An ex-Gates Radio executive, Larry Cervon, died recently and left a couple of albums of pictures with Bob Weirather, a recently retired Gates/Harris engineer, from one of which comes this picture of a cool and confident Engineering Manager at a Sales meeting in about 1967. I must have been younger then.

The scenario that brought me to then Gates Radio Company, soon to be acquired by Harris Intertype Corp., involved two Gates executives, one of whom would soon succeed Parker Gates, company founder, after his retirement. One of the heirs apparent was Larry Cervon, a whirlwind of a sales executive who managed the Gates sales force. It was at one of his frequent sales meetings that, I think, produced this picture. Nibs Jochem, engineering VP, was also in line for succeeding Parker Gates, and he hired me as his replacement to run the engineering department.

As things turned out, Larry won the promotion and I was left sharing engineering management with my boss, which might have worked out except I didn’t come with a broadcasting background, even though Collins Radio Company was a competitor of Gates. The result was that three of us jumped ship and started Quintron Corporation in late 1969.

Now you know the rest of the story.

Dave, also known as Dimples Dave