@"the men and women who built this into a once great company."
Seriously, Verizon was NEVER a "Great" company. They never invented any groundbreaking technologies nor created any new markets nor set any significant business or technology trends.
Verizon (Bell Atlantic & Nynex) was spawned from AT&T (AKA, "Ma Bell") and grew primarily thru acquisitions (GTE, Alltel, MCI and potentially Frontier). Yes, they built out an excellent network but their real success come from leveraging sheer mass scale.
AT&T and IBM would be examples of truly great companies. Verizon is an "also ran" company who's day in the sun is fading because it ignored it's customers.