Ask a busy person: Greg Blair

Mercer Business, Mar 01, 2004 by Fischer, Dorothy

Greg Blair has been a Hamilton resident all his life and has made his presence felt locally in many ways. As vice president/owner of Nottingham Insurance and Financial Services, he's the fourth generation of his family to run the business, which has been a Hamilton Square institution since its founding in 1917.

It was started by his great grandfather Major Voorhees Nutt, who was succeeded first by his son Stanley and then by Blair's father Jack Sr. In 1995, Blair and his brother Jack kept the business in the family by taking over when their father retired. They also own Fell and Moon Insurance, a division of Nottingham.

A Steinert High School graduate, Blair grew up working part time jobs with the family firm. He attended Elizabethtown College and Mercer County Community College before joining the firm full time in 1987. He started in sales and worked his way through the various departments, all the while taking courses related to his profession.

As a young business executive, he became involved with a number of community organizations, including the newly founded Hamilton/Washington Townships Rotary Club. He had just taken office as president of that organization when young Megan Kanka was murdered in her Hamilton neighborhood.

Although the club was small, it initiated the project called Megan's Place, razing the house that was the murder site and replacing it with a park dedicated to Megan's memory.

"It was an enormous project for a new club with 30 members," Blair recalls. "But we had the right people at the right time to make it work. I was fortunate to be in that position at that time."

He continues as president and chairman of Megan's Place, which is a subsidiary of the Rotary Club and, as owner of the park, is responsible for its maintenance. One of its projects is presenting programs there for students.

Now the Rotary Club is about to launch another major or proj ect, and Blair is quite enthusiastic about it. "We're looking to build a Miracle League Field at the Hamilton YMCA site on Sawmill Road." This project, the first of its kind in the northeast, will enable the physically disabled to play baseball. Blair is serving as fund raising chairman, seeking to raise $200,000 to make the field a reality, and hoping to complete it in a year.

Blair also is the current president of Hamilton Township Mobile Meals, which he describes as "an incredible organization." Privately funded, it serves some 65 meals a day five days a week to the elderly and handicapped.

He's served as a board member of Prevention Education Inc., and still handles their annual toy drive and supports their fundraisers, and was formerly a trustee with the Hamilton Township Public Library. He was also a volunteer with Angel's Wings, which provides 24-houremergency foster care for children at its St. Francis Medical center location, and served on the Tour Committee of the Project Freedom Bike Tour and with the Explorer Division of the Boy Scouts of America.

Since 2002 he's been a foundation board member for Mercer County Community College and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton, and expects to be involved with fundraisers for both. His other memberships include the Hamilton Township Economic Development Corporation, Mercer County Economic Development Council, the Yardville National Bank Business Development Board, and the National Independent Insurance Agents Junior Classic Board.

Since 1986, Blair has been involved with various state and local professional organizations associated with the insurance business.

He also serves as a trustee for Megan Kanka Scholarship Fund for the Washington Township Memorial Scholarship Fund. A golf enthusiast, he's working with several organizations dedicated to that sport.

Blair lists golf as a hobby, along with traveling, when time and schedules permit, with his wife Lisa. Florida is a favorite destination.

He and his wife, a cardiac surgical nurse at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia for the past 16 years, are members of Old York Country Club and use that for weekend getaways.

Blair remains heavily involved with the Rotary Club, running their Student of the Month awards in addition to his work with Megan's Place and raising funds for the Miracle League.

Of the project baseball field, he says, "This is one of those projects that you get involved with, and in the end you see what a difference you've made in the community. It really affects the community in a thousand ways. It will make a real difference in the lives of physically challenged people."