Baldwin Piano Company
Ernesto Gittli was born in Uruguay and moved to the U.S. as a small boy before he began taking piano lessons. He met his wife, who also taught music, and together they envisioned a music school that would encourage all ages to become music makers. Gittli Music opened in the mid- 1960s with a strong...
Lucien Wulsin’s grandfather was taught the piano business by D. W. Baldwin, the founder of the world-famous piano company. What he learned was passed down to his son, who, like his father, became president of the company. Lucien III carried on the family tradition and served as President of Baldwin...
Marvin Zoschke had dreams of being in the music business while he was a boy. After working in a piano store after World War II, Marvin had the opportunity to open a Baldwin Piano dealership and soon became one of the top dealers in the country. The Piano Center in Beaumont, Texas, has served their...
Don Broman worked long and hard in the music products industry, striving to create quality products and dependable customer service to dealers around the world. When he joined the Lyon & Healy company in 1937 the country was in the midst of the Great Depression, yet Don worked hard with the...
James M. E. Mixter may very well have been the only person in the industry to have worked for Baldwin Pianos before, during, and after World War II. As a result, he was able to provide meaningful stories and facts regarding an era for which changes occurred in the industry. These changes had an...
Robert C. Cosgrove was hired by the Baldwin Piano Company following World War II and later worked his way up to vice president. He witnessed the re-building of the production line, which during the war was used to assemble wooden gliders. Bob also took part in what he described as a historic...
Dan Strait moved his family to Austin, TX from Houston to open a Baldwin piano franchise back in 1963. The company was called Strait Piano and Organ and Dan’s motto was “Where customers become friends”. Slowly, Dan saw the opportunity to expand to a full-line music store, and in 1967 Strait Piano...
Gary Grimes played a very vital role in the early part of his career, working in the music education department at Wurlitzer. Gary wrote many of the training programs for Wurlitzer as well as music education materials that were provided to customers. He served as Vice President of Marketing with...
Frank Huffman was the quintessential traveling music salesman! With charm and always a few good jokes, Frank has made his way across the United States, first for Wurlitzer and then for Baldwin. Standing next to Frank in a smoke-filled bar, one could meet all the other travelers who knew him by name...
Lowell Simpson spent his entire life in music. As a child he played music as well as sang and in fact, continued to sing over the decades even after working as a sales manager for several industry manufacturers. From 1965 until 1978 he served as a sales rep for the Wurlitzer Company. He traveled to...