While hospitalized days before his death, longtime Vicksburg heating and cooling dealer James Edward “Jim” Hampton was presented with the Lennox Lifetime Achievement Award.

John Siebert, the territory manager who presented the award to Hampton on May 28 — six days before his death — described the Backwater, Ky., native as “one of the true craftsman of the HVAC field, an old-school guy that did things the right way in terms of application, installation and representation of the Lennox brand.”

Hampton was a representative of the company for 35 years, selling, installing and servicing Lennox products.

“There is a lot that the modern-day dealer could have learned from Jim in regards to ethics,” Siebert said, “and his passing is certainly sad news and a tremendous loss to the HVAC field.”