It is still surreal to think at times that my father, Norm Poltenson, is gone. My dad was always healthy and vibrant. After he retired, anytime I would be out and about in the business community, someone would always ask how my father was doing. I would always say the same thing: “Livin’ the life …. busier than ever, doing yoga, baking bread, traveling with my mom, and hiking.” But when my father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, it became difficult to answer that question. 

He dealt with the disease with grace; he never complained, and tried to do whatever he could to prolong his life to be with his family. His physical strength was dissipating but his mental determination was incredible. My father had a wonderful sense of humor which he still maintained in his final days. My respect for him grew even more in these last few months. When my father passed, I can honestly share that he did indeed live his life to the fullest.

He always had three areas that he dedicated his life to: his family, his faith, and his community. 

Dad was affectionately known as Saba Nor. Saba stands for grandfather in Hebrew and “nor” is just shortened from Norm because my son Tomer, the first of his 16 grandchildren, couldn’t pronounce it properly. The name then seemed to stick with the rest of the grandchildren. My dad set a wonderful example for his three children and the grandchildren to look up to and emulate. He left us a true legacy. 

In temple, he was also known as Nachum, that was his Hebrew name. He was devoted to Judaism, his love of Israel, and learning. He went to shul daily, and he always made time to study. I’m not sure if many people know this but my father had a special gift: his voice. He had a beautiful voice and loved to sing. Many people had mistaken him at times for the cantor at temple because of his incredible and powerful voice. My father was called a mensch — defined as a person of integrity and honor — by everyone he encountered. 

In the business community, my father was known as Norm, Uncle Norm, and Dreamer. He gave back to both communities — the Jewish and business community. He did this through philanthropy and donating his time. My father had a huge heart. 

He enjoyed helping people by connecting them with others that could be of assistance for either personal or business reasons. Most of the support he provided was done privately; he was never looking for accolades. My father was humble. 

My father started The Central New York Business Journal in 1986, and I was able to be part of his dream. He built a business that was trustworthy as he was.

I was blessed with the opportunity to work with my dad. Often, I would be asked by other family businesses what’s it like to work with him? You hear of the many challenges that the 1st and 2nd generation family members have working with each other. I always shared the same story. It was a great experience. He was wonderful to work with, not only because it was a father/daughter relationship but also he was fair, he listened, shared his opinion when asked, and really let me make the decisions — whether they were good or bad. 

My father was a dreamer. You may not know that he had a business card with his title of “Dreamer” on it. His business acumen was sharp. He always did his research whether he was writing, speaking at an event, or meeting with someone. He was always well prepared. He worked long hours, was ahead of his time within the publishing and media industry, and made his dream a vital part of the Central New York landscape.

I always observed how my father treated his staff, business colleagues and anyone else he encountered. It was always the same. My father was always respectful and kind. 

One of the many lessons that my father taught me was to be sure that I took time for family. Over 20 years ago when I was raising my young children, my father was way ahead of the curve once again in allowing our staff to be flexible with their hours. He knew how important that was. Today, it is almost standard practice. He shared that it didn’t matter if someone worked 9-5, as long as they got the work done. 

I’d like to share during my father’s illness, I saw how strong my parents’ love was — my mom’s devotion to him and how incredibly strong she was helping him navigate this horrible disease. I realized that they have a love that will endure forever in this lifetime and the next. 

I am blessed to be Norm’s daughter. My father’s legacy will live on forever within my brothers, Meir and Yehoshua, and myself. But most importantly, his legacy will live on with his 16 grandchildren and the great grandchildren to follow.                 

Marny Nesher is president of The Central New York Business Journal. She has been owner since 2014 and has worked in the business in a variety of different roles since 1994.

Growing up in Central New York, Norm Poltenson spent his summers at Camp Chateaugay in the Adirondacks. After graduating from Nottingham High School, he received a bachelor’s degree from St. Lawrence University where he participated in the Singing Saints, fraternity life, and other campus organizations. 

He then went on to continue his education at the University of Wisconsin where, as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, he completed his master’s degree in history — followed by active duty in the U.S. Army, stationed in Germany. Even during his army service he made time to study learning German during his two-year stay.

Norm’s summer-camp experiences took him to the Pacific Northwest and throughout the Adirondack Park among other camp travel expeditions. He developed a love of the outdoors and particularly the Adirondack area so when Adirondack Life Magazine became available to buy, it was the perfect entrée to the publishing he dreamed about. His love of books, the outdoors, and history all merged with the 1976 purchase of Adirondack Life. 

Starting The Central New York Business Journal in 1986 enabled Norm to complete the dream. Initially, he had a difficult time convincing potential advertisers to talk to him about this new newspaper — after all, there was another one in town and why was this different? Not to be thwarted by the resistance he met, Norm just found new and unique ways to get their attention. Giant stuffed animals, gift baskets, signs, and many other creative methods opened many doors. 

When Norm wasn’t working, he was out in the community volunteering, serving on and assuming the leadership of many boards: St. Lawrence University, Syracuse Jewish Federation, Menorah Park Campus Foundation, Menorah Park Campus Nursing Facility, Junior Achievement of CNY, Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce, Inter-Religious Council, The Syracuse Hebrew Day School, and Shaarei Torah Orthodox Congregation.

Even with all his professional and community activities, he found time to increase his knowledge of our faith and bring his family to a higher level of observance. A turning point in Norm’s life was a trip to Israel — taken in the early 1970s, with seven friends. This set a new trajectory that had an impact on everything he did from business to personal relationships.

Each weekday morning, Norm got up at 5 a.m. to study for an hour before morning services and then made an effort to attend services again in the afternoon/evening whenever possible. His beautiful tenor voice was a welcome addition to Shabbat (Sabbath) and holiday services. Each Thursday afternoon, he would set aside an hour to study the weekly Torah portion with his son, who is a rabbi in Israel, encouraging our oldest grandson to join them when possible.

In addition to the twice-yearly trips to visit family (and wineries) in Israel, he loved to travel especially to explore the natural beauty and wildlife of wherever we went. Whether on Safari, in the Central American jungle, the American West, or the Adirondack Mountains, he found great pleasure in being outdoors.

Norm was an involved father and grandfather, teaching his two sons, mentoring his daughter, and finding great joy in storytelling, “from his head,” to his many grandchildren.

He supported them in their decisions and he supported his wife in hers. He was well rounded, loving, and loved by family and friends.                    

Joan Poltenson is Norm’s wife — they were married for 57 years. She was co-owner of The Business Journal with him and worked in the business for 10 years.

October 10, 2021 was a very sad day around here for that is when we lost Norman Poltenson, founder of The Central New York Business Journal (CNYBJ), at the age of 82 after a battle with cancer.

More than two months after his death, he is greatly missed by all who knew him and loved him, and that will endure.

We thought this edition of the Legends publication was an appropriate venue in which to honor Norm in words and pictures — for Norm himself was a CNY Legend.

Poltenson founded CNYBJ in 1986 and grew it over the years to include multiple business newspapers, a business news and research website, digital publications, and an events and networking business.

Serving as publisher for 28 years, he was dedicated to providing the Central New York business community with news, information, data, and research that they could rely on to help them grow their businesses.

Poltenson and his wife, Joan, sold CNYBJ in March 2014 to their daughter, Marny Nesher.

Following the sale, Norm Poltenson transitioned to a full-time position as regional staff writer for CNYBJ for several years before retiring. He traveled the roads of the Southern Tier and Mohawk Valley to meet with business owners and CEOs to chronicle the stories of their companies. Norm had such an enthusiasm for talking with fellow business owners that even a first bout with cancer would not stop him from making these trips.

Poltenson had more than 50 years of business experience, mostly in the printing and publishing industry. Before starting The Central New York Business Journal, he was formerly the owner and publisher of Adirondack Life Magazine. 

Norm in his words

When he would emcee business-award events for CNYBJ and sister company, BizEventz, Norm would often tell the audience that it was vital to recognize businesses for all the good they do in the local economy and in their communities. He was fond of saying, “Businesses are the Rodney Dangerfields of society. They get no respect.”

Poltenson also carried that business-recognition theme to his writings. In 2013, when introducing our Legacy Awards, he wrote this in these very pages: 

“‘Heroes’ in mythology are endowed with great courage and strength; they are celebrated for their bold exploits. ‘Heroes’ can also be people who risk or sacrifice their lives. My heroes are those entrepreneurs noted for building thriving regional corporations and for nurturing our communities through their generosity of time, treasure, and talent.

Communities grow and prosper in large measure because their business leaders recognize that each generation serves as a building block for the next. Our predecessors handed this generation a heritage, a shared meaning of something beyond just the material — a special spirit. It’s our responsibility to expand and pass this legacy on to those who follow in our paths.”                        

Adam Rombel is editor-in-chief of The Central New York Business Journal. He has been its lead editor since 2004 and worked for the business since 2003. 

SYRACUSE — There are few things that we take for granted as much as electricity. A force so powerful, yet, paradoxically, so prosaic, much like indoor plumbing and running water, it is difficult for most to imagine a world where it does not exist. One could argue that in 2021, electricity is as necessary as oxygen to Central New Yorkers’ daily existence. Luckily, delivering that energy safely is something Syracuse’s Crouse-Hinds has been thinking about since the very beginning.

However, when Huntington B. Crouse and Jesse L. Hinds signed the partnership papers forming Crouse-Hinds Electric Company on Jan. 18, 1897, electricity was an upstart, disruptive, technology. Edison’s Pearl Street Power Plant, in New York City, went online in 1882. George Westinghouse formed Westinghouse Electric Company in 1886. In this era of incredible change, there was widespread anxiety about the effects of electrical current “flying” through the air (akin to the public concerns about 5G technology today). Part of this public misunderstanding was the direct result of a campaign waged by Edison, the father of direct current (DC) against his former employee, Nikola Tesla, and the alternating current (AC) technology Tesla patented in 1888, before he was hired by Westinghouse, during the so-called “War of the Currents.” 

Yet, by the time Huntington B. Crouse turned 24 in 1896, the “War of the Currents” was, for all intents and purposes, over. Tesla and Westinghouse had won. In 1893, the world was awed by the spectacle of the great “White City” built for the Columbian Exposition in Chicago. This celebration of the 400th Anniversary of Columbus’ first voyage was as much a celebration of American ingenuity and emerging economic might. At the center of America’s coming-out party was the astonishing display of electric light provided by Westinghouse and Tesla’s alternating current. In 1896, Western New York became the site of another epoch-making event, when Buffalo was illuminated by a network of electric streetlamps, powered by the world’s first hydro-electric power plant, built by Tesla and Westinghouse, at Niagara Falls.

A short trip east down the Erie Canal, H.B. Crouse was enamored by the possibilities on display in “The City of Light.” Driven by the entrepreneurial spirit that would guide him to the heights of American industry, he reached out to a distant Crouse relative who had made a fortune in the wholesale grocery business, looking for some advice and an opportunity to start his own business. As a result, he was introduced to Mr. Jesse L. Hinds. 

Hinds was already involved in the burgeoning electrical trade, working with a small company that manufactured switchboards, switches, and panelboards. It was a match made in heaven, as Crouse’s unbridled enthusiasm paired with Hinds’ technical know-how to form a partnership much greater than the sum of its parts. Though they did not yet have a product, the two men rented a modest space at 500 East Water St., in Syracuse. Serendipity, it seems, was also a tenant. On the second floor, they found Frank Rorabeck, an inventor trying to manufacture his patented trolley-car headlight. Electric street railways were a booming industry in this period and Crouse pounced on the opportunity. They signed an exclusive deal with Rorabeck to produce his light. This became Crouse-Hinds’ very first product, the Syracuse Changeable Headlight.

From these humble beginnings, Crouse-Hinds Electrical Co. grew rather quickly, under the visionary leadership of Huntington B. Crouse. By 1901, they had outgrown the Water Street office. Hinds suggested they move into the four-story building at 310 E. Jefferson St. where he had worked previously. For the next eleven years, the company operated out of this space, expanding its product line, all the while battling the current of another sort, Onondaga Creek, whose annual flooding wrought havoc on the company’s underground storage. 

 The same intrepid spirit that led Crouse into the emerging electrical industry served the company well, as he was always eager to remain on the leading-edge of the business. In 1906, Crouse took a chance on a risky idea that changed the fate of the company forever, when he decided to go “all-in” on the manufacture of rigid conduit for exposed electrical wiring installations. The Crouse-Hinds “Condulet” became the industry standard and positioned the company to dominate the market right up to today. Nearly all the electrical infrastructure built around the world between 1910 and today utilizes the company’s products. Spurred by the expansive growth of the Condulet, Crouse-Hinds Company moved into a massive new plant on Wolf Street in 1912, which is still operational over a century later.

From its headquarters in Syracuse, the company continued to build its reputation for innovation, pioneering the manufacture of floodlights, traffic signals, and aviation lighting solutions; many of the latter were tested at Syracuse Municipal Airport in Amboy (Camillus). As the company grew more successful in these new markets, which would prove critical to the company’s enormous growth over the ensuing decades, Jesse Hinds passed away in 1928 at the age of 83. Crouse-Hinds pushed forward. In 1929, the company continued its visionary leadership in lighting solutions, when it installed a complete lighting system in Syracuse University’s Archbold Stadium. Amidst the Great Depression, Crouse-Hinds continued to thrive. In 1932, the company issued its first complete catalog on “Explosionproof Condulet” fittings. This is still a core Crouse-Hinds product line some 90 years later.

During World War II, the company overcame manpower and material shortages to be among the government’s largest suppliers of airplane and ship signaling lighting, as well as myriad floodlights and similar products. Crouse-Hinds received the Army-Navy “E” award for production an impressive four times. In 1943, the company lost its other founder, when Huntington B. Crouse passed away at age 71. William Hinds, Jesse’s nephew, who had been with the company since 1903, became president. 

After the war, Crouse-Hinds continued to grow at an incredible rate, diversifying its product lines and increasing its market share. The tragic death of Huntington B. Crouse, Jr. in 1951, rocked the company and the community to its core. The 40-year-old Crouse, Jr. had only ascended to the presidency in 1948 and many expected that he would have led the company for decades to come. Rebounding from the tragedy, the business moved forward under the leadership of Larry Hills, who served as president until 1958. Major capital expenditures in the early 1950s included expansions of the Wolf Street facility, bringing the entire complex to nearly 800,000 square feet by 1955. That same year, the company dedicated Hinds Hall of Engineering at Syracuse University, another in a long line of philanthropic endeavors in the community. 

 Under the leadership of Hills’ successors, J.R. Tuttle (1955-1958) and Robert B. Sloan (1958-1964), Crouse-Hinds became an international leader in the manufacture of electrical construction materials, lighting systems, and traffic-control systems. Always on the leading edge of innovation, the company developed its “Magic Brain Control System,” in 1962, which made it possible for traffic signals to allow left-hand turns.

A testament to the company’s continued growth and success, in July 1966, Crouse-Hinds’ president, Chris. J. Whiting, opened the New York Stock Exchange to celebrate the company being listed on the “Big Board;” Crouse-Hinds, a company that started on Water Street in Syracuse in the early days of electricity, was a publicly traded company with nearly 3,000 employees (over 2,300 in Syracuse), producing over 12,000 products in three different countries (the U.S., Canada, and Venezuela). In 1968, Crouse-Hinds opened a new manufacturing facility in Syracuse, the Albert Hills Lighting Center, to keep up with demand. In 1968, the company reported $70 million (worth $552 million in 2021 money) in revenues.

Over the ensuing decades, Crouse-Hinds, now a publicly traded company, skillfully adapted to changing economic realities and thrived in a business environment that wreaked havoc among so many other local, and national, manufacturing companies. Innovation and diversification led to continued record profits and growth throughout most of the 1970s. By 1979, the Syracuse-based company had 13 plants across the globe, manufacturing over 50,000 different products in 14different sectors, with a significant area of growth being in the refining/petrochemical industry. Another major milestone in the company’s life happened in 1981, when after a year of negotiations, Crouse-Hinds merged with Texas based, Cooper Industries. 

In 1997, Crouse-Hinds celebrated its 100th anniversary. From humble beginnings and flooding basements, the company had grown to nearly 3,500 employees with plants in Texas, Connecticut, North Carolina, Maine, Mexico, Canada, Germany, Spain, and India, producing over 100,000 different products for some of the biggest companies in the world including Exxon, Arco, Citgo, DuPont, Getty, Merck, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. In 2021, Eaton Corporation PLC, an Ireland–based multinational power management company, acquired Cooper (and Crouse-Hinds) for $13 billion. 

Today, as the company nears its 125th year in existence, Crouse-Hind’s products are all over the globe. They are found in offshore oil rigs in the Gulf, mines in Peru, and illuminating some of our country’s most iconic national treasures including the Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial. It is an astonishing success story. 

Cooper Crouse-Hinds continues to operate at the Wolf Street facility, as a subsidiary of Eaton. The company has 1,300 employees, 400 of which are still employed at Wolf Street (a far cry from the peak in the 1960s.). The company reported revenue of $296.97 million in 2019.

Since that fateful meeting in Syracuse between Mr. Crouse and Mr. Hinds 124 years ago, Crouse-Hinds has played an integral role in helping to deliver energy to the world, safely and dependably. In fact, it has done its job so well, most people haven’t even thought about it.      

Robert J. Searing is curator of history at the Onondaga Historical Association (OHA) (www.cnyhistory.org), located at 321 Montgomery St. in Syracuse.