Five Brothers and a War

Leendert van Pelt (1887-1947)

The Bruynzeel newsletter announcing Leendert’s death.

A jolt of emotion has gone through us all when we heard the news of the death of our Mr. van Pelt. During his short, serious illness we all still held a little hope that he would recover and would come back to us. It was not to be. Where it means an unfathomable loss for his dear wife and sons, in our company it will leave a void that will be hard to fill. Through his famous geniality, and on the other hand his strictness, he won all our hearts. We have all learned a lot from him. We cannot preserve his memory better than to, through HIS spirit, live the real Bruynzeel spirit.

van Pelt

In memoriam. Mr. van Pelt died on November 29.

Roughly 36 years ago he came to us as the first sales representative of the flooring division in Rotterdam. That was in father’s time. My memories go back to when I went with him to learn to sell at the trade show. Mr. van Pelt taught me from the ground up, and fathered over me in that manner, which later, as Sales Manager, became his strength. I remember that after I sent in my first sales report, I had it promptly returned the following day, because I failed to dot my “i”s. Now I can’t say that I took that in a very friendly manner. Mr. van Pelt tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Young man, don’t be angry, just put the dots in and send it back.” And so he acted in his calm and friendly way. Actually he readily righted those things that weren’t quite correct. He taught young men to be salesmen, but he didn’t only turn them into salesmen, he also helped solve their problems. Mr. van Pelt was the soul of the entire sales department in the Flooring Factory, where the office trusted him, and the salesmen had support they needed. Actually it couldn’t be different than last Thursday when his own salesmen carried him to the gravesite, and formed an honor guard at the grave. That actually says everything. We might find a good sales person who is as good a leader, but we are going to have trouble finding someone who can continue with the spirit Mr. van Pelt brought to the team. We will do our best. W. Bruynzeel

Five Brothers and a War

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