Automatic World

George A. GrastorF--
Master Operator
By
Robert
O
W.
Merriam
F NO man who has lived in
our times and who has
actively engaged in the
vending machine industry is it so
hard to speak in a concise and sum-
mary fashion as of George A. Gras-
tori. For the past thirty years he
has been so closely associated with
the industry that the record of his
life is virtually an outline of the
business during those years.
He
was the first to see the need of lo-
cal organizations of operators and
with the co-operation and help of
others in Chicago the first oper-
ators' 'o rg!anization of recdrd was
born, out of which grew the Na-
tional Vending Machine Operators
Association, the only national associ-
ation of operators ever successfully
organized which held and conducted
seven conventions and expositions.
He was probably better known
throughout the industry both to op-
erators and manufacturers alike
than any other operator. Always an
outstanding figure, ranking first as
a business man among his operator
friends and competitors, first among
the manufacturers for the excep-
tional shows and expositions which
were originated and produced under
his direction. In fact, if there was
anything unusual to be done in the
industry, it was always "Let George
do it" and it was done successfully.
Because his contacts with the in-
dustry were so wide, he was inter-
ested in everything pertaining there-
to, and threw himself with a joy-
ous freshness and keenness into all
its phases. In 1926 he saw the need
of a closer contact of operators and
with the backing of the organiza-
tion the Automatic Merchandiser, a
magazine devoted to the problems of
the operator, was established. It is
needless to say that Mr. Grastorf
spent many hours of valuable time
in the interest of his fellow oper-
ator and for the good of the indus-
try. Most any evening after a hard
day's work he could be found plan-
ning and working until the wee
small hours for the good of the or-
ganization and it has been the pleas-
ure of myself and many others to
help and assist in this. Each one
We owe tribute to evel'y man who has helped in
blazing the trails for an industry, Thus we are glad
to present this article by Robert W. Merriam in
memory and as a tribute to George A. Grastorf.
who participated, I know, will long
remember these feasts of fellowship
and reason.
There are few instances in our
annals of the industry of men who
have been equally well known and
universally liked.
Always he has
been spoken of by the manufactur-
ers in th'l highest terms for his
work in promoting the expositions
and conventions Only recently one
of his competitors said of him,
"George Grastorf is the best scale
man in the business today, he is
constantly working and that is what
it takes to make a good operator."
However, his operation of vending
machines did not lie whOlly in the
scale field. Early in life he became
associated with the industry work-
ing for a Boston firm for a number
of years and next was connected with
the National Automatic Weighing
Machine Company of New York, nOw
known as the Auto Sales Company.
He came to Chicago in the interest
GEORGE A. GRA STORF
of this company in 1908 and about
1911 he worked for the National
Novelty Company of Minneapolis,
soon after, buying his own machines
and engaging in the business for
himself.
About 1918 he disposed of all his
machines with the exception of
scales which he operated exclusively
until the time of his death. As with
all operators his ambition was to
build a machine of his own plan-
ning and at the time of his death he
had just completed the first run of
a new small scale designed and built
entirely by himself. Being sturdily
built of cast iron construction and
covered with porcelain, they will
stand ever as a memorial to his in-
tegrity.
It is' hardly to be said that he
loved hi s family as he loved his
work. He took them with him on
numerous trips to his native East
where his mother and other rela-
tives reside. A son, George, Jr, 13
years of age, and twin girls, Edith
and Ethel, 7 years old, together with
his devoted wife will recall the many
happy outings in and around Chi-
cago.
What more can we desire of our
fri.e nds than this-that in remem-
bering them there should be noth-
ing to regret, that all who are un-
der their influence should feel
themselves forever thereafter the
better for that influence, that a hap-
py and peaceful life would be
crowned by a sudden and painless
death. No one who knew him doubt-
ed his conscientious sin~erity and
earnestness, yet there were those
who were wont to regard him as a
self-interested schemer who would
sacrifice his friends to his ambitions.
However, those closely associated
with him know this to be false and
appreciate the many sacrific·e s he
made in their behalf.
George A. Grastori was born at
Westville, N. Y., about 51 years ago.
He was taken ill Friday noon, June