Sheldon Lance

Waterford - Sheldon Lance, a marine industry pioneer who founded Defender Industries, now the oldest and largest independent discount marine supply company in North America, died on Oct. 13, 2011. He was 93.

Through 75 years running Defender, Mr. Lance continually roiled the marine accessory industry while making boating more affordable to boaters within the U.S. and internationally. Mr. Lance was a pioneer in the mail-order business before the internet and then in internet sales world-wide, and the business he founded is the longest-lived marine outfitting firm in the United States with a global following.

Mr. Lance was a depression era city boy from a poor, single parent family in Borough Park, Brooklyn, with no exposure to boats in his youth. The irony that he ended up catering to well-healed yachters world-wide amused him and fueled his legendary willingness to skewer any pretense associated with yachts. Sales representative firms in the cozy world of marine accessory manufacturers routinely hazed new employees by sending them to try to secure a purchase order from Mr. Lance, and other dealers fought to keep products out of his hands.

Defender, still owned by Mr. Lance's five children and run by his son, Stephan Lance, has survived the disappearance of many independent marine supply firms nationwide, and is now the largest independent marine supplies firm in the U.S. and the second largest in the U.S. The business, which originally had to buy products second and third hand because of industry resistance to sales below list price, now is among the most respected providers of both marine equipment and service, a leading distributor for every major manufacturer of marine products, and a customer service benchmark in the marine industry, and has realized record sales each year for the last decade.

Mr. Lance had a knack for finding bargains, and an early purchase of army surplus parachutes proved to be a fortuitous match for those seeking material for sails and sea anchors. He sourced "seconds" of industrial fabrics in the garment industry district on Canal Street in Manhattan, and as Defender grew it maintained a strong connection to New York's industrial fabric/textiles companies. A fortuitous purchase of truckloads of fiberglass overruns at a time when most boats were still built of wood set Defender on the path to the marine industry; small boat builders and weekend cruisers sought out Defender's deals on fiberglass and epoxy resin. Mr. Lance often used the alias "Charlie" to deflect customers who asked to speak with the owner of the company. Few customers knew that they were on the phone with the owner of the company already.

Mr. Lance made Defender an innovator in marine accessory product design and merchandising. In the early 1960s he started publishing a mail order catalogue, which was unheard of as a means of selling highly technical boating equipment. Defender would source or manufacture hundreds of new products each year, serving as an outlet for innovative products that could not get the attention of larger distribution outlets. The first-mover advantage was fleeting, as competitors scoured the annual Defender catalogue for new products while Mr. Lance was already searching for the next series of new products to stay ahead of more established competitors. Defenders' low pricing ruffled the feathers of others in the marine outfitting market, and the solid presence of Defender's catalogue was the catalyst for an industry trend toward online/mail order sales. People began turning away from boat dealers and marinas when filling their boating needs, because Defender - and new entrants that followed - were selling product well below list prices.

In its early years the company was a family affair, managed by Mr. Lance's wife, Charlotte, and staffed at various times by all of his five children. His children were assigned pages of the Defender catalogue to prepare, and the family assembled the catalog each year spread across the dining room table.

Mr. Lance's philosophy was to sell as much as possible and provide the lowest prices possible. As Defender continued to expand, Mr. Lance moved the company from Manhattan to New Rochelle, N.Y., in 1970. In due time, his warehouses took over an entire block of buildings, all of them crammed basement to ceiling with anchors, rigging, engines, and other boat accessories. On Saturdays, people would come from across the tri-state area, filling the store to the brim.

In 1995, seeking to modernize the business and desperate for more space and more staff, the Lance family moved Defender to Waterford. There Defender flourished, becoming a regional powerhouse as a retailer, and a critical distributor for international manufacturers seeking U.S. distribution. As the marine industry moved to mass-market retailing with chain stores dotting the coasts and the Midwest, Defender capitalized on the erosion of customer service in retailing by remaking itself again as a provider of a high level of customer service and a comprehensive equipment outfitter, adding the top-tier products that chain stores could not justify handling or service, while maintaining its historically competitive pricing.

Overexpansion and the financial crisis led all of those chains to merge or fold, as Defender continued to grow and remained independent. Mr. Lance refused to retire… still running the custom canvas cutting department into his 80s.

Sheldon Lance was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. He served in the U.S. Army as a flight trainer, attended City College of New York, and worked in Palestine before and during the formation of the State of Israel.

He married Charlotte Rosnick of Holyoke, Mass., in 1957, in the home of Harold and Miriam Dean of New London. Charlotte died in 1987.

He is survived by two sons, Andrew and Stephan; three daughters, Natasha, Emily, and Kate; and 10 grandchildren.

Byles Memorial Home, 99 Huntington St., New London, assisted the family with the burial at Sharon Gardens Cemetery in Valhalla, N.Y.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be made in memory of Sheldon Lance to the American Diabetes Association at www.diabetes.org/donate