LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Atlas Fans Respond, A Fantastic Tribute

© 2008 Door & Access Systems
Publish Date: Spring 2008
Author: Tom Wadsworth
Page 60

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Atlas Fans Respond

A Fantastic Tribute

To the editor:

How happy I was to see your story about Atlas Door and a group of guys that have always been very close to my heart! Atlas was truly the best door company in the United States back then, and I was lucky to be a major part of it all.

I started working for Joel (Goldschein), Julie (Kapik), and Irv (Sherr) at Atlas Door on Aug. 1, 1978. I started in the drafting department and slowly worked my way to be in charge of the Technical Services Department. I stayed with them right to the bitter end and relocated to Orlando with Atlas Roll-lite.

I still keep in touch with Julie and Irv, and I sadly miss Joel. I have always said that Joel was the most intelligent person that I ever worked for.

Is there any way I can get a copy of your article? I still keep in touch with many Atlas Door alumni. I know a lot of them would love to see this fantastic tribute.

Michael A. Scibetta
US Door & Building Components
Orlando, Fla.

Editor’s Note: All of our Pages of History features are posted online at www.doorandaccesssystems.com.

Not Your Typical Workplace

To the editor:

Thanks for your story about Atlas Door and its three founders. I owe much of my personal success, along with the absolute reason I’m in the door business, to Atlas and those three gentlemen.

Atlas wasn’t your prototypical corporate America workplace. It was an extremely casual place that was more concerned with output and production versus degrees and background. We went out to lunch together, socialized, and became good friends.

When I had a problem in customer service, someone would actually take the time to walk me down into the shop and try to duplicate the problem so I could figure it out myself. It was a learning experience like no other, and it would have been impossible to acquire more knowledge about our industry in the same period of time.

They also were literally on the cutting edge of everything new in the door business. We started building our own motors, foam-injecting slats, drop-testing enormous fire doors, etc. The Edison plant was laid out logistically, and it was extremely effective.

Even 20 years later, I’m still very proud of my heritage with Atlas Door.

Blair Novy
Door Systems of South Florida
Overhead Door Co. of the Gold Coast
Pompano Beach, Fla.