NEW BEDFORD, Mass., — February 28, 2014 — Launched with passion in the mid-1980s, the growth of Reidar's Manufacturing over the past 28 years is the story of a talented fishing family who built a thriving business from the ground up, outfitting commercial fishing boats with innovative equipment and gear.
Patriarch Reidar Bendiksen, 67, was a commercial fisherman for decades before starting the business. When not at sea, he would spend hours in the family's Dartmouth home developing better ways to operate his boat.
He has a knack, his family said, for making fishing gear better, stronger, and safer to use.
"I always was a tinkerer," said Reidar, his voice still tinged with sounds from his native Norway. "When I worked I would see the gear and stuff like that, then I'd say, wow this would work better if I did this. This would work better if I did that."
Reidar's son, Tor Bendiksen, 34, remembers, as a child, being fascinated by designs and drawings that his dad made each night. Coming down for breakfast in the morning, he would eagerly seek out the new drawings from the prior evening's work.
"I was always looking on the kitchen table and seeing something that he drew up for an idea and we'd ask what is this, what is that?" he recalled.
Reidar had a natural inclination to make things better, Tor said.
Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times