Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Lester ASPLUNDH
Lester Asplundh, co-founder and former board chairman of the Asplundh Tree Expert Co., died yesterday, his 83d birthday, at Holy Redeemer Hospital. He lived in Bryn Athyn.
He and his two brothers - Carl and Griffin, both now dead - started the business in 1928 on a shoestring. They borrowed $3,500, pooled their resources and went knocking on doors, soliciting business for their new tree-trimming business, established in Glenside.
In an interview six years ago, Lester Asplundh recalled that the brothers were shocked when they counted it up at the end of the first year and found that they had taken in $276,000. They were overjoyed.
But then things started to turn sour. Most of the customers were utilities and telephone companies. When the Depression hit, business fell off for them and for the Asplundh Co. Income dropped to $140,000 in 1932.
The brothers hung on, and somehow things improved. The family-owned firm long ago topped the $100-million-per-year mark.
The company now counts more than 10,000 employees, has an inventory of equipment valued at more than $130 million and operates in 47 states and two provinces in Canada.
While line-clearing and tree-trimming for utilities still represent the bulk of the work, the company - which outgrew its original Glenside offices and later its Jenkintown offices and now is based in Willow Grove - is diversified.
Lester Asplundt, who served as chairman and chief executive officer until December 1982, saw to that.
His company's manufacturing division in Chalfont produces both the ''Whisper Chipper" and the "Trim Lift" hydraulic cherrypicker on a truck. The "Line Lift," patented by the former chairman of the board, is the standard for stringing power lines throughout the industry.
It was a logical invention for an electrical engineer. He earned his degree at Swarthmore College, where he first earned his reputation as a football player. At 6 feet, 3 inches and 215 pounds, he was a sensation as a halfback and punter.
From there he went to the Philadelphia Quakers and the Frankford Yellow Jackets, a pro team that would later become the Philadelphia Eagles.
He was nominated to the national Football Hall of Fame in 1961 and in 1971 received its distinguished American award.
In years that followed, he served on Swarthmore's board of governors.
He gave as much to Bryn Athyn as he gave to the business. He served on the Borough Council, served as a consultant to the Academy of the New Church and was a member of the board of the Church of the New Jerusalem.
The Academy church gave his name to its new gymnasium.
He is survived by his wife, Grace; sons, E. Boyd, Robert H. and the Rev. Kurt Asplundh, pastor of the Bryn Athyn Cathedral; daughter, Leslie Fleischner, 18 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
Services will be at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Cathedral on Second Street Pike. Contributions may be made to the church in his memory.
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