One of the original founders of the American Institute of Kitchen Dealers, now the National Kitchen & Bath Association, Robert L. Wieland of Allentown, Pa., died on Aug. 20 at the Devon House in Allentown. He was 91.
Wieland served in the U.S. Army during the Occupation of Japan after World War II and in the Korean War. After earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Business from Penn State University, he joined his family’s business, Kitchens by Wieland in Allentown.
He founded AIKD in 1963 and was its second president, presiding over the first kitchen dealers’ show, which would grow to become KBIS. He earned the first Certified Kitchen Designer designation in 1968, and served as Chairman of the Society of Certified Kitchen Designers from its inception in 1967 to 1976. He won 47 awards for his kitchen and bath designs, through the NKBA Design Competition and others over the course of his career, including the 1990 James Foster Memorial Award.
Additionally, he spearheaded the program to create the Kitchen Industry Technical Manuals in cooperation with the University of Illinois.
In 1990, he was inducted into NKBA’s National Kitchen & Bath Hall of Fame.
For more on Wieland’s life and career, click here.
