Aug. 28, 1942 - July 26, 2007

* Edited slightly, this article originally appeared in E-Buzz January 2005.

Is There Really A “Ralph?”

Ralph McElroy Translation Company was founded in 1968 and for nearly four decades it has been a translation industry leader. “Is there really a Ralph?” is a question that I have heard repeatedly over the years. The answer – ABSOLUTELY.

The seed for a translation company was planted in 1967 when Ralph’s mother Eleanor McElroy suggested to coworkers at Celanese that her son could handle the translation of four Russian technical documents. Ralph struggled through four highly technical documents relying on the best technical glossaries that he could find and the collaborative editing assistance of a chemistry expert from the University of Texas. (As we like to say quality assurance procedures were implemented on job #1!)

Ralph charged $2 per 100 words and believes he may have made about $.35 per hour, but ultimately the translations were well received. Ralph’s entrepreneurial spirit is a defining characteristic – soon thereafter he opened up shop, adding resources and language capabilities. Eleanor eventually left her job at Celanese to move to Austin and run the growing company for several years. Eleanor remains an honored guest at company functions where she is visibly proud and attached to the company that Ralph created and that she helped run in the 1970s.

Ralph was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1942. He only had to wait until age 10 to become a Texan when his parents moved to Corpus Christi. It was not until high school that Ralph was exposed to other languages and other cultures. He attended the Boy Scout’s Jubilee Jamboree in England commemorating the 50 year anniversary of the Boy Scouts and the 100 year anniversary of the birth of its founder Lord Baden Powell. There he met new friends from many different countries and he toured with the Boy Scouts for two weeks afterward to France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, and Switzerland.

Ralph was intrigued. He was also a faithful correspondent with his roster of new international friends. He was invited by a German friend to spend his senior year in high school in Germany. Away he went, visiting friends in Paris, Holland, England, Ireland, and Norway, Finland, and Sweden en route. He started in Paris where he bought a red Volkswagen for his “Grand Tour.”

Fifteen adventurous months later he reached his destination in Munich to begin a year of school. He spent some of that school year in Munich, some at another school with a friend in a small town in Bavaria, and finally the last three months in Paris attending L’Alliance Francaise. Ralph was immersed in other cultures and he learned multiple languages along the way.

When Ralph returned home he attended a year of junior college, but once again he yearned for travel and adventure. His parents agreed to another voyage abroad, but this time he crossed the Atlantic working in the mess hall of a Norwegian tanker. Eleanor McElroy somehow arranged for the berth on a freighter that her employer Celanese used. Ralph spent most of the next year broadening his horizons primarily in Sweden and Denmark.

Ralph’s degree from the University of Texas in 1964 was in German and in History and he went on to graduate school. In 1966 he won a scholarship to attend school again in Germany, but the summer before that he went to the Soviet Union with an organization called The Experiment in International Living. The group’s mantra is “students changing the world one friendship at a time.” Ralph thrived on learning about other cultures, even those that were not universally appreciated by all Americans at the time. Ralph liked people!

This time when Ralph returned to the Unites States he took a few classes to complete his Master’s program at the University of Texas. The business world made its way into his life, if not in a conventional format. Ralph was affiliated with the Vulcan Gas Company as a promoter of rock and roll shows. (For some spicy reading on 1960s hippie culture Google it!) They broke even on the first show that they produced with Steppenwolf. The second promotion of Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company turned a nice profit. Until Janis cancelled the show with two days notice and they lost everything. Ralph got out of the rock and roll business. It was about time to do a Russian translation for Celanese!

Ralph focused attention on translations, registering the company in Texas in 1968 and moving the office out of his home later that year. With successful promotions and astute hiring he quickly added clients and translators. With steady translation operations underway Ralph became a local restaurateur in the early 1970s and his touch was golden.

He has owned many Austin restaurants over the years and two are prominent in local history. From 1972 to 1998 he co-owned Les Amis. The documentary “Viva Les Amis” has garnered critical acclaim. The premise of the film directed by Nancy Higgins is that Austin isn’t what it used to be. Les Amis, the best Parisian cafe never in Paris, is now a Starbucks. “Viva Les Amis” is a eulogy for vanished hipster hangouts. Ralph described the training of a new dishwasher as “pretty loose” i.e. “Here is the machine, here is how it works, do you want a beer?” The other well known restaurant that Ralph helped found is the Old Pecan Street Café, an upscale Austin landmark listed on the National Historic Register.

With diverse business interests and success on all fronts Ralph needed more support. In 1972 his parents moved to Austin and his mother Eleanor ran the translation company. For a while his parents lived above the company and he recalled that every day Eleanor would serve a big noon meal to everyone working there.

Ralph met Bruce Farmer in 1980 and hired him to handle company promotions. Bruce was a genius at client development and his impact on revenues was dramatic. Bruce became General Manager soon thereafter and Ralph enjoyed stepping back and watching his success. He was an entrepreneur unlike most others. Ralph’s strength was picking the right people to run and build the businesses he created, then stepping aside from daily operations and empowering his managers.

While Ralph owned or was involved with many business interests including real estate, restaurants, clinical research organizations, and translations, it is the translation company that bears his name and that was closest to his heart. His family shares his vision: continued industry leadership through organic growth. The company has evolved with coverage of new vertical markets but it has never lost focus on its core business of customized translation and localization for clients with high quality expectations. Although the marketing department made a strategic decision to brand under the name “McElroy Translation,” “Ralph” remains in the collective conscious of many clients, translators, and industry colleagues.

The company today maintains elements of each era of its rich history. With its bohemian 1960s roots there remains an element of eccentricity where individuality is appreciated. Although management no longer cooks the noon meal the feel of family is part of the foundation. The strong leadership of Bruce Farmer in the 1980s and 1990s is still evidenced by the way that clients are treated and business is conducted.

Bruce espoused “Solution Selling” and “Customer Centric” sales technique before the concepts had fancy names and high dollar training classes. Today McElroy Translation is a product of Austin’s high tech culture. Staff at every level is tech savvy, the IT department is growing, and workflow is enhanced with a combination of proprietary programming and state of the art industry automation.

Ralph leaves behind his wife Diane of twenty years and two wonderful sons from his first marriage. Wade and Ryan own two successful Austin coffee shops - the next generation! Ralph and Diane spent 11 months traveling in 2000 and adopted two precious Russian daughters who are now 10 and 7.

I marvel at how much Ralph experienced and learned by virtue of his flexibility and willingness to let the plan and the path reveal itself along the way. Is this a youthful aptitude that we lose as life becomes more serious and structured? For most of us, yes, unfortunately. But the unique spirit and defining curiosity of Ralph McElroy never faded with age. As the documentary title states, “Viva Les Amis!”