CLOSTER, NJ — John Bishop, president of Gurnee Heating & Air Conditioning here in Closter, won the Contractor of the Year award from the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC).

Bishop accepted the award at the association’s national convention in New Orleans, LA.

ABC said it presents this award each year to the member who has demonstrated significant accomplishment for ABC, the merit shop, and the construction industry.

Bishop, for example:

  • Served on ABC’s national Executive Committee during the 1980s as a regional vice chairman and as national treasurer;

  • Set up the financial and operating procedures for the association’s legal arm, the Construction Legal Rights Foundation (CLRF), and served as its chairman from 1996 to 2001; and

  • Continues to play an active role in the CLRF’s management and is active in ABC’s government affairs activities.

    In presenting the award, ABC immediate past national chairman Henry Kelly said, “John has devoted the last 20 years to ABC on the national and state levels.

    “The list of past recipients of the Contractor of the Year award is very impressive. John’s name fits very well on this list. He is a model ABC member, and we are proud to name him Contractor of the Year.”

    After receiving the award, Bishop said, “This is a very humbling honor when you think of all the folks who devote all the effort that the do to ABC. [The association] doesn’t get to where it is today because of the efforts of a few. It has reached its prestigious position because of the efforts of many.”

    Gurnee Heating and Air Conditioning is a mechanical contractor that was founded in 1949.

    Publication date: 07/22/2002