Tom Bedell retires from Pure Fishing
Posted on March 10, 2008 in Business news by DM
Tom Bedell’s official retirement from Pure Fishing, the company founded by his father, gave me a moment of pause this week. I met Tom and his parents in 2005 while producing a biographical video for the Iowa Business Hall of Fame, and the story of Pure Fishing is surely one of Iowa’s most endearing business success stories. Tom’s dad, Berkley Bedell, started the Berkley Fly Company in 1937 as a boy in Spirit Lake, literally at his kitchen table, making hand-tied buck-tail streamers that he sold to area bait shops. As the business grew, he hired his high school classmates to assist in production while he went on sales trips around the Midwest, calling back the orders as fast as the kids could make them. He gave up daily management of the multi-million-dollar business in the early 1970’s, and with the help of his son Tom waged a successful campaign for a seat in the US House of Representatives. The company he had started felt his absence keenly, though, and in 1979 when it was on the verge of closing he asked Tom to return to Spirit Lake to take over its management.
That Tom did so is quite remarkable. My five-minute video could not even begin to touch on his motivation for giving up his lucrative political consulting career to take on this task for his dad, but Berkley biographers Larry Ramey and Daniel Haley quote Tom as saying it was purely an emotional decision to help his parents. Whatever the motivation, it was under Tom’s leadership that the company outgrew its financial difficulties and became a true international industry leader. As of 2005, the company - by then known as Pure Fishing - had reached annual revenues over $250 million. Tom Bedell, having quite literally saved the company, transitioned to the role of Chairman in 2003. The Bedell family has funded numerous amenities around Iowa, including betterment projects in the Spirit Lake area, facilities at state universities, and many others. Tom has served on innumerable boards and commissions, notably the Iowa Board of Regents. He’s not only a Business Hall of Famer, he’s also a member of the Iowa Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame.
I can’t begin to do justice to Tom Bedell’s many achievements in this space, but I think he’s got a lot to celebrate.
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I like your writing style. Looking forward to reading more from you.
- Sue.