Jack Roberts, 64, "I won't be undersold!"
Gyumaoh
By Eric Fetters
Herald Writer
http://www.heraldnet.com/Stories/02/4/11/15391860.cfm
Jack Roberts, remembered by most for promising "I won't be undersold!" in wacky
TV commercials for his appliance stores, died Wednesday morning.
The 64-year-old resident of Clearview had battled inoperable prostate cancer
over the past three years. He spent his final weeks at Evergreen Hospice in
Kirkland.
For 26 years, Roberts owned Jack Roberts Appliance, which started with a store
in Lynnwood and at one point grew to five locations. Three stores in the Puget
Sound area still carry his name.
Outside of his business, Roberts ministered to inmates and coached numerous
youth sports teams in Snohomish County. He and his wife, Linda, had three sons,
and he had three daughters from a previous marriage.
Friends described Roberts as a kind and gracious person.
"Jack was a person who enjoyed so much ... he was boundless in his energy right
up until he died," said Creighton Kolbeck of Edmonds, who knew Roberts for 30
years.
He and others said Roberts was a religious and athletic man who gave much of
his time to others. Bill Tsoukalas, executive director of the Boys and Girls
Clubs of Snohomish County, said it seemed at times like Roberts spent more time
volunteering than at this business.
"He had a real passion for kids," Tsoukalas said.
He said Roberts, who was well over 6 feet tall, loved both playing and coaching
basketball. Roberts often told of the time he played as a member of the
Washington Generals against the Harlem Globetrotters, and he coached his sons
on several teams.
Tennis was Roberts' other athletic pursuit, and he had a circle of friends in
the Everett area that he regularly played.
He also was known as a donor to many community causes, Tsoukalas said. And he
even hired ex-convicts at his stores to help them get back on their feet.
"I think he had a soft spot for people down on their luck," Tsoukalas said.
Roberts' career in appliance sales began by accident in Wisconsin, where he
grew up. He was a factory worker when he went to buy a washing machine and the
store owner offered him a job. He later began selling appliances for a
wholesale company.
He came to Washington state in the 1960s, becoming a sales manager for
Westinghouse. Shortly after quitting that job, he opened his first appliance
store in Lynnwood in 1973.
But the TV commercials didn't start until the 1980s. As competition increased,
he decided to become a pitchman to boost his sales.
Over the next two decades, he and his wife became a frequent sight on the small
screen, using goofy costumes and his famous line to advertise their stores.
Many of the commercials ended with Linda Roberts throwing a cream pie in his
face.
By 1990, Roberts owned five stores between Everett and Tacoma. In the
mid-1990s, he cut back by selling the Tacoma store to a relative and closing
his Everett and North Seattle locations.
He retired from the business in 2000, when he sold his Lynnwood and Renton
stores. Since then, the new owners have added a store in Shoreline and closed
the Lynnwood location.
In his retirement, he kept up his ministry to inmates at the Snohomish County
Jail and remained strongly rooted in his faith as cancer tried to slow him
down.
"Even through the trial of going through this, he would have a smile ear to ear
and say God is good," said Jim Thomisser, children's and family pastor at
Northlake Christian Church, where Roberts was a longtime member.
"He never did lose that," said Ron Trimble, a church elder who visited Roberts
after he was too sick to attend church.
While Kolbeck said he will remember a gentle, kind friend in Roberts, he knows
many more will remember just the guy they saw in the commercials. Roberts had a
definite flair for successful advertising, he said.
"He was the most recognizable person in the state of Washington for many
years," Kolbeck said.
A memorial service for Roberts is planned at Northlake Christian Church, but
the date and time had not been set by late Wednesday.
DGH
Speaking of which ...
Does anybody know whether Crazy Eddie (or the actor who played him) is
still around?
- - - -
Brad Ferguson
<peri...@eudoramail.com> wrote:
> Speaking of which ...
>
> Does anybody know whether Crazy Eddie (or the actor who played him) is
> still around?
Yes, he is. "Dr. Jerry" was a NYC radio jock (I think he was Jerry
Marshall on WNEW-FM, but it's been a long time). After Crazy Eddie
folded in the '80s, Jerry pitched briefly for a much smaller outfit
called 6th Ave. Electronics, but that kind of transfer-thing never
works.
Jerry is now pitching again for Crazy Eddie, which was reborn in 1999
as a Web-based operation. See http://www.crazyeddie.com for four radio
spots by Jerry.
David Samuel Barr
>
> In article <3CB79B65...@eudoramail.com>, DGH
> <peri...@eudoramail.com> wrote:
>
> > Speaking of which ...
> >
> > Does anybody know whether Crazy Eddie (or the actor who played
> > him) is still around?
>
> Yes, he is. "Dr. Jerry" was a NYC radio jock (I think he was Jerry
> Marshall on WNEW-FM, but it's been a long time).
The manic Crazy Eddie pitchman was "Dr. Jerry" Carroll of WPIX-FM.
Jerry Marshall, after a stint at WAAT, joined WNEW's air staff in 1943
and in 1954 became the host of its classic "Make Believe Ballroom"
until moving over to WMGM to host "The Record Room" in 1958.
Louis Epstein
: In article <3CB79B65...@eudoramail.com>, DGH
: <peri...@eudoramail.com> wrote:
Jerry Carroll starred in Crazy Eddie commercials,
after attracting their notice reading their radio scripts;
but I don't think it's accurate to say that he "played"
Crazy Eddie...he always talked ABOUT Crazy Eddie whose
prices were insane,never said he WAS Crazy Eddie...
and he looked nothing like the illustration that featured
in Crazy Eddie ads and didn't try to.
Eddie Antar and his uncle Eddy Antar presumably are
not connected with the new firm?
-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.