Interview with Stan Weaver
June 8, 2000 12:15 AM through 1:30 P.M.
Subject: Charles Stanley (Stan) Weaver. 1974/1975 President Florida West Coast Chapter
Interviewed by: Daniel G. Herrera P.E. Chapter Historian.
This is an official historical leadership recall interview of Charles Stanley Weaver, past President of the Florida West Coast Chapter of ASHRAE. Today is June 8, 2000.
Charles Stanley (Stan) Weaver was born in Janesville, Wisconsin on January 13, 1931. In his early youth he came to Florida with his family in 1934 and lived in the town of Clermont, west of Orlando. There he attended Clermont High School and graduated in 1948.
He went to college at the University of Florida in Gainesville where he started with an undergraduate program of Business Administration. He realized early as a freshman that this was not his field of interest. He then became interested in Engineering and enrolled in the Industrial Engineering curriculum, which he later changed to the field of Mechanical Engineering. He thought that this field would be interesting and rewarding. During the summers of his college years, and some winters, he worked for the Merchant Marine in the Great Lakes as a deckhand, a watchman and a coal passer on the Morton E. Farr iron ore freighter that crossed the Great Lakes from Cleveland to Lake Superior.
Stan graduated from the University of Florida in 1954. He wanted to be a contractor at that time but shortly after graduation, he interviewed for a job at General Electric Company. During this interview they quickly dissuaded him from the idea of becoming a contractor and convinced him to work for G. E. instead. He entered the company in engineering sales.
General Electric was manufacturing air conditioning equipment and heat pumps then. Most of the heating, ventilating, and refrigeration design work was done by the contractors and the manufacturing companies such as Carrier and York. He worked at G.E. for six months until he entered the USAF under the ROTC program as a Second Lieutenant, and was assigned to Chanute AFB, in Illinois. He served in the USAF for thirty months with assignments in Rhein Mein Air Base near Frankfurt, Germany. The United States at this time was engaged in the Korean War.
During his stay at Chanute AFB, Illinois in 1954, he married Cathy his wife for 42 years until her recent death in 1996.
After his tour of duty with the USAF, Stan Weaver came upon an opportunity by “accident” as he stated it, to work for the Trane Company. He started at the Trane Co. training center in Lacrosse, Wisconsin, in applications engineering since at the time the manufacturing companies provided engineering consulting.
The consulting engineer who practices today in HVAC design for facilities was rare then so the mechanical contractor and the equipment dealers provided this service, since it was limited to air conditioning of stores, movie theaters, hospitals and some luxury hotels.
Stan returned to Gainesville, Florida working with the Trane Co. in equipment sales. He sold mainly heating equipment such as unit heaters, baseboard finned tube radiators and the like. The Trane Co. also was selling air conditioning equipment such as centrifugal chillers for large process plants and other industrial areas that required cooling in their production.
Stan moved to Tampa, Florida in 1959 from Gainesville while still working for the Trane Co. He continued with their sales team until 1967, when he decided to work as a manufacturer’s agent with Joe Middleton selling cooling towers, fans and air conditioning equipment. The business climate of the time was such that consulting firms were becoming more influential than they were before and capturing more of the design work previously done by the contracting firms. The giants of the industry in the Tampa area were to name a few: Tampa Armature Works, The Krauss Co., Pullera, Bowen and Watson, Beddingfield & Associates, Healy & Hargan, and Reynolds, Smith and Hills.
Tampa was a smaller city then. The major industries in the area were for phosphate mining and processing plants; the tobacco industry and the production of fine cigars; tourism for its sunshine and beaches. The University of South Florida was coming into being. Electric power companies were encouraging the use of electrically driven, compressorized air conditioning equipment. On the other hand, the Gas companies encouraged the use of gas-fired absorption coolers for residential applications.
Stan worked with Joe Middleton for nearly ten years. Mr. Weaver always wanted to have his own business, and in 1978 he started his own company which he named Stan Weaver and Co. selling HVAC equipment such as fans, cooling towers, humidifiers, and air distribution products. His company has expanded to include Orlando and it is providing reliable, prompt and courteous service to consulting engineers, contractors, and building owners.
Stan joined ASHRAE in the early 1960’s and is currently a life member of the Society belonging to the Florida West Coast Chapter. He served this Chapter in various positions and chapter chairs until he became president of the Chapter in 1974. Stan is very active in the programs and activities of the Society and the Chapter.
Stan Weaver when asked what advice he would give to a young engineer entering the field of HVAC he replied that for every individual the circumstances are different, but that he or she should pick the area of HVAC that interests them the most and stick with it. They could start in the manufacturing field, learn all they can about that process, and then go into consulting, sales, or contracting. Every case is different; eventually, the higher they move into the field of engineering and HVAC, the more of a salesperson they become. Each engineer has to be able to sell his or her ideas to the client to be successful.