A great story and thanks for sharing George, welcome to AK! Al
The Mergner's were very gracious people. Always fun.
I had been to the 44rd. plant many many times. My dad would come home some Friday nights and say "I've got to go to the office tomorrow. Do you want to come?" I always did. My dad had an office with a great work bench. Always had something going. He would set me up somewhere so I could play records and tape with the newest gear. Later on my dad would give me small circuits to build at a workbench. Mr. Fisher would always come by. We would talk and then he would say "Georgie, make sure you come to my office before you leave!" I would go and he would always have something for me. A record, a pen, a tape machine, a new phono cartridge, you get the idea.
My recollection is that the plant stayed during the Emerson years. It was when Emerson sold to Sanyo that the plant closed. My dad didn't want to move to California so he got his same job at JVC. He worked there until he retired.
I do have some things from back then. I have a journal my dad kept of tests he ran early at his time at Fisher. Variable caps, phono cartridges, other company's amps and tuners. Sometimes it hard to make heads or tales out of it but I'm sure it made sense to him. I have some thing of mine too. Mr. Fisher would send me a books, " Your Career in the Hi-Fi Business", "How Things Work", all signed from him. Also, I would work at the NY Hi Fi Shows in the 50's and 60's. When I was 7 or 8 I would be responsible for making sure records kept playing and flyers were out. As I got older I would answer question that people would have about equipment they owned. FM antennas, speaker placement, pretty much anything that came up. A few weeks later a check for $50 would arrive from Mr. Fisher. "Dear George, Once again thank you for all you help at this years Hi Fi show. All the best, Avery". He was a great man. G
We're all interested!@TheRed1
This thread is a few years old, but I’m the grandson of Joe Merolla, who despite being a Brooklyn Italian, was one of the Dutchmen and held a ton of other positions in the company. He worked personally with Avery Fisher, and I know some completely unique and undocumented stories about the man himself, if you’re interested.
@TheRed1
This thread is a few years old, but I’m the grandson of Joe Merolla, who despite being a Brooklyn Italian, was one of the Dutchmen and held a ton of other positions in the company. He worked personally with Avery Fisher, and I know some completely unique and undocumented stories about the man himself, if you’re interested.
... How long was your grandfather with Fisher? His name is familiar but I have not done much research recently and do not recall if I know his name from old photos, company papers or the recollections of other employees’ family members.....
I'm in a car club where many of our members are retired GM and Cadillac employees. When I have the opportunity to see them, I always try to hear a story of what it was like to make the product that caused our hobby and passion...