Roman Inc. merges with Cottage Garden

Roman Inc. and Cottage Garden Collections, two family-run gift companies known for their inspiration and sentiment product lines, have announced they have merged. Cottage Garden, a sentiment gift company, was founded in 1996 by Angela Timm, a creative retailer with stores in Maryland. Ronald T. Jedlinski founded Bloomingdale-based Roman Inc., an inspirational gift company more than 45 years ago. Growing up in his father's general store, it was a natural that Jedlinski made his own way in this industry. With $500 and an old station wagon full of inspiration products, Jedlinski carved his niche in the religious articles and giftware market. Today, Jedlinski's son-in-law, Dan Loughman, has taken on the day-to-day management of the company as president and CEO.