Back row, left to right: Alfred Auerbach, Jim Eppinger, D.J. De Pree, Max De Pree, George Nelson Seated, left to right: Charles Eames, Hugh De Pree
In Zeeland, Michigan, you can drive down a typical small-town street lined with typical small-town houses—shingled roofs, painted shutters, clapboard siding and all—until you come to something altogether different. At first, it looks like there’s a mistake or a missing house. Approach further and you’ll find a low-slung set of flat-roofed shoeboxes set back from the street into the woods beyond. This is the home Charles and Ray Eames designed in 1952 for their friend and colleague, Max De Pree—one of Herman Miller Founder D.J. De Pree’s three sons—his wife Esther, and their four children. Like the man who commissioned it, the house is humble, approachable, appropriate, warm, and completely one-of-a-kind.
Max De Pree helped make Herman Miller a leader in management philosophy and human-centered design. The last De Pree to hold the position of CEO, Max codified the company’s values in a series of books on leadership, which have gone on to sell more than a million copies in more than 20 languages around the world. He will be fondly remembered for establishing concepts such as “servant leadership” and “inclusive capitalism” that have become deeply rooted in our culture. In 1970, Max began a poetic brief for a Herman Miller manufacturing facility in the United Kingdom by stating, “Our goal is to make a contribution to the landscape of aesthetic and human value.” While he may have only had a building in mind, the contributions he made throughout his life extend far beyond.