A Tribute to Bob Snyder, an Electrical Industry Legend

Robert (Bob) T Snyder, (1941-2024)

Last week the electrical industry lost an industry legend.

Bob Snyder, who many may remember from Carol Cable and others will remember from Equity or Equity / EDN, passed away in his sleep on Thursday evening according to an industry friend who reached out to me on Friday morning.

I became acquainted with Bob back in 1986 when he was SVP Sales for Carol Cable, which at that time was owned by Noranda. I was working for an incentive / performance marketing company at the time in the Boston area and Bob was referred to us by a travel agency friend. He called saying “I want to run an incentive program and I’ll have 50 people on a 3 day 2 night golf trip.” The company I was with had extensive experience in the electrical industry and we ran programs for over a dozen electrical distributors. The president of our company said, “Let’s meet and I’ll explain the process, but we can help you develop, and run, a program that will generate over $10 million in incremental sales, you’ll take over 500 people away on a trip, and you should do a cruise.”

We met Bob the following week, shared the vision, laid out the plan, and launched a program that ended up generating over $10 million in incremental sales, required two trips of over 250 people (in total we took away 540 people.)

The following year Bob, having been exposed to what needed to be done, thought he could do it himself and bid the trip part of the program. Being the salesperson for the account we gave him a comprehensive proposal. He wanted to bid a la carte (remember, he was a wire guy!) and we declined. He went with the competition, took people to London and then the following year, after the program underperformed and involved too much of his time, came back and said, “you were right, there is more to this than the trip” and asked us to handle his third program, which we did.

That was my introduction to the electrical industry.

Some other members from those incentive days with Bob were:

• Him commenting he wanted to “make selling wire and cable sexy.”
• The pricing strategy. Quoting in 5’s and 2 ½’s! I remember one time him quoting 25 5’s and 5 2 ½’s and me saying “and what does that mean?”
• Him picking up the phone and calling Marvin Bochner during one of our meetings and questioning why results for the Bochner territory (in the incentive program) were no better.

Bob was a personality.

Years went by and we lost track of each other until I joined IMARK. Bob had left Carol Cable shortly after it was sold to General Cable in 1992 (and is now part of Prysmian). I recall he worked for one or two fastener companies. He then went to work for Dick Noel at Equity (which was a privately owned marketing group) as the Vice President, and then, when Equity was merged with EDN in 2003, worked with Matt Roos and Ted Havel in helping build Equity / EDN. He then helped Matt built Equity Plumbing.

When we reconnected, we’d always get together at the NAED conferences to reconnect, talk about the industry, and Bob always inquired about my family. Afterwards, once I started Channel Marketing Group, we’d talk about the industry and he always called me on the major Jewish holidays … even up to this past year.

I was proud to call him a friend. He had his quirks (like we all do) but he was honest, straightforward but would respect if you disagreed but could support your position. He respected expertise. He believed in the electrical distribution model and supported independent distributors.

Bob was also devoted to his wife, Mary. He lived in the town next door to where I grew up and loved the small town of Sharon and Massachusetts, while also commuting to Boca Raton and being a snowbird.

He will be missed.

Kevin Wolff, from Elemental LED, reached out to share Bob’s passing with me. Kevin and I talked about reaching out to some who knew Bob to let them know of his passing and to offer them the opportunity to share thoughts. I crowdsourced some input as, given that Bob was in the industry for probably 50 years and connected with people in the industry for 60 years, we felt he deserved remembrance.

Jim Lucy from Electrical Wholesaling , shared a notice on EW and sourced a poignant posting from the funeral home that shared information on Bob’s family, upbringing, and some other insights. In the funeral home posting there is a link to give donations in Bob’s memory to the National Kidney Foundation. Jim also put a posting on LinkedIn that Don Ambrose, Rick Angel, Kevin Wolff, and Andrea Barrell shared thoughts.

And here’s thoughts from others who knew Bob:

Matt Roos, Executive Director, IMARK Group

Bob worked with me for at least 20 years up to the day of his passing.  He was an incredible friend. Thank you for thinking of him.

Bob was an immense contributor to the growth and success of our business (Equity/EDN, Equity Plumbing, IMARK Plumbing)  but most importantly, a dear and valued friend. I started working with Bob after the merger of Equity (his former employer) and EDN (my former employer) some 20 years ago which continued until his passing.

Bob was “THE STATESMAN” and a huge asset in collaborating with our supplier partners whom he had forged deep friendships with during his years at Carol Cable. Beyond his work ethic, Bob was a great teller of stories, and possessed a wealth of knowledge and industry experience. I learned much from him over the years, his straight forward approach was a personality trait I greatly admired even when directed at me. “You’re wrong!”, he would say, whether or not that was the case, after his affirmative tone, even I believed I was wrong.

Bob Snyder, Matt Roos, Ted Havel and Dick Noel from Equity / EDB

The camaraderie we shared as a team between Ted Havel, Bob and myself will be terribly missed. Bob loved a good meal, especially lobster, on our business ventures. I remember one hotel stay where Ted had replaced Bob’s door hung breakfast order with one that had every item checked off and a 5:30am delivery. Bob laughed as he recollected the story saying he was awakened by a knock at the door and before he could object to the time, three waiters entered the room with 12 trays of food. Never at a loss for words, Bob immediately insisted that a mistake was made, and the food needed to be returned. He always put our company interests ahead of his own personal interests. That was Bob.

I spoke with him a week ago Tuesday, he was in the hospital and explained he had had a heart attack. I tried to ask how he was feeling but he just wanted to assure me his priority was contacting our most recent sales lead. Beyond his sometimes gruff exterior was a man who cared for me and the business we built more than he did himself… that is his legacy. He will be truly missed.

Hank Bergson, former President of NEMRA

Bob Snyder & Hank Bergson in 1958 on the same high school baseball team

My electrical industry connection with Bob (Terry) started when I joined NEMRA in 1985 and he VP at Carol Cable. Our relationship was fairly rocky as we had very different ideas about the value of manufacturers reps and Bob was quick to terminate rep relationships and didn’t like being challenged and I certainly wasn’t bashful about weighing in on his decisions. He even scheduled national sales meetings for his reps that directly conflicted with their ability to attend the NEMRA annual conference, you can imagine our discussions. We made an uneasy peace and Bobs #2 at Carol, Bob Hemry became an avid NEMRA supporter. This lasted until Bob and Carol Cable parted company, I think in 1991. I was at an NAED Eastern Regional in Phoenix and Jeff Bleiman asked if I would have dinner with Bob and talk about some options he might pursue. Bob and I had dinner and a few cocktails and had some wide-ranging discussions. (note: contacting Dick Noel was one of them). Any way after we ran out of business we began talking about children and the fact that we both had grown up in the Boston MA Area. I don’t recall exactly how we got there but I recall Bob commenting that his high school never had a reunion. I replied that my high school never had a reunion either at which point we discovered that we had both gone to The New Preparatory School in Cambridge MA Bob class of 1959, me class of 1961 so my freshman and sophomore years overlapped his junior and senior years. Needless to say, with this in common Bob and I became good friends. As a side note when I got back from Phoenix I dug out my old yearbooks and found a picture of Bob and me standing next to each other on the baseball team! Which I shared with Bob and several Carol Cable reps.

I will miss Bob and his annual phone call checking up to chat and catch up.

Ken Hooper, former President of NEMRA and formerly with Mersen (then Gould Shawmut) and Pass & Seymour (now Legrand)

I was introduced to Bob by our good,  Hooper family friend, Dick Noel, shortly after Dick recruited me to Pass & Seymour/ Legrand and we joined the Equity group. Bob quickly struck me as an “all in industry guy” who took on the same passion and zeal for the industry as the Greatest Generation pioneers he grew up with early in his career. His trademark was his genuine interest in the people of our industry. We often talked about the larger-than-life personalities in our industry, people like Dick Noel. People who were fellow “lifers” and made it a close- knit and special business community. Bob will be remembered as an appreciated and valued member of this community.

Rest in peace Bob and “Go Sox”

Neil Wolfson, former President of Red Dot

Ten minutes before I got your email Jeff Bleiman texted the sad news about Bob to me. I guess we are still an industry who cares.

I spoke to Bob a few weeks ago and while I knew about his kidney issues he seemed to be managing well and was more concerned with Mary’s situation.

Bob started his career at Red Dot before I joined the company. His family knew ours and was offered a  job in sales . He left for a while and when he wanted to return there was no opening. We introduced him to friends at Carol and he spent his career there. When I started in the industry, he made it a mission to introduce me to distributors. I was invited to the Carol suite at every convention and was able to meet many industry leaders. We stayed in touch over all of these years.

Mark Bochner, President of Marvin Bochner Inc.

The story I remember my dad telling me was about the 5 Amigo’s.

Bob Snyder(Carol Cable), Dick Reidy(Bridgeport Fittings), Del Auray (Bridgeport Fittings) John McKiernan(Lutron) and Marvin Bochner (Rep).

These 5 guys were legends in the electrical industry in the 60’s thru 90’s. The way they would work the lobby and hold court at NAED and NEMRA meetings. Everyone wanted to be part of their conversations. They all were unique in their own way.

Bob Smith, President of IMARK Electrical, formerly with Pass & Seymour (Legrand)

I knew Bob when he was with Equity / EDN where he was indispensable to their effort in support of the smaller wholesalers. Bob worked hard but enjoyed the electrical industry, it was his home away from home.

Prayers are out to his family.

Gene Biben, former principal of Biben Sales

Bob should have taught a class in marketing. Few did it better keeping records of friends & customers with their personal information.  He knew everyone and understood that people preferred purchasing from friends and people they trusted.

Bob made sure I knew had he not taken my wife out of accounting and into sales, I would never have met her

We still can learn from his personality, friendship and loyalty

Kevin Wolff, Director of National Accounts, Elemental LED

Bobby has been a family friend for my entire life and a mentor to me for the last 20 years. He and Lyn Brigham have been instrumental in my growth, providing valuable lessons on working in the distributor channel. Bobby was always available for our monthly calls, discussing wins and challenges. He never held back to tell me what I needed to do better, sometimes it wasn’t’ what I wanted to hear but always what I needed to hear. I will miss him and his support. He was an industry legend.

Mark Wolff, former SVP Carol Cable Retail, Hardware and OEM 1972-1992

Bobby hired me out of college. I worked for him in the distribution channel for three years under Bobby’s leadership. He then told me there was an opening for me in retail hardware. He was mentor to me helping achieve VP status in this new role at Carol. Bobby is one in a million and one of the best of the best in the industry. The industry will miss Bobby!

And from a rep who preferred to remain anonymous

He was absolutely one of a kind. But if you had patience and understood him, he could be great.  I’m going to mission him. He was very knowledgeable about our industry. Very realistic, very strategic, great insights.

I remember the wire quoting days. It was many many fives, 2 ½’s and 1’s. I’ve seen as many as 40 and 55s on a quote. But it was great, and it was unique to our industry, and we all knew what we were talking about and we all made money.

Final Thoughts

Thank you to everyone who contributed. We hope you sensed the essence of Bob and the value of relationships in the industry. He was an industry legend. One of a kind and someone who will be missed.

And Bob, we know you’ll still be quoting wire with others in the industry, so  how many 5’s are needed to win the order? And don’t be too hard on the manufacturers you meet. You’ve already negotiated rebate deals with them.

May you rest in peace.

And if you knew Bob, please share thoughts below in the comments. I know some people who are planning to share this posting with his family. I’m sure that they would appreciate it.