SADDLE BROOK, N.J. — Tingue, Brown & Co. is mourning retired board chairman Richard K. Bird, who died Jan. 31 at age 81.
Bird spent nearly 55 years with the Tingue, Brown organization, starting as a sales representative in 1951. Over the years, he rose through the ranks to regional sales manager, assistant vice president, director, national sales manager, president, chief operating officer, chief executive officer (retiring in 1992) and chairman (retiring in 2002).
Bird's accomplishments include more than 15 acquisitions and business innovations. In about 1972, he conceived of laundry carts and trucks that were molded in polyethylene, leading to their use in laundries everywhere today, the company says.
Bird's family requests that donations in his memory be made to Bowdoin College, c/o Development Office, 4100 College Station, Brunswick, ME 04011-8432.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].