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Class of 1961 Indicator Log

Class Secretary: Jay I. Wartell

Oct. 30, 2015 — Greetings, ’61ers. While on the Yemitzis last May, I had a chance to talk with Pete Zimmermann. Pete and his son have a mechanical contracting business in New Jersey, namely designing, building, installing and servicing HVAC, electrical, water and fire protection systems for commercial buildings. Pete went on to relate that he, Al Kuehn, and Al Baxter, while still at Stevens, planned to go into some business together after graduation, and they did. This happened over the course of 40 years with twists and turns in owner-ship and business focus. However, the chronology of events was long, and Pete said I really should talk to the two Als to get the details.

I called Al Baxter, now living in Galveston, TX. A series of conversations fleshed out the story. Al Baxter (Al B.) grew up in Newark, and moved to Maplewood in the 5th grade where he and Al Kuehn (Al K.) met and became friends from 5th grade through Stevens. Pete and Al K. pledged Sigma Nu, and Al B. Theta Xi. The three agreed to set aside a fixed sum of money monthly after graduation for seed capital in whatever business they decided to start. Pete began working at W.R. Grace, as a technical specialist in industrial plastics. Al K. at Worthington Corp., maker of large pumps and air conditioning components, and Al B. at New York Telephone as junior executive trainee, placed in a brand new department: Marketing! The Vietnam War interfered with their plans. Al B. got a draft notice in ’62, chose to enlist in the Navy and qualified for OCS, a four-year obligation. During that time, he met and married Priscilla in December ’62.

For Al K., the corporate world was not his oyster. After 14 months at Worthington, he left and enlisted in the Air National Guard. After his 90 days of basic training ended, he found a job selling industrial air conditioning systems for a small contractor in New-ark, and learned the business. Pete worked for W.R. Grace for two years in plastics technical support, and then was hired by Celanese Corp. to pioneer the replacement of fabricated metal parts with molded plastic parts.

In 1964, Pete left Celanese, added P.E. to his name, and he and the two Als agreed to get into the HVAC business. They came up with a businessname, “Air Systems,” and incorporated. Al K. left his sales job with the Newark contractor, and quickly sold a $200K contract for an industrial air condi-tioning system. One problem: They didn’t have the means to build it or finance the purchase of the AC system components. Al K. went back to his former employer, and worked a deal to finance the purchase and build the system.

Al B. settled in Maplewood, NJ, after his Navy obligation in 1965. He learned the HVAC business by working for another mechanical contractor and joined Air Systems shortly afterwards.

From this rough start, the three slowly built the mechanical contracting business over the next 12 years. They bought a building in 1968, bought out a metal working shop, and started an engineering services business, Bache Engineering. Air Systems was now bidding on major contracts throughout the New York-New Jersey area. They have installed major systems at college campuses and major companies, among them NJIT, Seton Hall, and Sprint Telephone in NYC.

Around 1977, Al B. decided to leave New Jersey and head south. Pete and Al K. bought out Al B.’s share. The Baxters relocated to The Woodlands,a distant suburb of Houston, TX. Al B. took the name, Bache Engineering with him, and started a consulting engineering firm. Bache designed HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and fire protection systems for industry, and consulted for the State of Texas on energy conservation projects featuring cogeneration. When the Texas economy went sour in the late ’80s, Al B. folded Bache. He sequentially became utilities director for colleges and hospitals that were adapt-ing cogeneration: Rice University, Texas A&M, and the Univ. of Texas Health Science Center-Houston. In addition to his P.E. license, Al was a certified Project Management Professional.

Meanwhile, back in New Jersey, Air Systems was still growing, reaching a total head count of 150 people. Pete and Al K. added a separate business, BCI Electric, which specialized in digital control technology for HVAC and environmental systems. They grew the business until 2002, when Pete bought out Al K.’s share.

Al Kuehn married Dorothy in 1962, and had two sons, Adam, now a doctor, and Paul, now running a solar business in Germany.

While in NJ, Al B. and Priscilla had a daughter, Jennifer, born in 1965, and a son, Jason, born in 1972. Both are now physicians. Pete married Gertrude in 1962. They had three children, Deborah, born in 1964, now an occupational therapist; Peter Jr. born in 1965, now partnering with Pete Sr. in running Air Systems; and Alice, born in 1972, finishing up her RN. Gertrude, unfortunately, passed away two years ago. Pete is transitioning from the day-to-day management of Air Systems, leaving that to Pete, Jr.

Al K., upon leaving Air Systems, continued to consult for Pete, and in addition “focused” on the solar energy field, where he has consulted and taken on solar energy projects since that time. In addition he spent two years acquiring a master’s degree in religion and philosophy from Mitchell College, New London, Conn.

Although separated by distance, business affiliation and discipline, the three still keep in close contact. As Al B. related, “You should know that although it’s been 38 years since we moved from NJ to Texas, I still hold Pete and Al K. closer than any, other than family.”