue Adams' tradition of development. The nationwide recruitment effort to replace Adams includes mailing flyers to universities in the western United States with a student enrollment in excess of 10,000 and auxiliary organizations involved with California schools, Gulon said.

The Chronicle of Higher Education will begin reviewing applications from October 1 until the position is filled.