Pete Kunz, retired partner at the Kunz-Powell independent rep firm based in Royersford PA, passed away recently. Bob Powell, who merged his rep firm with Kunz’s agency to form Kunz-Powell Associates in 1982, offered this remembrance of Pete’s legacy at Kunz-Powell and in the electrical industry:
“After his active Marine Corps days as a Marine aviator, Pete went to work for the Exide Corp. and specialized in emergency lighting sales. In 1973, he became the sole owner of the R.A. Johnson Co., an electrical agency started in 1947 by Ray Johnson.
“I met Pete soon after I began my electrical career with Plymouth Rubber and started a friendship that has lasted over the years. I left Plymouth and opened my business in Philly in the spring of 1980. Right before the 1982 NEMRA Conference, Pete and I merged our companies ( his was a lot bigger ) and began Kunz-Powell & Associates, Inc. Pete retired in 1988, but kept his hand in electrical distribution with two or three specialty lines for the next 25 years.
“Pete was a truly good man and a better mentor. His ability to stay calm and measured while my inclination was to attack and burn a village caused me to reevaluate the way that I approached things. While he was not at the LaGuardia founding meeting, he was always a strong and vocal supporter of NEMRA and The Electrical Association of Philadelphia.”
