Burt Falk, young executive
Source: Centrifugal Casting Company archives
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After The Accident, after the skin grafts and the pain and the long healing, Art (my grandfather) thought about dialing things back. But letting go wasn’t easy, and he continued to enjoy the fulfillment and camaraderie that the foundry delivered to him. And so, despite the fact that he was closing in on seventy years old, Art still drove to Cherry Avenue several days a week, checking the books, reviewing the orders, circling the furnaces, chatting with The Boys.
This left my dad, Burt, in some kind of limbo. Art was the dynamo of the business and he cast a long shadow. How could anybody match his combination of experience, ingenuity, attention to detail, and commitment? But Burt, now thirty-four years old, had worked at The Company for a dozen years and had his own ideas about how to move the organization forward.