Pigott family, founders of PACCAR, honored with 80th First Citizen Award

Annie ChanEvents, Featured

The Spanish Ballroom at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in downtown Seattle last night was brimming with 300 lively guests, including REALTORS®, past First Citizen honorees, and friends and supporters of the Pigott family, who gathered to honor the Pigotts as they received the 2018 Seattle-King County First Citizen Award.

Since its inception in 1939, the First Citizen Award has celebrated community leadership, volunteerism and public service. The Pigott family maintains a tradition of giving that enhances our region’s vibrancy and quality of life. The family has contributed to myriad charitable causes since PACCAR’s founding in 1905.

PACCAR, a worldwide leader in truck manufacturing, has been guided for over a century by four generations of Pigott family leadership. “It takes common sense, consistency of purpose, and the same moral compass decade after decade after decade,” said Mark Pigott, PACCAR executive chairman who served as the company’s CEO from 1997 to 2014 and who accepted the award on behalf of the family.

“The tenets of PACCAR also apply to our charitable giving,” Pigott continued. The Pigott family has a long and impressive history of giving back, here in the Seattle region and across the world. The family’s philanthropic generosity has benefited many of Seattle’s major institutions including Seattle University, the University of Washington, Seattle Children’s Hospital and the Olympic Sculpture Park.

Seattle King County REALTORS® President Shane Davies presented Mark Pigott, Jim Pigott and Ann Pigott Wyckoff with the 80th First Citizen plaque. Many past First Citizen honorees attended, including Ted Baseler, Norman Rice, Constance Rice, Lenny Wilkens, Nancy Bell Evans, Dan Evans and James Raisbeck. Speakers included Seattle University President Father Stephen Sundborg, University of Washington Foster School of Business Dean Jim Jiambalvo and Fluke Capital Management Chairman John Fluke Jr., all of whom praised the family’s history, values and integrity.

Also in attendance were recipients of this year’s First Citizen Scholarship awards, a tradition that the Seattle First Citizen Scholarship Foundation has continued since 1997 when PEMCO Insurance awarded five scholarships to children of REALTORS® to acknowledge Seattle King County REALTORS® for hosting the First Citizen Award each year.

Seattle King County REALTORS® and the Event Planning Committee along with our partners John L. Scott Real Estate and Windermere Real Estate were honored to present the Pigott family with the First Citizen Award. We thank everyone who gathered with us to celebrate the Pigott family’s legacy of giving back and making the world a better place.

“Looking into the crystal ball to twenty years from now, which can be rainy and cloudy as we know in Seattle, I see three things. First, Seattle King County REALTORS® will be celebrating their 100th First Citizen Award. Second, PACCAR will continue to grow worldwide. Third, the Pigott family will continue to support our many charitable institutions,” said Pigott. “I hope that our 125-year history serves as a template for companies or individuals who have been here for 20 or 30 years. I encourage them to give back to those in need, it’s a wonderful tradition.”