Letters

Richard “Dick” Alexandres remembered

On Sunday, Feb. 18, of this year, Dick Alexandres passed away at his home in Cape Coral, FL. Dick was 72 years old.

I couldn’t let his passing go without comment.

Probably a lot of you didn’t know that the founder of Alexander Manufacturing was actually Richard Alexandres.

Over the years, Dick and I had become friends in terms of friendly competitors. I always respected what he had accomplished and he always treated me with courtesy and respect. His fundamental accomplishment is what may be overlooked in his passing. I want to thank him for what he did.

I first met Dick some 30 or more years ago when I was selling batteries for Union Carbide (Eveready at the time). He was still in his storefront business on Railroad Avenue in Mason City, IA.

From that location he was servicing a string of “U-TEST-M” TV tube checkers throughout northern Iowa and southern Minnesota. In those days most of the “U-TEST-M” locations had picked up on being able to merchandise radio batteries along with the TV receiver tubes they were selling. In most cases inventories were put in on consignment, and these tube checker businesses were moving quite a few batteries at retail.

With that in mind, Dick had some experience with batteries when a trainman came into his store to see if he had replacement batteries for the Motorola HT200 hand-held radio that they were using on the railroad. Motorola was falling down on its ability to furnish spare batteries for the radios since all of their production was being used up with new radios. I was pretty familiar with the problem since Union Carbide was the OEM supplier to Motorola for that radio.

Dick, the handyman, tinkerer, inventor, didn’t have the battery available for sale but thought he could probably fabricate a replacement for it in his shop. The rest, as they say, is history.

What Dick did went way beyond the establishment of a very successful manufacturing company. He recognized that the major manufacturers of rechargeable battery assemblies were not prepared to service the aftermarket for these products but, rather, focused on supplying product at the OEM level. This realization caused his company to expand exponentially in the course of a very few years. It also opened the door to a segment of the market through which many other companies would pass. He recognized this and literally created what was to become known in the battery industry as the “fabricator” segment. A part of the industry which has, at times, accounted for as much as 36% of the total market.

Over the years, many companies have walked through that open door of opportunity which Dick provided — Multiplier Industries, JBRO Batteries, Centurion, TDI Batteries, Engineered Assemblies, Access Battery, Fedco — and the list goes on.

All of us have Dick Alexandres to thank for leading the way to opportunities that weren’t recognized until he seized on and capitalized on them.

I, for one, want to thank you Dick.
— Jack Brophy
Founder
JBRO Batteries

Question for two-way mobile installers

I’d like to read or hear how two-way mobile installers have coped with the challenge of installing and wiring roof-mount antennas on some of the 2001 automobiles containing cloth-over-foam-glued-to-the-roof liners, such as the Ford Crown Victoria.
— Richard Shima
FM Communications
Mayfield Heights, OH
[email protected]