Grant D. Rummell

Rummell, Grant D. Well-known Carlsbad Resident & International Business Executive CARLSBAD -- Grant D. Rummell, 77, a resident of the Tiburon area of Carlsbad, who recently retired after a distinguished 50-year career in the electronics industry, passed away at home, surrounded by his loving family, on November 11, 2014, after a brief battle with cancer. Born to the late John and Vivian Rummell in Tarentum PA, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Mr. Rummell graduated from New Kensington High School and went on to attend the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned a 1959 B.S. degree with honors in Mechanical Engineering. He additionally received the Outstanding Senior Award bestowed by fellow students and faculty in recognition for his leadership and scholarship. Mr. Rummell obtained his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Northeastern University in 1964, and pursued post-graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania in 1959 and Pennsylvania State University in 1980. Mr. Rummell began his professional career at the legendary RCA Corporation in Camden, New Jersey. His innovation there in the design of industrial control systems earned him the prestigious David Sarnoff Medal for Engineering Achievement in 1961. Mr. Rummell subsequently joined BLH Electronics in Waltham, MA, where he led the Transducers Group for 16 years and served as Vice President of Marketing from 1972 to 1977. Over the next decade he held executive positions with several manufacturers, including Rochester Instruments Systems, and Potter and Brumfield. Mr. Rummell relocated to California with his family in 1988, when he assumed the presidency of Linear Corporation, a Carlsbad- head quartered residential security systems manufacturing subsidiary of Fortune 500 firm Nortek, Inc. Under his 23 years of leadership, the company grew dramatically through acquisitions, beginning in the mid-1990's. As CEO, Mr. Rummell ultimately directed a multi-company division of Nortek that designed, produced, and distributed residential security and home automation and entertainment products on a worldwide scale. He considered his time at the helm of Linear Corporation the pinnacle of his career. Throughout his career, Mr. Rummell held numerous posts with manufacturing organizations and professional engineering societies. He served as Chairman of the Engineering Executives Group, Process Control and Measurement Division, Scientific Apparatus Manufactures' Association (SAMA), and also as Board Member and Committee Chairman for the Scale Manufacturers Association. He was a member of Instrument Society of America, the National Salesmen's Association, and was a Registered Professional Engineer in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. After retirement in 2012, Mr. Rummell and his wife, Nedra, found great pleasure being involved in the activities of their grandchildren, travelling the world, touring with friends of the San Diego Jaguar Club, and motoring weekends aboard their "R-Sea-Cat" out of the San Diego Marriott Marina. Grant Rummell will be remembered as a true gentleman who had a quick wit, was full of energy, and a man who always expressed genuine interest in everyone he met. His engaging smile and zest for life will be missed by the many people he touched in his lifetime. Business associates describe him as a strong visionary with a competitive spirit, a fundamental trust in all people, and an engineer's curiosity in how to make things better. Friends will remember him as a class act, a gentleman from a bygone era, and a great guy to be around. Mr. Rummell is survived by his wife, Nedra of Carlsbad; daughters, LaShel Montgomery of San Marcos, and Sandra O'Connell and her husband, James of Dracut, MA; sister, Joan Holowach of Indianapolis, IN; grand- children, Savannah, Brandon, and Blake in Carlsbad, and Jillian and Alycia in Dracut; as well as several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his father, mother, and half siblings, Nina and John. A Celebration of Life will be held on December 13th. Please contact family for details. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society.