When founding fathers Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson met to discuss the design and motto for the Great Seal of the new United States, each of them had their own ideas (Franklin actually wanted “Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God” as the motto, for example). But one thing they all recognized of themselves was that none had experience in heraldry, so they sought the input of artist, collector and researcher Pierre Eugene du Simitiere. Perhaps referencing Franklin’s own design for the first American Penny a few years before (which bore the motto “We are One”), du Simitiere suggested the Latin phrase “E Pluribus Unum” — “from many, one.”
History often seems to repeat itself, and this phrase is doubly significant for this year’s Dealer of the Year winner. Vector Security’s heritage dates back to Benjamin Franklin himself. With his belief that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” Franklin played an active role in fire prevention after a Philadelphia fire in 1730 and helped create the first volunteer fire brigade there. Franklin then founded the Philadelphia Contributionship in 1752 to insure buildings against fire. Today the Contributionship is one of the oldest and most prestigious insurance companies in the U.S. It also happens to be a sister company to Vector Security, after its holding company TPC Holdings purchased the Pittsburgh-area dealer in 1982.