ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 20, 1996 TAG: 9604220041
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
SOURCE: RICK HAMPSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
HE CREATED the business world's wheel of fortune but rarely used one. The inventor died this week at 85
In his quest to bring order to the modern office, Alfred Neustadter invented the Swivodex, a spill-proof inkwell. It never caught on. He tried the Clipodex, a device secretaries could clip to their knees to take dictation. No luck.
Finally, in 1950, Neustadter introduced the Rolodex, and the business and political world flipped for it.
When Neustadter died this week at 85, his invention had evolved from the secretary's humble assistant to the power broker's mighty weapon. The cylindrical rotating alphabetical card file became the establishment's wheel of fortune and the very symbol of access.
``Hollywood put it in films and television, and then everyone believed it,'' Neustadter's son-in-law, David Revasch, said Friday: ``The bigger the Rolodex, the bigger the man.''
What kind of man was Arnold Neustadter, who died Wednesday in New York?
``The most organized man I ever knew,'' Revasch said. ``His life was so organized, it was like his own invention. He could have patented his own life.''
Predictably, he praised the condition of the founder's desktop.
``Whenever anyone put something on it that didn't belong there, he'd move it,'' Revasch said. ``Nothing ever stayed on his desk very long.''
Neustadter joined his father's box-making business in 1931 but soon left to start his own company. He had several unsuccessful inventions before he came up with the Rolodex.
``I knew I had a good idea, but people were skeptical at first,'' he recalled in 1988. A Rolodex cost $7.95, ``and we had trouble getting stationery stores to buy it.''
With its snap-on cards, Rolodex was neat, easy and fast. To show how fast, Neustadter would visit sales shows and offer $50 on the spot to anyone who could locate a given Rolodex card faster than company reps.
Rolodex eventually gained 90 percent of the U.S. market. Although it was marketed for secretaries and other clerical personnel, it became a symbol of business and political power.
Despite the Rolodex's popularity, its inventor was not its greatest user. He didn't particularly like to use the phone and would always get right to the point.
``He would not have been a good fund-raiser,'' Revasch said. ``He was not a schmoozer.''
LENGTH: Medium: 56 linesby CNB