History: Edgar Steiner & Company / Raymond Eisenhardt &a

[infierno667]

Hello!
Hal Colombo here. Harry's son. Just thought to enter RESCO into a google search today and was interested to find this. Since RESCO was how my dad made a living most of my life until shortly before his death in 1991 I suppose it has also influenced my life. I still drive by the building on Bauer Drive during my (increasingly infrequent) trips to NJ. I've been in Seattle for about 20 years now and there's less and less reasons to go east.
I was very interested to read the many stories up here. I'm pretty sure I've still got a lot of memorbilia around here in boxes. Hell, I have the copper wastebasket the Raymond Jr gave my dad with "HLC" in brass letters next to my desk!
Anyhow, It's a bit late and I'm pretty tired now but I'd love to hear any rememberances folks have of my dad and, as I dig them up, I'd be happy to post anything I remember about those days as well-
Best,
Hal Colombo
[email protected]

[reisen55]

Good Morning Hal - Seattle is an awfully long way from Oakland NJ so I can understand that your trips are infrequent to say the least. Suffice it to say that Kradle 2 Kindergarden enjoys the building very much. I remember Harry very very well indeed, he was a wonderful salesman, a tough negotiator too. Frank Prime was different in approach but equally talented. One story I must pass along: when we thanked our references with a phyisical award, I wrote a letter than almost killed my father and myself by laughing so hard. Harry spotted it. We had purchased a pewter bowl for the award, calling that their words had more power than all contained inside Aladdin's magic lamp. So the letter written was given by my father and myself to Harry for proofing. He read it in silence ... stopped ... looked up with that wise glare he had ... and said " you don't see it?" No, what. "Bowl - you've written bowel." He then yelled out "Order the pewter tubing!!!" That was about it for the next 15 minutes of the day..... I will never forget the look on his face when he caught that wonderful mistake.

I remember the waste basket well and do respond with any other memories you have, this seems to be a miniature Facebook for RESCO people.

Bob Eisenhardt

[reisen55]

A few miscellaneous notes. I am very pleased that in the company history count department, this thread has over 15,000 views, which is stunning. Pleased that so many remember RESCO with fondness or at least curiosity. I have also found several web references to it, among them the Legacy Tobacco Products database when we worked (badly) for RJ REYNOLDS just before it went through the Buyout Trauma. Lastly, the most damning thing on the web is the old age discrimination lawsuit brought by Robert C. Franz against the firm when it was dramatically downsizing prior to extinction in 1990. The firm was, by then, a company of all old men and as the youngest person on staff, be damned if my name was Eisenhardt, I was given the chance for my own career. Glad it happened to me at an early age. I never understood the lawsuit in this light though - all of the remaining staff save secretarial assistants were all above 60 so the whole thing was aged. Sad.

Nicely, 95 Bauer Drive looks wonderful now, the pre-school has done a magnificent job on building renovation and I am still glad that the huge outdoor lamps carried over from London by Harry Colombo are still bolted to the building.

Bob Eisenhardt

[reisen55]

Just checking in from New City. RESCO has lost some sterling alumni these past few years, Harry LaTowsky, Frank Farrissey and most recently Frank Prime. Anyone who has direct rememberances please write a note here, I enjoy catching up with stories. I have also found RESCO mentioned in the Tobacco Legacy Document library, our "operation" for RJ REYNOLDS, which was not a successful one by any means. Evelyn Eid Khan - please reply, there was a meeting in New City planned one time a year or so ago.

[reisen55]

A small update - just won on Ebay one of the historic plaque sent out by Edgar Steiner & Co, which wound up on Reagan's desk in the Oval Office. 'There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn't mind who gets the credit." It will have a lovely home on my desk.

[greg]

Bob,
Have a photo?

[reisen55]

Updates and Photos

I took a walk around the neighbohood this evening and it struck me that all the executives and engineers of Raymond Eisenhardt are fading now. My father, Harry Colombo, Frank Prime of sales, Frank Farrissey and Harry LaTowsky. There may be other obits that I have not found yet, please update any as they become known.

Evelyn - please email for a co-rememberance dinner.

And Greg, attached is a picture of the collection. TheT-Plaque is on the left, the ship model is the PCE 899 which my father served on in Guam, late 1945.

[reisen55]

The mounted 8-Ball has an inscription, "To Ease the road ahead." The T-Plaque is the one on Reagan's desk. On the right side, "All progress..." was the registered trademark of Eisenhardt (you can find it on web search) and the medal was given out to executives who were brave enough to meet us. I have attached a closeup of the T-Plaque and if you search the Reagan Library web page, you will find it fast enough.

[reisen55]

Over 16000 views of the posts concerning Edgar Steiner - Raymond Eisenhardt & Son. I am very pleased by that. Whenever I search for the firm, I see the very famous age discrimination case brought by Robert Franz against the firm in 1990. By that time the firm was dying, with much staff fired and the remaining engineers were placed on a consulting basis. Very few young men existed ANYWHERE in the firm, so aside from ME it was old men. I was let go in 1988 - a chance to survive really - so I always thought the lawsuit was questionable to start with. But it has made the legal circuit in NJ these many years

[reisen55]

Note for those who remember the total staff of RESCO - nothing to do with plastics. Reginald F. Wardley, our printed matter engineer, passed away in 2011. Donations were made by Harry Kaptein and Marilyn Gerhart to a Wyckoff organization that supports children with disabilities. Reginald was a great friend with a delightful sense of humor. I remember the work he did for Kirin Beer in Japan, when he recommended they print the labels for the bottles on white colored stock instead of buff color - which cost more. Marketing liked the buff color ... so Reg suggested they slightly darken the vanish that is applied to the label AFTER it is adhered to the bottle - VOILA buff color. The gold in the dragon's tail darkened a bit to but the savings for Kirin were astronomical. Indicative of the BEST work Raymond Eisenhardt could do for our clients. I miss him very much.

Please, any personal rememberances of the firm are welcome here. As the last surviving Eisenhardt I am distinctly feeling like an endangered species!!!!

[reisen55]

Keep the notes coming, I feel that this is one of the few, if not ONLY venues where RESCO is remembered. Slowly the alumni group is getting smaller and smaller, and I also refer to colleagues in the McBride Industrial Park. Many of the references of RESCO have moved on as well. I appreciate all comments and believe that some of it sticks.

[cmoerman]

Hi,

I am looking for descendents of Ray Eisenhardt & Angela Maria Desmet, originally of Richmond US. I believe they had a son Ray Eisenhardt Jr. and a daughter Shirley Eisenhardt. Any information would be very helpful.

I can be contacted at 513.321.3422 or by email at [email protected] .

Thank you,

Christophe Moerman

[reisen55]

First off, that Eisenhardt branch of the family does not ring a bell, you would be better advised to search ancestry.com for Eisenhardts.

Secondly, I would be entirely remiss not to add a HEARTY MERRY CHRISTMAS in the manner and charm of Raymond Eisenhardt, Sr., who loved the Christmas season. Ridgewood society lost a good soul when he passed in 1965, and many remember his unique holiday cards which he researched and printed himself. Witness this link to his printing in 1944 of DE NIGHT IN DE FRONT FROM CHRISTMAS

http://books.google.com/books?id=iKXSf5 ... ss&f=false

Along link to be sure, but hope it works

Welcome Christmas, bring your cheer
Cheer to all Whos far and near
Christmastime is in our grasp
so long as we have hands to clasp

Christmastime will always be
Just so long as we have we
Welcome Christmas while we stand
Heart to heart and hand in hand

[reisen55]

Over 18,000 views of this blog thread, THANK YOU whomever and wherever you are. The thoughts are most appreciated.

[reisen55]

Closing down watching this one. On January 21, 2005 I started this blog and am gratified that it has had over 18,415 views since then, far in excess of other subjects and consider it something of a lasting memorial. Over that time, many engineers and friends from RESCO has passed from the current scene and I am, perhaps, one of the very few survivors now. I thank all who have had added their comments to this line and will occasionally glance over here but the voices become fewer as the days pass. Many thanks for the memories.