Nationality American Occupation Businessperson | Name Charles Tandy Organization Tandy Corporation | |
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Born May 15, 1918 ( 1918-05-15 ) Brownsville, Texas Alma mater Texas Christian University Net worth $28.4 million (at time of death) Spouse(s) Gwen Purdy (Johnston) (?-1966)
Anne Valliant Burnett Tandy m. 1969 Parent(s) Dave L. Tandy (1889–1966)
Carmen McLain Died November 4, 1978, Fort Worth, Texas, United States Education Texas Christian University, R. L. Paschal High School | ||
Charles David Tandy (15 May 1918 – 4 November 1978) was the Chairman of the Board, President, and Chief Executive Officer of the Tandy Corporation.
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Biography
Charles Tandy was born in Brownsville, Texas to Dave L. Tandy, who ran the Hinckley-Tandy Leather Company with his friend Norton Hinckley. He was educated at the R. L. Paschal High School. Tandy entered his father's business at the age of 12. In 1940 he graduated from Texas Christian University. He then spent some time at the Harvard Business School before joining the US Navy for the remainder of World War II. While in the Navy he set a record for selling war bonds. While a supply officer in the Navy, he noticed sailors being taught knitting and needlepoint as part of recuperative therapy. Thinking that men would prefer leatherwork to needlework, he established a system of craft work for hospitalized service personnel. Its success led him, on leaving the Navy, to set up a mail order business, Tandycraft, that became a major part of his father's business.
Charles developed his small family leather business into an international corporation. He first turned it into a leathercraft company when shoe rationing in World War II almost killed the business, and later expanded into selling leather and tools to make such products as wallets. After a struggle over the company, which saw the Hinckley name dropped, the company was renamed to Tandy Corporation. In 1963, Tandy acquired the ailing RadioShack, a chain of nine retail stores in the Boston area; the chain grew to more than 400 across the country.
In his last years his major project was the revitalization of downtown Fort Worth, his hometown eg the construction of the eight‐block Tandy Center.
Tandy died of a heart attack in his sleep, on 4 November 1978.