Burkholder, Dauphin Electric Icon Passes Away

Terry Burkholder, an icon and leader in our industry, passed away Sunday night at 89 years of age.

Much will be said about his industry experiences from being Executive Vice President for Tristate Electric to joining and helping to make a fledgling software company (Rigel) into a leading industry program.  He left the company to become President of Dauphin Electrical in Harrisburg, PA and their branch locations, which was sold to CED in 2000. He was instrumental, and an original founding member of Affiliated Distributors and served in many capacities with NAED.

However, the most stories to be related about Terry will be those of his absolute love for our industry and the many people, like me, he mentored and helped through many stages of our careers.

What will be told will be of those who were, or are, in our industry because Terry was so dominate and genuinely the kind a person that we merely wanted to emulate as closely as possible. He also had a huge personality and we wanted to make him proud of us.

Terry’s wife, Roe, passed away a few years ago, He and Roe were blessed with six children, many grandchildren and many, many friends whose lives he enriched.

Terry enjoyed all of life and had more fun living it than most. He enjoyed golf and taking money from most of us who luckily got to play with him, but it was the enjoyment he showed being around people that will always stand out to me.

I once said I wish there were more of him in our industry and was quickly corrected. I wish there were more like him today in our world!

Rest in peace Terry.