Michael Feinberg has worked for Peter Troost Monument Co. since 1979. He is considered one of the nation's most renowned designers of monuments. His artistic talent and his 37 years of experience in the monument industry give him the distinction of being one of its premier award-winning monument designers. His creations are often considered works of art.
Michael holds the professional designation of CM-Certified Memorialist. This is the highest level of distinction awarded in the monument industry. Less than 200 memorialists have achieved this designation. It includes a rigorous course of education and a comprehensive design component. He has been a leader in helping others, both his own customers as well as other designers in the industry.
Many of his designs have been published in national trade magazines, such at MB News, Barre Life, Stone in America, and Elberton Graniteer. Through these publications, his monument designs have been distributed throughout the world, and have served as an inspiration for other designers.
Michael has been an active member of the Illinois Monument Association, serving as its President in 2004. He is currently a Trustee on the MBNA, Monument Builders of North America, which is the monument industry's national association. He also serves on the Education Committee of the MBNA. Throughout his career he has been committed to professionalism and ethics within the industry. He exhibits these same attributes in his personal work for Peter Troost Monument Co. Michael has designed personalized, creative, artistic monuments for hundreds of customers throughout his career.
2005 Monument Builders of North America First Place- Expert Division
Large Monument Category
Some of his awards include the following:
2006 Monument Builders of North America
First Place--Expert Division
Companion Monument Category
2006 Monument Builders of North America
First Place--Expert Division
Conceptual Drawing Category
2005 Monument Builders of North America First Place- Expert Division
Large Monument Category
2004 Monument Builders of North America
First Place--Expert Division
Display Monument Category
2004 Monument Builders of North America
First Place-Expert Division
Large Monument Category
2000 Monument Builders of North America
First Place--Expert Division
Large Monument Category
1998 Monument Builders of North America
First Place--Expert Division
Public/Civic Category
2006 Monument Builders of North America
First Place--Expert Division
Companion Monument Category
This monument is made of India Black granite. It is 4” wide by 4’-4” tall. The Holy Family is a bronze relief made by Strassacker Bronze. The concept was to show a strong faith and unity as a family; both women had different last names and were shown on separate pieces of stone joined together at the top by the Bronze Holy Family.
2006 Monument Builders of North America
First Place--Expert Division
Conceptual Drawing Category
This conceptual drawing was designed for two families. They wanted a cross on the monument, along with a place to sit down and a vase for flowers. By creating a bench seat on each side of the cross, it gave members of the family a place to sit down. A core hole was placed in the top of the center die for flowers. The center tablet showed a modern cross with a bronze body of Christ to depict a crucifix. Two colors of granite were used to create this monument, Jet Black and Gray. It is monument is 6’ wide by about 2-10 tall.
Bob Grant, CM — Artist and Designer
Bob is a graduate of Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois, where he majored in Fine Arts. In addition to his university studies, he has successfully completed several design courses and has attained a high level of recognition for his efforts in artistic designs for monuments. He has been an accomplished artist and painter throughout his career.
He has recently attained the professional designation of Certified Memorialist (CM). This level of distinction is awarded by the monument industry to those individuals who have completed a demanding study course and have demonstrated a strong commitment to artistic design and creative memorialization.
His work has appeared regularly in national trade publications including front-cover exposure in Stone in America. His monument designs have won awards within the monument industry. Bob feels that his efforts are best rewarded when he has achieved in design reflects family’s values artistically.
2002 MBNA Design Award
2nd
place - Novice Carved Division
2002 MBNA Design Award 2nd place - Novice
Etched Division
2002 MBNA Design Award 2nd place - Novice
Public/Civic
Division
Jack Hallihan, CM — Designer and Monument Specialist
Jack Hallihan has over 30 years of monument experience. He is an all around monument specialist with expertise in every aspect of monument design, creation and installation.
Hallihan's specialty is designing custom memorials using a special computer drafting system, similar to the kind used to design automobiles. Hallihan says that the computer aided design program saves time and improves the final result over manual drafting methods.
Hallihan started in the granite industry in 1975 at a family-owned business outside of Chicago. There, he learned all aspects of finishing granite-sawing, polishing and creating a rough hewn, natural cut by hand. While his initial responsibilities included digging and pouring concrete foundations in various cemeteries, he also learned to install monuments, lay out designs by hand and cut the stencils needed for the carving process.
Hallihan joined Troost in 1980 in Joliet, Illinois. It was a small office and carving studio where all responsibilities were shared by the employees. He came to the Troost Hillside location in 1989 with the responsibility of running the production plant and overseeing a major expansion of the facility. Now, Jack has leveraged his technical knowledge of shop operations into a sales and design career he finds very satisfying.
Hallihan is very proud of the fact he can use his manufacturing and design knowledge base to give the families he serves a better, more personal memorial. Another area that Hallihan enjoys is training other staff members to use the computer system to design monuments and markers also.
Two monuments that show off Hallihan's talents are "FEELEY" and "JAVAS". The Feeley monument honors a local funeral director. The family wanted a specific statue of Jesus to be the focal point. The completed monument was a featured design in Barre Life, an industry publication. The Javas monument incorporated diverse ideas offered by the family members into one distinctive design. The computer system saved Hallihan time in preparing multiple design ideas.
Jack Hallihan enjoys using his artistic talents and creative energy to help his clients design and personalize a monument in a way that is very artistic and meaningful.
"We are so happy with the stone. The custom design is perfect! It truly represents our baby girl and the gifts she brought us. Thank you so much!"
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Michael Feinberg has worked for Peter Troost Monument Co. since 1979. He is considered one of the nation's most renowned designers of monuments. His artistic talent and his 37 years of experience in the monument industry give him the distinction of being one of its premier award-winning monument designers. His creations are often considered works of art.
Bob is a graduate of Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois, where he majored in Fine Arts. In addition to his university studies, he has successfully completed several design courses and has attained a high level of recognition for his efforts in artistic designs for monuments. He has been an accomplished artist and painter throughout his career.
His work has appeared regularly in national trade publications including front-cover exposure in Stone in America. His monument designs have won awards within the monument industry. Bob feels that his efforts are best rewarded when he has achieved in design reflects family’s values artistically.
Hallihan started in the granite industry in 1975 at a family-owned business outside of Chicago. There, he learned all aspects of finishing granite-sawing, polishing and creating a rough hewn, natural cut by hand. While his initial responsibilities included digging and pouring concrete foundations in various cemeteries, he also learned to install monuments, lay out designs by hand and cut the stencils needed for the carving process.
Two monuments that show off Hallihan's talents are "FEELEY" and "JAVAS". The Feeley monument honors a local funeral director. The family wanted a specific statue of Jesus to be the focal point. The completed monument was a featured design in Barre Life, an industry publication. The Javas monument incorporated diverse ideas offered by the family members into one distinctive design. The computer system saved Hallihan time in preparing multiple design ideas. 
