Business visionary Jack Gentry dies at 82

Jack Gentry, founder of Positronic Industries and creator of the Southwest Area Manufacturers Association, died Sept. 23, at the age of 82.

“Jack is one of the American success stories,” said Steve Johnson, president of Color Graphic Printing and a SAMA charter member. “He started, like so many others at the time, with not a lot except for an unusual gift of intelligence, and he grew up and went on to create what he has.”

Born in Kansas City, Kan., Gentry was a veteran of two wars, serving as a naval aviator in the Marine Corps during World War II and the Korean War.

After returning from Korea, Gentry went to work in sales with Minneapolis Honeywell and later with Litton Industries, where he learned about electronic hardware.

His greatest impact on the local market, however, came when he founded Positronic in October 1966. The company, founded in a small Stewart Street warehouse, machined contacts and hardware for electronic components.

The operation grew quickly – it now has 45 sales offices to support its 11 factory operations in North America, China, Japan, Australia, Taiwan, Korea, India, Malaysia and New Zealand.

Much of the company’s success can be traced back to Gentry’s hands-on approach with the business – his widow, Ann, said he still conducted business from his hospital bed, though he stepped away from day-to-day operations in 2000.

“His office (at the plant) is still open,” she said. “Nobody ever moved in and took it over.”

Gentry passed the role of president to his son, John. John’s brother, Bill, is head of the company’s Asia operations.

Jack Gentry also was known for his no-nonsense style of communication.

“He was sort of his own man. He knew how he wanted to run his company,” she said. “He liked to make a decision, and he made decisions very quickly.”

He also was extremely organized – a fact that Ann Gentry thinks may have come from his time in the Marines.

Jack Gentry also felt that manufacturers in southwest Missouri needed a voice in local and state government. He created the manufacturers’ association in 1993 as a way to make the needs and concerns of the manufacturing industry heard. Today, the organization has more than 150 member companies, representing 13,000 jobs over 32 counties.

“Jack was a hard driver,” said Tom Singleton, co-founder of Precision Stainless and charter SAMA member. “He was all business – a real aggressive, bulldog type – and that’s what you need when you’re forming a group like (SAMA).”

Rita Needham, SAMA’s executive director since November 2001, was hired by Gentry in 1999 as SAMA’s community affairs director and as Positronic’s education coordinator, a position she still holds.

“He showed me the importance of manufacturing to the economy,” she said. “It helped develop the passion that I now have to try and preserve manufacturing – just working with him, hearing him talk, listening to his years of experience.”

Gentry’s colleagues agree that his impact will continue to be felt through the ideas he taught others.

“Anyone who knew him well respected him greatly, as I did, and learned a lot from him,” Johnson said. “He was just a fine man.”[[In-content Ad]]