Farny R. Wurlitzer

Biography

Farny R. Wurlitzer, the youngest brother in the Wurlitzer family, graduated in 1901 from the Technical Institute of Cincinnati and went at once to Switzerland to work for Paillard, the celebrated maker of music boxes. He then spent six months at the Phillips factory at Frankfort on the Main studying automatic player pianos and orchestrion manufacture, and took a course at Pellisson's brass instrument factory in Lyons, France. He returned to Cincinnati in 1903 and took charge of the automatic instrument department. In 1908 he was elected president of the Rudolph Wurlitzer Manufacturing Company, assuming management of the factories at Wurlitzer, N.Y. Beyond his technical and practical manufacturing knowledge, he was credited with knowing how to manage workmen; he is described as severe but just, with his workmen believing in him and giving him their best effort.

Highlights

• Graduated from the Technical Institute of Cincinnati in 1901, then trained abroad with music-box, player-piano, and brass-instrument makers
• Took charge of the automatic instrument department in 1903 and was elected president of the Rudolph Wurlitzer Manufacturing Company in 1908
• Described as knowing how to treat and control men, severe but just

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. II (1913), pp. 214, 215.

Public domain.