Rep News - May 7, 2021 Update

Electro Link Sales, Albuquerque, NM, now represents Service Wire’s line of commercial and industrial wire and cable products in New Mexico; El Paso, TX; and Durango, CO. Electro Link Sales has served this region since 2002.

Synergy Electrical Sales, Fairless Hills, PA, will represent Ideal Electrical in eastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey utilizing its team-based sales strategy.

Synergy has its roots in four family-owned independent manufacturers’ reps — Jacobson-Rodger Associates, Low Associates, McDevitt Electrical Sales and most recently, the Ertel Co. and Pyramid Lighting Group.

The company’s electrical wholesale line card includes brands such as Encore Wire, Panduit, Signify and Lutron. Ideal Electrical has supported the electrical trade for more than 100 years with a well-known line of wire connectors and a wide assortment of tools, test equipment and job-site supplies.

Schaeffer Marketing Group (SMG) (St. Louis): Bruce Eason, Don Calcaterra, Tyler Kisro and Ellen Eason of LEC & Co. joined this rep agency. They bring more than 125 years of combined lighting experience to SMG.

Eason and Calcaterra will cover some distributor, contractor and specifier accounts, while Kisro will focus on specifiers. Eason will offer lighting design services and cover inside sales for some electrical lines. According to the press release, “They all have great experience in the specifier, design-build and energy retrofit markets but will greatly define our lighting focus in the specifier market. Lighting services provided include project design, photometric layouts, utility incentive calculations, payback analysis and job management.”

Established in 1976, SMG represents manufacturers in eastern Missouri and southern Illinois, and often in central Illinois as well.

OBITUARY

John Blust, former president and owner of the Ohio-based Riffle & Associates independent rep agency, passed away at age 85 on April 25. According to his obituary at www.legacy.com, he is survived by his wife, Susan M., and his four children: Beth (Mike) Bruggeman, Claire (Dave) Rodehaver, John (Becky) Blust, and Michael (Niki) Blust. John has 10 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren (with two more on the way). Sue has three children: Betsy (Jim) Slattery, Jim (Linda) Walker, and Katie (Corwyn) Strout, along with five grandchildren. His siblings are William (Kim) Blust of Colorado Springs, CO, Sister Jean Ann Blust of Mount Notre Dame in Cincinnati, and Marilyn O’Brien. He is preceded in death by his parents, John and Lillian Blust of Middletown, OH, and great-granddaughter Harper Kerlin.

Blust earned a bachelor’s of science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Dayton in 1959. He enlisted in the Army and was honorably discharged in 1967 as a 1st Lieutenant. He began work at Cutler-Hammer and later joined Riffle and Associates, eventually becoming president and owner. John loved his work and retired in 2017.

According to his obituary, “Retirement didn’t slow him down. He enjoyed golfing, fishing, visiting with family, traveling to the Outer Banks, and pouring Manhattans. John never knew a stranger and had a huge heart.”