Reuven Rahamim, the founder of Accent Signage Systems who played a leading role in advocating the importance of ADA signage, was shot to death on Accent’s premises in Minneapolis in late afternoon on September 27. Around 4:30 p.m., Andrew Engeldinger, 36, an Accent employee of 12 years who’d been fired earlier in the day, entered the building and killed five people before turning the gun on himself and committing suicide.
Others killed in this senseless act of violence were Keith Basinski, 50, a UPS deliveryman for nearly 30 years, who was at Accent making or picking up a delivery; Jacob Beneke, 34, Accent’s digital-imaging manager and an avid artist; Rami Cooks, 62, an Accent employee and, like Rahamim, a native Israeli; and Ronald Edberg, 58, who’d worked at Accent for more than a decade and was described by his daughter as an avid outdoorsman.
John Souter, Accent’s director of operations, was wounded during the attack, and is currently hospitalized in serious condition (having been upgraded from critical). Production manager Eric Rivers remains in critical condition.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of this horrible act of violence and their loved ones. For a more detailed news report, click here. In July, Finance & Commerce wrote about the company’s innovations.
We plan to memorialize Mr. Rahamim in our November issue. Anyone who would like to offer rememberances of his legacy, both to the sign industry and on a personal level, please contact Senior Associate Editor Steve Aust at steve.aust@stmediagroup.com or (513) 263-9308.