My next visit to Crestron headquarters in Rockleigh, N.J., just won’t be as memorable. Nor will the next CEDIA Expo. That’s because George Feldstein won’t be there.
The CEO and founder of this pioneering commercial and home automation company passed away on November 4.
I had heard of this legend around the time we started EH Publishing in 1994, but I wouldn’t meet him until 2000 at an Electronic House Expo. EHX was always an intimate show. Vendors didn’t bring their whole staff like they do to CEDIA Expo and other big shows. So I was surprised to see George there. I mean, he was the CEO of Crestron!
But he was just one of the guys—albeit, one of the goofier guys—joking around with customers and demonstrating products.
I asked what he was doing there and he looked at me like it was the stupidest question he’d ever heard.
“I love trade shows,” he told me.
Sure, George spent most of his time in the Crestron labs, inventing the next big thing, and working on patents for stuff most of us will never understand.
But he sure liked to get out and meet customers, and even, um, sometimes-cynical members of the press. He also liked to attend the grand openings of home theaters in veterans’ hospitals that he orchestrated through the Crestron Eagles program. He took great pride in giving back to those who gave for this country.
Hear how George Feldstein got started in the industry:
